Tango Tom (aka Tall Tom) in Argentina to every one except the ManMags so it is published for all to read

> From: TallTom2


> Sent: Wed,=2
> 011 Feb 2009 9:50:33 PM Eastern Standard Time
> Subject: Argentine Tango In Buenos Aires
>
> OKay
>
> Let me tell you dancers and former and future dancers about Argentine
> Tango
> in Argentina.
>
> First, we thought we were kindergartners in a PhD dance.
> We were wrong,
> We are preschoolers.
>
> They dance "close embrace" here, different from what Juan, Jean, and
> even
> Martin teach, I mean CLOSE embrace. Little room for the legs to do
> much
> maneuvering, you have to know what you are doing.
>
> Good news is at the Miliongas they don't usually show off much, they
> just
> caminar (tango walk) a lot. But before and after our classes the
> teachers
> practicing demonstrations are something ELSE.
>
> So let me give you a brief synopsis of our first three days:
>
> 1. A day of registration (students from Canada mostly, USA, Turkey,
> Netherlands, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, France and some other
> places), then
> poetry, a reading of "The Imprint of Your Embrace" (and while I
> usually
> fall asleep in poetry readings, even when accompanied by a guitar as
> this was, I
> stayed awake, it was pretty good), followed by an impassioned talk by
> an
> Argentine tango-music expert about the history of the music through the
> decades. His preference was for the music that "caresses your soul"
> rather
> than that which is easy to dance to. His view is that tango is about
> passion and emoti
> on. He wants us to learn steps and technique
> only in order to forget it, so we can be paying attention to the music
> and
> move our feet and bodies automatically rather than thinking about
> them. He
> laments that tango dancers -- even in Argentina --are not sensitive
> enough. He said the golden era of tango was 1945 to 1955, when two
> million
> our of three million Buenos Aires residents would dance tango every
> weekend and there were many creative composers and bands. But then in
> 1955, Rock and Roll hit the scene and stole the kids, and a new regime
> came in
> that made people in Argentina afraid to gather together.
>
> 2. First day of lessons concentrated on tango walking explained
> through concepts and metaphors like Jean uses. You balance on one leg,
> "like a column." You gradually transfer weight, "like transferring
> water
> from one cup to another without spilling it" and others. I went to a
> Milonga that night for a couple of hours,while others stayed until 2 or
> 3 am,
> and was a little disappointed at the lack of traveling compared to,
> say, the
> Tango Room in Sherman Oaks. But the place had ambiance to
> spare, kind of like a Granada in Alhambra but three times bigger and
> filled not only with most of our teachers and students, but real live
> honest-to-goodness Argentines who loved to dance Argentine Tango. I
> danced
> twice with a Perth, Australia, woman who is so good=2
> 0that she and her
> dance
> partner teache beginners down there (for free because she loves it so
> much). I tried one dance called the Milonga (a fast dance predecessor
> to
> the Tango) with an advanced student from Germany who has been dancing
> Argentine
> Tango for 10 years. Despite my hours of preparation at home, I lost it
> all
> in the pressure of the moment and we both mutually and ageeably decided
> to call
> it quits mid-dance as we had different conceptions of what to do. Our
> teacher that day had taught us to dance 1 regularly with the beat, and
> then 2
> slowly with the melody, and 3 finally very quickly with the rhythm.
> Like
> Lou these days, she emphasized listening to and responding to the
> music.
> So Lou's advanced foxtrot of super slow (melody), slow (beat), and
> quick
> (rhythm) steps came in quite handy.
>
> 3. Second day of lessons taught a new way of coming from close
> embrace caminar to a crusada (crossed feet) and that sounds simple and
> to the
> teacher it was simple but not to us. Nor was the crucial concept of
> transferring the woman's weight from one side to the other by only
> a chest
> lead while staying still with the leader's own feet. Seems simple to
> those
> who know it and can do it, but to us beginners it is like climbing
> Mount
> Everest. Sometimes we wonder if David and Diana have it right about
> this
> dance being too tough. Our
> German friend told us that she has been
> enjoying dancing the tango for six years now, and that it just took her
> four
> years of frustration to get to the level of enjoyment. She said to
> hang in
> there.
>
> So tonight we had a very special dinner and ate in a trendy
> neighborhood at
> a Peruvian restaurant open only for two weeks.
>
> Beautiful courtyard setting with beautiful flowers and plants, and a
> full
> moon and beautiful clouds and good American music in the background
> while an Irish-Peruvian waiter who had worked and Lived in New York and
> spoke
> perfect English (something we desperately needed) lavished attention on
> us, as
> we were the only customers until about 9:50 pm. So we had the place to
> ourselves for an hour and a half and great food and service.
> Argentines
> don't even start coming till about 10, before that it is just tourists.
>
> So wish you were here
> So you could share these lessons with us
> And tell us
> "What did she just say to do? How did she do
> that? Does she expect us to do that?"
> Again, as the saying goes, wish you were here.
> Tom
> Well our Argentine trip is almost over.
>
> We mini treked over a beautiful glacier on crampons day before
> yesterday and were treated at the end by a small wooden table and chair
> on the edge of the glacier with scotch and (glacier)) water and
> chocolate argentine cookies for everyone.
>
> Next day we cruised amounng icebergs that had "calved" off the three or
> four glaciers that feed into Argentina's largest lake, Lago Argentino,
>
> Today we cruised again past the myriad of floating bergs to visit an
> Estancia (ranch) founded 100 years ago by an Englishman and his wife.
> If anyone needs space to build, come to Patagonia, as it has miles and
> miles of wide open spaces.
>
> Tomorrow we come back to Buenos Aires for a night (will try to talk
> Paula into an afternoon Milonga at the Bar Ideal) and will be home
> monday in time for Walk in Dance Out Monday night. Heard it has been
> raining so my tennis friends say I did not miss much. Great weather
> here. Only one day of rain when we were in BA.
>
> Tom
>
>

