Sunday Videos: R.E.M

Thanks R.E.M for 30 years of great music.

Kicking it Old School: Save Ferris

I found out the official date of my 10 year high school reunion is September 25. My has time flown by! It has me thinking of all the music, movies, TV shows and trends I was introduced to during my high school years. So for the next 7 months, I'm going to be "kicking it old school" with the best in pop culture from '96-'00

During my Freshman year, I got into the whole ska scene. Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't let me attend any concerts yet so I had to relegate my love of ska with listening to cds in my room. With this third wave of ska, that hit it's peak in '96, bands like Rancid, No Doubt, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Reel Big Fish where getting air time on radio stations and MTV, when they were still playing music. One band that rode on the third wave of ska was Save Ferris.

Formed in 1995 in Orange County, Save Ferris consisted of Monique Powell (lead singer), Brian Mashburn (guitar/vocals), Bill Uechi (bass), Eric Zamora (saxophone) , José Castellaños (trumpet), Brian "T-Bone Willy" Williams (trumpet), and Marc Harismendy (drum). The band was named after a reference in the movie, Ferris Bullers Day Off (BTW: if you haven't watched yet, you're missing out)

In 1996 they released their debut EP Introducing Save Ferris and later that year they were awarded by the National Academy of Recoding Arts and Sciences a Grammy showcase award for best unsigned band and earned them a recording contract with Epic Records.

The following year, they released their full length album, It Means Everything that had a mix of songs from their EP, new songs and a cover of Dexys Midnight Runners "Come on Eileen." Their cover of the song along with their song "The World is New" became a minor hits.

After touring for It Means Everything, Save Ferris went back into the studio during the winter of  '98 to record their second full length album Modified. By that time Marc Harismendy left the band and was replaced by Evan Kilbourne. Released in October of '99, Modified was a departure from their punk-ska roots and veered toward pop-rock due to the changing nature of music at that time. Ska wasn't the "it" musical genre. But by changing their style, the album was panned by critics and fans. They toured for the album, but it never reached the success as their EP and first album. On September 20, 2002, they played their last show in Culver City.

I remember listening to the album for weeks. What other band can write a little pop ditty about canned meat, the song ("Spam")? I also wanted to dress like lead singer Monique with her short red hair and her cool vintage clothes. I guess you can say she was the most popular female ska singer next to Gwen Stefani during that time. They even made a cameo in the movie Ten Things I Hate About You. They're the band at prom and they got the part because they were Larisa Oleynik's (who played Bianca) favorite band. 

You can see them in the background.

Around the time they released their second album, my musical tastes were also evolving. Their album was good, but it didn't have a strong play-through as It Means Everything. However I do like to revisit their albums every now and then.

I already have a laundry list in my head of other pop culture topics, including the aforementioned, Ten Things About You,  that I will post about, but do you have any other suggestions? Write them in the comments below.

Also thanks for all your kind comments on my last post. I'll have to do the stripes/floral combination more often. :P You can also find me on Chictopia.

Credit: Wikipedia (band bio), Amazon ( album pictures), Here (band picture)

Late Night Videos...

One of my favorite underrated British bands from the 80's.
It was just really well crafted pop music. There was nothing cheesy about it.



After hearing one of the tracks off his new concept album with Fatboy Slim a few days ago, I've been on this David Byrne/Talking Heads kick. Did I mention the album is about Imelda Marcos? The shoe-loving widow of the Philippines' former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

Also I just put this on my Nextflix queue: