Tuesday, 27 May 2008

Roger Waters' pig penned after Coachella flight

Indio, the pig has landed.

Roger Waters' two-story inflatable prop pig that floated off into the night sky between his festival-closing sets Sunday at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival plopped down Tuesday over two properties in nearby La Quinta, less than two miles from the Empire Polo Field, where the three-day event was held, festival officials said Wednesday.

"One of the women who found it called us and said, 'We found your pig, but it looks more like pulled pork," festival spokeswoman Marcee Rondan said.




















Rondan said Coachella officials had not confirmed the names of the lighter-than-air pig wranglers, but the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs identified them as Susan and Steve Solts and Judy and Patrick Rimmer. The paper also quoted them as saying they will donate the $10,000 reward money to children's music programs in their area.

The reward offered by Coachella officials for the pig's return also included four lifetime passes to future Coachella festivals, which the couples said they would divide. They also will receive all-access passes for this weekend's Stagecoach country music festival, which Rondan said they'd been planning to attend anyway.

Rondan said the pig will become part of the Coachella archives. Waters' appearance, she said, "was the first time anyone has ever performed back-to-back sets at Coachella. "So the pig is part of Coachella history now."

randy.lewis@latimes.com