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.