Official Skafish Blog

I grew up listening to my mother, a world-class coloratura soprano, sing at the house with her opera singing friends. Later, my mother, along with my high school choral director, taught me how to sing correctly (as in using the voice as nature intended it so it does not get damaged). After performing and making records of my own, I also taught voice to others. As I have a great appreciation for the combination of emotional power and expression, technique, relaxation, and confidence that is so essential to being a phenomenal vocalist, here are my 10 favorite singers (in no particular order), who truly have impressed and still inspire me:

1-Muddy Waters: I certainly appreciate the fact that Muddy was a friend and supporter of mine, and in my opinion, he is the unquestionable king of the electric blues. Waters is also the godfather of the modern rock band, and a large part of why the Rolling Stones and every other pale blues/rock band even exist. Muddy’s commanding vocal delivery and alpha-male-testosterone-laden voice let you know just who the man is every time he opened his mouth. Even as he aged, he didn’t lose the vocal power that was unquestionably his.

2-Howlin’ Wolf: Like Waters, Howlin’ Wolf is another classic Chicago blues legend of incomparable vocal talent. His large, intimidating stature matched his voice which sounded like a chainsaw that could hack through literally anything on earth. Wolf captivated fans with his ominous and even spooky delivery on tracks such as “Smokestack Lightnin’,” the Willie Dixon penned “Back Door Man,” and “Evil (Is Going On).”
 

3-Elvis Presley: Beyond being one of the largest cultural icons of the 20th century, the king of rock ‘n’ roll was actually a quite good technical vocalist, who paid attention to pitch, tone, and technique much of the time. He had the rare gift of being able to pour so much emotion into every single line of each song he ever sang. Presley’s uncanny ability to take even mediocre songs like “Too Much” and “Stuck On You,” and through his vocal delivery, transform them into number 1 smash hits lands him as one of my absolute favorites.

4- Luciano Pavarotti:  What else could be said about Luciano’s near flawless voice? With a gorgeously balanced and rich tone, Pavarotti’s voice was a perfect blend of chest, head, and middle registers. As classical music is so regimented of an art form, it takes a phenomenal vocalist to bring about the richness of expression that connects to a broad audience within such a restrictive, rigid musical format, and Pavarotti masterfully did just that.

5-Aretha Franklin: When the Queen of Soul shouts out “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” you give it to her right on the spot. One of the most powerfully primal vocalists ever, Aretha belts out every song with unquestionable authority, range, and vocal resonance. When I heard Aretha speak in an interview about how she wanted to sing classical music, I was so impressed with the fact that she refused to restrict her talent to the styles she is most known for.

6- Bessie Smith:  Some nights after performing my solo show, I would emotionally wind down by coming home and listening to Bessie Smith in the early AM hours before falling asleep. With a voice as big as a Mac Truck, Bessie simply opened her mouth and sang without the benefit of any modern technology, and let her voice wail. Smith also had fantastic vocal discipline and control, and didn’t strain her voice in the same way that so many blues singers commonly do.

7- Maria Callas:  What I like so much about the voice of Maria Callas, is that when she sang a classic aria, it was unlike so many other female opera singers who sounded more prim and proper, formal, and even prissy. Callas’ voice (even within the rigid confines of classical music), possessed a primal dominance and aggressive spirit that could simply overtake her listeners while unlocking the inherent emotional potential of the composition.

8- Little Richard: When Richard sang rock ‘n’ roll back in the 1950’s, his voice was truly like no other. Commandingly hitting high notes that decades later, only the best heavy-metal-wailers could deliver, Little Richard may simply be the most compelling and dominant straight-out rock ‘n’ roll belter of all time. In fact, Jimi Hendrix (who had played guitar for Richard), had remarked that he wanted to do with his guitar what Little Richard did with his voice.

9- Frank Sinatra:  His words, phrasing and delivery always captivated his listeners with each song he sang. In the classic tradition of singers who actually sang entire songs through with no technological “fix-me-ups,” Sinatra delivered every performance with the authority of being the only boss in town as he so masterfully displayed in tracks like, “New York, New York.” On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sinatra also had the gift of being able to convey the sense of intimacy that he was singing only to you.

10- Paul McCartney: To me, Paul is one of the best pop singers ever. I give him credit because his vocal performances have been quite consistent on his studio recordings, and he largely still sounds great live. Someone I knew who had worked with Paul McCartney told me that he ideally needs 2-3 days rest between performances, and even today, when he’s in good voice, he sounds as wonderful as he did back in the 1960’s on such tracks as “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yesterday.”

January 9th, 2011
Categories: Musings . Author: Skafish . Comments: 15 Comments

The 2010 “I Hate The Holiday Blues” Skafish Giveaway has concluded! All 6 winners have been randomly picked, emailed, and they have all confirmed our notification – and their prizes are being sent out tomorrow via Surreal-Skafish-Santa to their doorstep – of course, first class!

The 5 lucky winners who will each receive the two personally autographed Skafish CD’s: “Tiding’s Of Comfort And Joy – A Jazz Piano Trio Christmas” and “What’s This? 1976-1979” are:

*Richard Morris of the Netherlands

*Geoffrey Bendorf of Nebraska

*Lee Telfer of the United Kingdom

*Ressie Richards of Indiana

*Brian Ridgely of North Carolina

Our 6th winner who will receive the two CDs plus a never-before-sold Skafish “What’s This Freakin’ S%^&?!” T-Shirt is:

*Michael McDowell of Texas

Thanks so much to everybody who participated for hating the holiday blues as much as I do!

Disgracefully yours,

Skafish

December 22nd, 2010
Categories: News . Author: Skafish . Comments: 9 Comments

Welcome to the 2nd annual Skafish Holiday Giveaway. Hey, since all of us can say, “I Hate The Holiday Blues!” l wanna splash some Surreal-Skafish-Sunshine on you with this 2-for-1 giveaway!

For this holiday season, FIVE lucky winners will each win two Skafish CD’s. 

The first CD, “Tidings of Comfort and Joy – a Jazz Piano trio Christmas,” was my first holiday jazz record ever. It is great for those of us who are tired of the same ole’ holiday schmaltz, and love jazz. 

The second, “What’s This? 1976-1979,” is a classic retrospective disc which documents the historically accurate birth of the Chicago punk, new-wave, alternative, indie and experimental movements.  

 “Tidings” has over 68 minutes of pure jazz set to classic holiday melodies, featuring a dynamic trio of piano, bass and drums. My arrangements incorporate diverse styles including traditional jazz, swing, be-bop, boogie-woogie, to experimental jazz fusion.

“What’s This?” features 11 tracks, 9 of which are previously unreleased. Also, it includes 5 bonus commentary tracks that I did to finally set the ever-contorted record straight, liner notes written by international rock legends Cheap Trick, a 36 page booklet with complete lyrics, and many rare and never before seen photos.  

In addition, a SIXTH bonus winner will win a yet-to-be sold Skafish “WHAT’S THIS FREAKIN’ S&*^!”  T-Shirt! Since this lovely gem is not sold in stores anywhere, it is one of our most frequently requested items.

All you have to do to be eligible to win is to leave the comment, “Ditch the holiday blues” here on my blog www.skafishblog.com. Keep in mind that everyone is allowed just one entry and, unlike last year’s contest, NO entries will be accepted that are posted anywhere else. That includes on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, so make sure to leave your comment ONLY here on www.skafishblog.com! This contest is open to absolutely everyone in every country on this planet!

The contest begins Sunday 12-5-10, and concludes Friday 12-17-10 at 6:00 PM Central Time. All SIX winners will then be randomly selected, and their prizes will be sent to their doorstep completely on me, and hopefully, make the holidays a little less blisteringly bluesy and a bit brighter!

Disgracefully yours!

Skafish

December 5th, 2010
Categories: News . Author: Skafish . Comments: 86 Comments

What goes around comes around. After screwing artists over for decades, MTV loses all videos from Universal Music.

With the new video frontier of the Internet and You Tube being open to the people, let creativity abound!

FYI, RE Skafish, MTV played my video “Wild Night Tonight” one time in the fall of 1983, then pulled it because of a gun shot scene, and when VH1 aired “Urgh! A Music War!” they deleted Skafish and the Cramps as a form of censorship because our numbers were too controversial for the safe, pablum-pop audience they cater to.  

Check it out! http://bit.ly/a8GRyv

August 9th, 2010
Categories: News . Author: Skafish . Comments: 5 Comments

To all of my disgraced family: Here are two winners from two Skafish contests!

