December, 1998 Reviews
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Review of Dance Events During December, 1998

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DANCE REVIEWS






Tuesday December 1, 1998

We checked out the new scene at the Shark Club in Bethesda. This is a very nice venue with a good dance floor. The place is quite elegant and the food is good and not that expensive. We found the staff to be very Lindy Friendly. Mike Lange and Boogie Express played a three sets of very good music and we got in a whole lot of dancing. Cullen Kowalski dropped by and several other couples (who we don't know) also came, so a good time was had by all. And, you can't beat the price --- it was free! We'll have pictures on the website.

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Wednesday December 2, 1998

We, along with Jayna, Sarah, Glynnnis, Laurie, Ray Wiles, Susan Lusi, Doug Pierce, Cullen Kowalski and a number of others dropped into Eleventh Hour to dance to the jazzy sounds of Steve Wolf and Swing Speak. The place is very elegant and is starting to attract quite a crowd --- it was actually hard to find a place to dance! Later, we had a chat with "Daddy-O", Mark and Ellen's DJ and were very pleased to meet two young ladies from Sweden --- guess what?! They did NOT do Lindy. So, I took great pleasure in teaching swingout to a Swede. Very High Concept...

Meanwhile, we missed something on TV:

From: Bob hkominar@grpwise-east .trw.com

Frank,
PBS swings!! Last night, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer had a 10 minute feature on Swing. They focused primarily on Swing in California, but also showed a little of the Swing Scene in New York City. Frankie Manning and several musicians were interviewed. Unfortunately, they did not discuss the popularity of Swing worldwide in places like Stockholm, London, or Zurich. Nevertheless, it was an excellent news story. PBS may post it on the web at www.pbs.org

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Thursday December 3, 1998

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Friday December 4, 1998

We joined the Engels for an evening of dancing at The Birchmere. The Art Directors Guild put on one heck of a party. They are really a great crowd and they had a really super buffet supper. Frank Guldseth and the New Columbia Swing Orchestra were in fine form --- Brooks Tegler once again showed us his "Krupa-best" on the drums. The floor is great and the air conditioning is spectacular. Clearly, the Birchmere is a first class venue and the Art Directors Guild throws a first class party!

From: Elizabeth Engel ewengel@apsanet.org

Friday night through quite a bit of wrangling, I got Jim and I and Frank and Carole into the Art Directors' Guild of DC holiday party at the Birchmere. Doug and Lisa were there, as well as a ballroom couple Frank and Carole knew and introduced us to (whose names escape me at the moment), and a very nice accomplished-dancers-just-getting-into-Lindy couple named Moss and Annie. You know how some nights (s is the case with monst bands, to be honest), NCSO is really hot and sometimes not so much? They were SMOKIN' on Friday. As we were the shills, we danced pretty much every number and had a terrific time.

It's always ego-gratifying to dance in one of these types of situations where there aren't many dancers. Everyone is always so nice, and it's a balm after watching all you fine DC Lindy Hoppers and thinking, "God I'm NEVER going to be that good!"

This was my first trip to the Birchmere, and I have to say that I think it's quite a good environment for dancing. The floor is really nice, it's a huge room with good air circulation, and you can hear the band well all around without it being deafening. We have to try to get a regular swing night there! Dana, the NCSO canary, was in fine voice and gave us quite a treat with many fine tunes (although they didn't have her do Loch Lomond, which I would've enjoyed, as she does such a great rendition of it). It was just a really terrific evening.

From: Sue Fedor deevoo@mci2000.com

Steve and I went dancing Friday night. I know this comes as a shock to most of you, since we haven't been getting out much lately. We joined the gang down at Poli-Tiki on Capital Hill. And what a gang it was...Brian McGill held court with the beginners until about 9 pm, when the DJ took over. We had Mike Henry along with us and were joined up by Ellen Werther and Chris Bamberger. The DJ was spinning a lot of moderate tempo numbers. She started off slow for about the first hour and then slowly speeded things up. Bob Klienpeter was there, joined by Julia Stewart, Susan Luci, Ron (not in the mood to dance) Herron, Eric (always in the mood to dance) Celarier, and a whole host of others. Thomas Iverson and a very beaming Tricia Reneau showed up around 10. We were pumping Tricia for info about California and the U.S. Open and all she could do was give us a silly s*** eatin' grin. Finally, sick and tired of having us not notice, she shoved her dainty left hand in my face. Oh, you're engaged! Duh-uh...as Gay would say, if she had been there. Thomas gave her his grandmother Jeannie's engagement ring. It is inscribed, "To Jeannie" on the inside. This ushered in a round of "I Dream of Jeannie" comments. I could imagine Tricia in a Barbara Eden costume. I'm sure a lot of you could too, so let me change the subject before things get too messy....

The tempo increased substancially and Eric and Julia (much to Julia's surprise) managed to clear the dance floor and take center stage. Realizing that this could be the start of a jam, Thomas took control of the situation and started organizing dancers. Steve and I and Thomas and Tricia were the only regular couples who felt comfortable enough with aerials, so Thomas and Tricia handled the segue from "Sing, Sing, Sing" to "Christoper Columbus" and Thomas tagged Steve and I to close out the jam. OK...maybe it wasn't planned quite that precisely, but that's how it worked out.

