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I am still giddy from last night's dance. We had a record turnout. The stars must have aligned just right for the night.

It was the first band we had perform in a few months. Rachel had told me about a band she wanted me to hear, Jeff and the Jumptones. I met up with Rachel at the Red Eye Fly about a month back and listened to them. Tricia joined us as well. While they were way too fast and peppy for a blues dance, they were really good. I had to consider the time of day and the venue, knowing that bands play differently for different crowds.

Jeff knew Rachel was coming but before Rachel arrived, he saw the sweatshirt and blues dancing emblem on Tricia's back. He thought she was Rachel and came over and said hello to us. We corrected him on name, and had a great conversation with him. He came back over on break and talked to us about dancers and dancing and the types of music we like. He was somewhat familiar with swing dancing but not with Blues. Jeff had played bass for Seth Walker for a short while during Seth's swing period.

Jeff offered to change up their play list quite a bit for the opportunity to reach out to new fans. We talked about the types of tempos, song length, and energy that seems to work best. When they played at KBB, they did not disappoint.

The band played a mix of slow, medium, and fast songs. It was a bit faster overall than my personal preference, but the crowd seemed to love it. I received many rave reviews and no complaints (except it was a bit loud) from anyone. Many people suggested we bring them back again soon. They also suggested that it would be great to have live music more often at KBB. I was blown away at how many people were up and dancing throughout their time on stage. And how many people were going around all excited and having a ton of fun.

I went from worrying that we would lose lots of money and no one would show up, to worrying that there were too many people and no one would want to come back. Luckily the first did not occur and I am sure the second will not either.

The crowd was fun, energetic, and seemed to have a blast. We even had 16 people dancing in front of the coffee shop at one point where it was less crowded and cooler. There were many new faces, and I tried to say hello to as many as possible. Hopefully some will come back. We also added several people to our email list who want to hear what is happening at KBB.

Thank you to everyone that made the evening wonderful. I hope we can take this success and continue to have a successful and thriving weekly blues dance here in Austin.

We are talking to the band about having them back on April 24th. That will be a great weekend with a Friday night dance with Jeff and the Jumptones, a Saturday workshop with Lucky Skillen from New York along with Chris Mayer and Campbell Keatinge-Clay, and a special Saturday night dance followed by a probable late night blues house party. Stay tuned for more details and check out kickbuttblues.com as the date gets closer.