7:00 p.m. - 05.04.2004
Coachella 2004: Thoughts
The one thing they don't tell you, and that I will know enlightened you with is...gather round the monitor now, everyone skooch in close....*in hushed and reverent tones* the California desert is HOTTT!! And I don't mean her of the Cardigan's hott (they're coming back 'round ya know.)
So, the back story as you may know is that my friend won tickets and airfare to coachella (the california glastonbury for all you transatlantic readers - of which I have none) and so he took me along because we share a similar taste in music, sweating, camping, and not bathing.
All we had to do was find a place to stay. Camping at the site was sold out. Brian (my friend) bought us tickets off the internet for 100 bucks (the average rate) even though face value was $25. I then rented a car and we were all set. The day we go to leave, the camping tickets come in the mail and there is only one - Brian returned to the eBay listing only to find that he had mis-read it, there was only ever one ticket. So now we were jetting to Palm Springs but one of us (read: me) had no place to stay when we got there. Whatever. I'm a trooper.
I get on the plane and sit next to two nice girls from seattle, obvious coachella-ites. The following transpires:
me: How you doin'?
them: *smacking gum* fine.
me. you's purdy dames goin' to coachella?
them: *smacking gum* that's right.
me: got an extra camping ticket dollface?
them: *smacking gum* sure big daddy � it�s free for you.
Okay, so the accents were just to spice it up, for the sake of reading.
Really, I asked them, they said they had two extras that they were going to "just throw away", (Umm, these suckers were going for 100bucks on the internet). They asked me to name my price and I offered 75 bucks for one and they agreed, and suddenly everyone was BFF. Everything was all taken care of and I was still sitting on the runway in Seattle.
Meanwhile - Brian starts chatting it up with the happy couple of coachella-ites next to him and by the time we land in California everyone�s BFF.
We get off the plane and start walking through the airport towards the baggage claim area and I look up at the airport's ceiling - only to find that it's not there - we're outside. The airport is f-in outside. We're walking along and I keep muttering to Brian over and over again, how we're outside. It dawns on me then that I'm in California - and that's why all the high school shows I've ever seen on TV had cafeterias and lockers outside - because they can.
We get to the baggage carousel and I hunt down my BFF to get my camping ticket. She digs around in her bag a bit only to realize she never packed them. The deal is off and suddenly I have no place to stay for the night. Meanwhile, I go get the rental car (an SUV) and we offer a ride to Brian's new BFF to their destination - which happens to be daddy's condo and they happen to be 17. I'm such a bad judge of age.
So we two nearing-30-ers and those two nearing-puberty-ers hop in my phat ride and jam on in to downtown Palm Springs. About two minutes outside the airport I realize that him of our new friends, oh let's call 'em Matt and Alissha (read: real names) has no clue where he's going. So we cruise around Palm Springs hoping he'll recognize something. No big whoop - I got no place to stay. We finally find the right road and cruise on down to his place. Driving around Palm Springs I quickly realized that I was now in an episode of the Golden Girls, west side edition.
We drop Matt and Alissha off and then follow them to the grocery store for provisions. For them that meant cereal and milk. For us it meant tequila, beer and Rock Stars. We though we'd be the cool older dudes and offered to set them up with the alcoholic beverage of their choosing. I got the impression Matt was wooing the fair and virginal Alissha with a trip to daddy's Palm Springs condo and some coachella tixs. I figured a little liquid courage would help my man seal the deal. Blah blah blah I think he must be gay.
Long story short, we parted ways with our new HS friends (but, like, she's totally going WWU in a year, lol!!) and hit the open road.
Apparently there was an invite-only pre-coachella party somewhere with some dude from Postal Service spinning some tunes and a few other DJs. One of those �other� DJs was a guy that Brian went to WWU with who was making a name for himself in LA. Blah Blah Blah, Brian got our name on the list. So it's two in the morning, we're partying with some LA scenesters in the desert, and I still have no place to sleep that night (a worry of mine, if you couldn't tell).
We decide to leave and with no where else to go, decide to drive by the event site. As we approach I see some people on the side of the road and pull over, Brian asks if they have any extra camping tickets, and two minutes and $25 dollars later we're pulling into the campsite to pitch our tents. Get you mind outta the gutter, you know what I mean.
So - now I'm ready to start telling you about the actual event - put I'm pooped. Ah well....
TO BE CONTINUED (god knows when) (oh alright, tomorrow)
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