Skylab studio joshua tree12/24/2022 ![]() ![]() “There’s some really cool opening and support acts and I tell people every year don’t just show up for the main ones you now because we hand-pick all of them and there are some really good ones this year,” Dietrick says. “And it works out great for Dean and his wife because they live in Los Angeles so it’s a two-hour drive out here and some great shows.”įriday night guests will be treated to some far-out songs and storytelling courtesy of Joel Gion, former tambourine player of The Brian Jonestown Massacre (think of the decades worth of tales this dude has!) Wash all that down with a broad spectrum of acts from as far as Italy (the dark, modern rock of New Candys), popular returning acts (LA’s Spindrift and J-Tree’s Jesika Von Rabbit) and a few OC-based up and comers (Spirit Mother and The No. “We’d had Dean and Luna on our radar for a few years and we’d been talking about it and this was the perfect time to do it so we pulled the trigger on that,” Dietrick says. This year, the two day festival (March 29-30) hosts upwards of 21 acts from all over SoCal as well as a few international bands, headlined with a double whammy of indie music legend Dean Wareham, doing a solo performance of material from his legendary alt-rock band Galaxie 500 on Friday and with revered dream pop quartet Luna on Saturday.įor Dietrick, who grew up on Wareham’s music–from Galaxie 500 classics like 1989’s On Fire and Luna’s entire catalog including their venerated 1995 album Pup Tent– landing this headliner was akin to watching the stars align. We’re still this DIY boutique thing and we’re still here 11-12 years later.” “I’ll let the bigger festivals spend 300,000 on talent. “That’s the year we had Swerve Driver and the Lemonheads and Entrance Band, and it was this perfect amount of talent,” Dietrick says. ![]() In addition to moving the festival from fall to spring and to its newly purchased location on the east block of the Joshua Tree Arts District, they’re also excited to return to what Dietrick calls “the 2015 vibe.” “I realized the years we were trying to go bigger, I wasn’t enjoying it as much,” Dietrick says. Sure, there have been years when Dietrick has tried to go big with Desert Stars, but usually, it just left him feeling burnt out. Through the ebb and flow of festivals competing to be the biggest, the boutique festival’s enduring charm has been the intimacy that comes from an event thrown for 1,000 people or less. Similarly, Desert Stars has managed to hold its niche within the high desert kingdom of Joshua Tree and Pioneertown as a haven for shoegaze and psychedelic rock for 11 years running. “I have a photo of it somewhere, at one point and I’m told it still exists 10-11 years later,” Dietrick says. “I remember in 2008 we literally had $300 left to build a little acoustic stage and my production designer Christian, he’s this German guy, he says ‘Don’t worry, I got zis.’”ĭietrick came back three hours later to find his comrade standing next to a fully functional stage with lights and lumber purchased from Home Depot. “I think the level of artistry increases when you don’t have that heavy checkbook access,” Dietrick says. It’s the kind of environment built on creativity and strength that Tommy Dietrick and his Desert Stars Festival continue to thrive on 11 years after starting the festival in at Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown. Whether it’s a flower of a festival, part of surviving in the desert means being able to live without many resources. Tess Parks performing at Desert Stars 2017 (courtesy of Desert Stars Festival) ![]()
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