october 15

If there's a 4th wave of ska, Tomas Kalnoky will be one of its architects. It's hard to gauge whether a style of music's evolved to its limit until it's done (see: swing, blues, jazz) or it's ready for a reinvention (see: hip hop, country, reggae.) If ska gets its next phase, at least one of the bands Kalnoky started - Catch-22, Streetlight Manifesto, Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution - will be in the thick of it.
Catch-22 started in the tail end of the Third Wave (when Less Than Jake could still get on the radio), getting national attention for their first album, Keasbey Nights. While Kalnoky went to college, Catch-22 continued touring. By the time Kalnoky returned to music, Catch-22 had an entirely new line-up and sound, so he started Streetlight Manifesto; when Catch-22's label announced a re-release of Keasbey, Kalnoky and Streetlight Manifesto re-recorded the entire album.
SM finished touring in September, and announced their break until mid-2010. Now's a great day to send Kalnoky a Happy Birthday wish, along with a wish for the long-awaited next SM album... or the next Acoustic Revolution album...

Here's the animated video from their Somewhere in the Between album, "Would You Be Impressed?"
WARNING: Possible NSFW (unless you work for PETA or something)