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We got to Melt about 9:30 or so, in order to have time to sketch the floor plan and take care of business like that. (We being Nicky, Aaron and I.) On the way in, Nicky held the door for a guy rolling in speakers on a dolly. The staff was waiting for us; this was mostly because everyone else in the group are minors, so unfortunately for them, they got to sport fantastic X’s on their hands for the whole night. We stationed ourselves at a table up against the fountain, in order to be able to see the rest of the room. This put the dance space directly in front of us, as well as the bar, which seemed to be the gathering place for regulars as the night wore on. There weren’t too many people in the restaurant when we arrived. Pretty much everyone there at the time were males, and they were all congregated at the bar in small groups, spread out one on each end and one in the middle. While I sketched, Aaron started taking notes and Nicky took pictures of the establishment decor. I am hoping to get a copy of the seating diagram they have for the restaurant, as it would be nice to compare how they change the seating arrangements for salsa night versus the original order. I ran out to the car to grab more paper and introduced myself to the DJ on the way back inside. I didn’t need to explain much about why we were there before he said he was happy to help us in any way. He gave me his card and told me the radio station he works at (La Ley KAMZ 103.5). He said he would love to do an interview with us and let us look at the music collection, etc. He also said that he has been doing this for a long time, for the sheer enjoyment of it (he has a professional DJ service). Back inside, we sat down as a group and took some notes about the mood and atmosphere, people’s dress, and so on. When we spoke with a manager, originally, we were informed that they had a dress code because their goal is to create an environment like the upscale clubs you can find in big metroplex areas like Miami. However, some of the guys were dressed in jeans and polos, whereas others were wearing nice slacks and collared shirts. The women coming in also were dressed in a variety of clothing styles. So we tried to make note of everything we saw (including the garishly hideous costume wear we were subjected to briefly). While we were getting ourselves organized, a man came over and introduced himself as Jacob. He told us that he and a friend of his were the originators of salsa nights here in town. Basically, he worked for a joint radio station where the music all came out of Los Angeles. The radio station worked out a contract with Jake’s Sports Café whereby the DJ from the station came to do salsa nights at Jake’s. He said that, unfortunately for him, when he left the radio station, Jake’s contract stayed with the station. So he began the salsa night at Melt on Wednesday nights (Jake’s is Thursday nights).
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| Aaron’s Melt Field Notes: September 27, 2006 |
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Our first observation was at
Melt, a bar that has a salsa night every Wednesday. It was
very interesting because the ambiance of the place completely
changed at the commencement of the salsa night that began
at 10:00. Before it started it was a very quite atmosphere and
set up to have a very quiet dinner. 10:00 sharp the music
started and the atmosphere became very loud.
The general feeling about the night was that it was a very open environment and all people were welcome to come and dance. Tables from the middle of the floor had been cleared to make room for the dancing which was slow to pick up despite the abrupt change in ambiance. The night started out with a mostly male population, and the majority of the women that where there showed up some time after the salsa night had officially started. The general look of the place suggests a culture where music and art is something of great importance. The walls had paintings of musicians and other artistic paintings such as people posed in very specific ways. I do not know yet if these pictures are something I may be reading too much in to, but they could have a lot of significant symbolism to this particular sub-culture. Another notable look of the place was a very strong emphasis upon showing off the women, for lack of a better way to describe it. Some of the paintings on the wall where of naked women and all of the waitresses wore clothing that where somewhat revealing, two of which where wearing a corset for a top. Many of the women attending the function where also dressed quite provocatively as well. It seems that this objectifying of women is something that is a strong part of this sub-community as well. From the dress to the communications the waitresses where clearly trying to use what they had in order to help their business. The waitresses where very flirtatious with all of the men, convincing many of them to buy drinks. A good question that I hope to answer later is if this is more of a business or a sub-cultural type of action that is going on. It seems to me at this point that it is defiantly some of both. Upon talking to the man who was in charge of getting salsa night started at melt, he informed us that he had been doing salsa night for 15 years now. Salsa nights originally started at Jakes