Burn Blue has a blog

This blog defines my life! I'm so happy they started with a history of blues. This post totally resignates with me, especially Dan's comment about how big band is frozen in time, but blues is ever-evolving and continues to amaze it's followers (me). And I love the information about solo blues. It inspires me to let myself give in to the music more when I don't have someone to dance with. So many times I think "no one asked me, there isn't anyone for me to ask, so I'll just sit this one out even though I love this song." Of course, I've started to do more social solo dancing, because if Karissa and Brecca can solo dance like that, I can too. But today I learned that there's a history to it and it makes me want to solo dance all the more.
My blues community ROCKS. Thanks, Burn Blue, for putting this together. I LOVE it!

BURN BLUE BLOG

San Fransisco Lindy Exchange

We left Evelyn with her cousins in Port Townsend and set off to San Fran by ourselves! I almost wanted to drive down just for old times’ sake (Michael and I used to drive to events all over when we lived in Salt Lake City). But since we already had our plane tickets . . we flew in Thursday evening and spent all day Friday being together. A much needed sabbatical day in a nostalgic city.

The exchange itself was so much fun! I’ve clearly forgotten how much fun I can have at a Lindy exchange. The feeling of watching the dancers and pointing out who I wanted to ask to dance next, getting to the middle of the dance floor, and staying there song after song after song as different people stopped me from leaving the dance floor . . exhilerating! I was surrounded by a few old friends, and got an avalanche of new friends that made the whole weekend eventful.

The blues room at THIS event ROCKED. Full and energized, I was able to play songs that are a little different to experiment with the crowd. I got to see how my somewhat different blues made the crowd react, and I got great feedback from everyone, which makes me feel really really happy. I got to dance and DJ responsible-free. I got to be just me for those few nights and I’m so grateful to the SFLX staff! As promised, I've listed most of my set list from the 5 hours that I got to play:

Louise Hoffsten: The Seduction of Sweet Louise

Bonnie Raitt: Love Me Like a Man

Ray Charles & B.B. King: Sinner's Prayer

John Lee Hooker: Every Night

Little Milton: Little Bluebird

B.B. Kind: My Own Fault

Janiva Magness: That's What Love Will Make You Do

Etta James: Hawg For Ya

Jimmy Reed: Odds and Ends

Booker T. Laury: Blues With a Feeling

Johnny Walker: The Sky Is Crying

Brother Yusef: Blues Is My Story

Susan Tedeschi:'TAn't Nobody's Business

Christ Thomas King: Come On In My Kitchen

Ruth Brown: Good Day For the Blues

Sonny Boy Williamson: Cool Disposition

The Robins: Smokey Joe's Cafe

Fiona Boyes: Red Hot Kisses

Koko Taylor: I'm A Woman

Janiva Magness: I Don't Want You on My Mind

Pinetop Perkins and Elvin Bishop: How Long

Jimmy Reed: When Girls Do It

Fiona Boyes: Canned Heat

Ray Charles: It Makes No Difference Now

The Fabulous Thunderbirds: She's Tuff

Keb' Mo': Keep It Simple

Blue Harlem: Drown in my own Tears

Earl Hooker: Drivin' Wheel

The Insomniacs: Maybe Sometime Later

Louise Hoffsten: Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes

Nathan James & Ben Hernandez: Black Rattler

Norah Jones: All Your Love

Katie Webster: Pussycat Moan

Elmore James: It Hurts Me Too

Etta James: Son of a Preacher Man

Solomon Burke: Cry To Me

Muddy Waters: She Moves Me

Bar Scott: Everyday People

Kim Massie: Come On Into My Kitchen

John Hammond, Jr.: Heartache Blues

Gordon Webster: Mo' Better Blues

Janiva Magness: Lost and Lookin'

The Staple Singers: Sit Down Servant

B.B. King: Rock Me Baby

John Lee Hooker and Bonnie Raitt: I'm in the Mood

Stevie Ray Vaughan: The Things I Used to Do

Elvis Presley: Relax

Katie Webster: I'm Bad

Bobby Jones ft The Mannish boys: How Long Will It Last

James Cottonm Blues Band: Cotton Crop Blues

Ray Charles: Busted

Melissa Pace: Am I blue?

Albert King: Cold Feet

Ronin Rogers: Can You Hear Me Now

Martin Sexton: Can't Stop Thinking 'bout You

Charles Brown: I Lost Everything

Susan Tedeschi: Little by Little

Doug MacLeod: Sweet Ride

Mark Hummel: City Livin

Seth Walker: Sun down

Nora Michaels: Black Coffee

I say MOST of my set, and looking at it now, it's not my best work, because I usually try and switch up my artists more and avoid overplayed songs, but I have 2 excuses for that: 1)My second sound card was not working so I had a much more difficult time trying to re-listen to songs on my iPod and determine the transition quality and 2)they fit really well. My favorite complement about any set of mine ever was give after my Friday night set: "It's like you told a story with your music." Right on, that makes me feel awesome.

