FRIDAY MANIA #8 - Hollywood, L.A. / Venom inc. / Hiking to the Hollywood sign
Friday, unholy Friday!! You might be wondering why I skipped past week’s FridayMania, but I have an excuse, and a very good one: I went to California.
Don’t ask me why, but sometimes I just need to go far and enjoy the excitement of the adventure. Lately I’ve met a bunch of awesome brothers and sisters in the L.A. area and because of this job is sucking me alive I decided to go and hang out for a weekend with them.
After 5 hours flying straight from Cleveland to Los Angeles, next stop was Venom inc’s show in Hollywood at the Whiskey A GoGo. This was my first experience in L.A. metal scene, so I was quite overwhelmed for this new experience. The show always amazing (they played like five more songs than in Cleveland!), the place was full, security was annoying as fuck, and you could see some people demanding some gross attention, but hey! It can't be perfect!! I was very welcomed by all the people around there, and did I mention I met Dyanna from Holy Hell Desgins? She's a sweet heart!
Funny thing, I was staying at the same hotel with The Demolition-Man (Venom inc’s vocalist) so we could hang out a bit more with them and other friends. I was shocked to hear from his mouth the bitter story between Cronos and the rest of the band and the conflict between Venom and Venom inc. but I am confident to say I am just proud of supporting the incs!
THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN HIKING EXPERIENCE
Great show, awesome city, so I couldn’t leave L.A. without first hiking to the top of the Hollywood Hill. This definitely was another very spontaneous thing we did.
Now first, I need to spit this out loud and clear: It DOES NOT take fifteen minutes to climb to the top of that mountain. It happened that, for random things of life and a friend in common, I ended up hiking with Scott Carlson, from Repulsion (I am very honored to have met him!). He loves hiking (and ice tea... A lot) and he convinced us to climb up, because “it will take us just fifteen minutes to arrive up there”, easy peasy, not biggie… Now, this is a clear example of what the world hyperbole means. This is what it happened:
I never thought that a very casual post-hangover Mexican lunch would have transformed into a four-hour hike to the Hollywood sign, all because my friend Nath was curious about what he called "the freedom tree". Scott informed Nath that it is actually called The Liberty Tree, and that it was only about a fifteen minute hike to get there. We would soon be on our way. I could feel Nath hating Scott for a second and I slightly thought i would die, but three hours later we were admiring the best view L.A has to offer. Not fifteen minutes tho… Ahhhh, but it was worth it!!
As soon as we arrived to the top, under the shadow of the tree, I heard how the "Victory Tree" was an everyday hiking goal. Soon after, once we arrived to the top, we realized it wasn’t the Tree of Freedom, Liberty or Victory, but the Tree of Wisdom... Now that I’m back home and thought to Google it, I learned It’s actually called The Tree of Life. Hahaha!
So that was my trip to California. It was really improvised, but man I had a blast!! I could finally understand why L.A. people is so freaking obnoxious when is about where they’re living, and it’s because it is awesome indeed!! What a great place to live, where diversity and landscape contrasts are the most attractive features somebody could ask. I should run away a little bit more often and surprise people in random shows across the states. Where to go next now?!
Ahhhh! Still very tired, still dreaming with my LA days! Damn, California you will get me again!! And if you are not used to hike, then I encourage you to try it out!! Till then, stay tuned, stay AWAKE!!
Tanza Speed
