Gipsy Kings

Have you ever heard of Wolf Trap in the Washington, DC area? I have and it seemed like a magical place. All kinds of performers work there, sort of like the Hollywood Bowl or Greek Theater in LA. One of the nice feature of it is a huge lawn area where people who can get up after sitting down on the lawn can watch the show at a reduced rate. That is not me or my brother. In the picture above you can see the masses of people on the lawn. We were in the amphitheater seating area with the roof over it. There are no box seats that take up a lot of room (like the Bowl.) At the Hollywood Bowl they have boxes and benches. At Wolf Trap, they have real theater type seats. Nice

Cindy got us tickets to the Gipsy Kings. I love them. I'd sometimes play the CD at work and sing along. I sing horribly. And I knew none of the words. None. But their amazing Rumba Flamenco rhythms would get me bouncing in my seat. How patient were those guys who worked with me? Do you think they would have told me to shut up if I wasn't their boss? (Actually one did ask me to talk more softly. Fat chance.)

The Gipsy Kings were great. They sang a few of my favorites and a lot I'd never heard before, but it was all good. Eric said they were mariachi. I said that would be difficult because they are from Spain. Both of us were wrong. I learned that night when we got home that they are from Arles, France! Who knew? Their parent fled Franco's Spain before WWII. These guys grew up in the Camargue, the region that we took the canal boat through a couple of years ago. So interesting. Knowing all this does not make their music any better or worse. It just means that I don't know the words to the songs in a different language. I still believe that they speak Spanish, because the song titles seem to be pretty Spanish to me.

Whatever. Great music, great night. Thanks for getting me out to Wolf Trap, Cindy