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NEWS

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Summer's Here and the Time Is Right , For Dancing ....... 

4/14/11 (GP) The pink tufted nuthatch returns, iPads are spawning, and a host of free summer concerts are starting up. Starting in April the North Hills Beach concerts start with the Embers on 4/28 in Raleigh. Last Friday Hillsborough starts 4/30 and most of the other free summer series begin in May. We will list all free live music events on the Upcoming Pages or check the webs below. Pretty much things are as last year. There is a new series of First Friday events at the City Market in Raleigh and the Seaboard Music series in Raleigh has gone from every friday to 2nd and 4th Friday.

• Every Thursday Evening  Weaver Street Market Concerts, Carrborro www.weaverstreetmarket.coop
• Every Thursday North Hills, Raleigh, Beach Music Series www.northhillsraleigh.com
• Every Thursday Weaver Street Market, Hillsborough, Concerts www.weaverstreetmarket.coop
• Every Friday Carolina Inn Front Porch Concerts, Chapel Hill www.carolinainn.com
• Every Friday Brightleaf Square, Durham, Concerts www.historicbrightleaf.com
• First Friday City Market, Raleigh www.citymarketraleigh.com
• 2nd & 4th Friday, Seaboard Music On the Porch Concerts, Raleigh www.musicontheporch.com
• Last Friday Hillsborough Concert www.hillsboroughartscouncil.org
• Last Friday Weaver Street Market, Hillsborough Concerts www.weaverstreetmarket.coop
• Every Saturday River Mill Village, Saxapahaw, Concerts www.rivermillvillage.com
• Every Saturday Streets at Southpoint Beach Music www.streetsatsouthpoint.com
• Every Sunday Southern Village, Chapel Hill, Concerts www.southernvillage.com
• Every Sunday Weaver Street Market, Carrboro, Jazz and More Brunch www.weaverstreetmarket.coop
• Various Fridays American Tobacco Music On the Lawn, ATHD, Durham www.americantobaccohistoricdistrict.com

There are also some outdoor paying concert schedules out, most notably the North Carolina Museum of Arts Schedule opening with Bela Fleck on June 4 and with a verystrong roots music lineup this year including Beausoleil, Iris Dement, Trombone Shorty, Battlefield Band, and Leo Kotke. Kudos to George at the museum for a strong showing this year.

Time Warner continues its tradition of predictable top 40, top Nashville and prehistoric super groups with Jimmy Buffet opening April 19. For aging or reborn hippies Phish has the slot on June 18 and the Grateful Dead Remnants of Phil Lesh and Bob Weir in July. Otherwise the predictables Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Def Leppard, Journey, Ked Rock. Back in the day, they had many alternative types and roots bands at the pavillion such as Gypsy Kings, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, Pretenders, Traffic, Moody Blues, but in the last few years have gone to a very unimaginative lineup not beyond the predictable ticket sellers.

Newsletters:

Gumboline April 14 , 2011

Bonjour Africa, Shakori, April Gumbo, Summertime

GumboLine Newsletter  Here

To subscribe to the newsletter via Yahoo groups go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DanceGumboA and subscribe. If you are Yahoo phobic e-mail jackhwolf@yahoo.com and ask to be on the newsletter list serve.

Gumboline Salsero June 24, 2010

New Dances, NC Salsa Festival, Santana

GumboLine Salsero Newsletter Here 

To subscribe to my Salsa List Serve e-mail me at jackhwolf@yahoo.com

Salsa News

Blue Bayou Back From the Brink

4/30/10 (GP) Gary Lee has been struggling to keep the Blue Bayou Club in Hillsborough open for good blues, swing, zydeco, and roots rock. In this small 100 capacity  venue with $2.50 Pabst and a ready and willing dart board, he has hosted nationally acclaimed acts like Shemekiah Copeland, Tommy Castro, Rosie Ledet, Tab Benoit, as well as great local bands like Mighty Lester, Rebecca, and Too Much Fun. Times get rough and the word went out last month that if he could not come up with $5000 to renew his liquor licence, he was going to have to pack it all in. I just got word that Gary has reached his goal and the Club will remain open for now thanks to many generous donors.

