Attendees of the final weekend of the Coachella Valley Music Fest show little dismay that they were unable to attend the first weekend.
Typically regarded as the better of the two with cooler temperatures and more surprises, there are still some who prefer the subsequent weekend.
“Silly people complain about weekend two,” said Eden Graham. “So what? You’re still getting the opportunity to attend.”
Stage crews talk as they take a quick break at the main stage of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Thursday, April 19, 2012. Goldenvoice is looking for on- and off-site customer service, camping, lost and found, toll booth staff and stagehands at a Friday job fair. (Michael Snyder, The Desert Sun)
You have a couple more hours to get to a job fair in Indio that runs through 3 p.m. Friday.
Get all the details in this story from MyCoachella’s Bruce Fessier: Goldenvoice looks to hire 200 for fests (MyDesert.com)
(Christopher Polk, Getty Images for Coachella)
More about the sale of Digital Domain:
• Tupac hologram maker Digital Domain sold for $30M (MyDesert.com)
Goldenvoice President Paul Tollett told The Desert Sun’s Bruce Fessier the Los Angeles-based promoter of the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals wouldn’t be affected if parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group changes hands.
Anschutz Co., based in Denver, is looking to sell AEG, The Associated Press reported.
UPDATE: A Los Angeles billionaire has already emerged as a potential buyer.
A holographic image of Tupac Shakur performs Sunday, April 15 during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. (Kevin Winter, Getty Images for Coachella)
The company that created the Tupac hologram at Coachella 2012, Digital Domain Media Group, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Despite the buzzworthy festival performance and the company’s other high-profile projects, a company official wrote in court papers that Digital Domain is “running out of cash,” The Associated Press reports.
Read more on our sister site:
• Tupac hologram maker ‘running out of cash,’ files for bankruptcy (MyDesert.com)
It’s been more than 24 hours since an Indio city councilman announced he would stop pushing for a festival tax to be included on the November ballot — but rumors are still flying about the future of Coachella.
No, Goldenvoice has not confirmed any plans to take Coachella Music and Arts Festival or Stagecoach Country Music Festival away from Indio. No, Coachella 2014 has not been canceled.
Here’s what really gone down in the City of Festivals during the last month:
Wednesday, June 6: Indio City Councilman Sam Torres said he will propose a 5 to 10 percent concert tax be added to tickets.
That night, the Indio City Council declined to even consider his plan, so Torres promised to start a petition to get the measure on the November ballot.
Thursday, June 14: Torres filed a “notice of intent” with the city to to launch a petition drive for the ballot initiative.
Saturday, June 30: The Desert Sun posts exclusive emails between Goldenvoice and city officials. In those emails, promoters vowed that if the tax measure hit the ballot, they would call off Coachella 2014 and find a new home for future years.
Later that day, in response to the story, Councilwoman Lupe Ramos Watson calls for a special meeting to discuss the city’s relationship with Goldenvoice.
Thursday, July 5: Several national sites incorrectly report that Goldenvoice will move the festival out of Indio. The Huffington Post quickly corrected its headline and story, noting that it had “overstated” the Goldenvoice threat to move.
Later that day, Torres said he will suspend his push for the tax to go on the ballot because he and his supporters “take seriously the threat to move the festivals.” That should clear the way for Goldenvoice to stay.
Indio City Council member Sam Torres. (Crystal Chatham, The Desert Sun)
“The supporters of the proposed initiative take seriously the threat to move the festivals out of the Valley,” he writes in a statement given to The Desert Sun.
• Read more: Sam Torres statement on suspending Coachella, Stagecoach ticket tax effort
Indio Councilman Sam Torres has decided to drop his pursuit of a controversial ticket tax that had pinned him against his fellow council members and caused Goldenvoice to potentially move the internationally renowned Coachella festival.
As our sister site MyDesert.com’s reporting on an Indio councilman’s controversial proposal to tax Coachella and Stagecoach festival tickets — and Goldenvoice’s reaction — has gained widespread attention, some facts have been distorted in the game of online telephone.
Today, reporter Marcel Honoré sets the record straight in a post on MyDesert’s iSun blog.
