Dancers as Professional Athletes

I had an interesting thought when I got to dance with Carla Heiney at this year’s ILHC. That was, I’ll never hit a baseball thrown by NY Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera or catch a football thrown by NFL quarterback Peyton Manning. In fact, this dance is probably be the closest I’ll ever get to playing with a professional athlete.

That got me to thinking about the Discovery Channel’s Time Warp episode with Carla and Nick Williams and how I felt like I was a kid again watching one of those Olympic athlete profile pieces where you see them using technology to study body mechanics and perfect motions and their skills... and then you want to grow up and be just like them. Of course, they also look the part of professional athletes. Nick looks like some ancient Greek sculptor carved him from granite, as so does instructor Joel Plys. While others like Evita Arce look like they were born on the Broadway stage.

I was reminded of this again at Seattle's Emerald City Blues when I got to dance with Portland instructor Brenda Russell. Several years ago I attended one of Brenda’s workshops and was so amazed and inspired by her flexibility and body control that I began doing yoga, which I’ve realized is central to many dancers’ training. It literally took me two years of steady practice to get my middle-aged, weekend warrior frame the range of motion where I could START practicing the movements she showed. I joked to my wife Patty, “hey look what I can do after 2 years of work-- move my hips; so flipping what?” Well, last month in Seattle while dancing with Brenda I played with some stuff and it was like I’d traded in my beat-up mini-van for a Ferrari Enzo. So THAT'S what dancing is supposed to be like!

I’m always amused when someone excitedly comes back from a weekend workshop with a professional dancer and tries to share what they’ve seen taught, “Your hips are here, like this… not like this… and not like this.” Meanwhile, everyone in the room is saying, “You didn’t move; I don’t understand. What are you trying to show us?” It’s great to see the enthusiasm… up to the point where someone starts claiming to be able to teach it themselves.

Mischievously, when a local teacher once asked me to help demonstrate a concept he’d just learned by doing it wrong two different ways and then correctly the third time, I stood unmoving and lax muscled as he exclaimed, “There! Did you see how the whole body alignment shifted into place? That’s exactly what we want!” Nobody saw a thing but the local still thought he'd done a good job as a teacher.

Sadly, I’ve lost track of the number of conversations I’ve overheard where someone who’s started assembling a decent repertoire of dance moves over 2 or 3 years grumbles, “If that person can market themselves as a professional why can’t I? I’ve learned most of the stuff on their videos.” The idea is crazy to me. Nobody’s stupid enough to watch a couple old Manny Pacquiao or Chuck Liddell fight films, beat up their baby brother and then expect to climb into the ring and knockout the champion... but doing the equivalent in the dance world seems to be fine for some people.

I sometimes think maybe what’s wrong with the world today is we don’t have enough biblical smiting going on. For the prideful, the vain-glorious, the greedy, the envious… “WAHPAH!!! I smite thee!” Yup, the world would definitely be a better place.

But for now, here’s a thankful shout out of appreciation to my professional heroes who’ve inspired me to be a better dancer and a better person.

Not Your Grandfather's Swing Music

This was a promotional piece I wrote for publication in Hampton Road's altdaily.com and sevencities.com webzines to promote Solomon Douglas's upcoming show at our favorite local dance venue.


"Jazz pianist Solomon Douglas and his 10 member Swingtet will be doing their best to turn the Boot Restaurant into a modern day equivalent of NYC’s legendary Savoy Ballroom this Sunday night.

Since leaving the Glenn Miller Orchestra to tour with his own group, Solomon has been a favorite musician with swing revival dancers and lindy hoppers across North America, Asia, and Australia. His two CD releases of arrangements originally recorded by big bands like Count Basie and Duke Ellington capture the hard driving energy of the Swing Era of the 1930’s and 40’s.

Swing you say? Ho hum. “Not so!” says swing DJ Sam Carroll.

Solomon Douglas is a musician he recommends “to anyone who’s not really sure they like ‘old school’ swing—Solomon does the jumping songs of old, but in a context that’s more accessible today. It’s a modern band that caters specifically to dancers– so the energy is great.”

Boot co-owner David Hausmann explains, “This is certainly not going to be an evening of your grandfather’s old scratchy recordings. The nights we get the swing crowd in here dancing are the most fun nights to work.” Dancer and singer Laura Windley adds, “There’s an energy present in live music that’s not there in recordings. Likewise, there’s an energy that comes from the dancers that feeds back into the band’s energy, so it’s cyclical drive for both dancers and the musicians.”

The recent popularity of television shows like ‘Dancing With the Stars’ has certainly helped spread enjoyment of old time dances like Lindy Hop and east coast swing. Instructor Wendy Craighill says she frequently sees dancers and their parents discovering a common enjoyment of the music and dance instruction in her Lindy 101 classes in Williamsburg. However, local dancer, Marissa Perdue is quick to point out, “Dancing swing, as opposed to ballroom, doesn’t require you to be overly serious, perfect or for you to try to be sexy. Swing is just a fun expression of unbridled joy where you can’t help but smile while you dance.” Others point out you don’t have to be a dancer to enjoy the drive of good swing music. They’ll point out others sitting in the club and say, “See them over there tapping their feet or their fingers? It’s infectious. They just can’t stop themselves.”

It’s no surprise members of the local swing dance community frequently drop in for shows at The Boot. The owners, who ran Relative Theory before opening their restaurant in Ghent, have created a casual environment that hints of an old “Speak Easy”, complete with handle bar mustached bartenders and a piano from the early 1900’s on the stage. It’s an environment where casual regulars and dolled up dancers can relax and enjoy live local music that local Kelly Jackson says, “always turns a light on my insides!” Others point out the restaurant’s wonderful collection of Virginia beers and wines might also help create that atmosphere of relaxed frivolity.



