José Oretea and Ramin Rad. February 11, 2009 10:25pm

It's always been my thing: supporting my fellow artists. And it just so happens that Café Bonaparte is walking distance from my house so I really have no excuse not to go.

I know what you're probably thinking..."Miguelito? Why? You've heard them play many times before." True, but the only way we professional musicians can continue to do what we do is to bring in business. So that's why I'm there: to do my small part to contributing to the business by sitting down at the bar and ordering a few drinks and an appetizer or two. My fellow artists do the same for me too.

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Carlton Ashton and Behzad Habibzai at Café Bonaparte. April 16, 2008 8:06pm

It's 5:45am on Thursday as I type these words. Last night (Wednesday) was very chill--spent the evening listening to my friends perform for a small but appreciative crowd. i.e. myself, Jason Vera y Aragón and our new friend that we just met, Catherine. Don't get me wrong, business was good. There were quite a few other tables in this tiny tiny place filled with paying customers, but they were more into their own conversations than in the show itself.

I sat at the end of bar the whole evening--it's the prime spot for taking photos. For the short period when the two tables directly in front of me were unoccupied, I took advantage of the situation and snapped off a bunch of shots. What follows is a random selection.

Carlton Ashton and Behzad Habibzai at Café Bonaparte. April 16, 2008 8:06pm

Bear in mind, that I couldn't move around much: it seemed like every two seconds a waitress glided past me. There'd be a quick blur of black in my camera's viewfinder and they'd be gone. Earlier in the evening, I'd sense their presence out of the corner of my eye as they stood waiting for me to take a pic and uttered a quick, "Go ahead." As the evening progressed, they learned to stop asking to pass by and simply went about their business.

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Carlton Ashton singing at Cafe Bonaparte. March 19, 2008 9:01pm

It's 2:02am on Thursday as I type these words. I had Wednesday night off as usual and I decided to spend it supporting my fellow flamencos at Cafe Bonaparte. I live in Rosslyn just a few blocks from the Key Bridge and since it was a beautiful warm night (with temps in the high 60's), I decided to walk to Georgetown. I checked Google maps and the distance from my condo building to Bonaparte is 1.4 miles!

Anywayz, I arrived just as cantaor Carlton Ashton and guitarist Behzad Habibzai were setting up the sound system. I said a quick hello and quickly grabbed the end seat at the bar nearest to the stage. The advantage: good spot for taking pics of the performers. The disadvantage: I was in a high traffic spot where customers and waiters passed by what seemed like every 2 seconds often bumping into me sometimes without even saying "Sorry," or "Excuse me." Ugh.

Truth is that this restaurant is tiny. It's a good thing for the ambience. You fill this place with just the right number of flamenco fans and aficionados doing palmas and jaleos and it can get really loud, in a good way. I can remember quite a few memorable nights having jam sessions when I was a regular performer here almost two years ago.

But this time around, the restaurant could only afford one guitarist and a singer (instead of two guitarists and one singer). When you think about it, it's probably better that way. The stage is cramped enough as it is. And for me, it's like the tables are turned. Five or six years ago when Behzad first arrived in the DC area, he came to my show at Las Tapas every single week and watched the show, learned what he can by observation and asking me questions. Now I'm coming whenever Bonaparte has their flamenco night (which is about once a month on a Wednesday) and coming to Behzad's show.

Aside from local performers like myself (and Richard Marlow and José Oretea) coming out to support Behzad and Carlton, I didn't see any other familiar faces from the local flamenco community. Here are some pics to give you an idea of what you missed. Enjoy!

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