Low maintenance or high?

June 23, 2006

I arrived somewhat early and was sitting in the corner and got into a conversation with some people. When one of them found out that I was DJing, he tried to get me to play certain artists he liked. The list of requests went like this. Do you have Marc Anthony? No. Los Van Van? No. El Gran Combo? Yes. Some artist I don’t recall hearing about. No. Celia Cruz? I only have one song. I did preface the conversation with a disclaimer that my collection was not especially expansive.

Playlist

Esa Muneca – Willie Rosario
Betece – Africando
Linda Cubana – Sonora Carruseles*
Hablame – Frankie Ruiz
Barreras Ninguna – Jimmy Bosch
1-800-Quiereme – Luisito Rosario
Me Libere – El Gran Combo
Tumbando Cabeza – Tabaco Y Ron
Esas Lagrimas – Gilberto Santa Rosa (1)*

There was a short interruption for one Merengue and one Bachata (Suave – Elvis Crespo, Obsesion – Aventura). I did not even bother to leave the DJ booth.

Si Quieres Bailar – Pete Rodriguez (2)
Indestructible – Ray Barretto (-5%)
Celia Y Tito – Tito Puente with Celia Cruz
Cachondea – Fruko Y Sus Tesos (-5%)
Dejame Sonar – Tito Puente
Mambo – Cachao
Descarga La Moderna – Ray Barretto (-5%) (3)

Vishal played several Salsa, starting with Playa No More by Crystal Sierra once again. I think one song was Salsa/Reggaeton fusion. I had 2 or 3 dances during this break.

Anacaona – Cheo Feliciano (4)
Paraiso De Dulzura – Hector Lavoe*
El Matrimonio – El Gran Combo (5)
Pecado – Toque D’ Keda (6)
Ven Tu – Dominic Marte
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (7)
Get It Up – Eurocuban Project
Contigo – Cache
Y Eso Duele – Gilberto Santa Rosa (-2.5%) (8)
Hacha Y Machete – Hector Lavoe

I had few more dances during this break. Theodore started with couple of nice Salsa songs I did not recognize. This was followed by some new Merengue, which was fine at least until he decided to play 3 of them in a row. These were followed by 4-5 Salsa, some of which were played at too low volume. One of the final Salsa was Betece, which I played earlier in the evening.

El Preso – Fruko Y Sus Tesos (9)
Thinking Of You – Lenny Kravitz (10)
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D’ Keda (11)
A Gozar Con Mi Combo – Cachao (12)

I took off for a dance with Danie after putting on Cachao. I was thinking that Vishal would take over, but he didn’t show up in time. As an emergency, I forwarded the CD to another Cachao track when my last song ended. Vishal decided to skip the song and put his songs on instead.

Summary – 30 songs. 27 Salsa. 3 Bachata. Three new (*) songs. The number of Bachata and Merengue were even at 4 each, but the end of the evening was spent mostly with other non-Salsa stuff.

(1) I originally had Amor de Una Noche – N’Klabe, but decided upon a last minute change.
(2) I originally had Soy El Rey, but changed song selection after the Merengue/Bachata interruption.
(3) Vishal stopped by with request for some slower songs. He then decided to take over immediately. I wish I had known because I would have been very interested in dancing to this song.
(4) Luis had arrived shortly before this song. He was pleased with this selection.
(5) Luis was asking for Bachata. In this instance, I think he was right. El Matrimonio is a fine song by El Gran Combo, but how many people know that anyway?
(6) Because Sam was there.
(7) My original choice was Me Prendiste Velas – Oscar D’Leon. While it’s a very good song, I decided that the place needed a big jolt of energy at this point.
(8) I had noticed that Theodore was not dancing especially enthusiastically to Paraiso De Dulzura earlier. I’m not sure if it was the spark point, but he decided to bring his CDs to play to the crowd with permission from Vishal. Again had I known this, I would have tried to dance to this song (Y Eso Duele). As a compromise, I put on one more song for me to dance to during the break.
(9) During the middle of this song, Vishal asked that I play for about 15 minutes before he take over.
(10) Maria requested this song near the end of my third set.
(11) Sam’s request. Two other people stopped by with request. First was for Los Van Van or some Timba. I had to turn down the second one because I wasn’t going to be on long enough.
(12) I don’t quite know what Timba is. I asked if Cachao would do. I have no idea if this is close. Sam liked it.

Dancing tonight was of usual Friday quality more or less. Quantity was higher than usual by recent Friday standard but the quality of dancing on my part was perhaps below average by recent Friday standard. I don't do very well on Fridays generally compared to other days of the week. I felt I was a bit too sloppy and was spending too much energy and trying too hard. Again, that’s what I get for DJing.

Quote of the day – “You need to get a lower maintenance girlfriend.”

I found this comment and situation hilarious although I managed to keep a straight face while merely smiling in return. This comment from a stranger came about because I was holding Sam’s shoe bag briefly as we were all getting ready to leave at the end of the evening. The whole conversation went something like this.

X – “What’s in the bag?”

me – “Shoes.”

X – “You're carrying shoes???”

me – “They’re hers” (looking at Sam)

X – (laughs) “You need to get a lower maintenance girlfriend.”

I suppose I could and perhaps should have said, “She’s not my girlfriend,” but I was too bemused. I simply had too many thoughts about how to respond to this that I ended up saying nothing. For one, I thought that talking about my own shoes in my backpack was going to cause more confusion or perhaps embarrassment. The banter about the shoe bag continued even after Sam took the bag from my hands.

Another fun quote – “People in England gossip all the time. You need to be careful about what you say.”

I know! I know! Moreover, considering my earlier example one might say that you also may need to be careful about not saying anything! I don’t think I want to try to imagine the type of interpretations that come up when people read cryptic comments or try to read between lines here.