Ziggy Marley, a longtime favorite of mine, played a showcase last night at Sonos Studios in Hollywood, and my homegirl Hilary (of the always fun 72 and Sunny) hooked it up/made my day. His new album, Fly Rasta, is coming out this month, and in the Q and A preceding the tunes, he explained that Rasta to him is all about love and positivity. Fly with love, positively. I mean ... it's pretty easy, and way better, so why don't we all do that all the time? It seems so simple ... but that's how Marley's music makes you feel. You could tell just looking around the room.
I was making friends with everyone in the insanely long drink line - so long that even the classiest dames were double and triple fisting - and the positivity of people that dig this kind of music was tangibly evident from the moment we walked in the door.
A kind of stale interviewer guy from ET or something asked the usual new album questions, and all you did was wait for the answers from Marley's lilting patois that makes everyTING sound awesome. He dutifully responded to all the "Do you feel like you need to carry on reggase" type questions nicely (answering that one with "I don't need to put labels on tings, it's just music. I love music." Rad.), but really lit up when he spoke about loving to garden and grow "peas and potaytoes". He's going to show his kids how to take care of his garden while he's on tour for the new record. That new record packaging is recyclable and contains a seed packet for you to grow (I believe it's for wildflowers, not ganja, but still the coolest).
Marley and his fly band then played a short set for the packed to the acoustic cushioned ceiling crowd, that gave us the favorites like "Wild and Free" and "Dragonfly", as well as the brand new "I Don't Wanna Live On Mars" (about let's take care of our Earth so we don't have to split to other crazy planets, for Heaven's sakes! We like it here.) and "I Get Up" - about waking up every day and getting it done - positively.
A new friend next to me said, "I really want to hear "On A Beach In Hawai'i" tonight." I answered I was happy to hear all new stuff, but that all I for sure always need to hear is "Love Is My Religion". It's just so great and true. No sooner than the words were out of my mouth, the opening chords to it began, the guy nudged me, and everyone smiled and nodded at the truth ...
That is One Love.
*Fly Rasta is out April 15th ... and you should get it. You'll feel what I mean.
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