PARTS UNKNOWN – The inaugural Death Valley Music and Arts Festival wrapped up over the weekend to little fanfare and, unsurprisingly, remained in the shadow of the mainstay Coachella festival that took place the same weekend in nearby Indio, California. Nearby is probably a misnomer, as it’s still not entirely known where the Death Valley Festival took place.
Much like the original Woodstock, which was forced to move locations at the eleventh hour to Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, NY, the Death Valley Festival faced a similar upheaval this past March. The California State Parks Department revoked promoter Lemuri Xchng’s permits to stage the festival in the Death Valley State Park, citing insufficient bonding capacity. Lemuri Xchng scrambled to find a suitable new venue, opting for a tract of open space in the shadowy “Parts Unknown”, a region thought to be close to Death Valley, maybe.
Poor attendance was a common criticism of the weekend’s events, despite reasonable early ticket sales. “I think kids just had trouble finding it,” recalls festival goer Henk Dremel of Los Angeles. “I drove around in Death Valley for, like, hours trying to find it. Then I went north, west, south, and then west again and all of a sudden I could see the camping line. This other guy I met was lost and almost got eaten by a coyote, but (former WWE superstar) Kane showed him how to get to the festival.” Kane played a headlining DJ spot on Saturday night.
Many artists at the festival were said to be unhappy with the small crowd size. Famous Irish malcontent Van Morrison, given an early daytime slot on the first day of the event well before most people had found their way to Parts Unknown, left the stage midway through his second song and has not been seen since. Our thoughts and prayers go with Mr. Morrison as he wanders the thin and mercurial spaces between worlds.
Despite the difficulties, festival goers who stayed the weekend left with some positive takeaways. Olivia Chargeback, of Los Angeles, comments, “I didn’t really know who a lot of the artists were, like I know the Spice Girls were big and it was cool to see two of them, I guess, but I still had fun. I wish they didn’t put the misting stations so close to that actual dark green mist that came in from the netherrealm, but all in all it was fire. And, like, I wish the ghost of the guy from Sublime didn’t guest spot so much, or, like, if he did, like if he would have said more than ‘California!’ or ‘Boo!’, but whatever, he’s, like, a legendary ghost, right?”
Promoter Lemuri Xchng would not comment on the future of the Death Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Ronald Sampson