Dancers like Breanna Perry of Nashville say, “You’d be surprised. Swing dancing is cooler than you’d think, you get to interact with other cool people and to learn something not everybody knows. It’s sort of becomes its own underground cool.” Jen Sowden of New York City agrees, “Don’t get me wrong– I go to clubs too, but I love lindy hop swing because you feel connected to someone by the music. Plus, swing music changes, has more accents, changes in tempo, dynamics and instruments; in short, more rhythmic games than modern music.”

The Swingtet musicians who’ll masterfully bring that swing and old style blues to the Boot Restaurant include trumpeters Nicholas Dyson and Alcedrick Todd from Ottawa and Texas, drummer and bass player Brian and Eric Heveron-Smith from NY, Durham’s Lucian Cobb on trombone, Portland sax player (and bandleader in his own right) Pete Petersen, clarinetists Mike Cemprola and Patrick Breiner, guitarist Ted Gottsegen and band leader Solomon Douglas on piano.

Showtime is this Sunday, December 6th . Doors open at 7 p.m. with DJ Bill Speidel spinning swing and blues tunes until the live music begins at 8 p.m. The Boot Restaurant is located at 123 W. 21st Street in Norfolk’s Ghent. Admission is $12."

The Long Road to the Emerald City Blues Festival

This blog was going to be a recap of the awesome time I had at this year’s ECBF, but the story of how I got there might be more informative for DJ’s and readers.

You might say I took the long road to DJ’ing in the northwest. About two years earlier I introduced myself by email to organizers on the west coast who suggested I buy myself a ticket west to DJ some house parties and see if I could get invited to DJ a weekly gig where I might catch the attention of someone who’d ask me to come back another time to do a monthly dance.

Portland seemed a particularly tough nut to crack when they explained I’d have to come out and do a 6 month DJ apprenticeship. It would mean 3 months watching a local DJ spin, followed by a month trading supervised 3 song mini-sets and then 2 more months playing 30 minute house party sets before graduating to DJ a full set at a weekly dance.

In fact, several people mentioned that DJ’ing large regional blues gigs in NYC, Philly and throughout the southeast, didn’t mean a thing to anyone west of the Mississippi if they hadn’t been there to experience it themselves.

Looking back now, I realize, at the time, I was the only person I knew DJ’ing acoustic and country blues in the east-- also, the growling trombones and weepy, wailing clarinets that make me melt. It seemed everyone else in the mid-Atlantic states was fixated on guitar heavy Chicago blues and the same dozen “standards.” One night a local event organizer told me, “Even though the DJ’s before me tonight played over half my songs, this was my best set ever.” He finished up with Nina Simone’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” and the statement, “If a song is good enough to hear once in a night, it’s good enough to hear 3 times.” So, maybe the west coast could be forgiven if they felt a bit superior about their taste in music at the time.

But I didn’t buy that plane ticket to play house parties or do an internship; instead I politely joked I’d just keep DJ’ing big gigs in the east until they had to call and invite me out on my terms. In the meantime, I experimented, researched, began editing songs to make them tighter, and continually met a growing number of dancers from the west coast at events who’d go home and tell their friends how much they enjoyed my sets.

In the end, I think my finally getting that phone call from the west some 2 years later came in some small part as the result of some luck.

Sadly, Heather Adams, who’d DJ’ed the blues room with me at ATLX, had to cancel DJ’ing last year’s Enter the Blues due to a death in her family. The organizers asked me if I could step up and take her prime time slot on Friday night as well as mine on Saturday. Also, another scheduled DJ had gotten annoyed he wasn’t offered Heather’s slot and called in sick at the last minute to stay home and dance, so I was given his time as well. In the end, that meant I got to play two solid 2+ hour sets that instructors Topher Howard and Brenda Russell and others greatly enjoyed.

So, I was particularly thrilled to be invited out to Seattle as a headline DJ alongside Steven "Dr Feelgood" Watkins, Tina "Sweet T" Davis and "Our Downtown" Julie Brown at this year’s ECBF. The truth is, had I come out earlier, I wouldn’t have been prepared to “trade ones”, alternating every other song on an equal footing with those other top notch DJ’s.

In the end ECBF was the most amazing dance weekend I’ve ever attended. All the music was incredible and the instructor lineup Brenda Russell and Barry Douglas, Steven and Virginie, Ogden and Amanda, and Topher Howard & Mike the Girl Legett was tremendous. Seattle is also arguably the most delightful city around. Even organizer Martin Beally, who’d like to keep up his reputation as a demanding hard-ass, was a wonderfully warm and personable host (on top of running a super efficient event).

In short, I’ll be taking a direct flight to ECBF next year and you all should as well.

Racism sends blues to the back of the bus

Jazz master Wynton Marsalis recently told CNN that blues has always been a marginalized form of music because of racism. “It came from who we didn't like. That's what it was -- it wasn't that we couldn't see it. It was who it came from, we did not like them.” He explained that blues music is in country, in jazz, in rock and roll but when its straight up blues, its been institutionally exploited for profit or flat out rejected by white recording companies and is therefore now rejected by the African American community as well.

Case in point... last night, I went to a Discovery Music series blues concert at the local Attucks Theatre in Norfolk, Virginia and was surprised when the MC told the roughly 40 people in the mostly empty theatre, “I’m glad to see so many more people coming out for events than we had last year.” It made me sad to see the historic black theatre so empty for a young musician, John Bigham (The soul of John Black), who mixes blues, soul, R&B and rap and who’s played with Dr. Dré, Eminem, Fishbone, Miles Davis, Everlast and Nikka Costa. Why were the few people in attendance 60 year old white men with pony tails and their wives? There were maybe 5 African Americans in the theatre.

