Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
Picture of “SwingingOUT” Group in Toronto, Canada. I’ve heard that there are a couple of lindy hoppers who are working on creating a LGBTQ-friendly swing and blues dance in New York City, which I say is long past due. Other places like San Francisco and Toronto have had long-standing queer-friendly swing dances for years and…
Yesterday I had the pleasure of teaching a hip-hop workshop to a group of Global Kids teens in the Bronx, which was a unique challenge for me for a number of reasons. Here's how it went. Global Kids has been running programs at the middle school IS229 for the past couple of years, exposing these…
This Thursday, December 17, I'm excited to announce a very special holiday Frim Fram Jam, Yehoodi's regular Thursday night swing dance. First up, badass lindy hopper Todd Yannacone will be teaching an advanced dance lesson from 8-9pm and then DJing with Ryan Swift until 1am! As always, the lesson is from 8-9 pm, and still…
"Swingyoucats" has more fun footage from the Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks concert on Saturday in midtown Manhattan, including this vid of dancers enjoying the Nighthawks performance of "Ain't Misbehavin'". Such a fun song, and so deftly performed. Here's another one of WestieGrrl and I charlestoning to "When the Folks Up High Do that Mean…
So for this Christmas, I decided that I wanted to find the ultimate Christmas sweater vest to wear to my family's holiday party. After some unsuccessful web searches and visits to various Goodwill and Salvation Army outposts in the city, I was about to despair. There are just too many ironic shoppers in the city,…
Here's some awesome footage of vintage swing big band Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks performing "Royal Garden Blues" at the "Holiday Tea at Three" in Manhattan yesterday. Taken by twentythreeskidoo, a wonderful young lindy hopper and swing jazz fanatic. I love how she captures all of the musicians doing their solos as well as the…
I got the updated info on the line-up for the Salon New Year's Eve Eve party happening on December 30th. They have an amazing assortment of entertainment on tap at the very swank Player's Club in downtown Manhattan: Headliner: George Gee and the Jump, Jive and Wailers Big Band in the ballroom Queen Esther and…
I'm really digging the new RidetheCity.com website, a service that debuted in 2008 to help bike commuters find the best route from A to B in the city. Let's face it: it's a jungle out there for New York City bikers. We need all the help we can get. The new site integrates elevation data…
The New York Times has a swell tribute to Vince Giordano and his 1920s era jazz big band the Night Hawks in their NY Region section. I must admit that I've been hearing about the Night Hawks for awhile, but have not seen their regular Monday gig at the Hotel Edison. That needs to change…
I ran into Patrick Soluri — composer, musician and just a great guy — at Swing 46 last night and we chatted about the fabulous Salon New Year's Eve Eve party that he and some friends are throwing on December 30th. They have an amazing array of entertainment on tap at the very swank Player's…