Barcelona:

    I could not sleep. Maybe I got 2 hrs. Spoke to Wendy and tried to reach Yomo to convince

him to go to Japan. Went for breakfast at 7;30am. Promoter told me the people in bilbao

wanted 2k back because Nicky did not play; not my business, but it is my business. We finally

put Fajardo on a plane. Alfredo went to Torino for some business. He will join us in

Rome...Miranda's bags did not show and he waited for the 2pm flight and will fly tomorrow to

Barcelona and join us...We have 4 days free in Barcelona because of Havana Club pulling out

of the sponsorship and 2 concerts canceled.

    I decided to lay down the law... We will take Nicky to a doctor, patch him up and get a

medical note to get the promoters off the hook' then send him to NY...He is finished with me.

Nicky Marrero is messing with MY career. I will demand all the plane tickets with correct flights

before I depart for Rome. If all is ok I will go to Rome and then demand the balance of all gigs

and Monies due to me before I play the Rome concert. If not I will NOT play remaining 4r

shows and take everyone home. Too much bullshit…Pablo played great last night.

    In Barcelona, just Miranda with the band for two shows.....Trip should take 8 hours to drive

with stops. About an hour and a half into the trip Ettoere called and said there was an offer to

play in Zurich Swissa tonight and do I want to do it. I said lets go...That meant turning around

back to Bilbao, Spain. We stopped to eat and await the confirmation of plane tix for Zurich.

After a hour we were told that it was impossible to get tix for 18 persons to Zurich through ANY

city in Europe and get there in time. It seems that Banda Gorda was not coming as planned so

they wanted us to replace them.

    We continued on our trip through miles of Spanish dunes until Zazagoza, then more miles

of desert... BORING! heading to Barcelona after 7 hours on the road....We got to Barcelona at 

9pm, went to the hotel and immediately refused to stay there....We will be here for a week and

we all want to be comfortable in good surroundings...So it was back on the bus to another

part of town...Toni Garcia, a friend of Jerry Masucci's from Cuba, is the promoter and he is

doing Michelena a favor by filling in a Tuesday and a Thursday...I myself am making no bucks

and working 2 days for the band's $$, hotels and food. Miranda does not know where we are,

but we will find him in the morning. I have a spacious suite at the Catalonia Hotel in the

upscale part of town. I am starving so I'll sign off now.

    Found a Chinese restaurant near the hotel and ate with Junior and Joey. Tried to call Wendy

at 1 am but she was not around. We will be here until at least Sunday...Press conference

Monday afternoon; formal with the guys.

    Woke up at 5am and called Wendy in NY. She got my message but is still having the same

trouble getting through to Spain...All is ok in NY and she told me that Yomo has been trying to

call me also about not going on Japan trip.   Now you know that I am not too happy about that

hope we do not get cancelled… I went back to sleep and awoke at 8:30 had breakfast and

went to Roberto's to get Nicky to take him to the hospital. All the guys went sightseeing and

shopping. We were in the hospital for 5 hours waiting for x-rays and medical reports...Nothing

broken...severely bruised elbow and lacerations...read Nicky the new rules according to

Harlow. If Suspect that he is drunk or even drinking or smell liquor on his breath ...he is out of

my life forever and on the first plane out of here.

    We might need him for the other festivals since Michelena gave him importance with some

billing. Ismael found his clothes and flew here to Barcelona ...I joined him for some food and

showed him around...Seems that all stores close at 12:30 till 5pm.

    It is like a ghost town...Doesn't anyone want to make some money...Tonight I go to dinner

(probably 10pm) with Tony Garcia and Roberto and me to see Los Munuquitos de Matanza

who are in the club we are playing in called Luz de Gas.

    First a place we docked for some freshly sliced ham off the leg ...Sardines in olive oil of

which the first one fell on my newly worn Italian designer shirt and left a big oil stain...then live

clams on the shells and some kind of chorizos, and a bottle of good red wine. We then went to

a great sea food restaurant and had 2 bottles of white wine, some exotic snails and assist sea

creatures...Then a lobster paella for 4 persons and desert and Italian coffee...went back to the

hotel and rapped business with Ismael and Tony for a few hours.....The room was very cold

and it was difficult to sleep with all that food in my stomach.

    Sun morning... woke everyone so we could check out and change hotels...Went to the

Aragon Hotel a 3 star on the other side of Barcelona. The single rooms were smaller than the

one in London...Ismael, Junior and I will go to the Olympic Village Hotel and pay $350. per

day.... We are waiting for conformation now. Nicky apologized to each member in the band

and promised to be sober. We all agreed to help him...I wonder if he can play sober?? We will

soon find out. Ismael and I checked into the Ritz Carlton- Hotel Arts Barcelona, on the beach

30 story new hotel complex...We each took a suite and decided to pamper ourselves. There

are NO hotel rooms to be had this time of year. We were lucky...I on the 21 fl and Ismael on the

20th ...Of course I had to get top billing. Our rooms are guaranteed only till Wed but we are

trying to extend till Fri am when we leave. I went with Ismael to help him buy a new Pentax

35mm camera. We had lunch poolside and girl-watching ...After, I took a bath in this sauna

shower and fell asleep for 2 hours....I woke up Ismael an hour later we were on the new strip

of discos and restaurants...We cruised for a while until deciding which restaurant to have

dinner at...We ate a wonderful seafood dinner with good white wine and smoked Cuban cigars

at the end.  Then we went to the lower deck to check out the action...We ran into Pete,

Vincente and Joey and left for a salsateca near the piers.

