Title: 5 Questions With Damian Marley

source:vibe

Excerpt: WE’RE now in the midst of the nation’s most widespread drought in 60 years, stretching across 29 states and threatening farmers, their crops and livestock. But there is another risk as water becomes more scarce. Power plants may be forced to shut down, and oil and gas production may be threatened.

Our energy system depends on water. About half of the nation’s water withdrawals every day are just for cooling power plants. In addition, the oil and gas industries use tens of millions of gallons a day, injecting water into aging oil fields to improve production, and to free natural gas in shale formations through hydraulic fracturing. Those numbers are not large from a national perspective, but they can be significant locally.

All told, we withdraw more water for the energy sector than for agriculture. Unfortunately, this relationship means that water problems become energy problems that are serious enough to warrant high-level attention.

During the 2008 drought in the Southeast, power plants were within days or weeks of shutting down because of limited water supplies. In Texas today, some cities are forbidding the use of municipal water for hydraulic fracturing. The multiyear drought in the West has lowered the snowpack and water levels behind dams, reducing their power output. The United States Energy Information Administration recently issued an alert that the drought was likely to exacerbate challenges to California’s electric power market this summer, with higher risks of reliability problems and scarcity-driven price increases.

And in the Midwest, power plants are competing for water that farmers want for their devastated corn crops.

Unfortunately, trends suggest that this water vulnerability will become more important with time.

Population growth will mean over 100 million more people in the United States over the next four decades who will need energy and water to survive and prosper. Economic growth compounds that trend, as per-capita energy and water consumption tend to increase with affluence. Climate-change models also suggest that droughts and heat waves may be more frequent and severe.

Thankfully, there are some solutions.

The government can collect, maintain and make available accurate, updated and comprehensive water data, possibly through the United States Geological Survey and the E.I.A. The E.I.A. maintains an extensive database of accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive information on energy production, consumption, trade and price. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent set of data for water. Consequently, industry, investors, analysts, policy makers and planners lack the information they need to make informed decisions about power plant siting or cooling technologies.

The government should also invest in water-related research and development (spending has been pitifully low for decades) to seek better air-cooling systems for power plants, waterless techniques for hydraulic fracturing, and biofuels that do not require freshwater irrigation.

We should encourage the use of reclaimed water for irrigation, industry and the cooling of equipment at industrial operations like smelters and petrochemical complexes. These steps typically spare a significant amount of energy and cost. The use of dry and hybrid wet-dry cooling towers that require less water should be encouraged at power plants, since not all of them need wet cooling all the time. As power plants upgrade their cooling methods to ones that are less water-intensive, these operations can save significant volumes of water.

Most important, conservation should be encouraged, since water conservation results in energy conservation, and vice versa.

New carbon emissions standards can also help save water. A plan proposed by the Obama administration (requiring new power plants to emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour generated) would encourage utilities to choose less carbon- and water-intensive fuels. Conventional coal plants, which are very thirsty, exceed the standards proposed by the president. But relatively clean, and water-lean, power plants that use wind, solar panels and natural gas combined cycle, would meet them. Thus, by enforcing CO2 limits, a lot of water use can be avoided.

Because rivers and aquifers can span many states (or countries), because there is no alternative to water, and because water represents a critical vulnerability for our energy system, governments at all levels have a stake in working with industry to find solutions. The downsides of doing nothing — more blackouts — are too serious to ignore.

Excerpt: VIBE: Your father’s music has a spiritual tone to it, when you perform his music do you feel like you’re channeling him in any way?
Wow I don’t really think about that to tell you the truth. I’m a big fan of his music. I love to sing his music. It’s fun to me. On a spiritual level—lyrically when you listen to it—I believe the words. It’s like I’m singing something of my own because I recognize. So I just believe the words.

Title: Damian Marley releases video

source:jamaica observer

Excerpt: GRAMMY Award-winner, Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley is currently in studio working on material for his fourth solo project — a follow-up to his Welcome to Jamrock.

Excerpt: Marley says he has chosen the Caribbean as the first recipient of the video, but has hopes that it will do well internationally. Set Up Shop is the second video to be released by the deejay since the start of the year, the first being Affairs of the Heart, which was shot by American photographer B+ in South America.

Title: Damian Marley praises sustainable

source:swu

Excerpt: Like any good rasta, Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley is a lover of nature. And because of that the musician is honored in participating in the SWU Music & Arts Festival 2011 where he’ll be playing on the 12th of November. “It’s a really valid festival”, he sais regarding the sustainable motto that SWU carries. Still not sure about the set list, Damian hesitated, but revealed to Portal SWU that along his own songs, he’ll be playing songs by his father, Bob Marley.

Excerpt: Q:Is it a heavy burden to carry the name Marley? Is there some responsibility involved?

A: I was born with this name, so I don’t know any other life. For me it’s normal. If you were someone who didn’t have the name and for some reason acquired it, it might be weird. But that’s what I do, it isn’t heavy at all.

Excerpt: Q: Have comparisons with your father bothered you much?

A: Not really. I don’t hear many comparisons because our styles are really different. Atleast not as much as my brothers, who have much similar styles. But either I way, I’m not bothered by it since I’m being compared to the best. Bob Marley was an ambassador of reggae music.

Excerpt: Q: Are you a defender of natural causes?

