The Battle of Coachella

Things will fall apart.

In this sort of endeavor, there's no way for it to unfold with out adversity. We will be beaten, tired and dirty. We will get sick, have injuries and wonder why we came. No matter what sort of disaster befalls us, we will look back at this endeavor two ways.

First, we will think "man, I'm glad I'm not in the middle of that anymore." Yes, five days in the dessert, a 27-hour drive and meshing with thousands of other sweaty adventurers and music fans will make us miserable at times.

Then, we will undoubtedly think, "man, I'm glad I was in the middle of that for a while."

It may seem boring, safe or simple from a distance. However, traveling across country, camping in the southern California dessert for near a week and trudging through a massive music festival for three straight days challenges one in ways we can't anticipate.

But that's life. We're in our early twenties, we have led relatively comfortable lives and we have no excuse for passing up an adventure. As old men, what will be better? Looking back at an April weekend in college from which we worked on a term paper and sipped cappuccino with a girlfriend? Or the time we defied the limitations of space and school to catch Rage Against the Machine's first reunion show in seven years? The most politically poignant band of a generation has returned amid political turmoil, if there's any chance to see it we must take it.

We embark upon this adventure today, unsure of what's to come, but we will survive, we will have stories and we will never forget. This is the Battle of Coachella, a challenge to the everyday lives, the regular and the boring that most of our generation seems content to accept.

On Sunday when Rage hits the stage, we will know the power of what we've done, and the value of living a life outside of a comfortable apartment. Look for an occasional update during the trip, but don't count on anything.

Carbondale man furious with roommates

A 21-year-old Carbondale man boiled with rage early Tuesday as his roommates erupted with a raucous discussion of a concert they plan to see late this week.

Sam Banda, who moved to Carbondale as a transfer student at Southern Illinois University in January, asked himself a question as his apartment on the east side of town shook with action at 2 a.m.

"Where do you find guys like these?" Banda wondered.

The rare guys he refferred to are Zack Quaintance, the 22-year-old assistant editor of the Carterville Courier and the Herrin Independent, and Tim Dusza, a shift manager at Carbondale's popular Panera Bread restaurant. The behavior that spawned Banda's question befits males of much younger ages.

Quaintance began to shout himself horse just after 1:45 p.m. Tuesday when the Coachella Valley and Music Arts Festival, which he will attend Friday through Sunday along with Dusza, released its list of performance times.

"Rage, dude, Rage, dude, Rage," Quaintance shouted as he jumped up and down, set times flashing on his laptop screen. Dusza, never as quickwitted as Quaintance, paniced and went a few nervous minutes without the set times.

"Where? Where? I can't find them," Dusza said, before Quaintance pointed him in the right direction.

None of this mattered to Banda, who had gone to bed early for the next morning's 8 a.m. computer course. As Quaintance screamed about the chance to see his favorite band Rage Against the Machine, Banda boiled with some Rage of his own.

"I can't wait until these morons are in California," he muttered groggily. The trip begins Wednesday at 8 a.m.

Hip hop's best live show

The principle problem with a a massive concert line up, is one tends to forget some acts are even on the ticket. For Tim and I, the Roots are a prime example of this.

Swept into the excitement over Rage Against the Machine, Manu Chao, Arcade Fire and other headliner acts we often miss the smaller let glorious eight letters of type on the third row of the Sunday section on the poster. Said row reads "The Roots."

Magazines, message boards and insiders regularly peg The Roots as hip hop's best live show and an experience not to be missed. On the Coachella message board, the anxious masses have named the Roots their most anticipated hip hop act over more mainstream fair such as Ghostface Killah.

Needless to say, we're stoked.

Release the set list!

Dear Coachella organizers,

We need the set list. You booked more than 60 bands for this festival, meaning we have an opportunity to see 60 bands. But without the set list we know not which acts will fit into our schedule. The general feeling around here is that only the Arcade Fire and Rage Against the Machine are untouchable, other than that it comes down to you set list.

