Being a part of album projects never gets old, so I’m delighted to announce that Keenan McKenzie and the Riffers have released a new album called Lakewood Jump! Recorded in August of 2023 at Magnetic Sound Studios in the Lakewood area of Durham, NC, it’s been more than a year in the making, with some planned and unplanned delays involved in its production.
The album is a mix of originals, classics, and some lesser known gems of the jazz world. It was an absolute pleasure to record this, less than 10 minutes from my house, and with Cocoa Cinnamon coffee across the street to sustain me. Available on Bandcamp, digital and (soon, as of the date of this post) vinyl, I’m singing on 7 tracks – enjoy!
[EDITED TO ADD that, after much effort, patience, and the kindness of friends of friends, I am back on Facebook. I’m leaving this post up for posterity, as I’m sure this lack of customer service will continue.)
The Nigerian/Australian/Alabamian* scammer/hacker must have hit the jackpot when they found the Balboa community on Facebook -a close-knit group of kind individuals with years of positive interactions that built trust and mutual respect. Just the kind of people who didn’t think twice about helping a friend, who turned out to be someone fraudulently accessing their friend’s account to gain access to their account so that the cycle could continue indefinitely. Please note that I would never send you a link to a business/investment scheme and I would never ask you for $200 via Messenger, as all my financial requests are done in public and usually involve supporting a non-profit, the arts, and/or a transaction in exchange for music/swag.
It might not have been as bad if it hadn’t occurred on a Monday morning. I subsequently had a busy day at work and didn’t get back to thinking about Facebook until around 8:00 p.m. that night. By that time, the hacker had changed my email, telephone number, and password. Facebook sent me emails after these changes with links to “secure your account,” but the hacker had already changed all information that I would use to secure my account, so this was useless. I spiraled, going through the steps on the Facebook Help Center page for Hacked and Fake Accounts over and over – sometimes it would be a Sysiphian loop going nowhere and sometimes it would lead me to a step that I thought would allow me access, only to deny the access because [insert one of several error messages].
I submitted a copy of my drivers license to Facebook twice in an attempt to recover my account. I attempted to re-set my password upon prompts from this submission and both times I received an error message that I had “entered too many codes.”
I had a brief moment of hope when I was taken through a loop that allowed me to add a second email to my account to receive recovery codes. The main issue with this is that, every time I requested a code, the hacker would also receive the email and be notified of my attempts to recover my account. None of the codes Facebook sent me worked – Facebook sent me five recovery codes via email and, every time I would enter a code, an error message would tell me I had an incorrect code.
In less than 24 hours, the hacker figured out what I was doing and removed the second email from my Facebook account. I received an email asking if I had removed the email from my account and was provided the same link to “secure your account,” which, again, asked for the hacker’s password and would only send recovery links to the hacker’s phone and email.
Thanks to Frankie Hagan for this absolute gem!
Meanwhile, I received text messages every 15 minutes from friends asking if my account is hacked or letting me know that they received a strange message from me on Facebook. This continued for four days. This was incredibly stressful, being constantly reminded that a stranger was in my personal virtual space on Facebook, impersonating me and taking advantage of the trust I built with my friends and the goodwill I built with my businesses and my various positions in the swing dance community.
Other things I did to try to get Facebook’s attention and/or recover my account:
Filed a complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General’s office – I received a generic email response acknowledging the receipt of my complaint. “We’ll review your complaint and work with you and the business to try to reach a resolution of your dispute.” It’s been two weeks, nothing more has happened.
Filed a complaint with the California Attorney General’s office – no email confirmation from this, but I did print out the screen I was told to print that confirmed my submission. No word from them, either.
Ranted on Twitter @laurawindley – this has worked in the past with other businesses who have blown me off for months, but Facebook is the honey badger of customer service, even when threatened with a small claims action and me personally showing up on their doorstep in California. It also had the unwanted side-effect of attracting bots and other scammers who claimed they could recover my account for me.
Ranted on Instagram @mintjulepjazzband – I have a more supportive community on IG than Twitter, so this was more for catharsis and to let my friends know I’m still alive, but had the same unwanted scammers/hackers/bots messaging me about account recovery.
