~by Dena Burroughs

GILBERTO SANTA ROSA @ THE MAYAN -  March 6th, 2008

Que mas les digo que el Mayan fue un loco madhouse esta noche!  I'm serious... tonight... the Mayan was a madhouse!  According to the promoter, it was sold out. And it felt sold out!  There were people all over the place.  And if you think Gilbertito had a tough night singing an hour and a half non-stop, go ask the poor security guys! Oh my goodness, those guys battled women all night long!  You'd think Gilberto was Chayanne or something.  I mean, I've seen Chayanne taking his shirt off and stuff ok!  I understand you may feel the urge to jump on the stage once his abs show... but Gilbertito was all dressed up, in his proper blue suit and all, wearing glasses that made him look professor-ish, but women would not stop anyhow! I mean, literally, they would not stop jumping on stage... and I'm not talking about the immature 20 year olds only... I mean, 70 year-old grandmas were going up there, in fact, exploiting their age because it was easier for them to get through to the man than for the younger females!  (I'm picking on the ladies... true... but in reality there were some guys just as excited as anybody else... like the screaming one behind me.)

I did my best.  I stood up by the stage as soon as I arrived around 9.30 pm.  I was already in a seven row deep line, but waited on foot like a soldier for an hour 'til Gilberto got on stage.  Thank goodness for DJ Pedro El Sabroso's awesome music! As I stood there my "beautiful boyfriend" who does not know he's my "boyfriend," Frankie Vasquez, came on the speakers and his video was fabulous!  In the meanwhile, I was pushed from the back, from the front, from the sides... from everywhere! I don't remember the last time I've been molested so.  The freaking drunk guy behind me kept on using me as his arm rest! Like my shortness was there on purpose for him to have a place for his stupid arm!  Anyhow, I stood there as long as I could... before I realized I was being touched by too many body parts for my taste... and I moved on to roam about the club.

I did my duty and, at the end of the night, placed myself by the side where I knew Gilberto would come down from the stage.  I was pushed by several very large security men; pushed by insane women, and yet, I tried valiantly to get the best picture possible.  The "best picture" turned out to be a half shot of his face... the one you see posted last in the pictures below.  Not my best shot...  true... but damn it, what I went through to take it makes it awesome!

As expected Gilberto was fabulous.  He sang all of this popular songs, including some awesome Polo Montanez originals that I just loved.

There was total beauty in the midst of the Mayan chaos tonight.  The promoter was Chuy Martinez.  A great job he did.  I am thankful I was there.

[click pics to enlarge]