ILHC 2010 Initial Ruminations

I’m glad I didn’t promise to update during the weekend because that would have turned me into a dirty liar. However, I think this ILHC marks a significant milestone in the Lindy blogosphere. When I started this blog a little over a year ago, there were only a handful of Lindy related blogs that updated infrequently, but now the online community is really starting to blossom. A couple of blogs updated during the weekend and a few more posted reactions within days of the event. I’ll recap those when I have a chance. I didn’t post mostly because I ended up way busier than I was last year. Last year was the second one at the Sheraton Crystal City, and we had already gotten into a groove working with that venue. Being in a new place this year brought all kinds of new challenges in addition to all the regular unexpected problems that pop up. I spent most of Thursday and Friday putting out a bunch of brush fires that took out the free time I had last year to post.

Jonathan Stout at ILHC 2010

In addition to letting me take pictures, my new camera takes nice HD videos too. Here are a couple of after and before videos of Jonathan Stout at ILHC last Saturday night.

My ILHC 2010 in Pictures

So much for updating in a timely fashion. Things are just starting to settle down, but I thought I'd at least share some photos I took over the weekend. I'm not claiming to be much of a photographer although it's something I'd like to get into more. I just got a new camera last month and it's the first time I've owned one in over 10 years, so picture quality has a lot to be desired. A few others were taken with my new Droid 2 phone that I got the weekend before ILHC. All things considered, I figure that this is the easiest way to show you my weekend until I have the time to write up something more substantial. Thanks to everyone coming out and supporting the event!

Video Review: Jo & Peter Invitational Jack & Jill ILHC 2009 and ILHC 2010 coverage.

I thought about posting ILHC videos like I did for 2008, but Dave over at Jazzpirations already did that. Instead, I thought I might as well talk about one particular dance by Jo Hoffberg and Peter Strom from last year that caught my eye a few months ago.

Storytelling Through Movement

I saw Scott Pilgrm Vs. The World yesterday. I won’t do a full scale review of it, but I will say that it’s an awesomely fun movie. There was one fight scene that reminded me of a film I saw at a Terra Cotta Warriors Kung Fu Film Festival last winter that I wanted to post about but forgot.

The movie is called . . . wait for it . . . Dirty Ho. Gotta love unintentionally hilarious translations. The scene below may have been the inspiration for the one in Scott Pilgrim where the lead character is “led” by his romantic interest in his fight against one of her evil Ex’s.

DCLX Interview: UNCENSORED!

I did an interview with Bobby White (of Swungover fame) for the DCLX website last March, but some of my original answers were deemed not wholesome enough for that family friendly site. Damn The Man!

Camp Hollywood 2010 Observations

The National Jitterbug Championships at Camp Hollywood happened a couple of weekends ago. I’ve been pretty lax with the video updates, but thankfully the Lindy Blogosphere is on the case.

Random DCene: Yes We Can

Reggie lived in the alcove of a rarely used building next to mine for quite a few years. He was always hustling for cash; whether it was by washing cars, pointing out available parking spaces to the visiting suburbanites, or just hanging out on the corner. He was usually very friendly. I think I saw him more than I did most other neighbors. We always said hello to each other. He was there for years, I think even before I moved there. Although I give money to homeless people on occasion, I never gave him anything partially out of my own financial situation and partially not to encourage him as we saw each other almost every day.

Keith Shapiro

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.

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

Zen and the Art of Event Planning

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I’m an arrogant jerk. Anytime I go to an event, not just a Lindy Hop event, I tend to look around, check things out, and think to myself: I can do this better. This includes my own events. However, that’s not to say that I’ve actually done better.

The interesting thing in event planning and management is that the better you do your job the less people will notice. Human nature being what it is, when people talk about how an event was run they will almost always focus on what went wrong or what was out of place. So your goal as an event planner is to avoid that.