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Showing posts from August, 2012

Review: The Shifters - In It! and an interview with Keith Duncan

...I am officially addicted. It happens on occasion. I get myself an album that I can't get out of my speakers, my headphones, or my head in general. It's been a while. Then I was sent a copy of The Shifters new album, In It! And it happened again. My addiction kicked in full force, and I can't stop listening. Or dancing. A couple months back, I did an interview with Steve Jackson of the Pietasters, and he mentioned the music scene in the Washington DC area. He mentioned The Shifters specifically. Always willing to take the word of a my blog subjects and an admired musician, I began my quest to get more familiar with these guys. I found some YouTube videos and while I was highly impressed with how tight this band is live, it was not until I got this album that I realized just exactly what level of amazing I was dealing with here. To call myself a music snob is probably an understatement, and I am not easily impressed by anyone for any reason. Studio album or liv

Skankin' in the Tri-State Part 6: The Pietasters on a Mutherfuckin BOAT!

...Steve Jackson and I...it's a duet! I don't know where these booze cruises have been all my life, but I hate that I just finally started embarking on them this summer. It's beer. It's ska. It's dancing. It's amazing views of New York City from the East River as the sun sets. It's great people. It's a great show on a damn boat! Let me start off by saying we just barely made the boat at all. Traffic into Manhattan from North Jersey is a nightmare on a Friday. Add in some construction around the Lincoln Tunnel, and we have a recipe for anxiety. A booze cruise is not like a regular show in that you can meander into the venue whenever you get there. You need to be there, on the boat, by a certain time or the boat leaves...and you are standing on the dock waving it goodbye. Last time I did this, I took the Holland and barely made it. This time I figured the Lincoln would be another option. We should have taken the advice of the drunk guys in the bar i

The integrity of an artist...where is it going?

I just saw a notification that Tony Sly of No Use For A Name has passed away. I love NUFAN. I have been a fan since my early 20's when a friend loaned me their album More Betterness...which I think I still have somewhere (don't loan me CD's you think I might like...). It was in the CD player of my Volkswagen for an easy three months before I took it out. I think that was only to bring it in the house, where I played it again. Developing my voice as well as my mind in those years, I used to BELT out Life Size Mirror, Let It Slide, and Chasing Rainbows the most. The songs were amazing. They had lyrics I related to in my post teen angst, pre-find myself mid 20's when I didn't know who the hell I was or where the fuck I was going any day of the week. I still love them. Still sing at high volume when the songs come up in my iPod shuffle in traffic. The more the news of Tony's passing gets around, the more stories I am hearing about who he was as a person, off the