Coachella Valley Independent December 2014

VOL.2 | ISSUE 12

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DECEMBER 2014

A Note From the Editor

Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263 Cathedral City, CA 92234 (760) 904-4208 www.cvindependent.com

Editor/Publisher Jimmy Boegle Assistant Editor Brian Blueskye Editorial Layout Wayne Acree Advertising Design Betty Jo Boegle Contributors Gustavo Arellano, Victor Barocas, Max Cannon, Kevin Fitzgerald, Bill Frost, Bob Grimm, Alex Harrington, Valerie-Jean (VJ) Hume, Keith Knight, Robin Linn, Judith Lewis Mernit, Wyatt Orme, Marylee Pangman, Erin Peters, Deidre Pike, Dan Perkins, Guillermo Prieto, Anita Rufus, Jen Sorenson, Robert Victor

The Coachella Valley Independent print edition is published every month. All content is ©2014 and may not be published or reprinted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.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.

COVER DESIGN BY WAYNE ACREE

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 LGBT Community Center of the Desert, artsOasis and the American Advertising Federation/Palm Springs-Desert Cities.

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The holidays are here, and there are a lot of things for which I am thankful: • I’m thankful for the Independent’s knowledgeable readers. Welcome to the inaugural Best of Coachella Valley issue, featuring the results of our readers’ poll. With a few categories excepted (In-n-Out has the valley’s Best Burger? Really?!), the results show that our readers, like you, are smart, cultured and local-minded: Very few chains won in our poll, especially when compared with readers’ polls in other publications and/or other cities.

I hope that as many of you readers who voted in the Best of Coachella Valley poll as possible (and, heck, even those of you who didn’t vote … next year, right?) will join us to celebrate the winners at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 3, at multiple-categorywinner Twin Palms Bistro and Lounge, 1201 E. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. The Best of Coachella Valley Party will feature a brief awards ceremony at 7:15 p.m., and great specials on food and drinks all night.

See you there!

• I’m thankful for the Independent’s fantastic employees and contributors. Specifically, I’m thankful for those Independent designers and scribes who helped me out with our booth at Greater Palm Springs Pride, where we gave out community bags containing newspapers and great deals, as well as mini-flying discs and lots of pens. Thank you to Brian Blueskye, Wayne Acree, Victor Barocas and the indefatigable Valerie-Jean Hume for representing the Independent so proudly!

Also, thanks to the readers who stopped by to say hi!

• I’m thankful to everyone who has contributed to our Indiegogo campaign. As I noted last month, we’re trying to raise $10,000 so we can increase our distribution and, most importantly, boost our coverage of news and local events. As of this writing, we’ve received some fantastic support, including a donation from reader Shilo Herrling, who wrote: “I really appreciate the CV Independent, and wish you all the best of luck in your expansion efforts. Unlike many, I don’t think The Desert Sun is a bad paper … but I do like to have options and alternative viewpoints, and CV Independent does a great job!”

Thanks, Shilo!

Despite the support from readers like Shilo, as of this writing, we’re behind the pace we need to be on to reach our goal. Please consider joining Shilo in supporting the Independent; find details on every page at CVIndepedent.com.

Happy holidays, everyone—and welcome to the Best of Coachella Valley!

—Jimmy Boegle, jboegle@cvindependent.com

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 3

DECEMBER 2014

OPINION

KNOW YOUR

NEIGHBORS

Sun City’s Forum Club Offers a Model for Open, Neighborly Political Discussions

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION

By Anita Rufus ne is a banker; another is a Nobel Prize-winner, a third a teacher, yet another a writer. Many are happily retired. Some are well-informed on the news of the day; others are interested in exploring new ways to approach old problems; all are willing to engage with their neighbors for some good old-fashioned “exchanges of opinion.” (That’s what my mother used to call “arguments.”)

The Sun City Palm Desert Forum Club is one of the many organizations that cater to the interests of Sun City residents. The Forum features monthly facilitators on current topics with participants seated at large round tables, each with a designated discussion leader. Their format has the facilitator give background information about that meeting’s topic for up to 40 minutes. Each table then considers various questions related to the topic for about 30 minutes, and then offers their table’s conclusions and/or suggestions to the whole group.

I addressed the group several years ago, so when Forum board member Colt Stewart asked if I would be interested in facilitating November’s meeting to reflect on the recent midterm election results, I immediately said, “Absolutely!” Then I began to do my homework: These are interested, informed people, and I was committed to taking a nonpartisan approach to evaluating not only the election results, but what to expect over the next two years leading up to the presidential election.

My preparation included doing background research on midterm-election results historically, specifically related to turnout and whether we should motivate or punish nonvoters to get more participation in the electoral process; immigration policies, including past presidents who have acted unilaterally and granted amnesty to those here illegally; the California state initiative process, and how it has evolved from its original purpose of empowering ordinary citizens; state voting laws, including districts drawn to protect incumbents or limit voting rights; the Affordable Care Act; and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have led to unprecedented political campaign spending.

Over dinner before the event with Forum president Jane Graham (“I showed up for a meeting, and they needed a president, so I volunteered”) and Stewart, we went over some of the questions the group had generated.

While they anticipated talking about the “why” of the election (“Did the president’s ratings cause the elections results, or are voters sending another message?”), I said I also wanted each table to attempt to arrive at suggestions for solutions about how we move the local, state and national agendas forward.

In my opening statement, I told the group that I believe this midterm election was basically about … nothing. The Republicans were running against President Obama, and the Democrats were running away from him.

Neither party put forth policy agendas that voters were being asked to support; rather, we were asked to be afraid and vote “against,” particularly based on the overwhelming number of political ads that bombarded us throughout the process.

As Stewart and I visited the tables to answer questions that had arisen, I was pleased to find that participants were actively listening to each other, as the discussion leaders focused on what their report back to the full group should include. Participants seemed genuinely interested in exploring the policy issues and eschewing the politics—a position I had strongly encouraged.

However, there were a few instances in which political buzz words and sound bites were put into play. One man challenged me on the immigration issue.

“The Senate sent a bipartisan bill to the House over a year ago,” I said. “The speaker of the House doesn’t want to bring it up for a vote, because it would pass—but it would be with predominantly Democratic votes, and he doesn’t want that to happen. So they’ve chosen

to do nothing but threaten the president if he takes any unilateral action, even though any action Congress takes can overcome any such executive order.”

“But what about the hundreds of bills that the House sent to the Senate, that majority leader Reid has been sitting on?” he blustered.

“That’s true,” I replied, “but what you’re talking about right now is immigration—not all those other issues.”

“Aw,” he sputtered, crossing his arms across his chest. “Nobody here wants to hear what I have to say, anyway.”

What do Forum participants expect over the next two years? Basically, they do not expect much to change. They suggested some restrictions on campaign financing, overhauling the California initiative process, expanding mail-in voting, filibuster reform in the Senate, and common-sense immigration reform. They decried the political gridlock, but are concerned about policies being pushed through that may not withstand time.

They want cooperation, but not necessarily capitulation.

There are few open events around the desert that encourage the exchange of ideas in the way that the Forum does. While some local groups sponsor high-profile speakers brought in for those who can afford to pay to hear one-sided presentations (with perhaps a few pre-cleared questions), the Forum is a good model for the kind of open dialogues about issues that we should encourage—and in which we should participate.

It’s often said that there are certain subjects we should never broach with our neighbors— politics, religion, race, etc. Thankfully, the Forum breaks that mold.

ANITA RUFUS IS ALSO KNOWN AS “THE LOVABLE LIBERAL,” AND HER RADIO SHOW AIRS SUNDAYS FROM 11 A.M. TO 1 P.M. ON KNEWS RADIO 94.3 FM. EMAIL HER AT ANITA@ LOVABLELIBERAL.COM. HER COLUMN APPEARS EVERY OTHER WEDNESDAY AT CVINDEPENDENT.COM. CVIndependent.com

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DECEMBER 2014

OPINION

ASK A MEXICAN!

Why Do Gabachos and Mexicans Actually Have So Much in Common?

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION

By Gustavo Arellano EAR MEXICAN: Why do Mexicans and gabachos resemble each other so much? Both are very conservative about sex, marriage and family. Both are very Christian, either Catholic or Protestant. Both keep similar attitudes toward immigrants. Both are very patriotic or nationalistic. Both deal with the same social issues like high rates of sexual and domestic abuse, homosexuality and alcoholism. In both countries, there’s strong feminism as a reaction against decades of machismo and discrimination toward women. There’s a striking similarity between Texan cowboys and rancheros.

Since Mexicans and gabachos look so different in the American society, how can this be possible?

The Guatemalan DEAR CHAPÍN: Your Yucateco Mayan cousins have a saying: “In Lak’ech,” which translates into Spanish as “Tú eres mi otro yo,” which you can Beatle-ize into “I am you and you are me”—look it up!

The Mayas knew that opposites not only attract; they’re frequently dos sides of the same coin—ying and yang, cabrón! You compared gabachos and Mexicans pero good; scholars have also given the same treatment to the Aztecs and Spanish conquistadors— both religious empires that played tribes off each other to make it easier to beat them, that liked to kill and enslave their enemies, that practiced cannibalism, and that practiced syncretism at all times. (The Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe was famously a replacement for the Aztec goddesses Tonantzín and Coatlicue, but the original Spanish Virgin of Guadalupe herself was a

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so-called Black Madonna, the term used for a Marian apparition that just so happened to pop up in areas with pagan significance.)

Even you pinche chapines have a duality with us Mexis … or not, because we’re a trillion times better than ustedes. Point is, gabachos and Mexis will get along much better once we accept that we’re both part of the Estados Jodidos.

As for you calling homosexuality a “social issue”: Social DEEZ NUTZ. DEAR MEXICAN: Why do Mexican men think all of us gabachas are like the girls in The Bikini Carwash Company?

I am married, a conservative dresser, and frankly not very good-looking (but I do have blonde hair, so maybe that counts for something on a guy’s internal whore-ometer), and I speak karate-choppin’ good Spanish. In fact, that’s my job: I interpret for Spanish-speakers when they go to the doctor’s office. So then why—dear GOD WHY?—when I interpret for a Mexican man, does he seems culturally required to at some point say something gross to me?

Here’s a real life example: “Rafael”— like so many people who work in dangerous jobs no güero would accept— got hurt at work a year ago, when he fell from an impossible height onto concrete and barely lived to tell the tale. He had a series of doctor’s appointments wherein he got poked and prodded, and his sexual dysfunction was discussed at length with me as the intermediary. (I think this might have something to do with it.) As we were waiting outside the last doctor’s office, he blushed and whispered to me, “I wanna ask you a question, but I’m embarrassed.” Oh dear god, I thought, here it comes. “Why do all you gabachas like to do— how do you say it?—table-dancing?”

Table-dancing, Mexican. Is it possible that he has lived in this country for seven years and really thinks that we are all secretly strippers who like to dance on tables? Is it possible he’s been spending all his money at the nudie bar instead of sending it back to his wife and kids in Michoacán? What, pray tell, am I missing here?

Grumbling Güera DEAR GABACHA: Wait … so not all white women are strippers? Wow, you learn new cosas every day!

Anyhoo, in this case, the guy was obviously trying to reassert his manhood in front of a woman, so I wouldn’t read too much about Mexicans through him. But you’re right about hombres viewing gabachas

as perpetual putas one martini away from doing a DP. It’s easy to blame Mexican machismo, but the real issue is exoticism: Gabachas are the Other, and thus easily sexualized. The same thing happens with gabachos and how they view Mexican women: A University of Southern California (go Bruins!) study released earlier this year shows that, while Latinos had only about 5 percent of the roles in Hollywood’s 100 top-grossing films of 2013, 38 percent of all Latinas depicted in said películas were at some point fully or partially naked—and that’s not including all the tight skirts and blouses non-fat mujeres must wear at all times. This, of course, is nothing new—the spicy señorita archetype goes back to the silent reelers. But, as a result, gabachos have sexualized Mexican women ever since—and if you don’t believe me, go to any fraternity’s Drinko de Cinco bash.

CATCH THE MEXICAN EVERY WEDNESDAY AT CVINDEPENDENT. COM. ASK THE MEXICAN AT THEMEXICAN@ASKAMEXICAN. NET; BE HIS FAN ON FACEBOOK; FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @GUSTAVOARELLANO; OR FOLLOW HIM ON INSTAGRAM @ GUSTAVO_ARELLANO!

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 5

DECEMBER 2014

OPINION

THE POTTED DESERT GARDEN

These Lovely, Leafy Plants Prove That Flowers Aren’t the Only Colorful Parts of Your Garden

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION

By Marylee Pangman ast. Fabulous. FOLIAGE! Get immediate gratification in your desert container garden by showcasing plants with gorgeous, leafy color. Follow us this month at CVIndependent.com each week as we discuss foliage plants that are worth adding to your seasonal desert container gardens.

Prolific bloomers need to be plucked and pruned and fed—and then we worry about the blooms bursting in time (and not too much before) our big party. If too soon or too late, off to the nursery we go, for more blooming plants. However … what if our star performers were spectacular leafy plants, bursting with rock-star color that isn’t fickle in its bloom cycle?

I’m not saying we should totally give up on our glorious flowers, of course. The moral of today’s story is diversity: Flowering plants and non-bloomers can thrive side by side, and a clever mix of the two offers the best of all worlds.

Let’s explore a few of my favorite foliage plants that hold up in our desert climate.

shows how well the plant has acclimated to full sun exposure. In the low desert, it will do better if it gets that desired afternoon shade.

Underplanted with white Vinca with a red center, the Cordyline stands on its own against the pale wall.

Dusty Miller When I came upon this bed of “flowers” dew-kissed on a cool winter morning, my immediate reaction was: There must be frost on the plants! I never thought my design for this flower bed would create such a refreshing break: Pairing Dusty Miller with white Alyssum created a surprisingly fun entry to this restaurant.

No matter where you are from, and no matter the climate, you may have used Dusty Miller in your garden. This sultry white/gray plant with a hint of green tolerates lowerwater conditions, making it a perfect addition to your desert potted garden. Dusty Miller can enhance a full white garden or add to bold colors, making them seem to lunge in your direction.

Dwarf Pampas Grass I was looking for something to blow in the summer breeze, next to a pool. I wanted a plant that would hold up to the intense heat and strong winds, and that could be planted in a pot that’s unlikely to blow over. The 24-inch low-bowl pot gave me an opportunity for a grass experiment. Looking for something with interesting plumes, I found Dwarf Pampas Grass.

All grasses should be treated like annuals, because you do not want to have a pot full of nothing when the grass needs to be cut back!

Follow us every Tuesday at CVIndependent. com this month as I share information on other desert-loving foliage plants!

Cordyline Cordyline is another of my favorites for desert winter gardens. Many flowing, colorful, upright plants will burn up in the desert—even if placed in the shade. As growers continue to hybridize varieties of these plants to tolerate more heat (if not more sun), we’ll begin to see an increasing number in our nurseries.

Planted in a cream-colored vertical pot, the combination pictured at CVIndependent.com interrupts the long wall behind the barbecue patio. The Cordyline was originally planted in the late fall, and in the summer shot, it

What to do in your desert potted garden this month: • Continue successive plantings of lettuce, spinach, chard and other fast-maturing winter greens.

• Snip petunias to encourage them to branch and spread. Cut the ends off of stems to encourage side-branching. This will promote abundant flowering and more compact plants.

• Remove old blooms from geranium, cyclamen, calendula and other winter flowers as they fade, by cutting them off with sharp scissors or hand pruners. This will also increase flower production.

• Use a biweekly spray application of a

Dusty Miller with white Alyssum.

Dwarf Pampas Grass.

water-soluble fertilizer on all flowering plants to encourage growth and a continual show of flowers.

MARYLEE PANGMAN IS THE FOUNDER AND FORMER OWNER OF THE CONTAINED GARDENER IN TUCSON, ARIZ. SHE HAS BECOME KNOWN AS THE DESERT’S POTTED GARDEN EXPERT. SHE IS AVAILABLE FOR DIGITAL CONSULTATIONS, AND YOU CAN EMAIL HER WITH COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS AT POTTEDDESERT@GMAIL.COM. FOLLOW THE POTTED DESERT AT FACEBOOK.COM/POTTEDDESERT. THE POTTED DESERT GARDEN APPEARS TUESDAYS AT CVINDEPENDENT.COM. CVIndependent.com

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DECEMBER 2014

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 7

DECEMBER 2014

NEWS

WHERE’S

THE ART?

Six Months After Palm Springs Enacted a Much-Needed Murals Ordinance, a Whole Lot of Nothing Has Happened

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS

By Brian Blueskye t’s now been more than seven months since an Arenas Road murals project, planned and funded by Venus Studios Art Supply owner Debra Ann Mumm, was shut down by Palm Springs police after city officials claimed the project was illegal—even though the city Public Arts Commission had endorsed the project.

It’s now been more than six months since the Palm Springs City Council, in the wake of the controversy caused by the shutdown of Mumm’s mural project, approved a much-needed mural-approval process.

However, since these two events, it’s been all quiet on the Palm Springs murals front.

Mumm still has plans for mural projects in the city, she said. In fact, she has a mockup of a mural she’s planning for the Arenas Road side of LuLu California Bistro.

However, she has not yet started the daunting and expensive journey that is now the city of Palm Springs mural process.

Still, Mumm said she is happy there is finally a policy and process in place.

“They made a process where there wasn’t one,” Mumm said. “In that sense, there’s a procedure now, and that’s fantastic. Is it harder? No, because there’s nothing to compare it to previously. My feeling is that’s progress, and that’s an improvement on the situation. At least there’s a way to actually do it legally now.”

One of the reasons Mumm has not yet started the approval process is that she needs to raise the money for the mural—including almost $1,900 that would go to the city just to apply.

The procedure set forth by the city of Palm Springs includes a processing fee of $1,000, plus a notification fee of $872, which must be submitted along with detailed drawings including samples, and background information on the mural artist. Also required: a detailed site plan, photos of the proposed mural location (including neighboring properties), notice labels for all property owners within 500 feet of the proposed mural site, an agreement by the property owner, and a maintenance plan.

Mumm said she figured the process will take at least three months.

“You go before the Planning Commission first, and then the Planning Commission sends your application to the Architectural Advisory Committee to make notes. …

After the Architectural Advisory Committee

makes notes, then you go to the Public Arts Commission, and then after all those approvals have been met, it finally goes to City Council.”

Murals done before the approval process was enacted, such as the one at Bar, located at 340 N. Palm Canyon Drive, were not grandfathered in, meaning owners will need to go through that process. In fact, it was the mural at Bar, painted in November 2013 by Fin DAC and Angelina Christina, that started a debate among Palm Springs residents and city officials about murals.

