2 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT
APRIL 2021
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263 Cathedral City, CA 92234 (760) 904-4208 www.cvindependent.com
Editor/Publisher Jimmy Boegle staff writer Kevin Fitzgerald coveR and feature design Dennis Wodzisz Contributors Kevin Allman, Charles Drabkin, Max Cannon, Kevin Carlow, Katie Finn, Bill Frost, Bonnie Gilgallon, Bob Grimm, Valerie-Jean (VJ) Hume, Clay Jones, Matt Jones, Jocelyn Kane, Matt King, Keith Knight, Brett Newton, Dan Perkins, Guillermo Prieto, Anita Rufus, Theresa Sama, Andrew Smith, Jen Sorenson, Robert Victor, Madeline Zuckerman The Coachella Valley Independent print edition is published every month. All content is ©2021 and may not be published or reprinted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. The Independent is available free of charge throughout the Coachella Valley, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $5 by calling (760) 904-4208. The Independent may be distributed only by the Independent’s authorized distributors. The Independent is a proud member and/ or supporter of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, CalMatters, the Desert AIDS Project, the Local Independent Online News Publishers, the Desert Business Association, the LGBT Community Center of the Desert, and the Desert Ad Fed.
CVIndependent.com
One of the most frustrating aspects of the pandemic has been the fact that nothing seems clear anymore: There is no black-and-white, and there aren’t even really shades of gray. Instead, everything is a confusing, conflicting mess. Take the recent reopenings that have followed decreasing COVID-19 case numbers and increasing vaccinations. The lifting of restrictions, the openings of more businesses, the closer-to-normal vibe throughout our desert cities … all of this should be a happy thing, something that makes me feel good. Right? It should be, except that as I write this, cases are starting to rise in some parts of the country, after weeks and weeks of steady declines. More-contagious and potentially deadlier SARS-CoV-2 variants are beginning to take hold. The lifting of restrictions means more opportunities for the virus to spread— which could reverse the case-count declines we’ve been enjoying. We’re watching an epic race between vaccinations and variants— and the stakes literally couldn’t be higher. Sigh. Despite my muddled emotions, I am happy that due to the recent reopenings, we’ve revived two longstanding Independent features in our Food and Drink section. Our Indy Endorsements—brief pieces on food or drink items from local eateries that we absolutely love—are back, and can be found on Page 30. On Page 31, you’ll find the return of our monthly Restaurant News Bites column, with food writer Charles Drabkin taking over the reins. Barring that COVID case-count backslide about which I am fretting, we will bring back The Venue Report—our quick summary of music and other live-performance events around the valley—in our May issue. This issue also marks the return of another feature, although this hiatus had nothing to do with the pandemic: Our monthly Cannabis in the CV column is back and can be found on Page 37. The reason for the lengthy break: I could not find a good writer to take over the column, despite numerous attempts on my part. Then, out of the blue, Jocelyn Kane emailed me—and, after reading her debut piece, you’ll agree she’s the perfect scribe for the column. Anyway, regarding the return of the pandemic-paused columns: I really, really don’t want to have to put the Indy Endorsements and Restaurant News Bites back on hiatus. And I really want to see The Venue Report back in the Independent’s pages for good. So … please mask up. Please get vaccinated when it’s your turn. Please take all the necessary precautions, and then some. Please. Welcome to the April 2021 print edition of the Coachella Valley Independent. As always, thanks for reading, and drop me a line at the email address below with any feedback. —Jimmy Boegle, jboegle@cvindependent.com
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 3
APRIL 2021
2 7 T H A N N U A L S T E V E C H A S E H U M A N I TA R I A N AWA R D S
The 2021 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards are going virtual. Join us Sunday, May 9, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. You can participate by tuning into NBC Palm Springs or by joining us on any of DAP Health’s social media channels (Facebook, YouTube or Twitter). Register today to be kept up to date on all the details, celebrity entertainment, online auction opportunities and more!
You’re Invited! LIVESTREAM May 9, 2021 | 5:30pm
Special Broadcast Event | NBC Palm Springs
Text SCHA to 72572 to Register Today CVIndependent.com
4 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT
APRIL 2021
OPINION OPINION
CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS S
BY ANITA RUFUS
ometimes the lessons we learn and the people we become are the results of negative, rather than positive, influences. Born and raised in Winona, Minn., Palm Springs resident Kathy Diamond, 69, grew up in a household where her parents weren’t warm and fuzzy. “My parents were role models of people I didn’t want to be,” Diamond says. Her mother was “cold and distant,” and seldom communicated positive expectations to Diamond and her older brother. Her father was “a very strict disciplinarian, an angry and bitter person.” “At the age of 10,” says Diamond, “my mom told me that from then on, I’d be making the dinners. They provided room and board, but I had to buy my own clothing—so I learned to sew. I program in their Pediatrics Department. cleaned houses, baby-sat—anything I could do “I loved it!” she says. “I especially loved to earn money. I became very independent. My being in an academic setting, where I could sit dad committed suicide when I was in my 40s, in on lectures and learn so much for free. The and after his death, I took care of mom for the skills I had learned from my degree helped me next 11 years. “There was one person who had a big positive communicate with others. I always consider how I can convey something to a person that influence in my life, and that was my dad’s they will understand.” sister, Aunt Eva. He had three sisters, and their Diamond worked in that setting for dad had died when my father was only 5. His 30 years, and later became a department mother raised four kids on her own, without administrator in internal medicine. She and any help. Aunt Eva was strong, kind, fiercely her husband of 34 years had vacationed intelligent—such a positive role model for me. in Palm Springs many times, so it wasn’t It was hard to realize that she and my dad had a stretch for them to move here after she been raised in the same household.” retired; that took place six years ago. Diamond’s parents told her she was on her This brings us back to pets. They have one own at 18. dog right now, Scarlett, and Diamond says they “As a kid, I had always wanted to be a hope to get a second soon. veterinarian,” she says. “I get really upset with “I have a passion for dogs,” she says. “I was people who don’t treat pets well—and I’d have on the board of a dog-rescue organization, and made a good vet. But my dad said that I’d have then in 2007, friends and I started our own to go to school for lots of years.” rescue service, Shih Tzu Rescue of Minnesota. She put herself through college and earned I volunteered there several days a week, a degree in elementary and early childhood mentoring foster parents and interacting with education from Winona State University. the vets. “We all have dreams, and hindsight would “Where I live now, at 7 a.m., all the have been good at that age,” she says. neighbors with dogs walk together. We catch As it turned out, Diamond never taught in a up on news, and it’s a chance to socialize and classroom. She had lots of student loans, and care about each other. It’s made a very cohesive jobs were hard to come by, so she got a position neighborhood.” at the University of Minnesota, coordinating a
CVIndependent.com
Meet Kathy Diamond, helper of the homeless—and recipient of Bloom in the Desert’s Compassion Appreciation Award
Kathy Diamond, with several of her four-legged friends.
Diamond has another passion: Volunteering to help and support people who are homeless. “When we came to Palm Springs, I wanted something to do that would be productive and make a difference, and to positively affect someone else’s life. I searched online for volunteer opportunities and found Well in the Desert in Palm Springs. They needed help serving lunches, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I loved the people I was volunteering with and enjoyed meeting the people we serve. “Given what I went through, I know what not having a safety net can mean—the feeling of everything falling out from under you. These are people who are not all about drugs or mental illness. They’ve had misfortune and spiraled down. It’s difficult to get out from under that. “The numbers of people we see has gone way up due to COVID—(because of) lost jobs, evictions and people who have had to quit their jobs to take care of their kids. They’re here because they’re hungry. We’re here to treat them with dignity and respect. They’re grateful; it takes so little to make someone happy, to bring a smile to someone’s face. There’s a need for an understanding of the individuals and their situations, but sharing has to be on their terms. Often, they’re embarrassed. It takes
only a little effort to be kind.” In recognition of her work with Well in the Desert, Diamond recently received the Compassion Appreciation Award from Bloom in the Desert Ministries. When I ask what makes Diamond cry, her response is consistent with the way in which she lives her life. “I don’t cry for myself. I cry for people who have been mistreated, who are broken and hurting. I’m turned off by intolerance. I’ve actually ended friendships with people who are closed-minded. They have a right to feel that way, but I’m OK with letting them go. I cry for someone else’s feelings being hurt. I cry for people with no hope. “This pandemic has heightened our awareness of all those who are near and dear to our hearts. That gives me hope. I don’t know where I heard it, but it’s something that has always stuck with me: Strong women create a gentler world.” Kathy Diamond is a great role model who proves that statement. Anita Rufus is also known as “The Lovable Liberal.” Her show The Lovable Liberal airs on IHubRadio. Email her at Anita@LovableLiberal. com. Know Your Neighbors appears every other Wednesday at CVIndependent.com.
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 5
APRIL 2021
OPINION OPINION
CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION
STOP THE STIGMA
Sex workers—who have been hit hard by the pandemic—deserve health equity
S
by jack bunting
ex workers in the Coachella Valley already live in the shadows, and the pandemic has made it harder than ever to reach them for help and services. It might sound tempting to just stop trying—but that won’t work if we want to prevent human suffering around us. That’s why DAP Health has been recruiting community health specialists with sex-worker experience. It’s a bold but necessary step. The practice of hiring from the patient populations it serves means that DAP Health patients and clients are helped by people who have walked in their shoes. Empathy and compassion are always included. Stigma and criminalization have always patients. The team is skilled at addressing created barriers for sex workers seeking safety, many of the challenges affecting sex workers, health care and services, and DAP is increasing and services are available both in-person and outreach to this community. Hiring employees via virtual visits. with sex-worker experience is a move to build DAP Health’s holistic model aims to address credibility and solidarity in the sex-worker all situations that that can lead to negative community, which is growing more desperate health outcomes, especially those related to for relief as the pandemic continues. the pandemic. This includes food and housing With social distancing causing in-person insecurity, joblessness, isolation and access to business to drop off, and criminalization of health care. their work making unemployment benefits DAP Health has been working to expand impossible, sex workers are facing increased its role in public health and health equity— health-equity challenges that threaten them in service to anyone who needs care in and their partners. the Coachella Valley. We serve more than “We understand and care about people who 9,700 patients, offering medical and mental survive through sex work,” says C.J. Tobe, DAP healthcare, STI testing and treatment, Health’s community health director. “Stigma dentistry, pharmacy services and lab services. surrounding sex is very much alive, and this We want our patients to be in optimal health, pandemic has exacerbated the spotlight on it.” so we also offer social services, support groups, STI rates remain the highest they have alternative therapies and other wellness been for California in three decades. Current services. Excellent HIV care is provided by the and former sex workers experience more largest team of specialized clinicians in the violence, legal entanglements and social area. stigmatization than most people—all of which DAP opened one of California’s first COVID make it harder to obtain health care. Other clinics and hotlines to offer screening, testing serious barriers include poverty, substance use, and treatment. DAP is also working to address disability, immigration status, sexism, racism, social problems that are causing negative transphobia and homophobia. health outcomes during this pandemic, like Because of all this, access to mental-health food and housing insecurity, joblessness, resources for sex workers is also much-needed. isolation and access to ongoing health care. This, in part, is why the DAP Behavioral Health DAP’s sexual health clinic offers STI testing Department is doubling its capacity to see and treatment, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and HIV and HCV testing. DAP has earned Charity Navigator’s highest rating for the 12 consecutive year—landing DAP in the top 6 percent of nonprofits rated. The distinction recognizes that DAP exceeds industry standards in terms of financial health, accountability and transparency. Read more about DAP Health and its expanding role in public health and health equity, at www. daphealth.org/dap-health-brand. To become a patient, visit www.daphealth.org/health-services/ become-a-patient. Jack Bunting is the public relations specialist for DAP Health. CVIndependent.com
6 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT
APRIL 2021
OPINION OPINION
CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION
HIKING WITH T
Celebrate spring and Earth Day with preserves—specifically, the Whitewater Preserve and the Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve
BY THERESA SAMA
S
pring has sprung—and there’s no better time to get out and bond with nature than right now. The wildflowers are blooming. The birds are singing as the desert wildlife is migrating. It’s time to get out on the trails and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us—before the hot temperatures of summer kick in. The arrival of springtime means it’s almost time for Earth Day! Every April 22, we celebrate the Earth. What will you do on Earth Day to show your appreciation for our amazing planet? Maybe plant a tree? Go for a bike ride? Or utilize some of the amazingly beautiful nearby trails and go for a hike? There are so many options for you to connect with our planet and all of its beauty. running, walking and lightly stepping along Once, on Earth Day, I thought it would be the trail—before I put my socks and shoes cool to run the trail to Murray Peak barefoot, back on. I really gained a new appreciation for so I could actually feel the soil and gain a Mother Earth on that day. While you should deeper connection with Earth itself. After probably learn from my mistake and refrain getting onto the trail and finding a good from running up a trail barefoot, it would be stopping point, I removed my shoes and socks, good to find a nice place and sit down; relax; strapped them to my backpack and trudged remove your shoes and socks; put your bare forward. feet in the dirt; and give yourself a meditation I would soon be in for a brutal awakening. moment. Be present. Allow yourself to feel The trail had more rocks than I could ever and fully appreciate what the earth gives us. It imagine—and sharp rocks at that. It felt like truly is rejuvenating. I was running through broken glass. I did Many surrounding trails are thriving with manage to make it a full mile—a mixture of
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beautiful wildflowers and sights of wildlife this time of year. One of my favorite places to enjoy wildflowers is the Whitewater Preserve—nearly 3,000 acres surrounded by the San Gorgonio Wilderness and nestled in a quiet canyon between the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains. This gorgeous habitat is absolutely breathtaking in every way. Not only does the Whitewater Preserve offer a variety of trails; there’s actually water, as the Whitewater River runs through the heart of the wilderness. The river actually originates on Mount San Gorgonio (the highest peak in Southern California) and flows through the San Bernardino Mountains into Whitewater and the Coachella Valley, all the way to the Salton Sea. There are so many tranquil spots along the water within the preserve. Learn more about The Wildlands Conservancy’s Whitewater Preserve at wildlandsconservancy. org/preserves/whitewater. At the reserve, you can walk on a small portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. The PCT runs from Mexico to Canada—and right through our desert community: After coming off the San Jacinto Mountains into Cottonwood Canyon, it passes through Whitewater. From there, the PCT continues on up through Big Bear and Northern California, Oregon and Washington, all the way to the U.S.Canada border—a total of 2,650 miles, or approximately five months of hiking from start to finish. (Learn more at www.pcta.org.) The small part of the trail’s Section C that travels between Cottonwood Canyon and Whitewater is one of my personal favorites. It’s
just less than 7 miles out and back, and is filled with hills and valleys that offer majestic views, along with numerous wildflowers and birds this time of year. But that’s not all: A herd of feral cattle has been known to graze across the wilderness area around the Whitewater Preserve. However, the cattle are not often around, and this is a very serene piece of the desert backcountry. Moving away from Whitewater: Another great breakaway that offers an abundance of trails and palm oases is the Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve, within the Coachella Valley Preserve (www.cnlm.org/portfolio_page/ coachella-valley). Much like the Whitewater Preserve, it is off the beaten path—and a nature-lovers’ hotspot. With almost 900 acres and more than 25 miles of trails over canyons and through desert washes and dunes, the preserve is home to amazing oases you would never imagine. It truly is a desert paradise and a perfect place to bond with nature. For a short, easy stroll, you can take the McCallum Trail to the oasis and visit McCallum Pond, where you may catch a glimpse of the endangered desert pupfish. This trail is about a two-mile round-trip from the visitor center. Trails can become quite crowded this time of year, so remember to mask up, bring sanitizer and allow at least six feet of distance between you and others—and always be courteous! Also, remember you’re in the desert, and it’s getting warmer, so always bring lots of water, and wear appropriate shoes, a hat and sunscreen. See ya on the trails!
LET OUR EXPERIENCE AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE HELP TO GUIDE YOU! KEVIN STERN KEVIN STERN
CVIndependent.com
OWNER/BROKER CalDRE #01376548
The Whitewater River runs from Mount San Gorgonio (the highest peak in Southern California) all the way to the Salton Sea. Theresa Sama
APRIL 2021
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 7
THE FIFTH ANNUAL
APRIL 30-MAY 8, 2021 Mark your calendars for the most spirited week of the year! For information about participation, advertising or sponsorship, call 760-9044208, or email ads@cvindependent.com
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8 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT
APRIL 2021
SECRET NO. 4 TO RECOVER FROM THE SHUTDOWN
MAKE THE EASY CHOICE
THE #1 CHOICE COMFORT AIR
L
SAVE UP TO
ast month, I shared three secrets to help people come out of isola�on during the past year: No 1: Lip Restora�on. There’s hardly any happiness like the happiness pa�ents feel when they get their lips back like they were in their 20s! No. 2: A Voluma Li�. It restores volume loss, defines jawlines, and improves chins and cheek bones—all for a more heart shaped face. No. 3: Qwo: Injec�ons reduce cellulite for swimsuit weather. Many of my pa�ents have had their sense of well-being damaged during the shutdown. Isola�on has revealed how important being with each other is to our emo�onal health. What aesthe�c medicine can accomplish, when done well, is improve our self-confidence and help us more freely share ourselves with our friends and family. Since aging has con�nued for all of us the past year, three things have happened to our face: 1. Defla�on. (This is due to facial fat loss and bone loss.) 2. Descent. (When we lose fat and bone density, there’s nothing to stop gravity’s effects.) 3. Deteriora�on. (A slower metabolism, sun damage and lifestyle all take a toll on our skin.) Shutdown Recovery Secret No. 4: Glowing skin is always more a�rac�ve than aged skin. These are high-performing treatments to help people recover from the damage of the fear and isola�on of the last 12 months. Laser treatments that deliver energy to the deep dermis are force mul�pliers for injectable fillers. Here are the lasers we love because of their results: 1. Secret RF micro-needling with radio frequency: It brightens and smooths skin, reduces wrinkles and pore size, and greatly improves acne scars and stretch marks. 2. Enlighten PICO: It provides the most effec�ve melasma results we’ve ever experienced. It also brightens and refreshes skin while turning the clock way back on skin tone and texture. 3. Juliet frac�onal laser: It improves fine lines and �ghens skin. It also restores women’s internal func�ons, including increased moisturiza�on and reduc�on or elimina�on of urinary incon�nence. 4. ThermiSmooth: It li�s and smooths skin, including necks and all body areas, with penetra�ng radio frequency energy. Next month, I will share what fillers can do to help us recover from the effects of isola�on caused by the shutdowns. Un�l then, keep the secrets. Our Revive Wellness Center loca�ons are in Palm Springs (760-3254800) and Torrance (310-375-7599; www.revivecenter.com). Our Medweight, Lasers and Wellness Center office is in Irvine (949-5869904; www. medweightandlasers.com).
