Ska

If Lily Allen was truly stinging from being shut out at the Brit Awards last week, she put on a good front Sunday night at Axis. The much-hyped ska-popster was nominated for four of the Grammy equivalents for her debut album "Alright, Still" but was bested on all fronts. With a profane salutation to her homeland, the small- of- stature, big- of- mouth singer made the gleefully vengeful declaration , "I'm over here shifting more units than those other losers back home. " She's also over here finally alerting US audiences to what all the fuss has been about since "Alright" tore up the...

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Relatives say a founding member of the influential band The Skatalites died in Jamaica at age 80. Family spokeswoman Maxine Stowe said bassist Lloyd Brevett died Thursday at a Kingston hospital. He had suffered a stroke in March, two weeks after his son was killed by gunmen outside the family's home. Mr. Brevett was an original member of The Skatalites, a hugely influential band begun in 1964. The group transformed everything from jazz to movie themes into ska style.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Relatives say a founding member of the influential band The Skatalites died in Jamaica at age 80. Family spokeswoman Maxine Stowe said bassist Lloyd Brevett died Thursday at a Kingston hospital. He had suffered a stroke in March, two weeks after his son was killed by gunmen outside the family's home. Mr. Brevett was an original member of The Skatalites, a hugely influential band begun in 1964. The group transformed everything from jazz to movie themes into ska style.

When the supernaturally gifted members of the bluegrass-country-roots-jazz group Punch Brothers get together - as they will tonight at the Somerville Theatre in the second of two sold-out shows - they do some serious picking. But banjo virtuoso Noam Pikelny also has a much less serious side. For proof check out his hilarious "Bluegrass Diva" video on www.funnyordie.com, featuring fellow banjo enthusiast Steve Martin. In honor of the group's latest release, "Who's Feeling Young Now?" we chatted with the virtuosic Pikelny (below, middle)

When the supernaturally gifted members of the bluegrass-country-roots-jazz group Punch Brothers get together - as they will tonight at the Somerville Theatre in the second of two sold-out shows - they do some serious picking. But banjo virtuoso Noam Pikelny also has a much less serious side. For proof check out his hilarious "Bluegrass Diva" video on www.funnyordie.com, featuring fellow banjo enthusiast Steve Martin. In honor of the group's latest release, "Who's Feeling Young Now?" we chatted with the virtuosic Pikelny (below, middle)

The traveling musical circus that is the Vans Warped tour hits the Comcast Center Wednesday with over 60 acts on the bill. How do you choose with so much competition for your attention? We asked Warped veteran Dave McWane , frontman for Big D and the Kids Table, for his five “must-see’’ artists. On the phone from a Warped stop in Bonner Springs, Kansas, McWane says the Boston ska-rockers are playing well with others as they tour in support of their latest effort, “For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious.’’ “This summer has a great vibe,’’ he says.

VANS WARPED TOUR At: Comcast Center, yesterday MANSFIELD - The Warped Tour cavalcade rolled through Mansfield yesterday, leaving practically no modern musical taste untouched. While variations on punk rock remain Warped's staple, this edition built in a lot of heavy metal, a decent amount of hip-hop, a dash of country courtesy of Lucero, and whatever it is you want to dub the twitchy power rock of Foxy Shazam. Launched in 1994, the Warped Tour is a summer ritual that succeeds by nurturing its roots and paying attention to trends.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Leonard Dillon, leader of the pioneering reggae group The Ethiopians, has died. He was 68. Patrice Dillon, his daughter, said her father died at her home Wednesday of lung and prostate cancer. She said Mr. Dillon had been diagnosed with cancer in June and underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor earlier this year. Leonard Dillon began his career using the stage name Jack Sparrow in the early 1960s. He recorded a series of ska songs, including "Bull Whip," which featured a young Bob Marley on backing vocals.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are big on tradition, so it was going to take more than a blizzard and state of emergency to cancel the first of the band’s 13th Hometown Throwdown concerts Sunday at the House of Blues. Singer Dicky Barrett promised the crowd — surprisingly robust given the treacherous travel conditions that developed around show time — a night to remember, and the Bosstones made good on that with a set that was packed with hits, obscurities, and old-school favorites.

During its initial run in the late '70s and early '80s , the English Beat was distinguished not least by Saxa , its 50-year-old saxophonist playing alongside a group of 20- something lads. Beat frontman Dave Wakeling is now as old as Saxa was then, but at the Middle East on Wednesday, he proved that hitting the half-century mark is no impediment to playing sharp and propulsive ska. Though billed as the English Beat, the band onstage shared no members with the original lineup beyond Wakeling.

