April 2010

  • Reggae Rising"FALLEN" is it going belly up?

    By meneleik on 4/29/10 10:06am
    2 Comments

    I heard a rumor that America's #1 reggae fesival may not be happening this year. According to my information Dimmicks Ranch is going bankruprt and the show will not happen this year. If you go to the Reggae Rising web site they are selling NON-REFUNDABLE tickets, but have yet announce a line up. Sounds like bamboozle to me. If the does not happen it is pure karma for hijacking Reggae on the River. They should not have messed with my church. Jah bun fyah pon dem greedy weakhearts.

     

     

     

    SELAH

     

     

     

  • Carlos Malcolm: A Trombonist You've Never Heard Of...

    By cobwebsandstrange on 4/23/10 1:45pm
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    In reading about the earliest moments in ska’s recorded history, there are endless references to how politics and self identity played into the music’s formation and its eventual codification. But in getting through whatever literature you might have picked up, it seems that for the most part, the Skatalites are made out to be one of only a few ensembles working in the late fifties and early sixties.

    That’s not the case. And while it can’t be anyone’s stated intention to disenfranchise groups that in subsequent years have seemingly disappeared, Carlos Malcom’s situation remains a bizarre one to be sure.

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  • Max Romeo: Takes on the Power Structure, Kinda...

    By cobwebsandstrange on 4/19/10 1:22pm
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    Thinking about the world in terms of epochs and social groups, contrasting what a similarly aged group of folks in JA accomplished to twenty somethings in the States during the ‘60s is pretty interesting.

    If your parents are of that vintage – born during the latter part of the forties or early fifties – whatever they’re up to now doesn’t really have anything to do with the rebellious nature of the time they grew up in. The States, for just about a decade, was engulfed in various waves of protest ranging from equal rights to problematic war posturings. JA was endeavoring to enter a period of freedom and self reliance. Of course problems arose.

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  • Hepcat - "Rudies All Around" + "Blam Blam Fever" (Video)

    By cobwebsandstrange on 4/16/10 6:49pm
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    Hepcat remains at the top of America's '90s ska pile. Yeah, the Slackers are still at it, but Hepcat, who only tours four days every five years or so, never got cheesy as opposed to its NYC compatriots. This is a compilation of footage from a recent European tour. And one day, I'll get to see 'em again.

  • Boris Gardiner: An Unmentionable OST

    By cobwebsandstrange on 4/16/10 6:12pm
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    There’s pretty much no way anyone’s seen the film Every N****r is a Star. That’s just a guess, but I’m probably right. I’m also going to have to continue using asterisk for the remainder of this write up, but that’s how it goes.

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  • George Nooks as Prince Mohammed

    By cobwebsandstrange on 4/5/10 2:04pm
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    The States are not always the most hospitable arena for musicians to spread out, let loose and make it big. Of course, all of that’s relative seeing as most JA singers and performers wouldn’t have the same shot at stardom on their island – maybe the UK, though.

    Differentiating between the UK and US reggae scene is pretty easy to do. Here in the States, there hasn’t been a significant, home grown reggae outfit that’s impacted the charts while maintaining some semblance of the music’s earlier periods. In the UK beyond the Specials and the second wave of ska, acts like Black Uhuru have wound up becoming international stars. But even if the entire globe hadn’t embraced its music, Black Uhuru had its place amongst other chart toppers for a time. None of that makes one country better than the other, just more in-tune to JA sounds.

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  • Lynn Taitt in Singles

    By cobwebsandstrange on 4/3/10 4:07pm
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    Attempting to distill an entire genre, though a small one to be sure, through the work of a single player seems ludicrous. It is. Locating the precise impetus for a movement is equally difficult, though, we may search it out. Floundering for answers, there’s usually a person that all of this falls on for no other reason apart from the fact that it kinda works. That’s all problematic in and of itself, but what’s even more frustrating is doing all of this within a genre that’s largely ignored.

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