Like a scene from "Almost Famous"
Note: October 14, 2004 - for some reason my ENTIRE Coachella picture archive got destroyed. I'm in the process of correcting the problem, but I don't think I'll have the pictures back up until November. God speed I guess, close your eyes and IMAGINE.
Alright, so I'm back from Coachella. I took over four hundred pictures, fourteen movies, and looking back at everything on media, I'm still in complete shock over the events that have occurred the last week. For most, Coachella was a two day event. My Coachella on-the-other hand extended all day and all night.
Before I go on, I owe a huge thank-you to Sarah Lewitinn for going out of her way for me. All the people at Spin magazine are rad but Sarah darling, you've treated me so well the last year.
So Indio California was fucking hot but suffering the heat, I was still able to hear some great music. Every band I wanted to see on the rail (or one or two people back from the rail) I was able to see. The Cure? - Railed. The Killers? - Railed. Belle & Sebastian, Stellastarr*, Death Cab for Cutie, and the Flaming Lips? - All on the rail. I suffered; my ankles are swollen twice their normal size from dancing and standing all day, and I drank over thirty bottles of water in 48 hours to stay cool BUT getting to see some of my favorite bands this close was worth it.
Today is also MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Happy Birthday to Chris Clark
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
okay back to Coachella. Below are pictures and some write-ups. I'll write a briefer summary tomorrow, I know this is a lot to read.
- This was the night before I left to California. I knew it was be the last night I could cook myself a real meal (yes, a real meal is some Mexican tosquito crap and French fries - how sad)
- Here's what Empire Polo Field looks like before we set-up camp.
- People started arriving... booo pretty view.
- le_megn (Megan) checked my email for me on Friday. I phoned her up (she lives in California) and she was near a computer (thank the lord). Afterwards, I ran into her at Coachella and she was going to let me budge in line... that is, until I found out I was VIP and didn't need her line of hell :(((( The point of this story is, I phoned her up on Saturday to see if she wanted to PARTY and she was like, "Umm.. Hi I can't hear you. I'm near the front for Radiohead. Okay bye". She totally missed out :((( but I'm sure she had fun anyways.
- Here's one of the art exhibits at Coachella. I didn't really understand it but I'm sure if I sit down and think about it for awhile, it might click in.
- Lindsay is a girl who I met on the way to California. She's a very beautiful, smart and talented lady who looked out for me and let me use her cell-phone all weekend (it will cost her in the hundreds...oh snap) but I did end up helping her in the end (read on later). And those glasses are a joke, I put them on ONCE for that picture and then I ran away.
- stellastarr* put on a great show, even though the tent was so bloody hot. I left their set at the end looking like I just stepped off the log-ride at Disney.
- Ben Gibbard was amazing. I've never seen Death Cab for Cutie live, so I felt obligated to check their set out. I yelled, "Ben I love you" and he looked over at me and smiled... I swear there was even a wink but he might argue the sun was in his eyes.
- ...More Death Cab, oh swoon.
- Before I left to California, I received an invite for the Spin after-party. I wanted to post the whole thing before I left but I wasn't sure if that was a good idea. Anyways, this is what it looked like.
- At the Spin after-party, the 2 Many Dj's guy got hit in the arm with a wine bottle. It was intense and I felt really bad for him because he was playing an amazing set. Anyways, I didn't take many pictures from the after-party. I didn't see too many bloggers busting out their digital cams and the few people who were taking pictures, seemed to have a legit reason - mine were purely pleasure. I wasn't able to bring any of my friends into the party (they weren't on the list) but it's okay, I ended up dancing with Cara all night, a beautiful bruenette who's doing movie work with Sound Virus.
- Belle and Sebastian played a great set. It was exactly how I pictured them to be live (basically, sounding exactly like their albums). They ended their set with "Sleep the clocks around" - my personal favorite.
