eleven
Reverend Jack Petty (The Beefeaters):
- As great as the name Slack Bastard is maybe you should consider changing it to Misinformed Twat. I’m off to play a set of Jamaican and Two-Tone ska [at The Birmingham Hotel] right now, I’m sure I’ll speak to you soon when you find some other way to twist truths into bullshit.
Feb 9th, [2008] 5:11 pm — [For Dion] Hate Crimes on Rise in Russia // Big Ups from Down Under
ten
Roddy Moreno (The Oppressed):
- Keep on keeping on against the Bonehead scum that stand for nothing but cowardice.
When you think of the Australian blood given in the fight against Fascism in WW2 it must have old soldiers turning in their graves at the sight of Neo Nazi scum playing gigs in your town.
Always stand firm against this threat.
FUCK FASCISM.
Roddy.
Jun 11, [2007] 1:02 AM — Upcoming Shows @ The Birmy
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‘Skinhead Times’ (The Oppressed):
eight
Laurel Aitken, April 22, 1927–July 17, 2005 (Skinhead Attitude):
seven
‘Dirty Reggae’ (The Aggrolites):
six
‘Racist Friend’ (The Specials):
five
Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music (BBC, 2002):
four
‘RASH’ (Brigada Flores Magon):
three
‘Red Skin’ (Inadaptats, 1992–2005):
two
‘Fite Dem Back’ (Linton Kwesi Johnson):
- Should politics and art mix?
‘A political art/let it be tenderness’ wrote the American poet Amiri Baraka. All art is class art in the sense that different classes create different kinds of art. So people distinguish between ‘high’ culture and popular culture – this has resulted in aesthetics that are elitist and exclusionist. The notion of ‘art for art’s sake’ could have come from the leisured aristocratic class with all the time in the world to ponder the meaning of meaning. Politics and art have been mixing since ancient times. People have long given artistic expression to their struggle against oppression and injustice. Revolutionary movements for change have been complemented by cultural movements. This is particularly true of anti-colonial struggles. Art has often been the only means available to ordinary people to voice their suffering, hopes and aspirations and their vision of change. Art as crude propaganda is often bad art. However, that did not prevent Blake or Shelley or Bob Marley or Dylan from producing good or great works of art that are political.
Are we all doomed?
Towards the end of the twentieth century, in his 80th birthday lectures, CLR James posed the question of the choice facing humanity: socialism or barbarism. He had lived through two world wars, social upheaval and revolution. He never lost sight of his vision of socialist transformation in spite of defeats and setbacks. For the late John La Rose, a comrade of James, self-activity and hope is what sustains the ‘dream to change the world’.
one
‘Oi Not Jobs’ (Hard Skin):
See also:
LEGENDS OF SKA (2008)
with Steady Rock Productions (USA)
Final Stage Development
Legends Of Ska is a story of the men and women who created one of the 20th century’s great musical revolutions – the ska music that swept Jamaica and the world in the early 1960’s. As the precursor to reggae, ska was Jamaica’s first original music. It sprang from the dancehalls of Kingston town and spawned a worldwide dance craze. In the spirit of the Buena Vista Social Club and Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, Legends of Ska will use as its focus a once-in-a-lifetime concert that takes place in Toronto, Canada – a chance for the more than two dozen Jamaican foundation musical artists to re-ignite the music as well as their friendships.
Executive Producer: Brad Klein
Producers: Mark Johnston, Tambre Leighn
Directors: Mark Johnston
Project Type: Feature length and one hour documentary
Skinhead Attitude, January 6, 2006 | Good Skinhead Music!, January 15, 2006 | Skinhead (according to The Observer), April 3, 2007 | “Stop! Hammer time!” Or: Boneheads and Baldies, July 26, 2007 | Bloggy Thursday Anarchy // The Baldies + 20, March 13, 2008