and he moved it to melt to try and gain a more “authentic” feel. He described salsa as a more upscale kind of music and dancing and said that Jake’s tended to have a more “hip-hop flavor”. He went on to tell us what he does at Melt is very “traditional” and that he expects on most night 100 plus people to come. After speaking with the DJ and the man who started salsa night, it became clear that this is a very tight knit community who all seem to be interconnected some how. The DJ himself told me voluntarily that everybody is related in this business somehow. The entire night everyone we meet there where very open and very inviting. All of them seemed very excited that we were interested in learning about this music that they all seem very passionate about. The DJ (Mario) told me that salsa and the related music are his passion. Because of this, he was very excited that we had taken an interest in it and said that he was more than willing to answer any question to help us out. Although they were all very open and excited about what we were doing, it was clear that they were trying to provide a very specific atmosphere and took precautions with us to insure that we would not be doing anything to make the guests feel uncomfortable, or to ruin the mood of the night. They had asked us to be very careful about taking pictures and ask that we not bother the people that where just there to dance with pictures. This was an area that we gained a lot of trust as the only picture of dancing we took where of each other dancing with the people there. It was interesting to note that the DJ while being interviewed had mentioned that he was only aware of only a couple of DJ’s that could do this kind of an event right. This left me with the question of what does someone have to do in order to do it right. What does he define as a good way to do it, and a bad way to do it? The DJ defined salsa as a music for a more elite group. A type of dance that in most cases would involve needing some lessons. He said because of this salsa tends to be a little less of a popular music among the common people. He said that a favorite in a similar style is the meringue because it is more like a March type of a dance, and is much easier to dance to. I was also very intrigued upon watching the person in charge of the salsa night interact with the people. He went one table at a time and made sure to great every single person that was there. He seemed to have a very relaxed and personal conversation with each one and I believe is part of what may contribute to the tight knit groupof people that seem to surround this community.It seems that they are very interested in seeing this community grow as well. |
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10:15 pm- I arrived at Melt; almost everyone is sitting at the bar. The music is already playing. The room decor is very modern and trendy with bold colors and paintings in the southwestern style. There is a waterfall on one wall. The lighting is dim and there are candles on the tables. The acoustics of the room are very live and the place is fairly noisy. Overall, the atmosphere is very upscale and classy. Mario is the DJ, and Jacob is our first Melt interviewee (started salsa nights in Lubbock about 15 years ago and broke off from Jake’s and their radio station contract because he wanted to move to do something more upscale, so he moved to Melt). Melt is located across the street from the Mercedes Benz dealership on Texas Avenue. Is this relevant to the classy image the owner seeks? The location is probably not an accident. We met the owner of Jake’s at the bar and had a chance to speak with him briefly and explain our project. He seemed very helpful and said he would look for us when we come to Jake’s next Thursday. There was a wide range of ages present- Melt turns 21 and up in the evening, but most people were approximately 23 to 50 years old. 10:38 pm- The first couple (in matching red shirts- dance instructors?) start to dance. Shortly thereafter, a second couple joins in. They dance enthusiastically to merengue and some salsa numbers. The song sets were grouped by type- salsa or merengue- and also by tempo or similar beats so you could dance several songs in a row with as smooth a transition as possible. Apparently, it was a low volume night for Melt, with the Fair going on concurrently. Jacob estimated that on a typical night around 100 people are involved. The really good dancers, according to — ,were not there that evening, although there were several couples who danced what appeared to be rather well. We met several international students, who come from such diverse places as Spain, Germany, Puerto Rico, etc. They were very open and willing to help. We made contact with a photographer from the Daily Toreador named Steve. He was taking pictures for the paper; apparently someone will be writing an article on the Lubbock salsa scene. He did not know who would be writing the article, but he said that he would find out for us. Hopefully we can meet this person and compare information and contacts, just to find out what they are doing and what they had in mind. People mostly came in small groups and stayed in small groups. The younger people tended to mingle and participate more than the older adults present, who mostly stayed seated and only danced occasionally if at all. The older people tended to keep to themselves or only spend time with the one or two people that came with them. Additionally, the same people tended to dance. The people seemed mostly divided into spectators and participators. Those who participated were involved a great deal and only took occasional breaks from dancing. The other people danced once if at all, and mostly stayed occupied talking and drinking on the periphery of the dance floor or at the bar. |
