Nina hears her song

June 2, 2006

Playlist

set 1

Quizas – N’Klabe
Chiquilla Ideal – Manny Oquendo
Barrera Ninguna – Jimmy Bosch
Pa’ Bravo Yo – Pupy Santiago*
Miye Na We – Africando
Estoy Caliente – Tabaco Y Ron
La Cura – Frankie Ruiz*
Esto Es Guaguanco – Cheo Feliciano
El #100 – Tito Puente
El Pito – Isidro Infante
Mi Mujer Es Una Bomba – Oscar D’Leon
Indestructible – Ray Barretto (-5%)
1-800-Quiereme – Luisito Rosario
Periodico De Ayer – Hector Lavoe
Pecado – Toque D’Keda
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici
Fragile – Massimo Scalici

Vishal played couple of Merengue followed by 6-8 Salsa including the ubiquitous J. Lo Playa No More by J. Lo-wannabe Crystal Sierra. At least it wasn’t the first song once again – it was the fourth. This time it was Serap making the comment that I need to get back to the DJ booth to stop the endless sameness of songs being played. Of course, most people have not been coming to Club Salsa every day for years, and for them and more Vishal’s songs are like comfort food. Some of the later songs played by Vishal were less obvious. Johnny & Serap stayed for one song (it ended up being a little longer than just one song) to be played by me before leaving.

set 2

Que Bonita Es Sonar – Jimmy Bosch
Get It Up – Eurocuban Project
You Rock My World – Michael Jackson (Berna Jam remix)
I Love Salsa – N’Klabe (normal speed)
You Will Remember Me – Dominic Marte
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D’Keda

Another break. Tonight’s crowd is more Cuban dominated if anything, and a request for Los Van Van prompted Vishal to take over once again. Thus I thought Vishal was going to play couple of Los Van Van to start it off. During the first song (Los Van Van) played by Vishal, I spotted Nina. I then prompted Vishal to play one more Los Van Van and then to play Contigo. Strangely, Vishal ended up playing instead another song (Sacala A Bailar) by the same band (Cache) that plays Contigo. I then suggested another Los Van Van song, which was played by Vishal during the previous break. Hmm. Also during this break, Vishal played some Gran Combo (including Me Libere). As soon as I returned to the DJ booth, the first request I received was Gran Combo. Huh??? Other requests included Gilberto Santa Rosa (or anything old... although I have no idea what they meant by old... 90's? 80's? 70's? 60's?) and Buena Vista Social Club stuff. I suppose they bought a lot of drinks to make Vishal happy because he came back soon to play more Gran Combo, Merengue, etc.

set 3

Un Alto En El Camino – Grupo Niche
Pirana – Willie Colon*
Contigo – Cache
El Preso – Fruko Y Sus Tesos
Bongo Loco – Lebron Brothers
Me Prendiste Velas – Oscar D’Leon
Cachondea – Fruko Y Sus Tesos (-4%)

There you have it. Contigo was played as the third song of my third set. After more than a month, Nina finally gets to hear and dance to the song she requested.

Summary. 30 songs. 27 Salsa. 3 Bachata. Only 3 songs (*) are new to my playlist. Two of the three so-called new songs had been played by other Cambridge DJs in the past. I could have played a lot more new songs, but I didn’t think this was the night to do it. By the time I left around 1:30 AM, Vishal had played 4 Merengue meaning there was more Merengue than Bachata on Friday for the first time in well over a month.

I was asked for one dance, but the song was horrible so I asked for a rain check, and I never got a chance to keep my promise to find her later. I ended up having zero dances for the night – I don’t know if this makes it better or not. I suppose I didn’t feel like dancing very much and decided not to force myself. I could try to think of it as me going on a strike or something, but I don’t think such thing will last very long.

I think this was the first night in Club Salsa where I did not get a follower in a closed or open hold. In fact, the only physical interaction I had with women tonight was with Serap (goodbye kisses) and with Nina (when she stopped me briefly to thank me about the song as I was leaving).

On the other hand, there was a lot of handshaking tonight with men for some reason or another. Good music, good vibe, etc.

Miscellaneous. Johnny said he figured out who I was in the londonsalsa.co.uk forum. Strange... It was far from a secret in this blog (see posts from February 2006 and September 2005 in now defunct Salsa Mafia forum and a dead give-away post in londonsalsa.co.uk … also some of the things I write on this blog is repeated in londonsalsa.co.uk) – I thought pretty much everyone knew about it. In fact, I am pretty sure I had conversations about the forum if not my handle with Johnny during some of our drives to or from SOS. By the way, KAD is an acronym, not an alternate spelling of kid – if anything it was chosen because of phonetic similarity to cad.