The Slackers live at The Stoned Monkey 1-26-99

This show is from a tape that The Slackers allowed me to use for my old radio show Ska Beat. It was recorded at The Stoned Monkey located in Huntington, WV on January 26th, 1999. The Slackers have given me permission to upload this concert and they retain ownership of all the content. Many thanks to the band for all of the great music over the years and hopefully with more to come.

To download the show go here.

Photo Album: The Pietasters

Taken sometime around '98 or '99 at the Drop Shop in Huntington, Wv hanging out with The Piestasters. I had it good back then thanks to my radio show Ska Beat. Makes me want to hear them play live again.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Photo Album: Regatta 69

Regatta 69 came through Huntington a bunch of times in the latter part of the 90s. During a ska radio show got me in to see them plenty of times and allowed me to hang out and take pictures. This one is from the floor of the drop shop. They were always a lot of fun.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 090: Ska Beat Origens

Listening to the excellent Nude Beach Ska Podcast has found me in a reminiscent mood about my old radio show Ska Beat. Listen to a meandering tale of how I started, some of the groups I saw early on including The Skatalites, Lets Go Bowling, The Toasters and Pilfers.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Pilfers - From Far

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes of the podcast can be found at www.archive.org. Just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Photo Album: Miss Doreen Shaffer Of The Skatalites

To see the Skatalites on March 29th, 1998 I had to drive from Huntington, WV to Bogarts in Cincinnati but it was well worth it. Not only did I get a backstage picture with Doreen Shaffer I also got a Ska Beat i.d. from Lloyd Knibbs. As to be expected The Skatalites were incredible.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

My New Mini-Zine, Badly Drawn......On Purpose

I've been meaning to do this for a few weeks but sometimes I get in these moods where I don't take care of the things I need to and this happened during one of those moods. A few weeks back I (finally) completed my first ever mini-zine called Badly Drawn.....On Purpose. I dug out some old photos from the Warped Tour that I went to in 1998 in Pittsburgh. I then drew some of those pictures in ink because well, why not? They were never intended to really look all that much like the actual photos. Even if I wanted them to, come on, doing it with an ink pen would require far greater artistic talent than I possess. The idea was just to have fun with it.

At first I thought I'd do it as a one-off project but now I want to continue doing it and next up I'm going to try some drawings from pictures taken at some of the ska shows I went to in the latter part of the 90s. You know, when ska was supposed to be the next big thing the major labels ruined, but it never came to fruition. Instead they signed a bunch of bands that kinda sorta sounded ska-ish and the real ska never quite broke all the way through. What better way to document that period of time than with crappy drawings that virtually nobody will see? Am I right? Stay tuned, there's plenty more great ideas like that one swimming around in the mush that is called my brain.

You can get the results of my wonderful artistic vision locally at Holy Mountain for the extra low price of FREE! I'm sure there are plenty of copies left. If you can't or don't want to go to an actual record store here in Tulsa then you have bigger issues than I can help solve. However just let me know and I will happily mail as many copies to you as your little heart desires. Never let it be said that I didn't do my part to make humanity better. Usually I do that by not involving myself with humanity but sometimes I have to put myself out there on a limb, emotionally naked (not like that sicko, I said emotionally) for all to abuse. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ten For Tuesday Episode 095: Yeah It's A Week Late

Not much to say here, it's a week late and I have no good reason for it, that's just the way it is. The first three songs come from vinyl that I bought in Denver on the last road trip. I thought that the next two would go well with them. The last five are pretty much pretty new music in the ska/reggae vein that I enjoy. There you have it. Expect another episode next week so that I can get back on track. You'll have to check back to see what kind of music will be on it.



Ranking Roger - So Excited
The Members - Working Girl
Rubber Rodeo - Jolene
General Public - Rainy Days
The Specials - Why Part II (demo)
The Crombies - Mad At The World
The Debonaires - Music In My Soul
Melbourne Ska Orchestra - Get Smart
Leo And The Lineup - Life Goes On
Reggay Lords - One Day

Ten For Tuesday is a podcast dedicated to playing the music I couldn't find anywhere else. The music I like varies from style to style, genre to genre and era to era. You will hear punk, ska, rock, Americana, metal, country, rockabilly and more from all over the world. It doesn't matter if it's a major label or indie as long as I like it then it gets played. The motto is Less Talk More Music which means you won't hear me waxing poetic for fifteen minutes between songs. At TFT its all about the music...and me of course.

