5/3 in Santa Barbara and 5/4 SLO (for Glenn)

We've got two gigs this weekend. Friday Night, May 3rd, We'll be returning to the Carrillo Ballroom in beautiful downtown Santa Barbara for their Friday night dances. It's been 5 years since we've been at the Rec Center on a Friday night, and we're stoked to be back. 

Saturday Night, May 4th, we'll be filling for our friend Glenn Crytzer at the SLO Lindy Exchange. As some of you may know, Glenn was injured pretty badly in a car wreck in South Dakota a couple weeks back, resulting in a badly broken arm, surgery, and lengthy hospital stay. He's gonna be ok, but he's gonna missing a lot of work, and he's got huge stack of medical bills. Calico Goodrich and Solomon Douglas (who were also in the crash, but ok) have set up a website to coordinate efforts for Glenn - www.getwellglenn.info. Since Glenn would be unable to make the trip out to SLO, he asked me to fill in. Besides a crew of our Campus Five regulars (Albert Alva, Paul Lines, Bryan Shaw and Art Gibson), we'll have Swing Session/Stompy Jones original piano-player, Scott Lawrence on keys. Also, we'll be taking up a collection for Glenn, so if you got some spare cash, drop some in the bucket for Glenn. 

Fri. May 3
Carillo Recreation Center (SANTA BARBARA, CA)
100 E. Carillo Blvd. - Santa Barbara
Band begins at 8:30pm - all ages - $15
More details at www.dancesantabarbara.com

Sat. May 4
Slozapoppin' - San Luis Obispo Lindy Exchange
Chumash Auditorium - Cal Poly SLO Campus
Band begins at 9:00pm - all ages - $20 (students $15)
More details at www.sloswing.com/sloX

THIS SATURDAY 4/13/13 - PBDA w/ guest Carl "Sonny" Leyland

This Satruday, the Campus Five returns to the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association's Saturday Night Swing Dances. This time we'll be joined by a very special guest, pianist extraodrinare Carl "Sonny" Leyland. Besides being a world reknowned practioner of Boogie-Woogie, he is also an expert of the whole history of jazz piano. Remember PBDA starts right 8:00pm, so be there early! 

Sat. Apr. 13
Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association
w/ Special Guest: Carl "Sonny" Leyland
Grace Hall (behind the chuch) - 73 N. Hill Ave. - Pasadena
Band begins at 8:00pm sharp! All ages -  $15 
More details at www.pasadenaballroomdance.com. 

Campus Five and Bal-Jam at Cicada Club THIS SUNDAY 3/31

THIS SUNDAY!

The Campus Five will be returning to Maxwell Demille's Cicada Club, and the event is being co-promoted by Laura Keat as a "Sunday Bal-Jam." So, that means a beautiful Art Deco night out, and a bunch of great Bal dancers and Lindy Hoppers will be present. Eating dinner at Cicada gets you FREE ADMISSION, and a table reservation for the night. You can make a reservation right now at http://cicadaclub.tunestub.com/show.cfm?id=92769&cart. And remember it's an EARLY SHOW, the band starts a 8:00pm SHARP, and plays TWO 1-hour sets at 8:00pm and 9:30pm. We're done by 10:30pm, so don't be late. 

Also, even though it's only March, it looks like this will be our only Campus Five show at Cicada this year, so don't miss out. We've got the whole band ready to play - Albert Alva, Jim Ziegler, Chris Dawson, Wally hersom, and Josh Collazo. 

Sun. Mar. 31
Maxwell Demille's Cicada Club
617 South Olive Street, Downtown Los Angeles
Band Starts at 8:00pm, All ages, $15 
Details at www.cicadaclub.com. 

Upcoming Gigs this Spring

We've updated our Calendar with all of gigs scheduled so far this Spring. We'll be returning to a bunch of familar spots, Cicada, Joe's, PBDA, the Carillo Rec Center, and making our first appearance at Alicia Milo's Third Saturday Parlor Party in San Diego. Here's the list:

March 2013

Sun. Mar. 31
Maxwell Demille's Cicada Club
617 South Olive Street, Downtown Los Angeles
Details at www.cicadaclub.com. 

April 2013

Mon. Apr. 8
Happy Feet Mondays - Dance at Joe's
Joe's Great American Bar and Grill
4311 W Magnolia Blvd - Burank
2 drink minimum - 21 and over - Band starts at 9pm
More details at www.danceatjoes.com. 

Sat. Apr. 13
Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association
Grace Hall (behind the chuch) - 73 N. Hill Ave. - Pasadena
Band begins at 8:00pm sharp! All ages -  $15 
More details at www.pasadenaballroomdance.com. 

May 2013

Fri. May 3
Carillo Recreation Center (SANTA BARBARA, CA)
100 E. Carillo Blvd. - Santa Barbara
Band begins at 8:30pm - all ages - $15
More details at www.dancesantabarbara.com. 

Sat. May 18
Third Saturday Parlor Party (SAN DIEGO, CA)
More details TBA 

Recording, Part 1 - Rehearsal

We got together at Wally's studio for a little rehearsal - only the 3rd in our 10 year history - in anticipation of this weekend's recording. I snapped a couple pics, and some videos, and I wanted to share them with you. 

Chris Dawson sitting down at Wally's piano, and a look at Wally's wall of cool analog gear.

Here's a shot of my spot, with all my guitars in reach, and my trusty 1939 Gibson EH-185 amplifer.

Josh sitting down at his awesome set of Slingerland Radio Kings, and our shared collection of vintage cymbals.

Many of the tunes we'll be recording we've been playing for several years now, but a couple are relatively new. We ran a couple of them last night, and here's a quick video. Bear in mind, I took my laptop and just set it on a ledge and recorded the proceedings via iMovie, so the quality both audio and visual is pretty meh. Still, you hear what's going on.

The tune is "Tea for Two", but we used the outriffs from Coleman Hawkins' "Bean Soup", a 1945 tune on the same changes. We've played this once before live, and this was maybe the 3rd time we'd played it ever. Sounds pretty good considering. Oh, and there's a sight gag in here you'd miss if I didn't mention it. Albert and Jim have enough playing on the head and outchorus, so we decided Chris and I would take the solos on the tune. The joke was that once I started my solo, the horns were on break, so they wandered off the fridge for a beer. 

Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - "Tea for Two / Bean Soup" - Rehearsal from Jonathan Stout on Vimeo.