#MattAndKim

SXSW 2011: The Parties – Perez Hilton, Village Voice, Fader, Spin & Vice Bring the Noise

So now getting into my fourth day at SXSW and its usually around this time that I’ve only slept for a few hours a day and surviving on free bbq and beer, and with constant ringing in my ear, my ability to absorb much more becomes a bit cynical haha.

 

Perez Hilton One Night In Austin

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton drew a huge crowd for his annual SXSW show at the new ACL Live venue Saturday night.
I was here for one reason only & that was to se Taylor Momsen & the Pretty Reckless. I had caught her live a few times already and she is the real deal. Forget all that shit about her being an actress that is trying to sing, this is where she belongs & will be so from now on.

Taylor Momsen

Village Voice Showcase – Austin Music Hall

I got there pretty early (around 7pm) and the place was already a madhouse of people swarming to get in. This was one of the most anticipated showcases of the entire festival. I go up and get my credentials that thankfully (and I don’t care about being pampered and all that shit) gave me access to a private room with a nice bathroom, couches, earplugs and free booze, cause this place was like the fraternity in Animal House.

After taking advantage of that situation I went out to the main room to check out Wild Flag that couldn’t possible have lived up to their hype. The band is made up of key members of Sleater-Kinney and the Jicks, and while I’m a fan of both of those bands, and clearly I’m not the only one feeling the absence of SK, but you would think that Led Zeppelin had re-formed with the press they have been getting. So, either their following was far more dedicated than I realized, or they have a killer PR team – and with singer Carrie Brownstein post SK foray into journalism, I’m thinking that she knows just how to get it done.
Regardless, they were pretty good and exactly what you think it would sound like, the songs that Brownstein sung for SK, not an antithesis of Black Flag.

Wild Flag

 

–  Fishbone who was up next (and probably the act I was looking the most to seeing)  probably played for less time than it took to set up all their horns and the Theramin-in-a-suitcase. Lead singer Angelo Moore, was behind the stacks wearing an Andy Warhol wig and practicing his cartwheels, so this was gonna be as nuts as he is and I was getting excited but were taking forever. 
With the crowd getting antsy, they sent out comedian Donald Glover (who I had just seen last night host the MTVu Woodie Awards) to do a brief set as his rapper alter ego, Childish Gambino – it felt planned, but it gave the party an awesome burst of spontaneity and he was super entertaining that you had already forgotten the shittiness of the previous two acts and did exactly what it was designed to do, get you hyped and keep you entertained.

Fishbone finally takes the stage and shit gets real weird/awesome real quick –

 

Their shit was so great, how are you gonna top that? Well again I’m a hip-hop fanatic and a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan, but if you have read this blog or had the misfortune of trying to see any of them in concert, individually or collectively in the last 5 years, you don’t know what to  expect, which is half the fun/misery, but I’ve learned sadly, not to expect much.
Having said that, they still managed to greatly disappoint with their shenanigans they just keeps lowering their stock and legacy, who but me will still keep putting up with their shit?
Their was literally over 90 mins after Fishbone finished before they finally got their asses onstage – and during that time, I had personally seen two dudes piss themselves, three get escorted out of the music hall, and the bartenders had basically given up trying to keep service in order. It was that kind of party – As always, when its billed as Wu-Tang, their shit is so dysfunctional, the thing you do is try to guess/hope who is actually going to show up. For those who have been down this road a few times, you know to automatically dismiss the notion of the RZA and while your at Method-Man. It’s like you have to go “Ok, which ones’ career is suffering the most right now?” and that’s how you can guess accurately of who your gonna get.
After all that wait, only four of the nine members showed –
The GZA
U-God
Inspectah Deck
..and surprisingly – Ghostface Killah

 

They did their run of the “classics” with irritating mic problems the whole show (hey guys, with all the people onstage with wireless mics, that might be your problem?) that lasted about an hour. The best thing about the show was their joined by Erykah Badu for the last couple of tunes. Even with the feedback problems she still sounded great as always.
Around 2 a.m., Wu-Tang Clan called it a night and turned the party over to Badu, who switched to her other identity, DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown and played a great set of vintage dance tunes and modern hip hop for the stragglers who had made it through the night.

Next Day….

