By Janet McAfee
Hoarding is a horrible form of animal cruelty, affecting about 250,000 animals every year. These cases sometimes involve hundreds of animals, and when discovered, overburden our public shelters. Animal hoarding is characterized by an obsessive collecting of animals, and the inability to provide minimal levels of nutrition, sanitation, and veterinary care. Hoarders are in denial as to...
By Rick Riozza
For any of you wine lovers who have somehow missed the behemoth of a liquor store, Total Wine & More in Palm Desert, you obviously need a pair of glasses or an atlas. The place is huge, has its own airport and can serve as an army base if need be.
Just to quote myself from my previous...
By Raymond Bill
Each year, I cannot help but notice the number of year round residents continues to rise. The Coachella Valley is growing and the season is becoming increasingly harder to define. The line between where the summer ends and the tourist season begins is blurred and some restaurants have found success through typically slow months while others are...
The home video release of Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH this week rekindled a soft wave of debate between those who were vexed that the movie strayed from a stricter interpretation of a slim passage in Genesis and this who wanted less “God stuff” than the movie actually implied.
The story of Noah and the Great Flood is probably our oldest myth....
By Heidi Simmons
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The Circle
by Dave Eggers
Fiction
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Ever wonder just how far this whole crazy internet idea will go? In Dave Eggers’ The Circle (Knopf, 504 pages), one social media corporation intends to rule the world.
The story begins with Mae Holland who gets a job on the massive campus of the country’s -- the world’s -- top internet search...
By Haddon Libby
Did you know that 80% of the world’s farmland is used to support the meat and poultry industries? According to Popular Science, a single pound of beef requires 298 square feet of land, 27 pounds of feed and 211 gallons of water. The creation and delivery of all meats consume nearly 50% of all fossil fuel usage.
It...
By Dale Gribow
With temperatures hitting 118 last week many of our neighbors drank too much beer and foolishly got behind the wheel of a car OR GOLF CART? The driver probably did not know that the breath test at the scene is Optional as are the Field Sobriety Tests and that they should have asked for a blood test...
Send the Right Smoke Signal - SAFETY!
“July, August and right into Labor Day we use our barbeques than any other months. Firefighters respond to many structure and wild-land fires that involve barbeques this time of year. We also treat many victims for injuries related to barbeques says Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna. Barbeque Safety means sending the right smoke signal...
Nearly everyone has thought of writing a book. Have you? How about a friend?
The Coachella Valley Women’s Business Center (which is for men, too) is having a two-hour workshop for those interested in writing and publishing a book. Here are the specifics:
Date: Thursday, July 31st
Time: 5:30 - 7:30pm
Cost: $20 with online registration
Location: 44-199 Monroe Street, Indio
Facilitated by Edward Lopatin,...
By Denise Ortuno Neil
When the sun goes down in the OC the party scene lights up, especially in the Newport Beach neighborhood of the Balboa Peninsula, known to locals as the Pen. To party on the Pen is standard weekend procedure for OC locals, and for all of you desert nightlife enthusiasts, a new and different way to party...
By Julie Buehler
It’s easy to make fun of the guy who is running around a stage screaming and yelling, jumping up and down and making Bill Gramatica’s celebratory hamstring pull look graceful.
If you search “Steve Ballmer” on YouTube there is a plethora of videos featuring his goofy, fast-paced sales pitches, teary speeches or downright absurdness on full display. And...
With a stunning two-story setting on the grounds of The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage, North America’s newest Ritz-Carlton Spa has become a desert sanctuary like no other. The 25,000-square-foot facility opened on May 15, 2014 and has unveiled a full menu of treatments and fitness offerings, with a signature focus on indoor-outdoor wellness.
The newly-built destination spa offers treatments for hotel...
Week of July 31
© Copyright 2014 Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): If a farmer plants the same crop in the same field year after year, the earth's nutrients get exhausted. For instance, lettuce sucks up a lot of nitrogen. It's better to plant beans or peas in that location the next season, since they add nitrogen back into the...
