Coachella Valley Independent October 2013

VOL.1 | ISSUE 3

Taking Out the Trash

How Many Coachella Valley Businesses, Apartment Complexes and Condos Are Ignoring a New State Recycling Law?

By Thelma Grimes

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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

The Coachella Valley Independent was born on Oct. 25, 2012.

The very first story to go live at CVIndependent.com was, really, nothing special. In fact, the piece was more of a test piece for us to build the website around than what I’d call “journalism.” It was just three sentences, plus a photo, explaining that Restless Heart was going to be playing a show at the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa. The headline, taken from the name of a Restless Heart song: “Tell Me What You Dream.”

I never dreamt that less than a year later, the Independent would be where it is today. This summer, the Independent became the first Coachella Valley publication to ever be admitted to the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. We have now published about 700 stories online—and this print edition, our third, includes about 25 contributors and marks our debut as a monthly publication.

As the ad to the right explains: It’s time to celebrate.

If you’re free, or if you can get free, I encourage you to head to Clinic Bar Lounge, 188 S. Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, on Wednesday, Oct. 16. From 6 p.m. until midnight or so, contributors to and friends of the Independent will host a big party, to celebrate both our monthly print debut and our one-year online anniversary— and everyone (21 and over) is invited.

The bar will be open (translation: free drinks) from 6 to 8 p.m. But this is not just a drink-and-stand-around event: All Night Shoes (whose monthly Independent Fresh Mix debuts this month; read more on Page 45) will be DJ’ing all night, and artist Ryan “Motel” Campbell (read more on him on Page 23) will be creating a live mural—on a 10-foot-by-5-foot canvas—as the party plays out around him.

It’s going to be a great time. I really hope you can be there.

Our switch to a monthly print schedule comes with new features. Anita Rufus has been writing her “Know Your Neighbors” column every other week at CVIndependent.com since July; this month marks her print debut, which you can find on Page 4. Online readers have been enjoying Robert Victor’s monthly astronomy columns all summer; now, print readers will get to enjoy them each month as well. (See Page 13.) Our friends at Video Depot have been offering Independent readers online a weekly Top 10 rentals list since the beginning of the year; now they’re also sharing a monthly list in print. (See Page 31.) Meanwhile, esteemed music contributor Brian Blueskye will now be offering a look at the upcoming month’s local music events in every print issue; catch the debut of the Blueskye Report on Page 40.

Of course, as we continue to grow, the Independent is looking for people to join the family. We’re always looking for writers who are willing to report on local matters, and on the sales side, we’d love to add another advertising rep or two. If interested, email me at jboegle@cvindependent.com.

As always, thanks for reading—and I hope to see you on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

Editor/Publisher Jimmy Boegle Editorial Layout Wayne Acree Advertising Sales Matt Stauber Advertising Design Betty Jo Boegle Contributors Richard Almada, Gustavo Arellano, John Backderf, Victor Barocas, Brian Blueskye, Saxon Burns, Max Cannon, Kevin Fitzgerald, Bill Frost, Thelma Grimes, Bob Grimm, Alex Harrington, Valerie-Jean (VJ) Hume, Alexis Hunter, Keith Knight, Christina Lange, Marylee Pangman, Erin Peters, Deidre Pike, Anita Rufus, Stephanie Brooke Smith, Jen Sorenson, Philip Wayne The Coachella Valley Independent print edition is published monthly. All content is ©2013 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 $1 by calling (760) 904-4208. The Independent may be distributed only by the Independent’s authorized distributors.

The Independent is a proud member and/or supporter of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the Local Independent Online News Publishers, the Desert Business Association, The Center Palm Springs, artsOasis and the American Advertising Federation/Palm Springs-Desert Cities.

COVER DESIGN BY wayne acree

—Jimmy Boegle, jboegle@cvindependent.com

CVIndependent.com

OCTOBER 2013

OCTOBER 2013

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OCTOBER 2013

OPINION

Know Your Neighbors

Women Need to Speak Up to Defeat the War on Female-Reproductive Rights

www.cvindependent.com/opinion

By Anita Rufus here are some things we don’t readily share with friends and neighbors—like having paid one’s way through college by dancing around a pole. Or that romance with the golf pro. Or the nip/tuck during a “vacation” last summer.

Or that my grandmother once performed an abortion on herself using knitting needles.

With restrictions increasing on the rights granted by Roe v. Wade, women are being encouraged to talk about their experiences so that young women know what it was like—and what it could be like again.

It wasn’t until 1960 that “the pill” was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for contraceptive use. In 1965, Griswold v. Connecticut struck down a state law that prohibited the use of contraceptives, because the law violated the “right to marital privacy.” Prior to that, even married women couldn’t get doctors to prescribe contraception.

And if you were single? Forget about it.

June Pariano of La Quinta remembers well what those times were like.

“It was around 1969 in Racine, Wisc., and I was 23 or 24 years old,” she said. “At that time, insurance did not pay for the pill, but broke as we were, I found the money and chose a doctor whose office was close to our apartment. When I went in and asked about a birth-control prescription, he gave me a sermon about how women were put on this earth to bear children, and it was ‘against nature.’ He finally agreed to give me a 6-month prescription and said he would not renew it.

“Six months later, I went to another doctor who asked me, ‘Don’t you want to have children?’ I was so angry that I was being questioned about such a personal decision.

“I joined NOW (the National Organization for Women). We organized, wrote letters, drove to the state capital and fought like hell to get the politicians and the churches out of our bedrooms. Now it seems the politicians want to expand government to bedrooms again!”

Although abortions have always been a last resort for women (witness my grandmother), who have used everything from bleach douches to wire coat-hangers, it wasn’t until 1973 that the U.S. Supreme Court said the “right to privacy” protected a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy prior to “viability.” Before that, other options for American women were to go to another country, if they could afford to, or to seek out illegal abortionists—therefore risking their very lives to terminate unwanted pregnancies.

I did just that, in 1967, and would not wish the experience on anyone. It was sleazy, unprofessional and frightening—but not as frightening to me as continuing the pregnancy. I had given up a child for adoption when I was 17, and did not want to go through the daily agony of wondering whether I had CVIndependent.com

done the right thing yet again.

I’ve never regretted that abortion, and react strongly to those who blithely say, “You can always give the baby up.”

They’ve obviously never given a baby up.

Dori Smith is a retired public-relations professional living in Palm Desert.

“In 1984, I helped my best friend’s daughter get a legal abortion when she was 18, and I realized how hard it is for any woman to even make the decision. She was so grateful.

She went on to college, has two children and a great marriage, and even works with children now. She wouldn’t have been able to if we hadn’t helped her.

“Back in 1965, I got pregnant at 15 in my first sexual relationship, the one time we didn’t use any protection. I was so afraid. When I told him, he was scared. We didn’t know what to do.

“Abortion was illegal, so I asked him to find someone to do an illegal abortion. We never could find anyone. I finally told my mom after four months, and my parents gave permission to get married. I thought I was in love. What do you know at 15?

“We shouldn’t have been parents at that point in our lives.

I was such a young mother; it was difficult for me to give my son as much as I could later with my daughter. I was so young and immature.”

Would Dori have made a different decision if she had been able? “Of course, it’s difficult to separate a living human being from what I wish I could have had as a choice back then.

Because I was married, I couldn’t attend my senior prom, and I didn’t finish college until I was 32.

“I’m mentoring a young woman right now who’s 15. I think about myself dealing with those huge issues at that age. … If

my mom had just talked to me about sex and birth control.

That’s what bothers me about those against abortion—they’re also against sex education. It’s as if they want us to be punished for having sex.”

Priscilla Scheldt Richardson of Cathedral City was married with two sons, 9 and 12, when she got pregnant in 1981 at the age of 38.

“Babies were being born with severe conditions to women my age. I’m so grateful I had a doctor who believed in my freedom to decide whether to continue a compromised pregnancy.

“He said there was no point to an amniocentesis unless I knew I would terminate the pregnancy if the fetus was damaged. Otherwise, he wouldn’t risk my health or the fetus with the test itself. My then husband and I talked carefully and decided what was most important was to protect the quality of life for our existing sons.

“As it turned out, the fetus was normal—and we went ahead with the pregnancy. My children know this story; they understand that was our thinking at the time, and they respect that.

“Some might call our decision selfish, but having that choice is so important to protect.”

Women who have gone through these decisions are married, divorced, widowed. They teach your children, play tennis with you at the club, volunteer at local charities, and participate in your organizations. They’re your friends and neighbors.

Share your stories.

Anita Rufus is also known as “The Lovable Liberal,” and her radio show airs every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on KNews Radio 94.3 FM. Know Your Neighbors appears every other week at CVIndependent.com and in each print issue.

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OCTOBER 2013

OPINION

Unintended Consequences

Like the Sound Strike, the Russian-Vodka Boycott Is Well-Intentioned—but Not Well-Thought Out

www.cvindependent.com/opinion

By Jimmy Boegle n the bar at Lulu—one of Palm Springs’ biggest and most popular restaurants (and a personal favorite of mine)—sat a sign in a silver picture frame.

“We have an excellent selection of non-Russian vodka,” the sign reads, just below an image of a rainbow-colored martini.

Lulu is one of a number of bars and restaurants that are participating in a boycott of Russian vodka—a boycott that is undeniably well-intentioned.

Unfortunately, it isn’t well-thought-out.

The roots of the boycott lie, in part, in a call by Dan Savage, a pundit, author and sex-advice columnist who is the editorial director of The Stranger, one of the Independent’s alt-media brethren, in Seattle. In July, Savage wrote a post on The Stranger’s website titled “Why I’m Boycotting Russian Vodka.” In the post, he chronicles increasing government-sanctioned anti-gay movements in Russia, including bans on gay-pride celebrations and violent attacks on LGBT groups and individuals. These horrendous actions have led many to call for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, being held in Sochi, Russia.

Savage points out that many of us can’t really participate in an Olympics boycott, since the vast majority of us aren’t planning on traveling to Sochi for the games. However, many of us do drink vodka. And therefore, he argues, we can send a message by forgoing Russian booze.

“If you drink a Russian Vodka like Stoli, Russian Standard, or any of the other brands … switch to another brand from another country, or even a local brand from a local distillery,” Savage writes. “Stoli is the iconic Russian vodka, and it’s returning to Russian ownership in 2014. … Ask your bartender at your favorite bar—gay or otherwise—to DUMP STOLI and DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA.” There’s no doubt that the well-intentioned boycott gained

attention—including attention from Stoli. The company is understandably concerned, and issued a statement to the world condemning Russia’s actions and promoting LGBT rights.

Of course, anyone who has attended any large LGBT event in recent years already knows that Stoli is engaged and supportive of the LGBT community. In fact, Stoli even employs an LGBT brand ambassador, Patrik Gallineaux. (Full disclosure: Patrik is a friend.)

You can speculate that Stoli cares more about LGBT dollars than LGBT rights. (After all, we gays love our vodka, don’t we?) You can also criticize Stoli for its over-glorification of twinks and single-digit-body-fat-percentage younger men in its LGBT-themed promotions. But you can’t deny that Stoli has done more to engage, support and be visible in the gay community than any other liquor brand, foreign or domestic—and that is a very good thing.

A recent lesson on the consequences of boycotts can be found in the state to our east. After the state of Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer made the anti-immigrant SB 1070 into law in 2010, a group of musicians, led by Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, organized the Sound Strike, a movement

that discouraged bands from performing in the state of Arizona. In time, an impressive list of musicians, ranging from Maroon 5 to Steve Earle to Ozomatli, signed on with the Sound Strike.

Sound Strike was undeniably well-intentioned. After all, SB 1070 was a terrible, horrendous law with racist roots.

On one hand, Sound Strike was a success—for a period of time, a number of acts indeed cancelled concerts in Arizona, and/or refused to schedule dates there.

On the other hand, Sound Strike was a failure: The rightwing Republicans in the Arizona Legislature and notorious officials such as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio didn’t care one whit about Sound Strike. They continued to fight on behalf of SB 1070 all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court (which rejected much of the law in 2012).

In other words, while Sound Strike had a profound effect on, say, fans of Ozomatli in Arizona, and progressively run nonprofit music venues, like Tucson’s Rialto Theatre (which reportedly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the Sound Strike), it had no effect on the people who were responsible for SB 1070 becoming law. None.

Sound Strike eventually fizzled out, but only after harming at lot of people who were—like the Sound Strike organizers—opposed to SB 1070.

The same thing may be happening with this ill-advised Russian-vodka boycott. This boycott could hurt the most gay-engaged liquor brand in the U.S. I also have no doubt that Vladimir Putin and other anti-gay leaders in Russia will suffer neither harm nor a crisis of conscience over this boycott.

That’s why when I head out these days for a cocktail, Stoli is often the liquor in my glass.

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OCTOBER 2013

OPINION

THE POTTED DESERT GARDEN

Super-Sized Pots Can Enhance Your Desert Landscape—and Keep Your Plants Happy

www.cvindependent.com/opinion

By MARYLEE PANGMAN ne gardener’s “really big pot” is another gardener’s medium-sized pot—at best. I often chuckle when I ask someone, “What size pot do you have?” and the person responds that a “really big pot” is 18 inches in diameter.

“Really big pots”—aka RBPs—are, in my book, pots that are at least 32 inches in diameter—and we must plant in large pots, no smaller than 20 inches, in order to have successful full-sun potted gardens in our desert heat. The soil volume in these larger pots gives the roots a fighting chance to keep their cool.

Since RBPs obviously take up a lot of space, you want to think about using RBPs where they can serve a specific function in your exterior design. They might become a focal point—with or without a plant. They might break up the monotony of a large flat wall, or if they include a vine, shrub or small tree, they can hide an eyesore—and even provide screening from your nosy neighbors.

Your best bet when planting in super-sized pots is to choose plants that you will either replace each year—like annual flowers—or plants that are slow-growing.

Most nursery plant tags will say what the rate of growth is for a particular plant—and pay attention! I once made the mistake of planting evergreen pistache trees in 32-inch pots.

Those trees, with the love and care of regular water and food, outgrew the pots in less than a year. The trees were not overly large—but the root system could not grow large enough in the pots to support their canopy.

Here are some basic tips on how to handle RBPs. 1. Make a firm decision as to where you want the pot placed before planting in it. Have you ever tried to lift a 22-inch container garden filled with dirt and plants? I have— and it was overwhelmingly heavy. Once planted, an RBP will be virtually impossible to move. To do so will require that you empty it of all the plants and soil. Be sure!

2. If you know you are planting shallow- or mediumrooted plants in an RBP, do not fill the entire pot with soil. If you are planting small perennials or annuals, you can fill the lower two-thirds of the pot with other material. When planting a small shrub-type plant, you need more soil volume, but you can fill the bottom third with nonorganic material.

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(Do NOT use rocks; they just make the pot heavier!) I recommend that you cover whatever material you use with a sheet of landscape fabric. This will allow water to go through, yet will help maintain the soil above the fillers. Filler possibilities include a larger-sized terra cotta pot that you do not care about, upside down at the bottom of the pot; upside-down black plastic nursery pots (squeezing them to fill in as much space as possible); used six-packs or nursery pots, or even packing “peanuts,” bundled inside a leaf bag; empty plastic bottles or aluminum pop cans, covered with landscape cloth; or even plastic foam, broken into manageable pieces. Whatever you do, make sure you do not seal the drainage hole shut.

3. Do not fill your pot with soil from your garden— even if your garden has the very best soil on the planet.

Garden soil is heavy and “dirty” (replete with weed seeds, bugs and their eggs, bacteria—stuff that you don’t want in your pots). Instead, use a good potting soil (also called potting mix or container mix). Potting soil is well-aerated, sterile, lightweight and made of a good balance of organic material and mineral particles like peat, sand or perlite. (Potting soil is actually soilless—that is, it doesn’t contain any dirt.) When choosing a potting soil, it should smell and feel rich. It will not be sandy or smell like manure.

4. When planting a tree in an RBP, fill the pot completely full with soil. Trees also need to be planted in solidly based pots in order to reduce the tipping factor. The base of the pot should be almost as large as the top of the pot. Our desert winds have been known to blow over many pots—even super-sized ones!

5. If you put a large plant in an RBP, you do not need to change out all of the soil every few years, like you do in smaller pots. Instead, each year, remove a top layer of old

Learn from Marylee’s mistake: This pistache tree needed to be replanted in less than a year, even though it was in an RPB.

soil and add new soil, along with time-release fertilizer. Mix it in with the old soil as much as you can without severely disturbing the root system. Keep the soil level at the same depth as before, so you don’t cover the root or trunk any deeper than it was originally planted.

By following these methods, you can enjoy terrific potted gardens for many, many years!

Marylee is the Desert’s Potted Garden Expert. Email her with comments andquestions at potteddesert@gmail.com, and follow the Potted Desert on Facebook. Her column appears every Tuesday at CVIndependent.com.

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OCTOBER 2013

OPINION

ASK A MEXICAN!

Why Aren’t More Mexican Nationals Applying for Asylum in the U.S.?

!

www.cvindependent.com/opinion

By GUSTAVO ARELLANO DEAR MEXICAN: I have read (from the usual suspects and a few Know Nothings) that illegals can say a few magic words to get temporary, pending-review, asylum status. The reports say the illegals can claim asylum from drug gangs. My understanding is that fear of crime in one’s home country has never been grounds for seeking asylum in the USA. In other words, these reports make no sense.

My experience of the Mexican government’s insufferable machismo is that it would go ballistic if we granted asylum to even one peon based on “government oppression.” They would recall their ambassador, expel ours and embargo the export of serapes and piñatas.

Do you have any of the facts surrounding this brouhaha?

Queso Grande I do not understand why fear is a part of childhood in Mexican families.

DEAR BIG-CHEESE GABACHO: Both the Mexican and American governments want to discount the threat of narcoviolence as a plausible reason for refugee status, for self-serving reasons—but look at the stats.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, which monitors the status of refugees worldwide, estimates that about 160,000 Mexicans have fled their homes, citing in a 2012 report that “the largest but least-acknowledged cause of new displacement was generalized drug-cartel violence and human rights abuses, in the form of fighting between cartels and government forces, extortions, kidnappings, assassinations and threats against civilians.” Not all of these Mexicans went up to the United States, but it’s not a big salto in logic to surmise that some of those internal refugees want to go up to el Norte—and more will follow.

And why shouldn’t they claim refugee status? We give it to Cubans whose sole reason to come to this country is to play Major League Baseball—nothing against that awesome Los Angeles Dodgers coño Yasiel Puig, mind you …

DEAR MEXICAN: Why the hell do Mexican parents want their kids to talk to relatives in Mexico when the kids don’t know those people?

No Tia Goya Ni Que Ocho Cuartos DEAR WAB: You mean you don’t want to be introduced to the primo hermano of your bisabuela’s yerno’s madrina’s ahijada’s sobrina’s madastra’s third uncle once removed? Who are you—a gabacho who has met their first cousin from Indiana only thrice?

DEAR MEXICAN: As the summer draws to a close, I’m thankful, as that means the constant screaming of the kids in the swimming pool outside of my apartment will cease. The parents drag the kids into the water when they do not want to go, and the older siblings and cousins push the young kids underwater and force them to do things they don’t want to do. The kids are screaming and crying, and the parents sit by, laughing.

Confused Güera DEAR GABACHA: Fear is as much a part of a Mexican childhood as piñatas and drunken uncles at baptisms. It prepares them for life in this country—sink or swim, with no rafts allowed. (Those are for the Cubans.)

