Category: Ska

Saturday Matinee – Avner the Eccentric, Khruangbin & Raskahuele Estridente

That’s some class clowning. While street performing in Paris,  Avner Eisenberg (aka Avner the Eccentric) was once arrested for buffoonery in public.

Space surf funk jazz mixed with world music = Khruangbin.
The name is Thai for “aeroplane,” and they make their recordings in a barn in  Burton, Texas (pop. 300). There’s more about them here than on their cool website.

Formed in 2004, L.A.’s Raskahuele Estridente is sort of a latino version of Fishbone, and I like their style.  Their song topics include socio-political / immigration issues mixed in with fun stuff.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, fight for the leftovers, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Blennophobic Hot Links

No More Doggin’, Roscoe Gordon (1952) One of the original Memphis “Beale Streeters,” Roscoe Gordan‘s breakout hit Booted made No. 1 on the R&B singles charts in 1952; No More Doggin‘ made No. 2 the same year. Gordon (and Fats Domino) influenced Jamaican pianist Theophilus Beckford, and Gordon’s back-beat style is credited as the foundation of Jamaican ska, bluebeat (Jamaican R&B) and reggae.

Rivers.

Frog Game.

I need this hat.

Bozo Fish Mask.

Gumby’s final days.

Aikey Brae and stuff.

Bushman scares dogs.

“What are you, French?”

25 new buses lasted four years.

Dan Akroyd explains Bass-O-Matic.

Clay Head with Turkey, Cheese and Ants.

Go taste-tripping with synsepalum dulcificum. Everyone should try a “miracle berry” at least once.

[Top image from here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – A Banana, Бра́во, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones & Cam Cole

This banana comes with a cool Django Reinhardt vibe.
[Found here.]

Marty Robbins goes to Russia? Бра́во [Bravo] was founded in 1983 in Moscow, was one of the most popular underground acts.
Ветер знает [The Wind Knows] sounds just like the real deal. (There’s an English version here.)

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones‘ song intro has been stuck in my head for months and now that I’ve rediscovered it I can finally sleep at night. This live version is from 2011.

Cam Cole, busker, bluesman, rocker, recording artist, and “the most impressive one-man band you will ever see” nails the blues to your forehead and plugs it into your ears. This guy is definitely one to watch for.

Have a great weekend, something else will show up here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – The Specials, Rude Pride & The Interrupters

The Specials in 1979, with A Message To You Rudy.
From the Utoobage comments:

“For those who do not know the story already, the “rudy” of this song is not a person. In fact, it refers to the slang term “rude boy” (rude boy-rudie-rudy) that originated in Jamaica in the early ’60s to define a specific sub-culture that used to listen to ska and rocksteady. As you can imagine, the term “rude” refers to the not exactly in-line-with-the-law lifestyle they had. [..] This particular subculture heavily influenced the mods and the skinheads, particularly in the look. And in in regards of music too , obviously, since the genre Oi! is heavily influenced by ska.”

Rude Pride is/was a band from Madrid (2013-2020) that played 1970s style Oi! Although the sub-genre is often misconstrued as music by racist pro-fascist bands, this is not one of them. I just like the song. (BTW, that’s the Flag of Jamaica on the wall in the background.)

Keeping with the accidental theme, let’s go with some nasty ska.
The Interrupters cover Billie Eilish’ Bad Guy, and their version is better. Duh.

I think that’ll do for now. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – George Duke & Dweezil Zappa, MonoNeon & skArmy

George Duke showed up to play Zappa’s classic Uncle Remus with Dweezil Zappa‘s band in 2010. (If you like George Duke, this behind the scenes rehearsal from1978 is kinda fun. Jump to 02:50.)

Ignore the clickbait title – it’s a killer groove by MonoNeon. He’s right-handed, but plays left-handed on an upside-down right-handed bass. Dude can cover Zappa, too.

skArmy covers Save Ferris‘s cover of Dexy’s Mightnight Runners‘s Come On Eileen is a good one to wrap it up.

Have a great weekend folks, gonna do something tomorrow.

