Playing to Cuban crowd

April 14, 2006

I wasn’t expecting to be back as DJ so soon until Vishal invited me back Thursday night. The DJ situation seems a little fluid at the moment, and there was talk of yet another newcomer DJing (although this did not materialize tonight).

Playlist – order is approximate and is less certain in the middle

Frankie Ruiz – La Rueda (1)
N’Klabe – Quizas (2)
Africando – Mandali
La 33 – Soledad
Sonora Carruseles – Ave Maria Lola
Alex Leon – Acabo De Llegar (3)
Oscar D’Leon – Mi Mujer Es Una Bomba (4)
Willie Colon – Idillo
Tabaco Y Ron – Tumbando Cabeza (5)
Tito Puente – El #100 (6)
Grupo Niche – Culebra
Ray Barretto – Quitate La Mascara
Luisito Rosario – 1-800-Quiereme
Eddie Palmieri – Ritmo Caliente II
La 33 – La 33
Lebron Brothers – Bongo Loco (7)
Oscar D’Leon – Mi Gente (8)
N’Klabe – I Love Salsa
Dominic Marte – Ven Tu (9)
La 33 – Que Rico Boogaloo (10)
Frankie Ruiz - Mirandote
Tito Puente – Ran Kan Kan – live version (11)
some random request from Buena Vista Social Club CD (12)
Vishal’s Merengue track #1 (13)
Vishal’s Merengue track #3
Tito Puente – Picadillo (14)
La 33 – La Pantera Mambo
Orchestra Harlow – El Jardinero Del Amor (15)
Tabaco Y Ron – Lloraras – live version (16)
Jimmy Bosch – Otra Oportunidad
Grupo Niche – Un Alto En El Camino (17)
Toque D’ Keda – Lamento Boliviano

(1) I thought the plan was that Enrique would have the first set, but he wasn’t there tonight so my plan had to be reconfigured. A song from Johnny’s CD collection was used as the first song of the evening.
(2) Vast majority of people were beginners. Playing slower tracks seemed like a good idea. I kept this up for next few songs. Vishal stopped by 2 songs later to make a comment on this – it’s a good idea.
(3) Speeding things up just slightly.
(4) A defect was found on this track and was terminated early.
(5) This was the first song I might have played in my original plan. Every song up to this point was not part of my original plan.
(6) A Tito Puente song that people won’t accuse of being Mambo or Latin Jazz.
(7) Quite possibly the first time Lebron Brothers was played at Club Salsa.
(8) Mexican Party Music? I had meant to play this couple of times before. Finally it makes its debut.
(9) After 18 Salsa songs in row (19 if Johnny’s track is included), a Bachata track gets played at 11:20 PM or about 1 2/3 hours after the start of the Club hours. Normally with a crowd like tonight, I would guess that up to 5 Merengue songs would have been played by now as recently as 2 months ago.
(10) Bachata track is followed by a rare opportunity to dance Cha Cha Cha – although I’m not completely convinced that this is a Cha Cha Cha song.
(11) By the way, next Thursday is Tito Puente’s Birthday.
(12) I lose control of song selections briefly to play someone’s request…
(13) …followed by couple of Merengue songs at Vishal’s request (people wanted Merengue by the reaction).
(14) Taking a hard right turn to reassert my control. I considered playing Palmieri/Tjader version, which is 7 minutes long. I looked at the crowd and opted instead for the 3 minute version.
(15) Vishal asks when he should take over. I tell him in about 20 minutes; I’ll finish with a Bachata track.
(16) I fooled some people with this new version.
(17) Playing with mood swings. I think this stretch worked quite well.

I was done around 12:20 AM. I think Vishal played maybe 12-16 more Salsa songs for the rest of the evening. I danced with 5 people altogether – only two were comfortable with CBL style of Salsa. If I were to do another long set, I should forego paying an entrance fee – I would have done it tonight except I wasn’t completely sure about playing even a short set, let alone a set lasting around 2 2/3 hours.

Few more people were rounded up for Tuesday’s Tony & Daniela workshop and party. I’m cautiously optimistic that it will be at least equal to last couple of times if not better, and I’m less worried about uneven number of sexes after having made concerted effort to talk to men of Cambridge. Many of crème de la crème of Cambridge area should be present. I meant to invite more people during the early part of the club hours, but DJing duty interfered with it – I will have to do this with e-mail with some people later. By the way, Vishal won’t be present at Club Salsa on Tuesday for the Tony & Daniela workshop. I’m sure it won’t turn out like a house party while parents are away – but it was fun making such a joke to Vishal. In any case, I will be a little shorthanded so please be nice and try not to take advantage of the situation. Because I told a few people not to worry about advanced booking, I might as well do the same with everyone – whatever one does, some people will show up unannounced anyway. For those planning on showing up for the club only, it costs only 2 pounds with the flier (or print this announcement). Doors will be open at 7 PM.

The night ended with some drunk guy taking off his shirt and waving it around followed by an unusual fracas. For some reason, this guy seemed to think that taking off his shirt and showing his bare chest is a regular part of Salsa dancing. Hmm. Who should we blame? The Egyptologist?