Coachella Valley Independent June 2016

COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT | JUNE 2016

VOL. 4 | NO. 6

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2 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT JUNE 2016

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JUNE 2016 COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 3

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Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263Cathedral City, CA 92234(760) 904-4208www.cvindependent.com

Editor/PublisherJimmy Boegle

Assistant EditorBrian Blueskye

ART directionAndrew Arthur

Advertising DesignBetty Jo Boegle

ContributorsGustavo Arellano, Max Cannon, Kevin Fitzgerald, Bill Frost, Bonnie Gilgallon, Lyndsey Gilpin, Bob Grimm, Valerie-Jean (VJ) Hume, Brane Jevric, Keith Knight, Lawrence Lenhart, Robin Linn, Marylee Pangman, Erin Peters, Dan Perkins, Sean Planck, Guillermo Prieto, Anita Rufus, Jen Sorenson, Christine Soto, Robert Victor

The Coachella Valley Independent print edition is published every month. All content is ©2016 and may not be published or reprinted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. The Independent is available free of charge throughout the Coachella Valley, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 by calling (760) 904-4208. The Independent may be distributed only by the Independent’s authorized distributors.

The Independent is a proud member and/or supporter of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, Get Tested Coachella Valley, the Local Independent Online News Publishers, the Desert Business Association, the LGBT Community Center of the Desert, and the Desert Ad Fed.

A Note From the EditorOn May 14, the McCallum Theatre hosted East Valley Voices Out Loud. As known by readers of the Independent who happened to catch last month’s cover story, the show was the culmination of the two-year Crisalida Community Arts Project, led by the McCallum and storyteller David Gonzalez.

I was fortunate enough to attend the first 75 minutes of the show. (I left early because I’d committed to being at a fundraiser in Palm Springs later that night.) At times, the show was a bit rough. The talented hosts, Arturo and Erika Castellanos, talked over each other at certain points. After playing their first song, Lomeli Mariachi started a second piece, it seemed, only to be ushered off the stage by the hosts. Some of the performers were visibly nervous, shaken by being on the large McCallum stage, a place were countless legends have performed over the years.

These elements were the focus of Bruce Fessier, the veteran arts scribe for The Desert Sun, in a scathing piece published on May 17. Fessier ripped East Valley Voices Out Loud to shreds, comparing the show to a different event that was, in his eyes, far more successful.

“… The company spent just four hours rehearsing in the theater. McCallum president and CEO Mitch Gershenfeld said the project was meant to be measured by the work it did in the East Valley more than what was presented on stage. So he considers it a success,” Fessier wrote. “But the people who paid $9-$22 to see the show could only conclude that the East Valley performers Gonzalez selected were amateurish and the main reason for that was their lack of direction.”

I’ve been in journalism for two decades, and I’ve never seen a veteran journalist miss the point of something so badly.

There’s a lot about the East Valley Voices Out Loud show that Fessier didn’t mention. Like the moment when at least half of the audience members raised their hands after being asked whether it was their first time at the McCallum. Or the look of sheer joy on some of the young performers’ faces when the audience cheered loudly. Or the fact that the showcase featured a new piece by a brand-new East Valley theater company created, in part, because of the Crisalida Community Arts Project.

Instead, Fessier sneered that the show was not compelling “even though its producer-director-curator, New Yorker David Gonzalez, spent two years searching for talent and staging over 300 workshops and writing eight books with a $600,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation.”

Perhaps if Fessier had covered the works of the Crisalida Community Arts Project before attending the show, he would have gotten the point: East Valley Voices Out Loud, while rough around the edges, was a triumphant showcase of art and artists from an oft-ignored, disadvantaged part of the valley we call home. The Crisalida Community Arts Project was meant to develop stronger community ties—and East Valley Voices Out Loud proved that the project was a rousing success. The fact that Fessier missed all of this is baffling—and appalling.

Welcome to the June 2016 print edition of the Coachella Valley Independent. As always, thanks for reading.—Jimmy Boegle, [email protected]

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because it just doesn’t happen that way. For a man to be successful he needs support at home … not someone who is always griping and bitching. When a man has to endure a woman who is not supportive and complains constantly … he will not be very successful unless he is able to cut the cord.”

Compare that mentality to the fact that Clinton found a way to work through public humiliation to keep her marriage and her family intact. She was supportive in making her husband successful. If the woman card means

not living by the alpha male philosophy, then I don’t mind voting for a woman just because she is a woman.

Meanwhile, my woman card apparently got lost in the male.

Anita Rufus is also known as “The Lovable Liberal,” and her radio show airs Sundays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on KNews Radio 94.3 FM. Email her at [email protected]. Know Your Neighbors appears every other Wednesday at CVIndependent.com.

OPINION

Look at the Facts: Donald Trump’s ‘Woman Card’ Claim Is Beyond Ludicrous

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS

women have less stamina to pursue their ambitions, makes unwanted physical advances, bullies to get his way, ignores a woman if she’s not a “10” and prefers to hire women without children—all while telling everyone how he respects women. (Trump not too long ago said: “[A female employee] is not giving me 100 percent. … She’s giving me 84 percent, and 16 percent is going towards taking care of children.”) An alpha male never makes apologies or excuses his behavior. He is self-focused, self-justifying—and believes that everyone else is there to help him, serve him, entertain him and sleep with him. It isn’t that the alpha male doesn’t provide opportunities for smart and capable females; it’s that he’ll only do it when it benefits him—and he can’t help seeing women with sexist presumptions about how they should look and act.

If merely being female is playing the “woman card” and gives women some kind of advantage, then why are there so few women in positions of power? Only 12 percent of seats on corporate boards in America are held by women. Women have headed their governments in the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Lithuania, Liberia, Bangladesh, Denmark, South Korea, Norway, Chile, Poland and many countries—but not in the United States. Less than 20 percent of congressional seats are held by women, and we are actually losing ground on getting into elected office at the state and local level. In 1998, we ranked 59th in the world in the percentage of women in our national legislature; in 2014, we were 98th, just behind Kenya and Indonesia, and barely ahead of the United Arab Emirates. Less than 25 percent of statewide offices are held by women, barely higher than in 1993.

Women make up half of California’s population but hold less than 30 percent of state, county and local elected offices. Of more than 400 cities in California, only 51 have female majorities on city councils, and 69 cities

have no women serving at all. That’s actually better than most other states.

While we’re used to seeing lots of women heading charitable functions and raising money for good causes locally, the statistics on women holding public office here in the Coachella Valley are depressing. In both Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, just one of the five councilmembers is a woman. Coachella has one of four; Desert Hot Springs, Palm Desert, La Quinta and Indio each have two women out of five councilmembers. As for Cathedral City and Indian Wells … not a single woman can be found on their city councils. At the Riverside County level, there are no women on the Board of Supervisors.

This lack of women in political positions has consequences. Arend Lijphart, a former president of the American Political Science Association, says there are “strong correlations between more women legislators and more progressive policies on issues like the environment, macroeconomic management, support for families, violence prevention, and incarceration.” Worldwide studies that have found women legislators introduce more bills regarding civil liberties, education, health, labor and other important issues affecting day-to-day life. In addition, research indicates that nations that elect women to key national leadership roles enjoy increases in economic growth, largely based on a more participatory style and the ability to manage difficult situations requiring cooperative approaches.

Hey, that “woman card” sounds pretty good! When Donald Trump accuses Hillary Clinton

of playing the “woman card,” and attacks her for “enabling” her husband’s womanizing, keep in mind his own philosophy about marriage, as written in Trump: The Art of the Comeback: “I tell friends whose wives are constantly nagging them about this or that they’re better off leaving and cutting their losses. I’m not a great believer in always trying to work things out,

BY ANITA RUFUS

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/OPINION

The current flap about Hillary Clinton playing the “woman card” is nothing short of ridiculous. As a woman, I know what it feels like to be trivialized (called “honey” and “girl”), talked

down to (“mansplaining”), ignored, talked over, interrupted and denied a seat at the decision-making table.

I also know what can happen to one’s career if one stands up for oneself or responds in kind. So much for the “woman card.”

Why aren’t we talking about Donald Trump playing the “man card”? After all, he’s trying to be some sort of alpha male by appealing to other men who wish they had the guts (and the money) to just say whatever they want. You know—a guy who puts down women based on looks, presumes

Hillary Clinton has embraced the “woman card” theme in the wake of Donald Trump’s now-infamous remark. hillary clinton campaign site


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OPINION

Another Summer Is Almost Here—but That Doesn’t Mean You Need to Stop Gardening

THE POTTED DESERT GARDEN

But that’s kind of boring, isn’t it?The largest pots in our yards offer us

another opportunity: You can choose to do some minimal but productive gardening in pots that are 24 inches or larger (in width and height), as they will retain enough water to support the plantings of your choice.

If you are like me and want some summer color, two heat-surviving summer annuals are vinca and pentas. Go with hues of vibrant reds and hot pinks, or soften the look with pale

pinks and white. These plants will need daily water, but not so much that you risk violating the water restrictions. You can even save the first water from your shower in a 5-gallon bucket to use to water your pots.

If you would like to grow a little food, try some basil in an area which only receives early-morning sun. Make sure the soil stays consistently moist, and harvest the leaves regularly. Pesto, anyone?

Two popular vegetables that can take the

BY MARYLEE PANGMAN


There are different ways to look at the arrival of summer in the Coachella Valley.While many people complain about the heat and the hefty power bills, summer also

brings a lot of good. Our winter visitors have left, which means we can get into popular restaurants at a reasonable time, possibly without a reservation—and we can get some great deals, too! Traffic is certainly less troublesome.

In your garden, summer offers opportunities, despite the heat. Of course, we can simply rely on the strongest desert and arid plants, which require little water and minimal work, such as cacti and succulents, bougainvillea, trees and shrubs.

heat are okra and eggplant. Both of these thick-skinned veggies will do pretty well—especially if you can keep them out of the sun by 1 or 2 p.m. Harvest the okra while still young on the vine, and it will be nice and tender. Local nurseries will have appropriate varieties of both of these plants, but I would get them ASAP, from starts; it is too late to begin from seed.

If you have become inspired to grow your own food, and are thinking about tomatoes … sorry. You have missed your season, and you’ll need to wait until the fall to grow your own.

As for that okra and eggplant that you’re growing … try grilling the veggies, and combine them with a few other fresh ingredients to complement your summer dinner!

Wash both vegetables thoroughly. Slice the eggplant into 3/4-inch pieces, and place on a paper towel with a little salt sprinkled on the top of each slice.

Heat your grill to a medium heat, and brush the grate with cooking oil. Then brush the veggies with your favorite olive oil, and place them on the grill.

If you have some tomatoes, cut them into thick slices and add them to the grill when the okra and eggplant are almost done. You can use cherry tomatoes, too.

Remove the veggies from the grill on a serving platter; top with that the fresh chopped basil you grew; and season to taste. Add some feta or goat cheese if you like. Enjoy!

See? Summer does not need to be all about air conditioning and ice cream. Just do your gardening early, and then get out of the heat. Remember: Both you and your plants need to stay hydrated!

Your June To-Do List1. Avoid pruning plants now that the desert has heated up. You can deadhead your spent flowers, but pruning leads to sunburn by exposing previously shaded stems.

2. Increase the watering frequency to be sure pots don’t dry out.

3. Keep using a water-soluble fertilizer biweekly. Be sure the soil is already damp before applying fertilizer.

4. Garden and water in the early mornings.

Marylee Pangman is the founder and former owner of The Contained Gardener in Tucson,

Ariz. She has become known as the desert’s potted garden expert. Marylee’s book, Getting Potted in the Desert, is now available. Buy it online at potteddesert.com. Email her with comments and questions at [email protected]. Follow the Potted Desert at facebook.com/potteddesert.

With a little TLC, vinca plants can offer a variety of summer colors.


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OPINION

ASK A MEXICAN!Why Do Mexicans Use Cilantro and Onion When They’re Not Indigenous to Mexico?


BY GUSTAVO ARELLANO

DEAR MEXICAN: I read an article you linked to about how it could be hard to order a lime in Spanish-speaking South

American countries. The bottom line was that, depending on where you are, un limón could mean a lemon or a lime; it was all a matter of local dialect. Curiously, limes originated in Europe, and lemons in Asia.

This realization, logically, led me to ask you: How did the combination of onion and cilantro—both basically Mediterranean, and brought to the New World by the Spanish—become such intrinsic ingredients in the culinary traditions south of the border?

Devorador de Nopal

DEAR CACTUS EATER: Wait … how did you go from an etymological question about lemons and limes to asking about onions and cilantro? That’s a non-sequitur on the lines of talking about democracy, and then mentioning Trump. But the Mexican will use any opportunity to plug the works of his pals, so I forwarded your question to Lesley Tellez, author of the fabulous Eat Mexico: Recipes From Mexico City’s Streets, Markets and Fondas.

“Mexicans have a rich history of using aromatic herbs in their cooking,” says Tellez. “Pápaloquelite, epazote, hierbas de olor (just to name a few)—they’re used abundantly to flavor everything from quesadillas to stews. Cilantro came from Asia, but its herbal punch fits right in.

“As for onion, there’s evidence that a type of wild onion existed before the Spaniards arrived, so indigenous Mexicans might’ve already had a palate for it. The combo that’s popular at Mexican taquerías today—raw, diced white onion, mixed with chopped cilantro—is all about texture and balance. The taco needs that necessary crunch and brightness, just as much as it needs salsa.”

