Today's Moment of Zen

A yoga teacher first told me about Dr. Jill Taylor and I'm pleased to see her experience has been getting mainstream press.

But for a less heady form of Zen that instantly gratifies into a visual and audio induced state of Enlightenment, check out Blur performing "This Is A Low" on MTV in what must have been 1994 (from Parkflife, the second greatest Britpop album of all time, only behind WTSMG?).  

xo

It's on?

Some sort of 'feud' is brewing between the modern creators of slack culture, Generation X and neuvo hipsters dubbed as Millennials.  Regardless, I'm happy that Robert Lanham has documented the differences between the age groups.  I happen to fall directly in the middle of the labeled generations, growing up in the Alternative Nation and idolizing Winona Ryder as a teen, yet here I am, blogging about it.

I was equally inspired to to look up Kennedy on YouTube to find this clip talking about women in the 90's while Cracker's "Low" and Smashing Pumpkin's "Disarm" plays in the background. Surprisingly, that is the only interview on youtube that turns up when searching for 'Kennedy' and 'MTV'. One would initially think there are more Kennedy/Alternative Nation clips on youtube, but alas, I am searching for Gen X content on a Millenial search engine.

But a Milennial has, of course, instantly and proudly responded. and he has a point, they are on the path to put Obama into office.

while you're at it, check out this article from today's NYT. i miss my peers.

Coachella: A Post-Jam Odyssey

I've only been to Coachella once, in 2005 with The Dolls on the day I graduated college, kicking off the NIN tour.  That's cool and all but my day was filled with promo, nerves, and logistics. Thus, I was excited to dive in full on.

My festival partner in crime was none other than one of my music buff heros, Mike Greenhaus from Relix.  Although Mike and I only met at Langerado of this year (which is shocking since we have 35 Facebook friends in common, ha!), we have both spent our early 20's working at major music festivals.  He's a pro.  Greenhaus and his podcast partner Benjy turned up at Katie Kay's loft in downtown LA to pick me up and off we went.  The journey began with a lot of MGMT and My Morning Jacket which would continue throughout the weekend.  We approached the festival site late that evening and discovered that the lodging Greenhaus hooked up was classic Coachella Cribs style ie pool, a DJ, and a Russian yogi all along a golf course minutes away from the festival site.  But, I was eager to have a full day 1 so we crashed out early despite the house DJ's love of untz.  

We entered the site the next morning and I loved looking at posters of past lineups.  Coachella has been around since 1999 which is impressive since the festival boom really didn't hit until post-Bonnaroo in 2002.  Like I said, it was only my second Coachella and it was actually Mike's first (between the two of us we've been to literally a dozen Bonnaroos) which is probably because we're both East Coast based.  But I've always been in awe of Coachella's eclectic and world-class lineups from the opening festival bands in the tents to the headliners who I believe really represent my diverse generation.  This is well documented in the Coachella film which features Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Saul Williams, Bjork, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Noel Gallagher and loads others.  I'm even in it!!  Not that I am as relevant as the above artists whatsoever, but fun fun nonetheless.  The festival site itself is laid out incredibly well with a lovely artist land, large VIP, excellent sight-lines from most areas of the mainstage, and tents all within short walking distance of one another which maximizes the amount of artists one can catch.

I quickly met up with my old friend Mark Kates who was doing press with his band MGMT.  As most music fans in the world know, MGMT's Oracular Spectacular is potentially the best album of 2008 (though released in 2007) with only My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges poised for a similar position.  Well at least that's the case in Wizzle World. :)  

While they were off doing promo I decided to bounce around catching Rogue Wave, John Butler Trio and Williamsburg staple Les Savy Fav early on.  I then caught a bit of Jens Lekman before checking out Dan Deacon who was awesome, but I'd way rather see in a club.  I'd never seen Architecture in Helsinki and thought they seemed like sweeatheart ozzies and enjoyed the show.  They also happened to provide the setting for one of the most gorgeous shots of the landscape I snapped all weekend.  

I caught a bit of Tegan and Sara and Vampire Weekend but took a break in the AC of MGMT's bus to catch up with the friends that make up their posse.  I'm so happy for everyone involved with MGMT world!  We all got back into prime viewing locations for the always amazing Raconteurs.  I've had the lucky oppurtunity to see Jack perform all over the US, Japan, and Europe as said band and The White Stripes have had similar tour routing to The Dolls' in years past while I was on the road.  The Raconteurs are one of the best real American rock n roll bands (probably a very close second to MMJ).  They're just real and true musicians and songwriters who beautifully gel together into a tight and talented band.  Mid-set Mark started talking to an uber hero of mine, Alan McGee.  Being the dork that I am, I asked Nick P to secretly snap a picture of the scene.  

