With our sights set on Manchester, Tennessee, we're driving west on Kentucky's Bluegrass Parkway. The first act at this year's Bonnaroo Festival is already in full tilt and we're still hours away. My traveling partner, Lida Prince, is scanning the schedule, busily making notes about what we'll see and what we may to have miss.

Tonight, New Orleans is well-represented on the "Somethin' Else" stage with Soul Rebels Brass Band (set to play in a few hours) and Ivan Neville's gritty Dumpstaphunk (from midnight- 4 a.m.)-- we'll have to catch them on Saturday--while two tribute bands, NYC's Lez Zeppelin and Dark Star Orchestra, close out the night at "That Tent" and "The Other Tent."

The heavy-hitters line up on Friday with slots by Metallica, Willie Nelson and Les Claypool. But don't look for me there... I'll be checking out the Fiery Furnaces (1:15, "That Tent"), the Swell Season featuring Frames frontman Glen Hansard (4:15, "This Tent"), NOLA slide guitarist Anders Osborne (5:45,

Coachella is becoming more and more party-centric, with unofficial hipster soirees offering a refreshing alternative (and a refreshing selection of complimentary cocktails) to those who'd prefer not hit the actual festival before sundown. So Saturday at Coachella actually kicked off for me 17 miles away from the festival grounds, in Cathedral City, at Anthem magazine's "La Fiesta de Fiestas."

As the Anthem invitation so tastefully worded it, "Keep in mind it's a pool party, so be prepared as it's not a stand-around-the-pool-looking-like-a-d**chebag kind of party." Well, La Fiesta de Fiestas was a muy caliente bash indeed, complete with Wet 'N' Wild pedicures, wild bikini dancers, drunk-diving contests, a Mexican buffet, churros...and a burro.

Yes, people: a real live burro. And you know it's a hot party when a donkey shows up!

So after a few poolside churros and the four-legged photo opp of a lifetime, it was time to head to the actual fest. First up on the second stage was this

And now for the final entry in this remarkable documentation of Paul Oakenfold's performance of "The Bourne Sessions" at the recent Winter Music Conference in Miami.

Here's "The Bourne Sessions Act 3":

And the here's the closer, "The Bourne Sessions Act 4."

In short, one of the most amazing sets of music and visuals we've ever seen.

Again, the event occurred to celebrate the release Sierra Entertainment's upcoming Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy video game--which from what we've seen here looks to be an equally spectacular merging of lights, sound and Paul Oakenfold music. Frankly, we can't wait to get our copy.

Coachella begins tomorrow (Friday), nine years after it first took over the California desert. The festival started as a one-off event in 1999--modeled after European rockfests like Reading, Roslikde, and Glastonbury--was resurrected in 2001 as a one-day affair, and in 2002 returned with a vengeance as a weekend-long music marathon. Now it's a venerable rock 'n' roll institution that attracts music fans from all over the country and even the globe.

So as Coachella 2008 kicks off this week, what better way to reflect on the fest than by going back to where it all began: with a classic Coachella 1999 clip from first-year headliner Morrissey? That year, when the festival was held the weekend of October 9, Moz warbled "November Spawned A Monster"--but it was truly October that spawned a monster in '99, and now that the festival has expanded to three days of fun in the sun, Coachella is obviously a monster with no chance of being tamed.

Watch Morrissey in action below, and see you tomorrow