What follows is probably the least technical illustration of what makes classic jazz great for dancing as well a behind the scenes look at the behind the scenes video about Lindy Focus and A Word on Swing.
Frankie100 is a year away and so goes the wild speculation about what it will be like. A recent comment on Facebook got me to thinking about the possible live music for this thing
Reflecting on Boston Tea Party 2012 and where Lindy Hop has come in its relationship to the West Coast Swing community/
At the end of her second encore of the night, after playing for five hours, an exhausted Meschiya Lake motioned for everyone to kneel as she drew out her final chorus. She then joined them on the ground, genuflecting to them as much as they were to her, and drew out a final breathless coda that brought everyone back to their feet, arms outstretched, and thanking her for helping them open this new house of a different kind of worship.
I also took a number of videos this weekend. I’m posting three of them here with a little back ground. These videos are of the last band of the weekend, The Boilermaker Jazz Band. Despite the heavy hitter line up that preceeded them, including bands led by Glenn Crytzer, Jonathan Stout, Gordon Webster, Craig Gildner, and Stacy Brooks; the Boilermakers were still able to rally the near exhausted DCLX-ites to such a frenzy that they held them hostage onstage for THREE encores. You would think batting clean up behind one of the most exciting musical nights in modern Lindy Hop history would be tough, but BMJB hit one out of the park.
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Here are some pictures I took this weekend at the Bally’s Swing Dance Offco-sponsored by Yehoodi.com. Another one of those times where I wish I was a better photographer. Or at least a decent one. But there are a few things I captured that I want to talk about more generally in future posts, so I thought I'd put them up especially since this particular series tells a nice story.
Analogies seem to be in fashion these days, and Lindy Focus is a good one for the way our scene has been developing for the past few years. What started out as a very small regional event, has now blossomed into one of the biggest in the country. I’ve been to the last three Lindy Focuses (Focii?). The first was Lindy Focus 7 just when the event was expanding by hiring bigger name instructors and bands. Now there aren’t just more attendees, but they’re more diverse in terms of experience level. I wrote a bit about this situation last year, and have been wondering how the community will deal with this dynamic in general and how an event like Lindy Focus can deal with it specifically.
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I went to Swing & Soul last weekend. It was big fun. That's all I have to say about that. Usually event reviews detail the music, venues, and classes in order to give a recommendation or not. But what's the point in this case? I don't make it a secret that I've worked for Tena Morales (one of the event directors along with Manu Smithand Peter Strom) on afewevents, so most anything I say has to be taken with a grain of salt. Or at least it should be.
I'd like to be as honest as possible on this blog. Because of that I tend to shy away from negative criticism of events or performances. The scene is pretty small, and I'm pretty aware that any kind of chatter is bound to have some impact on teachers being hired or events succeeding or failing. At the same time I don't want this blog to be just about sunshine and rainbows either. So talking about other events especially competition events, (and ones I have not attended to boot) is a little dicey for me given my work with the International Lindy Hop Championships. I usually get around this by just commenting about videos, but in the case of the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, its getting harder and harder to do that without putting those videos into some sort of context. In my mind, there are local events, regional events, super regional events, and national/international events. There are only a handful of events that I would consider touchstones. Events that everyone talks about even if they weren't there. Events that drive the scene.
I'm not even going to pretend anymore that I have time to blog about much of anything at this point, at least not until after the elections are over. I have been writing a bit about my revelations about life and the nature of the universe, but that stuff has to undergo some serious editing before I send it off to be carved in stone somewhere.
Since I know a good chunk of my massive readership was in New Orleans this past weekend, let's try something different, and you tell me how it went. I'd honestly like to know. If you were too drunk to remeber anything or suffer from low self esteem, then feel free to make something up. Results from the contests would be appreciated as well.
Oh, if you took videos of anything down there, I think I speak for everyone when I say: Get that shit on the interwebs ASAP! please. Feel free to throw in 2008 and 2009 ULHS videos while you're at it. I'm especially interested in seeing footage from the Showdown finals and the pool party. What?
ps just for Andrew: finish reading that thing Karen sent you so I can put something up for these people to read and we can bask in your collective glory.
