Maximum Performance

  • When the Red Hot Chili Peppers played "Fire" at Woodstock '99, it ended up becoming the unintentional soundtrack to the ill-fated festival's Altamont-esque riot. But luckily, since Coachella is a more good-vibey event equipped with reasonably priced drinking water and fully functional flushing toilets, RHCP's two headlining sets at Coachella, in 2003 and 2007, were relatively incident-free.

    That of course doesn't mean the Peppers' Coachella performances were boring. No gig featuring a lineup of Anthony Kiedis, Flea, John Frusciante, and Chad Smith could ever warrant such an adjective. So start Californicating, people, and get in the mood for Cali's coolest fest (which kicks off this Friday) with this classic Coachella RHCP performance:

    By the way...Coachella tickets are still available! But they're hot (literally) and going fast. Get them at http://coachella.com/tickets.

    And check out the live webcast and highlights after the show exclusively in the AT&T blue room April 25-27. For

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  • By all accounts an absolute highlight of this year's Winter Music Conference was "The Bourne Sessions"--a power-packed  80-minute performance by world-renowned DJ/producer Paul Oakenfold.

    Shot at Miami's fashionable Mansion club to a packed house, Oakenfold's set featured members of the Florida Classical Symphony as well as a high-energy appearance by Gnarls Barkley's own Cee-Lo Green.

    Oakenfold's appearance was memorable on many levels, not least because of his participation in providing the soundtrack to Sierra Entertainment's upcoming Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy video game. As evidenced on this world premiere of the "Falling" video from The Bourne Conspiracy game, Oakenfold, his music, and the high-tech, dazzling graphics of video gaming are partnering in ways never before conceived.

    "The 'Falling' music video represents an unprecedented convergence between three industries--video games, music, and Hollywood," says Ben Kusin, creator of the Bourne Sessions initiative. "We

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  • Coachella is three days away now, which means we're three days away from seeing Kim Deal reclaim the main stage, like she did when her former band the Pixies played what is still the most-anticipated and most-hyped Coachella renion ever.

    Sure, punters are excited about seeing Kim and her reunited Breeders get the old "Cannonball" rolling again at this year's festival (after all, Kim's so cool, the Dandy Warhols wrote a song about her). But it's Kim's 2004 appearance with Pixies bandmates Black Francis, Joey Santiago, and David Lovering that will undoubtedly go down in Coachella history.

    So check out this classic clip from the Pixies' Coachella reunion below. It's the real Deal.

    By the way...Coachella tickets are still available! But they're hot (literally) and going fast. Get them at http://coachella.com/tickets.

    And check out the live webcast and highlights after the show exclusively in the AT&T blue room April 25-27. For more info on Coachella, click here for their official

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  • California's Coachella Festival is now only four days away...which means we're only four days away from seeing Jack White and his rowdy Raconteurs (the indie-allstar supergroup featuring Jack, Brendan Benson, and the rhythm section from garage-rock trio the Greenhornes) bring a little bit of Detroit to the desert.

    However, back in 2003 Jack played Coachella with his other project: a little duo you may have heard of called the White Stripes. And it was amazing how much glorious noise just two people were able to bash out that night. Seriously, Jack and his ex-wife/sister Meg White completely commanded the Main Stage with their bare-bones, guitar-and-drums lineup...even more so than the 20-plus-member Polyphonic Spree, fearsome fellow Detroit-punks Iggy & The Stooges, or Vegas-glitzy electro-art-rock collective Fischerspooner, all of whom also performed at Coachella that year. This was indeed a star-making performance that, against all odds, elevated the Stripes from indie darlings to

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  • The Coachella Festival kicks off a week from today, upon the scorched earth of California's Indio desert--meaning we're already starting to pack our economy-sized bottles of SPF 70 sunblock, baby wipes, portable battery-operated misting fans, sun umbrellas, earplugs, glowsticks, and travel packs of RU-21.

    After all, one can never be too prepared when it comes to this rock 'n' roll endurance test, which is now a three-day lost weekend of bands, bands, bands.

    However, the best way to prepare for Coachella is to reflect on some of the fest's best performances over the last nine sunstroked years. And 2004 is perhaps THE best year to begin. First, 2004 was the year of the much-ballyhooed reunion by Pixies (whose Kim Deal, pictured above, returns to Coachella this year with her own reunited Breeders). This reunion launched a noble Coachella tradition in which everyone from the Jesus & Mary Chain to Gang Of Four to this year's Verve have gotten their act back together at the festival.

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  • "This is the hottest party at South By Southwest!" declared fuchsia-fauxhawked cewebrity Perez Hilton, serving as emcee at his hot-ticket private afterparty on SXSW's final night. And you know what? He was right.

    Yes, with 9,000-plus RSVPs on the guestlist but only a few hundred people actually lucky enough to make it to the other side of the velvet rope, Perez's "One Night In Austin" wee-hours blowout was THE place to be Saturday night (or Sunday morning, to be more accurate, since the festivities raged on until 7am). It certainly had all the makings of a guaranteed good time: scrumptious Cuban coffee cocktails courtesy of Cafe De Bustelo (addictive stuff, with or without cognac in it); free got2b product-stocked hairstyling stations; cigarette girls in Martian makeup passing out packs from party sponsor 5Gum (to ensure good post-party makeout breath, natch); a seen-and-be-scene crowd of beautiful people who resembled extras from The Hills; and of course, swag-bags aplenty.

