SEMA 2006: Night 3, C16 Party at Tao. If you missed this party, YOUR bad. Serious, you really missed out, kid!

Okay once me and the boys got back to the hotel from SEMA, we had dinner with my boy Kelvin Tohar from Falken, and some of his non-industry friends. Man those guys were cool, and they weren't even into cars really. It's weird, when we had dinner I noticed that almost all of my friends are into cars, or work in the car industry, or are somehow connected to it.






After getting ready, me and Char took the elevator downstairs where Tobs and the rest of the crew were waiting. We were trying to take a "Myspace pic" in the elevator, but then the doors opened and there were a bunch of people looking at us. haha we got moded.

Wait... is it "moded?" or "molded?" Dude I dunno. But we used to say that as kids. haha






My boy Nick and his wife Selina were downstairs, waiting for our other friends cause they wanted to go to the Dub Party to see Nas in concert.

If you guys don't know about Nick, he is one of the key elements in the success of Falken Tire Company in the past few years. Since Falken hired Nick and a whole crew of young people in the scene, they got involved in many things EARLY like drifting and vip style, while all the other companies were left scratching their heads trying to figure it out. For more on Nick, check out the current issue of DAYTONA MAGAZINE (Japanese) at Kinokuniya Bookstores, just google it. I shot a lifestyle feature on Nick, you can check it out in the magazine.

Man that's crazy tho. Dub really came through, they brought Nas and Ghostface and some other people out to do a show at SEMA. And it was free as long as you had a pass to the party. That's so dope. But I missed it, and went to the C16 Party instead. Nas is one of my favorite lyricists, but if Nas saw what was going on at the C16 Party, I'm sure he would have rather gone to C16 too.

So anyways Tobin rounded up the troops cause we had a party bus waiting outside! It was pretty bad ass, it was like a strip club in there, it even had a bar and stripper poles and stuff. Our bus driver was one of Tobin's friends, Porno Joe. Cool name huh! I asked Joe about it, and he said he's filmed porn flicks in his bus! Damn that's craaazy!






Here's some of our group... unfortunately I couldn't take a photo of everyone at once cause the bus was big. (L-R) Char, Amy, Reiko, Scott, and Tobin. We're all very good friends.






Go ahead and right click to save this, I know alot of you guys will have this as your desktop backgrounds for a minute. Just don't let ya girlfriends find out! haha

Here's another part of our crew... (L-R) Eri, Melanie, Elizabeth, Lily, Claudia, and Joyce. Dude we didn't even need to go to C16, this bus was already off the hook.






The band of brothers. Here's the sad section of the bus. There were so many girls there, these guys could have easily been the meat in the middle of a model sandwich, but they decided they would rather sit amongst a few good men. Well Robert (left) has a girlfriend, but Edo and Arnell? No excuse.






See, this is how you mix it up. Now that's a party!

Speaking of party, the C16 Party was seriously ridiculous off the hook. C16 always throws the best parties because the parent company, Overamerica Media, also owns a lifestyle magazine, a DJ magazine, and a record label. So no shit, they know how to throw a party. They had so many hot almost naked chicks all over the place, giving each other massages and stuff. Seriously, big ups C16.

We had a pretty big group with us, so it was hard getting everyone in, but me and Tobs coordinated it, and waited outside to make sure our whole crew got in. Clubs only let like 3-4 people in at a time usually, so we had to break it up cause we had like 20-30 people coming in with us.

We even had peeps trying to jump into our line that we didn't even know... so we had to cut em off. The best part was when some guy said "Hey man, can I'm come in with you guys? I'm ____ from _____ Shop..." and Tobin was like "What?! No, I'm sorry dude I don't even know you!" I guess people just don't wanna wait in line.






We got to the bar upstairs and surprise surprise, we ran into John and Dave from Speed Machine in San Diego. Speed Machine specializes in building RX7s and rotary engines, but John has a pretty good offset AE86, so obviously I think he's cool. Plus he was rocking the new "86LIFE" shirt to the club, which was pretty dope. See? Cipher Garage clothing makes you look fresh whether you're on or off the track.

It's no surprise that Gangsta Dave has a chick in on hand, and a drink in the other- when does this guy NOT have a drink or a cigarette in his hand?

Aside from totally wasting some chump on national television with his last minute built FC3S RX7 in an episode of Pinks (Speed Channel), Dave's other claim to fame is his infamous shirt which always gets him attention at the airport- "My drinking team has a racing problem."






I ran into my boy Mike Schneider, from Lookout Drift in VA. I know it sounds nerdy, but we used to email each other on this "Toyota Mods" emailing list way back in like 2000 or before that. (See? Told you it sounds nerdy. But anyway the Toymods list was a way for people to share their knowledge on the subject of modifying Toyotas, so we were both on it. And anyway this trip to SEMA was the first time we ever met. He has an AE86 and he's good at drifting too. Props to the Lookout Drift crew!






There were alot of half naked girls scattered throughout the party, giving each other massages. I tried to take a photo, but this C-blocker stuck his hand up and ruined the range of my flash. Idiot.






This is my boy Tony Brakohiapa. He is a driving instructor at Jim Russell Racing School at Infineon Raceway (Sonoma CA), where Formula D happens. He is super cool, and a skilled driver. He is getting his start into the Formula D series, but as for me, I wanna go to the Russell Racing School so Tony can teach me how to drive "grip" faster!






This is my boy Scott Herrick, "Ender-DI" from Club4AG... he has an addiction to both AE and TE series Corollas, just like someone else I know. He has an AE86 and a TE38 (is that the right chassis code?) wagon.






Let me introduce you to the evil genius minds behind the C16 Magazine and Daytona Magazine! (Numbered, L-R)

1) STEVE LEVY - Owner of C16 Magazine, Over America and Moonshine Music record label
2) KENTA OGAWARA - Owner of Tokyo Drive Productions (behind the bottle, and also behind the recent rise in popularity of Japan's largest magazine based on American lifestyle and car culture- Daytona Magazine)
3) ANTONIO SURESHOT - Owner of Cipher Media Group (I produce cover photos, content, and features for both magazines, and the others in the group do design and layout work for magazine ads, catalogs, and other marketing materials)
4) "KAGE" - The new Editor in Chief of DAYTONA MAGAZINE, who chose to work with me and Kenta produce content and shoot photos for Daytona in the USA.

Kage says that the first time he ran Kenta's stories and my photography in an issue of Daytona, it resulted in an immediate 30% increase in Daytona's news stand sales, which continues to rise steadily. The Daytona management was tripping! They couldn't believe it (either could me and Kenta) so Kage decided to do a "reader poll" to find out what it was that the readers liked in the magazine.

The #1 column that the overall readers liked were by this huge comedian in Japan (he's like the Japanese equivalent to Jay Leno, with a syndicated comedy/talk show every day on Japanese TV, and a huge car collection just like Leno)...

And Kage said the #2 column in Daytona was the section which contained content written by Kenta Ogawara, and photography by Antonio Alvendia. What a trip, that's soooo cool. Needless to say, Kage has us laced up into each issue of Daytona now- and he has Kenta writing 30+ pages of the magazine for each issue. (that's alot) The long haired Japanese guy must be a pretty damn good writer, cause since Daytona has so much clout in Japan, they could have chosen anyone, but they chose him.

On the other hand, the increase in newsstand sales and reader interest also resulted in increased interest from advertisers, for example, a large tire company from Japan, which also has a pretty big office in Southern California... even though I can't really name names. Pick up a Daytona, and you'll figure it out.

Good job Daytona. And good choice investing in PEOPLE. Because that's what makes a magazine successful. GOOD PEOPLE.

There are alot of people who can write articles or take photos, but Kenta and I specifically are laced pretty deep into the scene in both the USA and Japan. That's how we come up with cutting edge content and photos. Food for thought.






This is me and my boy Mark Arcenal. Mark is an award winning designer from San Francisco, and he works with several of the top companies in the industry. He even designed the cover of my book, DRIFTING.

Oh man, just wait until you see what we got in store for you next year. Me and Mark are gonna collaborate on a project together. I dunno what it is about creative Filipinos from the Bay Area, but they just tend to make shit hot.






This is me, Mark, and his wife Cindy.






This is Claudia, she's cute right? Hit her up, she works for Falken.






One of my favorite gangsters to chill with, my girl Joyce. She is hella cool.






The Chen family (Dominic and Kent, pictured in the middle) likes to surround itself with Filipinos who are good at creating stuff and designing stuff and marketing stuff. So that's why we took this photo, it's like... symbolic.

Haha but for real, Dom and Kent run Endless USA and AME Wheels in the USA. Super dope stuff for big ballers, but it's worth it. Shallen LX Diamond cut finish with polished lip, 19x10 is the SHIT. Ya heard me Kent!!! LOL

The other flip in the pic is John Pangalinanananananananananan. He made Speedwell Shoes popular right before they pulled the plug on the project. Dammit. I love my pair of Speedwells, the comfiest race shoes I've ever owned. Good lookin out JP Smoothe.






Here's DJ Steve Aoki, Kid Millionaire, with MC CB-One aka Ray David, Filipino Thousandaire. Steve Aoki's nickname comes from the fact that his pops owns the Benihana Japanese restaurants, and his sister is Devon Aoki, the chick from Fast & Furious 2. His pops also sponsors Tarzan Yamada's Benihana Viper, because he is best friends with the owner of the Viper's JGTC team. Man I bet you didn't know that, kids.

I dont know WTF is up with Steve Aoki in this pic, but he looks like a scared bunny caught in someone's headlights. Pretty strange looking dude. With one glove, fingerless. Serious. Well, we can't see where Ray's right hand is, in this picture. Maybe that's why Aoki has that expression on his face. LOL






I took this pic of Reiko, Amy, and Liz as we were dancing out on the floor.







As I took this pic, Joyce is saying "Hiiiiiiiiii" and Arnell's face is saying "daaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmnnnnnn! Joyce is poppin yo!" LOL!!! Seriously, I just laughed out loud right now. Fuckinarnell. You the man.






Tobs took my camera to take a pic of this guy. At first, I thought it was Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, then someone told me it was Travis Barker from Blink 182. I talked to my boy Ray David, and he confirmed that it was Joel from Good Charlotte.

Dude I don't know, I'm sorry. I'm a straight up hip hop head. Joel Madden, Steve Madden, Travis Barker, Bob Barker, Tony Angelo, dude I don't know. To be honest, these white rocker band guys kind of look similar to me cause I don't pay attention to rock bands much. I'm sorry LOL. But I do know the difference between Guru, DJ Premier, Q-tip, De la Soul, Mos Def and everyone else who matters to my musical taste.

But why does homeboy look like he's blowing a kiss to Tobin? I guess not only women find Tobin attractive. Scary.






Dancing with Melanie Tillbrook and Eri Moriyama is always a good idea. Of course they're super hot, but what's even better about them is they're both super down to earth, motivated, hard working, and have awesome personalities. Seriously, I think the world of these two. I mean it.

And Kage right here is saying "kampaiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!" Meaning, put the camera down, and DRINK.






Finally my friends from Minnesota show up, they had to wait in a stupid long line. Sorry bout that guys, but you came so late. These guys work at MBI, which is the publishing house that did my book on DRIFTING. Jim (left) is a super cool, ex rock band guy who toured the world with his band at one point, and he also is a pretty damn good competitive motorcycle rider. I wonder if Jim got those shirts on Haight and Ashbury at a Grateful Dead gathering.

Darrick Anderson, in the white shirt, is pointing at Jim's shirt, thinking "did you see Jim's shirt? He's dressed like a leopard!" while Darwin is standing back, wanting nothing to do with this band of nitwits. haha! All these guys are so cool, I'm glad I met them all. Especially Jim. He is hilarious to party with. We once went to Scores in Chicago, and... (I probably should stop here)






Good shit Scott! Dancing with Elizabeth is always a good idea. Yall match too.






In the middle of the club, there were some chicks chillin in a bathtub filled with rose petals, and they were massaging each other and stuff. I like their outfits. Always a good idea!






Good lookin out C16 Magazine! We weren't supposed to take any photos here, so of course, I shot pics with my little pocket camera I was downlow status until the flash popped off! haha






I'm sayin. Fresh outfits!






This is my boy JP Smoothe, rocking his fly ID shirt. He was faded I think, so he might not remember this pic, but now it's posted on the internet man! So gangster, this guy.






Right as we were leaving, I ran into my girl Thai!!! I lovvvvvvve her! She has the best personality, I'm serious. So sweet. Kage from Daytona was drunk as you can tell, he was jumping into all the photos! haha






Seriously, what's not to like about Thai. Looks are one thing, but this girl is the type of chick you could just chill with and do nothing, and you guys would still have a good time. Good company, for real.






It was pretty hard to assemble our group, cause we were all over the place in the club, but we had to take off sooner or later, even though we all had a ton of fun at the party! Here's some of the girls stumbling out of the club. haha!

The crazy thing was, as we were walking through the casino, our group was attracting so much attention, all the old white guys at the tables and slot machines, were sneaking peeks so their wives wouldn't notice, and even some guys busted out their cameras and took pics! Haha Crazy!






Here's Luscious Liz, Faaaaaded Char, Lily Wrong, and Joyce Boogie all having a good time after the club.

See my boy Scott in the back? He is hilarious. We all chill together all the time, and our boys Jay and Tobin gave him a Schikane/Sears/Falken collabo t-shirt, which looks super fresh BTW. Anyways Scott was just rocking the shirt cause we were all kickin it in Vegas, and since my friends and I all have our own clothing lines, we all rock each other's shirts.

Well Scott didn't even think anything of it, but he wore his Schikane/Sears/FALKEN shirt to a KUMHO company dinner, and the Koreans were all like WTF?! LOL What a dumbass, Scott! He had to change his shirt, and down 5 bottles of soju and 3 containers of kimchi to make it up to the company. Good job there Toshima. Eeeeeeeediot! LOL That move will get you an "Employee of the Month" parking spot real soon.






I'm tellin you, we roll with the hottest mamas! Not mamas as in Milfs, but mamas as in hot chicks. (L-R) Reiko, Elizabeth, Eri, Melanie, Lily, Joyce, Claudia, Char, and Amy. Hot like fire!






Aight so we were all waiting outside the Venetian on this bench, waiting for the party bus to pick us up (Good lookin out TOBIN for setting that up bro, that was the best idea you had all week!) and then peeps just started taking pictures... right here is Arnell, Robert, Liz, Eri, Mel, Joyce, and me.






So Tobs jumps in and started saying something, it was pretty funny... and everyone started taking pics...






And then some random people we didn't even know started jumping in the photo to take pics as they were passing by!!! We didn't notice at first, but then the girls were like, "wait... who the fuck was that?!" hahaha what an ass, this guy! haha






Aight! We got scooped up by Porno Joe and the party bus! Oh yeah, and nice legs, Lily.






Joyce is hella funny! We always chill in different states when we're flyin out to events! This girl's a jet setter, straight up. Always flyin out somewhere. Miami, ATL, Tokyo, Hong Kong, NYC, Vancouver, Hawaii, you name it. Funny thing is, we've chilled together in most of those places. Just dont get her mad, cause she WILL bust a cap in your ass. She has a rifle in her bedroom, chillin out next to the bed. I've seen it. She's crazy.






Gangster Dave and some of his crew from Speed Machine in SD rolled back to the Paris with us... unfortunately we had to regulate on some of the others who were trying to get into the bus, cause we had limited space, and couldn't let all our friends on the bus. We had to prepay the cost of the bus, so sorry guys, hope yall understand.

But yeah Edo wanted to take a pic, but then Gangsta Dave stuck his arm in there to grab something. And I have no idea where Melanie is headed, but it looks fun to me! haha

I would have even more pics from our night, but my camera's battery died. =(

Hey does anyone wanna teach me how to post video links on here? Cause I have a video of the party but don't know how to post it.