I'm just rereading my blog and getting depressed. Here I am in happier times (about a month ago), dancing to Maravilla de Florida (with Dani) at La Tribuna. Video screen grab thanks to Eve.

Cristian and I take a turn on the Pabellon Cuba dancefloor, surrounded by the very experienced ruederos of the Compañia Latin Dance Ballet. The original post is here. Pics by Jim Beatson.

So in the last couple of days the new Charanga Habanera album has turned up all over the net. I heard it everywhere I went in Havana but it proved harder to "conseguir" than it was to hear. Maravilla's José Miguel, on his way back to Camaguey, was desperately trying to get a copy before he left Havana. He had managed to get the Issac album, but the Charanga was proving elusive. He said, "I know you don't like them, but see if you can find it. It's called Que pasa mañengo." (It has surfaced now with the title at left.) He was right: I haven't much liked them for years, but what I had heard coming out of houses and blaring out of Cristobal's car when we drove back from Miramar a week previously sounded all right, and in fact I had been looking for it too. The last day in Havana I finally got my hands on it. I gave a copy to Duñy to deliver to José Miguel when he arrived in Camaguey this week to play carnaval with Pupy.
It's taken me a while to listen to it - till today to be exact. The verdict? Actually it's not bad, and if you can forget that Charanga Habanera were responsible for some of the most ground-breaking and awe-inspiring timba ever, it sounds a lot better. Think of them as a slick, polished timba group and expect nothing earth-shattering, just danceable sounds, pretty melodies and smooth gooves and it actually sounds quite good. Even the reggaeton track with Gente de Zona is OK.
Maybe I should go back and listen to El Ciclon again...?
You can make up your own mind by going to http://musica-cubana.blogspot.com
This is a great blog with a media player so you can listen to all the latest Cuban music releases, including El rey de los charangueros. Good work!

So with my last gig report behind me, I will now start editing, correcting and adding pics to previously published posts, as well as uploading pics and video to flickr and youtube. Unfortunately the performance of my camera did not improve over time, so there will be slim pickings for both. (A task now that I am back: go to the camera store and give them hell for selling me such a crappy camera.) I will also update the Timba Geek's Guide to Havana, with special emphasis on the gig guide.
I will post links to the newly updated entries as they are done.

Just edited: CubaDisco awards (with pics by Cristian!); Pupy and Salsa Mayor, May 18; Trabuco at Cafe Cantante, May 17.

Pon! Pon! Pon! Me mató!

For my last day in Havana, I decided to eschew sleep altogether (I was leaving for the airport at 6.30am on Sunday). I started the day with a Cubita and a missed phone call from Cristo, Paulito's bajista - too bad, that guy is hard enough to pin down without missing his calls! There were no matinees of much interest, but luckily I had something better lined up - a tutorial with Duñy on the ins and outs of Bamboleo's bloques and gears; the fruits of which will no doubt surface on timba.com in one way or another at some point. Duñy is a great player and very articulate, so it was a fascinating session. There was also heaps of inside gossip, most of which, unfortunately, it wouldn't be polite to repeat here. We finished the session with a beer and some more chat, then I went off to have dinner with a couple of friends at a state restaurant on Neptuno - the flan was excellent.
I had finally gotten onto Cristo and suggested we go and see Pupy for my last night. He said he would come round. To no one's surprise (least of all mine) he called at 10.30 to say he couldn't make it. Cristo my man, I love you to death, but in a city of informal peeps, you are the most informal of all.
I rang Duñy to say I wouldn't be hanging with Cristo after all - but he was just leaving to go to Miramar. Temprano, I said. Porque? He said because Pupy told us to get there early. I said what are you going to do for two hours until you go on stage? He said, I'm going to ask Pupy why we had to get there so early. Funny.
When we arrived at Miramar, they stopped us outside while a bottleneck at the door cleared. Mandy walked right past and I shouted after him, Oye, Mandy. He immediately came back and saludoed me and gave me a kiss and said sorry I didn't see you there. Gosh Cubans are so polite. Sometimes.
Inside the DJ was just finishing a salsa set with Salsa Mayor's Esto está - the last song before the reggaeton arrived; though he did play a live Alain Daniel track a bit later. Duñy was up the back with Osiris and Amilcar who, and I believe I have mentioned this - is so pretty. They've raised the price of beer at night at the Casas now to $2.50, so the guys were just standing around with nothing to drink. I bought a few and handed them out, and peeps, if you see your favourite musos hanging around at a night gig without a drink and you've got a bit of cash on you, buy them a beer. It's the right thing to do!
They finally went on about 1am. Good show. Same set. All fucking good man, even A la Italiana. I asked Duñy after what the new song is (see the post for Thursday's Cantante gig): "yo soy de aqui; yo soy de alla, yo soy el hombre que tu quieres, no hay mas que hablar." Fucking interesting song man. It's in a minor key and it's little more than a groove - like it's all motivo - and a coro and guias. I said to Duñy, what is that? He said, "that's a new song - still we don't know how it begins nor how it ends." It only goes about 4 minutes at the moment and they're doing it after La Borrachera which is a bit weird - it takes the energy right down, but it's still pretty good. Very funky. Looking forward to hearing the final version.
Oh hey Mandy did that mimicking my dancing thing again. Dude, what's up with that? I didn't see him after so I couldn't ask him ...
Got home at 4 - time for one last chat with my new best friend Duñy, then to pack my things and head for the airport...

Qué lástima.

June 22: Pupy and Maikel
At 11:30am I was drinking coffee, listening to Disco Fiesta when I suddenly realised I had to get my shit together and get ready to go to Duny's house - he had said 12.30 - to be at Diablo Tun Tun for a private Pupy gig at 1pm. When I got there he hadn't heard from Bombon who was sposed to call him and he called Pepito who said it wasn't 1 it was ... oh I don't know. But that he would come down at 1.15 or something. I patted Duny's girls (two very pretty cocker spaniels) and we chatted. We went downstairs just as Pepito came along at that moment with his gf, then she walked off to Belascoain and we went down to Neptuno and got a maquina up to 31.
Outside Tun Tun, half the band were in the pretty park over the road. I don't know what the story is with that park - it has paths lined with doric columns and marble benches. I guess it was just made like century ago when the rich folk fled Havana to build their grand houses in Miramar. It has big old Moreton Bay fig tres and bougainvillea and poinciana and another tree with very beautiful flowers that I didn't recognise. Mandy was standing talking to the group's guiro player - an enormous mulatto with blue eyes - by the footpath and the rest were up near the columned path. It was a long wait. I couldn't catch anything much of the conversation except for "singa'o" (that was Osiris) and the names of various Cuban bands. I always wonder whether they get bored talking about Cuban music with me all the time, but they all talk about it all the time among themselves, so I guess the answer is no. Trombonist (not sure of the name) spent the entire hour or more playing under the tree. Later Pepito did some warm-ups under a big old tree and the trombonist echoed his melodies.
It was a long wait and I wasn't really up for any more trying to comprehend spanish - the relic of the headache which hadn't entirely gone. The day was hot but it felt good and there was a cool breeze in the trees. A shirtless teenaged boy sat his mestizo dog on a bench nearby to brush her fur, but he was soon distracted by the colourful clothes (Mandy in lime green pants today) and conversation of the musicos, and watched fascinated.
Some time later we were beckoned into the club. It was private function organised by Egrem - Pupy is being sponsored by Casio, and it was a little do to officially announce the deal; with speeches from various company men and a Casio dude from Panama. Duny had said they would only be playing three or four songs - try one. At least it was a long one. It was La bomba soy yo - appropriate given that it has a long piano solo, so Pupy could show off his new keyboard. He started like raindrops and finished like thunder. There were also: trombone, teclado and trumpet solos. Phew. Must have gone for 30 minutes. It immediately got my energy level up. There weren't many people there - tables and chairs were all taken but that was about it. They sounded great. This was probably the best sound I've heard them with - everything startingly clear. Afterwards there was free rum and cokes for everyone. Mandy, seated at the table next to me with Pupy, Bombon and sundry others, dripped some from a newly opened bottle on the floor before adding it to his drink.

