Author: Lindy Shopper

Vintage jazz dancer, DJ, songbird, blogger

Laura on Podcasts – Desert Island Jams and Hey Mister Jesse

A couple of months ago I sat down with UK-based swing DJ, MC, and instructor Sarah Spoon, who had conceived of a brand new, not yet launched podcast called Desert Island Jams, which would feature swing community personalities picking the 10 songs they would take with them to a desert island and talking about those tunes.  Given that dancers are music loving creatures and who doesn’t love a top 10 list, I thought this was brilliant and delighted in my hour or so chatting with Sarah about my list.  Subsequently, Sarah has released episode 1 featuring Ryan Swift of The Track podcast and swing DJ fame and episode 2 featuring swing and house dance powerhouse instructor LaTasha Barnes, both stellar episodes – thus, I’m so very excited that I am episode 3, which came out today!  Come hang out with me and Sarah while we talk about tunes I love and share a lot of fun and laughter.

I also got a shoutout on the August 2020 episode of the long-running Hey Mister Jesse podcast, hosted by Jesse Miner and Manu Smith, featuring music that is of interest to swing dancers.  There have been a number of COVID-19 pandemic album releases and this episode features 8 of them, including Gordon Au’s Tribute to Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars/Live at Lindy Focus, and you can hear me and Jim Ziegler sing and banter on “My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It” – enjoy!

Profile in The Syncopated Times

I’m excited to be profiled in the August 2020 issue of The Syncopated Times by UK writer, dancer, early jazz enthusiast, and Annette Hanshaw fan Dave Doyle.  I suppose even without the pandemic we might have had to conduct this interview via FaceTime or Zoom, but it was lovely to connect with someone across the pond and to be featured in The Syncopated Times, one of very few publications focused on ragtime and pre-bop jazz.  Enjoy!

Virtual DJ Gigs – July and August, 2020

One of the silver linings to the pandemic is that there are lots of opportunities to listen to music, both online and from my collection – let’s combine the two, shall we?

On Thursday, July 30, 2020 I’ll be taking another spin for the Global Online Social, an ongoing pandemic music series that runs every Thursday featuring swing DJs from around the globe.  Tune in from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT for my set, tune in all day starting at 1 p.m. EDT for even more music.

Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/v5Yrc-6oqT8qbs286DrASAX7RenhmXME7w

Watch on twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/pauldances

For more information visit the Facebook invite and/or Paul Riding’s (our esteemed host) website.

On Sunday, August 9, 2020, I’ll be the featured DJ for Swing it Blue!, a series of Zoom parties featuring swing/blues DJs spinning tunes while participants (maybe you?) handwrite letters to swing-state voters who are likely to vote Democrat asking them to vote in the upcoming election.  This method has been proven to be one of the most effective means increasing voter participation and many of the letter recipients will be from historically underrepresented groups.  I’ll be DJ’ing for the letter writing party on August 9 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. EDT.  For more information, visit the Facebook invite (for my date) or the Facebook group and its About page/FAQs (more general information and all the dates/invites)

Rhythm Relief Update

Rhythm Relief: The Swingtacular Show (which you can now watch on YouTube in its entirety, linked here) was a resounding success – at last count, the funds raised approached $100,000 and grants have already been given out to full-time swing instructors and musicians affected by COVID-19.  Please consider donating, these funds are still being distributed where they are needed – you can do so at the Pacific Swing Dance Foundation website.  I have been working on the grants committee for this fundraiser, which I am honored to be a part of, and just know that there are so many people who sustain and enrich our community around the world as their full time job, know that your money is going to be well spent with these artists who, we hope, will return to us and continue to enrich the world with dance and music once we return to some semblance of normalcy and global health.

The music from this show was so well-received and the demand for an EP resounded – so you can now download Rhythm Relief: The Swingtacular Show EP from the PSDF website and the proceeds go directly to the Rhythm Relief fundraising efforts listed above.  I’m singing on two tracks, “Dream a Little Dream of Me” and “What a Little Moonlight Can Do.”

Enjoy!

Donating This Week’s Bandcamp Proceeds Because #blacklivesmatter
Fellow swing bandleader Glenn Crytzer has put out the call to action for musicians to donate this week’s Bandcamp proceeds to an organization that will help uplift the black community – the Mint Julep Jazz Band is joining in. We will donate all proceeds of this week’s Bandcamp sales to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is an organization that litigates against white supremacist groups, classifies and monitors hate groups, and promotes tolerance education programs. If you have not already purchased both of our albums, now is a great time – we’ll be donating all proceeds from June 1-7, 2020.
Please also see the call on Glenn’s Facebook post if you are a musician and to see the bands joining in – maybe you own both of our albums, but there’s other great jazz music in the list that will also benefit the black community.

Online Events in May – Rent Party and Rhythm Relief: The Swingtacular Show

While all of my in-person events are slowly being canceled amidst the pandemic, I am excited to report that there are two upcoming virtual events you can watch, enjoy, and interact with!

