Tom's photos of Pupy y Los Que Son Son in San Francisco are up. You can also see his photos from Cócomo here. The Oakland photos are still coming.

Meanwhile, Gabriel of Yemayá's Verse is going wild on the island, with many posts since the last time I linked to her site.

And of course, don't forget REVÉ AT YOSHI'S all weekend.

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Video killed the radio star.

MP3s killed the CD.

DJs killed live music.

But then again, there's DJ Walt Digz - the DJ musicians love because he always plays the tracks they didn't even know they needed to hear yet ... the DJ who's put together a LIVE, real, timba band with the very cream of the cream of the real musicians of the Bay Area scene - Carlos Caro, Colin Douglas, Marco Díaz, Ayla Dávila, Jason Möen, Erick Barbería, Orlando Torriente ... the list goes on ... the best person in every chair. We'll have a section for them soon, but their first big show is this Saturday, at Jelly's, Saturday, July 3rd.

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Last night's double sellout at Yoshi's Oakland was the longest, hottest night of the tour, featuring a blistering special request version of El pregonero, great guest solos from John Calloway and Jesús Díaz, and an unbelievable dance appearance by folkloric master José Barroso.  It doesn't get better than this.

Tonight they play one night only at The Salsa Room in Arlington Virginia.  Don't miss it - Obama and Michelle Bachman are both scheduled to sit in on congas.

Tomorrow, Sunday, Pupy returns for another show in New York at SOBs.

Tuesday they'll be at Boston's Wilbur Theater. 

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photos by Tom Ehrlich

It gets hotter every night. I've seen every Bay Area show and will definitely be at Yoshi's Oakland for the grand climax tonight. Los Que Son Son has always had one of the most torrid grooves of any timba band but their new style is a quantum leap forward, featuring the pedales and bombas of bassist Daymar Calvario ("the cavalry is coming!"), Miguelito Escuriola, Duniesky Barreto and founding member Bombón Reyes, who of course also played in the legendary 2000 Issac band.

When the bass starts to pedal, slide or thump, the energy level simply goes through the roof and it happens repeatedly on every song. In my geeky opinion, this is the factor that was missing in both Pupy and Van Van - they made up for it with a relentless basic groove and masterpiece songs, but adding the "gear" factor is the pièce de resistance.

Percussion solos are a regular part of the show and Pupy's solo on La bomba soy yo  has brought the house down nightly. There was even a baby bass solo one night in SF. Many Bay stars have sat in, highlighted by Fito Reinoso, Rebeca Mauleón, John Santos and Carol Steele. Members of the Terry family are supposedly still in town and we're hoping for a last-minute guest appearance from the world's greatest chékere player.

See you tonight! Next tour stops are Washington DC and Boston. The band returns to Havana on July 2.

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