| Dates or Sequence |
Narrative including Bands & Personnel
and Musical Influences |
| 2000/01/28 |
Larry
Harlow recently emailed me to let me know that he and the show Sofrito
would be playing in Costa Mesa and said I should come up and he would get
me in even though it was a "closed" show. The group was to
arrive late Thursday night for the Friday show but would not be flying out
until Sunday morning and we agreed that if they did not find another job,
they might come down to see us again. He said the group Sofrito and four
other friends and business associates might be able to come down for
dinner.
So today I drove up to
Costa Mesa. I got there about 11:30 am and most of the folks were sitting
in the lounge at the hotel. We left for the Orange County Performing Arts
Center about noon. The plan was to do the show, return to the hotel and
leave for Poway about 3:30 pm and every one was to follow me back to
Poway. After the show (it happened that Sofrito was the last group to
perform instead of in the middle of all the various performances), Sofrito
had an hour interview with two Latino newspapers. By the time we got back
to the hotel, everyone changed clothes, etc., it was almost 6 pm when we
finally left for Poway. When leaving the hotel and trying to get on the
freeway, the cars got separated. But we all got safely to our house about
7:30 pm.
I had met but not really talked
to Chembo when Harlow came to dinner last July and I did not know Bobby
except by reputation. Both Chembo and Bobby were kind enough to share some
techniques and a lot of information with me. They are like the bunch from
the Latin Legends Band , i.e., extremely friendly and open. They both
suggested that I visit them in NY after my business trip to Niagara Falls
this summer (maybe I can extend the trip to include Friday evening through
Sunday evening). One of the main things they both pointed out was that I
am cruzao by today's standards on several patterns on congas and timbales
but that those patterns were not cruzao back in the 60s and 70s when I was
playing. Bobby also pointed out that my LLRRLLRR conga tumbao (in contrast
to the current LLRLLLRR pattern) was the pattern used by Chano Pozo so I
guess that I am/was in good company! I will continue working on the
LLRLLLRR pattern and Chembo gave me a few exercises to help me get it
down. Chembo and Bobby also corrected a rumba pattern I was practicing,
Stan had shown me correctly but since the time I was first shown the
pattern, I managed to distort the timing just a wee bit :>)
The most wonderful thing about
Chembo and Sanábria was their attitude, i.e., they corrected me when I
was wrong but did not put me down. And they even said that although I was
cruzao on many things according to today's music, I was not cruzao back in
the old days when I was playing! It is just that the music changed during
the time I was not listening and playing. Chembo said he would record some
exercises for me and Bobby will annotate them, so I can get my chops up to
date. I think that includes some rumba patterns too. Chembo did show me
some saliador variations and explained how they were just the same pattern
but varied where the hands hit the drum and the different tones which
resulted. To the untrained ear (like mine) it sounded like some really
drastic variations until he showed me them in slow motion! I may spend the
rest of my life working on these new concepts!
A lot of email addresses were
exchanged, most of the guest expressed a desire to return again, and I was
promised a copy of the video, copies of other photos, and a tape from
Chembo with annotations by Bobby to help me attempt to master some of the
things they shared with me. Chembo said he liked some of my playing on the
60s and 70s recordings on my site (for me, a very nice compliment from a
fantastic conguero!). Bobby said I should get the tape on CD and get it
published.
It
is a bit ironic that all these great players are now in my life, at least
briefly, at a time when I am not really actively playing! Where were they
when I was playing? Actually many of them had not been born or were just
babies :>)
The additional guests included:
Julia Sewell of salsasf.com, Chembo's girl friend Rosana (who immediately
jumped in to help with serving the dinner),"Tall Paul" Fleisher
and his wife Junko from Japan (Paul is the guy who plays bass sax while on
stilts for some of the Thunder Drums shows and a chef in Japanand
asked if he could come and watch Mary cook next time) and
after dinner Junko jumped into the domino game some of the women were
playing in the kitchen and they all helped her to learn how to play !,
Rudy Morel from Wallyball, and Manuel de ? and Armando Tan, both dance
instructors from the S.F. Bay Area.
