1993

WHEN DEE MET RICK AND LIZ

OH, WHAT A NIGHT (The Dells)

It happened one fateful night when Rick Hendrix and Liz Kestler (formerly Libby Hendrix) went dancing.  While others danced the West Coast Swing, Rick and Liz danced the beautiful, smooth, and sensual Carolina Shag.  When she saw them, Dee Bassett said; “I want to do that!”

The Northern Virginia Shag Club began right then, in that moment, as a thought, a dream, a desire to “do that.”  Dance that beautiful dance.  Soon a small band of future shaggers formed.  Enchanted by the elegance, grace and intricacy of the mirror steps, they wanted to learn to shag from Rick and Liz. 

DANCE WITH ME HENRY (Etta James)

The first informal meeting took place at Blackie’s Steak House, Déjà Vu Room, in June 1993.  Fifteen founding members paid $15 in dues that evening and the club was BORN. 

Dee Bassett took on the role of President; Dave Rapson, Treasurer; Donna Harrington, Advertising; Sherri Bassham, Newsletter; and Rick Hendrix and Liz Kestler, Instructors

15 FOUNDING MEMBERS:

·         Keith Abernathy

·         Dee Bassett

·         Sherri Bassham

·         Larry Camp

·         Pauline Easby-Smith

·         Liz Kestler

·         Rick Hendrix

·         Donna Harrington

·         Debbie Nichols

·         Nick Nichols

·         Patricia Parrott

·         Ruth Rapson

·         Dave Rapson

·         Sharon Salpini

·         Gary Salpini

 

Followed shortly by new members:  Larry Boyer, Dickie Gee and Charlie Price

 

1994

1^ST GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND KICK-OFF

REELIN’ AND ROCKIN’ (Chuck Berry)

Eight months later, on Saturday, February 27, 1994, the first official club meeting took place at Dee Bassett’s home. 

The following officers were elected: 

·         Dee Bassett, President

·         Debbie Nichols, Vice President

·         Liz Kestler, Secretary

·         Dave Rapson, Treasurer

After discussing several options, the group voted to name the club THE NORTHERN VIRGINIA SHAG CLUB.  They adopted Rick Hendrix’s suggestion that the name of the club’s newsletter be called the “Shag Rag,” and Janis Grimes agreed to serve as publisher/editor.  Donna Harrington and Pauline Easby-Smith said they would chair the Events Committee.  Charlie Price agreed to write proposed By-laws for the club similar to the format of the Richmond Shag Club, and to look into procedures for incorporating the club.  After the meeting, they rolled up the living room carpet, turned on the music, and shared dance, music, food and lively conversation.

Members present at that meeting were:

·         Dee Bassett

·         Larry Boyer

·         Larry Camp

·         Pauline Easby-Smith

·         Dickie Gee

·         Janis Grimes

·         Dotty Hale

·         Frank Hale

·         Donna Harrington

·         Rick Hendrix

·         Liz Kestler

·         Tom Lufkin

·         Bert Nelbach

·         Debbie Nichols

·         Nick Nichols

·         Patricia Parrott

·         Charlie Price

·         Dave Rapson

·         Ruth Rapson

·         Sharon Salpini

·         Gary Salpini

In July 1994, at the first General Membership meeting held at the Juke Box Café, Janis Grimes, Larry Camp and Gary Salpini were elected by the members to serve as Board Members-at-Large.  Sharon Salpini was asked to chair the Membership Committee. 

Dee and other NVSC Board and committee members enthusiastically embraced the challenge of meeting all requirements for admission into the Association of Carolina Shag Clubs (ACSC).  The club’s logo, designed by Rick Hendrix and Liz Kestler (who received a $25 winner’s prize), was voted on and accepted.  Logo colors were determined to be black, gold and aqua blue.  Required ACSC meetings were attended. Club By-laws were finalized and approved.  Dee asked The Virginia Beach Shag Club to sponsor the club and, on September 17^th, 1994, Roger Elling of the Virginia Beach Shag Club placed the Northern Virginia Shag Club before the ACSC.  By unanimous vote NVSC became an associate member for a period of one year, after which it would be fully recognized and able to vote as an active member of the ACSC.  It was said that we had the distinction, then, but not any longer, of being the northernmost shag club in the Association.  Many thanks to Dee, Gary and others who worked so hard for so long to bring the club to this point in its evolution. 

