Duff Review: "Memoirs of a Ska Librarian: The History of Rude Skazine"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

From our vantage point in time, it's kind of quaint to imagine/remember a time before the internet and social media, when information about non-mainstream bands was sometimes nearly impossible to come by. But, thanks to the late '70s punk DIY ethos that helped spawn zine culture (see Punk, Sniffin' Glue, Jamming, etc.), fans of underground sounds and scenes from the mid-'70s on strived to remedy that dilemma by creating their own means of disseminating band news, interviews, and reviews, filling a void that the establishment music press likely didn't know existed (or didn't deem profitable enough to cover or care about).

For the late '80s/early '90s ska scene, skazines were crucial lifelines to what was going on outside one's own limited sphere of experience and knowledge. Apart from a printed catalogue from an indie label, a flyer for a show on a telephone pole or in a record store window, or second-hand info via a ska-obsessed friend, there was virtually no other source of ska info than a zine (I first became involved in the ska scene by writing reviews for the Bakersfield, CA-based skazine Roughneck Business back in 1990). Since the mid-to-late '80s British ska scene (The Loafers, Potato 5, Laurel Aitken, Deltones, Trojans, Maroon Town, Hotknives, Riffs, Capone and the Bullets, King Hammond, Bad Manners, etc.) had a big jump on its American counterpart (which didn't really get its act together nationally until 1993-1994; earlier in the 1980s, ska flourished in a few US cities, but these scenes were largely parochial and isolated), the UK skazines cropped up a bit earlier. In addition to George Marshall's fantastic, but much shorter-lived, Zoot!, the other absolutely essential UK skazine of this period was Kevin Flowerdew's Rude. While most skazines reported on a local or regional scene, Rude endeavored to cover it all--and was by far the greatest source of international ska news, bar none.

Originally written on a typewriter, then cut and pasted, and xeroxed, each issue of Rude offered dozens upon dozens of short paragraphs conveying the latest news relating to ska bands' tours and goings on, and/or brief reviews of new releases. It was a wealth of precious ska info contained on two (or more) folded and stapled A4 sheets of paper that tipped you off to your next favorite band or album (from the next town over or the other side of the world) that you never knew existed.

Kevin Flowerdew's Memoirs of a Ska Librarian: The History of Rude Skazine (5 zines printed on glossy paper, Do The Dog Music, 2019) celebrates the best of Rude, which was published between 1989 and 1996 (when Flowerdew changed the name of the zine to Do The Dog, to match the ska label that he had launched). Memoirs focuses on Flowerdew's intro to ska (via 2 Tone, of course), the origins and history of Rude, as well as his front row experience witnessing the rise of The Loafers (his brother Sean's first band--he'd later be in Special Beat and Pama International, and created the London International Ska Festival in 1988, which continues to this day). Flowerdew wasn't just documenting and promoting the scene, he was urged to form his own group by the "Godfather of Ska" himself, Laurel Aitken (his sage advice: "If you love ska, you should start your own band")--and quickly followed Aitken's directive by founding Bakesys Midday Joggers (later shortened to The Bakesys), whose history and exploits are also recounted here. Memoirs of a Ska Librarian is accompanied by four special issues of Rude--each covering two-year periods from 1989-1990, 1991-1992, 1993-1994, and 1995-1996--and reprinting the best bits from those respective years. In particular, it's fascinating to watch the American ska scene explode as you turn these pages.

Rude had an astonishingly broad reach and was incredibly influential--so much so, that back when I was doing promotions for Moon Ska Records, Rude was always amongst the first batch of promo copies of a new release that I'd mail out (in the early years, these were cassettes!). At a time when people either had to (proactively) mail-order an album or head out to their local record shop to buy it, Rude's review was vital to getting the word out to ska fans (who would hopefully support our bands with their hard-earned cash!). What was particularly impressive was how Flowerdew gave everyone a fair shake--if a band took the time to send him a letter or package, he'd write about them in the next issue. It was a very democratic approach; new bands on the block received the same coverage as established ones and made Rude's scope all the more comprehensive. And that's what makes the librarian comparison in the title so apt--with Rude, Flowerdew was cataloging that era of ska like no one else on the planet.

