We Heard, We Saw, We Conquered: The September Lookback

 

 

Hey HairyKat's ,

(please excuse any typos.)

Can you believe the year is almost done? It went by so quickly. September just seemed to breeze by just as fast and I tried to enjoy every second of it. September was quite entertaining, literally. Here's the rundown.

 Purple Rain presented by Cinespia: Hollywood Forever Cemetery

I started the month celebrating my good friend and Kat Kreation's(www.katkreate.com) photographer Bianca's 30th birthday by attending a screening of Purple Rain at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery hosted by Cinespia. It was probably the coolest and creepiest event I've ever attended. There is a huge lawn dedicated to film screening filled with patron's openly enjoying picnic baskets of wine, cheese, and everything in between along with some of Hollywood's late and great spirits, like Toto the dog from the Wizard of Oz. You couldn't help but apologize to the gravesites as you passed through the cemetery. The event opened with Questlove of the Roots dj-ing some Morris Day & the Time, and all the funkadelic sounds of Mr. Purple Rain himself. It was insanely crowded but in a pleasant way. I had such a great time. I felt super grown up, and cool, hanging with friends under the stars, sipping wine, and cracking up at Purple Rain.

 There's a line-up of movies that they screen at the Cemetery throughout the year and at $14 bucks they sell out pretty quickly. Check out their website for more info. http://cinespia.org/

           
                                                                                                                                                     




Speaking of Prince, his album titled Art of Official Age dropped this past Tuesday and I am absolutely in love with it. Prince has masterfully intertwined his Prince-ness with a new age sound of music that creates, in my opinion, a new genre of music, I like to call Funk-Hop (like Hip-Hop but with a funk twist, no? whateva!). My favorite tracks are affirmation I &II and Way Back Home. The lyrics are absolutely inspiring. If you haven't already, grab your copy of Art of Official Age

 

Drake vs. Lil Wayne: Verizon Theater

My next stop this month was the Drake vs Lil Wayne concert at the Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine. I loved the show but hated the venue. The exit from the freeway to the Theater which is typically a 3 minute drive was an hour wait. It had nothing to do with traffic and everything to do with the lack of venue staff. There were literally hundreds of cars just following each other in the same direction like lost sheep without a Little Bo Peep in sight. yikes!

Once inside, the venue was beyond packed, to be expected, but what I didn't expect was people sneaking in the concert from some random Mountain, Forrest, entrance, it was absolutely insane and chaotic, and it made me paranoid, randomly seeing people chased down. I felt bad for the staff that were there that seemed to be no older than 21. They had a difficult time managing the crowd. Sorry that just turned into a bit of a yelp review there lol!.

Nonetheless, Drake and Lil Wayne put on very fun show. I enjoyed it because I felt like I got a glimpse of their relationship as mentor and mentee and friends. They bantered with sly jokes back and forth, Lil Wayne imitated Chris Brown's dancing while rapping his verse on Breezy's single Loyal, and Drake rode around  over the crowd on a magic pole  signing songs with a faux moon as his back drop, hahaha  it was absolutely awesome! The show was interactive, there was Drake and Lil Wayne remake of Street Fighter characters, and fans were able to vote for their favorite performer. The entire set was amazing, from fireworks on stage to fire shooting in the air. I loved every bit of the show. It was tough to pick a favorite because I connect with both artists' music  in different ways, but majority of fans picked Drake as the winner coming in 15 to Wayne's 14. I'm sure it was mostly the ladies voting for Drake LOL!
                                

Mimi's Café: Garden Grove

The next morning after the concert we swung by MiMi's café for brunch. First off, any restaurant with a free for all coffee pot and coffee cake squares waiting for patron's while they wait to be seated is already a winner in my book. The restaurant's breakfast menu didn't have an extensive list of options. Mostly different types of pancakes/waffles/French toast, eggs benedict, or omelets. Pretty simple. I ended up getting Eggs Benedict on a Croissant. Yes! A Croissant instead of an English Muffin. It was absolutely one of thee best Eggs Benedict I've ever had, and I've had some pretty fancy ones with crab meat and such, but the Croissant changed the entire game of Eggs Benedict for me.  The restaurant isn't super fancy, its actually quite casual, but the prices are reasonable and the food was delicious! Find a MiMi's café nearest you! . http://mimiscafe.com/

                                                

One Lens Film Festival : Arc Theater Hollywood

The next stop on my September journeys was the 3rd Annual One Lens Film Festival hosted at the Arc Theater in Hollywood. The festival featured 6 short films ( btw to learn more about each film, check out the hashtags noted on instagram and facebook):

Love Escapes Us #loveescapesus Directed and Produced by Craig Tovey. This contemporary silent film takes you through the life cycles of love & lust. It was powerful how the silence of the film was able to conjure up emotions from the audience whether it was laughter, happiness, resentment, or empathy. The film was insightful and real. It was perfectly aligned with some of the journeys that most of us experience when in love, or simply dating. What I enjoyed most was that I had an expectation of the film being a fairytale, which was not the case at all.

