Coachella awaits!

Shoutouts:

• To SwimCycloRun, who set a PR in 41:34 at the Scotland Run 10K! 
• Good luck to anyone out there running Boston - including MsZippy, Apple Crumbles, and How I Complicated My Life Today!  Just try to finish out there among the heat!  

Coachella awaits!
The thing I've been most excited about recently is that Coachella is next week!  The festival is currently going on right now too, but with tax season I would be unable to make it down there for this week. (for the first time the festival is happening on 2 weekends instead of just 1).  Both weekends are supposed to be exactly the same, so we'll see!  I've research all of the 135 bands - including listening to at least 3-4 songs for each of them and writing 1-2 sentences about what I think of them, lol.  When I'm at the festival I carry around my rating spreadsheet and refer to it whenever I have a question about what band I'd like to see next.  I check out an average of 12-15 bands/day, so I'm on the move a lot!  Maybe I'll post a link to my spreadsheet next post, haha.  It is a good way to start a conversation when others see me looking at my rating sheet!  I've also been listening to some of the bands on the Coachella youtube webcast, it is nice to get a preview of the bands so I know for sure what bands to check out.  The bands I'm most excited to see are:

• Explosions in the Sky
• David Guetta
• We Were Promised Jetpacks
• At The Drive In
• Kaiser Chiefs
• Florence & the Machine
• Manchester Orchestra
• M83
• The Hives
• Dr Dre & Snoop
• Gotye

American Idol top 7:

source

This week Idol was down to the top 7.  Main highlights this week were that pretty much everyone sang really well - Skylar, Colton, Jessica, Joshua, and Elise all did great I thought.  Philip did okay, and Hollie struggled again.  Watching the results show, I was shocked that Jessica was voted off!  I'm glad the judges saved her, she definitely didn't deserve to go home.  I was shocked Hollie didn't go home - she is definitely doing the worst among everyone right now.

Power Rankings (formula=my ratings from the last 3 weeks of performances):

1. Joshua (9.5+10+10=29.5) - jazz, fast song, band members everywhere, awesome job, sounded like a perfect song for him, exactly what kind of song he should be doing
2. Colton (9.5+9.5+9.5=28.5) - cool stage setup, clouds on stage, started at piano, Stand There and Watch Me  Burn song - Rhianna, nice violins, nice job as usual, Colton concert
3. Jessica (8.5+10+9.5=28) - cool stage setup, she is a natural singer, very smooth, great job, she can sing anything (SAVED)
4. Philip (9+8+8=25) - guitar and saxaphone, cool stage lights, nice job as usual, very smooth, a little dreary of a song though
5. Elise (9+6+10=25) - dark stage setup, You and I - Lady Gaga song, started out at piano, what is she wearing though? lol, perfect song choice, awesome for her voice, violins, one of my favorite performances in a while, loved it, music should move you and that is exactly what this song did
6. Skylar (7.5+8.5+9=25) - country song, How Much I Love You song, guitar, great job, seemed to go really well, her best performance yet for me
7. Hollie (6.5+5+7=18.5) - cool stage setup, solo guitarist next to her, Perfect - Pink song, why does she switch hands so often on the mic?, she looks hot tonight, decent sounding, better than last week but still not as good as the others

For my song of the week - it is easily Elise singing You and I.  I thought she did an amazing job, that song was perfect for her.  I love the Lady Gaga version, and I loved Elise's version.  Music should stir emotions in you, and that is exactly what happened with this song.  

Have you been to a music festival before?