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Arts & Entertainment BLOG |
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May 2008
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Recently in Live Events CategoryMichael Martin Murphey won the affection of his audience in an hourlong solo set that included his signature song, "Wildfire." Then he lost a little of it by failing to show up to a scheduled autograph session. It was supposed to be at 7:30 p.m., a half-hour after he finished at the Mustang Stage. At 8 p.m., the staff at the Borders booth turned away a dwindling line of 30 people, offering them refunds on their CD purchases. Fielding Buck John Rich of Big & Rich took the time to give a shout out to friend Gretchen Wilson and to "the best man in country music," Trace Atkins. Half-way through his set he became much more recognizable, switching out a University of Texas Longhorn hat for the black cowboy hat fans know and love. At $2, water is the cheapest meal you can have here at Stagecoach. Here are some sample prices. Remember, most don't include sides. So iif you'd like fries with that, you'll probably have to go do a different booth. All-beef hot dog: $4 In the VIP area, a booth called Burgerrito's has gotten a lot of attention all weekend. A burgerrito is a hamburger patty wrapped in a buritto with lettuce, tomato, cheese and the usual condiments. It will run you $10. You might want to wait and grab a double double later. Fielding Buck Cowboy star Ian Tyson got a hero's welcome from his Mustang Stage audience, which he described as not large but good. Tyson is from Alberta, Canada, where he said there is still snow in the ditches. But he and his band were wearing red, Hawaiian style shirts, not tucked in. He performed with two musicians he said were both named "Gord" after Gordon Lightfoot, a fellow Canadian artist he helped launch. Tyson, 75, sang some of his compositions about cowboy life from the 1980s and '90s in a voice tempered by 50 years in show biz. He was competing with the over-miked Chuck Wicks on the Mane Stage, which he called "the rock 'n' roll show over there." A real rancher, Tyson asked if there were any cowboys in the audience and when people raised their hands commented that he didn't notice any stockyards in Rancho Mirage. Near the end of the 45-minute set, he performed one of his big hits from his folk music days in the early '60s, "Someday Soon." Several audience members called out for his other standard, "Four Strong Winds," but he didn't sing it. Nevertheless, he got a standing ovation and came out for an encore. Fielding Buck Emcee Waddie Mitchell kicked off Day 3 at the Mustang Stage by asking his audience if anybody who had been to Stagecoach the prior two days had trouble moving when they got up this morning. Mitchell was introducing Wylie and the Wild West, fronted by Wylie Gustafson, the guy who does the yodel on the Yahoo! Internet commercials. But in addition to his yodeling, he delivered a number of low-key, romantic numbers in his set, including Buddy Holly's "Everyday." Gustafson is tall and rail-thin. He wore stovepipe jeans, white shirt, red tie and cowboy hat, a wardrobe that contributed the striking effect when he showed off his dance moves in several numbers, kind of a combination of moon walk and two-step. In "Yodeling Fool," about his Yahoo! experience, he threw in a Mick Jagger parody. Fielding Buck A collective "Awww" went through the crowd when Chuck Wicks started into "Stealing Cinderella." She and her big group of friends - who came to last year's festival as well, said they've really enjoyed Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flats, Craig Morgan and Dwight Yoakum. "I'm ready for Gretchen Wilson," St.Clair said. "I've heard she gets wild." The Mane stage is filling up fast, but some festival goers are pretty pooped. Alex Wahl, age 10, and Allissa Wahl, age 12, of Rancho Cucamonga got up this morning and told Mom and Dad, "Lets just go home this morning," said Mom, Kendra Wahl. She and her husband Robert elected to stay and when asked if they'd do the full three day trip again, she said, "Sure. It would just be better if it started on Wednesday next time." That way, they'd have the weekend to recooperate before back-to-school and work time. Chino Hills resident Janet Fahilga and Buena Park resident Marcia Johnson said they crawled into their Palm Springs hotel at about 3 a.m. last night (all the closer hotels had no vacancies, she said) and it was tough getting going this morning. But after scoring a shuttle ride in from the parking lot (and the driver's phone number for a ride back out late tonight), they were ready for another long day. Steve and Lisa Hill, of Santa Monica, got a pleasant surprise will they were eating lunch in the VIP area. Their idol, Wylie Gustafson of Wylie and the Wild West, wandered by. They introduced themselves and told him how much they liked his music. Gustafson is the yodeler who sings "Yahoo!" in the Yahoo commercials. His set, which the Hills came to Stagecoach for, starts at 2 p.m. Fielding Buck There's some cloud cover today in Indio, so it's not as hot at Empire Polo Club. But the people attending the Stagecoach Music Festival are not as fresh as they were on Friday afternoon. The people who were first at the gate Sunday morning had fallen into a routine. They had their camp chairs. They had their bottled water. They had their paper fans, and were working them furiously. Still, when the staff that let people in arrived in their yellow shirts, eveybody got up, closed their chairs and closed the gaps. Simon says. Lines were longer, but initially there were fewer of them. At 11:30 a.m. the staff opened a couple of extra lanes. People in the back of