Email: tenfortuesday@gmail.com Twitter:@notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com
Old Episodes can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for Ten For Tuesday.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat 2nd Anniversary Show Tape

This is the tape from the Ska Beat 2nd anniversary show. At the end the sports team came in without any advance notice for a promo before allowing me to end the show. What can I say, that's how things went at WMUL. Sports were king and music was an afterthought. Such is life. Click here to jump to the Internet Archive and listen or download.

Yardbeat - Push Wood
Dave Hillyard & The Rocksteady 7 - Hillyard Street
Stubborn AllStars - Take Your Chances
Gondwana - Irie
Alpheus - Nothing Can Stop You
Aswad - Freedom Street
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes - Teach The Youth
Hepcat - Riding The Region
The Skalars - After The Show
Long Beach Dub AllStars - Pass It On
The Inspector - Spanish Galleon
The Equators - Softly Softly
Bim Skala Bim - Set Me Up
The Dominant Seven - Stranded
Dave's Big Deluxe - Time After Time
The Robustos - Don't Be Down   cuts off
Laurel Aitken & The Skatalites - Come Down
Filibuster - Pale Writer
Pilfers - Agua
The Donkey Show - Mr. Brown
Inspecter 7 - Now
Skavoovie & The Epitones - Boyo
The Chinkies - Run Away
Notchoma - Rudeboy
Freetown - She's A Natural
The Radiation Kings - Come Down
Jimmy Skaffa - Magic City
Boitovision w/Greg Lee - Big Bamboo
Macka B - Malcolm X
Edna's Goldfish - I'm Your Density
Fishbone - Party At Ground Zero

Ska Beat was a show I did in the latter part of the 90s as a community volunteer for 88.1 WMUL, Marshall University's radio station, in Huntington, WV. The show ran for almost three years, mostly in the Sunday noon to 2PM timeslot before shifting to a Thursday evening 8-10PM shift. It was a great time to see live music as many ska bands came through the Huntington area on their way to somewhere else.

Be forewarned, I have chosen to include all of the Public Service Announcements, weather updates, mistakes and whatever else was recorded along with the music. Yeah, I am that lazy. Also, these shows were taped on cassettes and as such may suffer from sitting around for all of these years. Additionally, WMUL had an ongoing issue of a loud hum that would periodically present itself when I was talking but normally it went away when the music was playing. Often I forgot to hit record or to turn the tape over at the midpoint of the show so there will be gaps in songs as well as some being omitted entirely. I have tried to annotate when that happened.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat Tape 2-21-99 WMUL, Marshall University

The tape from the 2/21/99 Ska Beat show has been uploaded to the Internet Archive. To listen or download click on the link here.

Franceska - Get Up
The Insteps - The Sufferer
Dunita & Django - Come To My Rescue
Laurel Aitken & The Skatalites - Bad Minded Woman
Israel Vibration - Pay The Piper
Yardbeat - Dance Crasher
Jump With Joey - Ska Cha Cha
Skinnerbox - Heat
Radiation Kings - Can't Find A Way
The Slackers - Manuel
The Agents - Two Men Gone
The Inspector - Ingred
Deals Gone Bad - Pirates
Inspecter 7 - Regret II
The Skoidats - Granted
The Royalties - Jabberwocky
Punch The Clown - Crackerjack
The Scofflaws - In The Basement
Rocker T & The Version City Rockers - Do You Wanna
Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Top Secret
Blue Beat Players - This Girl Of Mine
Checkmate - Jericho
The Skatalites - Latin Goes Ska
Selika Drake - Baby
Yeska - Greyhound To Chiapas
Easy Big Fella - Locked In The Chapel Of Love
Eastern Standard Time - Be-Bop
The Chinkees - Hana
Hepcat - I Can't Wait
Bim Skala Bim - Set Me Up
Laurel Aitken - Rudi Got Married

Ska Beat was a show I did in the latter part of the 90s as a community volunteer for 88.1 WMUL, Marshall University's radio station, in Huntington, WV. The show ran for almost three years, mostly in the Sunday noon to 2PM timeslot before shifting to a Thursday evening 8-10PM shift. It was a great time to see live music as many ska bands came through the Huntington area on their way to somewhere else.