Spin Magazine Party – Stubb’s BBQ
   We get down there around 4pm and get checking in and take time to say hello to some of the staff that are friends of mine before heading toward the stage. The Spin Magazine party used to be the premier party during SXSW before turning into a day thing at Stubb’s a few years ago, and its still cool and always one to look forward to. One of the things you survive on during this festival is the free boze/soda/food – and its almost always not what your first choice would be, as anything free usually isn’t. It’s most likely something you have never tried/seen before because the sponsors use the festival as a test market, so you will find yourself drinking chocolate flavored water and chewing fish flavored gum.
Today, we each grabbed a tall can of this lemonade drink – that’s kinda like Sparks – and though I know I’m a serious lightweight when it comes to drinking and it was early in the day, I swear we both were shitfaced after three sips of this poison.
With my new drunk induced inflated ego, I seriously almost punched this total asshole that was being insufferable as the Killls were starting their set.
They were having serious sound issues – so much so that I thought they were actually doing a soundcheck onstage, because they were stopping and starting literally dozens of times – it wasn’t until singer Alison Moyer – finally relented and quietly made a few apologies.
I can’t make my mind up about her – I like the Kills and I’m all about the Dead Weather, her voice and image and super-cool swagger is totally hot. However sometimes I see pictures of her and I’m kinda like – meh – and sometimes she seems a little too cool. But hey she probably is – they finally got it together and turned in a decent set.As always they had DJ’s playing between sets and between these two acts, Skrillex (didn’t I tell you this guy was freaking everywhere) doing a set –  His extremely punchable hipster face is enough to make me want to take him out, but holding him responsible for the rise of dubstep is truly worthy of ball-kicking trespass –
Up next was TV on the Radio who has just attacked this festival – usually a band with their visibility comes here to do one high-profile show and doesn’t really have to slog through multiple-show days like the smaller bands unless they just want to, but TVOTR I think had like 8 gigs this week. Like I said earlier, Jah from The Death Set is playing drums for them now and he couldn’t have been more excited.
(Check out the awesome Clutch sticker hanging there in the back)

 

This show was really good and they are an incredible live band – sadly however this was one of the last performances with bassist Gerard Smith as he died just a few weeks later of lung cancer.

 The Fader Fort Party –

After TV on the Radio finished at Stubb’s we ran across the freeway over to the Fader Fort (running from show to show is a time honored tradition at SXSW) As a testament of how busy I’ve been this week, this was my first (and only) sojourn over to the Fort this year. This place is usually a destination for me and last year I practically lived there all week. Where else in the world let alone at SXSW can you go to a place for free, drink free booze and soda all day, get fed, free clothes, free internet, free magazines and get entertained by the best at that time? – The place is a goddamn utopia and my greatest dream of a totalitarian state come to life, and this year didn’t disappoint either.
Remember my earlier post about open RSVPs? – The Fader Fort is the most popular of them , (see above description as to why) and if you just do the open RSVP you have little or no chance of getting in – those public wristbands are worthless, you gotta go the extra mile if you wanna get in – thankfully I had an advantage – and we were ushered right in – I’m not talking about some elitist, velvet rope Studio 54 bullshit, I’m just giving a tip, that its best to contact someone involved ahead of time so that you don’t waste your time standing in line when you could be doing other rad shit.

As we are heading backstage, we are finally seeing Odd Future and what all the hype is about as they are causing a literal riot with them as the aggressors. Various members would either flat out threaten photographers in the photo pit and others would challenge the entire crowd to a water bottle fight. Debris, empty bottles, clothing and other general garbage started flying during every song –

Near the end of their set, the group prompted the entire audience to chant “Fuck tha police!” – Together, they are truly aggressive to the point of intimidation. Though I appreciate how youthful and overflowing with energy they are, I have to admit, instead of just having some good fun, it really seemed like they are assholes, going out of their way to be bigger assholes.

Speaking of overflowing energy, (but used for something COMPLETELY different) it was after 7pm and somehow I had gone all day without seeing Matt & Kim (something I had yet to do all week) so here they come and the crowd greeted them ecstatically.
Toward the end of their set, making her second cameo of the festival,  they were briefly joined by Erykah Badu who I saw strolling around backstage.
…and not to be outdone by the previous antics of Odd Future, what is normally a staple of their live show, this time Kim’s bootie dance atop the crowd seemed to have an added interference.

