Derek's Memoirs Part 1

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My name is Derek Christopher Gibson. My life up until this particular time has been rather eventful, and I hope you find it just as interesting as I have. All statements made in these pages are absolutely true, and when possible are backed up by relevant photos or internet links. Please sit back and enjoy the ride…



I was born in Nassau, Bahamas on August 26, 1973 to Eric Preston Gibson, and my mother Dorothy Mae Barber. My father passed away on December 28, 2013 and his loss was a great one, not only for my family but for the entire nation of the Bahamas. My father, King Eric Gibson, was the founding member of the most famous calypso band in the islands, called King Eric and His Knights. The original band consisted of my father King Eric, his brother John, Stuart Halpert, Jim Duncombe, and Frankie Adderley. King Eric grew up on the family island of Acklins, and his family was very poor - he didn’t own a pair of shoes until he was about 10 years old. A mentor taught him the guitar, and soon enough he made the move to Nassau to pursue a career in music. He played many instruments but his specialties were the guitar and the steel pan. Eventually he established his club in 1973, The King and Knights, that was located on West Bay Street. This was a very successful club and it was easily the most popular of its time while it was operating in the1970’s. It eventually burned down and he established another club called The King and Knights Two in the Nassau Beach Hotel, which eventually closed down. My father was not only a successful musician and business owner, he was also an ambassador for the Bahamas Sailing Association, which is the island’s national sport. He was also the coach of the Bahamian Golf Team, which my brother Shane D Gibson was a member. He is also a Member of the British Empire, which is a very prestigious award. I can’t say enough of what he did for that island, and he deserved the royal funeral that he got.



My family consists of 10 siblings in total. Angela Swann, the matriarch, Eric Gibson Junior, Shane David Gibson, Ann Hutchinson, Sharon Williamson, Yvonne Gibson-Sands, Shervin Gibson, Michael Hooper, Janine Gray and myself Derek Gibson. My father’s ex-wife, Gerline Gibson, was the mother to Angela, Eric Junior, Shane, Ann, Sharon, Yvonne and Shervin. Janine’s mother is named Ziggy, and Michael’s mother is named Joan. Michael, Janine and myself are known as the “outside children” because we were born out of wedlock to different mothers. My entire family is very prosperous and successful. Angela is an accountant, Shane is a very successful politician, Eric Junior, or Ricky, owns a very popular restaurant in Nassau called Bahama Grill, Yvonne and Ann are prosperous in the insurance business, Sharon is a bishop, Shervin owns a bar called Snug Corner, Janine owns an aesthetic business, and I work for the federal government in Canada.



My mother and father met while she and her sister were traveling through the Caribbean. At the time, island hopping was akin to kids these days back packing through Europe, and they met at the King and Knights. The King was quite the ladies man, as evidenced by two of my brothers being a couple months apart in age. My dad and Gerline were legally married at the time, even though they had been separated for many, many years. The law in the Bahamas then only allowed a divorce if both parties agreed, and Gerline didn’t. Eventually the law changed so a divorce would be granted if the couple could prove they lived apart for three years. If it weren’t for this my dad would have married my mom at the time. In order to get legal status in the Bahamas, my mom married a friend of my dad’s, Floyd Beneby, and that’s how she got that surname.



My mom and I lived on Lysander Road in the Stapleton Gardens area of Nassau, in half of a duplex that my father owned. It was a nice little place, and we had a great back yard with a lime tree, mango tree, and hibiscus plants in the front. That’s how I met my best friend at the time Marcian Duncan. He used to stay with his grandma across the street after school, and a close bond soon occurred. We used to roast hot dogs and marshmallows in my back yard, and get into all kinds of mischief. One day we were playing in this abandoned lot and we both started to get very itchy. Marcian had to take a “number 2”, so he did and used some green leaves to wipe his ass. It turns out this was stinging nettle, which eventually didn’t feel too good for either of us. I remember my face was very red and swollen, and so was his bungy (Bahamian slang for ass).



My first near death experience occurred when I was about five or six years old as a hurricane swept through Nassau. We got warning of the storm so my mom had already prepared the storm shutters, which are thick, steel barriers that are put up in front of the windows. It started out being a very nice day, and I remember the conditions changed quickly, and drastically. It started out as a little bit of rain, and out of nowhere the winds were howling so bad I couldn’t even close the window. Then the wind went crazy, and I remember seeing trees, plants, and stuff from people’s yards being blown down the street while it was happening. There were numerous houses in the Bahamas that were instantly destroyed by the harsh winds. When it was over we looked across the street, and the storm had taken the neighbour’s roof right off, and it was shattered on the front lawn. What happened was when the mom opened the side door, the hurricane went right inside. Thank goodness the whole family was unhurt, but when the father came home to see this he broke down in tears. My mom was nice enough to let the kids stay with us for a while, until the house was repaired.




