2/6/2024
Welcome to Swing and Strings Weekly # 13
It's almost here, the Cosmic Hootenanny!
What is a hootenanny you may ask?
Definition:
"An informal social gathering or concert featuring mostly folk songs, sometimes dancing, and where the audience often participates in the singing."
We hope you're ready to sing, dance, laugh, and have an absolute blast while we take this hootenanny to the cosmic level! Our friend, Megan Nay, is an extraordinary local violinist who needs our help. She needs a new pancreas and kidney on account of her Type 1 diabetes, and all surgeries aside, these are neither cheap nor easy to come by.
We want to use music and community (and money) to help heal our friend. Our scene in Utah is small but incredible and we need every one of our musicians in tip-top shape so that we can transform this city into a world-class hub for acoustic music!
So come join us on February 8th at the Commonwealth room while we revel together in song. This is your chance to channel your inner space cowgirl and come help a friend in need!
Can't make it? Under 21? That's ok. We'll really miss you, but you can still help Megan. Here is a link to her Go Fund Me page. All ticket sales will go towards this campaign.
So dive in! We have some great things coming up here locally. Rounding out the newsletter, learn a little more about Megan Nay and the origins of the Hootenanny.
FEATURED EVENTS
Cosmic Hootenanny - February 8th Musicians supporting community
at The Commonwealth Room
Presented by the Trash Moon Collective a program of HHW, the Cosmic Hootenanny is a celebration of our local acoustic music community and a chance to help a friend in need through the power of music and a rowdy good time. Four staple bands of the SLC scene—David Burchfield and the Fire Guild, Hot House West Sextet, Pompe ’n Honey, and Pixie and the Partygrass Boys—will be donating their performing time so almost all ticket sales will go to our dear friend and fiddler extraordinaire, Megan Nay, who is experiencing financial hardship due to medical complications.
From 8-11pm you will enjoy four raging musical acts, speckled with tantalizing Reverse Burlesque performances by local dancers. We will have items TBD up for silent auction and a donation booth, with all proceeds donated to Megan. There will be gifts for donors throughout the evening, the greatest of which will be a SANTA CRUZ GUITAR contributed by Acoustic Music.
A Swing Renaissance Series
February 22nd
Hot House West Presents: A Rent Party
Rent parties were social gatherings in 1920s Harlem where musicians and dancers would gather to raise money to help cover tenants’ rent. These were formative moments in time where musicians collaborated and pushed the boundaries of their music further. We are partnering with Utah housing non profits to do this in our very own Salt Lake! More details to come.
Doors open at 5:00pm
Food trucks, art gallery, and bar from 5:00-6:50pm
Stride piano Performance at 5:00pm
Performance by The Hot House West Swing Orchestra from 7:00pm - 7:50pm
Beginner-friendly Swing Dance Lesson from 8:00pm - 8:30pm
Social dance with the Swing Orchestra from 8:30pm - 10:00pm
Buy now and save.
Presale price ends on February 15th!!!
Thank you to our corporate sponsors!
Upcoming Community Events
Excellence in the Community - The George Brown Quintet
Wednesday, Feb 7th, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Hot Jazz Jam - Sugarhouse Violins
Thursday, Feb. 8th, 8:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 10th, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
A Night of Jazz to End Hunger (Ft. HHW Swing Orchestra & Angelica Salazar)
Valentine's Day Hearts Afire - Millcreek Commons
Wednesday, Feb. 14th, 8:00 - 10:00 p.m.
West Coast Swing Dance Feat. HHW Swing Orchestra
The Swing Collective - The Grand America
Friday, Feb. 16th, 7:00 -10:00 p.m.
