NYC Summer 2014 Ska Calendar #14

Prince Buster: Fly Flying Ska!

Friday, August 1, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

The Bluebeats at Happenings on Main Street

Northport Village Dock
Main Street
Northport, NY
Free/All ages

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Saturday, August 2, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

Rockers Underground, Volume 2 w/Jammyland Roots Ensemble and Crazy Baldhead Sound System w/guest selector Mush One

Bohemian Grove
64 Grove Street (between Bushwick and Evergreen)
Brooklyn, NY
$5/BYOB

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

The Tribal Seeds, New Kingston, The Expanders

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$18 day of show

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Saturday, August 16, 2014 @10:30 pm

Beat Brigade, Bikini Carwash, The Purslaines

Arlene's Grocery
95 Stanton Street
New York, NY
$10

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Saturday, August 23, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
Rocks Off Concert Cruise with The Slackers
Departs from Circle Line Pier 83
West 42nd Street and the West Side Highway
Manhattan
$30/21+

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Friday, August 29, 2014 @ 7:30 pm

Mrs. Skannotto

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10 in advance/$12 day of show

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Saturday, September 6, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Inspecter 7, Lion's Law, Step 2 Far, Beat Brigade

The Grand Victory
245 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY
$15

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Thursday, October 30, 2014

3rd Annual Devils Night w/Mephiskapheles, The Toasters, No Redeeming Social Value, and The Ladrones

Mercury Lounge
217 East Houston Street
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $23.85 (through this link)
21+

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"Clash of the Ska Legends" Tour w/Bim Skala Bim and King Hammond!

If you're in or near New England in mid-to-late August, you MUST make sure to catch the "Clash of Ska Legends" tour featuring Bim Skala Bim and King Hammond!

For the past several summers, members of Bim have come together from their far-flung homes to play some always-popular gigs in and around Boston and Cape Cod (and for this tour, they're supporting their excellent new album Chet's Last Call--read The Duff Guide to Ska review of it here). But this year, Bim is accompanied by the truly great King Hammond (AKA Nick Welsh, ex-Bad Manners, The Selecter, Big 5, Skaville UK, and more), who has released a slew of amazing early 70s-inspired skinhead reggae releases recently, including 22 Bullets from a Rude Boy Gun, the reissue of his classic albums Revolution '70 and Tank Tops and Hot Pants, the 7" single "Skaville Ole," and a series of very limited-edition CDs.

Needless to say, both acts are phenomenally good and have been creating and playing some of the best ska and reggae around since the 1980s! See these legends while you still can!

Bim Skala Bim and King Hammond "Clash of the Ska Legends Tour"

August 14th: Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA (w/Mr. Kowalsky, Malabar, and The New Limits)
August 15th: The Wellfleet Beachcomber, Wellfleet/Cape Cod, MA
August 16th: Hookfest, Portsmouth, NH (w/Lettuce, The Nth Power, Michael Bernier and the Freevolt, and The Spittin' Vinnies)
August 17th: Manchester 65, Warwick RI (w/The Copacetics, Panoramic View, Sweet Babylon)
August 21st: Pelham East, Newport RI
August 22nd: Grumpy, Falmouth, MA
August 23rd: Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME (w/The Beat Horizon, El Grande, Roots Rhythm and Dub)
August 24th: Mine Oysters, Boothbay Harbor, ME

Duff Review: Dr. Ring Ding and Kingston Rudieska "Ska'n Seoul" EP

Rudie System
2014
CD EP/digital download

(Review by Steve Shafer)

The great Dr. Ring Ding has been a fervent fan of Kingston Rudieska--South Korea's top vintage ska act in the mold and of the calibre of The Skatalites--since he first encountered their track "Oscar Wilde" in 2007 on Pork Pie's Benetton-inspired United Colors of Ska 4.0 compilation.

So when Dr. Ring Ding's Ska-Vaganza was scheduled to appear alongside Kingston Rudieska at the 2013 Jisan World Rock Festival in South Korea, he and Kingston Rudieska--both great admirers of each other's music and musicianship--took advantage of this opportunity to enter the studio to record an EP's worth of material. This brilliant collaboration yielded the cheekily-titled, five-track Ska'n Seoul, which is mostly likely one of the finest traditional ska releases of 2014.

