Emily Asher’s Garden Party returns to the Crosby Whistle Stop! Just another band out of Brooklyn that is red hot and trad! Just the way we like it. Uptempo and sassy…and fronted by Emily Asher who has played for us many times with Baby Soda and others. Emily also brings a band full of great musicians who have frequented our space on numerous occasions with other bands like the Gordon Webster Band. Get excited this lady knows how to swing and she will bring it!

Check out their version of Louis Armstong’s “Struttin’ with Some Barbeque” at the Whistle Stop from back in February.

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

We’re really excited to welcome back all 14 members of White Heat Swing Orchestra lead by Craig Ball on clarinet. This is one of the best big bands in the Boston area, and they’re exciting charts include the explosive hits of an era long gone. Check ’em out here, tearing it up with “Digi Digi Doo”…

We also recommend you check out their webpage here: here and listen to what we are sure will make you dance around the room in preparation for a fun night ahead!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9pm-midnight
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

This Memorial Day weekend marks what would have been the 99th Birthday of Frankie Manning. Frankie Manning was a founding father of the Lindy Hop and spent the last 20 years of his life inspiring and teaching the Lindy Hop to an entire new generation of swing dancers. This includes a great many dancers who are currently dancing. As we get farther and farther away from his life, it becomes all that more important that we keep his memory alive by spreading the joy of the dance.

Boston Swing Central has enlisted Tony & Aurelie Tye of Hop to the Beat and Beantown Dance Camp to teach us the Shim Sham.

The Shim Sham was Frankie’s favorite line dance to lead, it has become the defacto, “National Anthem” of Lindy Hoppers the world over. During his birthday celebrations in years past, there were many scenes which sent Frankie videos of themselves doing the Shim Sham in beautiful and iconic places all over the world, Frankie would also lead the dance when it was performed live during these celebrations. Anyhow, if you’ve seen it done at a local dance and wanted to learn how….now is your chance! Take the lesson and keep trying and you’ll eventually get it.

Later on in the evening, we’ll all perform it with Tony & Aurelie leading us with a “push and you push and you…” followed by a chorus of “crossover!”  Then special guest DJs Aurelie Tye will be spinning Frankie’s favorites followed by a superlative set from Tina Desorcy.

Frankie leads the Shim Sham:

Find out more about Frankie Manning.

Lesson (included with admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $10
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $8

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Boston Swing Central is excited to welcome back Glenn Crytzer and his Syncopators! Glenn is one of the top band leaders for swing in country and when he last played for us, it was quite amazing to experience. His expert eye and hard-nosed attention to details in keeping the music as authentic as possible. Here he is performing the Fats Waller classic, “Yacht Club Swing” on our stage last Fall…

Glenn Crytzer is a guitarist and band leader from Seattle who has been tearing it up at large National Lindy Hop events around the country. From Northwest Lindyfest to DCLX, Glenn Cryzter & His Syncopators have been featured at some very high profile events. You can learn more about them here: www.syncopators.net Glenn likes to keep things high energy and swingin’ hard and his band will feature his regular piano player Solomon Douglas, as well as some BSC regulars such as Gordon Au (who plays w/ the Grand St Stompers, Gordon Webster and many others) and Rich Levinson who played most recently at Dirty Water w/ Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns. This night will definitely be a highlight of our amazing Fall lineup and something you don’t want to miss!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $17
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $15

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Here they are performing Fats Waller’s “Let’s Pretend there’s a Moon” at the Whistle Stop earlier this year…

Tamar Korn and Gordon Au form the nucleus of this amazing Brooklyn outfit. We can’t say enough great things about how much we love listening to and dancing to this band! They are that good. Come out and experience their magic as they light up our room and get this joint jumpin’.

Lesson: 8pm to 9pm (included with admission)
Dancing: 9pm to 12 midnight
Admission: $15 (general), $13 (students and seniors with valid ID)

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Boston Swing Central is excited for the return of Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess. Last time we had them scheduled, we got hit with a February Noreaster which was the first dance that we ever had to cancel. And so, we are so looking forward to them playing for us again this time!

