Sammy Kay (Krajkowski) first became well-known on the NYC ska scene as a member of the Brooklyn rocksteady crew The Forthrights, but broke away a year or so ago to roam the US, opening for ska acts like The Skatalites, The Snails, and The Slackers, while road-testing his new tunes. In the process, he discovered that he kind of liked being rootless, so he's become based both in LA and Brooklyn (and when he's in one place, he's usually pining for the other). This has led him to form two backing groups: when he's out in Cali, he plays with The East Los Three; and when in the NYC area, he plays with The Fast Four. Got it?
Probably the best way to describe how his very exceptional, self-titled Sammy Kay and The East Los Three EP sounds is that it's like Tom Waits fronting the Stubborn All-Stars. That is, it's a potent and winning mix of vintage ska/rocksteady heavy laced with elements of Americana (blues, country, rhythm and blues, early rock, and folk). This combination of styles works particularly well given the main theme that connects all of these songs: you can't always get what you want (but if you try sometimes, you might get what you need). They're about having the grit to keep on standing up to follow your passion when life keeps smacking you down; trying to find love and happiness in messily imperfect relationships; and accepting that ephemeral relationships and profound loss are sometimes the price for doing what you have to do with your time on Earth.
"Something, Someday" is a heartfelt hymn of support to all the down-but-not-out nobodies who have a dream and are going to do their damndest to follow it and make their lives meaningful: "You're gonna be something, someday/(Something, someday)/Oh, you've got that attitude/Something like that P.M.A./You're always in the right mind, yeah/Everything's gonna go your way...You pray to old St. Joe/with all of your working class woes/You think it's kind of funny, yeah/You're turning that rebellion into money." Those last four lines of lyrics are obviously a loving nod to Joe Strummer and his magnificent "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais." But Strummer's disdain for the music industry and wannabe punk bands (not in it for the music, just the money) is turned on its head here, as it's now referring to the struggling underground musician striving to earn an honest living off the life's blood of youth culture (but you still sense the unease in that economic equation).
The fantastic traditional blues standard (I was unfamiliar with it until now) "My Babe" (which you could imagine Laurel Aitken singing in the early 60s) is about a girlfriend who won't "stand no cheating...or none of that midnight creeping," but "when she's hot, there ain't no cooling" and "she really loves me." Most of us can't ask for more than that, really. Things turn a bit sour (you can hear it in the dissonant organ line) on "Maybe...(I'll Take You Back)"--whose theme and vocals echoes the teen melodramas of 60s groups like The Shangri-Las: "She's in love again/with somebody else/She wants to spend her time/with somebody else/You're gonna need me girl/when he says goodbye/But I won't be there, girl/So, kiss me goodbye/Tell me you love me/even if far and wide/And maybe I'll take you back...again/Tell the me reasons/why you so cruel?/Why you do the things/that you do/Maybe I've let you down/ but baby, you, too/So, please don't take me back...again."
"Bye Bye"--probably my favorite song on the EP--is a groovy rocksteady cut that justifies the singer's guileless wanderlust: "I'm sorry baby/I just can't settle down/I gotta keep on moving/to the next town/Like my daddy before me/I was born a rolling stone/Music is my healing/the road my home..." I particularly like the bridge: "Can't keep dancing to the same song/Can't keep playing to the same drum." No hard feelings, babe. It's just how I'm hardwired and who I am.
The funky reggae "Jaguar Season" (think Caroloregians) is a boastful, tongue-in-cheek verbal assault (in the vein of the Prince Buster/Derrick Morgan or the Stubborn All-Stars/Hepcat/Dr. Ring Ding attack and answer records) on a certain former band and one of its new members. Listen and decipher the goings on for yourself.
