We’re at a pretty quiet time in the Lindy Hop world as there are no major or minor events happening until Lindy Focus and Snowball right after Christmas. This is probably a good time to get caught up on your online Lindy reading.
The Lindy blogosphere is surprisingly larger than you think. When I started this post I thought I was just going to describe a handful of sites, but once I was done compiling URL’s I came up with over 50.
It’s easy to think that there aren’t that many blogs because few people post regularly or even often. Plus there are quite a few dancers who have blogs, but don’t necessarily blog about Lindy Hop, except on rare occasions.
But taken as a group with a handy dandy RSS reader and occasional stopovers at the few active forums like, Yehoodi & SwingDJs, you can get a decent amount of dance related reading over the course of a week.
There are probably more blogs out there that I missed, so I encourage you to post any of those in the comments section. I apologize for discriminating against any non-English sites simply because I can’t read any of them. 😉
Singled Out
News & Views by Allen Hall. Few people realize this, but Allen is probably the godfather of all blogs Lindy related. Dancing since the early 90’s, he and his wife Rudy live the kind of retirement that most dancers dream of. Every winter they pack up their mobile home and travel the country to dance away the bitter Minnesota winters. News & Views started out as a simple email to their friends back home to let them know how they were doing, and evolved into a semi-regular newsletter where Allen shares his thoughts about every venue, band, dj, and event that they encounter. His sharp wit is matched by his extensive musical knowledge that puts 99% of the dj’s out there to shame. When someone starts writing the history of the modern Lindy Hop scene (my messy first draft doesn’t count) his newsletter will be an invaluable resource. He doesn’t have a traditional blog, rather he emails it to everyone on his email list. But if you’re not on that list he posts everything on the Minnesota Lindy forum.
Naomi Uyama’s MySpace Blog. She doesn’t post anymore , but this is the standard by which I measure all other blogs. Incredibly insightful from a unique view of the Lindy Hop scene.
The Commentariat
These are the bloggers that post regularly about the Lindy. Usually every week, sometimes more, occasionally less.
Art and Dancing by Mary Freitag
Dogpossum by Samantha Carroll. Samantha is working on her Ph.D. in cultural studies, so she has some very detailed and educated posts about the scene and the music that inspires it.
The Rantings of A Lindy Hopper by Alice Poteriaiko
Swungover by Bobby White. This blog is brand new, so I’m taking a bit of a risk listing it up here, but since Bobby writes the weekly Jam Cellar update for us, I’m guessing he’ll have fairly regular updates here.
Blogs about Lindy Hop dance and culture.
Balboa Dancer by Peter Loggins.
Jass Dancer by Peter Loggins. These two blogs are by Peter Loggins who has a wealth of information to share. He also runs http://www.dancehistory.org/ but that site has been down for some time now.
Basie & Newton by Drew. Super detailed look at Lindy Hop through the lens of science.
Building the Swing Dance Community by Natasha Ouimet and Patrick Schmidt. They haven’t posted much except for detailed break downs of the California Routine and the Shim Sham.
The Dance Primer. Seems inactive, but lots of interesting content if you have some time to dig around.
Hamfats by Randy Panté and Tien Le. Super HQ pics and videos
Killer Diller Jumpin’ Jive. Not sure who is behind this blog, and they don’t seem to have a specific purpose other than to post videos of musicians and dancers.
Lindy Bloggers. Currently inactive, but might be starting up again in the near future from what I hear.
Lindy Hop Variations for Followers. Nice break downs of videos from a follower’s perspective
Lindy Hop Video. This is part of a pay site, but the blog is starting tot talk about videos available for free online elsewhere.
Mind Over Movement by Jesse Niou. I’d say this blog is inactive, but this dude looks like he updates once a year.
Swing Dancing Art. I have no idea what language this site is in but they have good taste in art.
Swing Fashionista. Lots of fancy fashion pics and information brought to you by Sharon Davis, Jo Hoffberg, and Alice Mei.
Swing Scene. Another seemingly inactive blog, but with some in depth thoughts on the scene.
