Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263 Cathedral City, CA 92234 (760) 904-4208 www.cvindependent.com
Editor/Publisher
Jimmy Boegle
staff writerS
Haleemon Anderson
Kevin Fitzgerald
coveR and feature design
Dennis Wodzisz
Contributors
Melissa Daniels, Charles Drabkin, Katie Finn, Bill Frost, Bonnie Gilgallon, Bob Grimm, Terry Huber, Valerie-Jean (VJ) Hume, Clay Jones, Matt Jones, Matt King, Keith Knight, Cat Makino, Brett Newton, Greg Niemann, Dan Perkins, Theresa Sama, Jen Sorenson, Robert Victor, Eleanor Whitney, Rob Wilcox
The Independent is a proud member and/ or supporter of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, CalMatters, DAP Health, the Local Independent Online News Publishers, the Desert Business Association, and the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert.
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
The first months of 2025 have not been kind to alternative newspapers, as three journalism stalwarts have announced major changes due to economic issues.
In February, Triad City Beat, which had served Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, N.C., for 11 years, closed up shop. TCB put out a call for help late last year, asking readers for donations; they raised enough money to continue for a few more months, but not enough to sustain the operation.
“Despite the donations and the community support, there have been insurmountable obstacles to keeping the organization operational, including lack of a business leader and inadequate future funding,” managing editor Sayaka Matsuoka wrote on Jan. 31. “Our co-founder and publisher, Brian Clarey, resigned from Triad City Beat earlier this month and is now working full-time for (the University of North Carolina Greensboro). He was tasked with making difficult life changes after a devastating car accident last year forced him to find a new job.”
Closer to home, the San Diego Reader published its last print edition, with zero fanfare, in February. The Reader will continue to publish online, founder and editor Jim Holman told The San Diego Union-Tribune. Holman cited the rising costs of printing and distributing the weekly print edition, which had been published since 1972, as contributing factors, but said the inevitable shift from print to digital was the primary reason.
“It’s just a technological, cultural shift you can’t deny and you can’t fight,” he told the Union-Tribune
Finally, the Chicago Reader, which has been publishing for more than 53 years, is working its way out of a financial crisis that led to layoffs and pay cuts in mid-January. In a Jan. 14 announcement, the Reader said: “A combination of financial losses, operational challenges, and external pressures has brought the Reader to an imminent risk of closure.”
Fortunately, the publication’s call for donations brought in enough support for the nonprofit newspaper to, as of now, continue publication and make progress on its “path forward.” In a Jan. 31 note to readers, publisher Amber Nettles said the Reader had gotten more than $125,000 in one-time donations as of Jan. 30.
The closure of TCB hit close to home for me, as the paper’s founder, Brian Clarey, started the paper just a year after I launched the Independent, and we often used each other as sounding boards in our papers’ early years. I consider him and Sayaka to be friends. Similarly, I know some of the Chicago Reader folks very well. I serve on the AAN Publishers board of directors with both Sayaka and Reader publisher Amber Nettles, and I’ve watched as they’ve tried valiantly to keep their figurative ships afloat.
I am also heartbroken for these cities. TCB’s final issue includes a couple dozen notes from readers who talked about how important the publication has been to them and their community. Readers of the San Diego Reader’s print edition who don’t consume news online will no longer have a source of vital information. And the mere thought of a Chicago without the Chicago Reader seems unfathomable, as it’s such an institution.
The lesson here is one I’ve mentioned many times before in this space, and will likely mention many times again: Journalism—real reporting, quality writing and good editing—costs a LOT of time and money to produce and distribute. If you don’t support the media outlets you enjoy and value, they will die
Welcome to the March 2025 print edition of the Coachella Valley Independent. As always, thanks for reading. —Jimmy Boegle, jboegle@cvindependent.com
HIKING WITH T
Is anyone seeing wildflowers yet?
Joshua Tree National Park’s Black Rock Canyon is just one amazing place to enjoy the desert in the late winter and spring
recent drive though Whitewater. It was right after a rainy day, and I saw several waterfalls as well. Timing is everything!
I have only seen a few sporadically here and there as of this writing (in mid-February), and this is no surprise, because before a Feb. 13 storm, Riverside County had been experiencing the driest winter on record. Due to this lack of rainfall, many areas across Southern California are experiencing severe to extreme drought.
We have seen an abundance of wildflowers over the past few years due to rainy winters followed by warm, sunny days. Without the proper mixture of rain and sun, there will not be a major bloom, although the recent rains will improve chances of seeing some scattered patches of color, according to DesertUSA’s Desert Wildflowers Overview.
That leads to a question: Where are the desert wildflowers blooming in 2025?
According to DesertUSA, nearby areas where wildflowers can be found include AnzaBorrego Desert State Park, Death Valley National Park, Mojave National Preserve (near Amboy on Route 66) and Joshua Tree National Park. For up-to-date wildflower reports, visit desertusa.com.
This will not be a super-bloom year—but the late winter and spring are still a truly magical time for camping and hiking in the
desert. If you’re in the right place and lucky enough, you might see some wildflowers and quite possibly a glimpse of some wildlife.
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To see wildlife, your best bet is to hit the trails around sunrise or sunset, as that’s when animals are most active. This time of year, you’ll often see young wildlife; this is when majestic bighorn sheep, birds (including burrowing owls, Gambel’s quail and roadrunners) and other animals are raising their young. I was fortunate enough to see a mama bighorn and her three babies during a
If you come across wildlife while out enjoying nature, please practice ethical wildlife viewing. This means if you see wildlife, leave it alone! Viewing wildlife from a distance helps ensure their safety and yours. If you want to take a picture, use your zoom for close-up shots so that you don’t intrude in their space.
One of my favorite local areas—with many interconnecting trails, lots of wildlife and a nature center—is located off the beaten path of Joshua Tree National Park: Black Rock Campground. At an elevation of 4,000 feet with a mix of sun and shade, this 99-site campground (in one of the thickest Joshua Tree forests) is in the northwest corner the park. The best time to visit is from October through May, but the weather can be unpredictable; I’ve seen it snow in the month of April. Visits are not recommended during the summer months due to uncomfortably high desert heat. It costs $35 for a campsite; they have picnic tables and fire rings, with nice restrooms and water nearby. Shopping is only five miles away in Yucca Valley. Campsites vary in size and can accommodate both tents and RVs. A day-use picnic area and a dump station are also available. Dogs on leash may be at the campsites and along roads at the campground, but they are not allowed on trails. Horses are welcome! For horse owners, a separate area is provided for camping and arranging a ride. Reservations are required yearround and can be made the same day or up to six months in advance. For trail maps and more, you can download the National Park Service app prior to visiting the park.
According to the Hiking Project (hikingproject.com), trails in Black Rock Canyon are a great place to see wildlife and unique desert vegetation; there are also pinyon-juniper forests.
Black Rock Canyon offers many trail connections with views of the San Jacinto and San Gorgonio mountains. Black Rock Canyon Trail is a 2.5-mile one-way path, with an elevation gain of 742 feet on a wide and sandy trail with a steady incline that continues towards Warren Peak. The trailhead can be accessed from the Black Rock Canyon Trail parking area, just off Canyon Road, as you enter the campground. After a half-mile, you’ll see the Short Loop Trail at a junction to the left; continue straight ahead and pass the turnoff to the Burnt Hill Trail while staying in the wide wash. After a mile or so, you’ll come across Black Rock Spring; you may find puddles
here and there, or just damp sand rather than actual running water, depending on the season. Continuing on, the trail becomes narrow, and you’ll climb through rock formations. At this point, start looking for the wooden post with initials for Warren Peak Trail (WP) or the Panorama Loop Trail (PT). Taking these routes will add mileage.
Always bring plenty of water. There is little to no shade, and it can heat up fast on warmer days. You’ll need hiking boots or proper hiking shoes with hiking gaiters that will help keep sand out of your shoes. Wear sun protection, and avoid midday heat. Wearing layers is important during the cooler months, as weather can be unpredictable, with high winds and even snow occurring at times. Also, always be alert and keep your eyes open for typical desert inhabitants such as lizards, rattlesnakes, scorpions, coyotes, ravens and desert tarantulas. If it’s your lucky day, you may get to see the amazing desert tortoise—and if so, remember to keep a distance. Bobcats and mountain lions also live in the park, but are rarely seen in populated areas. There’s a variety of birds in the area as well.
Stay safe—and enjoy this amazing time of year!
The roadrunner is a resident of the Black Rock Campground. Theresa Sama
One of the many beautiful campsite views from Black Rock Campground. Theresa Sama
GROWTH FOR WHOM?
BY CECILIA LEMUS
Over the past 30 years, the eastern Coachella Valley (ECV) has undergone significant changes in the name of “growth.” But for many of us, this so-called growth—focused on luxury development catering to tourism—feels violent. It displaces existing communities and drives up the cost of living, making it increasingly unaffordable to live here.
The rise of festival culture and events like the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival have turned the desert into a hotspot for luxury projects. From the Thermal Club, with its multi-million-dollar homes and private racetrack, to the recently approved Thermal Beach Club, with its artificial surf lagoon, these developments cater to wealthy outsiders while neglecting the needs of those who already live here.
In fact, the ECV has become a prime target for developers who view the desert’s open land as their playground. The latest proposal is the Thermal Ranch, an expansion of the Desert International Horse Park (DIHP). The project promises jobs, infrastructure improvements and entertainment—but it’s clear this development isn’t for us.
The developers themselves describe it as “a luxury private club for the patrons of DIHP and the world famous Coachella Valley Polo Clubs,” including multi-million-dollar homes, resorts and a 5-million-gallon water reservoir for a beach club, pool and horses—which can drink up to 30,000 gallons of water daily. Meanwhile, families at Oasis Mobile Home Park, about 10 minutes down the street, still lack access to clean drinking water.
The proposed Thermal Ranch will be less than a mile from Desert Mirage High School, Toro Canyon Middle School, Las Palmitas Ele-
mentary School and nearby mobile home communities. These neighbors will be the first to feel the impacts of the project’s significant and unavoidable effects on local air quality.
The ranch plans to house up to 2,700 horses, which would produce about 140,000 pounds of manure daily. Manure can contain harmful bacteria, viruses and other pollutants. Long-term exposure to manure-related emissions like ammonia and methane, combined with the region’s existing environmental challenges—including the drying Salton Sea—will only worsen the respiratory and health issues already plaguing our communities. Improper manure management could also contaminate our water, creating even more risks for us.
While the project’s promises of job creation and infrastructure improvements may sound attractive in an area with limited opportunities, it’s critical to consider the long-term consequences and to make sure the promised
Luxury developments in the eastern Coachella Valley have negative consequences for nearby residents
benefits don’t outweigh the risks. We are more than a workforce. Luxury developments like this often lead to gentrification and violent displacement, as seen with the survivors of Section 14 in Palm Springs.
This isn’t a new story. Throughout American history, working-class people have been exploited and displaced to make room for the wealthy. Thermal Ranch is just the latest example. Developers often claim that their projects will benefit the community, but these promises aren’t fulfilled. Let’s be clear: Thermal Ranch is not for us. Its focus on exclusivity and luxury proves that its true purpose is to serve the wealthy, not to address the real needs of ECV residents.
We refuse to accept that luxury development is the only path to progress for our communities. Why should basic necessities like clean water, affordable housing and basic infrastructure depend on luxury development?
More than 70 residents, partners and advocates signed onto a comment letter, detailing the harmful impacts of Thermal Ranch and
demanding accountability. We urge decision-makers to listen to the community and prioritize equitable, sustainable solutions that serve everyone—not just a privileged few.
The voices of the community are clear: This project is not welcome. The land targeted for this project is not “empty.” It’s already home to families, schools and land that sustains us. Projects like Thermal Ranch threaten our homes, our health and our future.
Our communities are already rich with strength, resilience and solidarity. Time and again, we’ve shown up for one another. Where elected officials and systems have failed us, we have stepped up. It’s time we center community-driven solutions that prioritize the well-being of people over profits.
Cecilia Lemus, a daughter of Mexican immigrants, was born and raised in the eastern Coachella Valley. A University of California, Riverside, graduate, she works with a local nonprofit, collaborating with ECV youth and communities on environmental justice, housing and transportation issues.
Cecilia Lemus.
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS
BY BONNIE GILGALLON
Jane Friedlander Treacy is a tough cookie. Now 85, she’s a bundle of energy, even after surviving cancer, a broken femur and a near-fatal car accident.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Treacy’s interest in theater started early. Her parents attended the theater often, and her mother bought every original Broadway cast recording as soon as it came out. Mother and daughter would sing along to them often, to the point that Treacy memorized the lyrics.
When her parents took her to see Oklahoma! when she was 3, they sat in the front row. Treacy sang along to every single song, thinking that’s what you did at a show. Afterward, Celeste Holm, who played Ado Annie, brought her up onstage and said, “This little girl has done
this whole show with us!” (Treacy met Holm years later, and she still remembered the incident, Treacy said.)
Treacy began working in theater as a teen. An older cousin who worked for legendary Broadway producer David Merrick hired her to run a little off-Broadway theater called the 41st Street Theatre. “Off-Broadway was very new back then,” Treacy said. “Nobody knew anything about it, so by the time I was a senior in high school, I was the resident expert.”
She promised her parents she’d have a backup plan in case theater didn’t work out; Treacy graduated from Barnard College with a degree in English, and got her teaching certificate.
Treacy produced her first off-Broadway show at the age of 20—the revival of Anything Goes. Treacy and her partner had little money and planned to raise $30,000 to produce the show; they only managed to scrape together $10,000, but managed it anyway. Treacy’s mother and her partner’s mother pitched in, sewing costumes, etc.
“It was kind of like that old Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney movie—‘Let’s put on a show!’” she said “But we did it, and it was a big hit!”
Then Treacy and her partner met Paul Gregory, who was getting ready to produce a
show called Lord Pengo, starring Charles Boyer and Agnes Moorehead. Gregory took them on as associate producers. That show was not such a hit.
Treacy’s partner went back home to Atlanta, so she put together her own company, Touring Theatre, which produced touring shows all over the U.S. and Canada for the next 20 years. Those shows included Zorba and The Odd Couple with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. Treacy’s two employees kept things going at the office while she flew all over the country, checking in on the actors. At one point, there were five different shows out, each in different cities. Treacy remembers once waking up in a hotel and calling the front desk to ask: “Where am I?”
Things did not always go smoothly. Treacy said that during a tour of H.M.S. Pinafore with a Canadian company of actors, an assistant stage manager fell in love with the first flautist, who did not return his affections. At one point, Treacy was called in Montreal at 2 a.m., because the stage manager was accused of sexually assaulting the flautist. Though the allegation proved to be untrue, Treacy had to remove the man, because the company refused to perform with him. At first, Treacy said, Actors’ Equity demanded that Treacy pay the man two weeks of salary, because the alleged assault did not occur on company time.
Meet Jane Treacy, a theater producer, author, philanthropist and dog-sitter, going strong at 85
The powers that be eventually realized the absurdity of that reasoning, and the matter was dropped, she said.
Shortly after that, Treacy got married and moved to Indianapolis. She starting two nonprofit theater companies and returned to her second love—writing and editing. She edited Indianapolis Woman Magazine for five years, and then started Teen Track, a nonprofit newspaper totally run by teenagers.
During their marriage, Treacy and her husband, Jim, traveled a great deal—to China, Ireland, Paris, Finland and so on. They also expanded their family, adopting an 8-year-old girl from Korea they named Mara.
The cold, rainy weather in Indianapolis aggravated Jim’s health issues, so in 1998, the family moved to Palm Springs. Jim continued practicing law part-time and taught at College of the Desert. Treacy went to work for The Valley’s Promise, a program to give teens a boost toward higher education and success later in life.
But the theater bug is persistent. Shortly after her husband passed away, Treacy put her producer hat back on and created Cabaret Theatre West, a local musical cabaret company. It was similar to a group she’d worked with in Indianapolis—but this time, she got to do things her way. She joined forces with her friend Audrey Reed, who had lots of technical experience.
Their first show was Decades, which featured popular music from the 1890s to present-day. The shows, put on at the Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells, were quite successful, and often sold out. But the huge production expenses took their toll, and after five years, Treacy and her partner called it quits.
Then came her first book, Cinderella at 70 The idea came one night after she and a group of friends, all women, had a few cocktails, and wondered what would happen to the women on Sex and the City when they got older. Treacy ran with the idea, and three months later had a manuscript, filled with humor about dating and finding oneself at the age of 70. She found a publisher, and the book was soon for sale.
Treacy’s next book, Cinderella for President, has already been written; she’s just waiting for the perfect time to publish it, she said. A third, I’ve Had It—Have You?, about the frustration older folks have trying to navigate the tech world, is percolating in her brain.
Six months ago, Treacy got married again. Her new husband, Jim Hite, is also in his 80s; he’s a retired psychologist and teacher. They travel a lot and run a successful dog-sitting
business in their home.
A car crash a few years ago that nearly killed her reinforced Treacy’s life view: “Always wake up in the morning and just be glad that you’re here!”
Bonnie Gilgallon also writes theater reviews for Independent and hosts a weekly radio show, The Desert Scene, on Mutual Broadcasting; it can be heard at thedesertscene.com. Her website is www.bonnie-g.com, and she can be emailed at BonnieGnews@gmail.com.
The idea for Treacy’s first book, Cinderella at 70, came one night after she and a group of friends, all women, had a few cocktails, and wondered what would happen to the women on Sex and the City when they got older.
INDIO’S LEAD CHEERLEADER
by Kevin Fitzgerald
In the Coachella Valley’s nine cities, the city managers are vital to the successful and safe operation of their municipalities.