Reggie Cameron, a Bar spokesman, said via e-mail that the Funkey family, which owns Bar, is currently going through the process of getting the mural approved. "(They) are currently working on the application, but had to wait until the new Art Commission and Planning Commission came into place. ... They were sworn in this September/October, so it won't be on the agenda for some time. They have been in communication with the city regarding the mural.”

Mumm said she did not feel like the city is trying to make it overly difficult to get a mural approved.

“I don’t think the application process is meant to be a deterrent,” she said. “I think it’s meant to make sure that what does go up is of quality, and it’s something that everyone has an opportunity to voice their opinion on before rather than after.”

City Councilmember Paul Lewin cast the sole vote against the mural-approval process in May. (Ginny Foat was absent from that meeting.) He declined to speak to the Independent about the process in person or

Palm Springs police shut down a proposed Arenas Road murals project on April 5, claiming that the project had not been authorized by the city. COURTESY OF RYAN CAMPBELL

over the phone, but agreed to answer questions via email. He said he still has concerns about the process.

“I do believe that having a process for murals to be approved is a good thing, because art in public places should have a process where the public can weigh in with their opinion. I do not, however, think that we came up with a particularly good process. That is why I voted against the ordinance,” Lewin wrote.

He suggested what he believes would be a better plan.

“I would have rather seen an easier, more-streamlined process,” Lewin wrote. “I think that if we had asked the Public Arts Commission to identify five or six buildings that would be good candidates for murals, and took public comments during that process,

we could have created an environment where there was far less uncertainty for proposed murals. In essence, the locations could have been pre-approved, and thus the (application fees) would be lower. All that would be debated would be the artistic merits of the piece.”

He expressed concerns that the process may be too difficult for artists and property owners.

“Nothing in life or public policy is perfect.

So again, it is good that we now have a process that will allow for mural art,” he wrote.

“However, I feel that the ordinance as crafted is simply too burdensome on the artists and property owners, and does not really further the cause of bringing mural art to the community.

“I hope to be proven wrong.”

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DECEMBER 2014

NEWS

HELP NEEDED

Local Service Agencies Need Assistance to Meet an Increase in Demand During the Holiday Season

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS

By Kevin Fitzgerald he 2014 holiday season has officially arrived, and while many of us are busily planning schedules around parties and shopping, more and more of our neighbors are facing formidable food and resource shortages.

“Over the last 24 months, we’ve seen the monthly average number of people served meals in our region increase from 80,000 per month to 90,000-plus,” said Chantel Schuering, community relations director for the FIND Food Bank. “We get those numbers directly from each organization that partners with FIND to acquire food resources, and then we aggregate them here.”

Those partner organizations include almost all of the agencies who provide meals on a regular basis to those in need of food assistance. One such partner is The Well in the Desert, based in Palm Springs.

“I wish we had fewer customers, but we don’t, unfortunately,” remarked Arlene Rosenthal, president of the board at The Well.

“And around Thanksgiving and Christmas, we get a lot of people who don’t use our services

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regularly, but at the holidays, find it difficult to provide totally for themselves.”

While the realities of life can be discouraging this time of year—especially to those working to lessen the impact of hunger on a daily basis—the holidays can be a time of happiness and encouragement as well.

“We usually get about 1,500 people on Christmas Day, and these are a combination of the working poor, seniors on fixed incomes and the homeless,” Rosenthal said. “We open the doors at noon, and we have hundreds of people waiting to attend. They walk down this aisle formed by volunteers on each side who are shaking hands and high-fivin’ with the kids and seniors and the homeless. I’ve seen people in tears. It just brings out the best in everybody, and it’s become my favorite event.”

At Martha’s Village and Kitchen in Indio, the demand for holiday assistance increases as well.

“We certainly do see a huge, huge increase of folks coming on the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Since they don’t have families or others to go to, they utilize our services,” said K. Magdalena Andrasevits, the president and CEO. “That’s why it’s so important that the community comes together, as they always have. So I always say thank you, thank you, thank you to the community for helping us to do what we can to help our neighbors in need.”

However, Andrasevits points out that hunger and a need for help aren’t just seasonal issues. “I probably echo every other service provider when I say that the need isn’t just at the holiday season; it is year-round.”

For Mike Thompson, executive director of the LGBT Community Center of the Desert in Palm Springs (which also operates the NestEggg Food Bank), one focus of his organization’s holiday assistance is on people’s emotional and psychological needs.

“What I would like to call attention to is our mental-health program, and specifically, our low-to-no-cost counseling services for older adults,” Thompson said. “The holiday season can be stressful times for those living alone who might feel isolated, so we’d like to highlight this counseling program and make sure that people understand this help is available.”

Thompson also mentioned specific holidaytime events that are being held by The Center.

“We’ve got a ‘Paws and Claus’ event where people can bring their pet to see Santa Claus, and that takes place (in December). These events are designed to bring people together.”

How tough is it for assistance organizations to attract needed funds today?

“You know nonprofits are always in need

of funding support, whether that be in-kind donations, volunteer time or financial resources,” Thompson said. “As people begin to think about their end-of-the-year tax-giving, we like to remind them that The Center is here, and remind them of the programs we have here that benefit the valley’s LGBT community, and ask that they consider supporting us.”

We asked Schuering of FIND how concerned she and her colleagues are about the increasing demand for services.

“It’s a constant state of concern,” she said.

“But when you feed 90,000-plus people a month, no single donation will make or break your effort. When demand goes up, as we’ve seen recently, we’re always trying to connect people with other resources so that food doesn’t have to be the thing they give up in their lives. We do a lot of work connecting people with the food-stamp program, for instance. Some of the crazy rumors people hear are just horrible, and it’s enough to keep them from applying for funds that are set aside for them to use for food.”

In closing, Schuering offered this sobering holiday thought. “Every month, there are tens of thousands of Coachella Valley residents going hungry. Every month. We only have 440,000 residents year-around, so if 90,000 of them are hungry every month, that’s one out of every five of our neighbors. Those are numbers that you cannot ignore.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO HELP: FIND Food Bank: 760-775-3663; www.findfoodbank.org The Well in the Desert: 760-327-8577; www.wellinthedesert.org Martha’s Village and Kitchen: 760-347-4741; marthasvillage.org LGBT Community Center of the Desert: 760-416-7790; www.thecenterps.org

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 9

DECEMBER 2014

NEWS

A STICKY PROPOSITION

Environmental Groups Fear Prop 1 Will Lead to More Dams

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS

By Judith Lewis Mernit roposition 1, the $7.5 billion water bond that 67 percent of California voters approved on Election Day, will provide millions of dollars for projects everyone likes.

It sets aside funds to strip pollutants from valuable urban aquifers; it will bring in money to repair aging pipes that leach pollutants into drinking water. Locally, the Salton Sea could get part of the $500 million the measure authorizes for restoring damaged ecosystems.

So what about it makes many environmental groups so mad?

The Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, and San Francisco Baykeeper all took an explicit stand against Proposition 1, as did virtually every fishermans’ advocacy group in the state. The Sierra Club, though it officially opposed the legislative bill that produced the ballot measure, remained neutral in theory, but the group’s position statement announcing neutrality also used the word hate.

Chelsea Tu, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, says the problem comes down to this: While the bond measure does indeed give a nod to higher environmental concerns, “those beneficial provisions are far outweighed by the $2.7 billion in the bill set aside for surface and groundwater storage provisions.”

In other words, the “public benefits” it funds could mean new dams: One would flood 14,000 acres in Colusa County north of Sacramento for the proposed Sites Reservoir; another would augment current San Joaquin River water storage at Temperance Flat. Prop 1 funds could also go toward adding 18.5 feet to Shasta Dam—a $1.1 billion project touted as a “bargain“ by Westlands Water District General Manager Tom Birmingham, but opposed

by the Winnemem Wintu tribe, which was flooded out of sacred lands once when the dam was finished in 1945.

Proposition 1 does not explicitly state that any of the $2.7 billion will fund dam projects, however, and not every environmental group worries quite so much. “The era of big dams is over,” pronounced Doug Obegi, staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, on the organization’s blog. “The water bond does not earmark funding for Temperance Flat or any other surface-storage project.” Dams cost too much money to make sense anymore; even with taxpayer subsidies, they “can’t compete economically with these regional and local water supply projects.”

Emphasizing that NRDC “strongly opposes” both Temperance Flat and a Shasta Dam raising, Obegi’s organization endorsed Prop 1.

Tu thinks that’s not only “optimistic,” but at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown’s oft-stated agenda.

“Every time the governor talks about the

water crisis, he talks about building out water infrastructure projects that go back to the 1950s,” she says. “Those are projects that both state and federal legislatures have been pushing for many, many years.” They’re also projects that the state’s agricultural interests, which consume more than three-quarters of the state’s water, have lobbied hard for, along with a multibillion-dollar tunnel project that would suck water from the Sacramento River before it ever gets to the ailing California Delta. (Prop 1 was written to be “tunnel neutral.”)

Adam Scow, California campaigns director for Food and Water Watch, calls Prop. 1 “a bunch of mystery meat,” ominously geared toward finding more ways to deliver water to industrial agriculture. Even more alarming, he says, is that according to the provisions of the bill, the nine members of the California Water Commission have been tasked with allocating

the meat. Those nine members have been appointed by “Big Agriculture’s closest ally,” Scow says. “A man named Jerry Brown.”

Scow thinks Proposition 1’s other benefits recede in light of that fact. Aquifer cleanup, water for fish, habitat restoration and drinking water for disadvantaged communities are all good, he says, and even necessary. They just don’t have to be yoked to what he calls “a bloated bond deal,” written with industrial agriculture in mind.

“We do need to address the inequities in water rights we have in this state,” Scow says.

“We just don’t need a bond deal to do it.”

But that bond deal is exactly what Californians overwhelmingly approved on Election Day. JUDITH LEWIS MERNIT IS A CONTRIBUTING EDITOR FOR HIGH COUNTRY NEWS, WHERE THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED.

Some environmental groups fear that Prop 1 funds could go toward raising Shasta Dam—even though the proposition does not specifically mention the project. APALIWAL VIA WIKIPEDIA.ORG CVIndependent.com

10 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT

DECEMBER 2014

NEWS

DECEMBER ASTRONOMY

This Month Features the Longest Nights—So Enjoy the Stargazing!

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS

by Robert Victor ear the start of December every year, the first-magnitude star Aldebaran, eye of Taurus the Bull, and “follower” of the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, is visible all night as Earth makes its annual passage between Aldebaran and the sun. Look for Aldebaran low in the east-northeast at dusk, high in the south in the middle of the night, and low in the west-northwest at dawn.

On New Year’s Eve, the brightest star, Sirius the Dog Star, reaches its high point in the south in the middle of the night. You can observe Sirius for much of that night, but not at dusk or dawn, because the star’s path from rising to setting is too far south and too short to keep it above the horizon through the long winter night.

Some 21 to 22 minutes earlier, and 36

CVIndependent.com

degrees lower than Sirius at its highest, observers in Southern California can look for Canopus, the second-brightest star visible in the nighttime skies. However, from the Coachella Valley, the star appears 3 to 4 degrees up at its highest. (I’ve spotted Canopus from Palm Springs—as it passed through a gap in the Santa Rosa Mountains.)

The four brightest “stars” at dusk: Venus (after it emerges around midmonth) is at magnitude 3.9; Mercury (near month’s end) -0.8; Vega 0.0; and Capella +0.1.

Watch for the slow emergence of Venus from beyond the sun, followed by Mercury, closing to 3 degrees to the lower right of Venus at month’s end, in the southwest to west-southwest. Binoculars can help you spot Mercury very low in the bright twilight by closing days of December. On Jan. 10, Mercury

Morning visibility map at mid-twilight.

ROBERT D. MILLER

Evening visibility map at mid-twilight.

ROBERT D. MILLER

will approach to just 0.6 degrees to the lower right of Venus! Mars (+1.0 to 1.1) is in the south-southwest to southwest throughout December, to the upper left of Venus.

As for stars: Thee Summer Triangle of Vega, Altair and Deneb is high in the west, still well up at dusk as winter arrives. Fomalhaut, mouth of the Southern Fish, crosses south.

Capella is in the northeast, with Aldebaran in the east-northeast, both moving to the upper right as the month progresses. Appearing above the eastern horizon late in the month are Orion’s Betelgeuse and Rigel, and Gemini’s Pollux (with fainter Castor above it, not shown on the map).

The full moon appears closely to the upper right of Aldebaran at dusk on Dec. 5 (passing it overnight), and widely to the lower left of that star on the next evening. On Dec. 22, about 30 minutes after sunset, Venus appears about 6 degrees to the south (lower left) of the young crescent moon. On the next evening, look for Venus about 11 degrees to the moon’s lower right. On Dec. 24, look for Mars 6 to 7 degrees south (lower left) of the moon. On Dec. 5, Mars appears about 11 degrees to the moon’s lower right.

The five brightest “stars” at dawn: Jupiter (magnitude -2.3 to -2.4); Sirius (-1.4); Arcturus (mag. -0.1); Vega (0.0); and Capella (+0.1).

Jupiter is high in the southwestern sky; Saturn (+0.5) is ascending in the eastsoutheast to southeast.

All of the stars of the huge Winter Hexagon, except Rigel, are visible in the western morning sky at the start of December. As the month progresses, two more of its stars, Aldebaran and Sirius, drop out, as well as Betelgeuse within the Hexagon. The trailing side of the Hexagon, forming the arch of Procyon, Pollux (and Castor, not shown) and Capella, remains in view throughout December. Jupiter and Regulus are close in tow, following the descending arch into the western sky. In the eastern sky, Arcturus dominates, with Vega and Deneb far to its lower left, and Spica to its lower right. Find Saturn to Spica’s lower left and, late in month, Antares below and a little left of Saturn.

The full moon appears closely to the upper left of Aldebaran low in the west-northwest at dawn on Dec. 6. A waning gibbous moon appears between Procyon and Pollux on Dec. 9; near Jupiter on Dec. 11 and 12; and near Regulus on Dec. 12. A waning crescent moon appears near Spica on Dec. 16 and 17; closely to the upper right of Saturn on Dec. 19; and to the lower left of Saturn and upper left of Antares on Dec. 20.

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.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 11

DECEMBER 2014

NEWS

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/NEWS

SNAPSHOT

Images From November in the Coachella Valley and High Desert

Dee Dee Penny and the rest of the Dum Dum Girls wowed the audience at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace on Saturday, Nov. 15. Following up on an attention-grabbing performance at Coachella earlier this year, the Dum Dum Girls performed the group’s entire new album, Too True, before concluding the show with a seven-song encore. PHOTO BY GUILLERMO PRIETO/IROCKPHOTOS.NET

George Nasci-Sinatra, the special events and development coordinator at the Mizell Senior Center, gets his face painted during the Playa de los Muertos party, held Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Hacienda Cantina and Beach Club in Palm Springs. The event was a fundraiser for the Mizell-administered Meals on Wheels program, which delivers more than 170,000 meals in the Coachella Valley each year. PHOTO BY JIMMY BOEGLE

A rejuvenated Greater Palm Springs Pride moved the party to downtown Palm Springs this year, and it was a rousing success: Organizers estimated that 120,000 people took part in the festivities on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 8 and 9. The Sunday-morning parade concluded at the festival entrance at Palm Canyon Drive and Amado Road, leading to especially heavy crowds in the early afternoon. Attendees enjoyed dozens of food and business booths, as well as a wide variety of entertainment, including a performance by the Psychedelic Furs. PHOTOS BY BRYAN TOSI AND BRIAN BLUESKYE

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12 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT

DECEMBER 2014

You’re Invited!

On Wednesday, Dec. 3, join us at Twin Palms Bistro and Lounge to celebrate the winners of our inaugural

Best of Coachella Valley!

The party starts at 7 p.m. At 7:15 p.m., we’ll have a brief awards ceremony where we’ll hand out certificates to all of the winners who are present.

Stay and enjoy food and drink specials until 9 p.m.!

The Best of Coachella Valley Party! Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Twin Palms Bistro and Lounge. 1201 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs

Support the Independent’s Indiegogo campaign! Help us expand our coverage.

Details at CVIndependent.com.

CVIndependent.com

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 13

DECEMBER 2014

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Arts

Runners up: 2. All Night Shoes 3. House Whores 4. TIE CoffeeBlvck Femme A

Best Art Gallery Coachella Valley Art Scene Runners up: 2. Gallery 446 3. Heather James Fine Art 4. Archangel Gallery 5. Stewart Gallery

Jesika von Rabbit. BRIAN BLUESKYE

Best Local Musician (Individual) Jesika von Rabbit

McCallum Theatre

Runners up: 2. Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace 3. The Show at Agua Caliente 4. The Hood Bar and Pizza 5. The Date Shed Best Local Arts Group/Organization Palm Springs Art Museum Runners up: 2. McCallum Theatre 3. TIE Coachella Valley Art Scene Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre 5. Backstreet Arts District

Runners up: 2. Machin’ 3. The Rebel Noise 4. TIE CIVX Slipping Into Darkness Best Local DJ Alf Alpha

Best Gym Gold’s Gym Palm Springs

Runners up: 2. Empire Polo Club 3. Pappy and Harriet’s 4. Rock Yard at Fantasy Springs 5. The Palms Restaurant

Runners up: 2. World Gym Palm Springs 3. World Gym Palm Desert 4. Palm Springs Fitness Center 5. 24 Hour Fitness

Life in the Valley

Best Public Servant Congressman Raul Ruiz

Best Alternative Health Center Stroke Recovery Center

Best Indoor Venue McCallum Theatre

Best Local Band Queens of the Stone Age

Best Outdoor Venue The Living Desert

Runners up: 2. Mark Gregg 3. Giselle Woo 4. Charles Herrera 5. Gene Evaro Jr. Best Local Visual Artist Elena Bulatova Runners up: 2. Ryan “Motel” Campbell 3. Michael Weems 4. Jennifer Stern 5. Lon Michels Best Movie Theater Camelot Theatres Runners up: 2. Cinemas Palme d’Or 3. UltraStar Mary Pickford 4. Regal Palm Springs 5. Century Theatres at The River Best Museum Palm Springs Art Museum Runners up: 2. Coachella Valley History Museum 3. Children’s Discovery Museum 4. Cabot’s Pueblo Museum 5. Palm Springs Art Museum Palm Desert

Runners up: 2. Nature’s Health Food and Café 3. All-Desert Wellness Centers 4. Live Well Clinic 5. Palm Springs Healing Center Best Farmers’ Market Palm Springs VillageFest Runners up: 2. Camelot Theatres 3. Old Town La Quinta 4. Palm Desert (Chamber of Commerce) 5. Joshua Tree Certified Best Local Activist/Advocacy Group/Charity Palm Springs Animal Shelter Runners up: 2. Desert AIDS Project 3. Coachella Valley Rescue Mission 4. Shelter From the Storm 5. LGBT Community Center of the Desert

Runners up: 2. Mayor Steve Pougnet 3. County Commissioner John Benoit 4. Assemblyman V. Manuel Perez 5. Assemblyman Brian Nestande Best Yoga Studio Bikram Yoga University Village Runners up: 2. Urban Yoga 3. TIE Coachella Valley Art Scene Power Yoga 5. Evolve Yoga Best Bowling Alley Fantasy Lanes at Fantasy Springs Runners up: 2. Palm Springs Lanes 3. Canyon Lanes at Morongo Best Sex Toy Shop Not So Innocent

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STAFF PICK Best Story From an Annual Festival “The Moneymaker” A woman who appears to be about 65 and who is here for the American Heat Bike Weekend event in downtown Palm Springs comes in to Crystal Fantasy and wants to use some tape, because her “moneymaker” is broken. I give her some packing tape, and she takes something out of her pocket she is trying to fix.