| October 11, 2006 at Melt: Field Notes from Danielle |
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I arrive at Melt around 11 pm. The place is teeming with people, probably because the radio station is broadcasting live from Melt. The place is considerably more busy than usual. It was almost to the point of being crowded, but not uncomfortably so. There was especially a large group of people gathered near the end of the bar near the door. Even several of the booths in the back section of the place were filled. There were many more people out on the dance floor in general. This may just simply be a mathematical reflection of the statistics of more people being there, equals more people dancing. The shock of the evening comes when I see both Cesar and his aunt dance. This is quite startling, coming from the self-proclaimed “non dancer” and his aunt, who always socializes, but never dances. There were also groups of women dancing together. This might reflect the lack of male dancers, or rather the lack of male interest in dancing in general. Many guys are concerned about appearing gay or incompetent when dancing, and thus avoid it. Plus, girls in general are much more inclined to be interested in dancing as a whole. It was interesting how this observed phenomenon actually linked very well to social commentary by Professor Cole, whom Abi and I had interviewed earlier that same day. Apparently, the lack of guys willing to dance is even worse in Spain. Who would’ve known? Tonight, a handful of people actually do dance to the reggaeton when it is played in between salsa and merengue sets. This is unusual to observe, since so many people at Melt describe themselves as traditionalists and seek to preserve the “standards.” However, this phenomenon might be a result of a larger group of people present, and thus a larger pool of musical taste to draw upon, some of whom actually do enjoy participating with the reggaeton music. Other than sheer numbers of people attending, the overall atmosphere of Melt was very similar to what had been felt on earlier visits. Again, the people were friendly and we are no longer constantly bugged with the “why are y’all here?” questions. It is interesting to note that Jacob, the PR man for salsa night at Melt, performs a very similar function to Cesar, the PR man for salsa night at Jakes. Both men meet, greet, and socialize extensively, and make it a point to welcome and talk to each and every person present. Thus, when Cesar attends Melt, he acts in a much less authoritative role than when he is at Jake’s . Each PR man has his realm, and the two do not seem to interfere with each other’s domain. |
| 10/5/2006 Field Report at Jakes by Danielle |
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Aaron, Nicky, and I arrive at Jake’s before 10 pm. This is our first visit to the salsa night at Jake’s. Abi arrives shortly thereafter. The salsa night is held in the back room, so you have to walk through the main seating and bar area to get to the salsa area. It takes a while for the scene to pick up. The room layout is as follows: the dance floor is in the far back of the room (as you walk in), the bar closest to the entry door, the tables between the bar and dance floor. The room is very dark, with smoke inside to make the light show visible. The volume of the music is very loud, so we have to yell just to be heard. Simply in terms of dance, you can get away with not dancing quite so well at Jake’s because the dance floor is mostly dark and on the other side of the room. So, people can’t see you if you mess up or make a fool of yourself. At Melt, however, the dance floor is fairly well lighted and central to the entire place. As a result, everyone can see each step you make and can easily tell if you know what you are doing (or not)...... The social aspect of salsa is very obvious in Jake’s. People mostly come and spend time in large groups. The dance floor was usually crowded and more people seem to be dancing more frequently. This simply may be a factor of age- the crowd at Jake’s mainly consists of college-age students. There are few people in the room over the age of 30. There is also a lot of drinking going on. People drink at Melt, but there we don’t usually see people just guzzling away at the bar like we see at Jake’s. The DJ plays sets of salsa and merengue, broken up by sets of reggaeton and occasionally cumbia. This prompts a hearty “this isn’t salsa!” by my dance partner at the time. Actually, it is more like several hearty “this isn’t salsa!”s. Felix, with whom I was dancing, is from Mexico. Apparently, in Mexico, “salsa” means mostly just salsa and merengue (not reggaeton, which is frequently included in the US and based on hip hop). So, this upsets him to some degree but he just goes along with it and dances anyway. Abi and I try to find the manager of Jake’s, but he is not present. So, we are able to talk to the PR for Jake’s salsa night, Cesar. We