Amongst the 45 special events taking place during the festival, three especially caught my eye –
1) A world premier screening of a film about architect Bill Krisel’s career and legacy of Alexander homes that he designed during the 50’s.
2) A Celebrity Home Tour of homes belonging to Frank Sinatra, Frederick Lowe, Dinah Shore, Peter Lawford and concluding with a reception at the Elizabeth Taylor Estate.
3) A retro exploration of foods from the 1950’s and 1960’s put on by Chef Jonny Vee with Victoria Price, daughter of Vincent Price.

Of course, the annual Modernism Show and Sale will be back at the Convention Center as a part of the opening weekend, February 12-14, and the classic car show returns later in the week. Amongst the new offerings will be a Vintage Fashion Show and a show of those archetypical silver bullet-shaped Airstream Trailers.

To read about all events and to purchase tickets, go to Modernism Week. It’s all très chic!

But back to the SI issue – to see Damaris Lewis and Genevieve Morton in a video as they pose atop several fighter planes brought out from the hangars just for this shoot, go to GIRLS AND PLANES, then scroll down to video.

The festival is now under the sponsorship of the Palm Springs Cultural Center, as announced recently by David Todd, Center Director. Another change this year is their redesigned Web site with many new features. As films are locked in for the upcoming festival venue, they are added to the schedule online. As of today, there are 10 entries, including two Burt Lancasterofferings, one of which is Criss Cross made in 1949 also starring Yvonne DeCarlo and Dan Duryea; another film which caught my eye is Female on the Beach from 1955, starrin gJoan Crawford and Jeff Chandler. When I read this next title, made in 1956 -The Bad Seed, I actually got goose bumps in remembering how shocking and sinister it was! A neo-noir film is included this year, entitled Thief, which dates back to 1981 and stars James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Willie Nelson, and Jim Belushi; the festival directors are touting it as the best neo-noir film of the last three decades.

One feature that makes this event so much fun is the attendance of stars and others in the industry who share their recollections from the Calssic Film Noir era. Last year’s appearances by Angie Dickinson and Jane Meadows were a real treat; they still have their star power. Jane proudly announced that she was pushing 80. Both looked fabulous. This year’s guests will include, among others, Patty McCormick of The Bad Seed, and Ann Jeffreys of Riff Raff, in which Pat O’Brien and Walter Slezak also starred.

The festival has steadily grown in popularity and draws noir aficianados from near and far. Last year, Dick and I had chosen seats on the left aisle, down front, each night, and we began to notice that a certain guy always sat there, as well. He came from out of state and told us that he attends the entire festival every year and buys the full pass. When it came time to say “good-bye”, we added, “See you next year!”

Go to Black is Back to learn more about this year’s films and special guests.

HHH members are self described as “drinkers with a running problem.” They are organized worldwide, this group belonging to the Orange County Hash Harriers. When we first saw the group, they were running over from their hotel to join  fellow runners at the starting point or PreLube, where they might down a beer or two before taking off on their run, with a trail being laid down by their “hare” only minutes before the rest of the pack took off to follow the trail just laid down. The hare(s) often lay down false trails as well as the true trail, just to challenge the runners. It’s a non-competing event, so there is freedom to run together rather than to try to break away from the pack.

Palm Springs offered a friendly venue for their weekend activities. This is typical of the breadth of what we have to offer here in Palm Springs. So what I am saying is that the Palm Springs Lifestyle is what you choose to make it. This is a place where you can relax at home by the pool, play golf or tennis, hike the trails in the nearby mountains, attend antique and rare car auctions, revel in the plethora of international films during the annual festival and the smaller fests throughout the year; go shop, dine out, see the Palm Springs Follies, ride in or support the Tour de Palm Springs cycling event, grow roses, garden with native materials, kick back at the weekly VillageFest, go dancing, go listen to jazz, ride the Aerial Tramway up to 8000′, go boating and fishing an hour away, go skiing at the nearby mountain communities, attend all manner of concerts, recitals and live entertainment locally, or drive into LA or San Diego two hours away for all that they offer. Or just honk and wave to those who, for a weekend, have chosen to come to our city for fellowship and fun.

Our local paper turned up to photograph their getups, and invites you to take a look with the phrase, “Want to see hairy men in lingerie?” To see what they caught on film, go to Hash House Harriers Run.

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!

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!”

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.

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. 

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.