This month Jeri Dembrak tells us what a typical salsa weekend can
be like in DC. Thanks again Jeri!
-Manny

A Weekend in DC
-by Jeri Dembrak
JDEMBRAK@AOL.COM

I'm so sleeeepy! This weekend was just absolutely astonishing, awesome and
most of all, AN AWFUL LOT OF FUN!!!!. I can' remember when I had such a great
time but I do know that I had a little slice of SALSA HEAVEN!!! I was really
glad I stayed home & got some zzz's before Saturday and Sunday!

Saturday's SALSA/MAMBO Practice party was a blast!!! Congratulations to Goldy
who won a free $50 dinner certificate at Santa Rosa Seafood (thanks to
Roberto & Oscar) on 18th Street in Adams Morgan!!! She was our grand winner
who managed to dance with 17 different gentlemen in only 3 hours! Although
Mark Waters gave her some heavy competition by dancing with 15 different
ladies in 3 hours! He received a free dinner at Nick's (thanks to Nick)
Shoshana and Liane received free subscriptions to Latina Style Magazine thanks
to Joyce Bentzmann of Latina Style! Another 6 individuals-Keith, Karissa,
Luis, Mitch, Mark and Lori received free compact discs with various salsa
collections of contemporary music courtesy of Warehouse International (thanks
Erick & Tony) at Baileys Crossroads--a great place to buy music and the only
store in town that lets you listen to music before purchasing and courtesy of
special purchases made by Salseros Sabrosos, SalsaNews and SalsaMagic. Way to
go everybody, it's wonderful to see you all dancing the afternoon away!!!!A
great time I believe was had by all. A special thanks goes to the great
instructors that we were truly honored to have and who did a wonderful job
teaching the 15 minute lessons--- Don Leon Harris and Ruth Kubishen and to
Carl Scott and Belle Calimano as well as to Sam Boone who taught an impromptu
beginner's class in the back room in between the old salsa/mambo classic tunes
of Hector Lavoe, Ritchie Ray, Bobby Cruz, Larry Harlow, La Fania All Stars,
Willie Colon, Ismael Miranda, Sonora Poncena, Roberto Roena, and Cheo
Feliciano. We also would like to thank our designated dancers--Gustavo, Luis,
Hernan, Dimas, Joyce and Zulma!!! If anyone has any suggestions as to how to
make the practice party more fun or better, please let us know. One
suggestion was to start earlier at 2pm---thoughts, suggestions, ideas,
comments???

Later, after the Practice Party, I believe I went to the most awesome concert
of my life----Machito Orchestra with all of its original orchestra members
including Machito's son, Joe Grillo, their musical director. Machito has been
dead for quite some time but to the best of my understanding, his sister,
Graciela is still alive as are all of his five children, the youngest being
Joe Grillo. The Smithsonian presented lifetime achievement awards to some of
salsa/mambo's greatest musicians-Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, Carlos
"Patato" Valdes, Candido,
Armando Peraza and Francisco Aguabella. These gentlemen gave incredible
performances and I would venture to say that most of them are over 70 yearsold and still going stronger than ever. "Patato", Candido, Armando and
Francisco each gave conga and bongo solos that I will never forget. I wish I
would have at least had my camera to record the moment because I know that
they will never all be together here in Washington, DC at the same time! For
those who did not make it, you truly missed a historical moment in the history
of salsa/mambo music and in of all places, our own home town, Washington, DC!
My only complaint/regret is that they did not perform in a larger auditorium
or ballroom where more people could have had the opportunity to see these
guys! The historical perspectives presented by music historians, Cristobal
Diaz Ayala, Max Salazar and Raul Fernandez gave everyone a little history
about each musician, the orchestra itself and Machito, himself. It is a shame
but we never really take the time to appreciate those who have worked so hard
& sacrificed all of their lives to make this music possible that we enjoy
dancing to so much!

Special thanks to Musica de las Americas and its sponsors, AMOR radio stations
1460 & 1600, La Mega radio station 1050, El Tiempo Latino, Jaleo's, Club
Quarters, DC Latino, The Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives and
America's Jazz Heritage. For those who love merengue, mark your calendar for
Saturday, March 27th for Milly Quezada & Orchestra with Luis Kalaff and
Joseito Mateo and for those who love tango, mark your calendar for Saturday,
May 29th's performance of the New York Tango Trio. Also for some cool jazz by
two of my favorite jazz artists, Charlie Byrd, Herbie Mann and Leny Andrade
and Trio, mark your calendar for Saturday, June 26th. The next salsa-related
performance is Saturday, July 31st (conflicts with both the Salsa Cruise &
Salsa Congress) with Manny Oquendo and Libre, Jerry Gonzalez, Hilton Ruiz and
Dave Valentin.

Mark your calendars! In addition to the above, on Wednesday, April 7th,
Cubanismo is coming to the Wolftrap Barns at 8pm--this is a DANCE!!!! I think
Wolftrap got tired of us all dancing in the aisles last year when they came! I
have spoken with their group sales dept. They are willing to provide discounts
for groups of 15 or more. If you are interested in going, PLEASE E-MAIL ME
WITH YOUR NAME, ADDRESS & PHONE NO. BEFORE FRIDAY AT 9 AM IF YOU ARE SURE YOU
ARE GOING!!! I have already ordered 15 tickets!

After the Machito Orchestra performance at the Smithsonian, I headed back up
to Nick's for La Romana who are playing some beautiful new songs. They also
played my favorite song Still--thanks guys! Nick's was busy but there was
room to dance and lots of new faces!!! I then headed down to Felllini's–it
was totally packed! Lots of familiar faces but not a lot of dance space!!!!
Some of the familiar faces were complaining about not enough salsa but I was
only there an hour and I heard and danced to about 5 or 6 salsa, that's at
least 35 to 40 minutes of an hour!!!!It's nice to rest a little bit in
between!

If you missed the DANCE FESTIVAL at NICK"S, you missed a great time!!!! It was
really cool to see all the jitterbug, hand dancing, exotic---I really like
it---in some ways, it's very similar to salsa! The Lindy and Swing were
exciting and I see lots of our combinations in theirs and vice-versa!!! The
dance floor was full of new faces. At first, I was scared to death---we all
had to dance and perform in front of everyone and then teach---the class had
to be about 300 to 400 people and yes, guys, I was a nervous wreck but
everything went well using humor to keep our minds off the crowd as usual. We
had a lot of fun teaching the basics and a quick shine on one! Specialthanks to my two Salseros Sabrosos partners who kept me laughing, Hernan,
Goldy and Victoria for all of their help!!! We really appreciated it!