OZOMATLI!!

Ozomatli came through Philly last night. This time as part of a tour called Summer Haze with two other bands: Slightly Stoopid and G Love & Special Sauce. The show was outside at the Festival Pier down on Penn's Landing. [note: parking fees down there are a racket!!] My friend AH (who I introduced to Ozo at the show in April) and her husband DS joined me. While waiting in line to be let into the venue, I was treated to the sounds of the band warming up. I got to hear "City of Angels" twice, once at a distance and once right in front of the stage!

As always, Ozo ROCKED it. Seriously, OMG and WOW! My post-show Ozo-high is still going strong (aided by my iPod and some serious at-work chair dancing, of course). They had the full band there this time, all nine current members (Jabu was absent at the April show). They all are just so much fun to watch. AH commented about how they smile the entire time they are on stage and it's obvious that they are having so much fun up there. And the coordinated playing and dancing done by the band members is always impressive (how do Raul and Wil-Dog do that??). They only had use of about half the stage as the instruments for the other two bands were set up behind them. Unfortunately this meant that some band members were less visible than normal (Jiro, Mario, and Justin when he was on percussion). But this did not stop Ozomatli from making use of every inch of stage they had available to them. At one point Raul left the stage and leaped over security and the barrier to jam in the middle of the crowd!

The set itself was quite short, at just under an hour of Ozo time. So not enough. They could play for 4 hours and it wouldn't be enough. I couldn't get a copy of the set list this time (bummer!) because of the barrier in front of the stage and security between the barrier and the stage. That and the crew started breaking down the Ozo set as soon as they left the stage for the traditional "party in the crowd" to prepare for the next band so by the time Ozo was done with the end of show jam in the crowd the set was already half gone.

They mainly played songs off of the latest album Don't Mess with the Dragon, but none of the ballads, only the faster paced higher-energy songs. They did play "After Party," which I do believe is my favorite song on the new album, and "Can't Stop," which is AH's favorite, so we were both very happy. Ozo did play some of their older stuff, including "Saturday Night" (always a favorite). In the middle of "Cumbia de los muertos" they played a medley of random non-Ozo '80s and '90s rock songs. And of course they ended the show with "Como Ves" before picking up their instruments and heading into the crowd. Justin played an incredible drum solo at the very very end that garnered quite the response from the surrounding crowd.

The crowd was a bit disappointing. It felt kind of like a big frat party and there didn't appear to be very many Ozo fans in the audience. And most people weren't even dancing! What's up with that?? There's something wrong with those people, I swear. Ozomatli is probably one of the most "danceable" bands out there!!

Various band members jammed with Slightly Stoopid at the end of their set, which followed Ozomatli. First Raul joined them on stage for a hard-core rock song. I've never seen him play like that! For the last song in Slightly Stoopid's set, they were joined by Shef, Asdru, Uli and Justin. Last up for the evening was G Love & Special Sauce (a local Philly funk band).

My favorite things during the evening include the girl that had never seen Ozo before and is now, in the words of AH's friend, their slave. She was beyond excited and thought the traditional end of show drumming circle/snake through the crowd was the best thing ever. And during the post-show "party in the crowd" I saw Shef grab some guys blunt while walking through the crowd and was alternating smoking and playing his trombone before passing the blunt off to someone else. Classic. The man is crazy, but we love him anyway.

Quite possibly the most disturbing part of the evening was sitting around between bands and having it proved once again that AH and I have the librarians' curse of "information here" tattooed on our foreheads. We kept getting asked for directions. Sigh.

Photos of various concerts are here on Flickr.

Oh, and we went for dinner afterwards at Standard Tap. Yes, dinner at 10:30pm at night. This is not unusual in other parts of the world, I promise. I had the absolutely delicious "Standard Burger." It was perfectly cooked, and includes lettuce, tomato, mushrooms, a grilled onion slice, and cheese. So very very good. And it arrived with excellent fries, liberally sprinkled with salt AND pepper. AH had the soft-shell crab sandwich, and given the amount of finger licking that occurred I'm certain she really enjoyed it! DS had the yummy squid, which is fried in a batter that also includes the "standard" salt AND pepper. We topped it off with nice cold beers. I'll be going back there, guaranteed.

