“Don’t take no shit from anybody” announced Billy Joel to a mid-80’s concert audience in Cincinnati that included my now-estranged father. My dad recited the Joel quote to me the day after the show and thought it was just the coolest thing ever spoken; obviously he (and Billy Joel) felt like they were taking too much shit from people. Billy Joel speaks to the blue collar working man in a very musically-sophisticated way, and perhaps Joel’s biggest, most profound statement ever was his 1977 album, The Stranger. Sony Legacy Records has just put together an amazing 30th Anniversary box set edition of The Stranger, and it has me floored. Continue Reading

ROIR Records has just re-released some excellent live and historic Skatalites music on CD, LP, and digital download, which was previously only available on cassette. Stretching Out, from 1983, is historically significant because it is from the year when the band had just reconciled the differences that had driven their 2-year career apart in 1965. Peter Tosh’s manager, Herbie Miller tracked them all down to play at the 1983 Jamaica Sunplash. Prior to the big gig, the band got together for some rehearsal nightclub gigs at Miller’s Blue Monk Jazz Gallery in Kingston before a crowd of local fans, friends, and fellow musicians. There were no restrictions on the length of their sets, no barriers on soloing, and no boundaries in general…which led to a stretched out, spontaneously joyful Ska reunion. Continue Reading