When we throw our kids in the pool, don’t forget they’re surrounded by older siblings who know how to swim, who are in turn being watched by adults who know how to swim. We must be doing something right: A May 2012 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found Latino children had the lowest rate of drowning deaths of any ethnicity, beating even gabachos.

Catch the Mexican every Wednesday morning at CVIndependent.com. Ask the Mexican at themexican@askamexican.net; be his fan on Facebook; follow him on Twitter @ gustavoarellano; or ask him a video question atyoutube.com/askamexicano!

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OCTOBER 2013

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OCTOBER 2013

11 12 13 14 15

Speaking for the Trees: A Joshua Tree Without Joshua Trees?

Fighting for a No-Kill Community October Astronomy Haunt of Hoax? The Palm Springs Paranormal Investigation Team The Stigma of Childhood Sexual Abuse

www.cvindependent.com/news

Stop!

Could the End Be Near for Cathedral City’s Controversial Red-Light Cameras?

By Kevin Fitzgerald ore than 40 cities in California have terminated red-light camera programs within the last 10 years, according TheNewspaper.com, “a journal of the politics of driving.”

San Diego announced the end of that city’s program—in which drivers were mailed tickets after tripping sensors at an intersection and getting photographed in the act of an apparent traffic violation—in February of this year.

Numerous cities in other states have similarly ended participation in this well-intentioned, but often ill-conceived approach to traffic law enforcement. At least eights states prohibit the use of red-light camera systems, including Arkansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Yet Cathedral City is sticking with its redlight camera program—at least for now.

Since March 2006, the city has had a redlight camera at Date Palm Drive and Ramon Road; in February 2009, the city added two more: at Date Palm and Vista Chino, and at Landau Boulevard and Ramon.

“It’s a cost-benefit exam,” said Capt.

Chuck Robinson, the Cathedral City Police Department’s public information officer.

“When we look at the system over the first five years, we saw a lot of good things come out of the safety aspect. A lot of the issues that have been brought up as arguments against the system, we’ve essentially nullified, because we did it right. We did it right from the beginning,

and we did it for the right reasons.”

Public officials generally cite two reasons for supporting red-light camera programs. The first is that they benefit public safety by reducing vehicle collisions in the targeted intersections.

However, the statistics provided by Capt.

Robinson show that the number of accidents at these three intersections were higher in both 2011 and 2012 than they were in 2010, the first full year that all of the cameras were operational. In 2010, there were 15 such collisions at Cathedral City red-light camera intersections. In 2011, that total soared to 25 collisions. In 2012, the number decreased to 17.

As for the statistics at those intersections before the cameras were installed, Capt.

Robinson said he couldn’t provide them. “We had a crime analyst who we lost during all the cutbacks last year. That crime analyst had all the historical data, especially the red-light camera stuff. So when we lost him last year, basically we lost all his work.”

However, he did recall one statistic: “I know anecdotally that the first year we had the redlight camera at the intersection of Date Palm and Ramon, we saw a 30 percent reduction in the number of collisions at that intersection.”

The second rationale for the cameras is that the fines—almost $500 per ticket—imposed on drivers provide a revenue stream to cashstrapped municipalities. However, in the case of Cathedral City, that’s not the case; in fact, only the company that manages the program is making big bucks. ➠

If this system at Date Palm Drive and Ramon Road catches you running a red light, you can expect a ticket for almost $500 to arrive in your mailbox. Jimmy Boegle

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OCTOBER 2013 RED LIGHT Cameras continued from Page 9

Along with the red-light statistics supplied to the Independent by Capt. Robinson, he wrote, “The cumulative revenue generated by the program since March 2006 to present is $1,455,817. The cost of the program management by ATS (American Traffic Solutions, a company based in Arizona) over that same time period is $933,227. The city acquired approximately $522,580 over these last seven years, which equates to approximately $74,654 per year in revenue.”

Capt. Robinson continued: “The personnel costs associated with reviewing each citation, handling citizen inquiries and complaints, attending court and processing public-record requests during the year is about $65,000.”

That means the Cathedral City Police Department is reaping approximately $9,654 per year from the cameras.

“That sounds about right, because the whole intent of the program was to be costneutral,” Robinson said. “We didn’t install (the red-light camera enforcement system) to generate revenue. … Over the last seven years, the overall revenues versus what we’ve expended and paid out are negligible.”

Meanwhile, a review of public records by the Independent shows that the city’s justifications for starting the program in the first place may have been less than accurate.

The original Cathedral City authorization document for initiation of the red-light camera program, dated May 25, 2005, shows that the proposal by then-Police Chief Stanley Henry—now a member of Cathedral City’s City Council—offered only one example of a successful red-light camera: Indian Wells.

The “Background” section of the document states: “Indian Wells has had a successful program for approximately four years.” It then goes on to mention: “According to their public safety manager, the Red-Light Camera Program has been part of their overall traffic strategy. He reports more awareness, less speeding and collisions. … The cameras have created few complaints and according to the Public Safety Manager have been well-received by the community. He said Cathedral City will be happy with the results.”

However, at the time of that writing, the city of Indian Wells was already in the process of terminating its red-light camera program. In fact, public records show that Indian Wells shut off its red-light camera system sometime in 2004, and officially ended the contract for services in July 2005—no more than two months after the City Council of Cathedral City cited Indian Wells a program to be emulated.

So why did Cathedral City cite Indian Wells as a red-light-camera success story when, in fact, it was not?

“At the time that the Indian Wells program was in effect, they were very satisfied with it,” said Capt. Robinson. “The problem that Indian Wells had was that the initial technology they were utilizing was wet-film-based. The technology was in its infancy, so for them, it was CVIndependent.com

very labor-intensive, which is why I think they ended up getting rid of their program.”

However, Indian Wells’ personnel director and public safety manager, Mel Windsor (who was working in the same capacity while the city’s red-light camera system was operational), remembers some things differently.

Regarding the Indian Wells citizen satisfaction levels described in the Cathedral City Police Department’s proposal to the City Council, Windsor recalled, “When we first implemented the system, I fielded complaint calls all day, every day, beginning as soon as I got to my desk each morning.”

What about technical challenges in Indian Wells’ system? “No, we never had any technical problems. We contracted with ACS/Lockheed Martin, and they had pretty well worked out any bugs in their system while managing their system in San Diego. … We shut down the system because it cost too much to run, and the City Council made the decision to use any funds earmarked for the red-light camera system to hire additional motorcycle deputies, who can operate in more of a stealth mode and address multiple driver behaviors that pose a danger to the public safety.”

Today, some Cathedral City officials may be reaching a similar conclusion.

“The bell curve on safety benefits has flattened out,” said Capt. Robinson. “I don’t think we’re going to see any more safety that we can get out of the program in those intersections. We’re looking at the program from the standpoint of: Is it cost-effective for us to keep it? There have been a lot of costs aside from just paying for the system itself and the service behind it. So all those things have to be weighed together, and we’re in the process of doing that now.

“Our contract expires in February or March of 2014. We don’t have any addendums or extensions; it actually expires. So we’re already heading down that road where we decide if it’s something we want to continue with, or if we try something else.”

When a decision is reached by first quarter of 2014 on whether or not to extend the Cathedral City red-light camera program, will that decision be announced to the public with any fanfare?

“You know, that is a very good question,” Capt. Robinson said. “From a safety standpoint, I would say it would be in our best interest to make that as quiet as possible.

But … I also realize that in a lot of areas, the popularity or unpopularity of the red-light camera systems is political. … I would say if it were up to me, (we’d) go quietly into the night. If people still believe it’s there, then they’re still going to behave. But word travels fast. I mean, it’s a small valley, so regardless, (drivers) are going to know at some point, anyway. But whether it’s with fanfare or not, I don’t know.”

Saxon Burns contributed to this story.

Coachella Valley Independent // 11

OCTOBER 2013

NEWS

Speaking for the Trees

Climate Change Could Remove the Namesake From Joshua Tree National Park

www.cvindependent.com/news

By Allie Goldstein and Kirsten Howard Editor’s Note: Kirsten Howard and Allie Goldstein are recent graduates of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. This summer, they embarked on a nationwide road trip with the goal to examine how people across the country are adapting their lives due to climate change.

On July 21 and 22, Howard and Goldstein spent some time at Joshua Tree National Park; here’s an edited version of their story on their stop. To read about their entire summer-long journey, visit adaptationstories.com.

weltering July is the off-season at Joshua Tree National Park, home to the unique ecological meeting point of the Colorado and Mojave Deserts. We entered the park’s south entrance and spent the night under a full moon at the nearly empty Cottonwood Spring campground.

We woke up at 5:30 a.m. for a morning hike, and atop Mastodon Peak, we gazed out over a landscape full of contractions: The desert is smooth yet angular, monochrome yet motley, barren yet overflowing. But it wasn’t until later that afternoon, driving west to higher elevations, that we encountered the park’s namesake and perhaps the most paradoxical fixture on the landscape: the Joshua tree.

Face-to-face with a Joshua tree, it’s hard to decide whether it’s beautiful or hideous. Either way, there is much more to the Joshua tree than meets the eye. In a children’s book published by the National Park Service as an educational tool, author L.S. Lange describes the keystone species role the Joshua tree plays.

The Gambel’s quail eats its seeds; the Scott’s oriole nests in its leaves and feeds on its nectar; loggerhead spike birds spear their prey on its sharp leaves; Yucca moths hatch in its seed pods; and termites live in the decomposing trunks.

What would Joshua Tree National Park be without the Joshua tree?

When we had asked Ken Cole, a retired U.S. Geological Survey ecologist who studied the species, where we could find the best Joshua-tree forests, he told us, “There just aren’t that many Joshua trees in Joshua Tree National Park.”

According to Cole’s 2011 research, there probably were Joshua trees in the southern part of the park 11,700 years ago.

Paleoclimatological records suggest that the tree’s range shrank by 90 percent when the climate warmed up four degrees Celsius over 50 years, marking the end of the Pleistocene and the start of the Holocene. With the warming, an important seed-dispersing Shasta ground sloth disappeared. Trees now only occupy the highest altitudes of that original range, where temperatures are cooler.

“Joshua trees are very picky. They tend to hang around at 3,500 to 5,000 foot elevation,” Joshua Tree National Park Association employee Lacy Ditto told us.

In certain parts of the park, though, the Joshua trees are

ubiquitous. After easing our minivan up a 2,000-foot climb into the Mojave, scraggly Joshua trees of all different shapes and sizes surrounded us—and at 40 feet stood the tallest Joshua tree in the world. Others stooped, overloaded with branches.

Old, dead Joshua trees lay defeated on the harsh desert floor.

Many trees were teeming with the remnants of pods that, after a very rare full bloom this spring, were dropping millions of seeds to vie for germination below.

Whether this rare abundance is a sign of regeneration or impending decline is the latest mystery of the Joshua tree.

This year’s bloom in Joshua Tree National Park was the most bountiful in decades—40 percent bigger than the next best bloom in the past 25 years. And this could be a good thing: Reproduction has dropped by about 30 percent throughout the park, and in the hottest and driest areas, the Joshua tree hasn’t been regenerating at all.

Why the trouble in paradise? Some point to the warmer nights in the winter. Some think the tree needs a cold winter frost to damage its growing tips, which jolts it into flower production.

The fertility challenges may also be linked to the Yucca moth, an important Joshua-tree pollinator that could be sensitive to higher temperatures. No one really knows for sure.

Experts also aren’t sure whether the recent flowery outpouring of the Joshua trees in the park is cause for celebration or alarm.

According to Josh Hoines, a National Park Service vegetation specialist, several anecdotal theories exist as to why the trees flowered so successfully this year. One is that there was a cold snap this winter. Another is that more rainfall allowed for extra resource accumulation—especially after two years of drought.

Hoines described a third possible explanation: “The most recent theory I have seen is that the climate has moved to the edge of the physiologic tolerance for Joshua trees, and they are

putting out one last-ditch effort before they die.”

Climate models suggest we can expect an increase in temperatures around four degrees Celsius in the next 60 to 90 years—a similar rate of change to 11,700 years ago. Cole and his research team predict that the tree’s range will constrict to 10 percent of its current area as temperatures rise.

“We think the change with global warming will be similar in scale to the last major die-off. Ninety percent of the current range may disappear,” Cole said.

While researchers work to fill in important science gaps about the Joshua tree, vegetation specialists like Hoines are implementing “no regrets” strategies. They collect and store seeds in a bank and use them to re-vegetate sites that are degraded. The park also runs a nursery where specialists grow the temperature-sensitive seedlings in a controlled environment. Park employees monitor long-term plots to better understand how the trees respond to climate change.

Some researchers are beginning to think about a more-controversial solution: manually relocating the Joshua tree. Cole’s study identified new areas that could provide an appropriate climate for the Joshua tree as the climate changes. Of these areas, those that fall within two kilometers of current Joshua-tree populations could be suitable for natural migration, where seed-dispersers might move the populations naturally. But most of the future favorable climates fall farther than two kilometers away, and would require people dispersing seed or planting seedlings.

In any case, if the Joshua tree leaves the park, it won’t be without a fight.

“The Joshua tree is not going extinct. We’re not going to let that happen,” said Ditto.

Read the full version of this piece, with more photos and graphics, at adaptationstories.com.

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NEWS

Fighting for a No-Kill Community

An Interview With Loving All Animals’ Lindi Biggi

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By Alexis Hunter

Lindi Biggi and some of her animal friends. Alexis Hunter

alm Desert resident Lindi Biggi has taken on the daunting task of advocating for the animals in our desert. She founded Loving All Animals in 2009, and is currently the organization’s president.

The organization’s mission is to bring together local and national animal welfare organizations. Loving All Animals currently holds adoption fairs, sponsors fundraisers to help local animal groups in need, and supports an Internet networking organization which helps find homes for critters big and small.

Biggi recently took some time to discuss the emotional roller coaster that is “animal rescue” at her getaway home at Lake Arrowhead. She also answered some follow-up questions via email.

What ignites your quest to devote most of your waking hours to animal advocacy? In other words, what floats your boat about critters?

I am genetically programmed to dedicate my life to animals. It’s all my mother’s fault.

I was raised on various farms, spending several years on a 2,300-acre farm property in Oregon. … It was a falling-down barn that was actually in better shape than the three-story-tall, cereal-box-shaped house that was built with the cheapest of materials available in the early 1940s.

The driveway, if you could call it that, was a 3-mile-long series of dusty pot holes in the rare months that rain wasn’t falling. … Not far from where we lived was a slaughterhouse, and not far from that was a livestock auction house where live auctions were held every weekend. Farmers from near and far would bring in their livestock to be sold in the auction ring. Often, CVIndependent.com

for various reasons, the animals were too old, too sick or too injured to be able to respond to the prodding methods used to force them into the ring, resulting in them not being sold and not finding a new owner, and not being worth it for the old owner to … take them back where they came from. At the end of the auction, most of the owners would simply send these animals to the slaughterhouse.

Well, my mom had a better idea: She agreed to take them all, regardless of health condition, or (regardless) if it were

a chicken, a duck, a goat, a calf, a horse … and once, we even got a bison. … That was the start of what was called Flemings’ Funny Farm—my maiden name is Fleming—and that was the end of the minimum amount of housekeeping my mother ever did. … We had herds of various kinds of cattle, horses, turkeys, peacocks, goats, sheep—you name it, it was somewhere on that 2,300 acres. … The bison did regain its health, and it ruled over all creatures.

Mom and the boys ran their makeshift animal hospital, and I, being the only girl, was assigned all the housework, which wouldn’t have been so bad, except mom kept scouring calves in the kitchen, baby chicks or turkeys or ducks in the shower, rabbits in my brothers’ bedroom, and I can’t tell you how many times I would find a bunch of newborn piglets laying on top of the freshly dried clothes in the clothes dryer.

How long have you been involved with animal organizations? What motivated you to start your own?

Like a lot of kids of my day, the 4-H club would be the first organization.

As a young adult, I did very little with four-legged animals, as I had my hands full dealing with my two legged critters, namely my son and my daughter, and later the five children of my husband. As our children left the nest, I filled the empty space with exotic birds, which we never had on the farm. I then belonged to a few bird clubs. Upon moving to the desert, I wanted to become active with The Living Desert, but between my own exotic bird flock and starting up the Angels for Animal Samaritans group, I never got the time to do that. I later was honored to be on the board of directors for Animal Samaritans and served with that organization until I resigned. Again, I was honored by being invited to serve on the board of directors for PetSmart Charities and enjoyed seeing the animal world from a national viewpoint.

Starting Loving All Animals was actually motivated by two profoundly important things in my life. Family: Tabitha Lindsay Loftis was my granddaughter who moved in with me at the age of 15. She worked on almost every animal event I was involved with, and at age 17, she left for school on a Monday morning and never came home. She was killed in an automobile accident, and losing her left an unbelievable void in my life. I found myself with absolutely no useful purpose. … Knowing that my life depended upon getting busy doing something worthwhile, or (letting) my sadness continue to destroy me, starting Loving All Animals and working for the animals was a natural.

(Second), friends: I love my friends, and my friends love animals, too. I had the memories of all the fun and productive hours we had spent doing things for the animals. Forming Loving All Animals to give us a venue to work together again was a natural.

What do you feel could and should be done to stop euthanasia in our shelters?

There is only one answer to this question: Get the supply and demand in balance.

The old saying, “If people knew better, they would do better,” screams the truth in this situation. I truly think most people are good, I mean really good, and would never knowingly allow these beautiful, God-made life forms

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to have their lives snuffed out. We as a society have been dumbed-down to accept it. … First: Spay/neuter, so as to stop the production of unwanted animals. Second, adopt: Get society to understand that they need to adopt shelter animals and drastically cut back commercial puppymill operations. If people don’t buy (the animals), they will diminish the breeding.

Third: Support the animal-welfare organizations that are working so hard to get us to being a no-kill nation. … Right now, more than 50 percent of the dogs and 80 percent of the cats are being put down in one of our local shelters, and it is even worse with some of our neighboring shelters.

If citizens (only) knew that it cost an average of $426 for every animal entering our public system; it doesn’t matter if they come out dead or alive. That is what it costs for facility, staff, dog-catchers, trucks, equipment, administration, etc.

One doesn’t need to be a mathematician to see that government-paid spay/neuter for low-income people would cost the taxpayers less. So again, we need to ask: Why don’t we do it?

quickly, and next on the auction block was a great big, shaggy and ugly “Bear Dog”—silence. Silence, that is, until the lady stepped up and said, “Here is $1,500.

I WANT THAT DOG.” … It really was a sight I will never forget. I watched as she left with her … over-priced, untrained companion, and as they walked through the front door, I saw the driver of a great big black limo opening the door for her and Bear to enter. He took his place next to her on the seat, and he looked regal in that car—and believe me when I say making him look regal was a challenge. Anyway, ask and you shall receive: We (then) wanted a limo; it took a while, but one was donated.

Why do you believe in microchipping?

Do you think microchips are dangerous?

I have been a serious supporter of microchips for the last 20-plus years, and I would stake my life on the fact that they are NOT dangerous. I am hoping to live long enough to see our government see that dog licenses are useless to the dog and to the dog owner. … (Governments) need to phase out the license requirement and replace it with mandatory microchip for all companion animals, and then use the database as a retrieval system. This could be done where it would be cheaper for the citizen, give animal services (departments) a meaningful income program, give animal owners a value for their money, and get a whole lot more lost animals back home.

Rescues are really the greater lovers.

