A few weeks ago, we send out an appeal for swing scenes around the world to organize local parties and commemorations of the 99th birthday of lindy hop legend Frankie Manning on May 26, 2013. We are excited to report that we are at NEARLY 90 EVENTS being thrown, everywhere from Singapore to…
Top 10 reasons why nerds should dance! Indie movie SwingX needs your support. More videos than we've ever shown in 30 minutes. SwingNation episode 22 starts now!
Happy Birthday, Sidney Bechet 1897-1959...Wynton Marsalis called him "the poet of New Orleans music" and few would deny that title. Bechet was a child prodigy on clarinet. He studied with some of the local musicians sporadically but he was largely self taught. By the age of 12 he was playing…
Happy Birthday, Fred Astaire May 10, 1899- June 22, 1987...Born Freidrich Emanuel Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska to an Austrian father and an American mother who longed to leave the boredom of her life there. When his older sister Adele showed early singing and dancing talent, Astaire's…
SwingOut New Hampshire founder Mark Kapner stops by. There is much drama in the Balboa community and Lennart & Ewa present the Frankie '99 Lindy Hop Routine. Watch the credits at the end for a special performance! SwingNation episode 21 starts now!
It's been a quarter century, Folks! That's right, Midsummer Night Swing returns! Tickets go on sale May 22nd. Single tickets are $17. Dance Floor Opens at 6:00 with their group dance lesson from 6:30–7:15. Then Music and Dancing with two sets: from 7:30–8:30 and 9:00–10:00. Plenty of true…
Tonight we are back in the studio at Cafe Sophie taping another set of episodes for "SwingNation." We are pleased to have in the guest chair our friend Mark Kapner, organizer of the world-renowned dance camp "Swingout New Hampshire." Find out why he is passing on the reins after 15 years,…
Hey everyone, it's the big FIVE-OH birthday of Frank "Frankyboy" Dellario, co-founder of Yehoodi.com. We are amazed, honestly, that he has made it this far, managing to grab a sweet publishing gig, catching a lovely and smart wife, and finding a beautiful home in the East Bay, California.…
Episode #089 of Hey Mister Jesse is now available to download and enjoy. May's show features carrot love, soulful swing from The California Honeydrops, the 8-Count Swing chanteuse edition with new releases from Molly Ryan and Carline Ray and tons of international audience feedback. (79 minutes)
Happy Birthday, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington 1899-1974...Ellington's childhood was a comfortable one filled with music and refinement seldom available to the African American community of the day. His mother Daisy arranged piano lessons for her young son and surrounded him with her…
Today...Sunday! Come honor Frankie Manning and Illinois Jacquet with us- Jazz Appreciation Day at Woodlawn Cemetery. Margaret Batiuchok sends word that today April 28th at 1 pm, the Woodlawn Cemetery, a gorgeous park-like cemetery, is hosting a tour to remember our Jazz Greats at rest. It is…
Check out this fun music video featuring a number of lindy hoppers, as well as hip-hop, ballroom, disco skaters and more. The band is LA-based alt-dance duo Capital Cities, performing their song "Safe and Sound." According to Capt Morgan, dancers include Mikey Pedroza, Nikki Marvin, Marshall…
Happy Birthday, Ella Fitzgerald 1917-1996..."First Lady of Song", "Queen of Swing","Lady Ella" is considered by many as the finest female jazz singer of all time. Her three octave, warm and inviting voice always projected how happy she was to be singing (sometimes to the detriment of more…
Ella Fitzgerald gets the Google Doodle treatment for her birthday, April 25! Check it out today on Google.com. Happy birthday, to the First Lady of Jazz! Thanks for the heads up, Miss Tessa!
We are excited to report the news that the Century Ballroom has apparently raised the $92,000 that they needed to pay off the massive "Opportunity to Dance" tax that they were assessed retroactively by the state of Washington. Here's the Facebook status update of the Century Ballroom in it's…
The SwingNation gang is taking a small vacation. Never fear! This special edition is the interview Spuds did with Chazz Young for his 80th birthday celebration at the 9:20 Special in San Francisco. Chazz talks about his life, lindy, tap and of course his dad.
As part of the global commemoration of Frankie Manning's 99th birthday on May 26, The Frankie Foundation is asking people around the world to post videos of themselves doing this fun and fairly easy Frankie 99 choreography created by Ewa Burak and Lennart Westerlund, two of Frankie's…
The "I Charleston" phenomenon is one of my favorite swing memes, if I can call it that. Started by some Frenchy lindy hoppers, basically any swing scene in the world can create an "I Charleston" video showing their local dancers charlestoning and doing solo jazz in notables spots in their…
Happy Birthday, Lionel Hampton 1908-2002...He wasn't the first jazz musician to take up the vibraphone but he was the first to record it and bring it to prominence as a jazz instrument. Considered one of the Jazz Giants, Hampton had the knack of being able to adapt to many styles without…
It's your weekly dose of swing in a half hour. This week the gang has a discussion about performing for dancers or non-dancers, an appeal for videos for the jazz film fest and staying healthy while doing your thing (dancing, that is). SwingNation! Woot!
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