Bryan Montgomery, Indio’s current city manager, stepped into his role in 2021. But what, exactly, does a city manager do? The duties of Indio’s city manager are described on the city’s
website as follows: “The City Council appoints and supervises a city manager, who serves as the full-time chief executive officer of the city and executive director of the Indio Water Authority. The city manager serves as policy and financial advisor to the City Council, prepares the annual budget and implements council goals and objectives. His primary responsibility is to oversee the day-to-day operations of the city by working closely with the city’s executive team in provision of services relating to public safety, community development, public works and utilities, parks and trails, economic development and support services.”
Got all that? The Independent recently spoke with Montgomery.
“I think even in high school, I was interested in government, trying to find something that would make a difference in the world,” Montgomery said. “I thought about a number of options with government, including the foreign service. I had traveled overseas quite a bit, but during graduate school, I had an opportunity to intern for a city, and so I caught the bug. I found out how exciting it is.
“Quite honestly, local government is closer to the people, and … I determined that would be a better opportunity for me to make a difference.”
Montgomery has accumulated 32 years of city-government experience, working in Mesquite, Nev., and Oakley, Calif., before moving to Indio. What skills and traits has he found indispensable for a city manager?
“The first thing that comes to my mind is a thick skin,” Montgomery said with a laugh. “You need to be a business manager, because you’re operating and leading a team. We have almost 350 members on our team, so someone has to be able to lead and inspire people. Also, I manage money, functions and structure, all at the same time, while having five bosses (the City Council) who have 100,000 bosses. There’s a little more complexity than the typical business manager, but that’s what I like to compare it to. … I kind of stay out of the political world and let the City Council lead and set the vision and the priorities. Our goal is to implement those priorities as efficiently as possible.”
City managers are supportive of each other, Montgomery said. According to Montgomery,
there’s a monthly conference call held involving city managers from the cities in Riverside County, and a quarterly meeting hosted by the Coachella Valley Association of Governments. The League of California Cities also holds an annual meeting of city managers and staff members from around the state. Montgomery said he often speaks to the city managers in the eastern Coachella Valley.
“There are so many issues that affect all of us in this smaller region of the valley,” Montgomery said. “For example, IID (the Imperial Irrigation District), transportation and fire services are all issues we talk about often, and that we share in common, and we’re trying to solve those problems together.
“The IID provides power to much of the valley, at least the eastern portion, but the infrastructure is deficient at IID, and we in Indio have come up with an idea … to address the issue. Regionally, we’ve been meeting quite frequently to work on a joint powers agreement. … It’s about representation. Right now, we have no representation on the IID board, because they’re all from Imperial County, yet we have to deal with all of their decisions. So the idea would be to establish a new governing body, and then contract with IID and retain the benefits that come with the fairly inexpensive power that they purchase.”
Another primary function of a city manager is to attract businesses. These objectives are often laid out in multi-year strategic plans that the City Council and city manager’s team develop together. In the 2022-2024 Indio strategic plan, attention was focused on the improvement and development of the downtown area of Indio and the Highway 111 corridor.
“Most significant is the work that’s been done in the downtown,” Montgomery said. “We’ve had a lot of the members of the team working with the private sector and College of the Desert. Our own investment (has led to the construction of) a new library and City Hall. We’ve developed a couple of park areas and activated those for our Food Truck Fridays and a farmers’ market. We have a new stage that we call Center Stage, and we just had a huge event there for Black History Month. So yes, I think we’re finally seeing revitalization of businesses and restaurants, bars and a few
A chat with Bryan Montgomery, Indio’s city manager, about the goingson in the Coachella Valley’s largest city
retail opportunities. College of the Desert has their new building done, and they’re renovating their other building. They also built a smaller child-care facility. In total, their investment alone is about $150 million. City Hall is probably at about 60% completion. The library is maybe 80% done.”
Downtown Indio has welcomed a number of new businesses over the last few years, with even more coming. Two new market-rate apartment developments are rising up along Oasis Street as well. But not as much has happened along the Highway 111 corridor. Montgomery was optimistic that more residential and commercial building will be happening soon.
“The Mathis Brothers (furniture store) made a huge investment, expanding their retail site, renovating the whole lower store as well as adding new development,” Montgomery said. “The Jackalope (Ranch) restaurant that had been closed for some time is now open and operating. Also, along Highway 111, we have a couple of vacant parcels with pro-
posed plans. One is for senior housing with some retail. We’ve renovated the medians up and down Highway 111. … One of the ideas is to beautify the corridor, (since) it’s a little tired and aged. We have a facade improvement program, and we’ve probably done six or seven along the corridor.
“We have a consultant service that helps guide us to retailers that are looking, and we try to match them up to the available retail spaces that we have. There’s been some good success recently. We have Sketchers and Tilly’s … up by The Home Depot. Over the last four years, there’s been a hotel, a Handel’s ice cream, a Pollo Loco, a Chipotle, a Dave’s Hot Chicken and a Jersey Mike’s in that area. It goes on and on. Meanwhile, on the other side of 111 near Walmart, under construction now is an In-N-Out, a Raising Cane’s, a Wingstop, a Salad-to-Go and a Sumo Dog.”
The city is working on a new strategic plan.
“We’re bringing in an outside consultant this time,” Montgomery said. “Last time, since I was new (to this position), I facilitated that
Indio City Manager Bryan Montgomery: “I am at the tail end of my career. This is my 32nd year, and I won’t be around forever. But we’ve made this our home, so I’ll be a cheerleader in Indio for a long time to come.”
first one; I really wanted to know firsthand what the City Council wanted us to accomplish. We’ve sought out a consultant who’s preparing a survey that we’re going to send out to the community to solicit information for the next strategic plan. The (public) meetings will probably start over the next 30 to 45 days. There will be a number of focus groups, as well as meetings with the City Council to bring a new plan to bear. We haven’t quite decided if it will be another two-year plan, a three-year plan or a five-year plan. … I think this summer is when we’re intending to have (a new plan) adopted formally. I would say by July or August, at the latest.”
Another prime responsibility of the Indio city manager is working closely with the city’s police chief, Brian Tully. According to California’s Open Justice website, since Montgomery’s arrival in 2021, reports of many major crimes decreased substantially from the 2014-2019 timeframe. However, over the last few years, major crime reports have started increasing slowly, in categories like violent crime and property crime. When the Independent mentioned this data to Montgomery, he countered with data provided by Tully which showed marked decreases in these same categories and others from 2023 to 2024.
“(Tully) has been presenting a few slides lately that show while our population has been increasing over the last five to 10 years, the crime rate has been going down, or is steady. That’s relevant, (because) showing our population going up would imply the likelihood of more crime incidents, but the reality is the exact opposite. We’re finding Indio to be much safer over the last five years than it was previously. It’s probably true that we continue to have a little bit of a stigma there that we’re fighting, but we’ve been aggressive in it.
“We’ve got an intensive beautification program—we call it Indio Lindo—and we’re trying to build pride in the community with our branding, putting signs up and really marketing ourselves as a progressive, moving-forward city. Part of that effort is to send a message to all residents to take care of their properties, to help their businesses and neighborhoods look nice and fresh, and to let us know if there are crime issues that need to be addressed. … I think that’s been part of the reason that crime has gone down. We just don’t tolerate it anymore.”
In November, Indio opened a new 43,000-square-foot public-safety campus which includes a fire station, a dispatch center and a public-safety service building; it cost $50 million to build. A new police headquarters building is in the design stage and should be completed in the next year.
“We’re working on the functionality of where the offices should be located, and how the flow of the building (should work), but we have the footprint set,” Montgomery said. “It’s
actually the location of the former fire station on the corner of Dr. Carreon (Boulevard) and Jackson (Street).”
Montgomery said he and Tully are sensitive to the wave of fear within Indio’s Latino community due to the Trump administration’s undocumented immigrant deportation initiative.
“Key to that is … helping them feel that the local law enforcement here, and throughout the state, is not involved in enforcing the federal immigration laws,” Montgomery said. “If there’s a crime that they are a victim of, or that they witness, we want them to come forward and feel comfortable to report those crimes and to assist us. They should not be fearful that if they step forward for any reason, somehow, we’re going to be a part of the (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) effort to deport them.”
Chief Tully recently issued a message to Indio’s residents which read, in part: “The Indio Police Department is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all members of our community, regardless of immigration status. Our priority is to foster trust between law enforcement and the public and to show our commitment to all who reside in our community. The department’s mission is to protect and serve all residents with professionalism, fairness and respect. … We do not enforce federal immigration laws, and communication with federal agencies may only occur on very serious criminal matters, such as violent felonies, human trafficking and terrorism-related investigations. … We are dedicated to ensuring a safe and respectful environment for all, where fairness and dignity are always upheld.”
City managers go to work every day knowing that at any time, they could be dismissed by a majority vote of their City Council, with or without cause—even in the case of Montgomery, who was hired with a five-year contract.
“You know, with a majority vote, they could let me go at the very next council meeting, even if I have an agreement, and state law doesn’t allow them to pay through the agreement. … but the council wanted to set a term when I first arrived,” Montgomery said. “So the next time I have my review, which is coming up later this spring … if I’m successful, and they want me to stay on, then the contract could extend a year. If next year, everything’s going well, they could extend it another year—but again, that doesn’t take away their ability to remove me, with or without cause, at any time.
“I am at the tail end of my career. This is my 32nd year, and I won’t be around forever. But we’ve made this our home, so I’ll be a cheerleader in Indio for a long time to come—even if I don’t happen to sit in this office anymore.”
WHERE TO STAY?
Brandon Eugene Owens has stayed in the desert longer than he anticipated. Owens, a musician who grew up in Long Beach and lived near Pasadena, was staying in Palm Springs following a New Year’s Eve event when the devastating wildfires struck Los Angeles on Jan. 7. His mother was evacuated from her Pasadena-area nursing home, so he by Melissa Daniels
brought her to the desert.
After a week in Palm Springs, he and his mother moved to a Motel 6 in Twentynine Palms for a more affordable, accessible place to stay. While he safely returned his mother to another Los Angeles facility, he’s since bounced around at least eight rental properties in the Morongo Basin. Owens has made a habit of jumping from one short-term rental to another, looking to secure affordable weeknight stays between exorbitant weekend bookings.
“Luckily, I’ve been able to survive so far. It’s not sustainable, though,” he said. “Hopefully I can figure out something very quickly that’s more sustainable, whether it’s in Joshua Tree or somewhere else. But it’s very hard to do. There are no short-term leases.”
Owens is one of many people who left Los Angeles after the wildfires and is figuring out their next steps. Around 19,000 people found a free or discounted place to stay through Airbnb via a partnership with 211 LA. More than 160 hotels in the Southwest stepped up with free or discounted rentals in the immediate aftermath, according to Travel + Leisure
Locally, the city of Palm Springs made it easier for property owners to open their homes by easing up on annual rental limits through the end of February. Various hotels from the Palm Springs Hospitality Association gave discounted rates to those coming to stay.
But the influx of evacuees further strained the desert rental market, where low-priced inventory is hard to come by. While services like Airbnb and Vrbo were a boon to desert tourism and bolstered city revenues via increased transient occupancy tax payments, they also brought lasting changes to neighborhood character and increased housing costs. One property manager who spoke to the Independent said some vacation-rental owners are shifting to long-term rentals as tourism demand cools, or to better keep up with their own expenses—but that shift isn’t happening fast enough for folks like Owens to find a place to stay.
Travis Winn, of Joshua Tree, owns a shortterm rental and manages a long-term rental. He said the evacuees exacerbated an existing problem with unaffordable housing.
“I’ve had friends of friends looking for affordable places for people who were displaced, and I do what I can to refer them to others, but we’re kind of booked up,” he said.
While some evacuees are heading back home, others don’t have a home to head back to—or they no longer feel comfortable in what was their home. Jenn Gladysz is a Joshua Tree resident who operates a property-management company called Cocoon that specializes in vacation rentals in the Morongo Basin. She said she’s fielded numerous requests from people looking for long-term stays, and pointed them toward others in her network.
“I’ve seen the market begin to correct itself (as evacuees return home), which is a good thing,” Gladysz said. “But now, (even) with the fires gone, we’re just getting more inqui-
The Los Angeles wildfires have exacerbated the desert’s affordable-housing shortage
ries. People are trying to get out of L.A. and live somewhere else.”
January, she said, is typically slow in the weeks following the holidays—but when the fires hit, she and her team navigated an influx of bookings. Gladysz decided to list Cocoon’s available properties through Airbnb.org to provide more places to stay. Cocoon also relaxed some regulations, like allowing cats on its properties.
“We made exceptions, because we were just trying to make things work for people—offering discounted rates or accommodating their needs,” she said. “We had so many people who just needed to get out of L.A. quickly. They were either evacuated or under evacuation orders, or just needing to get away from the smoke.”
Owens isn’t sold on going back. His Los Angeles-area apartment was not in an evacuation area, but he was put off by bad air quality and the smell of smoke when he returned at one point. He’s also worried about price-gouging, with many studios and one-bedrooms easily costing more than $2,500 a month.
In the desert, Owens has felt welcomed, especially among musicians in Pioneertown and while walking through downtown Joshua Tree with his dog, Svn (“like ‘Seven’ but with no vowels”). He enjoys the local music scene and the vast landscapes. But staying is proving difficult: In the span of two weeks, he had eight different Airbnb stays, which means paying eight separate cleaning fees. Searching for a place to stay is a crapshoot, with properties on the weekends often going for $600 a night or more.
“They can make in a weekend what they’d make in a month, and understand it,” he said. “But because of everything happening in L.A., I can’t be there, and I want to be here. But I can’t really afford to be here.”
These stories are made possible in part by a grant from the IE Journalism Innovation Hub + Fund of the Inland Empire Community Foundation. To submit ideas, comments or questions to the Coachella Valley Independent about housing in the desert, head to tinyurl.com/ housinginthedesert.
OFTEN OVERLOOKED
by Haleemon Anderson
The first Palm Springs Black History Tour, in 2021, was a 100-car caravan that nearly shut down the city.
In a clever attempt to deal with COVID-19 restrictions, participants lined up in their own cars, and the tour commenced with narration broadcast via FM radio. What could go wrong?
Deiter Crawford laughed as he recounts the epic traffic jam. A police escort provided by the city was outnumbered from the start. There was lots of honking from gridlocked motorists, along with some angry gestures. It was chaos, but it taught organizers a lesson: They had a hit on their hands.
Today’s version of the tour happens in a charter bus, or in SUVs and off-road vehicles for smaller groups. The narration is provided in person. However, the mission is the same: to present the greater Palm Springs area through the lens of Black residents whose contributions are an enduring part of the culture.
The tour runs under the banner of Urban Palm Springs. Founder and CEO Deiter Crawford and his cousin, Jarvis Crawford, are fourth-generation Palm Springs residents. They’ve amassed a catalog of information about the Black community here. Their volunteer-based nonprofit, the Palm Springs Black History Committee, partners with the city to provide programming for Black History Month and throughout the year.
This year’s tour program includes an update: The Palm Springs City Council recently approved a $5.9 million reparations settlement for families who were forcibly evicted from Section 14 in the 1950s and 60s.
This particular tour started at Section 14. The plot, a square mile, is bigger than you’d think. The west border runs through the center of downtown Palm Springs. On the eastern border, there are vacant lots where slabs from razed houses protrude aboveground. The tour guides point out a defunct cemetery where Blacks were allowed to be buried alongside Indigenous residents.
The tour winds through the Black neighborhoods that grew out of the razing of Section 14. In the Desert Highland Gateway Estates and Lawrence Crossley neighborhoods, Crawfords point out examples of midcentury modern design. They note the slanted roofs, decorative breeze blocks and floor-to-ceiling windows.
Buildings designed by renowned architect Paul R. Williams are on the tour, as are developments owned and operated by Crossley, a famed entrepreneur. Black celebrities get their due as well; the tour points out where luminaries from Sammy Davis Jr. to Rosa Parks
performed or found accommodations.
About 50 participants, myself included, took a special edition of the tour for Black History Month on Feb. 17. (Normal tours usually have fewer attendees.) The Independent spoke to three attendees and asked them to share their connection to Black history in Palm Springs, and their reactions to the tour.
Nancy Asin and Jack Dimond, self-described “snowbirds” from Ann Arbor, Mich., have been regular visitors to Palm Springs since 2013. Asin grew up in upstate New York, but her parents moved to Palm Desert years ago. She visited them often before becoming a part-timer and considers herself pretty wellversed in the Palm Springs cultural scene. A retired administrator for the University of Michigan Board of Regents, Asin spends about eight weeks here during the winter months. The couple came to the Urban Palm Springs tour on the recommendation of a friend.
“A good friend of ours, she and her husband live in L.A., but they also have a place out here,” Asin said. “She went last year. She told me how much she liked it. She had told me about the documentary Racist Trees and how we should watch it. We did watch it over the past year, so when I got the email saying, ‘You should sign up for this,’ we did.”
Dimond said the tour was informative, but he would have liked better explanations of some of the references.
Said Asin: “When you come here just as a winter person, as a snowbird, you don’t really see any part of the African-American community like that. I thought it was eye-opening to learn about it and see the parts of town where people live.”
Octavious Scott brought 12 people with him on the Urban Palm Springs tour. He said it was important for him that his constituents see where he grew up.
The Navy veteran was elected to the Twentynine Palms City Council in 2022.
“It was awesome,” Scott said about the tour. “I felt like everybody was excited to be there, and it was an honor for me to represent my community and to show people from Twentynine Palms this is where I come from, and this is maybe why I am the way I am.
Palm Springs Black History Tours tell the stories of the city’s talented Black pioneers
“You know, Twentynine Palms is different from Palm Springs. I think when I first got elected, people were like, ‘Why is this guy so politically active?’ Well, I come from an area that’s very politically active. I come from a place where we’ve had to fight for everything that we have.”
Scott owns a home in Desert Highland Gateway Estates. He has family members who live there, and he has known Jarvis and Deiter since his school days. Deiter ran Scott’s successful campaign for the Twentynine Palms City Council.
“Deiter) has been hosting these tours for a while, and as a council member in Twentynine Palms, I’ve been wanting to bridge that gap between our cities, because we’re not close, but not that far from each other,” Scott said.