After a few moments, she says, “OK, I’ll see if it works”—and proceeds to swallow a foot-long (now-taped) all-beef hot dog down her throat; she then pulls it out of her mouth. The tape wasn’t really sticking, and all I had otherwise was some purple duct tape.

That seemed to do the job. She very professionally deep-throated the hot dog, thanked us and left.

—Joy Brown Meredith, as told to the Palm Springs Neighborhoods Group on Facebook, adapted with permission by Jimmy Boegle CVIndependent.com

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STAFF PICK Best Band Militia Machin’ I first met David Macias of Machin’ for an interview at Starbucks in Desert Hot Springs, and I was rather surprised when he told me about what he called the “Machin’ Militia”—the band’s loyal fans who turn up for their shows.

Well, I’ve seen Machin’ perform several times over the last year—and I’m not surprised that the Machin’ Militia is growing rapidly.

Perhaps David’s military background explains his terminology. He was born in Mexico and completed two deployments to Iraq as a Navy corpsman. When he gets together with classically trained violinist Bri Cherry and upright-bass-player/accordionist Andy Gorrill, they make attention-grabbing music that combines Latin, hip-hop and rock sounds. Their sound is instantly recognizable wherever they go.

Crowds of all sorts adore Machin’. They have a weekly residency at the Purple Room in Palm Springs; they busk on street corners in various places while on tour. Wherever Machin’ is, people can’t help but clap or dance along when the group performs.

Machin’ is truly what the name means in Spanglish slang—supremely excellent.

—Brian Blueskye Runners up: 2. Skitzo Kitty 3. Q Trading Company` 4. Gay Mart 5. Red Panties Boutique

AIDS Project 4. Paint El Paseo Pink, by the Desert Cancer Foundation 5. Center Stage, by the LGBT Community Center of the Desert

Best Auto Repair Desert Classic Cars

Best Place to Gamble Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa

Runners up: 2. Performance Plus Automotive 3. TIE Chuck’s Automotive European Auto Service Palm Springs Tire and Automotive

Runners up: 2. Fantasy Springs Resort Casino 3. Spa Resort Casino 4. Spotlight 29 5. Augustine Casino

Best Car Wash TIE Airport Quick Car Wash Elephant Car Wash/ Rancho Super Car Wash Runners up: 3. Desert 100 Percent Hand Car Wash 4. Executive Car Wash 5. Red Carpet USA Car Wash Best Plant Nursery Moller’s Garden Center Runners up: 2. Vintage Nursery 3. Bob Williams Nursery 4. Cactus Mart 5. Moorten Botanical Gardens Best Pet Supplies PetSmart Runners up: 2. Petco 3. Bones ’n’ Scones 4. Cold Nose Warm Heart 5. Exotic Birds Best Annual Charity Event Evening Under the Stars, by the AIDS Assistance Program Runners up: 2. Desert AIDS Walk, by the Desert AIDS Project 3. Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards, by the Desert

Best Local TV News KESQ News Channel 3 Runners up: 2. CBS Local 2 3. KMIR Channel 6 Best Local TV News Personality Patrick Evans, CBS Local 2 Runners up: 2. Gino LaMont, KMIR Channel 6 3. John White, KESQ News Channel 3 4. Brooke Beare, CBS Local 2 5. Thalia Hayden, KMIR Channel 6 Best Radio Station Mix 100.5 Runners up: 2. Big 106 (KPLM) 3. KDES FM 98.5 4. TIE KWXY FM 107.3 K-News 94.3

Fashion and Style Best Clothing Store (Locally Owned) Bobby G’s Runners up: 2. Glossy Boutique 3. R&R Men’s Wear 4. Fine Art of Design 5. Wil Stiles Best Resale/Vintage Clothing Revivals

CHRIS MILLER VIA MACHIN' FACEBOOK

Runners up: 2. Just Fabulous 3. Revivals Best Retail Music/Video Store Record Alley 2. Palm Springs Vinyl Records and Collectibles 3. Best Buy 4. Barnes and Noble 5. Video Depot Best Comics/Games Shop Desert Oasis Comics Runners up: 2. Hoodoo 3. Barnes and Noble Best Video Game Store GameStop Runners up: 2. TIE Video Depot Walmart Best Hotel Pool Ace Hotel and Swim Club Runners up: 2. Riviera Palm Springs 3. Fantasy Springs Resort Casino 4. Saguaro 5. Renaissance Palm Springs

Runners up: 2. Resale Therapy 3. Angel View 4. The POP Shop 5. Fine Art of Design Best Furniture Store Plummers Runners up: 2. Ashley Furniture HomeStore 3. Marc Russell Interiors 4. Mor Furniture for Less 5. Erik’s Furniture Best Antiques/Collectables Store The Estate Sale Co. Runners up: 2. Misty’s Consignments 3. Gypsyland 4. Pioneer Crossing Antiques 5. Sunny Dunes Antique Mall Best Jeweler/Jewelry Store El Paseo Jewelers Runners up: 2. Smoke Tree Jewelers 3. Leeds and Son 4. Hephaestus Jewelry 5. ASC Jewelers Best Hair Salon J Russell! The Salon Runners up: 2. Heads Up Hair Designs 3. Brien O’Brien Salon 4. Turquoise A Salon 5. Revive Salon Spa

Best Local Radio Personality Jeff Michaels, Big 106 (KPLM) Runners up: 2. Bradley Ryan, Mix 100.5 3. Bill Feingold, K-News 94.3 4. Joey English, K-News 94.3 5. Dan McGrath, EZ-103 Best Bookstore Barnes and Noble Ace Hotel and Swim Club

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DECEMBER 2014

Best Spa DHS Spa Hotel

4. Salton Sea State Recreation Area 5. Tahquitz Canyon

Runners up: 2. JW Marriott Desert Springs 3. Studio M 4. The Canyon Spa 5. Revive Salon Spa

Best Hike Bump and Grind Trail

Best Florist My Little Flower Shop Runners up: 2. Palm Springs Florist 3. Rancho Mirage Florist 4. Jensen’s 5. Blooming Events Best Tattoo Parlor Strata Tattoo Lab Runners up: 2. TIE Adornment Piercing and Private Tattoo Bloodline Tattoo TG Tattoo 5. Flagship Tattoo Best Eyeglass/Optical Retailer Costco Runners up: 2. Desert Vision Optometry 3. TIE Elegant Eye Optometry Oh La La de Paris Eyeware 5. Desert EyeCare Center

Outside!

Best Urban Landscaping El Paseo Runners up: 2. Downtown Palm Springs (general) 3. College of the Desert Best Public Garden The Living Desert Runners up: 2. Sunnylands 3. Moorten Botanical Gardens 4. Ruth Hardy Park 5. El Paseo

Runners up: 2. Indian Canyons 3. Mount San Jacinto 4. Tahquitz Canyon 5. Mission Creek Preserve Best Park Whitewater Park Runners up: 2. Demuth Park 3. Ruth Hardy Park 4. Wellness Park 5. Dateland Park Best Outdoor/Camping Gear Store Big 5 Runners up: 2. Dick’s Sporting Goods 3. Off the Grid 4. Second Amendment Sports 5. Walmart Best Bike Shop Palm Springs Cyclery Runners up: 2. Palm Desert Cyclery 3. BikeMan Best Sporting Goods Store Big 5 Runners up: 2. Dick’s Sporting Goods 3. Sports Authority 4. Lumpy’s 5. Pete Carlson’s Golf and Tennis Best Public Golf Course Desert Willow Runners up: 2. Tahquitz Creek 3. Indian Wells 4. Eagle Falls 5. Escena

For the Kids

Best Place for Bicycling Palm Springs (general)

Best Playground Palm Desert Civic Center Park

Runners up: 2. La Quinta (general) 3. Frank Sinatra Drive

Runners up: 2. Demuth Park 3. Ruth Hardy Park 4. La Quinta Park 5. Whitewater Park

Best Recreation Area Joshua Tree Runners up: 2. Indian Canyons 3. Mount San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness (Top of the Tram)

Best Place to Buy Toys Mr. G’s for Kids Runners up: 2. Toys “R” Us

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DECEMBER 2014

3. Target 4. Walmart 5. Goodwill Best Kids’ Clothing Store Old Navy Runners up: 2. Revivals 3. Janie and Jack 4. Goodwill 5. Justice Best Restaurant for Kids Chuck E. Cheese Runners up: 2. Red Robin 3. Ruby’s 4. Islands 5. Dickie O’Neal’s Best Place for Family Fun Wet ’n’ Wild Runners up: TIE 2. Boomers!

Rock-N-Roll Mini Golf 4. Palm Desert Aquatic Center 5. Chuck E. Cheese

Best Delicatessen Sherman’s Runners up: 2. Manhattan in the Desert 3. Appetito Best Custom Cakes Over the Rainbow Runners up: 2. Pastry Swan Bakery 3. Sherman’s 4. Exquisite Desserts 5. Jensen’s Best Desserts Over the Rainbow Runners up: 2. Sherman’s 3. Manhattan in the Desert 4. Crave (now Plate | Glass) 5. French Corner Café

Best Place for a Birthday Party Children’s Discovery Museum

Best Ice Cream/Shakes Cold Stone Creamery

Runners up: 2. Chuck E. Cheese 3. Boomers!

Runners up: 2. Great Shakes 3. Lappert’s Ice Cream 4. Lique at Fantasy Springs 5. Ben and Jerry’s

Food and Restaurants Best Casual Eats LuLu California Bistro Runners up: 2. Twin Palms Bistro and Lounge 3. Sherman’s 4. Manhattan in the Desert 5. Bongo Johnny’s Best Caterer LuLu/Acqua Pazza Runners up: 2. Lynn Hammond 3. Fusion Flair 4. Dash and a Handful 5. Savoury’s

CVIndependent.com

Runners up: 2. TIE Sprouts Farmers Market Whole Foods 4. Nature’s Health Food and Café 5. Harvest Health Foods

Best Date Shake Shields Date Garden Runners up: 2. Great Shakes 3. Hadley Fruit Orchards 4. Palm Greens Café 5. Lappert’s Ice Cream Best Frozen Yogurt TIE Eddie’s Frozen Yogurt Tutti Frutti Runners up: 3. Beach House 4. Yogurt on Tap 5. Cactusberry + Frozen Treats

Best Diner Elmer’s

Best Bakery Over the Rainbow Cupcakes

Runners up: 2. Twin Palms Bistro and Lounge 3. Sunshine Café 4. Rick’s 5. John’s

Runners up: 2. Aspen Mills 3. Frankie’s Old World Italian Bakery 4. Clementine Gourmet Marketplace and Café 5. TKB Bakery

Best Organic Food Store Clark’s Nutrition and Natural Foods

Best Barbecue Pappy and Harriet’s

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DECEMBER 2014

STAFF PICK Best Food and Drink Trend That’s Finally Arrived in the Valley Craft Cocktails Tucson, Ariz., the city in which I used to live, is the home of one of the leaders in the craft-cocktail revolution. Scott and Co.—a speakeasy-style bar that’s received national attention for its amazing and innovative drinks—was perhaps the place I missed the most when I moved to the desert several years ago.

Look at the Best Cocktail finalists here, and you’ll see why I used to miss Scott and Co. so damned much: When I first started making preparations to move here, four of the five finalists picked by our readers weren’t yet in existence.

Today, however, I don’t miss Scott and Co. all that much—because over the last couple years, the craft-cocktail revolution has belatedly arrived in the Coachella Valley. In addition to our readers’ five Best of Coachella Valley finalists (great picks, readers!), you can find fantastic hand-crafted beverages at locations all across the valley, from Indian Wells’ Vue Grille and Bar, to retro-tiki newcomers Tonga Hut and Bootlegger Tiki in downtown Palm Springs, to Citron at the Viceroy, also in Palm Springs.

Cheers, folks. The local craft-cocktail scene is getting better by the month.

—Jimmy Boegle

Runners up: 2. Babe’s Bar-B-Que and Brewhouse 3. Cowboy Way 4. Jackalope Ranch 5. Big Willie’s Catering Best Burger In-n-Out Runners up: 2. Grill-A-Burger 3. Woody’s 4. Tyler’s 5. Smokin’ Burgers Best Veggie Burger Grill-A-Burger Runners up: TIE 2. Woody’s Ruby’s Diner 4. Palm Greens Café 5. Nature’s Health Food and Café Best Sandwich Sherman’s Runners up: 2. Manhattan in the Desert 3. The Sandwich Spot 4. Aspen Mills 5. L’Atelier Café Best Pizza Bill’s Pizza Runners up: 2. Stuft Pizza 3. Piero’s PizzaVino 4. Giuseppe’s 5. Ciro’s Best Wings Buffalo Wild Wings Runners up: 2. Twin Palms Bistro and Lounge 3. LuLu California Bistro 4. Bar 5. Village Pub

3. JOY at Fantasy Springs 4. New Fortune 5. Supreme Dragon Best Greek Greek Islands Restaurant Runners up: 2. Nina’s Greek Cuisine 3. Miro’s Restaurant Best French Le Vallauris

The Desert Jewel and the Sweet Heat at the Viceroy's Citron Restaurant.

Best Bagels New York Bagel and Deli

4. Old Town Coffee Company 5. Espresso Cielo

Runners up: 2. Panera Bread 3. Sherman’s 4. Townie Bagels 5. Bagel Bistro

Best Breakfast Elmer’s

Best Smoothies Fresh Juice Bar Runners up: 2. Koffi 3. Juice It Up 4. Jamba Juice 5. Luscious Lorraine’s Best Buffet Fresh Grill Buffet at Fantasy Springs Runners up: 2. Grand Palms Buffet at Agua Caliente 3 TIE Café 54 at Augustine Casino Oasis Buffet at Spa Resort Casino 5. Potrero Canyon Buffet at Morongo Best Coffee Shop for Coffee Koffi Runners up: 2. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf 3. Old Town Coffee Company 4. Ernest Coffee 5. Ristretto

Runners up: 2. Cheeky’s 3. Sunshine Café 4. Keedy’s Fountain Grill 5. Louise’s Pantry Best California Cuisine LuLu California Bistro Runners up: 2. TRIO 3. Acqua Pazza California Bistro 4. Jake’s 5. POM—The Bistro at Fantasy Springs Best Brunch Twin Palms Bistro and Lounge Runners up: 2. Tropicale 3. Pinocchio’s 4. Escena Lounge and Grill 5. Las Casuelas Nuevas Best Chinese Wang’s in the Desert Runners up: 2. China Wok

Runners up: 2. TIE Clementine Gourmet Marketplace and Café Pomme Frite 4. La Brasserie 5. L’Atelier Café Best Indian Monsoon Indian Cuisine Runners up: 2. India Oven 3. Naan House Best Japanese Shabu Shabu Zen Runners up: 2. Kobe Japanese Steakhouse 3. Gyoro Gyoro 4. Otori Japanese Cuisine 5. No Da Te

Shabu Shabu Zen

Best Italian Nicolino’s Runners up: 2. Giuseppe’s 3. Il Corso 4. Johnny Costa’s Ristorante 5. Mimmo’s Best Sushi Wasabi Runners up: 2. Gyoro Gyoro 3. Okura Robata Grill and Sushi Bar 4. Edoko Sushi 5. The Venue

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Best Coffee Shop for Hanging Out Starbucks Runners up: 2. Koffi 3. Ernest Coffee 4. Ristretto 5. Espresso Cielo Best Tea Koffi Runners up: 2. Teavana 3. Ristretto CVIndependent.com

18 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT Best Seafood Fisherman’s Market and Grill Runners up: 2. Ruben and Ozzy’s 3. Shanghai Reds 4. Pacifica Seafood Restaurant 5. Oceans Seafood Restaurant Best Steaks/Steakhouse LG’s Prime Steakhouse Runners up: 2. Chop House 3. Mastro’s 4. The Bistro at Fantasy Springs 5. The Steakhouse at Spa Resort Casino Best Thai Thai Smile Palm Springs Runners up: 2. Thai Smile Rancho Mirage 3. Peppers Thai 4. Le Basil 5. Thai Kitchen 1 Best Vietnamese Pho Vu

DECEMBER 2014

Runners up: 2. Tropicale 3. Spencer’s 4. Las Casuelas Terraza 5. The Falls Best Late-Night Restaurant LuLu California Bistro Runners up: 2. Village Pub 3. Bar 4. Alicante 5. King’s Highway at the Ace Hotel Best Mexican El Mirasol Runners up: 2. El Gallito 3. Rio Azul Mexican Bar and Grill 4. La Tablita 5. Tlaquepaque Best Salsa Las Casuelas Nuevas

Runners up: 2. Pho 533 3. Bangkok Noodles

Runners up: 2. Rincon Norteno 3. Maracas 4. Rio Azul Mexican Bar and Grill 5. Margaritas

Best Vegetarian/Vegan Native Foods Café

Best Burrito El Gallito

Runners up: 2. Palm Greens Café 3. Nature’s Health Food and Café

Runners up: 2. TIE La Tablita Santana’s 4. El Taco Asado 5. Jalisco Restaurant

Best Upscale Restaurant Spencer’s Runners up: 2. Tropicale 3. Le Vallauris 4. Johannes 5. Figue Mediterranean Cuisine (no longer in business) Best Outdoor Seating Jackalope Ranch

Spirits and Nightlife Best Beer Selection Yard House Runners up: TIE 2. The Beer Hunter Eureka!

