I My Me Mine!

Today, Polysics from Tokyo, Japan played at my school (Cal State Fullerton), and for free to boot! They played an hour set, with a one song encore.

My school books two bands every week to play at our school for free on Wed. and Thurs. The person who books these bands is a bitch, and has no concept of diversity. Week after week after week, we are stuck with the same old generic indie crock bands or shitty pop punk bands that all sound the fucking same. However, my roommate, who works at the same office as the bitch who books bands, sometimes is able to have a say in who gets to play. That means, I can expect at least ONE good band a semester. Last semester, it was The Aggrolites, and this semester it was the Polysics!

The place where the Polysics played today wasn't a big place, but it was big enough for them, and they had a lot of energy. The pub was pretty crowded actually. I couldn't understand a thing they said, but it was a very fun show. I was wearing my Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra tshirt, and the merch chick told me that she loved them (in broken English). The guitarist was pretty funny, there was one point where he said that we were going to his school now. "The school of rock, Polysics style!" I bought a Tshirt, and a poster, and had three of the 4 members sign my poster...(The bassist chick went into hiding). I'm contemplating whether I want to go see them again in two weeks in Hollywood!

Hmm

That my friend, is a picture of a rare vinyl that I just got the other day. The album is "Damn Good" from Ska Flames, and they feature Jamaican legends, Laurel Aitken, Roland Alphonso, and Lester Sterling on the record. It's damn good if I say so myself (okay, I'm sorry for the lame joke.)

So in the 90s, there was this boom of third wave ska bands in the U.S., with groups like No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, and Less Than Jake getting mainstream appeal, and it was the in thing. Side by side with this boom was also the pop-punk boom with bands like Blink 182 and Green Day gaining rising popularity. Now, many are claiming that "Third wave ska has died" and all the fans have gone on to emo. For now, I won't go into why I don't believe in the whole "waves" deal, but I'll have to say that it's wrong. They haven't all gone on to emo, I would garner a lot more of old ska "fans" have moved on to indie rock.

Now, there are many who claim indie music isn't an actual genre, it's a term for unsigned bands. I personally think they should stop bullshitting themselves. Like "Alternative Rock" in the 90s, the term "indie" has morphed into it's own genre. Nobody quite knows how to describe it, but when you hear it, you'll know. It's a whole subculture that's boomed into the U.S., and it's been fused into the "emo" (and I use this term sparsely) subculture. These hipsters populate a lot of the bigger cities...L.A., Hollywood, San Francisco, even San Jose.

A lot of these hipsters read a few books by philosophers, or intelligent people, and suddenly, they think they're shit and intellectual and can discuss issues like politics or religion. We all know they're not discussing though, but rather, repeating what they've read.

Don't worry, I'm going somewhere with this.

What I dislike most about these hipster kids is the musical elitism. These kids think they're the shit because they try to listen to the most ecletic and obscure of these indie groups. They look down on others who they feel aren't up to their hipster pussiness. I'd say a lot more, but right now, I can't really seem to put my thoughts together coherently.

REGGAE FROM THE GHETTO.

Ah, I love this song. I still remember my roommate and I putting on the John Holt version as loud as possible and singing the chorus on top of our lungs. Needless to say, security came, and we got in trouble (sorta, kinda).

Hmm, this issue with the abortion ban in South Dakota is quite troubling to me. I am a fierce opponent of abortion, but I don't believe that we're ready for legislation that out right bans the whole thing. I'd rather there be other ways of discouraging people from abortion, without banning it. To me, freedom of choice begins before sex, not after.

Speaking of women, the feminist club at my school kinda annoys me. It's like, they try too hard to show that they're equal to men. They were putting up posters around the campus about hwo they're challenging males to a feminist arm wrestle. Lame.