You’re very active with adoption fairs and even transport some of the animals in your limousine. Where did the idea come from?

Yes, adoption fairs give people who don’t or won’t go to shelters an opportunity to see the beautiful creatures that are available.

We, at LAA, are trying to get humans to see (shelter animals’) beauty and get rid of the stereotype that shelter animals are bad, rejects, ugly, dirty and undesirable. … They are not mutts, but premium blends. In fact, did you know that 30 percent of shelter animals are purebreds? We take an animal out of the shelter, spay/neuter, vaccinate, microchip and, if necessary, take care of other health issues. We groom them, spray them with perfume, give them a fancy name (and) a fancy collar, and take them around in the limo. Animals that no one would ever look at find people fighting over them. We love it when that happens.

The idea for the limo is a very special story. As you know, some of the dogs rescued from Duroville might even fit the description of “undesirable.” I have to admit: Some of them were pretty bad. Well, we were invited to the very prestigious event known as (the Palm Springs Art Museum’s) “Day in the Garden,” and we took three Duroville dogs. … Two of the cute dogs obviously found loving homes

What is your ultimate goal for Loving All Animals?

I want to see us all working together to create a no-kill community, and then move on to creating a no-kill nation. I want us to figure out how we can provide FREE spay/ neuter services to low-income families. I want to create a huge database of willing foster homes that can be available to all the shelters, plus (help) individuals who need short-term care of their pets while they, themselves, are homeless, or when they need to be in the hospital, or (have) other short-term reasons that would require they give up their pet. … I hope to see the day where every companion animal has a microchip and a working retrieval system that gets lost pets home, and I hope to see the day when people really understand that the love of an animal is of great value, and the quality of the love isn’t increased because you pay a big price for a purebred dog. Rescues are really the greater lovers.

NEWS October Astronomy

Let the Moon Be Your Guide to the Stars This Month

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by Robert Victor

Image courtesy of www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/skycalendar

ollow the moon each day at dusk or dawn—and within one cycle, it will introduce you to as many as all five naked-eye planets, and the five bright stars of first magnitude within the belt of zodiac constellations.

New moon occurs on Friday, Oct. 4. Two days later, on Sunday evening, Oct. 6, about 20 minutes after sunset, a thin sliver of a young lunar crescent will appear very low in the west-southwest, 20 degrees to the lower right of the bright “evening star,” Venus.

Valley residents would need to seek out a place with an unobstructed sight line in that direction, since the moon will be less than 6 degrees up at 7 p.m., within a half-hour after sunset. (In other words, if you’re in downtown Palm Springs or elsewhere near the mountains, you’re out of luck!) But the view through binoculars is worthwhile: Flanking the moon will be Saturn, 3 degrees to the upper right, and Mercury, 2 degrees to moon’s lower left—all within a 5-degree field!

Mercury and Saturn are in the process of departing the evening sky, but Venus remains visible at dusk until early January.

As the moon withdraws farther from the sun nightly, the crescent thickens, and appears within 8 degrees of Venus the next two evenings—to the planet’s lower right on Monday, Oct. 7, and to its upper left on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

On Saturday, Oct. 12, the local Astronomical Society of the Desert will resume hosting its free monthly star parties at the Visitor Center of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument (on Highway 74, 4 miles south of Highway 111 in Palm Desert). For more info and a map, visit the society’s website, at www.astrorx.org. Early that evening, and until Sunday, Oct. 20, the famous red supergiant star Antares will appear within 5 degrees of Venus. On Wednesday, Oct. 16, they’ll be as close as 1.5 degrees, with Venus passing above the distant star.

High in the east these mornings, another striking pair, of reddish Mars and blue-white Regulus, takes place. From Oct. 7-23, they’ll appear within 5 degrees, and within 1 degree on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

Continue watching the moon in the evening sky until it reaches full on Friday, Oct. 18, when it rises around sunset, and for a few nights beyond, as it rises later each evening.

Look around 6 a.m. (about an hour before sunrise) for these events: On Oct. 22, the moon is near Aldebaran, eye of Taurus; on Oct. 25 and 26, the moon is near Jupiter (the brightest “morning star”) and the Gemini twins, Pollux and Castor. On Oct. 29, find the moon near Regulus and Mars, forming a nearly equilateral triangle 7 to 8 degrees on a side. On Nov. 1, look for Spica 9 degrees to the lower left of the crescent moon. On Nov. 2, about 45 minutes before sunrise, watch for the last thin old crescent moon rising 4 to 5 degrees to the lower left of Spica.

Beginning in mid-November, four bright planets will span the morning sky, and the longawaited Comet ISON may perform. Check the Sky Calendar website, www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/ skycalendar, for updates.

More here next month!

Robert C. Victor was a staff astronomer at Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. He is now retired and enjoys providing skywatching opportunities for school children in and around Palm Springs.

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NEWS

Haunt or Hoax?

Meet the Palm Springs Paranormal Investigation Team

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By Philip Wayne he tall, shadowy figure of a man with a sheepish grin has been spotted roaming the grounds of the La Quinta Resort.

The man, who also wears a large hat, has reportedly appeared at the foot of a bed, and has occasionally been spotted gazing into a window.

A security camera, perhaps, once saw him, too—as a dark mass moving swiftly down an otherwise empty passageway.

Enter the Palm Springs Paranormal Investigation Team. The small, somewhat underground group investigates reported hauntings—and welcomes any skeptic or adventurer who is willing to join the hunt.

Donnie Thompson is joined by Jorge P., documentarian; Gloria R., medium/sensitive; and Jana B., “seasoned” investigator and technical adviser. At a recent, invite-only meeting, they decided to investigate the La Quinta Resort.

The La Quinta Resort, built in 1924, has long been the site of apparitions and “sightings,” as reported by many guests and employees. The team interviewed guests who reported seeing the aforementioned man in the hat; other guests reported hearing a child’s voice whispering outside in the corridors. The team mapped out the grounds to cover the “hot” areas where entities or energies appeared or were reportedly felt.

On a recent night, the team traveled to the resort for the hunt.

The camera was reportedly still when this picture was taken.

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Gloria slowly walked the grounds, grasping her amethyst necklace and leading the team down a back corridor. She paused for a moment.

“Something happened here. It’s a heavy, almost sad energy,” she said. “I’m having difficulty breathing, and the air feels as if it is just a bit colder.”

Donnie readied a voice recorder, and Gloria began to ask questions into the darkness. “Would you like to tell me your name? Did you die here?”

Jorge began shooting photos in the direction of the dark corridor.

“Ok, we need to move on. I’m getting a feeling that we need to leave this particular location,” Gloria said.

She later explained: “Often, some spirit activity does not want to be bothered, and the basic rule is that we need to respect that.”

Jorge displayed a photo of the corridor, where a small gray mass appeared against the darkness of the building.

“This could be the poor lighting, the movement of the camera, or possibly what is called an ‘ectoplasm mist,’” he explained.

Donnie turned off the recorder. Jana snapped a few photos of her own, and they continued on, toward a bell tower. It’s rumored to have been the site of a suicide long ago.

“Rumor has it, there is some ‘activity’ there—some odd shadows and unexplained noises and voices,” explained Gloria.

I asked Gloria about her necklace. It’s an “amulet,” she said, and it offers protection against evil entities or negative energy.

“It was given to me by someone I love, and it holds a lot of positive energy,” she said. “Anything can hold that sort of power or energy—say, a ring from someone you love, or an ancestor’s watch. Those items are protective. It’s essentially ‘good energy’ insurance to hold an amulet.”

Donnie said the team uses a mix of modern science and a connection with the spirit realm in their investigations.

“This is a voluntary group, and we do this for fun,” he said. “We want our members to see that some things can be explained, and some cannot.”

Added Jana, as the team approached the bell tower: “Bring your open mind—and a camera.”

The team pointed cameras toward the bell tower and shot a few photos. As Jana and Jorge surveyed the pictures, Gloria walked into a courtyard below the bell tower. She then seemed to sniff the air.

Donnie talked a little more about what was going on: “We were told a bell tower (was the site of strange activity), but not which one, specifically, being there are three bell towers located on the property.”

However, Gloria was immediately drawn to this particular tower. As the rumor goes, someone committed suicide by hanging from one of the beams within the bell tower, but the

A suicide supposedly took place at a bell tower at the La Quinta Resort.

Photos courtesy of the Palm Springs Paranormal Investigation Team

team found no public record of any such occurrence.

“We hear it was a guest in one rumor, and then we hear it was an employee,” Donnie said.

Gloria, meanwhile, was feeling something.

“It was here. Something occurred here, and I’m not picking up on anything in particular, but there is a heavy sadness to this particular area. Something feels a bit out of sorts—a feeling of incompletion.”

She was then asked if this was the location of the rumored suicide.

“I’m picking up something, an incredible sadness,” she repeated, putting her hands over her heart before adding that she needed to leave the area.

Donnie continued to hold a recorder into the air.

“Is there someone who would like to talk to us?” Gloria asked before retreating.

Jorge examined the pictures. “Some shadows and lights can be eliminated as a trick of the mind, as in when we want to see something, it can very well appear,” he said while looking at a photo of a small blur of light that seems to be streaming from the darkness of the bell tower.

The team huddled and played back the recorder—only to hear crickets and the rustle of leaves. Then, faintly, in the distance: the slightest sound of a sigh.

“Now, that could have been one of us breathing, but it sounds as if someone is breathing a slight ‘no,’” Donnie said.

The team later moved to a portion of the lavish grounds that is rarely used.

“Here is where I felt something touch my shoulder. There’s activity here,” Gloria said as we stood in the courtyard of what was once the hotel’s main dining commons.

Jana adds: “It’s been documented that there were many private parties held here, and being it’s an unused area of the resort, most of these rooms are utilized as storage in the offseason.”

It’s also an area where guests and employees have reported strange activity before—“noises coming from inside these casitas that are locked up and unused,” Donnie said.

A repetitive soft knocking was captured on the recorder.

“This could be the old plumbing, or it could be some sort of activity,” Donnie said.

As lights from the beautifully decorated casita-style building spilled from the windows, Jorge continued snapping photos of

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the courtyard. One frame, pictured at the top, captured what seemed to be odd blurs of light in the foreground.

NEWS

After the team left the La Quinta Resort, their work was far from done. “We will look closer at the footage, the (recordings), the photos, and at our next meeting, (we’ll) present the material to each other and either debunk the rumors or investigate further,” Jana said.

Donnie said that the club tries not to take itself too seriously.

“Our goal mainly is to welcome all to join us and essentially have a fun time,” Donnie explained. “Sure, we might capture things unexplained. Yes, often the psychics or mediums will feel something. But most of all, if someone were to join us on an adventure, it would be up to (the person’s) discretion to walk away a believer, or just have a great evening meeting people—ghosts or not” The team later sat down to survey Jorge’s photos, carefully examining three—out of 30— photos that seem to include some sort of outof-place lighting or shadow. Jana documented the experience in a journal, while Gloria reviewed a map and marked the “hot spots” where she felt the most activity—including the area where she felt something touch her shoulder.

The team concluded that certain areas merit further investigation, but the majority of activity sensed was of a peaceful nature.

During this part of the investigation, at least, the tall man with the sheepish grin and the big hat remained elusive.

“After this investigation, the next step would be to research the guests and the particular suites where the ‘tall man’ has been spotted, and set up an all-night investigation,” Donnie said.

Fighting the Stigma

For information on the Palm Springs Paranormal Investigative Team, email Donnie.i.thompson@aol.com.

Philip Wayne is a local freelance writer/journalist/ screenwriter who can be reached at misterwayne70@ gmail.com.

This mysterious, “unexplained” light appeared on an image shot during the investigation at the La Quinta Resort.

Therapist Carol Teitelbaum Helps Men Who Were Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse

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By Alexis Hunter ou know daddy loves you. … This has to be our secret … just between us.

Words like these are too often said to little kids—and not just little girls. It happens to boys, too.

We recently spoke to Cathedral City resident and Rancho Mirage family therapist Carol Teitelbaum. She and her husband, Robert, have started programs to address the abuse of children … all children. After all, boys are much more likely to hide their fears and think there’s something wrong with them.

Carol and Robert hold workshops for men who’ve been victimized, some of whom are so ashamed that it’s taken years of failed marriages, substance abuse and other self-destructive behaviors to make them realize they need help.

“It happens to boys too!” is their mantra and the name of their conferences, where nationally known speakers (often also victims) let these wounded men know there’s no shame on them … only on the perpetrators.

Why are men so afraid to tell?

Straight boys are afraid they will be thought gay. Gay boys are afraid people will think they wanted it. They’re afraid they won’t be believed, and they’re embarrassed they couldn’t protect themselves.

Do boys report sexual abuse as often as girls?

No, no, no. This why we are working so hard to educate the public, speaking at middle schools, high schools, recovery centers and conferences. Boys have been taught not to express their feelings, buck up, don’t cry … don’t be a sissy. Being boys, they are embarrassed that they couldn’t take care of themselves, no matter how young they are.

Another issue is it might have felt good, as sensual touch does feel good.

Boys get so confused and start to think maybe it was their fault, and they might have wanted it. There is so much shame.

What can be done to prevent child abuse? Will shining a light on the perpetrators keep them from continuing their crimes? Or would an injection sterilizing them stop the drive that creates these monsters?

The only thing that will make things change is education of both children and adults. If we are all watching, reporting and noticing changes in children’s behavior, things will change. There will always be perpetrators! The problem is that our society doesn’t want to talk about this problem … or do anything about it. When you mention that child abuse will be the topic of a program, hardly anyone shows up. … I know how hard it is to get people to show up and support the cause.

When we speak at schools, we let students tell their story privately by filling out 3-by-5 cards and dropping them in a box in the front of the room. We then pull some out and get to as many as we can during the hour of the class. … I have to tell (children) I am a “mandated reporter,” and if they tell me … I have to report it. Sometimes that card is the first time they ever told anyone. We tell kids this could be the most important day of their life, and that they could get help and change their destiny. We get letters of thanks and many good stories later on.

Why are boys so afraid to tell someone who might be able to help?

More than 90 percent of perpetrators are familiar to the victim. It is very difficult to be believed when it is your word against a family member, (or a) pillar of the community such as priests, coaches, teachers, Boy Scout leaders—and especially if the perpetrator is a woman. Many of the men in our group tried to tell, but were told they were crazy, that (the) person would never do anything like that. One young man I see … told me that he was called “fag” by friends—and that did even more damage to him.

What kind of emotional and physical damage is done to these kids that affects their lives as adults?

The emotional abuse is usually the most damaging. More often than not, there are no visible scars. The emotional scars are so damaging. Women who are abused often report feeling like damaged goods, but rarely ever say they are not “real women.” Men report they do not feel like real men.

After being abused, men often repress their feelings, especially anger that turns to rage. The repressed feeling often gets triggered by something in the environment—smell, sound, touch, taste, etc.—and they end up raging. … The use of alcohol and drugs becomes the way to feel “normal.”

Men and women who were sexually abused often have great difficulty having intimate relationships. When you are holding a secret, it’s difficult to let someone really see you … (or) look into your eyes. They might see the truth. It’s difficult to have self-worth, because the child feels like it was their fault, and there must be something wrong with them.

What happens at your conferences?

An incredible energy builds at the conference. From speakers to participants, I keep being told, “This is such a safe place. … It feels good being here.” Social workers and therapists have also told me, “I came to learn, but ended up doing my own work.” … These are some of the toughest guys out there, learning how important it is to feel their feelings if they want to heal.

Some of the members of our own It Happens to Boys group are speakers who share their personal stories with the audience. This vulnerability seems to put everyone else at ease.

Tell me more about your support groups. When is your next conference?

We meet on the third Tuesday night (of each month) at 7 p.m. at my office. Our group has grown from four when we started to a roster of 48 today. Every time we speak somewhere, at least one or two men or boys come forward and say, “This happened to me.” At any one group, at least 20 men are there now.

It Happens to Boys’ next conference: We’re branching out to Los Angeles on Feb. 28, (2014) and March 1 at the Pasadena Hilton. There will be incredible speakers. We have a one day one here in the desert on March 21 at the Doral.

For more information, visit www.creativechangeconferences.com, or call 760-3464606. If you are a man who needs help, consider attending a free group counseling session, held on the third Tuesday of every month. Call to sign up.

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NEWS

www.cvindependent.com/news

OCTOBER 2013

SNAPSHOT

Images From Summer in the Coachella Valley and High Desert

Brandon Viloria, 8, was running wind sprints in 95-degree weather at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 10, outside of the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. His mother, Shannon, was by his side. What would possess a kid to do such a thing? Brandon, the California boxing champion in the 8-to-10-year-old, 55-pound bantamweight class, was trying to make his weight for the 12th Annual Desert Showdown tournament, happening at Fantasy Springs that weekend. “He’s got to drop 1.4 pounds right now so that he can make his weight limit at the weighin,” explained his father, Dominic. Roughly 600 fighters participated—and, yes, Brandon made his weight.

PHOTO BY KEVIN FITZGERALD

Minister, counselor, lecturer and author James Gilliland delivered a lecture about his personal experiences with extraterrestrial spirits and beings, and his after-life experiences, at Contact in the Desert, which took place Friday, Aug. 9, through Sunday, Aug. 11, at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center. He was one of just 35 “experts” who spoke, offered workshops and participated in panel discussions at the inaugural conference.

PHOTO BY KEVIN FITZGERALD A hundred or so community judges were watching the sixth of 22 entries in the LGBT Community Center of the Desert’s “In a Center Minute” Commercial-Making Contest on Monday, July 15, at the Desert Regional Medical Center’s Sinatra Auditorium. When that sixth commercial finished, the audience broke into a spontaneous round of applause. The commercial—which would go on to take top honors in the contest’s student category—was made by College of the Desert student Daniel Meyers. (He’s pictured here with Shann Carr, who organized the contest.) Using dry-erase drawings, the commercial tells the story of Aaron, an 18-year-old who discovers he is gay while he is dealing with the death of his father. He goes on to find low-cost grief counseling and a community of friendship at the Center. View Meyers’ amazing commercial and all the other winners at inacenterminute.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER OF THE DESERT

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How Many Coachella Valley Businesses, Apartment Complexes and Condos Are Ignoring a New State Recycling Law?

By Thelma Grimes Continued on next page âž

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Desert Oasis, located on Country Club Drive in Palm Desert and one of the valley’s largest apartment complexes, offers recycling via Burrtec bins. Jimmy Boegle CVIndependent.com

I

f you live in a California apartment or condo complex that doesn’t offer a recycling program, your complex is probably breaking the law.

It’s been more than a year since July 1, 2012, when a new mandatory recycling program for businesses and multi-family residential dwellings went into effect. Under the mandate, which was passed as Assembly Bill 341 in 2011, all businesses and complexes that produce at least four cubic yards of solid waste per week, and all multi-family residential places with at least five units, must implement a recycling program. (A standard dumpster is three cubic yards, and if it is emptied more than once a week, the mandatory recycling law applies.)

In total, the law targets 470,000 businesses and apartment complexes statewide, making green living a requirement for many—and mandating a hefty job for towns and counties given the task of enforcing it.

AB 341 also declared that at least 75 percent of solid waste generated be reduced, recycled or composted by the year 2020. California’s counties and towns will be submitting their first reports in October regarding how they plan to meet these hefty goals.

According to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, aka CalRecycle, before the 2011 law was passed, 64 percent of the state’s solid waste came from commercial sources. Additionally, 8 percent of the state’s solid waste came from multi-family residential housing—trash that was often collected along with commercial waste.

