Click her for Concert details.

And just to get you in the mood, here is a video mashup of Skook’s song “Popularity” with the incomparable Jerry Lewis dancing from a scene of the 1963 version of The Nutty Professor:

[Watch video at Google Video]

See you there!

If you live in Utah or will be visiting during the week of Independence Day, bring your family over to the Tahitian Noni Auditorium in north Provo, near Provo Canyon, on July 6th for an evening of family-friendly music and dancing with the former members of the local Ska Band Skook. The concert is free, but they will be accepting voluntary donations for LDS Humanitarian Services.

Brothers Ben and Joe Wilson formed Skook about 10 years ago in Cache Valley as a ska-influenced punk trio. Soon thereafter they moved to Utah Valley where they added some excellent horn players and their sound evolved into their own flavor of ska. From the beginning Skook was decidedly anti-popularity, and the theme is reflected in their lyrics. From the sarcasm of “I wanna be a suave mac-daddy man” to the still popular anthem “I shop at D. I.,” Skook was cool because they rejected what was “cool.”

Listen to a 5 minute sample mp3 of excerpts from nine Skook songs

Excerpts: Popularity, I Shop at D.I., Y2K, Obladi Oblada (Beatles cover), Da Bomb, Elephant Skank, With or Without (U2 cover), Cheese, Mac-Daddy Man

(most of these were recorded live without sufficient recording equipment so forgive the sound quality and enjoy the music)

Skook disbanded, as is usual here, when the members all left on LDS missions. Since then they have done a few reunion shows, but most of the members have their own musical projects now, several of them performing with some of the most accomplished musical groups on BYU campus.

This will likely be Skook’s final reunion show as the members move on to graduate and medical school. Each member will showcase his current musical projects as opening acts with the original Skook band as the headliner.

The 9th Street Jumpers
Cut a rug to Jump-Swing Music in the style of the neo-swing bands of the late 90’s like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

timothYoung
Deep dance beats, soaring guitar lines, lush chords, and thoughtful songwriting in a staggering variety of musical styles—and every sound you hear is produced, live on stage, by one human voice.

The Aaron Southerland Trio

Sean and Isaac Hess

Ben Wilson

Come enjoy the music and donate to LDS Humanitarian Services if you can. I’ll be there with my family, so if you’ve been reading my blog, bring your family and have some fun with us.