Purple and Gold

...are complimentary colors (or well, purple and yellow, but close enough)! Perfect indeed. Green and white, on the other hand... are not.

Enough said.

If you're not one of the lucky people who have tickets to the NBA Finals, and the Lakers are out in Boston...you can catch the game on the massive Staples Center TV screens with thousands of other fans. $15 for adults and $10 for kids 3 to 13. Proceeds go to the Lakers Youth Foundation and the Staples Center Foundation, both of which benefit local kids. It definitely adds to the spirit and excitement to head over to the Staples Center on the Metro with a multitude of purple and gold wearing fans.

GO LAKERS!!

*Take the Metro Blue Line to Pico Station, one block from Staples Center, or the Metro Red Line to 7th Street/Metro Center, just four blocks away.

-ExperienceLA Staff

As They Are: Alicia Keys feat. Ne-Yo and Jordin Sparks

Monday, May 5th wasn't exactly a typical Cinco de Mayo celebration, but there was dancing and singing...and drinks weren't absent from the scene either. My roommate and I headed out to the Staples Center (7th/Metro Red Line Station is just a few blocks north) to see the Alicia Keys' "As I Am" concert.

The tour has been in the press lately because of one vocal incident or another - first Jordin Sparks had to rest and then Alicia Keys. But somehow, we managed to get the anticipated line-up by the time it reached the LA area. Each artist, while cozy in the home of mainstream-friendly pop/r&b music, had a different performance - expressing in their own way the title of Miss Keys' latest album 'As I Am'...

Jordin Sparks' set had the air of the newcomer - the semi-familiar music accompanied by a garage band kind of set-up. A mix of a small venue concert and American Idol, Sparks was pleasant to listen to and it was nice to be assured a good live performance (American Idol would churn that out best). I had hoped that with the prescence of Ne-Yo, we'd get to hear a different performance for "No Air" (her duet with Chris Brown), but it was a pared down version - which may have worked out better for me if I didn't like the duet so much. Sparks' first hit single - "Tattoo" - was the obvious crowd favorite and the one everyone could sing along too (which they did!).

Ne-Yo - whose new album Year of the Gentleman drops June 24th - presented his set based heavily on the stylistic idea of the classic gentleman, complete with his signature hats, a band in straight angled suits and fedoras, and women dancers in their elegant best (40% of the time anyway). Like the classic gentleman of film noir, the show is smooth, charming, and definitely exuding sex appeal. The women-centered music provided a showcase for the talented female dancers that bring his words to life (emphasis on the sex appeal). Undoubtedly, Ne-Yo's set begins and ends with the audience understanding perfectly that Ne-Yo is not only a singer and a performer, but also one with style.

I wasn't sure what to expect with Alicia Keys. I've liked her music and particularly love her latest album As I Am. But when the signature persona is a woman and her piano (and a great persona at that) - what else would/could be added? Lights, modern-day doo-wop girls, dancers, Jermaine Paul, a band, and *two* pianos. Her show featured a storyline of a young Alicia Keys discovering the starmaker. This journey leads the audience through a great selection of her songs through all her albums, with key moments framed around her most recognizable hits. Not suprisingly, the starmaker? It's Alicia Keys herself - and as all her themes go, its everybody in the audience who has their dreams that they want to achieve. And this theme carries itself through her show, as the backup vocalists and dancers get their time in the sun, as the audience sings along, as the importance of the woman gets presented, as Alicia Keys' charity against the fight for AIDS ('Keep A Child Alive') has its time, as the children of this charity and the featured Youtube videos of "No One" get focused on the big screen.

One leaves the "As I Am" tour contemplating the differences between three sets of music and in awe of the talents each provide their own unique time and literal song-and-dance number. But perhaps most importantly in this Youtube generation, people leave inspired to figure out what it means to be your own starmaker.

-Charity Tran, ExperienceLA Web Coordinator

Justin Timberlake at the Staples Center

Last night the Staples Center hosted the last date of Justin Timberlake's North American FutureSex/LoveShow Tour. Mr. Timberlake's been rocking the Staples Center since Sunday (so the girl sitting in front of me confirmed). To say that the man is talented would be understating it. His performance at the Staples Center is a reflection on how this artist has catapulted his way out of boy band non-obscurity - through sheer talent and great music collaborations. I had a good vantage point for saying this show was amazing. My friend Jay and I were sitting in the back....waaaaaay in the back.