In Palm Springs, officials believe they are not only on the right track; they say they are ahead of the game.

City Sustainability Manager Michele Mician said city officials don’t think they will need any fancy tactics or separate policies to bring businesses into compliance. Instead of a full plan, Mician said the city has chosen to simply follow what’s required in the law, and has spent the first year reaching out to businesses and apartment complexes.

“We immediately began going door to door to explain the law and let business-owners know how it works,” she said. “We’ve had a very positive response in the first year.

Complying with the law only benefits these businesses, because it really does save money by reducing hauling fees.”

In other words, it may be cheaper for apartment and condo complexes to add a bin for recycling, although space can be an issue.

While it is easy for most commercial businesses to understand the requirements of the law, Mician said some multi-family complex owners aren’t sure whether or not they are required to comply. Therefore, an educationoutreach program has become especially important.

“I think it’s all about education,” she said.

“For apartments, it does depend on the size and the number of units. We’ve run into some problems with complex managers who are not doing it, because they feel it’s more the respon-

OCTOBER 2013

sibility of each individual tenant.”

Chris Cunningham, the vice president of recycling for Palm Springs Disposal Services, the authorized waste-hauler for Palm Springs (and the sister company of Desert Hot Springs’ waste-hauler, Desert Valley Disposal), said he has seen a positive response from all businesses, including apartment complexes.

“The plan of attack to start the year was to get the information together, and we started putting the information in newsletters,” Cunningham said. “We put the newsletter out to all customers, but that doesn’t mean they saw it. Now, residents can easily contact the town to help us get the remaining businesses in compliance.”

The newsletters were sent along with monthly billing statements to businesses and owners of multi-family complexes that are subject to the law. However, residents of those complexes did not receive the newsletters— and as a result, they may not know their complexes are ignoring the new law.

Meanwhile, in the rest of Coachella Valley (except for Desert Hot Springs), Burrtec handles trash and recycling collection.

To bring these valley communities into compliance with AB 341, Burrtec has offered businesses and multi-family complexes a variety of options. Burrtec encourages businesses to either subscribe to recycling services from Burrtec; arrange for other pickup methods; haul recyclables to a recycling center themselves; or utilize a mixed-waste processing center.

A

s part of an education and

outreach program, Burrtec offers businesses a complimentary waste and recycling survey to assess their needs and whether or not the law applies.

In Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs, Cunningham couldn’t provide exact numbers on how many businesses and complexes were in compliance with the law as of our press deadline, but he said the information would be provided in the required reports to the state in October. Burrtec will be submitting a similar report for the rest of Coachella Valley.

Both Cunningham and Mician said that Palm Springs was already pro-recycling before the law was passed. Mician estimated that about 80 percent of residents were already recycling, while Cunningham estimated that about 75 percent of all commercial businesses are in compliance, and 80 percent of multifamily complexes are in compliance.

However, a quick and far-from-unscientific survey by the Independent showed those numbers may be a bit high. We checked out six multi-family complexes in an area bounded by Ramon Road, Avenida Caballeros, Arenas Road and Calle Encilla—and we were able to find recycling bins at just two of the six complexes. (In fact, the editor of the Independent lives at one of the complexes that does not offer recycling.)

So, what should concerned residents do if their housing complex or employer is not following the new law?

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OCTOBER 2013

A quick and far-from-scientific survey by the Independent of six downtown Palm Springs apartment and condo complexes revealed that only two of the six had recycling bins. La Ventana, located at 300 S. Calle El Segundo, offers residents a recycling bin (pictured); La Ventana’s neighbor, the San Jacinto Racquet Club, at 900 E. Saturnino Road, does not, in apparent violation of the new law. Jimmy Boegle

Cunningham said the city of Palm Springs is relying on residents to speak up. Reports from residents have allowed officials to communicate with individual complexes to see if they are required to comply with AB 341, he said.

W

ith the first-year focus being on outreach and education, Cunningham said the city has not even considered penalties for those not in compliance. As of now, state law leaves penalties up to local jurisdictions—meaning the law has no real enforcement teeth.

“That is going to fall on the state in the future,” he said. “I think they put a lot into passing this bill, but not as much effort into penalties. That will likely come later down the road.”

Cunningham noted that San Francisco has recycling police in place, but most other entities have not gotten that far in implementing the new state mandates.

Heather Jones, a public information officer for CalRecycle, said state officials are excited to see how counties, towns and cities throughout the state did in the first year of implementing and enforcing AB 341; they’ll get their first data in the October report.

“We’ve spent the last year working with all

jurisdictions on developing education and outreach programs,” she said. “This first year really was about getting things going.”

Jones said the first year’s success is hard to measure in numbers, given there was no baseline to use. Still, Jones said state officials are optimistic about meeting the 2020 recycling goals—but she admitted it will take time to continue educating multi-family complex owners about their responsibilities and bringing all commercial businesses into compliance.

Getting commercial establishments to recycle more is a key part of the state’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). AB 341 is designed to reduce GHG emissions by 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide—which would require the state to recycle an additional two to three million tons of materials every year between now and the year 2020.

To ask questions about compliance, in Palm Springs, call Palm Springs Disposal Services at 760-327-1351; in La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Cathedral City and adjacent unincorporated areas, call Burrtec at 760-340-2113; in Coachella, Indio, Mecca, Oasis, Thermal and the Salton Sea area, call Burrtec at 760-393-0635; and in Desert Hot Springs, call Desert Valley Disposal at 760-329-5030. Jimmy Boegle contributed to this story.

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23 24 26 28 29

Always in Motion: Ryan “Motel” Campbell More Shows at the McCallum Big Plans at the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum “Across Dimensions” at the PS Art Museum Palm Desert Western Lit: A Coming-of-Age Novel

www.cvindependent.com/arts-and-culture

Where Lesbians Can Be Themselves Boudoir Entertainment Creates Parties for the Ladies—but Everyone Is Welcome

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arts & culture

Always in Motion

Ryan ‘Motel’ Campbell Brings His Self-Taught Urban Art to the ‘Independent’ Launch Party on Oct. 16

www.cvindependent.com/arts-and-culture

By JIMMY BOEGLE yan “Motel” Campbell is asked how he’d categorize his art.

He pauses to contemplate. “I’d say that my work is … contemporary, fluid motion, cubist, urban, contemporary.”

He laughs. “That’s the short version,” he adds.

The description (aside from the two mentions of “contemporary,” perhaps) actually fits Campbell’s works nicely—as everyone can see at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 16, when Campbell will paint a 10-foot-by-5-foot mural live, as part of the Coachella Valley Independent’s Official Launch Party.

The Independent is celebrating our one-year anniversary online, as well as the launch of our monthly edition, with free drinks from 6 to 8 p.m.; a DJ set by All Night Shoes; and the live creation of the mural on canvas, which will later be donated to the LGBT Community Center of the Desert, for the organization’s silent auction at the Center Stage event.

Campbell, 32, is an accomplished artist whose works and installations have been featured in galleries far and wide. (See just a small sampling of his works at www.ryanmotelcampbell. com/index.html.)

Ryan “Motel” Campbell—the nickname came to be, he says, because friends used to regularly stay at his house, aka the “Motel Campbell”—teaches regularly at Venus Studios, which is co-sponsoring the launch party; the good folks there are donating the canvas on which Campbell will paint, as well as other materials.

He says he often came to the desert while he was growing up in Los Angeles, and he credits the Coachella Valley for giving

“Sorting It All Out,” 24 by 24 inches; acrylic, spray paint and charcoal on wood.

Ryan “Motel” Campbell

him inspiration.

“I really love the desert—something about the energy, something about just being here, I connected with immediately,” he says. “I would come here from Los Angeles and feel just completely disconnected, which is great.”

As a kid in L.A., Campbell fell in love with graffiti.

“I went and wrote on every mailbox and every sidewalk, and I’m not proud of it,” he says. “… I knew better. I had a very nice upbringing. My family taught me to always be respectful. But I needed to have my voice heard.”

In 2001, he decided to move to the Coachella Valley; his mom already lived in here, in Palm Desert.

“I had the opportunity to move here and jumped all over it,” he says. “I moved here—and found myself totally bored out of my mind.

“Oddly enough, in the bag of things that I brought with me— my worldly possessions—I had my sketchbook. So I broke out my sketchbook, and I just started drawing. I started looking at a lot of the graffiti I was doing and saw the monotony in it. I saw that I wasn’t really progressing. … I felt like I needed to push myself.”

Campbell started visiting local museums and galleries; those visits led to what he called a “wave of inspiration.”

“I said, ‘You know, I want to do something different. I want to try to really take the fundamentals of this graffiti art … and put it into creating something that’s more fine art’—art that spoke to me, that I was able to connect with and identify with and really enjoy.”

The melding of influences has led to Campbell’s “contemporary, fluid motion, cubist, urban, contemporary” style.

“It’s very inspired,” Campbell says about his art. “It’s inspired by movement. It’s inspired by motion, a lot of fluidity. I think that depicted where I was and where I am in life. I like to cruise through. I don’t want to fight too much.”

Today, in a way, Campbell has come full-circle: He often teaches alternative-education classes to kids with whom he can closely relate.

“I was basically going in to teach (kids who were just like) myself when I was in high school,” he says. “I was going in to

“Reclining Nude” (from life study), 48 by 36 inches; acrylic, spray paint and charcoal on wood.

teach kids who were rebellious and angry and wanted to do vandalism and go out and make a name for themselves.”

He says some kids even recognized him and his works from his graffiti days.

“The question (from the kids) was always like, ‘How come you don’t go out any more?’ he says. “For me, the necessity and the outlet have changed over time.”

Today, he says, kids have more outlets than he did when he was young. He cites skate parks as an example, as well as some of the efforts that forward-thinking arts organizations like Venus Studios are making.

“Kids want to go out and paint. They want to go out and write their name,” he says. “They want people to go out and see the work that they’re making. What I’ve been able to do with Venus Studios is we have Spray Paint Session Saturdays, where we invite people to come in and bring their spray paint. We give them a large-size canvas to paint on, to display their work in a venue where they’re not harming anybody, and they’re not getting into any trouble. They have an audience that’s interested in what they have to say, in a place where they can show their work.”

When asked what attendees at the Independent Launch Party can expect while Campbell spends four to six hours creating a brand-new work of art, he says that he often draws inspiration from the audience when he produces live works.

So come and help create Campbell create a contemporary, fluid-motion, cubist, urban, contemporary piece of art—for a good cause to boot.

Ryan “Motel” Campbell will paint starting at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 16, at the Coachella Valley Independent’s Official Launch Party. The event takes place at Clinic Bar and Lounge, 188 S. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. A hosted bar will be open from 6 to 8 p.m., and All Night Shoes will spin all night. Admission is free. For more information, call 760-904-4208.

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arts & culture

More Shows

October Theater

McCallum Adds Tomlin, Nash, Krall to Its Season Lineup

www.cvindependent.com/ARTS-and-CULTURE

By Jimmy Boegle hen the McCallum Theatre announced its 2013-2014 season in the spring, the first show on the calendar was the Second Annual Family Fun Day, featuring the Popovich Comedy Pet Theater, on Sunday, Oct. 13.

Family Fun Day is now the fourth show on the calendar.

“When you get offered Bill Maher, but he can only do a show in September, we’re going to do it,” says Jeffrey Norman, the McCallum’s director of communications and public affairs.

That Bill Maher performance, which was slated to happen on Saturday, Sept. 28, was one of a dozen late additions to the McCallum season. Other new highlights include Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell (Wednesday, Oct. 9, $65 to $125), Graham Nash (Monday, Nov. 18, $35 to $75) and the legendary Lily Tomlin (Friday, March 21, 2014, $55 to $95).

Previously announced upcoming highlights include the aforementioned Family Fun Day ($7 to $15); the premiere of Alton Brown Live!

(Friday, Oct. 18, $25 to $75); Frida—The Musical (Friday, Oct. 25; $29 to $79); and Vince Gill (Saturday, Nov. 2, $45 to $75).

And the season, even now, is not yet complete: Norman says that up to a halfdozen shows, and maybe even a few more, could be added before all is said and done.

He describes the process of putting together the season as a “big jigsaw puzzle”—a puzzle which is primarily completed by the McCallum’s president and CEO, Mitch Gershenfeld.

“What we try to do is put together a very strong season (early) so we can send out our subscription brochure around April or so,” explains Norman. That means first booking things like Broadway musicals, plays, dance performances and tribute shows that can be scheduled well in advance.

But many artists these days, Norman says, are booking tours and deciding on show dates at the last minute. “All of a sudden, we’ll get a call from a booker. They’ll say, ‘Bill Maher is interested in coming.’ We’re interested if we can find a date and pay the fee.”

Sometimes, that means starting the McCallum season well before snowbirds and tourists have returned. But these days, that’s less of a concern, Norman says.

“Last year, we had Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers on Aug. 29,” Norman says. “It was a little bit of a risk, but we sold out. We’re noticing that increasingly, there’s a significant year-round community here, and they want to be entertained as much as the snowbirds do.”

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Norman says he’s really looking forward to Diana Krall’s appearance on Friday, April 11, 2014 ($75 to $125). He says he saw her perform a couple of times at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, where he worked for two decades before moving to the McCallum at the start of this year.

“We had two theaters, and she’d played in the 2,800-seat theater. She then tried out a new show in our 500-seat theater,” he remembers. “It was a quirky show—just a beautiful night of her at the piano.”

For tickets and more information, including an upto-date schedule, visit www.mccallumtheatre.com.

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Karen Carpenter—from the Palm Canyon Theatre Margaret Simon moves to New Jersey, falls in love, enters sixth grade, joins an all-girl group, obsesses about bras and becomes a woman—all while singing the hits of the Carpenters. The play is loosely based on Judy Blume’s coming-of-age novel. 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19; 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 20. $25. At 538 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. 760-323-5123; www.palmcanyontheatre.org.

Frida—The Musical This bio-musical about the life of world-famous painter Frida Kahlo shows the folklore, drama and tenderness of this exceptional woman, who endured the most intense physical and emotional pain. Its brought to the stage by a cast of 30 actors, singers and dancers; it ties together the music and popular culture that Frida valued so much. 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25. $29 to $79. At the McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert. 760-340-2787; www.mccallumtheatre.com.

House of the Rising Son—from the Desert Rose Playhouse Tom Jacobson’s play is a mysterious romance that evokes the steamy atmosphere of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The action centers on Dr. Trent Varro, who brings his younger lover, Felix, back to New Orleans to meet his wealthy relatives. Ghostly sightings and unexpected revelations follow. 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m., Sunday, through Sunday, Oct. 27. $25 to $28. At 69260 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage. 760-202-3000; www.desertroseplayhouse.org.

Master Class—from Coachella Valley Repertory Toward the end of her career, opera star Maria Callas taught master classes at Lincoln Center.

In this play, by Terrence McNally, the audience gets to watch her in action with her students, as she reflects on her life and career. 7:30 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; 2 p.m., Sunday, from Wednesday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Nov. 10. (Oct. 23 and 24 are previews.) $35 to $50. At the Atrium, 69930 Highway 111, No. 116, Rancho Mirage. 760-296-2966; www.cvrep.org.

The Mousetrap—from Desert Theatreworks Agatha Christie’s well-known whodunit features chills and laughs as the harried detective tries to solve the mystery before another of the lodgers at Monkswell Manor winds up dead. 7 p.m., Friday; 2 and 7 p.m., Saturday; 2 p.m., Sunday, from Friday, Nov. 1, through Sunday, Nov. 10. $23 to $25. At the Arthur Newman Theatre in the Joslyn Center, 73750 Catalina Way, Palm Desert. 760-980-1455; www.dtworks.org The Sound of Music—from the Palm Canyon Theatre The classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. 7 p.m., Thursday; 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m., Sunday, from Friday, Oct. 4, through Sunday, Oct. 13. $32. At 538 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. 760-323-5123; www.palmcanyontheatre.org.

Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays Keith Coleman, in association with Palm Springs Pride, presents an encore performance of a series of short plays, conceived by Brian Shnipper and written by Emmy-, Tony- and Pulitzer-winning authors. 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2. $29 and $39. At the Annenberg Theater at the Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs. 760-325-4490; www.annenbergtheater.org.

The Sudden Glide—from Script2Stage2Screen This comedy, written by David A. Crespy, explores the life of a 60-something Southern-born actress, Yvonne Allaway, as she faces the toughest hurdle of her life—a fifth Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and she’s again pitted against Meryl Streep. On the way to the ceremony, she is given just enough coke and booze to throw her off her game—and make things very interesting. 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 4, and Saturday, Oct. 5. $10. At the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert, 72425 Via Vail, Rancho Mirage. 760-702-0062; www.script2stage2screen.com.

Vivien—from the Palm Canyon Theatre The play offers a journey beyond Vivien Leigh’s triumphs into the madness that tortured her. She reflects on her tumultuous relationship with Laurence Olivier and her tragic battles with manic depression and tuberculosis. 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25, and Saturday, Oct. 26; 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 27. $25. At 538 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. 760-323-5123; www.palmcanyontheatre.org.

Graham Nash

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arts & culture

For the Ladies Boudoir Entertainment Creates Parties Where Lesbians Can Be Themselves

www.cvindependent.com/ARTS-and-CULTURE

By Stephanie Brooke SMITH

Boudoir Entertainment’s Alexis Ortega, Delfina Zarate and Marie Elloso.

n a warm and breezy Saturday evening, the night’s festivities were just beginning at Georgie’s Alibi, at Azul in downtown Palm Springs.

You could feel the bass thumping from the music as you walked up the stairs. Once inside, pink and purple lights, bumping music and beautiful ladies set the mood just right for a night of dancing and socializing—and it was all happening thanks to a fairly new group called Boudoir Entertainment.

Boudoir Entertainment, also known as B.E., is an entertainment group that has a goal to “satisfy the nightlife needs for lesbians and queer women in the Coachella Valley in a unique atmosphere by and for women,” according to creators Delfina Zarate, Alexis Ortega and Marie Elloso.

However, Boudoir Entertainment events aren’t just for women who like women; B.E. prides itself on not being an exclusive organization.

“In order for us (Boudoir Entertainment) to be successful, we need to be welcoming to all people in the community, not just in the LGBTQ community,” says Ortega.

Zarate echoes that statement. “Our organization is set apart from others in the community, because Boudoir Entertainment is community-based and all about giving back.”

These three ladies want to support the community that they grew up in and that helped shape them into the women they are today. The three 20-somethings were all raised in the Coachella Valley, where regular events designed for gay men are prevalent— and events for lesbians are fewer and farther between.

Thus, Boudoir Entertainment is filling a void—while demonstrating a dedication to community. B.E. has helped out with multiple fundraising events for local nonprofit

organizations. For example, Boudoir helped promote the sixth annual Mid-Summer Dance Party at the Ace Hotel and Swim Club, a benefit for the Desert AIDS Project.

Boudoir Entertainment has also donated money from its own activities as well. The group gave around $850 to the FIND Food Bank by pledging a quarter of the profits from Boudoir’s 2013 Dinah Shore event, and by offering a raffle with a local hair salon.

Zarate, who works as a bartender, maintains that it is her responsibility to “promote Boudoir (Entertainment) so it can be recognized for its value in the community.”