The Vice Party –

The Vice Party has replaced what the Spin Magazine party used to be: a last night of the festival blowout in some hidden/non-obvious location that you wouldn’t think/know about till the night of, where doors don’t even open till midnight and it goes all night, way past 2am and this one was listed as going till 6am.
This time it was at the Starr Building, some non-descript place you would imagine holding law firms not some crazy party and the bands that were set to play were Keith Morris’ (Black Flag, Circle Jerks) new band Off! and one last detonation from Odd Future who has literally stunned this festival. You couldn’t go anywhere without people talking about them and having some story involving carnage in their wake. I personally have already seen two partial performances this week and I think tonight was something like their 12th show of the week, (and third of the day).

 

We get there and of course the entry to get in looks like Tienanmen Square – just complete and utter chaos. You would think people’s infant children were trapped inside the way they were rabid to get in. The hype of Odd Future plus the exclusivity and free booze in an environment that craves such things? It was 1984 and this was the only place that had Cabbage Patch Dolls.
I’ve been around this stuff for over 10 years and it even frightened me a bit, and poor Erin has never seen shit like this before, but suddenly a knight in shining armor arrived.
Eric and Kim Castillo, a couple from Houston that are good friends of mine and who I stay with when I have the misfortune of being in Houston, arrive.
Eric is a professional DJ, who goes by Ceeplus Badknives and has been on the scene for a long time, and we have done gigs together in Houston and during SXSW for the last several years. His wife Kim is the salt of the earth and one of my favorite peoples.
Though we all had invites they were at capacity but Eric had the juice and got us in no problem and ironically said that they had just been talking about me and was hoping to see me. Boy were we glad to see them.

We get in and the four of us grab some of the free booze and this place just looks dangerous – like total lawlessness.
Perfect for a punk legend to fuck shit up – and that’s exactly what Off! proceeded to do:

 

They were crazy, unreal loud – and it had that feel that it should – volatile punk band playing at 2 in the morning in some abandoned building. Totally brown –
Outside I could only imagine what people were dealing with to get in to catch the Odd Future 3am slot – the hype was off the charts – this was their last show of the festival and given the late hour probably the last show of the festival, its 3am and its gotta top all of the other ones, so this was the one to catch according to the hype. Matt was texting me from outside so I told him to go around back and I had security let him in.

Going from Hardcore Punk to Hardcore Rap seamlessly is what makes an event like this so memorable and fun to attend. It’s 3am and here comes Odd Future:

 

Their show was as violent as the punk of Off! but I have to say I was more impressed with the intensity as well as the crowd as compared to any real musical gratification. In fact I would have to say, it was so super sloppy, it never seemed like the show ever actually started. It just seemed like Tyler the Creator and company, came out, got the crowd worked up, complained/cursed alot, and seemed to go out of their way to be destructive assholes.

 

Now I’m not exactly old, just a bit older, but I will be the first to admit, that this probably has something to do with why I just simply can’t relate to these guys. In a generation of constant self-promotion and being ruthlessly crass breeds huge rewards by your peers, that’s something I will never identify with. But as a life-long student of Hip-Hop, it really wasn’t that good – I was super excited about seeming them, and I loved their story. Totally all about their DIY punk ambition and did all of it themselves. Some young guys looking like the next Wu-Tang Clan, but I just didn’t get it. They def got some talent, but instead of showcasing that, or even having some knucklehead fun a la Beastie Boys cira License to Ill era, instead that appear as actual dickheads.

I didn’t sweat it though, the spectacle still provided weird entertainment on what had to be one of the weirdest nights of my life.

After they played, the whole place turned into a dance party, with these two DJs playing all this great 60s garage soul music that was fantastic and it 4am in the morning.

 

We shook our asses in celebration of a long week, and a day that felt just as long, and I just couldn’t leave – I just had to keep going somehow. Finally after the clock struck 5am, people really started to clear out and we danced the last song, to finally put this year’s SXSW to rest.