Incredible music and dancing to one of my favorite bands followed by good food...what an excellent evening! Too bad I had to work the next day. My alarm went off painfully early this morning. God willing Ozomatli's next show in Philly will NOT be on a weeknight.

Adventures in NYC, part 1

So my weekend in NYC was full of food and activity. After arriving on Thursday evening at CH's place (in the Village), we drove in circles to find a place to park. We lucked out and found a spot not far away. By this point, the dog was a bit freaked out with the car ride and being in a new place, so rather than leave her alone, we decided to get take out and just vegetate on the couch to some Food Network (the foodies in us strike again). We ordered from Suzie's on CH's recommendation. Some of the best Chinese take out I've ever had, actually. So good. Always trust a foodie's recommendation. Always. We won't steer you wrong. That's advice to live by.

CH lives in a high rise building, and on the upper floors. This was Aussie's first experience with staying a place that required elevators and was really high up. She did just fine with the elevator. Didn't bother her at all. CH's porch, on the other hand, freaked her out. Now, the porch has a fence all around, and this is not Aussie's first experience with a porch, but it was her first experience being more than 2 stories above ground. I've now learned my dog is afraid of heights. I'm not sure she ever got closer than one foot from the edge. She'd stand there, and extend her neck as far as it would go to kind of peer over the edge. It took her two days to be willing to even do that! The first day, whenever CH and I went out there (great views by the way), she'd stand in the doorway and give us this "you two are absolutely crazy" look. Overall, she was very well behaved, which confirms what I've always believed: my dog would be an excellent big-city-apartment-dweller dog. Coolness.

Friday morning we got up and took the dog for a walk and got coffee (beverage of the gods, by the way, second only to beer). Washington Square park isn't too far from the apartment, so we grabbed coffee at Think Coffee on the way (so good...and the iced coffee is cold brewed!) and headed for the park. Like most parks in NYC, Washington Square has a fenced in designated dog park in the park. Awesome! Figuring Aussie needed to blow off some steam, we decided to make use of the park. I think it freaked her out a bit as it's been quite a while since we've been to an off-leash park. She stuck pretty close to me and CH, and just kind of observed all the activity. I think she was more thrilled with all the attention she got from people than the other dogs. Nonetheless, the trip to the dog area in the park was a regular part of our weekend.

After our walk, we headed back to the apartment. CH generously agreed to watch the dog (he also had work to get done) so I could meet up with a friend I hadn't seen in years. AP and I have been friends since high school, but tend to only see each other infrequently. Now that we are both on the same coast, hopefully that will change. We met up at St. Marks Place, an area near the East Village with lots of good restaurants and little boutique shops. Unfortunately, the weather was less than cooperative, so instead of walking around in the rain, we headed for food first. We ended up at an Afghani restaurant called Khyber Pass (34 St. Mark's Place). Good. Not excellent, but good. We both got kebabs, but different varieties. I tried a lamb one, and she got a combo with steak and seasoned beef. Both came with rice. We also got coconut cream lattes, which is a latte made with coconut milk. The latte was delicious. Slightly sweet without being a dessert and the flavor of the coffee didn't overwhelm the drink. The kebabs were well seasoned, but a bit on the dry side. The rice, on the other hand, was delicious. Brown basmati rice topped with carrots, raisins and almonds and I think a bit of citrus juice. There were plenty of other things on the menu that interested me, so I'd definitely try Khyber Pass again.

After lunch and several hours of talking, we realized the rain had stopped and so we decided to walk around and find dessert. We found our way back over to the West Village via a stop at her apartment and then the subway (thank goodness I kept my Metro card from my last visit to NYC!). AP knows of my love of cupcakes, and wanted to take me to her favorite place, Tonnie's Minis. They are known for their carrot cake cupcakes. YUM. Unfortunately, when we arrived, they didn't have any, so we had to settle for a red velvet heart (yellow cake with a red velvet center and butter cream icing). SO GOOD. I love cupcakes...little single-serve bundles of sweetness all wrapped in a cute package. After demolishing our cupcakes, we sat and talked a bit more. As we were leaving, we ran into a guy standing on the porch eating a carrot cake cupcake! Freshly made!! So we turned around and headed back into the shop to get some to go. I got extra, knowing CH's love of carrot cake and to thank him for being so nice while his guest (me) disappeared on him for the entire afternoon.

