23min of Ska : Sun Set Ska

At the end of the day yesterday I was standing in line waiting for my car, that’s right, at 11:59 PM I was saying “Where the hell is my crappy car?” jokingly to a small crowd of ska fans. How did I know they were ska fans? Well, I’d just spend the last few hours dancing, drinking and singing along w/ this group of like minded individuals at the Summer of Ska tour. I can honestly say it was a great time! I haven’t been to a ska show on that level in a long time, and it didn’t disappoint! Thanks, Suburban Legends, Big D & the Kids Table and Reel Big Fish for putting on a hell of a show in Hollywood last night! This episode is dedicated to all the crazy awesome ska fans I met there last night! Like Matt, Ro, Edwardo, the kid who looked like Percy Jackson & his two friends and a big kudos to Brian Klemm, who remains the nicest guy in the world.

Razika – Nytt Pa Nytt (Program 91 ’11)
the Delirians – Agua De Limon (the Delirians ’12)
the Amphetameanies – Desert Culture (Now! That’s What I Call the Amphetameanies ’06)
Big D & the Kids Table – (We All Have to) Burn Something (How it Goes ’04)
Dan P. & the Bricks – Sweat for It (Watch Where You Walk ’12)
the First Chairs – It’s Okay (Plastic & Prestige ’12)
Show Me Island – So Long for Something (MV:MMXII ’12)
Reel Big Fish – What are Friends For (Cheer Up! ’04)

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be interviewed or have a song featured, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com.

This episode and all episodes can always be found here. You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this address: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. Also if you’d like, find & like us on facebook. Take this episode w/ you, download it!

Also, hit up www.BigSkaGamble.com for 7 awesome ska 7″ records!

Beat the Dealer : Heather’s 23 Minutes

A few months ago I was raising money for the Big Ska Gamble on KickStarter, and one of the prizes was putting together an episode of “23min of Ska”. I wasn’t sure if these were going to even sell! Imagine my shock that they sold, quickly! Also imagine my shock to find that my first donation was for this prize as well! On top of that, the donation was in excess of the actual donation request! If this sounds crazy, I also must tell you that it also happened within minutes of me making the KickStarter page live, before I even told people online it was good to go! I was shocked! That person was Heather. Heather’s a pretty cool ska fan and she’s brought to you some awesome ’90s ska to share. As you can tell she obviously knows her stuff and I’m pretty pleased to add this episode to my archive as the first (but not last) episode done by someone other than me. I’m not always the best at sharing, but Heather made it really easy with this fun mix! Oddly, I’m not sure if Heather and I met before back in the Midwest in the ’90s/’00s at a some show or not (I was usually drunk &/or too tired to remember anything but the music), but either way, I know her now through this podcast, and bringing people together through music, isn’t that part of what makes the ska scene awesome?

Rudiments – Spoon (Skank for Brains ’95)
Johnny Socko – If I Didn’t Have a Goiter (Oh, I do Hope It’s Roast Beef! ’95)
Ska King Crab – Inspector Gadget (Mission to Mars ’96)
One Eye Open – Paul Sharrar (Misfits of Ska comp ’95)
Mustard Plug – Thigh High Nylons (Big Daddy Multitude ’93)
the Exceptions – Angel Unreleased (Five Finger Discount ’96)
Vic Ruggiero – Always on My Mind (live) (Hellcat.com Slackers promo video ’99)
Telegraph – Rude Girl (10 Songs & Then Some : the Skolars Collected: 93-96 ’97)

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be interviewed or have a song featured, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com.

This episode and all episodes can always be found here. You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this address: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. Also if you’d like, find & like us on facebook. Take Heather’s hard work with you and download this episode!

Also, hit up www.BigSkaGamble.com for 7 awesome ska 7″ records! Heather did, look where she is now! Making an episode of 23min of Ska and being SO AWESOME!

23min of Ska : Too Much 2Tone

I’ve never really thought about centering a whole show around a single label before, but if any record label deserves the honor of being the first, it has got to be the UK’s 2 Tone Records run by the Specials’ Jerry Dammers. This episode is also heavily influenced by a book my wife recently got for me for my birthday, “the Two Tone Story” by George Marshall. This book is a history of the label and the bands on the label. As I was reading it, it made me more and more want to go back and listen to those band and their early songs. I won’t lie, I don’t too much experience with a few of these bands, like the Bodysnatchers and the Selecter so it was nice to hear a little more from each of them. Also, the Swinging Cats are totally new to me and I can’t believe I hadn’t even heard of them before! Rico was a honorary member of the Specials and had studied under Don Drummond before moving to England. He is on a host of ska & rocksteady records from Jamaica and England from ’60s through the to the ’90s (playing with pretty much EVERYONE) and even played on both Dandy Livingstone & the Specials’ versions of “A Message to You, Rudy”. If that isn’t enough awesome we have some classics from the (English) Beat and Madness from their debut singles on 2 Tone. I couldn’t leave out a track from the Dance Craze comp so I went with one of the Bad Manners tracks. Even Bad Manners looks back and says it was a mistake for them to turn down a chance to do a 2 Tone single in their early years. I would be remiss if I didn’t include at least one track from the Specials/the Special AKA, so I went with my all time favorite, “Too Much Too Young” and went out and found a live version of it that I hadn’t heard before! I hope everyone enjoys this trip down memory lane/education type episode. I had a ball putting this together, so I hope it is also great for everyone to listen to.

the Bodysnatchers – Ruder Than You (Let’s Do Rock Steady / Ruder Than You ’80)
the Special AKA – Too Much Too Young (Live) (Too Much Too Young ’80)
Bad Manners – Lip Up Fatty (Live) (Dance Craze compilation ’81)
the Beat – Tears of a Clown (Tears of a Clown / Ranking Full Stop ’79)
Madness – the Prince (the Prince / Madness ’79)
Rico – Carolina (Sea Cruise / Carolina ’80)
the Swinging Cats – Away (Mantovani / Away ’80)
the Selecter – Too Much Pressure (On My Radio / Too Much Pressure ’79)

Also be sure to check out the 2 Tone Records site!

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be interviewed or have a song featured, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com.

This episode and all episodes can always be found here. You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this address: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. Also if you’d like, find & like us on facebook. Feel the love and download this episode!

Also, hit up www.BigSkaGamble.com for some awesome ska 7″ records.

Interview : the Longshots

Look at me, I get to talk to Blake Hoshibata, guitarist for the Eugene, OR ska band, the Longshots. We talk about the usual, how the band got together, what went into writing and recording their latest EP, all that fun stuff. But what is really fun is that Blake also takes us all on a tour of the EP telling us the story behind the songs “Books” “Ryan Salisbury” and “Two Down”. He also lets us know that there is an full length album coming out soon too!

Check out the Longshot’s facebook & their Bandcamp.

The intro & outro for this episode is “Jason’s Song” by the Longshots off of their self titled EP.

LA fans, take note: the Longshots will be in our city on Aug 17th… location TBA! Mysteriousness…

This episode and all episodes can always be found here. You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this address: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. Also if you’d like, find & like us on facebook. Be sure to download this episode as well!