 

Photos –

Roy Turner
Nate “Igor” Smith
Brenna Rushing
Todd Seelie
Heather Browne
Joe Gall
Max Blau
Samantha Marble

The Siren Festival at Coney Island (Summer/2010)

The Siren Festival w/ Matt & Kim – July 17th – Coney Island, NY
   
My love Ana & I took the loooong subway ride out to Coney Island for our last weekend before she sadly returns back to Spain.
I wanted to show her CI and I usually attend the Siren Festival every year and its always a good time and Coney Island in the Summer time is the best.
However today was not only the hottest freaking day of the year, it may have been in the running for one of the hottest ever. Freaking stroke inducing.
We get off the subway and into the heat, and their is no cover anywhere, and are trying to enjoy the street performers and sidewalk fare on our way to see our first band of the day: The band Ponytail who are part of that wave of awesome talent that’s been coming out of Baltimore as of late.
 

We check them out for a bit but its not long before Spanish Eyes maintains her motif of constant hunger, and hello we were 10 yards from Nathan’s Hot Dogs, and we were at Coney Island, so is their more of an obvious choice? – Nathan’s is the very spirit of CI and the site of the World’s Hot Dog Eating Competition (that ironically took place just the previous weekend). So we step out of 98 degree weather and into a kitchen that had to be over 100 degrees. First their were sooo many people packed into this sweat locker, and with the grill and steam it was stifling in there. Normally this has an adverse effect on me (as I NEVER drink water) but other than just being a bit warm, I was fine. My Spanish companion however..? – Not so much – I can laugh about this now, (and it was funny) but as it was happening I was more concerned than entertained. I had alot to carry with two LARGE lemonades and our food so I went to give her the drink and go back for the rest. When I came back, as funny as this looked haha, she was dizzy and stumbling like a drunk person and falling fast. Before I could say “Hey, are you alright?” – down she went! – The normal apathetic New York public even looked on with a little concern as I rushed to keep some napkins to swipe the condensation from our drinks and apply it to her forehead and neck. My memory of this is largely hilarious, and made for the joke of the day and the next.

So what’s the natural next step from coming this close to a pukey heat stroke? Walk 10 more yards to one of the most famous rollercoasters in the world and the jewel of Coney Island – The Cyclone.

Now to know, you will know that I am not afraid of shit, but you also can’t miss my historic stomach issues and hyper-sensitivity to motion sickness. However I wasn’t gonna let any of that get in the way of us having the fun you are supposed to be having at Coney Island. So onward we march and conquer that sucker. An odd occurrence happened while in line. An especially douchbagger from last Summer says hello to me – whom I previously had envisioned would come to blows if I ever saw this fucker again – oddly the person that introduced us, I ran into her at Monotonix just the night before and she said that they were having a party soon for said douchbag and that jokingly, I should come. So today I see him and also mentions the party, and non-chalantly tells me that the party is designed as condolence as he’s been recently diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Fucking weird and couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

So after I nearly puke off the side of this safety hazard we head to the mainstage right next to us to see the always fun Matt & Kim.
These two live down the street from me so I see them often and I would never be in the mood to listen to their music outside of the live setting, but in concert, what a blast. It could be said that alot of people came just for the festival, but it seemed everyone was there to see them and look how many came!
 


 So what does one do after a long and super hot and sweaty day? – Go to another concert! Before we had met, the senorita had already planned to attend and purchased a ticket to tonight’s after-party at the Music Hall of Williamsburg with We Are Scientists. I didn’t have a ticket, but I can usually get around these things. We get there and I have blogged and lamented at length my feelings towards the entire staff of elitist rabble that run this place and tonight the problems only increased. I really didn’t give a shit anyway, so I told her to go on and I went next door and had a beer and checked email for the duration of their just over an hour performance.

So a few days later on our final night, a la Before Sunrise we had a gorgeous day and evening. We spent the whole day at one of my fave places in NYC, the Natual History Musuem and to hit a few other places I wanted her to see. At dusk we hit a perfect sunset while riding the Staten Island Ferry.
 


     I took her to Rockafeller Plaza afterwards and we just sat in the fountain and talked until it was time to part. The notion that we may never see each other ever again, but with the promise of doing our best, but also just simply enjoying the moment. Whatever may be, a Summer love affair with a beautiful European girl is something we all deserve and one I won’t soon forget.
 

