UP THE COAST : Gnarly Marley Party Happenin’, Mon, for the Late Reggae King : Biggest area gig planned for the singer’s 50th birthday. Grammy-winning groups Inner Circle and Steel Pulse to play.

Like those dearly departed Presidents, Bob Marley won’t be around for his birthday party, a celebration generally more fun than Abe Lincoln’s--at least until “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” becomes a cool reggae song.

Marley, who died in 1981, would have been 50 years old today. Tonight’s Marley Day party at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara is the biggest (not to mention most expensive) gnarly Marley party in the area as a pair of Grammy Award-winning groups, Inner Circle and Steel Pulse, attempt to pack ‘em in, mon. Lion I’s, Ventura’s own ragers, will kick off the festivities.

Inner Circle won its Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 1993. “Bad Boys,” the album containing the song of the same name, has sold more than 3 million copies. Tonight, the boys in the band--Calton Coffie (vocals), Bernard Harvey (keyboards, vocals), Lester Adderley (lead guitar), Ian Lewis (bass, vocals), Roger Lewis (rhythm guitar) and Lance Hall (drums)--will be pushing a new album, “Reggae Dancer.”

Getting a Grammy looks pretty good on that ol’ resume, according to Adderley, a man of few words.

“Everything is beginning to get better,” Adderley said, speaking from Florida.

The band is hoping for another big single off the new album, perhaps the reworking of the 1969 Joe South classic “The Games People Play.” With its witty preachiness about plastic people, the song seems like a natural adaptation for a reggae band. But the reggae Michael Bolton album isn’t in the cards just yet.

“Well, we all know a lot of old songs, and by taking these songs and adding the reggae rhythm, we give it that reggae feeling,” Adderley said. “Some songs just hit you, and some don’t. Not all songs can be reggae songs. Reggae music is very strong, I think, because of the message. Basically, it says to do the right thing, helping other people. That’s it.”

Inner Circle’s variety of reggae utilizes a more homogenized approach, incorporating more pop and rock elements than the basic roots reggae bands, which play the one beat, one song, one week variety of repetitious rasta rhapsodies. Inner Circle has more in common with groups such as Common Sense and Big Mountain than with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh or Black Uhuru. But according to Adderley, it’s working.

“We try to add a little pop and a little bit of everything to it, but basically, we still have the reggae beat,” he said. “Besides, the young people like it more than the roots reggae. It’s commercial.”

Reggae seems to be getting popular everywhere these days. There are even reggae bands in such unlikely places as Japan and reggae music in commercials. Dreadlocks are becoming a popular hairstyle--or did Michael Bolton’s blow dryer have a bad day?

Reggae’s popularity rubs off on Inner Circle. “It’s going great,” Adderley said. “We been to Europe, Japan, South America and we just got back from Chile--that place has great energy.

“In the United States, reggae is big in New York, Florida and California, and getting there in the central part of the country. It’s getting bigger all over. Some say it’s not, but it is. People are just beginning to realize how important the reggae is. It’s only a matter of time for the groove to happen. You can’t hold it back; it’s gonna get out there.”

No fly-by-nighters, but just another 20-year overnight sensation, Inner Circle was formed by the Lewis brothers in Jamaica in 1975. After singer Jacob (Killer) Miller was killed in a car wreck in 1980, the band relocated to Miami and has been on tour ever since. Adderley, for one, doesn’t mind the road scenario.

“Well, if you want to make it, that’s what you have to do, no matter how rough it is,” he said. “The best thing for us is performing live before a big audience. We go all year-round (but) get a week off here and there.”

Details

* WHAT: Bob Marley Party.

* WHO: Inner Circle, Steel Pulse, Lion I’s.

* WHEN: 7:30 tonight.

* WHERE: Arlington Theater, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara.

* HOW MUCH: $31.50, $23.50, $20.50.

* CALL: 963-4408.