Be forewarned, I have chosen to include all of the Public Service Announcements, weather updates, mistakes and whatever else was recorded along with the music. Yeah, I am that lazy. Also, these shows were taped on cassettes and as such may suffer from sitting around for all of these years. Additionally, WMUL had an ongoing issue of a loud hum that would periodically present itself when I was talking but normally it went away when the music was playing. Often I forgot to hit record or to turn the tape over at the midpoint of the show so there will be gaps in songs as well as some being omitted entirely. I have tried to annotate when that happened..

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat Tape 11-22-98 WMUL, Marshall University

This is tape from the show one week after the one year anniversary show. The ever present hum is there in full force while I talk and a few songs skip. I doubt they ever got those things worked out. It is what it is though. Click on the link to the Internet Archive to stream or download.

11/22/98 Setlist

The Agents - Gratidao (song skips)
Checkered Cabs - Walk Right In
Bluebeat Stompers - I Won't Cry For You
Isaac Green & The Skalars - High School
Stubborn AllStars - Back With A New Batch
Mobtown - Coming To Get You
Neville Staples - Simmer Down
Ian Hearn & Strange Tennants - Washington Via Kingston (song skips)
Prince Buster - Blackhead Chinaman
Adrian Miller - Rude Boy On The Bus
Los Hooligans - Wrong Side Of The Tracks
Deals Gone Bad - Pirates
Magadog - Pipeline
Undercover S.K.A. - March Slob
Punch The Clown - Sweaty Betty
Hepcat - Bobby And Joe
The Incredible Casuals - Let's Do Better
tape switches
Laurel Aitken - Mad About You
The Skoidats - Skinhead Hop
Inspecter 7 - Agent 86
Voodoo Glow Skulls - Los Hombres No Lloran
The Pilfers - Dr Kervorkian
Spider Nick And The Madddogs - Spider On My Bed
Spring Heeled Jack - Running Man (Lookin' Thru The Mirror)
 Fishbone - Ugly
The Slackers - Have The Time
Skinnerbox - Hepcat Season
The Rudies - Forget It
The Jumpstarts - This Is What I Do
Dion Knibb & The Agitators - Turn Your Lamps Down Low
Dance Hall Crashers - He Wants Me Back
Kampo Viejo - Libre
The Offbeatniks - Superhero
The Specials - Guns Of Navarone
The Pietasters & The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Ocean (cuts off)

Ska Beat was a show I did in the latter part of the 90s as a community volunteer for 88.1 WMUL, Marshall University's radio station, in Huntington, WV. The show ran for almost three years, mostly in the Sunday noon to 2PM timeslot before shifting to a Thursday evening 8-10PM shift. It was a great time to see live music as many ska bands came through the Huntington area on their way to somewhere else.

Be forewarned, I have chosen to include all of the Public Service Announcements, weather updates, mistakes and whatever else was recorded along with the music. Yeah, I am that lazy. Also, these shows were taped on cassettes and as such may suffer from sitting around for all of these years. Additionally, WMUL had an ongoing issue of a loud hum that would periodically present itself when I was talking but normally it went away when the music was playing. Often I forgot to hit record or to turn the tape over at the midpoint of the show so there will be gaps in songs as well as some being omitted entirely. I have tried to annotate when that happened.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat 1st Anniversary Show 11-15-98 WMUL

This is the tape from the One Year Anniversary of the Ska Beat Show. It aired live on 11/15/98 on WMUL, Marshall University, Huntington, WV. At the very beginning you cannot hear me talking and the show is plagued by the seemingly constant buzzing sound when talking. Other than that the music is great and you hear lot's of show i.d.s from a lot of great bands. Click on the link here to listen to the show.

setlist:

