The Sun Runner Magazine's Season Premiere Issue

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The Sun Runner The Magazine of the Real California Desert October/November 2011—Vol. 17, No. 5 The Sun Runner Magazine PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252 (760)820-1222 • www.thesunrunner.com Publisher/Executive Editor:Steve Brown publisher@thesunrunner.com Founding Editor Emeritus: Vickie Waite Theatre/Film Editors: Jack & Jeannette Lyons Literary Editor: Delphine Lucas Music Editor: Judy Wishart Calendar Editor: Lynelle White Contributing Writers Lorraine Blair • Steve Brown Barbara Buckland Carlos Gallinger • Lou Gerhardt Jack Lyons • Seth Shteir Judy Wishart Contributing Photographers & Artists: Steve Brown • Loren Cole • Lani Garfield Anne Kittlitz • George Land Mike Lipsitz • Deborah Martin Karin Mayer • Ian Parker Drew Reese • Judy Wishart Advertising Sales: Ryan Muccio, Maria French John Cucchiara, Ashley Ziegler Advertising Sales Support: Christina Dooley • Isha Jones The Sun Runner Magazine features desert arts and entertainment news, desert issues and commentary, natural and cultural history, columns, poetry, stories by desert writers, and a calendar of events for the enormous California desert region. Published bimonthly.

MAGAZINE DEADLINE: November 29 for the Desert Travel Issue, for advertising, calendar listings, & editorial. To list a desert event free of charge in The California Deserts Visitors Association Calendar, please send your complete press release to calendar@ thesunrunner.com, or mail to: Calendar, c/o: The Sun Runner Magazine, PO Box 2171, Joshua Tree, CA 92252. Please include all relevant information in text format. Notices submitted without complete information or in an annoying format may not be posted. Event information absolutely will not be taken over the telephone or telepathically.

SUBMISSIONS: By mail to the address above; by email: publisher@thesunrunner. com, or stop us when we’re at the Randsburg General Store like everybody else does.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $22/year U.S.A. ($38/ year International, $38 trillion Intergalactic) Copyright © 2011 The Sun Runner. Permission for reproduction of any part of this publication must be obtained from the publisher. The opinions of our contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the magazine, which is an inanimate object. We have made some effort to be accurate, but we are not responsible for errors or omissions in material submitted to us, nor claims by advertisers. Advertising, press releases, and public service announcements are accepted at the mysterious discretion of the all-knowing publisher.

8 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

The Sun Runner The Magazine of the Real California Desert

October/November 2011 – The Season Premiere Issue

Inside this Issue:

Dry Heat, by Steve Brown ... 9 The Tortoise Telegraph, News gathered from around the desert – at our own pace ... 10 Remembering Barbara, by Steve Brown ... 12 10th Anniversary HWY 62 Art Tours Special Events ... 16 Coachella Valley Confidential, by Denise Ortuno Neil ... 19 The Season Premiere Issue Special Section ... 21-33 Joshua Tree Gateway Communities – A Season of Desert Festivals ... 22 Only in the Desert ... 24 Frighteningly Fun Times ... 26 Desert Holidays ... 27 Art ... 28 Music ... 29 Living History ... 30 Desert Christ Park at 60 ... 31 Finding the Real Desert ... 32 The Ways of Things: Pain, Fear and Hope, A Journey Through the Devil’s Playground, by Carlos Gallinger ... 34 Cadiz, by Seth Shteir ... 36 Ramblings From Randsburg, On the Trail of... Christmas Candy and Mine Town Memories, by Lorraine Blair ... 37 Desert Theatre Beat, by Jack Lyons ... 38 Film Talk, by Jack Lyons ... 39 (Happy 80th birthday Jack on November 9!)

Hi-Desert Music News, by Judy Wishart ... 40 Positive Living: Eli Marshall, by Lou Gerhardt ... 42 Places You Won’t Be Seeing Much of This Season, by Steve Brown ... 43 Hot Picks from The Sun Runner Calendar ... 44 The Best Places to Dine in the Real Desert ... 45 The Best Places to Stay in the Real Desert ... 47

Cover Art — Riding Past the Milky Way, by Ian Parker Plus, clockwise from top left, a new baby gazelle at The Living Desert; the wagon train arrives during the annual Death Valley ‘49ers Encampment; Michael and revelers at BB’s annual Halloween Bash (photo by Lani Garfield, www. photosbylani.com); Rita Coolidge in concert at Indian Cove, Joshua Tree National Park, as part of the park’s 75th Anniversary Celebration; a Ferris wheel at the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival; a concert on base at MCAGCC 29 Palms; and a B-17 in the hangar at the Palm Springs Air Museum.

Ian Parker’s photo of the Furnace Creek 508 endurance bicycle race, the “toughest 48 hours in sport,” is the centerpiece of our Season Premiere Issue. Ian runs Evanescent Light Photography which features stunning photography from around the world.

Do you have photos and information about desert events? The Sun Runner produces the most comprehensive desert-wide events calendar for the California deserts and surrounding areas. If you have event info or photos, please send them to calendar@ thesunrunner.com.

Have a desert destination we should include in our upcoming Desert Travel Issue? Send your suggestions to us at publisher@ thesunrunner.com.

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took the photo above while sitting on our roof out here in the desert. I was mesmerized as this storm moved across the desert from the northeast to the west. It was powerful, grand, and beautiful, and it had my full attention.

Suddenly, a flash erupted not too far off—but from the southeast. While I had been intently watching and photographing the storm to the north, a trickster of a thundercloud had stealthily snuck up behind me. I finished this shot and then decided my life insurance, while it was paid up, wasn’t enough to leave my wife as comfortably well off as she deserved, so I climbed down from my perch just before that sneaky ol’ storm hit, blastin’ this and crackin’ that.

It was a reminder to me that while we humans produce many unique and fascinating events out here—and that’s what this issue of the magazine is all about—nature has a way of upstaging us with its own shows in the desert. But I don’t mind. I think if we all do our part, we’ll continue to have one incredible landscape to explore and enjoy.

In fact, with nature’s involvement, we don’t just have events out here, we have experiences. And not just any old experiences, but frequently meaningful ones that because they transcend mere entertainment or diversion, they stay with us and become food for thought—and dreams. If you allow yourself, just attending an open air music festival or wandering down a desert dirt road to an artist’s studio can lead you into the realm of the mythic.

Or, as we saw this summer, it can kill you. We lost two European visitors in Joshua Tree National Park this August when Augustinus Van Hove and Helena Nuellett were found dead along Black Eagle Mine Road, a road that their rented Dodge Charger was not suited for driving.

Other park visitors found the body of Van Hove, a well known music promoter from the Netherlands, six miles from the car, and later, Nuellett’s body, about a mile away.

With temperatures well over 100 degrees, the couple was unprepared for the situation they encountered when their car got stuck. While the desert is almost always a complete joy to explore, it tends to remain that way if you do some small amount of preparation. I have no intention of trying to scare any of you readers from coming out and joining us at these events we include in this issue—quite to the contrary. Just take basic precautions so you can rest assured you will have the best possible desert experience. The desert is a friendly place, but it provides great arguments for taking responsibility for yourself.

This issue has been one of the hardest ones to put together for me in the seven and a half years I’ve been running The Sun Runner. Some of it was just the logistics of trying to get everyone coordinated around the desert so we could share their event information. We were mostly successful on that count, though it was somewhat akin to herding rabid ADHD cats.

The most difficult part for me was the loss of my former assistant, Barbara Buckland, also in late August, and trying to put something together in these pages to do her justice. I’ve tried in this issue, but I’m not entirely satisfied. Barbara had been going through some rough times in her life (and I’m inclined to think a large portion of her life had consisted of similar experiences), and I had hoped to see her pull through those troubles and emerge better, and happier, for it.

But cancer is one evil, relentless foe. And Barbara never got the chance for those happier days. Compounding the tragedy of her loss was the questionable behavior of her final caregiver, and the leaving behind of her brother who has depended on her for support and guidance for years.

We’ve lost some other folks recently, from Marlana Moecht to Ken Graydon. Good folks who have made the desert a better place by their actions and just by the way they lived their lives. I’m grateful for them, and I miss them, and I am sorry they have moved on from us. October/November 2011 – The Sun Runner 9

Dirt for Brains, Rocks in Their Heads Recently a piece of legislation, SB 108, an innocuous sounding bill regarding mines that had idled their operations, was put before Governor Brown for his signature.

The bill had almost passed entirely unnoticed through the legislature in Sacramento, and only when it arrived at Brown’s office did it become apparent to some out in the real world, that the bill could provide Kaiser with an end-run around the lengthy battle to halt the Eagle Mountain Landfill project at an unused Kaiser mine property, on the border of Joshua Tree National Park.

With letters arriving at his office in detailed, vocal opposition to SB 108 from magazine publishers to county supervisors and conservationists, Brown did what comes naturally to political leaders—he ignored the letters and the detailed information they contained, and signed the bill into law.

Then afterward, when asked why he would endanger Joshua Tree National Park and essentially provide a way for a company like Kaiser to bypass things like Supreme Court rulings and a two-and-a-half-decade-long battle to stop the world’s largest dump from being, well, dumped there, it seems the governor, and the author of the bill, were unaware of the implications of the bill, despite the receipt of all the detailed letters sent to them prior to the signing of the bill (this is why it often seems the best way to send a letter to a politician is by attaching it to a rock through their window—at least it gets their attention).

So much for “our” representatives giving one teeny-weenie little damn about public input. There’s nothing “occupying” those heads, except possibly some ego and a little abandoned dirt and rocks. What could be next? A casino in Joshua Tree? Industrial wind power for Pioneertown and Pipes Canyon?

Passngs: Ken Graydon I met Ken Graydon on board The Star of India, in San Diego. We were both singing and got to talking between songs. I left with one of Ken’s albums, and have since learned one of his songs.

Ken wasn’t just a singer/songwriter. He incorporated historical research into his songwriting, and the topics of his songs ranged from whaling to the great American West. His poems and songs have been recorded by folk music legends like Tommy Makem and the Makem Brothers, Glen Yarbrough, and Tom Lewis.

So why is Ken’s passing mentioned in a desert magazine so far from the sea? Well, as it turns out, Ken’s interest in the West and history, had led him to be quite involved with the Death Valley ‘49ers and he was a great singing historian for the desert as well as the sea. Our condolences to his wife Phee and all who loved Ken and his creative spirit. I hope to sing with him again some day. – Steve Brown 10 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

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alloween marks Leonard Knight’s 80th birthday celebration. Bring picnics, camp out, jam with other musicians, work on your art—all out at Salvation Mountain near Niland (not far from Slab City and the sunny shores of the Salton Sea).

Leonard is a wonderful man, filled with a love of God and his fellow man. He has spent the better part of three decades building—and painting—what is now known as Salvation Mountain, a fantastical folk art site that has become legendary around the world and a true cultural treasure of the desert.

