Coachella Calling

My first trip to the Californian desert, my first music festival as Hyde Park O2 Festival does not count.  A roadtrip at 6 am with Jeff, driving parallel to John of Dita and Miguel of de la Barracuda.  What a trip . . . probably one where pictures (and a couple captions) speak louder than words . . . Great weather (hot and dry), great food! (yes, macro biotic salads and Kogi), great company, new friends, pool parties, a carnival and let's not forget the most amaaaazing acts with the backdrop of the great Californian desert and palms trees.  Coachella Calling . . .

Day 1

the drive

carrot cake at Manhattan in Palm Springs

Games on Pedro Winters' lawn

our house

Coachella before the maddening crowd

fences

I heart Barracuda

She and Him

Golden Hour day 1

Warren

Fish Tacos

Vampire Weekend

Climbers

Warren and Seb

Seb and I

Dusk

Crane

Robot

Jay-Z

Fireworks and Beyonce

Day 2

Blue Coyote

Anthem Pool Party

Jeff, Joel and John

John, Me and Jeff

Joel and Katie K.

Tim Biskup and I

The xx

Coachella is burning (but was saved pretty quickly)

Kogi (roaming Korean/Mexican food)

My fave pic

The Dead Weather

Day 3

Anthem Le Lagoon

Bruce Wayne

Miguel

Amy Winehouse

Gary, Rini Toby and I

Brian Bell, Joel K and Ramsi

Saga and Miguel

Final sunset . . .

Thom Yorke

See you in 2011 Coachella . . . :)

Hollywood Baby

From NY to LA - picked up at LAX by my amazing host, Jeff Solerio, one of the founders of Dita.  First stop was macro biotic food at M, then he left me at his loft in Hollywood, I remember feeling exhausted but the next thing I knew, Warren Noronha, an old and dear friend from London who now lives in LA and runs a magazine called MyMag rolled through to pick me up.  We went to The Roosevelt, low and behold, to Tropicana Bar (like going back into time and out of a Hockney painting), we bumped into my friend Fabrice from Paris who I had not seen for YEARS and the best surprise of all, Hugo Scott from London. The Roosevelt was defintely the pre-Coachella spot.  We did not even make it to the Chateau, that would have been rather something too. That is what I love about LA, it is sprawling yet at the same time, very very small.

Hugo and I

Hugo and Fabrice

Me wearing Hugo's Visvim shoes

Warren and Remy

The next day I went all the way to Santa Monica, by taxi (not recommended) to meet with Crystal Garrett at Red Bull, Shaun White's publicist who is as gorgeous as she is switched on - a very impressive set up - hopefully we can do something with themn sometime soon . . .then dragged myself to Venice Beach to see the skate ramp which was amazing and left me regretting that I do not live in Cali and grew up with surf breaks and skate ramps. Sighs. Loved the American Apparel outlet on Venice Beach and the vintage surf shop and the restuarant Gjelina's. 

Red Bull

Skate Ramp at Venice Beach

Gjelina's @ Abbott Kinney

Then the walk around West Hollywood feeling like a tourist (no one walks in LA) with Tom . . .oh and dinner with my darling Tui and her parents at Pizza Mozza. . . I love LA.

Pups only

Shhhhhh @ the Petit L'Hermitage

Tom

Me

The next day was great, the best thing about LA is probably the weather and the fact that one can hang on the roofdeck and swim is quite something.  

I contented myself with feeling very LA by reading my script for Ing K's Macbeth where I will be playing one of the witches. Lunch was Lomo beef with Warren at Lala's and again, the day spent seeing the sites.  My fave was Opening Ceremony, if I had to only to shop at OC in LA and nowhere else I would still be the happiest girl in the world.  It is the best retail experience - loooove(props to Humberto and Carol! and to Jesse who helped me) . . .Warren then rescued me again to go to the Village Idiot for the best steak pie ever.  We really thoguht that we could do nothing and rest that night seeing as Coachella was the next day but that was a dream that did not come true.  Jeff and I then went to meet Tui and her crew . .  . 

Tui and I

Jeff and Tui

Coachella was calling and yes, it was precisely that which was what ended the first part of my Hollywood journey. . .

Springtime in NY

I had the chance to return to the empire state as I was invited to speak at the Annual Asian IP Day at Fordham University.  The title of my talk was "Thailand:Geographical Indications and Traditional Knowledge: Not just Ong Bak, Silk and Rice" . . .basically how value can be derived from what seems to just very simple cliches and the law provides the platform to do so, the media and access to infromation and education catalysts to making that happen. . .So that was 3 intense days of IP (4 if you include the preparation) . . the rest of rather amazing, it was HOT in the Big Apple and my jet lag was not even funny but it was nice to spend time with my dad who was in NY as a speaker at fordham and also my professor David Llwelyn, one of the foremost IP thinkers in the world and of course my old friends . . .

Dad and I at Fordham

What is awesome about NYC is that the places change fast but the people do not, I always find myself in a sort of comfort zone when I am there. Needless to say had a chance to spend time with dear old friends, crashing first with Gabby Mejia in the East Vill then Polina Aronova in her apartment in LES. Great food, great times . . . . highlights were definitely the Bo Sssam pork banquet that Cecilia organised, Paul Sevigny's Kenmare with Tom Palmer which Paul kindly squeezed in a table and dessert for us,Boom Boom Room with Jeremy and Cafe Gitane at The Jane with Jeremy and Patrick, Barocco with Caroline and La Barra and Babycakes with Popo.  Without doubt it was also amazing to meet some new people and learn that the Asian influence in fashin in America is second to none (Asiancy).  Wish I could be there for Patrick Li's panel discussion at Columbia this week.   

A night out with Caroline

Boom Boom with Jeremy

Popo and hubby with their dog

LES thing

customise your own Nike Apparel

Tom Sachs and Pork

Cecilia, Sarah and I post pork-banquet having cereal ice cream at Milk

New York is burning

My last night in NY was a blast from the past, spending time with a childhood friend who now lives in NYC,Monique and Paulie was supposed to meet us too but he was too jetlagged.  Drinks at Kittichai where I got to catch up with one of my first patrons, Jean Marc then Monique, Saks and I then went along to La Barra to eat tacos and join Popo.  The next day was LA for me . . . en route to Coachella.