We know you have the times. Festival gates open Friday, you have to have the times. Stop toying with us and release them. The run up to the festival has dragged by painfully enough, why not give us something to ease that wait? We need to plan our times.

Also, if I spend any more time yelling "give me the set times" at my laptop, my roommates may have me committed, and that would be bad, because I would totally miss the show.

More than once upon a time in Mexico

Before Coachella, before the Rage reunion, after the massive 25-hour drive, we visit not only a major Mexican city, but a major battleground in the currently raging battle over immigration into the United States. We visit Tijuana.

Tijuana holds an important part of current events. Many immigrants, more often illegal than not, pass through Tijuana or find themselves dumped there as they battle for a better life in America. Many American tourists, more often than not seeking things illegal in the States, visit Tijuana each year. While a few years back that may have sounded enticing, this time around I seek to visit Tijuana to soak it all in.

What's it like, this basin of hopes, this focal point of dreams being realized or shattered? What effect do American's thirsting for women, drugs and wild times have on this city? I can't wait to see what goes on there.

I've visited many Mexican cities, from the capital, la ciudad de Mexico, la D.F. (pronounced deh effe), the hub of the country, to Puebla, a quaint city southeast of Mexico, that bears the influences of French and Italian archetecture. I've been through Oaxaca en route to Latin America's largest water park. I've sat on pyramids built by indigenous peoples in places whose names hold too much of an acient language to remain in my English-speaking brain. I've spent a week during spring break in the cliched, dullness that is an Acapolco vacation.

But Tijuana, that's a new one to me. I look forward to getting a brief glimpse of the situation there, while I fully realize a few hours introduces us to far too few of the attractions offered in the city. Still, I always enjoy learning more about a foreign country, particuliarly one that has played such a major part in my life as well as the times and places I have grown up in. Viva Tijuana, viva la vida que raro.

Here's a sampling of pictures from my past adventures south of the border. Very top, there's me at 18 eating tacos at a street market in Mexico City with friends. Second from top that's me at 20 jumping off a 40 foot platform at a waterpark in Oaxaca. Very bottom, that's me during Mexican Independence Day in Mexico City with women that like me far more when we can't talk to each other. Second from bottom is me at 22 busting a pinata on the street of Mexico City a few days before Christmas. Next closest is me in the Puebla countryside toasting a beer with an 8-year-old friend.

Expect more pictures from Tijuana on here as the trip unfolds.

Zack "Maddog" Quaintance vs. Anthony Kiedis

Time to tackle the important blog topics with five days left until we depart, such as could I hold my own in a fist fight with Antony Kiedis.

I maintain the ass womping wouldn't be as severe as it seems. Fact, Anothny Kiedis is a 45-year-old man. Fact, I'm 22 years old, in the best shape of my life and have been going to the Rec Center daily since January.

Item the second, Anthony Kiedis is a recoving heroin addict. Fact, I have never used heroin, much less been addicted to it. Fact, my record in hand-to-hand combat is a stunning 1-0 after I won the only fist fight I've ever been in with one punch on Sept. 11, 2001. Anthony Kiedis has no doubt been around the block and won his share of scuffles, but he's also a very rich man and no doubt soft with celebrity and luxury.

Here's how it goes down, Anthony Kiedis reads this blog, and starts to wonder who this guy is who thinks he could hold his own in fisticuffs with the lead singer of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He calls me up on stage, and we throw down. What else could I do? The crew would have to come in tow. Wayne takes a beating from Flea, no doubt the toughest Chili Pepper while Tim and Anthony fend off the others.

I would circle with Kiedis until he charged me and then do my best to reign blows upon his head while he worked the body. Hopefully this wouldn't affect their set, I think they're a great band and can't wait to see them. But nonetheless, I must wonder if I could take their lead singer. Either way, it'd be One Red Hot Minute.

Concert weather forecast

Coachella stands to scorch as midwesterners.

