PurrView #75 - A Farewell Meow

Sharing tidbits of my life with the world via PurrView has been utterly lovely. But as with all good things, we've reached the end. Through 75 ragtag blurbs over the course of the last couple years, I've spoken in short and at length to an array of subjects—from musicians/bands to Vegas happenings to art events and personal opinion—and I thank you for tuning in to my frequency. As all-over-the-place as I was topically, I truly appreciate the opportunity to write and be read. Now, it's time for Pennies to move on to other creative projects and platforms of expressing oneself. Not sure where I'm headed yet, but it'll probably go something like, working on my creative writing, or, pursuing my passion for film & video... Who knows, but since I turned 30 four days ago, it hit me—it's time for a change. :)



It's a brave new world now: 30, flirty and thriving! (Forgive me for referencing Aldous Huxley and Jennifer Garner in the same sentence LoL.) In closing, please enjoy seeing what I've been up to lately (below). And wherever you are, send me your good, creative vibes. Merci, gracias, danke, salamat, mahalo, thank you! And remember: YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!


~Meow~
Pennies

Lighting up the streets of Downtown Las Vegas for the 2nd annual 5K GlowRun on October 13, 2013. Here's a pic of the post-race block party called AfterGlow, in the Fremont East Entertainment District. Proceeds benefited Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN).

Soaking up the beauty of life at the first ever LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL festival.  A 2-day extravaganza of culinary, musical, artistic, and social proportions. This amazing gathering took place in the streets of Downtown Las Vegas and featured musical acts such as Pretty Lights, Alabama Shakes, Imagine Dragons, Portugal. the Man, Empire of the Sun, Purity Ring, Zedd and so many more! Cirque du Soleil performers, master chefs, learning seminars, fashion, dope street art, city gardens... this festival blew my mind!

Throwing the 4th annual Las Vegas Halloween Parade with Flying Pan Productions! We told the community of Las Vegas to "Come As You Aren't" with an open-to-the-public procession that featured art cars, bicycle gangs, mutant vehicles, musicians, fire performers, kids, adults, and even Playboy Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair  (pictured here) as the Queen of the Halloween Parade! We also had a great time throwing the post-parade block party in the Fremont East Distric.

Hanging with friends visiting from out of town... Light Nightclub at Mandalay Bay with Chi-Town friends (a Vegas nightlife experience I highly recommend!) and dinner with my B.C. girls at Trevi (in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace).  

Catching an NBA game at Mandalay Bay—Clippers vs Nuggets.

Throwing the Desert Hops International Beer Experience with Vegas Seven magazine and the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. We held the celebration of global brews at the Cosmopolitan's Boulevard Pool overlooking the Las Vegas Strip on November 9, 2013.

Throwing the DTLV.com Block Party —the official after-party of the Zappos.com "1/2 of the Half" quarter-marathon component of the famous Rock n Roll Marathon. Hot Mess Boutique, DoTerra, Vegas Thread, Hippo Esthetics, The Jeweler's Daughter and Lobster Me were among the local vendors and food trucks on-site!

 Au revoir...

 ~Meow~

PurrView #74 - Dave Chappelle

Not many journalists can say they've had the chance to interview Dave Chappelle. He's a private guy who's very careful about how much of the limelight he gets. (Not too much, please.) So when I got the opportunity to meet with him during his recent stop in Vegas (he was in town to watch the Mayweather-Canelo fight), I was ecstatic. And in his words, it was his "first  interview in years..."

Check out my interview with Dave Chappelle for Vegas Seven magazine here. I agree with James Lipton; Dave is an "amazing piece of work."

~Meow~
Pennies

PurrView #73 - GlowRun 2013

Happy Friday the 13th!

It's been a hectic Vegas summer. But now we're just a month away from GlowRun 2013. Don't miss Insomniac & WENDOH Media's 5K, nighttime, illuminated fun-run in the heart of Downtown Las Vegas. Hell, I don't think I'm even going to run... it's just going to be a super-fun party! And it's a great precursor to the subsequent Halloween festivities that will be going on Downtown.

(end of race course, GlowRun 2012)

Last year, Capital Cities and Girl Talk graced the stage making for an off-the-hook parking lot party. This year, the vibe's going to take over the entire Fremont East District in the form of a full-blown, community-focused block party. Vice, Echo and Insomniac DJs will be posted up at multiple locations.

Check out the trailer here...

Do it for charity and have a great time while you're at it... See you October 13th!

