Friday April 16, 1999

We are shameless fans of Peaches O'Dell and her stylish show. Accordingly, we made our way to what we thought would be the august inner sanctum of the National Press Club. When we got there, the place was PACKED to the gills. Apparently, we are not the only fans of Peaches in the city.

The dance floor was so crowded that we could HEAR Marc and Ellen teaching their lesson, but we did not SEE them until the second number of the set. John Berlau, organizer of the event, said that there were more than 500 people --- and we believe it! You can bet that the Press Club is going to have more Big Band dances! We want to give big thanks to Maxie Dorf and Iver Cooper for stimulating interest in Balboa --- we got a whole lot of opportunity to practice! After the NPC event, we made our way to Poli-Tiki.

From: Sue Fedor

Yes! I actually went dancing Friday night! Can you imagine? Since the National Press Club was right up the street from where I work, I could not pass up the chance to check out Peaches. Boy, was it crowded. Geezers: Chris Bamberger, Deb Brooks, and Mike Henry were there. Later, Becky, Doug, and a few others showed up. I met a new Geezer- to-be named Jennifer, who just started dancing a few months ago. We took turns practicing Balboa, as several people are in Iver's class. Deb and I practiced together...and let's say that the female anatomy makes Balboa somewhat...uncomfortable. Think about that one, guys! (Deb, they'll probably start paying us money to dance together!)

From: Sue Fedor

Speaking of uncomfortable, it was CROWDED. You could barely dance. We stayed for two sets under the guise of searching for Tony Kornheiser. No sign of the K-man, however. We did a mini jam in the back of the room on the carpeting. Mid way through, my shoe flew off, so I kicked off the other and continued. I can only do that on carpeting and I made a mental note never to jam in those shoes again.

We were very pleased to meet Shannon, a newcomer to DC from NYC. We brought her along to Poli-Tiki -- and now we will continue with Sue's report:

From: Sue Fedor

We ended up at Poli-Tiki, which was as smoky, hot, and noisy as usual. Why, tell me, do we like this place so much? The dance floor is crappy and crowded (although it is really, really springy--so much so that it knocks the CD player off from time to time), the smoky air is oppressive and half the folks there are trying to pick each other up. Could it be because there's NO ADMISSION and WE'RE CHEAPSKATES?One thing I do like is sauntering over to the bar after doing some wild dance floor gymnastics. By now, everyone has seen my underwear, I'm covered in sweat, and the crowd just parts in admiration. Or perhaps the crowd parts out of revulsion at my layers of sweat. I haven't had the nerve to ask. By the end of the evening, all I had to do was look at the bartender and he started pouring me a tall Coke. I didn't even need to wave money around.

We had a low key jam, during which Frank and his partner rose to new heights of excellence with their precision aero and acrobatics....so much so that Peter (Fly Cat) Gehring commented approvingly. Yes, you can take lessons with confidence from proven jam veterans who never miss an opportunity to shine.

PS to the Friday Night Goodtime Gals: Blame me. It's my fault that Steve didn't join us. Apparently, the Koerner/Biczel (I'll never have to spell her name again! Yippee!) rehearsal dinner was over around 9:30 and Steve could have joined us had I been more firm about my plans. I'm so used to not having him around, that I plum forgot!

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