Category Archives: lindy hop and other dances

So a couple of weekends ago we went to Hullabaloo.
Thursday
We flew in on Thursday, taking a midday flight because we’re sensible. I was really excited and had trouble sitting still on the plane. I took my laptop and headphones and copy of The Swing Era so that I could prepare for my sets over the weekend, but ended up far too excited to concentrate. The Squeeze slept the whole way. I ended up watching a dumb Hillary Swank film called the Freedom Writers which made me cry.
We arrived at about 6pm, and headed off to Chez Chez to dump our gear and change clothes. Chez’s flat is quite small, and we filled it up with a Taswegian and us and Chez. But we’re used to each other – they stay with us at MLX time each year.
From Chez’s house we went off to a pub in Cottesloe to do some dancing. But first we ate fish and chips, and I was very pleased.
Then we went up to start the dancing, but got sidetracked by a lot of old friends who needed squeezing and teasing. I was delighted to see Dust For Eyes, who taught me how to do Snake Hips dancing and snaps.
After a lot of dancing there, we moved on to the late night venue so I could set up for my first set (eek!) at 2am. The late night venue was an interesting dance studio space with hiiiigh ceilings. The sound set up was not ideal. In fact, it was pretty damn ordinary and I really struggled to make things sound good. Well, to make them sound ok.
People straggled in slowly and I was mostly playing to a very small crowd (ie 5 or 10 people) for a while, but that was ok because I just played stuff to test the limits of the sound set up and to please myself. And those 5 or 10 people.
Once the rest of the punters arrived I stepped it up a bit.
I can’t really remember how the set went, other than that I wasn’t really happy with it, but it didn’t suck. It was probably a combination of nerves and adjusting to an exchange crowd. This is what I played (title-artist-bpm-date-album-length-date/time played if it’s accurate):
I’m Comin’ Virginia- Maxine Sullivan – 110 – 1956 – A Tribute To Andy Razaf – 2:48 – 20/04/07 2:13 AM
Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong – 120 – 1957 – Ella And Louis Again [MFSL] – 4:15 – 20/04/07 2:17 AM
I’ve Got A Mind To Ramble – Alberta Hunter – 112 – 1978 – Amtrak Blues – 4:13 – 20/04/07 2:21 AM
It Takes Two to Tango – Lester Young and Oscar Peterson – 104 – 1997 – Lester Young With the Oscar Peterson Trio – 6:09
B-Sharp Boston – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 126 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 – 2:54
Jive At Five – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 147 – 1960 – The Count Basie Story (Disc 1) – 3:02 – 20/04/07 2:30 AM
Easy Does It – Big 18 – 129 – 5:14
Every Day I Have The Blues – Count Basie – 116 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 3:48
C-Jam Blues – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – 143 – 1999 – Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke
Blues In Hoss’ Flat – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 142 – 1995 – Big Band Renaissance Disc 1 – 3:13
Good Queen Bess – Duke Ellington – 160 – 1940 – The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 10) – 3:00
Flying Home – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 197 – 1942 – Lionel Hampton Story 2: Flying Home – 3:10 – 20/04/07 2:52 AM
Lavender Coffin – Hampton, Lionel and His Orchestra with Sonny Parker and Joe James – 134 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 2:47
Cole Slaw – Jesse Stone and His Orchestra – 145 – Original Swingers: Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips vol 2 – 2:57
Four Or Five Times – Woody Herman Orchestra – 141 – The Great Swing Bands (Disc 2) – 3:09 – 20/04/07 3:01 AM
Stomp It Off – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – 190 – 1934 – Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford – 3:08
Savoy Blues – Kid Ory – 134 – 2002 – Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 3 – 3:00 – 20/04/07 3:07 AM
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho – Kid Ory And His Creole Jazz Band – 160 – 1946 – Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46 – 3:12
Perdido Street Blues – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra with Sidney Bechet – 148 – 1940 – Blues In Thirds 1940-41 – 3:00 – 20/04/07 3:13 AM
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo – Michael McQuaid’s Red Hot Rhythmakers – 152 – 2006 – Rhythm Of The Day – 3:21
Jungle Nights In Harlem – Charlestown Chasers – 213 – 1995 – Pleasure Mad mediumenergy – 2:48
Drinkin’ Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee – Hampton, Lionel and His Orchestra with Sonny Parker – 134 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 3:23 – 20/04/07 3:23 AM
Till Tom Special – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 158 – 1940 – Tempo And Swing – 3:23
For Dancers Only – Jimmie Lunceford and His Harlem Express – 178 – 1944 – 1944-Uncollected – 2:22
Shoutin’ Blues – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Powerhouse – 2:38
Turn It Over – Bus Moten and his Men – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) – 2:38
Jump Session – Slim Gaillard and Slam Stewart – 162 – Slim & Slam, 1938-1939 – 2:35
Don’t Be That Way – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 137 – 1938 – Lionel Hampton Story 1: Hot Mallets great mediumenergy 2:35
Massachusetts – Maxine Sullivan – 144 – 2006 – A Tribute To Andy Razaf – 3:18
We don’t have any photos from that night.