Scott has family members who were Section 14 survivors.
“My great-grandparents came from East Texas, along with my grandparents on my mom’s side,” he said. “They were on Section 14, and they were displaced. My great-grandparents, they moved to Banning. My grandparents (moved) to the Desert Highland Gateway Estates, where we’re at today.”
Scott said he’s looking at ways to bring more tourism and housing to Twentynine Palms.
“I was showing some of the houses (in Palm Springs) that were self-help construction homes, including a house that I still own in that neighborhood. We actually built (them) through a partnership called the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition,” he said. “That’s one of our things, building homes, because we don’t have a high home ownership rate. We have more of a renter market, so we want to increase home ownership. We’re talking with (the CVHC) now, in Twentynine Palms, to fill that need.”
Yolanda and Cary Eatmon moved to the Coachella Valley because West Covina was becoming too pricey. Married in 2019, they live in Cathedral City, and have worked throughout Los Angeles and Riverside counties in the areas of health care, construction management and arts leadership.
Yolanda said she teaches online classes in business project management at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. She plans to retire this year and is writing a book on the subject from a female perspective.
“It’s from the perspective of a minority in a very heavily financially driven industry,” she said. “(Many minorities) have been limited to either public service jobs or working in com-
munity development or the nonprofit (arena).” Yolanda’s hairdresser invited her to an event with the Palm Springs Black History Committee.
“I call her the welcome line of the Coachella Valley,” Yolanda said. “So, I go to get my hair done in January, and she tells me that she’s getting a lifetime achievement award at the committee’s awards gala.”
The Eatmons went to the gala—and booked seats on the tour.
Yolanda was especially excited about the stops on the tour that paid homage to the architecture of Paul R. Williams. She, like Williams, is an alumnus of the USC School of Architecture.
Willis Edwards, a longtime resident of Desert Highland Gateway Estates who died in 2012, was a contemporary of Yolanda’s.
“He was the guy who started the NAACP awards show,” Eatmon said. “I knew him at Cal State-Los Angeles, so it was a long time ago.”
For Eatmon, the tour reinforced a phenomenon she has encountered throughout her life: the inter-connectedness of Black communities. It motivates her to keep working, and she said she’s looking for ways to contribute the expertise she has gained throughout her career, and to get more involved with the community here.
Urban Palm Springs provides two tour options: the Palm Springs Black History Tour (2-3 hours) and the Black Modernism Architectural Tour (2 hours). Tours depart at 2 p.m. from the Palm Springs Visitors’ Center, 2901 N. Palm Canyon Drive. For tickets or information, call 760-641-4652, or visit urbanpalmsprings.com.
Jarvis and Dieter Crawford are cousins and fourthgeneration residents of Palm Springs. Photo courtesy of the city of Palm Springs
NEWS
DISCUSSING DYING
by Cat Makino
They sit around a table eating cake and sipping tea while talking about death. To some, it might sound creepy—but not to Eduardo Santiago, who attends a death café where he talks about his fears of and feelings about death.
Death cafés take place in cities around the world. It was a concept developed by Bernard Crettaz, a Swiss sociologist who organized the first death café in 2004. Bernard’s approach to death and dying pushed for open, honest dialogue, which became the cornerstone of every death café. The cafés are held in restaurants, community rooms and homes; they can also be held online, and are usually open to anyone, of any age.
“People don’t want to talk about death,” said Santiago, who goes to the Idyllwild Death Café, which takes place at 2 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at the Spirit Mountain Retreat. “It’s socially dangerous, and even at home, people don’t want to talk about it. They think it’s creepy. I want to talk about it, because I’m curious about understanding death and preparing for it.”
Born in Cuba, Santiago grew up in Los Angeles. A writer, he’s a two-time PEN Emerging Voices Fellow, and has won numerous other awards for his novels, short stories and nonfiction pieces. Santiago found the café useful after his father died. His father was distant, let him down and didn’t know how to have a relationship with him, he said.
“I went to the café and was able to say my father died, and I was glad that he was dead,” he said. “I felt grief when he was alive and relieved when he died.”
Furthermore, his mother used the specter of death to discipline him and his siblings.
“When we were little and being bad, three little boys, being rambunctious, she would always pretend she died,” Santiago said. “She would say, ‘You’ve killed me this time,’ and she would drop down on the floor and stop breathing. We would go into a panic, screaming, ‘Mom, Mom! We’re sorry; we’re sorry. Come back!’ We thought she died.”
After Santiago talked to the group about his feelings surrounding his father, he felt understood and relieved.
“(The group) had a group discussion about it afterward,” he said. “They talked about their relationships with their parents and how they didn’t have the courage to understand that when their family members die, sometimes they, too, felt relief. It comforted me, and I didn’t feel so alone.”
Ari Simon, one of the Idyllwild Death Café facilitators, is an engagement specialist, producer, coach and grief-care worker. “A lot of us are taught if we’re feeling sad or hurt or upset, we shouldn’t burden other people, that they don’t want to hear about death, and we don’t want to be a ‘Debbie downer,’” Simon
said. “But the more we normalize this topic, it can help our psychological health and help everybody.”
Simon said a death café is especially important in a place like Idyllwild.
“I am emphasizing the community part, because we’re a small town of 3,000 people, and one of the largest concerns about living here is that we’re far away from a lot of medical care,” Simon said.
Simon said he’s experienced the harm that can happen when people don’t have the tools to deal with death.
“In college, my best friend and roommate died, and the university did little to support my group of friends and me,” he said. “The message we mostly heard was, ‘Do your best; keep on going, and make it to graduation. Maybe if you need some counseling, you can come to the counseling center.’ We were young and had no idea what other options could look like. There wasn’t any willingness to have conversations around this out in the open.”
Bronwyn Jones is Simon’s co-facilitator at the Idyllwild Death Café. “We have taken death out of the home and out of the community and put it in hospitals and care facilities so people don’t have that experience of it being a normal part of life,” Jones said. “Everyone had the experience of death when they were growing up.”
Both Simon and Jones noted that the café is also a place to discuss practical matters, like new burial options such as the mushroom burial suit, a biodegradable shroud with mushroom spores. The suit is designed to break down the body naturally, without harming the environment. Another alternative burial method is alkaline hydrolysis, or “water cremation,” which is marketed as a greener, cleaner form of cremation that breaks the body down using a high pH solution.
Having a monthly place where people can share information—for example, if someone knows about a great hospice facility or nurse—is valuable, Jones said. “We’re doing a lot educating and sharing information with
Death cafés give attendees safe spaces to talk about emotional and practical matters surrounding loss
each other so that we can be better guides to ourselves, and to the people we love in our community and in our life around death,” Jones said.
Anyone can run a death café, and Jones pointed out that topics can extend beyond physical death.
“There are all kinds of death in this life,” Jones said. “The loss of a job is a death, and people can come to the death café and talk about the job or the divorce that they’re going through or a pet that just died. They’re beside themselves. People come with all kinds of issues of loss and grief. It’s not therapy. It’s
not counseling. The counseling is sharing experiences and feeling safe to talk about what they find is difficult to talk to just anybody about. It’s a safe and loving space.
The Idyllwild Death Café takes place from 2 to 4 p.m., every second Tuesday of the month, at the Spirit Mountain Retreat, 25661 Oakwood St., in Idyllwild-Pine Cove. Learn more at www.spiritmountainretreat.org/calendar. html. Planning Ahead for LGBTQ Seniors holds an online café via Zoom at 2 p.m., every first Thursday of the month. Learn more or register at palsinthedesert.com.
Idyllwild Death Café co-facilitator Ari Simon: “The more we normalize this topic, it can help our psychological health and help everybody.”
“Nothing is impossible! The word itself says I’m possible.”
~Audrey Hepburn, Icon
It takes a positive attitude to achieve positive change. At Eisenhower Health, we’re enthusiastic about the possibilities of modern medical technology. Take our extraordinary new simulation center — the only one of its kind in the valley. There, medical teams practice and perfect the latest medical procedures on realistic manikins that sweat, bleed, cry, and even communicate with learners using AI. Our urologists offer aquablation therapy, a groundbreaking ultrasound-guided, robotic-assisted, heat-free BPH treatment that yields excellent outcomes. We have 29 state-of-the-art operating rooms, including several dedicated to robotic surgery. With seven da Vinci robots, and nine Mako platforms for ultra-precise hip and knee replacements, the robotic surgery program is one of the largest in Southern California. Of course, we make new technology a part of every future expansion, including our Cardiac Pavilion, which will feature seven leading-edge interventional labs. At Eisenhower Health, the progress is in the planning. And we’re always planning ahead.
CV HISTORY
ICasa Cody, Palm Springs’ oldest continuously operating hotel, was started by a shrewd businesswoman after the death of her husband
Casa Cody was built and established by Harriet Dowie Cody, a woman who faced difficult choices following the death of her husband in 1924. She was not only able to make a living for by greg niemann
t was an enterprising woman who started building Casa Cody 100 years ago—and today, it endures as the oldest continuously operating hotel in Palm Springs.
herself and her young daughter, but created an enduring contribution to Palm Springs.
Cody was one of many women who played vital roles in the early development of Palm Springs. Others included Nellie “Mother” Coffman, who ran the Desert Inn with resolve and compassion, and Pearl McManus, who built both the Oasis Hotel and the iconic Tennis Club.
A direct descendant of Sir Thomas Moore, Harriet Cody was born into one of the wealthiest families in Philadelphia in 1884. She was a proper, conservative Vassar College graduate who in 1910 married a young architect, Harold William (Bill) Bryant Cody. One of Bill’s cousins was purportedly the famous cowboy-turned-showman Buffalo Bill Cody.
Bill Cody got a job with Bliss and Faville, a San Francisco architectural firm, and the couple moved to California. However, Bill soon contracted a serious lung disease (either pneumonia or tuberculosis), so they left the cooler, damper Bay Area and settled in Hollywood, hoping for a more temperate climate.
In Southern California, Bill was hired by the esteemed Myron Hunt; the firm’s design projects included the Riverside Congregational Church, the Bridges Hall of Music at Pomona College, and a remodel of Riverside’s famous Mission Inn. (Cody is not related to William Francis Cody, who lived from 1916 to 1978 and was an influential Palm Springs architect.)
Bill’s consumptive condition worsened; the couple rented out their Hollywood home and moved to the even warmer and drier climate of Palm Springs. They initially lived in a small cottage next to the Desert Inn, where Harriet was befriended by the inn’s magnanimous founder and owner, Nellie Coffman. Harriet later reminisced, “She is the soul of goodness, a woman who gave help to many, as she did to me, and yet left the recipient still in possession of her self-respect.”
For a while, Bill was able to work and contribute to the couple’s livelihood. He was hired to design an ornate Moroccan-style home for Chicago socialite Lois Kellogg, the wealthy heir to the Charles P. Kellogg manufacturing fortune. Born in 1894, Lois had departed Chicago’s Millionaire Row for adventures in the California desert. Lois
became enamored with the area while staying at the Desert Inn, and in 1919, she purchased land just south of Baristo Road, between Indian Canyon and Palm Canyon drives. In 1921, work began on the grandiose project there with Bill as architect and Alvah Hicks as contractor. However, Lois was constantly on the scene and demanded changes on an almost-daily basis. When Bill died in 1924, work stopped, and the home, nicknamed “Fool’s Folly,” was never completed.
As Bill’s condition worsened, he eventually needed 24-hour care—and Harriet had to make ends meet. Trying to live on the Hollywood rent, they bought a tract of land with the last of their money. When their Hollywood tenants started missing payments, they became desperate. Harriet quite literally became a horse trader, and traded for an old gypsy camp wagon and two horses. She also traded the Hollywood house for 80 acres of land in Palm Springs.
The Codys camped out in a tent and started renting out the horses. Harriet Cody established the city’s first riding stable at the corner of Palm Canyon Drive and Ramon Road. She bought more horses, including quality ones from Lee Arenas, the popular Cahuilla leader. She rented horses for $5 a day and began boarding horses for visitors, including movie cowboys like Tom Mix and Jack Holt.
By the time her husband passed away in 1924, she had 35 horses. Harriet was an accomplished rider, and wore jodhpurs and monogrammed silk blouses advertising the stable when she went on promotional visits to the Desert Inn.
Harriet realized that real estate was a better way to succeed than horses, and began to engage in several profitable real estate deals. An income was thus secured for her and her daughter. She then dusted off some of her husband’s old plans and, in stages, built the Casa Cody, an intimate inn in the Tennis Club neighborhood, at 175 S. Cahuilla Road.
The hotel opened in the early 1930s and soon became the stomping grounds for many members of the Los Angeles arts community. Charlie Chaplin, opera singer Lawrence Tibbett and novelist Anaïs Nin all spent time at Casa Cody. A stage was built in the hotel’s Adobe House, and Tibbett’s piano was kept
on premises for performances and parties. Gen. George Patton stayed at Casa Cody while training troops in the nearby desert.
Harriet’s daughter, Patricia (Patsy), married Bill Rogers, a cousin of humorist Will Rogers, and after her mother’s death in 1954, she ran the Casa Cody. After Patsy died, the property changed hands several times. In 1986, Casa Cody was purchased by Frank Tysen and Therese Hayes, who expanded and remodeled it. They bought property next door, which was part of the Francis Crocker estate.
Casa Cody, as the oldest operating hotel in Palm Springs, has been designated a Class 1 Historic Site by the city. The small boutique hotel still engenders a feeling of history, with
charming tile-covered rooms, restful lawns and gardens, and citrus trees, all bordered with bright magenta bougainvillea. Today, Casa Cody is owned by the Caseta Group, which also manages boutique hotels in Big Bear, San Diego, Malibu, Los Angeles and Taos, N.M.
Harriet Dowie Cody (1884-1954) is interred in the Wellwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs.
Sources for this article include Palm Springs: First Hundred Years by Mayor Frank Bogert (Palm Springs Heritage Association, 1984), and “Pioneer Harriet Dowie-Cody never gave up” by Renee Brown, The Desert Sun, Aug. 23, 2018.
Harriet Cody. Courtesy of the Palm Springs Historical Society
MARCH ASTRONOMY
Planets and Bright Stars in Evening Mid-Twilight
The month brings spring, Ramadan, a total lunar eclipse, and much more
For March, 2025
This sky chart is drawn for latitude 34 degrees north, but may be used in southern U.S. and northern Mexico.
MBy Robert Victor
arch 2025 features Venus transitioning from the evening to the morning sky, with a bit of overlap; the year’s best evening appearance of Mercury; Jupiter and Mars against stellar backgrounds; the moon’s maximum northern and southern excursions, a kind of phenomenon observed at Stonehenge; a close scraping of the moon with a horn of Taurus; and a total eclipse of the moon!
Saturday, March 1: Did you spot the first crescent moon in twilight early last evening (Feb. 28), 18° to the lower left of Venus and just 2° to the lower left of Mercury? As the first visible moon of this lunar month, last night’s 2 percent, 26-hour crescent marked the beginning of the month of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar. This evening, spectacular sights await: In the west, brilliant Venus
(magnitude -4.8) is 6° to the upper right of a 6 percent crescent moon, and Mercury (magnitude- 1.0) is 11° to the moon’s lower right. While sky is still bright, binoculars will show Venus is itself a crescent, 14 percent full and 50 arcseconds across. High in the southwest as it darkens, find bright Jupiter (magnitude -2.3) with Aldebaran and the Hyades cluster 5°-10° below. High in the east, Mars (magnitude -0.3) forms a nearly isosceles triangle with Pollux and Castor, about 7° from each.
March 4: At nightfall, find the Pleiades star cluster within 7° to the upper left of the 33 percent moon, and 5.7-magnitude Uranus 4.5° to the lower left of the moon and 8° to the lower left of Pleiades.
March 6: A rare event will take place tonight, involving the 54 percent moon and the 1.7-magnitude star Elnath, “the butting one,” marking the tip of the northern horn of Taurus, the Bull. Tonight, the moon appears farther north during any other time in darkness hours during the current 18.6-year cycle of the wobbling of its orbit, or “lunar nodes regression.” Almost every month, the moon passes south of this star, but tonight at about 8:52 p.m., as seen from a narrow track less than a mile wide across the southern portion of the Coachella Valley, including Palm Desert, the moon will graze Elnath, causing the star to disappear and reappear behind the mountains on the moon’s edge. A telescope at high magnification will be needed. Palm Springs will see a very narrow miss, with the moon almost touching the moon’s mountaintops.
March 7: At dusk, the 65 percent gibbous moon appears about two-thirds of the way from Jupiter toward Mars. Mercury reaches greatest elongation, 18° from the sun, tonight, and is 7° to the lower left of Venus. Mercury still shines brightly at magnitude. -0.5, but will fade more than a magnitude to +0.6 by March 12.
March 8: At dusk, the 75 percent moon appears 2° to the north of Mars and about 5° from the “Twin” stars, Pollux and Castor. Daylight saving time begins on Sunday morning,
which makes for later clock times for sunrise and sunset.
March 9: At dusk, the 84 percent moon is about one-third of the way from Mars toward Regulus, heart of Leo, the Lion.
March 12: Saturn is in conjunction with the sun, moving into the morning sky, but will remain hidden from our view all month. The rings in its equatorial plane are presented edgeon to the sun twice in each 29-year circuit. The next time this occurs will be at Saturn’s autumnal equinox on March 23, but unfortunately, Saturn will be only 10° away from the sun.
March 13: Tonight there will be a total eclipse of the moon The moon begins to enter the umbra, or circular dark central core of Earth’s shadow, at 10:09 p.m. The umbral shadow will appear very dark at first, but as more of the moon becomes immersed in shadow, colors should become noticeable. By 11:26 p.m., the moon is completely within the umbra, and the total eclipse begins. It is around this time, and when the moon starts to emerge at 12:32 a.m., when the greatest range of colors is likely to be seen. The eclipse is likely to appear darkest at deepest eclipse at 11:59 p.m., when the Earth passes closest to the center of Earth’s shadow. The umbral eclipse ends at 1:48 a.m.
