claims Department Issue 8 The Rhythm of Ska From christopher j garcia for fapa, February 2006 Claims Department Issue eight Second for FAPA Written by Christopher J Garcia LayOut Help by M Lloyd A Cover by Tiffany Poklish

This one is all about the ska, Rude Boys, Rude Girls, Skinheads Skankers, Bands, Brass and Freaks like Me around the world

Welcome back. After my first FAPA Claims Department, I went and wrote one that’ll live on in infamy...or at least on eFanzines.com. If you get a chance, take a look at it. It’s all about Vegas. This issue is a lot different than some, but still keeps to the music, movies, book and place theme. This time, it’s about my trip for Thanksgiving 2004. My uncle Wayne had just tak- en the position of Director of the Hemet Public Library System, and so he bought a house about twenty minutes away in the city of Perris in Riverside County. It’s not a half-bad place if you like being in the middle of nowhere with a Wal- Mart and every other big draw store around. There’s even a motion pic- ture theatre near-by! I wasn’t too impressed, but I had lowed by my discov- little choice. ery of Madness when The trip down I started watch- would be another of ing MTV. They would my famous drives. I play One Step Be- love driving up and yond and Our House, down Highway Five No as well as House of less than 4 Issues Fun and various oth- of Claims Department er tunes. It was have featured a trip not unusual for me up (Issue Number 1) to get up and start or Down (Issues 3, dancing. I loved 4, and 7) that long it, but honestly, road that runs through the heart of when Madness sorta faded away (about California and beyond. I know the 1986) and groups like the Specials road well and I really love it. The and English Beat weren’t around, I driving actually gives me time to didn’t really come to it again. think (the novel that I wrote for Not that there wasn’t great ska National Novel Writing Month was around. In the mid-1980s, the orig- much thought-out in a car on I-5) inal Jamaican Ska records were get- and listen to some quality tunes. ting re-released for the first time. This trip, there was no ques- Bob Marley and His Wailin’ Wailers tion as to what I would be listening put out Simmer Down and One Cup of to, but it took a lot of work to put Coffee, both of which were big time it together. ska tunes. Jimmy Cliff, Toots and I’ve been a ska fan since my the Maytals, and even Desmond Dekker Dad brought home Ska albums in the were all Lloyd Brevvet, Roland Al- very early 1980s. This was fol- phonso and Don Drummond. They were big names, but by the late 1960s, they broke up because Drummond went to jail for murder. With all the Jamaicans com- ing to the UK in the later 1960s and throughout the 1970s, Ska started to pop up in places like Bristol and Manchester. In the late 1970s, two bands formed that would end up changing Ska forever. One was the Coventry Automatics, who like most bands from that part of the world, changed their name a bunch becoming The Special AKA. They started re- cording songs, and their first album was produced by the greatest song- writer in history: Elvis Costello. (OK, I know there are going to be people reading who will have very different opinions, though typically they boil down to one of three peo- ple: Bob Dylan (People in their 40s+), Willie Nelson (Country Fans 1993. (40+), and Lennon-McCartney (as one In 1993, several things hap- guy). I just don’t see it with any pened. First, a band called of them, as Elvis really changed Skankin’ Pickle was touring the US. rock ‘n roll and basically invented I’d seen them several times before, what would become Alternative Music, and they were always great, but they which is now what’s called pop music were now a college favourite. The by the MTV and so on.) The album Bosstones were getting MTV play, No was great and there were other backs Doubt was starting to show up all coming up too. The (English) Beat, over the place. It was the first The Selector, Madness and so on. sign that Ska was making a main- All of them did great stuff just stream comeback. as Punk was dying out. Sadly, this By 1995, it was everywhere. only lasted a couple of years and by There were ska bands like Reel Big 1981, it was pretty well over. Fish, Less Than Jake, The Dance In the mid-1980s, kids around Hall Crashers, Jack Kevorkian & His the US started forming bands. It Suicide Machines and The Aquabats was MTV that had spread songs like A were getting mainstream play, and Message to You Rudie, Concrete Jun- No Doubt released one of the big- gle, One Step Beyond and Mirror in gest selling albums of the decade. the Bathroom and the growing alter- A bunch of punk bands also started native music station, like Live 105 doin’ the ska, including Sublime and in the Bay Area, had exposed a lot Rancid (who came out of the classic of new kids to ska during the ear- Ska-Punk band Operation Ivy). It ly 1980s. Bands like Fishbone, The was a good time to be a ska fan. Toasters, The Undercover SKA and The But it wasn’t to last. Untouchables were all out of these By 1999, it was almost entirely kids. By the late 1980s, there were done. No Doubt was shuttled to the Ska bands all over the country with back in favour of Gwen Steffani on names like Gangster Fun, The Mighty her own. Reel Big Fish wasn’t the Mighty Bosstones, Buck-o-Nine and big deal any more, and there wasn’t Plate ‘O Shrimp. They tore it up, a lot goin’ on. The fans still on an underground kick, for about stayed loyal, but only just barely. The Music seven or eight years, until the year

