June 29, 2008
Goodbyes seem to be never-ending. Even in London. I learned that Vera is set to return to the States. I guess it means one less friendly face to look forward to seeing. No doubt plenty of others will miss her too. Seeing her and having one final dance with her was one of several saving graces of visiting what was overall subpar SOS.
I meant to take this SOS outing as a relaxing trip more than anything else. I thought that on the whole I would have more to gain than lose in terms of recovering from a strenuous week or two. Travelling however done and dancing no matter how little effort put in no doubt take some toll physically, but I thought that being able to unwind mentally and for lack of better words spiritually may compensate. I think it was good even though it wasn’t a very good SOS night.
The crowd seemed a bit thin – at least to start with. The Euro 2008 football final may have had something to do with it. Spain won over Germany by the way. I think I watched no more than 30 minutes of the entire tournament. It’s difficult to see why football would interfere with Salsa, but it does seem to happen with big events.
The biggest problem in my opinion was the music. One song of same bass line and percussion with barely audible piano and without melody was one of the low points and seemed to summarize the musical direction overall. The less impressive covers of songs like Agua Limpia Todo, Lady, and a Hector Lavoe cover (not sure if it was El Cantante or Periodico De Ayer) and others did not help much. Some other covers like Sandra Mora and Swing La Moderna (by Mandingo) were somewhat better. The Cha Cha of the evening wasn’t too bad, but the Bachata wasn’t very fun. In my opinion the DJ was trying too hard to look clever.
After being asked for the first dance (I think I was asked 3 or 4 times tonight, which is on the high side for sure), I tried asking a couple of people sight unseen with disappointing and progressively worse results. After that I decided to be a bit more discriminating. Even then there were more than a few worrying dances.
The number of On2 dances was limited to 3-5 tonight. For a change the quality of On2 dances or at least my followers was on average slightly better than the quality of On1 tonight – believe it or not in my experience I find that there are plenty of followers who are not great with On2 timing but insist on it when given choice. For tonight the change probably had much to do with the fact that surprisingly large number of partners for my On1 dances was either not very good or having off nights.
Personal note: I learned that my brother's wife is pregnant this weekend. I guess I'm going to have a nephew for the first time. Funny coincidence - someone told me she was going to be a grandmother late Friday night during a dance.
Thank God It's Over
June 28, 2008
This was so draining. Good thing Vish will be back, and I won't have to do this again. I had the most difficult Salsa and Merengue ever. Combine it with a back-breaking Bachata the other night…
It was a definitely an interesting learning experience. I think the Salsa was difficult possibly because my partner was used to a particular style very different than what I am used to. It might be that heretofore unexperienced Colombian/Cali style with an entirely different basic step or such.
There was a mix-up with meeting Bulbul early. I thought for a while that I might be going without Vish's CD and thus prepared the start of the evening with that assumption. Thankfully the lessons went way over time and I managed to find Bulbul next door.
Playlist
Huracan – Bobby Valentin
La Muy Muy – Roberto Torres
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe
Guallando – Fulanito
Volver Volver – Grupo Gale
Un Alto En El Camino – Grupo Niche
Mandali – Africando
Woman De Callao – Juan Luis Guerra
Tumbando Cabeza – Tabaco Y Ron (1)
(v) Merengue Mix 3
Pobre Mendigo – Toque D Keda (2)
Oiga Mire Vea – Orquesta Guayacan (3)
(v) Remember (Merengue or Merengue-like)
Ven Tu – Domenic Marte
Tu Amor Hace Bien – Marc Anthony (4)
(v) Merengue Mix 2 (5)
(v) Whenever Whenever – Shakira (6)
I Love Salsa – N’Klabe (-5%) (7)
El Costo De La Vida – Juan Luis Guerra*
Te Extrano – Extreme
Playa No More – Crystal Sierra
(v) La Quiero A Morir – DLG
(v) Procura (Cumbia)
(v) Bailando (Reggaeton)
Cachondea – Fruko Y Sus Tesos (-5%) (8)
Playa Fo Sho – Toby Love (9)
Valio La Pena – Marc Anthony (farewell dance for Katrina)
(v) Suavemente – Elvis Crespo (10)
(v) Cali Pachanguero – Grupo Niche
(v) Simarik
Rompe – Daddy Yankee
Me Libere – El Gran Combo
(v) La Tortura – Shakira
(v) Asi Asi
(v) El Impacto (Reggaeton)
(v) La Vida Es Un Carnaval – Celia Cruz
(v) Chayenne
(v) Un Dos Tres – Ricky Martin
(v) Popular Cumbia (11)
(v) Mambo No 5 – Lou Bega
Lloraras – Oscar D’Leon
(v) La Bamba – Ritchie Valens
(v) Tequila
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D Keda
Loco De Amor – Evolution A R
La Fiesta De Pilito – El Gran Combo (12)
Guallando – Fulanito (13)
El Cuarto De Tula – Buena Vista Social Club
(v) Dile (Reggaeton) (14)
Perdoname – Gilberto Santa Rosa
(1) I thought Colombian, Salsa, new-ish. I don’t know if the reaction was poor from everyone, but I did hear from someone who wanted tried and true Merengue, Reggaeton, Bachata, etc. I opted to pick the long Merengue Mix 3, which had a weak reception last week, and see if it fares any better. The answer for tonight was yes but not by much.
(2) First of multiple Bachata request of the evening.
(3) The thought this time was Classic Colombian Salsa. This worked fine tonight. I don’t think it’s an everyday song. Then again I don’t think any song is for every day. Well – it’s not an everyday song by my looser definition too for whatever its’ worth.
(4) Two whiffs in a row.
(5) Am I torturing them or am I torturing myself? Aiming for pyrrhic victory? Feeling punchy?
(6) Not that it matters to me, but I wonder if the Spanish version would be any better. Actually I don’t think it’ll make much difference.
(7) Seems alright for tonight. I wonder if slowing was welcomed by all.
(8) This one was inspired by a conversation earlier with a Colombian.
(9) Bachata has been something of a floor cleaner. In this case I decided that it would help with clearing the floor for Katrina’s farewell dance.
(10) That was exciting. Not. Really, it was pathetic. I ended up dancing to this one to drum up interest.
(11) I was going to play this. Then I wasn’t – because I thought the people who would want it were all gone. Then I did because those people reappeared to make the request. Actually I was rather happy to comply. By the way I was expecting one dance and gone type of response. I ended up getting three more dances and another excited but must go type of response. Easy to please – I have no problem with that.
(12) Totally unexpected. I was quite surprised but happy to fulfil this song-specific request. The exchange went something like, “Marc Anthony?” “Ahora Quien?” “Umm maybe not. How about El Gran Combo?” “Which one?” “What do you have?” “I have A LOT.” “You’ve got La Fiesta De Pilito?” “Yeah, isn’t it a bit fast? Are you sure? Great!”
(13) I was going to play a slow Merengue. The suggestion was crazy fast Merengue. Okay. I don’t care that much. I’m very sure that no one was here earlier to hear all of Guallando.
(14) Song-specific request. Another unexpected – Reggaeton so late? I guess this is one of those “must be heard every time they’re out” type of song. The song may have a different title. Also I faded out I Wanna Love You early to play this and the next closing song.
Total = 50 songs. 21 songs from Vishal’s collection – 5 Merengue, 2 Salsa, 3 Reggaeton, 2 Cumbia, 9 miscellaneous. 29 songs from my collection – 18 Salsa including 1 new, 4 Merengue including 1 repeat and 1 new, 6 Bachata, 1 Reggaeton.
I also had an interesting discussion about music/DJing etc with David from Peru. Also there was a long goodbye with Katrina. I was nearly catatonic when I finally left the premises.
This was so draining. Good thing Vish will be back, and I won't have to do this again. I had the most difficult Salsa and Merengue ever. Combine it with a back-breaking Bachata the other night…
It was a definitely an interesting learning experience. I think the Salsa was difficult possibly because my partner was used to a particular style very different than what I am used to. It might be that heretofore unexperienced Colombian/Cali style with an entirely different basic step or such.
There was a mix-up with meeting Bulbul early. I thought for a while that I might be going without Vish's CD and thus prepared the start of the evening with that assumption. Thankfully the lessons went way over time and I managed to find Bulbul next door.
Playlist
Huracan – Bobby Valentin
La Muy Muy – Roberto Torres
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe
Guallando – Fulanito
Volver Volver – Grupo Gale
Un Alto En El Camino – Grupo Niche
Mandali – Africando
Woman De Callao – Juan Luis Guerra
Tumbando Cabeza – Tabaco Y Ron (1)
(v) Merengue Mix 3
Pobre Mendigo – Toque D Keda (2)
Oiga Mire Vea – Orquesta Guayacan (3)
(v) Remember (Merengue or Merengue-like)
Ven Tu – Domenic Marte
Tu Amor Hace Bien – Marc Anthony (4)
(v) Merengue Mix 2 (5)
(v) Whenever Whenever – Shakira (6)
I Love Salsa – N’Klabe (-5%) (7)
El Costo De La Vida – Juan Luis Guerra*
Te Extrano – Extreme
Playa No More – Crystal Sierra
(v) La Quiero A Morir – DLG
(v) Procura (Cumbia)
(v) Bailando (Reggaeton)
Cachondea – Fruko Y Sus Tesos (-5%) (8)
Playa Fo Sho – Toby Love (9)
Valio La Pena – Marc Anthony (farewell dance for Katrina)
(v) Suavemente – Elvis Crespo (10)
(v) Cali Pachanguero – Grupo Niche
(v) Simarik
Rompe – Daddy Yankee
Me Libere – El Gran Combo
(v) La Tortura – Shakira
(v) Asi Asi
(v) El Impacto (Reggaeton)
(v) La Vida Es Un Carnaval – Celia Cruz
(v) Chayenne
(v) Un Dos Tres – Ricky Martin
(v) Popular Cumbia (11)
(v) Mambo No 5 – Lou Bega
Lloraras – Oscar D’Leon
(v) La Bamba – Ritchie Valens
(v) Tequila
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D Keda
Loco De Amor – Evolution A R
La Fiesta De Pilito – El Gran Combo (12)
Guallando – Fulanito (13)
El Cuarto De Tula – Buena Vista Social Club
(v) Dile (Reggaeton) (14)
Perdoname – Gilberto Santa Rosa
(1) I thought Colombian, Salsa, new-ish. I don’t know if the reaction was poor from everyone, but I did hear from someone who wanted tried and true Merengue, Reggaeton, Bachata, etc. I opted to pick the long Merengue Mix 3, which had a weak reception last week, and see if it fares any better. The answer for tonight was yes but not by much.
