Please sign the Club Tropical Guestbook

THE KEY POINTS OF INTEREST HERE AT THE CLUB ARE:

• Rasjohnmon’s Record Shop Listening Room

• Rasjohnmon’s Jukebox with dozen’s of music mixes and concert recordings

• Reggae SumFest 95 Feature Page – get to hear nearly all of four nights of the best Reggae Music Festival ever

• Luther Mack’s Music Lessons Archive recordings and more Rasjohnmon recordings

• The Club Tropical Gallery featuring a Pablo Romero Exhibit

Other Sites to Visit:  TimeSpaceAdventurers.com & DesignerOfReality.com

A SCENARIO:  The Seeds of Eudemonia

What’s your story?

It is often said that to find your mission all that you need to do is go back to your early days and remember what your dream was.  For me, I have always had a longing to play host at a place of beauty, joy and flowing PositiVibes enlivening all in the space and beyond.  We all can use a place to relax and let the troubles of the world recede.  I have envisioned it as a place people would come to and just relax and enjoy themselves.  While it is a very physical place in my mind, you can find it for yourself right where you are.  

In my mind, what I have come to call the Club Tropical is a place of great Spiritual energy that I see becoming a hub of conscious interaction with the world.   I see a community being formed that is powered by love and a shared appreciation of each other and all life.  There we share our growing clarity guided by curiosity that is blended with insights coming from minds in an open state.  Some of us are involved with meditating and letting their seeking minds play with the ideas, hopes and dreams that arise for them. Some may just need a break – some time for communing with peace and possibility.  Sharing the energy of love and appreciation of others traveling this storyline with us gives us the opportunity to intermingle our intentions.  As we learn to come into synchronicity with each other we find that the transformational impact on how reality is perceived is exponentially increased. 

Now did I think about all this when I was 10 or 12 years old?  No, then it was just about being happy and loving life filled with this overwhelming enthusiasm to experience as much as I could and curious about what wonders might be unfolding in front of me.  The difference now is that I realize that I have a responsibility to decide what storylines I want to develop and those that I choose to reject.  I accept that reality grows from me – I am creating it not simply witnessing it.  I recognize that desire is my creative compass with those things I come to want with all my heart accepted as guideposts toward my best possible future.  We all have a challenge in that we have spent years developing this character we believe ourselves to be.  Your character has been cooked up with the ingredients of all of the stories you have heard or told yourself.  There are ingredients passed on from physical ancestors and Spiritual ancestors alike.  But like everything else in this life, it is up to you how you use all of the information you find and how best you can solve the puzzles that are offered as guidance.  This is why we are here: to discover who and what we are while seeking to discover in what ways we can serve the whole of the Gaian Community.

So that is the idea wrapped up in my Club Tropical. The challenges of the world are recognized but do not diminish us as while we are here in this shared place of peace and power for a purpose.  From this place it is believed that we have the ability to shift global consciousness to come into synch with the loving, compassionate and appreciation filled view of reality that we are projecting.  Everybody still has their own story and their own unique character to portray but we have the intent to always be an oasis in what can seem a psychic desert here in the field of consciousness.  We shine a light on possibility and will pay close attention so as not to miss any chance to spread seeds of Eudemonia.

John A. Brodie, LaunchTSA.com

So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley

By Roger Steffens

 A note from John Brodie:

My first taste of Reggae Music came during a JA visit in the early 1970’s.  I actually picked up my first Reggae LP (which you can listen to on the Record Player Page) after listening to Leslie Butler play piano by the pool at what was then the Playboy Club in Ocho Rios.  A few years later I was introduced to the magical music of Bob Marley at a penthouse party of top Urban marketing executives in NYC.  Bob Marley was playing on a record player and that was how it all began. 

