NYC venues that frequently have ska shows:
Rocks Off Concert Cruises, Manhattan, docks at 23rd/FDR or 41st/West Side Hwy
Roseland Ballroom, Manhattan
Best Buy Theater, Manhattan
Irving Plaza, Manhattan
Webster Hall, Manhattan
Highline Ballroom, Manhattan
B.B King's, Manhattan
Gramercy Theater, Manhattan
Otto's Shrunken Head, Manhattan
Mercury Lounge, Manhattan
Bowery Ballroom, Manhattan
Characters, Manhattan
The Shrine, Manhattan
Sullivan Hall, Manhattan
The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn
The Bell House, Brooklyn
Two Boots, Brooklyn
Trash Bar, Brooklyn
The Swamp, Brooklyn
RIP to NYC's best ska venues: The Wetlands, Coney Island High, Tramps, CBGB's, and The Limelight. You will be truly missed. <3
Here's a great article written about some of the iconic NYC music venues and what they've become. Get a box of tissues. It really is sad. Some people have already shed a tear reading it.
Venues close to NYC that frequently have ska shows
(within a 2-hr drive):
Vibe Lounge, Rockville Centre Long Island NY
Revolution/Ollie's Point, Amityville Long Island NY
The Chance, Poughkeepsie NY
Starland Ballroom, Sayreville NJ
Mexicali Live, Teaneck NJ
Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park NJ
The Stone Pony, Asbury Park NJ
Wonder Bar, Asbury Park NJ
Stanhope House, Stanhope NJ
House of Blues, Atlantic City NJ
Stage One, Fairfield CT
Toad's Place, New Haven CT
Webster Theater, Hartford CT
Crocodile Rock, Allenttown PA
The Trocadero, Philadelphia PA
Theater of Living Arts, Philadelphia PA
World Cafe Live, Philadelphia PA
North Star Bar, Philadelphia PA
The Blockley, Philadelphia PA
RIP to another long time ska venue: Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ.
Places to Shop in NYC
Trash and Vaudeville: Located down on St. Mark's, this place hands down has the best selection of shoes. I think in the past 10 years, I've only ever bought my shoes here: black with red plaid wingtips Docs, shiny pewter 3-hole Docs, and black and white checkered Creepers. The store also has fun stuff like checkered tights, but half the store is shoes. Go for the shoes.
Deadly Dragon Sound System: Located down in Chinatown, this is the place you need to go to for vinyl. DDSS is where NYC's own ska/rocksteady/reggae/soul DJ Grace of Spades goes shopping for records. If she recommends it, it's definitely good.
The Fred Perry Store: Found in SoHo, this place makes it way to easy to blow tons of money. I wish I didn't know about this place since I already have tons of Perrys....wait, there's no such thing as too many Perrys. Nevermind.
The Ben Sherman Store: Another fine clothing store located in SoHo as well, equally as great as Fred Perry clothing. Trust me, you'll look sharp.
Hot Topic: When all else fails, there's still Hot Topic. Sorry there are none located in Manhattan (though us non-bridge and tunnel people fucking love this fact), but you can still find locations in Queens and one in Staten Island. And if you don't want to be embarrassed like me, you can also just shop online in your underwear.
Online Shopping Links for You Lazy People
First and foremost, if you can wait little bit PLEASE buy merch from bands at shows. That's where the bands make the most money and some greedy little bastard sitting in an office isn't raking it all in. It's also is important because that is the money they need to use on tour for food, gas, fixing the van when it breaks down, or getting tampons. Plus when you buy it in person, you can get your shit signed and see the grateful looks on their faces. Put it this way: musicians who play arena concerts tour to sell albums, while these musicians sell albums to tour. Again, PLEASE buy merch at shows. Thank you on behalf of all the musicians.
Megalith Records: It might put it in better perspective if I said Megalith is the new Moon Ska Records. After Moon ended in 2000 owner Rob "Buck" Hingley (singer and guitarist of The Toasters) started this new ska label. Some of the best bands today have recorded on the label and remains a huge part of keeping the ska scene alive. On here you can sample songs, buy merch, and all the records from the label.
Stubborn Records: Jeff Baker (AKA King Django) is my favorite Jewish rudeboy. Since his early NYC ska days with The Boilers, Jeff tends to sign more traditional sounding ska bands. On this site, he's got tons of vinyl covering all 3 waves, clothes, merch and my personal favorite SKA SLUT buttons. Don't be surprised if they are out of stock because I'm the one who buys them all up.
Jump Up Records: Chuck Wren created this mid-west, now international, based label. Owner/DJ/promoter, Chuck is a hugh part of the scene and he was the one who kicked 90s ska into high gear with his albums American Skathic volumes. Congrats to Jump Up for celebrating their 20th anniversary!
Asbestos Records: The man of New England is Matt Flood. His label not only puts on some of the most outfregginstanding shows around, but he also does an amazing job of supporting 3rd wave East Coast music, such as the repressing of out of print Slackers, Toasters and Stubborn All-Star vinyl albums.
Zazzle.com: Black and white checkered stuff easy for the pickin's, but beware of the NASCAR racing checkers. I don't want folks thinking that I was the one who turned you into a redneck. Get the good stuff with Walt Jabsco on it.
Friends of NYC ska
Duff Guide to Ska: Real ska news about NYC, album and show reviews, interviews, and way more shit than mine, but a lot less swearing....well, no swearing actually. Steve Shafer probably knows more about ska than I do, but he cheated: He worked at Moon Records back in the day. Lucky bastard.
Marco On The Bass: A musical life dedicated to a love of 2Tone ska, reggae, soul, and rocksteady. Ska articles and info from NYC's own Marc Wasserman, bassist of Bigger Thomas. Expect to see a new blog entry nearly every day. He's good like that.
ReadJunk.com: Outdated entertainment news and reviews. Writer/ photographer Bryan Kremkau loves ska, but he also covers lots of other music too. This page contain articles, interviews, news and reviews. You gotta check out his articles "50 Ska Pick-up Lines" and "How You Know You're A Ska Parent." You can also find Bryan photographing bands up front with me and then hearing him tell me all the time "Hey, no skanking in the [photo] pit!" Hey, I can't help it.
A Perfect Mess Ska Radio: Podcasted weekly, blogged occastionally, dancing constantly! Amanda, my partner in crime at ska shows (though she behaves much better than I do) is a DJ and writer from Joisey (AKA New Jersey). I also like her cause she bakes me lemon cookies.
Ska Parade: You have to check out my buddy Tazy Phyllipz's site. Go and listen to his radio show here. Now! He's got the longest running ska radio show based out of Irvine, CA...put it this way, he's been around long enough that he's known No Doubt since back when Gwen still had brown hair. He's also got a merch store and old school ska photos on there.
Ska on Sky.fm: Nonstop ska radio covering everything from The Skatalites to the Specials to Reel Big Fish. Andy Jeter only works a real job to support his ska habit, therefor he's got one helluva collection. It's better than Pandora, WAY better.
Ska Music on Turntable.fm: Another very good non-stop online ska radio station, but this one is a bit different. There is a chat room to connect with other rudies and, coolest of all, you can sign up to actually be one of the DJs! If it was me, I'd play The Pietasters all day and you'd just would have to deal with it. Just promise me (and the world) that you won't play shitty ska. For me, I'm just there to watch the little characters dance as they watch the band on stage. Yes, I'm easily amused.
