March 15, 2010 It's almost 6pm on Monday as I type these words. Pretty much spent the whole afternoon in various cafes catching up on email, reading blogs, news etc. Right now I'm at Barnes & Noble in Georgetown cranking out a quick blog with some pics that I meant to publish a month ago.

My friend Jani is a pretty loyal supporter of my flamenco shows. He's been coming around for years and fortunately for me (and you my loyal readers!) he loves to take photos so I gladly hand him my camera whenever he stops by! These pics are from the Saturday night flamenco show that took place on February 20, 2010. Enjoy!

So this past Saturday's attendance for the first show was slightly down—which I attribute to the fact that a lot of other clubs were hosting pre-St Patrick's day parties. In any case, I did have some friends show up who had never seen Citron's flamenco show before (thank you Omoladun & Aleshia!) which is always good. By the second set, we had the dining area filled-up to capacity as usual, yay!

If you're one of my many friends on Facebook, you know that I've been promoting the Saturday Night flamenco show consistently every week. And every week, I send out invites to a couple of hundred DC area friends who I know have an interest in flamenco. As expected, the first few weeks, I had an overwhelming response to the invite with a lot of people saying they were definitely coming and quite a few saying they were maybe coming. Then the next following weeks, the response to the invite went down slightly but people still showed up and packed the place anyway.

I'm going to continue to send out the invites every week as usual, but I'm confident that the word is out by now: everyone that I know in the DC area (who's on Facebook) and has an interest in flamenco pretty much knows about the Saturday night show. But it doesn't hurt to keep announcing it week after week. So I apologize in advance if you're getting annoyed by my persistence! :-)

Just a few brief announcements:

The Alfonso Losa flamenco workshop (organized by Genoveva) is coming up March 31st at DC Dance Collective. More info on Facebook.

If you're a student at the University of Maryland, College Park, you'll be happy to know there is a weekly flamenco class taught by Miriam Phillips with live guitar accompaniment by Miguelito (that's me!) and Gerard Moreno. The course number is DANCE 489F and it's on Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30pm-4:45pm in Studio 2 of the Clarice Smith Center ('cept this week due to Spring Break). Stop by and say hi!

Just added to the calendar a bunch of upcoming shows for Natalia Monteleón's Arte Flamenco. I'm all about promoting everyone of course. But I checked the websites for the other DC area dance companies and didn't see any upcoming shows. Nudge, nudge. :-)

UPDATE: Furia Flamenca just added a bunch of shows to the calendar! Thank you Furia!

Dancer/teacher/choreographer Jaime Coronado celebrates his birthday this week. Unfortunately, I don't have any recent pics of him, but if you do run into Jaime be sure to wish him a happy birthday...which reminds me that I have to write a blog about my experience working with him last year doing a Spanish-themed musical (yes, I said musical) based on the childrens' book Ferdinand the Bull.

Thanks again to Jani for taking these fabulous pics. Just a reminder, if you do intend to come out to the Saturday night flamenco show, call ahead at 202-530-8844 and reserve a table and be sure to ask to be seated next to the stage.

My netbook battery's about the die out, so I'm going to sign off. Stay tuned in a day or two for another blog entry. Ciao for now!

Rumba night at Guarapo. Photos by Jill Hatzai. March 11, 2010

March 12, 2010 It's almost noon on Friday as I type these words. Still at home, but will be getting out soon even though it is a rainy day. Just wanted to quickly post a blog featuring the work of my awesome photographer friend Jill Hatzai.

She texted me last night saying she was going to Guarapo—a lounge in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia which is practically a few blocks from my house. As much as I wanted to come along, I was so tired (which I'll explain in another blog). But the next best thing to going is seeing some fabulous pics of what I missed. Enjoy!

Guarapo features live rumba flamenca by singer guitarist César Oretea and percussionist Lelis Cueto on Thursday nights starting around 10:00pm. More info at the Guarapo website.

For more samples of Jill's photographic work, visit her website at www.jillhatzai.com

When you think about flamenco 8 hours a day in your cubicle, you're probably in the wrong job. :-)

March 10, 2010 It's 3-something pm on Wednesday as I type these words. Of course it's sunny and 64°F outside and like an idiot I'm indoors sitting in front of my netbook but there is a good reason. I'm at my old workplace from 10 years ago attempting to rekindle the memories and feelings from when I used to clock in and out here five days a week! Can you imagine me working in an office? Well, it's true...I did! But I only lasted there for 8 years before I came to the realization that the day job lifestyle was not meant for me.