(2) First of multiple Bachata request of the evening.
(3) The thought this time was Classic Colombian Salsa. This worked fine tonight. I don’t think it’s an everyday song. Then again I don’t think any song is for every day. Well – it’s not an everyday song by my looser definition too for whatever its’ worth.
(4) Two whiffs in a row.
(5) Am I torturing them or am I torturing myself? Aiming for pyrrhic victory? Feeling punchy?
(6) Not that it matters to me, but I wonder if the Spanish version would be any better. Actually I don’t think it’ll make much difference.
(7) Seems alright for tonight. I wonder if slowing was welcomed by all.
(8) This one was inspired by a conversation earlier with a Colombian.
(9) Bachata has been something of a floor cleaner. In this case I decided that it would help with clearing the floor for Katrina’s farewell dance.
(10) That was exciting. Not. Really, it was pathetic. I ended up dancing to this one to drum up interest.
(11) I was going to play this. Then I wasn’t – because I thought the people who would want it were all gone. Then I did because those people reappeared to make the request. Actually I was rather happy to comply. By the way I was expecting one dance and gone type of response. I ended up getting three more dances and another excited but must go type of response. Easy to please – I have no problem with that.
(12) Totally unexpected. I was quite surprised but happy to fulfil this song-specific request. The exchange went something like, “Marc Anthony?” “Ahora Quien?” “Umm maybe not. How about El Gran Combo?” “Which one?” “What do you have?” “I have A LOT.” “You’ve got La Fiesta De Pilito?” “Yeah, isn’t it a bit fast? Are you sure? Great!”
(13) I was going to play a slow Merengue. The suggestion was crazy fast Merengue. Okay. I don’t care that much. I’m very sure that no one was here earlier to hear all of Guallando.
(14) Song-specific request. Another unexpected – Reggaeton so late? I guess this is one of those “must be heard every time they’re out” type of song. The song may have a different title. Also I faded out I Wanna Love You early to play this and the next closing song.
Total = 50 songs. 21 songs from Vishal’s collection – 5 Merengue, 2 Salsa, 3 Reggaeton, 2 Cumbia, 9 miscellaneous. 29 songs from my collection – 18 Salsa including 1 new, 4 Merengue including 1 repeat and 1 new, 6 Bachata, 1 Reggaeton.
I also had an interesting discussion about music/DJing etc with David from Peru. Also there was a long goodbye with Katrina. I was nearly catatonic when I finally left the premises.
Going Up A Slippery Slope?
June 27, 2008
Strange night. It was pretty good at times, but it was lacking in many ways. There was surprisingly large number of out-of-town guests. However, this seemed to be compensated by there being smaller number of locals. There seemed to be a lot less dancing going on than usual. Some speculations. Maybe some people felt insecure about dancing abilities; I have hard time believing this is true because there weren’t anyone remotely intimidating or head and shoulders above others. Maybe the music was too loud; it seemed a bit shrill at times later so I brought the volume way down later. Maybe the music wasn’t likable; it’s difficult to know for sure but some songs seemed to be liked a great deal by a few people. Maybe the floor was too slippery. Maybe there were too many people predestined to leave early. I don’t really know the answer but I did not think too highly of the dance floor vibe tonight.
Joe started off as the DJ up until the Bachata/Hip Hop show by Femi & Livvy. I saw very little of the show because I was busy picking the song etc in a crowded DJ booth.
Playlist
La-La-La – Direct Latin Influence (1)
Guaguanco Pa’l Que Sabe – Johnny Pacheco*
A Corazon Abierto – Hector Tricoche*
Lindo Yambu – Santiago Ceron
En La Casa De Mi Compay – Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Loco De Amor – Evolution A R (2)
Cuando Te Vea – German Villarreal
Mentirosa – Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Guaguanco En New York – Jose Curbelo* (3)
Que Bonito Es Puerto Rico – Jose Alberto “El Canario”
Bilongo – Charanga De La 4 (hyh version 1 "rough cut")* (4)
Salsa Y Control – Isidro Infante
Que Bonito Es Sonar – Jimmy Bosch
Ublabadu – Fania All Stars
Me Enamorado De Ella – Juan Luis Guerra (5)
Quiero Enamorarte – Marco Ferretti
Amor Perfecto – El Gran Combo
Buenas Noches Che Che – Tito Rodriguez
Si Te Busca En El Baile – Edwin Bonilla*
Lluvia Con Nieve – La Charanga New York* (6)
Pueblo Latino – Spanish Harlem Orchestra*
El Negrito Del Batey – Direct Latin Influence
Playa Fa Sho – Toby Love
Brujeria – El Gran Combo
Gotas De Lluvia – Grupo Niche (7)
A El – Oscar D’Leon*
Por Que Adore – Mark Dimond & Frankie Dante (8)
Bailando – Frankie Ruiz
Hong Kong Mambo – Tito Puente
Idilio – Willie Colon
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D Keda (9)
Ojala Que Llueve Café – Juan Luis Guerra (10)
Me Voy Pa Las Villas – La Charanga New York* (11)
I Wanna Love You – Pablo Bachata
Gotas De Lluvia – El Gran Combo
Mami – Pablo Bachata
Una Mulata En La Habana – Adalberto Alvarez* (12)
Push Push Push – Joe Cuba Sextet
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe
(1) Something of a cop-out choice. By this I mean that this is a standard standby song – a comforter like a pacifier for an infant.
(2) Bachata request from Andrea. I’ve been playing this song a lot lately – is this fourth week in a row for this song?
(3) I do have to wonder if people get sick of me insisting on playing oldies from 50s.
(4) Quite possibly the musical highlight of the evening. This is a version I created – a simple trimming of a little over 3 minutes of the song to make it a 7-minute song. I’m not completely sold on this version, but the reaction from 2-3 people tonight seemed positive. So is it ready for big time? I think I should refine bits here and there to make it slightly less awkward first. By the way I waited as long as I thought possible before starting this song. Fortunately my VIP intended audience showed up just in time – even if she was busy conversing with another person once again rather than dancing or anything else.
(5) Sad thing is that there is not much Merengue crowd to buttress the numbers.
(6) At this point, I am simply picking songs I want to play because I can’t seem to stem the bleeding no matter which song I pick. By the way, I doubt anyone noticed that this is a different version of the song – the original is by Mon Rivera.
(7) A dance with Livvy.
(8) I switched over to the mode where I’m playing for one couple.
(9) The place is more crowded now than it was about 20 minutes ago as some Latin people and non-dancers made their way in. I switched the song choice from a Salsa to a Bachata (my decision) to this particular Bachata upon a song-specific request.
(10) I might want to shelve this one for a month or so. I find Merengue so limiting because I still feel I have so little of it – even though my options have increased dramatically in last month or two. The thing is I’m simply not very interested in getting a lot of Merengue CDs.
(11) This one might be a keeper – probably should play it again with more people and see how it works out.
(12) Yup. It’s very Cuban. It wasn’t as evident when I was listening to it with earphones, etc.
Total = 39 songs. 2 Merengue. 6 Bachata. 1 Cha Cha. 30 Salsa including 10 (or 9) new.
Bulbul took over for about half an hour at the end.
Next Friday has another performance, this time by Anne and Anichi. Joe says Lee, Shelley and a friend of Shelley will be accompanying them. I think I might want to make an effort to get some people out. Too many of these showcase nights had too many neither here nor there kind of results.
I was very tired by the end of the evening; I'm not looking forward to tomorrow night. Vish is needed back from Pontins, Lithuania, etc.
As for my dancing these days, I can't decide whether I'm still improving, becoming parochial, developing odd habits or interesting personality, etc. I may be in need of calibration of sorts, but I don't know of any surefire test.
Strange night. It was pretty good at times, but it was lacking in many ways. There was surprisingly large number of out-of-town guests. However, this seemed to be compensated by there being smaller number of locals. There seemed to be a lot less dancing going on than usual. Some speculations. Maybe some people felt insecure about dancing abilities; I have hard time believing this is true because there weren’t anyone remotely intimidating or head and shoulders above others. Maybe the music was too loud; it seemed a bit shrill at times later so I brought the volume way down later. Maybe the music wasn’t likable; it’s difficult to know for sure but some songs seemed to be liked a great deal by a few people. Maybe the floor was too slippery. Maybe there were too many people predestined to leave early. I don’t really know the answer but I did not think too highly of the dance floor vibe tonight.
Joe started off as the DJ up until the Bachata/Hip Hop show by Femi & Livvy. I saw very little of the show because I was busy picking the song etc in a crowded DJ booth.
Playlist
La-La-La – Direct Latin Influence (1)
Guaguanco Pa’l Que Sabe – Johnny Pacheco*
A Corazon Abierto – Hector Tricoche*
Lindo Yambu – Santiago Ceron
En La Casa De Mi Compay – Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Loco De Amor – Evolution A R (2)
Cuando Te Vea – German Villarreal
Mentirosa – Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Guaguanco En New York – Jose Curbelo* (3)
Que Bonito Es Puerto Rico – Jose Alberto “El Canario”
Bilongo – Charanga De La 4 (hyh version 1 "rough cut")* (4)
Salsa Y Control – Isidro Infante
Que Bonito Es Sonar – Jimmy Bosch
Ublabadu – Fania All Stars
Me Enamorado De Ella – Juan Luis Guerra (5)
Quiero Enamorarte – Marco Ferretti
Amor Perfecto – El Gran Combo
Buenas Noches Che Che – Tito Rodriguez
Si Te Busca En El Baile – Edwin Bonilla*
Lluvia Con Nieve – La Charanga New York* (6)
Pueblo Latino – Spanish Harlem Orchestra*
El Negrito Del Batey – Direct Latin Influence
Playa Fa Sho – Toby Love
Brujeria – El Gran Combo
Gotas De Lluvia – Grupo Niche (7)
A El – Oscar D’Leon*
Por Que Adore – Mark Dimond & Frankie Dante (8)
Bailando – Frankie Ruiz
Hong Kong Mambo – Tito Puente
Idilio – Willie Colon
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D Keda (9)
Ojala Que Llueve Café – Juan Luis Guerra (10)
Me Voy Pa Las Villas – La Charanga New York* (11)
I Wanna Love You – Pablo Bachata
Gotas De Lluvia – El Gran Combo
Mami – Pablo Bachata
Una Mulata En La Habana – Adalberto Alvarez* (12)
Push Push Push – Joe Cuba Sextet
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe
(1) Something of a cop-out choice. By this I mean that this is a standard standby song – a comforter like a pacifier for an infant.
(2) Bachata request from Andrea. I’ve been playing this song a lot lately – is this fourth week in a row for this song?