actually met Cesar and his aunt (who coincidentally is also Joe’s aunt) previously at Melt. We make preliminary contacts with Cesar and discussed the purpose of our project, in hopes of scheduling an interview at a later date. Cesar’s aunt remembers us and we have a nice conversation with her. She also introduces us to whom she regards as a “salsa queen,” a girl in her mid/late twenties named Celia. Celia is very friendly, and invites Abi and I to dance with her group style during some reggaeton songs. In addition to these contacts, we are able to meet the DJ. Abi, Aaron, and I are able to dance more than in our recent excursions, partly because of the dance-friendly environment and partly because we know quite a few Tech students who are also at the salsa night. Thus, we are able to do much more participating than in previous observations. |
| October 17, 2006 Rec. Center Beginner Salsa Dance Class, by Aaron |
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Dance lessons are offered at the rec, which includes salsa dancing. The group signed up and have started going. Because of my tardiness in posting my field notes, I am going to combine my first two experiences at the dance lessons. The room is a long ballet style room with mirrors all across the front wall. We have two dance instructors who are willing to let us video tape the class, with the consent of the rec, and have allowed us to hand out serves to the people who have decided to attend the class. Both dance instructors are Hispanic, and have heavy accents. This makes me wonder if there primary language is Spanish. If this is the case, I think it would be great to hear from them what some of there favorite songs are (not a bad idea anyway) and find out what these songs are about. Maybe we can find a pattern in the type of music they like to what the songs are about. When the class was ready to start the instructors started out the class by teaching what they call the basic. The basic is the dance pattern that dancers do throughout the dance. The basic goes as follows, with the left leg (if you’re the guy) step forward make a small step with the right, and then step back with the left leg to where you where before. Then you step back with your right make a small step with your left, and return your right leg to where you started. This three beat pattern is done in a “cha cha cha” kind of beat. The instructors went around to everybody in the room to make sure that everyone was getting alright, they do this after every new dance move they teach. After the basic was learned, they then taught the first dance move, which was a turn. First they taught how to turn the ladies, and then they taught the men how to turn themselves. It was explained that in salsa dancing the man always leads. This was all the class had time for, except for the introduction into what we where going to learn next time, because the class was surprisingly full. My wife tried to sign up for the class and was not allowed because there was no more space left in it. On the second day of class, they did a lot of review. It started out by simply going over the basic again and then shortly reviewing the turn. Most people where able to start reviewing turns immediately again as it was still remembered by most from the last week. After everyone was warmed up, they then moved right into the move that they had only introduced in the last class that is called the “cross body lead”. This is where the dance partners switch what side they are dancing on. Basically, the guy step to the side and the girl moves past him while the guy keeps the basic going to the song. In addition to simply moving past the guy, they also quickly added spinning the girl while in the process of going by. After everyone got the hang of this, which was the majority of the class period, the instructors moved on the next step of this dance move, which is to make the girl do a double spin. This is where the girl spins twice while going past the guy. Although it seems pretty simple, it is a lot harder to stay on the beat and complete the move on time. It requires very specific timing and it also requires the girl to have to spin pretty fast. It is my observation, after the first two sessions that a lot of the people who are at these dance classes are not just hear to learn salsa. We have just giving the survey and are not sure what are conclusion are yet as to why everyone is taking the class, but it seems to me that this is what my wife had referred to it as “single mingle time”. In other words, it seems like a lot of people are taking the class to try to meet a significant other. There are a lot of singles out there and it is a shy awkward environment around many of the people in the class. It will be interesting to try and find out how important learning salsa really is to the majority of the students taking the class. It is always possible that they really are very interested in learning salsa and they can simply try and kill two birds with one stone. I am curious to find out if the large number of participants stays high throughout the rest of the classes. |
| Jake's 10/5/2006 by Aaron |