First, we have Jim Ryan from Chicago,  who is proudly wearing his “WHAT’S THIS FREAKIN’ $%&!?” Skafish T-Shirt which he won in that giveaway contest. Jim, who loves music that defiles the straight and narrow, attended his first Skafish show in the mid 1970’s, and has been a fan ever since!

In this pic, we see Jim sporting his conversation starting, (or ending, depending on how squared-pegged one is) Skafish T-Shirt in Record Breakers, a FAB independent record store located in Chicago that is selling the Skafish “What’s This? 1976-1979″ CD.

Second, we have Skafish contest winner Gabriella Hanstein from Kennesaw, Georgia, who won a personally autographed promo copy of the Skafish CD “Wha’t This? 1976-1979″ in the ”No Liberation Here Day and a Giveaway” contest of July 2010. 

Along with her husband Scotty, they recently found the Skafish IRS Records Debut LP (recorded in 1979), for just a single dollar at American Thrift in Kennesaw, Georgia. In this picture, Scotty is holding the inner sleeve to that subversive classic LP. As Scotty posted on my Skafish Facebook Fan Page, “Every other album was Christian worship music. Truly an amazing find.”  Now I just think that’s a divine act of God Almighty!

To everyone who won, send in pics of you with all of your Skafish prizes, and they will get posted here. To being an utter social outcast and compete disgrace, Skafish

July 31st, 2010
Categories: Contests, News . Author: Skafish . Comments: 2 Comments

There is a great story on Skafish on the Dangerous Minds blog entitled Skafish: Chicago’s First Punk Rocker.

It is a very nicely written piece from Marc Campbell, who actually saw Skafish live at CBGB’s back in the day. 

Check it out and let him (and us) know what you think!

Glinda

July 15th, 2010
Categories: News, Press . Author: glinda . Comments: 2 Comments

I love and appreciate all of you and the connection we share (and that’s no show-biz shtick) and want all of you to win. To make sure the contest is fair, a random number generator is used to select winners so everyone has an equal chance of winning!

The winners for the “No Liberation Here Day” (formerly known as Independence Day) contest are:

Steve Mendel of Illinois via Twitter,

Sarah Wilson Andrews of Illinois via Skafish Blog,

Gerard-John Boissy of Minnesota via Facebook,

Marc Versini of France via Skafish Blog,

Bambi Held of New Jersey via Facebook,

Boris Boden of Illinois via MySpace,

Dana Zwerling of Illinois via Facebook,

Bob Prescott of Indiana via Skafish Blog,

Wayne Aitken of Illinois via MySpace,

Gabriella Hanstein of Georgia via Facebook.

Since I started the Skafish Giveaway contests during the holiday season of 2009, this current contest has had the strongest response so far, and I plan on continuing to offer gifts and prizes to everyone in my disgraced family. — Jim Skafish

July 8th, 2010
Categories: Contests, News . Author: Skafish . Comments: 8 Comments

The 4^th of July is supposed to celebrate America’s independence as a country. Some take it as a symbol of their own personal liberty and freedom as well.

But for those of us who are alienated, ostracized, and outcasts, it’s nothing more than an obnoxious day of ear shattering fireworks and a reminder of how we don’t belong or fit in.

Beginning with my early childhood, I’ve experienced not belonging every day of my life – and it has been more painful than any bombastic adjectives I can muster. Growing up I was harassed daily, called every name in the book, and lived under the constant threat of attack from classmates, kids in the neighborhood, my family, and shockingly, even my teachers in school. 

It certainly inspired me to rebel, and I wrote protests songs, flaunted my oddness, my unusual physical appearance, my otherworldly energies, and threw it all back in everyone’s face as MY statement in return. And thankfully, it brought about tremendous new innovations in music, art and performance as I waged war on the mediocre, conformist, and hateful world that tried to throw me out of it. The way I felt was that no one’s gonna stop me unless they kill me.

One of my favorite protest songs I wrote was created in the mid 1970s and called No Liberation Here – and it reflected the social and personal degradation that many of us on the outside experience. And to this day, I cherish that song as it speaks an intensely clear message that is more relevant today than when it was first written over 30 years ago.

At that time in the mid 1970s, alienation was a freaky fringe kind of a thing and not a mainstream phenomenon at all. So there I was for the whole world to see: the freak show to be mocked, attacked, laughed at, and sometimes celebrated. And as usual, I was well ahead of the times of where society and the world were at.

When I wrote No Liberation Here, I not only reflected quite graphically my own personal experiences of hell on earth, I also foretold the future of where society was going.

Back then, no one thought that the whole world was going to end up feeling alienated, but now, everyone does. Whether it’s due to race, sexual orientation, religion, political preferences, physical appearance, social standing, harassment and violence, career, money, etc., the world at large feels quite alienated and disconnected.

In fact, mediocre artists now have to play up their own generic form of alienation and act out foolishly in public, get arrested, shoot others or get shot at, have predictable drug and alcohol problems, just to get noticed. Now, alienation is one’s obligatory calling card in pop culture.

So with all of my battle scars, it’s most fitting for me to rename Independence Day to No Liberation Here Day. To everyone who doesn’t belong, you have a home with me, C’mon right in, and let’s celebrate who we are!

And instead of meaningless phallic-orgasmic-symbolic-fireworks, I have a gift for you!

For 10 lucky winners, I am giving away a great Skafish collector’s item that has never been sold. It is a special limited edition promo CD for my most recent album, “What’s This? 1976-1979.” This is not just the retail CD simply marked promo, but a unique piece that has its own design.

I am really excited to be able to offer this gift to you which I will be happy to personally autograph, and I would love for all of you to enter to win. Whether you’ve known me from back in the day or just connected with me recently, to everyone: enter now!

To be eligible to be a contest winner, do the following:

1-Leave a comment here on www.skafishblog.com with the exact phrase No Liberation Here Day in it

2-Leave a comment with the exact phrase No Liberation Here Day in it on my Facebook pages

3-Leave a comment with the exact phrase No Liberation Here Day in it on my MySpace pages

4-On Twitter, Tweet this: @skafish No Liberation Here Day

You can enter once on each site, up to 4 total entries per person and everyone worldwide is eligible to enter and win!

The contest ends on Tuesday July 6, 2010 at Midnight Eastern Time. Then, we’ll announce the winners on Thursday July 8, 2010.

To wearing our alienation proudly and defiantly! – Jim Skafish

July 2nd, 2010
Categories: Contests, News . Author: Skafish . Comments: 30 Comments

Sarah Andrews of Evanston Illinois, and Bob Pittenger of Warsaw Indiana are the two winners of the Other People’s Rejection Letters free giveaway book contest. Thanks to everyone who participated as it’s been a lot of fun! FYI, I’ve got another exciting Skafish giveaway contest coming up in just a few days. — Jim Skafish

June 29th, 2010
Categories: Current Events, News . Author: Skafish . Comments: No Comments

I’ve been called the king of rejection and alienation (lucky me, lol), and with my complete ostracization from society, I wrote about it, sang about it, and presented it to the world – and got even more rejected in the process. So with my ongoing lifetime of continuous rejection, I think I have something quite appropriate to give to you.

Courtesy of Crown Publishers, I have two copies of a new book to give away to two lucky winners. It is by Bill Shapiro and called Other People’s Rejection Letters, and it contains a history of actual rejection letters received from: The United States Marines, The White House, Various Network Television Shows, Nasa, Playboy, the New York Times, and much more. You’ll even find those classic plain old “I’m dumping you, loser” rejection letters included for your voyeuristic pleasures.

This is a very well put together hardcover book that is visually like a surreal kaleidoscope of rejection after rejection. Thick paper, accurate reproduction of the letters, and the diversity of being dissed, make this book a real treat for any of us who have been thrown under the bus.

To be eligible to be a contest winner, do the following:

1-Leave a comment here on www.skafishblog.com with the exact phrase I been rejected in it
2-Leave a comment with the exact phrase I been rejected in it on my Facebook pages
3-Leave a comment with the exact phrase I been rejected in it on my MySpace pages
4-On Twitter, Tweet this: @skafish, I been rejected

You can enter once on each site, up to 4 total entries per person!

The contest will run for one solid week from Thursday, 6-17-10, through Thursday 6-24-10 at Midnight Eastern Standard Time. Then, two winners will be randomly selected and two copies of the book will be sent out to the winners to cathartically cleanse their own feelings of rejection in the process.

To our continuing connection through rejection! Jim Skafish

Please note: Due to publishing territories, the contest is only open to residents from the United States and Canada.

June 17th, 2010
Categories: Contests . Author: Skafish . Comments: 24 Comments