Poli-Tiki is fun. Never having been to Zones, I could not compare. But folks who have like P-T better. P-T reminded me of The Spy Club in Cleveland. In both the Spy Club and P-T, the smokers really don't overwhelm the dancers. The bar is big enough to accomodate everyone and there's other things to do if you don't dance. I wish the floor were bigger, but even so, we still had more room to dance there than we would at America (maybe that will change when the cover at America goes up to $12). The drinks are generous for a $1.50. The unseasonably warm weather made for some sweaty, sweaty dancers, but a short visit to the stairway for a breeze break took care of that. The parquet floor is sticky...so until somebody cleans and buffs it, be sure to bring some leather soled shoes.

Ellen, Chris, Mike, Ron, Steve, and I headed off to Arlington and the Silver Diner. We collectively decided that Ron was having the most interesting social life of anyone at the table so we formed an instant Grand Jury and proceeded to mercilessly interrogate him. He cracked, like a thin piece of crystal. He was smart not to tell us too many details about his Saturday afternoon movie date, or else some of us might have been tempted to show up to the theater with a camera and a telephoto lens.... Not content with ending the evening in a diner, we moved on to Chris's house. Rob was tucked safely in bed. We offered to go up and kiss him goodnight, but Chris thought that would be way too much excitement for him. So we ended up watching dance videos instead.

From: Nancy Baird baird1@erols.com

We finally convinced the management at Washington Sports Clubs to let us put the band in the aerobics room instead of the basketball court. Instant atmosphere! (One of these days, we may even be allowed to enter through the front door!)

The Sevilles were every bit as good as their advance billing. And of course, Tom and Debra did their usual fantastic job with the introductory swing lesson. We will miss having them next year when they are back at America every Friday night, but wish them all the best.

Chris Cowles and Laura Avery were in attendance, practicing for the show they will do for Laura's church soon. John Gilmore showed up in his Marine uniform, looking very military and dancing up a storm. He was an instant favorite partner of every young lady there. Tom's soon-to-be better half came by towards the end of the evening - its always a pleasure to watch Carolyn dance. And Diane Carroad stopped by to finish up the evening with us, so we had quite a few really, really good dancers to enjoy.

From: Cameron Sellers Cameron.Sellers@mail .house.gov

On Friday night, Lisa and I went to Zones to get our money from winning the competition two months ago, and then we were going to check out Poli-Tiki. When I arrived, Steve and Carla were teaching a room full of students and for the first time in the history of Swing, men and women were equally divided. While Steve and Carla and Lisa and I were the only regulars, the room was packed with dancers. This is a testament that the swing scene can sustain itself without the regular Glen Echo/America crowd. Swing is definitely mainstream.

The lesson lasted until 10:30 and by the time we got a few dances in it was already 11:30, so we decided to skip Poli-Tiki and stay at Zones. The crowd never thinned out and actually got bigger as the night wore on. I left around 1:30 and the place was still going. Yancy kept the crowd on the dance floor with his mix of old and new, slow and fast swing songs. He is getting as good as Bernstein. Lisa and I never got our check because of a logistical mix up, so the moral of the story is if you win a competition, do not leave the place until you collect your money.

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Saturday December 5, 1998

We were at Nick's for Tom and Debra's first Saturday gig. We had a great time, and from the volume of mail on the event (below) it looks like this will be a smashing success. We are especially intrigued by Nick's policy of opening the back room after the dance for dining and additional dancing. Finally, a club owner has found a way of capturing the revenues that would otherwise go to the diner. We hope that this concept will find its way to other swing venues.

From: Elizabeth Engel ewengel@apsanet.org

Several of us had been practicing for all of about a week to open the SAS holiday "Spin the Globe" party with a swing jam. Participating were Jana (in spirit, clapping, hooting and hollering on her bad foot), Corey and Huey, Tony and Ann, Eric and Erica, Jim and I, and Lisa and Cameron. We performed to the Swing Kids soundtrack version of Sing, Sing, Sing. Despite problems getting together to practice, being unable to pre-test the space, the floor, or the sound system, and starting rather late, I think it went really well, and the crowd seemed to enjoy it tremendously. We got in to the event for free, they had all sorts of wonderful south Asian food for us, and we got paid in pie! Not a bad deal for 60 seconds of dancing. Jim and I made our first attempt at choreography in the all of 2 days that we had to practice after parceling out the song, and amazingly it went OK. We choreographed a bit too much stuff, so we had to cut out one of our tricks (the Babs and break), but we actually remembered what we had planned, so I think it was pretty darn successful outing.

After Spin the Globe, we all decided to head out for some more dancing. This was our first time at Nick's, and we had a blast! It seemed like most of the regulars chose Nick's over Glen Echo, so there was a very good crowd. We hadn't seen lots of folks in a while, and I felt like Cinderella at the ball dancing with all the fellas I haven't seen in weeks. It was great to see Ms. Bamberger out and even better to hear a report that Rob is doing quite well and was back on the air with Hot Jazz. Everyone was in a very celebratory type mood - don't know if it was the spring-like weather, the approach of the winter holidays, or Tricia and Thomas's engagement, but everyone danced up a storm.

Bernstein spun his usual excellent mix, even continuing the swing in the main room about 30 minutes past the official "closing" time, when it's supposed to migrate over to disco. We then headed to the back room for more swing tunes, more dancing, and food.

If you haven't been to Nick's yet I highly recommend it. It's got a decent (and decent sized) floor, they're going to be having a really good line up, alternating between Bernstein and live bands, it's temperature controlled with bathrooms right in the building, and the staff is VERY friendly. We had a blast, and we're planning to head back for TCO this coming Saturday night.

