Syracuse Ska Forum

So Big D is going to do some shows before being on Warped all summer.

Just announced:

Jun 9 2005 8:00P
The Living Room Providence, RI

Jun 10 2005 7:00P
Cafe Metropolis Wilkes Barre, PA

Jun 11 2005 7:00P
Empress Ballroom Danbury, CT

Jun 12 2005 5:00P
Club Crannell @ The Chance Poughkeepsie, NY


I'll prolly be heading down to the show in Wilkes Barre. Only about a two hour drive from Cortland.

I always forget that it's really that close. Closer than Poughkeepsie to our area, definitely. And they've kept a strong ska scene down there all these years, although I've never known much about it.

BTW, do you know of anyone into ska in Binghamton? Seems like its been a ska wasteland forever and no one ever seems to know why ...

Binghamton is pretty much a wasteland in general.

Bring me with you! I <3 Wilkes Barre. I saw Natalie Merchant there once and it was great. And I saw Heart there, and Jewel, and I'm pretty sure I've seen someone else there, but I just don't remember who.

Hehe. Wow, I think I'm a concert junkie..

it's a great venue..i saw I Voted For Kodos there a week or so ago.

not a great ska scene..but a few high school kids came out.

Cafe Metropolis in Wilkes-Barre? I've never been to any shows down that way yet. But they seem to get some pretty good ones fairly regularly ...



Again, Wilkes-Barre?? And just based on one show or more than one??

Si senor..Cafe Metro in Wilkes-Barre on both accounts.

And yes, just one show..I've been there for 2 in the last 2 weeks..only one was a ska show.

Well, it's a pretty decently-sized city with a major SUNY campus, so you'd expect a bit more ...

I saw NY Ska-Jazz Ensemble at SUNY there once, which was a VERY memorable experience. About 1/3 skate punk kids, 1/3 ska fans, 1/3 parents/staff/older-type people from the community. All rocking out to NYSJE, who did 2 great hour-long sets (no opener).

And the nasty-ass BO smell that every one of us was convinced we were personally emitting until at the intermission, when this high school kid came up to me, "hey SkaDanny!" and I had to re-coil in utter fear -- you could smell the BO on this kid 30 feet away, no lie!! Turns out, he had this "tradition" of wearing the same Toasters t-shirt to every ska show and proudly proclaimed, "and I never, ever wash it!!". Its funny now, but at the time, we were looking for the guys in white coats ...

Then there's the time Jeff Contray of DLO dragged me down there to see Yolk, who was very much NOT ska (in spite of what he'd said beforehand), at a CD release party. I stuck it out, figuring, at least it'll be over by 2am. That's when I discovered the bars & clubs there can legally stay open until 3am and this place was gonna let Yolk play until 4am.

I finally got him and his friends to leave by 3am. I was ready to cry.

But anyways, yeah, more should be happening in Binghamton. Find me some ska fans at SUNY there and lets make shit happen ...

I'm having a hard enough time finding ska fans at RIT. I think there are like 4 of us.

really? i went to RIT to see dropkick murphys play in febuary and saw tons of kids with ska shirts in attendance. alot looked like they went to the school too. oh well, who knows?

Trust me, I go there. There is no scene whatsoever.

Can you either get on the concert board or at least befriend someone who is on it? Then you can use student fee money to book ska shows at RIT or at least a ska band on some other kind of show. Its not like the students won't be entertained, ya know?

And once you make that concert board connection, lemme know. I can send you more ska bands than you can ever hope to book, trust me. I'm friends with most of the ones you'd care about, including a good portion of those that played at Ska Weekend in Knoxville TN. It wouldn't take a ton of money to get many of them to play at RIT, trust me.

This is how Suburban Legends played at Clarkson University in Potsdam. And student fee money paid for NYSJE and The Slackers at Mohawk Valley Comm College in Utica. Its a great scam we need to use more often.

My contact info is here: Kingston Beat Productions

Best wishes on your mission!

Well I know CAB puts on "Friday in the RITZ" which is a small room down beneath the Student Union. They charge $1 and have bought a lot of indie bands. I gotta talk to CAB and find out how booking for that works. Turn out is normally pretty good because it's only a buck and they give free pizza to the first 100 people.