Stagecoach

Kevin Thomas, give it a rest about colorization. Of course John Ford never expected "Stagecoach" to be colorized (TV Times, Nov. 29). Ford never expected any of his films to be shrunk to TV size, cut for time, commercialized in the middle or, yes, colorized. But is colorization the evil that deserves the overwhelming vilification of so many reviewers in the media? Colorization can bring new life to films that people, especially teen-agers, won't watch. Perhaps a colorized showing of a classic like "Stagecoach" might squeeze out another showing of something like "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island."

INDIO - Just a few hours into the annual three-day country-music jamboree Stagecoach, Nashville veteran Connie Smith introduced what she described as "one of my favorite country-gospel songs. " The small but attentive Friday afternoon crowd listened as she sang "Peace in the Valley," a song popularized in the '50s by Red Foley. She struck a tone of steadfast piety as she declared, "There'll be no sadness, no sorrow, no trouble I see. " The line felt like a bulwark against the gloom that might've settled in at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival after the death Friday morning of the great country singer George Jones.

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.

There comes a time in every party girl's life when the party stops being fun. Such was the case Friday night at the parties surrounding Coachella when massive lines, overcrowding, ridiculous displays of outsized drunkenness and the general fatigue of everyone made for a tough night out. The evening's biggest letdown came in the form of the Diesel + Edun / Rolling Stone: Studio Africa party. Located at a posh ranch just off the festival grounds, the party -- scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. -- was crammed to capacity by 11:15.

Jeff Bridges will pick up his guitar again for Southland performances next month at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles and at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, and he'll be joined at both by his band, the Abiders. Bridges will play the El Rey on April 25, then heads to Indio for his Stagecoach performance the following day, wrapping up a tour of five Western states with a dozen stops. He'll be drawing from his 2011 major label album, “Jeff Bridges,” as well as from some of the material he sang for his Oscar-winning role as washed-up country singer Bad Blake in the 2009 film “Crazy Heart.” His tour opens April 1 in Folsom, Calif., but at Folsom Lake College, not Folsom Prison.

INDIO - The Stagecoach Country Music Festival moved into its seventh edition this weekend, and even though that's young by festival standards, Stagecoach has become enough of a cultural force that participants and fans are beginning to use it as a yardstick on their lives, like penciled growth marks scribbled on a family's kitchen wall. Acts that once were low in the ranks have sprouted up to the top of the heap, some elder members of the musical family have passed on, a few estranged relatives have returned to the fold, and new blood is welcomed into the mix with each succeeding year.

Re "Stagecoach Crash Kills Horse, Hurts Riders at Knott's," Aug. 21: As an engineer I am appalled by state regulators' rationale for not investigating the stagecoach accident at Knott's Berry Farm. I'm guessing that they don't consider the stagecoach a mechanical ride because it has no motor, but it is a mechanical device nevertheless, and a brake failure is a mechanical failure. By the same standard, the ship rigging accident at Disneyland that led to the current amusement park laws would not have been considered worthy of investigation except for the tragic death and injury it caused.

There is almost nothing to suggest the wild, frontier past of Onizuka Street in Little Tokyo. Nothing to suggest that it once was traversed by racing stagecoaches in the 1850s, "with passengers and drivers yelling, and wheels often locked hub to hub to bring up a cloud of dust," as recounted in the history book "Nuestro Pueblo." Onizuka, formerly named Weller Street, is now a sedate one-block stretch of road, renamed for Ellison Onizuka, the astronaut who was killed in the 1986 Challenger explosion.

The Stagecoach country music festival returns for its third year next spring with a lineup topped by Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley and Kid Rock among dozens of country, bluegrass, folk and roots-rock performers who will rendezvous in Indio, Calif., once again. Chesney, who was one of the headliners for Stagecoach's inaugural outing, is returning, while McEntire, Paisley and Kid Rock will be making their debuts at the festival. The event expanded from two days in 2007 to three days last year.

The Stagecoach country music festival drew a record 100,000-plus people over its two-day run in Indio last month, according to figures released Tuesday by the event's promoter, resulting in a strong 1-2 punch for event organizers despite the sluggish national economy. The high water mark for Stagecoach, which featured Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Reba McEntire and Kid Rock at the top of its two-day lineup, came a week after the Coachella Music & Arts Festival at the same site drew 160,000 over three days despite the nationwide economic slump.

