Music Festival

Coachella's second weekend is upon us, and if you find yourself again frozen out of the desert festival the merry pranksters of Upright Citizens Brigade have assembled in what they're calling the Desert Tent (better known as the UCB stage) for a music festival that features troupe founder Matt Besser along with provocatively named groups such as Hip Hop Penguin, Cosby Sweater and Up Up Up. As an added bonus, chances of heat stroke are considerably diminished here. 5919 Franklin Ave., Sun. 9:30 p.m. $5 (323)

Richie Havens, the veteran folk singer whose frenetic guitar strumming and impassioned vocals made him one of the defining voices and faces of Woodstock and 1960s pop music, died Monday of a heart attack at his home in Jersey City, N.J. He was 72. His death was confirmed by his booking agent, Tim Drake. The Brooklyn native with the powerful ripsaw voice galvanized rock fans as the opening act at Woodstock, the festival billed as "Three Days of Peace and Music" in upstate New York in August 1969.

Heat, drugs and alcohol can be a deadly combination at large summer music festivals like the Bonnaroo Festival Music & Arts that just wrapped in Manchester, Tenn., where a second death was reported Tuesday. Entertainment Weekly reports that a 24-year-old man died from hyperthermia, a condition that occurs when the body gets too hot and can't cool itself. Temperatures at the festival were in the 90s, and large crowds of sweaty bodies probably didn't help the situation. A few days ago a 32-year-old woman was found dead at the festival's camp grounds, but the cause of death is not known.

Coachella's second weekend is upon us, and if you find yourself again frozen out of the desert festival the merry pranksters of Upright Citizens Brigade have assembled in what they're calling the Desert Tent (better known as the UCB stage) for a music festival that features troupe founder Matt Besser along with provocatively named groups such as Hip Hop Penguin, Cosby Sweater and Up Up Up. As an added bonus, chances of heat stroke are considerably diminished here. 5919 Franklin Ave., Sun. 9:30 p.m. $5 (323)

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival takes place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif. Th e Black Keys , Radiohead, the Shins, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg and a ton of other bands are featured at this year's outdoors concerts starting this weekend. The Saguaro hotel in nearby Palm Springs puts you close to the action and has a $199 room rate that comes with exclusive pool-side music parties in a kind of mini-Coachella celebration. The deal: The Saguaro , a relative newcomer to the Joie de Vivre chain of hotels, will host Desert Weekender parties 1-6 p.m. featuring DJs such as KCRW's Jason Bentley of "Morning Becomes Eclectic," live performances by Nosaj Thing, Tokimonsta and other bands, plus free food goodies too. The rate requires a two-night minimum stay during the weekends of the Coachella fest.

Re "Cajun Culture Adds Spice to Music Festival," May 28. This article left me pondering several issues. It hardly mentioned the music or the musicians. Isn't the music the main reason people go to this festival? Why didn't you interview some of the musicians participating? I think the quote by festival Chairman George Bercow, that when this annual event started more than a decade ago he didn't even personally like Cajun music, speaks volumes about this event. DENNIS GURWELL Burbank

A six-story-tall Doritos vending machine served as the backdrop for performances by artists such as Snoop Dog, White Denim and Mystikal at last week's South by Southwest Festival and Conference in Austin, Texas. It was perhaps the most impressive display of corporate sponsorship at the annual festival, which started out 25 years ago as a way to showcase indie bands but has since become a massive, mainstream music event. Chevrolet, Pepsi and FreeCreditScore.com were among 10 official sponsors of the festival, while Taco Bell, Marlboro and Spotify joined other big business names whose banners adorned Austin's dozens of live music stages.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Lihle Muhdin was 11 years old when he first picked up a Kalashnikov rifle, pushed into combat by an Islamist militia in Mogadishu. That was 15 years ago. Now he wields a microphone in his fight for peace. Muhdin is a member of the Somali rap group Waayaha Cusub, or New Era, whose music calls on young Somalis to renounce violence. "I want to tell the Somali youth, don't kill," he said. "We must stop this violence. " The 26-year-old rapper recently returned to Mogadishu after 14 years as a refugee in Kenya to be among the headliners at the Somali Reconciliation Festival, Mogadishu's first major music festival in two decades.

Reporting from San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico Oakland-bred Raka Rich brought the flow of California hip-hop, in Spanish. Puerto Rico's Davila 666 ignited a wild mosh-pit with its Latin-tinged punk. And all kinds of new Mexican acts — as varied as Juan Cirerol of Mexicali and cumbia-rockers Sonido San Francisco — showed that Mexico's independent music scene just might be at its most dynamic in years. Over 12 hours on Saturday, some 4,500 fans gathered to hear more than 50 international acts at a sonically diverse annual music festival called NRMAL.