Friday
The next day was Friday, and The Squeeze was determined to get up in time for the tour of Fremantle. I was tired. But we bundled into the car with K (Chez was off to work – suckah!) to start our tour at the Round House. The Squeeze had heard there would be some kick boxing action to start off with, but this proved to be erroneous.
The tour was fun. We met up with some people, saw a cannon fired, were told a few lies by whiley Perthlings (I have discovered being lied to is as good as telling lies) and moved immediately to the best cafe in the area for sustenance. By this time it was at least 2pm and we were in need of caffeine and fewd. You can see some photos from the tour here at George’s site. I’d like to say we saw more of Fremantle than a series of pubs and cafes, but that would be lying. We’ve seen Fremantle before, and we had people we needed to talk to.
Then DFE, The Squeeze and I sat in a nice cafe and ate a lot (I had a FABULOUS fettucini pescatore!) and talked a whole lot of shit. After a couple of hours The Squeeze got bored and went away. Then he came back. Then we walked to a pub where we saw more dancers drinking and eating. Then we went to another pub the Little Creatures Brewery and saw more dancers. And some of us drank a whoooooole lot. And some of the rest of us caught up with lovely friends. By this stage I had already talked so much about music and DJing I had almost grown my own pocket protector. But that part of the weekend was far from over.
After the beer had been drunk and the sun had gone down, we left that pub and went home to change our clothes nap. We accidentally missed the Friday night dance at a local pub gig. So we went straight to the after party where I had another set lined up. That’s the gig where I did that (look right). I have no excuse for my ineptitude. I thought I could DJ for blues dancers. But apparently this crew weren’t into old music. In fact, they weren’t really into much except standing on the spot, really close to their partners or make human waves with their torsos. I ordinarily like blues dancing, but this was dull. But enough of that! Let’s see the terrible set I played:
Harvard Blues – Kansas City Band – 83 – 1997 – KC After Dark – 6:50 – 21/04/07 3:36 AM
Wee Baby Blues – Big Joe Turner with Pete Johnson and Freddie Green – 79 – 1956 – The Boss Of The Blues – 7:18 – 21/04/07 3:43 AM
Hear Me Talking To Ya? – Ella Fitzgerald – 98 – 1963 – These Are The Blues – 3:02 – 21/04/07 3:46 AM
Back Water Blues – Dinah Washington with Belford Hendricks’ Orchestra – 71 – 1957 – Ultimate Dinah Washington – 4:58
I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl – Nina Simone – 65 – 1967 – Released – 2:33 – 60 – 21/04/07 3:54 AM
I’m Gonna Take What He’s Got – Etta James – 57 – 1967 – The Best Of Etta James – 2:35 – 21/04/07 3:56 AM
Son Of A Preacher Man – Aretha Franklin – 77 – Greatest Hits – Disc 1 – 3:16
When I’ve Been Drinkin’ – Jimmy Witherspoon – 71 – 1998 – Jazz Me Blues: the Best of Jimmy Witherspoon – 3:38 – 21/04/07 4:03 AM
Slow Down Baby – Walter Brown with Jay McShann and His Kycee Stompers – 73 – 1949 – Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) – 2:56
Hamp’s Salty Blues – Lionel Hampton and His Quartet – 86 – 1946 – Lionel Hampton Story 3: Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop – 3:10 – 21/04/07 4:09 AM
Minnie The Moocher – Cab Calloway – 97 – 1994 – Are You Hep To The Jive? – 3:16 – 21/04/07 4:13 AM
St. James Infirmary – Henry “Red” Allen – 98 – 1991 – World on a String – Legendary 1957 Sessions – 3:45 – 21/04/07 4:16 AM
Reckless Blues – Velma Middleton with Louis Armstrong and the All Stars – 88 – The Complete Decca Studio Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars (disc 06) – 2:30
