Eventually, the embargo walls between the U.S. and Cuba will come tumbling down. Iowa farmers are pushing it. Folks with family on the island are now back on the island since the Obama administration lifted the Bush administration’s restrictions on travel for Cuban Americans.

Artists, journalists, religious institutions, students and academics still have a shot at getting their mojito on with a Treasury Department license. But no cigar and rum smuggling please.

Marsalis at the National School of Music in Havana.  October 8, 2010.  AP Photo/Franklin Reyes
Marsalis at the National School of Music in Havana. October 8, 2010. AP Photo/Franklin Reyes

And jazz is still hot!

Maybe hotter than the 95 + degree heat.

I’m sure in anticipation of the end of the embargo, Wynton Marsalis was checking Havana out for the next jazz superstar who will be young, passionate about the music, and bring a unique groove to the sound. Hey, they even had a Facebook sign up sheet for the Jazz at Lincoln Center event in Havana! I can say I was there before Wynton (jazz and all).

Arts and commerce often bring down walls without firing a single shot.

There is a bill in Congress (H.R. 874), the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act. Learn more about it.

If you are a U.S. citizen, and don’t met the criteria to travel to Cuba, you can get a little taste of what that world will be like here at home — DC’s got something going on:

Ariel Fernandez Diaz has an Afro-Cuban groove happening tomorrow night – Thursday, October 14:

AFROCUBA! DC Edition

A monthly party with all the AfroCuban vibes & beyond.
A project from Asho Productions.

This Thursday October 14th, 2010.
9PM-2AM
New Location!!! NO COVER!
Sutra Lounge in Adams Morgan.
2406 18th Street NW,
Washington DC 20009
www.sutraloungeadamsmorgan.com


Music by resident DJ Asho playing ALL night the best of salsa, timba, guanguaco, cuban reggaeton, rumba y yoruba.

Chucho Valdez Quartet and the Afro Jazz Messengers

Saturday, October 30, 8 PM
Warner Theater
Tickets available here.
Multiple Grammy Award-winning pianist Chucho Valdes, “the dean of Latin jazz,” has made an illustrious career performing with countless jazz masters, including Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, and Chick Corea. “Valdes demonstrates a dizzying exuberance at the piano…like [he] can barely contain his enthusiasm” (All About Jazz). “Compared to everyone from Oscar Peterson and McCoy Tyner to Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Valdes is spoken of in reverent terms throughout the community of jazz musicians” (Los Angeles Times). Sample his new album in this rehearsal video.