March 14: The moon, just past full, rises within an hour after sunset. Three hours after sunset, look for Spica 18° to the lower left of the moon.
March 15: The moon rises within two hours after sunset. Three hours after sunset, look for Spica about 6° to the lower left of the moon. By an hour before sunrise on Sunday, the moon will appear within 4° to the lower right of Spica.
March 17: At sunset, Venus is nearly 12° to the sun’s upper right and displays a crescent only 2 percent full and nearly one arcminute across, easily resolved in binoculars.
March 20: Spring begins at 2:01 a.m. in the northern hemisphere, as the sun shines directly overhead on the equator. An hour before sunrise, the 69 percent moon appears 2° to the lower right of Antares, heart of the Scorpion.
March 21: An hour before sunup, look for Antares 10° to the upper right of the 59 percent moon.
Evening mid-twilight occurs when the Sun is 9° below the horizon. Mar.1: 40 minutes after sunset. 15: 39 " " " 31: 40 " " "
March 22: This morning’s southeastern moonrise (2:16 a.m., or 4.5 hours before sunrise in Palm Springs) is the southernmost in the 18.6-year cycle of the varying inclination of the moon’s orbit to Earth’s equatorial plane. The 49 percent moon passes due south less than 27° up at 7 a.m., 14 minutes after sunrise.
March 27: This is your last chance this month to catch the moon in the morning sky. About 35 minutes before sunrise, look between the east and the east-southeast for a 5 percent crescent moon. About 21° to the left and a little north of east, look for Venus. Binoculars and telescopes show it’s still a crescent, now 2 percent full.
March 29: The moon is new this morning at 3:58 a.m. This marks the end of Ramadan.
March 30: Tonight, the compact triangle of stars of magnitude 2, 3, and 4 to moon’s upper
right are the brightest members of Aries, the Ram. Jupiter is in Taurus, 7.7° from Aldebaran, and Mars is in Gemini, while passing 4° south of Pollux.
Gatherings of the moon, planets and stars are illustrated on the Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar. For $12 per year, subscribers receive quarterly mailings, each containing three monthly issues; learn more at www.abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar.
The Astronomical Society of the Desert will host a star party on Saturday, March 22, at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor Center; and on Saturday, March 29, at Sawmill Trailhead, a site in the Santa Rosa Mountains at elevation 4,000 feet. For more information, visit astrorx.org.
Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968 and still helps produce an occasional issue.
Stereographic Projection
Map by Robert D. Miller
Deneb
March's evening sky chart.
ROBERT D. MILLER
It’s quiet now in Cathedral City Cove. This peace is new for Michael Hayes.
“My house is now finally becoming, once again, a home for us,” he said.
For the past few months, he and his neighbors near Grandview Avenue and Elna Way have been subject to a barrage of insults and slurs from a woman whose home is adjacent to theirs. She had been a contentious neighbor since she moved into the Cathedral City enclave seven years ago, according to Hayes, but her attacks ramped up after the November election.
Hayes said he and husband, David Skinner, were miserable, never knowing when a tirade of racist, homophobic obscenities and praise for MAGA and Donald Trump would blare out, disturbing their home of 20 years. Even his dogs were traumatized, Hayes said.
In mid-January, the woman began using a megaphone to spew the hateful words. NBC Palm Springs later dubbed her “the bullhorn bully” and put video of her on The Roggin Report. That’s when things changed.
On Feb. 10, the Cathedral City Police Department held a community meeting and announced they’d cited the woman for three violations of the municipal code: maliciously disturbing others, using offensive words in a public place, and willful disobedience of a court order. They confiscated the bullhorn she’d used to amplify the verbal attacks. Hayes told the Independent he’d reported his neighbor to authorities multiple times. He had been granted a restraining order
against her, which expired in October. The recent escalation with the bullhorn was resolved, at least for now, thanks to media attention, and three neighbors agreeing to press charges. The police investigated, interviewed the woman and cited her, submitting the case to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office to determine whether criminal charges will be filed.
While these disturbances in Cathedral City Cove have stopped, other hate incidents have been taking place around the western Coachella Valley.
In Palm Springs, three people were arrested and charged with assaulting a trans woman. Vandals ripped pride and other flags off the patio at Palm Springs Cultural Center and trashed them. Homophobic slurs were lobbed at the co-owners of Monster Shakes.
The list goes on. Cathedral City Police
recently investigated a “credible threat,” made as a comment on a Facebook post, against Cathedral City LGBT+ Days. As a result of the post, which encouraged “someone (to) drive through in a semi or something (and) do us all a favor,” officials announced they would increase security measures for the upcoming LGBT+ Days, taking place March 7-9.
There is a palpable sense of outrage that all of these hate incidents could happen in a region celebrated for its embrace of diversity. The second Trump presidency, with its attacks on DEI, has emboldened a small minority to speak hatred and intolerance out loud, and to act on it in extreme cases.
In response, concerned residents have organized protests, while Palm Springs and Cathedral City officials have held community meetings.
At separate meetings, police from Palm
Springs and Cathedral City clarified the difference between a hate crime and a hate incident. While many verbal exchanges do not rise to the level of a crime, Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills and Cathedral City Police Investigations Cmdr. Jon Enos both encouraged the public to report any instances of hate speech, bullying or acts of verbal aggression.
Mills appeared at a recent meeting of the Palm Springs Human Rights Commission to reassure commissioners that the police department is paying attention.
“Regardless of whether it’s a hate crime or a hate incident, yes, we want to know,” Mills told the Independent. “And the reason we want to know is because we can track trends, as well as (ask): Is this person heading toward a hate crime of some kind? In other words, is that person heading towards building up the courage or the mental instability to (commit) a hate crime?”
No Such Thing as a ‘Save Haven’
About 40 people gathered at Anthony Bartscher’s ice cream store in downtown Cathedral City on Feb. 15 to socialize over ice cream and other treats. Georgia Tournai organized the “demonstration of love” on social media, as a show of community support after learning that Bartscher had been harassed. Bartscher said he decided to speak out after a woman drove by Monster Shakes in Palm Springs yelling an anti-gay slur.
Hundreds of people rallied on Presidents Day at Palm Springs City Hall to protest the actions of the Trump presidency. Credit: John Taylor continued on next page
“She never even exited her car,” he said. “ We’ve had people say stuff in the store, but when they said it to my husband and my son, I was just like, ‘This is just ridiculous.’ I mean, I’m getting close to 50, so I’m not new to this. I’ve always been kind of the tough one, like, ‘All right, whatever.’ But now it’s time for me to be tough in a different way and fight back. I’m thinking it’s time to take a stand—you know, come together as a community and let it be known: This is not acceptable.”
Bartscher runs the two Monster Shakes stores with his husband, Kyle. They recently franchised the business and plan to sell the Palm Springs location.
“I said, ‘You know, maybe we should do like a town hall meeting at the Cathedral City store, because that store could hold a ton of people, and really start getting into how we can do something as a community and not let this be a problem,’” Bartscher said.
Carvalho said. “That really shifted the entire valley. I mean, Cathedral City became a place to be. … We were responsible for bringing a rainbow crossing to the city. That was my first mission on the Public Arts Commission as chair. That activity, the involvement with the council, was unbelievable. We were the first city to (designate itself a) sanctuary city, the first city in the valley to do that.”
Carvalho said the community needs to return to the political activism that helped make the region such an inclusive place.
“We are in a bit of a bubble, being that we’re in the greater Palm Springs resort area,” he said. “We’re predominantly LGBTQ. The (entire) valley is not, though; the valley is very conservative.
“ These kinds of things are happening in areas that people assume are safe havens, right? Unfortunately, there is no such thing. ”
— Alan Carvalho Cathedral City resident
Alan Carvalho has lived in Cathedral City for 14 years. His husband, Shelley Kaplan, was a City Council member from 2014-2018. At the Feb. 10 community meeting, Carvalho urged the current City Council to be more visible, especially at public events in support of inclusion.
Carvalho told the Independent he remembers a time not long ago when council members led protests and pushed for action.
“During that time, with Shelly Kaplan, John Aguilar (and Greg Pettis), the three of them were a force to be reckoned with,”
When this is happening with Trump, well, you’re going to get people with stupidity and anger and hate coming into our neighborhood. It still shakes up the neighborhood with all kinds of threats happening, and the flags being torn down at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.
“These kinds of things are happening in areas that people assume are safe havens, right? Unfortunately, there is no such thing.”
Don’t Just
Post—Report
Cathedral City Police Chief George Crum addressed a nearly full chamber at the Feb.
10 community meeting. Many residents said they want the police to do more.
It’s not a “both sides” issue, said one attendee. “We are dancing around the fact that the climate has changed,” said another. Crum explained that making a complete police report for any incident is the best practice.
“A social media post is not a reported crime,” he said.
He assured the crowd that the city is taking precautions to ensure the safety of public events like LGBT+ Days. He suggested holding meetings more frequently, where residents can voice concerns outside of the restrictions of formal City Council meetings.
Ryan Hunt, communications and event manager for Cathedral City, told the Independent that residents often post mentions of hate incidents on social media, but neglect to report them to the proper authorities. He emphasized more information and sources increase the likelihood that law enforcement
has the details necessary for an investigation.
“You have to report the crime,” Hunt said. “We’re trying to get people to take that next step and call our lines. If it is an actual emergency, call 911, in every case. But if it’s more of a disturbance, call the general line. But we need more people to call in these things when they see them and when they experience them.”
Cathedral City’s non-emergency police phone number is 760-770-0300. Palm Springs’ is 760-327-1441.
Security and safety are on everyone’s mind as a number of high-profile public events are coming up. Chief Mills said police are always working in the background. They do not monitor social media—that would be a privacy violation, he said—but the department does have software that searches the dark web for potential threats.
Mills said Palm Springs Police have added extra surveillance at the airport, and that the monitoring of suspicious activities is ongoing.
“We’re doing a lot, but we can always do more,” Mills told the Independent. “I want to do everything we can, within reason, to make sure that we’re keeping the community as safe as possible. I think doing more is having an impact in several things. One, we use technology to our advantage to track groups and persons who are making threats. You have to try to determine where the person is—is it a real, realistic threat? If you take a look at it, and the person is living in their mother’s basement in Ohio—well, I’m not too concerned about that one.”
Mills said there has been an uptick in
Members of the community pose for a photo at the Palm Springs Cultural Center on Feb. 4. A vandal or vandals tore down various flags at the Cultural Center, including the pride flag, several days before. Photo courtesy of the Palm Springs Cultural Center.
Dozens of people, including supportive police officers, showed up to "a demonstration of love" at Monster Shakes' Cathedral City store on Feb. 15. The event was a response to a woman yelling gay slurs at the Palm Springs location. Credit: Haleemon Anderson
reports of hate speech in Palm Springs, but there has not been a rise in hate crimes.
“We are actively working the destruction of flags at the Cultural Center, but that’s it,” Mills said.
A Boost in Security
Security will be stepped up for the Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards on Saturday, March 29, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The fundraising gala supports DAP Health; last year, The Chase raised $2.3 million for client services. Now in its 31st year, it is one of the valley’s most anticipated events.
Deborah Chapman is director of development for events and partnerships at DAP Health. For the first time, all attendees of The Chase will need to provide their first and last name, an email address and a mobile phone number. She said DAP Health is also adopting the checkpoint system that was used at the recent Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala, and tweaking it for The Chase.
“Everyone who has a ticket will have to pass a police checkpoint before they enter anywhere around the Convention Center—possibly multiple checkpoints,” Chapman said. “Previously, anybody could just drive up to the front of the Convention Center, leave their car and walk away. The Convention Center and the Police Department are working together to build this program. I don’t know if it will be as high of a threat issue as the film festival, because, obviously, there were celebrities and whatnot (at the film fest awards gala), but we have this different element that is a threat to our community in certain ways. We want to make sure that we are ahead of it.”
Cmdr. Enos said Cathedral City Police will boost security at events like LGBT+ Days, even if it is not obvious to attendees.
Cathedral City Police investigated a "credible threat" left as a Facebook comment on a KESQ News Channel 3 story about Cathedral City LGBTQ+ Days.
just for this specific event, but in general. Also, in light of the concern that the community has, obviously, we want to ensure that they feel safe being part of this event.”
Enos said his involvement in the community goes well beyond his job. He said community meetings during these fraught times are beneficial for everyone.
“ Regardless of whether it’s a hate crime or a hate incident, yes, we want to know. And the reason we want to know is because we can track trends, as well as (ask): Is this person heading toward a hate crime of some kind? ”
“Public events like the Bed Race and LGBT+ Days weekend will have specific operations planning involved,” Enos said. “Our SWAT team has ‘Overwatch,’ where people aren’t going to see them, and that’s obviously for a specific reason, but they are there. In light of what took place in New Orleans (where 15 people died on Jan. 1), the department has taken a little bit more of a focus in ensuring that the target has been hardened in and around the City Hall—not
— Andy Mills Palm Springs Police Chief
“I think it (will) hopefully reassure the community that we’re on their side,” he said. “I’ve been with this organization for over 20 years. I grew up in this city. I’ve worked here for a very long time. I graduated high school here. The LGBTQ+ community has been on our side since day one. We have never had any issues. They’ve always helped us out. So, for us to be able to meet and answer questions, it works in both parties’ interest to provide clarification and information.”
Police will not only be present at LGBTQ+ Days; they’ll be actively involved, as a competitor in the weekend’s signature event, the Bed Race.
“We go head-to-head with the fire department,” Enos said. “We haven’t won in a while, you know, and hopefully we can change that.
But we will be out there. We will make sure that the event is safe for everybody, that security is on the forefront and is adequate. We’ll have people out there, officers that will be seen, and officers that won’t be seen, so that everybody can just have a good time and feel safe.”
No More Taking Rights for Granted
On Presidents Day, Courageous Resistance of the Desert and other groups organized a protest, in conjunction with the National Day of Protest, on the steps of Palm Springs
City Hall. Hundreds of protestors listened to speakers while waving signs. The protest’s target wasn’t hate incidents, per se, but opposition to recent actions by President Trump.
Carvalho said the community needs to be active to protect hard-fought gains that had been taken for granted.
“It really does take a village,” he said. “As a proud gay member of this close and very empathetic community of LGBTQ+ residents, I won’t be silenced by hate, homophobia and racism.”
A woman who attended the gathering at Monster Shakes spoke about the gravity of the moment in which the country finds itself. Laurel—she asked to be identified by just her first name—told the crowd she moved back to the Coachella Valley from Texas three years ago. Like so many others who moved to the desert to live their authentic selves, she said she is terrified at what she’s seeing on the news.
“I’m here because I cannot tolerate this hate,” she told the crowd. “We all have to stand up. We cannot allow it—race, gender, religion or anything—to get in the way, no matter how much we shake inside. I left my home and gave everything away to start over for my daughter, so she’d have a chance. And the hate is here. It is not OK.”
Back in Cathedral City Cove, Michael Hayes is enjoying the quiet.
“It’s like a miracle right now,” he said. “But I’m (still) a little nervous. I’m scared, to be honest. I’m scared to death that any moment now, it could start again.”
A rally-goer shows his protest sign at the Presidents Day rally at Palm Springs City Hall.
Credit: John Taylor
DO-GOODER
REUSE, RECYCLE, RAISE FUNDS
By MATT KING
Ever heard of a car boot sale?
Popular in the United Kingdom, car boot sales feature vendors, families and others filling up their trunks (known as boots in the U.K.), and opening them up to sell produce, household items, personal possessions and other wares at an open-air market. It’s across-thepond’s version of a swap meet—but with cars!
You can see a cart boot sale for yourself on Saturday, March 15, when the influencers known as the Car Boot Kings bring a car boot sale from the U.K. to the Coachella Valley. The TikTok phenoms and stars of the Car Boot Kings documentary are hosting a car boot sale at Coachella Valley High School in Thermal to benefit the high school, and to share a U.K.based tradition with Americans.
During a recent interview with James Taroni, one of the two Car Boot Kings, he discussed how he and Andrew Walsh started a recurring car boot sale.
“I was 17, a young lad,” Taroni said. “I went to a car boot, and I was amazed by all of it. I was like, ‘Wow, this is an amazing thing.’ This was 30 or 33 years ago; me and my friend Andrew, we went to this event and decided to do the car boots ourselves. We researched the market, and there was no Saturday car boot, so we thought we’d establish a Saturday car boot, and that was the acorn that planted this massive oak tree.
“The love affair with car boots in the U.K. is just phenomenal. It’s the biggest pastime on a weekend. It surpassed golf, surpassed football, and it’s just this massive event all across the U.K. It’s a community; it’s recycling; it’s reusing; and it’s just gone bonkers, really.”
Taroni gushed about the joys of car boot sales
“It’s a win-win for everyone,” he said. “Everyone wins, whether they are saving money, earning money, (enjoying) a day out for the family, or they do the steps. A lot of people come just to walk around in the fresh air. It beats going to all these big supermarkets, all these big malls, and I love it.”
British television network Channel 4 produced the Car Boot Kings documentary in late 2023, chronicling the goings-on at car boot sales, as well as the captivating personalities of Taroni and Walsh. The network became acquainted with the duo thanks to their social media presence.
“I do a lot of TikTok; I do a lot of Instagram, a lot of Facebook, and that’s set us aside from the rest,” Taroni said. “It’s family laughs, a bit tongue in cheek. They followed us for about four months, and they were majorly interested in doing a TV series, and they still are—but
Channel 4, if you Google, their budgets aren’t the greatest. The viewing audience was amazing. We had people who turned the TV on and watched the full hour. We gained momentum as the documentary aired, and we had a young audience, which is great.”
Taroni will be making the trek to Thermal solo, leaving his family and fellow Car Boot King Walsh behind.