Devorador: Linear arguments, cabrón!

DEAR MEXICAN: Why do us Mexicans use the word confleis—or “corn flakes” for the gabas—when talking about any type of cereal?

Tepito Timoteo

DEAR POCHO: The same reason gabachos say “Xerox” as a verb when they want to photocopy anything, call cotton swabs “Q-Tips” and call all

steroidal creams “Quadriderm.”The bigger question is how Mexican Spanish

seemingly mangles a straightforward term like “corn flakes” into confleis. The answer, como siempre, is elision, the linguistic concept of combining vowels and consonants to create new words that confound gabachos and fancy-ass Mexicans alike.

DEAR MEXICAN: I believe I heard you say that “gringo” is either out-of-date or inappropriate, and that gabacho is the better choice. I’ve checked online, and most sources say that gabacho is a pejorative and/or generally refers to Europeans. Is this the case, or is gabacho just a better word than “gringo”?

Also, as a native SoCal cracker, is it acceptable for me to use gabacho?

Gringo-Gabacho Greg

DEAR GABACHO: As I’ve explained in this columna before, gabacho and gringo are synonyms for the same thing—gabachos, with the key differences being certainty in their respective etymology. (Gabacho comes from Provencal, while no one has ever put forth a definite origin story for “gringo.”)

The important fact is that gabachos long ago appropriated “gringo” into a harmless term that has absolutely no sting, while gabacho maintains its sting. Now you want to proudly refer to yourself as a gabacho, gabacho? No. Content yourself with the theft of half of Mexico back in the day, and leave our treasures alone once and for all.

Catch the Mexican every Wednesday at CVIndependent.com. Ask the Mexican at [email protected]; be his fan on Facebook; follow him on Twitter @gustavoarellano; or follow him on Instagram @gustavo_arellano!

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NEWS

GET READY TO OPEN YOUR WALLETS

Coachella Valley Water District Officials Make the Case for Hefty Rate Increases—but Not All Customers Are Buying the Arguments

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The CVWD cites three main factors in the increase request: a decrease in revenue due to successful conservation efforts which obviously reduced water sales; water treatment needed to meet newly adopted state drinking-water standards for chromium 6, which will cost the agency about $250 million; and system maintenance and upgrades needed to serve the 318,000 residents who rely on the agency for reliable and safe water.

Many audience members had legitimate questions regarding the proposed CVWD responses to these financial challenges.

It was obvious from the start of the state-mandated water-conservation effort in 2014 that all water agencies’ revenues would decrease if customers’ water usage decreased. The CVWD relied on budgeted reserve funds and customer over-usage penalty fees to bridge the gap, and understandably, those resources will not be sufficient to cover costs moving forward.

But are there other areas in the current CVWD budget where money might be saved? Employee-compensation costs make up 39.2 percent of the domestic-water-service expenses at the agency. Barrett mentioned that more employees had been hired in the past few years after a decrease in staff following the Great Recession, but he indicated that employee costs were not a factor in the move to increase rates.

On the other hand, in a recent interview, Heather Engel, the CVWD director of communication and conservation, recently told us: “When those chromium 6 treatment plants are built, we’re going to have to hire a lot more people, because we will need them to

operate the plants.”That leads to an interesting question

regarding the proposed $250 million chromium 6 treatment plan: A customer at the May 2 workshop asked if the utility had considered pushing back or initiating a lawsuit against the new state mandate. The response: After serious consideration, the board chose not to push back, and instead to implement the costly treatment solution.

The chromium 6 situation happens to be much different on the Coachella Valley’s western end, where water customers are served by the Desert Water Agency.

“The DWA is extremely fortunate, because a lot of the (aquifer) recharge happens right in our own backyard,” said Ashley Metzger, the DWA outreach and conservation manager, in a recent interview. “One effect of that process is to dilute the naturally occurring chromium 6 levels, because the Colorado River water has no chromium 6. We’re actually below the (state’s new) 10 parts per billion threshold level, so we’re not going to have to treat anything.”

However, Metzger did express doubts about the need for the new strict state standard.

“I would argue that we don’t know if there’s a threat at all,” she said. “Our federal level is currently 100 parts per billion, and (in California), we’re now talking 10 parts. A part per billion is like if you had $10 million worth of pennies, you’re going to be able to find one of those pennies that’s different than the others. Science has evolved very quickly, and because we’re able to detect minute traces of substances, there’s a tendency, I think, to regulate based on the ability to detect. But sometimes (that tendency to regulate) is for

BY KEVIN FITZGERALD

Since March 24, the Coachella Valley Water District management team has been conducting a series of public presentations billed as “Water Rate Workshops.”

The managers’ goal of these presentations: Convince wary customers to go along with a proposed four years of considerable water-rate increases, slated to start on July 1.

The CVWD board of directors will decide on the first year of proposed increases on June 14. At the May 2 workshop, many customers of the utility—which provides water to most of the

valley from portions of Cathedral City eastward—left unconvinced about the need for the rate hikes, despite the arguments made by CVWD General Manager Jim Barrett and Conservation Manager Katie Ruark.

the good of the community, and other times, all the factors are not evaluated.”

Back to the Coachella Valley Water District: Are these proposed rate increases a foregone conclusion?

“(The board has) a proven history of listening to the customers and trying to be responsive to their feedback,” Engel said. “But let me say that this is not a popular rate-increase proposal. This is going to mean that most homeowners will see an increased rate of about $6 per month, but (homeowner associations) and businesses are going to see a much more significant increase on their bills, and we know that. So we have not proposed this plan without a lot of thought and consideration from CVWD.

“The challenge that we face results from the cost-of-service studies. In order to have rates that are defensible against any lawsuits, we have to base any increase on a cost-of-

service study. Our consultants came back and said that we are not charging customers what we should be.”

Do the CVWD’s domestic water customers have any real voice in this debate? They do, according to the agency’s “Important Information About Your Rates” brochure, recently mailed to all invoiced customers.

In the section titled “How Can I Participate?” there is this clause: “At the time of the public hearing, the board of directors will hear and consider all written protests and public comments. After the hearing, if a majority of the property owners of the impacted parcels or tenants directly liable for the payment of the charges submit written protests in opposition to the proposed rate increases, the increases will not be imposed. If a majority protest is not received, CVWD’s board of directors may adopt the proposed changes, though they are not obligated to.”

Coachella Valley Water District customers were skeptical about General Manager Jim Barrett's arguments at the May 2 Water Rate Workshop. KEVIN FITZGERALD


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NEWS


The City of Desert Hot Springs Commissions Artists to Paint Traffic-Control CasesBEAUTIFUL BOXES

It’s windy and quite hot out on Indian Avenue in Desert Hot Springs. But Yudit Ecsedy doesn’t mind, as the 73-year-old artist paints a traffic-signal control box as part of the city’s Art in Public Places program.

The idea is to turn the ugly green roadside utility boxes into works of art, painted over by local talent as part of an effort to beautify the oft-troubled city.

Ecsedy, a native of Budapest, Hungary, came to the United States as a child. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in art history, and in 2011, she retired to DHS, a place where she had been vacationing since she was a student.

“My parents and I started coming here in the winter for at least a week years ago,” she said. “The place helped my mother’s arthritis. The view, the atmosphere, the healing waters and the ‘time out’ all contributed to creating quality time for our family. I continued this tradition with my husband

By brane jevric

and four children—and now I’m part of this town.”

The Art in Public Places fund was created by the city in 2008, according to Janice Gough, president of the nonprofit Art Foundation of Desert Hot Springs.

“With utility boxes being the lowest-costing way to bring art to the city, we started getting some of these boxes painted,” Gough said.

“There are 111 boxes in DHS.” Ecsedy became involved with the project

in 2013—and the City Council did not like some of her proposed works, because they had religious themes.

“I handed in my designs, some with representations of angels,” she said. “In January 2014, the City Council, after seeing my designs, brought in a law prohibiting any public art

with wings. A lawyer from Virginia flew out to sue the city for forcing artists’ subject matter. I chose not to sue the city, being aware of its bankruptcy situation at the time.”

DHS has a Community and Cultural Affairs Commission which evaluates the control-box art applications. In January 2014, Gough became a CCAC commissioner—and things started moving forward. Ecsedy also agreed to do other works that did not involve wings.

“I was allowed to … start on my designs. I have painted one box so far, and have commission for two more,” Ecsedy said.

Ecsedy’s first box was commissioned for $500, and the box on Indian Avenue was commissioned for $1,200. Gough said the financial resources are accumulated thanks to a fee assessed on commercial builders, earmarked specifically for the program. However, the money is not the only motivation for artists like Ecsedy.

“What motivated me is simply helping beautify the town that I love,” she said. “To have my paintings on public display here for years and have local citizens and vacationers see them and respond to them is a special gift in my life.”

It took Ecsedy two months to paint her first box, she said, not counting weeks of preparation as she created the design on paper. The materials used are steel primer, acrylic paints and an anti-graffiti coat.

“The winds there were brutal, and often

I had to come home after only two hours of painting because the paint would dry before I could apply it to the design,” Ecsedy said.

Renowned local muralist John Coleman has also painted traffic boxes throughout the valley. One of his creations can be seen on a box on Dillon Road, and though painting a traffic box is not as big of job as a mural, he said it wasn’t an easy task.

“The weather can and does make painting traffic boxes a little tricky at times,” he said. “I don’t mind the heat, but the wind is the most challenging—blowing tools, drop cloths and ladders around constantly.”

He said the reception he receives while painting the boxes is overwhelmingly positive.

“Passers-by often honk and tell me that I’m doing a great job,” he said. “Some folks stop to talk and take photos.”

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Yudit Ecsedy's first painted control box. brane jevric


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For 62 years, Teresa Flores lived in a small house across from a railyard in San Bernardino. The smell of diesel fuel

permeated the neighborhood, and her neighbors suffered from skin rashes, asthma, cancer and maladies no one could seem to identify.

Flores finally moved to the other side of town. Though she can breathe easier now, she knows there’s no real escape: San Bernardino and Riverside counties have some of the state’s worst air quality. The South Coast Air Quality Management District is responsible for regulating much of that pollution, from sources like oil refineries and power plants. With the state Air Resources Board, it also helps inform policy decisions by assessing public health around refineries, factories and railyards.

In early March, the district’s board fired its director of 19 years, Barry Wallerstein, because he opposed loosening state pollution regulations in order to accommodate business interests, according to some board members.

Wallerstein was ousted less than two months after the California Coastal Commission fired its director of five years, Charles Lester. Several commissioners say this was due to his management skills, though others, including Lester, blame it on a power struggle with commissioners lobbied heavily by homebuilders and business developers.

The firings raise questions about the future of California’s environmental regulations, generally considered the nation’s most progressive. Last year, a Republican majority was elected to the Air Quality Management District, and the vote to oust Wallerstein was along party lines. The coastal commission’s vote was less politicized, but Sean Hecht, a UCLA law professor, says, “Many commissioners and board members believe that there is an irreconcilable tension between environmental regulation and jobs.”

Both agencies wield a lot of power: The Air Quality Management District’s 725-person staff advises a board of 13 politicians and business leaders representing Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Wallerstein made great strides in reducing smog in his tenure: The number of days exceeding federal ozone standards dropped by a third, although some criticized him for not responding strongly enough to the methane leak at Aliso Canyon.

The Coastal Commission’s staff of 163 and its

BY LYNDSEY GILPIN 12 commissioners work to uphold the Coastal Act of 1972, which protects public beaches and habitats along 1,100 miles of coastline. While Lester approved most proposed developments, he also implemented sea-level rise adaptation planning for local governments and fought to ensure public beach access for low-income communities.

Industry stakeholders often meet with members of both agencies, a fact that has always caused tension. Most recently, in December, the district’s board ignored recommendations and EPA rules to adopt a weaker smog-reduction rule backed by the oil industry. According to Joe Lyou, a Los Angeles board member registered as an independent, the Western States Petroleum Association “basically dictated” the decision from behind the scenes. Wallerstein was one of the most vocal objectors. Less than three months later, he was fired.

The Coastal Commission is still seeking a director, but in early April, the Air Quality Management District hired Wayne Nastri, a former EPA administrator under George W. Bush. Nastri was president of a consulting firm, E4 Strategic Solutions, which represented energy companies involved in district decisions.

Meanwhile, organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice have sued the district over the smog rulings, and state lawmakers are pushing legislation that calls for greater agency transparency.

Grassroots efforts to improve air quality and coastal access also continue. Flores works with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice to mobilize engagement in the low-income communities most affected by the district’s decisions.

“The laws are not followed through,” Flores says. “They’re always talking about things improving, but when you live in the middle of everything, you see it first-hand. We’re watching (politicians) closely.”

This piece originally appeared in High Country News (hcn.org).

NEWS

PARTY-LINE POLLUTIONHigh-Profile Firings at State Agencies Tilt the Scales Toward Business Interests

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NEWS


Watch as All of the Bright Planets Prepare for a Rendezvous!JUNE ASTRONOMY

Jupiter starts high in the southwest in early June 2016, with faint Regulus, heart of Leo, preceding it as they move toward the western horizon.

Red Mars starts out unusually bright while low in southeast in early June, attracting attention to the triangle it forms with nearby Saturn and the red twinkling star Antares, heart of the Scorpion. The triangle crosses through south in late July-early August, and morphs into a spectacular, compact straight line in south-southwest on Aug. 24, as Mars passes directly between Saturn and Antares.

The Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair rises in the eastern sky in June, ascending to nearly overhead in August. Two other bright stars, Arcturus and Spica, are highest in the southern sky in June, moving into west and west-southwest by the end of August.

With the unaided eye and binoculars, follow the motions of planets against the background stars. In mid-May, Mars passed closely north of a second-magnitude star, Delta Scorpii, the middle and brightest member of a nearly vertical slightly curved line of three stars in the head of Scorpius, to the west of Antares. Mars retrogrades, or goes westward, until ending nearly 10 degrees west of Delta Sco on June 29. Mars barely moves for several evenings, and then resumes eastward or direct motion, passing closely south of Delta Sco on Aug. 9.

Jupiter is moving eastward against the background. Note the first-magnitude stars Regulus in Leo, west of Jupiter, and Spica in Virgo, well to Jupiter’s east.

Follow the moon: Its day-to-day change in position against the stars, averaging 13 degrees per day, is much more noticeable than that of the planets. Watch the moon change from a thin crescent to just past full June 6-20, July 5-20 and Aug. 4-18, while passing the planets and

the bright stars plotted on our evening twilight charts.

Jupiter’s dark equatorial cloud belts and up to four of the bright satellites discovered by Galileo offer a pleasing view for small telescopes. Even binoculars can show the moons; the best chances to see at least Callisto and Ganymede, the two outermost, come on June 11 and 12 (outermost Callisto and brightest Ganymede are both west, or to the lower right, of Jupiter); June 22 (both widely east, or to the upper left, of Jupiter) and June 29 (Callisto is widely west, Ganymede widely east). Using a medium- sized telescope with higher magnification, if atmospheric conditions are steady, try to see the Great Red Spot shortly after 9 p.m. on June 6, 18 and 30.

Mars, still showing a nice disk after its opposition and close approach of late May, displays surface detail! In June 2016, it is still late winter in Mars’ southern hemisphere—the southern spring equinox (or northern autumnal equinox) will occur on July 4. Although the south pole of Mars is then on the Martian terminator (day-night boundary), that pole is now tipped 15 degrees out of Earth’s view. Yet the surrounding southern polar cap of frozen carbon dioxide (or its overlying cloud cover) is near its maximum extent, reaching halfway from pole to equator, far enough to spill over the southern limb. So whenever you look at Mars early this summer, you’ll see a bright southern edge to Mars’ disk.

The most prominent dark marking on Mars, Syrtis Major, will be in fine position when it lies astride the pole-to-pole centerline of Mars at June 24 at 8:44 p.m.; June 25 at 9:21 p.m.; June 26 at 9:59 p.m.; June 27 at 10:36 p.m.; June 28 at 11:13 p.m.; June 29 at 11:51 p.m.; and on the night of June 30 (the morning of July 1) at 12:28 a.m. South of Syrtis Major lies Hellas Basin, the deepest crater on Mars. Its surface is

often covered by clouds or frost, which would add to the bright area of the polar cap extending over the southern limb of Mars’ disk.

Enjoy Saturn’s rings this summer! They’re now tipped from edge-on by at almost the greatest angle possible. Using as high of a magnification as your telescope and atmospheric conditions allow (I often use 200x with my 6-inch reflector), try for the Cassini Division dividing the outer A ring from the broader, brighter B ring. This narrow gap is nearly two-thirds of the way from the inner edge of B toward the outer edge of A. Look also for Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, taking 16 days to complete one circuit around the planet. Its nearly circular orbit is almost nine times as large as the outer edge of Saturn’s A ring, in nearly the same plane as the rings, now tipped 26 degrees from edge-on, and so appears as an ellipse. Wherever Titan is in its orbit, it’s always about four ring diameters

from the nearer ring edge, if you choose the diameter of the ring system passing through Saturn’s center and pointing toward and away from Titan.

Titan will appear farthest east of Saturn on June 9 and 25, and July 11, and farthest west on June 17, July 3 and July 19.

The Astronomical Society of the Desert hosts monthly star parties at Sawmill Trailhead (elevation 4,000 feet). For dates, with map and directions to the site, visit www.astrorx.org.

Sky’s the Limit Observatory in Twentynine Palms offers star parties most Saturday evenings, except when moon is close to full. For details, visit www.skysthelimit29.org.

Robert C. Victor was a staff astronomer at Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. He is now retired and enjoys providing skywatching opportunities for school children in and around Palm Springs.

Now that the Earth has overtaken all the bright outer planets (with the final one being Saturn, reaching opposition on June 2), we can conveniently follow them at dusk for several months: Jupiter until start of September, Saturn until Thanksgiving, and Mars until end of May 2017.

Venus passes behind the sun on June 6, and by middle of July will emerge into our early evening sky very low in the bright west-northwest twilight glow shortly after sunset. Binoculars will help you spot Venus very low in twilight in its first weeks, and can reveal Mercury nearby from mid-July until late August. That’ll bring the total to all five bright planets visible simultaneously!

Our chart depicting the sky at evening mid-twilight follows positions of naked-eye planets and stars of first magnitude or brighter in the sky when the sun is 9 degrees below the horizon, roughly 45 minutes hour after sunset.

By Robert Victor

Planets and Bright Stars in Evening Mid-TwilightFor June, 2016

This sky chart is drawn for latitude 34 degrees north,but may be used in southern U.S. and northern Mexico.

Stereographic ProjectionMap by Robert D. Miller

Evening mid-twilight occurswhen Sun is 9° below horizon.June 1: 46 minutes after sunset.

15: 47 " " "30: 46 " " "

N

S

E W

1 8 15 22 29 Mars

1 8 15 22 29

Jupiter

1 8 15 22 29

Saturn

Capella

Procyon

Pollux

Regulus

Spica

Arcturus

Antares

Vega

Altair

Deneb

June's evening sky chart. ROBERT D. MILLER


CVIndependent.com

Music and AddictionDrugs and Rock ’n’ Roll Have Always Gone Together. Three Local

Musicians—Now in Recovery—Say It Doesn’t Need to Be That Way.By Brian Blueskye

Addiction is a crippling disease that afflicts people from all backgrounds, across every economic status

But creativity and substance abuse have always gone hand

in hand. Many of history’s most prolific and talented artists have dealt with some form of addiction, and within the music community of the Coachella Valley and High Desert, issues with addition, past and present, are well-known and shockingly common.

When I decided to write a piece about musicians and addiction, I quickly learned that many musicians don’t want to talk publicly about addiction. More than a handful of local musicians who are now in recovery declined—understandably—to talk on the record about their pasts, fearing consequences at their current jobs, or perhaps wanting to avoid flat-out embarrassment.

However, three individuals, all of whom are now in recovery, were courageous enough to share their stories. (It should be noted that even they asked that certain parts of their stories not be shared.)

Why? They all said they decided to speak out in the hopes that they might inspire others who are dealing with addiction to get help.

In a rather short amount of time, The Flusters have become one of the Coachella Valley’s most popular bands. The group was

voted “Best Local Band” by Coachella Valley Independent readers in late 2015—even though the band had not yet existed for a whole year. The group has played numerous local shows, and was picked as one of the two local bands to play at Coachella in April.

However, it wasn’t long ago that frontman Douglas Van Sant was dealing with severe drug addiction. He’s been sober since Sept. 11, 2013.

“Back in my early 20s, painkillers and pill mills were on the rise,” Van Sant said at his home in Palm Desert. “You could go to four pain doctors in a day and get Oxycontin—and I’m talking the real deal, the higher doses of Oxycontin. This was in South New Jersey, which was 45 minutes from Camden, N.J., which is notorious for heroin. It was like the movie American Gangster, with the stamps on the bags and the ‘blue magic.’ Where I grew up, it was like an episode of The Wire. There were white neighborhoods, Mexican neighborhoods, African-American neighborhoods, Puerto Rican neighborhoods—and they all had their hands in it. It was easy to score.”

Van Sant said he used drugs for years. “I had been addicted to substances mentally

and physically for 10 years,” he said. “It was one thing, onto another thing, back on another thing, and being addicted to a few things at once. I was in alleys in the rain with toothless hookers doing drugs. I wandered around a campground in Ohio in leather pants and eyeliner, out of my mind. I was wandering the streets of South Philadelphia and Seattle all strung out. It was tough times—very tough times. In Seattle, I didn’t have parents to manipulate, and I was disconnected. I was in Seattle straight out of rehab, living with my cousin, and I started getting in trouble there and living in a drug house.”

Van Sant showed me a scar on his hand. He said it was created when he shielded himself from a board with a nail sticking out of it during drug deal gone wrong.

“It’s real; it’s not sensationalized.” Van Sant said about the nasty side of addiction. “Anything in the media, they don’t sensationalize it enough. It’s bad; it’s dirty; it’s grimy; and it’s dangerous. People in that world don’t fuck around at all. They get what they need to get one way or another. You always think about the next high, and you don’t really ponder your mortality.

“I was in my parents’ basement on a diet of chicken broth and oranges, trying to kick drugs,

and banging my head on the door, trying to knock myself out to go to sleep. I’ve been so sick, I couldn’t move. The last time, I was really suicidal and deeply depressed. … It was bad, and in the end, I got to a really deep place and had to stop.”

Herb Lienau is known today as the spooky organist Herbert, but he has been part of the local music scene since

the early ’80s. He’s played in bands with Mario Lalli of Fatso Jetson, Scott Reeder of Kyuss, Sean Wheeler of Throw Rag, and many others. Lienau was interviewed in the recently released documentary Desert Age; one of the subjects discussed was drug use in the early desert-rock scene.

Lienau talked to me at his Cathedral City home about his addiction to crystal methamphetamine.

“I was always kind of a mellow person and needed more energy. When I smoked pot, I’d just want to eat and go to sleep—and that’s it,” Lienau said with a laugh. “With speed, I enjoyed being awake and having energy to do stuff. Physically, for me, I didn’t have any teeth fall out, or anything like that. But you do lose a lot

continued on next page


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Douglas Van Sant said he tried all sorts of drugs before finally getting sober in 2013. “It was one thing, onto another thing, back on another thing, and being addicted to a few things at once. I was in alleys in the rain with toothless hookers doing drugs. I wandered around a campground in Ohio in leather pants and eyeliner, out of my mind.” Now sober, Van Sant has seen his music career skyrocket; in fact, The Flusters played at Coachella in April. “To know I could write and create without drugs or alcohol is such a big part of my sobriety, and it still is,” he said. “I’m actually a more vibrant artist when I’m sober.” LOWER PHOTO BY BRIAN BLUESKYE


CVIndependent.com

ACNE AND STRETCH-MARK REJUVENATION WITH RADIO FREQUENCY TREATMENTS

By Shonda Chase, RNCo-owner and aesthetic director of Revive Wellness Centers

Palm Springs and the South Bay area of Los Angeles

Email your individual appearance and aging questi ons to Ms. Chase at [email protected].

Read the enti re arti cle at www.revivecenter.com/blog.

Last month, we showed how the new SculpSure laser can per-manently kill unwanted fat without surgery, pain or downti me, in less than 30 minutes per area. This month, we going to share how you can treat stubborn acne and stretch-mark scars during the same 30 minutes you’re reducing your unwanted fat with Sculpsure.

A recent story on 60 Minutes showed how medical research-ers are acti vati ng the body’s own powerful defenses to kill cancer cells by injecti ng a polio virus into cancer tumors. The story showed how the introducti on of the polio virus acti vates the body’s defenses to kill both the polio virus and the cancer cells.

Similarly, Venus Viva radio-frequency treatments cause our bodies to acti vate our aestheti c-repair mechanisms to reduce acne and stretch-mark scar ti ssue. As you can see in the pho-tos, radio-frequency energy works safely on any skin type to improve acne scars and stretch marks.

Now everyone can have their scars improved—because our bodies can’t resist the eff ects of radio-frequency energy treat-ments !

Next month, we’re going to share secrets about Revive’s new FDA research study project that provides feminine rejuvenati on without surgery, dis-comfort or downti me. Men … you’re next up to bat to benefi t from this breakthrough technology.

Unti l then, keep the secret. Viva results: Three stretch-mark treatments (top)

and two acne treatments.

Music and Addiction continued from Page 13

of weight.“It all started with speed around 1984. When

I was in high school, there wasn’t any crystal meth. You could get speed in pill forms. Crystal was a whole different thing. The first time I did it was with Mario Lalli. Mario was playing music with some bikers at one point, and I think that’s how he got exposed to it. I came down and visited, and we were hanging out at Mario’s parents’ house, and that’s when I first tried it. I was in love with it instantly. With cocaine, it’s over in 20 minutes, and you feel like killing yourself afterward or getting more. With crystal meth, you felt like you got your money’s worth: It lasted for hours and hours.

Lienau said drug use was simply part of the scene back then.

“We all partied really hard, and it wasn’t considered addiction,” Lienau said. “It doesn’t become addiction until it’s an issue. It was an issue for me around 1985. We all did everything and anything as much as we possibly could—and unashamedly so. That’s right when speed started happening, and no one knew anything about speed and the long-term effects. They didn’t even know you could get addicted to it.”

Lienau said the drugs were fun at first—but he started noticing the negative side effects fairly quickly.