Mark was kind enough to introduce me to the man that signed Oasis.  I've seen Alan around loads of shows in London and at various SXSW's but it was really freaking cool to meet the man that put out some of the most influential records on me of all time.

Post-Raconteurs Mark scored a cart to take our little posse over for a bit of Aphex Twin and luckily Gary, our driver, was happy to stick around for the 15 minutes or so we were there before driving us back.  I used my STM (Social Tour Manager) skills to get us back to the mainstage in perfect time for The Verve's set.  Kates is a britpopper just like me though he was able to see a lot of the heydey first hand.  Considering I was in high school in Wisconsin when The Verve were active, I had never seen the 4th most influential Britpop band (on me) live.  I did see Richard Ashcroft at Webster Hall once and it was EPIC.  Not shockingly, The Verve BROUGHT IT.  Richard is truly one of the most gifted songwriters of the 90's and potentially one of the most underrated rock stars of the past decade.  His vocals, stage presence, and dare I say style, were just impeccable.  I loved the light show and hearing "Lucky Man" live was very possibly a highlight of my life.  PsychBritjam is the best way to describe their music for folks who may only know the hit(s).  I wandered around during Jack Johnson as I want to appreciate him live but it hasn't happened yet after half a dozen shows and since he's the real festival whore of the summer (who can blame him?) I'm sure there will be other opportunities.

Day 2 started out fun enough with VHS or Beta and former Dolls' tourmates DeVotchKa, but let's be serious; Saturday was all about MGMT.  I secured my front row sidestage spot early with Mark appreciating my "no maintenance" approach to getting my seat.  I've obviously seen a few shows in my day but I seriously may have had the greatest vantage point of all time happily sitting on a stage right speaker.  MGMT is a true musical movement amongst not just my generation but certainly college students and younger.  Their style, songs, instrumentation, lyrics, and stage presence are speaking directly to youth culture right now.  Note the bikinis.

I feel honored to have witnessed a truly historic set as it was MGMT's first festival play.  They KILLED it.  The tent was packed to the gills, the entire audience was singing along, and I was moved to tears as I'm so excited that there is a new, young, real, true, band that speaks to my generation right now.  Thanks guys.  I also met up with my new friend Mandy (who is a bestie of Josh Frankfort who got me into The Dolls) who is fiction writer working on a collection of short stories based at music festivals.  I told her the Amanda-streaking-and-snogging-Bright-Eyes story for added fodder.

I wandered away from the stage in a musical daze of natural ecstacy and was stoked to run into A&R Queen Mo + her mother who's last festival was in 2005 to see The Dresden Dolls!  Happy family.  I strolled by Bonde Do Role who I'd never heard of and were AWESOME.  Turns out they are from Brasil and I was drawn in by the fact that their MC's were decked out in Paula Abdul shirts identical to one I bought at the merch stand at the Marcus Ampitheatre in 4th grade.  I love that 1990-1993 pop is making a comeback with the NKOTB tour leading the helm. So much so that I saw someone at Coachella wearing a NKOTB shirt I had in third grade.  Love it!  I want some Ooooohhh....On The TLC Tip merch.

Next up was Kate Nash who I was psyched to see.  Her agent tried to (rightfully so) convince me I'd be into her at Glasto last year but her stage was far and she was up against some sort of Britpop.  Thus, I was stoked to see pound away on her keyboard and blow away the audience. The ALWAYS amazing, lovely, and talented Annie Clark was next as St Vincent took the stage.

Look for Ms. Clark to make a special appearance on Who Killed Amanda Palmer later this year.  Maybe someday I'll get to hear the live duet lyrics of "He's your fella, he's your man, that's all there is to say."  Love it girls!!  I caught a bit of Hot Chip, who are incredible, but it was a bit too much of an LA celeb scene for my taste.  And much to my and Laura Lolly's dismay, there was no Lindsay Hohan spotting.  So I moved on to Dwight Yoakam (come on, we're all about diversity, right?), Death Cab, and Rilo Kiley.  I was STOKED to see Kraftwork for the first time ever.  Anyone younger than me reading this, go listen to them now if you don't already.  Jesse: They're like Porsches on The Autobahn, but real.  So awesome.

Next up was Portishead!!  I was excited as similar to The Verve, I never thought I'd have a chance to see Portishead live.  Beth and company did NOT disappoint and their set was truly mind blowing.  A great thing about 90's UK/European bands is that they have WAY more festival experience than their American counterparts.  The traffic jam that is the American 2008 festival season has been going on for years overseas and the 90's bands in particular are schooled to deliver.  Portishead's lights, sound, and staging were dead on enhancing their performance beyond words.  

