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Peter Tosh rides a unicycle
03.04.2016
08:42 am
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This year is the 40th anniversary of Peter Tosh’s solo debut Legalize It—now available on CD in the superior, uncluttered “original Jamaican mix”—and his shoes remain vacant. Tosh’s rebelliousness was bound up with his eccentricity: he spoke in his own riddling, punning language, blew pot smoke in the faces of the most powerful men in Jamaica, and, time and again, perversely bit hands that fed him. In his way, he was full of good cheer, too. Whose day wouldn’t be brightened by the sight of this sharp-tongued, militant, six-foot-five Rasta passing by on unicycle?
 

Tosh practices smoking and cycling in a hotel hallway
 
John Masouri’s biography Steppin’ Razor reports that Tosh acquired his first unicycle at a bike shop in New York on June 19, 1978, hours before opening for the Stones at the Palladium. Masouri, who says Tosh learned to ride the unicycle by practicing in hotel hallways on the road, quotes manager Herbie Miller on the singer’s fondness for novelty items and pets:

He was young at heart and as funny as any stand-up comedian, and also spent quite some time purchasing toys and gadgets associated with youth culture and activities for his own use. So, skateboards, roller skates, slingshots, electric motorcars, unicycles and layback cycles were most precious and guarded. He also loved pets and kept fishes, a variety of rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and birds. I once had to talk Peter out of returning from a European tour with a pet chimpanzee; for me, it was a monumental achievement since it was virtually impossible to talk him out of some things, including ‘beating the gate’ with hamsters from a previous tour.

 
More Peter Tosh on a unicycle, after the jump…

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Posted by Oliver Hall
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03.04.2016
08:42 am
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Epic live performance by Peter Tosh in L.A. 1983
09.10.2011
06:01 pm
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Peter Tosh, October 19, 1944 – September 11, 1987

 
September 11 is a date heavy with tragedy not only for the absolute horror that befell New York but because it also marks the date that Peter Tosh was murdered in 1987. While most attention will be focused on the tenth anniversary of the death and destruction surrounding the World Trade Center, I thought I’d share something in honor of Tosh.

One man’s death does not equal 3000, so I am not making any comparisons between the two events beyond the fact that they share a month and day and were tragic.

I’ll be avoiding most of the media hype surrounding September 11, 2001. It’s too painful and too exploitive. I think it best to remember 9/11 quietly and solemnly. I am somewhat sickened by the media’s attempt to profit (via TV ratings and book, magazine and newspaper sales) on the wrenching events of that day. I’ve seen enough photos of the burning towers, debris-covered victims, shocked faces and falling bodies to last more than a lifetime. And politicians using the devastation of 9/11 for political gain is beyond nauseating, it’s obscene.

Anyway, here’s a scorching 60 minute set by one of reggae’s greats: Peter Tosh live at L.A.‘s Greek Theater in 1983. Featuring “Pick Myself Up,” “African,” “Glass House,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” “Not Gonna Run,” a dynamic cover of “Johnny B. Goode” and more. Directed by Michael C. Collins.

“I’m like a flashing laser and a rolling thunder”
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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09.10.2011
06:01 pm
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