e2music

Always begin with the Bass player. This will always lead to confusion amongst the band members, at least two of whom will just think it is the manager venting frustration again. This has happened at least twice, three times if it is a particularly popular band. In this case, the bassist will be a robot brought in to pretend to be a former, more aggravating, band member. The two band members who think the manager is angry will attempt to mollify the third and explain why the manager has just shot Jim and why motor oil is leaking onto the stage. When things have calmed down, get to the side stage, orient yourself between the vocalist and the lead guitarist, or alternatively the lead guitar/vocal and the keyboard player.

The, now mollified, third member is probably the Drummer, who didn't know the bassist was a robot because he's only been there for 30 minutes. If you wait another 15 minutes he'll probably quit the band and reporters from crappy magazines will swarm the remaining members, and the new Robot Bassist will have come out of the closet.(the broom closet that is; he doesn't come out of the other closet unless a feather boa is gets caught on a shoulder servo) As the press would get in the way, take the opportunity from this vantage to shoot the drummer. If you use an explosive round, the two remaining members will probably think this is par for the course. However one of them, the one with a slightly smaller ego, will be getting nervous and will probably make for the door. Make sure a trip wire is ready and he'll practically shoot himself.

Finally, the lead guitar/vocal will be irritated since he'll need to find a new band and will probably sit down for a smoke. Replace his cigarettes with a pack you've prepared with powerful bombs inside. If it fails go off, shoot the rest of the pack which he's stuck back into his breast pocket or, lacking a shirt as he often does, his pants. Use the remote detonator and that should be it. If there is a fifth member of the band just take him out for a night of drinking and he'll fall into a spiral of alcohol and drugs that eventually lead to his death or recovery with teary memoirs and specials on VH1.

The manager will pay you off with a percentage of the insurance if you promise to stay quiet about how the feather boa got on the extra robotic bassist.

Ska-P was is a Spanish ska/punk band from Vallecas, a neighbourhood of Madrid, in Spain. They formed in 1994 and since 2005 have announced that they will be in indefinite hiatus, but they reunited in 2008. Several of its members have since started other projects, and the lead singer has also announced that he's been writing more songs for what could be future Ska-P songs, although a few key band members have already expressed that they won't be joining him. As with most ska bands, the lineup is rather large, with usually nine or ten musicians performing together for a single song.

Their name is a pun. In Spanish, the consonante cluster "s[consonant]" at the beginning of a word needs a buffer vowel before it, an "e" in this case, and the "p" in Spanish is pronounced "peh", so that Ska-P is approximately pronounced in Spanish as "es-kah-peh", escape. This pun seems appropriate at several levels, since their music seems to constantly be talking about escaping a number of things.

Virtually all of Ska-P's lyrics are highly political, extremely leftist, sometimes even openly anarchist. They have been accused of being all show and selling out, since they were a highly successful band. They managed to tour internationally, playing in countries such as France, Mexico, Italy, and Germany. Their French following is huge, and the band members seem to be reasonably fluent in other languages, if their stage banter from their recorded live performances is any indication. All of their songs, however, are completely in highly colloquial and vulgar Spain Spanish.

Amongst the issues that Ska-P supports in their lyrics are

• Liberation of Palestinian territories occupied by Israel
• Animal rights
• Racial diversity
• Legalisation of cannabis and other drugs
• Atheism
• Gender equality
• Pacifism
• Some form of socialism and/or Marxism (it's not clear to me exactly what).
• Liberation movements in Latin America such as the Zapatistas and folk heroes like Víctor Jara.

Their lyrics also protest

• Rich oligarchies
• Animal experimentation
• bullfights
• Globalisation
• Class differences
• Death penalty, specifically in the US
• Royalty's idleness (this is a popular protest in Spain)
• Medical charlatans
• Catholic and Christian morality regarding sexuality
• Sexism
• Consumerism
• Homophobia
• Child soldiers
• Militarisation
• Child prostitution
• War
• US invasions and interventions worldwide
• Fascism (with a rather broad definition of what this means)

And so on. Take almost any leftist political issue you can think of, odds are Ska-P has already mentioned it in some song. The only exception I can think of from the point of view of a US citizen is global warming. Quite possibly since this is only a political issue in the US (I don't know of another country that has a debate whether or not humans are responsible for global warming or if it's even happening at all), Ska-P doesn't have any lyrics about it. A lot of their lyrics, naturally, are about political issues specific to Spain, such as ETTs, (Empresas de Trabajo Temporal), which sound to me like a Spanish version of temp agencies. The lyrics protest the exploitation of workers by ETTs.

