Stagecoach Country Music Festival

Jeff Bridges and His Abiders Sang Lebowski and Crazy Heart Hits Last Night

Jeff Bridges & The Abiders El Rey Theatre 4/25/13 Jeff Bridges wasn't always The Dude. In fact, we first got into him when he was a fabulous Baker boy. But nowadays he's the Dude through and through, and in concert last night at the El Rey he channeled Jeffrey Lebowski in numerous ways. Of course, ... More >>

The Economics of Music Festivals: Who's Getting Rich, Who's Going Broke?

By Chris Parker It's as though the sad, lamentable death of recorded music was accompanied by a kick-ass wake. Sure, label executives have had to sell their fancy homes and put their kids in public schools, but the rest of us have been feasting on a musical smorgasbord. Nothing better exemplifies ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including Jeff Goldblum as a Writing Teacher

Starting this week, we will now include our listings of all ongoing shows, below the new reviews, to help make it easier for you to decide which shows to see this week.The writing of neurologist Oliver Sacks has inspired a new work at Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena -- Kathryn Walat's Creation. S ... More >>

Stagecoach 2013 Lineup Announced

The lineup for Stagecoach 2013 has been announced. It will be held April 26-28, 2013 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. See also: *Stagecoach Festival: The Fashion Report *Stagecoach Festival: The Music *Johnny Cash's Anti-Semitism Touched On In New Documentary The headliners are Toby Keith on F ... More >>

AEG, L.A. Parent of Coachella, Staples Center, For Sale

Updated at the bottom: AEG confirms that it's looking to sell. L.A. based Anschutz Entertainment Group, the downtown powerhouse behind Staples Center, LA Live, the proposed Farmers Field football stadium, and the world's second-largest concert promoter, Live Nation, might be for sale. Several outl ... More >>

Coachella Wins Again: Councilman Drops Tax Proposal

See also: Coachella Organizers Threatening to Take 2014 Off and Move the Festival Elsewhere The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will remain in Indio, at least for now. City Councilman Sam Torres, who last month proposed an admissions tax that would cost promoters Goldenvoice an estimated $ ... More >>

Coachella: Organizers Threatening to Leave Indio

See also: Top Ten Awkward Coachella Dance Move GIFs The 2013 Coachella could well be its last in Indio, say organizers, due to their opposition to a new events admissions tax initiative proposed by a city councilman there. If the initiative makes it onto the November ballot, they warn, they would ... More >>

Teen Girl Sexually Attacked at Stagecoach Fest in Coachella Valley

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival seemed to go off smoothly again this year, but its cousin, the weekend's Stagecoach country music concert, seems to have had problems with sex crimes. Some are implicating the fest's more liberal alcohol policy, which lets 21-and-up patrons bring in case ... More >>

Why Did Goldenvoice Purchase a Bunch of Land Near Coachella?

See also: Coachella 2012 Lineup Goldenvoice announced Sunday that it has purchased 280 acres of land in Indio, ensuring that the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals will be enjoyed by generations of girls in spirit hoods and dudes in speedos and fanny packs The purchase includes El Dorado P ... More >>

Goldenvoice: The Hazy Punk Rock Early Days

Founder Gary Tovar recalls the unlikely beginnings of the influential concert production company

Whew! Coachella 2012 Back On As Planned

Mason Magruder​See also: Coachella Status Uncertain As Indio Delays Contract With Goldenvoice Following a vote by the Indio city council last night to approve the city's two year contract with festival promoter Goldenvoice, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is back on as scheduled. ... More >>

Coachella Status Uncertain As Indio Delays Contract With Goldenvoice

Vickie ChangWill Coachella 2012 keep you waiting? ​The city of Indio has postponed signing a contract with Coachella festival promoter and organizer Goldenvoice, following pressure from the neighboring city of La Quinta for an environmental review of the popular music and arts festival. The fe ... More >>

Bigmista's Big New Barbecue: Or, What To Do With 2 Whole Hogs, 90 Pork Butts, 50 Briskets OR 100 Racks of Ribs

Photo by Gary WalkupA boy and his smoker​Fans of Bigmista's mobile barbecue stand will be greeted by an enormous, fire engine-red smoker debuting at today's Torrance Farmers' Market. Neil and Phyllis Strawder, the owners of Bigmista, returned on Sunday from a week-long trip to the Missouri wor ... More >>

EXCLUSIVE: Metallica's Lars Ulrich On Surviving the Big 4 and the Roots of Thrash

Warner Bros.Metallica's Lars Ulrich​Months of anticipation came to an explosive finish in the California desert on Saturday night, as Metallica closed their "Big 4" thrash-fest with a thundering "Seek & Destroy" for 50,000 weary headbangers spread across Empire Polo Field in Indio. By acknowle ... More >>

Music Picks: Duran Duran, Jessie Evans, k.d. lang, The Dodos, Swahili Blonde,

Also, Janet Jackson, Greg Laswell, The Crystelles, Big Audio Dynamite and others

Who Is the Biggest of the Big Four?: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax in Size Standoff at Post-Coachella Thrash Metal Fest

zme music​So the Coachella organizers had an empty slot between the Coachella festival itself and the much more chill Stagecoach "Americana" festival and, as everyone knows by now, they offered it to Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer for the first American version of the Big Four festiva ... More >>

Tonight: Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses, Norah Jones, Tokimonsta, Jason Falkner, Jimmy Webb, the Morlocks

Anna AxsterRyan Bingham​Ryan Bingham ought to be a lot more famous than he is. The 29-year-old roots rocker has already won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)," as well as come up big in the scene he had in the Jeff Bridges movie. He's played Coac ... More >>

Destination Coachella

L.A. bands take to the desert for three days of music overload

Phish at Coachella, Night One: An Expansive Introduction

By Jeff Miller For me, watching a Phish festival on the same field that hosts Coachella each year's like introducing your college friends to your high school friends for the first time: you love them both equally, but there's always something kind of...off about that first introduction. Though they ... More >>

Phish to Take Over Coachella Site for Halloween Festival. Like, Whoa.

Whoa. This could be huge! Billboard is reporting that Phish has announced a three-day festival called "Festival 8" at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio. Writes Billboard's Michael Ayers: After several weeks of speculation and a shape-shifting "Save the Date" map decorating its homepage, Phish h ... More >>

Rock Picks: Winifred E. Eye, Stagecoach, Marianne Dissard, Thao

Also, Franz Nicolay, Sweet, Tinted Windows and others

Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Loads of BBQ

Stagecoach Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Fields, Indio, May 5-6

Stagecoach Country Music Festival

At Empire Polo Grounds, Indio

Rock Picks

For the week of May 3 – 10

Coachella: Friday

(Brief note regarding Lina's very complete Do and Don't list: I'd like to add one thing: DO bring your tickets! I overheard someone saying they got within a half hour of arriving here before realizing they forgot their tickets, they had to turn around to go all the way back to LA. 2:00 p.m. Stuck ... More >>

Erasure and Smashing Pumpkins News

FRIDAY, 7:30 p.m. Viper Room There was a lively and fashionable crowd at the Viper Room Friday night for MSO PR's soiree celebrating the launch of their new website. Grande dame of public relations, Alexandra Greenberg, introduced me to the MS in MSO, Mitch Schneider. Mitch (above, in black hat) i ... More >>

Threepenny Broadway