Coachella 2012: Paris Hilton gets chummy with security

Who knew that Paris Hilton actually waited in security lines? One would imagine her being whisked in on a bejeweled golf cart through some back entrance accompanied by somebody in a band, not in the long VIP line toward the back of the polo field with the rest of the hoi polloi entering the Coachella festival grounds.

But there she was on Saturday, wearing a flowing rainbow-colored skirt and a halter top -- every bit as recognizable as she was during the halcyon days of the early aughts when her bootleg sex tape rocketed her to stardom -- but not as in demand.

It took one security guard a moment to register who she was before asking Hilton's friend about her camera.

"She's my photographer. I don't let anyone else take pictures of me -- you know, paparazzi," explained the heiress matter of factly as a dozen cameras clicked away from the line behind her. The guard was charmed, so Hilton stood beside him to chat after posing for a few photos with fans.

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"Viva Coachella!" she cheered when the guard promised to remember her next time. "If this were Compton..." then she trailed off leaving an awkward non sequitur in her wake.

A giggling crowd followed her to the Coachella VIP lounge, past party producer Brent Bolthouse and his entourage, who were exiting. Bolthouse wore a studded leather jacket and checked his watch. His much anticipated Neon Carnival party was scheduled for takeoff at an airplane hangar later Saturday night.

Through the gates and around the corner, and there was child-star-cum-rocker Jared Leto with a friend who looked like a mini John Belushi. Nobody asked to take their picture.

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Paris Hilton poses with fans on Saturday as she enters the Coachella festival grounds. Credit: Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times

Coachella 2012: Lacoste Live and Guess Hotel bring party sass

A private estate in Thermal came dangerously close to resembling an over-the-top Las Vegas pool party on Saturday as the Lacoste Live fete tipped into a hip-gyrating revelry so fierce that the Riverside County Sheriff's Department threatened to close it down.

"If you guys don't get off the freaking asphalt, I'm going to shut it down!" a sheriff's deputy named Contreras barked at a thick crowd of new arrivals who kept spilling off the grass at the gate and onto the driveway. "I'm not kidding."

He wasn't either. On Friday the Belvedere Music Lounge -- where DJ Paul Oakenfold was supposed to perform -- was shut down. The official line was because of the rain, but rumors circulated that there might have been trouble with a tricky permitting issue. Nonetheless it was up and running again Saturday.

PANORAMA: Virtual tour of Coachella 2012

Meanwhile, things at the Guess Hotel in La Quinta were decidedly more low-key. A chill crowd relaxed by the pool and were treated to a slick gifting suite full of Guess sunglasses and earphones. There was also cake-flavored UV vodka that actually tasted just like cake.

While the Guess Hotel provided an afternoon respite from the crushing festival crowds, the Lacoste Live party had its own kind of crushing crowd. A crowd thirsty for complimentary Patron and willing to wait in lines as long as half an hour for it. The wait time provided a unique opportunity for relationship-minded fellows to hit on the ladies.

Coachella 2012: Swedish House Mafia heats up the night

Late Friday night, shortly after the Black Keys' set growled to a halt, waves of cold festival-goers began surging away from the tents and VIP areas. For a split second I thought they were racing to get off the gloomy field, but quickly realized they were pushing to the main stage to dance up a sweat during one of Coachella's rare, but increasingly prominent, headlining DJ sets.

A colleague of mine referred to the beats of Swedish House Mafia as "big, thumpy stuff," and he's right. But big, thumpy stuff seemed to be just what the crowd wanted. As fine sprays of rain made a silhouette appearance in the glaringly bright stage lights, bodies wrapped in sweatshirts and blankets began to move, spin and bounce.

COACHELLA 2012 | Full coverage

In the much smaller dance tent, where DJs -- many more experimental than the trio of men that make up SHM -- have traditionally played, it's easy to get a good look at the performers onstage, and to get a sense of how they are using rhythm and musical changes to work up a crowd. However, on the main stage, glimpsed through masses of writhing bodies, SHM looked like nothing more than tiny statues beneath an exploding pink-and-blue light show.

Meanwhile, on the field, mini-light shows of all kinds flared up like rockets as light sticks were cracked and flashlights spun in circles. And soon the blankets and sweatshirts that protected dancers from the dipping temperatures were shed, and the field looked as it has in years past: like a sea of bare skin dappled with sweat.

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Fans dance and toss around a beach ball during Swedish House Mafia's set during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Coachella 2012: Cold-chella, or did I really wear flip-flops?

This is the first Coachella in more than a decade of Coachellas that it’s likely to rain. It’s also the first Coachella that I decided to wear flip-flops.

As the ruthless wind whips my bleached blond locks into a frenzy, I stand lamely in the VIP area wrestling desperately with the computer issues that are a perennial of festival coverage -- my toes red and round and swollen. I would have done much better wrapping my little piggies in wool socks and combat boots.