4. Village Pub

5. Babe’s Bar-B-Que and Brewhouse Best Local Brewery TIE Coachella Valley Brewing Co. La Quinta Brewing Co. Runner up: 3. Babe’s Bar-B-Que and Brewhouse Best Place to Play Pool/Billiards TIE Hunters Palm Springs Lanes Runners up: 3. Pappy and Harriet’s 4. The Beer Hunter 5. Sharky’s Family Billiards Best Cocktail Menu Bar Runners up: 2. Purple Room 3. Eureka!

4. Zin American Bistro 5. Workshop Kitchen and Bar Best Gay/Lesbian Bar/Club Streetbar Runners up: 2. Hunters 3. Toucan’s Tiki Lounge 4. Score 5. Digs Best Happy Hour Twin Palms Bistro and Lounge Runners up: 2. LuLu California Bistro 3. TIE Hunters Stuft Pizza 5. Village Pub Best Dive Bar Neil’s Lounge Runners up: 2. Bar

STAFF PICK Best Local Social Trend The Increasingly Busy Summer Let’s face facts: The business and tourism cycle in the Coachella Valley will always have seasonal highs and lows. The power of the weather is undeniable: Temps in the 70s and 80s will always draw people to the valley during the winter, and temps in the 110s will always push people out during the summer.

However, that seasonality is beginning to lessen—just a little.

I live in downtown Palm Springs, and last summer, the streets near my home weren’t as lonely as they used to be in years past. In fact, on some summer weekend nights, Palm Canyon Drive foot traffic was even something approaching busy. (Not April busy, but still.) The reason? More people are starting to brave the toasty temps to come to the valley, thanks to great events like Splash House (which was so nice, they did it twice during the summer of 2014), fantastic deals (like those offered during Restaurant Week) and the realization that the slower summer pace here has its benefits. (No snowbirds on Highway 111?! YES!) Can one argue that the Best Season here in the Coachella Valley is, in fact, the summer? No … we won’t go that far. But the summers here are certainly not as dead as they used to be—and that’s something worth celebrating.

—Jimmy Boegle CVIndependent.com

3. Score 4. Toucan’s Tiki Lounge 5. The Hood Bar and Pizza Best Margarita Las Casuelas Terraza Runners up: 2. Fresh Agave Mexican Bar and Grill 3. Rio Azul Mexican Bar and Grill 4. Maracas 5. Blue Coyote Grill Best Martini The Falls Runners up: 2. Tropicale 3. Zin American Bistro 4. Copley’s 5. Workshop Kitchen and Bar Best Nightclub Hunters Runners up: 2. Copa 3. LIT at Fantasy Springs 4. TIE Schmidy’s Tavern Village Pub Best Sports Bar Burgers and Beer Runners up: 2. Yard House 3. The Beer Hunter 4. TIE Tilted Kilt Village Pub Best Wine Bar 3rd Corner Wine Shop and Bistro Runners up: 2. TIE 12th Floor Cocktail Lounge and Wine Bar at Fantasy Springs Zin American Bistro 4. Wine Bar Bistro 5. Fame Lounge Best Wine/Liquor Store Total Wine and More Runners up: 2. BevMo! 3. 3rd Corner Wine Shop and Bistro 4. Fame Lounge 5. LQ Wine Best Bar Ambiance Tropicale Runners up: 2. Bar 3. Melvyn’s 4. Schmidy’s Tavern 5. Copa

GUILLERMO PRIETO/IROCKPHOTOS.NET

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 19

DECEMBER 2014

ARTS & CULTURE

THE POPE OF TRASH WISHES

YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

John Waters Brings His Holiday Show to the McCallum

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/ARTS-AND-CULTURE

By Brian Blueskye he career of John Waters has spanned five decades, during which he’s seemingly done and seen it all.

He’s had cult film success, followed by mainstream success. Earlier this year, he released the book Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America, about his personal journey hitchhiking across the United States. And on Tuesday, Dec. 2, Waters will show off his skills as a spoken-word performer, when he brings A John Waters Christmas to the McCallum Theatre.

John Waters made his first short film, Hag in a Black Leather Jacket, in 1964. It was typical John Waters: The 17-minute film featured a black man and a white woman getting married on a rooftop in a ceremony led by a Ku Klux Klan member. Waters followed that up with films including Roman Candles, Mondo Trasho and The Diane Linkletter Story, but it was his 1972 film Pink Flamingos that launched Waters and his childhood friend, Glenn Milstead, aka Divine, into fame. Pink Flamingos, made for about $10,000, was an unexpected hit that went on to become a cult classic.

During a recent phone interview, Waters wouldn’t say whether he was surprised by the following he gained thanks to Pink Flamingos and the films that followed.

“My audience has always been technically minorities who didn’t even get along with any other minority,” Waters said. “They were gay people who didn’t want to be accepted— but that’s changed completely now. A lot of my audience now is smart people who are in prison. I’m always amazed now; for my Christmas show last year, my sister was there, and asked, ‘How do you get away with saying all of that shit?’ And no one ever gets mad at me anymore. I think it’s because over the past 50 years, I have never changed that much. I’m not (now) as angry as I (was) when I made Pink Flamingos, (now) at the age of 68, thank God.” John Waters has generally needed to raise the money himself to make his films over the years, which has led to long periods between films. But as far as fundraising goes, don’t expect him to start asking for money via sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo any time soon.

“I’m not going to be asking people to send me $100,” Waters said. “If I was young, that’s definitely how I would have made a movie.

I’m all for it—God knows it works for other people. I could get the funds now to make a movie that costs $1 million or $2 million very easily. But my movies don’t cost that; they cost

$6 million or $7 million because of the movie stars; I have music in them; and (because of) all the unions I work with.

“If you’re young today, it’s much easier to get a movie made. First of all, it’s cheaper to make movies now, and you can make a movie on your cell phone, which is like 8-milimeter when I was young, only it’s a lot better. I think the big Hollywood studios are looking for a 25-year-old who makes the next film that makes people crazy. They weren’t looking for it when I made it, but right now, they are!”

Waters at first made films primarily starring friends and colleagues from Baltimore, but as the years progressed, his movies began featuring Hollywood stars including Kathleen Turner, Tab Hunter, Edward Furlong, Johnny Depp and Johnny Knoxville. He’d love to work with yet other big names, too.

“I’ve always said Meryl Streep, because I’ve loved her in anything,” he said. “I’m also a big fan of Isabelle Huppert, and I think she would make a movie with me, but the problem is I can never figure a way to put someone with a French accent in a movie set in Baltimore.

I would have to think of a story where we kidnap someone at the airport.”

During our 10-minute interview, the subject of Edward Furlong came up. The Terminator 2: Judgment Day actor, who was a child star in the ’90s and who appeared in Waters’ 1998 film Pecker, not too long ago spent two months in prison due to domestic-violence charges.

“We all have our bad days and nights,” Waters said. “He’s not the only one who’s been in one of my movies who’s been in prison.

Actually, I think many of them have.”

In 2012, John Waters decided to hitchhike

John Waters: “I’ve always wanted to smoke crack and do Christmas carols where I just knock on people’s doors and start shrieking ‘Little Town of Bethlehem’ in their faces. I’ve never smoked crack, but that would be the only time I would.”

across America. Waters said he never had a moment during which he felt in danger, and he managed to have a number of surprising adventures. He was picked up in Ohio by the indie-band Here We Go Magic, and got a ride from Myersville, Md., Councilman Brett Bidle.

“I didn’t get any creepy rides,” Waters said.

“I thought up creepy ones, definitely, or that I’d get murdered. But no one was creepy. I had a cop. I had a truck driver. I had a minster’s wife, a single black woman taking her kid to a daycare center, and a coal-miner.”

I asked him what he has planned for his show at the McCallum.

“I’ve always wanted to do the Christmas show in Palm Springs,” Waters said. “Mostly, because it’s never cold, and I always have to bring the right kind of outfit. My idea of Christmas is the same everywhere: It makes people crazy; it makes people happy; you can’t ignore it; and it’s a steamroller coming at you,

so you might as well have fun with it and celebrate the extremes of it—the good parts and the bad parts. I talk about all of that.

“I’ve always wanted to smoke crack and do Christmas carols where I just knock on people’s doors and start shrieking ‘Little Town of Bethlehem’ in their faces. I’ve never smoked crack, but that would be the only time I would.”

What’s the worst Christmas gift John Waters has ever received?

“I remember one year, I got the soundtrack to Rocky, and I threw it out the window. I did live in a high-rise at the time, so that was probably dangerous.”

A JOHN WATERS CHRISTMAS TAKES PLACE AT 8 P.M., TUESDAY, DEC. 2, AT THE MCCALLUM THEATRE, 73000 FRED WARING DRIVE, IN PALM DESERT. TICKETS ARE $25 TO $55.

FOR TICKETS OR MORE INFORMATION, CALL 760-340-2787, OR VISITWWW.MCCALLUMTHEATRE.COM. CVIndependent.com

20 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT

DECEMBER 2014

ARTS & CULTURE

MORMONS AND ELECTIONS WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/ARTS-AND-CULTURE

By Wyatt Orme n Oct. 8, 2008, several elite leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints—also known as the LDS or Mormon Church—went on the air and urged members in California to boost their involvement in defeating the state’s legalization of same-sex marriage.

The LDS Church was one of the last to join the Protect Marriage Coalition— mostly composed of conservative religious groups, including Catholics and Orthodox Jews—but they were certainly not the least. Elder M. Russell Ballard’s call to action was clear. “Many of you will text message, blog, make phone calls, walk your neighborhoods,” said the then-80-year-old on camera. “These methods of engaging will be major elements of informing people of the issues and of the coalition’s position.”

The Protect Marriage Coalition claimed victory on Election Day: Proposition 8 passed with 52.2 percent of the vote, and gay marriage in California was temporarily eliminated. According to some estimates, Mormons made up an estimated 80 to 90 percent of the early volunteers who walked door-to-door in election precincts. On Voting Day, there were 100,000 volunteers staffing get-out-the-vote efforts, a sizable portion of whom were LDS. Financial contributions from Mormons in and out of state made up as much as half of the nearly $40 million raised on behalf of the measure in a state where they account for 2 percent of the population.

A new book, Seeking the Promised Land, examines Mormon political behavior by

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looking, among several points of inquiry, into their responsiveness to church leaders. The authors are professors: Notre Dame’s David Campbell, J. Quin Monson of Brigham Young University—both of whom are Mormon—and John Green of the University of Akron, who is Protestant. Calls to action from LDS leadership are infrequent, so when the leaders speak uniformly with specific directions on political issues, the authors argue, most Mormons follow their leaders.

The Mormon vote, while thought to be a lost cause for Democrats, could just as easily be taken for granted by Republicans.

The Mormon constituency, in other words, could easily find themselves overlooked and marginalized in the political sphere.

Furthermore, Monson, of BYU, cautions that the imbalanced Mormon Republicanism “ought to be concerning, because (it) has potentially some negative consequences for the church as an institution.” If the church is perceived as partisan, missionaries proselytizing among

Western Lit: A New Book Examines LDS Politics—and Finds Party Affiliation Isn’t Always a Simple Matter

non-Republicans could face a tarnished reputation.

Why are Mormons so overwhelmingly Republican? The short answer is that they, as voters, look to protect their traditional values, the authors argue. They are a communal and homogenous group that exhibits a high level of faith in their everyday lives—abstaining from alcohol, caffeine, etc.—making them distinctive. Their beliefs and culture are heavily focused on the family, and this can bleed over into politics with issues they see as “moral,” such as gay marriage and abortion.

This is not to say Mormons have always been predisposed toward the Republican Party. After Utah was granted statehood in 1896, Mormons were largely Democrats, because the Republicans of that era, in addition to being against slavery, were against polygamy. Mormons eventually became bipartisan; their values were not so at odds with the greater culture as a whole. The 1960s, however, brought with it a sexual revolution and significant cultural change that caused disruption. During this time, Monson says, “you see Mormons gravitating toward the Republican Party for the similar reasons that evangelicals did”: a defense of traditional values. The ensuing culture war pushed Mormon voters further to the right.

Fealty to the GOP may not end any time soon. However, Mormons contradict their partisanship on certain key issues. “When LDS teachings are out of step with conservative

orthodoxy,” the authors write, “Mormons generally follow their church over their party.” In 2013, for example, Dieter Uchtdorf, a member of the church’s governing First Presidency, was among other faith leaders who met with President Obama about immigration reform that would have created a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. Obama’s policy, Uchtdorf said, “was totally in line with our values.”

What this means for the future of Mormons in American politics is not entirely clear.

There seems to be no sign of strong Mormon Republicanism waning. But many Mormons are, above all, faithful to their church.

“When those messages from the church hierarchy are consistent and repeated over time,” Monson says, “the members respond.”

This story originally appeared in High Country News.

SEEKING THE PROMISED LAND, BY DAVID E. CAMPBELL, JOHN C. GREEN AND J. QUIN MONSON (CAMBRIDGE), 312 PAGES, $26.99

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 21

DECEMBER 2014

ARTS & CULTURE

ART OUTSIDE

Eighteen Sculptures Begin a Two-Year Residency on Palm Desert’s El Paseo

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By Kevin Fitzgerald ocals often tell visitors to the Coachella Valley that they must sample the highend shopping and dining experience that is El Paseo, in Palm Desert.

The pristine boulevard is the valley’s answer to renowned destinations like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or Fifth Avenue in New York City. However, the stores and restaurants aren’t the only things worthy of the window-shopper’s attention; there’s also El Paseo’s incomparable 18-sculpture fine-art exhibition, which runs down the center median of the boulevard between the intersections with Highway 74 to the west, and Portola Avenue to the east.

“A lot of cities use Palm Desert as a model,” said Deborah Schwartz Glickman, of Palm Desert’s Public Art Department, who manages this ongoing exhibition.

“For instance, someone looking to start a similar exhibition program contacted West Hollywood, which has an amazing program of their own. They sent that person to me for advice, so I know we’re a respected program within the art community, both by artists and art administrators.”

The exhibition program was initiated in the mid-to-late 1990s, according to Schwartz Glickman. The city is slated to spend $486,800 on its entire Art in Public Places program this year, according to budget documents on the city’s website; much of that money comes from a special fee for public art that’s levied on new development.

Brett Fiore’s team installs one of the new sculptures on El Paseo. KEVIN FITZGERALD

“It is structured as a two-year exhibition of 18 sculptures that are loaned to the city for that timeframe either by the artist or a gallery.

The artwork comes from across the country and often from around the globe,” she said of the El Paseo exhibit.

It requires no small effort on the part of several city employees to bring each of the program’s iterations to fruition for the public’s enjoyment.

“It takes about a year to go through the whole process,” said Schwartz Glickman. “We start by putting out a call for artists. I always say it goes to anyone who will listen. Then artists apply either with existing artworks or proposals for artworks. All are reviewed by a subcommittee of our Art and Public Places Commission, which selects the 18 sculptures and usually two or three alternates. Those choices are taken to the full Art in Public Places Commission, which, after a review, recommends their choices to the City Council, which must approve the selections.”

Next is the logistical challenge of removing, or “de-installing,” the outgoing exhibition and installing 18 new pieces for the new two-year display. This year, that process began in October, and continued through mid-November. Brett Fiore, an experienced sculpture restoration and maintenance professional who owns Signature Sculpture in Palm Desert, managed the process, as he has done since 2008.

“This is now the fourth collection that I will have installed and had my hands on,” Fiore said. “I’ve seen all of these pieces come and go, and it’s nice. When the artists get their pieces here … they take a deep breath, and they can’t believe that they’re on El Paseo. They’re just overwhelmed that they’ve finally made it to

“Clippity Clop” gets installed on El Paseo. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRETT FIORE

the top of the mountain.”

But for Fiore, aided by friend and colleague Jeff Fowler (a sculptor and restorer), as well as the rest of his team, the work is just beginning.

“I tell the artists that the trip’s not over, because we need to make sure that the piece looks just as good two years from now as it does today,” Fiore said. “So I help formulate a maintenance program with the artist and the city to make sure that we do everything to keep the pieces in their best condition.”

What goes into that maintenance effort?

“For every piece, there has to be some sort of washing or waxing or cleaning,” Fiore explained. “So, for instance, if the piece is made of glass, there has to be some basic dusting and washing. When you add on enamels or autobody-type paint, you may take an approach to maintenance like you would with a Ferrari or a Porsche by washing and waxing it often, and in the same manner. For bronzes, we use special waxes that are made for bronze.”

Local artist Patrick Blythe, whose piece “Harvest” was exhibited during the last two years, appreciated the opportunity.

“It’s been a great adventure,” Blythe said.

“I’ve loved having it here on El Paseo, and I

think the city of Palm Desert Art in Public Places (Commission has) been a wonderful host. They’ve taken good care of the piece, and it looks as good as the day it was installed.”

The just-installed exhibition includes works by several area artists, including David ReidMarr (who created “Cloud” specifically for El Paseo) and Gerald Clarke, both of Idyllwild, as well as Mitchell Taylor of Joshua Tree, Janice Osborne of La Quinta, and Mario Pikus of Rancho Mirage.

For residents or visitors who would prefer a more-informed viewing, guided tours are available.

“We have a pool of trained docents, and we offer tours as part of our first-weekend event,” Schwartz Glickman said. “Every month September through May, there are tours on Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. of either El Paseo’s sculptures, the art work at Civic Center Park, or the art in the Palm Desert Library. But anyone who’s interested can schedule a free private tour just by contacting my offices.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PALM DESERT’S ART IN PUBLIC PLACES PROGRAM, VISIT WWW.PALM-DESERT.ORG/ARTS-CULTURE/PUBLIC-ART. CVIndependent.com

22 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT

DECEMBER 2014

ARTS & CULTURE

A MULTI-LAYERED

MUSICAL

Desert Rose’s Hilarious ‘Scrooge in Rouge’ Offers Surprising Depth

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/ARTS-AND-CULTURE

By Valerie-Jean (VJ) Hume he very premise is outrageous: At an English music hall, 17 of 20 cast members have been stricken with food poisoning, leaving only three people to perform all the roles in their presentation of A Christmas Carol.

In Scrooge in Rouge at the Desert Rose Playhouse, the three actors-asactors are flooring audiences with multilayered performances.

There is much to keep the audience’s attention. First off, the play features much hilarity, ranging from sly puns to amusing asides to outright groaners. (British humor, of course.) Next, attendees will be in awe at the indescribable energy of the show. (More about this later.) Then there’s the dazzling swirl of costumes and wigs and role-playing.

Should we really be surprised? Director Jim Strait’s proven forte is the multilayered interpretation of a script.

