TAKE FIVE: BUNNY WAILER

Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006 | 7:36 a.m.

What: Bob Marley Roots Rock Reggae Festival

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Pool at the Palms

Tickets: $42.50 to $82.50; 942-7777

Bunny Wailer, one of the founding fathers of reggae, makes his first trip to Las Vegas next week.

The desert heat apparently is a perfect match for the looping island rhythms as Las Vegas becomes reggae's second capital for the next six weeks.

There are the weekly reggae concerts at The Beach (Thursdays) and Krave (Mondays). Next month, Toots and Maytals, UB40 and Maxi Priest headline Reggae Sunsplash at Mandalay Bay and Wayne Wonder, Shinehead and the Legendary Soul Vendors highlight the Universal Love Legends of Rasta Reggae Festival at the Clark County Government Center.

But Wailer's visit is the reggae event most fans are eagerly awaiting. He headlines the Bob Marley Roots Rock Reggae Festival at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Palms' pool.

Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer - who was born Neville O'Reilly Livingston - co-founded the seminal reggae trio the Wailers in 1963. As other musicians joined and left, the trio remained the band's core for a decade and produced hits such as "Stir It Up", "Get Up Stand Up" and "Trenchtown Rock."

When they went on to solo careers, Marley and Tosh gained international acclaim while Wailer remained little known outside of Jamaica. Marley died of cancer in 1981; Tosh was murdered in 1987.

Only Wailer, 59, survives to spread the "positive vibrations." The three-time Grammy winner will be accompanied at the concert by two of Marley's sons, Ziggy and Stephen.

In a telephone call from his island home, Wailer spoke in his Jamaican accent about a variety of topics.

On his reluctance to travel

"Not true. When I'm invited I go. A lot of people are saying a lot of stuff. In reality I been doing the things that are right to do so we can be sustain the music. I been doing those things. When I'm invited to go abroad and represent the music, I do just that. I'm just not invited so often."

On the Palms concert

"This is a family affair, a continuation of Bob and myself and Peter, over into Bob's sons with Bunny Wailer as the surviving Wailer. It's my first time in Vegas. I always look forward to the reggae family, the good message."

On his career

"From my first solo album, the 'Blackheart Man' album in '75 to today, I have done over 20 albums. I'm still in the studios; still as involved as I ever was. "I'm satisfied to see that reggae has grown into a global concern. There's a new generation. I can see that the world is still accepting what my generation is accepting. It is really satisfying to know the music has survived all this time."

On reggae's future