 

Saturday Matinee – The Big Lie, Bad Manners, Reel Big Fish & The Skatalites

The Big Lie (1951). Yeah, it was propaganda, but it was also true. I went to school with a guy whose family escaped from communist Hungary in a hot air balloon. You can laugh, say that “It can’t happen here,” but it IS happening here.

Bad Manners – one of my favorite Brit Ska bands.

Reel Big Fish. They were kinda awesome.

No one could out-ska the Skatalites.

1]Freedom Sound
2]Man In The Street
3]Guns Of Navarone
4]El Pussycat
5]James Bond Theme
6]Sugar, Sugar
7]Nice Time
8]Simmer Down / Turn Your Lamp Down Low
9]Rockfort Rock (El Cumbanchero)
10]Latin Goes Ska
11]Phoenix City
12]Freedom Sound – Reprise

Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Fishbone, Ry Cooder & Justin Johnson

Fishbone was, and is, one of the tightest high-speed ska bands I ever heard. [The above is dedicated to Professor Christine Ford, whose evil testimony under oath has been proven to be fabricated in order to impune the character of an innocent man.]

One of the best slide guitar players in the business. Ry Cooder‘s 1988 swamp rock take on Elvis‘ “All Shook Up” was awesome.

Killer stuff from Justin Johnson. Turn it up. It’s the musical equivalent to stress on the 405 through L.A. at rush hour and I love it.

Have a great weekend, folks, see you back here after I tear up my kitchen tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Grand Funk, Todd Rundgren, Sarah Collins & The Joanna Connor Band

Yeah. Found here. Grand Funk Railroad released “We’re an American Band” in 1973, It was produced by a 25 year old named Todd Rundgren and it went gold.

Many of his own recordings were catchy pop (and somewhat sappy) love songs and covers of the same IMO, but I liked them.  I liked them especially because the pretty coeds would stay around longer when Todd Rundgren was spinning at 33rpm. Then in 1983 he wrote and performed one of the best ska tunes ever – Bang The Drum All Day. (As a resident of Hawaii, he later recorded “Bang The Uke All Day.)

Sarah Collins‘ vocal overdub of The Specials‘ 1979 cover of Dandy Livingstone‘s 1967 rocksteady song Rudy, A Message to You makes me smile, but we can’t close out with that one. Sorry, Sarah.

DO NOT BYPASS THE INTRO.
Joanna Connor covers Son House‘ classic “Walkin’ Blues.” She pats your head, then smacks you twice before you realize what happened. Pure awesome.

Have a great weekend, folks, see you soon.

Saturday Matinee – Live From NorWay, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fishbone & The Allman Brothers Band

LIVE CAM: Train Engineer’s Cab View in Norway [click here for local time]. Not sure which line this is, where it’s headed, or if it’s running above the Arctic Circle. Check it out in full screen view and I’ll see you back here in a couple of days.

Someday, I suppose I’ll go to Norwegia and ride that train. Meanwhile, I’ll listen to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones from 1993.

Or maybe I’ll roll with Fishbone, one of the tightest ska/rock/funk bands I ever heard. Those guys won me over a long time ago. (Check out this 1987 live version. Sound quality sucks, but the energy is killer.)

Let’s turn it down a bit with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower.” The Allman Brothers Band in 2011 always found a nice groove (presumed band lineup here).

Have a great Easter/Passover/Seder weekend, folks. See you soon.

 

Saturday Matinee – African Raccoons, Toni Tee and Liquid Wisdom & The Specials

Raccoons stirrin’ up sh*t.

Toni Tee & Liquid Wisdom on a bus. They play a cool variety of music (reggae, rock, funk, soul, hiphop, punkadelic) but it’s tough to find a vid with decent a/v on the Utoobage. [h/t Bunkessa – yeah she scored two hits this week; this one and the one above.]

Can’t fight corruption with con tricks;
They use the law to commit crime.
And I dread, dread to think what the future will bring,
When we’re living in gangster time.

The Specials performed their 1979 hit “Gangsters” (with Lily Allen) at the Glastonbury Festival 2007. (The music was lifted from Prince Buster‘s 1964 ska hit “Al Capone.” Have a listen.)

Have a great weekend, folks, and let’s see what happens tomorrow.

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