Art via Evan Solano
Pranav Trewn finds peace in his vinyl record collection.
Few groundbreaking cultural institutions survive more than two full decades intact. Back in 1999, Coachella broke through as a transgressive alternative to that year’s Woodstock revival – offering a home for artists like Spiritualized and DJ Shadow as opposed to Limp Bizkit and Korn. The festival would go on to enjoy an epoch-defining run setting the agenda of the modern music festival as a place where boundary-pushing iconoclasts like Bjork and Siouxsie and the Banshees were treated as the most important artists in the world. A place where influential musicians like the Pixies, Outkast, and LCD Soundsystem staged their grand returns to the world.
Flash forward, and the headliners for 2026’s iteration would be unrecognizable to the festival Coachella once was, presenting less the vanguard for contemporary music culture than an iHeartRadio showcase.
Meanwhile, Dave Pianka has weathered this tumultuous century in concert promotion and come out with his identity intact. It’s all part of his “transcendental plan”: the values by which he has oriented his own marquee three-day music festival Making Time ∞ (pronounced “Forever”).
Returning for its fifth year this weekend at Philadelphia’s revolutionary war memorial, Fort Mifflin, Making Time is keeping alive the countercultural spirit that has long since been compromised on by Coachella and Lollapalooza. It’s the only event this year where you’ll find a Laraaji-led meditation session sharing the same stage as the omnivorous viral party-starter ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, noisy amorphous rockers like YHWH Nailgun and Full Body 2 sequenced straight into precision-minded DJs like Nosedrip and Erol Alkan, or artists like Domenic “Nicky” Palermo from Nothing subverting expectations by performing shoegaze from a CDJ instead of a guitar.
It’s simply one of the most exciting collections of live music programming in the country, and it all starts with Dave P, who has been throwing multi-genre Making Time parties in the city for 25 years and counting. He is more than just the guy behind the scenes, but an ambassador for a culture few folks are still committed to cultivating at this scale.
During the hectic final days leading up to the festival, Dave P graciously made time to speak with me at length about his booking philosophy, the power of a cold call, and his definition of “transcendence.”