It reminded me of the day I watched a blues concert in Norfolk and overheard a group of white men from the local Natchel Blues Network loudly celebrating having pushed “that black bitch” out of elected office in their organization and “who did she think she was anyway, thinking she could tell me anything about the blues?” Yup, a black blues singer worthy of membership in Safire, the Uppity Blues Woman for sure. I wrote a letter of complaint and cancelled my membership in the organization the next day.

Since then I've concluded that blues here in southeast Virginia is controlled by those "good old boys". This year’s Virginia’s Blues at the Beach (sponsored by the Natchel Blues Network) listed 15 featured artists – 13 of them were white and all but one were male (no wonder they all sounded homogenously the same). Similarly, all the performers at the organization's Hampton Acoustic Blues Revival this year were white (again with one token female). Meanwhile the organization’s current favorite son is an African American artist whose new album “Wall Street Blues” features heavily produced, suburbanized (sanitized and safe) blues that fuses adult contemporary, Calypso, beach music, rockabilly and just enough boogie woogie to not be threatening or edgy.

Meanwhile, talented local African American blues artists like the Blues Empacts, and those with female performers like Jackie Scott and the Homewreckers, the MSG Acoustic Blues Trio, and the Black White Blues Bands, are left struggling for the same attention given to performers who look more like the promoters do.

I'd say Wynton described it perfectly, at least in southeast Virginia. Maybe its different elsewhere.

Blues Muse Recap

In the name of full disclosure I should start out by mentioning I’ve got a vested interest in Blues Muse since it was originally my baby in 2008 and the LAB organizers in Philadelphia have agreed if they should decide not to continue it, I can take it on the road; plus I’m one of the event DJ’s. So one could accuse me of being a bit biased when I say this year’s event again showed Philadelphia is the city that knows how to throw the east coast’s most awesome blues party.

Of course, the big story for east coast blues scenes for much of this year was NYC and DC simultaneously locking into blockbuster events on the Blues Muse weekend and being forced to split the pool of dancers. Thankfully, Philly organizers were able to shift the event two weeks later to October 16-18, which meant everyone came back together in the middle with the opportunity to share what they’d picked up two weeks earlier.

Once again this year’s lineup of muses was first rate. While last year’s event featured an all east coast lineup, host muses Carsie Blanton and Mike Legett this year brought in Boston’s Julie Brown and the Pacific Northwest’s Abby Kunnecke and Karissa Lightsmith. Rounding out the instructors were dude extradinaire Reuel Reis, and locals Jon Darvill, Stuart Collins & Jesse Young. Not only were the instructors from a wider range, but the organizers had California’s Cid Galicia join “the Mid-Atlantic Big 3” of Mike Marcotte, Corey Wright and I as DJ’s. Plus, Chicago’s Ruby Red stepped in to cover DJ’ing on Friday night for a while since the rest of us were caught in traffic or looking for parking.

In a nutshell, this year’s event was bigger, smoother, and better than last years debut success. The Ethical Society is an awesome venue for classes. Philly continually does late night food like no other place I’ve seen (although Atlanta’s crepes are pretty cool) and the locals are some of the most enthusiastic, friendly and best educated dancers around. Bringing in some of the best instruction from elsewhere in the country just helped put the cherry on top.

Nicely done once again Philadelphia!

Nina Simone Sings the Blues

Emusic now boasts 47 separate albums by Nina Simone, many of which offer alternate live recordings of her classic blues standards.

This month I’m particularly enjoying the 2006 remastered re-release of Nina Simone 1967 RCA debut album “Nina Simone Sings the Blues.” I’d tell you more, but that would deprive you the joy of discovering some great “new” recordings by one of my favorite artists.

Happy When I'm With You by Gordon Webster

For this month's review, we're staying in Manhattan. For those of you who aren’t NYC regulars or who haven’t heard Gordon Webster since Blues Till Dawn (or his Philly Lindy Love marathon late nights), his second CD release "Happy When I’m With You" is going to knock your socks off. For those of you who are, it's the Gordon "and Friends" you know and love captured live in your very own CD player!

Sure Gordon’s still grooving the piano like the dickens on numbers like “Uptown Sop” and his supporting musicians, like Rob Adkins on bass and Adrian Cunningham on sax and clarinet, are first rate and swinging equally hard. Also, Brianna Thomas is here on vocals, capturing much of the playful energy she packs into live performances on numbers like “All Right, Okay, You Win”, “All of Me”, and particularly “Summertime”, where her vocals and Gordon’s piano work dance together nicely (also listen as Jesse turns in some great muted trumpet work on that track). “September in the Rain”, “Sweet Lorraine”, and “Sometimes I’m happy” are also solid tracks with Brianna on vocals and which have a comfortable, laid back feel.

However, for me, the best work on the album are Gordon’s collaborations with trumpeter/vocalist Jesse Selengut. These 4 numbers brings out a whole new range of piano that those who aren’t familiar with Gordon’s recent work, won’t be aware of. The energetic version of “24 Robbers” packed the dance floor in Richmond with energy last weekend and “Long John” (now available free for a limited time at the link below) and “Bill Bailey” are equally packed with wonderful hard swinging performances by his all star side men. I particularly enjoyed the interplay of Jesse on vocals and Matt on trombone in “I'm Confessin That I Love You”.

