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Published: January 9th 2009
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New Years Day 2009 - the music starts
It´s been an action-packed start to the year. After a gentle, hungover stroll down Salinas beach in the afternoon with the family,we headed for Chipipe beach again and lazed under a gazebo,reading the paper,drinking coconut juice and splashing in the sea. The sun was fierce and we were fragile and tired so we mostly stayed out of it. Later we said farewell to my suegros who returned to Guayaquil and I nervously began to prepare for my first gig of the year. Would my amp work with its current strange plug? Would there be people? Had the owner remembered? Would he mind that a sax playerI promísed hadnt turned up? Would he pay me regardless? Would I remember how to to play a solo gig? Would I get any response? What should I do in the set? Would I have enough energy?
It took me, the hostal manager Alan, a resident Argentinian retired lawyer called Nestor and my friend Giff to work out a solution to my amp which had the wrong plug. After cutting and rewiring to an old unearthed plug, we tested the gear and it worked. The gig
was at a restaurant right next to our hostal so I popped over to see the owner every now and again and was reassured that it was happening. In fact he asked me to start earlier than planned asthe place sarted filling up by 8pm. I sat in front of the bar next to the noisy, scorching hot and oil and seafood smelling kitchen and began to sing "Garrotta de Ipanema" (the restaurant was called "Ipanema," Omar, the Brazilian owner specially requested it so it had to be done!)
What happened next is mostly told at the www.myspace.com/puravidauk under the blog "Its happening in Ecuador".
Unfortuanately, I have no photos of all the gigs etc... ...
Viviana, Giff and the increasingly drunk Nestor were in the bar behind me a lot of the time, and Omar´s in-laws and extended family gave added support. Sofia danced with the owner´s 2 year old daughter straight in front of me and between the tables and proudly claimed "Es mi cancion" when I sang "Sofia", people passing by in the street stopped and some came in to the obvious delight of Omar; Alan the manager from the hostal next door poked his head in along with the street sellers and security guards. It was an unusual collection of people but it did the job and I had to play an extra exhausted set. And Omar asked for 2 more gigs on the following 2 days. Same thing happened, 2 sets became 3 as the place was so packed the kitchen could hardly cope. I couldn´t believe it, I always thought I was crap solo! The third night I had my friend Cristian Hidrobo coming down to play sax.What a relief! And what a great gig with a great audience! One man left what I thought was a $20 note as a tip on my music stand. When I opened it I saw that it was $40, the biggest individual tip I´ve ever received, $20 each in fact. We sold a few Cds and, although we compromised with some popular songs and standards, the orignal material went down really well, especially a slowed down clearly enunciated "La Ruta del Sol" which celebrates precisely the place we were in. I was shattered,smelled of oil,seafood and sweat but I couldn´t believe it! Omar offered us every Saturday night for the season, being a
businessman, he boasted that we were "a great investment"! Ecuador is my lucky country it seems, though I do not wish to tempt fate.
Douglas"Ruta del Sol" Dillon in Santa Elena
We stopped by Santa Elena to see the ever hospitable Douglas Dillon, his wife Rossana, his son Isaac as well as Douglas´s cousin and family. Douglas Dillon is virtually the creator of "La Ruta del Sol" as a tourist idea. He is son of the owners and ex-manager of the stunning hotel-restaurant "Farallon Dillon" where Vivi and I got married 7 years ago. He makes a lot of things happen and he´s been a good friend for nearly 12 years now. His family of 3 had 11 guests sleeping in his 3 bedroom bungalow house on 4th January. And he and Rosanna "managed " that calmly and admirably. He often tries to tempt me, and now Giff, to set up an English School on his premises in front of his house which already squeezes a small mini-market, cyber-cafe and cheap and simple restaurant. Sometimes the idea is indeed tempting...
But as soon as I get back to Guayaquil,I get a call from the manager of Hotel
Barcelo Colon Miramar (Hilton related and the top hotel in Salinas).Douglas had put me in touch with him a few weeks earlier and I had left my details only to be told they had organised their music already. The manager says he finally listened to my CD and liked the "tropical flavour" but I have a hunch some of his hotel clients saw us at the Ipanema restaurant and word got back to him. He wanted to interview me so I had to return to Salinas the next day (nearly 3 hours door to door by bus and taxi).
5th January anniversary
That night Vivi and I went out to "Arturo´s Cafe", a lovely riverside restaurant in Las Peñas,the oldest part of Guayaquil. Seven years! Viviana still looks young and beautiful and it was a treat to share an evening alone with her while Sofia was looked after by her grandparents. We momentarily dreamed of moving into one of the artists´ houses in LasPeñas. A singer came to our table and sang some traditional boleros and pasillos,such as "Perfidia" and "Nuestro Juramento" and this time we enjoyed it. We met in 1997, became more than friends in 1998
Sofia´s new friends
Douglas´s cousin Omar´s children..! Melanie and Tatiana I think... and got married in UK in October 2001 and then on the beach below Farallon Dillon on 5th January 2002. What a lot of life we have now shared and how time has passed!
The musical future
My "interview" went well, the manager of Hotel Barcelo a friendly Spaniard. Crisitian the saxofonist had advised me to aim high for payment and my first proposal was immediately accepted without a blink or hint of negotiation. A Friday and Saturday early evening residency on the open air patio overlooking the sea at sunset, extremely well paid...I am gobsmacked once again. If it works out, I will be earning a good salary on the warm coast of Ecuador by playing music. Perfect!
Of course I´ll believe it when I see it actually happen ..!
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