At the time I was VP of Business Development and Director of Music Marketing for The Westwood One Radio Networks.  At Westwood One I had the opportunity to become friends with Roger Steffens – the world’s top authority on Bob Marley,  and Timothy White who hosted one of the WW1 radio programs.  Timothy wrote one of the best books about Bob Marley entitled, Catch A Fire.  Timothy is best known for his work with Rolling Stone Magazine where he became editor-in-chief of Billboard until 2002.  Timothy wrote many articles that enthusiastically promoted Marley and Reggae Music.  During this time, while it had little to do with Reggae Music, I was responsible for launching a live concert program from the Apollo Theater in NYC.  There I met a wonderful guy by the name of Clarence Jones and had the spectacular adventure of working with him on a satellite broadcast of Carnival from Trinidad.  With hotels all full, I got to live in the home of a local family for a couple of weeks.  Their company and hospitality – along with all the amazing music – made this one of the best adventures I had ever had.  A couple of years later it was actually topped when in 1984 I became marketing director for Reggae SumFest in Jamaica.  At that time I launched REGGAE.com and did daily updates on the festival from JA.  (you can visit my SumFest Reports through this link).

REGGAE.com went on to be an IRIE success with millions of cyber visitors weekly.  After moving to South Florida I worked with local media and started my own marketing company called PreviewNet.  Among the things we worked on at Reggae.com was the promotion of several music events produced by Luther Mack Productions.  Luther is another great friend and I am so appreciative of the work I got to do with him and all the artists I got to be acquainted with. 

REGGAE.com has now become RASJOHNMON.com and the PositiVibes can also be found at RadioReggae.com.  We are very pleased to bring you the best in vital streaming Reggae Music coming to you from Rasjohnmon’s Club Tropical.

CLICK HERE to visit the Rasjohnmon BOB MARLEY STORY Page 

The two pictures above were taken by Rasjohnmon from the audience section and below is from the Kaya Tour Program including Rasjohnmon’s John ticket stub from June 17, 1978 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. 

Photographs of a Reggae Legend

CLICK HERE to Listen to this story… by Alex Chadwick 

Bob Marley performs in San Diego, 1978.
Bruce W. Talamon
Day to Day, February 4, 2005 · Between 1978 and 1980, photographer Bruce Talamon toured with reggae singer Bob Marley and shot some of the most popular images of the musician. He talks about his experiences touring with Marley — who would have turned 60 on Februrary 6 — with NPR’s Alex Chadwick.

Many of the photos were published in Talamon’s book, Bob Marley: Spirit Dancer. The images remain an indelible portrait of an artist at the height of his creative power.

On these pages you will find Bob Marley lyrics and quotes, some great Bob Marley pictures including Ras John’s Bob Marley pictures from Madison Square Garden.

The Robert Marley (Bob Marley) Tribute at Ras John’s reggae.previewnet.com – Biography – Bob Marley Lyrics – Pictures – Bob Marley Story, Marley Foundation and Festivals and Restaurants and Wailers Tour Dates plus Bob Marley Interviews and quotes.

“”headed 

LIVE with Bob Marley

My first experience of Bob Marley and The Wailers was in 1973. I was in an apartment in New York City and I remember I was I was at a party for ad executives, friends  and clients of Mingo Jones Advertising who handled most of the Urban advertising for companies like AT&T, Miller Beer and the U.S. Army.  From another room the music that was playing attracted my attention.  As I headed in that direction, the party disappeared into the background and I had to know more about this music. The spinning label said “Catch A Fire” and the band was Bob Marley and The Wailers. 

The next day, I headed to Tower Records and bought “Catch A Fire” and “Burnin'” and listened to nothing else for several days. 60’s and 70’s rock had owned my turntable before – much of it was music with a message. Marley took this to a new level of passion with a riddum that could not be resisted. The songs presented stories of persecution but always filled with hope. Many of the songs were filled with a Spiritual energy that made them feel like hymns from the inner city. They were songs from who had been born in the lush countryside and raised by an Obeah man Grandfather before moving to the Concrete Jungle in Kingston with his Mother.  The young Marley told a story that would inspire not only Bob’s friends and neighbors in Kingston, Jamaica but people of all walks of life, races, nationalities and levels on the economic ladder. Bob Marley’s lyrics are enlivened by compassion and a determination to refuse to settle for a less than satisfactory status quo. “Get up stand up, stand up for your rights! Who the cap fits, let them wear it. Jammin’ and easy skanking, every ting gonna be all right”.

