Over the course of one evening, an unsuspecting group of twenty-somethings find themselves bombarded by a series of natural disasters and catastrophic events.
Veteran-turned-mercenary Thoorop (Diesel) takes a high-risk assignment where he must escort a woman out of Russia. His client, however, is carrying a synthetic virus -- one that could bring about the end of humankind. Making his mission extra-difficult is the cult that has designs on what rests inside the young woman's body.
FBI agent Roy Clayton (Pearce) heads up a conspiracy investigation which initially susses out a prime suspect: Samir Horn (Cheadle), a former special ops officer with strong ties to Afghan rebels in the Middle East. As Clayton chases Horn around the world, however, a tangled web of contradictory evidence is revealed.
A revolver-wielding stranger (Tarantino) crosses paths with two warring clans who are both on the hunt for a hidden treasure in a remote western town. Knowing his services are valuable to either side, he offers himself to the clan who will offer up the largest share of the wealth.
June 2008
I keep fruitlessly attempting to come up with the perfect lead into this column and after 547 failed tries I'm coming to terms with the fact that a rockin' lead to introduce an equally rockin' occasion simply doesn't exist. So here we go...
COACHELLA!...I'm assuming I have your attention now.
The palm-tree lined Empire Polo field in Indio, California set the stage for the three-day musical escapade known as the annual Coachella Music and Arts Fest April 25, 26 & 27. The thermometer read nearly 99 degrees throughout the entire weekend but no one seemed to pay much attention as bands such as Portishead, Jack Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie, The Reconteurs, M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, The Cold War Kids, Roger Waters and Prince were scheduled to grace the stage. (And really, I'm only scratching the surface with this minuscule list, to name every musical performer would take eons.)
So you can imagine how ecstatic I was when Mr. Producer got us VIP passes for the entire weekend! All five glorious stages jam-packed with amazing musical talent; I could hardly contain myself! (I suppose sometimes it pays to be press.) As soon as my shift was over on Friday I made my final round of cop calls (Oh, the perils of crime reporting!) and raced east down the interstate to Indio where I would spend the next three days. I arrived just in time to catch the end of Dan Decon and Vampire Weekend's set. In the late afternoon California sun some friends and I rocked out the New York natives; dancing and singing along with their laid-back melodies. (If you haven't yet checked out Vampire Weekend, I strongly encourage you to.) After a brief stint in the beer garden where we enjoyed a few outrageously overpriced Heinekens, it was off to the VIP area where my special hot-pink bracelet was guaranteed to magically let me pass.
Let me tell you something about VIP...while everyone else is waiting in line to use an unsanitary port-o-potty, I got to utilize the air-conditioned, yes air-conditioned, girl-only restroom where there is not only running water and paper towels, but huge mirrors and even little flower arrangements. Aside from restroom facilities, VIP is also where the bands and some certain celebrities hang out, (Just off the top of my head we ran into Steven Tyler, Kelly Osborne, Sienna Miller, some chick from America's Next Top Model,) oh! And best of all in VIP, there's Thai food!
After chatting it up with some other media and pirating a few free water bottles we headed to the main stage to catch The Raconteurs, The Verve and Jack Johnson.
Luckily we all live relatively close to the polo fields so at the end of Jack Johnson's set we headed back to our respective carpeted, central-air conditioned homes and apartments to take advantage of the showers we needed so badly-luckily we weren’t forced to camp out in the heat of the desert sun. (We were all pretty beat, as most of us had put in a long day at work...I'd been up since 3:45 that morning so sadly I was bordering on comatose.)
After a good night's rest we were back in action Saturday, braving the heat to catch bands such as VHS or Beta, Minus the Bear, Cold War Kids and Death Cab for Cutie during the searing heat of the afternoon. I should also mention the amazingly cool and quirky, abstract art that is positioned all over the polo fields. There was everything from a huge bamboo wave installation to a tree house that looked as though it was plucked from a Tim Burton film.
I was super stoked to catch Shri-Lankan badass M.I.A.'s performance that evening at the Sahara tent, but by the time Mr. Producer and I arrived, a mass of people had packed themselves together so tightly it was nearly impossible to get within eye shot of the stage. People actually scaled the walls of the tent when M.I.A. began her performance. We hung around to hear the ever popular "Paper Planes" but I was a bit disappointed because the crowd was such a mess. Being so far back, we did get to see Rod Stewart's ex-wife, Rachel Hunter, purchasing lemonade...exciting, huh?
The amazingly talented Portishead was set to play on the main stage next so we booked it across the field to catch Beth Gibbons crooning away to her trip-hop melodies. We mostly spectated from VIP, but I believe this performance made me an even bigger Portishead fan. I think their sound is so original and haunting...so, so good!
Okay so I know many of you may curse me for this but Prince was scheduled right after Portishead. I'm absolutely apathetic to Prince, and felt he didn't really match the Coachella "feel." I stayed for = a song....what? We had a party to get to.
T-Mobile was sponsoring an after party in an airplane hanger at the Thermal Airport and somehow (I don't even care to know the details) a small group of us were on the list. Stars like Paris Hilton and her Good Charlotte boyfriend (is it Benji or Joel?) as well as Carmen Electra and her fiancée were in attendance while DJ AM and DJ Mom Jeans (a.k.a Danny Masterson who plays ‘Hyde’ on ‘That 70s
Show’) kept the tunes pumping well into the early morning hours. There was the luxury of free alcohol, food, plus FREE Michael Stars clothing...oh and some high-tech karaoke. It was simply amazing, especially for an Ohio girl. We'd gone straight from Coachella to the airport and I remember feeling way too dirty and underdressed to be hanging out at such an exclusive party. My hair was a mess, I'm sure I didn't smell fantastic, and my feet were caked in mud, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. I'm not at all a subscriber to the obsession with celebrity but even to me the whole experience seemed a bit surreal. Only a year ago I was working at Ohio University's student union and getting ready to graduate....now I'm attending the same party as Paris Hilton? Life is a crazy journey.
Sunday I was absolutely exhausted (yes...I do believe it was after 5 a.m. when we finally made it through the front door) so I'll admit I spent entirely too much time in bed. But when I emerged it was back to Coachella to catch the VERY last song from Gogol Bordello, Sean Penn's lecture to the massive crowd about politics, and Sia, who I must say has the most amazing voice. When she ended with the popular "Breathe Me" (a personal favorite) I knew my weekend came to the perfect close. (Oh yes, and I caught a bit of Roger Water's set with his giant, inflatable pig...Long story short, Waters loses this semi-sized swine prop and it floats away like a balloon. He then proceeds to dump millions of "Vote Obama" fliers on a huge portion of the eastern cities that makeup the valley I live in after miscalculating wind speeds and missing the music fest crowd. You know, Roger Waters is currently on my shit list because for the entire work week following his performance, all I got done doing was writing stories on lost pigs and misplaced campaign literature. Thanks, dude.)
I did however have a touch of that childlike disappointment you get the day after Christmas when you know all the excitement is over for another 364 days.
Don't worry, Coachella, I will return again next year.
