made debut at Toasters' show sixth month June 16, 1999 with some of the more hard-to-get interviews so far. Delivering big names from three waves and four decades of ska music in 64 compact pages + vinyl bumpersticker guaranteed not to crack or crumble in Rochester weather. You can't get that anywhere else. Perhaps they made the cover price more delectable & reasonable among cheap ska people, not to mention roadside vandals. Praised by many a band and fan. Cover art here had a serious turn and then took a lighter tone with the second run; photo by F.S. McCarthy, caricature by Brian J. Robbins. Kress was now at Oswego finishing his degree and interviewed Pilfers & Spring Heeled Jack for old times sake w/ help from Alex Wegner & John Huber. E* was refueling big ol jet airliners and delivered some Blackouts Geneseo, Scofflaws Fredonia and Pilfers Cortland photos. Over a year since the last, it turned out better than expected and was worth the time, featuring 60+ music/ 40 print reviews (not that numbers are important). A semi-complete Mark Foggo discography plus little articles about early USA compilations. Lost Buffalo NY interviews with Reel Big Fish by Thom Nicolette and Rancid's Brett Reed unfortunately never made the cut or the following issue/ see below.

Music is often about keeping records; without an attention to detail we are nothing. On 4/9 Matt Austin turns 20 and Pietasters' 'Bitter' is in Never Been Kissed starring Drew Barrymore. This electronic anthology site was compiled late 28 April 1999 as a last minute senior final for an independent study course on history & new media. Its basic HTML was updated once mid-January 2000. In mid-January 2002 things were added, a bunch of scan retouch done for galleries. Since then, it's been up & down and probably won't be changed too often. Maybe as a home for archived content when we can? Timeline reconstructed mostly from memory but did consult the wall & paper trail a few times. Reading and writing liner notes in detail – shout it from the Windows 98.

I hadn't seen either Dan or "the Pietaster" in over a year 'til that surreal 21+ and not-ska-crowd Bug Jar show. Delivered uncle Buck a copy and he mentioned some funny sad but true last laughs about the Abby clash of #3, plus news of a large embezzelment scandal just broke at the world's top ska label - But this man's got 99 lives. (Among classic drunken rambling about the marketing of satin flight jackets etc.)

Back in the city limits, Fritz's ska TV show is in full gear and with it the help of a weekly mention. We get about 95% crank calls or people who want nineties dancehall – "I'd love a Babycham" she exclaimed. Matt K phones up almost every episode and when in London, he went to Gaz Rockin' Blues & used Mayall's mobile to call mom & dad back at the hotel! Respect to Jeff from R.U.S.H., the local skinhead firm 1989, and Incosi for telling us to keep it copasetic.

Earlier, Skank on This organized 9 local fans to pool funds together for a roadtrip en masse from R.I.T. campus to the annual (and final) Penn State skafest in an Econoline cos Tiffany Transport won't rent to students – Feb '99 event is sponsored by Jeremy Meyers' Freefall ska zine/ Jumpstart Records. Next came the organization of a flour city showcase of 16 April compiled an all-local lineup at Token Joe's (Fat Tsao, Motives, Blackouts & 5Head) with the help of swanky Chris Seaver. Years earlier this had been the landmark Scorgies; nearby where the original Specials played Rochester during their only U.S. tour, February 1980!

Last Minute Mere days before issue 006 got duplicated, we receive a Skalatones postcard from Ken of Thug Head 'zine and Auburn Correctional. I wonder if he knew their claim to fame is the track "Mr. Probation Officer"? We later find out the warden won't let you read contraband stuff like HP! in the can, so he never saw a finished zine – yet managed to get enclosed girlie pics? You figure it out. Another issue again to wreak havoc on local radio with more scathing FM quality control vitriol courtesy Mr. Fritz. yikes!

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R.I.P. Skatastrophe The national all-ska magazine based in Florida expires after eight massive & impressive issues. Like HP, it was started Fall '95 as an outgrowth of editor/ publisher Jamie Bogner's work as a Rhodes College dj. Don't argue.

Some area bands featured here broke up after this came out, but some didn't like the Motives and Geneseo's Blackouts. Aquinas evermore! Oct 19 the TV crew guest hosts Shannon Dunham's WITR Ska on My Radio show with 2 hours exclusively upstate ska. On this date he pulls out the lost HP2 addressed to Little Davie, shoved behind a metal filing cabinet 3 years and tragically never made it to him. Magazine has a few creases but in good condition – no tears, been kept flat for years. Pietasters in Syracuse plus AP Mag ran the large feature 'Too Much Too Soon: the 2 Tone Ska Story' by Chris Nickson. Nov 21 ska tv hosts what would become its first annual Skanksgiving fest at Water St with Spider Nick & Maddogs + 5 upstate acts. A pipe burst and the apartment got soaked. Fast forward a year and headliner is the Slackers!

Maude Flanders killed by flying tshirt 2-13-00: "I'm really sorry to hear that. We just lost our drummer to a Pentecostal ska band. Uh, I know it's not the same but." Considering Mexican Cession Jurassic Park & Douglas Leader's DLO NAVY parody tees, PLAYSKA® logos get screenprinted as promotion for cable access. wayne's world party time excellent. I get a real job, meet Marty K, we go to lunch at the honky tonk rib joint where he encourages me to check out a cool dino band mural painted over the stage – to which I can volunteer superb CNY illustrator Elliot Mattice is artist.

c'mon Mr. Krinkle tell me why
Beantown veterans Bim Skala Bim do a muni mula foil cover concept for their 8th album, 2000's Krinkle, inna similar reprographic style to HP1 face. Allstonians! Pressure Cooker hits Empire Brewing twice in as many months. Execution on the third of May, Metallica & Dr. Dre bring litigation against Napster 5/3. Rudy Boesch, (Survivor) born in Rochester gets his own "Rudy" action figure. Thursday Night Stomp 8/10/00.

Randomly came across Rude Tales comics wherein a shady bicycle-pedalling Noah W. chronicles his side of a run-in with sister JoAnn at SUNY Albany years prior – she handed him a flyer for #5, so he mentions it in print. An especially long-winded ska timeline written for her ethnomusicology class soon gets turned into trifold brochure. A domestic first-class stamp costs 34 cents, but we all knew not for long.

Retail distro of ska music changed drastically but a few copies of the mag were carried in stores in Roc -Syr -Buf, NYC, Montreal PQ, Lund Sweden and Eindhoven Holland for the die hards. You could ask for copies at Olivers Syracuse/ Sound Garden Geneseo/ Bop Shop Records, Fantastic, Ultrasonic Rochester and Home of the Hits Buffalo; sold on a consignment basis. Compared to a larger run like 40,000 there weren't that many made.

Even made more there before they went all super ethical copyright law enforcers. Wazmo Nariz forced to go Kinkos where you must understandably sign off with photo ID, they keep it for their lawyer as release from liability and overhead much higher. There were quantities of this beta version around long afterward, but they're mostly gone now.