I don't think I'm in the older crowd category nor do I have
any interest (I've found) with most acts that blow through
the local performing arts centers and refurbished opera houses.

Missing link migth have been the wrong phrase for ska.
There's a local ska festival in the spring at the swanky
small college here, lovingly called "the Harvard of the Midwest".

So there has been some exposure to the music. I thi k it is
_the_ club music, but it never caught on with the club scene.

I think I know the reason too and it's one of those things that
is speculation but based on knockings and things I've heard
about the tavern business.

Bars and clubs want to sell as much booze as they can. Certain
types of music are distractions from that activity if the
music (swing and ska in particular) encourages a lot of dancing
and less alcohol consumption. This argument went around
during the swing movement and I'm pretty sure it applies to
the ska movement and scene as well.

Music that is overly _slow_ and _loud_ (country, some techno, the
average white vocalist like Madonna or Mariah Carey and bar bands
of all stripes) is manufactured toward the end of getting as
much alc into people as possible. The reason given for not booking
bands that have a lot of audience attention is just this: the saloon
keepers have rejected them for reasons of profit. Hearing those
over-emotionalized, whining, fake attempts at gospel sound with that
high pitched squeal you think will never end is bad enough in the
supermarket. In the club, the same stuff is used as that which
an antidote or pain killer is needed. That's what the bar tender is
there for.

In the larger and more diverse markets I suppose these musics can
find a venue. But there is a definite lock down of the types of acts
booked or music styles given in all those clubs now owned by
Clear Channel and other cretins. It is a manipulation of the
patrons in these places that is so offensive to me but not really
recognized by the average club-goer.

Maybe missing in action is a better way to describe the lack of
variety such as ska in the club scene. There was or should have been
an entry point for ska from the days of the Specials, Selecter, Madness and the ska variations that have come up since.