1.30 PM Saturday 25th March 2006-03-25
I’m sitting in Café Milano on Ocean Drive (850 Ocean Drive) sipping on a chilled glass of Verve Cliequot,
watching the world go by. At last the sun is properly shining, the sky is blue and all in good in my world. I woke up this morning and saw what a lovely day it was, our room looks out across the sea and the glittering sparks were reflected on the waters surface as far as the eye can see.
We jumped in the car, I had a vodka and orange in hand and cruised along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, getting some ‘drive by’ shots (as I call them).
Our mood is positively jubilant and looking across at Erling driving is making me even more happy! He is dodging and weaving, pointing out shots that he thinks are good and he pulls into the right lane to get closer to Jerry’s Famous Café to get a shot of it in the day light and as we crossed the traffic lights we got stopped by a police man or as I’m in Miami I guess I should say cop! At the time we both have, in hand, a Hagen Daas caramel Choc ice/ lolly…whatever you call it. (which incidentally I can highly recommend, it reminds me of when I was a kid eating a bar of Caramac, but with the addition of some melt in your mouth goo and ice cream, bloody delicious!)
Anyway, I’m thinking oh shit, why have they stopped us, would the one vodka and orange that Erling had this morning put him over the limit, is it because he is driving and eating at the same time, or is it just because we look like we are having such a bloody good time! It turns out its because we drove straight ahead when we were in the lane to turn right.
The cop asks Erling for his licence. Of course we haven’t been carrying our licences with us. He looks at Erling in disbelief asking where we come from, then when we say UK he says ‘well wouldn’t you have to carry your licence there, why should it be any different here”….another look of disbelief when we tell him, “no”. After a lot of baffled looks from him and a lot of polite explaining and apologies from us, he decides to let us go. I ask him for his photo, he agrees!
Erling took me into this designer shop called Wild Thing (900 Ocean Drive) saying that he wanted to buy me a present. After looking around I spotted this amazing pair of shoes. They had killer heels, gold leather strappy fastenings and swastki crystals, even on the soles of the shoes in the arched part! I tried them on and the sales girl commented that they would look good with anything or more importantly absolutely nothing! At hearing this Erling had his money out and was trying to leave a deposit, telling the man behind the counter (Dennis) that he’d be back tomorrow to pay the rest. Considering they were 1200 dollars, he obviously didn’t have enough on him. I said to hold his horses and I’d think about it….don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love them, but thinking to myself what else £750 could buy I just couldn’t bring myself to agree to it.
We got chatting to Dennis and as I had my camera he asked if we were press. I told him yes and he said ‘then why aren’t you at Ultra Music festival?’ I told him it was tomorrow (Sunday) he told me no, then looked it up on the computer. Holy shit it was today!
We made it to the press desk just in time to collect our passes before it closed! She then sent us to the press tent, but gave very flaky directions, as in ‘just keep going’.
We were looking for ages! We asked a few people and in the end even had 2 cops who called up on their radios to find out. Still no one knew where it was. On route and once we’d weaved deep into the back stage area, we saw this bar all alone in the middle of nothing. We ordered Vodka Red Bull and wasn’t charged…..it was like a mirage! Finally we found the tent. People had said it had a huge sign and we couldn’t miss it, how wrong they were. It was a tent with ‘press’ written on an A4 sized sheet of paper, which was sellotaped to the side of it! No wonder we had trouble finding it!
We took a few shots back stage of the dancers and generally cool looking people, then hit the pit area in front of the main stage, to catch Eric Morillo, hands in air, sun beaming down on him and a crowd of thousands in front of him also waving their hands in the air and loving every minute of it.
Next up was Paul Oakenfold, but things weren’t to run so smoothly for poor old Oaky. Something went wrong with the monitors and the sound disappeared all together, leaving the expectant crowd waiting eagerly and intently. Paul tried to keep them entertained by doing a little jig around that looked like a cross between a highland fling and a tap dance. But standing looking in despair at the decks, head in hands seemed to be more representative of how he was feeling! About 20 minutes later and after about 10 people had gathered around in an attempt to fix it, finally he was able to play!
Highlights of the day for me were Josh Wink in the Carl Cox and friends tent. Carl took over from him and we caught the 1st part of he’s set. He’s one of my fav’s.
Highlights of the day for me were Josh Wink in the Carl Cox and friends tent. Carl took over from him and we caught the 1st part of he’s set. He’s one of my fav’s. 
I also got to see Richie Hawtin. I 1st saw him play years ago in Brighton and I just remember thinking ‘what the fuck is this’ It was amazing. What he plays is so unique as he doesn’t ever seem to just play a tune. He layers music and adds his own dats and sounds.
He was mixing with 4 sources this time; 2 sources from his laptop with 2 records. Then in typical Richie style he’d drop some mental noise that seems to go against the beat and gets a few bewildered looks from the crowd who cant seem to make out if it’s a mistake or not! I’m not totally convinced that this crowd was ready for him! Erling said to me, just when he thought he knew everything about dance music I go and introduce him to a sound that blew him away!
The next tent we went to Bad Boy Bill was playing. Here the crowd were loving it. I’ve never heard him play but always get sent e flyers with his name on, so it was good to finally put a face and a sound to the name.
Benni Banassi was on next. He came bouncing up to the decks, taking snaps on his camera along the way.
On the way back to the main stage, we ducked into one last tent and saw Mistress Barbara.
Back at the main stage the Prodigy were taking it by storm.
Saw the sunrise from our window.
