Calling All Zombies*! It’s time to heed the bell toll for another ghastly, ghoulish and grim Halloween party at Boston Swing Central. It’s our 4th year and this time we’re making it a Boilermaker Halloween. What does that mean? Well, you guessed it!  We’re being invaded by the Boilermaker Jazz Band from Pittsburgh, PA.  So, rise up all you creepy crawlies and pay tribute to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson and dance to the unadulterated swing of one of the hottest swing bands in the country. They’re guaranteed to rattle your bones…and reanimate your zombie hearts…it won’t mean a thing until the zombies start to swing!

The lesson will feature Michael Jackson’s Thriller line dance.  And since this line-dance has a lot of material to cover, the lesson starts early and begins promptly at 7:30pm!  Be there or be comatose!    The Thrilller dance will be performed later on in the evening (performing is, of course, optional – we won’t force ya!)   So, start boning up on your YouTube now… Don’t miss this party as it will be one of the best of the Fall!

If you are unfamiliar with the Boilermaker Jazz band you can check out their website here…

If you are unfamiliar with the Thriller line-dance, um, you must’ve been born somewhere else, but you can watch last year’s BSC performance here (sorry the video is a little dark, that’s the way it is and this doesn’t start until about 2:33 into this clip):

Extended Lesson Time (included in the price of admission): 7:30pm – 9:00pm

Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $22
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $17

Get $2 OFF ADMISSION if you come in costume. But no lame costumes like, “I came as a swing dancer”, or “I came as myself” or putting a couple socks on your shoulder and being “static cling”. Discount is at the discretion of the door staff, so put in some effort!

Please note that we will be accepting passes at the rate of: 1/2 off for one pass, full admission for two passes.  And no coupons will be accepted for this evening.

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Boston Swing Central is very excited for the debut performance of the Red Hook Ramblers from Brooklyn, NY.  Yet another great band from the Brooklyn Authentic Jazz Revival scene.  And this band is going to be a BSC favorite, we have a sixth sense for these things. New Orleans-style Hot Jazz.

They cut their teeth on Bix Beiderbecke and Sidney Bechet and their repetoire includes a lot of BSC favorites like “Shimmy Like My Sister Kate”, “That’s a Plenty”, but they also have some soon to be new favorites like “Apple Pie” and “I Swear It’s True”.  You can check them out here and here.

This band is so authentic, they’ve even recorded to wax cylinder…you can watch the recording session here:

And well, if you don’t know what wax cylinders are, long before there were mp3s, CDs, cassette tapes, 8-track tapes, and even vinyl 12″ records. There were grammaphones and wax cylinders…! So, back, back, back in the day, when your great grandparents or at least your grandparents swung it…!

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

Some of you might know A Day at the Races as a title of an album by the rock band Queen. And indeed it was. In fact, Queen’s most famous song, “Bohemian Rhapsody” was featured on the companion album, A Night at the Opera. What’s this have to do with swing dancing? Well, Queen took their inspiration from 2 Marx Brothers movies of the same titles.

The Marx Brothers dominated comedy in the 1930s and A Day at the Races is one of their best films from the era. It also happens to feature, Frankie Manning and Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers… In this beautifully shot scene where Harpo wanders into a jam session in a shantytown, Ivey Anderson, backed by Duke Ellington & his band gets things started with her version of “All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm” which then kicks into high gear as Frankie Manning and company take over, showcasing a wide variety of common Lindy Hop moves.

Tonight, DJs Isaac Marx & Gina Helfrich will be sharing the spotlight and spinning the tunes. There unique styles compliment each other quite well and are guaranteed to keep you moving and grooving on the dance floor.

Lesson (included in the price of 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

The Grand Street Stompers are yet another great jazz band from Brooklyn. There is definitely something in the water there. We like to refer to this scene of players as the Brooklyn Authentic Jazz Revival scene. Many of the bands share players and this band features some players that have played in Gordon Webster’s band as well as the Cangelosi Cards and Baby Soda.

The Grand Street Stompers are led by bouncey trumpet of Gordon Au and the sultry voice of Tamar Korn (also of Cangelosi Cards). GSS embrace the hot jazz of New Orleans. You can hear some of them here.

Or watch them here… “SHE’S A GREAT GREAT GIRL”: GRAND STREET STOMPERS at RADEGAST (Jan. 27, 2011)

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

We at Boston Swing Central hope you were energized by the Dirty Water Lindy & Blues Exchange, we’ll do it all again next year, but in the meantime…we get to continue on with our relentless parade of amazing bands this Fall.