Jessy Carolina is a very talented washboard player and singer. The Hot Mess accompanying her is straight-up awesome and someday we hope will become a favorite at Boston Swing Central. They blew us away when they were here last Summer and Fall and we couldn’t wait to have them back! Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess is a great hot mess, check ’em out below swinging it at the Whistle Stop with My Blue Heaven…

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8pm – 9pm
Dancing: 9pm – midnight
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Last Friday, our dance was delayed by the events in Watertown and the lockdown.  We were happy that we had the flexibility to open whenever and we were eventually able to open at 9:30pm.  It was great for us to see everyone at the dance, however, we did receive some sad news.

Sean Collier, the MIT police officer killed Thursday night, was a member of our dancing community.  He frequently stopped by the Wednesday dances at MIT and this month, he had started taking the beginning classes through New School Swing at our studio in Charlestown.
We shared this news at the dance on Friday, which we learned from Amanda Gruhl at NSS.  Around the room there were many gasps and teary eyes as the recognition hit that we lost one of our own.  While many of our community didn’t get the chance to know Sean, several in our community did.  We are heartbroken for his family, friends, and our community that we have lost such an outstanding individual.
Since there have been many silent observances for the victims this past week, we celebrated Sean’s life with a steal jam in his honor at the BSC.  We will do another fitting tribute to him again at this week’s dance, as some of you were not able to make it out last Friday and really wanted to participate in our planned fundraiser for OneFundBoston.org.

This week will have that proper fundraiser for OneFundBoston.org featuring the amazing Toni Lynn Washington.  We are donating all admissions from last Friday’s dance to the Jimmy Fund on behalf of Sean Collier, (as that is what his family has requested).

Please come out and join us as we raise money to support the victims of the Marathon Bombings.

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am General Admission: suggested donation $15 Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): suggested donation $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop 24 Roland Street Charlestown, MA 02129

The Blue Vipers are back so get excited for some great Boho Street Jazz from Brooklyn!    Their unique brand of hot jazz which features some virtuosic washboard, pots and pans playing and their ready to tear it up this Friday night.  You might need to bring a towel and an extra shirt…because it’s going to be an evening on the up tempo side of things.  So for those of you who crave speed…this might be your night.  The rest of us will wait for their singer to croon a blue moon betwixt all the crazy jitterbuggin’ numbers…

The band often busks on the street in New York, and there are plenty of videos of them on YouTube swinging in Central Park, but here we find them at the Long Beach Public Library:

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:30am
General Admission: $17
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $15

The Crosby Whistle Stop!
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Spring is in the air, baseball season is underway and we’re happy to welcome Shawn Hershey & the Fried Bananas back to the Whistle Stop stage.  Of course, Shawn is here nearly every week, teaching for New School Swing…but tonight, he gets to play his trumpet along with his cracker jack band.

Here’s Shawn recently with his Sextet fronted by Jan Marie on vocals doing “After You’ve Gone”…

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Wow, it’s hard to believe that BSC is turning 5 already! It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s also been a great 5 years, we’ve really built something awesome and we’re glad you’ve been a part of it, whether yoiu’re really new or an “old timer” in our scene. BSC is such a great community of people! Looking ahead, we’re excited to see what the next 5 years have in store.

Five years ago, we launched this amazing journey at the YWCA in Central Square, Cambridge with the Beantown Swing Orchestra. And we’re hosting them again for a night of great music! They’ve got some special performances planned for us that we’re excited to hear.

We’re also making this a Vintage Dress Up night, so break out those awesome threads and let’s party like it’s 2008! Or more like 1939!

Here is a great highlight reel of Beantown Swing Orchestra over the last several years kicking off with our own Brian & Kellian’s first dance at their wedding!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop!
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Tonight, DJs RetroMike and Abby Cohen will hop, hop, come and do the Kangaroo Hop, er the Lindy Hop with some of the best swing music that they can find…it’s Easter weekend (we should probably be doing the Bunny Hop, but the Kangaroo hop looks like so much fun), either way, Spring is in the air…we’ve got some great songs to play…and in the meantime you can watch this and this last paragraph will make more sense….

