First of all. . .

WE LOVE KCRW ! ! !

Mostly for its eargasm inducing DJs and original programming (love me some LR&C and Good Food) but also for giving us FREE Coachella tickets.

It was our first time so we did the cursory research and came prepared with sunblock, snacks, goldbond powder, and lotsa pockets. The lines were horrendous the first day due to the 75k bodies, andnew 3-day bracelets process but we were comforted by a rack of ribs from Tommy Lee’s crew,  cool breezes  and remembering the tickets were FREE ! Once cuffed with our purple bracelets we crammed in over 26 artists in 3 days ! Would we go again ? Hmmm . . .

Our Top 3 !

1. Florence and the Machine (with special guest, Nathan from Cold War Kids)

2. Mayer Hawthorne / Little Boots

3. Corinne Bailey Rae / Muse

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: To Love Someone – Taken by Trees

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: Blue – Calvin Harris

San Francisco

Day 1

Philz Coffee -  Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

Arinell Pizza- Cheese slice

Range-  Scallop crudo/salad, Roasted Chicken, Braised Beef

Bi-Rite Creamery – Roasted Banana and Salted Caramel Gellato

Laszlo – Chambord Cosmo and Hendricks Gimlet

Day 2

Philz Coffee-  Mint Mojito Ice Coffee and Turkish Delight

Tartine AM-  Morning Bun and Gougeres

Tartine PM – Loaf of bread fresh out of the oven with Brillat-Savarin cheese from Bi-Rite

Foreign Cinema- Apple Pop Tart, French Toast, and Grilled Duck salad

Out the Door – Fresh spring Rolls (9 bucks ! ! ! sorry couldn’t fight the thrifty scrooge in me)

Burma Superstar – Tea Leaf Salad and Rainbow salad

Day 3

Good Luck Dim Sum- turnip cake (HJ best) and various dim sum items

Ton Kiang -  Shrimp and Chive Dumplings. Owner was very welcoming and gregarious.

Roadside BBQ – Pulled pork sandwich. Texan staff showed great hospitality.

Schubert’s Bakery-  Swedish princess cake

San Tung – Dried fried chicken wings

Underdog’s taco shop – Nick’s Baja Fish Tacos and Makers Martini. Bartender (skinny white guy) took pride in his craft.

Katana-ya -  Chasu ramen (the leftover soup is still congealed in my fridge) and Extra spicy ramen

All that SF yummy = 3lbs more to love

Bah ! WHO pandemic warnings are for wussies ! We visited the El D.F. aka Mexico City in June so the pandemic was subsiding as was the air and hotel prices. We stayed at a hostel called Casa Comtesse in Condessa, a upper middle-class area of Mexico City. Upper-middle and any middle class is a sliver between the poor and ultra-rich. (Sometimes I forget that I the world majority is poor and brown). Overall we felt safe but the local police thought it best that we not walk around at 11pm and hailed us a cab one night. When I visit a foreign land I try to take in the people, food, and culture. I think HJ’s order is food, food,  and culture (between meals).  Here’s the rundown…

Comida:  Seafood at Contramar, tasting menu at Pujol (yes, pronounced Poo-hole), original al pastor tacos at Tizoncito, hot choco and churro at El Morro, and steak sandwich & salad at Sputino

Culture: Indigenous arts at the National Anthropology Museum, Contemporary Art Museum at U of DF and hiking around Teotihuacan.

People:  Like in all major urban cities, most folks were rushing around minding their own business. Subways are the best way to travel but also a great place to meet and hug some of the 21M DFers during rush hour.

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Commentary to follow…

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: A Tu Lado-Rosario Flores

Faith47  from S. Africa is showing her geo-political messaged pieces at http://www.carmichaelgallery.com along with 4 other artists from the U.S. of A and abroad. Many of the pieces were surprisingly affordable but I am afraid its gonna be my new crack if I start buying art now. In the meantime free galleries for me.

I have been noticing a trend of guerrilla spaces that intrigues me on 3 levels: putting vacant uses to space, juxtaposing places and people that normally do not coexist, and introducing/exposing new ideas to the surrounding community. Phantom Galleries is an example of the former and the Comme des Garcons store near Jtown is an example of the latter. What is lasting? What has permenance? Where is the line between function and symbolism. More and more, it seems like brick and mortar are becoming vehicles for ideas.  In someways guerrilla spaces  are theatrical since those who venture these places come for an experience. I don’t claim totally to understand my draw to these spaces myself but their messages somehow permeate and lead to other questions. I remember what I don’t understand.

