Jon Secada at Ronald Reagan

By the Queen of Free

Jon Secada at Ronald Reagan?

Free?

Yes, at the last summer outdoor concert of 2008, sponsored by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities as part of its DC Grooves concert series.

People, dogs, and lights were all agroovin’ on a recent Friday night at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza, for sure. Even the guards inside Ronald Reagan were moving their bodies to the music.

It’s hard to keep your person still when the music is apoppin’ and agoin’ and the musicians are L I V E and not taped and as good as Jon Secada.

He was hot. He’s got a voice, too, able to hit the way high notes and as good in person as you’re afraid he might not be. (At first, the base almost drowned him out, but that was soon corrected.)

He sang all his signature hits, including "Just Another Day," "Do You Believe in Us," many, in Spanish in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (or is it “Cuban American Heritage Month”?) although few Latins were there.

When Secada came out, he urged the crowd to come closer to the stage, and it did, standing throughout his songs, dancing, clapping, gyrating, waving arms, moving in time with the beat, singing along with Secada urging the singalongs.

His band was a smash.

There was plenty of room for dancing like the man and his dancing partner, his pooch which he carried around all night, found out. They danced to the notes in between his screams for the crowd to sit down so they could see better.

Or, there was the butterfly woman in white pants who flew continuously around the plaza alighting here and there, almost carrying a wand as she danced to the music like a fast-moving cloud unencumbered by the notion of a partner.

The wind was a bit testy at times, exhaling its first breath of fall.
It rustled the leaves in the large, planted plaza trees, and the tiny white Christmas lights strung on the branches moved with the music of the wind, and twinkled, adding to the romance of the night and another marvelous evening in D.C.

Crowd estimate was about 300, I suppose. Promotion was not the best. What government has the dollars for advertising free concerts? Which explains part of the paltry attendance, but D.C. has a lot going on every night, and competition for evening attendees is keen.