MIAMI -- A feud has erupted within the first family of reggae, with the widow and nine children of Bob Marley suing his half brother to stop use of the Marley name to promote an annual Miami music festival and profit from other businesses in his native Jamaica.

The lawsuit filed in federal court contends the half brother, businessman Richard Booker, and several affiliated companies are violating copyright and trademark laws by using Marley’s name, photographs, lyrics, symbols and other intellectual property without authorization.The lawsuit says people could be deceived into thinking those uses are officially endorsed by Marley’s widow, Rita Marley, and their children. Booker and Bob Marley shared the same mother.The entities include the Bob Marley Movement of Jah People Inc., which promotes the music festival, a restaurant in Jamaica called Mama Marley’s and several businesses with the name Nine Mile -- the part of Jamaica where Marley grew up and is now buried.

The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles is paying tribute to Bob Marley with an exhibition focusing on the Jamaican reggae star as a private, spiritual man as well as a powerful performer who used his lyrics to give a voice to the disenfranchised. Bob Marley, Messenge r, which runs through Oct. 2, features more than 40 artifacts and rare photographs, including items from the Marley family’s private collection. So if you're in LA spark one up, bring a friend or few and check it out for more info check here

Thirty years after his death, Bob Marley’s shadow looms larger than ever. There can be no doubt that he long ago entered the pop legend pantheon next to such names as Lennon, Joplin, Morrison, Strummer, and Cobain. To many, Marley’s music is synonymous with reggae itself. Legend, his posthumous “best-of” collection, has to date sold over 25 million copies, making it the best-selling reggae album in history. He’s been the subject of close to two dozen books (the most recent of which was released only a few months ago). His image and sounds are used to sell everything from incense burners to Jamaican vacation packages.

And yet, as is so often the case with dead rock stars, there is something of a disconnect. One wonders what the militant anti-racist would think of the privileged white frat-boys who smear themselves with blackface as an “homage” to Marley at campus Halloween parties. Similarly, it’s hard to look at lavish Jamaican resorts existing next to such grinding poverty and wonder if the musician’s calls of “one love” now ring hollow.Luckily, Marley’s roots run a lot deeper. A website dedicated to his memory rightfully states that “in the Third World his impact goes much further. Not just among Jamaicans, but also the Hopi Indians of New Mexico and the Maoris of New Zealand, in Indonesia and India, and especially in those parts of West Africa from which slaves were plucked and taken to the New World, Bob is seen as a redeemer figure…”

These are not exactly the suburban kids that the marketers of the Western music industry attempt to target. At the time of his death, Bob Marley was one of the first international superstars to emerge from the developing world. Such credibility cannot be so easily sanitized. With revolt now shaking North Africa and the Middle East, it seems that the “suffering masses” who Marley tried to reach were indeed listening. Ultimately, it makes his legacy that much more potent and inspiring.

Classic tune from the king enough said FULLJOY!!!