Rhythm Junction is teaming up with Neighborhood House during March Food Drive to fight hunger on Monday March 26th. With a goal of 100 pounds of food raised, we invite you to bring 1-2 non-perishable food items on March 26th and receive $1 off your admission to Rhythm Junction.
- Neighborhood House’s overall goal for March is raising 120,000 pounds of food/dollars –that’s enough food to fill four semi-trucks!
- Their food shelf serves 28-30 families per day, distributing roughly 2,500 pounds of food
- The Neighborhood House food shelf served 36,426 individuals last year. One-half of those they serve are children.
All donations are tax-deductible, and are partially matched by MN FoodShare. Riley and Shawn will be available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your support in the fight against hunger!
Patty and the Buttons were great last night. If you missed out, quite a shame. Fifty of your fellow dancers came out for the first live-music version of Rhythm Junction in 2012 and found themselves dancing until nearly Midnight to the sweet tunes that Patty and the Buttons provided us.
If you’re asking yourself, “How do I not miss out again?”, then read on my friend. I’ll tell you how to find out about events at RJ and who the next live band is!
Rhythm Junction schedule of events is available in several places, but the most current and up to date is on Facebook. There’s both a group and a page. The group is more for the attendees to congregate and share items of interest amongst themselves while the page is for official announcements. All the FB events originate from the page, such as this one for Jason’s Mardi Gras set next week.
Another thing that we have is our email list. If you join, you’ll get an email about once a month telling you what’s coming up. For now, you just have to email me your address to get on it while we get a real list-serve functioning.
And finally, there’s always the calendar on this site!
Well, you’re wondering whose up next for live music, eh? Well, there’s a guy playing at PLEX NOIR in Winnipeg, Manitoba who’s going to stop by afterward. PLeX is the Prairie Lindy eXchange. It’s been around a long time and while mostly Canadian, we’ve hosted it here in Minneapolis twice, 2006 and 2008 for ForePLeX and OctoPlexy respectively. A fun, relaxed event — it’s perfect for the new exchange going and veteran alike. If you’re interested in carpool or caravan, do give us a call.
So who’s the group? Solomon Douglas will be performing for us in a three-piece jazz combo! It’s going to make for a great night and we hope to see you there on March 12th, 2012! (But, really, come to Winnipeg with us, it will be awesome.)
At the end of 2011, we ran a survey to see how we did in the first 4 months of this Monday Night adventure. Results are generally positive, but there were some interesting finds and all are informative. There were 22 respondents. Here is the summary of those results:
Overall Performance
Overall, it seems like we’ve made the right choices here at RJ. See the note at the end of this post for questions on methodology.
Category: Likes/Neutral/Dislike
Music: 21/1/0
Glenn Crytzer: 16/6/0
Dance Floor: 21/0/1
Environment: 19/0/3
Water & Snacks: 19/3/0
59% of The 22 dances come weekly, 27% twice a month, 5% once a month, and 9% only came a few times.
Live Music
$10 is the most common answer (73%), the average price coming in at $9.65. 59% of folks would pay that monthly, 45% quarterly, and just 9% suggested every 4 months. Our decision for 2012 is to go quarterly at 10$/night. If you follow our monthly fliers (available at Four Seasons), you’ll know in advance when we’ll have live music at $10/night.
Themed Nights
The themed nights had a mixed response, still positive, but not as strong. 72% remembered the themed nights, but 28% didn’t. Only 64% felt the nights stayed within the theme. While 68% of respondents like the concept, 10% do not. Respondents agree, but not strongly, with the implementation while the general inclination is that we should continue them in the future (63%).
Suggested themes include Blues, Soul, Charleston, Fast Music, Patty and the Buttons, Gypsy Jazz (Repeat), Jump Blues/Fifties’ Rock.
In response to the suggested themes, Charleston, Patty, Fast Music and Gypsy Jazz nights are in our future. Blues and Soul are popular in our community and may become part of an occasional “Back Room” series. I feel that the Jump Blues and 50′s Rock are well served by other offerings in our community. If they were to happen at RJ, it would be a “Back Room” affair, but RJ’s front room is focused on 20′s, 30′s, and 40′s vintage jazz.
Snacks and Food
The snacks and food were interesting. In this section I will discuss the results in terms of weighted likes to hates with a significance scored based on the number of indifferent responses. The stronger the weighting, the more significant the finding.
Cookies: People liked cookies 7.5:1, with a weight of 1.7. Slightly significant.
Sugary Candies: Just about 1:1, but with a weight 1.083, the finding is insignificant.
Trail Mix: 9:1 in favor, weighting of 3.33. This is strongly significant. (Though worth noting, we didn’t go through the trail mix all that fast!)
Bars: 13:1 in favor, weighting of 1.27. Slightly significant, mostly indifferent.
Salty Snacks: 23:1 in favor, 3.43. Strongly significant finding.
In terms of dietary needs, 2 are Gluten Free, 1 Vegan, 3 “Other” — 6 of 22 respondents. That seems significant but the high percentage could be a result of the number of respondents.
Our Direction: It seems like the direction we’ve taken is good, hitting all the needs/wants. We’ll adjust to having Trail Mix on hand and continue our variety.
