SAMI SHAYEB

I met Sami Shayeb in 1968. He was playing at Rand's Port Said on I Street in NW Washington with my soon-to-be-husband, George Dabaie. He then performed at Blackie Auger's Black Ulysses, before opening Salaam on K Street with my husband in 1971. He and George occasionally performed upstairs at the Astor on M Street on busman's holidays and at special parties in Detroit and Texas for the growing Arab-American communities. I remember being mesmerized by his vocals as he played his oud; he was a...