(3) I do have to wonder if people get sick of me insisting on playing oldies from 50s.
(4) Quite possibly the musical highlight of the evening. This is a version I created – a simple trimming of a little over 3 minutes of the song to make it a 7-minute song. I’m not completely sold on this version, but the reaction from 2-3 people tonight seemed positive. So is it ready for big time? I think I should refine bits here and there to make it slightly less awkward first. By the way I waited as long as I thought possible before starting this song. Fortunately my VIP intended audience showed up just in time – even if she was busy conversing with another person once again rather than dancing or anything else.
(5) Sad thing is that there is not much Merengue crowd to buttress the numbers.
(6) At this point, I am simply picking songs I want to play because I can’t seem to stem the bleeding no matter which song I pick. By the way, I doubt anyone noticed that this is a different version of the song – the original is by Mon Rivera.
(7) A dance with Livvy.
(8) I switched over to the mode where I’m playing for one couple.
(9) The place is more crowded now than it was about 20 minutes ago as some Latin people and non-dancers made their way in. I switched the song choice from a Salsa to a Bachata (my decision) to this particular Bachata upon a song-specific request.
(10) I might want to shelve this one for a month or so. I find Merengue so limiting because I still feel I have so little of it – even though my options have increased dramatically in last month or two. The thing is I’m simply not very interested in getting a lot of Merengue CDs.
(11) This one might be a keeper – probably should play it again with more people and see how it works out.
(12) Yup. It’s very Cuban. It wasn’t as evident when I was listening to it with earphones, etc.
Total = 39 songs. 2 Merengue. 6 Bachata. 1 Cha Cha. 30 Salsa including 10 (or 9) new.
Bulbul took over for about half an hour at the end.
Next Friday has another performance, this time by Anne and Anichi. Joe says Lee, Shelley and a friend of Shelley will be accompanying them. I think I might want to make an effort to get some people out. Too many of these showcase nights had too many neither here nor there kind of results.
I was very tired by the end of the evening; I'm not looking forward to tomorrow night. Vish is needed back from Pontins, Lithuania, etc.
As for my dancing these days, I can't decide whether I'm still improving, becoming parochial, developing odd habits or interesting personality, etc. I may be in need of calibration of sorts, but I don't know of any surefire test.
Chill-out Night
June 26, 2008
I guess it's the start of another long weekend of sorts. Vish was nowhere to be found - apparently he has flown off last night. He probably told me about it, but I had forgotten. Ivan's off too. The teaching line-up was Sally, Jane and Lindsey. Tomas was a surprise show in ties. Andrea showed up later and Nina even later.
Haihan played some very fast songs - African Fantasy for example. Three "more difficult" oldies in a row later was a bit of a surprise. So was the Cuban track right after Swing La Moderna. No idea if Contigo was a mere coincidence. Towards the end of the evening as things were winding down I suggested turning to Salsa Romantica. Fragilidad followed by another Romantica followed by a repeat of Fragilidad (upon Bulbul's request) drew a reaction.
A chill-out music session lasting over 40 minutes was something different. Most of it was spent mostly chatting with Haihan and one of his friends next to the DJ booth. Two of the topics were CDC and the Singaporean studio/club scene. Another part was spent observing other people still hanging about - mostly Bulbul and his crew although I'm not sure if I'll be believed (it's true! - at least after the first Fragilidad) - and watching their reaction to the musical choices. At one point I said to Bulbul something like, "You have to decide when to finish this."
Upcoming attractions. Joe should be back tomorrow. I'm not worried about DJing tomorrow, but I do fear for sophomore slump for Saturday. Whoa! I almost forgot about the Bachata showcase. I have absolutely no idea what to expect - it completely snuck up on me.
I guess it's the start of another long weekend of sorts. Vish was nowhere to be found - apparently he has flown off last night. He probably told me about it, but I had forgotten. Ivan's off too. The teaching line-up was Sally, Jane and Lindsey. Tomas was a surprise show in ties. Andrea showed up later and Nina even later.
Haihan played some very fast songs - African Fantasy for example. Three "more difficult" oldies in a row later was a bit of a surprise. So was the Cuban track right after Swing La Moderna. No idea if Contigo was a mere coincidence. Towards the end of the evening as things were winding down I suggested turning to Salsa Romantica. Fragilidad followed by another Romantica followed by a repeat of Fragilidad (upon Bulbul's request) drew a reaction.
A chill-out music session lasting over 40 minutes was something different. Most of it was spent mostly chatting with Haihan and one of his friends next to the DJ booth. Two of the topics were CDC and the Singaporean studio/club scene. Another part was spent observing other people still hanging about - mostly Bulbul and his crew although I'm not sure if I'll be believed (it's true! - at least after the first Fragilidad) - and watching their reaction to the musical choices. At one point I said to Bulbul something like, "You have to decide when to finish this."
Upcoming attractions. Joe should be back tomorrow. I'm not worried about DJing tomorrow, but I do fear for sophomore slump for Saturday. Whoa! I almost forgot about the Bachata showcase. I have absolutely no idea what to expect - it completely snuck up on me.
Monster Session #2: LatinFest
June 21, 2008
Whoa.
It wasn't what I expected. I thought it was going to be akin to getting my teeth pulled out. It's Saturday Club Salsa for crying out aloud - I never saw a good one with caveat that I have been to only 2 or 3 not counting the very early hours. I was wrong - at least for tonight. It was hilarious, and it was definitely entertaining.
There were a lot of people - I'm quite sure it was considerably bigger than usual. There were a lot of shenanigans. It was a lot of fun. On many occasions I had my mouth open or make googly eyes in disbelief.
The start of the evening did not look particularly promising. Demetrios seemed to be substituting for Vish. Sandra might have been helping. The class was on the small side, and quite a lot of them vacated the premise right after the lessons. I did not bother to turn on one of the air conditioning units at the start of the evening.
Then more and more people arrived. It became a huge party. Thankfully Vish lent me quite a lot of his music because my CD collection is definitely not geared toward the Saturday native Latin crowd. I think that Vish might envy me for this huge party night.
Playlist [note: (v) indicates selections from Vish’s collection]
(v) 4 songs from Vish’s mix Salsa CD – (incl Micaela & Thinking Of You) (1)
Shenanigan no 1. Surprise Bachata lesson
(v) Thinking Of You (Lenny Kravitz) from the mix CD
Bachata Rosa – Juan Luis Guerra* (2)
El Cepillo – Fulanito (3)
A Pedir Su Mano – Juan Luis Guerra
El Pito – Sonora Carruseles
Acabo De Llegar – Alex D’Leon (4)
(v) Suavemente – Elvis Crespo
(v) Procura by ? (Cumbia) (5)
(v) labelled R&B Piano (6)
(v) Merengue Mega Mix 1 (7)
Ave Maria Lola – Roberto Torres
Brujeria – El Gran Combo (8)
Playa Fa Sho – Toby Love (9)
Shenanigan no 2. Birthday dance (10)
song = La Muerte – El Gran Combo
(v) Asi Asi (a party dance, not a real Merengue by a commenter)
Me Libere – El Gran Combo
(v) Cali Pachanguero – Grupo Niche (11)
La Biluribina – Juan Luis Guerra
Caballo Viejo – Roberto Torres (12)
Playa No More – Crystal Sierra
(v) Merengue Mega Mix 3 (13)
Ven Tu – Domenic Marte (14)
(v) Popular Cumbia track 16
(v) GSR = Gilberto Santa Rosa (15)
Rompe – Daddy Yankee (16)
Visa Para Un Sueno – Juan Luis Guerra* (17)
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (18)
(v) La Tortura – Shakira
(v) Bailando (Reggaeton) (19)
Guallando – Fulanito*
(v) La Vida Es Un Carnaval – Celia Cruz
(v) Gasolina (Reggaeton)
Shenanigan no 3. A Raffle (20)
Loco De Amor – Evolution A R
Lloraras – Oscar D’Leon
Si Tu Te Vas – Juan Luis Guerra
(v) Colombian S/A (?) (21)
(v) Macarena
Get It Up – Eurocuban Project (22)
(v) Dile (Reggaeton) (23)
A Pedir Su Mano – Juan Luis Guerra
Ay Amor, Cuando Hablan Las Miradas – Orquesta Guayacan
(v) Whenver, Whenver - Shakira
Te Conozco Bien – Marc Anthony
Te Extrano – Extreme
(v) I Will Survive (Spanish version)
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony (24)
(v) Dale (Reggaeton)
No Aguanto Mas – Celia Cruz (25)
Baila Andres – Mezcla Latina (remix)
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D Keda (26)
(v) Huso (Reggaeton)
(v) Chequele (Reggaeton) (27)
La Novella – Fulanito (28)
(v) Bomba (Latin pop) (29)
(v) Simarik (Latin pop)
You Will Remember Me – Domenic Marte (30)
I Wanna Love You - Pablo Bachata
(v) Lambada (~zouk) (31)
(1) I had a couple of dances while the mix CD was being played. Between the fourth and the fifth song, there was a short interruption to a Bachata lesson led by Sandra.
(2) I thought this was the time to experiment. Too saccharine seemed to be the verdict.
(3) Merengue time. Early. Whatever. I’m supposed to play it like Vish. Also I thought I better make this an antidote to the previous song. People are starting to flood in rapidly.
(4) Even with “popular” Salsa, the dance floor is not as filled as it was with Merengue.
(5) There was an early Cumbia request. Vish left me two songs – not counting La Vida Es Un Carnaval, which is only a part Cumbia.
(6) The only instrumental Salsa Vish lent me. Relatively speaking, it’s a bomb.
(7) This is a 15 minute Merengue medley. The effect was amazing. It’s a full-blown Latin party, and it’s barely past 11 PM. Towards the end of the medley, a girl came by asking to get a birthday dance organized for someone named Philip. Why not? I think Vish mentioned that there was a birthday party or such. Does he want Salsa or Merengue? Any specific song? Fast or slow? A. Salsa not too fast. Clearing the floor is going to be problematic too.
(8) I had considered using this as the Birthday song. The big issue is still about clearing the floor without killing the atmosphere. Hmm. How about a Bachata first?
(9) Okay. This might be an opportune time.
(10) While I was in the middle of the announcement, another person rushed in saying that there is a second birthday. Oh no. I’m thinking that it’s going to take to long to establish if she would want to have a birthday dance at the same time, etc. A second interruption would be too much. No choice but to smile and carry on.
