CULTURE
LittleVillageMag.com
Miriam Alarcón Avila
Prairie Pop
Cut a Rug 375 3RD ST. SE, CEDAR RAPIDS (319) 200-2994 ORDER ONLINE AT:
WWW.GIANNASBEEF.COM @GIANNASBEEF
SAIGON’S CORNER Authentic Vietnamese Cuisine
201 S. Clinton St., Iowa City (319) 333-7233 thesaigonscorner.com
Iowa City’s New Orleans-style jazz group Dandelion Stompers are back for their annual Mardi Gras show. BY KEMBREW MCLEOD
D
on’t go to a Dandelion Stompers show expecting to just sit there and watch. “Oh, man,” said Dandelion Stompers bandleader Chris Clark. “Dancers really make it a party. We work hard to interact with the audience when they’re sitting down and watching, but once they are up and dancing, it goes to a whole new level.” After forming in 2014, this New Orleansstyle traditional jazz group has built up quite a following that can bust many a move— from the lindy hop and foxtrot to balboa and even a little country line dancing thrown into the mix. Dandelion Stompers shows are participatory events, and their upcoming annual Mardi Gras show at the Mill on Feb. 25 will tear the roof off the sucker. “From the beginning,” vocalist Katie Roche said, “we’ve been attracting swing dancers, and the dance floor is always packed—the sweatiest, most committed dancers.” “They play swing music, and they’re pretty freaking good at it,” said Zach Beckman, who started listening to this style in 2018 when he was a senior in college, soon after he hooked up with a group of Cedar Rapids-based swing-dance enthusiasts named 5 Seasons Swing. “There’s always this interplay between the band’s energy and the dancers’ energy, particularly communicated through the breaks in the song and the overall feel of the music.” “I love the energy at live shows, and at
Dandelion Stompers shows in particular,” added Tonia Walters, also from 5 Seasons Swing. “We want to dance to music we enjoy, played by musicians who love what they do. You can tell they are enjoying themselves, and that feeds the dancers’ energies. It’s a bit of a symbiotic relationship.”
“SO MANY OF THE SONGS ARE ABOUT DRUGS AND SEX.”
It was like bees to honey. From the very beginning, a core group began following the Stompers from show to show (the band plays about 15 to 25 gigs a year). Think Deadheads, minus the visual markers of that particular milieu—no tie-dyes and noodle dancing. Instead, you’re more likely to see sharpdressed folks doing the sailor step. “When I go out, I really like to see a show. I want a lot of sound and fun up there,” Clark said. “Seeing people time their moves to our song really creates a feedback loop that pushes us to take it up a notch.” The Dandelion Stompers largely stick to jazz and blues music of the 1920s, with a few 1930s numbers thrown in and the occasional cover of a contemporary song done in a tradjazz style. They have, for instance, covered Dave Moore’s “Who Stole the Preacher’s Whiskey?,” whose subject matter fits right in with the other vintage tunes. “Chris is very conscious of adhering to
