One Night by the Manatee

It was a cool night tonight. Cool by Floridian standards, so perhaps we could say it was akin to an autumn evening. We really want it to be warmer as we’ve had to force ourselves to admit that we have to soon start our journey home. Strangely, walking around, it does feel like autumn: there are leaves on the ground, bare branches above, and the skies have been gloomy and cool all week.

Nonetheless, it’s Friday night! And the baby’s in bed so let’s go!

Bradenton was hosting a concert down by the water tonight [free!] featuring a local band, Wild Root. We like the riverwalk along the Manatee River near downtown – they’ve done a good job developing it with artwork, a skatepark and a small amphitheatre.

It was a small crowd but the band did well, playing cover tunes of Joe Cocker to the Chilli Peppers, plus their original songs that were good too. The frontman, Paul Fournier, is a local high school teacher who reminds me a lot of Winnipeg music man Tim Hoover.

After the show we went to a nearby restaurant Pier 22 by the marina. A martini and house-made chocolate banana bread pudding for me, a glass of pinot noir and some sushi for Julie. Gazing out from the heated patio over the river we discuss our upcoming week and what should be on our to-do list as our time in Florida winds down. Julie hatches a crazy idea – what if we fly home via Phoenix like Ryan and Nuala did? Then we could come back to Florida to retrieve the car when the weather is better for a drive home? Constant snowstorms across the mid-west are making us nervous.

We finish up as the Lightning beat the Blackhawks on TV (we chuckle it’s best that our fellow parent Sonny and Rocky didn’t go to the game tonight - they’re Chicago fans - although they would have fit in well with the crowd as it was mostly red sweaters). Julie didn’t think her sushi was good, so she wants to check and see whether the chef is Japanese or Mexican (a joke from 2 years ago in San Diego). Unconfirmed… but the rest of the restaurant looks really nice.

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best bathroom story of the week: it’s a small restroom that already has two fellows in it when I walk in. A short, stubby middle-aged guy with a cowboy hat and a beard chatting with a Mexican kid. Cowboy dude sounds a bit intoxicated, “tatered” as they say down here. Says he’s from Calgary. As he walks out, I call out “go Flames!”. He spins around into the door and asks “who said that?” while eyeing the Mexican. With a bit of a smirk he turns to me and asks how I know the Flames. I say I’m from Winnipeg and suddenly I’m his best friend as we squeeze out of the restroom. Do I know Kid Rock? Him and his wife are going on a cruise with him tomorrow, so much fun! It’s the 6th one they’ve been on – that’s all of them, ya know. They’re going with their “loaded” friends who they met down here on Longboat Key who are also from Calgary. His wife comes over and distracts him so that I can meet my wife who’s standing slightly impatiently at the door.

As we see them leave, he climbs into an Infinity SUV, that has Alberta plates. Story checks out!

WTF is a “Coachella”?

Ah, let me tell you!

While it’s fairly unknown up here north of the 49th, I have been dreaming of this festival for nearly 10 years after hearing about it on an independent alternative radio station down in Phoenix when I was stationed there after university. At that time they were readily handing out the tickets to anyone who was interested in making the trip to Palm Springs. Fast forward a few years and the festival has gone from a small, money-losing venture to a giant force in the music industry that is able to convince old bands to reunite for one more gig (well 2, since the festival is now replicated over two separate weekends). I think there are about 80,000+ people on the grounds each day, according to what Wikipedia tells me. So it’s much, much larger than anything we’ve been to.

Julie & I purchased our tickets in a harried online sale last May (yes, 11 months in advance! and 2014 goes on sale May 24, 2013!) and the artist line-up was only announced in January. Since that time I’ve been tuning in nearly everyday to Slacker Radio’s “Coachella 2013” online radio station to learn the music.  But even at first glance, there were a number of bands that I definitely was keen on seeing, notably “Of Monsters and Men”, “the Airborne Toxic Event”, “Franz Ferdinand”, “Dropkick Murphys”, “Social Distortion”, “the Lumineers”, “Blur”, and “the Red Hot Chili Peppers”.  Yet just like the Winnipeg Folk Festival, you have to allow time to discover new acts, and to that I’m sure glad that mom gave me cash for my birthday that I put towards a Slacker Radio subscription!

Our tickets arrived a couple weeks before departure in the best ticket-delivery-box I’ve ever witnessed – packed with buttons, stickers, information booklet, and a DIY diorama calendar. They sure know how to build a brand.

When we were planning the trip, we opted to spend a few more days down in California, mostly to recuperate! But with the prairie winter extending its grasp, we did not anticipate the desire to escape the cold in April. We had even considered the wild possibility of flying to Lima (Peru) to visit some friends since we were halfway there, but we restrained ourselves and picked out a wine area just over the hills towards San Diego.

Our WestJet flight from Edmonton was an amusing mix of festival-goers and other “vacationers” (i.e. golfers).  We were packed as heavily as we’ve ever been for a trip since we were carrying a full collection of camping gear. That answers the “where did you stay?” question.  Camping provides the full “festival experience”, and for $85 it was far, far cheaper than any hotel option.

We rented a van for the weekend, and the power-everything Caravan ALMOST made us consider getting a minivan.  We spent a longer-than-expected 2 hours at Wal-Mart stocking up on food and supplies so that by the time we rolled up to the festival gate, the entire rear portion of the van had shopping bags strewn about along with a mix of our own luggage as Julie had changed clothes while we were in the security queue.

Coachella features 5 stages: 1 large outdoor main stage; a slightly smaller outdoor stage next to it, then 3 increasingly larger tents side by side with the airport-hangar-sized “Sahara” tent book-ending the array.  There are also a number of smaller stages scattered around. One is a [lightly] air-conditioned DJ tent. Another is a frosty air-conditioned dome sponsored by Heineken. Lastly there is the “Do Lab”, an all day dance party that is stuck right in the middle of the 2 outdoor stages and one of the tents.  Coming from the Folk Fest where they strive to ensure that no stage’s music overlaps with another, here the strategy is simply what ever stage you are closest to, that one will be loudest. Strange, but it works. Food options are plentiful (sadly I missed trying the “spicy pie” pizza), water stations are adequate and the beer gardens are spacious and well-located, and reasonably priced. ($9/16oz, but a rum & coke is an outrageous $14!)

We had great weather this weekend in the desert. Daily highs of low 30s (°C) and no sand storm like they had to deal with last week.

I was beyond excited as the event neared, and even going in with lofty expectations, I can definitely say that the festival is astounding! I sure hope to go again soon!

<> next post is more detailed, with show highlights and whatnot <>