Actually being able to go to the Coachella music festival in Indio has become a more difficult process each year, with tickets gone essentially once the lineup was announced last year. While the festival is generally worth attending regardless of who's headlining, it's generally nice to know what you're playing for. In order to make a second giant pile of money off California hipster types allow more people to attend, there will be two Coachellas this year:

We're excited to announce Coachella 2012 will be held over TWO WEEKENDS.

In an effort to try and accommodate everyone who wants to experience the festival, COACHELLA 2012 will be two separate events, held over two consecutive weekends. We will attempt to produce two identical festival weekends. That means same lineup, same art, same place, different people.

We know many of you were unable to attend this year's festival because passes sold out much sooner than anticipated. We were truly surprised by the overwhelming response and remain honored by your passion and enthusiasm. We also know some of you purchased through non legitimate sources and were inconvenienced, gouged or totally scammed. We hope that these changes will give everyone the opportunity to purchase directly from Coachella.com.

Local musician Sam Abate was the bicyclist struck by a hit and run (and uninsured) driver on May 20th on Swan, and sadly/predictably, his extensive injuries are going to be the source of a series of large medical bills. To that end, his friends have put together a compilation of local music to help offset some of those costs. For $12, you get 27 songs and help a guy out. It's a great deal all around.

[The Good Sam Club Compilation]

Workers trying to keep the Fukushima nuclear power plant as manageable of a disaster as possible by all accounts are facing up the idea that the endeavor will kill them, either sooner or later from the massive amounts of radiation they are exposed to. In a remarkable act of self-sacrifice, a group called the Skilled Veterans Corps is volunteering to take over for the current group of workers:

For the past several weeks, a group of elderly pensioners, the Skilled Veterans Corps, have been promoting themselves as the "logical" workforce to be sent to Fukushima. In interviews with the AFP and BBC News, the roughly 200 engineers and former atomic plant workers have volunteered their services to take the place of the some of estimated 1,000 people stationed at the plant. "Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer," the groups organizer Yasuteru Yamada, told the BBC.

Today marks the second anniversary of the murder of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul. From Border Action Network:

Today, Monday, May 30th, marks two years since three Minutemen members stormed an Arivaca, Arizona home. In an elaborate plot intended to raise money for their Minutemen chapter, they brutally murdered nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul. The only survivor, Brisenia’s mother, had to watch her family die as she lay wounded on the floor.

While the murder trail against Shawna Forde and the other two perpetrators was proceeding, the Arizona legislature debated and approved a bill that would create a state militia to patrol the border. Governor Brewer signed this bill into law last month that could result in people like Shawna Forde having state-sanctioned license to brutalize Latino and immigrant families in Arizona.

Minutemen leader Shawna Forde and gunman Jason Bush both received the death penalty for their roles in Brisenia and Raul’s murders. A third participant, Albert Robert Gaxiola, is awaiting trial.

The following is a statement from Jennifer Allen, Border Action Network’s Executive Director:

“Memorial Day today marks the second anniversary of the brutal murder of Brisenia Flores and her father in Arivaca, Arizona. It is simply unacceptable that people are dying in the border region —whether through heat exhaustion, at the hands of armed vigilantes or by poorly trained Border Patrol agents who needlessly respond with lethal force. The list of those we have lost continues to grow —from Esequiel Hernandez, Francisco Dominguez Rivera, Brisenia and Raul Flores, Carlos La Madrid, Ramses Barron Torres, and many others.

“Out of respect for the families who have lost loved ones and to our nation’s principle of equal protection under the law, we challenge local, state and national policymakers to stop the practice of scapegoating the border. We challenge policy makers to help lead this country to a place where the border, the people who cross it and the people who live there are seen as full human beings and are treated with the same rights and dignity as anyone else.”

The crew of the Endeavour space shuttle is on the way home. This morning, Cmdr. Mark Kelly picked Calexico's "Slowness" as a wake-up call to honor his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and her hometown, Tucson.

Kelly tells mission control in Houston that Gabby “really wants to get back there and is really looking forward to that, so it’s an appropriate song. That’s coming soon."

• Samantha Sais

The Tucson Padres brought out the big bats last night, with a 13-4 win over the Salt Lake City Bees.

The T-Pads take the field again tonight for the final game of the home stand. It's Family Night, meaning any group of four can get four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas for a mere $20. Details here.

Here's the Padres' Tim Hagerty with a summary of last night's game:

The Tucson Padres scored 12 times in the third inning and beat the Salt Lake Bees 13-4 Sunday at Kino Stadium. The Padres sent 16 batters to the plate in the frame, picking up eight hits, six for extra bases. Aaron Cunningham was a single shy of the cycle Sunday, going 3-for-4 with six RBIs, including five RBIs in the third inning alone. Jeremy Hefner pitched 6.1 innings, allowing three runs, earning his first Triple-A win.

The majority of damage came against Scott Kazmir on his second injury rehab assignment start. Kazmir is on the Angels disabled list because of a sore back, and has had difficulties in his two starts with Salt Lake, currently showing an ERA of 36.00 after allowing 10 earned runs in 2.1 innings Sunday.

