I Come From Foreign

It has been HOTT in LA lately. And when I say hot I mean hot hot hot. Like 95 degrees hot (35 Celcius) in Burbank (by all the network studios) when I went to pick up my cousin. It’s about 10 degrees cooler here in lovely Santa Monica but it’s only 8 freakin 30 in the morning!!!

I love the heat. Feels like home. I tend to find cold weather limiting. Too much clothes. It’s just not natural, no? Before I moved to foreign, I did not own sweatpants. There was no need! Sweat was an every day occurrence. No special pants necessary. A fact of life. You just deal with it and you bathe more often.

LA is hot SOMETIMES but it is ALWAYS DRY. Which means that sweat is an anomaly. I’ve forgotten how to sweat! NO, not really. But it definitely isn’t normal anymore. Weird. I need to invest in more shorts.

People get scared when it’s hot here. In Trini we have bush fires, here it’s brush fires–the desert dryness does not help.

People planning outdoor activities through the weekend should take into consideration the very high temperatures and adjust your activities accordingly. Wear loose fitting light weight clothing and drink plenty of water. Take advantage of shade and air conditioning if available.

Never ever leave children, the elderly or pets in enclosed automobiles, even for the shortest time. Temperatures quickly rise to life-threatening levels, even if the windows are partially opened.

~ abc7.com

Now does that sound to you like the warnings for a population used to sunny, warm temperatures?

To once and for all banish the persisting rumours about hot and sunny all the time LA, read this and now hear this: At our apartment here in Santa Monica, we don’t have AC. Not because our landlords are sadistic devils. THERE IS NO NEED. Three hundred and sixty days out of the year, it is cool enough that you open a window and it is all good. Cool breeze. Cool air. No AC.

365 (a full year) - 360 = 5 days out of the year when it’s hot as balls and an AC starts to sound like a sound investment.

Yeh, you know where I’m going with this. I’m living those 5 days as we speak.

Hot hot hot. Actually I think this is the tail end. Better enjoy it while I still have it.

Tomorrow it will be 60 degrees and grey and I’ll be wearing tights and a scarf and layers (what the hell are layers? I honestly still haven’t really mastered layering. They befuddle me. We’ll discuss at a later date) wondering how LA so fully tricked the world…

Going to Temple Bar to see Kes the Band, Maximus Dan, and Triniti tomorrow, folks!

If you’re in LA, hope to see you there!

Temple Bar
9PM til
$10-Buy tickets here

1026 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, 90401
310.393.6611

MARK RONSON!!!!!

Coach-HELL-YEH!! Well let me tell you. I was like country come to town yesterday at Coachella.

LOVED IT!

It was such an awesome set-up and so well done. Five stages, light shows, out-there (in a good way) art installations, billowing tents, and everything all pretty and designy-looking. SO PRETTY. There was this whole area of jewel-toned tents made of a parachute-like material and I swear it was an Aladdin-themed Bouncy Castle for adults.

I tried to play it cool (like I play everything, natch) but I just haven’t been exposed enough. I can’t lie. I was just so happy to be there that honestly it didn’t even matter at first if I actually got to see anybody play. I was just in it and content. For once I was in it! Oh I mean I know it’s a big hipster scene and I forgot to wear my leather headband so maybe I wasn’t as cool as some of the other people there but I wasn’t playin’ my outsider crap for once and it was good.

Anyway, I didn’t get to see everybody or as much of the people I wanted to (them’s the breaks) but here’s who I did get to check out:

