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Miguelito's Photo DiaryApril 4, 2005 - April 13, 2005
Cafe Bonaparte April 13, 2005 Behzad couldn't make it, so we got guitarist Richard Marlow to fill-in. It's always a treat to work with Richard. Everything went well and the crowd seemed to be enjoying our music--the drum machine certainly livened things up. 
Miguelito, Carlton Ashton and Richard Marlow. April 13, 2005 9:40pm They always seat the prettiest girls at the table in front of the band--which I don't mind of course! But there was one girl who was celebrating her birthday who was really getting into a flamenco mood. 
April 13, 2005 10:30pm 
Cecilia Walcek and Carlton in Sevillanas. April 13, 2005 10:53pm 
Whatever Carlton does, he does with so much feeling. There's an article about him in Georgetown University's student newspaper The Hoya. April 13, 2005 10:54pm Behzad walked in just in time to join the party. We've never had this many people "onstage" at Bonaparte! 
Getting back to the girl at the front table: first she starts with the palmas. April 13, 2005 10:59pm 
Then she gets into the braceo. April 13, 2005 11:05pm Technically at 11:00pm the show is over, but Alejandra wanted us sing and play the birthday song for her, so we did. (How could we say no?) And the party started up again with even more flamenco. 
April 13, 2005 11:11pm 
Now it was Alejandra's turn to dance. The birthday girl learned some flamenco when she grew up in her native Ecuador. April 13, 2005 11:12pm 
April 13, 2005 11:15pm The boys continued the flamenco party as the restaurant closed up. 
Carlton, Juan Delgado, Behzad Habibzai and Richard. April 13, 2005 11:27pm Cafe Bonaparte has its "Flamenco Night" every other Wednesday. The next show is on April 27, 2005. This place is tiny, so reservations are required for the best seats. Afterwards, Juan and I went to Aguardiente to meet up with José and Cesar Oretea as they started putting away their music equipment. 
Miguelito and Cesar Oretea. April 14, 2005 12:23am Cesar went home, but Juan, Jose and a couple of friends and I decided to checkout the scene at Cafe Citron. Sorry no pics. Andalucía April 13, 2005 I did a couple of school shows last week at Las Tapas. This week I'm doing shows at Andalucía each day with a different dancer. Today's dancer is Cecilia Terrasa. 
April 13, 2005 9:56am 
The dining room is all set for the students. April 13, 2005 10:00am 
The students have arrived and have settled in their seats. April 13, 2005 10:06am 
Dancer Cecilia warms up. April 13, 2005 10:22am 
April 13, 2005 10:23am 
April 13, 2005 10:23am 
That's chef/interior decorator Antonio who is from Málaga. April 13, 2005 10:26am 
April 13, 2005 10:27am The show went well. We only did Sevillanas and Tangos but did a lot of oral presentation covering basic flamenco vocabulary for these Spanish language students. Usually I do all the talking in the presentation, but Cecilia is one of the very few dancers around DC that feels comfortable giving lectures on flamenco. Thanks Cecilia! Thursday's school show dancer is Isabelita Otero. Teachers: if you're interested in bringing your class for a lunch/flamenco presentation, call the Andalucía at 301-770-1880 and ask for Monica. Guarapo April 12, 2005 Supportin' my fellow musicians. Your assignment: get out and see some live music this week--it's good for the arts, the economy and your mental health. Do it! 