There’s truly not a weak cut on this release, which, given the wide range of material, is a testament to Gordon’s abilities as a top notch band leader, above and beyond his great piano work. "Happy When I’m With You" is an appropriate title for this release because it’ll leave you tapping your foot and feeling just that way yourself.

The CD is available for purchase online at:

http://www.gordonwebsterswings.com/

Guerilla Rebellion Underground Blues Supper 3

Each year Virginia Beach puts on a weekend of free Blues at Beach with about a dozen bands on a small outdoor stage sponsored by Budweiser. It’s gone from being a magnet for drunks and the local homeless to a decent event, even if the majority of bands all look and sound the same-- drummer, electric guitar, bass player, and a pudgy 50-something year old guy in a Hawaiian shirt and a big floppy hat. If you’re lucky you’ll get a harmonica player or maybe some boogie woogie piano. It’s definitely a tourist safe, Magaritaville mix of family friendly blues but when the local blues dancers tacked on 2 DJ'ed late nights for $25, the weekend turned into a good excuse to invite dance friends into town for a cheap weekend.

One year dancer Ellen Stantschew from Germany popped in between Herrang Dance Camp and a DJ tour of eastern U.S. cities to DJ the blues late nights and unfortunately was treated less than well by some of the locals. The final straw came with us laughingly walking out of an atrociously bad dinner at Uroma's Restaurant (which, not surprisingly folded soon after) and heading back to our place for Chinese take out over discussions about DJ'ing. Thus was jokingly born the Guerilla Underground Blues Summit (GUBS).

The next year the price of the late night dances jumped to $45 and 8 of my out of town DJ friends came down for the weekend, shared music, danced, enjoyed a lovely dinner prepared by Megan Adair and others, and again got crapped on by the local organizer. So, we jokingly referred to it as "The Son of GUBS" weekend. The following summer, during VBLX we upped the bar for our dinner party by bringing live music and we had 24 guests.

Heading into this year's Blues at the Beach/Dirt Cheap Blues weekend, we were surprised by phone calls and emails from as far away as Boston, Tennessee and Oregon asking if we were throwing another dinner party. I seized on the support to guilt Patty into letting me do another party. Around the same time, Duane Grover suggested GRUBS would be a better acronym for a dinner party and, with that, the even more tongue in cheek, Guerilla Rebellion Underground Blues Supper 3 was conceived.

We spent the month before preparing the menu, inviting guests and cleaning. I have to admit, I had absolutely no idea how many people to expect. We had a solid RSVP for 12 with another 10 probable and 10 more probably nots so I figured 25 and cooked for 40 so there would be leftovers. What I didn't realize was, between my house guests and I, we had 5 of the top Blues DJ's on the east coast lined up playing music for us that night-- even more importantly, everybody else in town knew it.

So, we got the 12, and the 10 probablies, and the other 10 probably nots and then we realized we were going to be looking at a very full house. At 11 o'clock, when the party was supposed to wind down, the dancing was still going full tilt. A group that had just arrived was in the kitchen making deviled eggs and another was starting some baking. Meanwhile, Corey Wright plugged in as DJ to keep the party rolling for those who weren't attending the late night.

Around 1 a.m. Patty and I were sitting on our front steps as Benny Goodman's Vibraphone Blues poured out the windows into the street (and unbeknownst to us, a ukelele jam band playing on the back patio). I smiled at my bemused but overwhelmed wife and said, "Tonight, we're THOSE neighbors, the bad ones. We're going to get the cops called on us for blasting music that was recorded over 60 years ago."

A little later another group we didn't know parked at the end of the long row of cars lining the street and walked to our door. Patty introduced us as the hosts but, to our surprise, they just shrugged and walked in (by our guess as guests 63-65). Patty smiled and said, "they were carrying dancer shoe bags; I guess they're okay."

Around 2 a.m. with the absynthe bottles emptying out things started to wind down and, to our total amazement, by 2:45 a.m. the 20 or so remaining stragglers had finished cleaning up and hauling out the trash and remnants of the previous 8 hours of celebration out before heading over to the late night for closing 2 hours.


It was a magical evening, far exceeding anything Patty and I could have ever imagined (or willingly planned for). We're not sure of everyone who was here or everything that happened. I do know we set a record for the biggest 3 layer cuddle couch of all time. So, incredible amounts of love to everyone who made the evening such a once in a lifetime happening... until next year.

Live at Mona's by Mona's Hot Four

This month’s great find is Live at Mona’s, an album recorded this past winter at NYC’s club of that name on Avenue B between 13th and 14th

Listeners may not recognize the group Mona’s Hot Four by name but dancers will know pianist Gordon Webster, bassist Cassidy Holden, & clarinetist Dennis Lichtman from their solid work with NYC’s Cangelosi Cards. Add Nick Russo on Banjo and guitar and numbers like Temptation Rag are blistering freilachs of musical goodness. Much of the sound here is a more straight forward, fast paced trad jazz that’ll get your bal feet tapping. Most songs are too long for dancing (in the 5-7 minute range), but the performances are musical gems by an assemble that is tight and playing off each other perfectly

Vocalist Tamar Korn adds some of her folksy feel on versions of When You’re Smiling, Puttin’ On the Ritz, and Moonglow. Dan Levinson of the Nighthawks drops in to add clarinet on a few tracks and Jesse Selengut and Rob Adkins of Tin Pan add a great gritty blues feel to Ballin’ the Jack and Tishomingo Blues. You can expect to hear those two cuts when I DJ at upcoming blues gigs.

