Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
This Saturday is the 25th annual Mermaid Parade at Coney Island, my all-time favorite New York event of the year. The Mermaid Parade is a celebration of all things bizarre, silly and fringey about New York, ostensibly to fete the opening of Coney Island for the summer season, but really just an excuse to dress…
Evita Arce fromSo You Think You Can Dance The latest episode of my lindy hop podcast the "Yehoodi Talk Show" has been posted by my partner Spuds today. We chatted with our pal Evita Arce about her experiences competing on the Fox TV show "So You Think You Can Dance." We are so proud of…
My friend Jamie Sue, on the swing dance website that I administer, made an eloquent statement about why she loves dancing to the blues. I have to quote it in its entirety: I love blues. Blues music reflects a lot of my life view. It lives big and loud. It’s passionate and large. It’s about…
I can see that this is going to be a really interesting third season of the Fox show "So You Think You Can Dance." Through the wonders of TIVO, I got caught up on the last 12-hours of show last night in about three hours. I cried 2-3 times already, and applauded at the TV…
Here’s an amazing video of the Swedish lindy hop performance group the Harlem Hotshots kicking ass and taking names at what looks to be a Swedish equivalent of "America’s Got Talent" called "Talang." Wish I knew what the judges were saying, but clearly they were pleased. There’s a couple more videos up on YouTube for…
This is me attempting to peabody with my friend Monica. I have no idea why my mouth is open like that. Cindy and I had a marvelous day at Governors Island today, enjoying the beautiful sunshine and cool breezes as we listened to the old-timey sounds of the Michael Arenella Orchestra. It was a great…
I got a message from the makers of the kick ass breakdance documentary "Planet B-Boy" today, asking for help in finding a distributor for their amazing indie film. Cindy and I saw it a couple of months ago and were totally blown away by the dancing, the great backstories on the different crews, and the…
The summertime is the perfect time for a lindy hopper in the city. There’s a slew of free or cheap swing-related events going on nearly every weekend. The season kicks off with Michael Arenella and his Dream Orchestra playing on the beautiful Governor’s Island this Saturday. Emphasizing roaring 20s and 30s music, they are perfect…
So over the past couple of months, I’ve been slowly building up Yehoodi’s in-world presence in Second Life, experimenting with our new headquarters in the Plush Non-profit sim (teleport SLURL.) It’s been a good learning experience for us, helping us strategize about our longer term goals in SL. Here’s a brief tour of what we’ve…
Last night we celebrated the 79th birthday of my friend Ms. Dawn Hampton. For most of Dawn’s life, she has been a musician and a singer, playing saxophone and singing with the Hampton family band, and later the Hampton Sisters. But I’ve known Dawn primarily as a lindy hop dancer. She’s a regular at our…