Blondes playing to the bleachers: Salsa Mayor

I had to meet someone back in Centro at 5.30 and I wasn't that interested in sitting around watching the guys drink and understanding very little that they said, so after a bit of a chat with a few of them, including the very, very pretty bajista Amilcar, I walked down to 31 and got a maquina back to Centro. Where I had hardly any time before I had to leave the house again and hit the street. It was much hotter in Centro than at Miramar. But I still enjoyed it, as I'm going back to, I don't know, but probably 17C days (I hope not much less than that...). At 7pm I went to Galiano for SM. There was a shitty reggaeton band on stage but they must have realised I'd arrived cause they finished half a song later. Yippee.
The DJ played a couple of songs - one was Maraca's Descarga Total; a sure sign that there are a few extranjeros in the room - but they were many more Cubans. It was an interesting crowd actually.
The band came on soon after - the front line, including Maikel, all have newly blonded hair - they must have decided to share a bleach pot or something. I think it's a Europe special. A couple of weeks ago I asked Osiris what happened to his blonde tips, he said, oh it's only for Europe. The SM singer who had already dyed his hair blonde now has plaited extensions. That's very unpretty. Place was the fullest I've seen it - for Salsa Mayor and for a matinee, this time around. The band hadn't played for a while because they had apparently been rehearsing - probably true: they sounded tight and they had a newly reworked Que tengo in their set, which I really love but have never seen them do live. The audience - more than a few young girls - was loving it. They had terrible sound problems: in the first song (Esto está) Maikel's piano failed and they spent most of the song trying to get that working; then mics failed one by one - like completely failed. They were in the middle of the cresendo of the show stopper - Anda y pegate - when all the singers' mic failed. Good one, sound guys! (I heard later that afterwards one of the sound guys got the sack. It's a tough world. ) They have the weirdest looking conga player for a Cuban salsa group - he's this weedy white guy with a poofy haircut - he looks like a dude from Primal Scream or some other Britpop group. They were all dressed in their best threads for the final Cuban concert for some time. They put on a great live show - heaps of energy - very infectious. And I must say that on the strength of their popularity and Alain Daniel's too, it looks like cintura timba is nowhere near dead - the bombas - and there were plenty of them - got the crowd despeloteando like mad.
I went and foraged for food afterwards - have been eating nowhere near enough. Just cause I'm lazy really and it's a bit of an effort. Pathetic I know. I've lost probably at least 5kg while I've been here. Anwyay, I stuffed my face with fish and tostones and congris. Went back to the house, exhausted. I'd actually been too tired to dance to Salsa Mayor. Interesting the bands who can conquer tiredness and get you up regardless. Salsa Mayor obviously not in that league yet. Trabuco and Pupy, si. Paulito last year, but not this year. At the Casio do earlier I was dead with tiredness, but La bomba soy yo - only one song; and filled with solos at that; made my tiredness evaporate. Unfortunately it came back later. The options for the night were Adalberto - not so interesting, but just down the road, and Ng la Banda, not so intersting, but with Tirso singing, at Miramar. I felt guilty about not going to either but sometimes I reckon you've just got to listen to your body.

So while there is a conga in Camaguey, and a stellar line-up of groups playing for carnaval - some of whom are also now my friends (sob! I miss you guys already!) - I am in Sydney, where I have arrived after four flights and what seems like, if not actually an eternity, at least a very long time; where it has been apparently raining constantly since I left and brought down the ceiling in the back of the house - something to remind me of Cuba perhaps?
I have two final reports to file and a bunch of videos and photos to upload. Will just go and have a little lie down, then I'll be right back. Stay tuned.

Pupy y los que son son, Cafe Cantante, matinee
Alain Daniel, Farandula central (aka Cabaret Las Vegas)

It wasn't so busy at El Cafe (as it seems to be known among the musos) but it had had hardly any publicity - I didn't know about it until Jindra told me at reahearsal on Tuesday. It turned up on the online carteleras after that I think; and it wasn't mentioned at all on Disco Fiesta - while Charanga Forever, which was mentioned, had quite a good crowd according to Martin who went and said they rocked.
Anyway, back to the cafe. I hung around talking to Duñy and Bonbon for a while and then they played a track from the new Issac CD, and a tubby white dude with a baseball cap asked me to dance and that was quite fun. He danced pretty well and the song is quite good to dance to, even though it goes against the timba geek charter of 1999 to say so. The band started right after that. Weird to see them at the same time and the same place as Trabuco. Very different vibe - on stage and off. They did more or less the same set as recently - same openers anyway: Calla calla - fantastic. That song is awesome live; followed by A la Italiana - which I'm actually warming to - that's how good are live - Pupy was reading sheet music for that one for some reason; then Machucadera, which I think maybe one day will become the closer - it's that good a song. Pupy was dancing around - manos pa ribba Pupy! And so was everyone else. During Dicen que dicen I had a dance with another dude who danced really well, so that was fun too. You get a good class of dancer at Pupy gigs. Well at the matinees anyway. La bala de billy next. Mandy, all in orange, did some of his totally hot rumba dancing. It was great to see him getting into it and he only looked at his watch once the whole gig and by then they had been going for a while and I was kinda wondering what time it was too. They did la Bomba soy yo which they had rehearsed on Tuesday. Unfortunately there was a problem with the piano during it - a shame because it has that big ass piano solo. All the singers had wandered off and were caught out when Pupy cut it short and signalled for the mambo to start - that was Mandy's cue too, but he was next to the congas sharing a joke with Duñy and had to wind his way past Osiris to get back to the mic. They set up in a much smaller area than Trabuco do - they're only one muso less, but they crammed everyone together, which was kinda better in a way. But then their singers don't hit the floor for calisthenics the way Amaray and Mayami (and sometimes Manolito) do. Mandy's doing a pretty good job on the song, but I still miss Tirso singing it.
They did this song which I haven't heard much - I'll be embarrassed if it's on one of their albums and I've just missed it. It's sung by Mandy and it's a low-level funky affair. Must try and find out what it is. During La Borrachera, which went forever and was FANTASTIC, Mandy took the piss out of my dancing; mimicking my movements. We can't all be totally hot dancers, dude.

