The Soapbox Archives:
Even if they go off to do ballroom, Argentine Tango, or even Square Dancing, once we get them on the dance floor, we can get them exposed to swing dancing.
Keep the webmasters (including me) on their toes by letting them know when they have stale information on their websites.
This was the headline on a recent edition of the Boston Herald (possibly February 7) and gave many of us something to laugh about that day. I'm so glad our former governor bailed on his quest for the White House.
I don't remember if I had ever wanted a particular candidate to lose so badly. It's kinda like the typical redneck Bostonian's two favorite baseball teams: The Red Sox and anything who beats the Yankees.
I had considered the possibility of registering as a Republican...just so I could vote against Mitt Romney. I tried to figure why I was so upset at the guy.
Yes, there was his lack of interest in being governor after trying to recruit Republicans to run for the state legislature and causing his party to lose seats. There was all the pandering to conservatives in other states by belittling the very people who elected him to the corner office. He wouldn't declare that he wasn't going to run for governor again and he didn't resigned. One strong candidate wouldn't run for governor while Romney was still a possible candidate, and yet, he didn't give his loyal lieutenant governor the support she needed and could have used. That cost his party the loss of the corner office after a string of four consecutive Republican governors (I did vote for Bill Weld, though). And there were all those flip-flops over issues. Remember how he promised to be better for the gay community and the pro-choice movement than the most liberal senator in Congress?
Then that last one hit me. His Excellency, the Honorable Mitt Romney abandoned the very people to whom he pledged his support. I didn't mind so much that he changed his mind on the subject; the thing that bothered was the fact that he changed his *promise*. When you consider his rantings about being pro-marriage, this is equivalent to being married for 20 years and then dumping his wife for someone much younger and better looking. He dumped his local constituents once he found someone else he wanted to woo more.
The whole thing is just so ironic that I couldn't help but laugh. The very moderate voters whom Romney abandoned in his quest for the White House were also the people who propelled John McCain into an overwhelming lead over this guy who lives in my town. That kind of poetic justice is just beautiful.
PS: There would have been a bright side if Romney had become president, though: he would have moved out of Belmont.
This time, however, Toni Lynn had a batch of top-flight musicians who left Toni Lynn free to sing her heart out and she did that with such energy throughout the night that you couldn't tell that the end of the night was approaching. From the beginning to the end, she sang as if the place was packed.
And speaking of Swing City, word just came about that Swing City will be closing its doors on March 14.
Dan Mezrich created and continued the venue of dancing at the Veronique in Brookline with the introduction of the West Coast Swing dancing Vera's Rhythm & Blues Club the mid-90's. Previously that location was our weekly hangout with music by the Winiker Swing Orchestra. When West Coast Swing's reign waned a bit in the late 90's and Lindy Hop became the rage (again), Dan moved on to found one of the most popular dance venues, Swing City, at the VFW in Cambridge (a mere 15 minute walk from my house). That success was interrupted when the VFW was sold and Swing City had to move. The new location in Newton Centre was probably a bad idea since the hub of swing dancing was closer to Cambridge and Watertown than Newton Centre and attendance dropped since it was harder for the college crowd to get to that new location. I would imagine that the lack of a bar and the gym atmosphere had something to do with the ambiance.
Those of us who've been around the Boston dance scene (17 years for me now) know that nature abhors a vacuum. While no one's managed to replace the old Ken's Place, we know that once a venue disappears, people start circling and scoping it over with a new dance venue in mind. Swing City won't be any different. We've seen venues come and go over the years and something else will pop up.
In any case, Dan Mezrich had a good long run at the top of the local dance community, pulling in dancers each week from all corners of New England. Good luck to him on his next adventure.
Damn, I knew I should have cashed that sponsor check from Dan.
A friend of mine was late leaving for work because she was listening to Martini In The Morning on the Internet. Shouldn't you be listening too?
But the important thing you should know is that his weekly newsletter usually comes with a good set of jokes. It's worth getting every week!
If you're listed on this website and you either provide dance instruction or host a dance *and* you have access to your website's statistics, please let me know how many referrals you get from this website, that is, how many of your visitors get to your website by clicking on a link on this website.
One venue told me that 20% of their visitors came through this website. I *think* that's a lot but I don't have anything to compare it to.
I would guess that many dancers appreciate having to remember only one URL (and an easy one at that) and being able to find whatever they're looking for, even if such a venue isn't even in New England. While I had some (justified) criticism of the user interface for this website recently, this website has always been organized to make it easy for both the novice and the expert user to get around find their information quickly.
If you're listed on this website, please remember: I get so much information to enter into these pages every week that I have *no* time to look through any listed websites for new information. If your listed information needs to be changed, tell me what the changes are. I won't be looking through your website trying to figure out what's different this week (or any other week).
Hmm...just checking some easily-misinterpretted statistics from this website for January:
Someone came up with an interesting idea for next week's Soapbox. I dared them to write a letter to the Editor. I threatened to write it myself if they didn't so they have some motivation now.