But I decided to wander off on my own hoping by some slim chance to run into someone I know. As I navigated my way through the crowd of mostly latino grad students, the DJ kept a steady stream of merengue, cumbia, reggaeton etc. Got myself the usual Captain Coke at the bar and ended up sitting down on one of the very comfortable soft leather couches along the wall and basically became a wallflower. :-) But that's OK, I needed to think about "stuff." And being in a new place was good for helping me get a fresh perspective. Monica found me and joined me for awhile--she had a paper to write for grad school and couldn't get into the party mood.

May 4, 2006 11:51pm (taken with my camera phone)

Normally, I'm top of things professionally speaking. But I haven't been myself lately. I mean it's OK to make mistakes, every now and then, as long as you learn from them. What's not so cool is making mistakes that affect others. Recently, there was this one private gig where I was supposed to book a dancer, but I kept putting it off cuz I had personal things on my mind. Understandable but not a good excuse.

Well, you know how it is. We've all done this: when you try to find a dancer (or a guitarist) at the last minute it becomes even more difficult because of increasing time constraints. Long story short: I didn't find an available dancer in time for this private party. Of course the client was a little disappointed but knew me well through my website and my professional reputation and was able to find it in his heart to let me slide this one time.

In the end I still did my job: I entertained him and his guests with beautiful music. In the middle of my show, I introduced myself and spoke to the crowd (and in Spanish!) like they were my personal friends--they are in a way cuz at least for that evening, they gave me the gift of their attention and sincere applause--people with culture and manners, that's rare! I connected with them and that's what made the difference. Thank God I was able to pull it all off without a dancer. Whew!

May 5, 2006 12:04am (taken with my camera phone)

TIP: work on your public speaking skills and remember that no matter how far you go as an artist, you are also an entertainer (there is a difference) so it's your job to figure out how to show your clients a good time even if they don't know the difference between a flamingo and flamenco. :-)

Moral of the story (actually a quote from the movie The Weather Man): "Usually, the harder thing to do and the right thing to do are one and the same thing."

As a self-employed artist, it's too easy to be careless about keeping up with the business side of flamenco. As fun as it is, the drawback is that your job and your passion are one and the same. Despite all that, keep up with the business side (yeah it's a pain in the butt sometimes) and strive to maintain a good reputation, cuz once you lose it, it's very very difficult to get back.