(11) I had been keeping an eye on Astrid for a dance ever since she had arrived some time before the birthday dance. Me Libere would have worked nicely but she was nowhere to be seen then. Time to scheme another opportunistic sequence. Merengue-Salsa-Salsa (I don’t think I want to play too many Salsa in a row with this crowd).
(12) Finally a dance. I think the song was liked enough but there were not too many Salsa dancers at this point so I had quite a bit of room. The floor seems a little sticky. I should adjust the AC setting.
(13) I opted for this 15 minute long mix over an 18 minute one. This one unlike the first mix did not generate much interest. I might have faded it out with about 3 minutes to go. Meanwhile there was a Bachata request, so I rearranged the song sequence planned few minutes earlier.
(14) Another dance.
(15) Another dance. I don’t think I like this song as much for Salsa dancing – at least not with my current stylistic preference. By the way, I forgot to turn on the AC unit on the side and raise the setting for the other AC unit earlier. This was finally done after the end of this song.
(16) Time for the first Reggaeton.
(17) Not sure why but Bulbul did not like the sound of this song.
(18) I had been thinking all along that this song might work for Saturdays – in low dose. Spectacular result for tonight.
(19) This was a specific song request.
(20) I’m not sure exactly when the raffle took place. Would Vish have allowed this? No idea. At least I was told that it was for a charity.
(21) This was in the Salsa CD, but it sounded more like a Merengue. I took forever to settle on this song and was surprised by the content as well as the reaction – as well as the fact that it started skipping with about a minute to go and stopped altogether shortly thereafter. Thankfully I had the next song cued already, and what I switched to the other song the place exploded. Amazing.
(22) What a crowd. It feels like everything I touch is gold.
(23) I told Bulbul that we probably won’t be closing at 2 AM tonight. He looked happy.
(24) Another specific song request. I was going to play another Marc Anthony soon – this merely finalized the song choice and time. Time check: 2:07 AM.
(25) Something of an experiment. I think my lack of experience with mixing, beat matching, etc is finally showing. Then again, not playing 10+ minute Reggaeton and constantly changing music style is helping with short-attention-span problem. Salsa people, Merengue people, Bachata people, Reggaeton people all know that their song is coming up very soon. Also it won’t last so they better take their opportunity while it lasts.
(26) Another dance. There was another with someone else earlier, but it was quite problematic – I hadn’t had so much difficulty even with raw beginners in well over a year. This dance was quite relaxed – good for some conversation too. I think this one was where I was critiqued by someone I didn’t know for saying 30 seconds. Probably too business-like or such.
(27) I came closest to mixing with this one. Actually the two songs were a little too similar to each other.
(28) At this point, I’m trying to close it out. This still isn’t very good so I faded out the end.
(29) This was a request of sort arranged by Bulbul. Again my inexperience with the Saturday crowd showed. The only good thing I did was to let someone else take over briefly without throwing tantrums.
(30) Bulbul asked for the next one to be the last one. There was a guy who wanted zouk music earlier. I thought I found a reasonable alternative, but I wouldn’t use it as the last song without confirmation. Oh well.
(31) Not so fast. There was a confirmation, and he convinced Bulbul to make it one more song.
Total = 62 songs. 29 songs were from Vishal’s collection with the breakdown being 9 Salsa, 2 Cumbia, 5 Merengue, 7 Latin miscellaneous, and 6 Reggaeton. 33 songs were from my collection with the breakdown being 8 Bachata including 1 new, 8 Merengue including 2 new, 1 Reggaeton, 14 Salsa. Overall breakdown by song stye = 23 Salsa (including 5 to start with from the mixed CD meaning only 18 Salsa for the “real” party), 13 Merengue, 8 Bachata, 7 Reggaeton, 2 Cumbia and 7 miscellaneous. So that’s a little over 1/3 Salsa or under 1/3 Salsa – more or less what I expected.
The party ended at 3 AM. Enough said.
Whoa.
It wasn't what I expected. I thought it was going to be akin to getting my teeth pulled out. It's Saturday Club Salsa for crying out aloud - I never saw a good one with caveat that I have been to only 2 or 3 not counting the very early hours. I was wrong - at least for tonight. It was hilarious, and it was definitely entertaining.
There were a lot of people - I'm quite sure it was considerably bigger than usual. There were a lot of shenanigans. It was a lot of fun. On many occasions I had my mouth open or make googly eyes in disbelief.
The start of the evening did not look particularly promising. Demetrios seemed to be substituting for Vish. Sandra might have been helping. The class was on the small side, and quite a lot of them vacated the premise right after the lessons. I did not bother to turn on one of the air conditioning units at the start of the evening.
Then more and more people arrived. It became a huge party. Thankfully Vish lent me quite a lot of his music because my CD collection is definitely not geared toward the Saturday native Latin crowd. I think that Vish might envy me for this huge party night.
Playlist [note: (v) indicates selections from Vish’s collection]
(v) 4 songs from Vish’s mix Salsa CD – (incl Micaela & Thinking Of You) (1)
Shenanigan no 1. Surprise Bachata lesson
(v) Thinking Of You (Lenny Kravitz) from the mix CD
Bachata Rosa – Juan Luis Guerra* (2)
El Cepillo – Fulanito (3)
A Pedir Su Mano – Juan Luis Guerra
El Pito – Sonora Carruseles
Acabo De Llegar – Alex D’Leon (4)
(v) Suavemente – Elvis Crespo
(v) Procura by ? (Cumbia) (5)
(v) labelled R&B Piano (6)
(v) Merengue Mega Mix 1 (7)
Ave Maria Lola – Roberto Torres
Brujeria – El Gran Combo (8)
Playa Fa Sho – Toby Love (9)
Shenanigan no 2. Birthday dance (10)
song = La Muerte – El Gran Combo
(v) Asi Asi (a party dance, not a real Merengue by a commenter)
Me Libere – El Gran Combo
(v) Cali Pachanguero – Grupo Niche (11)
La Biluribina – Juan Luis Guerra
Caballo Viejo – Roberto Torres (12)
Playa No More – Crystal Sierra
(v) Merengue Mega Mix 3 (13)
Ven Tu – Domenic Marte (14)
(v) Popular Cumbia track 16
(v) GSR = Gilberto Santa Rosa (15)
Rompe – Daddy Yankee (16)
Visa Para Un Sueno – Juan Luis Guerra* (17)
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (18)
(v) La Tortura – Shakira
(v) Bailando (Reggaeton) (19)
Guallando – Fulanito*
(v) La Vida Es Un Carnaval – Celia Cruz
(v) Gasolina (Reggaeton)
Shenanigan no 3. A Raffle (20)
Loco De Amor – Evolution A R
Lloraras – Oscar D’Leon
Si Tu Te Vas – Juan Luis Guerra
(v) Colombian S/A (?) (21)
(v) Macarena
Get It Up – Eurocuban Project (22)
(v) Dile (Reggaeton) (23)
A Pedir Su Mano – Juan Luis Guerra
Ay Amor, Cuando Hablan Las Miradas – Orquesta Guayacan
(v) Whenver, Whenver - Shakira
Te Conozco Bien – Marc Anthony
Te Extrano – Extreme
(v) I Will Survive (Spanish version)
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony (24)
(v) Dale (Reggaeton)
No Aguanto Mas – Celia Cruz (25)
Baila Andres – Mezcla Latina (remix)
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D Keda (26)
(v) Huso (Reggaeton)
(v) Chequele (Reggaeton) (27)
La Novella – Fulanito (28)
(v) Bomba (Latin pop) (29)
(v) Simarik (Latin pop)
You Will Remember Me – Domenic Marte (30)
I Wanna Love You - Pablo Bachata
(v) Lambada (~zouk) (31)
(1) I had a couple of dances while the mix CD was being played. Between the fourth and the fifth song, there was a short interruption to a Bachata lesson led by Sandra.
(2) I thought this was the time to experiment. Too saccharine seemed to be the verdict.
(3) Merengue time. Early. Whatever. I’m supposed to play it like Vish. Also I thought I better make this an antidote to the previous song. People are starting to flood in rapidly.
(4) Even with “popular” Salsa, the dance floor is not as filled as it was with Merengue.
(5) There was an early Cumbia request. Vish left me two songs – not counting La Vida Es Un Carnaval, which is only a part Cumbia.
(6) The only instrumental Salsa Vish lent me. Relatively speaking, it’s a bomb.
(7) This is a 15 minute Merengue medley. The effect was amazing. It’s a full-blown Latin party, and it’s barely past 11 PM. Towards the end of the medley, a girl came by asking to get a birthday dance organized for someone named Philip. Why not? I think Vish mentioned that there was a birthday party or such. Does he want Salsa or Merengue? Any specific song? Fast or slow? A. Salsa not too fast. Clearing the floor is going to be problematic too.
(8) I had considered using this as the Birthday song. The big issue is still about clearing the floor without killing the atmosphere. Hmm. How about a Bachata first?
(9) Okay. This might be an opportune time.
(10) While I was in the middle of the announcement, another person rushed in saying that there is a second birthday. Oh no. I’m thinking that it’s going to take to long to establish if she would want to have a birthday dance at the same time, etc. A second interruption would be too much. No choice but to smile and carry on.
(11) I had been keeping an eye on Astrid for a dance ever since she had arrived some time before the birthday dance. Me Libere would have worked nicely but she was nowhere to be seen then. Time to scheme another opportunistic sequence. Merengue-Salsa-Salsa (I don’t think I want to play too many Salsa in a row with this crowd).
(12) Finally a dance. I think the song was liked enough but there were not too many Salsa dancers at this point so I had quite a bit of room. The floor seems a little sticky. I should adjust the AC setting.
(13) I opted for this 15 minute long mix over an 18 minute one. This one unlike the first mix did not generate much interest. I might have faded it out with about 3 minutes to go. Meanwhile there was a Bachata request, so I rearranged the song sequence planned few minutes earlier.
(14) Another dance.
(15) Another dance. I don’t think I like this song as much for Salsa dancing – at least not with my current stylistic preference. By the way, I forgot to turn on the AC unit on the side and raise the setting for the other AC unit earlier. This was finally done after the end of this song.
(16) Time for the first Reggaeton.
(17) Not sure why but Bulbul did not like the sound of this song.
(18) I had been thinking all along that this song might work for Saturdays – in low dose. Spectacular result for tonight.
(19) This was a specific song request.
(20) I’m not sure exactly when the raffle took place. Would Vish have allowed this? No idea. At least I was told that it was for a charity.
(21) This was in the Salsa CD, but it sounded more like a Merengue. I took forever to settle on this song and was surprised by the content as well as the reaction – as well as the fact that it started skipping with about a minute to go and stopped altogether shortly thereafter. Thankfully I had the next song cued already, and what I switched to the other song the place exploded. Amazing.
