The Duff Guide to Ska: Metro Stylee

Showing posts with label Metro Stylee. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

The Checkerboard Kids' 20th Anniversary Show Video in All Its Glory!

I haven't had the time to watch it all yet, but here is the video from the Checkerboard Kids' 20th Anniversary show (which I think is actually airing tonight on NYC Time Warner cable)!

Bands/musicians featured in this NYC-area all-star ska celebration of this amazing and wonderfully unique public access cable show include Across the Aisle, Metro Stylee, Mike Drance (The Bluebeats), Coolie Ranx and Vinny Nobile (Pilfers, Bim Skala Bim), Buford O' Sullivan (The Scofflaws, Easy Star All Stars), Roy Radics (The Rudie Crew), Brendog and Jerica Rosenblum (Mephiskapheles/Doomsday), Dubistry, Dave Barry (The Toasters, Beat Brigade), Bob Timm (The Hard Times), Carmelo DiBartolo (Beat Brigade), and more!

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If you missed it, check out the recent Duff Guide to Ska interview with Checkerboard Phil!

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

NYC Winter 2014 Ska Calendar #1

Can't beat this: The Beat back in the day!

Sunday, January 19, 2014 at 6:00 pm

The Pilfers, The Big Takeover, Metro Stylee, Mark U

Gramercy Theater
127 East 23rd Street
Manhattan, NY
$19 (plus fees, if bought online)

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Friday, January 24, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Mephiskapheles, Inspecter 7, Pandemics, Flak Jacket, Death Proof

Revolution Bar and Music Hall
140 Merrick Road
Amityville, NY
16+/$12 in advance, $15 day of show

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Friday, January 24, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

IV Aniversario Skarroneros/Sorfest II w/Skarroneros, Kantuta, Agonia, and more!

711 Church Avenue (between 7th and 8th)
Brooklyn, NY

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Friday, January 31, 2014 @ 9:00 pm

Reggae in the Slope w/Forte (Kevin Batchelor of The Skatalites and Rocksteady Freddie of NY Ska Jazz Ensemble) and The Brooklyn Attractors--plus Channel One Sounds with selector Shalar

Port Royal
837-839 Union Street (6th and 7th Avenues)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
$10

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Thursday, February 6, 2014 @ 7:00 pm

Beat Brigade, The Ladrones, Rude Boy George, and Sweet Lucy

The Grand Victory
245 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
$10

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What They're Saying About My Book "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone"

“An essential read…Stephen's eye for detail is incredible and his love for 2 Tone oozes from each page.” — Kevin Flowerdew, Do the Dog Skazine

“Written with a personal touch and with great passion about the bands and releases while giving a lot of emphasis to the lyrics, Stephen’s book is a great guiding hand to navigating your way to some great new music.” — Peter Walsh, 2-Tone.info

“It's some of the finest Madness analysis I've ever read.” —Donald Trull, Stateside Madness

“Steve's own story would make a great book, but instead he's written The Duff Guide to 2 Tone, a 250+ page collection of 2 Tone-related pieces from his blog. There are reviews of original pieces, but the book's real purpose is to show how the 2 Tone sound and—more importantly its ideals—carry on today...Get this book right away!" — Charles Benoit, Reggae Steady Ska

"...Shafer has definitely not forgotten how socially conscious issues were at the root of Ska even from the beginning. He makes certain to thread the political issues that motivated the development of Ska throughout his narrative; painting a picture that took both the oppressive political environments and the often ecstatic musical content into account. And in that, he nails down for me what the enduring pull of Ska was to its many fans. Was there ever a more upbeat dance music that combined its boundless energy with a push for progressive social values and calling truth to power?" — Post-Punk Monk

"...[The Duff Guide to 2 Tone is a] chatty, informative and knowledgeable work, one that you can either sit down and read or use as a reference source..." —Nik Skeat, Scootering Magazine

"During the reading of the book it is dangerous to have a screen open next to you with Discogs. I have found lots of ‘new music’ via the stories in The Duff Guide to 2 Tone which I must have." -- Peter Vrakking, Blue Beat & Ska

About Your Duff Guide

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.

Visit The Duff Guide to Ska Video Channel!

Check out The Duff Guide to Ska Video Channel for footage of ska bands in action in clubs around NYC, as well as unusual and rare ska videos from the 90s! Bands featured include The Toasters, The Bluebeats, The Forthrights, Across the Aisle, The Caroloregians, The Moon Invaders, The Rudie Crew, Tip the Van, Hey Stranger, Beat Brigade, Bigger Thomas, King Chango, The Scofflaws, UB40, The Hard Times, Jah Love and the Valentinians, The Shifters, Rudies Don't Care, Big Audio Dynamite, Stranger Cole and Patsy with Crazy Baldhead, Queen P of Ocean 11, King Hammond, The Snails, King Django, Doomsday! The Ultimate Tribute to Mephiskapheles Consisting of Former Members of Mephiskapheles, Destroy Babylon, The Frightnrs, The Pandemics, Los Skarroneros, The Bullbuckers, The Scofflaws, The Reggay Lords, The Copacetics, Rude Boy George, Dave Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, The Specials, Roddy Radiation and Lynval Golding, The Ladrones, Chris Murray, Radio Riddler, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro, and Mickey Virtue, Barbicide, The Twilights, Bim Skala Bim featuring John Bunkley (Gangster Fun), The Pomps, and more!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

The Checkerboard Kids' 20th Anniversary Show Video in All Its Glory!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

NYC Winter 2014 Ska Calendar #1

What They're Saying About My Book "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone"

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