By Bronwyn Ison
Take a look around your office, house, closets, kitchen cupboards and especially your garage. What do you see? An environment organized or in disarray? If you are like many it is likely you are not organized and you are looking at clutter. Recognize how this may make you feel. When it comes to tangible items less may...
By Sunny Simon
It is a fact that weather affects our moods. Individuals living in harsh climates may suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder during the winter months. Due to our abundance of sunshine, desert dwellers are exempt from SAD, however, as we move into August the waves of humidity may take a toll on our sunny dispositions. Scientific studies reveal...
By Dr. Peter Kadile
Doc, I’ve been having a lot of heartburn lately. I don’t want to take medication for it, what can I do?
-Matthew, La Quinta
Matthew, heartburn is usually a symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The discomfort of reflux is caused by the upward backflow of stomach acid, bile, ingested liquids and foods into the esophagus. GERD symptoms...
A Legend, An Institution and the 2014 CV Music Awards “Best Live Performance Venue” Award Winner
by Lisa Morgan
When their plane out of New York landed in California on September 10, 2001, Robyn Celia and Linda Krantz, the future owners of the legendary Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace in Joshua Tree, had no idea how life as they knew it...
July 30, Mayor Pougnet Names Vanderpump Celebrity Grand Marshal of 23rd annual Palm Springs Festival of Lights Parade, Dec. 6, 2014
World famous Bravo TV personality, restaurateur and humanitarian, Lisa Vanderpump, one of the stars of the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and the former Queen of Jeffrey Sanker’s White Party Palm Springs, will receive the 372nd star on the...
By Rich Henrich
Along Highway 111, you may have noticed a patch of vacant land beside the former Desert IMAX theatre in Cathedral City or perhaps the one behind the theater complex. Once a visionary plan with promise, the progress on Cathedral City’s downtown development stymied a few years ago. In a complex web of financial challenges in Sacramento, the...
By Rich Henrich
“Woke up this morning and I got myself a beer! The future’s uncertain and the end is always near…” Roadhouse Blues by The Doors.
This famous line from rock legend Jim Morrison blasts through my alarm clock. It’s time to get up. I need to shower. I need to go to the bathroom. I need…water. It’s an absolute...
By Denise Ortuno Neil
It is simple summer fun. Close your eyes and you can envision the sounds and smells of a typical seasonal Fair. The aroma of popcorn and corndogs and fried everything fill the air with piercing screams from exuberant passengers on bright neon rides. There’s nothing quite like it. What is even better is that this fair...
By Craig Michaels
Finding an activity the whole family can have fun doing together can sometimes be a challenge, especially living in the desert. While traditional miniature golf courses are a good source of family fun, the Rock N Roll Mini Golf in La Quinta is anything but traditional. For starters, the whole course is indoors, which gets my vote...
Week 5 brought excitement at the Tilted Kilt Open Mic Competition! Even more new performers came pouring in this week as well as many of our regulars! Mike Sick-boy brought his fans and brought a confident and rockin' performance to take home 1st place and a Musicians Outlet Gift Certificate. Mike will now move on to the finals and...
By Shawn Mafia
“Friends warehouse pain, attack their own kind . . . a thousand kids, bury their parents,” sang John Doe and Exene Cervenka in unison. The big black desert sun had already sunk down behind the mountains surrounding Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. What was billed as the first ever acoustic performance by the seminal Los Angeles punk...
By Monica Morones
The three words that come to mind when I hear local band Slipping Into Darkness are: Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll!
Young, talented, and no strangers to the social scene, these guys tore up the main stage at Coachella Music Festival in 2013, with an impressive performance that left the Coachella Valley proud and gained them many...
Eleni P. Austin
There is an old saying, “All true art is born from suffering.” That certainly applies to the new Black Keys album, Turn Blue.
