Music Review: The Reggae Cowboys

When a band picks the name Reggae Cowboys, you can assume they’re either being sneeringly ironic in an early-’90s alt-rock way, or they’re making music that combines Caribbean stylings with Texas twang. In this case, it’s the latter, believe it or not, and it works better than you think.

The Reggae Cowboys, based in Toronto, are a complete musical mutation, but in a good way. These guys play git-down cowboy music — not country music, if you get the nuance of the difference — with deadly rock-solid reggae rhythms and traditional Jamaican vocals.

The current lineup of the band has singer-guitarists Stone Ranger and Clic Master Sync backed by Keith and Alex, whom I guess haven’t earned their official Reggae Cowboy stage names yet. I don’t know.

I saw these guys in 1998 or so and bought their first CD, Tell The Truth, at the show. It really isn’t my kind of music, and is, I think, the only reggae in my collection (aside from the obligatory Bob Marley’s Greatest Hits). Come to think of it, I don’t have much country music, either.

So why did these guys touch a chord with me? Couldn’t tell you. But the first time I heard them play, I felt like a high plains drifter, six-gun at my hip, dreadlocks under my cowboy hat. It’s really cool stuff and deserves to be heard.

Their other albums — Pony XPress, Wild West Indian (love that title), Rock Steady Rodeo and Let’s Ride — might not be easy to find, but take the time. You can also order directly from them. Their official site is here.

Stick Named to Toy Hall of Fame

The Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York, has welcomed its latest inductee tonight: The Stick. Yeah. The Stick joins the hall’s 2005 inductee, The Cardboard Box, and these people are serious about it.

“This toy is so fantastic that it’s not just for humans anymore,” curator Christopher Bensch told the AP last night. “You can find otters, chimps and dogs — especially dogs — playing with it.”

Don’t you dare laugh; anyone who makes a living with toys earns the Weather Station 1 Seal of Approval and also a high-five, and you should treat his oddness with the utmost respect, because he might know where to find intact vintage Micronauts.

When my kids start getting greedy and talking about the new toys they want to add to the entire room in my basement that is overflowing with toys (some of which belong to the kids), I remind them that when I was a poor frontier waif in the ancient 1970s, we were so poor I only had two toys, at which point the little Weathereyes, very used to their father’s moronity, chime in with “a rock and a stick.”

It’s good for a laugh, but that story’s partially true. I had G.I. Joe, Big Jim, Mego, Matchbox and Lego, but I also spent a lot of time carving up sticks to make things I needed: swords, rifles, knives, bows (and arrows), whips, spears … I was kind of a peaceful hippie kid, as you can see.

Kids don’t do that sort of thing as much anymore. I guess video games have a lot to do with that, but there are no video games in my house (aside from Game Boys). I only have my kids part-time and they play a lot of video games at their other house, so I like to balance things off with more outdoorsy, imaginative, fun.

One day this summer my oldest and I hiked up the ridge to our forest, cut free some greenwood limbs, and made bows and arrows. They worked, to the degree that I wanted them to work, which is to say Weathereye Jr. couldn’t actually shoot anyone who was more than six feet away.

It was a lot of fun, and I got real joy out of watching him watch me cut and whittle and sand and bend until we had a fun little toy bow.

So here’s to The Stick. You’ve brought a lot of pleasure to kids for generations, and it’s nice to see you honoured.

I’ll bet Nintendo will come up with some virtual stick game for the DS now, like those Nintendogs or whatever they’re called …