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swing
2001-06-28-3:36 p.m.
Ok, so on friday I'm wandering around the city again, enjoying a good buzz from my jack daniels and dr pepper (my drink of the weekend, I kept a small bottle in my backpack all the time) and I'm walking through penn station, under the giant macys store, looking for a mall. I see two cute NY type chicks walking ahead of me laughing, and I decide to approach them. I use the old "Excuse me, I'm from out of town, could you tell me where..." opening line, and then my smashing good looks and charm get me the rest of the way;-) They invite me to go dancing with them that evening. I was reluctant at first, but they said it was a swing club. It's on 46th street, and appropriately enough it's called Swing 46. It's just off times square by a block or two they say, and they give me their number. So I wander around a bit more and think about it. Dancing is not something I do, althogh I love music. The girls (named Paige and Maia) were cute, and I had no other plans yet... So I think...hmm..I'm on vacation, on the other end of the country, I'll never see these people again, how bad could it be? So I hop my ass on the 1/9 again, head back uptown to Harlem, book it to Joann's, hop in the shower, but on some clean clothes, spike up the hair, and head back to the 1/9 down to times square. All in an hour and a half, and that's good if you know the area, especially as busy as downtown is at night. So I head through times square, head the wrong direction, turn around, head back and I find the club. It's see it's 12 bucks for cover, not bad in NYC, and I hear great swing music coming from inside. The band, I see, is "The Flipped Fedora's" The girl workign the door is HOT, and has a 30's era polkadot dress and her hair in a bun. She cheerfully takes my 12 dollars and asks me if I know how to swing. I said in the park yes, on the floor, no. She said that's fine, she didn't know how her first time either. So I wander in and skip the bar, and head straight to the dance floor. It's a nice place,kinda cramped, but then again everything in new york is. The band is all pimped out, dancing around and playing for all they've got, and the dance floor is awash with spinning and gyrating people in brightly colored suits and dresses. These people know their stuff, I am sorely outmatched. So I pick a place by the wall and decide I'm going to spend a few minutes watching what the guys do, see if I can pick up at least the basics. But not 10 seconds after I lean back, I hear this high pitched little voice, and it's Maia. She gives me a hug and says she can't believe I came. I said sure, I said I would didn't I, but I couldn't believe she came. So she immediately grabs me by the hand and drags me out to the dance floor. She tells me the basic starter step which it all builds upon. Step left, step right, step back with left, quick step back up with your left, then repeat. It's not that hard, but I'm not that coordinated, and everything is new. Anyway I'll spare you the details, but eventually I got it and I'm spinning her around and back and almost looking like I know what I'm doing. I had a great time actually. So we head to the bar for drinks, and we're really hitting it off, she gets an amaretto sour, and I order a vodka martini knowing that in this club of all clubs, they'll get it right, and they do. Downside it was 14.50 for the two drinks. Hell, I'm not in Kansas anymore... We talk for about an hour, dance some more, she buys the next round, and we talk for another hour. Then we walk down to the corner store and get a pack of smokes, head back, dance a bit more, and talk a bit more. By now it's 4 a.m. and the club is closing. (In ny shit stays open til 4 instead of 2a.m. here.) So we decide to head out, and the rest, I'll say, went very well. I got home early the next morning, and slept for 4 hours before waking up and heading out again, but thats a story for another day. -- Ronnie
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