Syracuse Ska Forum

I'm sure some of you guys remember the Pilfers, well, Coolie posted on his message board that they are talking about doing a reunion show in November. The thread is located here http://www.coolieranx.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=233&forum=1&18

I just wanted to let everyone know, it would be nice if some people showed support for this. I know I'll be making the trip to wherever it is as long as I can afford to, etc. The assumption is that the show will be in NYC but Coolie hasn't posted anymore info. I hope some other people are as excited about this as I am.
-Mike

Woah.


My heart just stopped.

OH SHIT.

That'd be awesome.

I'm not the HUGEST Pilfers fan, but I really like them and to see them would be amazing. (not as amazing as actually catching edna's goldfish earlier this year, but still amazing)

God, who's next on the reunion show trend? Hmmmm, Step Lively? What's Your Problem Brian? One Cool Guy? *Drools*

*Chuckles to Self* ASOB?

Edit: Are we sure it's definitely Coolie that posted that and not someone pretending to be Coolie? Just asking, cause people love to try to convince us that they're Tomas on the SM board.

Edna's Goldfish did a reunion show? I'm really, really disappointed that I missed that..holy shit. But yeah, that is definetly Coolie and I don't think he would post that if it wasn't pretty likely to happen. If anyone has the motivation, try to contact Vinny and see what he has to say about it.

On a side note, I wish someone would book Cenzo up this way (hint hint). I saw them once in Ithaca, it was well worth the drive, but I can't bring myself to drive all the way to LI or CT to see them again.
-Mike

Yeah, Edna's did a reunion show at the crazy donkey on long island on April 3 this year. It was with The Vagabonds, High School Football Heroes, and the Arrogant Sons of Bitches. It was a benefit show for a family member of one of the guys.

And, it was one of the best shows I have ever attended. well worth driving through the night to make it back for my 8:40 AM class monday morning.

I'm more surprised that the Pilfers haven't ALREADY done a reunion show, honestly. It's not like they're too busy doing other things ...

Vinnie and Pat (former DLO) has been bugging me for awhile to book Cenzo. I just didn't detect much interest yet, honestly. But I think their newest songs might help build more interest with the younger kids. We'll see ...

Well, I had heard that they were not getting along so well (Coolie and Vinny Nobile, whose the other Vinnie?)..which apparently was the cause of the band breaking up. I don't know the whole story but publicly there was some semi-BS about Coolie's voice. So that is why they hadn't done a reunion sooner, but if they can get over that shit I don't see why they shouldn't get back together. I did see Cenzo once and I was impressed, but it's not the same kind of show as a Pilfers show. The energy isn't there. I think Coolie has played a handful of solo shows, and I've managed to miss all of them..even the one or two he has done upstate. I've heard so-so reviews of his shows, mostly related to the band. Hopefully the pieces are coming together for them to start something more than a reunion show.

I don't understand why nobody is into Cenzo. Personally I liked their two demos much better than the album, but it's still good. Mostly the same songs, I guess I just prefer the recordings on the demos. I talked to Joe the bass player who is also from douglas leader and he was certainly interested in playing this area. When I saw them play in Ithaca at The Haunt, there were very few people there to see them so it was hard to judge what kind of reaction they got. It was some kind of goth night later on, and they were trickling in, not to mention the bizarre opening bands..so it was a real weird mix of people there.
-Mike

Well, I'm not the first one to misspell Vinnys name. Google and see how common the other spelling is ...

Yeah, I remember Joe as well. Of course he'd like to play this area. He went to SU for awhile and DLO had some good times here. But thats not really a good reason to book a band, no offense.

DLO never really had any energy, so I guess it's not a surprise if Cenzo is lacking for that. But if true, that's not helpful ...

I like these new songs. There is actually ska there, which is refreshing. Maybe I listened to the demo too quickly, because I don't remember any ska on it, just a lot of guitar distortion. But again, I'm listening for kids to want them to play here. I get waaaaaaaay too many bands wanting me to book them to book bands kids don't wanna see yet ...

Well I saw them once..after they dropped the Orchestra part, and I have to say I wasn't at all impressed with them. They opened for The Blackouts in Geneseo once. I don't know the deal but it seems that they are just temporary...they've already replaced one of them with Mike Pellegrino from Spring Heeled Jack. I think that's a move in the right direction. In their defense, there weren't that many people paying attention to them playing when I saw them. Vinny always has energy, even in that situation. It was still a really good show.



