Ska Blah Blah » kdhx

Westbound Train has been-done-already played Ska’s The Limit

JJ Loy — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:09:36 +0000

Oh, am I ever late in posting these links… It’s been two weeks since Westbound Train came thru St. Louis, and here’s the result:

Westbound Train live on Ska’s The Limit – 88.1 KDHX – St. Louis

Westbound Train to be on Ska’s The Limit

JJ Loy — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:54:42 +0000

Westbound Train has been one of my favorite Ska/Reggae bands for a long time… and I have high hopes for their new album Come and Get It on HellCat records. As many of you already know, Westbound has already started a massive tour to support Come and Get It- which will bring them to St. Louis on Mon, May 11… and more specifically to the Firebird at 7:30.

I am proud to announce that right before they head to the venue that night, the Westbound Boys will be swinging by KDHX studios for a little Live-in-Session action. This performance will be aired the following Sat night, on my show, Ska’s The Limit.

I’ll be putting up links to the show and the session as soon as they air- so stay tuned. And maybe I’ll se you at the Firebird for what promises to be a killer show.

More News From Ska Blah Blah

JJ Loy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:55:45 +0000

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve address you all- I didn’t mean to stay away so long, but at every turn something new required my attention. My weeks were filled with hospital visits, computer upgrades, and two trips across America’s West. Forgive me, valued readers I thought about you the whole time.

I’ve also been running around with my head cut off preparing for my new gig as the host of The Ska’s the Limit. My local community radio station, 88.1 KDHX St. Louis has picked yours truely to run STL, the world’s longest running ska radio show.

It’s truely an honor- I’ve been a fan of the show since high school, and I used to tape it when I was too broke for cds. Paul Stark, the show’s host for the past 15 years, has been more than suportive in getting Ska Blah Blah attention and in helping me land the position as his replacement.

I don’t know exactly how this will affect Ska Blah Blah- community radio comes with a hefty set of rules, and I’ll have to keep Ska Blah Blah and Ska’s The Limit very separate entities. But I have every intention of running this blog and maintaining it’s focus, bring you the best ska and reggae links on the web.

If you have liked my interviews, on Ska Blah Blah; you can count on more to follow on the new show. I hope to get as many bands into the studio as possible. You hear me, bands?

In addition to jjloy@skablahblah.com I can also be reached at skasthelimit@kdhx.org

Previous posts and archives of the last two weeks are available here.

Ska’s the Limit airs this Saturday night/Sunday Morning, Aug 17 at 2 AM Central Time, in the St. Louis area. Not in the St. Louis area? Listen live online here.

Ska Blah Blah on KDHX

JJ Loy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:03:56 +0000

Paul Stark over at Ska’s The Limit, St. Louis’ only Ska radio show, has invited me to be a guest selector on this Friday’s episode. He’s replayed the entire first series of Ska Blah Blah, in the past, and I’m sure we’ll talk a bit about the podcast- however, I’ve got a ton of good music that I want to play and two hours to fit it all in. This is huge honor as I’ve been a fan of the show for years- and it is, in fact, the longest running ska radio show in existence.

If you happen to be around the internet on Fri 8-10 PM (Central Time) I encourage you to stream KDHX 88.1 live. An archive stream should stary up for a week or two, if you can’t catch it live.

Dub Online: The Drastics In STL

JJ Loy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:54:37 +0000

The Drastics have posted a live cut of Prophet Song on their MySpace. Recorded by Ron from Green Room Rockers during their last trip to St. Louis, a few weeks ago. I was five feet from the band during this recording- what a great show.

Also, Anthony from The Drastics recently spun an all dub set for the podcast Echo Beach. It features The Drastics, Deals Gone Bad and Victor Rice- as well as Dub legends, Augustus Pablo, King Tubby and King Stitt.

Ska Oddity: The Notables

JJ Loy — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:06:08 +0000

I had noticed the disc, Quite Notable, in the Ska section of Vintage Vinyl since ’97. Despite the fun ska sticker on the cover and crazy named band members, I never ponied up the $13 that Vintage was charging for this mystery album. It wasn’t until last year that my buddy, Doug Morgan, from KDHX’s The Underworld, gave me a copy of this Skatalites influenced wonderfulness.

I was immediately disappointed in myself for letting such a great instrumental band slip through the cracks of my attention. Further research revealed that this “band” is actually a fantasy front for the two fellas behind the sound, and those crazy names are merely fiction. It’s an impressive feat to emulate an entire Ska-Jazz combo with only two musicians- and one that deserves comparisons to both Chris Murray and NYSJE.

Notables MySpace page (with a new tune feat. Lynval Golding and info on an upcoming release)
Notables Wiki
Great Review of Quite Notable
Get it from Amazon New&Used cheap

STL SKA

JJ Loy — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:07:00 +0000

STL stands for two of my favorite things:

St. Louis, my adopted home town. And Ska’s The Limit, my absolute favorite Ska show.

In high school, when ska still seemed mysterious and new to me, Ska’s the Limit showed me how old some of those sounds were. And later, when the big clubs wouldn’t book ska shows, Paul Stark, the host of STL, generated local Ska Festivals. And in the early days of this century, when Ska was treated like a bastard step-child by corporate radio, Ska’s the Limit was the only source for Ska music on the St Louis air.

Fatlip once said, “You give respect, to get respect.” And in like fashion, Ska’s the Limit will be rebroadcasting Ska Blah Blah this summer. They’ll be played in order, the first Fri of every month.

If you’re a fan of Ska Blah Blah, I recommend bouncing over to KDHX’s Ska’s The Limit and checking out some back episodes.

If you live in St. Louis, tune into STL every Fri at 8 PM. That’s 88.1 KDHX.

Canadian Re-Broadcast

JJ Loy — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:27:00 +0000

You gotta love local community radio. Many ska fans have depended on public and college radio DJs to bring them some of the only shows dedicated to Ska and Reggae in the world.

One such DJ, Aaron Lakoff, contacted me recently about the rebroadcast of a couple episodes of Ska Blah Blah, on his station, CKUT, 90.3FM. His show broadcasts out of Montreal, bringing a fabulous selection of Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae and Punk with every episode.

He handled my interview with Victor Rice very respectfully, and plugged Ska Blah Blah so earnestly, that I just had to return the favor. I highly recommend downloading the podcast version of his show at: CKUT