Boston Swing Central

The Swing Legacy

mike — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:59:59 +0000

The Swing Legacy, a six piece little big band has been a fixture of the Boston swing scene since 1991 and BSC since the beginning, playing with style and informed of the great big bands from the swing era. Their repertoire concentrates on classic big band swing music including many Duke Ellington and Count Basie numbers ideal for Lindy Hop and swing dancing. Much of their great catalog of songs showcases their phenomenal singer, Debby Larkin. It promises to be a night full of kick-ass original arrangements that will keep you dancing all night long!

Here they are playing “Roll ‘em Pete” at the Whistle Stop…

Lesson (included w/ admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Emily Asher’s Garden Party (from Brooklyn)

mike — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 03:59:36 +0000

Emily Asher’s Garden Party returns to the Crosby Whistle Stop! Just another band out of Brooklyn that is red hot and trad! Just the way we like it. Uptempo and sassy…and fronted by Emily Asher who has played for us many times with Baby Soda and others. Emily also brings a band full of great musicians who have frequented our space on numerous occasions with other bands like the Gordon Webster Band. Get excited this lady knows how to swing and she will bring it!

Check out their version of Louis Armstong’s “Struttin’ with Some Barbeque” at the Whistle Stop from back in February.

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

White Heat Swing Orchestra

mike — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 03:59:54 +0000

We’re really excited to welcome back all 14 members of White Heat Swing Orchestra lead by Craig Ball on clarinet. This is one of the best big bands in the Boston area, and they’re exciting charts include the explosive hits of an era long gone. Check ‘em out here, tearing it up with “Digi Digi Doo”…

We also recommend you check out their webpage here: here and listen to what we are sure will make you dance around the room in preparation for a fun night ahead!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9pm-midnight
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Frankie Manning 99th Birthday Party/Tribute Night

mike — Sat, 25 May 2013 06:59:58 +0000

This Memorial Day weekend marks what would have been the 99th Birthday of Frankie Manning. Frankie Manning was a founding father of the Lindy Hop and spent the last 20 years of his life inspiring and teaching the Lindy Hop to an entire new generation of swing dancers. This includes a great many dancers who are currently dancing. As we get farther and farther away from his life, it becomes all that more important that we keep his memory alive by spreading the joy of the dance.

Boston Swing Central has enlisted Tony & Aurelie Tye of Hop to the Beat and Beantown Dance Camp to teach us the Shim Sham.

The Shim Sham was Frankie’s favorite line dance to lead, it has become the defacto, “National Anthem” of Lindy Hoppers the world over. During his birthday celebrations in years past, there were many scenes which sent Frankie videos of themselves doing the Shim Sham in beautiful and iconic places all over the world, Frankie would also lead the dance when it was performed live during these celebrations. Anyhow, if you’ve seen it done at a local dance and wanted to learn how….now is your chance! Take the lesson and keep trying and you’ll eventually get it.

Later on in the evening, we’ll all perform it with Tony & Aurelie leading us with a “push and you push and you…” followed by a chorus of “crossover!” Then special guest DJs Aurelie Tye will be spinning Frankie’s favorites followed by a superlative set from Tina Desorcy.

Frankie leads the Shim Sham:

Find out more about Frankie Manning.

Lesson (included with admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $10
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $8

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Glenn Crytzer & his Syncopators

mike — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:59:49 +0000

Boston Swing Central is excited to welcome back Glenn Crytzer and his Syncopators! Glenn is one of the top band leaders for swing in country and when he last played for us, it was quite amazing to experience. His expert eye and hard-nosed attention to details in keeping the music as authentic as possible. Here he is performing the Fats Waller classic, “Yacht Club Swing” on our stage last Fall…

Glenn Crytzer is a guitarist and band leader from Seattle who has been tearing it up at large National Lindy Hop events around the country. From Northwest Lindyfest to DCLX, Glenn Cryzter & His Syncopators have been featured at some very high profile events. You can learn more about them here: www.syncopators.net Glenn likes to keep things high energy and swingin’ hard and his band will feature his regular piano player Solomon Douglas, as well as some BSC regulars such as Gordon Au (who plays w/ the Grand St Stompers, Gordon Webster and many others) and Rich Levinson who played most recently at Dirty Water w/ Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns. This night will definitely be a highlight of our amazing Fall lineup and something you don’t want to miss!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $17
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $15