So they sing ska/punk. Lots of brass instruments, drums, sometimes bagpipes or accordions. Some of their songs, such as "Mis Colegas" ("My Colleagues"), seem to defy the ska classification, but they're definitely at the very least punk. They also dress accordingly with unconventional hairstyles, mohawks, shaved heads except for a ponytail, that sort of thing. When performing onstage, they often have a band member dressed in the song's subject matter. For example, in their ska Christmas carol, one of them dresses as Jesus, and the song is about the materialism of Christmas and its hypocrisy in the face of the real misery around the world. In the song protesting the US invasions worldwide, Uncle Sam on stilts dances onstage.

They are of course not unique in being a political band, although I don't know of any other band that is quite this leftist about seemingly almost every issue. Even Rage Against the Machine stays a bit more focussed on the issues they write songs about instead of writing songs about almost everything. Given the intensity of Ska-P's lyrics, it's a little difficult to take everything they say seriously. Their very successful song "El Vals Del Obrero" ("The Worker's Waltz") intersperses Marxist rhetoric in a traditional slow Mexican-style tune with high-speed vitriol in ska complaining about real class differences and seemingly how Marx was full of crap. I'm not exactly sure if this song is celebrating or mocking Marxism; probably both.

Ska-P has one clear advantage over other political bands: their music is happy and incites dancing, celebration and mirth, not anger by itself. "Simpático Holgazán" ("Agreeable Hobo"), which is about how the Spanish king gets paid to do nothing, uses the motif from "In The Hall Of The Mountain King." "Derecho de Admisión" ("Right of Admission"), about annoying club bouncers and the quality of the club once you're inside, has a section that sounds like highland music with bagpipes, which always sounds happy to me. The lyrics contrast very strongly with the music, creating an interesting effect.

In my opinion, this is much more successful than angry lyrics with angry music. This seems to be a widespread phenomenon in hispanophone protest music: the tune is cheerful, but the lyrics are bitter. This phenomenon can also be seen in the classic megahit of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs: "Matador". In this song, the music sounds like samba straight out of a Brazillian carnival, but the lyrics are in fact about a police raid and a folk hero that lived and died during Argentina's dirty war. Sometimes you can also hear this in English-speaking music, such as in NoFX's "Franco Unamerican", but it doesn't seem as common as it is in Spanish. Perhaps we hispanophones simply have more things to complain about and if we did it in angry screams all the time, we would be too worn out and bitter to do anything about it.

I imagine that their CDs must not be sold in many English-speaking countries, and I don't think they've ever given any concerts there. However, their music is not difficult to find in the file sharing sites, and YouTube has many videos of them, some fan-made, some actual videos the band members released themselves. Given their opinions about everything else, I would be very surprised if they seriously objected to their music being distributed online in violation of copyright. If Weird Al, approves, surely Ska-P does too? :-)

Here is their complete discography and a brief description of each song's topic:

Ska-P from 1994

      Spanish title                | My translation           | General theme
      -----------------------------+--------------------------+------------------
   1. "El hombre resaka baila ska" | "Hangover man dances ska"| Ska in general
   2. "Abolición"                  | "Abolition"              | Bullfights 
   3. "Chupones"                   | "Leeches"                | Upper class people who leech money 
                                   |                          |     from the poor
   4. "0,7"                        | "0,7"                    | Movement for rich countries to donate 
                                   |                          |     0.7 of their GDP for poorer 
                                   |                          |     countries.
   5. "Alí el magrebí"             | "Alí the Moroccan"       | African immigration to Spain
   6. "Sargento Bolilla"           | "Sargeant Bolilla"       | Forced military service
   7. "Reality Show"               | "Reality Show"           | Yellow journalism in TV
   8. "Bla, bla, bla"              | "Blah, blah, blah"       | Politicians making empty promises
   9. "Como un Rayo"               | "Like lightning"         | Support for a local football team


