Miguelito and Emiliy Mazzotti at Tapeo. May 3, 2008 7:59pm (photo by Chris Mazzotti)

It's about 3:00am on Monday as I type these words. Yeah, it's true. This past Saturday was the last flamenco show at Tapeo which coincidentally was the two year anniversary of our show there. I first performed at Tapeo on May 3, 2006 with dancers Ginette Perea and María.

The reason for canceling the show is that starting next week Tapeo the restaurant is changing its menu to American cuisine and its name to something new. So unfortunately Tapeo is also gone along with the flamenco. Nothing personal—just the way it goes in the restaurant biz.

The least I could've wished for my last night performing here was beautiful warm weather, so we could perform outside—the shows in the patio are so much more enjoyable for us performers and the audience alike. According to my iPhone-toting friends, the temperature was 74F and despite the clouds, there was no rain.

The dancer for the evening was Emily Mazzotti. Despite it being our last time to present flamenco here, we were still very inspired. And why not? We were outdoors performing underneath the stars. And of course it helped tremendously that we had quite a few of our loyal fans in the audience cheering us on. Not to mention the many children that enjoyed our show and even participated!

When I introduced myself and Emily to our audience, I also took a moment to acknowledge our friends and supporters. Although normally it's not really cool to promote my other gigs at other competing restaurants and clubs, being that it was our last time here, I decided to go ahead and do it anyway for the sake of our fans who might want to follow us elsewhere.

Don't worry. I'm not get all mushy about our last show. :-) Just enjoy these final pics of Tapeo one last time and wish me luck as I go about my search for a new Saturday night gig.

Kiyo, Kyoko and Miguelito at Las Tapas. April 29, 2008 8:43pm (photo by Edwin Aparicio)

It's almost 4:00am on Thursday as I type these words. So this past Tuesday, I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time Kiyo, a cajón player based in Miami who has worked extensively with Kyoko. Of course, I already knew about him from seeing his pics in Kyoko's website. And he knew a lot about me being a regular reader of my flamenco blog.

Anywayz, the good news is that Kyoko and Kiyo are moving to the DC area (and as an added bonus Kiyo is not only a percussionist but also a flamenco guitarist). Welcome to the DC flamenco community to you both!

Guitarist/singer César Oretea and percussionist Lelis Cueto at Ozio. April 28, 2008 11:08pm

It's 3:00am on Thursday as I type these words. And it's my second blog entry today, woohoo! :-) I almost always go to Ozio after my gig at Citron. And this past Monday Lelis Cueto, the percussionist who performs at Ozio, returned the favor and came to my show at Citron. Anywayz, here are da pics. Enjoy!

A few minutes after sunset on a warm Friday night, there's plenty of people partying on the Georgetown waterfront. April 25, 2008 8:06pm

It's 2:00am on Thursday as I type these words. Been a busy week, so I'm just getting around to publishing some pics from Friday. Oh well—better late then never.

Mother Nature was nice to us, yet again, on a Friday night. It was sunny for awhile, but although the clouds filled the sky later in the evening, it stayed warm which meant that the crowds stayed at the Georgetown Waterfront longer. Of course, with the restaurant crowded, I had to wait a little longer to put away my sound system—it's quite difficult lugging a hundred pounds of sound equipment through a dining room packed with customers.

To pass the time, us artists and our friends chilled out in the seating area adjacent to the bar and started a jam session...

Serene interior of Red Maple. April 22, 2008 (photo by Natalie)

These pics just came in. Being a busy working flamenco guitarist is a lot of fun, but the only drawback is that I can't always go to my friends' gigs at night. I texted Kyoko yesterday asking her to have someone take some pics of her debut at Red Maple. She writes...

...Here are some pics from last night. Natalie took these photos for us. The young girl dancing sevillanas with me is Corina, a student of Natalia Monteleón's. She came up to talk to me after the first set, and when I learned that she has been taking flamenco dance lessons, I invited her to dance sevillanas with me in the second set. On trumpet is Jimmy Wilson - an awesome musician...

April 22, 2008

Just a quick blog to show you what I received from a member of the audience last night at Las Tapas. The dancers were Pam de Ocampo and Emily Mazzotti. Awesome and inspiring evening, especially the second set when we were more relaxed and focused.

While I was upstairs practicing before the show, a young lady and her mother (I presume) passed by me on the way to the restroom. On their way back downstairs the mother took a moment to tell me how beautiful my guitar playing sounds and that she and her daughter would be looking forward to the show. Turns out the young lady had just started classical guitar lessons a few weeks ago!

I wasn't the only one that received a hand-drawn greeting card (like the one above). Both Pam and Emily got cards too. The young lady was so sweet and adorable. It's nights like these that make it all worth it to perform in restaurants and clubs. I love my job!

Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, I'll be going to Las Tapas again, but this time in the morning, 11:30am to be specific. Together with Edwin Aparicio and Kyoko, we'll be doing a lecture/demonstration for children teaching them about Spain and flamenco. It's getting late. So I'd better go to sleep now. Ciao for now!