(22) What a crowd. It feels like everything I touch is gold.
(23) I told Bulbul that we probably won’t be closing at 2 AM tonight. He looked happy.
(24) Another specific song request. I was going to play another Marc Anthony soon – this merely finalized the song choice and time. Time check: 2:07 AM.
(25) Something of an experiment. I think my lack of experience with mixing, beat matching, etc is finally showing. Then again, not playing 10+ minute Reggaeton and constantly changing music style is helping with short-attention-span problem. Salsa people, Merengue people, Bachata people, Reggaeton people all know that their song is coming up very soon. Also it won’t last so they better take their opportunity while it lasts.
(26) Another dance. There was another with someone else earlier, but it was quite problematic – I hadn’t had so much difficulty even with raw beginners in well over a year. This dance was quite relaxed – good for some conversation too. I think this one was where I was critiqued by someone I didn’t know for saying 30 seconds. Probably too business-like or such.
(27) I came closest to mixing with this one. Actually the two songs were a little too similar to each other.
(28) At this point, I’m trying to close it out. This still isn’t very good so I faded out the end.
(29) This was a request of sort arranged by Bulbul. Again my inexperience with the Saturday crowd showed. The only good thing I did was to let someone else take over briefly without throwing tantrums.
(30) Bulbul asked for the next one to be the last one. There was a guy who wanted zouk music earlier. I thought I found a reasonable alternative, but I wouldn’t use it as the last song without confirmation. Oh well.
(31) Not so fast. There was a confirmation, and he convinced Bulbul to make it one more song.
Total = 62 songs. 29 songs were from Vishal’s collection with the breakdown being 9 Salsa, 2 Cumbia, 5 Merengue, 7 Latin miscellaneous, and 6 Reggaeton. 33 songs were from my collection with the breakdown being 8 Bachata including 1 new, 8 Merengue including 2 new, 1 Reggaeton, 14 Salsa. Overall breakdown by song stye = 23 Salsa (including 5 to start with from the mixed CD meaning only 18 Salsa for the “real” party), 13 Merengue, 8 Bachata, 7 Reggaeton, 2 Cumbia and 7 miscellaneous. So that’s a little over 1/3 Salsa or under 1/3 Salsa – more or less what I expected.
The party ended at 3 AM. Enough said.
Monster Session #1
June 21, 2008
Time of arrival - a little before 9:30. It's quite warm already. Check temperature - 25C. Extractor is on already. Turn on both AC units at the lowest setting. Check amplifier setting - ok. Utilize the CD player lens cleaner. Check temperature again - 21C. Turn off the extractor to reduce background noise. Hmm - the mixer is not detecting sound level unless the headphone button is turned on - that's useless. I can't figure out how to get that fixed in time so I'll have to wing it with the sound level - play it by my ears. Switch CD players for the lens cleaner. Pick a final practice track - Yolanda. Get the first song ready. Ready set go. Change the light setting from the DJ booth. Turn off the lights. Change the AC setting to circulate air. Turn on the extractor. Full sail ahead. By the way, Jay substituted for Joe with Andrea assisting. Jane substituted for Danie. Olga was present to teach the beginners. Ivan was present once again at the start of the social - before going off on his holiday.
Playlist
Huracan - Bobby Valentin* (1)
La-La-La - Direct Latin Influence
Con Eso - El Gran Combo
Almendra - German Villarreal
Sientate Ahi - Oscar D'Leon
Quien Como Tu - Jose Alberto "El Canario" (2)
Volver Volver - Grupo Gale
Fuego En El 23 - Sonora Poncena
Swing La Moderna - Mandingo Y Su Son
Ay Amor, Cuando Hablan Las Miradas - Orquesta Guayacan
No Tu Me Has Visto Miguel - Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Flor De Los Lindos Campos - Ray Barretto
La Musica Es Mi Vida - Spanish Harlem Orchestra (3)
Vampira - Rey Reyes
Geisha Girl - Louie Ramirez
Macho Perez - Hector Tricoche*
Avisale A Mi Contrario - Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound
Babarabatiri - Tito Puente
Loco De Amor - Evolution A R
Y No Has Mas Na - El Gran Combo (4)
Tu Nuevo Amor - Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez
Lejos De Ti - Son Boricua
Se Le Ve - Edwin Bonilla (5)*
Woman De Callao - Juan Luis Guerra (6)
Un Alto En El Camino - Grupo Niche
Campanero - Jose Mangual Jr
Mambo Is Here To Stay - Latin Giants of Jazz
Trompeta Y Flauta - Orquesta Broadway (DJ Duste remix)* (-5%)
Te Extrano - Extreme
Que Pasa Contigo - Willie Rosario
Recordando A Cuba - Cubanoson
Guaguanco Del Gran Combo - El Gran Combo
Tumba El Quinto - Linda Leida / Javier Vazquez*
El Cepillo - Fulanito*
Musica Ligera - Toque D Keda
Periquito Pin Pin - Tommy Olivencia
Satin And Lace - Tito Rodriguez (7)
Cualquiera - Oscar D'Leon
Hacha Y Machete - Hector Lavoe
Whenever Whenver - Shakira** (8)
Pin Pon - El Medico (9)
Cinco A Diez - Azabache (10)
Gracias - El Gran Combo
Que Buena Baila Usted - Oscar D'Leon
Chango Ta Beni - German Villarreal
Playa Fa Sho - Toby Love
Y No Hago Mas Na - El Gran Combo (11)
Si Tu Te Vas - Juan Luis Guerra*
La Fiesta De Pilito - El Gran Combo
Lamento Boliviano - Toque D Keda
Otra Oportunidad - Jimmy Bosch
Los Caminos De La Vida - Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez
La Novella - Fulanito* (12)
Chan Chan - Buena Vista Social Club
(1) Why not? Start with something new.
(2) This was an odd one. My recollection was that Ivan danced with Jane while Jay danced with Andrea on the main floor while everyone else decided to watch. This led me to change my selection for the next song.
(3) No doubt Ivan has used this song when he was deejaying.
(4) Song info requested.
(5) Ivan gave me a funny look - he thought it sounded like Cumbia at the beginning.
(6) A Meregue request, which I decided to accommodate instead of continuing with Salsa.
(7) Bulbul had been asking me to play some Latin music. He might have meant Latin pop. I'm not completely sure. In any case I moved this song from two songs later to here and skipped the original choice because I thought it was a now or never type of situation.
(8) Latin Pop - from CDs Vish lent me. Something of a fulfilment of Bulbul's request.
(9) I think Bulbul was hoping for Reggaeton as well. Not completely sure once again.
(10) Bulbul wants good … was it Salsa? Another lost in translation moment. He might have meant "popular" Salsa music - as defined by someone like Shila.
(11) Yes, I know I played this earlier in the evening. Someone specifically requested that I replay the song one more time. This time I decided not to cut off the very beginning of the song.
(12) I obtained this CD because of a guy who has been bugging me about a song called Guallando for months. He wasn't here today so I decided to wait before playing it.
Total = 54 songs. 4 Merengue including 3 new. 4 Bachata. 1 Latin Pop from Vish's collection. 1 Reggaeton. 44 Salsa including 5 new with one song repeated. It was a fun crowd to play music for - nice mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces.
Quote of the day - "I know! It's true!"
No context known for sure although I thought I had a really good guess - I think it was about the music. Scary. It also made me think of a Robert DeNiro scene in front of a mirror in Taxi Driver.
One dance for the evening - Gracias.
Tomorrow - I'm supposed to impersonate Vish. Music selection will be very different. A lot less "Mambo" - quite possibly none at all. A lot less Salsa too.
Time of arrival - a little before 9:30. It's quite warm already. Check temperature - 25C. Extractor is on already. Turn on both AC units at the lowest setting. Check amplifier setting - ok. Utilize the CD player lens cleaner. Check temperature again - 21C. Turn off the extractor to reduce background noise. Hmm - the mixer is not detecting sound level unless the headphone button is turned on - that's useless. I can't figure out how to get that fixed in time so I'll have to wing it with the sound level - play it by my ears. Switch CD players for the lens cleaner. Pick a final practice track - Yolanda. Get the first song ready. Ready set go. Change the light setting from the DJ booth. Turn off the lights. Change the AC setting to circulate air. Turn on the extractor. Full sail ahead. By the way, Jay substituted for Joe with Andrea assisting. Jane substituted for Danie. Olga was present to teach the beginners. Ivan was present once again at the start of the social - before going off on his holiday.
Playlist
Huracan - Bobby Valentin* (1)
La-La-La - Direct Latin Influence
Con Eso - El Gran Combo
Almendra - German Villarreal
Sientate Ahi - Oscar D'Leon
Quien Como Tu - Jose Alberto "El Canario" (2)
Volver Volver - Grupo Gale
Fuego En El 23 - Sonora Poncena
Swing La Moderna - Mandingo Y Su Son
Ay Amor, Cuando Hablan Las Miradas - Orquesta Guayacan
No Tu Me Has Visto Miguel - Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Flor De Los Lindos Campos - Ray Barretto
La Musica Es Mi Vida - Spanish Harlem Orchestra (3)
Vampira - Rey Reyes
Geisha Girl - Louie Ramirez
Macho Perez - Hector Tricoche*
Avisale A Mi Contrario - Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound
Babarabatiri - Tito Puente
Loco De Amor - Evolution A R
Y No Has Mas Na - El Gran Combo (4)
Tu Nuevo Amor - Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez
Lejos De Ti - Son Boricua
Se Le Ve - Edwin Bonilla (5)*
Woman De Callao - Juan Luis Guerra (6)
Un Alto En El Camino - Grupo Niche
Campanero - Jose Mangual Jr
Mambo Is Here To Stay - Latin Giants of Jazz
Trompeta Y Flauta - Orquesta Broadway (DJ Duste remix)* (-5%)
Te Extrano - Extreme
Que Pasa Contigo - Willie Rosario
Recordando A Cuba - Cubanoson
Guaguanco Del Gran Combo - El Gran Combo
Tumba El Quinto - Linda Leida / Javier Vazquez*
El Cepillo - Fulanito*
Musica Ligera - Toque D Keda
Periquito Pin Pin - Tommy Olivencia
Satin And Lace - Tito Rodriguez (7)
Cualquiera - Oscar D'Leon
Hacha Y Machete - Hector Lavoe
Whenever Whenver - Shakira** (8)
Pin Pon - El Medico (9)
Cinco A Diez - Azabache (10)
Gracias - El Gran Combo
Que Buena Baila Usted - Oscar D'Leon
Chango Ta Beni - German Villarreal
Playa Fa Sho - Toby Love
Y No Hago Mas Na - El Gran Combo (11)
Si Tu Te Vas - Juan Luis Guerra*
La Fiesta De Pilito - El Gran Combo
Lamento Boliviano - Toque D Keda
Otra Oportunidad - Jimmy Bosch
Los Caminos De La Vida - Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez
La Novella - Fulanito* (12)
Chan Chan - Buena Vista Social Club
(1) Why not? Start with something new.
