Song for Volume IV - Issue IV: Philly Most Wanted - Please Don’t Mind
👋🏽 Hello There
I’m on a ‘travel sprint’ right now, which is why this issue is coming to you a day later than normal. I’m freshly tanned and slightly sunburnt from my trip to Miami. It was more relaxing than I anticipated the trip would be. Sometimes things work out in a way that’s needed even though it may not be what you want. I wore heels all weekend and honestly, I missed wearing heels. One pair drove me crazy but it is an easy fix via my shoe cobbler so I’m happy about that. It is fun to be in your 30s and people watch everyone else going to the club and seeing how differently yet the same the environment is.
There was also a moment with these teenage boys providing great entertainment while they tried to get phone numbers of the women lounging outside of the club (LIV) in the lobby of the Fontainebleau.
I also did a 24-27 hour trip to San Francisco to celebrate a friend’s milestone birthday. This trip changed my lore when it came to the city as previously I had only been to the airport but not San Francisco. I enjoyed my very quick visit to the city and will go back. Soon? Not sure about that but definitely want to make time to do more day trips there eventually.
Here are two Southeast Asian brands I’ve discovered since the last issue - Maabae and Bhavya Ramesh Jewelry. We have our first guest columnist for 2026! Bryan Gomez, who works in the music industry and speaking on how music has evolved since the pandemic.
See you in two weeks!
P.S. I’m experimenting with the guest columnist layouts so let me know what you think of this layout!
Bryan Gomez aka Jülio Bronson resides in Culver City, CA and is the co-founder of Die-Electric along with his bandmates Alex Hastings and Joey Kehoe who release music as the trio, Pioneer 11.
IG: @contemporarybryan @juliobronson @_pioneer11 @dielectricla
Click here to open guest column outside of this newsletter
Artwork by KAWS
San Francisco Museum of Contemporary Art - Unfortunately parts of the museum were closed off in preparation for new artwork being prepped to be put on display. It worked out at the same time for me as I didn’t have unlimited time to browse. I love the selection of artwork I was able to see two exhibitions along with other parts of the museum. KAWS:Family (on view until May 3rd). I’m familiar with some of the artwork by KAWS; at the same time didn’t know much about the artist. It was great to learn more about him and see artwork that I don’t normally see by this artist.
It took a bit of time to find, and glad I did because I enjoyed seeing Kara Walker: Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine) (on view until June 1st). I believe this is her first time working with animatronics and her style of art lends well to this type of piece.
Animatronics by Kara Walker
Madai sashimi dish from Mila in Miami, FL
Los Angeles, CA - Nong Lá
Los Angeles, CA - Kismet
San Francisco, CA - Hard Knox Cafe
San Francisco, CA - The Jollof Kitchen
Miami, FL
Carbone
Tacombi
Mila
Primo Market & Cafe
Pikio Taco
SAN FRANCISCO
Location: This area needs no further explanation than me saying it is in the Tenderloin. If you stay here, there is only uber to destination happening. No walking.
Room: The rooms is designed beautifully when it comes to aesthetics but certain choices don’t lend well to sharing this room. It only has one small sink where you really can keep anything in that area. Also, there weren’t a lot of open plugs to charge your phone nor was there a device to use to plug in your phone charger as well. The room is dark and would do well for more lightening to brighten it up a teeny bit. I feel this is a gorgeous hotel just in the wrong location.
I am not 100% sure but I do believe this hotel is dog friendly based on the pre check in questions asked.
Service: Front desk staff is great and were very helpful with early check in. The room was clean but could of been cleaned better. Nothing major was wrong in the cleaning category. I was over it when the wrong items were brought to my room by housekeeping (it wasn’t a major deal just an inconvenient one).
Food: There are two restaurants on site but I wasn’t here long enough to try either. If I had time I would have loved to popp by the rooftop restaurant for a drink (at minimum).
Albums
Sampld - EP by Laza (R&B/Soul) - This EP is waayyy to short. It’s composed for 4 songs for a total of 7 minutes. Enjoyed what I heard on this EP and am interested to see how Laza’s career grows and hear more of their music for a much long time!
Sidenote — I’m not in the music industry but I want to set rule around EPs and Albums lol.
Songs I’m Enjoying
Slayyter (Pop) - OLD TECHNOLOGY, Kacey Musgraves (Country) - Dry Spell, Thundercat & WILLOW (R&B/Soul) - ThunderWave, kwn (R&B/Soul) - hopeless romantic, Olympia Vitalis (Soul) - Daze and Channel Tres (Dance) - Medicine
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