The Black Keys formed in 2001. Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney grew up in the same Akron, Ohio neighborhood. They were casual friends during childhood but by the time they both attended Firestone...
By Rich Henrich
I want to be a celebrity. The words, spray-painted pink on canvas from the hand of a young pigtailed blonde girl hangs on the wall, above the pool table. An iconic JFK thought-bubbles Teach Peace as he looks over the empty foosball field. World Cup fatigue has set in even for these plastic players. Thievery Corporation fills...
By Janet McAfee
Maybe you grew up on a farm or in a rural area where your pet cat was allowed to roam outside. Today most cat rescue groups will require you to keep the cat you adopt from them indoors. Some people still think that cats are happier if they have the "freedom" to live outside. Here are some...
By Rick Riozza
Hey—I thought I was on vacation; I had no agenda, I was just going over to the local winery and taste some wine. But as soon as getting to the Belle Marie/ Chateau Dragoo property, off Interstate 15 just north of Escondido, I thought again what I always think about when coming here: I’ve got to write...
By Robin E. Simmons
PICKPOCKET
The first time I saw French director Robert Bresson’s PICKPOCKET (1959), I thought it was oddly amateurish and strangely stilted – but I was hypnotized by the precisely controlled, cool, black and white images and nearly expressionless actors as they processed a morality fable about, well, what exactly?
Clearly “inspired” by Dostoevsky, Bresson’s austere tone poem is...
By Heidi Simmons
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Jacky’s Diary
by Jack Mendelsohn
Hardbound Comic Strip Anthology
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Beginning today, comic book aficionados and fanatics will gather in San Diego for Comic-Con International to celebrate the world that all things comicdom entails and inspires. Among the comic geniuses will be Jack Mendelsohn, artist and author of Jacky’s Diary (IDW Publishing, 192 pages) a hardcover, colorful compilation of...
By Haddon Libby
The Grand ‘Ol Party does not like President Obama very much. As they cannot beat him in the election booth, they are doing things like suing him and threatening impeachment. Why?
Speaker of the House, John Boehner, plans on suing the President for failing to enforce all of the elements of the Affordable Care Act a/k/a Obamacare. Stated...
The more mistakes a victim makes with their PI case, the less the accident claim is worth.
At the scene:
Initially Insurance companies do not want the victim to hire an attorney. They try to convince the injured party they can handle the claim themselves. Without an attorney the victim is not aware of how important it is to be organized...
Hot Purple Energy is proud to announce that its President, Nate Otto, has been selected to serve on the City of Palm Springs Sustainability Commission for the 2014-2015 year.
“It is an honor to be a part of this committee, serving a cause that is very important to me and working for the greater good of the city,” says Nate...
Beat the Heat, Check the Back Seat, Look Before You Lock or KISS - Keep Infants Safe and Secure all have the same message; “leaving children in cars is dangerous and even deadly reminds Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna.” Studies have shown that the temperature inside a parked vehicle can rapidly rise to a dangerous levels for children, pets and...
POP-UP ALERT- July 27: Fresh from their wildly successful Avant-Garde ‘Chanel-esq’ dinner event LIGHT, PS Underground jubilantly proclaim “Let them eat cake!”. The underground duo have announced July’s monthly Sunday Brunch aptly called CAKE. How many ways can PS Underground interpret the concept of CAKE? For those of you who have ever attended a PS Underground event, you know...
By Julie Buehler
When people find out that I host a sports talk radio show, they often ask, “Did you grow up with a lot of brothers?” Well, I guess, but 2 of the 3 are younger, so I guided their blossoming more than they guided mine. My oldest brother was a baseball player, not really into football as much.
So...
By Flint Wheeler
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby took to the podium Monday morning and wasn't shy about voicing his opinion on the current college athletics model, specifically his displeasure with the ineffectiveness of the NCAA's enforcement standards.