El Vals Del Obrero from 1996, The Worker's Waltz
 
      Spanish title                | My translation           | General theme
      -----------------------------+--------------------------+------------------
   1. "El Gato López"              | "López the Cat"          | Song about their mascot, 
                                   |                          |     a working-class, ska-dancing 
                                   |                          |     cat.
   2. "Ñapa Es"                    | Pun on "Es-paña", Spain  | Stereotypes of Spain while lamenting 
                                   |                          |     actual situation
   3. "El Vals Del Obrero"         | "The Worker's Waltz"     | Mocking/celebrating Marxism
   4. "Revistas Del Corazón"       | "Glamour Magazines"      | Stupidity of gossip magazines/tabloids
   5. "Romero El Madero"           | "Romero the Cop"         | Police brutality
   6. "Sectas"                     | "Sects"                  | Religious sects
   7. "No Te Pares"                | "Don't Stop"             | Unemployment and the working class
   8. "Cannabis"                   | "Cananbis"               | Legalisation of marihuana
   9. "Insecto Urbano"             | "Urban insect"           | Homeless and loving it
  10. "Animales De Laboratorio"    | "Lab animals"            | Animal experimentation
  11. "La Sesera No Va"            | "The head doesn't go"(?) | Colonisation by Europe and the US
  12. "Sexo y Religión"            | "Sex and religion"       | Christian sexual morality


Eurosis from 1998 (right before the introduction of the Euro)

       Spanish title               | My translation           | General theme
      -----------------------------+--------------------------+-------------------
   1. "Circo Ibérico"              | "Iberian Circus"         | General political situation in Spain
   2. "Villancico"                 | "Christmas Carol"        | Christmas, consumerism, Christianity
   3. "España Va Bien"             | "Spain is doing well"    | General political situation in Spain
   4. "Paramilitar"                | "Paramilitary"           | Zapatista revolt in Mexico
   5. "Simpático Holgazán"         | "Agreeable Hobo"         | The king getting paid to do nothing
   6. "Kémalo"                     | "Burn it"                | Fur coats and animal rights
   7. "Poder Pa'l Pueblo"          | "Power to the people"    | Spanish civil war
   8. "Juan Sin Tierra"            | "Juan Without A Homeland"| Víctor Jara's and Allende's death
   9. "Kacikes"                    | "Overlords"              | Rich landowners and lords
  10. "América Latina Libre"       | "Freed Latina America"   | Liberation movements in Latin America
  11. "Al Turrón"                  | "The brown candy"        | Police drug raids
  12. "Seguimos en Pie"            | "We're still standing"   | Keep wishing for a better world


Planeta Eskoria from 2000, Skum Planet, with the distinctive ska "k"

       Spanish title               | My translation           | General theme
      -----------------------------+--------------------------+-------------------
   1. "Planeta Eskoria"            | "Skum planet"            | General rant about world affairs
   2. "Vergüenza"                  | "Shame"                  | Bullfights
   3. "Como me pongo"              | "How Do I Get High?"     | Legalisation of drugs
   4. "El autentico"               | "The Authentic"          | Fake religious morality
   5. "Naval Xixón"                | "Naval Xixón"            | A workers' revolt in Naval Xixón
   6. "La mosca cojonera"          | "The wanker fly"         | The Pope
   7. "Eres un@ más"               | "You're another one"     | Forced into The System
   8. "Derecho de admisión"        | "Right of admission"     | Annoying bouncers in clubs
   9. "A la mierda"                | "To hell with it"        | Reactionaries
  10. "ETTs"                       | "Temp agencies"          | Exploitation by temp agencies
  11. "Lucrecia"                   | "Lucretia"               | Immigration into Spain 
                                   |                          |      (re: Cuban singer Lucretia)
  12. "Tío Sam"                    | "Uncle Sam"              | US military action worldwide
  13. "Violencia Machista"         | "Sexist violence"        | Violence against women
  14. "Mestizaje"                  | "Racial mixing"          | Racial diversity


¡¡Que Corra La Voz!! from 2002, Spread the word!!