Making it In America #iamlosangeles Directed and Produced by Joris Debel, this film features an El Salvadorian woman, Alma Velasco, and her journey in attempting to live the "American Dream". This film was inspiring as you see Alma work extremely hard to provide for her two daughters. Her appreciation for the simple things in life were motivating, humbling, and heartwarming.

Only Light #onlylightmovie Directed and Produced by Evita Castine, Elena Ostroumova, and Zachary Skipp was a jaw dropping short about the human trafficking of young women and girls. It shows the parallels of a Young Teenage girl from the Congo, living in the US as a sex slave, and an American teenage girl, and her typical gripes, as a teenager. I couldn't help but think #firstworldproblems, every time the American Teenager through a fit about something that unbeknownst to her, she was taking for granted, while this other young woman was trapped and leading a completely different, daunting life. Sex trafficking is in fact an international issue, but the film allowed the audience to compare and contrast the lives of the two characters. This film was overwhelmingly powerful and would love to see it as a full  feature film.


Pour Retourner #pourretournerfilm Directed and Produced by Scooter Corkle and Daniel Domachowski, was a film about a prison chef that is released into the free world and finds that his former colleagues don't appreciate his talents as much as his former fellow inmates. I'm not sure if it was the prison setting, but I was instantly in an Orange is the New Black, state of mind. You find yourself rooting for the main character in the film. It was witty and I would love to see HBO and/or Netflix pick it up as a series. I'd tune in!


Stand #raiseyourstand Directed and Produced by Melanie D'Andrea, Natalie Mirsky, and Tierney Young was a film that highlighted the lives of members of the Demolition Crew, a group of Krump Dancers in Los Angeles, that used Krump as a style of expressionism, where their only other alternative was living the street life. This film was surprisingly emotional as some of the characters face hardships in life. Their dancing was spiritual and you could fill their emotions through the big screen. The most powerful scenes for me was watching a man mourn through dancing as his two young sons, watched on. As an audience, we got to see the empathy and love these young boys have for their father was an instant tear-jerker.

The Story of Milo and Annie #miloandannie Directed and Produced by Harris Doran, Craig Lehner and Dani Faith Leonard, was by far one of my favorite features of the evening. It was a very cute and quirky love story of an ambitious secretary, Annie, and Milo, an artist that had been silent since the age of 6 years old. You watch as his story unfolds, well, you watch Annie unfold it. This movie was beautifully written, I enjoyed every second of it.


We also stopped by the After-Party at the W hotel. I've been to the W before but typically to work and never to hang out. As prestigious as I consider this place to be I was thoroughly impressed by the wait staff. The bartenders were super friendly, where they could've been super snooty...just because its the W (Sad but true, this is LA people). One of the bartenders even made it his mission to find me Coconut Rum because I was having a Puerto Rico withdrawal and really needed a Pina Colada to ease my vacation-sickness. Lol! He searched two bars to no avail. I settled for a Jalapeno Punch which was equally delicious. Props to the W staff.

Warner Brother's Artist Showcase: The Foundation Room-House of Blues:

I closed out the month of September at the Foundation Room at the House of Blues. There's so many hidden rooms at the The House Blues that I never knew existed including this one. The architecture in the room was amazing. The ceiling was 3D art work that looked hand-sculpted foot by foot. After I was done being in awe of the ceiling lol, I checked out some cool acts at the artist showcase.

My two favorites were a Nigerian-American singer named Mercy U and a Gospel-Jazz fusion band called HTG.

Mercy U has a beautiful voice and a unique style. I was definitely feeling her sound. Check her out on instagram @mercylovesmusic

                                                         Mercy U-Barbie and Ken


HTG, short for heritage, is a Gospel-Jazz fusion featuring a percussionist, bassist, guitarist, saxophonist, and two keyboardist,  and boy can these brotha's play. These young men's sound was a breath of fresh air. Their music had a spirit to it that was well seasoned but I'm guessing no one in the group is over 30. I was absolutely blown away by their talent.  The crowd went crazy for these guys. Their musical genius is unparallel and I loved every second of their performance. For more of HTG check out their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/htgmusic

Check out my amateur video below:

 

 

The Wrap-Up

September was insanely busy nonetheless, I'm looking forward to what October brings.

 

Oh yea, and since this is was an originally hairblog, I'd like to highlight that I've gone Purple/red. Yes, in case you were wondering, I'm still buying packaged hair. The processing of the hair makes it last much longer. Virgin hair has failed me a few times, and at the price, I'm not down for taking too many more chances.

 

I shopped a new brand called Live by Sensationnel Hair Company. I love it. Its Keratin treated Brazilian hair to give you a longer lasting style. So far I've had no shedding and the hair is super soft. Here's a pic me rocking Live hair. Check out their site: http://sensationnel.com/catalog/catProduct/details?id=839

                          

                                 

Specs: 16 Inch 1B; 14 Inch BBG, cut and styled by Muah!

Welp! That's all for now HairyKats. Find me on instagram @kat_kreations or email for inquiries Katrina@katkreate.com