Final hurrah

March 30, 2007

For a change, someone other than Sergio reserved the table - or Mimi tried to. Of course almost everyone was late. Only Sergio and Natalie were on time. At 8:30, I was at home when Sergio called me to say that no one else was there yet and that the reservation was made for tomorrow (Saturday) rather than today.

I was about 10 minutes late. Mimi, Euvian and Zern were about 20 minutes late. Cyrille arrived around 9:05, after we were finally given a table and were in the process of ordering our food. Just like last time at Teri-Aki, we met other Salsa people - Pete and Cinzia. A cute coincidence was that I glimpsed Annetta later at Club Salsa for the first time since I saw her at Teri-Aki last time.

Sushi at Teri-Aki was disappointing. My expectations crashed to earth when I saw that the chef included a roast beef sushi as well as an egg sushi in the platter. The fish wasn't great either. Ditto for the rice. Euvian had the best dish - something she orders every time she comes here. The dish number 69 - it's something like rice bowl with eel (unagi).

A topic that came up a couple of times tonight involved a YouTube clip of Kermit singing "Hurt", which I had sent to Sergio earlier. The description of the video appalled Mimi and led to her asking me what kind of humorous stories/clips/etc I might send her - this was because I tried to cover myself by saying that I found the Kermit video interesting (rather than say stupendously funny) and thought Sergio would like it.

We didn't leave Teri-Aki until around 10:30. Pete and Cinzia were long gone by then - ahead of us to Club Salsa. When we finally arrived (sans Natalie and Zern), Vishal was DJing so I managed to get a couple of dances (one with Pauline and one On1 with Mimi) in before a long set.

Playlist

Ave Maria Lola - Conjunto Imagen (1)
Mujeres De Mayari - Cubanoson* (2)
La Cartera - Orchestra Harlow (Live In Quad)* (3)
Ven Tu - Domenic Marte (4)
No Me Resigno - Toke D Keda
Al Ver Sus Campos - Ray Barretto (with Adalberto Santiago)*
Mi Mujer Es Una Bomba - Oscar D'Leon (5)
Cuando Te Vea - Tito Puente (6)
El Pito - Isidro Infante (7)
Cuidate Compay - Eddie Palmieri* (8)
Guaguanco Del Gran Combo - El Gran Combo (9)
Campanero - Jose Mangual Jr
Nadie Se Salva De La Rumba - Celia Cruz-Ray Barretto-Adalberto Santiago* (10)
Picadillo - Tito Puente (70s Fania version) (11)
No Aguanto Mas - Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco (12)
Recordando A Cuba - Cubanoson*
Mi Charanga - SonSublime* (13)
Bongo Loco - Lebron Brothers (14)
Usted Abuso - Celia Cruz & Willie Colon (15)
Hacha Y Machete - Hector Lavoe (16)
La Quiero - Domenic Marte
Un Apretoncito - Toke D Keda
Vietnam Mambo - Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers* (90's version) (-2%) (17)
Gracias - El Gran Combo
Me Prendiste Velas - Oscar D'Leon
Es La Musica - Massimo Scalici (18)
Mira Ven Aca - Johnny Colon* (19)
Malanga Amarilla - Cachao (20)
La Muy Muy - Roberto Torres (21)
La Loma Del Tamarindo - El Gran Combo (22)
Aguacero - El Gran Combo*
La Llave - Grupo Latin Vibe (23)
Nadie Como Ella - Marc Anthony* (24)
Tocate - Toke D Keda (25)
Sientate Ahi - Oscar D'Leon
Perdoname - Gilberto Santa Rosa (26)

(1) This started too loud - good start! :p. Pete stared at me asking whether I was trying to bleed his eardrums. I picked this version of the song because I thought it fit better with the kind of songs Vishal was playing - including Suelta El Bongo (La 33), Lloraras (a cover version - sounded a bit like Tabaco Y Ron but not sure), Lindo Yambu (a version other than Cheo Feliciano). Sorry Pete.
(2) The DJ booth groupie Shila had asked me at the start of my stint whether I was going to play a lot of new music. I said sure.
(3) A longer version of a familiar classic.
(4) Euvian requested that I play a lot of Bachata during dinner - mentioning that Haihan will be there tonight also. Haihan was there alright - along with Rajiv.
(5) Another Rueda circle had started during the previous song - involving Pete, Cinzia, Johnny, Serap (or was it someone else?), Bodie and Mimi. I picked this song because I thought Pete liked it.
(6) I thought it was time to break up the Rueda a song with a few transitions. It didn't happen.
(7) Somewhat unexpectedly, this one did break up the Rueda.
(8) This one got a reaction from Shila. Slow and long Cha Cha - a big change of pace. The guy who likes Cha Cha stopped by at the end to ask for another one. I said later.
(9) First time I played this song, Vishal complained. No one said anything second time around. This time (third time), Shila exclaimed that this is a great song.
(10) The "Afro" sounding percussion bit at the start of the song (as well as the length of the song title) received a comment - again by the DJ booth groupie.
(11) Shila asked for Merengue. I said I'm going to play a fast song first. I think this one elicited some groans - too fast. Normally I would have slowed this song - not today. Some people (mostly ones I know) danced to this anyway.
(12) Shila still cannot get over the fact that I have only one playable Merengue.
(13) I debated with myself a great deal about it before playing it. I almost switched to something different except I couldn't think of anything else in time. It seemed to be received well enough.
(14) See (15).
(15) Shile commented that unlike the previous song (Bongo Loco), this is a difficult song to dance to. He said, "The last song wanted you to dance whereas you had to force yourself to dance to this song." My - how times have changed.
(16) Another fast one before Bachata.
(17) This one turned out to be another insider favorite. A friend of Natasha's stopped by to request more typical Salsa. Shila did a double-take when he heard the song title.
(18) I wanted to play something as ridiculously happy as possible before switching over to another long Cha Cha with melodramatic overtones. I tried to see if Rajiv was still around - I didn't find out until the start of the song. As expected, this song drew some ridicule from Sergio, Cyrille, etc. It's all fun.
(19) Shila commented that very few people dance Cha Cha earlier. I pointed out some exceptions (e.g. Sergio, Haihan … also Johnny, John, Pete, that guy I mentioned earlier… I like it and would dance it if given the opportunity … there are others).
(20) This one also drew "What the heck is this?" from Shila. Sergio went right back to the dance floor with Mimi when he realized which song this one is.
(21) Song choices are getting tricky now. Not many people left and it's getting late. I considered Meneame La Cuna by the same artist before settling on this slower song.
(22) I considered Se Me Fue by the same artist before using this song to prompt Cyrille to practice dancing On2.
(23) Two reactions. Shila - "You're playing this song - again?" Vishal - "Do I have this song? Can you give me a copy of this song? If not, then the name of the song and the artist?" I gave him the song/artist information.
(24) I considered playing this song a couple of months ago, but Vishal played it first.
(25) There was a Reggaeton request.
(26) I had my third dance of the evening - On2 with Mimi this time. We closed about 10-15 minutes early.

Total 36 songs. 4 Bachata. 2 Cha Cha (both new). 1 Merengue. 29 Salsa (including 9 new).

It was over in no time at all. Time to say goodbye to my best friend in the Cambridge Salsa scene for the past year - except I don't recall saying goodbye.

Couple of comments after some photos… "Your head is big." "You look like you're on drugs."

My laptop died finally when I arrived at home - after a little over 5 years of use. One less thing to pack for Madrid. Rajiv and Haihan wished me well on my trip.