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What began as a simple-enough request to book an estimable punk-pop band on a local college radio show has mutated into something almost unimaginable, possibly awful and probably quite silly.
Brothers Albino Brown and Tazy Phyllipz,longtime hosts of "The Ska Parade" weekly show on KUCI-FM (88.9), decided last spring to have the Descendents appear on the show. The Descendents don't play ska, but the "Parade" proprietors like to keep their show stylistically open-minded if they think a potential guest is good.
The word came back from the Descendents' manager that the band wouldn't be able to make it, but how about one of his other clients, Gwar?
Gwar is the costumed, theatrical speed-metal band whose act consists of mock-gory mayhem that more or less seeks to answer the question: What if the electric guitar had been discovered by some sociopathic ancient conqueror, like Genghis Khan or Attila the Hun?
Brown knew that Gwar would be a stretch for ska-tuned listeners. What common ground could be found between the metallic stench of battle and the happy, skip-along beat of ska?
Then Brown and Phyllipz hit on the idea of pairing Gwar with the Aquabats, who have an equal, if opposite, yen for the theatrical. Members of the O.C. ska-rock band dress up like refugees from an old Buck Rogers serial and run their concerts as if they were kiddie shows in which silly but benevolent superheroes face nasty, cartoon-evil foes.
Brown whipped up a script, taking cues from old radio...