More DJ prep.
It’s Brisbane Swing Thing: A Lindy Exchange 2024 on Friday, so I went looking for my small suitcase today. It’s lost two wheels. Good thing jazz still works.
When I do ‘pretend sets’, I like to imagine the room, who’s in it, and how everything feels. If the room is warmed up, and people have been dancing and feel the feels, I go with a big wall of high energy sound. Begin as you mean to go on, and all that. But if it’s the beginning of the night, and there are only a handful of people there (usually the same people who’ll be last to leave at 2am), I come in with something a little less intense. Something that says ‘hey, friend, would you like a nice warm up dance to get you in the mood?’
In today’s practice, I pretended it was about 12am, and I was following another DJ who’d pounded everyone into the ground with lots of crazy energy. So I wanted to come in with something that had an accessible tempo (no, you’re not too tired to dance this one), and something that featured an iconic musician.
Perdido Street Blues is one of my total favourite songs. Recorded in 1940, this version is recorded by Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra (feat. Sidney Bechet, Luis Russell, Wellman Braud, Zutty Singleton). Can’t get more iconic that that gang, really. It has strong nola vibes, but with good, swinging time that make you want to triple step.
The interesting musician in this group is Zutty Singleton on drums. He turns up in all sorts of groups. Lionel Hampton’s, Roy Eldridge’s, Una Mae Carlisle’s (❤ ❤), and Fats Waller’s. In fact, you can hear Fats call out to him at the beginning of Moppin’ And Bobbin’.
Anyway, Perdido Street Blues.
DJing a big set at Brisbane Swing Thing: A Lindy Exchange 2024 next weekend, and Herräng Dance Camp next month, so I’m doing some DJ prep.
That mostly means listening to a bunch of music, adding details to songs I haven’t processed (omg this list never ever gets shorter), and doing ‘pretend’ sets where, I make sets in real time, to practicing combining songs in real time.
It’s been a while since I was DJing big events regularly (though I seem to have DJed a bunch of comps lately), so I’m making sure all my tech works properly (is everything updated?), my hardware works (headphones, I’m looking at you), and I have all the physical movements of switching between apps, looking at the crowd (Frank), and clicking and dragging.
It’s funny how these things never leave you. It’s even stranger to be back on the dance floor after literally years, and to feel jazz sequences, partner connection, and unconsciously hitting song structure happen. It never goes away, does it.
Anyhoo, always coming home to Billie Holiday. Truly, a magical musician, with such a short career. I love Blue Moon. It can be simple and wonderful or overdone and campy (I’m looking at you, Grease). This one is from 1952. The band includes Charlie Shavers, Flip Phillips, Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, Alvin Stoller, and JC Heard. Yeah, it’s a pretty epic line up. I love Billie in every period, but the 50s stuff is especially good, as her timing and approach to phrasing and everything is just magic. Her voice is slowly degrading, but in this moment, everything is perfect.
It’s what I’d categorise as ‘groovy swinging lindy hop’ (ie it swings, but that beat is waaaaay down there in the pocket), but it’s just about perfect. It’s only about 115bpm, which is slow. Very 2002 era lindy hop, where you wear big pants and don’t really pick up your feet properly. I’d probably play this at about 6am, when people’s knees hurt, but they’re relaxed enough to really sink into this groove. It’s perfect.
Friends have asked questions about the music and competition from the weekend (set list for that is here), so here is some more info.
Michael Quisao asked:
Congrats on the accomplishment and for getting through it! DJing for comps is still very stressful for me and I admire the heck out of folks who do it.
If you don’t mind my asking, what was the comp format? What requirements did you have to account for with your selections?
Here’s my reply:
Here’s what the contestants had access to on the website. Plus they could email and ask questions/get support. I think that last point was important. Even if people didn’t end up emailing, hearing ‘just email Squish if you need anything’ was important for reassuring them.
We had done another version of the m&m at the previous dance (which was in July), and that was a great chance to test the format, and generally start people feeling ok about competing. Good practice for me too!
There were two comps:
1. mix and match (everyone welcome)
– heats: 3 allskate songs of gradually increasing tempos
– finals: 1 allskate warm up song, 1 ‘shine’ song for each couple, where they get to dance to the first 1.30mins of a song ; final allskate
2. strictly lindy (everyone welcome, no aerials)
– heats (which we didn’t do in the end)
– finals: 1allskate warm up song, then jam-style with everyone getting 2 shines (of two phrases) each. We used 2 songs, fading out the first one after the last couple had their shine. The second song started with shines, then ended with an all-skate. I was using that fun version of Flying Home, where that distinctive riff cuts in at the ‘allskate’ part.