“People started changing,” he said. “They were doing bad stuff; scandalous things started to happen; and bad relationship stuff happened. Being up for days at a time isn’t the best thing, either. It gets its hooks in you, and it’s hard to quit. It really changes you, and you get weird, and you start hallucinating.”

During the ’80s, there were not yet any regulations or restrictions on the ingredients used to make crystal methamphetamine.

“There were a handful of people locally who were selling it back then, and it was easy to get. It just happened, and it was the new thing,” he said.

Lienau went to rehab for the first time in the mid-1980s.

“I don’t know if I decided or someone decided for me,” Lienau said. “… I think I was the first one out of all of us back then who went to rehab. I went to either The Ranch or the Betty Ford Center. … I have been to The Ranch a couple of times, the Betty Ford Center once, the ABC (Recovery Center), Cedar House in Bloomington, and a couple of detox centers. But that’s nothing compared to a lot of people.”

Lienau said he’s been sober for five years now. “My M.O. has been get a year, get a couple of

years, and then go back, and go off for a year or two, and go on and off. Right now, I have five years clean—so I have to really be careful, because right around this time, I have to be aware what’s going on.

“I’m hopefully done for good. Every time is worse than the time before. I’m older now, too, so I don’t really have a desire to do it anymore.”

Rick Chaffee, who plays in the band Gutter Candy, is one of the best guitarists in the valley. Gutter Candy takes all the things

about late-’70s punk and ’80s glam metal—and makes them funny and entertaining.

However, there was a time when there was little that was funny about Rick Chaffee’s life.

“I started drinking and smoking weed at 15 or 16,” Chaffee said during a recent phone interview. “But then when I was 25, I ended up getting hooked on heroin. From 25 to 35, I was a heroin addict.”

He said heroin back then was simply part the Orange County musician’s lifestyle.

“I can’t really say if I hadn’t been hanging out with those people that I wouldn’t have tried it somewhere else and at another time,” he said. “… It was that and cocaine. I didn’t do it every day.”

Chaffee said he’s always been an addict.“I was always smoking weed and drinking

all the time before heroin,” he said. “I had an addictive personality. I can’t say my upbringing was a root, but my parents drank, and I grew up with divorced parents. I was unsupervised as a kid growing up, and that may have had something to do with it, too. I was roaming the streets at 14 and 15 and always seemed to fall into the wrong crowd. I was playing music when I was 16 and hanging out with other guitar-players and harmonica-players doing Neil Young and Crosby, Stills and Nash.”

Chaffee’s life was imperiled by his drug use.“I hit bottom when I was in and out of jail,”

he said. “My relationships always seemed to fail. I also didn’t have a steady place to live. I wasn’t really on the street, but I did a lot of couch-surfing during those years. The last relationship I was in back then—she’s the mother of my son, and she’s been through it with me on and off.

“My family turned their back on me, and everyone else turned their back on me and said, ‘We’re not helping you anymore, and we’re done with you.’”

Van Sant, Lienau and Chaffee are currently clean—although they all know that could change if they aren’t careful.

One motivation to stay clean is the rehabilitation process, which Van Sant said is simply awful.

“They medicate you. You have to go through a medical detox, and you’re not just going in there to get your life together,” Van Sant said. “The 24-hour suicide-watch detox … you are in psychosis at that point. You sleep a lot, or you sleep not at all. You can’t eat, and you can’t do anything. You get to the point where you can’t function. For drug addicts, it’s like Chinese water torture—it’s slow; it’s long; and it’s annoying. You can’t get any rest, either. In rehab, they keep you busy. I knew I was done, and I needed to be done. I needed to stop and



CVIndependent.com

Music and Addiction continued from Page 15

Herb Lienau (top right) started doing speed back in 1984. “When I was in high school, there wasn’t any crystal meth. You could get speed in pill forms. Crystal was a whole different thing.” Today, Lienau (pictured with Brant Bjork in the second photo) has been sober for five years. “I’m hopefully done for good,” he said. “Every time is worse than the time before. I’m older now, too, so I don’t really have a desire to do it anymore.” PHOTOS BY JORDAN SCHWARTZ

couldn’t do it anymore. It was so exhausting mentally, physically and spiritually.”

Lienau explained that crystal methamphetamine addicts often go through rehab many, many times.

“Studies have shown that it doesn’t stick. There’s a very low success rate,” Lienau said. “To get to that point where you’re not using—it takes what it takes. Some people can do it the first try, no problem, but others like me, I was a serial-relapse case. I was the earliest of our group to get sober the first time, or even to start, and I just wasn’t ready.

“Having a kid and being a parent helped me try to not be a fuck-up, but even that didn’t stop me, and there were even a few relapses after that.”

Through all of his relapses over the years, Lienau said he’s survived because he sticks to the mantra of “one day at a time.”

“You’re full of remorse, self-loathing and all that stuff—especially after it’s a repeated thing. But it’s one day at a time, and I hope I don’t do it again,” he said. “I’ve been through this whole thing long enough to know nothing is for sure. You have to take it one day at a time. I know better than to say ‘no more’ forever. It’s one day at a time. I hope I never do it again, but I’ve done this long enough to know that nothing is for sure.”

Unlike Van Sant and Lienau, Chaffee has been clean and sober for decades.

“At 35, I got clean and sober. I’ve been clean and sober ever since—and this September will be 25 years,” Chaffee said. “I ended up getting clean because my life was just getting more difficult, and I was in and out of jail. I needed some help and tried to quit for the last

three years of my using on my own, and then I started going to 12-step meetings. That’s what’s helped.”

Chaffee said being in jail while addicted is hard—and can be deadly.

“I’ve kicked heroin in jail before. They don’t give you any special treatment, and they don’t send you into the infirmary or any medical environment to help you deal with it,” he said. “You have to kick it on your own. That’s scary.”

Chaffee has put the lessons he learned to good use: While Chaffee rocks out in Gutter Candy at night, he’s a certified drug-counselor by day.

“In 1996, I had five years clean. A friend of mine said there was an opening at a treatment center in Palm Springs, and I ended up going there and was the night tech guy,” he said. “I went to school to get certified, and I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s been almost 20 years of working in the field.”

Chaffee said as a drug counselor, he knows all about the frequent trips to rehab some people, like Lienau, have endured.

“Does it miss the mark? I believe if you’re ready for treatment and you go into treatment, it’ll help,” Chaffee said. “A lot of people are so full of denial and blame others, and they’re not accountable for themselves or taking the responsibilities of it being their problem. If people are done and want to be done with it, it’ll help. I only had to go once, and it worked for me because I was done. I was 35, and I was young, but a lot of people think when they’re young that they can handle it, manage it—and, ‘If it wasn’t for Mom or Dad or this and that, then I wouldn’t be addicted, and it’s their fault.’ If you have people enabling you, that keeps people stuck in the addiction lifestyle as well.”

While some artists claim they’re at their best when using drugs, Van Sant said it’s downright liberating for him to

play music as a sober person. “It felt incredible to know I could actually

do it,” Van Sant said. “I thought that you had to be a Joplin, a Cobain or a Hendrix to be an artist—a certifiable wacko, and live in that insanity all the time. I thought that’s what truth meant. What I found is that it doesn’t need to be your story; your story is your own story. Find your own truth. To know I could write and create without drugs or alcohol is such a big part of my sobriety, and it still is. I’m actually a more vibrant artist when I’m sober. It was one of the most freeing experiences I ever felt in my life.

“Lately, I’ve become industrious about music to where I think I might be too industrious. I’m there to work and get my thing done; my social experiences aren’t at gigs. I’m there to think about my music and play. That’s such a weird concept to me, because it used to be the opposite. It was always, ‘FUCK YEAH! WE’RE GOING TO GO PLAY A GIG! IT’S PARTY TIME! IT’S NOT GIG TIME; IT’S JUST

Rick Chaffee, now a member of Gutter Candy, was addicted to heroin 25 years ago. “My family turned their back on me, and everyone else turned their back on me and said, ‘We’re not helping you anymore, and we’re done with you.’” GUILLERMO PRIETO/IROCKPHOTOS.NET

A PART OF PARTY TIME!’ Now it’s, ‘It’s gig time, and nothing else is a part of it.’ I’m there to talk to the people who came to see us, talk about music, make future plans, make future connections, and do whatever I can for the music.

“That’s my addiction now. I love it. It’s really exhilarating and fun. I manage the band well, and I manage it well because I’m focused.”

Lienau pondered the link between addiction and music.

“Maybe it’s the creativity—wanting to try new things and experiment,” he said. “A lot of artists are fucked-up to begin with, and that’s why they’re making art; it’s their outlet. They might think it helps expand their horizons or whatever. All I know is when I used to do speed, I would want to play guitar forever—but it didn’t take long to where if I was on it, I couldn’t touch a guitar. I didn’t want anything to do with it. It’s weird, but the whole thing sort of changed over time for me.”

Chaffee said he does not know why music and addiction often go hand in hand.

“I think maybe the artist or musician is a little bit more sensitive using the creative part of the brain and are more in tune to feelings, moods and emotions,” he said. “For me, the lifestyle of a musician being there in the ’80s and ’90s—it was all about partying, sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.

Van Sant and Lienau both admit they aren’t certain what the future holds.

“One of the smartest things I ever heard is, ‘There are things that we know, and things we’re aware we don’t know,’” Van Sant said. “There’s also this whole other category of things we don’t know we don’t know. My sobriety has been a constant exploration. … I’m living life differently and attracting a different person than I was before.”

Lienau said he’s learned honesty with oneself is the best way to address addiction.

“When you’re in denial, nothing is going to happen,” he said. “When you’re honest with yourself and accept that you have a problem, you can start addressing it. Until that happens, it won’t happen. I would say (to an addict who wants help): Go to a meeting. Find someone to talk to, and take direction from people who have done it, have been around for a while and have put in some years clean and sober. Someone who has done it before proves it can work, and that’s where you have to take instruction from. It’s too hard to do it alone, especially flying blind.”

Chaffee agreed that addicts almost never get clean without assistance.

“Seek help. You can’t live in both worlds,” he said. “Once you cross that line of moderation, you can’t go back. If you feel your life is out of control, seek some help.”


CVIndependent.com

CVI SPOTLIGHT: JUNE 2016

Seattle is best-known in the music world for indie-rock and grunge—but the latest big thing to come out of the city

is an electronic-music duo.Odesza will be headlining the June edition

of Splash House, a pool party and EDM event taking place Friday through Sunday, June 10-12, at the Riviera and the Saguaro in Palm Springs. Nighttime parties will take place at the Palm Springs Air Museum.

Odesza—named after a sunken vessel that belonged to Harrison Mills’ uncle—popped up in 2012 after Mills met Clayton Knight while in college at Western Washington University. The duo started releasing material via SoundCloud—and it wasn’t long before they achieved 1 million plays. Odesza earned a 2016 Grammy nomination, for Best Remixed Recording, for “Say My Name (RAC Mix)” featuring Zyra.

During a recent phone interview, Harrison Mills (aka Catacombkid), discussed what has influenced Odesza.

“(Clayton Knight, aka BeachesBeaches) and I grew up with a lot of different influences,” Mills said. “To be honest, it was a melting pot of a bunch of different genres and styles of music. We ask ourselves, ‘How can we make things that shouldn’t work actually work together and in harmony?’

We try to find exotic sounds and try to make them familiar. That kind of stuff catches our ear a lot. We really go in and dive into moments in music and emphasize little pieces of it. I think that’s the culture we came from and where we started. But it’s hard, because there’s a large palette of different tastes.”

In electronic music, there is a lot of collaboration between bands/singers and electronic-music producers—and Mills said that can lead to challenges.

“I think the hardest part can be when you think of an idea and set a tone for someone’s voice, and that person decides to take a completely different route, and you try to explain, ‘Well, this is what I was thinking,’” he said. “Sometimes, though, it can really work out in a way where they create something you never expected, and (you) rework your version of the song to match what they did in a better way.”

Like all music genres, electronic music is evolving—but in some ways, electronic music is changing faster than other forms of music have in the past.

“I think you have to change a lot if the whole foundation of the music you’re making started because of a trend,” he said. “I think you (need to) start very genuine in

what you make, and build a fan base that’s open to hearing your sound evolve and naturally grow. That’s what we shoot for—not diverting from what makes us stand out and what makes us unique, but just evolving with what feels like mature steps in the right direction.”

Before making it big in the electronic-music world, Odesza faced a challenge all new artists face: getting people to collaborate. Sometimes, scheduling can be a challenge, too, as was the case with Odesza’s “All We Need,” featuring Shy Girls.

“People we’ve reached out to over the years are people we knew we could actually work with. We never really tried to hit above the belt,” Mills said. “It was really hard for us to get Shy Girls, because he was touring at the time, and we ended up waiting a year to get him on the phone, because we really felt he was a fit for that track.”

Odesza owes much of its fame to SoundCloud. The platform rose to popularity as an outlet for independent electronic-music figures to release remixes and music. However, copyright concerns finally caught up with SoundCloud—and the platform is now dying a slow death.

“I think it’s a tough transitional period. I feel like there’s always something that

will pop up in its place after everyone uses something, and it’s gone,” Mills said. “I’m not really worried about it. It’s a tough spot to have this great platform where people could just upload something, and a bunch of people would listen to it. … I think it might be a little bit before we get there, but I’m sure there’s something else coming.”

Since the release of studio album In Return in 2014, Odesza has been busy touring—until recently, when Mills and Knight finally had a period to rest and come up with new ideas for the next album.

“In general, it’s been really good,” Mills said about the touring. “We’ve been really lucky with audiences we’ve been getting. Sometimes it can be kind of rough coming from a foreign place and adjusting to all the changes. We just came back from Australia. It took me, like, four days of shows to be back in it, dealing with being (17 hours) forward there. We keep a close team around us and people we really believe in, and that helps keep us grounded.”

Splash House’s June edition takes place Friday, June 10, through Sunday, June 12. General admission passes are $120. For more information, visit www.splashhouse.com. —Brian Blueskye

From SoundCloud to Splash House: Odesza Headlines the June Pool Party/Music Fest

Odesza. AVI LOUD


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ARTS & CULTURE

Western Lit: Two Fantastic New Works Document the Creatures of the West, Past and Present

BOOKS FOR THE AGE OF LONELINESS

Some environmentalists and scientists have begun calling our current epoch the “Anthropocene”—to acknowledge

the massive changes humans have induced in global ecosystems. But biologist and author Edward O. Wilson has proposed an alternative name: “Eremocene,” or the “Age of Loneliness,” a name that alludes to the fact that we are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, one for which humans are primarily responsible.

The impending loss of so many of our fellow creatures means that humanity faces what can best be described as a kind of “species loneliness.” Regardless of what we call this new epoch, there are witnesses emerging—writers attuned to their environment—who are keenly aware of the implications of species loss, and who vow to document past beings and savor the life that remains.

In Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats: Extinct Mammals and the Archaeology of the Ice Age Great Basin, zooarchaeologist Donald Grayson surveys North America’s last mass extinction. In all, the last ice age wiped out 37 genera, and Grayson pays particular attention to 20—mostly megafauna—that once populated what’s known today as the Great Basin, which covers most of Nevada and parts of five adjoining states. He compiles incisive obituaries for each bygone species, including mammoths, mastodons, sabertooth cats and the largest flying bird ever recorded, the giant teratorn, which “weighed about 150 pounds, and had a wingspan of about 23 feet,” analogous to “a Cessna 152 light aircraft.”

Grayson compresses and addresses centuries of ignorance surrounding extinction by offering a series of hard-boiled clarifications. His is a temperate voice, wary of global theories of extinction. He is more interested in advocating for a compendium of individual species’ histories. Because it is “difficult to extract definitive answers from the fossil record,” an extinction narrative must instead be singular and idiosyncratic to each species.

While the fossil record preserves the story of extinct species, one can turn to a field guide to apprehend extant species.

For more than a century, North American naturalists have been compiling field guides to aid citizen scientists in identifying the native flora and fauna of particular regions. In the case of The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide, editors Eric Magrane and Christopher

Cokinos are both guides and anthologists; this is a Sonoran Desert tour led by a park ranger with an MFA. But The Sonoran Desert is not just a field guide, but also an anthology of prose and poetry about the Arizona Upland. As in earlier “literary field guides” such as Califauna and Califlora (Heyday 2007, 2012), each species’ passage is accompanied by an essay or poem, an illustration, and a spirited description of its morphology, habitat and life history.

These 63 literary stewards of the Sonoran Desert were mostly recruited during the National Geographic BioBlitz in Saguaro National Park in 2011, an event where citizen scientists teamed up with professionals to develop a 24-hour species inventory. The resulting anthology is varied—a blend of witness and imagination, intention and happy accident, anthropomorphism and zoomorphism. In a single-sentence piece about the broad-billed hummingbird, Arizona’s first poet laureate, Alberto Alvaro Ríos, writes: “Hummingbirds are quarter notes which have left the nest of the flute.” Elsewhere, Alison Hawthorne Deming observes, “The saguaros all hum together like Tibetan or Gregorian monks / one green chord that people hear when they drive.”

Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats and The Sonoran Desert are both significant literary offerings. For those who dread the prospect of an Age of Loneliness, these books provide excellent company, bringing to life the precious biota of the American West—both the species that have long since vanished, and those that still survive, at least for now.

This piece originally appeared in High Country News.

Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats: Extinct Mammals and the Archaeology of the Ice Age Great Basin, by Donald K. Grayson (University of Utah), 320 pages, $24.95; The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide, edited by Eric Magrane and Christopher Cokinos, University of Arizona, 216 pages, $19.95.

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mango and peach, what’s not to love? It’s refreshing, bright and taste-bud-pleasing.

N.W.A.The Coachella lineup simply listed Ice Cube. But after he asked, “Is there a doctor in the house?” the surviving members of N.W.A. performed together for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Before Dre arrived—wearing all black with the Prince symbol on his shirt—Ice Cube had the N.W.A. vibes in full force with “Fuck tha Police” and “Straight Outta Compton.” It was loud, aggressive and totally awesome.

Pair with: Three Weavers’ Hops Needs Friends. With a bold emphasis on hoppy bitterness, this IPA from the Inglewood brewery (not far from Compton) is loaded Idaho 7 and Azacca hops, giving it bursts of pineapple, orange and strawberry flavors—loads of “California Love.”

Guns N’ RosesI would blast GnR in my Walkman in the mid ’90s as I got ready to swim the 100 freestyle at my high school’s swim meets. Therefore, I was beyond excited to see this large-than-life band.

Sure enough, many 35-to-55-year-olds rocked like it was 1987. Duff played his powerful licks from a white bass adorned with a purple decal featuring Prince’s symbol. He sang The Damned’s “New Rose”—which was extra-cool, since the psychedelic punk legends had just played before GnR.

But it was Slash’s astounding guitar solos and Axl’s wailing falsetto that really drew in the crowd. Despite Axl being confined to a throne due to a leg injury, the band members delivered a mind-blowing set—and, of course, Axl dedicated it to Prince.

Guns N’ Roses didn’t need a special guest, because the band made sure the night ended with a bang.

Pair with: Faction Brewing’s Something Different IPA. This IPA is hopped with Centennial, Citra and Experimental 07270 varieties. With aromas of pine resin and

notes of grapefruit, spice and tropical fruit, this beer is highly rated. Another pairing option: Try Modern Times Infinity Beach, a sour IPA with grapefruit zest coming in at 7.2 percent alcohol by volume. This is a special-release beer that is kettle-soured with three lacto strains before fermentation with Modern Times’ Brett blend, resulting in loads of flavors and in-your-face, citrusy awesomeness.

La Quinta’s Big MedalLa Quinta Brewing brought the Sundaze Session IPA and Poolside Blonde to Coachella—but it was another beer that would earn the Palm Desert-based brewery one of the beer world’s highest honors a couple of weeks later.

On May 6, La Quinta won the gold medal in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer Category at the World Beer Cup for the Bourbon Barrel Aged Koffi Porter. It bested a whopping 66 entries to take top honors.

The brewery takes its popular coffee porter and ages it in bourbon barrels for approximately four months. The coffee used is from local icon Koffi, roasted in Rancho Mirage.

I chatted briefly with Skip Madsen, who is now the brewmaster at La Quinta Brewing. He lived in Seattle for more than 20 years and brewed at Pike Brewing, Boundary Bay Brewing, Big Time Brewing, American Brewing Company and his own company, Water Street Brewing.

Madsen started brewing in the desert in January. Since then, he’s introduced the new Even Par IPA, which comes in at 7.2 percent ABV—pun intended, as 72 marks even par at many golf courses. The beer is brewed with Mosaic, Simcoe and Citra hops.

“I like to do all kinds of styles, but I’m known as an IPA guy,” he said.

This marks Madsen’s third World Beer Cup medal—and La Quinta’s first.

Up next for La Quinta: Some new beers and possible bottling of the now-renowned Bourbon Barrel Aged Koffi Porter, likely around the holidays.

Great beer and excellent music go hand in hand—so it’s no wonder that craft beer is becoming a bigger deal each year at the Coachella Valley Music and

Arts Festival, aka Coachella.Not only did the Craft Beer Barn delight

beer fans for the third year in a row; this year’s festival included a smaller rare beer barn, craft beer cocktails and a cabin speakeasy by the Houston Brothers.

Also present were all three of Coachella Valley’s local breweries, including La Quinta Brewing Co.—just weeks before taking home a gold medal at one of the world’s biggest beer competitions. (More on that later.)

As I enjoyed the second weekend of the festival, seeing all of the great beer together with all of the renowned musicians got me thinking about pairings: Which brew goes best with which music?

PrincePrince was at Coachella in spirit, after passing away on April 21, the day before the second weekend of the festival began. Coachella’s palm trees were awash with Prince’s trademark purple hue. Ice Cube even wore a purple bandana and purple sneakers in tribute.

Before LCD Soundsystem performed, the three massive main-stage screens played the entirety of Prince’s version of Radiohead’s “Creep,” recorded in 2008 on that very stage.

Prince’s music crossed genres; he was a master architect of funk, rock, R&B and pop. He went against the grain and refused to bow to big record labels during his nearly 40-year history of artistry.

Because Prince is such a legend, it’s virtually impossible to pair him with just one beer. However, the brewery that comes to mind is Stone Brewing. The 20-year-old San Diego brewery has gone against the grain since unleashing Arrogant Bastard Ale upon the world in November 1997.

Fast-forward to 2014, when Stone announced plans to become the first American craft brewer to own and operate a brewery in Europe. Much like Prince refused to bow down to big business, Stone’s founders just announced a project called True Craft—an

effort to invest in craft breweries which are dedicated to remaining true to the definition of craft beer, as an “alternative to being bought or pushed out by Big Beer.”

LCD SoundsystemThe icons offered tribute to Prince by leading off their set with a joyous, funky version of “Controversy,” lifting both spirits and feet off the ground. The anti-cool—yet infinitely cool—electro-rock group also played “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House” and “Dance Yrself Clean,” creating a grin-inducing dance party. James Murphy’s Brooklyn demeanor, electro-rock dancing and serious singing all contributed to what was a triumphant return. Murphy proved his comedic talent as well when, over a simple drum beat, he cavalierly proclaimed that he was present at every key moment in underground music.

I found myself memorized and swaying aggressively when a young, dreadlocked hipster came up beside me. His eyes were wide, overwhelmed by the sensation of the beautiful music. “I didn’t know about these guys; they’re amazing!” he said.

I giggled. “Yes, yes they are.” Pair with: The Bruery’s Confession. Not

quite beer, not quite wine, this unique and effervescent wild ale is perfect for the wild and collaborative band. Confession is a sour blonde ale that is blended and fermented with juice pressed from Riesling grapes.

While LCD Soundsystem may be best known for the effect the band has on the dance floor, Confession is best known for the effect it has when flavors reveal themselves on the tongue.

DisclosureThis electronic-music duo is definitely one of the cleanest stage acts you’ll see live. Disclosure wowed the crowd by welcoming AlunaGeorge singer Aluna Francis to the visually brilliant stage. “Moving Mountains” and “When a Fire Starts to Burn” brought awesome roars from the audience. Simply put, Disclosure was the ultimate crowd-pleaser.

Pair with: El Segundo Citra Pale Ake. Nearly every craft-beer-drinker I know loves this beer. With notes of guava, grapefruit peel,

Pondering Pairings of Music and Craft Beer at Coachella; La Quinta Brewing Nabs a Big Medal

the

By Erin Peters

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The beer offerings at Coachella 2016 were impressive indeed. erin peters


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WHAT The Grape Nut Ice CreamWHERE Ice Cream and Shop(pe), 1551 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite AHOW MUCH $3.50 single scoop (pictured); $5.50 doubleCONTACT 760-507-4005; www.icecreamandshop.comWHY Both the flavor and the texture are delightfully unique.On the Palm Canyon Drive side of Arrive, THE new hip place to see and be seen in Palm Springs, is an ice cream shop—appropriately named (if oddly punctuated) Ice Cream and Shop(pe).

However, this is no ordinary ice cream shop(pe). Here, you’ll pay a little more for your ice cream—but in exchange, you’ll get scooped-up goodness in a rotation of flavors both expected (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry) and delightfully WTF? (avocado, pomegranate chip, lavender). Sorbet is also on offer for those eschewing dairy for whatever reason.

On a recent stop at Ice Cream and Shop(pe), I decided to get a scoop of the grape nut ice cream. As she scooped it into the cute li’l cup, the woman working behind the counter said I’d enjoy the unique texture.

She was right. I didn’t know it was possible for a treat to be frozen yet gooey (in a good way) at the same time, but that’s exactly how this grape nut ice cream is. The cereal mixed in with the ice cream adds both flavor and texture, creating a frozen dessert that’s flavorful—it’s sweet, but in a mellow way—and fun.

The ice cream isn’t the only fun thing about Ice Cream and Shop(pe); the “shop(pe)” part of the name hints at the fact that this is also a cute little gift shop selling cards, souvenirs and the like. One other element of the place is also fun: It’s open late—until midnight in Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 p.m. the other days of the week.

The portion of Palm Canyon Drive south of Vista Chino and north of downtown Palm

Springs proper continues to get more popular and hip—and Arrive and its Ice Cream and Shop(pe) are a big reason why.

WHAT The biscuits and gravyWHERE Sunshine Café, 36815 Cathedral Canyon Drive, Palm SpringsHOW MUCH $6.35; $3.85 half-order (pictured)CONTACT 760-328-1415; www.sunshinecafe.comWHY OMG it’s yummy!The website brags: “Sunshine Cafè is frequented by celebrities, politicians, word-of-mouth visitors from around the world and mostly our wonderful locals.”