If you got to see Bob live, you know. I have been lucky enough to see most of the top acts of the 60’s and 70’s live but the Marley shows were special… they were on a different plane. The first show I saw was the RastaMan Vibration Tour in late April 1976 at the Beacon Theater on Broadway in NYC. The Beacon was a top Rock concert Hall and drew fans from New York University, Columbia University the boroughs and Jersey. All the shows were sold out with fans of the Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Doors, Jefferson Airplane and the like who had all been captured by Marley’s Reggae Vibe. Lot’s of trips to Jamaica were planned those nights.

All this time, I was buying up Reggae records from other artists – I figured if Bob’s stuff was this good, there had to be other great stuff out there too. Culture, Joe Higgs, Burning Spear, Third World, Ras Michael, Lee Perry, Big Youth, U-Roy, The Heptones, Jimmy cliff… the list and my music collection grew and grew. I knew BIG TINGS A GWON.

When I heard Bob Marley and The Wailers were going to be at Madison Square Garden, I waited on line over night to get tickets. That night, as we walked in the Garden it was transformed into a magical place. It was a little like the energy being there for a Grateful Dead show but much deeper and more mystical – there was a natural mystic blowing through the air, can’t keep them down – if you listen carefully now you will hear. It was a totally mixes audience from Rastas in Regal Garb to yuppies in jeans and t-shirts to N.Y’s hip and connected “cool” crowd – it was the hot ticket in town that June 17 night in 1978. On another page you can see the ticket stub and program cover. I shot some great Bob Marley pictures at the Garden – the Ras John Reggae logo is from one of the shots I go that night as are the two stage shots you’ll find.  The memory lives on.

I was working at NBC and later Westwood One where I got to know Timothy White and Roger Steffens who worked with me at The Source (NBC Rock Radio Network) and then when Timothy was doing Rock Stars for Westwood One. Timothy wrote one of the best books on Marley, “Catch A Fire” and Roger “Rojah” Steffens is probably Bob’s biggest fan along with being a serious historian of Reggae Music with Marley front and center of course. There’s so much thing to say… it is quite an amazement and joyous wonder how this reluctant Messiah from the hills of JA went on to have such a monumental impact on so many peoples lives. He spawned a whole culture. Robert Nesta Marley brought the world together with Music and delivered powerful messages – Robert Marley’s lyrics and riddums – when it hit you feel no pain. I got to see Peter Tosh a couple of times, with one of those times a very special night sitting right by the stage with only a couple of hundred other people at NYC’s Bottom Line. It was a great show with the Tamlins providing harmony but no match for the mystical power of Bob.

I got to see The Wailers next in October of 1979 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NY. Walking along the street one day in the City, I saw a poster – you can see it on another page here – Betty Wight (a soul/gospel singer) and Bob Marley and The Wailers at The Apollo. I was not going to miss it – it was one of the few times Bob got to play to a predominantly Black audience in the States – Bob played every show like he had something to prove and won the heart and soul of the crowd each night. The Legend LIVE show that is on DVD from Santa Barbara, CA takes place about a month later and demonstrates the power of the band as well as anything I’ve seen on recordings except maybe the Roxy Show CD. You can get more info on other pages here. I headed home after the show by myself, thanking Jah for the privilege of being there and wondering yet again of the magic and wonder of the world we live in.

On September 23, 1980, Bob Marley was to play his final concert ever at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. A pretty good recording of this show exists and it is testament to his power as an artist – although he was already very sick, the sold out crowd in Pittsburg still got to see one last, stunning show. That last night, Bob ended the show with an acoustic version of Redemption Song (the recording of the song from that night is the final track on Marley Songs of Freedom 4-cd box set). There would be a three song encore but Redemption Song was poetically perfect as a closing note. “There was a feeling of a whole era coming to a climax. Everyone felt he knew something was going to happen,” said Rita Marley. “Redemption Song is like a final statement in a career, a summation of all of the themes and thought that had created it” – to quote the liner notes for Songs of Freedom. “We’ve got to fulfil the book.”

– JB, webmaster Rasjohnmon.com & RadioReggae.com