There are two things Gary Pine uses to wind down after a show. The first, a bit of ganja, goes without saying. The second, a Playstation console, is more of a surprise.

"This is really cool," he said, eyes glistening with delight as he unearthed the console from layers of clothing and newspapers piled on an unmade hotel room bed. Even though Pine has yet to play, you just know some poor space monster is doomed.

Would Bob Marley have liked video games had he lived long enough to watch them evolve into what they've become? We'll never know. Marley was just 36 years old when he died of cancer in 1981.

    But in other respects, Pine may be an appropriate
    substitute for Marley, whose legendary reggae band
    The Wailers still tours. In October, the group stopped at The Vogue
     in the trendy Indianapolis neighborhood of Broad Ripple with original
     members Aston "Familyman" Barrett on bass, Al Anderson
     on lead guitar, and Earl"Wya" Lindo on keyboards.

  

The current Wailer configuration didn't offer up any new material at the Indianapolis show, sticking to the safety of music Marley recorded in his lifetime. "No Woman, No Cry" and "Simmer Down" were among the obvious standards, but the band also threw in some obscure tunes that only the most diehard Marley fans would recognize.

Pine, who joined The Wailers in 1998, doesn't mind. The old music is timeless.

"It's unique," he said. "It comes from suffering. It comes from the ghetto, the downtrodden people of society. Some people choose to shoot guns. Bob Marley & The Wailers shot music."

The social and political commentary for which Marley was known has all but vanished from contemporary reggae, but Pine believes it will return in time. These things happen in cycles, he said. Social consciousness may ebb and flow, but music feeds the suffering soul, and suffering and oppression can always be found somewhere.

For that and many other reasons, Pine always admired The Wailers. Growing up in Port Antonio, Jamaica, he taught himself to play the guitar listening to their music and that of another Jamaican music legend, Burning Spear (born Winston Rodney). Two of Pine's cousins worked with Spear, so Pine got to hear him live often.

Today, Pine's musical tastes are as disparate as Aerosmith, Ashanti and Jay-Z.

He'd like to record his own record some day, ("I've got some beats") but for now Pine is happy doing what he's doing. And he isn't frustrated by the inevitable comparisons to Marley.

Pine knows he has large shoes to fill.

"It's like you get thrown into the lion's den," he said. "You just do what you gotta do. Fight your way out."

Jah Bless.

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