Sam's Sounds: Virginia Beach Latin Music Festival

The Hardee's Latin Festival in Virginia Beach is two afternoons and evenings of music by the water. Which by itself is a reason to go, but I went as part of my research, traveling with the band Ultimanota by car 6 hours north from Charlotte. One of the goals of my study (or at least this is what I wrote in my grant proposals) was to document the "going on tour" experience. So far, I hadn't had an opportunity to travel with bands, but I hitched a ride last weekend.

Attending the festival was important because several bands from Charlotte were booked to play there. In fact, for a few hours on Saturday, the hotel where we stayed took on a reunion atmosphere as band members from Banda Tecno Caliente, Leydy Bonilla & Bachata Flow, and Soul Brasil all passed through. The other (non-Charlotte) groups included Locos por Juana and Mala Fe. The crowd was impressive, especially at night, with a lot of Puerto Ricans, some Mexicans, some Brazilians, and a diverse mix of everybody else.

In the end, we returned exhausted but with plenty of stories, some of which I can share here:

1. You can learn a lot about musicians' influences by spending hours in a car listening to each others ipods and debating who has the better song selection.

2. A good way to save money on such a trip is to find an all-you-can-eat BBQ place for lunch, fill up, and skip dinner.

3. A Brazilian group is good, but having professional samba dancers go into the crowd is the best way to get people dancing.

4. Reinaldo from Soul Brasil was supposed to play a couple of songs with Ultimanota, but just before the set, he reached into his bag, cut his finger on a razor, and started bleeding profusely. Good thing another musician from his band was talented enough to step in his place.

5. Four passengers giving directions at the same time is not always helpful, but GPS on a phone is.

Here are some photos of the weekend.

Leaving Charlotte-