Well, the Seven finally played their first show on Saturday, at the El-N-Gee club, and If i may speak freely, a good time was had by all. The entire show was all new bands; none had ever played a show before, and because of this, the show served as a sort of showcase for the new blood that would soon be transfused into the scene; the bands playing at this show, assuming they stick around long enough, are the nextw ave of CT ska, a prety important position, in my P.O.V. After getting to the Gee early, chilling out with the Stoney Hill Seven (a really good group of kids, I must say), and getting some food down at Captain's, we started greeting the kids that decided to show up; which was, frankly, more kids than I thought were coming. But as always, the Glastonbury and Newington crews are very good kids, and they all showed up, for the most part. We even had a guest celebrity show up! Good ol' Ed Perruta, of public Access' People's Perspective (channel 15, Friday Nights, 8-10 p.m.) showed up to give support. He even brought out the full Judge's costume and taped some show right outside the Gee; a good time was had by all.....forgetting, of course, the grievous theft of Judge Perruta's gavel, which waslast seen in the posession of one Ivy....but I'm getting off track. Me and Dookie were right up fron for the Stoney Hill Seven, and we were both very impressed. Despite the apparent loss of their lead singer they played very well, giving definite homage to old school ska bands like the Selector and the like. the horn section, in particular, played exceedingly well; I really dig their long, complicated horn lines. As far as new bands go, I really hope Stoney Hill Seven play more shows; they're only going to get better. Check them out at the Equator Coffee bar, Manchester, on Saturday night. Up next were the Paisanos, featuring ex Swing Kids saxophonist Jesse Patterson on guitar and and ex Veracosa member Tyler Goodwin on bass (no crutches were present, sadly..). props to the Paisanos for the best entrance music of the night; wah guitar and funky bass on their ultra-cool "shaft" cover. I even heard a few "Good God!"''s in there....heh. The paisanos went on to play a good set; horn sections were very strong all night, with paisanos being no exception. instrumentals, especially, rocked....and a good time was had by all. Again, me and dookie were up front dancing, and by about this time, with the heat forming a big ol' weight on my shoulders, I felt about ready to pass out. We were up next, and the set went damn well, if I do say so. If you're down with anyone in the crew, you can probably get your hands on a video if you missed it; being there, though, was a really fun experience. the crowd really got into our songs, and even invented their own audience participation bits....good for you, I say; keep it up. Singing in the crowd is always fun. Anyway, we did well, people liked us, and our parents (who were there), I'm sure, love us even mroe than before. Except for Val's parents...and if you were there, you know what I mean....(sorry, Val!) And last but not least, Flip Ya For Real played, and they were damn fun. Sadly alot of kids started filtering out as the night went on, but FYFR was inspired. Their blend of ska, punk, metal, goth, slurpee's and cigarette smoke made my damn evening. I even got Tj (drummer for the Paisanos, HTO, AK47, any band within a two mile radius of his house) and dookie into a nice little hardcore dancing pit. yay. So, in conclusion: the future of CT ska looks damn good. Every band at the show had something to prove, and they did it damn well. props to all bands that played, everyone who set up the show, and The Gee for giving us all the damn money - we forgive you for making us pay for water. --dan back to the main page