I don't see what the difference is if it's very strictly ska or not. What's wrong with trying something new. Personally most new bands I get into, it's because I saw them live and was impressed. I know some people do this, but I certainly don't dick around on purevolume.com looking for bands and then begging promoters to bring them here. Why not throw them on as an opening act to a show that kids want to see, and let them see for themselves. Maybe ska kids aren't open-minded enough to try something a little bit different. Their loss.
-Mike

Here we go again ...

Guess what??? I book SKA by my own choice and you're free to book whatever you want with your own money, okay? The original demo I heard by Cenzo had no ska at all, nor did I find anyone even into indie music that liked it at the time. So again, I had no interest in it.

Mike, honestly, I was probably hit up by 100+ bands last year for shows. It's physically impossible to hook them all up. That's a very basic problem most people don't understand. I had a "TBA" next to the show description for Distorted Penguins and now I've had 10+ bands (most of whom I've never heard of) begging to crash that show. Booking opening bands is a buyer's market and always has been and always will be.

And lastly, when Cenzo expected $300 for their first show in Syracuse, how can I take them seriously as being open-minded enough to make anything work? That's not opener pay, it's headliner pay.

Stop jumping to conclusions about stuff you don't know about, okay? The problem isn't ska kids not being open-minded enough, but bands that expect too much, too soon. It seems to be the rule and not the exception, which is why more of these bands don't get booked around here -- not because someone isn't "open-minded" enough ...

No need to get all defensive. I appreciate what you do and I'm glad we at least have someone in this area that books ska. If I had the money and the knowledge how to do it properly, I might try to book some shows. For the time being I want to watch and learn.



I guess I am used to some of Mad Dogg's shows in Buffalo where there'd be like a couple ska bands, a metal band, and a hardcore band haha. Something like that is a little drastic, but I think there is other music that appeals to people who like ska. I still don't think Cenzo (for example) is that far of a stretch from ska, even the old demo..it's kind of rock with horns I guess. $300 for them is pretty crazy, I can see why you wouldn't want to bring them here in that case.

I guess the open minded comment came from a friend of mine's former band in Buffalo, who was put on an all-ska (otherwise) show and the ska kids got pissed off. They were throwing things, water bottles, etc. and bitching at them the entire time, I don't think they played their entire set. They weren't ska by any means but sort of a "rock reggae" band. You certainly have the right to book a show that is entirely ska, but you made it out like the kids wouldn't like it if it wasn't ska. I didn't mean to offend you man.
-Mike

So Coolie sent out an email to his mailing list with info about the show, I'll copy/paste it here..I'm not on the list but I had a friend forward it to me:

-----
Greetings to all Pilfers Crew,

Here's the news we have decided to have a reunion show @ the Knitting Factory on Nov 4 th tkts are $10.xx in advance $15.xx @ the door We'll be playing all the songs. Doors are @ 6pm show ends 9:30 pm So don't be late you might miss it

Coolie Ranx
http://www.coolieranx.net
P.O. Box 1354
New York, NY 10274

-----

There you have it..I'll most likely be going, seeing as they are one of my favorite bands, ska or otherwise. If any of you younger people (or anyone else) have never heard them send me a message on here or contact me on aim mmmburritos and I'll send you a few songs if you'd like. I don't think either of their albums are in print anymore so I suppose that will be ok.
-Mike

wow. this just made my day. do we know when tickets go on sale?

this is incredibly exciting. and truthfully, if you younger kids don't know who they are that's a sin.

this is probably goign to sell out. i know people that are already planning a trip from michigan. the knitting factory is a pretty small place for the most part. hopefully hardcore pilfers fans get into this. (and hopefully i do too)

There hasn't been any word of when tickets go on sale, I've been keeping an eye on Coolie's site as well as the knitting factory's site. I'm so torn between not wanting it to be another crappy winter and it being time for that show haha. I'm hoping they play some of the later songs that were never released like Chain Reaction and Somebody's Gotta Leave, or whatever it's called..Coolie actually does it on his demo but it's not the same without Vinny.
-Mike

PS does anyone have any "rare" Pilfers recordings? I have the old old Chain Reaction demo they posted on their site before they broke up, but there are 2 or 3 other similar demos floating around that I'd love to get ahold of. I've also got a CD with some rare stuff, some live tracks, Flicker b-side, etc. If anyone happened to be at The Haunt on 5/15/99 I've got a video I shot of that show too, a few others have copies of it as well but for the most part nobody knows about it.

well, i don't have anything to share because i suck (at least in terms of the pilfers) but i would love to get my hands on any rare recordings you have. all i have is chawalaleng and the s/t.

my s/n is askthemagic8bali

i'd greatly appreciate the help:)