Hotels, resorts and other venues have been offering up all sorts of music and entertainment to keep the Coachella crowds rocking since they began rolling into the valley last week. As the party continues through Sunday, April 24 (with Stagecoach to follow), the Ace Hotel and Swim Club is offering some truly unique musical experiences as part of its eighth-annual Desert Gold event.
“We like to work with a lot of programming partners for this week,” said Ace Hotel cultural engineer David Knight. “Creative partnerships and collaborations for this event include the David Lynch Foundation, and all of the mini-programs we have happening during the week.
“(This coming) weekend, on Saturday the 23rd, we’ll have Nancy Whang from LCD Soundsystem doing a show and playing on the Moog 55 system that we have upstairs in the Clubhouse. And on Sunday the 24th, we The Gaslamp Killer and Daedalus.”
You can also book your own time to play on the Moog. From Wednesday through Friday, April 20-22, between noon and 6 p.m., anyone (yes … anyone!) can book a 30-minute time slot to visit the Ace and play the Moog System 55 synthesizer that has been set up in the Clubhouse, which overlooks the hotel’s pool area. Under the guidance of a Moog sound engineer, you can sit in the seat of music greats like award-winning soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer; Keith Emerson of the band Emerson, Lake and Palmer; or Rick Wakeman of YES, to name a few.
There are original works by artist Jenny Sharaf to check out, too.
The Ace has numerous cultural events coming up beyond Desert Gold. “We do a lot of music programming, so we have DJs or bands appearing here in our Amigo Room on most weekends,” said Knight. “We have a great lecture series that we’ve been doing with Kim Stringfellow from the Mojave Project. It’s about the history of the Mojave Desert, covering different points of interest throughout the Mojave that most people might not know about. Kim does what she calls her field dispatches once a month where she combines video and audio with her lecture, and it’s all content that she creates herself.”
Access to Desert Gold is free, but RSVP to confirm your attendance. For weekend 2, visit the Ace webpage.