“He’s going to stay and run the U.K. side of this, so I’m happy to come across,” Taroni said. “I spoke to my wife, and she’s happy for me to go across. I’ve got five children. I’m going to leave the whole family for the week, but it’s a massive opportunity to come to your side of the pond, and it’s just exciting.”
The event is being hosted at Coachella Valley High School due to the school’s connection with U.K. radio personality and publicist Barry Tomes. The Independent documented Tomes’ working relationship with the high school’s Digital Design and Production Academy late last year, and the car boot sale is a continuation of the collaboration between CVHS and personalities from U.K.
“Barry is a very amazing guy,” Taroni said. “He reached out to us. He has a love affair with car boots and markets and just reusing things. It’s such a throwaway society.”
The CVHS car boot sale will benefit the school and its academies and activities. The $20 charge to sell at the sale will go directly to the school. Various classes and clubs will also have their own car boots set up, allowing them to raise funds directly.
“Our car boots that we run totally benefit everyone,” he said. “We let every charity in free of charge. We let anyone in for good causes. …. I think it costs us personally about 500 pounds a week. … If we help someone else, it will come back in other ways, and that’s why it’s successful, because we make this effort. If you look at any of our posts, if people are struggling, we let them in free. If they can’t pay their bills—they can’t get the presents on the table for the kids at Christmas or food on the table—we let people in. People come, and they’re really appreciative.”
Taroni conceded that a car boot sale may not actually be all that original in America—
The Car Boot Kings bring a U.K. tradition to Thermal to benefit Coachella Valley High School
where we have swap meets and garage sales— but he said he hopes the community aspect and the British charm will both help out CVHS, and encourage reusing and recycling.
“I know there are markets in America, but the car boot idea, it’s not really been done there,” Taroni said. “… It’s a good fundraiser for everyone involved, whether it’s for schools, or whether it’s for communities. Everything (people buy usually) gets thrown away. You get on Amazon, and you get something new, but if you can recycle and reuse it, it’s just a win, win, win, win. There’s no negative.”
Taroni promised that a car boot sale is much more fun than shopping online or at a chain store.
“It’s easy to get on Amazon and order it to have it delivered 24 hours later, but at the car boot, we have fresh fruits, market traders, fresh meats, and it’s not in a stuffy supermarket,” Taroni said. “We find so many people who come, walk around, get their bargain, get their vegetables for the week, get their meat for the week, and get things at a fraction of prices. So many units are closing down. Rates have gone ridiculously high, and taxes have gone crazy, so a lot of things just get thrown
away, because there’s not an avenue to get rid of them.”
Taroni invited readers to attend the car boot, or even become a vendor, to raise funds for CVHS, get rid of some things, and earn some extra cash.
“It’s a good way of decluttering,” he said. “I know people do garage sales, which is quite easy for the larger items, or people put them on Facebook Marketplace and eBay, but with the car boot, people can physically touch things. They can see what they’re buying. There’s none of this, ‘We’ll send it back,’ waste of time stuff. They come; they see what they’re buying; and they walk away. … It’s a bit of fun, but underneath, it’s a good thing. It’s recycling. It clears people’s houses; people get a bargain; people save money; and people earn money, so they’re happy. There’s nothing better than having 300 pounds in your pockets.”
The Car Boot Sale will take place from 7 a.m. to noon, Saturday, March 15, at Coachella Valley High School, 83800 Airport Blvd., in Thermal. The event is free. If you’d like to be a seller, the cost is $20, and you can purchase a spot online, or at the school’s Associated Student Body office.
Car Boot Kings.
ARTS & CULTURE
LIVE FROM INDIO
By MATT KING
David Spade has enjoyed a variety of creative successes, including six years on Saturday Night Live, a long list of film and TV credits, and a pair of long-running podcasts.
He’s also an extremely funny standup comic, and will perform at Fantasy Springs on Saturday, March 15. Spade will be co-headlining with the co-host of both of his podcasts, fellow SNL alum Dana Carvey.
During a recent phone interview, the Los Angeles-based comic talked about January’s devastating fires. Spade made the news after personally offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who identified an arsonist.
“We were shooting this movie, and it really was just scary at first, and then the movie got pushed back, and then … you’re just dealing with the air and everything else,” Spade said. “It’s not ideal for anyone living here, but everyone just keeps moving forward.”
The comedian starred in the hilarious Funny or Die video David Spade Hates Coachella, in which he roasts the crap out of our local music festival. That said, Spade said he’s looking forward to performing in Indio.
“I do like to golf when I can get out there,” Spade said. “It’s just hard to take that little jaunt out there. People like to lowball and go, ‘If you go at the right time, (the drive takes) about 14 minutes.’ I’m like, ‘Well, when I go, it seems to be three hours.’ I’ve played (the Coachella Valley) a lot. It’s gone well, and I like it. The crowds are good, so I’m all for coming back.”
Spade said this is the first time he and Carvey will be co-headlining an evening of comedy together. Spade said they are still deciding how the night will go.
“This is sort of an anomaly,” he said. “We’ve gotten offers before, but haven’t done them together. … It’s a great venue, and I think we’ll pull in a nice crowd and see how it goes. We haven’t figured out the logistics. We might have each of us go on and then do a little Q&A at the end. We’ll figure it out, but it should be a good time.”
Spade and Carvey have been producing a pair of podcasts over the past few years. Fly on the Wall started as interviews with other former SNL cast members, and has since evolved to include interviews with other celebrities, while Superfly features the friends having a laugh together.
“(Doing podcasts) sounds easier than it is, and that’s why there are over 3 million of them right now,” Spade said. “I read that recently on Google, and that sounds high, but it sounds about right. It’s a very tough thing to keep doing and crack the code of how to do it. I’m with Dana, who’s easy to bounce off of, and always is interesting and funny.
Between the two of us, we have one we do just ourselves on video, Superfly, and we riff about stuff, and the other one, Fly on the Wall, where we interview people … the interviewing is harder, because you have to stay on themes, stay on track with their life, and keep getting them to talk, which is harder than it seems.
An hour is a long time if you’re trying to keep it interesting … but we’ve gotten into a groove. It’s been a couple of years now, and we have a good time doing it.”
Spade said they feel an obligation to the podcasts, despite other things going on in their careers.
“It kind of blew up, so we’re like, ‘Hey, this is worth putting some time and effort into,’” Spade said. “When you do something else, that’s when it gets hard. I had a day off from the movie and did two Fly on the Wall interviews, and then flew home from a show yesterday in upstate California and did another Superfly. I don’t have many days off from the movie, so it’s very complicated.”
That movie is Busboys, a comedy film he’s self-funding, producing and starring in alongside Theo Von. He said the experience has been different from his other Hollywood movies, because it’s a personal project
“It’s a little harder, because this one, we did from the ground up, got some financing and put in money,” Spade said. “Theo Von and I wrote it and didn’t try to sell it. We just said, ‘Let’s just do it,’ so that was a backwards way to do it. It’s kind of fun, because it’s our little thing, and then you have something that might be worth something one day … At least we got to film in L.A. I asked for L.A., and we did it, and I’m really glad, because there are crews and great people who work here who love working in town.”
Spade explained that production companies haven’t been utilizing Los Angeles as much as they did several years ago.
“I think with those strikes and with COVID and stuff, movie companies lost money, and then they have to pay everyone more—which was fair—but sometimes they start shooting
David Spade, performing at Fantasy Springs with Dana Carvey, reflects on Hollywood, podcasting and ‘SNL’
overseas during a strike, and then they get in the habit of that,” he said. “We’re just trying to do one in town, just to get the ball rolling, like, ‘Hey, everybody. L.A. is cool. It’s beautiful. Let’s do things here. This is Tinseltown, don’t forget.’”
Even though it’s been almost 30 years since Spade was a Saturday Night Live cast member, he still talks about and reflects upon his time on SNL every day—because he made such an impression during his stint on the show.
“I have to say that I get asked about it every day,” Spade said. “That just shows you the impact. I haven’t been on it forever,
but I’m just a piece of the whole history of it. Being an alumnus, I’m proud I did it. I’m happy it gave me so much. … It’s fun to hear everyone’s different stories on the podcast, and everyone’s different (answers to): What happened after? What was it like before? How did it feel? There are just so many crazy parts, and everyone agrees it’s stressful.”
David Spade and Dana Carvey will perform at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 15, at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84245 Indio Springs Parkway, in Indio. Tickets start at $82. For tickets or more information, visit fantasyspringsresort.com.
David Spade.
ARTS & CULTURE
DOUBLY CREATIVE
By MATT KING
The world today is so stressful that some creatives need two artistic avenues to keep sane. A new exhibition at MAD.KAT Gallery in Rancho Mirage is dedicated to well-known musicians who are also creators of visual art. Sound & Vision: The Visual Art of Recording Artists will showcase a different creative side of 18 musicians from Saturday, March 8, through Saturday, April 12.
During a recent interview with Russ Tolman—the partner of Kim Tolman, gallerist and curator at MAD.KAT—he said he was thrilled to return to the Sound & Vision format after a successful first edition.
“We came up with the idea last year, and I don’t really remember where the spark came from, but we did it, and it was such a success, we thought, ‘Well, we’ve got to do it again,’” Tolman said. “We have some returning artists, but we also have a whole batch of new ones and some pretty exciting ones as well.”
Tolman—himself a musician and artist whose work is included in the show—was shocked to find so many other creatives who double-dip into music and art.
“When we started researching and looking for people, there were folks who we had no idea also did visual art,” Tolman said.
Tolman went on to share information about the artists showing works at Sound & Vision this year. I decided to pair each participating artist with a musical gem, usually from their own catalog.
“Cheryl Bentyne was in The Manhattan Transfer, the 11 Grammy Award-winning jazzvocal group,” Tolman said. “Her art is the most unusual. She buys vintage lamps, and then she creates new lampshades for them, either painted or put together herself—and they’re pretty amazing. She’s kind of an outlier.”
The 1980s was a time for stunning, creative and funky lampshades, so check out the extremely funky ’80s disco jam “Spice of Life” by The Manhattan Transfer—a song you just might hear while shopping for unusual lampshades.
“We have Exene Cervenka from X, who does collage,” Tolman said.
X is one of the greatest punk rock bands ever, and their blazing-fast, crunchy rock inspired the evolution of punk rock and other heavier styles of jams. Because Cervenka’s art is collages, my song choice is a musical-collage, of sorts. “True Love Pt. #2” by X is a funky, dance-style groove with Cervenka and fellow vocalist John Doe quoting lyrics from nursery rhymes, Elvis Presley, Funkadelic and others.
“Marti Jones, who used to be on A&M and RCA, does her painting under her married name, Marty Jones Dixon,” Tolman said. “She’s married to Don Dixon, who co-produced the
early R.E.M. records with Mitch Easter.”
Jones’ oil paintings feature people, and her brushing techniques add a layer of intrigue and mystery to the subjects and settings. “The Ghost on Every Corner” by Marti Jones is a haunting tune that combines subdued, slightly jazzy instrumentals with ethereal melodies, evoking a similar sense of mystery.
“Jill Emery, she does very interesting, naïve paintings,” Tolman said. “She was in Hole and Mazzy Star, the bass player.”
Naïve art is a movement where artists who do not have formal training create works, resulting in creations and choices that are uncommon among more seasoned artists. Emery’s works combine simple line drawing and coloring to pay tribute to her musical heroes, or depict important people and moments in her life.
“Be My Angel” by Mazzy Star is a simple song on the surface, with a repeating 4-chord structure, but the melodic vocals, reverb-filled slide guitar, and expansive production express a beautiful feeling that love can be so simple.
“Juliana Hatfield does what she calls OCD art,” Tolman said. “A lot of her pieces are just very teeny-tiny, interconnecting circles done with a pen. She was in the Blake Babies, and she’s currently in the Juliana Hatfield Three. She was also in the Lemonheads for a while.”
“I See You” by Juliana Hatfield is pure garage-pop charm, and the chorus line, “I see you in every place I go,” can be a mantra for those who view Hatfield’s art. On the surface, Hatfield’s art is merely shapes and faceless figures, but perhaps you’ll see someone, or something, in her artistic creations.
“We have Shinji Horimura, who is from Otaka, Japan. He’s a taiko drum player, but he’s also an artist, and his themes are kind of a combination of traditional Japanese art and homoerotic themes,” Tolman said. “He’s an interesting outlier.”
While Horimura has not released any music of his own, taiko drumming has been expressed creatively through a number of different recording projects. “Harvest” by Joji
MAD.KAT Gallery’s ‘Sound & Vision’ exhibit shows off the visualart talents of renowned musicians
Hirota and the Taiko Drummers is an intense number that spans moments of soft groove and brutal drum power, similar to the nuanced ways in which the artist explores both the male figure and Japanese culture in his art.
“Gill Landry, he’s a two-time Grammy winner with Old Crow Medicine Show, and he’s a traditional painter,” Tolman said. “He lives in this town in the middle of California called Three Rivers, which is near Sequoia National Park. The area is called Cinnamon Canyon where he lives, and that’s the name of this new album, and all the paintings are of the theme of living remotely. He has a bathtub that’s outside, that he puts wood underneath to heat the water. His paintings are all about the themes of his album, and his rustic life in Three Rivers.”
A song from Landry’s Cinnamon Canyon Blues that ties into his nature paintings is “Always Here Tonight,” a somber, guitar-led narration that uses minimal instrumentation to emphasize the power of memories, and what can run through your mind when escaping into nature.
“Jon Langford, he was originally in a British punk rock band called the Mekons, who are still around,” Tolman said. “John has done 14 or so albums, mostly on Bloodshot Records out of Chicago, and he’s pretty well-known in the Americana scene. He’s also a pretty noted visual artist. He (had a February) exhibition at La Luz De Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, which is kind of a big hipster gallery.”
Langford’s art embodies the punk-rock
ethos, but also showcases how the musician has jumped from punk to folk. Subjects of his art range from dead musicians who deserved to be celebrated, to small animals who are misunderstood; lyric verses fill the artist’s paintings. Of course, there are some skulls. “Where Were You” is an artsy jam from the Mekons; the scorched stylings of the punk riffs fit right in with Langford’s attention to skulls, cowboy hats and Western aesthetics.
“Stefan Murphy is a great Irish singersongwriter,” Tolman said. “He’s based in Dublin, but he was living in the U.S. for a little while, and he ended up in Nashville, and so he started a punk band in Nashville. Now he flies back from Dublin to tour with them in the U.S., and I think they’re currently doing a European tour.”
Murphy’s art deals in the abstract, with strange shapes, lines and bright colors dominating his work. “Sagittarian Boy” is one of Murphy’s most abstract tunes, with sporadic synths and delayed vocals creating a mind-bending soundscape.
“We have Johnette Napolitano, who you should know from Concrete Blonde, who had a couple of multi-platinum records. She lives in Joshua Tree,” Tolman said. “Her art is a little bit more of the assemblage, found-art variety.”
If this desert-based rocker found pieces for her assemblage art in Joshua Tree, than I assume we’ll feel some dusty punk energy, similar to the crunchy yet fiery jam “God Is a Bullet” from Concrete Blonde.
“Blue Desert” by Exene Cervenka, mixed media collage (cropped).
ARTS & CULTURE
“Jeb Loy Nichols is an interesting fellow,” Tolman said. “He’s a printmaker and an Americana singer-songwriter. He’s originally from Wyoming, but he lives in Wales, and he’s been there for 15 or 20 years. He makes linocut prints. When you do a print like that, no two are exactly the same because of the process. He often does musicians, like James Brown, Jonathan Richman, Gil Scott-Heron and Alice Coltrane.”
Nichols’ song “Don’t Drop Me” sees the musician bringing twangy, country guitar and brooding vocals into the world of disco funk. The results are some fantastic mixed-genre grooves, just like the mixed colors and text in his linocut prints.
“Then we have Fredrik Nilsen,” said Tolman. “There was this group out of L.A. called LAFMS, the Los Angeles Free Music Society, in the mid to late ’70s, and they were all artists and musicians. Fredrik is currently a professional photographer, but his exhibit is a little bit about the history of the LAFMS, and some photographs of the early, early days.”
Nilsen’s extremely weird track “Our First Date” offers a small glimpse into the wildly experimental vibes and recording techniques of the LAFMS, through oscillating synth loops, guitar noodling and robotic vocals.
“We have a fellow named Nathaniel Russell, who I know from the Bay Area, because we used to work together at a record label,” Tolman said. “He’s now back in his native Indianapolis, and he’s a musician. He’s released some records under the name Birds of America. He’s also a pretty well-known visual artist, and we’re very happy to have his works in the show.”
Russell’s art focuses on everything from birds to space to death, and his mixed-media pieces utilize poetics and typography to make some works look like comic strips; others look like propaganda posters. His lo-fi jam “Bloodsucker” uses poetic lyrics and driving acoustic guitar to craft a deeply artistic folk song.
“Rennie Sparks, she’s from The Handsome Family, and The Handsome Family have a pretty good following in the Americana scene,” Tolman said. “Their song was the theme song for the first season of True Detective. She paints a very naïve style, and each painting is titled after one of their songs.”
Sparks’ artworks are beautiful depictions of animals, like snakes and coyotes. “24-Hour Store” by The Handsome Family combines simplistic and soft repeating guitar, while howling vocals and lyrics relating to loneliness place the track somewhere in the middle of the desert—away from everything, but surrounded by so much.
“We also have Deb Talan, who used to live out here in California,” Tolman said. “She and her husband at the time had a group called The Weepies, who were pretty well-known
and toured the U.S. a lot. Deb actually has a new record that just came out, and she’s quite an interesting painter, a little bit in kind of a naïve style.”
Talan’s new record includes an artistic jam titled “Summerwill,” about the hope that a new season brings.
“I paint abstract, with kind of a midcentury modern influence,” said Russ Tolman
Tolman’s works combine colors, shapes and more for an interpretation-inviting experience.
The reimagining of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam” by True West, Tolman’s band, may be most appropriate when it comes to putting music to his art, as his musical mind was able to make sense of one of Floyd’s most psychedelic, brainmelting tunes, while still keeping an artsy element.