AP and I parted ways, she off to meet a friend in Chinatown and me back to CH's apartment. It was so good to catch up and find that even after years of not seeing each other we can still be so connected. Hopefully I'll see her again soon!

The plan for Friday evening was food and dancing. Knowing it would be a late night, I realized that I: A, needed more coffee, and B, needed a nap (not necessarily in that order). After a brief nap, CH and I grabbed more coffee and took the dog for another long walk. She explored a bit more this time, but Aussie was still pretty mellow about being around lots of dogs. Ah well, she is almost 12 years old now (when did that happen??!!).

We headed out for a late dinner, deciding to just walk around and read menus until something struck our fancy. We overheard some hilarious conversations, including one where a young woman was explaining to an owner why he needed to put up with her drunk friend that was making a scene and not kick them out. Her defense: on a "corporate level" they bring lots of business to the bar! OMG that was just too funny. As we walked by one place, one of the owners was out front trying to draw in business. She told us the food is good, not to expensive, no waiting for a table, so come in! There was a couple leaving at the time, and the confirmed everything she said, so we figured we'd give it a try. Ciao Stella (206 Sullivan St.) was pretty good Italian food. Filling, well cooked, decent flavors. Every meal includes a glass of wine. There was enough food that I had to take half of my chicken with artichokes to go! Fortunately, we weren't far away from the apartment, so we dropped off my leftovers, checked on the dog (snoring contentedly on the couch...hello! spoiled!), and headed back out for dancing.

CH had decided to take me to a place that calls itself a Bulgarian bar and is down in the East Village: Mehanata. The DJs spin a blend of world music from Latin to Middle Eastern to East European. Not your usual pop-mix or dance mixes. It was a bit crowded, but apparently they usually have a downstairs that's also open. Unfortunately, it wasn't on Friday, so everyone was crammed upstairs. The people were just as varied as the music, and everyone was having a good time! About the only thing that freaked me out was when people started jumping around I could feel the floor bounce a bit. But so much fun. Great music, and the DJ did an excellent job of blending one style into the other. After several hours of dancing (and I have the blisters to show for it), CH and I walked back and crashed out. What an awesome start to the weekend.

Wedding festivities!

The person I've been friends with the longest, HF, got married on Saturday night! We've known each other since before we were three (we figured that out this weekend). Hard to believe. I was so happy and honored to be invited to her wedding. As you all know, I had the R.S.V.P. conundrum, but in the end decided to go ahead and go it alone and not worry about having a date.

The wedding was down in Baltimore, MD, about 2 hours drive from Philly at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on the Inner Harbor. What a beautiful setting!! Since it's high season, I had a difficult time getting the dog into a kennel (either they had no room or wanted a minimum 3 day stay), and since it really wasn't that far away, I decided to just drive down and back without staying over. Yes, people, I'm crazy. Haven't you figured that out yet? Anyway, I made it down in time for the wedding, despite nasty traffic and construction. For awhile I thought I might be late! But the gods smiled on me and I made it.

The ceremony itself was outside on the back patio of the Museum, with the Inner Harbor as the backdrop. It was beautiful. As people arrived, the were given the opportunity to wander around the place until it was time to head outside for the ceremony. The first person I saw when I walked in was my friend's little brother DF! I didn't recognize him at all! Fortunately, he recognized me (apparently I haven't changed that much). The last time I saw him he was shorter than I was! Now he's definitely all grown up, and has a beautiful baby girl with his girlfriend. It's so incredible.

After a brief wander, they ushered the guests outside onto the patio for a very brief ceremony. JL and HF wanted to keep the ceremony short so we could move on to more important things...food, dancing and lots of fun! And you wonder why HF and I have stayed friends for so long...we both know what's really important in life. HF was gorgeous and grinning from ear to ear. Their vows were wonderful, and included a clause about being serious only when necessary and completely silly the rest of the time! I love it. So perfect for them.