One Christmas my mom took in a boy named Kevin from the local orphanage, which was very nice of her. She told me when she was there all the kids were grabbing her saying, “Take me take me.” He stayed with us on Christmas Eve until Christmas Day. We bought him a bunch of presents, but his favourite was this little red fire truck that he never let out of his sight. Kevin if you’re out there and remember this get a hold of me somehow.



My mom enrolled me in a Catholic school called Xavier’s College Lower School, which happened to be right down the street from my dad’s club. My mom wasn’t religious at all, and neither was my dad, but the private schools had better quality education. I always remember my dad telling me, “Derek the bible is full of fables.” The Bahamas is a former English colony, so kindergarten starts at 4, and I was enrolled there until grade three, and at the time I was about seven years old. During mass myself and the other kids used to laugh and giggle - try getting a seven year old to sit still during a two hour mass. We would get sent back to the class, and get spanked with a ruler in front of all the other students. To top off this wonderful experience, if you laughed at whoever was being spanked, you would also get a cut ass. During class I used to talk a lot with the other students, and the teacher Ms. Dean would come and punch us in the head with all these rings she had on her hand. Not very nice in my opinion, but that’s how it worked back then with corporal punishment.



The King and Knights was the place to be during the roaring 70’s, when live music was at its peak. I remember the show vividly to this day, and I actually performed in the revival of it at the King and Knights 2. The show consisted of live calypso music, a limbo dancer, a fire dancer, and songs where the audience would get involved on stage. Then there would be some calypso music where the whole crowd would get on the floor and dance. The show was never complete, however, until my dad performed on the steel pan. When I worked at the new King and Knights, I remember people would come back just to see the steel pan performance, and these were fans who had been at the original King and Knights. The first King and Knights had a small hotel upstairs and a disco around the back of the property called The Backside. I remember dancing there at about five years old, and rolling around in asbestos insulation - probably not the best for my health.



My family in the Bahamas weren't all that accepting of the outside children at first, as evidenced by these stories. Somehow Gerline found out about my mom, and she followed her to some type of hardware store. When my mom came out the front door she slapped her right in the face.



My dad told me about another time when he was at our place, and he got a call from the police. Apparently Gerline was caught stealing at a store she worked. Dad was very embarrassed, but he went down there and had to talk the police into not arresting and charging her. That’s how it works down there, as in most countries in the world. With a famous name, or some money, anything is possible in the Bahamas, as in not getting arrested. When I worked at the King and Knights 2, I accompanied my dad to the port where we were receiving a shipment of alcohol. As the longshoremen were taking the cases of beer from the ship, I saw two stacks being formed. I asked my dad why that was, and he said that it was for the customs officers. The son of the head of customs at the time was having a wedding, and that was their payoff for not charging duty.



My Mom also told me about a time when the whole family found out where we lived on Lysander road, and they surrounded the house, pounding on the doors and the windows to harass her. Gerline yelled at her that she would be found laying on the ground, dead with blood around her and put obiya on her. Obiya is the term Bahamians use for black magic, which is a bunch of rubbish of course but a lot of them believe in it. My dad was actually there at the time, but he was so scared of the family he snuck out the back door so they wouldn’t see him.





This night I remember vividly. I was about 7 years old and it was in the middle of the night when my dad was staying with us. There was some very loud knocking at the door that startled all of us in the middle of the night. It turns out it was my sister Janine’s mother Ziggy, who had followed my dad home from the club. I guess my dad had Ziggy tucked away in another house on a different part of the island. Ziggy tried to rush into the house, and my dad had to bear hug her and carry her out to her car - she was smashed. Ziggy was kicking and flailing her arms the whole time. I was so scared I ran into the bedroom and hid under our bed. This was the last straw for my mom, so soon after we packed our things and headed back to Vancouver, Canada, where she was from. At the time I had quite a Bahamian accent, so my mom started teaching me to speak more Canadian. Instead of saying dis and dat, she told me say this and that. Shortly before this decision to move my mom’s father, Alex Barber, died of skin cancer, so the move was also to help her mom and my grandma Mabel Barber, who would be living by herself.

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Photos

Derek and Papa
This was on Lysander Road.

Papa and baby Derek
Lysander Road

Marcian and Derek
Backyard of Lysander Road

King Eric and His Knights
Stuart, King Eric, Jim, Uncle John and Frankie

Papa, Derek and Mom
Lysander Road