Showing at City Cinema

this week

Traffic

and Aimee and Jaguar

Times and Descriptions at www.citycinema.net 368-3669

Come and celebrate with Alexander Keith's.

Monday, March 19

Tuesday, March 20.

Back Alley Discs: Greg Paynter

Wednesday, Brennan’s: Even Stone

March 21

Thursday, March 22

Myron’s: Poppa Shine Olde Dublin Pub: 1749

Friday, March 23

Arts Guild: Imrov comedy with 4Play. Baba’s Lounge: The Dogs

Brennan’s: Groove Gurus

Olde Dublin Pub: 1749

Panther Lounge: The Rude Mechanicals

Saturday, March 24

Baba’s Lounge: Eyes for Telescopes Brennan’s: Screech Myron’s: GWN

Olde Dublin Pub: 1749

Is it Already Time to Hang up our Suits?

By Jared Leon

Ska is dead, again. We should have seen the signs from the start, ska was destined to go back to the shadowy corner of obscurity it came from. This, of course, is not the first time this has happened. What we just experienced was the third wave of ska.

Ska was born in Jamaica in the 60’s, a music of celebration. Music that was meant for dance. The originals were bands like The Wailers, when Peter Tosh was still with them, the Skatelites, Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker. This, to many, was the high point of ska, when it was still simple. It was just enough to make you want to get up and skank. There were no rules as to how many horns a group needed, or how well the musicians played, so long as the beat was steady.

The second coming, known as Two-Tone ska, came with the original punk explosion and as a result picked up its first punk influ- ences. The two musical genres went hand-in-hand, for example ska-legends The Specials got their start opening for The Clash on an early tour. Along with The Specials the Two-Tone generation saw the likes of The Selector, Bad Manners and The English Beat.

This brings us to the most recent ska uprising, known today as

- Third-Wave. The name alone is an example of the lack of originality

displayed in this Third Wave of ska. Although some great bands have come out of this desperate time, such as The Slackers and Hepcat, so has a lot of crap: bands like Mustard Plug and Reel Big Fish, the thought of which make me cringe. It was during this period that the punk influence became too great, resulting in, for the most part, bad music.

These horrible “ska-punk” bands make me sort of glad to see the end of this horrible nightmare. Ah, but we were too young and naive to see just how bad it was.

What does this lull in the ska scene mean, for us Rudeboys and girls?

Well it means that the good ska, the old ska will be less readily available. It will take more search- ing to find those early Specials sin- gles or that rare Desmond Dekker 45. It means the creation of many New-Wave and Mod rock bands, which seems to be the flavor of the month. It means next time you wear a suit to a party people will think you just came from a funeral. It means the only music resembling ska you can expect to hear on the radio for a while will be on an ad for Jamaica.

Those who like it, Tiicen lee (Ole

Cas

pre INDIA PALE ™

The Specials on their sinking ship.

The Cadre 15