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As you may remember, from my Caliente! post, I have been searching for some Salsa Music that I really enjoy, and is of a particular feel.

And so I embarked upon a quest. Armed solely with my dumbling wit, keen persistence, and a hint from the lovely Narami, I ventured forth into the internet. Cutting through bush after bush, through the Virtual Jungle of Wrong Turns and Meh.

And today, I finally broke through.

A ray of hope:

 

What is this, I say?!?! Turntablism, with some distinctly latin feeling to it - aka ... Salsable? [TIFG!] Yes, yes, YES! This is what I need to hear. This is what I need to dance to! This is the kind of stuff that needs to be injected into the dance parties, so that we can elevate it to the next level. Oh my. :)

 

And from that little clearing, I pushed forward with vigilance. I could feel that something good was in the cards for my expidition today. Do you feel it too, Short Round?

You should! Cause just at the next clearing, we have:

 

 

Holy awesome! A Dubby feel to the groove, with distinctly Latin roots. Plus a female with an amazing voice. I gobbled up the rest of this album like no other. All the tracks have a similar feeling of Sweet Island romance to them. And are good enough to fill my slow Salsaesque cravings. Its just bonus that each of them have musical roots that are not so salsa, but that I naturally enjoy.

But as I was listening to some of the tracks, a nagging feeling came over me. That woman sounds familiar. Really familiar. Could it be?!?!

A quick search of other albums shows: Yes! This is the *exact* group I was looking for. The song I had spent about two months questing after, is none other than Esta Noche, from the album Granhotelbuenosaires. It turns out that Narami was correct - Argentina it is! (See yall, beautiful and smart to boot!).

But then I noticed something. The track had another artist referenced in it. The female in it is Natalia Clavier.

Now, I know I had no business asking to find more. I already had more than my happy fill of good new music. And I had already found what I was looking for. But I could not help to press my luck ... And I found that Natalia Clavier has her own Album!!!

I grabbed it, and listened to it. And honestly. Seriously.

This is the most pure overwhelmingly beautiful album I have ever heard.

Its like what would happen if the Gods of Music got together one glorious day, and decided to mash up everything great about Portishead, beautiful voices, and latin music. Spice it up with the feeling of pure romance. And love. Then just pour it all into one delicious album.

I have no idea what she is saying. But it doesnt even matter. I can feel it nonetheless. Although I desperately wish there were a way to translate it, so I could fully understand the song. Match the meaning to the images in my head.

I am going to include it in its entirety in this post. Listen to it.

Then look me straight in the eye and tell me you dont agree. And I will call you a liar. And ask for your counteralbum as proof that you arent bluffing.

Take the challenge:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goddamn. Thats so beautiful. I desperately want to dance to it all. I can envision the style in my head too - a nice mix of slow Salsa patterns with some blues fundamentals. Throw in a dash of tango, and ... sigh.

Natalia Clavier: I <3 You.

 

 

 

Argentina: I <3 You too.

How many pair of shoes do you have? Out of those pairs, how many do you wear more than a few times a year?
Submitted by fightinggale.

Haha. Im not really much of a guy in this regard.

My current count is 19 pairs of shoes. To be fair, 3 pairs are strictly dance shoes (suede soles), so I never wear them on the street. I also currently have my eye on 5 more pairs of street shoes, and 3 more pairs of dance shoes.

I wear about 9 different pairs more than a few times a year. And on any given day, I usually wear 3-4 different pairs of shoes.

:)

Things I Loathe:

• Being told that I cannot do something.
• Getting tongue tied. (and not in the good way)
• Dust. No seriously. And the fact that I happen to live in places that get dusty super fast. Its like, where the heck did all this come from?!?! I just dusted yesterday!
• People who ride my bumper when I am stopped on a hill. Freaking manual transmission jerkbag, gimme some room. (This is even worse when it is rainy)
• Not being sure what makes me more Mehd: the fact that I havent West Coasted with Secret Crush in almost 3 weeks, or the fact that I am actually Mehd about it.

 

Things I Love:

• Making my instructor happy for her Birthday Dance - I ran out to be the first one, sent myself into a huge floor slide ... right into her for a ginormous hug. She got lots of compliments from this. Yay!
• The fact that I only have one more performance practice left. Buhbye monkey!
• Olives.
• Getting compliments on my general wardrobe style. From both genders.
• Girls who dance in flowy dresses. It makes me want to spin them, to add extra visual art to the dance.
• Naps. Could go for one right now.
• Tuesdays.

