By Publisher and Editor Tracy Dietlin
March 29 will mark the 3 year Anniversary of CV Weekly being in print and online. As the Owner, Publisher and Editor of CV Weekly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has made this publication become the success that it is today.
There are so many people who have been an integral part of making this happen that it would be difficult to list everyone. I would like to mention a few key folks that have worked tirelessly beside me from the beginning. Phil Lacombe, who is my partner in life, has helped me every step of the way by handling our social media, Club Crawler nightlife section and taking over distribution a little over a year ago, along with William Westley, who from the beginning has made sure the paper got from the printer in Sylmar to the desert every week without fail. Robert “Chance” Rickert, our Art Director for the past 2 years, has done a brilliant job designing our beautiful, edgy and eye appealing covers as well as laying the paper out alongside me every week and assisting in editing duties. His calm demeanor and easy going personality has held me together on a regular basis. Without these 3 men CV Weekly would not be where it is today. I would also like to give a shout out to Oscar Arbulu Flores who was the Art Director for our first year and remains a friend.
I must also acknowledge Lisa Morgan who has also been part of CV Weekly from day one and was sent to me by my good friend BB Ingle. Lisa has worked with my publication in many capacities including Sales Manager, PR guru and of course Music & Features writer. As many of you know Morgan performs all over town in many music projects and recently took a full-time position with FG Creative. After 3 years of having a deadline to turn in anywhere from 2 to 6 articles each week, she has requested a brief leave of absence to, well, breathe and get acclimated to her new position and have a life. Readers and Morgan fans do not fret as it’s only for a few more weeks and she will be back writing at least one music article per week. I sincerely appreciate Lisa’s contribution over the years and am proud to call her my friend.
I would also like to mention our current Sales Manager, Alaina Majiros, who came on board about 6 months ago and took on the position with zest and energy and had become a vital part of the team until she was in a serious car accident in mid-January. I look forward to her return as soon as she is able.
As for all of my feature writers and columnists who have also been with me from day one; without your contribution CV Weekly would not be the publication that “everyone wants to read”. Thank you Robin E. Simmons, Heidi Simmons, Haddon Libby, Dale Gribow, Angela Janus, Bronwyn Ison, Janet McAfee, Rick Riozza, Eleni P. Austin, Lola Rossi, Craig Michaels, Raymond Bill and Rob Brezny for all being part of my “original team” and for still being with me.
Several other writers joined in throughout the first year and a few in the last six months. Thank you to Judith Salkin, Denise Ortuno Neil, Noe Gutierrez, Sunny Simon, Richard Weiss, Dr. Peter Kadile, Julie Buehler, Flint Wheeler, Laura Hunt Little, Rich Henrich, Bruce Cathcart, Amanda Dorta, Patte Purcell, Rebecca Pikus, Dee Jae Cox, Monica Morones, Kira Golden, Curtis Hendricks, Edward L. Prichard III, Karen Creasy, Jean Chariton, Dr. Maria Lombardo, Chris Clemens and Jack St. Clair.
Every article and column you have all written has been an important part of the overall appeal of CV Weekly.
I would also like to say thank you to all of our amazing photographers who have contributed their work and art on a regular basis including Chris Miller, Laura Hunt Little, Lani Garfield, Scott Pam, Steven Young, La Maniaca, Dre Naylor and Samantha Schwenck.
I have the best team and I appreciate each and every one of you.
It is also important to thank all of our advertisers who have made it possible, of course, to keep this publication going. Many of you have been with us from the beginning and I sincerely appreciate the long-term relationships we have built and that you continue to believe in CV Weekly as we do all of your businesses. Cheers! And to all of our newer advertisers…welcome to the CV Weekly family!
I personally have been a long-time supporter of the bands/musicians in the valley and an important part of this publication is writing about local musicians and artists. Thank you to all of you that we have written about for opening up your hearts and letting us tell your stories on our pages. As many of you know I also own the CV Music Awards which will be held on Sunday, May 17 from 5-9pm at the Riviera in Palm Springs (which is where they were also held last year). For more info on the awards go to page 6.
I also decided to take on another project in my spare time (insert laughter here) which is the CV Music Summit, which will include 4 nights of bands competing in Showcases in front of industry professionals to win huge prize packages from music manufacturers such as Yamaha, Sennheiser, PC Audio Labs, F-Pedals and Presonus to name a few, as well as cash prizes and the opportunity to perform in front of record labels. This event will take place June 4 through June 7 at The Hood, Schmidy’s and IPAC. We have partnered with “Whisper to a Dream” to bring this event to the valley. Several workshops will also take place during that weekend which will discuss music licensing (getting your songs on TV, in movies and in gaming), legalities of the music industry, touring and merch, and more. If you are a band that is interested in showcasing your talent at this event please email me at publisher@coachellavalleyweekly.com. A full article with all the details will appear in next week’s issue.
One of the things that I am most proud of CV Weekly for is our passion to give back to the community by sponsoring charity events and hosting our own events to raise money for some of our favorite charities. We have tried in one way or another to help every charity that has reached out to us. Last December we held a CV Weekly benefit at the Date Shed, thanks to the generosity of the owner Alex Haagen IV for allowing us to hold the event there and all of the bands who performed for free, we were able to give $1,000.00 to FIND Food Bank and $1,000.00 to Street Life Project. We also presented a $500.00 check to Desert AIDS Project at our Best of Awards event last August and were able to give over $1500.00 cash to Loving All Animals at the CV Music Awards and various mixers. 
There are so many charities that need help in our valley and we look forward to continuing to raise even more money for them in the coming years.
It’s sometimes hard to believe that it has already been 3 years since I first had the vision to start CV Weekly. Well actually I had the dream back in 2005 it just took a while to make it come to fruition. Publishing a “weekly” paper is an exciting, daunting, challenging and rewarding adventure and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Finally I would like to thank all of YOU, our readers, who give me a reason to continue down this path week after week! I look forward to CV Weekly’s growth in the coming years and being able to add more columns, feature writers, and pages for you to enjoy.
I invite you to come and join us at our 3 Year Anniversary Party at Schmidy’s Tavern (it’s also their 2 year Anniversary) on Saturday, April 4 starting at 7pm and celebrate this exciting milestone with us.
