{"id":60345,"date":"2025-01-31T16:45:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/adventure\/friday-inspiration-469-semi-rad-com\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T16:45:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:45:55","slug":"friday-inspiration-469-semi-rad-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345","title":{"rendered":"Friday Inspiration 469 – Semi-Rad.com"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

The first month of my freshman year in college, I borrowed Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers<\/em><\/strong> from Adam Davis, a new friend from Wapello, Iowa, who lived down the hall from me. It went into a 3-disc CD changer in my dorm room and I believe it stayed in that position until I finally gave it back to Adam at the end of the semester, when I finally bought my own copy. The most reggae I had heard, up until that point, was whatever samples and homages were on Sublime\u2019s self-titled album, which had come out the previous year. Legend, for me, opened the door to not only Bob Marley, but the music the rest of the world made outside the United States.<\/p>\n

I started to buy Bob Marley albums, and then explore the works of other Jamaican musicians. I read a biography of Bob Marley (see below) and discovered a depth to the music, of activism, some mysticism, and the phenomenon of Rastafarianism in the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve now been listening to Bob Marley\u2019s music for 25+ years, and I don\u2019t get tired of it. I don\u2019t search out kids\u2019 music to play for our little guy, because so much of Bob Marley\u2019s music is accessible to kids. (Sick of \u201cBaby Shark\u201d? Try slipping in \u201cThree Little Birds.\u201d<\/strong><\/a>)<\/p>\n

Throughout the years, I have continued to dive back into Bob Marley\u2019s life and legacy, and I\u2019ve long thought I might have enough recommendations to put together a Bob Marley-themed Friday Inspiration post. Since next Thursday (February 6) would have been Bob Marley\u2019s 80th birthday, I\u2019m doing it this week.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

When this documentary about Bob Marley came out in 2012<\/strong>, I went to the theater twice in one week to see it, and I think it\u2019s probably still the best overview I\u2019ve seen of his life, reggae, and Jamaican culture during his lifetime in 2 hours and 25 minutes. (video<\/strong><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love oral histories\u2014I think they\u2019re the closest we can get, in book form, to sitting in a room with a bunch of interesting people and listening to them talk about something. In the case of So Much Things to Say<\/em>, they\u2019re talking about Bob Marley, in a probably much more honest way than is shown in the Marley documentary. And there are so many wonderful moments in the book, told by the people who were there. My favorite line is probably Peter Tosh saying, \u201cAnd three days later, the pope die!\u201d and if you read it, I think you\u2019ll get why.
Publisher\u2019s book page<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0| Bookshop (affiliate link)<\/strong><\/a> | public library<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t remember how I heard of A Brief History of Seven Killings<\/em> back in 2015, but I was immediately enthralled by it, ripping through a paperback copy while kayaking across Lake Powell in December (I think I read 70 percent of the book while wearing gloves and lying in a sleeping bag). It\u2019s not for everyone, as it\u2019s a very violent historical fiction retelling of what happened to the seven people responsible for the attempted murder of Bob Marley in 1976. But the scale of the narrative is mind-blowing: 30-ish different narrators, each written in a distinct voice, by Jamaican author Marlon James. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2015, and like every book I\u2019ve ever read that\u2019s win or been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it seems like as many people hate the book as love it. I love it.
Publisher\u2019s book page<\/strong><\/a> | Bookshop (affiliate link)<\/strong><\/a> | public library<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

(If you do read (or have read) A Brief History of Seven Killing<\/em>s, I also loved this BBC documentary on YouTube about Marlon James<\/strong><\/a>, and his journey of growing up gay in Jamaica, coming out after moving to the U.S., and becoming a writer and professor.)<\/p>\n

Is this a weird place to mention the sponsor of this newsletter, Precision Fuel and Hydration? Well, it\u2019s fairly well-known that Bob Marley loved to exercise, mostly playing soccer in the mornings, and then taking his crew to stand under a waterfall, but he was also a runner<\/strong><\/a> (albeit maybe more likely to look to cannabis than electrolytes for performance enhancement?). Here\u2019s this week\u2019s link for 15% off at PFH<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Bob Marley running, here\u2019s a special SL-72 Bob Marley sneaker Adidas put out last fall<\/strong><\/a>, which is now only available on sneaker reselling sites, and quite unfortunately for me, over $300 in my size. (But probably a steal if you can fit into a US Men\u2019s size 7)<\/p>\n

Longtime music writer Timothy White\u2019s 1983 book Catch a Fire<\/em> was the first thing I ever read about Bob Marley\u2019s life and career, probably 20+ years ago now. In chronicling Marley\u2019s life, White explains so much about Jamaican culture and politics, and Rastafarianism, which deciphered many, many song lyrics for me.
Publisher\u2019s book page<\/strong><\/a> | Bookshop (affiliate link)<\/strong><\/a> | public library<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I owned several Bob Marley albums by the time I found the Songs of Freedom<\/em> 4-CD box set in a music store in Iowa in 1998 or 1999, and although you can\u2019t find a full version of it on streaming platforms (not sure why that is with box sets?), a couple different YouTube channels have re-created the tracklist in order<\/strong><\/a>. I go back to the early stuff often, and love how it shows Marley and the Wailers trying to find their voice, before they were a big deal, but obviously already knew how to write\/perform great songs.<\/p>\n

For some balance: the Disgraceland podcast<\/strong><\/a> did a great job of showing some of the less-than-savory aspects of Bob Marley\u2019s life and career. He was an incredible, once-in-millennium artist, but as we all know, that doesn\u2019t mean someone is a nice person all the time, or to everyone in his life.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first month of my freshman year in college, I borrowed Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers from Adam Davis, a new friend from Wapello, Iowa, who lived down the hall from me. It went into a 3-disc CD changer in my dorm room and I believe it stayed in that position […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11760],"tags":[6989,18248,17371,18249],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-60345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","tag-friday","tag-friday-inspiration","tag-inspiration","tag-semirad-com"],"yoast_head":"\nFriday Inspiration 469 - Semi-Rad.com - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Friday Inspiration 469 - Semi-Rad.com - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first month of my freshman year in college, I borrowed Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers from Adam Davis, a new friend from Wapello, Iowa, who lived down the hall from me. It went into a 3-disc CD changer in my dorm room and I believe it stayed in that position […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T16:45:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"844\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Friday Inspiration 469 – Semi-Rad.com\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T16:45:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345\"},\"wordCount\":987,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Friday\",\"FRIDAY INSPIRATION\",\"Inspiration\",\"SemiRad.com\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Adventure\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345\",\"name\":\"Friday Inspiration 469 - Semi-Rad.com - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T16:45:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":844},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Friday Inspiration 469 – Semi-Rad.com\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Friday Inspiration 469 - Semi-Rad.com - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Friday Inspiration 469 - Semi-Rad.com - Som2ny Network","og_description":"The first month of my freshman year in college, I borrowed Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers from Adam Davis, a new friend from Wapello, Iowa, who lived down the hall from me. It went into a 3-disc CD changer in my dorm room and I believe it stayed in that position […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-01-31T16:45:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":844,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Friday Inspiration 469 – Semi-Rad.com","datePublished":"2025-01-31T16:45:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345"},"wordCount":987,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg","keywords":["Friday","FRIDAY INSPIRATION","Inspiration","SemiRad.com"],"articleSection":["Adventure"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345","name":"Friday Inspiration 469 - Semi-Rad.com - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-31T16:45:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-from-Marley-official-trailer.jpg","width":1500,"height":844},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=60345#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Friday Inspiration 469 – Semi-Rad.com"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60345"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=60345"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=60345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}