As most of you already know, this week has been quite the emotional roller coaster. On Monday morning the Lindy Hop world lost our beloved Frankie Manning. He touched all of us dancers more than we could have imagined and so his loss hit pretty hard. So we spent the day mourning and then honored his legacy by dancing the night away. We continued remembering this amazing man last night with a memorial tribute at The Jam Cellar. Ann Mony and Steve "DC" Grimes put together a beautiful video, several dancers told personal stories about their time with Frankie and we all did the Shim Sham.
Between all the reflection and memorials, I had tickets to game 7 of the Capitals Stanley Cup playoff game against the Rangers. On one hand I felt like I needed to mourn longer. But on the other hand, Frankie lived his life with such joy and happiness and would want us to do the same. So last night prior to The Jam Cellar, I attended what I think goes down as the greatest sports event I've ever seen in person.
Last Wednesday night, the Caps lost to the Rangers, 2-1 in game 4. The loss put the Caps down 3 games to 1 in the opening round series. Teams coming back from a 3-1 deficit is about as rare as finding a democrat that lowers taxes. It just doesn't happen very often. So I think the entire DC region shrugged off the loss and figured it was yet another first round exit for this incredibly talented hockey team. I mean, how would the Caps come back from this?
Two games and five days later, the Caps find themselves battling the Rangers in game 7 with the series tied 3-3. The Caps were at home. DC was rockin' the red! Everything was in their favor. We had tickets to the game and you can bet we were going to scream as loud as humanly possible to help bring our franchise a playoff series win. But the Caps didn't show up for the start of the game. Oh, the players were on the ice. But the team was thoroughly dominated in the first two periods. The Rangers scored first and the Caps followed to tie the game, but clearly New York wanted it more.
Then the third period began. You could sense the Caps finding their game. You could see simple possessions were now on the Ranger end of the ice and not stuck behind the Caps net. The Caps had 2 shots on goal in the first period while NY had 8. The Caps had 13 in the 3rd period and held NY to just one. It had to happen. It was going to happen. Caps nation was about to explode as scoring chances mounted. Then with 4:59 left in the game, Russian superstar and NHL veteran Sergei Fedorov beat Ranger goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to give the Caps a 2-1 lead. I've never seen an arena erupt with such celebration and emotion. You just knew the team that scored would win. For the final 5 minutes of the game, the crowd stood chanting C. A. P. S. Caps, Caps, Caps!!! I've never seen anything like it.
The Caps won. DC moves on in the playoffs. And in honor of Frankie Manning, I danced, cheered, and laughed all night long. What a roller coaster ride!
Below are two more small and crappy images I shot with my phone. The one above and just below are from inside the arena and the third is the crowd spilling out into the streets of DC.
Today is very sad day! This morning, April 27, 2009, Frankie Manning, a friend, teacher and inspiration to myself and dancers around the world passed away. He was 94 and is survived by friends and family and the dance he helped create.
There has been so much said about Frankie over the years that I can't possibly begin to sum up everything he meant to us. What I can do is explain what he meant to me and why this man was such an inspiration to the world of dance. You see, Frankie was one of the original Lindy Hoppers. Little did he know back in Harlem, running around with his friends and hitting up ballrooms to dance his butt off, that he was creating an American dance that would be alive and well decades later. Frankie was creating moves because he loved dancing and performing. He tore up the Savoy Ballroom floor so many times because he loved the spirit of Jazz and Lindy Hop.
When I first started dancing Lindy Hop, I knew very little about the dance, the history, or this man who helped cultivate it. My ex-wife passed along a photo she had taken with him while she was still out in California. It was then I started looking into the history of the dance to learn about Frankie. I then found out I'd have the chance to meet Frankie myself when Tom & Debra of Gottaswing announced their annual Frankie Weekend Workshop. Around that time, I bought his book and started reading. I finished the book about a week before he arrived in town with the utmost respect for this man. I almost felt, because of my passion for Lindy Hop, that Frankie was like a brother to me. Reading his stories and hearing how down to earth this living legend was, connected you to his soul. Here he was, 93 years-old, teaching, dancing and living life to the fullest surrounded by the dance he loved eternally. And because of this, dancers all over loved him eternally.
I had an amazing opportunity to interview Frankie for the AARP that weekend. And of course I took many pictures from the events. Talking to him about his life was one of the coolest things I think I have ever done. It was such an honor to sit there, cameras rolling, listening to this man talk about all the things he did, the people he knew and places he went. Words can't even describe what it's like meeting a legend like that, knowing this person had such an impact on the very hobby you love so much. Half the time I wanted to listen, the other half I just wanted to thank him...for being Frankie.
Today is a very sad day. The dance world lost a true legend. And for Lindy Hoppers all over the world, we lost a friend. But we all share his spirit in our hearts. We know Frankie lived every day to the fullest with a smile on his face and in his heart. And we know his passion and energy was communicated to us through his feet every time he moved. Even up until a few weeks ago when he led the Shim Sham at Lindy Fest in Houston, Frankie was moving with the energy of a 21 year-old. He was happy. His job here was complete. He inspired us and gave us that passion and energy to carry his message of dance forward. From this day on, we will live and dance for you Frankie! We'll miss you!!!