You can pick up your copy here:
http://losmusicosviajeros.net/mona/purchase.html

Wynton Marsalis's 7 Rungs of Resistance

"There are 7 basic rungs of resistance up the ladder of artistic success.
I will start from the lowest rung to the highest.

1. Ignorance
Not your fault. Generally the result of a polluted environment. No one knows, so you don’t know. Example: You think funk is jazz.

2. Miseducation
Your teachers are well meaning, but just don’t know. It’s no one’s fault. Example: someone tells you, you have to study classical music to become a jazz musician. Bad advice.

3. Personal difficulties
You just have some major personal problems to overcome. extremely dysfunctional family life or some time of physical or mental disability. Once again, no one’s fault, but an obstacle to overcome.

4. Laziness
You just would rather waste time and achieve through talking what hard work would have ensured. Example: You spend a lot of time talking about what you are going to do and what other people are not doing.

5. Opinion of family and peers
They think you should do what they think you should do. They don’t study music or art, have undeveloped tastes and should be helping develop yours by encouraging you to seek professional teaching. Instead, they offer you a steady stream of uninformed, well meaning, but ultimately bad advice. Example: The advice of your friends in the midst of a nasty breakup. Let them be friends. seek professional help.

6. The opinion of a failed artist
They didn’t make it, so neither will you. Encouragement comes very difficult to them and a strong undercurrent of pure cynicism and negativity can destroy the optimism and faith required to get your artistic aspirations off the ground. Beware, because they also have a lot of very valuable information. but, if their career failures have not been put in perspective, that information can come at too high a price.

7. Uninformed criticism and the court of public opinion
The critics of your time are not fans of the art form that you practice. There’s nothing you can do to make them fans. They have been given unearned positions of authority. Don’t be depressed over this type of criticism. Consider it a compliment. With public opinion, be very careful. If you feel that you are above public opinion, your work can suffer from the type of myopic arrogance that destroys the humility central to artistic development. Part of artistry is submitting your work to be accepted or rejected by non “experts”. It’s like cooking a meal. If you don’t care whether people like it or not, why not just cook for yourself. However, if you follow whatever the trend is, you might end up cooking a Big Mac. Good luck and do your thing."

- Wynton Marsalis, Apr 11, 2009

Jungle Blues by C.W. Stoneking

It took me about 6 months to finally locate a source in the U.S. who was selling Aussie bluesman C.W. Stoneking’s 2nd CD, Jungle Blues, on King Hokum Records.

In fact, the first time I tried to contact the musician in Australia I was told he only released his albums on vinyl because of his disdain for the digital medium. That statement should give you an idea of what to expect from this concept album that chronicles the performer’s mythical boat trip that starts with him getting dragged to Africa by 4 scientists who admired his tales of old-time blues and working as a root doctor’s assistant in New Orleans. His character gets shipwrecked, washes up on the shores of the Dark Continent, defeats a talking lion who tries to eat him, and returns with a CD full of wondrous stories and songs.

Musically, there’s yodeling, carnival barking, a Moroccan influenced lullaby, tango, a jail house blues lament, a crying baby, sousaphones, electric banjo, washboard, violas and violins in addition to the traditional brass, drum and acoustic guitar. Additionally, C.W. Stoneking himself sounds like he’s trying to sing without losing any of his chaw.

The end result is a brilliant CD that produces the amazing I Heard the Marching of the Drums that Sharon Davis choreographed here…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR1jvBPtEWQ . Housebound Blues is another new favorite in my DJ tool bag.

Also check out C.W.’s CD King Hokum to hear the bawdy “You Took My Thing and Put It In Your Place” I played @ Emerald City Blues. It’s a shame about that poor ant eater. Additionally, his original song Don't Go Dancin' Down the Darktown Strutter's Ball is a nice contrast to the song you'd be expecting.

June CD Review of the Month: The Solomon Douglas Swingtet - Live at the Legion

Solomon Douglas’s Live at the Legion is an ambitious undertaking full of yummy Basie and Ellington inspiration that flies in the face of those who say Lindy Hop is moving unstoppably back to days of 1920’s Hot Jazz. I had the good fortune to DJ band breaks when Solomon’s Swingtet performed Splanky, Shorty George, Rockin’ in Rhythm and East Saint Louis Toodle-oo (all off his new CD) at BABBLE this year and remember thinking at the time, “he’s not taking the easy way out playing well known numbers that require musicians that can really bring it”.

But bring it, this CD does. Eric Heveron-Smith is as solid as always, as is Peter Petersen, (whose release “Keep Your Hat On” is also tight). Honestly, I was prepared to not like the slower version of “I Needs to Bee’d With” as the Basie version from Live at the Sands is a favorite of mine. But the arrangement was quite good, even if markedly different in feel. I also appreciated that the liner notes told us which recordings Solomon based his arrangements off so I could listen side by side for comparison. I particularly enjoyed the tracks mentioned above, as well as Centerpiece and the very groovy Funk Junction.

My only complaint, and it’s a small one, is that I felt like the trumpet section was, at times, a bit restrained. They came off sounding a little tentative and unsure in an otherwise driving "One O’clock Jump". In fact, "Saturday Night Function", "Singing the Blues Till Daddy Comes Home" and particularly "Buffalo Blues" were all well measured and technically proficient, but I kept wishing they would cut loose and bask in the energy of the live recording the way the rest of this album does.