Whether you lived through this time as a ska fan or missed out on it due to the timing of your birth or other circumstances, you'll find Memoirs of a Ska Librarian and the special editions of Rude a truly great read that will likely spur you to dig out albums from this period to play or track down copies of records you definitely now need on Discogs. But they also help document this pre-digital era in ska, so much of which only remains in fans' memories, record collections, and in shoeboxes in closets--and remind one of how the 1990s ska scene would have been significantly diminished/hampered had this amazing skazine not existed.

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RIP, Saxa of The Beat

The Beat were (left to right) Ranking Roger, David Steele, Saxa,
Andy Cox (behind Saxa), Dave Wakeling, and Everett Morton.

From the opening notes of The Beat's 1979 debut single for 2 Tone (their incredible cover of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Tears of a Clown") through to the closing, lingering sounds of "Ackee 1-2-3" (from the last track on their third and final studio album, Special Beat Service, released in 1982), Saxa's exuberant, lush, and free-flowing tenor saxophone horn lines were integral to the band's music (providing a relaxed, improvisational contrast to the tightly wound, bullet train of a rhythm section)--giving The Beat a distinct and instantly recognizable trademark sound that managed to bridge the opposing energies of dubby reggae and punk-fired late '70s British ska.

Born Lionel Augustus Martin in Jamaica on January 5, 1930, Saxa performed with fellow JA ska superstars like Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker, and Laurel Aitken (and later backed Elvis and The Beatles). Already 50 by the time he was recruited to join The Beat (having emigrated to England 25 years earlier), Saxa not only contributed his prodigious musical talents to the band, but lent the upstart ska revivalists immediate legitimacy through his participation in the first wave of ska with the aforementioned '60s ska originators.

In Daniel Rachel's brilliant "Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge" (the best history of 2 Tone that you'll ever read), Ranking Roger recalled: "Days before we went into the studio [to record "Tears of a Clown"] we found Saxa. He was this old, loud Jamaican man that just got drunk all the time and was always aggressive and cussing and swearing. There must have been a good thirty-five years' difference between us but as soon as he blew that saxophone, baby, you'd shut up."

Dave Wakeling added: "Everett [Morton] used to take us to the Crompton in Handsworth where Saxa played. He was the most mesmerizing saxophone player we'd ever heard. He played a couple of gigs with us and then said, 'I've been waiting all my life for you boys.'"

After three phenomenal albums, The Beat split into General Public and Fine Young Cannibals, but Saxa continued working with both factions, appearing on studio recordings for both acts (and later recording and touring with the The International Beat and Special Beat).

Saxa passed away on May 3, 2017 at age 87.

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The Beat's Special Beat Service was released in 1982 when I was 16 and was on heavy rotation throughout my high school and college years (it still remains an all-time favorite, along with all of the other original Beat albums). Saxa's riffs on all of these tunes are permanently engrained in my mind and I'm forever grateful for his extraordinary music and life.

I offer my deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and fans.

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In Remembrance: John "Brad" Bradbury of The Specials

(By Steve Shafer)

Since he appeared on both the label's first (The Special AKA "Gangsters" b/w The Selecter "The Selecter" in 1979) and last singles (the J.B's Allstars socialist view of/support for teachers and uniformly effective public education, "The Alphabet Army" in 1986), ska drummer, songwriter, and producer extraordinaire John "Prince Rimshot" Bradbury could be considered as the alpha and omega of 2 Tone--and he went on to keep the faith with ska music up to his very end, many decades after 2 Tone had closed up shop.

