Article written by Roger Steffens (a.k.a Ras RoJah) for swer.net — August 2003
rasrojah@aol.com

I first met Ben several years ago, when his brilliant drummer, Oliver Charles, who I have known since he was three, brought him to see my Reggae Archives in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles.

Ben had seen Bob Marley as a youngster at the Burbank Starlight Amphitheater in July of 1978 (I was there that evening too). It turned out to be a life-transforming experience for him, and was unique in that it was the only time that Bob and Peter Tosh ever performed together outside Jamaica after the breakup of the original Wailers harmony trio (the third member was Neville Livingston aka Bunny Wailer). As Bob came on stage for his encore and began to sing "Get Up Stand Up," Tosh, the song's co-author, appeared from the wings striding across the stage and reaching for the microphone. Bob had no idea he was there that night, and leaped with joy upon seeing him. Peter reached Bob at the exact moment where he came in on the recorded version of the song, and as he began to sing his part, Bob's face was split with the most ecstatic smile! It was a historic moment for Wailers' fans, although, to be truthful, very few people in the audience knew who it was at Bob's side.


When Ben was preparing to make his video, I was asked to supply some props for the set from my Archives, and it was decided to shoot some of the video here at my home as well because of its reggae ambiance.

The first day's shoot was in a nightclub and nearby studio in the section of Los Angeles called Atwater - recent site of the Beastie Boys' local headquarters, and home to lots of musicians and artists. The studio is called Sonora, and its walls were repainted, one with a bold red target whose center was the Lion of Judah symbol of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, the God of the Rastafarian faith. Other walls were hung with various banners, photographs and posters from my collection representing various aspects of the reggae world.

Three women hired to play the backup singers, although it's my understanding that they did not actually sing on the record, but were hired instead for their obvious good looks.

This shot was taken outside on the street with Laura Dern, Ben's charming lady, me and Ben, who is holding a copy of The Beat, the reggae/world beat magazine that I co-founded in 1982. It started as a one-page playlist for my National Public Radio L.A.-based radio show, "The Reggae Beat." Each year in May I edit an annual Bob Marley Collectors' Edition of The Beat


Ben was kind enough to include me in the film, and you can see me in the control room of the studio, wearing the same shirt, talking with Scientist, one of the greatest mixers in reggae's history, who was an early apprentice of the Dub Inventor, King Tubby.

The next day's shoot took place in my home and backyard. The back room, in which I keep most of my 12,000 records and 20,000 hours of tapes, was featured at the very beginning of the video, where Ben is at the turntables. Our house is on a hilltop overlooking the city from downtown Hellay to the ocean and back to the Hollywood sign. The backyard slopes down hill to six terraces of fruit trees - very Jamaican looking, with bananas, figs, guavas and two dozen other kinds of exotics. On one of the levels, Ben painted the motorcycle, mimicking the scene in the great 1980 reggae film "Rockers" in which the hero, drummer Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, paints his new motorbike.

One of the most memorable moments of the whole shoot came late in the afternoon of the second day. Ben was using a top floor (street level) bedroom for a makeup room, and I was chatting with him and Laura when the name of the South African a cappella group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, came up. I mentioned that I had been the person back in 1983 who had first turned Paul Simon onto them, and he revealed that he had recorded a track for the new album with them, and handed me the demo to play. I went downstairs, where I have a 200 watt sound system, and turned it up loud. The track, "Picture of Jesus," is hauntingly beautiful. Well, all of a sudden the thirty or more workers who were in the house, out on the street in front, and downstairs in the backyard, all stopped dead in their tracks, and everyone listened in stunned silence to the tune. When it ended, the whole place burst in applause and cheers, and I'll tell you the truth, even as I write this I get chills. It was an amazing event to witness!

Pics and additional info - With my own two hands

Our next encounter came on July 4 in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, at their annual ten day Blues Fest. I was there to perform my "Life of Bob Marley" video show for two days. Ben was the Friday night headliner, and he was kind enough to let me stand on the side of the stage while he and the band played a phenomenal 2 1/2 hour set of such explosive fury that I can only compare to the kind of performance that Bob Marley used to do. And the response of the 21,000-stong audience was certainly of Marley proportions, leading to two long sets of encores.

I was especially moved toward the end when Ben launched into the new single, "With My Own Two Hands," doing it as a medley with Marley's "War." This is one of the most important songs in Marley's repetoire, because the words were written by Haile Selassie, and delivered as a speech to the United Nations on October 4, 1963: "Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war. Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes, everywhere is war." The whole audience seemed to know the words, and sang along to this universal plea for brotherhood, another riveting moment that I will never forget.

War - Lyrics and info

It was the first time I had ever seen Ben play live, and between the new album and that show I have become an enormous fan. Of course it helps that he's such a mensch, a beautiful human being filled with compassion, humility and gentle wit, and I am proud to call him "friend."

Post-Scriptum : On the wall of the studio in the video is a poster for Bruno Blum and Dub Ambassadors, the French reggae band led by France's foremost reggae proponent. Bruno is an old friend of mine, and since 1995 we have been collaborating on a crucial Bob Marley and the Wailers project called "The Complete Bob Marley and the Wailers 1967 - 1972.

This is now a 12 album set, released by 55 in France, (and on JAD in the rest of the world) that collects virtually all the Wailers' material from the end of their initial Coxson Dodd/Studio One period to the beginning of the Island period in 1973. It includes the rarest tracks of Bob's career, including "Selassie Is the Chapel," of which only 26 copies were pressed. Not long ago a bid of $3,800 was made for a copy of it, and now it is available, in several formats, through our efforts. My inclusion of Bruno's poster is my personal tribute to him for his unflagging devotion to seeing this dream project of ours to completion. Bruno's latest, and highly-acclaimed project, is to reissue and remix all of Serge Gainsbourg's Jamaican recordings from the late '70s in a six-album set. France is very lucky to have Bruno Blum as one of its own!

Chili Charles, Oliver's father, also appears in the video - "I love the single With My Own Two Hands. That was Oliver’s arrangement of an old song that Ben had. He took it and re-arranged it. I was there in the studio when they recorded it."

To name few of Roger Steffens' talents - He's a writer, journalist, founding editor of "The Beat" magazine , photographer, archivist. He's been national promotions director for Island Records. He's written countless liner notes (e.g. Bob Marley "Soul Almighty the formative years Vol. 1") and shot dozens of album covers. He has hosted local and syndicated radio and tv shows since 1961 (e.g. National Public Radio L.A.-based radio show called "The Reggae Beat" / Cable tv show called "L.A. Reggae" co-animated with Chili Charles - Oliver's father).

www.reggaesupersite.com
Roger Steffens' Reggae Archives
1865 Lemoyne St
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Roger has been building his collection of reggae artifacts since 1973. It's the largest reggae music archive in the world - specializing in Bob Marley and the Wailers. Included in his collection are thousands of hours of unreleased tapes, an exhaustive collection of vinyl and CDs, hundreds of videos, hundreds of T-shirts, thousands of posters and reggae buttons and a vast array of collectible items. Much of what he has is one-of-a-kind or never-before-heard.

www.getthebeat.com
"The Beat" magazine is a bimonthly publication of reggae, African, Caribbean and world music, providing information, news, reviews, interviews, discographies and cultural features to an international audience.


Additional links

Rastafusion :
rastafusion.free.fr

The Complete Wailers 1967-1972 :
www.iration.com/completewailers