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COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 9
APRIL 2021
NEWS
CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS
WORRIES OVER WARMING C
AB 1500, introduced by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, proposes a $6.7 billion bond to prepare for climate disasters
by kevin fitzgerald
limate change is considered by many to be the most serious existential threat facing humankind in 2021—even when compared to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Climate Reality Project—founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Vice President Al Gore—climate change is the consequence of global warming, “and includes everything from the increasing incidence of extreme weather events like powerful hurricanes and severe drought to more frequent flooding and longer-lasting heat waves. It’s the accelerated ice melt we’re seeing in Greenland, Antarctica, and the Arctic and the related rise in global sea levels rise. It’s worsening pollen seasons, spreading vector-borne diseases, and much, “It’s important to say that the state much more.” isn’t sitting on its hands until this bond Given the abundance of natural disasters is passed,” Garcia said. “There are funding that befall California regularly, we residents streams—unfortunately, not of large have become all too familiar with the lifemagnitude—that are addressing many threatening challenges associated with global of these issues on a smaller scale. What warming. we’re trying to create is a large funding In that vein, local Assemblymember source to align with existing resources Eduardo Garcia—who represents District 56 (related to) programs that we’re trying to and currently chairs the Assembly Committee enhance and take a bigger swipe at. That on Water, Parks and Wildlife—joined includes (confronting) issues like carbon Assemblymember Kevin Mullin (D-South sequestration, emission reduction, and San Francisco) to introduce Assembly Bill moving water to and from locations, as 1500, also known as the Safe Drinking Water, well as addressing issues of clean and safe Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparation, Flood Protection, Extreme Heat Mitigation and drinking water. “Now, the opportunity we have with Workforce Development Bond Act of 2022. this bond is to meet the objectives that the “The impacts of climate change to our state and our communities require us to act quickly,” bond sets forward, but also to create some economic-recovery impacts in certain parts Mullin said in a press release. “California of the state that are being disproportionately needs to protect itself against future climate hit by climate-change issues. For me, I want disasters, and rebuild our workforce from to secure another $240 million for the Salton an ongoing pandemic that has only inflicted additional pain and suffering. … AB 1500 seeks Sea, so that we can move on to the next phases of the management plan, which just began its to make California more climate resilient by construction (phase) in January. In Riverside investing $6.7 billion in various adaptation County, that includes the North Lake project, activities throughout the state.” and in Imperial County, the Desert Shores/ Garcia said in the same news release: “The West Shores community (project), that would passage of a climate resilience bond must be help fill up some of those water channels as the next step in California’s climate leadership. proposed by residents who live in and around A crisis of this magnitude requires urgent that area. action and historic investments to protect “It’s important to move $15 million into our communities from the devastating public additional New River cleanup phases that health, safety and economic impacts of climate could potentially bring more-permanent change. We can achieve our climate-action solutions in the case of raw-sewage spillages goals as part of a robust economic strategy. south of the border—and, by the way … By making serious, targeted investments now, Mexico is upgrading their infrastructure to California has the opportunity to mitigate avoid those situations. They’ve put $20 million climate impacts, improve disaster response, and prevent future catastrophes while uplifting into the planning, and the money is now secured for improvements over there. And that underserved, environmentally vulnerable areas complements the $28 million that we’ve been and creating new jobs where they are needed able to secure from both the general fund and the most.” Prop 68 funds. So, to answer your question, During a recent interview, the Independent we’re not waiting until a bond is approved in asked Garcia if this bill—which, if passed 2022 to address many of these issues.” as currently written, would place a ballot Released in 2018, California’s Fourth proposition in front of voters in November Climate Change Assessment predicted that by 2022—could truly be considered “urgent roughly 2050, the economic cost to California action.”
of recovering from the disastrous impacts of climate change will exceed $100 billion annually, if no mitigation efforts are made in the interim. But is a bond seeking $6.7 billion in total funding going to provide enough of a war chest? “For some people, it will always be too little and never enough. For others, it will always be too much,” Garcia said. “There are some political experts following our work, and doing polling and surveys throughout the state of California—and it seems people are willing to support the bond (at a cost of) between $7 billion and $10 billion if that money is going to fight wildfires, and for (a variety of) remediation and prevention programs, like addressing the threat to coastal communities posed by rising sea levels, or the droughts that threaten access for many communities to safe, clean drinking-water supplies. Those are things that motivate voters to go a bit higher because of the urgency.” A New York Times poll, published last October, showed that 66 percent of Americans
favored a $2 trillion climate-action proposal by President Joe Biden during his campaign, while only 26 percent opposed it. While the bond proposed by AB 1500 would stand a decent chance at the polls, why won’t it be put in front of voters until November 2022—meaning funds would not be available until 2023? “The time we have won’t just allow us to pass the piece of legislation in both the Assembly and the Senate, and get it signed by the governor, (in time for earlier action),” Garcia said. “But it also gives us ample time to ramp up a political campaign, because at the end of the day, you still have to convince voters throughout the state that this investment, and the borrowing of the money, is worth the effort. … We still haven’t decided whether it would appear on the June 2022 or November 2022 ballot, even though the language now says November 2022, but it gives all of us stakeholders from across the state some time to develop a political and fundraising strategy in order to get a campaign message across.” CVIndependent.com
10 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT
APRIL 2021
NEWS
CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS
THE FOILIES 2021 T
by the electronic frontier foundation and muckrock news
he day after the 2021 inauguration, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut took to Twitter to declare: “Biden is making transparency cool again.” This was a head-scratcher for many journalists and transparency advocates. Freedom of Information—the concept that government documents belong to and must be accessible to the people—has never not been cool. Using federal and local public-records laws, a single individual can uncover everything from war crimes to health-code violations at the local taqueria. How awesome is that? If you need more proof: there was an Australian comic book series called “Southern Squadron: Glomar Explorer was a secret CIA ship that the Freedom of Information Act“; the classic anime agency didn’t want to acknowledge existed.) Evangelion has a Freedom of Information Act Never one to roll over, Martinez filed a lawsuit cameo; and the Leeds-based post-punk Mush against SOCOM and the Defense Department received 7.4 stars from Pitchfork for its latest in June 2020. album “Lines Redacted.” Just in time for Sunshine Week, Martinez got OK, now that we’ve put that down in writhis records—a single page of a veterinary examing, we realize that the line between “cool” and ination, almost completely redacted except for “nerdy” might be a little blurry. But you know the dog’s name and the single letter “M” for genwhat definitely is not cool? Denying the public’s der. Conan’s breed and color were even blacked right to know. In fact, it suuucks. out, despite the fact that photos of the dog had Since 2015, The Foilies have served as an already been tweeted by Trump. annual opportunity to name-and-shame the uncoolest government agencies and officials The Pharaoh Prize for Deadline Extenwho have stood in the way of public access. We sions: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot collect the most outrageous and ridiculous stoWith COVID-19 affecting all levels of governries from around the country from journalists, ment operations, many transparency advocates activists, academics and everyday folk who have and journalists were willing to accept some filed for public records and have experienced retaliation, over-redactions, exorbitant fees, and delays in responding to public-records requests. However, some government officials were quick other transparency malpractice. to use the pandemic as an excuse to ignore This year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation transparency laws altogether. Taking the prize is publishing The Foilies in partnership with MuckRock News, a nonprofit dedicated to build- this year is Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, who invoked the Old Testament in an effort to ing a community of cool kids who file Freedom lobby the Illinois attorney general to suspend of Information Act (FOIA) and local public-reFOIA deadlines altogether. cords requests. “I want to ask the average Chicagoan: Would And without further ado … you like them to do their job, or would you like them to be pulled off to do FOIA requests?” The Most Secretive Dog’s Lightfoot said in April 2020, according to the Bollocks: Conan the Belgian Malinois Chicago Tribune, implying that epidemiologists Back in 2019, what should’ve been a fluff story and physicians are also the same people process(or scruff story) about Conan, the Delta Force ing public records (they’re not). K9 that was injured while assisting in the raid She continued: “I think for those people that took out an Islamic State leader, became yet who are scared to death about this virus, who another instance of the Trump administration are worried every single day that it’s going to tripping over itself with the facts. Was Conan come to their doorstep, and I’m mindful of the a very good boy or a very good girl? Various fact that we’re in the Pesach season, the angel White House and federal officials contradicted of death that we all talk about is the Passover themselves, and the mystery remained. story, that angel of death is right here in our Transparency advocate and journalist Fredmidst every single day.” dy Martinez wouldn’t let the sleeping dog lie; he filed a FOIA request with the U.S. Special The Doxxer Prize: Forensic Operations Command, aka SOCOM. But rather Examiner Colin Fagan than release the records, officials claimed they In July 2020, surveillance researcher and Princcould “neither confirm nor deny the existence eton doctoral student Shreyas Gandlur sued the or nonexistence of records,” the much dreaded “Glomar response” usually reserved for sensitive Chicago Police Department to get copies of an electronic guide on police technology regularly national security secrets. (The USNS Hughes CVIndependent.com
It’s again time to recognize the year’s worst in government transparency
received via email by law enforcement officers around the country. The author of the guide, Colin Fagan, a retired cop from Oregon, did not agree that the public has a right to know how cops are being trained, and he decided to make it personal. In a final message to his subscribers announcing he was discontinuing the “Law Enforcement Technology Investigations Resource Guide,” Fagan ranted about Gandlur for “attacking the best efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement to use effective legal processes to save innocent victims of horrible crimes and hold their perpetrators accountable.” Fagan included a photo of Gandlur and his email addresses, and urged his readers to recruit crime victims to contact him “and let him know how he could better apply his talents”—one of the most blatant cases of retaliation we’ve seen in the history of the Foilies. Fagan has since rebounded, turning his email newsletter into a “law enforcement restricted site.” The Redaction Most Likely to Make Your Bubbe Weep: Federal Aviation Administration When General Atomics proposed flying a new class of drone over the San Diego region to demonstrate its domestic-surveillance capabilities, Voice of San Diego Reporter Jesse Marx obviously wanted to learn how it possibly could have been approved. So he filed a FOIA request with the Federal Aviation Administration, and ultimately a lawsuit to liberate documentation. Among the records he received was an email containing a “little vent” from an FAA worker that began with “Oy vey”—with virtually everything else, including the employee’s four bullet-pointed “genuinely constructive thoughts,” redacted. The Government Retribution Award: City of Portland, Ore. People seeking public records all too often have to sue the government to get a response to their records requests. But in an unusual turnaround, when attorney and activist Alan Kessler requested records from the city of Portland related to text messages on government phones, the government retaliated by suing him and demanding that he turn over copies of his own phone messages. Among other things, the city specifically demanded that Kessler hand over all Signal, WhatsApp, email, and text messages having to do with Portland police violence, the Portland police in general, and the Portland protests. Runner up: Reporter CJ Ciaramella requested records from the Washington State Department of Corrections about Michael Forest Reinoehl,
who was killed by a joint U.S. Marshals task force. The Washington DOC apparently planned to produce the records—but before it could, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Department sued Ciaramella and the agency to stop the records from being disclosed. The Secret COVID Statistics Award: North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Seeking a better understanding of the toll of COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic, journalists in North Carolina requested copies of death certificates from local county health departments. Within days, officials from the state Department of Health and Human Services reached out to county offices with guidance not to provide the requested records—without citing any legal justification whatsoever. DHHS did not respond to reporters’ questions about why it issued that guidance or how it was justified. Some local agencies followed the guidance and withheld records; some responded speedily; and some turned them over begrudgingly— emphasis on the grudge. “I will be making everyone in Iredell County aware through various means available; that you are wanting all these death records with their loved ones private information!” one county official wrote to The News and Observer reporters in an email. The It’s So Secret, Even the Bullet Points Are Classified Award: Minnesota Fusion Center Law enforcement and intelligence agencies are always overzealous in claims that disclosing
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SECRETS NO. 1-3 FOR RECOVERING FROM THE SHUTDOWN
information will harm national security. But much like the violent crime reports in The Wire. officials with the Minnesota Fusion Center took The CDC’s annual FOIA reports show that By Shonda FNPtwo-step juke move is a favorite. this paranoia to new heights when they claimed Chase, the agency’s a state Nurse law protecting “securityCo-owner, information”Artistic According American Oversight, between Practitioner, Director to and Advanced Aesethetic required them to redact everything—including 2016 and 2019, CDC closed between 21 to 31 Injector at Revive Wellness Centers in Palm Springs and Torrance, bullet points—in documents they provided to percent of all FOIA requests it received as “withand Medweight, Lasers Wellness Center Irvine journalist Ken Klippenstein. And we quite liter-and drawn.” CDC’s closureinrate during that period ally mean the bullets themselves. was roughly three times that of its parent ong before Botox, there used to be Fusion centers partcalled of a controversial agency, the Department of Health and Human whatare was “The Lips�ck Wars” program coordinated by the U.S. Department Services, which on average only closed 6 to 10 in the 1930s-40s, during the Great of Homeland Security to facilitate the flow of percent of its FOIAs as withdrawn. After AmerDepression and World War II. (The homeland-security intelligence among agencies. ican Oversight sued, the CDC began releasing nomenclature was changed Each fusion center is maintained by a stateby or Estéedocuments. tothis “The Lips� ck Index” in 2000.) regionalLauder agency; in case, the Minnesota Lips� ck sales were an economic Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Klippensteinindi-The Save the Children (in a Hidden Foldbecause womenprovide wouldn’t tweetedcator, that the agency wouldn’t doc- forgo er) Award: Louisville Metropolitan Police ument titles any otherwhen information, all the afford Department lips�orck, even they couldn’t while adding theand dreaded black redaction bars to The Louisville (Kentucky) Metropolitan Police shoes clothing. bulleted lists throughout records. offered a good Department’s Explorer Scouts program was World War IIthe in Europe supposed to give teenagers a chance to learn example of this indicator. Women would The Cat-Face Filter Award: more about careers in law enforcement. For two go without ea�ng, if they had to, in order to afford lips�ck. They didn’t Federal Bureau of Prisons LMPD officers, though, it became an opportuknow if they were going to survive the war, they wanted to look asked for Kids these days—overlaying cat faces on their nity for and sexual abuse. When reporters their best for evening at theon nightclubs. A�erthe city videos and showing the special Bureau ofoccasions, Prisons howlike an more information the perpetrators, war,media lips�sought ck andbyapparel sales skyrocketed as people wanted to it shouldthe redact FOIA requestchose to respond with further absurdity—by with from theiranlives a�er years destroying of depriva� ers. That“catch was theup” message incredulous its on. records. The case against the city federal appeals inck March 2020has after the morphed and theinto Boy Scouts of America is scheduled to The court “Lips� Index” since the “Botox Index.” BOP claimed it lacked the ability to blur out or begin in April. Many people are beginning to have hope of returning to some of otherwise faces thosetaken of prisonTheus Courier-Journal in Louisville first theredact ac�vi� es(such thataswere away from during the shutdowns, asasked ers and guards) from surveillance videos sought LMPD in mid-2019 for all records regarding COVID vaccines reduce hospitaliza�on rates and symptom severi�es. through FOIA by an inmate who was stabbed two officers’ sexual abuse of minors. LouisMy pa�ents are asking me what theythe can do to look their best as the with a screwdriver in a prison dining hall. ville claimed it didn’t have any; they had been masks come when “stepping with over theirtofamily The court wrote: “Theoff same teenagers who out”turned the FBI.and Thenfriends. the Courier-Journal Recoveryare Secret No. 1:appealed, Lip Restora� age by regale eachShutdown other with screenshots commonand theon. cityLips eventually determined receding, defla� ng and dermal fillers, wasn’t found a ly known to revise those missives by wrinkling. such tech- Before that—well, what do youthere know—they’d much we cat could your can look their whenthe theresponsive niques as inserting facesdo. overBut thenow visages of lips“hidden folder” stillbest containing humans.” The judge records … 738,000 of them, actually. Not for masks are made off! clear that although “we do notShutdown necessarily advocate thatSecret specific No. 2:long, though: than a month later, they’d Recovery Voluma Li�Less . If you’re over 35, technique,” the BOP’s learned helplessness to all been deleted, despite the ongoing masks have hidden the fact that you’ve lost the equivalent of five request, redact video footage (insert cat- face aover casualty the city’s backup and syringes ofisficompletely ller volume in your theofpast year.automated You can erase face emoji here). deletion system, according to the city. that loss with just one filler appointment. At the end of 2020, the Courier-Journal was Shutdown Recovery Secret No. 3:still Cellulite. beaches poolswith the The Juking the FOIA Stats Award: Centers fighting The the city’s failureand to comply are going to be open this summer. If cellulite is an issue for you, the for Disease Control and Prevention Kentucky Open Records Act. new Qwo injec� ons drama, will treat to severe cellulite. Onelaw to since the The Wire, the classic HBO police laid moderate “I have practiced open records three ons, one month apart, will improve your bare how policeinjec� departments across the country lawgreatly was enacted 45 years ago,cellulite. and I have never manipulateSpring data toispresent anything so brazen,” said Courier-Journal the �trends me toabout begincrime ge�ng seen ready for summer-appearance being down. As ex-detective Jon Fleischaker told the paper. “I think issues—and any�Roland me is Pryzbylewsthe best �meattorney to accomplish your face and ki put it:body “Juking the stats … Making robberies it’s an outrage.” goals. into larcenies. Making rapes disappear. You juke Next month, I will share three more subjects for shutdown recovthe stats, and majors become colonels.” The Eric Cartman Respect My ery. Un�l then, keep the secrets. Authoritah Award: Haskell Indian The Centers for Disease Control and PreOurtoRevive Center loca�ons are in Palm Springs (760-325vention seems love to Wellness juke its FOIA stats. As Nations University, Kansas 4800)advocacy and Torrance (310-375-7599; www.revivecenter.com). Ourof The Indian the nonprofit organization American When Jared Nally, editor-in-chief Medweight, Laserslast and Wellness offi cestudent is in Irvine (949-586Oversight alleged in a lawsuit year, the CDC Center Leader, the newspaper at Haskell Indian has been9904; systematically rejecting FOIA requests Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., started www.medweightandlasers.com). by claiming they are overly broad or burdenputting questions to his school’s administration Youyears canofemail individual to Shonda Chase to FNP, some, despite court your decisions requiring ques� andons sending records requests the or local police agencies to work good faith with requesters department, he got a lot more than he expected: Allan Y. Wuin MD, Revive’s cosme�c surgeon, at shonda@revivecenter.com. to try to help them find records or narrow their A directive from his school’s president demandrequest. The CDC then categorizes those suppos- ing he cease his requests in the name of the stuedly overbroad requests as “withdrawn” by the dent paper and henceforth treat officials with requester and closes the file without having to proper respect, lest he face disciplinary action. provide any records. So those FOIAs disappear, “Your behavior has discredited you and
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CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS this university,” Haskell Indian Nations University President Ronald Graham wrote. “You have compromised your credibility within the community and, more importantly, you have brought yourself, The Indian Leader, Haskell, and me unwarranted attention.” Graham’s aggressive tactics against the college junior quickly rallied support for the student journalist, with the Native American Journalists Association, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and Student Press Law Center all calling for the formal directive to be rescinded. The school ultimately did back down, but the efforts left Nally shocked. “As a student journalist, I’d only been doing it for a year,” he told Poynter in an interview. “When somebody in authority says things like that about you, it really does take a hit. … I’d say I’m recovering from the gaslighting effects, and feeling like what I’m doing really is every bit a part of journalism.”
