Coachella / San Diego Trip

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to San Diego this year. Coachella was excellent as well.

The non-stop flight to San Diego was long and shaky. But not because of the turbulence. Let me explain. Before boarding, my dad and I were watching this wild kid run around the terminal, his parents oblivious to the noise and racket he was making. My dad joked that the little demon seed was probably gonna be seated right next to me. I laughed. Turns out, my dad was wrong. The child sat BEHIND me. This little bugger spent almost the entire six hour flight kicking and nudging my seat. What could I do? Recline my seat violently into his knees (as I do to adults)? So, the flight kinda sucked. Although I did get some reading done (DaVinci Code...yes, I know it's about time) and managed to familiarize myself with Cat Power's latest album "The Greatest" and the new Mates of State. I'm sure glad I did (more on that soon).

We landed on time and made our way over to Enterprise, who gave us a Saturn Ion that didn't even have power windows. My dad was pissed -- "piece of shit" was uttered about twenty times on the way to the hotel -- but we managed....for a day. The next day he took it back and got a Chevy Malibu. Talk about an upgrade!

The hotel was really classy, but not overly impressive. For me, a good hotel is one that is clean, has easy-to-use faucets and showers, and has good room service. This hotel had 1 out of 3. The faucets were a pain and the room service we got was absolutely terrible. The fries tasted like they had been sitting on the counter for a day and the chicken the same. But we were hungry, so we ate it.



Photos taken from hyatt.com.

On Friday I met up with Josh and my dad went to Balboa Park and the Zoo. Josh and I walked around downtown's "historic" GasLamp Quarter and ate at Henry's Pub. We reminisced, talked about Josh's trip to NH in June, and other such movie/comic/pop culture nonsense. It was nice catching up with him, as we haven't seen each other since my last trip to San Diego in July 2005.
My dad, Josh and I drove across the bay to Coronado for dinner. We ate a semi-fancy Italian restaurant called Tomaso's (or something like that). I regrettfully ordered fried calamari as an appetizer (I had to pick off the breading), but the main course -- liguini with clams -- was delicious. Dad mocked Josh and my choice of wine: White Zinfadel --- "sissy" wine he called it. In my opinion, there is no such thing has a "man's" wine. If anything, it's called BEER, and I drink that too.

Here's a picture of Josh and I on some beach in Coronado. The beaches there were incredible. Way bigger than the ones in NE.



Dad and I then retired to our rooms. The west-coast time loss had finally caught up to us.

Saturday morning we began our 2.5-hoour drive to Palm Springs, where we were staying for the Coachella festival. We took the "scenic route" as suggested by the conceriege and it was beautiful. As we traveled further away from the cityscapes of San Diego, we started seeing huge mountains covered with big boulders, Wile E. Coyote style. It was really beautiful. Then we entered into the straight-up desert. Here are some pictures.

Yeah that's right. My dad pees in the face of nature.

And here's us in Palm Springs. It was hot. With hot sun and hot women. But I didn't say that.



Ok, so enough of that. Let's get on with the Festival portion of the blog.

First off, I admit I did not make full use of the schedule. I'm sure there were more than a few bands I could have discovered had I arrived earlier, left later each day. But frankly, the days were long enough, and having my dad pick me up any later than 10pm was asking a little too much of him, especially since we were still on EST at that point.

However, I am especially pissed at the scheduling this year because on Day 2, three of my must-see bands --- yes, THREE -- were all scheduled at the exact same time: Sleater-Kinney, Bloc Party, and Stellastarr. On top of that, Mates of State's autograph signing session was scheduled for this time as well. What a bummer.

Day 1:

Start: 3:00pm
Temperature: 92 F'
Bottles of Water Consumed: 4
Bathroom Trips: 3
End: 9:45pm/10:30pm

Wolfmother, 1/2 set: Tent. Mid-size crowd. Buzzing guitars and a strong stage presence. From Australia I think. 2.5/5.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Tent. Full crowd. Fun, but not too earth-shattering (of course). Reminded me of a Belle & Sebastian show. 3/5.

Imogen Heap: Tent. Large Crowd. Cute and self-deprecating stage presence, but underwhelming because the music just isn't as good when it's not right in your ears. "Hide & Seek" almost got me there, though. 3/5.

Imogen Heap. Her hair looks like the top of a palm tree.

Sigur Ros (from afar): Main Stage. Full crowd. Sounded so good, almost hated myself for not getting closer, but had to get ready for Cat Power. 3.5/5.

