A Perfect Mess

I think I have gone into quite a bit of detail over the course of this series about how much of a Slackers fan I am. They are my happy music, my sad music, my dance music. I can sing you Redlight, The Question, and Self Medication from beginning to end without stopping. My seven year old son is a Slackers fan thanks to my constant soundtrack of their music in my home, and has demanded that as soon as they do any kind of all ages show, that he be in the audience. When I began writing this series a couple months ago, they were a target for me to get an interview from. Seeing as they are one of the most hardworking bands in this scene I sought to dig into, this proved a little more difficult than I had thought. I was able to chat briefly with a few of the guys on the booze cruise a few weeks back (I wrote about it  here ) but boats and booze and music with one of my favorite bands don't make me the most charismatic music journalist. They make me a dancing giddy girl. ...

King Django's legendary Stubborn Records celebrates it's 20th Anniversary with shows and goodies and releases...oh my! Here is the official press release... ~AJH ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Brunswick, NJ - based Stubborn Records has been celebrating its 20 th  Anniversary year  with a series of new releases and concerts, bringing New York’s longest-running ska, rocksteady and reggae party, “Version City” to NJ for the first time.  The eclectic and festive party will hit the Crossroads in Garwood on Thursday, August 30 th  for founder King Django’s Birthday Bash.  Partygoers will enjoy live music all night with old-school rhythm’n’blues, Jamaica ska, rocksteady and reggae from King Django Band, a solo acoustic set by Obi Fernandez (of hard-touring ska band “Westbound Train”), country-swing-ragtime-rhythm’ n’blues from Bad Luck Dice , the “rocksteady and roll” sounds of Pennsylvan...

...so to answer the question from my previous blog, it IS indeed possible to dance on a boat. Even when that boat is a rockin' due to the very flashy thunderstorm happening over the East River that we happened to be floating around in. Not that it mattered. This was not some ordinary booze-cruise. This was The Slackers. I'm a Slackers fan. A big one. They are beyond a doubt one of my favorite bands. Ever. Period. I could probably sing you Redlight and Self-Medication from beginning to end without missing a word. They are in my constant iPod rotation, along with the rest of their releases. Vic Ruggiero is one of my most admired artists, both with The Slackers, and in his other collaborations and solo projects. Once this event was on my radar, I was going to get there. No matter what. It's been a rough few months for me for a myriad of reasons. I have not been out too much...and I needed it...but I was more excited for this show than I can remember being for much of a...

Steve Jackson is one of the nicest people I have gotten to meet in this journey called life, and that is the truth. Not only did he take my months of pestering him for an interview for this series with a smile, he was also the first ever phone interview that I did on my weekly radio show. He took time out of his Super Bowl Sunday to take questions from some DJ he never met about goofy shit like where the name "Pietasters" came from and was a gracious gentleman the whole time. Enter my friend Rob Alapick again. (keeps nosing his way into my blogs) Since he had been nice enough to set up my interview with Steve, I was excited to finally get to thank Mr. Jackson in person at Rob's house deep in the weirds of Pennsylvania when the Pietasters were playing a show with Hub City Stompers and Rudie Crew. I made my way all the way out to his house, which quickly filled with band members, friends, and the like. Steve Jackson shook my hand and was perfectly ready and willing to...

The Toasters have a special place in my heart. Many nights in the summer days of my late teens were spent flying around with the windows down and Dub 56 blaring from the speakers (...before you ask, purists...BOTH versions). They were partially responsible for pulling me into the wonderful world of third-wave ska  in the NY scene in the first place. Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down has been one of my unofficial theme songs on an average weekday at work for many years. It's also played quite often in my house, and is one of the most dancable songs I know with it's infectious beat. They are East Coast ska scene pioneers and have influenced and help launch a mastery of other bands in their wake.  Robert Hingley, better and most affectionately known as Bucket to most of us, started the band in New York in 1981 while working at a comic book store. That was long before the ska sound had caught on here in the states the way it has today. The band released albums through the...

A few months back, my friend and show promoter Rob Alapick dragged me out of my apartment to a show at the Stanhope House. It was down the street from me, and he promised me The Toasters. Even in my weepy state, I figured that was just what I needed to cheer me up. I ran into some good friends (pretty standard for a ska show) and was sitting around hunched over my diet coke licking my wounds, when out of the corner of the club I heard them hit the stage. Who in the world is this and why have I not heard them?! My feet were immediately tapping all over the floor. I forgot I was cranky. Rob informed me…this is The Rudie Crew. (to his credit, he had told me I would like them…) I was blown away! The bass lines and the horns grab you immediately, but then in comes the vocals with this fresh dancehall sound, and you are hooked. I was hooked. This is great, tight, danceable ska. This is summer nights in sweaty clubs, ants in your pants on the dance floor, fast-talking ska flavor. TH...

...hunting season is now open...and all DJ's are fair game... Can I tell you how many times we used to crank The Stubborn All-Star's "Open Season" in my younger days? I first heard it on a "Give Em' The Boot" compilation I think I found at Hot Topic, somewhere in the 90's. The 90's are a blur. I still find myself quoting it, playing it regularly on my radio show (it often opens my show, because how appropriate is that?), and probably annoying the ever loving HELL out of the people who live above where we presently broadcast from in Stroudsburg, PA with my obnoxious, loud singing and dancing. Of course I do this song no justice. The Stubborn All-Stars were led by none other than King Django. I have been chasing this gentleman for weeks. I can be really annoying when I want something, and he finally gave in. When it came time for me to launch my summer ska series on my radio show and my blog, I wanted to focus on the NYC scene...which of course...