Filed a copyright infringement claim with Facebook – this was denied. Hacker stole my IP and used it to defraud my friends out of money, but whatever, I get it.
Filed a trademark infringement claim with Facebook – I felt like I had a much more compelling argument here: “A hacker who has cut off access to my business Facebook account is using my trademark and its associated goodwill to ask for money from fans of the band. I am attaching photos of message I received, indicating that people received requests for money from the hacker. Several messages are sent by an intermediary/personal acquaintance because I have no other connection to them other than my business with the associated trademark. Please see attachments for screen shots of messages. Prior to the hacker, I had been asking publicly on the band website, Facebook page, and in the Facebook event for advance tips/donations for the Mint Julep Jazz Band sponsored event, the Orchard Park Jazz Picnic, so the timing of the hacker’s requests for money while posing as me/my band could seem legitimate. I have been using Mint Julep Jazz Band as a trademark for my band since 2011. The band has released 3 studio albums, our music has been aired on Sesame Street (the Jon Hamm episode), we’ve performed at Lincoln Center, and last month the band had 22,000 listeners on Spotify. Please get this guy out of my account so I can continue to run my business.” Facebook disagreed. The only resolution they offered was to terminate the Mint Julep Jazz Band Facebook page.
A friend who was also hacked tried the two phone numbers listed online for Facebook, both of which are recordings that direct you to the Facebook Help Center.
When friends texted me about being messaged by the hacker, I asked them to report my account as hacked. Facebook subsequently directed my friends to share the Facebook Help Center page with me.
I know that most people use Facebook casually or to share photos of their kids, but I use Facebook primarily for business and both disseminating and receiving information about the swing dance community, which is tied to both my personal joy and my business. Facebook is the primary means of communication for the swing dance community. Business metrics are important – people care about how many fans/likes you have, how many people you engage with on social media, and Facebook is a critical component.
Here’s what I need to be communicating and have been denied the ability to reach the broadest audience through (unfortunately) the most effective means of communication with friends and fans:
The Empower Foundation fundraiser – “The mission of the Empower Dance Foundation is to provide access to professional dance classes for all children and youth ages 2-18. Empower seeks to eliminate the barriers of economic inequality, racism and representation for young people.” I’m excited to be serving on The Empower Foundation’s Board and help in their fundraising endeavors. This is a chance to promote beauty, creativity, diversity, and opportunity – we are not powerless, we are stronger in numbers, which is why I believe in crowd funding. If Black American dance has brought you joy in your life, consider the value of that gift. The Empower Foundation was established to provide opportunities, scholarships, and outreach for underserved youth; to eliminate economic inequality, inherent racism, lack of representation, and barriers. It takes money, time, and resources to make all of this happen and we’d love for you to be a small part of making this world a more equitable and beautiful place and pay it forward to the next generation of artists. Please consider investing in this community and visit this link to donate.
Keenan McKenzie and the Riffers album Kickstarter – we’re recording in August, campaign runs through June 15, 2023. I’m singing on this album and completely missed that this campaign had launched until someone told me today, because Facebook.
Flying Home – Durham’s Lindy Hop workshop weekend with a killer instructor and band lineup, July 21-23, 2023
Integrated Rhythm Podcast, Episode 39: I LOVE Fabric – Chisomo Selemani, Bobby White, Donna M’Shanga, and I discuss the fashion industry in Zambia and cultural issues stemming from one of my sewing projects. I love love loved this discussion and hope you will, too!
Six Count Podcast – we are so incredibly lucky to have a podcast focusing on the jazz community here in Durham, hosted by Xara Wilde, and I am lucky to be her very first live podcast interview, recorded at a house party surrounded by dancing and music friends.
US Modernist Radio, Episode 301 – this is my second appearance on this architecture podcast and I was delighted to be invited back to talk about music.
There’s more I can’t even tell you yet, but if a tree falls in the forest, no one will know because Facebook won’t give me back my account from the hacker.
This is mostly for catharsis, just me screaming into the void.