Sigur Ros, from too far away.

Cat Power: Back to the Tent. Full crowd. VERY confident with her memphis band. Played "Greatest" tracks only. Very disappointing in that respect; the new album is Norah Jones-esque and a huge departure from my much loved "You Are Free." 3/5.

Cat Power, singing "Greatest" (my pic)

Cat Power (not my pic).

Misses: Franz Ferdinand. Played during Cat Power. I heard they were great. Depeche Mode.

Issues: Heat. Tall people. Crazy people. Cell phone reception. Walking out of the parking lot in the dark, not knowing where I'm going or what side of the park I'm on. Realizing I need to start running again.

Overall assessment, Day 1: 3/5.

That last pic is of me and my dad eating Burger King circa 11:00pm in our hotel.

Day 2:

Start: 1:00pm
Temperature: 95 F'
Bottles of Water Consumed: 8
Bathroom Trips: 2
End: 8:30pm

Walked into the park, headed straight for the Mates of State outdoor stage, catching most of:

Giant Drag: Outoodor Theater. Small crowd. Just a teen girl with a guitar who sings sarcastic songs and is actually really funny. Think of a young, not-so-depressed Cat Power. She was fun. 3/5.

Giant Drag. She did a clever rendition of "Wicked Game" at one point. Wish I had it.

Mates of State: Outdoor Theater. Mid-size crowd. The best of the fest so far (at that point). I got a really good view. Started off with "Fraud in the '80s", then "Goods," then "Whiner's Bio." What a great three-song opening. A lot more from the new album. But also "Ha Ha," "Everyone Needs an Editor," and a cover of Nico's "These Days." Crowd really enjoyed it. I got really into it...every single song. 4/5.

My view of Mates of State. Not bad, huh?






Then it was off to get ready for Sleater-Kinney/ Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the main stage.

Magic Numbers: Main Stage. Mid-size crowd. Completely forgettable. Not bad, though. 2/5.

Matisyahu: Main stage. Huge crowd. I really thought it was Modest Yahoo from hearing his name on the local alt-rock station. Jewish rapper. Raps about Jerusalem while looking like Fidel Castro. Also does impressive beatboxing/sound fx with his mouth. 3/5.

Sleater-Kinney: Main stage. Small crowd. That's right. SMALL CROWD. Everyone else went to see Bloc Party or Paul Oakenfold. I felt bad. They deserved the energy of a large crowd. But it meant I got good seats. There was a special gated security section in the middle of the crowd up front, and I got a spot behind that, meaning that there was nobody directly in front of me. It was great. S-K sounded good overall, but at first they were a little rusty. Setlist: "Jumpers," "What's Mine Is Yours," "Rollercoaster," "Sympathy" (Yes!), "Oh!", "The Fox," "Get Up" (not very good live), "Modern Girl," (people cheered when this one started, "a nervous breakdown, in reverse" said Carrie), "Step Aside" (best performance of the entire set...rocked hard), "Let's Call it Love/Entertain" jam session. Can't say I was blown away, but I'd see them again in a much more receptive setting. Carrie riffed on Madonna a bit. Saying she was her first concert in 1985 and that she'd probably never see her again. 3.5/5.


Me waiting for Sleater-Kinney. Dude who was nice enough to take my picture then asked for my water. Think again, stranger!


My view of Sleater-Kinney. It was better in person.


Carrie and Corin of S-K on the video screens.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Main Stage. Huge crowd (of course). Started off with "Cheated Hearts," my fave off the new album, but frankly not a strong opener. It's too light, like opening with "Maps" or something. Then "Black Tonque," then two new tracks, then "Pin," then "Gold Lion," then "Phenomena" (another good one off the new album), then "Turn Into," then "Art Star," when she gave a "look ma, no-hands!" blowjob to the mic. Then it was "Maps," then "Warrior," and then they closed off with "Y Control." They were really really fucking good. Coachella was their largest crowd ever, and then really handled it well. Karen O, while as a performer is overrated, has still got that something that all rock stars have. And I love their sound. 4.5/5.


My view of YYY's.


Karen O, looking like a deranged tranvestite clown.


Nick Zinner of YYY's.

Misses: Bloc Party, Stellastarr (second time; missed them two years ago as well), The Dears, Coheed & Cambria, The Go! Team, Scissor Sisters, Tool.

Issues: Schedule. Heat. Sunburn. Sweat. No one to take my picture.

Overall assessment, Day 2: 4/5.

More when I'm awake and not at work...