Random thoughts from this weekend June 11, 2006
One of the things that sucks about not owning a car, is being at the mercy of the weather when I have to transport my sound system to a gig. Luckily I didn't have a tight schedule on Friday afternoon. Originally I planned to drop off my equipment early at Cabanas and spend a few leisurely hours at Barnes and Noble in Georgetown. Then as I was sitting here chatting online, there were at first a few random golpes of raindrops hitting my window... a minute later it sounded like a class of 10 beginner dance students all practicing a footwork pattern in 10 different tempi all at the same time. :-)
Oh well, at least I was stuck in the comfort of my own home instead of out there on the streets dragging a hundred pounds of equipment in the pouring rain. The first few blocks I'd be running, but then after getting totally soaked I'd just walk at a normal pace. Admit it. It doesn't matter anymore when you're soaked. :-)
So I just took a nap for an hour or so and when I woke up, the rain had stopped and the sun was out again, yay!
Took a quick shower to wake up, got dressed and headed out the door and made it to Cabanas with plenty of time to spare. Setup my sound system, ordered some fish tacos and a bottle of Pacifico beer (I miss Mexican food in L.A.) and took a walk on the waterfront just in time for this cool view of the dark thunderstorm clouds just moments before they completely took over the horizon.
I wasn't the only one to notice this photographic moment. I was one among several photographers lined-up on the boardwalk. Of course I have the little consumer digital camera while the other dudes had serious SLR's that professional media types use. Oh well. I always say, it's not what you have. It's what you can do with what you have. Hehe.
It cracks me up when yuppie types get these expensive cameras thinking they're all bad ass but still end up taking crappy pics. Same goes for guitars. By all means, buy a nice guitar, but don't walk around tellin' everybody about it. A good guitar will not make you sound that much better.
Obviously I've been takin' it easy this week with the blogging. All I know is that I've been in a chilled-out kind of mood. Been taking afternoon siestas, literally. By the time I get to my gigs at night, I find that I have more energy and am in a pretty good mood.
Last night (Saturday) at Tapeo was very enjoyable. The dancers were Ginette Perea and Jennifer. As usual I arrived early to setup and chillout at the bar enjoying a glass of sangría. I gave the restaurant owner Danko an 8x10 glossy flamenco photo (by Niko Alexandrou) to be used for promotional purposes. It's a very cool action shot featuring Ginette that they intend to digitally scan to make into a large poster.
For a couple of weeks now, we've been relying on word-of-mouth and my website to promote the show and it's doing well now. People are actually calling ahead to check when we're performing--a good sign. I advised Ginette and Jennifer to change into their costumes early so that when people pass by they'd see them in their flamenco outfits and stop by to inquire about the show. It helped! By 7:30pm the outdoor patio was full--at least half of them were there specifically to see the show. I know this because I overheard them asking the hostess about the flamenco, yay!
The sun was setting by this time which was fine since I preferred a little darkness to bring out the effects of the stage lights (sorry no pics). Unfortunately, I didn't realize how worn out my stage lights were--during the show the bulbs were bouncing around adding another percussive element to the footwork. Oh well, we fixed that in time for the second set.
We had a good size audience again. This time I took a moment to look all around to see the all the people. As usual there was a contigent of primary school age kids mimicking Ginette and Jennifer. It was so cute and their parents were thrilled. After all we're giving them some real culture here--as some of them told me after the show.
After each set, we usually just leave the stage immediately, but this time we couldn't. As soon as we were done, quite a few people came up to us to pay us compliments and ask about our background and where to take classes. We met this lady from Madrid who was just thrilled to death that she could see some flamenco right here in her neighborhood. Another lady said that she recognized me from when I used to do shows in Shirlington at Toro Tapas--truth is that I only subbed there a few times. Oh well, at least I should be flattered that she remembered me after all these years.
And Ginette had a whole table of fans that she first met several years ago when she performed in First Night Alexandria 2003! And of course, they knew about me through my wonderful website, yay!
There was this one table of people that was giving us jaleo--not the kind where you say "Olé!" to announce to the rest of the crowd that you know the proper thing to say. Truth is that these people didn't know, they just felt so inspired they just cheered us on "Woooo! Wooo!"
Overall a LOT of positive energy in the crowd that night. Nice!
Anyway, the point here is that while I personally enjoy doing shows with such wonderful dancers as Ginette and Jennifer. I also take pride in knowing that we're giving our community here a bit of much-needed culture.
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