The hottest day around here has brushed 80. Weather.com puts festival temperatures in the low 90s. That will hurt from about noon until 4 p.m. It will also be unpleasant when the sun hits our tent at 7 a.m., waking us up from much-needed rest after a hard day's rocking.

We will combat the sun. Exposed flesh gets covered with sun block, we buy $20 to $30 worth of bottled water each day. We spend as much time as we can watching acts in one of the festival's tent venues during the day. I plan to wear a wife beater and carry aspirin during the day, which I will likely eat like candy. It will be fun, but only if we handle the elements. Carrying a large umbrella might also come in handy, given the intensity of the dessert sun. On the plus side, expect to see all of us back with a crisp, California tan.

That is of course, if we don't spend too much time lounging in the shade from enourmous phalic pieces of art that appear to be strewn about the camp ground, at least in this photo taken from the Coachella Web site. But as it stands, Weather.com has a high of 92 for Friday and 93 for Saturday. The Web editor there has even seen fit to put a little link of Saturday tittled "Fun things to do on a hot day." I can't help but wonder if wander around a polo field with thousands of sweaty music fans is somewhere tied to that link.

Time starts to crawl

Six days until we shove off and there's still much to do.

Gas prices have soared at just the wrong time and we're looking at $100 each for fuel, plus another $10 to pay for the oil change that results from all this mileage. I've only collected half of those funds from the crew.

Next, we need to buy many trip essentials. Sun block, car trivia, aspirin, shoe insoles, disposable cameras we still need to get all this. On top of that, most all of us have job/school obligations to fulfill.

I have one more week to put in at the community newspapers I work at. The next six days I have to take at least three photos and cover the high school sports happenings in two rural communities. Being six days away from an epic road trip does not make that exciting. Anthony has much school work to fulfill as he takes classes full time, and Wayne still toils in indentured servitude at the Daily Egyptian, meaning he's kept busy as well.

With all this left to do, one would think time would fly by...not so. Six days, just six days, and the set times should be revealed on or before Monday. That will be exciting.

Here's another photo from the Coachella site of what awaits us when this wait wraps up.

Getting in the wild spirit

Anthony grew his hair out for the trip.

Raging for change

Zack de la Rocha and Tom Morello, the vocalist and lead guitar of Rage Against the Machine respectivly, teamed up this weekend at a rally against the mistreatment of farm workers by fast food giants. The protest actually affected a change.

Even before the rally happened on Saturday, McDonalds, then the target of the protesters, announced April 9 it would induce the following three changes:

1). The company will pay workers harvesting tomatoes a penny more per pound.

2). A stronger code of conduct based on the principle of worker participation will be enacted.

3). Both sides will embark upon a collaborative effort to establish a third party mechanism for monitoring conditions in the fields and investigating worker abuse complaints.

While McDonalds agreed to these terms, Burger King refused and drew the ire of the protesters. Being about as shallow as the rest of my generation, I paid these worthy changes little mind and scowered the internet for a review of Zack and Tom's performance. What I found was very telling. Most bloggers and even news sources concentrated on the cause rather than the music, which is encouraging.

Persistent readers of this blog will remember the panic entry spawned last month by an erroneous radio report that Rage would reunite at Austin, Texas, SouthbySouthWest rather than Coachella. Our group felt betrayed. This instance is different.

Zack and Tom played for a cause, sharing a spotlight with many speakers and other acts. The entity Rage Against the Machine has yet to grace a large venue stage since the band split in 2000. So cheers all around, these activists affected change and we still get to see Rage play its first show in years. Yes, our priorities are flawed.

Photo taken from NorthbyNorthwestern, an online publication from Northwestern University.

10-day forecast

Ten days are left, better check the weather forecast.

We will leave at 8 a.m. 10 days from now. While the weather in Carbondale affects little outside of the pictures we plan to take of us leaving town, why not check up on it anyway?

