I survived my very first Burning Man in the middle of nowhere far into the dusty Nevada desert! Sigh…what an experience! I was told to go there with an open mind and armed with endless dose of sense of humor. It turned out to be the most required prerequisite for survival in the rave/disco music and open bar drenched community of love, happiness and sharing! Yes, you read right, sharing! You see, the festival of life, uninhibited and radical inclusion also depends on participants’ unconditional desire to share all things from liquor, food, wisdom, art, erotic pleasures, knowledge, just to name a few. The number only mode of “official” mode of transportation are bicycles but of course yours truly had to pimp out a pink tricycle to make a feminine statement complete with an official Shoeholics plate license.

The 28 year old festival where the unusual is normal, is definitely not for the faint hearted for many reasons.  Acquiring tickets to attend the affair is mind blogging. You basically have an hour window in February to buy the always sold out 70,000+ tickets online! Thinking about buying them at the gate is a suicidal mission. Some participants (which always includes founders of Facebook, Google, celebrities like Will Smith, Michelle Rodriquez, P Diddy, et. al and no one takes notice of them at the Burn) save up during the entire year to acquire RVs, tents, a week supply of food and booze, while some of the aforementioned celebrities simply whisk their way in on private jets paying landing fees to the tune of $25,000 to arrive just mere minutes next to the location. Others have to endure the 6-12 hours drive from all works of life. Gotta to say the social network of people, free boozing and hard partying ahead at the Burn makes it all worth the effort. Once there, no money must change hands and one must leave no trace of existence once it’s all over. You take out all that you bring in.

Generous burners offered free classes ranging from yoga, free body scrub, belly dancing, spanking, psychic to erotic massages. One of the days included a 50k marathon race around the playa for a cause. Like any big city where accidents can happen, a young lady (perhaps drunk) made a fatal attempt to climb into a moving mutant car and swiftly met her death. Participants are warned ahead of time (on the back of their tickets) that they basically attend the event at their own risk. So you can imagine there won’t be any lawsuit coming up about that fatal accident. So sad. RIP. 🙁

It is not uncommon to spot nudity and erotic arts at the Burning Man. To be frank, after a few hours of dealing with dusty wind and sand in all manner of places where the sun don’t shine on your body, the last thing on your mind would be to gawk at nudist at the Burn. You sort of become immune to the shock value. Mind you, this is also a family friendly affair. I not only spotted pregnant women but also kids as young as a baby. I spoke to one of the parents about their decision to bring their kids to such an event. They said it was a fast track to learning about the “birds and the bees” story and have grown used to seeing so much in their short lives that it means absolutely nothing to them anymore. Dare I say that they had a point! A naked woman walked by an 8 year old boy on a bike and he didn’t even do a double take in her direction!

I was however slightly shocked at how “vanilla” the event was. Not only was the music heavy on the rave and disco set but also the attendees lacked in diversity. Each person of color I ran into was also surprised to see me and vice versa. We were all counting each other! I spotted no more than 50 people of color, most of whom were gay men who came with their caucasian partners, and mainly from San Francisco. It felt as if the entire population of San Francisco emptied into the event with just a few international hard burners to pepper the census. As a result, my afro hair got more attention than the wearer –me! I stood out everywhere I went! No, I’m not complaining. 🙂

The height of the event was the burning of the 80 feet wooden man on the 7th day with fire performers and mutant cars blasting music giving the atmosphere the kind of energy you can never get from being high or drunk. This is the D-Day.  I was told that the “man” normally takes 20-30 min to burn and fall. As a virgin burner, you can imagine my disappointment when the unburnable man took more than 3 hours to take his fall. By the time I gave up and got up from my sandy seat, my legs were numb. I was falling as I walked back to my RV location. The next day was a more sombre affair at the burning of the temple. You see, this is were burners come to pay their respects to past loved ones or simply to meditate. It’s a more spiritual affair with complete silence while the temple burns, a huge contrast to the high charging partying energy when the man burns. I found this particular day to be the most important highlight for me because it was a soul searching moment, a time to reflect.

Unlike the blue chip CEO’s who had the luxury of flying back within seconds after the event, my team and I had to endure what would have been a smooth 9 hours ride back to Las Vegas to return the rented RV. Instead, the journey took 2 days and 3 tow trucks thanks to dead batteries, flat tire and a defective spare tire! The full detail about that ordeal will be posted at a later date. Thank goodness we all alive and well.

Overall, will I ever go back to experience the Burning Man again? Hell to the yeah! Where else would you legally see an event full of naked people, free booze/food, 24 hours partying, unique art and open heart of giving unconditionally in America!

To all of my fellow burners out there, thanks for such a lovely first year experience. See you all soon.

Please peruse the following sample of images. Hope they are to your liking. Full gallery of pictures are available on my Facebook page. Also join me on Instagram!