Ortega, a Stanford grad and Palm Springs native who works for the Desert AIDS Project, is the woman in charge of social media, marketing and promoting the brand of Boudoir Entertainment, which is described as being “luscious, refreshing, alluring, mesmerizing, and ecstasizing” on the website. Elloso, a College of the Desert student, is the first contact newcomers encounter when they attend any Boudoir Entertainment event. She is also responsible for bringing in local talent, such as burlesque dancers and DJs. According to Zarate, the idea of Boudoir Entertainment is to develop a “safe and comfortable space for lesbian and queer women to come together to hang out and socialize … to provide an atmosphere for women to be themselves, to be free to be who they want to be.”

Based on the growing interest and number of supporters, these ladies must be doing something right.

Boudoir at Georgie’s Alibi, at Azul, 369 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, takes place at 9 p.m., every other Saturday; the October events are on Oct. 12 and Oct. 26. There is no cover. For more information, visit boudoirnightlife.com.

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arts & culture

Big Plans

The Directors of the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum Work Toward a New Building

www.cvindependent.com/arts-and-culture

By Richard Almada he Coachella Valley has a rich artistic culture spanning thousands of years—long before Palm Springs became known for golf courses, swanky shopping and mid-century architecture.

The Agua Caliente Tribe of Cahuilla Indians hailed nature as a source of a spiritual presence. The earth was a most important aspect in their lives, as were the waters and the majestic mountains and skies.

Much of the Agua Caliente culture originates from nature, such as the story of the Blue Frog and the traditional “bird songs” that have been passed down though the generations. Intricate basket-weaving is celebrated today in exhibitions throughout the valley—part of a treasure trove secured by the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum.

To learn about and be enriched by Agua Caliente culture, there is no place better than this museum, currently situated on Palm Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs.

I recently met with Michael Hammond, the executive director of the museum since 1999, and Steve Sharp, the director of development. Under their leadership, the museum has preserved and documented thousands of cultural treasures for the tribe.

About a decade ago, the ACCM became a part of the prestigious Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program; it is the first Native American museum to be part of this group. The designation allows the museum to draw from the many programs and resources offered by the Smithsonian in technology, programming and exhibitions.

The ACCM has been occupying its modest downtown Palm Springs structure for decades—and recently, Hammond and Sharp filled me in on a plan for a new museum that will exhibit the tribe’s heritage in a state-of-the-art facility with high-tech surveillance and the latest in temperature-control technology.

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The plan has been in the works since 2008 for a new 110,000-square-foot facility in Palm Springs on East Tahquitz Canyon Way. The architect for this magnificent structure is JohnPaul Jones, of Jones and Jones in Seattle. The new museum will be an energy-efficient building with LEED silver certification—the way of the future.

Plans were put on ice during the economic downturn.

However, now that the economy is improving, there is interest in continuing the plans—although no groundbreaking dates have been announced.

This is a very important project for the entire Coachella Valley—not just for Palm Springs and the Agua Caliente Tribe of Cahuilla Indians. The new structure would allow us to celebrate our valley’s original heritage and cultural traditions, and would be a source of community pride for all the world to see.

The museum’s current exhibition, Where Are the Tipis?, tackles common misconceptions about Native Americans; it is on display through Sunday, Oct. 20. Hammond offers a narrative lecture with the exhibit, which is educational and enjoyable.

The museum also has an important event coming up: On Saturday, Oct. 12, is the Dinner in the Canyons. This fundraiser takes place al fresco in Andreas Canyon. Dining and entertainment will take place among the splendor of the natural

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum is the home of some of our valley’s earliest arts.

preserve that is the stage for this magical night. Reservations are a must, since the 350-person event usually sells out. Tickets are $300, $235 of which is tax-deductible; get more information at www.accmuseum.org/Dinner-in-the-Canyons.

Make it a point to visit the museum in person; it’s a vital, important part of the fabric of the Coachella Valley.

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, 219 S. Palm Canyon Drive, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is free. For more information, call 760-778-1079, or visit www.accmuseum.org. Richard Almada is the CEO and president of Artistic Relations and heads up Desert Art Tours. He can be reached at ArtisticRelations@gmail.com .

OCTOBER 2013

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arts & culture

Inperfect pairings

Despite Flaws, ‘Across Dimensions’ at the PS Art Museum in Palm Desert Is Worth a Look

www.cvindependent.com/arts-and-culture

By Victor Barocas he Palm Springs Art Museum’s current show at the Palm Desert Campus looks at the relationship between around 15 artists’ sculptures and their works on paper.

Across Dimensions: Graphics and Sculpture From the Permanent Collection includes artists both wellknown—Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Ellsworth Kelly and Jim Dine, for example—and lesserknown, including Dan Namingha, John Buck and Robert Hudson.

The show asks the question: Does this artist, by working in two media, create synergies or a sense of continuity that furthers that artist’s vision? In some ways, the show answers with a resounding yes— although the exhibit does have some weaknesses.

Using only artwork only from the museum’s permanent collection offers both good and bad news. The positive? The curators have a defined body of work from which to choose, and their knowledge of the collection produces some well-thought-out and synergistic pairings.

But other pairings seemed contrived and/or forced. It is unclear if the less-than-successful pairings stem from limitations in the museum’s collection, or questionable choices by the organizers. Also, the exhibition includes no women artists.

The works of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), Henry Moore (1898-1986), Donald Judd (1928-1994) and Dan Namingha (1950-) show the clearest relationship between works on paper and sculpture, providing that “ah-ha!” moment.

Giacometti’s portraits (including a 1949 lithograph of Tristan Tzara; a 1962 etching of Rimbaud; and a 1949 sculpture, “Diego on a Cubist Base”) demonstrate a clear alignment between print and bronze. He answers the question, “What is my aesthetic?”

A lyrical quality presents itself in Henry Moore’s lithograph “Six Reclining Figures” (1963), his bronze “Mother and Child” (1959) and his maquette (a small-scale model) “Reclining Figure #2” (1950). Moore’s way of highlighting figures in his prints gives insights into how he thinks about light hitting his sculptures.

Donald Judd’s “Untitled” woodcuts (1988) and his concrete sculpture, also “Untitled” (1998-2001), are rather massive and imposing. Despite being printed on a soft, cream-colored paper, these woodcuts—printed with ultramarine ink—demand attention. Similarly, the concrete does not merely exist in the outdoor sculpture garden; it takes over its space. Despite being

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situated in two different areas, these works are pure Judd.

A member of the Hopi-Teva nation, Dan Namingha creates imagery that celebrates the kachina, a symbolic representation of anything in the real world. Namingha effectively straddles figurative and nonrepresentational imagery in three works: a 1985 lithograph, “Kachina Mana”; a 1997 chine-collé, “Hemis Kachina”; and a 1997 bronze, “Kachina Montage.” Namingha clearly shows how connected he is to his Native American roots—and his sculpture is as insightful as any other piece in the exhibition.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was, of course, one of the most prolific 20th century artists—which makes the apparent disconnect between his print “Fetes des Faunes” (1957) and ceramic sculptures, “Male” and “Female,” all the more puzzling.

The print is powerful, energetic and complex. The sculptures, in contrast, appear minimal and simplistic.

Despite limitations, the exhibition is worthy of one’s time.

Across Dimensions: Graphics and Sculpture From the Permanent Collection continues through Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert, 72567 Highway 111. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday through Sunday; and noon to 8 p.m., Thursday. Admission is $5 for adults; $4 for seniors and students;

Dan Namingha, “Kachina Montage,” bronze (1997).

and free to members, active military, kids 12 and younger, and everyone after 4 p.m. on Thursdays, as well as the second Sunday of every month.

For more information, call 760-346-5600, or visit www.psmuseum.org/ palm-desert. Victor Barocas is a photographer, author and educator. contact him at Victor@VictorsVisions.com.

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OCTOBER 2013

arts & culture

road trip!

Western Lit: A Young Author’s Coming-of-Age Novel Features Lots of Booze and Self-Discovery

www.cvindependent.com/arts-and-culture

By BRIAN BLUESKYE

Solomon Robert

olomon Robert’s Tug o’ War and Other Drinking Games is a book that tells a great coming-of-age story. With a writing style similar to that of Michael Chabon, Robert, a 20-something author who lives in Washington state, also makes Tug o’ War a great adventure story.

The novel begins with the two main characters: Nathan, and his best friend, a woman named Riley. During a heavy night of drinking—which includes a dine-and-dash attempt because Nathan forgot his wallet—they encounter a strange character named Chase, who works in the restaurant and offers to pick up their tab—as long as Riley does a specific favor.

Chase tells Nathan and Riley that he’s leaving on a road trip down the West Coast the following morning. After they continue their night of heavy drinking, the two friends find themselves on the road the next morning with Chase, and his friend Sam. As they ride in the car, the four share details of their personal lives—the troubled events of their childhood, their dysfunctional families, and their failed relationships. Chase and Sam both bring up the topic of how Nathan truly feels about Riley. They taunt Nathan: “Fuck her!” Nathan questions whether they mean that figuratively or literally.

Meanwhile, Nathan and Riley realize that Chase and Sam don’t like to reveal much about themselves—a fact which keeps the reader

engaged, in an effort to find out who, exactly, Chase and Sam are.

While the crew stops in various places of some significance to Chase, Nathan and Riley continue to drink to excess—often blacking out and waking up the next morning, sometimes seemingly forgetting they’re on a road trip, and perhaps looking for a coffee shop in which they can dwell in their hangovers. The novel is indeed full of drunken excess, with a lot of twists, turns and conflicts after blackouts. Not surprisingly, other substances come into play, too.

The story’s main themes involve the college experience and the immaturity that often accompanies it; at the same time, there is doubt, hesitation and fear in the characters to open up to life, take chances, and acknowledge that they may have feelings for “just a friend.”

In the end, Tug O’ War and Other Drinking Games is like a modern day On the Road—with all of the characters trying to find themselves.

Tug O’ War and Other Drinking Games, by Solomon Robert (Blank Canvas), 314 pages, $12 at www.createspace.com.

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OCTOBER 2013

MOVIES

Horror in Indio! www.cvindependent.com/MOVIES

Jerry Hernandez’s IPACinema Series Concludes Its First Season With Some Saturday Scares

By Jimmy Boegle or Jerry Hernandez, his love of film became a lifelong passion when he saw Steven Spielberg’s E.T. as a teenager.

“After walking away from the film, and (after) experiencing various emotions over those two hours, I saw that there was more to film than just pictures and images,” Hernandez says. “I wanted to direct, and create that magic and that stirring of emotions of an audience.”

However, directing was not in the cards for Hernandez, an Indio resident who has instead worked in teaching and human resources after spending some of his teen years working in theaters and video stores. But cinema is still very much a passion for Hernandez (who says he has around 1,500 films in his collection)— and he’s taken that passion to the Indio Performing Arts Center, where he’s curating a Saturday-night classic-film series that will conclude its first year in October, with the month-long “Fright Film Festival.”

At 8 p.m. on Oct. 5, IPACinema will screen Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas; that will be followed on Oct. 12 by Dawn of the Dead, also at 8 p.m. On Oct. 19, an audience-participation showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show will take place at midnight; the series will conclude with the extended director’s cut of John Carpenter’s Halloween, at 8 p.m. on Oct. 26.

IPAC—a department store turned theater turned charter school turned entertainment complex—is, in one sense, a perfect place for a classic-movie series, seeing as it features big screens, stadium seating and a bar serving beer and wine. Hernandez discovered this, he says, when he saw a performance of Always …

Patsy Cline at IPAC. He started talking to thenIPAC executive director David Clinton-Reid about the possibility of a cinema series—and it finally came to fruition this year.

When we spoke to Hernandez before the series began, he told us that he wanted to fill every one of the 127 seats in the theater where IPACinema was taking place, and for good reason: He needed the admission revenues to rent a projector each week, because IPAC did not have one.

However, several weeks into the season, which began on July 20, generous IPAC supporters came up with the money to buy CVIndependent.com

a projector and a Blu-ray player. It’s a good thing: Hernandez says crowds for the series have ranged from a low of about five to a high of about 70, for a sing-along to Grease.

Despite the varying crowds, Hernandez says the series has been far from a failure.

“Considering the lack of advertising dollars—(publicity) has all been through Facebook, word of mouth, fliers, (the Independent’s online) article, and several other articles—I think it’s been a success. It’s definitely been a learning experience.”

Hernandez says he’s started planning next year’s film series—and based on the lessons he’s learned in his first year, viewers can expect more blockbusters and family-friendly fare. While the exact schedule is up in the air, Hernandez says IPACinema may return as a monthly event as soon as February, before ramping back up to a weekly event in May or June. Potential 2014 films include Jaws, The Ten Commandments, Purple Rain, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Zoot Suit.

Whatever happens, Hernandez’s effort should be lauded; after all, getting 70 people to downtown Indio in the middle of the summer to see Grease is an accomplishment indeed.

“This series is about movies as they’re meant to be seen—on the silver screen,” Hernandez says.

IPACinema’s 2013 season concludes with the Fright Film Festival, featuring a screening at either 8 p.m. or midnight each Saturday in October. The Indio Performing Arts Center is located at 45175 Fargo St., in Indio. Tickets are $6, or $5 for children and seniors.

For a complete schedule and more information, visit www.facebook.com/IPACinemaEvent.

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OCTOBER 2013

MOVIES

Now showing at home

These New Blu-Ray Releases Are Worth Checking Out

www.cvindependent.com/MOVIES

By BOB GRIMM Sharknado The Asylum, released Sept. 3 I missed Sharknado during its initial cable run. I found that a lot of people loved that it existed, but they didn’t actually sit down to watch the thing.

Not only did I sit down to watch this … I paid for this! Am I glad I did it? I sure am.

Let me make something perfectly clear: There isn’t a lot of actual sharknado action—i.e., action consisting of tornadoes full of sharks. The movie is more about standard shark attacks on the beach, shark attacks in your backyard, and shark attacks in the living room. You know, everyday shark-attack sort of stuff.

It isn’t until near the finale that you get fullon sharknado action, with big twisters full of hammerheads and great whites that eat people as soon as they hit the ground. Whoever made this movie should’ve thrown a lot more money at it, because tornadoes full of sharks is an awesome idea.

I wish more of the movie had been dedicated to this meteorological event.

Tara Reid, a long way from her days in Coen brothers movies, appears alongside the guy whose name you don’t know from Beverly Hills 90210 … and they are awful. But trust me: You won’t care that they are awful, for this is a movie with tornadoes full of sharks, and even though sharknados only take up a few minutes of the film … IT’S TORNADOES FULL OF SHARKS! The sequel is already in production. Disney spent something like $200 million on The Lone Ranger. If Disney were wise, they would buy this franchise, throw about $50 million at it, and watch the money come rolling in.

Special Features A making-of short, a commentary and a gag reel. The gag reel is weird, because the entire movie is basically a gag reel.

The Great Gatsby Warner Bros., released Aug. 27 It was a little worrisome when Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel had its release postponed last year. As it turns out, turning the film into a summer blockbuster rather than an awards-season contender was a great move.

Shot in glorious 3-D, this is a rollicking Roaring ’20s movie that shouldn’t be missed. Leonardo DiCaprio is a marvel in the title role, giving us

a vulnerable and sometimes slightly crazy Gatsby who relentlessly pursues his love, Daisy (Carey Mulligan). His visual intro in this film is one for the ages.

Tobey Maguire is excellent as narrator and Gatsby admirer Nick Carraway, while Joel Edgerton steals scenes as Tom Buchanan. Those who like Luhrmann’s opulent, sometimes-frantic style will find plenty to like. He also manages to effectively use music by Jay-Z and Lana Del Rey—in a movie set nearly a century ago.

Despite the big, headline-grabbing production delay, the film wound up being one of the summer’s better offerings, and it’s a sure contender for technical Oscars. (DiCaprio is solid enough for a nom here as well … but we’ll see.) Visually, this is one of the film year’s greater achievements. Dramatically, the stars give it substance beyond the style.

Special Features A boatload of behind-the-scenes looks and some deleted scenes, including an alternate ending.

The Place Beyond the Pines Universal, released Aug. 6 Derek Cianfrance follows up his brilliant Blue Valentine with The Place Beyond the Pines, a film bigger in scope that also stars Ryan Gosling.

Gosling plays Luke, a motorcycle stunt guy who finds out he has a kid. Problem is, the kid is the product of a one-night stand, and the mom (Eva Mendes) has moved on.

Luke resorts to robbing banks, which culminates in a meeting with a rookie cop, Avery, played by Bradley Cooper. The film then focuses on Cooper’s character for a segment before dealing with the kids of Luke and Avery (played by Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen) when they are teens. The two young actors match their adult counterparts with strong performances.

The movie is long but never boring, and it crackles most when Gosling is onscreen. This is all about the sins of the fathers, and Cianfrance presents the story in a way that resonates. He interweaves a lot of characters, and they all get proper coverage.

The Blu-ray serves as an antidote for the latest Gosling film, Only God Forgives, which is terrible.

(Gosling was in Gangster Squad as well, so his 2013 has resulted in more bad than good.) Apparently he’s now taking a little break from films. I blame Gangster Squad.

The Video Depot

Special Features You get some deleted and extended scenes, a Cianfrance commentary and a look behind the scenes.

Mud Lionsgate, released Aug. 6 It’s official: Jeff Nichols, who gave us the brilliant Take Shelter, is a writer/ director who stands among the best of the current crop.

Matthew McConaughey plays the title character in this amazing film. He’s a chipped-toothed, wild-haired drifter living in a boat in a tree along the Mississippi. Two kids, Ellis and Neckbone (Tye Sheridan, of The Tree of Life, and Jacob Lofland) stumble upon him and become a part of his strange and dangerous world.

McConaughey is catching wave after wave of success lately, and this role is his best yet. He makes Mud a little scary, yet charming and cunning.

Sheridan and Lofland are terrific as the young friends who should probably stay away from guys living in boats in trees.

The cast also boasts Reese Witherspoon, Michael Shannon and Sam Shepard. All of them are equally great.

A lot of us wrote off McConaughey a couple of years back, especially after that Surfer, Dude movie in 2008. This movie caps an amazing comeback: He makes Mud into a memorable character who is equally heartbreaking and scary.

McConaughey is not done; he’s got a role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. It’s looking like 2013 could be another banner year for the man.

As for Nichols, it’s time for the world to notice this director. He has incredible vision, and he makes movies that dent skulls (in a good way). I want a movie every day from this guy. Give me more Jeff … give me more now.

Special Features A director’s commentary and some decent behind-the-scenes stuff.

World War Z

TOP 10 LIST for September 2013 1. Now You See Me (Summit) 2. Pain and Gain (Paramount) 3. World War Z (Paramount) 4. Star Trek: Into Darkness (Paramount) 5. The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros.)

6. Epic (20th Century Fox) 7. Olympus Has Fallen (Sony) 8. Empire State (Lionsgate) 9. The Iceman (Millennium) 10. Killing Season (Millennium)

Read Bob Grimm’s reviews of in-theater films and new homevideo releases at CVIndependent.com.

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33 36 37 38

GMO Labels Are Inevitable Sniff the Cap: Temecula Wines Restaurant News Bites The Indy Endorsement

www.cvindependent.com/FOOD-DRINK

Another Brewery on Tap The Soon-to-Open La Quinta Brewing Company Is Part of a Deliciously Welcome Trend

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La Quinta Brewing owner Scott Stokes and brewer Ryan Pearson plan on offering three beers to start, with a fourth—an IPA—soon to follow. ERIN PETERS CVIndependent.com

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OCTOBER 2013

FOOD & DRINK

GMO Labels Are Inevitable

Opponents and Proponents of Genetically Modified Foods Should Discuss How to Make Labeling Work

www.cvindependent.com/FOOD-DRINK

By Ari LeVaux ince the narrow defeat of last year’s Proposition 37, which would have mandated labeling of genetically modified foods, the sentiment behind the proposition has spread—or metastasized, depending on your perspective—into similarly conceived bills in 26 other states.