Ten days from now, when we shove off, those reputable meteoroligists at weather.com report it will be 72 degrees in Carbondale with a 40 percent chance of rain. Geez, glad we're getting out of there. Thats a one in four chance of getting damp on the way to class or forgeting to roll up your car window and having to sit in rain water. It's almost worth the 27-hour trip to avoid all of that nastiness. Let's see what the forecast calls for in Indio, the California town hosting this whole Coachella affair.

Ten days from now, Indio will be 90 degrees and sunny with a mere 10 percent chance of rain. Boo yah. We can only assume that weather forecast will hold true for not only our day of departure but the lenght of the festival as well. That seems hot, but considering the show is in the desert, we're almost getting off easy.

Last minute additions

We assumed from the begining a few last minute additions would sweeten the bill further, not that the assembled line up lacked anything.

Rumors fueled our anxiousness. The Smashing Pumpkins, of course, rode high on our list of ideal bands, though that seems less than likely. Someone on the message board said Kanye West joined the bill so late last year that his name missed the poster. A simple check of the 2006 art proved that true.

So, with that said, and few days left until the show, it seems less than likely any similar artist will jump on. But then again, there stand to be enough time conflicts as is. We don't need anymore.

This image would seem to be the final line up for the event.

Crew holds brainstorming session

Conflict reared Thursday night in an apartment blocks away from the Southern Illinois University Carbondale campus as four friends hammered out details for a trip later this month to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival in southern California.

Urinating drove the main wrench into the session, which was held by four friends planning to make the trip. The four, all of which are students at SIUC, met with notepads, they nearly left with bruises.

Zack Quaintance, a soon-to-be graduate of SIUC, stood alone on one side of the disagreement while Tim Dusza and Wayne Utterback took point on the other side.

"Milk jugs, four empty milk jugs for emergencys makes so much sense," Quaintance said amid the heated arguement. "If we stop because one dude has to take a piss that's bogus and he's a pussy."

Quaintance argued the crew should stock the car with empty milk jugs in order to cut down on five minute toliet breaks and expediate a drive from Carbondale, Ill., to Indio, Calif., which Mapquest.com pegs at 27 hours.

The others decried his idea, saying a stop would not be so bad.

"I guess we know who the real man's man is here," Quaintance said. "And even if we stop at a rest area, I'll be in the car with a milk jug listening to gangsta rap while you guys use the little ladies room."

No punches were thrown, but it was close. Other developments from the brainstorming session inlucded a decision to play trivia in the car, a list of non-perishable snack foods that included pretzels, granola bars and Ritz Crackers and the formation of a partial trip playlist. The four man crew plans to resume preparations once tempers settle down.

Good news for you!

Worry not gentle reader, we will be able to update the blog occasionally as our journey unfolds. Goldenvoice, the festival organizer, released more information about the camping area recently.

In addition to a double feature movie Thursday night projeted on a giant inflatable screen, the camping area will also feature a full bar with karaoke, a raffle for early bird arrivals and most importantly a computer tent.

In the computer tent, one can surf the internet, recharge cell phones and store laptops during the day. This last bit benefits us tremendously. Anthony Souffle, our crew's resident photographer, practically lives with his laptop. We inittially worried a laptop would be stolen or melted during the journey. But we worry no more.

Anthony can use the tent during the day to surf the web and store his laptop in there as the show unfolds. So why is that such good news for you? Well, we'll have the laptop on the road, which means we can steal wireless from Super 8 hotels and let the world know of our progress.

We will also be able to put Anthony's photos from inside the show on the web, as well as any writing I feel up to. Exciting stuff for you guys I'm sure.

Phantom Planet's California

We're buring one CD with just Phantom Planet's California on it. We will then put that song on repeat for hours on end to remind us of our destination during the drive.

Is it 2 a.m. on Thursday, April 26? While you're doing whatever it is you do, you can bet we'll be cruising through Oklahoma, windows down, voices up, tears streaming down all our cheeks singing this song.

Is it 8 a.m. on Wednesday, April 25? While you're sleeping or getting ready for the day, we'll be rolling out, probably also listening to Phantom Planet's California.