César Oretea, Alma Priego La Terremoto and Lelis Cueto at Ozio Lounge. April 22, 2008 12:00am

It's 4:00am on Wednesday as I type these words. This entry is a continuation of Monday night's festivities which began at Cafe Citron (see previous blog) and carried over to Ozio Lounge where my friends César and Lelis perform on Monday nights from 10:30pm until 1:00am.

In our group were Alma la Terremoto, Kyoko, Luís Linares "El Tiburón," Jason, Jani and myself. It was about a 5 minute walk from Citron to Ozio. Upon arriving we immediately got comfortable on the couch next to the performance area and filled the lounge with our insanely loud palmas. Hehe. César and Lelis didn't seem to mind. It was a slow night anyway and, thanks to us flamencos, we brought this usually busy bar to life.

Jason Vera y Aragón, Kyoko, Laura, Luís Linares El Tiburón, Danielle and Alma Priego La Terremoto at Cafe Citron. April 21, 2008 9:40pm

My friend Alma Priego La Terremoto came to Citron last night. Quite a few other friends showed up including Jason, Danielle, Jani, Gloria, RJ, Iulia, Elena, Katya and Aseel. Diton from Vinoteca was there. We even had a couple of Miami flamencos in the audience: Kyoko and Luís Linares "El Tiburón".

Richard Marlow, José Oretea, Alma Priego La Terremoto, Anna Menéndez, Ramin Rad and Juan Delgado at Vinoteca. April 20, 2008 10:11pm

Yesterday after the Feria, I had plans to go to Vinoteca as I usually do for a Sunday night. My dancer friend of way back, Alma Priego La Terremoto was in town (all the way from New Jersey) specifically for the Feria which unfortunately had to cancel the flamenco stage shows due to the rain. So as you can imagine, she was dying for a fix of flamenco. Luckily we have tablao shows here in DC seven days a week (knock on wood), so I gave her the directions and met up with Alma at Vinoteca sometime after 8:00pm.

Anna Menéndez was the featured dancer for the evening accompanied by guitarist Richard Marlow and singer/guitarist Gerard Moreno. When Alma arrived, it was like a reunion. She already knew me, Richard, Anna and Ramin from way back (she moved to New Jersey in 1998--ten years ago!). She met Gerard, José, Juan and Ken for the first time. Anywayz, when the show started, we all sat along the bar area closest to the stage and provided palmas for inspiration and it wasn't long before it felt like old times again in the company Alma--she's so energetic, positive and full of life!

All dressed-up with a fiesta to go to! :-) April 20, 2008 12:58pm

On Sunday morning, I got a text from my good friend Cindy telling me that the Feria was cancelled. As you can imagine, with the pouring rain, it's a challenge to host an outdoor festival. So I called up Centro Español president Irene Buscañana to get the official word before I made the announcement on my website--which, by the way, got a record number of visits on Sunday. No doubt hundreds of people consider DCFlamenco.com the flamenco info source for DC, yay!

Anywayz, Irene informed me that although the amphitheatre stage shows (which was to feature performances by several local flamenco dance companies) were cancelled, some of the food booths would remain open just in case people decided to show up. Without the flamenco shows, I didn't think there would be that many people. But I was wrong.

I decided to go with the intent of photographing what little would be going on just to document the event--being that I am the self-appointed reporter for the DC flamenco scene. It wasn't thousands of people as would be expected had the weather been beautiful, but more like a few hundred. Just the right amount to have a decent festival crowd and fiestas in one of the casetas.

Doesn't look like much now. But this is where party central will be. April 20, 2008 12:58pm

Thing is that when the party got started, everyone converged on "party central" because that's where the excitement was going on. Unless of course you were stuck standing in the long lines for food--yes, despite the pouring rain, the people patiently waited for the opportunity to buy some delicious samples Spanish cuisine.

Young flamencas. April 19, 2008 11:34am

It's almost 3:00am on Sunday as I type these words. A few days ago, I got a tip that the students of Ana Martinez were going to rehearse on Saturday morning. But as usual for Saturdays I was scheduled to play for a dance class at 12:30pm in Rockville. Turns out that Strathmore is along the way, so I dropped-in on the rehearsal for about a half hour and took pics, paid my respects to Paco de Málaga and Ana Martinez and said hello to some of my dancer friends who were onstage before I hopped back on the metro. Enjoy!

Anna Menendez and Kyoko at Las Tapas. April 17, 2008 7:57pm

It's 3:30am on Friday as I type these words. Just got done sifting through the many photos from last night's show at Las Tapas featuring dancers Anna Menendez and Kyoko with guitarist Richard Marlow. Enjoy!

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.

Sara Jerez dancing soleá at Cafe Citron. April 14, 2008 9:39pm (photo by Jani)

It's 1:30pm on Tuesday as I type these words. Just about to leave the house, but I thought I'd share some pics from last night courtesy of my volunteer photographer from last night. Thank you Jani!

Morgan, Karina and Katie of Furia Flamenca dancing tangos at the Cherry Blossom Festival. April 12, 2008 2:46pm

It's 5:45am on Sunday as I type these words. Just thought squeeze in a quick photo blog before going to bed. This is just a random selection of pics I took of the show by Furia Flamenca in the Cherry Blossom Festival in the Tidal Basin. Enjoy!