Coachella 2010 (April/2010)

Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival – April 17th-18th – Empire Polo Fields – Indio, CA

Day 1  

So Sam and I got up and got it together to take the long drive out to Indio and the Coachella Valley for the festival. With no traffic it would still be just under two hours, but with LA traffic and that of the hordes going to the festival, I knew it was gonna be a haul. I was super excited as besides the one-two punch of Prince and Portishead of 2007, in my opinion, today was going to be the single best day lineup in the festival’s history as far as my tastes are concerned, with Faith No More, the Dead Weather and Devo to look forward to. Usually you have to pick and choose as alot of your faves will be on at the same time, but these three had lined up perfectly for me. Pulling in I had no regrets about missing the first day yesterday, and I soon learned just what a good idea that was.
This was my 7th year at this festival, so I know my way around it very well, and I know it grows every year, but when we pulled up, something was truly amiss.
We didn’t even get there till almost 7pm and there were more people outside the festival, than I had seen inside the previous years. We started hearing stories about total chaos, the night before and people already calling it Clusterfuckchella. Apparently, they were way understaffed this year, and the ticket scanners were not working, so shades of Woodstock, for a brief time last night, the festival was free to get into. I think those outside got wind of this, and those without tickets thought it would happen again tonight. Parking was a logistical nightmare, and that was just the beginning of our problems. Once we were on foot headed to the grounds, to go to, like I always have, the Will Call window, to claim our credentials, the trouble really started. Nobody knew anything. The Will Call tent was not where it had been in previous years and not one staff member could tell me a thing. I finally find this makeshift building by the parking lots and they spill some bad news. This year, and no one had told me, they came up with the brilliant idea to have Will Call off-site, as in not in walking distance, at a hotel over 5 miles away.
Faith No More, our whole reason for taking this on, were going on in an hour – what the fuck do we do? – I tried to stay cool, because fuck just being some jerk off fan trying to see a band, this was a major inconvenience, regardless of the capacity. So we walked over a mile to the nearest cab stand and had him take us over to this hotel. Since it was late in the day and on the second day, things when we got there were in total disarray.
Of course they couldn’t find our wristbands, and it wasn’t without trying, as I can’t complain about so nice they were to us, and apologizing and getting us stuff to drink while we waited. You are gonna think by reading this that I’m a total celeb-whore, but I’m just trying to tell the story and make it fun, so while we were standing there feeling like losers, Sam looks at me and says “hey check it out, American Pie girl” – and to our left was Shannon Elizabeth, apparently in the same predicament we were in:

