Eeksperience the Mouse

Tall Tales: Eek-A-Mouse brings ska sounds and his ever-changing identity to Giovane’s.

A ska gigolo with a poncho, but so much more.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

He can be a pimp or a cowboy, wearing a robe or a poncho, but his main character is a mouse. A towering figure at 6’6,” Eek-A-Mouse is one of the original Jamaican singjays, who took his name from his favorite racehorse and rode to international fame scatting catchy nonsense over fat, swanky dub.

The infectious singer, who performs at Giovane’s in Salinas this Friday, has grown from skinny smooth to cut rude boy. His 1980 uplifting single “Wa-Do-Dem” launched his career. The comical hit is about him meeting a virgin girl: “We tek a walk for a Kingston mall/ whole heap a people jus’ a start to laugh/ because a she too short an’ a me too tall.”

The versatile artist has spanned dancehall jams to cowboy-reggae styles. Eek-A-Mouse can write seriously – like in “Operation Eradication” where he details the vigilante murder of his friend and fellow musician DJ Errol Scorcher – and is at times a little out there – like in his cheesy 2004 video “Schizophrenic” where he goofily changes from woman to nerd to monk.

Now 51, Mouse still delivers his playful singsong to the echoed crack of a snare drum. On a YouTube video Eek-A-Mouse was asked about how he felt during a 2007 performance at a Colorado reggae festival, and replied “Bong ding ding, ding ding bong,” toying with the hook of his popular song “Ganja Smuggling.”

Eek-A-Mouse’s MySpace friend “Sucka Free” sums up the reggae legend well: “Damm yo music is just hypnotising man you is truly a reggae soldier!” Roots Natty will be opening up Friday’s show with more dope reggae rhythms.