If one is uninitiated, that boasting may seem a little, well, crazy when you drive up to this slightly weather-beaten dinner that sits across the street from a dive gay bar on the industrial outskirts of what city leaders euphemistically call “downtown Cathedral City.” But once you walk in and experience the food at Sunshine Café, you’ll realize this place backs up that brag.

The clean and homey diner offers all sorts of amazing fare. The chicken fried steak gets rave reviews, as do the banana nut pancakes. The Mexican omelette was given a shout-out by Suzanne Somers in one of her books, for whatever that’s worth.

However, on one recent Sunday, none of those other treats mattered much, as I was on a mission: I was craving biscuits and gravy—and Sunshine Café has biscuits and gravy.

Really freaking good biscuits and gravy, that is. The biscuits are fluffy and flavorful, but the crucial component is what goes on top: Sunshine Café’s version of the white gravy, that diner staple, includes little bits of meat, and is simply delicious. The texture is right, too: It’s not chalky like some flour-based gravies can be; instead, it’s smooth and creamy.

You can get a full order of biscuits and gravy or a half order; in an effort to be somewhat less gluttonous, I went with the half order. That was a mistake: After I was finished, I really, really wanted more. It took an amazing amount of self-control for me not to pick up the plate and lick it clean.

Sunshine Café has made frequent appearances on local “Best Of” lists over the years. Once you try the food there, you’ll instantly understand why.

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RESTAURANT WEEK RETURNS WITH A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT NAME, HIGHER PRICESThe 10-day foodie feast known by locals simply as Restaurant Week is back and celebrating 10 years of existence—but things will be slightly different in 2016 than in years past.

Less important: Out is the clunky full name of Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week; in comes the more streamlined Greater Palm Springs Restaurant Week.

More important: Prices have gone up. In recent years, participating restaurants have offered three-course prix fixe menus for either $26 or $38. This year, however, there are three price points: $28, $38 or $48.

The good news is that most of the participants are sticking with the lower two price points. Organizers say that more than 90 restaurants across the valley will be participating; as of our press deadline, the Restaurant Week website listed an impressive 94 participants, 83 of which had posted their menus. Of those 83, a majority of restaurants were going with the $38 prix fixe—43 of them, to be exact. Meanwhile, 26 restaurants were offering $28 menus, while just 14 of them were offering $48 menus.

New participants this year include Cathedral City’s Bontá Restaurant and Bar, Palm Desert’s Koutouki Greek Estiatorio, and Palm Springs’ Chi Chi at the Avalon, Reservoir at Arrive, and SO•PA at L’Horizon.

Also new this year: The folks at ever-mysterious PS Underground will be offering a $48 menu at Velvet, a supper-club experience at a secret location created just for Restaurant Week. Very cool!

Also very cool: Beyond the restaurant deals, all sorts of other local businesses, attractions and hotels offer specials during Restaurant Week, too.

Greater Palm Springs Restaurant Week takes place Friday, June 3, through Sunday, June 12. For more information—including a list of participants and their menus—visit visitgreaterpalmsprings.com/restaurantweek.

NEW: BLAZE PIZZA OPENS IN PALM DESERTA growing pizza chain that does things a little bit differently has opened a new location in Palm Desert.

Blaze Pizza opened at 73393 Highway 111 on May 10, and here’s its shtick: You walk in and get in line; you tell the employees what sauce and ingredients you want placed on the made-from-scratch dough; one of those employees puts your creation in a very hot stone-hearth oven; and three minutes later, your pizza’s ready. It’d kind of like Chipotle … just with pizza, and without all the terrible press the burrito chain has gotten recently.

Actually, the press that Blaze Pizza has received lately has been just the opposite of that of Chipotle: It’s been downright glowing, as the fast-casual chain continues to grow. One of the investors in the “Fast Fire’d” pizza chain is NBA superstar LeBron James, who went to work at a Los Angeles Blaze location not to long ago, posing as an employee named “Ron.” Of course, this appearance became fodder for a commercial.

Learn more at blazepizza.com.

IN BRIEFAs previewed in this space a couple of months back: In the very same shopping center as the aforementioned Blaze Pizza, you can find the second valley location of The Habit Burger Grill, a chain that claims to have the best burger in America according to Consumer Reports. The Palm Desert location—that address again is 73393 Highway 111—opened in May and is the second Coachella Valley location; the other is at 79174 Highway 111 in La Quinta. More info at www.habitburger.com. … Good news for West Valley boozehounds and wine snobs alike: A little store called BevMo! has applied for a liquor license to do business at 333 S. Palm Canyon Drive, the location that was The Alley furniture/gifts for many years. The building is currently under construction. We’ll be keeping a close (if slightly bloodshot) eye on the progress and will keep you updated. … The family of Crater Lake Vodka’s Kathy Schriefer has been through hell recently—but the community is stepping up to help. In December, her son, Thomas, suffered serious brain damage after drinking too much water. On May 17, local publicist Jeff Hocker, Live Magazine and Eight4Nine Restaurant and Lounge joined forces at Eight4Nine to raise funds to help cover Thomas’ medical bills. The goal was to raise $3,500 at the event, but Hocker reports that the “Take 2 for Thomas” party actually raised $5,501. Great work! If you want to help, the Schriefer family has a donations page set up at www.gofundme.com/d9mfr6dw.

By Jimmy Boegle


Restaurant NEWS BITES

FOOD & DRINK


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to me during my college years, and he inspired me to learn more about it. I actually quit my restaurant job of four years. I didn’t want to be a manager anymore, and I started working at a wine store called the Wine Cask, where I completely faked it ’til I made it.

What’s exciting to you about wine right now?There’s so much access. There are so many people who wouldn’t have known things existed before, and now people are learning how to ask questions about it. One of the great parts of my job that I really appreciate and that I take very seriously, especially in the Internet age, is when you’re asked a question, you actually have to give the proper answer. There’s accountability now, because there is an iPhone in everyone’s hand.

What is the most exciting part of your job?Wine is a conversation that never ends. … The narrative is always changing; the information is coming out more and more; things are being redefined; there are new winemakers. … There is a never-ending crop of talent which is really interesting. I’m a storyteller by nature: I write; I write songs; I’m writing a book. Wine, for me, is a synthesis of all my real loves, which are history, maps, geology and what things smell and taste like. The synthesis of all these things is really what’s in the glass. What excites me is that I get to tell these stories every day. I get to show people something they didn’t know about.

You’re writing a book?I moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago to pursue music. I put a lot of time and effort in my life to do music. I quit college to pursue music, and it was what I thought my first path was really going to be. The perspective I’m taking in the book is how the pursuit of music led me to my career in wine. There is a synergy that I’ve felt with a lot of people in the wine industry … people who at one point were record producers, or a famous singer in a band, and then they throw it all away to go move on to a vineyard and make wine, or to start an import company.

Where is the most exciting wine region at the moment?The Loire Valley (in Central France). For its

writing a book about wine, and makes wine in partnership with winemakers in Santa Barbara under his AM/FM label. In other words, the man lives and breathes wine.

I met up with my fellow redhead while Kaner was visiting Palm Springs; we shared a bottle of Domaine Sylvain Bailly Sancerre Rosé, “La Louèe,” and chatted about all things wine.

How did you get into wine?I got into wine first at 7 years old when I stole a glass of champagne at my mom’s friend’s wedding. This is not a joke. … I literally went over and stole a glass of champagne when someone went to the bathroom.

Was it actual champagne?I don’t know. I never saw the bottle. I’ve always called it champagne. I could be wrong; it could have been Cremant de Loire. (Laughs.) So anyway, I stole a glass of champagne, or sparkling wine, from someone, and then I had to be taken home so I could vomit profusely for hours—as a 7-year-old! That’s how I got into wine first. I took about a 13- or 14-year break. … I’m from Santa Barbara, which is a wine-producing place, and a friend of mine in college … was really into wine through his dad. He didn’t really know much about it, but he was into the culture of it and going to dinners and cooking and things. His dad took a liking

FOOD & DRINK

WELL REDBy christine soto

Whenever I head to the Los Angeles area, I always try to check out a new restaurant or eat at an old favorite—and when it comes to wine, two of my “old” favorites are Bar Covell and Augustine, both of which are among the most-loved wine bars in Southern California. In fact, Sherman Oaks’ Augustine was recently named one of

“America’s Best New Wine Bars” by Food and Wine.Both are co-owned by Matthew Kaner, one of Los Angeles’ most respected sommeliers.

Kaner’s involvement in wine doesn’t stop there; he regularly hosts wine events (he was recently tapped by the German wine industry to host a “Wines of Germany” event) and travels all over the world to learn about wine. On his schedule this summer: Oregon, Italy and Portugal. He’s

A Chat With Matthew Kaner, Palm Springs Fan and Owner of Two of L.A.’s Best Wine Bars


biodiversity and the fact that (winemakers there) make every style of wine there is, the Loire Valley is a pretty special place.

What was your first wine love?Burgundy.

Desert Island Wine?Anything from (French winemaker) Thierry Allemand. It’s also the gentleman whose wine bottle was the impetus for my tattoo on my arm.

Favorite pairing?Champagne and potato chips.

Your favorite wine book?The first wine book that I read cover to cover was Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy by Joe Bastianich and David Lynch. It’s a very nice book; I learned a lot. … Italy is basically a country of, like, 20 different countries. I was able to learn about the culinary background and history, why certain grapes work with certain foods from different certain regions, and why they don’t make sense with other things. It had to do with a lot of family tradition and a lot of history. They really did an amazing job with that book.

When did you fall in love with Palm Springs?The first time I came to Palm Springs was for a romantic getaway with my then-girlfriend. I fell in love with the landscape, the mountains, the weather. It’s hot; it’s dry. You go to a great pool, hang out by the pool, drink by the pool—everything is by the pool.

What’s your favorite thing to do here?So far, my favorite thing to do in Palm Springs is go to Dead or Alive. (Laughs.) I’m really proud to have the AM/FM pinot noir available there. I’m also a huge fan of going to the Ace Hotel and having room service, and then being in a robe all day or night. I really like Tyler’s. I like the fact that they do what they do, and they do it right. I also like the Palm Springs airport. It’s awesome.

Palm Springs native Christine Soto is a co-owner of Dead or Alive wine bar in Palm Springs. She can be reached at [email protected] Kaner


CVIndependent.com

www.cvindependent.com/music

After an Ugly Breakup and Legal Battles, Queensrÿche Is Flying High Againfollowing a Break From Local Shows, civx Is Back With a New EPJay Farrar Brings a Stripped-Down Son Volt to Pappy’s to Perform the Legendary Album ‘Trace’THE LUCKY 13: meet An Up-and-Coming Hip-Hop Artist and a Veteran DJ/Bassist/Label Owner

THEY'LL OWN THE NIGHT

Lady Antebellum Is Just One of the

Huge Acts Coming to the Valley in June

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CVIndependent.com

naturally made that transition happen.”La Torre said he feels comfortable in

Queensrÿche, because he knows he’s capable vocally.

“Obviously, there is some pressure when you think, ‘This is a band with one of the most iconic singers of the genre, and he’s always been held in such high regard for his vocal abilities,’” La Torre said. “I think that because … I wasn’t hearing the high notes being hit for well over a decade, and because of the ugliness that permeated through the Internet, it made me easier to go in. I knew I could hit the higher notes; I knew that I could do it in standard tuning; and I knew that the guys were in a happier place. With them being happier, it took pressure off of me. I don’t profess to be the greatest out there, but I’m doing the best I can.”

La Torre shared his views on the two Queensrÿche albums he’s participated in thus far.

“I would say that in some ways, the first one was more difficult. We were in more of a time crunch to get the album done,” he said. “Condition Human was easier because we had more time; I had one album under my belt, and I had well over 100 shows with the band live. The people knew how I sounded like. It allowed me to be more of myself on this record. I had more time to get into the material.

“In other ways, Condition Human was more difficult, because the first record was received well; could it equal or outperform the first one? There were some vocal stylings and things that I think were also more challenging.”

La Torre shared his favorite songs to sing

The revamped Queensrÿche has released two albums: a self-titled album in 2013, and Condition Human in 2015.

During a recent phone interview, La Torre explained his personal philosophy as a frontman.

“I don’t try to steal the show from anyone else in the band,” La Torre said. “I’m one-fifth of the band, and I just try to give an honest performance. There’s nothing contrived or theatrical in what I do. I’m just singing from the heart, and honestly, I think that’s what I would want to expect and see from a band or performer that I like—just honesty in their delivery and performance. That’s better than any kind of technical proficiency or anything scripted or contrived.”

La Torre explained how he ended up in Rising West, the side project featuring members of Queensrÿche, which then became the new Queensrÿche. At the time, he was with Crimson Glory.

“I met (Queensrÿche guitarist) Michael Wilton in Los Angeles during a dinner party, and we talked about doing some side music,” La Torre said. “The former singer (Tate) was promoting his solo record and touring on it. So Queensrÿche was more or less shelved for a long time with only a handful of dates remaining. They wanted to keep doing things, and that dialogue between Michael and me evolved into working on some other material. He sent me some music, and I ran with it. He showed it to the other guys, and I did some of the old Queensrÿche stuff, and we did the side project Rising West. We did two shows under that name. Unbeknownst to me, they were having a lot of issues with the former singer, and when I found out that he was fired, it

MUSIC

GOING RIGHT FOR QUEENSRŸCHE

By Brian Blueskye

After an Ugly Breakup and Legal Battles, the Legendary Metal Band Is Flying High Again

WWW.CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC

Queensrÿche endured a turbulent and ugly two-year period after parting ways with vocalist Geoff Tate in 2012.

