Ziggy Marley
Reggae and reefer
'When you smoke it you
By John Berger
don't want to fight nobody'
Special to the Star-BulletinTHE Legislature is trying to salvage the economy without cutting government jobs or hiking the excise tax. Ziggy Marley is in town this weekend. A conversation with the young reggae legend brings to mind a fresh source of tax revenue: marijuana.
Guesstimate the value of the marijuana produced illegally in Hawaii. Take 4 percent off the top for an excise tax. Guesstimate the additional income tax revenue if growers could legally account for the money. Add a state pakalolo tax. Think about the jobs and additional tax revenues if the plant were processed for other products. It's a pipe dream, but Marley is a persuasive advocate.
"Knowledge of herb marijuana and the knowledge of the goodness of it is coming out every day. Herb was one of the trees that (King) Solomon himself had. Tobacco is not an herb. Besides what you can get (from smoking) for your mental self there is also the medicinal part of it. Besides that, there's the oil and the fabric that can be made from it and the paper that can come from it.
"On the spiritual part of herb, it's a peaceful thing. It's not like a cocaine or a crack or one of those pharmaceutical drugs that has so many ugly side effects. When you smoke it you don't want to fight nobody."
Marley was fielding a Friday night call to his base of operations in Jamaica. All this marijuana talk aside, the important thing for reggae fans is that Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers -- his brother Stephen and their sisters Cedella and Sharon -- return to Oahu for "Reggae in the Country" on Saturday.
The show will almost certainly be the biggest reggae concert of the year here -- Ziggy's younger brothers, Julian and Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley will also perform.
Ziggy speaks of the uses of "herb" at concerts. Rastafarians, he cautions, smoke it for spiritual reasons and no one should abuse it simply to get stoned.
"They must not look at it just for smoking. We don't want to promote that everyone should smoke herb. It's not like a fad to follow, (smoking) is for a purpose. Like any medicine there's caution and dosage. 'Keep out reach of children.' "
Ziggy could probably have made a living playing his father's hits or starring in one of those "tribute shows" for fallen superstars. Instead he and the Melody Makers have spent a decade setting their own musical course and exploring the musical possibilities when reggae is cross-pollinated with rock, rap and hip-hop.
Ziggy shares his father's keen Rastafarian perspective on the workings of the "Babylon system" that exploits the many for the material gain of the few, and utilizes differences of race or nationality to keep the exploited from working together.
But he insists that new generations will bring about meaningful change.
"That's what we're looking forward to in this new time and age. A spiritual birth is going to take place."
Ziggy Marley
With: The Melody Makers and Domain & Julian Marley