At that time, club members danced every Wednesday night at the Juke Box Café in Springfield.  Debbie Nichols taught the basic step with diligence and devotion to all who wanted to learn this new and fascinating dance.  In August, Larry Boyer joined her, teaching beginner turns and intermediate steps.

LOVE COME KNOCKIN’ (Percy Sledge)

     Larry Boyer’s enduring love of shag and his unwavering commitment to NVSC is well established by the fact that he is still one of the primary shag instructors into the year 2003, having taught the basic step to many newcomers and intricate mirror steps to many seasoned shaggers.  As a female, I can attest to his exceptional dance style and lead ability.  I happen to know that his choice steps are the Boogie-walk, Duck Walk, and Sugarfoot; and a less known favored mirror step of his is the “Video Walk-up.”  He does a great pivot, too!  The ladies really like dancing with him.

 

 

 

 

 

NVSC Membership List, February 1994

 

Keith Abernathy                                                   H.K. Lee
          Dee Bassett                                                      Thomas Lufkin
     Sherri Bassham                                                 Chloe Lynn
          Larry Boyer                                                      George Murray
              Larry Camp                                                      Bert Nelbach (DJ)
             Alice Cannon                                                    Debbie & Nick Nichols
         Pauline Easby-Smith                                           Patricia Parrott
      Dickie Gee                                                       Charlie Price
                Michael Getsey                                                 Ruth & Dave Rapson
                  Janis Grimes                                                     Karen & Robert Rogers
               Frank & Dotty Hale                                              Sharon & Gary Salpini
     Donna Harrington                                               Ellen Werther
Rick Hendrix & Liz Kestler                                   Jim Taylor 

I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE (Gladys Knight)

It was said that the NVSC newsletter was the best.  The first issue of the Shag Rag, Volume I, Number 1, dated March 1994, established a newsletter format that soon won acclaim as being one of the best among the ACSC.  It contained a write-up by Donna Harrington of a trip taken by a small group of club members to the Virginia Beach Shag Club’s ‘Sunday Social,’ and also an account of the trip to the 1994 ACSC Midwinter Weekend, February 14-16, at N. Myrtle Beach.  Frigid temperatures, she said, didn’t keep some 4,000 dancers from enjoying beach music and dance at The Spanish Galleon, The Pad, Ducks and Fat Harold’s.

         As newsletter editor, Janis Grimes wanted her readers to be informed.  She consistently searched out and published articles about Carolina Shag and Beach Music.  She motivated members to write articles, send in profiles, attend functions and improve dance skills:  “This is your newsletter,” she said.   She initiated the “Shagger Profile” to introduce new members.  The “Roving Shag Reporter” reported members’ activities without revealing his identity.  “Road Trips With Gypsies” detailed interesting trip experiences.  “Dear Gabby” answered questions about romance and dance; however, readers soon learned it was all in fun.  “The Shagmaster Says” provided tips on dance attitude, etiquette, and improved technique and style.  Janis originated the “Humor Corner,” the “DJ Booth,” and “Happy Birthday” columns.  She faithfully advertised all Shag events.  The newsletter was a monthly delight.  It was always tasteful, informative and entertaining with a splash of humor and a sprinkle of personality.  It was always positive and upbeat.  It always promoted shag, the music and the club.  She inspired and brought out the best in everyone with her eloquence, exuberance, passion, fervor, humor, and obvious love for shag and beach music.  She gave to the club a newsletter they could be proud of, a newsletter that represented the club well to the dance and shag communities.

