Hey there, folks, it's Jim Quick here, your friendly neighborhood beach music troubadour. If you've ever caught me and Coastline tearing up the stage with some soulful shag rhythms, you know I'm all about that Carolina sound. I've been touring the Southeast for over 34 years now, and at one time we were cranking out more than 250 shows a year. We dropped sixteen albums along the way. But today, I want to take y'all on a little trip down memory lane about one of my favorite traditions: the SOS Midwinter Break in North Myrtle Beach. As someone who's performed at countless SOS events, including those electric Midwinter gatherings, this one's close to my heart. Let me tell you how it all started and why it's become the heartbeat of our shag community. Back in the beginning, around 1980, the Society of Stranders – or SOS as we all know it – was just a spark of an idea. It all kicked off with that first proclamation from the City of North Myrtle Beach, recognizing the "Strand" – that's Ocean Drive, or O.D. to the locals – as the epicenter of shag dancing and beach music. Shag itself? Oh, that's got roots going way back to the late 1940s in the African American communities along the Carolina coast, where folks started swinging to those smooth beach tunes. By the time SOS formalized in the early '80s, with its officers and board history tracing back to 1984, it was all about preserving that lifestyle – the dance, the music, the good times on the beach. You know, the Spring Safari in April and the Fall Migration in September were already huge—those 10-day blowouts where thousands of us would descend on Ocean Drive for non-stop shagging, live bands, and catching up with old friends from across the Carolinas. But folks started craving something in between, especially during those long, cold winter months when the beach felt a million miles away. The demand was clear: the community needed a midwinter pick-me-up to keep the spirit alive year-round, a shorter weekend getaway to shake off the January blues, refresh those dance steps with workshops, and reunite without waiting another six months. That's how the Midwinter Break (or Winter Workshop, as some still call it) came to be added as the third pillar—starting as a smaller, more intimate event but growing into its own beloved tradition, ensuring we'd have that SOS magic three times a year instead of just twice. It was all about keeping the groove going strong, no matter the season.

Got to Love'em

#20 on the All Time Top 100 Beach Music Songs Chart

#7 on the All Time Top 100 Beach Music Songs

#8 on the All Time Top 100 Beach Music Songs