G O ! M A G A ZI N E •
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011
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music
G R E AT
expectations Submitted photo
Z i g g y Marley is all smiles about “Wild and Free,” his fourth solo album. He will perform tonight at the Athletic Club of Bend.
Ziggy Marley plays the Clear Summer Nights series in Bend By David Jasper T he B ulletin
‘H
e was born into a world of expectation and presumption based on genetics, not on who he really is,” says producer Don Was in a YouTube video interview about Ziggy Marley’s new album, “Wild and Free.” Marley — a Grammy-winning reggae artist and son of the legendary Bob Marley — will play the Athletic Club of Bend tonight (see “If you go”) on his “Forward to Love” tour, which launched in Tucson, Ariz., earlier this month. He’s touring in support of his fourth solo album. Since its June release, Marley, 42, has toured South America with Shakira, and has appeared at festi-
vals in Japan, Switzerland and Britain. Joining him on much of the tour is Natty, a young reggae artist of British and African heritage who cites as influences Neil Young, Fela Kuti and Ziggy’s dad. The Bulletin caught up with Marley by phone a week ago. I’m not what you’d call a Marley expert, so I put out a call on Facebook, asking friends and acquaintances what they’ve always wanted to know about him but haven’t been able to because he never calls them. They’re an admixture of smarty-pants, smartalecks, music and tech nerds and people I hardly know, great if you want to know whether the phrase “Ziggy Stardust” or “Ziggy Marley” is searched more often on the Internet. (They’ll even
provide a helpful link to Google Trends as they write, “In Sweden, Google searches on ‘Ziggy Stardust’ occur more than ‘Ziggy Marley’ and in the USA, the two terms are close.”) Another friend, with whom I grew up in Miami, wanted to know if Marley went to Palmetto, a rival high school of ours. Instead, I asked him if he spent part of his childhood in Miami. “No, I didn’t,” the Kingston native answered in a Jamaican lilt flavored with an underlying hint of tired. “When my grandmother moved to Miami, we would come up (there) during the Christmas time. But … one of my brothers did (go to school in Miami), and a couple of my uncles did.” Continued Page 5
If you go What: Ziggy Marley, with Natty When: 6:30 tonight, doors open 6 p.m. Where: Athletic Club of Bend, 61615 Athletic Club Drive Cost: $26, available in advance at Newport Market (541-382-3940) in Bend Contact: www .c3events.com