A marathon DJ session

February 23, 2007

Everything was in flux. Where are we eating? Who's coming? The restaurant choice went from Strada (booked full before early in the afternoon unless at 6:30 or 10) to Charlie Chan (not ready until 9) to doing a take-out and eating at Sergio's place and back to Charlie Chan. The number of people went from possibly 7 (and as few as 4) to 5 to 6 and finally back to 5. Final lineup was Sergio, Cyrille, Mimi, Katarina (a new collegue of Mimi's) and me.

There was a birthday party at Charlie Chan involving around 20 loud teenage girls near our table making conversation very difficult. I know we talked about water level in Venice, but I couldn't tell you the details - too loud and too long. Another topic was of many dancing mishaps Mimi experienced in London (Floridita's and SOS) and at the UK Congress. Another big topic was misadventures in Sandwich. I also learned that Mimi's grandfather (or great-grandfather?) gave Mimi an ability to get a tan - this came up because of a very well-tanned Cyrille of course.

The food was great although a bit expensive - even if one assumes that one pound is worth one dollar. Then again, that's England for you. With appetizers in addition to shared main dishes and drinks, I think everyone came out feeling sated. Sergio in fact complained of feeling heavy afterwards for dancing - sort of like when I complained at Sally's party a while ago (I reminded him that it was only last Friday, and he responded that it felt like a long time ago).

With coffee and green tea after dinner, it was well past 10:30 and nearly 11 when we finally left the restaurant. There was a live Jazz band playing upstairs - only Mimi got a glimpse of the band and the restaurant upstairs. They sounded pleasant enough and the upstairs is very popular with live band on weekends - requiring booking more than a week in advance. I don't think it'll work as before Salsa dinner spot, but it could be good for a more laid back evening.

Playlist

Cubanoson - Cubanoson (1)
La Lucha - La Excelencia
Diamoule Mawo - Laba Sosseh* (2)
El Swing De Fruko - Fruko Y Sus Tesos (-3%)
Vitamina - Sonora Carruseles (3)
Musica Ligera - Toke D Keda
Senora - Domenic Marte (4)
Avisale A Mi Contrario - Roberto Roena
Babarabatiri - Willie Rosario*
Cao Cao Mani Picao - Tito Puente (5)
Me Dejo - Oscar D'Leon
Disco Azucar - Los Van Van (6)
Negro Esta Cocinando - Los Van Van
No Aguanto Mas - Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco (7)
Cinco A Diez - Azabache*
Pegaso - Isidro Infante* (8)
La-La-La - Direct Latin Influence (9)
Picadillo Jam - Tito Puente & Eddie Palmieri
Lagrimas Negras - Cubanoson*
Te Extrano - Toke D Keda
Lamento Boliviano - Toke D Keda
Lluvia - Willie Rosario*
Gotas De Lluvia - El Gran Combo
Se Me Fue - El Gran Combo
Suavemente - Elvis Crespo (10)
Tocate - Toke D Keda
Contigo - Cache (11)
Hacha Y Machete - Hector Lavoe (12)
Luna Negra - Rey Ruiz
El Cayuco - Tito Puente (shorter version)
Sientate Ahi - Oscar D'Leon
Bailando - Frankie Ruiz (13)
La Palomilla - Joe Cuba Sextet (14)
Sonando - Poncho Sanchez (15)
Otra Oportunidad - Jimmy Bosch
Lloraras - Oscar D'Leon
La Loma Del Tamarindo - El Gran Combo* (16)
Brujeria - El Gran Combo
Perdoname - Gilberto Santa Rosa
Chan Chan - from Buena Vista Social Club CD

