Monday, September 20, 2010

Duff Guide to Ska Video Vault: The Toasters' "Thrill Me Up" and The Scofflaws' "A Shot in the Dark"

For years I've been sitting on some live Super 8 sound film footage that I shot of The Toasters, King Apparatus, Desorden Publico, Dance Hall Crashers, The Skunks, and more around '93 or '94 at SOB's in Manhattan. All of these reels need to be professionally converted to digital files--which ain't cheap--but I'll get around to it some point soon and share this blast from the past with all the ska fans out there.

I also have a tape of The Toasters and Scofflaws performing live at NYC's Palladium in November 1992 for an unnamed television special (those in the know should try to spot some of the early '90s NYC ska scenesters dancing on stage between the bands). Every now and then, I will be posting short excerpts from this show, the first of which features The Scofflaws covering Henry Mancini's "A Shot in the Dark" and The Toasters performing "Thrill Me Up." Watch it here. See The Scofflaws in their glory days (Victor Rice in a fez and Mike Drance on bari sax!)--and check out what must be one of the few videotaped appearances of Pablo D., who was briefly in The Toasters, just after Cashew Miles and before Coolie Ranx (and he chats on a few New York Fever tracks).

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve,

How much does it cost to get it converted? I contribute to help get that onto DVD.

-Andrew

Steve from Moon said...

Thanks, Andrew. I'm planning to put the live footage up on You Tube, not to release it on DVD.

JJ said...

This wouldn't be the USA Up All Night New Years Eve Ska Special, would it? I've been dying to see a copy of that.

Either way, it sounds like this will be fun to see when you get it converted.

Steve from Moon said...

JJ:

It might be.

The footage I shot myself was year or two later, from a series of ska shows at Sounds of Brazil.

Stay tuned!

Steve

Jeremy Patton said...

I already have it all digitized from the original tapes that were sent to Buck back in the day. I wanted to put it on our official DVD but we though we would run into copyright issues with USA? Maybe not though since it's been 18 years?!?

Steve from Moon said...

Jeremy:

Yes, you would probably run into some significant copyright issues if you 1) offered their material for sale without the company's permission; and 2) included the footage of Gilbert and Rhonda (which I have taken pains to edit out).

In a perfect world, though, it would be great to have it all out there, since the production values were so good and there is not a lot of footage of both bands from that time.

Best,

Steve

Mike B said...

Steve, the footage of Gilbert and Rhonda that you removed - did it by chance have Gilbert saying how he loves ska?

Looking for the old clip from Up All Night which was the inspiration for 'Gilbert Gottfried'...

I think it might have been this NYE show at the Paladium or maybe the show where they played Back To The Beach.

daaronr said...

Did you ever put this up:
>I've been sitting on some live Super 8 sound film footage that I shot of The Toasters,
King Apparatus, Desorden Publico, Dance Hall Crashers, The Skunks, and more around '93 or '94 at SOB's in Manhattan.

I'd love to see it; I was at that show and I remember it was great!

Steve from Moon said...

Thanks, David. I did have the film digitally transferred and the lab did an incredibly crappy job. So, it has not been posted. I'll have to find a better place (which I'm sure will cost more money) and give it another shot. If all works out, I'll post it.