Interesting to see the onstage dynamics - you can see everything at Cantante if you're down the front - all the communication. With Trabuco, most of it seems to be between Manolito and Riveron; then Riveron and Chino. And the rest follow I guess. But they are always very relaxed and Riveron is almost always smiling that big wide infectious grin of his. The Pupy crew by contrast - well there is one extra percussionist, cause you have Bombon and Miguelito doing what is done by Riveron solo in Trabuco - but those two plus Duñy all watch Pupy quite seriously - not so much smiling. Of course Duñy and bajista Amilcar - and I think timbalero Miguelito as well - are all pretty new, so it's different to Trabuco, who have all - with the exception of Chino - been playing together for a while - most of them for more than a decade in fact. But these guys are doing a great job: that lineup of Duny and Bombon and Miguelito is kicking arse. The whole band is smoking at the moment - and their energy, unlike Trabuco's this year - is right up there - hard songs like Machucadera. I can't believe that an old dude like Pupy came up with that one. It's like being shot out of a cannon. I love it.
Remember the girl in the white outfit wearing a frill for a skirt at Trabuco? Tonight there was a girl in a black version of the same outfit. Man how do they walk down the street? Maybe she has a big coat in her car...
The only downer of the gig was the short version of Timba a pogolotti - it started after the cuerpo and was played just as a brief closer. So I didn't get to hear my favourite bit (which was added after they recorded it): si tú me llamaste, llegué, llegué/y la hora que tú me llames no me molestó - or something. Can't quite understand the tenses - but I'll get there! Anyway, that is sung over one of those solid grooves that Pupy seems to augment all his songs with live. Lurv it.
I had a little chat to Pepito after, who can often be found sitting on his own, as was the case at that moment. I'm never sure if he likes being on his own and would rather not be bothered, but I decided to bother him. He is a total sweetie. He was interested in my custom made earplugs, which I accidentally left in even after the reggaeton had stopped. He said: I use paper. I said: go to an ear doctor next time you're in Europe. My hair, which I almost never wear down, was down. And he said it suited me like that, which was nice. But he laughed when I thanked him for compliment. Was I sposed to say something else?
Outside everyone was hanging around, as usual. Duny and I had planned to see Alain at Las Vegas. I invited Osiris and Bombon, who said he couldn't come, but we all got in a car up to Reina. Bombon went home and the rest of us went to Duñy's and the lads drank beer and we talked mainly about Cuban music - who sucks; who doesn't. The usual. Osiris and I are in agreement that the two best bands in Cuba at the moment are Trabuco and Pupy. Well he would say that, wouldn't he?
Osiris is one of those dudes who started playing when he was like in nappies - he started with Maravilla de Florida when he was 18 or something ludicrous. He told me he had played with Manolito for 12 years before his 4 years with Pupy and I said jesus how old are you?
He had slammed his forefinger in a door an hour before he gig - he said he played just using the other three. By midnight, despite him dunking it in cold water, the fingernail was looking bluer by the minute.
I had actually started to get a migraine when we left el Cafe - the car lights on Boyeros I think, on the way to Centro - but I just pretended it wasn't happening: I will go to Alain; I will go to Alain... We set out for Las Vegas a bit after 12 - a bit late really, and I ducked into the casa and took a Mersyndol Forte - just one - didn't want to have to carried there and back. Took a while to get a cab down on San Lazaro and Alain was already playing when we arrived. Not as packed as the last time I saw him, but still a good crowd. He was wearing an all white outfit with sparkly bits that looked like a farandulero's noughties version of Elvis's high collared cloaks - which is appropriate really. He has this superestrella thing going on where the band starts playing, and he enters from the back of the room singing. Then when they finish, he says goodbye, the band keeps playing, he leaves the stage, he gets mobbed - seriously - then he goes outside and gets into an enormous 4WD and drives away.
Anyway, I'm jumping ahead. Alain saw Duny come in almost as soon as we arrived and immediately saludoed him mid song - then continued to do it all through the night - Osiris too. The band was having a great time playing - I have to tell you the ambience here is fucking awesome - best in Havana - when these guys are playing, anyway. The band is digging it; Alain is there with his charisma lighting up the darkest corners of the room; the farandula are all getting down; there are gorgeous girls in almost no clothes thrusting their breasts at Alain and leaning forward to kiss him; poeple are temblequeando so hard you think they're going to break in two. It's full on and heaps of fun. The songs are either funky; salsa-y or all bomba. Good combo in my book. I didn't think Osiris would like it and I wasn't sure Duny would either but they both came out impressed. His gigs here are pretty infectious. I don't know if it would be as good in a less fecund environment. The migraine medication slowed me down dancewise - it was hard to keep up with the beat - but I still had a good time and did my best. Osiris, standing behind me, put his hands on my shoulders to get me moving - just as well he's cute, and he plays teclados in one of my favourite bands, or he would have been in big trouble.
Alain came off stage and beat off the farandula to talk to Duny for a while. Then high-tailed it into his posh car. We went outside and sat in the bar on the street a while; so Duñy could chat to his old buddies from the Bamboleo days - sonidistas etc. I wasn't feeling so good though - and worse by the minute, so at 3 we left and walked up Infanta; saw Osiris into a taxi, then walked up down San Lazaro - Duñy bought some chicken croquettes which he swore were riquisimo, but I declined to taste them, then home, another pill, and bed. Fuck me what a day. Only two more to go.

Great Pupy gig yesterday arvo and great Alain gig last night. Will write more later.
What's killing me right now is that Carnaval is this week in Camaguey, with Maravilla de Florida, Pupy and ... I hate to think who else because I'm leaving Sunday at 8am to go home. Dammit dammit dammit. I so want to go. The Pupy guys are really looking forward to it - they keep saying "change your ticket!" Too late for that. I should have thought better about it at the beginning of the week. Why do I live so fucking far away from Cuba?
Mind you this happens every year of course: whenever you leave, there is always something awesome happening the day after.
Because there is always something awesome happening here.

Well that was great. Just back from a Pupy rehearsal at Teatro America. That made up for ... whatever trials I have had recently. Walked down through Centro with Duñy and his brother - Galiano was weirdly quiet: all the matinees were suspended out of respect for the death of Raul's wife, Vilma. I've never seen it so quiet outside Casa de la Musica. It's usually a madhouse.
Outside in the street were some Pupy musicos: Pepito, Mandy, trompeta, the new bajista, Bonbon ... Pupy arrived and so did Jindra, walking. Then Osiris and ... Maravilla de Florida's José Miguel. Get the fuck out. Now the last I heard from these guys was some weeks ago - they had been in Havana for two months waiting for a tour to Spain to be organised. The day after we played pool at Egrem, they hopped on a bus back to Camaguey to spend time with their folks; the idea being that they would return to Havana, spend a few days rehearsing, then leave for Spain on the 20th. Well they have clearly been back for some time (sin llamarme!) but they still don't don't know when they are going to Spain. To add insult to (my) injury, they played with Trabuco on Sunday at Varadero - the gig I almost could have been at ... Damn! I really love Maravilla - that's too bad.

While I was talking to José Miguel, Duñy and some others disappeared inside, and when Osiris started to walk off somewhere with Pepe, José Miguel joined them and I went inside. Pupy and a few of the musos were already playing, then the others arrived and joined in. They had set up on a small part of the Teatro America stage. There was no air conditioning in the old theatre and I was glad I had brought the fan I bought today. Osiris has his denim shirt open to the waist, some bandmembers had their shirts off. Pupy was in shorts.
They ran straight through La Bomba Soy Yo, then did bits of La Machucadera, Calla Calla, A la Italiana. New bass boy was copping the most flack - at one point he had everyone in the band telling him what to do at a particular point in A la Italiana. Poor bastard. Interesting to see the dynamics. Actually it started with Osiris and Mandy telling Pupy how the phrasing in the ascending bit should go: Pupy played it on the piano then they got to work on the bajista. Interesting shit man. Got some video; danced to Machucadera (so, not much video of that - sorry! Couldn't help myself!) Enjoyed the show. In between songs, Bombon got up from the kit and did a standing backflip. Yeah I can do that ... He's a funny guy. A really jodedor. Good value. Jindra told me they're playing Cafe Cantante on Thursday - in Trabuco's slot! How perfect that my favourite band should leave a slot for my other favourite band. If only I could see Trabuco play every second Thursday and Pupy play every other Thursday I would be the happiest girl in the world. Sigh. Guess I won't be seeing Charanga Forever this trip now. Oh well.
Afterwards I walked up to Duñy's house with his brother and Bombon and we hung there for a while, listening to Marcus Miller and the new Issac and some funk I had burnt for Duñy. Totally chilllin' in Havana.

