This week the Aqua Caliente band of the Cahuilla tribe is offering one of their special events, the annual Festival of Native Film and Culture. Now in its eighth season, the 2009 Festival has already begun and will continue through March 8, 2009 at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs. The Festival features films, documentaries, and short films from some of the premier Native American and international indigenous filmmakers working today. Tickets and festival information are available online at Agua Caliente Cultural Museum or call (760) 778-1079. The Web site also includes history of the band along with information about their upcoming events.
Coachella Valley Wildflowers
The annual appearance of the ephemeral spring wildflowers native to the Coachella Valley has everything to do with the amounts of rainfall in the winter months, which can vary widely within a relatively small area, and with warming temperatures that encourage blooming. In some areas it’s reported that the wildflowers seem to be peaking early this year. In others such as Joshua Tree National Park, there doesn’t seem to be much to see yet.
For the best Wildflower Reports, I’d suggest the web site of our local treasure, the Living Desert . For the bloom report go to the home page, then click on Wildflower Walks and Wildflower Reports. Also the Living Desert is scheduling two bus trips for viewing wildflowers, during the first and second week of March. Call (760)346-5694 ext 2255 for details. Sounds like fun! There is always much to see at the Living Desert, as well.
Here’s another great website – DesertUSA with all kinds of information. While you are there, check out the Sonoran Desert to which our own Coachella Valley belongs. Within this same site is also a super WildFlower Field Guide which is designed in scale to be accessible for iPod, iPhone and similar devices. You can use this guide while you’re actually in the field to look up the flowers by color. Try it!
Tour de Palm Springs 2009
Where better to ride your bike than in the beautiful desert with a backdrop of rugged mountains in the distance! Who better to ride with than Tour de Palm Springs riders! Founder Tim Esser certainly is a believer. From its beginning here in Palm Springs in 1998 with about 400 riders, the Ride has steadily grown to almost 9,000 riders last year. This year the Tour de Palm Springs is getting ready to roll on February 14, Valentine’s Day.
It’s important to note that this event is a fun ride, not a race. It’s a Charity Ride, designed for bike enthusiasts to enjoy riding one of several courses and helping to raise money for good causes. Ride options include a course of five miles and others, all the way up to one covering 100 miles.
The event really begins the day before, on Friday the 13th, with the Bicycle Expo in the afternoon, along with registration for new riders, and for pickup of passes. The evening continues with a big pasta dinner. Gotta eat those carbs!
The next morning, it’s the big day. Cyclists will head out from the starting line on Palm Canyon, at the designated time for their chosen distance. Joining them will be Kaye Ballard, star of stage and screen, and this year’s Honorary Cyclist. As usual there are official jerseys to be worn, and photographs of all riders to be taken. Closing out the event will be the Tour de Jazz, held after the Ride, from five until eight, downtown at the juncture of Palm Canyon Drive and Tahquitz Canyon Way. The ride takes place, rain or shine.
To be a part of this fun event, begin by going to Tour de Palm Springs to register, or you can even register on Friday the 13th, just before the big Pasta Dinner at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
The Tour de Palm Springs Web site offers these fun facts about last year’s Ride – “Food consumed encluded:
18,000 bottles of water – 2,000 gallons of Gatorade – 10,300 Oranges
11,000 Bananas – 11,000 Fig Newtons – 750 lbs. Chex Mix
600 lbs. M&M Peanuts – 140 lbs. Turkey – 140 lbs. Ham – 190 lbs. Cheese
75 jars of Peanut Butter – 8,500 slices of bread – 11,300 energy bars”
“Last year, close to 9,000 cyclists pedaled a total of 366,131 miles.
That’s far enough to go to the moon and ride around it a couple of times!”
Palm Springs Modernism Week 2009 – A Celebration of All Things MOD!
The 4th annual Palm Springs Modernism Week 2009 kicks off this coming Friday, February 13, 2009 and will include a wide variety of events over a 9-day period. As in previous years, Modernism Week will begin with the two-day Modernism Show on February 15 and 16, preceded by an evening Preview Reception on the14th, held at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Eighty dealers of decorative and fine arts objects will offer a vast collection of modern furniture, jewelry and clothing and other items of the period.