If you have not made your pilgrimage to Salvation Mountain and spoken with Leonard, you should absolutely drop everything—quit your job if you have to—and head to the eastern shores of that inland sea. It’s not every day you get to see a hand-painted mountain that proclaims monumentally “God is Love” in a manner only the desert could accommodate, and honor the man who has spent several decades not moving a mountain, but building one.

Passings: Jackie Lee Houston While this magazine has no pretentions toward being the “prestige” or “elite” magazine of the desert, we would be remiss if we did not include a mention of the passing of the Coachella Valley’s leading philanthropist, Jackie Lee Houston this September.

Making society rounds lately in her wheelchair, Houston tirelessly attended galas and events for non-profits and charities across the valley, supporting too many causes to list, and hosting events at the Houston’s home with incredible energy.

With the loss of Houston, an era in the Coachella Valley has also passed. Red carpet “A-list” galas will certainly lose some of their luster without Jackie Lee’s presence. There are a lot of big-hearted generous people in the Coachella Valley, and their good works will continue. But it’ll be hard to watch the red carpet knowing that Jackie Lee won’t be there, and it’ll be a long time before someone else will walk down it to take her place. If ever.

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Our lives are always young, time takes us riding You might never be back here at my side Still there are paths to us so easy to find It’s a feeling growing easy on the mind.

–All for You

first met Barbara Buckland in Seattle, back in the late 1990s. I was president of Victory Music, an acoustic music non-profit based in Tacoma that, among many other things, hosted open mics for musicians all around the Puget Sound area of Washington. If I recall correctly, we had launched a new open mic, in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, and Barbara was there helping run that evening’s event.

That was Barbara. She liked to be involved and helping, whether it was with opportunities for emerging musicians to perform, with this magazine’s growth, events, and operations, or with helping to promote regional tourism in the desert through the California Deserts Visitors Association.

In Seattle, Barbara had been one of the original members of the Seattle Labor Chorus that performed with Pete Seeger at the 1997 Northwest Folklife Festival.

Her own music was described as “combining the long, poetic phrases of Eric Anderson with the beauty and sensitivity of a Tom Rapp melody.”

Born in Iowa, Barbara grew up in southern California (her father chaired the English Department at USC Long Beach), where she met people like Aldous Huxley, Groucho Marx, and Joseph Campbell. Her first instrument was piano, then flute, and finally guitar.

She began writing songs at age 15, and

became a Seattle club booker and promoter. One of her first clients there was punk poet Steven J. “Jesse” Bernstein, the subject of a documentary film by Petter Sillen (Barbara appears in the film).

Barbara co-founded the non-profit Music Community Resources and served as its executive director until late 2007.

She worked with a long list of venues and arts organizations in Seattle, and later, here in the desert. She was a member of Women’s Audio Mission, the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Recording Academy, and Washington Lawyers for the Arts (she served on the board there).

When she visited Joshua Tree for GramFest in 2006, she fell in love with the desert and moved here the next June.

After we met in Seattle, I didn’t see Barbara again—until wandering into Water Canyon one night for a musical event. She had somehow found her way out of the grey skies of the Northwest to the desert, the same way we had some years earlier.

By the time Barbara got involved with the magazine, she had been injured in the course of her home nursing job, and couldn’t get around or do too much in the way of physical work. But the help I needed didn’t involve literal heavy lifting, and she eventually became my assistant publisher here at The Sun Runner, and secretary for the California Deserts Visitors Association.

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Barbara, as a young girl, age five, in 1958, top. With her brother Phil in Idaho, 1974, right. Barbara performing at a Unity Home Halloween Party, below. Unity Home was one of the organizations Barbara supported.

Playing guitar on Bainbridge Island, Washington, below right (photo by Norm Johnson). Recording at friend Dave Huber’s studio in Seattle, bottom right.

Where you lie Depends on what you try As the time goes by Yes, it all depends How you start determines How it all will end – When the Nights Are Bad

Please note: All song lyrics are by Barbara Buckland.

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Long after your dirty words crumble into dust Hearts will be choking on the broken trust I want to tell you this You talk so smooth But your talk is cheap Don’t you make a child a promise You don’t intend to keep.

– Broken Promises, Broken Hearts

And though in my life There still are troubled times and sorrow And friends and leaves and the changing landscapes And our dreams falling down Like autumn leaves or dry-rotted trees Have left their mark in lines Along my face and above my brow He loves me now.

– Marriage

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And when I look into your eyes -I want to know who is living there And when I see you smile -I want to know Which one means you hurt, which one means you care.

I want to hear it all from you not second-hand nor second-guess I want to know it’s really you, not someone more not someone less I’m going to meet you halfway so don’t forget to show I want to know I want to know.

– I Want to Know Barbara helped with operations here for nearly two years.

Even with her limited mobility, she enthusiastically worked the CDVA booth at the LA Times Travel & Adventure Show for two years in a row—a hard-working volunteer to help promote the desert she loved almost as much as she loved her two canine companions, Maggie and Tonka. She also continuously helped care for her brother Phil, who needed assistance and practical advice to live a full life up in Bellingham, Washington. She also hosted everyone from single parents who were practically homeless, to friends in the music industry down visiting because they were nominated for a Grammy. And while doing all this, she continued to work on behalf of emerging musicians, women’s causes,animal welfare, and her community.

And, she began to come into her own this past year. She wrote a beautiful feature story on the desert’s cultural treasure, Marta Becket. When questions began to arise concerning the organization formed to continue Marta’s legacy into the future, Barbara wanted to cover that story. I had to pull her off it because she couldn’t stay objective any more. She passionately cared about what was happening, and couldn’t stop that passion from interfering with her ability to report on the story.

I admired Barbara’s passion (about this, and other causes), and tried to discuss how objective reporting works. But the thought of a woman working, often alone, for more than 40 years to build something truly magical in the desert, only to possibly have it lost through the actions of others, was just too tragic of a consequence for Barbara to endure. She may have understood my reasons for pulling her off the story intellectually, but I doubt she ever forgave me for it.

As a singer/songwriter, Barbara had a beautiful voice. I remember her telling me how much it meant to her to be complimented by Dick Dale on her music at The Sun Runner’s Sweet 16 Birthday Party less than a year ago.

It was funny how she could be so no-nonsense about most everything, including the fact that she cared so much about so many aspects of life. Many people have commented on how private a person Barbara was. That wasn’t my experience with her. While she was sometimes reluctant to discuss absolutely everything in her life, over the time I knew her she offered an opinion about most everything and everyone. She was critical of people whose actions she viewed as self-serving or hypocritical, didn’t like cliques or exclusivity, and was as much of a populist in nature as I am. She was someone who never felt she was part of the “cool” crowd, but her actions and involvement in life and her community showed just how cool she really was. She had her faults and issues, as do we all. But she also had talent, skill, passion, and determination.

Barbara died of cancer late in August. We will remember her in word and song at The Sun Runner’s 17th birthday party in January. She is a friend and associate who is greatly missed on many levels. May her memory be eternal. – Steve Brown 14 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

Barbara, working the California Deserts Visitors Association booth at the LA Travel & Adventure Show, above, with (left to right): Bill Cook, Steve Brown, and Christina Dooley. Barbara with her guitar on Bainbridge Island, Washington, right (photo by Norm Johnson). With Sun Runner music columnnist, Judy Wishart, who was instrumental in helping with Barbara’s affairs after her death, below. Barbara’s beloved companions, Maggie and Tonka, below right. Barbara had a deep love for animals.

You want to play, I must play to keep I cannot fight the instincts Running through my life so deep We might awaken dreams that might be better left asleep Dreams of lust and love and life and that they inspire With desire.

–Desire

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10th Anniversary HWY 62 Art Tours Special Events Friday October 21, 7-9 p.m. A Celebration of a Decade. The Hi-Desert Cultural Center and the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council present an evening of art, music, video, performance and special guests.

Blak Box Theatre, 61231 Hwy. 62 Joshua Tree.

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Open: 12 to 3 PM Wednesday–Sunday Summer Hours: 12 to 3 Friday-Saturday-Sunday

Saturday October 22, 6-9 p.m. Arial Circus 7 p.m.

Wonderland: Hwy 62 Art Tours Opening Party. Presenting the Aerial Entertainment of Wish and Zircon. Suggested donation $10. After Party 9 p.m.-2 a.m. with live DJ and laser light show. Suggested donation $10. Under the Big Top, 62929 Sunny Sands Drive Joshua Tree.

Saturday October 22, 3 p.m. The Living School Learning Co-Operative Presents “Trust Everyone Under Thirty.”

Special, outdoor “Under 30” concert featuring some of the most exciting young musicians in the Morongo Basin. Featuring Lydia Knight and special guests.

At just 11 years old, Lydia Night has been writing songs and performing them for years. Lydia’s original composition, “Two Little Love Birds,” closes out the Hwy. 62 Love Songs CD. Saturday October 22, 4-6p.m. Live music and artist reception. Sponsored by The Red Arrow Gallery and JTAG, featuring Tim Easton and special guests.

Red Arrow Gallery presents New Paintings by Ameri c a n r e a l i s t , D e b o r a h M a r t i n . J TA G p r e s e n t s New Work By Featured Artists: David Burnham, Kim Chasen, Karen Florek, Frederick Fulmer, Marcia Geiger, James O’Keefe, Naomi Parker, Drew Reese, Steve Rieman, Suzanne Ross, and Tobi Taboada. wwwtheredarrowgallery.com, www. joshuatreeartgallery.com.

Sunday October 23, 7 p.m. Pappy & Harriet’s presents: Sunday Rock and Roll Services. Featuring Bingo Richey, Tim Easton, Victoria Williams, JP Houston, and more. For six years Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace has hosted Sunday Rock and Roll Services. Every weekend, the club’s favorite local singers and players get together and trade songs.

This event will include several of the artists featured on the HWY 62 Love Songs CD compilation. Produced by musi-

16 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

Really. What’s the big deal? Just your typical picnic out near Rice on Highway 62. Atomicmutated giant killer ants run roughshod through the hi-desert on their way to LA sewers. Scary?

Heck no, we’ve dealt with LA Department of Water and Power’s Green Path North. Turns out “Them” bugs aren’t nearly as threatening to the desert as them humans who want to stick giant dumps and industrial “green” power projects everywhere, while stealing the water.

But don’t miss your chance to see “Them” at a real drive-in movie theatre!

cian/dj and Arts Council president, Ted Quinn, the CD will be available, exclusively, on the 2011 Hwy. 62 Art Tours website and various locations along the tour.

Friday October 28 , 7:30 p.m. Smith’s Ranch Drive-In Theatre Presents “Them!” A special feature for the HWY 62 Art Tours, the 1954 Sci-Fi horror classic filmed in Joshua Tree with giant ants that mutate into man-eating monsters! Doors open at 7 p.m. Showtime 7:30 p.m. Admission is $5 Children 3 and under are free. 4584 Adobe Road, 29Palms. (760)367-7713.

Saturday October 29, 7 p.m. The Palms presents Performance Art and Live Music: I Defy You Stars, produced by Julie Tolentino. Movement installation, live sound, solo and duet performances featuring: Shayna Keller “Hot Tones/Not Vertical,” Jmy James Leary “Inner Sunset,” Julie Tolentino “I Defy You Stars,” Mark So and Adam Tinkle. Rocktoberfest!