Sure we could burn a full CD and put this song on repeat, but no, that's not how we're doing it. This song was practically written for a bunch of friends cruising through an ill-advised trip to California. I also plan to eat oranges early and often.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale helps out

The University from which we flee a full week of class will help send us to Coachella.

When coming out of the weight room at Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Student Recreation Center Anthony Souffle noticed something. Something that would save us time, money and hassle. As a service to students, the Recreation Center rents tents, sleeping bags and camping pads for a week at a time. Wayne brings one tent for him and Tim to sleep in. Anthony and I will rent another tent from the school for a piddly $25 fee. We will all likely pay the $5 to rent sleeping bags and pads to go in said tents.

Meanwhile, we will be borrowing this equipment to cruise from the heart of Southern Illinios, two hours outside of St. Louis, to the west coast. Where about the same lenght of time away from San Diego we will camp with our school's supplies in the designated area for this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Oh yeah, and we're giving up four to five designated class days to do so. Everyone needs to think hard about how to make the system work for them. We did.

Pictured above is the Southern Illinois University Carbondale Student Recreation Center, which collects fees from us hard working students each and every semester. In addition to giving us a place to train and prepare physically for the rigors of Coachella, the establishment will also rent us tents, sleeping bags and pads for our trip. We pay for it, after all. Photo taken from the SIUC Rec Center Web site.

The atmosphere

We're from the midwest, where a sombrero on the wall and telemundo on the screen means a Mexican restaurant, where frozen shrimp and boat-themed exterior mean seafood and fern bars typically rule the evening dining scene. In other words, we're used to lame atmosphere.

But the surroundings at Coachella seem anything but lame. We've surfed through mounds of festival pictures, we've watched the DVD and we're ready for all this has to offer. The art show, while none of us really produce that sort of creative material, appeals. The surroundings -- mountains, palm trees, a pristine polo field in the dessert -- are nothing like the area we grew up in where a cornfield or a healthy dose of pines passes for nature.

Catching as many bands as possible sits high on our to do list, but we won't ignore the colorful lights at night or the Tesla Coil shooting electricity through out, making our 27 drive during the last semester of college for a few of us to catch a concert under the dessert sky even more surreal.

Sleeping at Coachella

Sleep is for the weak. You can sleep when you're dead. Etc., etc.

But seriously, rest will be needed to trudge around the festival all day in near 100-degree heat. With the show lasting until a midnight noise ordinance shuts it down, we probably won't get back to our tents until 1 a.m. or so. Assuming we get to sleep, in a wink, without any tossing and turning, that probably gives up about five hours until the dessert sun wakes us up with some not so subtle skin baking.

So what is that? Four hours of shut eye? Can that sustain our grueling endeavors during the day? Doubtful. That's where adrenaline and our trip to Tijuana comes in. In Tijuana, one can purchase much prescription medicine over the counter. That means we should return from Mexico with Xanax to knock us out at night and pain pills to keep heat headaches and soreness at bay during the day.

Also, Coachella stands to be a near non-stop buffet of stimulation, what with all the music, people and situations we stand to encounter. Adrenaline kicks in, our weariness fades and thing move on...until the eventually crash, which probably hits as we drive home through New Mexico, frantic to make our Tuesday classes and very much fed up with one another.

We've committed to this camping area thing. Sleeping masks and ear plugs will also help us sleep.

Coachella v. Woodstock I

Never in 1999 did I think many outraged people criticizing the revitalized Woodstock festival for bowing to corporate sponsors and exploiting fans would somehow benefit me in 2007. I was wrong.

Concert-goers at Woodstock '99 complained about high priced bottled water - among many other deficiences - according to many accounts. Woodstock allegedly sold water for around $6, and that was in '99 when one could still buy a tank of gas for under a dollar. At the same time, the first Coachella, which was headlined by Rage, came on the scene that year in August, I read on the message board.