(2) This was an odd one. My recollection was that Ivan danced with Jane while Jay danced with Andrea on the main floor while everyone else decided to watch. This led me to change my selection for the next song.
(3) No doubt Ivan has used this song when he was deejaying.
(4) Song info requested.
(5) Ivan gave me a funny look - he thought it sounded like Cumbia at the beginning.
(6) A Meregue request, which I decided to accommodate instead of continuing with Salsa.
(7) Bulbul had been asking me to play some Latin music. He might have meant Latin pop. I'm not completely sure. In any case I moved this song from two songs later to here and skipped the original choice because I thought it was a now or never type of situation.
(8) Latin Pop - from CDs Vish lent me. Something of a fulfilment of Bulbul's request.
(9) I think Bulbul was hoping for Reggaeton as well. Not completely sure once again.
(10) Bulbul wants good … was it Salsa? Another lost in translation moment. He might have meant "popular" Salsa music - as defined by someone like Shila.
(11) Yes, I know I played this earlier in the evening. Someone specifically requested that I replay the song one more time. This time I decided not to cut off the very beginning of the song.
(12) I obtained this CD because of a guy who has been bugging me about a song called Guallando for months. He wasn't here today so I decided to wait before playing it.
Total = 54 songs. 4 Merengue including 3 new. 4 Bachata. 1 Latin Pop from Vish's collection. 1 Reggaeton. 44 Salsa including 5 new with one song repeated. It was a fun crowd to play music for - nice mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces.
Quote of the day - "I know! It's true!"
No context known for sure although I thought I had a really good guess - I think it was about the music. Scary. It also made me think of a Robert DeNiro scene in front of a mirror in Taxi Driver.
One dance for the evening - Gracias.
Tomorrow - I'm supposed to impersonate Vish. Music selection will be very different. A lot less "Mambo" - quite possibly none at all. A lot less Salsa too.
Many Goodbyes
June 19, 2008
How many was that? Three? Agnes, Angie and Kate. No. There's Liam too. More. What about Steph? Although it's only for the summer - no Hamburg maybe Berlin. In one fell swoop a big void formed in the Cambridge Salsa-land. Technically speaking Chris too - I think he said 3 days?
I arrived early in order to consult with Vish about next two weekends. It will be a pair of long, interesting and hopefully not-too-painful consecutive days of deejaying. Although I had my CD collection with me tonight and some brief takeovers might have been welcome, I pointedly avoided it - aside from one request to be played from my collection. Haihan seemed happy about finding the song information.
Mambo For Vibes - Hilton Ruiz (featuring Tito Puente)*
I guess it's a new song - 1 Salsa, new. I asked for it because I thought it would not fly on a Friday. It sounded so good though - maybe I would be proven wrong.
Chris took over for Sally - apparently on several hours advance notice. Nicola was there to assist. I had a Cha Cha with her at the start of the social. Unfortunately there was no second dance. Chris substituting meant some different music than usual - with limitations from very small number of CDs (Angel Canales and related, Hector Lavoe) and his iPod (leading to a sonic glitch).
La Verdad happened again. I used Serap as my accomplice. I think I was too busy anticipating the go-go-jiggy-pop moment to make the earlier part any good.
No Mark tonight; very unfortunate. It is a little confusing trying to decide whether there was a surplus of leads or followers tonight. It depended upon what time of the evening the survey was taken. There were a lot of people who were there for short time - Nicola, Charlotte, Liz, Jane, Kate, Nina, Angie, Andrea, Polly, etc.
Hay Craneo was danced in part On2 in the middle. Oops. Sorry, Liz.
Haihan plotted a farewell dance for Agnes. It might have been really fortunate that I was not … a big part of it. Getting my shoelaces tangled with her heels in a more visible setting would have been a little too memorable. At least she didn't experience any pain - like three times last week. More than anything else Agnes was scandalized that Haihan did not take part.
Russia. Singapore. London.
Big void indeed. That there are people who still remain is only mitigating.
Unrelated - another road closure for 3 days and counting.
How many was that? Three? Agnes, Angie and Kate. No. There's Liam too. More. What about Steph? Although it's only for the summer - no Hamburg maybe Berlin. In one fell swoop a big void formed in the Cambridge Salsa-land. Technically speaking Chris too - I think he said 3 days?
I arrived early in order to consult with Vish about next two weekends. It will be a pair of long, interesting and hopefully not-too-painful consecutive days of deejaying. Although I had my CD collection with me tonight and some brief takeovers might have been welcome, I pointedly avoided it - aside from one request to be played from my collection. Haihan seemed happy about finding the song information.
Mambo For Vibes - Hilton Ruiz (featuring Tito Puente)*
I guess it's a new song - 1 Salsa, new. I asked for it because I thought it would not fly on a Friday. It sounded so good though - maybe I would be proven wrong.
Chris took over for Sally - apparently on several hours advance notice. Nicola was there to assist. I had a Cha Cha with her at the start of the social. Unfortunately there was no second dance. Chris substituting meant some different music than usual - with limitations from very small number of CDs (Angel Canales and related, Hector Lavoe) and his iPod (leading to a sonic glitch).
La Verdad happened again. I used Serap as my accomplice. I think I was too busy anticipating the go-go-jiggy-pop moment to make the earlier part any good.
No Mark tonight; very unfortunate. It is a little confusing trying to decide whether there was a surplus of leads or followers tonight. It depended upon what time of the evening the survey was taken. There were a lot of people who were there for short time - Nicola, Charlotte, Liz, Jane, Kate, Nina, Angie, Andrea, Polly, etc.
Hay Craneo was danced in part On2 in the middle. Oops. Sorry, Liz.
Haihan plotted a farewell dance for Agnes. It might have been really fortunate that I was not … a big part of it. Getting my shoelaces tangled with her heels in a more visible setting would have been a little too memorable. At least she didn't experience any pain - like three times last week. More than anything else Agnes was scandalized that Haihan did not take part.
Russia. Singapore. London.
Big void indeed. That there are people who still remain is only mitigating.
Unrelated - another road closure for 3 days and counting.
Taking It Easy
June 13, 2008
I only managed to get there by 10:30 or so - still very busy. It was a bit on the quiet side. Ivan was a surprise show - underwhelmed no doubt to a similar degree or perhaps more so than Nina several days ago. Mark stopped by as well and probably came to a similar conclusion. Both left around midnight just before I decided to start at the DJ booth.
I had let Vish's CD play on for a while before Cristian decided to take over possibly with some help from Shila for about an hour - I thought I would take it as easy as possible tonight. Cristian ended up putting on a mixed CD between his set and mine; I thought he was playing one more song and had a CD ready go - except he took it out with about 40 seconds left in his other song. Unfortunate but not a big deal.
Playlist
Ojos Chinos - El Gran Combo
Lo Bonito Y Lo Feo - Grupo Niche
Babarabatiri - Willie Rosario
Cuando Te Vea - German Villarreal (1)
La Loma Del Belen - Santiago Ceron
A Pedir Su Mano - Juan Luis Guerra (2)
A La Yumbae - Tommy Olivencia (3)
Ave Maria Lola - Conjunto Imagen
Bamboleo - Fania All-Stars
No Tires La Primera Piedra - Tommy Olivencia
Rumbera - Willie Chirino
Lagrimas Negras - Direct Latin Influence (4)
Loco De Amor - Evolution A R
Ojala Que Llueve Café - Juan Luis Guerra
Yolanda - Orquesta Guayacan (5)
Sientate Ahi - Oscar D'Leon (6)
Lluvia Con Nieve - Mon Rivera (7)
Amor De Una Noche - N'Klabe (feat. Shanny)
Periodico De Ayer - Hector Lavoe
Mirandote - Frankie Ruiz (8)
Luna Negra - Rey Ruiz
(1) Vish suggested a Merengue soon. I said I had one ready for the song after this one. He said to play two. He's the boss.
(2) Merengue 1
(3) Merengue 2 - debatable choice.
(4) I was going to play one more Salsa before another Merengue or Bachata as Vish requested another Merengue. It seemed about the right call. There goes the opportunity to play a new song.
(5) Slow Merengue followed by very slow Salsa. I think I got a look.
(6) Someone came by seconds after the end of this song and exclaimed, "Oscar D'Leon!" I wasn't quite sure what he meant and replied, "Yeah, the last one was Oscar D'Leon."
(7) This was to make up for Yolanda - going from sub-160 RPM (Yolanda) to ~180 RPM (Sientate Ahi) to ~200 RPM (Lluvia Con Nieve).
(8) Vish requested last song. I think it was a bit after 1:30 AM.
Total = 21 songs. 3 Merengue. 1 Bachata. 17 Salsa. 0 new songs. No worries. This will be rectified over next 2 weeks - I'm the only designated DJ for next 2 Fridays meaning 40+ song sessions for two weeks in a row.
I had two dances while deejaying - to Bamboleo and to Periodico De Ayer. I probably had barely over a half dozen dances all night.
I only managed to get there by 10:30 or so - still very busy. It was a bit on the quiet side. Ivan was a surprise show - underwhelmed no doubt to a similar degree or perhaps more so than Nina several days ago. Mark stopped by as well and probably came to a similar conclusion. Both left around midnight just before I decided to start at the DJ booth.
I had let Vish's CD play on for a while before Cristian decided to take over possibly with some help from Shila for about an hour - I thought I would take it as easy as possible tonight. Cristian ended up putting on a mixed CD between his set and mine; I thought he was playing one more song and had a CD ready go - except he took it out with about 40 seconds left in his other song. Unfortunate but not a big deal.
Playlist
Ojos Chinos - El Gran Combo
Lo Bonito Y Lo Feo - Grupo Niche
Babarabatiri - Willie Rosario
Cuando Te Vea - German Villarreal (1)
La Loma Del Belen - Santiago Ceron
A Pedir Su Mano - Juan Luis Guerra (2)
A La Yumbae - Tommy Olivencia (3)
Ave Maria Lola - Conjunto Imagen
Bamboleo - Fania All-Stars
No Tires La Primera Piedra - Tommy Olivencia
Rumbera - Willie Chirino
Lagrimas Negras - Direct Latin Influence (4)
Loco De Amor - Evolution A R
Ojala Que Llueve Café - Juan Luis Guerra
Yolanda - Orquesta Guayacan (5)
Sientate Ahi - Oscar D'Leon (6)
Lluvia Con Nieve - Mon Rivera (7)
Amor De Una Noche - N'Klabe (feat. Shanny)
Periodico De Ayer - Hector Lavoe
Mirandote - Frankie Ruiz (8)
Luna Negra - Rey Ruiz
(1) Vish suggested a Merengue soon. I said I had one ready for the song after this one. He said to play two. He's the boss.
