Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Quinne from the online ticketing service EventBrite about an article she was writing about lindy hop. We had a lovely phone chat for 15 minutes and I promptly forgot about it. Yesterday her story went live on the EventBrite blog: “How Lindy Hoppers Moved Their Groove…
For a long time, I’ve been wanting to throw a dance video watching party. Tonight I finally got my chance! Using the TwoSeven video sharing service, I got together 30 buddies to watch lindy hop videos, chosen by four lovely dancer friends Amanda Collins, Samantha Nguyen, Ann Mony and Shawn Chiao. Hosting a party for…
An “Exquisite Corpse” is a form of collaborative artwork (typically a drawing or a short story), where each person contributes a small section of the work, but you don’t see the final product until the end. Since we are stuck in quarantine because of the COVID-19 outbreak, I decided to get some friends to collaborate…
During an interview for a blog yesterday, I was musing about what made lindy hop so special to me. And that’s when it hit me: Lindy hop didn’t come from a place where everything was rosy and people were always jumping for joy. It came from the African American community during the Depression, amidst systemic…
I have a lot to be thankful for in 2019, most notably turning 50, getting a fantastic new job, and surviving my first scooter accident. Here’s some of the highlights of the past year. The Big Five-Oh The biggest milestone of 2019 was turning 50 years old in July. I don’t know what I was…
I’m so excited to announce my latest venture: SLICK RIK’S SHOE SUEDING SERVICE! (Say that five times fast.) For the modest fee of $25 I will add smooth suede to the bottoms of your favorite pair of shoes to get you sliding, spinning, and switching with ease. Interested? Head to this form bit.ly/slicksueding, and I’ll…
As a lindy hopper and a jazz enthusiast living in San Francisco, I am embarrassed about how little I know about the historic Fillmore District. In the 1940s and 1950s this area was known as the “Harlem of the West” because of the large number of Black-owned businesses, particularly supper clubs, dance halls, and after-hours…
Here’s my three of my current favorite waackers, doing a showcase together: Lip J, Wizzard and Yoon Ji! I love this showcase for showing off the diversity in their styles: Lip J brings the sexiness and grace, Wizzard with the showmanship and comedy, and Yoon Ji with the passion and energy. I love how broad…
I wrote this for a new course I’m designing. I kind of want to shoot this for real now. Rising Stars SCENE 1: Evening, interior, a casual cafe Two middle aged women are sharing a meal together. KATY: It’s so good to see you, Jo, it’s been too long! JO: I know, I’m sorry. We’ve…
As a birthday present to myself, I hired my good friend Auey of Photograffiti to shoot me in one of my favorite spots: the Music Concourse of Golden Gate Park. I’ve been dancing and hanging out in this section of the park for many years. So it seemed appropriate to do a photo shoot there….