Yehoodi talk show: Herräng Dance Camp

There is a good episode available of the Yehoodi talk show where they visit the Herräng dance camp and show us around and talk to organisers, participants and teachers.

You can get a glimpse of what it's like there but as they say in the talk show: There is so much other stuff going on at Herräng Dance Camp that it is impossible to fit it all into a one hour show, you just have to be there. In the show I spotted some friends and acquaintances.

So, check out episode (4x20) of Yehoodi talk show.

What did you think of the talk show? Were you in Herräng this year? Any stories that you like to share? Tell me.

dancehistory.org: Learn about swing dance and jazz dance history

Are you interested in the history of swing dances and jazz dances that evolved from the 1920s to the 1940s? Then you should visit dancehistory.org which is a website dedicated to just that.


From the mission statement:

Dancehistory.org is a collective of dance historians and enthusiast researching, sharing and promoting the history of American Jazz dance.

Dancehistory.org got a discussion forum where you can disuss both the history as well as dancing of these dances today. You can also learn about jazz and swing music.

This is a great resource that dancer and dance historian Peter Loggins has founded. Yay!

What do you think of dancehistory.org? Tell me.

Dean Martin - Forever Cool

Today a new album with Dean Martin called "Forever Cool" has been released. You may wonder how that's possible since Dean Martin died in 1995 but what they have done is to take old tracks with Dean Martin's song and pair them with new arrangements and new duet singers like Robbie Williams, Martina McBride, Joss Stone, Shelby Lynne, Kevin Spacey and bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

The album features classic Dean Martin songs like "Ain't That A Kick In The Head", "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" and "Baby It's Cold Outside".

See a trailer for the "Dean Martin: Forever Cool" album.


Have you listened to the album "Forever Cool" with Dean Martin? What do you think? Tell me.

A Song Is Born: How to use jazz to save a damsel in distress

A bunch of music professors somehow get taken hostage by mobsters and uses swing music to get free to save the damsel in distress from being forced to marry the mob leader. That is the setup for this video clip from the movie "A song is born" (1948).

The music professors are helped by no others than Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet and Danny Kaye.



The song is the clip is Flying Home that was written by Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman. A Song Is Born" is a remake of the film "Ball Of Fire" (1941).

Have you seen "A Song Is Born"? What do you think of it? Tell me.

Floy Floy Photography

Floy Floy Photography is my photography business. I'm a freelance photographer and I specialize in concert and dance photography.

You can have a look at my jazz and blues concert photos here at the blog. I'm also the official photographer for the outdoor summer concerts at Parksnäckan.

If you would like to use the photos, you can licence them from me. Just contact me.

If you like to hire me as a photographer, contact me at floyfloy@theheartofgold.org.

Hey Mr Jesse: August podcast

The Hey Mr Jesse podcast for August where Jesse Miner and Manu Smith talks about swinging jazz and blues that matters to dancers and is available now.

As usual they feature good solid swing music that they have found both online and in music stores. This time they also feature novelty tunes, in the sense that the tunes are not swing songs from the start but where someone has made a swing arrangement of the song. One example is "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (originally by Nirvana) by Paul Anka on the album Rock Swings.

Another example they use is songs from Richard Cheese, who is a lounge singer in Las Vegas that makes crooner versions of every kind of contemporary songs, from Snoop Dogg and Limp Bizkit to Eminem. I first heard Richard Cheese in a clothes store a couple of months ago, but I have been hesitant to blog about him because it's mostly novelty music for swing dancers, but since Jesse Miner mentions him I guess I can do it too.

Take a look at this CNN segment with an interview with Richard Cheese:



The Hey Mr Jesse podcast got lots more content, including a interview with singer Linda Hopkins and a countdown of fantastic songs for dance jams. Take a look at all the details at the show notes for the August podcast.

Download the Hey Mr Jesse podcast August edition [ 48 MB, mp3]

See what I have written about Hey Mr Jesse before.

What do you think of the August edition of Hey Mr Jesse? Tell me.

Alain's dance blog about lindy hop and jazz music

I just found out about Alain Wong's dance blog about lindy hop and jazz music that he recently started. Alain Wong is a dance teacher at Cat’s Corner in Montreal and also a swing dj.

He covers the same topics as I do: swing music and swing dance, but maybe with a little more focus on dance than I have.

Well, it's a very good start so far and I'm adding his blog in my RSS-reader.

Check out his blog.

Is there any other blogs out there that you think I should know about? Tell me.