It's 11:29am on Monday as I type these words. I promised I'd catch up on this blog by noon so I'm almost there!

After Saturday's late night party, I decided to sleep in late--didn't get up until after noon on Sunday! But it was fine cuz I didn't have any scheduled plans until the evening.

I was in one of those moods to visit the National Gallery of Art again. Went to the West building as usual and hung out in my favorite galleries. I used to get lost in this building but I'm starting to know my way around--and the National Gallery of Art is a huge labyrinth!

While I was checking out the French impressionists I heard some orchestral music at full volume. I know they give concerts here at the Gallery but I've never actually been so I walked down the hall to check it out...

Turned out just to be an open rehearsal. I like the setting here, perhaps it's a little to relaxing that I might fall asleep at a concert. :-)

Around this time last year, I went up to New York with my friend Jenifer and I remember passing by the Rockefeller Center where they have an ice rink. This pic which was taken in the sculpture garden next to the National Gallery reminds me of that day.

On the way to the metro, I stoppped by Barnes and Noble near metro center and browsed awhile. I was in the business section (my new hangout at bookstores) and came across Amazonia: Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot.Com Juggernaut by James Marcus.

It's an easy read and perfect for those that want to reminisce about the dot-com era of the mid 90's, incidentally, when I started my website.

Later I met up with a friend and went to see a movie that just came our Friday called The New World. At times it's a very dreamy interpretation of the Pocahontas story that'll put you in a conservationist frame-of-mind--imagine lots of drawn-out wilderness shots with uplifting snippets of Mozart's music (I'm listening to classical music right now and Mozart's birthday is this Friday).

Looking back over the weekend, I realize it was mostly a get-away-from-flamenco kind of theme. I needed that! But regardless, I definitely have to squeeze in flamenco time with Marsha whenever possible--she's quite busy at Alliance Dance Institute. In time, I hope to put my skills and resources to use and help the flamenco and Spanish dance program there get off the ground.

Tonight I'll be at Cafe Citron. Hope to see you there!

I started off Saturday with my usual dance classes with Anna Menendez at American Dance Institute (not to be confused with Alliance Dance Institute). I work at both of these places and staff refers to themselves as ADI which confuses me a little cuz I know two ways of expanding that acronym.>

Anna's class was good. I had a decent night's rest and was feelin' especially inspired. I've been on this roll of inspiration all week. We worked on fandangos de Huelva for the beginner class and for the advanced beginners, we worked on martinete and seguiriyas.

After class I grabbed a quick bite and rushed home to setup the sound system for tonight's acoustic rock party (yes, I said acoustic rock!) before heading off to Alexandria to rehearse with Marsha Bonet aka Rosa la Huracana.

Combined with a good night's rest and tanking up on caffeine all day long, I was full of energy and ready to work! Between rehearsing and training in ballroom, Marsha also teaches flamenco, Spanish dance, castanets, international body movment not to mention handling administrative stuff at Alliance Dance Institute, so understandably, she seemed a bit tired.

But once I pulled out the guitar and started our freeform warmup (where she does stretches as I improvise a toque libre), little by little the flamenco side of Marsha that I know and love came out. We worked on technique in the back studio before going out to the stage in the front studio to work on choreography--that was a smart move cuz we attracted the attention of customers passing by who stopped to ask about classes. We were having so much fun, we lost track of the time and the few hours that we were able to squeeze in passed by rather quickly.

Oh well, there weren't any more classes scheduled at Alliance for the evening and I could sense that the other teachers were patiently waiting for us to finish rehearsing so they could close up the studio. So I called it a night, said goodbye to Marsha and headed back to the Pink Flamenco where my roommates and I had a house party already in progress!

It was acoustic rock night...

I setup my sound system and stage lights and transformed our studio into an intimate club for the night.

My longtime friend Sandra Bishop happens to also be my landlord. She and I used to do lots of shows and parties (and appeared in a few independent films) when I first met her in 1991--I think she just graduated from high school back then. :-)

It was her vision to create a residence and center for arts-related activities so the Pink Flamenco house was born back in 2003. Ginette Perea and I were the first ones to use the studio space for a rehearsal back then.