PLAY IT LIKE IT USED TO BE (Alvin Lee)

The Club’s First DJ

Bert Nelbach was the club’s first deejay.  Having little previous exposure to beach music, Bert made several trips to North Myrtle Beach to purchase the music the club members wanted to hear.  Soon, he had attained a sizable repertoire of the music that shaggers love to pick up and put down their feet to!

AIN’T NO STOPPIN’ US NOW (The Embers)

On July 1994, the club treasury was up to an impressive $471.85, due primarily to leadership, team spirit and the zeal with which club members worked to recruit new members and sell t-shirts, shag buttons and NVSC luggage tags designed by Eddie Farmer.  The club began investigating possible charitable opportunities, although, struggling financially as it was, the emphasis was held to the primary purpose of the club, to promote Carolina Shag and Beach Music.  (Please see Charities write-up.)

CAN I WALK YOU HOME? (Bo Diddley)

In those early days road trips were so much fun.  The whole bunch would pile into Janis’s or Rick’s van and head down the road.  One of the first group trips was to the Westfield’s Concert Series in Chantilly, VA to benefit the Easter Seals Society.  This large, open outdoor area had a small dance floor in front of the band platform.  They brought in such greats as Bill Deal and Fat Ammon (the original Rhondels), The Hubcaps, and Jr. Cline & The Recliners. 

The group rallied together one cold winter night in February for a Delbert McClinton concert at The Barns of Wolf Trap. 

On March 18, 1994, they went as a group to the National Press Club at the invitation of Ken Tyler and the North Carolina State Society (thanks to Jim Taylor for the invitation.)  The fabulous Catalinas played beach music that night.

 

 

GOT MY MOJO WORKIN’ (The Embers with John Ellison)

In April 1994, the club membership was well represented at the SOS Spring Safari, North Myrtle Beach.  (NOTE:  SOS stands for Society of Stranders, named after the 35-mile stretch of beach along the coast of the Carolinas called the Grand Strand.)

In August 1994, five NVSC members and three guests attended an outdoor dance in The Plains, VA, as guests of Robert Duvall (the Academy Award-winning actor) and his wife.  One member was especially delighted to dance with Robert Duvall… he asked her!  (Patricia Parrott.)  Larry Boyer was pleased to dance with Duvall’s wife, Sharon.

In September that year, the group attended SOS Fall Migration; and in October they went to the VA Beach Shag Club’s “Beach Bash.”  In the October issue of the Shag Rag, the Roving Shag Reporter revealed many details of the NVSC members’ activities at the SOS Fall Migration, Myrtle Beach, September 9-18.  (See write up below.)

 

WHAT’S GOING ON (Frankie Gaye)

 

 

GOOD OLD DAYS (Jimmy McCracklin)

The club’s first dance workshop welcomed Fran Harris and Peter Jones of the Virginia Beach Shag Club on Saturday, April 9, 1994, teaching beginner, intermediate and male leads at the Hallmark Towers, Hallmark Party Room, in Alexandria.

 

 

I’M SO INTO YOU (Edwin Starr)

NVSC members, especially the ladies, got very excited when one Wednesday night in July, Sonny Carver and a young Brent Key showed up at the Juke Box Café.  Brent showed them what Carolina Shag was all about!  Accompanied by his father, Ken Key, he came back to dance at the Juke Box several more times during the following weeks and months.  He was only 17, and a junior shag competitor at the time.  Who knew then that in a few short years, Brent Key and Shea Carver (Sonny and Judy’s daughter) would win First Place in a Carolina Shag Division at the 1995 VA State Open competitions and First Place in the Overall competitions, and go on to win First Place at the US Open in Anaheim, CA?  (See 1995 VA State Open write-up)

SHAKIN’ THE SHACK  (Fantastic Shakers)

