Still some bugs in the system

January 26, 2007

I thought to myself, "There are still some bugs in the system," as I e-mailed Cyrille (aka San Miguel captain - Euvian, our leader - Sergio, etc) to ask, "Is it happening?" Cyrille (maybe I should nickname him Hamlet... can't make a decision... to be or not to be...) wrote back, "Still thinking where to go. Help me. Haha." By now, it was already 6:30 PM - same time as I called the restaurant last week only to learn that reservation was no longer possible. After a conference with Sergio, ruling out Italian and curry, we settled on Teri-Aki as our choice. The trouble was that we could not get through to them on the phone. Because my work was already shot, I decided to leave slightly earlier than usual and get our name on the waiting list earlier. This meant only that I arrived at Teri-Aki about 5 minutes before 8.

Lo and behold, there was a cue. Big surprise. Incoming customers were being told that the wait is up to an hour long. Among the people waiting, I spied Anette and Cambiz so I approached them to say a brief hello. I then took a look around the area for other possibilities. Galleria had some free tables, but Sergio over the phone nixed that idea (no Italian). He suggested that I leave my name at Teri-Aki and also check out Chez Gerrard. It turned out that I couldn't leave my name at Teri-Aki (someone would have to stay there in person), but Chez Gerrard had free table (but no one else from the group with me - it was clearly a distant second choice for everyone). I went back to Teri-Aki (without booking a table at Chez Gerrard) and spend time catching up with Annetta and Cambiz.

First Cyrille then Sergio and Natalie arrived as I conversed with Anette and Cambiz - mostly about singing. When everyone arrived, we decided to wait 10 minutes or so there and see what happens. One group then another group got their table, then it was Anette and Cambiz's turn. I was getting ready to leave them to their dinner when Anette and Cambiz suggested to the maitre d that they would be happy to share a table with four of us. Bingo. So after all the fiasco, our dinner group was 6 - and the trend of having increasingly larger Friday dinner group was maintained.

Dinner topics ranged from a proposed trip to Hong Kong (Oasis Air, etc) to South Africa (wine, climate, crime) to cous cous (double-steamed or so elaborated Cambiz). Cambiz apparently is the chef at a Turkish-Mediterranean restaurant called Shiraz, which is almost done with their remodelling - a possible option for next Friday outing (not next week for me because of Brit Salsafest).

When I finally arrived at Club Salsa, the same CD as last two weeks was still playing - Micaela was almost finished and Thinking Of You was about to start. Johnny and Serap were away, and Jay, Jane, Sam, Zhenzhi and possibly Euvian along with Abit subsituted for Johnny and Serap. Danie was supposed to be involved but she wasn't feeling well. Supposedly people from Zhenzhi's lab were there (or such thing was talked about several days ago). Vishal said feel free to start playing anytime so I started after Thinking Of You.

Playlist

Que Buena Baila Usted - Oscar D'Leon (1)
Mi Gente - Oscar D'Leon (2)
Y No Hago Mas Na - El Gran Combo
Tatalibaba - Direct Latin Influence (3)*
Quitate La Mascara - Ray Barretto (4)
Rumba Del Barrio - Luisito Rosario (5)
Ritmo Pa Borinquen - Grupo Latin Vibe
Caballero Y Dama - Celia Cruz & Willie Chirino (6)
Dime Que Quieres - El Gran Combo

break (Big CBL crowd. I spied Sergio dancing Merengue (Suavemente) with Euvian. Vishal followed it with Obsesion (very early for this song), then Playa No More. He left me with a big crowd on the dance floor with string of Salsa (Pancho Cristal earlier and La Pantera Mambo later). "Start slow and build it up," he reminded me.)

Sonando - Poncho Sanchez (7)*
Ven Tu - Dominic Marte (8)
Hong Kong Mambo - Tito Puente
Asia Mood - Tito Puente (9)
Ran Kan Kan - Tito Puente (Mambo Birdland version) (10)
La Quiero - Dominic Marte
La-La-La - Direct Latin Influence (11)
Meneame La Cuna - Roberto Torres
Gracias - El Gran Combo (12)*

break (Merengue, Salsa, Bachata, Salsa and Merengue… I think. It included La Vida Es Un Carnival. Lindsey has been here for a while. Nicola arrived around 12:30 AM - eliciting a reaction from Gordon. People are really going nuts over Lamento Boliviano - hysterical. Vishal left with 2 Merengue in a row, so I followed it up with two Reggaeton in a row.)

Tocate - Toke D Keda
Dame Lo Que Quiero - Toke D Keda (13)*
Gotas De Lluvia - El Gran Combo (14)
Abuelita - Willie Colon & Hector Lavoe*
Se Me Fue - El Gran Combo*
Malanga Amarilla - Cachao
La Llave - Grupo Latin Vibe (15)
Sofrito - Mongo Santamaria (16)*
Usted Abuso - Willie Colon & Celia Cruz

Vishal followed with Merecumbe (Los Titanes - aka the second best version). Other songs played during the course of the evening included Brujeria (Gran Combo), Caballo Viejo, Vamonos Pal Monte (artist/version unknown) and probably couple of Marc Anthony.

(1) Rajiv likes this one. He showed up later. If I knew that he was going to show, I could have saved it for after his arrival. Haihan arrived at about the same time as Rajiv.
(2) I asked Vishal, "Is this fast? I think I should slow down a little."
(3) I don't think I liked the way most people danced to this song. Timing was all over the place even for some people who I think of as having decent timing.
(4) Cyrille and Sergio arrived around here - about 10:30 AM - a bit earlier than I expected.
(5) I didn't like this choice. I might not play this song again ever. Everything afterwards was solid in my opinion.
(6) Luis arrived by this point. He was generally enthusiastic with selections tonight.
(7) Fairly long Cha Cha. Shila cracked, "Start slow and build it up."
(8) Haihan looks very confident dancing Bachata. He also seemed to be in a good dancing mood.
(9) Mambo police came around. Next up was the most popular Puente.
(10) Vishal came about again. I told him next is Bachata, explaining that I wanted a buffer/transition after a string of Mambo.
(11) I told Vishal, "I think people like this song."
(12) I originally had Se Me Fue cued before changing my mind. I danced with Stephanie.
(13) One Reggaeton - done before. I suspect two in a row was unexpected. It sure caught Vishal off guard. He asked, "Next one's Salsa, right?" Yup.
(14) Lights went up as Reggaeton was finishing. I gave a slightly longer pause between songs. There are many Salsa people left.
(15) Zhenzhi wanted the song information.
(16) This one has a 90 second intro that needed to be cut. There was a slight miscue (mixing of channels) while I was operating. By the way, this was the second Cha Cha of the evening.

Total 27 songs. 2 Bachata. 2 new Cha Cha. 2 Reggaeton including 1 new. 21 Salsa including 4 new. Vishal probably played about 4 more Bachata and 5-6 Merengue and some Reggaeton.

Many CBL people stayed to the very end - Cyrille, Euvian, Haihan, Lindsey, Nicola, Rajiv, Sergio, Stephanie, Zhenzhi among others. There were many other regular Salsa dancers also. Near the very end, Sergio helping Lindsey put on her coat led to Lindsey trying instead to do the same with Sergio (and failing), which in turn led to the same with me. Her jacket was rather tight on me. Supposedly I looked like Fonzy and it led to me breaking out my camera once again. Taking a lesson from last time, I tried to take all the photographs from a close distance to minimize red eyes (or worse bright white eyes, which are difficult to fix even with Photoshop).