By Lisa Morgan
November 1st from 3pm – 7pm: You can miss the plane, miss the train, miss your hair appointment and miss happy hour, but don’t you miss that SunLine bus! Not on this day! The Coachella Valley Art Scene, a seven year passion project of local resident, Sarah Scheideman, and SunLine Transit, are joining forces to make our public bus line the best way to travel anywhere within our beautiful valley. They will be turning what is commonly used as an adequate transportation option into a concert venue as some of the best local musicians provide live acoustic music for bus riders.
Everything’s better with music in it, but I cannot think many other places more in need of a musical pick-me-up than the public bus. Do to a turn of unfortunate events, I found myself trying to decipher schedules and find my way through public transportation recently. While the buses are clean, wonderfully climate controlled and bus drivers cordial and helpful enough, I got the impression that, like myself, my fellow commuters were not overly excited about the experience. Many faces looked tired as they anticipated the remainder of their journey and what awaited them at their destination. Some looked pointedly grumpy. There were many, professional riders by appearance, amply equipped with distractions to make the distance and surrounding personalities disappear. I even noticed a few disgusted glares cast my way as I explained to the bus driver that I hadn’t taken the bus since I was a kid as I asked what the boarding procedure was. He spoke loudly and his message hit me in my auspicious forehead when he called out, “So you’re one of the lucky ones who’s had a car all your life.” As I looked around at the faces eyeing me, I realized my fortune more than ever.
How wonderful it would be, to create an atmosphere so lovely, that taking the SunLine bus became the transportation option of preference? Sarah found out when riding a bus in Seattle. “I thought it was wonderful. I thought… how great it would be with all the local music we have at our finger tips here in the Coachella Valley. I went to SunLine with the idea, and they jumped right on it.”
Nothing can change an atmosphere, bring people together, or pry a smile from a frown that has been etched in stone like music, especially LIVE music. We have a bounty of stellar musicians who are equipped to warm souls and hearts in every genre, and these will be the tools Coachella Valley Art Scene and SunLine Transit will be putting to use. With a little luck, this one day event will become a consistent benefit of riding our local transportation system turned mobile music venue. And what a wonderful way to represent our community to our incoming tourists, reminding us that life is not just about the destination, it’s about the journey.
Here is a partial list of the local music that will be performing on the buses:
Alf Alpha
Gene Evaro Jr
Machin’
Alfa Cologne
Maddy Ebersole
Burning Bettie
CIVX
Caxton
Giselle Woo
Gabby Evaro
In Viridian
Greasetrap
Mikey Reyes
All Night Shoes
Symara Stone
Yip Yops
(More to be announced)
For more information regarding the music festival and the bands participating, got to the website www.111MusicFestival.com
Please visit the link to Coachella Valley Art Scene as well, or stop by their office in Cathedral City (You might even sneak in a yoga class). Make sure you thank Sarah for making our valley just a little cooler than it used to be by finding a brand new platform for our local artists and making our community journey together more delightful.
Sarah Scheideman, Founder, Executive Director The Coachella Valley Art Scene
68571 East Palm Canyon Drive, Cathedral City, CA
760.409.6445
sarah@thecoachellavalleyartscene.com
www.thecoachellavalleyartscene.com
