Saturday 28th June 2008
Del Salereo had arranged a stage for Solar Radio at the Carnival de Cuba event in South London, and had asked me to come down and play a set.
I left just before 10am, picked Stuart (My bro) up on the way then bombed down the M40 towards London.
Rather than driving through London to Southwark, I decided to ditch the car in West London and catch the tube. So we parked just round the corner from Latimer Road tube station, caught the tube to Baker Street, then changed to the Jubilee line to Canada Water. The weather was great, but that meant the tube was hot!
We got to Canada Water station, then it was a short walk to Southwark Park. We met Del at the Solar Radio stage, James Anthony from Solar Radio was dj'ing, playing a relatively laid back 80's soul set. I was due on at 3pm, so went for a walk round the site and to get some food. It was early, but the Carnival was already quite busy. Bought a couple of CD's and said hello to Luis at the Mr Bongo stall, before heading back to the stage for the start of my set.
It wasn't too busy at this stage, and the people that were there, were getting into the soul that was being played, so it was slightly daunting to follow. I started with Mi Salsa from the DJ Duste CD, then Lebron Brothers Salsa y Control - good tracks to bridge the musical styles. As my set progressed, the crowd in front of the stage got bigger and bigger, spilling out round the sides, with quite a few couples dancing. It was a great sight to see so many 'non-salsa' people really getting into it. Particular highlights from my set were Tabaco y su Sexteto's 'Ponte en Ritmo' and Sizzla's re-dit of La Playa Sextet - those two really rocked!! (You can view my complete playlist here )
At the end of my set, I handed over to Ginger Tony, again from Solar Radio, who progressed into Latin Jazz and Boogie, and did a good job of keeping the crowds attention.
Hung out for a short while before heading off (we were due to have a stall at the Colliery Club in Coventry), so didn't get to see the rest of the event, but heard everything went really well. Dj Cruz (aka Robert White) even played a set. Left Stu at the Carnival (he ended up travelling home on Sunday morning with a heavy hangover!), then caught the tube to the car and headed back up the M40. Popped home, quickly got changed, then drove over to the Colliery Club, arriving at about 8:30pm. Mel was already there, as the Carpe Diem Student Group were due to perform later in the evening.
Set up the stall, watched the classes, chatted to a few people.. All the usual stuff. The performance was on just after midnight and the team did an outstanding job and received loads of positive feedback - nice one girls!! We left around 1am - I was absolutely shattered!!
Friday
No Salsa tonight - after a particularly hard weak at work, I was shattered by the time Friday evening came around.
Saturday
Began my weekend Salsa shenanigans by going to Michael and Maxine's class at the Custard Factory in Birmingham. The classes take place in the main Dance Studio. These two, along with Keefe, are extremely good teachers and I would attend on a weekly basis if I could.
Later in the evening, we'd planned to go to the Colliery Club's first birthday party, which is a joint promotion between Latin Motion and SalsaDelic .
Mel, Cat, and I left quite late, and we picked Sofia up on the way. Sofia has been dancing in Birmingham for about 18 months now, and she joined Mel's student team a few months ago. She's only recently started coming out on our travels but is due to head back to live in France in a couple of weeks!
We got to the Colliery Club at about 11pm. It's a large, open-plan venue, with a huge sprung dancefloor and was fairly full by the time we arrived.
The shows were on at about midnight and were by the Seraphim and Con Tambor Student Groups. I was particularly impressed by the Con Tambor show, although both groups did really well! A particular highlight was that Mark, an old friend of Mel's, was part of the Con Tambor group - we had no idea he'd been rehearsing with them!! I videoed both performances, so they'll be online soon.
After the shows, the guest DJ for the night, DJ Clave (aka Mark of Salsa Oxford ), took over and span a good wide selection for the crowd, keeping the dancefloor busy throughout.