I can’t remember if people paid to enter or not.
Prizes were medallions.
Judges were local teachers + guest teachers for the weekend.
I don’t know what the judging criteria were (beyond what’s on the site) or how they decided winners.
Criteria for my song choices:
I know the organisers well, so we were on the same page RE musical styles before we started. We had some chats on messenger to sort out little details (and for them to reassure me about my nerves 😃 ).
I went with:
– All ‘old school’ recordings. ie nothing after 1950 (except that one Johnny Hodges song, which was 1951), unless it was for a warm up. I wanted to have all the songs have the same fidelity, as it’s never fair if someone gets a hifi recording that naturally pumps energy into the room. Organisers didn’t mind whether it was a mix or all of one.
– All big band, rather than a mix of small and big. Again, I wanted a consistency of sound and style for every couple. And because I’ve been talking to Heidi Wijk, my DJing influencer, who keeps reminding me that big bands bring big emotions. We were also in a big ballroom, so it felt right.
– All with that New York/Kansas/LA sound, rather than a Nola revival vibe from the 30s. So no Bechet. Again, I wanted to have a consistent ‘style’ for all the couples. I was a bit torn on this one, because what about people like Eddie Condon, my current passion? But I got over it, because BASIE and ELLINGTON and HAMP and WEBB.
– I also avoided the later early jump blues/rnb sound of bands like Buddy Johnson, because I’m personally on a kick to reduce how much I DJ them. I’ve noticed that when I play that stuff, the dancers end up emphasising the second beat really heavily, so when you look out over the floor, they’re bobbing up and down, instead of having a more even bounce, or emphasising any old beat. This is a personal thing, but in Sydney, where rock and roll really dominates all dancing and has squished lindy hop almost to death, I feel it’s important to keep that lindy hop ‘four on the floor’ vibe whenever I can. You’ll notice, though, that I did play Solid As a Rock, which breaks that rule. That was in a heat for the m&m, and I deliberately chose a song that people knew, so they’d feel more comfortable and relax. It’s Basie in 1950, so it’s right on the edge, though.
– Phrasing and so on. This is where I got nervous. I couldn’t find a good enough and long enough song that allowed 6 couples to have 2 shines of 2 phrases each. We’d decided not to use the band for the comp (which would be a simple solution) because we had a lot of plates in the air, and tbh, I know I couldn’t manage liaising with the band on music in addition to all the other things I’ve had on this week.
So we knew we had to use two songs. DJ bud Trev Hutchison suggested just fading out the first song, which was something I’d considered. Heidi had also suggested it. So I did it. I specifically chose a song everyone knows (though, considering this is Sydney, not everyone does), so, again, people could feel more confident and comfortable.
I had the next song in mind, a Barnet recording of Flying Home, which is one of my total go-to songs when I’m DJing big events and want to pump everyone up. It’s good because everyone knows Flying Home. But it’s better because it’s a less well known recording, so it feels fresher. For music nerds, there’s a sax solo in the middle (Barnet himself?) that is very unlike Lester Young’s famous one, but is fucking GREAT. I doubt the competitors noticed details like that in the heat of it, but the audience might.
Which brings me to my final point. I’ve never been a fan of competitions, until fairly recently. I know that a lot of people find them utterly tedious at social dances. And I know that one thing a comp should do (according to Peter Loggins 😃 ) is entertain the crowd. A comp should be about an organiser being able to sell tickets to people who are going to watch a comp. Because there are only a handful paying to be in the comp.
So the most important part of DJing, for me, was finding songs that are fun and good to listen to, and make you feel like dancing. Doing that first m&m a few months ago, I realised that DJing a comp is a bit like working a wave in a social set: you start calmer, but energised, and then you work up to a climax with higher energy and higher tempos. So I tried to do that again. This makes for a more comfortable listening experience, as I’m making smooth transitions between styles, speeds, and energy types.
I think this perhaps the best argument for using a band in a comp: it’s good entertainment for the audience, who if nothing else can simply sit/stand and watch/listen to the band.
As an addendum, over the years I’ve DJed little things like solo charleston comps, and I’ve run other little comps, but used bands because I cbf DJing when I’m running something. One of the best ones was in a smaller, cosier space (but still big), where we did a basic ‘strictly lindy’ style comp, open to couple registrations, but we also offered to help match people up with partners if they just wanted a go. The band played great music at not-blistering-fast tempos, and it was all over fairly quickly. We had real prizes from community businesses (who were there to watch). I can’t remember how we judged, but I really want to run a comp where we have a famous (but not necessarily a famous dancer) judge.
I DJed another competition!
Apparently people were shazamming the songs during the comp, but no one came and asked me about the songs!
