When you were not playing songs you always play

March 23, 2007

Dinner was at Sergio's again - another take-out from Mai Thai - just the three of us - the San Miguel gang. There won't be many more of this - another one next week, but after that no more - at least not until the summer. It enabled us to watch Cyrille's favorite show - Ugly Betty. Oddest topic? Sergio's shoes. I ate too many crackers.

Vishal was DJing at some college until midnight, so I knew that I wanted to be there fairly early - before his CD runs out of songs. I thought we were going to leave at 10. It didn't happen until nearly 10:30. Ironing. Coffee. Shoes. The usual CD was on when I arrived. I let it play to the end of Tambo (Susie Hansen).

Playlist

Meneame La Cuna - Roberto Torres (1)
Sopa En Botella - Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
Hablame - Frankie Ruiz (2)
Pegaso - Isidro Infante
El Abaniquito - Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers
Guaguanco Del Gran Combo - El Gran Combo
Soy Dichoso - Ray Barretto
Merecumbe - Johnny Colon
Musica Ligera - Toke D Keda
Te Extrano - Toke D Keda
Avisale A Mi Contrario - Roberto Roena
Babarabatiri - Willie Rosario (3)
Cubanoson - Cubanoson
La Lucha (featuring Shanny) - La Excelencia
Que Buena Baila Usted - Oscar D'Leon (4)
Descarga Lebron - Lebron Brothers (-4%)
No Aguanto Mas - Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco (5)
El Menu - El Gran Combo (6)
Abran Paso - Orchestra Harlow (with Ismael Miranda)
Muneca - Alfredo De La Fe (7)
Cinco A Diez - Azabache
Cao Cao Mani Picao - Tito Puente (8)

break (9)

Mundy Baja - El Gran Combo (10)
Esas Lagrimas - Gilberto Santa Rosa (11)
Push, Push, Push - Joe Cuba Sextet (12)
La-La-La - Direct Latin Influence
Dejame Sonar - Tito Puente (13)
El Swing De Fruko - Fruko Y Sus Tesos (-4%)
Un Apretoncito - Toke D Keda
Lamento Boliviano - Toke D Keda
Azuquita Pal Café - El Gran Combo
Lloraras - Oscar D'Leon (14)
Agua Limpia Todo - Tito Puente (15)*
Gotas De Lluvia - El Gran Combo
Reggaeton request (name?) - ? (16)
La Llave - Grupo Latin Vibe
Bailando - Frankie Ruiz
Revolucionando - New Swing Sextet
Ojos Chinos - El Gran Combo (17)

(1) Luis says, "You better play good music tonight," as soon as he sees me. Oh great.
(2) The word "Merengue" was mentioned couple of times already. How many choices do I have? Blame this and previous song partly on Luis too.
(3) I'm pretty sure I played this one here. Shila was spending a lot of time in the DJ booth again - getting in the way and making me forget to write down names of songs played in sequence.
(4) This nearly caused a riot.
(5) The Merengue card was played here.
(6) Vishal returned. He accidentally pressed the pause button. About a 1 second confusion ensued.
(7) Shila decides that this is a good song.
(8) Vishal ended this song prematurely - resulting in Sergio and Serap dancing a Merengue.
(9) Vishal played 2 Merengue (1 new and 1 old) and 2 or 3 Salsa before letting me back in again. His last song was La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba (Susie Hansen). He didn't get the dance he wanted.
(10) Sergio admits that he was wrong - Sally did not play Babarabatiri last night.
(11) Luis started complaining. And then he realized what this song was.
(12) I think I played this one here - I didn't write it down. Blame it on Shila again.
(13) I decided that at least one more round of fast songs would be worth trying.
(14) Another mini-surge.
(15) Hmmm. I think this was the only new song I played tonight.
(16) This request and the accompanying CD had been with me after I played the first Merengue. First Vishal took over. And then, I got a little confused about the song (second track in the 4 song CD) because it started like a bolero. And then the guy asked me to wait until after 1 AM to play it. Finally it came down to this spot. This song (about 4:15 long) has a ~50 second intro before it gets into Reggaeton. I considered chopping out the intro, but the guy asked me to play at least part of the slow part. There was no obvious starting point so I decided to ramp up the volume gradually and give it about 20 second intro. I screwed up. I had the controllers misdialled so there was no ramping up of volume. Oh well.
(17) Luis complains, "You play this when no one's here anymore... El Gran Combo del Puerto Rico..." I replied, "I played something like 5 songs by El Gran Combo tonight." (Note: I played six, not five)

Total 41 songs (1 request was not from my collection though). 4 Bachata. 1 Merengue. 1 Cha Cha (Boogaloo). 1 Reggaeton (not mine). 34 Salsa including 1 new.

Vishal followed it up with some Reggaeton, La Vida Es Un Carnaval (Celia Cruz), Playa No More (Crystal Sierra - I think it's like a reflex), then more non-Salsa. Maybe he remembered that Micaela was in his CD and thus avoided the trifecta. It looked as if I might end the evening without a single dance for the evening - I had asked someone during the first break and another person after finishing my second set, but they either gave me a rain-check or declined. Vishal put on another Salsa (something Romantica) and I found someone to dance with - so a night of zero dances was averted. This dance by the way was nice. Sergio (and Cyrille) watched me dance and later commented that it was nicely done - fit the music pretty well. His main criticism was that I should have made a little more eye contact.

Miscellaneous. According to Johnny (heard second-hand via Sergio), there was a couple (?) of SOS regulars tonight. I didn't look very hard although now that I think about it I think I remember the girl (I think I saw her at Cambridge before at SOS though). There was another couple both Sergio and I liked - they were a little goofy, but they seemed to be listening to the music and put their interpretation to it unlike most others.