 I honestly wouldn’t have recognized her if Sam hadn’t pointed her out to me. One of the skinniest people I have ever seen. So that was fun, and then we waited, and waited, and keep in mind the cab driver is still waiting to take us back. Our spirits started to diminish as Faith No More’s start time came and went, as we knew even if we had left that second it would take us most of their set to get back and get settled. So literally after waiting for over an hour, they found our wristbands, gave us a premium parking pass and apologized profusely. NOW we were golden,but how much was this cab gonna cost? In NYC it would have been over 200 bucks easily and I was prepared for the worst, when we find out that this gentlemen was so kind to us that he turned the meter off when we got there and the fare was under 40 bucks! Sam tipped the man very well and he dropped us off behind the main stage and we used our All Access passes to catch the end of their set.
We only got to hear about 4 songs, and I felt most sad for Sam as I had just seen them and knew I’d be seeing them again this Summer, but Sam had never seen them.
Still a great fucking show – they killed, and oddly alot of people had no idea who they were.
Here’s the setlist -Reunited (Peaches and Herb cover)
From Out of Nowhere
Caffeine
We Care Alot
Last Cup of Sorrow
Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
Surprise your Dead
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Midlife Crisis (- this is where we came in at)
Epic
Ashes to Ashes
Just a ManSo, yes, quite disappointed, but totally fucking relieved to be inside the festival and the place was our oyster with our access passes. So we said fuck it, hopped on one of the golf carts and headed to a side stage to see Major Lazer. If you are unfamiliar, its Diplo‘s new project with a crazy reggae singer/dancer with his troupe of backup singers in booties shorts. As far as a visual it did not disappoint, and the tent they played was freaking packed.
It was nuts, with these giant Chinese New Year dragons, and the dancers were flying through the air. At point, she even climbed up this ladder and jumped into a freaking kiddie pool onstage. One of the more what the fuck moments of the festival (but their would be more).
So after that settled down, Sam and I were lamenting the events of the day and having a good time, and we are standing side-stage waiting for Les Claypool to come on. Sam works in film and knows that I am huge fan of the Police, and was telling me about his experiences working on a recent documentary on Andy Summers, when as if we had somehow summoned him, a tall figure with easy to identify, full head of gray hair walks right by us, and Sam and I look at each other like “Damn that looked like Stewart Copeland right there ironically!” – So again, I guess I was in fanboy mode on this trip as I would normally never commit what I was about to do. Having no real confidence that it was actually him, I just strolled over to where he was sitting and lo and behold, there he was. One of my biggest idols and the reason I started playing drums and was ever in a band, Stewart Fucking Copeland. As big of a dork as I could have been, I was actually alright. It felt good to be excited again and even a bit nervous. Doing what I do, you can get used to this stuff and I don’t want that. I always want to retain that feeling of excitement or otherwise I’ll just do something else. So I made some bullshit small talk, and when that ended I broke my cardinal rule and asked for a photograph and he obliged. He was sitting there with his young daughters, can you believe that I was wearing that offensive Les Savy Fav shirt?
I had forgotten for a second that he was in a band, Oysterhead, briefly was Les Claypool, to explain his attendance. The plan was to watch 30 mins of Les Claypool and his new project, the Fancy Band before heading over to the other stage to see the Dead Weather.
Les was cool, I hadn’t seen him in awhile, and his new band was as weird as you would expect. I didn’t recognize any of the songs, but what I heard was good.
Now it was time to hop back on one of the golf carts and get over to the Outdoor Theater for the Dead Weather.  To know me, is to know of my adoration for all things Jack White. I had seen this band several times already, but I was excited to see what they would do here, as most bands make this appearance unique.
The driver dropped us off behind the stage, and that was cool as I can’t complain that I’m 3 feet from Jack White’s drum set, but that’s all I could see. We try to squeeze in on this tiny ledge to the side of the stage and that’s when I learn that these bands were pulling that shit I experienced at Lollapalooza last year, where the band’s have their own stage passes, making anyone else’s worthless as far as watching side-stage. I thought that kinda shit would be below someone like Jack White, but you never know if he was even aware of it. While we were squeezing in, I saw another familiar face/drummer as I looked over and Tommy Lee was next to me, talking to Perry Farrell and his wife, and some chick with the grossest and clearly botched boob-job I’ve ever seen without the presence of mind to not be proud of them and not show them off. I don’t know if she was him or not but check this out:
Isn’t that dark? – I spoke to him briefly and I hadn’t realized that he had performed the night before as the drummer for deadmau5, until he told me.
So the show starts and I decide I wanna go out front so I can see the show proper. It was the perfect time of the night, when everyone is in full swing and the vibe is there and the Dead Weather came out and just killed. Oddly, the wind and the palm trees proved to be a perfect setting for the band and did nothing to offset their gloominess and only gave it a better place to flourish. Think about all that we had seen already and what the crowd had witnessed over the past two days, and it was understood that this was the real deal. Playing most of their debut, Whorehound and a few off their new record, their set was flawless.
During their set and while I was talking to Tommy Lee, Sam went to find his friend Nicole, who had come out from Texas for the festival, and I met back up with them towards the end of the Dead Weather. We snuck her backstage and hopped on a golf cart to go, and finally see – Devo.
I have waited a long time for this. I’ve seen tons of shows and so its not often that I get to see a band that I love for the first time, and for whatever reason, Devo had eluded me for too long. So this was my time – again, we can’t complain but we had that standing behind the stage issue again, but still happy to be there at all.
I had waited a long time for this, and it was freaking awesome! Their about as smart and as funny as you would expect. Updating their look did everything to re-establish this:

 and only made it that more awesome when they came out for the encore in their old outfits. A couple of funny things happened in between. When they were on, there was a small child asleep right by my feet (we were standing behind the drumkit) and when they came back to change into the old outfits, the guitarists was checking on the kid. When they returned after the encore, the kid was gone, and he looks at me as says “Have you seen my son?” – half joking/half serious. I told him I think his mom rescued him from the noise.