If message board mythos is correct (isn't it always?), Coachella organizers bumbled when they scheduled their event for August in the California dessert, where most things tend to die from excessive heat at that time of the year. But they hit a home run by excluding corporate sponsorship and incidentally selling thirsty music fans water for a $2 a bottle, which is slightly less obscene.

I love to bust this little tid bit out when people warn me about the "crazy high" prices of bottle water at festivals. Given the $2 cost, looks like I'll drop a mere $20-$30 a day on water to stay hydrated. That's better than the alternative, which is dying a terrible dry death with no chapstick and blistered lips. If that does come to pass, please mom, send me off with a closed casket funeral. I don't want to be remembered as the dude with dry lips.

Zack de la Rocha's hair

Zack de la Rocha, Rage Against the Machine's dreadlocked front man, sports a new hairstyle these days.

When Rage split in 2000, Zack was 30 years old, maybe pushing it a little but still entirely able to wear dreads and be taken seriously. The vocalist has taken the last years off from regular recording and returned with an afro of sorts and a little bit of extra weight. What does this mean for our enjoyment of the show? Absolutely nothing.

We're lucky to see this show period. Rage broke up in 2000, when all four of us were still in high school, some of us just freshmen. Though this year might be a bad indicator, bands that brake up due to disagreements don't often reunite. And they certainly don't owe it to the fans.

Zack could come on stage with a well-coifed comb over and a cardigan sweater for all I care. When he grabs the mic and tells the crowd to please settle down a bit because Rage isn't used to all this yelling is when I start to get mad. Rage Against the Machine produced one of the best rap/rock album of all time in a genre that produced little to no time-tested music. Oh yeah, and they did it in 1993, a good five years before the rest of the industry even attempted to emmulate their sound. While one can argue endlessly about the conflict of advocating massive left-wing change and revolution while selling merchandise, concert-tickets and fattening your pocket with a major label contract, nothing changes the political awareness the band has heightened.

For example, the band released a concert DVD from a show they did in Mexico City. Infused between songs are snippets of information regarding explotation of indigineous peoples in Mexico. The DVD itself didn't inspire me to revolt against my government, that would be insane. But it did push me to learn more about the issue, and awareness is the first step to change.

So Zack can come out without his dreads, he can put on a suit coat and do a dedication for Patti Smith at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nothing changes the music this great band has produced, the message they infused with it and their gracious decision to give us die-hards another chance to see them. That being said, on a sophomoric level I miss the dreads as seen in the bottom shot from seven years ago contrasted with modern day above it.

Navigating Coachella

Music festivals, large and small, demand much physical exertion by their very natures.

When I band comes on, few concert-goers remain still. Why would one? It's a weird cat that goes to a show to stand and listen to music. So during a performance there's near constant movement.

With so many bands playing, it goes without saying that we'll be forced to hustle around the grounds to see as many of our favorites as we can. That's some intense exertion, especially given the toll of the dessert sun. What we will likely do is take the set times and a map of the grounds and plot our most efficent routes the night before.

While carefully downing bottled water at a pace designed to keep us hydrated yet save money and time in the portable toliets, we will also jump at chances to sit in the shade or enjoy acts in the tent.

Here's a map from last year's show, which is pretty much unchanged from those of the past. That means this is what the show layout will likely be this year.

Graphic taken from the Coachella message board.

LCD Soundsytem and notes on other electronic music

LCD Soundsystem has released one of the best albums of this year, simply put.

There first self-titled album was good, particuliarly the catchy single "Daft Punk is playing at my house," but this latest release, The Sound of Silver, plays well in any situation.

Driving, making dinner, studying, this album backdrops it all perfectly. It even earned an Entertainment Weekly pick of the week accolade, an honor not given lightly by the publication that is consistently tough on musicians.

Of course all this is relevant because LCD Soundsystem is playing Coachella. They are just one of many bands with electronic-styled music to rock the festival. Others include !!!, Hot Chip, the Rapture, Junior Boys, Tiesto and DJ Shadow. According to the Coachella movie DVD and many on the message board, these acts typically play inside one of the tents.

