salsa1

Saturday night I was walking on my way to meet friends for dinner (at Deep Sushi(great photos in that link)) when I was distracted by sound and a shiny, non-descript storefront. It sounded like Salsa to me. I opened the door and it was like when you open a portal to another time and space. In a tiny basement, an entire 10-piece band was playing Cuban Salsa. The center of the basement was packed with older couples (women in red backless dresses, men in striped suits) dancing wildly surrounded by a crowd of admirers rocking back and forth to the music. The little basement was alive and the whole thing had a sense of spontaneity to it, as if this had all erupted suddenly and was apt to disappear. Sure enough, when I went by later that night to show some friends, all we found was a sleepy basement bar with a few people idly playing around a large pool table. It could have all been imagined by me but luckily I managed to snap a couple pictures with my cameraphone.