Coachella Valley Independent June 2020

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT | JUNE 2020

VOL. 8 | NO. 6

Your Food Has Arrived.

The pandemic reality for restaurant-app delivery drivers— less bathroom access; better business; more racism

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14

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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 Beth Allen Contributors Kevin Allman, Gayl Biondi, Max Cannon, Kevin Carlow, Katie Finn, Bill Frost, Bonnie Gilgallon, Bob Grimm, Michael Grimm, Valerie-Jean (VJ) Hume, Matt Jones, Matt King, Keith Knight, Carlynne McDonnell, Brett Newton, Dan Perkins, Guillermo Prieto, Anita Rufus, Jen Sorenson, Robert Victor The Coachella Valley Independent print edition is published every month.

All content is ©2020 and may not be published or reprinted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.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, CalMatters, Get Tested Coachella Valley, the Local Independent Online News Publishers, the Desert Business Association, the LGBT Community Center of the Desert, and the Desert Ad Fed.

We are shipping this issue to press on the most significant day the Coachella Valley has experienced during the reopening process.

As of now, restaurants can open their doors to dine-in customers. Stores can allow people in to shop. Three of the valley’s casinos are open for business, as is Morongo. Earlier today, Gov. Newsom said that within a week or two, salons/barber shops, movie theaters and other Stage 3 businesses could potentially get the green light to welcome back customers.

Meanwhile, Riverside County announced another six deaths from COVID-19 had been reported in the last 24 hours. At least one local casino—Augustine Casino—has decided the conditions aren’t quite right yet for a reopening. And by the time you read this, more than 100,000 Americans will have perished from the disease.

Scary times, these.

Here at the Independent, we’re busy trying to make sense of it all. Every weekday, we continue to produce our Daily Digest, covering and linking to the COVID-19 news of the day, local and beyond; you can sign up to have it emailed to you, or read it every evening at CVIndependent.com. Meanwhile, our staff and contributors are continuing to cover the local stories that need to be told—whether those stories involve the pandemic or not.

I’m incredibly proud of the work our writers have been doing. In this issue, you’ll find pieces on everything from the status of The Living Desert, three prominent local museums and tattoo shops to features on a new drive-in concert series and local musicians who have released new music. And’s just the start.

There’s something else you’ll also find in this issue, thank goodness: more advertising.

While we’re still well below where we’d normally be in terms of revenue, more than a half-dozen businesses have signed up for our new small-business advertising special, which we’ll be offering at least through the summer.

I sincerely thank these amazing advertisers— all local small businesses—for their support.

However, there’s someone else’s support we need: yours. To date, we have not laid off or cut any of our writers. We have not skipped any of our monthly print editions. We have not eliminated any features—although some, like our music-venue report, are on hiatus due to a lack of things to report—and in fact, we’ve actually added some new features, such as the aforementioned Daily Digest. All of this, however, costs money.

So … please support our advertisers—and tell them you saw their ad in the Independent.

Consider purchasing our fantastic Coloring the Coachella Valley coloring book, featuring works by local artists and converted Independent file photos. Or if you can spare a few bucks, consider becoming a Supporter of the Independent, so we can keep producing quality local journalism, and making it free to all, both online and in print. If you have questions about any of this, call me at 760904-4208; email me at the address below; or visit CVIndependent.com.

Welcome to the June 2020 print edition of the Coachella Valley Independent. As always, thanks for reading—and please be safe.

—Jimmy Boegle, jboegle@cvindependent.com CVIndependent.com

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OPINION OPINION

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS I

BY ANITA RUFUS

first met Alden West in January when I was helping direct Taking Care of Mimi, a provocative play being produced as a staged reading by the Script to Stage to Screen (S2S2S) theater. West was playing a lead role as a matriarch with dementia whose death leads to a murder investigation—and I couldn’t believe it when West revealed she was 87 years old.

“Eight-seven and a half!” she proudly proclaims.

West, a resident of Sun City in Palm Desert since 2003, was an only child, born in Washington, D.C. “I figure I can claim any state,” she says with a laugh, “and I was raised all over the country: West Virginia, Detroit, Buffalo, Baltimore, Richmond and New York City. I went to so many a friend suggested I audition,” West says. “I got different schools, each with its own teaching a part and was cast as an Eskimo girl, in a full styles, that when I moved from Buffalo to Eskimo costume, doing a hula. I loved it! I did a Baltimore, I found that they had learned little acting before I had my children, and I still script writing in the first-grade, while I remember getting my first stage kiss. hadn’t. I had a little yellow desk at home, and “In college, I got the lead part in my many tears were shed at that desk! freshman year in The Importance of Being “It was a challenge going to schools in big Earnest, and in my sophomore year, in The cities and then in rural areas. I came from Madwoman of Chaillot. In that one, I actually Jackson Heights in New York City, where if had to learn how to whistle! I had always you bumped into somebody, you’d never say been a little shy; I’d cross the street to avoid you were sorry. In rural areas, if you bumped someone I didn’t know well. What I found was into somebody, they’d say they were sorry— that when I’m onstage, I’m the character.” they were very polite.”

West didn’t start acting in earnest until she West’s father worked at Chevrolet, which came to the desert. moved him around a lot; he also served in the “There was a Panhellenic group meeting Navy during World War II. I attended, and at the end, they announced “My mom had married early, at age 18, and an audition was being held for some work was a homemaker until the war, when she at local venues,” West says. “They gave me a went to work,” West says. “I was very close to part, and that gave me confidence. Then Ron my mother, even when I was a teenager, and Celona (artistic director of Coachella Valley I could tell my dad anything. I not only loved Repertory) cast me in Driving Miss Daisy. I got my parents; I liked them. a nomination from the Desert Theatre League “My dad was a college graduate, and after I for that part. graduated high school in Virginia, where we “After that,” she laughs, “I tried out for all had lived since I was about 11 or 12, I went to Cornell, where both my dad and granddad had the old-lady parts!”

West has subsequently earned more gone. I didn’t stay at college, however, because nominations and several wins from the Desert I had promised to marry my first husband, so Theatre League—including the organization’s I left school at Christmas of my sophomore Lifetime Achievement Award. year. If I had stayed in school, I would have “When I went up to get the lifetime award, majored in theater arts, but I left too soon to I said, ‘I feel like this is the gold watch,’ but declare a major.” then I thought, ‘You people probably don’t West proudly proclaims that she had three even know what I’m talking about.’” Again, grandparents in Congress. she laughs heartily.

“My father’s father was a Republican; my West never formally studied acting, mother’s father was a Democrat. Then when although she has taken some courses locally. my mother’s father passed away, his wife She says she can’t do “method acting,” in filled out his term. She had to run for it and which an actor digs into personal experience was elected.” to present a realism-based performance. “I West’s jobs over the years included retail; she also worked as assistant in a dental office. try to think of what is written and who that character is. I try to figure out how that In 1980, she studied for and got her real character would deal with the situation being estate license. She sold real estate until she portrayed. moved to Sun City from Hillsborough, Calif.

“Truth is, it’s getting more difficult to West started acting in high school, in Falls memorize lines. Sometimes, there’s a word Church, Va. I just can’t get, and I have to substitute “There was a local community theater, and CVIndependent.com

Meet Alden West, an actress who’s still treading the boards at the age of 87

Alden West: “I’m lucky to have two of my children living fairly close, and the third has a place in Mexico, so it’s a great place for a getaway.”

one. Lately, I’m noticing that I can only be friends with someone who can complete my sentences,” she says, again with a laugh. “I always have to respond to what’s written and what’s happening onstage in that moment.”

Respond, she does. In the show I helped direct with Script to Stage to Screen, West portrayed an aging woman whose family is at odds about her condition. West’s ability to become that woman and respond to what was happening around her, even when she had no dialogue, was astounding.

West has three children—two daughters and a son. Her second marriage began in 1960 and lasted until her husband died in 2011.

“I’m lucky to have two of my children living fairly close, and the third has a place in Mexico, so it’s a great place for a getaway,” she says.

Does West have a guilty pleasure? “Sweets,” she answers immediately. “My kids tell me I’m indecisive, but I’ll take a cookie over a drink any day.”

How has the current stay-at-home policy affected West? “Being an only child, I’ve had no problem at all,” she says. “I walk every day and do my cardio exercises. I’m used to being alone. I even prefer it sometimes. I’ve learned to adapt to whatever is going on.”

That is a reaction worth emulating.

Anita Rufus is also known as “The Lovable Liberal.” Her show That’s Life airs weekdays on iHubradio, while The Lovable Liberal airs from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays. Email her at Anita@LovableLiberal.com. Know Your Neighbors appears every other Wednesday at CVIndependent.com.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 5

JUNE 2020

OPINION PETS

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION

SUMMER STRESSES T

BY CARLYNNE MCDONNELL

he heat sure rolled in quickly this year!

OK, a confession: I feel this way every year. If we didn’t have the weather to complain about, we would be miserable! I dread the heat—but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

However, the hot weather poses unique challenges to our pets in the Coachella Valley. I reached out to Kimberly Raney, owner of Vet Tech to You, a new mobile veterinary-technician service, and asked her about the most important things a pet owner should think about in the hotter weather.

Four things came to mind, she said: walking on heated surfaces; heat exhaustion; animals in cars; and other animal threats, like coyotes and snakes.

Walking on heated surfaces: Dr. Pia Salk offers a “rule of paw” for judging safe pavement then others: Puppies and seniors, dogs with temperatures: Touch any outside surface for flat faces or longer hair, and dogs with medical seven to eight seconds. If it causes pain, it’s not issues are at a higher risk. right for any animal to be on that surface. Sand, Animals in cars: California Penal Code rocks, concrete and asphalt can get incredibly 597.7 prohibits leaving an animal in an unathot—at lower outside temperatures than you tended vehicle if, by doing so, you “endanger may expect. Dr. Salk pointed out that asphalt, the health or well-being of the animal.” Accordon a 77-degree, sunny day, can reach surface temperatures as high as 125 degrees. We should ing to the Shouse California Law Group, the criteria used to determine whether the health also remember that outside air temperatures and well-being of an animal in a car is endando not necessarily correlate to outside surface gered include the weather (too hot or too cold), temperatures. Tender paws burn easily, so early ventilation, whether the animal has food or mornings are the coolest times to let your pet water, and any other circumstance that could out or take your pet for a walk. reasonably be expected to cause suffering.

Heat exhaustion: Do you ever watch your In the Coachella Valley, police will come and dog or cat lie down on the hot pavement, and break a car window to rescue an animal if they think, how can that possibly be good? They do believe it is in danger. seem to know their limits—but we may not The Palm Springs Animal Shelter posts heat know their limits when we take them out with warnings at www.psanimalshelter.org/ us for exercise. pet-safety, regarding both asphalt and car Heat exhaustion is very real for dogs, and safety. The information is a matter of life the signs are easy to observe. According to the and death. With an outside temperature of American Kennel Club Canine Health Foun75 degrees, inside a car, it takes 10 minutes dation, the first sign of heat exhaustion is to reach 94 degrees, and 30 minutes to reach excessive panting. Panting is the way dogs cool 104 degrees. At an outside temperature of 95 themselves, but excessive panting means dandegrees, it takes a car 10 minutes to get to 114 ger. Other early signs include lethargy and less degrees, and 30 minutes to get to 129 degrees. responsiveness to commands.

Leaving an animal in a car during the summer The Humane Society says that potential is a death sentence for the animal—and could/ heat-stroke signs include excessive drooling, should be a jail sentence for the person responglazed eyes, dizziness, a lack of coordination sible for that animal. and even a loss of consciousness. If you susCoyotes: Almost everyone has seen a coyote pect that your animal has reached this point, cool them down, and call or take them to a vet. in a surprising urban place—in neighborhoods, on roadways and near businesses. The most Some dogs are more prone to heat exhaustion

Make sure heat and dangerous animals aren’t threats to your pets bizarre place I ever saw a coyote was crossing the street in Orange County at the Brea Mall.

Here in the Coachella Valley, we have a large amount of undeveloped land, and we are surrounded by deserts, mountains and forests.

Coyotes hunt small animals—and will kill a cat or a smaller dog for food. Larger dogs are vulnerable between January and March— breeding season, when coyotes may defend their turf.

Leaving your domestic pets outside and not watching them carefully can make them easy prey—and sometimes, even watching them carefully doesn’t help. Coyotes, as sorry as you may feel for them, are natural killers. If they can eat your pets, they won’t hunt. If they aren’t hunting, they are invading civilization, which is dangerous to them.

How do you stop this? Leash your animals.

Never let them out alone, regardless of the time of day. Coyotes can jump fences with great ease, walk on walls, climb your roof and even dig under your fence.

Rattlesnakes: I dread this time of year, because rattlesnakes are out; baby rattlers are

around; and I live in fear for my pets. We are vigilant about keeping areas clear and watching for snakes carefully.

The Animal Medical Center of Southern California says that dogs are 20 times more likely to be bitten than humans—and 25 times more likely to die if bitten. Dogs are naturally curious and don’t always know to stay away when they see a snake in the wild—especially if your dog likes to play. Rattlesnake-avoidance training is often available through veterinarians and animal shelters.

Never put your pet’s life in jeopardy—even for a minute. You will regret it forever if something happens on your watch. They are your love and your responsibility. Contact animal shelters and veterinarians for information. Be prepared, and treat your pets like the important part of your life that they are.

Carlynne McDonnell is the founder and CEO of Barkee LaRoux’s House of Love Animal Sanctuary, a senior animal sanctuary and hospice in the Coachella Valley. She has been rescuing animals since she was 4 years old.

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JUNE 2020

NEWS

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS

THE IMPORTANCE OF A PLAN A

by kevin fitzgerald

lthough the gates remained closed at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert as of our press deadline, anyone could hop onto social media to see some of the unusual breeds of animals that call this desert enclave home—all while learning from the videos, photos and descriptive content developed by the park’s team.

The aim is to inform visitors about the daily lives of this nonprofit zoo’s residents—while inviting visitors to make a much-needed donation.

“We have 450 animals here who depend upon us,” said Allen Monroe, The Living Desert’s president and CEO, during a recent phone interview. “We have a commitment to them, and we’re the next couple of months. This way, if there fortunate enough to have a great animal-care are supply-chain interruptions, we’ll be able team here, and a veterinary team to help supto go forward with our operations without port them. external resources. This is part of what a mod“Our first action (when the shelter-at-home ern-day zoo does. These animals are here as orders were announced) was to make sure ambassadors for their species, and we’ve got that the needs of the animals were going to continue to be met for whatever length of time really strong commitments for their care. We have to make sure that we can accommodate we were forced to be closed to the public. We those, no matter what the situation might be.” ensured that we had months of different kinds Part of guaranteeing the safety of these of foods supplied to us, and all the veterinary ambassadors from desert regions all over the medicines that we could project needing over

The Living Desert recently ran an online poll to name an African wild dog pup.

CVIndependent.com

The Living Desert prepared for a disaster; now the Palm Desert zoo is getting ready to safely reopen

world is managing the financial challenges brought on by the massive economic downturn that’s a result of the pandemic.

“Once the county health department closed down our park as a gathering place, our first concern was on a financial basis,” Monroe said. “We rely on gate-generated revenue for the majority of our operating expense budget.

Unfortunately, we were at the start of spring break, our busiest time of year. It’s when we make enough money to help us get through the times in the summer when, because of the heat and the (drop in) tourist traffic, it is actually a money-losing time for us.

“Fortunately, we’ve practiced a number of scenarios (that focus on us) continuing our business operations. We have drills on a regular basis for everything from fires to earthquakes and things like that—although we never planned for a pandemic, obviously.

I don’t think anybody had. Still, we could use some of those practice exercises to help us figure out what we needed to do in the short term, and then we could start thinking about what business operations will look like while we’re closed, and then—as soon as the county gives us the green light—how we can find a way to open back up again in a safe fashion for our guests and our staff.”

Unfortunately, one of The Living Desert’s first actions was laying off about two-thirds of the park’s workforce, mostly guest-services personnel.

“That allowed us to focus in on our core team of people who are integral in our animal-care departments and business operations,” Monroe said. “We’re like many businesses in a similar situation to us, but they can close their doors and turn off the lights. They may still have to pay rent and such, but (they don’t have) a large operational expense”— namely, taking care of the resident animal population and more than 1,200 acres of park grounds.

Fortunately, The Living Desert made preparations for the worst.

“The good news is that, over the last number of years, we’ve been able to develop an endowment fund that helps support The Living Desert,” Monroe said. “So we have relatively strong cash reserves that would get us through the next months and up to a year if we have to. That’s if we stay with just our current core team of staff people who are necessary for us to take care of the plants and the animals and the mechanical systems here in the park.

“We’ve got months and months of supplies on hand now—and even (planning for)

a worst-case scenario, we’ve already started planting some lettuce. We have a horticultural department here, and we feed out lettuce as a treat to some of our animals. Our giraffes are really fond of lettuce. Also, we’ve got a large walk-in freezer that’s stacked to the brim with the different meat products that we feed to our carnivore animals.

“I used to say that we’ve planned for everything, but this virus has thrown the whole world into a new scenario of what’s possible. I think, though, that we’re in good shape.”

What most concerns Monroe during this period of wait-and-see?

“It’s making sure that we can provide a safe environment for our guests when they return,” Monroe said. “We have a COVID-19 preparedness plan that we’ve been putting in place. It specifies all the new standards for how we’re going to operate a business that (traditionally) encourages people to gather—whether it’s acrylic shields in front of cash registers, or making sure there are adequate cueing areas where people can be far enough away from each other so that they feel safe in coming back to our facility.”

While visitor-safety concerns will be crucial when the zoo reopens, comfort and convenience will be important considerations as well.

For example, Monroe said The Living Desert is working on plans to move away from multi-car trams in favor of smaller vehicles that hold just one family.

“This way, guests who need an assist in moving around the park will still have an option, and by keeping it to one family, they’ll get an opportunity to see the park while not being exposed to other people unnecessarily.”

What about the educational experiences that have long been featured aspects of The Living Desert?

“We have been talking about modifying some aspects of our park. … In the past, we’ve had a Wildlife Wonder Show that we do in an amphitheater that has a capacity of about 300 people sitting shoulder to shoulder. It now seems likely that will not be the kind of event that is conducive to good health, at least for the immediate future. So we’re talking about ways to integrate spacing into that, or potentially just closing that aspect down for a while.

Instead, we can just let people enjoy other parts of the park. We’ve got these great botanical gardens that have lots of really nice trails, and opportunities to walk through different desert habitats. That will be a chance for people to get back outside, get a little exercise and re-connect with nature in a safe fashion.”

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 7

JUNE 2020

NEWS

Until that reopening day comes—hopefully sooner rather than later—Monroe recommends people visit the zoo’s social-media outlets. While people enjoy the original video and photo content—like the entertaining weekly update videos created by Animal Care Director RoxAnna Breitigan—they can help support the park by creating a fundraiser to support the park’s operations “When we were forced to shut down,” Monroe said, “we established a fundraising campaign called Mission—Animal Care. Now our supporters can, through a variety of different mechanisms, help us with just a few dollars or sometimes with thousands of dollars towards the care and support of the animals. One of the things that’s been really heartwarming is that, in sort of a spontaneous fashion, dozens and dozens of people who, instead of getting presents for their birthdays, have (done Facebook fundraisers) to have their friends give $10 to $15 that goes into a pot that then helps us provide our educational and conservation programming, as well as take care of our animals. Also, there are often comments made by the people who make donations, and they tell us what an important part of their lives (The Living Desert has been), because they came here with their parents, and now they have kids of their own.

It’s nice to see that kind of multi-generational

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS connection that we’ve been able to provide and that generates wonderful memories.”

Meanwhile, Monroe and his team are working toward the day the zoo can reopen.

“The good news about The Living Desert is that, obviously, it’s an outdoor facility, and we’ve got a great deal of room for social distancing,” he said. “It’s not like people are in a movie theater sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with somebody. So I think the nature of the product that we offer our guests will be of interest to them, and they’ll feel relatively safe going back out, once they get the green light from the governor. What we don’t know is how deep will the recession be. What amount of discretionary income might people have? But we’re prepared to staff back up as a number of guests come rolling back in, and hopefully sooner rather than later, we’ll get back up to what the attendance numbers were prior to when the COVID-19 virus hit.

“The big question is: How long will we be shut down? And when will we be able to re-open and start generating revenue again?

Those are the main questions that all the businesses in the Coachella Valley are asking themselves.”

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COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 9

JUNE 2020

NEWS

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS

TWO ODD DISTRICTS A

by kevin fitzgerald

fter a legal process that took nearly a year, the city of Palm Desert has finally moved to a district-based city voting system … sort of.

On April 30, the Palm Desert City Council—meeting online due to the COVID-19 pandemic—voted 5-0 to enact the new system. One large district, including the vast majority of the city, will be represented by four council members, while the tentatively named Civic Center Core District will have one representative.

The City Council had also planned to adopt a ranked-voting system in advance of this year’s city elections, but instead decided to put that off for two years due to the uncertainty created by do we improve the city? We didn’t feel that the pandemic. draining the city funds through a long, drawnKarina Quintanilla is one of the two plaintiffs who sued the city in June of last year, out lawsuit was going to deliver any benefit.

And now I’m even happier about that (decision alleging that the city’s at-large voting system on our part), because we couldn’t have violated the California Voting Rights Act of 2001. Similar suits have forced cities across the anticipated that there would be this global state, including other Coachella Valley cities, to pandemic nor the economic impact.

“So now we’ve come full circle, and we’re move from at-large to district-based voting in OK with postponing the ranked-choice voting. recent years. During a recent phone interview, The city has much more important things to Quintanilla—who fought for a five-district do, like taking care of its residents, rather than system throughout the process—said her making that shift in the electoral process.” feelings on Palm Desert’s new voting system While Quintanilla said she views the new were decidedly mixed. voting system as just one step in an evolving “I cannot say that I’m satisfied,” Quintanilla process, Palm Desert’s council members spoke said. “I can say that I’m disappointed that we as if the process was complete—even though did not get the five districts. But I am pleased the city, at the least, will need to revisit the that we’ve started a conversation. When map after the results of the 2020 Census are Lorraine (Salas, the co-plaintiff) and I were released. faced with the decision (whether to settle the “This has been a long, difficult and lawsuit), we knew that it’s very difficult to get challenging process,” councilmember Sabby things right the first time. But our hope was to Jonathan said prior to the final vote. “I want generate a conversation—a platform to launch to thank all of the residents who came in and forward to the five (districts option). That’s offered their input, opinion and perspective. It something that I feel we did achieve, so I feel did help shape the final result. I think this was very pleased with that component.“What we a situation where there were a lot of competing really wanted, though, was the ability to have pros and cons, and benefits and downsides and districts, because that would allow people to upsides, and at the end of the day, I’m hopeful, relate directly to one representative.” and I believe that we crafted a method for Quintanilla and Salas agreed to a settlement moving forward that creates tremendous balance with the city in November, launching a process for all of the concerns that have been expressed.” in which city residents were asked to offer The Independent asked Doug Johnson, input on the new voting system. At the first the president of the National Demographics public presentation on the matter in January, Corporation—the company hired to help with city representatives made the two-district the map-making process—what the city would system seem like a foregone conclusion, before need to do once the Census results are released. taking a more open and honest approach in “Following the release of the 2020 Census subsequent meetings. Still, throughout the data, the city will have to revisit the adopted entire map-creation process, not one fivemap,” Johnson wrote in an emailed response. district map was offered to the City Council “If the current districts remain reasonably by the National Demographics Corporation, a population-balanced and in compliance with company hired by the city to guide the mapthe Federal Voting Rights Act, the revisiting creation effort—despite the fact that a fivecould be as simple as affirming the same lines. district outcome was the stated preference of But the council does have the option to revise Quintanilla and Salas. the lines even if population-balanced. It is, “Our perspective and our desire was to however, highly likely that the 2020 Census simply make a civic impact and have more data will determine the districts are not people fully represented on the council,” Quintanilla said. “We were just looking at: How sufficiently population-balanced, necessitating

The Palm Desert City Council’s new paradigm—one part of the city is represented by one person; the rest is represented by four

adjustments to at least bring them into compliance with federal law. California’s ‘FAIR MAPS Act’ sets the minimum process the city has to follow for any post-2020 Census revisiting of the districts, including some timeline rules and a requirement for at least four public hearings or workshops.”

Beyond any changes the city may make after the Census data is released, there is always the possibility of another California Voting Rights Act lawsuit against the city and its unconventional new district map.

“According to the settlement agreement,” Quintanilla said, “Lorraine and I are barred from suing the city on this issue. So another resident will have to take over the helm and move it into phase two after the Census is over.”

Quintanilla, however, expressed optimism that the city would be open to input from residents moving forward.

“I had the opportunity to speak with councilwoman Kathleen Kelly, who was very gracious and very thoughtful,” Quintanilla said.

“Moving forward, the ability to collaborate will

The final Palm Desert district map (cropped).

make the city better.”

That olive-branch moment seemed to have resonated with Kelly, Palm Desert’s current mayor pro tem.

“I want, very enthusiastically and on behalf of the city, to thank the plaintiffs for collaborating to assess the appropriate implementation date for ranked-choice voting,” she said at the April 30 meeting. “They’ve shown a true interest in what’s best for the community, and we’re highly appreciative.”

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JUNE 2020

NEWS INFRASTRUCTURE COMING W

The state funds projects to bring safe water and fire protection to two east valley communities and a Thermal elementary school

by kevin fitzgerald

ater infrastructure is finally coming to three underserved portions of the eastern Coachella Valley—if state budget cuts don’t get in the way.

After nearly six years of work by Castulo Estrada, the rest of the Coachella Valley Water District board and Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, the water district announced in early May that the State Water Resources Control Board had approved two construction grants, totaling about $3.3 million. The funds will be used to complete three projects that will bring safe, reliable water service and fire protection to two disadvantaged communities and one elementary school in the eastern Coachella Valley.

“The reason we put out the press release was budgets within the state of California—are because the financial agreement was executed,” those (grant applications) that will come up in next year’s budget process. These (projects) said Estrada, the CVWD board’s vice president, have already been encumbered. So, I don’t have during a recent phone interview. “Once an any worry about these projects stalling.” agreement has been executed, it’s a contract The Independent reached out to the SWRCB between the state of California and the CVWD to verify that the grant funding was, in fact, for the execution of the project (for which) completely secure. Public information officer the money had been requested, in this case Blair Robertson responded via email: “The the three east valley projects. That allows us bottom line is that there is no irrevocable to move forward with bidding the project, so commitment. That said, we are not aware of that we can move on to construction. We’ve the funding for the Coachella projects being initiated that (bidding) with money from the proposed for cuts by the governor.”

CVWD’s own budget. I believe we’ve begun According to the SWRCB, all grants are advertising, and these three projects are being subject to a set of terms and conditions, the presented as a package. The same contractor 18th of which states: “The State Water Board’s would construct the necessary works for obligation to disburse funds is contingent connecting these systems the public system. upon the availability of sufficient funds to The last I heard, we were shooting to award permit the disbursements provided for herein. the contract sometime in July, and start If sufficient funds are not available for any construction sometime between the end of reason, including but not limited to failure of July and the fall.” the federal or state government to appropriate Garcia, who chairs of the Assembly funds necessary for disbursement of funds, Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, the State Water Board shall not be obligated welcomed the funding in a news release. to make any disbursements to the recipient “Together with partners like the Coachella under this agreement. … If any disbursements Valley Water District, we have been leading due the recipient under this agreement a concerted effort to address the eastern are deferred because sufficient funds are Coachella Valley’s severe water disparities,” he unavailable, it is the intention of the State said in the release. “Last year, we focused our Water Board that such disbursement will be legislative endeavors (on) creating a Safe and made to the recipient when sufficient funds Affordable Drinking Water Fund to ensure do become available, but this intention is not that California dedicated investments towards binding.” long-standing water infrastructure needs Once the connections are built between the of underserved areas like ours. I am proud CVWD’s existing water-delivery infrastructure to see our advocacy and hard work result and the Oasis Gardens Mobile Home Park, the in these state grants that will go a long way Thermal Mutual community and the Westside in supporting our goal of improving water Elementary School, the district will add connectivity and public health for our families roughly 200 new customers. While, without and students.” a doubt, these projects are necessary, the However, the good news arrived just as the Independent asked Estrada if he was concerned state and country were falling into the deepest the new clients may have difficulty keeping and most-sudden recession in history, thanks up with the monthly water-service charges, to the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked Estrada especially given the economic downturn. if he was concerned state budget cuts could “That hasn’t been a concern,” he said. possibly negate the funding commitment.

“Obviously, before the project moves forward “No, these monies have been accounted for,” and the monies are appropriated, there is a he said. “But what I think might be at risk— need to enter into consolidation agreements. not just for water-related projects, but for all CVIndependent.com

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS

Castulo Estrada, the Coachella Valley Water District board’s vice president, said he didn’t think state budget cuts would jeopardize the projects. Construction could begin as early as July. Kevin Fitzgerald/CVI file

There were a number of workshops put together to engage the community and let residents know exactly what it means to get hooked up. Information about bills, and things like that, are explained up front, so that there are no surprises and so that there’s buy-in. All of that took place. Our water (comes) at a very affordable rate, and I think folks are happy when they’re able to connect to our system.

I think that their concern about not having access to safe drinking water for themselves, and their families and their kids, outweighs any concern that they might have about a bill.”

While the financial crisis is obviously a huge concern, Estrada said he was confident other needed infrastructure projects in the eastern Coachella Valley would receive strong consideration from the state whenever funding is available.

“When the new funding called the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund was created and signed into law last year … (the legislation) created the fund, but it also directed the SWRCB to put together an advisory group,

because there was no (statewide) plan. What gets funded? What is the expenditure count?

What are the priorities? … It’s made up of 19 people from across California, and I’m one of them. I think we’re very well represented in Sacramento now. We are at the table, and we’re constantly engaging with the SWRCB and their staff. Personally, I now know the SWRCB members in Sacramento, and I’m very happy to know them. We’re in constant communication to the point where (the SWRCB) advised us that … since we have (over the last several years developed detailed) water- and sewer-project master plans (identifying roughly 40 water- and 80 sewer-hookup projects in the east valley) that total multi-millions of dollars in infrastructure investments, they want to help us enter into bigger financial agreements (with the state).

So rather than doing small agreements almost on a per-project basis, the next thing that we’re working on is an application for a group of water-related projects that would require a $20 million grant.”

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 11

JUNE 2020

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COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 13

JUNE 2020

NEWS

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JUNE ASTRONOMY M

As summer arrives, shift your Planets and BrighttoStars Evening Mid-Twilight sky viewings the in mornings— For June, 2020 whenThisnaked-eye planets sky chart is drawn for latitude shine 34 degrees north, but may be used in southern U.S. and northern Mexico.

N

By Robert Victor

idday on June 20 (12:48 p.m. in Palm Springs), the sun passes only 10 degrees south of overhead in the Coachella Valley. Summer officially begins at 2:44 p.m., when the sun is exactly over the Tropic of Cancer, east-northeast of Hawaii.

My advice: Avoid the intense light and heat of midday! Get out during the cool predawn, mostly between 90 minutes and one hour before sunrise, to enjoy the lineup of three or four naked-eye planets.

On mornings in June, Jupiter and Saturn will catch your eye, because they’re only 5-6 degrees apart, drifting across the sky from the south to southwest—Jupiter is the brighter, westernmost member of the pair—while moving little among the stars near the border of Sagittarius and Capricornus. Mars moves from Aquarius into crescent is easy to see with low power. Watch it Pisces in June, yet strangely stays fixed in the thicken from 5 percent on June 15, through 10 southeast those 30 mornings, while the zodiac percent on June 21, to 15 percent on June 27, background seems to scroll westward behind and 20 percent on July 2, while shrinking in the brightening red planet. apparent size as it recedes from Earth.

Venus adds impressive brilliance to the As for stars, the Summer Triangle of Vega, predawn planetary panorama by mid-June. In Altair and Deneb passes overhead, chasing Taurus, it hangs in the east-northeast, 9 degrees Arcturus and Antares below the western below the Pleiades star cluster for two weeks, horizon. Fomalhaut, mouth of the Southern June 14-27, as both rise a few minutes earlier Fish, approaches its highest position, in the each morning, into a darker predawn sky. south.

Mars, brightening from magnitude 0.0 to The waning moon, in gibbous phase, skips -0.5, is in the southeast, 41 to 61 degrees east past Jupiter and Saturn on the mornings of of Saturn. On June 5, Mars lies directly ahead June 8 and 9. A few days later, the moon— of Spaceship Earth in our pursuit of the red near last-quarter phase and about half planet, and later in the month displays its illuminated—appears near Mars on June 12 minimum gibbous phase, 84 percent full. and 13. On the morning of June 18, look for Welcome Venus! After passing inferior Venus 10-11 degrees to the lower left of an 8 conjunction, nearly between the Earth and percent crescent moon. On June 19, look for sun, on June 3, Venus climbs quickly into the the last, 3 percent old moon, just 2 degrees morning sky, to upper right of the rising sun. to the lower left of Venus. It might be too

By June 13, it’s easy to see with the unaided difficult to spot Aldebaran in bright twilight eye, but very low, at morning mid-twilight. that morning, within 5 degrees to the lower Even a few days before that date, you can left of Venus and 3 degrees to the lower right use binoculars to pick out Venus’ very thin of the moon. The moon drops out, but Venus crescent in a brighter sky. While Venus is less and Aldebaran get higher each morning. than 15 degrees from the sun before June 13, From June 21-24, the four planets Venus, protect your eyes by blocking the sun with a Mars, Saturn and Jupiter span a minimum arc building, or looking before sunrise. By June of 130 degrees across the sky. Spectacular for 15, Venus rises an hour before the sun, and by binoculars: On June 30, Venus, entering the June 30, two hours before.

Hyades star cluster, will be within 4.5 degrees Telescopic views: Enjoy Jupiter, with two to the upper right of Aldebaran. dark equatorial cloud belts and four bright June evenings: Mercury on June 1 is of satellites discovered by Galileo; Saturn’s rings magnitude +0.2 and near peak altitude for now tipped 21 degrees from edge-on; and this apparition, low in the west-northwest Mars’ frozen carbon dioxide south polar cap, evening twilight, below the “Gemini Arch” of now extensive while it is mid-spring in that Procyon, Pollux, Castor and Capella. The hemisphere. Syrtis Major, the largest dark innermost planet fades to +1.1 by June 10, marking on Mars, first seen in 1659, will be when it’s 12 degrees below the sinking Twins, well-placed nearest to the center of the planet’s and completes an isosceles triangle with them. disk on June 23 at 2:52 a.m.; June 24 at 3:32 Thereafter, Mercury quickly fades. a.m.; June 25 at 4:12 a.m.; and June 26 at Regulus is high in the west-southwest to 4:52 a.m. To see these details on Mars more west; Spica and Arcturus pass through their than three months before its closest approach highest points in the south; and Antares; past requires high magnification, but Venus’ opposition, ascends in the southeast. Altair

June's evening sky chart.

ROBERT D. MILLER

Deneb

Capella

Vega 18

15

Mercury Castor Pollux

Altair

E

W Arcturus

Procyon Regulus

Spica

Antares

Evening mid-twilight occurs

rises north when of east the Summer Sunto is complete 9O below horizon.

June 1: 46and minutes afterfarther sunset. north, to Triangle with Vega Deneb its upper left. 15: 47 " " " 30: 46 " " " At the end of June, in the east-southeast, Jupiter rises a bit less than an hour after sunset, and Saturn a bit more than an hour, about 20 minutes apart. You can spot them higher in the southeast later in evening; highest in south near 3 a.m.; or in the southwest as dawn brightens.

Waxing moon in the evening: Catch the gibbous moon near Spica on June 1, and a nearly full moon close to Antares on the night of June 4-5. The moon returns to the evening sky on June 22 as a thin crescent low the westnorthwest at dusk, to the lower left of Pollux and Castor. Find a fatter crescent moon near Regulus on June 24 and 25. On Saturday, June 27, the moon nears first-quarter phase, half full and 90 degrees from the sun, and is ideal for showing details through binoculars and

S

Stereographic Projection

telescopes. On the next two find Map by evenings, Robert D. Miller Spica near the gibbous moon.

The Sky Calendar now has more than 3,000 subscribers nationwide. From its first issue in October 1968, without interruption through August 2012, I designed and co-produced the monthly Sky Calendar for Michigan State University’s Abrams Planetarium. I now do about three year. For more information visit www.abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar.

The star parties hosted by the Astronomical Society of the Desert are likely to be cancelled through at least June. To check for the eventual resumption of activities, visit www.astrorx.org.

Wishing you clear skies!

Robert Victor was a staff astronomer at Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. He is now retired and enjoys providing informal sky watching opportunities for folks in and around Palm Springs.

CVIndependent.com

14 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT

JUNE 2020

Your Food Has Arrived.

The pandemic reality for restaurant-app delivery drivers—less bathroom access; better business; more racism

By Jimmy Boegle For one Uber Eats and Grubhub driver, the pandemic has led to more work— but she worries about health and cleanliness, because she can’t access many restaurant bathrooms.

Another Grubhub driver feels safer, thanks to the introduction of contactless delivery—while a DoorDash driver feels threatened by anti-Asian racism, stirred up by certain politicians based on the genesis of SARS-CoV-2.

The Independent recently talked to three Coachella Valley-based restaurantdelivery-app drivers about their jobs, and how things have changed since COVID-19 arrived. Here are their stories, in their own words, edited only for space and clarity.

Fabiana Bragagnolo I drive for Uber Eats and Grubhub; I’ve been driving since December. I was new to the area, and everything was working really well.

With the pandemic, as soon as it started, I had more work. But then the whole dynamic changed because of the security measures.

I used to wash my hands before deliveries.

(Before), I was going to the restaurant restrooms, and they were very welcoming.

Then all of a sudden, this stopped. It’s not in all the restaurants; some restaurants still have them open. But the majority, especially in Palm Springs—they’re completely locked. You cannot access them.

There two things: One, obviously, I cannot wash my hands. I initially made my own

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hand sanitizer with alcohol and essential oils, because I couldn’t find any. Second, we are in the desert; we’re supposed to drink a lot of water. We may have to use the restroom at some point. I have to be careful, because I tend to have kidney infections.

One day last week, my kidneys started hurting, and that obviously affected my whole day. I called one of the restaurants in Palm Springs before picking up food to see if I could use the restroom. To be honest, I was almost in tears, because I was in a lot of pain, and I was frustrated. The staff said, “No, let me ask the manager.” The manager said, “No, we’re not supposed to.” It was frustrating.

I did that delivery, and then I went home.

I live in Desert Hot Springs right now, and this job takes you wherever. It’s affecting me physically. It’s not safe for us; it’s not safe for the customers we deliver the food to, because there’s no washing our hands. Hand sanitizer is fine, but it’s better to wash your hands.

The other day, I went to KFC, and they said, “The restroom is closed.” When I looked at the Grubhub policies online, it says clearly that we are supposed to be using the restrooms. It’s under the COVID-19 guidelines. But Grubhub does not respond to my inquiries. Uber Eats hasn’t, either. It’s, “Sorry, we’ll investigate.” But they don’t. I was talking to a couple of other drivers the other day in Palm Springs; they said the same things. But these are two guys; for guys, it’s easier. They can stop (to use the bathroom)

anywhere. (Laughs.) But they said it’s becoming a bit of an issue for them, too.

At times, there has been lot of work— especially early on. It got to the point that I refused jobs because it was too many. Lately, there’s been less work, and tips are a bit lower, too, but it’s all in waves.

Yesterday was a good day. I did only four deliveries, and the customers were very nice.

A few people were thanking me for the job that we do. There was a kid in Desert Hot Springs with autism. He came out, and he was the happiest person. However, we don’t get to meet all of the customers anymore, because we have the option to leave an order contactless.

I really enjoy this job. It’s just becoming frustrating. Because I’m new to the area, it’s nice to see all these beautiful spaces. I’m Italian. I was in Detroit before. I lived in Los Angeles, and then I lived for three years in Detroit. I wanted to go back to L.A., but it’s so expensive; I can’t afford it. I’ve always loved this area, the Coachella Valley. I like art. I’m kind of an artist. I love the weather.

It’s the landscape, the environment, and the views. So I drove down from Detroit in November. That’s why I do this job as well: I couldn’t find much work, and it’s pretty much paying the bills for now, so it’s good.

You have your own hours, which is good, because I’m doing a degree online, so it fits well with my schedule.

Alex Callego I currently just do Doordash, and I have been driving since December. Obviously, there’s been a huge increase in the demand. I drive here in the desert, and I sometimes drive in other places outside of the desert—in San Diego, particularly. Sometimes I’ll work out there for a week. The adherence to wearing masks and social distancing has been good, for the most part, out here in the desert.

People tend to be OK with me asking for zerocontact delivery.

At the very beginning of the pandemic, people were a lot more generous. They knew how heavy this whole thing was, and how much of a burden it is on the economy. At least here in the desert, people were being

Food-delivery photos courtesy of Alex Callego.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 15

JUNE 2020

generous. I was getting $20, $30, $40 tips.

This was incredible to me. I was like, thank you. They see the risk that you’re taking when you’re driving and having to be in contact with people—although to be quite honest, delivery is probably the lowest amount of risk that anybody can take as far as anybody “essential.” You’re not having to be cooped up in a building with co-workers, where you’re not sure where they’ve been. I’m just by myself, and the most I have to do is walk into a restaurant and pick up the food.

As for the difference between driving in the desert versus San Diego: Obviously, different counties have different mandates for masks and sheltering in place. I believe that Palm Springs was one of the first places to require it. As far as masks are concerned … (early on in San Diego), I was always wearing masks, and I got these weird looks from people— even kind of mocking looks. It was almost culture shock to have these huge differences in how people were reacting. For me, I believe the more protected you are, the better, so why not take the precaution and be on the safe side? Wear a mask!

As far as the generosity goes—it’s like old money versus new money. A lot of elderly people, they’ve been through certain things, and they’ve seen hardship. For a lot of them, it feels right to reach out and be generous. … Also, here in the desert, we tend to understand (the importance of tipping), because most of us work in hospitality or have friends who work in hospitality, whereas a friend of mine who lives in San Diego made this comment: “Yeah, it’s the city of champagne dreams on beer money.” You see a lot of young people who have money, but they’re not willing to be generous. I had to do a delivery in La Jolla. I drove through all these hills, putting my car through the paces, and this house was overlooking the ocean. For a sandwich that cost the guy $12, from this mom-and-pop deli in University City, I was getting a delivery fee of $6. For a tip, he gave me nothing. …

That’s a whole hour; I could have, here in the desert, made $20 in just 30 minutes. So it’s very defeating when you have that happen.

For the most part, I feel safe. There is still that slight anxiety where I feel that I have to keep constantly washing my hands. I have a

spray bottle of liquid sanitizer where I can spray down my steering wheel and all of the surfaces that I touch. I even have a bar of soap in my car just in case I need to wash my hands somewhere, and I wear masks all the time. But most of my anxiety stems from the stigmas created by the coronavirus and its origin. For me, being Asian, seeing (discrimination) on the news and the media, and seeing all these physical attacks—I’m Filipino, but we get lumped in together, and it’s very unfair. It’s not fair for Chinese people to have that at all, either. Racism is not good. But that’s one of those things I always see. The president should be a person who denounces hatred and racism. Even though he says he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body, he has yet to denounce racism publicly.

I’ve noticed a lot of side eye. I’ve seen certain people (look at me strangely), especially working-class people, which is sad, because working-class areas are where most of the Asians are. I was at a Chipotle picking up an order, and I was going to my car. This other car pulled up; two guys were in there. The passenger got out and was going into Chipotle, but the driver was sitting in the car. He was looking at me, and there was definite disgust in his eyes. He was looking at me—with hatred, almost. I could feel it. And I was like, “I don’t even know you; why are you looking at me like this?” And he would not stop looking at me.

(The lack of bathroom access) has not really been a problem. Like I said, I always carry around sanitizer, so I feel pretty safe if I can’t wash my hands. When I go to a restaurant, if the restroom is available, I will use the restroom and wash my hands before I exit the building. If it’s not, I look for a sanitizing station and use that.

And if they don’t have either of those, I immediately use my hand sanitizer. I don’t touch my face anymore. I even won’t eat in my car anymore.

DoorDash is being very conscientious about how they take care of drivers—making sure that their drivers have the proper personal protective equipment. You can order face masks; you can order gloves; you can order hand sanitizer, which is great. It’s very important that we’re protected, and I’m glad that DoorDash is making the effort. And as

Contactless delivery makes driving a little bit safer—not having to deal with customers oneon-one. You never know what’s going to happen when somebody comes up and opens the door, you know?

RESTROOM CLOSED

far as compensation goes, I’ve noticed a little bit of a bump up. They do these things called peak hours, and they’ll add an extra dollar or two. I’ve been pretty happy with how they’ve dealt with all of this, for the most part. I can’t speak about any other delivery companies.

There are many of them now, but, yeah, I really hope that this is a wake-up call to all industries in general to treat people better.

Ricky Reidling I currently work for Grubhub, but I’ve worked for most of the other ones as well: I’ve been doing this off and on for 3 1/2 or four years.

Some of the apps are better than others, as far as how they are set up. With Grubhub, the people tend to tip better, versus some of the other ones. For me, it’s a better app.

(Since the pandemic began), well, it’s been quite interesting. I’m sure a lot of the drivers are nervous. For Grubhub, you get to go in and, if you’re lucky, pick shifts that you get to work every week. They would set a time—say, on Saturdays—when you would go in and pick shifts. Most of the time, by the time you got in to pick your shifts, there were no shifts

available. Now, it’s literally shifts available every day, because I think there are a lot of drivers not wanting to drive right now.

(Grubhub) has made things easier, as far as no-contact delivery. They have it in the app now where you can request, or the customer can request, for you to leave the food outside the door. Some of the restaurants are doing curbside service, where they actually will bring the food out to you, or if you go in, they are all masked and gloved. Of course, we have to be masked to go into any of the restaurants as well.

As for tipping, it fluctuates. I’ve been lucky with a lot of customers, but I turned on the app today for just a little bit, and one of the customers didn’t even tip. When you look at some of these apps, (customers) want you to go drive a few miles to pick up their food for $3, and use your gas—and then for them to not even tip you, there’s really no advantage to accept an order like that, because it’s not worth it. It’s not worth the wear and tear on your car, the gas, the mileage or anything. … On some of the apps, you do know what you’re being tipped in advance. On Grubhub, you do know what you’re being tipped in advance. … Postmates, to me, is one of the worst, because you don’t even know what your tip is sometimes until a day or two later.

I feel rather safe, because I’m very cautious.

I wear my mask when I’m out, and I wash my hands. Sanitizer is always in my car.

Anytime I make a delivery, immediately, I sanitize my hands. I’m wiping down my phone constantly—and not having to make any contact with the customers, that makes it a lot easier.

(Regarding a lack of access to restaurant bathrooms): I never really had to come across that issue. I live in Palm Springs. It’s not that busy on the Grubhub app for me. I can go out and deal with (the delivery), come back, and it can be another 30 minutes, an hour or even longer before I get another delivery.

Like I said, (contactless delivery) makes driving a little bit safer—not having to deal with customers one-on-one. You never know what’s going to happen when somebody comes up and opens the door, you know? I like no-contact delivery. Even if COVID wasn’t going on, I’d like that idea. … I hope that the no-contact delivery sticks, because I don’t see any issue in leaving food at someone’s door.

The app lets them know when we arrive, and then we also text them to say, “We just left the food at the door,” or we can call them.

So, they’ve got all these great options to let customers know that their food is delivered, and it’s right at their front door.

It’s very good these delivery services are available right now. Let me tell you, there are a lot of people who will not go to the grocery store. I do shopping for a senior neighbor of mine; she won’t leave her house. Thank goodness these delivery services are here for people, so they can get food delivered to them. It’s a really good thing right now.

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JUNE 2020

Presenting Coloring the Coachella Valley Vol. 1: The Coachella Valley Independent Coloring Book!

The Coachella Valley Independent has partnered with the CREATE Center for the Arts and the UPS Stores in Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City (Date Palm) and Yucca Valley to create Coloring the Coachella Valley, a Coachella Valley Independent Coloring Book!

This is a tough time for us all.

The Independent, like so many other businesses and community organizations, has suffered a devastating blow to our finances during this COVID-19 crisis. The CREATE Center has mobilized its 3-D printing capabilities—and those of others—to make personal protective equipment for the local medical community. And many artists are facing an unknown economic future.

Hence this awesome coloring book project, featuring the work of local artists, as well as Independent file photos converted into coloring pages! All the proceeds will be split between the Independent, the CREATE Center and the artists whose work is inside.

The 24-page book is available as both a digital download and as a printed 8.5 by 11 book, on quality paper by the UPS Store.

The digital download costs $20 each; both the digital download and the print version are available for $30 each (shipping included).

Order at CVIndependent.com or call 760-904-4208!

CVIndependent.com

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 17

JUNE 2020

ARTS & CULTURE RETHINKING MUSEUMS T

By matt king

he coronavirus has made a lot of people realize they’ve been living life with a gross underappreciation for human connection—including the ability to go to a museum and learn with others.

So … how do museums serve the public when people can’t physically connect?

We recently spoke to representatives of the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert, the Coachella Valley History Museum and the Palm that they can talk about together, and get their Springs Art Museum about how they are each creative juices flowing and ready for the rest handling the closure—and what attendees can of the programs during the week,” Rodriguez expect when they finally reopen. said. “The rest of the curriculum is the stuff we do normally at the museum. I’m hoping he Children’s Discovery Museum of the that families new to the museum or families Desert wanted to keep reaching people who knew about us and have forgotten can see during the shutdown—so it implemented a what we do year-round—and when we reopen new online learning program called “Discover at our doors, will be coming in to participate in Home,” which can be accessed via the museum’s person.” website, cdmod.org.

The museum’s weekly video series—a new “Not having visitors anymore, we wanted to one is uploaded every Wednesday morning— continue being a valuable community resource does a great job of emulating what one may for children and families, especially now learn from a day of visiting the museum. during these uncertain times,” said Gregoria “The videos are a collaboration of myself Rodriguez, chief programs and exhibits officer doing the story times; and Ashley (Whitley), at CDMOD. “We created this series, and our makerspace and art coordinator, doing everything is offered completely virtually. It’s some arts and crafts activities,” Rodriguez said. on our website and social-media platforms, “Kory (Lloyd), our early childhood-education and now on YouTube at CDMOD. The series coordinator, does a lot of the toddler classes. offers everything from conversation starters, We provide a walk-through video, just in case to story times, STEAM (science, technology, the written-out steps we provide aren’t clear engineering, art and mathematics) lessons, enough. cooking—and we even brought back our toddler “We didn’t want to provide Zoom classes program. We offer toddler programs year-round right now, so as to not interfere with some at the museum, and this is the first time we are families who have just started distance learning offering it at no charge to the families, as well as and may be having to share a computer.” all of the other programs.”

The idea of an online museum had been on The museum is posting a weekly the minds of some at the CDMOD prior to the “Conversation Starter” on Mondays. One outbreak, Rodriguez said. example: If you had 1 million marshmallows, “We’ve been getting really great feedback, what would you build? and this has been something we have wanted “They are simple questions for the families to do anyway,” Rodriguez said. “This was really

T

A pre-pandemic activity at the Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert.

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The Children’s Discovery Museum, the CV History Museum and the PS Art Museum cope with the closure—and develop reopening plans—in varying ways

the push that we needed to go online and reach more families this way. I don’t anticipate our online presence ending at all, because I’m still not really sure how people are going to react when everything’s open. I hope they aren’t hesitant to come in, because we are amping up our sanitary procedures—but if they are, we will still have the online lessons available.

“We’re so interactive, and we really encourage hands-on play and exploration. We want to ensure that families feel safe when they come back to the museum.”

All of the programming is being offered for free—and Rodriguez said she hopes the museum can rely on families and donors to continue to preserve this community asset.

“Even though we are offering everything for free, we do appreciate donations,” Rodriguez said. “We normally rely on admissions, memberships, birthday parties, field trips, camps, etcetera. … The museum has been a part of the community for over 30 years.

We have some people on our staff who were museum children, came back with their kids to visit, and are now on our staff. To see that we are so involved with people’s lives and the community—we just can’t wait to get these doors open again.”

Carol Scott, the chief executive officer/ executive director of CDMOD, talked about how the closure has caused a serious financial strain.

“We have really made an effort in the last few years to bring back new life into the museum,” Scott said. “After 20 years, things can get pretty stale. Last year, our attendance was almost 85,000. The museum doesn’t have a huge donor base, so we have really worked on getting our revenue up. Our budget is about 85 percent earned revenue—attendance, memberships and people walking through the door. This (closure) is really hurtful for us, because we’re so dependent on earned revenue. We’ve been working on donations, writing grants, etcetera.”

The fact that the pandemic hit in midMarch—the height of the busy season—was especially painful, Scott said.

“Many businesses in the valley rely on the extra income that comes in during the season,” Scott said. “We lost that time, and that usually is what helps us through the slow seasons.

Our two major fundraisers, which happen in March and May, could not happen. When do the locusts fly in?

“We’re here to serve the community; we just need to stay afloat so we can do that. We’re doing the best we can at researching how other

organizations and museums are addressing the issue. Nonprofits like us have an extra burden— because we’re dependent on fundraising, and it’s a hard time to ask people for money.”

As for reopening, children’s museums face a significant challenge, as they rely on direct interaction—unlike, say, art museums.

“The reason a children’s museum exists is to provide informal learning that is away from technology,” Scott said. “You want kids to be doing things hands-on, creating and interacting with real things. That’s the value proposition of children’s museums across the country—so now we’re all having to redefine that value. The children’s museum (concept) has been around for over 100 years, and has really focused on being the alternative learning space to what goes on in the classroom. As the classroom has to redefine their delivery, we have to redefine what we’re doing.

“When museums do start to reopen, we will have to drastically change our delivery, because we are very much an active, playlearning environment. All of the new sanitary requirements will have to be adhered to strictly, as now there’s the fear of children having secondary infections. We are really looking at all of the consequences of this, both intended and unintended, and determining how to continue to be a valuable community asset.”

Scott understands that families may be hesitant to return to the physical museum at first, but said she and her staff have always made sanitation and safety a top priority.

“The beauty of a children’s museum is that it is seen as a very safe place for family play and learning, and we are working to continue that perception going,” she said. “We are very picky when it comes to cleaning the exhibits, and we are looking at other museums when they start to reopen to see what will work best.

“We will border upon being incredibly picky and cautious—as I take the job of protecting children very seriously.”

G

loria Franz, the second vice president of the Coachella Valley History Museum’s board of directors (cvhm.org), said the Indio museum— dedicated to “preserving and sharing the history of the Coachella Valley”—will not rush to reopen its doors.

“We are working on cleaning and organizing our archives and also trying to do a lighting and fans project for the blacksmith shop,” Franz said. “Most of our volunteers are seniors, so continued on next page CVIndependent.com

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ARTS & CULTURE

continued from Page 17 they’re on lockdown. Our one staff member comes in three days a week to check the campus, return calls, pick up the mail and pay bills.

“We’re just getting the exhibits ready for when we reopen—and we’ve decided, as a board, not to reopen until Oct. 1, because in the summer, we’re kind of quiet anyway. We’re trying to prepare for a deep cleaning prior to opening, so that everybody can be assured that we’ve cleaned as much as we can, and that we can make it as safe as we can for our guests and our volunteers.”

While the stay-at-home order has meant that the museum had to halt at least one large project, Franz said she’s hopeful the closure won’t be too damaging to the museum’s finances.

“We have a 15,000-square-foot piece of land that’s still empty on our campus that we’ve designed as a community drought-tolerant garden,” Franz said. “We also are designing an outdoor railway exhibit, and bringing in an older Southern Pacific Railroad dining car that used to come through the Coachella Valley. So as soon as things open up, we’re going to go full force back into that project so we’ll have something new to offer.

“Our annual fundraiser isn’t until November, so we’re hoping that by November, we can still have our fundraiser—because it would put a little dent in our operation if it didn’t happen.”

Franz and her team are saddened that the virus has affected events that were planned at the museum.

“We get donations just here and there—for example, we have a family that supports our rose garden, and we also have reserves for all the basic costs,” Franz said. “Because our staff is so lean, we don’t have a huge overhead, and the city has been very supportive in handling our utilities, gardeners and any major repairs, because the city actually owns the property.

What hurt us was that we had been working really hard for the last five or six years to make the campus become an events venue for weddings, retirement parties, quinceañeras

The Coachella Valley History Museum.

CVIndependent.com

and everything else. We were just starting to pick up momentum on that—and we’ve had to lose all of that progress. We have some events scheduled in the fall, so we’re hoping that that’ll continue.

“We want people to know that our venue is available for private events. It’s actually a gorgeous campus—so when you have a wedding there, the photos are just spectacular. We had a teacher get married in the school house and she loved it. It was just perfect.”

While other museums have pivoted toward an online experience, Franz said such a thing would not be a fit for the Coachella Valley History Museum.

“If we did a video on the school house, it’s not the same as stepping into the building,” she said. “To me, museums allow you to experience something in a way that a photo or a video just can’t give you. I think things will return to people wanting to know the history and what has made the valley what it is—and that’s what we provide.

“I’m not worried that this is going to change everything permanently. I think for the next six months to a year, it’s going to be slow, even when we do reopen—but we’ll be careful. We clean all the time, and we’re planning now to have enough disinfectant to be able to wipe everything down every single time somebody comes through. We’re working to make sure that we’re prepared to clean in the best way we can for our volunteers and our guests.

“We do work on donations, so we’d love to have people become members. Join our email list and like us on Facebook, and just kind of see what’s happening. We had quite a few things lined up for the spring that didn’t happen, such as a mole-tasting which was going to connect to our exhibit about Mexican art. Everything’s online if anybody needs anything, and they can also just email the office, and we’ll get it to the right person.”

L

ouis Grachos, the chief executive officer and executive director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, said closing the downtown Palm Springs museum, its Palm Desert satellite location and its Architecture and Design Center was in and of itself a challenging task.

“We shut down on the 12th of March, based on the recommendations from the governor,” Grachos said. “We were literally in the middle of our season, as January, February and March are the most active periods. There was a lot happening, and it took a lot of coordination to officially close the museum and figure out how to resolve all the issues regarding staff and furloughing.”

Grachos said the museum will not rush to reopen—and instead is taking things one day at a time.

“We are keeping tabs on what the governor is advising on a daily basis,” he said. “We are trying to form a strategy as to when we do get

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/ARTS-AND-CULTURE to reopen—what will things look like? We are going to have to understand how to manage visitors, respect mask laws and social distancing, and remove any opportunity that would entice people to congregate, such as the labels and introductory panels for exhibitions.”

Grachos said it’s likely the museum will stay closed until the fall—and that he had an epiphany, of sorts, during a recent visit to the Palm Springs Certified Farmers’ Market.

“They have to accommodate distancing for people waiting in line,” Grachos said. “The amount of physical space and the wrap-around was pretty remarkable, and I started to envision what that could look like at our museum. It’s pretty daunting, because we’d need to have people stretched out to the sidewalk, which would require some tenting. It’s going to be a logistical challenge.

“Safety is a huge priority, and I believe that will determine when we actually get to reopen.

We are hoping to reopen sometime in fall, but ‘reopening’ is going to mean something different—limited days, limited hours, etcetera.

It’s our hope that the community will want to visit museums in the same way they’ll want to go to the park. The consensus between me and other colleagues, from The Broad in Los Angeles to the MoMA in New York, is that we are expecting about one-third of our usual audience when we open doors again, and it will probably be that way for the next two years.”

Grachos said the idea of how museums operate will need to be rethought completely.

“In my generation, there was a big emphasis on museums becoming cultural gathering places,” he said. “The concept was to create a social environment with experiential encounters. We’re really committed to that notion of museums being a cultural hub—and that is something that museum culture is going to have to rethink. The last 20 years have seen museums incorporating interactive designs that have enriched learning experiences. Observing distancing and the careful mediation of the number of people entering will shift museum programming.

“I won’t have a discussion with an artist and 25 people walking through the gallery anymore.”

Grachos said the Palm Springs Art Museum has been harmed by the economic collapse that has affected us all.

“The day the doors closed is the day revenue stopped coming in,” he said. “We’re relying on our traditional support base, but the stop of revenue is going to have a major impact on our museum. We are now going to have to downscale and streamline our organization, ask a smaller staff to take on more responsibilities, and rethink programming, cost-wise. We were going through a phase of being more resourceful with our permanent collection, including less tours and more investigation in growing and showcasing shows of our permanent collection.

I see the Palm Springs Art Museum as being

The Palm Springs Art Museum.

a great asset for the community in terms of exposure and education. We have to find a way to maintain a strengthened profile in the community to ride through this period.

“Those who love supporting art and culture do so on discretionary funds and confidence in the market. People who are very generous to cultural institutions are now a little more careful with their philanthropy, because of the stock market and economic impact of the virus.

Frankly, we’re preparing for less support. People who support our museum also support other museums, so it’s going to make it very difficult for all museums to rely on philanthropy.

The city’s funding support is also going to be challenged because of the lack of revenue.

We are not going to be able to rely on the government to support us, either, outside of the Payroll Protection Plan. I’m bracing myself for a tough few years.”

The Palm Springs Art Museum is boosted its online outreach via its Palm Springs Art Museum at Home offerings (www.psmuseum. org/at-home).

“That was the brainchild of our terrific curatorial team, Rochelle Steiner, and our educator, who pulled together a wonderful way to keep our audience, our community and our educators engaged,” Grachos said. “We’ve been hosting art-making workshops on Fridays, and parents have been enjoying including it as an added activity for their kids.

“We also have been having online exhibitions.

We’ve focused on Stephen Willard, and our great archiving collection, and we’ve focused on the Sarkowsky sculpture park in Palm Desert.

These online exhibitions have been getting a lot of good attention, and reminds our audience that we have this great resource. Rochelle is also working on spotlighting parts of our collection, which will also reveal, both locally and nationally, how varied our collection is.

“It’s been an important deal for us to stay connected to the community, and I’m very pleased to say we’ve had a great response.

Sometimes a crisis helps you create a different way to keep communicating.”

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 19

JUNE 2020

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ARTS & CULTURE

THINK INK P

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How one desert tattoo shop owner is coping with the shutdown—and how she plans to safely reopen

By kevin allman

erhaps you’ve thought about getting some work on your arm, or maybe adding some colorful scales to the massive dragon inked on your back. Maybe you have a yen for a nipple-piercing … or something more south of the border.

If so, until Stage 3 of the reopening process begins, you’re out of luck in California—unless you find a tattoo shop or piercing parlor that’s opened up again, either secretly or in deliberate defiance of state law. business owner to return our texts, calls and Four months ago, Jay’e Jones spent $30,000 emails.) to move her Yucca Valley tattoo shop, Strata California is being one of the most cautious Tattoo Lab, to a new location. The timing, as states when it comes to reopening tattoo we all now know, couldn’t have been worse. shops. Mississippi—whose governor, Tate Jones is obeying the law and trying to stay Reeves, stated “there is no such thing as a optimistic until tattooing and piercing parlors, nonessential business”—has taken the oppoalong with hair and nail salons and gyms, can site approach, reopening the state’s parlors on reopen during Stage 3.

May 15, albeit under a new set of rules that “Newsom was teasing (in one of his daily may provide a template for states like ours: All press conferences) that he might be ready to tattoos and piercings are done by appointment reopen Stage 3 in early June,” Jones says. only, and there is no public waiting room inside (For the record, the Independent contacted the building; customers wait outside or in their four area tattoo parlors for this story. Jones, cars. One customer per employee is allowed in who has owned Strata since 2008, was the only at any one time; in other words, you can’t bring

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Strata Tattoo Lab moved to a new location four months ago—shortly before being shut down by the stay-at-home order.

a buddy for moral support. Both customers and employees must wear masks, and employees must wear gloves (as is done in most tattoo parlors already). There also are specific rules about cleaning and sanitizing workspaces and the common areas of the business.

The artists at Strata will implement similar practices and procedures when the shop reopens, says Jones. The shop will operate at 25 percent capacity, and public areas will be deep-sanitized every 30 minutes.

“We as an industry are well-versed germaphobes,” says Jones, “and pride ourselves in our cleanliness and prevention of cross-contamination. We know how to correctly use masks, gloves and many other types of PPE. “All body art artists (at Strata),” she adds, “are required to annually pass a bloodborne pathogens exam, as well as update their Infection Prevention and Control Plan, including proof of sterilization receipts for single-use pre-sterilized materials that have been purchased.”

Reputable tattoo and piercing parlors are already sanitary places, with single-use needles and ink, along with other items being autoclaved, similar to surgical instruments. Jones says she had “three to five months” of PPE gear stocked before the coronavirus crisis hit.

The Association of Professional Piercers, an international nonprofit and alliance that provides information for both piercers and piercing aficionados, has provided best-practices guidelines for its members and others in the age of COVID-19. (Strata no longer provides piercing.) But Jones says that in the tattoo

world, “it’s every man for himself.” The state of California has not issued its own specific guidelines for reopening tattoo shops, and, she says, there’s no umbrella organization to issue top-down best practices—so owners are tasked with coming up with their own safety standards, beyond the ones that already govern tattoo parlors.

“We have received zero information or support from both the state and (San Bernardino) County, aside from the closure order, which was indefinite, until further notice,” Jones says.

While she waits to reopen, Jones and the tattooists from her parlor are trying to keep busy. She works with four other tattooists, each of whom has a specialty, and all of whom qualify as gig workers, rather than employees.

“Everybody’s got their side hustle on,” she says.

Those side hustles include selling gift certificates for future tattoos, custom art, prints and paintings. The Strata Tattoo Lab’s webpage is selling gift certificates, as well as offering at-home consultations over Skype and other video-chat services. A business-owner grant from the city of Yucca Valley helped, Jones says.

But to a tattooist, nothing will replace the sound of needles buzzing.

Strata Tattoo Lab is located at 7257 Mohawk Trail, in Yucca Valley. For more information, call 760-369-8288, or visit www.stratatattoolab.com.

Kevin Allman is a Southern California-based journalist. Find him on Twitter @kevinallman.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 21

JUNE 2020

FOOD & DRINK

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/FOOD-DRINK

CAESAR CERVISIA I

BY brett newton

n these strange times, the last thing you might be pondering is: “How do I get my craft beer, though?”

However, there are options for California craft-beer aficionados. In fact, the pandemic has made it easier than ever to get one’s hands on the best beer across the state—without having to go to a single brewery. A group of friends and I have been enjoying some of these benefits, and my fridge has seen some amazing beers that I didn’t get to previously enjoy very often.

Let’s begin locally. As far as I know, every brewery in the Coachella Valley is doing to-go orders, and some are offering rotating deals. The best way to find out about these details is social media—as much as I despise Facebook offering only pickup, at least as of this writing. and its ilk, as I think it has made the world Also, use one of those searches to figure out a demonstrably worse place. Anyway, the each brewery’s hours. Most places of business brewery where I work has been offering are not operating on their usual schedules limited delivery on any order more than (as you might imagine), and breweries are no $20, for a $5 delivery fee. At least two other exception. Of course, with bars and taprooms breweries in town are doing similar things. I closed, many of these breweries are hurting won’t be too specific as this is all subject to right now—so if you can swing a purchase or change, but all of this information is incredibly two, now is most definitely the time to support easy to look up; it took me about five clicks these local businesses. to verify what breweries are delivering versus Expanding our circle of concern out a bit: The Craft Lounge in Beaumont is definitely worth a look; you can order online and pick up your beer at their curb. Recently, the store had a special crowler (sort of like a growler, but not refillable) sale of Bottle Logic Brewing beers. If you’re unfamiliar, Bottle Logic’s beers are highly sought after (especially their barrelaged stout releases), and the brewery has had to institute a whole separate pickup system for their bottle releases due to insane lines.

Craft Lounge is also selling cans and bottles of some great beers, albeit at pretty steep prices.

I will say this, however: Many of those cans and bottles are impossible to find here in the desert, so you pay for the privilege.

That brings us to the state level: Some heralded breweries have quickly pivoted to the shipping game—many of which were not offering beer for shipping previously. I will throw out some names, and apologies to the breweries I’ve left out: Cellarmaker Brewing (whose beer I’ve had the joy of getting in on thanks to some of their recent sales; it’s absolutely brilliant all around), Burgeon Beer Company, Kern River Brewing, Beachwood Brewing, Societe Brewing, North Coast Brewing—and the list goes on. That short list covers much of California geographically … and here’s the kicker: Much of this shippingwithin-the-state stuff is likely to continue once we get back to some semblance of normalcy.

“It is legal to ship beer in California,” says Shelby Swensen, tasting-room manager at the aforementioned Burgeon Beer Company, in Carlsbad. (If you forced me to say what my favorite brewery is, this would be the “Burgeon cellarperson Brian” prepares beer answer.) “Due to the constant high demand containers. Burgeon Beer Company Facebook

The pandemic has made it easier for beer-lovers to get the state’s best brews

in the tasting room, as well as our accounts, we didn’t allocate any beer for shipping. Now, with the times changing due to COVID-19, we have found that it is beneficial to both parties to ship beer. Now that we have the system in place, we will continue to ship our beer.”

In addition to cases of cans, Burgeon is also shipping one-use, recyclable kegs of most of their beers. What a strange and wonderful time for craft beer consumers.

I know what you might be thinking: “This has to be wildly expensive.” While the prices of the beers themselves vary, I’ve found the cost of shopping—which usually takes a week or less—to be incredibly reasonable. After all, shipping companies have a robust network set up for other purposes, though some breweries have been using them in varying degrees for years now. Shelby at Burgeon gave me a little insight regarding what they do.

“Once an order is placed, depending on when you place the order, it will be shipped cold within 24 hours. This allows customers to get our beer fresh.”

Be wary of any brewery that does not ensure cold shipment. Heat is the enemy of beer— especially now that it’s warming up here in the desert.

Of course, many breweries are in danger if they can’t shift to this new paradigm—and some are imperiled regardless. But the fact that some breweries have shifted so quickly—with a few thriving, even—is definitely a light in the current darkness. While we’re still in the midst of this pandemic, we beer-lovers can at least look forward to a world with more access to the beer we love without having to travel for it. That may not be much in the overall scheme of things, but it’s something—and I don’t know about you, dear reader, but something is definitely good enough for me right now.

Brett Newton is a certified cicerone (like a sommelier for beer) and homebrewer who has mostly lived in the Coachella Valley since 1988. He currently works at the Coachella Valley Brewing Co. taproom in Thousand Palms. He can be reached at caesarcervisia@gmail.com.

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JUNE 2020

SECRETS ABOUT YOUR NECK, HANDS AND LIPS

By Shonda Chase, FNP Nurse Practitioner, Co-owner, Artistic Director and Advanced Aesethetic Injector at Revive Wellness Centers in Palm Springs and Torrance, and Medweight, Lasers and Wellness Center in Irvine

O

ne of my goals in each Secret ar�cle is to bring the latest informa�on and techniques in aesthe�c medicine to readers. For your context, this column was wri�en toward the end of the COVID-19 orders regarding wearing masks whenever we leave our homes or cars. More about that in the last paragraph.

I was watching CBS Sunday Morning, hosted by 69-year-old Jane Pauley. Ms. Pauley looks terrific, but as I put on my “consul�ng glasses,” I saw that while she has paid great a�en�on to her face (she’s clearly had a great faceli�, plus fillers and neuromodulators like Botox or Jeuveau), she’s neglected her hands and neck.

Hands and necks are “tells” about our age and healthy aging regimens. These two areas can be greatly improved with non-surgical treatments for both women and men!

Secret No. 1: Hands can look much younger with dermal filler and laser treatments. Dermal fillers can also be used to restore and re-volumize “boney” and “veiny” hands. I can help hands look up to 20 years younger in about 30 minutes with two to four syringes of the proper filler. I can also add PICO laser treatments to brighten sun-damaged hands and make an even greater visual difference.

Secret No 2: Neck appearances are as important as hands.

The non-surgical op�ons for necks include: • Dermal fillers to improve lines.

• Radio frequency or Kybella injec�ons to reduce neck fat and �ghten skin.

• Neuromodulators to so�en platysmal bands and cords.

• Laser treatments to lighten sun damage and improve texture.

Finally, Secret No. 3: Kysse is the new filler for be�er lips.

Now that the masks are coming off, lips need to look their best!

Kysse is the subject of next month’s Secrets column. Un�l then, keep the secrets.

You can email your individual ques�ons to Shonda Chase FNP, or Allan Y. Wu MD, Revive’s cosme�c surgeon, at info@revivecenter.com.

Order online at rioazul.pay.link, or call 760-992-5641 CVIndependent.com

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 23

JUNE 2020

FOOD & DRINK

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VINE SOCIAL JASON DAVID

Zoom wine parties have been a stay-at-home life-saver—but they can’t replace real togetherness

HAIR STUDIO

I

By KatieLOVE finn YOUR

HAIR

have kids, so I therefore watch a lot of Disney movies. In WALL-E, the Earth has been destroyed by pollution, so all the humans have been put on a spaceship and blasted out to a far-away galaxy. They all sit in their own private floating chairs, watching their personal little TVs, eating and drinking to their heart’s content. They are, forCountry the most part, unaware Clubcompletely and Cook Streetof the people around them. On a side note, they also become tragically obese and barely able to walk.

Palm De sert Geez, Disney.

When I’m curled up on the couch and watchthe only way you would be able to have a glass 760-340-5959 ing movies like this with my kids, I have these of wine with friends soon would be through the moments when I think everything is OK. I’m computer. You might have politely laughed, or www.jasondavidhairstudio.net busy at work. People come into the wine shop, worse, assumed I’d gone off the deep end and and I pour them a little something I have open. sent me directly to Betty Ford. But here we are, I get to chat with wine-sales reps and interact clamoring for socialization to the point that with customers and my co-worker. Aside from staring into a little black dot is giving us just the whole mask-wearing thing, it feels a lot like enough hope to carry on. But I’m not gonna business as usual. And for that, I’m eternally lie—sometimes, it makes me sad. grateful.

Is this going to be the new normal? Is this Then I have moments of sheer panic. I begin the point where we throw our hands up and say, to think about WALL-E and our society, and “Oh, well, I’ll just pour myself a glass of wine, how we are disconnecting from each other. I get in my jammies and FaceTime with my BFF. think about social gatherings—and more speI mean, who wants to get all dressed up and go cifically, my wine tastings—becoming plagued out when I can sit on my couch and not waste with trepidation and fear. “Did he just cough?” gas or risk getting a DUI?” “She sneezed near my wine!” Check, please!

I would like to think I’m being overly hyperLuckily, for now, we have found a new way bolic, but when I think back—well before this to look at one another while we sip our wine du isolation occurred—I clearly remember that jour—and that webcam is giving us some solace. you could walk into any restaurant, and someIt’s a convenient and simple way to feel like where, seated at a table, were two people. These we’re engaged, and makes the distance between two people consciously made an effort to get us a little more palatable. dressed, get in their cars and drive to a public But for me, the Zoom wine parties, while place in order to physically spend time with an acceptable substitute for now, will never one another. And those same two people were compensate for actual human interaction. I spending the entire time together looking at crave the energy at wine events that people their phones, barely speaking to each other—no give off when they are looking you in the eye pandemic needed. and telling you a story. I love eavesdropping It seems we had already begun our path to on the side conversations that break out when social distancing. people who just met are making a connecIt’s a little-known fun fact that the reason we tion—a connection that was formed through a clink glasses before we take a sip is so we can mutual appreciation of wine (or whatever!) and involve every one of our senses during the tasta desire to be surrounded by other warm and ing experience: The clink happens so we can also friendly strangers. engage our ears. This concept got me thinking I’ve seen the most beautiful friendships form about drinking wine socially with another perat the wine bar during our weekly tastings— son versus drinking by yourself. Isn’t there an between people who may never have crossed old adage that warns of the dangers of drinking paths had it not been for these little social alone? I wonder if the danger is the potential events during the week. It is so important to for the drink to mean more than the company, me that these bonds not be broken that I began or maybe the concern was that without others our own Zoom wine get-togethers. Much to my present, it was no longer a social experience, but surprise, they are a blast! It’s undeniably fun to a necessary outlet. Is Zoom giving us permisplay with technology in a new way and create sion to drink alone? Was there an underlying conversations through an unexpected medium. motive to clink our glasses so we were sure Even with all the kinks and quirks, we manage to be in the company of others when we were to make it work. drinking?

Imagine if I told you three months ago that This is not to say I think Zoom or FaceTime

will replace real-life human interaction. It won’t. And for that, I’m also grateful. But I don’t want complacency. I don’t want people to choose comfort over connection. I don’t want this situation to change our mindset where we focus more on disconnecting and separating than we do on embracing friends and community. I don’t want to become a society where instead of it being just one table with two people cut off from conscious interaction, it’s the whole damn place.

At the end of WALL-E, two chairs accidentally bump into each other, causing the occupants to break their trance and actually notice one another. Incidentally, they also fall on the floor

and roll around like barrels, unable to get up.

In spite of that, it’s actually a pretty touching moment. They realize they’ve wasted all this time, so close and yet so far apart.

When all this is over, please choose togetherness. Please choose joy and human connection.

Choose glass-clinking, good food and wine, and laughter, and conversations that don’t require buffering or Wi-Fi. Be well, and I’ll see you soon.

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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Bars aren’t as important as lives— but they’re definitely important

BY kevin carlow

emember that episode of Cheers—the one where Norm, Cliff and Frasier all sit at tables six feet apart?

They order from tablets that have been carefully sanitized after each guest. A single empty seat is also at each table, which could be occupied by a member of the same household, but the men are all solo as usual. Sam pours the beers, a list of service tickets in front of him, as he tries to make eyes at two blondes over his face covering. They don’t notice him from behind his plastic-glass barrier, as far away as they are. Carla places the sealed beer vessels on a table in the middle of the bar, and calls each guest in a muffled Boston accent through her N95 to retrieve them, one at a time. The boys drink from to reopen; the truth will likely be something in recyclable cups through paper straws going the middle. How far in the middle will depend under their masks—finishing the beer under on which city in which you reside. But the the allotted time limit, of course. Except for lingering presence of the virus leads to some Norm … he lingers a little longer. Carla signals uncomfortable questions: Do we even need at him from six feet away and gestures at her bars? Do we need bartenders? wrist, where a watch would be, and points at I could definitely see a near-ish future him. Classic Carla! without bartending as we know it: Picture a Hilarious, right? wall of options to choose from on slick LED Oh, wait, how about the episode from It’s display as you wait in line, six feet apart. Your Always Sunny in Philadelphia where “The Gang” options are all pre-batched cocktails, certainly recklessly throws a party during a pandemic? no garnishes, and probably no reusable Paddy’s becomes the epicenter for an even glassware. The architecture and branding will stronger strain of the contagion. Frank determine the experience, and that experience Reynolds goes on a ventilator. will be exactly the same every time. Maybe TV gold. there will be music in some places—a band These are both worst-case scenarios on what behind a stage wall less cozy than the one at things will be like once bars are finally allowed the Roadhouse—but probably not. There will

certainly be no talking to strangers.

I could position myself for this future; I could put together a drink program for it, and teach the “bartenders” the basic set of skills required for pouring the bottle in the vessel.

Just think of it: There are no fights and no bad drinks—or at least no inconsistent ones.

Nobody is breathing all over you, with no jerk bartenders thinking they’re Jove almighty.

You’re just drinking at a table with the friends you arrived with, and no creeps bothering you, unless you count some unwelcome stares.

Oh, wait, there are opaque barriers between tables—so there are no unwelcome stares. You don’t need to talk to a stranger in real life ever again, and if you do feel the need, there are apps for that. You can have anything you ever wanted sent to you, including intimacy. You can meet over Zoom; they don’t even have to know where you live.

Bars are obsolete. Millennials and younger people are drinking less than previous generations, anyway, and are less likely to go to a bar regularly. I can’t fight the future, but it will be a sad day when the last traditional bar has its last regular turned away, be it from a loss of business to the new model, or the powers that be forcing the doors shut.

Why will that day be sad? Why is everything I’ve mentioned here sad? Because bars are important.

Bars are places where you muster up the false courage to act like a fool, to make small mistakes (and sometimes big ones), to—in the words of a song I have heard far too many times—“forget about life for a while.” They’re the places the sad drunks die slowly, among friends, instead of home alone. A bar is a place where an introvert like me can have a stage, with the safety of a plank of some sort between us.

Bars are where revolutions begin. I know that for a fact; I have read the patina-hued plaques all over Boston. They’re one of the few places we get out of the sad like-minded echo-chamber reality we now live in: You might have to hear someone with different views from yours, and she’s sitting right next to you.

You can’t make her leave, but you can always change seats. But you don’t. Why don’t you? In this era where you can tell your little cybernetic organ which news suits you or doesn’t (Thumbs up or down? More stories like this?), and people don’t read newspapers anymore, why suffer a fool? Why go to a place that plays not the talking heads you don’t like on the TVs, but the Talking Heads you do like on the jukebox?

Because that is life. It’s breathy and loud, and full of mysterious odors, crushed under despair and lifted by mutual experience.

I realize most people don’t spend as much time in bars as I do. When I am not behind a bar, I am often sitting at one. If you sup at a restaurant table, you are always rolling the dice on food and service—it’s the unspoken thrill of dining out. If you sit at the bar, you also roll the dice on your company. I am certain a fair number of people in this world have had subpar meals and lackluster service ameliorated by making a new “single-serving friend” (to use Tyler Durden’s expression). If the occasional great meal is tarnished by being next to a boor with a napkin shoved down his shirt, at least it’s something to talk about with each other later. Sure beats talking about the steak being unseasoned or some such thing.

So, yes, bars are important—not more important than lives, of course. But they’re important. While I appreciate the seriousness of our current situation, I really hope things don’t change too much, too fast, out of fear.

Life will never be totally safe, and it shouldn’t be. I would hate to make your next martini from under glass—or out of a bottle.

Kevin Carlow can be reached at CrypticCocktails@gmail.com.

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Derek Jordan Gregg gets to work while staying at home to release new song ‘House of Cocaine’

By matt king

erek Jordan Gregg has been a force in the Coachella Valley music scene for years. Whether it’s through his indie-rock band The Hive Minds, or his one-man acoustic guitar-looper show, Gregg seems determined to continually create music.

The pandemic and the stay-at-home order have been looming over everyone—but Gregg took the situation as an opportunity to create more. The result: a new single, “House of Cocaine,” as well as regular live-stream performances in would say I do it wrong. collaboration with Jetta King.

“A lot of the song structure and lyrical con“House of Cocaine” is a heavy, bluesy and tent are similar between my solo stuff and The downright-kick-ass tune. Gregg’s yells and Hive Minds. This stuff has been around forever intense guitar riffs lead to a ’70s rock feel on and has always been a part of my heart and steroids. (Check it out at soundcloud.com/ soul, just as much as my folk solo stuff. derek-gregg/house-of-cocaine.)

“I’m also working on my debut solo album, “I’ve got a demo’s worth of these new claswhich will sound nothing like this song. I just sic-rock-type vibe songs under my belt that I’ve wanted to give everyone a taste—in a time been holding on to now for about 10 years,” where it’s very important to be putting music Gregg said during a recent phone interview. “I out.” wrote them with just my drummer at the time, As for how the song was recorded, Gregg in Oregon, in 2011. We cranked out a couple said it came about thanks to the Palm Canyon of these songs, which just came from out of Roadhouse. nowhere, totally different from the solo, acous“Greg LaRiviere, the owner of the Palm tic, white-boy R&B stuff I was writing.”

Canyon Roadhouse, has been supporting local Indeed, most of us in the valley—myself music ever since the bar established itself,” he included—know Gregg for his sweet, soft-rock- shared. “They do jam sessions every Sunday, ing tunes, both from The Hive Minds and his which I have hosted sometimes. Greg has the solo work. Hearing “House of Cocaine” for the longest-running jam in the desert, and put first time blew both me and my ears away.“Obout the money to record an album of all of his viously it’s inspired by Zeppelin and Sabbath, favorite regulars and locals and their original but I think there’s a punk-rock sensibility to music. I did that with David Williams of Melit—classic rock played by people who don’t rose Music, and Greg footed the bill for it. I know how to play classic rock,” Gregg said play ‘House of Cocaine’ at the Roadhouse all about the song. “It’s a familiar formula, even the time, and it’s Greg’s favorite song.” though I do it a little bit differently. Some People wanting to hear more of this new

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Derek Jordan Gregg. Kurt Shawacker

sound from Gregg will need to wait just a little bit longer.

“Now that things are opening up, we are eager to get back to work,” Gregg said. “I’m trying to release a solo demo in the next two or three months. As soon as the virus limitations are lifted a bit more, I’m going to get back together with the band I recorded ‘House of Cocaine’ with—Sean Poe on drums, and Gene Beavers on bass—and knock out a full demo with David Williams.”

Gregg has gotten some recent attention for his live-stream performances with Jetta King.

In normal times, Gregg is one of the valley’s busiest performers. But these are not normal times, so in an effort to make up for some of his lost revenue, Gregg has run a weekly Facebook live show—with a Venmo tip-jar link.

“That right now has been Jetta’s and my main outlet,” Gregg said. “It’s been the way we can feel like we can actually help when we feel so helpless. It’s been the one good, positive thing that we can give to the world in need.

When you’re in hard times, everyone needs to come together and give their talents.

“I didn’t have that much of an online presence before all of this started, so this was kind of a kick in the ass to get myself in gear to having a presence. The response has been great, and we’re also part of another Facebook group with thousands of viewers. I’m actually making a decent amount of tips, enough to keep a roof over my head. It’s been amazing; people have been watching and sending love, and I definitely plan on trying to maintain a reach in this avenue and continue streaming.”

What’s next for Derek Jordan Gregg? It’s becoming apparent that this pandemic has elevated his already impressive work ethic.

“I’m going to be releasing solo stuff, basically re-branding myself and trying to get more recognition that way,” he said. “I’m gonna be dropping a second EP with The Hive Minds, and this new classic-blues stuff has a demo on the way.

I’m also working on duet stuff with Jetta, who has been adding so much to my music. Keep an eye out for literally anything.”

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ derekjordangreggmusic.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 27

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CONCERT FROM YOUR CAR By matt king

C

oncert withdrawals have been hitting me hard. I can’t wait for the day when I can again enjoy music in a crowded venue—but for now, a couple in Joshua Tree has come up with a great idea: drive-in concerts.

Jacqueline and Jeremie Levi Samson are spearheading the Drive-In Concert on the Mesa series. Every Sunday at sunset, music-lovers can drive up to Joshua Tree and indulge in a concert experience from their socially distanced going to continue to do the concerts. vehicles.

“I had this idea back at the end of March; it Jeremie Levi Samson is a renowned jazz just kind of came to me. We have 15 acres out violinist, and has played more than 1,500 here that we haven’t really used. I think I was shows all over the world. I spoke to the couple reading an article when everything was just over the phone about the inception of the starting to shut down, and I read a comment series—and the future of concerts in general. somebody wrote, saying, ‘Oh, we can just “March 21 was the first week that we did meet our friends in parking lots, in our cars?’ it, and we’ve been doing them every Sunday That kind of just sat with me. I thought: Why since, except for one,” Jacqueline said. “We don’t we just have people in their cars on our weren’t sure that week what was going on property and play the music? So that’s where with the stay-at-home order and social disit started. Several weeks after, we started tancing, but the following week was when San seeing drive-in churches and even some other Bernardino County decided they were going drive-in concerts.” to allow drive-in church services. So we decidWhile 15 acres is a lot of space, Jacqueline ed if we follow the same guidelines, we were and Levi make sure social-distancing guide-

Courtesy of Drive-In Concert on the Mesa

lines are followed by capping attendance and requiring advance registration—so make sure you RSVP early.

“We do have a big property, but we didn’t want to have too many people, so we do limit it to about 30 cars on registration,” Jacqueline said. “The most that we’ve had so far was 22 cars. Some cars just have one person, and some cars have four or five, depending on the family. We’ve even had big vans coming, and they open the back of their van, and they have a little party.”

The website also promises a livestream of the performance for people who can’t make it.

However, the middle of Joshua Tree isn’t the best place for an internet connection, Jeremie said.

“What we are going to do this week is record it and livestream it from a place where there’s a good connection,” Jeremie said. “We really hope to develop an audience from this.

It’s a nice place and a nice view, but in terms of livestreaming, we’ve been having a bad

A Joshua Tree couple launches a weekly series of drive-in shows connection. We are planning to record on our iPad and iPhones, but we are also planning to record it with some good cameras and do a nice multi-cam view to share on Facebook, YouTube and other social media.”

While a majority of the concerts have featured Jeremie, he is calling on some friends for upcoming shows. The shows are free to attend, but online tipping is encouraged.

“Jeremie has been playing here in the valley for four years now, so we know a lot of musicians, and we have a network of friends,” Jacqueline said. “In the beginning, it was just Jeremy and some local musicians up here in Joshua Tree, and then as more and more musician friends heard about it, they’ve been wanting to come and play, so we’ve been able to invite guest musicians for almost every show.”

Said Jeremie: “We started local for the reason you can imagine, so it’s mostly just people around here. It’s going to get more and more open from now on.”

Jeremie and Jacqueline admitted that experiencing a concert from a car may not be ideal, but it is still an overall enjoyable time.

“I think it’s going to be the new normal for at least the next year, year and a half or so,” Jeremie said. “I think it’s already a cool thing, and I hope everyone will experience it. It’s surrealistic, and I don’t think I would like for it to become the everyday concept.”

Jacqueline added: “Yeah, you are stuck in your car, but it’s still a really nice experience, at least the ones that we’re doing out here in the desert. It’s beautiful. You have the Joshua trees; you have the sunset; you have the mountains; you’re out in nature. People can sit on top of their car or in their trunk; we’re OK with that as long as they don’t leave their car, and it’s a really nice experience for people.”

Jeremie and Jacqueline said they’re willing to work with others to explore the possibilities of this new concert paradigm.

“We’re happy to hear from other musicians if they want to collaborate or open up the space on other nights and have just, like, a completely different band or musicians play— anything we can do to help that community,” Jacqueline said. “They can contact us and collaborate. Everything is on the website with contact info.”

For more information on the Drive-In Concert on the Mesa series, visit www.jeremielevisamson. com/drive-in-concert.

CVIndependent.com

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MUSIC

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC

GETTING BRIGHT AGAIN W

Will Sturgeon’s Brightener returns after a three-year hiatus with new EP ‘Stay Open’

By Matt king

hile you may not always see his work firsthand, Will Sturgeon is one of the most influential people in the Coachella Valley music world.

Sturgeon was first known for his solo-project/band hybrid Brightener, but recent years have seen him take on more behind-the-scenes roles—working with other artists and recording them in “The Sturdio,” and devoting time to the youth of the valley via the Academy of Musical Performance program.

“Everybody in the band can’t make But three years after Brightener’s last Brightener a priority,” Sturgeon said. “At release, the project is back with a new, fourits core, Brightener is a solo project. All the song EP, Stay Open, which was released recordings and songwriting have been done May 20. While Stay Open is by far the most by me. I want to make Brightener fit into my synth-heavy of all his releases, Brightener’s life more—in a way that’s not as stressful, well-known feel-good indie sound shines even and in a way that doesn’t define my whole brighter on the new EP. Fans of Brightener identity. I’m not sure of the next time we will will see this EP as a modern take on the play a show, but for now, I just want to put same sound they love, while new fans will be out great music as Brightener.” introduced to the Brightener sound via less This new chapter is also signaled by a rock and more electronica. change in tune: Sturgeon explained that the I spoke to Will Sturgeon over the phone move in a more-electronic direction came about what the past three years have been from him wanting to create with no limits. like for him; Brightener’s new sound; and “I got a lot more comfortable with using his strategy for releasing music during a electronic sounds, so there’s a lot more of pandemic. those on this release,” he said. “I have a Juno“It was in 2017 was when we released 60 synthesizer from the ’80s that I’ve grown Headroom. I really wanted to get an album more dependent on, as well as a piano that out within a year of us playing Coachella (in I have more access to for songwriting now.

2016),” Sturgeon said. “It was an arbitrary The last release, I wrote for the live band, timeline, but I really hustled to do that.” but moving forward, I just want to make the He met that goal by releasing Headroom in music I want to make. I don’t have any plans April 2017. to play these songs live, so I can make them “We went on a tour, held a Kickstarter exactly what I want to make them.” (fundraising campaign)—and that whole Over the last couple of years, Sturgeon has process really stressed me out,” Sturgeon been busy in The Sturdio, producing releases said. “I took a step back from trying to do from bands like The Flusters, Israel’s Arcade Brightener and took the rest of 2017 off. I and others. I wondered if his time spent went and played in L.A. with a band called the tracking bands has been helpful in crafting Tambourines, and I also started making some and tracking his own music. solo beats.

“All of the projects that I’ve worked on in “In 2018, I moved to a new house and The Sturdio for the past couple of years have started doing stuff with The Sturdio. During been super-helpful for me,” Sturgeon said. “I that time, I started toying with some songs, originally wanted to bring the skills I learned and every couple of weeks, I would set aside in Brightener to The Sturdio, but now, I’m an hour or two a day for songwriting. I set able to use all the skills learned in The Sturdio out a goal to put out 10 songs in 2019, but it on Brightener. This is the first Brightener just took the band and I way longer than we release that I’ve mastered, and those skills wanted to. definitely came from those other projects.

“In 2019, we were only able to meet about All of the elements of my life work really well four times. We all realized that life was together, which I’m really grateful for.” getting in the way, and that Brightener was With the stay-at-home order still in place, entering a new phase. Over the years, I’ve the days of being able to promote new had these four songs that I’ve identified as a releases in person through live shows and the potential release, so I have been working for selling of CDs are on hold for the foreseeable the last few months, putting essential touches future. Sturgeon, however, said he wasn’t on these tracks to get them ready for release.” worried about that for this release.

I asked if the “band” era of Brightener was “I’m just going to put it out and see what over. happens,” he said. “When I look back on CVIndependent.com

Will Sturgeon, aka Brightener. Natalie Albert

the Brightener stuff I’ve done in the past decade, there have been a couple of really stressful moments. A lot of those moments came from trying to put so much energy into Brightener—planning the tour, running a Kickstarter, and doing this managerial stuff that is necessary for having a career as an independent musician.

“For this release, I want to preserve the things I love about Brightener, which is

making good music, and I hope people enjoy it enough to share it. My release strategy involves me just reaching out to people I know, letting them know I have the record, and hoping they share it. Even if they don’t, I’m still very proud to have this release as a part of my discography.”

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ brightenermusic.

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MUSIC

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC

the

LUCKY 13

Meet two young local musicians who each have a new single to their credit by matt king or today’s country, which really isn’t country.

Either that, or anything that plays on the radio.

FABIAN SOLIS

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?

I think either Kurt Cobain or Townes Van Zandt. I’ll probably go with TVZ; It would be amazing to sit in an old dive bar and hear him play while I cry and drink beer and whiskey.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?

I think Katy Perry has some bops for sure, or Hannah Montana. Either one gets me hyped, and I don’t know why.

NAME Nicolas Lara GROUP Marni MORE INFO I have attended a lot of backyard shows in the Coachella Valley—and I have often seen (and shared) bills with Marni’s name on it. Nicolas Lara is the brainchild behind Marni, and has released many songs over the years—check out his stacked BandCamp page, alaraa.bandcamp.com/ music. He just released a new song, “Boozer,” which fits right in with the rest of his somber, acoustic-folk music. Learn more at www. facebook.com/Marnimusicc.

What was the first concert you attended?

I saw the band Tinariwen at Coachella fest some years back. They were amazing.

What was the first album you owned?

A Bob Dylan greatest-hits CD my mom got me from a Target. Still have it.

What bands are you listening to right now?

Right now, too many, but I usually rotate between (Sandy) Alex G, Protomartyr, Big Thief and Superchunk.

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?

This is a tough one. I guess maybe country,

What’s your favorite music venue?

I love Bart Lounge in Cathedral City, and The Alibi in Palm Springs is great. If we’re talking about other places, I like the Fonda in LA, and Che Café in San Diego—both amazing places to watch live music.

What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?

“I did exist, I did / I was here, I am,” “Worm in Heaven,” by Protomartyr.

What band or artist changed your life?

Bob Dylan, Title Fight and Jimi Hendrix. I’m sorry I can’t pick just one. They all taught me how to be honest and write music from your heart. They all helped, and continue to help, me with difficult times in my life.

You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?

I’m asking Frank Ocean when we can make a song together. Or can we hang out?

NAME Krystofer Do MORE INFO One of the Coachella Valley’s most frequently gigging musicians is singer/ keyboardist Krystofer Do. He has played at many of the valley’s venues (often without much in the way of clothing), and was regularly performing at Stacy’s in downtown Palm Springs before the shutdown. Do brings a unique spin to classic songs and his own brand of R&B music. His latest single, “Soul,” is an ’80s-style track about addiction that features some fantastic synth and vocal lines.

What was the first concert you attended?

Rodney Atkins at the Date Festival. I never thought my first concert would be a country artist!

What was the first album you owned?

Michael Jackson’s Number Ones. I was obsessed for years.

What bands are you listening to right now?

Phantogram, Daft Punk and Lady Gaga!

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?

Lizzo! I mean, she’s got a great voice, but I’m just not crazy about her music.

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?

Hands down, Michael Jackson.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?

The song Justin Bieber has where he says “yum yum.” Hate that one part, but love everything else.

What’s your favorite music venue?

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Palm Canyon Roadhouse locally, but if I can brag, I’ve performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, and that takes the cake.

What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?

“You wanna say so,” from Doja Cat’s song “Say So.”

TERRY HASTINGS

What band or artist changed your life?

Michael Jackson. He was a true entertainer, and he was good at it. He innovated pop music, and it’s hard to “innovate” pop, since it’s normally associated with trends. He made those trends, and that’s what I aspire to do.

You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?

I’d ask my favorite band, Phantogram, how they achieve the “dirty” sound in their productions so I could try emulating some of it. I love their music production.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

I’d love “Fragments of Time” by Daft Punk to be played at my funeral. It has a very positive message and celebrates memory, which is what I’d want.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?

The Dangerous album by Michael Jackson.

It’s perfect to me—the rhythm, the music and the imagery. He was inspired by new jack swing, which was a genre of electronic music inspired by African rhythms, and they were perfect to dance to.

What song should everyone listen to right now?

Everyone should listen to “Papercut” by Zedd.

It’s a beautiful, meaningful song from Zedd’s True Colors album.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

“Sligo River Blues” by John Fahey.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?

Blonde, Frank Ocean.

What song should everyone listen to right now?

Everyone should listen to my new single, “Boozer.”

CVIndependent.com

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OPINION SAVAGE LOVE

CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION

AN UNCOMFORTABLE KINK

BY DAN SAVAGE

H

ere’s a non-COVID question for you: I’m a queer white female in a monogamish marriage. I vote left; I abhor hatred and oppression; and I engage in activism when I can. I’m also turned on by power differentials: authority figures, uniforms, hot guys doing each other. Much to my horror, this thing for power differentials, plus too many World War II movies as a kid, has always meant that for my brain (or for my pussy), Nazis are hot. Fuck me, right?

Other maybe relevant bits of info: I’m not interested in roleplaying with actual partners; I’m fairly sure this proclivity is not reflective of any deeper issues; and I’m both sexually and emotionally fairly well-sorted—not perfect, but in fine working order and all that. And I get it: People like what they like; don’t judge yourself for your fetishes; just get off without being an asshole to anyone. The problem is that my usual way of getting off on/indulging my fantasies is to read erotic fiction on the internet.

I’d love your input on whether seeking out Nazi porn is problematic for some of the same reasons that porn depicting sex with kids is problematic. Am I normalizing and trivializing fascism?

Freaking About Search Histories Seeking out child porn is problematic (and illegal), because it creates demand for more child porn, which results in more children being raped and sexually abused. The cause-and-effect is obvious, FASH: The victims are real, and the harm done is incalculable.

While it may discomfort someone to know a nice, married lady who donates to all the right causes is furiously masturbating to dirty stories

about hot guys in Nazi uniforms doing each other, FASH, no one ever needs to know that. So you do no harm—not even the supposed harm of discomforting someone—when you privately enjoy the fucked-up stories you enjoy. And while there are doubtless some actual Nazis who enjoy reading dirty stories about other Nazis, most people turned on by dirty stories about Nazis are turned on despite themselves and their politics. Transgressive sexual fantasies don’t arouse us because they violate societal norms and expectations (in a safe and controlled manner), FASH, but because they allow us to violate our sense of ourselves, too (ditto). Just as a feminist can have rape fantasies without actually wanting to be raped herself or for anyone else to be raped, a person can have sexual fantasies about hot guys in Nazis uniforms doing each other without wanting Nazis to come to power.

I have to say, though: It was easier to give

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Affiliate Chamber

Porn with Nazis turns me on; is this problematic?

anti-Nazi Nazi fetishists like you a pass—to shrug and say “you do you,” but please keep it to yourself—before racist demagogues, white supremacists and anti-Semites started marching around waving Trump flags. But no one picks their kinks, and being told “that shouldn’t turn you on” has never made a problematic or transgressive kink less arousing. And when you consider the number of non-erotic novels, movies and television shows the culture cranks out year after year—and how many actually trivialize fascism (I’m talking to you, Hunters)—it’s seems insane to draw a line and say, “OK, this story about Nazis isn’t OK, because that lady over there masturbated while reading it in private.”

I’m an apartment-dweller in a dense urban area.

Last night, I overheard my neighbors having sex— no big deal, right? I consider myself a sex-positive person, and have always held and espoused the belief that if you can’t have loud sex in your own home, where can you have it? But the sex I overheard last night was fairly kinky. Someone I read as a cis man was dominating someone I read as a cis woman. They were in the apartment right across from mine—about 20 feet away—and my bedroom window faces theirs. There was a LOT of derogatory talk, hitting, name-calling, giving orders and some crying. I could tell it was consensual—she was very clearly having a good time—and I eavesdropped long enough to witness the post-coital return to equilibrium. Everything seemed great.

However, physically, I experienced this as overheard violence. I was shaking and had a hard time getting to sleep afterward. I’m glad I stuck around until the end. It helped me feel better.

I guess what I’m saying is that I needed some aftercare. I’m still thinking about it this morning, and I’m concerned that being triggered by my neighbor’s sex is going to become a regular part of my life. I’m wondering about the ethics of the situation: Do kinky folks have an obligation to muffle potentially triggering sounds? Or is any overheard sex potentially triggering to someone, and am I therefore applying a double-standard here? What do you think?

The Vanilla Neighbor You went from overhearing kinky sex to eavesdropping on it—meaning you went from accidentally hearing your neighbors fucking to intently listening as your neighbors fucked. And you needed to do that. You heard something that sounded violent, but hearing more led you to guess it was consensual sex, and listening all the way to the end—all the way through the aftercare—confirmed your guess was correct. So

for your own peace of mind, TVN, you needed to keep listening. But you don’t need to listen next time. If it triggers you to hear your neighbors fucking, don’t listen. Close the window, and crank up some music or go for a walk and listen to a podcast.

That said, TVN, you raise an interesting ethical question: Are kinksters—particularly the kind of kinksters who enjoy verbal abuse and impact play—obligated to keep it down? While I think people should be considerate of their neighbors, people are allowed to have sex in their own homes, TVN, and it’s not like vanilla sex is always quiet. But if the sex a couple enjoys could easily be misinterpreted as abuse or violence by someone who accidentally overhears it, that couple might wanna close the window and turn up some music themselves—not only to avoid alarming the neighbors, but to spare themselves the hassle of explaining their kinks to a cop.

For the record: I would tell person who enjoys a good single-tail whipping to find a soundproof dungeon to enjoy that in (because that shit is loud), but I wouldn’t tell a person who screams her head off during PIV intercourse to find a soundproof box (even though her shit is just as loud). Instead, I would urge her fuck at 8 p.m., when most people are awake, rather than 2 a.m., when most people are asleep. (It can be annoying listening to someone screamfuck, but it’s even more annoying to have your sleep ruined by a screamfucker.) Is this a double standard?

Perhaps. But it’s one I’m willing to endorse.

1. Is it safe to hook up again? 2. Will it be safe to hook up again soon? 3. You’ll tell us when it’s safe to hook up again, right?

Getting Really Impatient. Need Dick. Really.

1. It isn’t. 2. At some point. 3. I will.

Hey, Everybody: Me and Nancy and the tech-savvy/at-risk youth will be doing a special Savage Love Livestream on Thursday, June 4, at 7 p.m. Pacific. You can send your questions to livestream@savagelovecast.com or ask them live during the event. I’ll answer as many as I can in one fun-filled Zoom meeting! Tickets are $10, and all proceeds from the Savage Love Livestream will be donated to Northwest Harvest, a nonprofit that distributes food to more than 370 food banks in Washington state. Go to savagelovecast.com/events to get tickets!

Read Savage Love every Wednesday at CVIndependent.com; mail@savagelove.net; @fakedansavage on Twitter.

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OPINION COMICS & JONESIN’ CROSSWORD

“Books I Didn’t Finish”—it’s 42 Start of a Fannie Flagg OK; you get the idea. title (the movie title

By Matt Jones being shorter than the book) Across 46 New Age vocalist from 1 Raised-eyebrow remarks County Donegal 4 From Bangkok 47 Chicago trains 8 Loud 2-year-old, maybe 48 Closed facilities (work 14 Kabuki relative out at home!)

15 Fair share, between 49 Run off to get married two (wait, how would that 16 Baltimore player work these days?)

17 Start of a best-selling 51 On the Road narrator 2003 Mark Haddon title Paradise 20 Remote button 53 See 12-Down 21 Meas. for really fast 56 Aries symbol rotations 57 December garnish 22 Band supposedly doing 61 Start of a classic 1972 their final concert in Judith Viorst kids’ book 2021 title 23 Pellets found in some 64 1998 Olympics city in old pocket puzzles Japan 24 Catches 65 Japanese seaweed 26 100 centesimi, once 66 Metal container?

29 Sargasso, for one 67 Wallace’s canine 30 Scandinavian native sidekick properly called Sámi 68 Big thick book 33 Start of a time-traveling 69 It gets caked on Mark Twain title 38 Like the Beatles Down 39 Some time ___ 1 Where “I’m not a doctor” 40 Colin, to Tom Hanks spokespeople usually 41 Wildebeest “play one”

2 Hostess snack cake 3 Falling Up poet Silverstein 4 Part of a “hang loose” sign 5 Long-eared hoppers 6 Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Century (1999) 7 Befuddled comment 8 ___ nova 9 Entourage agent Gold 10 Shares a secret with, maybe 11 Focal points 12 53-Across students 13 Tasting party options 18 Like the mojito’s origin 19 Lifts 25 Actress Emily 26 ___-A-Lympics (1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon) 27 Words of support 28 One of the Bee Gees 29 Paper packaged with a board game, perhaps 31 Variety of owl, hippo, or seahorse 32 Airline that went bankrupt in 1991 34 Winner of the most French Open singles

titles 35 Pad see ew ingredient 36 Opposing argument 37 “May contain ___” 43 Procedure where you may be asked to select numbers 44 Terbium or erbium, e.g.

45 Looked the wrong way?

50 “Ready ___ ...”

51 Band of murder hornets, e.g.

52 The Governator, familiarly 53 Candidate who dropped out in February 2020 54 Fruit spray banned by the EPA 55 Blocks that inspired an animated Batman movie 58 Chemistry 101 model 59 Drive-___ window 60 Pay attention to 62 “Fuel” singer DiFranco 63 Kanga’s kid © 2020 Matt Jones Find the answers in the “About” section of CVIndependent.com!

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VOICES of HOPE TOGETHER, WE THRIVE.

KRISTIN CHENOWETH • BETTY BUCKLEY • MATTHEW MORRISON • MEGAN HILTY & BRIAN GALLAGHER ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY • MAX VON ESSEN • SAYCON SENGBLOH • ERICH BERGEN • CARLA JIMENEZ CHRISTINA BIANCO • EMERSON COLLINS & BLAKE MCIVER • HOSTED BY SCOTT NEVINS

LIVESTREAM JUNE 5, 7PM REGISTER NOW! DESERTAIDSPROJECT.ORG/HOPE CVIndependent.com