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01/25/2005: "Pics from Cafe Citron January 24, 2005"

Monday is my favorite flamenco night. It's so much fun to have a singer--unfortunately, none of the other DC tablao shows have cante. But business slows down in the winter months. This particular night wasn't too bad: eventually all the seats at the bar were filled.

Let's face it. Cafe Citron is mainly a bar and when people have a few drinks they are usually easy to entertain. But on slow nights like this when the crowd isn't so inebriated, we still get a very enthusiastic response. I'll take that as a compliment. We put on a good show.

Lately, I've been making an effort to meet the people in audience afterwards thanking them for coming and getting some feedback about the show. And quite a few of them actually do come especially for the flamenco.

Most of the time, they heard about the show through my website. Others, read about the show on other website like DCNites.com or ClubZone.com. Some just hear about the show by word of mouth.

Just having a good show is not enough. It takes time and good publicity for word to get around. This September 2005 will mark four years of performing at Cafe Citron.

Singer Gerard Moreno and yours truly have been featured in the show from the beginning. We started with dancer Micaela Moreno then Marta Chico Martin. Later Sara Jerez and most recently Sara Candela has been dancing here regularly. Unfortunately for the DC flamenco community, Sara Candela will be relocating far from DC very soon. She and I have been performing in DC area tablaos longer than anyone that's currently performing today--we did our first show together on New Year's Eve 1991. We're all going to miss her.

In the coming months, Sara Jerez will be performing more frequently at Cafe Citron but when she can't make it, we'll be featuring other familiar faces and perhaps even a few new ones.

According to my New Year's poll, the number one answer to the question "What would most convince you to come to local tablaos more often?" is "Change artists more frequently." Your wish just might come true!

Pics in the Photo Diary