The other thing was, its become common knowledge that for whatever reason, actor Danny Devito is a fan of this type of music, namely he’s been seen at any project Mike Patton is involved in, even appearing in a Peeping Tom video, so spotting him at Coachella, is like spotting David Byrne on his bicycle if you live in NYC, its just bound to happen, and its no less a little entertaining each time. This time in particular, as he and Patton and FNM’s Tour Manager, Tim Sweetwood, were watching and grooving behind the stage next to us.
I would have liked to have seen a bit of Die Antwoord, as I just recently been turned on to them, and I saw them backstage and they looked like total freaks, but that was the only scheduling problem I had. Let’s hope tomorrow goes as smoothly. As we were leaving, Nicole takes a pic of Sam and I, and I know we were tired, but this might be the worst pic of me yet:

   We still had to get back to our original parking spot and we knew it would be hours before we could even move. We sat and and laughed for about an hour until I had remembered from being there so many times, and easier way out. We were gonna stay with some friends nearby, so that we wouldn’t have the long drive back, just to drive right back here a few hours later, but we lost touch with them. I think Sam was eager to get back too, so I hit the back way, and about two hours later we were back in Los Angeles around 4am.

Day 2

  So Sam decided not to go today as he had a bunch of stuff to do before starting the work week. He called his friend Nicole and offered her the wristband I gave him, and I was to meet her at the festival. Thank goodness, I already had my wristband, parking pass, knew the score, and all I had to do was just get back out there. Sadly, again their really weren’t any bands playing that would have really warranted this effort in my opinion, other than maybe Sly Stone, but with his reputation, I wasn’t even sure if he would show, but after all I had been through yesterday, I was going to go and enjoy the day and the pampering of the credentials. I get there and I’m parked and inside by 4pm, easy breezy. I would have liked to have seen a bit of Mayer Hawthorne after getting turned on to them at SXSW last month, but I just missed them, but I was in time to see De La Soul.
Freaking 23 years into a career that’s outlasted everybody, they rawked the main stage, showing that they’re not only showing no signs of slowing down, but that they’re in peak form. A perfect time slot for their sunny, throw-your-hands-in-the-air- vibe, MCs Kelvin (“Plug One”) Mercer and David Jude (“Plug Two”) Jolicoeur effectively played half the crowd (“Say hip-hop!”) against the other (“Say par-ty!”), dropped their hits (“Me, Myself and I”), covered Run-D.M.C., and proved an inspired choice for a Sunday Coachella afternoon.

  After they were done, I walked over to one of the side tents to see this fun couple (who actually live around the corner from me in Brooklyn) Matt &Kim, who always put on a fun show. Their music is silly and almost circus like, not anything I would ever listen to at home, but live they are always a blast. They had a huge crowd, mostly of the younger, hipster variety, but a good time was had by all:

   This is where I was to meet Nicole as well, as she had text me to let me know she had arrived right after they were done. We meet and I give her the wristband so you can come backstage, and I was starving and thankfully, the catering tent for Artists was not on the other side, but right behind the stage we were already at. A nice spread by anyone’s standards – amid hardly anyone was in there, so it was a blessing to be in the shade and comfort of a private tent having a great meal and with all the beverages we could consume. I knew this would probably be the only meal of the day so I stocked up.
Thankfully, the next three acts I wanted to see were all at that same side tent right across from the catering tent. Flagging down a backstage shuttle got to be a bit taxing the night before and I was happy to not have to do it as often. Still the big question still lingered: Would Sly Stone show up at all, and if he does, what condition will he be in? –
After eating we walked over and caught a bit of Charlotte Gainsbourg – I got her record this year, and in spite of her famous father and all the privileges she’s been given, I think she is quite talented, and to-die-for gorgeous:
I enjoyed her set way more than I thought I would. I bet it would be better in a dark night club at like 1am however. Now clearly the producers of the festival had the same amount of confidence as I did sadly about Sly Stone’s arrival – Based on his contributions, he could easily headline the mainstage, but based on his reputation, for a cracked-out no-show, they put him in a side-tent at 7pm, scheduled right after Gainsbourg. So we waited…and waited…until an announcement was made that he wouldn’t go on before anyone and would be going on after Little Boots. Here we go, I thought – so we had some time to kill, so we headed over to the backstage compound behind the mainstage. It is literally paradise back there, with sculpted grounds, a man-made lake and a swimming hole and a nature walk. Just the thing to literally get away from it all. How spoiled are these fuckers? but that’s why playing here has the prestige that it does. I show Nicole around a bit, and they were consistently out of beer. I made a joke openly about it and after everyone laughed this guy kept bugging me to take my picture. I didn’t mind so I have no idea why I look so pissed here:
     We waited…and waited…and waited. Until now another announcement was made that “Sly didn’t like this stage and insisted on playing in the tent adjacent to this one” – whatever, this is getting browner by the minute. I waited another 45mins and during that time was when we lost her friend, and then briefly I lost her. When she returned we went over to the stage where Sly Stone had supposedly switched to and their was no sign of him. We still had an hour before Gorillaz were going on, and I did want to see Plastikman, and we were at the stage where he was about to begin.
These DJ’s have really upped their game to make it a visual experience and really give people something to look at:

