Orange County Blog

Oh yes. We're road tripping out early in the morn' to the beautiful (sure, why not?) Empire Polo Field for Coachella. I'll be there all three days; my blogging brethren Spencer Kornhaber and Nate Jackson are also hitting the event for a couple days and just might share their thoughts.

You won't be able to shut me up, however, so keep an eye both on this blog and on our Twitter page for (nearly) constant updates. Except when I'm driving, that's probably a bad idea. Motel 6 in Palm Springs, I hope you remember me as much as I remember you.

See you out there! Find me and win a prize! (Note: Prize may not actually exist.)

Oh gosh. It's almost here. Coachella. Three mind-melting days in the desert. Since the set times are up and all, let's look at what we're expecting to hit for suresies. Though of course, reality (fatigue, giant crowds, changing your mind, passing out from dehydration) may always get in the way.

Here's Friday!

Could this band look any cuter? No? Well, sorry to be the one to tell you, but you won't be able to see these dudes--Welsh indie popsters Los Campesinos!--at Detroit Bar tomorrow night as previously been scheduled. Their MySpace says the show has been "sadly canceled," and in its place at Detroit will be a rad gig with three of our local favorites, The Steelwells, The New Limb and Yellow Red Sparks. Detroit Bar co-owner Jon Reiser informs us that Los Campesinos! will be playing the venue in August.

Given that the Friendly Fires show, scheduled for last night (and Friendly Fires were still in town, playing a show at Cal State Fullerton yesterday afternoon) was also canceled at the last minute, and both acts are playing Coachella (Los Campesinos on Friday, Friendly Fires on Sunday), it's easy to conclude that it's no coincidence.

Who is that heavily made-up young lady gazing at you from your desktop? Why, it's British neo-soul singer Joss Stone, of course! If you haven't really thought about her in a while, you're not alone, she kind of feels (to me, at least) like a has-been at this point even though she only just turned 22. But that's not really fair of us. She's got a new album, Colour Me Free, out this summer, and she just got added to the Coachella lineup, playing on Saturday at 2:40 p.m. on the main stage.

What's that? A time? A location? Yep, they announced set times today, and you can check them out here. Get ready to be bitterly disappointed by bands you want to see playing at the same times as each other! (We're lucky to have such problems, no?) I'll probably start thinking seriously soon about what I'm going to check out, aka where the cool kids will be, but our guy Andrew Youssef has already done so on his blog, and he did a pretty good job. Look forward to my less hip recommended schedule soon.

Last Night: Jenny Lewis, Dawes at the Glass House in Pomona, April 13, 2008.

We'll have more thoughts--and pics from Beth Stirnaman!--in the morn', but until then, here's the setlist from the (awesome) Monday night show.

Even if you're not making it out to Coachella this weekend, there's plenty of runoff 'round these parts to keep you satisfied, with a plethora of artists playing the festival hitting us up on the way to Indio.