The younger generation of DC flamencos (from left): guitarist Mateo Romero, dancer Ginette, singer Hector Márquez, dancer Isabelita, singer Naíto, singer Marylin Márquez and dancer Sarah Hart. September 19, 2008 9:58pm

It's 9-something am on Monday as I type these words. Got a busy day ahead of me. But here's a quickie blog entry with pics from last Friday's flamenco show at Cabanas in Georgetown.

As I took the above pic, it occurred to me that everyone in that photo is a flamenco performer in their early 20's. Three young singers, three dancers and guitarist. Quite a change from when I first started performing in tablaos in 1995 and still in my 20's: my first weekly gig was at Havana Village in Adams-Morgan and I didn't even have one singer back then.

Interestingly, flamenco legend Paco de Lucía partied at Havana Village one time after giving a concert in DC. Fortunately, it wasn't on a night when I was playing at there. Can you imagine what it would be like to have someone like him show up as I was performing onstage? It could happen! ;-)

Mateo Romero and Hector Márquez. September 19, 2008 10:01pm (photo by Marylin)

Mateo Romero. September 19, 2008 10:02pm (photo by Marylin)

Ginette and Isabelita dancing Sevillanas. September 19, 2008 10:03pm (photo by Marylin)

Ginette and Isabelita. September 19, 2008 10:04pm (photo by Marylin)

Ginette and Isabelita. September 19, 2008 10:05pm (photo by Marylin)

Miguelito playing an intro to soleá. September 19, 2008 10:07pm (photo by Marylin)

Ginette dancing soleá. September 19, 2008 10:09pm (photo by Marylin)

Ginette. September 19, 2008 10:10pm (photo by Marylin)

Ginette and Mateo. September 19, 2008 10:11pm (photo by Marylin)

Ginette and Mateo. September 19, 2008 10:12pm (photo by Marylin)

Miguelito, Ginette and Mateo. September 19, 2008 10:17pm (photo by Marylin)

Isabelita in alegrías. September 19, 2008 10:19pm (photo by Marylin)

Isabelita and Mateo. September 19, 2008 10:20pm (photo by Marylin)

Isabelita and Mateo. September 19, 2008 10:20pm (photo by Marylin)

Miguelito, Isabelita and Mateo. September 19, 2008 10:21pm (photo by Marylin)

Isabelita. September 19, 2008 10:22pm (photo by Marylin)

Ginette in bulerías. September 19, 2008 10:28pm (photo by Marylin)

As for tonight (Monday), I'll be performing as usual at Cafe Citron with singer Gerard Moreno and, most likely, dancer María or Sara Jerez—I never really know for sure who the dancer will be but real flamenco guitarists can play for anyone without rehearsal anyway. Incidentally, this month marks 7 years that I've been performing at Cafe Citron (here are some pics from the very first show in 2001). Of course, on my way home, I'll stop by for a sangría at Bodega in Georgetown. See you there!

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José Oretea, Behzad Habibzai and Ramin Rad at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. September 4, 2008 5:48pm

As promised, here is the second batch of pics from the flamenco performance at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Enjoy!