 

I walked out of the store, with my Smoothe in a bag. I was feeling a little bit ambly, so instead of making straight for the door of the building, I decided to wander around.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot this:

 

 

 

"Oh my God. I have to get a closer look! That is amazing." I said to myself and made a beeline for the store across the way. And I just stared at it for a few minutes.

I wanted to look longer, but I know that would have probably led to a salesperson coming up and trying to talk to me. Which would unnerve the situation - interrupting my experience with the art. I looked at the name of the creator, and made a mental note.

Felix Mas.

Later, I did some internet searching. And after a bit, finally got to a page that displayed a vast majority of his work. And I have to tell you.

I am in Love.

 

So its time to share a small selection of my favorite pieces from Felix Mas. The man who just skyrocketed to being one of my favorite artists ever.

 

There is something great about the nostalgic feel to this piece. Its partially in the content. And its partially in the way it is actually painted. It presents a visual cohesion that is just appealing.

 

 

 

The colors in this are amazing. They are so ... Spanish. The pattern above the hair is really intriguing. But, I think one of the most interesting parts of the whole piece is that it has oceanic themes, but uses almost no blue pigmentation at all. And definitely nothing that anyone would classify as in the Blue Family. 

 

 

 

The reds in here are just so vivid. Its like there is a burning sunset behind her. Very reminiscient of the feeling of being in the spotlight. The outfit is very stunning too, with the implied texture. And I am quite fond of the figure composition.

 

 

 

I really like how the figure lightly melts into the parchment here. How there is a blend from something so realistic, to something that is realistic, but does not logically fit with the context of everything else. It fuses her to the music in a very surreal way.  

 

Color and contrast. Oh My. The choice to leave out so much of her clothing, and instead just have a dark background ... really makes his use of color stand out. The piece has a very dream-like quality, even down to her expression. 

 

 

First of all, naked female backs are sexy as all getout. Second, would you look at the detail on that dress, even down to the markings. Thats just amazing. Its also really interesting how the color seperation works through the piece, bringing your eye down, pausing in the middle, and then sinking it through to the bottom. My eye actually moves down the piece essentially like I would imagine a dress would come off of her body. 

 

 

I adore fabric. And if it has just the right amount of folds in it, it become especially great to appreciate. There is also something really great about the cohesion of the flowers on the kimono and those in her hand. The not so subtle homage to nature appreciation is not lost on me here. 

 

 

This is my absolute favorite. It excites my imagination. First, there is selective detailing - he leaves out most of the clothing, and even the body of one of the subjects. He also does a great job of seperating the piece out into two distinct chunks, with just the right amount of ribbon coming down to make your eye travel. What is interesting about this is that your imagination also tries to fill in her clothing, as if its really there.

And lets not forget color. The color in this piece is amazing. As is her expression.

*swoon*

 

If you would like to see more work from Felix Mas, you can check out Martin Lawrence Galleries. Decide for yourself which ones you like. These are just my favorites.

Hope you enjoyed! 

In my little tribute to Cinco De Mayo, Im gonna post about my most recent weird Salsa experience.

 

Im out at my favorite shoe store. I needed to buy some wide leg dance pants, for the upcoming performance (plus I think they will really go well with my Red Pumas!). And I wanted to get some Jazz shoes to wear for Blues Dancing. So I grab both, and head up to the counter.

That is when All Weird Broke Loose ...

Owner: "Youre not going with the white shoes?!"

Me: "No. Im not a white guy. It gets dirty too easily. Hell, my black shoes get dirty easily!"

Owner: "But you have *arrived* when you wear white shoes. Thats where its at."

Me: "Okay. But its just not my style."

Owner: looks at a cute girl in the store. "Im trying to get him into some white shoes. To upgrade."

The girl smiles.

Owner: looks back at me. "Okay. Well, let me see. Show me your moves."

Me: "Excuse me? Show you my moves?!"

Owner: "Yes. I want to see what you got." He offers a hand to the girl. "Would you mind dancing with him?"

Girl: "Sure. That would be fun."

At this point, my mind is going, "WTF?" And getting a little panicky. Its a friggin shoe store, in the middle of the day (I am bad dancing in the light). And I can already feel the heat of the imaginary "spotlight" on me, with 5 people staring at me.

I take the girls hands, keeping her in open position. I do a basic. Then I turn her. She feels really good. And I am freaking out. So I stopped.

Owner: "Good. But, can I see something more advanced?"

Me: "More advanced?"

Owner: "Yep. Like ..."

He grabs the girl, and puts her through a sequence. Roughly: basic, backbreak to hammerlock, pullthough to hip spins. Not too advanced for me, but I mentally missed one move in the 8 move sequence. 