Lesson: 8pm to 9pm (included with admission)
Dancing: 9pm to 12 midnight
Admission: $10 (general), $8 (students and seniors with valid ID)

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Phil McGowan & the Easy Winners return to this Whistle Stop with their awesome hot jazz charts that are good for your soul! The Easy Winners always bring an exciting air to the Whistle Stop!  And this Friday will be no exception, digging deep into their catalog of hits from the past, they’ll light fire to tunes like the 1921 Eddie Cantor hit: “Margie” and Louis Armstrong’s “You Rascal You”.  In fact, this Louis Armstrong standard was featured in Max Fleischer’s Betty Boop back in 1932.  Watch it here:

Here they are back in March, lighting up our stage with their joyous & blissful version of “Everybody Loves My Baby”…

Lesson (included w/ admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Jan Marie has been a fixture on the Boston dance scene for quite some time, she’s a superlative dancer, but she’s also an amazing singer. She has performed with Shawn Hershey’s band on several occasions, but this time, she’s got her own band that she’s leading…the Mean Reds.

She’s planning on bringing some great swinging Gospel tunes, some of which you may have heard played at Boston Swing Central as well as some old standards and some new wildcard tunes. As an experienced dancer, I think she knows what we want more than we know what we want! We’re very excited for her new band’s debut at the Whistle Stop.

Here she kicks “St. James Infirmary” up a notch to a fever pitch…

Lesson (included with admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students & Seniors: $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

The Roc City Stompers, a 6-piece, New Orleans-style trad jazz band make their Crosby Whistle Stop debut tonight! The Roc City Stompers have played for dancers on numerous occasions at Groove Juice Swing in their hometown of Rochester and at Stompology (which is also in Rochester). This is their first trip to Boston to play for us and we’re excited for them to usher in March like a dancing lion!

You can listen to them here.

Lesson (included w/ admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $15
Students & Seniors: $13

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Have you ever wanted to learn to Lindy Hop but don’t have time to commit to a weekly class?  This is your chance! Our Swing Boot Camp is a 3 hour “crash course” workshop in Lindy Hop and East Coast Swing. Come learn from experienced teachers who are also social dancers in the Lindy Hop scene.

We will cover six count basic (East Coast Swing), basic eight count (Lindy Hop), and Charleston Basic. Moves include swing out, Lindy circle, swing out from closed, and side by side Charleston. At the end of this class, you will be able to attend a social dance and dance to music.

12:00 – 3:00 PM
$30 advanced on-line registration, $35 at the door (register at the door!)

Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland St
Charlestown, MA 02129

Boston Swing Central is very excited for one of our most beloved dances of the year! I <3 Swing (our Valentine's Day Ball), featuring our super-groovy custom-made Valentines, and our Cupids to deliver them to you! And as our musical guests, this year we have the Professor Cunningham & His Old School (featuring Gordon Webster's sax/clarinet virtuoso back with his own amazing band. This night will be guaranteed to be in our memories for a long time, so dress to impress and put on some red and pink and get ready to send your friends and secret dance crushes some Valentines... Check out Adrian's website here (turn down sound if at work!)

Lesson (included in the price of admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 12:00am
General Admission: $17
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $15

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Tonight’s dance is CANCELLED! Boston Swing Central is not excited to cancel Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess.

This band is awesome and someday will become a new favorite at Boston Swing Central, they blew us away when they were here last summer and we couldn’t wait to have them back! Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess is a great hot mess, check ’em out next time!

Lesson (included in the price of admission): nope.
Dancing: not tonight!
General Admission: $XX
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $XX-2

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Tonight, our DJs will hope to celebrate Ground Hog’s Day with some of the best swing music that they can find…what does Ground Hog’s Day have to do with swing? We don’t really know, but we figured we needed a great DJ night before we go a run of really great bands.

Lesson: 8pm to 9pm (included with admission)
Dancing: 9pm to 12 midnight
Admission: $10 (general), $8 (students and seniors with valid ID)

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Gordon Webster will be recording an album: Live at Boston Swing Central

This is Kind of Big Deal! He will be performing for two fantastic nights to get all the takes he needs for this live album. Rest assured, Gordon is bringing a great band for these performances. This weekend is going to rock!

Be a part of this historic recording! We launched a Kickstarter campaign and exceeded our goal by 63%. Check out the video we made for the Kickstarter campaign. How exciting is swing dancing in Boston? This exciting! You can check out the funded campaign and video here.

We’ve noticed you noticing us noticing you on the dance floor. We think you have that special, how do you say it, “je ne sais quoi”…you look pretty good…now is your chance to really show us how good you are…sign up for the Jack & Jill competitions and show us that you are Kind of Big Deal.

There will be two categories you can register for…

Open Jack & Jill – If you feel like you’re Kinda (sorta) a Big Deal, sign up for this.

