Hey, we've been gone a while! Since before Christmas, to be exact. And seeing as you've surely spent that time stomping joyously through mountain passes and heartily breathing crisp, fresh, wintry mountain air and expertly plucking fish out of mountain creeks with your bare hands and otherwise avoiding the Internet in favor of life-affirming mountain-based recreational activities, let's catch up on what we missed. The Last Week in Pop Culture Review starts … right now.
From the Weezer Cruise to Holy Ship! to the — oh goodness me — R. Kelly Love Letter Cruise, the last few years have provided us with a rash of concert cruises contradicting the stodgy, stuffy stereotype of the institution. And now comes the trend's inevitable peak. Goldenvoice, the folks behind king of the jungle music festival circuit Coachella, have announced a seaborne counterpart to their main event. That's right: S.S. Coachella sets sail in December.
Are you ready for the future?! And by the future, obviously I mean, are you ready for a Nate Dogg hologram?!! Nate, who passed away just over a year ago, is joining Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s Coachella-closing set this Sunday night via Princess Leia. This. Is. Not. A. Joke. According to TMZ, “Dr. Dre didn't want to leave Nate out of his Sunday performance — so he's incorporating his old friend using hologram technology ... the same technology that broadcast Mariah Carey's image across Europe last year ... at 5 simultaneous concerts. We're told an image of Nate will be projected onto the Coachella stage — alongside Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Warren G, and Daz Dillinger — to make it appear as though he's actually performing on stage.” SPIN points out that Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Wiz Khalifa are rumored to be on stage as well, but who in the hell is going to be looking at anything but the Nate Dogg hologram. Only one question: Is a "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope" reference too obvious to be made from the stage, or is it so obvious it must be made from the stage?