Proponents of such laws argue that we have a right to know what’s in our food. Based on the momentum of GMO-labeling initiatives on the state level, as well as voluntary labeling programs by retailers like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, it’s looking increasingly like a matter of when, and not if, some kind of nationwide labeling system is created.

So instead of fighting about whether or not we need them, it makes sense for both sides to sit down and talk about how labels should look.

In an April blog post for Discover magazine online, Ramez Naam argued that it makes sense for GMO food supporters to stop opposing labels: “I support GMOs. And we should label them. We should label them because that is the very best thing we can do for public acceptance of agricultural biotech. And we should label them because there’s absolutely nothing to hide.”

According to most polls, the percentage of Americans that support labeling is in the low-to-mid 90s. To dismiss such popular sentiment would be to ignore the will of the vast majority, which wouldn’t be very democratic. It would, in fact, be a bit obnoxious, Naam writes.

“At best, it’s condescending to consumers, sending a signal that ‘we know better than you what you should eat.’” By fighting GMO labeling, he argues, “We’re persuading those who might otherwise have no opinion on GMOs that there must be something to hide.”

One recent ABC poll showed 57 percent of shoppers would be less likely to buy products that are labeled “GMO,” suggesting a significant chunk of those who support labels aren’t afraid to eat GMO foods. Other common reasons for support of labeling, according to polls, include opposition to GMOs for environmental reasons, the “right to know,” and angst over corporate control of the food system.

Clearly, that 57 percent of GMO-fearing shoppers would represent a significant cut to the revenue of biotech corporations, and of corporate farmers who use GMO seeds, and it isn’t clear to what extent they will be able to make up the difference by squeezing processors, retailers and consumers.

Such financial concerns are one reason why Big Biotech shouldn’t be a part of the labeling discussion: It has too much at stake, and wields undue influence—outspending the grassroots support of Prop 37, for example, by a 5-to-1 margin. Corporate recusal is something that pro-GMO people should get behind, too. Arguably, much of the grief felt by GMO supporters is inspired less by the technology itself than by the way it’s been rolled out.

Many people who support labeling, or who oppose GMOs in their food, do so because they are uncomfortable with this

powerful technology being forged in a corporate crucible, where there is a conflict between pleasing shareholders and proceeding with caution. It’s the same reason many people are skeptical of petroleum-company claims that drilling won’t harm the environment. We’re conditioned to expect the narrative that’s best for business, whether it’s true or not.

Big Biotech’s history of unpopular moves has long posed a problem to GMO-supporters, who often include a little Monsanto-bashing in their pro-GMO arguments as a means of communicating that Monsanto does not equal GMO. Perhaps these pundits would agree that it makes sense to exclude corporations from organizing and funding discussions about how labels should look. (The industry recently launched its own forum on all things GMO, www.gmoanswers.com.)

Concerns about corporate behavior and motivation can overshadow the examples of GM crops that don’t exist just order to sell more pesticides, or otherwise generate corporate revenue. The ringspot-resistant rainbow papaya, created at the University of Hawaii and Cornell University, was a publicsector effort that likely saved the state’s papaya industry from being wiped out by the virus. Efforts like these are easier to support, and wholesale anti-GMO ideologues should be clear about what, specifically, they oppose. An honest discussion about labeling could help tease apart distinct issues that are often lumped together.

Critics of labeling frequently argue that a general label, along the lines of “contains GMOs,” communicates very little, because there are so many different kinds of GMOs. But given that labeling seems inevitable, perhaps the pro-GMO side could help create a system that tells us something meaningful.

Ramez Naam told me via email that he thinks GMO labels should be on products’ back labels, not on the front, as might happen if GMO-food supporters don’t come to the table. He also suggested labels like, “Contains ingredients engineered to

reduce pesticide use,” or, “Contains ingredients engineered to increase farm sustainability.”

If the public lacks sufficient understanding of the science behind GMO foods, as many GMO supporters lament, maybe even more detail would be productive. Perhaps a GMO ID system is in order, under which the back label lists genetically engineered components by some kind of identification number, which consumers could look up. Then they could decide for themselves if they think a particular ingredient is insufficiently tested, potentially environmentally invasive, made by a big evil corporation, or transgenic (made with DNA from a different species). They could also consider whether a particular product requires less pesticide, or otherwise effects farm sustainability, or contains some desirable added nutrient value.

Given the apparent inevitability of labeling, a meaningful system should be the goal for advocates on both sides of the issue. Then, GMO skeptics could have their labels; GMO cheerleaders will have their nuance; and the will of the large majority of Americans will prevail.

Isn’t that how democracy should work?

Read more from Ari LeVaux at www.flashinthepan.net.

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the

FOOD & DRINK Another New Brewery Is on Tap in the Coachella Valley www.cvindependent.com/FOOD-DRINK

By ERIN PETERS he soon-to-open La Quinta Brewing Company is part of a deliciously welcome trend.

According to the national Brewers Association, as of June 2013, 2,483 craft breweries were operating in the United States. That number is up 6 percent over just a year—and it’s the most craft breweries the U.S. has ever seen.

Whether the craft-beer boom is due to new beer-friendly state laws, or the fact that more Americans are realizing that beer can have a variety of flavors that are perfect for food-pairings, the boom means there’s more choice for all of us.

The Coachella Valley has taken part in the recent craft-beer boom. Coachella Valley Brewing Co. opened in August in Thousand Palms, and the folks at Palm Desert’s La Quinta Brewing Co. are busy getting ready for production.

The County of Riverside approved La Quinta Brewing’s conditional-use permit in August. The owners hope the brewery will be fully operational by the time you read this.

Palm Springs native and former real-estate developer Scott Stokes started making the plans for LQBC in December 2012. After retiring in 2005 and taking up home-brewing a few years ago, Scott wanted to start something new, and make something that the Coachella Valley could use more of—great craft beer.

Green Flash Brewing alum Ryan Pearson will be brewing 2,000 barrels per year to start. La Quinta Brewing has a 15-barrel Premier Stainless system. Currently, the brewery holds two 30-barrel fermenters, with one more arriving soon. The facility has room for four additional fermenters, which would allow Stokes and Pearson to expand to 5,000 barrels annually.

“Considering it is 100-plus degrees nearly half the year, and craft beer is in its infancy in the desert, our focus for the beers we distribute to local accounts will be on ‘drinkable’ beers,” said Stokes.

Initially, La Quinta Brewing will have three flagship beers: One Eleven Pale Ale, Windy Point Wheat and Poolside Blonde, with a West Coast-style IPA likely joining the group soon thereafter.

The IPA (which has yet to be named) is a dry, crisp beer, using at least three hops: Columbus, Cascade and Chinook. High on the bittering scale, Columbus is typically regarded as having a nice herbal character that offers an interesting dichotomy of sharp and herbal. It can be used to flavor everything from IPAs and lagers to all types of stouts. Cascade is often used in highly hopped West Coast ales that have citrus-floral and spice CVIndependent.com

accents. Hailing from Washington, Chinook is a bittering variety with aroma characteristics of a dank, piney forest.

The addition of the IPA to La Quinta’s initial three offerings is a smart move; it’s sure to be a hit in hot weather.

Ryan Pearson is no stranger to West Coast-style IPAs; after all, he came directly from one of the most highly regarded brewers of the West Coast-style IPA, Green Flash Brewing, in San Diego.

In addition to the four staple beer styles, Pearson plans on brewing small batches using their pilot system, specifically for their tasting room. From there, they will see what’s popular and possibly expand those brews to a larger scale.

At first, La Quinta Brewing plans to offer their beers by draft, in bars and restaurants throughout the valley. The director of sales, Derek Lloyd, was formerly the Coachella Valley division sales manager with Young’s Market Company and is reportedly getting a great reception from potential accounts.

Stokes’ next undertaking will be bottling and canning the beers for pools, golf courses and various hotels. The guys at La Quinta Brewing have a mobile bar, and they plan on using it to distribute their product at events and various venues. The mobile bar holds 25 kegs and has multiple taps on one side—so they can serve beer, food-truck style.

Eventually, they would like to open additional tasting rooms in the desert, and distribute the beer outside of the desert to neighboring cities.

Part of the draw of craft beer is offering people new suds to sample, and it’s great to see Coachella Valley residents working hard to increase crafty offerings to tourists and locals alike. Camaraderie and collaboration are common in the craft-beer industry; considering the burgeoning scene in the desert, it will be interesting to see if these breweries will work together—and to watch how they will grow.

For more information on La Quinta Brewing Company, visit www.facebook.com/ LaQuintaBrewingCo. The Beer Goddess’ column appears every month at CVIndependent.com and in the print version of the Independent. Read more by Erin Peters at www.thebeergoddess.com.

OCTOBER 2013

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FOOD & DRINK

SNIFFthe CAP

It’s Grape-Picking Time in Temecula— and Delicious Wines Are Flowing

www.cvindependent.com/FOOD-DRINK

By deidre pike he sunset sparkled rosé over the rolling fields of grapes west of Callaway Vineyard and Winery.

Matt Russell, offsite events manager for Lorimar Vineyards and Winery, poured me Lorimar’s 2010 Syrah. In the waning light, the wine appeared inky and luscious—a dark contrast to Frangipani Winery’s well-rounded 2010 Cabernet Franc, which I’d enjoyed at a nearby table.

Lorimar and Frangipani, relative newcomers to the Temecula Valley, were two of 35 wineries pouring at Crush 2013, the apex of California Wine Month festivities in Temecula, on Saturday, Sept. 14.

The valley had cooled since I’d arrived with Independent editor Jimmy Boegle to meet and drink with local winemakers before the larger taste-fest began. In the Coachella Valley, temps reached 108 that day. In the lush green wine-growing region a mere 66-mile drive west from Palm Springs—only 100.

Callaway’s patio was ringed with dim round lamps and flickering candles. Canadian singer-songwriter Michael LeClerc performed, silhouetted against the night sky.

The major attraction: bottles of reds on table after table.

Whites and rosés chilled in bowls of ice. Sparkling wine.

Sweet wine. Dry wine. Wine redolent with the Temecula terroir, flavor derived from the area’s earth, air and water.

Longtime Temecula winemakers have faced hard times. In the 1990s, area grapes were infested by the glassy-winged sharpshooter, which spread Pierce’s disease. Thousands of acres were lost.

Now, the area’s now been re-tooled into this—with several hundred wine-lovers swirling and sipping, contemplating what one earlier speaker had called “the world in the glass.”

Since I had a designated driver, I was in Sniff the Cap heaven.

Speaking of caps, corks and things related to closure, the topic of synthetics came up during the winemakers’ panel

“Be careful what you read from the experts,” Baily said.

Callaway winemaker Craig Larson told us he was pleased to be living somewhere warmer than Washington state, where he began his career in wine.

“I had a passion to get south and make wine,” he said.

“This is a dream come true.”

Larson said wine-clubbers and fans sometimes treat him, well, like a god. He actually seems quite soft-spoken.

“It’s just wine,” he understated.

Boegle and I both liked Callaway’s 2009 Calliope Red, a blend of syrah, mourvedre, grenache, cinsault and counoise.

Boegle dug this wine so much that I had to finish his taste so he wouldn’t be tempted to drink more. (He had offered to drive in exchange for drinks later within walking distance of his home.)

“California has a climate which is not well suited for growing grapes to make the finest wines. There are rather too many years when the sun scorches the grapes, so that the wine lacks the finest flavor.”

—Excerpt from a dog-eared copy of Wines and Spirits of the World (1958), read by Temecula winemaker Phil Baily

discussion.

Temecula wine pioneer Phil Baily, of Baily Vineyard and Winery, argued that synthetic corks give wines consistency and avoid any chance of cork taint.

He’d brought along Baily’s 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, (Estate Clone 7 Cab). The wine is a deep garnet color. No heavy tannins, which can be astringent.

“None of that puckering,” Baily said, “which I personally can’t stand.”

Baily read to the audience from a worn and politely condescending paperback book, Wines and Spirits of the World (1958): “The difficulty is merely that in the Californian climate the finest varieties do not give of their best.”

We laughed.

When Baily started growing grapes in Temecula, he encountered similar skepticism. By the 1980s, people were lauding Northern California wines. But Temecula? Never.

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“It’s just wine.”

Nick Palumbo, from the Palumbo Family Winery, served a 2010 Sangiovese, joking about its 15.6 percent alcohol content.

“I made this wine before I started going gray,” he said.

Palumbo credited his grape-growing success to “pure luck” and a prescient dude named Catfish, who’d long ago planted cabernet franc and merlot on the acreage that Palumbo acquired.

“Those were just the right grapes for the site,” Palumbo said. The winery just released its 2010 Estate “Catfish Vineyard” Merlot.

Palumbo and his family live on the estate. This lets him micro-manage his micro-climates and introduce wine to his children at an early age.

One night, he said, his daughter had been watching the grown-ups do some blending and tasting.

Matt Russell, offsite events manager for Lorimar Vineyards and Winery, offers delicious goodness in a glass at sunset. DEIDRE PIKE

“And I handed a glass to my daughter, who is 8, and I said, ‘What do you smell?’ With a real dead-serious look, she took the glass and swirled it.”

Then she looked up at her dad. “It smells like grapes,” she said.

Also on the panel was Ben Drake, a longtime Temecula wine consultant who runs a farm-management company that oversees vineyards and avocado farms.

He said that his biggest challenge is finding enough workers to pick fruit. He called for the need to legalize labor.

Hand-picked grapes are superior to those harvested by expensive machines, because people tend to differentiate between grapes, mice and lizards.

Machines aren’t as picky.

Dave Fox, Saturday’s panel moderator and a partner at Touring and Tasting magazine, noted that he’s been impressed over the years with Temecula’s cooperative winemaking community.

“There’s a camaraderie here,” he said, “a sense of pride in the region.”

The legendary Joe Hart of Hart Winery planted his first acre of grapes in Temecula back in 1974. On Saturday, he introduced us to his 2011 Mourvedre Cruz Way Vineyard, which smelled of ripe juicy raspberries glazed with caramels.

Hart said he’s pleased with the prospects of the 2013 vintage.

“It’s been a terrific year,” Hart said. “Expect outstanding wines.”

For more information on Temecula wines, visit www.temeculawines. org. Deidre Pike is an assistant professor of journalism. Sniff the Cap appears every other week at CVIndependent.com.

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OCTOBER 2013

FOOD & DRINK

Restaurant NEWS BITES

www.cvindependent.com/FOOD-DRINK

By jimmy boegle PS Underground Offers Surprises to Adventurous Foodies So this is how it works: You go to the PS Underground webpage (www.psunderground.com), and you request a reservation for a dinner event called, say, “Ovation: An exciting New Culinary Adventure.”

You disclose any dietary restrictions, and say whether any members of your party are nondrinkers. If your reservation is confirmed, you pay—in the case of “Ovation,” being held on Wednesday, Oct. 2, and Thursday, Oct. 3—$150, plus tax, per person. (The night includes a limousine or shuttle to and from the dinner, so “Ovation” is more expensive than previous PS Underground events, which have cost around $89.) You don’t know the location. You don’t know what’s being served. And you don’t even know what in the world “Ovation” means.

If such a culinary adventure sounds intriguing, check out PS Underground.

It is the brainchild of Michael Fietsam and David Horgen. The local foodies, both of whom have backgrounds in the restaurant biz, say PS Underground got its start thanks to the increasingly popular dinner parties the couple would hold at their home.

“People (friends of friends) were coming to our house we didn’t even know,” Fietsam says. “We figured out that obviously, something was missing in the desert. There was a niche, and we thought: Why not turn our love and passion (for food) into a business?”

Get more information at www.psunderground.com.

The Purple Room Returns to Its 1960s Roots The Purple Room, located at the Club Trinidad (1900 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs) is getting a renovation and new management that could turn it into one of the valley’s coolest spots.

TRIO owners Tony Marchese and Mark Van Laanen have taken over the spot, and a late October opening is in the works. The purpleroompalmsprings.com website explains: “In the early ’60s, Palm Springs’ Purple Room at Club Trinidad became the sweet spot of the swinging supper club scene. Cats like Frank and Dino hung with their pals to eat, drink and play. The Purple Room reopens with its pedigree legacy in mind.

Swanky décor and state-of-the-art sound for the best live music in town.”

Head to the website to apply for a gig, join the newsletter list, or get more information.

Good News, Bad News on the Burger Front Frickleburgers, the Cathedral City restaurant that closed in May despite several “Best Of” wins, will not be making a comeback.

When the restaurant at 68375 E. Palm Canyon Drive closed its doors, owner Michael Zoll vowed to get new investors and reopen. However, his efforts did not pan out: He announced via Facebook on Aug. 19 that he and his family would be relocating to Chicago.

In happier burger news: Fatburger is returning to the Coachella Valley.

The Palm Springs location on Ramon Road closed in 2011, but the chain restaurant will open up shop in Palm Desert in November or December, according to the company’s website. (However, that website disconcertingly calls the city “Palm Dessert.”)

The Fatburger, at Highway 111 and Fred Waring Drive, will be joined by a corporate sister restaurant: Buffalo’s Café, which serves chicken wings.

CPK’s Palm Springs Location to Make Way for Construction Every time we walk by the California Pizza Kitchen at 123 N. Palm Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs, we wonder: Given that it’s part of a mall that is now mostly demolished, what will be the restaurant’s fate?

Spokesman Jeffrey Dorman, via email, explains: “According to Clint Coleman (CPK’s chief development officer), CPK will be closing the Palm Springs restaurant in late October/early November as the development gets to the phase where they need to demo the building.”

Dorman said that the company is in “negotiations” for a space in the mall that will replace the Desert Fashion Plaza, and hopes to re-open in downtown Palm Springs sometime in the third quarter of next year.

More info can be found at www.cpk.com.

In Brief The Fall Garden Party, a benefit for the Desert Blind and Handicapped Association, takes place from 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 5, at Copley’s on Palm Canyon, 621 N. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. The event will feature wearable fine art fashions by Lon Michels, and jewelry by Alexis Hunter (a Independent contributor), modeled by local celebrities. The incomparable Brian Wanzek (you may know him better as Bella da Ball) emcees; tickets are $50. Head to www.desertblind.org, or call 760-440-7720. … The New York Company Restaurant, at 1260 S. Palm Canyon Drive (a space formerly occupied by the Brushfire Grille and 911 Saloon), opened Friday, Sept. 20. … Dragon Sushi, located at 82451 Highway 111 in Indio, is opening another location, in the shopping center in the 68300 block of Palm Canyon Drive in Cathedral City that once was home to the aforementioned Frickleburgers. … Dhat Island—a Caribbean Creole restaurant in Redlands—is slated to open a second location at the old Marie Callender’s location at 69830 Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage.

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FOOD & DRINK

the

INDY ENDORSEMENT

We Can’t Stop Thinking of These Amazing Dishes

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By JIMMY BOEGLE WHAT The fish tacos WHERE El Ranchito Taco Shop, 34580 Monterey Ave., No. 103, Palm Desert HOW MUCH $2.49 CONTACT 760-320-9182; www. elranchitotacoshop.net WHY The sauce, the crispiness and the price.

The first-ever Indy Endorsement was published on Nov. 1 of last year. The subject of our effusive praise: the fish tacos at Shanghai Reds.

