Bruce's Stuff

My Winelist

bishikawa — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:52:51 +0000

List and short reviews of the wines we have enjoyed (or not):

Bruce’s Cuban Mojitos

bishikawa — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 03:15:54 +0000

Now that summer is here in full swing, it’s time for mojitos!
The mojito is a Cuban rum drink, with mint and lime that is cool and refreshing and tastes great. I believe that the name “mojito” means “little magic” with the same root as “mojo” as in “Got my mojo working”. Afro-Cuban.
I have the BEST recipe for mojitos, developed over the past several years, and hundreds of mojitos. Make each individually for best results. I have tried to make batches, they don’t come out as well. If I expect company, I mix up everything except the ice and soda ahead of time in separate glasses.
For each mojito, you’ll need:

A morter and pestle. I have one dedicated to mojitos – I didn’t want to use the one we use to crush garlic and herbs!
12 large fresh mint leaves. “Large” means 2 inch length. Use more if you have smaller leaves.
2 heaping teaspoons of Sugar in the Raw. White sugar works, too, but the coarser Sugar in the Raw tears through the mint more easily.
1/2 big, juicy lime. Look for limes with a smooth skin, they are the juiciest. Sometimes, I’ll use a whole lime per drink.
A shot of rum. I prefer Havana Club Añejo which is a dark Cuban rum. Try different rums and see what you like. Virgin mojitos are also good for the kids or friends who don’t drink. I sometimes use 1/2 shot if it’s early on a hot day.
Lots of ice cubes.
Soda water or seltzer. I use the Isi Soda Siphon, available at Amazon, Target, Wal-mart, etc. It makes a seltzer with tiny bubbles and delivers a nice fizz all the way to the end of the bottle. Cheaper than bottled soda which goes flat and leaves a plastic bottle that pollutes the environment.

Directions:

Put the sugar and mint leaves in a morter and use the pestle to grind the leaves up until they are a green mess. Totally ripped apart. This releases the minty oils.
Squeeze the lime juice into the mint/sugar mixture and stir with the pestle, using juice to help dissolve the sugar from the sides of the morter. Get as much juice as you can. I use a juicing tool.
Put a couple of ice cubes in the bottom of a tall glass (to keep stuff from sticking to the bottom of the glass) and pour the lime-mint-sugar mixture over them.
Pour the shot of rum into the morter to help rinse stray sugar and mint, then pour into the glass.
Fill the glass to the rim with ice cubes.
Pour seltzer to the top. Stir with a straw and garnish with mint leaves.
Enjoy the ultimate cool summer drink.

Syncopatic Funk

bishikawa — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:51:28 +0000

In late 2003, Kevin Bergquist and I started a large funk / soul band. We recruited guitarists, drummers, keyboards, horns, singers, even a violinist at one point. We had a core of 10 or 11, with percussionists who sat in for gigs. Some turnover, naturally, but we held it together for probably a year or more, I don’t really remember. It finally fell apart under its own weight. I blame the loss of Dave Alex, the fine guitarist who plays the solo in “Morning Blues” below. Dave was enthusiastic and a very inventive guitarist. The guys who followed were okay, but just not the same. It also didn’t help that saxophonist Joe Sheehan, one of the original members, arranger and probably the most musically trained of the group, spent his summers in Ireland.

Precious Mother:

Morning Blues:

Luna Videos

bishikawa — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:48:44 +0000

Luna is always entertaining:

Luna plays with her mouse and the bathroom door:

Luna watches TV:

Moon Rocks:

Luna plays with her mouse on the jungle gym:

Fountains of Versailles

bishikawa — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:48:09 +0000

The Palace at Versailles has extensive gardens, with many fountains. They only have the fountains running on certain days. We were there on Bastille Day, so of course, they turned on the water.

Sewers of Paris

bishikawa — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:40:31 +0000

In 1998, Maria and I visited Paris, arriving the morning after France beat Brazil in the World Cup. We ran around the place sightseeing, trying to pack in as much of this great city as possible.

One interesting thing we did was to take a tour of the sewers. I had heard of this years before, so when we discovered that the tour location was right on our way between one site and some other, we decided to check out Paris underground.

