This Week's Update
- This week's entertainment
- A call for your input
- Advice on getting to Swing City (it's EASY!)
The always popular & swinging Ricky King Russell
band returns this week! Plus downstairs Alex and Issac
are hosting "Cat's Corner" 180+ night, for
the fast music lovers. Alex and Megan will
be teaching an intermediate lesson in the Annex at 7:30
as well!
Hope to see you there!
Check out the photos
from last Friday's Halloween Party as well.
---------------
On a different topic, someone recently contacted me
the following note:
Have you asked people how they like the new location?
I'm afraid that a lot of people don't.
Well...... The Swing crowd is well known for being
"finicky", and more power to it. We know many
people want the beloved Huron Avenue VFW post back (which
unfortunately had been reduced to rubble and replaced
by the West Cambridge Youth Center). However, we have
to live in the world we're handed, though we can of
course make efforts to change it. That is what we've
been trying hard to do, and with reasonable success
I must say.
As many of you may know, Swing City has had to bounce
around ever since Huron Ave closed, and Dan Mez, myself,
and others exhaustively searched the area inside
of Rt128 for a suitable new location over the years,
literally having looked at hundreds of halls.
However, for what Swing City needs in a venue, there
are painfully few options...
The Greek Church in Somerville for example, was almost
"right", but at the very least it was going
to require $150,000 in fire sprinklers. Most other halls
simply don't have big dance floors, have terrible access,
are run down, don't want the notoriously "non-drinking"
dance crowd, aren't up to code, don't have proper licenses,
cost too much to rent, won't give us every week, have
no parking, are also about to be torn down, have terrible
and uncooperative management, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
Trust me, we looked...!
The City Club on the other hand scores an "acceptable"
or better in every column, and we are very lucky to
have found it.
...Except that "people don't like it".
That is unfortunate. Aside from moving (which is impossible
because there simply aren't any better venues), the
good news is there is a lot we can do to make improvements.
However, we need to know what you'd like to see.
We hear from the people that do like the place, mostly
comments like,"This place is so nice, why aren't
there more people here?" We have about a total
of 100 people in the house each week of late, and it
certainly seems like attendees are having a good time,
but obviously there is a silent majority (close to 3000
people on this list for example), who do not attend.
We'd like to hear from you.
Granted, a lot of factors this year have been difficult
to overcome: having had to move three times, the divisive
result of the two other competing Friday night events
that sprung up, the economy, and a few other things.
In all seriousness though, in the face of all these
hurdles a lot of people have put in a truly phenominal
amount of time, effort, and money to support the continuation
and rebuilding of Swing City, and at some point soon
a decision has to be made whether it's worthwhile to
continue the effort. Unfortunately, the perfect venue
isn't about to suddenly appear. So, we really need your
input!
If you have comments, please drop us a note, either
on the web
form or email me at olaf@swingcityboston.com
Thanks kindly!
-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. Please don't
use your GPS!! It will take you on the scenic shortcut
through Cambridge and Somerville if you're coming from
the Pike for example. For those people coming from western
'burbs, just take Mass Pike to I-93 North, take exit
28, make a left, left again at the second light, and
park. It's maybe 10-15 minutes from Newton Corner.
The new place is the Somerville City Club, at 20 Innerbelt
Road, Somerville (map).
It's adjacent to the Holiday Inn near Sullivan Square,
directly off I-93 and 3 blocks from the Orange Line. There
are also a bunch of convenient buses that come through,
ample parking, our "Annex", and of course...
a FULL BAR. For those that drove to the Greek Church from
I-93, you probably went right past it on Washington St.
In fact it's only a little over a mile away from the Greek
Church location and a few miles down the highway from
Springstep.
