I had a dream just before I woke up that I heard music playing from my neighbor next door and I rushed out to find the Wailers setting up to play.  I slapped five with a bunch of the band - and told them I had all of their records inside my house.  Pretty soon, people started showing up in my backyard to get a seat - I just told them to stay off my vegetable garden.

It turns out the Wailers are playing, except in Detroit this evening, not Ypsilanti.

I saw them play a few years ago in Ann Arbor.  They actually played in the front lawn of a fraternity house.  You still had to buy tickets - they weren’t playing at a fraternity party.  They were truly amazing.  Of course, there’s no Bob Marley, but the lead singer sounds and looks just like him.  There’s still three or four members of the original group who still play, including band leader Aston “Family Man” Barrett.  I’m giving this info off the top of my head since their official website is down with the promise of “soon come”, typical Jamaican style.

To me, the Wailers that will play tonight in the city represent what’s left of probably my favorite band of all time, Bob Marley and The Wailers.  It was more than just the music, and no - it’s certainly not about the ganja.  If you listen to the music carefully, you’ll see that Bob’s focus was shedding light on the oppressed people of Jamaica and the world, promoting Rastafarianism, denouncing the corrupt ways of the Babylon system, and spreading love, peace, and freedom everywhere. 

This is a topic that I could go on and on about, so I’ll stop now.  If you can, go check them out tonight.  And another thought I had - what would it take to get them to play at Riverside Park in Ypsilanti?  Or the Water Street area?  We could have the Ragbirds open the show.