Cabanas/Tapeo December 15-16, 2006
View of Rosslyn Key Bridge from DC side of Potomac. December 15, 2006 3:54pm
It's 4:55pm on Sunday as I type these words. It's probably not too hard to believe that I just got up less than an hour ago. Hehe. I did go to a holiday party last night (Saturday), got home at 3:00am and had the good fortune of finding one of my fellow night owl friends online and chatted with her until 4:00am giving in finally to my body's desire to sleep.
Despite the unusual sleep-schedule, I do feel well-rested and because of that any symptoms of a coming cold/fever/cough that I had last night seem to be completely gone, yay! Can't afford to get sick you know. It's not like the old days when I had a regular day job where on a Monday morning I might've casually called-in to my boss and fake a "I'm-so-sick-I-can-barely-speak" kind of voice and say something like, "Uh, I'm not going to be able to come in today..." And in my mind, I'd complete the sentence, "...cuz I just want to sleep-in late." Hehe.
You get the idea. Anywayz, I've been loving this weather we've been having this past week. It's been sunny with temps in the 50's and 60's. For someone like me who walks a lot outdoors this is perfect--it's not so hot that I arrive at my gigs all sweaty and the occasional brisk Arctic breeze jolts me out of my half-awake stupor as if Mother Nature is saying, "Hey, wake up it's a beautiful day." :-)
The unseasonably warm weather is good for business too especially on Friday nights at my gig at Cabanas. You see, on a hot summer night, the Georgetown waterfront is the place to be with the view of the Potomac river, the fancy restaurants and outdoor bars teeming with lively people just having a good time hanging out with friends and making new ones. Love it! But in the winter, the waterfront is not is the same kind of scene. The same gorgeous views haven't gone away, it's just that you don't want to be outside to enjoy them. The outdoor bars are closed and the majority of business is made up of people coming out to dinner.
Christmas tree near Cabanas. December 15, 2006 11:45pm
So this past Friday night at Cabanas, I was hanging out at the bar with my dancers Ginette Perea and Pam de Ocampo and I noticed that two of the waitresses, Beth and Inglika, were already dressed in street clothes as if they were going home early. Not a good thing. Usually it's a sign that we didn't have enough table reservations to justify having so many servers. Turns out that they had been working all day for private holiday parties. So business was good.
While Ginette and Pam went to change into costume, I chatted with Beth and Inglika a bit. I was telling them that in the winter, I feel like my job is on-the-line each week, cuz business drops of course (not just here but at all my gigs) around this time of the year. It's not unusual for the restaurant to cancel some shows just for that week. But they were explaining to me that every week, the majority of the table reservations were here for the flamenco and that if it wasn't for us there would be no business. That's flattering! So I was feeling much better.
There was this one charming couple that we met. They're from Philadelphia and the guy said he met me at the Philly Feria a couple of years ago. Honestly, I didn't remember the guy, but he seemed nice enough so Pam, Ginette and I joined Bruce and his wife Karen for drinks at their table after our first show and talked awhile.
He's studied some classical and flamenco guitar and had been following my website and blog for some time now. And they drove all the way down from Philly, a three-hour drive, to see our show. Wow! Well, not just for us: they planned a whole weekend in DC, but Cabanas was their Friday night destination.
The mission of my website is to make it easy for people to find out what's going on the DC flamenco scene. And while I know in my heart that I'm working my butt off doing something good for the community, it's even nicer to actually see the results of my work! Hehe.
After talking with Beth and Inglika and this lovely couple from Philly, I was feeling pretty good which added a bit of extra inspiration for our second show of the evening. Plus our performance is more meaningful when we know that there are people in the audience who have some understanding and appreciation about the art of flamenco.
Stage at Tapeo. December 16, 2006 10:00pm
Saturday night, we performed as usual at Tapeo. The dancers were Pam and Ginette and the shows went well. One friendly guy at the bar bought us drinks after the second show. Plus we had some of our regulars showing their support including Jeff (who works at the adjacent ice skating rink), Gilberto and a bunch of other familiar faces that I'm sure we'll get to know better in the coming months.
I had intended to squeeze in some ice skating after da show but something else came up: an invite to a holiday party with a bunch of my flamenco friends. Don't worry, I took pics and I'll publish them when I get home tonight. Right now, I"m in the mood for a movie which starts at 7:00pm so I better sign off. Ciao for now!
Miguelito with Tapeo employees Carolina and Alejandra. December 16, 2006 10:21pm
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