Latin Legends in Washington DC

To all Salseros:

12-12-00

The Legends Band met in our usual place on West 86th St. at 12 noon for Washington. Our usual bus driver Mauricio Bonilla, from Amadeo Bus CO. was NOT there and instead sent a new driver. There was mucho traffic coming into the city this Tuesday and the 3 Jersey musicians all called stuck in traffic. Even when they got here it was an hour to park on the Upper West Side. We left at 1;30 PM. Through the Lincoln tunnel and South on the NJ turnpike we went. Traffic not bad.. We stopped in Delaware for some food and proceeded to Washington.

Washington does NOT have street signs on all corners . The are named after the States, NY, NJ, Conn, Alabama, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania etc etc and the letters of the alphabet and numbers.. BUT the are not consecutive and keep crossing each other.. When we hit Washington it took another hour to get to the Ritz Carlton Hotel on NW 22nd ST due to the size of the bus and badly marked one way streets. We had plenty of time for I knew we started about 9 PM. The occasion was a fund raiser for Kennedy Centers Choral Arts Society in the form of an auction and Black tie,formal Dinner Dance.

A concert at the Kennedy Center was first , then the 800 so odd patrons filed into the ballroom at the Ritz Carlton. This very elegant hotel was very kind to us and provided 2 large rooms for us to change into our tuxedos as well as food and beverages. The stage had everything we required and we did a fast sound check at 7:30 pm. The doors to open at 9pm. We were summoned to play at 9:30 for some of the guests were arriving early. As we mounted the stage all of the electric to the stage and lights went off. I should have taken this as an omen of what was to come.

We played acoustically for about 10 minuets until the stage power was resumed. I had hired an wonderful musician named Benny Rosa, who I had produced many years ago to play sax/flute and sing the top hits of Ricky Martin and Mark Anthony. He did a great job. Lewis Kahn on the violin and the rest of the Legends band played great as ever. Surprisingly the senators, congressman, ambassadors and businessman and their wives were very GOOD dancers and did the Cha cha cash and Mambo as if they had taken 100 lessons at Arthur Murray dance studios. The evening was a huge success. Now the problems started.

After getting paid and changing clothes at 1am we mounted the bus for our return trip to NY. The equipment went on first then the musicians.. We sat down and the driver turned the key and NOTHING>>>>>>>>>>>> I mean not a sound.,. The bus would not start. No Lights , No Heat NOTHING>>>>>>>>>>. The driver tried to get a jump from passing trucks . No help . It seems as he was waiting for us a DC policeman asked him to turn off the motor for it was an air pollution violation in Washington to keep the motor running . When he did It did not start again.......We had the bell captain call a tow truck stating that we were a tour bus with a 24 volt battery. Of course the tow trucks came with 2 12 volt batteries which cannot start a 24 old bus..My friend David Diaz , visiting from Tampa Florida call his gold AAA card . Another tow truck tried..NO Good. It was very cold, No lights , No Heat etc etc etc . So the 15 of us settled into the back lobby of the Ritz Carlton to warm up.. They brought us some coffee. It was now 4 am. I tried to stay cool without getting crazy , We were all tired and had to get to work in the morning. All the musicians parked on the street in NY would be getting $80 parking tickets as well as missing work the next day or maybe getting their cars towed. The Driver was of no help as well as the owner of the bus company who offered to send another bus from NY to get us at 5am .hahahahah..

So I waited until 6am and David drove 3 of us to the airport Budget rent a car and I rented a 15 passenger mini van and a 4 wheel drive and we DROVE to NY at 7am. With my eyes half closed Richie Viruet and I drove 5 hours to NYC. We arrived at 12:30 to find all the cars with tickets and Benny Rose's station wagon broken in to on Amsterdam Ave. and W 88th St. We summoned the police. Richie and I went to return the cars on W 76 St. and I was told (after Richie left) that they did NOT take the 15 passenger van there for it was too big for this garage, so I had to take it to Kennedy airport.. I was NOT in the mood to drive another hour and argued and lost my cool at 1:30 PM. So instead of leaving it on the street and reporting it stolen I drove it to a Budget dealer on East 43 St. and Second Ave. Then took a cab back to my home on the west side. I finally took off my shoes at 3pm..

So much for out trip to Washington DC. The bus company now wants me to PAY them ..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.....Larry Harlow