...Skankin' in the Tri-State

I am a child of the NY Ska scene.

Well, I am a young adult of the scene anyway. My high school boyfriend exposed me to this wonderful world in the mid-90's and I have been a devotee ever since the first time I got kicked out of a ska show at The Wetlands for underage drinking.
Fast forward to 2012, a few grey hairs, and I can still be found blasting The Slackers any given afternoon on my agonizing North Jersey commute. It's happy music that reminds me of summer days and sweaty dance floors. Shows without egos. Horns, beer, and guys wearing suits and sunglasses.
This summer, as I book my Slackers and Pietasters Booze Cruise tickets, I will be interviewing, show reviewing, and more or less harassing as much of the modern scene as I can for a summer series on the scene itself...what it was, what it is, and what it is poised to become.

...bring your pork pie hat, your best trousers, and let's dance...

~AJH

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The Pinstripes - I

My Sunday mornings, unless coupled with a hangover, are my favorites. I wake up whenever my body stirs from slumber (or the cat steps on my face), stumble downstairs in my robe and pajamas, and start my coffee. Once a cup or so is consumed and that sweet, sweet blood of life also known as caffeine is streaming through my veins, I like to crank up something good and loud and full of soul and dance to wake my ass up and fill me with life while I do my mundane New Jersey suburb Sunday morning chores. It has to be good. It has to move me. It has to remind me that the world is alive and buzzing around me and I woke up this morning...I should be doing nothing less than dancing, So this is when I usually like to test out new music. My mind is rested and clear, and craving something that will make me move. I waited until a Sunday morning to pop in The Pinstripes for the first time. I don't think I even needed the caffeine. WOW. This album exploded all over me, and I have been nothing sh...

More Than a Mouthful - Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad : Make it Better

I feel like I hit the auditory lottery this last year in a lot of ways. Opening my mind to another side of music has been a delicious adventure that I really didn't anticipate shaping and changing me the way it did. I started this blog/podcast focused on local artists which became almost exclusively a ska/reggae/rocksteady undertaking. It's music that lights me up and a scene that welcomed and encouraged what I was trying to do with this whole project. I wanted to share what I was finding in the scene. I wanted to promote and push bands, albums, and shows that were regional into an international audience. This has always and will always be my mission, but I have had to admit that my blinders were on. Enter my husband. Jam guy meets Ska girl. They bond over punk rock and get married. We found out the two scenes we come from were so incredibly similar in so many ways. The vibe, the crowds, the social ideas were very much the same but still there was some strange imaginary ...

The Pandemics - Brain on Tap

New York City is a veritable cornucopia of music and culture. The music, the art, the people...it all radiates with an aura of gritty determination that won't wash off. It's unique energy permeates everything that bleeds from between it's concrete structures and dark clubs and bars. I am in love with New York City. I always will be. It's been a mecca of ska and punk music over the last bunch of decades, and my favorite place to escape New Jersey and run to for a recharge of my soul. Bands in New York have an energy that is almost tangible, and nearly impossible to describe. It varies band to band, scene to scene...but it's constant. Every time I get into a new one, I can detect it almost immediately. It's what gets me dancing immediately...be it sitting at my desk, driving in my car, doing my dishes, putting my radio show and podcast together, everything where the music is filling my ears. Thank fucking goodness for New York City. This is everything that fil...

A Perfect Mess

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