From: Sean Sanders sanderss@dc37a.nci.nih.g ov

The room when quiet... the disco lights began flashing.... smoke poured out of a cannon-shaped contraption on the roof... and then the music began thumping. But hang on, I'm getting ahead of myself - that was the end of the evening. So let me go back a couple of hours:

Nick's, a strange pub-club chimera, nestles in the bowl of the 495's seductive southern curves, just off Van Dorn Street. It is part of what appears to be an industrial strip mall, a great advantage as far as parking is concerned (cf. Poli-Tiki, Eleventh Hour, or Zones). The floor isn't half bad - not too slippery, and, for a barroom floor, not too sticky (once again, cf. Poli-Tiki). The lighting is adequate, if a little dark. The weird experience, however, came with dancing under black lights, which made those of us in white shirts look slightly freakish, and those in white socks, slightly embarrassed. So if you go, you're advised to dress in your best, fashionable noir.

There was a great turn-out on Saturday, with a large number of the regulars there. But at no time did the floor get too crowded. And after Bernstein was finally dragged, kicking and screaming, from the control booth, we all retired to a great little back-room to continue swinging (after a quick break from the norm to bop to The Village People and Gloria Gaynor, all divas in their own way).

Nick's is a bit of a ways for us Maryland bunch to travel, but I'll definitely be wending my way back down there again. It's a great alternative to Glen Echo or America, and worth crossing the Potomac for.

From: Lisa Morgan Brown lisamorganbrown@yahoo.com

Saturday December 5th was certainly a day for kicking up our heels!

Earlier in the evening, a small group of us were able to jam at GWU's "Spin the Globe," a cultural display of dance, music, and food. The participants were Ann Amarga (who organized) and Tony, Erik and Erica, Huey and Cory, Jim and Elizabeth Engel, and Cameron and me. It was a good time. Of course, Jayna was there, gussied up, with a saddle shoe drawn onto her foot cast (and also signed by Big Bad Vodoo Daddy). She even got to participate in the jam by cheering everyone on.

Then we rounded up most of the lindy hoppers from the jam to head over to Nick's in Alexandria. It was quite a treat. The music was, of course, excellent (thanks, Bernstein), and there were plenty of familiar lindy faces. We also learned early in the evening that Tricia and Thomas had just got engaged!

Once eleven o'clock rolled around, Tom Koerner grabbed the mike and dismissed everyone. But instead of leaving, a fair crowd lingered and ended up in the "back room," a smaller room with booths, tables, and a small dance floor. Koerner and Bernstein began spinning the tunes again! After only a few songs, early in the retreat to the "back," someone decided to remove the stage (which served no purpose than to cover up valuable dance space). So a handful of the macho lindy men took it upon themselves to do away with the stage by removing it by section by section and stacking it against the wall. And so we danced on the expanded floor space.

Once settled into the tables in the back, wait staff came and took our orders. Throughout the evening, the small crowd and the familiarity of the faces gave me the sense that we were part of a private party. This feeling was heightened when we went into the "back." All in all, the evening was a pleasant surprise. Nick's was an enjoyable venue.

From: Cameron Sellers Cameron.Sellers@mail .house.gov

Jayna and Anne, head of the George Washington Swing Club, organized a swing dance demonstration for the college's annual Cultural Diversity Event. Jim and Elizabeth, Huey and Cory, Anne and Tony, Eric and Erika, and Lisa and I did a jam to "Sing, Sing, Sing." The best part of the event was the food. The Chinese and Indian dishes were great.

After the event, we all hopped into a couple of cars and headed for Nicks. Bernstein was spinning the CDs to a crowded room. For $7, I got a place to sit down, order a drink, and space on the dance floor. Management really wants Swing night to work so they opened up the back room after 11:00 p.m. and allowed us to dance back there and order food.

The music was still playing by 1:30 a.m. in the morning. So if you get shut out at Glen Echo because of the self imposed fire code, come check out Nicks. Or if you love dancing at Glen Echo do what I will do in the future, go to Glen Echo first and then go Nicks.

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Sunday December 6, 1998

From: John "Psychoboy" McCalla mhijohn@gte.net

I wanted to let you guys know I'm now in Frederick, MD. My 8 week session began on this past Sunday (Dec. 6th) with an Intermediate Class from 7-8pm, Beginner from 8-9pm and Open Dance from 9-11pm. Classes are being held at the William Talley Rec. Center (Bentz Street Armory) every Sunday. The room is huge, with a wonderful wooden floor!! Our first night was a great success! We had over 107 in our beginner class!

Also noteworthy- I will be hosting my first big "SWING DANCE" It's to be held on Jan. 30th at the William Talley Rec Center (Bentz Street Armory). I will be featuring the Bill Eliot Trio and the dance will be from 9pm to11pm, with a beginner Lindy Hop lesson at 8pm.. Tickets are $8.00 each and will go on sale on Jan. 3rd from 10am-12pm. Sales will continue after 12 based on ticket availability. Tickets can be purchased at Venus on the Half Shell in Frederick

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Monday December 7, 1998

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Tuesday December 8, 1998

We joined Mark and Ellen for a fun evening at Ozio. Dan Dailey was sipping on a Manhattan and looked very sophisticated. On a whim, I asked the waitress if she could make me something nonalcoholic and serve it in a Martini glass. Of course, I had to go into the whole routine about not making it too sweet or sticky because Lindy Hop is sort of like going to the gym in funny clothes... After some time, the bartender created something that he called the "Swingers Special" -- it had orange juice, cranberry juice and something else. He even garnished it with a very humorous "fruit salad" on a swizzle stick. Once again, there were a fairly large number of people who have become curious about Swing. Ellen and Mark did their best to get them started, and the dance floor was even crowded at one time.