My music nugget is most definitely the Saturday night blues and Big Bones. That was the night that I was too exhausted to move but somehow found the energy when he started playing. Dave Madison told me all about how Big Bones used to play on the streets. Kent then filled in the details of getting the tip to go hear him at a nearby venue. Inspiring and amazing. I absolutely loved every minute.

Thank you Ben for hosting, and everyone else for the amazing weekend!

Blues in the Star Shower and Seattle Lindy Exchange

It’s always interesting to me that I will go completely out of my way for an event that’s far away, but not alter my schedule at all when the event is in my own town.

Blues Dancing in the Star Shower, an event thrown together last minute by an organizer who made a lot of promises to teachers, DJs, and registered dancers that he didn’t keep, was also local. I attended one night. I wasn’t too sad to miss most of that event given that it was a camp site that we danced at, which I’m not really into because there’s no shower. And, a lot of people showed up, saw that many of the teachers canceled after they were told they couldn’t be paid, and went home right away. BUT the people that did stay made the most of it and had a great time. I salute them. They were fun to play with on the one night I did go.

Seattle Lindy Exchange came and went quickly, and I attended one night of the three, and that’s because I was schedule to DJ the late night. The Seattle scene feels so different from other scenes in that the blues and Lindy-Hop social scenes are completely different. On the night that I was there, the blues room had maybe 4 couples MAX at any given time. No one wanted to blues, they were there to Lindy with the Seattle Lindy-hoppers, who have a very good reputation to be awesome, which is a reputation they’ve earned. Seattle has an incredible Lindy scene, Incredible. There are a few national and international teachers that come from this Lindy scene, so you can bet that many of the dancers in the area have taken their classes and are on their way to becoming equally as incredible. Hence, the blues at this exchange were severly lacking. The blues DJs were all local, and all had only one set the entire weekend. That was fine with me, considering it compt me into the event, which rocks. It just created a different feel towards the blues in general. I suppose that’s why it’s taken me 2 months to write about, and why I didn’t save my set list. Sorry.

On the plus side, the Lindy a the SLX was AWESOME. I went to the Friday night dance and thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

Mourning a Mentor

I don't have the words to express the loss that the world feels today. Our community, as a whole, has lost a great, intelligent man. I miss you, Keith. I can't believe you won't be here to tell me all the things you've learned.

DJ Big Papa's website. I love that he's put so many of the things he taught me about being a DJ. I feel like he's still here just by reading this.

His DJ skills

Keith's memorial page

I'm still in denial, and expect to see Keith on my doorstep for ECBF. I want him to pop up a google chat note to me and tell me it's not real. I have my phone next to me waiting for a text from him. And as I think of his 2 girls, and their need for their daddy, my heart screams for him to still be with us. Today, I hold Michael and Evelyn a little closer.

Normally, I spend my music-listening time filtering through new music. Today, I couldn't focus on music. I put my collection on random, and appropriately, this song played as I'm reading messages on Keith's memorial page: Enya - Smaointe

I love you, Keith, Summer, Anna and Ella. I pray that God give you comfort in this time or mourning.

My story, my passion

I love music. I have always loved music, which was greatly influenced by my musical family. As a child, I played trumpet and piano, and danced ballet. I've since lost those skills, but learned a lot about music in the process. I joined the cultural crave in the 90's when Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was hot, and got excited about swing dancing. I did theater in high school because that's what my brothers did, and I adore my brothers. Theater is a part of what shaped me. So when I could combine all of those things and perform in my school musical in a swing number, I was thrilled! And hooked. Post-high school, I looked up the swing dance club in college. Utah State swing dance club introduced me to the right connections. This is where the addiction begins.

One thing led to another, and now I'm a DJ! The end.

Just kidding.

With the right connections, I was soon invited to my first event. Phoenix Lindy exchange 2004 was my first experience traveling to dance and I LOVED every second. I am a person who loves close connection, and in those days, blues was not as open-dance style as it is now. The connection I felt with my first blues lesson was much different than the connection I felt when I Lindy'd. The addiction grows.

I'm a very affectionate person. In my youth, I was taught that was an unfortunate personality flaw. But on the blues floor, *some* of those affectionate behavior qualities were appreciated (consider I was 19, and hadn't yet learned what appropriate affectionate behavior was, as I'm positive many of you have experienced for yourself when dancing with someone in that same stage of life).

So I meet this guy during our spring break dance trip to Sacramento and San Fransisco. We happen to have the most amazing connection I've ever felt. We later learned that we connected on many many levels, off the dance floor too. So I fell in love with him. 5 months later, when he graduated from college, he wanted to move. I wanted to move. So we chose a city we liked, took a leap of faith, and moved our lives to Seattle, together, where the dance scene is so developed that we have our pick on almost any night of the week.

What did we pick? House parties. Oh ya. They're awesome. I couldn't get enough of them. The problem was, I didn't always like the music. I'd come home and play with my music, and my boyfriend and I would dance in the kitchen to the songs I liked the most. The DJ side of me begins.