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My second stop was at Jakes sports café where they have a salsa night every Thursday night. The event is held in a very large back room. The atmosphere of the place was both very similar and different to Melt. Jakes had a much larger space to hold the event, as far as square feet. There was a bigger dance floor and more tables to sit at. Despite this fact, there really weren’t that many more people in attendance. The environment set up was defiantly a much more casual feeling affair. Everything from the dress, to the general behavior of the people there suggested a much less formal feeling. Although Melt is not a formal event, like I said, they have a stricter dress code and the focus seemed to be more on the dancing, where as at Jakes, the focus seemed to be much more centralized around the drinking and having fun dancing as well. The music played at Jakes was in a much greater variety than what we experienced at Melt. They where playing several other genres such as rigaton and rap. Not all of the music was even in Spanish. The people who where there seemed to be a much larger crowd of “outsiders”. I believe this was the case based on the number of people dancing, and the popularity of the songs of which the most people where going out to dance to. The crowd favorites where the rap songs and things that where not even in Spanish. Although there where some definite insiders there as well as we witnessed some very good salsa dancers! In addition to these differences there where also some stark similarities that I believe bear the greatest significance of all the data we gathered. The greatest of these was some of the salsa and meringue tunes that where played at melt and Jakes multiple times. It will be important to get more information about these pieces in our next visit with the DJ’s. The information we will need to include is why these songs are the more popular songs, what are the translations into English, and other information about it that may be significant. The atmosphere in which both events took place where very similar as they where both in a dark bar setting. Is there a correlation between this setting and salsa music? Why do these setting seem to pair up? Is it just coincidence? Are other salsa dancing places not in a bar kind of setting? All questions that could be answered by some of your primary contacts that we are continuing to make contact with. As a final note I think it is important to note that when we where dancing and observing this time, I noticed that meringue dancing can be very similar to that of a swing dance. I was doing swing dancing during some of these songs and fitting right in with some of the moves that where taking place with some of the other people that where dancing. |
| October 17th and 24th, 2006: Salsa Class at the Rec., by Aaron |
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Dance lessons are offered at the rec, which includes salsa dancing. The group signed up and have started going. Because of my tardiness in posting my field notes, I am going to combine my first two experiences at the dance lessons. The room is a long ballet style room with mirrors all across the front wall. We have two dance instructors who are willing to let us video tape the class, with the consent of the rec, and have allowed us to hand out serves to the people who have decided to attend the class. Both dance instructors are Hispanic, and have heavy accents. This makes me wonder if there primary language is Spanish. If this is the case, I think it would be great to hear from them what some of there favorite songs are (not a bad idea anyway) and find out what these songs are about. Maybe we can find a pattern in the type of music they like to what the songs are about. When the class was ready to start the instructors started out the class by teaching what they call the basic. The basic is the dance pattern that dancers do throughout the dance. The basic goes as follows, with the left leg (if you’re the guy) step forward make a small step with the right, and then step back with the left leg to where you where before. Then you step back with your right make a small step with your left, and return your right leg to where you started. This three beat pattern is done in a “cha cha cha” kind of beat. The instructors went around to everybody in the room to make sure that everyone was getting alright, they do this after every new dance move they teach. After the basic was learned, they then taught the first dance move, which was a turn. First they taught how to turn the ladies, and then they taught the men how to turn themselves. It was explained that in salsa dancing the man always leads. This was all the class had time for, except for the introduction into what we where going to learn next time, because the class was surprisingly full. My wife tried to sign up for the class and was not allowed because there was no more space left in it. On the second day of class, they did a lot of review. It started out by simply going over the basic again and then shortly reviewing the turn. Most people where able to start reviewing turns immediately again as it was still remembered by most from the last week. After everyone was warmed up, they then moved right into the move that they had only introduced in the last class that is called the “cross body lead”. This is where the dance partners switch what side they are dancing on. Basically, the guy step to the side and the girl moves past him while the guy keeps the basic going to the song. In addition to simply moving past the guy, they also