living color
8 ounces –

our favorite inconsequential health problem – made debut at the Mass. Hysteria show Webster NY, the eighth month 16 August 03 (21 months since last). Venue is this old mahogany ballroom barbershop quartet grange building leaving the village; Elizabeth Comstock was the first to buy one, followed by Jordan Nittoli.

Welcome to the working week
No stranger to the great American layoff which put a damper on things a while. Ad agency jobs like that literally come once in a blue moon. Got free Joe Jackson, Annie Lennox & Kinks LPs out of it though. Later took a good advice and found a part-time job at the local mailroom which had 2 copiers to abuse. Some friends of H. Hill work there.

A tanker truck exploded by Kodak Park and took out a dozen houses, eyewitness reports say you could see the flash from our old Mobil. On the 5th anniversary of Judge Dread's death, the Slackers play here for $5. City News goes on record with us for a 'zine feature and Dave Hillyard returns. Things get real tough and the Blackouts say goodbye at Jillian's megacomplex on 5/3/03; the real power outage arrives later in summer.

The city has been threatening to get rid of our Electric Avenue pedestrian bridge, a relic of neighborhood days past for $1. We discover other odd roots connections with said hangout; area band guys in Mushroom took a publicity photo up there in the dead of winter [c. 1972 predating Bahama Mama & Big Roots lineups]. A coincidence 30+ years after the Ramona Park fact and before Eddy Grant's hit about Brixton. Structure is razed June 2004.

It’s been a little while. Seven years later and we’re still doing linocuts and putting photos of this trestle on page 3. An eyesore is expensive to maintain, plus it leads to the ominous wrong side of the tracks. Over the years, it has seen its fair share of rope swings, girls, smoking, drinking under, but mostly solitude. I remember one bad winter when some even dared spring off it to piled snow banks below. Or that summer they repainted it battleship grey from its previous ash white; man was I annoyed. You can’t go home again. Still, I had learned most of my favorite curse words and the names of cool metal bands there on the way to little league games. This was 1988, and I was on 40 & 1 baseball’s Detroit Tigers with one Dan Esler.

Later that same year Pan Am 103 crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland and one of the first ska zines started up in Glasgow. It was called Zoot, and a skin named Tim Wells became its London correspondent. As well as a 2003 interview with Wells himself, this issue has a good balance and writing from some new contributors. In the 5th grade, when Danny K and I upset a kid named Viktor, Justin called the F.B.I. on us. Likewise, it turns out Lee Scratch Perry upset Victor once too and Dave Cross tells about it. Probly in February ‘95, I read a reprint of the Patrick Smith article, “The Lessons of a Lost Sound” in Out of Bounds #3 from Arlington, VA. I wrote for his own Stargreen (the zine for the modern sentimentalist), which was about flying and world travel. Then last October, Mearns read a laughable story and had circulated it in a mass-forward. It was the full, unexpurgated story of what happens when dry ice is mixed with blue toilet acid at 33,000 feet. Said article first appeared in Airways magazine, and after reading it I realized the author was this same Patrick Smith, punk pilot zine guy turned Salon.com writer. When contacted, he didn’t believe anyone could make such a random association between the two. So when the world lost influential Clash lead Joe Strummer last December, we figured Smith was already on the case. As an early inspiration, it’s a pleasure to share his work in these pages.

Enjoy this issue, it took some time. With so much going on / new music out, it can be an overwhelming task to keep up on everything, but we again try to present a picture. Have long stayed away from including all the latest in current events, yet this time around a news section is attempted. Best place to go for even more global coverage is still Do The Dog skazine UK. 2003 sees brand new discs from Montreal’s Planet Smashers, NYC’s Rocksteady 7 and many others. HP! has finally sold out by conducting some interviews via email (those with Tubingen Germany’s Court Jesters Crew and longtime Kent ska man Arthur Kay) but I think they came out decently enough. New local groups have formed, more little venues have opened which means more scene. Big thanks to all bands, labels, promoters & everyone else who keeps us stocked and going! Send in your shit for the 9th life, I think we already started on it. All reader questions, submissions and any registered complaints are always very encouraged.

(introduction as appeared issue #8 page 3, June '03)

This guy has not given up his quest to report on anything and everything ska in Rochester. His labour of love is 'Hoi Polloi', which has evolved into a world-class Ska journal. I haven't even seen the latest one, but I know he's been putting it together during times of struggle that would be worthy of a Marley tune.

– dr.awkward,
WRUR ska radio, 8/03

twisted how the mind renders shirtsleeve trademarks in the mall
It's time to redefine the new school rude boy. Ska USA 03 got back on its feet with Ska Summit festival in Las Vegas, the monumental collaboration (4-disc Still Standing compilation) and new 'zines like Ska World, Ska Au Go Go, and another Stubborn bulletin, Version City. Yet paper fanzines remain a dying medium; new internet kids have never seen one, fewer seek unknown formats. Planet Smashers (featured inside) know this too well so write a regal song for the King of Tuesday night. This issue tried to bring back an old guard of 80's writers – Patrick Smith, an erstwhile airline pilot, columnist and freelancer who has traveled to 50+ countries always asks for a window seat. Plus Bilko from eighties London, Dave Cross, Jaime Telfer and Yvonne Nightshift too.

