The Swingsations: News

Happy New Year everyone! I'm pleased to announce that vocalist Wendy Rea will be joining us for selected gigs this year. A longtime favorite in the Southern California area and leader of her own groups ( The Famous Players, The Lost Boys ), Wendy's vocal stylings will be the perfect addition to The Swingsations Vocal Department of Westy and yours truly. She will be joining us at the Balboa Rendezvous in San Diego on April 2 and at the Cicada Club in downtown LA on June 12...hopefully more to come. Welcome, Wendy - we're looking forward to swinging with you!

As 2010 winds down, I wanted to make mention of some other fine jazz musicians celebrating a centennial this year. I focused on Django and rightly so, but wanted to also pay tribute to Big Sid Catlett, Charlie Shavers, Milt Hinton, Artie Shaw, Louis Prima, and Mary Lou Williams who were also born in 1910. Thank you all for your incredible music and for the inspiration and joy that it continues to bring to all of us.

Just letting you know that yours truly will be appearing with the Jambalaya Jazz Band at Disneyland this Thursday and Friday, with sets at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30 and 3:00, 4:00, and 5:00 p.m. If you're in the area come on by, and a very Happy New Year to one and all!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Just wanted to give you an update as to where I'll be apppearing in the near future. On December 26, I'll be at the fabulous Cicada Club with Richard Halpern's Hollywood Cavalcade ( 8 to 10:30 pm ), and I'll be working at Disneyland with the Royal Street Bachelors on December 27 and 28 and with the Jambalaya Jazz Band on December 30 and 31, followed by a New Year's Eve gig with the Campus Five at the Atomic Ballroom in Irvine. Hope to see you along the way, and here's hoping for lots of swinging music in 2011!

Hello everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I wanted to let you know that I've lowered the prices on both of our CDs at the cdbaby website
( www.cdbaby.com )just in time for Christmas - they are now both $10.00 apiece, with a 10% discount for multiple purchases. It's a great time to get some great music for both old and new fans alike. Thanks for your support!

You can help us get an appearance at the famous Cicada Club in downtown L.A.! All you have to do is send a short email to Maxwell Demille ( the man in charge ) and let him know that you'd like to see The Swingsations in 2011. His email address is maxwell@maxwelldemille.com. Thanks in advance for your help - it's a great place to play and we deserve a chance!

My apologies, friends - September is my busy time in my other life as an elementary band director. I hope that you are all having a nice late summer/early fall. Unfortunately nothing to report as far as live gigs for the band( although I will be doing the occasional Campus Five gig as well as subbing at Disney )- I can tell you that I'm working on getting back into the SkyRoom in Long Beach, and Mr. Demille has mentioned that we may be making a Sunday night appearance at the fabulous Cicada Club in the new year...so stay tuned!

Once again I want to say thanks to John Thomas and all the great people at the Art Deco Society for having us perform again on the Queen Mary. What a great weekend - it's so great to see everyone dressed up so nicely and to be able to play some wonderful period music. We hope to see you again next year!

It's coming up soon - our sixth appearance at the Art Deco Society Festival on the Queen Mary, held over Labor Day Weekend. Once again we'll be making public appearances at the Observation Bar on Friday night, Sept. 3 ( 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. ) and Sunday night, Sept. 5 ( 8 p.m. to 12 midnight ). In between, you can see me w/the Dean Mora Orchestra at the Art Deco Ball on Saturday night. A busy weekend of great music - looking forward to it, and hope to see you there.

You'll be able to see me quite often this coming week at Disneyland - I'll be appearing on Wednesday, Aug. 25 with the Royal Street Bachelors ( from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm ) and on Friday, Sunday, and Monday with the Jambalaya Jazz Band ( Aug. 27, 29, 30 - 10:30 am to 5:30 pm ). It's always a pleasure to work with the fine musicians in New Orleans Square. Please drop on by if you're in the area.

Hello after a long absence - I've just returned from an incredible trip to Europe, including a 12 day cruise on the Baltic Sea. We saw so many wonderful places, St. Petersburg , Russia and Berlin Germany among them. What a privilege to be able to see such wonderful places as the Hermitage and the Berlin Cathedral, to gaze on the beauty of the Norwegian fjords, and to enjoy the hospitality of many people in place I may never see again. I met some fine musicians along the way ( in St. Petersburg and in Tallin, Estonia ) and was impressed by their fine playing.
I hope that all of you get the opportunity someday to travel to these wonderful places.