One fellow brought in a photo of a couple doing a lockup and dared Mark and Ellen to do such a "complicated" move. Ellen referred him to us (their students...) and we did the lockup. For some reason this was very popular with the crowd, so we wound up doing it about six times for the folks who had cameras. (Who takes a camera to a cigar bar?)

When the gig was over, Mark, Ellen, Andy (DJ "Daddy-O"), We headed to Adams-Morgan to check out the swing night at Chief Ike's that had been advertised in the City Paper. Alas, plans for "Swing Night" had not yet been shared with the staff at Chief Ike's. However, the house DJ kindly interrupted the "Techno-Thunder" to allow Andy to play Jerry Lee Lewis and Benny Goodman for a few dances. It always helps to travel with your own DJ and dance teachers... We were very glad to see Glynnis there, drawn by our announcement on the website. She did get to do a little dancing. So, no swing night at Chief Ike's. The next morning, we did, however, get a nice note from Rachel at Chief's, thanking us for stopping by.

From: Cameron Sellers Cameron.Sellers@mail .house.gov

Angela and Brian invited Lisa and I to a reception at the 9:30 club. A recording Association was having its annual Christmas event and the theme was Lounge Swing. They decked the place out like a lounge room and brought in a swing band from New York . It was strange dancing on a floor usually packed with 1500 kids on it. Amanda and John from Baltimore taught the beginner lesson for the invited folks and they brought some friends. Their friends are desperately trying to create a club scene in Baltimore, and I hope their efforts are successful. Good luck!

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Wednesday December 9, 1998

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Thursday December 10, 1998

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Friday December 11, 1998

We had a great time on Friday --- first, Elizabeth and Jim invited us for a spectacular dinner of Pasta Con Quattro Formaggi (check the website for the recipe). From there, we were off club hopping, first at Poli-Tiki and then at Zones. Elizabeth has written a great review, and we will suffice to congratulate Poppy Rotter and Matt Kendall for their victory in the Dance Contest. They did a crowd-pleasing routine that had a whole lot of aerials. Other contestants were Elizabeth and Jim, Bill Puschmann and Vicki Harrison, and Kerry Halpern and Lorne Teitelbaum.

From: Elizabeth Engel ewengel@apsanet.org

After a lovely dinner with Frank and Carole, the four of us headed over to Capitol Hill for an evening of dancing. We took a brief detour by the place Jim and I will be moving to next month (you could see a lot from the street in the dark, let me tell you....) and landed at PoliTiki. I hadn't been there until shortly after they started the swing nights and the place has become quite the scene. The floor is a lot better - I think they did some work on it - and the DJs always spin great tunes. Lots of folks were there: Eric, Misha, Doug, Bernstein, Arnold, Julia, Lisa, a bunch of followers who I know but whose names I don't know (doesn't it always work that way!!)...it was a good crowd. We had a jam, we had a really bad shim sham - we were too disorganized, and no one really stepped up to be the "leader" (Debra we needed you!), so it took us until about mid way through the song to get together. WE were there for 2 hours, and it just flew.

We then decamped for Zones so Frank and Carole could judge the dance contest. We got there in time to dance a few numbers and then the contest was Bill and Vicki, Jim and I, and two other couples I didn't know. One of the other couples won the $100. I don't think they were Lindy Hoppers, but she looked like she had some hustle background and they threw a bunch of air steps. Oddly enough, I later heard a rumor that Bill had recruited them when it looked like he and Vicki were going to be the only dancers. Oops! It was a nice time, and it's good to see that the scene at Zones continues to be popular. It always amazes me when we go there: the only floor that's really hopping is the swing floor. But we all know why that is.

From: Bob Roxbrough RRoxbrou@grpwise-east .trw.com

I just wanted to compliment Ed Burak and Ann for the outstanding beginner lesson they taught at the Washington Sports Club in Centerville Friday night. For reasons too complicated to recount here, I ended up taking the free beginner's lesson offered by Ed and Ann before the band began their performance. Their introductory lesson was exceptional!! They managed to weave 8- count steps into the normal 6-count beginner lesson. Emphasizing the importance of dancing to the music, Ed and Ann threw a few breaks into the routine and had the entire class of raw recruits dancing in-phrase to the music. Before Friday, I don't think I had heard of 8-count steps and breaks being featured during those large introductory swing lessons. Ann said that they hoped their lesson would whet people's appetites for swing and for taking up Lindy Hop. Based on the positive comments I heard from the other students, Ed and Ann clearly reached and exceeded that goal.

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Saturday December 12, 1998

We were at Nick's for Tom and Debra's sceond Saturday gig. Once again, Elizabeth has beaten us to the punch with another dynamite review!

From: Elizabeth Engel ewengel@apsanet.org

Cameron, Jim, and I trucked over to Nick's Saturday night to listen and dance to TCO Lite (I didn't *think* there would be room for *all* of them and a crowd of dancers on that floor!). It was another terrific evening of dancing, with the band wisely (given the crowded conditions) playing more mid-tempo stuff, which fortunately prevented any major injuries. Mara the college gal favored us with her presence, as I think she's returned home for the holdiays, and with sad tales of fellow students unwilling to do anything but Johnny Swing. Perhaps a mass weekend trip to St. David's to help her show those poor benighted souls some REAL swing might be in order this spring? It was great to hear TCO again too, after a long (on our part) absence. Given the reduced ranks of the band, Tom filled in all over the place on his trumpet and they tried a whole bunch of "trumpet replacing instrument X" experiments that I thought went really well.