Party Time Again

The Manhattan Magnum Masters, at the suggestion of Warren Newmark, aka Guy "Go You Bears" Newmark, held a party at Coach Bruce's house on Feb 2, 2009. The party was arranged at Guy's suggestion to meet the editor of the Swedish newspaper in the city which will host the July 2010 FINA International World Masters Swimming Meet. As it turned out the ends justified the means since the invited editor failed to show up due to a meeting conflict (AK Restaurant review in Venice).

Since Guy's credibility has always been in question, it is now the team's opinion that this was just an excuse by Guy to have a party and, more important, for Guy to actually be invited to the party (even though he is Director of Fun and Games). In any event, the food and wine was abundant as attested by the following pictures and attendees:

The Spread:


Coach Bruce and Son Cooper:


Coach Bruce and Nancy:



Coach Bruce, Happy go lucky Magnum team WineMaster Rich, Nancy, Cooper, and Father (or is it choir boy) Hallett (the one on the right wearing the official 2008 FINA Masters team shirt. (It should be noted that if you read on way below this blog, you will find that Jim never made it to the Perth FINA Masters Meet and this party was his only chance to wear the team shirt):


Susan, Jim and hubby Ed (note Susan is wearing the official MMM team jacket):


Cooper and his high school friends, Kristen (3 weeks to delivery) and hubby Tim:




Swimmer Pat (in team jacket) , hubby Dick and Nancy:



MMM WineMaster and Team Members Bruce, Susan, Pat, Two Buck Chuck (wearing the MMM 2006 FINA Masters team shirt), Guy and Jim with Magnum Mascot. Mother Teresa was excused since it was her birthday and dinner party at the Chart House, Dangerous Dan was fly fishing, cross country skiing and snowmobiling (tough life) with his management team at Elk Creek Ranch in Colorado, Tall Tom was off ball room dancing in Lomita, Help I'm lost in the Fog Kapust had a business dinner in downtown LA, and Frank was off buying foreclosed properties and could not attend):



To Guy's credit, he was wearing the official team jacket and brought some pretty good wine to the party. Other than that, he has no credibility.

Teresa, out of the pool, crossing the finish line in 2 hours and 7 minutes!

Teresa's first half marathon run (13.1 miles) in Carlsbad on Sunday, Jan 25, 2009. Also pictured with Teresa is her trainer and fellow runner, Justin. According to field reports, Teresa wasn't gasping for air and finished strong at the finish line. Rumor has it that Teresa is getting ready for an ironman competition this summer.......

With this posting, Tall Tom will most certainly be in the dog house (actually there are some among us that say he never left the dog house)

Why Some Men Have Dogs And Not Wives:

1. The later you are, the more excited your dogs are to see you.
2. Dogs don't notice if you call them by another dog's name.
3. Dogs like it if you leave a lot of things on the floor.
4. A dog's parents never visit.
5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.
6. You never have to wait for a dog; they're ready to go 24 hours a day.
7. Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk.
8. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.
9. A dog will not wake you up at night to ask, "If I died, would you get another dog?"
10. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and give them away.
11. A dog will let you put a studded collar on it without calling you a pervert. 12. If a dog smells another dog on you, they don't get mad. They just think it's interesting.
13. Dogs like to ride in the back of a pickup truck.

And last, but not least:
14. If a dog leaves, it won't take half of your stuff.

Thank You Bruce for Coaching

Appreciation Day (12-19-08) for Coach Bruce and Manhattan Magnum Masters. Following a Vandermint toast and sugar and gingerbread cookies, Coach Bruce was presented with a team jacket and Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon (2005) wine bottle. Life is good for the Manhattan Magnum Masters:

Coach Bruce and Tall Tom report in

I am sick but hope to be back next week.

Coach

Chuck, I will return. I am hiatus for awhile since I have to perform soon. Paula and I have to perform Argentine Tango in front of 350 black-tie people at a formanl dance ball on December 14. The instructor last night called us (really me) the "weak link" of the group. So I will get that bastard, and become the best. Hard to do when you have two left feet. So, some, maybe even most, mornings I will be working on dancing until I get better. Better at least so that I am not the God damn "weak link."

Tom

No word yet from Go You Beavers Guy who is being investigated by the Cal Alumni.....

What happened to Tom and Bruce

Rumor is rampant that Bruce is sick and Tom has lost his driving license at worst or has been denied the use of his son's Tim's car since none of the Manhattan Magnum Masters have seen either in the past two weeks.

Also, for some unknown reason, there have been many "Guy" workout appearances at the club. Also, with respect to Guy, I have reported him to the Cal Alumni group for rooting for his "Go you Bears" defeat last weekend at the hands of the Oregon State "Beavers."

Meanwhile, Jim has been busy in court on another lucrative court case defending another defendant facing a first degree murder charge....another one bites the dust....