By Marcel Honoré and Xochitl Peña
The Desert Sun
Indio — The petition for a new ticket tax in Indio is still alive, even as the promoters of Coachella and Stagecoach vow to move the popular music festivals elsewhere — and possibly out of the valley — if the measure makes the ballot.
But Councilman Sam Torres said he would no longer pursue the petition if he can join negotiations with Goldenvoice for a long-term deal to keep the festivals at the Empire Polo Club for years to come.
Torres, elected to the City Council in 2010, has come under fire recently as one of the tax proposal’s chief proponents. It would impose a 5 percent to 10 percent tax on admissions starting in 2014 to entertainment events with more than 2,500 people.
Some 2,664 Indio registered voters are required to sign the ticket tax petition in order for it to qualify for the ballot.
“Paul’s words have been ringing in my ears,” Torres said Monday, referring to Goldenvoice President Paul Tollett’s threats Thursday to move the festival out of Indio over the proposal. “He’s got a strong will. He can definitely make good on it.”
But Torres said he believed Tollett might also have been “positioning” and “posturing” to get a better deal. The councilman wants to join the city’s latest ad hoc committee to negotiate with Goldenvoice and help work out a deal that better benefits Indio residents.
Mayor Glenn Miller has the sole power to appoint people to such a committee. The committee to negotiate Goldenvoice’s present two-year deal with the city included Miller, City Manager Dan Martinez, the city attorney and the city’s finance director.
The council won’t discuss who should join until its next regular meeting on July 18, Miller said Monday.
The mayor said he would pick only those who are best qualified. Miller declined to address Torres’ request to join as a condition to drop the petition because he had not spoken to Torres directly.
“I’m not against Mr. Torres being on it, but I’m not going to pre-pick anybody,” Miller said Monday.
Miller also noted that there are other main backers of the petition besides Torres.
Two of those proponents, John Bingham and Al Meza, who paid the $200 application for the petition, said they would agree to drop the effort if Torres is selected for the committee.
“We’re open to any reasonable consideration,” Bingham, a member of the Indio Citizens’ Finance Advisory Commission, said Monday. “I think certainly what we’re after is some kind of permanent payment from them. I think some tax is reasonable for all entertainment features.”
Bingham said he is not deterred by the threats to move the concerts.
Another main proponent of the tax, Pastor Carl McPeters of Kyriakos Christian Center in Indio, said Torres recruited him to lend his support.
“He contacted me and (shared) his intent to take it to the voters and his reasoning for the ticket tax,” said McPeters, one of three Indio residents whose name will appear on a legal notice requesting the ballot measure and intent to circulate the petition.
“I don’t understand what all the uproar is over a ticket tax that will benefit the residents of Indio,” McPeters added. “From what I understand Goldenvoice has not committed to staying here anyway beyond next year.”
Last week, Torres provided The Desert Sun with a recent series of text messages he exchanged with Goldenvoice Vice President Skip Paige.
Paige’s messages indicated Goldenvoice had decided it would move from Indio after signing its latest two-year deal in 2011. The messages also indicated that no negotiations had taken place yet for a long-term deal.
However, Tollett said last week that Goldenvoice hadn’t decided to leave, and that it still wants to stay in Indio.
Tollett declined to weigh in Monday on Torres’ conditions to drop the petition.
“It is not appropriate for us to dictate who the city chooses to represent them in any negotiations, they need to run the city the way they see fit,” he said in a statement Monday. “Throughout the years our communication and cooperation with the city has been one of the main reasons these shows are so successful. I would like to see that continue.”
Desert Sun reporter Bruce Fessier contributed to this report.
|
|
MyCoachella.com is a blog dedicated to covering the desert music scene, including the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Country Music Festival. Meet Our Team
For the second year, this year's Coachella Music Festival is two weekends: April 12-14 and 19-21. Stagecoach is one three-day fest: April 26-28.
And visit our sister news site at mydesert.com, the No. 1 source for news in Coachella Valley and owned by the Palm Springs-based The Desert Sun, a Gannett site.
Follow us on Twitter: