ich bin ein auslander

Getting ready to pack stuff up and head on out for Indio. If anyone is interested in following along this weekend (cellphone connections permitting, of course), here’s my little Coachella moblog:

Coachella Moblog

and the spiffy version dave helped out with is here

To the dustbowl!

Thanks Dave for helping out on a little special project Wendy and I will be doing at the MIA 05 festival. We’re going to be doing a test run of it for Coachella… I’ll post the info once I’ve set it all up.

Now the excitement really kicks in! It’s better than Christmas Eve! Excel spreadsheets floating across the net with color-codings based on genre, breakbeats, gothness, whatever. Plotting out who I stay 10 minutes for and who I watch for the full set. Scheduling margarita breaks. When do I get to see the huge lightning machine go off? Probably best during New Order, since they’re boring live. Do I go early or do I sleep off the hangover? We’ll see. Must be there by 3pm each day; earlier depends on the speediness of my old body’s recovery. And the willingness of my Coachella travelling partners.

Yes, tickets and passes are in hand. Directions to hotel, hotel to venue and back printed. Money in wallet. Need to do the SavOn run for the little essentials - chapstick, sanitary wipes, bottled waters for car, hotel, bag. Pick some comfortable clothes out.

The rumors begin in earnest on the net and I can’t stop reading them. Cocteau Twins and Doves are definately out; no one has really replaced them. Expanded set times for key acts. Bullshit. David Byrne has been bounced around for weeks now; we all know Interpol is around, as is Beck. Will Interpol do a full set, or will Carlos D spin somewhere? Will Beck be there at all? Will they be letting Andy Dick in after last year’s messy public arrest on the grounds? I say, let him in but don’t let in Tommy Lee and his stupid fucking Segway. What a prick.

Who’s the annual special guest? And where the hell is he going to fit in on the schedule? Who’s playing at the afterparties, and where are they? Must be plotted and charted!

They must have printed the handout maps/schedules by now… so are we going to be reduced to free-floating group rumours again? Pieces of paper stuck on the various tents which will announce “Your favorite band ever was the special guest and they just finished 10 minutes ago”. We all know the official text-messaging updates don’t work for shit out there.

Ah, who cares. The desert calls. I can’t fucking wait. “In the flat field I do get bored…”
ah, bauhaus.

went out with john a few nights ago, didn’t get back until 4am. went out to dinner and then drinks with greg, anna and doug friday. didn’t get back until 3am. on the plus side, greg’s going to play on my 42 minute opus which will be unveiled in buffalo in june, so i’m excited about hearing what he’ll be bringing to the piece. then last night was packed.. dinner with dehais and myra and more than a few margaritas, off to see the wonderstuff (an unfairly forgotten band… and even those that remember them think the singer’s a bit of a bastard, but i’ve always been overly fond of them and him). enjoyed the show, unfortunately, we had to leave earlier to head off to an art show for mike, celine, carmen and tony which was way the hell out in los feliz. and then a bar out there. didn’t get home until 1:30.
i would like to sleep tonight, i’m thinking.

My must-see list for this years..

Saturday:
bauhaus
weezer
chemical brothers
wilco
doves
bloc party
mercury rev
m83
ambulance ltd
josh wink
tiga
the kills
unkle
secret machines
swayzak
razorlight

Sunday:
nin
new order
bright eyes
gang of four
prodigy
roni size
junkie xl
mia
tegan and sara
stereophonics
british sea power
the bravery
kasabian
matmos

and david byrne if the cocteau twins replacement rumors are true.