Roger Waters Has Lost His Pig (Again)

The big news from the Coachella Festival out here in California over the weekend wasn't the return of Portishead but the disappearance of Rogers Waters' inflatable pig. The giant flying pig, which goes back to Pink Floyd's stage shows in support of their Animals record (1977), broke free from its tethers and drifted off. It's not only recognizable because it's a gigantic pig, but because it says "Don't be led to the slaughter. Vote Democrat November 2nd" on it. It also has a check mark next to "Obama" on the bottom. When I first heard that, I wondered if the pig really was Waters' pig--perhaps it was a marketing stunt. There's a good account of the show and the pig here via a blog at Entertainment Weekly (a better source than Reuters this time). Either way, the festival organizers are offering a great reward for its return: $10,000 and four tickets to the festival for life. 

By the way, this isn't the first time the pig has floated away. While shooting the cover for Animals at Battersea Power Station it also got loose. See my earlier blog entry, with video, here.

UPDATE: The pig has apparently been found (here). It landed in at least two pieces at the Hideaway Golf Club in La Quinta, California. No word whether the finders will want to use their festival tickets, but hey, the money's really good in these recessionary times.

"Big Idiot Buys a Pig"

Although it's not obvious from this blog, I have a deep and abiding interest in old and strange music. My favorite recent release in this vein is Dust-to-Digital's Victrola Favorites: Artifacts from Bygone Days, drawn from the extensive collections of old 78's of Seattle residents Rob Millis and Jeffery Taylor. There are all kinds of songs and performances from all over the world on this set, including He Zemin & Huang Peiying's "Big Idiot Buys a Pig" (ca. 1930), which may be one of the greatest song titles ever. I have no idea what's going on in this 78, nor do I know how to add music tracks to this blog, but thankfully the review of Victrola Favorites at Dusted Magazine has this track available for folks to listen to via a stream. So click here and start listening, then go out and pick up this amazing release.

The "Everything's Better with Bacon" Flickr Pool

My friend Sean e-mailed me concerning a photo pool on Flickr about bacon. You too can fritter away valuable time by perusing the tons of photos in the "Everything's Better with Bacon" group (here). There are over 1400 "members" contributing almost 2300 images of bacon and bacon-related items to this Flickr site. The photo to the right is from (and of) Mr. Bacon Pants, who tells the tale (here) of his participation in the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival, held in Des Moines, Iowa last month on National Pig Day. There is a Des Moines Register article previewing this event as well that you can find here.