Now, almost a year later, we’re celebrating another Indy Endorsement first: For the first time, we’re endorsing essentially the same item (fish tacos) at a second restaurant.

One may have a reasonable expectation of getting a great fish taco at a local mini-chain that has “fish” in its name, as is the case of Shanghai Reds and its parent restaurant, Fisherman’s Market and Grill. However, one does not necessarily expect to get a great fish taco in a gigantic Palm Desert strip mall that’s anchored by a freakin’ Walmart.

Yet that’s exactly what we found at El Ranchito Taco Shop.

We wandered in before a weekday Costco run—and were shocked to see every table in the smallish restaurant full. At 11 a.m. On a Friday. In the summer.

Fortunately, someone was leaving as we got in line, so the significant other nabbed the table while I stayed in line to order.

I ordered several tacos, some chips, and an order of huevos rancheros ($5.25). (An aside: El Ranchito serves breakfast all day, as all breakfast-serving restaurants should.)

All of our food was tasty—but the fish taco offered the best bites of the bunch. The cod was crispy and not overly oily; the white sauce was tangy and smooth; the cabbage and tomatoes were fresh and crisp. It was truly a pleasant surprise—and helped explain why El Ranchito was so busy at 11 a.m. on a Friday.

So, you may be wondering: Is the fish taco at El Ranchito as good as the one at Shanghai Reds? All things considered, yes: While the tortilla is better with the Shanghai Reds taco (it’s thick and delicious, while the El Ranchito taco is wrapped in two average-tasting tortillas), the price is better with the El Ranchito taco: It’s $1.46 less.

And, unlike the Shanghai Reds taco, it’s available nearby before or after a Costco run.

WHAT The Wedge Salad TRIO Style WHERE TRIO Restaurant, 707 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs HOW MUCH $10 CONTACT INFO 760-864-8746; www.triopalmsprings.com WHY The ingredients are in perfect balance.

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A while back, a local steakhouse that shall go unnamed offered a wedge salad as part of a prix-fixe special—and that wedge salad did not include bacon.

This leads to an important question: HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU HAVE A WEDGE SALAD WITHOUT BACON? Thankfully, the wedge salad at TRIO has bacon. And blue cheese, both on its own and in the dressing. And tomatoes, and pine nuts—and just the perfect amount of lettuce.

In other words, it’s a balanced wedge salad—a surprising rarity in this desert, where wedge salads often include a chunk of lettuce the size of one’s head. Not at TRIO; the amount of lettuce is just substantial enough to ensure that each bite will contain all the cheesy, piggy, crunchy goodness that comes in a wedge salad.

Another problem that often afflicts salads, both of the wedge and non-wedge variety, is too much dressing. In fact, my default setting at most restaurants these days is to ask for these dressing on the side, because soggy salad = blech.

However, I never have to do so when I order the wedge salad at TRIO, because the house-made blue-cheese dressing is applied in the perfect proportion, it seems, each and every time.

In a desert chock-full of steakhouses, it’s TRIO that has perfected the wedge salad. Bravo.

WHAT The gazpacho WHERE Tinto, inside the Saguaro, 1800 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs HOW MUCH $11 CONTACT 760-322-1900; palmsprings. tintorestaurant.com WHY The smoothness.

A friend recently told me that she has thus far avoided Tinto— the Iron Chef-owned “Basque wine bar” restaurant inside the Saguaro Palm Springs—because she finds the menu “a tad scary.”

I am blessed with the ability to eat and enjoy almost anything (as long as it’s … y’know … good). However, I do understand that not everyone is like me, and a menu featuring all sorts of unfamiliar words that seem loaded with unnecessary x’s (like “gatxuxa”) may be a tad scary to some.

However, to this friend and any others who may be intimidated by Tinto’s menu, I say this: You have nothing to worry about, because one of the best things on said menu has a name that we’ve all heard before—gazpacho.

Other than a bit of bread (for consistency and flavor) and spices, this gazpacho is vegetable heaven, with tomato, peppers and a bit of fresh avocado leading the way. It’s so tasty and refreshing that you may find yourself engaging in a Pavlovian bit of drooling when driving by the multicolored former Holiday Inn that is the Saguaro.

I’ll now give you a home-cooking tip: When we were trying

to re-create the gazpacho ourselves at the Independent test kitchen (i.e., our apartment), we stumbled across a video of Tinto owner/chef Jose Garces making it. Garces doesn’t share the exact proportions he uses, and gazpacho he makes is not the exact version on the current Tinto menu. Nonetheless, the video was helpful enough to lead us to gazpacho joy.

But one thing we haven’t been able to replicate successfully is the smoothness (even though we have a serious blender at home). The gazpacho at Tinto is creamy, silky, yummy.

So, friends, don’t be afraid. Tinto’s gazpacho is there to cool you and comfort you.

WHAT The Red Wine Braised Short Ribs WHERE The 3rd Corner Wine Shop and Bistro, 73101 Highway 111, Palm Desert HOW MUCH $21 CONTACT 760-837-9600; www. the3rdcornerpalmdesert.com WHY It’s forkably good.

While many folks, locals and nonlocals alike, snivel about summer in the Coachella Valley, I kind of like it.

The roads are less crowded. The (very) occasional rains are nice. And the dining deals at many restaurants can’t be beat.

One restaurant that was offering some ganga deals this summer was the 3rd Corner Wine Shop and Bistro. We learned about these great deals when we visited there on a Friday, and saw all sorts of prices in red on the menu. Turns out those prices are for the “summer happy hour”—and those prices are a buck or two or four cheaper than the normal (i.e. in-season) prices.

Our meal was lovely from start to finish—but the highlight, by far, was the red-wine-braised short ribs. The dish is pretty gosh-darned simple, really: There were cooked-to-perfection fingerling potatoes and broccolini pieces below and around sauce and meat.

But simple, of course, can be great—and these ribs were indeed great. The fine folks at 3rd Corner provided us with a knife, but it went unused, as the meat was so tender, so juicy, and so fantastically braised that a fork was all we needed. My only complaint, really, is a compliment: I wish there’d have been some more of that red-wine sauce, as it was quite delicious, and the chunk o’ rib meat was quite … meaty.

The kicker: Turns out the short ribs weren’t discounted for the summer happy hour: They’re $21, whether it’s July or March or October. That’s fine; I’ll pay $21 for these delicious short ribs any time.

The Indy Endorsement appears regularly at CVIndependent.com.

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Changing It Up With the Town Troubles Music Survivors: The Meat Puppets EDM Out of Cath City Lose the Fear With Joe Buck The Lucky 13

www.cvindependent.com/music

The TV-Music-Contest Diva Headlines Center Stage

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OCTOBER 2013

MUSIC

Changing It Up www.cvindependent.com/music

By BRIAN BLUESKYE

he Town Troubles are a developing local band—but their signature sound has already made them a new jewel of the Coachella Valley music scene.

Take a listen to their Bandcamp page, and you’ll find a delightful sound, similar to that of Radiohead’s OK Computer era.

Formed in 2010, the Town Troubles consist of Bolin Jue (guitar, vocals), Derek Timmons (bass), Bryan Garcia (drums) and Rafael Rodriguez (drums). They can’t deny that they are influenced by Queens of the Stone Age and the White Stripes.

During a recent interview, Jue and Garcia explained that the band members have been friends for years.

“I was in another band, and then I just happened to break up with that band, and Bryan called me up. So, it was like an old girlfriend calling me back,” Jue said.

Said Garcia: “And I was the rebound.”

While the Town Troubles have been around since 2010 and have played a handful of local shows, Jue and Garcia insist their sound is still a work in progress.

“We’re still forming our sound right now.

We’re in the middle of it. It’s very wet cement CVIndependent.com

right now,” said Jue. “As far as live shows go, every live show is different, or (else) I get bored very easily. We try to make each show very different, and every show is a new set—a new song, a new member—and we’re always trying to change it up.”

Both Jue and Garcia laughed when asked how the two-drummer setup works during live shows.

“It doesn’t work,” said Jue. “It’s still a headache, and we’re still trying to get it to work.”

“It’s adding a little spice to the percussion, I think,” said Garcia.

“The idea isn’t necessarily to get them to play different rhythms. We want them to be in sync, and not in sync at the same time. It’s really weird,” said Jue. They have played at The Hood Bar and Pizza in Palm Desert, Bar in Palm Springs, and the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood. Jue admitted there’s been some hesitation at times to play live shows.

“I don’t like to play live shows too often,” said Jue. “We play once a month if we’re lucky. There aren’t a lot of places in the desert that I’m really trying to get into that we haven’t been able to.

We used to play a lot of backyard shows.”

If You’ve Heard One Show by the Town Troubles, You Most Definitely Haven’t Heard Them All

The Blueskye REPORT

October 2013

By Brian Blueskye

The summer heat is finally subsiding—and that means the Coachella Valley is starting to come alive with events.

Of course, one of the month’s most exciting As for those backyard shows: The element of events is the Coachella Valley Independent’s Official Launch Party, starting at 6 p.m., surprise and the suspense regarding potential trouble makes backyard shows more entertain- Wednesday, Oct. 16, at Clinic Bar and Lounge in Palm Springs. We’re celebrating the launch of ing, Jue said.

“You don’t know if the cops are going to show our monthly edition and the one-year anniversary of CVIndependent.com with a hosted bar up, which makes them more fun. The crowds from 6 to 8 p.m.; a live art exhibition by Ryan are hit or miss. Sometimes, backyard shows are packed; sometimes, it’s just a few underage “Motel” Campbell (read more about him in the kids,” said Jue. “The cool thing about backyard Arts & Culture section); and a set by Independent resident DJ All Night Shoes. Admission is free, shows is a lot of people go, because there’s so there’s no excuse for you not to attend! Clinic nowhere to go and see bands play if (music Bar and Lounge, 188 S. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm fans) are under 21. The kids just really like the Springs; 760-864-4119; www.clinicbarps.com. music, and they want to see a band play.”

The McCallum Theatre will host Steve Martin Added Garcia: “Word gets out, and they want and the Steep Canyon Rangers at 8 p.m., to go see somebody play. It’s better than just sitWednesday, Oct. 9. Edie Brickell will be joining ting around at home.” the fun. Considering how much acclaim the funnyJue said the band is working on new material man has received for his recent music albums, this for a limited-print vinyl release sometime in the should be quite a show. Tickets are $65 to $125. near future. Jue explained that he tries to keep McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm his songwriting at a high creative level.

Desert; 760-340-2787; www.mccallumtheatre.com.

“I try to take different approaches,” Jue said.

The Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa’s The “Lately, I’m on this thing where if you write a Show is the home of numerous great events poem, a lot of the time, the form matches the in October. Fans of Comedy Central’s Tosh.0, content of the poem, or at least it’s aiding the take note: Daniel Tosh is bringing his stand-up content. So I believe in writing songs where the show here for a sold-out performance at 8 p.m., music is the form, and the words are the conSaturday, Oct. 5. While Tosh is known for mocktent of the song. In other words, (I’m) getting ing ridiculous Internet video clips, his stand-up away from verse, chorus and verse, chorus— shows are full of witty sarcasm and political incorand it’s sort of flowing together.” rectness … which is pretty much what his videoThe band’s apprehensiveness regarding live clip musings include, too. Lovers of ’80s music

shows has nothing to do with laziness or a poor work ethic. What material they have released has caught on, and they are becoming one of the better-known local acts in the Coachella Valley—and when they do play a live show, everyone knows it won’t be like a previous show.

“Basically, I like to keep it fresh. I like to keep our shows changing, and it takes a while to make that happen sometimes—sometimes longer than I would like,” Jue said. “I’m a fan of the process of writing and recording. I think the main reason I would want to play live shows is to not only travel, but get the music out there.

It’s the best way to get music out. I feel there’s only so much more we can do in the desert— but I feel that we haven’t done as much as we can actually do.”

For more information, visit thetowntroubles.bandcamp. com or www.facebook.com TownTroubles.

Wanda Sykes: Agua Caliente, Nov. 1

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MUSIC will be flocking to see Bryan Adams at 6 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 20.

(I personally believe Bryan Adams is aging in reverse, as he keeps looking younger and younger.) The “Summer of ’69” singer has been on a “Bare Bones” tour in 2013, during which he’s been turning in acoustic performances of his hits. However, it doesn’t appear that will be the case when he comes to the Coachella Valley—which is a relief, because an acoustic performance of “(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear” sounds like a terrible idea; tickets are $50 to $80. Back to comedy: Lewis Black will be performing at 9 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25. Expect Black to be his usual, no-holds-barred self; no part of the political spectrum is safe from his rants. Tickets are $50 to $100. The month of November will start out hilariously, as Wanda Sykes performs at 9 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1. (Perhaps the lovely lesbian will drop in on Palm Springs Pride that weekend!) Tickets are $35 to $65. The next day, The Show will host The Moody Blues, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2. The legendary English prog-rock band has sold more than 70 million albums—and has been around for almost 50 years! If those facts don’t make you want to go see them, I don’t know what else to say. Tickets are $55 to $100. The Show at Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa, 32250 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage; 888-999-1995; www.hotwatercasino.com.

The Fantasy Springs Resort Casino is packed with big names this month. Country star Trace Adkins, who performed at Stagecoach in April, will be returning to the valley to perform at 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 11. In May, he released a new album, Love Will … . This will be a great show for those who saw him at Stagecoach and want to re-live the experiTrace Adkins: ence; tickets are $39 to $79.

Fantasy Springs, Oct. 11 If there’s one show you don’t want to miss at Fantasy Springs this month, it’s Sheryl Crow, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12. After nine Grammy awards, a slew of hit singles, and the release of her new album, Feels Like Home, back in September, Crow is still going strong. Go figure; some predicted she’d be a mere one-hit-wonder back in 1994, when “All I Wanna Do” was playing all over the place; tickets are $49 to $99. Not many music stars are hotter right now than Mr. Worldwide, aka Pitbull, who will be performing at 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25. Considering the success Pitbull has had with his most-recent album, Global Warming, and the sold-out performances he’s played around the world, you should get your tickets early—if they haven’t sold out already, they’ll cost you $69 to $129. Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84245 Indio Springs Parkway, Indio; 760-342-5000; www.fantasyspringsresort.com.

Spotlight 29 has a fun show booked for those who are feeling nostalgic for the ’80s and ’90s. The Women of Soul concert at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 19, will feature En Vogue, Lisa Lisa, Even “Champagne” King and Jo Jo of the Mary Jane Girls; tickets are $25 to $45. Country-music fans should be happy to know that Josh Turner will perform there at 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25. He’s touring behind his latest album, Punching Bag, which features the recent hit single “Time Is Love”; $45 to $65. Spotlight 29 Casino, 46200 Harrison Place, Coachella; 760-775-5566; www.spotlight29.com.

Morongo Casino Resort Spa doesn’t have a lot of music booked at the moment—but one show that is on the schedule should be a real treat: At 9 p.m., Friday, Oct. 18, Morongo will host WAR. While nearly every member of the original lineup has departed, the band is still going strong. With hits such as “Low Rider,” “Summer,” and “Why

Lucinda Williams: Pappy and Harriet’s, Nov. 2

Can’t We Be Friends,” WAR still has audiences around the world craving live performances; tickets are $20.25 to $26.75 via Ticketmaster.

Morongo Casino Resort Spa, 49500 Seminole Drive, Cabazon; 800-2524499; www.morongocasinoresort.com.

If you feel like traveling off the beaten path, Pappy and Harriet’s continues to book great bands while cooking up the barbecue. We have room to mention just three of many shows coming this month.

In the fall of 2010, Pappy’s hosted Bright Eyes front-man and king of the hipsters Conor Oberst. I was one of the attendees crammed into the restaurant for Oberst’s performance, which featured the Felice Brothers as his backing band; it was a marvelous show. Well, Conor is coming back for another performance with the Felice Brothers, at 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 10. He’ll be performing on the outdoor stage this time—but the show is nearly sold out, so you’d better buy your tickets now. Get there early so you can watch the Felice Brothers open the show (sans Conor); they are one of the best modern folkrevival bands out there. Tickets are a steal at $20. The Day of the Dead is the date for Pappy and Harriet’s annual Halloween show, at 9 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1—featuring Joshua Tree’s very own Gram Rabbit. It’s worth the trip to celebrate the spooky holidays with the Royal Order of the Rabbits while taking in the band’s psychedelic electro-pop sound. Tickets will be $10 at the door. If that still isn’t enough music for you, Pappy’s will be hosting a performance by altcountry/Americana singer Lucinda Williams at 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2. I remember hearing Williams’ “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” everywhere when I was a senior in high school, back in 1999. She and her rustic style of Americana have come a long way since; tickets are $30. Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown; 760-365-5956; pappyandharriets.com.

Also in the high desert: The Eighth Annual Fall Joshua Tree Music Festival will take place Friday, Oct. 11, to Sunday, Oct. 13, at the Joshua Tree Lake Campground. The festivities will include performances by Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Scott Pemberton, The Last

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers: McCallum, Oct. 9

Internationale, and many others. A three-day festival pass is $100, and single-day passes are $40 to $60; camping space is also available for a separate fee. Joshua Tree Lake Campground, 2601 Sunfair Road, Joshua Tree; www.joshuatreemusicfestival.com.

Just down the road, Zena Bender will be throwing a fundraiser for Radio Free Joshua Tree at the Sky Village Swap Meet in Yucca Valley at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 9. The online radio station, started by Ted Quinn and Michael Roark, has been showcasing local music and a variety of programs—all streaming for free. Of course, Ted Quinn will be performing, as will Rex Dakota, Anthony Dean, The Nobodies and others. Admission is a $10 suggested donation. Sky Village Outdoor Marketplace, 7028 Theatre Road, Yucca Valley; 760-365-2104.

Back down in the valley, The Date Shed will feature a performance by Helmet at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12. Helmet is a highly influential alternative metal band, quite popular in the mid-to-late ’90s, often mentioned in the same breath as the Melvins, Tool, the Deftones and System of a Down—but don’t call them a “nu-metal band.” Tickets are $20. The Date Shed, 50725 Monroe St., Indio; 760775-6699; www.dateshedmusic.com.

DJ Day informed me that in addition to his weekly ¡Reunion! shows at the Ace Hotel and Swim Club (10 p.m., each Thursday), he will be adding a monthly show called Highlife, on the last Saturday of every month: Catch it on Saturday, Oct. 26. When I asked DJ Day what will be different, he said Highlife will offer more of a party vibe, adding: “I doubt I’ll be playing Tame Impala and African funk on Saturday nights.” Admission is free. Ace Hotel and Swim Club, 701 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs; 760-325-9900; www.acehotel.com/ palmsprings.

The LGBT Community Center of the Desert will be throwing the annual Center Stage gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30. The gala will start with a cocktail reception and silent auction. Later, enjoy a concert by The Voice finalist Frenchie Davis, emceed by Alec Mapa from AMC’s Showville.

Tickets are $85 for members of the Center, and $100 for nonmembers. Palm Springs Convention Center, 277 N. Avenida Caballeros, Palm Springs; call the LGBT Community Center of the Desert at 760-416-7790; www.thecenterps.org.

The new Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs is slated to open on Friday, Oct. 4, and it will be the spot for BB Ingle’s Annual Halloween Party. Ingle will be teaming up with Troupe Productions for the party at 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 31. It will feature a Monster Rock Ball as in previous years, but Troupe Productions and Ingle are promising to take the party to a whole new level this year. Tickets start at $40. Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs, 150 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs; get tickets at www.feartastic.com.

