FAMILY SOJOURN - US TOUR (PART 2 - LOS ANGELES)

Mann's Chinese Theater

(A story by Stiff Lu – Night watch for Kasbah Boracay, proprietor at Loudhouse Music Enterprise, lead vocalist of the Rockoustic Blues Experiment, gatekeeper of The Rizal Underground and a musical voyager/dad to some of the most beautiful destinations of the World)



Part Two of the series about this recent journey with my two prized possessions; we drove to Los Angeles from San Diego at the end of Part One and landed at the iconic Griffith Park Observatory for some HOLLYWOOD sign photos before heading out to Long Beach for our residence in transit – with an old high school mate. As it turns out, we’ll be here twice, for LA is such a huge place with tons of attractions and so allow me to roll this into one story.

Hollywood sign at Griffith Park Observatory

I lived in this city back in the eighties, plenty has changed since then but it’s was such a treat to take the girls, with the ultra pleasant weather upon arrival from the long drive. We of course met family first. Since it was their first time, we sought out the very Hollywood things to do – we sat through Steve Harvey taping a couple of shows for Family Feud, a visit to Mann’s Chinese Theater and driving around Hollywood afterwards. Later on we did some window shopping on Melrose Avenue before heading back for the night, in preparation for my stint at BAMBOO BISTRO, my first scheduled show.

BAMBOO BISTRO with the LA Crew

On gig day, we met up with the LA Crew at the venue for a sound check and did the magnificent show supported by a number of local Filipino bands based in Los Angeles - CAVE UNDER WATER, PILLOWCASE 203 & CALRATZ. It was great to see family and friends in the audience - you can check out the PHOTOS HERE courtesy of MERYL M PHOTOGRAPHY or my selfie PHOTOS HERE

We rounded out the first part of our stay in Los Angeles with a visit to our dream destination – Six Flags Magic Mountain and Venice Beach before making an even longer drive to San Francisco. It would take another month before we come back for another show at AZTIG GRILL located at the Filipino bastion of West Covina, joined by acclaimed Filipino blues man BINKY LAMPANO of LAMPANO ALLEY, this after we return from San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Houston.

The return to Los Angeles was way easier as we’ve had five weeks in the US by then and had a chance to get familiarized about town - good enough for a visit to the dispensary. We also gave Universal Studios and other iconic LA destinations a visit and the show in West Covina was definitely more relaxed, not to mention feeling so at home with all that Jollibee & Red Ribbon outlets in the vicinity of the venue. You can see the Aztig Grill VIDEO HERE feat. BINKY LAMPANO, 

The LA Crew

In West Covina we got the support of local Filipino artists and this is when we thank our collaborators TIMOTI BATAC of RED ELF EVENTS, NESTOR LORESCA of TABO PRODUCTIONS and most specially the LA CREW - FREI MUNOZ, MICHAEL SALVADOR & ROBRICH SIM for the undying support that they showed this man.

The next episode brings us to San Francisco so please tune in to this station for Part Three of this series. New York City & Houston are all on deck!

Our gracious hosts

Check out Binky Lampano's PHOTOS HERE and please LIKE my facebook page STIFF LU for more updates from my personal musical journey and to see this part's PHOTOS HERE

Of course the visit to LA will not be complete without visiting long lost friends and family. This story is dedicated to all those who made it possible. Sofia, Stephanie and I are truly grateful to y’all and these PHOTOS are testimony to how much fun we had during this trip. THANK YOU!!! Stuff dreams are made of – travelling, touring, bonding and parenting all in one!