History/Culture

Documentary «The Unforgettable Hampton Family» on YouTube

15.11.2011 by Chris

Some of you who attended Herrang Dance Camp last summer, had the opportunity to watch the documentary «The Unforgettable Hampton Family«, together with Dawn Hampton in person.

The interest was appropriately high and the library, where it was shown, fully packed.

At the end of September, buddhaboogie, better known as big band leader George Gee, published the documentary on his YouTube channel.

The documentary celebrates the Hamptons, a talented African-American family who overcame poverty and prejudice to build successful musical careers.

The Unforgettable Hampton Family is a production of BetterThanFiction Productions for WNET. Produced, written and directed by Julie Cohen. Editor is Scott Feinstein. Field producer is Alex Lowther. Director of Photography is Rich White. Executives in Charge are Neal Shapiro and Stephen Segaller. Narrated by Lowell Deo.

Random Clips on Friday: Collegiate Shag

04.11.2011 by Chris

I have the feeling that there is an increasing interest in Collegiate Shag.

Do you know how Collegiate Shag looks like? Here are two clips.

Arthur Murray's Collegiate Shag (1937)

A compilation with a demonstration of basics of Double Collegiate Shag, a showcase of several dancers and an evening group routine performance.

Collegiate Shag by the San Francisco Jitterbugs

A mixture of contempary Collegiate Shag dance scenes and some from the clip above.

The History of Collegiate Shag

Check out this website if you wanna learn more about the history of Collegiate Shag. The front article on the website is by Peter Loggins. He's also one of the dancers in the second clip!

So, after watching these clips, would you like to learn Collegiate Shag?

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Random Clips on Friday: Tranky Doo

Happy Birthday, Frankie Manning!

26.05.2011 by Chris

Today, Frankie Manning – the Ambassdor of Lindy Hop – would have turned 97.

Happy Birthday Frankie, we all miss you!

Are you new to this blog? Then I would like to welcome you and take the chance to spotlight the posts about Frankie Manning I have published so far.

One year ago I was running a Frankie Manning week and published five posts in a row, here they are:

24 May 2010: DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #12: Shiny Stockings
One of Frankie Manning's favourite swing songs. Written by Frank Foster, performed by Count Basie Orchestra.

25 May 2010: Clayzapoppin vs. Hellzapoppin
A rendition to THE lindy hop dance scene, rebuilt in clay…

26 May 2010: Frankie Manning: Never Stop Swinging (Documentary)
This is by the way one of the most successful posts on Shuffle Projects and it was shared on Facebook as often as no other post. Watch this documentary and you know why.

27 May 2010: Biographie Frankie «Muscelehead» Manning – in German
There are many biographies about Frankie Manning on the web, but not in German. Reason enough to write one. If you are looking for one in English: check out FrankieManning.com

28 May 2010: Frankie Manning «The King Of Swing»: Article on FLYP
The King of Swing featured in a beautifully designed online magazine.

Just recently, this post went online:

27 April 2011: Tribute to Frankie Manning (Video)
Tribute Video, almost eleven minutes, produced by Swing Bud Films.

Literature Tip

If you don't know anything about Frankie Manning, then you should read his biography «Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop«, available at Amazon.com or Amazon.de (for Germany, Switzerland and Austria).

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Tribute to Frankie Manning (Video)

27.04.2011 by Chris

Two years ago today, Frankie Manning passed away. For all of us, who had the opportunity to meet and learn from Frankie, it bears repeating how inspiring he was. It's our task to spread Frankie's love for Lindy Hop and for any people!

Here is another video clip I haven't shared with you so far:

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My «new» Paillard Grammophon – Gramophone – Audiograph

23.04.2011 by Chris

A Present

I started DJ‹ing in 2006 with CDs but soon afterwards I switched to laptop DJ'ing. To spin and collect shellac (old 78 rpm) records was never an option to me.

A few months ago my quasi father-in-law gave me some 78 rpm jazz discs: «I thought you might be interested.» Of course, I was interested and I gladly took them. Now, how to play the records?

I was remembering when I was a kid, we had a portable record player at home which also could spin 78 rpm records. I asked my mother if I could have it and she agreed, it was stored somewhere in a basement room. Unfortunately, the box didn't work anymore.

It Found Me

Last weekend, there was a small flea market at the Shuffle The House Saturday night party and there it caught my eye: a portable gramophone. «Wow, this is beautiful!» I thought and just bought it for CHF 120 (EUR 95 / USD 135). I (still) don't know if this is cheap or not, I just wanted to have it!

Back home I was a little bit nervous because I didn't know if the gramophone still works. So, I wound it up and played a record. To my great joy it worked. By the way, the first record I played came with the gramophone – a record with church songs…

Fabrication Suisse

While watching the gramophone spinning the record, a small inscription caught my attention: «FABRICATION SUISSE» which means «Swiss Made». Now, this made me really curious and I googled «Paillard Grammophone». I had no idea about the fact, that gramophones also were built in Switzerland.

Here are some informations about the company:

The company was founded in 1814 as a watch manufacture by watchmaker, mechanican and inventor Moïse Paillard. Soon after he started a studio with a few employees to produce music boxes.

In 1875 the company already had over 50 employees. At the beginning of the 20th century, Paillard began to produce cylinder phonographs and then gramophones. Also metronomes, sharpeners, calculating machines and many more items were produced. In the meantime, the founder died and the company was renamed E. Paillard & Cie.

From 1927 Paillard built electric amplifiers for gramophones and from 1932 radio equipment. In the 1930s the typewriter «Baby-Hermes» and the «Bolex» film cameras and projectors were introduced. Paillard became one of the most successful Swiss manufacturer for these products, with 1'000 employees.

This success lasted until the 1960s with 8'000 employees worldwide, but more and more the company couldn't keep pace with the technological progress and eventually fell apart.

My Paillard Gramophone

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any informations about my gramophone type on the web. There is no type label, only the imprinted number 301 in the inside of the lid, probably a serial number. I suppose, it was produced somewhen in the 1930s.

Do you have any Informations?

Please contact me, if you have any informations about these types of gramophones! All kind of datas are appreciated!

Paillard Gramophone In Action

See the photos in this post and some more in better resolution on Flickr.