And then there was Prince.  People prepared me for the second coming of The Beatles.  Really, people freak about Prince, don't you think?  And I get it.  He's all things to all people: he's black, he's white, he's male, he's female, he's rock, he's funk, he's pop, etc.  So I was psyched. P-dogg put on what would proably be a lovely show in an arena.  But I didn't feel it was quite right for a festival and the 20 minute James Brown intro prompted me to go backstage and grab a beer.  Bottom line: Prince is wicked talented but an hour had passed and he'd only played 3 songs.  He's a jam band.  Admit it.  But his cover of "Creep" was definitely gorgeous.

Day 3!  I was so proud of how much stamina I had which is actually pretty easy since there isn't official late night shows, but in general I did a solid job of sleeping and hydrating throughout the weekend.  We started our day with The Cool Kids and then it was time for Katie Kay to show up!!  

Katie is one of my favorite girlfriends in the world.  She has worn a ton of hats in The Dolls family from dancer to tour manager and is currently rocking it at Skin Graft.  SG had an event all weekend so she wasn't able to make it until Sunday.  Anyway, Ms. Kay and I headed over to check out Duffy who was fantastic.  I hope it works out for her and all of the fancy industry people who turned up early for her set.  She seems like a sweet girl.  We spent the middle of the day in the world of Lucent Dossier who perform throughout the festival in the middle of the polo field.  Katie used to be in the troupe and was reunited with loads of old friends.  It was comforting to be amongst performance artists I was used to be surrounded by in Dolls' world on the road and truly appreciated their kind offers of veggie burgers.

As usual, Gogol Bordello put on a lively and fun set and we caught a bit of Metric who are regulars on my iTunes.  During Sean Penn's set I was busy sorting out my friends and location as to where we were going to watch My Morning Jacket.  I've always been into MMJ.  But it wasn't until this weekend I realized that they quintessentially define my generation.  Mike Greenhaus is a brilliant writer.  And in 2006 (as documented on Wikipedia, Jambands.com, and in Relix) Mikey coined the term "post-jam."  We're all unique individuals, but the beef between Hipsters and Hippies always perplexed me.  People were confused that I worked with Dresden Dolls and Fiery Furnaces out of a jam-leaning management company.  I guess musically I'm a bit more "indie" leaning due to my Britpop roots but give me a break.  I live more of a hippie lifestyle both on and off the road and spent college going to Bonnaroo, ya know?  So wtf is up with the beef between both camps?  Both groups love music, take drugs, drink cheap beer, and live for music festivals.  Can't we all get along?  But in reality, we are.  As Greenhaus pointed out, this is the first year in which teh Coachella headliners (Jack Johnson/Roger Waters) could be easily swapped out for the Bonnaroo headliners (Pearl Jam/Metallica).  A lot of this is due to the iPodization of the world.  Hooray!  Last year I watched my little brother run around Bonnaroo psyched for The Roots (hip/hop), The Police (Classic Rock), and Tool (metal).  There's no way that would have happened 10 years ago, don't you think?  So here we are traveling around to the meccas that are music festivals with each group always equally excited to see Radiohead.  The point is, we're in a new era called the Post-Jam era.  It's a musical free for all based in quality, live performance, communication technology which has staked out new territory.  My Morning Jacket are the quintessential post-jam band.  EVERYONE I know loves them from hipsters to hippies to my parents.  I loved watching Katie Kay in her gorgeous dark dreads and tattoos hop alongside to Mike in all of his Phishness that he can never escape.  :)  I feel so lucky to have a copy of Evil Urges and this album is going to crack MMJ wide open.  Jim James has created a masterpiece and I am ecstatic to catch the band throughout the summer.  Nice work guys.   

And what is better in the world than watching MMJ OPEN for Roger Waters.  Who hasn't been influenced by Pink Floyd, right?  I saw Roger play at Live Earth last summer but that doesn't really count as it wasn't his show and he played like 5 songs.  Similar to Portishead, Roger knew how to BRING IT to a festival crowd.  But really, can you go wrong playing Dark Side of The Moon in full sprinkled with Animals and The Wall?  I think not.  As many folks know, the pig got away but was eventually found.  I had a lovely time wandering around the Sunday night Coachella madness before downing some spicy pie pizza with Amanda, Benjy and Greenhaus before heading back to El Ghey.  We crashed out in Katie's (amazing) loft and I had an all-too-brief breakfast with Ms. Kay's former dance partner on The Dolls' tour, Erin Maxick.  Those two really are the best things about LA.  

Thanks again everyone, as this was one of the best festival experiences I've had in quite awhile. Hooray!

xo