~Meow~
Pennies

PurrView #72 - Electric Daisy Carnival

(Entering EDC; an art vehicle decked out in electric daisies; Q Stage, the place to find hard step)

Back in the day, when I was young... I was a little raver. I started out as a “candy kid”—known today as “kandi kid”—and later became a jaded “junglist”—a term that’s barely even known today in the electronic-dance-music (EDM) world. My promenade through the underground party world in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s involved homemade bracelets and binkies, fairy wings, breaker circles, black turtlenecks, UFOs (a type of cargo pants that supposedly fold up into a backpack, though no one’s ever really seen it done), bandanas, Manic Panic hair color, party-kid friends in low (and high) places and substances we don’t have time to discuss. And it all seemed to fizzle out as my tastes changed in about 2003.

Myself, circa '99... the good ol' raver days

Myself, present day... at EDC 2013

But now, after a 10-year hiatus from the “rave scene,” nostalgia irresistibly pulled me back for a weekend of the things I used to love so much, which are now NOTHING like I remember. After not having been to a rave in over a decade, I had the awesome opportunity to attend Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas.

(Guest list confirmation)

What’s changed? Let's see...

Legality/acceptance of raves (apparently, everyone’s totally cool with them now)

Party favors (DO NOT ask for ecstasy, doses or crank nowadays. Just ask for that one chick; and I don’t mean Crystal)

Ticket prices (1999: $25 entry used to make people seethe // 2013: kids gladly pay $350+ to rave it up)

Visuals (they are awesomely and mind-blowingly beyond comprehension nowadays)

Clothing (or current lack thereof)

…just to name a few. Also quite notable:
1) How mainstream the EDM business truly is nowadays (there's even a Vegas convention for it... see EDMbiz) and
2) If you were a DJ spinning vinyl at parties in 2000, you were freakin’ cool. If you’re a DJ spinning your digital set at an Insomniac event today, you’re pretty much a god.   

And now, a pictorial view of my awesome EDC experience…

 (My friend C. Moon, all fired up for a daisy-rrific time)

 (My party-wrist. Woot woot!)

(Myself and a friend tearing up the dex on the Red Bull bus)

(Friends on the "Insanity" ride, as I watch from the ground below in awe.)

 (Did I mention we took the Red Bull double-decker party bus?? Thanks, Red Bull!!)

Oh yeah... and I was even asked to write for Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival 2013 magazine. If you can get your hands one of these issues, find my cover story on page 11...

 Thank you, INSOMNIAC for a crazy good time!!

~Meow~

Pennies

PurrView #71 - Random 2¢

 Call me cheap. Tell me I'm taking the easy route with this blog post. Whatever... maybe you're right. But nonetheless, I'm keeping this one simple, yet expressive.... With this post, I'm sharing a totally random, miniscule pseudo-missive consisting simply of some media stimulation I adore...

Words of wisdom: If at first you don't succeed... Dust yourself off and try again.

 DTLV.com

 TheUTLab.com

These shoes are made from paper !

Checkin' myself at Viva Las Vegas.



~Meow~
Pennies

PurrView #70 - Frequency at The Beat

"First Friday" is wildly popular in the art community. And "Preview Thursday" is its not-yet-widely-popular precursor.

Preview Thursday is the Thursday night before First Friday, and it's quickly becoming a preliminary stop for—if not an alternative to—the artistic chaos that ensues in Downtown Las Vegas every first Friday of the month. On Preview Thursdays, you'll find that many galleries open their doors for cocktail hours and sneak previews introducing the artists being showcased for the month. It's a great way to be in the know and also beat the crowds if you're an art-buyer.

The Beat at Emergency Arts (520 Fremont Street) hosts FREQUENCY on Preview Thursdays beginning June 6. The one-hour event will feature live interviews of innovators, entrepreneurs, artists and other interesting people in Las Vegas. Check out the inaugural FREQUENCY as writers from Vegas Seven and DTLV.com interview four respectively talented and fascinating people in the heart of the Fremont East District!

FREQUENCY - June 6
Rehan Choudhry, Life Is Beautiful festival founder; interviewed by Cindi Reed
Bruno Moya, war veteran & advocate of Warrior Meditation Project; interviewed by Heidi Kyser
Dana Satterwhite, TastySpace gallery owner; interviewed by Geoff Carter
Zoë Kohen Ley, globetrotting cellist (performing live); interviewed by Geoff Carter

~Meow~
Pennies

PurrView #69 - Go-chella or Stay-chella?

As we all know, Coachella 2013 is sold out. This situation has become inevitable the past few years of the music & arts festival, despite the fact that it’s been split into two consecutive weekends. But even though the show is sold out, Las Vegans still have options when it comes to Coachella-centric festivities. Without wristbands, you can “go-chella” or “stay-chella” and still get your festival kicks.

