Friday Flotsam

While the weather is being cruel to those of us in New York, a number of lucky music fans have escaped the rain and are headed to drier pastures.
Coachella takes place this weekend, which accounts for the mass hipster exodus to the Empire Polo Field in Indio, California. If you're planning on
attending the festival and haven't left yet, you have exactly 1 day, 23 hours, 30 minutes, and 49 seconds to arrive. We know this because we just checked the nifty
countdown at Coachella.com.

Rolling Stone is on the scene already, and they've been peppering their website with constant
updates from Ed Droste, band member of Grizzly Bear and honorary RS reporter. Sample text: "7:22 p.m.:
We arrive at our house! It’s amazing! It has a pool and is decked out all mod, Palm Springs, aging gay-man style. Appropriately kitschy, yet comfortable."

Anyway, we're jealous. April 27th is not a good day to be stuck in Manhattan, what with the rain and the cold weather and all. Accordingly, let's look back to some April 27ths of years past:

April 27th, 1999: The Verve calls it quits. Singer Richard Ashcroft will go on to acheive similar success as a solo performer.

April 27th, 1976: David Bowie is detained at the border between Poland and Russia after customs officials discover Nazi memorbilia in the singer's luggage. Bowie contends that the
memorbilia is merely research for an upcoming movie project about Nazi leader Joseph Paul Goebbels.

April 27th, 1968: Simon and Garfunkel release "Mrs. Robinson" in the US. It is the first pop song to use the word "Jesus" in its lyrics.

April 27th, 1951: KISS' lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, is born. He goes by the name of "Paul" until the mid-70s, when he and his KISS bandmates decide to adopt stage personas that
correspond with their stage makeup. Frehley chooses the persona of "Space Ace," an alien visitor/guitarist from the planet of Jendel. Ummm.... yeah.