Tolman didn’t mention Chuck Prophet, a solo musician and member of desert rock band Green on Red, but his mixed-media collages will also appear at the gallery.
Prophet’s solo song “Summertime Thing” crafts a spacey, experimental and artsy vibe through starry guitars and reverb-twinkling drum production, perfect for staring at the combination of strange elements present in his art.
“Finally, a fellow named Kurt Ralske, he had a band in the ’90s called Ultra Vivid Scene, and they were a shoegaze band,” Tolman said. “He is now the head of the (media) art department at Tufts University in Boston.”
Ralske’s art explores visual illusions, combining shadows and dark lighting with stacked, printed images to create light-bending illustrations. It’s hard to tell exactly what is going on in each piece, but there are bits and pieces of figures, trees or street lights. Ultra Vivid Scene’s effects-dominated track “Blood Line” entrances listeners with slow drums, reverbed guitar and somber vocals, sharing the vibe of his artwork.
Fans of the artists’ musical works can catch an intimate concert with three of the featured exhibitors at 7 p.m., Friday, March 7, at Little Street Music Hall. Tickets are $20 in advance on TickPick, or $25 at the door.
“To make it a little more feasible for some of our acts to come and be at the exhibitions, we’re doing a concert the night before with Gill Landry, Jon Langford and myself,” Tolman said. “I’ve heard rumors that there may be some music here at the show, but we’re not advertising that. If it happens, it happens. We want people to come to look at the art—not because they might hear some free music.”
Sound & Vision: The Visual Art of Recording Artists will run from Saturday, March 8, through Saturday, April 12, at MAD.KAT Gallery, 71590 Highway 111, in Rancho Mirage. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, or by appointment. The exhibition is free to view. Learn more at gallerymadkat.com.
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ARTS & CULTURE
GROWING LAUGHTER
By MATT KING
The local comedy scene has been growing, forcing comics and event organizers to accommodate the rising tide of local laughs.
Take the Coachella Valley Comedy Fest. For the past three years, the festival took place at Coachella Valley Brewing Company, where 30-plus comics performed inside the brewhouse, near the bar area and on the outside patio.
This year, the festival is moving to Little Street Music Hall.
“It was just a natural move,” said comedian and Comedy Fest organizer Dacoda Miracle. “I have done a lot of events with Little Street, and they’ve been great partners with me in the
past, so it just felt like a natural progression.”
The Coachella Valley Comedy fest will run Thursday, March 20, through Saturday, March 22. More than 40 comics are set to perform across 10 different showcases and headlining shows. Miracle said the move to Little Street was necessary to meet the demands of the growing local comedy world.
“CVB has been a great partner, but for the fest to grow and expand and hold more capacity, it was just time to move it,” Miracle said. Little Street Music Hall has been an increasingly popular venue for creatives over the past year, hosting concerts, comedy nights and more in the space—which is 100% indoors.
“I do like the aspect of not having to worry about weather,” Miracle said. “Last year, we had a big wind storm come through, and we had to not only stop the vendors, but we had to move all of the shows that were planned for outside, to go inside. It was a headache that the comedians would prefer to not go through again.”
Miracle listed two top comedians attendees will want to see.
“This year, on Thursday night at the 8 o’clock show, we have Avery Pearson doing his Quitting Comedy hour,” Miracle said. “Avery has worked with a lot of people. He actually wrote and performed at the ESPYs with Steph Curry just a few years ago, and he works a lot with Adam Ray, who does the Dr. Phil show on Netflix. He’s worked with a ton of different performers and comedians, usually in the musical genre.”
Miracle said Irene Tu is a can’t-miss performer on Friday.
“She’s headlining the 6 p.m. and the 8 p.m. show, and she is a San Francisco-based comedian,” Miracle said. “She’s opened for Patton Oswalt and Taylor Tomlinson, and she’s just making a big name for herself at the moment.”
Filling out the lineup are other touring comedy acts, and a whole lot of locals.
“A lot of performers seem to be taking
note of the Palm Springs scene and reaching out, wanting to come out and join in the fun,” Miracle said. “The local scene has grown exponentially. … Year in, year out, or every time I talk to someone new, it’s just growing and growing.”
Local comedians make up much of the lineup, which Miracle said is a sign of the growing scene, even though the local comedy world recently took a hit with the closing of The Rock Gallery in Palm Springs.
“We have about 50 local comedians now, (some who) have just started in the last year, or have been doing it for the last six, seven years,” Miracle said. “Even with the closing of The Rock Gallery, there are still quite a few performers out there opening up their own open-mic nights and stuff with local venues.”
Miracle said the desert lacks one big thing: a comedy club.
“A designated comedy club is what the valley needs,” Miracle said. “People are looking for things to do outside of the big casinos and the big shows, and there are plenty of up-and-coming performers who can’t sell out a 2,000-seat venue, but they would destroy a 200-seat venue. That puts a middle ground into what kind of performers you could see in the valley, because at a certain time, it was: You’re either going to an open mic night to see a local showcase, or you could see Jerry Seinfeld. Having these places like Little Street Music Hall, and if there was another comedy club that could open up, you’re now getting to see these middle performers who are one step away from getting a gig on SNL, or doing a comedy special and stuff like that.”
Josiah Gonzalez, one of the owners of Little Street Music Hall, said comedy shows are important for the venue.
“We’ve always talked about having an ecosystem for musicians to thrive, and we didn’t foresee it, but that ecosystem is also where comics thrive,” Gonzalez said via email (due to illness). “It’s became a natural partnership, because we share many of the same needs and audience.”
The Coachella Valley Comedy Fest moves to Little Street Music Hall for three days of a comedy-club vibe
With only a handful of comedy shows under the venue’s figurative belt, Gonzalez has been impressed by the local comedy scene.
“I’m surprised by how connected they are to the bigger scene in Los Angeles and San Diego,” Gonzalez said. “They network like crazy and have developed relationships with tons of SoCal heavy hitters in the scene. It seems like a tight-knit community.”
On a good night, Little Street’s comedy nights are as packed as their concerts. The venue trades rock ’n’ roll stage lights for a dark, comedy-club vibe, and instead of standing room for dancing and moshing, the space is filled with chairs and couches. Even though Little Street will continue hosting comedy shows, Gonzalez echoed Miracle’s
desire for a comedy-only space in the desert.
“Just like music, you need places to perform,” he said. “The more space people are given to practice, the better the product becomes. I’m seeing promoters and producers developing concepts and growing their following as a direct result of having more places to perform.”
The Coachella Valley Comedy fest will take place from Thursday, March 20, through Saturday, March 22, at Little Street Music Hall, 82707 Miles Ave., in Indio. Individual tickets for events start at $6.99; VIP day passes start $69.99, while a VIP three-day pass is $139.99. For tickets and more information, visit the event’s Eventbrite page.
Dacoda Miracle: “A lot of performers seem to be taking note of the Palm Springs scene and reaching out, wanting to come out and join in the fun.” Robyn Baynks
COACHELLA VALLEY ONSCREEN
By HALEEMON ANDERSON
Local film company -223 entered their very first movie in the NVISION Latino Film and Music Festival last fall.
That film, a 13-minute short named The Ranch, won Best Local Film honors. Winning the award was a confidence-booster for partners Aiden Gonzalez, Ian Lopez and Antonio Gonzales. They had previously produced a couple of music videos for local musicians, but nothing on the scale of The Ranch. They shot the film entirely on location in Coachella and funded it themselves. Aiden wrote and directed, with Antonio credited as director of photography, and Ian as 1st AC (assistant camera).
“It’s never really stated in the film—but obviously, it’s where we are,” Aiden said. “… All of us grew up here, I would say, second generation. Our parents grew up here for the most part, and I have a lot of history here. … Back in the day, Palm Springs was the happening (place) during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and we’ve just been known (recently) for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. I mean, I grew up and still live about three minutes away from the Polo Fields. … I really like the culture that we have here and the community that’s within the valley.”
Aiden describes The Ranch thusly: “This film centers on a grandson’s dilemma of whether to sell his dying grandfather’s land that he grew up on, whether he should sell it and pursue his own path, or take up his grandfather’s mantle and run the ranch himself.”
The story grew out of a real-life situation. When he was 17, Aiden spent time caring for his mother, who died from cancer.
“It’s not autobiographical,” Aiden said. “I did draw from my life a bit, like, for instance, my grandfather, he’s still alive, but he does own the property that I’ve lived on my entire life.”
During the pandemic, Aiden, Antonio and Ian hunkered down and binged films. They discovered they shared a passion for great filmmaking; they enjoyed dissecting what they watched to learn what makes a good story good. They studied the greats and didn’t let the fact that they are entirely self-taught be an obstacle.
“We watched movies a lot,” Aiden said. “Watching YouTube, you know, they say when you copy someone, that’s the biggest compliment. Obviously, we don’t want to plagiarize, but you take techniques; you take compositions. When we were in pre-production for the film, I was texting Antonio and Ian a bunch of old Renaissance paintings. It’s such a great resource to just mimic their composition, because that’s one of those things where the average viewer doesn’t really think about it, but it does play an important role.”
One of Ian’s photos became the poster shot
for The Ranch. He said he looks for ideas from music videos that he can incorporate into his photography.
“I draw a lot of inspiration from certain directors of music videos—not necessarily big-time movie directors,” Ian said. “You have such a little time in music, maybe a threeminute or four-minute song, to make sure every scene looks pretty. When you’re taking a photo, you’re capturing the moment and kind of making it last forever. … That’s the way I learned—just YouTube and drawing inspiration from shots that I think look nice, and trying to put my own twist on it.”
The trio has found creative ways to get around high production costs. Shoots are scheduled around their day jobs. They work with a small group of dedicated friends and family, and they shoot in the daytime— lighting gear is not quite in the budget just yet. Antonio said finding a way to make things work is part of the adventure.
“So, Ian’s in nursing school,” Antonio said, “Aiden works for a hospital; I work at a gym, and yeah, that’s just things to keep us afloat. Aiden’s more on the writing end, but visually for me, I’ve just always loved watching movies and trying to piece together how they light this scene, or why this looks that way. This is something I’m super-passionate about, and getting to work together with Aiden, on as limited of a budget as we had, to try to make something that looks beautiful, with basically zero lighting and just access to sunlight—you know, that was fun.”
They recently submitted The Ranch, which can now be viewed on Vimeo, to the Palm Springs International Shortfest. While they wait for word on whether it will be accepted to the Oscar-qualifying festival, they are in pre-production for their next film. The working title: Que? No Puedes? (In English: What? You Can’t?)
“I’m in the process of writing it, and we’ve all been kind of brainstorming the film itself,” Aiden said. “The gist of it is, a Hispanic Latino kid, who doesn’t speak Spanish, lives
After finding success with their first film, the men behind -223 have high hopes for the future
in a predominantly Spanish area. A lot of the people he interacts with are Latino as well and speak Spanish. It’s kind of a commentary and a little slice of life on how that affects his life and his relationship with his parents, his friends and his neighborhood.”
They hope to have Que? No Puedes? wrapped by early spring. Their focus going forward is producing budget-friendly short films and getting the -223 name out in the market. They intend to eventually get into grant writing or finding outside producers to expand.
“We do have two feature films already written and ready to go,” Aiden said. “… We still want to gain more experience, and hopefully have some type of budget to work with on those ones. All of our gear is owned by us. In the future, we might have to rent some stuff, but that’s not too expensive. We’re hoping, at some point, we can get some extra funding for one of our films.”
Their friendship, they said, helps keep tensions low and creative visions flowing. They
trade out ideas and roles and collaborate at every step of the process. They say the learning curve is not so much a challenge; it’s actually the best part of their process at -223.
“Because we’re so tight knit, we’re willing to share labels or credits or whatever the case is, depending on who worked on what,” Aiden said. “And Antonio and Ian won’t hesitate to tell me when something sounds stupid, or when something looks dumb. Whoever has an idea, they’ll take the lead in that way. It’s just ended up in the past that I had more time to write. But, depending on the project and who wants to head it, none of us feel uncomfortable taking the backseat and supporting the vision.”
Said Antonio: “We’re all keeping each other accountable. One person might have one idea, and then you bounce it off the other two and have complete trust that they’re going to tell you whether or not they think it’s a good idea.”
For more information, visit www.instagram.com/223visuals.
Aiden Gonzalez and Antonio Gonzales of -223 shoot video with local artist Mike Soy at Salvation Mountain.
CAESAR CERVISIA
By brett newton
Ihave a nit to pick with local beer distribution. Actually, it’s more than a nit—more like a gigantic bone.
First, some background on how beer gets from the brewer to the drinker. Following the puritanical travesty that was Prohibition, a three-tier system was set up for alcohol: production/ importation, distribution (the “wholesaler”) and the seller. This was a step up from the Mafia, which became organized under Prohibition, hiring brewers and distillers, truck drivers, warehouse workers and hired thugs known as “torpedos” to collect money and take care of the competition. After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, some of the gangsters were free to step into a legitimate
role as the distributors of liquor and beer. What could go wrong there?
Anyway, the distributor is the middleman. Producers and importers sell to distributors, who are supposed to properly store, deliver, stock merchandise and more. It’s the “stock” part where I must pick my nit.
Part of the delivery and stocking role of distributors is to rotate out old merchandise. This is especially important with craft beer. Some styles are subject to oxidizing and losing their luster, and this happens even faster with light exposure (in the case of bottled beer) and warm shelves. Ideally, beer should be stored between 45° and 55°F, but we all know that we don’t live in an ideal world, and many stores tend to have most of their beer on well-lit, warm shelving. This is just the way of things, and while brewers do their best with what they have to help with “shelf stability,” the clock is ticking as soon as the beer leaves their brewery—and the quicker
it can reach your lips, the better.
All of this warm shelving can lead to lots of out-of-date beer if the distributor doesn’t rotate the stock. “Now, Brett,” you might be saying, “distributors have a lot on their plates. Maybe they don’t get to the stock as soon as they should, but certainly it gets taken care of, right?” If this were the case, I wouldn’t even bother with it here (though I might complain about it privately). But when I see a can with a date from some point in 2023, I quickly find the end of my patience.
Take a recent trip to Total Wine and More. The beer selection there is ever-shrinking, and I honestly don’t blame them. First, craft beer’s share of the market is being incurred upon by other beverages, like hard seltzer, canned cocktails and non-alcoholic beer. Second, their craft beer selection when they first opened was way too ambitious for the area—meaning a lot of beer died on warm shelves. For some beer,
Local beer distributors are letting down both consumers and breweries
being on a shelf for a while doesn’t matter that much. Mass-produced lagers are made with shelf stability in mind, and if you find a tainted example, some real abuse has happened. Belgian abbey ales and lambics can thrive in these conditions for a while. But with much of the hop-focused craft beer, these beers on shelves are in a hopeless race against time. The quicker that beer gets from the canning line to your mouth, with the most refrigeration in between (which distributors generally provide during shipping, despite some horror stories I’ve heard), the better.
Back to Total Wine, where I go straight to the end of where the “newer” beers are stocked. I comb for novelty—usually something I haven’t seen before, from a trusted brewery—but I’m open to being convinced by something else. When I find something, I check the dates, and I am often disappointed when it’s far too out of date to drink. (If there is no date, I assume the worst. The onus is on the brewery there.) Rinse and repeat until I find something that’s hopefully in the small refrigerated section in the back, where there is less and less beer that I care for; it’s beginning to look like the selection at a convenience store.
If you think I am merely whining because my beer selection isn’t as varied and fresh
as I’d like, you’re wrong. The real reason this is a travesty: The average person never even looks at the dates on the packaging. This has to result in people forming opinions on many beers and many breweries that are undeservedly harsh. I once assumed the blurry year of the date on a pack was current when it was not; the beer tasted like metal, and I spat it out immediately. Knowing what happened, I returned the beer on principle—the first time and only time I’ve ever done so, and I didn’t hold the brewery responsible. This is all something breweries need to take into account when they make distribution deals.
I’ve noticed less and less of certain breweries’ beers on local shelves, and I think it’s wise, even as I bemoan their absence. Breweries like Green Cheek Brewing and Burgeon Beer Company are extremely wise—they don’t try to overreach, and almost everywhere you’ll find their beers, you’re guaranteed to get the experience the brewers intended.
Be vigilant. Check the dates—and live and drink, friend.
Brett Newton is a certified cicerone (like a sommelier for beer) and homebrewer who has mostly lived in the Coachella Valley since 1988. He can be reached at caesarcervisia@gmail.com.
VINE SOCIAL
By Katie finn
The Santa Cruz Mountains wine region has long been an underdog punching far above its weight class.
Tucked between the Pacific Ocean and Silicon Valley, the Santa Cruz Mountains wine region is like that scrappy indie band you discovered before they got famous. The area doesn’t get the same mainstream hype as Napa or Sonoma, but the wines coming out of here are the vinous equivalent of a killer underground album—bold, complex and a little rebellious. And if the desert knows anything, it knows about discovering the newest in indie and underground scenes. (Kyuss,
Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age, Gram Rabbit, anyone?)
This AVA (American Viticultural Area) is defined by its rugged terrain, microclimates and vineyards perched on vertigo-inducing slopes. The altitude and coastal influence create wines with an electric tension—think bright acidity, structured tannins and an ability to age like a fine leather jacket. One of the area’s unsung gems is Corralitos, a sub-region within the Santa Cruz Mountains that’s carving out its own identity, especially in pinot noir and chardonnay.
