My San Francisco Love Evolution Experience

Now in its sixth year, the San Francisco interpretation of Berlin's famous Love Parade, now titled San Francisco LovEvolution touched down on the city by the bay on Saturday October 3, 2009 without missing a beat. Despite the change in name, ravers from all corners of the globe had no problem finding this unique event and who could blame them. A massive parade in the heart of one of America's most beautiful cities and an all day festival for only $10 bucks was just the sort of uplifting occasion that people were looking for in our current broken economy. With attendance soaring past 100,000 revelers of all ages, genders, races, and orientations, LovEvolution has truly become a phenomena of epic proportions.





This being my third time attending, I decided it was time to switch up my perspective. Rather than simply watch from the sidelines it was time to become an active participant and my opportunity arose via an invitation to take part in the Om Records float in the parade. There was just one catch: the theme was SOLID GOLD! So like any good journalist, I manned up and got the job done, slipped on my gold tights, gold suspenders, and thick gold chain and entered the fray. In any other city walking around in gold pants for eight hours would be an excrutiating experience but in San Francisco, I became a part of the family. The float was packed to the edges with some 100 party people all scantily clad in gold so every ounce of fear immediately melted away. This was a chance to be apart of something much bigger than myself and once the float set out from 2nd and Market Street towards City Hall, the sheer magnitude of the experience became clear. Tens of thousands of people lined Market Street dancing on the sidewalk or following along with our float as Amp Live dropped a nasty set of electro and bass heavy bangers. Random people snapped my picture asking my to pose. I passed out fliers for the Om Records afterparty that night to everyone I could. God only knows how I kept those gold pants on!





Before entering the festival grounds I made a quick pitstop to my hotel room at the LovEvolution host hotel, the Renoir Hotel. The hotel, housed in a flat iron building two blocks from City Hall, is uniquely situated to fully experience the parade and I was fortunate enough to have a suite with a full view of the proceedings. I managed to snap this quick video from my room to let everyone know what they were missing. For both value and convenience make sure you book your room here next year!
www.renoirhotel.com


From there it was onto the actual festival. All the floats (nearly 30 in all) made their way around the Civic Center, parking around the square and setting up shop for a day full of beats of all sorts. House, drum&bass, electro, minimal, progressive, dubstep, it was all there and in heaping doses of quality to boot. I was impressed by the level of talent on display at LovEvolution from recognized names like Plaza de Funk and Groove Armada to locals dropping some heat. Friendly faces of all ages, outrageous costumes, amazing dancers, and beautiful people all melted together to create a swelling mass of Love that lasted until 9pm.



Ravers, music lovers, and everyone who is looking for a unique, authentic experience should take note. San Francisco's LovEvolution is quite simply an event that you don't want to miss. Surrounded by historical buildings in a city that has a history of progressive culture, you will definitely feel the LOVE. Thanks to everyone who made the experience what it was: San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau, the staff and management of the Renoir Hotel, the team at Om Records, the LovEvolution press team, and of course the Nu-Soul crew for representing with the photos. See you next year!



- as experienced by Norman Mayers
- photos by Erin Monahan

San Francisco LovEvolution website

Norman Goldpants and the LovEvolution

I just had to post these pictures from last week's LovEvolution in San Francisco aka Love Parade or Love Fest. I rode on a float where everyone had to wear gold and this was the look I put together. Fun stuff! This is just a warm up while I finish up my story.

My trip to Europe - Part 1 -LONDON

I just got back from a wonderful trip to London and Paris and it's taken me all week to calm down to write about it. The terrible jetlag and constant flow of work hasn't made things any easier, mind you. First off it must be said that I did this trip on the cheap. I have family in London, well Ilford in Essex to be exact but it is close enough. Plus I used my travel journalist tricks to get my fair share of freeness, discounts and other goodies.

My trip began with a very long flight from LA to London, two flights actually with a stopover in Boston. To my surprise my friend Chi Chi, who I was planning on seeing while in London was on my connecting flight from Boston. This wouldn't be the last time I ran into people unexpectedly during my trip.