The October 1994 VA State Open Swing Dance Championships, hosted by Craig Hutchinson, brought in Charlie Womble and Jackie McGee as instructors, exhibition dancers and judges.  This opened Carolina Shag in a big way to the local dance community and, for the first time ever, listed Carolina Shag in the competition categories.  Rick Hendrix and Liz Kestler won first place; Chris Meyer and Janis Grimes placed second.  ‘Who won what’ was not the focus.  This was the first time members of our club competed, and we were all novices struggling to perfect style and technique.  The objective was to bring notice to Carolina Shag, to let it be known that shag is here, in Northern Virginia, to stay.  Shag was met with fascination by the Swing dancers.  Craig Hutchinson brought further notice and acclaim to Carolina Shag that year by enlisting Roc Sarlo, Beach Music deejay from VA Beach, to play at the event.  And in celebration of the club being accepted into membership in the ACSC, Donna Harrington and Pauline Easby-Smith organized a luncheon buffet at Randy’s Lounge for club members with Roc Sarlo as deejay.  It was very exciting to hear and dance to Roc’s beach music.

GROOVY PEOPLE (Lou Rawls)

In November 1994, John “Catfish” Kelly from Richmond happened by Blackie’s Déjà Vu one night and became the club’s 100^th member.

Excitement ran high on November 12^th, 1994.  Rick Hendrix arranged for the club to have its first professional shag instruction.   National Shag Champions, Sonny & Judy Carver, taught the basic and a mirror step at Blackie’s Déjà Vu in Springfield.  The cost was $30 per person for a four-hour workshop and lunch buffet.  The event was a big success.  Participants included shaggers, hand dancers, swing dancers and many people from out-of-town. Not wanting it to end, they danced that night at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge, 7 Corners.  Rick Hendrix was the deejay.  As a gesture of good will, Sonny and Judy donated several of their instruction videos to the club.

Club’s First Christmas Party - Pauline Easby-Smith hosted the Club’s First Christmas Party, December 17, 1994.  She and Donna Harrington created a beautiful holiday celebration.  There was glitter, glitz, blinking lights, great music, good dancing, tasty food, fun, laughter, lively conversation, holiday spirit, dance exhibition, door prizes, 50-50 raffle, donations to SOME (So Others Might Eat), and a relaxed party atmosphere.

 

 

After the Christmas party, the following article appeared in the Shag Rag:

 

 

The Treasury was on a steady incline upward.  At the end of 1994, the club had $819.73 in the bank and in the early months of 1995 a balance of $865.81 was reported in the Shag Rag.

     Dave Rapson is acknowledged and appreciated for all his care in receiving, recording, reimbursing and reporting NVSC’S funds.

THE TOP 50 SHAG SONGS OF 1994  (from Charlie Byrd’s Beach Blast)

