Run-in with the law

December 14, 2007

No Joe. Danie and Vish were sole instructors. I hear there will be a class on Monday but not Friday next week. Vish had a song queued for the start of the social - it was the exact same song I was going to start with. The only difference was that Vish had the song set to be played slowed down, and I changed it to normal speed.

Playlist

La Llave - Grupo Latin Vibe (1)
Yamulemau - Joe Arroyo*
Espiritu Burlon - Santiago Ceron
Que Quiere La Nina - Kako Y Totico
La-La-La - Direct Latin Influence
Asi Son - El Gran Combo*
Nunca Que Quedas - Frankie Ruiz
Cancion - La Sonora Poncena (live)*
Que Bueno Baila Usted - Oscar D'Leon
Son Diez Lagrimas - Lebron Brothers*
El Hueso De Maria - Tito Rodriguez
La Cartera - Orchestra Harlow (Live in Quad)
Apretoncito - Toque D' Keda
Quiero Enamorarte - Marco Ferretti*

--break for 6-8 songs--

Clasiquiendo Con Ruben - Afro Cuban All Stars (2)
Margarito - Bobby Valentin
Rumbera - Willie Chirino*
Baila Que Baila - Jose Alberto "El Canario"
Fuego A La Jicotea - Marvin Santiago
Sin Negro No Hay Guaguanco - Lebron Brothers*
Nadie Como Ella - Marc Anthony
Lejos De Ti - Angel Canales
El Abaniquito - Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers
Calle Luna Calle Sol - Willie Colon*
Conmigo - Eddie Palmieri*
Guaguanco Del Gran Combo - El Gran Combo
Violent's Guaguanco - Johnny Rodriguez & Angel Rene Orquesta*
Abran Paso - Orchestra Harlow
El Que Se Fue - Tito Rodriguez (WSLatino)* (3)
El Titere - Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz*
A La Yumbae - Tommy Olivencia (4)
No Aguanto Mas - Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
Musica Ligera - Toque D' Keda
Te Extrano - Extreme (5)*
Hay Craneo - Bobby Valentin
Babarabatiri - Tito Puente (studio)
No Critiques - Eddie Palmieri
Dejame En Paz - Johnny Colon* (6)
No Quiero Na Regala'o - Gilberto Santa Rosa
Rompe - Daddy Yankee* (7)
Se Me Fue - El Gran Combo
Chango Ta Beni - Willie Rosario (8)
Soulsa - Estrellas Caiman
Hace Tiempo - Angel Canales (9)

(1) Vish and me thinking the same way.
(2) The song before this one was some Timba. Vish had it queued. I could have chosen not to play it, but I did anyway. Sergio and Cyrille arrived shortly before I started the Timba song. It took two songs afterwards to build up momentum sufficiently once again.
(3) I meant to play Bilongo. No big problem.
(4) Vish had asked me for the second time whether I had Merengue shortly before this.
(5) Two Merengue, two Bachata… I was thinking a Reggaeton next possibly, but Vish begged me to play Salsa. Who am I to argue? Enough is enough, right?
(6) People are beginning to leave. It is getting late.
(7) Reggaeton (belated?) did not help at all.
(8) A comment received - "I want to go home!" …and there are no women to dance with either. Hehehe.
(9) Vish was going to put on a different disc thinking there was no one left for Salsa until he spotted Cyrille and Sergio still around. He then asked me to play a little more. Cyrille and Sergio were ready to go home, so I told them that this would be my last song.

Total 44 songs. 4 Bachata - 2 new. 2 Merengue. 1 Reggaeton - 1 new. 37 Salsa - 11 new. I wasn't planning on playing that many new songs. It just worked out that way.

It was an interesting night attendance-wise. It looked precarious at start. Second wave (Sergio et al) did not arrive until around 11 with there being very little influx of people between 10 and 11. Influx of people was better after 11 and continued til some time after midnight. I think some of the people might have come over after the end of the Bravo X-mas party, but I'm not sure.

I danced with only one person. Not by design. During the break, I was hoping to ask at least one more except she was either nowhere to be seen or were busy dancing with others. During my second session, I was playing too many short songs (most ranging between 2 3/4 min and 3 3/4 min) between Fuego A La Jicotea and No Critiques (or a span of 19 songs). [note: The exceptions are El Abaniquito and Nadie Como Ella at just under 5 min each and El Que Se Fue at 4 min 20 sec.] Also, Vish decided to send home most of his staff shortly after 11 thinking that the night would be a bust (whereas it became surprisingly busy afterwards).

Drive back was a bit unusual - once again. After dropping of Cyrille and nearing Sergio's place, I was stopped by a police patrol in Chesterton. I stopped and rolled down my window.

"Please turn the engine off."

"Okay."

"Do you know why we stopped you?"

"I have no idea."

"One of your lights is out."

"Really? It must have gone out very recently. I had no idea. Too bad this happened now - especially since I'm going out of country early next week."

"What were you doing tonight?"

"I was at a club. I was deejaying mostly."

"Did you have anything to drink?"

"I had one beer. Around 10-11."

"Please step out of the car"

"Okay."

"We are going to perform a sobriety test. Is this okay with you?"

"Sure. I don't think one beer is going to cause me a problem. The proprietor was trying to get me to drink more. I guess he got me once."

I was led to walk around to the pavement/sidewalk.

"Have you ever used a breathalyzer?"

"No."

"Have you ever blow balloons?"

"Yeah."

"It's just like that. You take a deep breath and blow as hard and long as you can."

"What if I run out of breath? Do I take another breath and blow again?"

They ignored this question. They got ready - getting a disposable unit out of packaging, etc.

"By the way, if you had refused to comply, we would have had to arrest you. Because you said you had a drink, we were legally required to test you."

"Okay. Take a deep breath and blow please."

I take a couple of deep breath and get my fingers on the analyzer to stabilize it.

"Take your hands off the machine please."

I complied and start to blow.

Nothing happened. They talked to each other.

"I don't think it was turned on."

"Please do it again."

I did it again. Nothing happens.

"I think the batteries are dead."

I started to laugh.

"We think you're okay. Please don't drive the car tomorrow even in the daylight. First go to a store and get the light replaced."

"Okay."

That was that. A few things. It's probably a good thing that I did not accept Vishal's offer of beer just before I was leaving the club. I would have been interested to know what my alcohol level would have been with just one beer. How close to the limit would I have been? Replacing the light won't be easy. I have the bulbs already, but I've seen people at Halfords struggling half an hour replacing the bulb in that car. I don't think I could do any better - without any tools no less.

Another amusing point. When I dropped Cyrille off last Thursday, we were followed by a different police patrol. I guess we looked suspicious. They drove off after seeing me drop off Cyrille.