Modernism Week 2009 features architecture tours, films, lectures, parties, a vintage car show, and many other activities to be held in various venues throughout the City of Palm Springs; all are offered as an homage to the ideals of mid-century modern design, architecture and culture. The style, which originated in the late 1940’s and continued to the mid-1960’s, is typified by clean, simple lines that celebrated an elegant informality and came to define desert modernism. Palm Springs is blessed in having the largest concentration of such mid-century homes and condos in our country, perhaps in any country. So this festival is a celebration and affirmation of one important element of Palm Springs that makes our city so special.
Modernism Week is the only such event in the country celebrating the aesthetics of modernism over such an extended number of days, thus making it appealing for aficionados to plan their vacations to coincide with the event. As a result, Modernism Week has established a passionate and enthusiastic following of fans who now literally number in the thousands, and who come from all around the country and the world to Palm Springs for the event.
Numerous renowned architects such as Richard Neutra, John Lautner, William Krisel, Albert Frey and others designed Palm Springs’ stellar examples of modernism, inspired by the Coachella Valley’s desert topography and climate. From around 1940 to the early 1960’s, these men helped to create in Palm Springs one of the most important concentrations of modernist architecture in the world. For the full schedule, visit Modernism Week.
Palm Springs Film Festival 2009 Breaks Previous Records
Palm Springs can now boast to having one of the top three film festivals in the United States, based on attendance. Board Chairman of the festival, Harold Matzner called the new high attendance and revenue records “amazing in this economic environment . . . .” All of the festival passes were sold, and the gala which opened the festival this year also brought in more revenue than last year.
Each year an amazing roster of A-list stars are present and are honored, either as recipients of the awards given or as presenters. Many of these go on to receive nominations for Academy Awards for their work. This year these luminaries included Clint Eastwood, Leonardo di Capprio, Ron Howard and Frank Langella, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Jon Voight, and Dakota Fanning, among others. For a town of only 40,000 residents, we can be very proud to host this exciting event.
To see a photo gallery of the event in the Desert Sun archives, go to Film Fest.
Palm Springs International Film Festival – 2009
Wow, it’s here again – the Palm Springs International Film Festival, beginning tonight with what the Festival bills as “The most glamorous night of the year in the valley” – The Black Tie 2009 Awards Gala. Sponsored by the luxury brand Cartier, the Festival begins at 5pm this evening; make that 4pm or earlier if you plan to be a spectator outside watching the stars arrive and stroll down the red carpet. And what stars they are:
2009 Honorees and their presenters:
Clint Eastwood, presented by Donald Sutherland
Ron Howard, presented by Frank Langella
Dustin Hoffman, presented by Ben Stiller
Sean Penn, presented by Sir Anthony Hopkins
Anne Hathaway, presented by Rosemarie Dewitt
Gus Van Sant, presented by Rep. Mary Bono Mack and Josh Brolin
Amy Adams, presented by John Patrick Shanley
Dakota Fanning, presented by Paul Bettany
Freida Pinto, presented by James Cromwell
Alexandre Desplat, presented by Taraji P. Henson
Beautiful Mary Hart, host of Entertainment Tonight and a resident here in the valley, will once again be the emcee for the Awards Gala.
Sonny Bono’s desire to bring back the glamour and film stars to Palm Springs by creating a film festival here has succeeded, brilliantly! Films will be screened daily through the 19th of January at multiple venues, with the last day typically reserved for “The Best of the Best.” If you love films, try to get here if at all possible. It’s such a great opportunity to see rarer films, including many foreign entries, some of which are also in the running for Oscars.
Go to their Web site – Palm Springs Film Fest for all information including the complete listing of screenings, times and locations by date, and info on how to buy tickets and passes on line. You will also find information on all the party events associated with the festival. There are over 200 films from which to choose. It’s so much fun! Our little town of Palm Springs makes international news once again.