Beyond Wonderland

So I'm not really a raver, but I do love trance.  LOVE IT.

The Beyond Wonderland festival was out in the LA burbs, with tons of DJs, five tents, and lots of dancing.  Becca, Jonathan and I headed out there on a cold, rainy afternoon to partake of the energy.  Plenty of people wearing next to nothing, but thankfully I'm smart and wore lots of layers.  

It was St Patrick's Day; I forgot to wear green.  Whoops.  

Jonathan's coworker is really into the raver scene - she made us some bracelets.  Yeah...I don't really get it. But it was fun to wear for the night!

I'm sure the place would've looked a little more magical if the wind and rain didn't tear down everything.

This video has a nice summary of the event.  Armin van Buuren's A State Of Trance was going on here - he headlined the main tent. 

Cold.  Cold.  Cold.

I ended up seeing Armin, Gareth Emery, Arty (great), Aly & Fila (great), John O'Callaghan, ATB, Dirty South (great), Alex Gaudino, Hardwell, Chris Liebing, and John Digweed.  If any of those names means anything to you, we should be friends.

45 seconds of fun times with Dirty South

Churro break.

So John Digweed's set was at the same time as Armin and ATB at the end of the night, which made it hard to get around to all three.  But once I stepped into his venue, man, he was AMAZING.  The music was dark, gorgeous, and the way he built it up and took it down was incredible.  Best of the night; I couldn't tear myself away.  Digweed is good.

ATB.

Next time, I'm gonna get me one of these.

The gang.

ARMIN.

VEGAS!

Actually, remove that exclamation point in the title.  I don't think I'm all that enthusiastic about Vegas.  But I did go there a couple weekends ago to give it another shot.  See, the first time I went, it wasn't so great a trip.  If you're not going to drink and gamble, that requires some planning and ticket purchasing of other things to do, neither of which happened.  I wasn't in charge, so we ended up with last minute very expensive tickets to Cirque du Soleil one night, while plans to go out dancing the next night ended in sickness, Nyquil and an 8pm bedtime for everyone else but me.  I sat up alone in a hotel room til 2am.  Not. Fun.

I decided to try again when Darryl was going to be there for work during the week with an extended stay into the weekend.  Another DJ love of mine, Ferry Corsten, would be at Marquee on Friday night, and a friend of Darryl knows Ferry himself.  I'm always wary of those 'friend of a friend knows someone who will get us on the list and blah blah blah' but I didn't expect much and things happened to work out in this case.

I drove up on Thursday afternoon, and even leaving at 3:30 in the afternoon didn't help me escape LA traffic.  Met up with Darryl and friends at the Wynn, and headed out to a late dinner at STK.  

Some girls next to us were having a birthday party.  They had firecracker candles!

I had the shrimp rice krispies dish with a hot shrimp bisque poured over it.

Morning view from the Wynn.

I worked from the hotel in the am, then it was time to move over to the Cosmopolitan for the rest of the weekend.  I'm a fan of this place.  Club, excellent restaurants, shops and concerts in one building = no need to go anywhere else!  I can see how people never leave their hotel during a Vegas trip.  And why many trips would be needed, to check out all the hotels.  Is that enough of a reason for me to return?  Probably not.

Jose Andres has a couple restaurants in the Cosmo, so Darryl and I hit China Poblano for lunch.  Asian Mexican fusion.

We started with guac.  Delicious, but I just made some at home that was as good and 1/3 the price.

When Pigs Fly

The Silencio taco - duck tongue + lychee

Time to check in.

Our room for 6.

View from the 59th floor. We upgraded to the Bellagio fountain view.

Exploring time.

Time to get ready to go out.  The only naturally pretty thing in Vegas.

We grabbed a burger from Holstein's downstairs for dinner. The chocolate shake was excellent.

Time to get our club on.  Nicky Romero opened.

 

I did end up meeting Mr. Ferry, via Darryl's buddy.  The pic I have with him is blurry and terrible, so I shan't post it.  But it happened.  At 2am it was time for Ferry to take control.  I got my dance on til 4:30am, when I'd had enough and went back upstairs.

By Saturday morning, I had done what I came to do: eat some food, meet Ferry, dance. Now it was time to go home.  

We grabbed some food at the outdoor gardens in Paris, and then I was out.  I left the rest of the gang to liver and wallet damage in a casino.

Hello sunset, adios Vegas. Not sure when/if I'll see you again, but thanks for an okay time of great people watching, good food, and weirdly fascinating happenings.  Oh, and a couple things that I don't ever want to see again.

 

Phoenix Weekend

Back to Phoenix for the weekend recap.

Grandma was going to make taco soup cause I always eat tons of it when I'm there, but Grandpa took her out to dinner Friday night, so I hit the Taqueria.

I tried to take a little nap after dinner to prepare for a night out, but I was too excited.  

I was about to see my favorite DJs in the whole wide world.  Yes, Above & Beyond came back to Scottsdale.  I have no idea where I picked up my love of trance, but I am slightly obsessed.  I listen to their podcast every week, follow their record label and try to see them whenever I can.  If you don't understand this, it's okay.  Just watch the video for a little slice of the energy and happiness it brings to millions of people around the globe.  

Luckily, Chris gets this obsession.  We met at an Above & Beyond show a couple years ago and decided that since none of our friends are into dancing all night to the best music ever, that we should become friends and see DJs together.  Our friendship still thrives.  Reunited!  Bonus points to the white boy who can dance. 

He snagged us VIP tickets so we didn't have to deal with the riffraff.  And we danced and danced and danced, until 2am or so.  Totally worth braving the Scottsdale club scene.  Ick.  Though the people watching is stellar.  

Saturday morning I planned to swing by Chantal and Meg's again for brunch and thrift shopping on my way out of town.  Except after staying out all night, I wasn't really alert enough to drive 6 hours home. Oh, signs of aging.  I can't stay out all night anymore.

They didn't have to try too hard to get me to stay another night, especially since it meant more time with them.  I wish they'd both move to LA.  

Brunch at Breakfast Club.  The best french toast ever.  

Then we hit Goodwill.  I need to learn to shop at these stores.  There are some treasures to find.  Like tapes from Oasis.  Still one of the best albums ever made.  

Chantal and I found some books that might help us navigate the muddy waters of dating and marriage and religion. 

Since I was in town for another meal, we tried to get back to Windsor, cause the brown bag chicken sandwich always calls my name.  An hour wait however, led us down the road to Hula's.

But then back to Churn for dessert.  Cause it's awesome.

I went with the classic choice: Madagascar vanilla ice cream, pretzel cone, salted caramel on top.  

After another night in bed with Chantal, watching Downton Abbey, I was rested and ready to get back to Cali.  Ugh, driving.