Once the ceremony was complete (and brief it was!), we all headed back inside for the reception. The room the reception was in was huge, with floor to ceiling windows looking out onto the patio and the Inner Harbor beyond. As the sun set and all the lights in the Harbor came on it only became more beautiful. An incredible setting for the wedding and the reception.

We discovered various gambling tables had been set up (poker, blackjack, and roulette), and each guest received a certificate for $100,000 to play for fun. Of course, there was a big grand prize at the end of the evening for who won the most. I was tempted to play some blackjack (the only thing I have a chance in hell of actually winning a hand or two at), but I watched a 10 year old for awhile and he was cleaning house! I decided maybe I wouldn't be playing any games that evening. So I passed my certificate on to someone else that did want to play and migrated back to the other end of the room for food and dancing.

The food was fantastic! A beautiful selection of flavors from all over the world. Once food had been had, there were the usual toasts and dancing. HF's little sister MF was her maid of honor, and gave a great toast. Made me tear up. So did watching HF dance with her dad. It was so good to see her family. I've known this family my whole life. It had been about 10 years since I'd seen them last, so it was wonderful to catch up. Hopefully it won't be 10 years before I see them all again!

After all the toasts and dances were done, we got down to some serious dancing! The DJ was excellent, playing a blend of music that everyone could enjoy. HF's grandmother was unstoppable! That woman can cut a rug and anyone was fair game for her to snag and dance with, including me! She wore dance partner after dance partner out all evening. We all had a good time. I reconnected with people I hadn't seen since we were around 11 years old, and we laughed about all the various sleepover escapades we had as girls.

Fortunately for me, I wasn't the only person there without a date, and I ended up with an excellent dance partner for the evening. RM is a great lead and a fine dancer, with an abundance of energy. And he's funny on top of it all so there was plenty of good conversation during dance breaks. He moved to the area about the same time I left, so we actually hadn't met before, even though we both knew all the same people there! He's now out on the west coast. What a random world. Anyway, we danced up a storm and had a blast.

After dancing for awhile, it was time for dessert! The cake was delicious. Layers upon layers of chocolate. So good. Then it was back to dancing.

As things wound down, it was revealed that there was a plan for an after party at a nearby bar, Little Havana. A bunch of us wandered down the way to continue the dancing and fun. The bride and groom joined us, giving them an opportunity to hang out with their friends (kind of hard to do at the reception with all that family to talk to!). Once the bar closed down, we continued socializing back at the hotel (also only a few blocks away) for a few more hours. And we got some food (we were starving!). Fortunately, HF's friend M lives in the area, and knew a few places to get late night snacks. Who knew bad pizza could taste so good at 3:00AM? [And a big thank you for RM for treating us all to pizza and soda!! Very kind of you.]

After food and laughter and telling more stories about each other, we all finally headed out. I'm amazed JL and HF didn't kick us out sooner, but we were all having a good time. I started my drive back to Philly at 4:00AM, and made it home safely about the time the sun was coming up. I don't remember the last time I saw the sunrise after being up all night, but the all night party was worth it. I was so much fun to see everyone and catch up and dance and whew! I'm still exhausted, even after sleeping most of the day today. And sore. All that dancing worked muscles in my legs I had forgotten I had! Needless to say, I'll be going to bed super-early tonight. And not to worry, the dog is fine after being left alone all night, no problems at all. My dog's ability to roll with the punches continues to amaze me. But I won't be making a habit of it, I assure you.

So CONGRATULATIONS to HF and JL and thanks for an awesome party! I wish you many many happy years together filled with love and silliness!!

Oh, and photos from the evening can be seen here on Flickr. Enjoy!

ALA Annual 2007: day 3

My day started at 8am with the CONSER meeting. We had reports on the status of some projects and proposals, and discussed how we will be monitoring the problems and questions that arise as institution begin to implement the CONSER Standard Record and people really start using it. There's a wiki up now for use by members, and we decided the best option was to use it as a working document, or a way to collocate questions, concerns, and answers as we have them.