If you like a song a DJ’s playing, tell them! We LOVE IT. And if you want to know the song name and artist, ask us! WE WILL TELL YOU MORE THAN YOU’D EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THAT SONG AND ALL OTHER SONGS!
“Splanky” – 1957 – Count Basie and his Orchestra – The Complete Atomic Basie
“Solid as a Rock” – 1950 – Count Basie and his Orchestra with The Deep River Boys – Count Basie and His Orchestra 1950-1951
“Good Queen Bess” – 1951 – Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra – A Pound of Blues
“Till Tom Special” – 1940 – Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra – The Complete Lionel Hampton Victor Sessions 1937-1941 (Mosaic disc 04)
“Feedin’ The Bean” – 1941 – Count Basie and his Orchestra – Classic Coleman Hawkins Sessions 1922-1947 (Mosaic disc 06)
“The Minor Goes Muggin'” – 1946 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 15)
“Well All Right!” – 1939 – Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra – Ella Fitzgerald In The Groove
“Foo A Little Bally-Hoo” – 1944 – Cab Calloway and his Orchestra – Are You Hep To The Jive?
“Take It” – 1941 – Benny Goodman and his Orchestra – Classic Columbia and Okeh Benny Goodman Orchestra Sessions (1939-1958) (Mosaic disc 03)
“Who Ya Hunchin'” – 1938 – Chick Webb and his Orchestra – The Complete Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941) Mosaic (disc 05)
“Blues In The Groove” – Jan Savitt – Anthology Of Big Band Swing (Disc 2)
“Rock-A-Bye Basie” – 1960 – Count Basie and his Orchestra – The Count Basie Story (Disc 1)
“Lindy Hopper’s Delight – 1939 – Chick Webb Orchestra – The Complete Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941) Mosaic (disc 06)
“Flying Home” – 1940 – Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra – Charlie Barnet : Skyliner
Oh, forgot the awards songs…
“Soul Finger” – 1967 – The Bar-Kays – What It Is! Funky Soul And Rare Grooves 1967-1977 (Disc 1)
“Quiet! Do Not Disturb” – 1972 – Bobby Patterson – Stone Cold Funk
“The House That Jack Built” – Aretha Franklin – Greatest Hits – Disc 1
An Australian bass player transplanted to Paris, Leigh Barker has become the European linchpin of bands like Naomi Uyama’s Handsome Devils and Gordon Webster’s Band. He’s played in many popular dance bands all over Europe, but his own hot jazz band is exceptional.
The double album Paris/Melbourne offers an opportunity to hear the two groups Barker plays with in each city. ‘Paris’ features his French friends, and ‘Melbourne’ his Australian friends. Both bands are exciting, hot and feverish, and both bands feature Barker on bass, and Heather Stewart on vocals and violin. Stewart’s violin is one of the most engaging parts of these recordings, offering a melodic alternative to brass or piano that suggests gypsy or western swing, but sits most comfortably in the swing band setting.
Dancers will find nothing but gold on this album. Songs like Play The Blues And Go and The Pearls bear up to repeated listenings, and would make excellent songs for performances. The combination of ‘live’ and studio recordings across the two discs offers dancers that mix of exciting high energy and more thoughtful engagement that make for great dancing. To tie it all up with a neat little bow, the album art is a pair of paintings by tap dancer Megan Grant.
This is a dance band, but there’s room to sit and listen, too.
In A Mellotone – 2021 – Andrew Dickeson’s Blue Rhythm Band – 132 – Swingin’ The Blues – 5:18
Splanky – 2021 – Andrew Dickeson’s Blue Rhythm Band – 120 – Swingin’ The Blues – 4:57
Red Top – 2001 – Chris Tanner’s Virus – 109 – With Her Dixie Eyes Blazin’ – 4:59
Atlanta Blues – 1946 – Eddie Condon and his Orchestra (Max Kaminsky, Fred Ohms, Joe Dixon, Gene Schroeder, Jack Lesberg, Dave Tough, Bubble Sublett(v), James P. Johnson) – 123 – Complete Commodore And Decca Eddie Condon And Bud Freeman Sessions Mosaic [disc 07] – 3:07
Coquette – Carl Kress – 137 – Classic Capitol Jazz Sessions – 3:00
Summit Ridge Drive – 1954 – Billy Jack Wills and his Western Swing Band (Tiny Moore, Vance Terry, Dick McComb, Kenny Lowery, Cotton Roberts) – 143 – Sacramento 1952-1954 – 2:40
You Hear Me Talkin’ To Ya – 2009 – Luke Winslow-King (Rich Levison, Cassidy Holden, Shaye Cohn) – 142 – You Hear Me Talkin’ To Ya – 2:12
Squatty Roo – 1956 – Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Day Dream: Best Of The Duke Ellington Songbook – 3:42
Bli-Blip – 1957 – Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington’s Orchestra – 128 – The Complete Song Books (Disc 07) Duke Ellington Vol. 3 – 3:05
C-Jam Blues – 1998 – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – 143 – Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke – 3:34
Moten Swing – 2017 – Andrew Dickeson’s Blue Rhythm Band – 166 – BRB Live at Jazz with Ramona – 5:27
Lemonade – 1950 – Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five – 121 – Let the Good Times Roll (1938-1954) [Disc 6] – 3:18
Li’l Liza Jane – 1961 – Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band (Andrew Blakeney, Bob McCracken, Bob van Eps, Johnny St Cyr, Bob Boyack, Ennis Doc Cernado) – 175 – The Complete Kid Ory Verve Sessions (Mosaic disc 8) – 4:06
If you catch covid, you have a 10-30% chance of it becoming long covid. One of the most comment symptoms of long covid is fatigue.