the crowd surged forward, causing flashes of anger among the people who had been waiting longest. A few minutes later, a couple more lanes opened. The staff began letting people in at 11:48 a.m. Many began dashing toward the headliner stage. Guards yelled not to run. The warning worked for a few seconds. No performers are scheduled to go on before 2 p.m. But by noon the grass in front of the Mane Stage was filling up with blankets and chairs. Loud speakers popped on with Patsy Cline, "Walking After Midnight." Fielding Buck Earl Scruggs, 84, got an almost reverential reception Saturday night from a big audience in the Mustang tent. Almost, but not quite. The Mustang is the Stagecoach festival's most intimate stage, decorated with bales of hay, wagon wheels and horns off of steers. Some spectators in front tried to toss their cowboy hats onto the tips of the horns. Audience members inched as close to the stage as they could and sat on the ground during the hour-long set, as if at Scruggs' feet. With the band led by two sons, he sat out some of the numbers but pulled off some nimble banjo solos. The set ended with a classy rendition of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," from the sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies," and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," made popular in "Bonnie and Clyde." Fielding Buck Bluegrass master J.D. Crowe and the New South had some stiff competition from the Judds' reunion Saturday night at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. Not only did the Mane Stage draw enormous crowds, it made some big noise that sometimes made its way to the Mustang Stage, where Crowe was playing. Still, their audience seemed to love the traditional music and favorites such as "Lefty's Old Guitar." Lead singer Ricky Wasson summed up the evening with "Can't beat the weather, can't change the gas prices, so we'll live with it." Fielding Buck Dwight Yoakam had an overflow crowd dancing on the grass outside of the Palomino tent Saturday evening. Yoakam performed his hour-long set as the sun went down. The audience was on its feet from the sound check, his band wearing glittering jackets that prompted someone to comment, "The way they're dressed, are they going to put Marty Stuart in there? As soon as Yoakam came out, the hip-swivelling began onstage and off. He did his greatest hits, such as "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere," and songs by his mentor Buck Owens, including "Close Up the Honky Tonks." Yoakam was the only artist who performed at last weekend's Coachella festival to return for Stagecoach. Toward the end, he performed a tribute to Rick Nelson, "Garden Party," from his Coachella set. He called Nelson one of the founders of country rock. Nelson is familiar to Inland audiences who watch reruns of "Ozzie and Harriet" on KVCR. He also gave a nod to Friday night's Stagecoach headliners, the Eagles, performing their "Peaceful, Easy Feeling." Fielding Buck The Judds are back! They sound like no time has passed at all. I left the kiddie stage and headed over to the Mane stage in time to hear Dierks Bentley croon "come a little closer baby" to a massive sea of fans, whom he had in the palm of his hand. With his curly locks growing back out a bit and his huge energy on the stage ... Joey Farber doesn't know what stage fright is. When Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could hit the stage at the Half-pint Hootenanny, kid fans started getting riled up. When 11-year-old Joey joined his mom, Liz Queler, who plays the mandolin and sings backup, and his dad, Seth Farber, who plays keyboard and sings backup, the crowd really got in the groove. Sitting, feet dangling, on the cajon - a large wooden box drum 11 year old Joey slapped to the beat of "Shine a Little Light of Love" and "Road trip" with the ease of a garage jam session. And he could jam. Hear about the biggest stars and best performances at the second day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. The family band Cherryholmes brought fiery bluegrass and blinged-up costumes to the Mustang Stage Saturday afternoon. Although their audience was far outnumbered by the crowd giving love to Tayler Swift, their fans were enthusiastic. Cherryholmes, who were Grammy nominees in 2007, have been repeat visitors to the Inland area and gotten a push from the public TV station KVCR, which promotes its local concerts and has aired a documentary about the family. Jere Cherryholms, the father, sports a ZZ Top beard that contrasts with the apple-faced look of his kids. He urged the audience to make noise and introduced his wife Sandy Lee as a soon-to-be grandmother -- a "Granny winner." That gag brought a few groans among the yeehaws. Fielding Buck Most Stagecoach attendees are content to throw away their empty water bottles. But a few dream of recouping some of the admission cost by recycling. Seen: Two little boys running from trash receptacle to trash receptacle with fists full of bottles. Fielding Buck It's probably a play on words that the headliners stage is called the "Mane Stage." But it was totally appropriate when "American Idol's" Bucky Covington came out, sporting his glorious mane of TV-ready hair. He kicked off his set with a husky rendition of "American Friday Night," one of the tracks on his CD. A few minutes later, he ripped into "Suspicious Minds," reputed to be the first Elvis cover of the weekend. In addition to the hair, he has a cool set of shades. Fielding Buck Headliner Luke Bryan, wearing sunglasses and playing guitar, is exploring the code of country masculinity. His first two numbers were "Country Man" and "I'll Stay Me." Fielding Buck |
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