In Defense of Ska August 2021 Newsletter

August was an amazing month in In Defense of Ska land. Can you believe the guests we’re getting for this show? If you haven’t listened to all of them, now is the time to get caught up! But before we recap, I want to invite you to join me for a virtual In Defense of Ska book discussion at Hub City Books at 7pm EST on September 28th. Register here! I will be giving away one free autographed copy of In Defense of Ska (or In Defense of Ska shirt) to a randomly selected person that attends the event. Anyone can log in and listen to me talk about ska AND ask questions in the chat. It will a lot of fun!

Oh, and please read Brent Friedman’s latest Ska Fact of the Day! ---> “Aaron North from Nine Inch Nails originally played guitar for 90s ska/punk band Kanker Sores”

August Episode Recap:

We began the month with a very personal episode for me. A few years ago, reggae musician Mystic Bowie invited my wife and I to join him on a trip to Jamaica. It wasn’t just any trip though; he took me to the Maroon Festival in Accompong. One of the greatest experiences of my life. On this episode, we discussed this trip and also Mystic’s incredible band, Talking Dreads, who transforms Talking Heads songs into awesome ska and reggae tunes.

I’ve known MU330 singer Dan Potthast for many years, and I’ve been proclaiming him a songwriting genius for a while now. Somehow I convinced NPR to go along with me on this quest and together we launched Crab Rangoon into the Official Pop Music Canon. On this episode, we discussed this all with Dan, along with his role on Jeff Rosenstock’s SKA DREAM record, and dig in to some amazing MU330 stories.

Leftover Crack guitarist Brad Logan and Punknews journalist John Gentile went ahead and wrote a great book called Architects of Self Destruction: The Oral History of Leftover Crack. It tells the unlikely, often unflattering and always bizarre story of Leftover Crack in the words of those that lived it. For this episode, we talk about the good, bad and ugly of Leftover Crack and don’t hold back even when it gets uncomfortable.

For our final episode in August, we interviewed THEE original Ska King of Comedy, Ian Fidance. Ian is a hilarious New York based comedian that loves ska. Scratch that…he is obsessed with ska, so much that he literally tries to transform everyone he meets into full fledged rude boys. On this episode, he tells us about his numerous attempts to convert people like Dave Attell, Nikki Glaser and even random strangers on the Subway!

Dont forget to listen to Ska Punk International, an amazing podcast hosted by In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves. He also runs a really cool label by the same name. An August highlight is Joystick I Cant Take It Anymore cassettes. Grab a couple while they are still in stock!

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