This week in the Shack

The ninth annual Austin Lindy Exchange was last weekend, which meant that I spent all of my time dancing, deejaying, listening to fantastic local bands, and hanging out with friends from near and far. I had a fabulous time, although my bad knee has been unspeakably unhappy with me since Saturday night. I'm also tired as hell - the earliest I've made it to bed since everyone started arriving on Thursday has been around 4:00 a.m., and the latest was considerably later than that. It was really good to hang out with people, including some of my favourite deejays, and to reconnect with the dance scene, given that I'd been going through some burnout as of late.

I spent a good portion of my free time on Saturday working on a new set for the Shack instead of napping; however, this is not that set. This set is based off of my last dj shift at ALX last night (this morning, rather). More than any of the other dances, I love being at the final afterhours, when the excitement of the event has more or less gone away and things are winding down. It's when the sense of community I feel is the strongest, as people say their goodbyes, and there's often a wonderfully laid-back vibe to the event. I spun for the first hour, then Greg and Tina kept such a fine feel to the music that it was hard to leave, even though I was bone-tired and my leg was hurting too much to dance on the concrete floor of the venue; so I just hung out and chatted with friends from town, friends from out of town, and people I'd just met at the event. It's the kind of evening (or in this case, early morning) that you want to hang onto, and you can head for home carrying that sweet mellow feeling in your chest.

I had to balance the music between people who were looking for blues and those who were looking to lindy hop, so the blues in this set is mostly not the postwar Delta, Chicago, and Texas blues that usually make up the majority of my blues sets. There's a lot of jazz here, even in the blues songs, along with some nice hammond-driven tunes, a little bit of soul, and a little bit of gospel. The first fifteen tracks in the list are my set from the night, and I just tried to keep the groove going when adding on the next two hours.

As always, I hope you dig it.

1. Jimmy Witherspoon - Good Rocking Tonight (2:17)
2. Gary Clark, Jr. - Blue Light Boogie (2:59)
3. Michelle Shocked - Quality of Mercy (4:52)
4. Guy Forsyth - Adam's Rib (5:27)
5. Asylum Street Spankers - Since I Met You Baby (4:07)
6. Claude "Fiddler" Williams - A Smooth One (6:21)
7. Oscar Brown Jr - Signifyin' Monkey (4:00)
8. Peggy Lee - Cannonball Express (2:22)
9. Eden Brent - Mississippi Flatland Blues (3:13)
10. Ernestine Anderson - Goin' to Chicago Blues (4:52)
11. Marc Cohn - 29 Ways (3:05)
12. Guy Forsyth - You're Still Here (4:43)
13. Long John Baldry - Insane Asylum (5:31)
14. Preservation Hall Jazz Band - His Eye Is on the Sparrow (6:11)
15. Eric Bibb/Maria Muldaur/Rory Block - Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down (3:26)
16. Byther Smith - Give Me My White Robe (5:48)
17. Jimmy Witherspoon - My Money's Long This Morning, Baby (2:11)
18. Dr. John - Hello God (4:37)
19. Viktor Krauss - Big Log (5:07)
20. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Lenny (4:57)
21. Gene Harris, Jack McDuff, Niki Harris - Down Home Blues (7:00)
22. Shirley Scott - Messie Bessie (4:19)
23. Nina Simone - Jelly Roll [#] (8:14)
24. Jazz Me Blues Band / Yoko Noge - Rocks in My Bed (9:16)
25. Karrin Allyson - Everybody's Cryin' Mercy (3:59)
26. Jethro Tull - Stormy Monday Blues (4:07)
27. Nina Simone - Feeling Good (2:57)
28. Ellis Marsalis/Wynton Marsalis - Little Birdie (4:24)
29. Yoko Noge - Rack 'Em Up (5:03)
30. Joe Williams - Workin' (Work Song) (2:33)
31. Lou Rawls - I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water (2:38)
32. Ernestine Anderson - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (4:59)
33. Grassella Oliphant - Get out of My Life Woman (2:44)
34. King Curtis - Ode to Billie Joe (3:36)
35. Jon Cleary - Groove Me (3:26)
36. Karrin Allyson - (Pack Your) Suitcase Blues (3:24)
37. Shirley Scott - At Last (5:30)
38. Ollabelle - Elijah Rock (5:22)
39. Eric Bibb/Maria Muldaur/Rory Block - Rock Daniel (2:08)
40. Keb' Mo' - She Just Wants to Dance (3:28)
41. Ray Charles - What'd I Say, Pts. 1 & 2 (6:29)
42. Nina Simone - I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel to Be Free) (3:11)

(post-ALX 2008)