Owner: "You want to give her a spin?"

Me: "Heh. Why you gotta put me on the spot like that?"

Owner: "Come on. You are a dancer. Its not being on the spot. Its just dancing. I want to see you do more advanced moves."

Me: "I make it a rule never to perform advanced moves until I know the feel of my follow."

Girl: "Nice excuse."

Um. Is she totally egging me on, or what? Now I am all aflutter, so I politely move the conversation elsewhere. Internally Im freaking out, because it makes me *really* nervous when I feel like people are studying, and judging me ... and me alone.

Finally I got the guy to ring me up.

Owner: "Next time you come in, we will resume lessons. Dont you love coming here?"

Me: Smiles. "You know I love coming here. Ive bought like 3 or 4 pairs of shoes here. And plan on buying more."

Owner: "Oh thats right." He says and starts fishing through a stack of something. "Have you ever heard of Hector Lavoe?"

Me: "No."

Owner: "Well here." He hands me a CD. "Thats a tribute to Hector Lavoe." He grabs it back and opens it. "Now you can listen to it in your car right away." He pauses. "Consider it a gift for playing along today."

Me: "Thank you."

Girl: "You will love it."

Me: "We will see. Hey ... thanks for the dance."

 

As soon as I walked out of the store, I calmed down. This is when my brain started shouting:

"Idiot! Why are you so panicked? Here is how it should have went down. You should have gotten the owner to agree to a challenge: if you can impress him, he will give the girl a discount on her purchase. And at the very least, you should have danced more with that girl. Or invited her out for a real dance. She felt so good."

"You are much better than you showed."

So I just laughed at myself. Man, another tick on the Weird Week Wall.

 

Later, I popped in the CD on the way to dancing. There are two tracks that I absolutely LOVE.

 

 

 

Im not quite sure why I like this one. It might be the interaction of the piano and the trumpets. The energy just feels right, and it seems like a fun song.

 

 

This is now one of my favorite Salsa songs. I have listened to it about 15 times already. I love the energy in the song. The horns are also very intriguing. And there is something about the way his voice sounds that makes it even more exciting to my ear.

I also like how it seems to break down in the song. It feels very *raw*. Like it could be a live recording of a party.

Hope you enjoy!

Things that I Loathe:

• Going to performance practice. It stresses me out and makes me a sad panda.
• Writing Specification Documents.
• Spiders
• Upstairs neighbors that jump on the floor, to try and tell me to be quiet. This is really starting to piss me off.
• That everybody wants to Salsa. Love that people want to dance, but really? Why always Salsa?
• That the Year of Travel has been completely devoid of travel.

 

Things that I Love:

• Tomorrow night will be the first night that I receive the results of this game I am playing with Secret Crush. I am so excited!!! (More info on this later).
• Dancing with a woman who is wearing good perfume. Although, I will admit that it is quite distracting.
• Specialty Bread. Oh Specialty Bread - I never know what you are when I buy you from the coffee stand. But you are such a yummy surprise. Every Time. I <3 You.
• Specialty Bread with Chocolate Milk!
• Getting greeted with a handshake.
• Petite girls with big personalities and smiles. Extra energy, bigger bonus!
• Hell, smiley people in general. Not enough of that out here.
• This one Salsa move, when you bring her past you on the 5 and stop her via hand on hip. (You end up right hip to the back of her left hip.) I stall for another 4 beats, and love closing my eyes to just feel what the women are doing with their playtime. It makes me smile. Every. Time.
• The kiss scene in Spiderman. I would love to get my hands on a copy of this print:

 

 

 

 

Things that I OhNo:

• Recent trends have brought a personality quirk to my attention. I dont really know what to do about it. This could get really unnerving. And explosive.
• I am trying to begin private lessons with an instructor that is a National Competitor. But ... the availability might not align easily with my schedule. Meh.
• I am getting all sorts of nervous about the possibility of seeing a particular girl tonight. I both want to, and dont want to ... in that "I really really want to unless its not good then I dont want to" kinda way. (Dont look at me like that, you know *exactly* what I am talking about). The appearance of this feeling does not bode well for me.

 

 

And a bonus, because I just have to... Im dedicating these two songs to a couple girls I know. They say things better than I ever have, or could:

 

 

 

 

 

I was out dancing the other night, and I was within earshot of someone who said, "I cant dance to this music. I dont understand it, so I dont feel it. I just dont know what to do."

The music was Hip Hop.

I love West Coasting to Hip Hop music, so I butted in and offered some opinions. Here is an expansion of my ideas of Hip Hop Dancing for West Coast Dancers.

