Wandering & Pondering

Here is the long awaited interview with the lovely and lascivious Nina Gilkenson. Or at least the first part. Theoretically, if you follow this blog, you may already know who she is, but if you don’t, this is a good way to get to know this self described “forth grade drop out.”

I do feel the need to apologize profusely for the background noise. We really wanted to chat Nina in her native environment of Baltimore, but it can get intense. Please bear with us, it will only last through the first two parts, and will mostly go away after that. Or you can be like me and listen to it a few hundred times and just get used to it. If you can deal with it, you’ll be rewarded with an interesting perspective into the modern Lindy scene.

Don’t forget to subscribe to A Word on Swing’s YouTube channel to get future updates. I’m still not finished editing the other parts, but now that I have most of the background materials assembled from the first part, it should make the other ones easier to get done.

Also a shout out to everyone who allowed us to use their photos in this interview including:

• Ben Hejkal Photography http://benhejkal.com/
• Nicole Munchel Photography http://www.nicolemunchelphoto.com/
• Jeramie Anderson
• Reuben Brown
• Soo Clark
• Mary Freeman
• Naomi Uyama

All the uncredited photos were taken by me.

All the filming and editing has been  and continues to be an interesting challenge for me to learn on the fly, and I hope to get better and better with each episode. I hope that none of of those flaws distract you from one of the most interesting women in our dance scene.

I posted a couple of links today on the Facebook page for this blog that led me to the idea of posting the full scene from “A Day At The Races” featuring Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers. But since I had some thoughts lengthier than 420 characters, I just thought I’d turn it into a full blog post.

This clip reminded me of one of my many incomplete blog posts where I was doing research on my favorite Duke Ellington vocalist featured in this clip, and possibly my favorite female jazz vocalists of all time, Ivie Anderson. Had she lived longer, I have no doubt that she’d be considered in the same breath as Billie and Ella. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve read lots of responses to my last post online and off.  I was going to write a response until I realized that I did that already.  Oddly enough, I use the same exact Skye and Steven story in that post as I did the last.  Wise people those guys. So I’m reposting a link to that essay and hope that tides people over until I can fix my internet connection at home.

I was preparing a post on DJ’ing when I heard the sad news that Austin DJ and event promoter Keith Shapiro passed away last night.

I only met Keith very briefly many years ago, but he touched many lives through his work in our community. He was also host of the Blues podcast Confessing The Blues.

You can offer condolences and support to his memorial Facebook page.   A number of his friends are also paying tribute to him online.

• Bryn Morin
• Emily Smith
• Ryan Swift
• Yehoodi

My condolences to his friends and family especially to his wife Summer and his two daughters Anna and Ella.

April is getting pretty crazy with all the cool videos coming out. I’ve posted quite a bunch of videos from far off lands, but I wanted to spotlight a few American ones that have come out in the past few weeks. They all happen to be college teams, and are a nice look at the next generation of Lindy Hop.

Hoosier Hot Shots

From this year’s Hawkeye Swing Festival. I appreciate the little pop up note telling us that the dancer that hurt herself is alright. To that dancer: Pain only reminds us that we’re alive.  Congrats on first place.  Hoosier Hot Shots, we salute you.

Read the rest of this entry »

This site is still a work in progress.  Please come back later.