Guitarist and band leader Dani Cortaza. April 13, 2005 12:32am 
April 13, 2005 12:33am 
April 13, 2005 12:34am 
My friends Maynold Moreno and Nancy Medina. April 13, 2005 12:34am 
April 13, 2005 12:36am 
April 13, 2005 12:41am 
Dani, Nancy, Maynold and Indira Terrazas. April 13, 2005 1:28am 
Dani, Indira, Alena, Nancy and Maynold. April 13, 2005 1:29am SPECIAL: early morning walk in Rosslyn/Georgetown April 12, 2005 One of my regular visitors commented on how I make Washington DC look beautiful through my photos. I just happened to wake up early this morning. I stopped by the Starbucks down the street from me but it was swamped with office people so I decided to walk across the Key Bridge to visit the branch in Georgetown. So just this once, I decided to take pics along the way and publish them here.  Click on the pic to see more Cafe Citron April 11, 2005 It's harder now that the DC is minus one professional flamenco dancer. Not that it was easy before. But all the pros you see on the stage today were once student-level dancers and I know this first-hand because I played at their tablao debuts! In my survey a few months ago, a large percentage of you wanted to see different dancers from week to week instead of the same ones everywhere all the time. (In all fairness, this applies to guitarists too.) But practicing in a studio doesn't completely prepare you for tablao work. You just have to get out there and do it, make mistakes and learn. By fortunate turn of events, last night I had the pleasure of accompanying two dancers who were first-timers at Citron. Got a ton of errands to do so I'll add more commentary to the photos later. In the meantime, enjoy! 
Sunny afternoon in Dupont Circle on the way to Citron. April 11, 2005 6:10pm 
April 11, 2005 6:13pm 
Pam de Ocampo. April 11, 2005 8:24pm 
Pam dancing tanguillos. April 11, 2005 8:25pm 
Natalia Cuesta in alegrias. April 11, 2005 8:26pm 
April 11, 2005 8:27pm 
Miguelito, Pam, Quique, Natalia and Juan Delgado. April 11, 2005 8:55pm 
Practicing in the basement. April 11, 2005 9:11pm 
Sevillanas. April 11, 2005 9:17pm 
April 11, 2005 9:19pm 
April 11, 2005 9:19pm 
April 11, 2005 9:32pm 
April 11, 2005 9:34pm 
Quique, Jose Oretea, Juan and Natalia. April 11, 2005 9:37pm After the dancers changed into street clothes, DJ Helio put on some flamenco CD's and the show continued at the bar. 
Dancing to tangos by Camaron. April 11, 2005 9:52pm 
April 11, 2005 9:56pm 
April 11, 2005 9:57pm 
Sevillanas. April 11, 2005 10:00pm 
April 11, 2005 10:01pm We had four new bartenders working but I couldn't get them all at the same time for a pic so here are two... 
New bartenders Oda and Denise. April 11, 2005 11:37pm Grocery store gig (really!) April 10, 2005 I'm a professional--I play guitar for a living and for the most part I'm able to get most of my gigs on my own or clients just call me--there are only two full-time flamenco guitarists in DC who have gigs every week and I'm one of them! A booking agent called me with a gig and I decided to give it a try. I've done agency gigs before for very ritzy affairs that pay extremely well, so this would turn out to be fun, right? I got the address for the gig, mapquested it and got directions but I forgot to ask one important question. What is this place? I found out as the taxi drove into the parking lot... 
It's a grocery store! (note the clear blue sky) April 10, 2005 
That's my speaker and chair cramped between the row of checkout lines and the cafe. (imagine the hypnotic, headache-inducing, life-sucking flicker of fluorescent lights typical of a grocery store) April 10, 2005 A job's a job, the employees and customers were pleasant and I got paid well (my thanks to the booking agent) but I didn't enjoy myself at first. It's hard to get inspired when your music is competing with the constant bleeps and bloops of the army of electronic cash registers. As soon as I found my groove, the music started to flow and the compliments started pouring in from customers (I've never in my life, stayed in a grocery store for several hours in a row) and by the end of the gig, I wasn't feeling so bad after all. The worst part was that it was a gorgeous day and I was stuck inside. Oh well, I'm going to have to blow my paycheck from this gig on something extravagant so I'll have something to show for it. Arte Flamenco at World Arts Celebration April 8, 2005 With Sara Candela no longer in DC, I've been in a reminiscent state of mind. I've been reflecting on the 14 years that I've known Sara. Going even further back, I can still recall my very first professional gig when I was still living in Los Angeles. I'll go into greater detail about it another time, but what I do remember