Let's backtrack to my college years for a bit. As you probably already know, I was a classical guitar major at Cal State Fullerton. Had a full-time class load and was living at home (thanks Dad!) but I needed to make some money to pay for tuition, books, gas and going out. So I did what a lot of college students did at the time: got a job on campus.

The university library happened to be next to the Performing Arts building so I went in and applied and got the first available job in the reference department. Wasn't really thinking too far ahead about how this would look on my resume. Besides, how many musicians carry around a resume anyway? So I started out with shelving books and later moved up to filling-in at the reference desk. Not very stimulating work I admit, but it was easy enough and the hours were flexible so it worked. Long story short, I ended up working there for about three years. Then I got my degree, a Bachelor of Music in Classical Guitar Performance, and moved to DC literally the day after graduation where I had a music job waiting for me!

I became the dance class accompanist at George Washington University where they offered a course in Spanish dance taught by Marina Keet. My pay was supposed to be funded by a grant, but that grant fell through. And while I gladly continued to play for the dance classes for free (because I loved flamenco that much and wanted to learn), I still needed a job and fast! So I finally put my degree to use and applied for a government job in the city I was living in: Arlington. So what's a musician with a Bachelor's degree and three years of library experience going to do? I got a position in the circulation department of the Arlington Central Library.

Again not very stimulating, but it was a government job with a stable income and benefits. In the meantime, as I got more experienced in accompanying dancers, word got around of the new guitarist in town (me!) and I started playing for other dance teachers and got hired to play in shows with other dance companies—the other guitarists in DC back then were Paco de Málaga, Torcuato Zamora, Tom Cotton, Henry Jova, Ralph Pemberton, Marija Temo and William Christie. I was 25 and having the time of my life. I was working 8 hours in the office, then playing for dance classes and rehearsals several nights a week. So I would come home late and practice guitar until I fell asleep at 2:00am or later then woke up at 6:00am to get ready for my day job. Not exactly a healthy lifestyle I admit. OK, so I was in my 20's and did it anyway, but I knew deep down inside that eventually I would have to choose one or the other: flamenco or the day job.

(Mind you...there are people who can do both and still accomplish a lot. Kudos to those people. But as for myself, I'm one of those types that can only do well at something if I commit myself to just that one thing.)

I managed to keep this lifestyle going for eight years believe it or not. Looking back now, I don't know how I lasted that long, but I did. But as you might expect, my performance and motivation at my day job was starting to suffer. I'd call in sick without really being sick. Usually it was to catch up on sleep. Sometimes I'd force myself to go to work, show up late and just sit at my desk staring at my computer screen. Nothing against my day job. My coworkers were nice people and my work in the public library in a small way made a positive difference in my local community. It's all good, but my heart just wasn't in it.

There were days when I'd make it all the way to the office and when I arrived at the employee entrance and placed my hand on the door knob, I couldn't make myself turn it. I kept on saying to myself, "What am I doing here?" then I'd turn around and go back home.

My coworkers knew I played flamenco guitar at night so when I called in sick without really being sick, I'm sure they knew. So this period of frequent "sick days" went on for about six months. And finally in March 2000, I gave my two weeks' notice and quit my day job.

Oh my God...it was the greatest feeling of relief when I made that decision. Brave? Reckless perhaps? More than anything else, I felt I was being true to myself. "Do what you love and the money will follow," as the saying goes, right? Still I knew this major change would mean I would no longer have a stable income, let alone medical benefits etc, yikes!

But now that my days were freed up, I found myself practicing more and making a lot of progress—a definite plus to playing guitar full time! Of course, over the years, gigs would come and go (and they still do), but somehow I made it work. There were times when I gigged everyday. And there were times when I'd gig less, much less. It hasn't been easy, but while my income dropped drastically from when I had a day job, my job satisfaction and overall happiness went up, way up!

Sometimes I'd wonder how my life would've turned out if I stuck with the day job. Would I have settled down with a family and wishing I had more time to play guitar? Then again, as a flamenco guitarist there's no real career advancement...hopefully you just become better at what you do artistically, get more gigs with better artists, enjoy the satisfaction and as an added benefit get recognized for it. There's no such thing as Senior Executive Vice President of Flamenco....just flamenco guitarist.

Unlike my old day job, I still get that tinge of excitement each time I get ready for my shows each week—and I have my occasional bad days too just like in any job. Ten years have gone by since that day I quit to play flamenco guitar full-time and it's all a blur now. But looking back now I'm glad I did it.

"Yeah, I am THAT guy!" or Miguelito the flamenco guitarist is also Miguelito the webmaster!

