· Music
Possible Gangster Fun Reunion?
From the archive. This was posted in 2006, so links and opinions may have aged. New writing is in my newsletter.
For those of you who know what I’m talking about…there’s talk about a Gangster Fun reunion show happening at Detroit’s Magestic Theatre on December 29.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about…I was in a ska band in the late 80s to early 90s in Detroit. Sometimes called the “Godfathers of Midwestern Ska”, Gangster Fun was a strange mash-up of really good musicians and really entertaining people playing ska mixed with classic rock. During the period I was in the band, we inspired a boat-load of other ska bands, some of whom are still playing and apparently doing quite well.
Despite a crazed bunch of fans, 4 or 5 albums, and a couple tours, Gangster Fun never did well enough to be a full time job for anyone. After several old-time members left, it very slowly morphed into a much different band and then broke apart during the 2nd half of the 90s.
The reunion show, if it happens, will be largely an early-90s Gangster Fun show, which will be exciting to a bunch of people in their mid-30s in Detroit, and maybe to a bunch of younger people who have only heard about G-Fun.
If you’re curious, you can view some videos of the band, and of me playing sax, on Google Video. Here’s a direct link.