This is when I start volunteering to DJ at house parties to ensure the music would be good. I start throwing house parties of my own. My favorite house party was our engagement party. If you haven't figured it out yet, the spring break fling was Michael. And I married him.

Volunteering for parties as a DJ got me heard by local organizers. The timing was perfect. 2 people were working on starting this new weekly blues venue since the once-a-month Blues Underground just wasn't satisfying Seattle's need for blues. I got invited to the first "Burn Blue" meeting.

The first few months of Burn Blue were rocky for me, as a DJ. There was a requirement for 75% real blues music, and 25% whatever you want to blues dance to. Since most house parties are more like 75% not blues, but danceable music. I felt that if I was going to be a DJ, I'd better know at least a little about what I was doing. The research begins.

I'd collected a lot of music that I knew little about. Of course, music organization and studying never really stops, but this story is about when it started. Having the opportunity to be one of Burn Blue's first DJs sent me on a spiral of new adventures. I spent hours doing online research on websites like http://www.history-of-rock.com/blues.htm and the like. I got books from the library and spent hours just listening to music. I took a DJ workshop from Steven Watkins, and spent hours with other blues dancers talking music. "That song is jazz." "That song is classic rock that you can dance to, but it's still not blues." "Nope still not blues, that's jazz again." until I finally understand what they meant. They wanted music that wouldn't make people want to Lindy while they worked on teaching open-position blues. Many many blues dancers had started as Lindy-hoppers first, and didn't quite know hot to dance to up-beat blues.

That said, I started learning about the music I'd acquired, and realized I had all the wrong music. And so the research on blues dives even deeper. If I'm going to get new music, I'm going to make sure it's the right music. And without that research, I would never had gotten any Mahalia Jackson. I love her.

After years of being able to DJ, and volunteering to DJ at events, I finally feel confident enough to write this blog. This is my passion, this is my community, this is my life. And I love it.

Pirated music

In Mike the girl's words:
http://www.facebook.com/aspyre?v=wall&story_fbid=139968789349764#!/note.php?note_id=10150198586270013

This is why I post my set lists, as a reference for you to go the store and purchase the album or song. emusic.com, cdbaby.com and of course ebay and Amazon are all good sources for new music. Used CD stores will have a blues section for you, the library is a good reference too. When you get paid to DJ, go buy a new album (or pay off the credit card you've been using to purchase music . . usually what I have to do . . :)

In addition, nothing beats live music. Go out to live music as much as possible. I totally salute Portland for making a dance event out of already planned live music performances. To be a good DJ, you find music everywhere, especially from live performances in random places.

DJ Tip #2: Creating the energy with smooth transitions

Just having the right music is not enough to make a great DJ. You have know when to play which type of song. You have to pay attention to what is going on in the room and contribute to it in your own way.

The first song you play sets the tone of your set (thank you DJ Brenda Starr for teaching me this). Start with something that's going to get people off their butts and onto the floor. If you start slow, and choose a song that is low-energy, you're setting your set up to be low on energy. However, if you start too high, choose a song with an intense amount of energy, that is not something you can or want to maintain your entire set. Start with a song that will pick people up without being too much overkill too early on. If you start your set with "The thrill is gone," then the thrill will be gone.This is a general guideline. There are, of course, exceptions. For example, if the prior DJ had a crazy-high energy set, you don't want to drop that energy, you want to continue with it. This is a good time to start your set with something really high in energy.

Transitioning from song to song is an art. You want your music to flow from one to the next, but to also have variety. Let me further explain variety, a word which everyone knows, but some DJ have a difficult concept with. Variety is several different kinds. There are several different kinds of blues, there are several different levels on energy within those different kinds of blues, and there several different tempos within those energy levels. Feel them, listen to how one song sounds next to the other. They need to be different from each other, but sound smooth next to each other. A good way to make sure smooth transitions happen for you is to get a second sound card, or a way to preview a song before you play it so that you know it sounds good. It takes a little practice so give yourself a break if you get poor feedback your first couple times. Keep at it, you'll get it.


Lets talk about energy transitions.
Say I'm following a really fantastic DJ, like Steven Watkins, and he ends his set with "You are my sunshine" by Ray Charles. That song creates such an awesome high, fun energy in the room that just makes you want to jump up and scream for more! If I get on right after him and start with "Little Wing" by Stevie Ray Vaughn, it's like I'm pulling the drain plug out of hot bathtub and letting all that hot water down the drain for no reason at all. Why would I do that? "Little Wing" is an absolutely fantastic song, and when played at the right time, creates the perfect, really sexy atmosphere for dancing. But if I play it then, I suck at timing, and no one wants a DJ who sucks at timing. The idea here is that 2 songs rhythms making a smooth transition just isn't enough. All things factor in: energy, tempo, mood, type of blues (rock blues vs jazz blues for example), time of night, the people on the dance floor. ALL of these things, and probably a few things I've forgotten to mention, are important when determining the songs you're going to play. "What should I play next?" Take it from Dr. Feelgood himself and play something that's going to want them screaming for more.

One last thing to note here: When deciding what to play, please consider if you're overplaying that song. No one likes a predictable DJ.