The weather is fairly shit (it’s cold and rainy) and I’ve been ill with a craptastic cold since Friday, so spirits are low here at chateau de snot.
Today I finally felt a bit more normal and had managed to get a better night’s sleep last night. This cold did impede my research, but it didn’t stop me sewing yesterday. Not sewing terribly well I discovered today, but yesterday I took a lot of care and time to make a skirt that’s kind of mutant and a collared shirt that’s… well, let’s just say interesting. I am trying to get better at making collared shirts with set-in sleeves. I haven’t sewn anything in about six months, so it’s all a bit challenging. But sewing’s not really all that complicated, and it’s difficult to forget how to do it. I have made one white collared shirt so far, and it’s a bit bung. The problem really is the colour. I look really, really bad in white, and this style really doesn’t suit me – too much white fabric and too much shoulder-structure-action. Ah, well. I’ll have another bash tomorrow.
Being ill in our noisy house has finally convinced me that we probably should move somewhere quieter and on a quieter street. The Squeeze is agreed: quieter house would be good. But our house is large and has a garden and is renovated. So it’ll be a smaller (and probably crapper) quieter flat. The thought of moving is anxiety-inducing, of course, but it’ll be worth it for the chance at better nights’ sleep, uninterrupted by loud trucks. So I’ll start looking into that this week. Sigh.
We’re off to Tasmania for Devil City Swing on Monday, going a bit earlier so we can have a bit of a non-dance related holiday. I’m looking forward to just being away. There’s some dancing involved, but no major sets (one band breaks night – blurgh – and one late night – the first of the night, so not a terribly great spot). I’m sucking it up, though, as it means I’ll be able to go home earlier on the early night and the band breaks set is the DJ version of community service, I’ve decided. I’m still packing injury, having overdone it a bit with the cranky poo last week, so no – or very, very little – dancing for me over the weekend. Good thing the DCS exchange is not a hard-dancing event – there’ll be lots of people to talk to. And, if I play my cards right, plenty of little bubbies to squeeze (Hobart dancers tend to bring their bubs to dances – can I get an amen?!).
On other, DJ related fronts, I have a lindy set on Saturday night at the Roxbury, which I’m hoping will be as fun as the previous weekend, which was a big night. It was the Friday of a long weekend, though, so I can’t really expect the same size crowd. And I did have a bit of a crappy technical experience (wtf’s new about that? I have decided I suck with technical stuff – must get my learn on IMMEDIATELY to rectify this). But I am looking forward to it. I’m also down for a blues night on Sunday, which’ll be good as there’re blues workshops on that weekend. This week is also balboa week at the Bald Face Stag (urkiest venue ever), but I haven’t heard back about that. I’m up for the challenge though: one day I will be a badass balboa DJ.
I am, as a consequence, trying to get on top of my music so I can play some decent sets in the coming week. There’ll be at least four of them, possibly five, in all the major dance styles, I’m going to need to have mad skillz and a clue about my entire collection. I do have some lovely new things from emusic, though, which is always exciting. I’ve also sorted out my technical problems (knock on wood), so things should be a bit smoother. A visit to Hobart does mean, however, a trip to the best music shop in the country:
Music Without Frontiers
147 Collins St, Hobart, TAS 7000
p: (03) 6231 5411
It does not have a website. It’s also very tiny. And it has the best range of jazz I’ve ever seen in a real, live shop. And its divided into ‘nostalgia’, ‘classic’ and ‘bop’, then with a separate section for blues (subdivided into jump blues and trad blues). Then that side of the shop moves into soul and funk. It’s an absolutely fabulous collection. I’ve been there a million times, but I’ve never quite gotten to the other 3 racks of CDs. It carries _everything_: opera, country, alt., pop, etc. EVERYTHING. And the guy knows everything about each CD. He’s also a bit loopy, but then, you’d have to be. And he’s just had to deal with the opening of a JB HiFi, which sucks arses. He needs a website. He always cuts me a deal on my CDs, and is very occasionally patient when I want to preview stuff. I spend a few hundred bucks there each visit, and I see him about two times a year. And every CD I’ve bought from him has been really amazingly great. More expensive than the internets, but then I’m buying from a real person, the only person in a small city who bothers to bring quality music to the people, regardless of label or fad.
On a slightly related front, emusic has decided to fucking FAIL me just as I was getting seriously addicted. Those of you who have accounts will know that they’ve decided to carry Sony products. This means that they’re increasing prices (by a really big amount) and also limiting access only to people who are in the US or Europe. Unless you already have an account with them. This means that my 50 songs per month account, which cost me about $14.99 will now only get me 35 songs per month for the same price. There will also be – apparently – ‘<12 song album deals', where you can download an entire album for the price of 12 songs. But only on select albums. This is actually a super bargain for me, as most jazz albums (especially the older ones) are around 20 songs. But let's just wait and see which albums will be marked for the deal. I wish I'd downloaded all the Chron Classics I'd had my eye on; now they'll be far more expensive and less awesome a find. It's all a big shit, really. I've been expanding my musical purchases with emusic, particularly in terms of shopping outside jazz and blues, and in buying music from indy labels. I'll wait and see how the 12song deal goes, but I think I might ditch my emusic subscription for buying CDs from amazon or downloads and CDs from places like CDbaby.
There are far more interesting and coherent posts about the emusic changes over at flopearedmule here and here.
And I’m finally going to get my arse over to a Sydney Jazz Club gig to see some live music. Watching George Washingmachine at the recent Darling Harbour Jazz Fest (which wasn’t terribly great – stage FAIL) I was reminded of the awesome musicians in this town. None of whom we see at lindy hop gigs. But I’m going to get it together and go check out some of the hot shit in this town:
The Bechet Night: Bridge City Jazz Band – David Ridyard, Frank Watts & Nesta Davies
Friday 19th June 7:30pm
Club Ashfield – 9798 6344
Note the glorious venue: Club Ashfield. The worst freakin’ part of Sydney is the RSL/club/gambling culture. Pubs here SUCK ARSE, in part because they are so dependent on pokies and gambling for revenue. Liquour licenses are expensive, and it’s not really possible for little pubs to get by without pokies. There’s not the same community pub culture in Sydney as in Melbourne. This is a very great shame.
But I’m interested in the music. So I’ll go check it out. Anyone in the neighbourhood is welcome to join The Squeeze and I. We will not be dining in, but instead getting our noodle on in the main drag of Ashfield, which is a gastronomic universe away from the Ashfield Club. Possibly not a universe we should be occupying. Or even visiting (Gotgastro.com offers a disturbing amount of evidence).
I’m also planning on going to see the Ozcats (legends of Australian jazz) on July 31 at the Drummoyne RSL.
I have to pause at this point and say:
GET A FREAKIN WEBSITE.
And, please, not one with comic sans. Man, jazznicks are crap at internet. I feel like hiring myself out to them, if only to save myself the pain of reading their websites or having to try and find a paper jazz newsletter so I can learn about them. These guys are _so_ into social media, but the sort of social media that involve paper and nannas talking hardcore at the bar.
I am also considering a trip to the Newcastle Jazz Festival (28th-30th August). The names on the program are pretty good, but mostly, I’m thinking about a fabulous hostel I stayed at in Newcastle years ago. It’s an old, converted mansion on the beach and was just about the most fabulous hostel I’ve ever stayed in (this one, I think).
I am a big fat jazz nerd. But at least my shirts are interesting.
Category Archives: lindy hop and other dances
MORE freakin’ cranky poo?!
Yes, you bitches.
Because I am back in the dancing game, my friends. The podiatrist has given me permission to start getting back into dancing. Which means a long, slow building up of stamina and strength. Two dances every second day. That’s 10 minutes of dancing every second day. I have, of course, broken that rule. I did mean to do just thirty minutes the other day, but it became an hour. Two days later, another hour. Then two days later, 2 songs worth dance, then 1.5 hours of DJing, then about 45 minutes of mucking about. And I hurt the next day. But not in a crippling you’ve-fucked-up way (but jeez, is dancing fitness-requiring; I have zero dance fitness, and cycling is nothing compared to lindy hop!)
Today is rest day, and then I’ll have a look at more slow-building work this week. With the Cranky Poo, of course.
my current lindy hop interests include…
I am currently really enjoying Bethany and Stefan, two lindy hoppers who’ve eschewed the current trend for pointy-toed high-steppin’ pony follows and cock-rock leads. Is that too harsh a dismissal of what I’m seeing in a lot of lindy these days? I think not.
But, here, let me show you what Bethany and Stefan are doing:
That’s them competing in the ILHC in 2008. That’s the first I’d seen of them (that I can remember). It’s unusual stuff. Why? Well, for a start, the songs they choose aren’t your standard classic swing action. They favour less well known versions of songs which lean towards vocalese, well, eccentric renditions. Their dancing is similarly unusual. Though we see an awful lot of Bethany’s knickers, this display isn’t as coy or barbie-pony as some of the other knicker action I’ve seen around the place. They also tend to favour interesting jazz steps, often doing far more ‘solo’ stuff (together) than they do ‘lindy hop’. This, of course, delights me: lindy hop is built for this.
