…his purple majesty!
last night jimmy kimmel had prince on as a guest artist to promote his new release, “rock and roll love affair”. We lucked out and got free tickets before they vanished in minutes! he played for at least 45 minutes adding a rendition of “the dance electric” and a medley of some of his more popular cuts like “raspberry beret”, “take me with you”, “cool”, “baby i’m a star” to name a few. so, so, dope show!!!
…for you lovers of r&b icon, roy ayers!
coming to exchangela in downtown, november 17th, the one and only roy ayers will be performing. hosted by dj garth trinidad, homage featuring pete rock
& thundercat, i’m looking forward to having him in my own backyard!
…via ktchn 105!
located on a decidedly industrial stretch of long beach avenue in downtown los angeles, ktchn 105 is only open for brunch on saturdays and sundays and reservations are a must. my partner and i decided to ride our bikes over on sunday to meet up with another couple for a bite to eat.
right away i was taken by the open loft space turned restaurant and the beautiful garden-side outdoor dining which in tree challenged dtla, is definitely a perk! found out pretty quickly that you had to jump early on those seats but i wasn’t upset with the indoor seating either. truly live-work, the space also has a dedicated schedule of cooking courses, knife skills workshops and other handy kitchen prep classes for the culinary challenged.
fun as that may sound, i was strictly there for the eats! mimosa in hand whilst others took part of the bloody mary/maria offerings, i was all set to enjoy whatever was at hand and from the looks of the weekly changing menu, it was all good. i enjoyed a shirred egg mounted in (their words, not mine) basil butter over polenta with sundried tomatoes, fresh garden herbs and a side of kale. just the right amount of food without the heavy feeling. don’t worry, i fixed that with a piece of their freshly made pecan tart! not the kind of crust i’m used to but still tasty nonetheless.
reasonably priced with the most expensive entree at $11 that day, mimosas clocking in at $5, it wasn’t a budget buster unless like me, you like to drink! i enjoyed the extra charm of soft nutty, chocolate chip cookies accompanying the check and i’m looking forward to my next visit, hopefully with garden seating next time!
…of los angeles is one of the main flavors of summer!
summer in los angeles is like no where else in the world. we are fortunate enough to have a vast amount of free public performances that stretch across the spread of los angeles county. from the levitt pavilion of pasadena, the summer series of downtown grand performances and pershing square to the levitt pavilion of mcarthur park comprise just a few of the free shows available in my immediate area.
last night was our first summer concert at mcarthur park and we kicked off the evening with l.a.’s famous mama’s hot tamales. located on 7th street just west of alvarado, the restaurant takes up three store fronts consisting of the main dining hall, an art gallery with library and a workshop on the opposite side.
what makes mama’s unique is the program that allows for other tamale vendors who normally sell their wares via cart, to have a proper kitchen to create and store their goods as well as provide another location to sell to customers. people who might be apprehensive regarding street food will find this to be a safe haven. this means that vendors are complying with state and board regulations giving them an opportunity to learn the ropes of business management including tax filing and provides a sampling of some of the best tamales from different regions of south america!
the results, the most mouth watering tamales ever! vegetarians take note, they have a wide variety of non meat options that are both savory and sweet. i ordered a zucchini and a pineapple version both surrounded by the creamiest of masa. my eyes closed as i savored bite after bite alternating between flavors. so, so succulent!
Photo: Sandra Romero of Mama’s Hot Tamales Cafe. Credit: Stefano Paltera / For The Times
mama herself, sandi romero, will greet you at the register and guide your taste buds in right direction. mama is a mentor to many of the incoming vendors and provides them with working knowledge of the food service industry. her right hand man, martin sanchez, is the current kitchen head. you can find him out front grilling all of the delicious fillings that go into the tamales.
martin like mama, is very friendly and quick to share the story of his rise and fall in the food industry. having started off as a busboy and working his way up to restaurant ownership, he lost his place due to economic difficulties and has started anew at mama’s. he is very lively in his descriptions of their forays into flavor when creating new tamales and his passion for the craft is contagious. as he regaled us with tales of more and more flavor combinations, we reordered more tamales including the chicken mole. being a veg, i wouldn’t partake but the unanimous answer crowned a new favorite for the evening!
we bought bags of frozen tamales to keep us during the week amidst promises to return for the new debuting flavors including the much hyped guava and cream cheese (a combo known in brazil as ‘romeo e julieta’)! one thing is, you can’t sleep on their specials as they tend to sell out quick. i was deprived of several flavors before the evening ended and the ambiance was so warm and friendly, i didn’t want to leave for the show. be sure to include mama’s hot tamales in your summer festivities and say hello to mama and martin as they are always there to welcome you!
mama’s hot tamalesphotos except where noted are copyright janene dunbar. many thanks to andrew tamandl and dan garcia for their hearty appetites and enthusiasm!
…was an eye opening experience!
i have been a past attendee of san diego’s epic comic con and seeing that the anime expo was coming to my neck of the woods, it was only logical that i might want to look in and see what that end of spectrum entailed. much to my delight and surprise, sunday afternoon was open to all and i was able to walk the floor for free. there isn’t too much difference in terms of the overall set up. the content may tend to overlap but where anime attendees excel, is in the variety of costumed characters and the depth of their creativity.
of course there are the gaggle of girls who use this as an excuse to dress in the skimpiest “costumes” but there are a greater amount who go all out with custom props, weaponry, hair and even eyes! the men are also right in line with some pretty amazing threads. unless you’re a fan of anime and have intimate knowledge of the characters and story lines, you won’t know who’s who but that won’t stop you from being taken by the overall effect.
what i noticed most, besides the profound youth, was the innocence and warmth of the attendees. incredibly polite, funny and inclusive, the diversity was vast (yes! there were plenty of brothers and sisters in attendance!) and i’m sure the overall dopamine levels were off the charts. i’ve posted some of the highlights from the show. be sure to make it to the bottom as i have saved best costume, in my eyes at least, for last:
jorgen von strangle
attendee shows off amazing ring she picked up at the expo.
fantasy couples were a must.
most of the merchandise were plushies, video and printed media, jewelry, art and so on but i was surprised to see these kick ass steam punk shoes! brought to you by metropolis alternative, they are a jaw dropping mix of smooth or quilted leathers and tough as nails hardware. absolutely fierce, i could see them being the fantastic touch to a played down ensemble. sick!
the final costume, as promised, which blew me away, was princess mononoke and her companions. thankfully the convention hall was air conditioned or other similarly fur clad attendees would have suffered far worse.
and yeah, i found waldo!
conclusion: for four days attendees like the above are treated like rock stars! they are stopped left and right for photographs so much so, that i’m amazed they are able to explore the event at all. the best thing was watching the looks on their faces as they interacted and bonded because for that small window of time, they are together in a shared love of fantasy, good vs evil and all things anime!
using my design skills for the forces of good!
