BOB MARLEY ROOTS, ROCK, REGGAE FESTIVAL

HT CONTEST: Win two free tickets to the Bob Marley: Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival from High Times, plus a meet-and-greet with the Marleys backstage and an autographed tour poster. Just send an email with your name and the show you want to attend (include tour stop location in the SUBJECT of the email). The following shows are available (travel is NOT included in prize): Portsmouth, VA, Trenton, NJ, Pittsfield, MA, Cleveland, OH, Detroit, MI, Albuquerque, NM, and Mesa, AZ. High Times is proud to be a sponsor of the Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival, which will be on tour this August featuring Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Damian and Ky-mani Marley, Toots & the Maytals, Common, Nappy Roots, Slightly Stoopid, and Looner. Bob Marley first appeared on the cover of High Times in our September 1976 issue, and was the first person inducted into the Counterculture Hall of Fame at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. TOUR DATES * Indicates High Times/NORML booth at event 8/7/2004 Telos Pavilion Harbor Center -- Portsmouth, VA 8/8/2004 The Filene Center -- Vienna, VA 8/10/2004* Celebrate Brooklyn -- Brooklyn, NY 8/12/2004* FleetBoston Pavilion -- Boston, MA 8/13/2004* Sovereign Bank Arena -- Trenton, NJ 8/14/2004 Tubman - Garrett park -- Wilmington, DE 8/15/2004* Berkshire Music Glen -- Pittsfield, MA 8/17/2004* Tower City Amphitheatre -- Cleveland, OH 8/18/2004* Meadowbrook Music Festival -- Detroit, MI

8/20/2004
Chill on Kingsbury -- Chicago, IL

8/21/2004
EH Young Park -- Riverside, MO

8/22/2004
Red Rocks Amphitheatre -- Denver, CO

8/24/2004*
Journal Pavilion -- Albuquerque, NM

8/26/2004*
Amphitheatre -- Mesa, AZ

8/27/2004*
Greek Theatre -- Los Angeles, CA

8/28/2004
San Diego Street Scene -- San Diego, CA

8/29/2004*
Greek Theatre -- Berkeley, CA

TOUR INFO

Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Damian and Ky-Mani Marley – five sons of music legend Bob Marley – have announced the debut and launch of the “Bob Marley: Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival.” The summer concert tour will kick off in Virginia in early August with a four-week series of North American dates. The cross-continent itinerary – which will see the four brothers performing as part of one uniquely talented band – marks the first time the iconic reggae pioneer’s family has officially presented and collaborated on a tour, coast-to-coast under their father’s name.

Launched in association with the William Morris Agency, the festival-styled performances will see the Marley siblings performing a mix of each brother’s individual solo material in addition to many of their father’s best-loved classics. With some two-dozen dates slated across North America, the tour will also feature such diverse star performers as Toots and the Maytals, Common, Slightly Stoopid, Nappy Roots,, Looner and Stone Love featuring MC/DJ G-Fuss.

Bob Marley’s music – now 23 years since the artist’s passing in 1981 – remains timeless and universal alongside his reputation as one of the most charismatic and influential singer/songwriters in popular music history. In 1994, Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and five years later his celebrated song, “Get Up, Stand Up,” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In the U.S., Bob Marley & the Wailers have nine RIAA gold-certified albums and one double-platinum album, along with the 10-times platinum certified hits collection, “Legend.”

As the late music journalist Timothy White once poignantly observed, “Bob Marley’s narrative melodies preserve the poetry of a suffering humanity; they are elegant in their bold simplicity, shining with a purity of purpose, as they relate sagas of social freedom, convey dramas of artistic freedom, champion the quest for spiritual freedom, and ultimately embody freedom itself.” It is indeed that very sense of spiritual freedom that the “Bob Marley: Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival” looks to honor and celebrate.

Ziggy Marley, in regards to the festival, said, “Roots Rock Reggae has no agendas, other than what each musician and fan feels. It's a communion for people to come together and celebrate good music and good vibes. “ Common stated, “Bob Marley is the meaning of freedom, revolution, and music that uplifts the people. To be a part of this tour is a special moment in my life. I'm honored to be included and performing with the Marley sons. It’s gonna be good every night to put such a free sprit in the air and rock my Bob Marley T-shirts.”

The Marleys, Toots, Slightly Stoopid, Looner and Stone Love featuring MC/DJ G-Fuss will be on all dates. Common and Nappy Roots will appear on select dates only.

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Bob’s eldest son, Ziggy, has been singing, writing and producing with the three-time Grammy Award winning Melody Makers since the age of 10. With nine studio albums to his credit with the Melody Makers, he released his solo record, “Dragonfly,” in the spring of 2003 on Private Music/Arista Associated Labels.

Stephen Marley has long demonstrated his talents as a member of the Melody Makers – for who he has written, produced, provided vocals, and deejayed. Together with his brother Ziggy he founded the Ghetto Youths International production team. His full-length solo debut is slated for release in the fall on the Motown label.

Since recording his first song at age five, Julian Marley, has emerged as a skillful, self-taught musician, who has mastered the bass, drums, and keyboards. Julian released his solo debut, “Uprising,” in 1989 followed in 1996 by “Lion on the Morning.” His latest album, “Time & Place,” was issued last year on Ghetto Youths / Tuff Gong Records.

The youngest of Bob’s children, Damian “Junior Gong” Marley, has been performing since the age of thirteen. His second solo album, “Halfway Tree,” (co-produced by Stephen), received the Grammy Award for Reggae Album of the Year in 2001. His Stephen Marley-produced debut, “Mr. Marley,” was released in 1996.

The only child of Jamaican table tennis champion Anita Belnavis and Bob, Ky-Mani Marley appeared in a movie called “One Love,” which is the longest running film in Jamaica to date. Ky-mani is in the studio currently working on his third album.

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Additional tour participants include the famed reggae trailblazers Toots and the Maytals. Their newly released album, “True Love,” (V2) features performances by such acclaimed artists as Ryan Adams, Trey Anastasio, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, No Doubt, and Keith Richards, among others.

With their unique merging of rock, reggae, and hip-hop sounds, California’s Slightly Stoopid have been turning heads since 1995, when Sublime vocalist Bradley Nowell signed them to Skunk Records. The duo released its fifth album, “Everything You Need,” in 2003.

Influential veteran hip-hop artist Common released his widely acclaimed “Electric Circus” album in 2002. In conjunction with the release, The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, “With his fifth album… Common has done it yet again, wrapping his laidback but agile rhymes around the most mature and poignant themes of his career, and expanding his musical palette to embrace a new rock ‘n’ roll drive and the Day-Glo invention of classic psychedelic soul.”

Country and proud of it, Nappy Roots formed in 1995 around a sextet of students attending Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. Their Atlantic Records debut, “Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz,” was released in 2002, and the follow-up “Wooden Leather” followed one year later.

Based in Silverlake, California, the melodic pop composers known as Looner are set for what will be their most extensive touring to date. The duo’s recently released EP, “Follow the Looner,” has earned widespread early acclaim and helped fuel a growing following.

There are over 200 sound systems in Jamaica to date, but when the question is asked as to which is the champion and reigning king of them all, without hesitation the response is Stone Love. Stone Love made their entry into the dancehall business in 1972 and for the past 27 years it has been the sound systems with he most potent and magnetic force to pull crowds and ‘cork’ any dancehall.