If we work with those assumptions, what does that mean for a community of dancers?
Let me be clear: I not an epidemiologist, a health specialist, a physiotherapist, or a disease expert. And I’m not sure if this long covid symptom is true across all covid variants and communities. But I am a cultural studies researcher. I have a lot of experience looking specifically at cultural practice within a particular community of people. So let’s start with this: what could happen to a community of dancers where some of the community members are living with long covid, and those people are representative of the different groups within the community? Teachers, performers, organisers, students, new dancers, experienced dancers, old people, young people, cancer survivors, volunteers, business people, trans people, everyone.
We’ve already seen the consequences of managing covid risk: massive financial loss, spacing requiring larger (more expensive rooms), crowd size management, no partner changing, no partner dancing, mandatory masks (and the effect on vigorous exercise), no social dancing, increased workloads for organisers, etc.
But what about the effects of one symptom of covid itself, specifically, fatigue?
Fatigue is not just being tired, where you can push through. Fatigue means you sit down to eat your breakfast, but afterwards you’re so tired from eating you can’t get up from the chair. You have to sit there for a couple of hours. Meanwhile your body cramps and you’re in pain. But this exhaustion is mental as well – you cannot concentrate, cannot follow ideas, and so on. What does this mean for a dancer?
If you’re a professional lindy hopper (a teacher or performer, or someone working in film or television), living with fatigue from long covid, then you cannot dance. You cannot work. Your income is gone. You cannot perform, you cannot choreograph, you cannot practice. Your body, already affected by illness (respiratory illness being the least of it), loses muscle tone and fitness. Your memory and ability to retain choreography disappears. That ‘muscle memory’ stuff (which is actually your brain working) dissolves. Not only can you not train for the hours every day your work requires, you cannot even coach other dancers and earn an income for choreographing for other people. Living will illness, and being separated from your support networks result in serious mental illness. Depression. Anxiety. And it’s impossible to do creative work living with an illness like this.
If you’re a new dancer who has to live with long covid, then you simply stop dancing. And probably never return to it. New dancers are the bread and butter of most dance classes and dance schools today. Dance organisations often fund their social events and weekend events with income from beginner classes. Without that cash flow, the parties dry up. Work for musicians and DJs dries up. The ability to play for dancers dries up.
What does this mean for dancing in the rest of the community? Even if those dancers falling ill are local teachers rather than traveling professionals, all that accumulated teaching knowledge, which lindy hop is notoriously poor at retaining and sharing, will be lost. All that historical and cultural knowledge is taken out of the community. The musical knowledge and dancing knowledge is gone. Not only in that one person, but in all the people they taught, danced with, inspired, and provoked into rivalry.
This is a little like having the Black men removed from jazz music and dance by conscription during the second world war. Whereas jazz music and dance at that time were actually real social practices, happening in sustainable social spaces (families, neighbourhoods, thriving businesses, cross generational gatherings), modern lindy hop in many scenes is not socially sustainable. It collapses when just one or two key people in a local community disappear.
Most lindy hop communities are small*, with perhaps a few hundred dancers, and classes and events run by two or a handful of people. Lose one or two or a handful of those, and that local scene will crumble. If that scene is socially sustainable, with different aged people, a sharing of power and responsibility, etc, then it may be fine. But we have seen over the past ten years, particularly in discussions around sexual assault and racism, that the modern lindy hop world in most cities is not socially sustainable. Patriarchy (and late capitalism) is doomed to collapse under its own weight.
