So we’re all tucked up absolutely battered. Slap shuffles out of bed for a fag (not that kind) He ambles towards the balcony covering every piece of carpet in the process. Rich sensing danger leaps out of bed (never seen him move so quickly) and stops slap from leaning out the balcony. It’s a 50ft drop. The Mojitos have really kicked in now and slaps language skills have totally deserted him!!!!It was quite a touching scene, two men locked in an embrace, wearing underpants. Rich supervises slaps fag break then escorts him back to bed. Bang!!!! There’s an earthquake in the room, Rich and I wake in state of shock fearing for our lives. But Slap’s still asleep!!! The earthquake was slap’ snoring. He continues and goes through his full repertoire: the Elephant on coke, the Walrus on heat, the Tardis landing and the famous dead man (the one with the lengthy pauses in-between snores)Its 12 midday, I felt like I haven’t slept. Slaps still in full swing only this time it’s in stereo; his lower regions are now harmonising if you get my drift. Ricky’s sprawled out on the bed, t-shirt wrapped round his head in an attempt to drown the noise. His 1970s y-fronts around his hips, all that’s missing are the handcuffs. Reminiscent of one my old films, but we’ll leave that there!!!
We all up in a sense, we stroll to the main square using the longest route possible, navigation is not one of Slap’s strengths. Having walked past the same Restaurant 3 times (Ricky is dead fussy) we decide to enter. Slap and I order in French, Ricky’s using perfect English only a bit louder than normal. Ricky’s is slowly piss*** the waiter off (he’s good at that ask the lads) Drinks are order, Ricky orders an Americano, the waiter brings some exotic cocktail (blue Hawaiian I think) Ricky starts to steam. Our orders arrive Rich asks for salt and gets tomato sauce, Rich starts to chunter again.
Florian turns looking typically French, shades, face, stubble, gallic expressions, coffee the whole French thing. |So it’s back to the hotel freshen up then taxi to ile Barbe.I’m first up on dexx, knocking out a nice blend of salsa dura and Cuban (it’s a bit of a mixed crowd. Florian takes over straight into his old skool salsa, the dancers are feeling are feelin it. Rich is next up and keeps the crowd swingin with a blend of rare and new stuff..The dance area empties, Manolito’s on stage, he’s armed with a 15 piece band. They start to rip it up big time. They’ve got the crowd singing, swaying, dancing and jumping. These guy’s are imho are extremely and must be seen. Oscar Hernandez is in the wings, feeling the vibes and watching Manolito on keyboards. Manolito calls him over, next thing Oscars on Keyboards!!! Manolito watching and lovin it. Oscar after the initial shock starts to get his groove; the crowd are going nuts. Manolito takes over.
I get the call to backstage to interview Oscar(see it’s not all play folks) Slap and Rich are in tow. It’s too noisy, Manolito is still creating a storm on stage ,we agree to wait. So we’re backstage with the Spanish Harlem guys, we take a few pics, talk casually, you know regular stuff!! Turns out Slaps knows more about the ban members than their mothers. This guy’s musical knowledge is phenomenal.
So we’re hanging with Oscar, Joe Walsh, George Delgado, Willy Melendez chillin and chattin, Slap had achieved demi god status.Hello, Slap manages to find the hospitality drinks(they weren’t really missing) We felt out of place not drinking with the boys so why not!! We wondered on to the stage wings with our beers. Manolito must have thought we were SHO, he waved, we gave him the thumbs up and shouted nice job bro(naw I made that bit up but it was in out minds)They finish their set, they were really pumped. We were backstage; high five were flying all round, yes you got it, Slap Rich and I were included(gtfoh). They must have bad eyesight to assume Rich was a band member!!!!