Ultra Bar and Club Glow hosted DJ Dan, one of America's most beloved and hardest working DJs on the electronic music scene last night. My good friend Laura Jackson was in town and wanted to tag along with me on one of my usual club photo gigs, so we hit it up.
My knowledge of DJ Dan comes purely from my associations with fellow American DJ Christopher Lawrence. DJ Dan and Lawrence worked and traveled together a few years back and so I had heard some great things about Dan's abilities as a master of the turntables.
What I didn't know was that DJ Dan has been pushing the envelope with electronic music lately, blending hard house with breakbeats and beyond. His style is exactly what I love about dance music...full of energy. From the moment he started his set last night, you could feel the deep and dark energy pulsing from the sound system inside of Ultra Bar. Standing near the speaker boxes along the wall was like having a personal masseuse right there in the club. I'm talking hair on my arms standing up straight...
The good news of the night was DJ Dan threw down a sick set for true dance music lovers. Laura was dancing her butt off all night long and I think I captured some pretty amazing photos. The bad news was the crowd seemed off. While standing in the DJ booth, Dan turns to me and asked me if it sounded distorted on the dance floor. He couldn't understand why certain tracks generated little to no response what-so-ever. I told him the sound was perfect and the tracks were sick...so he need not worry. But clearly the Ultra Bar crowd was more interested in gyrating to their own music and throwing back the alcohol. As I told DJ Dan, I can't say I've ever seen a crowd like this at a Glow event, so it was just as surprising to me.
The other good news was true Glow supporters were out in full force. I saw so many familiar faces that it felt like one of my standard nights at The Jam Cellar where you walk in and see all your dance friends from all over. Regardless of the overall crowd, DJ Dan ripped it and he should be proud.
These last two photos are kinda special to me because as Laura and I got ready, we talked to our good friend Amy Tran on the phone. Amy was stuck on a work assignment in some random West Virginia town and was seriously down about not being able to join us for the evening. So we took one photo of us actually talking to her on the phone and one photo with a sign telling her we love her. It was actually pretty cute because we emailed the images just before we left for Ultra.
This past Saturday my uncle, Hilly Purnell, passed away. He was 83 and is survived by his wife of 64 years, Doris Purnell. You can read the full obituary here.
Sadly I will not be able to attend the family gathering to celebrate his life because I'm hosting 6 people for a major dance event in DC. But I really wanted to do something for Uncle Hilly, so I decided I would write a small tribute in his honor.
Obviously I wasn't as close to Uncle Hilly as some of my other cousins because my life and career has taken me (at times) pretty far from the state of Delaware. I would see him and the rest of the family during holidays and such, but that was the extent of it since graduating from college. But I have to tell you, I always jumped at the chance to see my Aunt Doris and Uncle Hilly. They are two of the greatest people one could know. Their personalities, their open-hearts, and their love for their family could be seen from the moment you were in their presence.
I can recall growing up in Delaware and having my parents take me down to "the river" to see my aunt and uncle. Doris and Hilly live in a beautiful house in Oak Orchard overlooking the Indian River, which spills into Indian River Bay, only a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The location was exactly what I would expect for my uncle, who was an avid outdoorsman, loved boating, hunting and his dogs. It was quiet, peaceful, and the sunsets are something out of a postcard.
Ever since I can remember, Uncle Hilly called me "bub." I used to love it because as a child, you're somehow always trying to grow up. Being called "bub" made me feel like one of the adults, almost like I could have been sitting there enjoying a beer with my dad and the rest of the men of the family. Uncle Hilly also had quite a sense of humor. There wasn't one time while visiting "the river" that I can't recall my dad and Uncle Hilly sharing a laugh. It was almost like the two men shared a bond of exact personalities. Of course, my dad had to have liked Hilly since he let him marry his sister. She was big sis, but I can promise my dad wasn't going to let just anyone walk in and sweep her off her feet. So yeah, I see a lot of my father in Uncle Hilly and a lot of Uncle Hilly in my dad.
Honestly, I don't really know what else to write here. I'm not real good at expressing my sorrow in words because I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve. I do know that words can't really describe how much I'll miss my uncle. But I can be thankful to have had so many great years of knowing him. And I can be even more thankful that both my parents and my Aunt Doris are still around. And if I know Uncle Hilly at all, he doesn't want us to be sad. He wants us to celebrate him just like he would have lived his life...doing the things we love, sharing it with our families and laughing every day.
Welcome to urban marinade...a blog that lets you stew in the cultural crock pot of Washington, DC. I'm here to rant and rave about anything and everything in my little urban world. Generally speaking, that includes nightlife, photography, dancing and DC urban development. So there!