On the official website for the low desert city of Indio, the letter "I" is a cherry-red electric guitar propped up with a stack of amplifiers - a nod to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which has edged out the date shake as the town's most famous homegrown product. With Coachella's 13th installment set to kick off Friday, Indio's civic leaders are attempting to rebrand the once-sleepy exurb as "The City of Festivals," an internationally known tourist destination. Last week, after more than a year of debate, the City Council voted 4-0 to allow Goldenvoice, the concert promoter behind Coachella and its country-music offshoot, Stagecoach, to expand its offerings from three to five weekends a year through 2030.

Jeff Bridges will pick up his guitar again for Southland performances next month at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles and at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, and he'll be joined at both by his band, the Abiders. Bridges will play the El Rey on April 25, then heads to Indio for his Stagecoach performance the following day, wrapping up a tour of five Western states with a dozen stops. He'll be drawing from his 2011 major label album, “Jeff Bridges,” as well as from some of the material he sang for his Oscar-winning role as washed-up country singer Bad Blake in the 2009 film “Crazy Heart.” His tour opens April 1 in Folsom, Calif., but at Folsom Lake College, not Folsom Prison.

Toby Keith, Lady Antebellum and the Zac Brown Band will anchor the 2013 edition of the country-focused Stagecoach festival, which once again will be held over three late April days at the Empire Polo Grounds in the desert city of Indio. Now in its seventh year, the Goldenvoice-produced festival takes a wide-open view of roots music, booking contemporary Nashville acts alongside legends and newcomers.  The event will take place April 26-28, the weekend directly following next year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

About 20 miles beyond the red-tile roofs of downtown Santa Barbara, it begins: the rolling blond hills that go indecently green in spring, the massive estates and miniature horses, the sprawling vineyards and "Sideways" scenery, the dude ranch with 10,000 acres, the old stagecoach stop with boar on the menu and bikers in the parking lot .... Santa Barbara County's wine country has a lot to offer. The nine micro-itineraries that follow are a quick introduction for newcomers, part of our ongoing series of Southern California Close-Ups.

It's often said that good writers have to find their voice. If that's so, Samuel Clemens found his in Virginia City, Nev. While working for its local paper in the 1860s, he assumed the name by which he's best known: Mark Twain. Were he alive, Twain would still recognize this town 25 miles southeast of Reno; it hasn't changed much in the last 150 years. The bed Immerse yourself in local lore at the B Street Bed & Breakfast (58 N. B St.; [775] 847-7231, http://www.bstreethouse.com )

A final decision on Goldenvoice's proposal to keep the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in the desert city of Indio through at least 2030 may not be reached until March of 2013. Indio, which lies about 23 miles east of Palm Springs, has contracts in place with Goldenvoice for Coachella and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival through next year. The city will host a public meeting on Tuesday to allow residents to air concerns about the promoter's bid for the extension and expansion.

It's often said that good writers have to find their voice. If that's so, Samuel Clemens found his in Virginia City, Nev. While working for its local paper in the 1860s, he assumed the name by which he's best known: Mark Twain. Were he alive, Twain would still recognize this town 25 miles southeast of Reno; it hasn't changed much in the last 150 years. The bed Immerse yourself in local lore at the B Street Bed & Breakfast (58 N. B St.; [775] 847-7231, http://www.bstreethouse.com )

On May 27, Vicente Vasquez was digging into the bed of Echo Park Lake with his backhoe when he scraped a solid object buried under 4 feet of muck. What could it be? During the city's months-long dredging and rebuilding of the lake, workers have found lots of old bottles and assorted junk, but nothing sexy or sensational. No bodies, no bones, no rusted weapons used in unsolved crimes. Vasquez cleared a space around his discovery and saw the outlines of the buried treasure.

Goldenvoice, the promoter behind the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, is aiming to secure a home for its desert festival through 2030. The promoter's current contract with the city of Indio, Calif.,  expires after the 2013 event, but Goldenvoice's ambitions extend well beyond obtaining a long-term contract for Coachella. The city of Indio has released documents that offer a glimpse into the promoter's festival plans, which, if approved, would add up to two music events to the calendar year.

On May 27, Vicente Vasquez was digging into the bed of Echo Park Lake with his backhoe when he scraped a solid object buried under 4 feet of muck. What could it be? During the city's months-long dredging and rebuilding of the lake, workers have found lots of old bottles and assorted junk, but nothing sexy or sensational. No bodies, no bones, no rusted weapons used in unsolved crimes. Vasquez cleared a space around his discovery and saw the outlines of the buried treasure.