By Chris Clemens
Coachella Valley Community Trust (CVCT) have announced a new program, Academy of Musical Performance (AMP), designed to advance the musical abilities of youth who will be completing 6th through 11th grades at the end of June 2015. An open call on March 14, 2015 is the first opportunity to be considered for acceptance into the musical aspect...
Week #7 of The Tilted Kilt Open Mic Competition New Year’s edition was a great night for newcomers! Between the new $100 weekly cash prize for 1st place, fantastic prizes for 2nd and 3rd places, and the new 50% judge vote and 50% audience applause vote, the crowd was rowdy and new musicians joined competition veterans in an energetic...
By Monica Morones
DJ and music producer Alex Harrington, also known as All Night Shoes, has to be one of the busiest DJ’s in the valley. From being booked almost every weekend to just recently announcing that he will be performing at the Coachella Music Festival Campground, Harrington is the IT guy right now. If I were to describe his...
At Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, SATURDAY, MARCH 7th, 8pm
by Super Fan, Lisa Morgan
You cannot truly appreciate the life-trail that Melissa Etheridge has blazed without stopping to consider the changes in our culture and the music industry over the last 27 years. In 1988, when the future Grammy Award Winning artist was just beginning to make some noise, things were very...
By Eleni P. Austin
“Say what you will, say you will or will you won’t, or you whatever, You prevaricate your whole life don’t you? /This much I can say: I would’ve waited till the oceans fell away and all the sunken cities would reveal themselves to you/But you won’t will you? Because you never do.”
That’s the Decemberists, taking the...
By Rebecca Pikus
The most exciting & creative Art Exhibit in the Desert is taking place right now! It can be seen at the new & innovative Leslie Jean Porter Gallery in Cathedral City, Ca. Leslie opened last Fall, and through her ingenuity, brilliance, and incredible hard work, she has presented spectacular & eclectic openings every single month. The current...
By Janet McAfee
There is always something new and exciting at the Palm Springs Animal Shelter to benefit our furry friends. Managed and operated by a non-profit organization, Friends of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, this shelter has the flexibility to develop creative ways to promote their animals for adoption. Now the “Friends” have developed a pet food bank program...
By Rick Riozza
Certainly, this was the scene somewhere at some time: You’ve got a great bottle of wine—even quite valuable—that’s been waiting to be enjoyed. And one of your favorite dinners is being advertised, prepared and served over at a new restaurant in town. You bring in your wine, it’s properly uncorked and served with the utmost pomp and...
Headlining new series with cocktails, cooking demonstrations & dinner
Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa has announced a new partnership with iHeartMedia to create "Sun, Spoon & Stars" a special culinary weekend series featuring cooking demonstrations and dining with renowned celebrity chefs. The series, to be held at the lush, 240-acre resort in Rancho Mirage, Calif., will be led...
By Robin E. Simmons
FOCUS
It’s been nearly ten years since Will Smith has played his charismatic, charming persona on the big screen. You know, the guy we first met on his hit TV show ”Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
Smith has taken on a series of serious sci-fi action guys in the last decade that ended with the dreary AFTER EARTH,...
By Heidi Simmons
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The Girl on the Train
By Paula Hawkins
Fiction
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Sadly, violence against women plagues this planet. In Paula Hawkin’s The Girl on the Train (Riverhead Books, 336 pages), homicide, infanticide and rape make this tale more about examining victims than exploring a mystery.
The story begins with Rachael on her daily train commute to London. The back and forth trip is...
By Bruce Cathcart
This year February allowed Coachella Valley residents to enjoy day after day of clear skies and sunshine with daily temperatures in the mid 80’s while we watched the Midwesterners and East Coasters get pounded with an arctic blast and one snowstorm after another. You would think it would be impossible to keep those poor folks from coming...
By Denise Ortuno Neil
So let’s talk about the weather. No really, it’s not small talk, it is what everyone is talking about who lives in the Coachella Valley or who is visiting or considering visiting the desert. It is what draws disturbingly huge droves of people to our valley for a myriad of events from golf tournaments to gay...
