Advertisement
L.A, Indeo - Coachella
Day 28 - Monday
13.04.2009
So the plan for our day in Hollywood was of course to go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Mann’s Chinese Theatre. As soon as we got there however and parked up around 11.55am (this information IS important) we realised what the date was, and we actually needed to drop off the car TODAY, at (you guessed it) 12pm - Brilliant.
We had completely gotten our days mixed up due to flight information confusion about Gem’s bro and friend Gary, who were coming to meet us the next day. We rang the hire company and managed luckily to get an extension for a day, for no extra money - winner! Thinking about this though it was probably because we had spent so much money with them but still we weren’t totally screwed by missing our return date. It also meant that we could pick up the boys from the airport and go and get their hire car before we drop it off. Regardless to say we were happy.
Once that fuck up was sorted we well and truly conquered the walk of fame. We took so many pictures but not just of the obvious celebs, like Marilyn Monroe, we like to be a little different. Gem got her pick with Zsa Zsa Gabor and me with Celine Dion. There were also many, many more with the “stars” such as The Village People, Billie Burke (aka Glinda the Good Witch) and Jamie Lee Curtis, etc, etc. I was truly happy when I found Angela Lansbury and sat on the ground making actions on a typewriter.
We got more creative when we saw Hilary Swank and Gem accurately positioned her foot over the first part of her name and made a rude word - I’ll let you figure that out for yourselves. We also did the same with Les Brown, to make Les B (lesbian), Buster Keaton as Gem calls me Buster, and Iron Eyes Cody (who ever the fuck that is) to make Cody - our codeword for lesbian. This of course amused us greatly and we were there for sometime.
I also got my pick with my hands on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s imprints for a bit of touristy cheese action. I have since found out however that he was behind proposition 8, banning gay marriage in California once he became governor - bastard. I now wish I had defecated on his “hands” - oh well never mind.
You could also see the Hollywood sign from the shopping mall at the walk of fame, but it was tiny - we definitely had to get a bit closer, but that was for another day. We instead decided to go to Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade for a bit more shopping. We drove down Santa Monica Blvd. and as some of you might know, L.A is constantly backed up with traffic so we took this opportunity to roll down the windows and crank up the tunes. Our choice of music was DJ Spinbad, and in particular his mix of Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Cyndi Lauper’s Girls just want to have fun which cleverly became, through the magic of mixing “Girls Just Want to Cum” - hahahaha, wicked. It was very cool.
We didn’t spend long at the Third Street Promenade, just had a poke about at the very expensive Abercrombie & Fitch and quickly walked away before the possibility of buying a hoodie even entered my mind and so would consequently become bankrupt because of it.
That night I felt roughtastic. Don’t know why I wasn’t even hungover. I chilled with roomies Katy and Sam while Gem got pissed with a few Aussie guys we met at the hostel, one in particular who we thought was cool - Harry, who we immediately named Bellafonte.
Day 29 - Tuesday
14.04.2009
Right - so today was actually the day to drop off the car, we were meeting Chris (Gem’s bro) and Gary from the airport, but first we wanted to take Bluey on one last adventure to see the Hollywood sign up close and personal. After a bit of Googling, Gem found the “best spot” in the city to see the sign and after what seemed like an eternity of driving up windy Los Angeles hills, we found it. It’s so much smaller than you imagine it would be but the view compared to the shopping mall was a hundred times better so was definitely worth it. We took the obligatory photos and some with Gem’s fingers hiding the “hollyw” so creating the “ood” sign - had to be done.
After all this fucking around we were slightly pushed for time to get to the airport, and as the boys didn’t actually know we were coming to pick them up (as it was a surprise) we had to bust a move before they unknowingly left without us. With a skilled bit of weaving in and out of traffic we got there in time for brother and sister to be reunited once again - Gem was very giddy by this point but she only needed a couple of slaps to keep her from crawling up the walls with excitement.
It was time to drop off Bluey - a very sad time as we loved him / her sooo much and he / she had taken us on some good times. Alas it wasn’t meant to be forever. At the same time we picked up the boys’ hire car which we were sharing with them for two weeks until San Francisco. It was large, bulky and ugly - not a patch on Bluey but it would get us from A to B and more importantly to Coachella.