But until the long-awaited set list hits during the week of the show, we have no way of knowing. All we can do is hone our dance moves and hope we get to see one of all of these acts instead of losing many to conflicting performance times.

An ode to Vince

Without Vince Cicero, a friend of mine who moved to Buffalo, N.Y. after high school, this trip would not be happening.

Vince was one of my only friends who constantly talked about Rage reuniting as much as I did. One night we were blizzarded into a Best Western motel room next to the Buffalo air port. For some reason I had packed a boom box into my luggage when I flew from Chicago to New York to interview for an internship at the Buffalo News, which later turned me down after I flew there on my own dime in the middle of the horrid New York winter.

We rocked out to the self titled album and talked about the implications a reunion show would bring -- we'd both have to stop everything we're doing and go. So when Rage announced the Coachella reunion, I called Vince. The logistics were challenging. A 28 hour drive, a $300 three day ticket price and no where to stay means many problems.

Vince put it all in perspective: "I'll pay $400 to see Rage, I don't give a f*ck."

The saying applies to more than just the money. It speaks to the nature of this trip. What is really worth more, money or an unforgettable experience? What should one value most, the material or experiences that cannot be bought and sold?

The decision was made. Unfortunately, Vince had just signed the lease for an apartment in Buffalo, and crossing the country would be impossible. I wish he'd be there for the reunion, but because Rage has added an east coast date on the Rock the Bells Tour he still may catch them. Either way, without Vince, this trip doesn't happen. Thanks man.

Tijuana Tim

Wayne leads the field of unexpected and embarrassing photography. Here's his latest opus. Expect many such pictures taken during our drive and subsequent three days of rocking. Without further adue, here's Wayne's extensive photo caption.

When gearing up for the trip, it's difficult to imagine what obstacles we will have to overcome on the road to Coachella. We may break down on a stretch of highway, we could possibly be taken captive by hippies or if worse comes to worst, we'll have to stop a million times for restroom breaks. It won't be easy in the slightest, and much training has gone into preparing for such a journey (expect a montage video sometime soon.)

If one thing is for certain, though, it's that I never want to see Tim "The Tool Man" Dusza make the face witnessed in this photograph. To place this picture in the proper context, Tim arrived after a long night of battling the bread minions of Panera Bread Company. Holding a bag of highly coveted chocolate chip cookies, Tim could no longer resist the urge and temptation to take one for himself. I, being the pesky guy with the expensive camera that I take from my roommate like every single day because he's never awake to use it, snapped this precious photo of what appears to be Tim frightened out of his mind at how amazingly delicious such chocolate chip cookies are. As I looked at the picture further, I discovered a horrifying undercurrent that just now has become a dark cloud looming over the horizon.

In our long trek across the country, should this face make another appearance, it would only exist with Tim saying something along the lines of "how did we end up in Canada?" or "did I just run over a homeless man?" In either case, this face could only bring trouble... or cookies.

There you have it. We mean business about said montage vidoe. Expect it very soon.

Day trip to Tijuana

We will not miss our chance to cross the border while on this trip. The idea to visit Tijuana was born shortly after the one to attend Coachella.

We plugged Indio, Calif., in to mapquest, learned it was but an hour from the border and decided if we made the trip to Coachella we would stop in Tijuana. We don't quite know what to expect from this border city just south of San Diego. Yes, it can be very dangerous. No, people don't automatically rob you for being American. Yes, many illegal activities bombard tourists from prostitution to cheap prescription meds to cock fights if you know where to look.

But it doesn't have to be as seedy as all that. I hope to speak some Spanish, meet some locals and jump into the Ocean with all my clothes on if weather allows. Street tacos in my belly, the hot Mexican sun in my skin, I will return stateside for some well-deserved sleep after this Thursday afternoon excursion. The next morning begins Coachella and the three day celebration of my college days that end less than two weeks later.