Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Origins Of Ska Music

    At the comedy club tonight, I liked seeing the Mason City native before the show as we did a follow up to last week's reference to the song 'Get up Edina'. I said I had listened to it on Youtube. He said the origins of ska go back to Jamaica gaining independence from Great Britain, in 1962. So it would be considered celebratory music. I did read further on the Wikipedia page and saw how it did cover the part about independence, along with 3 waves in the history of this genre. It was described as upbeat, and I agree with this. It was influenced by calypso along with rhythm and blues. When I saw mention of Rock-steady along with Reggae as related genres, it was more familiar to me. I knew the band No Doubt was considered to be ska, and one of their albums is called Rock Steady.
   I did listen to the song again on Youtube. Like most things, it can get better the second time I hear it or experience it. The lasting impression was hearing the horns, and how it is definitely lively and I am often in the mood for lively music. Earlier I mainly paid attention to the lyrics, about being sent back to Mama and Papa, along with being sent to school and church. He is known for exposing me to music I hadn't heard before, and I like to write about this subject. I am hopeful to get some more recommendations of course.
    It was another edition of the contest, the second semifinal. Three advanced, and I knew all of them. The Belarus native did plenty of jokes about his tiger shirt he bought at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. But he also did the one about the Rolling Stones. The International Falls native did ones about the 10,000 word argument and about her IUD. A comic I will call Pizza Philosopher did these jokes, about delivering pizza as well as majoring in philosophy. The preschool teacher did not advance but I liked her jokes about obesity being more common than hunger, along with singing lines from a song. The lyrics were: kind of funny, kind of sad. Found out it was 'Mad World'. I found it on Youtube, under Gary Jules. It is a cover, the original was by Tears for Fears.
   I also had to look up definitions of some words, after using them when responding to a Facebook posting from the big dog. He has called me a blackguard and dirty land pirate, I know that coming from a friend it is meant in good fun. But this time I was the one who used these terms. Blackguard is better known, unprincipled and a scoundrel. The other I found on Urban Dictionary. Someone who is rarely on the Internet and doesn't understand most Internet terms, and takes something offensive too seriously. This was one of them anyway, the last of the six definitions. The others were more closely what pirate means, a modern day gypsy.
   I called my dad after the show as I noticed on my voicemail tonight that he had called on Sunday, apparently when I was on the light rail on the way to the comedy show. I said I couldn't chat for long, as I needed to get home.  He had moved into town recently and gave me his new address, and said there were tornado warnings in southern Iowa tonight. I lost the call as I was about to reach my car in the ramp, as he said something about primary elections in Iowa. I know he likes this subject.       

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