Aerial Arts
Aerial Warehouse (LA) – Culver City – On the west side of LA, sprung floor, rigging set up by professional stunt people, kids and adult programs (aerial arts – silks, hoop, trap, dance, parkour, trampoline track, tumbling)
The Loft (LA) – Burbank – On the east side of LA, high ceilings, great coaches, performers, small class sizes, adult programs (silks, lyra, dance trapeze, contortion, hammock, rope)
SLAM: Streb Lab for Action Mechanics (NYC) – Williamsburg – awesome training space for aerial, trapeze, german wheel, stunts, and, whatever “action mechanics” hijinks are going on.
Fight or Flight Entertainment (Brett Copes) – acrobatic and stunt rigging and fabrication (and crafter of my very first lyra)
Bailey’s professional outdoor work gear and equipment – great direct source for rigging and hardware for people who know what they’re looking for
Ver Sales – offers a variety of span sets and hardware for people who know what they’re looking for
FabricDepotCo – not to be confused with fabricdepot.com, is where I get all my aerial silks (40 denier nylon tricot). Good quality, good prices. Web site is outdated, but it works. And you really can just give Susan a call anytime and she’ll help you out. She has experience working with aerialists.
Live Trad Jazz
Musicians and their venues lead complicated lives. Best to call ahead.
The Cinema Bar (LA) – Tiny dive bar with live music. On Mondays it’s Hot Club of Los Angeles. It’s also right next to Aerial Warehouse (see above). Some reviews here and here.
Culver Hotel (LA) – Vintage elegance at an historic hotel in downtown Culver City, the hotel lobby hosts live music nightly.
Radegast (NYC) – A beer hall that regularly hosts fun live traditional jazz music. dancing has been known to happen. their fresh hot pretzels are good, too
Spotted Cat (NOLA) – Small bar, nonstop live jazz all day, all night. On Frenchmen St, just outside the French Quarter.
Fritzel’s (NOLA) – Live jazz every night. Yes, it’s on Bourbon, but slightly away from the main craziness.
Ukulele
Jake Shimabukuro – ukulele phenom.
Alligator Boogaloo – not updated often, but has a good catalog of free uke tabs for a range of songs from folk to jazz to pop, from easy to hard.
Sheep Entertainment – a Dutch site, I think, but anyway, it has a good visual chord finder, and they also have a cool feature where you can play along with a song.
Uke Hunt – this site is updated pretty regularly, and is a good primer on all things uke. they have some video lessons, a blog, and more.