Happy Thanksgiving Bovine Ska Friends,

Lily and I wish you all a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving. If you are listening from outside of the United States, then please share our holiday with us. For the first hour we present to you magnificent Jamaican rhythm and blues, ska, mento and reggae cuts about food: Both Jamaican dishes and traditional American dishes like Drumbago All Stars’ “Duck Soup” and Lord Foodos’ “Peas and Rice.” The second hour we selected songs that are all about bread and those who have it and those who don’t, which is our way of saying, “please give when you can.” The Heptones give us “No Bread On My Table” and The Versatiles present, “Give Me Bread.” Best wishes XO Generoso and Lily

Howdy Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

A set of super fast ska is how we began this week’s Bovine Ska which has a great one at the top from 1965 from The Monarchs on Kentone entitled, “All of Me!’ Our mento set started off with the classic, “Daisy’ by Lord Composer from his classic ‘Songs From The Caribbean’ LP. Our first hour ended with a selection of reggaes from Lily that featured a gem from Keith Hudson from 1974, ‘Talk Some Sense.’ This week’s label spotlight is the third one that we’ve done from Tommy Cowan here on the Bovine Ska as we looked at Cowan’s SWEET CITY label. In his honor, this spotlight included solo cut from Cowan’s bandmate from The Jamaicans’ Norris Weir, who passed away one year ago yesterday. Be strong and stay warm friends XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

Today is a super cold day in most of the States, so please stay warm! We chose super rare Jamaican rhythm and blues cuts from the early 1960s to begin the show with the first two songs featuring the brilliant drum work of Count Ossie. Our mento set followed and then a fantastic set of reggaes selected by Lily that featured a version to version killer from Naggo Morris that was produced by Prince Jazzbo! We then went into our spotlight of Dudley Manzie Swaby and Leroy Bunny Hollett’s TOP STUDIO LABEL which has awesome mid-70s reggaes from Hortense Ellis, Junior Byles, and The Ja Man All Stars. Have yourself a lovely week! XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

We hope that you had a great Halloween! Started off this week with two sets of glorious ska, beginning with a rare one from Randy’s from 1964, Richard Saunders’ “Sign Of The Times.” For our mento set we pulled out “Juicy Oyster,” a fun mid-50s cut from Chin’s Calypso Sextet. LIly’s reggae set that ended the first hour had a killer tune from 1976 to start the vibes with “Ready Done” which Trinity recorded for Lloyd A Campbell’s Spider Man. Our label spotlight was on Rodguel “Blackbeard” Sinclair superb HULK Label, which contained massive cuts from Delroy Wilson, Ken Boothe, and Tinga Stewart to name a few. Have a great week! XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

First off, thanks to everyone who expressed their appreciation for last week’s Halloween show, which if you’re still up for celebrating the holiday is a show up on Mixcloud. This week, we began with two sets of rare ska beginning with a gem from Kentone that features Eddie Perkins, of Alton and Eddie fame and his cut, ‘Baby Please Don’t Go.’  Our mento set contains another never-before-played on the show cut from Lord Antics, and the reggae set selected by Lily this week begins with one more Halloween song for you that Zap Pow recorded in 1973!  Our spotlight this week is on another Glen Lee label (we covered Lee’s Double B imprint in 2016) entitled Warrior, that has as featured attractions, killer mid-70s reggaes from: Prince Alla, Shorty The President, and Cornell Campbell.  Have a great Halloween! XO Generoso and Lily

Happy Halloween Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends!
For the 23rd straight year, we are celebrating Halloween the best way that we can, by playing rare Jamaican cuts that should ramp up the fright for your All Hallows’ Eve candy grab! You’ll also learn about spooky characters from Jamaican folklore like the ‘Rolling Calf,’ ‘Ol’ Hige’ and The ‘River Mumma.’ before we delve into sets about , giant monsters, space monsters, evil doctors that are performed by: Trinity, Errol Holt, Owen Gray and the Lone Ranger to name a few! Have a very happy and safe Halloween! XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

As we announced last week, we began this week’s Bovine Ska off with a short tribute to Leon Silvera, brother of Owen Silvera, who both made up one of the greatest duos during the Jamaican rhythm and blues and ska era. Leon passed away on Sept 29th and so we send our deepest respects to Leon’s family and colleagues. We followed our tribute to Leon with a second set of rare ska and then our weekly mento set, which began with another lost gem from the always bold voice of Count Lasher. Lily’s selections of superb mid-70s version to version fueled reggaes ended the first hour which led into our spotlight of Vivian Jackson and R. Nation’s HOT CITY LABEL, which features Tubby on the board and awesome vocal cuts from Johnny Clarke, Leroy Smart, and Jackson himself. XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

As we announced last week, we began this week’s Bovine Ska off with a short tribute to Leon Silvera, brother of Owen Silvera, who both made up one of the greatest duos during the Jamaican rhythm and blues and ska era. Leon passed away on Sept 29th and so we send our deepest respects to Leon’s family and colleagues. We followed our tribute to Leon with a second set of rare ska and then our weekly mento set, which began with another lost gem from the always bold voice of Count Lasher. Lily’s selections of superb mid-70s version to version fueled reggaes ended the first hour which led into our spotlight of Vivian Jackson and R. Nation’s HOT CITY LABEL, which features Tubby on the board and awesome vocal cuts from Johnny Clarke, Leroy Smart, and Jackson himself. XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

Last week, we sadly lost two important figures in Jamaican music with the deaths of Leon Silvera, brother of Owen, whose teaming represented one of the most dynamic vocal duos in ska and rocksteady, and Glen Brown, who like Leon, was a gifted singer and who joined up with another talented vocalist, Lloyd Robinson, to form another of the giant vocal duos during the ska and rocksteady eras, Lloyd and Glen. Glen would subsequently sing in duos with Hopeton Lewis and then Dave Barker, before launching out to become a gifted record producer. Our of respect, we chose to memorialize Glen Brown alone on this week’s program, and Leon Silvera next week. For our memorial on Glen Brown, who was widely known as The Rhythm Master, we concentrated on the many riddims that Glen would make his own as a producer for artists such as Big Youth. U-Roy, Prince Jazzbo and many more! We extend our deepest sympathies to the families of Leon Silvera and Glen Brown during this sad time. Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

First off, a special thanks to all of you who wished us a happy wedding anniversary!  It meant so much to us and it helped make this year great. We started off this week’s show with two sets of Jamaican rhythm and blues beginning with Frank Cosmo and Denzil Dennis’ cut for D Records, “Tonight and Evermore.”  We followed those sets with a three mento cuts about the city, including Lord Antic and The Merry Boys’ ‘Keep The City Clean,’ and we followed that set up with an awesome selection of reggae cuts picked by Lily with a couple of awesome versions from Phil Pratt and his Sunshot label.  For our spotlight this week, we took a good look at singer/producers Big Joe and Jah Pops’ Shelter Rock imprint that features great cuts from the owners as well as Vin Gordon and the Shelter Rock All Stars. XO Generoso and Lily