Swinging Friday Nights at the Park
 

Swing dancing on Friday nights is back for the summer at Carnation Plaza. I'll be there tomorrow night to see my favorite band, Stompy Jones. And I just found out they're all but moving in for the month of July. They also play there on the 14th, 15th, 28th, and 29th. That's encouraging, I thought it would be nothing but Swing Town and Doc Anello all summer.

If anyone is in the Park tomorrow night, come by and say hi. I'll be wearing my inspirational pirate t-shirt (The beatings will continue until morale improves).

:cheers::cool:

I've only seen this as I pass by. I've always wanted to stop and watch for a while. Do the people still show up in zoot suits and stuff? I love that!

~Bob

Yay, we'll bee seeing lindyhop again :)

On a side note, at the club/bar that I play pool at in a league, they've started swing dancing classes on the same night as our league. The instructor is the most condescending b!tch I've ever heard.

Fantastic! Maybe I'll get to see Stompy Jones! I love the CD.

Some afternoons a bunch of kids set up right below my window at work with the music and the dancing and I get so incredibly jealous.

Sounds like the class will be very popular!

Who are lindyhop and Stompy Jones?

~Bob

On Friday night Stompy Jones had a fill in drummer who just happened to be Jonathan Stout (he heads up his own great band, the Campus Five, but you knew of course:p ). Then the band did a full set and a half of just instrumentals because Pops wasn't there. He finally showed up midway through the second set, apparently he'd been lost in Hollywood or something. Anyway that was a relief for us and the band since they were running out of instrumentals. The rest of the band just does some backup vocals. It was a good show. The crowd was pretty small until later in the evening and there was some great dancing.

They play recorded music there during the band breaks and usually it's this Frank Sinatra-ish stuff, good music but kind of boring. But on Friday they were playing a lot of Louis Jordan and bluesy rock and roll type stuff (Boogie in the Barnyard, Kansas City). Some of the (older) regulars were grumbling that it was too loud but it fit in perfectly with the kind of jump blues that Stompy Jones plays and I loved it.

I also got to dance with a man in a wheelchair for the first time. I don't know if anyone has ever noticed him there, he comes quite a bit. And yes, he dances in the chair, it's great.

So Stompy Jones is a band then? And do you just attend, or are you in any other way involved? Just curious, as I've always wanted to check it out, and haven't had the opertunity to yet. Otherewise, I have no other knowledge of swing at all. I enjoy the music but don't know it, or the artists at all.

~Bob

I thought this thread was going to be about something totally different... :D

The Glory Hole is at Knott's

Why, are you a swinger?? My Depp-less friend......

Stompy Jones is a great band from San Francisco. They always draw big crowds when they play in SoCal. They played PBDA on Saturday night to about 300 people. In contrast Carnation Plaza is a fairly intimate venue.

Me? I just show up and hope I find someone to dance with. A lot of my dance friends have APs. Disneyland is where I first got involved with swing dancing and I keep hoping to experience the magic of that first summer again.

And here I thought those were ticket booths. Learn something new every day.


Personally, I'm just glad that Disneyland still has swing bands appearing. What a wonderful genre of music that is becoming harder to experience live.

Thanks lindyhop! I hope to experience for the first time soon!

Stompy drives in from San Fran to play? Wow! How often to they play at DL?

~Bob

Well, they've become the regulars for New Year's Eve and sometimes they're down as often as once a month. In the summer though it's usually more often and this month seems to be setting a record.

Cool!