But this show is extraordinary, because Strait lets us glimpse, in each of his actors, not just the many different roles they play, but the actors beneath that—their vanity, desperation, foolishness, competitiveness and consuming love of their work. We see the results of their British-theater training in their flawless diction, and in their show-must-go-on tradition. We see their fleeting doubts about what they are doing, and their split-second of hesitation before plunging into a disasterremedying (they hope) improvisation. You will never see more layers on anything, except maybe an onion.

The play begins with a tribute to beloved Queen Victoria, whose stern portrait glares out at us from the wall. We have to remember that the naughtiness of British music halls was a reaction to her reign, which was so strict and rule-bound that the legs of tables were covered with sleeves, lest they provoke impure thoughts. (Table legs?!) So immediately, we see the cast’s bawdy side.

The energy will leave you open-mouthed.

The cast-members never stop moving, and their rapid changes of wardrobe are astonishing; Strait’s pacing guarantees a whirlwind of action. The laughs come one on top of another.

Timm McBride plays Mr. Charlie Schmaltz, an aging and world-weary entertainer who could never imagine doing anything else, and who will be onstage for the rest of his life. He probably began his career as a child performer and learned his craft from older actors. Now, none of this is told to us, but thanks to McBride’s thoughtful interpretation of this role, we don’t need to be told. It’s all there in his beautifully acted character—we get informative flashes about his life and mindset underneath his work. This is an example of perfect casting.

Ryan Dominguez is Miss Vesta Virile, who, as the juvenile in the cast, is assigned some of the weirdest tasks. We sense that the older actors are slightly threatened by his youth and promise, and they bully him a little—yet he tackles everything with high energy and full attention. He demonstrates that wonderful vocal projection that all English actors must learn, giving his voice a crispness and carrying quality that is wondrous to the ear.

Dominguez’s comedic talents are apparently bottomless, and he should never again waste his time on any project that doesn’t show them off. One of my many favorite moments in the show occurs when he is left alone onstage

to handle the audience—which doesn’t go well—and he screams to his backstage cohorts, “They’re turning on me!”

Alexander Todd is the hilarious Miss Lottie Obligatto, and he astonishingly voices almost the entire show in a soprano range. Only an opera-trained performer could manage such a challenging role. My vocal cords ached in sympathy, but Todd breezed through with alacrity. Todd brings to the role an ability to imply Lottie’s, uh, colorful past, her career struggles, her professional training … all while showing off a fabulous pair of legs! This talented performer manages to convey Lottie’s brief doubts about the new roles into which she is thrust, making her even funnier as she leaps gamely into them. If his fellow actors weren’t so great, Todd would steal the show.

Producer Paul Taylor cleverly collected the valley’s best theater talent to help make the show a success: Phil Murphy to design the lighting, Tom Valach to create the scenery, Steve Fisher to stage-manage. The excellent wigs are by Toni Molano, and the costume design is by Jennifer Brawn Gittings, with costume coordinator Mark Demry. Taylor’s choices pay off magnificently.

I haven’t even fully mentioned yet that the show is a musical! Steven Smith, onstage as the accompanist Alfred da Capo, masterminded the music direction—and it’s just right.

Michael Mizerany choreographed the show, with book and lyrics by Ricky Graham. A lot of brainpower and talent has gone into the production of this play, and it all shows.

You don’t need to have been to a British music hall to appreciate Scrooge in Rouge. The cast will teach you, and you’ll love it—every wild moment, every outrageous setup, every laugh. And you’ll love the multiple layering of the hardworking actors. No matter how you feel about the holidays, Scrooge in Rouge will make the season just a little bit better.

SCROOGE IN ROUGE IS PERFORMED AT 8 P.M., FRIDAY AND SATURDAY; AND 2 P.M., SUNDAY, THROUGH SUNDAY, DEC. 21, AT THE DESERT ROSE PLAYHOUSE, 69620 HIGHWAY 111, IN RANCHO MIRAGE. TICKETS ARE $30 FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY SHOWS, AND $28 FOR SUNDAY MATINEES. FOR TICKETS OR MORE INFORMATION, CALL 760-202-3000, OR VISIT WWW.DESERTROSEPLAYHOUSE.ORG.

Timm McBride, Ryan Dominguez and Alexander Todd in Desert Rose Playhouse’s Scrooge in Rouge.

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DECEMBER 2014

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 23

DECEMBER THEATER Annenberg Theater Events CK Dance Presents: The Nutcracker takes place at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 5; and 3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6. $20 to $30. The Dance With Miss Lindsay Holiday Showcase, including dancers from age 3 to adult performing holiday classics, is at 2 and 5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 7. $15 to $20. At the Annenberg Theater at the Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs. 760-325-4490; www.psmuseum.org.

Cinderella—From Palm Canyon Theatre The Rodgers and Hammerstein version of the classic fairytale takes place at 7 p.m., Thursday through Saturday; and 2 p.m., Sunday, from Friday, Dec. 5, through Sunday, Dec. 21. $32 to $36. At 538 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. 760-323-5123; www.palmcanyontheatre.org.

Happy Hour—a Staged Reading From CV Rep This in-development play by George Eastman stars Michael Shaw and Gavin MacLeod, at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6; and 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 7. $20; a dessert reception follows both shows. At the Atrium, 69930 Highway 111, No. 116, Rancho Mirage. 760-296-2966; www.cvrep.org.

Holiday on Broadway The CV Rep cabaret show of holiday stage favorites stars Julie Garnyé and Ashley Fox Linton, with accompanist James May, at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Dec. 12 and 13; and 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 14. $25. At the Atrium, 69930 Highway 111, No. 116, Rancho Mirage. 760-2962966; www.cvrep.org.

The Madcap Underground—From COD Theatre The annual sketch-comedy offering from the College of the Desert Dramatic Arts Company returns with holiday bells, at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Dec. 12 and 13. $15.

At Theatre Too at College of the Desert, 43500 Monterey Ave., Palm Desert. 760-773-2565; collegeofthedesert.edu.

McCallum Theatre Oh What a Night, a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, is performed in concert with the Desert Symphony at 8 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 11; $45 to $95. Colors of Christmas stars Peabo Bryson, Taylor Dayne, Jennifer Holliday and Ruben Studdard in an evening of pop hits and holiday favorites backed by a 12-piece band and a choir, at 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 14; $55 to $95. Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jóse Hernández presents Merri-Achi Christmas at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20; $25 to $75. At the McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert. 760-340-2787; www.mccallumtheatre.com.

Scrooge in Rouge—From Desert Rose Playhouse The play has a cast of 20—but 17 of the actors get food poisoning. Of course, the show must go on, so the three remaining actors do the best they can; at 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and 2 p.m., Sunday, through Sunday, Dec. 21. $28 to $30. At 69260 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage. 760-202-3000; www.desertroseplayhouse.org.

Shakespeare in Hollywood—From Theatre 29 It’s 1934, and famous Shakespeare fairies Oberon and Puck have suddenly materialized on the Warner Bros. set of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; a hilarious farce ensues, at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, through Saturday, Dec. 20, with 2:30 p.m., Sunday, matinees on Nov. 30 and Dec. 14. $12 regular; $10 seniors and military; $8 children and students. At 73637 Sullivan Road, Twentynine Palms. 760-361-4151; theatre29.org.

A Starry Christmas Concert This benefit show for a Layne family star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars features 13 singers performing Christmas music, at 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 7. $15. At the Palm Canyon Theatre, 538 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. 760-323-5123; www.palmcanyontheatre.org.

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24 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT

DECEMBER 2014

ARTS & CULTURE

MASTER ON DISPLAY

Christian Hohmann’s Joan Miró Exhibit Is One of the Best Art Shows You’ll See This Year

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By Victor Barocas oachella Valley residents have a unique opportunity to get a glimpse into the development and creative world of a 20th-century master: Joan Miró.

Along with Picasso and Chagall, Miró set standards by which the works of other 20th-century artists are judged, and you can see why at Christian Hohmann Fine Art, where I was given a preview of the Hohmann Presents Miró exhibit. The display of Miró prints and works on paper allows visitors to see first-hand the evolution of Miró (1893-1983) from a surrealist with a personal twist into an innovative artist who created a personal style and visual vocabulary that is clearly recognizable and unique.

The pieces reflect different periods in the artist’s oeuvre and vary in size, but the curator demonstrates a clear understanding of Miró’s creative process. Without exception, each work has a monumental impact.

Created in the 1930s, “Daphnis and Chloé” and “Portrait de Miró” clearly reflect the artist’s understanding and ability to speak in language of the surrealists. However, these two pieces offer something greater: They provide insights into what would become Miró’s signature style. With “Daphnis and Chloe,” romanticism—with a touch of edginess—abounds. Miró captures the essence of the story and introduces us to a measured complexity that permeates all of his later work.

“Portrait de Miró,” his only known selfportrait, shows the artist living in, shaped by and ultimately a behind-the-scenes chronicler of his time. This powerful self-portrait is as disconcerting as it is engaging: One eye is concurrently inviting and hollow, while the second eye seems deformed or occluded. The head and face—created by a composition of seemingly discordant lines and forms—capture our attention.

Both pieces, especially the “Portrait de

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Miró,” contain what will become the artist’s signature iconography.

“Nous Avons,” a 1950s series, is decidedly Miró, but with a minimalist twist. After seeing a comet, Miró completed this series. The pieces seem like an homage to his experience; its elegance is engaging.

“Nous Avons” consists of four forms: one baseball bat-like shape, one straight line, one curved line and a blue orb. The bat-like shape and the lines intersect; however the unattached blue sphere seems to float in space.

In its entirety, there is a clear sense of motion that is neither tiresome nor dizzying.

Joyousness is one’s major reaction to “The Singing Fish.” This is pure Miró! Against an irregular backdrop of pale teal is one of Miró’s animal-like figures. Rectangular and triangular areas are steely-blue, light emerald-green, pale olive-green or black. By outlining the entire figure in black, it stands out. Miró’s figure and pale teal back backdrop appear grounded in space. However, his broad brush-like and circular shapes in yellow, orange, grey-blue and

red give a sense of depth.

Although the image is uniquely Miró, “Vers la Gauche” is different. Here, the artist reinvents himself with a piece of art that does not contain his characteristic playful forms.

Instead, Miró gives us a freeform rectangular backdrop in shades of light gray. In front of the gray are two major forms: an aqua-colored “U,” and an arrow. Both sit on their sides. The artist masterfully creates tension and depth by having the curved part of the “U” and part of the arrow’s shaft extend beyond the right edge of the rectangle. However, this piece is stereotypically Miró thanks to the inclusion of his characteristic black-lined symbols, along with soft pastel-like colored orbs and brushlike strokes.

HOHMANN PRESENTS MIRÓ IS ON DISPLAY FROM SATURDAY, NOV. 29, THROUGH SATURDAY, JAN. 31, AT CHRISTIAN HOHMANN FINE ART, 73660 EL PASEO, IN PALM DESERT. GALLERY HOURS ARE 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M., MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL 760-346-4243, OR VISIT WWW.CHRISTIANHOHMANN.COM.

“The Singing Fish” by Joan Miró.

“Daphnis and Chloé” by Joan Miró.

“Vers la Gauche” by Joan Miró.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 25

DECEMBER 2014

DECEMBER ARTS Music and More Cabaret 88: Joan Ryan Winner of Broadway World’s Top Female Cabaret Artist award of 2013, Joan Ryan has a four-octave range which has led to leading roles in Little Shop of Horrors, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Footloose, Les Miserables and Nunsense.

6 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 2 and 3. $88. Annenberg Theater at the Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs. 760325-4490; www.psmuseum.org.

Copa Events Comedian Wendy Liebman performs at 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Dec. 12 and 13. $25 to $35.

The Nina Whitaker Holiday show takes place at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20. $30 to $40. Amy and Freddy return with their holiday show at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 27; and 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 28. $25 to $35. All shows are 21 and older, with a two-drink minimum. Copa, 244 E. Amado Road, Palm Springs.

760-322-3554; www.coparoomtickets.com.

CV Symphony Presents ‘Holiday Magic’ A heartwarming holiday concert features the vocal talents of Patricia Welch performing seasonal favorites. 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20. $25 to $25, with discounts. Helene Galen Performing Arts Center at Rancho Mirage High School, 31001 Rattler Road, Rancho Mirage. 760-360-2222; cvsymphony.com.

Ensembles Concert This choral concert includes chamber singers and jazz singers, directed by Tim Bruneau. 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 4. $5 to $10 goodwill donation.

CSUSB Palm Desert—Indian Wells Theatre, 37500 Cook Street, Palm Desert. 760-773-2574.

For the Children Support the music programs sponsored by the Steinway Society of Riverside County and OperaArts. This event includes a cocktail hour, special piano concert, dinner and an “opera”

dessert. Enjoy an evening of classical piano featuring some of the Steinway Society’s youngest and most talented artists; it’s a fundraiser to support music programs for students in the Coachella Valley. 6 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 7. $125. Bellatrix Restaurant and Wine Bar, 75200 Classic Club Blvd., Palm Desert. 760-323-8353; steinwayriverside.org.

Palm Springs Opera Guild’s 31st Annual Vocal Competition Young men and women between the ages of 18 and 32 compete and are reviewed by three esteemed judges. Each finalist performs two arias. Singers receive prizes totaling more than $20,000. In addition, an audience choice prize of $1,000 will be awarded. 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 7. Free. Helene Galen Performing Arts Center at Rancho Mirage High School, 31001 Rattler Road, Rancho Mirage. 760325-6107; palmspringsoperaguild.org.

Special Events Coachella Christmas Parade The city of Coachella presents its annual Christmas parade. 6 p.m., Friday, Dec. 5. Free. Sixth Street in Coachella. Coachella.org.

Vanderpump will be the celebrity grand marshal.

5:45 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6. Free. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. 760-325-5749; psfestivaloflights. com.

Gourmet Food Truck Event Try food trucks for lunch featuring burgers, barbecue, tacos, California cuisine, sushi and dessert. Outdoor seating is available, or bring a blanket. Dabble in the local farmers’ market; listen to music provided by The Coachella Valley Art Scene; enjoy a beer garden with some of the best craft beers from La Quinta Brewing Company and Coachella Valley Brewing Company. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the first Sunday of the month. Free. Cathedral City Civic Center Plaza, 68700 Avenue Lalo Guerrero, Cathedral City. Thecoachellavalleyartscene.com.

Indio International Tamale Festival Food Network ranked the Indio International Tamale Festival as one of the Top 10. “All-American Food Festivals” in the nation. The festival is a special occasion that kicks off the holiday season and brings the entire community together. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6 and 7. Free.

Downtown Indio. Tamalefestival.net.

Santa Fly-In Santa arrives at the Palm Springs Air Museum to meet children and give them goody bags. 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 13. Free admission children 12 and younger; regular admission $14 to $16. Palm Springs Air Museum, 745 N. Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs. 760-778-6262; palmspringsairmuseum.org.

Coachella Inauguration of Elected Officials and Christmas-Tree Lighting The city of Coachella and the Coachella Chamber of Commerce invite the public to attend the inauguration of elected officials, immediately followed by the annual Christmas-tree lighting, where Mr. and Mrs. Claus will be present.

Complimentary champurrado and pan dulce will be served. 5:30 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 3. Free.

Coachella City Hall, 1515 Sixth St., Coachella. 760398-8089.

Walk for the Animals 2014 The desert tradition includes a one-mile dog walk around the park, pet vaccinations and microchipping, blessing of the animals, police K-9 demonstration, dog and puppy adoptions, pet costume contests and more. The event proceeds benefit Animal Samaritans’ no-kill animal shelter and humane-education program. All dogs must be on a leash or in a carrier. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6. Free, but donations accepted. Palm Desert Civic Park, 73510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert.

760-835-6465; ansamswalkfortheanimals.org.

Festival of Lights Parade The holiday tradition in downtown Palm Springs features a host of marching bands, performing groups, and Santa and Mrs. Claus! Lisa

Walking Tour of the Inns A self-guided walking tour of Palm Springs’ unique collection of boutique hotels and historic inns takes. The tour begins at any of the participating

hotels, or at Palm Springs Art Museum, which will also provide free maps and flashlights. 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 11. Free. Neighborhoods between Ramon Road and Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs. 800-347-7746; www.walkingtouroftheinns. com.

Winter Gathering Powwow Tribes from all over North America will compete in dancing and drumming contests, with participants ranging from 6 to 65 and older. Various times Friday through Sunday, Dec. 12 through 14. Free. Spotlight 29 Casino, 46200 Harrison Place, Coachella.

Spotlight29.com.

Visual Arts Joshua Tree National Park Art Exposition Celebrate the beauty of Joshua Tree National Park and the art it has inspired, at the historic Oasis of Mara in Twentynine Palms. Various events are staged at five cultural venues in the Oasis of Mara. In addition, a special exhibit will be on display at the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center. Various times Friday through Sunday, Dec. 5 through 7. Most events free. Oasis of Mara, Twentynine Palms. Jtnparts.org/jtnp-artexposition.

A Grand Adventure: American Art in the West The epic 19th-century landscape paintings of Yosemite and Yellowstone by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran introduced the American public to the grandeur of the West. By the turn of the century, a new genre of Western art had developed. A Grand Adventure brings together 40 significant classic and traditional artworks from private collections.

The artworks span nearly 100 years, dating from the latter half of the 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century. The exhibit is on display through Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015. Included with regular admission prices. Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert, 72567 Highway 111, Palm Desert.

760-346-5600; www.psmuseum.org/palm-desert.

SUBMIT YOUR FREE ARTS LISTINGS AT CALENDAR. ARTSOASIS.ORG. THE LISTINGS PRESENTED ABOVE WERE ALL POSTED ON THE ARTSOASIS CALENDAR, AND FORMATTED/ EDITED BY COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT STAFF. THE INDEPENDENT RECOMMENDS CALLING TO CONFIRM ALL EVENTS INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE.

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26 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT

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MOVIES

THE VIDEO DEPOT

NOW SHOWING AT HOME

This Month’s Selections Include an Animated Sequel, Monty Python and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Final Lead Performance

TOP 10 LIST

for NOVEMBER 2014

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MOVIES

By Bob Grimm How to Train Your Dragon 2 20th Century Fox, Blu-Ray released Nov. 11 Hiccup (the voice of Jay Baruchel) and Toothless the lovable dragon return for another round of computer-animated magic—this time with a slightly darker tone. How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a great-looking, fun movie.

The film picks up five years after the initial film, with dragons and Vikings now living together in peace. That peace is threatened when Hiccup and Toothless stumble upon ruthless dragon-trappers who want Toothless as a prize for their villainous leader, Drago (Djimon Hounsou). Along the way, Hiccup is reunited with his long-lost mother, voiced by Cate Blanchett.