In the late 70s (read about his pre-Specials life in the Guardian's excellent obituary; take note that his mother was fiercely anti-racist and pro-immigrant), Bradbury traveled in the Coventry music circles of both Neol Davies and Jerry Dammers--he was the drummer for Davies' The Transposed Men (which contained another future Selecter, Desmond Brown) and was a housemate of Dammers'. When The Specials' first drummer Silverton Hutchinson quit the band, Dammers (who had some reservations that were overridden by Specials' rhythm guitarist Lynval Golding) recruited Bradbury to The Specials and they soon recorded their first song "Gangsters" with Bradbury behind the kit (along with early versions of "Nite Klub" and "Too Much Too Young" that the band didn't think were in any shape to be released). With their borrowed recording funds exhausted and without a flip side for "Gangsters," Dammers approached friend Neol Davies, who--months earlier--had recorded a demo instrumental track he had written with Bradbury (initially titled "Kingston Affair"), which had been produced by Roger Lomas with Bradbury on drums and Barry Jones on trombone. The track was renamed "The Selecter" (by a then non-existent band called The Selecter) and pressed up as part of the first double A-sided split single from the pre-Chrysalis 2 Tone Records--which ignited the feverish late 70s ska craze in the UK (and forced Davies to quickly assemble his new band).

Bradbury, of course, quickly settled in and served as the brilliant, crisply precise, and wonderfully versatile propulsive force--the heartbeat--that gave life to all of The Specials' incredible songs (for reminders of Bradbury's fantastic drumming skills, check out "Too Much Too Young," "Nite Klub," "Blank Expression," or "Man at C and A") on their two albums, related singles, and two EPs, which continue to captivate and inspire legions of ska fans and musicians worldwide to this very day. According to Specials' bassist Horace Panter in his book "Ska'd for Life," "Brad had the reggae groove down. With the exception of Jim Brown from UB40, I don't know of any other white drummer who could get that authentic feel. He didn't just play reggae, he could change tempo seamlessly from a 'one-drop' reggae beat to a 'four-on-the-floor' rock section, as can be heard on 'It's Up to You'..." (which Bradbury helped co-write, along with "Nite Klub" and "Blank Expression.") He set the bar very high for all 2 Tone-influenced drummers to come...

After The Specials disintegrated in 1981, Bradbury followed Dammers into the next iteration of the band--The Special AKA--and co-wrote several songs ("Bright Lights," "Housebound," and "Break Down the Door") on their amazing reggae/no-wave jazz/soul-filled In the Studio LP. During this period, Bradbury also explored his love of Northern Soul (previously revealed via The Specials' cover of "Sock It To 'Em, J.B!" on More Specials, which he produced) by forming his own soul group, J.B's Allstars that signed with RCA Victor and released four singles on that label--the final, fifth one on 2 Tone.

(In the early 80s, Bradbury also founded his own short-lived label, Race Records, which released five reggae and soul singles, including one from The People, which featured a post-Selecter Charley Anderson and Desmond Brown.)

As the first (white hot) post-2 Tone UK ska scene (The Trojans, Potato 5, Laurel Aitken, Bad Manners, The Deltones, The Hotknives, The Riffs, The Forest Hillbillies, etc.) emerged in the late 80s, Bradbury was drafted to produce key albums for The Loafers (Contagious) and Maroon Town (High and Dry).

In the early 90s, Bradbury was presuaded to assemble an all-star 2 Tone road band after an encounter with Ian Copeland (brother of Stewart of The Police and Miles of IRS Records), owner of Frontier Booking International. Copeland had told Bradbury how the US ska scene (particularly in Southern California) was on the verge of (finally) breaking big and that a touring 2 Tone act would be very enthusiastically received (much more than any of these bands had experienced during their challenging visits to the USA in the early 80s). The result was The Special Beat (comprised, at various points, of Bradbury, Horace Panter, Lynval Golding, Neville Staple, Ranking Roger, Saxa, The Loafers' Sean Flowerdew, and others), which performed--obviously--Specials and Beat hits and embarked on several massively successful tours of the US (including the groundbreaking 1993 Skavoovee Tour with The Skatalites, The Selecter, and The Toasters) and Japan. When the Special Beat had run its course, Bradbury drummed for a few years for a version of The Selecter (with Pauline Black, Arthur "Gaps" Hendrickson, and Nick Welsh of Bad Manners and King Hammond fame), as well as Welsh's and Jennie (Belle Stars) Matthais's Big 5.

