The Contributing Editor

At small magazines the title may imply a staff member with regular writing responsibility and some editorial duties. When a "contributing editor" is listed on the title page of a book, the term generally designates a person who has served as some kind of consultant in the book's preparation but who is not responsible for the book's final content.

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.
It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”

As with magazines, the title with us may be largely honorary and slightly different in name and use. However, our Information Contributors merely email information and perhaps a photo or two. And they do so only when they damn well please. There are no deadlines for our people, and they can decide when and what to contribute.

"Do I Love You?" by Loyal Garner

However the big difference is that as an information Contributor they can also make the choice of becoming a guest author. They can then open the blog, write what they wish, post the photos they wish and get out without asking permission from anyone. In our social blogs the title becomes somewhat self explanatory and hopefully we will get many more guest authors.

Most people think that is too much commitment. But it is in the same vein as comments or information contributor in which they can blog whenever they damn well please. Easy? No monthly or annual meetings and no dues or fees required. And the hits will go through the ceiling. Hey, you want egg in your beer?

"Stranger In Paradise" by Tony Bennett

Two friends are about to enter a club in Waikiki. One of them has a wooden eye. He said ''If someone says something about my eye, I'm gonna flip.'' They get there, and after one drink, he asks a girl if she would like to dance. She says, ''Would I?'' He flipped.

We Are Getting Tnere

Good evidence that the amount of blogging has an effect on the hits. I pulled the levers back on all blogs and the results show the results. the hits went down, So I cannot do it all by myself, I am not famous, and from all our past experience, the blogs are all at a plateau.

"Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy."

I am also certain that the biggest key of all is also very prominent in my stats. The Contributing Editors are key. If we get just one more Contributing Editor in each blog, the hits will increase very noticeably and not only in that blog but the entire plateau will lift even if only a small amount. All you have to do is be willing to share a little information and maybe a photo or two. Our blogs cannot exist as a one man show, I have no fame. It must be Social Media and with seven blogs it should be just about right.

"Wooly Bully" By Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs

There are plenty of web sites and other blog sites throughout the islands but no one wants to find out if anyone is reading the material they are posting on the Internet.  Most are fixed items and they have their own reasons and it should be respected, but I have to do something about it on my blogs and for our Reader/dancers. Up to date items should be the most welcome items. A couple photos and it would be a smash hit.

Because one of these blogs will go independent, I should know by the end of the year as to which one it will be. The one with the most Contributing Editors will be it. Simply because the average hits per day will mandate it. Once the blog becomes independent, they will double in hits simply because everyone will know that no one person will be running the show.

"Ei Nei" by Loyal Garnere 

He turned sixty some years back and took  a little ribbing from his wife. Now his wife was turning 60, he thought he would get even. So he told her he had never made love to anyone over 60. She replied, “Oh, I have, and it’s not that great.”

Fad Dancing

By Jeremy Myong, Kokohead

Fad dances are dances which are characterized by a short burst of popularity. Dancing style fads have for some centuries been a part of social dancing, sometimes gliding smoothly into tradition after their "newness" has faded, and sometimes simply fading away into oblivion.

"It is when we find out we can make mistakes that

we know we are on to something."

Since the Renaissance, the courts of European monarchs and nobles played host to a long succession of dance fads, many of which became social 'crazes' that spread into general society and many have long since faded into obscurity, but their rhythms were preserved in European classical music.

In modern times new dance "fads" arise and disappear much more frequently. This is certainly spurred by modern communication improvements (printed media, radio, movies, television, internet). In the early 1920s a string of dance crazes swept the world, including jitterbug and the Charleston.

Perhaps the most significant of all these early 20th century crazes originated in Argentina and came to the US in the early 1900s. The tango swept the world in the late 1910s and early 1920s, sparking a worldwide craze that was fanned by its use in Hollywood movies, and the style was soon appropriated to become part of the standard dance repertoire.

"La Media Luz" por Julio Iglesias

The tango was the first in a series of 20th century Latin music dance crazes that included the Merengue, the Samba, the Mambo, the Rumba and the Cha Cha Cha. Each new Latin style enjoyed massive popularity, and many transcended their fad status to become standardized styles in the repertoire of western popular dance tradition.

"Begin The Beguine" by Artie Shaw

Latin dance styles also exerted a huge influence on the direction of western popular music; this was especially true of jazz, which was profoundly altered by the advent of the first wave of Latin music in the 1940s and then by the bossa nova craze of the 1960s, which also had a massive influence on American pop music.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, new dance fads appeared almost every week. Among the dozens of crazes that swept the world during this fertile period were the Madison, "The Swim", the "Mashed Potato", "The Twist", "The Frug" (pronounced 'froog') and "The Watusi", "The Shake" and "The Hitchhike"; several '60s dance crazes had animal names, including "The Pony", "The Dog" and "The Chicken" (not to be confused with the later Chicken Dance).

And they are still coming and still mostly for the young. The experienced dancers will generally be happy to enjoy their few dances in sheer joy night after night after night. "Don't Quit Now, Jack"

What Snew?

Now I have received the really bad news in the latest Consumer Reports. More than 5 million households experienced some type of abuse on Facebook in the past year, including virus infections, identity theft, and for a million children - bullying.

"Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness,

to pull another hand into the light."

And consumers are at risk in myriad other ways, according to our national State of the Net Survey of 2000 online households conducted earlier this year by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. It will be worse later, they gotcha on their terms and they are not about to let you go. They are beginning to interfere with your computer like Adobe and Microsoft with annoying spam.