The Paris sewers are an engineering marvel. They follow the streets, small streets have small sewers, larger have larger sewers. The whole system works by gravity, including a tunnel that goes under the Seine to the water treatment plant. From there, graywater (clean, but not drinkable) is pumped back through the sewers in a special network of pipes; that’s what you see every morning running through the gutters as all the shopkeepers start their morning washing the sidewalk in front of their establishment.

The whole tour smelled like shit. It was very interesting.

At the end of the tour (in the giftshop, of course), we saw a movie where a woman is in distress after she dropped her car keys down a grate. A phone call to Public Works brings the brave Sewerman who goes down into the sewer and retrieves the keys for the woman. Very inspiring, we spent the rest of the day looking for people we could help.

St Martin, April 2011

bishikawa — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:35:13 +0000

Maria was the number 1 salesperson in her group again last year, so we got to go to St. Martin on Iron Mountain. The event was from Thursday to Sunday; we traded our timeshare so we could go down the previous Sunday for some real vacation.

We stayed on the Dutch side at Cupecoy. We rented a little Hyundai from a guy who met us at the airport. Windows down, we rolled off at 30 mph. Over the next several days, we went from beach to beach and dined on fabulous French cuisine.

The awards festivities were very nice, though our hosts couldn’t be there (as it turns out they were in the midst of dealings with unruly stockholders, which resulted in Maria’s division being sold – so no Chairman’s Club in 2012!)

Willie Colón in Central Park, August, 1998

bishikawa — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:43:42 +0000

I met Willie Colón in a Latin music online discussion group in the mid-’90s. We got friendly and I started working on his website. On August 16, 1998, Maria and I went to New York to see Willie’s band playing in Central Park. It was the first time we had met in person. We watched the show from backstage, with Willie’s wife Julia who told us a great story:

When Willie and I started dating, I didn’t know anything about salsa music or have any idea of who he was. One day he asked if I wanted to go to a show at Madison Square Garden. I said ‘sure’ and when the evening came, he picked me up and we went to the Garden. We went around to the back, and I thought he knew the janitor who was going to sneak us in or something. He was hanging around with these guys, then he sat me on a chair in the wings. Before I knew it, the announcer said, “Ladies and gentlemen, Willie Colon!” and out he came and led the band into the opening number. That’s when I learned he was a salsa star.

After the show, he took us to dinner at a Cuban restaurant where all the staff came up and asked for autographs.

Here’s a review I wrote of the show.

“My group, pound for pound, can take on ANY group in the business. I don’t care what group you’re talking about. We lock into some grooves, sometimes very strange grooves, that few other groups can even understand.” -Willie Colón, August 17, 1998

And what grooves! More than once I lost track of what song the band was playing, they were way out there. Many times I have seen artists performing in front of bands which were populated by “backup musicians” thrown together for a concert or a tour, whose greatest attribute seems to be sight reading, the ability to learn a song quickly and to play it just like on the record. Not Legal Alien, these guys know the material and each other and Willie so well they can just let it go and see what comes out this time.

Ricardo Lemvo was on first. We got there late, held up by the Dominican Republic Parade, which we enjoyed from the air conditioned comfort of crosstown bus 57, stopped right at the light while a couple of floats with merengue bands passed by. Inside the bus, the sound was muted so the two bands which passed didn’t clash with each other; the bands sounded a lot better than recorded merengue on the radio, their hearts were in it. Anyway, when we got to the concert, Lemvo was already playing his soukous-laced salsa, it was hot stuff, but most of the audience was sitting, applauding politely at the end of songs. They had to be cajoled into calling for an encore, which was accompanied by some pretty spectacular dancers promoting “Dance With Me”.

Willie arrived near the end of Lemvo’s set. They changed the stage during a 20 minute break, then out came the band and the announcer and finally, to a roar from the crowd, El Malo was on stage and in action.

The repetoire stretched back 30 years, Che Che Cole, El Varon, Idilio, stuff the fans want, stuff the fans need. An impromptu dance floor formed to the side of the stage, about 20 couples were dancing their hearts out with moves that equalled the pros that were with Lemvo. Better actually, because this was spontaneous, joyful motion, propelled by the best music in the world. The whole audience was on their feet, bouncing to the beat, clapping the clave, cheering with every song as soon as they recognized the first riff. A couple of guys in the 6th or 7th row (or that’s where they’d be if there were any rows) were singing along, not missing a word.