My day job is at a company that has a huge customer service component, the calls are non-stop and we are just a North Carolina-based business. I don’t understand how a company as large as Facebook, who profits from our data and who is the custodian of so much of our time, energy, memories, and even our own business’s customer service can get by without any customer service at all.
In the meantime, I’ll just sit over here on my own virtual Elba and wait.
*Reported login locations; time zone consistent with Nigeria.
I had a few gigs on the calendar in the fall of 2021 that quickly evaporated once the COVID Delta variant hit. One of these was a Saturday gig with Keenan McKenzie and the Riffers, which left us without a gig and with a wide-open Saturday. Keenan decided to make lemonade with those lemons and set up a recording session for us at Butler Knowles’ studio, Worry Less Music, in Raleigh. We recorded three of Keenan’s arrangements and I’m singing on “When My Sugar Walks Down the Street” and “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”
The three recordings are available for purchase on Keenan’s Bandcamp page and you can watch the live footage on YouTube.
Picking up where we left off, we cautiously move back into position, changed forever, but hopeful that our community can once again be together in a meaningful way. While Lindy Focus may more likely resemble a regional Lindy exchange this year, I have a feeling that the impact will still be strong, particularly for those of us who are still working from home and whose scenes are not running regular dances yet.
Per usual, I am most excited about the music – the musicians and bandleaders this year are all from North Carolina! Our state has a history of producing incredible jazz musicians (Coltrane, Simone, Monk, to name a few) and, for the modern swing dance community, you are already familiar with several bands based in NC – Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders, Keenan McKenzie and the Riffers, and the Mint Julep Jazz Band. We’ll have some new-to-you faces that we’re excited for you to hear (including bandleader Sean Mason!) and I’m sure there will be some new-to-you tunes that we’ve added to our books during the pandemic.
Above all, be safe – Lindy Focus will be requiring masks/vaccinations and we’ll have to do air hugs, but it will be so good to see any number of you and share in the collective and creative energy that has been missing for so long.
If Lindy Focus is not in your risk budget, we all understand and we’ll see you again in the future – if it is in your risk budget this year, registration is open, the hotel is taking bookings, and I’ll see you soon!
The remote recordings continue with the release of Remote Riffing: Volume 2 (CalBal Live), an EP of the five tunes Keenan McKenzie assembled for the CalBal Live virtual Balboa workshop in January, 2020. I’m singing on two tracks, both original swing tunes written by Keenan McKenzie – If I Wrote a Song for You with Keenan McKenzie and the Riffers and Transcontinental with the Keenan McKenzie Orchestra. I have previously recorded both of these songs for Keenan’s album Forged in Rhythm, but it was fun to revisit these, perform them now that I’ve had them under my belt a couple of years, and hear the new arrangements, particularly Transcontinental with a big band! Please go to Keenan’s Bandcamp page and check out the incredible lineups of musicians for each song – I know we have been weary of this pandemic for some time, but this is one of those silver linings, essentially being able to record anywhere and have someone create this alchemy of recordings.
If you say CalBal three times fast it might come out sounding like cowbell at the end – hence this tune is a pun on the event’s nickname. We’d been looking for pitched cowbells for years, online an at music stores, and it took a pandemic Zoom cocktail hangout for the topic of almglocken to come out. Thanks to Jonathan Stout for the suggestion, we think they worked out great! Here’s our rendition of Johnny Blowers’ Cowbell Serenade, sponsored by Gary Chyi.
I’M GONNA SIT RIGHT DOWN AND WRITE MYSELF A LETTER
This is an original arrangement of I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter, written by Lucian Cobb, with vocals inspired by the Boswell Sisters. Thanks so much to Kevin Wang, Lian Tarhay, Ursula Hicks, Kevin Nguyen, Matt Mitchell, and Jennifer Reed, all swing dancers in Austin and Dallas, Texas, who joined forces to sponsor this song for CalBal Live.
