MF #18
Vestal Village 2018
Date
April 14th – 16th, 2018
Location
Indio, California
Reason
Fun
It was that time of year again, another Coachella was upon us. I was working in the live event industry full time for Pro Systems, but I was still very much the low-man on the totem pole. While the company had several Coachella related gigs, my involvement was limited to prepping gear and driving a truck full of equipment from San Diego to Palm Springs for the Revolve Festival, an auxiliary VIP event. I dropped off the equipment the Wednesday before the start of the show, returning to San Diego that evening.
While everyone else was working in the desert, I had the weekend off to do what I wanted. I couldn’t afford a Coachella ticket, but I had received an invite to go back to Vestal Village. I took a bunch of pictures my first time at Vestal Village and posted several online, always tagging the event. I believe this helped get me on the invite list. I was now invited to go to the party free of charge and I could bring along three friends.
This year Vestal Village was only taking place on the first weekend of Coachella. While it was only one weekend, the event was bigger than ever. Cypress Hill was headlining the show! I knew a few fraternity brothers were attending Coachella. I reached out to my buddy Nic who first told me about Vestal Village and invited him to join the party. He accepted, and filled out the final two spots with his girlfriend and our mutual friend Sephr.
Vestal Village – a lakeside pool party 15 mins from Coachella Music Festival
I left San Diego early Saturday morning, heading for the Coachella campgrounds. I picked up Nic, his girlfriend, and Sephr from the campgrounds and drove our crew over to Vestal Village. We arrived around noon, just as the pool party was getting started. We parked and all practically ran out of the car, excited to get to the event.
The open bar was back! We grabbed the first round of free drinks and climbed aboard an art bus parked next to the pool. This was like an art car, only larger. The two story bus was incredible. We went straight to the top, finding an empty bench fit for royalty. We settled into the red velvet cushions and took in the view. Poolside sipping on free drinks as a Coachella VIP – could things get any better?
We finished our first round and decided it was time to join the party. We left the bus, picked up another round of free drinks, and made our way to the pool. The pool was fantastic. It’s large, the perfect temperature, and has a beach section if you just want to get a tiny bit wet. Vestal provided dozens of floaties and pool toys to keep the crowd entertained. Music was bumping and the crowd slowly picked up in both size and energy.
Sipping free drinks on top of an art bus at Vestal Village
While it was definitely a sizable crowd, there were probably no more than 500 people at any one time. It was a party but it was still intimate. Caridi, his girlfriend, and Sephr were all excited to get back to Coachella Festival in time for the first sets of the day. While I told them Cypress Hill would be out shortly, they still decided to head back to the main event. They caught the shuttle from Vestal back to the Coachella campgrounds, leaving me alone for the show.
Now is a good time to mention that I have had a personal connection with Cypress Hill’s music. They were the soundtrack to some of the first smoking sessions of my life. Hits from the Bong is one of my all time classics and was introduced to me by the same person who first smoked me up. I never thought I would get to see Cypress Hill perform live. Now I was about to watch them perform in front of only a few hundred people. This was going to be awesome!
I retreated to my car and took care of some important business. While I was invited to party at Vestal Village for free, if I wanted to camp I would have had to pay over $300 for a camping spot. Having been there before, I had a feeling that I could find a quiet parking spot and sleep in the back of my car for free. Now was the perfect time to find that parking spot. I headed to the overflow camping lot and parked up between a couple vehicles in a quiet area.
Now that I was in a quiet spot, it was time to get ready for the show. I reached into my bag, pulling out a giant 12-inch pre-rolled empty RAW rolling paper. This was Cypress Hill after all. I was getting cheap ounces of weed for $100 at the time. I took a touch over 7 grams out of my bag and ground it up, slowly filling up the pre-roll. This thing was giant! It was larger than a cigar and thanks to the pre-rolled nature of the paper, kept a perfect cone cylinder the entire way up. While it looked impressive, thanks to the cheap weed it was only a $25 gift.
Cypress Hill was scheduled to start shortly. I took my baseball bat joint and my camera over to the stage. I found a spot right up in front of the stage and got ready for the show.
Cypress Hill burst on stage, immediately launching into I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That. I was so close I could reach out and touch them. While I was tempted to pull my camera out, I knew there were more important things to take care of first. I pulled out the giant joint and started to light it up. I had to be careful with this thing as I didn’t want it to canoe or go out. I lit it like a cigar, turning the end in the flame several times, puffing both in and out to ensure a nice even light. With the joint finally lit to my satisfaction, it was time for the hand off.
I held the joint up in my hand, only a few feet below Sen Dog. While I was close to Sen Dog, he was performing his verse and didn’t notice the joint. B-Real reacted from across the stage, spotting my offering and made a bee-line across the stage to my outstretched hand. He grabbed the joint, held it up to the crowd and took a puff. Sen Dog finished with his verse, noticing the on-stage action and reached down and gave me a huge hand shake. This was amazing!
B-Real smoking my joint at Vestal Village
They kept performing, passing my joint back and forth between them. The crowd noticed that they were down to accept weed, and it wasn’t long until Sen Dog accepted another giant (but thin) joint. This bad boy was impressive, but it had gone out by the time it made it to stage. Sen Dog bent down to the crowd, inviting one of us to light up his joint. While I wasn’t the first person to reach up, my lighter did actually work. I lit up Sen Dog’s giant joint as B-Real passed my joint back to the crowd.
I pulled out my camera and got to work snapping photographs. I wasn’t about to let this moment pass. These are some of my favorite concert photos that I’ve ever taken. The show was amazing, I was right up front, I got to interact with the performers, and it’s a band that I’ve idolized for years. All I can say is thank you to Vestal Watch Company for sponsoring this event and inviting me.
Sen Dog with the joint I lit for him.
