Ibiza is beautiful but.........
I'm soooo annoyed right now. JFK is a horrible airport to deal with. I imagine that everyone is tired. The traffic was horrendous. It's hot. I waited in a long line. They couldn't help me with my frequent flyer miles, and when I spoke to the assistant on the phone, she was nasty. I sweated a little. I'm really not in a good mood.
And now that I'm finally sitting down in this crowded area where all the seats are taken.
There's this woman on her cell phone talking loud, fast, and in Spanish. No respect for anyone's space. She was running her mouth a mile a minute. And eating potato chips in a way that I could see down her throat. Ya know what I mean? It's one thing to eat a chip. But is it necessary to wild chew? It's not like she was woofing down a tough piece of steak. This is a bag of lays potato chips man! One can crumble a chip with their tongue. Why is she chewing like its potato chip gum? Why do people do this? Is it that their respect for the space of others is so low that they don't care? Honestly, I wouldn't talk as loud as her if I were home alone on my phone. Gloria says I get loud when I talk to my siblings. But the piercing tone of voice, the fast percussive sounds of a language I don't speak coupled with potato gum....... Really y'all. I need to say something.
Did I mention the little girl running around wildly? And she must be 2-3. She's just forming her words. But she's excited about the airplanes. And her voice is higher and more irritating than the potato chip lady.
Is this how my flight is going to go?
I got friends that would have completely lost their cool if they were here. Ahhhhh...... The hood......
Anyway, I'm going to Spain. Yay!!!!!!
Ya wanna hear something a little funny? There's a flight headed to Kuwait, and that gate is next to mine.
There were a lot of Muslim people there with mats out praying on their knees and everything. It threw me waaaaaayyyyyy off at first because I didn't know that there was a flight to Kuwait. I thought they were getting on the same flight as I am. I realize 911 was a long time ago, but the senseless killings are not stopping.
Some of you are judging me right now. But if you were here and you saw more than 3 Islamic men dressed in their Islamic garments, with the mats out, praying, at the airport, bout to get on your flight, you wouldn't act normal. Not here in the states. But anyway, I misjudged them. Everything is fine. I'm not a racist. Really! LOL.
9:04pm
The children are now screaming with laughter. I can't. Really. I can't take much more. Is it me? Am I a grumpy old man? But these kids are literally screaming with laughter. Is that ok? Screaming? And every time they do it, the guardian says "shhh" but then she'll do something to make them scream with laughter again because she thinks its cute. I wonder how she'd feel if I slammed the child's head against the glass.
June 20th 6:30pm
We arrived a couple of hours ago. And Spain is still one of the most beautiful places to visit. Louie's place is even more sexy than it was a year ago. I'm excited.
9:14pm
We go to the spot to check it out and make sure everything is lovely for tomorrow. They're not yet open for business but this place is CRAZY SEXY!!!!! We're performing at a beach club/resort.
The color scheme is mainly red, white and black. There's even ceramic black ants that were placed on the ceiling throughout the space.
Teardrop lights were above the bars.
The pool was endless and beautiful.
The chairs were made like kneeling humans. Both man and woman.
I haven't heard it yet, but judging from the speakers throughout the place, the sound is going to be insane.
I went upstairs by way of spiral staircase(red).
And it was like another world. There was this beautiful green lounge area.
Totally different color scheme. It looked really sexy. Even up here the place is surrounded with sound! And I don't mean little monitors. They had subs and speakers upstairs!
A few steps away was the VIP area. And the speakers, yet again, were there as if no speakers were on this floor. Bass bottoms and all. And the VIP area had 3 sections for 3 small crowds. Each section had its on glass jacuzzi. So the people on the first level could look up and see the inside of the jacuzzi.
WOW!!!
They seem to have a splash of spirituality happening with all of the statues around.
There's a restaurant connected to this whole thing. And where there's food, I'm interested.
I go in and there's different cuts of raw steaks.
My guess is that the customer picks their own cut of steak. I've seen this at a place not far from where I live. But the presentation was entirely upscale here. They have a table surrounded by vintage wines.
The bar was filled with spirits I've never seen and the design looked really expensive.
There was a bouquet of fresh mint at the bar! FRESH MINT! A Bouquet!!!!
That's hot!!! I saw a glass humidor filled with cigars that I may partake of later. There's a vine like decor that starts at the roof down to the first tier.
Sexy!! I think you all get the picture. This is some real sexiness.
10:55pm
I'm feeling really good right now. I bought my first piece of jewelry.
