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Why, you ask? From the official Coachella website:

“In an effort to try and accommodate everyone who wants to experience the festival, COACHELLA 2012 will be two separate events, held over two consecutive weekends. We will attempt to produce two identical festival weekends. That means same lineup, same art, same place, different people. We know many of you were unable to attend this year’s festival because passes sold out much sooner than anticipated. We were truly surprised by the overwhelming response and remain honored by your passion and enthusiasm.”

Stay with me because you’re going to want to pay attention to this next bomb I’m about to drop: instead of making tickets available for purchase roughly four months before the festival as was previously the case, passes will be going on sale June 3rd, 2011, as in THIS FRIDAY at 10am PST until June 10th, 2011, as in NEXT FRIDAY, at 10pm PST. Got that? No “WTF, I didn’t know they’d sell out in six days” excuses this year, you’ve been warned in advance, so mark your calendars, set your alarms, leave Post-Its everywhere, tattoo it on your flesh, whatever you have to do to remember to get those goddamn three-day passes for $269 instead of $500-$800 like last-minute Charlies coughed up this year.  So, which weekend will you be there??

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Go HERE for more photos by Douglas Neill and tag yourself and your friends!

Aahhh, summer. How we’ve missed thee and all thine pool parties, bbqs, raves, beach days and ideal conditions for the ultimate maxin’, relaxin’ vibe-age that make you our favorite time of year. To herald your return, MFG launched their Swimming With Sharks pool party Saturday with a Memorial Day soft opening for their nearest and dearest as a proper kickoff of the season.

With Team Wildlife and friends covering the decks, the Sharks swarmed to the rooftop of The Standard Downtown for an afternoon of sun, dancing, water gun fights and Jell-O shots—you know, just your garden variety tomfoolery full-grown adults are not only welcome but encouraged to partake in at the summer throwdown. Needless to say, the first Swimming With Sharks of 2011 was a reminder of what we’ve been missing all these months, and why we’re thrilled it’s finally time to get down, summer-style.

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That’s right, the Wellington International Airport is moving ahead with a plan to erect a “Wellywood” sign in the style of our own precious (and often endangered!) “Hollywood” sign on a now-vacant hill overlooking the airport (the photo above is a computer rendition of how it will look). According to the director of the Airport, the sign will represent New Zealand’s emergence as a global center of film and entertainment, and be “the city’s newest photo opportunity.”

Well, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who have a trademark on the Hollywood Sign, disagree, claiming that the Airport never sought permission, and that:

“We hope that if the Wellington airport wants to mimic our Sign in this fashion, it will proceed in cooperation with us and will recognize that the holder of the rights to the Sign and the party responsible for its continued existence is a nonprofit entity that works hard to raise funds so that the Sign even exists to be mimicked.”

In other words, we’re going to sue the elf-ears off of you.

On the one hand, the Hollywood sign is a legendary icon that recent events have proven is not invincible to the siren song of shitbag developers who would pave over their grandmother’s gravesite if there was a buck in it. So one would think that we should stand with any organization whose goal is to raise money in order to preserve it. On the other hand, this seems like a pretty funny sign, and it seems fairly obvious that a joke sign on the other side of the world poses no threat to the brand integrity of our own landmark (at least, no more than the thousands of tacky, unlicensed souvenirs sold on the Boulevard no more than 700 feet away from the sign itself.

So maybe unclench a little, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Spend a minute or two plugging things into this WELLYWOOD Sign Generator and see how much fun you can have. And then, I guess, if you’re still pissed, go ahead and sue them. Seeing as how even the locals seem to be heavily divided on whether they want the sign or not, you might be doing Wellington a favor.

The CEO of the airport, after all, who came up with the plan? He’s Australian.

[top photo via, Wellington photo via, Hollywood Sign via]

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After enduring this long and cruel L.A. winter, summer is just about here and with it, our favorite weekly party makes its highly anticipated return TONIGHT and we have a feeling it’s going to be on fuego. Ladies and degenerates, Nightswim is back for 2011, and we have the 411 on what to expect and some flashbacks from last summer to help remind you why you should be PUMPED.

Tonight, iSHOWMYSELF leads us into a summer of Nightswims, and just like special guest DJs like Thom Yorke and Questlove last year, we’ll have plenty of impromptu midnight dips and surprises to look forward to. As one-third of the iSHOWMYSELF camp and veteran Nightswim DJ/ambassador, Nick Foster explains,

“Will [Crimes] & I are holding it down for a second summer and are going to 2X our awesome. You can expect the usual surprise dj’s, a new sound system, so the pool is going to sound better than ever. We’ll have pop up shops in room 100 all summer. Also, Chris Holmes is bringing back his famous underwater photobooth.”

Sounds like the makings of a summer to remember. Are you ready? Don’t feel like you’re not because you’ve yet to get your sun-kissed summer tan in check. It’s dark so the sun reflecting off your pasty legs to blind those around you won’t be an issue, plus alcohol makes everyone look awesome. Free your mind and your ass will follow (into the pool). And, as Nick added,

“Everybody loves Nightswim, it’s the best party in L.A. (year round). Everybody also knows the pool is the best place in Los Angeles to fall in love.”

It’s never too early to start scouting your summer fling prospects, so come out to Nightswim at Tropicana tonight, and maybe even fall in love.

And just to jog your memory of what Nightswim was all about last year, a collection of some of our favorite moments:

Nick Foster, Will Crimes

Questlove

Thom Yorke

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