    But it was

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  • By South By Southwest Saturday, four nearly nonstop days of styrofoam beer cups, poorly maintained port-a-potties and the long lines to access their fetid confines, eight-hour-old potato salad, and other such hazards of daytime SXSW soirees were really starting to take a toll on even the hardiest-partying conventioneers. Therefore there was no better place to be on Saturday afternoon than the highly civilized tea party hosted by the British music magazine Q.  

    Yes, instead of styrofoam cups, Q's bash offered genuine crystal stemware. Instead of stale beer, Q poured champagne and premium herbal tea. Instead of greasy barbeque in tinfoil trays, Q served posh salmon/cream cheese/cucumber finger foods on porcelain platters (attended to by bowtied, impeccably uniformed waiters, of course). Instead of an asphalt slab baking beneath the mercilessly direct Texas sun, Q held its fancy-schmancy affair on the second floor of the historic, opulent, and amazingly air-conditioned Driskill Hotel. And

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  • While the streets of Austin overflow with badge-bearing, slightly woozy attendees shuffling from party to band showcase to party, the world still turns. And the Y! Music team has been working feverishly behind the scenes to spotlight some of this year's top talent via exclusive interviews and performances we'll soon be unveiling.

    This year a dedicated workforce of Y!-related humans set up at the Gibson Show Room, a fabulous instrument-laden studio workspace crammed with all manner of Gibson guitars, located a few miles south of downtown Austin. The crew set up shop there Wednesday in preparation for two consecutive days of shooting, and by Thursday morning a steady stream of artists poured in.

    The process: Artist A would come into Studio 1, set up for an intimate, low-key performance (studio logistics precluded the bookings of certain types of performances due to technical limitations, meaning that rap and the Blue Cheer were definite no-no's), perform two songs twice, then shuffle off

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  • This year's lineup for the normally rock/country/folk-centric South By Southwest fest offered more hip-hop than possibly any previous year--with such urban music luminaries as Ice Cube, David Banner, Bun B, Pharrell Williams, GZA, the Clipse, Dizzee Rascal, 2 Live Crew, and Talib Kweli spitting rhymes at various showcases within spitting distance of each other across Austin.

    But when it came to appealing to the convention's electrorock-obsessed indie crowd, perhaps no other SXSW '08 rapper had such a finger on the proverbial pulse as did that impeccably manicured crossover MC, Kid Sister.

    This Kanye West-endorsed, female-friendly Chi-Town rapstress behind the beauty-salon anthem "Pro Nails" (and the acrylic-tipped star of the greatest music video ever) appeared Friday night at Emo's...where, excitingly, clubbers of presumably either gender could take advantage of complimentary pre-show manicures:

    And on a bill alongside the Clipse and the Cool Kids, Kid Sister easily proved she can

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  • It was a sweltering 92 degrees at South By Southwest on Friday--an almost unheard of temperature for Austin in March, and almost 20 degrees hotter than it was on Thursday. But did this crazy Coachella-like climate deter Britain's best-dressed baby band, Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, from getting all dolled up in their usual autumnal haberdashery?

    Of course not. It's pretty hard to imagine these fashionably pasty Londoners ever trading in their trademark scarves, vests, and suit jackets for cargo shorts and flip-flops.

    Yes, JL&TJJJ beat the heat in style, never letting fans see 'em sweat (they don't sweat, they glisten), and never running out of steam, when they made their U.S. debut at the Mercury Records party on Friday afternoon. Check out their red-hot live party pics below, and see the Mercury rising indeed:

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News for You

  • NYPD investigating actress Bynes allegations

    NEW YORK (AP) — Internal Affairs officers on Saturday were looking into allegations made by actress Amanda Bynes that New York Police Department officers sexually assaulted her when she was charged with heaving a marijuana bong out the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment.

  • Museum starts night tours of signs from Vegas past

    LAS VEGAS (AP) — The junked signs that attracted throngs to old Las Vegas have for years gathered dust in a neon boneyard just a few miles from the sleek mega-casinos on the Strip.

  • A controversial victory lap for Lewis at Cannes

    CANNES, France (AP) — Jerry Lewis, so beloved in France, isn't quite overcome with emotion now that he's back at the Cannes Film Festival.

  • Latest 'Bachelorette' won't say if she's engaged

    NEW YORK (AP) — ABC's newest "Bachelorette," Desiree Hartsock, says it's not hard to keep the details of her experience on the show a secret from her friends.

  • Actress Bynes accused of bong toss out NYC window

    NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Amanda Bynes appeared disheveled in a long blond wig and sweats Friday in a criminal court where she was charged with reckless endangerment after police said she heaved a marijuana bong out the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment.

  • Rare Superman comic found in house insulation

    MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — It's considered the Holy Grail of comic books: Action Comics No. 1 from 1938, featuring the debut of Superman. And David Gonzales found one mixed in with old newspapers insulating a house he was renovating in a small town in Minnesota.

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