It continues on with the Phil McGowan Quintet. A band of hot players assembled by a sometimes drummer for Baby Soda. This will be Phil’s third appearance at the Whistle Stop this month, as he played with Beantown Swing Orchestra and Baby Soda!

Phil’s concept is centered around his electrifying drumming and some hot guitar playing…this is a concept he has slowly been evolving at the Crosby Whistle Stop. His endless enthusiasm for the music is infectious and translates into a band that you won’t want to miss!

And now for something completely different:

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Those who have never tried Fried Bananas are in for a treat! Shawn Hershey has been a local favorite both on the dance floor and from the bandstand. His remarkable Lindy & Blues vocabularly makes him an awesome dancer and an excellent bandleader. He always knows a good groove and puts melody on top of everything which, for a dancer says, “play with me.”

You don’t want to miss our Dirty Water Lindy & Blues finale! It’s going to be such a great weekend of dancing, you won’t want to go back to work on Monday morning!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – Midnight(ish)
General Admission: $15
Sorry no passes or coupons accepted during the exchange.

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

The Great Escapade, could just put you in a reality show where you’re the star, is it a farce? Is it an adventure? Is there too much ballyhoo? Can you solve all the puzzles and win the prize? First, you’ll need to check out the Swan Boats in the Boston Public Garden at 11:30am on Sunday, Sept 25th in order to participate…form alliances, make pacts, set a course, make a strategy…there is more than one way to win, if you’re clever…and the rewards to those who participate are many…Make sure your cell phone batteries are charged and raring to go, because you’ll need it!

Saturday Blues Cafe Late Night at Springstep in Medford. Gordon Webster and his band are going to set down the perfect late night groove to cap off an exciting evening of dancing. There will be more special Boston treats as well, so you’ll have plenty of energy to make it until the very end of the evening (and you will not need to go to IHOP or anywhere else to eat in between dances).

Dancing: 1:00am- 4:30am
Admission: $15
Sorry no passes or coupons accepted during the exchange.

Springstep
98 George P. Hassett Dr.
Medford, MA

Gordon Webster probably needs very little introduction to most of you. He’s been one of most in-demand bandleaders in the swing world for quite a few years, playing everywhere from Sweden, South Korea to Australia and all points in between, including right here in Boston. We are extremely lucky he only lives 4 hours away from us in New York City, so he can easily drive up here several times a year…he and his band consider Boston as their second home base.

For Dirty Water, he’s flying in a special guest to augment his band: from New Orleans, vocalist and sax player, Aurora Nealand. We couldn’t be more excited for the verve she brings to the stage and also how well she integrates into Gordon’s oeuvre.

Tonight is “Dress to Impress”, so break out those fancy gowns & suits…we’re going to have a photo booth set up and we want you to look your best!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $25
Sorry no passes or coupons accepted during the exchange.

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

What a way to kick off Fall here in Boston with a Lindy & Blues Exchange celebrating our awesome swing & blues scenes…which is, in fact, the sum total of all the people here in Boston that dance, our guests, the bands, the amazing landscape and the city that we’ve put here along the banks of the River Charles! Yes, we love that Dirty Water! As it cuts scenically through our fair city. You won’t want to miss any of these dances! (see the schedule below). There are many ways you can participate!

Tickets will be available individually at the door for each dance (until we reach capacity). The Great Escapade and Piers Park events are free. And the apple picking trip and clam shack field trip you can drive to and participate at the last minute if you have a car…just meet us at Woodman’s of Essex at approximately 12:30pm on Saturday or at Russell Orchards in Ipswich at approximately 2:15pm (it’s hard to say how long it will take us to get served at Woodman’s). So come on out and be apart of this fabulous Fall weekend of dancing and Lindy Love with dancers from 17 states and 2 foreign countries!

Late Night Party at Springstep in Medford. Don’t despair, you will not go hungry in between Baby Soda and the late night. We’ve got some special Boston treats in store for you! (You will not need to go to IHOP or another 24-hr restaurant for sustenance.)

Dancing: 1:00am- 3:30am
Admission: $12
Sorry no passes or coupons accepted during the exchange.

Springstep
98 George P. Hassett Dr.
Medford, MA

Sitting around the breakfast table, we once asked Peter Ford, leader of Baby Soda how they got their name…turns out that someone suggested Baking Soda as they saw a box sitting in the cupboard, and as all great band names are formed, someone else misheard it and said, “what, Baby Soda?” And a legend was born.

Baby Soda Jazz Band are one of the great ones that have graced the stage at the Crosby Whistle Stop. Always eliciting an enthusiastic encore. It’s also one of the BSC staff’s personal favorites, so we were very excited they could be part of Dirty Water. What’s not to love about a virtuosic one-string bass, Dixieland banjo and interlocking zig-zagging jazz horns?