But what else have they done?
That is their more recent routine, from Frankiefest. Again, it’s unusual. They look a little nervous (well, you would – there were zillions of dancers in the audience and they were onstage with the biggest names in lindy hop), but they seriously rock. I’m really enjoying Bethany’s swivels – no pointy toed prancing pony swivels here; she’s seriously grounded.
I have to say, I do like their lack of vintage clobber. He looks like Dr Who (circa Tennant), she looks like an indy kid… well, I guess she is. No silly high heels here, either – she’s badass.
This next one is them in 2007:
I think that though I really like Bethany’s style (take that, patriarchy – we’ve got other things to think about), I also like the way Stefan works with her style. He’s just as unusual and skilled, it’s just that we’re not seeing his undies.
This is the sort of lindy hop I’m digging these days. Oh, as well as the Hot Shots and the olden days doods.
more jazz maps
This site has a series of maps of Chicago listing jazz clubs. I haven’t had a chance to look through it carefully, yet, but I think I’m going to go back and read it in tandem with the Kenney article (Kenney, William Howland. “Historical Context and the Definition of Jazz: Putting More of the History in ‘Jazz History’â€. Jazz Among the Discourses. Duke U Press, Durham and London 1995. 100-116.) where he talks about black and white owned clubs.
One of the things I’ve noticed in all this talk of jazz history is the importance of walking and listening to the world around you. There’re plenty of stories of journeymen musicians standing outside clubs listening to their heroes play, or of ‘music in the streets’. Can’t hear any of that action if you’re driving a car, right? This has made me think about urban planning and community and how important a walkable city was to the development of jazz as community practice… not to mention dance in everyday life.
pssf – want
Pusan Summer Festival!
Squillions upon squillions (literally – there are thousands and thousands of Korean lindy hoppers!) of excellently fun lindy hoppers, all in one city!
all the single ladies!
There’s been a bit of talk about gender and roles in swing on twitter today. As you might expect, there are some teachers who don’t approve of men following and women leading, and then there are some (fully sick) teachers who do approve.
I’m a bit iffy about some ‘girls routines’ and ‘boys routines’ getting about. But these have reminded me of their awesomeness.
Know Beyonce’s clip for ‘Single Ladies’?
Well, these lads really know it:
(They do it here too, bringing it a little more… bet it’s a queer crowd…)
happy birthday frankie!
As many of you know, Frankie Manning passed away a couple of weeks before the massive Frankiefest week of celebrations for his 95th birthday. The saddest of news, and yet, probably saddest because Frankie’d be crawling with jealousy that thousands of dancers are enjoying his party without him.
But even those of us who couldn’t get to New York are thinking of him. And watching clips that make us cry and cheer out loud:
carol ralph
As soon as I posted that last post, I thought of Carol Ralph, an Australian singer (who totally PWNS – I thoroughly recommend her CD). I don’t know Carol’s background, and I feel uncomfortable writing about it. But she doesn’t read ‘black’ or ‘white’. I think I need to read a whole lot more about issues of ethnicity in Australia. I know I need to read more about whiteness-as-ethnicity.
That’s a photo by my friend Scott, who’s photography has improved so dramatically since November I was just stunned as I flipped through his pics looking for this one just now. In fact, his photos are just gorgeous – I like the way his photos of friends and of people he knows reveal the way he feels about them. They’re very affectionate and often quite lovely photos.
Here’s another of two lovely Melbourne leads:
It’s funny, but I feel very strange writing about ethnicity in relation to this photo. These are my friends, and people I do not want to reduce to example of multiculturalism in swing dance. I want to tell you what it’s like to dance with them, about how one of them makes films, and how the other is a lovey and one of my favourite stunt buddies. Ethnicity is important and part of who they and I are, but I don’t think I have the language tools to talk about it in a way that does what I want. This, of course, was the difficult part of my dissertation. How to write about my own community, my own friends, myself, in a way that’s respectful and yet also thoughtful and cognisant of these sorts of issues.
So I think I’ll just end this post with another huzzah for Scott’s photos (and the fact that he can make me feel all fuzzy inside looking at this lovely photo of my friends), and the recommendation that if you ever get the chance, you must dance with these boys. Or at least buy them a beer.
pop culture, jazz and ethnicity.
