The Drastics in Chicago at The Milwaukee St Arts Festival!
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Yo! Just a quick reminder that we'll be headlining the Milwaukee Street Arts Festival on Friday Night (July 23) with MC Zulu on the mic! The stage is right at the monument at Logan & Milwaukee and we hit at 9:30pm ... ruff! Tons of other great bands all weekend! Come out and get down!
12:10am | said Anthony | Live Shows, Chicago, Logan Square
7/15/2010
Third Thursday, Free Mixes, Part 16
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July is just the gift that keeps on giving! It's like Christmas ... in July. And this month's mixtape is Hotter ... than July. With the passing of Sugar Minott a few days ago, I toyed with the idea of doing a tribute, but the incompleteness of my Minott vinyl made it clear it wasn't going to happen. So instead we are focusing on the whole 80s/Rub-A-Dub style! I think this era of reggae gets a bad rap, but knowing how trends cycle every 20 years (30 for Jamaican trends) it will be popular in about 10 years. This is a real nice mix of both singers, crooners, djs, dubs, live bands, digital productions, etc ... Worth the download just to hear Lee Van Cliff shamelessly ripping off Eek-A-Mouse and Papa Kojie toasting about Nancy Regan sitting on Mr. T's lap! Folks who have collected all the mixes here should also notice a Sly and Robbie version of "Love and Devotion", the first track off the "Anthony Mix" .. And not to worry, the "Jam Rock Dub" is not a dub of the Damien Marley track overplayed by every cd-carrying reggae "DJ" under the sun, but a bizarre little piece on the "Nura" label from '81. The A-Side of the 7" is simply titled "Festival ........ Jam Rock" and is credited to Sam Carty and The Astronauts. Also, "A Horseman Skabay is the new Stylee". Of course old faithfuls like Yellowman, Roots Radics and Freddie McGregor make appearances as well. The mix starts out with a Mikey Dread production of Sugar Minott's "In This Time". And there is a Part 2 coming next month! The tracks are already picked out, so shutup and quit bugging us about it already!!
SWEATBANDS OPTIONAL, BUT NOT FOR REAL!!
3:38pm | said Anthony | Third Thursday, The Blends, Reggae, 80s
7/12/2010
The Drastics in Champaign-Urbana This Thursday!
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You read right. Your friendly neighborhood reggae squadron is heading south to the land of acadème. We'll be at the Canopy on Thursday, doors at 8pm .. a measly 5 bux to get through the door! We'll probably be hitting around 9pm or so ...
Make sure and get there early to participate in our 3rd Biennial "Cluck Out 'Til You Clock Out Cognition Competition". Due to last years unfortunate incidents, this year we begrudgingly are offering seat belts to all competitors. All contestants will be seated in a precarious velocipede and placed on a state-of-the-art rail track (specially built by the Siamese for this year's event!) surrounding the venue. The participant to first succeed in reaching three "Grand Clucks" will receive this years grand prize: a trip to Old Mr. Beederman's Farm and Abattoir where you will be put to work as an indentured servant until the these damn Siamese are paid. Runner ups will receive an assortment of street signs and manhole covers from Orange County.
2:50pm | said Anthony | Live Shows, Champaign-Urbana, Reggae
7/7/2010
The Drastics in Michigan This Weekend!
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Michigonians, Michiganers, Michiganese and Michiganites! We want to see you! But really we want you to see us. Actually, just make sure that you're in the club before you get to the show. And you're gonna wanna make sure that you're still there after you've left. So show up 15 minutes before you leave for the venue and we'll be sure to start playing 38 secon...ds after the music starts. But then again if you stick around after you went home, we'll be sure to be on the road before we leave. Ok, so check it out .. if you're not there after you arrived we'll be sure to wait until BEFORE we get to Kalamazoo to play. Cool?
4:24pm | said Anthony | Live Shows, Michigan, Dub, Reggae
7/6/2010
Plus Two Minus One, Live At The Chopin Theater
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To make up for last month's epic fail of not posting a new tune, we humbly offer you ingrates this ... a free live EP for the downloading. That's about right ... 5 tracks, 2 new compositions and 3 group improvisations all recorded live at Sketchbook X on June 17, 2010.
I brought a portable recorder and a handful of mics to the gig hoping to capture whatever happened, and the result is some pretty electrifying group playing that teeters between the Sun Ra and Lee Perry schools of music. Drastics' Tenorman Tom couldn't make the gig so we asked our good friends Charles Gorczynski and Nate Lepine to sit in. That left us dub-less and forced the focus onto individual improvisation.
Check it out on BandCamp and preview the songs, download individual ones or the whole album! This music is definitely charting some abstract territories so fare-thee-warned it's not for the faint hearted.
Charles Gorczynski: Alto Sax; Nate Lepine: Tenor Sax; Andrew Zelm: Trombone, Melodica; Brian Citro: Guitar; Chris Merrill: Double Bass; Anthony Abbinanti: Drums.
4:54am | said Anthony | First Tuesday, Live At The Chopin Theater, Plus Two Minus One, Reggae