El Paso: Skaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Fixed Idea, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.

July 2017

One of my El Paso buddies, 'Flint,' introduced me to ska.

Fixed Idea, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.

I'd heard of ska before, of course, but hadn't heard it. Or if I heard it, I hadn't recognized it as such.

Fixed Idea, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.

Flint is a real ska fan. He told me there is a special ska dance. Flint also demonstrated it for me.

Sidebar: Between you and me, it's a dorky dance. .... Perhaps perfect for New Mexico, as New Mexicans excel in dance dorkiness. Flint lives in New Mexico. Based on my scientific youtube research, ska dance wasn't always dorky. Here is early ska dance. (You might want to skip past the supercilious intro by the Brit.) ..... But now, well, ska is definitely dorky. Here, judge for yourself. 

Fixed Idea, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.

The other day, Flint called to ask if I wanted to join him in some ska. I did.

Fixed Idea, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.

I arrived after Flint and saw that he'd selected perhaps the best spot in the house to see and hear the band. I sat down at the end of a rectangular, high-top table, facing the stage.


Have you ever seen that old commercial that advertised a cassette tape brand, where the guy is sitting in a chair in front of a speaker and his long hair is blowing backward, as if a fan is blowing in his face? Hey, you don't need to remember it - here it is:

Well, that is how I felt the very instant the ska band struck its first notes. Ho-lee hell, it was a rush.

The band: Fixed Idea. The venue: Rock House Bar & Grill on Montana. 

Take a look and listen here:

I love that two of the band members are women.

Here's what I didn't love:

• Both Flint and I got a diet soda from the bar. We agreed that whatever they're passing off as diet cola is the most godawful imposter of a diet cola there could possibly be. Or maybe whatever devices they use to tap into the diet soda is so grotesquely filthy, it's added entire universes of bacteria that affect the flavor. Flint, for whatever reason, chose to nurse his liquid awfulness. I switched mine out for water with lemon.
• The band merch was bad. Poor quality CD and a cheap ass bandana. 

But the band - loved it! High energy, high theatrics, big, penetrating sound.

I also get into how El Paso musicians inject an El Paso-Juarez flavor into the various genres.