especially was how happy I was doing flamenco, having so much fun with my friends and actually getting paid for it! At that time, two of the dancers, Rosa Maria and Mayte, and I went bar hopping in Fullerton (California) after the gig and did impromptu Sevillanas shows for the crowds and got free drinks. At least for one night, I felt like a true bohemian. :-) Things are a little different now. I still have fun, but now that I spend a lot of time with my fellow performers, I also have to deal with egos, politics etc--things that come up in just about any profession. I'm not complaining (that much). A "bad" day in my flamenco job is always better than a good day in a boring office job. This show with Arte Flamenco reminded me of my first gig. We had no rehearsal so we all had to really concentrate. We all left our egos at home so we could focus on bringing out the best in each other. Well, we all need some ego to project confidence...so there was a little. :-) 
Natalia Monteleon, Pam de Ocampo and yours truly fit into her Mini-Cooper for the two hour trip. Thank God for the sun roof--I was getting claustrophobic in the cramped back seatl. April 8, 2005 5:20pm 
Cecil Community College where the first annual World Arts Celebration took place. April 8, 2005 5:29pm 
Walking into the brand new facilities. April 8, 2005 5:33pm 
Guitarist Quique got there early with dancer Natalia Cuesta and was waiting for us in the dressing room. April 8, 2005 6:31pm 
I'm just a little annoyed. We travelled two hours only to have to wait around backstage in a tiny dressing room for another hour while the first act went onstage. Thank God for my Ipod Shuffle! April 8, 2005 6:32pm 
Natalia Cuesta doing her makeup. April 8, 2005 6:33pm 
Natalia Monteleon. April 8, 2005 6:34pm 
Pam de Ocampo. April 8, 2005 6:35pm Sometimes dancers change into costume while us guitarists sit in the corner minding our own business, really! :-) But just for the record, Quique and I left the dressing room while the dancers changed. 
Self-portrait. We couldn't even play our guitars backstage so I was getting delirious trying to keep myself entertained. April 8, 2005 7:02pm 
The Natalias peek through the wings at the opening act--the Regina Cooper-Conley Dance Ensemble. April 8, 2005 7:05pm 
Natalia shows off her African dance moves in the dressing room as the live drummers performed onstage. April 8, 2005 7:08pm We went on soon afterwards. The show went very well. The fact that we didn't rehearse probably helped because we were forced to really concentrate. Natalia and I both got to give mini-lectures about flamenco to the small but very attentive audience. 
After-show group pic with Pam, Natalia Cuesta, Shahram, Miguelito and Natalia Monteleon. April 8, 2005 8:41pm 
This was the first performance in this brand new theater! April 8, 2005 8:50pm 
Natalia Cuesta and Quique. I told him to look pissed off, just to break the monotony of smiling in my photo diary. April 8, 2005 8:54pm 
April 8, 2005 8:58pm 
Downtown Elkton. Kinda dead for a Friday night. We found a good restaurant--the Chesapeake is just ten minutes away so the seafood is so fresh! April 8, 2005 9:09pm 
90 minutes later, we're stuffed. I had the crab cakes. They were flaky, flavorful with just the right amount of spices--man I looooove seafood! April 8, 2005 10:46pm We still had a two hour drive back to DC, but at least for a good part of this Friday up until this point, I had this warm feeling inside like I was part of a flamenco family. 
The main square clock in downtown Elkton. April 8, 2005 11:00pm We got back to the DC area early Saturday morning. I ended up crashing in the guest bedroom at a friend's house in the suburbs. I fell asleep as soon as I placed my head on the pillow. 
The view from the bed. April 9, 2005 9:26am It's been awhile since I've woken up in the morning with no "city sounds" in the background. Kinda makes me want to settle down and buy a house in the suburbs...yeah right! ;-) Omigod, I have dance class in 90 minutes gotta go! For more info on Arte Flamenco, visit the website. Guarapo April 7, 2005 After my gig at Andalucía, Maynold Moreno and I picked up Nancy at the metro and drove out to Arlington to hang out at Guarapo. Later in the evening, someone I hadn't seen in a long time showed up... 
It's Kivanch! April 8, 2005 12:11am I didn't ask for details of his medical condition, but the important thing is that he's alive and well and enjoying himself amongst friends. It's good to see you Kivanch! There were a couple of girls at the next table one of whom was clapping along with the music as Duende Camaron performed onstage. I moved my chair closer to one of them so I could do some contratiempo. 
