Jobs and What That Means for Dancing

Not that many of you readers actually care about my personal life, but here's an update:
I graduated from college on May 14th (yippee!), only to realize that I was jobless. I remained jobless for three weeks until I signed on with a temp agency and found a 2 month full-time position that pays pretty well verifying information over the phone. Not my first choice, but hey, a job is a job and I am grateful.

Then...Do you remember my post about Patty and the Buttons? They play on a weekly basis at this great place called Aster Cafe. Aster provides more than great jazz, as they have great food, great ambiance, and the workers are fantastic. Last Friday I found out that I might have a chance to get a job there, Saturday I submitted my resume, and on Sunday I was hired and started my first shift. I am pumped about getting this job!

But here is the downside: I am now working both a full-time job that I have committed to working until the end of July and I have this gig at Aster...and all this work means much less dancing. I started on Sunday, it is now Wednesday night, and I can already feel the "must dance itch." So much so, that my legs just had to Charleston in the break room, hoping that nobody would walk past.

Here are my worries:

Photo by Ben Hejkal

• I've made progress in the past few weeks, especially from all the great feedback from Peter Strom and Stacia Martin at Uptown Swing, and I'm afraid I might lose that progress and then some.
• Will I be able to reach my goal of learning the Tranky Doo in the next month?
• When will I be able to dance next? Next week feels like eons away, let alone a month.
• Will my employers let me have the time off to get to The Rhythm is Jumpin and Twin Cities Balboa Festival? Will I be able to dance well at these events if I don't get practice time on the dance floor before? (I made a goal for myself last summer to start competing more, even if just to get the experience. Well, I made progress this past spring while I was at Heartland Swing Festival and I would like to keep on going with that progress.)
• I would like to go to ILHC this August and to Herrang next summer, but both are so expensive. As it seems now, my only chances to really dance this summer are at a few events, such as The Rhythm is Jumpin (and remember, I'm itchin' to dance and compete). Do I spend the money on a number of smaller dance events or try to save my money for ILHC and Herrang in the future? Anybody want to sponsor me? If I had time, I would offer to clean your house, but sadly I don't.

My outlook is this: I can't guarantee much about the future, but I can make the most of my time. I think I'm going to try to download a YouTube video of the Tranky Doo onto my iPod and utilize the time I have during my lunch break (thank you Jon Tigert for continuing to inspire me). It may not be lots of dancing, but hey, it's a start!

And readers, feel free to comment/reflect/discuss and follow this blog! I want to know what you like and don't like about the blog or the new ideas you bring to the table. You're feedback is welcome...even from those of you in Denmark!

Namesake

I really enjoy the phrase "Indie Rock Lindy Hop." Hence the name of my blog. But I cannot take the credit for the creative genius in it. So here's the story of this blog's namesake.

Many of dancers in the Twin Cities area love to go dance to the group Patty and the Buttons. Their music is the kind that moves your toes to a-tappin' and your soul to be happy. It's the kind of music that makes you want to dance, dance, dance. When they finish their set, I just want to keep dancing some more because they've built up such good happy dance vibes in my very being that my eagerness to dance cannot simply stop just because they have. That's what I call good music...the kind that still has effects over you even after its gone.

At the place where we go to see them the most, Aster Cafe, the employees DJ from their i-Pods between the band's set breaks and after they finish. One day, the song "Home" by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros came on and I got my friend Christi to keep dancing with me. Patrick Harrison, aka Patty, walked on past and stated, "It's indie rock lindy hop." And I have just loved that phrase ever since.