Advanced Jack & Jill – If you think you’re Kind of Big Deal (for reals), sign up for this.

Never been in a Jack & Jill competition before?

Dancers enter these competitions as individuals and are paired randomly. The idea is that this highlights the best social dancing skills and spontaneous improvisations due to the unexpected partner and music. These are the skills we value the most, and what makes us love this dance so much!

This will be the first BSC related competition and we’re really excited as they should be super fun, and as can tell, we’re not taking ourselves too seriously, neither should you. Just relax, do your best to rock it out, have fun with it, we’ll all be clapping for you!

Preliminaries will held during the set breaks of the Friday night dance and the Finals will be Saturday night also during the set breaks.  The first preliminary will be for the Open Jack & Jill which take place during the first band break around 10:15-10:30pm on Friday night.  The prelim for the Advanced Jack & Jill will take place during the 2nd band break about 11:30-11:45pm (times may slide depending upon the sets that Gordon has planned and the length of the first break, etc.)

This schedule will repeat itself for the finals on Saturday night.  We will have an awards ceremony on Saturday night during the final band break, probably around 12:30am.  We’ve got some great prizes to accompany some very stylish trophies, winners will also be given passes to Lindy 500 weekend in Baltimore, Dirty Dozen weekend in Providence, Snowbound Blues in Rochester, Discount coupon for Beantown Dance Camp and Dirty Water Lindy & Blues Exchange right here in Boston next September.

Thursday January 24th: Crosby Whistle Stop

7:00pm – 10:30(ish)  Gordon Webster Sneak Peek Meet & Greet Pizza Party, Q&A and rehearsal

8:00pm – Q&A with Gordon & some of the band

8:30pm – Gordon Webster Band rehearsal

Friday January 25th –  Crosby Whistle Stop

Gordon Webster: Live at Boston Swing Central

8:00-9:00pm – Beginner 6-count lesson

9:00pm – 10:15pm – First set of Gordon Webster

10:15 (approx) – Open J&J Prelims

10:45 – 11:30pm – Second set of Gordon Webster

11:30pm (approx) – Advanced J&J Prelims (if needed)

12:00am – 1:45am – Third set of Gordon Webster

Saturday January 26th – Crosby Whistle Stop

Andy & Nina Workshops

12:00 -1:15 What are the Basics (all levels)  [note: this is an extended class]

1:30 – 2:45   Secrets of the Basics  (all levels)  [note: this an extended class]

3:00 – 4:00   Charleston (all levels)

4:15 – 5:15   All That Jazz (all levels)

Gordon Webster: Live at Boston Swing Central

8:00-9:00pm – Beginner 6-count lesson

9:00pm – 10:15pm – First set of Gordon Webster

10:15 (approx) – Open J&J Finals

10:45 – 11:30pm – Second set of Gordon Webster

11:30pm (approx) – Advanced J&J Finals

12:00am – 12:45am – Third set of Gordon Webster

12:45am – J&J Awards ceremony

1:00am – 1:45am – Final set of Gordon Webster

Reserve your spot. Get registered today! We will be sold out of some classes soon!

Andy & Nina are some of the best teachers in the world, here they are teaching w/ some of the best of the best at Midwest Lindyfest, if you just want to see them dance, they come in at about the 3:10 mark. This is a great overview of a lot of the real cream of International Lindy instructors, and if any of these teachers come to town, we highly recommend that you not miss an opportunity to learn from them.

Saturday Jan 26, 12:00pm – 5:15pm
What are the Basics? (All Levels, note: extended class to hour & 15 mins)
Secrets of the Basics (All Levels, note: extended class to hour & 15 mins)
Charleston (All Levels)
All that Jazz (All Levels, solo jazz routine)

Sunday Jan 27, 1:00pm – 5:45pm
Get into the Groove (All Levels, musicality is the focus here)
Some Like it Hot (Intermediate, Let’s learn to dance to fast music)
I Like Your Style (Intermediate, Andy & Nina’s styling tips)
Advanced Routine (partner required)

The workshops are SOLD OUT and the WAIT LIST is full.  But you can still buy tickets in advance to the dances and register for comps!

We will start notifying people on the WAIT LIST on Monday, Jan. 21rd. At this point you will not have to pay for the classes, we will ask that you pay for the classes within 24 hrs of being notified otherwise your slot will be given to someone else on the wait list. Please indicate what classes you are interested in as some classes will have space for a Lead or perhaps a Follow only.

