I have a gripe with local bands who don't respond to messages, emails, whatever. I mean, really? I'm promoting you and you could care less. I'm trying to offer you a show and you're not interested. Are you that cool? Really? I've had national acts and really big bands who respond to me.

I really just have little respect for bands like you.

Hey guys!  Its a new year and that means new things for Mission:Ska. I'm planning our VERY FIRST show in March and I'm VERY excited about it!! :) This is huge. I've never put on a show before so this is very big for me. Once I pull this off, it will hopefully lead to more shows. More shows=more ska=bigger scene. I'm also looking for more venues down here in Miami. We're gonna get creative. I hope more of you in South Florida start checking out the site and spread the word about the mission. I'm doing this for us!! My goal is for this to be your one stop shop for upcoming ska shows throughout South Fla, as well as shows we put on down here in Miami. But remember Mission:Ska is meant to be interactive! I don't claim to know it all so if you want to share  pics, stories, music, new bands, venues, opinions, information or anything else, let me know and I'll post it!

So stay tuned for March. But in the meantime keep checking back for show dates, blogs, info, etc.  

My first trip to The Talent Farm was to see my friend's brother's band Mine All Mine. I went with all the best of intentions. I've been wanting to see Mine All Mine live because I have their cd and they're really good. Also I wanted to check out TTF because its one of the venues I  have listed on the site.

Well I drove out to the middle of fucking nowhere, seriously, I think thats what its called on the map. And I get to what looks to be "the warehouse district". Kinda felt like Doral only less populated. There's blocks of warehouses that all look the same. Good luck finding this place. My guess is they don't want to be found. You have to be cool enough to find it. Then we finally find the fucking place and I read the show started at 6:30....well there was no one in there at 6:30 but people who worked there. But the doors were wide open so we walked in and stood around like a couple of idiots in this empty place. People just looked at us as they went about their business doing whatever it is that they do there. Getting ready for the show I suppose. It's all kids that work there, and one middle aged guy. No one said a word to us. Not true, the middle aged guy said hi to us. We were totally lost as we'd never been there before and we were like...umm..is there a show tonight or what?

The place reminded me of Hot Wheels the way it was all lit up with carpeting everywhere. The stage was cool though. They weren't short on equipment, no they're well set up at TTF. So that was impressive. But as much as it was tall, it wasn't very wide. There's not much room in there at all. Its a bit awkward. I'm guessing thats why all the kids who came later and paid to get in hung out outside till show time. There's a lot to look at in there though. Posters and tshirts are plastered all over the walls. All the posters look like something out of BOP magazine. One of those pull out posters with your fav heart throb on them. Its all the bands with their flat ironed hair, all looking exactly the same, with similar sounding names. All autographed of course. I've been to a lot of clubs in my day and I don't know about you but I've never seen posters plastered all over the walls. Have you? Stickers yeah totally.  But not fucking gloirified headshots. Is this what the kids are doing now? Is this where music is headed? You know how I feel about these fucking skinny jeans bands. They all look the same and have similar names but their sounds range from metal to pop. But they all look exactly the same!! So you really have to do your research before going to one of those shows.

Anyway I will tell you the vibe in there was awful. Jesus Christ I got a warmer welcome at fucking Churchills! And that place is gritty man. I thought I'd be intimidated at Churchills but they were cool ass people. This is a place thats been around for decades. The Talent Farm is new and they already have huge fucking egos over there. We were getting looks like we didn't belong there, not mean or nasty but just like...they saw right through us. Like we didn't even register on their radar. And the guy at the door wasn't nice at all. Whats the matter with these people? I guess at that age you're all angsty and don't smile at anyone. I don't remember the last time I felt so unwelcome. It made me long for ska shows, where people smile at one another and there's a sense of unity (at some shows more than others). I go to a ska show and i'll see all sorts of people, middle aged people, girls who look like they're going to a dance club, scene kids, the punk kids, someone who looks like they just got out of their day job, but its all good. Everyone is pleasant to each other. Here it was like someone made a cloning machine and out spat all these kids and forgot to program them for friendliness.

I dunno maybe I'm just old. Maybe I'm pulling a "kids today" rant while full on shaking my fist but goddammit thats how I feel! And I had to get it off my chest. At my age you drop all the bullshit and the superficiality and you just fucking smile and make friends. I ended up getting my money back and leaving because the band I went to see was actually playing the next night. Talk about a gigantic waste of time. But I was happy to get the hell out of there.

So as far as The Talent Farm goes, I honestly don't see myself going back there. Thats their place, they can have it.

This entry was written by a friend of mine, Johnny Midnite. I didn't go to the show so he agreed to be my guy on the scene so to speak. So check out his colorful recap.

warning: not everything that happened here is true. Although a lot of it might be not a lie.....
(more + pics behind the cut)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------->