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still recovering from this past weekend’s new york salsa congress. got there friday night in time to register and catch the first set of shows and left a couple of hours after the event ended at 4 monday morning. i’ll be posting a full review soon, but here are some quick impressions.

things i liked:

1. the venue, right in midtown at the hilton hotel.

2. great ballroom with a nice big floor.

3. the social dancing, particularly on friday and sunday night.

4. sunday’s live music (johnny polanco and his orchestra).

the thing i didn’t like:

1. the setup for the performances. an L-shaped space with the stage off-center at the end of the long end of the L. most people could only see the shows looking up at the projection screens as the stage was far away or out of view.

the gallery has pictures from friday, saturday, and sunday.

feel free to post your thoughts about the congress as comments.

Chapter 10: At the Copa, Copacabana
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Our El Barrio Taxi arrived downtown Manhattan around midnight. A
large queue had formed outside and around the New Copacabana [which
had replaced the former Less New Copacabana, that of course had
replaced the Quite Old Copacabana and of course there was the
Original Copacabana out there somewhere in the past too, sorry, where
was I?]. (more…)

Chapter 9: Who Loves Ya Baby?
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We headed out of La Fonda and the night air was distinctly chilly.
Making our way to the next block we passed through the neighborhood
basketball court and turned the corner. Lapiz stopped outside a high
mesh wire fence. “We’re here,” he said. (more…)

Chapter 8: Sweet, like Chocolate
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We piled into Janes car. Lapiz took the front passenger seat. As
Richie already commented on this I’ll refer back to his earlier post
for the following description:

– Jane’s driving skills and acute direction taking, or lack thereof… (more…)

Chapter 7: Un Gran Dia en el Barrio
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The weather was still fantastic. The B Team arrived as their name
suggested, last, and Lapiz and Ricardo headed off to get us all
bottles of water to help us make it through the tour [by now the weather
was officially ‘hot’]. We all met underneath the statue of Duke Ellington
and were told that opposite was planned a similar one of Tito Puente.
Well, we were on TP Way so there should hardly be many objections. (more…)

Chapter 6: Looking for Soul Food and a place to eat
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Casa Latina was easy to spot, the big sign ‘Casa Latina’ being over
the shop. We entered the fabled store and I handed the man who wasn’t
Vincente my list of wants. “You want all these?” he doubted. “No, the
ones starred are essential, I’ll let you select half a dozen more for
me. I’ll trust your judgement”. (more…)