We live about an hour south of Los Angeles. (That's how you calculate distances here in Southern California; by how long it takes you in traffic to get from one place to another.)
This is a wonderful thing because that means that we can go see shows in L.A. but not have to live there. See what I mean? Win-win. ;-)
And when summer begins the first thing we do is look to see who is in concert, because if there's anything we love, it's summer concerts. (Okay, we love any kind of a live show anytime of the year, but that's not important right now.)
Imagine my surprise and delight when Amy invited me to go see Andy Garcia and the CineSon All-Stars at the Conga Room in L.A. (Okay, let's just have a moment of silence in reverence. Thank you.)
Andy.
Andy Garcia.
Who has his own category on my blog because, well, he's Cuban and he's so cool. *Ay Dios mio!*
Here's Andy on cowbell.
And yes, I took this picture.
Notice how it's close-up.
How there are no heads in front of him obscuring the shot.
How it looks like it was taken from (where we were sitting) FIVE. FEET. AWAY.
Amy invited me to go because:
1) She enjoyed his music so much the last time she saw him and
2) I'm kind of a big fan. (I know. Total understatement. Shut up.)
So we got to the Conga Room early thinking we'd have to line up and maybe push some people around to get a good seat. Okay, not really, well, I may or may not have done that, but that's not important right now, either. =D
Anyway, relieved that we didn't have to manhandle anyone and because I lead a charmed life, we were able to get two seats IN THE FRONT ROW DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ANDY and where he would be bongo-ing and cowbell-ing and piano-ing for the next two and a half hours. (Shut up. I KNOW!)
The show was fabulous. If you have not heard the CineSon All-Stars do yourself a favor and get their music or better yet, go see them live.
I was seriously in Cuban Music Heaven.
Apparently, so was Andy. *sigh*
Of course we danced! When a Cuban conga starts, who can stay in their seat? Seriously!
And being in the first row gave us lots of room. =D
"Abre que voy!"
He played some of the hauntingly beautiful music from The Lost City.
And of course, a tribute to the Master, Cachao.
We had the BEST time.
We sang-along. We laughed. We danced. We clapped. We started the conga. (=D) We cheered for a Free Cuba.
Much to my everlasting delight, he winked at us and smiled at us and at one point even stuck his tongue out at us. (I know. Shut up. I'm guessing it was a purely defensive move: "I should be nice to those two noisy Cuban women in the front row directly in front of me, lest they get a little crazy.") =D
But do you know what kept going through my mind during the entire show?
Besides, "More cowbell, por favor!"...
This Cuban man should sooo have a copy of my cookbook! ;-)
A celebration of Cu...
By Marta M. Darby
Wow! Great job on the book Marta! It is AMAZING, I'm not kidding you. The stories that segue into the recipes...the recipes themselves...some oldies but goodies and some I never woulda thought of like the guayaba and cream cheese torrejas??? What kind of genius came up with THAT one?? By the way, the day I received the book, I was boiling a can of condensed milk to make dulce de leche and I fell asleep and about an hour an a half later...BOOM! Racka, racka, racka, hissssss, hissssss.....(Mind you I thought my daughter had gotten home in a bad mood and kept sleeping) and then the horrific smell of smoke and burnt dulce de leche...ayayay...anyway, a few hours of cleaning later I sit down to read your book and there is another genius idea of CROCKPOTTING your condensed milk...nope, not me, I go the "blow up the house" route instead. Anyway, thank you so much for taking me down memory, early exilio lane and for picking me to win your book. Believe it or not, I was hoping for the apron, but this is SO much better...thanks Marta, your da bomb!