(1) The song in play when I got in was Lady by Orquesta Palabra. It has been a while since I last heard that song.
(2) This version of the song sounded too similar to Yamulemau by Joe Arroyo. FYI, my understanding is that Laba Sosseh did the original and Joe Arroyo made a cover later.
(3) Shila wondered if I was playing the same song again. Of course not, but the comment might be something to think about more.
(4) Luis thought I did not give enough pause between the last song and this one. He might be right - a second rather than none probably would have been better.
(5) Vishal wanders by and wonders if it's too many Mambo in a row. Maybe he's right.
(6) Second 'This is a good song' comment from Shila. The first was for El Swing… This leads to a short debate about songs good for dancing and songs good for listening. Some of my comments to him included "I only play songs that I think are nice to dance to - not just listen to" and "You haven't listen to enough songs (implication being there are whole lot of songs I have listened to and enjoyed but decided against playing it for the dancers here)."
(7) There had been some demand for Merengue. This seemingly is the only decent one I have. Luis recognized it as an old-time great. This song and my mention of Celia Cruz might have driven Shila to ask me if I had "La Vida Es Un Carnival." No - I don't see a need - everyone and their cousin seem to have that song already. I can wait.
(8) Vishal seems pacified. He better be. Two Cuban, followed by Merengue, Azabache and now almost Columbian-sounding Isidro Infante.
(9) This seems to the most popular song I play lately. The album DLI II could be purchased from CDBABY - a very friendly and competent seller of music. They also have CDs by Cubanoson, Grupo Latin Vibe, La Excelencia among others. Order multiple CDs at a given time to save on international shipping costs.
(10) Vishal stopped by a song or two ago asking whether I wanted anything. I suggested a Merengue CD. I played this one, and probably could have played another but decided against it. Instead I decided on a token Reggaeton - a bit later than usual as it's almost 1 by now. Usually Vishal would play Reggaeton somewhat earlier - usually a little after midnight.
(11) It seemed like a good idea - I hadn't heard it played for 3-4 weeks. I ended up dancing to it.
(12) It is now well past 1 AM. No more fast songs especially given that none of the usual suspects danced to this - I'm guessing that people are a little tired now. Somewhere around here, Shila asked me about Cuppers. It had completely escaped my mind. In any case, I was out of country when it happened.
(13) The dance floor was empty for first 2 minutes or so. I took the opportunity to set up a request by Mimi for another Cha Cha while also asking her for a dance to the next song. It looked like Sergio was giving On2 pointers to Mimi. Haihan seemed to be working on it too.
(14) I had Shila changing songs here for the second time. The first time was after Contigo because I was asked to dance then.
(15) Another Cha Cha attempt between Sergio and Mimi. Sergio seemed to luck out with nice songs when dancing with Mimi tonight - Avisale A Mi Contrario, Babarabatiri, La-La-La, Gotas De Lluvia. Maybe Luna Negra and/or Sientate Ahi too. He didn't get her for La Palomilla though. It didn't seem like any more Merengue would get anyone excited so it was going to be slow and medium speed Salsa in alternation for the rest of the evening with mostly very familiar tunes rather than music unfamiliar to most Club Salsa regulars.
(16) This was an exception to the rule, but it's still a slow song. I thought it might help with people doing On2 practices. I think Haihan danced or tried to dance On2 to this song - with Zhenzhi I believe. I think Mimi would be interested in working on dancing On2 too based upon my observation that she seemed intent on listening to and following Sergio's instructions/suggestions.

Total 40 songs without a break. 4 Bachata. 2 Cha Cha. 2 Merengue. 1 Reggaeton. 31 Salsa including 7 new songs. I guess I was in the DJ booth from a little before 11 PM to after 2 AM. I only danced twice all evening. The amount of DJing I have been doing has been really unpredictable - 40 songs today, 12 last time, 27 before that, 15 before that, 19, 21, 40 for New Year's Eve Party (so tonight merely tied my record for total number of songs played), 33, 14, 19…

The club was not super-crowded, but there were fairly large number of Salsa dancers. In addition to my dinner group (minus Katarina) and others I mentioned above, Euvian and Stephanie (she left around 1 - or surprisingly early) were there as well as some new kids presumably from the University. Many of these people stayed til the end.