Video of Willie, with Ruben Blades, in July of 1998, a month earlier:

The band churned on, getting better and better as they got hotter and hotter. And it was hot, 85 degrees, humid and right in the sun. Finally, the last song, goodbye, thank you very much. The applause kept going, going, going, a quick check to see if it’d be okay with city officials to do just one more (it was already overtime), then an encore and it was over.

Willie is leaving New York, moving to Mexico. There are many reasons, not least of which I’m sure is the machine that controls Salsa in the home of Salsa. The other Salsa pioneers are getting older, or are falling into the rut, still good, but that vitality you can hear on the early recordings just isn’t there any more. There are some new guys like Jimmy Bosch, (who was on stage with the master Sunday), who are moving the tradition along the way it should be moved, but Willie is the only one of the old Fania All Stars who still is evolving, creating, living the music. Maybe it’s because of his early start, he was only 17 when he made his first record, so he’s still young and vital.

With the Fania All Stars in Puerto Rico

bishikawa — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:57:31 +0000

April 29, 2000

The Fania All Stars played the Hiram Bithorn stadium in San Juan Saturday night and Picadillo had the privilege of being invited along by Larry Harlow, so Maria and I flew down for the weekend. We arrived Friday morning, checked into the hotel and hooked up with Harlow. The place was jumping, packed with salsa legends, RMM people, promotors, publicists and assorted hangers-on, all aimed at putting together one event. I’ve walked around New York with Harlow and he’s just another guy on the streets up there, but in PR, he’s “are you Larry Harlow?” This leads to free drinks, closed doors opening, etc. Everyone was going to the show.

Friday evening was soundcheck and rehearsal. We rode over in a couple of vans, Maria and I were with Harlow, Yomo Toro, Ray Barreto, Jimmy Bosch, Pupi Legarta… despite their stature in Latin music, these guys are all regular people, pretty much without pretentions, though perhaps a bit more jaded than the average person on the street, having been screwed over so regularly by chiseling promotors, etc. The rehearsal consisted of 2-1/2 hours of waiting while sound guys farted around, then suddenly, there was music!

The dynamics of a large Latin band are really something. The piano and bass driving, the drums pacing, the horns hitting in unison like another percussion section. At one point the horns all came in perfectly together, BAM BAM BAM, but they were in the wrong place. What got me was they were ALL together in the wrong place, so despite Pacheco conducting and Harlow directing, they obviously were following Jimmy Bosch who was the one that Harlow was winking at one measure later when he played their BAM BAM BAM on the piano, where it was supposed to be. No big deal, they didn’t even go over it again, they’re ultra-pros, and the night of the concert they were perfect.

The next day we heard that Ruben Blades was not going to make it, he was sick (this is consistent with his postponement of a show here in Boston originally scheduled for the next weekend) and worse, Roberto Roena had fallen into a drain of some sort and screwed up his knee. With the Ruben cancellation, a bunch of songs were lost, so the schedule was re-worked, new singers added, some songs stretched out, and another bongocero added to give Roena a break in the middle of the show – this all on the morning of the show. Willie Colon and Celia Cruz, the biggest stars of the show were arriving on the day of the show, no room for error there… We did get to meet Celia in the hotel lobby when she arrived mid afternoon.

Maria with Celia Cruz

Now let’s face it, some of the Fania All Stars are getting older. A couple of guys were walking around with the aid of canes, and there were signs of creeping decrepit-ness here and there. But when the music starts the years melt away and the playing is as strong, probably stronger, than ever.

7:00 the night of the show and the hotel lobby looks like Hallowe’en with showtime costumes, color and glitter and spangles, stuff that makes it onstage, but looks pretty wacked out close up. We had a couple of friends who had cars for the ride to the stadium, so Harlow and his wife Wendy went with their friend Rudy in one and Maria and I rode with Ray Barreto and publicist Yvonne in the other. When we got to the stadium, we drove around to the back, security people stopping us at every intersection, but Ray would lean over and ask, “where’s the artists’ entrance?” and Yvonne would say, “we have to get Ray Barreto to the show.” The guard would take one look at who it was, snap to attention and point us to the next point. Another advantage of being in Puerto Rico where everyone knows their salsa. We were supposed to have a special car badge, but the promotor told us, “just tell them I forgot to give it to you,” in a show of exactly how tight the security was. In any event is wasn’t necessary, we had the Barreto badge that opened all doors. He knew we didn’t have backstage passes (more disorganization) so he refused to be dropped off at the door and stayed with us while we parked the car and walked in with us to make sure we got in okay. Maria was in front and a big security guy moved to block her way, but then Baretto’s 6 foor 3 inch frame turned the corner and he stepped right back and welcomed us in.