quickly added spinning the girl while in the process of going by. After everyone got the hang of this, which was the majority of the class period, the instructors moved on the next step of this dance move, which is to make the girl do a double spin. This is where the girl spins twice while going past the guy. Although it seems pretty simple, it is a lot harder to stay on the beat and complete the move on time. It requires very specific timing and it also requires the girl to have to spin pretty fast. It is my observation, after the first two sessions that a lot of the people who are at these dance classes are not just here to learn salsa. We have just giving the survey and are not sure what are conclusion are yet as to why everyone is taking the class, but it seems to me that this is what my wife had referred to it as “single mingle time”. In other words, it seems like a lot of people are taking the class to try to meet a significant other. There are a lot of singles out there and it is a shy awkward environment around many of the people in the class. It will be interesting to try and find out how important learning salsa really is to the majority of the students taking the class. It is always possible that they really are very interested in learning salsa and they can simply try and kill two birds with one stone. I am curious to find out if the large number of participants stays high throughout the rest of the classes. |
| October 5, 2006: Fieldwork at Jake's, by Danielle |
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Aaron, Nicky, and I arrive at Jake’s before 10 pm. This is our first visit to the salsa night at Jake’s. Abi arrives shortly thereafter. The salsa night is held in the back room, so you have to walk through the main seating and bar area to get to the salsa area. It takes a while for the scene to pick up. The room layout is as follows: the dance floor is in the far back of the room (as you walk in), the bar closest to the entry door, the tables between the bar and dance floor. The room is very dark, with smoke inside to make the light show visible. The volume of the music is very loud, so we have to yell just to be heard. Simply in terms of dance, you can get away with not dancing quite so well at Jake’s because the dance floor is mostly dark and on the other side of the room. So, people can’t see you if you mess up or make a fool of yourself. At Melt, however, the dance floor is fairly well lighted and central to the entire place. As a result, everyone can see each step you make and can easily tell if you know what you are doing (or not)...... The social aspect of salsa is very obvious in Jake’s. People mostly come and spend time in large groups. The dance floor was usually crowded and more people seem to be dancing more frequently. This simply may be a factor of age- the crowd at Jake’s mainly consists of college-age students. There are few people in the room over the age of 30. There is also a lot of drinking going on. People drink at Melt, but there we don’t usually see people just guzzling away at the bar like we see at Jake’s. The DJ plays sets of salsa and merengue, broken up by sets of reggaeton and occasionally cumbia. This prompts a hearty “this isn’t salsa!” by my dance partner at the time. Actually, it is more like several hearty “this isn’t salsa!”s. Felix, with whom I was dancing, is from Mexico. Apparently, in Mexico, “salsa” means mostly just salsa and merengue (not reggaeton, which is frequently included in the US and based on hip hop). So, this upsets him to some degree but he just goes along with it and dances anyway. Abi and I try to find the manager of Jake’s, but he is not present. So, we are able to talk to the PR for Jake’s salsa night, Cesar. We actually met Cesar and his aunt (who coincidentally is also Joe’s aunt) previously at Melt. We make preliminary contacts with Cesar and discussed the purpose of our project, in hopes of scheduling an interview at a later date. Cesar’s aunt remembers us and we have a nice conversation with her. She also introduces us to whom she regards as a “salsa queen,” a girl in her mid/late twenties named Celia. Celia is very friendly, and invites Abi and I to dance with her group style during some reggaeton songs. In addition to these contacts, we are able to meet the DJ. Abi, Aaron, and I are able to dance more than in our recent excursions, partly because of the dance-friendly environment and partly because we know quite a few Tech students who are also at the salsa night. Thus, we are able to do much more participating than in previous observations. |
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The salsa night at Jake's was set up quite differently from Melt. At Melt, the building is smaller and the dance floor is the main attraction. At Jake's, the salsa night was in the back room and there was a $5 cover charge for the men to get in. The front part of Jake's was all a well-lit sports bar/ restaurant where you could get food and drink, and watch TV. The back room was very dark, very smoky, with its own bar and a small dance floor up next to a stage, which was not in use. There was a DJ from a local radio station there in charge of the music. Abi and I talked with him and he gave us the information necessary to set up an interview at some other time because the music was just too loud for an interview to take place efficiently.