Tipping Swing Dancing. Offering teaching and marketing advice.
When We Dance. A personal account of a dancer getting back intot the scene.
Dancers
An assortment of instructors and regular dancers who talk about their lives both lindy related and not in addition to posting swing related curiosities. I did exclude a number of people I know who have blogs but have only rarely talk about dancing. The blogs listed in this section have a majority of Lindy related posts last I checked.
Alain’s Dance Blog by Alain Wong
Just for the Halibut by Bernadette
The Dance Nomad by Carl Nelson. Latest project by the same person behind the now inactive Carl’s Jazz Dance Blog
Vagabond Diaries by Davis Thurber
The Rabit Hole . . . by Joanna Lucero
The Antics of K & J by Jo Hoffberg & Kevin St. Laurent
The Lunar Lounge by Luna Eclipse
Behind The Madness by Madeline Hopkins
Midori and Chad by Midori and Chad Fasca
The Click Heard Round The World by Rik Panganiban
Music Related
Music Related blogs by dancers, musicians, and DJ’s with an ear for Lindy Hop, Balboa, and Blues Dancing.
The Aural Majority by Bill Speidel
Dan’s Dance Revolution by Dan Newsome
My Jazz Can Beat Up Your Jazz by Glenn Crytzer.
Swing, jazz and blues by Henrik Eriksson
Pustoblogsky by James Pustejovsky
Jonathan Stout’s Swing Guitar Blog. Jonathan is the band leader of The Campus Five. Also check out his old blog, Swing Guitar by Jonathan Stout which is no longer updated, but is a valuable resource for understanding Swing Era guitar playing.
Venues
Places that regularly update with fun and informative content in addition to information about their dances, classes, and events.
The Jam Cellar. I’m partial to this blog since I theoretically work here, although I don’t seem to be doing much these days. But Bobby’s Tuesday updates are gold.
Lindy Groove Technique by Neil
Miscellaneous
Dance Is Love by Liz Miller. Not sure how to categorize this. It’s a pretty elaborate writing project based on the author’s dance and life experiences that the she wants to turn into a novel.
Dance Weekend. From the guy behind the Lindy Weekend Facebook app, a blog documenting his latest effort in simplifying event registration.
[I’m fond of the alternative title for this blog which was Lindy Bloppers because it makes me laugh. However, I decided alliteration was the way to go instead.]
Wandering & Pondering 
Jo said,
December 16, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Thanks Jerry! I just beefed up my Lindy Folder in my RSS thanks to you. 🙂
Jerry said,
December 17, 2009 at 12:16 am
I noticed that I didn’t insert some of the links properly. I’ve updated the list so that everything should be working now.
Denis said,
December 18, 2009 at 8:52 am
Nice list!
“Swing Dancing Art” is in Russian.
Ali Taghavi said,
December 25, 2009 at 9:02 am
Hi Jerry, this is Ali Taghavi. I feel flattered and excited to be on your list.
Thank you,
Randy Pante said,
December 31, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Thanks for the link Jerry 🙂 I regularly check your site!
nallakim said,
July 5, 2010 at 12:46 am
Korea Swing Scene – http://lindyexplorer.wordpress.com
🙂
Nalla
Rabbits and Toasters? « The Rantings of a Lindy Hopper said,
August 25, 2010 at 1:14 pm
[…] if your a devout Lindy Logger Lurker you will be addicted to Rabbits and Toasters. That’s a […]
The State of the Lindy Online Disunion « Wandering & Pondering said,
May 12, 2011 at 12:37 am
[…] is the reason why I find it difficult keeping my list of blogs updated. There is very little consistency out there outside of a very small number of blogs. Both […]
Stephanie said,
May 23, 2011 at 9:07 pm
taintwhatyoudo.wordpress.com?
Andrew said,
November 16, 2011 at 5:41 pm
This list is awesome and well-organized. Thank you for doing this work!
2012 Blog highlights and the List O’Blogs « Wandering & Pondering said,
November 30, 2012 at 12:06 am
[…] This post compliments my previous compilations of dance blogs done in 2009 and […]