In the quaint town of Indio, California—a town whose inhabitants barely surpass the number of students enrolled in Madison—the Empire Polo Field will become a two-day home for eccentric music lovers from across the country. A festival deemed a modern day Woodstock, Coachella will draw a slew of concert-goers whose total mass will double the town's population.
Artists like Björk, Iggy and The Stooges, The Arcade Fire and Red Hot Chili Peppers together on the mainstage while three side tents provide dance and electronic music performances immersing audiences in acts that are as hot and heavy as their surroundings. Considering the sweltering heat and empty desert landscape, only a concert of such prominence could attract the plethora of human peculiarities that Coachella does.
It was exactly that which convinced director Drew Thomas to document this festival. Art houses across the country will bring Coachella into the theater realm for all those that cannot afford the $85 passes into the two day performance-filled pastiche. Ensnaring more than six years of live acts, none of which are dated much to the complaints of viewers, and interviews with artists and crowd members, Thomas chases after the best performances and highlights the concert has offered in the past years. While the documentary is engulfed with prime live footage, it fails to pay attention to one of the most interesting aspects of the festival, getting TRASHed.
Coachella not only aims at providing music connoisseurs with a hodgepodge of artists, but also tries to incorporate youth with waste management efforts by integrating art and garbage.
For every pass that is bought for this concert, a dollar goes to the Indio Youth task force—a community service program—and Global Inheritance. Global Inheritance is dedicated to creatively communicating, pushing for progressive social change and rejecting conflict in various subcultures that cater to specific individual demographics, including the artsy ones that attend Coachella.
TRASHed, the art of recycling, is one of the programs Global Inheritance offers. Artists across the country can submit decked-out recycling bins that feature various pop culture icons. Coachella will then showcase the 90 gallon plastic art canvasses on the grounds during the festival and later on the Coachella website.
Artists have included complete unknowns to people like Hunter S. Thompson. The infamous American journalist and author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas\ had his own version of recycling art displayed at the Coachella festival in a previous year.
This year at Coachella, Global Inheritance is even offering a century of music inside 10 porta-potties. Individuals and groups will design 10 portable toilets equipped with hi-fi surround sound and flat screens that will take those whom nature has called on an artistic journey through the last 100 years of Southern California music culture. The exhibits will then raise funds to help support music programs in the Southern California public school system. These projects that Global Inheritance hypes call attention to the growing need for environmental respect from the American population.
While Thomas failed to incorporate the festival's intriguing efforts with Global Inheritance, the film still unveils six years of the Coachella experience that should not be overlooked. The film will come to Madison's Orpheum Theatre next week. Those interested in submitting art to the TRASHed program should visit the Coachella website at www.coachella.com or e-mail TRASHed@globalinheritance.org.
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