23min of Ska : Lucky

If you get this on the 23rd then you’re either lucky you signed up for the feed, or you’re lucky that I managed to get this set up right! Either way, you’re lucky because you’re getting some awesome ska & ska/punk music! Think of this episode as kind of a sandwich, with two well known bands (Mustard Plug & Buck-O-Nine) as the bread at each end and then stuffed with regional favorites. Roscoe P. Soultrane was playing at the very first ska show I ever went and saw back in the day, I’ll always remember them fondly for that. And for the fact that the trombone player, Dave, got me into ska 2 years before that. No Reason Given is a band that is also close to my heart, a lot of good friends in that band. Even if I ended up in Indianapolis or Bloomington for any reason and there wasn’t an NRG show I was usually hanging out w/ some of them any way. I’m also featuring a song from Sgt. Scagnetti that my LA ska show friend gave to me as that’s who she grew up dancing to. That’s what ska is really all about, dancing, friends, good times! We’re all lucky to get it when we can.

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be featured or if you know some music that you think I should hear for future inclusion, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com! I’ll play most anything.

You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. Oh, don’t forget, you can totally download it too!

23min of Ska : Midway

Here we are at the half way mark of the first year of “23min of Ska” and I think it has went pretty well. Originally I was only going to be doing one episode a month, so this would be the end, but no, I had to go and double it up and spread the ska love far and wide! Speaking of love and ska I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve worked the Skatalites into an episode! They are way too good! And Half Past Two I’ve been waiting to play for people since I first saw them at the LA 3 Floors of Ska a few years ago! All in all, this first 6 months of “23min of Ska” has taught me one thing, you can only prepare so much. This very podcast only contains 2 of the songs I was originally going to put in it! It was almost completed and I had 2min left to fill, that’s when things went out the window. One song didn’t follow the last so well, a few were too short and ended up being better picks so what to delete? It went like this for a while and I ended up with this, far superior than what I’d been intended to send out! Once again, I hope you enjoy the music and you share your enjoyment with others.

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be featured or if you know some music that you think I should hear for future inclusion, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com! I’ll play most anything.

You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. But you know, there’s always downloading it. Oh, quick mention, I’ll be out of town on the 23rd this month, so I won’t be able to post the next episode on my site until a few days later, but if you subscribe to the podcast you should get it on time… just saying is all.

Fan of both ska and 7″ records? Check out this site

5 Worst Things About the Universal Backlot Tour

Last weekend, with nothing much to do, my lovely girlfriend came up with the notion to spend some time at Universal Studios Theme Park. Not a bad idea, it is always fun, it was a nice day and better yet, just a block away! Also she really wanted to go on the new Universal Backlot Tour to see the newly installed King Kong 3D 360. I was curious about that as well, so after we hit our mandatory ride on the Simpson’s Ride it was time to wait in the long ass line for the now highly demanded Universal Backlot Tour. The King Kong 3D 360 was awesome! By all means check it out, there were a few other things on the Backlot Tour I haven’t seen before either that were awesome… but 5 things pissed me off and annoyed the hell out of me! One is new, the other 4 have been bothering the hell out of me since I first moved here.

ABBA Because Universal put out “Mama Mia” we’re now all subjected to goddamn “Dancing Queen”. “Dancing Queen” is why uneducated people say that disco sucks. That song suck, that song is disco, but dammit, disco doesn’t suck, besides, you’re 15 and don’t even know what you’re talking about!

Billy Bush & Nancy O’Dell That’s right, they annoy me for the same reason and they’re always appearing together in this thing. The annoyance first starts while you stand in line for the tour. They run a loop of these 2 morons reading really terrible, trying too hard and failing to be funny copy that make you embarrassed for English speakers everywhere, on monitors as you wait. It is just too soul crushingly unfunny. And then at the end of the tram ride they return w/ a voice over that makes me want to stab babies.

Al Roker I usually have no problem w/ Mr. Roker, but something about the fake weather report for the backlot that he gives on the monitors the trams have just irks me. Maybe it is just because I think some executive thought “Hey, you know how we can brand this theme park tour w/ something else we own?” and everyone else in the board room called him a genius. I don’t know, I just hate it.

Whoopie Goldberg Once you get on the trams you are subjected to Whoopie on the television screens of your tram every now and again, giving you the history of Universal Studios. It is terrible, I cringe every time the tour host stops talking to switch to a pretaped package, with fear that it will be her. She’s not funny. She hasn’t been remotely funny since what? The early 90s? I’m sure that we can all agree on that. That makes her not funny for nearly 20 years now. Why did the morons putting this together get her to host it then? And have her try to be funny? Her John Wayne impression is so terrible it makes Peter Griffin’s look pretty damn impressive. It is seriously nails on a chalkboard bad. It is like they’re trying to tell us “Hey, its Whoopie! You all like her, right Middle America? She was in movies! Remember when she was funny! You assholes all bought tickets to “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit!” Weren’t you all just delighted when you heard her in “the Lion King?” So this is really all your fault!” Can’t we get someone else? Hell for the few minutes Peter Jackson was on, it was not only refreshing not to see Whoopie, but exciting to see someone legitimately excited to show you something on the backlot as well as not talking down to you.

Man or Astro-Man? – Captain Holojoy’s Space Diner

Man or Astro-Man? was a late 90s surf rock band from down in Alabama who would put out more 7″ records in a year than your average punk band would have in its discography. Prolific doesn’t even really begin to describe it and when I was looking for the perfect record to share for the 7th installment of my 7″ on the 7th series, this was the clear winner. I started listening to Man or Astro-Man? when I worked at Acme Comics back in Peoria IL about 11 or so years ago. My coworker Skip had most of the CDs and we’d chuck ‘em in the stereo and play them over the store speakers. This was also at the height of coolness (for me at least) working there. We had Skip, Randy and Farmer Ted on staff, Chadwick was still stopping in when he could and Bob & Dani were still baby free. This group resulted in possibly the best company Christmas dinner I’ve ever attended. Oh, but back to the band, yeah, Man or Astro-Man? just always seemed to be around, what with Skip playing them and my friends Atomik, Robot Allison and Lins all being huge fans. This may or may not’ve contributed to me not getting super into them, as I could go most anywhere with some buddys and a copy of “Project Infinity” was sure to either be playing or on hand to be played. In fact for years the only CD of theirs I had was “Is It…”! This all changed last November. Feeling nostalgic I took my copy of “Is It…” with me to play in the car while Christmas shopping in Burbank and it just cracked my head right open. I loved it even more than I did back in the day! Absence makes the heart grow fonder or what ever, I don’t know, but I was digging them on a level that I previously hadn’t. So I did what any sensible person would do, check local record shops and online to fill out my collection with some more Man or Astro-Man action. Here’s their first release. Some of these songs were rerecorded for future albums, some were collected onto CD and some songs are only on this very record. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did, and it helps you recall days past.

Side A
the Universe’s Only Intergalactic Radioactive Breakfast Bar
Taco Wagon
Holojoy’s Interlude

Side B
Mystery Meat
Space Potatoes
You Can’t Get Good Riblets in Space

Artwork
Front, Back, Insert Front, Insert Back, Interior & the Record.