Coachella 2013 

The years leading up to my first Coachella experience have been filled with yearning and hints of envy for my friends who attend year to year. When festival season rolls around, Facebook feeds become cluttered with Instagrams of Coachella inspired outfits. And this year… (finally) I would join those gawking about it. 

So was Coachella everything I thought it would be and more? I’d definitely say yes!.. and more! 

The Expected:

One: It was blazing hot. Girls and boys half- mostly naked with water canons and music blasting in the Do Lab. But seriously, I was not about to ruin my makeup and cute outfit to join the wet dancing orgy…though it was so tempting. Instead, my makeup ran anyway, my sunblock, sweaty skin picked up all the desert dust, and my outfit was a nasty mess. I Harlem-shaked to Baaur, birthday-clapped for 2Chainz, and was mind-effed to Oblivion at Grimes all while roasting in my swampy shorts… (this sentence could have been more vivid, but Ill leave it up to your intrepretation). 

Two: Kinda incognito celebrities wandering about us commoners. They weren’t even hard to pick out. I saw Vanessa Hudgens at the Coldplay concert last May and her boyfriend was yelling “VANESSA! VANESSA!” and of course he was doing the same at Coachella. Captain Obvi. I’d be so annoyed if he was my boyfriend. Katy Perry hair flipped me at the the Purity Ring performance…probably cause she saw Laura and me take a fan-cam of her. hehe. In retaliation, I stomped on her bodyguard’s foot. Oh and the cherry on top was none other than the infamous Lindsey Lohan storming around with her posse. I’d YOLO too if I was about to be shipped off to rehab. 

Three: Low cell phone service means my group of 6+ was impossible to keep tabs on. People there, people here, people everywhere..oh wait where are my friends!? With nearly 100,000 people jamming the cell towers, chances are the shortest member (riley, vi, or ally?) or the most oblivious member (Laura) of the group was gonna get lost. Pretty much, everyone was lost.. cept me. ;) 

The Unexpected:

One: Free food from the awesome Tollett clan. Though Riley had to pull some strings for us the first day, she got us catering all weekend! But whats the fun in catered food when food trucks were everywhere. Oh wait.. its like a billion bucks per burger. I did settle for a $6 bacon dog though. What a steal!    ,

Two: Fraternizing with the King of Hardcore/punk Ian Mackaye. Him, his wife, Amy, and son, Carmine were just chillin in the artist area. I didn’t even know it was them at first. Amy just said their band “The Evens” played a set and I was like kinda whatever about it. Then Riley or Ally said something about Fugazi and I kinda freaked out. Come on..everyone knows Fugazi!! Well, I was pretty starstruck (though I doubt he would call himself a “star”) and didn’t know what to say. We ended up talked about picking each others teeth. And yes! I am a fan of their new project. Buy their album The Evens, 2005!! 

Three: I got free nail polish stickers in the H&M tent! 

Four: Gnarly dust storms. Dust is something you prepare for at Burning Man or something. But during the Chili Peppers, I hid away and watched from a screen cause I was inhaling a sandbox. And I even had black boogers to prove it! 

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Until next year Coachella…

SXSW 2013: Festival for the Music Lovin’ Vultures

I originally booked a ticket to Austin to see my sister’s showcase at the Elysium. It was suppose to be some quality bonding time for the week given I only see the little rat every 6 months or so. She ended up staying in Austin for a total of 29hrs (1hr of sleeping included) where I saw her probably only 6 of those… well whatever so much for bonding.. Here’s a blurry photo of my sis bumpin’ it. 

Anyway… to the exciting stuff! My friend Soy and I have been planning this for weeks with Austin loc dog, SXSW genius/veteran/fangirl, Hannah. Hannah has been sending me and Soy piles of SX party RSVPs, all of which were free. Free shows!? I think I’m in heaven and the angels (aka Macklemore & Mr. Lewis) are definitely singing to me. 

Off to our first batch of parties, we stumble across the Spotify House where bar tenders were pouring generous amounts of free vodka. After a the bars went dry we proceeded to romp around downtown Austin to find more free music and free booze. Soy, Hannah (mystery friend), and me enjoying Kendrick Lamar and Trinidad James at the Spin day party.

Throughout the event all we heard is Secret Show! there Secret Show here! oMg JT is gonna be there oMg Daft Punk blah blah… With every rumor flying around, its easy to get excited.. but chances are we weren’t getting into that show. So us peasants must wait in line. Not just a nice line that guarantees entry, but an ugly, hot, long line that only tickles the young fan girl’s imagination of being yay-close to whoever. 

Well we did wait in line for 3 hrs to see Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Good thing the (AUHMAZING) food trucks were only a 5min walk away so starvation wasn’t an issue. The line grew and grew and then shrunk and shrunk as people began to lose all hope of getting in. The bouncers were telling us: wristbands and badges only! WE WILL NOT LOSE HOPE! Though things were lookin’ dreary… the RSVP line had only a sad handful of people left. Only one thing left to do, get help from the locals who know other locals on the “inside” HAHA! So this whole experience wasn’t exactly free, but I’d definitely pay $20 again to see Macklemore perform. Look how close I got! 

