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Two Years Of Salsa-Central
 June 1st 2007 – Salsa-Central is launched by founding members Mel C, Steve (DJ Torqueo), Norman (DJ Sizzla), and JoJo, looking a lot different to how it does today. Initial highlights included the 30 minute interview with Eddie Torres at the 2007 5Star Congress in London, filmed a month prior to launch.
June 2007 – Norman goes with DJ Ricardo and Slap to the Lyon Y Salsa festival and interviews Oscar Hernandez, DJ Aimeline and DJ El Gringo. He writes an amusing blog of the trip.
July 2007 – Mel C attends the Hamburg Salsa Congress and fills 6 camcorder tapes, having interviewed Jimmy Bosch, Albert Torres , DJ Duste, Henry Knowles, Susana Montero, and more. The Jimmy Bosch interview was included on his ‘Jimmy Bosch Y Su Masacote Jam’ DVD released in 2008.
JoJo interviews one of her heroes, Toby Shippey from Salsa Celtica.
 August 2007 – Some of the Salsa-Central team attend the Antilliaanse Feesten, Europe’s largest Latin and Caribbean music festival, attended by some 25,000 people. After just making the ferry due to a forgotten passport, we have a wicked weekend, putting a huge dent in the hire car in the process.
September 2007 – Ricardo invites us to the 1st Crystal Salsa Weekender, held in the Salt Mines in Wieliczka, Poland. We miss our flight because Mel C was getting her hair done, and have an interesting subsequent journey trying to get there, which features flight delays, non-booking of the hire car, and getting lost numerous times in the early hours.
October 2007 – Salsa-Central have a stall at the UK Salsa Congress, and secure video interviews with Mike Bello and Victor and Burju amongst others.
 November 2007 – We attend the ‘Larry Harlow and The Legends of Fania’ gig at the Roundhouse in London and get backstage to meet him and the band.
Mel and Steve go to New York, and are invited to Thanksgiving dinner with Jimmy Bosch at his home. We also secure video interviews with Larry Harlow at his home (after a week of pestering phone calls), Chino Nunez , George Delgado , New Swing Sextet and Marlon International. We make our first of many visits to El Barrio Music Center, and quickly become friends with Lou and Frankie . George Rodriguez drives to meet us at the Yamulee Studio in The Bronx to bring a copy of the new New Swing Sextet CD, over 6 months prior to release.
December 2007 – We run our first party, a Christmas party featuring Shaan, DJ Ricardo, and DJ Sizzla.
January 2008 – Steve (DJ Torqueo) makes his Salsa DJ debut at the Belfast Dance Asylum, getting thrown in at the deep end and playing the main room on both nights.
 February 2008 – Our second party and the launch for the Beginners Guide To Salsa CD featuring DJ Lubi and Nicky Lloyd Greame. Slap begins the ‘Salsa Notes ’ series which ultimately only last a few months but still prove extremely popular.
 April 2008 – Mel and Steve attend the Boston Salsa Congress, then spend a few days in New York, attending the launch party for Pulpo’s ‘Hot Bread’ CD where we interview Gilberto ‘Pulpo’ Colon (With Oscar Hernandez making a cameo appearance). It's here that we establish our partnership with Nuevotec , with Mel and Steve being interviewed by them. Chris Soto passes us his 45 minute video interview with Aaron Levinson , and our April party features Joe Davids and Del Salereo.
May 2008 – We interview Nelson Flores at Scala, then it was our first birthday party with Mambocity coming to Birmingham with Robert and Jean White, and DJ Johnny G. The previous night saw JoJo’s (and Liz’s) Club Candela turning 12 – a long way to go for us yet!
August 2008 – We go to the New York Salsa Congress, where we interview Youngbloods from PR, and Daniel and Ahtoy of Baila Society, as well as going backstage after La Excelencia’s set to interview some of the band members. Mel also does a few interviews on behalf of Nuevotec while we're there. While in New York, we also interview Papo Ortega of Cubanoson, who drives over from New Jersey to meet us at El Barrio, Julio Castro who gives us an impromptu percussion demonstration in the shop, and Jose of La Excelencia invites us to his place for some awesome food and gives us a sneak preview of their Mi Tumbao Social CD.
September 2008 – The parties return after our summer break, with Don Walters and DJ Luis Libres guesting. We also interview Eddie Palmieri while he’s in the UK.
 October 2008 – This month our party was Scottish themed with Sagi and Dr Salsa. We return to the Wieliczka Crystal Salsa Weekender and hang out with New Swing Sextet for the weekend, getting through a lot of ‘Desperados’. We bring Joel and Ana Masacote to Birmingham for a workshop.
November 2008 – Our party has to be cancelled due to ‘venue problems’, and Steve films the DVD for GBSEx.
 December 2008 – Our Christmas party takes place, which proves to be our last to date. We fly DJ Duste over from Sweden, to star alongside DJ Ricardo, Shaan and Aiste.
January 2009 – We go to the first Scottish Salsa Congress, and party so hard we forget to run our stall. Steve has a storming Congress DJ debut, with Osmar from Yamulee praising his set. DJ Lubi starts to review CD’s regularly for the website, and Salsa-Central run the first UK Salsa Awards .
April 2009 – The team grows, with two new members, Karen Chau and Herve Hurier. Both london-based, Herve will cover all-things Cuban, with Karen, previously of Salsavine, covering pretty much everything else.
We make contact with Joe Bataan who provides a written interview, with a video one scheduled for later in the year.
May 2009 – Salsa-Central returns to the 5 Star Congress, with our stall and banners on display. Mel teaches and performs at the event, with Steve DJ’ing all three nights and the afternoon’s. Salsa-Central head to Leeds for a Rumberos vs Salsa-Central special later in the month.
June 1st 2009 – Salsa-Central is Two Years Old
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