LAMC Day 1: Bienvenida a la gran manzana
This city is as energetic as it is dirty. And in the summer, that can only mean one thing: sweat!
I’m typing on my phone so I’ll keep this brief. To give you an idea of my day yesterday, my amazing friend Paula picked me up from JFK–which makes the Austin airport look like a bus station–at 2:30pm and then nabbed me from the subway in Queens twelve hours later!
Highlights included an amazing have-to-use-the-paper-plate-to-eat-it thin crust tomato and Mozzarella pizza after checking in. Did lots of walking to hear the first LAMC showcase at Summer Stage in Central Park–thank goodness for tall buildings and trees in this muggy heat! I loved Novalima from Peru, was impressed by Mexian songstress Ely Guerra’s voice and interpretation of her ambient rock, but not much into her music, and was honestly a bit underwhelmed by Spain’s Jarabe de Palo, who’d been one of my conference must-sees.
It was about 9 pm when my phone died. I felt totally lost without this amazing and evil device called iPhone.
Fortunately, I made friends with a New York transplant who grew up all over Latin America working with his mom as a street clown. He pointed me in the right direction to get to the Mercury Lounge for an incredible set by Venezuela’s La Vida Boheme, a dance rock band that had the entire place dance and screaming with an energy I have yet to experience in Austin. Increíble!
I made two more friends after my phone died – Paul, the publisher of LAMC and Dena, my new bestie from the F-Train who alerted Paula that I was in commute so she could pick me up. This dead phone stuff ain’t so bad after all! (bur I’m def taking my charger from now on!)
I was sufficiently tired and sweaty by the time I made it to the end of the F-line in Queens at the wee hours of the morning. And grateful to see a friendly face in a city that can easily make you feel anonymous (but excited about life at the same time.)
Stay tuned for my next bite into the big apple…
PS: Thanks to my dead phone, I also had the exhilarating experience of using one of those antiquated contraptions called a “pay phone!”
Tags: cantante, folk, gina chavez, LAMC, Latin alternative, Latin music, New York, singer songwriter