More like I’ll be DJing between the band sets at the Halloween dance.

Since we were away for last year’s dance, it’s been two years since I have DJed at a Halloween dance. Funny thing is that I am not a fan of the “holiday”, but I really love DJing the Halloween dances. That’s probably because I don’t like the modern approach to Halloween but love the classic campy fun the day had in years past (think Disney’s Haunted Mansion).

Over the years, I have amassed quite a collection of Halloween related swing songs. In fact, the last time I spun at the Halloween dance, I was able to stay “in theme” all night long. Basically every song during the evening had something to do with the “spooky” theme. Sounds easy to do, but it becomes a real challenge when factor in mixing up the tempos and keeping everything danceable and in the swing genre. So far, Halloween has been the only themed dance I’ve been able to do this with. Valentine dance? Nope. Who really wants to hear love songs all night long? Likewise for Christmas. However, Christmas adds an extra challenge. So many artists do renditions of the same classics that it becomes hard to find variety. Even new/different songs seem to be based on the same classics.

Anyways, this year I’ll be spinning between band sets so I’ll have to select only the best-of-the-best to play. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since the New Tradition’s Jazz Ensemble is an awesome band and you won’t be lacking for good music. In addition, I’ll be the MC for the annual costume contest, so start thinking of ideas now. Maybe I’ll dress up as this creepy retro DJ here…

It’s getting to be that time of year and we’ve had a number of people asking… what happened to the 2009 Sunstate Jam? We probably should have said something sooner, but as you can see, there isn’t a Jam for ’09. Earlier this year, Dawn and I, the primary event organizers, decided to retire from hosting dance events. As you can imagine, years of hosting events plus full time day jobs took their toll on us and we needed to take a break. We were going to take a break from everything, but due to economic reasons, we decided to continue teaching. In January, we turned over our regular 2nd & 4th Saturday dances to our friend Maria to run. We’re enjoying our time off from running events and have no immediate plans to return to it.

So what does all these mean for the Sunstate Jam? It takes a while to get up to speed when you first start hosting dances and putting on events. Maria was interested in keeping the Sunstate Jam going, but we advised her that if she didn’t feel 100% ready for the undertaking, it would be best to postpone it for a while. It’s better to put on a top quality event than something that wouldn’t live up to the name.

So that’s where it stands. The event is far from forgotten about. The torch is being passed and there are already rumblings of 2010.