Mary's daughter, Cookie, and grand daughter, Jeny, who are visiting were
duly impressed and they helped her all day and night preparing and serving
the dinner. Every one seemed to have a great time and they all loved
Mary's food (notice the empty plates in the photo of Chembo, Mary and me,
all the plates came back empty...some were even missing the bones???)! The
menu included her famous PR roast beef, arroz con gandules, pasteles,
her "PR"tamales, her also now famous PR chicken but this time
with rosemary and a hint of orange, habichuelas rojas, salad, and her
special arroz con dulce with a cream cheese topping. There was beer,
sodas, wine, hard liquor, coffee, and tea but they drank only a few
beers, some sodas, coffee and tea (the same as the Latin Legends Band last
time)! Several guests mentioned that they had traveled quite a bit around
the world and had never eaten such good PR food! Mary was beaming (and she
definitely deserved the compliments).
This time Mary and I managed to
get a photo with Harlow which we had missed the previous time. And I got
to visit with him during the afternoon before and after the Sofrito show.
We are supposed to get a video that one of the other guests recorded with
Chembo, Bobby and I playing congas, timbales, and bongos/bell,
respectively, in our living room.
Harlow had told every one while
we were in the hotel in Costa Mesa that they would be back to the hotel by
11 pm but some left our house shortly after midnight and the rest left
about 1:15 am!.
To sum up the evening, I
definitely give all the credit to Mary, my PR wife, I know everyone comes
for her cooking and not to see me but I definitely don't mind that they
come for the food because the fringe benefits to me are so great :>)
2000/01/29: Larry gave me Guagua's new
phone number and I called him this afternoon in Miami. He sounds like
he is doing well and we plan to keep in touch on a more regular
basis. Hopefully he will get back to San Diego again.
Pictures from the dinner:
The following is presented
without Larry's permission but I don't think he will mind!
| -----Original Message-----
From: larryharlow
To: Rudy Morel
Date: Monday, January 31, 2000 3:32 PM
Subject: for web site/ Harlow's NEWS
This week, the band from Sofrito were in Costa Mesa California to
perform a showcase for the International Showcase for Young
Audiences, at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. We were
supposed to leave NYC on Continental Air from Newark airport at
6:30pm. all were on board except for David Gonzalez and Bobby
Sanabria.. David called Chembo's cell phone saying his car had
broken down on the NJ turnpike but probably could get there in time.
No word from Bobby. This being a gig that I am NOT the head honcho
on , I usually just lay back and take it as it comes BUT, David is
Not here. So I took over ....I started talking to the flight
attendants the pilot, the >reservations people etc etc etc . The
plane was almost through boarding. David is seen running down the
hallways of the airport with his hugh suitcase in tow carrying his
guitar over his shoulders. He just made it . Now is the time for the
doors to close and No Bobby Sanabria. David's cell phone rings
...Its Bobby ...he IS in the airport and the security will not allow
him to pass because they believe the plane has already left...David
talks to the captain and convinces him to call security to let him
pass. We held the departing flight 25 min. until he arrived to a
hugh round of applause by all passengers. We settled in for the 5
1/2 hr flight to John Wayne Airport in Orange Cty California.
We arrived at the the airport on time and rented a mini van
for the 6 people in the group, arrived in 10 min at the Double Tree
Hotel . A beautiful hotel, 5 min from our venue. It was late about
10:30pm California time , so to us it was 1:30 in the morning. I
received a message from Wendy to call her in the morning instead of
now..Went directly to sleep. It is very difficult for me to sleep on
the road. I keep getting up every 2 hours all the time. I awoke
early and had breakfast and started to make my plans for the
weekend. I have been e-mailing to a gentleman named Rudy Morel, who
I was finally going to meet after a few months of corresponding
together. We would meet for the pre-show set up at the hotel ..Also
meeting us were Julia Sewell from SFSALSA ,website in San Francisco,
Dennis Califa Reed, a friend and music/video collector , who's wife
Mary would be cooking a Puerto Rican meal for 12 persons after the
presentation near San Diego, Armando and his buddy , who are GREAT
dance teachers and friends from the Bay area , who were in the LA
area to film a commercial, Chembo's girlfriend and educator, Rosana
and a few groupies. We all would meet for Brunch at the hotel
between 11-12 noon to arrange transportation to the theater and
permission for entrance.. This is a showcase for Pacific Rim
presentors, paid for by Kids Entertainment of Toronto, Cananda and
David. These presentors were buying childrens entertainment for the
2001 season for China, Australia, Japan, N. Zealand, Hawaii. West
Coast US+Canada, Thailand, Indonesia, Phillepines, and all the small
islands like BoroBora, Tahiti etc etc etc . We were supposed to
perform at 2, the 2;20 then 3 then finally 3;20.. All of the
children had left by now. We had NO sound check, No line check, etc
etc tc . We did our show to a really bad sound mix to maybe 100
presentors. What a bad time to go on .. We did the best we could
considering the conditions...After the presentation we did
interviews for three Latino reporters from local papers for the next
time we come back which is March 2-3 at the Barkley Theater in
Irvine Ca, Those interviews will be used for next month...We all
returned to the hotel to get ready for the drive to the San Diego
area for dinner, laughs and good music and videos.
