Reggae Book Club Poll Results
Find out which book we’ll read first (sort of).
Greetings Superstars!
A couple of weeks ago, I proposed that we start a Reggae Book Club and posted a poll so that you could vote for one of four book choices. The results are in and the first book that we will read is In Defense of Ska - Vol. 2 by Aaron Carnes!
I honestly didn’t expect it to win, but you know I love ska so I’m into it. Hopefully, we’ll learn all about the histories and stories behind Jamaican Ska, Two-Tone Ska Revival, and Third Wave Ska—as well as how ska is rooted in reggae music.
Plus, we were promised some industry gossip!
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. —Wikipedia
A Bit About the Author
Aaron Carnes is here to build a “ska army” of defenders and lo, he’s right here on Substack:
This is from his About page:
“I’ve played music all my life and became a music journalist in 2010. One of the biggest disappointments I encountered was the unequivocal dismissal and mockery of ska music—one of my favorite genres—among critics and writers. This became the topic of my first book, In Defense of Ska. Not only did I literally defend the genre, but I took the opportunity to tell stories and provide narratives that contradicted popular culture’s stereotypes about the music and its fans. And because these anti-ska stories have been accepted as truth, lots of people miss out on some great music and interesting stories.”
Amen. In this expanded edition, Carnes added 30,000 words of insight into social and political events that have impacted the genre.
Now, this volume will be released on October 29, 2024, so I have ANOTHER poll for you because we could wait until the end of October—which bleeds into the chaos of winter holiday season—or we could read the first volume, which was published on May of 2021.
You let me know—I trust you.
This week, I hope that you are surrounded by tons of interesting people!
TTY! 💛