(2) Merengue 1
(3) Merengue 2 - debatable choice.
(4) I was going to play one more Salsa before another Merengue or Bachata as Vish requested another Merengue. It seemed about the right call. There goes the opportunity to play a new song.
(5) Slow Merengue followed by very slow Salsa. I think I got a look.
(6) Someone came by seconds after the end of this song and exclaimed, "Oscar D'Leon!" I wasn't quite sure what he meant and replied, "Yeah, the last one was Oscar D'Leon."
(7) This was to make up for Yolanda - going from sub-160 RPM (Yolanda) to ~180 RPM (Sientate Ahi) to ~200 RPM (Lluvia Con Nieve).
(8) Vish requested last song. I think it was a bit after 1:30 AM.
Total = 21 songs. 3 Merengue. 1 Bachata. 17 Salsa. 0 new songs. No worries. This will be rectified over next 2 weeks - I'm the only designated DJ for next 2 Fridays meaning 40+ song sessions for two weeks in a row.
I had two dances while deejaying - to Bamboleo and to Periodico De Ayer. I probably had barely over a half dozen dances all night.
Portrait of Dorian Gray
June 12, 2008
A brief season between the end of exams and summer vacation for Cambridge students meant Agnes and Steph visiting Club Salsa once again. It won't last. Within several days dog days of summer will begin with a tiny reprieve coming from students elsewhere coming home to Cambridge. Ivan presumably was getting drunk elsewhere and missed all this. Also present were Haihan, Angie, Mark and briefly Raj.
Very busy LOS.
The post title was inspired by Vish's comment. Blame it on the haircut?
A brief season between the end of exams and summer vacation for Cambridge students meant Agnes and Steph visiting Club Salsa once again. It won't last. Within several days dog days of summer will begin with a tiny reprieve coming from students elsewhere coming home to Cambridge. Ivan presumably was getting drunk elsewhere and missed all this. Also present were Haihan, Angie, Mark and briefly Raj.
Very busy LOS.
The post title was inspired by Vish's comment. Blame it on the haircut?
Taken For Granted
June 6, 2008
Not exactly a dead night, but there weren’t many of the usual suspects aside from Raj and Andrea when I arrived. It looked like it was one of those nights without Joe. I’m guessing Jay substituted.
Vish’s compilation CD played on for a while until Vish decided to stop Micaela prematurely. It was amusing to see that it was not an automatic crowd pleaser without constant exposure. Vish’s selections afterwards were pretty good in my opinion.
What’s with the formerly-taken-for-granted pairing and groupings? Never mind the San Miguel Gang and its extended friends. I have seen Polly or Andrea without each other more often over last few weeks than I have seen them together. Haihan without Raj or Agnes or Steph the other day? Gabrielle without Natalia or vice versa? Maybe Ivan or Sally should make a new Salsa team from scratch.
Nina stopped by again. I was in the DJ booth when she arrived. I was hoping to ask her for a dance to Mambo Mongo, but I settled for Cielo De Tambores instead to avoid a faux pas. It’s not my top 100 songs (it was more difficult than I expected also), but what’s there to complain when dancing with someone like her?
The other dancing highlight was with Andrea. I must say that I often like how she talks to me about the dance afterwards at least as much as the dance itself.
Tiz stopped by and danced for a while. I think he too is now done with the classes.
Playlist
La Boda De Ella – Bobby Valentin
Prestame Tu Mujer – Grupo Gale
Que Bonito Es Puerto Rico – Jose Alberto “El Canario”
Que Bueno Baila Usteda – Oscar D’Leon
Aguadilla – Ray Barretto
Aprende A Querer – Spanish Harlem Orchestra*
Negro De Sociedad – Grupo Caribe*
Lluvia – Willie Rosario (-4%)
Merengue Del Pichoncito – Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Loco De Amor – Evolution A R*
Tu No Me Has Visto Miguel – Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Papel Del Payaso – Bobby Valentin*
Besitos De Coco – Azabache
Mambo Mongo – Mongo Santamaria (Fania)
Cielo De Tambores – Grupo Niche
Guaguanco Del Gran Combo – El Gran Combo
Woman De Callao – Juan Luis Guerra
Quiero Enamorarte – Marco Ferretti
Total = 18 songs. 2 Merengue. 2 Bachata including 1 new. 14 Salsa including 3 new.
Vish took over again around 12:20 playing Bachata followed by a lot of Salsathon and remixed Salsa followed by Merengue-fest. Salsa crowd by then was in minority by big margin.
Not exactly a dead night, but there weren’t many of the usual suspects aside from Raj and Andrea when I arrived. It looked like it was one of those nights without Joe. I’m guessing Jay substituted.
Vish’s compilation CD played on for a while until Vish decided to stop Micaela prematurely. It was amusing to see that it was not an automatic crowd pleaser without constant exposure. Vish’s selections afterwards were pretty good in my opinion.
What’s with the formerly-taken-for-granted pairing and groupings? Never mind the San Miguel Gang and its extended friends. I have seen Polly or Andrea without each other more often over last few weeks than I have seen them together. Haihan without Raj or Agnes or Steph the other day? Gabrielle without Natalia or vice versa? Maybe Ivan or Sally should make a new Salsa team from scratch.
Nina stopped by again. I was in the DJ booth when she arrived. I was hoping to ask her for a dance to Mambo Mongo, but I settled for Cielo De Tambores instead to avoid a faux pas. It’s not my top 100 songs (it was more difficult than I expected also), but what’s there to complain when dancing with someone like her?
The other dancing highlight was with Andrea. I must say that I often like how she talks to me about the dance afterwards at least as much as the dance itself.
Tiz stopped by and danced for a while. I think he too is now done with the classes.
Playlist
La Boda De Ella – Bobby Valentin
Prestame Tu Mujer – Grupo Gale
Que Bonito Es Puerto Rico – Jose Alberto “El Canario”
Que Bueno Baila Usteda – Oscar D’Leon
Aguadilla – Ray Barretto
Aprende A Querer – Spanish Harlem Orchestra*
Negro De Sociedad – Grupo Caribe*
Lluvia – Willie Rosario (-4%)
Merengue Del Pichoncito – Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Loco De Amor – Evolution A R*
Tu No Me Has Visto Miguel – Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Papel Del Payaso – Bobby Valentin*
Besitos De Coco – Azabache
Mambo Mongo – Mongo Santamaria (Fania)
Cielo De Tambores – Grupo Niche
Guaguanco Del Gran Combo – El Gran Combo
Woman De Callao – Juan Luis Guerra
Quiero Enamorarte – Marco Ferretti
Total = 18 songs. 2 Merengue. 2 Bachata including 1 new. 14 Salsa including 3 new.
Vish took over again around 12:20 playing Bachata followed by a lot of Salsathon and remixed Salsa followed by Merengue-fest. Salsa crowd by then was in minority by big margin.
Normal Thursday
June 5, 2008
A tumultuous May is no more. Struggle against water, seemingly an annual rite of passage, might be over. Looking forward to a normalcy - whatever that is.
More men than women this time. Ed's 30 minutes doubled or tripled. Ivan seemed to have difficulty achieving satiety or perhaps managing expectations.
Thank goodness for what was there. It could be worse than not having likes of Polly, Jane, Annette, Charlotte and a few up and comers with nice disposition.
Haihan is done with his exams. Others are done or soon will be. It should be pretty good next few weeks. Even if Ivan has to resort to dancing drunken style.
Biggest surprise was Johnny making it. Vish was astonished and happy.
A tumultuous May is no more. Struggle against water, seemingly an annual rite of passage, might be over. Looking forward to a normalcy - whatever that is.
More men than women this time. Ed's 30 minutes doubled or tripled. Ivan seemed to have difficulty achieving satiety or perhaps managing expectations.
Thank goodness for what was there. It could be worse than not having likes of Polly, Jane, Annette, Charlotte and a few up and comers with nice disposition.
Haihan is done with his exams. Others are done or soon will be. It should be pretty good next few weeks. Even if Ivan has to resort to dancing drunken style.
Biggest surprise was Johnny making it. Vish was astonished and happy.
Tony Lara 7: The Undiscovered Country
June 3, 2008
Stinky weather strikes this week. It’s last week all over again. I guess there was a brief reprieve this weekend. Or was there? I am not sure.
The drive to Club Salsa was quite bad. Heavy traffic. I thought I was going to arrive very early. I was barely on time. Then again I got to thinking that Tony and Daniella could be delayed as well. I was right about that. Pretty much everyone else was late too.
I was saying hello to Vish and Raj when I spotted the biggest surprise of the evening. I would like to say that no one could have been happier to see Nina back in town than me – except I suspect there are one or two stronger candidates.
There were plenty of people taking part of the class presumably to make the evening profitable. Of course quality does not equal quality. What was with people not understanding that in place basic is possible taking upper level classes? I guess the trouble is that there are always many more inexperienced people than experienced. Once people decide that they are too good to be taking classes, it’s hard to bring them back.
The warm-up was run a little strangely especially with the footwork. Perhaps it was done to make the going forward with R foot first move less foreign.
It was amusing to hear Quiero Enamorarte be used so extensively in the class during the first hour. I though I might be the only person who liked that song.
Bachata Improver/Intermediate with Tony & Daniella
1,2,3,4 side-to-side basic with slight turning of body but not feet (no more than 1/8th of a body angle change)
5,6,7,8 forward starting with R using R leg to lead
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 primarily using chest (feet more or less staying in place except for weight transfers) back-forward-back then forward-back-forward … could do this indefinitely
1,2,3,4 back starting with L
5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 spot turn continuous without pausing on 8 and on 4 (back-forward-back-forward-etc) ending with not-quite-dip like lead to bring follower around onto R and back into normal closed hold for
1,2,3,5,6,7 in place basic
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 side-to-side basic ending apart with switching to crossed hold R-R on top
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 lead follower to walking turn ending with sombrero finish briefly [note: I thought there was a in place basic for another full 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 but I suppose this is not really needed. I think it was the reason why Daniella might have been trying to backlead this later] and get R-L in and out of sombrero position right away while getting closer – R-L gets out of sombrero position probably between 7 and 8
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 bring R-L down and do a leader’s turn keeping L-R around leader’s neck and then close in during 5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 let go and get into “double” closed hold and do in place basic
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 a slow long gentle dip
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 in place basic
I ended up as an assistant at the DJ booth for the second hour with there being excess leaders for the second hour of Bachata class. The balance was closer to equal for the Reggaeton class.