Josie-O and the Big Six - Fisher Brewing Co. - Honky Tonk night (21+)
Tuesday, Feb. 27th, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Hosted by the Trash Moon Collective
The Swing Collective - Sawadee Thai
Saturday, March 2nd, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
A Swing Renaissance Series: Hot House West(ern) Swing Night
Thursday, March 28th, 5:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Weekly Events
Bluegrass Night - Hosted by Trash Moon Collective - Gracie's (21+)
Tuesdays (Feb. 6th) 7-10 p.m. (on-going)
Bluegrass Jam/Old Time Jam -
Hosted by Trash Moon Collective - Woodbine Foodhall
Wednesdays (Feb. 7th) 6-9 p.m. (on-going)
Rotating Jazz Trio - The Pearl on Main (21+)
Tuesdays (Feb. 7th ) 7-10 p.m. (on-going)
Rotating Jazz Trio - Sawadee Thai
Friday & Saturday (Feb. 9th & 10th) 6-9 p.m. (on-going)
Flamingo Jazz - Lake Effect Cocktail Bar (21+)
Wednesdays (Feb. 7th) 8 - 11 p.m. (on-going)
Jazz Jam - Hopkins Brewery (21+)
Wednesdays (Feb. 7th) 8 - 11 p.m. (on-going)
Our newsletters will go out every Monday as we begin to build a running list of jazz, swing and acoustic roots-related community events. If you would like to submit anything to this list, please message grayson@hothousewest.com by 5:00 p.m. the Wednesday prior. We will review it and add it to our events if it is a good fit. Thanks.
COMMUNITY NEWS
WEEKLY MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
MEGAN NAY
Welcome Megan Nay as this week's featured picker! She's featured heavily this week, so we'd love to give the community some insight into this wonderful person. Megan has had a fiddle in her hand since she was a child. Her parent's used to take their family up to the The National Old-time Fiddlers' Contest & Festival in Weiser, Idaho. If you've never been to something like this, it really is a musician's paradise. People circle up all around the camp and swap tunes for almost two weeks! With fiddle at the center, the genres span from Texas fiddling to hot jazz to bluegrass and beyond.
These experiences gave Megan a sense of what community music and great fiddle playing looks like from a young age. She is continually bringing that experience to Utah which elevates our scene. Catch her this Thursday on fiddle and vocals for the local Americana band David Burchfield and the Fireguild!
Listening Room: Music Appreciation for Non-Musicians
What is a hootenanny after all?
That probably is a bit more of a hoedown. Here's a little more info from our friend, Wikipedia:
"Hootenanny is an old country word for "party" or get-together. It can refer to a folk music party with an open mic, at which different performers are welcome to get up and play in front of an audience.
According to Pete Seeger he first heard the word hootenanny in Seattle, Washington in the summer of 1941 while touring the area with Woody Guthrie. It was used by Hugh DeLacy's New Deal political club to describe their monthly music fund raisers. After some debate the club voted in hootenanny, which narrowly beat out wingding. Seeger, Woody Guthrie and other members of the Almanac Singers later used the word in New York City to describe their weekly rent parties, which featured many notable folksingers of the time. In a 1962 interview in Time, Joan Baez made the analogy that a hootenanny is to folk singing what a jam session is to jazz."
The threads just keep coming together. Don't miss our rent party on 2/22!
Patron Saint Django - Vinyl & CDs Available!
Our Purpose
Our purpose is to create experiences of connectedness, learning, and joy through the language of acoustic music.
Our Vision
We envision Salt Lake City as a hub for world class acoustic music. We accomplish this by building a healthy community-oriented ecosystem that’s accessible for all.
Thank you for hanging out with Hot House West! We are an organization devoted to growing and supporting Utah’s swing and acoustic roots music community. We believe that acoustic music—from swing and jazz to bluegrass, old-time, country and western— brings people together and creates opportunities for connectedness, learning, and joy.
Our goal is to provide and promote weekly and monthly events, from dances, to jams, concerts, and workshops, that support and build our acoustic community. If you’ve ever wanted to dust off the ol’ guitar, meet new players, find a dance partner, or even just find more live acoustic music, follow us, spread the word, and join our Hot House West community! We hope to see you soon!
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