April 17, 2014 - Coachella, we have ARRIVED

Despite being a big, big music guy, I've never attended Coachella. Just way too expensive.

This year, however, I had been writing about music for about six months when I got an e-mail from my editor Sandy at GrimyGoods.com asking if I would be interested in covering Coachella this year. UMMM YES PLEASE?! A dream was coming true.

Rockin' the Coachella wristbands - both GA and media.

For the weeks leading into Coachella, my friend Ash and I tried locking down a camping pass for the festival. With about a week to go, he told me his friends had figured one out and there would be seven of us sharing a site. Ash was the only person in the group that I knew, but that's what music festivals are all about, discovering new music and meeting new people.



I had covered the Oakland A's the previous two days in Anaheim as they were meeting the division rival Angels. I stayed with my friend John in La Habra, where Ash would be picking me up in the early evening before we headed out to Coachella.

We picked up another one of Ash's friends Drew on the way there. Our other campmates had already set up shop earlier that day so we had a site closer to the entrance of the festival.

We stopped at a Wal-Mart and picked up some necessary items. Grabbed a cheap pillow, blanket, towel, and then of course a 36-pack of beer. Some Gatorade. Snacks.

We had to stop by the Will Call outside the festival grounds so Ash could pick up his wristband and I could pick up my media credential. By the time we rolled into the campgrounds, it was right around 2 AM. We had to lug all of our shit (including an awesome 8-person tent Ash had bought) about a mile to our campsite, which was a pain in the ass. By the time we got everything setup, it was about 4 AM. One of our campmates was tripping balls on mushrooms (this would only be the beginning of this kid's weekend long drug binge).

My deadline each day would be 10 AM with my boss posting my reviews every 30-45 minutes at our site. I passed out around 4:30 AM and anxiously awaited the start of Coachella weekend two.