January 2014 Rocket Ship Ska Trip Archives

1/9 in a nutshell…

OK, so our minds blanked on the Hepcat again, so we’re just gonna let it go already. Time to move on! A 10” 78 from Soweto actually got the “Ooh” going this week, that being “Eddie’s Ska” by the Soweto Stokvel Septette. By the time Sherwood’s was in view, we’d plowed through some Skatalites, Jimmy Cliff, Ken Boothe & Stranger Cole, and all the way from the beaches of California… Annette! Byron Lee, whose “Jamaica Ska” Annette covered, checked in with “Dumplins” and Bob Marley and Prince Buster turned up in the mix. Sherwood played stretchers from new cool collective and Victor Feldman, after opening the Voovie Doo with Shorty Rogers and making two cd players lock up by attempting to feed them Echo’s “Night and Day” …hey, same thing happened to Cozy ‘n’ the Cap’n on “Driving West”… Moving on, Mr. Funn padded his time out with the help of Drain, m-flo, Capsule, Henry Mancini and Cedar Walton. Oh, and Perfume’s hypnotic “23:30” as well. “Cool Benny” Velarde wobble-cha’d us over to the Home Stretch where the no-repeat “Lollipop”-ing continued with Akatz, from Akatz A-Go-Go. A brass band called Les Miserables GotchaSKAvered “Phoenix City” this week, the Froggies 5@5:05’d, the Cap’n took another vocally-percussive whack at Perfume’s “Clockwork” and all was smooooooth sailing up to “The End” and the transition to the merry band of coffeemakers brewing up the Morning Blend. But we’ll be back… tune in and stay tuned!

1/23 in a nutshell…

We mashed it in the Ooh, discovering Roland Alphonso’s “Full Dread” 45 with the Skatalites (or, as the record’s label would have it, the “Ska-Ta-Lites”) along the way. When “Mr. Hops” drove us into Sherwood’s Planet, Mr. Funn responded with Ferrante & Teicher gone disco, into Emerson Lake & Palmer. And only in Sherwood’s universe does Stan Kenton collide with YMCK and Giorgio Moroder (a.k.a. “The Beepers”)! But now let’s get to the Home Stretch… the funniest “Lollipop” we’ve played since, I dunno, the Aural Exciters… was by Quebecer Jacques Desrosiers. He’s also the first French-Canadian whose “Lollipop” (here titled “C’est Toi Mon Cibole”) we’ve aired since La Famille Staunton. “Phoenix City” was occupied by Prince Buster this week, and he chased out a certain “Ringo” on his version… we’re pretty sure it wasn’t Ms. Shiina or Mr. Starr! But speaking of the latter, his old band The Beatles got the All-Ska treatment for the last hour, starting with… 3 by The Skeatles! Ringo Ska followed up, as did ARTS, Ernest Ranglin, The Skatalites, Skapontas, …oh, and let’s not forget Giuliano Palma & the Bluebeaters. It was pure Skeatlemania and then some! It’s on the archives for the next 2(+?) weeks, so enjoy… ‘til next time, tune in and stay tuned!