- I took a lot of pictures of the Killers seeing as how no less than an hour earlier, I had a chance to interview Mark the bassist (after playing phone tag with the Killers manager for two days, ps: thank you sir for giving me this xox). The interview went well seeing as how I had to borrow Lindsay (the girl who gave me her cell phone all weekend) and her recording equipment. Mark is a giant, he towered over me - much taller than I expected. I had a chance to talk to Brandon Flowers (the singer) for a few minutes and it was nice to finally meet him too. I'm going to have a Killers merch-give away contest in a few weeks (when everything settles down). If you've been living in a cave for the last few months and have no idea who this band is, go to their site (here) and download "Somebody Told Me", you won't regret it. I promise! As for the interview, I'll have something up right before the debut album, "Hot Fuss" is released.
- Wayne of the Flaming Lips descended from outer space in a giant bubble and crowd surfed. I kid you not...
- Wayne also had the crowd sing "Happy Birthday" to Beck's unborn child BUT honestly, I think he knew my birthday was coming up... so let's pretend they all sang for me :((
- The Cure... hmm. This is going to be hard to admit since I waited on the rail all night to see Robert Smith up-close but I was somewhat disappointed. The set-list wasn't as strong as I've seen from their previous shows, they were 25 minutes (? give or take a bit) late to play, and the encore left me somewhat baffled and wondering, "Is that is"? Don't get me wrong, the show still blew me away and I know I'll probably never have a chance to see the Cure again but something seemed off that night. I think if the Flaming Lips didn't drain all the energy out of the crowd before the Cure played, I wouldn't have seen so many people falling asleep or acting so indifferent towards the inspirational Cure.
- I love meeting people and being in crowds. On Sunday, I bought seven bottles of water before I headed off to the main stage (where I stood from 5pm - 12:00am). I handed out five bottles of water (water was $2 a bottle) to random people who I could see obviously needed it more than me. Everyone was so nice to one another, we were all sharing water in the front rows, talking to one-another, sharing food and snacks and passing around pre-packaged Advil’s to those who needed them. We all looked out for each other and this was really nice to see. At the end of Coachella, I snapped this picture at the top of a hill.
- Here's people who I traveled with/interacted with for most of the week.
.... I WAS THE COWBOY KID :((((
Alright, so I'm back from Coachella. I took over four hundred pictures, fourteen movies, and looking back at everything on media, I'm still in complete shock over the events that have occurred the last week. For most, Coachella was a two day event. My Coachella on-the-other hand extended all day and all night.
Before I go on, I owe a huge thank-you to Sarah Lewitinn for going out of her way for me. All the people at Spin magazine are rad but Sarah darling, you've treated me so well the last year.
So Indio California was fucking hot but suffering the heat, I was still able to hear some great music. Every band I wanted to see on the rail (or one or two people back from the rail) I was able to see. The Cure? - Railed. The Killers? - Railed. Belle & Sebastian, Stellastarr*, Death Cab for Cutie, and the Flaming Lips? - All on the rail. I suffered; my ankles are swollen twice their normal size from dancing and standing all day, and I drank over thirty bottles of water in 48 hours to stay cool BUT getting to see some of my favorite bands this close was worth it.
Today is also MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Happy Birthday to Chris Clark
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
okay back to Coachella. Below are pictures and some write-ups. I'll write a briefer summary tomorrow, I know this is a lot to read.
- This was the night before I left to California. I knew it was be the last night I could cook myself a real meal (yes, a real meal is some Mexican tosquito crap and French fries - how sad)
- Here's what Empire Polo Field looks like before we set-up camp.
- People started arriving... booo pretty view.
- le_megn (Megan) checked my email for me on Friday. I phoned her up (she lives in California) and she was near a computer (thank the lord). Afterwards, I ran into her at Coachella and she was going to let me budge in line... that is, until I found out I was VIP and didn't need her line of hell :(((( The point of this story is, I phoned her up on Saturday to see if she wanted to PARTY and she was like, "Umm.. Hi I can't hear you. I'm near the front for Radiohead. Okay bye". She totally missed out :((( but I'm sure she had fun anyways.