Willow Weep For Me – Louis Armstrong – 90 – 1957 – Ella And Louis Again [MFSL] – 4:21
Rocks In My Bed – Ella Fitzgerald – 68 – 1956 – Ella Fitzgerald Day Dream: Best Of The Duke Ellington Songbook – 3:59 – 21/04/07 4:27 AM
Amtrak Blues – Alberta Hunter – 95 – 1978 – Amtrak Blues – 3:23
Resolution Blues – Dinah Washington – 65 – 22 Original Classics – 3:14 – 21/04/07 4:34 AM
It Takes Two to Tango – Lester Young and Oscar Peterson – 104 – 1997 – Lester Young With the Oscar Peterson Trio – 6:09 – 21/04/07 4:37 AM
Smooth Sailing – Ella Fitzgerald – 118 – 2000 – Ken Burns Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald – 3:07 – 21/04/07 4:40 AM
Happy Go Lucky Local (Night Train) – Oscar Peterson – 103 – 1962 – Night Train – 4:52 – 21/04/07 4:45 AM
Easy Does It – Big 18 – 129 – 5:14 – 21/04/07 4:50 AM
B-Sharp Boston – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 126 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 – 2:54
Jump Ditty! – Joe Carroll and The Ray Bryant Quintet – 134 – Red Kat Swing 1 – 2:53
The Deacon – Count Basie – 110 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 5:52 – 21/04/07 5:02 AM
It was round about “Minnie the Moocher” that things were at their lowest. I had trouble getting the feel of the room (I’d actually been told I’d be playing an hour later than I ended up starting, so I hadn’t had a chance to be in the room and get a feel for things) and those kids – I don’t really think they were ready for blues dancing just then. So I took the energy up with some “St James Infirmary” (though I should have gone straight to the Louis Armstrong), but it didn’t help. Finally, things picked up at “Willow Weep for Me”, and I decided to ooze into a bit of groovy lindy hop, then up the bpm ladder til the room was working again. It immediately improved numbers on the floor.
I tried some lower tempo stuff with Dinah again a bit later (because I felt I should play a blues set if I was booked for it), but that crashed. So I recovered with dirty Lester Young action.
And fled Mt DJ after “The Deacon”.
Not my finest hour (and a half), and if you take a look at the set list of the DJ before me (lovely Jason from Perth), you’ll see there were some double-ups.
In fact, there were quite a few repeats over the weekend – “Savoy Blues” was played by every single DJ on Thursday night up til me. If I’d been dancing more and talking less at the dance I’d have noticed.
So, thank god that set was over.
We went home after that – The Squeeze was tired and so was I.
Saturday
The next day we slept til 1 or 3pm. I forget which. We went and bought some fewd for dinner and drove and saw some sites. Then we went home and got ready for the dance, which was fun. I really liked the band at the dance, and had some fun dances with fun people. Trev won the Jack and Jill and I heard some good DJing action. Then we went to the after party. First we tried to organise a trip to eat nice Chinese fewd, but we failed. So we just went on to the after party, which was at the better two-room venue.
Some of us went in a team battle. At the time I was really regreting entering, and I didn’t really have a good time at all. But in retrospect (ie, after watching the clip), it wasn’t so bad. I was in Team Brunswick (named for Chez’ shirt) – you can even hear me answering Trev at the beginning. We were ok. The best bit (in my mind) was where we (entirely by coincidence) did a ‘waterfall’ of swingouts to just the right bit in “Flying Home”. I’m not a big fan of team battles (sorry Trev), and I’ve never seen one go really well or really inspire me. The secret to a good lindy battle is actually dancing lindy. But mostly people do dumb stuff, which I’m not all that interested in. Because I am a boring straighty-one-eighty stooge.