Featuring music by: The Sibleys, The In From Out of Towners, Stage 11, and The Wish We Were Theres. The Palms, 83131 Amboy Road, Wonder Valley. (760) 361-2810, www. palmswv.com.

Sunday October 30, 6 p.m. Bobby Furst’s Annual HWY 62 Art Tours Closing Party. 8528 Desert Shadows Road, Joshua Tree. Featuring the sounds of Polio Sugar, Leslie Mariah Andrews and more.

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ll in all, it wasn’t a brutal summer compared to years past, as far as high temps go. We were even blessed with some really cool (as in awesome) thunderstorms, with dramatic lightning shows and flash flood warnings. But I must admit that I am glad we are now done with summer 2011, and thrilled that I survived it along with other grateful desert dwellers who brave the summer months in the Coachella Valley. Crazy? Perhaps; but it is what gives us that special quality known as character. And now that the excessive heat is exiting the building, the temps will begin to drop and settle comfortably at range that is livable without having to be sheltered by airconditioning, and fun times in the desert can really begin again.

It is a time of awakening when summer ends and season comes back to life here in the CV (for an explanation of what “season” means in the desert, please see my previous column from the May/June issue). People come back from vacation, businesses that have closed for the summer months gleefully re-open their doors and there is a noticeable renewed breath of life that swells the lungs of our unique community. The list of coming activities and events grows swiftly as people around the world make plans to visit our valley…we are quite popular!

With so much going on, those who visit or live here like moi, have our favorite, must attend events throughout the year.

Mine is a rather ambitious list, and I do my best to make it to all them every year…this year will be no exception.

I start off with the American Heat motorcycle spectacular, October 14-16 in downtown Palm Springs. This leather and

chrome-appalooza, will get you all revved up and can even exhaust you with two wheeled decadence at every turn, www. road-shows.com.

Just a week later, head out to Palm Desert for their coveted Golf Cart Parade on October 23. Watch dressed up golf carts roll on by with flare and pizzazz in this year’s “Carnival Style” theme, it’s fun for the whole family, www.golfcartparade.com.

In November, blow off holiday shopping madness for a moment and enjoy the culture and pageantry of the Cabazon Band of Missions Indians Pow Wow, at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino November 25-27. If you have never gone to a pow wow, it really is something to see…in a very good way. Call (760)342-2593 for details.

Then it’s December, and time for some of my favorite events. Get all bundled up (believe it or not, it does get cold enough in the desert to bundle) on December 3, for the Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade. This is old fashioned holiday parade comes complete with high school bands, local celebs being driven in classic convertibles waving to the crowd, glittering lighted floats of all shapes and sizes, and of course, Santa!

Loads of fun and a holiday must, just get there early to park, or ask Santa for a ride on his sleigh, www.paradesofpalmsprimgs. com.

Another CV fave is the delicious Tamale Festival, December 3 and 4. Get your fill of the tastiest tamales you’ve ever had, and trust me, there are loads of tempting tamale vendors to choose from, www.tamalefestival.net.

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And if the Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade didn’t light your fuse, then you might want to visit The Living Desert in Palm Desert for their WildLights nights on selected dates from November 23 through December 31. The park dazzles against the raven sky with colored lights draped upon the beautiful attractions of the Living Desert, minus the animals of course. You can even listen to music, hang out with Santa, or build s’mores with your kids over a cozy fire pit, www.livingdesert.org.

Happy New Year! Along with Baby New Year and over-the-top resolutions, comes a bus load of events, starting with the Hollywood-magnetizing Palm Springs International Film Festival, January 5-16. The festival reels out its 23rd year, and will feature over 200 films from 60 countries, www.psfilmfest.org.

On the heels of the Film Fest, comes the Bob Hope Classic for all of you golf groupies, swinging into action January 16-22, www.bhcc.com.

February ushers in Modernism Week, February 16-22, highlighting architecture, fashion and style, with parties, lectures and tours, www.modernismweek.com.

The Riverside County Date Festival, offers country fair fun, with a desert date twist, February 17-26, www.datefest. org. Make sure to try a deep-fried Twinkie—totally wrong, but tasty!

Speaking of tasty, be sure to get your Opa! on, at the Palm Desert Greek Festival, February 17-19. There will be plenty of Greek delights at this weekend of indulgence, I mean food, www.saintgeorgegreekorthodoxchurch.org.

Look out for flying balls at the BNP Paribus Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens March 5-18, www.bnpparibasopen.com.

If you’re looking for some visual pleasure, stop by the La Quinta Arts Festival March 8-11, where you can enjoy wine, music and oh yes, plenty of engaging art, www.lqaf.com.

Put on your most sophisticated, fashion forward assemble for Fashion Week on El Paseo in Palm Desert, March 18-26, www.fashionweekelpaseo.com.

And finally, there’s the music fest that put Coachella Valley on the map for the ton of kids that didn’t know where the heck 20 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

The Stagecoach Festival main stage, top left. Dancing at the St. George Greek Festival, top right. Chasing chickens at the Riverside County Fair & Date Festival, center right. The Living Desert’s WildLights Holiday Festival brightens up the season after dark.

CV was, it’s Coachella Fest, April 13-15, 20-22. Yes, they’ve added an extra weekend of audible awesomeness for the fans and an extra weekend of traffic grief for those who live nearby, www.coachella.com. Hitching onto the fest right after is country music’s equivalent, the Stagecoach Festival April 28-29, www. stagecoachfestival.com.

After that, it’s summertime again, and time for the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival in June. Where did the time go? Thankfully it’s not—not yet anyway, so get out there and enjoy the events, I know I will. See you there!

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22 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

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here are some events that seemingly couldn’t exist anywhere else but in the desert. The 66th annual Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival’s pageant, above, for instance. Where else can you see an Arabian Nights musical pageant, camel and ostrich races, and grab a date shake?

Definitely a February tradition in Indio, The City of Festivals.

But don’t wait until February to visit Indio. November marks the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians Powwow, and December starts off all tasty with the International Tamale Festival in Old Town Indio (ranked in the top 10 of “AllAmerican Food Festivals” by Food Network). Check it out at www.tamalefestival.net.

Up in Trona (between Ridgecrest and Death Valley), the 71st annual Gem-O-Rama happens mid-October, on and around

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Searles Dry Lake. Sponsored by the Searles Lake Gem & Mineral Society, this incredible family-friendly event lets you get right down to earth with its popular field trips (folks fly in from around the country for this festival). The purpose of these field trips at a festival? The real attrraction—collecting cluster and barrel hanksite, halite, borax, trona, and sulfohalite out on the lake bed. There’s the mud trip, the blow hole trip, and the hunt for the elusive pink halite across the brine pools of Searles (almost) Dry Lake on the Sunday of the festival. This is a true desert classic of an event. If you’re not afraid to get dirty, get to Trona. Make sure to prepare by reading the information at www1.iwvisp.com/tronagemclub/GEM-O-RAMA.htm.

Down in the Imperial Valley, Holtville hosts a festival dedicated to a humble root veggie—the carrot. February marks the 65th Annual Holtville Carrot Festival, making Holtville worthy of their title, Carrot Capital of the World! Nearby along the border, Calexico will host their 21st annual Mariachi Festival Sin Fronteras for a week in May. Their chambers of commerce will have more info closer to the event dates.

Yucca Valley’s Starry Nights Festival every fall brings together astronomers and celebrates one of our most valuable—and rapidly vanishing—desert treasures, our night skies. www.hidesertnaturemuseum.org.

Down in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the Anza Borrego Foundation and Institute host one of the most intense volunteer opportunities every July as they conduct their Annual Bighorn Sheep Count. This incredible three-day event sends teams of hardy souls out to backcountry count sites throughout the 650,000 acre state park in 100+ degree temperatures, to monitor bighorn sheep populations. Definitely not for the timid, call (760)767-5311 if you think you want to sweat for the sheep, or visit www.theabf.org for more information.

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hen it comes to throwing a party, BB Ingle (above) is a natural. His enormous parties at the Palm Springs Convention Center (see the above photo and cover photo by Lani Garfield at PhotosByLani) just keep getting bigger and more fun. This year’s 27th Annual Halloween Bash on Saturday, October 29 (until 4 a.m. on October 30), stands to draw more than 3,000 costumed party zombies, with more bars, more DJs, an all-star party band, and hours that suit Count Dracula just fine. BB thinks of it all, with special hotel rates, and transportation to avoid any drinking and driving. Looking for a party in the desert? Check out www.partywithbb.com.

Just want to scare yourself silly? Then Theatre 29’s Halloween Haunt is right up your darkest alley. Producer Eric Ross cut his teeth working at Knott’s Scary Farm, and comes up with a new theme each year. This is the 8th “year of fear” with the haunting underway on weekend dates from October 14 through Halloween. Call (760)361-4151 for dates and times.

Of course, if you want to let loose your inner wild beast, The Living Desert’s Howl-O-Ween may be for you on October 28-30. With a Wild West theme this year, cowpokes can sidle on over to more than a dozen trick-or-treat stations, hop on board the Dune Buggy, visit the Zombie Country Club (and how is that different than Indian Wells...?), grub down at the chuckwagon, and encounter Living Desert residents who are even wilder than they are. The Living Desert’s always a good bet for quality family entertainment. www.thelivingdesert.org.

While we enjoy a little supernatural fun around Halloween, for a literal trip out into the desert for a taste of the real thing, you have to check out HauntedBarstow.com’s 4x4 Ghostly Adventure Tours. Led by seasoned ghost hunter, author, and paranormal investigator, Bill Cook, the small group tours take you out to historic sites—an old mine, or Native American sites—places Bill has explored and recommends. He also occasionally hosts ghost tours in the historic Casa del Desierto Harvey House train station in Barstow. This is the real thing.

Our experiences with Bill’s tours are that he doesn’t need to do any of that. Things get pretty weird, pretty quick, when Bill’s out and about. The 4x4 “Beast” tours are only offered October 21 and 28. Visit www.hauntedbarstow.com for reservations.

Lantern tours at Silver City Ghost Town in Bodfish are a good bet for Halloween in a real ghost town: (760)379-5146.

And if you’re looking for a party you could only find in Pioneertown, then Pappy & Scarriet’s (Harriet’s) annual Halloween party with Grim (Gram) Rabbit, is the place. More treats than tricks here, but you never know... wander Mane Street at midnight and let us know if you catch strains of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers singing together at the Pioneertown Bowl. Listen carefully and you may hear the chupacabras howling from far off Bartlett Mountain...

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rom Labor Day to Memorial Day, holidays come alive across the California deserts.

Whether it’s Santa Claus arriving via Stearman biplane at the Palm Springs Air Museum’s Santa Fly In (above), or an old fashioned Christmas in Calico Ghost Town, Christmas provides an opportunity for true holiday cheer. The Living Desert’s WildLights are cause for celebration, as are the delightful “light” parades down the main streets of Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms, and Palm Springs.