In the end, bit of persistence and dedication made the SXSW adventure well worth it. You really don’t need to drop 7 Benjamins on a badge or wristband (though it may have made life a little easier). For next year, make a plan, stick to it (or not), wander around, RSVP!, test your luck, and don’t act like an entitled brat. If you don’t get into a show.. whatever.. Austin is an awesome city, go meet the locals and get free drinks on Dirty6th! 

The End!  

My article in Tu Revis Argentina !! (I have since changed my Twitter name)

Here it is translated into English

Between the release of Super Junior’s first hit “U” in 2006  and the recent viral sensation “Gangnam Style”, K-pop has further infiltrated millions of households and radio stations around the world from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia, Bolivia to France, Canada to South Africa etc. Now Chile has hosted its first ever South American Music Bank K-pop Festival on November 2^nd at Quinta Vergara in Vina Del Mar.

Prior to my arrival, Chile seemed like an unlikely place for K-pop. My uncertainties quickly turned into reassurance when I met a group of four dedicated Argentinean girls who had traveled over 25 hours by bus to Vina! When they learned that I too was attending Music Bank, we hugged like old friends, giggled, and squealed so loud in the hallway of our hotel until the owner told us to go outside.

Apparently, Alfredo Alonso of Bizarro Entertainment, the co-producer of the event, did not know what to expect either until nearly 70% of concert tickets sold out in 5 days. Then it surprised him again when nearly 300 South American fans greeted the groups at Santiago International Airport . “We first promoted Japanese bands two years ago… but now we have been getting so many requests for K-pop acts.” he said, “KBS (the concert presenter) couldn’t believe the large interest!”

The opening ceremony of the concert had more energy than a nuclear bomb. Over 9,000 screaming fans made me scream. They screamed louder and screams eventually turned into tears. What is happening!? I don’t cry!? But for some reason, I could not hold it in as the concert went on. It may have been MBLAQ’s sharp dance moves or Yong-hwa of CN Blue’s coy smile as he sang us an acoustic love song. Then my eyes teared up again when Davici sang the Chilean classic “Gracias a la vida” by Violeta Parra.

Of course, the star of the show was Super Junior. At this point, I thought I might melt from over excitement. The screams from the crowd were more piercing than ever. When the boys started singing “Mr. Simple,” everyone could not stop doing that trademark “hand dance” and of course, more screaming. Super Junior is always well practiced and every boy in sync with each other. Their enticing stage presence probably made the grumpy security guard jump and groove. These boys have something special; it is an alluring charm that makes you feel like they are singing to only you. This is why people come to see Super Junior.

The whole concert was rather short, a grand two hours, but nothing short of intensely passionate and emotional. These K-pop artists have traveled nearly 19,000 km from South Korea to Santiago where it was probably the first time many South American fans were able to see their favorite idols in person.  Even though this was not the first time I have seen a K-pop concert (I used to work at a music venue in Los Angeles), the performances are still so inspiring and remain a treasured novelty. 

Woes of Being Freshly Educated

Being well educated, well fed, and healthy seems like a perfectly comfortable and happy life. Then why is that many of my girl friends seem unhappy, anxious, and even depressed? 

Attending high school in a middle class community many of my friends went off to university upon graduation in 2007. With a number of Advance Placement courses under their belts, scholarships, and interesting hobbies they were each set up to thrive in their respective higher education institutions and in their futures. 

On September 15th, 2008, only a year after we all went off to college, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy with $613 billion of debt, the largest in US history (Marketwatch). Many of us were too busy experiencing to notice this freakish event as classes pushed on as usual and my freshman-15 was still all up on me.  

Now five years later, we are all out of school and looking for a career or traveling and experiencing the world. However I notice many of us are slumpin’ around working jobs we hate or jobs we default to for lack of other options. I know very few people got swept away by job recruiters straight away. Is this how our 4 year degrees are paid off? Minimum wage retail jobs aren’t going to pay those tuition loans 

Statistics from the CDC show that 1 in 10 US adults develop depression and are most likely to occur in, but not limited to: women, those unemployed, and without health insurance among other factors. 

The criteria above all weigh on the 2013 22-25 year-old girl’s life pretty heavily which may as well explain the low morale. I think in the back of our minds, we still dream big and we know we have lots to look forward to, its it just a strange transition period that we were not prepared for. 

Blaming our anxiety and “depression” on the crappy economy seems completely valid. This depression is not the type where buckets of medication or supervision are needed, its just more of an under lying tone only close friends can decipher. I am not a clinical psychologist or anything, I’m just observing those around me and myself. Ughhh I want to know what happens tomorrow! 

Here is a photo of when things were simple.