Long week grinds on

March 9, 2007

The Friday dinner with the San Miguel gang is often haphazardly put together and sometimes leaves me dismayed. I don’t plan on missing one, however, and I will miss it when it is no more.

Planning (or lack of it) started last night with Sergio saying that he’ll try to get in touch with Cyrille about it. He changed his mind by early afternoon, however– Cyrille would not get back to him until 5-6 anyway. So maybe we’ll skip the “dinner option.”

Come 5:30 or so, Cyrille wrote, “Hey, what is the plan for tonight?” Oh yes, another last minute scramble. I told him, “Call Sergio.” Cyrille wrote back, “Sergio agreed to go out for dinner." I wrote, “Where are we going this time?” Cyrille replied, “I like this question.” Uh oh. "Mimi's coming as well." "That's great!" "Curry?" "Fine with Me."

Around 7 or so, I get Cyrille on the phone. Which restaurant? Mill Road. Golden Curry? One that’s close to the “Salsa Bar.” Tandoori Station? Don’t know the name of the restaurant. The one over the bridge. Bridge Street? Maharaja? Don’t know. Okay. We’ll meet at Mill Road at 8:30.

I go home to pick up my CDs, etc. I head towards Mill Road a little early – leaving from home around 8 – so that I could stop by a cash machine. As I am about to turn onto Mill Road, my phone rings. It’s Sergio.

Where are you? Already? I just got home. Let’s do a takeout instead and eat at my place. [Instead of turning onto Mill Road, I head towards Sergio’s.] Where are you now? Could you pick up Cyrille on the way? [I turn around and drive back towards Mill Road.] I don’t think he’s left home yet. You know Mimi cancelled? I’ll call Cyrille and say that you are picking him up.

At least I did not get lost this time.

Rule #3. Cyrille is not allowed to pick the restaurant.

The litany goes like this. Cyrille can’t make a decision – about the restaurant or the dish (in the case of the dish, both of us vetoed Cyrille’s choice… just as we did at Charlie Chan couple of weeks ago. It was easy because he chose to pick the same dish when we were going to share the dishes). I cannot make reservations. Sergio vetoes everything.

Sergio made one last attempt at enticing Mimi. Curry. Vodka. Tonic. Beer. Cyrille saw the text and said that it’s very good – a much better attempt than the one he made. I piped in, “At least you tried. I didn’t even make an effort. It’s not in me.” Mimi’s too tired and is half-asleep.

Mai Thai delivered within 35 minutes. Conversation was limited to domestic affairs and Salsa. Natalie returns tomorrow.

I arrived at Club Salsa more than an hour later than I expected – but not atypical by recent standard.

Playlist

Linda Cubana – Sonora Carruseles (1)
Lindo Yambu – Cheo Feliciano (2)
Caballero Y Dama – Celia Cruz & Willie Chirino
Con Eso – El Gran Combo*
Felices Horas – Hector Lavoe
Apretoncito – Toke D Keda (3)
Te Quiero – Oliver (4)
Asia Mood – Tito Puente (5)

break

Babarabatiri – Willie Rosario
Cao Cao Mani Picao – Celia Cruz* (6)
El Cayuco – Tito Puente (older version)
Cinco A Diez – Azabache
Mundy Baja – El Gran Combo* (7)

(1) This is an okay song. But when playing only about dozen songs, it almost seems like a waste of time. A slow-ish Africando song was on when I came in.
(2) There was no clear agenda as far as what I wanted to play tonight.
(3) Some new guy asked for song information.
(4) Same again.
(5) Good reception from wide range of people. Vishal followed it up with all-instrumental song. I remember singing along to Quitate La Mascara by Ray Barretto. His set was fine and ended with two Merengue.
(6) Sound balance was rather scrambled – on both sides. This and the last song probably sounded less than optimal because of it.
(7) Luis called for Puerto Rico just before the start of this song. I figured that El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico would do. He didn’t get it. Vishal came in saying he wanted to play two requested songs. I dislike that line. By the way, I had this song since August last year. I have way too many El Gran Combo songs I have yet to play except I have so little time. The songs yet unplayed include Lirica Borinquena, Aguacero, Asi Son, Quince Anos, Que Cosas Tendran.

The first song was Me Libere by El Gran Combo. I was not happy. Luis exclaiming, “That's what I am talking about” did not help matters. The next two songs were Lloraras by Oscar D’Leon and Caballo Viejo by Roberto Torres. I had considered playing Lloraras tonight so this should have been okay except I was still recovering from Me Libere / Gran Combo / Puerto Rico debacle. Caballo Viejo on top of it just made me loss a great deal of will to dance. In the middle of Caballo Viejo, I decided upon which song to play next if I get back to the DJ booth. Next songs were Obsesion and an R & B Bachata.

Up to this point, I had only one dance – with Euvian during my first break. It was not great in large part because of too many unpredictable Cuban dancers moving in large circles. In fact, Sergio, Cyrille, Haihan, Rajiv, Zhenzhi, Stephanie, Euvian moved to the corner by the DJ booth and danced there - it made me think of the days of the old Salsa team. After a while, I started wondering if there was any song Vishal would play that would get me to the dance floor.

After the R & B Bachata, Vishal played songs like Caravan (Eddie Torres Orchestra) in what might have been an effort to make me pleased. He followed it up with more songs likely to drive non-Salsa dancers away from the club. I appreciated and disliked the gesture. The fact that Vishal was playing songs like these was simply making it more difficult for me to play songs he probably would not like.

After failing to get me to the dance floor, Vishal followed it up with more conventional stuff. Ahora Quien. Contigo. Micaela. Reggaeton. At one point, Stephanie tried. I brushed her off by asking whether she wanted to dance to the song being played. She danced with Cyrille instead. She left around 1.

It was pathetic. Maybe I should say I was pathetic. Not only was I not dancing, but I wasn’t moving at all – a dead weight - a little annoyed but mostly uninspired. I didn't feel like doing anything.

What almost worked was a slow Cha Cha. Not a good Cha Cha, but it was the right idea. My first choice would have been Zhenzhi but Haihan already had her. I asked Euvian instead. She claimed she didn’t know Cha Cha. Worse she didn’t try. It was pretty late I suppose. We gave up after a minute or so.

That was it. A mediocre Sunday at SOS. A tame Monday. A lame Tuesday. A deflating Wednesday. A disappointing Thursday. An all-time low Friday with 1 1/3 or 1 1/4 dance for the evening. I suppose I will make a brief appearance Saturday although it is close to certain that I won’t enjoy it. What I really dread is this Sunday.

When I went back to the DJ booth to pick up my stuff, Vishal asked if I wanted to play one more song. I told him that he wouldn’t like it. He brushed it off and told me to play one anyway. I cued it up. I thought about dancing to it. While I was contemplating, Vishal came by again and asked to play one Merengue request before my song. Sure. I took my CD out of one player and placed it on the other one after starting the Merengue.

After readjusting controls once again, I decided that I didn’t want to dance to it. According to the log in my iTunes, I have listened to this song more than any other. I have danced to it once before (at Scala). I am not sure if there’s anyone in Cambridge I would want to attempt to dance with to this song.

As I was about to start the song, Vishal said this is going to be the last song. Double whammy. I started the song. Vishal stopped it and announced to crowd that this was going to be the last song. He switched to the other channel and signaled to me to put something else on. There’s nothing else. Vishal still had his fingers on the fader. I pushed it back to the other side and started the song again.

What was the alternative anyway? At least 20-30 seconds of dead air while picking something different? He also told me to pick anything I liked (even after I stated that he won’t like it).

Viva Cepeda – Cal Tjader (-4%)*

Total 14 songs. 2 Bachata. 1 Cha Cha. 11 Salsa including 4 new.

I had told Sergio to dance to this song. He didn’t. He said it was too fast. Ideally (relatively speaking), this song should have been played about the time Caravan was played.

Next time, I am going to have to get Vishal to give me more advanced warning before taking over so that I would have a decent chance to dance to the last song I play for each of my mini sets. It might be the best way to prevent me from getting into a rut.

An amusing bit at the end. Sergio told Vishal that I was very tired. I suppose. I owe him £10. I never got to a cash machine. Ditto for Cyrille.