What a Party Last Week!

Greetings Swing Dancers! We reopenened with a bang and ETTB last week, with Swing City in full swing, literally! It was great to have everyone back, at what is proving to be the best venue we can get these days, and definitely a diamond in the rough. We have lots of plans in the works, but in the meantime, please join us this coming and every week as we establish the City Club as the new best weekly venue in town!

- Tons of free parking
- Ice Cold Air Conditioning
- Full Bar, ~$4 cocktails
- Great Floor (one patron was giddy with excitement last week! thx)
- Easy "T" Access

This Week at Swing City:

We have back for their second appearance at SC, the "Jailhouse Five +2"! That's Seven in my book. We hosted them earlier this year, and what a surprise! These guys have been giging since the 70's, and what a bunch of characters they are. They will deliver a fantastic range of swinging rhythms, with varying degrees of Dixieland influence, to please all. Feel free to make requests. They know it all I'm certain.

Also, we have Intermediate Swing Lessons with Alex and Megan again this week at 7:30, plus Karen Leeds with Beginners.

Writes Alex:

The Jailhouse Five Plus Two is a collection of seven eclectic musicians who are retired after having significant careers in a variety of fields including high tech, plastics, and news paper publishing. They have been playing together for near to ten years in various musical organizations including swing bands, concert bands, and classical orchestras. Their organization under this name is only a few years old but their playing together as a Dixieland band is close to ten years.

The name, The Jailhouse Five Plus Two is inspired by the lawless participants in the prohibition era when Dixieland was adopted as the popular music of the time, "The Roaring Twenties" and bootlegging, speakeasies, bath tub gin, gangs and lawless activity was the way of life in major U.S. cities.

TJFPT tries to capture the freedom exuded by the musical genre and provide a connection to a past era of our society. Happy, fast, boisterous, free, and improvisational are all descriptors of the music. The Jailhouse Five Plus Two hopes to bring the music and atmosphere of the earliest form of jazz to you for your listening and dancing pleasure.

TJFPT is comprised of the following:

Trumpet: Larry Baxter
Trombone: Al Robinson
Clarinet: Bob Landoni
Piano: Dan Murphy
Banjo: Tom Ruggles
Drums: Charlie Vaughn

7:30pm: Beginner and Intermediate Swing Dance Lessons, no partner necessary.
9:00pm: Band goes on (DJ in the breaks)
until ~12:30am or when people leave

The great thing about the new intermediate lessons program is that the bulk of our regular dancers will be able to take a non-beginner class with our rotation of Boston's top dance instructors, while still being able to bring beginner friends for the intro lesson. The intro class will be single step East Coast, while the intermediate class will be taught in triple-step and sometimes will include some Lindy and more. The intermediate class will be different each week. Furthermore, if either lesson is too hard or simple for you, one can just switch to the other one as needed.

So please join us for lessons, a night of rich live music, dancing, affordable cocktails (yes, $4!), lots of cool fun people of all ages, and some great exercise. Bottom line, two parties for $15 ($10 with college ID), the cheapest cocktails in town, and a great vibe! Read, "Boston's official Cheap Date."

Tons of Swing City Photos are in the Photo gallery

See you there!

This week's Raffle Winnner:

Deb Kirchner! You win a pair of tickets!

To claim simply contact me at olaf@swingcityboston.com

 

Comments on some recent requests for feedback:

We got a lot of great comments and suggestions from people in regard to improving Swing City. One thing was somewhat common: a lot of people simply haven't come out to Swing City recently, some folks even dating back to the move to Newton (!).

Thus, a brief Swing City FAQ or sorts:

- MYTH: Swing City is far away and hard to get to. It's not! On the map it looks far for the people coming from the 'burbs, but if you made it to Newton, the Somerville location takes literally only 5 minutes longer to reach from Newton Corner/Mass Pike than the MacKenzie Center. It's easy highway driving all the way, and just three blocks from the highway exit. Getting to Swing City probably even takes less time than going through traffic lights to the various past and present Watertown/Cambridge spots. Coming from Rt. 2 via Alewife is obviously local roads, but its not bad once you have it down.

- Call to action: Swing City Needs You! Many people haven't made it out to the new place yet. Now is the time! Given the economy and all the competition, it is YOU, the grass-roots past and present Swing City patrons, who are going to determine the future success. Some people just don't know why they haven't made it yet. Come join the party! Swing City is a great community and a lot of people would really like to have you there! Also, Swing City is definitely a great, yet inexpensive night out.

If you have your own comments to share, we'd love to hear them. Please email us at olaf@swingcityboston.com

See you this Friday!
-Olaf
on behalf of all of our entertainers and staff

---------------

Getting to Swing City: Quite a few people have griped about finding the City Club. I ask them how they got there, and they all say, "I used my GPS". AH! NO WONDER! Trust me, it's REALLY EASY if you just follow our directions. We're just off the higway. GPS will take you on the scenic "shortcut" through Cambridge and Somerville. Take my word--take the highway route!

Thus, for those people coming from south and western 'burbs, just take Mass Pike to I-93 North, take exit 28, make a left, left again at the second light, and park in the huge lot. From the Newton Corner exit it's maybe 10-15 minutes max.

Latest Photos!