Tag: Ska

Saturday Matinee – Leroy Thomas & The Zydeco Roadrunners, Lisa Mann, and Joe Hodgson

Skadeco! Leroy Thomas & The Zydeco Roadrunners‘ song has little connection to Dale Hawkin’s 1957 hit Suzie Q aside from the title. I like it.

Award-winning bassist, singer/songwriter Lisa Mann grew up in West Virginia, moved to Portland, Oregon.  She says the song is based on a true story, so it’s either about a boyfriend’s addictions, his a-ho buddies, or both.

From his bio: “Guitarist Joe Hodgson hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. It is both sweeping and intense, boldly blending rock, blues, jazz, and Irish traditions into finely crafted instrumentals.”

On 14 June 1775, 250 years ago, the United States Army was founded.
Happy anniversary to the greatest protector of freedom and liberty in the world:“This We’ll Defend!” 

Lotta stuff to cover at porch time tomorrow. See you then and there.

Saturday Matinee – Jovin Webb, Sonny Gullage & The Melbourne Ska Orchestra

Lionel Richie once described his voice as “the sound of barbecue sauce.” Luke Bryan remarked, “I could sit and drink a lot of bourbon listening to that voice.” Louisiana blues and soul singer Jovin Webb made it to the final ten performers on the 2020 season of American Idol and moved on from there.

Singer, songwriter and keyboardist  Kevin ‘Sonny’ Gullage has earned much acclaim despite his young age (26 years old this year), and combines the sounds of New Orleans roots blues, boogiewoogie and gospel with modern styles.

The Melbourne Ska Orchestra covers a tune from the 1927 Broadway show Good News.

Been pretty busy this week. A lot of time and effort goes into pretending to be busy, and I’m definitely getting better at it. Free lessons tomorrow on the porch. See you there.

Happy New Year’s Eve 2024 – End of Year Playlist

The end of a long year deserves a playlist to bring in the new one, and just as we did a mere twelve months ago, here’s a compilation of songs that buzzed my earballs in 2024.

Set 1 – January, February, March & April

Set 2 – May, June, July & August

Set 3 – September, October, November & December

[I omitted most of the tunes from the Halloween playlist, but you can hear them all here.]

And one more thing: Happy New Year!

[Caveat: I don’t own the copyrights to any of these recordings. They are presented here for entertainment purposes only.]

Saturday Matinee – Keb’ Mo’, The Mavericks, Skatune Network, & Gwen Stefani / No Doubt

Keb’ Mo’ breaks it down and throws it back.

The Mavericks are Raúl Malo / vocals, guitar; Paul Deakin / drums; Jerry Dale McFadden / keyboards, vocals; Eddie Perez / guitar. Early jump blues piano style that morphed into ska.

One man ska band JER / Skatune Network covers Otis Redding‘s cover of Charles Brown‘s 1947 hit. The guy’s amazing.

In 2003,Gwen Stefani & No Doubt spread the Oi of the season with their cover of the Vandals.

Lemme see. Christmas Eve isn’t until Tuesday, so I still have tomorrow’s porch time to make a list and check it twice, and Monday for shopping. No sweat. Stop by tomorrow and we’ll compare lists.

Saturday Matinee – The Errol Linton Band, Aynsley Lister & Gary Clark Jr.

The Errol Linton Band plays a cool ska to reggae blues mashup, described as “funky stuff, blues with a reggae tinge and jazz flavours, Black British music with roots in Mississippi and New Orleans, Kingston and London.“

Self-taught guitarist from the UK, Aynsley Lister learned by copying the sounds of Peter Green, Albert King, Eric Clapton and Paul Kossoff. (I hear some Robyn Trower in there too).

Gary Clark Jr.‘s  influences and collaborations range from B.B. King, The Jackson 5 and Muddy Waters to Alicia Keys, Dave Grohl and Childish Gambino, and there are good reasons why he’s a four-time Grammy winner.

Only three days until The Great Election, and I expect fireworks regardless of the outcome – and not the good kind either…
In any case, the porch will be open for business as usual. See you there.

Saturday Matinee – The Fearless Flyers, Manou Gallo & The Steady 45s

The Fearless Flyers showed how to make a music video in 2018. The quartet was a spinoff / side project of funk group Vulfpeck (who recorded the quietest grooves ever on Sleepify).

Afro Groove Queen Manou Gallo is a singer, songwriter, bandleader and 5-string bass slapper from West Africa, and plays a variety of regional and world music styles.

