Mandrágora Tango is celebrating Barack Obama's Inauguration by throwing an Inagural Ball on the evening of January 20,
the first day of Obama's administrations (and the first day of George Bush's unemployment). We've rented out Patrick's Cabaret (3010 Minnehaha Ave in South Minneapolis) for the evening. This event is not just for Tango dancers: we are inviting everyone who has a reason to celebrate. Doors will open at 7:30 for a free introductory tango lesson. Mandrágora will take the stage at 9 for a joyous evening of dancing. We will play and DJ a wide variety of styles (swing, funk, latin, etc...) to get everyone up and moving, regardless of whether they can dance or not. This will be a night to celebrate. We are asking for a $10 donation at the door. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to John McCain's favorite charity, ACORN*
* I'm being facetious. John McCain hates ACORN. ACORN registers minorities to vote and the McCain campaign claimed that they are "destroying the fabric of democracy", whatever that means.
On-street parking is free on Sundays, but is pretty sparse. There are 2 lots within easy walking distance. There is a free lot that you enter at the corner of 13th. Ave and 5th. St. There is a pay lot on 5th. St. between 13th and 14th. They sometimes close early and leave passive-aggressive notes on your car reminding you to pay up later.
If you're having dinner, tell the hostess and she'll give you a table near the action. If you're coming alone, buy yourself a drink at the bar and check out this radically over-simplified map. The tables in red are usually stocked with dancers. Dancers who are not having dinner usually congregate on stage right or by the grand staircase in the back. There is a bench between the 2 arches to the bar where dancers usually change their shoes: no need to use the restroom. 
On October 4th, will be playing deep in the heart of Texas at the MusicArte Festival in downtown Fort Worth. We're playing on the main stage from 5:30 to 7PM and we'll play a milonga in the "Argentine Pavilion" from 9 to 11:30PM. This festival is organized by the Downtown Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as a way of showcasing the music, arts, food, and culture of several Latin American nations, including Argentina. Members of the budding "Fort Worth Tango Society" will do demonstrations dances during our mainstage set. All of them will join us in the Argentina Pavilion for a Milonga from 9-11:30PM. Tell all your Texan friends to come out and dance!]]>
First of all, the wedding is about the bride (and, to a lesser extent, the groom). Unless it is 100% financed by Mom and Dad, It should be about the choices of the couple. When I got married, we looked at the reception as the only time we would have all our friends and relatives in the same room. We wanted to have a party that everyone would enjoy. We figured the next time all these people would join together will be when one of us dies, and that party would not be as enjoyable for the surviving spouse.
For most guests, the fun of a wedding comes from 2 things. First of all, watching the 2-minutes of so of the ceremony where the Bride and Groom profess their love and finally kiss. Secondly, folks like to visit with friends and relatives they may not have seen in a long time. Do whatever you can do to facilitate this. Keep the ceremony short (sorry, Catholics!). Make sure the reception is condusive for mingling and having fun. A plated sit-down dinner traps people at a table for a long stretch of time. Folks mingle at a buffet, and small children will get ansy waiting to eat. Have folks give toasts while folks are eating: if the toasts get boring, folks go back to eatting and pretend to listen. This will also prevent toasts and speeches from cutting into mingling time.
One item that Mandragora has always noticed is that open bars are always happier receptions. We're not just saying this because we are borderline alcoholics: an closed bar gives your guests a subtle message against drinking. If this is your attitude, more power to you. But think about this: if the first thing you'd to when a guest came to you home is to offer them a drink, why would you not offer them one at your wedding? Unless you have a lot of really inappropriate friends and relatives, you may want to consider an open or semi-open bar for at least some of the evening. If money is tight, you may want to serve a keg or a large quantity of cheap boxed wine available for free until it runs out. Consider a buffet-style dinner instead of a plated one to save money for the bar. Also, consider putting a bottle of cheap wine or two on each table for the guests to share. There is something absolutely hospitable about sharing a glass of wine and a nice meal with friends and family.