In his state of the conference address, Bowlsby didn’t speak glowingly about the future of the NCAA and college sports in general. Speaking...
Week of July 24
© Copyright 2014 Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A report in the prestigious British medical journal BMJ says that almost one percent of young pregnant women in the U.S. claim to be virgins. They testify that they have conceived a fetus without the benefit of sex. That's impossible, right? Technically, yes. But if there could ever...
By Bronwyn Ison
After considerable thought I decided the topic of vulnerability should be explored. Did you know that being vulnerable is exceptionally difficult for most people? To be vulnerable means to remove your mask. Removing your mask will mean that everyone will truly see who you are. Frightening, right? Being your self doesn’t demand a fearful result.
As our lives...
By Sunny Simon
The other day the following client email crossed my desk: “Sunny…I am in the process of spending a few days in Orlando enjoying my favorite theme park. Yesterday I waited patiently in line to board a roller coaster --which is something I never do! My purpose was to execute one of the items under “Facing my Fears,”...
By Noe Gutierrez
There is no debate that John Garcia’s legacy in music is firmly etched in stone. He is revered all over the world for his work with Kyuss, Unida, Hermano, Slo Burn, Kyuss Lives and Vista Chino. He has at times been perceived as an enigma to many. He is as mysterious as the desert’s legendary generator parties....
Article and Photos by Richard Noble
I was at a conference in La Quinta when the original email came in. I knew there was a possibility I had been invited but wasn’t sure. At first, I was amazed and excited, thrilled beyond containment. No more than a few minutes had passed by before tears started rolling down my face. It...
By Lisa Morgan
There are a special few who are the very essence of the word HERO. These are the people who run toward the danger that put us, our city, our county, state or country at risk. We often think gratefully of our soldiers, our police force and, of course, our fire fighters in such a light. But there...
Auditions are Monday July 28, 2014 from 6-9pm the Arthur Newman Theatre, Palm Desert.
Applicants must register before auditioning. (if you have already registered, through the season audition form - do nothing and show up Monday 7/28/14 at 6pm)
TO REGISTER, VISIT: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e9jretezhxexk2ru/start OR VISIT www.dtworks.org and click the audition registration link.
Please arrive promptly at 6pm (Monday July 28 6-9pm) and...
The Desert Rose Playhouse, the Valley’s live stage company serving the LGBT and gay-friendly communities, is presenting their annual fundraiser event MIXED PLATE on Saturday, August 16, 2014 at 7 PM.
MIXED PLATE is just as it sounds – an eclectic variety show featuring the talents of performers who have worked with the Desert Rose Playhouse in some capacity since...
We did it again at the Tilted Kilt Open Mic Competition! Week 4 discovered great new talent and we got the crowds roaring fun entertainment and audience giveaways! Newcomers to our competition, Divine Knights, showed up with fans and a winning presence to take home 1st place and a 4 pack of Knott's Berry Farm tickets! They will also...
This Saturday, July 19th @ 9PM Benefiting California Fire Wives
Featuring: JoJo Leone, Caxton, Pictures From Eden and Deadend Paradox
by Lisa Morgan
Season? What "season"? Things don't seem to have slowed down much at all for Schmidy's Tavern, under new ownership for just over a year now. With their commitment to bringing various live music and treating customers the way they'd...
By Eleni P. Austin
Lana Del Rey, Lorde and Haim have received a ton of ink this year. The praise accorded these women has been effusive, almost fatuous. Some of it may be accurate, but truly, the most interesting female artist to emerge in the last couple of years is 26 year old Courtney Barnett.
The Australian native grew up in...
This past weekend was the inaugural event of the first Palm Trees and Tattoos Convention which was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Palm Springs. The event was the brainchild of Sean Wood and Tony Francois, co-owners of Tg Tattoo in Cathedral City.
Wood said that there were about 1800 attendees throughout the weekend with 100 artists tattooing. There...
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