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $20
Sorry no passes or coupons accepted during the exchange.

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Swing & Soul Party lead by the awesome DJ, Downtown Julie Brown! And featuring a special Blues lesson on “playing with the music” from Devona Cartier & visiting instructor Dan Repsch. Dan will also DJ a set for us.

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – Midnight(ish)
General Admission: $10
Sorry no passes or coupons accepted during the exchange.

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Last May, BSC had Miss Tess & the Bon Ton Parade play the Crosby Whistle Stop and they were fantastic! What a high energy evening of New Orleans inspired, rockabilly inflected, swingin’ jazz! We’re really looking forward to this return! Here’s a video of her all dressed up with the Bon Ton Parade…

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

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Boston Swing Central is excited for Fall, the cooler weather and the return of lots of bands makes the dancing a little more comfortable. Plus our A/C can keep up with the weather. Kicking off our Fall Season here at the Crosby Whistle Stop, we’ve enlisted the spectacular sounds of the Beantown Swing Orchestra! And they promise to bring IT, some of us manage to see them at Wedding this summer and they tore it up! So get excited!

They’ve got a brand new cd and this will be there CD Release Party. The disc is called “Trolley Songs”, here’s Jen Hirsch and John Stevens starring in a cute video for the song (it also stars the Green line)…

According to bandleader, Frank Hsieh they love playing for us dancers. And we love to dancing to them, but hey, just a little reminder as always, “don’t forget to clap at the end of songs.” Make, “I dance, therefore, I clap” your motto. Live bands need to feel your energy to push them to greater heights, so what are you waiting for? Egg ’em on!

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

That’s right folks, we just don’t know what to do with all that stuff people keep leaving in our space, so we’re going to have a fashion show. Some of our House Managers and Board Members will model all of the stuff that’s been lying around…and hopefully you can show up and claim it, because after seeing some of this stuff sit in our Lost+Found box for a year or more, well, we need to pare it down. We’re going to be accepting bids on this stuff and the stuff that is left over, it’s going to Salvation Army…. All of this will happen briefly for about 10 minutes at 10pm and then it’s back to dancing…so come on out, check out all the unusual lost stuff that we’ve got, like the single shoe (!?) and the amazing array of umbrellas, towels and notebooks.

Lesson (included in the price of 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

Tonight we have another one of our Summer blockbusters in store for you. Join us for our tribute to summertime soul and the smooth Shag dancing as exhibited in Shag – The Movie.  An unforgettable flick starring Phoebe Cates and Bridget Fonda as they head to Myrtle Beach for a little Shag dancing and a girls roadtrip.

Shag, an almost exclusively Carolina-cousin of swing dancing, has some amazingly slick footwork and smooth styling that you could put into your swing dancing if you so desired…and we just love the sweet soul music!  It’s the perfect feel-good summertime groove!  And perhaps it will give us something great to remember next January when we’re shoveling snow… DJ extraordinaire, Downtown Julie Brown will be spinning her best for us!
Lesson (included in the price of 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

Yee Haw! Odessa Rose brings Western Swing back to Boston Swing Central. It’s almost the end of a great summer (*sniffle*) and we’re excited for some energetic fiddle-banjo-guitar playing and their down home back porch swing.

Just in case you are unfamiliar with what Western Swing is, don’t worry, it’s got nothing to do with West Coast Swing…it is the 1940s Texas interpretation of what Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Count Basie were doing at the time. Basically, cats like Spade Cooley and Bob Wills felt that if the Duke and the Count could swing, so could they. Except they had pedal steel guitars instead of large horn sections. With the Country and Western instrumentation in place, they played hot jazz country-fried, and country songs hot jazz-style and Western Swing as a genre of music was born. We highly recommend you check out this blog to get more information on Western Swing…ahh haa!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

This is the 2nd in Boston Swing Central’s 2011 Summer movie inspired themes, this time out it’s Cabin in the Sky. Which features the music of Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne as Sweet Georgia Brown.

This musical comedy features some strong racial stereotyping that, today is cringworthy, but it also features some amazing dancing…from Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers: Al Minns and Leon James who enter with pimp walks and fish tails before they swing out and do aerials. And also tap duo Buck & Bubbles. We’ll do our best to recreate the feel of the time period (less the stereotyping), this movie really is an important historical document, it shows how long we’ve come since 1943, but also swing dancing in it’s original form…straight out of Harlem. Watch the trailer here:

Cabin in the Sky

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 11:45pm
General Admission: $10
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $8

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Everybody loves summer and our summer is not complete without our annual Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest. It was quite a sight to see, everyone puckering up and spitting all at once on the back patio. Right out of a 1940s Life Magazine photo…or a Norman Rockwell painting.