Successful, micro-targeted neighborhood music festivals have been proliferating — including Make Music Pasadena, the Eagle Rock Music Festival, Venice's Abbott Kinney Music Festival and Echo Park's Culture Collide — and now we can now add "The Nice Stretch of West Hollywood That's West of Fairfax Avenue but East of the Sunset Strip Festival. " Sunday's festival is actually called the Hudson Block Party, and for a second year the classy-casual bar and restaurant that throws it has booked an unexpectedly buzzy bill of local and national acts, including White Rabbits, LP and Haim.

Before he dies, Elliot Kharkats wants to have children. We know this because the Westchester resident hand-printed that wish himself on a large chalkboard that he placed in the 8700 block of La Tijera Boulevard. Over the last several months, passersby have responded by the hundreds to express their innermost hopes. They use chalk that Kharkats helpfully provides to fill in 52 stenciled "Before I die I want to... " blanks that cover the board, which is attached to a large gate on his backyard fence.

There are a lot of people in this world, and it seems as if most of them were at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last weekend. A logistical puzzle, certainly, and one that requires feedback in order to improve. The festival continues next weekend in Indio, so now's a good time for a mid-festival debriefing. What didn't work? What could be better? What follows are 10 modest proposals for promoter Goldenvoice that could add more sparkle to the festival. Expand the Yuma tent.

The 2013 Hear Now Music Festival is meant to be the sound of Los Angeles. What does that mean? No one really can say, anymore than what it means to be an Angeleno. Over two programs at the First Lutheran Church of Venice on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, a dozen pieces will be played by a dozen composers. They don't all live precisely in Los Angeles -- Altadena (William Kraft), Claremont (Karl Kohn), even Berkeley (John Adams) counts. The age difference is great. They come originally from Austria, Germany, New Hampshire and elsewhere.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Lihle Muhdin was 11 years old when he first picked up a Kalashnikov rifle, pushed into combat by an Islamist militia in Mogadishu. That was 15 years ago. Now he wields a microphone in his fight for peace. Muhdin is a member of the Somali rap group Waayaha Cusub, or New Era, whose music calls on young Somalis to renounce violence. "I want to tell the Somali youth, don't kill," he said. "We must stop this violence. " The 26-year-old rapper recently returned to Mogadishu after 14 years as a refugee in Kenya to be among the headliners at the Somali Reconciliation Festival, Mogadishu's first major music festival in two decades.

AUSTIN, Texas - During a highly anticipated club show on the final night of this year's South by Southwest music festival, Prince looked out over the 1,000 or so fans before him at the intimate La Zona Rosa. Their collective roar made it clear - they were ready for a third encore. Still, the impeccably dressed pop-soul icon just had to have some fun with them. "Don't make me hurt you," he said with an impish grin. "You know how many hits I got?" For those who'd forgotten, the performer reaffirmed over the course of his show Saturday - a thrilling funk-rock throw-down that eventually stretched to six encores and featured classics such as "1999" and "U Got the Look" - that Prince lives in a pop scene that he helped create.

Two workers were critically injured Thursday night while helping set up for this weekend's Ultra Music Festival in Miami when a giant LED video screen fell, trapping them under it, the Miami Herald reported. Fire rescue officials said both men suffered life-threatening injuries, one with both his legs broken when the screen fell. Two other workers were less severely injured by falling equipment; one was hospitalized in stable condition, the other treated at the scene. Ultra Music Festival, billed as “the largest electronic dance music festival in the world,” was still set to open at 3 p.m. EDT Friday as scheduled.

The 2013 Hear Now Music Festival is meant to be the sound of Los Angeles. What does that mean? No one really can say, anymore than what it means to be an Angeleno. Over two programs at the First Lutheran Church of Venice on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, a dozen pieces will be played by a dozen composers. They don't all live precisely in Los Angeles -- Altadena (William Kraft), Claremont (Karl Kohn), even Berkeley (John Adams) counts. The age difference is great. They come originally from Austria, Germany, New Hampshire and elsewhere.

AUSTIN, Texas - A San Francisco start-up that created a tiny motion-sensing device is making a big splash at South by Southwest, overshadowing major tech brands and scores of new apps with its promise of changing how consumers interact with their computers. In its debut appearance at the conference known more as a music and film festival, Leap Motion Inc. wowed attendees with its "Minority Report"-style gesture-recognition controller, which enables users to manipulate what's on their screens with a wave of the hand or lift of a finger.

Gear up for St. Patrick's Day by attending the 11th Annual L.A. County Irish Fair and Music Festival. The event features nine stages of Irish entertainment and attractions including a faux ancient Irish village, shamrock rides, sheepherding demonstrations, face painting and Irish beer drinking contests. There's also Rusty O'Flatery: the World's Tallest Leprechaun. Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat. and Sun. $16. (213) 305-9653; http://www.la-irishfair.com .