Still, Live at the Legion is a very solid release and I imagine you’ll be hearing a fair number of the recordings at events in the future because the sound quality is superb and the arrangements have a great thickness and complexity that give dancers a lot to play with. All in all, a very nice followup release that captures much of the excitement I felt when seeing the ensemble perform live in NYC. Great for DJ'ing, even better to throw on and listen to at home.

http://solomondouglas.com/buy_CD.html

VBLX 2009 - an organizer's view behind the scenes

After several rollercoaster months of preparation, Virginia Beach's most successful lindy exchange went off with barely a hitch this past week. For the first time, registration had to be closed (at 180 paid registrants), roughly three times the usual size. As the Head DJ/musical director and marketing strategist for the team, I’d like to think I had at least some small part in that success.

To add some background, watching our local exchange develop over past years is always like the old Cherokee proverb that says every person contains two wolves -- a good one and an evil one. The one who wins is the one you feed. VBLX 2008 had definitely been a bad (and unprofitable) wolf - attendance was about only about 50 and it had generated a lot of bad publicity for its misleading marketing as a "national battle of the east coast's best lindy and blues DJ's." When those organizers announced they didn’t want the risk of losing more money again this year, local Chris Crawford took on the challenge of organizing the exchange with zero budget, no local headlining bands, a slew of burned bridges with most surrounding scenes and a deeply fragmented and untrusting home scene.

My involvement actually began as a complete surprise to me with what I originally thought were a series of random phone calls from regional friends asking for a reference on Chris and his invitation for them to come DJ for he and I at VBLX? Um, Excuse me? What?

I phoned Chris, who informed me that, yes, I was invited to be his head DJ/music director - he'd just forgotten to actually ask me. Before signing on I demanded that things would be run wholly above board-- no sketchy advertising, no phantom headliners or venues that a last minute announcement cancelled (after registration closed). Also, everyone would be fairly compensated and recognized for their efforts. Additionally, the focus was going to be on the quality of the music; no creepy pajama parties in pitch black rooms or any other themes, just the best DJ's I could recruit playing their best music for an appropriate price. In other words, it was going to be a reputable exchange.

I insisted we have a Lindy room and an alternate/blues room rather than the traditional "swing" and "blues" room that frequently had DJ's playing similar westie music playing at same time.

Within weeks we’d assembled a solid team of known lindy DJ’s head liners: Jam Cellar DJ's Allen Kerr and Lee Tucker, Mike ‘the girl’ Legett, NC's Jeramie Anderson and Laura Windley; plus respected, seasoned regionally known DJs: Valerie Hargis, Victor Celania, Kait Mahar, and Mike Quisao. Our marketing pitch was, “We’ve got these solid DJ’s, who've headlined these events, and a weekend at the beach at the height of tourist scene for only $35; how bad could it suck?”

Once the ball was rolling, local dancer Jeff Miller asked to join the team and run the blues room with himself and other local DJ’s. We said that was fine as long as he understood this was going to be different from events they'd worked in the past - no pajama parties that some found inappropriate, no bait and switch advertising that left registrants disappointed, and no tacky marketing stressing low ball pricing or irrelevant gimmicks as the reason to attend.

The response to our honest business strategy and focusing on the music was immediate and unprecedented — 100 new registrants within the opening 2 weeks. Half of those from people who'd never come to a dance event in VB, plus several large blocks of people who had attended earlier event here but said they'd never come back.

Ultimately, our event was meticulously planned and therefore executed on pretty much on schedule with even the weather cooperating (no nearby wildfires creating unsafe air quality levels or no sudden thunderstorms rolling over the Battleship to cancel afternoon dances).

For the first time since the old days with Wendy Craignhill running the scene in the tiny Huette Center, we actually got complaints our dance venues were too crowded or some locals couldn't get in because they hadn't registered assuming we'd never sell out.

Despite all the planning and preparation, of course, no dance event would be complete without a few glitches and needless distraction. The day before the exchange a local organizer emailed all attendees announcing he was adding themes for the various dance nights, including the ubiquitous creepy pajama party blues room and Hawaiian shirt night. Thankfully, other than a couple pairs of joking bunny slippers, his ideas were wholly disregarded and the exchange carried on.

The only serious logistical failure during the weekend happened when that same local, who'd asked to be in charge of food at the late night, announced at the end of the Friday main dance that everyone should head over to the lone, small Denny’s since there wouldn't be food at late night after all. He later told us he independently decided not to waste our budgeted funds on food when attendees could just buy their own. The chaotic result was a majority of the exchange attendees missed the opening 2 hours of the late night and several of Friday's headlining DJ’s.

These two rogue actions should have signaled us to dump this person from the team but no one wanted to make waves at the time; plus he assured Chris we were all now on the same page and there would be food at Saturday's late night venue.

Yet unbelievably, the guy did the same thing on Saturday! This time the restaurant got overwhelmed and turned most people away. Needless to say, there were some rightfully unhappy, extremely hungry dancers who missed our best DJ's and several hours of the dance (as well as pissed off DJ's) and they let people know about it. Also, none of the allocated food budget money that was supposedly "saved" ever turned up or was repaid, so somebody made out okay for themselves at the expense of our local dance community.

While we were all seething about this, we learned yet another ridiculous lesson in human nature - the need to secure the sound system. While organizers Chris, housing coordinator Kristin Fisher and I were out scrounging up some food for ourselves before the announcements and organizer jam, the same rogue local emerged from the blues room to jump on the microphone in the main room during a DJ shift switch and embarrassingly took credit for organizing the event himself. He even threw an "organizer's" jam for he and his buddies!

After the organizing committee returned and learned what happened, we decided most people knew who’d put together the event and saw his stunt as just dishonest self promotion. To avoid the dance losing focus to someone's need for ego, we agreed to cancel our announcements and the organizer jam and just keep the music going in the main room. In fact, it seemed like our DJ's took the disruption as a personal challenge to make sure dancers were swinging so hard for the rest of the night that nobody went to check out the blues room. Ultimately, we publicly gave the volunteers their formal thanks in the local online forum and with a jam at the weekly dance the following week, which was run by the cad who'd tried taking credit for everyone's work. A fitting reward indeed!