After that was all over, things got fun. There was a band (I think – or was that the night before? I can’t remember). There was a lot of dancing fun, and I did another set (my best of the weekend, I think). Here’s the set list (title – artist – bpm – date – album – time/date stamp (minus 2hours because I was working with Melbourne time, not Perth time):
Blues In Hoss’ Flat – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 142 – 1995 – Big Band Renaissance Disc 1 – 3:13 – 22/04/07 4:19 AM
C-Jam Blues – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – 143 – 1999 – Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke – 3:33 – 2/05/07 1:15 PM
Sent For You Yesterday (And Here You Come Today) – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 172 – 1952 – Complete Clef/Verve Count Basie Fifties Studio Recordings (Disc 2) – 3:13 – 22/04/07 4:26 AM
Back Room Romp – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – 151 – 2000 – Ken Burns Jazz: Duke Ellington – 2:49 – 22/04/07 4:29 AM
A Viper’s Moan – Willie Bryant And His Orchestra – 153 – Willie Bryant 1935-1936 – 3:25 – 24/04/07 4:31 AM
Good Queen Bess – Duke Ellington – 160 – 1940 – The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 10) – 3:00 – 22/04/07 4:35 AM
Stomp It Off – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – 190 – 1934 – Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford – 3:08 – 22/04/07 4:38 AM
Four Or Five Times – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – 140 – 1935 – Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford – 3:07 – 22/04/07 4:41 AM
Turn It Over – Bus Moten and his Men – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) – 2:38 – 24/04/07 4:34 AM
Easy Does It – Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra – 155 – 1939 – Yes, Indeed! – 3:15 – 22/04/07 4:47 AM
Apollo Jump – Lucky Millinder – 143 – Apollo Jump – 3:26
Krum Elbow Blues – Mora’s Modern Swingtet – 162 – 2004 – 20th Century Closet – 2:45
Blues My Naughty Sweetie – Sidney Bechet – 140 – 1951 – The Blue Note Years – 5:43 – 22/04/07 4:59 AM
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho – Kid Ory And His Creole Jazz Band – 160 – 1946 – Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46 – 3:12 – 22/04/07 5:02 AM
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo – Michael McQuaid’s Red Hot Rhythmakers – 152 – 2006 – Rhythm Of The Day – 3:21
Jungle Nights In Harlem – Charlestown Chasers – 213 – 1995 – Pleasure Mad – 2:48 – 22/04/07 5:09 AM
Lavender Coffin – Hampton, Lionel and His Orchestra with Sonny Parker and Joe James – 134 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 2:47
Cole Slaw – Jesse Stone and His Orchestra – 145 – Original Swingers: Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips vol 2 – 2:57 – 22/04/07 5:14 AM
Shoutin’ Blues – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Powerhouse – 2:38 – 22/04/07 5:17 AM
For Dancers Only – Jimmie Lunceford and His Harlem Express – 178 – 1944 – 1944-Uncollected – 2:22 – 22/04/07 5:19 AM
Just Kiddin’ Around – Artie Shaw and His Orchestra – 159 – 1941 – Self Portrait (Disc 3) – 3:21
Don’t Be That Way – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 137 – 1938 – Lionel Hampton Story 1: Hot Mallets – 2:35
Chicken Shack Boogie – Lionel Hampton and His Sextet – 124 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 3:16 – 22/04/07 5:29 AM
Hey Now, Hey Now – Cab Calloway – 121 – 1994 – Are You Hep To The Jive? – 2:56 – 22/04/07 5:32 AM
Effervescent Blues – Mora’s Modern Swingtet – 122 – 2004 – 20th Century Closet – 3:07
B-Sharp Boston – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 126 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 – 2:54 – 22/04/07 5:38 AM
Massachusetts – Maxine Sullivan – 144 – 2006 – A Tribute To Andy Razaf – 3:18 – 22/04/07 5:41 AM
Splanky – Count Basie – 157 – 1966 – Live at the Sands – 3:52 – 22/04/07 5:45 AM
Hallelujah, I Love Her So – Count Basie – 145 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 2:36 – 22/04/07 5:47 AM
King Porter Stomp – Kansas City Band – 170 – 1997 – KC After Dark – 4:38 – 22/04/07 5:52 AM
Till Tom Special – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 158 – 1940 – Tempo And Swing – 3:23 – 22/04/07 5:55 AM
Shout, Sister, Shout – Lucky Millinder – 140 – Apollo Jump – good medium tempo dancing 2:44 – 22/04/07 5:58 AM
Le Jazz Hot – Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra – 144 – 1939 – Lunceford Special 1939-40 – 2:41 – 22/04/07 6:01 AM
My Baby Just Cares For Me – Nina Simone – 120 – The Great Nina Simone – 3:38 – 22/04/07 6:05 AM
Bli-Blip – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – 134 – 1999 – Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke – 3:16 – 22/04/07 6:08 AM
I started a bit earlier than expected because Russ had technical troubles and I had to take over. After the first three songs he gave up and introduced me. I was really happy with those first three songs – I had the room on fire. It’s a pity Russ had to interrupt to introduce me, as we lost quite a few people then. But them’s the breaks. I should probably have continued with hi-fi action to keep the room, but now I’ve learnt something useful.
