I just have to blog this.

If the above video does not work, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

It goes to show, just because the media and everyone else has this cookie-cutter image of what is a talent, this would put us all to shame! Image is NOT all that matters.

Darn! I feel like crying. For Joy!

Enjoy! And be awestruck!

Made dinner at home and invited My Precious for a simple chicken dinner. After which, there was an exchange of simple gifts of chocolates and cards.

Earlier this week, I happened to mention to Mr. Wonderful that I’d like to go to the club Saturday to hear a rock-blues band, JC Rico & Zulu Dragon, play. It so happen that February 14th is JC’s last gig. He’s retiring after this gig. I’d love to hear him and his band play; and quite sad and disappointed that few of the bands I follow, either retire or fold. So, I really, really wanted to listen to him.

On the Valentine’s card that Mr. Wonderful gave me, he wrote: “Let’s go see JC Ricco.” I jumped for joy. Mr. Wonderful, quite a while back, had stated flatly that his days of club-hopping (he rarely does BTW) are numbered. He’s getting too old. That from now on, he can only promise to come with me four times a year, on a quarterly basis. That’s why I had to jump for joy, that although I go without him often enough, it’s still a great feeling to have him there, even if he does not dance alot of the times.

After dinner, it was then off to hear JC Rico at Mac’s at the Vet’s Club. Mr. Wonderful is actually on a first name basis there, which surprised me, which also surprised the bartenders knowing that they see me frequent the place without the hubby; and to see both of us together must be a brow-raiser for the bartenders.

It sure was a lovely end for Valentine’s night. We did ask My Precious if he wanted to come to the club, but by the look on his face, the message was: ‘I would not want to be seen in the likes of old people dancing and making fools of themselves. I’d rather be dead.’

All the years growing up Catholic, one characteristic that has stayed with me is GUILT. I’m such an expert on GUILT, Of all the things I’m good at, this is it!

The last entry of my post was quite a depressive entry. And I felt bad and guilty for writing it.

But to get out of the dumps, I picked myself up and pulled this from my stash of YouTube clips to get something uplifting. This is the right time to uplift my spirit or anyone’s, don’t you think? Dancing does that for me. And here it is.

Yes, this will one day be hated, like we did with the MACARENA or WHO LET THE DOGS OUT songs. But this video really got me up my dancing juices.

I’d say, of all the fans’ imitation videos of Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ vid, Shane Mercardo’s is the best. He IS one great dancer with so much expression and personality.

Now that Shane is a bit famous, I hope he gets a job dancing his little heart out (or toosh*) professionally. You can tell it’s his passion.

What do you think?

*Cannot use the right spelling in fear of spam.

Journey the band has gotten back together. There’s a guy fronting their group. But definitely not Steve Perry. They were ready to get back together, even years before. With Steve Perry. But that fell through. So they searched high and low. And thanks to YouTube, they found their man. But this guy is nowhere near the band’s home base. This guy lived thousand of miles away separated by the Pacific Ocean.

Just check out the revival of Journey from this YouTube interview with how Neal Schon found him.

They were searching for a lead singer that can be as big as Steve Perry. Out of desperation, they turned to YouTube. Then, the group stumbled upon this guy, whose band The Zoo, a popular band playing rock-n-roll music in the Philippines. Journey songs were just but a few of this band’s repertoire. Check out their videos.

Arnel Pineda is that one talented dude. Imagine an Asian fronting a big, popular 80’s-90’s band called Journey. And unbelievably, a Filipino at that.

Listen to one of their new songs released this year: Never Walk Away

Journey fans must be ecstatic! I’m one of them.

Last week Thursday, my mom (Lola) and my youngest sister (YS) came up for a visit. They arrived mid-afternoon on a very hot day, closed to a 3-digit degrees. Upon their arrival, the three of us stopped by a favorite restaurant and had a quick lunch. Then home I drove them.

After a brief tour of the house and garden, they were able to relax long enough for my sister and me to get to the county fair.  See my previous blog entry about it. The main reason to go to the fair was to hear Satin Love Orchestra play disco music. It would have been such a great event had it not been for the sweltering near-100°  humid-like weather. It was really, really hard to dance. Every five minutes of dancing, we had to reach for the water bottle. My sister had a fun time dancing up though; while I had to stop and rest out of breath (stupid asthma!) every few minutes.

Although at the fair, we never got to see the All-Alaskan racing pigs, YS and I hit the building housing the farm animals just prior to the disco concert. Lots of photos were taken. YS was taking photos of the farm animals’ private parts. hahahahaha! Of course, animal private parts are always out in the open. So, YS had a giggly time taking their pictures. She is really weird!

 The pygmy goats were sooooo adorable. And there were piglets, guinea pigs, rabbits sheep, which were all huggable. Roosters and chickens, some yellow bird, a peacock and peahen(?) couple were showcased too. Then, there was this curly-feathered duck. The most impressive of all was an almost 5 foot tall mama pig.

 Doesn’t he look like a donkey?

 A litter of pinkies!

 So cuddly guinea pigs!

 Brave Rabbit

 Bored Sheep!

 What are you gawking at?!

 Gorgeous Feathers!

 Stunning-Looking Bird

 Regal Couple

 Atypical Duck

 Mama Pig

…then it means it’s time to go to the Lane County Fair! In 2.5 weeks!

What’s there to do? Plenty, of course. Eating junk food, carnival rides, checking out exhibits; then there’s watching my favorite “All-Alaskan Racing Pigs”. Last year, I got to hug one of those little porkers.

But the main reason to go to the fair is because of this musical band. My youngest sister and I consider ourselves ‘groupies’ to this band.

With the music they play, you will then conclude WE ARE OLD! hahahahaha!

You heard about the young Korean guitarist on my March 16th blog, right?

Now, I stumbled upon a Polish drummer. There were lots of other teeny, weeny drummers, but Igor Falecki had a bunch more videos one can follow as he got older. I’d like to predict that he will become one of the greatest drummers of his time.

Igor at 4 years old

Igor at 5

And this year, superb at 6

Now the music world shouldn’t be populated with just boys.

Girls Rock too!

Because here’s Brazilian (?) Leticia Santos, another 7 year old drummer.

Martita is a favorite teacher of mine. Her personality, her demeanor, her embodiment of Flamenco dance and music exudes in her whole being; one cannot help but love her.

Although I have met her in the early 2000’s and took lessons on and off for months; there were pressing family and personal issues that needed priority more than dancing. And so I stopped. But I cannot stay away from dancing for long. My body needs it. So this year, after immersing myself back into dancing consciousness, I started going back to my dancing teachers for lessons so I can catch up again. And thus, here we are with Martita.

Her whole family consists of David and Martita Madeira Woods with their 8 children (all grownup with their own families). Everyone is artistic. They even have their own band named Abakadubi, a fusion of dance and music, according to the description in their website. If you meet Martita and the rest of her family, one can only conclude that they are a closed-knit, one big happy family who want to share to the world their love of music & dance; their selflessness; social and environmental consciousness as well as healthy living. That said, people who meet and befriend them all feel that they too belong to her family.

So I told Martita that it’s only my gratefulness that I write something about her and Flamenco. And plug their business and livelihood. Under the Abakadubi umbrella is Martita’s Bailar Dance Studio. She had taught so many would-be dancers from tweens to young and mature adults into graceful, self-confident Flamenco dancers.

Below are more photos taken from the Oregon Country Fair of Martita, Abakadubi band, of Iana and Ishi who are the singers, poets, spokespersons for the band. Iana was, by the way, a classmate of my son in middle and high schools. Amazing how such a small world we have, that we all meet one another again sometime in our lifetime.

Please note some photos are a bit blurry, as Martita and Ian danced so fast; it was hard to capture good movement out of them. And yes, I have a crappy, basic digi camera. What can I say!

If you can’t click on the video, try this.

I rediscovered his music recently. However, he’s been playing since the 1990s.

How do I describe his music? New Age Latin? Maybe. As long as he’s playing flamenco music I don’t care what genre he’s categorized under.

Right now, my favorite albums of his: Borrasca and Barcelona Nights. I’ve already listened to them several dozen times. It’s great to blast the music with your windows rolled down, driving on a hot, dusty summer day over hills, dales and yonder. 

Oh wait, it’s too expensive to drive around!

Wish list: Nouveau Flamenco album 

Wednesday night, I went to work sad. Why?

I’ll tell you why?

JASON CASTRO WAS VOTED OUT OF AMERICAN IDOL!

I still am sad today! I have never been that emotionally-involved with American Idol until this year.

Jason, oh Jason! His rendition of Hallelujah, the Jeff Buckley version of Leonard Cohen’s original, blew me away. It gave me the impression that he is the guy with the talent. His looks, his sweet, honest, quirky, goofy personality had him stay in the competition longer till now. Alas, he could not keep up with the fierce, dog-eat-dog competition. But you know what, he was honest about his shortcomings, his inexperience with the commercial music world. He decided, to be honed into a pre-packaged, commercialized musician by the wolves of the music industry, is not for him. His talent is raw, unpolished; a rough gem. We never see that anymore nowadays.

I can see him do indie music. I hope he becomes quite successful, JUST FOR THE FUN OF MAKING MUSIC, but not for the money. Playing his own kind of music ~ mellow, mild and maybe kinda folksy.

Please note: as someone who loves dance, it is all about the music. I dance because I cannot sing. Hahahahaha! I always have a secret (NOT ANYMORE!) wish to have the ability to sing. But I cannot sing for the life of me. So, I’m not a really good critic of anything related to music, except the dance part of the beat. That’s my disclaimer!