Blast from the past…

It took a little arm twisting (well, more like a slight tug), but I went. It’s been years since I had been there, and it surprised and comforted me that nothing had changed. Last night I went to Roccapulco in the City with my partner and crime Maria and her crew. I remember years ago, our little UC Berkeley Student Learning Center crew and her sister E-lo would pile into a Saturn or a Sentra (which ever had more gas or was available) to head over to the City and hit up all the Salsa clubs… and some retro 80s ones here and there. As I was parking on Mission St., I got a little nostalgic… all the laughing and carrying on, and freezing our asses off in the cold SF breeze… yeah, those were the days. Anywhos, I had hella fun last night. A band named El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico did a concert there and it was awesome! I think they are the equivalent to Earth Wind and Fire for Black folks, as they have been performing for over 40 years… you gotta give much props to that. I couldn’t understand a lot of what was being sung and said, but it interesting to me how joy, happiness, and elation can permeate all barriers. There were all kinds of folks in the house… even Orlando Cepeda! No Lie… he was in the corner gettin’ his groove on… well, he wasn’t doing head spins and whatnot, but he was havin’ a good time… too bad I was too much of a chicken shit to get an autograph. I must say that I am happy with the Salsa progression (thanks Maria, E-lo, and Ing!)… I mean I’m not J-lo or anything, but I’m getting by… but not to this one guy that felt the need to try to tell me what to do when I was dancing with him, and if I gave him my number he would show me how to really Salsa dance… yay. In my mind I was thinking let’s see how well you dance after I kick you in the nuts. Aside from the encounter with Mr. Unsolicited dance advice, and the fact that we didn’t get any nachos, I had a great time and I’m glad I went. And I am learning to build a nice little relationship with Jose Cuervo. He makes me happy.