Monday, August 9, 2010

BloggeRhythms 8/9/2010

Nothing at all worth typing about in the news, except for the House being called back from vacation early, expressly to vote for throwing another $26 billion of taxpayers money down the education chute. Between teachers being paid for no earthly reason I can dream of, because not one of them's worth a dime and the lawyers bleeding health care dry, what's left of ours for Congress to give away? Oops! I almost forgot, we pay those turkey politico's livelihood too.

But, now back to something important. I did that write-up about ipods yesterday, and that got me to thinking about music in general. And, as I mentioned, unless something really important conflicted, for many, many, years my wife and I were out in a restaurant and then in a nightclub in NYC on most Saturday nights.

Of them all, I think the best club was Sirocco. As I mentioned, the theme was Middle-Eastern. The owner, Ari San a Cypriot, had been a big-time recording star in Israel, Cyprus, and Europe and then came here with his four piece band. We stumbled across the place because my in-laws, both of whom loved to dance, were with us one night in a club in the city called Dionysus on 49th Street (I think), also Greek-Mediterranean. My in-laws ran into someone there that they knew, and he suggested we try Sirocco.

At that time, I knew nothing about Middle-Eastern music, traditions or anything else. I was in the equipment financing business then and a potential client, let's call him George D., sought financing for a couple of tanker ships, to bring oil here from overseas. Almost every time we met, sooner or later he'd get me to accompany him to Dionysus, and we'd sit and talk. When the music started, we'd both sit back and listen a while, then George would apologetically say he'd "dragged me there because he loved the music" and then he'd pay the check so we could leave. And that, as I said, eventually led us to Sirocco

After we began going to Sirocco regularly, we learned more about the music, traditions and protocols of Mediterranean life. And, over time, we were accepted as what would be called "regular" customers. One of the benefits of regularity was where we were seated. At first we generally wound up in a low balcony, quite a ways from the dance floor, and although the club wasn't huge, it wasn't small either. So, a trip to the dance floor was, frankly, a pain in the neck. Especially since this was Manhattan and the place was extremely popular. So, there were lots of folks between us and the dance floor.

In time, we worked our way up to a regular table for six right next to the dance floor, across the way from the entrance so people didn't trip all over us entering and leaving the club, and about ten feet from center stage. If we stood up we could easily have joined the entertainers. And, unless we were being joined by more than four other people, we never had to call for a reservation, because we were always expected.

The few times my wife and myself were really late in arriving, Mike E., the Maitre'D, gave our table away as he should have. Since we didn't call, how was he to know if we weren't coming and he had plenty of pleading customers to seat? And, that table, even back then, was probably worth a twenty to fifty buck tip, depending on who he chose to seat there. So, when we finally did show up after all, he apologized for letting our table go and brought out another one from storage and set it up right on the corner of the dance floor, in front of some other high-roller. But, that's what friends are for, and in time, Mike E. turned out to be a great one.

The headline entertainer was Ari San himself, accompanied by three others, a guitarist, a bass and a drummer. Unbeknownst to us at first was that Ari's style was unusual. Most Greek and Mediterranean music includes a Bouzouki, kind of a watermelon-shaped, big mandolin with six or eight strings. But Ari played the electric guitar. So even though he played the same songs as most similar musicians, he sounded completely different. And, as he aged his voice became richer, producing an incredible sound. If you want, you can listen to some of his hits at: www.last.fm/music/Aris+San/+videos/+1-IzBoFYMoR2k (Sorry, you have to copy and paste in into your browser, I couldn't find a link.)

Aside from Aris San, the headliner, most evenings included other instrumentalists and singers, most of them pleasurable even though they were more traditional in style and not as entertaining to us as was Ari. And then, there always a belly dancer on Saturday nights. While I can honestly say, belly dancing wasn't my thing and I truly thought it was boring because I'd have much rather have danced to that music myself than watch somebody else, some nights were truly amusing.

In most Mediterranean clubs, if audiences like particular entertainers, or songs or whatever, the tradition is to throw plates. Customers buy stacks of china from their waiters, then toss them at those they enjoy (they toss the plates, not the waiters.) But not in Sirocco. The tradition here was cash. Customers would exchange tens, twenty's, fifties or hundreds for singles then toss the bills either at the entertainers themselves or fling them across the dance floor. Afterward, a sweeper would brush all the bucks into a pile, pack it in a plastic bag and give the bag to whomever had entertained.

Now, when my son was younger, and he, or he and his similar aged cousin, accompanied us to a party at Sirocco, the kids quickly caught on. At four, five and six years old they'd duck under the table and snatch up thrown dollars that landed there out of sight. Sometime later they even figured out to hide their stashes, because they knew if we caught them, they'd have to throw it all back on the dance floor.

I'm sure as I sit here typing that in time, lot's of Sirocco stories will come back to memory, like the times Telly Savalas, Anthony Quinn (Zorba the Mexican)or Mayor Koch showed up. But for now I've got to stop, because I just figured out how to download itunes from Apple into my PC. So, I guess my wife's ipod is safe from theft for now, because I no longer need it. In fact, I'm listening to Tom Jones on my desk speakers as I write.

That's it for today folks.

Adios

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