There was a slight quandary for the music because Tony had not brought a lot of music along with him. Maybe he assumed that Vish and/or I would DJ more. I had considered bringing my collection but ultimately opted not to do so. This meant that the main source of the music was the large but poorly organized one of Vish’s. I thought Tony did really well with what was available. In fact I thought it was quite refreshing to hear Tony use a lot of songs in Vishal’s collection never used by Vish himself.
Mark, Polly and Andrea came by for the social. Still rather few people from the class stayed long for the social so there was plenty of room.
I ended up dancing four times with Daniella. Two Bachata and two Salsa. Luxury! I particularly liked the first Bachata and the last Salsa done to On2 timing. There were other highly enjoyable dances too – easily better than all those artificial and forced dances at SOS this weekend (which of course happened mostly because I was doing the stupid contrived alternating between On1 and On2 dances).
I also had a better view of Tony dancing. He has quite a few nifty moves. He plays with the music. It’s good. He even threw in fair bit of Dominican moves while dancing to one of the Bachata. He said it was the song that inspired it. Cool.
Apparently La 33 is doing a UK tour. Birmingham on July 6th hosted by latinmotion.com is probably a better bet than Leeds on July 4th - at least among the ones involving Tony. [note added after checking: La 33 is also performing in Cambridge on July 11th. I must say that the Cambridge gig does not make the idea of a trip to Birmingham less interesting - oh… maybe a little, but not that much.]
Stinky weather strikes this week. It’s last week all over again. I guess there was a brief reprieve this weekend. Or was there? I am not sure.
The drive to Club Salsa was quite bad. Heavy traffic. I thought I was going to arrive very early. I was barely on time. Then again I got to thinking that Tony and Daniella could be delayed as well. I was right about that. Pretty much everyone else was late too.
I was saying hello to Vish and Raj when I spotted the biggest surprise of the evening. I would like to say that no one could have been happier to see Nina back in town than me – except I suspect there are one or two stronger candidates.
There were plenty of people taking part of the class presumably to make the evening profitable. Of course quality does not equal quality. What was with people not understanding that in place basic is possible taking upper level classes? I guess the trouble is that there are always many more inexperienced people than experienced. Once people decide that they are too good to be taking classes, it’s hard to bring them back.
The warm-up was run a little strangely especially with the footwork. Perhaps it was done to make the going forward with R foot first move less foreign.
It was amusing to hear Quiero Enamorarte be used so extensively in the class during the first hour. I though I might be the only person who liked that song.
Bachata Improver/Intermediate with Tony & Daniella
1,2,3,4 side-to-side basic with slight turning of body but not feet (no more than 1/8th of a body angle change)
5,6,7,8 forward starting with R using R leg to lead
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 primarily using chest (feet more or less staying in place except for weight transfers) back-forward-back then forward-back-forward … could do this indefinitely
1,2,3,4 back starting with L
5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 spot turn continuous without pausing on 8 and on 4 (back-forward-back-forward-etc) ending with not-quite-dip like lead to bring follower around onto R and back into normal closed hold for
1,2,3,5,6,7 in place basic
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 side-to-side basic ending apart with switching to crossed hold R-R on top
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 lead follower to walking turn ending with sombrero finish briefly [note: I thought there was a in place basic for another full 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 but I suppose this is not really needed. I think it was the reason why Daniella might have been trying to backlead this later] and get R-L in and out of sombrero position right away while getting closer – R-L gets out of sombrero position probably between 7 and 8
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 bring R-L down and do a leader’s turn keeping L-R around leader’s neck and then close in during 5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 let go and get into “double” closed hold and do in place basic
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 a slow long gentle dip
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 in place basic
I ended up as an assistant at the DJ booth for the second hour with there being excess leaders for the second hour of Bachata class. The balance was closer to equal for the Reggaeton class.
There was a slight quandary for the music because Tony had not brought a lot of music along with him. Maybe he assumed that Vish and/or I would DJ more. I had considered bringing my collection but ultimately opted not to do so. This meant that the main source of the music was the large but poorly organized one of Vish’s. I thought Tony did really well with what was available. In fact I thought it was quite refreshing to hear Tony use a lot of songs in Vishal’s collection never used by Vish himself.
Mark, Polly and Andrea came by for the social. Still rather few people from the class stayed long for the social so there was plenty of room.
I ended up dancing four times with Daniella. Two Bachata and two Salsa. Luxury! I particularly liked the first Bachata and the last Salsa done to On2 timing. There were other highly enjoyable dances too – easily better than all those artificial and forced dances at SOS this weekend (which of course happened mostly because I was doing the stupid contrived alternating between On1 and On2 dances).
I also had a better view of Tony dancing. He has quite a few nifty moves. He plays with the music. It’s good. He even threw in fair bit of Dominican moves while dancing to one of the Bachata. He said it was the song that inspired it. Cool.
Apparently La 33 is doing a UK tour. Birmingham on July 6th hosted by latinmotion.com is probably a better bet than Leeds on July 4th - at least among the ones involving Tony. [note added after checking: La 33 is also performing in Cambridge on July 11th. I must say that the Cambridge gig does not make the idea of a trip to Birmingham less interesting - oh… maybe a little, but not that much.]
A Completely Useless Exercise
June 1, 2008
By one of those weekends I meant an SOS weekend. Being there did not solve all of the world’s problems of course. It took me a little while to ask someone for a dance. Even though it was a perfectly fine dance, I couldn’t get myself to start another dance for next 3 songs. Finally what got me going was a little challenge to myself; I will try to alternate between On1 and On2 as long as possible.
I knew it was a stupid idea within a few seconds of thinking of the idea. Still I decided to go ahead with it because I thought it was a way to get me going. Also I did tell myself last time in London that I should try using London for more On2 practices.
In the end I managed to keep this up until what I thought was the last dance of the evening. It was dancing On2 with my first dance partner of the evening making for a neat symmetry given that the first dance was on On1 timing. Then I realized that I still had a time for one more dance. I gave my next partner a choice, and she chose On2. So it means I had one more On2 dance than On1 dances tonight.
It was something of a challenge to pick partners to make this feasible. Towards the end, I started dancing with one person first On2 followed by On1 if I felt that my partner probably would prefer to dance On1. I mentioned my silly scheme to a couple of other people including Vera and Amir.
I cannot say that it was a great experience. There were few positives. I could say is that I managed to stay on time pretty much at all times. Some of the dances were decent although I cannot say that any were outstanding. On the other hand, I never felt particularly care-free even when dancing On1. I don’t think there was any fundamental improvement with On2 dancing while On1 suffered a bit. Musicality took a back seat especially while dancing On2. Some of the dances might have been choppy. I think my last dance partner was particularly unimpressed – possibly because I was keeping things too simple or possibly because she didn’t think that the way I led the dance did not fit the music.
If nothing else I suppose I can now say I did it. I don’t think I would care to repeat the effort. It got me through the night. I think I sucked. I think it sucked – it was like deliberately handcuffing myself – all very useless and pointless. Perhaps I can label it masochism for masochism’s sake.
Other features for the evening included minimal leading and large amount of time spent on shines especially with On2. There was a dual birthday dance for Leon and Tamambo. Julian the Duke was the DJ, and his set worked quite well for what I was doing – and I’m guessing that I probably would have liked it just fine on a normal SOS evening too. It was something of a LDA reunion meeting with Roger, Sean, Andrew, Julian, Helen. Susana was there as well, and I think I spotted Shaan briefly as well.
Nicest comment received. "I was going to go home but since you asked me…" I don't think I have known her very long.
Postscript. As I was about the get off the train at the Cambridge station, I spotted someone I knew at the other end of the car. So I had a friendly chat during a short shared walk down the Station Road taking full advantage of not having to worry about background noise.
By one of those weekends I meant an SOS weekend. Being there did not solve all of the world’s problems of course. It took me a little while to ask someone for a dance. Even though it was a perfectly fine dance, I couldn’t get myself to start another dance for next 3 songs. Finally what got me going was a little challenge to myself; I will try to alternate between On1 and On2 as long as possible.
I knew it was a stupid idea within a few seconds of thinking of the idea. Still I decided to go ahead with it because I thought it was a way to get me going. Also I did tell myself last time in London that I should try using London for more On2 practices.
In the end I managed to keep this up until what I thought was the last dance of the evening. It was dancing On2 with my first dance partner of the evening making for a neat symmetry given that the first dance was on On1 timing. Then I realized that I still had a time for one more dance. I gave my next partner a choice, and she chose On2. So it means I had one more On2 dance than On1 dances tonight.
It was something of a challenge to pick partners to make this feasible. Towards the end, I started dancing with one person first On2 followed by On1 if I felt that my partner probably would prefer to dance On1. I mentioned my silly scheme to a couple of other people including Vera and Amir.
I cannot say that it was a great experience. There were few positives. I could say is that I managed to stay on time pretty much at all times. Some of the dances were decent although I cannot say that any were outstanding. On the other hand, I never felt particularly care-free even when dancing On1. I don’t think there was any fundamental improvement with On2 dancing while On1 suffered a bit. Musicality took a back seat especially while dancing On2. Some of the dances might have been choppy. I think my last dance partner was particularly unimpressed – possibly because I was keeping things too simple or possibly because she didn’t think that the way I led the dance did not fit the music.
If nothing else I suppose I can now say I did it. I don’t think I would care to repeat the effort. It got me through the night. I think I sucked. I think it sucked – it was like deliberately handcuffing myself – all very useless and pointless. Perhaps I can label it masochism for masochism’s sake.
Other features for the evening included minimal leading and large amount of time spent on shines especially with On2. There was a dual birthday dance for Leon and Tamambo. Julian the Duke was the DJ, and his set worked quite well for what I was doing – and I’m guessing that I probably would have liked it just fine on a normal SOS evening too. It was something of a LDA reunion meeting with Roger, Sean, Andrew, Julian, Helen. Susana was there as well, and I think I spotted Shaan briefly as well.
Nicest comment received. "I was going to go home but since you asked me…" I don't think I have known her very long.
Postscript. As I was about the get off the train at the Cambridge station, I spotted someone I knew at the other end of the car. So I had a friendly chat during a short shared walk down the Station Road taking full advantage of not having to worry about background noise.
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