About

What is DCSka.com?
DCSka.com is a Web site for your ska-related music needs in the Washington, DC area.  It’s a site set up to promote the DC ska scene, but isn’t restricted to just ska.  We specialize in ska-related sounds, but we’re open to all types of music like punk, rockabilly, Oi!, reggae, dub, pop-punk, etc.  Support your local music, whatever it may be!

Who’s behind DCSka.com?
DCSka.com is run by Rude in DC Productions, which is a DIY full force bunch of friends who love ska and the DC/MD/VA scene.  In the past Rude in DC has done a bunch of things including: running dcska.com, making merch, throwing shows, and doing sound for shows here and there.  We got our start putting on shows at the Corner Kick in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  Many people contribute to the site, but our main staff includes Michelle, Bob, Kevin, and Duncan.  You can read more about us below.

What’s with the big change with dcska.com?
We decided to celebrate our 10th anniversary with a brand new look and feel.  It’s not every day a Web site turns ten, so we figured we’d do something special for it.  We hope you like the new site.

Do people get paid to work for dcska.com?
Nope, all work done for dcska.com is 100% volunteer elbow grease. Hence we really appreciate anyone who takes time out of their busy schedules to help us out. THANKS!!

When was DCSka.com started?
DCSka.com established a home on the Webbernets on September 16, 2000.  It’s been going crazy ever since.

What’s the history of DCska.com?
DCSka.com is about the 3rd or so incarnation of a web resource on the DC Ska scene.  Originally, Digital (of the famed Checkered Cabs and EST), maintained a page and then that disappeared.  In Feburary 1999, I (Michelle) started an email newsletter listing upcoming shows in the MD/DC/VA area.  About a month later, Craig created a counterpart web site “The DC Ska Resource”.  Then Craig got really busy with school and wasn’t able to devote the time he wanted to maintain the site.  So, he passed it off to me and I bought dcska.com added some info to it and things took off from there.  In 2003? the site got a makeover and became a dynamically driven site, so it was a lot easier to maintain and update.  In the summer of 2006, we took what we intended to be a short hiatus to bring a better web site, but we lost a little bit of motivation, not to mention that Dan was going through some really serious treatments for Hodgkin’s disease.  Throughout that year Dan and I tossed around the idea of continuing or not continuing the site and what direction it would take.  When Dan passed away, I still wasn’t really sure whether or not to continue the site.  I listened to massive amounts of hip-hop after that and realized that I really like ska music and that I couldn’t really walk away from it.  So with Rudy, we spent a lot of days, evenings, and hungover weekends working on DCSka.com to bring it back.  To celebrate its 10th anniversary, I decided to redo the site to meet the current needs of its visitors.  With this version, it’ll be easy to update and navigate.

In Memoriam:
This site is dedicated in loving memory of Todd Eckhardt, Dan Hess, and Ric Winkler.  Each one of these guys contributed to the DC Ska scene – Todd was the bass player and song writer for the Pietasters, Dan sang for the Ratchet Boys and the Ready Steady Go! and ran Rude in DC Productions, and Ric helped with DCSka.com and got us connected with Solly’s to start BlueBeat DC.  These guys were some of the most entertaining people the scene has ever met and they will always be missed.

Mailing Address:
Our mailing address for demos and whatever else is:
DCSka.com / Rude in DC Productions
P.O. Box 2061
Montgomery Village, MD 20886-2061