Momotombo SF - Getting down with Leo and the band

 I've known Leo and Virginia Rosales for many years due to the large number of trail races we've done together. Leo is fast and must have a large closet filled with age group awards. 

I also knew that Leo was involved in a band called Momotombo SF, and that the band was a collection of many talented musicians, largely from the Malo and Santana bands, as well as others. (One sort of funny thing - I was pretty sure that I had never heard any songs from Malo. Boy was I wrong. Suavecito was a very popular song that is so good to listen to.)

On Saturday afternoon, Mrs Notthat and I went to see Momotombo SF play at the free Rock the Dock concert series that happens in Redwood City CA - it's a fun, outdoor, and casual venue that we have seen a number of bands play.

We arrived a bit early and were surprised to see so many people already there - we brought a couple of folding chairs and set them up on the grass near the building the stage faces, and that area was fuller than it normally gets. This was especially surprising because, while it was sunny, there was an aggressively cold breeze blowing off the bay. 

I knew Leo did percussion, so I expected him to be shy, and hanging out on the back of the stage. I was wrong on so many levels.

That's Leo front and center.

It turns out that Leo is the frontman for the band, and did most of the talking in between songs. 

I expected a large dose of Latin rock, and I got that. But it was a lot more than that - you could tell the band was really into grooving and improvising - I kept thinking that this must be similar to what you might hear at a Grateful Dead concert; a group of excellent musicians giving each other the room to take the music well beyond what you would hear in a studio.

As you can see in the video, there was a large group dancing at the front of the stage, plus others scattered around dancing. It was hard to sit still. Our deal was that, with the cold wind, we could leave at intermission if we weren't feeling it, but that turned out to not be an issue for us (and I saw very few others leave early). Once it was all over, I went up to say "hi" to Leo and Virginia.

There were a lot of people that wanted to talk to Leo after the concert - I knew he was exhausted, but he stuck around and happily talked to all of them.

Virginia (on the left, with the flowers on her hat) taking care of the t-shirt sales table.

And that's about it. I loved that Leo shouted out Virginia several times during the concert. I loved seeing the two of them in a completely different venue than at a trail race (it's funny how different people look when you are so used to seeing them under wildly different circumstances).

The band has a number of concerts lined up over the summer - those of you used to seeing Leo and Virginia dodging poison oak and rocks and puddles should take advantage of any chance you have to watch them do their thing.

That's it - move along…