During the late 1990s and much of the 2000s--up until The Specials reformed with all members except Jerry Dammers in 2008 to perform at Bestival (billed as Terry Hall and Friends)--Bradbury worked on computers as an information technology (IT) specialist. The Bestival appearance (and their reception from the fans) convinced all involved to make a go of it again for a series of sold-out 30th anniversary reunion dates in 2009 in the UK, Japan, and Australia. Bradbury eagerly participated in every highly successful Specials reunion tour (that followed in 2011, 2013, and 2015), which brought the band to venues and festivals in the UK, US, Europe, Japan, Mexico, and Chile. At a recent BBC 6 Music songwriter's panel in Birmingham on December 7, 2016, Terry Hall was quoted as stating that The Specials were planning to tour the US and UK in 2016 with new material.

John Bradbury died of undisclosed causes on December 28, 2016.

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My sincere condolences go out to Bradbury's family, friends, and fans.

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(This post was greatly informed by selections from Paul "Willo" Williams' biography of The Specials, "You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion." Thanks to the author for this invaluable resource on the band.)

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Duff Review: The Specials "Live at the Moonlight Club"

This is not a bootleg.

2 Tone/Chrysalis
2014
Heavyweight 180 gm LP

(Review by Steve Shafer)

In the mid 70s, when I first started buying my own records at around age 9 or 10, information about bands and their releases was oftentimes ridiculously hard to come by in the pre-internet age. We were completely dependent on what was played on the radio (sadly, I was first introduced to Bob Marley via racist/xenophobe Eric Clapton's cover of "I Shot the Sheriff," which was played frequently on WNEW in NYC, instead of any of Marley's own recordings); whatever bits we could glean from the mainstream press when they covered pop music; TV appearances we made sure to catch (like the B-52s on SNL in 1980); word-of-mouth from one's peers (it's how I first found out about the B-52s' debut album); being in the right place and time (I first heard The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" at a middle school dance at a posh girls private school!); and whatever you happened to be lucky enough to come across in a record store.

Things improved considerably in high school (in the first half of the 1980s), when I discovered the brilliant WLIR on the radio dial--which introduced me to the best bands that the New Wave and post-punk era had to offer, including all of the 2 Tone acts--and I could track down copies of Trouser Press (the "bible of alternative rock"), see cool UK New Wave acts on MTV at my friend's apartment (he had cable in Inwood, we didn't), and was able to purchase imported LPs, 12" singles, and band promo posters (like my Echo and the Bunnymen Heaven Up Here poster) at Mad Hatters record store in Yonkers (though a lot of chain stores carried some New Wave, too--I bought The Smiths' Hatful of Hollow--an import, no less!--at Sam Goody's in the Cross County Mall). Despite my increased access to information and media, there was still so much music and so many releases from this time that I never knew about--and only discovered much later through the internet. (Over the past five or so years, my record collection has exploded, as I've been compulsively picking up used copies of LPs and singles from the late 70s and early 80s that either I didn't know existed (!) or didn't have the cash to buy new when they were originally released. As I'm dragged kicking and screaming into my late 40s, I suppose this might be how my middle age crisis is manifesting itself--but I also happen to believe that the New Wave/post-punk era produced some of the greatest music ever recorded!)