Want to bring something? The question did come up on whether or not folks can bring stuff. It is okay to bring snacks to share. Please take good care when producing the food, use gloves and hairnets to keep the food free of personal contaminants. Don’t lick the beaters until you’re done with them!
Respondent Demographics
Age:
27% @ 18-21
23% @ 22-25
27% @ 26-30
9% @ 31-35
9% @ 36-40
5% @ 40+
There was a question on why we chose these age ranges, and it was purely based on observed age ranges at RJ dances. Now we have confirmation and something to track year to year. RJ is set up to encourage continued dancing as dancers move from college into careers and later families. I think that the numbers here reflect that demographic is being met, but only to a degree. It’s hard to say why there are not more dancers over 30, but there has not been an ‘evening’ opportunity outside of the bar scene in town until now. It is our hope that we will see growth in these under-represented age groups.
Experience:
36% 1-2 years
27% 3-4 years
14% 5-6 years
23% 7+ years
These are very encouraging results for RJ. Through RJ’s music selection, we aim to call to Lindy Hoppers. There is a natural attrition as dancers get older and leave the scene, RJ is attempting to provide a place for them to continue dancing. Thus, these results are very, very positive!
In Summary
All the options in the survey were informed by qualitative assessment of those attending the dances. The parting comments were all appreciated and we’re looking into all the suggestions there, including ‘new dj’ opportunities.
Thank you for taking the time to participate in the survey. It is good to know that we are on the right path. We are happy to provide you this dancing opportunity and look forward to improving upon it.
Methodology Note
A note on Methodology. Most of the questions are on a scale of 1 to 5 or hate to like with a continual middle ground for neutral or not applicable. The stats and rations given reflect either degree of like and hate, that is, 1 & 2 and 4 & 5.
Rhythm Junction established a new attendance record last week with 92 dancers passing the door. DJ Ed Morales played a great, up tempo set that kept you 92 dancing all night and dozens remained until the very end at 11pm. Thank you for your continued support of Rhythm Junction, we’re looking ahead to 2012 with great anticipation! We send a special thanks to Uptown Swing for coming to visit us on their field trip. You are welcome anytime!
Features in this update: What to do with a packed house? What’s coming in December? Winter is coming, How do we keep the place clean when the snows fall a hundred feet deep? What about 2012?
What to do with a packed house?
I have to admit, however, that it did get a bit cozy with nearly 100 people in the house. There are few things that we can do about that, however, if this becomes the way of things. The main floor is about 1100 sq feet, but the back room holds another 600 sq feet (if awkwardly shaped, surrounded by chairs, with a pillar in the middle). If this trend continues, then we’ll open that back room for a variety of programming options — be it playing the same music as the front or going in a completely different direction. There are many great things to be done there, don’t you worry, we’ve got ideas!
What’s coming in December?
There are just three nights of Rhythm Junction in December, the 5th, 12th, and 19th. The 26th we are taking off for holiday.
On December 5th, RJ conducts an experiment: Guitarist Robert Bell is loved by all Minnesota dancers, this is known. His wife and occasional RJ DJ Katie put the idea into both our heads that he should take his expansive musical knowledge and create a night of music for Lindy Hoppers as only he can do it. Robert accepted the offer and brings his tunes to us this Monday, December 5th, 2011. We are very excited to present the inaugural Lindy Hop DJ debut of Mr. Robert Bell.
Following that, Naomi Uyama, aspiring singer that she is (I hope you all catch her at the Uptown Strutter’s Ball on December 10th!), will return to the RJ DJ table on December 12th. Naomi continues to bring her DC and NYC DJing experiences along with her vast knowledge of what it is that Lindy Hoppers look for.
In closing, for 2011, Jason Zabinski will DJ on December 19th, a scant 3 months after opening this adventure last September. Jason is constantly expanding his musical repertoire to keep things interesting, undoubtedly he will have new selections to inspire you this week as well. It is also worth noting that Jason has built enough energy to spawn a jam circle in 3 of 4 of his DJ opportunities. Jams aren’t planned by RJ, they’re organic and we like it that way. Don’t be shy, jump in and take a spin.
December 19th is also our Holiday Party. We’re suggesting that you bring in cookies of some sort. We like chocolate chip, russian tea cakes, spritzes, thumb prints, peanut butter, and such. You can bring what you like too. We’ll have milk and eggnog for you though! More details to come later.
Winter is coming, How do we keep the place clean when the snows fall a hundred feet deep?
Winter is indeed coming. That means snow and wet shoes/boots. That means additional moisture in an already sweat filled room. To combat this, snowy shoes and boots will require changing and left in the foyer to keep that additional moisture out of the venue, keeping the floors clean and better for dancing. We’ll make some adjustments in that space to make it more amenable to changing shoes over the next few weeks, but please be cognizant of your feet and this policy!
What about 2012?
December concludes the initial trial for Rhythm Junction, and it has been a rousing success. The response has been overwhelming, positive, encouraging, and exciting. Rhythm Junction will return in 2012 with your beloved DJs, new DJs, live music, themes, and much, much, more. Some have asked for a “new-DJ” opportunity at RJ and we are working to develop a strategy for this — perhaps you are the next great DJ!
Hallowe’en cometh in just 3 days, and to honor this eve we shall have a special concoction of decor, costumes, pumpkins, drinks, music and dancing. Won’t you come and see what this night brings at the junction of All Hallow’s Eve and jass?
