Upen Patel on the Harley Davidson Fatboy*

Saturday night at Tote hosted by Anoop Prakash (of Harley India) and Arjun Khanna was quite the swanky affair considering it was a party in honor of the Harley Davidson Founders Ride lined up for Sunday morning. I mean a lot of people wore jeans and stuff but woo those bikes, even for a non-biker like myself (and trust me when I say I know nothing about bikes) looked devastatingly gorgeous. The whole place was laid out so well, Shiva Sound System jammed an absolutely incredible set on a seriously under-utilized dance floor (which didn’t bother the 5 people who bopped up a storm) the food was yummy, and those margaritas – strong! Good job Edelman, its actually been a while since I’ve been to a party this rocking, ironically the only problem (if at all) was the fact that the Tote’s banquet spaces are so big they could have invited another 100 people easy; but exclusive is as exclusive does :)

Anoop Prakash and Arjun-Khanna on the Harley Davidson Night Rod Special*

Gautam Singhania*

Arjun Khanna*

Rahul Akerkar and Mickey Doshi*

Rohit Roy*

US Consul General Mumbai Paul Folmsbee, Rahul Akerkar and Raju Daswani

John McEnaney, (Harley Davidson's service rep for Southeast Asia)

Spotted: Upen Patel, Gautam Singhania, Rahul Akerkar, Rohit Roy (seriously who picks his wardrobe, what are those pants?!) Atul Kasbekar, Raju Daswani, Marc Robinson, Suleiman Merchant and um… how shall I put this? A few shall-I-risk-sterotyping Russians-girls (?) on-wheels. Oh ye of little faith the bikes were the babes, no additional eye-candy required!

biker babe

biker babe 2 (photo courtesy Zenith Shah)

biker babe 3 (photo courtesy Zenith Shah)

Harley Davidson Night Rod Special (photo courtesy Zenith Shah)

*All these incredible pictures were taken by Ashima Narain quite a talented trigger-happy. Respect.

Talk about an eclectic music mix! Naresh Fernandes (editor of Time Out, Mumbai) took us on an amazing journey through world music with a plethora of memories of Mumbai and some incredible stories behind these songs. It was such a treat (and in case you missed it, nobody panic you’ll be able to hear the show right here very soon and can YouTube the tunes to your hearts content! This my friends is Pirate Radio, anything goes for the love of music. Don’t miss next week’s guests, The Brown Paper Bag babes and Something Relevant (cute, talented boys with a wicked sense of humor in their music, sounds divine right? We have a date! 94.3 Radio One Sat November 21st 9pm.)

Aik Re - Lorna
Usha Uthup
Pata Pata – Miriam Makeba
Guantanamera – Celia Cruz
Represent – Orishas
Buzzin – Asian Dub Foundation
Murder She Wrote – Chaka Demus & Plier
Pump Me Up – Krossfyah
Lotay La - Sonny Man
Dil ki Doya – Paban Das Baul & Sam Mills
Jambo Sigara – Fundi Konde
How Many Stories Do You See On My Face? - Senti Toy
Shillong – Soulmate
Street in Bombay – Amancio D’Silva
Summertime in Malkauns – Amit Chauduri
Pastures of plenty – Lila Downs
Soy Loco Por Ti - Caetano Veloso
Latin America – Cedar Walton
Song for my Father – Horace Silver
The Sidewinder – Lee Morgan
Cantaloupe Island – Herbie Hancock
Cancion Urgentes Para Nicaragua – Silvio Rodrigues
Visa Par Un Sueno - Juan Luis Guerra
Confesion – King Chango
Sexy - Los Amigos Invisbles
Rafiki - Zap Mama
Aicha - Khaled
So Nice – Bebel Gilberto
Besame Mucho – Cesaria Evora
Malaika - Angelique Kidjo
Joao Gilberto - Sampa
Fado Goa – Remo
Sonia Shirsat
Sonia Shirsat
Usha Uthup
Lorna
Taj Mahal Foxtrot

MissMalini and Arjun Khanna

Oh boy! What a weekend. I can’t believe its finally over and I lived to blog about it. (Lol, yes yes I know you may scoff at the life-threatening prospect of sipping champagne (ok, Vodka Redbull) in high heels while juggling a Blackberry for Twitter, Flip Mino HD for YouTube (subscribe, subscribe!) a microphone (you see I was also the emcee) and an LPC (oh how do I miss thee) for pictures while scoping out celebrities and still having fun, but trust me its not as easy as it looks! It is as fun though :) So here’s the line up, I’m editing video so it might take a while but I’ll take you through the two biggies this weekend; the Harley Davidson party and Elle Carnival for a cause, BOTH of which were at Tote, Mahalaxmi (which now feels like home). And I stand by what I said Steeve, the upstairs bar really does look like the inside of a Ferrero Rocher! MissMalini is blogging, watch this space :)

Twitter Babies!