The Andy & Nina workshops are SOLD OUT and the Wait List is full, but you can STILL purchase dances in advance and register for the comps!

Andy & Nina are some of the best teachers in the world, here they are teaching w/ some of the best of the best at Midwest Lindyfest, if you just want to see them dance, they come in at about the 3:10 mark. This is a great overview of a lot of the real cream of International Lindy instructors, and if any of these teachers come to town, we highly recommend that you not miss an opportunity to learn from them.

Saturday Jan 26, 12:00pm – 5:15pm
What are the Basics? (All Levels, note: extended class to hour & 15 mins)
Secrets of the Basics (All Levels, note: extended class to hour & 15 mins)
Charleston (All Levels)
All that Jazz (All Levels, solo jazz routine)

Sunday Jan 27, 1:00pm – 5:45pm
Get into the Groove (All Levels, musicality is the focus here)
Some Like it Hot (Intermediate, Let’s learn to dance to fast music)
I Like Your Style (Intermediate, Andy & Nina’s styling tips)
Advanced Routine (partner required)

We will start notifying people on the WAIT LIST on Monday, Jan. 21st. At this point you will not have to pay for the classes, we will ask that you pay for the classes within 24 hrs of being notified otherwise your slot will be given to someone else on the wait list. Please indicate what classes you are interested in as some classes will have space for a Lead or perhaps a Follow only.

Gordon Webster is recording an album: Live at Boston Swing Central.

This is the Grand Finale night of his 3 nights at the Whistle Stop. And it’s Kind of a Big Deal. So much so that we’re making it a dress up night, 1970s, Kind of a Big Deal, Ron Burgundy Flute-playing, mustachioed, Old Spice-wearin’, style…so we expect to see some groovy Veronica Corningstones and some goofy Brick Tamlans all tearing up the dance floor on this Saturday evening…you don’t have to go all out, this isn’t Halloween, but dress to impress, 1970s style…flux capacitor is set.

If you have not yet seen the video we made for the Kickstarter campaign. How exciting is swing dancing in Boston? Answer: very.

Tonight we’ll also witness the crowning of Kind of a Big Deal Jack & Jill Champions…come see all of them bring it on…

Get advanced tickets for all the dances or register for the Jack & Jill competitions here.

Jack & Jill Open finals during the first band break: approx. 10:15-10:30pm

Jack & Jill Advanced finals during the 2nd band break: approx. 11:30-11:45pm

Award ceremony in the final band break.

Lesson (included with admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 1:45am
General Admission: $25 ($23 in advance)
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $23 ($23 in advance

Please note this is a Special Event and no passes, coupons, or discounts for this event will be accepted.

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129

Gordon Webster is recording an album: Live at Boston Swing Central

This is Kind of Big Deal!  He will be performing for two fantastic nights, to get all the takes he needs for this live album and Friday night is the first night.  Gordon is bringing a phenomenal band for these performances which includes Naomi Uyama and Jesse Selengut on vocals, Rob Adkins on bass, Cassidy Holden on guitar, Mike Davis on Trumpet, Josh Holcomb on trombone and Adrian Cunningham on clarinet! This weekend is going to rock!

We will also be featuring the Kind of a Big Deal Jack & Jill Competitions and people are coming from all over the region to compete for the title:  Kind of a Big Deal!  There are prizes including passes to Dirty Dozen, Dirty Water, Lindy 500, Snowbound Blues and discount coupons to Beantown Dance Camp and some really cool trophies (which we want to show you, but we’re saving them as they are a surprise).

Be a part of this historic recording! Attend these dances! Check out the video we made for the Kickstarter campaign. How exciting is swing dancing in Boston? This exciting!

Get advanced tickets for all the dances or register for the Jack & Jill competitions here.

Jack & Jill Open preliminary round during the first band break: approx. 10:15-10:30pm

Jack & Jill Advanced preliminary round during the 2nd band break: approx. 11:30-11:45pm

Lesson (included with admission): 8:00pm – 9:00pm
Dancing: 9:00pm – 1:45am
General Admission: $20 ($19 in advance)
Students and Seniors (with Valid ID): $17

Please note this is a Special Event that runs late and no passes, coupons, or discounts for this event will be accepted.

The Crosby Whistle Stop
24 Roland Street
Charlestown, MA 02129