Went out after Disco Fiesta. Nothing worth seeing today, as I expected. I walked past Egrem on San Miguel as has become my habit, and in the corner by the shop were Riveron, mopping his handsome face with a towel; Amaray; Miguelito and Leonardo. They were listening to the new Issac CD - the last track, Como se toca, se baila, when I arrived. Miguelito was explaining to the assembled that it isn't rumba, it's changui, and doing a little son dance to demonstrate. When they put on La mujer que más duele, Leonardo and Riveron were clearly enjoying it, with the latter air drumming along. They had been rehearsing upstairs - this, despite the fact that Chino told me a couple of weeks ago that they never rehearse (they also rehearsed yesterday); but it was all over now and one by one they were slipping off home, presumably to get things in order for their trip tomorrow. I asked Amaray about not having a licence. He said, this is how things are here: you have one thing, you don't have another; you have a car, but you have no licence. You have a car but the car has no air conditioning and so on and so on. He really warmed to his theme. I could have told him that my house in Sydney has leaked whenever it rains for the last seven years, but I couldn't remember the word for "leak". I got a lift with the lovely and kind Miguelito up San Miguel to my casa and said goodbye for the last time this year.

So after all my whinging about things being suspended and having nothing to do, last night I had three options, and took the fourth: bed. It wasn't entirely my fault - I did try. But I know I probably left my run too late. My friend Annabel was going to the postponed Van Van gig. I thought about it, but I thought: I think the Morro gig was the best it would get for me and Van Van, so decided not to. The other options were Charanga Forever at Miramar, who I am keen to see, and NG la Banda, with Tirso. I'm not really keen to see the former, but I wouldn't mind seeing Tirso sing. I just wish it were with someone else. I was tremendously tired for some reason, and the thought of going to Miramar on my own was more than I could bear - it's such a military operation, so about 12.30 I was like: get off your arse and get out and see NG at least. It wasn't too far away (Delerio Habanero) but once I went out into the street it was all moot anyway: Belascoain was full of drunks - the result of father's day celebrations (Cuba seems to be the only place in the world where both mother's and father's day are celerbrated by the blokes getting completely rat-arsed) - and completely devoid of taxis. Nor did I feel comfortable hanging around out there on my own for any length of time. So ... back to the casa I came. I have this hideous feeling that when I hear what's on today I will bitterly regret it - already I know it's Eddy K at Galiano. Festa despedida for his European tour. Why couldn't he have gone a couple of weeks earllier so we could have had Pupy today instead?

So yesterday, Cristo told me that Trabuco were playing Varadero, and that he was going in the new car of his new best friend Amaray, and I should ring the guys to see if I could go. I rang Chino and he said he didn't think I could, because there had been a discussion about how already they were pushed for space. Oh well. This morning I rang Cristo and he said he wasn't going either, because although Amaray had new wheels, he didn't yet have a licence.
I toyed with the idea of hiring a car and sharing the expense with a couple of other extranjeras here, but the mere thought of driving in Havana is enough to give me a breakdown. Later on my friend Annabel rang and said, I've just been in Viñales - I hired a car for three days. I said, what a shame, we could have driven to see Trabuco in Varadero. There was a pause. I totally forgot she said. Nevermind.
I went out into the street early (um, 11am) to get coffee - I had run right out - catastrophe! I walked down to Epoca on Galiano and saw Pupy's daughter/manager Jindra. I said: Cuando Pupy va a tocar!? She said Saturday and Sunday. Saturday out somewhere I've never heard of. When I told her I was leaving on Sunday, she said, I can take you to the Saturday gig. Go to Duñy's place, and you can come with us. She said goodbye with, cualquiera cosa necesitas, me llames. She actually speaks excellent English, but I have been here so long that I kept speaking in Spanish to her, while she spoke in English. That would come as a real irony to someone like Riveron, who doesn't have the patience to repeat stuff to me and spent most of last Thursday taking the piss out of my inability to speak Spanish. Well it depends on the time of day and whether or not I'm in a loud fucking club with reggaeton blasting out ...
While Jindra and I were talking, a Panataxi ran over a fluffy little dog in Neptuno. It was yelping and writhing in pain. I wanted to do something to help it, but I couldn't think of what to do. It was really distressing. When I came back it wasn't moving, and I hoped it had died quickly.
At 6.30-ish, I walked down Neptuno again to see Azucar Negra.
Somebody had moved the dog to the footpath. It was still alive, trembling, something leaking from its guts. I was in tears. I suddenly remembered there is a vet on San Rafael, so I walked up there but it was all closed up. Pobrecito. I hope it dies during the night. I can't imagine at this stage it could make a miraculous unaided recovery.

There was a decent crowd for the Azucar Negra matiné, probably because it was father's day and it wasn't raining - good combo. Also they leave for Europe tomorrow, but I don't know how many in the audience would have known that. They were ... better than I thought they would be, though the songs are samey - the coros in particular are very derivative and dull; the singers don't sing that well, though a couple of them - dude with the fro and dude with the alice band - handled guias well. The metales, which seemed to play very well, were criminally underused. Combined with the fact that they were mixed right down, they almost might as well have not been there. Bit of a shame. They would have spiced things up no end. They did both of their recent hits Toque natural and Vitamin C really early in the set. How odd. Then they did a cumbia. Gasp. But really they were quite good for the first half... but then I kinda lost interest. Why does Ailyn only sing one song? Something to do with her doing her white year, maybe?
A guy came to talk to me. He said he has asked me to dance four times over the last few weeks and I have always said no. But he was pretty relaxed about it. Seemed to find it funny even, which is nice change from the guys who get sulky - or much worse. I said well OK, if they play a salsa song (needless to say it was reggaeton at that point), we can dance. If you want to.
So we sat and talked for a while. He told me he was a rapero; and his brother used to play brass with AN (I don't remember what kind). When they played Toque natural we danced and he wasn't bad. He asked me to have some Chinese food with him afterwards and I said yes, then I thought: oh I'm too tired; and I told him I had changed my mind. So now he probably does hate me. Asi es la vida.
Tonight there is the rescheduled Van Van gig, NG la Banda with Tirso or Charanga Forever. Haven't seen the last two yet, but my friends are going to see Van Van. I'm not sure I'm up for a night out on my own.

Calzado is being interviewed on TV. There are comedians and a son band. Oh and now there is Andy Montañez. How old is this program? I'm sure he left weeks ago. Here is CH singing one of the songs from the new album. It hasn't been released yet but the songs are all over Havana. From what I've heard so far, it's not bad.

Of course the Van Van gig tonight at Salon Rojo has been postponed until tomorrow. It becomes a self-fulfilling thing: they cancel it because they think people won't go; people don't go cause they think it might be cancelled. It's a disaster. Hopefully it will stop raining at some point so the whole issue will become moot. Of course gigs get cancelled for reasons other than the weather, but this seems to be the main cause at the moment. I wouldn't have minded so much that Van Van weren't playing if there had been anywhere else to go - Pachito at Galiano and Bamboleo at Miramar. Looks like I'm going to bed instead!

Bamboleo play under the Salon Rojo chandelier.

