The Godfather

February 1, 2008

Dinner was at Sala Thong with Sergio, Natalie, Cyrille and Liam where the topic somehow was dominated by religion. Sergio and Natalie opted not to stay out late so it was only the three boys headed to Club Salsa afterwards – arriving around 10:30.

Joe was DJing and dancing at the same time. I couldn’t spot the third teacher, but it looked like Joe had brought along at least one and probably two other girls with him from London tonight. I had a dance with one of them before they left. I think Joe played Y No Hago Mas Na and Ban Ban among others. The other songs were familiar enough but not in my collection. One thing I have been noticing for past few weeks is that Joe has not been using pitch correction. I’m not sure if it’s by conscious choice.

Lindsey and Nicola were surprise shows but I wasn’t able to get a dance with them before they left – they had to get up early in the morning. Andrea was there but without Polly, and it did not seem like she stayed particularly long either. There were some others to dance with also before I started playing from my music collection including with some who I had not danced with in some time – I think she said first time this year.

Joe left me with a Bachata as the last song.

Playlist

Senora – Domenic Marte (1)
Quien Como Tu – Jose Alberto “El Canario”*
Me Dejo – Oscar D’Leon
Chango Ta Beni – German Villarreal*
Geisha Girl – Louie Ramirez*
Cuando Uno Se Enamorado – Bobby Valentin*
Ven A Medellin – Grupo Gale
El Apartamento – Willie Rosario*
Distinto Y Diferente – Don Perignon*
Mundy Baja – El Gran Combo
Rumbera – Willie Chirino
Lejos De Ti – Son Boricua
Musica Ligera – Toque De Keda
A La Yumbae – Tommy Olivencia
Duele Mas – Grupo Niche*
This Moment – Azabache*
Pa Borohol – Rey Reyes*
Acabo De Llegar – Alex Leon
El Negrito Del Batey – Direct Latin Influence (+5%) (2)*
Te Extrano – Extreme
Que Bonito Es Puerto Rico – Jose Alberto “El Canario”*
Vitamina – Sonora Carruseles (-5%)
Fantasia Cubana – German Villarreal*
Arrepentios Pecadores – Willie Rosario*
Para Darte Fuego – Frankie Ruiz
Tengo Testigo – Lebron Brothers*
Betece – Africando
Hacha Y Machete – Hector Lavoe (-2%)
You Will Remember Me – Domenic Marte
Let Me Love You – Mario*(3)
Tocate – Toque De Keda
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (-2%)
Fragile – Massimo Scalici (-2%)

(1) I noticed that the dance floor was quite empty. This was something of a problem all evening long.
(2) I speeded this up after consulting with Cyrille.
(3) Reggaeton request. I played this and one more. Afterwards they said I did play Reggaeton but they wanted “real” Reggaeton. I didn’t know their example by name. In any case I decided to go completely cheesy with my choice afterwards.

Total 33 songs. 26 Salsa (13 new - Duele Mas being a new uncut version). 2 Reggaeton (1 new). 2 Merengue (1 new). 3 Bachata.

I haven’t made a count but I’m guessing that the number of new songs I can play is getting fairly low after having a huge backlog for a quite a few months.

What I had been doing for past several occasions was to get those songs played and minimize same song getting played. Of 33 songs played tonight, only 5 songs had been played during previous 6 DJ sessions (during which total of 204 songs had been played) - Vitamina was played last week, Ven A Medellin was played two weeks ago, Te Extrano (Bachata) and Rumbera was played back on December 14th, and A La Yumbae (Merengue) was played 2 weeks ago and also on November 2nd.

My reasoning for limiting playing of any songs is that very few songs can withstand overexposure. If a song gets played only about once every 2 months or so, I don’t think anyone will get sick of it – as long as it is nice enough song to dance to in the first place. Among other difficulties I do get a temptation to play some songs more frequently. Another thing I end up guarding against is playing songs that Vishal or Sally had been playing frequently in past few months. In the long run, I think this approach will become more important on keeping things fresh because I cannot continue to get 10 new songs every week.

Regarding the Godfather title, it refers to an offer that could not be refused. I used it as an explanation for an incident which made Liam break out in laughter after I was done DJing.