We attended a benefit for Free the Children last night and got to experience an awesome concert put on by Neeraj Prem.

We don’t have Bachata on our dance program but we like the music and the movement of the dance, so we try to pick bits and pieces of it up here and there.

Perdidos by Monchi y Alexandra is on our list of favourite bachata music. Don’t let Monchi’s cameltoe scare you in this video.

Here’s a nice demonstration (Bachata by Susana Montero).

And here’s one that I’m not sure what to say about…

The autumn leaves have got you thinking
about the first time that you fell
You didn’t love the boy too much, no, no
you just loved the boy too well, Farewell
So you live from day to day, and you dream
about tomorrow, oh.
And the hours go by like minutes
and the shadows come to stay
So you take a little something to
make them go away
And I could have done so many things, baby
If I could only stop my mind from wondrin’ what
I left behind and from worrying ’bout this wasted time
Ooh, another love has come and gone
Ooh, and the years keep rushing on
I remember what you told me before you went out on your own:
“Sometimes to keep it together, we got to leave it alone.”
So you can get on with your search, baby, and I can
get on with mine
And maybe someday we will find, that it wasn’t really
wasted time

– The Eagles, “Wasted Time”, 1994.

We finished up early today so I cranked the volume at my desk and busted some Van Halen (the Balance album from 1995 to be exact). This brought back some memories from that time — as music does. They aren’t good memories, but nostalgia has set in and worn them down a bit.

It was a break-up that wrecked me. My grades went to shit and nobody around me provided any consolation. Nobody, that is, except for my brother, Adrian. As young as he was then, and as much as he felt that I had deserted him in the years just prior to ’95, he helped me. I can’t say that I can sit and think and find one or two specific reasons how he helped me, and I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to either, but I think we actually became brothers then. At the very least, I came to know what it really meant to have a brother.

The years have slipped on — as they do. We’ve both gotten caught up with our own lives and our wives and our pets and our homes. This is as it should be. But I want him to know that he grew me up eleven years ago when he was only 17. I’ve never thanked him for that because it took Sammy Hagar to remind me today of the good that has come of my servitude to the dog days of 1995.

“Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”

– “A River Runs Through It”, 1992.

As the morning casts a thousand bits of sunlight
And they shine like diamonds on the morning dew
I believe that every single one is mine alone to see
And I believe I’m gonna love you

If it seems that there are special stars for lovers
And we see them scattered ‘cross the midnight blue
I believe that out of all this world, they’re meant for you and me
‘Cause I believe I’m gonna love you

I’ll take you to a magic place where no-one’s ever been
Where there’s carpets made of flowers, and music in the wind

If you wonder why I’m giving you these treasures
Because you’re like no-one else I ever knew
I believe that as we walk through time, the best is yet to come
‘Cause I believe I’m gonna love you

‘Cause I believe I’m gonna love you

– Frank Sinatra, 1975.

And that’s how much I know that I love my Girl.

Perhaps Love is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home

Perhaps love is like a window
Perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer
It wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself
And don’t know what to do
The memory of love will see you through

Oh, love to some is like a cloud
To some as strong as steel
For some a way of living
For some a way to feel
And some say love is holding on
And some say letting go
And some say love is everything
And some say they don’t know

Perhaps love is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of Pain
Like a fire when it’s cold outside
Or thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you

And some say love is holding on
And some say letting go
And some say love is everything
And some say they don’t know

Perhaps love is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of Pain
Like a fire when it’s cold outside
Or thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you

– John Denver and Placido Domingo.