6:46 p.m. Coachella part one, or, this monkey's gone to indio rawk heaven 2004-05-05
Reaped So my pretties, your dear hipstress has returned from the flaming inferno of Coachella, bearing tales of song, sweat & dancin like a monkey. Here�s the rundown:

Saturday: arrive in parking lot 9am, chug forties of Mickey's & chat with some tailgatin' Texans. Sweat out alcohol buzz waiting for gates to open. Observe many interpretations of the Fabrizio fro, indie swoop, 2 milo (descendants) tattoos. i'm kickin it in my mini skirt & sunhat, sweatin like a mo fo.

Musik:

Section Quartet: 2 violins, a cello, a drummer doing Radiohead covers. Eerily beautiful.

the Sounds: Swedish pop, chick lead singer w/ debbie harry look, she wails. You may have heard "livin in america" as in 'we're not livin in amerika, & we're not sorry.." r a w k

the Evens: I went off on these guys last time. They played in a tent but it was still a crowded sweat city. Folky punk or punky folk or whatever. Cute girl drummer. It got too hot so we went out into the sun to bake in the sounds of

the Stills: who sounded much like the Strokes. So we bought some water and headed over to

Kinky: who I saw way back in 2001 at WMNF Tropical Heatwave. Latin electro-rock. They�re also on a car commercial now.

Black Keys: One of my friends handed me this cd a couple months ago. �We had a religious experience with this last night.� It�s just 2 guys w/ vaguely Hendrix guitars, but the sound is huge. Bluesy rock. Sister & I sang along from a shady area.

Junior Senior: Go Junior! Go Senior! Go Junior! Go Senior! This is the chant that pervades the beginning of the show. Someone asks me if they play house music. I say, no, more like poppy surf-rock with a housy influence. During the show someone asks us if we�re rolling. I tell them to try the rave tent and continue to shimmy to Rhythm Bandits. We leave to catch Death Cab & miss Fred Schneider coming out for a b52s cover b/c we suck.

Death Cab for Cutie: I love this band so much I will withstand 105 degree temperatures in full sun to watch them. Purifying jangly sadness at its best. We actually watched the whole set. Then it was time for�

THE PIXIES: I almost missed the beginning of the set getting a fucking meatball sub and then losing my sister in the sea of 50,000 people. Almost. As I sat down to inhale my 8 dollar sub I could hear Frank Black urging people not to push in the front. I think every single person at the festival was at the main stage at this point. Then they started Bone Machine, & I left a garbled message on my home phone for JW. Then, to ensure my status as high dork of music, I took pictures even though we were a half mile away from the stage. People climbed speaker poles to get a better look. Luckily they had movie screens so you could see the stage, but you were at the mercy of the camera man. Here�s the catty part: Kim Deal got fat, Frank Black got fatter, Dave Lovering kinda lost some hair but Joey Santiago is still a sexy mother fucker, especially when he plays that screaming guitar riff off Caribou. Lovering kept taking pictures of the crowd. Here�s the full set list:

Bone Machine

U-Mass

Isla De Encanta

Wave of Mutilation

Broken Face

Cactus

Caribou

No. 13 Baby

Gouge Away

Tame

Monkey Gone To Heaven

Debaser

Velouria

Hey

Gigantic

Nimrod's Son

Here Comes Your Man

Vamos

In Heaven

Where Is My Mind?

Into The White

As the sun set, the Pixies played Into the White, and for a moment, all was right in the world.

We left the mainstage Radiohead worship for the comparable anarchy of the Rapture: disco rock, real upbeat danceable stuff. Came back & wandered around trying to find a decent place to watch Radiohead, since Sister hadn�t seen them. We finally did, & Bil0xi boy laid down for awhile, said it was relaxing enough to put him to sleep (?). We kicked him awake awhile later, eschewed the radiohead encore & headed over to the final band of the night

the Electric Six: (ok, to secure my crown of indie rawk cred I shoulda gone to Kraftwerk. SHOULDA, but didn�t.) This was the first band signed to Jack White�s label. Upon signing 5 of the band members quit b/c (according to c4bbie) �the lead singer is such an a-hole�. While this might be true, (his name IS Dick Valentine) they were hilarious. At first Valentine sounded out of tune, which was worrisome especially after he holds up a Heineken & proclaims he�d been drinking since noon, but a couple songs into it, it all meshed together. As Radiohead let out people began crowding in, but we were actually in front, dancing the last bit of moisture from our bodies to their satirical crunchy rock. During the Fire! interlude they segued into that horrible song �The Rose� (y�know, �some say love, it is a riiiiveeeeer�, etc etc). Towards the end of the set there�s a moment of silence, so I scream GAY BAR! The lead singer looks out into the audience. �Ladies and Gentlemen, Johnny blahblahblah�, and they launch into the beginning riffs of what is quite possibly my favorite song of last year. A spontaneous mosh pit breaks out in front of us. And too soon, day one of Coachella is over. I get lost in the dusty parking lot trying to find the car. We wait 2 hours to move thirty feet, then get lost again trying to get back to the highway to the hotel. Get home around 3am, exhausted, sweaty but satisfied.

Sown
Fresh Cut
New digs - 2004-05-25
Bachelor hell - 2004-05-10
Grumble - 2004-05-07
Coachella pt. 2, or goddamn do my fingers hurt - 2004-05-05
Coachella part one, or, this monkey's gone to indio rawk heaven - 2004-05-05

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