Event Recap: Block Party LA

Saturday's 2nd Annual Block Party LA was a community-centered festival featuring some of today's hottest indie artists. Headlined by Talib Kweli, a portion of the event's proceeds were donated to the Children's Defense Fund scholarship program "Beat the Odds”. According to Block Party LA founder Ashley Glaspie, it also served as a vessel to pump positivity into the community. BG Contributor Mary Hill was on the scene asking artists how they felt their work was, much like Block Party LA, helping to bring the community together through music.

Q: How does your music fit into  bringing together the community through music?

A: Ramaj Eroc:
"My music is influential, for all cultures and races."

A: Dean Risko:
"My music is really relatable which is the same reason Drake blew up. It’s genuine and honest. It ties in the community because it’s honest, like the community. Less commercial, more real."

A: The League
"Our underling message is for the community. It’s about being yourself and showing love to everybody. It’s also based on how we live and how we were built."

*Mary Hill is a BG Contributor for LA*

Celebs Attend Pre-ESPY American Federation for Children Event

 Karrueche Tran



 Laila Ali

 Lisa Leslie

 Kelly Price

 Nicole Murphy

Vanessa Williams

The stars were out at the LUXE rooftop in LA for an event honoring Football Hall of Famer, Deion Sanders, at the 3rd annual Champions for Choice event for the AFC in conjunction with the 2014 ESPY Awards. Hosted by celebrity ambassadors Laila Ali and Lisa Leslie along with Jalen Rose and Stephen A. Smith, the event drew celebs such as Kelly Price, Nicole Murphy, Vanessa Williams, and Karrueche Tran.

 

Yay L.A.! 2

In hindsight, I have to say, L.A. was L.A.
I saw Eva Pigford and The Dream having lunch. Everyone had on heels but no one could walk in them. The days were unrealistically long. Riding the city bus made my crotch itch. On many occasions I needed directions, but no one knew English. I have to say, a good time was had.
At one point I got lost in L.A. In a heavily populated Korean area, no one could help me. I had to wait ten minutes for the first Black pedestrian to point me in the right direction. I got to ride the train in L.A., which was, in short, gross. The man who sat in front of me was so funky that my temples began to pulsate. Once off of the train, no one would tell me which way to head in but homeless people who demanded a dollar after giving me vague directions. I complied of course, afraid one of them would stab me with an AIDS needle.
On my way to the festival, I got off the bus in this very dingy area. I was sitting at the bus stop for a minute and a half before I realized that I was in a prostitution hotspot. I have seen prostitutes in Atlanta, and I guess hoes are hoes across the globe, but these looked and seemed particularly...violent. I kept my head down and my mouth closed, which is hard for me.
Ahhh, L.A. I can not wait for next year!

Yay L.A.!

So I am back to L.A. for this year's film festival. EXCITED! However, I have to say that I am annoyed by the Korean tourists in my hotel that look at me like I am the hugest person that they have ever seen, which may be true. When I get off the elevator, they stare at me with wide eyes and part like the Red Sea for me to pass by. They are speaking in a different language, but I know that they are commenting on me...because they are pointing! They were also watching me eat my cereal during breakfast. Tonight, when I go down to dinner, I am going to offer to let them squeeze my fat for a buck. I can use the extra dough.
Yesterday, when I was on the plane, I sat next to these cool drunk dudes from Louisiana. They slept for like 90% of the flight but when they woke up, they schooled me on The World Cup. Then, this random Hispanic older lady was walking to the bathroom, looked down at me, and tells me that she is "muy consada." I'm like, "I'm tired too" and she touched my face. Well, not so much touch, more like held. I know this sounds weird, but it felt nice. I thought she was going to kiss my forehead. She put me in mind of my grandma.

Fear and Loafing in L.A.

This is a festive tale about a chubby girl who decided to go to L.A. with thirty-two dollars for a weekend to go to the BET Awards.
Well, luckily my first hotel had free breakfast. I would take that food to my room to also have for lunch, so that way I only had to buy dinner. Luckily, there was a Taco Bell and a McDonald's right next door.
I had no rental car which is fine, because I can not drive. So I had to take the gross, gross, gross, and dirty Los Angeles transit to the Shrine Auditorium to pick up my credentials and to attend the awards. Man, I thought I had seen some harsh neighborhoods in the past. People were living in some of the worst shit holes I had ever seen. I spent the rides with my head down, listening to my fellow riders curse out their boyfriends on the phone and talk about how easy it is to the rob the grocery store.
So I'd calculated the bus rides would cost 10 dollars. However, after the show, I looked in my wallet to see that I was fifty cents short to get back. So I had to ask what I was pretty sure was a pimp for some change. He gave me thirty-five cents. Then, when I transferred buses, a kind spirited drunk who had the must of ten men and beaded chin hair gave me fifteen cents so that I could get back to the hotel.
The next day, as I shared with you, the plane engine blew up, so the airline put me up at the Westin that almost would not let me check in because I did not have a credit card they could hold for incidentals. Once I checked in, I went to McDonald's and overdrafted my account just to get a McChicken and fries for dinner.
Living meal to meal was kind of fun this weekend, but I never ever want to try it again in L.A.

A L.A. State of Mind

Having someone crack jokes in a whisper about me on the plane was my first thumbs up as to how things work in this town.
Living in Atlanta, I never thought that I was "country" until I went downstairs for breakfast in my hotel and realized that they had no grits. Of course, I asked for some and the chef looked at me like I just arrived from the nearest hoedown. He directed me instead to some colorful packs of oatmeal that had interesting heart health facts on the back.
Then I went downtown to my movie event for the L.A. Film Festival. People were nice to me there, but I feel like they were because I had the credentials that said I was supposed to be there. In other places, I said "hello" to people, and they looked at me funny. The people that did speak, I figured, were not from there.
Everyone dresses nice, just like on The Hills. But I had to wonder if anyone knew, especially the women walking around in colorful short dresses and Ugg boots, that there were replicas of their outfits at Target for like ten dollars. For the most part, they have made an art out of wearing expensive brands just to look like they rolled out of bed.
I saw so many women yesterday with such extensive plastic surgery that they looked like humanized cats with loud makeup. There was one older woman with such a high nose that I could not believe that no one every couple of blocks was telling her she looked horrible.
Oh, and the people here are rude by the way. It's like they take extra steps not to talk to you or touch you on the street or look at you. I found myself wondering how people here make friends. Girls in similar outfits would walk in packs, not saying anything, with tall Starbuck's cups and huge shades. It goes without saying that they are unusually thin and shapeless or thin with these huge exaggerated breasts. I mean HUGE! It was nothing like San Francisco which I visited to see a friend of mine. There, hippies would come up and hug you. Here, I just wanted to attempt to hug someone to watch them run from me.
One thing I am impressed with here is the effort the city is making to live Green.  On my way to the festival, bus passed super expensive homes that had light paneling and other tools to heat and cool the home through solar energy. That you do not see at all in Atlanta, and we run through our resources like water.
Besides the rude people and weird surgery, I kind of like it here. They have a lot of green space and there is a different protest every day. However, I do not see myself moving here anytime soon, especially not before dropping 100lbs and finding a grocery store that carries grits.