Stop Loving Me Stop Loving You   - Daryl Hall

Baby Likes To Rock It -Tractors

Alligator Walk-Mojo Blues Band

Love Potion #9 -Hansel Martinez

Real Love -Johnny Taylor

Three People Sleeping in My Bed -Willie Clayton

Shama Lama Ding Dong -Band of Oz

Your Place Or Mine -John Ellison

Since I’ve Been Lovin’ You-Alexander O’Neal

Footprints On The Ceiling -Ruby Winters

That Man Of Mine-Betty Wright

Hoodoo Man -Mojo Blues Band

I’m Ready -Taj Mahal

Ooh Baby-Byron Burns

Surely I Love You-Huey Lewis & the News

Got To Give It Up -Marvin Gaye/David Sanborn

Just You And Me - Delbert McClinton

Happy Ever After - Bee Gees

If I Could Reach Out (And Help Somebody)-Otis Clay

C’est Si Bon -Lloyd Price

Big Top Hat -Steven Bruton

Rockin’ Slow  -Bill Wharton & the Ingredients

Mary Lou-Delbert McClinton

What’s Going On-Frankie Gaye

Play It Like It Used To Be-Alvin Lee

Standing At The Crossroads -Greg “Fingers” Taylor

Hold Back The Night -KWS

Fools Rush In-Embers

Hang On In There Baby-Bette Midler

Lady Soul -Johnny Taylor

Hoochee Coochee Coo -Taj Mahal

Integrity-Aretha Franklin

Rockaway Beach-General Johnson & Joey Ramone

Foolin’ Around -H-Bomb Ferguson

Whoopin’ Thighs-Lovie Lee

I’ll Be Around-Rippingtons f/Jeffrey Osborne

Gone Fishing-Larry Howard

Thirsty Ears -Powder Blues Band

(Every Thing I Do) Got To Be Funky -Maurice John Vaughn

A Donut And A Dream- Mills Brothers

Dreamin’-Chairmen

Oh What A Thrill-Rockkpile

Something’s Mighty Wrong -Tyrone Davis

Pony Time-Barrance Whitfield

She Kept On Sittin’ On It -Band of Oz

Good Rockin’ Tonight-Solomon Burke

You Got Me Dizzy -Carol Fran & Clarence Hollimon

Maybe Someday Baby -East Coast Band

So Into You -Edwin Starr

Tore Down -Eric Clapton

 

LOVE IS HERE TONIGHT (George Benson)

        The club, still struggling as it was in those early days with limited budget and novice expertise, received a great big boost in the offer of help from Jerry Canada, deejay from the Virginia Beach Shag Club and NVSC member.  He came to Northern Virginia with all of his equipment and music and spun his creative style of beach music for several club socials.  He expanded the club’s awareness of beach music and provided tapes for personal use and enjoyment.  One of his favorite songs at the time was “Club Savoy” by Rockin’ Louie.

WHAT IS CAROLINA SHAG?

SHAGGING ON THE BOULEVARD (Alabama)

(Excerpt from “50 Years of Shagging” by Lance Benishek and Cathy Rudenick as printed in Jan/Feb 1993 issue of Dancing USA): “Life would have been dull in the summers in the late 1930s for teenagers in the South if it had not been for the seven miles of beach along the northern Atlantic Ocean coastline of South Carolina.  The long stretch of beach, called the Strand, was dotted with pavilions where the young people partied at night all summer long to the sound of the out door juke boxes.

(Excerpt from “THE RETURN OF THE SHAG,” an article by Robert P. Crease published in September 1988):  “That especially American confluence of black music and white kids, usually at hangouts frowned upon by adults, gave birth to the shag in the 1940s on the Grand Strand, the fifty-five-mile crescent-shaped beach running north from Georgetown, above Charleston, to the North Carolina border. 

“The Strand was the summer habitat of large numbers of college kids, from all social levels in North and South Carolina, who had become addicted to the free and unruly character of beach life.  Away from the supervision of parents or campus authorities, these college kids tended, of course, to act like irresponsible bums – and were treated as such both by locals and by servicemen on leave from the many military bases in the area.  The college kids learned to make a virtue of necessity by accepting this community rejection and cultivating an aloof, “cool” demeanor.  Cool meant, first, a look:  for the boys, long, slicked-back, peroxide hair with ducktail, V-necked sweater with no shirt underneath, custom-tailored baggy pants; for the girls, short shorts.  Cool footgear consisted of simply Weejuns or moccasins; socks were uncool.  (Note: Many of today’s sophisticated patrons of shag, male and female, wear soft-soled, flexible, custom-made dance shoes.)  But cool also meant following a certain routine.  Days were spent on the beach.  Shortly after dusk the beach bums walked along the boardwalk to the numerous open-air pavilions that were the social centers of all the communities along the Grand Strand.  Each had a refreshment stand, an arcade, and most important, a wooden dance floor with a Wurlitzer jukebox.  There the beach bums hung out until somebody came along who could afford to set the machine whirring: a nickel bought one song, a quarter bought five.

More than 50 years ago, one of them, Billy Jeffers, asked Dot Bradford to “fast dance” with him on the beach called Ocean Drive, or North Myrtle Beach.  Although it was called fast dancing, the name is misleading.  They called it fast dancing to distinguish it from such slow dances as the two-step foxtrot. 