So I called La Cecilia a number of times and there was no answer, but I did wonder whether I had the right number or not, and suddenly remembered that I had picked up a flyer from the Hotel Sevilla - another source of gig info guys - remember that. Usually they don't have much useful info on them but this one actually had the number- a different number. So at 10:30 or so, I rang and it was engaged, then someone answered, and I asked the señora if Charanga were going to play - she acted like it was the first she had heard of it; and said esperate, and went to ask someone else. I would have thought if they were going to play, by 10:30 there would some signs of it... Anyway, she returned and said: llama la proxima semana. I said, tonight no? She said (altogether now) "Suspendieron". So, Bamboleo, then. Duñy called and I told him to come round and we got a maquina to Vedado about midnight-ish. Waaay too early. Well an hour early at least.
Salon Rojo is this amazing throwback to prerevolutionary times - as I said here before: you almost expect Deano and Frank and Sammy to be sitting in a booth. It's attached to the crumbling Hotel Capri, although the entrance is in the calle. Inside, it has red carpet and red booths; and quaint ye olde London Towne-style lamps, and an enormous chandelier over the stage - enormous I tell you. There are murals on the walls and after you pay to get in, you have to wait until "el capitan", who is wearing a tux, comes and takes you to your table. There weren't that many people there - there never are there. I don't know why people don't go - it's the same price as Galiano - sometimes, cheaper. But there is no dancefloor - it's all tables and chairs - so it's actually a completely inappropriate place for salsa. The host, who is advertised as being a main attraction on the cartelera - along with groups - the real main attractions - came out and did his thing, which wasn't too obnoxious. Then, a more-than 30 minute long tribute to Habana Cloo ... nothing more than an advertisement really; with possibly the worst dancers I've ever seen in Havana, and some really stupid audience participation to win a bottle of the 7-year-old stuff. Ay dios mio. Enough said.
Bamboleo came on at 1-ish. I'll try and keep it positive, but man I find them boring. I always think, "this time, maybe it will be different". It never is. Actually Disco Fiesta is playing a new song of theirs, in which Tanja proclaims that "la que manda soy yo" (I'll bet). It's kinda dumb but I've grown fond of it. But the rest ... they played pretty badly for a start - the metales (two saxes and two trumpets) in particular - Kevin, I'm sorry - but they were awful. Ragged and out of tune. Duñy, who accompanied me, used to play with them and had lots of top inside info. He said almost all the musicians are new. The majority have left for the usual reasons. There is a new singer - a guy (I imagine Tanja isn't keen on having other chicks in the group, but that's just a guess). Halfway during the set, they launched into a son - sorry the name escapes me - and he whipped out a violin. After a creaky start he hit is stride and came up with some stellar strokes. Really quite impressive. They turned it from a son into a salsa explosion, complete with startingly virtuousic classical chops from the violinist/singer (Lazarito has always had a penchant for the Rick Wakemanesque...). Pretty good. Bamboleo don't play long (a blessing really); and pretty soon they were playing the conga tema despedida - the Mexicans at the next table got very excited and jumped up and one of the girls grabbed my arm with an iron grip, just stopping short of digging in her fingernails. I'm amazed that this morning I don't have bruises. We lammed out of there pretty fast. I had had it. Two sessions in once day always does me in.
The carteleras are looking really threadbare, even though the only group who has actually left is Adalberto (Venezuela). Trabuco leave on Tuesday. I think Azucar Negra leave Monday, so Sunday's matinee is the last chance to see them. I might go. Salsa Mayor go June 26, but by then I will already be gone. I don't know why Pupy isn't playing - and neither does Duñy - and he is in the group! They had two gigs in Matanzas this week and both were cancelled. Hope they play again before I go. With hindsight, the decision to eschew their Miramar matinee that second week I was here in favour of CarHabana is looking really dumb...

Pachito and Lele.

Well it was nice to see a packed venue - especially given that it pretty much pissed down all day. Pachito y su Kini Kini's 25th anniversary with guests Lele, Robertón, Lazaro Valdes, Vannia and Tirso had been plugged endlessly on Disco Fiesta since the previous Friday, so you'd think there would be a good turnout, but you never know here. We arrived at 6:20 and it was already pretty packed. Hecho in Cuba were on stage - after seeing them listed regularly on the Canal Cubano cartelera for the last year or so, I finally know what they sound like - and I wish I didn't. They are very bad reggaeton - atiendame - not long ago I wouldn't have been able to distinguish the good from the bad; but these guys are really awful. Nothing original, lame sound. Terrible. They were followed by a comedian, about which the best that could be said was that he was an excellent bodypopper. Weird skill for comedian to have. I had never seen him before, but my friend said he told all the same jokes when she saw him last year. Had the audience in stitches though. Oldies but goodies I guess.
He went for an eon. I went for a walk and bumped into Cristo from Paulo's band, who played with Pachito years ago, and was there as one of the invitados. He had been there since 5:30 and by 7, was decidedly merry. He led us over to Lele and introduced us. I had actually met Lele in Australia, but I couldn't be bothered to tell him that. He must meet a squillion people on Van Van's endless tours. Ditto Robertón who was gracious as almost all the Cuban musos are.
Cristo also introduced me to the world's oldest guiro player - an 81-year-old dude who used to play with Pachito as well (who hasn't?) and did a little dance to show how spry he was (very). About 7:30 the band came on. I spent the first three or so numbers up the back: they weren't doing anything to really get me going and the bass was nauseatingly loud, but I decided that maybe I needed to get down the front to get into the groove: good timing - just as I got a spot by the huge inflatable Cristal bottle, Cristo and Lele joined the group onstage. I've alway thought Pachito's recent weakness was his singers, and it was never more obvious than today, with talented guests sitting in: the whole vibe shifted when Lele arrived - he just managed to elevate the mood. After his song, I was tapped on the shoulder and turned around to see Robertón rushing to get onto the high Miramar stage: he got up on the fragile-looking chair next to me, so he could step onto the roadcase next to it, and then onto the stage. For one terrifying moment I thought he was going to use my shoulder to steady himself (he really is a big fellow), but he must have used the inflatable Cristal beer bottle, because shortly after he got on stage it started deflating. Oops. He was great too, of course - along with Tirso (Vannia didn't show). All the cantantes were fantastic, singing around an enormous cake that was brought out - Lazaro played "Happy birthday". They only played for an hour, but it was enough. A fun time was had by all.
We drove back to Centro in Cristo's tiny Fiat, the new Charanga Habanera blasting from the stereo, he with the steering wheel in one hand and a Bucanero in the other. Honestly being here is like being 16 again in soooo many respects ...
I'm at home trying to work out whether Charanga Habanera will play La Cecilia or not - the rain has stopped but they might have decided to cancel it earlier in the day. The alternative is Bamboleo at Salon Rojo.

Manolito at the kit, with a blurry Amaray on piano.

Manolito's last gig before the European tour was disappointing in that they shared it with another band, Sabrosura Viva - who have connections with Trabuco: the pianist is from Camaguey, and their sound guy is flautista David Bencomo's son. They have a heavy timba sound - thanks partly to the electric bass. It was nice to see three chicas file out onto the stage and take the mics. It wasn't so nice when they opened their mouths: their lead singer sang flat for the entire set - all 90 excruciating minutes of it. I'm not sure there was a ever a time when she was in the same key as the music. The metales weren't much better. And every out-of-tune song they played was one less from Trabuco. Finally, Trabuco's "productora" came over to the guys at the bar with a bottle of rum and a stack of cups, so I knew it wouldn't be too long before they hit the stage.
The set was pretty similar to all the sets over the last few weeks - I haven't heard La Raspadura once, which is a damn shame - and it was dominated by the mid-paced songs (Muevete, Te dejo libre, El aguila) which are nice, but which don't really get me going the way some of the more energetic stuff does. I could have stood to hear Guiro, calabaza y miel once too (or maybe twice). Even Marcando la distancia, which they haven't played at all I don't think.
Enough with the grizzling. There were some moments of fun: the band launching into El negro está cocinando, with Mayami on lead. Bencomo and sundry others looking at Manolito going - you're mad, mate. They did a couple of verses of Ya no hace falta, which made me realise they hadn't played it before, unlike last year when they did it at every Cantante gig. Diablo colorao. Sacude la mata. Control. Comunicate. Sabrosona - always sounds nice, though that's a pretty low-energy affair too, until the strings go mad at the end. Locos for the closer, as usual. Always gets me going. Not that I identify with the sentiment or anything.
They have been a bit disappointing for me this year - hard to top last year I guess. Last year they played a lot more, so I was able to hear a wider variety of their songs. But I'm pretty sure their sets were more varied last year too. No Me dijiste mentiras this year. No Llega la musica cubana. It was great to hear Caballo grande that one time; and Saliditas contigo, though in the end I tired of it - that energy thing again. They have played a bunch of songs that all hover around that energy level. I guess I'm just a diehard timbera.
Of course they all play beautifully - I love the way Mayami always give it everything. He kept lifting up his shirt to show his tembleque muscles. Nice. And Riverón ... mesmerising as usual. How does he do that?
Alexander was there again and played trumpet on a slow dreamy thing sung by Amaray which I didn't recognise. Nicolas had a violin partner, but I didn't recognise him, so it was two violins plus the cello; which is a bit of a waste for Cantante because you can never hear the strings anyway. Manolito booted Riverón off the batería so he could play a while. I hadn't seen that before. He was having a great time. And then it was all over, and we all shuffled out into the rain.
So that's it for me and Trabuco this year - they leave on Tuesday. Enjoy them, Europe. Curse you!
No Alain Daniel tonight - and I was so looking forward to it. But it has been raining all day and I have a headache and there is a good chance it isn't on, though of course do you think we can find out? The only number directories has for Cabaret Las Vegas is out of order; and Duñy couldn't track down Alain, so ... I'm going to bed. Here's hoping the rain stops some time soon and I can see him next week.

