Miami revisited.....

this is a re-visit from a post I made after a dream trip to the Winter Music Conference. I'm sad I won't be going this year - the last line in this post is particularly poignant as I lost my job again this year but wasn't as prepared and so giving it a miss. So, I'm enjoying the memories and looking forward to next year.....not all of this will make sense as it assumes a certain knowledge of the people and places involved, but hopefully it will give people a 'feel' for the place, and the event.


I apologise in advance for the length, but it was a packed week. Arrived Saturday evening, went for amazing pizza on Espanola way, rested, and spent the next couple of days walking, exploring the area, eating at the best diners (Big Pink on Ocean Drive, please note, is the best I've ever been to!) and gearing up for the parties.

Monday: met up with a few of the UK and US house contingent for the Underground Collective party at Feelgood. The warm up was slightly underwhelming and for some reason I felt exhausted, (too much walking and the heavy food perhaps) but Spinna pulled it out the bag and I stopped on the way out of the club to enjoy, 2 hours later was still there. I really like the club - super small and narrow, but a good vibe to it. I'm very glad I heeded advice to get there early (10pm) as an hour later no one else could get in.....

Tuesday: All about the Phlash & Friends party at Love & Hate. We were going to get tix for Shelter but I'm glad we didn't - this was a great intimate party, with a lovely dark basement bar - typical of the kind of parties Phil has here - and a great collection of djs graced the dex -Volcov played my set of the night, and possibly the set of Miami, and Daz-I-Kue provided an instant buzz as soon as we walked in. We all piled into a cab to catch the last hour of Shelter, but just ended up in the Shelborne lounge listening to some end of the night style soulful house and club classics. Most of us wrecked, all on good form! :-)

Wednesday: Up earlyish, quick brekkie then to the Continental to meet with a rather stressed Souledup crew, and head off to Fort Lauderdale for the Carolyn Harding ranch party. I chose this as I thought it would provide a different experience to the usual day parties, and it certainly delivered. An amazing setting, with a great bunch of people running the show, and Carolyn is a superb performer. I wasn't really aware of her work before but I recognised some of the songs that she had worked on soulful house wise, and she's got an amazing jazz/blues/soul repertoire. Dawn Tallmann was also there and even provided a bit of freestyling herself! I really appreciated the subtle touches; the book and the signing opportunity, the little goodie bags, excellent catering and soft drinks, cheap booze, friendly people, blinding sun, an amazing day. :mozilla_cool: We got back to SoBe at around 8, headed off to the Shelley to check out Cyberjamz and hooked up with Barry B, finally! Saw sets from Celeste Alexander, Greg Grey, both of which were great - Cyberjamz parties always bring the music imo. We'd heard from B that the Ian Friday party was the next stop off point, so off we went for that, at a little graffitie'd loft space above a chinese. :lol: Well what a party! Shame we didn't get there for longer, I hadn't realised it ended fairly early, but Mr Friday always brings the vibe; a great, up for it, loose crowd who all look great, can all dance and are so, so friendly. We walked back from here via the hotel for a pitstop, at which point we were both flagging. Last party of the night was the Gotsoul one, $25 to get in and sad to say the most disappointing party of the week, predominantly because of the venue. They seem to be aiming for the rich/glamorous crowd and last year and this year resulted in some seriously dodgy places, which look like your local Ritzy nightclub (or Destiny, for the shires dwellers among us)...the crowd were more interested in getting wasted, the music wasn't up to par, and the atmosphere was lacking. We'd sadly missed Pablo Martinez, and so were waiting for Phil Asher - 3 hours later and I was ready to go, although the smaller room that Phil was playing in did seem to be better suited to 'our' kinda music. Massive pepperoni pizza and home at around 4.....

Thursday: Chilled out on the beach, and started late for Frankie Estevez, which I really enjoyed, at the Casanova Suites, which was to become one of our favourite venues. Is a hotel but has a main bar/dancefloor on the ground floor, and little club downstairs. Was there for this and the Trippin' Records party, which started off quiet, but went on to be packed later from what I hear - unfortunately missed Quentin Harris and Monique Bingham, apparently my hunger was more important and in need of feeding!

Friday: started off a bit hit and miss, went for a late breakfast and got tix for Louie Vega at the Beatport party at the National, but we dipped in and out (it was a bit quiet) then realised we'd missed his hour long set - went to eat at this fabulous Cuban place, Puerto Sagua - Jellybean was eating there so it had to be good! Ridiculously good home cooked food for about $10 each. Walked to the Casanova and met with the HouSoul crew and got some ideas for next year. Including the possibility of a HouSoul Miami party - so watch this space. :-D Ended up at the Goodness meets Inspiration Information - unplanned, but probably the best decision we'd made all week! The crew from Tuesday plus Bopstar, who is contender no. 2 for set of the week, (and a dj from Seattle who I need to find out the name of) tore up the upstairs room with a mix of broken beats, house, latin, and much more. Again, a room full of friends and a great atmos - London represented in fine style this Miami!!

Saturday: An absolutely stunning day.........I went down the beach for a bit of sunbathing, then collected Janet and off to Afternoon Delight at the Beach Plaza. Too rammed and too hot, so we headed to the Casanova again and Ian Friday - once more an excellent vibe and people totally up for an afternoon's dancing - hopefully got some video footage of this, once I figure out how to work my camera! A few friends chilled outside with a few beers, then we went our separate ways for food. Myself and Jan found ourselves at the Pelican - again HIGHLY recommended....by happy co-indicdence Mark Mendoza was playing, Stephanie Cooke providing the vocals. It's a lovely hotel and restaurant and SO suited for people watching - and people watching in Miami provides its own entertainment. So many beautiful people, celebs, characters. I was having trouble standing upright by this point and we had to check out at 10 so it was a 1am finish.

Sunday: 10am walk through and check out completed, with hardly any sleep, due to residual noise at the Shelborne (luckily a rare thing) and my concerned dad forgetting the time difference and phoning me at 4am, repeatedly. We stopped by the Danny Tenaglia pool party at the hotel, as a way to pass the time, and as residents it was free - was shit! So, we decided on a walk along the promenade and came across the Sundae Philadelphia party at the South Seas - no security, straight in, some up front soulful tunes and tribal goodness from the likes of JoJo Flores, and King Britt (sadly we had to leave before he came on). This was the only day it really rained, and it was quite a sight to see everyone dancing with abandon in the rain, including a rather portly Cuban guy in speedos!!

Turned out to be a wicked way to end the week.

All in all, it was perfect. I LOVE MIAMI, I love the way of life, the way everyone takes care of themselves, the long walks by the beach, the fantastic food, the beautiful men, the people watching opportunities, I loved the Shelborne, the way it was a hive of activity, the way everyone strikes up a conversation with you wherever you are, it's BRILLIANT!! We got so much more out of it than last year - I can't imagine not going now. Which is v. dangerous for my bank balance. But hey - if I can do it this year, in the middle of recession, while having lost my job - I can do it any time.