We'll be returning to the SkyRoom in Long Beach this coming Saturday night, July 10, from 8 p.m. to midnight. We had a great time on our last visit and are looking forward to being there again. This time we'll have some special guests on the bandstand - Ken Treseder (sax/clarinet), Dave Eastly (bass/vocals), and Paul Johnson (drums) - three great musicians whom I've had the honor of working with at Disneyland. It will be a swinging time, and we hope to see you there! For more details, please visit www.theskyroom.com.

We'll be returning once again to the Art A Fair Festival in Laguna Beach for our 16th consecutive year! Our first appearance is this Saturday, July 3, from 12 to 3 p.m. and our second appearance will be Sunday, August 15, also from 12 to 3 p.m. come enjoy some great music and beautiful art! for mor information please visit www.art-a-fair.com

Just letting you know that I'll be performing in New Orleans Square at Disneyland:
Tomorrow June 24 w/The Royal St. Bachelors, Friday June 25 w/The Jambalaya Jazz Band and Sunday June 27 w/the Bachelors again. More to come in July...come on by and say hello if you're in the area!

We had a fun gig at the SkyRoom this past Saturday night - what a beautiful place to play. It was a great opportunity to play for a great variety of people, taking their requests, and playing a variety of old popular music in many styles. We'll be back there on July 10, so come on by if you're in the area.

Just a quick reminder - our appearance at the Skyroom is coming up! It's next Saturday night, June 12, from 8:00 p.m. to midnight. Please check the Skyroom website www.theskyroom.com for reservations and further details. I'll have my regular group with me, and we look forward to playing in this beautiful venue.

I've just added two more dates at the Skyroom in Long Beach - they are June 12 and July 10, and the times are 8 p.m. to midnight. If you're looking for a classy place to go and enjoy some great music, please come on by!

Yes, I've finally made the leap. You can check out my page on Facebook ( the one with the silly photo of me in Pisa helping out the famous tower ). I'm slowly but surely adding info to it, so drop me a line if you'd like and tell me what you think.

We had a great time last Wednesday night playing for the dancers at the Strutter's Ball in Orange. It was a treat to have my regular band and be doing a gig out in public again ( as opposed to the private events that we do ). Thanks Shesha Marvin for keeping swing alive and well in the O.C.! As to yours truly, I'll continue to turn up at the Ball with various groups, so stay tuned.

We had an enjoyable gig last night at the Sky Room in downtown Long Beach, atop the old Breakers Hotel. It was a dinner/dance event for the Art Deco Society - our good friends who we also entertain during their Labor Day Festival on the Queen Mary. Everyone had a great time, and there's a good possibility that we'll be back there again for future events - I certainly hope so, because it's a great venue for vintage music.

I'm pleased to announce our return to The Strutter's Ball in Orange, CA. the date is Wednesday, May 5, form 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. This has been the weekly source for live swing music since last fall, and it's still going strong. I'll have the regular band with me, and we look forward to playing there again. By the way, I'll be there with The Campus Five on Wednesday, April 28. Check www.struttersball.com for more details - we'll see you there!

We'll be featuring music of the great Django Reinhardt this year, which is the 100th anniversary of his birth. Not only a genius jazz guitarist but an incredible composer as well, he made a great contribution to the history of jazz. I'll also be looking for tunes related to the drummer Big Sid Catlett on the centennial of his birth. Look for musical tributes throughout the year, as we feature the work of these great musicians.

Well, it was another great time playing for all the dancers Saturday at the 24 Hour Cancer Dance A Thon. We worked as a quartet this time, with special guest George Andrus on drums filling in for Bryan Taylor. We hope that you all had a great time as well, and that you're recovering. Thanks again Shesha and ocswing for all of your hard work in putting on this wonderful event.

We'll be appearing once again at the 24 Hour Cancer Dance A Thon this weekend, joining a roster of great swing groups ( including Stompy Jones and Dean Mora )to help raise money for the City of Hope Cancer Center. This is a wonderful event, expertly run by Shesha Marvin of ocswing, and we're always happy to do it. We'll be there from 4 to 5 p.m this coming Saturday, March 13. Please come out and donate your time and dancing and enjoy some great music!

The complete details are at www.danceathon.org

The photos from last weekend's Bayside Ball 2 are now up - my special thanks to Brian Boskind for coming out and taking them. What a great night of music...it was a privilege as always to play trumpet alongside of the great Bryan Shaw, and to hear all of the great musicians we had assembled. Thank you dancers as well! I hope to see you all again soon - until then, enjoy the photos!