Tammi Gower passed away August 9, 2003 after a long battle with cancer. As co-owner and co-founder of the world famous Derby, she made an indelible mark on the swing dancing scene, not just in Los Angeles, but world-wide, and right here at Nocturne.com, too.

After seeing then-unknown Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at the Best of LA Festival they decided to try swing dancing, and looked around for a local lesson. (And remember, this was before Nocturne, so there was not a lot of swing dancing information available on the web.) They found a ballroom class at Glendale Community College, and after attending only two lessons decided that their time could be better spent elsewhere. Karen dug a little deeper and discovered that not only did the Derby have swing music every night of the week, but they offered beginning swing dance lessons before the band each night. Karen trotted down to give it a shot and learned more dancing for less money in just 45 minutes than she had in the 2 hours of GCC's class. At Jake's poolhall in Old Town Pasadena, where Tim worked bar, the other bartenders had been checking out Royal Crown Revue at the Derby, and playing the CD at the bar. The next time Tim had the night off, he decided to join in the east coast lesson at the Derby, taught by Paul Mojica. It took some work, but Tim finally kinda got it and the two of them had many, many wonderful nights dancing and playing pool at the Derby... and at the many clubs it spawned that aren't around anymore.

At that time, Nocturne was just a little vanity site, with a few reviews of our favorite movies, books, and restaurants, but once T & K started dancing, they knew they had to add swing dancing to the site. And so the swing section of Nocturne was born, and rapidly became the focus of the site, with a huge majority of the 50,000 visitors a month.

It's thanks to Tammi that Karen and Tim met Chip, who became the third in our Nocturne crew.

It's thanks to Tammi that no matter where Tim & Karen go in Los Angeles, they see someone they know.

It's thanks to Tammi that Karen can go alone to a swing club anywhere in the world and fit in instantly, just by asking someone to dance.

And so even though most of us didn't have a chance to thank Tammi personally for all she did, we all realize that it's due to the efforts of both Tammi and Tony that we could share in their dream. Let's take the opportunity to thank Tony for having helped made it happen.