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Grand St Stompers featuring Tamar Korn

mike — Sat, 11 May 2013 06:59:32 +0000

Here they are performing Fats Waller’s “Let’s Pretend there’s a Moon” at the Whistle Stop earlier this year…

Tamar Korn and Gordon Au form the nucleus of this amazing Brooklyn outfit. We can’t say enough great things about how much we love listening to and dancing to this band! They are that good. Come out and experience their magic as they light up our room and get this joint jumpin’.

Lesson: 8pm to 9pm (included with admission)
Dancing: 9pm to 12 midnight
Admission: $15 (general), $13 (students and seniors with valid ID)

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess

mike — Sat, 04 May 2013 06:59:38 +0000

Boston Swing Central is excited for the return of Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess. Last time we had them scheduled, we got hit with a February Noreaster which was the first dance that we ever had to cancel. And so, we are so looking forward to them playing for us again this time!

Jessy Carolina is a very talented washboard player and singer. The Hot Mess accompanying her is straight-up awesome and someday we hope will become a favorite at Boston Swing Central. They blew us away when they were here last Summer and Fall and we couldn’t wait to have them back! Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess is a great hot mess, check ‘em out below swinging it at the Whistle Stop with My Blue Heaven…

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8pm – 9pm
Dancing: 9pm – midnight
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Toni Lynn Washington Band, OneFundBoston Fundraiser

mike — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 06:59:55 +0000

Last Friday, our dance was delayed by the events in Watertown and the lockdown. We were happy that we had the flexibility to open whenever and we were eventually able to open at 9:30pm. It was great for us to see everyone at the dance, however, we did receive some sad news.

Sean Collier, the MIT police officer killed Thursday night, was a member of our dancing community. He frequently stopped by the Wednesday dances at MIT and this month, he had started taking the beginning classes through New School Swing at our studio in Charlestown.
We shared this news at the dance on Friday, which we learned from Amanda Gruhl at NSS. Around the room there were many gasps and teary eyes as the recognition hit that we lost one of our own. While many of our community didn’t get the chance to know Sean, several in our community did. We are heartbroken for his family, friends, and our community that we have lost such an outstanding individual.
Since there have been many silent observances for the victims this past week, we celebrated Sean’s life with a steal jam in his honor at the BSC. We will do another fitting tribute to him again at this week’s dance, as some of you were not able to make it out last Friday and really wanted to participate in our planned fundraiser for OneFundBoston.org.

This week will have that proper fundraiser for OneFundBoston.org featuring the amazing Toni Lynn Washington. We are donating all admissions from last Friday’s dance to the Jimmy Fund on behalf of Sean Collier, (as that is what his family has requested).

Please come out and join us as we raise money to support the victims of the Marathon Bombings.

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am General Admission: suggested donation $15 Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): suggested donation $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop 24 Roland Street Charlestown, MA 02129

The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn

mike — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 06:59:53 +0000

The Blue Vipers are back so get excited for some great Boho Street Jazz from Brooklyn! Their unique brand of hot jazz which features some virtuosic washboard, pots and pans playing and their ready to tear it up this Friday night. You might need to bring a towel and an extra shirt…because it’s going to be an evening on the up tempo side of things. So for those of you who crave speed…this might be your night. The rest of us will wait for their singer to croon a blue moon betwixt all the crazy jitterbuggin’ numbers…

The band often busks on the street in New York, and there are plenty of videos of them on YouTube swinging in Central Park, but here we find them at the Long Beach Public Library:

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $17
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $15

The Crosby Whistle Stop!
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Shawn Hershey & the Fried Bananas

mike — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 06:59:31 +0000

Spring is in the air, baseball season is underway and we’re happy to welcome Shawn Hershey & the Fried Bananas back to the Whistle Stop stage. Of course, Shawn is here nearly every week, teaching for New School Swing…but tonight, he gets to play his trumpet along with his cracker jack band.

Here’s Shawn recently with his Sextet fronted by Jan Marie on vocals doing “After You’ve Gone”…

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129