My lunch: Costeleta a la parilla (T-bone steak). January 6, 2007 4:01pm

On Saturday, I played for Anna Menendez's flamenco dance class at American Dance Institute in Rockville. Beautiful pristinely clean, well-lit dance studio they got there---perhaps a little too clean for my tastes. Seems like flamenco is more suited to places that are little more "lived-in." Fazil's studio in New York City immeditately comes to my mind. Anywayz, after class I was starvin' so I called up dancer Jason Vera y Aragón since he lives nearby and asked him to join me for lunch at an Argentinean cafe called El Patio. Argentines love beef and they do make a great steak--which is what I ordered. But after seeing what Jason ordered, I decided that I would get the carne salteada next time...

Jason's lunch: Carne salteada (Cubes of steak over rice with sauteed onions drizzled with chimchurri sauce). January 6, 2007 4:01pm

View of the water treatment plant on the way to Georgetown. January 6, 2007 5:23pm

Jason offered to give me a ride into Georgetown since I had to pick up my sound system at Cabanas and bring it to Tapeo in time for my Saturday night gig. Of course, this morning, in the rush to get out of the house for dance class, I just put on the clothes I wore the night before--thank God they didn't smell like cigarettes thanks to DC's new smoking ban, yay! But I wasn't going to have my friends see me wearing the same thing they saw me wearing last night, so when I spotted the Zara store in Georgetown, I asked Jason if we could stop by.

15-20 minutes later, we both walked out of the store with some cool new designer threads by Zara.

Destination: Zara. January 6, 2007 5:36pm

I met up with Michael in Rosslyn, packed my equipment in the trunk of his rental car and we headed over to Tapeo in time for me to setup the stage for tonight's gig. The dancers were Pam de Ocampo and Ginette Perea. Despite my breaking my index fingernail, incidentally my primary strumming finger, in the second set, we enjoyed yourselves and our audience really got into our show, clapping along with my music (but they weren't that much off-rhythm to throw us off. One of the customers even left us a nice tip.

But for a change, the restaurant was seriously packed. Good for business but not so good for taking photos of the show. So all I have for you this time is this posed pic of two very beautiful flamenco dancers. This was taken in the hallway next to the kitchen...

Dancers Pam de Ocampo and Ginette Perea "backstage" at Tapeo. January 6, 2007 8:44pm

After the show, we hung out for awhile at the bar, chatted with the customers and enjoyed some tapas and drinks. Then I packed up my equipment and we headed over to Las Tapas to enjoy the show by Cesar and José Oretea.

Remember my new friends Sally and Jamie from Guarapo the previous week? They were at Las Tapas too. They can both do contratiempo palmas so I got to practice along with Duende Camarón's music.

Miguelito, Sally and Jamie at Las Tapas. January 7, 2007 1:27am (photo by Michael Long)

Next day (Sunday) I met up again with Michael and we got a late afternoon lunch at El Patio and this time I had the carne salteada and it was as good as I expected, then we headed over to Guitar Center across the street so I could buy a new guitar case---I wear these cases out as I lug my equipment everywhere nearly everyday in all kinds of weather!

Of course, the Guitar Center is like a toy store for us and we couldn't resist trying out all the new instruments and gadgets. Although it only took me 5 minutes to select and purchase a new guitar case--I'll have a pic for you in the next blog entry.

Since we tried out so many guitars, we lost track of time and ended up arriving 45 minutes late at our next destination: Anna Menendez's Sunday evening class at DC Dance Collective. It had been a long time since I'd been here but it was good to be back! You can feel the energy of the dancers here--I love volunteering my services here although they do sometimes buy me a beer next door. Flamenco is my profession, but it's also a large part of my non-work life. And I love my job!

Miguelito playing for Anna Menendez's class at DC Dance Collective. January 7, 2007 5:12pm (photo by Michael Long)

OK, it's like 3:57pm. I better get out of the house and pick up my sound system at Cafe Citron before it starts raining. I'll be performing at Las Tapas tonight, see you there!