Francisco Flamenque was born in Farcelona Spain. He is
most often referred to as the greatest Latin dancer that has
ever lived. But not only was he a great dancer, he was also
an excellent musician. He "tinkered" around with
a variety of musical instruments but his favorite instrument was
the maraca. He had even collected maracas from a
number of different countries throughout the world.
Francisco one
day got the "brilliant" idea to perform at local train
stations. He just thought that he should perform anywhere
at which great numbers of people might be found. Then he
got the idea to perform on the trains themselves and went on to
entertain many an unsuspecting traveler. In those earlier
days, he was just a dancer. But things would soon change for him
after purchasing his first pair of maracas.
Francisco, in fact, began touring the world not long after buying his
first pair of maracas. He had just become more confident
since he had finally found something more to shake than just his booty. Soon,
with his special blend of Latin dance and percussion, he was
ready to conquer the world. He released an album in 1989
called I'll shake it just for you. Millions of
teenagers throughout the world were shaking their booties to a
Latin beat. Maraca sales also skyrocketed, he was an
instant hit.
Unfortunately, the whole Maraca craze fizzed out, dragging down
his popularity with it. He went from packing stadiums to
playing airport lounges. Then, even that fizzed out.
Francisco was eventually forced to pawn his extensive maraca
collection. He was even reduced to living on the streets of Dover, New Jersey.
Actually, he was living in a cardboard box beneath a bridge,
near the local sweatshops, where he begged the local factory
workers for part of their lunches. If they refused, he
would hit them on the head with his only remaining maraca, grab
the food and hastily run away to eat the ill-gotten meal.
They say that, sometimes at night, as
the train passes on it's way towards or from the Dover train
station, you can hear the haunting sound of someone playing a
lone maraca to the beat of the passing train. Then a
maniacal laugh, shrieking in the night. |