Happy Children’s Day! I think it was a super cute idea to switch profile pix on Twitter (whoever’s it was, thanks for the heads up @Zzeba) and I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s baby avatars, thank you for showing mine so much love as well :) I picked a few I found for your viewing pleasure (sorry if I missed anyone!) and just because it’s Children’s Day in India, here are my top 2 kiddie videos on YouTube (thank you Diya for showing me the Charlie bit my finger video, hilarious.) Enjoy!

Didjya Know?
While November 20th is universally celebrated as Children’s Day, in India this day has been pre-poned to 14th November 14th, the date the marks the birth anniversary of independent India’s first Prime Minister – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The reason why his birthday has been chosen for the celebration of children is because of his love and passion for children.

Sean Tyas

Everything you need to know about the Sunburn Festival in Goa this year, you will find here. In fact I witnessed one of the DJs  on tour at Blue Frog on Thursday and DJ Sean Tyas was kicking it (right after one of the Jalebee’s from the Cartel warmed things up.) Seriously, I haven’t jumped around to music without lyrics in the longest time :) I kinda like that the Mumbai DJ community sticks together and I had a nice chat with DJ Clement D’Souza outside who was telling me there are some exciting times ahead for China House and how he thinks its funny that people always ask him what his DJ name is! DJ Nawed Khan of the Submerge family was there too, smiling as always and ruing the fact that some of the most amazing DJs at Sunburn only get a couple hours to spin and that’s just nowhere near long enough! But hold everything you’ll never believe who else was there! Jacke Shroff!

Jackie Shroff, Rohit Roy and Juggy D.

Yup the man himself and he is just the biggest sweetheart ever, calls everyone “dost” (that’s friend in Hindi) and didjya know almost every kid in the slums of Dharavi has his personal mobile number in case of emergencies? Then of course there’s people like TV actor Rohit Roy who I find endlessly entertaining (remember way back in 2007 when I posted his head-to-toe Ed Hardy outfit in the MidDay and he emailed to say something along the lines “why do you hate me?” and I printed that too? Lol.) Well he obviously doesn’t remember me which is why he agreed to give me a byte for my video :)

Oh and I hear Jackie Shroff was also spotted at Elbow Room last night and was true to form being a really nice guy. Also spotted Brit-Asian singer Juggy D. who as it turns out is a bit of a tool. He’s apparently starting his own t-shirt line, which is fine except that he makes no bones about the fact that he’s poaching the entire concept from a line he used to endorse for somebody else! Oh Juggy, shame shame puppy shame; now put that on a tee shirt.

14/11

I really like this Limca advertisement. Its flirty, fun, fresh (and oh-so-pretty!) In fact I ran into Osh Bhabani at the Busaba 8th anniversary and accidentally blurted out how much I loved his Levis commercial. Lol he grinned and agreed that it could have passed as one! Tarana Raja Kapoor also suggested I find out how the hell they shot that thing, so I’ve asked and promise to report back pronto!

Osh Bhabhani and Mridula Chandrashekhar (photo courtesy Mridula)

On another note, Osh and model Mridula Chandrashekhar are tying the knot this week, they make a super cute couple right?!

Didjya Know?
Co-owners of b:blunt in Mumbai, Osh aka Ashok Bhabani is Adhuna Akhtar’s brother who is married to Farhan Akhtar!

