Coachella 2009, day one-part one...

Friday...Friday...Friday...

Think of a monster truck rally for rock geeks...For those who have been, no further explanation is needed.
The primary thing to bear in mind is that the 'coachella experience' is extremely subjective, i.e. my coachella will most assuredly not be your coachella, or anyone else's...In reading other coverage and sharing experiences with other attendees, it basically falls under three categories:
1) damn, wasn't that cool!
2) damn, i missed that!
3) ha ha, you missed that! Everyone can fill all three categories by the time the weekend is over, and from the pudding that is my brain, i shall try to reconstruct...

The walk in is all business, the route ingrained over the years...by the end of the 2nd night, eyes will only open every 75 to 100 feet, instantly fixing location and correcting strides...but now, in the day, water bottle in hand, backup stowed in pocket, it's all business, the dusty trek towards the Promised Land.

There is nothing like the grand entrance, that first walk across the grass of the Empire Polo Grounds...it is quiet, just the humming excitement of people starting to mill about in the noonday sun. The familiar sight of the hulking unoccupied stages brings a frisson of anticipation, then the eye wanders over to the jutting art installations, some familiar, but most new, and the mind works ahead, wondering what they will look like at night, a whole world away...
It's a slow start, staying low in the heat, (which is actually the coolest in memory-mid 80's), checking out the early sets...drift by the Courteeners, (picture way above), from England, opening the main stage, past Noah & the Whale, camped out on the outdoor stage, then over to the tent to dig alt hip hop act People Under the Stairs, (picture just above), from LA... restlessness sets in, the mind momentarily seizes and panics, have we jumped the shark? Will they all be like this? Am I just jaded? Have i lost the ability to have my butt kicked? Does anything matter? Why are we here? and stuff like that...

Fortunately, the random sampling pays off, and for me, the festival begins with the first of what we shall refer to from here on out as C.M., or Coachella Moments, those specials points in time and space when you're barely paying attention to life around you, when a band seizes the moment, raises some goosebumps, and throttles your ass....

(Molotov: this picture & next)




In most cases it's expected, and a letdown when it doesn't happen...you can't will goosebumps, it just happens, and the first occurence of the festival, and certainly not the last, is the veteran Rock En Espanol act known as Molotov, who take over the stage for a righteously super.tight set of controlled chaos, dynamically reminiscent of vintage 'Rage Against The Machine' rabble rousing.
In two songs, the field in front of the outdoor stage has doubled, and the band works it's spell in the heat, crunching through a lively set. I understood not a word of it, quite frankly, but i understood it all. There is a universality about throwing your hands in the air and letting it all go that needs no translation.

The concept of dog.piling bands was the next hurdle to clear, as a mid afternoon cluster of Los Campesinos!, (picture above), the Hold Steady, and the Toxic Airborne Event all conspired to require some careful choosing.

Los Campesinos! turned in the set of the day in the Gobi tent…the seven strong group ripped through selections from their three albums at a breakneck pace, stunning the audience, then whipping them into a frenzy, climaxing with the lead singer diving into the audience, after expressing wonder that the only three year old band could possibly be on this stage…Humble to a fault, but with great pride in their unit, Los Camp won some hearts…

Initially, i plotted to split the Los Camp action with the Hold Steady, (picture left). I drifted over to the tent, and stuck for only a song. The band chugged along, but Finn apparently was pretty sick, hanging on gamely, but i pulled the plug, blew off Airborne Toxic Event completely, (both of these i'll probably live to regret...), but was rewarded with the fantastic finish of the Los Camp. set, (video below)


Then it was back to the outdoor stage to catch M. Ward, (pictured), (whose new record "Hold Time" will probably be haunting one or two year end lists). I didn't know what to expect, but he appeared with a full band from Portland, (whose name i missed in the screaming and tumult), but they more than adequately fleshed out his sometimes hermetic (in a good way) records, and made for a lively set, (the last half that i made it over for...) I took a minute to dash over & catch a bit of the Black Keys, (cut short for having seen them before, but yet another heartbreaking call).
Getting back in time for Conor Oberst, (pictured left, in hat), & the Mystic Valley Band, was the primary objective, but also getting a little more relax time on the outdoor lawn, and set up pole position for the next act, as the temps eased off and dusk stole a march. What started as another side project has grown into a life beyond Bright Eyes for Conor, as he readies a 2nd album with his new unit. The set was engaging, but not compelling, drawing off of the Mystic Valley Band material, and not seeming to connect with the crowd at large (maybe just me, but that's how it seemed)...that is, until the final number, when Oberst came to life with a riotously rocking tune that galvanized the audience and brought the field to life, and bringing down the sun for the day...
And that's where i will leave part one, as night fell...

