A Perfect Mess

Woah. What in the world did I just put on? This is not me. This is not what I am used to. I like it. I think my jam head husband likes that I have been exploring his scene a bit more. I think he delights in the fact that once in a while, I tell him he is right about something. We met over music. We bonded over music and it's something that we continue to bond over every day since. We get our beer on and sit in the basement talking about songs that moved us at some point in our life and then we bring it up on our phones and talk about it. I will bring up some random Sting song and go, "YO! THIS! LISTEN TO WHAT HE DOES HERE!" and then make some stupid, half in the bag gesture and he will do the same. Lately, he has been passing me some pretty interesting stuff. I have never been a huge fan of electronic music. I like to dance, though I am immensely bad at it, but the music I dance to has to make me feel something in my guts or it just seems empty. Any beat can make yo...

I didn't come out of the womb with my love for reggae and ska. It was something I fell into in the 90's like a lot of other people in my age bracket. I was in high school and I was introduced to Reel Big Fish, The Pietasters, The Slackers. Stubborn All Stars. I mixed it in with my love of punk, industrial, and 60's folk and rock and 80's new wave. I have always been all over the map in what lights me up. There was something about ska and reggae though that was just different. It became part of my blood. Even still, it took another 15 years for me to really delve into it deeply, finding it's roots and pioneers and learning their messages and individual sounds. I am still learning. There is so much. So many off shoots and sounds to be found. There are scene crossovers. There are fringe bands. There are sounds I still have not really heard! That doesn't mean my ears have always been open. I have been pretty honest in previous pieces this year about how closed mi...

Where the hell have I been? Under a rock, apparently. I didn't know who these guys were. Have you heard of Kung Fu? No? Do you like the funk? Gotta have that funk? You need this in your life. I think I have talked before about how my husband and I came from different musical worlds when we met - bonding over Bad Religion. He is from the jam scene. I am from the ska scene. Both of us are unbelievably loyal and unbelievably stubborn to what we love so it's pulling teeth when we want to share how amazing something is with one another. Ok, ok. I will just throw Kung Fu into that mix too. I dropped the ball on this one. This is amazing. This band is a fantastic mix of funk, soul, serious groove, and jazz. Imagine taking all the best parts of Sly and the Family Stone and throwing them into an elevator with Jamiroquai and letting Bootsy Collins push the buttons until everyone throws up. That's kind of what is happening in my head when I listen to Kung Fu. I got my...

Sometimes I think we are too hard on one another. My husband likes to say "There is an ass for every seat." I like to think of music that way. There is a sound for every ear. Something out there can speak to everyone. You just need to find that special sound to you. You would think that with all the sounds in this world, we would be content with the music we love. That is not the case. Every time I log onto any sort of social media, I see a lot of one person ripping on another for their choice of what they put in their ears. I guess they think there is a choice. So we are clear, I don't think there is. We don't choose music. Music chooses us. There are bands and artists I actively tried to avoid liking and found myself fully engulfed in. The fact is, music is spiritual. Music speaks to the soul. Sometimes when we desperately need someone, anyone, to understand what we are going through we find our refuge in a song. I don't believe that is an accident. I thi...

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...