"Lorimer" (which refers to a subway stop in Williamsburg on the L train) is a hopeful, evocative song (you can easily conjure up a short black and white film about it in your mind and cast your own real-life characters in the parts) about trying to win over someone else's girl: "The sun goes down on Bedford Avenue/and I see the wind keeps blowing me/so close to you/You see tonight's not the night, girl/for your foolish games/I see you tired, tired/of waiting around/for what's his name/Walking up towards Union Avenue/I see the moon sits high, girl/as you wait to do/Refreshing faces rise from subway lines/Darling, one more kiss, girl/you could be mine."
The EP closes with the folky secret track "See You Soon," recorded live and unvarnished with just Sammy and his guitar. It's a mournful tune about great loss and sacrifice that feels quite timeless--it seems like it could be written about the Civil War, Vietnam, or the "wars on terror" in Iraq/Afghanistan (and you can think of this as the postscript to the young men who didn't heed Strummer's pleas in "The Call Up," but had the dumb luck to survive the bloodshed that their brothers-in-arms did not):
"The siren screeching close to dawn
Broken tide from the long storm
The heroes rise, they take appraise
Just another line in history's page
War is over, the battle's done
Tell me soldier, which side you on?
The victors sing a lullaby
Just tell me why you left that night
I'm looking for these hopes and dreams
Another way to look at things
The streets are no longer paved with gold
See ya soon, that's what I've been told"
The Sammy Kay and The East Los Three EP is a surprisingly mature and thoughtful collection of really stellar songs. Make sure to track this down. You need this music.
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Click here for an interview I did with Sammy Kay back in 2011 that provides some interesting background on this fella (as well as his days with The Forthrights).
Editor's Note: As the end of the calendar year sneaks up on me--as it always does, since the fall is always so damn busy!--I always scramble around to put together my "best of" lists of the ska singles, albums, reissues, books, etc. that I really enjoyed over the past year and want to highlight for all the ska fans out there. But I also thought it might be interesting to feature some other opinions, so I approached a diverse group of ska musicians, bloggers, DJs, and label heads to find out what their favorite ska things were in 2012. And thus the "2012: The Year in Ska" series was born! Thanks to everyone who is taking the time to participate--I really appreciate it! Todd Fausnacht is the guitarist and singer for the Philly-based ska/early rock/soul outfit The Snails.
2012: The Year in Ska - Todd Fausnacht (The Snails)
Top 5 Favorite Ska Releases
1) The Aggrolites: Unleashed Live
2) The Caroloregians: Fat is Back
3) The Heavy Beat/The Snails Split EP
4) The Forthrights EP
5) Sammy Kay and The Fast Four: "Sweet Misery" single
Top 5 Ska Shows
1) The Aggrolites at the MilkBoy, Philadelphia, PA
2) The Aggrolites at The Blockley , Philadelphia, PA
3) Skalapalooza 2012, Philadelphia, PA
4) Heavy Beat/The Snails split release party at the Funhouse, Bethlehem, PA
5) The Skatalites in NYC
Top Ska Merch
1) My Toots and the Maytals From the Roots record .
2) My Bob Marley African Herbsman record.
3) My Techniques record.
4) My Slim Smith "Rougher Yet" single.
5) My Ken Boothe "Moving Away" single.
Top 5 Ska Regrets
Missing...
1) Jimmy Cliff at The Mann Center in Philadelphia, PA
2) Toots at The Blockley in Philadelphia, PA
3) Stranger Cole and Patsy backed by Crazy Balhead at The Bell House in Brooklyn, NY
4) 2012 London International Ska Festival
5) Jump Up Record's Chicago Reggae Oldies Weekend with Stranger Cole and Pat Kelly
Top Ska Wishes for 2013
1) I'm excited for the Version City tour--hope it goes well!
2) I hope that The Snails The River comes out on time! [It has!]
3) I hope that The Snails "Death Caught Me" single comes out soon!
4) I hope that our Rocksteady EP can go to press soon .
5) I hope there is a rise in appreciation and support for everyone playing deep-rooted Jamaican music!
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
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...
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.
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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!
Friday, August 9, 2013 @ 10:00 pm
