From the recording Smile. You're in Beirut
From the 2004 Ray Vega Palmetto release "Squeeze, Squeeze".
I had the pleasure of working in Beirut, Lebanon for two weeks in the summer of 2002. The wonderful staff at the Blue Café in Beirut brought me over and I also had the honor of working with the kind folks at the American Embassy in Beirut for a series of concerts throughout Lebanon. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the beautiful Lebanese people. One day while sitting in a cab with my friend Walid, I realized that we were in a traffic jam of a magnitude that I’ve never experienced. We were not moving....all the while our cab driver kept reciting scriptures from the bible out loud in Arabic. He seemed to be at a very peaceful place regardless of the traffic madness that we were sitting in. All of a sudden the cab driver started to drive against on coming traffic in order to get out of the mess. The other motorist were screaming at him and honking their horns when all of a sudden the cabby screamed out of his window in perfect english “Smile, You’re in Beirut”.
Ray Vega-Trumpet/Percussion
Bobby Porcelli-Alto Sax
Igor Atalita-Piano
Gregg August-Bass
Adam Weber-Drums
Wilson "Chembo" Corniel-Tumbadoras