Aaron Paul, the meth-addicted protagonist of “Breaking Bad,” rushes by my post wearing a toasty hoodie and jeans and bearing a tasty snack. I suddenly feel ridiculous.

COACHELLA 2012 | Full coverage

“I’m paying extra attention to fashion this year,” says a good musician friend -- the wife of a former Coachella semi-headliner -- while Jimmy Cliff belts out cold-drenched strains of the song “Ruby Soho” by Rancid. “Apparently no one got the memo that Pocahontas headbands are out.”

An impossibly skinny model gets her picture taken nearby. Her tiny legs red and mottled blue.

Coachella 2012 is for Eskimos.

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Laura Newton, left, Lucy Holme and Louise Watkins of Britain, attending their first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, use garbage bags to ward off the drizzle. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Are you too cool for Death Cab for Cutie?

At some point during Friday night’s packed Death Cab for Cutie show at the Greek, the friend who I came with mentioned that it was no longer cool to like the band. I had been singing along to practically every song when she mentioned it, so I suddenly felt really lame.

Then I craned my neck, and looked back at the huge expanse of crowd that stretched up the hill behind me, and shrugged the whole thing off. The ritual of not liking a beloved indie band as soon as they gain mainstream acceptance is a hipster rite of passage, and one that I have always been flummoxed by.

Plus, Death Cab has been mainstream since 2003, so by employing the cyclic rubric of hipsterdom’s love of all things retro, I might actually be ahead of the curve in thinking Death Cab is still really cool. In fact, I’m fairly certain that’s the case. The same holds true for my love of Green Day and pink Manic Panic hair dye.

There are just certain bands that I will always love. Like Built to Spill and Modest Mouse, Death Cab informed a very specific time in my life, but their music is more than melodic memory. Ben Gibbard’s lyrics have long struck a chord in me, and hearing them on Friday night I remembered why.

Gibbard sings about the loneliness of the outsider, the importance of love and the longing that comes with its loss. And what were once the romantic ramblings of a heartsick teen have given way to the wise and worn insights of a man who despite worldwide adulation is still, at his core, an outsider.

“And I do believe it’s true/ That there are roads left in both of our shoes / But if the silence takes you/ Then I hope it takes me too.”

If Gibbard isn’t cool, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. He never thought he was cool to begin with. And that’s why I like him -- and why he played two sold out shows at the Greek over the weekend. Outsiders love an outsider, no matter how "in" he may be.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Death Cab for Cutie. Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Live review: Manchester Orchestra, Sleeper Agent, Twilight Sleep unite to please [Updated]

There is a humility to good rock 'n' roll -- a sense that its practitioners are unaware of their power over an audience. Such was the feeling at the Music Box at Henry Fonda Theater on Thursday night, when Manchester Orchestra played past an enthusiastic encore and into a spastic strobe-lighted sing-along set.

The Atlanta-based indie rock band may pay homage to Manchester-bred greats including Joy Division, the Smiths and New Order, but the sweaty-T-shirt-clad five-piece owes more to the newfangled rhythms and syncopation of great post-punk bands including Modest Mouse, Built to Spill and Arcade Fire.

"I can't explain how much you mean to all of us," guitarist and singer-songwriter Andy Hull said to the sold-out crowd, as 11 p.m. breathed a boozy veil over the night's proceedings. "I haven't said it, so give me a chance to say it. I've been in a band playing since I was 17 ... so it means a whole lot to us that so many of you give a ... about what we do."

Then Hull -- his maroon shirt soaked crimson with sweat -- leapt into a crushing show closure that left the crowd sure of why it came.

L.A.-based Twilight Sleep and Bowling Green, Kentucky-based Sleeper Agent opened, with the former delivering a dark, groove-laden set. (Full disclosure: This writer has a long-standing friendship with the Twilight Sleep team.) The latter, Sleeper Agent, teased with riffs resembling a Strokes-inspired experiment in female-led, drum-driven extravagance.

When the night ended and fans filed out the open doors onto Hollywood Boulevard, a young woman said, "That was a slow burn. All night. A slow burn."

And those present for the warming heat will be all the better for it in the thin morning light.

-- Jessica Gelt

Updated 12:21 p.m., June 5: A previous version of this post said that Sleeper Agent was from Brooklyn. They are from Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Photo: Manchester Orchestra. Credit: Ryan Russell

Spot 5750 morphs from pool hall into live-music venue with Neon Trees KROQ Weenie Roast after-party

Late last year, the massive space that housed Hollywood Billiards reopened as a sleek bar and pool hall called Spot 5750. Now it's being reimagined by its owners as a live-music venue with the help of a local event-production and promotions company called the Jordison Group (TJG).