Anyway that night after letting Gem and Chris do some much needed catching up we had been hooked up by Rebecca and Natalie (the couple who had provided us with free drink and food at the Spitfire) with their friend, Erin. They had mentioned her to us as a fellow traveller and their housemate, who would be cool to hang out with, as she too understands how cool it is to be shown around by a local as opposed to hitting the touristy locations. Anyway she had text us and invited us along to an ‘activities’ bar in Venice Beach. It was basically a sports bar but she called it an activities bar due to the vast array of stuff to do there. You can play pool, air hockey, shuffleboard, and a game called Pop a Shot, which is basically shooting hoops. Beer was cheap, conversation was flowing and shit games were being played so we got quite pissed and had a banging evening. I also for some reason decided to steal a basketball from the pop a shot game, as you do when you’re pissed. I actually managed to get away with it so “skilled” and drunk basketball was enjoyed on the way home - brillo.
Day 30 - Wednesday
15.04.2009
Surprisingly I awoke with a hangover and … a new basketball - memory of which only jogged by the drunken photos taken in the parking lot in the early hours of that morning.
I felt horrible so what made sense for our plans - well that was to go shopping ALL day of course. Just what I would have chosen. The boys needed camping stuff which was cool as I needed sandals. But then camping stuff turned into t-shirts, and then shorts, and then t-shirts and then hats and then t-shirts and then American Apparel…and then t-shirts. Can you get my point? The boys were like middle aged women. I’ve never hated shopping so much.
That night we were going to chill out and go to the movies as alcohol wasn’t on our “to do” list. Erin however had been in touch and had invited us to an improv comedy night her friend was acting in. It was something different and endorsed by a local so we were definitely up for it. After a spot of vegan dinner we headed to the show. It was all about L.A culture and young children in a beauty pageant and how they are influenced by their parents. A bit of it went over our heads as we aren’t from L.A but a lot of it was funny, and it was cool to do something different - I’ve never done anything like that before and I really enjoyed it.
We said our goodbyes to Erin and thanked her for her amazing hospitality.
If you cast your mind back “the plan” was not to drink due to feeling like utter crap that morning. But I must have gotten my second wind or something (I realise this now as I put it all onto paper) as we hit the Bud Light again and proceeded to get several shades of merry with our roomies Sam and Katy as well as a couple of new additions - Fay and Emma, 18 year old babies from the UK on the very last leg of their travels. It was a very cool last night in L.A; it was almost like a small bonding session between all of us. It was funny as we realised we had never actually seen Sam or Katy out of that room - fun was made, that they never actually get out of their PJs and leave the hostel.
As the beers flowed (although I again now realise it was just Gem and I that were drinking) the subject of sex arose - of course. Fay and Emma had only realised once they had heard the definition of lesbian sex that they had slept with each other, and Emma had slept with a total of three other women - pfft, straight people! It was all very funny.
The night ended with Gem being dared to get into bed with any random guy in one of the boys’ dorms (although he stunk so much she just posed thumbs up next to him) and then Gem craving, in equal measures, a low bunk and a “spoon” with a woman that she shared a bed with Katy (may I remind you, a body confident poledancer.) 4am girls we had truly become as that’s when we crawled into bed.
Day 31 - Thursday 16.04.2009
Day 32 - Friday 17.04.2009
Day 33 - Saturday 18.04.2009
Day 34 - Sunday 19.04.2009
Right the next four days I am combining together as everything at a festival all merges together anyway and I am very behind in writing this blog!!
It was time to leave for Coachella Arts and Music Festival in Indio, CA. We got our shit together and left “early” or so the plan was supposed to go. After an eternity in Whole Foods we hit the road a little later than we had said - that’s what you get for hanging around with a meticulous vegan (Gary not Gem.)
We said our goodbyes to the girls and of course swapped details and when we finally did leave we got to chill out in the back as the boys drove which was fine by me as I could sleep it off.
Now, L.A wasn’t that hot as it is obviously near the coast. Indio however is in the Palm Springs desert in the Coachella valley so basically was fucking hot. We got there as the sun was slowing setting though, so the intense heat of the day had cooled and made it bearable to queue up. This festival compared to others I’ve been to was very anal - no alcohol in the festival at all, you can’t go back and forth from your tent when you want to, and as we realised only when we got to the front of a massive queue, no guitars. Chris who had brought his guitar had to go drop it off at the car and re-queue all over again. These were just initial differences that didn’t particularly make a good impression towards this festival but it also bought to light aspects of the whole event that I wouldn’t normally appreciate, like - not having a hangover (always a bonus), and spending more time in and around the music as opposed to having a day drinking siesta in the tent.