The movie has some nasty moments involving Toothless that might freak your kids out—and might freak you out. Director and co-writer Dean DeBlois was apparently going for an Empire Strikes Back vibe, and he succeeds, in that the movie exudes an impending sense of doom. Let’s just say your kids will learn about death while watching this one.

A third Dragon is on the way, slated for release in 2017. This sequel is a better movie than the first one, so more installments are most certainly welcome.

Special Features: This is a nicely packed Bluray, featuring a behind-the-scenes look (nearly an hour long) to go along with plenty of deleted scenes and a director’s commentary.

Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Five to Go Entertainment One, BluRay released Nov. 11 Man … Terry Gilliam looks awfully frightening in drag these days. I mean, he was frightening in a dress back in the late 1960s when Monty Python’s Flying Circus debuted, but he’s at an all-new level of scary in this show.

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You have to applaud the guy, and cohorts John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. They are all older than 70 now, but that didn’t stop them from doing one last round of shows at the O2 in London in July as a gift to their fans.

The title of the show refers to the fact that they have lost one member of their troupe, Graham Chapman, to death; he makes some appearances via film in this fun stage production. Age has slowed some of them a bit; a few lines get flubbed, and some rapid-fire dialogue has become more conversational in speed. There’s a heavy reliance on lush musical numbers for classics like “Every Sperm Is Sacred” and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” There are also plenty of opportunities for the old geezers to take a break while films of classics like “Silly Olympics” and “The Fish Slapping Dance” play on the humongous big screen.

Thankfully, the show also contains plenty of sturdy re-enactments of classic sketches.

Palin shines during “The Lumberjack Song” and “The Spanish Inquisition,” while Gilliam may have the most energy in the group. Terry Jones and Cleese absolutely nail the “Crunchy Frog” routine. (“Our sales would plummet!”)

I wouldn’t recommend that a Python virgin start here, but if you are a longtime fan, seeing the boys together for what could be one last time is a treat.

Special Features: There are some behindthe-scenes “sneak peaks” and some other bits of “exclusive” footage.

A Most Wanted Man Lionsgate, Blu-Ray released Nov. 4 Philip Seymour Hoffman, in what turned out to be his last leading role, is typically brilliant in A Most Wanted Man, a thriller based on the novel by John le Carré.

Directed by Anton Corbijn, the movie features a mystery that remains intact until the final minutes. I didn’t see the end coming.

Hoffman plays Günther Bachmann, an anti-terrorism agent based in Germany who has had a spotty recent record. When

ABCs of Death 2

a mysterious Chechen Muslim (Grigoriy Dobrygin) comes to Germany, a scenario plays out that involves a well-meaning lawyer (Rachel McAdams), a confused banker (Willem Dafoe) and a mysterious businessman (Homayoun Ershadi).

Hoffman is so good it hurts—especially because we know we won’t see this sort of thing from him ever again. McAdams delivers what may be the best performance of her career as somebody caught in the middle of a major mess.

By the film’s conclusion, it is clear nobody can really be trusted in the spy game.

Hoffman captures the essence of a oncepowerful man getting the shaft, big-time.

Special Features: There are a couple of short behind-the-scenes docs. Get the disc for the movie.

ABCs of Death 2 Available via video on demand and online sources including iTunes and Amazon.com The second installment of the bizarre horroranthology series is a big improvement over the first.

Twenty-six directors are each given a letter in the alphabet and a corresponding word. (For example, “X” is for “Xylophone.”)

Each director then gets to make a short film involving that word or phrase.

The film is not rated, due to some heavy violence. Lots of necks get torn out; heads get chopped off; bodies are torn in half by mutated badgers. My favorite episode would be the one for “M,” and that’s all I am going to say.

Most of the segments are in live-action color, but one is shot in a ’50s-style black-and-

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in 22 Jump Street.

1. 22 Jump Street (Sony) 2. Let’s Be Cops (20th Century Fox) 3. The Expendables 3 (Lionsgate) 4. Hercules (Paramount) 5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (20th Century Fox) 6. Maleficent (Disney) 7. Tammy (Warner Bros.)

8. Into the Storm (Warner Bros.)

9. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas (Lionsgate) 10. If I Stay (MGM) white; others are animated. The changes in format keep things from getting tedious.

There were a lot of clunkers in the first one.

It had some bigger-name directors involved (Ti West, Ben Wheatley), but it lacked a certain consistency. This installment has fewer recognizable directors, but more creativity and humor.

Non-horror fans need to avoid this like the plague. It’s quite disgusting, but it’s perfect if you are looking for a sick Saturday night.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 27

DECEMBER 2014

FOOD & DRINK

the SNIFF CAP

Can Our Intrepid Wine Columnist Taste at Six Camino Wineries in One Day?

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/FOOD-DRINK

By Deidre Pike he dog wanders through the Illuminare tasting room in Camino, Calif.

Like his owner who’s pouring our wine, the pooch is chill. I try to attract the dog’s attention, to give him a scratch. He ignores me. Uber-chill. Do people still say uber? Do they use the umlaut to spell it? Über?

When I drink, I overthink.

I sample the 2011 Mourvedre and fall in love.

“Rich fungal earth!” I write in my notes. “Earth! Earth!”

And on the venue: “The dog doesn’t love me.”

The mourvedre is $25, and my designated driver/love-of-life Dave buys a bottle.

It’s 2:21 p.m., and I’m on a mission. I could taste at six wineries in one day—if I started early enough. Paced myself.

Illuminare is No. 4.

I need food. I have to pee. But the mourvedre, that dark smooth stranger with intense brambles—it’s worth trying many wines to get to this one.

Camino is less than an hour’s drive from South Lake Tahoe, halfway between Sacramento and Tahoe on Highway 50.

During harvest, it transforms into a magical wonderland called Apple Hill, with fritters, pie, caramel-covered orbs and bumper-to-bumper traffic.

This time of year, the Christmas-tree farms kick into gear. If you’re headed to Tahoe for the holidays and need some pine, Camino’s got you covered.

My favorite reason to visit this El Dorado County town any time of year: more than a dozen or so smallish wineries, all with tasting rooms featuring complimentary pours and friendly, knowledgeable staff.

Dave and I plan a day trip. I pick six wineries.

I will be deliberate. Go slow. Drink water.

I can do this.

First stop: Lava Cap Winery—Lava Cap’s tasting room opens at 10 a.m., perfect for breakfast wine. I’ve kick-started my palate with coffee and a pastry in South Lake Tahoe. I’m ready to swirl and sip.

The terrain explains the name: ancient volcanoes. Layered lava leftovers. Miner ’49ers discovered gold under this lava cap—which happens to be ideal for growing grapes and making intense wines.

The wine’s affordable at Lava Cap, with the famed Rocky Draw Estate Zinfandel going for $22, $18 for members. Floral notes, fruit and spices, nicely balanced. One of my all-time favorite zins in this price range.

I decline white wines and head to the reds.

First up, the Sangiovese 2012 Matagrano Vineyard. The pitch: Perfect with your turkey dinner. The sangio is stuffed with fruit, spices and “pleasant toasted almond” on the finish.

I jam through complimentary and reserve tastings. Notables include the newly released 2013 Grenache and the Tectonic 2011, a mourvedre and syrah blend. Mmm. Mourvedre. I buy it.

So far, so good.

Take two: Boeger Winery—Designated Dave cruises country roads, dodging tractors and tourists. California’s best barbera emerged from Boeger Winery, not to be confused with Bogle (Gnarly Head wines) or Boegle, Jimmy (my editor). Cal State Fair folks this year awarded 98 points to Boeger’s 2011 Barbera. I find the barbera’s dark fruit and light caramel aura quite agreeable.

On to the reserve tasting—$10, and keep the glass—where I’m undone by the 2010 Vineyard Select Barbera. It’s a wine so deliciously smooth that, if entered in the competition, it would have kicked the 2011 Barbera’s behind. The reserve’s $30; the double-gold winner is $16—and it comes in spectacular bottles with, yup, a black-bear label. Dave buys the latter.

I need cheese. A tapas trio waits in the car.

Give me manchego!

Three’s company: Madroña Vineyards— By 1 p.m., my palate is raring to go, and I’m talking to tasting-room employee Jordan Miller about Madroña Vineyards’ take on Bordeaux blends. He describes the style as halfway between a lighter, spicier French rendition, and a thick-bodied Argentinean.

Which takes my mind to places not winerelated.

Speaking of South American soccer players:

Dave walks into the tasting room at Bumgarner Winery in Camino, Calif. DEIDRE PIKE

Miller is talking about getting punched in the face with tannins. I’ve lost the context, so I wax forth on the wines of Northern Italy, having spotted a 2011 Nebbiolo (Hillside vineyard) on the menu. It’s not open, but Miller will open it—because I can pronounce neb-EE-oh-loh. So so delicious. Many gorgeous wines here. Dave joins the club.

Four, and not on the floor: Illuminare Winery—I snarf pistachios in the car. Nuts balance booze. We’re at the wine strip mall in Camino, shared by a handful of small wineries. We head straight to Illuminare, where winemaker Aaron Hill pours goodness in my glass. It’s mostly locals here, inquiring of Hill: “How’s the wife? How are the kids? How’s the dog?”

The dog is not as friendly as Hill’s 2011 Mourvedre. I’m a sucker for this varietal, done right. Hill has done it right.

I guzzle a half-liter of water and munch on crackers, channeling my inner Stewie Griffin.

Whhheeeat Thins.

Five, sakes alive: Bumgarner Winery— We’ve saved the best for second-to-last.

Owner/winemaker Brian Bumgarner has worked for several other wineries in and out of the area, including Boeger. He opened his own

winery in 2005. Genius wines. Tasting-room employee Tami Fries pours and talks to me about apple pie and tamales. Her secret: Many dried peppers and lard.

I note the splendid minerality of a 2011 Tempranillo El Dorado ($27) and happily roll my eyes back at the complexity of cabernet sauvignon ($35) We buy the cab, and I also pick up two bottles of hard cider in cool-looking bottles.

Is it lunch time?

Sixth and sense: Crystal Basin Cellars— We walk past Crystal Basin Cellars, an old fave, to get to the winery’s café. We can come back and enjoy tasting No. 6—more mourvedre!— after grubbing.

Finally, it’s feeding time. Outdoor seating, warm afternoon sun. A friendly winery dog works the crowd. Pulled pork sliders. Artichoke ravioli. Rich. Recommended wine pairing: Bada Boom, a red blend.

And the wine tastes, uh, mauve. As in: I can no longer differentiate flavors, nor can I judge the nose or finish. Drinking more wine, at this point, would be pointless.

“Done for the day,” I write in my notes.

“The dog loves me.”

Mission almost accomplished.

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FOOD & DRINK Temecula Is Known for Its Wine—but a Number of Great Breweries Now Call the Area Home as Well

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/FOOD-DRINK

By Erin Peters ocated just 70 miles or so from the Coachella Valley, Temecula is known as Southern California’s wine country; the charming California town and surrounding area produce more than 50 different varietals of wine.

This is a great thing for the craft-beer industry. Brewers for years have been using wine-making techniques, like-barrel aging, to produce amazing beers. And today, the rolling hills and plateaus of the Temecula Valley are not just the home of fantastic wineries; they’re now home to some fantastic breweries, too.

Founded in 2009, Black Market Brewing Co. is the beer-maker that broke ground in wine country with the much-loved Hefeweizen. The Bavarian-style ale is a semi-crisp 5.0 percent alcohol-by-volume unfiltered wheat beer that pours a hazy, California sun yellow, and showcases unique fruit and spice characters like clove, orange peel, banana and sweet bread. Brewed in the spirit of the German purity law, the flagship beer won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival this year. It continues to be Black Market’s biggest-selling beer.

I spoke with Black Market’s lead brewer, Aaron Heyden, and asked him what it’s like to be a brewer in wine country.

“I think it’s good, because there’s already a built-in market for those who want to drink,” he said. “It’s natural that we get spillover from wine country.” In fact, Black Market is working on distribution in another part of California that’s big into wine—the Central Coast.

Aaron is a big fan of IPAs, with fresh hop aroma and flavor—and without the big bitter taste.

“I was always on the quest to make the best IPA,” he said. “It’s kinda hard to make really good IPAs. That’s a great test for a good brewery.”

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Black Market currently produces 4,000 barrels annually; the goal is to boost that to about 10,000 annual barrels within the next five years.

Pouring an orange-red, the imperial red ale, called Invasion, is a delicious West Coast-style imperial with a whopping 9.9 percent ABV. Using Centennial and El Dorado hops, this brew gives off loads of flower and fruit flavors, like pear and stone fruit. Columbus hops give Invasion an earthy black pepper character.

Keep an eye out for Black Market’s Holiday 2014, a triple black rye IPA, coming out in December. This is a flavorful holiday version of Cascadian dark-style ale (also called a black IPA). It has a pungent aroma of citrus and resinous hops alongside spicy rye earthiness.

The brewery is also working on a collaboration holiday brew with Valiant Brewing, with smoked pine leaves and vanilla.

Less than a mile away from Black Market is Ironfire Brewery. This brewery’s goal is to build up its barrel-aging program, so if you love

Ben Wiens is the head brewer at Wiens Brewing. The Wiens family also operates one of Temecula’s most popular wineries. ERIN PETERS

bourbon-barrel-aged beers and sours, this is a place to visit.

John Maino and Greg Webb met at Ballast Point in San Diego and decided to start their own brewery in Temecula. They are on pace to produce somewhere between 1,600 and 2,000 barrels this year; the brewery will be able to max out at 8,800 barrels annually. The brewery plans on growing, having recently added a 60 barrel fermenters and a bright tank.

“We have bourbon barrels, Jack Daniel’s barrels, rye-whiskey barrels, white-wine barrels, red-wine barrels and cognac barrels.

We have 30-year-old rum barrels. We have a very diverse collection of barrels,” said Webb, Ironfire’s vice president.

About a year after opening in 2012, the brewery released Collateral Damage. It is an imperial porter aged for 14 months in Maker’s Mark barrels. The Outcast Dead, aged six months in Tennessee whiskey barrels, is available now in the tasting room on draft and in bottles. Don’t miss the best-seller, the 51/50 IPA. The brewery self-distributes in Temecula, because the owners want supporters to get to know them personally, and they want to make sure they offer the freshest beer possible.

Refuge Brewery is yet another great brewery in wine country. The folks there specialize in handcrafted small-batch Belgian ales. Back on tap are the Illusion IPA, a 6.5 percent ABV Belgian style IPA, and Mystique, a 9.8 percent ABV Belgian-style dark strong ale. Mystique is a sweetly decadent beer with dark burnt flavors and chocolate undertones. They hope to be bottling more specialty Belgian-style beers by the beginning of next year.

Refuge’s flagship Blood Orange Wit is Southern California sunshine in a glass. The brewery just canned the first full run of it on Nov. 13.

Glenn Wichert, the co-founder and vice president of brewery operations, explained

why the brewery uses more than 200 pounds of blood oranges in every beer batch.

“It’s a lot of labor, but it really gives the beer that freshness,” he said. “It’s not always exactly the same, because the oranges are at different stages of ripening, but that’s what’s cool about it.”

Wichert said he loves the fact that wine barrels are at Refuge’s disposal on a consistent basis.

“Our Belgian beers age well in these wine barrels,” he said.

More bold flavors were introduced to winecountry palates when Wiens Brewing opened in November 2012. Weins Brewing Company just celebrated its two year anniversary with the release of several special beers that were all aged in bourbon barrels, and then blended for the year’s release.

Other beers include the Type 3 IPA, a tropical hop bomb with five different hops and four different malts. Another popular brew is the hoppy lager, the Millennium Falconers IPL, brewed with Millennium and Falconers Flight hops, which impart a crisp citrus and tropical flavor.

If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Wiens Family Cellars is known for big red wines like Refugio Cabernet Sauvignon and Chateau Grand Rouge.

While you’re in Temecula, also check out Aftershock Brewing, Bulldog Brewery, Electric Brewing Co. and Garage Brewing Co. If you don’t want to worry about driving, consider hiring the great folks at Brewery Tours of Temecula. Ask for Toby; you won’t be disappointed!

There is an old saying in the wine business: “It takes a lot of great beer to make great wine!” At the end of a long day in the field or in the cellar, many wine-makers turn to beer to quench their thirst. And in the Temecula Valley, there’s now plenty of both delicious beverages.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 29

DECEMBER 2014

the

FOOD & DRINK INDY ENDORSEMENT

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/FOOD-DRINK

Stew and Stroganoff Are on This Month’s Recommended Menu

By Jimmy Boegle

WHAT The Beef Stroganoff WHY Miro’s, 1555 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs HOW MUCH $28 CONTACT 760-323-5199; mirospalmsprings.com WHY Perfection in proportions.

Beef stroganoff is, on paper, a simple dish.

You have your beef and maybe mushrooms; you have your pasta; you have your sauce. Mix together. The end.

Ah, but if you want that beef stroganoff to be good, it’s not so simple, is it? For example: How’s the pasta quality? How is that pasta prepared? The same goes for the beef; we’ve all choked down bits of meat before that were closer in texture to leather than food. And then there’s the sauce: How does it taste? Is there too much of it, or is there too little?

The devil is in the details—and at Miro’s, the beef stroganoff is so splendid that you know the folks in the kitchen are carefully making sure those details are perfect.

Yes, you’ll pay more than one normally would for beef stroganoff ($28), but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. In this case, you’re paying for either delicious noodles or spaetzle—and we heartily recommend the spaetzle. It was light with just a hint of browning, giving it a mouth-pleasing hint of crunch. You’re paying for tender, tasty beef that’s been cooked with shallots, garlic and herbs. You’re paying for delicious, appropriately sized mushroom pieces. And you’re paying for all of that to be lovingly combined in just the right amount of a creamy mushroom-brandy sauce.

Miro’s Restaurant is celebrating 20 years in business this year, and dishes like this amazing beef stroganoff illustrate why: Miro Terzic, an immigrant from Yugoslavia, and his crew are experts at Mediterranean and Central European recipes. (An endorsement within an endorsement: You must try the cabbage rolls.

Really.) Go and see for yourself.

WHAT Barbacoa (pork and beef stew) WHERE La Perlita Mexican Food, 901 Crossley Road, Palm Springs HOW MUCH $11.95 CONTACT 760-778-8014 WHY It’s some of the best Mexican food in the valley.

You really have to be looking for La Perlita Mexican Food to find it.

The joint is stuck at the end of a strip mall on Crossley Road between Ramon Road and Dinah Shore Drive. The strip mall is sort of behind the big ol’ Walmart, but, really, it’s surrounded by … nothingness. Your view from the large windows: sand and brush, a fact the owner joked with us about as we waited for our lunch to arrive.

