Syracuse Ska Forum

Sunday September 28th
The Slackers (NYC ska-reggae-soul)
Royal City Riot (Long Island NY ska-reggae-soul)
The Action (award winning Syracuse NY rock-ska)
at Funk'n Waffles in Syracuse.
All ages, tba cover, 5pm doors music 5:30-9pm. Presented by Kingston Beat Productions.

WTF is up with the Action? Are they the next RazSum?

hahahaha, Aaron. : D

I will be at this. Interested in seeing RCR as well. This is fairly rare that I want to see a few of the bands on any given billing.

I'm not sure exactly how you mean that, but they've been at it now almost 10 years and are indisputably our top local ska band actively playing shows on a regular basis.


Yeah, we were able to take a cool booking and make it even cooler.

I think Aaron was inferring, as he has in the past, that Razsum seemed to be on every show billing for a time...

Well when a city only has a hand full of ska bands, and a regular supply of shows, that will happen. If they bring people through the door, it makes it easier to slide them onto a bill.

Further than that, congrats to the dudes in Royal City Riot. Their new cd is great, and they seem to be developing quite a following in syracuse, having earned a return trip so soon. Can't think of another band who deserves it more. Look for them to get HUGE this year!

Hopefully not.

Every BIG show, yeah. Every city tends to have a dominant ska band that plays all the biggest ska shows.

In order, in Syracuse they have been:

Too Hectic
Short Round
Straighter Than Pete
Razbari Sumthing
The Action!

But just the same, The Action! didn't play the biggest show we had in the last few months, which was SB6, so its not a hard and fast rule or anything. Likewise, we also do a lot of smaller ska shows in Syracuse and the dominant ska band tends to not play those and we'll be adding more of those shows to the upcoming fall schedule.

Most markets support one ska show a month and the same local band will anchor that show. Syracuse was in that boat for a long time too, right up until around 2001, when we finally got to the point of regularly supporting at least 2 ska shows a month. And I'm looking to ramp that up to at least 3 shows a month by the end of this year.

Besides, it's not like the same thing hasn't been true in Rochester through the years. The Miggedys, The Professionals, The Blackouts, The Motives, The Glow, The LeVar Burtones (I may be wrong on who follows The Blackouts -- but the Burtones definitely were the last in that line). Its a common thing.

and then theres the fact that the action! is a really good band. i've been ripped for that opinion here before, but i stand by it. they're awesome guys and they play great songs. i know i'm glad that they're on this and the toasters shows, because that makes both all the more enjoyable.

FWIW Jake, these are pretty much the same people who hated RazSum and that never held them back any either, so I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I've consistently noticed that when any band gets some measure of success that numerous people get snotty about it, unless they're already a fan.

The Action! is a great band and I'm happy we can put them on these shows.

Its not intended snottiness on my part - I appreciate them going out and doing what they do, I have seen them, don't like there sound that much...but as I previously stated in a previous thread...I appreciate their energy.

I interjected merely to state the obvious - that Aaron was making a claim that they are on every show it seems, nothing more nothing less. It has nothing to do with their success..

We're not referring to you Tom. You've always been cool about bands you don't like, which is the way I've always tried to be as well. We're talking about the people who aren't as nice about it as you are.


And just to clarify again, we try to average 2 shows a month (sometimes more, sometimes less) and we try very hard to not use the same locals more than once a month. So generally, they'll be playing every other show, at most. We'll be adding shows between the ones already announced, just like we always do. Like I'm trying to get Westbound Train back for Sat, Oct 11th if possible.

WBT! good news there...

Yeah, I've known Obi since 2001 and been bringing his band here since 2002. We had a nice talk on the phone yesterday and he feels really badly about the drama last time they were here, "I've mellowed out a lot compared to back then".

He's not sure if they can swing that date in October, but he's looking into it. And if not, maybe we'll bring in the Void Union instead.

Sounds like an interesting story... i'll have to ask you about it the next time I see you.