Anyway we hitched up our tent in a flash and watched the boys struggle with theirs - there are advantages to a $20 child’s tent from Walmart. We were also camping with Andy and Sash a couple of Landan boys Chris and Gary had met in Australia. Between our three tents we had the “creative” idea to try and fashion some form of shade as apparently it gets very hot in the morning and you can’t enter the festival site until 12pm. So armed with a 10ft x 12ft tarp, rope, extra tent pegs, a borrowed mallet, a spare tent post and a nifty fake Swiss army knife (that Mom Mar got me for chrimbo) Gay Mears led the team to put together the shittest, yet on the same hand the most brilliant structure we could muster in such a situation. It looked crap but provided the shade we so massively needed so in my opinion, was a success.
After this bout of more than enough outdoorsyness we trotted off to see what the alcohol situation was like - in a word it was shocking. A HALF pint was $7! In my crude currency converting skills that would make this a 5.50 half pint soooooo an 11pound pint - fuck me!!!! It’s safe to say I didn’t have another.
So when the sun went down and the expensive beers weren’t flowing there was this cool party place to go to just for the campers which was called The Dome. Funnily enough it was a dome shaped structure with DJ stuff and huge speakers set up in the middle. It was very cool - DJs were playing sets of dance mixed with hip hop mixed with 80s and 90s pop with a really dirty bass line. Everyone else went to bed but Gary and I stayed up dancing till they kicked us out. It was banging. A bird even asked me for her number, not bad for only being there one night.
Basically it’s boiling during the day but cold at night so you pile on the layers when you go to bed so once you wake up you’re sweating your ass off - combine that with our tiny tent, you get a rather unpleasant environment to wake up in - hence the reason you get up at 7am (another reason it’s good that you don’t have a hangover.)
My attire for the whole time I was there was a bikini top, short shorts, newly-acquired dyke / jesus sandals and my “gay” festival hat. Also as you don’t want to carry a bag and I had no pocket space, I also devised a makeshift utility belt. This was complete with camera bag, a small side bag, both looped through my belt plus a camera bag strap turned water bottle attachment device. I looked like such a dyke (Julie I can hear you laughing as I write this!) but a comfortable dyke so I didn’t care.
So for the whole festival there was no one in particular I wanted to see at all. This was cool though as I get to wander around at my leisure and check out acts I wouldn’t usually see.
I am now going to list the bands / DJs I saw, more for my remembering than for your entertainment.
Friday - People under the stairs,
M Ward,
Buraka Som Sistema (very cool),
Leonard Cohen,
Peanut Butter Wolf - DJ,
Patton and Rahzel - beatboxers.
Saturday - Joss Stone,
Paolo Nutini,
TV on the Radio,
Chemical Brothers - DJ set
Sunday - Shepherd Fairey - DJ,
Lykke Li,
Yeah Yeah Yeahs,
Paul Weller (still wicked Dad!)
Roni Size Reprazent - Live drum n bass.
Mostly during the day I went from sunbathing (still hardly making a dent on my tan) and finding shade - the temperature rose to a high of 102 degrees F. I milled around a lot taking photos and checking out the art that was dotted around and occasionally getting a nice buzz off a couple of beers and dancing like a twat to the headline acts.
The last day we met some really cool people - Sarah from Canada, I met in a queue for the showers, and she kindly offered us a place to stay in Regina where she lives which was cool and Liz Storm - some chick in music management who looked too perfectly put together to be at a festival but she offered us a tour guide in Chicago which was also very nice - the kindness of strangers is wicked.
During the process of getting food Gem had also spotted a couple of codys, aka lesbians in the crowd. Not typically looking lesbos but one was wearing Tegan and Sara trainers. For those of you not in the lesbo “know” - Tegan and Sara being twin lesbian singers with a massive gay girl following. We wanted to chat to new people and thought why not start with the T&S ‘In’. Sam and Kristen were very cool girls with a cute story - they had met on the T&S Myspace and Coachella was only the third time they had met up, but had decided the night before to make it official. We expressed how cute this was!
We had no agenda for the day so hung out with them and saw bands they recommended. It was an awesome day and it was all nicely topped off when all of our little group got together to have a crazy dance to the last band of the weekend. All in all it was very cool but I am really looking forward to moving - Vegas Baby!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 14; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0497s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
