Flamenco at Tapeo with Ginette and Nelson. March 10, 2007
Ginette Perea, Nelson Sitton and Lourdes Elias at Tapeo. March 10, 2007 8:27pm
It's 2:19am on Monday as I type these words. With all these late nights this past week, I intended to go to bed early to catch up on sleep, but it seems that my body is back to its late night schedule again. Oh well. Since I'm up, I might as well catch up on my blog.
So last Friday dancer Samantha Zerpa called to tell me that she was moving away to Texas next week and that she wouldn't be able to perform at Tapeo on Saturday as originally planned. 
(We'll miss you Samantha and we wish you the best in San Antonio.)
Anywayz, I needed to find a replacement dancer and quick! So I decided to give dancer Nelson Sitton a call. It had been quite a while since I last worked with him--he and I had a tablao gig with Ziva performing something like five or six consecutive nights at Tuscana West more than ten years ago. Good times. But then he moved away to Chicago for a job and got involved in the flamenco scene there. All the while, he still kept up on the DC scene through my website. When he moved back in February, he immediately emailed me expressing an interest in getting back into performing again here in the nation's capital.
We met up at Tapeo about half an hour before showtime, rehearsed in the back kitchen area for like 10 minutes and less than 20 minutes later, Nelson, Ginette and myself started the show.
My friend and guitar student Matteo gladly volunteered to be my photographer for the evening. Checkout the pics...
Ginette and Nelson in Sevillanas. March 10, 2007 8:32pm (photo by Matteo)
March 10, 2007 8:34pm (photo by Matteo)
Nelson in farruca. March 10, 2007 8:42pm (photo by Matteo)
March 10, 2007 8:43pm (photo by Matteo)
I'm proud to say that business is picking up again and our flamenco show has a large part to do with it. I had quite a few friends in the audience including fellow flamenco and longtime friend Lourdes Elias, my guitar student Matteo, his friend Chris, my future guitar student Gil Mendez, Serenity and Carol. Plus we gained a couple of new fans who promised to come back again very soon.
But when the show was over, the customers lingered only a short while longer. Nelson and Lourdes left early and close to 11:00pm it was just myself, Ginette, Serenity and Carol hanging out the bar.
Ginette, Miguelito, Serenity and Carol. March 10, 2007 10:47pm (photo by Danko)
We did around of shots (but Ginette politely declined since had to drive) and relaxed awhile enjoying conversation while Tapeo owner Danko changed the background music and dimmed the lights to give a more loungey ambience.
March 10, 2007 11:29pm
Since I had an early day Sunday (a guitar student was coming at noon), I walked Ginette to her car and afterwards went back to Tapeo to hang out with Serenity and Carol a short while longer before calling it a night.
Ginette's keys. March 10, 2007 11:45pm
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