it's alive...(coachella preamble)

...and lived to tell. Right now it's all a blur, but we will step through it piece by piece, a day at a time. Quick summation, 5th one i've been to, and while there have been better individual sets, pound for pound this was the best fest ever. Major shout.outs to Paul T & the Goldenvoice crew: your lineup agonizing paid off in spades, and lastly, not leastly: Jeff Cook & my peeps at the Best Western Date Tree Hotel for letting us be part of the family...Too much of our lives we spend wandering around like the freaks that we are, and to be accepted & embraced for our eccentricities is refreshing...go Date Tree.

Image recap: above, stage lights vs. sunset at the Outdoor Stage sunday night. Below: the Flaming Lotus Girls' installation: Serpent Mother, (at night!), and further below, at rest during the day...

Coachella Widget

for what it's worth...

Andy (The Importance of Being Andy) has addressed a topic near and dear to my heart, which i feel compelled to glom onto, (i.e. whore off of...), that being, 'what, my dear friend, is music worth to you'? What is a "reasonable" price for music, and to whom should we pay it? (My personal threshold is mostly based on directness of artist involvement...i.e. directly from the artist at an indie show, i won't even flinch about paying at or over retail, knowing where my $$$ is going...), where on I Tunes, i thought 99 cents was a nice round price point, but there subsequent price raising strategy leaves me less amused...(yes, price dropping too, but you can bet less so, considering the source).

Not to mention, how do you consume? I think i can safely say that my family accounts for everything from wax cylinders to 78's to aluminum transcription discs to 45's to 8 tracks to albums/tapes/heavily encrypted files...virtually any format you can think of...but what's your preferred method of consumption these days, since we have so many options?

I am totally biased, so i'll recuse (or is that j'accuse) myself, save for some pithy observations, which would seem to be the whole point...

I just finished reading Steve Knopper's 'Appetite For Self Destruction', which makes a far greater case for the industry killing rampant arrogance and stupidity than i ever could...

Essential companion to Chris Anderson's 'The Long Tail' in terms of analyzing the shifting paradigm, and worthy successor to Fred Goodman's 'Mansion On The Hill', or Frederic Dannen's 'Hit Men', (among others), as industry dissections.

I know have a permanent kink in my neck from the amount of times i shook my head reading this...let alone casting it aside into the fireplace screen, scaring the bejesus out of the dog...That being the literal approximation of Dorothy Parker's great gem...
(For her review of a novel by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Parker wrote "This is not a book to be cast aside lightly. It should be hurled with great force.")
Which is not to be misconstrued as a comparison, merely a sad attempt at humor.

Oh yeah, pithy observations...behold the discbox, ah sweet discbox, bringer of life. This of course, being the physical manifestation of Radiohead's great industry experiment of October 2007, 'In Rainbows'...in which the band with very little notice, dropped their new project on an unsuspecting, and very suddenly freaking out, audience. The choices were 1) pay what you wish for a download, or don't pay...since you will be underwritten wholly by the freaks, (c'est moi), who plump for option 2) the deluxe box set (which was worth all 40 pounds, thank you), or option 3) wait until Jan '08 for an actual domestic CD release. Everyone and their brother and Trent Reznor weighed in with their opinions, which can be parsed pretty easily on line...(i'm way too tired to google 'In Rainbows Pricing Debate', but that should keep your behind out of trouble for awhile), but for me it was just cool to see someone take a chance & shake things up.

If i have a format of choice now, it's anyone who puts out an LP and includes a free download code, thereby allowing me convenience and pleasure in all their forms...This is a trend i saw with a number of releases in '08, (mostly Indie & punk rock), that hopefully will continue.

That the battle is now shaping up between ITunes and Walmart for the music industry is kind of sad...much as i am an Apple devotee (or long time sufferer, take your pick).

And finally, i couldn't get out of this without mentioning the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger.thing, that if nothing else, got congressional testimony out of Billy Corgan...hee hee!
Once again, my feelings will be pretty obvious, it's just morbidly fascinating to me to see who lines up on what side...

awwwww!