March 3, 2010 It's a little after noon on Wednesday as I type these words. As usual I'm at my neighborhood Barnes & Noble enjoying coffee and soaking in the vibe of productivity in the air. I'm surrounded by other like-minded people sitting in front of their laptops. Most of them are typing away furiously or otherwise trying to look busy. As for myself, I'm staring off into space wondering which ones are college students, which ones are teleworkers and which ones are freelancers.

Miguelito the flamenco guitarist and webmaster

I am one of those freelancers. But we don't have a particular look that gives us away. What about me? I've got a ponytail—an old stereotype for musicians which doesn't really apply anymore these days. I've got artificial long nails on my right hand—I'm guessing that most people don't recognize that as a clue that I'm a classical or flamenco guitarist or perhaps even a drag queen, take your pick. :-)

Most of the time when I'm here at Barnes & Noble, I'm here because I want to get out of the house and write a blog entry which bring us to today's topic: ME!

Yeah...even though I write about flamenco for the purpose of making people aware of the local flamenco community as a whole, the truth is that I can write best about my own personal experience so naturally most of the blog posts will be about ME.

After publishing more than 500 blog posts over the years, a lot of people know me fairly well. Even though I am particular about what I want the world to read about me when I write, certain topics or trains of thought will come up again and again in very subtle ways without me realizing it. I suppose a psychoanalyst can read my hundreds of blog posts and come up with a psychological profile about the kind of person that I am. Scary! :-)

Anywayz, everyone knows that I play flamenco guitar. I run into people who recognize me on the street, at clubs and restaurants, on the metro, even in the laundry room of my building at 3 in the morning, really!! I've done a pretty good job of promoting my name and face on the web—and not just on my website, but also Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc. But I learned the other day, that not everyone realizes that Miguelito the flamenco guitarist is also Miguelito the webmaster.

So yeah, the other night I was at a certain club (which will remain unnamed to protect the innocent...haha) and was talking to this girl at the bar. She was telling me that recognized me from my flamenco show at Cafe Citron.

So we talked about flamenco for awhile and one point I thought I would tell her about my website. But she beat me to it.

"Hey Miguel, do you know about DCFlamenco.com?"

I was taken aback. I mean c'mon. Maybe I'm full of myself...but I'm pretty sure everyone who is actively involved in flamenco in DC has heard of DCFlamenco.com by now. But I kept my cool and decided to have some fun—big mistake!

"Oh yeah, that's a pretty awesome website. I go there all the time."

"I've seen pictures of you there."

"I know. I put them there myself. I am the webmaster for DCFlamenco.com."

I must've had the word LIAR written across my forehead for all I know...cuz she didn't believe me.

"No...that can't be you!"

My guitarist friend Behzad Habibzai came up with a funny analogy for my frustration: "Imagine the guy who created Facebook being asked at a party 'So are you on Facebook or something?'" Good one Behzad!

Geting back to my story...it wasn't going to crush my ego that much if she didn't believe me, but I still wanted to prove it. And unfortunately I ran out of business cards. So what does one do to prove that he is the webmaster for a website? Well...I don't have a webmaster bio with my pic on there. I suppose I could've pulled out my netbook, and uploaded some text to my website that said, "See?? I am the webmaster!!!"

Long story short...we hung out for a little while longer and talked about other stuff, but we parted ways with her still not believing I am the webmaster. I was bit irked, I admit. But it is kind of my fault: I don't have a webmaster bio.

I suppose I should just quietly enjoy the satisfaction that she knows about my website. One of these days, she'll be visiting DCFlamenco.com and perhaps even be reading this blog and realize I am who I say I am!

When this happens I'll let you know. ;-)

Marina Heredia at Lisner Auditorium. February 21, 2010

Congrats to Lisner Auditorium on its tenth year of hosting the Flamenco Festival! February 21, 2010

February 28, 2010 It's probably Sunday February 28th when you're reading this, but I actually wrote this blog entry a few days earlier and used a feature in Movable Type to automatically publish the entry a few days later. Pretty cool in a geeky way, no? :-)

Anywayz, Lisner Auditorium's 10th annual Flamenco Festival has come and gone. I realize ten is just an arbitrary number to celebrate, but I still think it's something worthy of praise. It's not easy to fill-up a 1500 seat auditorium for all the festival concerts year after year. Kudos to the director and staff of Lisner Auditorium!

But while the festival presenters do have to strive to at least break even, it's not unusual to take a risk with performances to broaden the DC audience's exposure to flamenco. Dance concerts almost always sell well, but cante concerts are another story.

