The Duff Guide to Ska NYC Late Summer/Fall 2018 Ska Calendar #8

Friday, September 7, 2018 @ 7:30 pm

Rebellion Rises 2018 Tour Featuring Ziggy Marley, Steel Pulse, and Tribal Seeds

Pier 17
89 South Street
New York, NY
$40.50

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Sunday, September 9, 2018 @ 10:00 pm

Reggae Punky Latin in Bushwick ft. DJ Shabbakano and DJ Comardr3

Bootleg Bar
1438 Myrtle Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
No cover

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Friday, September 14, 2018 @ 6:00 pm

Rocks Off Booze Cruise with Goldfinger and Pilfers

Aboard the Liberty Belle
Board at Pier 36
299 South Street
New York, NY
Tix: Advance - $39.99/Day of show - $45
21+

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Saturday, September 15, 2018 @ 9:00 pm

Dubistry

Shrine
2271 Seventh Avenue/Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. (between 133rd and 134th Streets)
New York, New York
No cover!

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Saturday, September 15, 2018 @ 10:00 pm

Move Your Mule Reunion

(Agent Jay, Li'l Jerk, Jonny Metro, Jah Point, Rata, and guest selectors will be dropping Ska, Reggae, and Rocksteady vinyl all night!)

Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (between Avenues A and B)
New York, New York
No cover!

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Tuesday, September 18, 2018 @ 9:00 pm

Black Uhuru

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th Street
New York, NY
$25

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Saturday, September 22, 2018 @ 8:00 pm

David Hillyard and The Rocksteady 7 - Record release show!

Hank's Saloon
46 Third Avenue (corner of Atlantic)
Brooklyn, NY

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Sunday, September 23, 2018 @ 8:00 pm 

Israel Vibration and The Roots Radics Band

Sony Hall
235 West 46th Street, New York, New York
$26.50

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Friday, October 19, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Vic Ruggiero (of The Slackers), DJ Agent Jay, The Hempsteadys

The Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10

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Friday, October 26, 2018 @ 7:00 pm 

Big D and the Kids Table, BIGWIG, The Creepshow, Sgt. Scagnetti

Brooklyn Bazaar
150 Greenpoint Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
Tix: Advance - $15 / Day of show - $17
16+

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Saturday, October 27, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Lee "Scratch" Perry and Subatomic Sound System: 45th Anniversary Performance of "Blackboard Jungle Dub"

Elsewhere
599 Johnson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$25/16+

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Saturday, November 17, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

Mustard Plug

Bowery Electric
327 Bowery
New York, NY
Tix: Advance - $14/Day of show - $16
21+

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If you don't see a NYC ska show listed here, send us all of the details to duffguidetoska@gmail.com!

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The Ninth Annual Montreal Ska Festival: November 23-26, 2017!

The Ninth Annual Montreal Ska Festival (organized by the Montreal Ska Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Québécois and Canadian ska music and culture) is fast approaching! If you're a fan of the amazing Canadian ska scene (as well as a few American interlopers!), this is the place to be.

Of note, this year's edition of the festival features the return of two very much missed bands, The Kingpins and 2 Stone 2 Skank.

Details on each night's line-up are below and through the links.

Vive le ska!

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Thursday, November 23, 2017 @ 7:00 pm

Kman and the 45s, The Peelers, The Resojets, Les Séparatwists

Cafe Campus - Montreal
57 Prince-Arthur E.
Montreal, Quebec
$15/18+

Friday, November 24, 2017 @ 7:30 pm

2 Stone 2 Skank, Danny Rebel and The KGB, Les Happycuriens, Sammy Kay

Cafe Campus - Montreal
57 Prince-Arthur E.
Montreal, Quebec
$15/18+

Saturday, November 25, 2017

The Kingpins, The Beatdown, Vic Ruggiero and Chris Murray, Skatton Club

Cafe Campus - Montreal
57 Prince-Arthur E.
Montreal, Quebec
$22/18+

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And there are afterparties each night.

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For some more background on the Montreal Ska Festival, read an interview we did with the organizers, Valerie Desnoyers and Lorraine Muller, back in 2011.

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Ska Crowd Funding: Sammy Kay, Urban Pirate Booty Split 7" Series!

Here are two crowd funding ska projects that are definitely worth supporting with your hard-earned cash (and I'm proud to say that I'm personally backing both of these projects, since I'm always on the hunt for new ska vinyl!).

Sammy Kay and The East Los 3's Love Letters CD/LP 

Hot on the heels of Sammy Kay's debut EP (read The Duff Guide to Ska review here), comes this project to fund his new 15-track album of bluesy, soulful, rocksteady and ska cuts titled Love Letters. Levels of support range from $8 for digital copies of Love Letters and his recently released EP, to $12 for the CD or $15 for black wax, to $30 for both CD and colored vinyl of the album (plus stickers and pins), and higher. Pledge your support here.

Right now, about $2,500 of the $3,200 goal has been raised, with 24 more days to go.

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Urban Pirate Booty Split 7" Series, Volumes 1-5

Urban Pirate Records is hoping to put out a series of split singles from some of the finest ska and early reggae artists playing out right now on the US scene.  What's cool is that you can order singles a la carte (for $7 each) or go for the whole enchilada ($30 for all five singles); higher amounts score you test pressings and other goodies. Pledge your support here.

Volume 1: Crazy Baldhead/Sammy Kay
Volume 2: Dave Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7/Green Room Rockers
Volume 3: Bad Cards "Cap Fit" b/w Reggay Lords "Give It Me My Way" (gold vinyl)
Volume 4: Jesse Wagner "Eye of the Storm" b/w Vic Ruggiero "I Know a Girl" (gold vinyl)
Volume 5: King Django/The Snails

To date, the Urban Pirate Booty Split single series has raised almost exactly half of the $5k needed to fund this project, with 25 more days to go.