The Steady 45s are a retro reggae / rocksteady / ska group founded in Los Angeles in 2012. I like this groove, better than the original.

Glad that the DNC finally had their party so we can get back to the important things in life, like quality porch time. See you tomorrow.

Scapulomancing Hot Links

Violent Love (live), Oingo Boingo (1983) Ska cover of Willie Dixon’s 1951 classic. From the Utoobage comments:
“Fun fact: In the early 80’s when they performed this song, during the sax solo Danny Elfman would grab a random person from the audience and take them backstage. When they returned Danny would be zipping up his fly and the other person’s hair would be all messed up (and yes he did this with male audience members too).”

Ant baths.

Marli Toys.

GPS Doodles.

–And Yet Again

Map of Sounds.

Be the capybara.

The USS Harder.

Who’s That Lady?

Restored campers.

Create a password.

LBCP walks around.

Norty Blues Episode 69.

A Latvian Solstice serenade.

The Death of Poor Joe (1901).

The Witches Tower of Dayton.

Applaud as if your life depends on it.

Please look at this chicken [via Bunkerville].

Poppin lollies in da hood [via Mme. Jujujive].

Norman Rockwell’s reference photos [via Memo Of The Air].

[Top image: One of photographer Steve Gschmeissner’s microbeasties.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Belomancing Hot Links

This Is Ska Live, Bad Manners (1997)
Bad Manners hooked me with their cover of Millie Small‘s 1964 hit My Boy Lollipop (a cover of My Girl Lollipop credited to Robert Spencer of The Cadillacs and recorded by Barbie Gaye in 1956).  Bad Manners also recorded one of the prettiest reggae love songs ever: Samson and Delilah.

The diner.

That line…

BBQ Salad.

That Hertz.

Three bears.

Clothing time.

Bushman Beach.

Carnival of Souls.

Norty Blues Episode 64.

Australian beach worms.

Everyone needs a little space.

Bump It Up [via Feral Irishman].

Class photos [via Mme. Jujujive].

A collection of weaponry memes.

Fruity Oaty Bars [via Memo Of The Air].

Stoic, serious, and pragmatically practical cows.

The 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Carbon Footprint Awards finalist [via Bunkerville].

Feeding 1st Responders after recent storms. (It’s Stalecracker, dood!)

[Top image: 1983 Bad Manners 45 rpm all clean and shiny.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – The Courettes, The Holophonics & Dan Patlansky

Dubbed The World’s Greatest Two Person Rock ‘N’ Roll Ensemble, Flavia & Martin Couri, aka The Courettes, make retro new again. Hop hop.

The Holophonics are a ska punk reggae band with members from New York City, Dallas/Ft. Worth & Southern California. At least they have a Facebook page.

This trio consists of Dan Patlansky / guitar & vocals, Tom Schwan / bass and Ben Matthews / drums. Patlansky is a blues guitarist from South Africa, was voted the No. 4 Best Guitarist in the world. He’s the only artist with two worldwide No. 1 and two No. 2 Best Blues Rock album awards as voted by Blues Rock Review.

Been another week full of Time Flies and I still haven’t figured out how to slow them down. I plan to be up at the crack of noon tomorrow for porch time and we can discuss our options then. See you when you get here.

Saturday Matinee – The Young@Heart Chorus, The Linda Krieg Trio, The Hacklers & La Perra Blanca

What started out in 1982 at a Western Massachusetts elderly housing project to joyfully pass the time instead of passing before your time has developed into the stereotype-defying, generation-crossing musical extravaganza better known as The Young@Heart Chorus. 

Linda Krieg is one of the few prominent blues harp players in Germany and a fixture in the Rhine-Main blues scene. Her trio includes Dominik Krauss (guitar) and Klaas Wendling (bass); she also tours with her guitarist husband Oliver Hell as Mrs. Krieg & Mr. Hell.

The Hacklers are an Irish Ska band based in Kildare. They formed in 2014 and “developed their own distinguished sound, a mix of Ska and Reggae blended with their own unique ‘Extra Stout’ Irish flavour.”

Alba Blanco, aka La Perra Blanco, is a blues/rockabilly guitarist from Cádiz, Spain, and has been performing since the age of 14. This video highlights her stage act, kind of over the top with the mugging, but her talent shines.

Another long week gone in no time, and it’s already the weekend. We have big plans for tomorrow, or maybe we don’t. See you on the porch noonish.