I was fortunate enough to catch soul singer Lee Fields performing last night at the Five Spot in Fort Greene, the latest in the impressive monthly live soul music parties thrown by the nice folks at Dig Deeper. What a fantastic night of soul music. Even at Mr Fields advanced age, he still tore it…
Category: Dancing / Music
Frankie Manning Health Update: prayers, cards, good energy appreciated
Update from folks who are close by Frankie Manning in the hospital: As you might have heard, Frankie entered the hospital a week and a half ago, due to problems with his medication. Then on Friday, he was taken into the intensive care unit after he developed pneumonia. It is a very serious situation. Although…
Official Schedule of 2009 “Midsummer Night’s Swing” series at Lincoln Center
Find more videos like this on Midsummer Night SwingHere, finally is the confirmed schedule of this year's Midsummer Night's Swing at Lincoln Center. For those that don't know, Midsummer Night's Swing is a long-running series of dance concerts thrown by Lincoln Center every summer in their courtyard area. On the sad this, this year…
Frankie Manning in the hospital: send in those get well cards!
Here's a message from the Frankie 95 Festival organizers about the health of 94-year old legendary lindy hopper Frankie Manning: Frankie is in the hospital and has been there since last Friday. He's being treated for a bad reaction to a medication and will remain in the hospital for poking, prodding and adjusting. He's very…
“In a Cypher Far, Far, Away”: PMT Breakers at the Spring Showcase
Yesterday and today I performed with the PMT breakers at the PMT Dance Showcase, which is always a blast. This season's show was particularly appealing to me because we had a "Star Wars" theme going on with our routine. I got to be the main evil jedi, leading my troop of Dark Side b-boys against…
Picture of me twittering in the NY Times Sunday Styles Section today!
Check out Bill Cunningham’s lovely photo essay about the Easter Parade on the NY Times website. I come into view at about the 0.44 second mark! I like how Bill captured Boosh and I checking our phones. I’m actually twittering at that exact moment something along the lines of “Looking pimp in the Easter Parade!…
Dancing in the Easter Parade with Michael Arenella & Friends (video)
Yesterday was a lovely sunny and brisk day for the Easter Parade in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue. Thousands of locals and tourists milled about and marveled at the elegant, fanciful, opulent and sometimes ridiculous Easter outfits worn by participants. The lindy hop crowd tends toward the more vintage-y and elegant end of the spectrum, with…
My breaking solo for performance next week (video)
Here's my solo that I'm working on for the breaking performance I'm doing with my group at PMT Studios next week. Yes, the ending is still not done yet, and my swipes need a lot of work. The song is of course "Body Movin'" by the Beastie Boys (1998).
Hula + Swing = Hula Shim Sham (video)!
Here’s a late but very sweet entry in the “Global Shim Sham” project for Frankie Manning’s 95th Birthday Festival. Check out this beautiful and amazingly choreographed hula dance version of the “Shim Sham”! Here’s how the dancers described why they put these two seemingly very different dance forms together: Many traditional hula celebrate and pay…
Yehoodi Talk Show #513 available: Back and chattier than ever
The long-anticipated episode #513 of the Yehoodi Talk Show podcast is finally available. Spuds and I talk about the upcoming Frankie 95 Birthday Festival in May, the new lindy histories website IamLindyHop.com, and why you should wash your hands after every song at a dance. All that and more silliness on this installment of the Yehoodi…