When we started talking to the CalBal Live organizers it became clear that they were excited about everything the bandleaders proposed and were up for funding big band charts. While the Mint Julep Jazz Band isn’t a big band, Lucian really wanted to do a big band song because it would be fun to put together. He had already transcribed Raggin’ the Scale (from an Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra live recording from the Savoy Ballroom) for Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders Orchestra and Michael gave his blessing for us to record Lucian’s transcription, so here we are! Thanks so much to Pasadena Balboa and Jam for sponsoring Raggin’ the Scale, this song is an absolute blast.
Just in time for Halloween, Keenan McKenzie‘s The House on Hawkins Drive – a ghostly tale of dancing and music in a haunted house – is now a music video! Keenan is a true Renaissance man, serving as songwriter, arranger, performer, audio engineer, video editor, and overall creative mastermind of this entire thing. I am, of course, delighted to be a part of the project and equally delighted to appear singing in the moon for the duration of the video.
The video features our friends, Lindy Hoppers Sydney Bernstein-Miller, Jordon Chan Lauren Gibson, Mel Khaw, Audrey MacInnes and Gavin MacInnes, as well as musical collaborators Riley Baker (drums), Lucian Cobb (trombone), Aaron Hill (alto saxophone), Lynn Grissett (trumpet), William MoBetta Ledbetter (bass), Keenan McKenzie (saxophone/clarinet), Chip Newton (guitar), and Mark Wells (piano).
Keenan McKenzie has been releasing remotely recorded videos throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and compiled these recordings and two brand new original swing tunes into Remote Riffing: Volume 1, an EP released on Bandcamp on October 18, 2020. I’m singing on three tunes – The Dwindling Light By the Sea, My Well-Read Baby, and The House on Hawkins Drive. The latter is a Halloween tale of epic proportions, released just in time for your remote festivities!
The pandemic recordings keep coming – we had to be doing something this whole time, right? Â In non-COVID times, the Mint Julep Jazz Band would have performed over Labor Day weekend at Camp Hollywood, but this year Camp Hollywood put on a four day virtual event that was as close to the real thing as we can get right now. Â We decided to put together a remote recording with video and audio of the band performing “Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet” to premiere at Virtual Camp Hollywood and now you can watch it on YouTube.
Keenan McKenzie (who not only appears in the MJJB video above, but also graciously coached us in how to put together a remote video) released his next in a series of remote recordings, featuring his original tunes and musicians from around the U.S. – “My Well-Read Baby” is one of those songs I love to sing and love to hear, so I hope you enjoy this fresh take!
Conceived and executed entirely during the pandemic, Michael Gamble has assembled four lineups of musicians from across the US for a remote recording project and is releasing four EPs, two at a time, on the September 4, 2020 and October 2, 2020 Bandcamp Fridays (where Bandcamp donates their share of the proceeds to the artists)! Â I’m excited to be the featured vocalist on each EP with an incredible lineup of musicians, so many I’ve met over the past decade of performing at swing dance events all over and, while we can’t make music together in person, it is so nice to hear these familiar “voices,” who have been such a wonderful part of my life.
Michael wrote a post that sums it all up nicely, so I’ll share that here and I’ll update with links as they become available:
“ISOLATION SESSIONS, PARTS 1-4
All recordings from this series were made remotely, each of the 18 musicians (from 9 states) playing either in their homes, home-studios, or whatever they could make work! Despite the obvious logistical hurdles, we were determined to make an artistically cohesive and exciting project. Sections of music were pieced together painstakingly to make sure that no part was recorded prior to something that it needed to react creatively to, which often required multiple takes by the same musician on the same tune, spread over weeks. We believe the result — while certainly different in feel than prior Rhythm Serenaders albums which were recorded live in a single room — is a special set of recordings with their own completely unique flavor. We hope they’ll be enjoyed for years to come!
RELEASE SCHEDULE AND PERSONNEL
As many of you know, bandcamp.com allows one day per month where all sales go to benefit the artists. Since many of us are struggling to make ends meet without gig income, I am making sure to time my releases of these sessions to match those days. That way you know all of your money is going straight to the musicians.
Each session has a unique combination of performers that you’ll recognize from their lifelong contributions to our scene.
SESSIONS #1 & 2 RELEASE DATE: Friday September 4th, 2020
Laura Windley 