It's really frustrating to be a timba fan in California ...

Here's the latest:

1) No Charanga Habanera - May 7 in LA (Sportsmen's Lodge) and May 8 in SF (Cócomo) are both cancelled.

2) Manolito y su Trabuco - who have their visas in hand will play BOTH of those gigs. If you have tickets, you can either use them to see Trabuco or get a refund at the point of purchase.

3) Yoshi's has cancelled Manolito for May 5 and May 6

On a more positive note I strongly agree with Michelle on those Revé tracks - the rhythm section sounds measurably hotter than Fresquecito, which was easily one of the best albums of the 2000s.

Also, the Ned Sublette Lecture at MoAD in SF is still on for Thursday night, April 29.

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photo by Peter Maiden

Last night produced another torrid show from Salsa Mayor - this time at SF Cócomo. We'll have scads of great photos from Peter Maiden and Tom Ehrlich soon. Those crazy enough to go to both shows reported that Aragón at Yoshi's Oakland was nearly sold out and had absolutely exquisite, tear-inducingly beautiful sound. No such claims were made about Cócomo's sound system, but Oakland's trickles of nostalgic tears were countered by a raging river of testoserone across the Bay. Aragón continues tonight and tomorrow. Meanwhile Salsa Mayor heads to Bellingham tonight and Seattle  Sunday, then back to SF Monday night for a clinic and a new show added Wednesday Night at Oakland's House of Music, and then on to The Reef  in Long Beach (Los Angeles) Thursday. (Click "continue reading" for 2 more photos). [Kevin Moore]

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Things seem pretty turbulent on the US timba tours scene for the moemnt, or at least over no the west coast. The Miami - New York side might be a little calmer. For the time being I'm not even sure what to update and not update in the Tours section for the US tours, so I'm doing nothing. But for those of us here in Europe, things are moving forward more or less as usual. Here's is what seems to be planned so far...with disclaimer for possible changes (there are always changes) in Europe.

If you're having trouble seeing La Charanga Habanera in California, take a summer vacation to Europe and catch them July 13 -  August 8. Havana D'Primera will be back in Europe from May 29 -  June 29th and they already seem to be scheduled for a concert  at the Musicport Festival in England in October, so I guess they'll be back in the fall. Giraldo Piloto & Klímax will be here from  July 6 - August 7. Monika Mesa will be touring with her Maquina Perfecta from June 27 - August 29. Reggeaton fans can see Los Cuatro (Los salvajes)  during July 22 - August 29th. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.

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Yordi Larrazabal

Click here for Tom's first gallery, from Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz. Still to come are galleries from both Tom and Peter Maiden from Café Cócomo in San Francisco.

Book News: The second Pupy Pedroso book is about a week or two away. It's the longest one yet and in the process of writing it, I came across so many clave changes that I decided to add an appendix explaining clave using dancing, singing and clapping exercises. For those who don't want the whole piano book I'm going to release the clave course as a special stand-alone product with a PDF and audio files for one low price. That should be coming out within a couple days. Stay tuned! [Kevin Moore]

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