Dennis and Mary put out a spread for 20, with lechon,
Pasteles, Arroz, pollo, tamales, arroz dulce, cafe, cerveza ,vino
etc etc etc ..Rudy and I were gorging ourselves and Rudy was treated
to his first day of hanging with musicians. He was in awe of the
vintage videos we were watching.. Miguelito Valdez and Noro Morales
from the late 50's, I had brought him a copy of the
"SALSA" video of the Fania All-Stars(1974) that is
unavailable now. We watched Harlow and Miranda from Univ. of Puerto
Rico ,Circa 1990. Old 1974 Imagines TV videos ,in color, of
Machito/Graciela, Barretto/Baldes, Harlow/Junior and the origional
Typica '73 Band with Adalberto...All of us were skinny with long
hair, bell bottoms, high heel platform shoes.....We all had alot of
laughs..
After dinner the music started ..Califa broke out his cherquere's
. Congas, timbales, Bongos and the rumba started ,with Bobby, Dennis
and Chembo playing and me in my froggie voice cantando toques de
Cuba....Julia and Armando danced rumba and all joined in om the
coros..Even Rudy played the Claves.. at midnight we started to leave
. We got lost going back to Costa Mesa . It took us 2 1/2 hrs But it
gave me a chance to really rap and get to know Rudy Morel in
person....He is quite a man!
The next morning we all met for breakfast.. Guillermo
Edghill was going to LA to visit his mom and sister, David was going
to visit his Padrino in San Diego, Sooooooooo Rudi and Chembo,
Rosana and I decided to go Universal Studios to have some fun....We
drove there and went on several of the attractions and by 6;30 were
exhausted. We then went down Sunset Strip to Miyagi's Japanese
resturant where we had the BEST meal of filet mignon and Sushi. I
have NEVER seen so many beautiful women in one place at one time..We
returned to the hotel at 10pm all said goodby and went to bed for
our flight was at 7am. I returned to NY only to be greeted to the
next snowstorm....All in all it was a GREAT weekend........Hasta la
Proxima...Larry Harlow |
| In the photos below, you can see Bobby
playing the big shekere Mary made for me. Bobby and Chembo both
seemed impressed with Mary's work and the deep tone of the shekere
(we grow our own gourds and one of these days I would like to make a
hinged tube which will open laterally with some large wires soldered
to the inside and try to grow a gourd in the tube hopefully to end
up with a pre-grooved guiro!). Chembo seemed to like my old congas
and Bobby played my old timbales for quite a while! In the photo of
Chembo and me, you can see my cheapo bongos which sound so good. |
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(above a note from Chembo)
2000/03/17
Just got these photos from Chembo
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| 2000/07/26 - 2000/08/02 |
NYC Work in progress. More
details if I recall any and photos will be added after they are developed.
2000/07/23 Sunday: My boss and I left San Diego for
Niagara Falls for a business conference about 5 am PST. The flight had a
connection in Chicago and the layover was more than three hours instead of
the hour and a half described on the ticket and the connecting flight
landed at Buffalo. Taking a cab, we finally arrived at our hotel in
Niagara Falls about 9:30 pm EST. After checking into our rooms, we walked
over the Rainbow Bridge into Canada for dinner. I had the best prime rib I
had ever been served.
2000/07/24 Monday: I attended various conference
meetings during the day and then went on a group boat cruise and luau in
the evening. After the cruise, I went to check out a Canadian casino just,
of course, to see if it was different than the California Indian
casinos :>) BTW it was no different, i.e., I lost money :>(
2000/07/25 Tuesday: With no required meetings, my boss
and friend, Ken Popp, and I managed to get away from the conference and
see the falls including taking the Maid of the Mist boat ride to the
bottom of the falls...spectacular! We also walked back to the Canadian
side, site seeing and for lunch and shopping.
