Bob Marley

Two notable British singer/songwriters, a passel of duos, Bob Marley's last concert and a bunch of worthy music videos have captured our ears and eyes this week. THE LONG AND SHORT: Brooding British balladeer Bobby Long has been working these parts solo for a couple of years, building quite the following with his darkly romantic folk poetics. Now comes his debut album with a band, "A Winter Tale (ATO, B+) , sometimes fleshing out his cryptic tunes with weightier arrangements.

Just because an act has a pocketful of hits doesn't mean it can support a pop musical. Take the Eagles. Great tunes, but "Hotel California" is soooo '70s. Cher? Too campy. Aerosmith? Too kinky. Mariah Carey? Too hard to sing. But some artists are just begging for greasepaint. Hall & Oates. They're human jukeboxes with a song for every occasion. And "You Make My Dreams" has show-stopper written all over it. Eminem. Is Broadway ready for a rap musical? It had better be. Slim Shady deals in gritty characters and strong emotions.

The daughter of the late reggae icon Bob Marley does not trumpet her famous father, but she shares some of his beliefs - ones that have landed her in trouble, her attorney said Wednesday. Makeda J. Marley, 29, of Chester County, pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing a passel of marijuana plants - 11 mature, three juvenile - and to tampering with evidence when police came to her Caln Township residence on Sept. 8, 2008. Lawyer Thomas K. Schindler said that his client, like her father, believes marijuana has religious value.

Music Rodrigo y Gabriela. It's hard to believe that it's been 11 years since album-buying audiences first got a taste of Mexico's Rodrigo y Gabriela — or Rod y Gab as they're affectionately known — when the duo's Foc was released. Now, they offer their first-ever run at Cuban arrangements on the new Area 52. "We have to just play what we like and break all the rules, ours and everyone else's," Quintero says. "We do metal. We can shift to "Take Five" and jazz. It's all a fusion in every sense of the word, what we do. Personally, though, we would like to think that there is alien life out there.

ONE LOVE - THE BOB MARLEY ALL-STAR TRIBUTE. 8 p.m. Sunday, TNT. Can a new album and TV special finally connect reggae king Bob Marley to the audience he desired and courted largely in vain? Surely, his influence has been profound in contemporary music forms as varied as hip-hop, quiet storm soul, protest folk and rock. He was the first "Third World" artist to reach international stardom, breaking down stereotypes and opening the floodgates for other universally aspiring artists.

His mother claims he was clairvoyant as a child. His colleague, Judy Mowatt, compares him to Joseph the prophet. More: At the precise moment of his death, hundreds were said to witness the heavens darken to unleash a deafening round of thunder. And you thought people got worked up over Elvis. For sheer myth-making, no pop star has a thing on Bob Marley. As this 100-minute documentary - "The Bob Marley Story" (Island Visual Arts, $19.95) - reaffirms, Marley's true believers make the followers of Elvis seem positively neglectful.

Crispin Sartwell teaches political science at Dickinson College in Carlisle When we got on the Metro train the other night, a slender Rastaman who later told us his name was Fred was singing Bob Marley's "Redemption Song. " He was busking - playing for change - a respectable trade I plied myself for a time. Drawn in by that transcendently beautiful song, which itself asks over and over for participation ("Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom?"), we began shyly to move our lips to the lyrics.

If you're an amazing athlete, musician or artist, staying in school may not help you with your career. But most people aren't one-in-a-million talents. They need an education. Jay-Z gets that. So even though he didn't graduate high school, he's not recommending that as a path to wealth and fame. Beyonce 's husband announced yesterday that he will perform two shows at Carnegie Hall in February to benefit the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation and the United Way of NYC. "Education is super important," he said.

Ziggy Marley is sprawled across his hotel bed, looking like any other 19- year-old in jeans and a T-shirt, except perhaps for the dreadlocks that brush against his shoulders. The son of reggae legend Bob Marley has picked up at least one habit common to rock stars and traveling salesmen: He has taken to leaving the television on without the sound. Two of Marley's younger brothers - Steven, who drums in Ziggy's band, the Melody Makers, and Robbie - have collapsed on the other bed with Ziggy's bodyguard.

If any people at the Festival Pier on Monday night thought Ben Harper's hopeful-yet-heated closing song, "Better Way," in honor of Sept. 11, was his first acknowledgment of the turbulent times we've endured five years on, they must have been too far gone on the grooves. Either that, or the funny scent that was floating through the cool night air on the Penn's Landing waterfront. You could excuse the crowd - a multicultural, multigenerational mix equally entranced by the hour-long set of the opener, Damian "Junior Gong" Marley - if it missed a few messages during Harper's more than two-hour show.