But is it so dire to see a community based on white supremacy and patriarchy break down? Nope. But the thing about covid is that it infects everyone. Even rich white men. The real, serious difficulty with covid is that vaccination and risk management is much harder when you’re poor, you’re disabled, you’re homeless, you’re marginalised.
When a local cultural community collapses, we also see innovative and new types of work in that local field disappear. The modern lindy hop world is dominated by the concept of historical reenactment, with the implication that the best lindy hop is old lindy hop. This ideology in practice (as many people have pointed out elsewhere) is racist, as it privileges the white people who’ve been lindy hopping the longest, and marginalises (discredits! devalues!) living modern Black culture. As Thomas DeFrantz said in his Collective Voices for Change talk, Black dance is a medium for change, for innovation, for action and activism as well as cherishing history and preserving legacy**. Long covid threatens this new and radical work.
Cancelled in 2121 by the rising Omicron wave, the Belgian event Upside Down has determinedly shifted online. But though online fun is still fun, the face to face necessity of lindy hop suffers.
I mention Upside Down for a few reasons. It is rooted in live music, with the organisers working closely with local musicians. Musicians who are some of the best and most talented in Europe. These musicians lose a weekend of work. Upside Down features some of the most creative promotional design, art, and social media engagement in the lindy hopping world. But while some of this might flourish online, the face to face element (the decorations, the unusual party structures, the creative energy and excitement) does not. Upside Down focusses on its local city, and on local dancers. It’s smaller scale (a few hundred rather than a thousand), and it aims to be environmentally sustainable. It’s also responded to the Black Lindy Hop Matters movement by asking its staff and attendees to engage with race and history and social power. This type of energy and enthusiasm is staggering under the pandemic. And individual cases of long covid in key personnel could be disastrous.
The greatest consequence in the cancellation of events like Upside Down is not in the loss of the event itself. It is losing those moments of creative catalyst that result in waves of new thinking, new creativity, new activism, that spread out into the wider community beyond Ghent. Photo of Jazz Dance Continuum dancers at Jacob’s Pillow May 19, 2021. Photo by Cherylynn Tsushima.
Think of the Jazz Dance Continuum project spearheaded by LaTasha Barnes and her crew. I’m knocking on wood and tossing salt over my shoulder as I type, but imagine an actor like Barnes catching long covid? The woman is a force of nature, working in so many areas of jazz dance, and the wider creative world. She’s also a social agent of good, working with the Black Lindy Hoppers Fund, Frankie Manning Foundation and beyond. And what if Julie Living in New York, or Tena Morales-Armstrong in Houston became ill? These women are the backbones of their local and wider communities (once again, fucking hats off to Black women for being true forces of nature… and hardcore professionals). If we lose these types of people, the truly innovative work will be lost.
If you’re a Black American, catching covid is a very, very dangerous thing, for you and your family. The disease is bad enough, but the American ‘health’ system has never been kind to the Black community. The people most likely to be exposed to covid (the breadwinners and caregivers in the family) are removed from the family structure. Feeding nanna or putting food on the table gets harder. And if you catch covid, you still have things like long covid to consider. Individuals are going to be devoting what little energy they have to sustaining family, neighbours, parish, school, and friends. So the Black dancers and Black culture which have begun to make a difference to modern lindy hop are once again marginalised. This is, of course, a familiar consequence of racism. Racism makes people sick. Racism reduces life expectancy. Racism destroys communities.
I’m writing this now in Sydney, where our government has decided not to enforce lockdowns or other restrictions. Our covid case numbers are higher than they’ve ever been before, and we are behind other countries in vaccination. Two years into the pandemic, the national lindy hopping community has been fragmented into local, capital city based scenes. The live jazz scenes in the bigger cities is also suffering. I fear for the future of lindy hop and jazz dance. Mostly because I think that any future ‘revival’ will be based on the white dominated communities of the 80s-2010s, as we move further and further away from the swing era.
Wear a mask. Get vaccinated. Avoid crowds.
*If most lindy hop communities are small, them most teachers are teaching locally for smaller groups, most DJing is done for local crowds and smaller crowds, most of the live music dancers listen to is played by local musicians, and most of the venues they use are smaller. The budgets are smaller, most labour is unpaid, and most of this unpaid labour is conducted by women. This is is something I learnt during my doctoral research (pre 2006), but which has remained the case in the following fifteen years.
If most teaching is done locally, then the most valuable teaching skills center on attracting and retaining newer dancers, or local people (rather than margeting to the more experienced market for weekend events). This type of teaching must, by necessity be locally specific: catering to the culture, values, and people of it’s home society.