Wedding planners are seldom as helpful as you'd like. Any musician can tell you horror stories about dingbat wedding planners who forget to tell the band important details. Many wedding planer's complete "training" has been acting as bridesmaid at a dozen weddings or marrying off all of their adult children. Here's a funny example that would be quite sad if it hadn't happened to my sister-in-law. The bride-to-be was living in Charlottesville, VA, but was getting married in her hometown of Buffalo, NY, so she hired a wedding planner, who happened to be her old hairdresser and a friend of a friend. This woman was supposed to handle all the planing details like calling the caterers, booking the hall, getting a DJ, etc... She told my in-laws that everything was taken care of, but she didn't have any paperwork yet. 
Well, it turned out that she didn't do a damn thing. My Mother-in-law started freaking out and made all the arrangements that the planner was supposed to. On the day of the wedding, all the Bridesmaids had to go to the planer's beauty salon to be made up. She applied about 4x as much makeup and hairspray to my wife as she wears in a year. She said such encouraging things as "This may not be the color of lipstick you would have chosen, but it was chosen for you. If you love [the bride], you will wear it and not bitch". The quote that put her over the top was "I don't want to see any of you crying. It looks bad and you'll ruin your makeup. This is not your special day. Your job is to shut up and smile. So, all throughout my wedding and wedding planing, my wife told me "This is not your special day! Shut up and smile!". Classy. The kicker was when the wedding planer wanted to leave the wedding 2 hours early and demanded full payment then and there, or she'd have the DJ pack up and go home. My mother-in-law was in tears: she had to make most of the arrangements, and since they were so late, she had to pay top dollar. And on top of that, she had to give 10% of the total cost to the wedding planner.
For Bob's wedding, his wife asked one of her friends to be the "Designated Bitch". We're surprised that this wedding role has not caught on. The "Designated Bitch" is someone who does not know the family well, but whose job it is to keep them in line. Bob's wife's parents were in the process of divorcing at that time, so the "DB" ran interference and stopped drama-queen and drama-king relatives from making scenes. Our "DB" was a licensed social worker who works with mentally ill adults every day, so our families were no big challenge for her. You don't need a mental health professional to act as "Designated Bitch". In fact, Minnesota ethics laws for social workers prevent them for advertising such a service. However, anyone with a strong backbone, a low tolerance for BS and a low threshold for telling somebody off can do the job. If you have strained family relationships, you may want to look into this. (PS: don't tell your family that you have a "DB". It'll only set them off)
Mandrágora Tango is one of the top tango bands in North America. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people who can dance tango. Most people hire us because they want beautify, quirky acoustic music at their ceremony, cocktail hour, or reception. Few people, if any, dance at these gigs. We also play a lot of weddings for ballroom dancers and their friends. At these functions, more people dance. Mandrágora Tango can play latin, rock, and swing, but it is like hiring a carpenter to fix your plumbing. If you want Mandrágora Tango and you want your guests to dance, consider our "Minimal DJ Service". We play your CDs or plug in your iPod to play your music. You don't have to rely on the musical sensitivities of a 22-year old wedding DJ yo get your people dancing. Since we have to have a full sound system for our playing, it is really no extra trouble for us to plug in your iPod when we are on break. We promise not to do any annoying DJ banter.
I'm embarrassed to admit that Mandrágora learned this lesson the hard way. We will no longer accept requests from visibly intoxicated guests.
You may be wondering what a "Tango Groove Party" is. We pretty much made it up. We want to have a party where we play the music we love to play, which may or may not overlap with the music many dancers prefer for dancing. So we are going to host our own event where we get into a groove and tango our tango to places we usually don't go. Expect slow Piazzolla milongas, Flamenco-tinged tango, groovy bossas and sad Klezmer waltzes. Expect cutting edge recorded Electro Tango and Tango Nuevo straight outta Buenos Aires. Expect a laid-back party atmosphere in an dimly lit warehouse space. Expect a crowded hardwood dance floor.
He is quite a tango character. He was born in Buenos Aries in the 1920s and learned tango piano as a child. In the late 40s and early 50s he played piano in various Buenos Aries tango bands while he was in college. He moved to the US in 1961 to study biomechanical engineering and moved back to Argentina by the late 1970s. His 2 daughters were born in the states. His eldest daughter lives here in Minnesota, along with Max's grandchildren and great-grandson. Max comes to visit them every 2 years or so. This is how we know him.