 
 
The following photos are from Ken Popp:
 
 
2000/07/26 Wednesday: Third and last day of the
conference. I left the conference about noon after the required meetings,
I took a cab back to the Buffalo airport and flew to NYC. First time to
the Big Apple for me! The plane arrived about 6 pm, I took a cab from JFK
to Marilyn's place and Eddie met me at the door. We went out to a
Columbian restaurant for dinner. I hate to admit it but Eddie is really a
very nice fellow regardless of his rec.music.afro-latin persona! And I
concur with Eddie that Marilyn is indeed a "warrior woman"!
Eddie is not particularly interested in Santería (see below) but Marilyn
is somewhat interested in the subject and she selected a few books for me
to read while I was there (she gave me one book to take home).
2000/07/27 Thursday: We had some great $1 a dish Chinese
food, Eddie had Chow Fun and I had Lo Mein, for a buck it was great food!
I think was the day we went to a metaphysical bookstore and Eddie
recommended Ken Wilber's "A Brief History of Everything" so I
bought it (2000/08/18: it is a most interesting book and I suspect that it
will take several re-readings to grasp and absorb the large amount of
information Wilber presents). I think it was also the day he took me to
J&R Records where I pickup a PR salsa video for Eddie and Marilyn and
a video and several CDs for Mary and me. We then went to Pier 54 on the
West Side @ 13th Street to see a Brazilian group but it started to rain
after a few songs so we headed for home. We ordered delivery from a
Japanese restaurant for dinner...my sushi and ton katsu was really great
food!
2000/07/28 Friday: Eddie took me to Katz's in the Lower
East Side for a real pastrami sandwich and a real egg cream (both were
excellent). We also went to "Losaida" (PR for Lower East Side)
and Eddie showed me where he was raised and told me about his childhood
claim to fame (he was hit by a car in the middle of a riot!) and to an
anarchist bookstore (I am now probably in the FBI files!). He also showed
me some community gardens and Adela's Kitchen (a real PR restaurant) which
we were supposed to go to eat but never made it :>(
We then went to the World Trade Center plaza where we
met César Diaz and saw part of a concert by Angelo (Vaillant) Y Su
Conjunto Modelo (who were opening for Los Hermanos Moreno who we did not
see). I planned to see Harlow and César at SOBs on Monday night. After
part of the concert, Eddie took me for quite a distance to see a drum
circle but by the time we got there it was over so after talking a bit
with a woman drummer, we headed for home. The photo of the three of us is
courtesy of César Diaz. The picture of Eddie shows that he actually
carries the weight of the world on his head!
 
2000/07/29 Saturday: Eddie and I went to Larry Harlow's
apartment. Larry was really hospitable and immediately gave me several CDs
("¡Sofrito!" by David Gonzalez with Larry Harlow and the Latin
Legends Band featuring Yomo Toro and Adalberto Santiago, "Smokin'
Live" by Max Gollehon, "Tall Paul" by Paul Fleisher (final
mixes unreleased; see the last Harlow Dinner), and "Larry Harlow's
"Live" "Latin Jazz encounter Live at Birdland "2nd
Set" recorded 7/9/00 (rough unmixed unreleased)), the book, "In
One Ear, and Out the Other - Memories of 48 Years in Recording" by
Irv Greenbaum, a famous recording engineer (not released), and some
historical music documents and pictures. He also gave Eddie a CD and the
same book. I finally got to meet Larry's wife Wendy. Eddie, Larry and
Califa at Harlow's apartment:
  
 
Larry gave us a guided tour through El Barrio: he showed
us the apartment where Joe Cuba was born and still lives with his mother!
He also pointed out where Adalberto Santiago lives when in NYC. Many folks
in El Barrio stopped Larry to say hello. He took us to Boys/Girls Town and
the Barrio Museum but the music department was closed by the time we got
there so he was not able to introduce us to the teachers there but the
museum was open and we took a quick tour.
