Whilst in Japan this summer with 55DSL I was asked to be interviewed by the cult youth culture magazine WARP. When it came out this month, the only words that I had been written in English in the interview were ‘The Southport Soul Weekender’. Last weekend the legendary festival came around once again to my home turf.
5000 party people came from all over the globe to make their pilgrimage to the quiet seaside town of Southport… and come to, in my opinion, one of the best music festivals in the World…
Whilst in Los Angeles I spent a day hanging out with the World famous MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso and his Manager Simone Battistella. Joined by my beautiful new friends Alessia Rosso and Sofia Baccio, we took charge as the tour guides and whisked them around Los Angeles in 55DSL style.
Shopping, Watermelon Margaritas in the afternoon sun and a long lunch later we all head back to base for a siesta before getting our glad rags on and heading on into Hollywood. All showed in the gallery below!
We took Andrea and Simone with us to the Cobrasnake’s Birthday Party at Cinespace and danced all night to the high energy electro of Steve Aoki. On the way there I asked Andrea what he would do if he only had 55 hours left to live… check out the video to see what he said…
Now that the Fashion Weeks are all wrapped up for another 6 months, there is a minute to look back at the highlights. I hit the circuit with my camera on the hunt for the best parties and mischief I could get myself into…The On/Off London Fashion Week Party was definitely one I won’t forget in a hurry.
Aside from the 1000 revelers who turned up and couldn’t get in (each screaming “do you know who I am” ha ha)… those who did manage to sneak their way through were treated to the endless flow of Champagne, music from Patrick Wolf and THE PETH and a whole load of dancing to go with. There is no way the JLB will ever be stuck outside in any que…
The Infart street art festival was a raving success, hoards of cool people flocked to Bassano from all over Italy to come visit the outdoor exhibition, held over 3 hot hot sunny days.
The event kicked off with a pre party at Shindy where Esa The Funky Prez MC’d over the beats.
It was a pleasurable experience, riding my bicycle around the exhibition, camera in one hand and beer in the other, under the open sky.
In one of the courtyard spaces, DJ’s mixed out their tunes for the enjoyment of the festival goers while the bar served up tasty accompaniments to the Art… beer and pizza goes well with culture.
This was a far superior way to soak in the creations (and a far stretch from your average institutionalised gallery space).
Amsterdam is one cool city, away from the seedy corners of the red light district, Amsterdam is quaint and pretty and seriously cool place to be.
I had the opportunity to mooch about with Andrea an the team… hunting for inspiration, cool shops and the secret treasures in the city centre…
After a few hours in the pack, I eventually break away for a little solo roaming. On my way to Bronxs Gay Shop (just checking it out for research), I hear a voice behind me asking “where you going?”. Incidentally it was Bronques can you believe?! We have a bit of a laugh, pop our noses in ‘research’ and head our separate ways…
After a whole load of flights, a bit of trouble at LAX (they threatened to escort me out the airport… oops) and a quick pit stop in the motherland I arrived in Amsterdam feeling a little bit spacey!
It was a bit of a 55DSL family reunion with Andrea, Rini, Bronques, Zingri, Elena and Laura travelling out to come dance with me… and see the last party of my JLB Tour go up in smoke.
We hook up with the Benelux team, eat eat eat, chat and roam the streets of Amsterdam. Chillin…
On the double occasion of the Kobe Opening and the arrival of the Junior Lucky Bastard Charlene in Japan, Bronques joined the 55DSL family for a week of looking for the 55DSL people between sushi and rock’n'roll, and he didn’t miss the chance to have a close look at the hottest almond-shaped eyed chicks!
As always, you can join his asiatic parting-hard at LastNightsParty.
The 55DSL Kobe store opened and we flocked to the beach to dance on the sand till the sun had well and truly disappeared.
The Bloody Beetroots, DexPistols, Kango, DJ Yan and DJ Juse all mixed out some fat tunes to my delight, the music played on even as the heavens opened. I hula hooped and danced with my new Japanese girlfriends in the pouring rain until the last beat. So so so much fun!
Big thumbs up to the lasers… the Japanese well know how to party!
With Bobby Beetroot tucked up in bed, Sho (from 55DSL Japan) my new photography assistant for the night Tommy Beetroot and yours truly danced the night away at Troop Cafe in Kobe.
