Coachella: The Recap, Day 3

Oh my. I've been back home in the cold and snow for three days now and I still haven't quite recovered. Also, I've already planned our trip for next year.

Sets I Caught: City and Colour, Angus and Julia Stone, Jimmy Eat World, Best Coast, Duran Duran, The Strokes, Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, Nas & Damian Marley

Bummed I Missed: fun., Gord Downie, Chromeo

Highlights: Best Coast. I LOVE their album, Crazy For You, and have been looking forward to seeing them for months. It was amazing. Another great moment was walking toward the main stage to see Wiz Khalifa and being knocked backward by a wall of weed.

Low Points: Missing fun. and Gord Downie because we left our car lights on all night and the battery was dead when we were ready to head out. I guess that's just the type of mistake you risk when you mix high heat and a lack of water.

Spotted: Kelly Osbourne wondering between the outdoor and main stages

Lessons Learned:

• Always make sure the car lights are off. It took me nearly eight years of driving to learn that lesson. Does this mean I'm usually fairly responsible or just a slow learner? Only time will tell.
• Don't put a few of your pain pills in a baggie in your pocket just because you don't want to carry the prescription bottle. Security won't see it the same way you do.
• Drink enough water. Even though the portable restrooms are disgusting, it's better to be hydrated. The contact high is way better that way.

Can't wait for next year!
-J

Coachella: The Recap, Day 2

Another day, another tender sunburn in a new and exciting location. Yesterday it was 101 degrees and I feared death. Don't worry though, I've already willed my entire music collection to Mad Dog. That said, I'm pretty happy I powered through and will be able to see Kanye tonight. Here's what went down yesterday:

Sets I Caught: Erykah Badu, Bright Eyes, Mumford & Sons, Cage The Elephant, Broken Social Scene, The Kills, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire.

Bummed I Missed: Francis & The Lights, Raphael Saadiq, The Swell Season. There's just not enough time in one day!

Highlights: Mumford & Sons performance will probably be my favorite thing that happened this year. The crowd was SO excited for them. It was a good time. Hot and sweaty, but a good time nonetheless.

Low Points: Erykah Badu getting cut off. That was some bullshit. Another downer; getting trapped in a huge gang (that's right, I said gang) of pot smokers in the crowd during Animal Collective so I couldn't escape to catch some of The Swell Season.

Spotted: Usher and his gigantic entourage in line for fresh lemonade.

Lesson's Learned:

• If you're very thirsty, don't get in line behind Usher & Co. You will wait forever.
• Erykah Badu live is everything you've ever dreamed it would be and much more. I'll be seeing her again asap.

More to come tomorrow!
-J

Coachella: The Recap, Day 1

I decided to break this up into days because we all know how I like to drone on and on when recapping shows. So it might be incomplete for now, but this way I won't forget any of the important stuff and I'll be less likely to take you through every single step of my day while I'm trying to remember what the hell happened.

Sets I Caught: !!!, Sleigh Bells, The Black Keys, Lauryn Hill, Cee Lo Green, Robyn, Kings of Leon, Brandon Flowers, The Aquabats, Odd Future

Bummed I Missed: The Drums

Highlights: Ummm Lauryn Hill!? That set will go down as one of the best moments of my life. Also, Robyn's performance was pretty amazing. Lot's of dancing and happy faces.

Low Points: Cee Lo's set getting cut short by the Powers That Be. Talk about F**k You, right? Also, the video screens malfunctioned during the majority of The Black Keys set. If you were very far back, you couldn't see a damn thing. But the sound was great, so.........I'll let it slide.

Spotted: Rob McElhenny and Kaitlin Olson of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia soaking up some Sleigh Bells at the Mojave Tent. Cee Lo Green and crew side stage jamming to Lauryn Hill. Pharrell guesting on vocals during Odd Future's set.

Lesson's Learned:

• Kings of Leon might be an alright band after all. I've been holding out judgement, but their performance was pretty great.
• If you want to get a good contact high, go to a Sleigh Bells show. It was coming at me from four different directions and lasted the rest of the night.
• The more time that passes at Coachella, the less clothing people seem to be wearing; and I thought Vegas was the only place where knowingly showing your ass cheeks in broad daylight was a generally accepted practice. Silly me.

Tune in tomorrow for Day 2 news
-J

J's Album Pick of the Week

I bought this cd earlier in the week and haven't been able to move on from it yet. That's usually a good sign. This morning I made my mother listen to it while we ate breakfast. She commented that it reminded her of the music she liked when she was young (in the 60s). I think I can agree with that statement. It's more poppy and I think that's what has attracted me to this album as opposed to some of their past stuff. It's mos def worth purchasing.

Fave Tracks: Don't Carry It All, January Hymn, Down By The Water, Rise To Me, and Dear Avery

-J

Cake at Austin Music Hall: The Recap

Last week my cousin, Roxy, and I drove from Denver to Austin to see Cake's New Year's Eve show. Crazy? A little. I didn't know anything about this band until Thanksgiving when Roxy asked me to go to this show with her. I'm not really in the habit of driving nearly 1000 miles to see bands I've never listened to, but I knew it would be warm in Texas so I agreed. We spent the day hanging out in downtown Austin and eating the most delicious guacamole known to man at a restaurant called Maria Maria. We headed over to Austin Music Hall around 6pm and waited for the doors to open. The line was fairly long when we arrived so both of us were surprised to find ourselves in the second row once inside. The catch-22 of standing room only situations is that you want to be up at the front for obvious reasons, but being in the front inevitably means dealing with everybody trying to edge you out for a better view and that one girl who gets WAY TOO drunk and pukes all over the place.

The first band to go on was Mariachi Texas. They played for an hour before the next opening band. I like a little Mariachi, but an hour was a bit much. The second band was Agent Ribbons. Roxy and I liked this band best, but they were only able to play about five songs due to a long delay brought on by a broken guitar string midway through song three. After this, Mariachi Texas played for another hour. WHAT!?!? It was ridiculous. After that, the third opening band went on and played for what felt like forever. The only thing I remember about them was crazy costumes and a song entitled Sweet Banana containing a lyric similar to this: "sweet banana and salty coconuts mix in my mouth to make a delicious concoction." Yeah.

Finally around 11:30pm Cake waltzed on stage. It was right about this time when the aforementioned drunk girl had to puke. Good times. They opened with Love You Madly which was great for me because I actually remembered listening to and enjoying that one in the car the previous day. They were really good live. The singer had a cold, but still sounded just like the recorded versions (at least to an inexperienced listener such as myself). They only played about ten songs. It seemed like a bit of a rip off. The opening bands played for a total of four hours and we got roughly an hour and a half of the band we'd paid to see. And really only about forty-five minutes of that time was spent with the band actually playing. They asked a trivia question at one point and spent twenty minutes finding someone to answer. A good portion of time was also spent dividing the audience in half (like we couldn't have figured that one out on our own) and assigning portions of the choruses of a few songs for each half to sing. I like listening to bands tell stories and talk about the music, but I get irritated when so little music is actually played.

All in all it was a fun road trip. I've been to better organized shows, but at least the band was good. I don't know if I'd go see them again, but I did buy three of their songs after the concert. More importantly, I bought a lot of Agent Ribbons stuff and I really like their song Don't Touch Me. That's what I love most about concerts, there's always the opportunity to discover an unexpected gem.

-J