By M. Stephanie Murray
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 15, 1997

Swinging in a Sauna

Ian Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat University High School senior Joe Cummins and Tucson High Magnet School senior Faitha Barr learn a few new steps during Friday night's free swing dance lessons at the Memorial Student Union's Senior Ballroom. Following the swing lessons two bands, Hipster Daddy-O & the Hand Grenades along with Dave's Big Deluxe performed.

I love the Union. I mean I really love the Student Union. Yeah, it'sad and crumbling and in need of renovation, but I love it just the way it is. Which is why it warms my heart that Dave's Big Deluxe and Hipster Daddy-O & The Hand Grenades played the Senior Ballroom on Friday, Sept.12. It's called a ballroom for a reason, and these bands did it proud.

As did the smart kids who promoted the show. They threw in free swing dance lessons before the bands, hoping to jump-start the swing dance thing in Tucson. Now we all know that we're a bit behind the coastal zeitgeist, but really now. It's been two years since "Swingers," a movie that chronicled the already-old L.A. swing scene. Isn't it time that we got our act together and pretended like we know what to do when presented with a swing band?

So, of course, we had to call in hipsters from up the interstate.

Paul Maranto and Lacey Maynard were our helpful and stylish instructors. I envied Lacey's perky checked dress and my boy companion/swing partner coveted Paul's two-tone dancing shoes. They walked us through the basic rock step, some simple spins and a very popular Charleston-type step.

It was about here that I figured out why boys can dance like this. It's because they can lead, which means that they can do whatever damn stupid step they want. Which means if we (the girl partners) can't follow, we're bad dancers and worse psychics. Learning to dance, the old one-two-three-four, puts boys and girls on more equal (ahem) footing.

After a domestic dispute (where I was accused again of trying to lead) was narrowly averted by the realization that I was following the prescribed footwork while he was adding and dropping steps like a mad stairbuilder, we kinda got the hang of it. In fact, we were fairly pleased with ourselves until we noticed the wacked-out aliens from the Fred & Ginger planet dancing next to us, and they just made us feel bad.

Ian Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat Saxophone player Justin Berry of Dave's Big Deluxe blasts out the ska music during Friday's concert in the Memorial Student Union's Senior Ballroom. The majority of those who attended the concert were local high school students.

Paul and Lacey are not insane, though. They didn't expect us to pick everything up in one abbreviated group session. Starting Oct. 3, they'll be instructing the swing-impaired every Friday night at Dance Visions Studio, and every Thursday night at O'Malley's beginning Sept. 18. (Call 887-2058 for Dance Visions info, 623-8600 for O'Malley's.)

And then, on to the bands. Here's one thing to know about Hipster Daddy-O & The Hand Grenades: You have to love a band that puts their horn section in a more prominent place onstage than their singer. And the snazzy, gold-sparkle-painted bandstands the horns play behind is a nice touch.

Of course, once they started playing, all our swing knowledge left us. Because these are ska bands first and foremost, and unless you are the swing instructors themselves, you can't dance this fast. There were some attempts, but they quickly devolved into skanking. There is a connection between swing and ska, though. Traditional skanking (don't laugh, someday it'll be a non-credit class at a community college) owes quite a bit to the Charleston and its ilk. And the hardwood floors of the ballroom offer as much spring as any hoppin' kid could desire.

Did I mention it was hot? The air conditioning was broken in the ballroom. It was hot. I'm not complaining, mind you, but, really, it's the rude boys who suffer. Remember that 20 percent of one's body heat escapes through one's head, and those natty hats are an ill-advised fashion choice in a sauna.

But none of this mattered when Dave's Big Deluxe came on. I had been warned that they put on a great and high-energy-to-the-point-of-spastic show, and they delivered the goods. The crowd dealt with the threat of heat-exhaustion by dancing in shifts. As soon as one song ended, the sweat-soaked horde would scamper outside, only to be replaced by another, equally wet but slightly cooler crowd.

Personally, I liked the band so much that I'm actually going to go out and buy their newly remastered CD, Songs from the Credenza (Slimstyle), rather than try to scam a review copy for free. And that's saying something.