Music Rodrigo y Gabriela. It's hard to believe that it's been 11 years since album-buying audiences first got a taste of Mexico's Rodrigo y Gabriela — or Rod y Gab as they're affectionately known — when the duo's Foc was released. Now, they offer their first-ever run at Cuban arrangements on the new Area 52. "We have to just play what we like and break all the rules, ours and everyone else's," Quintero says. "We do metal. We can shift to "Take Five" and jazz. It's all a fusion in every sense of the word, what we do. Personally, though, we would like to think that there is alien life out there.

If you're an amazing athlete, musician or artist, staying in school may not help you with your career. But most people aren't one-in-a-million talents. They need an education. Jay-Z gets that. So even though he didn't graduate high school, he's not recommending that as a path to wealth and fame. Beyonce 's husband announced yesterday that he will perform two shows at Carnegie Hall in February to benefit the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation and the United Way of NYC. "Education is super important," he said.

When locals talk about gumbo, they're not always referring to the Louisiana stew laced with meat and veggies. They're talking about Philly Gumbo, the area's tastiest musical ragout of New Orleans parish-based soul, blues, reggae, and dense funk. After 31 years and running, they have finally made a CD, titled Come and Get It - but the fact is, adventurous listeners have made Philly Gumbo a topic of conversation for all of those 31 years, possibly a record when it comes to local bands.

LITTLE BAY, Jamaica - I'm sitting in a small Jamaican fishing village that was once home to Bob Marley - and I'm thinking of Cairo. I came on a long-planned vacation to a friend's seaside cottage in hopes of escaping from the world, but I'm fixated on the Egyptian revolution. Since there's no TV or Internet here, and it's hard to phone Cairo (as I've been doing nonstop for the last two weeks), I can't follow every new development. So my thoughts are reverting to past revolutions I've witnessed, to see if they provide any clues to an Egyptian outcome.

Two notable British singer/songwriters, a passel of duos, Bob Marley's last concert and a bunch of worthy music videos have captured our ears and eyes this week. THE LONG AND SHORT: Brooding British balladeer Bobby Long has been working these parts solo for a couple of years, building quite the following with his darkly romantic folk poetics. Now comes his debut album with a band, "A Winter Tale (ATO, B+) , sometimes fleshing out his cryptic tunes with weightier arrangements.

The daughter of the late reggae icon Bob Marley does not trumpet her famous father, but she shares some of his beliefs - ones that have landed her in trouble, her attorney said Wednesday. Makeda J. Marley, 29, of Chester County, pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing a passel of marijuana plants - 11 mature, three juvenile - and to tampering with evidence when police came to her Caln Township residence on Sept. 8, 2008. Lawyer Thomas K. Schindler said that his client, like her father, believes marijuana has religious value.

WALK SOFTLY - or at least in a straight line - and carry a big handbag. That, along with tucking in the girls and flattening her trademark pouf, was the courtroom strategy for "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi yesterday as she pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace. She was given a $500 fine, plus $33 in court costs, and ordered to perform community service, which if justice were truly served would mean the cancellation of that obnoxiously popular MTV reality show.

In Concert 632 Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford; 610-388-6221. www.chaddsford.com . Summer Nights Under the Stars Outdoor Concert Series. $22. 8/20. 251 Beach Ave., Cape May; 888-944-1816. www.congresshall.com . Ann Oswald & Don Shaw. 8/24. Kate Delany. 8/25. Darin MacDonald. 8/21. Beth Tinnon. 8/20. Charlie Sleeth. 8/23. 1853 Wrightstown Rd., Washington Crossing; 215-493-6500. www.crossingvineyards.com . The Idlewoodsmen. $10 in advance; $15 at the gate.

Family Birthday party at Smith. Smith: The Kids' Play Place in the Park celebrates its 111th birthday with a free party on Saturday. The Junior League of Philadelphia will lead children 10 and younger in face painting, bubble-making, and crafts. The league also will dedicate its recently donated flower garden. Birthday cake will be served, and there will be a raffle to win a birthday party in the park. The Girard Avenue Rita's will donate water ice. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Smith: The Kids' Play Place in the Park, 33d and Oxford Streets, in East Fairmount Park just above Kelly Drive.

We're thinking global today but sometimes acting local with some of the world-embracing music newly out as CDs and download options. IT'S ALL RELATIVE: Mergers of hip-hop and reggae artists are nothing new. Rare, though, are such collaborations as thorough and rewarding as the fusion of American rap star Nas (Nasir Jones) and Jamaican singer-songwriter/ producer Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley on "Distant Relatives" (Universal Republic, A-) , a warmly musical and provocative affair with an intriguing theme, and verging on universal appeal.