AUTHOR: SalsaCrazy TITLE: Salsa Dance Thoughts, Street Fairs, and A Great July! DATE: Monday, June 27, 2005 ----- BODY:

First, a meandering diatribe on the Fillmore Street Jazz Festival, which takes place next weekend. After seeing my friends over at SwingTalk/SwingDancers had a booth last year, I was intent on getting a booth this year. SalsaCrazy was going to be there in force - a perfect fit for a jazz festival which rarely includes much, if any, latin jazz (although they've had Pete in the past). Unfortunately, I was told that in order to be present we'd have to pay a sponsorship fee, versus a table fee - about a 6x difference. Well, after asking why, I wasn't really given an adequate answer, especially since the swing dancers just have a regular booth - "swing has more to do with the event". What? So Swing dancing has more to do with a jazz festival than salsa, or latin? Anti-salsa? Then it switched to "we weren't craftsmen or artisans" - which I really can't agree with either. Stange, I think a salsa booth would have been a total hit at the fair. Well, this really got me going - but the long and short of it is - we won't be there. There's always next year right? We will try again.

Now, we are still looking for people intersted in canvassing/flyering the fair. It pays $10 an hour, and work is from 11-5, on both days. You need to be presentable, charismatic, and of course, fun. You need to be able to smile for a few hours at a time, and you don't need to know how to salsa dance. If you, or anyone you know fits the bill, have them contact: baysalsa@yahoo.com.

Ok, now on to the busiess at hand! What to look forwad to next week and next month, in the world of salsa. First, one of my favorites, Avance, is at Glas Kat this week, followed by Top of the Mark on Wednesday (the classiest venue in SF, at least before Monte Cristo opened), Orq. Sensual at Cafe Cocomo on Thursday (love em - smooth groove music), and Ricardo Lemvo at Yoshis the coming weekend.

As mentioned before, the following week will bring Sonora Carruseles to Jillians, and Victor Manuelle to the Gift Center! Also, in Pena Adobe Park, a HUGE lineup of salsa bands, including Ray De La Paz, Johny Polanco, Verdad, Sensual, etc . . . coming on Saturday, July 16th, called the Festival de la Isla! Followed by Avance at Monte Cristo, and a brand new dance floor (too cool), unveiled during a customer appreciation night (FREE) at Cocomo!

But wait, is that all? Not by a longshot! Check out the upcoming August Palm Springs trip. Great event, with fantastic dancing, at a beautiful resort venue. http://www.salsacrazy.com/palmsprings_2005.htm.

And then, there's the biggest thing of all, our fantastic SalsaCrazy cruise to the Caribbean (again), but this time, out of Miami and Calle Ocho! This fantastic cruise in March of 2006 is already filling up. You need to get started on this thing now, reserve your space, and plan out your trip. There's a 1-866 # to call, and you can find all the information about the trip and the ports of call at, http://www.salsacrazy.com/travel/. Don't forget to tell them "SalsaCrazy referred you", for the best rates, and to save $100 per cabin. :)

But, hold everything, could there be more? Can there actually be any more happening? Of course there's more, but you'll have to wait for the next update to hear about it!

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