News Articles
2008 Anthem Magazine Pool Party!
Words by Ice Cream Man
Photos by Mathew Wenthe
We’ve rocked the Anthem party during Coachella for the last three years. I’ve often referred to it as THE party of all parties—not just during Coachella, but all year long. It seemed fitting that this year’s bash at Cree Estates in Cathedral City be called La Fiesta De Fiestas. We decided not to bother with the actual festival this year, because “it doesn’t work out.” There were a ton of great bands on the bill but if we weren’t going to be able to sling cream, we might as well just hang out by the pool all day, then chill in Joshua Tree at night. Our friends at Spin Magazine threw a party at the Corona Yacht Club on Friday night, so I rushed to make sure we got everything together to hit that. Luckily it didn’t start til around midnight because the fest was going on. We arrived, unloaded one of our LeSportsac/Stella McCartney push carts then wheeled it in. We’d been there a couple times before, so I knew it’d be best for us to stay on the lawn. We could get some traffic and the DJ’s, including Perry Farrell, Crystal Method, and Guns ‘n’ Bombs, were set up on the deck above. I think we ended up with about ten of our crew there and we decided it’d be fun if we started our own lil’ funky (ie: somewhat dorky) dance party. We wrapped things up around 3 in the morn and didn’t end up crashing at Ellen’s until 5 that night. The highlight of the night was hooking up the security guard at 3:30 in the morn as we were heading to the house. It was his birthday, so I stuffed a bag with as many treats as possible.
With only a few hours of sleep, I knew Saturday would be a bit mellow. The good part was that once 7 o’clock hit, we were done for the night. As much as I’d like to see Prince in my lifetime, I’d prefer it not be with 50,000 of my closest friends. We got the address for La Fiesta a week or two before the party and Jeremiah sent me a link of what it looked like on MSN’s Live Maps (which, surprisingly, were a lot better than Google’s). Two pools, the largest swim-up bar in the desert, and it all sat on a full block covered in lush grass and lots of shade trees. We ran into the ladies from LeSportsac and, as they were setting up their table to give bags to everyone, we rolled in one of the push carts and parked it in the shade next to them to sling fruit pops. New crew member Chrissy had rocked the cart the night before, so she knew the routine and instantly started “selling” people on the Strawberry, Coconut, Mango, Pineapple, Banana, and Lime FrozFruit pops.
I’m glad Camino was there to shoot, because trying to explain the party in words obviously wouldn’t do it any justice. The setup couldn’t have been any better. My favorite part was that everyone in attendance was having a good time. It sounds simple, but usually parties are at night and people get dressed up and go just to be seen. Even if people had arrived for that reason, once inside, it didn’t matter— there was too much fun to be had. Hit and Run were screen printing t-shirts, there was a donkey for photo shoots, free booze from Tito’s and Newcastle, free food, and great tunes from DJs from all over the world.
I wonder how many people who attended the party actually made it to the festival afterwards. It’s nice that Coachella was going on, because the party could shut down around 6 or 7 each evening. It sort of seems like more and more people are skipping out on the fest these days, just vacationing and hitting up parties in the desert instead.
If you’ve made it this far without looking at the pictures yet, stop and check them out. They’re really all that are needed to show how much fun it was. Big thanks to Anthem for putting together another legendary party. Big thanks as well to Paula, Leigh, Eunice and everyone at LeSportsac for making it possible for us to be there giving away thousands of free popsicles. Thanks also to Ellen for letting us crash on Friday night. If you need a place to stay in Joshua Tree, check out the Highlands Houses. Thanks to Spin Imaging for doing such a great job on vinyl wrap for the push carts, they look great. Lastly, before I forget, thanks to all the crew who helped out – Camino, Chrissy, James, Gooch, and Danielle. Can’t wait til next year!
