Ska Blah Blah » documentary

Update: Legends Of Ska Joins Kickstarter

JJ Loy — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:32:32 +0000

It’s been a few years since I’ve heard anything from the filmmakers behind Legends of Ska, a purportedly in-production documentary/concert film project. But the project is not dead yet! Behold a new Facebook Page. Built around the all star concert of the same name from 2002, I can only imagine that the producers have spent the past few years editing additional footage and getting the money thing in order. It’s always the money thing, idn’t it?

The big concert in ’02 featured (among others) Prince Buster, Lord Tanamo, Patsy Todd, Stranger Cole, Owen Grey and the topper, in my opinion, Lord Creator- and I’ve been kicking myself for not making the trek to Toronto ever since! Considering that many of the artists featured in the documentary have since passed away, the need for this DVD is greater than ever.

Event Poster from '02

You may recognize this concept from Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae, which found DVD distribution last year, and you’d be right. But considering ska’s contribution to rocksteady, it seems only fair that both find release, right? I’m not sure what we, the fans, can do to help at this stage other than showing our support and spreading the word.

Maybe the Legends Of Ska folks should take a note from Samuel Gursky, who’s started a KickStarter page for his new documentary project, Brooklyn Rocksteady- which is generating a fair amount of buzz in the ska community, or the makers of Laurel Aitken – Live at Club Ska, which found international distribution. However they do it, I just hope we get it soon, Legends of Ska sounds amazing!

UPDATE: Looks like great minds think alike- you can support the Legends Of Ska production and lock in your copy of the DVD and soundtrack, by pledging at the LOS Kickstarter Page.

New Vic Ruggiero Documentary
Roots Online: Dub Echoes Documentary
Roots Online: The Aquarius Reggae Documentary
Ska Online: Original Ska Documentary

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New Vic Ruggiero Documentary

JJ Loy — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:59:00 +0000

This video has been up since April, but it’s news to me- so now it’s news for you. This short interview based documentary was directed by Marie Le Claire, whose name I recognized instantly. I remember a few years ago, The Slackers announced a concert documentary and even released this trailer. I contacted Le Claire and she says that the project was never finished, and it sounds like we’ll have to settle for the short we have.

It really is a great video, too. Here’s Vic in the studio talking mostly about his dad, and weighing the pros and cons of working as a musician. There’s some great concert and rehearsal footage between the interview segments, and some faces from Slackers past. I love getting a glimpse of their cramped rehearsal space- oh and Vic does a Mick Jagger impression.

Here it is in two parts:

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Of course, none of this has anything to do with The Slackers: A Documentary by Ben Levin

Or… The Slackers Live And Direct From The Flamingo Cantina, both of which are available here.

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Roots Online: Dub Echoes Documentary

JJ Loy — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:08:14 +0000

Documentaries about Jamaican music are popping up all over the place. Here’s one that I can’t wait to check out. Dub Echoes promises to form a direct connection from contemporary electronic music all the way back to 70′s Dub Reggae. It’s surely not the first time these connections have been pointed out, but it looks like a pretty solid film none-the-less.

It features DJ Spooky, Theivery Corporation, Bunny Lee, Dub Pistols, King Jammy, Lee Perry, Ticklah, Mad Professor and many more. But don’t take my word for it… check the trailer:

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

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Roots Online: The Aquarius Reggae Documentary

JJ Loy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:22:51 +0000

Here’s something I just got hipped to, through a clip Maddie Ruthless recently posted to FaceBook. The clip in question turned out to be just a small piece of a Reggae documentary from a 70′s UK entertainment news program. I can’t find much information on the show itself, which was called Aquarius. However, I was able to track down the episode, in it’s entirety.

The episode takes a nice aproach to educating it’s uninitiated white viewers. The producers seem to be trying to heal racial tensions in England, by celebrating Jamaica’s most identifiable cultural export, Reggae. One guest points out that what kept Reggae off of the charts was not racism, but a lack of understanding Reggae and Jamaican culture, from the record companies’ point-of-view.

Of course, if you’re a frequent visiter to Ska Blah Blah, I imagine you need no tolerance lesson. For you, I recomend this movie for it’s great performances and insightful interviews, from Roy Shirley and many more.

enjoy:

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

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Ska Online: Original Ska Documentary

JJ Loy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:29:50 +0000

I’ve been looking for a copy of This is Ska, ever since I caught a glimpse of it on a friend’s Laserdisc. Clips have been available for years, but the entire movie was hard to track down. Then I ran across the whole thing (in four parts) on YouTube, this morning!
So here it is- for you- Check out Jimmy Cliff, Toots and The Maytals and Byron Lee and The Dragonaires, The Blues Busters and The Charmers. The best part about this doc, in my opinion, is the awesome, original ska dancing from these clean-cut Jamaican teens.
I know that it was filmed at the Sombrero Club in 1962, and that the film’s intro is sampled in tons of tunes- however, it’s still very difficult to find any info about it. If anybody’s got some info, send it my way.

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

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History Of Randy’s Documentary

JJ Loy — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:09:42 +0000

Here’s another great find from Lawless over at DancinMood.com.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the vintage Jamaican label, Randy’s. Familiar or not, this 40 minute doc is sure to school you on a few things you might not know. I especially enjoyed the segmants where they discussed Lord Creator- and why the Chin’s chose a calypso as their Jamaican Independance release.

Lord Creator is a great old Calypsonian, who was a tremendous influence on Dr. Ring-Ding and many others. And this documentary also features Ken Boothe, Johnny Moore, Clive Chin and many others.

There are a lot of Ska/Reggae documentaries coming out this next year- most of them on DVD. I imagine most of those will contain an obligitory history of the various branches of JA music. The Randy’s doc skims over many of the details of what Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae are, and focuses more on the label’s involvement in those movements. Very well done.

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Ska Online: Story of Jamaican Music Documentary

JJ Loy — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 06:02:00 +0000

A few years back, the BBC made a great documentary, Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music. It was fantastic, covering the birth of Ska during Jamaica’s independence and all the way up to Dance Hall.

I was most interested in the first episode which dealt mostly with the early ska days. The film takes us to the Alpha Boys School, and introduces us to the nun that helped raise the Skatalites, as well as many other notable Jamaican musicians. The cameras travel down the neighborhoods of Kingston where the original studios and clubs have been left to rot. We hear from likes of Lord Creator, and the then Prime Minister of Jamaica, before the film follows ska’s path to the UK, where we are privy to interviews with UB40, Paul Simonon, and many others.

If you have friends that need a good primer on Jamaican Roots music, I highly recomend this show. My only complaint is that the narrator states outright that Ska is Jamaica’s first type of music, even though the guests anecdotally refer to both Mento and Nyahbinghi in the interviews.

Here now, is the first episode of this great series, broken into four parts (as per Daily Motion rules)

UPDATE 05/10/08: DailyMotion is not cooperating with my embed plugin, but the links are still active:

P.S. DailyMotion is a great site. They let you upload longer segments than YouTube, and I love the way they display their tags, making the more popular tags more prominent than the others. Try searching for obvious tags: Ska, Reggae, or your favorite band. But given their constant embedding issues and increasingly limited content, I don’t really advocate the site any longer.

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