Indio

Reporting from Indio The old gag about people who brag about loving both kinds of music — country and western — gets a twist at Stagecoach. Out in the desert, the annual festival serves up both kinds of country music: that which sells, and everything else. Fest-goers generally fall into one camp or the other, and even though it often feels that the gap between is a great divide, there's not a hint of rivalry among these groups that otherwise rarely intersect. The majority, predictably, plop down their blankets and lawn chairs — the kind with the built-in, beer-friendly cup holders — in front of the Mane Stage, where on Saturday the lineup was topped by a couple of contemporary country's more pop-driven acts, Keith Urban and Sugarland, and Sunday by the hard-charging likes of Toby Keith and Brooks & Dunn.

Besides the Rolling Stones, U2 and Bruce Springsteen, it's hard to think of many rock acts that could crowd the Empire Polo Club in Indio for a three-day festival featuring no supporting acts or other live entertainment. But the legendary Vermont jam titan Phish has long operated outside the realm of normalcy, with a rabid fan base closer to addicted acolytes than casual admirers. When long-gestating message board rumors were finally confirmed months ago, Phish fanatics instantly began making preparations to trek to the site of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where the band held its eighth festival -- the first in five years.

One of the more surprising hits on country radio this year has been "Anything Goes," sung by Mississippi-born musician Randy Houser. At a time when country programmers are enamored of songs from male singers cheering for lifelong romantic commitments, the title track from Houser's debut album is unusually frank in its depiction of a guy who goes off the deep end after his girl leaves him.

A collection of rare American Indian artifacts worth up to $160,000 was returned to its owners Friday after an investigation that began three years ago when thieves broke into an Indio museum and spirited the treasures away in garbage bags. "I have told curators that everyone who comes through the door may not be an art lover," said Joseph Stuart, a recently retired FBI agent who led the investigation. "Some of those people are looking to steal artifacts."

The Stagecoach Festival now has the Eagles and an unofficial new motto: "Don't fence me in." Organizers of the huge country festival in Indio have announced a surprise third day of music and, by booking the bestselling country rock band ever, the May event is broadening its fan base and genre embrace. The newly announced day, May 2, will also feature performances by John Fogerty, Trisha Yearwood, Shelby Lynne, Glen Campbell and newcomer Rissi Palmer.

The first Stagecoach festival came to a close on Sunday with the prospect of losing money, but also with a big-boned optimism about its future as 55,000 fans over two days came to hear Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, George Strait and 50 other acts perform at a country show put together by rock promoters. The people behind the 8-year-old Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival tried their hand last weekend at a country counterpart, and by the final notes on Sunday they were ready to book year two.

For eight years, this tiny town in the low desert has endured an annual culture shock as thousands of young rock fans poured in for the Coachella festival. But on Saturday the tide of music tourists was a bit more in rhythm with the local landscape. They favored barbecue pits over mosh pits, and their guitar heroes wore boots and Stetsons, not sneakers and tattoos. In their campgrounds, instead of scruffy teenagers passing joints, it was a sea of shining RVs stocked with Budweiser on ice.

The sun was well on its way into the sky, the mercury was creeping toward triple digits -- and Coachella's campers were stirring. It was the morning of Day Two at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and Courtney Michael and Roni Whipple were trudging along the dusty, arid paths of this temporary city, lugging two prized commodities: a case of water and a bag of ice. Beads of sweat on Michael's brow were threatening to turn into a steady trickle.