WEED THEM OUT

I've posted this song before, but it bears repeating. Yet again. Special AKA's "Racist Friend". The gist of the lyrics is advising the listener to cut off relationships with anyone they know who is a racist. It seems simple. That's because I don't have any racist friends. Not anymore. They've been let go over the years as soon as their their beliefs became apparent. It's crazy now that I think about it. This song was released in 1984, and I remember at the time hearing the lyrics "If you have a racist friend, now is the time for your friendship to end" and thinking at the time "Now is the time? How about years ago?!" 

You may think it extreme, to dismiss a friendship or relation because of their views. It is not. De-friending a racist is necessary. As my sister pointed out on Facebook recently, not being a racist is not enough. If you really are against racism. you must fight racism. You must be anti-racist. You must remove the toxic crap from your relationships and in doing so, from the world. That easy. Racists are dead to me.

STEP ONE

This seems fairly straight forward to me, but I don't think of any of my friends or relatives as racists, so I can't imagine it being tough or even questionable. "If you have a racist friend, now is the time for that friendship to end." It seems easy, it might take conviction beyond the comfort level for some, but if you don't have that you might as well throw in the towel. I mean, c'mon. There's no excuse. Post the video below on your wall and then unfriend them. Baby steps. Or go big at Thanksgiving. Make a scene n' shit. All joking aside, you really don't need toxic shit in your life. You won't ever be able to totally avoid it, but that doesn't mean you have to hang around with it.

THE MESSAGE SONG

Back in 1984 I was in Bielefeld Germany visiting a girl I'd met in the states. Our plan was to hitchhike to Berlin the night after I arrived, but first she had to attend a few college classes, so since I had nothing else to do I went along to check out her school. While she was in class, I killed time by browsing tables set up by different organizations and one was displaying booklets and badges from the African National Congress, whom I'd never heard of. I started talking to the people running the table and it was the first time I'd ever heard the term apartheid, and the first time I'd heard the name Nelson Mandela (still imprisoned at the time). Needless to say, I probably came off as the classic ignorant American. But the people at the table were patient, filling me in on all the shit that I'd never even heard about in the states.

By the time I got to London a few weeks later, after I'd read the ANC material that I'd picked up, the Special AKA's "Free Nelson Mandela" was climbing up the British charts (eventually making it to #9). When I spotted the 45, it was a no brainer, all the while thinking "Where the hell have I been?" Back at home a month or so later, the song started getting airplay on a local radio station. Dang me if it didn't do the job. The whole point of any protest song is to bring about awareness, and possibly change. To that end, many of the kids in the U.S. were now learning about apartheid for the first time through a song. It was hard to find anybody, in my particular circle, that didn't know about apartheid or Nelson Mandela. Multiply that by every country that had the record in shops and you've got a whole lot of kids going, "Hey, what's this? This is just plain wrong!" That is about the best that you could hope for a protest song.

In 1990, apartheid was abolished, and Mandela was released from prison. He went on to be elected president of South Africa, inaugurated on May 10, 1994, almost ten years to the day after I'd first heard his name. All of that was a trip to follow, a big change in ten years, and a great, great, protest song. Here's a few versions.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela mp3 at ATumblr (?) 1984
The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (Instrumental) mp3 at AM Then FM 1984
Yikes!:
The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (The Whole World Is Watching Dance Mix) (streaming) at YouTube 1988 WTF?
Video:
The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (Official) at YouTube
The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (Early version, first performance) at YouTube
The Special AKA - Racist Friend at YouTube On topic and also good.
Visit:
The Special Aka: In the Studio review at The Guardian "weird, vivid nightmares on Jerry Dammers’ utterly compelling final album" Retrospective review of LP that contained the song.

THE LIFER

You may have heard. Rico Rodriguez died a few days ago at the age of eighty. That's a bummer. Real bummer. He was a trombone player, one of the last links to pre-reggae Jamaican music still up and around, performing up until a couple years ago. He went to the Alpha Boys School, the former school of several musicians who would figure heavily in ska and early reggae. But Rico was one of few who kept at it throughout their life. From early sides for Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid and Prince Buster and other Jamaican producers, to the UK and Trojan, a stint with the Specials, Special AKA, Jerry Dammer's Spatial AKA Orchestra, and Jools Holland's band, the guy was everywhere. He played on Dandy Livingstone's "Message to You Rudy" and on the Specials' cover of it twenty years later. As a sideman and as a solo artist, he was a constant for anyone keen to him. I'll miss that, seeing where he'd pop up next. Thankfully there is a plethora of stuff available. Here's just a taste.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Rico Rodriguez - Rico Special mp3 at Soul Garage
Forster Orchestra Featuring Rico – Lightning Street mp3 at Soul Garage
Rico Rodriguez - Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - L-O-V-E mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Toots & the Maytals w/Rico Rodriguez - Rastaman mp3 at Melting Pot
Dandy Livingstone -  Rudy A Message to You (streaming) at YouTube
The Specials -  A Message to You Rudy mp3 at Reselect
The Specials - Ghost Town mp3 at BlahBlahBlahScience
Video:
The Specials - A Message to You Rudy at YouTube
The Specials featuring Rico - Jungle Music at YouTube
Rico Rodriquez playlist at YouTube
Visit:
Jerry Dammers on Rico Rodriquez at NME
Rico Rodriquez at Wikipedia

AMANDLA

"Good and evil are always at war. Good men must choose."

