Much like the Atmosphere song, I'm trying to find a balance these days. I honestly miss being in school where I'd learn during the day, and then at night let my creative side run loose, whether it was DJing, writing, or even just absorbing others creativity. As a kid, I often wondered why having a day job was such a crushing experience to so many people. People were giving you money for your work (as opposed to doing homework for no money). And if a day job was so awful, why was that the payoff for going to college? Day jobs had to be good.

That's not to say that my current job isn't good. In fact, I think it's quite great for a job. But I do sincerely miss that time during the day when I could be spending time reading, working on music, going to guest speeches and lectures on campus, etc. The obvious answer to that is to just do it all at night. But, if anything, if I want to keep making strides that I am with the DJing, thing I need to invest more time in music, not less.

Anyhow, I will keep pondering this and keep trying to balance everything out. Not surprisingly, putting some words down makes me feel a little less stressed.

The Week of Ska Part 1: American Skathic

I'm going to kick off my week long look at what ska music means to me by posting something from the first ska compilation I ever bought. Plus, because it touches on a lot of other facets of my ska experience that I will be discussing later, it seemed like a great starting point.

While American Skathic was not the first ska CD I purchased (that will come later this week), this 21 track (plus bonus track) compilation of Midwest ska bands definitely had the biggest influence on me getting into ska. I can remember driving around in my friend Chris's van playing this album over and over and over and over. It was the soundtrack to my freshman and sophomore years of high school, and to this day, I continue to listen to it.

The album was compiled by Chuck Wren (who had a major impact on expanding my ska palette, and will be discussed more later this week). American Skathic was the first release on Jump Up! Records and featured songs from Johnny Socko, Mustard Plug, Mu330, The Blue Meanies, The Suicide Machines (back when they were Jack Kevorkian and the Suicide Machines), The Parka Kings, SLK and Gangster Fun. For a lot of those bands, American Skathic was the first time they had a track released on CD.

The range of songs featured on this compilation (Blue Meanies punk ska "Blah Blah Blah", the 3rd wave sounds of Johny Socko, the classic sounds of Heavy Manners) made me ready to branch out into a wide range of ska subgenres, which was important in the Midwest. The Chicago area was very much a melting pot of ska sounds, and it was great to have ears open and accepting of any number of ska styles.

I can't help but post up a few tracks from this compilation, which you can still buy from JumpUp! (it'll be ten of the best dollars you ever spent).

Johnny Socko - Vasectomy

Tom Collins & The Cocktail Shakers - Chuck Taylors

Elevators - Vendetta
(an exclusive to the compilation, and one of my top five favorite ska songs ever)

Gangster Fun - Shook Me All Night Long