invaded her home. The local CBS affiliate, CBS 2, also requested the body-camera footage. The Chicago Police Department denied both requests, despite a binding ruling just months earlier that CPD was required to turn over body-camera footage to people like Young who were involved in the recorded events. Young ultimately got the footage as part of her lawsuit, and her attorney provided them to the media. The city’s lawyers then took the extraordinary step of asking the court to order CBS 2 not to air the video—a demand to censor speech before it occurs called a “prior restraint.” The judge denied the city’s request. The city also sought sanctions against Young’s attorney, but the city withdrew its motion, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the request “ill-advised” in a letter to the court.
The Self-Serving Secrecy Award: Niagara County, N.Y. Money talks. The New York Legislature knew this when it passed the Ethics in Government Act in 1987, which required, among other public-transparency measures, elected officials in 50,000-person-plus municipalities to complete financial-disclosure forms each year. The public should be allowed to see who our leaders may be particularly keen to hear. Sixty-one of New York’s 62 counties generally accepted that the disclosure forms, created for public use in the first place, were meant to be disclosed, according to the New York Coalition for Open Government. Back in 1996, though, while everyone was presumably distracted watching the Yankees or Independence Day, Niagara County found a quick trick to keep from sharing its officials’ finances: They made it illegal. By local ordinance, the records were made secret, and the county proceeded to reject any requests for access by claiming that releasing the information would be a violation of the law. This local law prohibiting access was itself, of course, a violation of the law, but Niagara County managed to keep it on the books for more than two decades. In February 2020, the NYCOG, represented by the University of Buffalo School of Law Civil Rights and Transparency Clinic, sued Niagara County, alleging its ordinance was unlawful (because it was). This past fall, a court agreed. Five months later, in January 2021, the county Handcuffs and Prior Restraints Award: began releasing records, ones that should have according Yelp, Tripadvisor &theOpenTable Chicago Police and City ofto Chicago been available for last 30-plus years. In February 2019, a WE swarm ARE of Chicago police ONE OF THE VERY BEST officers raided the wrong apartment with The Foilies were compiled by Electronic Frontier their guns drawn. 9,000 They handcuffed the resi- keeping Foundationyou director safe of investigations Dave Maass, with Sq feet is easy dent, Anjanette Young, who was completely senior staff attorney Aaron Mackey, and Frank OPEN DAILY - 3PM & Gilens; 5PMand-MuckRock 9PM News undressed, and they refused to FROM let her put on11AM Stanton Fellow Naomi clothes as she pleaded with them dozens of co-founder Michael Morisy and senior reporter and times that they849 had the house. Young projects editor Beryl Lipton, with further writing N wrong PALM CANYON DRIVE . PALM SPRINGS sued the city in federal court and filed a request and editing by Shawn Musgrave. Illustrations are EIGHT4NINE.COM by EFF760.325.8490 for body camera footage of the officers who designer Caitlyn Crites. The Power of the Tweet Award: President Donald J. Trump Secrecy nerds know that classification authority—the power to essentially mark some documents as secrets exempt from disclosure— resides with and is largely at the discretion of the president, who can then designate that authority as needed to agency personnel. So one expected upside of a loose-lipped president with an undisciplined social-media habit was the ability to use the tweeter-in-chief’s posts to bolster certain FOIA requests. Case in point: Trump’s Oct. 6, 2020 tweet: “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” It’s hard to argue there’s ambiguity there. But when BuzzFeed News’ Jason Leopold flagged that order in his ongoing lawsuit for the materials, that’s exactly what the Department of Justice did. Based on their investigations, DOJ lawyers told the court, the posts “were not self-executing declassification orders and do not require the declassification of any particular documents.” The court ultimately bought the argument that you can’t take what the then-president tweets too seriously, but then Trump declassified other materials related to the FBI’s investigation … on his last day in office.
CVIndependent.com
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CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS
VALUABLE VAXIE Q
by kevin fitzgerald
ualifying Riverside County residents have been urged: “Get vaccinated!” Ah, if it were only so simple. People have rushed to grab highly coveted vaccination appointments—which sometimes fill up within hours or even minutes of being released. Various pharmacies are offering appointments, all with different online systems. They system has been, in a word, a mess. However, Rhea Hoffman and Calista Vassios noticed this mess—and decided to fix it. In mid-February, local television outlets ran The result is Vaxie (www.vaxie.info), the news segments about the ingenious appointbrainchild of these self-described Coachella ment-making service—and more people came Valley partners in crime. It’s a free online “vacto find help, myself included. cine searcher” available to any Riverside Coun“The people just started rolling in,” Hoffman ty resident. In addition to the website, there is said. “… Calista (is) the techie one. I just do the a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/vaxieinhunting, and I monitor the Facebook page and fo) that attracts a lot of traffic as well. Finally, people lacking internet savvy and/or access can (answer) all the questions that come in there. She monitors the website and the email—and call 760-833-0569 for help. it’s just turned into this massive undertaking It all started simply enough, when Hoffman over all of Riverside County.” offered to help her parents book their vaccine Hoffman said she’s elated at the number of appointments. people she and Vassios have been able to help. “After just searching and searching, I was “What’s amazing is that we probably have frustrated, but I finally made the appointment,” a 100 percent success rate,” Hoffman said. “If said Hoffman, a teacher by trade, during a you qualify (to get vaccinated), we will find you recent phone interview. “I work with a group an appointment, and we’ll probably be able to of seniors helping them with Zoom (sessions), do it within 48 hours.” so I just asked them the next day, ‘Does anyEven if, as in my case, you don’t need body need help making an appointment?’ And Hoffman to personally book an appointment, I thought, ‘OK. A couple of people will raise because you can navigate the internet with their hands.’ But, like, half the class raised their some degree of dexterity, Vaxie is invaluable, hands. So I helped about 20 seniors in that because it aggregates links to the multiple class to make an appointment within the next week. And by that point, I got really, really good corporate and governmental websites currently offering access to vaccinations. at figuring out how to do this.” “I think we have about 20 to 25 resources The first online-appointment tool, develin Riverside County that have different ways oped by Riverside County, was—and I say (to book a vaccination appointment),” Hoffthis based on personal experience—not very man said. “You can’t make an appointment intuitive for users. Whenever a new batch of (with them) through a county source. That list appointment slots were made available, the includes resources like Costco, Rite Aid, Walsite would be overwhelmed and become sluggreens, CVS and Kaiser. There’s so much out gish, or crash entirely. there that people just don’t know about.” “Honestly, I realized I had to figure out how What drives this two-woman army, plus a to do this without using the county (site), growing group of volunteers, to put in the long because it books up very quickly, and it’s a bit tricky,” Hoffman said. “I found, through a great hours? “I would say what really spurs us is that deal of searching, that there are a lot of ways to we are done with coronavirus,” Hoffman said. make an appointment that don’t include using “We’re really done. We both have young chilthe county site. So from that point, I said: ‘You dren. We are barely surviving distance learning, have this knowledge, and what you need to do and we would really like to go back into society. is share it.’” But more than that, it’s in our blood. Calista At that point, co-creator Vassios, who has and I both feel that when you see a need, you a background in marketing, convinced Hofffill it. And we both have a heart for the people man that they needed to “take this large scale, in our community. So if we’re capable, we probecause people really need this,” Hoffman vide. We just do.” recounted. Not only have Hoffman and Vassios helped “So (Vassios) made the website. She did the people get vaccination appointments via Vaxie; Facebook page, and we just started to grow they’ve helped people within their user combigger—and the people just kept coming.” CVIndependent.com
Two Coachella Valley residents noticed people were struggling to make vaccination appointments—so they did something about it
munity overcome the anguish, frustration and depression related to the scramble for life-saving vaccination slots. “Everyone comes to us frustrated, because they have spent five hours not being successful, but we know how to be successful, and we try to take away that frustration,” Hoffman said. We say, ‘Tell us your age or your profession, and I’m going to give you two (resources) that were successful today. Or, we’re going to tell them to stop trying today, because on Tuesday, Costco is going to have an appointment drop. Just wait until then. And they’re going to wait—and it’s going to work. “People are scared. Part of it is that we have to educate people to get rid of the notion that it’s impossible to make an appointment, and that you can’t get a vaccine. That’s what we’re hearing a lot in the media, but that’s not true. And they’re scared that they’re not going to get that second dose in time. … So when people come to us feeling frustrated, but see that the community thinks (Vaxie) works, people begin to think that this service might actually work for them.” Hoffman also pointed out that not everyone has enough time to navigate the various tangle of vaccination-appointment sites. “People who work in food service, like line cooks, waitresses, waiters and all those staff people—they are all people for whom time is money,” she said. “That’s where Vaxie.info steps in, because I have the luxury of time to sit here and do that work. … Me telling you that in five minutes, you can go (to this online link) and sign up now, because I just spent the last five hours looking for it, is a big deal for a line cook who can then say, ‘Excuse me,
boss; I have to step away for a second.’ Then he can run to his phone and, say, sign up for the Curative vaccination program at the Palm Springs Convention Center. He’s grabbing that appointment because I just let him know.” Hoffman said she and Vassios realize they’re able to help people with computer and a car— but that a large number of our neighbors don’t have computer and/or cars. “In the Coachella Valley, there are people who don’t have those things and are just as deserving of the vaccine,” Hoffman said. “They need our help even more, but it takes money to help them. Often, people (who we have helped) are so grateful that they ask, ‘What can we do?’ We tell them that if they would like to help, they can pay it forward (with a donation or volunteer help), and someone else can be vaccinated.” Information on “paying it forward” can be made found via www.vaxie.info website. Hoffman said they’re on the lookout for bilingual volunteers. “We are definitely looking to see who could spend their days, or even just some set number of hours a week, doing this,” she said. Vaxie is just one of many volunteer-run vaccine-aid efforts that have popped up around the country. “This search has definitely become a national movement,” Hoffman said. “Calista has started networking with (other vaccine-assistance organizations), and we’ve actually created a new website that is in its infancy, but it’s going to grow: She’s creating a database per state of all of the websites that are doing what we are doing, and everything’s coming together to create a really beautiful cooperative across the nation of people searching for vaccines.”
Calista Vassios and Rhea Hoffman are the creators of Vaxie.info.
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CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS
APRIL ASTRONOMY T
By Robert Victor
The month brings the start of Ramadan—and lot of bright stars Planets and Bright Stars in aEvening Mid-Twilight For April, 2021 in the western half of the sky This sky chart is drawn for latitude 34 degrees north, but may be used in southern U.S. and northern Mexico. N
April's evening sky chart. ROBERT D. MILLER
he bright stars of winter are gathered in the western half of the early evening sky before their annual departures, starting with Rigel’s exit in early May, and ending with Pollux and Castor by early July. Surrounded by these luminaries, well up in the west at dusk in April, Mars slips between the horn-tips of Taurus before mid-month, and passes into Gemini before month’s end. The first evening of the month of Ramadan offers a chance to view a one-day-old moon just after sunset on April 12. A close pairing of Mercury and Venus before it sets in the west-northwest, barely 35 minutes after sunset on April 25, will also challenge observers. Thereafter, Mercury improves rapidly, reaching its peak altitude in mid-May. Leisurely Venus will peak more than six months later, in late November-early December. On April mornings, in the east-southeast to southeast, Jupiter dominates, with Saturn not far can still see the sun when it’s very low, about 29 Arcturus Mercury to its upper right. 3 degrees up some 20 minutes before the calIn evening mid-twilight, as April begins, the culated time of true sunset. (There are places brightest objects are Sirius, the Dog Star, in in the Coachella Valley where you can watch the south-southwest, and Capella, the Mother the approaching sunset through San Gorgonio Capella Goat star, high in the northwest. These stars Pass.) Remember the sun’s location relative to Mars 2229 mark the southern and northern apices of the the foreground landscape; note the time; and 15 E 1 8 W Castor huge Winter Hexagon. In clockwise order from then wait 36 minutes. Venus will then be 2.3 Pollux Sirius, find Procyon, Pollux and Castor, Capella, degrees to the right of the sun’s previous posiAldebaran Regulus Aldebaran, Rigel and back to Sirius. tion, and Mercury will be 1.2 degrees to Venus’ Betelgeuse Mars, fading from magnitude +1.3 to +1.6 upper right. By April 30, Mercury will be an Spica in April, is well up in the west at dusk all easy object to see with the unaided eye, nearly Procyon month while moving eastward against the star 5 degrees above Venus, setting 67 minutes after Rigel background by 0.6 degrees daily. Look nightly the sun, and 24 minutes after Venus. around dates when Mars lines up with or passes The new moon occurs on Sunday, April 11, Sirius very near stars, and you’ll notice its motion at 7:30 p.m. The sighting of the young crescent easily: Between April 12 and 13, Mars passes moon on the first possible evening this time between Beta and Zeta Tauri, stars of second around, Monday, April 12, marks the beginning and third magnitude eight degrees apart, markof the fasting month of Ramadan in the Islamic ing the tips of the Bull’s horns. Between April calendar. If the sky is very clear soon after sun28 and May 2, Mars passes within 2.4 degrees set, and you select your viewing site carefully, north of Eta and Mu of Gemini, a pair of you’ll have a good chance to see it. Choose a third-magnitude stars 1.9 degrees apart, markspot where a low profile of distant mountains Canopus ing Castor’s foot. On April 30, Mars will appear will allow you to follow the sun almost down to 2.5 degrees from each star. The events of April the ideal horizon. S Evening mid-twilight occurs Stereographic Projection 28-May 2 are best appreciated with binoculars The moon at dusk works its way from the when Sun is 9 below horizon. Map by Robert D. Miller just after twilight ends. western to eastern horizon early in the evenings Apr. 1: 40 minutes after sunset. golden Arcturus, well up in the west, and bluelow in the east to east-southeast on April 9. Venus passed superior conjunction on far of April 12-26, while changing from a thin cres15: 41 " " " white Vega, passing The moon returns to the morning mid-twiside of the sun on the night of March 25. Each cent to full. Moving an average of 13 degrees 30: 42 only " "five "degrees north of overhead after mid-month. Also look for light sky April 26-May 9. On April 26, it’ll be not week, Venus moves only 1 degree farther from per day against the background of the zodiac these first-magnitude stars: Spica, setting in quite full, within 6 degrees above Spica setting the sun, so even at the end of April, it will set constellations, the waxing moon is seen in Aries the west-southwest; Altair and Deneb, comin the west-southwest. On April 29, the waning at evening mid-twilight, only 43 minutes after on April 13; then moves through Taurus (April pleting the Summer Triangle with Vega; and gibbous moon will be 4 degrees to the upper left sunset. Mercury passes superior conjunction 14, 15, and 16) and Gemini (April 18 and 19). reddish Antares, heart of the Scorpion, in the of Antares in the south-southwest to southwest. on April 18, following Venus by 24 days—but The moon is in Cancer on April 20; in Leo April south-southwest to southwest. Fomalhaut An outstanding highlight for May sky-watchthe innermost planet’s speed makes it emerge 21 and 22; and in Virgo April 23, 24 and 25). rises in the southeast before month’s end. ers will be a total lunar eclipse before dawn on into visibility much more rapidly, boosted by its The full moon appears in Libra on April 26. The moon at dawn: About an hour before Wednesday, May 26. Details will be provided in crossing north of Earth’s orbit plane on April Morning planets: Jupiter (magnitude -2.1 to next month’s column. Stay well! 22, and passage through perihelion of its orbit -2.2) is the brightest morning “star.” At mid-twi- sunrise through April 9, the moon makes a trek across the morning sky. On April 1 and 2, on April 27. Binoculars will be needed to view light in the course of April, Jupiter climbs the waning gibbous moon appears first to the Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium the conjunction of Mercury and Venus on April from 16 degrees up to 27 degrees up in the upper right, then to the upper left, of Antares in monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968, and still 25, just 1.2 degrees apart and only 8 degrees east-southeast to Southeast. Saturn (magnitude the south-southwest. A waning crescent moon produces issues occasionally. For subscription inforfrom the sun, with the pair setting only 36-38 +0.8 to +0.7) is 12-15 degrees to Jupiter’s upper appears 5 degrees below Saturn on April 6, and mation and a sample calendar and evening sky map minutes after sunset. To observe this challengright. Both planets are moving slowly east 5 degrees below Jupiter the next morning. The for April 2021, visit www.abramsplanetarium.org/ ing event, pick a location with an unobstructed against the background. last, thin old crescent moon will be seen very skycalendar. view toward the west-northwest where you Bright stars: Zero-magnitude stars include CVIndependent.com
14 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT
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BY KEVIN FITZGERALD “Polanco” mobile home parks in the eastern Coachella Valley are home to numerous underserved Latino families—and threats to those residents’ health and safety can be found throughout these communities. One of the worst offenders has been the Oasis Mobile Home Park, in Thermal, owned by Scott Lawson and his daughter Sabrina, who are members of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians tribe. On Jan. 21, a community association called Juntos por un Mejor Oasis, along with 22 individual residents, joined together as plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit attempting to force the owners of the park to rectify the serious problems there. “We started getting involved with, and working alongside, residents of the Oasis Mobile Home Park right after August of 2019,” said Michael Claiborne, a directing attorney with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability (LCJA), who is representing the residents in the case. It was around that time that the federal government stepped in due to the dangerous drinking-water supply at the park. “The United States (Environmental Protection Agency) issued an emergency administrative order related to arsenic contamination at the park,” Claiborne said during a recent interview. Although the LCJA had not worked with Oasis residents before that order was issued, they had worked with residents living in similar parks in the area. “So when we heard about the arsenic issue, we started holding community meetings with folks at the park and hearing their concerns that went far beyond just the drinking-water CVIndependent.com
problems—issues like mobile homes that are 60 years old, falling apart and aren’t really safely habitable; sewage pooling throughout the park; very high energy bills that don’t look legitimate to folks; and also power and water shutoffs, especially during the hottest part of the year,” Claiborne said. Last year, the conflict between Oasis residents and the owners reached a boiling point. In September 2020, the EPA issued a second emergency order directing the Lawsons to correct the arsenic contamination, which was threatening the health of park residents.
