The Epic After Party 2014: Machel Montano Takes Over Xen Lounge After Hollywood Carnival
Hollywood Carnival weekend had already delivered Soca in Hollywood and a full day of mas on Hollywood Boulevard, but the celebration was not finished.
On Monday, June 23, 2014, the Hollywood Carnival Crew brought the weekend to Xen Lounge in Studio City, California for The Epic After Party, a final night featuring Machel Montano, Jillionaire of Major Lazer and London Future.
The event was hosted by Anya Ayoung-Chee and Director X, with music by DJ Stephen and Sub Tropic. The party ran from 9:00 PM until 2:00 AM at Xen Lounge, 10628 Ventura Boulevard.
Julianspromos continued its Los Angeles coverage inside the venue, with Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson handling the on-camera coverage while Julian C. Hackett shot and edited the footage.
The Epic After Party at Xen Lounge in Studio City on Monday, June 23, 2014.
Uploaded: June 29, 2014
The Julianspromos footage preserves an extended look at Machel performing inside Xen Lounge as Hollywood Carnival weekend came to a close.
The performance included music from different stages of his Soca catalogue, giving the Los Angeles crowd another taste of the sound that had dominated Carnival stages and roads across the Caribbean and diaspora.
The Epic After Party Photo Gallery
Inside Xen Lounge, the Carnival weekend continued with a much more intimate atmosphere as artists, DJs, hosts and supporters gathered for one final night.
The photographs from The Epic After Party capture moments from inside the venue, including the crowd, performances and personalities who helped close out Hollywood Carnival weekend.
Jillionaire & London Future Join the Night
The Epic After Party also reflected how widely Caribbean music was beginning to travel across different genres and audiences.
Jillionaire, then part of Major Lazer, and London Future were advertised alongside Machel as special guest appearances for the night.
Their inclusion helped connect Soca and Carnival culture with the broader electronic and international music scenes developing around Caribbean sounds during the period.
Los Angeles was a fitting place for those worlds to meet.
Anya Ayoung-Chee & Director X Host the Night
The event was hosted by Anya Ayoung-Chee and Director X.
Anya brought a direct connection to Trinidad and Carnival through her work as a designer and former Miss Trinidad and Tobago, while Director X was already widely known for directing music videos for major international artists.
Together, their presence added fashion, film and entertainment culture to a night already centered around Soca and Carnival.
Machel Montano and Vivaa
The night also produced one of the standout interview moments from Julianspromos' first Hollywood Carnival trip.
Away from the stage, Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson sat down with Machel Montano at Xen Lounge for a Julianspromos interview.
The conversation gave viewers a different side of the weekend.
After seeing Machel on stage and around the Carnival festivities, audiences could now hear directly from him in a more relaxed setting.
Watch Machel Montano With Vivaa in Hollywood
The interview and performance came from the same June 23 night at Xen Lounge, giving Julianspromos two very different pieces of media from the event.
One captured Machel as a performer.
The other captured the conversation behind the artist.
The Final Chapter of Hollywood Carnival Weekend
By the end of Monday night, Julianspromos had documented several sides of the Hollywood Carnival experience.
There had been the Friday-night fete atmosphere of Pure Happiness.
There had been Saturday's Carnival road experience with Epic Mas.
And now there was a Monday-night after-party where one of Soca's biggest artists performed only a few feet away from the crowd.
The three events together showed how Carnival weekend extended well beyond the parade itself.
Hollywood Carnival was becoming a full destination experience — parties, mas, artists, DJs, personalities and Caribbean communities all moving through Los Angeles over several days.
From the Julianspromos Archives
The Epic After Party completed Julianspromos' first Hollywood Carnival assignment.
The Los Angeles trip had begun with Friday-night coverage of Machel Montano and Lyrikal at Pure Happiness.
Saturday moved the cameras onto Hollywood Boulevard with Epic Mas and Extacy Mas, producing road footage and a substantial collection of original photography.
Monday brought the weekend to Xen Lounge, where Julianspromos captured both an extended Machel Montano performance and a separate interview between Machel and Vivaa.
Throughout the trip, Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson handled the on-camera coverage while Julian C. Hackett shot and edited the footage.
Together, the three events created a much more complete record of Hollywood Carnival weekend than a single highlights video could have provided.
They captured the fete.
They captured the road.
And they captured what happened after Carnival.
Hollywood 2014 became the beginning of a West Coast chapter that Julianspromos would continue documenting in the years that followed.
Continue Hollywood Carnival 2014
Start the weekend: Pure Happiness — Friday, June 20, 2014
https://julianspromos.com/archives/pure-happiness-hollywood-2014-machel-montano-lyrikal
Carnival Day: Hollywood Carnival With Epic Mas — Saturday, June 21, 2014
https://julianspromos.com/archives/2014-hollywood-carnival-highlights
