An Interview with Earl Rush - Washington, DC
JJ: Go-Go Earl, you are one of the funniest, most entertaining individuals that I have ever come across. Where did you get the nick-name Go-Go Earl?
GGE: I started out going to see the legendary Chuck Brown every day at the GoGo and he coined me the name GoGo Earl which back in the day was a honor given to the best dancers at the GoGo and my friends kept continued to call me that the rest of my life.
JJ: Your website StuckonSalsa.com out of DC is huge! How did you and Kelvin get started?
GGE: We were starting a social at a place called Maxim's on Sundays and we wanted to advertise our party, so we decided to create a website to create interest in the parties we were planning to have.
JJ: As a man of many styles of dance, what attributes do you think a salsa dancer should have in order to be considered "great?"
GGE: I think he should be able to break on 1 and on 2 almost as equally as well, be able to dance Cha Cha, be able to size up his partners skills in the 1st minute of the dance, be able to dance with his partner and make sure she leaves the dance floor with a smile on her face.
JJ: StuckonSalsa has some of the best Salsa parties in the world. What's the secret? Please, we need your help in Atlanta :)
GGE: There is no secret. It is a plain and simple plan and here it is: Salsa dancers only want to do one thing and that is dance. So you keep your plan simple. Make your place conducive for dancers, Have plenty of open space, a DJ that plays good dance music and a dance surface that will be comfortable for dancers to dance on for 6 hours, a place with convenient parking and a location that is easy to get to for most people.
JJ: Where would you rate the DC salsa scene in comparison to other the major cities that you have visited?
GGE: I think DC ranks right up there - somewhere in the top three.
JJ: Any additional comments you would like to share?
GGE: I feel honored that you asked me to participate in this forum.
PART II
JJ: Stuck on Salsa is approaching its second year. Congratulations!! You guys had a big year this past year. Can you take a moment to reflect on some of the most memorable moments of the year of SOS?
GGE: Johnny there were so many but I will try to be short because I know you are a busy man with all the great work you have been doing with the publication. Coming to Atlanta and back to Washington, DC with Liz Lira and the guys from Hollywood coming to a StuckOnsalsa party to scout dancers for their movie project were experiences I will never forget. The party that we had in November called " The party" where you and people from all over the country came to support SOS was another great time. Choco and Nancy Ortiz’s Party where I got to dance with a lot of A-listers from New York was also hot, along with the PR and New York Congresses.
JJ: You guys have the All-Star Salsa Cruise coming up soon. This is a highly anticipated event within the salsa community. It is also a very unique one as well. What inspired you guys to take on the task?
GGE: Kelvin Harris my partner is always thinking big, he wanted to do something that no one else was doing . Albert Torres and David Melendez pretty much run the Salsa Congress circuit in this country. There have been Salsa cruises but none that has had the lineup that we will be having on our Cruise. We looked at the dollars and cents of the situation and figured out it was cheaper to go on a cruise then to to travel to a Congress for an individual. You can spend the same amount of money that you would spend on a Congress and get 4 meals a day on the cruise. We also find out there were a lot of people who had never been on a cruise let alone a Salsa cruise.
JJ: What do you guys have planned during the upcoming year?
GGE:In the next year we will finalize the plans to make the All-Star Salsa cruise an annual event. We are bringing back the Sunday Social twice a month starting May 15, 2005 . We have our 2 year anniversary on Saturday June 25, 2005 . We will be having our annual SOS pool party coming up this summer.We will bringing more instructors from out of town for workshop to keep the salsa scene in DC stimulated and we are putting all our efforts to help Shaka Brown and David Melendez make The DC Salsa Congress an event to remember. Be on the lookout for the Life and Times of a DC Salsero a half reality half fictional online soap opera
JJ: Any Additional Comments
GGE: Thanks Johnny so much for all of your support for StuckOnsala , a lot of people come to our site from the links that you put on your site and it is greatly appreciated. A quick Salsa shout to all of the StuckOnsalsa crew, Kelvin Harris, Sheila McNeil, Maribel Soto, Liz Pilatuna and Tony Nardoliilo, to my man in Atlanta Rick Greenfield who is the SOS correspondent in Atlanta, Jimmy Rumba and Randi Pearson La Style in Atlanta and to all the salseros who came out of town to party with StuckOnsalsa.
Earl Rush
earlrush@stuckonsalsa.com
www.stuckonsalsa.com
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