I actually consciously chose to play a fair proportion of hi-fi because we’d heard a lot of old scratch so far that weekend. I wanted to change the vibe a bit and catch people’s attention. It worked well, and I found that a useful thing to remember through my set. This was my first real late-late night set at a hardcore lindy exchange and I learnt a lot. I discovered that you need to change the energy in the room a bit to keep people dancing – from slow to fast to hi-fi to scratchy – and change more regularly than I normally would. The most important thing I learnt was that if you give people a chance to remember how tired they are when they’re dancing at 2:30am (take two hours from those time stamps) they sit down and then they go home. So you have to keep the tempos above 120, or the energy levels nice and high.
Round about “Effervescent Blues” I let the tempos get lower and noticed a distinct drop in the room’s energy. So I did a bit of stunt work with Maxine Sullivan. That version of “Massachusetts” is really swinging and energising. It’s pretty hi-fi and hitting on the groove barrier, but it feels like fun. The band she’s working with are so freaking good, you just want to dance.
From there I decided we needed more hi-fi action to wake people up. So I used some old favourite action – “Splanky” is a real swinger favourite, and that version is nicely uptempo and upenergy – and hi-fi. But it doesn’t feel too crazy – people also think of “Splanky” as being slower, as many of the most popular versions are about 130bpm. That’s the advantage of different versions of favourites – you can exploit people’s expectations. By this stage I had the room really cooking, but I wanted to get the tempos much higher. Thing is, the dancers were actually a bit tired (it was 3:45am) so I gave them a bit of break with the hi-fi favourite “Hallelujah” (not my favourite song, but very effective and live which always feels good). Then I chucked it up with “King Porter Stomp”, another hi-fi (but sounds old school) live song. It’s a longish song, so I had to drop it down from there.
From there I went with an oldie but a goodie – “Til Tom Special” is upenergy, but it creeps up on you. It starts with a more mellow feeling, but builds. So I could get the kids who were sitting down (but ready to dance) up on the floor. Then another very safe favourite.
And I decided to change things again completely with Nina Simone at 4:00am. Hi-fi, super favourite, nice easy tempo. And I had 100% strike rate – everyone in the room dancing (which was about 30 or 40 people? I’m not sure). From here I was to hand over to the closing DJ, so I couldn’t do much more than close up with a fun favourite. I really could have gone on a bit longer, I think, and had just begun to hit another wave of inspiration – “Blip Blip” could have gotten us to other, more interesting places – but that was the end of my set.
Then I wanted to dance and dance and dance and dance. The Squeeze was long gone by then – he was tired and had gone home to bed. But I was feeling all energised by a successful set, and thought I was the dancing queen. So I had some dances, proved – despite all that thinking – that I wasn’t the dancing queen. And then I was taken home.
To Deb and Glen’s home, where seven of us had toasted sandwiches and hot chocolate at about 6am. The Squeeze turned up with Chez who’d dropped home to pick up cheese (really), and he impressed people with his fleecy pajamas. Then Glen, Trev and I had a really lovely, nerdy music talk.
Then we went home as the sun came up and went to BED!
Some more things I’ve learnt about DJing at exchanges:
– the stuff that’s old and boring at home isn’t necessarily old and boring somewhere else. People at exchanges are from all over, and you can’t be sure of what’s cool in their home town (though it helps to know who there local DJs are and what they play). So songs like “Lavender Coffin”, which I’m really sick of was new to the Perthlings. And “Cole Slaw”, which is newish (ie new for new dancers and the groover crowd, old for people like me who learnt with old school teachers) for Melbourne is old for Perth.
