The Uptones - Not From Here

The Uptones, the Bay Area's premiere ska band, will be releasing some new songs soon. This is good news because Uptones productions are not only danceable but soulful as well.

Case in point: The first time I met members of The Uptones was at the Port Lite bar in a dark, lonesome section of West Oakland. Three of the defunct Uptones had carried on as Stiff Richards and our band was opening for them. I may be fuzzing the details here but two songs into their set, I remember telling someone in my band to come inside and listen because, "These guys are really good." Four songs into their set, I realized they were professional-caliber musicians who happened to be playing on a linoleum floor in a dive where cockroaches roamed the bathrooms and the bartender snarled if you displeased her in any way. And those ways were generally mysterious and unknown to you.

Professionals with soul; they played ska but mixed it up with reggae, punk rock, classic guitar-driven rock and humor. All of this had chops and heart. At the end of the night, they pulled up in a series of tiny automobiles and loaded up and out like they had done it a thousand times before. And so they had. The Uptones began when they were in high school in 1981 and went on to heavily influence a lot of popular ska-pop-punk bands that I won't go into here because none of them are as cool as the Uptones and that's my professional-caliber opinion.

They are re-formed now and you can see them live in places where the bartenders are not quite as surly. But au revoir, Port Lite. Apparently it couldn't last out by the warehouses of Oakland. I miss playing there and also miss Emmett who enthusiastically booked local bands, always wore (non-ironic) trucker hats and played pinball throughout every band's set.

Not From Here from "Skankin' Foolz Unite!"

Concord, CA, There I Was

I visited my parents for four days this week and if you know me, live in the Bay Area, and I didn't call you, it's because I was getting over a lingering three-week bronchitis-like cold and was feeling guilt for moving away from my parents in the first place. That didn't stop me from experiencing the splendor of the East Bay in February--a time when it starts getting weirdly hot before March blows in and reminds us that it's not quite spring yet people, even in California.

What did I accomplish on this truncated visit? So very much, thank you for asking!

Firstly, on Friday, Sue Iconolodge fed me some delicious Trader Joe's hummus. I'm not about product placement, but I had been seriously craving hummus all week and this TJ hummus is not fooling around: you need it in your life. It's got some kind of oily pine nut crust on top--look for that. I visited with Sue's house-guest who's involved in some kind of polyamorous sect based in Marin County, or possibly San Francisco. I couldn't keep track of the people involved or the terminology. As we left for the night, I wished him well in his polymorphous pursuits, which sounded right at the time, though he called me on it immediately and I tried to cover my tracks by describing it as meaning sex with a tentacled person. I don't think he bought that

We headed off into the night, driving alongside the Bay during a polymorphously orange sunset. The water was all choppy and shiny and though the traffic was like driving through a bog, our spirits were high. Because we were heading towards a party at Takara Sake in Berkeley where free sushi and sake would be served from 6-8 p.m. Takara Sake is a big warehouse full of sake, a sake tasting room, and a sake museum featuring all kinds of fabulous 19th-century Japanese sake-making tools. Sue looked at the sake-making pictograms and noted, "They didn't tell us that FEET were involved."

We tasted sake that was flavored with apples, lychee nuts and good old unfiltered rice (milky and cold), plus the usual dry, heated variety, and none tasted of feet. Meanwhile, our friends in The Uptones mingled and were very low-key about the fact that the gathering was a party celebrating the release of their new CD, Skankin' Fools Unite! There was no live music and no visible CDs and they wouldn't play the actual CD. Therefore it was a great marketing coup for sake. Tiny plastic cups in hand, we stalked former Beserkeley Records CEO, Matthew Kaufman (now head of Fun Fun Fun Recordings) and asked if we could see and touch an actual CD. Whereupon he disappeared into a closet and retrieved a couple for us. Thank you Matthew.

