Everything but the kitchen sink

April 20, 2007

Cyrille made the dinner reservation at the Varsity Restaurant for six by early afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised after having given him hard time about it last night. I wasn't sure who the sixth person was until I got to the restaurant though. People in attendance by order of arrival were me, Cyrille, Natalie, Zern, Euvian and Mimi.

Predominant topic dealt with boyfriends and girlfriends - past, present, prospective, ours, others. I suppose it's a very expansive topic. David, Sylvia and Sergio were all talked about of course. More memorable adjectives used included seasonal, topless and peacock. I was also told that it's commonplace for a person to get divorced and married 5-6 times in Cuba (although this seems to say more about liberal divorce laws and other peculiarities of Cuba more than about the topic of philandering Latin men stereotype preceding this talk).

We did not leave the restaurant until nearly 10:30. When I arrived, Vishal was playing songs like Micaela, Me Libere and La Vida Es Un Carnaval. When I finally took over, Vishal talked about it being Johnny's birthday and not slowing things by playing Cha Cha, etc.

Playlist (very short)

Cubanoson - Cubanoson
La Lucha (feat. Shanny) - La Excelencia
Pegaso - Isidro Infante
Mujeres De Mayari - Cubanoson
Caballero Y Dama - Celia Cruz & Willie Chirino
La Pantera Mambo - La 33

break - Johnny's birthday dance done to Merecumbe by Johnny Colon

Nadie Se Salva De La Rumba - Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Adalberto Santiago
Llore - Hector Lavoe
Indestructible - Ray Barretto (1) (-4%)

break involving two Merengue

Mambo Diablo - Tito Puente (2)

(1) This was a request made by Cyrille. Euvian and Mimi were gone by this time - I had not expected them to come tonight, especially Mimi.
(2) This was enough for Vishal to pull the plug. He talked about DJing for 10 minutes or so, and I did not press to return.

Total - 10 Salsa. Nothing new.

I never got a chance to dance with Mimi or Euvian. I probably danced <10 Salsa - nothing serious nor light. I had some trouble with leading (or more accurately stopping) multiple spins. My favorite dance was to a surprise Cha Cha Vishal put on later Louise - she was on time (On2) and did not seem bored. All things considered, Salsa songs Vishal put on were sometimes fine if almost invariably a bit overplayed (e.g. Caballo Viejo, Brujeria, Contigo, a cover version of Vamonos Pal Monte, Mi Tierra, Cali Pachanguero).

It was a rather ho hum kind of evening until near the end. For some reason the corner (with better working AC) by the DJ booth stayed very lively while the rest of the floor died a slow death. I think it was a birthday party heavily populated by Spaniards. Cyrille, Zern and I (lingering for no real reason other than maybe dreading the prospect of looking out-of-place at Ballare tomorrow night) decided to join this crowd for bunch of group dancing - including Macarena. Starting with Reggaeton, Vishal took everything-but-kitchen sink approach to DJing. It was different. It was raucous. It was silly. It was sorta fun.