BYLINE: DIANE MARLIN-DIRKX
In our journey as human beings spinning around on Planet Earth, we have some questions that make us yearn to escape. Will that woman in my grocery line go through her wallet again for 3 cents? Is there anyone anywhere with a pulse who answers a phone? Yet, we live in paradise! We really do! Here in the Coachella Valley with its rocky peaks of cradling mountains, shimmering cool pools, lush swaths of green carpeted golf courses, glistening sands sprouting flowers, take note that we are only steps if not minutes away from chic shops and cafés where temp-taming misters sweep the air with a cool fog, and we are short drives away from going and growing intellectually. Is this paradisiacal, or what? Go ahead, while away hours reading or simply basking in solitude, spend your time à deux, or double à deux, or more. Gather up the family–even that pesky aunt who never met a day she liked without a question or two makes you smile. Escape? Here’s how, happily, and close to home.
Thursday, May 31 – June 3. Hey, kids of all ages, guess what? The Carnival is coming to town at Ramon and Crossley in Palm Springs! All the old-fashioned fun, rides, food and perhaps goofy, but highly desired prizes you remember as a kid and want to introduce to grandchildren, including games like “Water Races,” “Balloon Dart,” “Bank a Ball,” “Basketball,” and “Hi Striker.” Select a ride by degree of tummy-challenge from “Spectacular,” “Major,” “Family” or “Kiddie.” Thrills and chills abound, but be sure to take a family gondola ride on the “Giant Wheel” with its towering view of the Coachella Valley. And here’s a wowser: Direct from late pop-star Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch is “The Balloon Samba” and the “Lolli Swing.” Foodies can fill up to the brim and beyond on popcorn to candy apples, cotton candy to soft drinks, corn dogs to pizza. Butler Amusements bill themselves as the “Cleanest Show in the West.” They can’t promise the kids will stay that way, but that’s half the fun!
Friday, June 1 – Sunday, June 3. 9am – 3pm. Whether you have an orange crate, or a mahogany armoire, if it’s empty, it’s just taking up space. The Friends of the College of the Desert Library will fill your shelves with hardcover books (50 cents each) or paperbacks (25 cents each), or on Sunday you could sling a whole bag of books over your shoulder for $3! Now this is the way to decorate and improve your mind during the summer months. Come to the Cravens Student center on the college campus with all sales benefiting the library. “It’s a good thing,” as Martha would say. College of the Desert, 43-500 Monterey Ave., Palm Desert. For information, call 760-333-0733.
Saturday, June 2, through August. Summer hours from 7am to 12 Noon will be in effect at COD’s Street Fair on Saturdays and Sundays. But even with two hours lopped off the clock, it’s still the most pleasurable way to spend a weekend. Stroll, sip, snack and shop from aisle to aisle through a delicious, local farmer’s market featuring the best of the desert bounty, fashion trends for the whole family, live musical entertainment, nibbles-to-grow-on and gourmet-good food booths, refreshments, and the park is filled with plenty of places to rest and watch the world go by. Admission and parking are free. College of the Desert, 43-500 Monterey Ave., Palm Desert. Best to enter through Magnesia Falls, Fred Waring drives or San Pablo avenue as the Monterey Avenue entrance undergoes renovation. For information, call 760-636-7957.
Saturday, June 2, 6pm. Another Carnival comes to town. This one is home grown! The Palm Springs Police Officers Association (PSPOA) is hosting the “Casino Carnival” fundraiser at BMW of Palm Springs, 3737 E. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs. Boy, is this event going to be safe, or what? Get ready for a night of your favorite gambling games: “Texas Hold ‘Em,” “Black Jack,” “Roulette” and “Craps.” Hear the latest playlists spin from a live DJ. There’ll be hot raffles and prizes galore. Enjoy a no-host bar for luscious libations. And an outdoor Cigar Bar. Your ticket to enter qualifies you for a chance to win the Grand Prize. (No spoiler alert, we have no idea what the G. P. is.) Tickets, in advance, $40; at the door, $50. For more information, call 760.417.4602, or go to www. PSPOA.com/store. Tickets also available at the PSPOA booth at Village Fest on Thursday night. That’s tonight!
Saturday, June 2. The artist’s life from a rebellious childhood to industrious lover to creative genius is revealed in “Pablo Picasso,” written by local playwright Dolores Becker Trost . Picasso was one of the most respected figures in 20th-century art, best known for co-founding the Cubist Movement. Some called him a quick-change artist, whose constantly “restless” mediums in oil paintings, sculpture, drawing, even architecture, were revolutionary. That being said, the pint-sized Spaniard who collected such a mass audience in his lifetime was superstitious, sarcastic, nasty to his children and to the women he professed to love. Ouch! The provocative production with its award-winning cast will open at Groves Cabin Theatre, 8768 Desert Willow Trail, Morongo Valley. It will be on the boards for three weekends on Saturdays at 7 pm, and Sundays at 2:30 pm, through Sunday, June 17. Although the Groves Cabin Theatre seats only 22, it has won many Desert Theatre League awards for its high quality productions that fill the theatre with great spoken art! Ticket, $10. For additional information and reservations, call 760-365-4523.
