Syracuse Ska Forum

Would anyone want to set up/go to a barbeque type event? I know people at the YMCA here in Liverpool and I'm sure I'd be able to reserve the stage and field around it for such an event. It be pretty sweet to get some bands to play the stage.
Let me know if you'd like to see this happen and if you can help because I have no idea how to get a sound guy or any of that stuff hooked up.

what the f*ck, theres a ymca in liverpool?

where is it?

There is a vegan bbq/potluck every wednesday in the summer in Syracuse. I go to these so I promise you'll have at least one person to talk to. Here is a copy and paste of the post that is usually used for advertising:

Start's at 5:00. 310 Highland ave (It's a big beige / tan house with pillars) If you mapquest it make sure you put in AVE not st. or you'll end up somewhere you don't want to be. EVERYONE is invited, and by everyone we mean everyone. So, weather we're best friends, say hi once in a while, or have never spoke, COME OUT. These bbq's are meant to get everyone together, get to know each other, and have something fun to do on wednesday's instead of sit on your computer.

Few things to remember:

..1. These are potlucks so don't think i'm supplying all the food. The idea for a potluck is everyone brings something. (If you can't bring something for some reason, please still come there will be a ton of other people who didn't bring anything either. Just don't do it every week!)

..2. All food must be vegan, we want everyone to be able to eat a little of everything. If you can't think of what to bring here's some idea's vegan burgers, veggie dogs, those tofurky Italian sausage's, buns and rolls, drinks, pasta salad, potato salad, desserts, fruit, be creative...)

..3. Don't sit and nock at the front door, were in the back yard. Just walk in...if you get there and think your in the wrong neighborhood, your not.

How about the barbeque before the Mike Park show at Brian's house? That'll be a good way to test the concept ...

Sounds like a good idea, I may be out of town that week but if I'm not I'll try to make it.

And the YMCA is on Wetzle Road, the same as LHS. Also, it turns out the stage may be property of the Town of Clay but either way I may still be able to reserve it if anyone is interested in a cook-out, if not I'm sure we can set up a smaller bbq somewhere else, like Danny said, to see how the turn out is.

Onondaga Lake park is a nice place to do it too. As I recall that YMCA place does have a lot of shade or anything. And it's kinda out of the way. At least Onon Lake Park has bus systems that run to it.

Would we be bale to have a band play?

I don't know.

Ask them.

Onondaga Lake Park???

Yes, but it requires permits and whatnot. I'm sure there's a rental fee and doing sound outside is a nightmare. Plus, there's always the fun of paying the rental fee in advance, just to have the event rained out.

I'd be more inclined to maybe use the little ampitheater at the Inner Harbor, near Carousel Mall. It's more centrally located, smaller and has a roof if it rains. It's also a surprisingly nice area. The city owns it, but its managed by some private company. I've been meaning to see what it costs (I'm sure it has a rental fee too) and what the deal is there.

Actually, if we're gonna do an outside show, how about the Thorden Park ampitheater???? I've been dying to try that sometime ...

A roof?? That would be sweet.
But I was thinking that we could get bands from other genres to play and get a mix. Such as some ska, punk, metalcore and hardcore, as well as emo. Because I've noticed that each scene, in general, seems to have friction with another. I believe if we can mix it and have everyone mingle with eachother we can have a blast. I talked to a friend in When Idols Fall(metalcore) about it and they're in. And I'm hoping other bands would be too. I'd like to make a bigger music scene in Syracuse because thats what we need.
The YMCA sounds like a good place but what Danny mentioned sounds even better and more reasonable. Please let me know what you think.
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It's Jeff Watkins all over again.

Honestly, this isn't a new concept. All of the scenes overlap, some more than others. And some shows are more mixed than others. The first time Skarmy of Darkness played in Syracuse was on a Westcott hardcore show. First time I brought Distorted Penguins was to play with Toxic Narcotic at 505.

But the key is, you have to allow these things to happen naturally and not force them. Jeff tried to force kids to mix that didn't want to and those shows failed. But a lot of the kids already mix on their own without coercion. You don't create mutual respect from mere proximity.

And honestly, mixed shows don't make for a bigger music scene. Think about it -- how could they??? A bigger music scene is when kids that don't already come out to shows start coming out. And thats by offering something new and exciting, however you can manage that. Now if you mean each band can expand their fanbase from mixed shows, of course thats true. But as any decent promoter will tell you, there are good mixes and bad mixes. And a bad mix is where everyone leaves the show feeling cheated. Those shows help no one ...

Lastly, the local ska scene is already mixing the shows up more than the other scenes, from what I can see. When's the last time a ska band got invited locally to play a hardcore or even punk show lately? But they've played our shows ...

No offense, but I think you're speaking from limited experience.

Meh, it was just a thought.

Also, I feel that some people are resistant to mixing, but maybe if they would come out to see a band they like but end up seeing a band they've never heard of maybe they'd be more interested in that music. (A mini-warped tour in Syracuse) Then that would lead to the person being more interested and involved with that music scene. I think, or atleast thought that if this happens you'll see lots of familiar faces at a variety of shows.
I guess I was coming from just making Syracuse's music scene over all bigger, not necessarily expanding on a couple of scenes. Just maybe someone would want to open a new venue, or maybe we can use the out door stage at the YMCA for when it is nice and so on.

I understand where you're coming from, but sometimes I can be a bit of a dreamer.

So sctratch the mixed genere idea and go back to just ska. Could we do something like a big ol' ska Cook-out? Just to do something different?

UGH!!!!! [slaps forehead]

Most of our shows lately have been mixed genre shows, not "just ska". Mike Park didn't play ska at the Westcott and neither did Hobo Slobo or Joey Driscoll or Party In Your Pants, to name just some more recent shows. Rick Johnson didn't play ska at Coffee Pavilion, nor did Johnny Hero or Aiyana Catori or Broken Racket Romance. Those are all shows I did recently, but those are the ones everyone seems to most quickly assume are "just ska".

But the ska shows others put together in our area often mix ska with non-ska. RBF rarely plays with ska bands. The Aquabats are not touring with ska bands. The Toasters, The Slackers and tons of other well known ska bands often play with non-ska bands.

I've actually taken flack for "too little ska" on many of the shows lately. And guess what? I could care less ...

Is something really unclear here????

Sorry to change topics, but good thinking with the Inner Harbor thing. That didn't even occur to me, but it really is a cool space and it would be great to utilize something like that. It doesn't seem to me like it's really used too often because I see little about it, so it could be nice to put it to use assuming it's not too expensive to use. Not to rush you or anything, but have you happened to find out any info about it? If you'd like, I could check it out because I live close to it (Liverpool) so it's rather accessible. Either way, I think that would be cool if we could get something going on there. It's something cool that the area now has available, so we might as well see.
The Village of Liverpool also has a smaller outdoor stage area that I know they have concerts at, but nothing ska. Our high school jazz band plays there once in a while I believe. It has a stage and a good sized dance floor, and they even recently redid the area. It also has a nice covered pagoda for merch and whatnot. I'm not sure how the Village works on getting music there, but I know that they do have concerts just not in the same vein. If you'd like I could check it out, but I've never organized anything before so if you want to help it would be cool, they could either end up being reasonable or completely stubborn. I really have no idea, but I can see. Just tell me yay or nay and I can figure it out.