Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Time out from vacation photos....


I took a needed break from processing vacation pictures and went out for some live music.

Vanessa and Alex  Harris at the Pour House were preparing a fancy sit-down Cuban dinner last night.

At a reasonable cost and it was a sold out affair., overflowing the LOT restaurant.

As an added bonus, the music that night was FREE and featured the exciting local group, The Garage Cuban Band.

Lively and danceable. Congas and bongos. And a whole lotta shakin' going on. The attached video was done at the PoHo on 10-10-2010. Worth a listen.

My notes say the bassist is Ron Wiltrout, but beer was involved so that might just be a wild guess.

He kept the music going and the crowd flowing.

I went to their website and see they've been active around town.

I missed hearing them play at the Royal American - a really cool venue - and at Proof on King Street.

I see they also performed at Victor's Social Club up the Alley between the Music Hall and Rue de Jean and even at the Old Jail.

Dancers ranged from shoulders and hips slightly moving to all out Cha-Cha-Cha back and forth on the dance floor.

(The Swing Dancers of Charleston would have had a ball as they practice long hours to get the steps and movements just right when the music starts.)

Another crowd-pleaser was the guy on bongos and that ribbed oblong thing* he scrapes to create an interesting sound.

I really should have taken the time to nail down names of performers I enjoyed but - hey - I'm retired and do this just for fun.

*Playing the güiro usually requires both long and short sounds, made by scraping up and down in long or short strokes.[2]

OK, I looked up the name of the hollow  "fish" that is described as a percussion instrument.

The point is, they all played well and gave us some authentic Cuban sounds.

I caught a moment with Vanessa and congratulated her on a fine ethnic evening.

Now, I should get back to editing my vacation shots. Some streets in Lisbon reminded me of what I picture as streets of Havana...but with newer cars.

Thanks for stopping by. Keep alert for a chance to see and hear the GCB.

Buenas Noches.

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posted by chuckography @ 12:46 PM 0 Comments

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Rock Around The Block...

The Cuban Block Party will be "officially" covered by The Post and Courier’s writers and photographers but I wanted to share MY impressions.

The weather was clear and balmy, the music was TOTALLY Latino and I felt transported. I had briefly visited Cuba many, many years ago and, suddenly I was back there again. This was a huge time - and culture - warp.

All around Marion Square, bodies were moving and swaying, the bass was pulsing and your feet just started moving, slowly at first and then, your hips went from side-to-side, and you were caught up in the beat.

Oh yeah, People watching was excellent for this non-dancer.

The Opener was Garage Cuban Band which had the crowd on its feet and, after a fast-paced interlude by DJ Luigi, Havanason took the stage and showed what Charleston brought to the party.

Augmented by talent from Miami, the 12-piece group played and sang and the joint was jumping!

I plan to be there again next year.

Or next week, if they stage it again.

Get ALL Festival info at www.spoletotoday.com

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posted by chucker @ 12:52 AM 0 Comments