Pleased to meet you — these are Chris Haycock’s little, tiny guys. Sadly he couldn’t bring them to Desert Gold, but they’re definitely here in spirit. Catchella! We couldn’t help ourselves on that one… If you missed it today, you can catch The Do-Over next Sunday afternoon at the Commune at Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs.
Grandnephew of Alice and John Coltrane Flying Lotus spread a collective, energetic smile over the lot of us last night in the Amigo Room with DJ Day at ¡Reunión!, the official kick-off party for Desert Gold at Ace in Palm Springs. Tonight, we rage happily on.
Photos by Iggy Photography
Alia Penner created this twenty-foot-wide backdrop for Father John Misty’s Coachella show this year. There’s a lot going on here — kind of like a mashup of John Ford movies, Monty Python and the Care Bears — the perfect visual alchemy for this year’s circus in the Bermuda Triangle of post-industrial America that happens to be our Southwest home and the site of Desert Gold. Stop by any time.
Read it and weep. Third Man Records hangs a shingle for their all-vinyl pop-up shop in the Cleaners at Ace Hotel & Swim Club — the only record store in Palm Springs for the time being — during our annual music and arts festival Desert Gold, deep in the desert during Coachella-time. Jack White, this year’s official ambassador of Record Store Day on 4/20, dude — hosts along with Ben Swank and other Third Man women and men. They’ll run a karaoke ring with NPR Music and other labels and groups in the Amigo Room, and pull all other manner of great feats of musical prowess off during the following couple of weeks. Stay tuned on our Desert Gold site, and bring your LP bag.
Later this month, Miss Lily’s of NYC joins us to celebrate traditional Jamaican street food at Desert Gold, our annual music and arts festival during Coachella at Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs. Miss Lily’s is a multi-faceted gem covering all the bases from a record shop to a radio station, juice stand, restaurant, DJs and events, with a strong activist sensibility. A portion of proceeds from Miss Lily’s goes to the Rockhouse Foundation, the brainchild of Miss Lily’s co-founder Paul Salmon, who also runs the Rockhouse Hotel in Jamaica. The foundation supports the building and maintenance of libraries and schools in Jamaica for school-age children. Watch and learn, and we’ll see you in a couple weeks.
There once were two magicians who lived in a palace in the forest. Together, they worked all day and all night to make the world a more colorful and enchanting place. We knew them well and so we can say from personal experience that they were capable of manifesting the magic whether they were in their workshop, drunk on beer in the flatbed of a truck on the way to the mountains, or giving sage advice while preparing a home-cooked meal for 40 of their closest friends. Their names were — are — Fran and Nick, and the palace they live in is Seizure Palace, where they print all manner of abracadabra all the live long day. This week, they made our Desert Gold flyers and signage, inspired by Jamaica, Brooklyn, Palm Springs and your mom. Here are some live action shots captured by our very own Martie Flores who is also from a magical land that you can visit here.
You can also see the full line-up for Desert Gold and get a room.
Dear faithful readers — if you know us and love us at all then you know who Linda Gerard is. And you know that we love her beyond reason. And you know that she is currently facing off with the asshole named cancer — and we’re hoping everyone can chip in to help her out. Coin, vibes and kind words all matter.
Above, you’ll see Linda’s brief chat with Andrew Andrew during Desert Gold 2010 — the fifth edition is fast approaching this month. And below is part three of Linda’s interview with DJ Day — you can grab Linda’s Sissy Bingo t-shirt and her latest record, a compilation of greatest hits, Fabulous Selections, on our shop — all proceeds go to Linda’s Kick Cancer’s Ass Fund.
Read on for more from this right-on woman — you can also catch up on parts one and two while you’re at it. Light a candle, sing a show tune and dress everyday as though for paradise, in her honor.
Next up in our interview series: Ira Glass!
Can we talk about Funny Girl?
Well what happened with Funny Girl — I was with William Morris, and the pianist for Funny Girl was a guy named Peter Daniels. Peter Daniels was my accompanist. He was also Barbra Streisand’s accompanist and Lainie Kazan’s. He worked for all three of us and when Funny Girl opened, I went to opening night with my husband at the time, and I remember nudging him and saying, “It’s going to be me up there someday.” I knew that role was written for me.
Obviously Pussy Riot sourced some of their inspiration from Devo. And who hasn’t? We get up each day and look in the mirror and say “Are we not men?” And when someone says, “No, you are not,” we say “Are we not Pussy Riot?”
On that note, the very one and only Mark Mothersbaugh is designing some pool toys for us to use in the pool and wherever we like during Desert Gold. Just one facet of a big, complicated, cool thing we do once a year during Coachella, April 12-21. You can still nab some rooms, and see the full line-up.
In celebration of this year’s White Party in Palm Springs, we’re going full color. With a little help from our friends at American Apparel, we’re excited to present Dye Hard, a poolside tie dye party at Ace Hotel & Swim Club, with music by gay geniuses hailing from Party & Play, Cockfight and more — this Sunday, March 31 from noon til everyone’s white speedos are full-on triple rainbow across the sky. We still have a couple of rooms available Sunday night — book here, schedule a facial, and we’ll see you in a couple of days.
Our friend, fashion idol and philosophical guru Linda Gerard serenades devoted fans every Monday night at Sissy Bingo at Ace Palm Springs — a storied songstress of Broadway and Follies fame, she also peppers random lunches and dinners at King’s Highway with show-stopping belters, raising her bejeweled hands to the sky as she slays the final notes of Zing! Went the Strings of my Heart to thundering applause, having, each time, gained a couple dozen new groupies.
Recently, we were shaken by the news that Linda is in the process of kicking cancer’s ass. She was diagnosed earlier this year and is currently in the process of treatment and recovery. We love her dearly and would bend over backward to help and support her. This Monday, join us and her massive posse of friends, family and fans in the Commune for a festival of positivity, love and posse-rallying, with DJ Day, Alf Alpha, Giselle Woo, JP Houston and others. Donations at the door enter you to a raffle with damn good prizes, and proceeds from drinks go toward Linda and all rooms booked for that night at Ace with code FABULOUS are not only 25% off but go toward Linda’s support fund as well. See more about the event on our calendar.
Find here part two of three chapters of DJ Day’s interview with Linda about life, love and Lawrence Welk. DJ Day’s ridiculously great new record Land of 1000 Chances is up on our shop, as is Linda’s Fabulous Selections — which we released recently — and, you guessed it, proceeds from her record and our Sissy Bingo shirt go toward Linda as well.
Read on, show the love and stay tuned for chapter three, forthcoming soon.
Talk about the Rose Tattoo time…
What happened was, when my girlfriend broke up with me in ‘87, I needed a new beginning. I bought the Rose Tattoo in ‘88.
This was in West Hollywood and obviously huge at the time. I mean, Barry Manilow?
They all came. They all came to the Rose Tattoo and it was very, very exciting.