Behzad, Yolit, Kyoko and Emily. September 4, 2008 5:52pm

José, Ramin, Behzad, Yolit, Kyoko and Emily. September 4, 2008 5:52pm

José and Ramin. September 4, 2008 5:52pm

José singing tangos accompanied by Ramin and Behzad. September 4, 2008 5:53pm

Yolit dancing tangos. September 4, 2008 5:54pm

José, Ramin, Behzad, Kyoko and Emily. September 4, 2008 5:56pm

Yolit. September 4, 2008 5:56pm

Yolit. September 4, 2008 5:58pm

Emily beginning her alegrías. September 4, 2008 6:00pm

Emily. September 4, 2008 6:01pm

Emily. September 4, 2008 6:02pm

Emily. September 4, 2008 6:04pm

Emily. September 4, 2008 6:05pm

Emily. September 4, 2008 6:08pm

Emily. September 4, 2008 6:09pm

Yolit and Kyoko. September 4, 2008 6:11pm

Kyoko performing soleá. September 4, 2008 6:12pm

Kyoko. September 4, 2008 6:12pm

Kyoko. September 4, 2008 6:12pm

Kyoko. September 4, 2008 6:12pm

Kyoko. September 4, 2008 6:15pm

Kyoko. September 4, 2008 6:16pm

September 4, 2008 6:21pm

José and Ramin closing the second set with a rumba. September 4, 2008 6:21pm

Yolit, Kyoko and Emily providing palmas. September 4, 2008 6:22pm

José. September 4, 2008 6:23pm

Ramin. September 4, 2008 6:24pm

José and Ramin. September 4, 2008 6:26pm

View of the Kogod Courtyard. September 4, 2008 6:26pm

I highly recommend checking out the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It's a block from the Gallery Place metro on the Yellow Line. As you can see in the pic above, the air-conditioned Kogod courtyard is a perfect place to relax, read a book and if you have a laptop, you can take advantage of the free WiFi.

As for tonight (Friday), I'm performing at Cabanas with dancers Sarah Hart and Emily Mazzotti--shows at 8:30pm and 9:30pm. My singer friend Hector "El Piraña" Márquez might stop by. See you there!

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José Oretea and Ramin Rad performing tientos/tangos in the Kogod Courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. September 4, 2008 5:10pm

Yesterday (Thursday) I went to the Smithsonian American Art Museum where a few of my flamenco friends were performing: guitarists Ramin Rad and José Oretea, percussionist Behzad Habibzai and dancers Kyoko, Yolit Yospe and Emily Mazzotti.

They did three half-hour sets between 5:00pm and 8:00pm, but since I had to rush off to Las Tapas to do my own show, I only stayed to photograph the first two sets. I took close to 400 pictures! This is just a random selection. Enjoy!

Ramin. September 4, 2008 5:11pm

José. September 4, 2008 5:12pm

José and Ramin. September 4, 2008 5:13pm

Enter the dancers: Kyoko, Yolit Yospe and Emily Mazzotti. September 4, 2008 5:14pm

Yolit and Emily dancing Sevillanas. September 4, 2008 5:15pm

Kyoko and Emily. September 4, 2008 5:16pm

Emily and Kyoko. September 4, 2008 5:16pm

Ramin playing an introductory falseta por bulerías. September 4, 2008 5:23pm

Emily dancing a patada por bulerías. September 4, 2008 5:25pm

Emily. September 4, 2008 5:26pm

Yolit. September 4, 2008 5:27pm

Yolit. September 4, 2008 5:28pm

Kyoko. September 4, 2008 5:28pm

Kyoko. September 4, 2008 5:29pm

Emily, Kyoko and Yolit. September 4, 2008 5:30pm

Emily, Kyoko and Yolit. September 4, 2008 5:30pm

Stay tuned...later on today, I'll add a second batch of pics.

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Daniela, Cindy and Yahaira in the courtyard of Bodega in Georgetown. August 31, 2008 7:28pm

It's 1:00pm on Tuesday as I type these words. I hope you all had an enjoyable three day weekend. I know I did. Anywayz, on Sunday night, I hosted a flamenco juerga at Bodega restaurant in Georgetown which was very well-attended. I only sent out the invitations via FaceBook just as an experiment to see how effective it would be for publicity. The day before the juerga I had 71 people confirmed and 38 maybes!

However, the courtyard at Bodega can hold about 40 people comfortably so fortunately our guests arrived in several waves. Some came for awhile and left, then another small crowd came in. When that crowd left, another came in.

Cool thing was that about half of the guests I had never met before, which is good: new people to introduce to the DC flamenco scene! Of course I told lots of them about DCFlamenco.com and even met a new dancer or two who are new to the area and unaware of the flamenco scene, yay!

Here are the pics. Enjoy!

