Hopefully this post will reach a few people who haven't already seen this up on Facebook. I don't know who posted it to Soundcloud but Fluffy, one-time Now associate and long-time (old) 9:30 Club employee, got my attention with this post. There's now an 18-track playlist from D.C. ska legends The Now up on Soundcloud.
I've written before about this band, mainly in this NOWstalgic post, and elsewhere where I've recounted how the late Gene Hawkins (R.I.P.) got my job at the Record and Tape Exchange in College Park when I left that gig in 1988, and how I worked with keyboardist Rich Carlson for nearly 2 years at the University of Maryland's Record Co-Op. So I'll not bore you with my memories again but just post this and urge you to check out tracks from D.C.'s most important ska band who came to glory in an era when Dischord seemed to define D.C. rock. The only other alternative band back then who had no Dischord connection of any kind was probably radioblue.
This playlist from The Now was compiled by friends and members of the band in honor of the late Joe (J.W.) Hill who died last week at a tragically early age. I did not know JW but he was a friend of Rich so I'll send my condolences out to all of his friends and family via this post.
At some point in the future, I'll do another post on The Now should more tunes and pics surface. In the mean-time, here's your crash course in what made this band so great. From the early stormer "Maddening Crowd" to the later, post-Gene "Wind Me Up" (produced by Earl Hudson of the Bad Brains), these cats could swing. More than ska, The Now were deservedly a big, big draw in this town for quite a few years. Dig it!