One of my favoritest of collectives, that wonderful group of oddballs known as Stereolab, have seen fit to post this announcement on their site of Web:
Hiatus/Sabbatical/Pause/Intermission/Breather

Dear All,

As we recently made #51 with Emperor Tomato Ketchup in the Amazon 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of all Time we feel that our work is done for the moment.

We have had to cancel the last two shows that we were scheduled to play, apologies to all that had bought tickets, and there are no plans to record new tracks.

Duophonic are working on the release of Chemical Chords 2, we also have plans for a new Switched On and remastering of the back catalogue.

We are are all going to have a bit of a rest now after nearly 19 years and work on a few other projects.

The website will still be updated and disks released but there won't be any new Stereolab product for a while.

Cheerio
Pikey

However long they are on hiatus/sabbatical/pause/intermission/breather, they will be missed!
On the heels of all the stupendous April Fools Day shenanigans, most notably Trent Reznor wielding a sense of humor usually well hidden, and the hijinks of the one and only Sufjan Stevens, I hope this is another go, but i fear not. We wish all the best, and thank them for their grace and acheivements...

i pity the Fool...or, rockin' the breadbox...

Minutes after the April Fool's missive was posted, i was served up w/a $1500 bill for car repairs, on my hithereto impregnable Prius...bye bye warranty, we hardly knew ye...
or, d'ohhhhhhhhhhhh!

I waited in vain for his visage to crack, an eyebrow to raise...something, anything, but no, he was not joking. wah!

So i do this one from behind the wheel of a Toyota Scion, which for those of you who are not hip, is just what the subtitle implies, a rolling freakin' breadbox, which handles just like that...it seemed to randomly decide to be in 2nd or 3rd gear, depending on impending precipitation, or God. Tooling down 101, listening to the engine scream into the red as i hit 69 mph, pure joy...Only the Pixies 'Doolittle' at 42 on the comfy Pioneer sound system could put it out of my misery...

My history with rental cars is checkered...last fall i had a hideous all night party at LAX, locked out of the terminal until 6am, waiting for a flight to NY...laptop battery dies w/15 minutes to go in 'The Godfather', and Every Single Outlet is occupied by floor waxers...I do not begrudge a working man his gig, (not i!!), so i eat it and smile...and doze and fly all day, and when i arrive, the bro at the rental car desk says nothing, and i get out to the space and find a bright new Mustang waiting for me. I dashed back in to throw money, say thank you, buy him a bottle, but he had checked out for the day, good deed having been done. He could probably see it on my face...
I'm calling this Karmic payback for the previous rental escapade, involving a Chevy Malibu that was instantly and unlovingly named: 'The Flounder'. In a rare feat of double duty, it not only profanes the city of Malibu, CA, but manages to single.handedly sum up the decline of the American auto industry. (2007 model, apparently chastened executives ordered an overhaul during 2008.
Days of fishtailing around NY & Pennsylvania left me longing for the comparative rest of bouncing around a cockpit during brutal turbulence. Mysterious lights came on with no warning, and when i mentioned it to the rental folks, i was met with, 'yes, that's a problem with this model...'
Ok, and...?
Which brings us back to the Mustang...oh how i miss thee politically incorrect gas guzzling monster that you are...On a whim, (badly in need of headspace), i drove pretty much across Pennsylvania one morning, ending up at the Zippo factory out in western PA, before i turned back. Fun isn't the word for that machine, and whatever the hype is, it's twice that. This is mushrooming tangent time, lest i get completely out of control, it is worth mentioning for historical sake that upon this day, i unknowingly passed by not one, but two Sarah Palin rallies!
I was crushed when i saw CNN in a Chinese restaurant that night...of all the times to be in my little bubble...
But back to cars and stuff...just to bring it on home and tie up some loose ends...when it comes to cars, I'm certainly no Dan Neil, (whom i'd strongly advise checking out if you have any interest in the written word...he so thoroughly transcends the 'automotive writer' ghetto he's stuck in, one of the best pure writers on the paper), but I've driven in enough of These Great States to know what time it is...so there!

POSTSCRIPT:
The Prius is back, and all is well. Bless you if you make it through this screed; I feel better...

april fool's day!

Speaking of National Holidays, as we were...is there anything more quintessentially American than this holiest of days...after considering a number of mindjobbers, i will resist the urge to wreak havoc, and gently pass on this found item, thanks to the good folks @ Pitchfork...

I assume it has something to do with today that one of the free 'Discovery Downloads' is the first 'movement' of John Cage's '4.33', that seminal toe.tapper...

Nice...