
The other thing that kills me is that Bim Skala Bim are playing one of their reunion gigs where we are staying on the Cape--but it's the night of the day our house rental is up and we'll be in the Catskills by the time they go on...
In the mail today, I received the first copy of my new paperback book The Duff Guide to 2 Tone --and am thrilled to announce that it is now...
Steve Shafer/The Duff Guide to Ska
For most of the 1990s, I was the promotions, marketing, production guy for Moon Records (RIP). It was one of the best jobs I ever had. Seriously, I miss it badly. During 1999/2000, I ran 7 Wonders of the World Music, the first digital download-only ska label that was too ahead of the curve for its own good (RIP).
I filmed and edited this Toasters video for $2,500, which made its debut on MTV's 120 Minutes. I also put together these compilations for Moon: the first three Skarmageddons; Ska United: A Global Ska Sampler; Skank Down Under; This Are Moon Ska I, II, and III; and Moonshot!
Here's an old interview with Adam Monkey from Read Magazine that covers my days at Moon and 7 Wonders. I also did a somewhat more recent interview with Read Junk.
I've been interviewed about ska music and Moon Records for The New York Times, Heather Augustyn's "Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation," Aaron Carnes' "In Defense of Ska," Kenneth Partridge's "Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing," and Marc Wasserman's "Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History" (I also wrote the introductory chapter "1985: The Year American Ska Broke" for Wasserman's book).
And I'm the author of "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone," which can be ordered from Amazon--and is available in the US from Jump Up Records, and in Europe from the 2 Tone Village Shop (Coventry, UK), Champion Sound Records (Hull, UK), Aggroshop (Nijmegen, Netherlands), and Copasetic Mailorder (Hamburg, Germany). Plus, my book was on sale in the museum shop for the "2 Tone: Lives & Legacies" exhibition (May 28 - September 12, 2021), curated by Simon Reynolds, Cory Barrett, Pete Chambers, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike and Daniel Rachel, at the Herbert Art Gallery Museum in Coventry, UK.
I'm now working on my next book, "Calling All the Rude Boys: The Duff Guide to The Toasters, 1981-1992," to be published in 2023.
If you have a ska or reggae release that you'd like me to consider reviewing, please send an e-mail to Steve at duffguidetoska@gmail.com. You should know that I am old school and prefer music in tangible formats (plus I might use your music when I DJ ska events). I'd also appreciate any news or tips you may have about bands.
All reviews and interviews posted on The Duff Guide to Ska are copyrighted and are the sole property of Steve Shafer. Please contact me for permission to reproduce anything on this blog.
6 comments:
As always, I'll be there so everyone should come by the merch table and say hi.
KJ:
You know I'm there in spirit!
Hope it's a great night.
Steve
Top Shotta Band were amazing.
Tell me more! How was the rest of the bill--and was the show well attended?
The show started with the Cool and Deadly. I'm not their biggest fan but they were ALOT better last night then they were a year or two ago when I saw them on Leonard St.
Hey Stranger played well, just not my style. Sorry Jake.
The Forthrights had a bit of tour rot goin on. They were a little sloppy but even when they're sloppy they kick ass and get EVERYONE dancin.
Top Shotta Band were great. I have no idea why I've never seen them before, but Jerry Mushlin was on point the whole set. The sax player pulled out some amazing sax solos and they had some amazing percussion going on. They also did a version on Cloak and Dagger, which is one of my favorite instrumentals of all time and the singer (Peter Ranks I think his name was) did a play on the Dillinger DJ version of the tune from Blackboard Jungle Dub.
The Bluebeats were great. They had a few hiccups, and if you asked Drance he'd probably tell you it wasn't a very good set, but I had a blast, and they had everyone dancing and havin a good time.
The keyboard player from Los Grenadians was in the crowd and he was a really cool dude. I meant to ask him if they have any plans to come to America for some shows but I got busy.
It wasn't the biggest crowd, but it also wasn't the smallest crowd we've had in Brooklyn. And everyone there had a great time.
KJ:
Thanks for the show review! Sounds like it was a pretty great night.
Steve
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