Time Enough For Little

March 6, 2009

I had considered another fictional job with a different narrator – again along the lines of the middle section of The Savage Detectives. In fact I had written several paragraphs with large number of invented names. This had been done on the train ride to Paris last weekend. I even made a grand plan to make all of the remaining Cambridge posts in the same manner all with new narrators for different posts. Then it all fizzled. The interest and time went away – more importantly the time. Also I became unsure of the character motivations as well. It is shelved for now.

A standard abbreviated post instead then. It felt like an abbreviated night anyway despite being there from 10 to beyond 2 and despite it being fairly busy. I came close to breaking a sweat only once all night – Bilongo with Jane. My impression was that it was more work than fun for her – in retrospect I completely botched the first third of the song. For other dances there wasn’t much to botch, and I could have recited a mantra, “keep it simple, don’t make it overwhelming …”

Sam made it once again. I thought I saw her early, but she said she arrived late. She definitely stayed late. A belated start on a new-year resolution she said. Once again she looked strikingly happy dancing – dancing a lot more and with more people than the Sam I remembered of yesteryear. About the only thing that did not change was the controlling personality displayed tonight in the form of coming up with many song requests. I don’t think I can stay annoyed with her for very long.

Anette was there also for the first time in about 8 months, another nice blast from the past. Ditto Cambiz. The Royston trio was there, but only Steve stayed until very late. No Johnny. No Serap. Haihan was there but did not dance much. I can’t say that I was surprised or that I don’t understand it. No Steph. A personal favorite move by Mark was a perfectly apt side-to-side step. Vishal once again acted as the DJ for a fairly long time, which made perfect sense in preparing for the life without me. NYC Salsa CD was heavily used once again (Todo Tiene Su Final, Nina Y Senora, Bilongo, Presidente Dante, others?).

Playlist

Aquel Cantor – Erick*
Que Traigo Es Sabroso – Eddie Torres Mambo Kings Orchestra*
Sin Ti Moriria – Domenic Marte* (1)
Como Quiera – Jose Alberto “El Canario”*
La Cura – Frankie Ruiz (2)
La Muerte – El Gran Combo
Castigala – Los Nemus Del Pacifico* (3)
(v) Suavemente – Elvis Crespo (4)
Te Extrano – Extreme (5)
Ran Kan Kan – Tito Puente (old vibe version sans vocals)
Los Caminos De La Vida – Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe
Mira Ven Aca – Johnny Colon (6)

(1) First of Sam’s request. Presumably she asked Vish too.
(2) Sam makes another request. I made her dance with me.
(3) It is rather silly to call this new given how often Vish had played this song.
(4) Oft repeated request requiring borrowing one of Vishal’s CD.
(5) This was Sam’s second request. I didn‘t know the third song she (and Mark) was looking for (Vea?).
(6) I had been wondering if I could keep Mark and Sam on the dance floor for the next song as well for five songs in a row - success. In fact many of the remaining people dancing stayed through this end sequence. This song was started shortly after 2 AM, and Vishal closed it with Lamento Boliviano.

Total = 13 songs. 1 Merengue (Vishal’s), 2 Bachata including 1 new, 1 Cha Cha. 9 Salsa including 4 new.

I think it would serve Vishal well for him to start the painful process of reorganizing his CDs - organized by artists and with real song titles.