Memorial Day provides some stunning moments, courtesy of the Palm Springs Air Museum (which is great to visit any day). On Memorial Day, the museum’s B-25 Mitchell does a flyover and drops flowers from its bomb bay doors.

Of course, if you want a real Joshua Tree experience, there’s nothing quite like the Memorial Day Concert in the Cemetery with Shawn Mafia. The day begins normally enough, with a solemn Memorial Day commemoration at Joshua Tree Memorial Park, and then it transforms into a community barbecue with live music by Mafia and others, with the crowd on the grass between tombstones. Mafia, an exceptionally talented and underrated singer/songwriter, as well as a working funeral director, has been organizing the concert since 2004. Mafia’s music is gritty and streetwise, which makes the event even more surreal. Favorite moment: One senior attending the barbecue asks (about Mafia’s singing), “Did he say ‘whorehouse?’” Why, yes, ma’am, he did.

For Earth Day, The Living Desert and the Hi-Desert Nature Museum both offer up excellent community festivals (www. livingdesert.org, www.hidesertnaturemuseum.org).

Our Season Premiere Issue is just an introduction to the dizzying number and variety of events to be found across the California deserts. There are, quite literally, hundreds more, and we have tried to focus on some of the more unusual, highly recommended events for this introduction.

Whether you are a desert local or visitor, if you want to keep up on the latest events and activities, from mega-festivals to intimate performances, lectures and classes that can deepen your understanding of the desert, to opportunities to get out and help conserve and protect the desert, or just hang out with real desert characters and find out when the wildflowers are blooming where, you can sign up for our free weekly email newsletter, the Sun Blast, at our website: www.thesunrunner.com. If you want to do your own event hunting, our online calendar includes events from the border with Mexico up to Lone Pine and Death Valley. It’s a great weekend or trip planning tool.

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Painting by Deborah Martin

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ometimes we wonder if there are more artists (and musicians) in the desert than there are cholla, but then we go for a walk. It just seems there are so many of these creative types because of events like the Hwy 62 Art Tours, where more than 100 artists open up their studios and welcome visitors for a two-week period in late October every year, from Morongo Valley to Wonder Valley, and all points in the Joshua Tree Gateway Communities in between.

This wonderful event, in its 10th year this October, sends visitors rambling happily down one dirt road after another, as they go from artist to artist. This year’s tour weekends are October 21-22 and 28-30, with plenty going on in and around the tours themselves. Tips: Don’t miss the opening and closing parties, and always get to Janet Braley’s studio early if you want the good stuff.

We’ve seen just about everything on these tours at one time or another, and that includes LA art gallery owners stacking up paintings to take back to the city to sell at a far higher price than what the artist was charging out here. If you’re someone who likes to find beautiful and unusual gifts for holiday giving, these art tours provide great value and you support independent (in some cases maybe a little too independent) artists.

Not to be outdone, our friends up in Ridgecrest at The Maturango Museum are presenting their 8th annual Open Studio Tour on October 22-23. Tickets are $15 at the museum, and a complementary gallery show runs from October 15-November 9 at the museum’s Sylvia Winslow Gallery. www.maturango. org.

High Desert Test Sites turns artists from around the country loose on unimproved desert lands around Joshua Tree every October where they create installation art that provides a fresh take on the desert and our interactions with it. www. highdeserttestsites.com.

The Death Valley Chamber Art Show, March 10-11 at 28 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park, is a fine art show in stunning surroundings, while nearby in Tecopa, the gallery at the Tecopa Hot Springs Resort hosts a steady stream of interesting shows well worth the stop.

Over in Yucca Valley, they are hosting the Gourd Art Festival, November 5-6. Last year’s festival was impressive, and there are even classes on how to become a gourdian artist yourself. www.yuccavalley.org.

Of course there is the 10th Annual Indian Wells Arts Festival, April 6-8, 2012 (www.indianwellsartsfestival.com), and the 30th Annual La Quinta Arts Festival, March 8-11, 2012 (www.lqaf.com/cultural-events/ la-quinta-arts-festival), but there are quite a few other arts events in the Coachella Valley as well, including the La Quinta Arts Foundation’s Art Under the Umbrellas series on designated Saturdays in “Old Town” La Quinta.

El Paseo and Palm Springs have their art walks, while Joshua Tree has their regular gallery crawls (don’t crawl across Highway 62—unless you want to become a new, mushy form of installation art). The Desert Art Center of Coachella Valley hosts shows as well as galleries spread across the California desert region (just visit our calendar—it’s overwhelming dealing with all these creative people).

One of our favorite things about art in the desert, however, is getting to make some of your own. Up in the Boron/Highway 58 area, there’s one place to go to get started, and that is the friendly environs of The Cunningham’s Store & Art Studio on Twenty Mule Team Road in Boron. Susan Cunningham is both an artist and art instructor and hosts painting classes and special weekends for artists from her studio there.

In Twentynine Palms, the 29 Palms Art Gallery offers classes for youth and adults, along with great monthly art shows like the Southland Show in November (www.29palmsartgallery. com) while Gretchen Grunt and co. at the 29 Palms Creative Center and Gallery can get you making your own prints or stained glass or pottery or mosaics or drawings or collages or paintings or..... you get the drift. In addition to regularly scheduled art classes, Gretchen can coordinate private classes—bring something back from the desert that you made! The ultimate souvenir! Guaranteed fun, and Gretchen’s infectious positive creative energy is priceless, so you really can’t lose.

Creative Center artist Doug Whitfield will be doing stained glass demos during the Hwy 62 Art Tours, and has been working on a custom piece for the beautiful Roughley Manor as of late, while Gretchen will be doing printmaking demos and inviting visitors to paint their own pottery. If you think art should be a participatory endeavour, well, you’ve found nirvana here.

One of the oldest (around officially since 1941) art shows in the desert—and one of the most interesting—has to be Twentynine Palms’ annual Weed Show. Now in its seventh decade, the Weed Show features the artistic use of indigenous desert plants along with natural and man-made found objects, with different themes each year. The show, held by the Twentynine Palms Historical Society at the Old Schoolhouse Museum, is scheduled for November 5-6 and guaranteed to be filled with eclectic entries that match the residents of that desert city. An absolute Sun Runner favorite! www.29palmshistorical.org.

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e know, everyone already knows about Coachella and how it’s now going to two weekends, followed by another Goldenvoice-produced monster music festival, Stagecoach. But what about the rest of the desert? Aren’t there any music festivals where you can get a little closer to the stage (and leave your binoculars at home), where you can not worry about long lines of traffic, long lines for security, long lines for food, and long lines for portapotties?

The short answer is: Absolutely. Joshua Tree has gone a long way toward filling that niche over the past decade.

Between May’s Joshua Tree Music Festival, and October’s Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival, you can enjoy great musical line-ups sans all the forms of torture frequently associated with big music festivals. There’s art, vendors, organic food, and if you want, you can even bring your own. These festivals are so laid back they feel like a neighborhood party. Come camp out, or stay at a great nearby hotel, and dance under the desert stars. www.joshuatreemusicfestival.com.

Up in nearby Pioneertown, it seems like there’s almost always some kind of music festival going on—maybe just one decades-long festival with an occasional break, in the case of Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. This legendary roadhouse at the end of Mane Street serves up superb mesquite barbecue and great drinks along with a hot selection of live music from both near and far. Always worth checking out: www.pappyandharriets.com.

The second annual Tecopa Music & Arts Festival, April 27-29, 2012, is going to be a great one as well. The Sun Runner is a media sponsor for this festival, and we’re hoping to get the weekend off so we can go party with all our Death Valley friends: www.tecopamusicfestival.com.

Huck Finn’s Jubilee up at Mojave Narrows Regional Park in the Victorville area, is a great three-day music festival in June. The likes of Roy Clark, Merle Haggard, Earl Scruggs, and even Roger Miller, have performed here. www.huckfinn.com.

And the Blythe Bluegrass Festival, January 20-22 at the Colorado River Fairgrounds, is another superb desert music festival, and one of the biggest bluegrass events in the country with over 13,000 people attending the event this year. Jam sessions around the campgrounds begin the week before!

If opera is your thing, Opera Arts has your aria, from November 2’s Music of the People, to April’s annual Festival of Opera & Art. www.operaartspalmsprings.org.

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here’s no shortage of history in the desert, whether it is pre-Columbian era Native American history, or the later history of the tribes, the arrival of the Spanish and later the American governments, prospecting, the Old West, the Rat Pack, Hollywood, or any combination or revision of these. You can find a friendly and welcoming history alive all across the desert, whether it takes the form of Old West re-enactors like the Old West Mounted Lawmen’s Association, to groups like the Pioneertown Posse and Gunfighters for Hire, who shoot it out and whoop it up for audiences on weekend afternoons in season out on Mane Street in Pioneertown (built for the movie

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industry in the 1940s), around 2:30 p.m. One thing is for sure, history is rarely dull in the desert.

Though the Civil War didn’t have much of a presence in California (it had some, however), a Civil War re-enactment this November 19-20 at Lake Cahuilla Park, will bring it alive.

The free re-enactment, a partnership between the La Quinta Museum, the American Civil War Society, and the Riverside County Parks Department, will stage battles and host encampments where visitors can meet the soldiers and even learn about that era’s medical practices. The even is Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. For information, call (760)777-7170.

Shoshone’s Old West Days, October 28-30, provides historical talks about the rich history of that Death Valley town. The festival includes barbecue and dancing, music and a falconary show. See www.shoshonevillage.com.

If you want a large dose of Americana and a dollop of fun with your history, motor east on Route 66 to Needles this November 11-12 for the Route 66 85th Birthday Bash. No lectures here, just lots of fun—even on the way to Needles if you drive or ride the “Mother Road.” www.85throute66celebrationneedles.info. While you’re there, check out the Topock Maze, another “route” of sorts, into another world.

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he Desert Christ Park Foundation is hosting an open house celebration in honor of the park’s 60 years. Established in 1951, the park has managed to retain more than 50 concrete sculptures depicting the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Dedicated to peace, this park in Yucca Valley, hasn’t always enjoyed that quality. After sculptor Antone Martin died, local government cared for the park that had put Yucca Valley on the map, up until the American Civil Liberties Union got involved, claiming that for the local government to take care of the park represented endorsement of a particular religion.

Never mind the cultural value this unique park represents.

After that, earthquakes and vandals have taken their toll, and funding for repairs and upgrades hasn’t been easy to find.

But now, this park that once attracted thousands for Easter Sunrise Services, has a board of directors who would like to see Desert Christ Park restored and respected once again. Just as Jesus beckoned the little children unto him, come join the supporters of this often overlooked desert treasure on October 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for park tours, music, history, food, and activities for the kids. www.desertchristpark.org.

The Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park, along with Friends of AVIM, host an annual celebration at the museum the first weekend of October each year.

The museum’s annual American Indian celebration features Native American dancers, drumming, storytelling, food, art, and more. Try your hand at pounding acorns and pine nuts, and enjoy a little fry bread while you’re at it.

Visit www.avim.parks.ca.gov for more information.

