by windhorse » Sun Jul 27, 2008 4:02 pm
Day 7 Again, I miss breakfast and go to Mark Lamson’s Bata class. This time I actually played something which I held on the okonkolo. They did a call from the Iya, which I missed because I didn’t know what the rhythm was doing. So, Mark then showed me my new part. It was an off-beat thing and I held it! Made me feel good to hold my own for at least a small sampling of bata. It’s such a deep world and I’m just now stepping my toes in to test the waters.. I’m psyched to play more of this tantalizing instrument. For the second lesson that day, I went to Toto’s Level 4 Arara. I learned the bell pattern fairly quickly, and it was yet another way to play Arara bell.. There must 100s of different variants! I enjoyed this class again because of Toto’s enthusiasm and vast feel of the music. I pulls it out of everyone! Later that night we went to the Humbrewery again for an evening of Rumba and merriment. I was “on the wagon” still and would not have even one beer since that first time there and getting drunk and ruined my taste for alcohol. The students first did a set, then the HEAVY WEIGHTS came out to play! Two worth noting here.. Johnny Santos on the large Bajo playing tumba cajon parts and the tres dos on a conga. He anchored both parts and really did a tasteful and wickedly awesome combination of the two.. I am ever more impressed every time I see this man perform. Howie Koffman our fearless leader! Really crisp tone on his quinto style! He’s been working on his chops and the man is a heavy weight in my book. I’m sure years of playing next to the masters has done it’s part in his ascension.
Day 8 Since I had some pizza last night, I wake up late, miss breakfast, and the start of the bata class. I decide to blow it off, have a leisurely shower, and plan with James on our adventurous day to the beach and redwood forest. We pick up Karl and all three of us go to Patrick’s Point first. The road winds around and we have difficulty finding a parking spot for Agate beach. It turns out that Agate beach has made of rounded gem stones. THE ENTIRE BEACH! The sun had heated up the stones – all of which are rounded – and as we walked towards the ocean, we got foot massages.. It was amazing the feeling on your feet! James immediately started looking around for Agates, even though none of us knew really what made an Agate an Agate. So, we just picked up what our eyes liked the most in the immense pile of beautiful stones. My eyes were picking out the greens, James seemed to like the blues and purples, and Karl liked the reds. Later, James asked a woman who was an Agate hunter, and she said the clear smoky ones were the Agate, which I’ve verified after Googling it. Our next stop was “Wedding Rock” where there is an enormous Batholith with a walking path to the top. We got up there and had a spectacular view of the ocean front below. The pelicans were tiny and skimming the water way down below. The ocean was a deep indigo and small wisps of clouds in the sky. It was truly beautiful. Next stop the Redwoods. So we drove about 30 minutes North to Lady Bird Johnson’s Redwoods. There is circular walking path through the forest that circles several of the extremely large ones with circumferences of 20-30 feet. Unfortunately I didn’t get any camera shots of the redwoods, but I did of the ocean. We got back to the dorms about 4 o’clock. Took a nap, and went to dinner about 6:00. James and I decided to eat out this night – last night and all – and had an awesome sushi dinner at Tomo. The Ngiri slices were about 4X larger than some I’ve had in Colorado. We then came back to the dorms and had an all-out jam session Rumba with Paul, and a few other guys that just happened into it. Then, it was the faculty performance! Wow! It was better than ever! They did Yemaya, Ochun, Rumba, and Comparsa as four different movements. It was well choreographed and they pulled off the Coro with a smaller group of singers than I’ve seen in the past. But, this crew of heavy weights doesn’t need much backup, that’s for sure! I got several pictures of the show. That night, they had the party at Sabina’s house on 6th street, and it didn’t get visited by the police this year! It was really nice. I got to stand right in front of Gallaraga and Toto for most of the night as they smoothly sang throughout the night. Some of the songs are beginning to find their way into my thick skull. I said many goodbyes to my friends as we end this year’s Afro-Cuban camp, and look ahead to next year!