Next stop, OKTOBERFEST in Germany! Stay tuned for that coverage! 🙂

Police brutality!!! When will this nonsense come to an end?!!! NYPD strangles and kills Eric for basically trying to break up a fight. No good deed goes unpunished. I am in tears just watching this video footage. I have no words but to send my condolences to Eric Garner’s family. RIP Eric. 🙁

When a traditional pedicure won’t do, you start considering other “edgy” and “cool” alternatives. In my case, I tried getting a mani-pedi before embarking on my trip to Denmark but couldn’t squeeze in the time. The moment I set foot in Copenhagen, I summed up the courage to try the flesh eating fish called Garra Rufa!

The fish, also called “Doctor Fish” originates from Turkey. They live & breed in outdoor pools in Turkish spas and are known in the wellness treatment circles for their exceptional ability to cure peeling feet. It’s a practice that has been around for more than 400 years! They don’t have any teeth, they suck and nibble away dead skins which causes the tickling feeling while exfoliating the feet. The fish separate enzymes called Diathanol from their mouth cavity that stimulates the nervous system, increase blood circulation & cures the skin.

If you can’t stand being ticklish then you might want to opt out, but if you’re able to stomach it like I managed to do…eventually, then you’re in for a treat. So, brace yourself and get ready to watch me humiliate myself publicly at the fish tank salon in Denmark in the video footage below! Dare I say it was one hell of a pedicure!

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With the world now closely watching the pending World Cup after Germany clinically massacred the ever so proud Brazilians with an astounding 7-1. Obviously, the blame will point towards Neymar’s absence due to a back injury inflicted by a Colombian during a match. The Brazilian star striker was taken out of the game to the hospital and is still yet to recover! I just pray that the guy who injured him is smart enough to have skipped the continent entirely by now. Forget skipping town. He needs to put an ocean between him and Latin America until the dust settles. Brazilians do not joke around when they loose a match! Shortly after the historical match, riots and flag burning already began! The Brazilians were “Germanly Klosed & Kroosed” brutally to say the least!

The Daily Beast writer Tunku Varadarajan took the words out of my mouth by summing up the match so well:

It is the devil’s own task to review a game on a night when the world is speechless. How does one make sense of the disarray at Belo Horizonte, where Germany routed Brazil 7-1 in a semifinal that was supposed to hoist the host nation to yet another World Cup final?

One has to believe that Brazil was at the receiving end of some great celestial wrath. In the days before the game, there was talk of nothing else but Neymar, Brazil’s key striker and talisman, who was to miss the semifinal due to an injury inflicted on him in the quarters. The team and its management wallowed in self-pity, dwelling more on his loss—and the loss, also, of captain Thiago Silva, owing to an accumulation of yellow cards—than on the Germans. In being so wrapped in resentment over the absent Neymar, they paid the Germans scant respect. There has been a palpable hubris in Brazil these last weeks, hubris as thick as the local feijoada. Brazilians have felt entitled to this World Cup, forgetting the truth that this Brazil team is probably the worst to have taken the field for the country.

Brazilian strategy, from the start of the cup, was four-pronged: Make teams play you on reputation, not on true ability; let Neymar score the goals (since nobody else can); let Thiago Silva marshal a semblance of defense; and let the crowd do the rest. That strategy unraveled completely Tuesday night, in the face of a massacre.

First, Germany is the last side to pay blind respect to anyone’s reputation. Second and third: Neymar and Thiago Silva were absent, so Brazil had neither a goal-scorer on the night nor a notion of defense. And finally the crowd, which was to have been Brazil’s trump card, was reduced to demoralized silence by a German performance that attained clinical perfection.

The “crowd” is a potent force, and also a mercurial one. Elias Canetti has written memorably of its nature, and its effects. One wonders what he would have made Tuesday night of the mass at Belo Horizonte. At first it was raucous, trembling with patriotism, a sea of seething yellow. Then Germany scored first, in the 11th minute, through the irrepressible Thomas Müller. The decibel levels fell a fraction, but we were still in the heart of a crowd that believed in Brazil.

In years to come, Brazil will refer to July 8, 2014, as among the blackest days in its history.

Then Germany scored again, and again, and again, and again, four more goals in the space of six minutes (or, counting that first goal, five in the space of 18): Miroslav Klose, Toni Kroos, Kroos once more, then Sami Khedira. After Klose’s goal in the 23rd minute, one saw the Brazilian players go limp. After Kroos’ goal in the 25th, one heard the crowd go silent: the silence of disbelief. After Kroos’ second, a minute later, the crowd’s silence grew thicker, more complex: the silence of indignation. And after Khedira’s goal in the 29th, the silence took on a different timbre: that of devastation, of death. The cameras didn’t have to search hard for weeping faces: boys, men, women, tears streaming down cheeks painted with Brazil’s colors, now irreparably defaced.

The play was so one-sided that it does not merit detailed description. To do so would be to catalog a series of Brazilian defensive horrors, each of which was castigated by the Germans. And in the second half, one saw the bizarre sight of a coach—Germany’s Joachim Loew—subbing off key players to allow them some more rest before Sunday’s finals. This, in a World Cup semifinal game…

Germany appeared to show some very un-Germanic pity in the second half, scoring only twice more when it could have had five or six, and letting the Brazilians steal a goal—no one would call it a consolation—in the 91st minute, in time added on. After he let in that last goal, Manuel Neuer, the German ’keeper, pounded the turf in anger. His clean sheet, the proudest badge a keeper can flaunt, was ruined: 7-0, in his unforgiving eyes, would have been so much sweeter than 7-1.

