Tired of the same old predictable events? We've got the cure: This Friday, November 21st, join us for an encore performance of our great November 2002 event with the Proctor Dougherty Society (PDS), the University Club's young member organization!

To add to the mix, a number of fun local charities that host social events around the area will also be joining us again this year (a partial listing of hosts and groups follows below). Cool Ska music by The Players starts at 8:00. Featuring a contagious fusion of first-wave Ska and eclectic modern music, The Players take us back to the swanky cigar and martini lounges of late colonial Jamaica, before Reggae.

Dave Asiello  o  Karen Barthold  o  Will Black
Maria Comella  o  Anne Marie DiNardo (Small
Friendly Planet)  o  Fred Dombo (Society Ties)
Tom Donnelly  o  Eric Fedewa  o  John Fedewa
Kirsten Fedewa  o  Ritika Fedewa  o  Amanda Gordon
Laura Granato  o  James Head  o  James Holl
Claudia Hrvatin  o  Karen Johnson  o  Catherine Kane
Ted Kral  o  Suzanne Lewis  o  John McFadden
Jennifer Moore  o  Tory O'Connor  o  Erin Powell
Joe Reblando (Georgetown Club of DC)  o  Caroline
Santa-Cruz Revis  o  Andrea Rodgers (Society Ties)
Christina Russell (Hands On DC)  o  Robin Scullin
Suzanne Seipel  o  Mary Sexton  o  Jennifer Sims
Patrick Sims  o  Tara Snow  o  Cristine Spaulding
Virginia Stevenson  o  Karla Tejada  o  Henry Thaggart
Eryn Travis (Hands On DC)  o  Blair Watters
Robb Watters  o  Elizabeth Whitaker
 
 

$22 (includes two drink tickets and $2 in processing fees)
Buy online at http://tickets.scp.org.

Proceeds will benefit the University Club Foundation, which supports a number of charitable projects, including educational scholarships, Christmas toys for needy children, and an annual clothing drive. Last year's CCM&S event raised nearly $1,200 toward the UCF fund.
 
 

For dress code and other details, see  http://tickets.scp.org.
E-mail: janus@scp.org
Tel. (703) 995-0383
 
 

Ska is American R & B turned "upside down" to put the emphasis on the 2nd and 4th beats in the bar. It is the rollicking, raucous music that perfectly summed up the mood of the [Jamaican] people as they approached Independence at the beginning of the 1960s and wanted to announce their Jamaicanness with as much gusto as possible. [L]ocal musicians were jazz buffs to a man, thus always looking for means to self expression. It was only a matter of time before things got turned around.    . . .

The pivotal ska group was The Skatalites, a horn led collection of musicians, many who were classically trained at the Alpha Boys School (a Catholic orphanage and reform school in Kingston that is still renowned today). They approached their task as if they were big band jazz players, with a tight, disciplined rhythm section allowing virtuoso soloists to show off their brilliance. The idea was to whip the dancers up into a frenzy, but keep the beat so that nobody loses their footing.

BBC
 
 

"The martini can be simultaneously 'civilized' and 'uncivilized' , 'classic' and 'individual', or 'sensitive' and 'tough', depending on how it is prepared, who is doing the drinking, with whom, and where."

Richard McKewen
 
 

While Seville is recognized as the birthplace of the modern cigar, it was probably invented in pre-Columbian Cuba, where natives tightly wrapped tobacco leaves with maize and smoked the rolled product during religious ceremonies. Christopher Columbus' crew quickly became accustomed to smoking these early cigars and brought back samples of the "Golden Leaf" to Spain. Initially, the smoking of cigars was considered a pagan ritual punished by imprisonment. However, after a few years, cigar smoking became widely accepted and eventually Spain would build an entire industry around the cigar. In 1821 Spain allowed Cuba to manufacture cigars locally and the Cuban cigar was born. In appreciation for Spain's kind gesture, the Cubans would deliver a box of  fabled Trinidad cigars to the Spanish king every year.

Montecristo Cigar Company
 
 

"The cocktail is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a . . . candidate: because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else."

Balance and Columbian Repository (1806)
 
 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
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