– Perth DJs play a lot of scratch, so hi-fi was novel there. I had to be careful what I played, though – stuff that Melbourne kids would adore, Perthlings (especially Perthlings who’d been around for awhile) wouldn’t like.
– The Squeeze reckons exchanges are the place to play safe favourites, because dancers are dancing with strangers and want each dance to be good. But I reckon it’s also a place to experiment with more challenging stuff because you tend to have a more experienced crowd. Really, though, it’s a combination of both, and depends on what time you play (that time slot was a really choice set), where you’re playing, what the crowd is like and how the room feels.
– Having workshops affects how late people stay and how much energy they have. Workshosp can often leave people feeling trashed about their dancing, so ‘safe’ songs can be nice.
– Hullabaloo wasn’t like MLX – it was a bit smaller and had more new dancers. At MLX you can really play the most hardcore stuff, because you have the most hardcore music. But Hullabaloo is a more mixed crowd. Having said that, Hullabaloo has a crowd of older dancers with more sophisticated taste – there’s little they haven’t heard and they want to be pushed.
Overall, I was happy with my sets in an okish way, but I don’t think I pushed any envelopes and have certainly done better sets in the past. But it was lovely to DJ in a new town, far, far away from the bullshit politics of Melbourne. It was especially nice to be DJing in a town where set times and numbers weren’t determined by whether or not you’re in with the ‘cool crowd’ or best friends with the organisers. I was just one DJ in many, and I had to prove myself on the night – no pre-existing rep to protect or prove.
Sunday
On Sunday we got up at 3pm, and then looked for some food. It was hard because the shops are all closed in Perth on Sunday. People have been telling me that this is ‘cute’ and ‘nice’ and gives workers a break. I say it’s BULLSHIT. We saw some more sites. Some by accident.
But after a bit we got some stuff. We made dinner for the crew and spent some time getting ready for the ball. I’m not a big fan of balls generally – I don’t like the dressing up or the big, echoey barns they’re held in. I like a more intimate venue and casual vibe for hardcore dancing. I’d also made a particularly crappy dress, which didn’t help. But there was free food, I did more talking and that was nice.
After that we went to the late night party, which was at the first venue. There was some sort of DJ mix up and the music wasn’t good for lindy – apparently the DJ’d been booked for a blues set, and was determined to play that no matter what. Which didn’t make the mixed crowd happy (who were predominantly lindy hoppers).
Later I was asked to fill in at the end of the night with some stuff, so I ended up DJing some lindy then blues as the lindy crowd had pretty much gone home by then. It was an ok set, a bit dull, really. Kind of the ‘greatest hits’ of 2004/2005. The first lindy bit (up until “Smooth Sailing”, then I swapped with a buddy, then we swapped back and I closed the night) was good, but it was really too late by then to catch the lindy crowd.
But here’s what I played:
Every Day I Have The Blues – Count Basie – 116 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 3:48 – 23/04/07 6:28 AM
Lavender Coffin – Hampton, Lionel and His Orchestra with Sonny Parker and Joe James – 134 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 2:47 – 23/04/07 6:31 AM
Solid as a Rock – Count Basie and His Orchestra with The Deep River Boys – 140 – Count Basie and His Orchestra 1950-1951 – 3:03 – 23/04/07 6:34 AM
Everybody Eats When They Come To My House – Cab Calloway – 151 – 1994 – Are You Hep To The Jive? – 2:46 – 23/04/07 6:36 AM
Oomph Fa Fa – Jonathan Stout And His Campus Five – 129 – 2003 – Jammin’ the Blues – 3:35 – 23/04/07 6:40 AM
Jump Ditty! – Joe Carroll and The Ray Bryant Quintet – 134 – Red Kat Swing 1 – 2:53 – 23/04/07 6:43 AM
Smooth Sailing – Ella Fitzgerald – 118 – 2000 – Ken Burns Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald – 3:07
Get Back Temptation – Ollabelle – 80 – 2004 – Ollabelle – 2:49