While the real Lady Gaga entertained the crowd in New York as part of "New Year's Rockin' Eve," the band Porctopus performed as Lady Ska-Ga at the Middle East Upstairs. Ska-Ga, which was fronted by Porctopus's Kaylee Tilton, got the crowd dancing with upbeat hits such as "Bad Romance," "You and I," and "Paparazzi" before giving the stage over to the Timberfakes, Boston's own Justin Timberlake cover band, led by Ryan Kelley. Despite being Justin-focused, the 'Fakes' first song of 2012 was Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It. " . . . Over at Strega Waterfront, singer Stevie B - known for the 1990...

POP & ROCK DAWES & BLITZEN TRAPPER The critically acclaimed indie folk-rockers aren't just teaming up for this coheadlining tour. They're also offering a free six-song split EP download on the Dawes website to get you in the mood at www.dawestheband.com. On tap to open is the Belle Brigade, a musically simpatico duo that released its debut earlier this year. Oct. 28, 5:30 p.m. Tickets: $20. Royale. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE The lovable local ska punks return for their annual, all-ages, near-Halloween hometown bash.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Leonard Dillon, leader of the pioneering reggae group The Ethiopians, has died. He was 68. Patrice Dillon, his daughter, said her father died at her home Wednesday of lung and prostate cancer. She said Mr. Dillon had been diagnosed with cancer in June and underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor earlier this year. Leonard Dillon began his career using the stage name Jack Sparrow in the early 1960s. He recorded a series of ska songs, including "Bull Whip," which featured a young Bob Marley on backing vocals.

VANS WARPED TOUR At: Comcast Center, yesterday MANSFIELD - The Warped Tour cavalcade rolled through Mansfield yesterday, leaving practically no modern musical taste untouched. While variations on punk rock remain Warped's staple, this edition built in a lot of heavy metal, a decent amount of hip-hop, a dash of country courtesy of Lucero, and whatever it is you want to dub the twitchy power rock of Foxy Shazam. Launched in 1994, the Warped Tour is a summer ritual that succeeds by nurturing its roots and paying attention to trends.

The traveling musical circus that is the Vans Warped tour hits the Comcast Center Wednesday with over 60 acts on the bill. How do you choose with so much competition for your attention? We asked Warped veteran Dave McWane , frontman for Big D and the Kids Table, for his five “must-see’’ artists. On the phone from a Warped stop in Bonner Springs, Kansas, McWane says the Boston ska-rockers are playing well with others as they tour in support of their latest effort, “For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious.’’ “This summer has a great vibe,’’ he says.

BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE With Paramore, Simple Plan, Street Dogs, the Ready Set, and many others as part of the Vans Warped Tour At: Comcast Center, Mansfield. July 13, 11 a.m. Tickets: $28.50. www.vanswarpedtour.com David McWane, frontman for the veteran Boston ska-punk outfit Big D and the Kids Table, is driving from a Sunday show in San Antonio, Texas, to a Wednesday concert in Las Cruces, N.M., and the ride is a scorcher. “You know how, when you’re cooking, and you open up the oven to check on the chicken, that wave of heat hits you?

"James Brown got to go to heaven for Christmas," declared Fishbone singer/saxophonist Angelo Moore after the very first song at Harpers Ferry on Wednesday. The veteran funk/ska/punk band owes an obvious debt to the late Godfather of Soul and paid homage by quoting his songs and mimicking his showmanship throughout the night. No mention was made of Gerald Ford, whose impact on the development of funk was less profound. If Brown's influence was evident in the funk component of Fishbone's rhythmic brew, it eluded the technical aspects of the two-hour show.

On those supremely special, all-too-rare occasions when it happens, a genuine, organic musical phenomenon is a beauty to behold. Take the case of the Cat Empire, a young, artistically omnivorous, and thoroughly uncategorizable sextet steeped in ska, salsa, hip-hop, and funk (with nary a guitar in sight) whose albums weren't even released in this country until last week. But Sunday night, a mere five days after the band's latest disc, "Two Shoes," was given a Stateside issue by the New York independent label Velour, a throng of fans who sold out...

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Lloyd Knibb, an influential Jamaican drummer who played with the Skatalites and helped develop the ska beat, has died, his wife said yesterday. He was 80. Enid Knibb said her husband died of liver cancer late Thursday. He had been receiving treatment in the United States, but returned to Jamaica this week, she said. Mr. Knibb’s manager, Ken Stewart, wrote on Facebook Wednesday that he was accompanying him on the trip back to the Caribbean island. “I can only hope we make it back so he can enjoy his family and friends and see his homeland one more...

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are big on tradition, so it was going to take more than a blizzard and state of emergency to cancel the first of the band’s 13th Hometown Throwdown concerts Sunday at the House of Blues. Singer Dicky Barrett promised the crowd — surprisingly robust given the treacherous travel conditions that developed around show time — a night to remember, and the Bosstones made good on that with a set that was packed with hits, obscurities, and old-school favorites.