I hopped a shuttle to get to the OCLC Connexion User Group Meeting on time. Connexion is the OCLC cataloging software/module that we use. It's kind of a "back door" into WorldCat, which is the public search interface. This meeting was chock full of information for me to take back to my colleagues. The new version of the software will be released within days (if not tomorrow), it incorporates the last pieces of the functionality from the RLIN21 client (the RLG cataloging software/module), and they had lots of information about what the changes were and what the new bells and whistles are. When I get back to work I'll be incorporating it into our existing training documents (and creating some new ones) pronto. Lots of good changes that will make lots of people happy.

After grabbing a quick bite, I headed for the RLG-OCLC Transition Meeting. This was the final meeting for the transition since its in the last stages. We got an update on what stages the record loads from RLG into the OCLC/WorldCat database are at, what the plan is to migrate the last of the records and deal with the "problem records" that have come up (duplicates, unknowns, etc.), and got answers to a few questions. I asked a few questions that the facilitators didn't know the answer to (there have been some changes to some of the processes and it's not all clear yet), so they'll ask when they get back to the office and let me know. Perhaps most importantly for me and my department, I did learn that the RLIN21 client (for cataloging) will probably be "retired" on Aug. 31st, along with the RLG Union Catalog. This means a time crunch to get everyone migrated to using OCLC Connexion full time! Work will certainly be exciting the next few months.

Next was the PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging) Participants' Meeting. Yes, this was a very full day for me. After a brief report and some thank yous to people that served on committees, the speaker was introduced. They had a Microsoft product developer (Jay Girotto - Group Program Manager, Live Search Selection) talked about searching. He is also serving on some library-related (Future of Bibliographic Control) groups, so he's used to dealing with librarians. Some of the highlights of his talk include a distinction between undiscoverable data versus irrelevant data, consumer behaviors, and how this all affects the transformation of industries and institutions, including libraries. The bulk of his talk was spent talking about information discovery, including the "search" in general, the problem of discerning the intent of the searcher, that the web still has a very limited scope (very little of the available information out there is actually discoverable or even exists online), search personalization, the lack of memory both for the person searching and the software doing the search, and the general disconnect between the search and the follow up action. The question and answer period afterwards raised issues related to data control, using Library of Congress Subject Headings to help populate the data fields used by searches, and issues related to languages and materials in other languages (specifically non-Roman scripts like Arabic or Chinese). Some interesting questions. This was not the type of session that includes answers, as most of it is still theory, in development, or unknown (future oriented). But it brought up some very interesting topics for future discussions and thoughts. There are lots of changes going on in the world, with web2.0, user-generated content being added to existing data, and a general evolution of the search. Very exciting times, but I won't go off into a theory related tangent (for this post, but I make no promises about future posts).

I left a bit early to make it to my library school reception at Old Ebbitt Grill. We were put in the atrium, a very large open space with plants and a skylight. They had some decent snacky-type foods (this was good as I needed some food!), free drinks, but it was a bit hard to hear announcements because of the echo. Not a whole lot of people I knew were in attendance, saw a few former professors, someone I worked with up in tech services as a student cataloger, and one person that overlapped with me, VD (now VE), was there with her husband and we made plans to meet up at Midwinter for dinner. I had never managed to make the reception before, so I'm glad I went. Hopefully they'll do another one next year.

I headed back to the hotel to drop my stuff and meet up with my roommates. SM wasn't up for going out (tired), but JT and I went in search of dessert. We decided to check out the NMRT Social sponsored by 3M, figuring it wasn't that far and it's been entertaining in the past. We arrived just in time for the drawings, and since I had brought a children's book to donate (per their request), my name was entered. And per usual (I almost never win raffles/drawings/etc.), I didn't win. After they were done with announcing winners, they started the music. It began with a rather rousing rendition of the electric slide. Just when you think you've seen it all, you end up with a bunch of librarians of all ages on a dance floor doing the electric slide. Wow. It was certainly entertaining. After getting over the shock/fear of seeing our colleagues dance (some of them better than others, and I have pictures), we ended up sticking around much longer than expected and had a really good time. The DJ spun a bit of the 70s, a lot of the 80s, some 90s and even some really recent stuff. It was nice to let loose and dance and not have to think for a bit. By 11pm, JT and I realized that while she didn't have an early meeting, I was not so lucky and had yet another 8am committee meeting the next day (sigh...why do these people insist on starting the day at 8am after hosting receptions until the wee hours of the morning? I just don't understand). And people were still dancing the night away when we left.