Well that was laughable. So I cooked myself some veggies and tuna and rice, and read some more of Neil Gaiman's American Gods (still excellent) and watched Kate Winslet and Johnny Depp in Neverland on Canal Habana, and almost fell asleep, and at about 11.45 I walked down to Neptuno to get a taxi to Infanta, cause I don't like to walk around here on my own at night any more, to see Mayito Sombrilla at Cabaret Las Vegas.
Unlike Alain Daniel the previous week, there weren't many people hanging around outside and inside it was pretty quiet - probably not more than about 20 peeps, some of whom were musos (a few more arrived later - but not many). It was cold too, with the air conditioning cranked up. I asked the guy on the door what time they would play, even though I knew he wouldn't tell the truth. He looked at his watch: 11:55. A los doce, he said. At about 12:30, after a weird mix of recorded music that included reggaeton, R&B, hip-hop and sundry songs from Se rompieron las termometros, Sombrilla and his group got on stage.
He had timbales (played by Sombrilla jnr, apparently) with no kit, and no kick, either; but there was a set of batá drums on stage. Two trumpets, one sax, piano, guitar, bass, two backing singers, one of whom stood behind Sombrilla, while the guitarist stood in the front line. He's a tall guy, and his guitar is tiny - it looked like a child's plaything in his enormous hands.
Sombrilla looked sharp - I don't have a pic, for reasons that will soon become apparent - pointy-toed and buckled boots, lizard-skin pants and a bias-cut shirt; kinky black hair with a streak of grey at the front.
The band started with a funky - very funky; all funk, almost no salsa - opening tema which turned into Me sube la fiebre. He has kind of a weak voice but he looks good and the band sounded great. They segued into a song that could be called Déjame llorar (not the Adalberto track) - solid timba salsa - they may not have had a kit, but the bass was giving it that chunky timba support - and it sounded great.
There was a bit of feedback and from where I was sitting I could tell the sound on stage sucked - though it didn't sound too bad through the front of house, which the band could hear too, cause the front of house is actually behind the stage at Las Vegas. Anyway, that song came to a close, Sombrilla said they would be back after the sound guy fixed the audio; and asked the DJ to put some music on (I use the term loosely - it was Calle 13) and they all left the stage. After about ten minutes, they came back and started to pack up.
I wish I'd got a pic, but I really thought I would have more than one song in which to take one.
Hopefully tomorrow will be more fruitful.
Outside in the street the dominoes game is in full swing. These guys bring the table out about 11pm most nights. The night I went to Galiano to see PFG, they were still playing when I went to bed at 4am.

The most frustrating day. I spent almost all of it trying to discover whether Trabuco were in fact playing at El ISA (it's El I think, not La, but I don't know why that is, given that it is una escuela ... Maybe it's like el agua and las aguas). I had Duñy working on it too - I asked him to call Riveron while I tried various others. He said he called Riveron quinienta veces without reaching him, and at 1pm he called Leonardo, who said they had worked last night, but they didn't know then whether they would play there or not, and he still didn't know (the gig would have been about 6pm - about five hours later than this phone call). Chino was out all day and David Bencomo, the group's flautista, kept slipping in and out of the house so that I kept being told: call back. I went out into the street and saw Juan Carlos from Klimax, who said "Trabuco play today en El ISA." I said, oh really? He said, Joel (another singer from Klimax) says yes. Sigh. I came back and finally got onto David Bencomo and he said no, no, no vamos a tocar hoy; mañana en Cafe Cantante. A phone call to Chino, who had finally arrived home, produced a similar answer ... by then I was fucking exhausted and ready to give up. But who knows - maybe they are playing right now as I write (it's 6.30pm). Seeing as Van Van did play, after we thought they wouldn't. The problem with El ISA is that it is really a long way away, so you can't just duck in. I'm not sure how much it would be in the cheapest CUC taxi, but it's on 120th, or 90th, depending on who you talk to; and it costs $5 to get to my friend's house on 36. So, it isn't going to be cheap.
One of the other drawbacks about things being cancelled or just not being on, despite the word of mouth, is that you are suddenly left with nothing to do. Today, I actually had a back-up plan: I was out with Cristo from Paulito's band and he said, if you don't go to Trabuco, come to my place for dinner. Muy bien. But then he suddenly had to go to Paulo's to record. So I thought, I'll go and have a drink with Duñy and his mates, but I must have misunderstood him, cause when I got to the place I thought he said they'd be, they weren't there. Admittedly I was on time, which actually is the same as being early here, so maybe they turned up later.
I sat in the park and got chatted up by a jinetero who swore he wasn't, then I bought some bread and very bad cheese (though I'm pleased that there is finally yoghurt in the shops); and a silk top, which perked me up and now I'm here at home. I guess I'll cook myself a little dinner and maybe have a nap before I go and see Sombrilla. I swear to god I'm doing that. I swear to god. Course I could always go to the Bamboleo matinee as well, but ... well I could always see them at Miramar on Saturday or Sunday (they play both every week); or I could wait for my very last Wednesday and see them then.
One thing I did learn today is that Klimax are playing Tuesday at Galiano. I think.

So... turns out Los Van Van did play at La ISA after all - I have an eyewitness - she was there; she saw it. So it seems my Cuban friend was given some misinformation ... unless they played much earlier in the day (they were playing La ISA at exactly the same time we were informed they were playing Teatro America); or much later... it was something completely different. There is an interesting comment attached to yesterday's post - full of valid questions about the state of the music scene here. I actually wrote a long response in the comments section, then the connection failed and I lost it all. But I will address those questions soon. Correction: I will attempt to address those questions soon. There is no music today that I want to see, so maybe later on tonight.

Salsa Mayor's Ricardo takes it easy at Galiano.

We had reasonably reliable information (seriously!) that Van Van wasn't going to play la ISA after all, so I lay around and studied Spanish and read Neil Gaiman's American Gods until it was time to eat something and go to Galiano for Salsa Mayor's matiné larga with invitados. Well as it turned out: no invitados and not so larga - it finished at 10 rather than the announced 11; they turned on the lights and shooed everyone out bang on 10. La Habana, eh?

Also, the band did two sets, but it really wasn't much longer than one normal one. There were maybe two extra songs. Actually maybe not. Kind of drained the show of energy with the break. At least the music in between wasn't too obnoxious - mainly Charanga Habanera alternated with Gente de Zona for some reason. I'm finding Gente de Zona the least odious of the reggaeton groups - their music is less aggresive, and sometimes even has a melody. That's not to say I'm a fan or anything.

