Ska Tour Fumbles Message

If the ska bands touring together under the moniker Ska Against Racism had unified for a different cause, say, Ska Against Sexism, for one, the 3,000-plus crowd that gathered at Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine on Sunday would probably have been none the wiser.

For all the advance talk and backstage banter about racism’s prevalence in society, most of the bands ignored the opportunity to address the issue of the day onstage, where it counted most. The majority of the 37 ska and ska-rooted bands opted for a more positive-seeming party atmosphere.

Spearheaded by former Skankin’ Pickle frontman Mike Park, the Ska Against Racism tour has an admirable cause: to raise money as well as awareness for such organizations as the Museum of Tolerance and Artists for a Hate-Free America. But the booths representing those causes were outnumbered by the various beverage and food vendors.

Though a few bands sang about racial community and Park introduced a tune or two in his set by their Korean names, there was no overwhelming indication, other than the bands’ diverse racial composition, that this daylong concert was anything more than a kickoff to the impending summer festival season.

Sadly, the chance to revive ska’s 2-Tone political slant was lost, and the carefree teens in attendance didn’t even notice.

Would any rabble-rousing have made a difference? Would any dialogue, however little, give the feel-good banality some substance, or convince those who think little of most modern ska that the genre isn’t completely tapped out? Probably not.

Chicago’s Blue Meanies emerged from the fray as the great hope of ska’s third wave, not for their invective, but for their ominous, time-signature-hopping marriage of ska and jazz. Without saying a word, the Blue Meanies brought the much-needed edge back.