Saturday, June 2. Professional fisticuffs at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino will feature top junior lightweight prospect 23 year old Andrew “Chango” Cancio in the biggest test of his career when he battles former world title challenger and 2000 Olympic Silver Medalist 32 year old Rocky Juarez in the main event of TeleFutura’s “Sόlo Boxeo Tecate” in Indio presented by Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate. Doors open at 6 pm on fight night and the first bell rings at 7 pm, with the televised broadcast beginning at 11 pm. Tickets are priced at $25, $35, and $45. For more information and to purchase tickets call the Fantasy Springs box office 800-827-2946, or go online to www.fantasyspringsresort.com. For even more information, go to www.goldenboypromotions.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/fantasysprings, or visit on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.facebook.com/fantasyspringsresort.
June 7 – July 4. Music to our ears and stars in our eyes! Palm Desert celebrates the return of free concerts to Civic Center Park in the Amphitheater with fab acoustics and a summer-style vibe. Concertgoers are encouraged to tote blankets, lawn chairs and picnic baskets filled with your favorite snacks and soft drinks. (Alcoholic beverages and smoking are no-no’s!) Every Thursday at 7:30 pm beginning June 7 the concert series will offer a variety of talented musical acts designed to get your toes-tapping, hands-clapping, voices-humming and bodies swaying and swinging. Here’s the line-up: June 7: Nitro Express Band Country Music. June 14: Southband Classic Rock. June 21: Vanity Fair Dance Music. July 4: Swing Cats Big Band Jazz and Patriotic Music. Location: Civic Center Park, San Pablo Ave. and Fred Waring Drive. For more information, call 760-346-0611, ext. 416.
Friday, June 8. Show at 8 pm. Dog n Butterfly: The Ultimate Heart Tribute is a production you don’t want to miss at Spotlight 29 Casino Showroom. The fab 70s female rock music artists named Heart took the stage by storm and left a legacy of great music led by the take-no-prisoners vocals of Ann Wilson, her guitar-wielding sister Nancy Wilson and rousing back-up players. Portrayed with the same skilled musicianship of the originals, this energy-driven band leaves audiences reeling and ravenous for more. In fact, the Wilson sisters call their performance, “Amazing. We are truly honored, humbled and proud!!!” The group includes Lizann Warner as Ann, Courtney Chambers as Nancy, Sean Michael Clegg as Roger Fisher, Scott Snyder as Steve Fossen and David Pimentel as Michael Derosier. Free performance for guests 21 and older. For tickets, go to www.Spotlight29.com, or call Star Tickets 800-585-3737. For more information, call 760-775-5566. On the day of the performance go to Spotlight Showroom Box Office 1:30pm-9:30pm. Spotlight 29, 46-200 Harrison Place, Coachella.
Saturday, June 9, 4pm. In the summer, we get all goosebumply for the rousing musical pulse of a marching band that only the composers entitled to be called the “March Kings” can produce to perfection. We’re in luck! The “Desert Winds Freedom Band” is coming to the Rancho Mirage Library for its fifth annual concert where the percussion beats, the reeds tweet and the brass blows up a storm with the traditional music of the John Philip Souza, Karl King, Henry Philmore, and more great American march standards and themes from TV shows and the movies. The band, founded by Gary Moline in 2001, “is a diverse, inclusive group of music-loving people” who may be professionals that fill in or participate in gigs for pay, or simply rootin,’ tootin’ and tweetin’ instrumentalists who haven’t played since high school but love to let their hair down and raise the rooftops. Applause is the only fee! RMPL, 71-100 HWY 111, Rancho Mirage. Call 760-341-7323.
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Friday, June 15. That’s the deadline for craftspeople, artist and hobbyists who live in La Quinta Cove to get their creative and artistic mojo on for exhibit in the La Quinta Museum from September 21 through December 22. Up to a dozen will be selected to show their 2- or 3-D works for an exhibition representing the variety of the creative arts. Applicants must be current, part-or full-time residents of La Quinta Cove, bounded by Avenida Montezuma, Calle Tecate, Avenida Bermudas and Calle Tampico, as well as the Yucatan section. Submit a short biography/resume, a paragraph of what you propose to exhibit, and up to 6 photographs or digital images of your work. The selection committee is composed of Museum members, Historical Society and the city’s Community Services Department. Email your application to anne.phillips@riblib.net, or send/deliver to La Quinta Museum, 77885 Avenida Montezuma, La Quinta, CA 92247. For more information, call the Museum at 760-777-7170.
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