I’m sitting in Café Milano on Ocean Drive (850 Ocean Drive) sipping on a chilled glass of Verve Cliequot,
watching the world go by. At last the sun is properly shining, the sky is blue and all in good in my world. I woke up this morning and saw what a lovely day it was, our room looks out across the sea and the glittering sparks were reflected on the waters surface as far as the eye can see. We jumped in the car, I had a vodka and orange in hand and cruised along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, getting some ‘drive by’ shots (as I call them).
Our mood is positively jubilant and looking across at Erling driving is making me even more happy! He is dodging and weaving, pointing out shots that he thinks are good and he pulls into the right lane to get closer to Jerry’s Famous Café to get a shot of it in the day light and as we crossed the traffic lights we got stopped by a police man or as I’m in Miami I guess I should say cop! At the time we both have, in hand, a Hagen Daas caramel Choc ice/ lolly…whatever you call it. (which incidentally I can highly recommend, it reminds me of when I was a kid eating a bar of Caramac, but with the addition of some melt in your mouth goo and ice cream, bloody delicious!)Anyway, I’m thinking oh shit, why have they stopped us, would the one vodka and orange that Erling had this morning put him over the limit, is it because he is driving and eating at the same time, or is it just because we look like we are having such a bloody good time! It turns out its because we drove straight ahead when we were in the lane to turn right.
The cop asks Erling for his licence. Of course we haven’t been carrying our licences with us. He looks at Erling in disbelief asking where we come from, then when we say UK he says ‘well wouldn’t you have to carry your licence there, why should it be any different here”….another look of disbelief when we tell him, “no”. After a lot of baffled looks from him and a lot of polite explaining and apologies from us, he decides to let us go. I ask him for his photo, he agrees!
Erling took me into this designer shop called Wild Thing (900 Ocean Drive) saying that he wanted to buy me a present. After looking around I spotted this amazing pair of shoes. They had killer heels, gold leather strappy fastenings and swastki crystals, even on the soles of the shoes in the arched part! I tried them on and the sales girl commented that they would look good with anything or more importantly absolutely nothing! At hearing this Erling had his money out and was trying to leave a deposit, telling the man behind the counter (Dennis) that he’d be back tomorrow to pay the rest. Considering they were 1200 dollars, he obviously didn’t have enough on him. I said to hold his horses and I’d think about it….don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love them, but thinking to myself what else £750 could buy I just couldn’t bring myself to agree to it.
We got chatting to Dennis and as I had my camera he asked if we were press. I told him yes and he said ‘then why aren’t you at Ultra Music festival?’ I told him it was tomorrow (Sunday) he told me no, then looked it up on the computer. Holy shit it was today!
We made it to the press desk just in time to collect our passes before it closed! She then sent us to the press tent, but gave very flaky directions, as in ‘just keep going’.
We were looking for ages! We asked a few people and in the end even had 2 cops who called up on their radios to find out. Still no one knew where it was. On route and once we’d weaved deep into the back stage area, we saw this bar all alone in the middle of nothing. We ordered Vodka Red Bull and wasn’t charged…..it was like a mirage! Finally we found the tent. People had said it had a huge sign and we couldn’t miss it, how wrong they were. It was a tent with ‘press’ written on an A4 sized sheet of paper, which was sellotaped to the side of it! No wonder we had trouble finding it!
We took a few shots back stage of the dancers and generally cool looking people, then hit the pit area in front of the main stage, to catch Eric Morillo, hands in air, sun beaming down on him and a crowd of thousands in front of him also waving their hands in the air and loving every minute of it.
Next up was Paul Oakenfold, but things weren’t to run so smoothly for poor old Oaky. Something went wrong with the monitors and the sound disappeared all together, leaving the expectant crowd waiting eagerly and intently. Paul tried to keep them entertained by doing a little jig around that looked like a cross between a highland fling and a tap dance. But standing looking in despair at the decks, head in hands seemed to be more representative of how he was feeling! About 20 minutes later and after about 10 people had gathered around in an attempt to fix it, finally he was able to play!
Highlights of the day for me were Josh Wink in the Carl Cox and friends tent. Carl took over from him and we caught the 1st part of he’s set. He’s one of my fav’s.
Highlights of the day for me were Josh Wink in the Carl Cox and friends tent. Carl took over from him and we caught the 1st part of he’s set. He’s one of my fav’s. 
I also got to see Richie Hawtin. I 1st saw him play years ago in Brighton and I just remember thinking ‘what the fuck is this’ It was amazing. What he plays is so unique as he doesn’t ever seem to just play a tune. He layers music and adds his own dats and sounds.
He was mixing with 4 sources this time; 2 sources from his laptop with 2 records. Then in typical Richie style he’d drop some mental noise that seems to go against the beat and gets a few bewildered looks from the crowd who cant seem to make out if it’s a mistake or not! I’m not totally convinced that this crowd was ready for him! Erling said to me, just when he thought he knew everything about dance music I go and introduce him to a sound that blew him away!
The next tent we went to Bad Boy Bill was playing. Here the crowd were loving it. I’ve never heard him play but always get sent e flyers with his name on, so it was good to finally put a face and a sound to the name.
Benni Banassi was on next. He came bouncing up to the decks, taking snaps on his camera along the way.
On the way back to the main stage, we ducked into one last tent and saw Mistress Barbara.
Back at the main stage the Prodigy were taking it by storm.
Saw the sunrise from our window.
1 Comments:
Seen your photography on the new azuli miami2006 cd I bought today.
Im so excited from reading your photo journal. Excellent work with the smooth colourful images very graphic vivid.
You inspired me with this your journal now I have to start saving like mad to go experience this miami wmc with my girlfriend For REAL!!
Rowan Thompson
South
Africa
theface@iafrica.com
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