Two down, one more to go. Saturday was a lot hotter and many more fans poured onto the polo fields. I finally saw the Speedo guys that I see each year, and I finally saw the purple one. Prince was amazing, and I am sure he'd tell you that himself. He started the longest set in Coachella history (I'm making that up, I don' really know -- but it ended at 1 a.m., way past the midnight noise ordinance.) with "You are at the coolest place on Earth tonight." I'll have to write more about his set, but I just need to add that he covered Radiohead's "Creep" and transformed a self-loathing loser anthem from "I" to "You" with lyrics like "I wish you were special." and "You're a creep, you're a weirdo."
It was also the night of special guests -- Mark Ronson delivered with Tim Burgess from the Charlatans, Kenna, as well as the lead singers of the Klaxons, Kaiser Chiefs and Kelly Osborne - where has she been? Other special guests were unknown to me, but they were great little surprises that made for an outstanding set. Kelly and I were right up front, so I captured lots of video I'll share soon.
Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the weekend with temps in the low 100s. It just adds to the amazing adventure that is Coachella. I need to soak up as much as I can today because the real world is calling, and I need to return soon.
Friday was amazing. In typical Coachella fashion, there were the bands that overwhelmingly delivered on the hype I placed on them and those that delighted and surprised me. Friday was a constant rush between stages. Today should be a bit more laid back, maybe. I'm looking forward to getting a closer look at the art and some of the cool Coachella lagniappe you just happen to stumble upon.
I'm the only one awake and looking out the window onto the mountains and blue sky, I want to scream with antici ....... pation! It's going to be a hot day, but still 10 degrees cooler than last year. So I'm packing the SPF 30, have lots of $$$ for water and have my Blackberry because I am Twittering from the desert right on up to URB.com.
LA Weekly's music blog takes a quasi-scientific look at the numbers that are Coachella 2008. Goldenvoice will never win awards for gender equality on the main stage, but in all fairness, some of the best shows I've seen at Coachella were full of estrogen -- Sleater-Kinney, Tegan & Sara, Cat Power, Regina Spektor, Metric, and so on. I missed Imogen Heap, but her set wowed James enough to encourage us to catch her at The Social about a month later -- and she was amazing.
Check out the article for more pie charts and graphs about everything from YouTube hits to ethnicity. I applaud LA Weekly for at least trying to cover the show from a completely different angle.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - Sean Penn and his wife, Robin Wright Penn, have withdrawn their divorce petition.
A Marin County Superior Court commissioner has dismissed the divorce proceedings between the couple, who call the community of Ross, Calif., their home.
Neither attended Tuesday's hearing, and no comment has been released on the latest development.
The dismissal came a day after they attended an Eddie Vedder concert at the University of California at Berkeley, where the actor reportedly went on stage to dedicate a song to Wright Penn.
Music, as defined in one of the coolest tattoos I‘ve seen, is the "sounds used to symbolically recreate human biological rhythm."
I love thinking about that definition because it reminds me of that feeling you get when you hear a song that truly moves you. You’re transported, you fill with this indescribable feeling of completeness. I assume that it’s the same feeling the religious experience at church. Everything makes sense, if only for the moment.
This weekend, I was lucky enough to catch two documentaries during the Florida Film Fest about the power of music to help people heal, find their inner strength, bridge the gaps that isolate us and enjoy life to the fullest.
Young@Heart will probably be the best film I see all year, or at least the most genuinely moving and the funniest. The British documentary follows the seven weeks preceding the Young@Heart chorus’ May 2006 performance of “Alive and Well.” The average age of chorus members is 80, but you’d never know that from the vivaciousness of its stars.
Eileen, a feisty 92-year-old British woman, opens the film with her solo performance of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” It’s a perfect scene, and it sets the tone for the whole show.
In rehearsals, Bob, who leads the chorus, attempts to teach the group songs from The Talking Heads, Sonic Youth and Allen Toussaint. It’s hilarious. And it’s also extremely heartfelt. The chorus members invite the film crew into their lives. We meet their families, see them at home and learn how many of them have survived illnesses that brought them close to death. But then, they’re old and fully aware that they’re living close to death every day.
These people live to sing and perform. In fact, I think it keeps some of them alive. There’s a lot I wish I could say about the film, but I firmly believe it’s best to know as little as possible about a movie before you see it. I will say that I won’t listen to Coldplay’s “Fix You” the same again, and I’m better for it.
On the other side of the age spectrum, there’s Girls Rock!, a documentary about the Portland girls camp that invites 8 to 18-year-olds to learn an instrument, join a band and perform in front of 700 people – all in one week.
Similar to Young@Heart, Girls Rock! introduces the audience to people who are fans of music but are ultimately unaware of the life-affirming impact it will play in their lives. These are young girls of course, and as the filmmaker points out, they are battling the media images of Britney and other scantily clad video vixens who make it nearly impossible to feel significant or even just good enough.
The camp counselors, who seem like some of the coolest girls you’d want to meet, help the girls find their voices, literally. I completely related to one of the admin ladies who said girls are always apologizing for their opinions and the space they take up – something our male counterparts do not. So the campers are encouraged to scream into microphones, talk through the problems they’re having with their new bandmates and … well … rock.
There are so many moments in both of these films that are hilarious because they capture the genuine innocence and honesty only kids and elderly folks allow you to see. Music saved me as a young girl, and I think it's going to keep me alive as part of the AARP crowd, too.
Mike was telling me about this site PeopleFallingDown.blogspot.com. Although it hasn't been updated in a couple of years, these videos -- at least those that are still live -- are timeless. This one is my favorite -- I laughed through the whole thing.
Trying to get on to ticketmaster.com this morning was like trying to get from one side of the Magic Kingdom to the other during SpectroMagic!
I was trying to purchase tickets to see Nada Surf at The Social, which is crazy exciting, of course. And I'm sure it's going to sell out, so I was trying to be good and get mine as early as possible, so as to avoid the disappointment I suffer from missing Iron & Wine this summer.
The site must have been on the screens of about a gazillion computers at the same time because I could get through all the screens up to the one where I actually make the purchase. My computer kept timing out because "the server stopped responding." So, I do what any concert kid would do, I pick up my phone and try to get the tix old-school style. After lots of busy signals, I get in and purchase three tix. Because I'm an emo soul, and I worry that my friends might miss out on the show, I decide to get 3 tickets.
I relax, play some online solitaire, and I check my e-mail. Holy cranberries! There's an e-mail from Ticketmaster confirming my online order for 2 tickets. Seriously? Seriously, this is 21st century technology?
So, um, I'm a real "Happy Kid," with 4 more tix than I actually need for the show. Any takers? You Coachies get first dibs, of course!