Heartattack and Vine – Tom Waits – 90 – 1980 – Heartattack and Vine – 4:50 – 23/04/07 7:10 AM
Son Of A Preacher Man – Aretha Franklin – 77 – Greatest Hits – Disc 1 – 3:16 – 23/04/07 7:13 AM
My Chile – Jay McShann Trio – 145 – Hootie – 3:20 – 23/04/07 7:16 AM
Organ Grinder’s Swing – Jimmy Smith – 168 – 1996 – Talkin’ Verve – 2:15 – 23/04/07 7:19 AM
My Handy Man Ain’t Handy No More – Alberta Hunter – 76 – 1978 – Amtrak Blues – 3:49
Reckless Blues – Velma Middleton with Louis Armstrong and the All Stars – 88 – The Complete Decca Studio Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars (disc 06) – 2:30
Do I Move You – Nina Simone – 53 – 1967 – Released – 2:46
I Never Loved A Man – Aretha Franklin – 90 – Greatest Hits – Disc 1 – 2:51
Dead End Street – Lou Rawls – 75 – Best Of Lou Rawls – 3:33
Please Please Please – James Brown – 74 – 1991 – Sex Machine – 2:45
When The Lights Go Out – Jimmy Witherspoon – 100 – 1998 – Jazz Me Blues: the Best of Jimmy Witherspoon – 3:00 – 80 – groovy blues – 25/04/07 7:22 PM
Slow Down Baby – Walter Brown with Jay McShann and His Kycee Stompers – 73 – 1949 – Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) – 2:56 80 – 25/04/07 7:25 PM
I Feel Like Layin In Another Woman’s Husband’s Arms – Blu Lu Barker – 89 – 1946 – Don’t You Feel My Leg: Apollo’s Lady Blues Singers – 2:56 – 25/04/07 7:28 PM
How Long, How Long Blues – Ella Fitzgerald – 80 – 1963 – These Are The Blues – 4:00 – 25/04/07 7:32 PM
Willow Weep For Me – Louis Armstrong – 90 – 1957 – Ella And Louis Again [MFSL] – 4:21 – 25/04/07 7:37 PM
Amtrak Blues – Alberta Hunter – 95 – 1978 – Amtrak Blues – 3:23 – 25/04/07 7:40 PM
Back Water Blues – Dinah Washington with Belford Hendricks’ Orchestra – 71 – 1957 – Ultimate Dinah Washington – 4:58 – 25/04/07 7:55 PM
I’m not sure what happened to the date stamp there – it was all on the morning of the 23rd/ late night of the 22nd, but the times are accurate if you minus 2 hours for Melbourne/Perth time differences.
I don’t have much to say about this set as it was uninspiring to DJ and is kind of dull to think about (though it was very popular on the night – which just goes to show, considering it’s almost the same as the other blues set I did that weekend – that timing is everything). That Ella blues album? Don’t bother with it – Ella can’t sing the blues. It’s a nice album to listen to, but lacks emotional veracity.
I went home from here a bit tired and over it.
Monday:
We got up at about 12 to go to the picnic in the park, which was nice. They had GREEN GRASS!
That night we went to the final dance, and I have to say, I was kind of over the whole thing by then. It was fun, but I was bored and tired and actually more interested in interesting conversations that lasted longer than three minutes. I did hear some sweet DJing though (Trev and Glenn esp, with nice work by Russ).
It ended, then there were two rival after parties at people’s houses. The teenagers’ party blues party and the nanna party lindy party. I decided I wanted to go to a party where some lights were on, decent conversation was likely and the room didn’t smell like heavy petting (yes, I had to say it – blues dancers stink, and not in a healthy exercise sweat way). That was fun. From there we went to the blues party to close up, and it was exactly as expected. The Squeeze was very disappointed – he was looking for the party where people were drinking and laughing and doing stunts. So we watched other people rub up against each other very slowly dance and went home to bed.
The next day we had a 1pm flight which we caught quite happily, then flew back to Melbourne to our beds.
Overall, it was really really nice to catch up with interstate friends and hang out. I think I prefer the day time stuff to the night time stuff, but I do like the late nights more than the evenings – there you just put on your comfortable hardcore dancing clothes and dance and dance and dance. I will get a bit fitter for next time so I can go harder and I will get hardcore with vitamins – the first day home I had a cold which had no doubt been brewing the last few days.
It was great to get a chance to talk nerdy DJ talk with other DJs, and I do love catching up with friends.