To celebrate the club's new direction, Spot 5750 is hosting the official Neon Trees KROQ Weenie Roast after-party on Saturday night. The Neon Trees are slotted to turn in a live DJ set alongside live performances by local faves White Arrows and up-and-comers Terraplane Sun. Also on the schedule is DJ Bl3nD, who has become a viral YouTube sensation of late.

With a capacity of 2,000 people, Spot 5750 falls somewhere between the Music Box and the Palladium in scale, and TJG owner Joshua Jordison, who is also acting as Spot 5750's talent buyer, is planning to nab national touring acts as well as host local musicians and club nights.

Jordison had a hand in booking popular newbie street fair the Silver Lake Jubilee and has also promoted weekly events at hot spots around town, including Bardot, Three of Clubs and the Standard Rooftop bar.

The venue is "almost three times as big as the Echoplex," Jordison said. "And I love that we're not stuck in any particular scene." Firmly lodged in East Hollywood, Spot 5750 can avoid being known as a Hollywood club while benefiting from that area's proximity.

It also has a full kitchen, with upscale menu items such as filet mignon playing alongside hot wings, nachos and pizza. There are also two full bars -- with one upstairs overlooking the stage -- as well as two smoking patios, a few pool tables and plenty of lounging areas.

Another reason that Jordison feels Spot 5750 is unique is that it is licensed to stay open until 5 or 6 a.m., just like Avalon, so late-night dance parties are on the to-do list.

Saturday's event will last from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Tickets cost $15 in advance and $20 at the door, and can be purchased at www.ticketfly.com.

Spot 5750, 5750 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 465-0115; www.spot5750.com.

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Photo: Neon Trees. Credit: Indegoot Management

 

 

 

Coachella 2011: Best Coast and the anatomy of girl love

Best Coast, the breezy, stoner-friendly L.A.-based band fronted by Bethany Cosentino, pulled off a sweetly melodic lo-fi show on the Outdoor stage at Coachella on Sunday.

Cosentino is one of modern girl rock's most earnest lyricists, and the disarmingly simple songs on her debut album, "Crazy for You," receive praise and condescension in equal measures, the latter mainly from male reviewers who don't understand why girls love songs about loving boys who don't love them back.

Coachella 2011 in photos: The acts and scene | 360° Panoramas | The faces

But Best Coast fans know and don't care what anybody says. For them, lyrics like "when you leave me the bed is empty and I feel crazy cause I didn't say anything / I wish you would tell me how you really feel but you'll never tell me cause that's not our deal," hit all the high and low points of a type of love that is all too familiar.

So, watching Best Coast do what it does best exorcises all sorts of demons.

For example, it's possible that a certain Pop & Hiss writer once passed out drunk in the lap of a boy she loved who was just a friend while singing along to the song "Boyfriend" as he drove her home after a fairly disastrous dinner party.

Coachella 2011: Duran Duran turns the cool kids into a bunch of giggling grade schoolers

Duran Duran didn't need to save its hits for last at Coachella on Sunday night. They were all hits, and the crowd couldn't get enough. After all, the New Wave superstars practically wrote the book on mainstream '80s nostalgia.

Not only did Duran Duran break new ground when it came to video technology for its sold-out stadium shows, but the band was  among the pioneers of MTV, with professionally directed videos shot on 35 mm film. Anybody who grew up in the '80s -- when MTV was a new phenomenon as powerful as Facebook would be a generation later -- remembers the Sri Lankan odyssey in pre-ironic rock 'n' roll Cheez Whiz that was the 1982 video "Hungry Like a Wolf."

Coachella 2011 in photos: The acts and scene | 360° Panoramas | The faces

 And those who remember harbor deep affection for the British Romantics. For them, Duran Duran occupies the same cozy corner of pre-9/11 pop culture as John Hughes films, "The Price Is Right" and "Family Ties."

During the band's Sunday night mainstage set, singer Simon Le Bon was full of large gestures: strutting, preening, opening arms wide to the massive field as if soaking up the love that wafted toward him from the crowd.

The set was like a party that snowballed into a spirited group celebration of simpler times.

Coachella 2011: A message for the girl in line for the porta potty behind McLovin

Yes, Christopher Mintze-Plasse is the patron saint of awkward teens, but asking to take a picture with him while he waits in line for a porta potty at Coachella -- that's even awkward by McLovin standards.

Remember the story-turned-fable about how Jake Gyllenhaal tried to beat up some guy for taking his picture while he used the bathroom at this year's SXSW? Well, that could have been the girl who was in line for the portable toilets behind McLovin on Sunday.

Coachella 2011 in photos: The acts and scene | 360° Panoramas | The faces

Just something you might want to remember if you're thinking of tapping a guy on the shoulder and asking for a photo when he is gearing up for a really private moment. (Luckily, Mintz-Plasse was a sport and posed with the girl -- albeit awkwardly.) 

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Credit: Jessica Gelt