- Here's one of the art exhibits at Coachella. I didn't really understand it but I'm sure if I sit down and think about it for awhile, it might click in.
- Lindsay is a girl who I met on the way to California. She's a very beautiful, smart and talented lady who looked out for me and let me use her cell-phone all weekend (it will cost her in the hundreds...oh snap) but I did end up helping her in the end (read on later). And those glasses are a joke, I put them on ONCE for that picture and then I ran away.
- stellastarr* put on a great show, even though the tent was so bloody hot. I left their set at the end looking like I just stepped off the log-ride at Disney.
- Ben Gibbard was amazing. I've never seen Death Cab for Cutie live, so I felt obligated to check their set out. I yelled, "Ben I love you" and he looked over at me and smiled... I swear there was even a wink but he might argue the sun was in his eyes.
- ...More Death Cab, oh swoon.
- Before I left to California, I received an invite for the Spin after-party. I wanted to post the whole thing before I left but I wasn't sure if that was a good idea. Anyways, this is what it looked like.
- At the Spin after-party, the 2 Many Dj's guy got hit in the arm with a wine bottle. It was intense and I felt really bad for him because he was playing an amazing set. Anyways, I didn't take many pictures from the after-party. I didn't see too many bloggers busting out their digital cams and the few people who were taking pictures, seemed to have a legit reason - mine were purely pleasure. I wasn't able to bring any of my friends into the party (they weren't on the list) but it's okay, I ended up dancing with Cara all night, a beautiful bruenette who's doing movie work with Sound Virus.
- Belle and Sebastian played a great set. It was exactly how I pictured them to be live (basically, sounding exactly like their albums). They ended their set with "Sleep the clocks around" - my personal favorite.
- I took a lot of pictures of the Killers seeing as how no less than an hour earlier, I had a chance to interview Mark the bassist (after playing phone tag with the Killers manager for two days, ps: thank you sir for giving me this xox). The interview went well seeing as how I had to borrow Lindsay (the girl who gave me her cell phone all weekend) and her recording equipment. Mark is a giant, he towered over me - much taller than I expected. I had a chance to talk to Brandon Flowers (the singer) for a few minutes and it was nice to finally meet him too. I'm going to have a Killers merch-give away contest in a few weeks (when everything settles down). If you've been living in a cave for the last few months and have no idea who this band is, go to their site (here) and download "Somebody Told Me", you won't regret it. I promise! As for the interview, I'll have something up right before the debut album, "Hot Fuss" is released.
- Wayne of the Flaming Lips descended from outer space in a giant bubble and crowd surfed. I kid you not...
- Wayne also had the crowd sing "Happy Birthday" to Beck's unborn child BUT honestly, I think he knew my birthday was coming up... so let's pretend they all sang for me :((
- The Cure... hmm. This is going to be hard to admit since I waited on the rail all night to see Robert Smith up-close but I was somewhat disappointed. The set-list wasn't as strong as I've seen from their previous shows, they were 25 minutes (? give or take a bit) late to play, and the encore left me somewhat baffled and wondering, "Is that is"? Don't get me wrong, the show still blew me away and I know I'll probably never have a chance to see the Cure again but something seemed off that night. I think if the Flaming Lips didn't drain all the energy out of the crowd before the Cure played, I wouldn't have seen so many people falling asleep or acting so indifferent towards the inspirational Cure.
- I love meeting people and being in crowds. On Sunday, I bought seven bottles of water before I headed off to the main stage (where I stood from 5pm - 12:00am). I handed out five bottles of water (water was $2 a bottle) to random people who I could see obviously needed it more than me. Everyone was so nice to one another, we were all sharing water in the front rows, talking to one-another, sharing food and snacks and passing around pre-packaged Advil’s to those who needed them. We all looked out for each other and this was really nice to see. At the end of Coachella, I snapped this picture at the top of a hill.
- Here's people who I traveled with/interacted with for most of the week.
.... I WAS THE COWBOY KID :((((