Yes they are still available - an official Bob Marley shirt marking his Survival Tour gig on Halloween at Colgate in 1979. They are two sided with concert date, time and place on back (see top of blog for images). M/L/XL only via chris@papercutfilms.com for $25 plus $5 shipping (paypal/US order only) while they last.
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Who's the guy with the beer?
Tony DeAngelis, Class of 1982
In retrospect, as a child I lived a relatively sheltered life, particularly in regards to race in America. Growing up on Long Island in the sixties and seventies, I may or may not have grown up in a Sundowner town. Ultimately, there was a certain level of economic discrimination in my hometown that makes the true label irrelevant. To put it bluntly, the cafeteria in my High School had a black table...for those unfamiliar, it's the table that the handful of the black kids that attended my high school of 2300 students sat at. Needless to say, I was a bit naive, believe me, my taste in music being the least of my ignorance. However, even I knew Bob Marley. I'd visited Jamaica the summer after graduation from high school (I thing that would be 1977). My parents took us on one last family trip. What a trip it was. Beautiful Island scenery, exotic smells, and also grinding poverty. But also the amazing beauty of a distinct culture separate from the USA, in language, beliefs and music. And the nagging suspicion that the rest of the world, just might be different then America. The door was cracked a little.
I saw my first Rasta on the beach; big, black, barechested, dreads blowing in the breeze. An amazing sight. And the music, similar to American rythems, but slightly different in vibe and philosophy. Melodic and listenable, but slightly edgy. Attractive but grounded in dark deep currents. Like a sweet smelling orchid growing in a tropical rain forest.
So yes, imagine my shock when I found out that Bob Marley was coming to Colgate. At the time, Colgate was not unlike my high school. Insular, affluent and very white. So this was cutting edge stuff. It was rumored that Andy Dean, head of the social committee, had spent his whole budget on the concert. If he did, more power to him!
And what a concert experience it was. Set up in the small venue of a gym, a monster band,the exotic and distictive smells of Reggae wafting through the air. Marley weaving his magic, half musician, half wizard. Totally engaged and yet removed from the fray. An enlightened sage, engaged in the world, but above it all!...man, by the end of the night I was so high, and not only from the herb, although that was killer too (Don't forget we were just barely out of the Seventies). But it was the promise of the potential that really brought it to the ultimate level. The idea that here was a great artist, using his personal idiom to reach the universal. The universal of love, connection, engagement. The sense that no matter our differences we are all the same. We are all connected, Marley's journey was our journey. Time and distance do not matter. It is the same now, as it was then. And it is the same now as it will be 200 years from now! The world's joy is our joy, just as the world's pain is our pain. We need to love the world as we love ourselves.
From another perspective,those of us who knew Marley and his music but could not believe that here was another Colgate score (Dead being the fall before) to get us through another day in that all white preppy world, working in the kitchen as work study we received the concert contract demand that Bob and his band be served fresh red snapper...always available in upstate NY in the 70s...so we thawed some frozen fish, added butter and garlic, and it all worked out; great (for the time) bud and phenomenal music, one more semester down in that march towards graduation.
I remember that show quite well...someone who knew someone at Island Records got us tickets.a group of us drove down from Syracuse all of us big reggae fans...it was Halloween, a full moon and we were all doing various drugs..I'll never forget the ride down there, the music and the ride home
Fondest memory: after leaving that show, dressed in all leathers and a frilly, 70's tuxedo shirt on my 250 Honda enduro, traveling the back roads to Utica, red lights started flashing behind me - it was NM Staties and, well, I was ripped. The officer had a good idea I might have attended that show when he asked me if I forgot anything. I said "no" and then he asked me where my helmet was...DOH! The look on my face was probably akin to Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin combined. He asked where I was going, and when he heard my destination, he went back to his car and pointed his spotlight onto the hillsides along the pitch black country road. It was infested with deer ! He looked at me and said, "Put your helmet on. And go SLOW." Thank you, Officer. Gotta tell ya it was a sweet ride home ! He really wanted the folks to get home safely - that was his vibe and right intune with the concert! One more thing, I did nab one of those yellow-tan posters with brown print and to this day, it is still framed and on display in my home !
me and a few friends drove from syracuse for the concert, maybe my memory is wrong but i remember it was snowing heavily, marley was late, and the gym was only half full.
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