Go-chella

A sold-out show doesn’t have to be a showstopper for you. Make the trek to the Inland Empire anyways. Campgrounds, estates and hotels—such as Renaissance Esmeralda Resort—in the cities of Coachella, Indio, Palm Desert or La Quinta, for example, will be packed with the same music, people, party favors and vibes that you’d find inside the confines of the show. Better yet, these offsite Coachella parties are arguably even sweeter thanks to air conditioning and pool parties. Here are a few to check out:

 

Stay-chella

Not making the drive to Cali but still want to feel the musical effects? No worries, because you can still taste the Coachella rainbow from Sin City. Numerous festival acts and headliners are booked to play Las Vegas throughout the coming week, so don’t feel left out just because the main event is sold out. See below:



A mini-Choachella of sorts abounds at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas... Postal Service, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Band of Horses...

Also, check out...

How to Destroy Angels at the Pearl

Beach House at House of Blues

The XX at the Joint

Purity Ring at Beauty Bar

Alex Clare at Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip

Skinny Lister at Backstage Bar & Billiards

... among others.

Don’t-even-wanna-leave-the-house-chella

Thanks to the wonders of technology, you can even just stream Coachella performances live from your own house … in your own bedroom … sitting in your underwear, if you so please. 

YouTube.com/Coachella

Sold-out, Schmold-out … whether it’s Coachella, Go-chella or Stay-chella for you this year, the festi-bilities are endless!

~Meow~

Pennies

PurrView #68 - Advertorial Delight

I like to think of myself as a writer with an ever-broadening spectrum of experience and talents. Whether it be letter-writing, magazine articles, poetry, short stories, band bios, petitions of all sorts, and beyond... words are my forte... my form of expression... my art...

So, I was delighted when I recently got the opportunity to work up an advertorial for the first time. I'm sure you probably deduce that an advertorial is pretty much an advertisement with an editorial twist. This Ketel One advertorial features two of the best Las Vegas mixologists—Jason Hughes and Nate Greene—getting creative with Ketel One Oranje vodka.

Check it out here in the latest issue of Vegas Seven magazine!

~Meow~

Pennies

PurrView #67 - High Times on Lowly Streets

Coastwest Unrest

“High Times on Lowly Streets,” the third release from post-punk folk/Americana outfit Coastwest Unrest is an account of perpetual introspection and reminiscence. With lyrics full of sincere similes and poetic nostalgia, the album is slower, more mature, and more melodic—yet more intense in its own ways—than Coastwest’s prior releases.  

With lyrics, “The smell of old sage makes us think of rain… all these things we’re remembering… as we make amends with our enemies,” opening track Remembrance of Things Past is equal parts chaotic and melodious, and sets the tone for the 11-song record. On fourth track, Still Frightened, guitarist/lead singer Noah Dickie’s sweet voice imparts a tale (or a metaphor) of a burning house, as a hint of a metal-scream floods the background toward the end of the song. Lighthearted track Henry Miller Library Incident elicits a yearning to jump in the truck with your sweetheart and go for a drive as Noah croons, “We are restless but time is our medicine... These are days we could have never imagined.” 

As he sings, “I’m haunted by your good-bye and everything thereafter,” on track Fortuitous Disaster, an account of a “sad state of affairs” that most of us know all too well comes to mind—the bittersweet resolution of a relationship that’s run its course. Catchy, heartfelt, and perhaps my favorite song on the album, I couldn’t help but sing along to lyrics, “Hey! It’s us against the world again, but our hearts are where they’ve always been,” on eighth track, Lost & Damned, as early as my first time hearing it. Just as unpredictable, soothing and chaotic as it began, the album closes with its eponymous eleventh track; homage to the highs and lows of Las Vegas.  

Throughout the record, the pleasing sound of Alex Barnes’ violin takes the aural senses on a swooping ride like a bird on the wind, especially on ninth track, Sincerely, Strongly, Completely, another favorite of mine on the album... especially because it nods to the haunting nature of Coastwest’s albums past. Drummer Josh Dickie’s rhythm and intuitive syncopations keep the pulse and murmur of the album’s heart. If there was a record from this band that is most sing- and hum-along worthy and fine tuned to please a broader spectrum of listeners, this is it.

COASTWEST UNREST – “High Times on Lowly Streets”

1.Remembrance of Things Past

2.Empty Handed Painter

3.The Wire Birds on Charleston Blvd

4.Still Frightened

5.A Pairing Gift

6.Henry Miller Library Incident

7.Fortuitous Disaster

8.Lost & Damned

9.Sincerely, Strongly, Completely

10.Where Will You Go Tonight

11.High Times on Lowly Streets

 Kudos to Coastwest Unrest on their third studio release, due out April 23^rd under Reclaim Records.

~Meow~
Pennies