Then Sandra focused on acting and film-making and the flamenco part of her life was put on the back burner. But we still did occasional shows. Here are some pics from almost three years ago.

We have a wall of photos documenting the many people who have passed through here. I posted last Friday's Washington Hispanic where pics from our last party appeared.

Anyway, back to the party. We had a number of other guest musicians come up and play including yours truly doing few numbers with Sandra--she did an alegrķas and a few rumbas (she's a talented singer too).

I won over a few new fans in our audience who promised to come to my upcoming shows.

It's 10:05am on Monday as I type these words and I'm just gettin' around to actually writing about Friday. What can I say? I've either been getting up super early or going to bed really late.

Anywayz...Friday at Cabanas was a good night cuz we had lots of friends (old and new) in the audience. The dancers were Ginette Perea and Mariya.

Met an entertainment lawyer, Steve, who was brimming with fresh ideas about improving business. The owner of Cabanas was there and Steve and him totally hit it off discussing business ideas including a few to better promote the flamenco show here at Cabanas.

The first show was decent but the second was much better, plus we had more people the audience including a couple that walked in when they noticed the first show through the french windows as they passed by. That's always a good thing for marketing--making the show visible to passersby. We'll see if we can get a flamenco pic for the Cabanas signs around the waterfront.

Based on the response of the audience, we know that we put on a good show. Still, in the winter months when business slows down everywhere, it's a matter of getting the word out and enticing a critical mass of customers to come out. From there, it's just a matter of word of mouth. Little by little, we have to win the people over and turn them into our "evangelists."

The one couple that came in on impulse were totally bowled over by the show. This guy was celebrating his significant other's birthday and they were so impressed, they walked up to us after the show and paid compliment after compliment. Cool. Another evangelist recruited! :-)

I met another couple at the bar who also weren't expecting a show this evening. They too were impressed and their feedback meant a lot more to me cuz the girl is a performer herself (belly dancer) and a visual artist. They had ideas about improving business, so I also referred them to, Nick, the owner of Cabanas. Poor Nick. I feel like inundated him with overzealous members of my fan club. :-)

Don't get me wrong. The folks at Cabanas are doing a fine job. Nick owns several highly successful restaurants including Nick's Riverside Grill next door. I was impressed that he took the time to listen to my friends' ideas.

I went straight home after Cabanas. Wanted to rest up for Saturday night's party at my house.

It's 10:18am on Friday as I type these words. A few minutes ago, I just met a potential new housemate, a girl from Colombia. Yay! Another person to practice Spanish with. Everyone who lives here at the Pink Flamenco is involved professionally in the arts, but I never got around to asking her what she does. Not to worry, there's time.

Anywayz, last night I did my usual gig at Andalucia in Rockville. I had the pleasure once again of working with an up-and-coming student dancer named Isabela Otero. But I call her Isabelita cuz her mom's name is also Isabel who also dances.

Business has been uneven at all the places I play (Citron, Las Tapas, Bonaparte, and Cabanas) and Andalucia was no exception. Fortunately, last night the restaurant was packed. This is what I was hoping for to ensure that Isabela had a good performing experience.

But I can remember on Tuesday at Las Tapas, there was almost nobody out there, but we're professional entertainers so we're still expected to give it our all (or at least make it look like we are).

All the girls in the Otero family has studied flamenco. I used to do shows with the mother, Isabel, years ago. She studied with Ana Martinez. Isabelita currently studies with Ana. The youngest sister Marcela also has studied flamenco dance. And Gabriela studied flamenco guitar. I have a pic from last February when they all showed up at El Ranchero in Arlington.

Isabelita was off from school for most of January but is going back this weekend. So chances are she won't be available to dance here until the semester is over.

Tonight I'm performing at Cabanas in Georgetown with Ginette Perea and Mariya Kostytska. See you there!

It's 4:53am on Thursday as I type these words. Can't explain, but I'm fully awake right now, and in a reminiscing contemplative kind of mood, so I write...