Salsa Mayor were fun as usual. Nori, v. cute - as usual - tonight with lime green undies (they were peeping over the top of his pants). It's so weird the way he and Ricardo alternate singing Anda y pegate. Not sure I've ever seen that with a group here. Interesting. Can't decide who does it better - they're both pretty good. Nori is better looking if that counts for anything. The other one, who isn't Nori or Ricardo, whose hair looks a bit better now that some time has elapsed since the vicious bleach job he gave it a few weeks ago, was singing and Maikel was directing as usual. Maikel gestured for him to ask me up on the stage. Pobrecito. That was never gonna happen! I felt sorry for them, but not as sorry as I would have been if I had actually got up on stage and danced.

During the break, a guy came and asked if I was Yemaya - how cool! He's a Cuban, Omar, who lives in Finland and reads the blog. He recognised me from the Fiesta Despedida pics last year. Hey Omar, mucho gusto!

At the end I saw Leonardo from Trabuco, who said they are playing at La ISA on Wednesday. Cool. You know, if it happens. When we arrived at Galiano we discovered why Van Van hadn't played there: they had played next door in Teatro America for some army dude. Or a politician dude. Or someone. Anyway - they weren't at La ISA ...

There is something weird going on here - like a "bad Heath Ledger movie", I suppose that is an oxymoron; but still... seems weirder than usual. Apart from them no longer announcing night gigs on the radio - the last reliable source of gig info remaining to us (Canal Cubano, which seems to have lost all its domain names apart from the "ingles" page, is hopelessly wrong anyway. Egrem is usually more or less right, but not always. Radio Taino is a disaster.); they are having less night gigs anyway. For instance, Salsa Mayor is playing a "matiné larga" today - which I could understand if there were other bands on the bill like the other day; but there aren't. Maikel Blanco was just on the radio and apparently there will be "invitados", but even so... why not have them do the usual matiné, then have a band on at night? Instead, they're going to play later, with the gig finishing at 11; and no one else on later. There are hardly any night gigs at Cafe Cantante - almost all of them are matinés largas, finishing at 10, instead of 9. It's as if they're preparing for the great exodus to Europe, which starts next week, with Trabuco. It's very strange. And a bit frustrating. Anyway, looks like it's back to calling each venue to ask: quien toca allá por la noche? How tiresome.
Good that Las Vegas is in full swing - even though it's a tiny club with a lousy PA. I will try and catch Sombrilla this week there. Then Thursday I will have to choose between PFG at Salon Rojo and Alain Daniel at Las Vegas - unless PFG makes it easy for me by cancelling the gig again ... I must say, I am dying to see Alain again. He rocked my world.

Well, I'm being a bad lil timba geek again: no music today. So fucking tired I can't tell you - the late nights are catching up. I could have seen Tumbao Havana (Cafe Cantante) or Azucar Negra (Galiano) neither of whom I have seen this trip. Instead I am here en casa watching a bad Heath Ledger movie (is that an oxymoron?). Actually I had planned to go to a friend's house, but in the end he wasn't home and by the time I realised it was too late to go, it was too late for the matinees as well. Instead I decided to find Pupy's conguero, who it turns out, is called Duny, who had pointed out his house on the walk home the other night; to ask him if they would be playing tomorrow.
When I got to his building I realised that, unusually for Centro Habana, it was a quite a large block with lots of apartments. But I knew someone in the street would know the answer to the question: Sabes donde vive el muchacho que toca con Pupy? And of course the first person I asked knew. So I knocked on his door and ... ended up chatting for about two hours. His wife is a conguero too, and playing the Bahamas for three months so he's a bit lonely and bored. That last part entirely his own fault: Alain Daniel, who he played with in Bamboleo, called him last Thursday and said: come and see me play! And he didn't go. Perdiste, I told him. Estuvo muy bueno. He was full of great timba stories and opinions. He's been playing with Pupy for five months. He showed me a video of him playing with Bamboleo - I don't remember what year he said it was, but Vannia and Yordamis were the singers. He pointed at each muso one by one and said: España, Estados Unidos, Italia, Francia, Estados Unidos, Mexico, Canada... all gone pretty much except for him, Alain, Lazaro and Vannia. Fuck. What a tragedy. He said he is also the only one left in Cuba from his class at ENA.
I was talking about how badly promoted the Van Van gig was and how it wasn't mentioned on Disco Fiesta. He says there is a new rule that they don't announce the night gigs; only the matinees. And as he said it, I realised that in the last few days that has been the case. I said why? He said I don't know! Tampoco. Even Thursday, they only mentioneed the PFG gig I think because he was in the studio being interviewed. They didn't mention it when they mentioned all the gigs of the day; only very briefly right at the end. If you had ducked into the kitchen to make a cafecito you would have missed it.
And the answer to my question: no they're not playing tomorrow. Damn and damn. Nor at all during the week, at this stage. Triple damn.
Earlier in the day I passed by Egrem and saw a Manolito tecnico hanging out, so they were back - some of them. I spoke briefly to Manolito - they were there recording with Waldo Mendoza. He said Trabuco will record again in September. Yay!
I missed a chance to confirm whether Van Van would be playing at La ISA, but hopefully I can find that out tomorrow. Hopefully before the gig (not after!).

Did n-o-t-h-i-n-g all day. Well nothing except try and find out about a mysterious Van Van gig that was sposed to be taking place at Morro-Cabaña. There was nothing on Disco Fiesta in the morning - not a peep. Listened a bit to Taino in the afternoon, pero tampoco. Had a mate working on it. And beforehand, went down to Galiano to see Angel Bonne. On San Miguel I saw Trabuco's Miguelito in his car with his son - they were recording in Egrem. Damn. I didn't know. It's my local too.
Angel was mid song when I arrived and there was only about 40 people there. What a fucking tragedy, because he sounded great. All those great songs sung so beautifully and so perfect for dancing. As usual the standard of casino dancer was exceedingly high - most in couples unfortunately, but one guy was available and was the bomb. Middle aged guy, a bit portly, danced like a dream. Best dance I've had here without a teacher in years. No jineteros at Angel Bonne, just folk. Too bad more don't go. I wonder if he gets a better crowd somewhere else? I hope. Possibly not though. He has hardly played here at all - that I 've seen anyway. It's a fucking crime. He has a tiny band by Cuban standards - 11 not counting him: just sax and trumpet; then the usual. The little chiquita on guiro and duets who sings so prettily. I must have missed about 30 minutes cause he only played for an hour after I arrived.
We walked down to Annabel's place to phone Papa to find out about the Van Van gig. It started raining on the way and rained reasonably hard for about 20 minutes. Would it be off? Finally got onto Papa who said he heard there were two bands from about 9pm (both of these bits of info were wrong). Anyway, he got to Annabel's about 9.30 and we got a taxi over. It seemed suspiciously empty. A large number of people were leaving - the canon spectacular had finished not long before. At the gate inside there were a group of peeps hanging round and a flyer in the caja that had three gigs listed over the weekend - including Van Van - all from 10-3. It was just 10. D'oh! And damn. Still if you have to wait around for three hours, there are worse places to do it than the Morro castle, with its lovely ambience and sea breeze.
A guy at the gate gestured to me that he wanted to talk. He wanted me to go to him. Huh. He came over. España? Italia? Brasil? Jajaja. He was wearing a tight lycra t-shirt with sequins. He said he was a producer with Gente de Zona. Te gusta Gente de Zona? Ah, no, sorry. Do you want my phone number? Um, pass. He was quite civil about it though, which was nice.
We commandeered a bench and talked. And talked. And watched guys piss in the bushes. I got cold. The reggaeton in the video clips boomed. (Does anyone else find it an interesting anomaly that there are houses in Centro Habana without running water but there is state of the art sound and video technology at a gig like this? At least it still only costs $5 instead of $80; so at a pinch it could still be considered socialist: top of the line entertainment for el pueblo! And why not? Certainly improves the quality of my life.) Followed by booming house music. By the time they played the first salsa track (Adalberto's Que quieres que te den); Van Van were ready to come on. Great staging; excellent sound; superb lighting. The perfect setting. If you were wondering why I went, when I'm not a big Van Van fan; look at that list. You can't be sure of many things here; but one is that the outdoor concerts, in Havana at least, always have great sound.
Robertón was back, and they started with Chapeando, which got me scurrying close to the front; which wasn't too packed. There weren't actually many people, which wasn't a surprise considering how difficult it was to find out that the gig was actually on, let alone what time they were playing. Maybe 500 peeps. I don't know; I'm pretty bad at numbers. There were a lot of tourists, so maybe the flyers went to hotels. I danced with a Norwegian guy, who someone in his home land has been teaching "Cuban" salsa. I had to break the news to him: really not very Cuban - the double spins are a dead giveaway. He got a bit miffed when I told him.
After Chapeando was the dreaded Timpop. Shudder. Then the medley, with Formell singing lead on Candela. I swear he has put a tint in this hair - I'm sure it was grey last year, but now it's like a honey blonde. Weirdly, Samuell seemed to have large chunks of grey; but maybe it was those ubiquitous blonde tips. I'll tell you who looked really spunky: Cucurucho. Woah - hot, man. Does anyone know if he's gay? If he isn't, he is like the hottest guy in Havana. Doesn't play badly either. But I digress. Yeni did a lovely turn as usual on Despues de todo - you all know I love it when she does that. Every time I love it. It's just gorgeous. I love her too. I know a lot of people don't and I'm a bit, well not baffled, but... I can see why some people wouldn't, but at the same time I feel protective - I want everyone to like her! I love her voice, her impro and animation, and the way she interacts with the crowd. She aways engages. With no pomposity, unlike Mayito, who improvised during Timpop with: "do you know who I am?" Por favor, chama!
As they have done for quite a while, they followed that with Anda ven y quiereme; which is another favourite of mine. Lele was in form too. I love those two guys. Mayito sang a new song; then there was Lele with Corazon, which I have become fond of too - mainly through seeing it live, I must say. Then, ooh, then they did the reworking of Dale dos that I saw them rehearse last year at La Tropical. It's really fucking good. I haven't heard the original 70s version, but it has a kind of Chapeando groove to it, and it's really luscious. That's Robertón on lead, of course. The Japanese dude who played with Klimax was up on stage playing first on Boris's keyboard, then moved to Cucurucho's, who later came up beside him and stood watching apprehensively. He didn't last long after that. Mayito sang some more - I lost interest. Had the usual peeps tapping me for a dance but they weren't too insistent. Everyone was pretty well behaved and just grooving. It was really nice. I got kind of bored and tired before they finished which is pretty normal for me and Van Van - they always play for about two hours which is about 30 minutes too much for me. The last song was La Buena, and really, why can't they do Ven, Ven, Ven instead? I mean La Buena has that bit in the end where it really kicks into gear, but still... Ven, ven, ven! Anyway, we lammed out of there to try and beat the crowd to a taxi.