• Boys Noise: Man, the music was just calling us! We were watching MGMT but it was waaay too crowded and it’s just not cool to be so close to people when it’s 100 degrees out (human smells no good) so we followed the beat to Boys Noise and they rocked it out. Don’t know much about electronic music (not my favourite) but they knew how to pump up the crowd and put on a good show. Well done.
• Hot Chip: More electronic music. I was pleasantly surprised at how melodic they were though. Definitely good party tunes.
• Craftwork Kraftwerk: Apparently, they’re gods. You can definitely hear their influence in Daft Punk but their pace is slower and maybe a little bit more reflective? German? I’m no expert but that’s my two cents. Two thumbs up.
• Mark Ronson: Definitely my highlight of the night! One of the reasons is that we were so close to the stage so the vibes were strong and he was just rockin’ it out. (Did you see the kick-ass pic from the bf above? INSANE! He’s a cutie, right?) The first song he played was Toxic and then RhymeFest joined him on stage and he really got me jumpin up and down and whoopin and yelling. Unfortunately, someone else we really wanted to see was on at the exact same time so we only got to hear wo songs before we moved on to…
• MIA: Man, I wished we had been there earlier (although I don’t think I would have given up seeing Mark Ronson). Her tent was soooo crowded that honestly it was a little hard to get the full power of the music but from the looks of the crowd she did it up right.
• Portishead: So many people seem to worship this group and I never really got it. I mean, all I knew really was that one song from like 10 years ago that went big (Nobody loves me) so i was really curious to take a good listen and see what the fuss was about. OMG Beth Gibbons has the most hauntingly beautiful voice I have heard in a long time. She is mesmerisingly good. I want to be her.
• Prince: The headliner! This was another bit of disappointment as we left about two songs into the set to beat the crowds. Hey when you’ve been sitting in the sun for 8 hours and have to drive 2 more to get home sometimes you have to make sacrifices. It is what it is. I can’t say too much since I really didn’t get to hear enough but I’m sure he rocked it out good and hard.

So all in all it was an amazing first outdoor concert/ music festival experience. I absolutely cannot wait for next year. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll have a reggae-type artist on the line-up.

Oh!!! And lest I forget, celebrities for DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYS. I didn’t take pictures of any of them. I’m too much of a coward to try to sneak shots and way too cool (ha ha) to actually acknowledge them by asking to take their pictures.

Seriously, though, it was a lot of fun checking up on D-Listed and Perez today so I could be like: I saw her! I saw him! For those of you who care, here’s who crossed my path:

• Kelly Osbourne (really pretty, actually)
• Dita Von Teese (petite, looks like 12)
• Brody Jenner (douchie but cute)
• Nicole Richie (a bone twig)
• Joel Madden
• Rachel Hunter (not bad for an old chick, says the bf)
• THE HOFFFFF
  (suuuuuuuuper tall)
• Melanie Griffith
• Dude from Flight of the Conchords (complete with tourist-esque bermuda shorts, v-neck t, and straw hat)
• Machel? I could have sworn I saw him… anybody knows if he was there?

Update: Best Week Ever thinks I’m awesome

PSYCHED!!

We got tickets and we’re on the road!! This is why I’m excited.

Pictures and write-up to come…

Elan at Reggae on the River circa (?) singing “Together as One”

I NEVER saw live music in Miami.

I heard that most bands on national tours never came down to MIA because it was too far and cost-prohibitive.

That and the bands that did come were never presented to me in neat little parcels like they are out here.

It’s just a vibe, man.

Live music is pervasive out here and I’ve definitely reaped the benefits:

• Elan (killer reggae artist–see above–from LA and lead singer for the Wailers yes, those Wailers) x 3
• Daft Punk and Rat-a-tat-tat
• Paul Oakenfeld and Underworld
• Ben Harper and Tom Morello

And this weekend at Coachella (annual 3-day concert in the desert but we’re only going on Saturday fingers crossed not definite as yet):

• Prince
• MGMT
• Deathcab for Cutie
• Mark Ronson
• M.I.A.
• and a bunch of others who I haven’t heard of as yet but am excited about nonetheless

And in two weeks (May 10) at Temple Bar for TRINIDAD NIGHT:

• Kes the Band
• Maximus Dan
• Ms Triniti
  

You guys should come!!!

Life is good. Live music is good.

More on the music as it happens…

*See “Trini Talk#2: For days” for explanation of term

You can be driving down the freeway in April, 80 degrees out (26 Celsius) and sunshine-y for once, all on tenterhooks and shizz for the summer and lo and behold, alas alack, there’s snow on the gd mountains just a little bit in the distance.

SNOW!!

Now talk about a foreign concept.

I’ve seen snow twice in my life. I think. Well, once for sure.

I was in Canada visiting my best friend* and it was March and my hair froze.

No good.

Island people and snow usually doh mix.

But being in snow and being able to see snow are two very different things, especially when you can see the snow from the lovely vantage point of somewhere where it’s 80 degrees and you’re wearing a sundress.

Seeing snow when it’s 80 degrees out makes me happy.

And that is the first reason (of many to come) why LA is cool.

*(Incidentally, this lovely bff and her bf were my first visitors from back home this Feb and she was just as damn cold as me in perpetually warm and sunny (ha!) LA. Vindication! [more on bff to come])