The series has been lopsided so far, with the Padres winning by 10 runs Friday, losing by eight runs Saturday, and winning by nine runs Sunday. Interestingly, the Padres 12 run inning wasn’t the highest single-inning run total in the league Sunday; the Colorado Springs Sky Sox scored 13 times in the fifth inning of their 24-6 victory over Fresno. The 12 run third was the highest scoring inning by the T-Pads this year, their previous high was six runs against Round Rock May 10th.

Next Game: Monday, 7:00 pm — Salt Lake RHP Matt Palmer (1-4, 9.26) vs. Tucson RHP Will Inman (1-4, 5.44)

Cmdr. Mark Kelly and his Endeavour crew aboard the International Space Station talked with kids from Gridley Middle School on Friday night. Hosting the event is Michael Drake, who was just named principal investigator of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that the UA Lunar of Planetary Lab will be running for the next decade or so.

The shuttle crew is back aboard Endeavor and is scheduled to land early in the morning of June 1.

It was a tough game for the Tucson Padres last night as they fell to the Salt Lake City Bees, 10-2.

But they've got a chance for revenge tonight—and it's Bark in the Park night at Kino Stadium, so you can bring your dog to the ballpark! Details here.

Tim Hagerty of the Padres has the details from last night's game:

One night after winning by ten runs, the Tucson Padres lost to Salt Lake 10-2 Saturday at Kino Stadium. Salt Lake scored nine runs on 14 hits against Wade LeBlanc, who suffered his first loss with Tucson. LeBlanc pitched 4.1 innings, striking out three and walking one. Kevin Richardson’s grand slam highlighted a five-run fifth inning for Salt Lake. Salt Lake’s Jeremy Moore was 5-for-5 in the win.

The Padres scored once in the first inning on an RBI single by Jarrett Hoffpauir after Will Venable singled and stole second base. After scoring in the first, the Padres didn’t have a baserunner reach second until the eighth inning, when Jason Bulger left two Tucson runners on base.

Andy Parrino was 3-for-4 for the Padres, and Hoffpauir, Jesus Guzman and Guillermo Quiroz had two hits each. Aaron Cunningham was 0-for-4, ending an 11 game hitting streak. The Padres bullpen was strong in the lopsided loss, with four different pitchers (Deduno, Munter, Hynes, Perdomo) combining to throw 4.2 innings without allowing an earned run

Next Game: Sunday, 7:00 pm — Tucson RHP Jeremy Hefner (0-4) vs. Salt Lake LHP Scott Kazmir (0-1)

• Samantha Sais

The Tucson Padres clobbered the Salt Lake Bees last night, 11-1. The Memorial Day weekend homestand continues tonight with a post-game fireworks show, so if you aren't going to see Flor de Muertos at The Loft, you sure should be heading to Kino Stadium. Oh, and tomorrow night, you can bring your dog out to Bark in the Park. More details on the promotions here.

The Padres' Tim Hagerty has details from last night:

Matt Buschmann threw the first complete game in the brief history of the Tucson Padres Friday, as the Padres beat Salt Lake 11-1. The Padres scored four runs in the first inning against former San Diego Padres pitcher Brian Lawrence, and the offense continued with two more runs in the second and three in the fourth, all to the line of Lawrence.

Buschmann had two previous complete games in his career, including a complete game loss against Salt Lake in 2009. Friday he allowed just one run on six hits, striking out four without walking a batter. He threw just 97 pitches in the game. Buschmann said getting ahead in the count was the key to his success Friday. “I threw my two-seam fastball in the strike zone,” said Buschmann. “I was getting strike one and I was able to get in a rhythm.”

As for the Padres offense, newcomer Will Venable led the way. He hit two home runs and an RBI triple. After collecting just one hit in his first two games after being optioned from San Diego, Venable exploded Friday for four RBIs. Five other Tucson players had multiple hit games — Aaron Cunningham, Anthony Rizzo, Jesus Guzman, Matt Clark and Luis Martinez. The ten-run win was the largest margin of victory the Padres have had this year, eclipsing the nine-run win over Iowa Sunday.

Next Game: Saturday, 7:00 pm — Tucson LHP Wade LeBlanc (4-0, 5.08) vs. Salt Lake RHP Eric Junge (2-3, 3.90)

• Michelle Hotchkiss
• Calexico performing at The Loft cinema

The big bonus: A performance by Calexico, who provided the soundtrack for the film. (Director Aaron Schock told the audience he couldn't imagine the film without Calexico's contribution.) It was a delightfully raw set that included favorites like "Across the Wire" and "Crystal Frontier," along with a soulful cover of Bob Dylan's "Goin' to Acapulco," which seemed appropriate to the evening, and the haunting lullaby "All the Pretty Little Horses," which is probably getting some play in Joey Burns' household, seeing as he's the new father of two twin girls. Congrats, Joey!

Circo is playing all next week at The Loft, so if you've got time for a movie, make it this one.

Tonight, The Loft's Calexico-themed double-feature continues with the premiere of Flor de Muertos, director Dan Vinik's documentary that looks at Tucson's All-Soul's Procession, the ever-climbing number of people dying in the desert as they attempt to cross into the United States, and the general attitude toward death in the Mexican culture. It's all set against Calexico's spectacular 2009 Dia de los Muertos concert at the Rialto Theatre. Word is: Members of Calexico will be back tonight to talk about the film with Vinik and others, but they won't be performing.

If you want to go, you'd better call ahead to make sure there are still tickets left. Last night's show was a sell-out. Details here.