Good news, everyone!  One of MNSKA’s favorite radio shows is staying put!  I’ll give you a little background info about what happened and why this is important:

If you have followed this blog, you no doubt know about Rude Radio, the weekly 2-hour radio program (Sundays, 12pm – 2pm) devoted to ska, reggae, rocksteady, dub, and dancehall on Radio K (100.7 FM – KUOM University of Minnesota).  The show has a storied history and has featured several notable hosts over its long tenure, including General Moses (Brad Klein) who is the creator of the upcoming Legends Of Ska movie.  Radio K in the past year made some changes to their DJ requirements by requiring only current students be on-air, causing many of the specialty programs that had been hosted by alums for many years, including Rude Radio, to change hosts.  DJs Reverend Evan and Citizen D left the show in January and gave the keys to Dylan, who has done a remarkable job as the Rude Radio host this year.  A couple weeks ago, Dylan made the announcement of his diminishing role in Rude Radio this Fall semester due to his heavy course load, and without a direct replacement available was uncertain about the show’s future.

Fear not, ska fans! A few Radio K DJs and volunteers have come together to keep the show running.  Dylan will still be involved with the show in the first hour, focusing more on dub and traditional Jamaican music.  In the second hour, Radio K DJ Joey P will be playing more modern ska tunes to close out the show. This programming format is similar to previous incarnations of the show.

I cannot tell you all how much this means to me and MNSKA community as a whole.  We here at MNSKA volunteer our time to help build a scene and foster a community for bands and fans of ska music and Rude Radio has always played a part in that effort.  They promote the local shows, play music from MNSKA bands past and present, and give us a sounding board to get people interested in this music that means so much to us.

If you are a University of Minnesota student, please go to the Radio K studio tour on Thursday, September 15th from 5pm – 6pm (Rarig Center, West Bank Campus).  Get familiar with your college radio station.  Rude Radio and Radio K are always welcoming new volunteers!

Hey ska fans!  I wanted to take the time to remind you that our friend Brad Klein (aka General Moses) is still hard at work on the upcoming Legends Of Ska documentary.  His Kickstarter campaign is coming down the homestretch with only 16 days left, he is a little over $1,000 dollars short of his $15,000 goal.  We at MNSKA feel that this is a very important film and a piece of history, so we encourage you to please contribute HERE.

Back in 2000, General Moses was the host of Rude Radio (Radio K, KUOM 770AM/100.7FM/104.5FM, Minneapolis, MN) and he conducted a phone interview with ska legend Derrick Morgan.  Check out his 4-part interview HERE.

Brad Klein (aka General Moses), who is currently working on post-production of his film Legends Of Ska: Welcome To The House Of Joy, was interviewed on the St. Louis, MO radio program “Positive Vibrations” (88.1 KDHX FM).  Klein met host Michael Kuelker a year ago at the International Reggae Conference held at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, on the outskirts of Kingston.

You can hear the April 2nd  interview as well as original Jamaican music HERE

There is still time to donate to the film’s Kickstarter campaign.  Please generously donate HERE

We here at MNSKA have all been waiting since 2002 for the release of the penultimate documentary on ska, Legends of Ska, and now it’s finally in post-production! The new trailer looks fantastic. The only hurdle left is that the film still needs additional funding.  The film’s producer, Minnesota’s own Brad Klein (aka General Moses) has launched a Kickstarter page to raise funds to cover production costs.  Please visit the site and contribute!

This is your chance to be a part of this ground-breaking film. Every dollar counts, so even small support is appreciated. Although, you do get cool swag if you contribute more…

PLEASE watch the trailer and pledge your support for the release of this long-awaited film. You can check the progress of the fundraiser on MNSKA.com.  What are you waiting for? Help make the Legends of Ska movie a reality!!!

MNSKA band The Prizefighters recently posted online that they are heading into the studio to record a grip of songs for a much anticipated release.  The reggae-soul band have booked time over at local recording studio Shock and Audio for this weekend.  Frontman (and MNSKA cofounder) Aaron Porter posted the following on the FORUM:

This weekend, the Prizefighters are going to begin recording their first official release at Shock and Audio Studio with Andrew Zoellner and General Moses (former host of Rude Radio). We plan on tracking 10 songs or so, with the eventual release of a CD and possibly a 7″.

This has been a long time coming for us, so we’re all very excited to get the best of our work over the past several years onto tape. We will try to provide updates as we wrap up the recording/mixing and get closer to releasing the new material.

Thanks to everyone for their support over the years that helped us get to this point!

You can check out The Prizefighters on Saturday, February 20th at Eclipse Records in St. Paul for the big Birthday Show for Adam Degross of Degross Punk Photography.