       Spanish title               | My translation           | General theme
      -----------------------------+--------------------------+-------------------
   1. "Estampida"                  | "Stampede"               | Intro song getting ready for 
                                   |                          |     the resistance
   2. "Consumo gusto"              | "With great pleasure"    | Consumerist society
   3. "Welcome to hell"            | "Welcome to hell"        | Death penalty (specifically, in the US)
   4. "Casposos"                   | "Dandruff-ridden"        | Medical charlatans
   5. "Niño soldado"               | "Child soldier"          | Children fighting in wars
   6. "Intifada"                   | "Intifada"               | Israeli occupation of Palestine
   7. "McDollar"                   | "McDollar"               | US economic imperialism
   8. "Solamente por pensar"       | "Only for thinking"      | Anti-globalisation 
                                   |                          |     (re: Carlo Giuliani)
   9. "Insensibilidad"             | "Uncaring"               | Animal cruelty
  10. "Esquirol"                   | "Scab" (strike breakers) | Labour relations
  11. "El olvidado"                | "The forgotten"          | Homelesness
  12. "Mis colegas"                | "My colleagues"          | Legalisation of drugs

Incontrolable, greatest hits live performance released in 2004

   1. "Estampida"
   2. "Gato Lopez"
   3. "Niño Soldado"
   4. "Planeta Eskoria"
   5. "Mestizaje"
   6. "Intifada"
   7. "Vals Del Obrero"
   8. "Mis Colegas"
   9. "Vergüenza"
  10. "Solamente Per Pensare"
  11. "Romero El Madero"
  12. "Welcome To Hell"
  13. "A La Mierda"
  14. "Kasposos"
  15. "Paramilitar"
  16. "Cannabis"

Ska-P is great fun for those days when I'm in a very ¡Viva la revolución! kind of mood, which seems to happen rather frequently nowadays. Regardless, their music is also fun for hopping around. I recommend giving them a chance.

One of Dannye's favourite groups here in NZ. How could I not go?

Steely Dan is a group that Dannye has written an excellent node about. That must mean they are either some sort of republican cheerleader thingie (just egging you on, D.) or they're seriously, seriously gifted musicians. Fortunately the latter applies. I only started to appreciate them after listening to Donald Fagen's The Nightfly and soon found out that Gaucho and Aja were actually not so far off Fagen's solo work. Then in 2000 I saw them in London at a rather uninspired gig at Wembley Arena that confused me terribly, but last night was a momentous occasion: Steely Dan for the first time ever live in New Zealand, they certainly managed to send the (by the way very nice) Vector Arena into happy conniptions. But let's start at the beginning:

The best girlfriend and I had relocated for one weekend to Auckland, and made our way to the Vector Arena around seven, and were surprised by this pleasant urban space (there are not a lot in Auckland, you know): modern, yet simple with a beautiful water feature that Charlie Dimmock herself couldn't fault. Surrounding apartment buildings were unusually stylish for Auckland and punters were civilised and mainly grey (or bald) or brought their kids. An exceedingly happy atmosphere, fueled by a generous amount of horrible Kiwi lager.

Openers World Party showcased a great collection of party leader Karl Wallinger's greatest hits and at the end of the gig had the audience suitably aroused. I for one wouldn't have mind if they would have played on for another hour, and even the best girlfriend ever, who normally doesn't have any opinion on music, made guttural supportive noises. Wallinger had the laughs on his side when, during the opening chords of 'She's the one' (which was covered successfully by the horrible Robbie Williams) mentioned casually:

"I hate to break this to you, but this one's me"

After about 45 minutes of fun with World Party and a short period of general beer getting and toilet going, Becker and Fagen entered the stage to rapturous applause (the best girlfriend ever commenting that the audience greeted Fagen 'like a Pop-star'. Well, how else should they greet him? Like the Queen?) and greeted the audience with a dry 'Hello Kids".