Hepcat - I Can't Wait
Ocean 11 - Stop That Train
Laurel Aitken - Rudy Got Married
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Simmer Down
Checkmate - Jericho
The Allentons - Fallen
SeeSpot - Man Smart, Woman Smarter
The Silvertones - True Confessions
New York Ska Jazz Ensemble - Love And Affection
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes - True Confessions
Dr Ring Ding & The Senior Allstars - My Sound
Deals Gone Bad - The Elephants
The English Beat - Ranking Full Stop
The Selector - Too Much Pressure
The Specials - Gangsters
Madness - One Step Beyond

tape change

Bim Skala Bim - Wandering Soul
The Skoidats - Rootsawalkin
Inspecter 7 - Brother Vs Brother
The Checkered Cabs - Honor Your Mother And Father
The Stubborn Allstars - Friend
Dion Knibbs & The Agitators - Welcome You Back Home
Bluebeat Stompers - I Need Your Loving
The Slackers - Manuel
Doreen Shaffer - Holding On
Mobtown - Jump Up
The Pietasters - Without You
The Agents - Scully
Let's Go Bowling - Spy Market
The Scofflaws - Nude Beach


Ska Beat was a show I did in the latter part of the 90s as a community volunteer for 88.1 WMUL, Marshall University's radio station, in Huntington, WV. The show ran for almost three years, mostly in the Sunday noon to 2PM timeslot before shifting to a Thursday evening 8-10PM shift. It was a great time to see live music as many ska bands came through the Huntington area on their way to somewhere else.

Be forewarned, I have chosen to include all of the Public Service Announcements, weather updates, mistakes and whatever else was recorded along with the music. Yeah, I am that lazy. Also, these shows were taped on cassettes and as such may suffer from sitting around for all of these years. Additionally, WMUL had an ongoing issue of a loud hum that would periodically present itself when I was talking but normally it went away when the music was playing. Often I forgot to hit record or to turn the tape over at the midpoint of the show so there will be gaps in songs as well as some being omitted entirely. I have tried to annotate when that happened.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat tape from 12/14/97, WMUL, Marshall University

I've uploaded the tape from the 12/14/97 Ska Beat radio show on the Internet Archive so just click here for the link. Almost two hours of great ska music from the latter part of the 90s, what more can you ask for?

Ska Beat setlist 12/14/97

Let's Quit - Ennio Ska
The Kingpins - The 10 Commandments Of Ska
The Specials - Guns Of Navarone
Save Ferris - The World Is New
Reel Big Fish - Hungry Like The Wolf
Unknown - Simmer Down
Voodoo Glow Skulls - Feliz Navidad
The Mad Caddies - Distress
Skavoovie & The Epitones - Sonic Boom
The Scofflaws - Nude Beach (live)
The Pietasters - Out All Night
Los Hooligans - Swing Right Rudy
Dr Ring Ding & The Senior Allstars - Big Man
Isaac Green & The Skalars - Bloodshot Eyes
The Aquabats - Superrad
Doreen Shaffer & The Skatalites - Have A Good Time
The Slackers - Fried Chicken/Mary Mary
The Blue Meanies - It Doesn't Matter
Link 80 - Dance Floor
Madness - One Step Beyond
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Rascal King
Spring Heeled Jack - The Running Man
Pain - Fight
The Allstonians - Pleasing Malady
The Toasters - I'm Running Right Through The World
Bad Manners - Skinhead Girl
Derrick and Patsy - Housewife's Choice
Dance Hall Crashers - Nuisance
Buck-O-Nine - My Town
The Skunks - Sorry
The Ventilators - Lost For Sure

Ska Beat was a show I did in the latter part of the 90s as a community volunteer for 88.1 WMUL, Marshall University's radio station, in Huntington, WV. The show ran for almost three years, mostly in the Sunday noon to 2PM timeslot before shifting to a Thursday evening 8-10PM shift. It was a great time to see live music as many ska bands came through the Huntington area on their way to somewhere else.

Be forewarned, I have chosen to include all of the Public Service Announcements, weather updates, mistakes and whatever else was recorded along with the music. Yeah, I am that lazy. Also, these shows were taped on cassettes and as such may suffer from sitting around for all of these years. Additionally, WMUL had an ongoing issue of a loud hum that would periodically present itself when I was talking but normally it went away when the music was playing. Often I forgot to hit record or to turn the tape over at the midpoint of the show so there will be gaps in songs as well as some being omitted entirely. I have tried to annotate when that happened..

