The real Delaware destroyer

Thirty years ago today, the greatest rock star ever to prowl the streets of Wilmington passed away at a ridiculously young age:

Ibis met (Bob) Marley after Marley's wife, Rita, visited his specialty and gift shop at 24th and Market streets in Wilmington in 1969. Rita, who was living a block away with Marley and his mother, was looking over the art and jewelry from all over the world that Ibis sold.

Ibis noticed she was barefoot. "I was curious about it and asked her where she was from and she told me Jamaica," he says.

Ibis soon met Marley and was given a 7-inch record of his 1967 song with the Wailers, "Nice Time," which Ibis played over and over, night and day.

At Booker's home, at 23rd and Tatnall streets, Ibis would play drums in the basement while Marley played guitar. "We'd jam, but I didn't really know who he was at that point," Ibis says. "We just had fun with him."

So they next time you're ready to trash Wilmington as dull -- i.e., any time you have to pass through it -- remember that, hey, it was cool enough for Bob Marley!