Photo by Anne Kittlitz and used with Alex Littlebow’s permission.

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henever you’re in the desert and you have a chance to listen to Cahuilla bird singers, like these in the photo singing as part of Joshua Tree National Park’s 75th Anniversary, make sure to stop and listen. This is the real music of the desert, with song cycles, like a creation cycle, taking up to three days to complete. Bird songs are your chance to hear the voices of the original residents of the California deserts.

We’re blessed with some fantastic resources like the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum and their annual Festival of Native Film & Culture, February 29-March 4, 2012 (www.accmuseum.org), and the Malki Museum (www.malkimuseum.org), where Cahuilla culture is celebrated. Their annual Fall Gathering on October 22, is exceptional, featuring a Native American food tasting (try some wewish for us!). Don’t miss any lecture Dr. Katherine Siva Saubel gives—she is one of the desert’s true cultural treasures!

The museum also offers their Kewét (Cahuilla for “fiesta”), the 48th of which happens the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in 2012. And their annual spring Agave Harvest & Roast, held on two consecutive Saturdays in April, connects you directly with the cycles of Cahuilla life. Fascinating.

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hina Lake Naval Air Weapons Station hosts the Centennial of Naval Aviation Festival on October 15 at Armitage Field.

China Lake is honoring 100 years of naval aviation, including China Lake’s contribution to naval aviation and air weapons history.

Aircraft from China Lake’s experimental and operational test squadrons, including an F/A-18 Hornet painted in retro color schemes (the Coso Jet), will be on display (see photo). A kid’s zone with obstacle course, climbing wall, and more, will be available, along with live music and food.

For information on the festival and other events celebrating the Centennial of Naval Aviation, visit www.chinalakecelebration.com.

Additional Centennial of Naval Aviation events take place in San Diego Harbor at North Island, considered the birthplace of naval aviation.

(U.S. Navy photo.)

What? We’re done? But there are (literally) hundreds of events we haven’t yet listed. We apologize if we haven’t fit in your favorite desert event or activity. Let us know what you love to do in the desert and we’ll try to work that into an upcoming issue like our Desert Travel Issue that’s coming next.

We heartily encourage you to sign up for our free, weekly e-mail newsletter, the Sun Blast, to visit our online calendar at www.thesunrunner.com frequently, and to listen to our weekly radio show at 12:35 p.m., Fridays, on KX96.3 FM in the Joshua Tree Gateway Communities, and 92.1 FM in the Coachella Valley. It’s a BIG desert out there, but as we’ve hopefully shown on these pages, it’s also a fun and exciting, as well as richly intriguing desert, as well.

If you’re in the Los Angeles or Orange County areas, we invite you to stop by and say hi this coming January 14 & 15, while we’re working at the California Deserts Visitors Association booth at the LA Travel & Adventure Show. We’ll have the banner maps up and we can talk desert all you want.

But for now, we’ve got to get going—there’s lots to see and do and we’re on our way!

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Photo courtesy of the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep, www.sheepsociety.com.

What happened next?

This is a picture of me walking away from a small spring in the Mojave Desert. As you can see in the background, this land is very dry and rocky; however, what you cannot see in this picture is that there is a small group of trees that mark this spring. These trees cover an area about the size of a small house, all of which makes its own microenvironment. One interesting fact about this spring is that it has a small population of earthworms locked in to this microenvironment. But of course, the question is what happened next.

By Carlos Gallinger thewayofthings.org

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hile it seems it was a long time ago, I remember it well. It was sometime in August, early in the morning and it was already getting hot. When I left my home in Barstow to go out riding on my brand-new motorcycle, my wife did not ask where I was going because she knew that I didn’t know or care. So before long I found myself gassing up in Lucerne Valley where I decided to ride to Newberry.

And so I rode around Ord Mountain and down through Kane wash to Newberry, where I drank some water out of my canteen, topped off on gas, and rode off, and soon found myself riding down through Afton Canyon on my way to Kelso.

However, it was starting to get quite hot—I suppose somewhere around 115 degrees. I was also getting a little tired and worn out from all this riding. So somewhere on the other side of Crucero I decided to head for Baker instead of Kelso. This meant taking a shortcut across the Devil’s Playground.

To those of you who have never been there, this place is a flat sandy area with small rolling sand dunes, which is the kind of place you hear about but have very little reason to ever go. From this vantage point you really couldn’t see Baker but I knew about where it would be and so I aimed the bike and took off. Back in those days this kind of riding was normal.

As soon as I left the railroad tracks and went into the sand dunes my problems started. The sand was so soft that I had a difficult time keeping the bike going forward. Making matters worse, earlier in the summer we had a fair amount of rain and so the Devil’s playground was full of tumbleweeds. Many of them were two to three feet tall and were starting to dry out.

This situation made riding through the Devil’s Playground all the more challenging.

Not only did you have to ride up and down these sand dunes, you had to maneuver your way through a maze of tumbleweeds.

And so I rode at a frantic pace, throttle on/throttle off, left and right, all the while trying to keep the bike above the sand and going forward. This went on for quite some time when all of a sudden the bike came to an abrupt stop that almost threw me over the handlebars. The engine had come to a complete stop and the bike had sunk into the sand right up to the skid plate. It seemed as though a wave of fear rolled through my entire body as I instantly knew the seriousness of my predicament. Running the bike this hard and this long in such heat had certainly destroyed the engine and I was alone, on foot in the Devil’s Playground—and nobody knew where I was or expected me to show up anytime soon.

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Without hardly a thought I tried to kick start the bike to get going again. But there was nothing there; the kick-starter moved with ease, telling me the terrible truth of my situation.

This engine was completely destroyed. And so now I started to look over the situation and it wasn’t good. Baker was definitely too far for walking and the railroad seemed to be too far as well. While the railroad seemed to be a relatively short distance, experience had taught me that getting there would be a lot harder than it looked. Walking in the sand is hard enough, but having to go up and down these little sand dunes made the distance and the effort much more difficult. And then there was the maze of tumbleweeds that made the distance two or three times further than what appeared. Now that I was no longer moving on a motorcycle, the heat began to soak into my body as my overall situation was changing fast.

As I looked to the railroad and considered my condition, I did not think that I could walk so far in this heat, which led to the obvious conclusion that I would die out here in the Devil’s Playground unless I could figure something out. After some time, I decided I would try to walk out after sundown hoping that I would have a better chance with the cooler temperatures.

So I opened up my one liter canteen and drank from it, leaving about an inch and a half of water on the bottom. Knowing that no matter how painful my thirst became, I would leave this water to drink only at the very end. As long as I had water in my canteen I had hope no matter how painful it was.

And so I sat down in the sand next to the motorcycle and started to wait it out.

With a sense of fear and pain I said the kind of prayers that are too personal to speak of here and contemplated the foolishness of my situation and to what kind of death it was leading to. I knew that in time, someone would find the motorcycle and by staying here they would find what was left of me. If I got up and tried to walk to the railroad tracks they would probably never find my remains. I knew by 9 or 10 o’clock, that night everybody would know that I had not returned from the desert and that there would be no rescue crew sent out for me as no one knew where I was.

After about an hour or so of this, I stood up and realized that I would not be alive by sunset. By now my face was covered the gritty substance because my body was too dried out to sweat and I was beginning to feel weak. The pain I was feeling was intense although it was not a sharp pain like being cut or breaking bones, but still it consumed my conscious mind.

What happened next?

As you can see in this picture, this lamb ran down and got a drink of water within three minutes of my leaving. The way it was acting, it seemed to be very thirsty and had thrown caution to the wind. I was able to observe the group of ewes that it had left 500 or 600 feet above me on the ridgetop. The lesson from this is that one should minimize the time they spend near a desert spring, especially in the summer.

And you definitely don’t want to camp there, especially in a large group as this could have a negative impact on wildlife.

By Carlos Gallinger thewayofthings.org

And the fear also grew. It was a dreadful fear; not the kind of fear that one seeks on a roller coaster the kind that would give a thrill. And then there was hope, the small amount of liquid hope in the bottom of my canteen. And while this hope was powerful, it was truly painful to hang onto, painful physically because you wanted to drink it down in one gulp and mentally painful because you felt so foolish holding on to it. And while my mind was clouded with pain and fear, it still held on to the foolish hope of walking out of the Devil’s Playground.

So I looked across the desert to the railroad tracks and contemplated what it would take to walk out and figured that trying it would cut what little time in life I had in half, but I didn’t want to stay here and die.

As I got ready to set out I looked at the motorcycle and thought I would try to start it one last time. So I straddled the bike and gave a feeble and pathetic attempt at trying to kick-start the bike.

However, in doing so I noticed the bike now had compression which meant that it might start if kick hard enough. And so I lifted myself high on the bike and used my body weight to kick-start it. To my surprise the bike started and sat there idling perfectly. While I was surprised, there was really no joy in this, because I knew I really didn’t have the strength to ride the bike out of this place, let alone turn the bike around.

It takes a lot of strength to ride a bike in this type of sand, especially when you want to turn the front wheel. It wants to plow into the sand and sink or flip the bike over. The other problem was that the bike had sunk in the sand right to the skid plate. It was going to take all the strength that I had to get the bike up and out of the sand. After pushing the bike back and forth awhile I got the bike up and out of the sand. Now all I had to do was get the bike rolling while running alongside of it and then hop on and ride off, which I did but just barely, as my strength was running out fast. And now I was faced with another problem, and that was to keep the bike going fast enough to stay above the sand to turn the bike around and head for the tracks.

So I rode in a straight-line trying to get the speed up and stay above the sand and this was using all the strength I had.

I didn’t dare try to turn the bike toward the railroad tracks till I had enough speed.

However, it was also impossible to go straight for any length of time in this maze of tumbleweeds. So I rode in a straight line with the bike kicking up a rooster tail of sand till I crashed into a clump of tumbleweeds. To my surprise these tumbleweeds lifted the front tire up out of the sand and gave the rear tire the traction it needed to propel me forward. Instantly I realized this was my way out of the Devil’s Playground. For the next mile or two, I hit every tumbleweed I could and pulled a relatively straight line till I made it to the lake bed where I brought the bike up to about 50 miles per hour and kicked up the slimy black mud and a pure white dust cloud all at the same time.

Eventually I made it to the Mojave Trail, turned to the east, and rode along the Little Cowhole Mountains and then to Baker where I rode up to a little hamburger stand that isn’t there anymore and ordered two large Cokes. This was in the days before free refills, so as soon as I got them I drank them down in an almost businesslike manner and found a faucet to wet myself down and then laid down face first on one of the picnic tables to just try to recuperate for a while. Then I got up to order another Coke and drank it down and then got on my bike and made the long hot ride back to Barstow.

When I got home I did not say anything about this ordeal in the Devil’s Playground; I just drank some more water and went to bed. The next morning I got up and had breakfast with my wife and was playing with my two little girls as if nothing had happened. However, a lot had happened and I knew this day could have been very different. But now the pain and the fear were gone—just unpleasant memories, and that small amount of liquid hope in the bottom of my canteen was still there but now its magic and pain were gone. All I could do now was to contemplate what had happened and what could have happened.