Speaking of nostalgia
Already a growth industry in previous years, the trend of craft scrapbooking skyrockets after 9.11 terror set in – archival adhesive achieves multi-billion abundance. Includes splices of Lord Denning's Report which is like
the 1962 UK version of US Kenneth Starr Report for Clinton/Lewinsky. To learn more about Christine Keeler's sexcapades thru swinging London, rent the 1988 motion picture Scandal w/ska soundtrack selections by Gaz Mayall. A year after Back to the Beach with Frankie, Annette and Fishbone.

Nobody got that this contains two Deep Purple references on page 47, or that review #53 landed on page 53. Advertisers & local indie owners Justin Goellener [Analog Shock] and Jeremy Sarachan [Fantastic] went out of business 2003-04, as did the big favorite Dewitt NY Record Theatre. No MPEG3s made until March '03. Refused Clear Channel tax but won admission to Bosstones open-air High Falls with ballgame fireworks in background on the radio in June. Thanks Pete Spaker.

Witness a sort of Miggedys reunion at Bug Jar 7/3/03. Six years is a long time to live in one place – like a Favor St. church cobweb. Prodigal mixes of basement mastertapes of the sophomore Moon disc, Destined for Mispronunciation remastered and released online 2/2/04. Which will bring us to Mearns' scoop in the forthcoming issue. Get a digital camera, happen to meet Jah Crunchy himself and also Dr. Ring Ding; let's begin again. In spring, no.9 is about half written and anxious to see its future.

On my desk, I currently have last season's issue of 2600 magazine, the current issue of Adbusters, and local Hoi Polloi skazine. I also have a spray bottle of Febreze, a mechanical pencil, a crank I use to turn the tuning pegs on my guitar, and a pair of prescription sunglasses...

– Trailerparkmark's blog

©1990 ATARI 7800
Local ska mention:

The Glow (Webster/Penfield)

Stolen Tango (ex-Cross Reaction)

Christian Philippone Experiment
(ex-Motives)

Numbers breakdown 18 leaves = 68 pages half-sized. Initial press run 30. Type set in part Clarendon Black and Univers 57. Crammed pagination scheme was built Mothers Day 03. Summer brought its own share of delays, a cover carved from linoleum block same night the NE power grid went out. It raises questions about the subtle differences between record sleeves offset-printed in the UK versus their hand-drawn JA counterparts. Ordering the Phoenix, come get me JK Rowling for another epic installment. #8 has about eleven typos in the whole thing and we haven't been able to forgive ourselves since. A domestic first-class US stamp costs 37 cents. FRESHMAKER? The first slab serifs appeared at the beginning of industrialization in Great Britain circa 1820. Not only a parish in Jamaica, more I think about it Clarendon is the face of such classic logotypes as Rush2112, Vespa®, Tonka® and Mentos®.

Lakeshore Record Exchange sold these for the better part of a year. Read by friends & fans in prison, Hoboken, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, SLC, NYC, L.A., D.C., Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada [MB, ON, PQ], Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switz, UK. Seeing holding reading more global non-English ska literature out there means it's important to have visuals in text. Still do not own a scanner, but do include images of material discussed to balance wordy layouts. Based on comments made, readers mailed in mix CD-Rs just because.

Nothing gotten/ written about up to this point was obtained via Ebay and every photograph was shot on film.

The world has been denied my music because of the c**ts who run the music business.

– Arthur Kay,

OG sixties mod explains why
he never hit the big time in 1980


"This 300-copy A4 b&w 'zine with a hand tooled cover and found item (in our case a photo of a hole!) is brimming to its 66 pages of ska delights. As well as world news and 'zine reviews, there's a mass of decent enough illustrations, loads of typefaces and graphics, and a whole lot of text, some of it relevant, some of it relevant if not to ska. Interviews include The Planet Smashers, Tim 'Bilko' Wells, Arthur Kay and The Rocksteady 7. There's a piece on Lee Scratch Perry, tons of reviews and a look at illegal music copying."

– Record Collector UK #306
Jan 2005

RC 306

**LIMITED COPIES AVAILABLE $5 USD Post Paid**
ENGINE ENGINE No. 9 GOING DOWN CHICAGO LINE ––>



write!



