Salsa from the Sidelines: An Open Letter to Hard Rock Live - Hollywood, and to the Concert-going Public in General

For salsa lovers, nothing beats the thrill of a live performance by the cream of the salsa crop. And certainly, Cilberto Santa Rosa and El Gran Combo were at their usual best last night, performing to a sold-out house at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.

But it was only a few minutes into the concert before I realized that I might as well have saved my hard-earned $150 by staying home and just playing their CDs.

Let me explain.
My husband and I rarely get a night out. We both have very demanding jobs, kids in college, lots of bills - you know, the usual. But there's another thing that adds a little more challenge to our daily grind - my husband must use a wheelchair for mobility.

Now, one thing that we both love is really classy salsa. And even though we have been fans for years, my husband had never seen Gilberto Santa Rosa or El Gran Combo in concert. So I thought this would be the perfect birthday present. Being advised by Ticketmaster that there were still good handicap access seats available, I trusted that "good seats" meant that we'd have some reasonable hope of seeing the performance.

FAT CHANCE.

Thanks, in large part, to the inept design decisions of those responsible at the Hard Rock Live,what we mostly got to see was a solid wall of moving heads and butts, with an occasional glimpse of Gilberto's left arm, or a fleeting tuft of Rafael Ithier's snowy white hair.

Dear Hard Rock owners: surely with all the millions you are making from your enormously successful new complex, you can manage to find enough to make some much needed improvements in your designated areas for wheelchair patrons.

A ramp up to a slightly raised section on each side of the floor level area, perhaps?

Or, hey - here's a novel idea - leave some space for wheelchair users in front of the forever standing and dancing crowd. If questioned, I doubt that any would object.

It's a pretty easy concept to grasp: it is NOT the same inconvenience to be standing in back of scores of other standing people, as it is to be sitting behind those standing, without being able to stand up and shift around so you can see something in between all of the heads.

Obviously, you understand that salsa, rock and pop concerts inspire fans to stand up and cheer and dance. For this reason your "rules of the house" allow people to stand for the performance as long as they remain by their seats. But you forgot, or probably never even considered, that these concerts also inspire those who cannot stand, and these fans would appreciate being able to see.

And now, a plea to my fello salseros, for you also deserve part of the blame: Believe me, I understand the call of the "clave" - how it can just drive you crazy if you don't get up and dance! But remember - you CAN get up and dance - and I'm sure you do, at every party, in every club, and at every salsa street festival you attend.

But the next time you attend a concert, when the music and the "clave" lifts you to your feet, STOP a few seconds, and LOOK behind you, not just one row behind, but 10, 15, or 20. If you happen to have been so lucky as to have seats which (granted, through no fault of your own), happen to put you in the direct line of vision of your fellow salseros in wheelchairs, PLEASE SIT DOWN - or at least move to another space to dance.

We love salsa as much as you do, we feel it as you do, we paid the same price as you did, and we want to experience all the thrill and joy of it, just the same as you do. Please, if nothing else, remember that.

As stated in the beginning, this is an open letter, and any comments are welcome and appreciated. Please direct them to , and I'm sure she will pass them on.

I respectfully remain,

Anonymous

This page last updated on 15-Oct-2006