However, thanks to legal clarity and the addition of vocalist Todd La Torre, Queensrÿche is back and better than ever. The new-and-improved Queensrÿche will be performing with former Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino on Saturday, June 11.

The drama over the 2012 split was big news in the heavy-metal community. The rift occurred when Tate’s wife was fired as the band’s manager, and his stepdaughter was fired from running the band’s fan club. These moves led to some physical altercations during the 2012 tour; the other Queensrÿche members then fired Tate—and the end result was two different bands performing as Queensrÿche until 2014, when Tate lost rights to the name in a settlement.

Queensrÿche

from the expansive Queensrÿche catalog.“Right now, I’d say it’s ‘Killing Words’ or

‘Screaming in Digital,’” he said. “I also love opening the show with ‘Guardian,’ which is on the new record.”

La Torre explained how he keeps his voice in shape.

“I do exercises at home and work on different techniques and areas where I need strengthening,” he said. “As far as outside of that, I don’t warm up much before a show—maybe five minutes, more or less, to get things loose. I try to be quiet, rest and drink the right liquids. I don’t drink alcohol; I’m not a partier; and I try to get enough sleep. I eat what I want; I drink a lot of coffee, Coca-Cola, but I also pound a lot of water on the road. Some guys have these rigorous regiments before going on and will spend hours; I don’t mess with any of that. I just go

out and sing, and I’d say, ‘It’ll be what it’ll be.’”

The future for La Torre with Queensrÿche includes a documentary—and keeping on doing what they do.

“I’d love to do a live DVD at some point,” he said. “… We have hundreds of hours of footage from Rising West all through the lawsuit and us retaining the name and the whole transition. It’d make for a really cool documentary. I’d also love to keep writing really good music we’re proud of and do as many albums with the band as I can.”

Queensrÿche and Vince Neil will perform at 8 p.m., Saturday, June 11, at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84245 Indio Springs Parkway, in Indio. Tickets are $39 to $69. For tickets or more information, call 760-342-5000, or visit www.fantasyspringsresort.com.


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The kids are getting out of school. The temperatures are consistently reaching triple figures. There’s far less traffic in the valley. Yep, June is here—but that doesn’t mean things are going to be boring, because there are some amazing shows coming during the month.

You can always depend on Fantasy Springs Resort Casino to keep bringing in great entertainment during the summer. At 8 p.m., Friday, June 3, country music star Billy Currington will be stopping by. Considering the guy has nine No. 1 singles under his belt to go along with multiple Grammy nominations, you definitely don’t want to miss this one. Tickets are $39 to $79. At 8 p.m., Saturday, June 18, get ready for Madonna … the Mexican Madonna, that is. For more than 30 years, Yuri has stayed consistent, putting out 34 albums with a ton of hit singles. Expand your horizons, and go check her out! Tickets are $39 to $69. Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84245 Indio Springs Parkway, Indio; 760-342-5000; www.fantasyspringsresort.com.

Agua Caliente Casino Resort has a must-attend music event in June. It’s that time of the year when you need to get those dedications to your boo ready, because at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 4, it’s time for the Art Laboe Summer Love Jam. This year’s performers will be Thee Midnighters with Little Willie G, Deniece Williams, Malo, Amanda Perez and MC Magic. Tickets are $45 to $65. The Show at Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa, 32250 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage; 888-999-1995; www.hotwatercasino.com.

Morongo Casino Resort Spa is hosting some intriguing events—and one of them in particular is quite a big deal. At 9 p.m., Saturday, June 4, country superstars Lady Antebellum will be stopping by. The group has won eight Grammy awards, four American Music Association awards and numerous varied country-music awards. Lady Antebellum has also been a headlining act at Stagecoach. Tickets are $100 to $200. At 9 p.m., Friday,

june 2016By Brian Blueskye

The Blueskye REPORT


Billy Currington

also been our focus right now.” Looking back on the band’s 2014 Coachella

performance, Dominguez said the band was fortunate to get the gig—but in some ways was unprepared.

“It’s so weird. That was a big step and goal for us, but we had the transition after (former frontman and bassist) Nick Hernandez left and we brought in Clay,” Dominguez said. “It’s a really cool hook-up, and it’s really great to say you played Coachella, but it’s not smooth sailing after that. People were also asking us afterward, ‘Awesome. Who’s your booking manager?’ We didn’t have one, and we didn’t even have an EP album. It was our fifth-ever show. We went from playing a couple of backyards in Coachella to playing at Coachella.

“When we went up to perform that day, they put us in the corner of the Mojave Stage, and we were just a hassle for the sound guys. They were like, ‘There’s no kickport for the bass drum? Are you guys fucking serious? You don’t even have a kickport?’”

CIVX released an EP on cassette-heavy Burger Records—but by the time it was released, it was old and outdated.

“That EP was one we did when we still had

doing any recording anymore.’ They split all their gear between him and the other guy they were working with.

“Freddy had done some stuff with Venus and the Traps before. Glock Lesnar is a good friend of ours and told us we should hit up Freddy. We did all the recording with him, but all the tracking is done in the United Kingdom with Rhys Downing.”

Downing, who has done work as a mixing engineer with The Cranberries, Sarah Brightman, Mark Ronson and many others, has been working with CIVX for a while.

“We did one song with him and didn’t do anything again with him for a while, but we knew we wanted to work with him again,” Dominguez said. “A lot of it has to do with getting money to record. When we got that done, we worked with Rhys, and he’s been good to us through the whole process. We got it done during a weekend when we were free, and Freddy was free.”

Samalin explained that Downing has done all the mastering work for CIVX at no cost as a hobby project—and that’s why a lot of CIVX’s recordings have been slowly released over time.

“It’s getting the tracks mastered that takes so long,” Samalin said. “Rhys is a pretty busy guy, and for him trying to find time to work on our stuff during all these other jobs, it’s hard.”

Dominguez said the band has already recorded another EP and is waiting for Downing to finish it. Meanwhile, CIVX has been playing gigs out of town and writing new material—hence the local absence.

“We’ve been playing a lot in Los Angeles,” Dominguez said. “We tried to get out of town with all the venues (in L.A.). You also want to have a new arsenal of material, too, and that’s

MUSIC

CIVXLESSONS

By Brian Blueskye

After a Break From Local Shows, the Band Is Back With a New EP


After a busy couple of years—including a performance at Coachella—local favorite CIVX seemingly disappeared, with months passing between local gigs.

Then in May, the band resurfaced—with not only a slate of local shows, but a brand-new EP, Security Through Obscurity.

I recently caught up with frontman Dillion Dominguez and bassist Clay Samalin in La Quinta, and they explained CIVX’s local absence, as well as the trials and tribulations of making the new EP.

“We did everything differently this time,” Dominguez said about Security Through Obscurity. “We worked with Freddy Jimenez, from Blue Hill Records and Tribesmen. We were in the studio in the most DIY way ever. We had been working with Jesse James from Sourdough Records, but I guess they split and disbanded. I hit them up out of nowhere, and they were like, ‘We’re not going to be

Kal David

Nick Hernandez,” Dominguez said. “Afterward, Burger Records approached us, and they do cassettes, and they wanted to press however many of them. They sold theirs. We still have all ours. They probably got stuck in cars for days in the heat. We’ll hand them out for free, and we tell people, ‘We don’t know how they’ll sound.’”

CIVX has played many memorable shows, but I’ll never forget their performance at The Date Shed late last year. It was a mess from the start, because Clay Samalin’s bass didn’t work.

“That was the worst show ever,” Samalin said. “The XLR cable was plugged into my amp in the back, and the guy had plugged it halfway in, so it was enough to where my amp would switch off. I was thinking it was my pedals, so I’m like freaking out and going through all of them, taking them apart, and I was like, ‘Fuck it!’ The guy finally came around and switched the cable, and my bass comes on. By then, I was so pissed. Getting through that show was hard.”

Dominguez explained how CIVX continues to evolve.

“With Nick Hernandez, something we did with him was structuring songs beforehand. Nick would write bass lines, and his vocals would come within those bass lines,” Dominguez said. “With me, I don’t think of vocals at all when structuring songs. I always have the microphone there, and I’ll always spew out melodies and listen back, thinking, ‘OK, that one is all right, and I’ll work around that one.’ I’m a very guitar-driven singer, no matter what. I’ll figure out how to sing and make it work until I’m confident doing the two things at once.”

For more information on CIVX, including a June show at the Joshua Tree Saloon, visit www.facebook.com/civxmusic.

CIVX


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continued from Page 27

The Blueskye REPORT

3 Doors Down

June 24, a band from the late ’90s-early ’00s you may have forgotten all about, 3 Doors Down, will be stopping by. Who can forget that tour the group did with Creed after shortly arriving on the scene? Who can forget how many times that “Kryptonite” song played on the radio, ruining it for us all? I’d prefer to forget all about it, but if don’t want to forget, I won’t judge you for going. Tickets are $65 to $85. Morongo Casino Resort Spa, 49500 Seminole Drive, Cabazon; 800-252-4499; www.morongocasinoresort.com.

Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, per usual, has a fantastic slate of shows. At 9 p.m., Saturday, June 4, Nick Waterhouse will be coming back. The Los Angeles based singer/songwriter/producer is a purist regarding ’60s rock ’n’ roll and vintage music. It’s been two years since he released his last album, Holly, so hopefully he has something new in the works. Tickets are $15. At 9 p.m., Saturday, June 18, Los Angeles psychedelic rock group Mystic Braves will be appearing. The album Days of Yesteryear was one of my favorite albums of 2015. This group has been selling out venues across the country and is one of the hottest new bands you’ve probably never heard of. You definitely should go check them out; I promise you won’t be disappointed. Tickets are $15. Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown; 760-365-5956; www.pappyandharriets.com.

The Hood Bar and Pizza has some pretty good events coming up … wait, make that some awesome events. At 9 p.m., Saturday, June 18, desert-rock legends Dali’s Llama will be performing. I have a confession: I somehow had never seen the band perform until earlier this year. Well, I was missing out. If you’ve never seen Dali’s Llama, get your ass to The Hood, and show some hometown love. If you have seen them before, be sure to go anyway. Admission is free! Now, for the really big event … on Monday, June 20, get ready to rock harder than you ever have before, because The Adicts will be stopping by. Yes, The Adicts, the legendary British punk band! However, as of our press deadline, that’s all we know; we could find no more details beyond the date appearing on The Adicts’ tour schedule on Facebook. Stay tuned to The Hood’s Facebook page for more details, because this going to be awesome. The Hood Bar and Pizza, 74360 Highway 111, Palm Desert; 760-636-5220; www.facebook.com/thehoodbar.

River from New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis and then up to Chicago. It was a melting pot of musical styles coming through, especially blues.”

One of the most interesting albums Farrar has done is a collaboration with Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, One Fast Move or I’m Gone, the soundtrack for a documentary with the same name focusing on beat writer/poet Jack Kerouac. The songs featured lyrics directly from the pages Kerouac’s Big Sur, as well as concepts that came out of the book.

“That approach represented something I had never actually done before—taking lyrics from a book, or just concepts from the pages of the book itself,” he said. “It was a challenge in a way, although I had worked with some of Woody Guthrie’s lyrics prior to that, so that gave me the confidence to forge ahead and see what could be done with the work of Jack Kerouac. I found it to be really inspiring, being able to step aside and work in that framework. It was a great experience, and working with Ben Gibbard was great. We had never met before, and we met through the work of Jack Kerouac.”

Some artists have worked with lyrics penned by Woody Guthrie that he never made into complete songs. Farrar actually recorded an entire album of songs based on those lyrics. For Farrar, Woody Guthrie is still a big influence.

“For me, it goes back to my childhood and going through my parents’ record collection and pulling out Woody Guthrie records,” he said. “It’s fundamental and elemental in that way for me. Of course, he’s still relevant today.”

Of course, Guthrie is well-known for his protest songs.

“I think there will always be a need for protest songs,” Farrar said. “The best protest songs get written when there’s a real need for them. They

Tupelo. The combination of vintage-country and folk influences with punk rock was unique, and Uncle Tupelo would release four albums before the group split in 1994. Farrar went on to start Son Volt, with more of an Americana and roots-music sound, while Tweedy went on to form Wilco.

Farrar also recorded one album with Anders Parker under the name Gob Iron.

I recently spoke to Farrar via telephone. He has a reputation as a difficult interview; his answers are brief and to the point. I asked him whether he thought people playing his kind of music had it harder when Uncle Tupelo formed 1987, or today.

“I think surprisingly, in many ways, the current climate out there now reminds of what it was like in the early ’80s,” Farrar said. “There’s not a lot of major-label support for music like this, and only a handful ever really breakthrough. I see it as a period of struggle in many ways for a lot of people out there. But I also think from an artistic standpoint, things will be better for it down the line. I think there are some better things on the horizon.”

Does Farrar listen to any of the new alternative-country or Americana acts out there today? The answer is, surprisingly, no.

“I pretty much concentrate on learning more about what has happened in the past. I’m not up on what’s new and happening out there,” he said. “Recently, I’ve been getting really into Junior Kimbrough’s first recordings, if that tells you where my head is at right now.”

