Around Columbia
White House Florist hosting book signing Dr. Phil Sawyer and Tom Poland to sign Save The Last Dance For Me
LEXINGTON, SC - September 6, 2012 - White House Florist will host an open house and book signing Thursday, September 6, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. at its location at 721 Old Cherokee Road.
During the open house, Dr. Phil Sawyer and Tom Poland will sign copies of their newly released book, Save the Last Dance for Me. The book tells the story of the legendary Shag and its iconic presence at Ocean Drive and other beaches.
Copies will be available for purchase in hard- and soft-cover editions. Sixteen color and 40 B&W photos illustrate the book, published by the University of South Carolina Press. Beach music will be on hand.
For more insight tune in Woody Windham August 30 on his morning show on WIS 1320–AM at 7:15 a.m. Windham will interview Poland and Sawyer on how the book came to be, its research and writing, as well as high points and low points concerning the shag and beach music.
About Save The Last Dance For Me
The shag, North and South Carolina's official dance, originated in the 1930s. The dance spread throughout the South in the late 1940s and early 1950s and became a beach legend. Save The Last Dance For Me tells the shag's story and how the Society of Stranders, an organization devoted to the dance and its culture, came to be. Sawyer and Poland chronicle how the dance and beach music evolved. With the telling of the shag story comes the unique story of the Society of Stranders. The SOS formed in 1980 after a Red Sea Balsam bottle containing a prank SOS note "washed ashore." The PR stunt received a lot of press and five thousand "stranders" who decoded the SOS note knew to flock to Ocean Drive to show their support for the Shag culture. The Society of Stranders and the Association of Carolina Shag Clubs together consist of more than 15,000 members. The book examines shag's past, present, and future. The shag has become an important part of coastal culture for thousands, particularly in North Myrtle Beach, a community that has long embraced the dance and its legacy. Save The Last Dance For Me tells the story of cultural change, including the separation and integration of the races, and it chronicles why beach music remains popular today.