"Living on earth may be tough, but it includes a free ride around the sun every year."

I am awfully glad I got out of Facebook. I have been reading too many things bad about them. They have that, "I gotcha sucka." Even if you notify them that you want out, you are still in according to their records. Even if they disable you, you are still in according to their records. Seem a little nasty to me.

Dancers are in unanimous agreement that the Ala Wai Multi-Purpose Recreational Facility has been a huge success for all the users. With the best dance floor ever seen in the Pacific it has been especially appreciated by the International dancers. However it was planned as a Multi Purpose Center and they are stuck with it.

"Tiny Bubbles" by Don Ho

However there are social dancers in other parts of the island and also in the neighbor islands that need a place to dance. The one most needed is the one that was originally planned in Waipio. But of course it was designed too big and the Present Rail Party has appropriated the money and it will never get built. But a good Community Center with a floor 50 by 50 (about 2500 square feet) one fifth of the Palladium, would be perfect any place in the West for Social Dancers which are the bulk of the dancers on this Island.

Da New One

I don't have much incoming email so I just have to ask and this the result. We can try it for a month and If it stays at double digits average per day hits, it will be it. Some of the wheels in the dance community need to be dragged, kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I will not do that. If they do not want it they shall not have it. But the sign on the door I leave open still says welcome

"When you fall, I will be there to catch you."

with love, -  the Dance Floor.

It has now been very evident that for the most effective use, for our blogs is Twitter. Word Press and Tumble are right behind. Facebook and Linkedin are out first, Google+ is next, too much complicated crap. Others try to force you and make it very difficult to get out. Pinterest I am still working on. Seems like they are not going to let you delete anything. So they may also be on the way out.

"The Maui Waltz" by Loyal Garner

"Morning Dew" by Melveen Leed

The hits are steady so the most important thing on our blog horizon is the Information Contributor. That one person willing to share a photo or two and a few comments for their friends and fellow dancers, the readers of the blogs. They can forget about writing absolutely correct, forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Just write for themselves and their immediate friends reading our social media blogs. And of course, hopefully they will eventually want to get on as Guest Authors. And they can pick the blog of their choice. We can still get these blogs into Social Media.

Night Dancing?

Most of us dance at Night. There has never been a law against dancing in the daytime. So why? Even in the evening, dancing is stratified into three different kinds. The Tea Dances have been from about five in the evening to about 8 or 9 in the evening. Regular social dancing has usually been between 7 to 10 or 11 pm. And then the young Salsa dancers are usually in line before eleven and go until the wee hours.

"We should never waste our time trying to explain who we are to people

who are committed to misunderstanding us."

AM Ballroom Dancing, which is also called Jiaoyiwu in Chinese, literally

meaning “Friendship Exchange Dancing” has been enjoying an

increasing popularity in today's China.

Unlike the English term, ballroom dancing in China has nothing to do with the place where people dance. In addition to ballrooms, many Beijing local people also dance in public places, especially in the summer. Whether it's early in the morning or at dusk, many people are seen strutting their stuff in  parking lots, parks or squares, and it has become a unique scene in Beijing as well as in other cities in China. Usually there is an organizer who brings along a huge ghetto-blaster, in goes a disk, and everyone is dancing under one or two good dancers' teaching or guidance.

"Wheel Of Fortune" by Kay Starr

According to Fu Yujun, who hosts a TV series teaching ballroom dancing, it's estimated that 600,000 to 800,000 people go ballroom dancing in Beijing. They range from 4 year old toddlers to people over 80. And ballroom dancing is a major activity in the nation-wide fitness campaign. People like it because they can both relax and build a strong body, all to the sound of beautiful music.

"Mister Sandman" by the Chordettes

Although it seems that most of the dancers practice in public places, like parks and squares, there are still many ballrooms in Beijing as well. Take Beijing Youth Palace for instance. In the past, it was a bit pricey, and oriented to those who earned higher wages. But two years ago, the ballroom slashed the ticket prices and changed its policy in favor of ordinary people and now it gets packed.

Competition Dancing

By Ralph Matsushima, Punaluu:

Going back far enough, "winning" might simply mean the result of running faster or quicker if being pursued by some hungry carnivore. As time went on, from the Olympics in Greece to the weekly plethora of sports, thanks to television, millions can feed their craving, albeit vicariously, for this primeval need within our soul, the elation of winning.

"It is hard to believe that people are telling the truth when you know

that you would lie if you were in their place."

As was said all those years during the introduction of the World Wide World of Sports - "The human drama of competition, bringing you the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." In our modern and complex society, technology has opened vast new areas of further human competitions. Contests of uniquely human skills involving instruments and materials are being constantly being refined and developed.

"Vaya Con Dios" by Les Paul and Mary Ford

"Because Of You" by Tony Bennett

As of this wasn't complicated enough, we even devised a way of having other humans "decide" who was the winner based on their evaluation of a performance or demonstration of skill. Unfortunately it can be tainted. It was really the only way to produce a winner, at least in the minds of the participants and aficionados of such endeavors as diving, ice skating and ... competition dancing.

At one time we had ballroom dancing in the Aloha Games and no one has come up with a good excuse of cancelling the event. It was a good idea to develop the competition spirit among our good amateur ballroom dancers. International events are just fine of course, but we need a local deal somewhere.