May 3, 2005
Gus and I worked on the CGII postcard this morning and I ran it up to Bill at Cowboy Legacy Gallery in Carefree to proof the copy. Also picked up the photo prints for CGII artwork, shot over the weekend ($6.75 biz account).

At ten, Gary Mathewson, the executive producer of the tv show Arizona Backroads picked me up and we drove out to New River to Brian Newmeister's Skymeister Production studio to tape a Tombstone session for an upcoming show. Backroads is hosted by Marshall Trimble and runs on a local station.

Got back to the office at about 1:30. Got an Email from Tomcat regarding the Coachella Music Festival he attended last weekend. Take a gander at his running narrative and tell me if you recognize any of the bands he saw:

"The festival had four stages; the main outdoor stage, a smaller outdoor stage and two tent stages. We just went around to the shows we wanted to see and drank a lot of water. Sometimes we could only catch part of a show because they overlap and we wanted to see someone else.

"Day 1: we started with the Sexy Magazines from NYC at 12:30, then Katie Melua at 1:35 (Norah Jones type), then The Raveonettes on the main stage at 3:00 but left early to catch Ambulance LTD in the Mojave tent (Awesome show). Then back to the main stage and chilled on the grass for Snow Patrol at 4:15 at the main stage (cheesy emo), back to Mojave for The Kills at 4:50 (Awesome and intense show). Back to the main stage and relaxed on the grass for Keane then tried to get close for Wilco at 6:45 but it was way crowded (Weezer played next). Got pushed up fairly close by Weezer fans and the sun finally went down for their show at 8:00. I really didn't enjoy that show because I'm not a huge fan and I wanted to see The Secret Machines in the Mojave tent but Monica really likes Weezer. Caught the last half of Sage Francis on the outdoor stage and the show was surprisingly amazing. He's all about poetry, poetry slams and what he calls intelligent hip hop. At one point he just recited a poem for about ten minutes and it was awesome. The funny thing is is that he's a big, bald white guy with a huge beard from Rhode Island. Kind of a side note but did you know most of the underground hip hop these days comes from Rhode Island and Minnesota? Finished out the night with Bloc Party at Mojave and ate Carne Asada burros on the grass for Coldplay. Talk about superstars, there must have been all 50,000 people at that Coldplay show.

"We had some Pacificos iced down in the car but when we got back to the car (that's where we slept) we had one and passed out from exhaustion. The Cav [his rental car] isn't as bad as you would think.

"Day 2: Zion I in the Gobie tent at 1:00 (hip hop), Jem (Jewel type) and got really close for Fiery Furnaces on the outdoor stage (too hot!). These were the guys I was most excited to see. A brother sister duo from Brooklyn. It was kind of disappointing though because they sped up all there songs and mixed them together. Creative but not cool. The sister was very hot though. Then we cruised over to The Bravery in the Mojave tent. They should have been outside because like Bloc Party they are really hot right now and the tent was overflowing so bad you couldn't even get in. So we just sat in the grass outside and listened. Bloc Party we got in half way through because Coldplay was starting. Anyway, back to the outdoor stage for The Arcade Fire and got pretty close. This was hands down the sickest show we saw. Really amazing. They have two violin players, an accordion, keyboard and they all switched up instruments a lot. Then we finished up the day with The Dresden Dolls (just drums, keyboard and vocals, 2 people), Pinback (really good), The Faint, Blackstar (hip hop) and Bright Eyes. Bright Eyes was terrible. He was drunk and I hate that emo shit anyway.

"One more thing I forgot to mention is that for most of these bands these were the biggest shows they'd every played. They're used to playing bars and small venues and here, even in the tents, you'd get thousands of people. The Wilco and Arcade Fire turnouts were amazing and the Fire even said it. PS, the singer from Arcade Fire threw his microphone and it went like five feet over my head. Damn!

“I had my second wind and thought I could make it back to Phoenix but after leaving Indio at 2:00 a.m. I pulled over a half hour later and slept till 6:30 and drove back. We got back to Flag at noon, returned the car and I went to work at 2:00 and they had me stay until midnight so I'm exhausted today. It did feel good to shower and brush my teeth.”

Ah, to be young and totally ridiculous when it comes to sleep and distance (and music).

"I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to."
—Elvis Presley