A good example of a record that I had no knowledge of until years after its release is The Specials' Live at the Moonlight Club. In 1992, I came across a CD of Live at the Moonlight Club at Tower Records on West 4th Street in Manhattan. It was a pricey import and I assumed that since I had never heard anything about it (and was pretty sure that I already had all of their official albums and didn't remember reading about it in any of the UK skazines) that it must be a bootleg released by someone wanting to cash in on the ska resurgence taking place in the UK, Europe, and in a few years, the USA (little did I know that it really was a legitimate 2 Tone release after being a boot for 20 odd years and one that deserves a proper place in The Specials' discography!).

Even now, in the midst of our glorious digital information age, the complete and true story of the recording remains somewhat unclear. What we do know is that on May 3, 1979--on the eve of the elections that would put the dreaded Margaret Thatcher in power (she was elected, in part, by co-opting the National Front's anti-immigrant language and stance)--The Specials played a phenomenal set at the Moonlight Club in West Hampstead, London. Their debut single "Gangsters" (b/w The Selecter's "The Selecter") had just been self-released in March as the debut record on 2 Tone (the first pressing of 5,000 copies was distributed by Rough Trade and, according to George Marshall's "The Two Tone Story," was sold out by May), which Elvis Costello soon declared on Radio 1's Round Table as "one of the best records he'd heard in the last ten years" (according to Specials' bassist Horace Panter in his book "Ska'd For Life") and they'd soon sign directly with Chrysalis in early June for a five-album deal, with an option for eight (and establish 2 Tone essentially as a subsidiary of Chrysalis--but under The Specials' and, to some degree, The Selecter's control, with its own budget and with the option to release up to 10 one-off singles by bands of their choice--the first single, of course, was a re-release of "Gangsters" on 2 Tone/Chrysalis in July). The Specials then recorded their extraordinary debut album that summer with Elvis Costello producing (The Specials LP was released on November 3, 1979). Roy Eldridge, A and R man for Chrysalis, was in the audience for the Live at the Moonlight show and, no doubt, The Specials' performance that night convinced him and, in turn, the execs at Chrysalis that they were very much worth signing and consenting to the unusual (for the time), semi-autonomous deal for 2 Tone Records. (Also in the crowd that night, according to Specials biographer Paul "Willo" Williams in "You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion," were representatives from Warner Brothers, Island, A and M, and Virgin--as well as Elvis Costello, Chrissie Hynde, and Mick Jagger, who was considering the band for Rolling Stones Records; however, in the end, none of the other labels were willing to consider The Specials' terms for their 2 Tone label.)

Again, according to Panter's book, the bootleg Live at the Moonlight Club came into existence through a planned compilation album of live acts performing at that club (Paul Williams states that it was to be a charity album). The Specials didn't want any of their original material recorded for this comp (they were saving it all for their debut LP), but they had recently incorporated a raucous take on The Pioneers' "Long Shot (Kick De Bucket)" into their set and agreed for it to be recorded by the club (this cover, of course, would eventually be released on the live "Too Much Too Young" EP, on the "Skinhead Symphony" side, which had been recorded live at Tiffany's in Coventry). Decca Studios was right next door to the Moonlight Club, so cables were run from the studio's control room to the stage (which is why this boot sounds unusually good). Instead of one track, The Specials' entire May 3, 1979 set was recorded (and later mixed). The live Moonlight Club compilation never came out, but a bootleg release of The Specials' set did find its way into the shops later that year. Apparently, Live at the Moonlight Club sold as well as The Specials' debut album--and, according to Paul Williams, was sometimes receiving better reviews!

Panter has no insight as to who actually released the bootleg (other than they made an extraordinary amount of money off it) or as to how Chrysalis eventually assumed control over the recording ("I've often wondered how they [Chrysalis] came to get hold of the tapes, and whether anybody was prosecuted for releasing an illegal bootleg. Probably just regular music business business."). However it all occurred, one thing is certain, Chrysalis now owns the recording and isn't shy about protecting it (on the back of the album, it states, "The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Chrysalis Records Ltd.").