Farrar explained what makes Saint Louis a great city for music.

“It’s a crossroads, and there’s certainly a lot of musical history here,” he said. “Musical ideas historically travel up and down the Mississippi

MUSIC

‘TRACE’ AFTER 20

By Brian Blueskye

Jay Farrar Brings a Stripped-Down Son Volt to Pappy’s to Perform the Legendary Album


Two decades ago, former Uncle Tupelo frontman Jay Farrar released the album Trace with his then-new band, Son Volt.

Today, Farrar is on tour performing the album in its entirety to celebrate the anniversary—including a stop at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace on Thursday, June 16.

Uncle Tupelo came out of a band, first called The Plebes and later The Primitives, that Jay Farrar started with his brothers, Wade and Dade; drummer Mike Heidorn and Jeff Tweedy would later join the group. Tweedy was influenced by punk—which was not exactly popular at the time in their hometown of Belleville, Ill., part of the St. Louis metro area. The group played blues songs at fast tempos during their early gigs.

After Wade and Dade left the group, the remaining members changed the band name to Uncle

Kal David

will always be there.” Is there anything Farrar would change about

Trace when he looks back on it after 20 years?“I don’t know. Things sort of happen

organically, and it’s the only way to make a record,” he said. “Listening back, it sounds good and visceral to me, and the band doesn’t sound too polished. The impetus for me as a songwriter at that time was getting to work with a fiddle player and a pedal-steel player. Getting to explore that at the time was great.”

Performing the album in its entirety has been a positive experience, he said, and has given him opportunities to tweak the songs.

“I wanted to have the songs presented more stripped-down and boiled down to the essence. I felt that was the best approach,” he said. “In some cases, I get to rework the songs, but all while still acknowledging the release of the album 20 years later. Currently, (we’re performing as) a three piece: myself; Gary Hunt on guitar, fiddle and mandolin; and Eric Heywood will be back after walking the Appalachian Trail, playing pedal steel.”

Farrar said there’s more to come from Son Volt in the near future—and there could even be another Gob Iron album.

“It is in the works. We’ve recorded 10 songs as a power trio, but it’s still in the works, and ideally released next year,” he said about a new Son Volt album. “We just need to find a home for us.

“Anders and I have also been in contact about doing something with Gob Iron. We talked about recording some songs over the summer, and we’ll see if that comes to fruition.”

Jay Farrar will perform at 9 p.m., Thursday, June 16, at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Road, in Pioneertown. Tickets are $20. For tickets or more information, call 760-365-5956, or visit www.pappyandharriets.com.

Jay Farrar


CVIndependent.com

I was 10 back in the late ’60s. The first arena concert I was taken to was Tom Jones at The Forum in Los Angeles. I was visiting after my brother had moved there; his date blew him off, so he took me. First arena concert I bought tickets to and went on my own: Rolling Stones/Stevie Wonder ’72. It was the inaugural show for the Tucson Community Center.

What was the first album you owned?Can’t remember. I really had lots of children’s albums, and I think maybe it was the Dumbo soundtrack on Disney. The first rock album I owned that I chose was Herman’s Hermit’s Greatest Hits, Vol 1. I must have been 7 years old.

What bands are you listening to right now?The Live at the Gold Dollar box set released by Third Man Records, Jack White and The Bricks, Two Star Tabernacle, and The Go. (I’m a member of the Third Man Records Vault.)

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?Anything with Auto-Tune.

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?I wish I could have seen the Iggy Pop tour that David Bowie did playing keyboards, pretty much in the shadows.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?I feel no guilt about anything I listen to, really.

What’s your favorite music venue?Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown.

What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?“Life is short, filled with stuff,” The Cramps, “New Kind of Kick.”

What band or artist changed your life? How?The Dead Boys. Upon buying their Young Loud and Snotty album in late ’78, I cut off my hair,

NAME Mario Garcia, aka Garcia GiantMORE INFO Not a lot of people know that there are a number of great hip-hop artists in the Coachella Valley—and one of them is Garcia Giant (Mario Garcia). He recently performed at the McCallum Theatre as part of the East Valley Voices Out Loud show; check out his music at www.soundcloud.com/garciagiant.

What was the first concert you attended?Camila and Reik at the Music Box in Los Angeles.

What was the first album you owned?Get Rich or Die Tryin’ by 50 Cent.

What bands are you listening to right now?Alabama Shakes, The Impressions, and PRhyme.

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?There are a couple of genres I can’t particularly connect with, but I can understand why people dig it. Scream-o type rock, for example, was never really my style, but I know some people who like letting out frustration and pain in that way. It’s whatever vibe they connect with.

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?Alabama Shakes.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?Young Thug.

What’s your favorite music venue?The McCallum Theatre.

What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?“It seems like blessings, keep falling in my lap,” Chance the Rapper, “Blessings.”

What band or artist changed your life? How?Immortal Technique was the first artist I ever

heard tell a story rhyming all the way through. He was the first to open my eyes to a whole new world of expression.

You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?Jay Z: “What’s the biggest lesson learned in your music career?”

What song would you like played at your funeral?I’d be sad if I went now, but probably one of Beethoven’s sonatas. The moonlight joint is a vibe.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?Literally have been there before, ha! Greatest album for me: Nas’ Illmatic.

What song should everyone listen to right now?“Blessings,” Chance the Rapper.

NAME Lee JosephMORE INFO Originally from Tucson, Ariz., Lee now calls Joshua Tree home, and plays bass for Jesika von Rabbit. He’s the owner of Dionysus Records, which is home to a lot of great underground music. He’s also a DJ; Joseph plays a lot of fascinating selections from the ’60s through the modern day.

What was the first concert you attended?Some battle of the bands thing in Tucson when

This Month’s Interviewees: An Up-and-Coming Hip-Hop Artist and a Veteran DJ/Bassist/Label Owner

LUCKY 13the

MUSIC


By Brian Blueskye Mario Garcia, aka Garcia Giant. COURTESY OF THE MCCALLUM THEATRE

dumped three-quarters of my records (I lost most of my friends on that note as well) and immersed myself in the then-world of punk and “new wave.” It felt to me like the bridge between the awesomeness of 1966 garage rock and constantly evolving pop culture of the ’60s, and the modern world, flipping the finger at the stagnant late ’70s corporate sound of FM radio and mega-star bands. If not for punk, I think perhaps I’d have never had the inspiration to start a label.

You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?Johann Sebastian Bach: “Where’d you get that awesome black velvet jacket?”

What song would you like played at your funeral?“Tomorrow Never Knows,” The Beatles.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?That’s no problem at all: Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix.

What song should everyone listen to right now?“Looking for a Weirdo,” Jesika von Rabbit.

Lee Joseph performs with Jesika von Rabbit. GUILLERMO PRIETO/IROCKPHOTOS.NET


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If the U.S. Government Keeps Dragging Its Feet on Marijuana, Canada May Get a Leg Up on Investment, Science

THE GREAT GREEN NORTH?


But even as states line up to reap the financial rewards of legalization, the continuing federal ban on marijuana may leave American startups scrambling to find the investment dollars needed once they get the green light on a state level.

One prime example of how federal foot-dragging on cannabis-law reform is inhibiting industry growth is Section 280E of the U.S. tax code. It prohibits the deduction of

expenses related to controlled substances on federal tax returns. The means that cannabis businesses cannot deduct the basic business expenses allowed for any other retail, manufacturing or distribution business—even though the businesses are perfectly legal under state law. One dispensary owner in Colorado estimates he pays the IRS an extra $600,000 a year because he is not allowed these deductions. That’s not a small chunk

BY SEAN PLANCK

Cannabis legalization is sweeping the nation quickly by American standards, and industry growth has been rapid in states where marijuana has been legally accepted in one way or another.

The cannabis industry is projected to reach $44 billion per year in revenue by 2025. State budgets are being balanced in part due to tax revenues from the cannabis industry. Jobs are getting created locally, and potential marijuana businesses are looking with hope toward each state-legalization initiative on the horizon.

of change when you consider the exorbitant taxes already levied on cannabis businesses.

Issues like this, as well as the banking difficulties faced by the cannabis industry—federal law makes it very difficult for a marijuana business to even have a bank account—make the industry look like a less-than-safe investment. Rescheduling marijuana to anything but the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Schedule 1 would eliminate this hurdle, and would allow banking options and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation coverage to the exploding industry.

Of course, there’s a hashtag for that: #Reschedule420, brought to you by DCMJ.org. That’s the organization that brought a 50-foot joint to the White House on April 2 of this year in protest of the president’s inaction on cannabis reform. (Get it? Reschedule 4/20?)

In a recent letter to Congress, the DEA hinted at rescheduling marijuana or (removing it from the schedules altogether) sometime this summer. We’ve heard that one before, but combine that with the administration’s recent approval of the first official testing for cannabis as a PTSD treatment, as well as massive shifts in public opinion, and there may be a ray of hope this time around. In addition to making cannabis research much more accessible to American companies, a change in DEA cannabis policy would remove most of the remaining hurdles to development of the cannabis industry nationwide: Section 280E would no longer apply to cannabis business, and banks would be able to fling their doors open to all those now-legit former narco dollars.

But in the meantime … here comes Canada.Justin Trudeau, Canada’s liberal rock-

star prime minister, has vowed to legalize recreational cannabis on a federal level in the Great White North—posthaste. This forward thinking provides an opportunity for more secure investment and less restrictive tax policy, and would allow banks to treat cannabis businesses as they do any other legitimate business. This offers cannabis

investors another North American option in one of the fastest-growing industries in recent history.

In addition to the obvious business advantages Canada would enjoy over the United States, quick legalization would also put Canada years ahead of the U.S. in medical-cannabis research. This would allow Canadian companies to be first to market with breakthroughs in medical uses of a plant that seems to be effective in treating something new every week. While Canada has yet to legalize, it looks like it will do so on a federal level well before most U.S. states do. If or when that happens, American cannabis startups may find potential investors instead looking north for greener pastures.

One needs only to look at Desert Hot Springs to see how cannabis can help struggling local economies. What has historically been a city with perpetual economic struggles is now being praised as the future center of the cannabis industry in California; you probably saw the huge front-page article in the May 10 Los Angeles Times touting the city as Desert Pot Springs. So much pot will be produced in DHS that people are moving there from pot meccas like Amsterdam to supply those operations, as is the case with Grow Shop Hydroponics. GSH is located in North Palm Springs with easy access to what will be some of the largest commercial grows in the world. Real estate in DHS is now being snatched up for as much as twice the market value—and recreational use in California hasn’t even become law yet.

By dragging its feet, the DEA would send billions in investment dollars and revenue north of the border, and would further hinder the development of the cannabis industry here in the United States. It’s a fact: Legalization will happen in the United States. If we allow our government to delay the inevitable, that hesitation will cost us all dearly economically—and put us in a position of playing a desperate game of catch-up in medical cannabis research.

CANNABIS IN THE CV


CVIndependent.com

COMICS & JONESIN’ CROSSWORD

Across1 Brake quickly and accurately12 Zapp Brannigan’s timid, green assistant on Futurama15 Interactive Twitter game on Comedy Central’s @midnight16 Eggy prefix17 Part of a content warning, maybe18 Columnist Savage19 Palindromic “War on Poverty” agcy.20 Providing funds for22 Body part in a lot of cow puns25 Kind of dye containing nitrogen26 Without a stitch27 Bob Ross ’dos28 Fault finder31 Physicians’ medical gp.32 Cast Away co-star (in a way)33 Clearance sale container34 Herd of whales35 Grass bought in rolls36 Be the author37 Greek vowel that resembles an English

consonant38 Title for a Khan39 Thirteen at Dinner detective41 Bon ___ (cleanser brand)42 Stuck trying to get somewhere, maybe44 Aesopian conclusion46 Drei squared47 M*A*S*H soldier, briefly48 Orgs.49 Pull forcibly on52 Hard ending?53 Comedian Notaro54 2014 bio subtitled “Paul McCartney in the 1970s”59 Ending for winter or weather60 Assimilate a different way of life, perhaps61 French possessive meaning “your”62 Cinematographer’s option

Down1 “___-La-La” (1974 Al Green hit)2 One of Lincoln’s sons3 Sch. for Cowboys, Buckeyes or Beavers

4 Innermost layer of tree bark5 Sleek, whiskered swimmers6 Gp. with a phonetic alphabet7 Comics outburst8 Frank Zappa’s oldest son9 1975 Leonard Nimoy autobiography (with an “opposite” 1995 follow-up)10 “A horse is a horse” horse11 Canadian (and former U.S.) fuel brand12 Southern Alaskan omnivores (and the largest of their kind)13 Director of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II14 Bad things to use on a chalkboard21 Pugilist’s org.22 In a difficult situation23 Render a credit card useless, e.g.24 Theater consultants of sorts25 Folk rocker with the 2014 album Allergic to Water

29 Jim Morrison, e.g.30 Business off the highway32 “Scratch me behind the ears!”35 Place for some “me time”40 Hilariously funny43 “Messenger” molecule44 Biz Markie vocals played over Metallica, say45 Some blenders50 Apple that debuted 18 years ago51 It dissolves in H2O52 Caesar’s “And you?”55 Atlanta Braves’ MLB div.56 “Go, old-timey baseball team!”57 “Teach ___ Fly” (2009 single for Wiz Khalifa)58 Make after expenses

©2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords ([email protected])

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