The set-list was heavy on the seventies: Black Cow, Haitian Divorce, Aja, Hey nineteen, Deacon Blues etc oozed beautifully out of the humungous speakers, and by the time 'My old School' was played during the encore the audience was going wild, on their feet, clapping and yelling and egging the band on. Fagen, bewildered by the passion that was clearly palpable, quipped:

'whoa. Some wild Dudes out there'

And so it ended. Highlights were Keith Carlock, the amazing drummer they brought along. A bloke that looked more like a rugby player behind his small, modest drum set (Hi-hat, Snare, 3 tom toms and two crash cymbals) but unleashed an unforgettable, manic energy. You could already tell during the initial songs with the vigor his left foot attacked the hi-hat that this guy meant business. His solos were out of this world, and if the DVD to this tour is ever released, I'd probably by it just for the drummer.

One big omission: their excellent bass player Freddie Washington could just as well have stayed at home: due to some unfortunate acoustic setup his bass was not perceived at all, and if just as some low frequency rumbling. Shame.

Nevertheless, thanks to Becker, Fagen and Wallinger the best 3 hours I had in a long long time.

I guess punk really started because they were using it as a point of self-expression. A lot of them learned to play their instruments so they could say something. They had their lofts or their basements to practice in, but no place to play. When I saw so many bands around that wanted to play and do their own thing, I made the policy: the only way you could play here was to write your own music.

— Hilly Kristal, owner, CBGB/OMFUG

In New York City, the stuff that's hip and the stuff that's passé change, literally, from day to day. Night clubs come and night clubs go, but they don't last very long. There was, however, one outstanding exception. A tiny spot at the end of Bleecker Street in New York's Bowery district on the lower East side opened in 1973 and for thirty-three years led the pack in rock music innovation. The name was CBGB/OMFUG, or "Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music for Uplifting Gourmandizers."

The name came to be because the club's owner, Hilly Kristal, had owned a successful Country/Blues spot in the West Village for awhile. Kristal had found plenty of talent to play on the West side; but in the Bowery neighborhood (suffice it to say it was New York's skid row) he had to find other talent to fill in the spots between the blues artists.  Shortly after the club's opening, Kristal became aware of an entirely new underground music scene; a genre (literally) screaming its way from basements to garages to loft spaces but without a true commercial venue at which to play. Not at all materialistic, he figured he'd try something new because he saw through the tough appearance and attitude of these young musical pioneers and found that they had something to say. He took it upon himself to give them a place to say it.

Kristal, deep-voiced and intense, with a biker style of dress, knew music inside and out. He was born in 1932 in Manhattan to Jewish parents who fled New York City to run a farm in central New Jersey. He studied music at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the 1950s and '60s, he performed with various musical groups in New York City. At some point in his life, he spent a stint in the Marines. Prior to his West Village venture, he managed the famous Village Vanguard jazz club, which played host to such luminaries as Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane and myriad members of the jazz A-list.

CBGB, physically, was all of less than 150' deep and only 25' wide at spots. At the time of its opening sported what was reported to have been one of the finest sound systems in New York. A red awning with funky white lettering sported the club's acronymic moniker. Originally the Palace Bar, located in the lobby of what was the Palace Hotel, a flop-house, little was changed but for the addition of a stage. The exterior was kept as clean as any building in this area of the City could be kept. But inside, chaos reigned. So many flyers and bumper stickers and whatnot adorned the walls, stage, ceiling and bar there wasn't need for paint. The stage had no steps to assist performers; the talent had to make it up three feet on their own. Kristal quipped in an interview “If you need to get up there, you will, especially if you’re 20 years old.”

CBGB was to rock and roll what the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem was to R&B music. The club served as the "incubator for the diverse underground scene of New York in the 1970s and early ’80s, with acts like the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, Television, Talking Heads and Sonic Youth playing some of their earliest and most important concerts there, at a time when there were few outlets in the city for innovative rock music."* The famous Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols was ejected by Kristal personally from the club after he threw a beer bottle at a fellow musician. The Velvet Underground found a home at CBGB after receiving mixed receptions at other clubs.

In 2006, times changed for Kristal and the club. A Manhattan Social Services agency had purchased the old Palace Hotel and turned it into a shelter and rehabilitation center, but continued to rent the club to Kristal for a whopping $20,000 a month. At one point Kristal stopped paying rent, not because he didn't have the money, but, as he explained to a judge, "You know, there was a blonde girl who used to come down and ask for it every two weeks, and then she stopped coming."

