2009 Coachella Poster and Line-Up

After seeing the official line up for the 2009 Coachella Music and Arts Festival, The Blot realizes the rumor of the decline of the three day music festival has been greatly exaggerated. The Blot was as turned off as anyone by the recycled lineups of last year’s music festivals, but Coachell seems to be making a concerted effort to turn things around. While headliner Paul McCartney continues the trend of festivals bringing in an established act from decades ago, it’s still freaking Paul McCartney! He’s a Beatle for god sake and I think it would be pretty cool to see him perform even if he is 20-30 years past his prime.


The other two headliners, The Killers and The Cure, leave a little to be desired for a big music festival’s closing acts, but I do love me some Killers so I can’t complain too much. Plus, the rest of this year’s Coachella schedule is pretty sick. It includes acts such as Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, Amy Winehouse, Thievery Corporation, My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst, Beirut, the Black Keys, Girl Talk, TV on the Radio, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, MSTRKRFT, Lupe Fiasco, Peter Bjorn and John, the Hold Steady, M. Ward and (surprisingly) Shepard Fairey!

What Fairey will be doing at Coachella is anyone’s guess. Maybe some live painting on stage while another act performs? You can check out the entire 2009 Coachella line-up by clicking on the Coachella 2009 line-up poster above.

The Coachella Music and Arts Festival takes place April 17th, 18th and 19th in Indio, California. It is recommended to purchase your tickets in advance, which you can do so directly from Coachella on their website here. 3 day weekend passes are $269 and single day passes are $99.

She & Him To Tour North America

You know its summer when every music act in the world announces a tour of the U.S. and Canada. Not to be left out are indie darlings She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward), who announced yesterday they would be embarking on a North America Summer Tour.


After a few shows earlier in the year to promote their debut album, Volume One, Ward and Deschanel have decided to go on their first official tour as a band. She & Him’s Summer Tour 2008 only has 13 stops, so if you were hoping to catch the indie duo live you’d better start making travel arrangements now. The tour's pre-sale began on Wednesday, May 28th and the general sale for most of the tour's shows begins this Friday, May 30th, at 10 am (local time).

She & Him Summer Tour Dates
July 23rd - Toronto, ON - Opera House
July 24th - Northampton, MA - Academy of Music
July 25th - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
July 26th - New York, NY - Terminal 5
July 28th - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
July 29th - Atlanta, Georgia - Variety Playhouse
July 30th - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
July 31st - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
August 2nd - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival
August 5th - Chicago, IL - Park West
August 7th - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
August 8th - Madison, WI - Barrymore
August 10th - Baltimore, MD - V Fest

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward are She & Him - Volume One

Another album highly anticipated by The Blot is the first album by She & Him entitled Volume One. While “the album has been finished for a year,” it was just released this week by Merge Records and is getting great reviews by the blog-o-sphere for both its unique sound and the group’s lead singer. (link) While most people have never heard of the band She & Him, I would guess everyone knows at least one of its two members.


She & Him is a “collaboration between indie musician/producer M. Ward and actress/songwriter Zooey Deschanel” (Elf, Tin Man). According to the group’s biography on MergeRecords.com the two artists “first met to record a version of Richard and Linda Thompson’s ‘When I Get To The Border’ for a movie soundtrack.” (link) From listening to a few of the album’s tracks on She & Him’s MySpace page the album sounds like just the right mix of Deschanel’s songwriting/vocals and Ward’s production/guitar playing. But don’t take my word for it, check out the first single from the album “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” below.

She & Him – Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? {MP3}

If you’d like to preview more songs from She & Him click here to head over to Deaf Indie Elephants for a live recording of their performance at this year’s SXSW festival.