In 1983, in the midst of a growing global movement demanding Mandela's release, Special AKA released "Free Nelson Mandela". As trivial as music seems today, it's the language we speak.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela mp3 at Contort
Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (instrumental and LP version) mp3 at AM Then FM
Video:
Mandela: The Man and His Country at YouTube 46 minute documentary. 
Mandela's first interview (1961) at YouTube
Mandela's release from prison at YouTube
Mandela's speech at Free South Africa concert at YouTube 1990, two months after his release.
Visit:
Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
Nelson Mandela at Wikipedia
Nelson Mandela at Biography.com
African National Congress

TAKE A MOMENT

Nelson Mandela was put on life support today. It's not looking good. I assume most of you are familiar with him. If you aren't, you're ignorance is willful. In 1962 he was convicted of plotting to overthrow the government of South Africa. He did 27 years in prison. Within four years of his release in 1990, apartheid was abolished, he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and was elected President of South Africa. That's an amazing live in three sentences. Obviously it doesn't do him justice. Read up at the proper detailed profiles linked below.

In 1983, in the midst of a growing global movement demanding Mandela's release, Special AKA released "Free Nelson Mandela". It is as fitting a musical tribute as there is.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela mp3 at Contort
Visit:
Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
Nelson Mandela at Wikipedia
Nelson Mandela at Biography.com
Africa National Congress

YEAH? SHOW ME SPECIAL

I was not all that surprised that the Specials still had an official web site. Thinking: Oh, hey, there's a blog...let's see here...oh, wow, there's something about a tour? Oh yeah, this is gonna be rich. What's this nonsense about strings? ...and so on. Then I scanned to the bottom of the page, waaay down there, and in tiny type, it said "Jerry Dammers will not be performing as part of the re-formed The Specials." What?! If you ask me, no Dammers, no Specials, AKA or otherwise. Reformed or otherwise. I've forgotten their history (and I'm too lazy right now to deal with researching why I have the impression that I do), but somewhere along the way, I've had reason to think of Dammers as the heart and soul of the Specials. Whether or not it's warranted, that's what I think. When the Specials split up, some became the Fun Boy Three, and some became Special AKA. The latter went on to record "Free Nelson Mandela," which is a magnificent piece of work. The former did a Go-Go's song. And Dammers was the head AKA-er, that much I know. So he was there for "Message To You Rudy," he was there for "Ghost Town" and he was most definitely there for "Free Nelson Mandela." Nope, sorry. Ain't buying it. If he's not in it, it ain't.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Specials - A Message to You Rudy mp3 at Booween
The Specials - Little Bitch mp3 at Joe Bien
The Specials - Ghost Town mp3 at 8106
Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela mp3 at Contort

M.I.A. TO SUN RA IN FOUR MOVES

This all started inauspiciously enough. I ran into a post of M.I.A. with the Specials [sic] doing the Spectral Display song, "It Takes a Muscle." That was going to be it. After enjoying the clip, I began wondering how many of the original Specials were playing. Terry Hall wasn't there, but that could have been because M.I.A. had the vocals covered. One person who definitely wasn't there was Jerry Dammers; to me, the heart and soul of the original Specials. When they split up, Dammers formed Special AKA ("Free Nelson Mandela") and Hall went and started Fun Boy 3 ("Our Lips Are Sealed"...you know, drek). You could stop right there. Forget the other members. No Dammers, no Specials.

You can see where this is going. A quick peek at a M.I.A. video turned into Dammers Appreciation Hour. After the M.I.A. and Specials video, I decided to start at the beginning, with the Specials as they were. Then a quick jaunt by Special AKA (avoiding Fun Boy 3 all together), and then, the most anticipated part; Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA Orchestra, often described as a cross between the Specials and Sun Ra. I'd read about them, but not heard them. Dammers' site has four videos, but I've been unable to find any mp3s, or even a CD to buy. So all I have to go on is the videos, which are undeniably boss.

Thirty years cannot be covered in a few links. Nonetheless, here's a bunch of stuff, documenting why exactly it is, that nothing ever gets done around here.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Music:
M.I.A. - It Takes a Muscle mp3 at 8106
MIA w/the Specials - It Takes a Muscle (live, 2010) mp3 at Sheen Beaston
The Specials - A Message To You Rudy mp3 at Town Full of Losers
The Specials - Ghost Town mp3 at BlahBlahBlahScience
Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela mp3 at Contort
Sun Ra - Rocket #9 mp3 at L'Homme Scalp
Sun Ra - UFO mp3 at Destination Out
Video:
M.I.A. with the Specials - It Takes a Muscle (live) at YouTube
The Specials - Ghost Town at YouTube
Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela (live, with Elvis Costello) at YouTube
The Specials - Gangsters (2009) at YouTube
Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA Orchestra - Ringo Rock at YouTube
Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA Orchestra - Sabayinda at YouTube
Jerry Dammer's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Where Pathways Meet at YouTube
Sun Ra - Space Is the Place (film intro) at YouTube
Sun Ra Arkestra - Live, 1981 at YouTube
Visit:
Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA Orchestra official site
The Specials official site
The Spatial AKA Orchestra at Wikipedia