When I first launched this website in 1996, I never thought much of it. It was just a simple personal homepage on AOL that announced my own shows. Around that time, I even remember a colleague laughing at me as he said, "You created webpage for flamenco in DC?. What flamenco in DC?" (Note: there was flamenco in DC long before I arrived, but before DCflamenco.com was launched, it was nearly impossible to know everything that was going on unless you were "in the know.")

Just now, I skimmed through my guestbook which goes back all the way to 1997! People were raving about my website even back then. But there were some that were also ranting about it. Here's an entry from 1998 from someone calling themselves Sara, Samantha and James who didn't have the guts to publish their email address.

To this day, no one has come forward to take credit for these words.

Monday 06/22/1998 12:37:13am
Name: Sara, Samantha and James
E-Mail:
Homepage Title:
Homepage URL: http://
Referred By: Net Search
Location: Washington D.C
Comments: For the past couple years I have studied about Falmenco.
I have taken Spanish (Flamenco) dance classes at various places and from many teachersin the D.C. area and in New York. I have also seen tremendous amounts of perfromances through the D.C. area, N.Y. City, and Spain.
Although I definitely would not call myself an expert of Flamenco, I do understand enough to be a sort of "critic"...
Well, I have spoken to many people who have frequented your web site, and have taken your word on the Washington D.C. Flamenco world.
When we ventured out to enjoy the Flamenco in this city based upon your criticisms, we were very displeased and dissatisfied.
We are not experts in this area, but we do have a degree of appreciation and understanding of art, dance, music,...and Flamenco.

AFTER SEEING THIS HOME PAGE, I CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THIS IS NOT AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OR REVIEW OF WASHINGTON D.C. FLAMENCO. YOUR CRITICISM IS INADEQUATE AND UNSATISFACTORY.

IT SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU ARE UNFAIRLY BIASED AND HAVE SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS NOT.

I HAVE ACTUALY SEEN YOU PERFROM, AND I THINK THAT YOU ARE TERRIBLE.

FIRST OF ALL, AFTER READING YOUR "BIOS" IN VARIOUS PROGAMS OR BY WORD OF MOUTH, I HAVE REALIZED THAT YOU ACTUALLY ARE NOT SUCH AN "AUTHORITY," AS YOU CALL YOURSELF, ON THE FLAMENCO WORLD.
YOU EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE, AS YOU REFER TO IT, IS NOT FILLED WITH SUCH AMAZING THINGS, EVEN THOUGH YOU DID HAVE SOME GOOD PERFROMANCES OR GOOD EXPERIENCE....

SECONDLY, YOU ARE NOT EVEN SPANISH, OR CLOSE TO IT, SO YOU OBVIOUSLY WERE NOT RAISED IN THAT SORT OF CULTURE.

I TRULLY HOPE THAT PEOPLE DO NOT TAKE YOUR WORD ON WHAT IS QUALITY FLAMENCO IN THIS AREA OR WHO IS A QUALITY OR GOOD PERFORMER, BECAUSE, YOU DEFINITLEY ARE NOT.

The fact that Sara, Samantha and James took the time to write this guestbook entry is actually a compliment. Why? It means that someone really does care about what I have to say!

Obviously, I can't please everyone. I don't even try to do that. But based on the overwhelming positive feedback over the past ten years, I know I'm doing an excellent job promoting flamenco in DC and bringing the flamenco community closer together.

Moral of the story: stand-up for what you believe in and don't let anyone discourage you. If you're doing something worthwhile that will make a significant impact on a community, it's inevitable: you will piss-off some people along the way.

I was just in the right time and place when I came up with the idea of a flamenco website for DC before anyone else did--the World Wide Web (for non-military), as it was called back then, was just taking off. I wasn't trying to be the first, it just happened that way. But I'll take the credit for making this website one of the best of its kind.

It's 9:37am on Wednesday as I type these words. My 9:00am rehearsal got moved to 2:00pm so now I have time to blog, yay! Aren't you glad I'm here to entertain you while you wile away on this rainy Wednesday morning? :-)

Last night, I did my usual Tuesday gig at Las Tapas with DC's best flamenco dancers (of the younger generation): Edwin Aparicio and Anna Menendez. Good performance but attendance was pretty weak with only 3 or 4 tables. I did my usual strategy of going to individual tables and chatting up the audience between sets. You know: greeting them, introducing myself, educating about flamenco, thanking them for coming etc so they feel guilty about not sticking around for the second show. Man, am I bad or what? :-) Hey it's just business and I'm also doing my duty of introducing some culture into their lives. It's also a way for me to promote myself and my website and work on overcoming my shyness--one of my New Year's resolutions.