You might remember The Uptones from 1981 when they first formed in high school in Berkeley. They were teen-age ska prodigies who grew up, created some new bands then re-formed again as The Uptones. With the three core originators in place plus five more (including a three-piece horn section), The Uptones are an awesome live experience. And the CD is really good with a mix of new and classic Uptones songs; the production is crisply excellent. All the early 80s ska touchstones are in place: rebellious attitude in a porkpie hat: check; celebration of the outlaw: check (Bonnie and Clyde); Jamaican/British 2-Tone influences intact: check (The Specials, The Selector, English Beat, etc.). I especially love "Not From Here"--its theme of alienation couched within an epic chord progression. It will make you do the twist and feel years younger.

Even my mom was really impressed. She loves the horns (note: my mom has good taste in music--especially dance music). So if you're looking for that blend of 50s Jamaican influence in an American punk-rock dance band--here you go.

Paul and Eric of the Uptones have a musical secret: they can play really bitchin' Rolling Stones-like riffs from the Exile on Main St. era. If they ever want to get that stuff recorded, I'm all for that.

On Saturday I talked my parents into driving us up to the top of Mt. Diablo. 3,840 feet of plate-tectonic-produced land mass, rising up behind their house. February/March is the perfect time to go because all the foothills are green. I mean GREEN--Ireland green. And the scrubby old Oaks don't have leaves and look all twisty and artistic. We could see quite a lot from the top , though there was a slight haze. On days after a wind storm, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge and beyond. We then headed to Rock City to climb on the very amazing sandstone wind caves. If you are ever in a state park and you pass a sign that says "Rock City," you should turn off and go there. It will most likely be a good experience.
Wind caves are polymorphous indentations in sandstone, formed by wind. They're like if wind had a sculptural face, except they're covered with graffiti. You can scratch your name on sandstone with almost anything, including a finger, so people do. But still, they rock. Jackson loved finding left-over sand in the path as we mountain-goated through the rock formations. He kept bending down to rub his hands in it--little sand puddles.

After that I wasn't good for much other than art-supply shopping and the airport. I watched Bill Maher with my mom one late night. She and my dad are rooting heavily for Obama--I hope the democrats don't disappoint them. They're pretty depressed about politics and need a win. Maher's show "Real Time" was for the most part entertaining and thoughtful throughout. I like Dan Savage on the Obama campaign trail, asking college boys if they were a little gay for Obama. "We are, a little," they admitted. He also pointed out that security in Dallas was really lax. Federal agents took down all the metal detectors halfway through frisking the huge crowd. Savage asked why and they told him it seemed like a safe friendly crowd. Fuck you Dallas. Swear words I heard while watching HBO: fucking, fucked, and cock. That's the freedom of pay TV.

I put on the Uptones CD while unpacking today and could not help dancing around the bedroom. That is a good situation to come home to. Although it's raining here again, the sun keeps bursting through the clouds as if to say, "Hey there stranger! Remember me?" Yes--welcome back.

photo sources:
Pixieland Amusement Park, Concord, CA
Mt. Diablo Photos
Guide to the Geology of Mt. Diablo

The Uptones - Laws n Sausage

I almost forgot--I made a video this week. I didn't forget the making of the video, but I forgot I could put it here for all of humanity to gape upon it. And so here it is. The Uptones are the premiere East Bay ska band par excellence. They and their label, Fun Fun Fun Recordings, will be putting out a digital EP any moment now, containing "Laws n Sausage" and more. That's right. Uptones.



Footage is from the Prelinger and Internet Archives. Hail to them. I might have mentioned The Uptones here once or twice.

The Uptones Skank On

My favorite ska band, The Uptones (OK, truthfully, they're tied for first place with The Specials), were high school musical prodigies back in the 80s. But they're all grown up now and reformed (as of 2002). Here they entertain us with their excellent dance moves to the title song from their new CD, "Skankin Foolz Unite," which as one YouTube commenter succinctly put it, "is the shit." Indeed!



Get Out of My Way


Rude Boy


Not From Here


Bested by Pelicans


Ghost Town - The Specials' song destined to be covered for eternity.


Wiki
MySpace

Where the heck are all these free MP3s I keep hearing about?

I don't have time to look for free MP3s--defined as downloadable music that is free and clear and legally obtained from the struggling musicians who make it. My ethical make-up gives me automatic guilt whenever I even consider "stealing" music from sites that make it available: you know who you are. I admit to downloading some very obscure albums that are completely out of print and impossible to find, but even those I completely stumbled upon accidentally while linking around the Net (a practice that has landed me in many unusual Internet places over the years).