“We (at the LCJA) sent a letter to the owner of the park in September 2020, asking for improvements in conditions,” Claiborne said. “Less than 24 hours later, federal immigration enforcement (officers) were driving through the park, honking (their car horns). While in the end, they didn’t pick up any residents, we interpreted that as a response to our letter based on perceived immigration status. So, that was a turning point for (Oasis residents), I think. Before that, they thought that, potentially, we could work with ownership. But after that incident, they no longer saw that potential. Also, we never got any other
response to that letter.” As of this writing, the lawsuit filing has not elicited any response from the Lawsons, either. It turns out there is a good reason for that. “Despite our diligent efforts, we have not served the defendant,” Claiborne said. “It appears that he’s trying to avoid service, and the time to respond in a lawsuit like this one is triggered after the service is processed, so we won’t get a response until we effectuate service. We expect that will happen soon, but it hasn’t happened yet.” Attempts by the Independent to reach the Lawsons for comment were not successful. Claiborne and his colleagues at the LCJA are working to create an alliance of interests who can succeed in improving the plight of the people who live at the Oasis Mobile Home Park. “I would just emphasize how awful this situation is,” Claiborne said. “It really is a humanitarian crisis, in my view, and it requires urgent action. Again, in my view, projects like this, and solutions that are this difficult, are only achieved through collaboration between elected officials and agencies at the state and local level. So, that’s what we’re looking for here.”
Among the collaborators
Residents gather at the water-tanker truck, carrying fresh drinking water, after the EPA ordered the park’s water system shut down due to high levels of arsenic. The water was provided free of charge by Riverside County and the Coachella Valley Water District. Photo courtesy of CVWD
Claiborne is calling upon is Castulo Estrada, a board director of the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD), and Riverside County District 4 Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, both of whom spoke with the Independent regarding the long-running human tragedy.
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 15
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The water district’s involvement goes back to the initial emergency order issued by the EPA in August 2019. At that time, the owners were directed to provide alternative, reliable sources of clean drinking water to all Oasis residents while the water-system issues were rectified. However, when that did not happen, the CVWD and Riverside County stepped in. “At that time,” Estrada said, “the county and the CVWD joined forces to send a water tanker out there, so that the folks could obtain clean potable drinking water, at no cost to themselves. Both the CVWD and the county put together budgets for their share of that effort. When we went in there, it was with the understanding that (this support would be needed) for only about four weeks, but it actually ended up continuing for about six months.” The Oasis Mobile Home Park’s drinkingwater supply fell out of compliance again within months, and that second emergency order was issued. Now, the CVWD and the county are focusing their attention on a bigger-picture strategy to deliver a permanent solution to the drinking-water cleanup. “There is a project that has been identified, and there is some momentum behind installing a water line on Avenue 70 that would run (past the Oasis Mobile Home Park), from Harrison Street all the way to Pierce Street, which is about a mile of pipeline,” Estrada said. “Through a public/ private partnership, there’s been $250,000 in funding secured already for the design and the environmental work, basically to get the project shovel-ready, which is in itself a big task. Now, it’s really about how we get the easements, and one of the first hurdles we face is whether or not the property owner
A view inside the Oasis Mobile Home Park. Courtesy of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
is even willing to provide the easements. Without them, the project would not even be possible. So we’re working on all of this—and that’s good news.” Estrada noted that another positive development has been the creation of a working group to promote relevant proposals within various state and local government. “It’s comprised of the CVWD, various departments from Riverside County, the supervisor’s office, myself, the assemblymember’s office (Eduardo Garcia), and, actually, the property owner himself has joined with this working group for purposes of accomplishing this project,” Estrada said. “There is some indication that he wants to consolidate (into the water district’s water system), and that is exactly what the EPA wants him to do. But they don’t have a way to force him to do it.” The working group doesn’t have the power to force any action, either—and the problems at Oasis go well beyond the drinking water. Castulo Estrada, of the Coachella Valley Water District: However, the “We need to move these families out of (Oasis), but there is residents there no housing—so we need to create the housing.” really don’t have
anywhere else to go, due to a lack of affordable housing in the area. Toward that end, Estrada said he, Perez and Garcia, among others, are working on a proposal to request $30 million in state funding for targeted affordablehousing development in the eastern Coachella Valley. “That’s really the driver. We need to move these families out of (Oasis), but there is no housing— so we need to create the housing,” Estrada said. “There are already some affordable-housing developers out there that have existing projects that are in different stages (of development). We know that there are infrastructure needs that, perhaps, don’t allow those projects to materialize. But if we can get $30 million, then … we’d use maybe $5 million for sewer, $5 million for water, and $10 million for the onsite costs, etc. If we find a project that needs $30 million, and that project is real, then that’s the project we want to focus on.” An issue complicating things is the tangle of land ownership and access-rights issues
created by the myriad landowners. “There are many (mobile home parks) like that at the east end of the valley,” with many different owners, Perez said. “That’s what makes this even more difficult—and that’s why we need federal intervention. That’s why we need the (Bureau of Indian Affairs), the EPA and our congressional office (of Dr. Raul Ruiz) office to be engaged, because we have no jurisdiction. “There are a lot of competing interests, and obviously, it requires a lot of methodical thinking as to how to approach all these nuances that are playing out all at once. At the end of the day, I just try to make sure that I do the right thing and meet the people’s needs.” Claiborne said the residents at the Oasis Mobile Home Park don’t think investing public funds into the park is a good idea. “They don’t trust ownership to make improvements in the park—and the water issue, while urgent and critical, is only one of the issues they are facing,” Claiborne said.
"I would just emphasize how awful this situation is. It really is a humanitarian crisis, in my view, and it requires urgent action.”
—Michael Claiborne
attorney with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
continued on next page CVIndependent.com
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Roger Bengston
James Lawrence
Judith Bennington
Bernard Leibov
Jeffrey Bernstein Steve Brown William Campbell Jeffrey Clarkson Ronald De Armond Kellin Defiel Anthony Gangloff Mike Genova Ted Guice Vicky Harrison Laura Hein Tracy Hill Jill Hingston Bradley Huard Sherril Johnson C. Stuart Kent
Derrik Lewis Rosanne Levin John Lindner Alex McCune Alan McPhail David Mendez Sheila Miller Jeffrey Norman Lex Ortega Art Passante Laura Pellior Scott Phipps
“So while extending out service from the CVWD would go a long way toward addressing some of their water problems, it wouldn’t necessarily solve all of them. We’ve been told by the U.S. EPA that the arsenic has actually coated the inside of the pipes in the park’s waterdistribution system, and potentially in the park’s mobile homes as well. So it’s a really unique situation. “Ultimately, the residents want to see the park shut down. They don’t think this owner is a good actor. What they’re asking for is the development of affordable housing in the area, and relocation assistance.” The situation at the Oasis continues to worsen; after a March 15 wind storm, Perez mentioned on social media that two people from the park were looking for shelter after their homes were badly damaged. However, Perez expressed optimism that help could be
—V. Manuel Perez
Riverside County District 4 Supervisor
Raul Rodriguez Darrell Tucci Kathy Weremiuk Christopher Winslow
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on the way. “Now, the political will is there,” he said. “It wasn’t there 10, or 20 or 30 years ago. (The infrastructure efforts) you see going on right now have never been accomplished, because in my opinion, there was never the will to do so. People can go ahead and say, ‘Conditions are terrible.’ Well, we’ve known that. So what’s the solution, and how are you going to pay for it? I’m very proud of the fact that we have this working group. I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve already been able to move about 20 to 30 families into Mountain View Estates (a new affordable housing community in Thermal), and we’re going to be moving more over the course of the next month. Obviously, we’ve already identified sites for more affordable housing. “There are philanthropists who are willing to be helpful on that main (CVWD water) line along Avenue 70, in front of the Oasis Mobile Home Park and seven other Polanco parks as well. So that means maybe all of those (communities) can be connected, which would help about 1,000 families. There’s land on Avenue 66, across the street from A&P, that we’re working on (acquiring) right now with the (H.N. and Frances C.) Berger Foundation, and that’s got huge potential. You have Coachella doing affordable housing. … We have another development that we’re working on … that will bring in more folks as well, and we’re working on that with the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition. So, there’s just a lot going on.” “Ultimately, all of these efforts (are happening now because of) the political will. Our will that comes from the heart. We grew up here. This is not just because we have to, or because there’s political pressure. … My dad grew up in Oasis when he moved from Mexico, so this is coming from the heart. We’ve got to work together. We’ve got to work together.”
“Ultimately, all of these efforts (are happening now because of) the political will. … My dad grew up in Oasis when he moved from Mexico, so this is coming from the heart. We’ve got to work together. We’ve got to work together.”
Harvey Platt
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continued from Page 15
Michael Claiborne, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability: “Ultimately, the
residents want to see the park shut down. They don’t think this owner is a good actor. What they’re asking for is the development of affordable housing in the area, and relocation assistance.”
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 17
APRIL 2021
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2021-2022 EVENTS
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Apr. 8-18
Modernism Week
Apr. 9-16
Palm Springs Art Museum Art Auction ‘21
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Stagecoach 2021
April 23-26
White Party 2021
April 24 April 29-May 1 April 30-May 8 May 1
Palm Springs Animal Shelter Film Festival Palm Springs Air Museum Annual Event Palm Springs Craft Cocktail Week Evening Under the Stars
May 27-31
NAGAAA Cup LGBTQ Softball Tourney
June 22-28
PS International Film Festival ShortFest
July 4
AAP Food Samaritians Independance Day Celebration
Sept. 18
Aging Positively / Reunion Conference
Sept. 22
Pride Honor Awards
Sept. 29-Oct. 3 Oct. 11
Club Skirts Dinah Shore Out PSP: National Coming Out Day
Oct. 14-17
Modernism Week Fall Preview
Oct. 15-17
Casual Concours (Gay Autos of Yesterday)
Oct. 22-23
LGBTQ Community Center Fall Party
Oct. 28-31
Leather Pride 2021
Oct. 31 Nov. 1-7 Nov. 7
Halloween on Arenas Palm Springs Pride 2021 Pride Parade
Nov. 19-21
McCormick’s Palm Springs Exotic Car Auction
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May 6-8 2022 Oct 24-28 2022
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ARTS & CULTURE
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INDIE FILMS OUTSIDE L
By jimmy boegle
ast summer, the folks at the Palm Springs Cultural Center decided to bring back the drive-in movie experience. It seemed like a no-brainer idea: Since people couldn’t watch the films long screened inside at the Cultural Center, they took the films outside. However, the weather and the pandemic had other plans, as explained by Eric Smith, the general manager of the Palm Springs Cultural Center. “We started on July 4th,” Smith said. “We had never done anything like this before. When we started, we got a giant inflatable screen—which was beautiful. It worked great. But if there was any kind of wind, we couldn’t do subtitles or anything like that. And we realized that the inflatDuBarry. On Saturday, April 3, the film will be able screen was just a little bit too close to the ground for all the cars’ spots to see. So we built cult classic The Ritz. “We’re trying to make sure that every one of a brand-new screen, hoisted it up and bolted it the new films coincides with the premiere that to the wall to double our field of vision—and we’re doing on our Virtual Cinema—so if you then August hit, and it became so hot that our miss it that one night, you’ll be able to log on ticket sales just simply dropped. So we had to to our website and go to our Virtual Cinema, bite the big one and close up for that month. and you’ll have a good two to three weeks to “Then when we reopened in the fall—that’s catch that film.” when that second super-spreader hit. So we’ve With the Academy Awards coming up on got a sign that says, ‘Welcome back for Act 3.’” April 25, the Outdoor Cinema Experience That third act Smith is referring to is the will have two screenings showcasing some of recent return of the Outdoor Cinema Experithe harder-to-find nominees: The 2021 Oscar ence. The Cultural Center has been welcoming Nominated Animated Shorts program will be back people for evening films—watchable shown on Sunday, April 4, with the 2021 Oscar via cars, picnic tables or socially distanced Nominated Live-Action Shorts program screened chairs—on Fridays and Saturdays, and for on Friday, April 9. special events other days here and there. Most While the Outdoor Cinema Experience has Fridays, the Outdoor Cinema Experience feastarted and stopped a couple of times, the Cultures a new independent film; most Saturdays, tural Center grounds have always seen activity, it features a classic. For example, on Friday, including the Certified Farmers’ Market every April 2, the Cultural Center will show a new Saturday morning—and more. film called Senior Moment, starring William “One of the fun things we do is the first SunShatner and Jean Smart—which was filmed in Palm Springs, and includes local icons like Ruta day of every month, we host a Vintage Market,” Smith said “That is just an amazing eclectic Lee, the late Kaye Ballard, and the late Denise
The Palm Springs Cultural Center revives its outdoor cinema—and prepares for a return to semi-normalcy
collection of artists and food—and we’ve partnered with them to do a couple of semi-annual events that are tiki based called Alohana. We set up a bar. Everybody brings something. We have tiki-carvers; we’ve got a little live music. It’s just a truly fun and unique event. … We have the next one coming up on April 18.” With local COVID-19 numbers decreasing (as of this writing), indoor theaters have been allowed to reopen with limited capacity. However, Smith said the Cultural Center will stick to outdoor screenings for at least the immediate future. “We have several large national chains in the area, and we can use them as a litmus test to see when the audience is ready to go back,” Smith said. “I think there’s a big worry … (that) the audience still won’t feel comfortable yet.” Smith said the Cultural Center is definitely planning on welcoming audiences back indoors, pandemic permitting, later this year. “We’ve already taken submissions for our
For more information, including a complete schedule of Outdoor Cinema Experience events, visit psculturalcenter.org. For more information on the Palm Springs Vintage Market, visit palmspringsvintagemarket.com. For details on Alohana, visit www.facebook.com/alohanapalmsprings.
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Esai Morales and Jean Smart in Senior Moment, showing at the Cultural Center’s Outdoor Cinema Experience on Friday, April 2.
Cinema Diverse film festival,” he said. “I know (the Palm Springs International) Short Fest has finished their submissions. We’ve got some great AmDoc screenings coming up. So our festivals, we’re planning as if we’re going to be open down the line for those.” Even after the return to the new normal, Smith said he anticipates the Outdoor Cinema Experience will remain part of the Cultural Center from now on. “Since we already have the equipment, judging by weather and things like that, there’s no reason at all, unless our audience just doesn’t want it, for us not to continue doing it at least once a month, maybe twice a month.”
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TAKE THE INDEPENDENT CHALLENGE
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ARTS & CULTURE
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‘WHAT YOU CHOOSE NOT TO SEE’ T
New documentary ‘Invisible Valley’ showcases the wide variety of people who call the Coachella Valley home
By matt king
he Coachella Valley has long been filled with differing communities and lifestyles. Palm Springs and La Quinta are meccas for Southern Californians wanting a weekend getaway; Rancho Mirage is home to neighborhoods that are so exclusive that former President Barack Obama was once rumored to be looking at houses there. However, outside of the glamor are a lot of impoverished, hard-working families—including many people who tend to crops for a living. This dichotomy caught the attention of filmmakers Aaron Maurer and Zachary McMillan, who directed and produced, respectively, a new documentary called Invisible Valley. It was slated “(The farmworker family) was really to be the opening-night film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, viewable online at sbiff. amazing in terms of how gracious and how open they were with us,” Maurer said. “This org by all Californians starting at 8 p.m., is a family that works really hard. They have Wednesday, March 31, for 24 hours, with had a hard run of life, but they are so generous tickets costing $10. and gracious, like many people are in that area. “We’ve been going to the area for many As soon as we were in, we were like a member years—but always just for the music festival,” of the family. … A lot of these people who said McMillan during a recent Zoom call. have worked really hard and live in a trailer “We’d see the polo grounds and Palm Springs’ park, they don’t see themselves as poor. They midcentury-modern architecture. We were approached to take a look at doing a film about have a ton of family and a ton of wealth in other ways. They might look at someone in this other side of Coachella, the east side. … The metaphor in the film is that we felt like we a (country) club and say, ‘Who’s this person living alone with no family in this giant empty were a horse with blinders on, then suddenly, house?’” it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s this whole Invisible Valley also looks at the worsening other side, and there’s a huge story here.’ There ecological disaster that is the Salton Sea. was a whole microcosm of things that became “We saw this incredible irony, and history thematic for the film. It was just the beginning repeating itself, where the Salton Sea was of getting to know people who were invisible.” marketed at one point as the destination,” Maurer said that Palm Springs acts as “a McMillan said. “It was at one point what veneer” to visitors. Palm Springs is now—it was the Riviera. It “Behind all of the golf clubs and the shiny completely decayed for a myriad of reasons cars and stuff like that, there is a whole other and became neglected, and the wealth and world that’s just not a part of the narrative affluence has moved closer to Palm Springs of that area,” Maurer said. “When we came and Palm Desert. In many ways, the Salton Sea down to scout initially, one of the things that is forgotten about, and it’s now turned into was apparent right away was, as two guys something that is a real environmental crisis, coming from New York, we didn’t feel that and it is affecting the people that live around we necessarily had the right to tell the story there because of the air quality. … The truth is of migrant workers in the fields. What was it’s going to affect everybody in that area and really interesting for us was to say that this beyond. It could even extend to Los Angeles is an important population, and this work is and San Diego.” obviously crucial to everything in our country. Added Maurer: “It became a real metaphor What was fascinating to us, and the story we for us as this thing that is a part of this thought we could tell, was putting it in the invisible side. There’s a real risk there that larger context—showing places where there’s a translates not only directly to the issues of golf resort across the street from where people the sea, but also to how we treat this whole are picking lettuce or beans. A lot of times, invisible area—that you can’t just ignore these people are almost completely unaware things that are down the street because it’s of one another. That was sort of the genesis uncomfortable, or because it doesn’t look nice. point: Let’s look at the valley itself and how Sooner or later, some of those things are going these groups play off of one another.” to reach out over to you, and you’re going to The film follows a farmworker family; a feel the effects of them one way or another.” pair of nuns working to build a shelter for McMillan said he and Maurer saw farmworkers in need; and a snowbird who only the Coachella Valley “as a microcosm of recently realized that farmworkers co-exist everywhere.” nearby, and wants to help.
A scene from Invisible Valley.
“Many people have maybe heard of the Salton Sea, but they don’t go out there,” McMillan said. “They don’t really know what’s going on at all. The impact of what you choose to see and what you choose not to see feels really prevalent and really relevant. The Coachella Valley just displays that visually and metaphorically.” Maurer said he’s very happy with how the film turned out. “We call it a document, because one of the characters, this young girl, calls the movie a document, because she’s talking about a documentary,” he said. “It sort of does feel like almost like a journal of our experience— the people who we met and who shared their stories with us, but also our thoughts and the questions that came up when we were spending time there, moving between these different groups and these different sides within a day: morning at a trailer park; afternoon at a Mecca parking lot with workers sleeping on the ground; and then evening at a country club with fountains. … The thing that was important to both Zach and I was that we weren’t trying to have an angle here. We’re not coming in with a message. It was more to just ask questions that made people think about something slightly differently.” Maurer said they went to great lengths to
avoid vilifying anyone. “If you’re showing rich people fishing and golfing, and then you’re showing party kids hanging at Coachella fest, and then you’re cutting to a struggling family in a trailer park, how do you not make some of those people look bad?” he said. “You can’t vilify someone for having money just because they live near someone who doesn’t. Keeping that in mind and trying to navigate that became like the real dance of making the film, and also a little bit of a risk. There were definitely people who were like, ‘You need a conflict. Where’s the bad guy? Put something in there that’s going to give some drama.’ We just fought against it because it didn’t feel real. We’re attempting to make something that reflected our experience—and our experience didn’t really show us a bad guy.” The filmmakers said they hope they can bring the film directly to the Coachella Valley once the pandemic subsides. “We’re really excited to screen it for different groups of people, and we’re really excited to show it to some of the folks in the east valley and get some really good opinions and some perspectives to sort of see how it reflects back,” said Maurer. “… I would love to get people in a theater from both ends of the valley watching this movie together, and just see what that feels like coming out of a screening.” CVIndependent.com
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MOVIES & TV
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NOW SHOWING AT HOME A
By Bob Grimm
Korean family moves to Arkansas in the ’80s to start a new life as farmers—a dream for the father (Steven Yeun), but not so much for the mother (Yeri Han). Minari—which nabbed six Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture—is a semi-autobiographical film by writer-director Lee Isaac Chung. It’s an elegantly told family story featuring career-best work from Yeun as Jacob, and a fantastic performance by Yuh-jung Youn as the grandmother who comes to live with them in their manufactured home in the middle of nowhere. Both Yeun and Youn earned muchdeserved Oscar nominations. Mom and Dad make ends meet while building their farm, constantly checking babychick genders. (The males go straight to the incinerator, a sight which made me feel worse about the plight of chickens and roosters.) around. Noel Cho and Alan S. Kim are terrific Grandma helps watch the children while as the kids. chugging Mountain Dew and enduring the The charming movie feels authentic in its good-natured nonsense of her grandkids. depiction of a different time in history. (Good Will Patton provides memorable work as god, was this really 40 years ago?) While his an eccentric neighbor with a penchant for character’s dreams come off as a bit insane speaking in tongues and dragging a large cross
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‘Minari’ and ‘Nomadland’ are worthy Oscar nominees; ‘Raya’ is a terrific take on redemption
in the beginning, Chung makes you believe in Jacob, his dreams and the little successes that bolster those dreams. You can genuinely feel the satisfaction he feels when driving his newly purchased tractor and harvesting his vegetables. You also see and feel all of the pain he and his family go through to have those satisfactory moments. Minari is available for rent via various online sources.
C
hloé Zhao’s Nomadland tells the story of Fern (Frances McDormand), a nomad living out of her van after the death of her husband, and the town of Empire, Nev., due to the Great Recession a few years before. Constructed as a documentary—with McDormand actually living in a van and traveling among real-life nomads—the film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Zhao and Best Leading Actress for McDormand. It’s a straightforward look at someone who (partially) chooses a life with little connection to standard society. Fern has plenty of opportunities to leave the RV-park life and her temporary jobs at Amazon and a beet farm, but she resists. She has her reasons. McDormand is joined by one other Hollywood star in David Strathairn, who plays David, a sort-of love interest who might be nearing the end of his nomad days. Both McDormand and Strathairn inhabit their roles convincingly, although their existence sometimes butts up against the very real situations around them. McDormand went full “method” for much of the shoot, living out of her van (until she couldn’t take it anymore), traveling all over the West and working odd jobs. Some folks in the U.S. probably got Amazon shipments packed by the actress, as she is seen scanning inventory and boxing it up. A visit to real-life Empire near film’s end is especially poignant. The year 2020 was a weird one for film, of course, but this stands out as one of the year’s
best—and it would stand out in any year. Nomadland is streaming on Hulu.
R
aya and the Last Dragon checks off all the boxes when it comes to what Disney fans are looking for in an animated adventure—and it checks off a few unexpected boxes, too. Raya is the latest addition to the “Disney Princess” sub-franchise. She’s a terrific character voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, of the last two Star Wars movies (although her character was brushed aside in the second … oh, don’t get me started). She lives in the ancient land of Kumandra, a world once inhabited by happy dragons, but now cursed by a plague that has turned most of animal life (including dragons) to stone. Raya’s mission to restore her land leads to the awakening of Sisu the Dragon, voiced by Awkwafina in the sort of vocal triumph that reminds of Robin Williams in Aladdin and Eddie Murphy in Shrek. Sisu can also morph into human form, and both her dragon and human forms look quite like the actress voicing them (the wide smile, the big eyes, those awesome eyebrows). Of course, her distinctive vocals are tailor-made for this kind of movie. The four directors who put this movie together, along with a roster of writers, have inhabited this film world with enchantment, great action and solid laughs. One of the film’s best running gags would be the “Con Baby,” an infant plague survivor who manages to display superhero qualities while occasionally throwing her diapers at those who dare to chase her. The story winds up being a terrific take on redemption, and the finale (which owes a little bit to Avengers: Endgame) may leave whole families in tears. Brightly animated, cleverly written and masterfully constructed, it’s a movie that will put a smile on your face and get your young daughters interested in martial arts and dragons. Raya and the Last Dragon is available as a rental on Disney+ with Premier Access.
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 25
APRIL 2021
FOOD & DRINK
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INNOVATOR WITH VEG V
BY andrew smith
egan food is good. That’s always the message, enthuses Tanya Petrovna as she prepares to open her second Chef Tanya’s Kitchen location in Palm Desert. An animal-rights advocate since childhood, the talented chef found success with Native Foods Café. It grew to more than a dozen locations before she left. My wife is vegan, which occasionally makes me vegan by association, and I’d heard a great deal about Chef Tanya before meeting her. You immediately get her sense of energy, enthusiasm and humor. She’s constantly busy, expressive, waving her arms and quick to laughter. “I’ve always had a love for food,” she says. “My mother always made fresh food. As a kid, I was chopping herbs or washing spinach. Twice!” with Chef Tanya’s Kitchen in 2017, she conShe soon learned what truly created flavor: tinued to advocate for causes like Save Oswit “Vegetables,” she sings, “garlic, onions—the Canyon. We spoke the day after she’d appeared whole spice rack.” on the local news, throwing herself in front of She became vegan, she says, due to a sense golfers who were shooting coots off the course. of compassion “Everyone has always felt something but “As a 7-year-old, I cared about the dog left never thought they could do anything,” she in the street, or animals that couldn’t fend for says. “When you reach the critical mass, it themselves,” she says. Her high school reports gives everyone the opportunity to feel a little centered around whales, veal and dairy. In stronger. Now there’s a whole group of people. college, she was a biology major and an aspirWe can make a change. ing veterinarian. However, when she learned “But wait—I’m opening a restaurant,” she someone in the program was raising kittens for jokes, bringing us back on track. “I can’t really use in medical studies, she got in her car and do all that anymore. But, well, OK.” never looked back. What brought her back to the restaurant biz? She went vegan at 18, but didn’t want to “After all those years of practice, I’m kind of give up “good, tasty food.” Her college landlady good at what I do,” she chuckles. taught her how to make tempeh. “I was blown The initial plan of a tempeh and seitan proaway by the texture. I discovered seitan—these duction facility explains the industrial setting Eastern foods that have existed for hundreds of Chef Tanya’s. of years. I learned how they combined so well “The commercial meat-alternative market with Western flavors. Other people had to had just started,” she says, “but there was still know about this.” a lot of room for growth—and flavor. I don’t She’d found her calling. “Once you learn, you condemn anything. Highly processed vegetable can’t unlearn. You have to put it somewhere,” proteins are a good intro. I had Beyond (Meat) she says. at Native Foods, but I always craved the seitan A desert native, she opened a small Palm more. It digested easier. And tempeh is such a Springs restaurant in 1990. That morphed into beautiful food that goes back centuries in eastNative Foods Café. ern cuisine.” “My goal was to put one on every street She also makes her own cultured cashew corner,” she says. “People told me they’d eat cheese, emphasizing the “live Palm Springs like this all the time if they could get it. That microbes.” The secret to the flavor is vegetabecame my job in life.” bles, she reiterates, again breaking into song. Native Foods established Chef Tanya as a “When I cook seitan, it’s sliced like a roast,” vegan celebrity chef. The brand flourished she says. “For the El Cubano, it’s marinated and was highly acclaimed when she left in the with orange, lemon juice, garlic and oregabusiness in 2012. She authored cookbooks and no.” This sandwich is especially popular with was an intrinsic part of a new movement—one non-vegans. that transformed vegan food beyond bland “There really weren’t a lot of good sandwich stereotypes, making it widely recognized as options,” she continues. “I had the deli meats potentially creative and flavorful. and thought: ‘Let’s do a sandwich shop.’” An extended sabbatical followed. She traveled Chef Tanya’s grew from there; she expanded to India to study Iyengar yoga, and to Nepal to the hours and the concept to include on-premsave elephants. Locally, she enjoyed a stint on ise eating. You can get a hot sandwich, burger, the Palm Springs Animal Shelter’s board, helpsalad, soup or dessert—and then you can take ing start the trap-neuter-release program—and a lasagna home for dinner. turn the shelter a no-kill facility. You’ll find traditional vegetable dishes and After returning to the restaurant business greens, but the tempeh and seitan form the
Chef Tanya Petrovna gets ready to open the second location of her second restaurant chain
highlights. The Chupacabra Chick’n sandwich and the Pastrami Mami are mainstream hits. She also highlights the Modern Hippie Veggie sandwich, with avocado, jicama, pickled cabbage and crack cheese. “All those flavors just dance. It’s not just a boring veggie sandwich,” she says. My wife’s favorite? The original tempeh powerburger; add Anaheim chili, guacamole and chipotle mayo, and it’s the Guadalajara. My favorite? The Tu‘No’ Salad, aka chickpeaof-the-sea. You could hardly tell the difference. The mail-order business took a backseat as the deli thrived, and she was just getting back to that before COVID hit. The small dining area was repurposed. “It was always my goal to create a curated marketplace,” she says. Various vegan treats and ethical goods were added. She’s even partnered with local farmers and a donut-maker. “There are so many small places, and it just feels good to be able to showcase them.” The grab-n-go concept was ideally suited to COVID. “We had a strong push,” she says. “We have a good crew that likes what they do—and for the customers who like this lifestyle and want to eat this way, there aren’t many options.” Customers have been agreeable to the changes, with some eating in their cars. “I have one couple that comes from San Bernardino with their own foldout picnic table,” she says with a laugh. As we spoke, her team was getting set to open the Palm Desert location—just off El Paseo in the Palms to Pines shopping center— in April. Palm Springs will serve as a central
production facility, but each location has its own on-premise kitchen, where food and baked goods will be made from scratch. The business models will be reassessed as COVID dictates, but for now, both spots will both be grab-n-go with retail. The next step is licensing and packaging, with a goal of expanding beyond the two delis—part of the original goal of focusing on online and mail orders. You can already find Chef Tanya’s grab-n-go at Tower Markets, those gourmet gas-station stores that are popping up across the valley, as well as a few other places. You’ll also see Petrovna out in the community as she continues to spread the word through her e-books and cooking classes. “It’s camaraderie, but I also want to help the environment, animals and people,” she says. “It’s about dispelling the myths. If everyone could do this on their own—show one friend that vegan food is easy and tastes good—that’s the goal.” “People are coming in with a different perception. They’re no longer offended by all these foreign meats. It used to be people saying, ‘I didn’t want to come here; she brought me.’” Petrovna remains quite humble and non-judgmental. As a carnivore trying to do better, I prepared to speak to her like I was entering the confessional box. “People can make their own choices; we just try to offer an alternative,” she assures me. “If we get them to change one meal, that’s a difference.” For more information, visit cheftanyaskitchen.com.
The second location of Chef Tanya’s Kitchen will open soon in the former Evzin space in Palm Desert.
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FOOD & DRINK
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VINE SOCIAL JASON DAVID
How to navigate a restaurant wine list— and how to overcome wine snobbery
HAIR STUDIO
I
By KatieLOVE finn YOUR
HAIR
educate people about wine because I see a desperate need to make wine accessible—and, more importantly, make it enjoyable. I see so much pretension and snobbery associated with wine, and I find myself exhausted by the endless game of one-upmanship. Sadly, I find this holier-than-thou persona often perpetuated Country Club and Cook Street by people actually in the wine business. Palm De I began thinking about this wine bravado, and how the language of sert wine is so exclusive. There are so many rules, so many different languages, so much geography and history and chemistry— 760-340-5959 and a wine “expert” must pack all of that into of lemon in it; add a huge scoop of ice; and I’ll their brain and recall it at the drop of a hat. just sip on this all night to be social. The servBut if we’re all continually learning, why does www.jasondavidhairstudio.net er, in a very sweet and joking manner, called the conversation of wine so often devolve into me a grandma. Yup. Grandma here … just trynothing more than an elementary-school playing to mitigate a terrible wine list. ground taunting session of, “Neener, neener, Herein lies the kicker: This is their list. They neener, I know more than you do!” Why do we are responsible for representing it, and if it’s so feel so insecure about something so subjective awful as to garner a snide remark or a scornful and ever-evolving? glance, that is their problem, not yours—and I think it’s because we—as wine lovers, wine don’t you forget it. professionals and wine enthusiasts—have creMost restaurants today no longer offer ated this. More often than not, I see wine used white zinfandel, but instead feature a sweet as a tool by those who know to bludgeon those riesling or moscato by the glass. On one hand, who don’t. We carry an air of superiority with they are trying to educate and help people our knowledge. “Ahh Vouvray—I simply adore develop a more-sophisticated palate. OK, fine. those chenin blancs. What? You didn’t know But on the other hand, what about the guest Vouvray was a region and not the grape?!” who just wants a stinkin’ glass of white zin? Do (Insert patronizing and hearty guffaw.) we think of them as so lowbrow that we aren’t This, of course, does no favors to the budwilling to taint our wine list with something ding wine lover’s sense of adventure. that could be perceived as amateur? The fact is, no one is born knowing this That leads us to the second problem facing stuff. Some of us choose to learn about wine not just wine professionals, but restaurant for our profession. Some of us choose to learn wine-buyers as well: It’s not about them. This about wine because we enjoy it. Some of us are was single-handedly the most important victims of our partner’s latest hobby, and we lesson I learned from the master sommelier learn through a sort of half-listening osmosis. guiding me: Just because I didn’t like a wine, If wine is a passion, and you are inclined to that didn’t make it a bad wine. And just learn more about it, than bravo! Good on you! because I thought something was the greatest But under no circumstances does an acquired thing since canned milk, that did not mean knowledge license someone to exert power everyone was going to share that same senover others who simply choose to enjoy a glass timent. Actually, anyone who knows me and of wine with dinner. my wine preferences will firmly agree that it People often talk to me about the fear they is, in fact, often quite the opposite: It’s almost feel the moment they are handed a wine list in guaranteed that the wine I bring will be the a restaurant. They’re overwhelmed with choicleast-favorite wine of the night. (That’s OK … es—most of which they have never heard of, more for me!) The point, as my master drilled and often featuring over-inflated prices. I find into my head, was to look for quality—and that their fear is not so much about choosing take myself out of the equation. This is not the “right” wine, but more so about choosing easy to do, especially when the wine mantra the “wrong” wine. du jour is “drink what you like.” Wine profesI can tell you that I have been a guest at sionals need to remind themselves that this many a restaurant where the server was obvistatement only holds true for the guest drinkously less than impressed with my choice … ing the wine. and I’m a sommelier! In fact, I was at a popular So how do you overcome the fear associated watering hole last month where I couldn’t with navigating a restaurant wine list? Short stomach the wine list, so I decided to order a of having a sommelier on speed dial, these tips white-wine spritzer. That’s right … you heard may help: me: Water that wine down; throw a squeeze • Don’t fight it. Sometimes you have to go CVIndependent.com
with the flow, and drink what the list-maker likes. For example, if there are 27 different chiantis on the list, and you’re in a Greek restaurant, it should be pretty clear what the buyer’s passion is. It may not have been your first choice, but you’ll end up with a darn good bottle of sangiovese. • Know before you go. Many restaurants post their wine list on their website. Familiarize yourself with the selections in your price point. If a website isn’t available, call the restaurant ahead of time, and have a current list emailed to you. This can be invaluable if you are hosting a business dinner and don’t want to be put on the spot. • Beware of the value pitfalls. Wines served by the glass and “house wines” are often of the poorest quality and carry the highest mark-up. Restaurants with integrity will choose wines by the glass that are beautiful examples of quality and value, but, alas, these are few and far in between. • If it grows together, it goes together. Consider the restaurant you’re in, and order accordingly. In an Italian restaurant, have a Rosso di Montalcino. French cuisine on the itinerary? Look for a Cotes du Rhone or Languedoc. This also makes food-and-wine pairing a no-brainer. • When in Rome: Just as you should con-
sider the nationality of the restaurant, also consider the style and genre. Don’t order a sauvignon blanc in a steakhouse or a California cabernet in a seafood joint. • ABC (otherwise known in the wine world as “anything but chardonnay/cabernet”): There’s a whole world of wine out there just waiting to be discovered. Some of the best wines out there are from Spain (like a tempranillo from La Rioja) and Argentina (the malbec grape is perfect with beef!). One other tip involves the antiquated procedure of a server handing you the cork once it is pulled: Please don’t smell it. Don’t roll it around, squeeze it or put it to your ear. I assure you the cork is going to tell you nothing about the quality of the wine. I have pulled corks at times and found them to be completely saturated, and conversely, I’ve found them at times to be completely dried out—and not only was I pleasantly surprised, but blown away at how delicious the wines tasted. Had I relied on just the cork, I would have missed out on bliss. Proof is always in the pudding. Cheers! Katie Finn is a certified sommelier and certified specialist of wine with two decades in the wine industry. She can be reached at katiefinnwine@ gmail.com.
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APRIL 2021
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CAESAR CERVISIA
It’s time for the fervor over New England/hazy IPAs to at last come to an end
BY brett newton
A
t one point, not very long ago, New England IPAs (aka hazy IPAs) didn’t exist. It seems difficult to remember a time without them, but this doesn’t mean they will be around forever: Like black IPAs and session IPAs, they could quickly go the way of the dodo. That preamble might make it seem as though I’m advocating that “hazies” go away … and, well, that is not far from the truth. Honestly, I’m kind of bored with them at this point. When the New England IPAs first started showing up here, I had a very hard time telling one apart from another. They were all citrusy and/or tropical in aroma and flavor—sometimes intensely so. Then some breweries found their stride, and the IPAs that resulted made stars out of hops with names like Idaho 7, Riwaka, and experience of having your palate scrubbed of Motueka, while showcasing wide ranges of taste by bitterness in the past, you’re probably flavors, from various tropical fruits to cannabis joining me in praise of this development. and more. Not long before the plague arrived What I mentioned then—but didn’t elablast year, I wrote a column about how the orate on—is the “haze bro” culture that incredible amounts of hops that were being developed alongside. This may be a bit of added to these beers was spurring on research oversimplification, but the culture is all about into hops—their growth, their processing, hazy IPAs being held in a regard above all other their use in beers (how much too add, and styles (except maybe “pastry stouts,” which when to add the hops, for example), and their seem to be equally popular), causing a person seemingly endless aroma and flavor possibilito stand in ridiculous lines for a release when ties. Hazies’ relative lack of bitterness in comthey don’t even know the contents of that parison to IPAs of the past exerted influence release. As long as it’s cloudy and milky—even on regular ol’ West Coast IPAs. If you had the if it’s released too soon—it’s game. Some have
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even gone so far as to hire people to stand in line. One of the biggest upshots of this was that every brewery felt as if it had to get in on the hazy game—and that led to far too many mediocre to abysmal versions of the style. When I was a home brewer, I found IPAs to be one of the hardest styles to do well—and from my experience, that also seems to be the case on the professional level. I have tried some truly tragic hazies, and they always made me wonder if it was worth it for that brewery to have produced it, given the blind worship to which the style is often elevated. There’s also the matter of matter: There are varying amounts of suspended (and sometimes not-so-suspended) matter in hazy IPAs. I’ve seen shocking amounts of hop matter, yeast and other things—and while none of these bits will kill you, they are less than appetizing or palatable when pouring a beer. I’ve personally poured hazy IPAs from fresh kegs into buckets to purge all of the matter that has settled to the bottom of a keg, so that a customer would not have to suffer through a thick, bitter mess. Cans of hazy IPAs can be just as bad—and this only adds to my love of the clear West Coast examples. I personally don’t find the colors of hazy IPAs very appealing, but that is not a good excuse to set aside a new style. Witbiers and hefeweizens are supposed to be cloudy to a degree, after all. The New England IPA is a valid and even interesting style, and great strides have been made in the past few years by some breweries to make them more exciting and unique. Still, I’ve grown quite weary
of them. Maybe that is a failing on my part, but I often can’t tell one brewery’s hazy apart from another these days. Is it good? Yes; it is a well-made hazy IPA. Is it satisfying to me? Not really. When I am enjoying, say, a Citraholic from Beachwood Brewing, or a Treevana from Burgeon Beer Co., or a Blind Pig from Russian River, I often want to order another. That almost never happens with a hazy IPA. I am patiently awaiting the calming of the storm that this trend has brought—and looking forward to the bright, clear future that West Coast pale styles have. Luckily, there are breweries that never stopped making them— and making them well. This may lead you to ask: Why am I awaiting the end of the hazy hype? Because that may encourage breweries that make mostly hazy IPAs, yet are perfectly capable of making brilliant West Coast versions, to make more clear beer. The flavors of the hops and the malt backbone marry so spectacularly in the best straight-up IPAs; they are wildly quaffable, and the flavors just seem to “pop” far more. My purpose is not to shame those who genuinely love the New England IPA style—far from it. It is to ask you to reach for a clear one on occasion, and see what you think. Their deceptively simple beauty might have been clouded in your memory by your dedication to the hazy. Brett Newton is a certified cicerone (like a sommelier for beer) and homebrewer who has mostly lived in the Coachella Valley since 1988. He can be reached at caesarcervisia@gmail.com.
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 29
APRIL 2021
FOOD & DRINK
ON COCKTAILS A
BY kevin carlow
da Coleman is legendary—so legendary that you would think she was the first female bartender to exist, born like Athena from the head of Zeus … or possibly the head of Jerry Thomas. Coleman may not be a household name; how many bartenders are? But in bartending circles, she is talked about with the most famous of the fellows. I have heard cocktail geeks ascribe to her the creation of numerous famous cocktails, mostly the ones (like the Bee’s Knees) that don’t have a clear origin, similar to how dubious quotes get attributed to Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. or actor; the next, the prince of Wales. BartendMother Teresa. That’s how you know you’re ing back then must have been a blast. an icon. Like almost everything in cocktail history, But how much about her is truth, and how original sources are hard to find. Most of the much is legend? following biography is from Difford’s Guide. She’s best known for being first female head Coleman, or “Coley,” as she was lovingly bartender at the storied American Bar at Loncalled, fell into bartending when her father don’s Savoy Hotel. Having worked with some died. He was a steward at a golf club, and his amazing women behind the bar, and seeing how they needed to work harder to get respect, employer offered her a job so she could live by her own means. The first drink she rememI imagine Coleman was there a half-hour early, bered making was a Manhattan, after being cutting garnishes and setting the bar up for a taught by the wine steward at the Claridge successful shift, knowing her co-worker was Hotel. She wouldn’t stay at the Claridge long; going to show up late, bleary-eyed and with she was soon thrust into the spotlight at the a cigarette hanging off his lip. Also, this was American Bar when her talent and personality the early 20th century, so I can only imagine became obvious. She became head bartender what she heard from guests and co-workers on in 1903, a position she held until 1926. From a daily basis. Just getting to that position at there, she began hobnobbing with royalty and that time should be enough for bartenders to theater groups, and making cocktails for playrevere her. boys like American millionaire “Diamond” Jim Before you get the impression that being Brady. Coleman’s connections to the well-cona “barmaid” back then was some Dickensian nected D’Oyly Carte family certainly did nothdrudgery … it wasn’t. Nearly half of the bar ing to slow her rise. staff was female back then; it was a popular Upon her retirement, the Daily Express profession for women of status and education reported: “‘Coley’ is known to thousands of who wanted to escape dull office work or fammen around the world, Britons who are now ily life. Being behind the bar meant you were roughing it in various parts of the Empire, adjacent to what David Wondrich refers to in (and) Americans who think of her every time Imbibe! as the “sporting set”: One night, you’re they remember their own country’s dryness.” serving Mark Twain; the next, a famous stage It may have been a man’s world, but she played her hand with the best of them. There is a part of Coleman’s story that isn’t discussed in most of the hagiographies, including Difford’s: “Coley” wasn’t the only female bartender at the American Bar, or even necessarily the most popular. She certainly wasn’t the first: Ruth “Miss B” Burgess started in 1902, just before Coleman’s arrival. Burgess was tall and slim, Coleman short and fair—and the gentlemen at the bar liked them both. For 20-plus years, the two worked together in a state of enmity, avoiding each other behind the bar and not working together whenever it was avoidable. From The Aspen Daily Times, Feb. 16, 1926: “Customers liked Coley’s cocktails and ordered them when Coley was off duty. Miss B didn’t know how to mix them. She asked Coley to give her the ingredients, and Coley, with Ada Coleman bartending at the Savoy. perhaps justifiable professional pride, refused.
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Raise your glass—preferably containing a Hanky Panky—to bartending legend Ada Coleman They became estranged.” They didn’t patch things up even as the nations of World War I made peace. As a longtime barman, this story makes Coley (and “Miss B”) so much more real for me. It’s a tale as old as bartending: Bartenders often don’t share their secrets. It has to do with job security, knowing your patrons have to come in to see you—and not give their money to someone else. Smart bar managers these days make a drink program that everyone follows, specifically to prevent these situations. Today, it’s the bar managers who jealously guard their secrets for job security. No matter what other drinks she might have invented (Coley trained Harry Craddock of The Savoy Cocktail Book, after all), her legacy is the Hanky Panky—the one cocktail for which she is credited in the famous recipe book. Made for a fatigued comic actor named Charles Hawtrey who needed something “with a bit of punch in it,” she mixed sweet vermouth and gin; added a few dashes of fernet; and handed it over. After a sip, Hawtrey declared that the drink was the
“real Hanky Panky!” “Hanky panky” was apparently a term for witchcraft in England, although in America, it had a more-lascivious meaning; either way, it’s the kind of cocktail name I wish I could come up with in this age when drinks are exclusively named after puns on pop culture references, or by subbing in mezcal and translating the name into Spanish. (I’m guilty of both, by the way.) Anyway, raise a glass, and celebrate this trailblazing woman who was beloved and celebrated around the world, and who lived as an icon until 1966, passing away at the age of 91. The Hanky Panky 1 1/2 ounces of gin (I like a barrel-aged and/or Old Tom style) 1 1/2 ounces of sweet vermouth 1/4 ounce of fernet Stir; strain into a chilled cocktail glass; garnish with orange peel. Kevin Carlow can be reached at CrypticCocktails@gmail.com.
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WHAT The boulevardier WHERE Cuistot, 72595 El Paseo, Palm Desert HOW MUCH $14 CONTACT 760-340-1000; cuistotrestaurant.com WHY It’s a perfect version of an underrated cocktail. It’s time the boulevardier gets the respect it deserves. If you’re unfamiliar with this classic cocktail, here’s some learnin’ for ya: It’s like a negroni, but with bourbon or rye whiskey in place of the gin. It was supposedly invented in the 1920s by a dude named Erskine Gwynne, an American socialite who was hanging out in Paris—and Mr. Gwynne is now a hero of mine, because the boulevardier became my favorite cocktail during the pandemic. I prefer two parts of bourbon to one part each of Campari and sweet vermouth, because, well, I like bourbon. The resulting drink is sweet, but not cloying; oaky, but not obnoxious; and just a little bitter, but in a good way. One recent Saturday night, the hubby and I decided to celebrate some work accomplishments with a nice meal at Cuistot. Because we have not been dining out all that much in recent months because of, well, you know, I have not ordered that many boulevardiers at restaurants … but when I have, it hasn’t always gone well. Even at places that should know better, I’ve gotten confused stares and befuddled responses from servers and bartenders alike. And then there was that time at a restaurant that shan’t be named when I told the server exactly what the bartender should do (there are only three ingredients, after all), and the drink I received tasted like a watered-down old fashioned. So when I ordered a boulevardier at Cuistot— the drink is not on their cocktail menu, by the way—I did so with a degree of anxiety. Well, I had nothing to be anxious about. The server nodded knowingly at my request, and the cocktail that soon arrived at our table was, in a word, perfection.
WHAT Willie’s shepherds pie WHERE 1501 Uptown Gastropub, 1501 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs HOW MUCH $28 CONTACT 760-320-1501; www.1501uptown.com WHY It’s comforting and delicious. When I heard that Willie Rhine and Chad Gardner had decided to open a new restaurant at this particular moment in our history, I was stunned. Rhine and Gardner aren’t dummies; they’re two of Palm Springs most-accomplished restaurateurs, after all. But … the opening was announced in the middle of the worst spike of the pandemic thus far. (We really, really hope “thus far” can eventually be deleted from that sentence.) And who knows how long it’ll be before at-capacity indoor dining is allowed again? Had they lost their figurative marbles? Nope. These two smarty-pantses knew exactly what they were doing. While the Chris Pardo-designed building that now houses 1501 Uptown Gastropub is quite nice, the restaurant is mostly a series of big patios—perfect for outdoor, socially distanced dining. And the 1501 menu may be Gardner’s best yet. His spin on the gastropub concept includes small plates (including a fantastic sourdough pretzel), soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers and 10 or so “big plates,” such as braised Kobe short ribs, lobster claw and blue crab mac and beer cheese, and the star of the show: Willie’s shepherds pie. The menu description sounds pretty darned simple: “slow braised grass fed filet mignon, sherry, mirepoix, caramelized mashed red potatoes, English peas, cave aged cheddar.” But that simplicity belies the delicious flavor therein. The beef—so tender, so rich—is the star of the dish, with the cheese-coated mashed potatoes almost worthy of equal star billing. But combine the two … and wow. So, so good. This dish is a perfect example of the gastropub concept: It’s seemingly simple food that’s been substantially elevated. Get thee to 1501 to try it—but you’d best make reservations, as the place is now the hottest restaurant in the valley. Smartypantses, indeed.
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 31
APRIL 2021
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Restaurant NEWS BITES
FACING EVICTION OR FORECLOSURE?
By charles drabkin
Understand your tenant and homeownership rights.
DURING A CRAZY YEAR, RESTAURANTS PIVOT TO SURVIVE It’s been more than a year since the Independent last published a Restaurant News Bites column—and to say a lot has happened in the interim is probably the understatement of the decade. COVID-19 has made restaurant owners pivot in ways that nobody could have imagined. It’s worth recapping what local restaurants have been through since the first stay-at-home order was issued last March: They shut down for everything but takeout and delivery; opened up for outdoor seating; were allowed to have limited-capacity indoor seating; had to close down indoor seating; were forced to close all in-person seating and return to just takeout/delivery; opened up outdoor seating again; and, as of March 17, could open again for limited-capacity indoor seating. While the Coachella Valley restaurant industry has so far somehow avoided the massive numbers of permanent closures some cities have seen, we have lost some favorites—including Evzin, Murph’s Gaslight and Lord Fletcher’s, to name just a few. Meanwhile, restaurateurs, chefs and wait staff have shown incredible flexibility by reinventing themselves to meet the challenges of our ever-changing economy. In an effort to help, the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with various organizations and businesses, is running a fantastic promotion: You can sign up for a $10 coupon for takeout at more than three dozen Palm Springs eateries. Visit pschamber.org to register and find that list of participating restaurants. The same code can be used as many times as you want—until the funding runs out—on pickup orders of $30 or more (with orders via third-party apps excluded). The promotion costs the restaurants nothing, as they’re reimbursed for every coupon used. Another innovation: pop-ups and special menus! If you ever visited PS Underground pre-pandemic, you know how wonderful their theatrical experiences centered around food are. While PS Underground has resumed intermittent events at their space at 1700 S. Camino Real, in Palm Springs, the good people there have also been wowing eaters with an occasional Death by Cheese pickup menu, which elevates the simple grilled cheese sandwich into an occasion. They are even baking their own sourdough—a skill I assume was perfected in the early days of the pandemic—pieces of which are then smothered with a blend of cheeses and a variety of other treats, like artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, red onion, tomatoes and sweet hot peppers ($12.95); or crab, bacon, tomatoes and garlic sauce ($19.95). Each sandwich comes with slaw and a pickle. You can also order soup, salads and tots as well as to-go cocktails. Watch DeathbyCheese.com for future dates. A newcomer to the scene is Biscuit and Counter. Chef Lance Velasquez was named one of the best new chefs in America by Food and Wine magazine in 1996 and spent most of his career working in restaurants like The Ritz-Carlton San Francisco and Chateau Souverain in Geyserville, but a year-long stint at Marietta, Ga.’s 1848 House gave rise to his love affair with biscuit-making. Chef Lance and his partner, Marlo, ran a successful pop-up in the Bay Area before moving to Palm Springs in September. Although they acknowledge this is a crazy time to be opening a new business, they have found the Coachella Valley to be supportive. When they couldn’t find a commissary kitchen to rent, Grand Central Palm Springs opened theirs to the pair and began including the biscuits on the menu. Initially, people could order biscuit boxes through the Biscuit and Counter Instagram page, and I was lucky enough to snag a mixed baker’s dozen of plain and chocolate drop biscuits in those early days. They are now dishing up biscuits at the Cole Hotel, at 2323 N. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. Biscuit and Counter is open for weekend brunch as well as the Wednesday Biscuit Counter Shop. The brunch on Saturdays and Sundays features an assortment of biscuit sandwiches, individual biscuits, salads and other breakfast offerings, plus cocktails from the Cole’s poolside bar. Wednesday’s shop features a rotating biscuit sandwich, coffee and spreads, plus boxes of a half-dozen biscuits for pickup. With flavors like charred white corn and chili, you can’t go wrong. Learn more at www.biscuitandcounter.com. IN BRIEF Coming soon to Desert Hot Springs: The Spa City Park, a collection of food trucks and other independent businesses, at 66169 Pierson Blvd.; visit spacitypark.com to learn more. One new spot already open there: The Spread Sandwiches and Salads (spreaddhs.com). … Beloved Palm Springs Indian joint Monsoon Indian Restaurant has opened a second location in Palm Desert, at 72221 Highway 111, No. A109. Order the garlic cauliflower appetizer (trust me); 760-341-2705 is the phone number, and palmdesert.monsoonindianrestaurant.com is the website. … Also new to Palm Desert: Ding Tea, at 74990 Country Club Drive, meeting all your bubble tea and Taiwanese coffee needs; call 760-834-8558 to learn more. … If you are craving ramen and are in La Quinta, consider newish spot Torakichi Ramen, at 79775 Highway 111, No. 104. The menu has seven different ramens on offer, including tonkatsu black garlic and vegetarian, in addition to a variety of small plates; call 760-775-3737 for info. … If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend Mambo’s Tacos, operating in conjunction with Bit of Country, 418 S. Indian Canyon Drive. The $1 street tacos are amazingly delicious. My favorites include the birria, chile relleno and the al pastor—but for the price, you really can’t make a mistake; 760325-5154.
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After releasing a debut album, The CMFs pledge to release a new single every month in 2021 voice alum Steve Knill enjoys his new residency at V Wine Lounge the lucky 13: Meet the guitarist/vocalist of captain ghost The lucky 13: Meet the brainchild behind new indie-pop project Aoster
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APRIL 2021
MUSIC A LITTLE CLASSY, A LITTLE DHS
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After releasing a debut album in December, The CMFs pledge to release a new single every month in 2021
By jimmy boegle
L
et’s get the matter of The CMFs’ name out of the way first, so we can move on to the important stuff—the music of the talented Desert Hot Springs-based rock band. “Originally, we did Classy Mother Fu?kers, and we had really no real intention of shortening it or abbreviating it,” said Jasyn Smith, the band’s drummer. “But obviously, we came into some scheduling issues. Certain people wouldn’t want us on, and we couldn’t play any family events or anything, so we decided to go ahead performing live again sooner rather than and abbreviate it to The CMFs—still keeping later, they said they’re committed to their it the Classy Mother F?ckers, but being more single-per-month goal. accessible to the world.” “We had our first six songs planned out, Got it? Good. Let’s now move on to the roughly written, and three of them are fully music, and there’s a lot of that to talk about: written. We just have to record,” Smith said. After releasing a debut full-length album, “After that, it does kind of become a no-man’s Chaka, on Dec. 24, the band announced it land, where we do have ideas but don’t really would release a new single on the last Friday have anything structured or down. But … we of every month in 2021—while appearing should be ahead of schedule, and we’re working monthly on 93.7 KCLB, and continuing to on that now.” release skits and other crazy videos on The The January single was “Afterglow,” and CMFs’ YouTube page (www.youtube.com/user/ the February single was “Service Man.” As for TheClassyMotherFkers). March’s single … well, as of our chat, it didn’t In other words, it’s gonna be a busy 2021 have a name yet. for the trio, which also includes Joseph “I went into it with the original intention Vaughan (guitar/vocals) and Matt King (bass). that I wanted to make something that sounded (Full disclosure: Matt King writes for the like a Motörhead song, but it didn’t turn out Independent, which explains why the middlethat way,” Vaughan said. “It ended up turning aged, oft-confused editor is handling this into more of a Primus-sounding thing. So, music piece.) I decided to turn that around and do the Smith and Vaughan have been playing Primus sound with our choruses—with all the together for the better part of a decade, verses and the melodies that are in between although The CMFs didn’t formally become reminiscent of our other original music.” a band until 2014. King became part of the Smith said: “With ‘Afterglow,’ it sounded classy crew in early 2019. They said the very alternative-based—kind of psychedelic. cancellation of shows and the loss of jobs that With ‘Service Man,’ we went for straight hit them in 2020 gave them an opportunity to Southern rock—kind of country rock. … (The become better as a band. March single), it’s going back to our roots, “We really learned to become more but kind of unpredictable, with not quite the professional and more business-like in terms stereotypical formula for a single. It shows our of content creation, and schedules, and versatility and our progression as musicians.” deadlines—and really learning how to work The April song, “I’m Awake,” comes from the within ourselves, to push ourselves, both band’s demo. musically and in a business sense,” Smith said. “Three songs off of our demo didn’t quite One of the results of this improvement was, fit our album that we released, but we do still at long last, the release of Chaka. think they have their place in our discography,” “It was a very long project. It took us years Smith said. “‘I’m Awake’ is a little poppy, but to find certain recording studios and the sound very rudimentary, if you will. It’s just a classic that we really wanted,” Smith said. “We finally rendition of The CMFs sound; it’s kind of came out with it on Dec. 24, 2020. By the time where we started from.” the album came out, we thought that shows King said he’s constantly impressed by might be back—or at least things would be the storytelling that Vaughan works into the looking a little clearer or a little more hopeful, band’s songs. However, Vaughan said the lyrics but we realized that was not the case. … So, are the very last thing that he works on with the project of wanting to release a single every each song. month of 2021 is really musical restlessness, “When I write a song, it usually comes from and just a way to challenge ourselves, musically just fiddling around on a guitar until I find and creatively.” some kind of riff or melody that I can base While The CMFs hope they’ll be the entire song off,” Vaughan said. ‘Then I
The CMFs.
structure everything around that one little aspect—so I always start with music first. And when it comes to lyric-writing, I don’t really put thought or meaning behind my lyrics. It’s the first thing that comes to my head, and then I play off a melody that comes into my head, and keep improving it until it sticks.” Added Smith: “I’ve been playing with (Vaughan) since high school in the band class. So if you really look at how he writes his music and dive into the lyrics that he puts out, he does really try to convey a certain emotional feeling. … When we write a song, it’s not about our personal or individual technical abilities or anything. It’s all about writing a great song that we would love to play and also love to hear. It’s about only serving that song and not really thinking about anything else.” The members of The CMFs said their ultimate goal is to be able to focus on the band full-time. “The main goal is to make a living off of it— and not to have to work a day job,” Vaughan said. “We want to make this our day job. That’s the goal, really.” Added Smith: “We know what we love to do. We’ve found that we love to work at it and grind at it every single day as a full-time job. … We’re doing what we love, and if we could turn that into a business that we can make a living off of, that really is the No. 1 goal.”
Between the new album, the new singles and the monthly appearances on 93.7 KCLB, the band has been taking legitimate steps toward goal—and getting some positive attention in the process. That attention included a recent appearance on KESQ News Channel 3’s Eye on the Desert segment—and this brings us back to the band name. “We were all set to go, and then Patrick Evans came in, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, we’re probably not going to be able to say your name on air,’” King said. “And Jasyn’s like, ‘Well, our name is The CMFs.’ And Patrick Evans is like, ‘Yeah, but everyone knows what it stands for.’” The station ended up using “The CMFs” anyway. Smith added some final thoughts on the name. “Most people very much like it, and then there are a few select groups of people who don’t like it at all,” he said. “But I think the name is really about being open and not hiding who you are, and we feel we’re kind of classy, but we’re also, you know, a little Desert Hot Springs. … We are who we are, and we play the music we love, and we hope that people love our music.” Added King: “They call us the Classy Mother Fu?kers, but onstage—we’re three guys in band T-shirts, you know?” For more information, visit www.thecmfs.com. CVIndependent.com
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MUSIC
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A PRIVILEGE TO BE PLAYING C
By matt king
onsidering how much the restaurant and music industries have suffered over the last year, it’s been refreshing to see live music return to restaurants. Casuelas Café in Palm Desert is one of the local restaurants that’s been leading the way, offering live music—in safe and entertaining fashion—seven days a week. “We’re one in the line of the Las Casuelas restaurants in the valley,” said owner Ray Rodriguez during a recent phone interview. “In 1992, the oldest son of Florencio and Mary Delgado, who are the founders of Las Casuelas, and I decided that we were going to (combine) our efforts. We wanted to make a little local place in Palm are singing beautiful, old, traditional Spanish Desert, just like they had their local place in music that my grandmother would love—and Palm Springs.” that everyone loves, quite frankly,” Rodriguez Rodriguez’s background in live said. “And then she goes into the Night Owls, entertainment eventually led him to create a who do everything from originals to Led space that melded dining with live music. Zeppelin.” “I’d always had the idea to have a big Rodriguez said he does not want Casuelas outdoor event area, because I had worked Café to sound the same every night. at the La Quinta Resort as well as the “We have two country bands, and traditional Hyatt Grand Champion,” Rodriguez said. “I Mexican, central South American-style understood the use of outdoor space with performances in Spanish as well,” he said. dining, and, of course, the Las Casuelas “We’re in the community we’re in, so it’s restaurants have nice patios. I wanted to do very important, I think, to have that kind of something at the café, but different. … I knew Southern California element. We have a lot of the uniqueness of our location in Palm Desert. visitors here from Canada or the Midwest, so We were able to get a patio done here, and you want to have some music that can speak we’re celebrating three years. to that as well—with a little bit of Jackson “It’s not just, ‘I’m going to go and have lunch Browne, or the Eagles. There’s also a kind or dinner there,’ like you would at Tommy of showcase element to music. … We have Bahama or Pacifica. We wanted to have events. a little bit of that on a Friday or Saturday Yes, you can come and have lunch or dinner— night, so people can cut loose a little bit late. we want you to do that—but it’s also a place I don’t want it to be boring. If you come in where you can have 100 people, and we could today, I want you to know that if you come in cook exhibition-style for you, like you would see in a grand hotel or country club. We also … wanted to be able to showcase the live music in our community. It’s gotten bigger and bigger over the years, and we wanted to be able to do something besides traditional mariachi-style music. … We wanted to be able to showcase all types of performers, and we are also always looking for our local Latino performers who are doing things in different formats.” A prime example of this multi-format approach involves Giselle Woo, best known for Giselle Woo and the Night Owls. She performs at Las Casuelas every Sunday as part of Las Tías, a traditional Spanish duo with Janine Rivera. When asked about her return to live music, Woo channeled her inner Night Owl and said: “It felt as if the birdcage door was finally flung open.” Rodriguez said Casuelas Café is a perfect fit for both Las Tías and Giselle Woo and the Night Owls—because he wants to host a variety of music. “Las Tías is just a duo; she and another gal Avenida performs every Thursday at Casuelas Café. CVIndependent.com
Palm Desert’s Casuelas Café mixes things up with live music every day
tomorrow, you’ve got another reason to come in musically.” Performing every Thursday at Casuelas is Avenida Music, the choice of Independent readers as Best Local Band in the Best of Coachella Valley 2018-2019 readers’ poll. Avenida’s unique approach to cover tunes checks all of the boxes listed by Rodriguez— and more. “It’s a huge privilege to be playing again,” said Josiah Gonzalez, who plays piano and snyth for Avenida. “You almost forget how therapeutic the process is. It definitely makes you think twice about complaining when you’re loading gear.” Part of Rodriguez’s drive to create a great entertainment experience comes from his love of live music. “My first concert was the Ike and Tina Turner Revue in 1973, in the gym at College of the Desert,” Rodriguez said. “To watch Tina Turner in her prime do ‘Proud Mary’ left an impression on me at the age of 14 that has never gone away. I don’t think it’s surprising that we developed a stage here, because I was always interested in the performing arts, but I knew I had no talent. The next thing was to just respect the talent and appreciate it, and try to then create an environment for talent to continue to grow and flourish. “The restaurant and the music definitely like each other. It’s not like every guest is
going to like every group. People learn and think, ‘I’ll come on this night, because they have music that I prefer, at the volume I prefer.’ … The enthusiasm has continued to grow, and it’s really exploded in the last month with the COVID restrictions being lifted. There has been such a wealth of demand for real live music.” Alas, COVID is very much still a concern, and Rodriguez said he’s making sure his team is taking all necessary precautions. “With the COVID guidelines, you want 12 feet from any singer to any potential audience member,” said Rodriguez. “We essentially enlarged the stage with a boundary—a no-man zone. We took some high-top multicolored chairs, and then we took some multicolored flags, and we strung them around the stage so everybody knows to not go near the performers. We do it as required with the distance—but we do it kind of in a cute way. It’s like a dance floor you can’t dance on. “We’ve always had good COVID guidelines in place. Our chef’s wife is a nurse, and our sous chef’s wife is a nurse, so from day one, we understood what it was going to take to keep our guests and our staff safe. We’ve always had really strong protocols, and the music was just another step of that.” For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ CasuelasCafe.
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MUSIC FROM ‘THE VOICE’ TO THE VALLEY E
By matt king
ach year, televised singing competition The Voice attracts thousands of singers, all yearning for a cash prize and a record deal. You may recognize new-face-in-town Steve Knill from his time spent on the show in 2019—especially his rather impressive audition, which you can find on YouTube. Knill moved to the Coachella Valley from San Francisco last September and has been working on getting involved in the local music scene. He is currently performing every Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the V Wine Lounge in Palm Springs. “My husband and I just decided to move “I sang around karaoke bars and stuff like here as San Francisco is going down the tubes,” that,” he said. “A lot of people told me that I Knill said during a recent phone interview. should pursue it further than just singing at a “Once I started posting in live-music groups, karaoke bar, so I moved to L.A. in 2015, and a couple of people reached out to me and said, auditioned for The Voice a bunch of times. I ‘You’ll have no problem whatsoever finding a pretty much learned how to play piano and guigig here’—and I didn’t. One of the first places tar to get on the show. … I wasn’t necessarily I talked to, I’m now there every Saturday. I’m just trying to get on The Voice; I was just trying immersing myself pretty well in the town, and to be heard. The ultimate goal is to be heard that’s awesome.” by a record executive and get a record deal, but Knill said he feels fortunate to get gigs I’m happy just doing gigs around town and so quickly after the resumption of limited stuff like that. But if the right opportunity live-music performances. comes along where I can be national, then “It wasn’t necessarily easy,” Knill said. “I just that’d be great.” made a relationship with the owner, and we Knill said auditioning for The Voice multiple kept in touch during the whole shutdown. I’ve times offered him a learning process. just been doing live performances on TikTok “Every time you’re auditioning for someand Facebook. When live music started, I conthing, you always have the nervous jitters,” tacted him a couple of times, and he said, ‘Let’s Knill said. “Once you do it two or three times, try it.’ That was pretty much it.” it gets pretty easy. The process became easier, Knill, now 38, said that although he was and with The Voice, when you get through the always “fairly into music,” he didn’t start singfirst audition, and they put you through to the ing publicly until his late teens. second one, they make you feel comfortable.
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Steve Knill enjoys his new residency at V Wine Lounge
… They tell you to just sing, and don’t think about the fact that it’s a TV show—and that there are millions of people watching. They just say, ‘Sing your song, and we’ll go from there.’” Knill’s decision to learn to play piano and guitar in order to improve his chances on The Voice caused some hesitation that followed into his post-show gigs. “I had just learned to play instruments, so I didn’t feel comfortable playing instruments in front of people,” Knill said. “I really just did it to up my quality of singing, because playing an instrument and singing is fairly difficult. I figured if I could learn how to play an instrument, it would enhance my singing ability. I would just go sing at shows if I got a gig, and they would usually have a band.” For now, Knill performs covers, offering his unique take on popular music. “I’m not much of a songwriter, but I would be interested in recording someone else’s originals,” Knill said. “That’s what most of the music industry is: People have songwriters,
and very few musicians actually write their own music. I’ve always been into covering music and putting my own twist on something that’s already been made.” While there’s a great deal of uncertainty regarding the immediate future of live shows, Knill said he’s confident that he is in the right place. “It’s going great, because I just got a residency gig, and a lot of people are starting to ask about me in town,” Knill said. “Palm Springs is a good place to play, too, because you never know who’s going to be in the audience from L.A. A lot of powerful people in the industry come out here and have second homes here. You never know who might be in town, and that’s always a good thing.” Steve Knill performs every Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. at V Wine Lounge, 600 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, in Palm Springs. Reservations are recommended; call 760-668-9665. For more information, visit www.steveknillmusic.com.
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the
LUCKY 13 Get to know the vocalists behind Captain Ghost and Aoster by matt king What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure? Madonna. What’s your favorite music venue? The Fox Theater in Pomona. What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head? “Just Like a Prayer,” now because of the “musical guilty pleasure” question. What band or artist changed your life? Thrice, because I was changing my life when I really got into them. You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking? “Hey, Lemmy, can I buy you a drink?”
NAME Bradley Burton GROUP Captain Ghost MORE INFO Captain Ghost made waves in the Coachella Valley with 2019 album Into the Grave. The ferocious, hard-hitting rock translated both on the recording and onstage, and the band never failed to attract a crowd. Bradley Burton is the band’s vocalist/ guitarist. Learn more at www.facebook.com/ CaptainGhostBand. What was the first concert you attended? Meat Puppets and Stone Temple Pilots at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater. What was the first album you owned? Metallica, Kill ’Em All. What bands are you listening to right now? Modest Mouse, Bad Religion, and Sublime.
What song would you like played at your funeral? Johnny Cash, “The Man Comes Around.” Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time? Bad Religion, The New America. What song should everyone listen to right now? “Trailer Trash,” Modest Mouse. NAME Christopher Ramont GROUP Aoster MORE INFO Christopher Ramont is the brainchild behind new indie-pop project Aoster. It features Ramont on vocals and all the instruments—and debut single “Youth Is Wasted on Youth” shows a lot of potential. Visit aoster.bandcamp.com for more. What was the first concert you attended? Streetlight Manifesto, back in 2016.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get? New country and mumble rap.
What was the first album you owned? Probably Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco, on vinyl.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live? Elliott Smith.
What bands are you listening to right now? I’m listening to a lot of different artists at the
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moment, but one who currently sticks out to me is Cindy Lee. I love her music. I also strongly recommend listening to Xiu Xiu. What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get? Not to offend anyone, but K-pop. I just never got into it or understood it, but if that’s your thing, it’s cool. It just ain’t my thing. What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live? That is a hard question to answer, but I think I’d say Daft Punk just because their shows were more than just music. I’d also love to see The Garden. What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure? Noise genre—and not something like Merzbow’s Pulse Demon, but something that uses elements of the noise genre to build tensity and a new sound to their music. What’s your favorite music venue? House of Blues, just about anywhere one is located. They are just so cool, because you can mosh and jam on the floor, or you can go up top and watch the craziness of the band and audience from above. What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head? “Pandora (for Cindy)” by Cocteau Twins always seems to stick in my head. What band or artist changed your life? Radiohead, because they are so diverse in what they do. They helped me explore my personal tastes and what I like in music.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking? I would ask Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest what his biggest musical inspiration is. What song would you like played at your funeral? “I Hold Nothing,” Mount Eerie. Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time? Twin Fantasy, Car Seat Headrest. What song should everyone listen to right now? I would appreciate it if everyone checked out “Youth Is Wasted on Youth” by me.
COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 37
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CANNABIS IN THE CV
CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS
THE STATE OF WEED G
by jocelyn kane
reetings, lovely readers. I am the Independent’s new cannabis writer, and I will be writing a monthly piece on all things cannabis-related in the Coachella Valley. Who am I, and how am I qualified to write about such a huge topic? I am currently the vice president of the Coachella Valley Cannabis Alliance Network (coachellavalleycan.org), a membership organization made up of people and companies supporting and doing business in the cannabis supply chain. Our mission statement: “Connecting Communities Through Cannabis Education and Advocacy.” Sometimes I simply say we are the chamber of commerce for weed. can choose whether or not to allow cannabis In addition, I host a weekly radio show/ businesses in their area, and can regulate podcast on the iHub Network called The Buzz personal use. Allowing local control was an (the-buzz.captivate.fm). The show provides a important part of gaining support for Prop wide variety of information to listeners about 64—but the consequence is that today, about cannabis products, cannabis policy and the 65 percent of California’s municipalities still business of cannabis. do not allow cannabis businesses. Finally, I work part-time as the cannabis Desert Hot Springs was one of the earliest liaison for the city of Coachella. In that role, cities in the state to allow every part of the I help ensure that the cannabis businesses supply chain into the city with open arms. In operating in the city are in compliance with October 2014, the city passed an ordinance to all rules and regulations—and that they create regulations and allow medical cannabis continue to thrive. Let’s begin with a look at how the Coachella growers, manufacturers and co-ops to set up shop. The business of cannabis—and Valley has (partially) embraced the new the taxes paid to the city as a result of those cannabis industry. Out of the nine cities that businesses—have helped Desert Hot Springs make up the valley, five permit some or all go from near bankruptcy to a becoming a of the activity allowed and regulated by state place of growth and opportunity. In fact, DHS law. Those cities: Desert Hot Springs, Palm was the first city to allow cannabis hotels and Springs, Cathedral City, Coachella and Palm cannabis entertainment facilities, in a quest Desert. The other four cities remain in what to prepare for a wave of “canna-tourism.” we call “a ban”—that is, their city councils Palm Springs was also a fairly early adopter are not yet interested in allowing cannabis of medical cannabis businesses, and has been businesses to operate inside their borders. open to allowing retail stores along Palm Why the city-to-city differences? Canyon Drive. The city has also embraced the Proposition 64—which allows recreational, idea that people need a legal place to consume adult-use of cannabis—was approved by what they may have purchased, and has California voters in 2016. It allows for “local allowed cannabis lounges to be built alongside control,” which means that each municipality
Some valley cities were among the first to welcome cannabis businesses—but other SoCal cities are now getting into the game
retail. On-site consumption and cannatourism are two reasons the Coachella Valley stands out as a leader in the industry. However, things aren’t perfect. More and more Southern California cities, some within a short drive, have started to allow cannabis businesses—presumably because their elected officials saw that the sky didn’t fall in the cities that first allowed it, and because consistent tax money is being collected from these new businesses that help fund public safety, community programs, education and infrastructure. Of course, as more cities license businesses, that means more competition—and to stay competitive, cities need to attract businesses with lower taxation, easier permitting processes and better marketing opportunities. The cannabis industry has to pay all of the regular taxes that other businesses pay, like sales and use taxes. In addition, cannabis businesses are subject to special taxes created solely for the industry. For example, Cathedral City charges a 10 percent gross-
receipts tax on retail stores (in other words, 10 cents for every dollar spent), and $15 per square foot on cultivation facilities. Palm Springs charges the same 10 percent grossreceipts tax on retail, but has different rates for cultivation depending upon the zone in the city where the cannabis is grown. Desert Hot Springs just lowered its cultivation tax from $25.50 per square foot for the first 3,000 feet to $10.20 per square foot for all facilities. You get the idea: More SoCal cities coming online means the cities here in the valley must begin to look at how they compare, and must remain attractive to new businesses. There are so many interesting people, places and things to talk about in the brave new world of cannabis in the Coachella Valley. I hope to bring you some of those in the coming months, and I look forward to hearing from you. Jocelyn Kane can be reached at jocelyn@ coachellavalleycan.org.
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OPINION SAVAGE LOVE
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FRIENDSHIP SEXUALIZED A
BY DAN SAVAGE
male friend—not my best friend, but a close one—told me his wife was really attracted to me, another male, and asked if I was attracted to her. His wife is an incredibly hot woman, and I thought it was a trick question. I read your column and listen to the Savage Lovecast, Dan, so I know there are guys out there who want other men to sleep with their wives, of course, but I didn’t want to risk offending this friend by saying, “FUCK YEAH!” too quickly. After he convinced me it wasn’t a trick, I told him that of course I wanted to have sex with his wife. She’s incredibly beautiful and a really great person. I told him that I was not the least bit bisexual and not into MMF threesomes, and he told me he wouldn’t even be there. He just wanted to want to talk with my friend about it afterward. hear all the details later—and hear them from me, Shouldn’t it be enough for him to just know I’m not her. fucking her? I’ve slept with his wife four times since, and By the way, this is his thing, not hers. She loves the sex we’ve been having is phenomenal for having sex with me, but the calls to her husband both of us. But the talks I have afterward with don’t do anything for her. my friend make me uncomfortable. We’ve gotten on the phone later in the day or the next day, Distressed Aussie Chafes Under Cringe Kink and I give him the details and insult him a little, which he likes—and honestly, none of that is the It’s obviously not enough for him to know problem. What makes me uncomfortable is that you’re fucking his wife. If that was enough for I can hear him beating off during these phone him, DACUCK, he wouldn’t want to get on the calls, which makes me feel like I’m having phone phone with you afterward. sex with a guy. I’m not comfortable with this, and This is a consent question. If your friend I feel like our friendship has become sexualized consents to his wife having sex with other in a way that just feels unnatural for me. The men on the condition that he hears about one time we met in person to talk after I fucked it afterward—from those other men—that his wife, he was visibly aroused throughout our condition has to be met for the sex she’s entire conversation. having with other men to be consensual. I would like to keep fucking my friend’s wife, And while the calls afterward aren’t a turnand she wants to keep fucking me, but I don’t on for his wife, DACUCK, if those calls
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A cuckold friend likes me to have sex with his wife—but I’m uncomfortable telling him about afterward, as he requires
make it possible for her to sleep with other men, and she enjoys doing that, well, then, the calls actually are doing something for her, too. You’re not obligated to have these conversations with your friend if they make you uncomfortable—because of course you’re not—but if you were to refuse, DACUCK, your friend might withdraw his consent for you to fuck his wife. Your friend and his wife might be willing to revise these conditions just for you, DACUCKS, so it couldn’t hurt to ask. But if he says no, you don’t get to fuck his wife anymore. If he says no, and his wife keeps fucking you, then she’s cheating on him for real, and not “cheating” on him for fun. Zooming out for a second: You knew this was a turn-on for your friend before you fucked his wife. You knew he was a cuckold, which means you knew he would be getting off on you fucking his wife, DACUCK, which means you knew he’d be out there somewhere beating off about you and your dick. Even if he didn’t want to hear from you directly afterward—even if he was pumping the wife for the details—your friendship was sexualized pretty much from the moment he asked you to fuck his wife, and you agreed. So the problem isn’t the sexualization of this friendship or the awareness that this dude is out there beating off about you. The problem is having to listen to him beat off when you get on the phone—or having to see him become visibly aroused when you meet up in person— and there’s a pretty easy workaround for that. (I love a solvable problem!) Instead of giving him a call after you’ve fucked his wife, use the voice-memo app on your phone to record a long, detailed, insult-strewn message after you’ve fucked his wife, and send it him. You’ll still get to fuck his wife; he’ll still get to hear about it from you; and you won’t have to listen to him doing what you damn well knew he’d be doing after you fucked his wife, i.e., furiously beating off about you. I’m a 20-something hetero female living in the South. I’m having trouble with my boyfriend of almost three years. We are very happy together, but our sex life is lackluster. The really strange part is that the sex, when we have it, is always good. It’s intense and satisfying. However, getting sex to happen is a challenge. My boyfriend has a lower libido, but it’s not a huge discrepancy. I want sex two to three times per week, and he wants it maybe once per week. We have compromised on twice a week. However, the sex is routine and banal. It always happens on the same days— Sundays and Wednesdays—and there’s no
spontaneity at all, which makes it boring for me. In addition, my boyfriend never initiates. He has a history of being promiscuous—he slept with about 100 women before we were together—and I am completely fine with that. But he has admitted to me that he misses his promiscuous life and that monogamy is difficult for him. He says he loves me and that he wants to make this work. He is the person I want to marry, but I feel like I’m settling sexually. Please help. Becoming Annoyed Now About Lovemaking The sex, when you have it, is intense and satisfying … but routine and banal at the same time, because there’s no spontaneity. The obvious answer: If having sex at the same time and in the same place is ruining the intense and satisfying sex you’re having, BANAL, maybe don’t always have sex at the same time or in the same place? And since you’re the initiator, and that’s unlikely to change—turning a cheater into a faithful partner is easier than turning a non-initiator into an initiator—that means you’re in charge of the when and the where. You’ve already compromised on having sex twice a week, which is your low-end preference and double his preference (so you got the better end of that deal), and now all you gotta do is initiate sex on different days, at different times, and in different places. Easy-peasy. Now for the nonobvious answer, BANAL: You need to listen to what your boyfriend is telling you. Monogamy is difficult for everyone, not just your boyfriend, but some people find it more difficult than others. And asking someone who finds monogamy extremely difficult to make a monogamous commitment … yeah, that’s not a great plan. This isn’t entirely on you; someone whose libido tanks when they’re in a monogamous relationship and/or someone who’s way more interested in sex when they’re free to sleep around shouldn’t be making monogamous commitments. Or not making them yet. Monogamy might not be right for your boyfriend at the moment, BANAL, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be right for him ever. Similarly, sex you have to schedule might not be right for you now, while in your mid-20s, but that doesn’t mean scheduled/routine/maintenance sex won’t be right for you ever. Catch Savage Love every Wednesday at CVIndependent.com; www.savagelovecast.com; mail@savagelove.net; FakeDanSavage on Twitter.
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OPINION COMICS & JONESIN’ CROSSWORD
“All Over the Place”—it’s 32 “Time to head out” another themeless mess 33 Japanese naval of words! architect of WWII, By Matt Jones Baron Yuzuru ___ 38 Shaker ___, OH Across 40 “Funky Cold Medina” 1 Online request to rapper “pay your respects” 41 It involves pinning when your playable and throwing character dies 45 Like some chances 12 Internet acronym 46 Begins with, in a with origins on screenplay Usenet 47 Bearded South Park 15 Lead singer on the puppet Pinkerton album 48 Fitzgerald of jazz 16 Hawaiian delicacy 49 Cobra’s warning 17 One way to get up 51 Pandemic-era from the ground floor romantic meetup 18 Extreme degree, for 54 ___ Harbour (Miami short Beach resort area) 19 Actor Hawke 55 Instant ramen brand 20 B’way purchase name, originally 21 Washington Irving’s (before ditching the Bones middle letter) 22 Scott of 30 Rock and 58 Prefix with scope Big Hero 6 59 Statistician with a 25 Location of a theater, speciality in clichéd ads 60 Wanna-___ 27 Soviet WWII force (copycats) 29 Bandleader for Leno 61 Opportunity to get a 30 Really silly computer program 31 H.S. units early
Down 1 Untied 2 Sedimentary material in a delta 3 Exasperated outburst 4 Paradise residents 5 Subject of a historic June 2020 Supreme Court ruling 6 Pres. from Missouri 7 Friendly prefix? 8 Short 9 Pop poolside painter 10 Event to test out an act, perhaps 11 High rock pile 12 Former Fugees member Hill 13 “Check this out!” 14 Chemical indicator 21 Item with underwire 23 “Ehhh, really?” 24 Actor Sheridan of X-Men: Apocalypse 26 “Essential” product of wormwood 27 “Too-Ra-Loo-RaLoo-___” (Irish classic) 28 Canine suffix for Bern or Peking 34 Get ready to ride again
35 Carrier to Leonardo da Vinci Airport 36 Pantheon figure 37 High card 39 Site of intense magnetic activity 40 ___ Goes to the Mayor 41 Briggs who hosts The Last Drive-in 42 Watching just one more episode, maybe 43 Some potluck desserts 44 ___ bind 50 Buckwheat bowlful 52 Jamie Lee’s Freaky Friday character 53 Direction from Madrid to Barcelona 55 Non-profit that started NPR in 1970 56 GRF’s vice president 57 2021 U.K. award for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom actor Toby Jones © 2021 Matt Jones Find the answers in the “About” section of CVIndependent.com!
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