Savoy Lindy Convention

Savoy Lindy Fans,
Let me be the first to donate $50.00 for the Frankie Manning and his friends interviews at a 'National Savoy Lindy Convention'.
It is a super important time in the history of 'America's Cultural Contribution to the World' the LINDY HOP. Let me add that the offer to answer questions, should extend to other Savoy 1930's DANCERS, MUSICIANS OR PROMOTERS, who can contribute their remembrances of that era. There may be a few musicians from the Chick Web era still around; lets invite them. Leonard Reed, the originator of the Shim Sham is still a healthy 93 with credentials on that era a mile long. Let it be a Convention of the 'Savoy Lindy Days'.
There is the serious factor of the 'Question & Answer" format that has to be devised.
Also, we have to keep in mind, 'If you ask the wrong questions, you do not get the right answers'. So questions should be submitted well in advance and those questions deemed acceptable, the authors get the privilege of asking their Question to whomever they choose.
Finally, WHO sits on the BOARD OF ADVISORS deciding what questions are legitimately appropriate for the guests?
This proposed idea is too serious and significant for the History of the Savoy Lindy to not do it properly presented with several pundits of the Savoy Lindy Hop Era! I vote for two giant entrepreneurs to help organize the 'Savoy Lindy Convention': Kevin Van Meter and Hilary Alexander; are there other suggestions?

Black Sheep, 'teach the masses dancing and war will become obsolete!, Joe Lanza 2003 a.d.

Some Swing Era Musicians still alive

Claude "Fiddler" Williams
Franz Jackson
Patty Andrews
Illinois Jacquet
Jay McShann
Anita O'Day
Artie Shaw
Clark Terry
Buddy DeFranco
George Shearing
Herb Jeffries
Johnny Best
Spud Murphy
Leonard Reed
Fayard Nicholas
Emmett Berry
Johnny Griffin
Chubby Jackson
Eubie Blake
Al Casey
Ruth Brown
Henry Townsend
Lionel Ferbos

Some Savoy Ballroom Dancers and Musicians
(from recent Savoy Veterans Highlight Tribute Dance, Sep. 13th)

Sonny Allen (Won Harvest Moon Ball the last year of the Savoy)
James E. “Tops” Brown (Whitey's Lindy Hopper)
Sarah Butler
Pearly Mae Carey (wife of Coley Wallace)
Harry Connor (Harvest Moon Ball finalist)
Mickey Davidson
Helen Douglas (Frankie's partner in the Congaroos, after Ann Johnson)
Leroy Griffen (Savoy lindy hopper, lifelong friend of Norma, and of Billy Ricker, George Lloyd and Al Minns)
Dawn Hampton (Still dancing, still traveling)
Martha Hickson (husband, Foster, was a '42 Harvest Moon Ball finalist; she's a good dancer in her own right)
Delilah Jackson (Harlem historian)
Bill London
“Empress” Hazil Manley
Charlie Meade (classy smooth style lindy hopper, friend of Baby Laurence)
Bill Miles
Norma Miller (Whitey Lindy Hoppers)
Kathy Moore (Big Apple champ)
Jerry Potter (played drums at Savoy)
Kenny Preston
John Rainbow (vocalist related to Duke Ellington)
Ruby Reeves (parter of Harry Connor for 18 years and former Mama Lu Parks dancer)
Ruth Rheingold (partner of Harry Rosenberg, member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers)
Samuel "Scotty" Scott (Savoy dancer, close friend of Frankie)
Ernie Smith (noted collector jazz dance on film)
Lana Turner (lindy hopper & historian whose parents danced at the Savoy)
Coley Wallace (Savoy bouncer, star of The Joe Louis Story)
Clyde Wilder
Estella Williams (daughter of Cootie Williams, famed Savoy bandleader)

-FF

FunkyFreak.,
You made my day!
Black Sheep, 'Dancing like all education should be free' Joe Lanza 2003 a.d.

Great Idea...

This has actually been done in slightly smaller, more realistic ways already.