Whatever the album's provenance, it documents a phenomenal live performance by The Specials at a point in their career just before they and 2 Tone became white hot in England (and far beyond). And you can hear why the bootleg was so enthusiastically snapped up by fans--it captures The Specials' doing what they do best, bar none: playing live before an amped-up audience (I wouldn't have this great privilege until seeing most of them at their mind-blowingly good NYC show on a pier in the Hudson River in July 2013, but did see some of them during the Special Beat tour of the USA in 1993 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan). While The Specials' brilliant debut studio album is an undeniable classic (and all time favorite album of mine!)--and perhaps it's a wildly unfair comparison--it doesn't quite capture the band's tremendous and thrilling live energy (though this has proven to be a formidable challenge for many a ska band--very few have been able to translate what happens on stage into the studio).

From a historical perspective, it's also amazing to note how absolutely ready the band is to lay down the tracks for their debut. The arrangements of their soon-to-be hit songs are so fully, powerfully, and confidently realized and essentially the same as those that they'll record in a few months in the studio (in two instances, I actually prefer the Moonlight Club versions of the songs to what's on The Specials--listen to "Too Much Too Young," which displays its roots in Lloyd Charmers' "Birth Control" a little more directly and "Nite Klub" has flourishes and textures in the guitar, keyboard, and bass lines that didn't make it onto the studio album). For those of us not fortunate to have been present for the rise of The Specials and 2 Tone, this album provides us with a taste of how magnificent it must have been witness and experience it all. And it's proof positive that The Specials deserved every bit of fame, glory, and praise that was to come their way for the next few (and all too brief) years.

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If you've never heard Live at the Moonlight Club and just can't get enough of The Specials, then this is an essential purchase. And completists will definitely want this awesomely heavyweight vinyl edition with a new cover photo (from what might be a live shot of the band from the Moonlight Club show), though it sports the same (and very good) Adrian Thrills liner notes from the 1992 CD (which, oddly, never refer to the sketchy origins of this release). For me, Live at the Moonlight Club rectifies a long-standing deficit in my musical knowledge (and my record collection) and allows me to re-live a time when listening to a new record by one of your favorite bands was one of the sweetest and most sacred things that you could spend your precious time doing.

Rude Boy George: "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" EP Preview Video

In the department of shameless self-promotion, Rude Boy George, the band I'm in, has a preview video below of one of the tracks we recently recorded with our producer Wayne Lothian (ex-English Beat, Special Beat), which will be released as a digital EP later this year on Electric Avenue Records. If you're not familiar with RBG, we're made up of members of Bigger Thomas, Across the Aisle, The Toasters, and me--and we do ska and reggae covers of New Wave hits.

Stay tuned for more details and look for us playing out this summer and fall...

Jump Up Releases The Toasters' "Dub 56" on Vinyl!

Toasters' fans and ska vinyl freaks should take note that the band's stellar 1994 album Dub 56 has been re-issued on wax for the first time by Jump Up Records. (The demand for vinyl in the US was at its nadir in the early 90s, so it was never released in this format, here or abroad.)

At the time of its release, the US ska scene had really begun to heat up--in no small part due to the 1993 national Skavoovee Tour with The Skatalites, Selecter, Special Beat, and The Toasters that provided a slew of opening slots for local ska bands and really helped galvanize the ska scene--and Dub 56 showcased the band at their best, with now-classic tracks like "Mona," "Legal Shot," "Dub 56," "Direction," "Ain't Nuthin'" and many more. Dub 56 became an instant fan-favorite, received raves from critics (see here, here, and here), and went on to be one of Moon Records' best-selling records ever.

This LP is available from Jump Up Records in clear or white vinyl for $12 and includes a digital download card for the entire album in digital form, plus four bonus tracks not on the LP: "Dub 56 (Chat Mix)," "Legal Shot (Dance Mix)," "Legal Shot (Gangster Mix)" and "Ain’t Nuthin’ (Chorus Mix)."

