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Bob Marley super fan David Lawton has organised an exhibition dedicated to the legendary Jamaican reggae artist, which will run from February 3 to 7 at the Rodney Rams clubrooms in Whangateau, from 10am to 4pm daily.
Waitangi Day, February 6, would have been Marley’s 80th birthday so the show will be open longer on that day.
Lawton says he has collected enough Marley memorabilia over the last 40-odd years to fill a school gymnasium.
“We’ll have everything at the exhibition from photos, paintings and portraits to books, clothing and cushions. There’ll be old artwork, pieces I’ve created myself and art created by other artists.
“I’ve got an illuminated electric guitar that glows in the Rastafarian colours of red, green and gold, when you plug it in, of course. And there’s flags, badges, bandanas and patches – just anything to do with Bob Marley, really.”
Lawton says he first got into Marley’s songs back in the early 1980s when he was living in South Auckland.
“I used to socialise with some of the local island boys and we’d sit around and listen to his music.”
Lawton says he respects what Marley represented, stood for and believed in:
“That people should be entitled to have freedom, and respect and one another.”
Lawton wears his love of Marley on his sleeve – quite literally.
When Mahurangi Matters spoke with him, he was dressed in full reggae regalia – a tailored dressing gown that was covered top-to-bottom in Marley and Rastafarian patches, a Marley t-shirt and satchel, a Marley hat with badges sewn on, and Marley pants.
“I do have Bob Marley jandals but they only have pictures of him on the base,” he adds.
