I really thought I would be more nervous but the fact is that I felt right at home which in turn put me at ease. I was asked to take a set of five songs but while there another bohemio only had three songs for his sets and asked me if I could share one of mine which I gladly did. I had taken four romantic ballads and one ranchera, well they have yet to hear me sing a ranchera now.
So I got there and started to help them set up, my friend Ramon and his two co-horts (Trio Destino)got there and so did my niece and her dad. Yey, all of a sudden I had a little cheering support there, and spending that time the prior day with Mary, Blanca, and Vicky just set me a different zone.
At around a little past eight Mary took the microphone and welcome everyone to another Bohemian Night gathering and what did she do next? Yeap, she called me (the rookie) to be first which to tell the truth I was happy she did for two reasons. One, because I wanted to get my performance over and done with asap, and two, because after all the other bohemios performed it would be extremely hard to follow their act. It also freed the rest of my time there to concentrate on recording some of their performances.
Everybody there is really talented and it shows how much they love being there and being part of such a tight group. How much they love being there? Just ask this lady and her kids, they come from Whitmann every Friday night just to be there. "Where is Whitmann?" you ask, well let's just say is about an hour away that's where.
I came out with a new respect for the poets. They recite their poetry and I am talking five minute excerpts from memory, and some of them recite more than once excerpt, and here I am not being able to retain not even the lyrics to one song.
But the night belonged to The Trio Destino Three men, three guitars, three awesome voices, combining their individual talents to create one extraordinary sound. While you may see professionals on TV all the time, I prefer and admire more the local non celebrity talent, where people perform for the love their music and not for the love of money. The Bohemian Night is just a gathering of friends sharing their talents with no monetary gain. How awesome is that?
And so it seems to me that once again I have found something else to keep me moving forward, I for one don't want to waste the opportunity of benefiting from such a wonderful support group.