A Perfect Mess

Its no mystery that I am a Jersey girl, through and through. Listen to my radio show or my podcast, and you can hear it. It's not just in what I talk about...my endless stories of show travels over bridges and tunnels to New York and Philadelphia...its also that I have the WORST North Jersey accent, and I can't hide it if I try. It gets worse if I have been drinking too. Hand me a copy of Weird NJ to read while I eat my taylor ham sandwich in an all night diner, and I couldn't be happier. I am fiercely defensive of my home state, and when someone does something great from our grounds, it's pride I can't even hope to properly describe. Obi Fernandez, man, you done good. My dear friend and fellow ska podcaster Randy from  Ska Crazy  got me into Westbound Train not that long ago. An amazing band from top to bottom, but my favorite aspect of the band was always the vocals. There was just so much soul in the way Obi Fernandez sings, and it set them apart from oth...

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...

Last week, this album was dropped into my inbox. There is always that moment before I hit play on a new record when I wonder what it's going to do to me when it starts. Where the music is going to take me. Am I going to cringe? Am I going to smile? Music is a lot like other beautiful things in the world...it's appeal lies in the ears, the mind, and the soul of the person listening. It's a gleeful anticipation for me...that moment before the music starts. It's complete silence that I know will be broken by something that could be anything. Amazing or dreadful. Soothing or piercing. It's a delicious kind of anxiety... I put in Follow My Sound by The Prizefighters, and I hit play. I let the music begin. Soulful. Soothing. But I am dancing where I sit. From the moment the second track kicked in, it's been on an almost constant rotation. Who the heck are these guys?! (and gal!) They are the Prizefighters, from way out Minneapolis, MN. Started in 2006, they ha...

The summer has finally come to an end...and in some respects, I am not complaining. I gleefully put away the few pairs of shorts I own, and slide those bins of sweaters and hoodies out from under the bed. I look to the wall and say "see you in the spring" the the *cool* setting on my central air. My night jogging seems a little easier. I delight in pumpkin coffee, pumpkin beer, windows open, long walks at night in cool air, sitting on the porch, and not having to mop sweat from my cleavage every time I step outside the door. But it means an end to summer ska show going. Not that these bands hibernate or anything, but there is something deliciously summery about this wonderful genre and those nights spent dripping with sweat and cooling off with beer after hours of dancing. The music scene in general seems to slow down a little as the leaves turn pretty colors in the North East. My e-mail is filling with show announcements from my usual venue haunts of metal bands and Hallow...

...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...

...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...

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...