Sup homies...
How are we doing? As always, well I hope. So on Friday evening I went into downtown LA to hook up with a contact of an old friend Gaz, through the electronic music industry. The dude in question is called Bryant, and lives just off Sunset Boulevard on the edge of Hollywood, in an area called Silverlake. The neighbourhood itself has a really nice, laid back feel; a nice mix of Hispanics, blacks, middle-class white families and of course, hipsters. Anyway, Bryant is a freelance electronic music producer and sometime employee of Lemur, which is how he hooked up with Gaz. Would describe him as a friendly, introverted, shy stoner who obviously loves his tech. Although at first I found Bryant to be a little hard to crack, it wasn't long before we were getting on just dandy! Bryant lives with two other guys, Henry and Joel, who are also electronic producers; from what I gather Henry does commercial stuff for movies whilst Joel specialises in playing the sitar and guitar. Their front living room is a music studio that is absolutely loaded with tech - I have never seen such expensive and lovely sounding monitor speakers...
Back to the main narrative. The four of us, and their friend, Laura who is a professional violinist and eletronic producer went out for some Thai food which was nice. Then on the way back Laura spotted a party going on at a sneaker store run by some friends of hers. Best decision ever. Turns out it was a glitch-hop night being held at a sneaker store! Since we had VIP status we had access to free Belvedere vodka cocktails all night! The music itself was nothing special - glitch-hop isn't exactly a new phenomenon, and artists like Prefuse 73 have been honing that sound for years and years. Nonetheless, it was cool to hang out with all these LA hipsters and glitch heads in this random sneaker store in downtown LA. What I liked about the night (and that part of the city) was quite how ethnically diverse and open it seemed to be. To be honest it felt like an extension of London, albeit with way more Hispanics!
Anyway, we stayed there til 11 and then went back to Bryant's gaff where we proceeded to drink and smoke more (these guys are big smokers and have access to medicinal-grade marijuana). Nuff said. Also met some LA hotties who all loved my accent (and of course charm and wit - I definitely have a new-found confidence here, helped by the fact that the women here are so easy to talk to and forward). More of their friends swung by, and we promptly had a party accompanied by Henry dropping loads of his really interesting production: his thing at the moment is dub-step, which has a distinctly West coast take and is certainly a little less grimey than some of the shit coming out of London and the UK at large. Still, it's definitely interesting to hear how a particular sound originating from one place can be taken, assimilated and then evolved into something which retains the core elements but is obviously discernibly different. West coast dubstep. You heard it here first.
Anyway, if any of you are interested in hearing Henry or Joel's stuff, check out these websites:
http://www.puretoneproductions.com/henrystrange/HOME.html (the home page shows Henry in the living room/studio)
http://www.myspace.com/thedvine (Joel's myspace page)
The next day Joel said he would take me to a proper "OG burger joint" since I expressed an interest in eating a coronary-inducing American burger. We went to Tommie's, which is this stripped down, legendary burger joint in downtown LA. And boy, was the shit good: I had myself a chilli cheese burger with fries and a drink and it was damn tasty. And massive. And nearly killed me. Still, I can now say I have had a proper fat American burger. Not only are the portions ridiculous, but for a drink, they just give you an empty one-litre cup which you can fill and re-fill to your heart's desire. To me, that speaks volumes about how the US is a land of consumerism, excess and wastefulness. Nonetheless, the customer service is SO much better than in Europe, and generally I have found American people to be very polite, friendly, courteous and helpful. Then again, I am rolling in an affluent part of California. That said, I am already reviewing and revising my opinion of Americans in a much more favourable light.
So big props to Bryant, Joel, Henry and Laura and all the other LA peeps that I met. Thanks for your hospitality - you are more than welcome to hit me up in my crib anytime in London (once I am settled again).
Off to Santa Barbara this morning with the family. It is on the coast, and is about 60 miles north of where I am now, in Ventura County. The sun is shining and life seems good right now.
Hope you all had suitably excellent weekends. I have definitely found someone to stay with in San Francisco: unfortunately, Angelica bailed on me as her new room mate wasn't comfortable with the plan. So now I am staying with a graphic designer called Andy who seems really interesting and friendly. Have also approached some cool women to hook up with whilst I am there through CS.org. Hopefully they will get back to me!
Stay tuned friends.
Peace,
F.
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