Craig Ross at the controls, serving up party music at 'Las Lik'. - photos by Mel Cooke

After a 59th anniversary season which included a trip back to its St Thomas origins, a tribute to Cynthia Schloss and an all-inclusive weekend at Hedonism II in St Ann, Merritone wrapped up with a 'Las Lik' at The Deck, Trafalgar Road, New Kingston, on Monday night.

So while in the morning Jamaicans formally celebrated their countrymen and women's outstanding achievements and extraordinary acts of courage at the National Honours and Awards Ceremony, in the night the 'Merri' people dropped legs in honour of musical giants played by a sound system legend.

The captain

Clad in all black, Craig Ross was the captain at the controls and, typical of a Deck session, many hands were on the floor letting out fluids from their pores to the beat, while others were taking in fluids and in high spirits while remaining seated. Coming up to midnight, Carl Dawkins' Satisfaction seemed to sum up the feelings of both the skankers and sippers (the groups interchangeable over the course of the party) and the Merritone organisation could not have been unhappy with the strong turnout either.

Homage was paid to Alton Ellis and Delroy Wilson back to back - Wilson's Dancing Mood appropriate for the pre-midnight crowd's energy. They chortled the horn line of I've Got To Go Back Home happily and cuts from The Skatalites turned the corner from rocksteady to ska, the Maytals 'seven books of Moses' read out melodiously by the audience. Oh Carolina was the genre's final shot before the unforgettable introduction of Let's Get It On hit.

Interestingly, at a Merritone session the slow jams are not a signal of an exodus from the dance floor but for couples to draw closer and make space for some of the sitters to get up and shake a slow leg and waistline. Cruisin', Midnight Train to Georgia and My Lady Soul were among the slow jams, then from matters of flesh pressing against flesh to flesh paying respects to higher powers David Rudder instructed "everybody give praises".

The ladies especially had a whale of a time on the soca jams, not All Aboard on the dance floor at The Deck but certainly enough to make jolly swabs of the observing and observant men. A Spotlight was soon shone on said ladies as the beat went uptempo to appeal to Young Hearts, whatever the age of the body.

The official start of the work day was mere hours away, but that did not stop the 'Merri' folk dancing "to the beat of the rhythm of the night" in a Funky Town.

The beat changed again to reggae, Tarrus Riley saluting the 'Royal' ladies (all claimed the title as it was restarted) and Richie Spice musing "the plane lan'".

Now, at close to 2 a.m. on Tuesday, there was a definite exodus from The Deck, though there were quite a few standing skankers and sitting sippers remaining, one lady in white effectively giving her partner a lap dance as he reclined in one of the many high chairs. No one was saying 'No No No' to the couple and, as The Gleaner called it a night on the 'Las Lik' and Merritone's 59th anniversary season, Craig Ross was saluting the Browning and Black Woman, courtesy of Buju Banton.

The merry folk dance up a storm at the Merritone 59th anniversary season 'Las Lik', held at The Deck.