I
went up to Eastside Cannery on the BHX from downtown to see Claudine
Castro. I got there early enough to secured a small table right in
front, the best seat in the house. By the end of the night, as
generally happens, that table was connected to another with five
friendly Latinos and although the conversation was limited, we
managed to say “Salud” and click glasses.
I
drank three beers.
One
fellow was dressed in a dark hat and very white dress shirt. He had
a great look.
This
is unusual because I have avoided beer since the diabetes. Modelo
seemed to fit the night. Since they did not have the Negra I had the
Especial on tap. It was very good.
Since
I had seen her last, Claudine had trimmed down quite a bit and looked
very appealing. She had many new songs to sing, especially in the
first set. She dropped the “Hotel California” so all the songs
were in Spanish. She retained the groups dance about coming from
Havana to Miami.
I
am not really up for dancing. My feet are blistered. I don't meet
anyone to dance with although Seigfried would have probably hooked me
up with a partner had I asked.
I
met Seigfried in the Men's room on a break. He opened conversation
with whether I had won that day or not and we were soon chatting
away, in English. He is just my age, turning 69 this month, and he
lost his wife three months ago. However, he is not giving himself
over to grief, but out looking for a “lady” preferably one with a
good degree and a sense of world travel.
Seigfried
was educated in philosophy, best liking the existentialists. He
liked Neitche, Satra. With his wife he ran a private school in
Europe for a while where his wife taught English, French, and
Spanish. He lived in France, Spain, and Italy, best liking Italy.
However, he is happy to be here for the comfort of the US and he
loved Vegas. He thought he might like retiring in the Carribean, but
it was too primitive. He just got back. He told me there were 8
million ladies in our age group looking for love. “Are you going to
date all of them?” I joked.
There
were some very attractive women dancing. I remember in particular
one tall, long legged woman who was perhaps Cuban. Also, there was a
couple dancing right in front of me in slow and sultry movements with
plenty of body contact. There dance was really making love, his face
in her dyed red hair. Cuban motion is just so sexy. I will see this
girl in my daydreams for a while.
And
old women are grand to watch. They know still how to move. Their
bodies somehow stay very young to the beat and the sound.
They
have signs that there is now a two drink minimum, but I guess that is
for the night. I bought a beer and water, but they came around often
to ask if I wanted more. Then each set I had a beer. It was nice to
be going home on the BHX because it runs from right in front of the
Eastside Cannery for 24 hours. I usually only catch two sets and
take the 202 back to The Gold Coast, but I liked being downtown. The
BHX can be a bit seedy, but it also generally has security guards and
since the conversion from SDX like buses, the driver is available
should any difficulty arise.
My
Spanish is very basic. I did not really get much of the songs. I
should. The words are repeated usually over and over. I wrote down
bits and pieces, but there are so many similar songs that I can't
really find the ones I heard. I wish she had a CD.
“Si
tu te vas
te
vas, te vas” was one I understood, but searching it produced too
many songs about leaving.
It
was a grand last night in Vegas.
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