The show opened at 8:00 with Good Charlotte and the Justin Timberlake concert itself didn't start until after 9. Nonetheless, the show was well worth the wait - opening up with fog and an incredible use of lights and great stage design. The last time I was at the Staples Center was for a Lakers game...oh, how a basketball arena can be transformed.

There's a good advantage to sitting in the back row of the Staples Center for a concert of this caliber. You get to see the entire stage design and Justin Timberlake running around most parts of the stage. I'd say that I'm being optimistic and positive about my concert experience, and while, yes I am, it's true.

I had twenty-dollar seats in literally the back row of the Staples Center, but it didn't take away from a great show. You don't need to be up close and personal to see that Justin Timberlake's a great dancer and singer, and that he can play the guitar, the keytar, the piano, and beatbox. Nor do you need to be that close to sing along to favorite songs with all the other people in the filled seats with you.

Ultimately the FutureSex/LoveShow has the nuances of a big party: great music, dancing, a D.J. at intermission - even Timbaland making his appropriate appearances. And really, who wouldn't want to party with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland?

Would I have wanted tickets in the front row by the stage? Sure! But I'll close on what Jay and I high-fived during the concert, before catching the Metro Red Line home: "Best twenty-seven dollars ever."

-Charity Tran, ExperienceLA Web Coordinator

David Beckham as LA Culture

When we created ExperienceLA to promote LA culture and public transit on the Internet, it included sports as culture, so as to promote public transit to and from Staples Center, while attending basketball, ice hockey, arena football, and other indoor sports that find their way into downtown Los Angeles. ExperienceLA has also brought attention to sporting events at the Home Depot Center in Carson such as MLS soccer, the U.S. men's and women's national team visits, the X Games, and even lacrosse. The recent signing of David Beckham to the Galaxy will have a major impact on the sports culture in LA, both in the short term and the long term. And I predict that David Beckham will most likely be appearing in a Galaxy uniform before the promised August 2007 date, as he is not even sitting on the bench at Real Madrid, as he is watching from the stands. The man wants to play soccer, and not be a spectator at Real Madrid.

Yes, David Beckham and his Spice Girl wife, Victoria Beckham, will be the hot Hollywood couple, but the attention of the soccer world on LA is going to take the sport to an even higher spectator and participation level, but more profoundly, on another generation of youth players. Starting at the lowest levels of recreational youth soccer, you will see a major surge in sign-ups this Fall, similar to what happened with the surge in young girls signing up for soccer with the rise of Mia Hamm and the US women's soccer team. But the difference is going to be is that there is already a huge number of youth playing recreational and club level soccer, along with all of the activity within the various ethnic leagues. Local governments throughout Southern California are already dealing with not enough active recreational space, and the enormous demand for soccer fields. Thus, one long-term outcome of the David Beckham signing will be to help increase the amount of recreational park space dedicated to soccer. The demand from youth and adults is already great, and it is just going to increase. Demand will increase supply, as State and local recreational grant funds are leveraged to produce more and better soccer fields over the next decade.

As a result of David Beckham, all Galaxy games will be sold out, including the grassy knoll. Thus, parking is going to be an issue, and I am sure we will see various measures put in place that were used for the Women's World Cup and other high profile events at the Home Depot Center. Cal State University Dominquez Hills can't accomodate all of the parking required for a sold-out event. Thus, we have seen shuttles used from the Carson Mall. However, wouldn't it be fun to have party buses departing from a central location such as Union Station after arriving on public transit using Metro? I remember the old London double-decker buses being rented when Manchester United came to the Coliseum several years ago, to bring fans in from Pasadena to the Coliseum. At the news conference, the Galaxy mentioned that Chelsea would be coming to HDC sometime in the future. That will be the really hot ticket for the soccer community. David Beckham versus some of his former English team national mates such as Frank Lampard along with Chelsea's international cast of elite players. I am a big soccer fan, and I thank AEG for making all of this possible. And the picture above is me and my daughter on opening day of the Galaxy at HDC in June 2003. Getting a ticket to the first Galaxy game with David Beckham will be a cherished memory for the lucky 27,000 who will be there.