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Tonight things seemed to move a little more slowly on the dance floor.
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Melt is right next to Shooters, on Texas Ave. It was a little on the small side, but had a very classy atmosphere. Lighting was dim and tables used during restaurant hours were moved out of the way to make an area for a small dance floor. There was a large floor to ceiling fountain that divided the room into two unequal sections. On either side of the fountain were open doorways that led to a small room with cushioned booths lining the walls and two flat screen tvs were situated on the back side of the wall that held the fountain.
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Tonight I took a video camera. I had to use the night vision option because it was too dark to film regularly inside. I arrived at 10:30pm and had to explain at the door why I was there and that I was underage. I think everyone in the group has just started saying "I'm with the project.", and they let us in. Naturally, I got a nice permanent marker "x" on my hand since everyone else in the place has to be over 21. The dancing didn't really pick up until after Danielle, Abi, and Aaron were all here and I got quite a bit of it on film.
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Our group attended the first Beginner Salsa Dance class at the Student Rec. It's an evening class, and though it was cancelled previously due to lack of enrollment, there were plenty of people in the room when my group arrived. Abi had been planning to do a survey of people in the class and we started wondering how soon her printer would run out of ink as people trickled through the doors to the classroom. I think the final tally, with our group included, was over 35 people.
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I missed class #2, when everyone learned the cross-body lead, so I had a bit of catching up to do. The guy I wound up dancing with had taken dancing classes before, and that worked out fairly well because he has made it to all the classes and helped me figure out what was going on.
In this class, the level of complexity in the dancing skyrocketed. (It wasn't just me, either.)
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I arrived a little earlier than everyone else tonight, so the kitchen was still open. I took a look at a menu and ordered an appetizer to snack on while I was waiting for things to start happening. It turns out that the menu at Melt is a little on the expensive side, and very clearly sends the message that Melt is a “nice” restaurant. The appetizers were priced from $4.99 - $7.99, the “blue collar” plates like burgers ran from $7.99 and up, and the salads, grill items and nicer dinners ran from $12.99 and up. There were also several pages in the back featuring an extensive wine list along with the mixed drinks you see on the mini-menu that’s left on the tables after the kitchen closes. |
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Southbeach is in the depot district (should that be capitalized?) just like Melt. Unlike Melt, they charge cover. For those 21 and over, it’s $5. For those of us under 21, it’s $10. I guess they’re making up for the money I don’t spend on alcohol. Southbeach is just as dark on the inside as Jake’s, but it’s a bigger space and less smoky than Jake’s was. The dance floor at Southbeach is right smack in the middle of the building, with bars on the far ends. Bathrooms are hidden behind on of the six sets of staircases that lead up to a balcony area that circles the inside perimeter of the building. The balcony area provides a good view of the dance floor and the stage, so that’s where Aaron and I sat. |
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Tonight was our second night at Jake’s. Our first discovery of the night was the fact that cover is not the same for those under 21 as it is for those who are 21 or above. I actually thought the guy collecting the money was joking when he said it was $10 for Danielle to get in, but he wasn’t. Rather taken aback by this bit of information, I offered to pay for Danielle since she had to wait for me to finish some other work in order for us to drive together. (Cover is charged beginning at 10 pm). Armed with wristbands and the appropriate stinky permanent marker Xs for those who had to have them, we proceeded into the room and located a table.