Mount Eden Vineyards: The OG of Santa Cruz Elegance
If there’s a grandmaster of Santa Cruz winemaking, it’s Mount Eaden Vineyards. This historic estate, at 2,000 feet above sea level, was founded by Martin Ray in the 1940s and has been setting the gold standard for mountain-grown wines ever since.
a stunner—elegant yet powerful, with red berries, floral notes and a silky texture that could charm even the most skeptical Bordeaux drinker. Meanwhile, their chardonnay is like a summer beach day in a bottle—bright and refreshing, with just the right amount of richness. Alfaro also offers a bold syrah that proves Corralitos isn’t just about delicate pinots. Additionally, their La Playita Vineyard Grüner Veltliner is a standout, offering a crisp and vibrant expression of this Austrian varietal. With notes of green apple and white pepper, and a minerally zing, it’s a refreshing departure from the usual California whites and pairs beautifully with seafood and spicy dishes.
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Thomas Fogarty Winery: High-Altitude Excellence
Their flagship chardonnay is nothing short of legendary, routinely racking up praise from critics. It’s a high-wire act of power and finesse—like a prima ballerina who also moonlights as a heavyweight boxer. Expect notes of citrus and hazelnut, and a minerally backbone that screams “serious wine drinker.” Their pinot noir is equally compelling, offering deep-red fruit, forest floor and spice, while their cabernet sauvignon stands toeto-toe with some of Napa’s finest (but with a fraction of the price-induced heartburn).
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Further north in the Santa Cruz Mountains, you’ll find Thomas Fogarty Winery, another high-altitude champion. Known for laserfocused pinot noirs and chardonnays, Fogarty makes wines that are a testament to the benefits of slow-ripening fruit in a cool-climate region. Their Rapley Trail pinot noir is a rockstar, delivering bright red fruit, earthy undertones and a lively acidity that keeps things fresh. Their gewürztraminer is another hidden gem, offering a floral, spicy and slightly exotic twist that’s perfect for adventurous palates.
Ceritas Wines: Minimalist Elegance
Alfaro Family Vineyards: Where
Pinot Noir Dreams Are Made
Head south to Corralitos, and you’ll stumble upon Alfaro Family Vineyards, a small but mighty producer that’s been turning heads. Richard Alfaro, a former baker turned winemaker (because what’s next after mastering sourdough?), has built a reputation for crafting some of the most compelling pinot noir and chardonnay in the region.
Their Lindsay Paige Vineyard Pinot Noir is
Ceritas Wines made a name for itself with a focus on terroir-driven, minimalist winemaking, and their Trout Gulch chardonnay is a perfect example. Sourced from a vineyard in Corralitos, this chardonnay is a masterclass in balance—crisp acidity, citrus zest and a flinty minerality that reminds you of a cool ocean breeze. It’s the kind of wine that makes you want to wax poetic about soil compositions and fog patterns. This was the first wine I drank with a table full of master sommeliers at Redd Restaurant in Yountville during my first
a story I’ve told in this space previously.
Big Basin Vineyards: Syrah with a Wild Side
If you like your wines bold and a little untamed, Big Basin Vineyards should be on your radar. Their syrah, sourced from some of the most rugged terrain in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is a powerhouse—with dark fruit, smoky undertones and a spicy kick that makes it a perfect pairing for barbecue or a cozy night by the fire. Winemaker Bradley Brown has a knack for capturing the wild essence of the region in every bottle, making Big Basin a must-try for syrah lovers.
If you’re still sleeping on Santa Cruz Mountains wines, consider this your wakeup call. These wines are serious but never boring, complex but never pretentious. They pair just as well with a Michelin-star meal as they do with a burger and fries, making them perfect for wine lovers who appreciate versatility and
gravitate toward the new and unconventional—you know, the people who were wearing ripped jeans, band shirts and Dr. Martens before they were sold at Hot Topic.
Plus, the winemakers here have a sense of humor. They know they’re up against the juggernauts of Napa, Paso Robles and Sonoma, but instead of trying to play that game, they’re doing their own thing—crafting wines with character, soul and a bit of mountain grit. And let’s be honest: Drinking a wine from a vineyard that required a four-wheel-drive vehicle to plant the vines makes you feel like a renegade. The next time you’re browsing the wine aisle or planning a tasting trip, give the Santa Cruz Mountains and Corralitos a shot. You might just discover your new favorite bottle—and earn bragging rights that you were into it before it went all mainstream.
Katie Finn is a certified sommelier and certified specialist of wine with two decades in the wine industry. She can be reached at katiefinnwine@ gmail.com.
week of living in Napa,
Vineyards above the foothills of Saratoga in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
the 2 Restaurants Unlimited Flavors
FOOD & DRINK INDY ENDORSEMENT
After a hearty diner breakfast, we splurged at a celebrity chef’s newest restaurant
By Jimmy Boegle
WHAT Tamales and eggs breakfast
WHERE Bit of Country, 418 S. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
HOW MUCH $17.99
CONTACT 760-325-5154
WHY It’s hearty and tasty.
Ah, the classic American diner. How can you not love the counter seating, the friendly service, the inexpensive eats and the smell of coffee?
There aren’t as many great diners as there used to be, alas—but east valley residents are fortunate to still have Bit of Country, which has been serving up big breakfasts and lunches for nearly a half-century.
The fare is exactly what you’d expect at a good diner, with a bit of a Mexican twist. For breakfast, you’ll find everything from omelets, French toast and Benedicts to biscuits and gravy—and you can even get “pigs in a blanket” ($16.99). For lunch, the menu has sandwiches, burgers and fried dishes like fish and chips ($17.99). If you’re looking for something a little different, peruse the numerous specials, hand-written on white boards above the counter.
I’ve dined at Bit of Country many times, and I’ve never had a bad bite of food, but more often than not, I order the tamale breakfast. It comes with two tamales, either chicken or pork (or one of each, as in the photo above), as well as rice, beans and two eggs prepared to your liking. This is a LOT of food, spread over two plates (which is why the eggs are not in the aforementioned photo)— but it’s so good, you’ll want to finish it all, calories be damned.
If you’re looking for something fancy or refined, Bit of Country is not for you. But if you want fare that’s hearty, tasty and inexpensive (by 2025 standards) … there’s a reason why this iconic diner has been filling tummies for nearly 50 years.
WHAT Fromage blanc
WHERE Kestrel, A Richard Blais Kitchen + Lounge, inside the Indian Wells Golf Resort, 44500 Indian Wells Lane, Indian Wells HOW MUCH $16
CONTACT 760-346-4653; www.kestrel.kitchen
WHY It’s an umami bomb.
Thanks to Top Chef and his spot as a judge/ coach on Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef, Richard Blais is one of the most famous chefs around today—and his newest restaurant just so happens to be at the Indian Wells Golf Resort.
Kestrel opened last November in the space formerly occupied by Vue. If you’ve seen the space, you know why it might appeal to a big-name chef: It’s gorgeous, with various different rooms and patios, and lovely views.
On our recent dinner visit (Kestrel is open for lunch as well), we were pretty impressed. Other than a mishap with one of our entrées (which our server handled masterfully), all of the dishes we tried were stellar. An endorsement within an endorsement goes to the pan-roasted Chilean sea bass ($44), which came with a delicious curry sauce (although the menu simply calls it a “ginger-spiced sauce”)—but out of everything we tried, we were most delighted by the “fromage blanc” appetizer.
I knew fromage blanc is sort of like a French cream cheese, but more liquified, and the menu said the dish includes “wild mushrooms, truffle” … and that’s all we knew when we ordered it. What we got was two toasted pieces of bread, each covered with the fromage blanc and lots of mushrooms. It was messy—but it was one of the best starters we’ve had in a long time. The hubby aptly described it as an “umami bomb.”
Kestrel also touts its craft cocktails, headlined by the liquid nitrogen margarita for four, prepared tableside ($130). I got the medjool negroni ($20) and the pistachio old fashioned ($22); both were pleasant and wellbalanced.
Kestrel is now near the top of our specialoccasion restaurant list—and I recommend you give it a try.
Restaurant NEWS BITES
By charles drabkin
FOODIES: CHECK OUT TWO NEW WEEKLY EVENTS, AND ONE BIG ANNUAL FESTIVAL
Two weekly outdoor food events have started in the Coachella Valley.
The Palm Springs Cultural Center’s Foodie Friday takes place from 4 to 8 p.m. weekly, with food trucks and other small-scale food producers selling their wares. Check out facebook.com/ PalmSpringsCulturalCenter for the latest updates and the growing vendor list.
On Tuesdays through April 8, Tastes and Sounds of Cathedral City happens at the Cathedral City Community Amphitheater, at 68526 Avenida Lalo Guerrero, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Each week features a theme, with a local artist performing while a local restaurant or food truck offers dinner. Admission is free, with food available for purchase; check out tastesandsounds.discovercathedralcity.com.
March brings one big annual event: Palm Desert Food and Wine returns Thursday, March 20, through Sunday, March 23, with various tastings, classes, tours and meals. Prices vary depending on the experience. I have been to the Grand Tasting, which is always a hit; palmdesertfoodandwine.com has all the information you need.
SANCHO’S PLEDGES TO STOP BUYING LIQUOR FROM RED STATES
Sancho’s Palm Springs and its sister restaurant, The Reef Bar, both at the Caliente Tropics Hotel, at 411 E. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs, will now only sell alcohol from states and regions that support our communities and ideals.
Owner Rory Snyder tells me: “We will not be reordering alcohol brands from red states or regions in the future. We will focus mainly on supporting California brands first and then other states that support our interest and way of life.” This means no more Kentucky bourbon in your cocktail. I applaud this effort; increasingly, I see people looking to support businesses that support their values, and Sancho’s is putting its money where its mouth is. BRAVO! As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Learn more about Sancho’s at www.instagram.com/sanchoscantinaps.
IN BRIEF
Back in December, Churrasco Brazilian Steakhouse, at 450 S. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs, earned an Indy Endorsement. We locals can now eat more affordably there every Sunday through Thursday: For $49.50, enjoy 10 cuts of meat and the market table, all you can eat. Visit churrascobr. com/palm_springs_specials for complete details. … We missed the opening of Red Falcon Lounge, at 46421 Dillon Road, in Coachella, several months ago. It is the only place in the Coachella Valley where you can eat, drink and smoke cannabis. They serve pub food for when you get the munchies, like chicken wings, burgers and salads; you can also get beers and hard seltzers. Learn more at redfalcon.com/lounge. … New in Palm Desert: Wonder, at 74275 Highway 111, offers coffee, all-day breakfasts, salads and a variety of sandwiches. See some pics and get details at www.instagram.com/ eat_wonder. … High Moon has opened in the former Minerva’s space in the Royal Sun Hotel, at 1700 S. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs; if you haven’t heard of the Royal Sun, it was briefly the Life House Hotel, and before that, it was the Royal Sun Inn. With a robust breakfast program, poolside snacks all day and dinner offerings, High Moon is worth checking out; royalsunps.com/high-moon. … Sottovoce Café is now open inside the Shops at 1345, at 1345 N. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs; it’s the second location for the Italian-style coffee and wine bar that first opened on El Paseo. The menu includes panini, pastries, gelato and more; www.sottovocecafe.com. … Some updates: Nearly two years ago, we noted that chef Gabriel Woo, of Bar Cecil fame, was taking over the restaurant space at the Palm Springs Art Museum. It has been a long time coming, but Livs is finally open and ready to serve you; livspalmsprings.com and www.instagram.com/livspalmsprings. … Talay Thai has reopened at 73030 El Paseo, No. 102, in Palm Desert. This is one of my favorite Thai places in the valley, so I am happy to see them reopen; the website is still talaythairanchomirage.com. … Kalura Trattoria, at 124 S. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs, has settled its eminent domain dispute with the city of Palm Springs. The restaurant will receive $500,000 and help relocating their outdoor patio from the city. … We mentioned that the owner of what had been Impala was transitioning the space into an Irish pub. At the time, he was using the name 333 Clover; but what is now called Mickey’s Irish Sports Bar and Grill seems to be open at 333 S .Palm Canyon Drive. We could not find a website or social media presence as of this writing. … Finally, the only consistent thing at the Palm Springs Surf Club, at 1500 S. Gene Autry Trail, in Palm Springs, is change. Recently branded as Navigator, the restaurant at the Palm Springs Surf Club is now called the Restaurant at the Palm Springs Surf Club. In November, chef Michael Hung reopened the restaurant with a new menu and much fanfare. He’s gone—as is his replacement, I’ve heard, and yet another new chef is running the kitchen. When I called the restaurant to confirm, I was told they could not speak to those rumors. Good luck to everyone involved; palmspringssurfclub.com/the-restaurant.
Do you have a hot tip or news to share, reach out: foodnews@cvindependent.com.
Thousands of Coachella Valley Independent readers and News Channel 3 viewers voted in this year’s Best of Coachella Valley readers’ poll—and they selected the Purple Room as the winner of Best Bar Ambiance and finalist in four categories:
Tues-Wed-Thurs 4 - 6 PM
TUESDAYS
ROSE MALLETT
Jazz legend sings the music of Holiday, Vaughn, Ellington.
TUES-WED-THURS 6:30-9:30 PM
WEDNESDAYS
CHARLES HERRERA, DARCI
DANIELS & MICHAEL HOLMES
Swinging to the music of the Rat Pack Era
WEEKNIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
THURSDAYS
JÉRÉMIE LEVI SAMSON
‘La Vie en Rose’ French violinist, jazz of the last century.
www.cvindependent.com/music
At 84, Dionne Warwick is as outspoken as ever—and she’s coming to Spotlight 29 for a performancE
The Venue Report, March 2025: Old Dominion, Sutton Foster, Guttermouth—and more!
The Lucky 13: Zach Rivizzigno, Guitarist for Tourists, Layer.0, Cytoplasm, Dreamer, and He Films the Clouds
The Lucky 13: Emmita Johnson, Drummer and Bassist of Beverly Bomber
ONE LESS VENUE
Due to permitting issues, Music House Indio has stopped hosting intimate, highenergy shows—for
Berthold City performs at Music House Indio on Oct. 17, 2024.
Credit: Ken Larmon
MUSIC
ONE LESS VENUE
By matt king
The Coachella Valley needs more venues that consistently host live music, and do it well. Sure, we have a number of casino stages that bring in touring talent, a couple of amphitheaters, the iconic Pappy and Harriet’s, the new Little Street Music Hall and some bars … but that’s about it.
One of the makeshift venues that had been filling the gap is Music House Indio, a local musi-
cal-instrument store that installed a stage, sound gear and lights in their back room at 82777 Miles Ave. Co-owners Geoffrey and Estefania McManus told the Independent in July about their commitment to giving local artists a place to perform. The makeshift venue went on to host more than 20 shows, spanning hardcore, metal, indie and more in 2024.
But in February, Music House Indio cancelled all of their scheduled shows.
“The decision to stop was based on the possible consequences of continuing on,” Geoffrey said.
The number of shows and attendance at shows at Music House Indio were consistently on the rise, but with the growth in numbers came more attention—including some from the city of Indio.
“The city supports music venues, because they understand it’s really important to the growth of the city,” Estefania said. “They just informed us that we need the licenses, and we need inspections and stuff like that, so we chose to stop doing the shows … because the consequences of not going through those proper regulations meant that we could get shut down, fined and whatnot.”
Because of the time and money needed to gain the proper permits—not to mention the steps some venues would need to take to get up to code—various local DIY spaces have been running shows without taking these steps.
At Music House Indio, the large number of attendees inside one of the city’s older buildings was a cause for concern. To get the proper permits, the owners will need to make significant structural changes, including fire-sprinkler replacements.
“It’s not worth the financial risk for anyone—for the promoter, or ourselves,” Geoffrey said. “If we continued on, we would just hurt the community more.”
Geoffrey and Estefania did their best to keep the venue safe, and free of drugs and alcohol. Promoters, musicians and music fans joined in as well.
“Geoffrey would patrol the parking lots, and make sure everything was good,” Estefania said. “We understand what these shows mean to people, and we wanted to keep them going.”
Added Geoffrey: “We’ve been in education for so long, and working with kids, knowing that it’s an all-ages thing, there’s a zero-tolerance policy. … It was a learning experience, and it was cool seeing how the community started to check each other, like, ‘Hey, that’s not cool. You can’t do that. Don’t bring that in here.’ They knew what it meant to them.”
Geoffrey said he was blown away by the impact the makeshift venue had in such a short time.
“I didn’t realize how many people had come through and done their first show ever here … or (had) their first time playing in Southern California,” Geoffrey said. “l just started putting on the shows because Billy Gargan (Tourists) walked in the front door and was like, ‘Hey, I want to have a show.’ We just went from there.”
He said he did not look forward to the shows at first.
“I’ve done music my whole life,” Geoffrey said. “In high school, I had 215 gigs a year or something. It was ridiculous, and then going to college, I did the same thing. Then I went to Oregon with my wife, and we taught, and moved back down here and taught, and now I got (the music store). It’s almost like an early retirement. … I still love playing, but now I have this space where I can give other people that same experience or opportunity that I was able to get so long ago, so when the shows ended, I was really heartbroken. I didn’t know that it meant so much to me until it was taken away.”
The hardcore, metal, indie and experimental bands coming through the Music House doors opened Geoffrey’s ears to new sounds and styles.
“It’s really cool being able to listen to bands from the valley that I’ve interacted with and have built a really strong relationship with, and be like, ‘That fucking kicks ass,’ or be like, ‘That was a creative choice, and I love you,’” Geoffrey said.
Added Estefania: “I think that’s where the educator side of us comes out, because you’re out there trying. How many people can say that? I didn’t grow up here, so I didn’t know about the community much at all, but from hosting the shows, (I saw) how tight-knit the
Due to permitting issues and costs, Music House Indio has stopped hosting intimate, high-energy shows—for now
valley really is, especially the musicians themselves. Everyone just understands that we need to work together to build the community up. I’m just really glad we could be a part of it.”
Zachary Ross (of pop-punk legends Man Overboard), hardcore heavyweights Ignite and a number of other bands, both touring and local, were set to play at the venue in February.
“During the month of February, we had seven shows booked,” said Geoffrey. “It became a labor of love. … We were starting to get into the groove of things, to have everything just ready to rock ’n’ roll—and then the power got ripped out. It’s not over yet. We still have the same opportunity to provide an experience, a unique experience, for anyone, without having to spend an arm and a leg.”