One was the Harlem Jazz Dance Festival run by the American Institute for Vernacular Jazz Dance, where I had the honor of being asked to both MC and be a speaker on "The History of Jazz dance and its Relation to Jazz Music" with a few of the top historians, and Savoy luminaries.

My Friends Chad and Midori just finished an event a few weeks ago that had most of the living Savoy dancers, performers, and its employees that live in and around New York, do just this.

Joe... no one but the people involved are capable of determining what is and is not a good question to be asked. The very idea that a group of people would censoring submitted questions is abhorant. It alows to much possibility for people to reword or eleminate questions in an attempt to promote their own agenda. I tell you know, the people who you would need to get in contact with to organize something like this are very unlikely to be willing to work with such a ridiculous stipulation in place.

As to your donation of $50... Joe this event would cost over $10,000 in travel and rooms for the speakers alone. Unless a number of grants or corproate sponsors could be found, it would never be able to be this expansive. Hence the smaller versions....

As to some group of people interviewing all the above named people for posterity... don't worry, it is already being done. The archives will be made available as the material comes in, is properly cataloged, and reference viewing material is created from the masters. Frankie has an eight hour interview alreay available in the Smithsonian Archives, at the American Heritage Museum. Anyone who wants more details feel free to contact me by email or PM and I can give you the details needed to view and copy the material (this can all be found online and with a few phone calls also).

small VS GRAND

Savoy Lindy Fans,
The American Cultural Contribution to the World, 'The Lindy Hop, deserves to be a GRAND NATIONAL event. The primary source of this History will be gone in another 20 years, and a National Convention at this time in history when thanks to people like FunkyFreak, we still have the names of this wealth of Primary Source individuals who lived, danced, and played AT the Historic treasure, the SAVOY BALLROOM.
Individuals who try to rewrite history from secondary and tertiary sources, have a tendency to convolute the facts to suit there own personal agenda's. We do not have to believe what someone, who was not even born in the 1930's, TRIES to tell us what Cottie Williams said or what Leonard Reed said, when we have some of these legends still alive and mentally alert. The 'NATIONAL SAVOY CONVENTION would bring together many of these historical treasures to help 'SET THE RECORD SRTRAIGHT'.
Why settle for soured diluted milk when we can get the 'TOP OF THE CREAM'.
Those who would discourage the importance of a NATIONAL SAVOY LINDY CONVENTION, by demeaning it's significance, are antipathetic to the recording of an authentic history of our American Treasure, 'The SAVOY LINDY'.
Black Sheep, "A timely photo before it is too late, is the most precious of all". Joe Lanza 2003, a. d.

ROTFLMAO!

Joe... I am not against the idea of a convention like this. I'm pointing out it isn't at all realistic. It has already happened in multiple forms. I just pointed out two that happened just this summer.

It is not my fault you fail to grasp the economic side of this argument, nor that you have no idea what is currently going on in the lindy community. Those are things I have no control of.

Do you know we put a plaque up for the Savoy Ballroom and most of those on the Eastern Seaboard who patroned or worked at the Savoy were in attendance. Do you know when that happened? What events were associated with it?

Joe, if you had spent time reading Yehoodi you would have found a large number of your ideas have already been discussed, worked on and pulled off in one form or another, or abandoned as unfeasible.

However if you really want to explore the idea of a Savoy convention, instead of being confrontational and controlling why don't you approach it in a more accessible manner. How about inviting well known lindy hoppers to brainstorm and see what develops. You offering $50 donation to a non-existant promoter is going to achieve exactly nothing.

Hey Joe: go for it! Another Nation-wide attended event with loads of Savoy dancers: we can always use more

While you're looking for ways to make it possible, take a peek at the other events that have done the same things you're looking to do, and then see what tips you can take.

Another good idea is to attend one of these events, and see what you do/do not like about them. They're out there - they're attended internationally even - they have many musicians and dancers from the original times - they usually feature open questions & answers.

As D'nice points out, we already have grand national events for Lindy Hop as you've described, but the more the merrier. Keep up your research on how to make it happen, and let us know how it goes!

-FF