Tampa Bay's Swing Dance News for July 6th 2008

Hi Folks, Get ready for Swing Time! Florida's Premier Swing Event returns this Friday, July 11th, to the Grand Ballroom of Centro Asturiano in Tampa, featuring jumpin' favorites, the Juke Joint Kings, plus a huge dance contest at band intermission with $100 Cash 1st Prize! In the meantime, enjoy the photos from last month's event, plus be sure to read all the way to the bottom of this newsletter for more photos and coverage of June's event from TampaBay.com, plus a calendar of upcoming events, and your chance to win a free ticket. See you Friday! --Sam

New photos are online from June's Swing Time! event at Centro Asturiano... Enjoy the photos, and feel free to grab your favorites for your personal web profiles and pages! Can't see the photos below? You'll need to enable images in your email program; it's easy to do -- just look for the button. Likewise, if you can't click the links below, you'll need to enable links in your email program.

This coming Friday, July 11th, is Swing Time! ...Florida's Premier Swing Event, held in the Grand Ballroom of Centro Asturiano in Tampa, and featuring jumpin' favorites, the Juke Joint Kings! A HUGE dance contest is happening at band intermission. We call this... The Swing Dance Contest with a Twist! 1st Place is $100 Cash! Plus, we have great prizes for 2nd and 3rd place too. You've never seen a dance contest like this before!

How does it work? First of all, entry is FREE to all those who attend the Swing Time! event. Enter with your favorite dance partner (but if you don't have one, we'll match up people right then & there who want to enter). Step onto the dance floor at contest time (around 10:15pm, at band intermission). We choose the music and all contestants dance simultaneously to 2-3 song clips (60-90s each) ranging from slow to fast. Judges and audience pick the top three couples to advance to the finals. In the finals comes the twist! -- a little surprise to infuse some more fun & excitement into the contest AND tell us who are the best dancers!

Friday, July 11th, 2008
Swing Time! at Centro Asturiano in Tampa
Jumpin' with the Juke Joint Kings

Friday July 11th at Centro Asturiano in Tampa, Swing Time features hot & jumpin' swing band, The Juke Joint Kings! The event starts with a group swing-dance lesson, 8-9pm (no partner needed), followed by live music & dancing, 9pm-1am, plus a Dance Contest at intermission with $100 Cash 1st Prize! All ages are welcome!

The Juke Joint Kings are a hot five-piece jump/blues outfit, complete with piano, vocals, harmonica, guitar, bass & drums. The Juke Joint Kings rocked the joint at their prior Swing Time appearances! Band members are music veterans with well over 100 years of professional experience between them. Different members have played with or opened for a who's who list of blues/musical greats, including Etta James, Koko Taylor, Bobby Blue Bland, Marshall Tucker Band, Luther Allison, Lonnie Brooks, Albert King, Son Seals, Rock Bottom, Ronnie Earl, Hubert Sumlin, and Mighty Joe Young. The Juke Joint Kings know how to swing, and are bringing it live to the upcoming Swing Time!

Swing Time is Florida's Premier Swing Event, held one Friday each month at Centro Asturiano in Tampa. Centro Asturiano is located at 1913 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa FL 33602 (at the corner of Palm Ave. & Nebraska Ave. in Ybor City).

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

Live Music & Dancing w/ The Juke Joint Kings, 9pm-1am
Swing Dance Instruction (no partner needed), 8-9pm
Swing Dance Contest (with a Twist) at Intermission -- $100 Cash 1st Prize!

All Ages & Smoke-Free
Exciting Social Atmosphere
Fabulous Vintage Grand Ballroom
Huge Floating-Wood Dance Floor
Prize Giveaways
Full Bar

$11 Admission includes Free Lesson; Free Gated Parking

For more info, phone 813-274-4950, visit www.SwingTime.info on the web, or click the links below:
[Band Bio] [Map & Directions] [More Info]

In his TampaBay.com blog, Leigh Armstrong covers the June Swing Time!/Centro Asturiano event in words & photos: "If there's one thing I enjoy about swing dancing events, it's the age diversity. It doesn't matter how old or young you are, as long as you're willing to learn a bit and have a good time, you're completely welcome. The Swing Time! event at the Centro Asturiano in Ybor Friday night was no different (except that they had a live band busting out some music). The people here were friendly to a fault. I felt like I had walked through a time warp and was transported back to when both swing dancing and common courtesy were in style...." [Read the Full Article] [See the Photos]

One of our door people, Pat, needs a ride home after Friday's event, sometime after midnight, to the Pinellas Park area, off 54th Ave N between US 19 & 49th St. Anyone who's willing to offer a ride, please email back and let us know. As incentive, there's a free ticket to Friday's event to the first person who replies!

UPCOMING SWING TIME EVENTS
Click the links below for details on each event