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This was our fourth week at Melt, after having skipped one salsa night due to the fact that it was the night right before our midterm. Danielle and I felt right at home; one week’s absence did not have a negative impact on our acceptance in the community. We spent more time tonight watching people than dancing, both of us being fairly tired.
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Tonight, I arrived at Jake’s much later than I had originally planned, due to having to stay at home with my family. When I finally arrived, I was pleased to discover that I’ve been enough times that the people who collect cover at the door recognized me. They even said hello and asked how I was doing, how school and the project were going, etc. After the small talk, they waved me on in and told me to have a good night. I joined the table with Danielle and a few other students we know from Tech.
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This was the final night at Jake’s, for fieldwork purposes at least. When I finally arrived, I got a small surprise because cover was apparently free for women. Hooray for unforeseen money saving, even if it was only $5.
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Tonight, Nicky and I arrived closer to 10:00 (this being after she had to wait for me in the parking lot and very kindly stood in a parking space until I got there). The music was already going when we went inside and there seemed to be more people in the building than there were at the same time last week. I found it interesting that I could immediately observe that most people present we did not recognize, even though we had only been there one other time. In fact, excluding the people who worked there, the only person we actually knew was Jacob. The nice thing was that he immediately recognized us, even when the restaurant staff didn’t, and told them that we were okay, to let us in, etc. This was highly significant because he is clearly the person in charge, regardless of the fact that he is not the manager or owner of the restaurant. He even asked us how all of our research was going and if we were finding the information we were looking for; before we went to sit down, he told us again to let him know if there was anything we needed. After situating ourselves at one of the little round corner tables, the same waitress we had last week came over and brought us water. She introduced herself (Jovonne) and asked us what class our project was for; she even asked us to explain ethnomusicology so she could understand what kinds of information we are seeking and the point of our fieldwork. This was definitely different from last week, where we were still clearly “outsiders.” It almost seemed like, at least in terms of the wait staff, that we had already been accepted as regulars. On a funny aside note, we have apparently been termed “the project.” I can’t decide whether this can be construed as simply an easy way to identify us to the people who need to know who we are to allow our entrance (i.e. the staff), or whether they think that we literally ARE the project – i.e. we are the people being worked on, being taught, etc. I am inclined to think it is a little of both.
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| Collaborative Field Report by Aaron, Abi, and Danielle | ||||
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Upon going to Melt this time we have discovered a new event that is happening. After talking to Jacob we found out that they are having dance competitions for about the next month. He said that they would take the winner of every night and have a big final with a live band. Apparently they will have to go to San Antonio or El Paso in order to find a band to do the gig. This is a huge insight into the sub-community because it defiantly says that the Lubbock salsa community does not place much emphasis on live performing, but more so on dancing and socializing. The winners will be awarded their own private salsa night at Melt.
In addition, the dance competition has made us suspicious as to a possible reason as to why we have not been seeing as many of the regulars the last couple of weeks. It is our suspicion that the regulars knew about the up and coming dance competition and did not want to be a part of this. If we continue to find that this is the case, it could lead us to another crucial insight that what goes on in this community is something that is not meant to be competitive, and is something that the regulars will not support. This shows an even greater emphasis on brotherhood, as well as the importance of space. These people obviously have a tradition, and use this time as an opportunity for these people to get together and have fun with one another. If our suspicion is correct, it is very likely that the dance competition is being viewed as a violation of space from outsiders and others who are making a friendly environment competitive, which was not the intent of the regulars.
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