Skip to main content

I can't stop dancin'

There are a variety of reasons as to why I've really gotten into dancing in the last few months. I can't think of all of them now but I'd say the biggest one involves me being in the company of friends and enjoying the music. If I'm diggin' the music and I'm having fun, I just let loose on the dancefloor. All the years of watching Michael Jackson videos (especially "Beat It" and "Bad") and James Brown live footage come out much to some people's surprise.

For a while I didn't know if I made a complete fool of myself at Matt's wedding by clearing the dancefloor when Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" came on. Matt, Chris, Tim and Marshall have all assured me that they enjoyed it in a fun way by cheering me on instead of laughing at me. When I have that kind of support from my friends, I let the arms and legs do the talking.

A few weeks ago, while I was bopping my head to the sound of Northern Soul and other Mod-related music at the Smoke, I couldn't help but let go. The friends I was with did some dancing but I just couldn't stop when they stopped dancing. I had really nothing to lose in an art space filled with people dressed up in Mod clothing and Mod films (ie, Blow-Up, Quadrophenia) screening in the back. I let my bird legs and floppy ears move to the pulsating beat.

Saturday night, I went with Nick to a live art show with a DJ spinning. The music was thankfully not mindless techno music; rather it was a lot of uptempo 80s Top 40, old school funk and old school rap (like Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks"). I, along with Nick and his friends, couldn't help ourselves and danced on a small section in front the DJ's set-up. White boys are often lampooned for not understanding rhythm but I think we did a pretty good job of blending in.

There is something freeing about letting go through something like dancing. I get the same feeling when I run: time is only based on how fast I run or how long the song is and not according to a clock. I'm not someone who wishes I could live in that world all the time but it's fun to take a short trip into it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J