A Perfect Mess

I have said before that I am fairly new to the jam scene as an active participant. My husband is a jam guy and I resisted the scene for a while, mostly because I had not found a band that resonated with me yet. That changed in the last year when he introduced me to Twiddle. Mind you, I had already been to several festivals with him that he was playing and got to experience for myself the colorful people and welcoming vibe that the scene not only presents, but actively promotes. It's billed as being a welcoming place for everyone to come and get down. It's represented as a modern day Woodstock feel in the hearts and minds of its attendees and that no matter your color, your preference, your manner of dress or your aspirations, if you are cool, it's all cool. Honestly, it's refreshing and quite delightful. I guess that is why I am so surprised by the recent things I am reading. A friend of mine sent me a link to a Facebook group that follows the band moe. I know a

I have felt for a year or so like I was in a music drought in our scene. It's not that there wasn't anything happening, it's just that there wasn't anything exciting happening. Don't get me wrong. There have been some great releases and incredible shows, but it's been kinda ho-hum for a little while. I took a couple years off from the podcast and the blog while I recovered from illness, got married, and had my daughter. Maybe it was me who was ho-hum, but I feel like I am slowly reanimating when I hear music like what I am about to throw at you. Now, I'm a Jersey Girl and a Yankee fan, so as hard as it is for me to throw love North, I have to say again and again that Boston kicks us down some amazing music. I will ALWAYS give love to Boston for music. (I hear the food up there is pretty amazing too...) They do not disappoint. Enter The Pomps. These Boston cats have a great fusion of reggae, pop, trusty old new wave, and just groove. I was told to ca

I married a jam guy. This ska/reggae/rocksteady enthusiast married a jam guy. It's not news. We have been married a few years. We bonded over a shared love of Bad Religion and Irish coffees several years ago and the rest is history. He is a bass player and a Dead Head. Our musical tastes are both very eclectic and while they overlap in many places, we never had a really prominently shared adoration for a band that made us both go looking for shows and hotels in other cities to see them at. Well, until now.  I have had a good time taking him on Slackers booze cruises and Pietasters shows over the last few years. I have enjoyed showing him my world and my terrible dancing. His love is in the jam scene. I have gone to see him play and equally enjoyed watching the crowds at these colorful festivals and listening to the incredible musicianship I have gotten the chance to see. The people are wonderful and welcoming, but I didn't feel that pulling in my heart the way I do at th

I can't remember where I was when I first heard the Slackers. I do know I was about 17. A misfit, never really fitting in sort of teenager from North Jersey. It was the mid 90's, and the song was Watch This on a compilation. It kicked me right in the head. From that point on, I was hooked in for good. There was something about the steady groove of the music and the upbeat drag of the vocal that stuck with me and has not let me go since. I had never really listened to anything like this. I had never really heard horns used that way or a bass line like that. This was music that spoke to me somewhere on the inside, in a place I was not able to describe, with a voice I was not really able to find the words for. Now, here I am, a 37 year old mother of two with a full time job, a blog, and a bad ska addiction. I'm still a misfit who never really fit in, living in North Jersey. Only now I have found an entire community of people just like me (and there are a lot of us) who