In the end, one person's misbehavior was ultimately trivial in light of everyone else's hard work and it would have only been a needless distraction from our plan if we'd acknowledged it. Be keeping things rolling and maintaining the focus on the music and the excitement that a crowd of 180 dancers, instead of 60, brought, we think we generated a lot more positive energy and definitely fed the good wolf.

The benefits were a lot of new friendships, repaired relationships with surrounding dance scenes and organizers, locals who got to dance with solid dancers from the outside dance world for the first time, the return of many faces who'd left the scene long before I arrived, and our local scene getting on other people’s radar in a positive way.

It just goes to show you-- Good music, honest marketing, and respect for your guests can still take you far in this world.

As a final note, Patty and I did another Tex Mex vegan dinner party at our house between the Saturday afternoon and main dance, with music provided by local Gina Dalmas, Chris on bass and Victor on drums. It was the only live music of the weekend and was a lot of fun, as well as a great chance for people to eat and power nap on comfy chairs between the official dances.

Greatest Hits by Jack Teagarden

This online compilation of 46 .mp3 recordings by visionary trombonist Jack Teagarden was released on January 1, 2009 and is available online through Amazon for only $8.99 or through Emusic.

With the exception of the hard swinging "A Jam Session At Victor" I didn't find any new material on this January 1, 2009 compilation of Jack's classics. However, what I did find are, by far, the clearest remixes of Jack tearing through blues and swinging numbers like:

St. Louis Blues
I've Got It
Makin' Friends
You Rascal You
I'm Gonna Stomp Mr. Henry Lee
Muddy Rive Blues
Beale Street Blues
That's A Serious Thing
Dr. Heckle And Mr. Jibe
Knockin A Jug
Swingin' On The Teagarden Gate
Texas Tea Party
The Sheik Of Araby
Serenade To A Shylock
I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
I Swung The Election
Christmas Night In Harlem

This collection is a solid must have addition, or sound quality upgrade, for every DJ and will give you a whole new appreciation for Mr. Teagarden.

BABBLE weekend and the passing of Frankie Manning

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to have been in NYC DJ'ing the 2nd Annual Big Apple Blues, Balboa, and Lindy (BABBLE) Exchange. Fortunate, because what was supposed to merely be a great weekend of dancing will be forever imprinted with the memory of where we were when beloved Lindy Hopper Frankie Manning passed. We were in the shadow of Harlem’s once famed Savoy and we were dancing the lindy hop.

The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn opened Friday night’s dance in style and, although friends shared news that Frankie was in the hospital, we were all sure he’d be back in fine form again for his upcoming 95th birthday celebration. At the late night dance Solomon Douglas dedicated an impressive repertoire of Count Basie and Duke Ellington blues numbers to Frankie. Classics like “East Saint Louis Toodle-oo” would make many brass players tremble, but Solomon’s group turned out its most inspired playing to date. Not that we were surprised, but I think we felt like there was something special starting to happen this weekend -- even before the organizers respectfully informed us that Frankie’s condition was deteriorating. It was at that moment, that BABBLE became more than just an exchange, it became a community of dancers celebrating a great man who was living a long and wonderful life.

Saturday night’s main dance was a posh event in a restaurant in vibrant Little Italy and the dance community turning out in their finest. Of course, being NYC, part of the experience was getting there. On this night, the experience was made more memorable by a group of Hari Krishna chanting and dancing down the street in yellow robes and shaking tambourines. However, this group also had a New Orleans Second Line style trumpet player leading them! As they stopped for a traffic light, Beth Midavaine and I jumped in with some swingsouts and soon found ourselves surrounded by whirling dervishes in bright yellow. Only in NYC, my friends!

When we arrived at the dance and entered the ballroom, I noted the table where I’d photographed Frankie sitting at last year’s Yehoodi 10th Anniversary party. That night I'd heard others sharing their stories about the international dance legend, who was also their local friend Frankie. That night’s performer, Gordon Webster and Friends, was an amalgam of NYC’s hardest swinging musicians. They had the diversity to deliver a steamy version of Fever, the most blistering version of “24 Robbers” you could ever imagine, and Tamar Korn filling the room with Milenberg Joy. Gordon was on a completely different level of playing than I’d ever seen. The brass players (Jesse Selengut and Matt Musselmen) left no doubt, we were witnessing some of the best swing music ever played.

Late in the evening Gordon asked for a moment of silence to pray for Frankie; just when it seemed like the prolonged silence might become awkward Gordon remarked, “that was the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard” and announced he was closing with Shiny Stockings, Frankie’s favorite song. I particularly remember that dance with my follow Beth Midivaine of Rochester. For once, I didn’t have to remind myself, “don’t cock your head, look at your follow and smile”, it just happened. I noticed she was smiling, or beaming, and as I looked around, so was everyone else on the floor. After so many moments of feeling awkward or unsure on the dance floor as I'd struggled to learn this dance, that one perfect moment reminded me why I love lindy hop. Eventually the music had to end, yet we all lingered on the floor, saying thank you and giving our leaders or follows an extra hug or gentle squeeze of the hand and smiling at those around us.

Sunday afternoon we gathered in Harlem as Tin Pan Blues Band filled the bandshell and Marcus Garvey Park with wonderful music. But the afternoon was as much about sharing stories of Frankie as much as dances and despite there being no electrical power to run the equipment needed to DJ band breaks, it didn’t matter. It was a gorgeous day amongst friends in NYC and there was good food just around the corner.

