Tag: friends

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The St. Maarten Vacation Mash Up

I just heard a horrific story about a friend of mine traveling on the island of St. Maarten and is currently recovering from the attack in a Miami hospital. Here’s the details:

JL was walking with two family friends down a relatively dark street when they were all approached out of the shadows by three armed men. The men quickly demanded all their money. As JL was going through his pockets to oblige, one of the men pistol whipped him on top of the head with his glock. The impact of the gun broke his skull, and shattered pieces of his skull into his brain cavity.

With the other two men holding guard on JL’s other friends, there wasn’t much they could to to assist while they were robbed. JL was carried to the local hospital in St. Maarten; unfortunately these island hospitals don’t regularly staff neurosurgeons. His family was notified and they gathered what money they could on short notice to charter a private (low level) flight direct to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. While there, he underwent brain surgery to remove the shards of skull from his brain tissue.

Fortunately they acted quickly and the operation was a success! As a result of the attack, JL does suffer from neural damage which has paralyzed his right hand, however, with days of therapy we’re hoping that he will regain full use of it in the near future. Unfortunately, this isn’t guaranteed and is more hopeful than anything else. He is is good spirits, and we all made sure to keep conversations light and friendly to keep him from stressing about his situation.

If this casualty wasn’t enough, he now has to deal with the American Health Care system. As a student and massage therapist he’s unable to work without his dominant hand. With the limited health insurance he does have, his out-of-pocket medical bills have already run over $20,000, not including the immediate travel expenses endured.

JL’s family and friends have put together a donation site to help him with the looming medical bills and living expenses, while he concentrates on therapy and recover. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to help donate; it’s much appreciated.

Being confronted in an alley by armed men in your own town or even in America is frightening enough, but in another country, with lacking care and facilities, it could have been down right deadly. We are all fortunate that his friend and family acted quickly and pulled together to get JL to safety and he’s well on his way to recovery. JL: Recover Fast and Well my friend

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Tiny Dive on Hollywood

I made a trip out to Hollywood to hang with a few friends for the weekend. After a long drive to San Diego and back for work on Thursday, I made it through Irvine long enough to hang at the ‘ool at my boy BP’s spot. Irvine is the definition of suburbia and more boring that watching ice melt.

Skip the formalities, we start our evening at a local dive spot on Hollywood blvd: Tiny’s KO. I’m uncertain how long this place has been going but some of these kats have been here since the doors opened the first time. We’re prepping for the evening so with stiff drinks, a good juke of punk and decor around the room highlighting chicks with clown; how could you not have a good time. The food is excellent at this place and some 50’s lady told me she would shove her nails in my nose if I didn’t let her play some Def Leppard track.

Proper dive….

“Remember to tip the bar wench”

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Lounges, Dives, & Deep Space Beats

Taking to the evening on a Monday night is not of my norm but of course I’m a sucka for having a good time with new (and in this case old) friends. Last night was another evening of excess where I took my SD friends around to a few spots in my hood and out to the meat packing area.

Upon arrival to the once famed, but now devalued to, tourist-trap Balthazarthey realized the wait too was exorbitant and not ultimately worth it (all though I have had an excellent brunch there with their unique seafood platter). Patou and Whit stumbled on one of my favorite Moroccan-French restaurant, L’Orange Bleue. Monday’s they have their special Couscous and Live Belly dancing events which are typically loud but always fun, and the food is good.

I met them at Pravda, a two level post-modern Soviet styled lounge (what I didn’t know is that it’s owned by Keith McNally who coincidentally owns Balthazar). The place has really lost its luster as a hot spot, which is fine with me as long as long as you go on weekdays. Despite that on weekends the bar still can be over crowded by the Amstel Light drinking B&Ters, you can still grab a great vodka martini.

Next up one of my neighborhood favorites: Milady’s. This is the spot you pull up a stool and order a shot of jack and a bud – proceeding to drink all night with the locals, just don’t get conned into playing a round of pool. Unfortunately this evening, I had to witness the Raiders take another loss – this time in front of millions on Monday night football – I guess three in a row is too much to ask for wins…

Turning it up a notch, I took the crew over to APT for some funk, old school and hip hop in this long running hideaway spot in meatpacking. Another spot that’s not THE hot spot in the area but the people there are chill, the music is always good and it’s comfortable to kick-it. This evening we had DJ Spinna rocking some good old school tracks (man I really do still know the words to They Want EFX)

Like Roscoe B. Coltrane
I spiggedy-spark a spiff and give a twist like Chubby Checker
I take my Froot Loops with two scoops, make it double decker
Oh Vince, the baby come to Papa Duke
A babaloo, ooh, a babaloo boogedy boo
I went from Gucci to Stussy, to fliggedy-flam a groupie
To Zsa Zsa, to yibbedy-yabba dabba hoochie koochie
Tally ho I-I’ll take my Stove Top instead of potatoes, so
Maybe I’ll shoot ’em now, nope maybe I’ll shoot ’em later, yep
I used to have a dog and Bingo was his name oh, so uh
B – I – N – G – O-oh
You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around, hon, so uh
Dun dun dun dun dun, dun dun

Still the night was young so we took a walk around the corner to Cielo to check out DJ Francois K‘s Deep Space party. I hadn’t been here in months and going back reaffirmed my appreciation of DJ’s and producers that can be diverse in their music selections and still mix a flow into the music to create a great set and a hopping dance floor. Great stuff indeed, unfortunately as the 3 am hour approached, I was reminded by responsibility it wasn’t me on vacation and I needed to work at 8 am. I bounced leaving my friends to close out the spot.

A must read for more information on the party and Francois’s take on music which I too agree with:

Francois pinpoints “un-learning mixing” as the most difficult skill he’s mastered thus far. So he’s not playing records just because they mix well into each other. “I just don’t want to hear tribal house and strictly be the guy who plays tribal records, or just techno” like “All I listen to is techno that sounds like this kind of industrial sound. fuck this shit, man!

A lot of people are expecting that, or have been brainwashed with that. If they don’t hear you mixing two records together, they think you’re a bad DJ.

Francois K: I Get Deep[URB]