We also went to the Salsa museum which is in the back of
a small store. It has an incredible collection of memorabilia and I said I
would sent some 1970s pictures Celia Cruz in concert in the S.F. area (who
knows but my picture might end up in the Salsa Museum!). Larry at the
Salsa Museum:
Larry treated then us to dinner at one of his favorite
places, a Peruvian/Chinese restaurant! Great food!
Harlow arranged for passes into the Copacabana for
tonight (don't know who is supposed to play) and for SOBs Monday night (to
see the Cuban Sonero Mayor: Ramón "Monguito" Sardiñas with
Johnny Pacheco it will be their first meeting after 30+ years). But Eddie
does not care much for night clubs so Marilyn took me to the Copa in a
taxi. Good thing too, although we were on the "get in free"
list, we did not have a table but she talked a waiter into letting us sit
at a reserved table where the party had not yet arrived. If the person had
shown up, we would have had to move but no one showed up so we got to sit
at the table all night! I had a good view of the stage and I sat there all
night watching the bands while Marilyn went off and danced. The first band
was Andy Montañez and his two sons. It was a solid band and Andy and sons
provided a good show. The second band, Bobby Valentine, was my favorite!
The third band, Luis Damon, was good but not exactly my preference in
musical style even though the musicians were very good. Marilyn and Califa
before leaving for the Copa:
2000/07/30 Sunday: Larry had arranged for me to have a
reading from a babalawo (a Santería "high priest") so Marilyn
and I took the "train" to his apartment in Harlem. Jorge, a
Cuban babalawo, and his wife were extremely likeable and the readings were
quite interesting and accurate. Based upon my reading, Jorge suggested a
ceremony to which I agreed and he arranged it for the next night, i.e.,
Monday night, because I thought I was leaving on Tuesday. Usually,
the person for whom the ceremony is to be performed is responsible for
getting all the necessary offerings and other items needed for the
ceremony but because I did not know the area and where to obtain the
required items, Jorge offered to pick everything up for me!
2000/07/31 Monday: Because of the ceremony, I was not
able to meet César at SOBs. Marilyn had to work late so I took the
"train" alone to Harlem for the ceremony (rogación de cabeza).
While waiting for his apprentice to arrive, Jorge explained some of the
history of Santería and its relationship to many other religions. Another
very interesting evening! It will take me some time to assimilate the
events of the evening. Marilyn had asked Jorge to get me a taxi after the
ceremony but Jorge, his wife, and his apprentice drove me back to
Marilyn's apartment. I hope to keep in touch with Jorge.
2000/08/01 Tuesday: I said goodbye and thanks to Eddie
and Marilyn in the morning before they left for work. I left the apartment
shortly after noon and took a cab to La Guardia airport for the return
flight only to find that the flight was for the following day! I called
Marilyn and asked if they could put up with me for another evening. We
went to an Indian restaurant for dinner...very good food!
2000/08/02 Wednesday: Again goodbyes and thanks in the
morning. In the afternoon, I again took a cab to La Guardia only to find
out that my flight was delayed and that I would miss the Chicago
connecting flight, so I had to get a cab to JFK and the ride was in part
like the movie NYC wild cab rides! I got my flight at 6 pm EST and arrived
back in San Diego about 9:30 pm PST and home about 10:30 pm PST. Nice to
travel but nice to be home at last!
During the trip I tried to contact Bobby Sanábría,
Yomo Toro and Victor Rendón but I was not able to reach them. Oh well,
maybe next time!
I have not walked so much as on this trip to Niagara
Falls and NYC since I was a small child!
A final note: Eddie said he was waiting to "fry
this old white boy"! Actually, I think he tried to walk me to death
:>) I found Eddie to be an intelligent, well educated, well schooled in
the life of the streets, friendly, funny, and hospitable fellow and I look
forward to a continued, although distant, friendship with public and
private discussion on topics of mutual interest. The "Warrior
Woman" Marilyn is also extraordinary in many, many ways and I value
the time we were able to spend together and her willingness to take an
unknown old geezer into her home.
P.S. Eddie does not want me to say too much good about
him and ruin his RMAL persona!
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| 2000/07/29 |
Photo of Willie Vargas (vocalist
and timbalero I worked with in the 60s and 70s) and Mary's niece Gigi
taken at Mr. E's (Pete Esovedo) CD release party in Alameda, Ca. Photo
courtesy of Gigi:
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