On May 9, 2020, I’ll be making a cameo in a virtual Rent Party, which you can find on Facebook under the event An Old-School Fundraiser for Swing Artists.  The idea is that we will create a virtual Rent Party, with dancing, live music, shenanigans, and we hope that you’ll contribute to the “rent” with donations that will go to the Pacific Swing Dance Foundation’s relief fund.  Our cast includes Jonathan Stout, Gordon Au, Keenan McKenzie, Nick Williams, Lauren Smith, and Peter Flahiff.  Thanks to our hosts, dancer and author Jodi Daynard, who conceived this event and will emcee, and the Pacific Swing Dance Foundation.  Tune in from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.!

On May 23, 2020, I will be a part of Rhythm Relief: The Swingtacular Show, a large scale virtual swing dance and swing music live show, featuring a cast of some of my favorite musicians from the US and dancers from around the world.  My fellow virtual band-mates for this show are Keenan McKenzie, Josh Collazo, Jonathan Stout, Paul Cosentino, Gordon Au, and Marquis Howell.  The show will run from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT.  Rhythm Relief is spearheaded by Nick Williams and hosted by the Pacific Swing Dance Foundation.  For information about the relief fund, how to donate, and how to apply, visit the Pacific Swing Dance Foundation’s website.

April 2020 COVID-19 Update

It’s amazing how time has seemed to stand still, yet fly by.  I have remained busy, as my day job is deemed essential, but I have also been busier than I thought I would be with various music and other projects.  Here’s a recap of the past month’s projects:

Gordon Au’s Tribute to Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars – Live at Lindy Focus was released on April 15 – this was such a special night of music and we are all very pleased with how this album came out, particularly since none of us had anticipated releasing the recordings from that night and we had only really run through half the tunes in rehearsal that day before performing Gordon’s wonderful arrangements.  This album is full of joy, so if you need some of that in your life right now, this would be a great investment in happiness.  Visit Bandcamp to download this digital release.

Keenan McKenzie put together a virtual collaboration of video/recording of his lovely song The Dwindling Light by the Sea, with yours truly reprising vocals, Lucian Cobb on trombone, Jonathan Stout on guitar, James Posedel on piano, William Ledbetter on bass, and Dan Faust on drums.  Here’s another recording, this time with visual, to add some joy to your day.  If you’d like to see more collaborations organized by Keenan, please consider donating to his virtual tip jar at VENMO: @keenanmckenziemusic OR
PAYPAL: paypal.me/keenanmckenziemusic

On another musical note, Bandcamp is doing musicians affected by the pandemic another solid and reprising their waiver of the revenue share for all sales on Bandcamp – this is in effect May 1, June 5, and July 3 (the first Friday of each month) from midnight to midnight PDT on each day.  If you’ve been planning to buy music, you can do the most good for musicians by purchasing on these particular dates.

On April 9, 2020, I DJ’ed (along with several of my fellow swing band leaders- Jonathan Stout, Michael Gamble, Brooks Prumo, Jonathan Ng, and house DJ Rickard Johansson) for the Global Online Social, a DJ’ed virtual dance party on Zoom and Twitch organized by Paul Riding that features new DJs every Thursday, playing swing music for a good portion of the day.  Maybe you dance, maybe you just need some swing music to keep you motivated as you work, but it’s a lot of fun – consider tuning in!

Finally, I’ve released three more episodes of Lindy Shopper’s Closet, the YouTube series spinoff of my Lindy Shopper blog, covering the topics of moth prevention, my favorite swing dance shoes, and dance undergarments, all posted below – please subscribe to my YouTube channel (I’ll eventually get back to posting music, too) and enjoy!

Lindy Shopper’s Closet Episode 2: Canceled Gig Outfits

Lindy Shopper’s Closet Episode 2 is up and I talk about the pandemic’s effects on the swing dance community and what I would have worn to canceled events for which I had already planned outfits. We’ll call this the learning curve episode, I talk too much, I tried to wear too many outfits, and there are some things I would change and realized I forgot to do, but if you want to hang out with me and talk about clothes and how the pandemic has impacted life and the life of your music/dancer friends, you’re probably going to appreciate it.  I’ve also posted a ton of links to things I mention in the episode – pandemic relief resources, events and musicians affected by the pandemic, and resources for the clothing and accessories I talk about in the episode.

Lindy Shopper’s Closet YouTube Series

With the pandemic in full effect along with the accompanying isolation and cancellation of all activities, I was thinking of ways to use my time away from dancing and singing and stay connected.  Thinking about how we are all essentially broadcasting communications via the Internet from our homes – our personal and intimate spaces – and how these are our reference and existence points for the time being, I thought about sharing more of my personal space with all of you.  I am often asked by visitors to my home to see my closet, so it seemed that was the natural place to go for a first episode and for the title of this web series.

I have other ideas for episodes, but I want to see how this first episode is received, so we shall see.  I am also open to suggestions for episode topics and garments/shoes you might like to discuss, feel free to post them in the video comments on YouTube.

Also, please click SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel for episode updates and to help with monetization of my YouTube account – please and thank you!

Cheers and stay safe!

What Makes This (Swing) Song Great?

Be sure to tune in to “What Makes This (Swing) Song Great?” this Saturday, March 21, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. EST, where Jonathan Stout, Michael Gamble, and I will reprise our panel discussion/musical geek out session from Cal Bal in an online format so that more people can enjoy this during these isolated times! Thanks to much to Pasadena Balboa and Jam for sponsoring this – the cost is $15, for more information and to register in advance, visit the Facebook invite.

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