I grabbed a radio and headed upstairs to check out how everything was progressing. That’s when I found out that we were in more trouble than at any other time in the festival.
Visionary Project Interview with Norma Miller
With all this talk about Frankie, I don't want to overlook one of his surviving peers from the old days, Norma Miller. Fortunately, I randomly found the recently uploaded clips of her doing an interview with the Visionary Project. Here Norma gives some interesting background on Hellzapoppin’. It's a very sobering reminder that those days weren't just about dancing.
Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt. V
George Henik reminded me that the Saturday night didn’t end with the live music. Anyone paying attention will note that the Saturday late night was the only time when we featured an extended DJ set. The reason was simply because we didn’t want to put the pressure on musicians to try to follow the show that preceded it that night. However, I think we left the night in the good hands of Jesse Miner and Rayned Wiles.
They kept the crowd going so well that they didn’t want to stop dancing even after they left the ballroom after 4:00 am. This was obviously not late enough for the 100+ dancers who loitered in front of the Manhattan Center until someone got the bright idea to just start clapping hands and get everyone dancing again.
Weekly Video Highlights: The Ninjammerz Invade Asia
The Ninjammerz hit up Japan and Korea last month brought lots of new material with them, and were greeted with an equal amount of creativity. Thanks to these YouTube users for posting these videos
Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt. IV
You would think everything would have gotten easier after we settled into the Hammerstein Ballroom, our home for the last half of the event, but not so much.
Saturday was the first day of workshops. Theoretically, over 1000 people were eligible to take workshops. According to a survey we took a month before, closer to 800 had plans on taking them.
Random DCene(s): The Lion or the Squirrel?
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Anyone that lives in DC for any amount of time has a squirrel story. I have several including one where I was pickpocketed by one and another that involves the word threesome. I’ll save those for another day.
This weekend, I was walking through the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial when I ran into some very friendly squirrels. Or hungry. It's usually the latter, but like a lot of people in DC, they've learned to mask their true motivations behind a thin veneer of furry charm. My camera phone documents what happened next.
Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt. III
On Friday we did it all over again because we had to move everything from the Grand Ballroom to the Hammerstein Ballroom downstairs. Unfortunately, that meant that I had to skip out on the memorial service and the dance at Central Park. It was a tough decision especially after David had detailed the line up to me earlier in the week. The speaker and musical guest list was loaded, a testament to Frankie's influence.
Everyone is Doing It.
via Obamarama. Check out the caption there. That's right. Even Obama wanders and ponders. That's how we roll in DC.
It's Monday. Boo-Ya!
Weekend Video Review: The Harlem Hot Shots Go Old School
This frees me up to talk about the Harlem Hot Shots' huge week. Last weekend they performed in the show “The Last Bounce” which is supposed to be the last show featuring the Stockholm based dance company Bounce. As you’ll see from the video, it was a huge arena sized show in front of thousands of people. According to the website they did five shows in front of a total of 54,000 people!
Frankie95 Highlights & Observations Pt II
The week of the event, I pretty much hit the ground running when I got in on Wednesday. I arrived in NYC by bus a little after 1 pm, checked into my hotel and then got a text that some people were starting a meeting at 2 pm in the Manhattan Center. It was off to the races.
It kept going that day until about 3 am. I should have taken a cue from Chester Whitmore who I caught napping during our first and last all hands staff meeting that night. I was impressed by his ability to doze off, be awakened by a question directed at him, and then promptly fall back asleep when attention went on to something that didn't concern him. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that luxury because everything concerned me.