I finally arrived in London and was greeted by my Aunt Maggie, my grandmother's younger sister and her husband. We took a very long tube ride to Ilford. The first full day was spent chatting with the family, getting my money exchanged and figuring out the damn cell phones over there. Once that was sorted I headed into the city to take advantage of my travel journalist perks. I scored a hotel room in the Notting Hill area for just 10pounds a night! The Hotel Umi was adorable and in a lovely area of charming white buildings. I didn't stay there long though as I was off to Soho to hang out with Deji and his friends for a night on the town. We hit up some gay bars, particularly Barcode in both Soho and Vauxhall before taking the nightbus to his place in Brixton.






After some recovery I made my way back up to Ilford for a family BBQ, where I got to see everyone that I haven't seen in about 15-20 years. they are the same crazy, lively family I remember and they were happy to chat with me. They served up some rum, Caribbean dishes, and yummy deserts! Then I went to meet up with my old college buddy Siobhan (we went to school in Miami together) to celebrate her birthday with her new friends in London. She has been there for 2 years so she has had time to build a new life. It was a crazy night that went into the morning but it was a great chance to chat it up with locals who were open minded and artistic. Fun times.




Sunday night, I hung out with an online buddy named Anthony and we went to check out the UKSoulJam at Jazz Cafe in Camden Town. The called me onstage to plug Nu-Soul and I gavce out some Strictly Social CDs to the hungry crowd. The main act was a group called Indigo Brown who were quite good!




So that was just the first weekend. I slept all day Monday and chilled with the family as I got ready for the next leg of my trip - My trip to Paris! Stay tuned.

Cayman Islands press trip

In the month of December I accomplished something really major for myself. I was invited to attend the Cayman Islands Jazz Festival in Grand Cayman in the Caribbean. I have been on many press trips but this was the first time I was representing myself and my own publication, Nu-Soul Magazine, on an all expense paid trip. And to the Caribbean, no less. The main focus of the trip was the Jazz Festival which featured performances over three nights by Anita Baker, Micheal Bolton, Robin Thicke, Angie Stone, Cassandra Wilson, Algebra, Esperanza Spalding, and many others but the highlight of the experience was chilling with the other writers as we explored the island.

The coolest thing I go to do was to swim with stingrays out on a sandbar where the water was just 3 feet deep. I was nervous at first since there were so many but they are quite gentle and they feel like velvet underneath when you touch them. What a beautiful experience! We also got to see a turtle farm, the beautiful botanic park, and chill at a quiet beach on the north end of the island called Rum Point. Check out the photos and the video of Stingray City.
















Check out my review of the Cayman Islands Jazz Fest Here

Norman in Ventura, CA

Over the weekend I went on a return press trip to Ventura, California. It is just an hour north of LA. The trip was great. I got to be around some great writers from the state and have all my meals taken care of. Room service in the morning and fabulous restaurants for lunch and dinner. And lots of drinks!!! But the highlight of the trip was kayaking in the harbor. The deadly rain cleared up just long enough for us to enjoy the simply joy of rowing a boat.

Click here for more on Ventura

My press trip to Destin, Florida

Last weekend I went on a press trip to Florida for my job at Black Meetings & Tourism. The event I went to was called Florida Encounter which is a major tradeshow/conference for the state of Florida. Visit Florida, the state's tourism division flies in dozens of meeting planners and suppliers and holds a tradeshow for them all to meet and network. A handful of journalists are also flown in to cover the event and to enjoy everything the destination has to offer.

This year the event was held in the Beaches of South Walton, specifically Destin, Florida and the Sandestin Golf & Beach resort. Where the hell is that you ask? It's in the Northwest section of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico, west of Panama City. It is actually in the Central time zone and not Eastern time like the rest of the state.



The resort I stayed at was absolutely beautiful. It is actually made up of all condos that are placed on a rental program. So my room was a fabulous one bedroom suite with a full kitchen, dining room, living room, balcony, washer and dryer, dishwasher, etc. It was huge and I had no one to share it with.





I was there for 4 nights and it was very busy. My time was divided between meeting with various convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), meeting planners, and executives. We had rountable discussions, one-on-one meetings, and things of that nature. But as media we also got special treatment. We got to tour the area and see all the various properties, hotels, and neighborhoods, eat at some fabulous restaurants, get free gifts, drink a lot of alcohol, and all that. On my last day I got a free full body massage that was just heavenly! Enjoy the photos from my trip to Florida.






















Sandestin Resort website