**This idea of Black dance embodying opposing forces like preserving the past and fostering innovation is not new. Embodying ‘hot and cool‘ is a feature of Black dance, as DeFrantz, Malone and countless other point out. It is, again as Malone points out, almost the stamp of a vernacular dance to take elements of the past and rework them for current needs and wants. In other words, lindy hop wants to preserve the past and innovate and create. It is the quintessential modern dance of the 20th century.
Note: this article contains some important key references to other works on this topic. Content warning for descriptions of sexual violence, racism, medical violence… heck, all of it.
DeFrantz, Thomas ed. Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.
Gottschild, Brenda Dixon. Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance. Connecticut and London: Greenwood Press, 1996.
—. “Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance.” Looking Out: Perspectives on Dance and Criticism in a Multicultural World. Eds. David Gere, et al. New York: Schirmer Books, 1995. 95 – 121.
Hazzard-Gordon, Katrina. “African-American Vernacular Dance: Core Culture and Meaning Operatives.” Journal of Black Studies 15.4 (1985): 427-45.
—. Jookin’: The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990.
Malone, Jacqui. Steppin’ on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996.
I’ve been thinking about this question: ‘why watch things you know you’re going to hate?’
There are lots of personal reasons – boredom, the pleasure of a hate-watch, curiosity, keeping up with trends, I’m not the only person watching the telly in my household, etc etc. But I also try to keep abreast of things that I know I won’t like, so that I have an idea of what’s happening in various media – film, telly, music, books, comics, etc. I also believe that it’s ok to dislike or hate something. And to talk about why we hate or dislike something.
In the case of the Beatles, they’re the epitome of Boomer cred: white person cultural tastes. To even say (as Heidi did) that ‘the Beatles are over-rated’ is almost a taboo. How can they be overrated? They’re the BEATLES!
When we talk about why dislike something that we’re _supposed_ to like (or love), we offer critical engagement with dominant culture. I do often say ‘I hate that!’ without qualification, but if I’m at the point where I want to talk about it on fb (unlike twitter, which is just friends), I usually offer qualification.
Why do I hate this program ‘Get Back’? What is it about it that makes me so uncomfortable? Why watch something I won’t like? What is happening in this text that narks this feminist so much? Why do I dislike it, even though I like the music? That last question is the interesting one: what’s happening in a text like this that lets me both love parts of it (the melodies) and hate other parts of it (the gender and race politics at work in the text and surrounding the text)? This is the best question, I think.
It’s an example of how a text doesn’t carry innate value or meaning. It’s just light and sound. But each time I engage with it, I make meaning, and my meanings change. I can look at this film and ask ‘Where are the women? Why has nothing changed in the music industry?’ And I can ask ‘Where are the poc? Why has nothing changed in the m/s music industry?’ But I can also ask, ‘Is this how a group of white men can negotiate disagreements without violence?’ or ‘Is this how a song gets made, collaboratively?’ The text doesn’t change, but my way of reading and interacting with it does.
This is, of course, the core of concepts like ‘critical race theory’. Why would I read the diary of a slaver who justifies his work as economic necessity, when I know I’m going to hate it? Why not just read things that I love that make me happy?
When you read and watch from a marginalised position (esp as a woman, a poc, etc), there are so few m/s texts that offer uncompromised joy and happiness.
A known offender is teaching at an event in your area. What do you do?
I’d probably think local. You can’t change the entire world, but you can be useful to local people. You know you and your mates won’t go (because you know who he is and what he’s done), but do the people outside your immediate peer group know? I’d imagine newer dancers don’t.
You don’t need to risk repercussions by telling people what he’s done. You can turn the issue upside down, and ask ‘what has he done to fight the fucking power?’
In less radfem sweary terms, maybe check in with them about what to look for in a teacher at a big event. Dancing ability isn’t enough. We need more. Who are they as a _teacher_ and person?
1. Are they straight, white, men?
If so, they need to prove themselves _better_ than anyone who is queer/poc/women/enby.
-> if he has no record of working to dismantle oppression. He’s not an ally.*
2. Do they do racist/sexist/homophobic stuff in public?
– Have they performed in black face (including ‘brown’ or ‘gold’ paint), a fat suit?
– Do their routines involve gay panic/homophobic jokes?
– Do they rely on sexualised jokes for their routines’ punch lines?
I have a one-strike-you’re-dead-to-me-policy. No second chances from me. So Ksenia Parkhatskaya is on my ‘no’ list because she’s appeared in black face in performances MULTIPLE times. Doug Silton is on my no-list because he appeared in black face on stage at a huge event (2013). Dax and Sarah are on my no list because they performed in a fat suit (2011) to recreate a Black dancer’s dancing, and stated that women should dance in high heels (2011). The list goes on and on. And all of these incidents are documented in footage from high profile events.