Some security – we went over while were already back stage and said, “where are we supposed to get our passes so we can leave and come back in,” and they handed us wristbands from a big plastic bag. We’ve seen too many shows from backstage, so we went out front to watch Domingo Quinones who was the opening act. He is really a good sonero, a fine improvisor who got the biggest cheer with a line saying get the Navy out of Vieques. Lots of the singers through the night touched this theme and hit Clinton by name at least once.

Then came the All Stars. Izzy “Mr. Salsa” Sanabria came out with a local DJ and introduced the band who got little or no applause in the beginning as the backing musicians were introduced, then Jimmy Bosch finally got a cheer and as the percussionists came out, there was more and more applause as the names got more famous – Nicky Marrero, Roberto Roena, Ray Barreto, Eddie Montalvo… finally cheers for Yomo Toro, Papo Luca and Larry Harlow and a roar from the crowd for the singers, Ismael Miranda, Conde Rodriguez, Justo Betancourt, Ismael Quintana, and the music started.

One really cool thing they did was have old films of the Fania All Stars playing while the band was playing. The best was Pete “El Conde” singing while the film had him singing the same song, he looked the same, the dancer from 1976 or whenever was doing the same moves as the dancer on stage. Oh yeah, the dancers, they had a troupe who was fantastic…

After an hour or so, they started a tribute to Hector Lavoe. I had heard they did this in the NY show in December, but was still blown away. Most hadn’t heard of this and the place was electrified. Domingo Quinones cam out in his “Who Killed Hector Lavoe” costume, and he had the voice, the mannerisms and the look down pat. He went through a medley of Hector’s hits, then the intro to Che Che Cole started and suddenly to a roar from the crowd, there was Willie Colon, who did a couple of his early hits with Domingo, then did a couple of more songs solo. The guy can really move the crowd, they loved him. At that point, we went backstage, as we hadn’t seen Willie since August ’98. We got a chance to say hello and ask after his family, but he was pretty quickly whisked away to his trailer. Then there was a stir, and Celia Cruz came out, all decked out in her finest and after a crush of photographers was finally dispersed, she was led to the stage. We went running back out into the audience to watch and the ugliness began.

A couple of years ago, Puerto Rican singer Andy Montanez was banned from the Calle Ocho festival in Miami for the horrible infraction of hugging Cuban Issac Delgado and being photographed doing so. No big surprise, the professional exiles in Miami are famous for stupid actions, but Celia, not quite rabid, but an outspoken Castro critic made the foolish mistake of condemning Andy’s action with a nasty remark. Not to be outdone, a lot of Puerto Ricans figured they could be as stupid as the Miami exiles, and decided to take her attack on Montanez as an attack on Puerto Rico. They prevented her from getting off her plane, forcing cancellation of a show in San Juan last year. For this show, one of the local radio stations called on the people to boo her and they did. At one point a chant of “Andy, Andy” went up. She was affected, you could see it in here face and after her two numbers, Johnny Pacheco reminded the crowd that musicians are musicians and proper respect was in order.

After that passed, there was the finale and the show finally drew to a close about 1:45 in the morning. Decompression backstage, everyone was hugging and shaking hands and unwinding, one more photo please, then we grabbed Ray and left. Quite a few of the musicians went to the Greenhouse on Ashford Avenue for a late night bite, as we did. Finally about 3:30 or so, we dropped Ray off at the hotel, grabbed our bags from Harlow’s room where we were storing them and went to the airport for a 6:00 flight back to Boston.

Bela Fleck in Africa

bishikawa — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:08:41 +0000

Bela Fleck is a jazz banjo player who takes the instrument way beyond Deliverance. Several years ago, he took his banjo to Africa to record with musicians in Kenya, Tanzania, The Gambia and Mali. This was recorded and made into a terrific documentary, Throw Down Your Heart, which is available as a watch-now on Netflix.

Here’s a clip of my favorite scene, with a gigantic Marimba played by a team of musicians. The song is called “Wairenziante”: