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ML EXCLUSIVE! rides everywhere. "Before I would complain to drive my car to West Hollywood from my house, it would take 20 minutes or so. It's 20 minutes by bike as well. And a lot of places you get to faster by bike. After this I'm going to ride downtown and then I'm going to go up to my fella's house in east L.A. and then I'll ride back to Hollywood tomorrow. It's like when you first get a car as a teenager or you first get a bike," she explains, her face all lit up. An added benefit, Erika mentions, is that she can eat whatever she wants because of cycling, which is evident as she is quite fit and slender. Clearly, passion is not something Erika has a lack of. All of her interests she speaks of enthusiastically and expressively, especially her love of music and singing. If she wasn't an actress, Erika would most likely pursue music. "What I've said before is that I haven't figured out what my own style is…" says the chanteuse in regard to cutting her own music album. "I don't want to be led into doing something and have it not be really me." Last year she tested the waters and recorded a song she was inspired to write. But don't count on that song, with its "Billie Holiday-ish, swingy- jazzy-flirty-feel," to be heard by an audience —she was just experimenting. "The lyrics are a little risqué, probably not risqué compared to what's on the radio, but for me to put out there, it's a little much." For the time being, Erika is focusing her creative energy on her current craft. The deep-seated need to pursue music on a professional level is not tugging at her the way acting does, she's just happy to have music be a part of her life artistically. "My dad plays piano, so when I'm at my parent's house, they live in L.A. too, I'm like 'Dad, lets do a sing-a-long!' Play and sing. And I'm telling all my musician friends, 'Jam session. Come on!'" She animatedly gets into how her friend Travis Warner has a music project called "Cover Nights," which is sort of a "game" that involves a group of people writing down the names of songs, pulling one out of a hat and recording the impromptu performance of it. "Nobody really rehearses, we just record it. Like, 'Ok, you play guitar. You play bass. And they are musicians, so they can do that. So I sang on a recording that I think will be on iTunes soon. It's a mash-up of that Prince song, "Controversy" and the Spoon song, "Turn My Camera On." I turn my camera on, I cut my fingers on the way...." she sings. Erika is in her element when among friends —easily presumed by her exuberant delivery when speaking of them— and a gathering of them is certainly in order with her 29th birthday coming up August 19th. Last year's festivities included a dinner party at Top Chef winner Ilan Hall's restaurant, The Gorbals, in downtown L.A, where there was a whole roasted pig, live music, and dancing. To further celebrate, she hosted a brunch at her house with about 30 people in attendance. "It was really cool. I cooked, made fish tacos, carnitas made from the leftover pork, tons of fruits and vegetables that my mom juiced… It's really fun just to have people kind of experience the exact fun that I wanted," says Erika. As for her upcoming fête, she's thinking of doing something along the same lines and is entertaining the idea of weaving her newfound hobby into it. "Maybe choose somewhere and have all my riding buddies ride with me to go there and all my non-riding buddies drive and meet us there," she says with a laugh. And hopefully, at the birthday girl's request, a game of running charades will ensue. What's a party without games? As lively and fun-loving as Erika is, there's sure to be much merriment. ML 60 MIAMI LIVING Photo credit: Art Streiber