Let us be your Gay Desert Guide to the Weekend!|

January 18-21, Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday 2019

It's a 3-day weekend and It's bound to be a popular one for visitors and locals alike here in the desert! Speaking of locals, there are now Coachella Festival 2019 passes available for Coachella Valley residents. As for this weekend, you can bring a date for free to see Las Vegas legend Clint Holmes, plus  there's Jersey Boys at the McCallum, Janet Mock, the Women's March, and a Dance Benefit for Sanctuary Palm Springs. We also have a Theatre Roundup for you, plus a special screening of The Lavender Scare upcoming, and a look ahead to Craft Cocktail Week, the Palm Springs Health Run, the Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards, plus Hot Deals, Happy Hours, and Top Articles We're Reading!

Coachella Passes for Local Residents

The Coachella Music and Arts Festival may have sold out as soon as the passes were made available, but Goldenvoice, producer of the Coachella Festival (April 12–14 & 19–21), has announced they'll once again be offering local Coachella Valley residents the opportunity to purchase full price Festival Passes to Coachella and Stagecoach 2019. Submit Order Requests Here

Clint Holmes – Special Purple Room Offer

On Friday and Saturday, January 18–19, The Purple Room Supper Club presents Clint Holmes, Las Vegas legend and two-time 2018 Grammy nominee. Whether he is singing selections from the Great American Songbook, contemporary classics, or stirring original pieces, every performance is a one-of-a-kind mesmerizing and unforgettable experience.

Purple Room Special: Purchase a ticket to the Clint Holmes' Friday or Saturday night show and bring a date or friend for FREE!  Get tickets

Jersey Boys at the McCallum Theatre

Running now through Sunday, January 20, the McCallum Theatre presents the mega-popular touring Broadway musical Jersey Boys. Go behind the music and inside the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in this Tony Award-winning true-life musical phenomenon. Get tickets
 

Dance at Wang's to Benefit Sanctuary Palm Springs

On Saturday, January 19, special guest DJ T-LA Storm will rock the house at Wang's in the Desert for a dance whose proceeds will benefit Sanctuary Palm Springs, a transitional housing program and foster care specifically designed to meet the needs of the LGBTQ community of foster youth transitioning to adulthood. More info

Coachella Valley Women's March – Jan 19

The 2019 Coachella Valley Women's March marks two years of resistance to the Trump presidency, two years of training new activists, and two years of building power. And this time, they're coming back with an agenda. On Saturday, January 19, 2019, participants will flood the streets of Palm Springs, CA, and cities across the globe. The #WomensWave is coming! More info

Palm Springs Speaks: Janet Mock

On Saturday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m., Palm Springs Speaks presents Janet Mock at the Richards Center for the Arts. Mock is the New York Times bestselling author of two memoirs, Redefining Realness (2014) and Surpassing Certainty (2017), the host of the conversation series, Never Before, a writer, director and producer on Ryan Murphy’s FX series Pose, and a feminist tackling stigma through storytelling. Get tickets

Theatre Productions Opening This Weekend

We have two new productions opening this weekend, two more continuing or wrapping up, and one more coming very soon. Get your tickets while you can!

The Desert Rose Playhouse presents Looped, by Matthew Lombardo, running January 18 through February 10 and starring Judith Chapman as Tallulah Bankhead. During the Summer of 1965, an inebriated Bankhead entered a Los Angeles recording studio in an effort to re-record (or “loop”) a few lines of dialogue from her final film Die! Die! My Darling. Though Bankhead's outsized personality dominates the session, this dramatic comedy involves her battle of wills with film editor Danny Miller, a conservative man who guards his own deep secret. Get tickets

Palm Canyon Theatre presents Guys and Dolls from January 18 through February 12. Set in Depression-era Times Square, Guys and Dolls tells the overlapping stories of high-roller Sky Masterson, who falls in love with mission worker Sarah Brown, and lovable rapscallion Nathan Detroit, engaged for 14 years to Miss Adelaide, a headliner at the Hot Box Club. Nathan runs a famous floating crap game, and an ongoing plot line involves his quest for a safe place for the game as Adelaide continues her quest to convince him to marry her. Meanwhile, Sarah, mistakenly believing that Sky set up an illegal game at the mission, tries to fight her affection for the charismatic crapshooter. Get tickets

Desert Theatreworks presents Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs through January 27 at the Indio Performing Arts Center. Puberty. It’s confusing enough without having a Great Depression and a cramped Brooklyn apartment full of family members to worry about. But that’s the turbulent waters Eugene finds himself navigating in Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedy Brighton Beach Memoirs. The first play of his Tony Award-winning Eugene Trilogy, this classic redefined the master of comedy’s career as he mined his own past growing up as a Jewish-American during the Depression. Get tickets

Dezart Performs presents the final SOLD OUT performances of A Perfect Arrangement through January 20 at the Pearl McManus Theater. This comic tale of closeted lives, written by Topher Payne, is set in 1950, and new colors are being added to the Red Scare. Two U.S. State Department employees, Bob and Norma, have been tasked with identifying sexual deviants within their ranks. There's just one problem: Both Bob and Norma are gay, and have married each other's partners as a carefully constructed cover. Read our review by Stephen Radosh.