I knew this experience in the Devil’s Playground has left me a very different person.

By Carlos Gallinger Thewayofthings.org

Visit Carlos’ website, www.thewayofthings.org, to deepen your desert experience.

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Seth Shteir is California Desert Field Representative at the National Parks Conservation Association.

Photo by Drew Reese.

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link your eyes as you travel east from the town of Amboy on old Route 66 and you may miss Cadiz altogether.

There are just a few white, rectangular buildings, sprinkled by the side of the road, languishing beneath the Mojave Desert’s harsh sunlight. To the North, with its trilobite encrusted layers of Latham Shale, lie the rocky slopes of the Marble Mountains, an area that has lured paleontologists in search of fossil treasure. But these days a different sort of prospecting has put Cadiz on the map.

The Cadiz Inc. has resurrected a plan to intercept groundwater from the Fenner and Orange Blossom Watersheds on its way to Bristol and Cadiz Dry Lake beds, transfer it through a 42 mile conveyance pipeline to the Colorado River Aqueduct and send it to thirsty southern California water districts. The groundwater would be taken from the Fenner and Orange Blossom Watersheds, some of which comes from sources high in the mountains of the Mojave National Preserve.

Cadiz’s plan raises numerous questions about the project’s environmental impacts to groundwater, air quality and the Mojave National Preserve. Though the Cadiz Inc. is billing this project as sustainable, there’s a lot of evidence to the contrary.

One issue is the amount of water that will be transferred. The Santa Margarita Water District, the lead agency for this project, states that Cadiz will transfer up to 50,000 acre feet per year to several cooperating water districts from water intercepted from the Fenner and Orange Blossom Watersheds on Cadiz property. How this breaks down is that Cadiz will drawdown the aquifer at a rate of approximately 17,500 acre feet per year to maintain “Hydraulic control” of the groundwater and an additional 32,500 acre feet per year. But the Santa Margarita Water District, the lead agency for the EIR, has claimed that the recharge rate of the Watersheds is 32,500 acre feet per year.

Assuming one accepts these recharge rate figures, there would still be a net loss of 17,500 acre feet per year of groundwater- clearly not a sustainable rate- over the proposed project’s fifty year period. The drawdown of groundwater in the Fenner Valley could change the flow regime of groundwater beneath the Mojave Preserve, adversely impacting water resources within the Preserve’s boundaries.

Additionally, there’s a lot of scientific evidence that the recharge rate of the aquifer is substantially lower and most 36 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

scientific studies place it somewhere between 2,000 and 11,000 acre feet per year. And what of climate change? There’s significant scientific data that indicates the climate of the Mojave Desert will see increasing variability in precipitation, meaning that over the project’s proposed 50 year life span, the rate of recharge won’t remain constant. The California Climate Adaptation Strategy, a report published by the State Natural Resources Agency, cites Scripps Oceanographic Institute Climate Change models that predict a 12-35% reduction in average annual precipitation for California by 2050. How will this project accurately calculate the amount of groundwater recharge for an uncertain future?

Yet another cause for concern is the project’s impact to air quality in our desert region. Bristol and Cadiz dry lake beds, deprived of all moisture, could contribute to airborne dust particles and jeopardize air quality. There’s no way of knowing what the exact ramifications of the project will be on air quality, but the U.S. geological Survey states that Owen’s Lake, a dried lake bed that for many years was deprived of water resources, has produced enormous amounts of windblown dust since its desiccation and that it is probably the largest source of PM 10 in the United States. In fact, the USGS website states, “PM10 dust is regulated by California and the United States because these dust particles are so small that they can be inhaled deeply into the human respiratory tract to create a health hazard. Finally, a study by the Pacific Institute titled, “Economic Evaluation of the Cadiz Project,” which analyzes the economic and environmental cost of an earlier Cadiz proposal to pump the desert’s groundwater, stated that in 2001 the cost of mitigating airborne dust impacts from the drying out of Owens Lake was estimated to be $60 million.

Water is a critical resource throughout the desert and the state of California. There’s no doubt that our state needs a clean, reliable source of water for people, industry, agriculture and wildlife. But that doesn’t mean that water development projects should move forward without a thorough evaluation of scientific data and environmental costs. As of the printing of this article, Cadiz’s proposed project raises more questions than it answers. Cadiz and the water agencies that stand to benefit have a long way to go to prove that this isn’t just another economically speculative project that will harm air quality, water resources and the Mojave National Preserve.

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elebrating holidays in the middle of nowhere can still test the ingenuity of traditionally minded folk. This was also true in Randsburg’s part of the Mojave 100 years ago. Some of the solutions early Rand residents employed to help them enjoy a traditional Christmas might surprise you. It might also surprise you how ‘uptown’ the whole holiday season generally turned out!

A mid- December of 1897 Los Angeles Times article reported that “Randsburg merchants are getting in quite a stock of holiday goods and the display is creditable to many an older place” Early newspaper accounts usually emphasized how up-to-date this remote community actually was or would soon become.

To look through some historic wavy glass windows, mentally transport yourself to Randsburg, making the date a Christmas just before 1900. What do you think would be served for Christmas dinner? If you happened by the McCarthy Family’s home, still standing on Randsburg’s Highland Avenue, you might feel you had never left the “big city.” Although mother of a large family, Olevia, managed to serve a (home plucked) turkey with all the trimmings… from stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy, to creamed cauliflower, celery sticks, home cooked cranberry sauce, pickles, olives and home baked bread.

Desert included both mince and pumpkin pies as well as fruit cake.

Santa delivered toys for the McCarthy children as well as Christmas candy (and a popcorn ball, nuts, an orange and an apple) in their stockings which had been cleverly hung on a white sash rope strung from a knob on Mama’s rocking chair to the damper on the living room stove pipe. There were very few real fireplaces in Randsburg but lots and lots of creativity….

You would recognize many of the Christmas songs sung by early residents of the Rand. Joy to the World, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night, as well as Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, Up on the Housetop, and Jingle Bells were pretty much the same then as now. All were published before 1900.

Early Rand Christmases often featured evening dances and even short boxing contests. Celebrating was fairly quiet although on Christmas Eve “some were under the influence of liquor and many people did not go to bed at all…a few men became a little hilarious toward midnight and let off their surplus steam by shouting and singing but there was not a case of arrest in the town.” Christmas morning dawned and for the

first time in many weeks all the principal miners were off work taking a well deserved holiday.

In 1897, Christmas services were held at Trinity Episcopal Church, with the orchestra from the Orpheus Theater furnishing the music. The church was beautifully decorated and a full congregation greeted the pastor, Mr. Nagle, on the first Christmas of the church in Randsburg. The following year there were 200 children in Sunday School. An 18 foot tall Christmas tree, paid for by the parents and shipped up from Pasadena, was that year displayed in Randsburg…a curiosity for some of the children.

When you come to Randsburg this winter you will discover small cottages and stores and two churches remaining from the early days. Remember that in those buildings people joyfully celebrated holidays. For many years Randsburg has been called a ‘living ghost town’ not only because people still make it their home but also, I like to think, because of what English author John Ruskin said:

‘“Old buildings are not ours…they belong partly to those who built them, and partly to the generations of mankind who are to follow us….”

Remember with a smile, when you are here on the California Rand, the people of our past.

October/November 2011 – The Sun Runner 37

Desert Theatre Beat

By Jack Lyons Sun Runner Theatre Editor

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he 2011/2012 Theatre Season is about to be upon us. The sizzling summer heat that makes audiences skittish about venturing out in triple digits to attend live theatre is beginning to fizzle out. Here’s how the fall is shaping up.

HI-DESERT THEATRES …

Theatre 29 – Twentynine Palms The triple digit weather has never been an issue at the desert’s only all-year theatre. The October production is a perennial favorite, The 8th Annual Halloween Haunt,” produced by special effects wizard Eric Ross. This year’s haunting is directed by Daniel Tabeling and Frances Wright. Halloween Haunt runs Oct. 1415, 21-22, 28-31. Shows begin at dusk.

The November/December production is the comedy “Bless Me Father,” by T.A. Powell, directed by Cheryl Gillon.

The wickedly funny show performs Nov. 18-Dec. 17. There will be one Thursday performance Dec. 1 at 7 p.m., and one Sunday, Dec. 11 matinee at 2:30 p.m. All other performances begin at 7 p.m. For reservations call (760)361-4151.

Groves Cabin Theatre – Morongo Valley The Groves kicks off their season with “Daughters of the Lone Star State,” written by Del Shores, with direction

by Charles Harvey. Shores has turned his comedies about the South into a successful cottage industry. The cast includes: Wendy Cohen, Kathryn Ferguson, Carol and Lisa Goldberg, Joy Groves, Vicki Montgomery, Marty Neider, Kurt Schauppner, Julie Scott, Beverly Triplett, and Ester Wingate.

The play opens Nov. 12 and performs Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through Dec. 11. Reservations are a must. Call (760)365-4523.

LOW DESERT THEATRES …

The Palm Canyon Theatre – Palm Springs Palm Springs’ only Equity theatre kicks 38 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

off its season with the Gilbert & Sullivan classic“ Pirate of Penzance,” directed by William Layne.

The musical opens Friday, Oct. 7 at 8 p.m., and performs Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. until Oct. 27.

Following “Pirates” is “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” also directed by Layne. The comedy runs Thursday Oct. 27-31.

The Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical “The Fantasticks”—is a favorite of theatre audiences worldwide. The PCT production is directed by Scott Smith.

The charming musical opens Friday, Nov. 11 and performs Thursdays, at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Nov. 26.

Call (760)323-5123 for reservations.

Indio Performing Arts Center – Indio The east valley’s performing arts center leads off their season with a musical production, “Have A Nice Day,” directed and choreographed by Bob Reinhagen with musical direction by John Salerno.

The production is billed as a 70s musical flasback—a gentle and loving spoof (if those two concepts can be compatible) of Up With People, the conservative youth organization that swept across campuses during the 60s and 70s.

The show opens Oct. 14 at 7 p.m., and performs on Saturdays twice: 2:30 and 7 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. The show runs until Oct. 14, then takes a hiatus of two weekends and continues until Nov. 27. The cast includes Gabriel Benavides, Marissa Escobar, Anthony Martinez, Jessika Pollard, and Janelle Walker.

Nov. 11-14, IPAC is bringing in a professional local cast to perform a musical production entitled “GI Juke-Box – A Stage Door Canteen,” starring Mark Almy, Francesca Amari, and Ben Reece.

(760)775-5200 for reservations.

Coyote StageWorks – Palm Springs Coyote StageWorks, the professional Equity theatre company, founded by Chuck Yates, Alan Denny, Larry Raben, and David Engel, kicks off its third season with a show the entire family can enjoy. It’s the sparkling holiday production, “Plaid Tidings,” at The Annenberg Theatre, Palm Springs. The whimsical holiday sequel to the long running hit musical, “Forever Plaid,” performs Nov. 25-27.

