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Thursday
Got to Heathrow early, in plenty of time for my 9:30am flight, and a number of hours later arrived at JFK. We normally get a cab from the airport into Manhatten, but I decided to get the Airtrain and subway this time - bit of a mistake as it took absolutely ages and was really hot!! I eventually got to the apartment just after 3pm, rested for a bit with Mel, then we both caught the subway up to El Barrio to say hello to everyone and buy a little music!!
Got there and was immediately greeted by Lou and Frankie, plus Cheo (Medina), vocalist for New Swing Sextet, who can often be found around El Barrio. Today, he was sat out the front with some friends, jamming along on Conga's to the music blaring out of the shop.
Frankie popped out and got us some Chicken and Rice while we were there, which we ate in the shop - just what I needed after that airline rubbish!
I stayed in on the Thursday night, despite Nelson Gonzalez performing at the opening night of the Congress - I'd been quite ill in the week leading up to my trip, so was completely wiped out from that and the travelling. Mel went out however, and rolled in quite late.
Friday
The start of the congress proper, we headed over to the venue (The New York Hilton), and picked up our passes, had a look around, then headed off because Lou (El Barrio) had offered to take us to GB Records. This place is the main latin music distributor in NY, and we bought quite a pile of cd's, then I had to pick myself up a wide angle lens for my camcorder.
The evening was upon us quickly, and we got to the Hilton for about 10pm. Ocho y Mas were the first band on, headed by Willy Torres with a guest appearance from Frankie Morales. They were followed by La Excelencia, who really rocked, even dropping a couple of tracks from their forthcoming new album. These guys really know how to put on a show and blew the roof off the place!! When the show had finished, Jose and Julian came to the front of the stage and invited us backstage, where we got a little interview with the band members and arranged to meet up for dinner a few days later.
Saturday
We spent most of the day at the Hilton. I was a bit too ill to do the workshops, but watched and filmed a few routines. It was good to see a decent showing from the UK, including Moe Flex, Frank Santos, Natalie Baltao, and Mr Sleek, amongst others. Lisa and Mark were also there, helping out on the HYM stall - they were also the only UK performers at the event!!
Due to illness and being completely drained, I didn't go out on the evening (Mel did though).
Sunday
Again, we spent the majority of the day at the Hilton. Then, on the evening we went to a Spanish restaurant near SOB's which we'd been to about a year ago. We had a little incident with the sizzling Shrimp that Mel had ordered spitting oil in her eye!!
Got to the Hilton before 10pm, and met up with Dimas and Allan from nuevotec. Mel had agreed to do some interviews for them (which will be on www.nuevotec.com soon). She interviewed DJ Michelle, who's organising the first Macau Congress, as well as the owner of Casa Latina records, while I watched the start of Adalberto Santiago's set and filmed a bit of social dancing. Next up on stage was Tito Allen. This guy personifies cool!!!!
Monday
I'd been in contact with Papo Ortega of Cubanoson a couple of weeks leading up to our trip, and arranged to meet him at El Barrio early afternoon, while Mel went for a private with Nelson Torres at his studio in the Bronx. We caught the 6 line up towards El Barrio and I jumped off at 116th St, leaving Mel to carry on into the Bronx.
Papo Ortega was already there when I arrived (traffic from new Jersey had been good), and we had a chat before conducting the interview. I stayed in the shop after he'd left until Mel arrived.
Then, we had to catch a cab over to the Upper West Side, then the 1 train up to The Bronx for dinner at Jose's (La Excelencia) place.
Jose and his dog met us from the subway, and took us to his apartment. Edwin, lead singer with the band, also came round, and Jose's wife cooked a fantastic meal!!
While we were there, we listened to the new La Excelencia cd (out around November), which is an absolute belter. Despite Mels best efforts, we didn't leave with a copy, but discussed a few interesting future projects while we were there!!!
We left fairly late, and caught the subway to Times Square, where we met up with Lou for the last time and had Cheesecake and Milkshakes.
Tuesday
Did a decent amount of shopping, then headed to the airport for our overnight flight home.
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