Tag: Ska

Saturday Matinee – Tito Puente, Mickey Hart & Todd Rundgren

Pure percussion by Tito Puente e Los TropiJazz All Stars. I could listen to this stuff all day.

Decades ago (in college) we attended an off-campus house party that seemed to have a live band. I asked the host about it and he replied, “That’s the Rhythm Section. They’re in the basement.” So I went downstairs and found people taking turns on vinyl trash cans, bottles, cans, buckets, with wooden dowels and spoons, and it all sounded great as it morphed, non-stop. No electronics, just stoners people grooving on impromptu syncopated rhythms.

Micky Hart‘s Planet Drum project got my ear as well. Hard to say what musical instrument came first, the bone flute or the drum. I’d guess the latter, because you can bang on anything to create a tempo, and everything else is secondary. (Vocals don’t count unless you’re talmbout Hollerin.)

Then of course there’s this RetroSka classic:

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll be back here tomorrow whether you like it or not.

Saturday Matinee – Heavy Slabs in Tasmania, Puddles Painting Party, Manualist Extraordinaire & Fishbone

August 2016 – “Tasmania’s most famous wave comes to life to launch the Australian winter with a roar. When the southern hemisphere starts to rumble and shake under the weight of wild winter weather, The Stern, out there on the south-eastern tip of Tasmania, bears the full brunt of the conditions.”

[Found here.]

Found here. Yeah, it’s cool for the first minute or so, but hey. I’d rather watch this guy’s stuff.

https://youtu.be/IOyEw9bT8yQ

Dude is awesome.

One of my all time ska favorites. Fishbone kicks it in 2013.

Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Dog Looks, Skatalites, and others

YES. Dogs do this, especially with a nice soundtrack [via].

https://youtu.be/O9HyXc4e7Qc

Dedicated to all the Social Justice Warriors out there.

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

Saturday Matinee – The Bosstones, Ska-P & The Skamonics

I’m kind of on a ska kick. It helps me decompress after all the holiday festivities, so here we go.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones‘ “The Rascal King” from 1997.

Ska-P rocks from Madrid. From what I gather, they’re a popular anarchist ska band in Europe.

http://https://youtu.be/10KiwI5x_AU

This cover of “Tainted Love” by The Skamonics is kind of interesting.

Happy New Year, have a great weekend, folks, and I’ll be over this nasty head cold soon.

 

Saturday Matinee – Harrier Lands Sans Nose Gear, El Mariachi Manchester & Bad Manners

Harriers are awesome… and scary as hell if you happen to be the enemy. You hear its death whistle before you see it.

El Mariachi Manchester covers The Smiths‘ “Girl in a Coma” with a poco mariachi, poco ska style. (The trumpet player is using a Harmon mute and Bunkessa said the singer looks like me).

Since I’m in a ska mood, let’s wrap it up with this.

Bad Manners first hooked me with their cover of Millie Small‘s 1964 hit “My Boy Lollipop” which was a cover of a song written by Robert Spencer of The Cadillacs and recorded by Bobbie Gaye in 1956 (according to Wiki).  Bad Manners also recorded one of the prettiest reggae love songs ever in my opinion: “Samson and Delilah.”

So let’s wrap up this babozo with a full dose of British Ska.

https://youtu.be/AcWIup_XKLw

Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow whether you like it or not.

Saturday Matinee – The Spotnicks, The Specials, Bad Manners & Buddy Guy

The Spotnicks’ “The Rocket Man” (1962). Pre-Devo awesome [via].

The Specials‘ “Ghost Town.” Too much fighting on the dance floor.

Ms. Wireways (?) a Jamaican radio DJ in Southern California in the ’80s, said this was the best reggae song ever. Bad Manners’ “Sampson & Delilah” fits the bill, even though the vid sucks donkeys. Close your eyes and listen instead – it is a pretty song.

Buddy Guy is one of the last original bluesmen. Here he is, backed up by G.E. Smith who is no slouch either.

That’s it for this edition. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Jonathan Winters, Manu Chao, Gnarlemagne & Billy Cobham/George Duke Band

Jonathan Winters (1925-2013) was the most talented improvisational comedian ever. R.I.P.

Manu Chao, Live Baionarena – Dia Luna Dia Pena. Chao’s got an interesting background that explains a lot of  his leftist politics.

Gnarlemagne‘s “Funky New Orleans” is some fun nasty ska.

“The Red Baron” by The Billy Cobham – George Duke Band, live at Montreax Switzerland in 1976. Very cool funk groove, featuring George Duke, John Scofield, Alphonso Johnson and Billy Cobham.

That’ll do for another edition of The Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks.

Saturday Matinee – Frans de Waal’s Capuchins, Russian Monkeys, Ska and The Specials

The Capuchin Monkey experiment is classic. Full video here, and it’s worth watching. Frans de Waal‘s  joke about OWS is wrong, but the rest is good IMO.

Good God are these guys scary monkeys. One errant gust of wind at that height would blow ’em away. [via]

The Specials only had one album, but it put Ska back on the map for pop music. The late Amy Winehouse did a horrible cover of the song.

Let’s see. How do we wrap this up on a positive note? Got it.

The Specials Live in Glastonbury 2009. With that we’re out of here. Be back here for Real Gangster Time tomorrow for more inane fun.

[Update: Joanne C corrected me in the comments below. The Specials recorded several albums.]

Saturday Matinee – Vince Taylor, Shakin’ All Over, The Specials & Rufus Thomas

Guess Who? It’s not Who you think it is. Vince Taylor & The Playboys.

Science declares 4 seconds of shaking removes 70% of the water off a wet dog, and 20% lands on you. Do aquatic mammals, like whales, orcas, dolphins & porpoises, shake off air? NEW STUDY! [Your tax dollars at work. Found here.]

The Specials revived ska in the 70s, and did the dog.

Rufus Thomas knew how to walk the dog decades ago, until his demise in 2001.

Due to some unfortunate happenings in the private sector, we’re going to cut this episode short. Have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for more slices of the stupid pie. =)

Saturday Matinee – Giant Snail, Giant Slug, Doug & The Slugs, Sharks Took The Rest, & Tokyo Ska Paradise

Glad those things don’t leap, but these slugs did:

We’ve featured Doug & The Slugs before. That vid dates to 1980, and 20 years later (the late) Doug Bennett was still singing the same song.

There just aren’t enough snail and slug songs IMO, but here’s “Snails” by Sharks Took The Rest. Not exactly my cup of gastropodia, but at least they contributed to the movement.
MOR SNALE SONGS PLZ

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra is just the thing to wind up this Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend, folks, see you back here tomorrow.