Submit your music information to Brian Blueskye at bblueskye@cvindependent.com.

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MUSIC

Music Survivors www.cvindependent.com/music

By BRIAN BLUESKYE

he members of the Meat Puppets have been to hell and back.

Their appetite for drugs once derailed them—but they’re back and better than ever. In fact, they’re on a national tour, including a stop at Pappy and Harriet’s on Sunday, Nov. 3.

The brothers Kirkwood—Curt (guitar, vocals) and Cris (bass)—founded the band in Phoenix in 1980 with drummer Derrick Bostrom, as the hardcore-punk scene was developing across the country. Bands such as Black Flag, Minor Threat and Bad Brains were finding fans with in-your-face, nihilistic music.

During a recent phone interview, Curt Kirkwood talked about the early days of the band.

“We didn’t think that much into it back then. I had been playing in bands for a few years—a disco band, a hard-rock band. We just got into playing whatever we wanted. All we ever really wanted to do was play what we wanted to play,” Curt Kirkwood said.

The Meat Puppets signed with SST Records, founded by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. The band’s self-titled album was released in 1982 and became a staple of the hardcore-punk sound. The group toured relentlessly and gained a reputation for both humor and pissing off audiences wherever it went.

In 1984, the band released Meat Puppets II, which marked a departure from the hardcore punk sound by melding psychedelic, folk and even country sounds. The album included “Lake of Fire” and “Plateau,” two of the Puppets’ most-recognized songs.

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Curt Kirkwood said the new sound was a result of the band coming of age.

“We were young back then,” Curt Kirkwood said. “In some ways, it’s just more about how we recorded stuff. Even when we started, we did a lot of hokey stuff. We’ve always done a variety, and we did it a little rough.”

While the Meat Puppets continued to put out albums with SST Records through the ’80s, many of their label mates— including as Dinosaur Jr., Husker Du, Sonic Youth and others— left after allegations regarding Greg Ginn’s accounting practices, problems with the availability of records, and other issues.

“Being on SST was great, and we loved it,” Curt Kirkwood said. “They put out whatever we gave them, and there was never any discussion about what we did in terms of being an artist on the label. They didn’t manage us; we managed ourselves. We were with SST up until 1989. In the long run, we felt like we could sell more records on a major.”

The Meat Puppets continued to thrive through the ’90s.

They also managed to have a significant influence on Nirvana.

Both Curt and Cris appeared with Nirvana during their famous MTV: Unplugged performance in November 1993, playing with Nirvana on “Lake of Fire,” “Plateau” and “Oh Me.” Nirvana’s cover of the Puppets’ “Lake of Fire” was released as a promotional single—and many people today think it is a Nirvana song.

“I don’t know how much of an attachment I have to the stuff

The Meat Puppets Head for Pappy and Harriet’s After Releasing a New Album I do, anyway,” Curt Kirkwood said. “When you write a song, it’s sort of open for an interpretation like that. I was pretty close to the whole Unplugged thing and that version, anyway. We played on it with them, and I was really happy to have them do it. I thought it was a great version. We were pretty close to the members of Nirvana, and still are.”

Unfortunately, Cris Kirkwood’s drug addiction was starting to become an obvious problem. The Puppets went on hiatus in 1996; Curt started the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra, which later took the Meat Puppets name due to legal reasons.

In 2003, Cris was arrested for attacking an armed security guard at a post office; during the incident, the guard shot Cris— and he was fortunate to survive. He was later sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Curt and Cris didn’t speak to each other during those years, Curt Kirkwood said.

“Our relationship was pretty much non-existent for 10 years,” Curt Kirkwood said. “I didn’t see him; I didn’t talk to him; and I had to ignore him. I learned from being around people who are addicted to drugs that you can’t even talk to them. I got used to it. I was just cheesed off about having him be messed up at first, and then with time, I just said, ‘Well, that’s how it goes.’”

Cris was released from prison in 2005, and there was talk of a Meat Puppets reunion in early 2006 on the band’s Myspace page.

A month after the band released a poll on the page asking if fans wanted a reunion, the Kirkwood brothers announced they were reuniting, but without Bostrom. The band recorded Rise to Your Knees—and started touring again.

Cris and Curt were able to settle their differences rather quickly, Curt Kirkwood said.

“It was really easy,” Curt Kirkwood said. “I’ve played with Cris so much in the past, and I had kept on playing in a band with Krist Novoselic of Nirvana and Bud Gaugh of Sublime during all that time, called Eyes Adrift. It took a little bit of time for Cris.

He’d been out of jail for nearly a year when I got back up to him, and he was pretty normal again.”

When it comes to performing these days, the band has an easy-going approach that the members display on tour behind their new album, Rat Farm, which was released in April. The band now includes drummer Shandon Sahm, and on tour, Curt’s son, Elmo Kirkwood.

“We talk stuff out a little bit, but mostly, we wing it a lot,” Curt Kirkwood said. “We could practice and plan all this stuff, but a lot of the time, it goes right out the window when we start playing. During one night, we decide we might want to do something else. You just never know. It’s fun if you’ve had something going for a long time and can reach into a pretty big bag of tricks.”

The Meat Puppets will play at 9 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 3, at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Road, in Pioneertown. Tickets are $13 in advance, or $15 on the day of the show. For more information, call 760-365-5956, or visit pappyandharriets.com.

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OCTOBER 2013

MUSIC

EDM Out of

Cath City www.cvindependent.com/music

You’ve Probably Never Heard of Younghoon Beats—but His Music Is Worth Knowing About

By BRIAN BLUESKYE

hile the electronic dance music genre (EDM) has become flooded with artists as of late, Younghoon Beats has nothing to worry about: He shows off a distinctive sound with his independently released albums—and his latest, Tha Blew Demos, is a real delight.

Originally from South Korea, the Cathedral City resident moved to the Coachella Valley during his childhood. He hasn’t played any local shows as of this writing, but he said he is open to doing some. (The Independent first learned of Younghoon Beats when he sent us a link to Tha Blew Demos via our online contact form, along with a succinct message: “Play me.”)

He’s released four albums via Bandcamp.com as free downloads, and each release is exceptional.

His sound is a bit similar to that of Portishead, as he uses vintage sounds from the ’60s and ’70s.

The songs are all mixed with his unique touch; they could be used in Quentin Tarantino films, or perhaps some indie thriller movie.

“I like a lot of older music,” he said during a brief phone interview. “I’m not too familiar with artists, but I sample a lot of older stuff for instrumentals.”

He puts his material together in a way that not many EDM artists or DJs would admit to: “I just put the sounds together,” he said. “More or less, it’s kind of like stealing. It’s like taking people’s drawings and putting them together in a different way.”

The opening track on Tha Blew Demos, “Only You,” definitely has a Portishead feel, with a

mellow loop and echoing vocals. It’s something you could play on a rainy day or late at night while relaxing.

“I’m a Fool” has a chaotic mixing effect, with flanging effects and haunting sounds in the background as a woman sings about self-pity.

“Blew” is a strange, eerie track; some effects sound like something from one of Moby’s ambient albums, with a gospel-sounding organ, a loop of a beautiful choral sample, and fresh ambient techniques.

“Feeling I Have” is another great track that features mixing effects you’d hear from a hip-hop DJ; they combine well with a vintage theme. With a nice beat and a heavy bass line, “Feeling I Have” is a bit unorthodox and goes against the grain of most traditional mixing techniques—but it works.

“Monsters” is a mellow, hypnotic track that relies more on the instrumental than the unintelligible vocal sample in the background. The album ends with “All the Game,” which melds a deep bass and drum sound, a jazz-trumpet sample, and an acoustic guitar riff that plays here and there.

Younghoon Beats is an up-and-comer. While he’s currently trying to make a name for himself, there’s no doubt that he has potential.

Expect to hear more about him and his delightful music in the near future.

For more information or to download Younghoon Beats’ music, visit younghoon.biz; younghoon.bandcamp.com; or www.facebook.com/YounghoonBeats.

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MUSIC

lose the fear

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Joe Buck—Playing Soon at The Hood—Talks on Miley Cyrus, Health Care and Mainstream Country

By BRIAN BLUESKYE growing segment of country music is going against the genre’s mainstream—and one of those rebels is Joe Buck (real name: Jim Finkley).

Buck has been playing obscure country music since the beginning of his music career as the guitarist for Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, and as the upright-bass player for Hank Williams III. Now he’s bringing his one man show, Joe Buck Yourself, to The Hood Bar and Pizza on Thursday, Oct. 10.

Joe Buck’s involvement with Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank Williams III included punk-rock attitude, outlaw country and even tinges of early Americana. Hank Williams III sounds more like his grandfather than his father—only with lyrics that are similar to those by David Allan Coe. Joe Buck brings a similar attitude and performance style to Joe Buck Yourself.

When asked about his music career, Joe Buck responded with a laugh.

“Have I had a career?” he asked. “I’ve been playing since I was a kid. I thought I could be an athlete when I was a kid, and I hurt my leg.

I saw Eddie Van Halen in 1980, and I thought, ‘That looks like a good job.’ I got myself some gear, and I went to town.”

He joined Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers in 1998 as a founding member, but left in 2003 after meeting Hank Williams III in a bar in Nashville.

“It was a good time in my life,” he said. “I thought the music we were doing was important. I didn’t think ‘it’ so much or ‘us’ so much.

For us, it was all about Southern kids having something that didn’t suck.”

Buck said mainstream country music has become somewhat of a sideshow act.

“I grew up with the old country guys, along with the punk-rock bands,” he said. “But the old country dudes … they were very strong, proud men and great writers. You listen to Hank Williams Sr., and there’s a reason why they call him ‘The Hillbilly Shakespeare,’ man, and we’re left to believe in our world today that these are illiterate hillbillies. Yet none of our kids going to public schools these days can fucking read or write.”

He also feels that the country music of today is largely missing the art aspect.

“It makes me physically ill,” he said. “I believe that art is important to our culture. If music is music, it’s art. If it’s not art, and it’s not music, it’s math, and that’s what (mainstream country musicians) got. It’s like giving a cancer patient CVIndependent.com

a salt tablet: It doesn’t heal their soul, and it doesn’t do anything to them. … (Old music) is the reason why I dedicated my life to music— because it did something to me.”

The Independent spoke to buck shortly after Miley Cyrus’ infamous performance at the MTV Music Video Awards.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life, and playing thousands of shows—and I’m in the same business as THAT? I don’t know what that is with the Smurfs, or whatever the hell those things were, and the post-adolescent bit. Any time when goodness happens, it’s corrupted immediately and used in devious terms for commercial value.”

Buck said that he never sacrifices his independence or artistic vision.

“Yes, I need to make a living making music to go around and play shows. I have to put gas in my tank; I have to eat; and I have to buy T-shirts to sell. There’s an economy of this, but when it becomes strictly for-profit, then it has nothing to do with music.”

Buck is also working on a book, and he talked about his recovery from a near-fatal car accident.

“I had this car wreck that almost killed me,” he said. “My little hometown people at the hospital were great at putting me back together.

My legs were crushed, along with one of my arms. They put me back together great, but they gave me Demerol during six days of being in an induced coma; when they got me off of that, they tried to give me an OxyContin— when I’m a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. I was mad at them. I got all this shit drilled into me and a halo in my leg. They’re really good at fixing you, but they wanted to send me to a psychiatrist, because I had a tour with

Hank in three months, and they thought I was delusional about going back to work.”

During his recovery, he went to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for physical therapy.

“I had to go to Vanderbilt for physical therapy, where everybody is an invalid. … Everybody has shit getting drilled into them; you have your own special wheelchair, and the whole thing.

What they saw with me was dollar signs. They pushed dope harder on me than drug-dealers do. I’ve never been to medical school, and I just wanted to go back to work. I refused their dope, did it my way, worked out for eight hours a day, and went back to work in 3 1/2 months. Had I done it their way, I would have been on dope for the rest of my life; I would have made minimal progress; and I never would have gotten better.”

Joe Buck said that when it comes to making a living, he’s one of the fortunate ones.

“I’ve been lucky, and I’m pretty sure I know

what I’m doing when I play,” he said. “I hear this every day about how I have inspired people. I know what they’re saying. I love what I do, and when they see people reveling in their jobs and doing what they’re supposed to be doing in life—they don’t see that very often.

“When I go to the store, I don’t see the people there reveling in their jobs. What I’m trying to do for people with my songs is convince everyone that they can do whatever the fuck they want. Lose the fear, and there’s nothing to be afraid of. Failure is how you learn your most valuable lessons.”

Joe Buck Yourself will play with Shawn Mafia and the 10-Cent Thrills at 10 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 10, at The Hood Bar and Pizza, 74360 Highway 111, in Palm Desert.

Admission to the 21-and-older show is free. For more information, call 760-636-5220, or track down the event page on Facebook.

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the

LUCKY 13

Our Continuing Goal: Getting to Better Know Our Local Musicians

www.cvindependent.com/music

By JIMMY BOEGLE

NAME Lino A.F. Mendoza GROUP The House Whores MORE INFO The DJ/electronic dance music group regularly plays at Azul/Alibi in Palm Springs, and has a gig every other Saturday at Clinic Bar Lounge, also in Palm Springs. Search for House Whores on Facebook.

What was the first concert you attended?

I believe it was Santana and Rusted Root at Glen Helen (now known as the San Manuel Amphitheater).

What was the first album you owned?

Violent Femmes.

What band or artist changed your life? How? The Doors. Jim Morrison music was always really deep. He made you think, like, in 5-to-1.

What bands are you listening to right now?

Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Van Halen, etc.

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

It would be Little Louie Vega: “How much has the music scene evolved since you were playing at Studio 54 in NYC?”

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

Gang rap.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

Spirit in the Sky.” Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?

Mark Farina’s Mushroom Jazz Vol. 1, and/or Bare Essentials or Carte Blanche Vols. 1 and 2.

What song should everyone listen to right now?

Anything from the Butter Factory.

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

Led Zeppelin.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?

Rush.

What’s your favorite music venue?

Alpine Valley, an outside amphitheater (in East Troy, Wis.).

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

“It’s a small world after all.” Now you are all singing it!

What bands are you listening to right now?

None. I like EDM, so I like a lot of Sonny Fodera, Little Louie Vega, and Julz Winfield.

What band or artist changed your life? How? Jeff Beck. I was able to play with him in Vegas.

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

This is a hard one, because I can’t say one thing is bad or worse than the other, so I’m gonna quote Ray Charles (and others): “There is only good and bad music.” It just depends on what’s being played.

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

Jimmy Page: “Would you be my personal guitar teacher?”

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

It would be Pink Floyd—Roger W. Pink Floyd.

And Prince!

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?

L.A. underground deep house.

What’s your favorite music venue?

The Greek Theatre (in Los Angeles).

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

Jamiroquai’s “Little L”: “Why does it have to be like this? … With a little ‘l.’”

What song would you like played at your funeral?

“Freebird.” How else am I going to keep them there?

NAME Chuck Baum BAND Two Twelve MORE INFO www.212rocks.com; catch the classic rock band on Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Red Barn in Palm Desert, and Saturday, Oct. 12, at Hamilton’s Sports Bar Grill in La Quinta.

What was the first concert you attended?

Kiss, in Detroit.

What was the first album you owned?

Elton John; I forgot the name (of the album).

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

Boston, self-titled.

What song should everyone listen to right now? “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)!,” the Beastie Boys.

The All Night Shoes FRESH Monthly Mix: October 2013 Welcome to the first FRESH Monthly Mix with All Night Shoes!

FRESH is a live mix of music curated by me, All Night Shoes, aka Alex Harrington. Each month, I will be featuring the best music in the dance/ indie/electronic scene—both locally and globally.

I draw influence from artists all over the world, and discover amazing music daily. Being a DJ and producer, I find that sharing great music is rewarding and exciting. My goal in the months to come is to introduce you to all kinds of new artists and new sounds.

This month’s theme is “Summer After-Party.”

The hottest season is coming to the end, and the tracks I’ve featured are perfect for chilling out with friends—or getting close to someone you love. I enjoy tracks that take me for a ride, and feel like a journey. I’ve packed this mix with big beats, deep vibes and just enough funk to make you want to dance.

You can hear all these tracks and more when I play the Coachella Valley Independent Release Party hosted at Clinic Bar and Lounge, on Wednesday, Oct. 16! Stay FRESH and enjoy!

Enjoy the fresh mix at www.mixcloud.com/ ansofficial, or better yet, head to CVIndependent. com’s music section to find it!

• Chris Malinchak, “So Into You” • Aimlo, “UH OHHH” • Anna Paul, “Cold Heart” (produced

by Vanilla) • Miguel “Adorn” (Oliver Nelson Remix) • Patrick Baker, “Blissed Out” (Club Edit) • Cyclist featuring Maiko Watson, “Shine” • Breakbot, “Easy Fraction” (Yaaman Remix) • All Night Shoes, “Like This” • Disclosure, “You and Me” (Pat Lok “Homies Wear” Remix) CVIndependent.com

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COMICS & jonesin’crossword

Across 1 Baylor University city 5 Far from slack 9 Surgeon on daytime TV 13 Airline that flies to Tel Aviv 14 Nintendo franchise 15 Awfully bloody 16 “Brave New World” drug 17 Place where cuts are part of the profit 18 Bad sign, maybe 19 “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” band 22 Roosted 23 Dye family 24 Box cover 25 Uplifting company?

27 Brit’s submachine gun 29 Chiding sound 32 It’s made with a lot of folding and chewing 36 India.___ who covered “Imagine” 37 DMV issuance 38 Flight org. (anagram of CIAO) 39 Item for an exhaustive search, so to speak 44 Gave grub to 45 Woody Allen animated film 46 Big name on 5th Avenue 47 “Crouching Tiger” director Lee 48 Work undercover CVIndependent.com

49 Modest shelter 52 “Unique New York” and “Cinnamon aluminum linoleum” 57 Albert of sportscasts 58 Aquarium buildup 59 Exile for Napoleon 60 50% of sechs 61 Cowboy’s controls 62 Banned fruit spray 63 “How ___ is that?”

64 Dict. entries 65 Some employee data, for short Down 1 Bridge positions 2 Hawaii, the ___ State 3 Was thought of 4 “Lemony Snicket” evil count 5 “I love you,” in a telenovela 6 “You’re ___ Need to Get By” 7 Japanese wheat noodle 8 Knotty sort?

9 iPhone rival 10 Access for a wheelchair 11 Galena and bauxite, for two 12 Kind of Buddhism 14 Gabor who slapped a cop 20 Villain’s den 21 “The Mod Squad” role 26 Oh-so-precious 27 1972 Olympics star Mark

28 Texas or Georgia follower 29 They may be crunchy or soft 30 “The King and I” country 31 Drawer handle 32 Big fishhook 33 “Ugly Betty” actor Michael 34 Piece of land 35 The ___ from French Lick (Larry Bird) 40 Orange drink on some of Portland’s Voodoo Doughnuts 41 Vigilant against attack 42 Catches sight of 43 Weekly septet 47 Blacksmith’s block 48 Gift on the seventh day of Christmas 50 Citified 51 1917 marked their end 52 Hawaiian root 53 Cookie that can be “Double Stuf” 54 “Waiting for the Robert ___” 55 “At last, the weekend!”

56 Afternoon social activities 57 1600, to Caesar ©2013 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@ jonesincrosswords.com)

Find the answers in the “About” section of CVIndependent.com!

OCTOBER 2013

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OCTOBER 2013