Tonight I finally got to see Fela! the musical on Broadway, after hearing rave reviews from so many other people who had seen it. It was totally worth the hype. Fela! is a lushly created musical production depicting through speech, song, drum, and dance the true story of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, a musician and activist in…
Category: Dancing / Music
“B-Girl” the Movie : A for Effort, C- for Execution
Finally got to see “B-Girl” the movie last night at the Anthology Film Archives in the East Village. It was a small audience for the showing, which was followed by a Q&A with the producer, the director and star of the production Lady Jules. They all seem like such nice people, so I hate to…
Yehoodi 3.0 goes live! Hallelujah!
It's a momentous day for us at Yehoodi.com. Today, January 4th, 2010, Yehoodi unleashes on the internet the latest version of their web platform Yehoodi 3.0. Yehoodi is already the number one web hub for the international lindy hop and swing dance community, with over 40K registered members from Buenos Aires to New Delhi. Now…
Rikomatic’s 2009 Year in Review
I'm not sure anything could encapsulate my entire year better than this one picture from the New York Times. For me it was a sublime, bittersweet moment — leading hundreds of people marching, dancing, clapping, making music, laughing and crying in celebration of the life of one humble man who touched us all. The year…
“Frim Fram” and “Shim Sham” Tattoos!
My friend and fellow lindy hopper Ryan M. was recently traveling in Asheville, NC when he randomly encountered this guy waiting tables who had these tattoos pictured here. According to Ryan, he had no idea that those phrases had any significance to others. He and his friends just used "shim sham" and "frim fram" to…
Swinging in the New Year: 2010 New Years Eve Dance Parties (updated)
Looking to get your swing on during New Year's Eve in New York City? Here's a listing of swing (and soul and blues) dance parties happening over the next few days you might be interested in: Tuesday, December 29: Lo Fi Lee Presents the Holiday Swing Ball at Connolly's, 121 West 45th Street, NYC. Featuring…
Advance Ticket Sales Ending Tonight for Salon New Years Eve Eve Party!
Patrick sent out an exciting update on the already exciting Salon New Year's Eve Eve party happening on Wednesday, December 30th: THE SALON is thrilled to announce sponsorships by DEWARS and INFINIUM SPIRITS! This includes free Scotch tastings all night long by Dewars and top-shelf premium spirits from Infinium featured in our specialty cocktails, at…
Swinging at the Piano Store 10 Years Ago! (video)
Here's some really neat footage of folks dancing and hanging out at one of the coolest swing venues ever, the short-lived Piano Store in the Lowereast Side, back in March 2000. The Piano Store was an actual old piano store that some folks converted into a clandestine hangout for lindy hoppers, loungers, jazz musicians and…
Breaking Photoshoot by my Dad! (pics)
For my Christmas present this year, my dad — quite an accomplished amateur photographer — gave me a free photoshoot! I asked him if he would shoot me doing some breaking moves outdoors, which he happily obliged. We had lovely shooting conditions on Tuesday morning. We found this nearly empty skate park in the…
Jive Off those Holiday Pounds with Maksim, Ashly and Kym of “Dancing with the Stars” (video)
For Christmas, my sister got our mom this "Cardio Dance" DVD featuring "Dancing with the Stars" professional dancers Ashly Costa, Kym Johnson, and Maksim Chmerkovsy. My mom is a huge "Dancing with the Stars" fan, so we knew this would be a hit with her. The Jive routine in particular is cheesy swing goodness from…