But you’re not going to La Perlita for that view. You’re going for that lunch, or a dinner, or even a late breakfast. And if you’re smart, that meal, whichever meal that may be, will include La Perlita’s fantastic barbacoa.

The menu describes the barbacoa, one of the house specialties, as “homemade-style pork and beef stew with our special sauce, topped with onions and cilantro.” The key word there is “stew”: This is a slow-cooked bit of heaven. The meat is tender; the flavors are rich and infused. When thrown on top of the accompanying rice, or spooned into a fresh tortilla (or, heck, both!), it’s even better.

My only complaint about the barbacoa was there wasn’t a whole lot of it. The portion was a bit smaller than one would normally find at a Mexican joint, and I was definitely left wanting more.

So add portion sizes to the list of La Perlita negatives, along with the location and the view.

Whatever; I’ll be back—because that barbacoa is one of the tastiest Mexican dishes you’ll find in this not-so-li’l valley of ours.

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CVIndependent.com

DECEMBER 2014

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 31

DECEMBER 2014

FOOD & DRINK

Restaurant NEWS BITES

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/FOOD-DRINK

By Jimmy Boegle TINTO AT THE SAGUARO DOWNSIZES A BIT Tinto, the Basque-style restaurant owned by Iron Chef Jose Garces that calls the Saguaro Palm Springs home, will reopen Wednesday, Dec. 3, after a lengthy closure during much of the summer and fall.

When Tinto reopens, it will be just a fraction of its former self, size-wise: The restaurant will occupy what had previously been the Tinto bar—and that’s it. The rest of the former Tinto space, including the lovely patio, has been converted into what’s called the Palmetto Room and the Santa Rosa patio. Those spaces will be available for special events like weddings and holiday parties.

The Saguaro hosted an event for VIPs and media at the old-new space on Wednesday, Nov. 19, and here’s the spin Tinto/Saguaro reps were putting on things: The Tinto downsizing will allow the restaurant to return to the small, intimate tapas-bar roots of the original Tinto in Philadelphia; meanwhile, the Palmetto Room and Santa Rosa Patio will help the Saguaro keep up with a demand for more special-events spaces.

Make what you will of that spin. All I know is that I hope the downsized Tinto can succeed; although I’ve experienced inconsistent service and food during previous visits to Tinto, I’ve also experienced some of the best bites I’ve had in the Coachella Valley.

Get more details at garcesgroup.com/restaurants/tinto.

PS UNDERGROUND TAKES UP A SEMI-PERMANENT RESIDENCY WITH LIGHT Over the last two years or so, Michael Fietsam and David Horgen have wowed local foodies with PS Underground, a series of intimate, details-secret-until-the-day-of themed dinners held at a variety of valley locations.

While PS Underground lives on—in fact, the next event, called “Wanderland,” takes place on Wednesday, Dec. 10 (more details at www.psunderground.com)—Fietsam and Horgen have also set down roots, of sorts, for a new experience called Light.

Fietsam told me that like the usual PS Underground events, the details of Light’s dinners—including the menu and the dining location—remain secret to diners until the day of the event. However, unlike PS Underground events, the Light experience will be accessible throughout the season—until May 2, to be exact.

Why did the duo add Light to the PS Underground menu of offerings? Fietsam explained that he and Horgen wanted to share the PS Underground experience with a wider variety of people; it was a logical expansion of the hobby-turned-business.

“We haven’t been able to tap into the market of tourists and (out-of-town) friends of people who live in the desert” thanks to the inconsistency of the PS Underground schedule, he said.

While Light’s venue will remain the same through May 2, chef Horgen’s menu, or at least portions of it, changes on a weekly basis, Fietsam said.

Light takes place at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, through the season. The experience costs $150. Make reservations and get more details at www.lightps.net.

LULU’S RHINE JOINS FORCES WITH PHOTOG JOHN PASCHAL FOR EIGHT4NINE Willie Rhine has become a community icon as the general manager (and one of the public faces of) Barbara and Jerry Keller’s LuLu California Bistro, in downtown Palm Springs.

He’s so strongly associated with LuLu that his mid-November announcement that he was starting his own restaurant shocked many in the restaurant world.

Rhine is joining forces with John Paschal, of Snapshot Palm Springs Studios, to open a new-American cuisine restaurant called Eight4Nine Restaurant and Lounge, at 849 N. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs.

The new restaurant is slated to open sometime next summer.

After the initial announcement, Rhine took to Facebook to clarify his status with LuLu. “I have the love and support of LuLu California Bistro owners, Barbara and Jerry Keller, who are excited about my new opportunity and equally thrilled and happy that I am staying on to continue the success of LuLu, where I remain both vested and the general manager, in charge of the day-to-day operations,” Rhine wrote. “I will continue to oversee our catering events with our amazing management team, including Lucy Kent and Francisco Plascencia.”

Congrats to Willie Rhine and John Paschal!

Follow the progress at www.facebook.com/eight4ninerestaurant.

IN BRIEF Figue Mediterranean Restaurant—the gorgeous La Quinta spot that was a solo effort by Lee Morcus, of the Kaiser Restaurant Group—is apparently no more. While no official announcement that we know of has been made, the closed restaurant’s Facebook page and website have not been updated in many months. ...

The Villa Royale Inn and Europa Restaurant will hold a masquerade-themed dinner to benefit Angel View at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 11. Europa is located at 1620 S. Indian Trail, in Palm Springs; call 760-327-2314 for reservations or more info. … The former Crave, the dessert joint and bar on the second floor at 301 N. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, is now known as Plate | Glass. Larry Abel and Raymond McCallister are the owners; they formerly owned Crave with Davy Aker, who is not part of Plate | Glass. Find more details by calling 760-322-2322, or visit plate-glass.com.

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DECEMBER 2014

•• Neil Sedaka gets set for two shows at the McCallum •• Musician John Robbins Tells the Story of His Eyesight Problems With a New Book •• The Blueskye Report: December 2014 •• Get to Know The Evangenitals at Pappy and Harriet's •• The Lucky 13; All Night Shoes' December FRESH Mix www.cvindependent.com/music

ART ON FIRE

Meet Cain Motter and the Nomadic Artists Who Are Living Off the Grid at His Domeland Property

37

Artist Cain Motter, who owns Domeland, is a provocative artist and a fantastic showman. STUART PALLEY CVIndependent.com

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 33

DECEMBER 2014

MUSIC

SEDAKA’S BACK

The ‘Breaking Up Is Hard to Do’ Crooner Gets Set for Two Shows at the McCallum

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC

their record was better than mine.”

At the age of 75, Sedaka still has a golden voice. While many performers from his era continue performing, their vocal skills have declined. Sedaka explained what keeps his voice intact.

“I don’t go into any smoky rooms, or any loud rooms where I have to shout. I don’t drink iced drinks; I find that cold drinks will affect me. I get enough sleep and enough exercise,” he said. “The more you sing, the better you are.

“If I stop for a few weeks, the first concert is very difficult. It’s like an athlete—you have to keep in shape. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.”

By Brian Blueskye efore there was rock ’n’ roll, pop music topped the charts—and Neil Sedaka was one of the biggest pop stars in the world.

Then came the British Invasion and a decline in Sedaka’s career.

However, he eventually found his way back to the top—and Sedaka will be stopping by the McCallum Theatre for two shows, on Saturday, Dec. 6, and on Sunday, Dec. 7.

Sedaka’s musical roots go back to his childhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. His father was a cab-driver, and his mother eventually took a job in a department store so she could pay for a piano, after his music teacher sent a note home suggesting he had an obvious musical gift.

“My parents never had to force me,” Sedaka said during a recent phone interview. “I practiced six hours a day as a child. I loved the piano.”

He eventually won a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music’s Preparatory Division for Children. He said he had every intention of becoming a classical concert pianist—but then he found pop music.

Sedaka had his first hit single in 1958, when “The Diary,” an original song written with Howard Greenfield, reached No. 14 on the U.S. Billboard chart. In the early ’60s, numerous songs of his were hits—most notably “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” which reached No. 1.

But soon after The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, pop music was essentially over. Sedaka said it was a total shock.

“I had five years of Top 10 records, and that was kind of a natural progression,” Sedaka said. “The Everly Brothers, Fats Domino and others, we had about five years. The Beatles came in, and they certainly did change the face of American music, but, of course, it’s a very trendy business. I thought they were very talented, and perhaps it was the end of Neil Sedaka. But I still had a lot of hits in me, a lot of drive, and a lot of ambition.”

During his decline in American popularity the ’60s, Sedaka remained big in places like the United Kingdom, Australia and Italy; he even released three hit records in Italian. In the early 1970s, Sedaka moved his family to the U.K. Not too long after that, Sedaka met Elton John at a party.

“I was living in London, and I figured if the Beatles were going to come to New York, I was going to go to London,” he said. “I met Elton John, and he was starting (The Rocket Record Company). If it wasn’t for him, I would not

have had that incredible comeback in 1975.

Sedaka’s Back was the LP, and ‘Laughter in the Rain’ was the first single.

“Laughter in the Rain” became Sedaka’s second No. 1 hit.

“After 13 years off the charts, it was a remarkable comeback,” Sedaka said. “If not for Elton, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Sedaka and his family lived in the U.K. for four years. He explained why many pop entertainers like himself remained popular over there.

“They have a lot of respect for the original American rock ’n’ rollers,” Sedaka said. “I just finished a sold-out three-week tour there at the Royal Albert Hall.”

Sedaka remains a music-industry powerhouse because he’s such a gifted and prolific songwriter. In fact, he’s written more than 500 songs, including many hits for others.

Is there one song he wrote for someone else that he wishes he’d have kept?

NEIL SEDAKA WILL PERFORM AT 8 P.M., SATURDAY, DEC. 6; AND 3 P.M., SUNDAY, DEC. 7, AT THE MCCALLUM THEATRE, 73000 FRED WARING DRIVE, IN PALM DESERT. TICKETS ARE $59 TO $99. FOR TICKETS OR MORE INFORMATION, CALL 760-340-2787, OR VISIT WWW.MCCALLUMTHEATRE.COM.

Neil Sedaka.

“‘Love Will Keep Us Together,’” he said. “I had it in an album, and I never put it out as a single. But thank goodness, a new group at the time, Captain and Tennille, put it out. It was my first Grammy, and it was the song of the year. I never really wrote for anybody, and I always did the first version. I was fortunate that the great singers always covered my songs, but ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’ is one I certainly should have put out as a single. But

CVIndependent.com

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The Blueskye REPORT

DECEMBER 2014

By Brian Blueskye The Coachella Valley has finally cooled off, and it’s time for the holidays! Per usual, December is one of the slower non-summer months in terms of entertainment, but there are still some great local events to consider.

At 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6, The Festival of Lights Parade will take over Palm Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs, with lighted floats, equestrians, cars and celebrities.

One suggestion: Dress warm. Get more information at psfestivaloflights.com.

The Ace Hotel and Swim Club has some great events worth noting. At 10 p.m., Friday, Dec. 5, the Amigo Room will host Katie Burden. Originally from Colorado, she moved to Los Angeles in 2012 and formed a band which released its first EP in June.

Admission is free. At 10 p.m., Friday, Dec. 12, the Fullerton psychedelic band Cosmonauts will stop by. Again, admission is free! Ace Hotel and Swim Club, 701 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs; 760-325-9900; www.acehotel. com/palmsprings.

The McCallum Theatre is bringing the yuletide cheer this December. At 8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 12, and Saturday, Dec. 13, the Irish Tenors will be bring their Christmasthemed show to the McCallum. They are one of the most successful Irish touring acts, and their Christmas shows have been wellreceived—so you should definitely consider this one. Tickets are $35 to $85. At 7 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 17, the Moscow Classical Ballet will be performing the Christmas staple The Nutcracker. It’s a treat for the whole family! Tickets are $25 to $85. McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert; 760-340-2787; www.mccallumtheatre.com.

Irish Tenors: McCallum Theatre, Dec. 12 and 13

Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, per usual, has some great offerings this month. Singersongwriter Phillip Phillips will be stopping by at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6. Phillips’ unique folk-music sound helped him win American Idol’s Season 11, despite his struggles with a painful a kidney condition. Tickets are $49 to $69. Celtic Woman will be stopping by for a special Christmas show at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 13. Despite the singular name, there are actually four members. continued on Page 36 CVIndependent.com

DECEMBER 2014

MUSIC

A BOOK WITH A VISION

Local Musician John Robbins Tells the Story of His Eyesight Problems Via a New Young-Adult Novel WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC

By Brian Blueskye ohn Robbins is best known as a drummer for the local band Sunday Funeral, although he’s actually a talented multi-instrumentalist.

The musician has accomplished much despite his eyesight: He’s completely blind in one eye, and only has a small percentage of his vision left the other. He recently wrote a book about his journey, Echo of Sight. At 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 27, he’ll host a release party and book-signing at Schmidy’s Tavern in Palm Desert. The party will feature performances from Burning Bettie, Bridger, Blasting Echo and Boycott Radio.

Robbins is originally from the San Francisco area and has lived in the Coachella Valley since 2001. He plays the guitar, ukulele, piano and drums, but his main passion these days is writing.

“I’m always writing,” Robbins said during a recent interview. “Even when I’m out, I’m always writing on my cell phone. … I have an idea; I write it down, and when I get home, I expand upon the idea, and it just goes from there. … A lot of my inspirations come from my relationships here in the valley—and the music I listen to out here has such an impact on everything that I write.”

Robbins has had vision troubles his entire life.

“It’s a congenital condition,” Robbins said.

“My mother has vision problems as well, and unfortunately, for her, while she was growing up, she didn’t know she had vision problems.

When I was born, we figured out that I was blind in my left eye. With technological advances in the medical world, optometry and ophthalmology are more advanced. We figured out that I had these same exact problems my mom has, but on a more grand scale. We always thought my right eye would be my good eye, and I had no vision problems (in that eye) from the time I was born up until I was 22.”

He noticed his vision was starting to decline while working one day. When he told his parents, they all went to LensCrafters to determine whether or not he needed a new prescription.

“It turned out it was a worse case than we thought,” Robbins said. “The optometrist

John Robbins

there referred me to the Retina Institute of California, and I was told a blood vessel was expanding, and it was leaking, which was causing my retina to detach. Luckily we went when we did, because I needed to have immediate surgery, or I was going to go completely blind.

“The surgery happened three days later, and it was successful. Now, my vision is more stable, and I can do the things I love.”

He demonstrated his vision problems by explaining what he had to do just to see my face while I was seated directly in front of him.

“I’ve lost a major percentage of my vision. I have absolutely no peripheral vision any more,” he said “About 50 percent to 60 percent of my central vision is blocked. Basically, I’m using the lower half of my right eye to see.”

Aside from writing, music has been his escape.

“I remember hearing one of my cousins playing piano one day, and I sat down next to her, and I asked her, ‘Hey, can you teach me how to play what you’re playing?’” he said.

Fifteen minutes later, I learned how to play that same song she was playing, with both hands. That’s how I knew I liked playing music.

From then on, my dad took it upon himself to teach me piano, and introduced me to all the contemporary artists he liked at the time. He also showed me Led Zeppelin and The Doors.

The first instrument I took a major interest in was the guitar around the age of 8.”

Robbins used fictional characters and

situations to write about his personal journey while being visually impaired in Echo of Sight, which is being touted as a young-adult novel.

“The book means a lot to me in the sense that it shows what it means to be visually impaired, and the steps that you have to go through to adapt to life,” Robbins said. “I was in a bad place when I first started writing the book. I thought that I had no direction, and I didn’t know if my life would get any better, despite going to the Braille Institute for a couple of years. There was still something I needed to get out into the open. … I wanted everybody to see how a blind person lives and to understand what they’re going through, and for people to have empathy.”

Robbins said he is happy with how the book turned out. “I feel that it’s my masterpiece, and I’m really proud of the book, and I really hope a lot of people read it and enjoy it.”

He also has a positive perspective regarding his vision issues.

“I’ve always said I view being visually impaired as a blessing in disguise,” he said. “I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it didn’t happen.”

ECHO OF SIGHT: THE RELEASE PARTY TAKES PLACE AT 8 P.M., SATURDAY, DEC. 27, AT SCHMIDY’S TAVERN, 72286 HIGHWAY 111, IN PALM DESERT. ADMISSION IS FREE; COPIES OF THE BOOK WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR $8. THE EVENT WILL INCLUDE PERFORMANCES BY BURNING BETTIE, BOYCOTT RADIO, BRIDGER AND BLASTIC ECHO. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ECHOOFSIGHT.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 35

DECEMBER 2014

MUSIC

A WHALE OF A BAND

They’re Smart. They’re Funny.

They’re Talented. Head to Pappy and Harriet’s and Meet the Evangenitals!

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC

By Brian Blueskye he Evangenitals are known for their funny name and their amusing songs.

Now they’re known for their genius: The band’s Moby Dick; or, The Album is an amazing collection of songs based on Herman Melville’s 1851 classic.

See them bring the smarts and the funny when they stop by Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace on Friday, Dec. 26.

Juli Crockett Feldman has done a lot of different things in her 39 years.

She’s been an amateur boxer and a theater director. She’s pursuing a doctorate in media and communications. She’s a wife and mother—and, oh yeah, she fronts the Evangenitals.

During a recent phone interview from Los Angeles, she talked about how the idea for the band was originally sort of a joke.

“Our very first show was Christmas night in 2003. It was our first open-mic appearance that we measure it from,” Crockett Feldman said. “It was at Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park, and it was sort of a joke. We did two Christmas carols and our song ‘Queequeg’ at the openmic.”

Whose idea was all of this? “(Vocalist/percussionist Lisa Dee) and I worked together … at a company in Silver Lake. It was an Internet-based company, and we spent a lot of time on computers. I did the marketing, and we were actually trying to come up with a name for a manufacturing wing for the company, and I was just being random and shooting out crazy words, and I came up with ‘Evangenitals.’ We were all cracking up and said, ‘That should be a band!’

So we actually bought the website and made a fake website for a band called the Evangenitals.

Lisa had a background in opera, and I had a background in theater, and she was in a play that I wrote.”

Crockett Feldman said she found some notebooks in which she had written some silly songs while living with an ex-boyfriend in New York; they had the idea to craft a song and play it at the open-mic. They wound up forming an entire band for the show—and everyone in the crowd loved it.

“If anyone would have told us in the first six months that we sucked, I probably would have quit,” Crockett-Feldman said. “I was so scared and nervous. I wore big flannel shirts and a trucker hat, looked at the floor and played my guitar. We’d sing these totally dirty songs and songs about these random things. This guy saw us at the open-mic and asked if we wanted to play a real show at El Cid in Silver Lake. I said, ‘Sure, but I have to write more songs.’”

