Swing City Update
Welcome back from the Holidays! I'm still in
a daze from our phenominal Holiday Party with Eight
to the Bar two weeks ago. Unfortunately we don't have
many photos, but it was great to see the house PACKED!
Join us this week with all your friends as we kick off
our 2009 season.
- Roger Ceresi this week, plus CSSOB is back
- Intermediate lessons at Swing City, feedback?
- Please join our Facebook Group
- A look at some of the responses about Swing City
- Advice on getting to Swing City (it's EASY!)
This Week: Roger Ceresi breaks in
the 2009 Season this Friday, definitely a fun, class
act. They gigged at Swing City in mid-October, to what
as I recall was a very energetic crowd. Don't miss this
show!
Also, we welcome back this month (and the first of
every month normally) the Chicago Style Steppers of
Boston, down in the Annex. This group of dancers have
really made a great impression at the past events we've
done with them. Come out an meet them, plus learn some
new dance steps!
Intermediate Lessons at Swing City?
In various discussions to add new things to
Swing City, we talked about doing a concurrent advanced
beginner/intermediate Swing lesson. This would be geared
toward the many "graduates" of the weekly
introductory lessons, and gives the more experienced
dancers a chance to learn something too while the beginners
go at at. Thoughts? Please drop me a line. Thanks!
Facebook: Are you familiar with Facebook?
It's the modern phenomenon in internet social networking.
Please join our group and literally keep up with the
Joneses! You need to create a free account if you don't
have one, and "become a friend" of Swing City.
Go
Here »
Holiday Party: This Friday we welcome
everyone back out on the dance floor after Christmas
to dance with the always popular "Eight to the
Bar", up from Connecticut! They last gigged at
Swing City this past summer, in what was the biggest
turnout of the year. Come join your friends for this
holiday celebration dance!
In addition, we've got West Coast in the Annex, hosted
by Mike Jonas with DJ Jonathan Barbeau and guest, the
incredible Randy Payne spinning Soul/Motown. There will
also be a "Grinch Swap", so as to assist you
in getting rid of your most unwanted Christmas presents...!
Comments on our 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.
The old Huron Ave venue has been demolished, and the
West Cambridge Youth Center is likely not going to host
the old dances again at this point. 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.
- What's up with
the smokiness? Resolved!
we have pretty much succeeded upstairs
in sealing out the smoke from the basement members'
lounge, and made good progress in the Annex too. It
is much better and will continue to seal off
the few remaining "leaks".
We know the City Club is not the "perfect"
venue, but what place is...? The bottom line in this
day and age is that this place likes us, we like them,
and to that end they are willing to let us fix it up
incrementally as we need. But, we need everyone's support
in terms of attending the dances to make that all work.
So please don't stay away until you "hear that
it's good", which I hear through the grapevine
from many people.
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 if you're coming from
the Pike for example, because it thinks its shorter
distance. It is, as the crow flies (by a 2-3 miles),
but you have to go though Cambridge traffic light hell.
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.
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.