I must say, I really enjoy Nick's. They have decent and cheap food, the waitress (I think her name is Michelle) is REALLY nice to us, and there's an easily accessible bar sink we're free to use for water. The jam was good fun, and it included Duke and I doing a cute little impromptu thing and Tom practically sitting on Debra at the end. Anyway, I would definitely keep my eye on the schedule over there, and consider Nick's to be a terrific Saturday night alternative to long lines and occasionally surly Park Rangers.

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Sunday December 13, 1998

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Monday December 14, 1998

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Tuesday December 15, 1998

We joined Mark and Ellen for a fun evening at Ozio. Once again Dan Dailey was sipping on a Manhattan and looked very sophisticated. We were pleased to note that Glynis brought a whole crowd, including Josh, Tom, Catherine, Minerva, and Emilia. The large crowd seemed to have a very good time.

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Wednesday December 16, 1998

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Thursday December 17, 1998

From: Russel Olinger

Hello DC Dancers:

I have lived in DC for nearly 16 years, went to middle and high school in Woodbridge and college at Radford University - never once had I heard or saw anything about swing dancing. 8 months ago I moved temporarily to LA for a contract with my company, one of my new colleagues mentioned the movie swingers, gave me a copy of Cherry Pop and Daddies and directions to the infamous LA Derby (yes, the old Brown Derby). Literally 3 weeks after my arrival in LA I was in love, felt like I had found my calling, and was brutally smashing my away across with floor with wondrous moves like the Pretzel - ohhhhhhhh *shiver*!!!! And where was I for the previous 16 years when all this was growing right beneath my nose?

Well, needless to say, my impressive moves were only impressive to people who had never danced before - to them, I WAS the GAP commercial. But to the people who knew, I was an annoyance, a newbie, a POSER - and more importantly, I was a physical danger to their general health. I thought I was the rage until one day I asked this fly looking 40's chic to dance - she looked me over, looked down her nose at me and said "No...you will hurt me" and with that she looked away, was thrown out onto the dance floor by a skilled gent and proceeded to dance like Ginger Rogers. I sheepishly walked away, trying to hold my shattered ego in my arms like a college student running down 6 flights of stairs with three arm loads of laundry not trying to drop an item. It didn't work, my crushed confidence dripped across 20 yards of dance floor as I found my way towards the exit.

Well, needless to say, the girl gave me a renewed determination - no longer was I going to be an elbow flying, elephant stomping menace to society. The next day I signed up for swing lessons, no not just one class - but two classes. On Monday I took 2 1/2 hours of Savoy Lindy Hop and on Tuesdays I took 2 1/2 hours of East Coast Swing. And nearly every night of the week you would find me in the back rooms of dark clubs (ego checked at the door) hustling dance moves, soliciting free lessons and smoothing tips like your local crack dealer in his prime. Now, 8 months later, that girl who kicked me to the curb like a used dish rag comes asking me for a dance!!! Every once in a while I grin and say NO. Although she doesn't find it as humorous as I do. *shrug*

I have developed a strong lead, been taking lessons from the Steven's sisters of Pasadena (host of Catalina) and Erik and Sylvia (at Camp Hollywood) - but mainly I get all my good stuff from The Derby. There, at the Derby, street style swing seems to run the crowd - mean troupes of Dean Collins dancers rule the clubs in LA. Savoy is child's play to these folks - however I like blending the two together. East Coast Swing IS child's play and if nothing else serves its purpose to attract the unknowing. I have joined the swing phenom during its crescendo and am riding its coat tails to the top - its a blast. I just hope its craze isn't a fad - I don't want to see this fade out of existence as fast as Michael Jackson's parachute pants fell out of Vogue contention for "best multi-purpose clothing" (i still use mine as a mosquito net for my tent)

Anyway, I am back in DC for two weeks as my house gets packed and I am officially transferring to Southern California. But the fun part about my transfer is that I am DRIVING across America - an excellent dance partner of mine is flying out on Jan 2nd and on the 3rd we begin our cross-country trek. Our goal: TO DANCE ACROSS AMERICA. Well, at least along the southern route - too damn cold up north. So, we are going to hit cities like Atlanta, Knoxville, Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, Phoenix and maybe one or two others - but what I am asking you all is to help me pick the best Lindy Friendly places along the way. We are both (LA terms for ya here:) floor whores, swing sluts, lindy whores - you name it, who cares, but we want to DANCE. Who can help - got any recommendations - any suggestions....oh and by the way, we are starting our trek Jan 2nd, Saturday, in Washington DC - so help me out folks. At least give a good Lindy Place for saturday nite in DC, can't disappoint my native LA friend on her first trip to our nations capital (though I will try to keep her away from the Oval Office).

Keep those feet a-glidding -
-Russel Olinger

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Friday December 18, 1998

We spent a great evening at Poli-tiki. We were real pleased to see a big crowd for Thea and Brian's lesson that was just ending as we walked in. We were greeted by Kathy Armstrong who had brought along a group of relatives who were anxious to see a swing jam and Shim Sham. Kathy organized the thing, and Matt Dunn was gracious enough to spin both "Sing Sing Sing" and "Stompin at the Savoy". The line of jammers was surprisingly large. I'm afraid that we had a little bit of trouble kicking off the Shim Sham (where is Debra when you need her the most...). There was a nice crowd, including the lovable and talented Mark "Mr. Charm" Bernstein who freely offered his observations on Swing, Vintage clothes, the Internet, and Lindy Hop to all within earshot. Like ants at a picnic, it really isn't Lindy without Bernstein.