    There was Emo dancing with a beautiful blond. The place was packed and it had a huge

poster of our shows over the bar. They were selling tickets for the event. A "band" of Cuban

refugees were playing "Live" to pre-recorded midi tracks with a timbal, two singers and a

keyboard playing the conga part. The singing was really good and I invited the guys to come

to our show Tuesday...The place was jumpin' and the Spaniards were dancing some good

salsa.   The other Europeans were trying, but still had that free form style going on. Guess the

influx of  South Americans, Cubans and Dominicans have helped the dancing here. At 2:30am

I left the boys there and took a cab back to the hotel.

Monday...

    I awoke at 5am and called Wendy...Some how I know what time it is in NY....She told me she

e-mailed Japan pertaining to Yomo not going and gave Noriko my phone as I can be reached

now till Wednesday.

    I went back to sleep and got up at 8:30am showered and had breakfast....At the 5star hotels

breakfast is NOT free.....I will try to hook up my computer today as well as have a press

conference at 12:30 for Me, Adalberto, Ismael, Junior, Nicky, Reynaldo, Bomberito, and the

rest. Need to find adapters for phone and computer. Well we were picked up by Toni Gracia,

found Junior and met all the band at the press conference…about 30 press people and dj's. It

went very well and the questions were very intelligent and most wanted to know about the

future of Fania and our opinions of romantic salsa and news of the world tour…what is going

on in New York etc etc etc etc etc….

    Did several live interviews for Barcelona radio...had lunch with Ismael and Junior and was

getting ready to take a walk on the beach. I changed into my bathing suit and waited for junior

and Ismael...Had no air conditioning and waited for the repairperson to come and fix the

electricity and air....Now 2 more radio interviews....Tony went to Madrid, he had some acts on

TV tonight...Will try for the walk now........Went to the pool instead and chilled in the sun...Sun is

out till 8:30pm and it is still light at 9:30pm...Went with Ismael and Junior to have some meat

after 3 days of seafood.

    I was glad to receive news from Japan...Seems Yomo called and they were disappointed but

we will make an adjustment t in the price since he is not coming and some fans will want their

money back if he is not there but all is still on...Visas are in Japanese Consulate and I will pick

them up upon my return to NYC....I wonder how Sam is doing??? I think I will call him and

hope he is not in Disney till Tomorrow...I NEED TIO PLAY

    Tuesday...Woke up, went to the swimming pool for some rays...I was the first one there. At

11am...Ismael came down about 12 and we hung around all the topless sun-worshipers...Not a

bad view in the morning. We had lunch @ a seafood restaurant of oysters on the half shell,

scallops cooked in large shells and pasta with seafood....I was stuffed again feel like I am

going to explode. I need to take a mother dump to so I can keep packing-up all this Seafood…

who knows maybe I can squeeze in some sex with all this seafood…Tried to take a siesta but

too many things were going through my head...I went for a walk near the beach for a half hour

then changed cloths to go to the sound check.

    Took a cab to the Luz de gas and went through a 2 hour sound check...Very big echo and

loud....Will be better with a crowd inside...Spoke to Tito Puente and invited him to the show

tonight...He is playing with Steve Winwood and Sandoval tomorrow and we will see him and

we play again Thurs. Was informed that Valencia was canceled ...Michelena probably had NO

deposits so I am in big financial trouble with the band. Supposed to leave for Rome on Friday

am ...I will not go without all plane tickets and balance of all my money and outstanding

fees...Pedro is a liar and a thief. Finally spoke to Ettore and we decided to settle all accounts in

Rome or Perugia...Tony was nuts over the $5000.00.

    I have not gotten paid for Barcelona gigs...First show was great. The theater was a small

studio 54 type with an excellent sound system and our house engineer Oso, was just great...I

played a new Roland 600 a newer model of the 500...The band smoked. Stevie Winwood and

Arturo Sandoval came to see us play, but not Tito...Winwood was glad to see me after so many

years and I was glad to see him for I was a big fan of his since the Ambergris days in the late

'60's. After we want next door to a salsateca and heard a Cuban charanga live band with a

huge crowd dancing...Got back at 5am and called Wendy...all ok in NY.

    I lost Guagua’s camera on the way to the gig and have to tell him and replace the camera.

Reynaldo and the boys went to a nude beach... Wow!!!!! All had to enter the water quickly, if

you get my drift.. But not Reynaldo he dropped his pants and let his privates hang out, proud

as can be but did not notice the rope that separated the nude beach from the family one...He

crossed the line with his privates exposed and entered the family beach exposed.....We all had

a big laugh...The boys took allot of pictures and invited allot of people to see the next show on

Thursday...

    On Wednesday, I did a few radio shows for promotion and went to a late dinner. These

people in Spain eat very late...The restaurants open at 9pm and it takes hours to finish dinner

at midnight...   We went to a Chinese restaurant and then to a Latin Disco called Antillanos

where the DJ played swinging Latin music a club filled with beautiful people and well dressed

guys.   Lots of free drinks and good company...I did not feel well and left as soon as

possible...Most of the boys went to see Tito Puente and Winwood.

    They said show was great but could not hear Tito’s drums.......I spent most of the night in the

toilet... I awoke still feeling bad tried to doctor myself up but it was getting close to showtime. I

went to the soundcheck in bad shape but the secretary of Tony gave me some liquid that you

sucked out of a plastic tube. In 5 minutes my stomach was well again. The place was packed

for there was no soccer game and we did a 2:15 hour show...We were joined by the musicians

from Charanga Latin , a Cuban band for the finale...all went well....Not feeling 100% I decided

to retire early....I was the first one down for breakfast...All packed we waited for all the group to

ghetto down and check out .