Marley weaving his magic

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

Tony DeAngelis (Class of 1982)