 

First and foremost, I think any West Coast dancer can go really far in learning to express hip hop, by first understanding the basic roots of Hip Hop.

Hip Hop is actually more than just music - its a culture. When you say Hip Hop, you are talking about an MC, a DJ, a dance style, art (such as graffiti), your clothes, your attitude, and generally ... a way of life. These are the elements of Hip Hop. And each element expresses the culture within its vocabulary, tying into the other elements.

For all practical purposes, Hip Hop as we know it originated in the Bronx River Projects, back in the 70s. A huge icon in this was Afrikaa Bambaataa, at that time a leader of one of the major street gangs in the area. He basically took a sabbatical to Africa, and really experienced his cultural roots first hand. This gave birth to a plight to bring some of that back to his community.

He was tired of the violence and hate brought about in the stressed living conditions of the ghetto. He honestly believed that through music, culture, and attitudes ... this could be changed. So he started bringing that philosophy to local block parties.

So you basically have a bunch of inner city thugs, living in the worst possible human conditions known in America, trying to get along in a dog eat dog world. Instead of expressing dominance through violence and crime, the first step is to express it through dance, music, and art - giving birth to Battles.

To bring this more towards the musical aspect, most of the DJs at that time were just spinning their favorite funk and soul music records. And if you really listen to the music of that era, there is usually a section in which musical elements fall out, and there is just a solid groove or rhythm pattern.

We call this The Break (or breakbeat). Its almost akin to what more schooled people might conceptualize as an extended phrase transition. Street dancers use the break to do their most inspired dancing. They get down with they bad selfs. DJs noticed this, and being keenly interested on crowd enthusiasm levels ... they wanted to extend that break, to be longer than 30 seconds (or so). So that people could get down for longer periods.

One of the first major DJs to do this was Kool Herc. He was king of the break. Right around the same time, another local DJ - Grandmaster Flash ... began experimenting a bit. He also happened to be an electrician, and brought that knowledge to engineer a simplistic cross fader. This was the foundation for most of the DJ and Turntablism techniques today. Ways to extend and manipulate the break, cleanly .. which have now exploded into downright musical creation.

From here, Hip Hop quickly reached a critical mass. But it still remained largely true to its roots : impoverished people trying to dance their cares away to great grooves of the Golden Era of Funk. Remember this when you are about to dance to Hip Hop, and you have the foundation to succeed.

Remember the attitudes of someone from the ghetto, who struggles to survive daily. Remember the desire to just get lost in music - a fantasy escape from the killing right outside your window. Every Night.

 

Now bring that to your West Coasting.

Which is to say, if you really pay attention, you will see similarities in Hip Hop Music and the stuff you normally dance to for West Coast. Even in more recent music. You will hear familiar drum patterns. You will definitely hear familiar grooves (because a lot of them are sampled directly from the greats of other music! Hip Hop is really big into paying tribute or respect to others).

I suggest listening to the drums and basslines, instead of the lyrics - especially when first starting to dance to hip hop. The drums are great for funking up your footwork or adding syncopations. Or knowing when to *snap* that move. The bassline is great for overall feel, and knowing the energy transitions in your moves.

The final piece is to listen to the lyrics. They tend to express the *attitude* of hip hop. Remember those cultural roots. Empathize with the real reasons those MCs are saying what they are. A lot of them have legitimate beefs with society. Or have completely gone to escapism. Understand this through mentally walking in their shoes for a bit.

And for the love of all that is good ... drop your stupid dance technique. To really dance *to* Hip Hop Music, you cannot be a super technique freak. Although it might be graceful and beautiful - its still just going through the motions. And you just will not get the feel of the music.

I hate to throw out a stereotype here, but I will. If you focus too much on standard West Coast technique when dancing to Hip Hop Music - you pretty much just look like a Middle-To-Upper Class White Person. Its stylistically "off", even when executed to perfection. It comes across only slightly better than George Bush trying to Rap. 

Cause the roots of hip hop are *untrained* - they cannot afford real training. They are street driven, and improvisational. They have frustration. They have angst. They have saddness. They have expression of release.

They have freaking Soul.

 

Remember this, and you will be well on your way to West Coasting to Hip Hop.

Relish your groove and get down with your bad self.

 

I am compiling a selection of music that I especially feeling. These are song I really want to dance to. For many different reasons.

