Last night was another Descarga! Night at 1331. A bit of a funny one - at the start of the night there was only half a band and no audience… But the rest of the band shew in the end (though with a couple of personnel changes) and we got treated to some of the standards. Then after a break, I had a go on timbales. A combination of nerves, getting used to the height of the drums, the fact that the band wasn’t 100% on the groove, and the fact that I hadn’t played for two weeks, and the fact that I got first solo only moments into the first song meant that I was less than spectacular on that tune, which is a shame because it was Ray Baretto’s Acid, an absolutely TOP tune that deserved better. However I soon found my feet and redeemed myself on the next song with an explosive (though still rather more fragmented than i’d like) solo. Part of the credit must go to Steve G for the supportive glances during the first couple of songs :-).
Rob got up on bongos next and pulled off some convincingly ape-shit soloing … I could tell he was in his Zen place by the end of the tune, so a swift kick to the calf stopped him overrunning the end of the song :-)
After that we stepped down and it was a case of cha-cha-chaing solo in with the audience while other folk had a go on the percussion, and trying not to step on too many people’s toes :-)
I think smoking should be allowed in pubs and bars, but that every time you light up you should pay everybody in the room 50p towards their laundry.
I already discarded everything I wore last night, but I can smell fags on my bag under my desk…