Duff Review: Ska is Dead 7" of the Month Club -- Sonic Boom Six/The Nix 86 and Vic Ruggiero and Maddie Ruthless/The Forthrights

For ska fans who value and collect recorded music in tangible formats (particularly 7" vinyl singles!), these are once again becoming The Best of Times. Rebelling against the instant-gratification dominance of easily disposable-erasable-pirated digitally downloaded music, the fantastic Ska is Dead 7" of the Month Club has been issuing a series of limited edition split vinyl singles (on seriously thick black and white wax with cool, printed outer sleeves--love the tattered Walt Jabsco zombie!) from top shelf ska bands of all stripes (i.e.: vintage ska, 2 Tone, ska-punk, etc.). All of the featured cuts by these bands are new or unreleased--and this is the only place to find 'em, as they will not be released in any other form! (The Ska is Dead 7″ Club is a joint effort between Dave Kirchgessner of Mustard Plug and his Ska is Dead tour company, Asbestos Records and Underground Communique Records, that combines their collective obsession with dead genres and dead formats.)

Here's The Duff Guide to Ska review of the December 2010 batch of Ska is Dead singles:

Sonic Boom Six "Play On" b/w The Nix 86 "Peter Pan Syndrome" (black vinyl)

On "Play On"--which is about how music can help one endure, even thrive during, trying times--the usually punky-dubby-hip hoppy Sonic Boom Six (from Manchester, UK) sound like a cross between a 2 Tone-era Selecter and Bodysnatchers' descendants The Deltones (dig the 60's girl group harmonizing!). Laila Khan sings, "Well on my shoulder feels the weight of the world/Chasing my tail takes a toll on my soul/You salve my soul, such a sweet sensation/Show me the way I let my wings unfold...take me home into your song/So won't you sing another song for me now?/'Cause I got to feel the music somehow/Won't you sing another song for me now?/and though the band is gone/Still the song plays on..." This is one awesomely catchy tune.

Long Island's The Nix 86 crank up the volume and energy to 11 with their melodic and anthemic Cheap Trick/Bosstones-like rawk-ska on "Peter Pan Syndrome." The ska traditionalists are probably not going to dig this cut, but ska punkers and those with broader tastes will find a lot to like here.


Vic Ruggiero & Maddie Ruthless "Policeman" b/w The Forthrights "Carla" (white vinyl)

Sounding like a Dammers/Strummer/Jones track that should have been, head Slacker Vic Ruggiero teams up with New Orleans DJ/rocksteady queen Maddie Ruthless (and backed by The Forthrights) with spectacular results on the world's treading on me "Policeman" (which Vic and Tim Armstrong originally did as The Silencers' contribution to the Give 'Em the Boot comp back in 1997): "My mind's so complex/I can't put my finger on the trigger to control all this stress...I've got my mouth wide open and my eyes closed shut/when the policeman kicks me in my head." Is this what it was like back in the late 70s to hear The Specials or The Clash for the very first time?

The Forthrights' "Carla" is a bright, jaunty, and knowing ska ditty (with a dash of country, courtesy of the the guitar line) to a member of the fairer sex: "Now, I'm not one to talk/but what we did last night/What we did in the dark/I wouldn't speak of in the light/So you like talking/Dancing 'till dawn/Not to be too forward/But won't you take me home?" Another winning tune from a band that can't be beat!

The Duff Guide to Ska Grade (for all of these singles): A

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I'll be reviewing the Big D & the Kids Table/Brunt of It and Mustard Plug/The Beatdown singles soon!

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If you're interested in subscribing to this limited edition 7" record club (there are only 550 copies of each single printed--there are no digital downloads, so break out yer pop's turntable!), visit skaisdead.bigcartel.com.

1st Release – October 2010
Big D & the Kids Table: “Not Our Fault” & “Lash Out”
Brunt of It: “Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah” & “Art School Dropout”

2nd Release – November 2010
Mustard Plug: “Aye, Aye, Aye”
The Beatdown: "Piece of Mind”

3rd Release – December 2010
Vic Ruggiero with Maddie Ruthless: “Policeman”
The Forthrights: “Carla”

4th Release – December 2010
Sonic Boom Six: “Play On”
The Nix 86: “Peter Pan Syndrome”

Upcoming: Reel Big Fish, Tip the Van, The Slackers, Bomb the Music Industry

Summer of Ska: Version NYC with The Hard Times

Jake, the guitarist for Gotham's dirty reggae practitioners The Hard Times, was kind enough to send some info about some of their upcoming NYC gigs this summer:

Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Reggae Inna Bushwick
The Forthrights
The Hard Times
Silver Dollar

Venue: Eastern District
43 Bogart Street
Bushwick, NY

Friday, June 18, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
One Night Only Rock-n-Roll Reggae Show
Vic Ruggiero
The Hard Times

Venue: Death By Audio
49 South 2nd Street
Brooklyn, NY

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
The Hard Times
The Forthrights
Vic Ruggiero
Chris Murray

Venue: Eastern District
43 Bogart Street
Bushwick, NY

Saturday, July 10, 2010 @ 9:00 pm
Dirty Reggae Party VI
R-Tronika (Latino Electro-Cumbia/Ska)
The Hard Times
The Bandulus (Austin,TX Rocksteady/Reggae)
The Frighteners (NYC Reggae/Rub-A-Dub debut gig!)
Crazy Baldhead Sound-System spinning classic and rare Jamaican vinyl all night!

Venue: The Lake
258 Johnson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

Word is that The Hard Times have recorded a bunch of new tunes and are in the process of mixing everything. They're not sure in what form this material will see the light of day--but we're sure looking forward to it.