Ska'n Seoul is bookended by the terrifically smooth--but no less desperate, urgent, and tragic--ska-jazz version of Fine Young Cannibals' (ex-Beat members Andy Cox and David Steele with ex-Akrylykz Roland Gift) dark family drama "Johnny Come Home" (originally released in 1985) and its slick deconstruction in "Johnny Come Home (Worried Dub)." Kingston Rudieska shows the love to the good Doctor with a half-English, half-Korean cover of Dr. Ring Ding and the Senior Allstars' "Bad Company" (off the essential Ram di Dance), retitled here as "Discovery of Life," which Kingston Rudieska has included in their live set for for some time now. The traditional African-American spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (which is not just about being shepherded into heaven, but escaping slavery through the Underground Railroad to free states or Canada) is presented as if the musicians were part of a revved-up, ecstatic ska tent revival and Dr. Ring Ding as an Elmer Gantry-like charismatic preacher. The one new tune here, written especially for this occasion, is Dr. Ring Ding's delightful "Your Sweet Kiss" (about how the only thing the singer would miss when he's dead and buried), which is reminiscent of an ace Lord Tanamo or Laurel Aitken collaboration with The Skatalites from back in the day.

If you can get your hands on this CD, do it now (a digital version is available through iTunes and you can mail order the CD through Dr. Ring Ding's website)! You'll want it and even more from this ska supergroup. May we be lucky enough for their paths cross again very soon in the future.

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NYC Summer 2014 Ska Calendar #13

Can't touch them...

Friday, July 18, 2014

The Frightnrs, Ticklah, Natasha Diggs, 100dBs

Jackpot Loft Series #5
The Gemini Scorpio Loft
Brooklyn, NY
You MUST RSVP for address: jackpottheparty@gmail.com
$10

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Friday, July 25, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rocks Off Concert Cruise with The Pietasters

Concert aboard The Jewel
East 23rd Street and the FDR
Manhattan, NY
Boards: 7:00 pm/Departs: 8:00 pm
21+
$25 in advance/$30 day of show

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Friday, August 1, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

The Bluebeats at Happenings on Main Street

Northport Village Dock
Main Street
Northport, NY
Free/All ages

+ + + +

Wednesday, August 13, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

The Tribal Seeds, New Kingston, The Expanders

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$18 day of show

+ + + +

Saturday, August 16, 2014 @10:30 pm

Beat Brigade, Bikini Carwash, The Purslaines

Arlene's Grocery
95 Stanton Street
New York, NY $10

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Saturday, August 23, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rocks Off Concert Cruise with The Slackers
Departs from Circle Line Pier 83
West 42nd Street and the West Side Highway
Manhattan
$30/21+

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Friday, August 29, 2014 @ 7:30 pm

Mrs. Skannotto

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10 in advance/$12 day of show

+ + + +

Thursday, October 30, 2014

3rd Annual Devils Night w/Mephiskapheles, The Toasters, No Redeeming Social Value, and The Ladrones

Mercury Lounge
217 East Houston Street
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $23.85 (through this link)
21+

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NYC Summer 2014 Ska Calendar #12

It ain't Coney Island...

Friday, July 11, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

The Far East, They Live!, All People

Don Pedro
90 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$6

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Saturday, July 12, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rude Boy George (playing on the main stage from 7:00-7:30 pm sharp!)

Maplewoodstock
Memorial Park
Maplewood, NJ
Free
All ages

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Sunday, July 13, 2014 @ 2:00 pm

Bronx Backyard Sundays w/Morning Thunder, Jonny Grave, 718, and Beat Brigade (BB goes on at 6pm!)

Mr. McGoo's Pub
5602 Broadway (near 231st Street--easy to get to on the #1 subway line)
Bronx, NY
$5/21+

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

Sleepy Wonder (Thievery Corp), Geometric Echoes, Dub is a Weapon

Drom
85 Avenue A
Manhattan, NY
21+

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Friday, July 25, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rocks Off Concert Cruise with The Pietasters

Concert aboard The Jewel
East 23rd Street and the FDR
Manhattan, NY
Boards: 7:00 pm/Departs: 8:00 pm
21+
$25 in advance/$30 day of show

+ + + +

Friday, July 28, 2014

The Frightnrs, Ticklah, Natasha Diggs, 100dBs

The Gemini Scorpio Loft
200 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY

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Friday, August 1, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

The Bluebeats at Happenings on Main Street

Northport Village Dock
Main Street
Northport, NY
Free/All ages

+ + + +

Wednesday, August 13, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

The Tribal Seeds, New Kingston, The Expanders

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15 in advance/$18 day of show

+ + + +

Saturday, August 23, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Rocks Off Concert Cruise with The Slackers

Departs from Circle Line Pier 83
West 42nd Street and the West Side Highway
Manhattan
$30/21+

+ + + +

Friday, August 29, 2014 @ 7:30 pm

Mrs. Skannotto

The Knitting Factory
361 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10 in advance/$12 day of show

+ + + +

Thursday, October 30, 2014

3rd Annual Devils Night w/Mephiskapheles, The Toasters, No Redeeming Social Value, and The Ladrones

Mercury Lounge
217 East Houston Street
Manhattan, NY
Tickets: $23.85 (through this link)
21+

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