Blog #16: Zeyna Moving around – 1972-1977-1982 Meets Aida
I had the opportunity to go Las Vegas and work in a motel lounge that was at that time across from the Hacienda. Sorry, I can’t recall the name, but there I met Antoine Hage. He was an excellent Oud player originally from Lebanon. After a few short months I went to San Diego with […]
Blog #15 Zeyna meets Sheba and Noora in Detroit
Even though I had worked my first Arabic Club with “Iklas” in Chicago, I was not use to an all Arabic band. Detroit would change that. It was certainly different from the Greeks, Armenians and Turkish that I was accustomed to. I always had a great sense of timing, a natural “beat” It was easy […]
Blog #14: Zeyna goes to Chicago
Love ruins a lot of things. When your hormones kick in your brain quits. Alas, I fell in love and left for Minnesota. Needless to say, they are a lot of stories between what I write here, so I went home to Mama and reflected a lot on what I had learned. New York was […]
Blog #13: Zeyna in Puerto Rico
I got off the plane and got slammed with humidity that I never knew could exist but in a steam room, the taxi took me to the Flamboyan Hotel. The first thing I noticed was the lobby was completely open, no doors! The next thing I noticed was Kazar, the man I first met with […]
Blog #12: Zeyna goes to Cleveland
Greek nightclubs were popping up all over the country and experienced dancers were in demand. John Angelou told me they needed a dancer in Cleveland and they were paying $40 dollars a night. A lot of dancers from the Ave. started coming back and forth from other cities and I thought I’d give it a […]
Blog #11: Zeyna’s last Blog for New York. Now off to Cleveland. Blogs for Cleveland Coming Soon!!
Before I leave my story and move on to Cleveland, I have to give note to another dancer that I worked with on 8th Ave. before and during my time there. Yildiz and I were friends and probably the sweetest of them all and a strong dancer. Afet was Turkish and before my time. I […]
Blog # 10: Zeyna Meets Zoraida!! The Explosive Latin Fireball!!!
Zoraida I guess is probably my fondest memory from those years. Very infrequently Buckus “owner of the Britania” would let us come off stage and talk to someone we knew at the bar but always on alert for anyone from the Cabaret Licensing Board. This one night Kazar came in and said, Hey Gyps, you […]
Blog #9 Journey with Zeyna: Jemela Omar at the Round Table in New York on the East Side on 50th
There was a club “on the east side on 50th.” called The Round Table. I heard Morocco was dancing there and wanted to see her. The club was very up scale, valet parking etc. Alright, I saved some money and went. What ever———I walked out of there and felt like going home and shooting myself. […]
Blog #8 Jouney with Zeyna in New York 1966 at the Egyptian Gardens:Turkish Dancers Saliha and Soraya Melik
The Egyptian Gardens was across the street from the other clubs and up a flight of stairs. It was also different in the fact that most musicians there were Turkish along with most of the dancers. It also did not have a pull out stage. The band did sit back on a smaller platform like […]
Blog #7 Journey with Zeyna to New York: Photos at the Britania 1960’s: Panayotis (Pete) Haliyannis, John Angelou, Costas Stavastakis, Princess Nyeela, Athena and Zeyna
Top sitting is Athena/to her right clarinet, still one of Greece’s top -Panayotis (Pete) Haliyannis Bottom left, another top Bouzouki player John Angelou, singer I don’t remember but middle is famous Turkish dancer Princess Nyeela, Far right famous clarinet Costas Stavastakis. I can’t swear to the correct spelling.( We SAT!)