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Press Release
Lammy creating Caribbean connection:
Runs Jamaica Plain shop, Web site
by A.J. O'Connell
Boston Herald, Sunday, February 18, 2001
When one thinks of Boston, steel drum bands and Carnival aren't exactly the images that spring to mind.
But Ron Lammy, the proprietor of eCaroh Caribbean Emporium in Jamaica Plain, is convinced that Boston can be the gateway to the West Indies.
A Caribbean-born executive who has worked in purchasing with BankBoston and administrative services with Lotus Development, Lammy is on a mission to put Boston on the map as far as the Caribbean culture is concerned.
"We're doing a kind of community tourism," Lammy said. "We seek to highlight Boston as a place where the West Indian culture can be highlighted and preserved for the community and the visitors."
The Emporium, in an old bottle-redemption center on Washington Street, is the "bricks and mortar" incarnation of eCaroh.com, the site Lammy began in 1997 when he tired of having to travel outside of Boston to buy the Caribbean music and magazines he enjoys.
Sensing that there was a need for actual West Indian merchandise in Boston's sizable Caribbean population, Lammy left his job as head of administrative services at Lotus and went into business as a consultant, setting up eCaroh on the side.
Building on the success of the Web site, Lammy opened the Emporium last June.
Inside, the walls are plastered with photos of artists like the Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener, the masters of calypso, reggae, Soca (a form of calypso music) and the steel drum, and photos of the winning costumes from last year's Boston Carnival.
"I believe we have an opportunity to put Boston on the map," said Lammy, whose dream is to fill the cultural gap in Boston with West Indian food, music and celebrations.
He pointed out that the Boston Carnival, a weeklong celebration of Caribbean culture in August, is the third-largest celebration of its kind outside of the West Indies. Yet it goes unrecognized as such. Lammy, who served on the Carnival board, wishes to change that.
He has made a difference in the community. Lammy arranged for the Panazz Players, a Trinidadian steel drum band, to play in the Fleet Boston Celebrity Series at Symphony Hall twice in the past five years.
"Ron was most helpful in linking the Celebrity series to the Caribbean community," said Marty Jones, the president and executive director of the Celebrity Series. "He made a lot of introductions for us and helped us get the Celebrity Series marketing in that community."
Lammy, a member of the program's board of directors, did more than just the marketing. To ensure that the Panazz Players got to Boston, he did all the management work on their first trip. On the second trip, Lammy provided the funding.
"Ron had always used his resources to assist the community," said Paul Lewis, a friend of Lammy's and a member of the Caribbean community. "He has a family, and in spite of the fact that he has a family and children, he always finds time to come and work in the community."
Lammy, in his 40s, has never lost sight of his culture. The oldest of six, he was born in Guyana. Although as a child Lammy wanted to be a dancer, he was strongly influenced by his grandfather, a prominent Guyanan mason who specialized in building monuments.
Lammy began his education in Guyana, studying to be an engineer. He came to the United States in the mid-'70s to study at Columbia University in New York.
Lammy graduated in 1980, after changing his major from engineering to business. He and his wife, Judith, moved to Boston in 1988. Today they live in Swampscott with their two daughters.
The next stage of Lammy's dream is to open a summer music school. Lammy and Carol Leggett, the president of the Grenada Social Club, who also has her office in the Emporium, hope to convert the back room of the old redemption center into a classroom, where teachers from the Berklee School of Music will teach local children to play steel drums.
According to Leggett, Lammy has had a profound impact on Boston's West Indian community.
"Once (the Caribbean community finds) out the services that are provided, be it business management, or music, or art, they are using it," Leggett said.
