Feature Article

Orlando Business Journal

Upswing: Can you dig it?
Jill Krueger Staff Writer

ORLANDO -- There is a new Rat Pack in town.

But they aren't toting tommy guns, throwing punches or running booze over the state line. Ranging in age from 18 to 80, they are part of a swing culture in Orlando that has spawned renewed interest in jitterbug lessons, snow-white spats and even zoot suits.

"Kids are inviting their parents and grandparents, and they all dig it," says Stace Bass, music promoter for Rat Pack's On The Avenue in downtown Orlando.

Best of all, say merchants, swing sells: Club owners, vintage clothing shops and music stores all are scrambling to fill the demand for swing music and merchandise.

Good-bye Jani, hello jive

Take Rat Pack's, formerly Jani Lane's Sunset Strip. Sales at the club, named for the lead singer in the rock band Warrant, dipped in recent years as rock '' rollers began reaching middle age and rock '' roll began slipping from mainstream radio play. "

Rock '' roll worked well for a few years, but we were looking for something that appealed to younger people," explains owner Ray Stines.

At the suggestion of friends, Stines began offering swing music and dance lessons on Thursday nights. In a matter of months, the Thursday night venue was the club's most lucrative draw.

So, this month, Stines did away with Jani Lane's and debuted Rat Pack's On The Avenue. About 1,200 people turned out opening night, and the club has more than quadrupled the average nightly draw, from 40 to 100 people a night to more than 500 to 600 club visitors.

"We're not jumping on the bandwagon," exults Stines. "We're driving it."

Others are hopping aboard for the ride. In addition to Orlando's Sapphire Supper Club offering jazz and blues, the newly opened Roxy offers Tuesday night dance competitions. Winter Park's Langford Resort Hotel turns to swing on weekends.

At Motion Studios, a downtown Orlando dance studio offering lessons in jive, jitterbug, Lindy hop and the cha-cha, swinger clientele has grown from 18 to 90 students, and owner Duane Lee is looking at opening a second location.

"It is music with a soul," explains swing student Jennifer Brushwood. "It's got a beat, an attitude."

Big bands, big sales

But swing's local impact doesn't start and stop on local dance floors.

At the East Colonial location of Peaches record store, "There has been a dramatic upswing in the sales of the swing bands," says Barry Whitley, the store's music director. Citing a 300 percent hike in swing CD sales over the last year, Whitley says, "It has gone from no sales or very little to extremely popular."

And, like the dancing, the genre is cutting across demographic lines: Whitley says he's gotten calls from grandmothers asking about CDs from Squirrel Nut Zippers, one of the first new national bands to gain swing notoriety last year.

The surge in popularity has even propelled a local group -- Swingerhead -- to national prominence. And WHOO-AM (9090 AM) is enjoying a new wave of listeners tuning in for the AM station's play list of swing bands, both old (Tommy Dorsey) and new (Cherry Poppin' Daddies).

"Here's lookin' at you"

Then there are the clothes.

A recent Saturday night at Rat Pack found male patrons donning everything from zoot suits to fedoras, while women's attire ranged from '50s blouses to full swing skirts to Saddle Oxfords.

"I can't even dress everybody who comes in here looking for it," says (Red) Robin Krentcil, owner of DeJavu Vintage Clothing and Accessories on Lake Ivanhoe. "The demand for it is greater than the supply."

In fact, there has been so much demand for women's cigarette holders that Carol Green, owner of the Pink Flamingo vintage clothing shop, has resorted to referring customers to party stores, which stock the item as a prop.

Nor are retailers concerned that the rush to swing will fade as quickly as it started. Music Studio's Lee, for one, predicts swing will continue to make its mark on Central Florida retailers for another three to five years -- "At least."

© 1998 American City Business Journals Inc.