So maybe it’s starting to feel a little bit like fall. Maybe the temperature dropped a little and the wind is picking up. Maybe it’s that much more important to check out a show before you start using the snow as an excuse not to leave your apartment.
I’ll spare you too much editorial on this one. Bim Skala Bim is hosting another Mash It Up Fest Saturday night at the Middle East in Central Square. If it’s anything like the last affair, it’s going to be a good time. The line up is killer and Sam Adams is sponsoring the show (promo pints? I certainly hope so). It’s also the unofficial (?) after-party for the Bosstones show on the Common.
Entertainers this evening include JP’s Pressure Cooker, John DeCarlo and Company (fresh off the Version City Tour), Riki Rocksteady & The Arraignments, and Mr. Kowalsky. No, you don’t have to choose between this and the Bosstones. Get to the Middle East at 8 or find the other folks going late from the Boston Common and share a cab. Either way, get your ass there.
Here are the details and here’s the Facebook event. Get to know the bands below.
It seems excessively late for a December 2012 recap from where we currently stand, forward facing the bitter cold of January’s last frame. In my defense, I went a bit overboard late last year, insisting on drinking and smoking through a cold that became a full-fledged plague by the last night of the Hometown Throw down. With a weekend of fun ska/punk shows coming up, it’s a good time to recap the madness.
12.14.12
Home For The Skalidays at The Audio Jungle
It started innocently enough in the middle of the month. A Guy Named Guy was headlining the Audio Jungle with a toys for tots benefit. I took a long lunch that day and secured my tot toy at Newberry comics. Come 6 ‘o clock, toy and camera gear in hand, I was headed to Allston. This was a fantastic show. Mr. Furious started the night off, and impressed the hell out of me. I finally got to see Short Handed Goal, a ska punk band based out of RI. Nice guys and a solid set. Fort! The band was up next and always destroys a basement with their ever-evolving gypsy ska-punk-slouch madness. I can’t get enough of Fort!, it’s never the same show twice, and the energy they bring to the table as a collective is impressive. Connecticut’s Llama Tsunami continue to be my nutmeg state ska crush, powering through a strong set of original material sprinkled with energetic covers. I took a setlist, from a basement show, that’s how much I respect this band. A Guy Named Guy, fresh off the release of their Terminals split with Puerto Rico’s D-Cent Jerks, brought the night to a close. If you only know this band from the incredibly popular, and polished, youtube video for “Ska’s Not Dead,” a song they quite possibly retired that night, you have no idea how hard these guys will thrash through a set.
RadioBDC is giving away tickets and a “VIP Experience” (read: bottle service and lap dance from Dickey) to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones Hometown Throwdown. Actually it’s a sweet package that includes a stay at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Enter here.
Pressure Cooker’s recent release, “Wherever You Go,” got a great review from the Boston Globe. “It’s hard to say which wave of reggae and ska we are currently on, but whichever one it is, Pressure Cooker is riding it very well.”Read the review. Buy the record.
Rochester’s Mrs. Skannotto has (have? I never know) been added to The Toasters’ show at TT The Bear’s on Friday, March 1st. Tix/info here.
Yesterday, A Guy Named Guy released their Terminals Split with D-Cent Jerks from Puerto Rico. The D-Cent Jerks tracks swing a little pop/punk while the AGNG tracks swing a bit more post-punk. Give it a listen. (and then buy it if you dig it! It’s only $2!)
Welcome to first post on Boston Ska (dot) net. Let’s call this a soft launch. I’d been blogging at jacobwakeup.com and decided to start this sucker.
I missed the first couple weeks of November but there’s still a decent amount going on. I wasn’t able to make it to The Toasters on November 3rd at Johnny D’s. Did anyone catch any video from the show? I wasn’t able to find any on YouTube. It’s okay, The Toasters will be at TT’s in March.
So I sort of blinked and noticed there’s a handful of great ska shows in Boston this month. And then I noticed they weren’t all listed anywhere. In the event that Bostonska.com doesn’t get around to posting them, I wanted to pull them all together. So, risking being the new guy who rolls into town and pretends he knows what’s up, I’ve got a very incomplete arbitrarily compiled list! Feel free to add more in the comments that I might have missed.
I’ll spare you too much editorial on this one. Bim Skala Bim is hosting another Mash It Up Fest Saturday night at the Middle East in Central Square. If it’s anything like the last affair, it’s going to be a good time. The line up is killer and Sam Adams is sponsoring the show (promo pints? I certainly hope so). It’s also the unofficial (?) after-party for the Bosstones show on the Common.