Feel free to leave a comment if my memory has failed or I completely messed thing up.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat 12-7-97 88.1 WMUL Huntington, WV

The tape from the 12/7/97 Ska Beat radio show(88.1 WMUL, Marshall University, Huntington, Wv) has been uploaded to the Internet Archive. Just follow the link here and listen to all the great ska music listed below: 

              setlist

Skavoovie & The Epitones - Wildfire (in progress)
Isaac Green & The Skalars - High School
Millie Small - My Boy Lollipop
Hepcat - Bobby & Joe
The Slackers - She Wants To Be Alone
The Skunks - Swing Out Skasper
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Simmer Down
Magadog - Border Patrol
The Determinations - Housewife's Choice
Regatta 69 - I Wanna Smack You
The Skunks - Sorry
Spring Heeled Jack - Electric
The Mad Caddies - Distress
Bim Skala Bim - Not Natural
The Allstonians - The Alston Beat (tape switches)
Skankin' Pickle - It's Margaret Cho
The Pietasters - Crazy Monkey Woman (cut off)
The Toasters - Toast On The Coast
The Pietasters - Without You
Regatta 69 - Simple Simon
Reel Big Fish - Sell Out
The Voodoo Glow Skulls - Los Hombres No Lloran
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Let's Face It
The Skeletones - Dr Bones
Los Hooligans - Sonora
Five Iron Frenzy - Handbook For The Sellout
The Selector - On My Radio
Lord Tanamo - Come Down
The Aquabats - Theme Song
Less Than Jake - 9th And Pine
The Dance Hall Crashers - He Wants Me Back

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat 11/23/97 WMUL radio show

Ska Beat was a radio show I did in the latter part of the 90s while I was a community volunteer at WMUL, Marshall University in Huntington, Wv. This is the 2nd show that I have put online recorded from cassettes back in the day and it is what it is, I've made no attempt to clean up the sound and I didn't always remember to turn the tape over or even on so be kind. Still, there's some great music on these tapes. More will be forthcoming when I have the time.

Unfortunately I can't get the player from the Archive to embed so you'll have to follow the link here to listen to it.

New York Ska Jazz Ensemble - John James
Skinnerbox, - Move Like Ya Gone
The Slackers - Cooking For Tommy
The Toasters - Daddy Cry
Los Pies Negros - Siempre Igual
Buck O Nine - My Town
Ska King Crab - Mike The Barber
Dance Hall Crashers - He Wants Me Back
Magadog - Semi-Sweet
Supertones - Unite
Let's Go Bowling - Cumbia del Sol
Save Ferris - Super Spy
The Skoidats - Granted
The Aquabats - The Story Of Nothing
Save Ferris - World Is New
Oi Skall Mates - Nutty Sound
Mu330 - Tune Me Out
tape cuts off
The Upbeat - 17@17
Mephiskapheles - Introducing The Yellow Passion
Hepcat - Bobby and Joe
The Allentons - Pyramid Five
Madness - The Prince
Voodoo Glow Skulls - Malas Palabras
Laurel Aitken - Mad About You

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat 11/23/97

This is the second ever show of Ska Beat. It seems that while I was intent on taping the first few shows I was somewhat less diligent in actually hitting record or turning the tape over. As a result there are some unknown songs on here since I missed the part where I say what they are and can't find my old playlists. It is what it is. The sound is what it is as well. Like I said before these tapes are old and sometimes the equipment at WMUL emitted a buzzing sound, especially when talking. Still, this is an exact example of what I was doing at this exact moment in time. And trust me, I do get better at this, I've heard it on tape and you will too, as I get the other tapes out. So take a listen to what I was listening to:



Unknown Song
New York Ska Jazz Ensemble - John James
Skinnerbox - Move Like Ya Gone
The Slackers - Cooking For Tommy
The Toasters - Daddy Cry
Los Pies Negros - Siempre Igual
Buck-O-Nine - My Town
Ska King Crab - Mike The Barber
Dance Hall Crashers - He Wants Me Back
Magadog - Semi-Sweet
Supertones - Unite
Let's Go Bowling - Cumbia Del Sol
Save Ferris - Super Spy
The Skoidats - Granted
The Aquabats - The Story Of Nothing
Save Ferris - World Is New
Oi Skall Mates - Nutty Sound
Unknown Song
The Upbeat - 17 @ 17
Mephiskapheles - Introducing The Yellow Passion
Hepcat - Bobby And Joe
The Allentons - Pyramid Five
Madness - The Prince
Voodoo Glow Skulls - Malas Palabras
Laurel Aitken - Mad About You

I have chosen to include all of the Public Service Announcements, weather updates, mistakes and whatever else was recorded along with the music. Yeah, I'm that lazy. Be warned, the shows were taped on cassettes and as such may suffer from sitting around for the last seventeen years or so. WMUL had an ongoing issue of a loud hum that would periodically present itself when I was talking but normally it went away while the music was playing. Often I forgot to hit record or to turn the tape over at the midpoint of the show so there will be gaps in those songs as well as some being omitted entirely. I've tried to annotate when that happened and if the songs didn't make it on the tape I leave them off of the playlist.