What they called the fast dance was actually, in Jeffers’ words, “a slowed-down, smoothed-out jitterbug,” now called the Carolina shag.  It was a dance fashioned to suit the “dirty” music you couldn’t get on the radio but could hear at the beach – rhythm and blues “beach music.”  Jeffers describes it as having a push beat.  They would also dance to the beat of the “sweet” bands, like Les Brown.

“THE RETURN OF THE SHAG” says that:  “The shag is a slow, easy dance that developed in the late 1940s and early 1950s to early rhythm-and-blues music.”

According to Jeffers, the Carolina Shag is not related to the other shags that came out of the 1930s and ‘40s.  In fact, Jeffers says he never did the shag.  It was ‘fast dancing’ until the late 1940s when some of the people at the beach started calling it ‘shag.’ 

John “Bubber” Snow, a South Carolina State Representative and shagger in the ‘40s believes the dance acquired the name shag in the late ‘40s or early ‘50s.  “Actually,” he says, “it was initially called the ‘dirty shag’.”  According to Snow, the word shag comes from England, and refers to the horizontal, as opposed to vertical, movement of the dance.

“THE RETURN OF THE SHAG”:  “Nobody started out to invent a new dance,” said Billy Jeffers, who first came to the Strand in the late 1930s and stayed through the mid-1940s. 

Until the end of the war white teenagers heard only swing music and danced only the Lindy hop, better known as the jitterbug – a vigorous, jumpy dance that had swept the country in the 1930s.  The cooler beach bums preferred hot black bands, and the steps they danced to them were smoother and less frantic

“We just didn’t think all those jerky jitterbug movements fit in with what life was like at the beach.  So we began to dance the way we talked to the girls – nice and easy, and real laid back.”  Robert’s Pavilion and the other open-air pavilions with race music on their jukeboxes were the perfect environment for a group of white kids who were cocky and creative enough to invent their own forms of expression and competitive enough to goad one another on.  The beach bums would meet nightly to improvise new steps and inspire one another, and to showcase what they did.  A new dance had been born.  It didn’t have a name, and was referred to as “beach dancing,” “fas’ dancing,” and “dirty shag.”  This last after an old Lindy step that vaguely resembled another Carolinian dance, the Charleston.  “Shag” eventually stuck.”

John Harper states in THE COAST Beach Beat, May 12, 1996 that, “The shag, for the uninitiated, is a deceptively complex six or eight rhythm in a 4/4 time.  To the untrained eye, it appears to be a slowed-down jitterbug.”

Jeffers describes the shag as a cross between the Lindy Hop and jitterbug.  This is particularly true of its count patterns.  Most of the steps use a six-count beat while the turning basic takes eight counts.  Unlike West Coast Swing (also a derivative of Lindy Hop and jitterbug) in which the woman walks forward in place of the rock step, the rock step characteristic of jitterbug has survived in the Carolina Shag.  However, there are several differences between the classic Lindy Hop and jitterbug, and the shag.

For one thing, the styling is different.  In shagging, the couple’s upper bodies and arms are stable and fluid, while the footwork is fast and intricate, the knees and ankles acting like shock absorbers. 

Originally, the shag was male-oriented.  The woman’s role was to make the man look good.  For example, the man might lead his partner into a free spin but take a couple of spins himself before catching his partner.  Jeffers thinks this style is boring and technical because “the girl does time-steps and that’s it.”  He prefers the way they do it at the beach today where the girl does her own thing and it works out fine because they “meet at the turn.”

“Keep your feet very close to the ground,” says Bradford, “even on the rock step.”  The partners must pull against each other to maintain a constant tension.  The music is different, too – slower, usually with a driving beat.  One of the classic shag songs is Sixty-Minute Man. (Released in 1951 by a black group called the Dominoes.) 

“THE RETURN OF THE SHAG”:  “Beach jukeboxes were stocked with what the trade called “race music” – that is, records made by black musicians and marketed to a black audience.  In 1949, Billboard magazine reclassified “race music” on its charts as “rhythm and blues.”