-> One of the things that WM actually did, and is recorded on film doing, is making a nazi salute (quenelle) during his performance at ILHC in 2014.
That’s enough to convince me not to attend an event he’s at. But are the other peeps in your scene also setting that as a baseline? If not, is it because they’re not Jewish, not people of colour?
3. If they’re white/straight/men, are they antiracists, anti-homophobic, and anti-sexist?
– Are they using their privilege in good ways?
– What do they post about on fb?
– Do they only work on all-white event staffs?
– Do they have a T&C document that says ‘I will not work at events that hire [known sex offender], [known racist]’ ?
– Do they post about antiracist efforts on fb?
– Do they donate money to, attend workshops with, or otherwise support projects like CVFC – Collective Voices for Change, Black Lindy Hoppers Fund, Maputo Swing, etc?
– Do they use their channels to advocate for marginalised people? ie do they suggest poc, women, queer, people for teaching/DJing/admin gigs?
– Do they give blog/media space to anti-racist actions, or do they devote that space to discussions about ‘technique’?
4. Are they white/straight, and have teaching styles and classes that are anti-racist, and advocating for students’ empowerment?
– Do they stand in the middle of the class and push you through a routine, or do they encourage students to explore ideas?
– Do they only teach moves they ‘invented’ or learnt from a modern day white guy, or do they continually name check Black dancers and musicians, giving a sense of history?
– Do they use racist/sexist language in class? eg do they use gendered language for leads and follows, sexualised jokes and metaphors, position a white man as the ‘norm’ in their anecdotes and metaphors?
– Do they ignore racism/sexism/homophobia in their classes, or do they call it out (even if from students) students in a productive way? If they ignore it, they are _condoning_ and enabling sexism, homophobia, and racism.
You’ll find that the sexual offenders, the bullies, and the bastards are fuckheads in a whole range of ways. Their sexualised violence is just one of the ways in which they exploit others.
In other words, we should all be asking ‘is this person being a force for good, or a fucking jerk?’ before we attend an event that’s promoting this teacher, musician, DJ, or MC.
Things that do not make you an ally:
– Having a photo taken with a Black dancer like Norma, Frankie, or other OGs.
– Wearing a Tshirt that features a Black dancer/musician.
– Standing by while bad shit goes down.
– Hiring one poc for your event.
– Posting a black square on your fb profile.
– Having women friends that you like.
– Having a Black friend.
– Teaching in Asia this one time.
– Knowing a gay person.
*you can’t just ‘be an ally’. You have to _do_ ally-ship.
More lovely DJing, this time with the very nice Track Town Swing at their Online Jazz Party (which is on every month).
I didn’t have a plan, or anything in particular prepared, though I did plop some songs in my maybe list while I was listening to the DJs before me. I have had an overall goal of ‘play more old music’ and to stop leaning on the hifi Basie and Ellington. And I managed that. Well done, me.
This is what I played:
(title year artist bpm album)
Let Yourself Go 1936 Bunny Berigan and his Boys (Chick Bullock (vcl), Bunny Berigan (tp), Bud Freeman, Forrest Crawford, Joe Bushkin, Eddie Condon, Mort Stulmaker, Dave Tough) 168 The Complete Brunswick, Parlophone and Vocalion Bunny Berigan Sessions (Mosaic disc 4)
Jack, I’m Mellow 1938 Trixie Smith acc. By Charlie Shavers, Sidney Bechet, Sammy Price, Teddy Bunn, Richard Fullbright, O’Neil Spencer 199 Charlie Shavers and The Blues Singers 1938-1939
It Ain’t Like That 1941 Una Mae Carlisle 190 Complete Jazz Series 1941 – 1944
I’ll Build A Stairway To Paradise 1945 Eddie Condon and His Orchestra (Yank Lawson, Lou McGarity, Edmond Hall, Joe Dixon, Joe Bushkin, Sid Weiss, George Wettling) 163 Complete Commodore And Decca Eddie Condon And Bud Freeman Sessions Mosaic [disc 07]
Shake That Thing 1930 Barbecue Joe and his Hot Dogs (Wingy Manone, George Walters, Joe Dunn, Maynard Spencer, Dash Burkis) 162 Wingy Manone: Complete Jazz Series 1927 – 1934