What you end up with is a snapshot of where I was and what bands I was going to see in the latter part of the 90s. It was a great time to see live music as many ska bands came through the Huntington area on their way to somewhere else. Unfortunately I've lost my playlists from so long ago and my memory isn't what it used to be so there may be a few unknown artist and song listings. I'm not going to let that hold me back on posting these shows. Feel free to leave a comment and square me away on anything I've messed up or forgotten. Additionally I used to fill in at various times to keep WMUL on the air and I have about five tapes of those shows to go with the twenty odd tapes from Ska Beat. It's been a blast listening to these tapes and remembering a time in my life that is completely different from where I am now. Hope you enjoy the show because I definitely enjoyed doing it.

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com  Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Ska Beat 11/16/97: The Very First Tape

UPDATE: I had to go to Podomatic to get a media player to work.

  

******I am having difficulty embedding the player from the Internet Archive. Until this is fixed you can go here to stream or download the show.******



A long time ago in a place far, far away a radio show called Ska Beat began. Well, okay, actually it was 1997 and in Huntington, WV to be precise. A little over two years after leaving the U.S. Army I found myself helping out at WMUL, Marshall University’s radio station as a community volunteer. After suggesting non-stop that WMUL needed a ska show due to the genres increasing popularity I was informed on a Friday that I was to be doing the show on the following Sunday at noon and I needced to get my butt in the studio. With an hour or so of training I did indeed make my debut one week before my birthday.  I didn't think to record that show but I did on my birthday, November 16^th, 1997. The show ran for almost three years mostly in the Sunday noon to 2PM timeslot before shifting to a Thursday evening 8-10PM shift.

I have chosen to include all of the Public Service Announcements, weather updates, mistakes and whatever else was recorded along with the music. Yeah, I’m that lazy. Be warned, the shows were taped on cassettes and as such may suffer from sitting around for the last seventeen years or so. WMUL had an ongoing issue of a loud hum that would periodically present itself when I was talking but normally it went away while the music was playing. Often I forgot to hit record or to turn the tape over at the midpoint of the show so there will be gaps in those songs as well as some being omitted entirely. I’ve tried to annotate when that happened and if the songs didn’t make it on the tape I leave them off of the playlist.

What you end up with is a snapshot of where I was and what bands I was going to see in the latter part of the 90s. It was a great time to see live music as many ska bands came through the Huntington area on their way to somewhere else. Unfortunately I’ve lost my playlists from so long ago and my memory isn’t what it used to be so there may be a few “unknown artist and song” listings. I’m not going to let that hold me back on posting these shows. Feel free to leave a comment and square me away on anything I’ve messed up or forgotten. Additionally I used to fill in at various times to keep WMUL on the air and I have about five tapes of those shows to go with the twenty odd tapes from Ska Beat. It’s been a blast listening to these tapes and remembering a time in my life that is completely different from where I am now. Hope you enjoy the show because I definitely enjoyed doing it.

Laurel Aitken - Sally Brown (in progress)
Jump With Joey - Jack Lord Ska
The Specials - A Message To You Rudy
Madness - One Step Beyond
The English Beat - Ranking Full Stop
The Toasters - Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down (stops about a minute in, wrong song played), I'm Running Right Through The World
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Let's Face It
Fishbone - Ugly
Hepcat - Dance Wid Me
Regatta 69 - The Fiasco
The Skoidats - Rootsawalkin'
Reel Big Fish - Sellout
Let's Go Bowling - Grover's Harem
THe Aquabats - The Theme Song
Skankin' Pickle - Rotten Banana Legs
Skavoovie & The Epitones - Bli-Blip
Los Hooligans - Swing Right Rudy (cuts off as tape ends and is switched)
Mento Buru - Try And Try
Isaac Green & The Skalars - Don't Count
Supertones - Supertones Strike Back
The Scofflaws - Ska Groovie
Voodoo Glow Skulls - Los Hombres No Lloran
Shoulderhopper - 67 Beetle
The Pietasters - Factory Concerto
Save Ferris - World Is New
Five Iron Frenzy - Third World Think Tank
Bim Skala Bim - Pete Needs A Friend
Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Don Quixote
Spring Filled Jack - Running Man Looking Through The Mirror)
The Allstonians - Brighton Memories
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get (tape cuts off)


Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

What's Going On

I haven't been posting a lot this month but it doesn't mean I haven't been busy. One of my new projects has been converting the cassette tapes I have from when I was a community volunteer at WMUL (Marshall University's radio station) where I did a ska and reggae show called Ska Beat (from 1997-1999) to mp3 format. I only have about twenty or so tapes plus a few from when I filled in at other spots but it is time consuming mainly because I have to listen to them to write down the bands and songs. Once upon a time I kept my playlists but now I have no idea where they are or if indeed I still have them. As far as editing I decided to leave everything in, all of the Public Service Announcements, all of the Marshall stuff and even all of the weather announcements. I loathe editing that kind of stuff and besides, it's a testament of where I was and what I was doing at that moment of my life. The only thing I have been editing is the beginning of the recording, when the tape was turned over (not always timely) and at the end. That's pretty much it. I've decided to upload these file to the Internet Archive instead of putting them up through Podomatic as a podcast. That will start as soon as I write a few paragraphs about the history of the show.

Another new project is also music related but in a much different way. I've talked with Tommy and his son Chris about doing a spoken word/music project with them. There is no name for it as of yet but honestly it was something I thought about doing in the mid-nineties when people like Maggie Estep made it seem possible and Henry Rollins was all over the place doing spoken word. Somehow it never happened for me even as a personal, local thing and I buried it away in the back of my mind piled over by a ton of other ideas that I always wanted to start on. I finally realized that if it's going to happen I have to make it happen and since Chris and Tommy's bands are kind of on hiatus it only makes sense to do something creative together. Writing lyrics has been fun and personally rewarding for me but sometimes in my head I hear things differently than in the regular lyrics format so I want to see where this can go. It's going to be a learning process for me so we'll see how it ends up.

I have been writing but most of it has seemed incomplete or partially written to me so I've been reluctant to put much of it online. If it's a first draft and sure to change that's not a problem to me but I don't even feel that most of the new stuff is at that point yet. I need more hours in the day to work on it. Or to have money so that I don't have to work. Yeah, that'd work. It's not gonna happen but it's a nice pipe dream. Writing words for my new project is a very different process. Instead of presenting ideas in a concise manner now I get to indulge myself and get wordy. Problem is most of the time stuff comes to me I'm nowhere close to paper and pen or a recorder or it's not a situation where I can use any of those things. Case in point, while in the stage of half sleep this morning I had music and words come to me but by the time I was awake enough to try and write them down it was all starting to fade. Then the cat jumped in my lap wanting attention and my cellphone started ringing intermittently so I only got some of it down. Hopefully I can look at it later and have something else present itself.

That's about it, everything I've been working on besides doing things with the family and working a fulltime job. It's a lot but as I said earlier, if I want it to happen then I've got to make it happen. I have to start it because nobody else is gonna knock on my door and say they're there to help me do what I want to do. Resistance will always present itself in many forms to block you. Go read Stephen Pressfield and he'll tell you all about it. As for me, I have to get back to work, in one form or another.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

notmovingpictures Episode 026: Don Solo Rants Again

Ah yeah, it's time for another solo episode of me (Don) ranting about what I feel is important or whatever is bothering me at the moment. Before getting to that however I first talk about my newest artistic endeavor, getting the tapes from my old radio show Ska Beat uploaded on archive.org. I don't have a timetable but I have started listening to them to get the artists and songs (lost my old playlists) and get an overview of the quality of the recordings, etc. Here's the deal, about two years after I got out of the Army I became a community volunteer for WMUL, Marshall University's campus radio station where I ended up doing a ska and reggae show for almost three full years. I've got around twenty five tapes that I recorded of my show as well as a few times where I filled in for other time slots and played, ska, punk, indie and so forth music. It's going to take some time to get the tapes converted and listened to but I have started and it will be a look at what I was doing 1997-1999.

After talking about that I started my rant about (the lack of) customer service that I experienced in a four day period from Dell, Talley's and Mom's Family Diner and how one of them differed from the other. Then I gave an update on what happened to getting the medical marijuana initiative on the ballot in the next election. Spoiler alert, it failed but the fight will go on. You can listen below or just go here, whichever you prefer.



Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing Music: Alton Ellis - Ska Beat

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can also be found @ www.archive.org, just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Satelite Kingston - El Enimigo new cd

I knew that Argentina's Satelite Kingston was supposed to have a new cd out sometime soon but as I was looking around on Youtube I actually found it. Their website hasn't been updated to reflect it so perhaps it isn't released yet but man these guys (and gal) are so good! I like them so much that the next time the family gets to go to Peru I'm going to try my best to schedule it around an appearance by them. I know they've played in Lima before so if the stars all align themselves perfectly maybe it can happen next year. Only if dreams come true.

Luckily I've been blessed to see some of the best ska/rocksteady, etc bands many years ago such as The Skatalites (I got a show ID from Lloyd Knibb and a picture with Doreen Shaffer), The Slackers, King Django, Hepcat and on and on and I place Satelite Kingston up there in the same group. It strikes me as pretty amazing how quickly I've come to know their music and how much it has affected me. Perdimos is now my ringtone for my cellphone but it may get changed to one of the new songs. Now if only I could find a way to get their merchandise here in Estados Unidos I could really support them. The bad luck is that living in Tulsa you don't get to see much if any ska music but as long as I've got the internet I can stay connected, right?

Satelite Kingston, Ska From Argentina

I've just come back from a short vacation which explains why I haven't posted for several days. The purpose of the trip was to visit my wife's cousin and her family, particularly her 5 month old baby girl. While it was nice to get away and visit it was extremely muggy there and since it was just for a few days the drive there and back really got to me and right now I'm just trying to get back to my routine. Anyway, I had prepared some Cd's to listen to while driving and some of them were Peruvian and Argentinean ska because recently I had been getting back into ska in a much bigger way. Back in the mid to latter 90s I volunteered at Marshall University's radio station (WMUL) and did a ska and reggae show called Ska Beat. Ever since I still listened to some of the music but not like I had done before. I had been looking for 80s Peruvian music and after that I found some current ska bands (mostly in Lima) and started expanding my search which led me to Argentina and the band Satelite Kingston.



This song stood out to me on the CD that I made because I like the singers voice and how it melds with the tempo of the music. Plus the traditional ska sound is my favorite. As far as what the song is about from what I've been able to understand is that in 1972 some political prisoners opposing the military dictatorship from various groups planned to escape from a prison in the city of Trelew. The leaders were able to escape but 19 others were slower to get out and got to the airport as the plane with the 6 leaders on it was taking off. They surrendered to the military and of course there are different versions of the story but 3 of the survivors state that they were made to lie prostrate on the floor and then machine gunned which resulted in 16 deaths. The military version is that the prisoners grabbed a machine gun from a guard and an intense firefight resulted that ended with 16 prisoners. Some people in the town were arrested and the entire town ended up going on strike against this action. 2 of the survivors were later "disappeared" (a process involving the government kidnapping people and holding them for torture and then usually killing them) and the other ended up missing. It's a very sober message.

Unfortunately the bands website is unavailable due to exceeding it's bandwidth which to me means they have something that you can download there but too many people have done so and so I must wait to get more info on the band. But their myspace site is still okay and can be found here. Still, there's not a lot of information about the group that I can find especially since I'm cursed by not speaking very much Spanish. Here's a live version of the song recorded at a radio station in which they were all crowded into a small booth to perform.



As I said I can't get a lot of information on the band but I did find a site that showed the band's membership consisting of:
Alejandro Pribluda: guitarra
Daniel Flores: teclado
Daniel Zaltzman: batería
Germán Cohen: trombón
Gonzalo Santos: trompeta
Hernán Fernandez: saxo
Julián Cuestas: trompeta
Milton Alonso: bajo

This however doesn't seem to be a complete list as there is clearly a female vocalist in the group. Perhaps in the future I'll get more information and go more in depth about the band.