Performances of “Plaid Tidings” will be given Friday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Nov.26 at 2 p.m. and again at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. The show reunites original New York, L.A., and London cast members Stan Chandler, David En-

gel, David Humphrey, and Larry Raben (who also directs). I saw the show when it played The Old Globe. It was smash hit there, and will no doubt, be a smash hit in here. For reservations go to www. psmuseum.org or call (760)325-4490.

Script2Stage2Screen – Rancho Mirage The play reading company in Rancho Mirage and a project of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert, has been branching out. Playwrights and actors who write and perform their own plays begin by reading with actors, then move into a fully produced stage play, then take the produced play and turn it into a movie. Pretty ambitious!

The first project to go from reading to stage play to movie is “Pink Squirrels,” written by Burt Peachy and Michael Craft, directed by Craft.

The October production is a new musical revue called “Butterfly Madam,” with music and lyrics by Stanley Walden, and a book by Peachy. The production stars Darcy Daniels as the Butterfly Madam. It’s the fascinating true story of British butterfly collector and adventuress Margaret Fountaine, told through song and dance, The revealed secrets of this not-so- Victorian lady are sure to tantalize. It co-stars Doug Graham, Charles Herrera, and Garry Corgiat at The Arthur Newman Theatre, Joslyn Center, Palm Desert, Oct. 14-15,21-22.

Denis Moreen is music director, and Doug Graham is the choreographer, directed by Peachy. Curtain is 7:30 p.m.

For reservations go to www.script2stage2screen.com or call (760)345-7938.

Heard Here And There…

The Coachella Valley Rep Company’s artistic director Ron Celona, tells me the new theatre at The Atrium in Rancho Mirage, has made the decision to install an LED lighting system. CV Rep’s debut in their new home is coming. Stay tuned…

Sun City Palm Desert Arts Club members Pam and John Abramson are performing in a lively musical show, “Come To The Cabaret,” directed by Karen Schmitt with musical direction by Wayne Abravenel. The show will present the history of cabaret in the Sierra Ballroom of the Mountain View Clubhouse at 38180 Del Webb Blvd., Palm Desert.

Performance dates are Oct. 21-22, at 7 p.m. and Oct. 23, at 2 p.m. For tickets call (760)360-3314.

The Desert Theatre League Desert Stars Awards ceremony takes place 5 p.m., Dec. 4 at Sun City Shadow Hills, 80-814 Sun City Blvd., in Indio. Call (760)772-9617. See you at the theatre.

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FADE IN: very September for the last eight years, this column has covered one of southern California’s prestigious film festivals, the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival. It may not be as large or as glamorous as The Palm Springs International Film Festival, but then again, few festivals are.

What the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival lacks in size, it more than makes up for it in the uniqueness of its focus and overall appreciation of two disciplines normally not featured at other festivals—namely the honoring of the role of the cinematographer, and the role of the screenwriter. Movies are a collaborative art form. There are many players with varying skill sets, and without their participation no movie would ever be made. It’s a credit then to the people behind the festival that their event recognizes the efforts of creative cinema artists worldwide by awarding Lifetime Achievement Awards, and in particular, awards to cinematographers and to screenwriters.

The 2011 Festival Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree in Cinematography was presented to John Bailey, ASC, for a body of work in cinematography that includes such films as: “Ordinary People,” “Silverado,” “The Big Chill,” ”The Accidental Tourist,” “Groundhog Day,” ”In the Line of Fire,” “As Good As It Gets,” and “The Producers,” to name but a few. His films have provided hours of pleasure, thought provoking and haunting images, and all done in amazing Technicolor and beautiful black and white. Bailey is known for allowing the camera to become, as he describes it, “the primary writing instrument.”

I was particularly blown away by the power and imagery of two film clips, of the many he discussed in his Q & A session. In “The Accidental Tourist,” Bailey’s vision for one scene validates the power of the philosophy that less is better. The camera creatively captured the poignancy of a relationship in a way that lingers long after the clip concludes.

The other clip that made an impression was the 1985 movie “Mashima: A Life in Four Chapters.” It’s rarely seen these days, but the pristine clarity, crispness, and composition of shots, makes every frame a thing of beauty. Bailey is a most worthy and deserving choice for the prestigious award.

The inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in Film Music was presented to Michael Giacchino for his accomplishments as an Oscar-winning music composer for the film “Up” starring Edward Asner, and for a body of work that belies his somewhat young age. When Giacchino walked to the podium to accept the award he quipped, “Is someone trying to tell me something? A Lifetime Achievement Award at my age?” which elicited a laugh. He is the first recipient of this honor, which now becomes an ongoing award category, recognizing the importance of the film composer and the film-scoring category as an important component in the making of films.

In the Lifetime Achievement category for Acting, the wonderful character actor Stephen Tobolowsky, was honored for his more than 200 film and TV roles.

He is probably best known for playing insurance salesman Ned Ryerson, in “Groundhog Day”—and holding his own with Bill Murray, one of Hollywood’s master comedic scene-stealers.

Tobolowsky thrives on tough assignments, and makes them all look like a piece of cake.

In the screenwriting category, first place honors went to the film “Kelly & Cal,” written by Amy Lowe Starbin.

There was tie for second place between the film “Lucky Star,” written by Thomas Pace, and “Volition,” written by Samantha Manahan and Carol Hostutler.

Honorable mentions went to two films: “Of Chameleons and Gods,” written by Norman Anderson II and Tania Trepanier, and”Somerville,” written by James Victor.

The festival, set in the Alpine setting of Big Bear Lake, hosted workshops, seminars, screenings of more than 100 films, and a host of schmoozing sessions for the 40 or so filmmakers in attendance.

Panels of Hollywood movie professionals in distribution, animation, budgeting,

screenwriting, and on how to get a script sold to a producer or studio, were available over the three days of the festival.

I attended the “Filmmaking Panel” and the discussions with industry pros.

The panel covered the spectrum of disciplines from: distribution (Marc Halperin), publicity (Marla Halperin), filmmaker (Guido Verweyen), studio exec POV (Beth Portello), sales & marketing (Asher Goldstein), producer (Kimberly Browning), and European filmmakers POV (Pip Chodorov). The panel was moderated by John Halecky. The room was alive and vibrating with eager and interested filmmaker energy, and according to comments from participants, was one of the best panels they ever experienced.

I had the opportunity during the opening night reception, to chat with the Albanian-American filmmaker sisters Greta and Vilma Zenelaj (who graced the pages of the August 24, Los Angeles Times Calendar Section where they discussed the role of women writers, producers, and directors in the world of film and television), concerning their film, “In the Woods,” which was entered in this year’s festival.

According to Greta, the producer and star, “It’s a thriller/fantasy/suspense feature, 85 minutes in length with a story designed to scare the pants off you.” In the film a young couple go camping in the woods where they meet a stranger, also camping, but all is not as it appears.

Vilma writes and directs the films they produce. Greta produces and acts and together they come up with the basic stories. “In the Woods” is an independent production, shot in 10 days in the San Gabriel Mountains on a budget of $100,000. The two attractive filmmaking sisters are no strangers to the festival circuit. “In the Woods” has been entered in nine festivals; winning three awards in the process.

When I ask Greta what her next project will be she flashes a smile and with a twinkling eye says, “We’re not quite ready to discuss it in print.” These sisters will do well in this tough business that is just realizing women in film are here to stay. The Zenelaj sisters can thank all the women who have gone before, paving the way, from Ida Lupino of the 1950s and 60s to last year’s Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win an Oscar for directing (“The Hurt Locker”).

I can hardly wait for next year’s Big Bear Lake International Film Festival to arrive.

FADE OUT: October/November 2011 – The Sun Runner 39

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he music and arts community is deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend Barbara Buckland. I first met Barbara when we both worked at the Gram (Parsons) Fest in 2006. While watching the Thrift Store All Stars, Barbara said to me, “I’m moving here,” and she did.

We quickly became friends. Barbara was one to follow here dreams, moving to Joshua Tree from Seattle, where she was an evolving spirit on the music scene bringing musicians and artists together and helping develop a community of venues where they could perform. She did the same thing here, organizing benefits for many charities such as Unity Home.

She was a gentle spirit and talented songwriter with a beautiful voice who would ask you to listen to her friend’s music before you listened to hers. She will be dearly missed and a benefit and celebration of her life will be held at a later date.

The 7th Annual Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven Campout held at Pappy and Harriet’s in September was once again a tremendous success. With three nights this year it kicked off on a Thursday with Ashley Raines and an acoustic set from David Lowery and Johnny Hickman from Cracker that brought me to tears.

Friday night everyone dressed as hippies and Ted Quinn started the night with his amazing new band that included Thom Merrick from the Sibley’s, JP Houston, Robbi Robb and Ryan Erskine. He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister wooed the crowd with their tap dancing drummer and flamboyant folk blues. (They are also slated to play the Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival). Camper Van Beethoven once again did not disappoint, running through an almost two hour set of some of their greatest music from throughout the years.

Closing the show was a much talked about set from Gram Rabbit’s alter-ego, The Country. The Cracker fans have embraced the Rabbit’s and look forward to seeing them every year.

(Gram Rabbit also played the Viper Room in Hollywood with Men Without Hats and The Country opened for the legendary Wanda Jackson).

There was also a reunion of The Dangers. Saturday night everyone dressed like cops. We were all kind of hoping the real 40 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

cops would show up just to see the looks on their faces, but with the friendly mellow crowd that never happened. The Calamity started the night followed by The Hickmen (who started out as a Johnny Hickman tribute band and just changed the spelling, and now Johnny joins the band).

Cracker put on one of the best shows I have seen, and I spent a lot of time up front feeling like a kid. As Art Kunkin would say “ It’s never to late to have a happy childhood.”

Thanks to Pappy and Harriet’s, the Campout Crew and all the Crumbs for making Lucky #7 the BEST CAMPOUT EVER!

The Slow Poisoner, a one-man surrealistic rock and roll band from San Francisco will be making an in store appearance at Hoodoo in Yucca Valley on Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. Then you have time to head over to Pappy and Harriet’s and see the Rojer Arnold band at 7:30. And don’t forget the annual Gram (Grim) Rabbits Halloween Party at Pappy’s on Oct. 29. You won’t believe the costumes that turn up.

In celebration of the 10th annual Hwy 62 Art Tours, Arts Council President and Music Director Ted Quinn has assembled HWY 62 Love Songs, a CD of regional music available as a Special Edition Deluxe 10th anniversary Art Tours CD set.

I hope everyone will stop by and say hello to me during the tours on the first weekend, October 22 & 23, where I will be showing my work at Christy Anderson’s studio. Looks like this year is going to be as much fun as last year!

The 7th annual Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven Campout at Pappy & Harriet’s, top left opposite page. Barbara Buckland, opposite page, top photo by Loren Cole.

Ashley Raimes at the Campout, top left this page. I fought the law and the law won—David Lowery from Cracker downs donuts with fans, top right. The Hickmen in action, right.

Ted Quinn and Robbi Robb rock out at the Campout, bottom right. The eminent and dignified columnista Ms. Wishart with Campout poster designer Michael Wertz, below. Don’t forget to visit Judy on the Hwy 62 Art Tours!