By Haddon Libby
Which city is the safest in the desert?
According to data compiled by location.com for use by real estate agents nationwide, Twentynine Palms comes in as the safest place to live in the desert. With one property crime per 72 residents, they were the only city in the area to have lower crime levels than national average with...
By Dale Gribow
Crooks have smartened up and now use clever schemes to defraud millions of people every year. The bad guys often combine sophisticated technology with age-old tricks to get people to send money or give out personal information. New twists to old schemes are added to pressure people, especially seniors, to make important decisions on the spot.
Last week CBS...
It’s nice to finally write about rain! We have a few more storms in the forecast and we certainly need it. We all like singing in the rain but driving in it? It’s rather stressful even when it’s not raining says Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna. Most people just don’t pay attention or exercise common sense much anymore. We have...
Coachella Valley Wildflower Festival
Join ShareKitchen and the Friends of the Desert Mountains for their annual signature event on Saturday, March 7th from 9:00a – 4:00p. Located at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor Center at the base of Highway 74, the Coachella Valley Wildflower Festival is a FREE event celebrating wellness, recreation, and the outdoors....
The BNP Paribas Open – the largest combined WTA and ATP World Tour event in the world – continues to receive praise from both players and fans, as more than 431,000 fans flocked to the 2014 event, the largest turnout in the tournament’s history. With a complete site renovation of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which included a new...
By Flint Wheeler
According to the NCAA, which tracks such things in the case of girls' basketball, only 3.7 percent of those who play high school ball will go on to play for a college team. The percentage is even lower for males - 3.3 percent - because there are more boys' high school teams and roughly the same number...
By Maria M. Miranda
Since 1939, March has meant one thing in the world of sports: March Madness. In this tournament, 68 college basketball teams compete through the month until only the final four teams remain. Coaches gather their teams to drive home the gravity of the moment, reminding them that they’ve worked hard and that how they respond to...
Desert Business Association (DBA), the Coachella Valley’s Lesbian and Gay Chamber of Commerce, will host its annual installation and awards dinner on Monday, March 9, 2015 from 6-9 pm at Tinto restaurant at The Saguaro Hotel, 1800 E. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. This year’s honorees are:
Business of the Year: Gay Desert Guide, sponsored by Compass Rose Financial;
Business...
Week of March 5
© Copyright 2015 Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): To depict what lay beyond the limits of the known world, medieval mapmakers sometimes drew pictures of dragons and sea serpents. Their images conveyed the sense that these territories were uncharted and perhaps risky to explore. There were no actual beasties out there, of course. I think it's...
By Bronwyn Ison
If you practice yoga the terminology, Mountain Pose or Tadasana will be familiar. Whether you practice yoga or not you are in this posture daily. The posture is simply standing straight in one place. However, executing its true form requires practice. Standing strong like a mountain that cannot be manipulated allows you to gain confidence. The beauty...
By Sunny Simon
My good friend Kay is calendar dependant. I sometimes think her happiness quotient is in direct proportion to the number of activities filling the hours of her daily schedule. Kay inundates the days of the month with everything from bocce ball meetings to pedicures. She sprinkles in community service, wedges in wine tastings with friends and logs...
Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa Caters to Younger Audience with Wildlife Exploration and Visit to The Living Desert Zoo
By Chris Clemens
Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa's Westin Desert Rangers Program was created for children to have a unique experience during their stay at the resort, learning about desert area wildlife and habitats while also making a special...
"An orphan who turned into a preacher, a preacher who turned into a songwriter, a songwriter that turned into a drunk, a drunk that is learning to be a human being."
by Lisa Morgan
“I run into people every day in search of authenticity. They want to discover the real deal. Well, call off the search – I’ve found him. His...
