What I Did On My Summer Vacation 2013
I have been on Summer vacation from this blog. But I’m baaaccckkkk!! During the last few months, I had a birthday, took a real family vacation to Spain (which included Barcelona, Catalunya and La Costa Brava..had a blast & visited my in-laws and friends), came back and saw Spanish Harlem Orchestra (so good!!), checked out Outside Lands Festival (saw great acts: Paul McCartney, Phoenix, Nine Inch Nails, Chic, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rhye, Bombino, Bauer etc) , the San Jose Jazz Festival (Javon Jackson w/Les McCann & Dr. Lonnie Smith , Wil Campa & powerhouse vocalist Paula Harris with The Beasts Of Blues were awesome!), moving forward with plans for a new personal web site, have hosted and produced a lot of radio, raised money to keep KPFA alive, interviewed Puerto Rican salsa stalwart Don Perignon, contemporary Salsa sonero/matinee idol Michael Stuart and emerging Cuban music star Wil Campa (they were ALL great performing live in person by the way!!!). I haven’t stopped yet..I am hosting Con Sabor tonight – Saturday, August 17 from 9 to 11 pm on KPFA 94.1 FM/www.kpfa.org. I am starting a new nightclub scene…I will be resident dj for a new weekly Salsa night “Sabroso Mondays” this Monday 8/19 from 8 to Midnight at Lukas, West Grand at Broadway, Downtown Oakland, just a couple of blocks from the Paramount Theater. I will also return to my regular monthly spot at Cafe Cocomo this coming Saturday, August 24th with the popular Julio Bravo & Salsabor on stage!! Que...
Read Moretidbits late June 2013
memories of spring and the beginning of Summer 2013: Don Perignon and his great trio of singers including Rico Walker, Gonzalez and Josue Rosado performing a smoking set in semi darkness due to a blackout at El Vacilon, Treasure Island…Peruvian Cuban Timba sensations Barbaro Fines and Mayimbe packed Cafe Cocomo to the rafters. The band with it’s frontline reminiscent of Charanga Habanera wowed the timberos at the club….Carnaval SF was rescued at the last minute by a Mission District community coalition led by Roberto Hernandez that pulled off the 2 day festival and parade with a volunteer staff and bands that played for free. SFCAT, the non-profit producing entity that ran the event for the past 3 years (and that hired me as Carnaval’s entertainment consultant from 2011 to 2012) went kaput this year and punted to Hernandez and the Mission coalition…..The indestructible salsa great Oscar D’Leon was joined by two violins and a full band mesmerizing the crowd at Cocomo. Tragic news about D’Leon just weeks later. He lost his eyesight after he was struck in the eye by a chest in a domestic accident. Wishing Oscar a speedy recovery! He is truly one of the great Salsa singer and performers of all...
Read MoreSF International Film Festival
The 56th annual edition of the San Francisco International Film Festival which took place in late April showcased a series of Latin films dealing with youth and the coming of age. Be sure to look for the Brazilian film “They’ll Come Back” dives into that scenario focusing on the story of a privileged 12 year old girl Cass who is abandoned on a desolated road along with her brother by her parents. Her brother goes off by himself to get help. She discovers a Brazil that is foreign to her defined by class, poverty and immigrants.
Read MoreMemories of Jelly’s…What A Scene!
I was one of the resident dj’s that help carry the throne at the late San Francisco club Jelly’s from 1998 to 2010. There were many memorable evenings that I experienced from behind the dj booth. The bands and the dj were always pushing each other to take the music higher in those days. There was a tremendous communication between the band, dj, dancer, party goer, a regular and an aficionado. But the real connection was the music. The music soared on most Sunday evenings where the band and the dj was jamming, the dancers packed the wooden floor and outside concrete patio. I wasn’t there when it started when Linda Wosskow (who now runs the Seahorse) and KPOO DJ Chata Gutierrez started the Sundays in the mid 90’s. I was asked to do a late Sunday night following a typical Sunday tardeada at Jelly’s around 1998. It was a short run disaster but I did get hired by Jelly’s owner Clarice Lacau to rotate Sundays with PR salsa maniac DJ Ivette “La Coqui” Fuentes. It was a great period of time for me personally in terms of dj’ing my particular mix of new and classic salsa brava, timba, cha cha, merengue y mas to a mixed, packed and enthusiastic crowd. The crowd didn’t care about taking proper dance lessons or having bottle service at their table, they were there to dance and listen. Those were good times. I always looked forward to eating “el maestro” Jesus’s cooking! I was addicted to my combination of ribs and pollo…rico!!! Ivette was later replaced with rotating DJ’s Walt Digz and DJ Antonio who were first known primarily as Timba DJ’s. During the last 10 months of the club’s existence, I was reduced to a monthly residency as a cost cutting measure at the club…lo bonito y lo feo. Jelly’s finally went kaput in October 2010 after a fatal shooting incident during an off night hip hop event which eventually sunk the club. They were forced to close by the Port Commission and the club closed. We closed the club in typical Jelly’s fashion with Julio Bravo and Salsabor, DJ Walt Digz and myself doing the spinning honors that evening. It was a packed crowd from start to finish. Ever since the club closed, promoters have been trying to capture the Jelly’s magic but they haven’t been able to do it. However, they have developed their own distinctive scenes such as the Seahorse in Sausalito and Cana. I have been hearing about new clubs opening up on Sunday. The advance hype is that they are “the new Jelly’s” hoping to appeal to sentimental ex-patrons who perhaps are frustrated with the current Sunday salsa scenes. Those folks who have this notion have completely missed the point of what was happening at Jelly’s during those days…it was a special time and place. There was an unpretentious vibe. It didn’t matter if the place was a dump, it was your Sunday meeting place where you could hear and dance to great music. It was the real thing not hype. R.I.P. Jelly’s con...
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