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Saturday December 19, 1998

We had the real pleasure of working a private job with the J Street Jumpers for the Holliday party of the Arthur Anderson Company. The function was held at the Kennedy-Warren Ballroom. There were quite a few swing dancers at the event and we had a great time. They sure threw one heck of a party.

From: Ellen Werther
Michael Reis, one of the most generous people in our "little" dance community, got me a ticket to this year's "Home for the Holidays" dance in Frederick MD. So last Saturday night, I dolled myself up and joined Michael and Chrissy, as well as Bill & Trish, Jack Hilton, Psychoboy (who now, I am told, has more than 100 students in his class) and Fredericks finest to hear Doc Scantlin and His Imperial Palms Orchestra.

Doc rarely changes his book so I used to find him tiresome (and he doesn't --by his own admission-- play for dancers.) But it has been ages since I last "saw" him (you really do go to watch a Doc Scantlin show rather than to dance the night away).

Chou Chou looked gorgeous in the 30s style gowns she wore. (She makes them herself, they are spectacular and I want one!) Lynn McCune was with them that night--a pleasant surprise--and she led the Conga line, which I enjoyed even tho' I said I wasn't going to. But best of all was hearing Jenelle sing "Summertime" Stupendous. I think she has an incredible voice.

Sad to say, Ricky Schmidt is no longer with the orchestra. The new violinist (not so new anymore) is very good, but he's no Ricky. And if Doc did any numbers featuring Tommy on the drums or Mark Cartisian on the keyboard I didn't hear it.

The dance floor was so crowded while the orchestra was playing we really only got to dance during the breaks. Then, my goodness, we had practically the whole floor to ourselves. And it was FAST. Wow, like ice, it was so fast! Well, maybe the shoes I was wearing had something to do with it. Again, special thanks to Michael Reis for the special treat.

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Sunday December 20, 1998

Leon Trager invited a whole gang of dancers to his palatial Potomac home for a Sunday of great food, holiday cheer, and dancing. Steve, Carla, and Carissa were there, along with Ben Rathbone (Dana is off skiing), Frank the Magician and Nora, Erik Newton, Christy Etcher, Arnold and Lil Taylor and, of course, Leon Trager, himself.

Leon is the head of the local Objectivist group, and appropriately, his Holiday tree has a giant gold dollar sign on top. [There's nothing like being Objective about Christmas]. Leon asks his guests to bring an ornament for the tree, so we made him a fan of Monopoly money with a picture of Leon and Vise Grip in the middle. For those of you who don't know either Leon or Objectivism, let us say that Leon is a really great guy and you don't find people more generous, kind, or hospitable than he. Leon and Arnold are doomed to be perpetually young.

We brought tapes of both the J Street Jumpers gig at BET and some clips from Maxie Dorf's movies. There is a movement building for learning Balboa and the general consensus is that Maxie is just as smooth as silk. And, let us thank another great guy --- Maxie Dorf -- for sharing his clips with us.

Personally, we'd like to thank Steve and Carla for teaching us a really great Squat Charleston routine.

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Monday December 21, 1998

From: Steve Lavagnino

Frank and Carole,
I recently went on a mini 4-day weekend vacation to visit my Uncle in Melbourne, Florida. Since I had not been dancing all week in preparation for my trip, I had some serious dance withdrawal pains. Some web searching revealed that Melbourne has a Swing club. It is called the "R" Swing club. They meet at the Dance Center at 678 N. Wickham Rd. and can be reached at (407) 632-0404. It turned out there meeting for the week was on Friday, the day I flew in, so even though I was only operating on 4 hours of sleep I had to try it out.

The dance floor was moderately sized with tables surrounding it and a nice holiday decorative atmosphere. Cookies, munchies, and drinks were included with the price of admission. Since it was a dance studio and not a bar, it was a non-smoking, non-alchohol event. The scene with this swing club was much older than D.C. with the average age being well above 30 and the attendence was about 50 people. They gave pre-dance lessons in the foxy , a very closely danced variation of the foxtrot, as well as a basic primer in swing.

There were some good swing dancers here, including one woman who had learned a lot of dancing in Denver. She taught me a move or two and was able to pick up the lindy hop in a hurry. One of the older ladies I danced with had learned the lindy hop when it originally was popular in New York. One younger couple informed me that on Wednesday nights a club called Ozio's (spelling?) hosted swing dancing and that a younger more energetic crowd was usually in attendence. I didn't stay in Melbourne long enough to check it out. Even though they didn't know a lot of lindy or charleston, I had fun showing people new steps and learning new dances. Overall my dance craving was satisfied.

Some other resources for dancing in Melbourne and in South Florida, but have not experienced yet are:

Those of you looking for swing dancing during a winter getaway or swing break trip, may want to check these out and let us know what you find.

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Tuesday December 22, 1998

We joined Mark and Ellen for yet another fun evening at Ozio. Due to the holidays, things were just a bit light, but we made up for it by using a lot more of the space that was available.