This Friday Boston Swing Central will bust out some of our summer favorites including “Watermelon Man”. Game on…so practice up (if you are lucky enough to find a place that sells seeded watermelons, a feat unto itself in this day and age!) Or if you’re not game for seed spitting, just enjoy snacking on some of the seedless we’ll have available as well. It’s a summer celebration!

Lesson: 8pm to 9pm (included with admission)
Dancing: 9pm to 12 midnight
Admission: $10 (general), $8 (students and seniors with valid ID)
The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Tonight we take our inspiration from Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers and their appearance in the obscure film, Hellzapoppin’ (1941).  Who were Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, you ask?  Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers were a dance troupe formed by the inimitable promoter Herbert “Whitey” White back in 1935 in Harlem.  The group  featured none other than late, great Frankie “Musclehead” Manning and other legendary dancers such as Frankie’s partner Ann Johnson, Al Minns and Norma Miller.  These cats were the bomb, they wrote the book and this routine is off the hook!  Frankie himself pioneered/invented air steps back in the 1930s.   For those of you who haven’t seen this classic routine, it inspires and humbles us and we like to watch it over and over again here.

If you were around last year, you know that in the Summer, we think of Summer movie blockbusters and we’ve tried to find a few movies to use as themes for our dances. This movie is a monster, it’s top-of-the-heap, A-number-1 of all vintage Lindy Hop routines caught on film, check it out…enjoy. (FYI: Frankie is the dancer in the overalls who get’s his butt kicked by his partner Ann Johnson).

[Please note: this night was moved from June 24th…not a mistake on our site]

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00 midnight
General Admission: $10
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $8

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

“The Dixie Chick” is definitely a head-scratcher of a theme, you’re probably thinking Alex is out of his tree by suggesting that we swing dance to the Dixie Chicks.  Well actually, he was torn with indecision on whether he’d like to introduce us to some of his awesome remastered versions of Chick Webb…or feature some of his great Dixieland jazz… Ahhh the thought processes of great DJs, always wanting to turn us on to their latest treasures and we, of course, wanted to hear both.   So we asked him to mash up Chick Webb with Dixieland, and thus, “The Dixie Chick” was born.

You might wonder- who was Chick Webb?  Good thing we’re here to answer that question. Chick Webb was a drummer and big band leader of Savoy Ballroom house band.  His band would often have Battle of the Bands with such notable bands as Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington.  And more often than not, the dancers at the Savoy would pick his band as the winner for the evening.  Chick’s band also featured a teenage Ella Fitzgerald giving the legend her start in the music business.

Who are the Dixie Chicks?  Do we really care?

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

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Tonight, Boston Swing Central welcomes the International String Trio to the Crosby Whistle Stop for their debut dance.  The International String Trio is a Gypsy jazz combo led by guitarist, Slava Tolstoy.  Check these cats out.   We’ve got a virtuosic violin player from England, an equally talented Russian guitarist, and a bass player who is Asian who spent time in Australia before converging in the International String Trio.  Three players, 14-strings in total makes for a  unique take on Djangology.

Lesson: 8pm-9pm (included with admission)
Dancing: 9pm to 12 midnight
Admission: $13 (general), $10 (students and seniors with valid ID)

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

No, the Lemonade Stand is not a new jazz combo gracing our venue…even better!  It’s exactly what you think it is, a full-blown Lemonade Stand, with fresh squeezed lemonade to parch our heatwave-strained brains.  So c’mon out, enjoy the libations…

…and dig the summer good vibrations supplied by the Shawn Hershey Quartet…it’s been a while since we’ve had Shawn play for us with his smaller combo, and we’re really looking forward to it!

Lesson: 8pm-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

Boston Swing Central is ready for a great 4th of July weekend, and to kick things off we’re hosting a night of All-American Swing on Friday, July 1st. That means that the Bjork, Swedish and French songs DJ RetroMike occasionally plays will have to wait another day…for tonight we’re going to be true to the Red, White & Blue and only play American artists! Americans like Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Sidney Bechet (who sounds French but is as American as apple pie). So, come on out and celebrate all that is American with American music and an American dance: The Lindy Hop!

We will also have a special guest DJ tonight, Hether “LadyBlues” Samuels from New York City will be spinning for us!

Wear red, white, blue or all three on any combination on this night!

Lesson: 8pm to 9pm (included in price of admission)

Dancing: 9pm to 12pm

Admission: $10 General Admission, $8 for Students and Seniors

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129