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Where did the title of the album and song come from? It was the license plate number on Bucket's dad's motorcycle (you can make it out on the original artwork)--and the song is about (momentarily) leaving all of your problems behind by taking a fun spin on the motorbike...

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It should be noted that in 1995, Stubborn Records released a 7" single of "Dub 56" with the album version on one side and "Dub 56 Chat" on the other (the last copy of which is for sale at Stubborn for $100). Also, the CD was licensed to sister labels in the UK (Dojo), Germany (Pork Pie), and Japan (Jimco).

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Ska in 365 Degrees

Sorry that we missed the February ska almanac (a particularly significant month--more on that later), but March is new and good, too--so make sure to check out the next 20 or so odd days in ska history at the always compelling and interesting Hoi Polloi Skazine.

If any date marks Day One of the 90s ska boom, it was February 23, 1993: the night of the sold-out Skalapalooza show at The (new) Ritz (aka the old Studio 54; the old Ritz is what is currently known as Webster Hall) with Bad Manners, The Skatalites, The Toasters, The Scofflaws, Ruder Than You, and The Skunks on the bill! When Bucket and the promoters involved in mounting this concert were putting it all together (I was along for the ride to talk about what Moon would be doing to help get the word out about the show), they had no real idea how it would go over--the odds were probably in favor of it being a complete bust. Sure, there had been minor victories here and there--yet nothing that clearly indicated that ska might break out of its deep underground scene. But it turned out the timing was right (that the promoters were willing to pony up the cash for a radio ad on WLIR advertising the show in the pre-internet era throughout the metro area was nothing short of a minor miracle--and I'm sure it played a large part in the success of that night) and we gave the kids--loads of 'em--exactly what they wanted.

I was stunned as I watched the show from the side of the stage and looked out at more ska fans (2,500) than I'd ever seen in one place in my life. It was obvious that it was a watershed moment in the NYC--if not American--ska scene. Everything had changed: the years of The Scofflaws playing TGIF on Fifth Avenue and 12th Street, and The Toasters dodging batteries thrown at them on stage, and Moon struggling to stay one step ahead of failing distributors were going to begin to pay off. More importantly, it revealed the potential of ska music to be a money-maker for promoters and booking agents (if you wanna see your favorite bands play live, these people need to make some real cash in the process).

One portent for the success of Skalapalooza took place during last few hours of 1992, with the broadcast of the "New Year's Eve Ska Party" on the "USA Up All Night" cable show. It featured The Toasters and The Scofflaws (taped at The Palladium that November) performing minute-long versions of their tunes with various NYC scenesters in their ska finery dancing on stage in front of the bands. (These segments served as the bumpers that aired before and after the ads during all three glorious "Porky's" movies.) It was a bizarro-world "American Bandstand," with ska blaring out of the amps; rudies, skinheads, and mods replacing the generic, whitebread teens--and Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Scheer hosting the mayhem instead of Dick Clark (not sure if that is actually an improvement). And that year would culminate with the first and wildly popular national ska package tour known as Skavoovee--which was a direct result of the success of the Skalapalooza show, since the same promoter was involved--with The Skatalites, Selecter, Special Beat, and The Toasters, plus a slew of local ska talent that opened the show at each stop along the way.

I managed to shoot some black and white Super-8 footage at Skalapalooza (film, but with no sound; sue me, I did some arty filmmaking in college) before my camera was confiscated by some Ritz security goons. Didn't matter that I was from the label that helped organize the night, it was their house and I had to play by their rules (no unauthorized filming, no exceptions). At the end of the night, I had to go with one of the promoters to beg the club's manager for the return of my gear. After much groveling on my part, I got it back--with the film cartridge still in it! (Suckers!) These reels of film are waiting for me to dig them out of one of the boxes of ska memorabilia in my apartment. At some point, I'll have them digitized and put them up on the net for y'all to see...