Jacob Wake Up!
First off, sorry I fell off the planet the end of February. I got sick which meant going to bed at normal hours, not staying up late or waking up early to blog. (It’d be so great if I had some help, hint hint.)
Meanwhile, the bands we love have big things going on!
Rock On! Concerts, purveyors of shows on a boat, have announced the annual summer concert cruise featuring New York City ska stalwarts The Slackers. The cruise will be Friday, August 22, 2014, is 21+ only, and will run you $25-$30 plus a $7 service charge. Tickets are already on sale. Supporting acts have not yet been announced.
Ska-tinged Boston punk band The Takeaways will release their new album “The City” on Friday, February 21st at Roggie’s in Brighton.
The third date on their mega-mini tour with A Guy Named Guy brought Boston ska/punk band Poor Jeremy to Mystic, CT.
One might wonder why bother with radio or podcasts in the days of Spotify and Google. If I can search for the song I want to hear and listen to it on-demand, why would I need a DJ to play it for me?
I can think of three very crystal clear reasons:
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DJs are a source for music. They’ve been charged with the sacred task of selecting songs for the enjoyment of the crowd, big or small, live or recorded, in person or over the air. We haven’t stopped making mixes or suggesting music to each other, we’ve just changed how we do it. If you’re anything like me, you crave new music and new bands, be they new to the scene or just new to me. In short, tell me what to listen to.
Spend a romantic Valentine’s Day with your favorite local Boston ska bands
Saturday night internetting led me to video of a complete Mighty Mighty Bosstones set dated January of 1991, posted by YouTuber Skibs778. The sound and video aren’t perfect, but it’s good enough to enjoy what was not just an intimate gig, but one early on in the band’s career. One commenter claims “[t]he video was filmed with a Sony Video 8 camcorder at The Apocalypse Club that used to be on college street in Toronto.” Setlist.fm agrees if you go by the track list. I should note it’s not quite the complete set as song 7, a cover of Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion,” has been removed, probably at the request of their label.
Bob Marley would have been 69 today. His influence on reggae and pop music is immeasurable. How come it took me so long to get into him?
Boston ska stalwarts The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have made a music video for “They Will Need Music” and Alternative Press has the exclusive premier. The Bosstones announced the video’s release on Facebook yesterday, saying:
[quote]This video is our love letter to the HomeTown ThrowDown which is our yearly love letter to the City of Boston and the people that support our band, The Mighty Mighty BossToneS[/quote]
The video includes great footage from the 2013 Hometown Throwdown, the Meet and Greet at McGreevy’s, and the sledding event held at Frozen Fenway. Intentional or not, I love that the sledding scenes look like home video footage circa the 1970s. If you attended any of these events, look closely and you just might see yourself! Yours truly makes a cameo at about the 1:54 mark! No one could ever claim that the Bosstones didn’t care about their fans. The video itself was made local filmmaker Mark Higgins who is also responsible for the Music video for “The Daylights” (see below) and Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” music video, among others.
UPDATE 2/17/14 8:45AM: The video is no longer exclusive to Alternative Press. Here it is on YouTube:
Perennial ska band The Slackers have released a music video for “My Bed Is a Boat,” the title track off their EP of the same name.