He still needs a boost in attendence to make it a profitable venture. Big acts coming up include Kenny Neal June 4 and Rosie Ledet, the Zydeco Sweetheart, June 11.

New Dances: Latin, West Coast, Line Dance, Trance, Blues

3/15/10 (Roto Reuters) There are a bunch of new dances and venue changes:

• Laura Rose hosting a Lunchtime Social: salsa, swing, & more at Triangle Dance Studio Tuesdays from 12-1 PM.  $3.      
•  Wade Ownley is starting a Thursday West Coast Swing dance at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza on Brier Creek Pkwy near US 70 and I-540 between Raleigh and Durham. 
• Cobo Brothers resume their Second Saturday Copa Latin Night beginning April 10 at Giorgio Cary
• DJ Salsa Mike and Robert Zayas with Carolina Latin Social have started a Thursday Universal Euphoria Dance at Solas in Raleigh. The mix will be Latin, House, and International mix. CLS continues with Last Friday at Carmen's and a 2nd Friday at Liquid Nightclub (formerly Mosquitoes) this month featuring Colombian music with guest djs from D.C..
• The Blues Dance has moved from Mansion 462 to Triangle Dance Studio on Friday Nights.
• The Longbranch Saloon in Raleigh has reopened and they are having Thursday Night Line Dance Lessons and open dance. Just line, not two step.
• Lynne Jaffe has been sending me info re Spirit and Trance Dances at Carrboro Community Center. They are having their second 3/27, don't know if that will become regular.
• Shari Hugget has started a California Mixer at Loafers which is a mix of Swing, Latin, Ballroom. She had a first event in March and her second scheduled for April 22.

All info about these at Ongoing Dances.

Good Dances and Different Dance Scenes - Unsolicited Advice

What dance scene to make, what shows to make, proper dental flossing, and how this one blowhard will get hisself in trouble.

4/30/10 (Ranting Reuters) People are always calling me to ask what cuff links look good for a briss, how to reconcile the Israelis and Palestinians through badminton , and what dances to go to and what dance groups to persue. I'll pass on the first two, but yes I have opinions on dances and dancers, not to mention people who chew gum and automated telephone answering machines, and they are bound to get me in trouble, but here goes

Salsa- In latter years, I have morphed into Abuelo Salsero, so I go to many a salsa dance. The question is, do you want to hook up, or do you want to dance. Are you old school salsa, or do you groove with the Reggaeton and Hip Hop. Are you in bed by 1 AM or emerge from clubland at 4A with a hangover and calamari in your shirt pocket.

I am partial to the Dance Socials over the club events because I like to be able to talk to the person next to me without screaming. I am old school salsa - El Gran Combo, Africando, Oscar D'Leon, Spanish Harlem Orch, and I like starting to dance before 11 PM.. I need a good dance floor and reasonably good acoustics.

Of the socials the Third Saturday SalsaforU Social at Fred Astaire, Durham, is the biggest, longest running, and perhaps the best. Fred Astaire has a great floor, give it an A,  with good acoustics. It is not loud and starts early. DJ Salsa Mike, when he plays, is a master at mixing tempos and covering a variety of styles.

The Sunday Socials at Triangle Dance I am partial to, because I am organizing them, but, when working,  it is a small relaxed crew with good dance music.

Cuban Revolution Thursday nights is a good scene. It is a club, but James Cobo plays the music at low enough volume that you can socialize, mixes his tempos well, and does 80% mambo/salsa. The floor is good, give it a B+ and the acoustics are good . Food is excellent, drinks reasonably priced, and staff friendly. For now it is free. I'm there every Thursday. The floor is packed and the best dancers in town are there which can be intimidating for the newer dancers, but there are some beginners and Milton does a lesson at the start of the event, about 9 PM.