OPENING SOON

CVRep presents White, by James Ijames, from January 23 through February 17 at CVRep at The Atrium in Rancho Mirage. Gus is an artist. Vanessa is an actress. Gus wants to be presented in a major exhibition for artists of color, so he hires Vanessa to perform as Balkonaé Townsend, a brash and political artist that will fit the museum’s desire for “new voices.” Everything is great, until Balkonaé takes over and Gus has to deal with the mess he’s made. This plays spins out of control as it explores issues of race, gender, sexuality, and art. Get tickets

The Lavender Scare: Benefit Screening One Night Only Jan 22

Dezart Performs hosts a special one-night-only screening of The Lavender Scare on Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00 p.m. at Camelot Theatre at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. This searing documentary by Emmy Award-Winning producer/director Josh Howard that chronicles the anti-gay purges of the 1950s, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower deemed homosexuals to be “security risks” and vowed to rid the federal government of all employees discovered to be gay or lesbian. Get tickets

Check this short promo for The Lavender Scare:  

 

Zach & Evan Getting Married This Weekend

It's finally time for them to tie the knot! YouTube celebs Zach & Evan dreamed of having a Palm Springs wedding…they visited several venues, and had lots of planning and decisions to make. If you've been following their adventues on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, you'll know they announced their choice of venue as the Ace Hotel & Swim Club, and the big date is this weekend! We'd like to extend a warm welcome back to Palm Springs and congratulations to the happy couple! 

COMING SOON

Craft Cocktail Week 2019

The 3rd Annual Palm Springs Craft Cocktail Week runs Friday, January 25–Saturday, February 2. Bars and restaurants valley-wide will be doing special cocktails and cocktail menus and donating a portion of the proceeds to the Desert AIDS Project and the LGBT Community Center of the Desert. Participating purveyors include: Rio Azul Mexican Bar & Grill, Acqua California Bistro, Lulu California Bistro, Trio, The Purple Room and more! On Wednesday, January 30, Some of the valley's top bartenders will compete live for the coveted Cocktail Week Championship, as well as the Audience Choice Award. Join them in celebrating the art of the cocktail. More info

Palm Springs Health Run & Fitness Expo 2019

With just a week until the Palm Springs Health Run & Fitness Expo on Saturday, January 26, the time to register is now! This is one of the largest events of its kind in Southern California and is the perfect way to start out the New Year. Join nationally recognized health and wellness speakers, healthy food demonstrations and over 80 vendors showcasing the latest in nutrition and exercise techniques. Get registered

25th Annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards – Feb 9

The Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards will be held at the Palm Springs Convention Center on Saturday, February 9 this year, and attended by more than 2,000 of the Coachella Valley’s most fashionable humanitarians, with red carpet arrivals and an after-party events unto themselves. This year marks the 25th year for Desert AIDS Project’s largest fundraising event which is named for one of D.A.P.’s earliest financial supporters, the designer Steve Chase. With less than a month to go, it's time to Get tickets

 

Check out this NBC Palm Springs interview with Steven Henke of Desert AIDS Project, discussing the 25th Annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards!

Greg Pettis Dies at 63


We mourn the passing of Cathedral City Mayor Greg Pettis, shown here (far right) at the recent grand opening for AMP Sports Bar. Pettis, 63, was first elected in 1994. He was the city's longest-serving council person and the city's first openly gay public servant. A prominent democratic activist, demonstrating against Trump policies and supporting democratic candidates, he was also a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2016 and a progressive force in bringing economic development to Cathedral City

Wang's in the Desert features something fun for every night of the week, from Molecular Mondays (half-priced Smoking Dragon martinis) to Thirsty Thursdays with Buy-1-Get-1 from 3–5 p.m. and Happy Hour from 5–8 p.m. For full details click here and don't forget the Crave Dance Party fundraiser for Sanctuary Palm Springs this Saturday from 7–10 p.m.! Get Happy at Wang's
 

The sleek industrial styled BlackBook Bar located in the heart of the gay strip on Arenas now has Happy Hour everyday from 4–6 p.m. and NAUGHTY hour from 10 p.m.–midnight. During these times you can enjoy specials such as $5 pint glass well drinks, $1 off all bottle and draft beer, and $2 off all wines! Get Happy at Blackbook

At Body Concierge, they believe in the 3Rs: relaxation, regeneration and restructuring, which they apply to body, mind and spirit with a blend of techniques suited to you and your specific needs. With this HOT DEAL, you can take advantage of a one hour massage valued at $80 for just $56. That's 30% off! Get Your Deal

At both Rick's Restaurant and Rick's Desert Grill, you'll find family run restaurants that take only the best ingredients and makes scrumptious home-cooked meals. Finding such a restaurant is one of life’s simple pleasures, and here you have your choice of two! With this HOT DEAL, get $25 of food and drinks at Rick's Desert Grill or Rick's Restaurant for just $15, that's 40% off! Get Your Deal

  1. Palm Springs Golf – 5 Spiritual Places to Play Golf
  2. The Lavender Scare Chronicles Anti-Gay Purges of the 1950s
  3. California LGBT Legislative Caucus Elects New Leaders
  4. The 7 Incredible, Trending Places To Fit Into Your Travel Calendar
  5. How To Get Locals-Only Passes For Coachella And Stagecoach Festivals