I set out to make the perfect car. I did so, set of CDs with the prefect set of making my er- Ska songs. I did five CDs for the ratic driving trip: one on Jamaican Ska, one on even more er- Two Tone, one on Third Wave, one ratic. Luck- on Covers and the last one being ily, at 5 in the Greatest Ska Songs Ever. As I the morning launched out from San Jose’s beau- on the Tues- day before Thanksgiving, it’s not a tiful Downtown, I was ready to pop big problem. I followed that up with them in the order of age, building some of the other great songs of the towards the two general compila- Specials, including Concrete Jungle tions. (a Marley Cover), Long Shot Kick de The first album was stuff that Bucket, and the Beat’s Mirror in the any ska fan would expect to have Bathroom. It was a good CD, but the from the 1960s. 007 Shanty Town third was what I was looking forward was the highlight, thought there was to the most. Laurel Aiken, Rico Rodriguez, Prince The Third Wave brought with it Buster, and so many other things to stronger elements of Punk and Funk. listen to. I found myself skankin’ I had put bands like Perfect Thyroid hard to a tune called Dr. Kildare, and The Slackers on it, who both which I believe was just a cover of blow me away. (My favourite lyr- the theme song to the TV series. It ics from The Slackers: Every single was great, and it almost made my day, she’s looking to put me away, Best Comp Ever, but got beat out. and she brings me gasoline when I By the time I made it to Casa De ask for water). This is serious Fruta, I had gone through the entire fun music. Fishbone, The Bosstones, first CD, and was reasonably ready to Reel Big Fish, it’s just plain fun. rock with the second CD. There’s a great song called Allston, And that was where I started my Mass all about the immense suckti- true rocking. tude of that city near Boston where You see, traditional ska is I used to live. It’s a great tune based on Jazz and Soul and R+B, and and there was another from folks who in a way it showed. Two Tone was lived in the same area called Nut based off of Ska itself and Monkey, which Punk, and in was just a big many ways, was instrumental the first wave to blast of speed give Ska an in- and fun. Let’s dependent image. Go Bowling, The Specials Too probably my all- Much Too Young, time favourite a live version, Ska band, from was the first the beautiful song and it was city of Fres- one of the songs no, CA, kicked that almost re- in a great tune quire you to called Rude 69, bounce around a with a rollick- ing horn drive that just about blows and dirt-filled ar- me away. eas, I popped in That CD was boss, The Best Ska Cov- and I was about to ers. Ska musicians head off of I-5 onto love to do covers, a little road to head have ever since the for Bakersfield and early, early days. then points south. I Here’s the run-down stopped and hit the - Phoenix City by bathroom and discov- The Les Miserables ered that I really Brass Band (1992 or love roadside gas sta- 3) tions on the big high- - Ring of Fire by ways. They’re in the Mr. Cranky (1992) middle of nowhere, - Sunshine of Your with nothing to keep Love by Bim Skala them going but the Bim (1991 or so) fast drivers who stop - Sanford & Son for gas, to pee and by Perfect Thyroid maybe buy a snack. (1994) So, instead of making - Simmer Down by The it fast and easy for Mighty Mighty Boss- folks to get to every- tones (1993) thing, they also stock - Boys Don’t Cry by the places with CDs, Reel Big Fish (1999, DVD, cheap crafts, maybe 2000) and all sorts of junk - Hungry like the that only a person who Wolf by Reel Big was living in the area Fish (I have no would buy. idea, pre-1999) But they called - One Step Beyond to me! by Madness (the only I had to buy a song that shows up few things that just twice on the CDs) required to end up - Tears of a Clown in my car. A Charles by The Slackers Bronson movie (which (1997) I’ve never watched). - Mary Elena by Ro- A Selena CD. A Stone land Alphonso (1993) Cold Steve Austin mug - The Batman Theme and keychain (OK, (off of the Danny those were cool) and Elfman composition) a blanket with Fish on by Skavoovie & The it. Epitones (1993) It was all just - Let’s Go Bowl- so perfect. ing (based on an old Back on the road, Bowling Alley Com- this time down a mercial) by Let’s Go smaller highway that Bowling (1992) went through orchards - Don’t Worry by Monkey (You skinhead girls know, that with the fringe song about around the the Three forehead and Little ears. The Mod Birds) look is very - The Theme popular, par- from Tetris ticularly with (Not Sure women who like who did it) to carry around - Shot in teapots as the Dark by purses. It’s a The Tokyo nice look, even Ska Orchestra (1990s) though my fam- - The New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble’s ily looked at me funny while we were brilliant cover of Harlem Nocturne having Thanksgiving Dinner. Oh, yeah, that brings me to... It’s a great CD, and if you don’t know much about ska, it’s the My Family way to go. My is pretty small, at least One of the big things about the the part that gets together