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Wednesday December 23, 1998

Boy did we have a day! Debra Sternberg called to see if we wanted to go out antique hunting. We also got to ride in Debra's new car (very nice, but no Cow seat covers...) We checked out antique and thrift stores in Woodbridge and Fredricksburg looking for an Art Deco sofa for Debra's new house. We were not successful, but we had a very nice time. At 4:00pm, we set out on the return journey --- everything went very well for the first fifteen minutes. We found a gas station that had regular at seventy five cents per gallon!

After that, the ice storm hit and we spent the next four hours in a massive traffic jam on I-95. We managed to talk about everything under the sun. The most interesting topic was the Lindy Whip. Gas prices aren't the only thing that is going down -- it seems that there is a movement afoot to have the leader let go on Four. First it was Six, then Five, now Four. If this keeps up, the logical extension is to have the leader let go on Two, effectively eliminating the Whip... The goal is to allow the follower time to do styling. Heck, why not eliminate any partnering and just have styling! We could call it something catchy like Free Jitterbug or "Frug" for short.

From: Lisa Morgan Brown
The holiday time, the middle of the week, and perhaps the newly fallen snow were all factors leading to a small turnout of dancers on Wednesday night. Despite the snow, I was determined to go dancing! (After spending 10 days in Costa Rica this month, I needed to get myself warmed up into the swing groove again! =) I headed to Lulu's and found only a handful of people. But it was a good handful!

The dance floor had plenty of space, even when most of the dancers were dancing. And, of course, the lighting there illuminates the open floor... (those lights are the worst part about Lulu's! It's hard to see anything when the orange spotlight is blinding you!). Cameron was away (he was home in Arizona )= , but I was lucky enough to dance with a new face, Charlie, from San Diego. He appeared out of nowhere and he was great! Lots of style and plenty of double spins. When I started talking about Cameron, he asked if that was the same Cameron all over Frank and Carole's web page ("Asian guy? Glasses?"). Not only had Charlie "heard" of Cameron, but when I was talking about working on my swivel, he told me I looked like Jewel McGowen! The guy ranks high on my list! So among the regulars, Tom, Larry, Caroline, Sean, Lisa, Doug, Kelly and others, Lulu's turned out to be well worth risking the wind and weather.

Then Doug, Lisa, Sean, Charlie and I all headed over to 11th Hour to check it out. For several of us, it was our first time there. The band was just wrapping things up (it was about 11:30 when we got there), but played a few more songs for us. Steve Cowles and Dr. Dan were there, plus about 3 or 4 other dancers, including a couple who looked good in their vintage garb... I met them but now I've forgotten their names. Jamie Glover came over and thanked us for coming. He seemed quite pleasant and glad to see us, on an "otherwise dead evening." We livened things up until about 1:00, when we all skidded home in the snow.

You will most likely be hearing from Charlie, who checks out your web page about once a week.

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Thursday December 24, 1998

This was Christmas Eve, so there wasn't exactly a whole lot of dancing going on. We hosted a little dinner party with just the family and the J Street Jumpers. (Charlie Hubbell rents a room from Carole...) The significant high point of the night (for me) was when Carole's daughter Haley gave me a Louis Prima CD --- for nearly five years, we have been trying to interest her in swing. Persistence pays off

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Friday December 25, 1998

This was Christmas day, not exactly a big time for Lindy Hop. Only 125 hardy souls tuned into the website. Thanks for spending Chrismas with us, readers! We went over to Sue and Steve's house in the evening for a great time. A surprisingly large number of people made it over and we had a great time.

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Saturday December 26, 1998

From: Elizabeth Engel ewengel@apsanet.org

The day after Christmas (Boxing Day for all you Brits), Jim and I decided to head into Philly with my brother and his fiancee and some friends to check out the scene. After reviewing our options (and discovering that The 5 Spot was going to have salsa and being unable to reach anyone at the District to determine what, if anything, was happening there), we decided to check out the Eden Roc Supper Club at 15th and South Streets.

Ronnie James and the Jez Hot Swing Club were supposed to be performing. Sadly, when we arrived, we discovered that Ronnie was home sick and another unspecified band was on its way. So we danced to swing CDs for the next hour and a half. Eden Roc is a cute little place - it's over a bar, and Dominic, the owner, is setting it up as an elegant supper club. We had a great time dancing for the small but appreciative crowd, we bumped into a Fly Cat (Todd, for those of you who are curious), and we got to chat with Dominic for a while. He's very nice, and very into and supportive of swing. We had a great time, even when the band turned out to be a (very good) jazz trio. (I told my brother that he was getting to see what we do on vacation every year, as we're big fans of jazz festivals.) If you get to Philly, do stop by Eden Roc for dinner and a dance and to say hi to Dominic. After that, we decided to head over to the New Market Cabaret on 2nd between Lombard and Pine to hear the Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie Band. It's set up like Jim's idea of the perfect swing club - dance floor in front of the bandstand with some tables and chairs around it, with most of the seating on a higher level overlooking the whole thing. There were a bunch of kids practicing air steps and not a whole lot of people actually dancing when we got there. Yes, as you've no doubt heard from Maura, Lindy hasn't really hit Philly yet. The PSDS is a mostly West Coast crowd, and the kids that are coming in seem to be mostly concerned with air steps and little concerned with dancing. OTOH, I have also heard that most of the hot dancers go to 5 Spot, but since we don't really salsa very well, we thought we should pass on that.

Anyway, we danced a lot and had a generally good time, although most of the kids seemed unwilling to approach us (OK, so we were a *few* years older than most of the other people there....). Fortunately, my brother knew a few of the people there so we had some other people to dance with and talk to.