Bringing New Stars & Events to the Coachella Valley this March. A 5k Walk/Run is the Latest Addition to “St. Jude Week” in the Desert
By Andrea Hanson Carter
The 5th Annual Warburton Celebrity Golf Tournament will return to the Coachella Valley shining with stars, songwriters, rock legends and golf March 5-8, 2015. In its 5th year, the event has grown to...
By Kathleen Hughes
Jason Napier, a perennial favorite artist at La Quinta Arts Festival, is on his way from Friday Harbor, Washington with a real bronze beauty in tow named “Stir’d UP.” The life-size stallion is a sight to behold standing at 7 foot tall, 14 feet long, and weighing in at 1,200 pounds! Stir’d UP will be given prime...
By Jennifer Carlson
The multinational cast of Up with People is headed to Coachella Valley. Up with People (UWP), which has toured over 40 countries around the world during the last 50-years, has announced that Coachella Valley will be a stop on their 2015 tour. On Friday, March 20 at 7pm Up with People will perform a public show at...
BY DIANE MARLIN-DIRKX
As if we needed to tell you. You, who have your manicurist and hair stylist on Speed-dial. Along with the Nanny your kids spend more time with than they do with you, and the clean-up crew who know how to get red wine out of the mink-embellished cape you inherited from Aunt Bess, but you know what?...
Emerson Collins of “Sordid Lives” and “Southern Baptist Sissies” to Star in Popular Comedy
By Johnathan Tollins
Coyote StageWorks is pleased to present the most talked about comedy of the year, “Buyer & Cellar,” from March 27 through April 5, 2015 at the Helene Galen Performing Arts Center. Obtaining the rights to the hysterical show while it was still playing Off-Broadway...
By Dee Jae Cox
There are multiple classic Broadway musicals that should be seen in Revival. Gypsy, West Side Story, Peter Pan, My Fair Lady and the Sound of Music just to name a few. But some shows, really are better off being left to bygone eras. “A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to The Forum,” originally produced in...
By Craig Michaels
When you tune into K-NEWS 94.3 FM in the morning, you’ll hear more than just news, weather, and sports. The Bill Feingold show featuring Kevin Holmes is exceptionally entertaining and takes pride for being live and local.
The unlikely radio pair knows how to use their age difference to their advantage. Bill, who is 20-years Kevin’s senior, discloses...
Benefiting the Barbara Sinatra Center for Abused Children
By Kira Golden
Robert Hays, Jackie Flynn, Kevin Sorbo, Joe Mantegna, Frankie Muniz, Pat Boone, Richard Karn, Robert Wagner, and Beverly Johnson are just a few of the many celebrities who gathered at the Fantasy Springs event center this last Saturday to enjoy cocktails, delicious food, and stunning live entertainment at the 27th...
Zoo’s 26th Annual Gala will be held March 7th
By Kristy Kneiding
The Living Desert is pleased to announce that its 26th annual Zoobilee Gala is returning to the zoo on Saturday, March 7 and will feature “Deana Martin LIVE at The Cheetah Lounge.”
The Living Desert is celebrating its 45th anniversary and to honor that era, the gala will transport guests...
Thursday, Feb 26th @ Pappy & Harriet's featuring Travis Meadows 8pm-12am
Friday, Feb 27th @ Schmidy's Tavern, Nashville and SoCal Songwriter Showcase, Benefiting Street Life Project Outreach for Local Homeless (Granville Automatic only)
Saturday, Feb 28th @ Schmidy's Tavern FULL PERFORMANCE 9pm-12am
By Lisa Morgan
GRANVILLE AUTOMATIC: You may have first seen Vanessa Olivarez on the second season of American Idol. Her vocal...
By Crystal Harrell
Modern, authentic, informative, and innovative—these are just a few brand values that the crew at COD’s radio station seeks to promote at the official launch of KCOD CoachellaFM this semester. With the reinvention of the college’s student-led broadcast, KCOD CoachellaFM’s mission is to maintain an active interaction with the community through music, news, and public service programming...
