Ventura
Been here for ages!
there were dance floors in every club and restaurant..
part of playing a "good set" was measured by how full you could keep
your dance floor.. one of the responsibilities of the Musicians during their
break was to talc and sweep the floor.. i learned THAT on my first steady
gig at the Fireman's Club down in McKees Rocks when i was still a teen
with a Cordovox and a trio in Pittsburgh..
we were fortunate in the Wash DC/Baltimore region to also have professional
dance studios who followed our steady "gigs" and sent their students to us
so they could have fun and show off what they had learned.. the Teachers
also would come out, and we had some special relationships/songs/arrangements
that they could count on us to do for them.. occasionally we would also perform
for some special event for our closest friends
and i say friends because there is no way we could have truly compensated the
many wonderful Pro Dancers for the hundreds of "floor shows" they gave us..
dressed to the nines and making their turns to perfection..
the one i remember the best was this teacher who would show up anywhere from
Annapolis to Rosslyn to Little Italy and bring his two long term associates with him..
tall and elegant Blondes (one of whom was always 'after" our Drummer, Aldo)
We had several extended arrangements He preferred, but the show-stopper was
ZORBA.. and we had signals worked out with him so he directed our shifts during the
song as well as the point where the tempo changed.. they worked HARD dancing this
as a trio, one girl on each hand, perspiration often obvious by the end.. always an ovation..
those days began to disappear as the cost of real-estate skyrocketed, especially
downtown, to where the big places that could make a living filling the room once
for a night of Dinner and Cocktails then had to start turning the tables 2 or 3
times just to make the rent.. The trend away from drinking and driving also had
an effect on profitability for the venues.. soon the old Clubs went out of business
and the new ones were much smaller and seldom even had any dance floor
or open space at all.. actually towards the "end' of that era of Dining and Dancing,
the only steady Gigs i had left with the old ambience were at a few Marriott Senior
Living "Hotels" that were kind of the forerunners of the modern independent Senior Living
facilities we see today.. These places also had huge dining halls, but the newer ones
stopped keeping space for a dance floor too, so even those dance venues faded into history
i truly enjoyed and did my best to hold up my end of that symbiotic relationship
between the Musicians and the Dancers, and certainly some of my best memories
and happiest times at the Top of the Town, la Bella Vista, the Jeffersonian, Park Place,
Euro Cafe, La Parisienne, Piccolo Mondo, Petitto's, la Trattoria, Heritage Harbor,
JoAnnaFilomena, the Watergate, Cafe de Paris and others came on the nights when
our 4th set went on and on and on into the night as late as we could get away with it..
and we made a living doing it !
what actually annoys me in my dotage is when Dancing with the Stars plays
crap pop songs that have nothing to do with the Tango or Samba..LoL
but yes, once upon a time..
part of playing a "good set" was measured by how full you could keep
your dance floor.. one of the responsibilities of the Musicians during their
break was to talc and sweep the floor.. i learned THAT on my first steady
gig at the Fireman's Club down in McKees Rocks when i was still a teen
with a Cordovox and a trio in Pittsburgh..
we were fortunate in the Wash DC/Baltimore region to also have professional
dance studios who followed our steady "gigs" and sent their students to us
so they could have fun and show off what they had learned.. the Teachers
also would come out, and we had some special relationships/songs/arrangements
that they could count on us to do for them.. occasionally we would also perform
for some special event for our closest friends
and i say friends because there is no way we could have truly compensated the
many wonderful Pro Dancers for the hundreds of "floor shows" they gave us..
dressed to the nines and making their turns to perfection..
the one i remember the best was this teacher who would show up anywhere from
Annapolis to Rosslyn to Little Italy and bring his two long term associates with him..
tall and elegant Blondes (one of whom was always 'after" our Drummer, Aldo)
We had several extended arrangements He preferred, but the show-stopper was
ZORBA.. and we had signals worked out with him so he directed our shifts during the
song as well as the point where the tempo changed.. they worked HARD dancing this
as a trio, one girl on each hand, perspiration often obvious by the end.. always an ovation..
those days began to disappear as the cost of real-estate skyrocketed, especially
downtown, to where the big places that could make a living filling the room once
for a night of Dinner and Cocktails then had to start turning the tables 2 or 3
times just to make the rent.. The trend away from drinking and driving also had
an effect on profitability for the venues.. soon the old Clubs went out of business
and the new ones were much smaller and seldom even had any dance floor
or open space at all.. actually towards the "end' of that era of Dining and Dancing,
the only steady Gigs i had left with the old ambience were at a few Marriott Senior
Living "Hotels" that were kind of the forerunners of the modern independent Senior Living
facilities we see today.. These places also had huge dining halls, but the newer ones
stopped keeping space for a dance floor too, so even those dance venues faded into history
i truly enjoyed and did my best to hold up my end of that symbiotic relationship
between the Musicians and the Dancers, and certainly some of my best memories
and happiest times at the Top of the Town, la Bella Vista, the Jeffersonian, Park Place,
Euro Cafe, La Parisienne, Piccolo Mondo, Petitto's, la Trattoria, Heritage Harbor,
JoAnnaFilomena, the Watergate, Cafe de Paris and others came on the nights when
our 4th set went on and on and on into the night as late as we could get away with it..
and we made a living doing it !
what actually annoys me in my dotage is when Dancing with the Stars plays
crap pop songs that have nothing to do with the Tango or Samba..LoL
but yes, once upon a time..