We walked back the hotel, which gave us another opportunity to do some catching up. Living so far from each other, face to face conversation is something JT and I don't get very often. So we try to carve out some time at conferences. Fortunately we were able to do that this time. We crashed out pretty quickly once we got to the room, and all that dancing and walking was a bit painful this morning (I had forgotten about some of my leg muscles, but they reintroduced themselves this morning, um, ouch), but it was worth it: it was FUN.

OZOMATLI!!!

Last night was the Ozomatli concert at World Cafe Live here in Philly.* Wow. I mean, really, WOW. My legs hurt from all the dancing. And let's just say that my bike ride into work today was not the most pleasant. But I have the Ozo buzz going on, and like usual, it should last a few days. Woot!

Ozomatli is this wonderful fusion of Latin, hip hop, funk, punk, Middle Eastern sound and other random world music. It's beautiful. And very dance-able. You can't help but have a lot of fun. And the band is always high energy. You can tell they're really enjoying themselves up there. I brought a new Ozo fan to the show, AH, and she commented on how the entire band was smiling the entire show. It's obvious they're having a good time, which means the audience has a good time. She was particularly impressed with the coordinated dancing done by the band...both halves of the stage jumping and dancing in sync, often while playing instruments. Um, wow. Not an easy thing to do, but I've seen it happen every show.

The other truly beautiful thing about Ozo is the diversity of the audience they attract. Their music is such an eclectic blend of styles that they attract and eclectic blend of people. Looking around from my spot in the front and slightly to the right of center, I saw a wide range of ages (including set of parents that brought their son), races, backgrounds, styles, and dancing abilities. A true cross-section of society, much like the band themselves (a very diverse group of guys).

Ozo has a new album out, Don't Mess with the Dragon, and most of the set was from it. They even started with one of the songs off it: "City of Angels." They came on stage and set the show to be their typical high energy let's all have a good time and dance the night away right from the first drumbeat. WOW, they so rock.

[How many times can I say wow in one post? Let's find out, shall we??]

Mid-set they did a weird little mix of songs from the '80s like Blondie's "The Tide is High" and a few others that were like a trippy little journey down memory lane. And of course the audience sang along. What's freaky is that we all knew the words.

What's equally as freaky is that I still remember how to do the electric slide. The little trip down memory lane was just to prime the crowd. For "After Party," Ozo challenged the audience to dance the electric slide for the entire song. And, 'cause Philly rocks, we did it. "After Party" is one of my favorite songs off the new album. You just can't go wrong with a song about coming together and enjoying yourselves. It's a bit more mellow than most of their stuff, but with the same let's-all-have-a-good-time-vibe and rockin' beat that makes Ozo so much fun. Again, WOW. I love this song and it's even better live. [But then, isn't everything better live with Ozo??]

"Magnolia Soul" and "Violeta" are two of their social justice focused songs on the new album. For those of you that don't know, Ozomatli is from Los Angeles, and they have a serious social justice aspect to what they do and their music. These news ones are absolutely incredible songs. "Magnolia Soul" is a funk-inspired song that highlights the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the resilience of New Orleans in the aftermath. The ballad of "Violeta" echoes the tragedy of life lost in war, on both sides, making it an incredibly moving song. "Violeta" was one of the few ballads they played during the set. So much of Ozo's repertoire is high energy, that when they do have a ballad it's particularly noticeable. In this case, it is also particularly moving. They also played "Temperatura," which address immigration. Again, attacking political issues via an inspired and upbeat tune with some serious rabble-rousing lyrics.