This is María Dolores. Originally from Ecuador, she studied flamenco for a short while at the DC Dance Collective with Aleksey Kulikov. April 8, 2005 12:38am 
Regular vistitors to my photo diary should recognize this face. In case you don't, it's Nancy Medina, the bartender/manager from Cafe Citron. She plays a little bit of guitar too! April 8, 2005 12:59am 
Nancy and Kivanch. April 8, 2005 1:01am 
Guitarist Cesar Aquino (from Paraguay) and Miguelito. April 8, 2005 1:02am 
Maynold and José. April 8, 2005 1:20am 
Kivanch. April 8, 2005 1:37am 
Kivanch, Indira Terraza and Cesar Oretea. April 8, 2005 1:45am Wednesday with Miguelito April 6, 2005 This morning (just like yesterday) I had a school show at Las Tapas with 90 kids from an elementary school from Stafford, Virginia. Usually I use two dancers, but this time around we cut it down to just one--which is fine because I can fill-up the time with lots of lecture. 
The forecast is sunny weather and temperatures in the 80's! Yay! April 6, 2005 10:46am 
The equipment is already setup from last night. The April 6, 2005 11:31am 
The show was supposed to start more than 20 minutes ago. Ginette keeps herself busy practicing guitar. April 6, 2005 12:08pm A few minutes later we started the show/demonstration. It went really well--both my lecture and Ginette's dancing. All we did was a quick run-through of her dance solo earlier this morning and that was enough--she's grown so much as a performer (and a dancer). During the Q & A session after the show, one of the students asked us, "So how long have you two been working together?" As I thought about it, I realized that the first time Ginette and I did a show together was almost exactly two years ago. 
Fast forward ten hours later: I'm in Adams-Morgan on a warm Spring night with a friend (who didn't want pictures published--a little mystery can be fun) in search of places where they have live music. April 6, 2005 10:00pm 
We didn't go here, but I thought this would make an interesting pic. My friend hadn't been out to Adams-Morgan since Cities changed name (and probably ownership) to Left Bank. April 6, 2005 10:11pm 
Checked out the live salsa by the Alfredo Mojia Project at Bossa. These guys are pretty good but there was no crowd--surprising for a beautiful warm night. April 6, 2005 10:40pm 
I usually go to Rumba Cafe for the Brazilian band on the weekends, but it seems that on Wednesdays they have no live music. Oh well, moving on.... April 7, 2005 12:10am 
Mezè had good music but no live band. Next! April 7, 2005 12:15am I couldn't understand what was up. I know it was the middle of the week, but that usually doesn't stop people from going out. So we went down to Dupont Circle. MCCXXIII had a long line--they always do--but that doesn't necessarily mean there are a lot of people inside. But as we drove down the street, we ran into José Oretea was just getting off his gig at Aguardiente. My friend had work the next day but was persuaded to stay out just a little longer (it was a little after 1:00am). So we went to Ozio for a few drinks. 
Andres was doing his usual acoustic guitar/vocals show downstairs, but we went to the second floor. We went upstairs and ran into some regulars who happen to be gypsies. They of course bought Jose, my friend and I several rounds of drinks. Good thing I wasn't driving! :-) April 7, 2005 1:03am 
I was still in a party mood, so my friend and I went to Cafe Citron to see if might run into any friends or make some new ones. :-) April 7, 2005 1:53am Las Tapas/Guarapo April 5, 2005 I had a school show in the morning with Mariya Kostytska so my equipment was already setup for the show, hence I arrived just in time to walk on stage minutes before showtime. 