As for Brazil, 7-1 was just as humiliating as being blanked. In years to come, the country will refer to July 8, 2014, as among the blackest days in its history. And since this is Brazil, we’re not limiting our notion of history to football.

Laverne Cox from Orange Is The New Black hit TV show served as this year’s Grand Marshall. Naturally, we took a selfie. She once waited on me at the Union Square Coffee Shop. And now look at her, a world renowned celebrity in her own right. Stay blessed Laverne! Not to be out done, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio donned on his very own rainbow tie complete with a flag in hand. He marched the entire parade route with his lovely wife  Chirlane McCray and daughter in super hot pants. This would be the Mayor’s first Pride March. I have been covering this event for quite sometime now and I must say he would be the first Mayor that would leave is usually heavy security group to reach out to spectators standing by to say hello, get a few high fives and take selfies! A true people’s mayor that I hope would one day consider running for the highest office of the land in Washington DC. Lord knows, I would certainly vote for him!

As expected, the event had no shortage of corporate sponsors on huge floats which included Citibank, Wholefoods, Delta, Yahoo, Google, Macy’s, and all manner of banks, just to name a few. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger each year! Some people also made it a family affair by bringing their kids to take in the show. This year, the event went over by an hour which resulted in me loosing my VIP press pass to attend the after party, Dance On The Pier to see Demi Lovato perform. Media check in was closed by 630 and I got there shortly after 7 when the parade ended. Oh well, I guess until next year. Needless to say, I had a great time making new friends and capturing the images featured below. Click on the images to see a larger version. For a more comprehensive and “explicit” coverage, follow my Facebook page where they will start to appear throughout the week.

PS: Do not mistake the fine looking police officer shown below for a person in costume. His name is Dominic, one of New York’s finest who worked long hard hours getting the streets ready from 7am till midnight after cleanup! He does look hot though…wink! Ladies, you’re welcome! 🙂

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Also check out photos from 2012 and 2013

Summer is here and what better way to celebrate it than in breezy easy strapless drape dress and chunky pearl necklace! You too can get the look!

to get the dress, or another

Click here to get the chunky pearl necklace.

for the bracelet

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Well, well, well…look whose hand got caught in the chocolate cookie jar again! It’s the disgraced infamous racist Donald Sterling with yet another black girl. You know what they say, once you go black you never go back. Oh dear oh dear. Let’s hope he’s learned his lesson this time to keep his mouth shut! He obviously likes them a little mocha, mixed, light skinned. So, out with V.Stiviano and in comes…

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All you pot heads can now rejoice…well almost!

According to Time magazine:

New York was on the cusp of becoming the latest state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes Friday.

The state Senate passed a bill that would limit consumption to edibles, pills, and oils—prohibiting the smoking or sale of actual marijuana plants. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the bill, which passed the Senate 49 to 10 after state leaders announced a legislative compromise Thursday.

“This legislation strikes the right balance,” Cuomo said in statement Thursday when the compromise was first reached. “Medical marijuana has the capacity to do a lot of good for a lot of people who are in pain and suffering, and are in desperate need of a treatment that will provide some relief. At the same time, medical marijuana is a difficult issue because there are risks to public health and safety that have to be averted. I believe this bill is the right balance, and I commend the members of the Legislature who worked so hard on this measure.”

New York will be the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana, according to the New York Daily News.

The state Department of Health will be charged with the regulation and licensing of medical marijuana manufacturers and distributors. The bill will place a seven-cent tax on marijuana sales.

New York has been rallying and protesting for this action to take place for years now. I myself even covered such protest this year and last despite not being a user but simply for the cause. Well, I guess this is a step in the right direction to just get on with it!

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Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar famously declared to cancel her Vogue magazine subscription when Kim Kardashian graced the cover of the fashion bible few months ago. I guess it’s safe to say she can resume her subscription now that Hollywood’s current reigning star Lupita Nyong’o has landed the July cover, her first! Coming to think of it, that makes Lupita the first Muslim to land Vogue and become the first woman of color for Lancome! All of these coming in just in time for Ramadan which starts end of June. Matzoltov Lupita! This is your time! Live it! 🙂

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There’s no better way to spend a Monday night than in the company of good people and great laughs. Fashion Editor Chong Cha and I attended the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) Eco Rock annual charity event hosted by Chris Noth (Sex & The City, The Good Wife) for Shoeholics magazine. The magazine was a proud co-sponsor. One of the owners of The Cutting Room was kind enough to give us a grand tour of the breathtaking venue. The event was a success! Judging by the series of pictures below, we had loads of fun taking it easy with Venue owners Steve Walter & Ken Pliska, Actors Holt McCallany, Jim Gaffigan & Chris Noth. You can learn more about RAN at Ran.org

Visit Shoeholics for full coverage.

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