Getting the Coldplay shoulder

I just got home after a night on the town and it's 4 a.m. That's a bit unusual in California, where the bars close at 2 a.m., and it was definitely an unusual night.

I met up with 4 friends for dinner. It was something of a going away dinner for a friend and colleague who is moving to Northern California.

The five of us were going to meet at the restaurant, but our guest of honor and her driver were late. So the other three of us check in for our reservation and are seated. All was going well and we were chatting, but there was a glitch.

We were dining at a Japanese teppan yaki restaurant, where the chef's cook in front of you. If you've ever been to one of these places, you may know that if you have a small party, you end up sitting that this table, which surrounds a grill, with other people. And the chef comes and cooks at the teppan grill for everyone at once. Well, two of our party were not there, but we had been seated, and a family of 4 was at the other end of the table.

Eventually, the staff comes and tells us that if our whole party is not there, we will have to surrender our table to other customers. So, we do our walk of shame back to the lobby, and eventually go wait outside. Our other dining companions show up a few minutes later and we are reseated at another table. We have a nice meal and pleasant conversation and decide after dinner to go out for a drink.

One of the people in our party checks her cell phone and there is a message from one of her coworkers saying she should come to this bar in the neighboring city because she has a tip that the band Coldplay may show up there. The tip sounds implausible to us, but not impossible, because after all Coldplay is in town (or in our area any way) to play at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. We figure we were going to go out for a drink anyway, and it's a bar that we like, so what the hell. So we go. Or four of us go. One of our party also got a call on his cell during dinner and has a hookup planned, so he bails on us. Whatever.

So we go to this bar and meet up with a couple of our friend's coworkers there. The rumor is that the band will be coming by after their set at the Coachella. Their ETA: about 12:30 a.m. So, we hang out for a while, but the bar is pretty dead, so we decide to move over to the Yard House. And the friend who's coworkers we met's boyfriend meets us there. So we drink and chat there, and about midnight the one friend and her boyfriend decide to leave. And about 12:30, I decide that as unlikely as it may be that Coldplay will show up at this other bar, I will be kicking myself if they do and I wasn't there, so I head back to the other bar, where I meet up with my friend's two coworkers who are still hanging out waiting for Coldplay to show. So we wait, and we drink, and we chat. And we wait. And wait. And about 1:30 a.m., the bar's phone rings with word. They are on their way.

So a buzz goes through the small crowd. So the owner of the place, who's table I was hanging out beside on the patio with my friend's friends, says at 2 he has to close the place. But he has a plan. Everyone can go inside, and they'll close the doors and dim the lights, but people can still hang around.

So, at 2 a.m., the owner, Eddie, movies everyone inside. And sometime thereafter there is another call. Part of the entourage is close. They'll be there in 5 minutes. It's more like 15, but a group of 6 to 8 people shows up. What their connection is to the band, or the bar owner, I don't really know, but these people show up. So we hang out some more. And as the evening wears on, one of the guys, who seems to be the key connection to Coldplay, sends a text message to find out where the band is. It seems the band got lost somewhere in the La Quinta/Indio area, but they were supposedly coming.

But after a while, even many of the hardcore crowd start trickling out, including one of my friend's coworkers.

So, there I sit, at 3 a.m., talking to this bar owner that I just met and a friend of a friend who I had just met as well who seemed convinced that my name is something other than what it is. Now, I have to work today. So, finally, at about 3:40 a.m., I decide, Coldplay or no Coldplay, I need to go home, so I make my exit and head for home.

If I find out later they showed up, I may still kick myself. But shit, I figure I put in my time based on a flakey rumor. I didn't need to see Gwyneth Paltrow's husband that bad. Hell, I'll just listed to him on CD.

But I do need to figure out who Coldplay's managers are and send them my bar bill for reimbursement. With an added charge for sleep deprivation of course.

Palm Springs
Coachella Music Festival
Coldplay
Celebrities
Rumors

Tennis and tequila

Andy Roddick hits a return during Saturday's Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif. Roddick won the match on a tiebreaker after three sets. Photo by The G-man


Yea, yea, I know. I didn't post anything yesterday. I'm a bad blogger. But I feel no guilt about that whatsoever. I spent my afternoon with a friend at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells. We watched some tennis (Andy Roddick came damn close to losing his match, but mounted an amazing comeback to survive), watched some people (some women should not wear belly shirts, and some men should not walk around without shirts) got some sun.

I've gone to at least one opening weekend match of this tournament every year I've been here. I think I have anyway. I'm getting old, the memory fades. But this year I was at least smart enough to put on the sunscreen before I left. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I for once do not look like a lobster after an afternoon at the tennis stadium.

After the tennis match, I returned home for a shower so I could meet another friend for dinner. I have to say, something must be out of whack with the cosmos or something. Two social engagements in one day? What the fuck? Never happens people.

