05/02/07
The sun sets high in the sky. Softly lit, behind the San Jacinto mountains, I sit by the pool of the Caliente Tropics. It's wednesday, some three days after the 2007 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. The last of weekend cohorts leaves tommorow. I cant help but feel that it's all come and gone so fast, just as it has the past two years. This was my third time coming here for this, and once again, with no regret in sight, it has been a different experience; not better, not worse, just not the same. But that's not to say it wasn't amazing, because it was, and it is, and probably will continue to be, my favourite time of the year.
04/26/07
Can't eat breakfast, too excited.
The airport is seemingly chock full of people headed to Coachella, speaking strictly in comparison to the previous two years. A few familiar faces. Once we're all through customs we talk (i've come to realize that this is just to make sure that you're all going the same place...even though you can immediately tell). Coachella, music, bands, shows...it's all that's on anyone's minds. BRMC is on my ipod all the way down.
A familiar face, his friend and three unknowns are who I split a cab with from the airport. We tell the cabbie we're headed to empire polo field but on the way there we want to stop at a wal-mart or something (beer, cooler, ice, water, snacks). He takes us to a "76", which is basically a 7-11. We make the best of it (beer, a few bottles of water, some chips and beef jerky). Me, the familiar (John) and his friend (Drew) stay together and part ways with the unkowns when we get to the field. We sneak the beer over the fence and set up camp. General store has no ice. Beer is on hold (maybe for the best). We join the "seriously dude, no pro's, we're fucking amateur's" hacky sack "league", and prove that we're seriously fucking amateur's. We realize that we've unknowingly set up camp in camp canada (section c, interestingly enough) and meet some calgarians. A bit later, the Olympia, WA championship pot smoking (what are we even talking about?) team shows up, after an apparently long, pot-filled/fueled drive. The ice has arrived. Beergin drinking. Olympia wasn't lying, they just lit three joints. Beer/pot bartering begins. What a night.
04/27/07
Wake up at 8. Head hurts. So hot. Breakfast burrito needs more salsa. Remember not to drink the water in the toothbrush water bottle. Five hours of baking in the sun before we go in.
2:30-3:10: Noisette's. Sound is good, band is good, awesome. Hot singer. Tons of energy.
3:30-4:20: Tokyo Police Club. These kids were all looking pretty nervous at first but once the applauds picked up, they rocked. As a side note, Olympia crew was happy with the end time for their set.
4:55-5:45: Of Montreal. Strange, gay and...well, entertaining. The sound at the outdoor stage sucked major homoerotic balls, but I think I was in such a good mood from the first two bands that it didn't bother me too much.
5:45-7:25:Wandering, eating, show jumping, viewing art/exhibits around the festival.
7:25-8:15: Peaches. Fuck she's rad, nothing else needs to be said about her.
8:40-9:30: Peeping Tom. WAY better than I expected. Live>record. The chick he had beatboxing with him was fucking sick, and aside from a couple minor mixing problems (seems no matter how hard you push the button, no sound comes, strange), it was a really tight performance.
9:30-10:30: A bit of Interpol and Sonic Youth. Both sucked.
10:45-12:00: Bjork. Enjoyable, entertaining, wound me down. Not a bad way to end the night.
Went back to the tent, had a beer with a couple of the guys and crashed hard (first day is always the hardest on ya)
04/28/07
8:30 wake-up. We make some shade. It's OK at best, but it does the drink. John drinks beer, but i'm thinking water today, and lots of it. Calgary crew went into town, picked us up a cooler, so more ice and a flat of water (5 bucks in town, as opposed to $48 at the general store. Nice.) BIG HELP.
2:00-2:30: Steve Aoki. Not a bad place to just relax in the shade and check out some decent mashups.
2:35-3:25: The Frames. Nothing special, outdoor stage to boot.
3:30-4:00: Wandering/stage hopping.
4:10-5:00: Hot Chip. This is definately where my day really starts. Dance partaaay. They did a few parts in some of their songs differently, but very well. Made the set alot more interesting to watch. Got my blood pumping.
5:05-5:55: The Nightwatchman. Tom Morello isn't the best acoustic guitar player, or the most original songwriter, but he truly believes in what he's singing about and he does it all with alot of emotion. I thought it was pretty powerful, but in an atypical way. He had some friends join him on stage for his last song, which proved to be a good thing.
6:00-6:15: Peter, Bjorn & John. Caught the tail end, heard their only song I know. It wasn't bad, but they had a really weak finish.
6:40-7:30: !!!. AMAZING. This was not a show, it was a fucking party.
7:45-8:30: Busy P & Dj Mehdi. Ed Banger party. Nothing else needs to be said.
8:40-9:20: Justice. Easily my favourite stage setup/display of the weekend. Amazinly tight set, great sound, great songs. The entire crowd were their friends.
9:40-10:20: LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy is a complete finick for perfection, and it pays off. They were near flawless. There was that strange drunk dude dancing around on stage and eventually joining in playing cowbells or something. They knew him I guess. James didn't look pleased. I wasn't either.
10:40-12:00: The Rapture. What a great way to end the night...singing along to a bunch of awesome songs and shaking my ass (and generally my entire nether regions). They sounded alot more full-sounding live as well, which was a great surprise.
04/29/07
Woke up at 2am to these frantic guys talking outside my tent. "Something, something, RIOT GOING ON!" I was dressed and outside my tent fast. I ask one of the Olympia crew (who obviously heard the same thing I did) what the fuck is going on and he doesn't know. We hear a helicopter approaching and suddenly the searchlight is on, scanning the entire campground. "This is the Los Angeles Police Department. Disperse immediately or you WILL be arrested. This is your final warning." Wow. A line of cops in riot gear are standing still, facing a constantly growing crowd. Apparently, from what hear, this basically all started with a drum circle. A fucking BONGO caused this?!? Over-reaction of the weekend, no question about it. "Wake me up if this shit goes down, i'm going to bed."
Wake up (again) at 8. People are buzzing about the "riot" of the night before. Around 11, an anti-Bush protest is going on somewhere on the other side of the camp. This is so fitting for the day Rage plays there first shows in what? 8 years? Everyone is guessing what they will open with, and how they will open the show. The calgarians, edmontonians and olympians have joined forces to erect a large tart between our tents and we're all packed underneath it in the shade. Apparently we're blocking a fire lane. Fire marshal is telling us we need to take it down and move to the sides. "Oh ya, we'll get right on that dude." We don't. As if any of us wants to spare any energy being scorched by the fucking sun (it got up to like 106 that day I believe).
1:45-2:25: Lupe Fiasco. Not bad, but then again, we were eating/drinking in the beer gardens for most of his set and he was a little ways away. It could have been really bad to watch. I just don't know.
2:40-3:25: DJ Dayhota. Nice place to chill, get outta the heat and dance a bit. Good girl DJ's are always a treat.
3:25-3:45: The Coup. I enjoyed their set (what we watched of it, anyways), but it was really fucking hot at the outdoor stage (which, is usually the case).
3:45-4:50: Food, water, bathrooms and basically just waiting for soulwax to come on.
4:50-5:50: Soulwax. The wait was well worth it.
5:55-6:45: CSS. Biggest surprise of the weekend, hands down. I was basically just walking by the tent they were playing in when they first started and they were sounding wicked so i thought i'd stop in to see if the second song they played would sound as tight. I ended up staying their whole set. Blew me away. These chicks can rock. Also: Purple catsuits on hot chicks? A-OK.
6:45-7:10: Food, lots of water and relaxing (while I can)
7:10-7:20: Head over to the main stage to get a good spot for Rage early on, while you can still do that. Caught the tail end of Willie Nelson. It was pretty good. He was a bit sloppy, but he had lots of energy, looked super stoked on being there and the people were digging it. That's what it's all about.
7:45-8:35: Crowded House. Man, i really felt sorry for these guys. They would end a song and a good portion of the crowd would be chanting "RAGE! RAGE! RAGE!" and all the singer could really do is fake a smile and say "don't worry! they're coming!" Singer got hit with a bottle. It was really poor set planning on Golden Voice's part, that bad should have never played at that time on that stage.
8:35-9:15: Starting to get a bit more crowded, not bad though. Sun setting, looks amazing here, especially with the stage basically all shadows.
9:15-10:15: Manu Chao. Wow, I never thought I would see a massively popular band (at least down here, among the mexican's) suck so badly...they basically played the same 4-4 punk drum beat to a shredding guitar and basic 4-chord progressions on a second guitar and bass (most of which sounded almost identical) for EVERY chorus, and then to top it off they sung some "woh yah" "yah hey" "oo oh" or some variation of that over it. Verses were not TOO bad, but they were definately nothing to write home about. Fuck was this shit ever annoying. At least they got alot of people's blood flowing, not me. They did get me all wound up, though, which was perfect for Rage.
10:15-10:40: Push, shove, pull, fall, sway. Nothing major. Understatement of the weekend? "It's hot in here." No shit. "Why are people pushing so much?" "Do you have ANY fucking clue where you are or who is about to play???!? You're at a fucking concert, and RAGE AGAINST THE FUCKING MACHINE is about to play. EAT SHIT" Ahahah, fuck that dude was rad, he basically said what the ENTIRE crowd was thinking (minus that one chick, she just didn't get it). Talked to a guy about how we were basically lovers because we were basically doing a vertical spoon. The mood (around me anyways) was very light and excited. Everyone was just so happy that they only had to wait a LITTLE bit longer to see rage.
10:40-11:45: RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. They walked on stage to a roar of applause, picked up their instruments and Zach (now sporting a mini-fro, in favour of the dreads) picked up the mic. "good evening, we are rage against the machine from los angeles, california." During the first two songs I just about lost my shoes and my backpack got pulled open (luckily strapped to my front) and I luckily only lost one water bottle.
Setlist (including encore): testify, bulls on parade, people of the sun, bombtrack, bullet in the head, down rodeo, guerrilla radio, renegades of funk, calm like a bomb, sleep now in the fire, wake up, freedom, killing in the name.
All hits, no misses, no bullshit, just business (lol). Right up until just before the last song nobody on stage said anything between the songs. Then right before they finished the straight set (not the encore), Zach said a very direct, angry speech that, summed up, said "take the power back, with blood, george bush's blood". After their last song, they just walked off stage. It was fucking amazing, the crowd, albeit calmed down from earlier in the set (maybe exhausted is a better word?) was going fucking nuts. This show was easily the craziest pit i've ever been in.
12:00-12:10: Rage encore. Alot of mosh, alot of water and alot of happy fans. After Killing In The Name, they stood together, fist's raised, and one by one filed off stage. I think just about everyone had one thought running through their heads at this point. "Now i'm complete, now I can die happy." It was a nice calm walk among a sea of truly happy people, people who were too exhausted and in too good of a mood to even remotely act like dicks. Back in camp, everyone was the same way.
We all sat around for an hour or so, talking about the weekend's experiences, sharing leftover snacks, beer and pot. A nice closer for the night. We exchange names and numbers and crash.
04/30/07
Around 9, everyone seems to be crawling out of their tents. The Olympia crew left around 6 (i'm guessing, it was early), along with a fairly sizeable chunk of the camp who left the night before. We pack our shit up and trek out from the camp to try and catch a cab. After being hussled and conned out of about 4 cabs, drew manned up and hiked a long ways down and got one. The cab driver was a solid dude. Gave some interesting incite into being lower middle class and raising a daughter in a rich town like palm springs. Also, some colourful incite in the homosexual tendencies of palm springs (apparently, from what i'm told, there is only one heterosexual club in palm. also to note: the mayor is not only homosexual, he's also black! Jinkies!)
We drink in and around the pool and the hot tub all day/night, even after it "closed" (the "night manager", who turned out not to be the night manager at all, gave us the gate lock). When the real night manager showed up, Robb (possibly on purpose) punts one of the few glass bottles we have. Shortly after, we retire to one of the rooms, where Leith ponders the ups and downs of stealing sidelit face mirrors from hotels. It winds down from there and we all head to bed. As a side note, speaking from a sober 20/20 hindsight, Leith is probably really lucky he didn't attempt that roof-jump into the pool. It's a pretty big gap.
05/01/07
It's strange how dumbed down some people are. I was getting a headache being in that fucking restaraunt, and i'm pretty sure I wasn't alone. Listen, "waitress", if you want to watch shitty re-runs of "yes, dear", then, by all means, go the fuck home and do just that, but don't watch that shit when I need a re-fill. Also, this club sandwhich, even when i squish it, it's WAY TO BIG to fit in my mouth. Seriously, americans are sometimes SO fucked up. I'm never going to this place again. Ever.
Me and Dawn took an extended walk, unknowingly into the "ghetto", trying to find a bookstore. I see a man walking and I ask him if he knows where a bookstore is, to which he replies "what? you mean like porno's?". ummm, what? turn's out he was homeless and lied about directions to a bookstore (they were really shitty, on the spot directions) so i would give him change. I'm glad i didn't. Either way, if there was any doubt he cleared it up when he told me "hey, you know what? I LIEEEEEDDDDD TO YOUUUUUU!!! HAHAH". Holy shit. Anyways, turns out the bookstore was like 2 blocks in the opposite direction from where we started walking. Oh well, at least we found like 150 furniture and antique stores in a row, you know, if we ever need furniture or antiques while in palm springs.
05/03/07
A calm morning. A soft goodbye. A stellar burn.
05/04/07
A sizeable chunk of WWZ read, hopefully I finish it before getting home. Wandered around downtown for an hour or so. Rode a bus around and got to know the place a bit better. Got overcast and a little bit chilly (for the area, anyways...I was getting pretty used to the temperature at this point), so I watched nba and took a nap. It's always a lonely feeling day, the day after they leave.
05/05/07
As the sun dims to a gentle warmth, and the curtains close on this place for another year, I can feel some sense of purpose and longing...both to be back at home and to be back here next year. Reflecting on the past week and all the new friends made and the old friendships brought anew, I'm feeling truly happy, and anything but alone. However, spending the past two days by myself has really hit my soul hard, and i've been wanting the comforts of home like nobody's business. Makes you realize that it doesn't matter where you are, or how nice out it is, or how many people surround you...if you're not with friends, you can still feel completely alone. Maybe I didn't REALLY come to California with an aching in my heart, but i'm sure as hell leaving this place with one. I guess I just miss my friends is all.
05/06/07
A really great surprise at checkout...when Dawn left, she was suppose to only be paying for half, but they accidentally rang the whole week through with her card, so at check out I only had to pay 3 dollars in phone charges. I totally knew the price was too much per night. All my flights today have gone smooth , no baggage problems. Lucky me. I miss the place, but I miss the place.
p.s: as i wrote that last entry, I finished writing RIGHT before this big, fat ass, sweaty, bald, head to toe denim wearing douchebag from grand prairie sat down beside and commented on how the seats were too small, how the article i was reading in popular science was neat (my peripheral vision told me he was looking over and reading it as well), and that the idea's were cool, and how people come up with some crazy shit...oh, and we were taxiing down the runway, ya, he asked if were driving to edmonton. This was before we even took off. Fuck I miss the desert.
The sun sets high in the sky. Softly lit, behind the San Jacinto mountains, I sit by the pool of the Caliente Tropics. It's wednesday, some three days after the 2007 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. The last of weekend cohorts leaves tommorow. I cant help but feel that it's all come and gone so fast, just as it has the past two years. This was my third time coming here for this, and once again, with no regret in sight, it has been a different experience; not better, not worse, just not the same. But that's not to say it wasn't amazing, because it was, and it is, and probably will continue to be, my favourite time of the year.
04/26/07
Can't eat breakfast, too excited.
The airport is seemingly chock full of people headed to Coachella, speaking strictly in comparison to the previous two years. A few familiar faces. Once we're all through customs we talk (i've come to realize that this is just to make sure that you're all going the same place...even though you can immediately tell). Coachella, music, bands, shows...it's all that's on anyone's minds. BRMC is on my ipod all the way down.
A familiar face, his friend and three unknowns are who I split a cab with from the airport. We tell the cabbie we're headed to empire polo field but on the way there we want to stop at a wal-mart or something (beer, cooler, ice, water, snacks). He takes us to a "76", which is basically a 7-11. We make the best of it (beer, a few bottles of water, some chips and beef jerky). Me, the familiar (John) and his friend (Drew) stay together and part ways with the unkowns when we get to the field. We sneak the beer over the fence and set up camp. General store has no ice. Beer is on hold (maybe for the best). We join the "seriously dude, no pro's, we're fucking amateur's" hacky sack "league", and prove that we're seriously fucking amateur's. We realize that we've unknowingly set up camp in camp canada (section c, interestingly enough) and meet some calgarians. A bit later, the Olympia, WA championship pot smoking (what are we even talking about?) team shows up, after an apparently long, pot-filled/fueled drive. The ice has arrived. Beergin drinking. Olympia wasn't lying, they just lit three joints. Beer/pot bartering begins. What a night.
04/27/07
Wake up at 8. Head hurts. So hot. Breakfast burrito needs more salsa. Remember not to drink the water in the toothbrush water bottle. Five hours of baking in the sun before we go in.
2:30-3:10: Noisette's. Sound is good, band is good, awesome. Hot singer. Tons of energy.
3:30-4:20: Tokyo Police Club. These kids were all looking pretty nervous at first but once the applauds picked up, they rocked. As a side note, Olympia crew was happy with the end time for their set.
4:55-5:45: Of Montreal. Strange, gay and...well, entertaining. The sound at the outdoor stage sucked major homoerotic balls, but I think I was in such a good mood from the first two bands that it didn't bother me too much.
5:45-7:25:Wandering, eating, show jumping, viewing art/exhibits around the festival.
7:25-8:15: Peaches. Fuck she's rad, nothing else needs to be said about her.
8:40-9:30: Peeping Tom. WAY better than I expected. Live>record. The chick he had beatboxing with him was fucking sick, and aside from a couple minor mixing problems (seems no matter how hard you push the button, no sound comes, strange), it was a really tight performance.
9:30-10:30: A bit of Interpol and Sonic Youth. Both sucked.
10:45-12:00: Bjork. Enjoyable, entertaining, wound me down. Not a bad way to end the night.
Went back to the tent, had a beer with a couple of the guys and crashed hard (first day is always the hardest on ya)
04/28/07
8:30 wake-up. We make some shade. It's OK at best, but it does the drink. John drinks beer, but i'm thinking water today, and lots of it. Calgary crew went into town, picked us up a cooler, so more ice and a flat of water (5 bucks in town, as opposed to $48 at the general store. Nice.) BIG HELP.
2:00-2:30: Steve Aoki. Not a bad place to just relax in the shade and check out some decent mashups.
2:35-3:25: The Frames. Nothing special, outdoor stage to boot.
3:30-4:00: Wandering/stage hopping.
4:10-5:00: Hot Chip. This is definately where my day really starts. Dance partaaay. They did a few parts in some of their songs differently, but very well. Made the set alot more interesting to watch. Got my blood pumping.
5:05-5:55: The Nightwatchman. Tom Morello isn't the best acoustic guitar player, or the most original songwriter, but he truly believes in what he's singing about and he does it all with alot of emotion. I thought it was pretty powerful, but in an atypical way. He had some friends join him on stage for his last song, which proved to be a good thing.
6:00-6:15: Peter, Bjorn & John. Caught the tail end, heard their only song I know. It wasn't bad, but they had a really weak finish.
6:40-7:30: !!!. AMAZING. This was not a show, it was a fucking party.
7:45-8:30: Busy P & Dj Mehdi. Ed Banger party. Nothing else needs to be said.
8:40-9:20: Justice. Easily my favourite stage setup/display of the weekend. Amazinly tight set, great sound, great songs. The entire crowd were their friends.
9:40-10:20: LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy is a complete finick for perfection, and it pays off. They were near flawless. There was that strange drunk dude dancing around on stage and eventually joining in playing cowbells or something. They knew him I guess. James didn't look pleased. I wasn't either.
10:40-12:00: The Rapture. What a great way to end the night...singing along to a bunch of awesome songs and shaking my ass (and generally my entire nether regions). They sounded alot more full-sounding live as well, which was a great surprise.
04/29/07
Woke up at 2am to these frantic guys talking outside my tent. "Something, something, RIOT GOING ON!" I was dressed and outside my tent fast. I ask one of the Olympia crew (who obviously heard the same thing I did) what the fuck is going on and he doesn't know. We hear a helicopter approaching and suddenly the searchlight is on, scanning the entire campground. "This is the Los Angeles Police Department. Disperse immediately or you WILL be arrested. This is your final warning." Wow. A line of cops in riot gear are standing still, facing a constantly growing crowd. Apparently, from what hear, this basically all started with a drum circle. A fucking BONGO caused this?!? Over-reaction of the weekend, no question about it. "Wake me up if this shit goes down, i'm going to bed."
Wake up (again) at 8. People are buzzing about the "riot" of the night before. Around 11, an anti-Bush protest is going on somewhere on the other side of the camp. This is so fitting for the day Rage plays there first shows in what? 8 years? Everyone is guessing what they will open with, and how they will open the show. The calgarians, edmontonians and olympians have joined forces to erect a large tart between our tents and we're all packed underneath it in the shade. Apparently we're blocking a fire lane. Fire marshal is telling us we need to take it down and move to the sides. "Oh ya, we'll get right on that dude." We don't. As if any of us wants to spare any energy being scorched by the fucking sun (it got up to like 106 that day I believe).
