Welp… tickets have been purchased…looks like I will be attending OSL again this year!

Tonight I went to see Raphael Saadiq and Lenny Kravitz.

Both put on a great show. I was kind of bummed Saadiq only put on a 40 minute set. I really wanted to see him perform more and maybe do some of his older stuff. But it’s whatever..

Lenny was great.

Like really…

During his last song he performed “Let Love Rule”, which is one of my favorite songs of his. He came into the crowd and walked around the venue, I stood next to him for a good maybe 2 minutes and even got to cop a feel….of his biceps.

I lost my phone during the whole fiasco but luckily found it as he found his way back onto the stage. I didn’t really take many photos but all in all it was a great night.

Currently

My Year In Review: NEW YORK

“Concrete Jungle…”

I briefly spoke of my trip to NY here. I kind of wish I stayed a little bit longer because I always felt like I was rushing here and there to try and see everything and everyone.I tried to visit with the girls I met at Coachella but it never worked out. I did get to have lunch with my comic book writer friend, whom I met at Comic Con a couple years ago. I did get to meet a couple Tumblr peeps which was cool. Sat on Brandon’s couch.

My uncles, cousins and I went to a jazz concert for kids to teach the youth about Duke Ellington which was awesome. I did get to go to Central Park for the first time which I was excited about. I had been to NY so many times and never been.

My Year In Review: SAN DIEGO

“Always a bridesmaid….”

My trip to San Diego was a brief turn around one. But it did have importance, in that I went for my mother’s wedding. It was a small, intimate wedding on the beach and I walked her down the aisle. I wish I could elaborate more on the trip except there really isn’t much to say. I spent 80% of my time there on the beach. But I’m glad my mom is happy.

My Year In Review: NAPA

“If you’re tired you take a nap-a, you don’t move to Napa”

Rounding out my trip in San Francisco my friend and I rented a car and drove a couple hours outside of the city to Napa. Technically we stayed in Vallejo, across the street from Six Flags. It was pretty creepy because no one was ever at Six Flags at all, never saw any employees or anything.

I don’t think pictures do Napa justice of how breathtakingly beautiful it is. We only got to do tastings/tours of 2 vineyards, which is all we could fit into one day, but we did get to drink a lot of wine. Since Napa is such a small town everyone seems to know each other. Each vineyard is in direct competition but they all are friends and even sometimes work together.

Majority of the restaurants out there only use fresh, organic, locally grown products (which is awesome). I did go have some sushi at Marimoto Napa which is owned by Iron Chef Marimoto. Also had dinner at a little French restaurant named Angele. When I go back to Napa I definitely need to stay longer because 2 days wasn’t nearly long enough.

My Year In Review: SAN FRANCISCO

” Bayyy Areaaaa….”

Although I was in SF because of Outside Lands , I decided to break it up into 3 posts. Essentially it was 3 different trips in the Bay Area over a week span.

I’ve been to San Fran a couple times I still did a couple touristy things while I was there in August. I went to the Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, went to Haight and Ashbury( for the first time), walked the pier to see the sea lions, made a trip to China Town for lunch and Chinese pastries. If you’re ever in SF I recommend going to Yank Sing for Dim-Sum, their dumplings are amaze-balls.  I went to Jack Kerouac’s old hangout Vesuvio. Most of my time was spent eating, as usual. I was disappointed I didn’t get to eat at Crustaceans to have their roasted crab and garlic noodles, maybe next time. One of the days we crossed over the Bay Bridge into Oakland to watch the A’s and Orioles play.

My Year In Review: OUTSIDE LANDS

“Byahhhhhh!!- Dave Chappelle”

At Outside Lands there was such a drastic difference from being at Coachella. First off, instead of being in a desert it was in the middle of Golden Gate Park. It was surreal to be in a forest watching concerts (since I live in a desert state, trees are big thing to me). It was also pretty gloomy and cold outside. Also on top of being a music festival, it was a food and wine festival. There was a tent called Wine Lands where many of wine makers from Napa came to promote and sell their wines.

Like Coachella, I made a concert friend that I still keep in contact with. While waiting for Big Boi to come on stage (he never did, we waited over an hour) my friends and I made friends with a Jewish guy who possibly loves pork equally if not more than I do. And another bonus for waiting for Big Boi so long was we got to see Dave Chappelle. He came out to talk to the crowd to make sure we didn’t start rioting because people were getting antsy.(I have video of it.)  Alas Big Boi never performed because his DJ’s equipment didn’t work. The worst part of the festival was at the end trying to find a bus to get back to downtown San Francisco. It was freezing and we’d have to wait for at least a couple hours. By the time we could get on one the buses with be packed with people like sardines.

Here’s a list of the artists I saw:

Collie Buddz, MGMT (so boring BTW), Big Boi,  Erykah Badu, Paul F Tompkins(comedy),  The Roots, Girl Talk, Sia, Major Lazer, STS9, Deadmau5