I can remember in February 2004 when singer José Merce came to DC and performed a cante concert with guitarist Moraíto and only half the seats were filled. Still a very good concert, but a little disheartening to see so many empty seats for such a well-known and respected flamenco singer. Same turnout with singer Rafael de Utrera in October 2004. The point is that as inspiring and important as cante is in flamenco, it usually doesn't sell very well with the DC general public—I can't speak for other cities around the USA, but I'm sure it's probably the same elsewhere, or not. (Flamenco aficionados from other locales, please feel free to contradict me and leave a comment below!)

Singer Marina Heredia with Mateo Romero, Hector Márquez and Miguelito. February 21, 2010

I had heard of Marina Heredia before. My friend Juan Martín (not the famous flamenco guitarist from Málaga) gave me her debut CD Me duele, me duele way back in 2001. Was one of my favorite CD's for a while and 9 years later, I never thought I'd have the pleasure of hearing her sing in DC. But thanks to Lisner, I did!

It was 90-minute performance with no intermission. She was accompanied by guitarists José Quevedo "El Bolita" and Luís Mariano with chorus and palmas by Ana Rivera and Reyes Martín as well as Marina's sister Jara Heredia who danced a few numbers.

My guitarist friend Behzad Habibzai kept track of and wrote down each and every flamenco palo featured in the concert which alternated between flamenco and Arab-Andalusian and a mixture of the two. Sometimes all the musicians played together. Other times the flamenco guitarists rested their hands while the Chekara Arab-Andalusian Orchestra of Tetouan played. The "orchestra" consisted of violinist/vocalist Jallal Chekara, Abdelaziz Sansaoui on the qanun, oud player/vocalist Youssef el Joussaieni, Mouhssine Koraichi on the darbouka. (Note: I'm just copying the names from the concert program...so it won't reflect any last-minute changes in artists.)

Guitarist José Quevedo "El Bolita" with Mateo. February 21, 2010

I didn't find any reviews in any Washington DC-based news sources. But here's a review of Marina Heredia's New York performance.

So after the concert, I did what I always do: go backstage to meet the artists. Not that I'm a groupie or anything—OK maybe a little. :-) Actually I'm just doing my job as self-appointed historian of the DC flamenco scene: meet and greet with the performers and take a few pics. Somebody's gotta do it, so it might as well be me.

I do this backstage visit so often that the flamenco festival tour manager already recognizes even though she only sees me once a year at Lisner. After making it past security, I usually go into the green room and approach whoever happens to be there. Usually the star of the show hangs out in his/her dressing room and is inaccessible. But this time around, the tour manager, Lola, actually invited me to meet Marina!

This caught me off guard...I wasn't prepared for this. Sure enough, 30 seconds later Lola gestured me to follow her down the hallway and knocked on Marina's dressing room door and there she was! And I froze for a moment to think of something to say beyond the customary "Felicitaciones!"

In my limited Spanish, I expressed on behalf of the DC flamenco community our appreciation for her coming to DC and performing. But what was cool was how down-to-earth she was and that she was willing to meet me and my two friends who came along, Hector Márquez and Mateo Romero, who I think were just as speechless as I was in meeting Marina.

Violinist Jallal Chekara and oud player Youssef el Houssaieni of Chekara Arab-Andalusian Orchestra of Tetouan with Miguelito, Hector and Mateo. February 21, 2010

I know what you're thinking now: "So Miguelito...did you ask Marina and the musicians to hang out afterwards?" The answer is "No." Usually I leave that up to them to ask me. And it has happened a few times over the years. Back in 2000, I ended up hanging out with Farruquito and his guitarist El Perla and a couple of hotties...but that's a story for another time. :-)

Between Snowmageddon (or "Snomenco" as Lisner marketing director Carl Graci describes it) and having to work on nights that coincided with concert dates, I was only able to go to one of the five concerts* in the flamenco festival series this year. Oh well...usually I don't mind the tradeoff and while I have a blast performing flamenco several nights a week, I have to admit that being busy working at night does have its disadvantages. Hmmm...so for the 2011 flamenco festival, I'll ask the Lisner staff to schedule the concert dates around my gig schedule. Yeah right. :-)

* Just an added note for those of you not from the DC area. Lisner Auditorium's 10th Annual Flamenco Festival included the following:

Gala Flamenca featuring Pastora Galván, Manuel Liñán, Belén López and Rocío Molina
Compañía María Pagés—CANCELED DUE TO BLIZZARD
Compañía Rocío Molina
Marina Heredia & the Chekara Arab-Andalusian Orchestra of Tetouan
Compañía Israel Galván

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