My Bob Marley Autograph……
I was into reggae pretty early on. Chris Williamson (a roommate) had turned me on to Marley’s “Rastaman Vibration” and “The Harder They Come” movie soundtrack. He said “There are these guys in Jamaica that don’t comb or cut their hair and they smoke weed all the time!!”.
That was all I needed to hear. It changed me. I have been playing reggae ever since.
The first time I had a chance to go and see Bob Marley, in concert, was at The Music Hall, in Houston July 29, 1978. I knew the band would come early and do a sound check because I was a musician, myself. So, I went to the Music Hall and waited for the bus to pull in and, sure, enough, they came pulling in. Not wanting to approach Bob, I went up to “Family Man” Aston Barrett and told him I was a bass player. I just kept talking and strolled in with the band. Still talking to “Family Man”, while they were doing sound check, he handed me his bass and said “Show me your reggae”. So I did. Now, at that time I was really listening to a lot of Weather Report and trying to play like Jaco Pastorius. I played a bit and “Family Man” said “That’s not reggae, that’s jazz…reggae is like this. He showed me about tone and where to put my hands, a crash course in reggae that has served me for over 40 years in reggae bands.
I asked him to put me on the guest list for after the show and he said he would.
The Blind Date……I had bought 2 tickets to the show as had my sister, Margaret and my married friends, Hammond and Susan Brown. I didn’t have a date so Margaret suggested I take a girl she worked with. Now I’ll tell ya, when that girl walked in, both of us were like…Oh no, no never. I was a hippie with hair down to my ribs and she looked like a granny-ish Annie Hall. Nope, not gonna happen!
On the way into the concert she asked me if I would hold her bag of weed. No problem. The show was amazing. The Houston Folk legend, John Vandiver (RIP) opened the show, all by himself, on acoustic guitar. After his first song was received in a lukewarm fashion. He stopped and said “I know y’all are excited to see Bob Marley. Well, so am I. I am gonna do my show, anyway and then we’ll move on together. Well, he proceeded to tear that house down. I knew John Vandiver and I was hugely proud of him….that day, he conquered the world. It is still talked about.
After the show I was going to go backstage but I didn’t know if I could get back with 5 people in tow, so I leaned over and told my date and sister, “I’ll be right back” and took Hammond and Sue with me.
We went back stage and Bob Marley was holding court. It was mesmerizing. If he was alive and preaching, 2000 years ago, he would have been called a saint or a prophet. I was sitting right next to him, on the road cases, smoking and passing spliffs, when he finished one and said “Who have de ‘erb, Man?…..I reached into my pocket and said “I do!! I DO!!”. We rolled that girl’s weed up in one spliff and it was gone…Just like that.
About 45 minutes later we went back out into the Music Hall and the only 2 people in it were my sister and “The Girl”…”Where the fuck were you?” they asked.
“I met Bob Marley and gave him your weed!” Well, that was the end of THAT romance.
A cool side story, Hammond Brown reminded me that Bob Marley LOVED Sue’s red hair, REDLOCKS. He played with it, rolling it between his fingers. How cool is that?!!
1 year later, when I was working at Record and Tape Collector, in Baltimore, Bob played in D.C. I went to his hotel and met him a second time. I told him I had met him in Houston and gave him some weed. He said “Ahhh, I remember”. He was so kind to say that but years later I realize how many young, white, hippie kids gave him weed. The impression I have is that he was, kind, friendly and looked you in the eye when he spoke to you.
He did sign this autograph, though. I, honestly, can’t believe I had the great fortune to meet Bob Marley…..twice! He had a profound effect on me. He would pause and look right at you and talk to you, deep eye contact. He wanted to see who he was talking to. He wanted you to KNOW he was communicating with you. It was amazing.
I still play his songs, every Wednesday night, with The Mau Mau Chaplains. I have been playing reggae in Austin for 38 years. I have played with Kade-I-Man, The Lotions, Pressure and The Killer Bees.
My Entertaining Life-Steve Carter 