That evening the New York Swing Dance Society held their dance with the Boilermaker Jazz Band in the basement of the St. Jean Baptiste Church, 2 blocks from Lenox Hill Hospital where Frankie had slipped into a coma. We knew his immediate family and friends were there; and here we were, gathering as Margaret Batiuchok dedicated that night’s Shim Sham to Frankie -- and for the first time ever, I nailed it! Me, alongside Dawn Hampton, Joe and Heidi, Evita and so many dancers who’ve inspired me for so long and I Shorty Georged and Boogied back like I’d never been able to do in my life. At the end of the night I remember Dawn smiling at me and touching my hand as she said good night (despite me still never having summoned up the courage to dance with her).

I DJ’ed the last set closing out the late night after party that evening. I remember someone saying they didn’t want to go home and close their eyes because they knew what they’d read in the paper the next morning, so they wanted to just stay out dancing and maybe we could keep Frankie dancing with us for a couple hours longer.

The first time I met Frankie I was DJ'ing the Vegas exchange and we heard he was coincidentally teaching a lindy hop workshop at a rec center near by w/ Chazz and Norma Miller. So about 3 dozen of us poured into this small building on the wrong side of town to stand alongside a collection of aging African American women and the few men they had dragged along with them. The organizers later invited Frankie to the dance that night and Frankie asked me what I'd be playing. I replied, "Basie, Ellington, some Lionel Hampton, the good stuff." Frankie smiled and said, "If you're playing the Count and the Duke instead of all that hip hop stuff people play nowadays, then I may just show up!"

So it was that I closed out BABBLE 2009 with Duke Ellington's East St. Louis Toodle-Oo for Frankie. Afterwards, back at our host’s in Harlem, I too fought to keep my eyes open. There were four of us, people who would never have met and become friends if it were not for Lindy Hop; the Jew from Virginia, a Mormon from San Francisco, an African American from Philadelphia and a NYC local… just four kindred souls in dance sharing stories about the legendary Frankie Manning.

When I woke in the morning I heard Frankie had indeed passed away during those hours. I broke the news to my host Joy and we hugged for a moment before I started to pack for my drive home.

So, I will forever remember where I was when Frankie Manning passed away. I was blessed to have been home, in NYC, amongst our mutual friends, and I was doing the Shim Sham.

The M.S.G Acoustic Blues Trio's Done Spoke My Mind

I’ve been singing the praises of southeast Virginia’s own M.S.G Acoustic Blues Trio, Jackie Merritt (harmonica), Miles Spicer (acoustic guitar), and Resa Gibbs (vocals and percussion), since seeing them perform live in Norfolk and picking up their initial release, Meet Me In the Middle. Despite the musicians’ disagreement, much of the release, and their live performances, are danceable in the relaxed country Piedmont blues, Saturday night fish fry kind of way. The Homecoming Song frequently pops up in my blues sets and Midnight Special and Frankie Johnny are perfect songs for playful harborside swingouts.

The trio’s second album, Done Spoke My Mind, came out recently and I was one of the first people to grab a copy. I was particularly interested in the stripped down field holler spiritual “Ain’t No Grave”, which Resa Gibbs had done live with only her boot stomp on an empty stage and chain dropped in a box for accompaniment. I actually remixed the version here slightly to push up the bass thump and treble bite of the chain.

Having 3 solid singers gives the group a wide range of sounds, and any band that heavily features washboard is always a plus in my book. However, the group’s new release has the performers evolving into a more urban acoustic sound that offers up interesting lyrics with a fair dose of playful commentary on church and social issues, but unfortunately, at the same time, the music itself loses much of the previous energy that made you want to play and dance. Still, it’s a great listen.

However, as a dancer, the traditional Piedmont blues on their Meet Me in the Middle, is my recommendation. Either release is available on cdbaby.com or through their website, www.acousticbluesmsg.com.

CD of the Month

I recently stumbled across Philadelphia singer Gina Sicilia's first album on CD-Baby and while many of the tracks seemed to channel the fire of classic Aretha Franklin or Tina Turner I wasn't prepared for the full vocal power of "Goin' Home Baby", the song off her second album, Hey Sugar, that greets you on Gina's website. Actually, it not so much greets you as grabs you and drags you onto an over-heated late night dance floor before you've even got a chance to take your coat off or catch your breath... and the next 4 songs are equally as good, each in their own way.

In fact, this 13 song CD easily boasts 6 songs I could (and do) play for blues dancers. It's a testament to this artist's versatility and song writing ability that dance friends have been fairly evenly split on which one's they ask me to play. While "I Pray Most Every Day" is an International Song Writing Competition finalist, I have to admit a particularly naughty fondness for the growling horns and flirty rhythmic twists of "So Attracted to You". Meanwhile, straight Chicago blues fans will appreciate Jack and Jill. Musical guests Dennis Gruenling (harmonica), Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet) and Gerry Niewood (saxes & clarinet) are an amazing addition to this talented young singer. The unit sounds like they've been together for ages.

Meanwhile, the remaining 7 songs are no throw away either. Packing a countripolitan charm and warmth that conjures up Patsy Kline you find yourself intently listening to the lyrics about a Cherry Tree and trying not to be more touched than you want to admit.

http://http//www.amazon.com/Hey-Sugar-Gina-Sicilia/dp/B001G9F46E/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238448845&sr=8-1

While you're at it, keep your ears open because there's some buzz we may be seeing this gal at an upcoming east coast event or two in the coming months.