Carmen's is a very popular scene with Tuesday and weekend events. The floor is poor and the acoustics are lousy, The music is  very loud on the weekends and it is usually impossible to carry on a normal conversation. Tuesday is better and more oriented to dancers. As good a salsa DJ as Mike is, for weekends he plays to the crowd, and the club crowd on the weekends wants lots of Bachata, Merengue, Hip Hop, House et al. Tuesday is more focused on good dance music with Betto and Carlos doing the dj.

I haven't done the Triangle Fiesta events, Red Room and Spice Street, because the promo has always seemed more about glamor and pretentiousness than dance, VIP rooms and Limos, and the pretty sexy people, which this abuelo ain't. The bit about charging more at Spice Street if you aren't dressed right reminds this ex NYC cabbie of the Studio 54 days and the snobs that frequented the high end discos that I would pick up in the cab, but could never get in the club because of my scraggly personna. Now, I do what an old guy must, white pants and fedora, and try to substitute some class for youth, but I still cringe at thoughts of the pretty people.

What I love about the salsa crowd and what speaks to me, besides the timbales in my soul, is that of all of the dance scene it is the most culturally diverse, with even mixes of Latinos, African Americans, Gringos, and International folks. For this old hippy, the contrarians would be the home crowd, but I do enjoy mixing it up with people of all kinds and backgrounds. It is  a young crowd and there is much emphasis on the hot sexy salsa shtick. My hot and sexy days are long gone. I don't mind dancing with lots of folks younger than my daughters, as long as they can keep a beat, but it is a little intimidating for some of my middle aged female cohort, who shudder at the skinny tall blondes with belly button rings that can spin like the wind.

Swing- I find the friendliest crowd  at the Elks Sunday dance. Wes Boz is a class DJ and keeps the patter going and vibes up and can play to all the crowds, whether old school big band, nouveau swing, west coasters or rock. He has good music at the early Latin events, mostly beginning dancers. What I like about Wes and the CDC scene, and much of it is just good business practice as well as general menschiness (mensch, as in regular guy/gal), is that they are a very inclusive open group and have a good heart.

Triangle Swing Dance Society with their first three Saturday Dances, has always emphasized live music There is something to be said for that, it is a difficult task with the booking and overhead. I like an excellent band like Mighty Lester or One Leg Up, but if the band is more limited like Laura Ridgeway (old standards) or Atomic Rhythm All Stars (Up Tempo) , I'd probably prefer a good DJ. There was a time when I knew most of the swing dancers. Back in the day, it was a pretty tight friendly scene, like the Contra scene and indeed most of the early swingsters came out of the contrarian pool, and the scene was tight and everybody knew each other. Maybe it is that I don't frequent TSDS these days, though others say the same thing, but in recent years TSDS seems less personal, and the huge Armory  can feel like a train station. The Century Center is a bit more homey and personable.

I am not much of a Lindy Hopper, and can run through my four moves in about 50 seconds before reverting to East Coast. That is what I grew up with as a pre pubescent partner of my older sister, watching American Bandstand. We actually called it Lindy at the time, but the real Lindy is an 8 count, more technically difficult, and athletic dance, that the better swing dancers gravitate towards.The dance has a nice groove, and as soon as there are eight days in the week, I'll pick up some more moves. Before I departed the swing scene for salseroland it was obvious that there was a very tight dedicated lindyhopper scene of good dancers who did their own thing at Loafers and later at Eruff, but seemed to hold themselves apart from the broader swing scene. I was on the board of TSDS for four years and have always been organizing swing events. I usually tried to draw in the lindyhoppers to things like Night of the Living DJs by having Rob or Laura DJ but learned that they tend only show for their own events. Thats why now for the next Night of the Living DJs, I'd rather get somebody like Wes Boz who brings everybody in weather new or experienced dancers, East Coast or Lindy. Thats the big boat.

