Welcome to a very special episode of the Flyover Ska Show that finds Courtney venturing outside of Flyover Country to cover the Asian Man Records 15th Anniversary Fest in San Francisco, CA. The week-long celebration hosted tons of ska and punk-rock bands from past and present from the label’s storied catalog.  Special guests on this episode include Dan Potthast (MU330), Curtis Meachem (Monkey), Jeff Rosenstock (Bomb The Music Industry!), Gabe Pressure (Pressure Drop Soundcast), and Mike Park himself!  You can check out tons of videos from Courtney’s trip to the Bay Area, featuring ska bands new and old, over at the MNSKA YouTube page. Strap in for a special extended episode that feels so real, it will seem like you actually went to the Asian Man Records Fest.

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This show is brought to you in part by MNSKA.com, Minnesota’s Ska Community. You can contact Courtney at FOSS@fancypantsgangsters.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook and Google+. If you’d like to discuss this week’s show, be sure to check out the forums.

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Hey everybody!  It’s Courtney from MNSKA.com informing you all that I will be out in San Francisco this week for the Asian Man Records 15 Year Anniversary.  Owner Mike Park has put together 10 shows in 5 days featuring old and new bands from the Asian Man Records roster.  Some of the very first (and best) ska and punk I ever listened to will be reuniting and playing, including Slapstick, MU330, The Chinkees, Slow Gherkin, Buck-O-Nine, The Queers, Classics Of Love, and The Lawrence Arms.  My goal is to blog from San Fran, giving you all some video and first-hand accounts from the week-long fest.

I will also be trying to score interviews with bands and fans from the shows for The Flyover Ska Show podcast.  So please stay tuned to MNSKA.com for more details!

Here’s a video shot from this past weekend at Mayne Stage in Chicago featuring The Crombies, a new music project from Mike Park and various members of Deal’s Gone Bad.  In the video, the band is performing a 2 Tone version of the classic Niney The Observer song “Blood & Fire.”

You can check out the video on YouTube HERE

I received an email recently from Mike Park (ex-Deal’s Gone Bad, Lord Mike’s Dirty Calypsonians) to announce the creation of a new musical project he’s involved with.  The Crombies are an All-Star, 2 Tone styled side project of Deal’s Gone Bad guitarist Dave Simon.  The band will be making their big debut on July 10th at The Beat Kitchen in Chicago with MI ska-punk vets Mustard Plug.

The all-star lineup includes:

Stay tuned to MNSKA.com for more updates for this new band!

It’s been a long time since Five Iron Frenzy has had any recent news since they called it quits in 2003.  According to a recent newsletter from Asian Man Records, Christian ska-punk staples Five Iron Frenzy will be releasing a full-length documentary called “The Rise and Fall of Five Iron Frenzy,” which lead singer Reese Roper has been working on for the past 6 years.  No release date or pre-order date has been set for the DVD, but it will be available on the Asian Man Records site in the near future.

To satisfy your curiosity and to follow FIF on the “FaceTwitterTube,” you can check out the DVD’s official site HERE.

In other news, Mike Park is turning 40 on November 11th!  He’s as old as Brett Favre!

Asian Man Records impressario Mike Park (The Chinkees, Bruce Lee Band, Skankin Pickle) took a few minutes to talk to the guys from Vinyl Vlog.  He discusses repressing mid-90′s albums on vinyl, the frustrations of shipping vinyl records, and some information about the Asian Man calendar….all from the Asian Man HQ (aka his mom’s garage!).

Vinyl Vlog is a video blog series based out of Boston.  You can check them out HERE.  Be sure to check out Mike Park at the Triple Rock with Classics of Love on Friday April 24th.

Hey there MNSka peeps!  It’s a relatively quiet weekend for the ska round these parts (although Panel of Experts are supposed to be playing at the 7th Street Entry tomorrow night, I haven’t found any evidence to back it up).  Plenty of MNSka kids are road-tripping to Chicago for The Slackers show on Saturday.

Next weekend, though, is gonna be filled with fantastic shows!

It all gets going Thursday night with two great shows.  At 9 p.m., local ska/reggae/soul septet The Prizefighters play at Stasiu’s Place in Minneapolis alongside ska-rockers Panel of Experts.  The cost is $5.  At 9:30, then, at the Uptown Bar, ska-punk trio Hardcore Crayons takes the stage alongside Guzzlemug, Bouncer Fighter, and Anders Ponders.  This show is FREE, so check it out if you wanna see four great bands and don’t have much money to spend.

If you’re in the Mankato area on Friday night, then, you can see the Crayons again, this time with The Style Biters, The Body Politic, and Gumbi at the What’s Up Lounge.  The music starts at 6 and the cost is $5.

If you’re in the cities on Friday night, then you are also in luck!  Mike Park, of Asian Man Records and several great California ska bands, is playing an All Ages show at the Triple Rock along with Classics of Love (consisting of Park and several members of seminal ska-punk band Operation Ivy) and The Evening Rig.  Music gets going at 5, and tickets are $10.

There are no shows on Saturday, but there’s one last one on Sunday.  In place of the originally planned Ska Prom 2009, Duluth ska-rockers Mikey Talented are coming to the cities to play.  The All Ages show at The Red Sea Bar also includes The Brilliant Beasts, The Oh Eeks!, and Licker; while these bands aren’t ska, they are a nice collection of indie and rock bands.  Doors open and 5 and cover is $5, so come on out and check the awesome variety of this show!

I’m very excited for Spring for many reasons: the weather gets warmer (eventually), the sun comes out, for many of you the school semester is almost over…but most importantly Spring is BOOMING with ska shows!

It’s time to forget the cold and unforgiving winter, put it behind you, and get your butt out to some of these ska shows!  Some highlights include 2 Tone Runts CD Release at The Red Sea, The English Beat w/ Umbrella Bed at the Cabooze, and Mike Park (of Asian Man Records) at The Triple Rock…plus much more to come!

Big thanks to Tom from MNSka for keeping our SHOWS page up to date!  Keep ‘em coming!

You can check out a list of all the April 2009 MNSka shows after the jump.

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