I've worn beads for many years. But I've never wore any silver. And when I came here last year this silver store had my mouth open. So I bought a little chain that one can put charms on. My charm is a holy box. It's a sterling box with a cross and things on it. It's little but I love it. And another thing. I'm going to start wearing Chuck's more often. They're classic and will always be in style.
Random thought.. Why do we place emphasis on the con in Converse when we're talking about the sneaker, and place emphasis on the verse in converse when talking about speaking? I know. Silly.
June 20th 3:41pm
Today is the day of the gig. I spoke to Gloria. The mortgage is paid. I'm feeling awesome right now! LOL!!!
I'm sure there are some you reading this that know your mortgage and rents are well taken care of, but for my household, it's Gods grace that keeps a roof over our head. Gloria and I are both working but life can be funny sometimes. I don't take my stability for granted. I don't care how many gigs I get. Anything can happen, but God loves his children....
Anyway. We go to the venue. And just so you know, I pack all of my things because I'm staying there. Louie is staying at the resort and I'm staying in a swanky suite in the resort/club. I am impressed from the other night when just looked at the spot. But I didn't get to see the resort/club. I get to my suite and it was fancy from the hip to the hop!
The distressed wooden floors and the super king sized bed in the middle of the whole suite draped with a see through curtain is sexy. The fancy chairs, premium liquor, funky bathroom, and 60 inch flat screen were dope. But what sealed the deal was the PS3 mounted on the wall in back of the TV. My mouth was open. See?
Wow!!! I have to go to Soundcheck.
9:04pm
Soundcheck was cool. Moses and Louie got the sound straight. We were all there making sure we were happy with the sound.
Anto(Anane's partner) opened the whole thing up with a nice set from around 4:30 to 6. I actually DJ'ed from 6-7:30 or 8. Even though people were lounging around the pool, it felt good to play whatever I wanted. Moses and Anto were hanging with me. At this moment I'm hungry. I have to get ready to sing.
It's about to be a party for real.
I'm changing clothes for a third time.
June 21, 1:21am
We did what we do and the people dug it. It's an opening day of a 14 week gig for Louie and Anane. I really enjoyed Anané and Sheyi. Sheyi is an African percussionist signed to Anane and Anto's label, Nulu records. He's a very animated performer and exciting to watch. Women were loving him. And he gave them a great show while Anane was playing.
Louie is an awesome DJ and a very generous man. He always rocks and shares his platform with all of us.
Some people get a little tiny piece of blessing and act like they're the only one that can have it. Or we get so stingy with the blessing that we turn people off.
Louie seems happy to have a few friends/family here with him. I like to see him and Anane rock together. Anane sang, and that's always good. I like to see diversity. It's one thing to DJ. But she's doing the triple threat. She's a singer, DJ, and label owner.
This crowd is so attractive. It was insane.
Tomorrow is a day off and I plan to really enjoy it.
June 23rd 4:47pm
I'm at the airport reflecting on what a cool trip this has been. We're making efforts to expand our audience out here. Sure they know Louie Vega. But they don't know soulful music like we play it at home. And honestly, when Louie asked me to DJ, I bought a lot of the more techy hard stuff. Only because I've seen the reactions to that sound and I know they love that. When I told Louie that's what I bought, he immediately raised his voice. Just a little, and like a big brother. "Noooooooo. Jawsh(my name with a nuyorican accent). NEVER COMPRIMISE YOUR SOUND!"
I felt terrible. It was as though I let the team down. "We're here to spread the music that we love. Not to fit in" he continued. It was at that moment that I could see that this man is on a mission.
My original thoughts were, I'll play a little bit of the hard stuff to keep their attention and I'll sneak a Honeycomb record in and go back to the hard stuff.
I'm still learning.
Funny thing. While I was playing and looking at the people, I was thinking of you guys back at home. I love playing for people that aren't so critical and come to dance. There are DJ's who are truly gifted by God and there are others who are learning. I look at it like this, soulful music needs every DJ it can get. So while the DJ may be train wrecking, at least he's playing your music.
While I was proof reading, I read something that made me laugh out loud. So when I did, I farted a little. LOL!!! I know these people can smell it. Man. I didn't even know it was coming out. The thing is, it's crowded. Nobody wants to give up their seat. So everybody breathing in fart oxygen. Man. I'm so embarrassed. I'm typing all intense like I'm really into my blog cause I don't want to look up. UUUUuuuuugggghhhhh!
