Coachella, the documentary, features two-hours of highlights from the previous six years of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Check it out TONIGHT (January 24th) at theatres in your area. Check www.coachella.com for more information on the movie and presale for the festival.

How can you capture the vibe of that pagan love-fest in the desert disguised as Coachella Arts & Music Festival in 500 words or less? Ya can’t. However in a documentary film you can at least capture enough to stir up the imagination of those who have never been & to awaken the memories of those who have & make them say, and I quote one festival goer from the film that was heard to say while crossing the Mexican border “I don’t care what I have to do… I am going to Coachella!”

The first few segments really capture that feeling of excitement & anticipation of going to an adventure on that other planet…. Coachella…. that mythical, surreal planet that enlivens our senses, propels us into a mystical dream state for ___ days & then when its done leaves us dazed & disoriented knowing we can never go back to our old lives, our old jobs, our view of the world we came from forever changed, & musing over returning next year to the desert once again to do it all over in a completely different way.

Some of the more memorable clips from the film were performances that I wish I had not missed. The compelling beauty of Bjork’s voice, the musical artistry of Flea & John Frusciante classically toned duet intro to Caifornication, the Pixies hypnotizing us w/ harmonies & lyrics that leave us for days after wondering, “What is that song about?”, Radiohead with their layer upon layer of mind altering sound. The list goes on….

The rest of it made me grateful to have been there for unforgettable moments that are forever planted in my psyche.

As the sun sets, Wayne Coyne, frontman for the Flaming Lips, goes for a stroll across the crowd in his Space Ball & emerges to lead us in the world’s largest & best sing-along version of Yoshimi & the Pink Robots, the Chemical Brothers fill the tent to capacity until the party spills out on all sides into the desert night that is now a thick blanket of darkness broken up by distant stage lighting & random lasers highlighting silhouetted partiers dancing till they drop, only to rise again the next day & do it again.

You can’t capture it in words, but the film captures just enough to put you there momentarily. Pulls you out of your seat into that place of mind where you know… I am going to Coachella!



-Rodger Caldwell
 

LA guitarist Rodger Caldwell

has been shooting the action ever since a resourceful high school teacher offered a photo class to him as a last-ditch attempt to keep him from dropping out. Jerry’s pit pix grace such sites as hip-hop and world music's Fly Global Music Culture in the UK.