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: Melt My Heart to Stone-Adele

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: Polly Come Home-Robert Plant and Allison Krause

Things seem to be in order.

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: Penalty-Beirut

Checked in to the race at 4:45am this morning along with almost 10,000 other runners. The sun hadn’t even risen and it was already 80 degrees; it was 90 degrees by the 6:00 am start. We were put into corals, like the bulls in Pamplona before they are set loose on the red scarfed runners. Well, instead of bulls I was shoulder to shoulder with some seriously fast moms. Did some small talking and it seemed like most folks had a few marathons under their belts already. It was a great vibe.

The beginning was slow going since everyone was jockeying for position and the gradual divergence amongst the runners, joggers, and walkers. The sound and rhythm of hundreds of pairs of sneakers hitting the pavement got the juice going. My concentration was little distracted by trying to figure out “passing” etiquette, group conversations, and a dude who must have over hydrated and so peed on tree within the first 100 yards of the race. Guess public urination in the happiest place on earth isn’t against the rules.

The course started in the park for the first couple of miles with the staff and Disney characters (who must have been cursing Walt in the heat) cheering us on. 8 miles were ran around the wide industrial streets surrounding Disneyland with cheerleaders, school bands, a mariachi band, and hula dancers stationed at every other mile cheering us on. The 9th mile was my favorite part of the course where we got to run around the outfield of Angels stadium. The last 2 miles were through downtown Disney. My face started to soften during the last mile or so and I started to have a mini-Rocky moment. With an ear to ear smile and happy drops of sweat rolling down and out the corner of my eyes, I thought “thank God, I almost forgot what accomplishment feels like.”

Finished 13.1 miles in 2:02.

Now I’m gonna hit up the Highland Park Swapmeet and get me a matching grill for my big ass, blinging medal.

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: I’ll Follow the Sun-The Beatles

I am all about the FREE events in LA. RSVP is closed but don’t worry, hipsters are mad flakers. Meet up at the house if y’all wanna caravan.

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: Headlock – Imogen Heap

Angelini Osteria – Everyone is smiling here and you will leave smiling, too. Especially after a few glasses of the Vietti Barolo which has quite some legs to it. Everything is good so just eat, drink, and talk really loud with your mouth full. Oh and ask the Italian waiters to teach you some “sign language”.

Pollo a la Brasa – I used to live in K-town during gradschool and always passed by this Peruvian chicken rotisserie joint (smoking yellow shack on Western and 8th) in my purple hoopty to and fro school but for some reason never dropped in till this weekend. As I held a crispy skinned, glossy chicken quarter in one hand and a ball of rice in the other(I try to not to use utensils when ever possible to, you know, live greener) I thought of how great LA’s eclecticism is. Where in the world can you get served Peruvian chicken by a Japanese couple and look out the window to see pasty Koreans walking about with their umbrellas and Mexican families toting around black plastic bags bulging with the day’s buys.

NorCal

“I like the bubbling play of wit, the chesty laughs,the resonant voices of men, when, glass in hand, they shut the grey world outside and prod their brains with the fun and folly of an accelerated pulse. “- Jack London, Jack Barleycorn

Nation’s Giant Burgers – I was wandering around Jack London Square (not recommended if you are afraid of the dark, homeless folks, and frankly, black people) late one night trying to fight off the lonely business man blues with some comfort food. I came upon Nation’s, two doors down from the siren lights of the XXX adult store. Nation’s doesn’t mess around, they serve up big-ass burgers with slices of cheese as thick as a McDonald’s meat patty that will put you in a food coma mid-bite and a good sweet potato tart that reminded me of banh khoai mi. The service is slow late at night but sometimes thats a good thing.

Soizic Bistro – West Oakland is one of those areas where one block separates the designer planned lofts, promenades, and shopping plazas from urban grit. So I was surprised to this French fusion bistro underneath crumbling steely, blue stucco walls. I was drawn in by the shelves of amber liquor refracting beams of the setting sun and stayed for the duck confit salad and lamb filet mignon. Don’t know if this is a popular local spot but wouldn’t mind if it was my secret.

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: I Just Called to Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder (makes me think of those Karaoke laser discs that had footage of random 80′s big haired Europeans women frolicking on a beach for every song)