Travel & Entertainment

IVY HOTEL

600 F Street, San Diego, CA 92101, 619.814.1000, www.ivyhotel.com

Paparazzi, velvet ropes, and a doorman who stands between you and the decadent nightlife. This may sound like another night in Los Angeles, but it’s actually the scene at the ultra-hip Ivy Hotel in San Diego’s infamous Gaslamp district. The Ivy offers its patrons two options - Envy Nightclub, which could easily stand in for a TMZ, celebrity-packed club, or Eden, the rooftop bar where sexy guests sip on luscious drinks and mingle poolside while the DJ spins the best in hip hop and house.

The hotel’s lobby with its Tadashi designer-liveried staff and sleek, Zen-like aesthetic feels like a Gucci store and is a great precursor to the room. The spacious guest suites feature voyeuristic bathrooms and stripper poles, and boast spectacular downtown city views. Did I mention they come replete with private butler service? At any hour, summon your butler with the touch of the button, and he will graciously unpack your luggage, prepare your room for a romantic evening or mix you a dry martini. Your personal bar comes stocked not just with mojito mixes, vodka-soaked olives, cocktail shakers, and top shelf liquor, but also sexy toys!

When you’re ready to unwind, draw yourself a bath with the complimentary Korres natural product line and luxuriate in the spa-style bathrooms with slate floors, glass-enclosed deep soaking tubs, roomy showers with massaging showerheads, and of course, the plush terry robes. Then retreat to the comfort of your expansive bed and watch TV on your 42” plasma screen, contemplate your luck as you gaze out at the view, or just surf the complimentary Internet.

By day, guest flock to the rooftop pool to lounge in cabanas and day beds while waiters provide a constant supply of libations to quench and stimulate. By night, the venue transforms into an outdoor lounge where locals and travelers socialize and network behind a backdrop of the San Diego downtown skyline.

Rooms from $349

-Shayan Rayani

SPOTLIGHT DJ Tony Moran

World-renowned DJ, producer and lyricist Tony Moran loves “being stimulated by people, being inspired by them and channeling that emotion in a cathartic way.” This passion is obvious to anyone that has danced on the headlining DJ’s floor, enjoyed his chart-topping remixes or listened to the unforgettable lyrics he’s penned.

Brooklyn-born Moran is the middle of five kids from a Colombian mother and Irish father. He started his music career as one of the Latin Rascals with friend Albert Cabrera (remember It Must Be You?) and has since remixed artists like Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Patti Labelle and Donna Summer.

Moran has created tracks that don’t just get a crowd moving at venues around the world, but also leave an imprint. That melody buzzing in your head, the one that hooks you the very first time, with its balance of melody, beat and lyrics -- that’s probably a Moran tune. Anyone that has heard Moran spin will vouch that the veteran DJ forms a tangible bond with his audience – always checking the floor out, his finger on the pulse, his affection and appreciation poured out through his music. “Playing music that generates a feel-good energy is what I love about being a DJ, Mix-master,” he explains. He is excited about his current project with Rihanna (Take A Bow) “because the message applies to so many people” and has just written and produced for former American Idol, Frenchie Davis (You Are).

As a writer and producer, Moran’s songs for vocalists like Becky Baeling (Getaway) and Deborah Cooper (Live You All Over) have become not just anthems, but classics with DJs around the world issuing their own interpretations and scoring more mileage from a Moran tune. The secret to his success? “Don’t spread yourself out,” advices the hunky yet refreshingly modest Moran. “The technology to do so exists but it’s important to finish something and be content with it before moving to the next thing. Do your best to leave an impression, show you’ve put a lot of care into it.”

www.djtonymoran.com

-- Ghalib Dhalla

SOUNDS

REGINA BELLE Love Forever Shines (Pendulum) What a joy that Belle’s back and collaborating with the team responsible for her early Columbia hits (Chris Walker, Ruben Rodriguez). While the album will resonate more with church-folks, some ballads like I Hope He Understands and the catchy title track will give fans a chance to relive the old magic.
DONNA SUMMER Crayons (Sony BMG) Apparently “the Queen” insisted on recording an album of new material rather than standards. In this first full-length album of new music in seventeen years, the change of direction is noticeable but not consistently rewarding. Dance tracks like I’m A Fire and Stamp Your Feet (available also in a brilliant remix by Escpa/Coluccio) and the Brazilian-kissed Drivin’ Down Brazil hit the mark.
NIYAZ Nive Heavens (Six Degrees) Sufi mysticism and trance electronica seduce in this two-disc offering from the trio helmed by vocalist Azam Ali who was born in Iran and raised in India. Nine original arrangements, presented in their acoustic interpretation as well, use folk songs and mystical Sufi poems. English-speaking audiences may not understand the lyrics, but who cares when the music sounds this good?
KAMASUTRA LOUNGE 1 Music for Seduction (Water Music) Move over Buddha Bar and let this collection of haunting, sensual lounge music take over. Talented musicians including flutist Rakesh Chaurasia and vocalist Mahalaxmi Iyer make this a must-have tool in your arsenal.
THE 10,000 STEPS Biomusique (Kosmic Music US) Lisbeth Scott is the singer/songwriter from such movies as Chronicles of Narnia, Munich, and Passion of the Christ; Greg Ellis is the eclectic percussionist from films like 300 and The Matrix. Their debut collaboration creates a landscape of rich, atmospheric music that allows you to dream, relax, pray.

PAGES

UNACCUSTOMED EARTH - Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf) $25 Standouts include Hell-Heaven and Only Goodness in the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s collection of short stories about Bengalis in America. Though meticulous and nuanced, at times the stories feel rehashed but always impress in their sparseness and style.
BROADWAY BARES Backstage Pass - Jerry Mitchell (Universe) $55 Broadway’s sexiest performers display their assets in this handsomely ‘packaged’ book that gives you a backstage pass to the once-a-year, summer fund-raising event benefiting Broadway Bares/Equity Fights AIDS. The past seventeen years of the scintillating event are packed in this exciting book.
TURTLE FEET: The Making and Unmaking of a Buddhist Monk - Nikolai Grozni (Riverhead) $24.95 Grozni, a music prodigy and jazz pianist at the Berklee College of Music, gives up everything to find his spiritual path as a Tibetan Buddhist monk in India in this quirky, exotic chronicle. After learning Tibetan, adopting a new name, and sporting a shaved head, the author learns that enlightenment doesn’t necessarily thrive in saffron robes or established religion.
THE AGE OF SHIVA - Manil Suri (Norton) $24.95 Meera Sawhney, the protagonist of Suri’s second novel, tries to find herself as she grapples with her overbearing father, weak husband and oppressively orthodox in-laws. The leisurely-paced novel follows Meera from adolescence to early middle age, from daughter to wife and mother, against a backdrop of colorful characters, the partition and post-independence India.


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