calls "rockmenco", pouring out "intoxicating" Spanish flamenco-inspired guitar riffs with the intensity of a rock player. He was turned down by almost every club in the city. ("Spanish guitar? Forget about it!" was the reaction Benise recalls hearing). So Benise formed a street group. They played around 225 shows a year, anywhere there were tourists, performing original songs and selling CDs. Soon, he and his band were getting noticed by clubs. "Before I knew it, people would line up on the street for our performances," Benise said. "It's been seven years since I started with the Spanish guitar. We started playing for tourists, then we began renting out theaters and building on that momentum." Benise began promoting his own concerts at 2,000-seat theaters throughout the area. He subtitled his all-instrumental show, Love, Music, and Life!. Nights of Fire! Benise's initial success producing Latin-flavored entertainment led to the Nights of Fire! production, which has been broadcast on PBS nationwide. It was taped at the Spanish Colonial Revival style Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, California. The idea for Nights of Fire! blossomed out from his self-produced concerts, which he called Viva Spanish Nights. Featuring circus performers, samba dancers, and African drummers, the show filled 2,000-seat venues. "Offers came in from record companies, but Benise turned them down, believing he would have to compromise his music or downsize his show. He finally found management he liked in Doc McGhee, who discovered Bon Jovi, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, and others. Observing how PBS introduced mass audiences to Yanni, Sarah Brightman, and Riverdance, he decided that hooking up with the network was logical. He created the equivalent of a stage musical, with instrumental guitar pieces that allow the rhythms and melodies to create a wordless story line." The mixture of material in Nights of Fire! includes Brazilian samba, Cuban salsa, Spanish flamenco, Argentine tango, even African tribal chants and drums. The production received an Emmy for its costumes. Benise says, "I appreciate music from all over the world and I believe that feeling has allowed me to embrace them all, to incorporate them into the songs that I write, the music we sing, the shows we perform. When people ask what it is, I tell them it’s a combination of blues, jazz, salsa, rock and more, but in a hipper style." Some describe Roni Benise's Nights of Fire! as a cross between Latin Riverdance and Cirque