Contra- Contra is a good place for non dancers to start dancing, because with a minimum of instruction, you are up and doing it. I danced contra religiously (with my yamulke, rosary, and Mormon underwear on) for ten years before I realized I'd done every permutation of the 16 steps possible and got bored, but always liked the people. Contra always includes some waltzing and it was Richard Wyatt's waltz teaching in the contra community about 15 years back that drew me in to couples dancing

 Longbranch Returns

1/22/10 (Roto Reuters)The Longbranch has reopened. Check the web at www.longbranchraleigh.com It sounds like much of the old Longbranch. They are doing live mostly local country bands Fri and Saturday night on the Country side like Dakota Rain which was more or less the house band at the old LB. Also they will have Top 40s and beach in the Vortex club. Upcoming beach bands include Embers on 1/31 and Chairman of the Board on 2/5 as well as the always exciting Hunk A Mania Male Review- tell your grandma or gay hairdresser . Then there is the disco room for all your Donna Summer's unmet needs. All the people in pictures they have are pretty female models in their 20s, not one overweight weatherbeaten old cowboy, maybe they don't exist in Raleigh, or maybe it will be a female only lesbian establishment for under 30s. I don't see any dance events.

New Sunday Salsa Social Going Strong with DJ's Marco, Matt, Carlos, and Abuelo Salsero

11/18 A group of us have restarted the Sunday Evening salsa social at Triangle Dance Studio with a squad of DJs including myself aka Abuelo Salsero Jack, Mathew Walden, Marco, Carlos Reyes, Felix Padilla. We have had good turnouts with a good gender mix and some pretty good dancers as well as beginners. Marco did a great job kicking off. Abuelo Salsero Jack is up at the plate Nov 22.

Latin Music USA on PBS 

This is a great series that my buddy Zydeco Martha turned me on to. I watched it foot to toe today twice and loved it. You can view the whole program at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/ and click on Watch the Show. It will also be broadcast in two segments on WUNC TV channel 4. Salsa Revolution: The Origins of Salsa will air on 11/13 at 10 PM and The Chicano Wave : The Role of Music in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement will air 11/20 at 10 PM.

The show covers everything from the mambo craze in the 50s with Machito and Tito Puente, to the Salseros of the 60s and 70s with Fania All Stars, Hector Lavoe, to Dizzy Gillespie and Latin Jazz. It goes through the Mexican influence from Flaco Jimenez, Richie Vallens, Linda Rondstat, to Los Lobos, as well as great shots of Carlos Santana at Woodstock. The last part with the modern pop stars Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Selena, and the new Reggaeton and Latin Hip Hop, I could live without, but hey, that is the grumpy Abuelo in me, I'm still back at the Palladium in the 50s with the Mamboniks as they were called. And the dance couple of that era are these guys:

Cuban Pete and Millie Donay at the Palladium

Thursday Salsa Social at Cuban Revolution

Every Thursday at Cuban Revolution Bar and Restaurant, 318 Blackwell St, Durham, in the American Tobacco Historic District.. The social has been going about five weeks and I love it. James Cobo is  the dj and does about 90% excellent dancable Salsa dance music with a few cha chas and bachatas. The floor is either wood or faux wood, but dances very well, much better than Carmens or Rumba 54, though not quite as good as Fred Astaire or my living room. The event starts at 9 PM and is FREE !!

What to make of the Fidelista theme ? It is a bit surreal with videos of Fidel Castro fighting Batista from the 50s and Che Guevera laid out dead in Bolivia, as they run the videos in loops all night long. Going to the website one presumes that these folks are Fidelistas, but other than the videos there is nothing to distinguish it from a typical upscale Durham bar. It is bright and clean, nice but not pretentious. Food is fair. Margaritas are $6. The baseball game is on HDTV so you can watch the Braves if you prefer that to Castro marching into Havana. There are large murals of JFK and Marilyn Monroe to further confound the variables. Maybe they can explain it www.thecubanrevolution.com

With the Cobo crew, all the best dancers were on the floor, but there were a goodly enough beginners, that it was not intimidating and the atmosphere was inviting, friendly and informal. Unlike Copa, dress is informal, and it is very relaxed and friendly environment. James does not crank the volume so you can't hear yourself think, or be able to socialize without having to scream. Save me a dance. www.cobobrothers.com