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Letter to the editor

Get hopping, get grooving at Gulfport Casino

By SANDEE DAVIES
Published August 5, 2007

Swing back to two music and dance eras Friday with a party that starts in the 1950s and ends in the 1980s.

The Gulfport Casino ballroom will come alive from 9 to 11 p.m. with a 1950s sock hop that will feature a Hula Hoop contest and dance show.

Then, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., groove to a 1980s dance party that includes a moonwalk contest.

The evening requires a band that can cross multiple genres, and Freight Train Annie fits the bill. The band consists of sax, guitars, piano, bass, drums and Anne Caroline Spanger on lead vocals.

Members of the band have backed Joey Dee, the Ink Spots, the Del Vikings, the Coasters and the Drifters. Singer-songwriter Spanger is equally at home with sweet standards or rocking classics.

For 1950s songs, Annie covers female artists like Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughn and Patsy Cline, but also delivers her own rendition of hits by Dion, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, Bobby Darin, the Isley Brothers and Elvis.

Dress the part because prizes will be awarded for the best 1950s and 1980s costumes, and the best hybrid '50s/'80s outfits.

You can spiff up your dance steps with swing lessons from 8-9 p.m.; no partner is needed.

The Gulfport Casino offers free parking on the waterfront in downtown Gulfport's art district.

[Last modified August 5, 2007, 07:34:28]