Sunset in Old Town Alexandria as I head towards Las Tapas. It's going to be a warm beautiful night! April 5, 2005 7:26pm 
Yours truly with the famous Rico Stover. Only classical guitarists will recognize that name and if you don't, tsk tsk tsk, you aren't fully aware of the classical guitar repertoire! He's performing this Friday at the Chevy Chase Community Center. Details. If it wasn't for Rico, I wouldn't have played one of Agustín Barrios' most beautiful compositions for my junior recital when I was majoring in classical guitar. The piece was called La Catedral. Thank you Rico! April 5, 2005 8:48pm The bar area was packed and the main dining area was pretty busy too, so I didn't feel like hanging out at Las Tapas. So I said goodbye to the dancers for the evening: Aleksey Kulikov and Tamara Sol Flys aka the "Ukrainians." :-) But I still wanted to go out on this beautiful warm night... 
As I walked to the metro, it was time to call up friends and see what's going on tonight. After talking to a few, I decided to go to Guarapo to hear my friend Indira Terraza sing. It was purely coincidental (really!) that I took this pic in front of a lingerie shop called Romance for the Senses. Don't read too much into this. :-) April 5, 2005 10:01pm 
I was going to take the Orange line towards Vienna and get off at Court House but the next train wasn't due for another 15 minutes, so I figured I could get there faster if I just walked so I went up to the street level and made the journey on foot. April 5, 2005 10:43pm 
Walking down Wilson Blvd and passing by the sculptural landmark in Rosslyn. What do you think the title of the sculpture is? April 5, 2005 10:48pm 
9 minutes later (I'm a fast walker) I arrive at Guarapo. About 8 years ago, this place used to be called Little Café and I did a couple of gigs here with dancers Micaela Moreno and Edwin Aparicio before dancer Joana del Río became the regular performer here with her guitarist husband Tom Stefanick. April 5, 2005 10:57pm 
Singer Indira Terraza with the band. April 5, 2005 11:00pm 
Jori Mema and Miguelito. She's a longtime friend with a "fan club" on my website. For a month, she was the most searched name on my website's search engine. Really! April 5, 2005 11:18pm 
Guitarist Amilcar Cruz with Indira Terraza. Do you recognize the guitarist pictured on Amilcar's t-shirt? April 6, 2005 12:24am 
Indira and Miguelito. A month or so ago, I had promised her I would come see her show and I finally made it. I think I'll make this my regular Tuesday late night hangout for awhile. April 6, 2005 12:26am Cafe Citron April 4, 2005 
Welcome to my "office." :-) April 4, 2005 6:59pm 
Looks like it's going to be a busy night already. April 4, 2005 7:01pm 
View from the relocated DJ booth. April 4, 2005 7:37pm 
View of the stage from above. April 4, 2005 7:38pm 
Gerard warming up before the show. April 4, 2005 7:55pm 
Nancy with Denise and Oda, the new Monday night bartenders. April 4, 2005 7:56pm Unfortunately, Nancy, my favorite bartender, is not going to be working on Mondays anymore. Bye Nancy! 
My last performance with Sara Candela before she leaves the DC area for good. April 4, 2005 9:28pm 
April 4, 2005 9:29pm 
April 4, 2005 9:34pm 
José Oretea joins in for tangos while guitarist Richard Marlow provides palmas. April 4, 2005 9:38pm 
April 4, 2005 9:40pm 
April 4, 2005 9:41pm 
April 4, 2005 9:42pm 
Nicole Totah and Jenifer Jaketic with Miguelito. April 4, 2005 10:03pm 
Jenifer, Richard, José and guitarist Cipriano Riesco. April 4, 2005 10:21pm 
Sara and Victoriano Martín, owner of Sangría Cafe. April 4, 2005 10:43pm 
Stephen Svoboda and Sara. April 4, 2005 10:54pm 
Sara and Shahram Tehranian. April 4, 2005 11:12pm 
We "grew up" together in the DC flamenco community over the years from the time we first met in the Fall of 1991. Now she and I are the "old timers" in amongst the regular DC area tablao performers. Thanks for the memories Sara! Goodbye and good luck in Chile! (She leaves this Friday) April 4, 2005 11:41pm 
Cipriano and I take the metro home early. He goes all the way out to Vienna and I'm going to Rosslyn with all my equipment so I can do a morning show at Las Tapas the next day. April 4, 2005 11:49pm 
April 4, 2005 11:50pm
Photos taken with the Olympus Stylus 300 Digital Camera
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