Tango 'Til You're Sore
There's no better way for me to work my problems out than to get another perspective. I am a perfectionist. I easily get mired in perfecting every menial task, often losing sight of the bigger picture, resulting in a mental state akin to finding one's way around a foggy London street.
This weekend, on the balcony at the Red Devil Lounge, the fog in my mind mind lifted and everything came back into focus. Like always, it was music that brought on this clarity.
Some friends from the east coast came through San Francisco, and I'd invited them to the bar to see the headlining band, Loop!Station. This duo's technical expertise in both their instruments and the looping technology is a wonder to behold in real time. Though each song starts out with one cello and one voice, they utilize effects pedals to record and loop parts over each other, resulting in powerful symphonic overtures or catchy almost-pop songs.
As the group played my favorite song of theirs (embedded here for your listening pleasure), a couple began dancing in the empty space behind the crowd. They careened around people getting drinks at the bar and/or looking for the restroom, weaving their impromptu mostly-tango partly-salsa stylings together into a loosely knit shawl. And true, their technique was just as awkward as that analogy, but hell, I still thought it was beautiful.
After the dance and song was over, the man asked the woman for her number. It reminded me of Swingers.
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