 Which is important because unless the DJ is someone like Rob Swift, or a turntablist doing tricks, their really isn’t much to look at. This one was exceptional, as in like pioneering so. The giant cage opens and with the visuals it starts to look like its transforming into a monster’s mouth – opening and closing. I was cold sober and it was freaking me out, Nicole’s troublesome friend, had taken god-knows-what earlier and was clearly overwhelmed.
We left the set just a bit early so we could get a beer and get in position for Gorillaz. As you may know they have this rule that you can’t drink outside the designated areas in the general population. I could have just gone backstage, but I actually hadn’t walked the grounds yet and it was the last band on the last day and I felt like I was being snobby and missing the atmosphere. We grabbed drinks as they started and we were in the beer garden next to the stage, so we just said fuck it and stayed there as that was probably the best view we were gonna get. To be honest, though I find the Gorillaz to be interesting, I really couldn’t have cared less. Our obstructed view kinda cost us the visual element that is so important to their performances, but we had a good time and it was a good show. I only know the singles, and I know that one features De La Soul, so I had a good mind to think that we would get something special and hear that song performed live and with De La. And that’s exactly what happened:

…and that was just the beginning – of course this festival is famous and carries the prestige that it does because bands will make their appearances here legendary (unless your the Cure) and though I had previously underestimated this show, this proved to be one of the most epic in the festival’s history.  I learned that their set was marked by a lot of firsts. It was their first live performance in five years, the first time they had the Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon (in sailor suits, too) on stage with them and the first time they didn’t perform backlit behind a giant screen. Then out-came freaking Bobby Womack!

Little Dragon’s Swedish-Japanese vocalist Yukimi Nagano crept up onstage during Empire Ants also marking her first live performance with the band. I even saw Flea, who performed with Thom Yorke an hour prior, rocking out in front of us. Just an awesome, unbelievable show. I always thought Damon Albarn was overrated, now I’m not so sure 🙂
After they played I started hearing stories about what actually happened with Sly Stone – and this story got national attention so you may have heard about it, but in case you didn’t – what I am about to unfold is seriously the brownest shit I’ve ever heard. Keep in mind, I didn’t see any of it (their was a Twitter update saying Sly Stone – Mojave Tent 10:45pm – but I was getting zero service out there) as per the story I had given up on Stone, but I saw the Youtube video so it can’t be disputed. Like you knew that if he showed at all, it could have been dark, but no one could have predicted just how much this person has no business walking around unassisted in regular society, let alone performing on one of the biggest stages in the world. I blame his handlers for being greedy to push him out there, and it was sad and downright disturbing to see the video and hear what had gone down. Between the video and stories I heard here is what happened:” He came out in a blonde-and-black streaked wig and a navy cop’s outfit (complete with badge) and black sequined smoking jacket.
He then launched into a diatribe about a lawsuit against his former manager, Jerry Goldstein, saying, “I didn’t know I was being stolen from,” as well as something about now being able to buy his own shoes. Then he sat down on the edge of the stage and sang a preview of a new song – which ended when he rolled back and laid down on the stage.
Things started looking up when he got through most of “Dance to the Music.” Then his keyboard when awry. The band immediately kicked into “I Want to Take You Higher.” Then he walked to the front of the stage and fell on his face into the photo pit and was carried out after less than 30 mins.”
And that was that – another Coachella down, this one seemed to go by super fast. I said goodbye to Nicole and her intoxicated friend and headed for the car and back to Los Angeles. Maybe I’ll make it number 8 next year 🙂
Photographers:

Roy Turner