The outsiders

July 19, 2007

It was an unusual night, no?

If only the people from the usual Cambridge scene were to be considered, this was a weak Thursday - compared to the summer standard.

A long aside - it's possible that from end of January to the end of March of 2007 could be considered the height of the new Golden Age of sort not to be topped for some time. Regulars in the scene during that time include Sergio, Ivan, Cyrille, Mark, Rajiv, Haihan, Zern, William, Lindsey, Nicola, Stephanie, Jane, Agnes, Zhenzhi, Mimi, Nina, Charlotte, Euvian. The last person to provide a significant push upwards was Haihan in my opinion. The decline started with Sergio's departure in April. Sergio's return in June was more than offset by summer departure of Mark, Haihan, Stephanie, Agnes. Because Sergio will be gone by end of September for about a year (or just in time for the summer vacation people to return), I think the scene reaching a new height only could happen by an import of another major talent.

Back to tonight - because of a rather large number of outside visitors, tonight ended up being slightly above average Thursday for the summer. What happened? Here's a hint.

Thus I was expecting the dude from York - he was the one with the bandanas. I did not expect the other five people though. Not necessarily everyone showed up because of the posts - I'm guessing one of the couple might have been there for a reason completely unrelated - here I'm referring to Pavlina and Pierre, whom I have met in London and in Blackpool and apparently has a friend living in Cambridge. Who knows for sure, however.

Absent from the class were Rajiv, Cyrille and Zern. Zern was nowhere to be seen tonight. Charlotte was a surprise addition to Sauce after the first class. I talked mostly with Ed until Cyrille showed up.

The other unusual thing was that Ivan was the DJ for the night. He played some things Sally doesn't play as well as some things he hadn't played before. Some of the selections are listed below.

El Todopoderoso, Paraiso De Dulzura (Hector Lavoe) – I’m guessing that Ivan’s collection of Hector Lavoe album is limited to La Voz, which was also my first Hector Lavoe album. These songs are okay, but they quickly became second or third tier choices when I acquired additional Hector Lavoe albums. A really good and very extensive Hector Lavoe compilation CD (2 CDs) was released few days ago - called A Man And His Music - La Voz (with just a little patience, the price should come down to under £8 and possibly £7 - this is the case for all Fania A Man and His Music 2 CD compilations sold by Amazon associated dealers); for those not interested in getting several individual albums instead, this collection should be a great buy. I probably will end up getting this compilation for songs like La Banda, La Murga, Rey Del Punctualidad, which are included in three separate original albums (with Willie Colon or with Fania All Stars) (and I already have 4 albums by Hector Lavoe – La Voz, Comedia, De Ti Depende, El Sabio - and two with Willie Colon - El Juicio, Crime Pays).

Mi Ritmo Es Bueno (Bobby Valentin) – Presumably from the album Rey Del Bajo. Ivan seems to like this song the most of out this album, which also contains other good (perhaps better) songs such as Hay Craneo (comp. Tito Rodriguez) and Cuando Te Vea (comp. Tito Puente).

Lluvia Con Nieve (Mon Rivera) – This is not a Charanga. It’s Mambo. Maybe Mambo-Jazz hybrid. This was the first time Ivan played this - becoming the third person to have done so in Cambridge (after me and Vishal - haha).

Clave Mambo (Joe Cuba Sextet) – I don’t have this song in my CD collection because I am not willing to get it by buying a compilation album only for this song. I’m waiting for the album We Must Be Doing Something Right / Estamos Haciendo Algo Bien to be reissued. To best of my knowledge, this was the first time anyone played this song in Cambridge.

Rumbon Melon (Joey Pastrana) – From the album Let's Ball - out of print

La-La-La (Direct Latin Influence) – I see that Ivan added this to his collection probably by buying the CD DLI II – I can’t remember if there’s a compilation CD with this song at this time.

My Favorite Things (New Swing Sextet)
Cao Cao Mani Picao (artist?) - I think Ivan might be the only person in Cambridge with this version.
Merecumbe (Johnny Colon)
Indestructible (Ray Barretto)
Asia Mood (Tito Puente)

Lamento Boliviano (Toque De Keda) - last song of the evening.

There are bunch of songs I didn't know and not in regular play list for other DJs too. The Cha Cha would be an example.

Anyhow, it was an interesting night. I can't say I was in great form - I might give myself a B - my form was decided average or perhaps slightly above average (by standard of last 2-3 months or so). My effort to incorporate some new moves from Monday was definitely rough around the edges although they seemed like pretty simple moves. Conversely some moves which I thought were easy because I have been using them for a while now was no longer very easy when applied to new people. Maybe my lead isn't as good as I thought - maybe a lot of people are clued into what I'm going to lead because I have become somewhat predictable.

Comment of the day - "There's a lot of desperate people." Whoa! Urrr… no comment.