 

For West Coast:

• The Breaks - The Black Keys
• Non Non Non - Melaaz
• State of Clarity - Guru ft. Common
• Thin Line - Jurassic 5 ft Nell Furtado
• Put Your Hands on Me - Joss Stone
• Good Time - Leela James
• Rock the House - Gorillaz
• Sexy Can I - Ray J
• Gold Digger (edited) - Kanye West
• Keep Me - The Black Keys
• Fine and Free - Guru ft Vivan Green
• Sugar So Sweet - Tyrone Wells
• Id Like To - Corinne Bailey Rae
• Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body) - Three 6 Mafia
• Those Gurlz - Snoop Dogg
• Nice Girl, Wrong Place - Gang Starr
• Day Dreaming - Lupe Fiasco
• Follow My Lead - One Be Lo
• Your Touch - The Black Keys
• Get Down - Rhymefest
• Just Playin (Dreams) - Notorious B.I.G.
• Soul Food - Leela James
• Purple Bounce - DJ Lobsterdust
• Lady Dont Tek No - Latyrx
• Makin It Blend - QTip and Wordsworth
• I Like the Way She Do It - G-Unit
• Culture of Complaint - The Grassy Knoll
• Aint No Other Man - Christina Aguilera
• Gotta Get Thru This - Daniel Beddingfield
• Sugar (Gimme Some) - Trick Daddy

 

 

For Blues:

• Secret - Maroon 5
• Sideways - Citizen Cope
• Baby Dont You Change - Tyrone Wells
• Til It Happens to You - Corinne Bailey Rae
• Basin Street Blues - Kid Koala
• Roads - Portishead
• Ball and Biscuit - White Stripes
• Chloroform - Blue Sky Black Death
• Portrait of Tracy - Jaco Pastorius
• Holdin On - Citizen Cope
• It Could Be Sweet - Portishead
• Got To See You Again - Nora Jones
• The Sea and The Rhythm - Iron & Wine
• My Joy - Leela James
• I Go To Sleep - Sia
• Shoh-Ka - DJ Krush
• Only You - Portishead
• The Arms of A Woman - Amos Lee
• Undress Me Now - Morcheeba
• She Just Wants To Dance - Keb Mo
• The Nearness of You - Norah Jones
• Pretty Baby - San Ilya
• You Have Been Loved - Sia
• Ex-Factor - Lauryn Hill
• Sun Is Shining - DJ Krush
• March Eighteenth - The Grassy Knoll
• When You Love Somebody - Leela James
• They Died for Beauty - San Ilya
• Cold Turkey - Anthony David
• The Church of Whats Happening Now - Sia

 

 

And because this is a music post, I am going to share the top songs from above that best describe my emotions right now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just picked up the newest member of my shoe family. Here they be:

 

 

 

Here is a closeup. You can see the killer Puma stitching, right on top of the elegant Italian Suede (special edition shoes!):

 

 

And for the big surprise ... drum roll ...

I actually picked these up at the Cobbler, cause I had them modified:

 

 

 

Yup. Those are suede soles. The cobbler had to do a little sanding down of the rubber, because of the grooves (this is also why I didnt modify them myself). But he did a pretty tight job of it.

These are now new, stylin dance shoes. Ready and roaring to slide, glide, shuffle and spin the friggin night away.

 

And to directly answer anyone who wants to go all Springer Guest on me ...

 

Oh yes I muhfuhttindid!

 

Things I Lo-Lo-Lo-Lo-Lo-Lo-Lo-Loathe:

• How little sleep I have been getting the last 2 months. How my body always decides to wake itself up at approximately the same time. No matter what.
• How I sleep much better when I am next to someone.
• Getting turned down to dance. Its pretty harsh when it happens.
• People who refuse to look you in the eye. Its like they are denying your existence. Rude.

Things I Love:

• How my instructor recommends new girls for me to dance with, and she is always spot on. I usually end up really loving her recs.
• J* was so dead on with her dancing tonight. I just had to compliment her multiple times and thank her.
• Miss Scotchs Stick It to Da Man Day. Viva La Resistance, bitches!
• Receiving my first compliment on my *following* tonight, from a woman I let lead me. She liked the way I style my turns!
• My first Blues Dance is on Friday! Im so excited!!!
• I am over Red Crush! Yes! (And I think I learned the steps to have a crush go away too)
• Red Robin Chili Cheeseburger with Garlic Fries. Its a total Gut Bomb. But the pain is definitely worth it.
• The meetups we have at Shallots before a competition. I am really starting to dig those appetizers.
• The look of respect you get when you order a glass of Jameson. Its like silently saying, "You are now more of a man in my eyes." Plus, the beverage is damn tasty.
• Secret Crush Hugs. They are the bestest. 
• My Vox Neighbors. They are pretty freaking adorable, even when they dont know they are. I wish they were my Real Life neighbors.