The mixed some of their classics (or even vintage) tunes in with the songs from the new album. True old school songs like "Eva" and "Misma Cancion" were interspersed between new stuff. They played two of my all time favorites: "Believe" and "Ya Viene el Sol," which aren't really old school but definitely classic Ozo. And as always with these songs, WOW.

At the end of every show, the whole band grabs various percussion instruments and horns and heads off the stage into the crowd for a jam session. No joke. EVERY SHOW. Often, this is where it ends, because there's no place else to go. This time, however, it only started as a circle in the middle of the dance floor. Wil-dog (bass player extraordinare...can you salsa dance, jump and strum all at the same time without missing a beat or a chord? Yeah, I didn't think so) led the band in a line snaking its way through the crowd and out into the lobby where they took up residence on the steps and jammed for a bit more.

Once they were finally done (exhausted, maybe?), they all stuck around to chat with the audience and sign whatever people gave them. Really, WOW. They even included a tear out sheet in the booklet for Don't Mess with the Dragon that promised they'd all sign it if you brought it to a show. So I did. And I got it signed by everyone (except Asdru, vocals/trumpet, who disappeared). Along with the set-list I managed to snag off the stage at the end of the show. Go me!

So life is good. I may be tired and sore, but, damn, what a party! My Ozo buzz is still going strong (fueled a bit by my iPod), but, seriously, WOW. What more is there to say besides THANK YOU to Ozomatli for a bloody awesome and absolutely rockin' and intensely high energy show!??!!

*Note: pictures will be posted over on my Flickr account later tonight, so go check them out! Be warned, the on stage shots of the guys were taken with my camera phone (flash photography prohibited by the venue), so the quality isn't excellent, but hell, they're pics of the band!

Ask and ye shall receive...

My friend L has left Philly and returned home (this is sad, but we're surviving...for now. I'll go for a visit soon). Over the weekend, we were discussing how it was great that Brave Combo had been here (see post) and that now Ozomatli needed to come do a show so that all would be right with my world.

Well, ask and ye shall receive!

OZOMATLI IS COMING TO PHILLY!!!

They're playing at the World Cafe Live Downstairs venue on Tuesday, April 24th. I will be there. Front and center, dancing my little heart out.

I'm so beyond excited I can hardly sit still.

Saturday...Latin dancing!

So my friend L and I had a low key day yesterday during the day. We slept in a bit, and didn't manage to get out of the house until around 1pm, at which point we went in search of food. We ended up at an Indian place called New Delhi. Good buffet, with dessert included, and not too far from me.

Once our bellies were full, we headed out to the mall. I know this sounds like an odd thing to do with a visitor, but L wanted to search for some jeans, and my birthday gift to her was a gift card to her favorite store. And it is Borders Educator Appreciation Weekend (25 percent off your total bill for educators...a very very good deal). L needed a book to read on the plane since she finished the one she had on her way here, and I wanted to pick up some children's books for my friends' kids and a couple of Philly travel guides. We ended up at King of Prussia Mall because it had both L's store and Borders. And we spent way way to long wandering around the mall. The place is huge. Massive. To the point of overwhelming. We limited ourselves to only the part that had Borders and her store, and we still spent a good 4 hours walking around. I've never been much of a mallrat, but I can imagine that King of Prussia Mall is a mallrat's wet dream.

We finally found our way back to the car, and headed home to change, walk and feed the dog, and prepare to head out for some Latin dancing. We did some research earlier in the day to pick a place to go, and chose Cafe Habana. It's a Cuban restaurant near Rittenhouse Square in Center City. We read some reviews, and they serve dinner until around 10pm, and starting at 11pm, they turn the restaurant into a Latin club until 2am. And every review we read talked about how amazing the mojitos are. We must investigate this claim, we decided. L and I both love to dance, and Latin is a particular favorite.

So we found our way to Cafe Habana, and ordered a coupe of mojitos. Wow. Yes, the mojitos are FABULOUS. Authentic, made with fresh mint, fresh lime juice, and they don't skimp on the rum. While we sipped our drinks, we watched the dancers. Again, wow. Suddenly, we felt slightly out of our league. There were some amazing dancers. Just amazing. We both admitted that looking that good is something we dream about.

