I just woke up after a really fun gig with my Camaleon bandmate Sergey Proshunin and his stepson, Erik. We played a mix of disco, jazz, reggae, and classic rock, doing a mix of originals and covers. We had a great time and the crowd seemed to really get into it. I wore my hair up inside a cap for half of the gig, because I intended to throw the hat off with a dramatic flourish. Some of the girls started yelling at me to take the hat off. I just laughed...I had my moment picked! (Which was right in the middle of our take on Gershwin's Summertime) But I must say, one problem with suddenly revealing a head of curly, waist-length, reddish hair in the middle of a show where you've already had someone following you around during your breaks is it makes the person follow you around even more. But any girl who plays in bars gets used to that sort of thing and learns very quickly how to deal with it!
Sergey played some pretty impressive bass solos, which the crowd really liked. And can he ever play! I've told him that when he plays, he looks like a kid who has found a cool new toy. Tonight was no different.
It was Erik's first time playing with us, but he fit in very well for a first-timer and will probably join us again.
We also had a guest. I don't know her name, but the restaurant manager asked if she could come up and improvise with us. We said sure! She seemed a bit shy about it, but she had a good voice. And it was fun to watch her, because that was exactly what my first performance with Sergey was like: I had just met Sergey that night, and a mutual friend of ours dared me to go up and perform with him. I said I would only do it if Sergey was cool with it, and he was, so next thing I knew, there was a mic in my hand and I was singing a song I had never heard. And I got to relive that watching this other girl do exactly what I had done...
I wish our friends had been able to take pictures, because it was really a fun, artistic little bar. Red walls, crayon drawings all over them, many of them psychadelic or sexual in nature. And outside on the terrace is one of the best views in Quito. And I think it's safe to say they make some of the best canelazo in Quito. lol (For those of you who have never been to Ecuador, canelazo is a traditional alcoholic apple cider drink.)