So how to find new music? I've tried Pandora and other similar services over the years. I'm glad they exist because it's nice to sit at the computer and have some humanly inspired algorithm figure out what I might like to hear. But after about 20 minutes, I get tired of this narrow musical approach. I miss the days of college radio dj-ing where seemingly everything independently produced was available to pick and choose from according to my whims, curiosity or desperation when I ran out of ideas during the last hour of my shift. What a treasure trove that "recommended for heavy rotation" record shelf was every week.

At home, we have an extensive CD (and LP) collection but it's frozen in time up to the 90s, when we pretty much stopped buying CDs. This was a joint decision involving lack of funds, lots of moves across cities and states, and general disgust with the music industry for the past 20 years. Still, we never obtained MP3 players due to an aversion to ear buds and disappointment with the quality of sound that the majority of MP3s make when amplified. Kids, it's true; they're tinnier than a CD, which is darn tinny to begin with.

So lately I've been collaborating with some locals who have done a huge amount of work gathering free MP3s on their music sites. These song selections have been culled by a variety of musicians and music lovers for your listening pleasure. And the music-makers have all granted permission to download them for free, in the hope that you'll like discovering a new band and perhaps purchase some of their music. You never know.

Here's a list of MP3 sites with new and old music to stream or download. It is the dawning of the digital age of Aquarius:

Superfan 2011 - Are you a superfan? Me too! A new download every day with a helpful blurb which is doubly helpful since the selection is super eclectic.
Superfan 2010 - 365 days of downloads--a plethora of riches.
Superfan 2009 - I don't even remember 2009. Perhaps this site will help.
You may "friend" Superfan Musiclover on Facebook for your daily downloads. I really think you should. Seriously, if you read this site at all, you might as well friend that site, hint, hint.

MP3 Jackpot features weekly musical winners, like a game show where no one loses.

Music2Eleven! has good taste that tastes good. Examples: Sigur Rós - Olsen Olsen and Raveonettes - Aly, Walk With Me.
Music2ten - 365 downloads from 2010. Geez, there's gotta be something in there you'll like.

PublicDomain2ten showcases excellent public-domain classics from the golden era of jazz, blues and Americana. That's right--scratchy old music that started it all: Ma Rainey, Duke Ellington, Sam Butler, Scott Joplin. I don't even know where to find most of this stuff otherwise. This is an essential music site for historians and old-timey music fanatics.

Din2ten is a mass collection of MP3s picked by Eric Din, who plays guitar and sings in The Uptones. He's been a professional musician since before the Internet. We must listen to him.

And if you want to stream and find music by genre, go to MP34U and pick a channel. It'll grab an entire selection of music from various sites for your enjoyment and edification. I'm listening to the "78s" channel as I type this. Leadbelly's Where Did You Sleep Last Night? is scritchy-scratching its way out of my computer speakers, reminding me that everything old is new again.

Today's word: Zesty

In my middle-of-the-night bout of insomnia, one word came to mind and wouldn't leave: zesty. Let's explore some zesty concepts on this sunny spring day.

May is national bike month and Bike to Work Day is scheduled in your area in the next 30 days (Thursday, May 12th for the Bay Area). Nothing is zestier than having a job. Riding your bike to your job is even more fulfilling. Even if you can only ride to public transportation, think of how much you're saving the planet by not spewing carbon emissions all over the air we breathe. If so, thank you!

I work at home mostly, but I try to bike whenever possible. Or even walk, since I'm lucky enough to live in a pretty compact, well-developed area. Some might call it a small city, but others who live in actual cities might scoff at that. But that's not very zesty of them.


You know what else is zesty? Comedian Erin Gibson attempting to take a pole-dancing class. Better her than me. I hope this embeds OK. Give it a shot.



For true zestiness, try some delicious North African cuisine. Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya combine geographical influences with creative spice blends in genius food formations.


Remember Bad Manners? They were so zesty! They've reformed and are playing with The Uptones at The Uptown in Oakland on Saturday, May 21st.



Awww, Chihuahua! Playing pool!