Back to DJing Fridays on Lindsey's B-day

September 15, 2006

Playlist

Brujeria – El Gran Combo (moved to –0.5%) (1)
Que Buena Baila Usted – Oscar D’Leon (-2%)
Etnia – Grupo Niche (-2%)
Evitare – N’Klabe (-2%) (2)
La Cura – Frankie Ruiz (-2%) (3)
Idillio – Willie Colon (-2%)
El Topodoredoso – Hector Lavoe (-2%)
La Fiesta Ya Comenso – Grupo Latin Vibe (-2%)*
Sientate Ahi – Oscar D’Leon
some Merengue (4)
Ven Tu – Domenic Marte (5)
Malanga Amarilla – Cachao (6)
Otra Oportunidad – Jimmy Bosch (7)
El Pito – Isidro Infante (-3%)
Mambo Mongo – Mongo Santamaria (Fania version) (-3%)
Push, Push, Push – Joe Cuba (8)*
Ojos Chinos – El Gran Combo (-2%?) (9)
Playa No More – Crystal Sierra (10)*
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe (11)
You Will Remember Me – Domenic M
Un Verano En New York – El Gran Combo (-3%) (12)

--long break--

La Pantera Mambo – La 33 (13)
Vietnam Mambo – Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers (14)*
My Favorite Things – New Swing Sextet

(1) Because it had been a while since I played DJ on a Friday, I gave some extra thoughts to which songs to play as well as a rough outline of first five or six songs to play for the evening. This song was the first on my list, but I changed my plan starting with the second song based upon what I saw from the crowd. I meant to play this at –2%.
(2) I didn’t like this one. I might retire this song.
(3) There was a request for Frankie Ruiz. Same guy asked for Victor Manuelle later.
(4) And the Merengue crowd became happier.
(5) They liked this one too.
(6) At least one person was very excited to hear this song and whooped in pleasure.
(7) Perhaps a bit early to bring this on, but it worked fine. I’m still trying to keep the speed on the slow side. Vishal wants me to go a little faster though.
(8) I did say I was going to play Cha Cha tonight. It went fine.
(9) This was one of the songs requested by Lindsey the birthday girl.
(10) Well… you know…
(11) Either many people knew this song or it was accepted immediately by many. It seems like a hit. No surprise though.
(12) In my original outline, I expected Vishal to talk about switching over somewhere between my 17th and 19th song. This was the 21st, so I was off a little.
(13) I had a little under a minute to make a decision on this song after a set by Cristian. Lindsey requested this song last night along with Ojos Chinos (a remix version though) and a Spanish Harlem Orchestra song. Perhaps I should have played something else if I wanted a longer set, but I guess I didn’t have a good mindset by this point.
(14) In retrospect, a better plan might have been couple of generic Salsa followed by La Pantera Mambo followed by a Bachata followed by this song. I guess I was in too much of a hurry. Also I made a mistake of putting on a wrong track for about a minute before starting on this song. That never helps matters. Cyrille was the only one (among few couples) who seemed to enjoy this one on the floor; although I did learn later that Sergio also was dancing to this in a corner. Dancing on the side doesn’t help make things look good when the main floor is empty.
(15) The end.

Summary 24 Songs. 2 Bachata, 1 Cha Cha, 21 Salsa. Three songs (*) were new for me. In the end I played 7 of 14 Salsa songs and 1 of 4 Cha Cha songs I tentatively considered playing. I probably would have played a Bachata and maybe a Cha Cha if I had another hour block as opposed to a 3-song block.

A long break lasting over an hour and half during which Vishal and Cristian played various songs. I was expecting Vishal to move to Merengue fairly early but he must have played at least 8-9 Salsa before doing so. The longer he went on playing Salsa, more I felt stressed out until I asked Vishal when I should plan on returning to the DJ booth after a bit of a break; the answer was about an hour. Ouch. And I thought I was doing a fine job and with only one misfire up to that time (Evitare). I guess it was a special day.

It was pretty good night for Salsa although I was generally too wound up to enjoy it fully. DJing does it for me, and I felt it more because I had not done this on a Friday with it usual mix of interest groups for some time. Some dances helped, but I don’t think I was feeling reasonably relaxed until something like my fourth or fifth dance of the evening past 12:30 AM with Lindsey; this dance came about mostly because of strong prompting from a third party (saying he/they have not seen me dance and show off my stuff tonight). I also had Sally lead me for a short time; I’d need a lot more practice to become competent. I didn’t dance much but I did manage to dance with a good number of people I had not seen for some time.

We had a pretty good Salsa crowd – almost as good as yesterday (but yesterday could very well be an anomaly). I spotted some new good leaders, some of whom might be just passing through; I don’t know for sure. If anything, the good leads outnumbered good followers more than usual.

Next week should be a little different with DJ format. No birthday songs. Probably just me and Vishal only meaning I'll probably play more songs than I did tonight.