#8 REVIEWS

The Adjusters - Storm Warning: Anthology 1996-2001 (Grover)
Laurel Aitken w/ Pressure Tenants - Rudi Got Married (Grover)
Allstonians - Bottoms Up E.P. (Fork in Hand)
Allniters - Another Fine Mess (Sound System)
Bang Matu & Orquesta Kingston - Magia Negra (Liquidator)
Bluekilla - Ska is our Business (Pork Pie)
The Burial - A Day on the Town + Skin Deep - More than Skin Deep (Skank /Step One)
Court Jester’s Crew - Babylon Raus (Grover)
Desorden Publico - Diablo (Guerra Sound / Grover / Sabor Discos)
Dr. Ring Ding & The Senior Allstars - Golden Gate (Grover)
Engine 54 - Tribute (Grover)
The English Beat - Beat This! (Sire / WEA)
Honeyshop Screamers - Going out Dancing (Do The Dog Music)
Intensified - Cut n’ Shut: Ten Years (Grover)
Arthur Kay & The Originals - Ska Wars: 1979-1999 (Skavalon UK)
King Banana - Welcome To Banana Island (DSS Austria)
King Hammond - Blow Your Mind (Receiver)
Kingpins - Plan of Action (Stomp/ Union 2112)
Liberator - This is Liberator (Burning Heart)
Carlos Malcolm & His Afro-Jamaican Rhythms - Ska Mania (Upbeat 1965 / RPH Prod 2001)
Maroon Town - One World (Intuition 1993/ Grover 2001)
Metro Stylee - Soul Garage Ska (DVS Media 1996-7) by Jaime Telfer
Mr. Review - Walkin’ down Brentford Road (Unicorn 1988 / Grover 1993, 2000)
MU330 - Ultra Panic (Asian Man Records)
Peeping Toms - self-titled (Grover)
Pietasters - Turbo (Fueled By Ramen)
Planet Smashers - No Self Control (Stomp / Union 2112)
f.k.a. Potato 5 - True Fact (Rackit Mash 001UK)
Laurel Aitken - Rocksteady Party (TKO Magnum Music)
Psico Rude Boys del Espacio Exterior - No. 2 en Ingleterra (Liquidator)
Rebelation - Yo Swing that Mama (Do The Dog Music)
Rico - That Man is Forward (Chrysalis 2Tone, 1981 / Reggae Retro UK, 1998)

Robustos - The New Authentic (Beatville)
Rude Boys - Ska Fever: Original Skinhead Reggae 1988-89 (DSS Austria)
Ska’d for Life - Sober (SUE!)
Skalatones - Tune In (Sidekicks)
Skaos - Porno ‘75 (Pork Pie)
The Slackers - Wasted Days (Hellcat)
Smoke Like a Fish - Same (Do The Dog Music)
Suggs - The Lone Ranger (WEA UK)
The Toasters - Enemy of the System
(Asian Man/ Grover/ JumpUp/ Moon Europe)
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - Full Tension Beaters (Avex JP/ Justa/ Grover)
Too Hot - Nice N’ Easy (Burn Your Fingers 2000)
Too Many Crooks - Spanish Fly (Do The Dog)
Topcats - Mr. Donkey Paradise (Jamdown)
Tremende - Accellerare é Rallentare (Gridalo Forte)
The Unity 2 - What is it Yo!? (Reprise)
The Untouchables - Cool Beginnings: Rare & Unreleased 1981-83 (Stellar)
Various - Achtung! Elmo (Elmo)
Various - Best of the London-Based Sioux Label: Heavy Reggae 1971-72 (Jet Set Culture Press)
50. Various Artists - Grover 50 (Grover)
Various - In With The New (Staccato UK 1995)
Various - Knockout Ska (Treasure Isle / Heartbeat 2001)
Various - Leisure Riddims for the Working Class (Spit Shine)
53. Various - Mash It Up 2000 (DVS Media)
Various - Rough & Tough ‘zine presents the better bands of Iberico 2001 (Liquidator)
Various - Rough Guide to Ska (Rough Guides 2003)
Various - Ska All Mighty (Heartbeat 2002)
Various - Ska Skank Down Under 2 (Sound System AU)
Various - Ska Stars of the 90’s (Gaz's Rockin’ UK)
Various - The Shack III: Transatlantic Ska (Jamdown UK)
Various - This Are UK Ska (DoTheDog.com)
Various - This Are UK Ska #2 (DoTheDog.com)
Various - Skinhead Reggae Box Set (Trojan / Sanctuary 2002)
-------------------------
Boston Brass Digest #4
Dark End of the Street #1
Do The Dog Skazine #24
Do The Dog Skazine #25
Do The Dog Skazine #26
Do The Dog Skazine #27
Do The Dog Skazine #28
Do The Dog Skazine #29
Dunk n’ Piss #6
Liquidator #4
Liquidator #5
Moskito Mailorder, Katalog nr. 23
Punk Duck #2 / Bitchin’ Camaro #1 split
Read Magazine #22
The Revolving Door #55
Something For Nothing #52
Something For Nothing #53
Something For Nothing #54
Something For Nothing #55
Something For Nothing #56
Ska Patrol #10
Ska in the World #4
Shannon’s zine #1
Soundcheck Apr ‘02
Soundcheck Jun ‘02
Under the Volcano #65
The Worm Hole #16
The Worm Hole #18

write!