Aarti, Sean Tyas, Anushka and Shailendra

"Lifoholic" calendra launch

The “Lifeholic” Sunburn Calendar was unveiled yesterday afternoon themed around everything that Sunburn stands for and has been shot in Goa by ace photographer Ram Bherwani featuring the models Riddhima, Chetna, Ruhi and Lekha. And like I told ya, I ended up at Blue Frog last night myself for Sean Tyas’ tour plus one of the Jalebee’s from the Cartel and now I have the skinny on everyone from the goofy actor Rohit Roy to the humblest movie star of them all, Jackie Shroff (who calls everyone dost btw, tres cute.) Coming soon I promise with exclusive video footage too :) Remember now, the Sunburn Festival is spread across 3 days with over 35 artists, it is Asia’s Biggest Electronic Dance Music Festival from December 27th to 29th at Candolim, Goa.It’s going to be epic, come get burned!

Pooja Shukla, Aarti Chhabria, Shailendra Singh, Anushka Manchanda and Ridhimma

Anushka Manchanda

calendar girls

Spotted at the Sunburn Preview Calendar launch, music aficionado, all-around party girl and singer extraordinaire Anushka Manchanda, Shailendra Singh (of Percept) wtih Aarti Chhabria, Pooja Shukla (stylist for “Lifoholic” calendar) and of course the models. Also spotted DJ Sean Tyas from New York who spun up a storm later last night; DJ Sean will now travel to Pune, Bangalore and New Delhi for the Sunburn Tour.

Ram Bherwani and Pooja Shukla

ck Calvin Klein ck3083s USB

ck Calvin Klein ck3083s

Geeks ahoy; boy do I have news for you! I think Calvin Klein may have gotten tired of catering to the bold & beautiful bimbos of the world and switched gears to the techno trendy. Priced at 9,900r and available at all leading optical outlets, Shoppers Stop, Central, Pantaloons, Lifestyle nationwide from mid November 09. The PR gush goes like this; “check out the first ever USB Memory Eyewear Frame for Fall/Winter 2009. It’s sleek, sturdy, and stylish & the most important utility gadget you can flaunt this season. The ultimate in compact, portable function with a futuristic approach on modern technology. The ck USB Memory frame sun styles have a 4GB USB port located in the right temple to allow for convenient transport of data – digital information, pictures, media clips, and music. Designed for both men and women, styles are offered in a modified rectangular shape (ck3083s-usb) in black, dark havana, and light havana; or a larger rectangular shape (ck3084s-usb) in black, dark havana, and pearl.”

ck Calvin Klein USB ck3084s & ck3083s USB

Swanky and oh-so-slightly James Bond-esque. Although I’m guessing no geek worth his salt would ever be caught dead in these, only 4GB? *Pffft!*

Minali Thakkar and Imran Khan

Minali Thakkar (Arts Head, for Celebrate Bandra) had the pleasure of playing tour-guide to Imran Khan around her installations made using trash. (IK, as I mentioned,  has been busy shooting for “I Hate Love Stories” up in New Panvel but always makes time for stuff he believes in, gotta love that.)

Minali Thakkar

Minali’s live, interactive installations follow the theme of the festival “Go Green” created with a group of artists or “Eco Warriors” At the preview yesterday, Minali has conceptualised  three larger than life  installations which were  further added onto by artists and visitors including actor Imran Khan.

Big ups to the Eco Warriors! Reena Kallat, Nilesh Kinkle ,Palak Rawal , Swapnil Pednekar, Sandeep Paradkar, Akshay Rajapurkar, Pratap More, Gautam Patole,  Nirakar Machhoya, Milind, Greenwill, Vinit Bhatt and Shilpa Gupta

Stuff to watch out for:
1. Say no to plastic; an eleven floor high installation At MET Near Lilavatai hospital; featuring a waterfall made from plastic Bisleri bottles.
2. Paint the Mount Mary steps; A unique canvas the verticals of the stairs will have a visual impact as a rare canvas to work on. A public interactive event where everyone’s invited to paint but under artistic supervision (hello wall project peeps its time to break out the paintbrushes again!)
3. Courier Services as art; Prints of five artists will be attached to all couriers leaving Bandra during the Festival. The receiver gets this perforated artwork to detach and keep (get someone to send you a package during the festival!)
4. Cop Art; Bandra police will soon enjoy the use of color and the therapeutic nature of art in their resting rooms!
5. Art installations in Shoppers Stop; while you listen to my voice on the in store Radio!
6. Kids to paint; the walls of St Stanislaus School
7 Video art; by Shilpa Gupta (shadows installation)
8. A dead tree that comes to life; with vows written on green paper leaves, make a promise to reduce your carbon footprint.