[Warning: quite a bit of pics in this post]
[Edit: changed the post title, while I love the music, the actual lyrics
of "Shake Rattle and Roll" made me facepalm. Ronnie Dawson's song is
better :)]
Last weekend I've been in Senigallia for the 15th edition of
Summer Jamboree.
It was my first time there, and it was epic. Really.
If you are into roots music and early rock'n'roll and/or into vintage 40s and 50s clothes, go there.
You won't regret it!
(You have time until August 10th, hurry up!)
If you follow
my identi.ca account (whooo! shameless plug!), you may know that I love music in general and Blues, Jazz and Rockabilly in particular.
If you read my blog, you may know that I make clothes - particularly reproductions of 50s and retro clothes.
So, it's not much of a surprise that going to the Summer Jamboree has been a mindblowing experience to me.
What surprised me it's that I've felt the very same wonder of my first Debconf: the amazing feeling that you are not alone,
there are other people like you out there, who love the same things you love, who are silly about the same little details
(yes, I equally despise historically innacurate pin up shoes and non free software), who dance - metaphorically and not - at your same beat.
Same wonder I felt when I first read some authors - Orwell and David Foster Wallace, just to mention a couple - or when I first delved in
anarchist thinkers.
By nature I'm not much of a social person, and I tend to live and love alone. But that sense of being part of something, to find
like-minded people always blows me away.
I'm not much of a blog writer, so I won't probably be able to give you a good impression of the awesomness of it.
But hey, watch me trying.
The Vintage Market
I spent most of the morning travelling by train to reach Senigallia (and met the most beautiful French girl ever in the process, who sketched me in her notebook because, hey!, I was already in full Rockabilly gear).
The hotel was pretty close to the station, and to the part of the city where the festival was taking place, so I spent a couple of hours sleeping, then started the adventure.
The festival takes place mostly near the Rocca Roveresca, a beautiful fifteenth century castle, and on its gardens, but the all the other venues are in walking distance.
All around the Rocca there is a market with vintage clothes, records, shoes, retro jewelry.
A special mention for two fantastic dressmakers: Laura of
Bloody Edith Atelier from Rome and Debora of
The Black Pinafore from Sarzana. I bought just a piece from each of them, but I was able to do that only with a huge amount of self restraint.
Guitars! Tattoos!
Yes, I may have spent a bit drooling on the Gibson Cherry Red, and I tried (without amp, though) that beautiful orange Gretsch Electromatic.
And Greg Gregory of the Travel Ink Tattoo Studio from UK was there, with his shiny Airstream.
I also spent a while among the records in the
Bear Family Records booth. They are a Germany based independent record label specialised in reissues of country and 50s rock'n'roll. Couldn't resist, and I bought a beautiful Sun Records' tshirt.
Just Rockin' and Rollin'. Aka: dance time
After that, it was time to dance. I missed the dance camp of the afternoon, but the DJ sets were fantastic, all 40s and 50s stuff, and I fell in love with Lindy Hop and Boogie Woogie, and well, obviously, Jive.
I could have spent hours watching the people dancing, and clumsily trying the most basic moves myself.
People
And the people, did I mention the people?
They were cosplaying the 40s and 50s so wonderfully I couldn't help but take some photos (and find a new fetish of mine: men in 40s clothes. Sexy as hell).
For instance, Angelo Di Liberto, artistic director of the festival with the beautiful burlesque artist Grace Hall.
Or the amazingly dressed German couple I met in via Carducci.
And this couple too, was pretty cool.
The Prettiest Smile award goes to these lovely ladies!
Cars
Who knows me, can tell that I don't love cars.
They stink, they are noisy, they are big.
But these ones where shiny and looked beautiful.
Also, the black Cadillac had the terrible effect on me of putting "Santa Claus is Back in Town" in my head (or, more precisely, Elvis tomcatting his way through the song, singing "Got no sleigh with reindeer / No sack on my back / You're gonna see me comin' in a big black Cadillac").
Music!
Sadly, I missed Stray Cat's Slim Jim Phantom but I was just in time for Ben E. King.
It was lovely: backed by the house band (The Good Fellas), he sang a lot of old Drifters hits, from On Broadway to Save the Last Dance for Me to - obviously - the great Stand By Me.
Then a bit of hillbilly country, with Shorty Tom and the Longshots, a French combo consisting of a double bass, a rhythm guitar and a steel guitar.
And, well, more dancing: the dj sets on the three stages went on until 3 am.
Day 2
The next morning I took advantage of the early opening of Rocca Roveresca to visit it. The Rocca itself is beautiful and very well maintained, and hosts various exhibitions.
"Marilyn In White" shows the incredible photos taken by George Barris on the set of "The Seven Year Itch" as well as some taken in 1962. Beautiful, really, especially the series on the beach.
But the ones moving me were the pics from "Buddy Holly, The Day The Music Dies": a collection of photos taken by Bill Francis during the (sadly brief) career of Buddy Holly from the very beginnings to his death.
After that, it was time to come back to year 2014, but really I felt like I've walked for a while in another decade and planet. And the cool thing is that I could enjoy the great 40s and 50s music and dances (and clothes!) without the horrible stereotypes and cultural norms of the time period. A total win. :)
So, ehm, that's it. I'm a bit sad to be back, and to cheer myself up I'm
already planning to attend Wanda Jackson gig in Aarburg (CH) next month.
And take Lindy Hop and Boogie lessons, obviously.
I m trying to replace my old OpenPGP key with a new one. The old key wasn t compromised or lost or anything
bad. Is still valid, but I plan to get rid of it soon. It was created in 2013.
The new key id fingerprint is: 
Because 
I ve got a project I could use some help with. If you ve got some tuits to spare, I d love to talk with you about the plan. Perhaps I ll post something to the blog
[edit 20120212T2025]