We stayed until just before the end then made our way home. I'd had a couple of drinks, so Mel was designated driver - made easy by the fact that she's not drinking at the moment :-)
Sunday
A long day at Scala beckoned, with Mel due to teach a class at 2pm, me to DJ from 10.30pm, and the night ending at 6am. A last minute hotel room booking was needed, and we just managed to get ourselves a triple room at the Travelodge, 5 minutes from the venue.
Mel, Cat, and I set off, again picking Sofia up on the way, and headed down the M40 to London. Didn't have time to park, so I dropped the girls off outside the club about 5 minutes before the class was due to start, drove to the hotel, parked, and walked back to the venue.
The Scalalatina events are promoted by Joe Davids of The Latin Collective , and this particular event was part of a weekender billed as the London Latin Minifest, a prequel to August's Latinfest. Nelson Flores was the headliner of a huge list of guests and residents.
This was my first time attending a Salsa event at the labyrinth that is Scala. Mel was in the top room, so I headed up, and chatted to David Hynes for the duration of her well-attended class. We then watched a couple of other classes before heading for food at a local Italian.
Once we'd eaten, it was back to the club, and we watched a couple of Nelson Flores' classes while catching up with a few people. Once they were over, we managed to get a video interview with Nelson, followed by him telling us a few stories off camera!
Back to the hotel to get changed. We'd only booked the one room, a rather cosy triple for the four of us. I got freshened up, grabbed my CD folder and camera, then headed back to Scala, leaving the girls to do their thing.
I was due to play the warm-up set, up to the first lot of shows. Really enjoyed my set, and managed to squeeze in a few gems while keeping the dancefloor full! Got a great compliment from Julian The Duke, so that topped the night off well!
Scala was quite packed by the time I finished, and the first set of shows. I ended up leaving around 2am, flagging after a long day and a bit to drink! Mel and Cat got back at about 4am, while Sofia stayed to the end, rolling in at about 6.30am.
After a few hours sleep, we went for breakfast at an old favourite in Stoke Newington before heading back.
Next up - the Salsa Central first birthday on the 31st…..
Mel had been booked to teach and me to DJ, on the Saturday night at Fever Dance Studios in Preston. This is a monthly night that's building steadily. We'd been once before at Cat's invitation.
Mel did her class, footwork and styling, teaching a short routine, and I did the music for her then started the Dj'ing off. Amos is the resident here and was a great host.
The venue is a proper dance studio with the most amazing floor, mirrors across the whole of one of the long walls, and a great sounding system that's embedded into the ceiling. The whole place is really nicely kitted out.
I played the first 90 minutes or so, progressing through my tunes, and managed to get away with dropping a few of my new finds from the likes of Hector Rivera and Serafin Cortez.
We left the venue at 11pm, on a promise to attend the One Love party in Birmingham. Made good time and got to the Irish Centre just before 1am. The party had been moved from it's usual room upstairs to the more cavernous option downstairs. There was a good turnout, and the dancefloor was kept full by the resident DJ, Roger, who was spinning some good tunes but could do with using headphones - some long intro's on a few of those tracks!! Maverick took over and did his thing before we left shortly before 2am. I do like the One Love parties - they always seem to get the vibe right at their events.
Bank Holiday Sunday = No work tomorrow. We thought we'd go and check on the Salsa Frog event at Isis in Nottingham. This party is run by DJ Ricardo and Steve 'El Capitan'. We took two cars up, and had a little trouble on the way, but that's a whole other story. Got to Isis just after 11pm and the party was in full-swing.
Slap, who produces the Salsa Notes articles on this site, then took over on the decks. It was the first time I'd met him in person, let alone heard him play, and he did a cracking job (so much so, in fact, that he'll be appearing at one of the Salsa Central parties at some point!).
At midnight, Salsology Dance Company performed. They've really got this routine nailed!! Once that was over, it was time for Ricardo to unleash his tunes and do a bit of dad-dancing behind the decks! The dj's were getting quite a few drinks in and once Ricardo had finished his set, it all seemed to get the better of him and he had a sleep at the back of the club. Steve finished the night off, keeping the dancefloor busy right until the end.
We left just before 3, did a couple of drops on the way home, and eventually got in at 5.