for hol- ska community is the fashion, and idays. My Mom has 4 brothers and I consciously decided that I’d be sisters, my Dad has 5, but there’s playing the Rude Boy for the week- only 4 of us who ever get together end. I got my old skinny tie out of since the death of my grandmother in the closet, brought my black suit, 1994. They are my Mom, my aunt Su- my white shirts and my pork pie hat. sie, my Uncle Wayne, and me. The That is pretty much the most accept- three siblings are all single and ed Rude Boy garb. Rude Boys make all live in different parts of the up a percentage of the ska fanbase, West Coast (Mom in the Bay Area, though smaller percent every year. Susie in Canyonville, Or, and Wayne There are a lot of Skinhead Ska in Perris, CA down in Riverside fans, and plenty of punks who just County). We went to Wayne’s place like to jam to the ska every once in because I went to LosCon once and a while. There’s a movement that I that’s the closest of the places to had a hand in founding called Skoth, LA. Gothic Ska, but it’s still pretty Wayne’s house is in a develop- underground. For chicks, it’s dif- ment that’s at the foot of a moun- ferent. You see a lot of dresses tain. This mountain will come and cat’s eye glasses. Plenty of into play later. Perris is one of chicks in suits, and lovely, lovely those towns, like Clovis or Los Ba- nos, that has of my Mom, and thus, the only off- changed from spring of any of the three. To get a farming com- away from them for a bit, I decided munity of that it might be fun to climb the largely Mexi- mountain across the street. The Mountain can families to a place The mountain doesn’t appear to where housing have a name, so I figured I’d summit developments it and give it the name that I would are bring call it (which would be Mt. St. White Subur- Christopher). I started from the bia into the bottom with nothing but the clothes area. It’s not a positive change, on my back. The weather was very in my opinion, because it loses the nice, actually, with temps in the original character of some great mid-60s and a nice bit of over-cast little towns. Los Banos in particu- to keep the sun down. I wore a long- lar is one that hurts to see change sleeved shirt and my traditional so much. long pants. I didn’t think it would Wayne’s house is nice, two sto- be a good idea for me to go in my ries with rooms for me, Mom, Susie suit. and Wayne’s room, which is quite I made it about 2/3 of the nice. The first thing that Mom al- way up when I noticed that I was ways thinks of when she arrives at thirsty. I went up a bit more, and Perris is to head over to the Super- I realised that I hadn’t brought any Wal-Mart or any of the other giant water, I was still about 30 minutes stores they’ve got just five minutes away from the top and that I should out of town. I’m not a big fan, but probably turn back. there wasn’t much to do other than And so, I did. Walking back down wasn’t hard, reconnect with Shadow, the dog that I lived I just kept my way with for almost a dec- simple and avoided the ade. She’s older now, parts where I had had but no less rad. to do some serious Now, Thanksgiv- face work (as climbers ing is a time for fam- call it). I came to ily, and my family can a rock where I rested drive me insane. You for a second. When see, I’m a disappoint- I got up, I was scop- ment to them in that ing out a better path I don’t really care down, still maybe 15 about buying a house, feet up, and somehow I being successful and lost my footing. would much rather do And I fell. things for the fun And fell. of it than the advan- Falling. tage it might give me. Ouch. Still, they seem to be mildly proud of me I landed with no since I’m the only kid sort of thud, but a lot of pain. I land- ed on a soft pile of gravel, which powerhouse and then leaves for Brit- is only soft relative to the stuff ain, basically causing all sorts of on either side. I scraped up one problems. He also tried to win the shin, my left arm, and I had a gash girl with the help of the bad man, in my right inseam. My pants were all in a strange way. ruined, but I didn’t have time to There’s a lot to like from worry about that now, I had to walk Swanwick here, but at times, the back to Wayne’s place. shock rating gets a little high for It took me a lot longer than it me. I understand that Farmer and did going up, but I was bleeding a Sturgeon made it OK to talk about fair bit, so that’s understandable. sex and other various nasties, but I got home and my family greeted me, I think that a lot of what Mike put not noticing the abrasions. in it wasn’t needed. There are pac- “How was your hike?” Susie ing issues too, which show up in my asked. need to read it in chunks no larg- “I fell down the mountain.” I er than 30 minutes worth at a time. said. It broke it up Mom and and when things folks got very started to weigh concerned, but down, I would I went into set it aside, go the bathroom, and try to climb cleaned up, took a mountain and a bath and that come back to it. was that. I can Ok, that only now say, along happened once, with hitting on but the thought a Pop Star, get- is the same. ting into a fight It didn’t with a pro ath- take me more lete and writ- than a couple ing a gag for of days to fin- a stand-up comedian that I have, in ish it, which is a good thing since fact, fallen down a mountain. I had somewhere to be. For all the things to be said The Book against Perris, there’s another city

