Rasta Dudes : Black Uhuru brings its reggae with the rock ‘n’ roll edge to the Ventura Theatre. The Jamaican group’s new record is ‘Iron Storm.’

Black U-who? Black Uhuru, that’s who. These Jamaican Rasta dudes have a Grammy, the beat, the hair, a new record and an attitude.

And surprise, surprise, they have a local date--tonight at the Ventura Theatre with Pato Banton.

Black Uhuru was formed in the mid-’70s by Garth Dennis, Don Carlos and Duckie Simpson, and since then, the band has gone through sufficient personnel changes to even bend the mind of a McDonald’s lunch shift manager.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same--Dennis and Carlos have rejoined Simpson for the most recent Black Uhuru album, “Iron Storm.” It rapidly rose to No. 1 on the World Beat charts.

Black Uhuru does reggae with a rock ‘n’ roll edge. It’s not your usual one-beat, one-note, one-week-long song, either.

The new one has an impressive horn section, but alas, no Puma Jones on vocals. A South Carolina native, and a band member since 1978, Jones died last year at 34 of breast cancer.

Don’t expect any polka music or any covers of “Free Bird,” “Born To Be Wild” or “Stairway to Heaven,” because this band is serious.

They’re fully as preachy as Mr. Rogers, Jesse Jackson and Ralph Nader, but they have a much better beat. Uhuru is not just the name of the communications officer on the Enterprise--it also means freedom in Swahili.

The band’s music deals with racial prejudice, injustice, oppression and, in general, the stuff nightmares are made of. And, of course, getting higher than Chinese bottle rockets on sinsemilla.

“Our music is political and militant,” Simpson said in a recent interview. “Reggae is what we were brought up on. We all grew up in a musical background. Reggae is our music. Nothing else would suit us. All that stuff in Russia and Europe--I don’t care about that. I’m a Jamaican. America rules the world. George Bush runs things. I don’t care about that system; I care about Africans. The Third World--he doesn’t run that.”

And don’t think these Rasta dudes are the ones with the “Support Your Local Police” sticker on their van.

“Where I come from, there is this stigma against the Jamaican people,” said Simpson. “People think Jamaicans are bad people, that we’re gangsters, drug pushers and murderers. Every time we do a show, the police give us a hard time. They always give a Rastaman a hard time.”

THEY COME THEY GO: The best rockin’ blues band in Santa Barbara, the Crawdads, are breaking up.

Leading Crawdude and maniac singer, Michael (Crawdad) Crawley, and his best girl are moving to Tennessee. Crawley has all the intensity of Jim Morrison except he’s still alive. He can dance better too.

The band will have its final two gigs. One will be Friday night at Art’s Bar, the other is Sunday at the Creekside Inn--both in Santa Barbara.