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Jul 17, 2020 14 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Today in pulp... I dance the Cha Cha!

Everybody's doing it... #FridayFeeling Image
The Cha Cha (or Cha Cha Chá if you're feeling energetic) was the Cuban-inspired dance that caught the world's imagination in the mid 1950s. We were Cha Cha Crazy for it! Image
Taking its cue from the Mambo, the Cha Cha was a slightly more relaxed affair: slower and less syncopated. Image
It's name comes from the shuffling sound of the feet as they dance the last three steps: one-two-cha-cha-cha! Image
However the Cha Cha is anything but a simple dance: hot hop action and a lightness of step is needed to master it. Image
Enrique Jorrin was the father of the Cha Cha, and in 1953 he and the Orquesta America released the first recorded compositions. The sound swept Cuba, then Mexico and then the world. Image
Cha Cha fever led to a range of 1950s albums trying to cash in on the new scene. Some took it seriously... Image
...some not so seriously... Image
...and some confused it with the polka. Image
Either way the Cha Cha was the soundtrack of mid-modernity, and no party was complete without it! Image
Cha Cha is still popular in competition ballroom dancing, though the range of steps required is not something I'll ever master!
Sadly the Cha Cha was overshadowed in 1962 by the Twist, and soon it faded from popularity. It was what your parents did at weddings to show off, not what the young folks wanted to strut 'in da club.' Image
But latin dancing will never die, and wherever people gather to drink mojitos, wear slit skirts and listen to good music the Cha Cha will always be there.

Enrique Jorrin - pulp salutes you! Image
(Pulp tip: always wear stockings when dancing. It stops you overheating #truedat) Image

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More from @PulpLibrarian

Nov 22
Today in pulp I'm looking back at one of the greatest albums of all time.

What are the chances... Image
By 1976 Jeff Wayne was already a successful composer and musician, as well as a producer for David Essex. His next plan was to compose a concept album. Image
War Of The Worlds was already a well known story, notorious due to the Orson Wells radio play production. For Wayne it seemed like a great choice for a rock opera. Image
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Nov 17
Shall we take a look at some classic pinball table backglass art?

I think we should... Image
"Do you like gladiator movies?"

Mars: God of War pinball (Gottleib, 1981) Image
Dr. McCoy has been seriously working out!

Star Trek pinball (Bally, 1979). Image
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Nov 12
Today in pulp I'm looking back at a very popular (and collectable) form of art: Micro Leyendas covers! Image
Micro Leyendas (mini legends) are a Mexican form of fumetto, small graphic novels normally pitting the everyday hero against the weird, the occult and the unfathomable. Image
The art of Micro Leyendas is bold, macabre and very funny. The books often tell a cautionary tale of revenge or humiliation, much like a modern folk tale. Image
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Nov 9
Today in pulp: what makes a good opening sentence for a pulp novel?

Now this is a tricky one… Image
The opening sentence has an almost mythical status in writing. Authors agonise for months, even years, about crafting the right one. Often it’s the last thing to be written. Image
Which is odd, because very few people abandon a book if they don’t like the first sentence. It’s not like the first sip of wine that tells you if the Grand Cru has been corked! Most people at least finish Chapter One. Image
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Nov 7
The Time Machine, Brave New World, 1984: these weren’t the first dystopian novels. There's an interesting history of Victorian and Edwardian literature looking at the impact of modernity on humans and finding it worrying.

Today in pulp I look at some early dystopian books… Image
Paris in the Twentieth Century, written in 1863, was the second novel penned by Jules Verne. However his publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel rejected it as too gloomy. The manuscript was only discovered in 1994 when Verne’s grandson hired a locksmith to break into an old family safe. Image
The novel, set in 1961, warns of the dangers of a utilitarian culture. Paris has street lights, motor cars and the electric chair but no artists or writers any more. Instead industry and commerce dominate and citizens see themselves as cogs in a great economic machine. Image
Read 25 tweets
Oct 31
Time once again for my occasional series "Women with great hair fleeing gothic houses!"

I assume everyone's doing it this #Halloween ? Image
The Legend Of Crownpoint, by Monica Heath. Signet Books, 1974.

A lot of moss on that heath... Image
The Legend Of Holderly Hall, by Kate Cameron. Leisure Books, 1974.

This is number one in a series of four novels, proving that nobody really reads Trip Advisor hotel reviews... Image
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