My trip to Florida...

For the first time in my Fado career, I traveled by airplane to one of my performances, my first performance in Florida!! When I arrived in Tampa, I had the pleasure of meeting Jose Do Carmo, a Fadista who used to live in Philadelphia but now resides in Florida. It was nice to meet him because he sang Fado with my father and now over 20 years later he's singing with me. Shortly thereafter, we met up with Sr. Viriato, Sr. Silva, and Jose Carlos, who were exhausted from the trip and their lack of sleep because they saw Rodrigo, a huge name in Fado, perform in Rhode Island the night before.

Later that night we arrived at a Portuguese club in St. Petersburg which was hosting a wine tasting and Fado event with about 300 people. It was a great crowd which made it a great show. I was told before the show that the audience usually likes to leave early so we should try to end the show before midnight, but it was 1am and the crowd still wanted more Fado. I ended with "Fadinho da Ti Maria Benta" and by the end of the Fado, the audience were all on their feet dance folklore with me!! It was wonderful but too short of a trip.

Thank you Sr. Henrique Chipelo, Sr. Luis Filipe Carvalho, and the rest of the organization of the club for the invitation and thank you Sra. Lina Baltazar for your hospitality and "grande amizade como sempre!" I hope to return to Florida soon...