The joy to the deception
Photo © Bruce Talamon www.marleyspiritdancer.com

 

 

On November 27, 1979 Bob Marley performed at the Roxy for the Sugar Ray Robinson's Foundation. A guy called Charlie Bobette came to the show with the Bongo sisters (the daughters of the president of Gabon, Omar Bongo). Pascalene Bongo wanted to come  backstage to ask Bob to a private dinner to discuss if Bob would play for her father's birthday and Charlie wanted to negotiate the deal. Don Taylor introduced Pascalene to Bob,  who invited him to dinner at their Beverly Hills house. Bob was very happy about this proposal. He was ready to play for free, but Don Taylor advised  Bob that it would be better if he charged $40,000 to cover transportion  costs.  Marley was ok with this and let Don negotiate the deal.

The Wailers flew from Kingston to London and then took a charter flight to Gabon. Bob Marley & the Wailers arrived in Gabon January 4,1980. They were happy to play for the Gabonese people, but dissapointed that their first concert was a private birthday bash for President Bongo and not a public affair. During the trip Bob took time to talk with the Gabonese people  who were curious to know what Rasta means. In his hotel room and on the beach , the reasonings  were very long. On January 5, 1980 Bob Marley gave an interview for the Gabonese Broadcast Alert G, where he talked about Rasta attitude and the divinity of Selassie .

They thought that it would  be amazing but the stay became a disaster. Bob had a incident with his guitarist Junior Marvin and they didn't talk to each other during the 3 days. There was a big discrepancy about the money. In fact Don Taylor said to Bob that he should to do a deal of $40,000 for transportion costs,  but Bob's manager took $60,000and hid the $20,000 difference from Bob. Taylor told Bob that Bobette was arranging all the details for the performance. Bobette  had promised Pascalene and the president that there would be two shows even though he was paid enough to do only one. Bobette paid Don a deposit for Jimmy Cliff to do the other and Bob's manager never told Bob about the second deposit. The president thought that the two shows would be performed by Bob Marley. Bobette came to Bob and asked him what was the problem with the $60,000 that had been paid. Bob Marley knew nothing about the second deposit. It was evident  that Don lied to Bob. Charle Bobette talked about it to the president who asked  to meet with them. Bob was embarassed when Omar Bongo asked why there was only one show instead of two. The night before the departure, in the hotel  room, a violent conflict burst out. Marley was furious with Don and asked him to account for the money. But Don couldn't give it to Bob because he used it to pay gambling debt. Neville Garrick (Bob Marley's art director) went to Aston Barrett's room looking for a baseball bat. Aston Barrett and Gilly followed Neville to Bob's room. Don Taylor said to Bob that he was  being presumptuous. On a table there were two bottles of water , one glass and the other plastic. Fams snatched up the glasse bottle out of Gilly's reach,  while Gilly seized the other and threw it at Don's head. The bottle hit the side of his face and busted. Bob beat Don Taylor savagely with high kicks and kicked Don in the testicles. On January 15, 1980 Bob Marley & The Wailers returned to Jamaica to record the next album Uprising.

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