Group at Coachella yells ‘No Español!’ to people singing in Spanish, by . Coachella is an annual music and arts festival held in a paddock in Palm Springs over two weekends, roughly a two-hour drive from downtown Los Angeles. A VIP ticket is $900, and it attracts some of the biggest stars, there to be seen.
Waiting between sets, a group of concert goers started singing a Spanish-language song.
Coachella is rich in its cultural diversity. Bands from all over the world hit the stage and festivalgoers have all kinds of culinary options from burgers and French fries to Pad Thai and tacos.
Which is why I never imagined that I would experience such blatant racism in what could be considered a cultural Mecca.
“I didn’t pay $350 to hear them sing,” one girl told her friend.
Other people in the crowd were saying they were uncomfortable and yelling “No Español!” or “Stop singing please!”
I understand that people sometimes feel uncomfortable when they can’t understand what people are saying in big crowds. But why is it that a group of people singing a song in Spanish is met with such animosity? Do people feel threatened when other cultures make themselves known in mostly white, English-speaking events? Is it OK for white girls to wear bindis and white men to wear kimonos but not OK for a group of Hispanic concertgoers to sing a song to pass the time in between sets?
UPDATE: These moms spend thousands on cosmetic surgery to get Coachella-ready, by Doree Leewak.
Before heading to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., this weekend, the 33-year-old divorced mother of two blew $20,000 in preparation. Her clothing alone for the weekend — a “sick” outfit featuring a vintage Guns N’ Roses T-shirt, YSL army jacket, denim cutoffs, corset, thigh-high leather boots — was $8,000. She spent thousands more on Botox, lip injections, boxing classes and a personal trainer who helped her drop 10 pounds in advance of the three-day-long concert in the California desert. In the month leading up to it, she even gave up alcohol and went vegan to get in shape for the debauchery to come. …
New York doctors who specialize in Fountain-of-Youth procedures say they’ve noticed an uptick in ladies looking for nips, tucks and tightenings before heading to Coachella.
Dr. Norman Rowe, an Upper East Side plastic surgeon whose main focus is fat-reduction procedures. “They’re reliving their teen years.” He recalls one patient in her mid-30s who pleaded with him, saying, “I want to wear this crop top like I did when I saw Guns N’ Roses back in the ’90s.” …
“The draw is the people that go,” she says. “It’s amazing — we met oncologists, real estate developers, bankers. I was amazed.”
Aside from men with status jobs, there are, of course, plenty of pretty young things in the desert. That competition led Erin Crowley, 33, to phone her plastic surgeon right after buying her tickets earlier this month.
I am reminded of the stories from the late Western Roman Empire, partying while the barbarians gradually ate them up. Interesting that the Coachella set might feel uncomfortable at some Spanish singing — perhaps it reminds them that they have lost control of their country and their future.
