Sean Penn offers a call to action

"I've been traveling around the country doing my a capella Celine Dion cover act," Penn joked as he took the stage Sunday afternoon in a spoken-word engagement inside Coachella's Gobi tent.

As it turns out, the spoken-word act was really just a call to action from Penn to Coachella's youngish demographic. "Everything we do today is going to be based on spontaneity -- mainly yours," he said while sitting on a simple chair, puffing on his ubiquitous cigarette and reading from handwritten notes.

The actor and sometimes antiwar activist then laid out sketchy details of what he is calling "The Dirty Hands Caravan."

"What we're gonna do is get on a biodiesel bus and go to New Orleans," he said.

Penn apparently is bent on sharing the joy he has felt in getting his hands dirty in order to help others (the thespian famously helped rescue stranded New Orleans residents in the wake of Katina three years ago).

In an effort to inspire teenagers and twentysomethings at the festival, Penn, who partnered with nonprofit Do Something, asked those in the audience to sign up at a nearby booth to participate in the journey and to perhaps be in a documentary about the upcoming effort -- there were two release forms courtesy of the Dirty Hands Caravan in the sign-up tent.

"Revolution is a job for the young," Penn continued. "This is the smartest, most technologically proficient generation of all time. This idea that I had was based on 'no experience necessary.' What we're gonna do is get on biodiesel buses, and I want you to go over to a booth today and go with us to New Orleans."

The bus trip, which leaves Monday directly from the festival, is free. Penn, who will be on the bus for at least part of the trip to New Orleans, says the biodiesel bus will "stop all along the way" to hear guests like Stan Harper and Everlast speak. "It's gonna be a journey that no one will ever forget," he promised.

Around 30 people initially crowded the sign-up tent afterwards, but more can seek out forms all day today. It's not known how many will be able to ride on the compassion caravan, which should arrive in New Orleans May 3 and return to California May 7 or 8.

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Chris Pizzello / AP