1:45-2:25: Lupe Fiasco. Not bad, but then again, we were eating/drinking in the beer gardens for most of his set and he was a little ways away. It could have been really bad to watch. I just don't know.
2:40-3:25: DJ Dayhota. Nice place to chill, get outta the heat and dance a bit. Good girl DJ's are always a treat.
3:25-3:45: The Coup. I enjoyed their set (what we watched of it, anyways), but it was really fucking hot at the outdoor stage (which, is usually the case).
3:45-4:50: Food, water, bathrooms and basically just waiting for soulwax to come on.
4:50-5:50: Soulwax. The wait was well worth it.
5:55-6:45: CSS. Biggest surprise of the weekend, hands down. I was basically just walking by the tent they were playing in when they first started and they were sounding wicked so i thought i'd stop in to see if the second song they played would sound as tight. I ended up staying their whole set. Blew me away. These chicks can rock. Also: Purple catsuits on hot chicks? A-OK.
6:45-7:10: Food, lots of water and relaxing (while I can)
7:10-7:20: Head over to the main stage to get a good spot for Rage early on, while you can still do that. Caught the tail end of Willie Nelson. It was pretty good. He was a bit sloppy, but he had lots of energy, looked super stoked on being there and the people were digging it. That's what it's all about.
7:45-8:35: Crowded House. Man, i really felt sorry for these guys. They would end a song and a good portion of the crowd would be chanting "RAGE! RAGE! RAGE!" and all the singer could really do is fake a smile and say "don't worry! they're coming!" Singer got hit with a bottle. It was really poor set planning on Golden Voice's part, that bad should have never played at that time on that stage.
8:35-9:15: Starting to get a bit more crowded, not bad though. Sun setting, looks amazing here, especially with the stage basically all shadows.
9:15-10:15: Manu Chao. Wow, I never thought I would see a massively popular band (at least down here, among the mexican's) suck so badly...they basically played the same 4-4 punk drum beat to a shredding guitar and basic 4-chord progressions on a second guitar and bass (most of which sounded almost identical) for EVERY chorus, and then to top it off they sung some "woh yah" "yah hey" "oo oh" or some variation of that over it. Verses were not TOO bad, but they were definately nothing to write home about. Fuck was this shit ever annoying. At least they got alot of people's blood flowing, not me. They did get me all wound up, though, which was perfect for Rage.
10:15-10:40: Push, shove, pull, fall, sway. Nothing major. Understatement of the weekend? "It's hot in here." No shit. "Why are people pushing so much?" "Do you have ANY fucking clue where you are or who is about to play???!? You're at a fucking concert, and RAGE AGAINST THE FUCKING MACHINE is about to play. EAT SHIT" Ahahah, fuck that dude was rad, he basically said what the ENTIRE crowd was thinking (minus that one chick, she just didn't get it). Talked to a guy about how we were basically lovers because we were basically doing a vertical spoon. The mood (around me anyways) was very light and excited. Everyone was just so happy that they only had to wait a LITTLE bit longer to see rage.
10:40-11:45: RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. They walked on stage to a roar of applause, picked up their instruments and Zach (now sporting a mini-fro, in favour of the dreads) picked up the mic. "good evening, we are rage against the machine from los angeles, california." During the first two songs I just about lost my shoes and my backpack got pulled open (luckily strapped to my front) and I luckily only lost one water bottle.
Setlist (including encore): testify, bulls on parade, people of the sun, bombtrack, bullet in the head, down rodeo, guerrilla radio, renegades of funk, calm like a bomb, sleep now in the fire, wake up, freedom, killing in the name.
All hits, no misses, no bullshit, just business (lol). Right up until just before the last song nobody on stage said anything between the songs. Then right before they finished the straight set (not the encore), Zach said a very direct, angry speech that, summed up, said "take the power back, with blood, george bush's blood". After their last song, they just walked off stage. It was fucking amazing, the crowd, albeit calmed down from earlier in the set (maybe exhausted is a better word?) was going fucking nuts. This show was easily the craziest pit i've ever been in.
12:00-12:10: Rage encore. Alot of mosh, alot of water and alot of happy fans. After Killing In The Name, they stood together, fist's raised, and one by one filed off stage. I think just about everyone had one thought running through their heads at this point. "Now i'm complete, now I can die happy." It was a nice calm walk among a sea of truly happy people, people who were too exhausted and in too good of a mood to even remotely act like dicks. Back in camp, everyone was the same way.
