Last night was the “salsa jam night” at the Sela Bar, Leeds, featuring Los Feos, the locally-grown organic salsa band we’ve been to twice at the bsaement bar in York. I emailed them to ask whether “salsa jam night” meant bring your instruments, and it did, so I did.
Before I went I thought I’d better quickly get the timbales out and check that I could still play.
I couldn’t!
Catastrophe!
That’ll learn me for being sensible and not playing them in the house. I nearly chickened out of going at all, but I know that I’ve regretted more things I haven’t done than things that I have so I went, taking the instruments, and with the sort of nerves inside that Kate must have nearly all the time, a background tingling of the gut wondering what the hell I’m getting into now!
Found the venue and parked up without any trouble and left the instruments in the car to go and scope things out. The band were going to do a short set, then have a break and then invite people up to have a go. I watched with nerves mounting and experienced the strange sensation of sitting and listening to live salsa without dancing with anyone!
In the break I got chatting to the band and they were very friendly and reassuring. Without so much of an audience I might have got up and had a go but I wasn’t ready. I can tell I have a lot to learn yet before I can hang out with “real” latin musicians! The band leader said he’d call me up there when they did a cha-cha-cha so I watched some of the jam session then
RAN AWAY as fast as would let me be undetected!
What a coward!
But then, it’s a bit like when I did my driving test. I was nervous about my driving test because I’d had to find the venue, didn’t know what was involved etc, and I got right up to the bit before they check you can read the number plate on that car over there before discovering that my examiner had been in a crash and my test was postponed. The second time I went without all the extra stress because I knew where everything was, and passed just fine. Not convinced I would have the first time.
So unless that was the last salsa jam night ever ever, I did the right thing.