With a Smile and a Song (-1) 1937 Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra (Hot Lips Page, Pee Wee Russell, Chu Berry, Sally Gooding (v)) 110 Classic Chu Berry Columbia And Victor Sessions (Mosaic disc 03)
Chasing Shadows (-1) 1935 Putney Dandridge and his Orchestra (Roy Eldridge, Chu Berry, Nappy Lamare, Harry Grey, Artie Bernstein, Bill Beason) 137 Classic Chu Berry Columbia And Victor Sessions (Mosaic disc 01)
Mutiny In The Parlor 1936 Gene Krupa’s Swing Band (Roy Eldridge, Benny Goodman, Jess Stacy, Allan Reuss, Israel Crosby, Helen Ward) 137 Classic Chu Berry Columbia And Victor Sessions (Mosaic disc 01)
Sing, Sing, Sing 1936 Louis Prima and his New Orleans Gang (Pee Wee Russell, Joe Catalyne, Frank Pinero, Garry McAdams, Jack Ryan, George Pemberty) 212 Complete Brunswick and Vocalion Recordings of Louis Prima and Wingy Manone (1924-1937) (Mosaic disc 02)
Big Apple 1937 Teddy Wilson and his orchestra (Harry James, Archie Rosati, Vido Musso, Allan Reuss, John Simmons, Cozy Cole, Frances Hunt) 164 Classic Brunswick and Columbia Teddy Wilson Sessions 1934-1942 Mosaic (disc 3)
C-Jam Blues 1949 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra (Ben Webster) 185 At The Hollywood Empire
Georgianna 1938 Count Basie and his Orchestra (Ed LEwis, Karl George or Bobby Hicks, Bennie Morton, Eddie Durham, Dan Minor, Earle Warren, Jack Washington, Lester Young, Herschel Evans, Freddie Green, Walter Page, Jo Jones, Jimmy Rushing) 164 Classic 1936-1947 Count Basie And Lester Young Studio Sessions Mosaic (disc 02)
Woodchopper’s Ball 1954 Billy Jack Wills and his Western Swing Band (Tiny Moore, Vance Terry, Dick McComb, Kenny Lowery, Cotton Roberts) 233 Sacramento 1952-1954
Big Noise From Winnetka 1938 Bob Crosby and his Orchestra South Rampart Street Parade
The Wedding Samba 1950 Bob Crosby and the Bobcats 187 Bob Crosby and the Bobcats: The Complete Standard Transcript
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho 1946 Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band (Barney Bigard, Helen Andrews) 160 Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46
Stars Fell On Alabama 1946 Eddie Condon and his Orchestra (Billy Butterfield, Joe Dixon, Bud Freeman, Joe Bushkin, Jack Lesberg, Dave Tough, Brad Gowans) 142 Complete Commodore And Decca Eddie Condon And Bud Freeman Sessions Mosaic [disc 07]
Atlanta Blues 1946 Eddie Condon and his Orchestra (Max Kaminsky, Fred Ohms, Joe Dixon, Gene Schroeder, Jack Lesberg, Dave Tough, Bubble Sublett(v), James P. Johnson) 123 Complete Commodore And Decca Eddie Condon And Bud Freeman Sessions Mosaic [disc 07]
Don’t You Leave Me Here 1939 Jelly Roll Morton’s New Orleans Jazzmen (Zutty Singleton) 143 Jelly Roll Morton 1930-1939
Don’t Tetch It! 1942 Una Mae Carlisle with Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Russell Procope, Billy Kyle, John Kirby, O’Neil Spencer 191 Una Mae Carlisle: Complete Jazz Series 1941 – 1944
Goin’ Out The Back Way 1941 Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra (Ray Nance, Lawrence Brown, Harry Carney, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Blanton, Sonny Greer) 155 The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 12)
W.P.A. 1940 Louis Armstrong and the Mills Brothers (Harry Mills, Herbert Mills, Donald Mills, Norman Brown) 155 The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-1946) (Mosaic disc 06)
The Breaks 1944 Albert Ammons Rhythm Kings (Hot Lips Page, Vic Dickenson, Don Byas, Israel Crosby, Sidney Catlett) 135 Best of Hot Lips Page
Pound Cake 1939 Count Basie and his Orchestra (Lester Young) 186 Classic Columbia, Okeh And Vocalion Lester Young With Count Basie (1936-1940) (Mosaic disc 02)
Pound Ridge 1941 Benny Goodman and his Orchestra (Jimmy Maxwell, Billy Butterfield, Al Davis, Cootie Williams, Lou McGarity, Cutty Cutshall, Clint Neagley, Skip Martin, Vido Musso, George Berg, Chuck Gentry, Mel Powell, Tom Morgan, John Simmons, Sidney Catlett) 185 Classic Columbia and Okeh Benny Goodman Orchestra Sessions (1939-1958) (Mosaic disc 04)
The Huckle Buck 1949 Hot Lips Page and his Orchestra (Pearl Bailey) 143 Jump For Joy!
