I have a trunk full of old flyers from back in the day. I was going through them the other night and pulled out a few things I thought were scanworthy. This is a flyer for the Ska Patricks Day shows from 1996. My friend Raquel put on this 4-day event with 4 shows all around northern Utah. It was pretty amazing. They even printed up passports (with walt jabsco's picture in it) for those who bought passes for all 4 days. I wish I would have gotten one of them...
Day One was okay. It was kind of awkward to have the show in the high school, and I was surprised how much I didn't care for Buck 0 nine. But my buddies in the Shriners were awesome as usual, as were the mod sounds of Tapestry Drive and the Go-Go girls of Thee Martinis. Mr. Goon was a high school ska-punk band that wore silly hats. hmmm.
Day Two was very similar to day one, in that it was in an odd High School and I wasn't too interested in the show. But it was fun hanging out with Mealticket and I remember talking to Genai about the Book of Mormon which was odd... I don't think the Mudsharks played that night (if they did, I wasn't paying attention) And I don't think I watched Attaboy Skip play either. In fact, I don't think I watched any bands that night come to think of it. Which is a shame, but I think the Soulutions got bumped to the next night.
Day Three was the BIG night at the Salt Lake Fairgrounds (same place I later saw Rancid and The Skatalites) which is always a fun and bizarre place to see shows. I showed up late and missed my buddies in Attaboy Skip, Model Citizen, and the Soulutions. I was bummed, but Jeff (Go-Go13, Soulutions) gave me their demo tape in the parking lot. I think that's where I first met Micah and Tilt? I don't know... My jacket was heavy and it was dark... I saw the Reel Big Fish guys backstage and played catch up with Scott. Um.. The Mudsharks were boring as were insatiable. RBF got the crowd going and The Aquabats finished the show(?). That was my 2nd appearance as the pigbat and I came out on stage covered in blood. Which was sticky cairo syrup and red food dye. This was before the pink costume, so I was basically just wearing speedos, pantyhose and boots. The Bat Commander urged me to lay down and "rest" (because I had supposedly been beaten up by the Sandfleas). The stage was covered in confetti so it all stuck to me... After I showered backstage, I ran back to watch the rest of the set from the back. The Sandfleas came out and fought the Aqubats and my skinhead friends got really excited about the violence. I got a kick out of that. heheh
Day Four got moved from UVSC over to JB's Comedy Club in Provo. The Shakes and Creeps By Night were local Rockabilly / Surf bands who were pretty good. Then the Shriners came out and tore it up. (Later I joined them as a keyboard player for their farewell show. man, I love those guys.). Then Model Citizen of course and Mustard Plug, with whom I was incredibly disappointed. Way more punk than ska. bleh. Then Mephiskapheles came out and seriously tore the roof off. They were amazing. Definitely the best performance of the whole 4 days (aside from the aquabats, of course). I went up to their guitar player Brendog afterwords and apologized for some critisms I had made on the internet earlier. He was way cool. Meph won me over that night.
The whole thing was quite memorable, and I really miss those days. I guess I'm getting old. Wouldn't it be great if someone did something like this nowadays? I mean, of course there's ISC, High Desert Ska Fest, 3 Floors of Ska, etc. But none have the same scavenger-hunt feel of a 4-day multi-venue ska show blitz... Ah, the 90's...
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