One avid race-music fan was Jo-Jo Putnam, a white South Carolina drummer who first landed on the Strand in 1947 at the age of thirteen.  “We loved race music, but you couldn’t find it on the radio.  The only place we heard race music was at the beach.” 

Putman never forgot the moment he first saw Billy Jeffers dancing at Robert’s Pavilion in Ocean Drive Beach (now called North Myrtle Beach).  “I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Putman said.  “A whole realm of self-expression opened up to me.  I thought I’d just been granted the opportunity to participate in a new art form.  I almost broke down and wept.”

HERITAGE OF SHAG

(From March/April 1995 issue of Dancing USA).  The Carolina Shag heritage can be tracked like a game of dominoes back in time to the jitterbug, and the jitterbug back to the Big and Little Apples, and the Apple dances back to the old shag and Charleston, according to Lance Benishek, dance historian for the American Cultural Arts Society. 

“One of the most popular Swing Era dances, the shag was an energetic partner dance that came out of the high school and college campuses of the Southeastern U.S.  It was done in three basic rhythms – single, double, and triple.” 

Hops were an initial basic component, with couples in closed dance positions with clasped hands held high. 

During the 1993 SOS Spring Safari in Myrtle Beach, SC, Lance and his American Dance Ensemble (along with eight living legends who, in 1937, introduced the Big Apple to the nation), were invited to perform at beach clubs and presented at the South Carolina House of Representatives.  At that Spring Safari, Lance and his troupe performed the grandparents of the early shag:  Charleston, Big Apple, Little Apple, and old style shags.  Shaggers watched, seeing that was where their Carolina Shag came from.

As House Representative John “Bubber” J. Snow, Jr., wrote in a personal letter to Lance, “Our state dance, the Carolina Shag, was the offspring of the Little Apple which came from the Lindy Hop of the 20’s.  As you know, the Big Apple and Little Apple originated here in Columbia during the summer and fall of 1936, during this era of jazz dancing.”

“The early settlers who arrived in Charles Town in 1670 made dancing a part of their social activities.  The success of agricultural crops like indigo, rice and cotton provided plantation homes, which became a focal point of social life.  Dancing became a part of this lifestyle and we can boast in this state by saying dancing is indigenous to South Carolina.” 

Snow continues to say, “We also make a legitimate claim to the Charleston.  This dance evolved from New Orleans to Savannah and on to Charleston.  We claim it, for it was named for the Holy City.” 

On a trip to New York, Bubber Snow attended a dance of the New York Swing Society where he was asked to demonstrate the intricacies of the shag.  Snow, a 40’s shagger, was the major instigator for getting shag recognized as the official state dance of South Carolina in 1984.  He also introduced legislation creating a registered shag logo and personalized shag license plates. 

“Don’t ever get confused about our state dance,“ once quoted Bubber.  “It was born in Harlem in 1926, discovered by whites in Columbia in 1936, shaped in 1946, and perfected in 1956 at Ocean Drive.”  There are plenty of ‘living legends’ of shag.  Any shagger from the ‘50’s has a story to tell of the guys and girls they knew back then, and the ‘best of the best’ dancers.  

TIME CAPSULE

(By Fleur Paysour, from “Dancing on the Edge” magazine, Vol. 1 #1, Sep/Oct 1989.  Reprinted in March/April 1995 issue of Dancing USA.)

 Shag has a birth certificate.  And Bubba “Emzie” Caldwell had a part of that birthing, like many others.  Bubba’s moves were said to be “married bits of the jitterbug to elements of tap and buck (tap) dancing.”  Bubba was said to be so hot, he’d dance with two at a time. 

When the big bands were going through Greensboro, NC, in the late 1930’s, the racial prejudices of the time had black and whites dancing in separate clubs.  According to Bubba’s nephew, Jimmy Caldwell, white dancers started going to the black clubs, and carloads would go to Bubba’s house to let loose and dance.  They’d bring their own food and drink, and party all night long.  They wanted to learn from the ‘master’—they wanted, by osmosis, to gain bits of his coordination, grace, speed and flexibility. 

