Michael Arenella is in his early 30s, lives in Brooklyn, and plays music from the Jazz Age with the Dreamland Orchestra. Michael Arenella also collects gramophones, owns seven vintage cars, and transcribes his own orchestral charts off of 78s with a fountain pen. So this is a guy who is dedicated to his craft, dedicated to conjuring up an era nearly a century in the past, the era of flappers and Model Ts and bathtub gin. Honestly, except for the gin, the guy might just be onto something (which is not to imply in any way that gin is a bad thing, not at all, especially not Bombay Sapphire, but the stuff that was made during Prohibition – yeah, that wasn’t gin. Many people went blind or died from drinking that stuff. But you knew that.) The Dreamland Orchestra’s in regular residency at a pair of clubs, Cercle Rouge in Tribeca and the Clover Club in Cobble Hill, and they’re going to once again headline the Jazz Age Lawn Party in August, but that’s not for awhile yet, and Mike Arenella’s dedicated so much of his life to partying like it’s 1929, why not go join him in that pursuit? It’s got to be more fun than some insipid Twitter feud. (FULL ARTICLE: Helene Stapinski, The New York Times)