October/November 2011 – The Sun Runner 41

Check out Lou’s book: Positive Living with Dr. Lou Gerhardt, A Tough Minded Optimist. You can find it on Amazon.com or through Barnes & Noble.

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any years ago (1965 to be exact) I told my friend, the late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, that I planned to eventually write books, newspaper columns, and magazine articles explaining the importance of a positive attitude in every aspect of a person’s life. He strongly encouraged me to do so. Therefore, in each issue of The Sun Runner I’m doing exactly that.

In this issue I’m introducing you to a man I admire and respect: Eli Marshall, the owner of Marshall Networking, Inc., a tough minded optimist with a positive attitude.

Eli is my kind of guy. He immediately sizes up a particular situation and with his positive attitude and cooperative spirit nighty things get done. It was former Secretary of State Colin Powell who wrote with deep conviction, “perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”

I first met Eli when I learned he was donating 300 turkeys to a non-profit program to help people living in poverty in 2008.

In the next year he donated 400 turkeys.

Last year he donated 500 turkeys. I don’t know his plan 42 The Sun Runner – October/November 2011

for this year but I know whatever he decides to do it will be a generous gift with no desire for publicity.

Eli is a computer brain. He knows all about them. He also knows all about computer networking, phone systems, graphic design and other pragmatic matters. He is a fully qualified representative of Apple. He has two locations in The Sun Runner’s distribution area, on Highway 111 in La Quinta and on 29 Palms Highway in Twentynine Palms.

On the other hand, Eli is a family man with deep love and concern for all people everywhere, especially right here in the hi-desert.

Eli is the president of the board of his local Youth Club, a leader in one of Southern California’s finest non-profits, Dare 2 Care, and a member of the Twentynine Palms Chamber of Commerce.

What a man!

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alifornia’s budget cuts have led to the closure of many of our state parks this fall, and will no doubt also lead to the deterioration, vandalism, and loss of some of our historic, cultural, and natural treasures. This budgetary incompetence has led to changes here in the desert region.

We’re sorry to note that the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area, located within the boundaries of the Mojave National Preserve, has been closed “until further notice.” With the closure, the popular Mitchell Caverns Natural Preserve has been closed, and no more tours of Mitchell Caverns are being given. It is very tempting to recommend locking up our state legislature within the cavern’s depths. If you were thinking of visiting the caverns or exploring this beautiful area—forget it.

Down at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area, New Camp and Bombay Beach (not the town, which is beyond the concepts of anything folks in Sacramento can think up) and the upper loop of Mecca Beach, are now closed until further notice.

Camping at some locations is still available.

Meanwhile, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park visitor facilities remain open on a regular basis thanks to the good folks of the Anza-Borrego Foundation, no thanks to our government.

October/November 2011 – The Sun Runner 43

OCTOBER

The Sun Runner Magazine

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Through Nov. 19: Tehachapi Native American Village Site Tours.

Saturdays, 9 a.m. California State Parks is beginning the fall tour season at Tomo-Kahni State Historic Park in Tehachapi. Although no structures remain on this Kawaiisu Native American village site, the area’s rich history comes alive through the trained volunteer tour guides and the clues that the inhabitants left behind. The tour also includes Medicine Cave, Nettle Spring and a cave with pictographs- a sacred place of the Kawaiisu. Due to the extremely sensitive nature of the site, the only way to explore the park is on a guided tour, which involves a moderately strenuous 3-hour hike. Tour fee is $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 6-16 (age 5 and under are free, but not recommended on tours). Tours are limited to 12 people and fill up fast so reservations are highly recommended, for an additional fee of $10 per party.

To make a reservation or for more information, call (661)946-6092.

Oct. 1-2: Orchid Festival. Orchid classes, greenhouse tours, BBQ, jazz, wine & cheese tasting, and more. Gubler Orchids, 2200 Belfield Blvd., Landers. 1-800-GUBLERS. Oct. 1, 15, 29-31: Silver City Ghost Town Lantern Tours & Paranormal Investigations. 8:30 p.m., guided by J. Corlew. Called one of the most haunted sites in America, this historic ghost town welcomes the public for these tours. Tickets go on sale at 8 p.m. $12. Advance tickets: ghosttown@verizon.net. 3829 Lake Isabella Blvd., Bodfish.

(760)379-5146.

Oct. 7-9: 22nd Annual Lone Pine Film Festival. Celebrating Roy Rogers’ 100th birthday, live stunts, more. (760)876-9103, www. lonepinefilmfestival.org.

Oct. 8-9: 70th Annual Gem-O-Rama. Trona. www1.iwvisp.com/ tronagemclub/GEM-O-RAMA.htm.

Oct. 8-9: AdventureCORPS Furnace Creek 508. The toughest 48 hours in sport. www.the508.com.

Oct. 8-9: Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival. Joshua Tree Lakes Campground. www.joshuatreemusicfestival.com.

Oct. 13-16: Pioneer Days. Parade, carnival, entertainment, contests, old timers gathering, outhouse races, more. 29 Palms. www.29palmschamber.org.

Oct. 15: Archaeopalooza. Take a trip back in time through handson activities and presentations by noted archaeologists, Cahuilla bird singers, Tony Soares, and more. Free. Hi-Desert Nature Museum, 57090 29 Palms Hwy., Yucca Valley. (760)369-7211, www.hidesertnaturemuseum.org.

Oct. 15: China Lake Celebration of Naval Aviation. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Armitage Field. China Lake NAWS, Ridgecrest. www.chinalakecelebration.com.

Oct. 15-16: High Desert Test Sites. Various Locations. www.highdeserttestsites.com.

Oct. 18-22: A Haunting We Will Go. Yucca Valley High School fall production. 6 p.m. nightly with matinee at 1 p.m. Oct. 22. $5 adults/$4 students/under 12 free. YVHS MPR, 7600 Sage Ave., Yucca Valley.

Oct. 21-22: The Farmers (formerly The Beat Farmers). 8 p.m.

Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Rd., Pioneertown. (760)365-5956, www.pappyandharriets.com.

Oct 21-23: 46th Annual Borrego Days Desert Festival. Parade, skydivers, flyover, live entertainment, classic cars, mini-carnival, more. Borrego Springs. www.borregodays.com.

Oct. 21-30: Hwy 62 Art Tours. Open artist studios (100+ participating artists), opening and closing parties, entertainment events. Joshua Tree Gateway Communities. www.hwy62arttours.com.

Gretchen Grunt gets printmakers creating at the 29 Palms Creative Center. See printmaking and stained glass demos and paint your own pottery at the Creative Center during the Hwy 62 Art Tours.

Oct. 22: Malki Museum Annual Fall Gathering. 10 a.m. Demonstrations, lectures, Indian arts, crafts, and games, bird singing, as well as Cahuilla harvest foods and food tasting. Malki Museum, 11-795 Fields Rd., Banning. (951)849-7289, www.malkimuseum.org.

Oct. 22: National Archaeology Day at Calico Early Man Site. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Site hike and interpretation with Maggie Foss and Chris Christensen, flint knapping with Dave LaCoaq, and excavation in the water tower pit with Chris Vedborg. Calico Early Man Site, I-15 at Minneola Rd., Yermo.

Oct. 22-23: The Jaws Are Talking. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park’s collection of jaws will be on display during their National Fossil Day Open House. Many of these fossils of animals who lived in the AnzaBorrego region over the past five million years have never been on display. The Paleontology Preparation Laboratory and the Collection Hall will be open and volunteers from the Paleontology Society will be tour guides. Meet at the ABDSP Visitor Center for a short walk to the Stout Research Center Paleontology Laboratory and Collection Hall.

Oct. 22: 1-4 p.m. Oct. 23: 9 a.m.-noon. www.anzaborregopaleo.org.

Oct. 25: High Desert Mythological Roundtable. Last Tuesday every month, 7-9 p.m. Explore traditional mythologies, folks and fairy tales, in the rich mythological context of the high desert. Facilitated

by Dr. Catherine Svehla, Ph.D. in Mythological Studies. Red Arrow Gallery, Joshua Tree. www.catherinesvehla.com.

Oct. 29: BB’s 27th Annual Halloween Bash. Palm Springs Convention Center. www.partywithbb.com.

Oct. 29: Grim Rabbit at Pappy & Scarriet’s. Annual Grim (Gram) Rabbit Halloween Party. Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Rd., Pioneertown. (760)365-5956, www.pappyandharriets.com.

Oct. 29-30: Spook House at the Historic USO Building. 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd., Ridgecrest. (760)375-8456 NOVEMBER Nov. 2: Music of the People. Concert of 19th century American folk songs, spirituals and Hutchinson Family songs. 6 p.m. $10. Palm Springs High School Auditorium, 2401 E. Baristo Rd., Palm Springs. www.operaarts.org.

Nov. 11: Veterans Day Art Show. Featuring Vietnam era paintings of Phillip G. Schuyler. Historic USO Building, 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd., Ridgecrest. (760)375-8456

For the most comprehensive event listings for the California deserts, please visit www.thesunrunner.com.

To include your desert event listings on our online desert-wide calendar, please e-mail complete event information in text format to: calendar@thesunrunner.com.

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Circle C Lodge

Private oasis offers 12 spacious guest rooms nestled in a lush garden courtyard with heated pool, spa, BBQ pit. Full kitchen, A/C, HBO, phones, continental breakfast.

AAA, extended stay available.

6340 El Rey Ave., 29 Palms, CA (760)367-7615 • 800-545-9696 www.circleclodge.com

EL RANCHO DOLORES MOTEL

A respite for desert travelers since 1940, downtown 29 Palms. Swimming pool, courtyard, A/C, direct phones, satellite TV/HBO. Refrigerators/microwaves, kitchenettes available. Ken Patel, Manager.

73352 29 Palms Hwy., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)367-3528 virtual29.com/a-z/dolores

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Roughley Manor

Bed & Breakfast Inn. Gorgeous 1928 stone manor on 25-acre historic Campbell Ranch. Gardens, elegant guest rooms, fireplaces, grand piano in great room, fine linens, gourmet food, catered functions.

Gary & Jan Peters.

74744 Joe Davis Dr., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)367-3238 www.roughleymanor.com

SUNNYVALE GARDEN SUITES Condo-like suites with a touch of the “old west.”

Junior, 1 & 2 bedroom suites, full kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms, private patios w/barbecues, Cable TV, DVD, patio area, playground, spa and fitness center.

Tony & Cora Naraval, owners.

73843 Sunnyvale Dr., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)361-3939 www.sunnyvalesuites.com

29 Palms Inn

Fine food & lodging since 1928. Lunch, dinner, continental breakfast, Sunday brunch. Art-filled dining room, bar. Heated pool, poolside patio, adobe bungalows. “Oasis of Mara” and trails, near JT National Park headquarters and visitor center.

Paul & Jane Smith, Innkeepers.

73950 Inn Ave., 29 Palms, CA 92277 (760)367-3505 www.29palmsinn.com

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