Associated Press

Roger Waters is silhouetted against a video screen as he performs during his closing set on the third day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., last year.

Rumors about the next Coachella festival always start right about the time the current Coachella ends. At that point, they primarily come in this form: "Dude, next year? Smiths reunion. It has to happen."

Never mind that they were once offered a reported $5 million to play the annual desert bash in Indio, Calif. -- and they turned it down.

Oh, and forget all of that stuff about how they don't ever speak to or even like each other anymore.

And you remember that drummer Mike Joyce sued Morrissey and Johnny Marr in '96 ... and won ... right? (Of course, by 2005, Joyce was apparently broke again -- and so desperate that he started selling rare Smiths recordings on eBay.)

By late summer/early fall, however, speculation about the impossible at Coachella really ramps up. (Like this: "No, seriously, I heard from the pot dealer of a friend of a cousin of a guy who used to work at Goldenvoice that Moz and Marr are talking. It's totally on!")

By Christmas, other ginormo names enter the mix, and we no-life Coachella watchers start attempting to map out three days of stars-plus-high-undercard-acts. ("The Killers ... maybe they're the Friday night headliner, like Jack Johnson last year. Either that, or they're on Sunday night with the Smiths or Bowie. I hear Saturday night is U2, or Pearl Jam or Radiohead.")

Radiohead is always mentioned, by the way. To the point that I sometimes hope they never play Coachella again, just to make '04 even more special than it already is.

But, see, I'm kinda perverse about particular resurrections anyway.

Blur, one of the few bands I'd lay 3-1 odds on as a legitimate lineup contender this year ... now that's a reunion I welcome, as the firm of Albarn, Coxon, James & Rowntree hasn't been away so long that it has become mythologized. (Plus, I suspect there's still great work left in that lineup.)

The Smiths and Talking Heads, on the other hand, I really don't want to ever reunite, for the same reason why I'm glad the Clash never did.

Would it blow my mind if either ever happened? Do I think their sets could be incredible? Of course.