The Agency that owns the building, as well as six other buildings in the up-and-coming neighborhood, the Bowery Residents' Committee, ("BRC") is headed by a man by the name of Muzzy Rosenblatt. Rosenblatt, who has dedicated his career to helping the homeless since his graduation from Wesleyan University. When CBGB's lease ran out in October of 2006, Rosenblatt proposed escalating the rent to the "market value;" or $40,000 monthly. Kristal fired back that Rosenblatt is paid $150,000 annually by the BRC; which is more than he pays his staff or himself. Not materialistic in the least, Kristal had always made it a point to put earnings back into the club, taking care of his entertainers (he set the standard for fair pay and quality hospitality for musicians and they returned the courtesy by remaining fiercely loyal to Kristal, occasionally playing for free long after they'd achieved international fame) and providing top-quality acts for his customers.

After many efforts by a diverse group of organizations to keep the club open, it finally closed. One group convinced New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to don a CBGB t-shirt and speak on the club's behalf.

Kristal was thinking about moving everything lock-stock-and barrel to Las Vegas, Nevada, a better place to house what would perhaps become a "museum of punk rock." A store in the East Village on St. Mark's Place still offers CBGB clothes and trinkets for sale.

Mr. Kristal died at the end of August, 2007 due to complications of lung cancer.

SOURCES:

The Internet Movie Database (IMDB): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0961234/ Accessed 9/10/07

*"Hilly Kristal, A Rock Midwife, is Dead at 75" by Ben Sisario The New York Times, August 29, 2007  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/arts/music/29cnd-kristal.html? ex=1203998400&en=e1319ea264a08b97&ei=5087&excamp=GGGNhillykristal (Accessed 9/10/07)

"CBGB Founder Hilly Kristal Dies at 75" by Cortney Harding, Billboard Online, August 29, 2007 http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003632740 (Accessed 9/10/07)

CBGB ONLINE: http://www.cbgb.com/ (Accessed 9/10/07)

"Between Punk Rock and a Hard Place" by Keith Gessen, New York Magazine June 20, 2005 http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/music/features/12023/ (Accessed 9/10/07)

"The Little Club That Made a Big Noise: an Interview With CBGB's Owner Hilly Kristal" By Richard Abowitz and Jayson Whitehead, Gadfly Online February, 1998 http://www.gadflyonline.com/archive/February98/archive-cbgb.html#top (Accessed 9/10/07)

"Feuermann was born into a musical family, in Kolomea, in Galicia, Poland, in the year 1902. His father played cello and violin, and was Emanuel's first teacher. His elder brother Zigmund was a child prodigy on the violin, and toured Europe. By the time he was nine, Emanuel was taking lessons from Friedrich Buxbaum, principal cellist in the Vienna Philharmonic. In February of 1914, at the age of twelve, Emanuel Feuermann made his own debut, playing the Haydn D Major Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Weingartner, with great success."

Feuermann studied with Julius Klengel, one of the most renowned pedagogues in history, who helped him to develop and keep his own personal style. Feuermann had very few pupils of his own, Zara Nelsova was one, but due to an untimely death we don't have much of his incredibly artistry documented.

Recordings preserved are very few. Recordings of him playing the Dvorak cello concerto, Haydn D major, Max Bruch's Kol Nidre, Giuseppe Giordani, and Malcolm Sergeant are still around, as well as a video of his playing Elfendantz and Dvorak's "Rondo" for cello.

Feuermann and Casals were among two of the greatest cellists to have come from Europe to the United States, both admiring the works that they had accomplished. When Feuermann was leaving his home, his family wished him, "Come back a second Casals!" to which he replied, "No, I shall return a First Feuermann." Which shows how much drive and ambition he had.

Unfortunately, Feuermann died May 25th, 1945, shortly after routine surgery, after which he came down with an infection -- antibiotics were not used at the time. Unconfirmed details on his death: Supposedly he died after surgery on hemorrhoids in which he incurred an allergic reaction to the morphine involved.

First paragraph taken from http://cello.org/cnc/feuerman.htm -- cello.org's writeup on Emanuel Feuermann.