We all sat around for an hour or so, talking about the weekend's experiences, sharing leftover snacks, beer and pot. A nice closer for the night. We exchange names and numbers and crash.
04/30/07
Around 9, everyone seems to be crawling out of their tents. The Olympia crew left around 6 (i'm guessing, it was early), along with a fairly sizeable chunk of the camp who left the night before. We pack our shit up and trek out from the camp to try and catch a cab. After being hussled and conned out of about 4 cabs, drew manned up and hiked a long ways down and got one. The cab driver was a solid dude. Gave some interesting incite into being lower middle class and raising a daughter in a rich town like palm springs. Also, some colourful incite in the homosexual tendencies of palm springs (apparently, from what i'm told, there is only one heterosexual club in palm. also to note: the mayor is not only homosexual, he's also black! Jinkies!)
We drink in and around the pool and the hot tub all day/night, even after it "closed" (the "night manager", who turned out not to be the night manager at all, gave us the gate lock). When the real night manager showed up, Robb (possibly on purpose) punts one of the few glass bottles we have. Shortly after, we retire to one of the rooms, where Leith ponders the ups and downs of stealing sidelit face mirrors from hotels. It winds down from there and we all head to bed. As a side note, speaking from a sober 20/20 hindsight, Leith is probably really lucky he didn't attempt that roof-jump into the pool. It's a pretty big gap.
05/01/07
It's strange how dumbed down some people are. I was getting a headache being in that fucking restaraunt, and i'm pretty sure I wasn't alone. Listen, "waitress", if you want to watch shitty re-runs of "yes, dear", then, by all means, go the fuck home and do just that, but don't watch that shit when I need a re-fill. Also, this club sandwhich, even when i squish it, it's WAY TO BIG to fit in my mouth. Seriously, americans are sometimes SO fucked up. I'm never going to this place again. Ever.
Me and Dawn took an extended walk, unknowingly into the "ghetto", trying to find a bookstore. I see a man walking and I ask him if he knows where a bookstore is, to which he replies "what? you mean like porno's?". ummm, what? turn's out he was homeless and lied about directions to a bookstore (they were really shitty, on the spot directions) so i would give him change. I'm glad i didn't. Either way, if there was any doubt he cleared it up when he told me "hey, you know what? I LIEEEEEDDDDD TO YOUUUUUU!!! HAHAH". Holy shit. Anyways, turns out the bookstore was like 2 blocks in the opposite direction from where we started walking. Oh well, at least we found like 150 furniture and antique stores in a row, you know, if we ever need furniture or antiques while in palm springs.
05/03/07
A calm morning. A soft goodbye. A stellar burn.
05/04/07
A sizeable chunk of WWZ read, hopefully I finish it before getting home. Wandered around downtown for an hour or so. Rode a bus around and got to know the place a bit better. Got overcast and a little bit chilly (for the area, anyways...I was getting pretty used to the temperature at this point), so I watched nba and took a nap. It's always a lonely feeling day, the day after they leave.
05/05/07
As the sun dims to a gentle warmth, and the curtains close on this place for another year, I can feel some sense of purpose and longing...both to be back at home and to be back here next year. Reflecting on the past week and all the new friends made and the old friendships brought anew, I'm feeling truly happy, and anything but alone. However, spending the past two days by myself has really hit my soul hard, and i've been wanting the comforts of home like nobody's business. Makes you realize that it doesn't matter where you are, or how nice out it is, or how many people surround you...if you're not with friends, you can still feel completely alone. Maybe I didn't REALLY come to California with an aching in my heart, but i'm sure as hell leaving this place with one. I guess I just miss my friends is all.
05/06/07
A really great surprise at checkout...when Dawn left, she was suppose to only be paying for half, but they accidentally rang the whole week through with her card, so at check out I only had to pay 3 dollars in phone charges. I totally knew the price was too much per night. All my flights today have gone smooth , no baggage problems. Lucky me. I miss the place, but I miss the place.
p.s: as i wrote that last entry, I finished writing RIGHT before this big, fat ass, sweaty, bald, head to toe denim wearing douchebag from grand prairie sat down beside and commented on how the seats were too small, how the article i was reading in popular science was neat (my peripheral vision told me he was looking over and reading it as well), and that the idea's were cool, and how people come up with some crazy shit...oh, and we were taxiing down the runway, ya, he asked if were driving to edmonton. This was before we even took off. Fuck I miss the desert.
ceci: