Tag: Ska

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.

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.

Saturday Matinee – Pup Puppet, Eleven Roses 3D, The Skatalites, The Mighty Diamonds and The Supersuckers

Guaranteed to make you smile. [Found here.]

Go find your 3D red/blue glasses for this one (or turn off the 3D and watch the 2D version).

Roots reggae with The Mighty Diamonds, live at Channel 1 in Kingston, Jamaica. Nice harmonies.

The Skatalites‘ classic “Simmer Down,” has great audio but a so-so video. So what, I like it.

And we’ll wrap up this babozo with The Supersuckers‘ “Born With A Tail.” (Some NSFK language.)

Have a great weekend, folks, and be back here tomorrow for more fun stuffage.


Saturday Matinee – Sh-Boom, Monsters, Brazil, Take Five in 4 & Reggae Hit L.A.

The Chords‘ original A Capella  version of Sh-Boom.

Nice collection of Ray Harryhausen‘s greatest hits.

If you’ve never seen Terry Gilliam‘s excellent movie Brazil this would be a good weekend to watch it. Twice.

There’s something very wrong with taking Dave Brubeck‘s classic “Take Five,” completely missing the musical pun involved (5/4 time) and turning it into a ska version (in 4/4). Aside from that blasphemy, it’s kinda fun.

Punk Funk Reggae Ska compilation, courtesy The Aggrolites. I like.

Have a great weekend folks, see you back here tomorrow for more fun.

Saturday Matinee: Ska x 4 + Willie Dixon

Awesome original by Prince Buster, later covered by Annette Funicello with Fishbone (!) and worth reposting:

SkaBoom‘s “Love and Affection.”

Filmed at 86 street, a former night club located on the Vancouver Expo Grounds, and at the UBC War Memorial Auditorium.

And then there was Oingo Boingo‘s cover of one of Willie Dixon‘s classics, “Violent Love.” Unfortunately, Dixon’s original isn’t available on the Utoobage, so we’ll default to this classic:

“Crazy ’bout My Baby” from 1966, Dixon on bass and vocals, and with that, we’re out. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see ya’ll back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Kooza, Fishbone, Vai, Maceo & Satchmo

Cirque du Soleil is always awesome. Gotta wait for the cool stuff in this vid. [Found at a blog whose name has a lot of t’s and w’s in it.]

Fishbone is/was just nuts. I love ’em.

Steve Vai’s “Love of God” is another awesome rock classic.


Maceo Parker’s “Cold Sweat” is a great groovejam with a great funk lineup.

Louis Armstrong is one of a handful of people that I would have liked to have met. ¡Adiós mis muchachos!