Just back from Dantes y su Novena. He suffered a bit from various aspects on my end: I had the worst headache I've had this trip; one guy kept bugging me and another came from nowhere to put his hand on my mouth when I yawned. Maleducado. Also he suffered from comparisons with Alain Daniel who was so unexpectedly good. There was a decent crowd, though I thought there might be more given one of his songs was lo mas pega'o on Piso 6 this week (and one of the bajito hosts I saw en la esqina last night was there today). There were lots of unco foreigners dancing to a track from Tirso's last album when I walked in (afterwards they played Mamborama's Temba) - but Dantes had to work really hard to get the crowd up. He only got a full dancefloor towards the end.
I'm not sure about his sound - it's a bit wishy washy. The lineup doesn't help: baterista that plays kit and timbales; piano but no teclados; guitar; five metales (three trombones; two trumpets) - not sure why that's necessary. The show starts with a bang - choreographed in the classic timba style which is really a lot of fun, but the songs don't really live up to the spectacular. I don't think he's really trying for timba - it's a little bit of anything tropical - though no reggaeton - with lashings of pop. There were screaming girls down the front. You'll hear them when I upload the video. He's kinda of chunky but he's still fit, in the British vernacular (ie pretty hot). Good presence. I don't know. I don't really know what the show was missing. Good songs?

Paulo's bajista Cristo just called. I said thanks for telling me the concert was suspendido. He laughed he said, no, I didn't know. Said he turned up at 9 or 10 and then he found out. So it didn't happen at rehearsal. He said, did you know we played today? I said no. Pero tambien suspendieron. Jajaja. I said, why? He said. No sé. I don't ask why. They call me, they say it's off, I don't ask why.
I cooked a stirfry with tuna for dinner. The Gilmore Girls (Chicas Gilmore) was on again (seems to be on every night); but I lay on the bed and soon crashed. I was woken at 11.30 by the dueño's door slamming and I lurched out of bed and dressed and walked down to Galiano to see Pupy. There was actually a queue. A guy there offered me a ticket for $20. I furrowed my brow. It's $15, right? He said, so you don't have to wait in the queue. I wasn't in a hurry to get in. Even though it was nearing 12, I knew the floorshow would be on - no tears if I miss that. A guy in the queue asked if I was from Spain - always the first choice for me for some reason. When I told him Australia he asked did I dance - always one of the first questions after de que pais? And when I said yes, he said I'll have to watch you dance. Why does he think I care what he thinks?
Didn't take long in the queue and inside it was busy but not full. I've never understood why there is sometimes a queue and sometimes not, cause it often has no correlation to what's going on inside. The dancing girls were dancing to Toque natural, which is this year's Añoranza por la conga as far as the floorshow goes. I've never been here when they make the switch. Still they must have been using Toque natural for a while now. I'm surprised they haven't changed it to Azucar Negra's Vitamin C, which is played everyday on Disco Fiesta. Still I suppose that's a merengue and not really appropriate.
Osiris saw me sitting on the stairs, which is my position of choice down there and asked why I was sitting down. I said I'm tired. He looked surprised. After the ballad singer, who sings very well, was a rumba fire dude. Controlled fire this time, unlike last time when Pepito was singing and and a lead behind him on the stage burst into flame. Seriously.

Osiris and Pupy.

Al final llegó Pupy y los que son son. Yay! They started with Calla Calla - Pupy varies the order of his songs much more than other groups here, though not the actual songs themselves. Pepito is so great - how fantastic that he returned to the group. I can't imagine them without him. He has such a benevolent presence, always smiling and serene; and I love the way he sings. Calla Calla was unfortunately followed by A la Italiana, which is the weakest song in their repertoire by far, but was soon followed by La Machucadera, which is the perfect counterpoint - Pupy does cintura timba! Well if you want to call them timba. It's hard and solid. Great song. That's played a lot on the radio here too. The metales - all of them! - missed their queue and came in late on the intro (at least they all came in late together). Pupy looked at them and threw his arms wide open: what happened? Dicen que dicen - always love it. Never tire of it. So beautiful. Suave but danceable. Perfecto. La bala de Billy. Great too. Funky, solid. My enjoyment of this was marred by a dickhead down the front who kept bumping into me going "baila baila" by which he meant, "baila como yo". I almost told him to get fucked. He seriously pissed me off. Fortunately someone moved into the front line between us. La Borrachera, during which Pepe encouraged Pupy to dance - cintura Pupy! Great song. Then Timba a Pogolotti - ditto. It seemed a short set; and even though I'm sure it wasn't late (the battery in my watch died about five days after I got here), when they finished there was only one reggaeton song before they cut the music and turned up the house lights. I waited for Bombon, who had really drummed up a storm, to have a chat and he and the conguero, who both live not far from me, kindly walked me home through the dark streets of Centro Habana. A car passed playing reggaeton. Lo odio, said the conguero. Bombon and I agreed. Duniesky, the conguero said when he was in Bamboleo, they used to rehearse in the cinema on the next corner from my house. It's now an art gallery, of all things, downstairs.