A: As a rasta, my life style is closely related to nature, doing things the natural way and respecting the earth. And it’s a life style that’s been there since the 50s. So our concern with nature isn’t something recent.

Title: Damian's Picks

source:rolling stone

Excerpt: 1. "Positive Vibration" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1976
I used to wake up to this song every morning; I had it as my alarm. It's a great way to start the day, because the whole message puts you in a hopeful mood and reminds you that negative breeds negative.

2. "Sun Is Shining" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1978
I love the mood of it, and the bass line is one of the best ever: very heavy, slow and simple. It's dangerous when you hear it through big speakers!

3. "Concrete Jungle" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1973
This is from Catch a Fire, which marked his becoming an international star.

4. "Burnin' And Lootin'" | The Wailers, 1973
A lot of people know Bob Marley for his more friendly singles, but the majority of his music was revolutionary stuff, like this.

5. "One Love" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1977
This song says that "revolutionary" doesn't mean evil or abusive: You can't become what you're fighting against.

6. "War" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1976
The lyrics are actually from a speech by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. For Rastas, that's our messiah.

7. "We And Dem" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1980
I do this onstage a lot, because it's one of my favorites. I like the hardcore feel to it. It's like, "We've made up our minds. We're not taking any bullshit."

8. "Real Situation" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1980
This song speaks about wars: "Nation war against nation/ Where did it all begin?/When will it end?" It's extremely relevant today.

9. "Natty Dread" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1974
This is a great song for Rastafarians to hold our heads high and be proud of our locks. In those days, when you saw someone with locks, it was still a shock!

10. "Crazy Baldhead" | Bob Marley & The Wailers, 1976
We sampled this on my 1996 song "Me Name Jr. Gong." The high-hat has a swing to it that's a little unorthodox; it was a new style that's since become a staple in reggae.

Title: Marley dominates Billboard reggae chart

source:jamaica observer

Excerpt: Marley continues to dominate Billboard's reggae albums chart. The king of reggae Bob Marley and his offspring — Ziggy, Stephen and Damian -- account for four of the top 10 slots on this week's ranking.

Excerpt: The Marley name also appears at the number three slot on the chart with Stephen Marley's Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life, which has spent 17 weeks on this chart and advanced one position from its number four spot last week. This week's number four is another Marley, as Ziggy's album Wild and Free takes that spot, having been on this chart for the past 14 weeks. The Marley brand is rounded out at No 9. The original Marley, Bob, continues to chart 30 years after his death with Live Forever taken from a show at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, USA, on September 23, 1980, mere months prior to the death of the reggae icon. This album has spent 34 weeks on the Billboard reggae album chart.

Title: Nas and Damian Marley to unveil new songs

Excerpt: Few rappers have had a more divisive career than Nas. Other than his instantly canonized 1994 debut, “Illmatic,” each of his ensuing eight efforts has either been regarded as a startling return to form, or yet another failure to reach his precocious zenith.* But even those who haven’t cared since Clinton’s first term must have been intrigued by the news of "Distant Relative," his collaboration with Damian “Junior Gong" Marley, slated for an early June release. Recorded at an undisclosed Los Angeles studio over the last several months, the duo will finally unveil stripped-down versions of the new songs Friday at 8 p.m. at L.A. Live’s Grammy Museum.

Excerpt: While his father made his name in the more traditional roots reggae, the youngest singing Marley (elder siblings Ziggy, Julian, Stephen and Ky-Mani also sing professionally), has carved out a niche with his “toasting” style, a strain of reggae that borrows heavily from both dancehall and hip-hop. Accordingly, some of Marley’s finest work has come in collaboration with rappers, including guest appearances on albums from B-Real, Redman and Method Man, and Snoop Dogg.

Title: Bob Marley's Sons to Hold Concert

Excerpt: KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Four sons of Bob Marley will hold a concert promoting peace to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the musician's birth, a family spokesman said Tuesday.

Excerpt: The concert shares the name of a 1976 show staged by the government of former socialist Prime Minister Michael Manley to promote harmony between politically aligned gangs, and it will feature Stephen Marley and his brothers Ky-Mani, Damian and Julian, Hamilton said.

Excerpt: Hamilton said Ziggy Marley, the most famous of the legendary musician's children, was not able to attend and rarely visits Jamaica.

Title: Music a means, a message

Excerpt: He has an eclectic mix of influences such as his family, Shabba Ranks, Supercat, Tiger, Ninja Man, Third World, Snoop Dogg, Nat King Cole and more, so Junior Gong produces music that has long been hard to classify. "It's dancehall and reggae. I've noticed over the past couple years people trying to separate the two of them. Originally dancehall was a place. Is the same culture. You hardly have any artiste that stay on one riddim . In terms of even that artiste yuh more know for dancehall in general them still have songs on one drop riddims. It's Jamaican culture in general. I don't try to classify or separate," he said.

Excerpt: Naysayers claim that Damian has reached so far because of his name, but he says "at the end of the day you not going to listen to rubbish and people buy the album and love it. I don't think Marley is gonna win yuh over in people's CD decks. It might win yuh an interview and a picture here or there, but the response that yuh get when yuh go on-stage and hear cars passing and playing that, Marley doesn't win yuh dat, music wins yuh da. That's the prize more than anything else."