We looked around, and realized that we were definitely in the minority, being a couple of gringas, and all the other gringos and gringas were somehow connected with the Hispanics there. Well then, it's not the first time we've been in that situation and it probably won't be the last. So we continued to drink our mojitos, and watch the dancers. Eventually, we both got asked to dance, as it usually happens in Latin clubs, and had a blast. The music was great, a good mix, although sometimes the DJ switched through the songs too fast, so that just as you found your groove on one song, he was already mixing into another song. But he played a nice blend of salsa, merengue, some pop music (Shakira, my favorite, I'm a long time fan) and reggaeton. L's only complaint was the lack of bachata music, which is one of her favorites. Overall, a great night. Fabulous mojitos, good music, and some dancing.

But now it's Sunday, and our plan is to head downtown and wander for the afternoon. The only fallout from last night is that it's been a slow start to our day again, but oh well, it's not like we have any appointments to keep.

Do a little polka

I'm tired today from being either up too late or up too early every day this week, and the weather is nasty (winter is in it's death throes), but it's Friday and I have fun polka music running through my head.

Last night I saw Brave Combo in concert. They're a "polka" band from Denton, Texas. Well, they are a Grammy award winning contemporary polka band, but they're so much more than that. They fuse polka with a variety of music genres, and they also take traditional tunes and songs from other genres and turn them into polkas. I often describe them as "polka on acid" or something to that effect.

How did I end up being a fan of a polka band, you ask? Well, my friend L called me one day and informed me (I was not asked, I was told) that I had plans the following week on Thursday.
Me: OK, what?
L: We're going to see Brave Combo.
Me: Who?
L: A polka band.
Me: What? You've lost your mind right? And you're messing with me, right?
L: NO. [laughing] I'm completely serious. You'll love it. Trust me.

So I trusted her. And she was right. I loved it. I polka danced the night away and went into work the next day tired and sore and humming salsa tunes done "Brave Combo style" (aka turned into polkas). What you need to know is that this is not the first conversation I had with L that ended in her telling me "trust me". And I had learned that trusting her was a good thing, as we always had a good time and she had yet to steer me wrong. She had, after all, introduced me to Ozomatli (an awesome band that I'm a HUGE fan of now), taken me to the local international festival and introduced me to many other local greats. So I trust her when she says "trust me" and wow, what a blast!

When I saw Brave Combo was coming to Philly, I KNEW I HAD TO GO. I had to represent. I also had to continue the tradition of dragging some poor unsuspecting soul along, much like L did to me, and L and I did to my friend J and our friend S. So I called my new friend M, and we had the "trust me" conversation and she agreed, but not without some trepidation. This was, after all, our first "trust me" situation.

Well, her trepidation was not warranted. We had a blast and she is now a Brave Combo fan. Even bought their Christmas CD (yes, Christmas carols as polkas - brilliant!).

They played at World Cafe Live!, a great venue here in Philly. It was a great place to see a show, plenty of space, good sound, and good food. And it was a typical Brave Combo show, if you can call them typical (which, honestly, you really can't).

They played all the greats, including the "Hava Nagila Twist" (always a crowd favorite), and two of their classics: the Hokey Pokey and chicken dance, both done Brave Combo style. They played my favorite song "Do Something Different (Diappear)" and they did some salsa, some cumbia, a little swing and a few twists, and included some Chicago-style and Cincinnati-style polkas. Oh, and a few medleys for good measure. The only awkward point was when they forgot to turn Ann Marie's mike on when it was her turn to sing, but Carl stopped them an we had a mike check interlude, which was entertaining in it's own right. One of the best things about Brave Combo is their casual attitude and interaction with the audience. They make the experience personal and fun for everyone, even if you don't dance. Although not dancing to the Hokey Pokey or the chicken dance is a crime.

So, pop on over to their web site and check them out. I took a couple of photos and put them up on Flickr (here and here), but be prepared, the quality is pretty bad since they were taken with my cell phone's camera and the lighting wasn't all that great (well, it's a bar, what do you expect?).