When Cypress Hill ended, the majority of the crowd caught the shuttle and headed over to Coachella Music Festival. My plan was to stay put at Vestal for the night. While most of the crowd went, there was still a good size crew that stayed put. I got some dinner from the onsite taco truck and went back to my car, looking for a bit of rest and relaxation after a busy and long day.
I devoured a delicious burrito before catching a short nap. Laying down felt great, but I was still buzzing with energy and excitement. As the sun set, I felt called to go exploring. I was glad I left the car. People were returning from the festival and the party was picking back up.
Walking around, I found an entire new section of sponsored vendors, all of whom were in the marijuana industry. Free weed was everywhere and in all forms. Just by walking around I received several free edibles, a handful of prerolls, and even a vape cartridge. Could this party get any better?
While the day party was at the pool, the night party was in an entirely different location down by the beach. A punk band played on popup speakers for the small crowd of party goers. Next to the stage was a free dab bar. Concentrated marijuana on a hot nail. While this might be a little intense for some, they are a particular favorite of mine. I had never been to a dab bar, let alone a free one. On my second visit they realized I could hang and hooked it up. I took the massive glob as best as I could, coughing several times following the hit.
Thanks to the dab all I could do was watch the party. My time participating today was over. I hung out for a short while enjoying the music, but there was only so long I could fight the call of nature. I needed some sleep. I retreated to my car, snuggled up in my purple blanket, and passed out for the night.
I woke up to the morning sunshine. It was Sunday, so I checked my work schedule. Immediately I noticed that I was scheduled to break down the Revolve Festival on Monday. That was only 15 minutes away. I checked in with my boss and let him know I was already out in Indio and requested permission to stay the night and meet the crew at the event tomorrow. Luckily, alternative truck drivers were already scheduled, so I could spend another day partying at Vestal.
Overlooking Vestal Village and the Coachella Valley
It would be a few hours before the pool party would start to pick up. I decided to put the morning and the environment to good use. I picked a random mountain peak and set off for the top of the hill. The mountains weren’t too steep, but they were loose. You had to be careful climbing up, but reaching the top revealed an amazing view. I could see into Coachella Music Festival. We were several miles away, but the structures and layout of the event was clearly visible. The entire valley extended before my eyes. It certainly is a beautiful location for a music festival.
I returned from the hike back to the pool party. The open bar was back for day two. I grabbed yet another drink, quickly growing accustomed to the “everything is free” lifestyle. I settled into the event and even went as far as socializing with some friendly strangers. I must’ve been feeling extremely comfortable, as I normally stick by myself, especially when I’m at an event alone.
I spent the afternoon lounging by the pool, casually sipping on free drinks, talking to new friends, and wasting the day away. While it wasn’t the most exciting festival day, it sure beat sitting in my apartment in San Diego. I was having a blast.
Sunday night was the final night of both Coachella and Vestal Village. The after party was minimal, so I retired to my car early that night. I was glad I didn’t pay for a camping spot, as car camping is far superior to tent camping. Especially in my car, a Mazda 3 Hatchback. The back seats lay completely flat and I had cut out a 4-inch memory foam topper to a perfect fit. At 6-feet, I just fit without having to curl up. It’s an incredibly comfortable mobile bedroom. I slept through the night in warm blankets and soft pillows, excited for the following day’s adventures.
I woke up in the morning, took a final shower at the campground facilities and left Vestal Village around 9:30 am. I drove over to Merv Griffin’s Estate, an insane compound in La Quinta that was hosting the Revolve Festival. While the festivities were over, there was evidence of a massive party everywhere. While cleaning crews slowly tackled the mess, my job was to remove the audio and lighting equipment.
I got to work taking out equipment from all the different rooms. This was a big event for the company, and the CEO of Pro Systems, Brad, was on site helping us clean up from the event. While he might have been running a major event company, when it came time for the events he was always up to get his hands dirty. He was a very cool operator and could handle the pressures of large events with ease. He tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to follow him.
Brad led the way to a back room completely decked out in gold. There were gold couches, gold chairs, a gold table, and even a golden chandelier. The room was fit for a king. Not just any king, this was Snoop Dogg’s personal green room from the previous night. Him and his whole crew were in here only a few hours prior. While I admired the room, Brad instructed me to remove the additional lighting we had placed around to enhance the environment. I got started on the lights when I heard Brad make a noise.
I looked over to his surprised face. He was holding a massive joint. He said it was just left sitting in the gold chair at the center of the room. We both thought it was amazing finding one of Snoop Dogg’s joints. Brad set up a nice little photograph, propping the joint up on the table and adding additional confetti. With the photography out of the way, Brad went back to overseeing the event, leaving the joint behind on the table.
I was in a room with Snoop Dogg’s joint just sitting there. I wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass. I quietly walked over the table, picked up the joint, and slid it into my back pocket. About an hour later, one of our other coworkers showed up to the event with the truck. Brad went to show him what he found, only to find me in the room and the table completely empty.
He looked at me. I looked back at him. While I braced for the worst, all he said was “not here.” I nodded my understanding and we both went back to work. Working in the event industry is the absolute best.
We finished striking Revolve Festival in about 5 hours, cleaning out all our equipment and leaving the rest of the mess for the cleaning crews. As we were loading out, Brad showed us a photo of a Maserati that one of the attendee’s got stuck in the sand while attempting donuts.
The event even sent us home with their leftover cases of Red Bull. I loaded up my car with about twenty 24-packs of various flavors. Before leaving, I put Snoop Dogg’s joint in my glasses case so it would be protected. I drove 3 hours back to San Diego, took a shower once I got back to my apartment, and retreated to my bedroom. As I climbed into my real bed, I put on the Doggystyle album and lit up the amazing joint. Tanquery and chronic, yeah I’m fucked up now.