Week #6 of The Tilted Kilt Open Mic Competition New Years edition brought fun for all! Between the new $100 weekly cash prize for 1st place, fantastic prizes for 2nd and 3rd places, and the new 50% judge vote and 50% audience applause vote, the crowd was pumped and musicians gave it their all. Plus, giveaways from the Mary...
By Lola Rossi
Music Icons The Jacksons celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Jackson 5 by heading out for their 2015 Unity Tour and tearing up the stage with an exciting, high energy show at Fantasy Springs Casino, this Saturday, February 28, at 8 p.m.
Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, Jermaine, Tito, Jackie, Marlon and Michael Jackson, started their musical...
Plus Record Release Parties in Hollywood & Palm Springs
Lead singer, keyboardist, and songwriter of Gram Rabbit, Jesika von Rabbit has released a new video, "Psychic Spice", which is also a track from von Rabbit's upcoming solo album titled Journey Mitchell. The album reflects a shift in energy for von Rabbit now that Gram Rabbit are on a sabbatical of...
By Chris Clemens
Miramonte Resort & Spa introduces “Thursday Night Live” in the resort’s Vineyard Lounge beginning February 26 through May 21. Every Thursday night from 5 to 8 p.m. guests will enjoy musicians performing live.
Gennine Jackson is the featured musician debuting the series on February 26, and performing through March 19. Ms. Jackson is a phenomenal vocal talent and...
By Eleni P. Austin
Back in 2002, Jennifer Knapp was the biggest star in Contemporary Christian Music. But she walked away from it all to lead a more authentic life.
Jennifer Knapp and her twin sister, Lori, were born in Chanute, Kansas in 1974. Her parents divorced when the twins were three years old. She endured an unhappy (and non-religious) childhood,...
The CVAS team has been busy busy busy! Last week we hosted over 5 events, this week we will produce even more. And although it may sound overwhelming, it's actually a lot of fun. We love our community and seeing it come together before our eyes. So don't miss out! Pick an event from the list below meet me...
By Janet McAfee
Did you know that less than 20% of the people seeking a pet will go to an animal shelter to adopt one? It would be hard to believe this if you were at the San Bernardino County shelter at Devore this past week. Throngs of people lined up outside the shelter, beginning at 5:00 am, and five...
By Rick Riozza
Wine has always been in a world of collaboration. Simple enough as when God provided the hardware and prompted man to tinker around, wine is a great example of teamwork, relationship, and alliance that provides joy to the world.
And besides a blending of human talents to the product, wine is blended in many different ways. At its...
By Raymond Bill
There are but a handful of restaurants here in our valley that can claim over 20 years of service. These valley gems have found the right balance of quality food, service, and ambiance that every restaurant struggles to achieve. Although I have lived in the Coachella Valley since the late 1980’s, there are still some fine, successful...
By Robin E. Simmons
Were your favorite movies Oscar© winners this year? Did you lose money betting on what you thought was a sure thing? Were you shocked at the choices of the Motion Picture Academy members? I was hoping BOYHOOD would win Best Picture, but glad that BIRDMAN won. It’s a great film that has universal appeal because it’s...
By Heidi Simmons
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10% Happier
by Dan Harris
Memoir
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It’s great to live in a country where it is a constitutional right to pursue happiness! But, sometimes that pursuit can get you down and happiness can be elusive. In Dan Harris’ 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voices In My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, And Found Self-Help That Actually Works...
By Denise Ortuno Neil
Palm Springs has had a history of glamour. Movie stars who started coming to the Coachella Valley in the 1920’s brought a sense of glitz to our desert oasis, elevating it into an area of fabulous parties, nightclubs and restaurants. And when they went out, they got dressed up. Jackets for men and high fashion dresses...
By Chris Clemens
The H. N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation Presents Desert Town Hall, the desert’s pre-eminent speaker series, welcomes award-winning photographer Platon on February 27. Platon will speak at Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells at 6 p.m. in the Emerald Ballroom, sharing inspiring stories behind his acclaimed photography.
Platon has captured portraits for a range of...
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