From the Editor’s Desk
Welcome to the ABA news, communicating with and supporting the member clubs of the American Bop Association. This newsletter is your forum for discussing ABA events, activities, policies, business, the how and why we did that, and just plain old fashioned “pass the word” concerning the ABA and your club.
Topic of the Quarter
For the August issue of ABA news, I asked the directors to explore the topic of their club’s philosophy about dance lessons and how their dance lessons are handled. I hope you will find the results interesting and useful.
For the November issue of ABA news, let’s explore the musical aspect of your club. I think it would be interesting to know:
 | Are the DJs members of your club? |
| Do the DJs volunteer or do they get paid? |
| If your club pays pays the DJs, then how much? That is if you are willing to let us all know. |
| Does the your club own its own music or does it depend on the DJ? |
| How does your club determine what music is played or not played? |
| Does your club have a Music Committee? If so, are there special people on it, for example the club's president? |
| Is there a set of written music guidelines? |
| What issues has your club dealt with associated with its dance music? |
So, get your thoughts together and your pencils moving
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Other Articles
There is an interesting article by Bill White that talks about how his club went from a handful of dancers to a very large and successful club.
The next article provides us all with a glimpse of two outstanding club members at South Side Imperial Dance Club. Who knows, they may someday be inductees for the ABA Hall of Fame.
Then there is reprint of an article I came across. I thought it was interesting as it points out how you can copy music legally, providing you follow certain conditions. I think this is worth a read if you are into collecting music.
The final article is Part 2 of John Hook’s Beach Music History.
Distribution of the ABA news
I unofficially asked a few people what their preference was for the delivery of the ABA news. Given that after asking a couple of times, there were only two (2) directors who respond that they wanted a hard copy. As you might suspect, there were mixed responses as to how best to serve our member clubs. It appears that some liked the HTML version, some the PDF version, while others liked the paper version. It appears we still need all three (3) versions.
Based on an old list, there were 38 copies of the May issue of ABA news printed and mailed at a cost of about $200 or about $5 each.
Last Words
Continuing to help me as Assistant Editor is Mary Lou Poremba, from the Chicago Jitterbug Club. She has been a great help. Mary Lou and I hope you enjoy this issue of ABA news and that you will help support its submitting articles.
Thank-you, Jim