Bubba started dancing as a kid and was making money at it on Greensboro street corners before he was 10.  When Count Basie played the local clubs, Bubba and his partner, Tena, were part of the floorshow.  Their job was to match the Count’s music; slow, medium or fast.

I LOVE BEACH MUSIC (The Embers)

WHAT IS BEACH MUSIC?

Excerpt taken from Columbia, SC, newspaper published March 29, 2001, designating beach music as the official popular music of SC… So just what is beach music anyway?  For those inlanders who don’t know the shag from a surfboard, two experts shared their thoughts.  “Beach music goes back to the1930’s, to the beginnings of rhythm and blues and your early rock and rollers,” said Tim Miller, program director for Oldies 103FM.  “Groups like The Platters and The Drifters – before they became pop music icons, they were playing beach music.”  “Beach music is special largely because it’s so hard to define,” said Marion Carter, president of Ripete Records, a beach music and R&B label based in Bishopville.  “You’ve got straight rock ‘n roll, country, jazz, hard blues – all sorts of influences that are prevalent these days,” Carter said.  “So how can you tell you’re listening to a song that really fits the ‘beach’ label?  The shag dance has come to the forefront these days, so anything that has the correct beat passes as a beach song,” Carter said.  “As far as what is a pure beach song… you know it when you hear it.  If you’re around it enough, you know what the feeling is.  You feel it in your soul.”

BEACH MUSIC HISTORY

Beach Music and Shag originated with black artists and dancers, and was played at clubs and juke joints along the coast of the Carolinas.  Initially, early R&B was not heard on the white radio stations, but when the kids (to parents’ disapproval) went to the black honky-tonks they heard it – and learned to dance to it.  Excerpt from Shagger Magazine, 1996, Vol. 3, No. 2.

In the 1970s, a few groups of musicians began recording what became known as beach music – not nostalgic rhythm and blues but music with a contemporary feel that was suitable for shagging; and R&B and race music of the ‘40s & 50s became known also as beach music.

In 1996 Janis Grimes collaborated with Marc Fisher to interview several knowledgeable people on the subject of beach music compilations.  This was published in Shagger Magazine, 1996 Vol. 3, No. 2.  Marion Carter of Ripete Records said that his first compilation was “Beach Beat Classics” released in 1980.  They loaded it, he said, with the biggest songs they could find and it turned out to be a big hit.

 Steve Baker, President of the Association of Beach and Shag Club DJs said that compilations were good from the DJ point of view –“ you don’t have to tote as much stuff.”  Compilations were first produced on 45s.  DJs resisted going to CDs initially because they loved the records.  A collector first, DJs second, he said.  The industry is now into CDs and the good thing is that CDs save you from having to haul everything. 

Mark Fisher said that collectors like compilations because they are hard to find and recording labels can release different mixes and re-mixes.

 Judy Collins said that people like compilations because it’s nice to find a lot of songs that are danceable on one CD.  It’s also nice for DJs to get a break, to not buy one CD for one song.  People will buy a compilation before they’ll buy for one song.

 

1995

TEAMWORK AND RAPID GROWTH 

ABILITY TO SWING (Patti Austin)

The 1995 NVSC Board of Directors picked up the ball, ran with it, and the club took off. 

The officers were: 

·         President, Charlie Price

·         Vice President, Donna Harrington

·         Treasurer, John Belt

·         Secretary, Patricia Parrott

Members-At-Large:

·         Pauline Easby-Smith

·         Janis Grimes

·         Rick Hendrix

Committee Chairpersons: 

·         Membership, Patricia Parrott

·         Newsletter, Janis Grimes

·         Dance Instruction, Rick Hendrix

·         Special Events, Pauline Easby-Smith

·         Charity, H.K. Lee

·         Interclub Relations, Donna Harrington

·         Publicity, Charlie Price

The Board of Directors and the club members teamed together enthusiastically to promote the NVSC, Carolina Shag, and Beach Music.  Membership began to soar.  Donna, Pauline and Patricia asked almost everyone they met eve