The owners are shifting their plans back to what was originally intended—making the back room an intimate, affordable recording space—while making longer-term plans for
renovations that would allow them to host shows again.
“Since the shows got canceled, we’ve been able to put more time in the control room and get everything wired and set up in there,” Geoffrey said. “… You can come through, and you can record live, but you would get a video with it as well. It’s not going to be a high-quality, professional music video, but you’re going to have studio-quality audio and good static video, which you can then use for your own promo. That would be for a low cost, or sometimes even sponsored through our education foundation. Those are things that really make us happy, because we can still continue to give back to the community in our own unique way while we build back up to the shows.”
Added Estefania: “As business owners, you definitely learn a lot as you go. Like Geoffrey said, we want to make this right. We want to do it right for the community.”
Destroy Nothing performs at Music House Indio on May 27, 2024. Ken Larmon
Days
MUSIC
LOVE POWER
By Rob Wilcox
FAt 84, Dionne Warwick is as outspoken as ever—and she’s coming to Spotlight 29 for a performance
or more than six decades, Dionne Warwick has captivated audiences. The six-time Grammy Award winner is as outspoken as she is talented, and she has never shied away from serious issues—like the AIDS epidemic, as she played a crucial role in bringing much-needed attention to the crisis.
Warwick, still going strong at 84 years old, will return to the Coachella Valley for a show at
Spotlight 29 on Friday, March 21. During a wide-ranging interview with the Independent, she was warm, down-to-earth and refreshingly candid. Yet one question unexpectedly gave her pause, leaving her momentarily—and uncharacteristically—at a loss for words: When asked to describe herself in a single word, she said, “Oh gosh! Ooh, I don’t know. The only word I can think of is me. Honest me.”
Born and raised in East Orange, N.J., Warwick grew up in a family deeply immersed in music. Her father was a Pullman porter (in other words, he served railway customers), and her mother sang. Various members of her family performed in a gospel group, the Drinkard Singers.
“The Drinkard Singers were renowned; they were the first gospel group to perform at (the Newport Jazz Festival) and the first Black gospel group to record for RCA,” Warwick said.
Though not a member of the Drinkard Singers, Warwick recalled, “I kind of substituted whenever there was someone needed. I had my own gospel group, the Gospelaires, with my sister and some cousins.”
Despite the musical background, Warwick initially chose not to pursue it professionally. “I wanted to be a teacher,” she said.
To help pay her college tuition, she worked as a background singer on records. One day, Warwick sang backup vocals for the Drifters’ recording of “Mexican Divorce,” written by Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard.
“After the session was over, (Bacharach)
approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing demonstration records and more background work with songs he’d be writing with another songwriting partner named Hal David,” she said.
Warwick signed with the songwriting team—and the rest is history. That said, the partnership had some rocky early moments.
“Because I had no intentions of recording, as it turned out, they gave (what was supposed to be) my song away,” Warwick said. “The song was ‘Make It Easy on Yourself.’ They gave it to Jerry Butler, and I was not very happy about that. As a result of it, though, I thanked them for giving it away, because along came a song, ‘Don’t Make Me Over,’ which is my very first recording.”
The song, recorded and released in 1962, became a hit, reaching No. 21 on the Billboard charts.
The Bacharach-David-Warwick partnership flourished for years, cementing the trio as musical powerhouses. A string of hits followed, with seven records reaching the Billboard Top 10, and 12 songs landing in the Top 40. These timeless classics include “Walk on By,” “Message to Michael,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”
Breaking Barriers
Warwick toured across the country, including the racially segregated South, early in her career.
“It was quite interesting,” she said. “It was something I had no knowledge of, coming from East Orange, where I literally lived in a neighborhood I called, basically, the United Nations— every race, creed, color and religion lived there.”
Her music transcended barriers. In 1969, she won the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”
Warwick and her then-husband, William Elliott, welcomed their first son, David, in 1969, followed by Damon four years later. The early 1970s saw her step back from the spotlight as her partnership with Bacharach and David ended.
“It was wonderful! I was Mommy,” she said with a laugh. “I had a wonderful time raising my babies, sending them to school and carpooling
and doing all of the things mommies do.”
In 1979, her career took another turn when Clive Davis signed her to Arista Records.
“He put me with a wonderful young man, who now has become one of my best friends, Barry Manilow, to record this particular album of mine, Dionne,” she said. “It was my very first platinum album.”
The record included the hits “Déjà Vu” and “I’ll Never Love This Way Again.”
Taking on the AIDS Crisis
Throughout her career, Warwick has used her platform to advocate for change, most notably during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
“We were losing so many people within the entertainment industry. In fact, I lost two people in my group,” she said. “We didn’t know what this thing was. Nobody knew what it was. Everybody thought it was cancer of some sort.
“I started becoming the nosy person that I am, asking doctors what they knew about it, and I finally decided to call the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and I spoke to Dr. (Anthony) Fauci. In fact, to this very day, he still calls me his nemesis,” she said with a laugh. “I said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to give me some information.’”
Warwick became a driving force for AIDS awareness, working with the American Foundation for AIDS Research. She reunited with Bacharach for “That’s What Friends Are For,” bringing her friends Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder to record the song with her. The song became the biggest Billboard hit of 1986, with all the proceeds going to AIDS research, raising millions of dollars.
Her advocacy extended to the White House, where she pressured President Ronald Reagan to publicly acknowledge the epidemic.
“He just refused to say the word,” she said. “I finally got him to say it. If his eyes could have killed me, I’d be dead today.”
In recognition of her efforts, Reagan named her a U.S. Ambassador of Health in 1987.
In recent years, Warwick has received numerous honors, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also has a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
Dionne Warwick will perform at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 21, at Spotlight 29, 46200 Harrison Place, in Coachella. Available tickets start at $38.80. For tickets or more information, call 760-775-5566, or visit spotlight29.com.
The Venue REPORT
March 2025
By matt king
Michael Feinstein
Happy March! The weather is getting hotter, and so are the local entertainment options! Two March events are taking place at Acrisure Arena on top of Firebirds hockey. From Friday, March 21, through Sunday, March 23, enjoy bona fide bull riding with Wrangler PBR (professional bull riders). Tickets start at $36.40 per show. The highflying fun of Cirque du Soleil returns to the local arena with CRYSTAL, featuring a combination of acrobatics and ice skating, for five performances Friday, March 28, through Sunday, March 30. Tickets start at $72. Acrisure Arena, 75702 Varner Road, Palm Desert; 888-695-8778; www.acrisurearena.com. March is stacked at the McCallum, so here are some highlights! At 8 p.m., Saturday, March 1, Michael Feinstein pays tribute to one of the greats, Mr. Tony Bennett. Tickets start at $83. Folk icons The Kingston Trio and The Limeliters bring ’50s and ’60s charm to the desert at 7 p.m., Monday, March 10. Tickets start at $48. At 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 19, celebrate the music of the queens of modern music, such as Adele, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Cher, with Material Girls, a high-energy musical production that is not to be missed! Tickets start at $38. Experience the wonder of the ocean from the comfort of a local theater at 7 p.m., Monday, March 31, thanks to a presentation by marine biologist Dr. Erika Woolsey titled Diving the Great Barrier Reef. Tickets start at $33. McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert; 760-340-2787; www.mccallumtheatre.com.
Fantasy Springs is hosting a variety of events. At 8 p.m., Saturday, March 1, experience Mexican music intensity from
Dionne Warwick.
BXS (Bryndis X Siempre) and Grupo Mojado
Tickets start at $52.50. Grab your cowboy hat and boots, and square dance the night away to the critically acclaimed country stylings of Old Dominion at 8 p.m., Friday, March 21. Tickets start at $102.50. At 8 p.m., Saturday, March 22, regional Mexican group Los Alegres del Barranco will perform. Tickets start at $72.50. Try your luck at 8 p.m., Friday, March 28, when The Price Is Right Live! takes place on the Fantasy Springs stage. Lucky audience members could leave with money and prizes! Tickets start at $52.50. Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84245 Indio Springs Parkway, Indio; 760-342-5000; www.fantasyspringsresort.com.
Spotlight 29 has music and more! At 8 p.m., Saturday, March 1, male strip show Chippendales will grace the Spotlight 29 stage. Tickets start at $35. Relive the ’90s at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 8, with I Love the ’90s, a musical evening featuring performances by Vanilla Ice, Rob Base, Young MC and C+C Music Factory. Tickets start at $40. Latin Legends, happening at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 22, features El Chicano, Tierra, Malo, Thee Midniters and A Lighter Shade of Brown. Tickets start at $35. Spotlight 29 Casino, 46200 Harrison Place, Coachella; 760775-5566; www.spotlight29.com.
Morongo has two events of note. At 8 p.m., Friday, March 28, Mexican norteño-sax band Conjunto Primavera is set to perform. Tickets start at $119.25. Standup comedian, television host, actor and radio personality Rickey Smiley, who you may know from Friday After Next, will bring the laughs to Cabazon at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 29. Tickets start at $46.50. Morongo Casino Resort Spa, 49500 Seminole Drive, Cabazon; 800-252-4499; www. morongocasinoresort.com.
Agua Caliente in Rancho Mirage is hosting nonstop music. At 8 p.m., Saturday, March 1, classic-rock pioneers Styx are set to perform. Tickets start at $75. At 8 p.m., Wednesday, March 12, Broadway singer/actress Sutton Foster joins the Desert Symphony for an
The Venue
evening of enchanting tunes. Tickets start at $45. Armenian singers Haykaram Gevondyan and Tatul Avoyan will visit the valley at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, March 15. Tickets start at $50. The unmistakable voice of Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty, will bring some of his classic works to town at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 22. Tickets start at $129.50. At 8 p.m., Saturday, March 29, ride through the Coachella Valley desert on “A Horse With No Name” when America performs. Tickets start at $49.50. Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage, 32250 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage; 888-999-1995; www. aguacalientecasinos.com.
Residencies march on at Agua Caliente in Palm Springs. Desert Blues Revival Wednesdays feature a Mardi Gras party from the Gand Band (March 5), a night filled with organ jams from, again, the Gand Band (March 12), groovin’ tunes from Funk Monks (March 19) and a night of song from men’s vocal ensemble A Cabello titled Keep Calm and Sing On 2.0 (March 26). Shows are at 7 p.m., and tickets start from $17.85 to $39.19, available at eventspalmsprings.com. Carousel Thursdays invite the soulful-jazz vibe of Tawanda (March 6), trumpet wizardry from the Aaron Janik Band (March 13), tiki and Hawaiian jazz from Hilo Hi-Flyers (March 20) and jump blues from the Moontones (March 27). Shows are at 7 p.m., and tickets start from $17.85, available at eventspalmsprings. com. Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs, 401 E. Amado Road, Palm Springs; 888-999-1995; www.aguacalientecasinos.com.
Here are some highlights from a very busy month at Pappy and Harriet’s. At 9 p.m., Sunday, March 9, enjoy some cosmic country from Rose City Band. Tickets are $33.11. At 9:30 p.m., Sunday, March 16, experience Danish rock and British pop anthems from Iceage. Tickets are $28.33. Punk rock invades the Pioneertown Palace at 9 p.m., Friday, March 21, when Guttermouth heads to the high desert. Tickets are $26.68. At 7 p.m.,
March 29, Kim Deal (Pixies/The Breeders) brings her modern rock tunes to town. Tickets are $66.89. Check out the website for a complete list of shows. Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown; 760-228-2222; www.pappyandharriets.com.
Oscar’s has a few non-residency events in March. At 7 p.m., Saturday, March 8, Amber Martin pays tribute to Bette Midler and her early performances at the Continental Baths. Tickets start at $39.95. At 7 p.m., Monday, March 10, Paul Motondo honors some of the greatest crooners to ever pick up a microphone. Tickets start at $29.95.
Pianist and singer Mike Maimone will offer a special evening of song in Palm Springs at 6 p.m., Friday, March 14. Tickets are $10. All shows include a food and drink minimum.
Purple Room has plenty of weekend offerings for you. At 8 p.m., Friday, March 7, and Saturday, March 8, singer Carole J. Bufford returns to the desert to perform an evening of songs dedicated to dames of the silver screen. Tickets start at $45.70. At 8 p.m., Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15, spend an evening with Broadway star and world-class voice Lillias White. Tickets start at $61.15. At 8 p.m., Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22, dynamic duo Branden and James pay tribute to songs and themes across cinema history. Tickets start at $56. All ticketed shows include dinner reservations two hours before show time. Michael Holmes’ Purple Room, 1900 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs; 760-322-4422; www. purpleroompalmsprings.com.
Saturday,
Kim Deal
MUSIC
LUCKY 13
Get to know two local greats—an
incredibly busy guitarist, and half of ‘freak pop’ duo Beverly Bomber
by matt king
NAME Zach Rivizzigno GROUPS Tourists, Layer.0, Cytoplasm, Dreamer, He Films the Clouds MORE INFO Zach Rivizzigno is one of the desert’s hardest-working guitarists, with an expansive skillset allowing him to leap from one extreme to the next. Rivizzigno can be found shredding with an indie, pop-punk and J-rock flair in Tourists; playing with a brutal and aggressively complex grindcore vengeance in Layer.0; and crafting unique and experimental yet brutal death metal in his solo project Cytoplasm. He recently became a fulltime member of emotive-metalcore outfit He Films the Clouds, and he’s a member of the Los Angeles-based prog-metal band Dreamer.
What was the first concert you attended? It’s hard to tell, because my dad took me to concerts when I was a baby, before I was even cognizant. It was probably either Incubus, Tom Petty or John Mayer. My first concert I went to by myself as a teen was for Monuments, Entheos and The Contortionist.
What was the first album you owned?
So many CDs I’ve had are hand-me-downs. My dad gave me a lot of Bruce Springsteen, Audioslave, Incubus and Aerosmith CDs. The first album I bought with my own money was probs Rage Against the Machine’s Evil Empire
What bands are you listening to right now?
Mk.gee, Maruta, Hate Eternal, Defeated Sanity, Weeping, Triac, If These Trees Could Talk, Biosphere, Squarepusher, From Indian Lakes, Belmont, fromjoy, Gxllium, and Humanity’s Last Breath.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
I don’t particularly enjoy most Top 40 radio stuff. I’m not a fan of most arena rock, electro swing, K-pop or those overly melodic Swedish styles of metal—you know, the ones that sound like Iron Maiden. I don’t like those rock bands that sound like Ford truck commercial music, nor do I like bands that rely on viral social media moments to gain traction, sacrificing depth and substance in their music in the process. There are exceptions to all of these, though.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
Ulcerate or Gorguts.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
A lot of the music I like, most people would hate, but I ain’t guilty about it in the slightest!
What’s your favorite music venue?
To be honest, I can’t think of any.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
The chorus in “Are You Looking Up” by Mk.gee.
What band or artist changed your life?
Chon. They’re one of the bands that made me realize that guitar music was still alive and well.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
I’d ask either Guthrie Govan or Allan Holdsworth if there is a way to get as good as them without losing my sanity.
What song would you like played at your funeral? “Bye.” by J Dilla.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
I don’t REALLY have one, but for the sake of the question, I will say either Periphery’s first album, or Candiria’s The Process of SelfDevelopment, just because both combine so many different styles of music that I love.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
Escape the algorithm, and find your own song. Go on Bandcamp or YouTube, or even to a music store, and listen to a new song you’ve never heard before, in a genre you’ve never explored. Use the search bar to satisfy your curiosity. Have an open mind, and just observe how you feel when you listen to it.
NAME Emmita Johnson
GROUP Beverly Bomber
MORE INFO Emmita Johnson is half of the local “freak pop” duo Beverly Bomber. Throughout the past year, she and Nick Spalding have been crafting a fuzz-filled, garage-rock charm with odes to the desert (“Desert Rat” and “Pleasant Place”), and using punk energy to provide a raucous stage show. The duo recently released a pair of singles that see Johnson hop from drums to the bass guitar to elevate the proto-punk earworm “Hammer” and the fiery, crunchy anthem “Dog Bone.” For more information, visit www. instagram.com/beverlybomber. Johnson also has a true punk-rock past, performing alongside Rikk Agnew (Christian Death, Adolescents, Social Distortion) in a number of projects.
What was the first concert you attended?
DEVO!!! I was in sixth-grade, and my dad got tickets to Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam. Skateboarding and music at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Core memory for sure. Thanks, Dad.
What was the first album you owned?
Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
What bands are you listening to right now?
Brutus, Lilly Palmer and Modest Mouse. I’m stuck on (Modest Mouse’s) The Moon & Antarctica album right now, and, of course, there’s no escaping N8NOFACE; he’s taking over.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
Taylor Swift, and what is happening to Beyonce? Make it stop!
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live? Lately, I’ve been feeling like going to a real, epic, live orchestra. I feel like that would be a crazy-deep, beautiful experience.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
Coldplay … but only that one album. IYKYK. I don’t feel guilty, but I listen to Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush album—only when I’m alone, though, so I can sing it out loud, lol.
What’s your favorite music venue? Nothing beats a house show.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
“World problems. We all care. But has this rage got us anywhere? No! Keep a grin! Think! Think Positive!” That’s “Think Positive” by RKL.
What band or artist changed your life?
Brody Dalle was my first spiritual experience. That’s who kicked me off in my youth. Sing Sing Death House album was my shit growing up. But the most influential artist has been Rikk Agnew. He took me under his wing, and I got to meet so many cool people like Eva O. I got to travel around, play bass in Poop, and the Super Heroines, and run around with OGs.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
It would be Stefanie Mannaerts of Brutus: Can I come over to Belgium and hang out!?
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Le Tigre, “Keep on Livin’.”
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Rikk Agnew’s All by Myself album, and yes, he did the album all by himself—instruments and vocals all in three days!
What song should everyone listen to right now?
Brutus, “Sugar Dragon.” Even better, watch the video on YouTube.