In my quest to be a Steam- called Hemet, where my Uncle has Punk completist, I looked to the his library. I knew that there was Wikipedia. There was a work by a an event going on, I thought that fellow named Michael Swanwick, an it was a holiday parade, and on one author I had met at BayCon 2004 and level I was right, and I don’t re- whose writing on a small scale I had ally care for holiday parades unless enjoyed. I picked up the one Steam- I have The Little One with me, so I Punk book attributed to him: Jack didn’t think of going, but my Uncle Faust. said that I’d enjoy it, so I drove Jack Faust is a retelling of on down and found my spot on the the Faust myth with a Mephistapheles street marked for Library employees that gives Faust the power of creat- only. ing the future. With all of this, I am so glad I did. Faust basically turns Germany into a There’s a tradition in ska cir- started a con- versation. “Hey there.” What better line for me to open with? “Nice suit.” And with that, we were off, chat- ting for about twenty minutes before I left. She was just a nice girl and a big fan of ska and, it turned out, of my cles of riding Vespas, those ador- writing. I used to drop letters to able little scooters that were popu- a Ska zine in the 1990s and she re- lar in Europe for years but barely membered them as being quite funny. caught on in the US. I loved when I headed off, I’d only been broken my Dad would take me out on one as up with Gen for a month or so and a kid, but that was only once or wasn’t in the mood for actual flirt- twice. ing, so I headed home and remembered I had dressed up in my Rude that I had two videos waiting for me gear, skinny black time, black suit, to view. no pork pie hat, it just doesn’t The Videos work with my hairstyle. While I was The first of the videos was a sitting there, enjoying the floats, a 1980s Skateboarding video called The group came by, all on Vespas. Search for Animal Chin. It’s a ba- The Vespa Girls of Riverside sic video of guys skateboarding, County said the flag that was be- including a very young Tony ‘I’m a ing flown from one of the bikes. They Mainstream Celebrity!’ Hawk. It’s were about 20 girls, many with the 1987’s best video and I had a great dozen of mirrors that Ska fans like time watching it and reliving the to see on their motor bikes. Some days when Rich Casem and I would were rude, some were skinhead grrls, skate and watch Bones Brigade 2: Fu- and at least one was absolutely ture Primitive. adorable. I noticed that I was just The other was the movie that a few hundred yards from the end of had been on my mind for ages. It the parade, so I got up and headed was a simple story by a director I over there as soon as they passed hadn’t really experienced much of. by. It was M. Night Shaymalan’s The Vil- Getting there, I saw that they liage. were all wearing buttons for vari- The Village is a pretty simple ous bands. I found one girl who was story, and my friend in the Indus- wearing a Perfect Thyroid button and try had sent me his Academy Screener copy. This is illegal, I know, but olin in film history. The violinist, what are you gonna do? I started the young Miss Hilary Hahn. James watching it and quickly found myself Newton Howard’s score is one of sim- reading. plicity at times followed by swell- Now, this isn’t as bad a thing ing emotion. It was cheated out of as you think it is. You see the the Best Original Score at the Os- story is simple, and I’ll avoid cars this year. It was sad. spoilers even though it’s obvi- The film is worth renting, since ous what’s going on from the begin- the acting is good, but if you can ning. There’s a village, isolated buy the original score, do that and in the middle of a forest. There do it now! are marauding beasts in the for- After I was done with it, I est that sometimes come into the started it again and went back to town. There’s a guy, played by reading some magazine I had picked River Phoenix, who wants to go and up. get supplies, and The Way To Go Home he’s the only one brave enough to go After that, I had through the for- earned my return to my est to get them. homeland. I sadly left There’s a blind my last SKA CD in the girl, played fan- house, so I had to lis- tastically by Op- ten to the ones I had ie’s daughter, already heard on the way Bryce Howard, and home. It was fine, since she’s in love with they were great CDs, and the young man, de- I had a good, and fast spite a semi-re- drive. I believe that tarded guy, played I made it home with a by Adrian Brody, record time in the area being in love with of 5 hours, probably her. helped by the fact that The perform- I didn’t stop until I ances in the film was within sight of San- are really good. I ta Clara County. I had loved Bryce’s gen- a good time, and I SKAed tle turn, and Judy Greer, who is a great comedic actress on Ar- rested Development, was solid too. Add to that William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver and you’ve got a good pack of actors. But that’s not why I start- ed reading. I started reading because the story is weakish, certainly too simple, but the score of the film is truly magnif- icent. The score is highlighted by the most impressive virtuoso vi-