Most Fun Ever…Winter Music Conference

Our good pal, Stephanie Hynes just went to WMC, and was generous enough to tell us all about it. If you’ve never been to the World Music Conference in Miami, we highly recommend checking it out one of these years. In the meantime, enjoy.

Whenever I hear the word Miami I think of Will Smith and that song he did “Miami…south beach bringin the heat…”.

Last year my eyes during WMC burned with jersey shore. This year jersey was out and about but a great addition was the well-dressed (that I saw NONE of last year) who came out of hiding. I got the small but appreciated experience of Tom Ford mixed in with the typical Miami Ed Hardy.

US travel tip: if you are currently a lady of leisure (fancy word for “without job”) you need to have a printed copy of your return ticket. If not you will be detained by US customs, finger printed, have your luggage ripped apart, lectured by a customs officer, not allowed to use your phone when your travel friend is wondering where the hellz you are and given only 10 minutes to go through another security check where your hands and luggage are swabbed and luggage again pulled apart. Flight was 20 minutes late. I made it and told every soul this week I ran into about it.

I landed Tuesday night and made way to my friend Sydney’s place. She recently moved to Miami from Toronto and bonus for me I had a sweet condo to stay at on Ocean Drive and 15^th, a one minute walk past a few palm trees to the beach. Funny enough it was called Drake.

My WMC started the next morning laying on the beach, trash magazines and a copy of People Scandals and VOUGE circa September 2003 found in the condo was perfect beach reading.

The girl above was awesome asking everyone if the were “practicing safe sun” and rubbing sunscreen on everyone’s back handing out flyers for her tanning business.

Equally amazing below was this elderly gentleman searching for lost treasure on the beach.

Most of Miami Beach is comparable to Young Street in Toronto. Super touristy. Interesting things to note about Miami even the mannequins have bad tattoos and fake boobs, people love saying “I’m in Miami Bitch” and they still accept food stamps.

The day turned to evening and I found myself at Nikki Beach which my friend renamed Sketchy Beach. I didn’t find it that sketchy maybe my too many years to count of being sober working guest list at basically every club in Toronto has made me immune to seeing f’d up people around me.  The thing I hate about WMC is set times not being posted on flyers. They are all the same listing 40 dj’s and the party going from noon till five am. I understand set times change but a little hint would help a girl out. One of best stories of the week I heard was at sketchy beach which was a friend got his passport with showing his mega old library card as one of his pieces of ID. Rumor had it that previously he had not been able to get into the country cause he crossed the boarder with a joint in his pocket and here I get detained for being on a legitimate job hunt.

Leaving sketchy beach we headed to the Espanola Way it’s a cute strip of restaurants with everything from Sushi to Italian. We chose Italian, Hosteria Romana (429 Espanola Way, Miami Beach). Super yum. We had dinner with the Embrace boys, which btw Embrace had a crazy line up of parties at WMC you had to be living under a rock or a seashell to not know all the parties they had.

We headed back that night to Nikki Beach where we caught Tiefschwarz. I was in German techno heaven. The sketchies from earlier in the day had left and a new crowd was euro-esque and on fire. Tiefschwarz was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. I haven’t been to a techno party in a minute and it felt really good and my friend pointed out nicely that there are always hot guys at techno parties. At this one she was right. Miami is filled during WMC with a whole crazy selection of people. It’s a mix of dj’s, booking agents, management, media and fans from every inch of the globe, mostly Europeans and North Americans.

Day three in Miami was a big night it’s was my friend and condo host Sydney’s first WMC party hosted by her and her management. Last year I caught Funkagenda play a few times during WMC and I loved him. He was headlining with Sydney (Sydney Blu) at the party, I got drunk, danced and had a conversation via a pen and multiple bar napkins and woke up with a bad ass hangover.

Orange Peel Moses made me a mermaid from an orange. He ran to Walgreens to get another orange after someone stole the first one he made.

The next day hangover cure on beach didn’t go as planned, rain prevented my vodka headache “cure all” beach nap from happening, it also prevented me from going to the first day of the Beatport Beach Party. My favorite party last year was at the Beatport Pool Party which moved venues this year to the Gansevoort private beach. Gansevoort is an amazing hotel, I stayed there last year for WMC. Its pimp. Beatport went all out this year, the stage and set up was crazy.

Saturday and Sunday day I spent there! I love day parties, getting drunk that early in the day means pain though and drinks at $15 bucks US plus tip is pricey (they do tend to pour doubles rather than a single). L.A. Riots was my fav that day but I also caught Funkagenda and M.A.N.D.Y. Honestly there is so much going on during WMC its hard to remember what you did and didn’t do and who you did and didn’t talk to, or maybe that’s just me. I have some awesome friends who work for Beatport  (beatport.com) and they gave me a VIP wristband. I hung out around the side stage area for the most part but had fun going into the crowd as well.

Beatport Shawn below, he is also half of the DJ duo Manufactured Superstars in business form overlooking the party he helped organized.

That night I went to Porterhouse at B.E.D, Steve Porter is fun and a super great person, you know him as the mega brains behind the Rap Chop video. Worst pick up line ever I got there. “ You look too nice to be hanging out in a place like this”, who even says stupid shiz like that these days. Equally amazing pick up cat call that night was when I ducked out of party to grab gum a few doors down and got “Hey white girl, come over here”.  No. I do not go over.

By Sunday the last day of WMC at this point people have not slept for days and are either ready to hit a home run and party till Monday morning or they are ready to check into rehab. I spent Sunday at the Beatport Beach Party during the day. I was super excited to see DJ Hell, who I had yet to see ever in my life. He hasn’t played in Toronto in like a decade and when he did have a gig booked last year he cancelled. He played at the Get Physical party the night before that I didn’t make it to but my friends who went raved about have incredible it was and they danced there faces off.

I was DEVESTATED to hear the next day that DJ HELL after he cancelled the gig and then tried to un-cancel he wasn’t going to be playing that day at Beatport.  I caught sets by Afrojack, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello all really great and was a good vibe to end off WMC.

I stayed few couple extra days in Miami, it was great to hang in the city for a few days post WMC. The city seemed a lot more beautiful after the weekend of parties and people wasted stumbling on the street. My last day there was spent on the beach and it was amazing.

There was this chip truck on the beach but was less ghetto than any chip shack I’ve ever seen and they made a yum fresh fruit salad, smoothies and sandwiches. Fruit salad cost $10 US but worth it. They cut up the fruit right in front of you. Needed a side of fries for good measure.

I walked by a taco place a few nights before and felt it was much needed for my last dinner in miami. T-Mex (235 14th Street, Miami Beach). Amazing food.  You need to go if you ever make it to Miami Beach.

I had loads of fun with friends in Miami and met some really great people! Things to note about Miami Beach/South Beach. SUPER expensive. Food and drinks and water and everything in between  is expensive especially during Winter Music Conference. There is so much going on and so many parties, its hard to go to it all cause there is so much to do. Cover can run you anywhere from $20-80. I didn’t have to pay for any parties luckily and everything is basically within walking distance. The other part of WMC is Ultra Music Festival, that I didn’t go to. Friends that went said it was insane with thousands of people I opted not to go but maybe next year.

I hope you make it to Winter Music Conference or that you too had fun in Miami bitch!