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Ever since becoming deeply moved and then essentially obsessed with reggae music as a teenager, Dave has always strove to learn as much as possible about the history and culture of reggae music, Jamaica and Rastafari, the ideology and lifestyle intertwined with reggae.  Over the years, he has interviewed many personalities throughout the reggae world including Ziggy Marley, Burning Spear, Lucky Dube, Bradley Nowell and many artists in the progressive roots scene. Dave has also written and published a novel, “The Cosmic Burrito,” a tale of two friends who drive across the USA in search of the ultimate burrito. He plays ice hockey weekly for a recreational team he founded and manages, Team Rasta. Reggae music has filled his life with a richness for which he will forever be grateful, and he gives thanks to musicians far and wide, past and present, whether they perform roots, dub, dancehall, skinhead, rocksteady or ska, whether their tools are analog or digital, as well as the producers, promoters, soundsystems, selectors and the reggae massive at large who comprise the international reggae community. You can follow Dave on Instagram at @rootsdude and Twitter at @ElCosmicBurrito.

First Watch: The Ellameno Beat – “Jump the Gun”

To make waves within the “surf roots” or modern American reggae scene, up-and-coming artists need to command attention by setting themselves apart from the rest. Popular acts like Stick Figure and Tribal seeds, along with notable bands that have come on strong in recent years like The Movement, Iya… Read More

Artist Spotlight: Kairo McLean

My ongoing quest to find new reggae music inadvertently forces me to spend a considerable amount of time listening to music that doesn’t move the needle for me. Thankfully, however, every so often I come across an artist that blasts that marker well into the red section at the… Read More

Artist Spotlight: Dub Propulsion

When I think of Humboldt County, three things come to mind: dank weed, redwood forests and reggae music.  

Since my earliest days becoming familiar with cannabis culture over three decades ago, the northern California county always held a hallowed mystique for its proclivity for cultivating high… Read More