It was a great day. Very fun, spent with two of my favorite people, and several large margaritas. By the way, if you are ever in the Palm Springs area, I highly recommend the Cadillac margarita, on the rocks, at Las Casuelas Nuevas in Rancho Mirage. The shrimp fajitas were good too, but after I couple of those margaritas I might not have known or cared if they weren't good.

All it all, it was a good day NOT to get married! Tennis, talk and tequila! Too much fun.

It's another nice day, and I'm determined to enjoy more of this weekend before I have to settle into my chores.

Where'd I put that bottle of tequila?

Tennis
Friends
Coachella Valley

Rain, rain, go the fuck away

It rained again Monday in the Coachella Valley. Not just rain, but a full-on torrential downpour. It's fucking ridiculous. In and area that is lucky if it gets nine inches of rain a year, we got nine-tenths of and inch just Monday. We've had more than an inch of rain since about 2 p.m. Sunday.

Crazy.

There are rivers of brown water flowing everywhere, the streets themselves looked like rivers. I had a lunch appointment today during the heart of the deluge. We got .61 of rain between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. today.

Enough already. Bring on the sun.

But what's the forecast? Rain or a chance of rain through Wednesday. I hope the fucking wildflowers are happy, because desert dwellers are starting to get a bit cranky.

Weather
Palm Springs

The rain has stopped

The rain has finally stopped, but water is still flowing in torrents in the flood channels, and many roads are still impassable in the Coachella Valley.

We saw blue skies today, for the first time in days. And the winds kicked up, blowing palm fronds and other debris off of the palm trees. There were scattered power outages and the roads were a mess between the litter from the palm trees and main roads clogged by drivers who couldn't take other main roads due to flooding. What a mess.

But, just seeing blue skies and rainbows again made the day bright indeed.

Who said it never rains in Southern California?

It's still frickin' raining here. And foolish people still keep trying to drive through high water and across closed roads. Luckily, no one has died here in the Coachella Valley.

But we aren't getting quite as much rain as they are on the west side of the mountains, where there have been mud and rock slides washing away houses, and some people with them.

I have that Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood song (© Copyright 1972 by Landers-Roberts Music) going through my head. They may have meant something else when they wrote it, but boy they sure were right on the money.

"Seems it never rains in Southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But, girl, don't they warn ya
It pours, man, it pours"

Perhaps it's appropriate the former Palm Springs Mayor, the late Sonny Bono, and Cher recorded a version of the song. Although Bono probably wouldn't be too thrilled that it was raining during the annual run of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which he founded.

We've had almost 2 inches of rain here in Palm Springs in the last 48 hours. And washes, which are like big natural ditches here in the desert, are now raging, flowing rivers where only days ago their was nothing but sand.

The air is so thick with water it looks like fog, even when it's not raining, but it's more like mist.

Well, at least it's a little warmer. And the forecast indicates we may get a reprieve by Wednesday or Thursday.

In the meantime, let's follow the link and sing along.

Print no news before its time

President Ford is in the hospital. Or he was. He has been released already, according to what my newspaper is reportering online today. We knew he was there last night, but couldn't report it because we couldn't confirm it.

I say we knew it, because there were several strong hints and clues, but nothing solid enough to tell people in their morning paper. So, we had to hold off on the story until today.

Ford is the nation's oldest living former president, a position he assumed after the death of Ronald Reagan last year. Now there is plenty of speculation that Ford's health is rapidly declining. Hell, at 91, the man looks like he gets around pretty good to me, athough his doctors have told him not to travel any as much, if at all, anymore. He still gets around better than my grandmother who turned 90 last year. Ford didn't attend the opening of President Clinton's library in Arkansas, and he skipped out on a holiday tree lighting in Vail, which has led to the speculation about his declining health.

One article I found online has a writer predicting Ford will die this year.
Aaron Goldstein has a piece on the Web site www.intellectualconservative.com called "Ten things to watch for in 2005" and No. 9 is Ford kicking the bucket.

That all seems a bit morbid to me, predicting someone's death. But, with Ford's age, it's not like the guy is going out on a huge limb there.

I got the opportunity to meet President Ford a couple of years ago when he talked to our editorial board at the newspaper. This was after he had suffered a couple of small strokes at the 2000 GOP convention. His speech was a little slow and slurred, but he still had an amazaing grasp on world affairs and local issues. I hope I'm in half as good a shape if and when I reach my late 80s or early 90s.

I was too young to vote when Ford was in office and seeking election to the presidency in his own right in 1976. So, I don't know if I would have voted for the man or not. But I can say that I admire Ford and President Carter for the things they have done since they left the White House. Former President Gerald Ford and former first lady Betty Ford have been a tremendous asset to the Coachella Valley in particular and ambassadors of this community to the world. Rancho Mirage has the nickname "Playground of Presidents" but once Ford is gone the nickname will have to be the former playground of presidents, unless Clinton or one of the Bushes opts to start spending time out here.