Towards the end of the evening, a tiny little blonde woman who was also mercifully older than 17 showed up. I noticed her watching us dance, and the next thing I knew, she'd snagged Jim and she didn't give him back! They danced a few numbers, then she asked us if we'd mind if she watched us and took some photos. So we obliged by pulling out all of our small store of moves for her to the furiously paced last few tunes (we were literally the only dancers left at that point).

Turns out she's someone I think a lot of the Lindy old timers around here know - Jane Lieberman. We had a really nice time chatting with her as the band was packing up about the scene in Philly (she's been trying to get Lindy going off and on for 11 years without much success), the scene in DC (we told her she has to come down and visit us sometime), dance camps, and of course all the good gossip about ALHC.

I think a swing field trip might be in order - we could all stop by Eastern for a dance to show the kids there what they're missing and help Maura get them excited about Lindy, then head into the city to try to get the kids there excited about Lindy, too. Let's spread the word, people!

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Sunday December 27, 1998

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Monday December 28, 1998

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Tuesday December 29, 1998

We tok Haley to Vienna Grille to test out her newly acquired swing dancing skills. The place was absolutely packed to the gills. We even got Steve COwles and Bob Kleinpeter in the same jam.

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Wednesday December 30, 1998

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Thursday December 31, 1998

We were at Glen Echo for New Years Eve. We had a great time -- a far cry from LAST year when I was sick as a dog. The Rockin Bones were fantastic and a good time was had by all. Here are the reviews:

From: Sue Fedor deevoo@mci2000.com

Our cold acquaintences, not forgot
while the wind outside does blow...
Our frozen digits now are shot
At old Glen Eskimo

At Glen Eskimo, dear friends, at Glen Es-ki-mo...
We'll wear our overcoats and dance
At Glen Eskimo...

We gathered on that frosty day
500 balloons to blow [and tie...]
To raise up in the rafters, high
In Glen Eskimo

At Glen Eskimo, dear pals, at Glen Es-ki-mo
We popped them in ten seconds flat
At Glen Eskimo.

To warm our hearts, the band was hot
Gotta love them Rockin' Bonz
We danced until we sweat alot
At Glen Eskimo

At Glen Eskimo, dear chums, at Glen Es-ki-mo
When it's cold, the sweat steams off your back
at Glen Eskimo.

Another New Year's Eve in the icebox that is Glen Echo...deserved another annual parody of Bobby Burns' classic rhyme. All appologies to the Scots, but you should have been there. I made fun of the ladies who insisted on wearing strapless gowns. The Bonz were hot, hot, hot! Always a joy to see 'em. Steve and I were tired from blowing and tying 500 balloons with Sean, Debra, Janice, to name just a few...plus the engineer dude who designed the whole balloon drop. I danced with him for a nice swing number and a waltz. Highlight of the evening was the 12 am group hug with me, Steve, Cameron (Steve loves it when you squeeze his bum...you were trying to squeeze HIS bum, weren't you?), Lil' Lisa, Cullen, Sean, Steve & Carla, and a whole host of others. We linked arms and began to SHAG. The circle got larger and larger until we had about, say, 50 people SHAGGING away like mad. Who was keeping a beat? Some of us decided to toss in hesitation steps. Some of us were purposely trying to throw each other off. But what we created was evidence to the entire Washington dance community that at least 50 or so of us enjoy being really goofy around each other. Damn it, that's what we're all about. Young folks, folks to crazy to not realize they're not young anymore, and folks who have no age whatsoever. It was better than a jam because not only did it disrupt the dance floor, but everyone got to participate simultaneously! So Happy New Year (I prefer MIM in Roman numerals, if you please) to all you crazy Lindy Hoppin' fools. Don't let 'em step on your Blue Suede Shoes--unless they're earnest beginners.

From: Elizabeth Engel ewengel@apsanet.org

Taking NO chances, we decided to volunteer on New Year's so we'd be sure to get in. After a potluck graciously hosted by Susan Lusi, we headed over to the chilly ballroom with Frank and Carole. I have to say yet again that I just LOVE Rockin' Bonz. Fortunately they kept us moving all night long because anytime we stopped dancing, we about froze to the spot.

The jam was just amazing - everybody looked great, everybody kept it short, the band was right with it, the crowd was totally into it. We were so bummed that we had to sit it out, but Jim's asthma was acting up with the cold, so....better safe than wheezy.

During one of the breaks we got to talk to a very nice fellow named Gene who's putting together what sounds like a Mid-West equivalent of our beloved Jitterbuzz. He had taken some pictures of folks for his site and wanted to know what everyone's names were. Check his site out at http://www.i-swing.com/

After Bill invited just about everyone who was still at Glen Echo to his place to warm up. So after cleaning up (OK, so it wasn't the best volunteer gig in the universe on a frigid night), Debra, Jim and I headed over to join the already-in-progress, wall-to-wall people party. We stayed out way to late and had a huge amount of fun and after about an hour were finally able to feel our fingers again!

So I'm becoming increasingly convinced that RB needs a regular weekly gig. Any takers?

From: Cameron Sellers Cameron.Sellers@mail.house.gov

I will remember New Years at Glen Echo as cold! No, freezing! Words can't describe that ice box. I probably shouldn't have gone because I was already recovering from the flu, so my experience is skewed. I think Rockin' Bones played, but I was too cold. I think my partner and I went out into the JAM but I can't remember because I was cold. I remember thawing out at Bill's house only to realize I was losing my voice. New Years was too cold for me.

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