Sabrina, Matia, Laura and Inga. August 31, 2008 7:59pm

Stefano, Daniela, Cindy and Miguelito. August 31, 2008 8:01pm (photo by Laura)

Hector "El Piraña" Márquez and Naíto getting the juerga started. August 31, 2008 8:07pm (photo by Daniela)

While I do take credit for bringing in the huge crowd to Bodega, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to these young flamencos, Hector, Naíto and Mateo. They got the party started with cante, guitar and cajón and kept it going for hours and hours! You guys rock!

Mateo Romero accompanying Hector. August 31, 2008 8:25pm (photo by Daniela)

Taking a break between songs while the audience awaits. August 31, 2008 8:40pm (photo by Daniela)

I got many requests to play guitar, and I did play for a very short while, but I was pretty busy greeting guests at the door, introducing myself and promoting the local flamenco scene. I lost count of how many people told me that they didn't know there was such a huge interest in flamenco here in DC.

Jason Vera y Aragón setting the tempo for alegrías. August 31, 2008 8:41pm (photo by Daniela)

Jason singing alegrías. August 31, 2008 8:42pm (photo by Daniela)

Cindy with singer/guitarist José Oretea. August 31, 2008 9:03pm (photo by Daniela)

August 31, 2008 9:04pm (photo by Daniela)

Hector, José and Naíto. August 31, 2008 9:06pm (photo by Daniela)

Denise, Cesar Oretea, Chris and Jason. August 31, 2008 9:07pm (photo by Daniela)

Rumberos Cesar and José Oretea from the group Duende Camarón treated us with what they do best.

Denise, Cesar, Chris, Jason, José and Hector. August 31, 2008 9:12pm (photo by Daniela)

José. August 31, 2008 9:13pm (photo by Daniela)

August 31, 2008 9:13pm (photo by Daniela)

Sandra amidst the crowd. August 31, 2008 10:31pm

Brian with Rosie, one of my most enthusiastic fans. August 31, 2008 10:35pm

One of my dearest friends, Daniela. August 31, 2008 10:43pm

Miguelito, Paula and Patricia. August 31, 2008 10:57pm

Laura and Artemis. August 31, 2008 11:03pm

Patricia, Adriana, Josefina and Paula. August 31, 2008 11:19pm

Sevillanas time! August 31, 2008 11:59pm

Around 1:00am, after drinking so many glasses of sangría, courtesy of my many old and new friends, I realized I hadn't eaten since lunch and I was famished. Unfortunately Bodega's kitchen was closed. So when there was a brief lull in the juerga, to everyone's disappointment, I politely took my guitar away from the last guy who was serenading us. Oh well, there's no way I'm going to leave my beautiful new guitar unattended while I sneak out for a quick bite!

I walked out toward the front bar and ran into Daniela and Cindy who were about to leave and they treated me to dinner at Quick Pita, down the street. That was a very nice gesture. Thank you ladies! Actually come to think of it, I didn't buy a single drink all night, all my friends were constantly refilling my sangría glass. Nice. That's the way it should be! :-)

I was starving and Daniela and Cindy were kind enough to accompany me for a late-night bite at Quick Pita. September 1, 2008 1:22am

On another note: last night (Monday) I had the night off from Cafe Citron for the Labor Day Holiday. Good opportunity to catch up on sleep? Yeah right! :-) It felt weird to stay at home on a Monday night, so around 11:30pm I ventured out to Georgetown (a 20-minute walk from my house) and dropped by Bodega to say hello to my favorite bartender, Sachi.

I overheard the manager saying that Sunday was one of their busiest nights thanks to me! The owners of the Bodega were very pleased cuz we brought in a lot of business (well, it was a holiday weekend, too) but more importantly we added so much to the Spanish-themed ambience with our flamenco juerga.

So if you're wondering if there will be another juerga at Bodega soon, the answer is YES. I'll confirm a date with the restaurant and announce here on DCFlamenco as well as FaceBook. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, do visit Bodega and check it out for yourself and be sure to tell them that Miguelito sent you! The address is 3116 M St (at the intersection of 31st and M) in Georgetown. Call 202-333-4733.

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