About Liset Marquez

If something is happening in Ontario (California, not Canada) then I'll do my best to get it covered. If not, let me know what I'm missing.

Zia Records purchases at Coachella

So I might have been a day
late, but in honor or Record Store Day I headed to Zia Records on Sunday.

The tent was over by the Gobi
tent and after Devendra Banhart’s set made my way to the store.

From what Wes tells me,
Virgin Record store use to occupy that space. This store is based in
Phoenix and also has locations in Las Vegas.

I was a little disappointed
to realize that had I gone in earlier I could have met some of the day’s acts.

Oh well.

But I bought three cds: Beirut and Dr Dog acts and then the
latest ep from Death Cab for Cutie.

Even though I was a day
late I still got a commemorative “Record Store Day,” plastic bag with my
purchase.

Hollywood makes it to Coachella

Los Angeles may have been more than 120 miles away from the Polo Field
grounds in Indio but from what I hear and saw there was no shortage of celebrity
sightings.

I actually had a few of my own.

In the first day I spotted
Kate Bosworth and I believe promoter Brent Bolthouse. I actually saw Bosworth
later on that night looking for a spot to catch Paul McCartney.

Also it was rumored that Ann Hathaway as well as Twlight actor, Robert Pattinson were there on Friday but I never saw them.

On Sunday my sister said she spotted reality star “Mystery,”
from the dating-advice show on VH1.

As I watched Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs I saw Alicia Silverstone
pass by and fresh off their
performance, Peter and John were seen making their way back to the VIP area.

The perils of parking at Coachella

To someone who has never been
to Coachella, it might be easy to laugh at the notion of someone not being able
to find his or her car.

But with six parking lots and thousands of cars, it
actually can be easier than you think.

Last year I was among one of
those people wondering around the parking lot looking for the car.

But this year my sister and
I vowed that it wouldn’t happen to us again.

Apparently many made the same
promise because this time around I noticed several cars with balloons. That
could only mean one thing: they were using them as markers to find their cars at the end of the night.

I have to give them props for being
innovative, my sister and I based our car-locating efforts on landmarks.

Needless to say one of those
was a balloon, and we found the car in a manner of minutes.

Next year I’ll probably bring
a balloon.

That’s if I can remember.

Peter. Bjorn and John at final day of Coachella


The bongos came out during
Peter, Bjorn and John’s set and that could only mean one thing, they were
getting ready to play “Young Folks” or the “whistle song,” as described by a
fan at the third day of Coachella.

Besides bringing out the
instruments, the trio also brought out some guests for a couple of their songs
during their set.

The band, which is best
known for their single “Young Folk,” brought out fellow Swedish singer Lykke
Li for the performance. Just prior to that they had brought out Robyn for their latest single “Nothing to Worry About.”

The group was making the
leap from a tent performer in 2007 to the main stage where they were on Sunday.

“We played two years ago
but this better,” Peter said. He was talking about how Paul McCartney had
played that very stage just two days before.

They played several songs
from their new album “Living Thing,” opening up their set with “Just the Past.”

But almost immediately into
their set, the crowd was thrown off with the sound. The bass was so high your
body vibrated.

That prompted a fan nearby
to say that’s “a little more bass than I need.”

But the fans didn’t seem to
faze by it and just continued singing along with Peter.

As the indie band got into
their second song, “It don’t move me,” a group of fans moved their way through
the crowd waving a Swedish flag.

From “Lay it down” to “It
beats me,” off their 2005 album Falling Out, they seemed to be having fun. I enjoyed watching Peter, who was
either dancing in place or bopping around. At one point Peter went down the
stage and danced with the fans.

But the inevitable occurred
during their set, a “fan” asked who was who?

It’s almost as if Peter had
heard her, or they must get that question a lot because he introduced himself
and his bandmates.

“This is Peter,” he said of
himself, “this is Bjorn and this John.”