They began recording and put out We Are

the Evangenitals in 2005. Through the years, they’ve had some well-known musicians in Los Angeles’ music scene come through the band, including a drummer for Dwight Yoakam.

Crockett Feldman joked about the band’s lineup.

“The people who end up on Evangenitals records are completely random,” she said.

“The joke here is that one in 10 people in Los Angeles have been in the Evangenitals.

Lisa and I are the core, but we have this huge company of folks who keep it flexible, so the lineup is never really solid.”

Several Evangenitals songs are usually saved for the last set of the night, given their raunchy subject matter: “The Vagina Song” and “Fuck ’Em All,” for example. When it comes to their favorite subject about which to write, Crockett Feldman didn’t hesitate.

“We’re interested in sex,” Feldman Crockett said. “It’s funny that four out of five songs are a love song in some manner, and that’s true in most music—maybe nine out of 10. People literally laugh and cry at our shows.”

The new album Moby Dick; or, The Album has an amusing back-story. She credits that aforementioned ex-boyfriend in New York, who was taking a literature class.

“He’d come home and tell me these stories from Moby-Dick, and I generated my own version of Moby-Dick in my head based on someone else telling me the story of the book; I had never read it yet. I’ve always had a love affair with the idea of the book. We broke up, and I went off to school, but when I was getting my master’s in directing at CalArts, we had a project that we had to do at the end of the year, and I said I wanted to make a spokenword opera about Moby-Dick. The school finally approved the project, and what very few of the people at the school know is that I still had

The Evangenitals. PHOTO BY JC PENNEY. THANKS, GROUPON.

never read Moby-Dick. So I read the book, and I loved it even more, and I wrote a play.”

The Evangenitals are no strangers to Pappy and Harriet’s. Crockett-Feldman explained why she loves the venue.

“Other than it’s just the greatest place on Earth and a musician’s dream … it is the perfect balance of a listening audience who is truly there to listen to music, and the goodtime audience who is there to tie one on and dance,” she said about Pappy’s. “We’re in L.A. and we’ve been playing these shows at the Coffee Gallery here, and people are really

listening and engaging in what you’re doing.

But … you start to miss the bar atmosphere, where people are totally losing their mind, and (you miss) what you can get away with in that environment. Pappy’s is the perfect balance between those two things.”

THE EVANGENITALS WILL PERFORM AT 8 P.M., FRIDAY, DEC. 26, AT PAPPY AND HARRIET’S PIONEERTOWN PALACE, 53688 PIONEERTOWN ROAD, IN PIONEERTOWN. ADMISSION IS FREE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL 760-365-5956, OR VISIT PAPPYANDHARRIETS.COM. CVIndependent.com

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DECEMBER 2014 continued from Page 34

Phillip Phillips: Fantasy Springs, Dec. 6

After a decade of performing in America, these Irish women managed to gain the attention of PBS, which led to a rush in album sales.

Tickets are $49 to $89. Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84245 Indio Springs Parkway, Indio; 800-827-2946; www.fantasyspringsresort.com.

Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa will host some fun shows during December. At 9 p.m., Friday, Dec. 5, Mr. Universe, Jim Gaffigan, will be stopping by. The successful comedian, actor and author is known for his hilarious jokes about laziness. Tickets are $65 to $85.

Country-music singer-songwriter Gary Allan will be performing at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 13. California native started his career by playing older country-music covers in honkytonks. He’s gone on to release 11 albums since 1996. Tickets are $55 to $75. Frances Yip will perform a special Christmas concert at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 27. The Hong Kong Cantopop singer has made a name for herself by singing in English, Indonesian, Thai, Mexican-Spanish and many other languages. After beating breast cancer in 2012, she’s back and touring

Ingrid Michaelson: Morongo, Dec. 7 CVIndependent.com

Jim Gaffigan: Agua Caliente, Dec. 5

around the world. Tickets are $58 to $118.

The Show at Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa, 32250 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage; 888-9991995; www.hotwatercasino.com Morongo Casino Resort Spa has an interesting schedule this month. Indie-pop sensation Ingrid Michaelson will be stopping by at 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 7. After busking in Manhattan, she recorded her first album, Slow the Rain, and released it independently in 2005; today, she sells out venues around the world. Tickets are $29; A Great Big World will also perform. Sublime With Rome will perform at 9 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 18. After the death of frontman Bradley Nowell in 1996, Sublime was pretty much over. However, in 2009, surviving members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh revived the band with Rome Ramirez, who was only 21 at the time. Gaugh left the group shortly thereafter, and the remaining members now perform as Sublime With Rome. Tickets are $45 to $65. Morongo Casino Resort Spa, 49500 Seminole Drive, Cabazon; 800-252-4499; www.morongocasinoresort.com.

Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace is hosting some fine shows in December—and many of them are free! Check the website for details. A sneak preview of a January event: At 7 p.m. on New Year’s Day, you can celebrate with Pappy’s regulars The Palominos. The San Diego honky-tonk outfit is known for its West Coast country sound and is a delight to experience live. Admission is—you guessed it—free! Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown; 760-365-5956; www.pappyandharriets.com.

The Hood Bar and Pizza was still working on the December schedule when we went to press, but one great event is already on the books: At 9 p.m., Friday, Dec. 5, Sean Wheeler and Zander Schloss will perform; local band Waxy will also play an acoustic set. Admission is free. The Hood Bar and Pizza, 74360 Highway 111, Palm Desert; 760-636-5220; www.facebook.com/thehoodbar.

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DECEMBER 2014

MUSIC

DESERT ROCK CHRONICLES Meet the Nomadic Artists Who Are Living Off the Grid at Domeland

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC

By Robin Linn ain Motter has been living off the grid here and there since childhood, when his mother and father escaped a religious cult that didn’t allow members to leave.

The family was advised to head for California. Motter’s father, a blind Vaudeville performer, earned a living by performing at Muscle Beach in Venice, and eventually bought a piece of land near Pioneertown. There, he began working with the infamous UFOlogist George Van Tassel, the man responsible for the Integratron, to build a geodesic dome.

When Motter was 14, his mother whisked him and his sister off to Oklahoma. During his years of teenage angst, the strapping young man began a punk band and started challenging the social norms of the day. For example: While performing, he’d wear a pink tutu and Army boots, blowing fireballs with his mouth and belting out lyrics that challenged the limited views of the locals. Motter would book gigs in what could only be described as “Okie bars,” and then distribute disposable cameras. When people would come after him, audience-members would begin snapping photos of them wrestling around on the dance floor—pictures which became unique art in and of themselves.

“The locals there were all such homophobes and racists, and I just wanted to throw it in their faces that they had limited views on what the world was all about,” Motter said.

Motter later returned to L.A. and began taking art classes at a community college.

Challenging the system and the values of the day has always been a thread running through his work. An image of a naked woman wearing an American-flag necktie once got him arrested for obscenity; it took the American Civil Liberties Union to get him off the hook.

Today, he is best known at Venice Beach, where he displays his art—made from melted credit cards from all the major financial institutions, which he manipulates into melted faces and other haunting images, and then places in beautiful custom frames.

Much like his father, Motter is a performer through and through—and that brings us to what he’s doing in the Pioneertown area with Domeland.

In the late 1990s, he returned to the land and dome structure left to him by his father.

Some family members had been living on the property and collecting what Motter describes as junk—items picked up at thrift stores during the many years he had been away.

Eventually, the county ordered him to clean up the land, so he began a cleanup operation—yet

was failing to meet the county’s deadline.

Then in the summer of 2006 came the Sawtooth fire. It burned 61,700 acres, destroyed 58 homes and 179 outbuildings, and took a life. However, it also cleared Motter’s the property of all the garbage.

“It was a horrible and devastating event,” Motter said about the fire. “My family and friends were on the property helping me clear the land of all the rubbish. When the fires broke out, we headed for the national park to be safe. I sent everyone home the next day, and when I returned to the land … all of the junk had been burned. Thankfully, the dome was not charred, and it ended up being a weird kind of miracle.”

Since then, Motter has created something truly special at what he now calls Domeland.

It’s a private venue, an artists’ colony and a refuge for filmmakers, writers and musicians who need a base while they pursue their own unique art. The property is located in the rocky terrain of the pristine high desert.

The land boasts an array of upside-down Joshua trees, all part of an art installation, a collaboration by artists Steve Shigley and Jeff Frost. They created an enchanted forest that is otherworldly and was used in Jeff’s award winning Kickstarter-funded film, Circle of Abstract Ritual. The film is an audio and visual masterpiece, utilizing more than 300,000 still photographs and his own abstract paintings.

He used images of abandoned houses, shots taken during the L.A. riots, time-lapse footage of wildfires and pictures of the Milky Way to create a film that has earned him international recognition.

Frost is just one of many artists who have taken shelter in tents, buses or vehicles at Domeland while they’ve embarked upon uniquely creative endeavors. For example, on a

Cain Motter’s Domeland is a haven for artists from around the world. COURTESY OF JEFF FROST

recent visit, I met Bill Johnson, a photographer and documentary filmmaker who pitched a tent there while passing through. Bill lives in Los Angeles and has been working on a documentary about rodeos in Northern Colorado.

I recently attended my first live show at Domeland, featuring Atala, Whereas, Sorxe and A’rk, and the experience was amazing. The dome seemed to change from an art studio into a giant speaker as the deep and heavy sounds of the hard-pounding rock music created inside bellowed out over the property. An acre away from the building, I could hear every note being played while roasting my toes over a campfire.

Bands from all over the world come to play there and create their own art. In recent years,

many desert-rock bands have explored their own art and shot music videos at Domeland, including Waxy and Gene Evaro Jr. The feeling that I took away from the Domeland experience was one of freedom.

Nomads creating art on their own terms enjoy the communal lifestyle Motter has so humbly offered them. While there, I became part of a family of free-thinkers and was invited to stay anytime I need a place to check out of society and into my own art as a writer.

Come spring, I may do just that.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ DESERTDOMELAND OR WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/CAIN.MOTTER. READ MORE FROM ROBIN LINN AT RMINJTREE.BLOGSPOT.COM.

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MUSIC

FRESH SESSIONS WITH ALL NIGHT SHOES: DECEMBER 2014

the

LUCKY 13

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC

By Brian Blueskye Nigel Dettelbach

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

Thomas Escobar: Who woke you up?

Members of Bands From L.A. and DHS Represent!

Paul Chesne

What song would you like played at your funeral?

I’ll leave that to friends and family.

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

Alice Cooper’s Love It to Death.

NAME Nigel Dettelbach GROUP Slipping Into Darkness MORE INFO Dettelbach is the bassist for Slipping Into Darkness, one of the Coachella Valley’s best-known bands. The Shurpedelic group has been touring throughout California and Mexico. More at www.facebook.com/ slippingintodarknessmusic.

What was the first concert you attended?

It must have been a good one, because I can’t recall it. The best one I can remember was the Black Lips in 2007 at the Glass House in Pomona. I was with all of my friends/ forefathers of the SHURP revolution.

What was the first album you owned?

If were talking vinyl, then Beatles’ Abbey Road.

What bands are you listening to right now?

Los Saicos, Black Lips, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Iggy Pop and the Stooges.

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

Crazzy Lirasis from Desert Hot Springs.

What song should everyone listen to right now?

“A Minha Menina” by Os Mutantes.

NAME Paul Chesne GROUP Paul Chesne Band MORE INFO The Los Angeles-based Paul Chesne Band is a regular at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. After playing there at the Campout with Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker in September, the band will return for New Year’s Eve. More at www.paulchesne.com.

band with James Burton, Jerry Scheff and the Sweet Inspirations. As a bonus, (I’d have loved) to have been invited to one of the legendary spontaneous late-night gospel sessions they had. I remember several years ago listening to some of that stuff when I had eaten some psychedelics, and feeling close to God or something.

What was the first concert you attended?

The Jacksons’ Victory Tour at Dodger Stadium, in December 1984. I was wearing the Thriller jacket and a sequined glove.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?

Barbra Streisand.

What was the first album you owned?

The first cassette I got was Air Supply’s Greatest Hits. … It was the only (tape) I had, so I listened to it over and over. I don’t think I’ve listened to it since. The first two CDs I got were Paul Simon’s Graceland and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

What bands are you listening to right now?

Black Sabbath, Kip Boardman, Nancy Sinatra, Ramsay Midwood, and First Aid Kit.

What’s your favorite music venue?

I love Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, and I like the Greek Theatre (in Los Angeles).

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

Right now, I have this obscure country song

by Linda Martell stuck in my head, “Color Him Father.”

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

Any song from Spinal Tap.

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

The Foo Fighters. They are doing everything right. I love what I’ve seen of Sonic Highways; we had talked about doing something similar on a smaller scale among my circle of musicians, but Dave Grohl trumped us. I just don’t get their music. It’s rock ’n’ roll; it’s smart, and I should love it, but I just don’t

What band or artist changed your life?

How? When Dwight Yoakam parted ways with his band a little more than 10 years ago, he hired a bunch of guys out of the local L.A. scene.

Those guys, like Mitch Marine, Dave Roe and Josh Grange, ended up being a huge part of directly changing my musical career by helping me record my first real album. … Also: the rock ’n’ roll band The Vacation, which was signed to American Recordings by Rick Rubin for a while. I went to see them play probably at least 50 times.

What band or artist changed your life?

How? The Beatles, James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius, Deep Purple, Spinal Tap and the original Alice Cooper lineup. Need I say more?

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

I’d love to have seen Elvis in Vegas. That would’ve probably been righteously and offensively decadent. Plus, he had a killer

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

I’d ask Debbie Harry, in 1978: “Can we have sex?”

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

Deep Purple, with Ritchie Blackmore on guitar.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?

Money Man from Desert Hot Springs.

What’s your favorite music venue?

The Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix.

CVIndependent.com

Dance, dance, dance!

I wanted to make this month’s mix something fun and inviting. Over time, anybody can collect a plethora of tracks— and as a DJ, that’s amplified. I’ve recently been listening to a lot of tracks that I haven’t played in a while, and it’s nice to look back on tracks that inspired me.

After collecting a few “classic” remixes, I decided to make this mix for you. It’s perfect for listening by the pool or by the fire. I hope you enjoy this holiday FRESH mix!

By the way, my latest release, Pressure, is available now for free download via my SoundCloud page. Head to soundcloud. com/allnightshoes for the full EP download—and head to CVIndependent. com for this month’s FRESH mix!

• Penguin Prison, “Hang on to Your Love” (Sade Cover) • Kill Me Softly featuring Jane Elizabeth Hanley, “Catch” (Ben Macklin Remix) • Allure, “Why” • George Maple, “Talk Talk” (JackLNDN Remix) • Prizm x Fergie, “Glamorous” • Kastle x Amtrac, “Hyperspace” • Russ Chimes, “Baiona” • Water Face, “Gotta Get Close” • Alesso featuring Tove Lo, “Heroes” (Amtrac Remix) • Mystery Skulls, “Paralyzed” (Aeroplane Remix) • Ben Macklin, “DARE” • Fleetwood Mac, “Dreams” (D.V.S Remix) • Mike Posner, “Cooler Than Me” (Eau Claire Remix) • Odesza, “Sun Models” (Elkoe Remix) • Moodblanc, “Make Love” (Ben Macklin Remix) • All Night Shoes featuring Giorg Tierez, “Pressure” What song would you like played at your funeral?

“Dropkick Me Jesus,” by Bobby Bare.

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

James Brown, Live at the Apollo 1962.

What song should everyone listen to right now?

“Offshore Bank Accounts,” by Paul Chesne.

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 39

DECEMBER 2014

COMICS & JONESIN’CROSSWORD

Across 1 Food Network celeb ___ de Laurentiis 6 Crow’s nest site 10 Newport or Salem 14 “Jeez!”

15 Choir voice 16 Interview With the Vampire author Rice 17 Can that landed on your head before serving?

19 Hamelin invaders 20 Curtis of Joy Division 21 Underwater eggs 22 FarmVille choice 24 Sue of many alphabet mysteries 27 Unwise 30 Like sashimi 31 Cardinal point?

32 Michael of SNL 33 Bird that can’t play with his friends for a week?

37 Musk of Tesla Motors 38 Perfume label word 39 “___, poor Yorick!”

40 Spice that’s been messed with?

45 Boat with two goats 46 Ratatouille chef 47 Hawaiian vacation souvenir 48 “Good heavens!”

50 Denounce 54 1970 hit by The Kinks 55 Forest fluid

56 2016 Olympics host 57 “But ___, there’s more!”

59 Seafood that got promoted in checkers?

63 Alan of The Blacklist 64 Falco of Nurse Jackie 65 Rainforest or tundra 66 Projectionist’s spool 67 They get connected 68 “Sk8er Boi” singer Lavigne Down 1 Shoot for the moon 2 “___ what you’re saying” 3 Appliance manufacturer 4 The Da Vinci Code author Brown 5 Ending after hex, pent or oct 6 Fictional lawyer Perry 7 ___ vera 8 Early bandmate of John, Paul, and George 9 Last part of a paint job 10 “Deck the Halls” is one 11 Having some trouble 12 Boom sticks 13 “Affirmative” 18 Go down at sea 23 Device for streaming Netflix 25 “Down in ___!”

26 T, to Socrates 27 At the end of your rope 28 Gather wool 29 Attention-getting shouts

31 Like snake eyes 33 Magnificence 34 Climbing danger 35 Considers (to be) 36 Speedy 37 Dutch town known for its cheese 41 Exam without paper 42 Piled up the leaves again after the wind got them 43 Get hitched on the fly 44 Ballpoint, for example 49 Cereal in a blue box 50 Hamster homes 51 “File not found,” e.g.

52 It’s known for its Heat 53 Dynamite inventor Alfred 55 Fit of temper 57 Classic U2 album 58 Draft served near darts 60 Bride’s words 61 Letters before a company name 62 LII x II ©2014 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) Find the answers in the “about” section of CVIndependent.com!

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40 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT

DECEMBER 2014

Deals available in the Independent Market as of December 1: Get a $20 gift certificate to Village Pub for $10—a savings of 50 percent!

Get a $25 gift certificate to La Quinta Brewing Co. Microbrewery and Taproom for $12.50—a savings of 50 percent!

Get a $40 gift certificate to Rio Azul Mexican Bar and Grill for $20, or a $20 gift certificate for $10—a savings of 50 percent!

Shop at CVIndependent.com.

Look for more deals to be added during the month!

Want your business in the Independent Market? Call 760-904-4208, or email jimmy@cvindependent.com.

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