NB: I’ve done some edits on this post for the shocking grammar/mistypes. Apologies.
In the 1930s and 40s – most particularly the 40s – jazz was mainstream music. It was popular. Though it had been discussed in a range of specialist magazines and periodicals (including Down Beat and Metronome) for years, the mid-40s saw mainstream publications like Life, Look and the men’s magazine Esquire publishing stories and photos about jazz and hiring writers to produce jazz reviews. I think it’s worth noting the point that Esquire was a men’s magazine, that almost all the jazz promoters and managers were men, and that almost all jazz instrumentalists were male.
(Norman Granz from the Verve site)
This mainstreaming of jazz is interesting. It was also a challenge for jazz afficianados who were committed to raising the profile and status of jazz musicians as artists. Reading about Norman Granz, I’ve come across this discussion:
Beginning with the first jam sessions he organized and extending through two decades of JATP concerts, tours, and records, Granz applied three rules. The musicians he hired would be paid well; there would be no dancing at his events; and there could be no segregation on either the bandstand or in the audiences. The first of these rules responded to exploitative club owners and promoters. The second institutionalized a trend that was already familiar from other attempts to establish jazz as an art, a concert music. The third rule was most important, because it recognized the limitations of previous efforts to mix the look of jazz- efforts that had relied on an optimistic trickle-down theory of cultural-social change. Granz’s third rule attempted to ensure consumption as an act of resistance to racist conventions; it tried to direct attention both to the relation of individual consumers to the producers of the music they consumed and to the relations between individual, and perhaps different consumers of the same musical product (26).
It’s interesting to see how Granz’s efforts to raise the status of jazz as art coincided with his anti-segregation and anti-racism efforts. The popular served as ‘low’ culture, and low culture is where black musicians were situated. It’s this equating of segregation with popular culture which I find really interesting. I’m also paying attention to the way jazz is ‘artified’ by various discourses.
Today jazz in Australia has been thoroughly canonised, stuffed into the ‘elite’ or ‘art’ category. It is not popular music. ‘Modern’ jazz is ‘difficult art’, ‘classic jazz’ is daggy and something for old white people. The issue of race works in a different way: there are no black artists in the jazz bands I see at Australian dances, besides the occasional female singer. This is in part because Australian multiculturalism works in a different way to American. But I also think that these efforts to ‘artify’ jazz has effectively distanced it from anyone other than white musicians and white jazznick fans.
This is just a first thought, so please don’t take it as any final argument or position. But it’s making me wonder about ethnicity and class in Australian jazz. We were, after all, segregated as well. And we did have a White Australia immigration policy. I haven’t begun any work on Australian jazz, but I’m wondering how the contemporary jazz landscape looks, in terms of race and gender?
It’s also important to note that there’s a general undercurrent in much of the critical work on jazz that I’m reading (critical in the ‘theorised’ sense rather than ‘reviewing records’ sense) that bebop was far more challenging and engaged with race politics in America than swing. There’s also some provocative stuff about masculinity and black masculinity in the literature on bebop).
(another Gjon Mili photo from his Life magazine series)
Additionally, I’m noticing that the ‘jam session’ is acquiring mythic status throughout all the jazz literature. This is where jazz musicians (regardless of colour or class) could come together and just play, for hours or days, in ‘safe’ clubs or back rooms. The implication is of course that in jam sessions musicians were ‘free’ and in staged performances they were ‘caged’ by social convention.
My spidey sense is tingling. If these jam sessions were so free and liberal, where are the sisters? Who’s home looking after the kids or grandmothers so these uncaged tigers can jam the blues all night? You know, of course, that this brings us back to the role of gender in jazz, and in jazz journalism. And to my central research interest: the relationship between different media within a community… or in constructing community.
Knight, Arthur, “Jammin’ the Blues: or the Sight of Jazz, 1944â€. Representing Jazz, ed. Krin Gabbard. Duke U Press: Durham and London, 1995. 11-53.
An earlier post on magazines and jazz
An even earlier post on magazines, jazz and masculinity
last night
Last night I danced a few dances. About four in total, with a (poorly executed) big apple. I’m not sure today!
Noticed:
– dancing is freakin’ hardcore exercise.
– I have no dance fitness.
– my dance muscles (including all of the ones in my thighs) are not ready for hardcore dancing just yet.
– dancing is the best.
I also livetweeted my DJing. Meh.