I talked at length with this one couple who went on and on about how we Americans in general (and I'm one of them) seem to lack a clear cultural identity so we need to go back and learn about our heritage (if you trace back far enough, we're all from somewhere else). Their three-year-old daughter has already been introduced to Irish dancing (her father is of Irish descent) but they're going to bring her to Las Tapas next time and who knows maybe she'll fall in love with flamenco...we'll see.

Getting back to flamenco blogging... Yet another early day to rehearse with a dancer. On the way to Alliance Dance Institute in Alexandria, I passed by National Airport.

I arrived just a few minutes before 11:00am when I was supposed to meet Marsha Bonet aka Rosa la Huracana. I noticed a flyer in the window at the studio advertising her classes.

I digitally recorded part of our rehearsal. Here are a couple of frames from the video file...

Time to go. For once, I got a good night's rest (close to 7 hours) and it helped! Good rehearsal. Thanks Marsha!

It's 5:29pm on Monday as I type these words. Time for me to go to Cafe Citron and setup my equipment. I'm almost tempted to stop by DC Dance Collective and see how Ginette Perea's children's flamenco class is going. Never mind. I'll just ask Ginette when I see her later...she's dancing at Citron tonight. Oh yeah, my friend Madiha is celebrating her birthday there too, so it should be a lot of fun. See you there!

Afterwards, I'm heading over to My Bakery Cafe in Georgetown to support the rumba group Duende Camaron. Show from 9pm to midnight.

Got up early this morning so I could catch the train at 10:00am to meet a dancer friend in Virginia. Wasn't necessary but still very thoughtful...she made me a simple breakfast before we started rehearsal. Nice. A light snack beforehand puts me in a good mood.

We made a major breakthrough in progress today: she's starting to appreciate the liberating feeling of dancing with live accompaniment, yay!

No, this is not her. This is a flamenco doll on the piano in the studio. :-)

Afterwards, I headed to Cabanas in Georgetown to pick up my sound system. To get there I took the scenic route along the C and O Canal. If you squint your eyes enough, you can blur out the obvious signs of modern technology and pretend you're walking through 19th century Washington DC.

Last week I bought this book: Coaching the Artist Within by Eric Maisel which I just happened to leave in my stage lights bag. So as I transported my sound equipment home, I had something inspiring to read.

The advice is applicable to any endeavor artistic or not, but what makes this book cool are the anecdotes illustrating the advice. I especially liked chapter 10, Planning and Doing (page 159), cuz it inspired me to get off my butt and committ myself to making concrete daily plans to support my long-term artistic goals. I know...it's just plain common sense, but we all need that burst of inspiration from time to time.

When I went to Spain last June, I was hoping to buy some cool shirts to wear for my shows, but didn't find anything--I still bought a lot of clothes but mostly had a great time though. Little did I know that in September I'd move next to a shopping district in Chevy Chase where I'd find lots of clothing like this shirt which I found at Filene's Basement for cheap!

It's 8:13pm on Sunday as I type these words. I didn't go out at all this weekend--just chilled out at home for a change. My friend Juliana burned a bunch of mix CD's for me with some really cool music. I swear, she must've put some subliminal messages in the music telling me "Stay home and read, stay home and read" cuz that's what I've been doing all weekend! :-)

I'm still in vacation mode and will get back to my famous flamenco blogging shortly. Gotta get a good night's sleep tonight so I can be awake for an 11:00am rehearsal on Monday. Ciao for now.

Haven't been inspired to blog much this week. Indulge me. For ten years, I've been relentlessly promoting flamenco and working my butt off to bring the flamenco community closer together. I've earned a little vacation time, don't you think?

In the meantime, thank God I've got other interests such as playing with Photoshop...