Good vibes from Dr. Dog

I guess it was fitting that I checked out Dr Dog a day after
seeing Paul McCartney since the band has drawn several comparisons to 60s bands such as the Beatles.

As the band performed “Army of Ancient,” I was drawn to Toby’s emotion as he belted out “I don’t want to wake up, I don’t
want to move.”

The band played upbeat versions of songs such as “My Friend,”
and “From.” As Scott wrapped up “From,” he told the crowd gathered at the
Mojave tent someone had put a hex on his electronics. “Seems like I can’t play
with out distortion,” Scott said.

As the trio danced and jammed around the stage you could tell they were having fun.

The Philadelphia-based band will be a nice addition to my music catalog.

Coachella recycles

With temperatures topping the 90s I’m sure we’re everyone is happy to know that Coachella has brought back the 10=1 bottle program. The festival organizer is encouraging everyone to recycle watter bottles and as an incentive you get a free water bottle.

The heat was on the mind ove many today including one of the bandmembers of Dr. Dog who said “I know it’s awful but it’s worth it.”

Liars hit the stage at Coachella

The experimental rock band Liars performed at the outdoor stage today. The band, which is probably still on the stage was pretty interesting.

If you listen to their lyrics then it all begins to make sense. In one of their songs they sang: “part of this is so authentic that it’s overwhelming.”
I probably will never see them again, but then again that’s what Coachella is all about, listening and discovering new bands and new sounds.

Beirut bangs out the hits

With such an
eclectic sound that includes accordions, trumpets and the ukulele, Zach Condon
and his band Beirut did not miss a beat.

Condon, opened up his set
with “Nantes,” which drew an applause from the audience.

For the third song he got
out the ukulele to a cheer from the crowd as he sang, “Elephant Gun,” At the
start of the song, Condon fumbled over the lyrics a little but the crowd who
was singing along were there to help him out.

During his set, Condon
mentioned to the crowd that he thought the ukulele would “be loud to cover that
noise around us.” He was referring to the music coming from neighboring tent
where I believe Peanut Butter Wolf was performing.

As he went into “Postcards
from Italy,” the crowd did their best to muffle the noise by clapping along.

After finishing up “Scenic
World,” Condo picked up the ukulele and told the hundreds that had gathered to
watch him “I’m very proud to play for you guys.”

As Condon got ready to sing
“Sunday Smile,” he told the crowd “I don’t care if you know the lyrics or not
you can kind of sing along.”

And sing they did.

Zia Records at Coachella

We all know that finding a good record store is hard to come by these days. Well Zia Records has come to you, well that’s if you happen to be at Coachella this weekend.

Since Friday was so hectic I didn’t have a chance to check it out, but I”ll find some time over the weekend to see what they’ve got.

If anyone of you have been in there hit me up and let me know what you think of their selection.

Sights and sounds of Coachella: Day 1

I arrived to the sound of
“Do You Want To” blasting from the main stage of Coachella. It was no
recording; it was the band Franz Ferdinand singing.

They also played, “Turn it
on,” “Ulysses” as well as “Walk Away,” from their earlier album.

As the band performed, some played hacki sack, danced while others, weary from the long
day, sat back on the polo fields and listened.

“Take Me Out,” got many up
and dancing to the bands popular hit.

– I only caught a little
bit of Ghostland Observatory but I was quite impressed. The Sahara Tent was
bursting at the seam as people were jamming along. I also caught a little of
Girl Talk which was also in the Sahara Tent. The only downside was I couldn’t
see the stage but the few glimpses that I did manage to get, it looked like there was quite a
party going on there as well.

-Finding
parking can always be tricky especially when your car can get stuck in the dirt
mounds. As my colleague and I arrived we found a red car stuck and about ten
guys trying to lift it out. After a couple tries they were able to get it out
of the dirt. Hope the rest of their day was better than that. Remember to look
around you as your getting ready to park.

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