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In this episode I soeak with Matt Beurois who is the Program Director of The Yucca Valley Film Festival. Now in it's 5th year, The Yucca Valley Film Festival features some of the best indipendant films of the year. This event is sponsored by the city of Yucca Valley and is 100% free to the public.  The event takes plav=ce November 10th 11th and 12th  go to their website for details HERE   anny (00:00.914) All right, Matt Beurois, thank you so much for joining me on the Highway 62 podcast. How are you? Matt Beurois | YVFF (00:09.187) I'm very good. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. I love the podcast and very happy to be here. Danny (00:13.679) Thank you Yeah, I you know when I was looking at the name and I'm always looking at somebody's last name like okay how am I gonna pronounce and you know just not having spoke to you at all I was like oh it's like Matt Berrios or something like that so when I asked you and you hit me I was like oh okay and offline we were just talking about Paris and I was just saying how I've met so many people out here from France lately it's crazy but so and you are would you say the director of the Yucca Matt Beurois | YVFF (00:22.783) How do you pronounce that? Matt Beurois | YVFF (00:39.423) Yeah, yeah. Danny (00:48.048) Thanks for watching! Matt Beurois | YVFF (00:48.651) I would say program director. My job is to find the movies, yeah, the UK Film Festival, I find the movies, I find the filmmakers. We have a very small team and my job is to get people into town to attend the festival. Danny (00:50.742) Program Director of the Yucca Valley Film Festival. All right. Danny (01:05.346) Wonderful. Yeah, so we'll come back and hit all the. the good details of the film festival, but I would love to hear a little bit more about your background, you're a film director yourself. I just like the end credits of The Barn are on my TV at the moment. I was going to watch over the weekend and I wasn't able to do it, so I was kind of getting through it today. I need to re-watch it. I was working a little bit today as I had it on. So, but yeah, give us the... Matt Beurois | YVFF (01:17.155) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (01:23.938) Oh. Matt Beurois | YVFF (01:32.974) It's... Danny (01:37.59) the rundown of where you're from and how you came to be out here. Matt Beurois | YVFF (01:41.545) It's a journey. It's definitely a journey. So I'm a director, producer, filmmaker. I made a lot of short films. like 25-ish, a little bit more than that probably. And the last short film I directed and produced was a huge hit in Los Angeles and the US, and Asia and Europe, everywhere except France. So that was a French doc comedy with very famous people in France, and we got like 68 awards worldwide. Danny (02:08.717) Hahaha Matt Beurois | YVFF (02:20.375) everywhere except France and the first one we got Danny (02:22.434) Hahaha! Matt Beurois | YVFF (02:24.887) was the best international short film in a festival in Los Angeles. And that was the first award I ever had and I was the only French people in the room, only French guy in the room and I just got that small statue in my hands and it was like okay this is where I need to be, this is where I want to be. So that small success gave me the fuel and the will to Danny (02:30.163) Oh wow. Danny (02:36.432) Hehehe Danny (02:44.276) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (02:52.851) to change a whole lot of things in my life. And to basically, it took a couple of years, but then to move to the US, get the visa, and then later on get the green card and move to Yekavalli. First Los Angeles, then Burbank, then Yekavalli. And once we arrived in Yekavalli with my wife, we... Danny (03:02.951) Mm-hmm Matt Beurois | YVFF (03:13.627) Our business is to make film festivals. We have a bunch of them. We have some in California. We still have two, three in France. We have one in Nashville. We have business ties in New Mexico, in the US. So everywhere we travel, everywhere we make friends, we try to make business and work in good intelligence with friends. So we had all of that and... Danny (03:18.884) Okay. Danny (03:27.401) Interesting. Danny (03:34.93) Yeah. Let's, to, yeah, I was going to back up a little bit and just get a little bit more of your background growing up in Europe. How did you, you know, get into filmmaking? Did you go to film school or what was your background like? Matt Beurois | YVFF (03:52.039) I did not go to film school. I learned to make movies by making movies. We were a group of friends when I was a teenager and one of us got a camera. It was the big tapes back in the days, VHS, and every weekend for years we filmed short films. And then we edited it with two big VHS recorders. Danny (03:57.387) Yeah, yeah. Danny (04:07.702) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (04:22.633) So we really learned the craft by doing, by making films. So one weekend it was at my house, the next weekend it was at another friend's house, the weekend after that it was at another friend's house. So it was sleepover, writing films, filming the movies, editing the movies, and the next weekend again and again. So that was a whole adventure for years and years. And then some of us, the group of friends we were, some of us got to work into TV. Some others just dropped the whole thing. And I'm the only one who really kept going and started to make real films and feature films especially. Danny (05:03.095) Yeah. So and it was interesting I wanted to make sure I asked this as you were talking about the film festivals that it was an actual business for you So you're I never really thought about film festivals in that way So you and your wife travel to different areas and create these film festivals, huh? interesting Matt Beurois | YVFF (05:21.267) Well, it's... Yes. Yes, our company that's based in Yeka Valley, Colorado studio, we do marketing, pictures, video, social media, everything to help small businesses thrive. We do it for ourselves and we've been since we created our first festival in Paris, I think 13-14 years ago, it was just a small thing and then it became bigger and bigger and bigger and we were consistent enough and Danny (05:29.896) Okay. Danny (05:35.936) Mm. Danny (05:39.201) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (05:56.089) enough to keep delivering year after year. So what we did in Paris, France became a rendezvous, a place to be for emerging filmmakers and we started to create this whole network of people, motivated people who wanted to make films, show the films, promote the films in hopes that someday you're going to go to the next step and go working for the studios, working for a bigger production Matt Beurois | YVFF (06:25.809) I'm making independent films, I know what it takes. So when we do film festivals, we exactly know what it takes and the labor of love that it is to put everything together to make the film happen. And to then, when you have the movie, not to stop there, but to push it to film festival and then to push it to the streamers, distribution company, to show the movie to an audience as big as possible. Danny (06:29.792) Yeah. Danny (06:46.274) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Danny (06:54.871) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (06:55.929) We started as an association in France, a non-profit, and then it became a small business. And when we moved to the US, that business became the business with which we got our original visa. So that was interesting to take everything we knew how to do and how to do well, and to transform it into something that got us the foot in the door to get and actually move to the US. So that was an interesting journey. Danny (07:00.364) Mm-hmm. Danny (07:10.175) Okay, gotcha. Danny (07:23.382) Right. Sure. I bet. Now, and I was mentioning it. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Matt Beurois | YVFF (07:27.412) Today the UK Valley Film Festival is very specific for us, it's very unique because that's the only film festival that we do not own. Every other thing we do, we own the copyright and the brand and the event, we do whatever we want. The Yokevallé Film Festival, the festival belongs to the town of Yokevallé, so we are here to execute their vision, the strategy they have and to work with the recreation department so they can Danny (07:40.333) Okay. Matt Beurois | YVFF (08:03.358) get the residents happy and get hopefully some people into town for tourism during the weekend. Danny (08:11.118) Yeah, I was mentioning that I was watching a little bit of your feature film, The Barn, which people can watch on Amazon. And it's always amazing to me when somebody really goes through that process of making a movie. I've never really worked in the film industry. One of the guys in my band works in reality TV as a show producer. And so I'm always hearing the stories of Matt Beurois | YVFF (08:17.927) Mm-hmm. Matt Beurois | YVFF (08:27.826) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (08:35.538) Okay. Danny (08:39.85) you know how they're getting a little bit of spec money to film this one you know pilot episode and just everything that goes into it and it just seems that like ninety percent of the time or more it never ends up going anywhere or it's a fail and it i'm just always blown away at you know having a little bit of understanding of what goes into it getting to that point of really finally creating a movie the funding and just Matt Beurois | YVFF (08:44.138) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (08:53.899) I'm sorry. Danny (09:07.65) putting it all together. Give us a little bit of a short story of what it was like doing that first feature film. Matt Beurois | YVFF (09:16.219) Well, the financing of a movie is always the most challenging. It's a pain in the ass. Every filmmaker you're going to meet is going to be looking for money to make the movie happen. So what we did for the bond, we didn't wait for any money. We financed it ourselves with our company. And what we did to make it possible, we wrote a script. Danny (09:23.3) Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Danny (09:35.123) Mmm. Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (09:42.619) and we knew before writing the script the locations we were going to use and all the locations in the movie The Barn it's my mom's house she's got a farm and the house it's her house the bedroom it's her bedroom the living room it's the living room the barn itself back in the days when we filmed they had sheeps before we filmed in that place and now they have Danny (09:57.404) Hahaha. Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (10:12.333) So we wrote the script knowing exactly all the locations we could use for free. The all the rooms, the forest, the barn, around the barn, the road next to the house. Everything was actually on location. We never walked more than five minutes on foot to go to another location for the next scene. So we did. She was helping. Danny (10:20.118) Gotcha. Danny (10:33.994) Wow, okay, great. How does your mom feel? How does your mom feel now living in a house that has had a horror film made there? Matt Beurois | YVFF (10:45.407) Well, the barn itself, it's quite different now. When we filmed, it was a mess. Danny (10:50.354) Okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (10:53.555) We almost didn't touch anything. It was a mess because it used to be like I said the ships and then it was used as storage all my crap from all my teenage years all my sister's crap Everything was there. It was a mess So we almost didn't touch it because it was it was good for the movie to have some bunch of stuff around Since then my sister took over and now she's got a horse Danny (10:59.144) Mm-hmm. Danny (11:22.463) Oh wow. Matt Beurois | YVFF (11:24.409) It's neat, absolutely clean, it's beautiful, you would not recognize the place, definitely. So every scene where we killed people, every scene where the zombies escaped, you would not recognize it, it's completely different. Yeah. Danny (11:29.758) I gotcha. You had also. Yeah, yeah. Gotcha. That's probably that's probably a good thing. You had mentioned in your email that you are working on another feature length film and you're doing it all here in, did you say Morongo Valley? You were filming. Matt Beurois | YVFF (11:52.711) We filmed it already. It's called American Game. We filmed in Joshua Tree, Yake Valley, Morongo, 29 Palms, a little bit in Whitewater, down the grade, everywhere around. Danny (11:54.406) Oh, okay, already done. Danny (12:04.43) Oh great. Yeah, yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (12:10.575) Mostly in private lands because we didn't want to ask for permits and all this kind of stuff. So what we did we Called some friends in the community and was the hey you have a big space You have a lot of acreage. Would you help us and let us access the land for like two days and same process then the barn we Called a bunch of friends Danny (12:20.103) Mm-hmm. Danny (12:27.934) Sure, yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (12:34.235) And we said, okay, this is what we have. This is the list of locations, what we could use. And then we said, how can we write a script that fits within these locations? But that was a real, it was an excitement to film a movie right here because the landscapes are amazing. And in the desert, you could film a drama, you could film science fiction, you could film, we did an action, a short action independent movie. You could do anywhere you, Danny (12:49.75) Mm-mm. Yeah. Danny (12:58.778) Yeah Matt Beurois | YVFF (13:04.329) you want in the desert. The way you're gonna film it, the way you're gonna write the script, you could turn it into anything and I love that about the desert. The same way we live here, the way you enjoy the desert, Danny, it may be very different than the way I enjoy the desert. It's not right or wrong, it's just we are two different people and I'm gonna see beauty here and you're gonna see beauty there and maybe I didn't notice and that's the desert. People Danny (13:12.674) Yeah. Danny (13:26.134) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (13:34.629) a lot and when you take time and when you connect to it it's really a very magnificent place with a lot of layers and that movie shows one side of it. The movie American Game shows the oppressive heat of the Sun in the desert and we use the wide landscape to trap the characters inside. Danny (13:35.548) Yeah. Danny (13:43.617) Yep. Matt Beurois | YVFF (14:03.803) In the desert, one thing I said to the cinematographer, most of the time I said, I want to see the mountains in the background, but I never wanna see the peaks of the mountains. I don't wanna see the sky. I want to create an impression like, they will never go over that mountain here. They are always trapped in the game, the American game, except in the end when they try to escape. Danny (14:14.326) Oh, okay. Danny (14:19.01) Yeah. I say. Danny (14:27.414) Awesome. It sounds great. Do you have kind of a rough idea of when that will be available for people to watch? Or next year, okay. Matt Beurois | YVFF (14:35.911) Next year, next year. We have a first draft of the movie. We need to do some sound, special effects, sound design on it. We still need to mix the dialogues and all of that, but the movie is edited. It's a feature length film. It's pretty impressive what we managed to do with only a few people and literally no money to make that film. The dedication of the team, Danny (14:44.727) Mm-hmm. Danny (15:02.476) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (15:06.655) It was incredible. It was challenging. Again, 11 days to film a feature film in the heat of June in the Morongo Valley. That was not easy every day. But the... Danny (15:16.302) Hahaha Matt Beurois | YVFF (15:21.619) The script made it possible and the dedication of the cinematographer, the sound guy, the actors, the performers, of course. And it was it was an amazing experience. Yeah, I'm really looking forward for the movie to be completed so we can release it next year. Danny (15:23.691) Yeah. Danny (15:33.666) Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great. I'll be looking forward to that. And we'll make sure to, you know, let me know as it's getting closer so we can help to do our small part to promote and maybe even have you back on the show too to talk a little bit more about it. So the film, the Yucca Valley Film Fest, how long has that been going on? Five years now. Okay. Matt Beurois | YVFF (15:40.107) Thank you. Matt Beurois | YVFF (15:47.199) Thank you. Okay, yeah, yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (15:53.802) Yeah. Five years, we're gonna celebrate the fifth anniversary. So already we started in 2019, 2019 was the first edition and then COVID hit. So we... Danny (16:09.885) Mm-hmm. Matt Beurois | YVFF (16:12.659) We discussed with the town, the recreation department and the town manager and the council members and we said we don't want to stop. If we stop that means the festival is going to die. If you stop for something that it's not going to come back up again. We are building a festival, we are building a brand. We need to continue. So we built two amazing digital editions during Danny (16:38.942) Okay. Matt Beurois | YVFF (16:42.627) and we could feel the appetite from the filmmakers and the enthusiasm from the community to see the event coming back in person. We underestimated the amount of people who would come to the festival actually. We tripled the attendance compared to the first in-person year in 2019. So this year we are much more prepared. We have a process in place to Danny (16:47.453) Oh yeah. Danny (16:54.177) Yeah. Danny (16:59.03) Hahaha Matt Beurois | YVFF (17:12.861) know what day the filmmakers are coming, what time they arrive, all of that to get them to make it more smooth and make it a great experience for the filmmakers who are going to come into town for just a weekend. So for a weekend, imagine you made a movie last year and you're trying to get it into festivals. And the Yerke Valley Film Festival says, hey, we want you to come to town and show the film and do the picture signing and the red carpet and everything. Everything the big festivals do, we do in Yerke Valley. So it's a mix between an ambitious event, and something that's really community-rooted with a lot of people from around here who come to the festival, watch the movies, ask questions to the filmmakers. So for a weekend, when you are a filmmaker, Ukeveri becomes the center of your world because Even if you're not famous, you're going to be the star of the festival. You're going to show your film. You're going to sign autographs. You're going to walk on the red carpet every night. If you want, you're going to be interviewed on the podcast of the festival. You're going to meet many other filmmakers. So it's really something that what we do today with the UKVLFM festival as the result of 15 years, almost of experience in creating events and creating film festivals, I've been to many, Danny (18:11.423) Sure, sure. Danny (18:34.642) Mm-hmm. Matt Beurois | YVFF (18:39.342) and the bigger ones, the most prestigious ones are not necessarily the ones where you have the best experience because if you go to Tribeca it's amazing Sundance or South by Southwest it's amazing but you are as an independent filmmaker you are just gonna be a face in the crowd. Danny (18:51.446) You know, like Sundance or something, yeah. Danny (19:02.11) Yeah, yeah, small fish in the big pond, right? Matt Beurois | YVFF (19:05.243) Absolutely. At the UKVLFM festival, you're going to be on stage multiple times. You're going to meet with the community, meet and greets, picture signing, photo booths, red carpet. You're going to talk with people who just watch your movie. You're going to have a feedback from the audience. You're going to meet other filmmakers and maybe you're going to make movies with them later. And all of that happened. I mean, we have multiple examples of filmmakers who came to the UKVLFM festival, Danny (19:15.839) Mm-hmm. Matt Beurois | YVFF (19:35.237) later on made movies together, producers, script writers, cinematographers, so that's a place the networking and the social impact in the community and in the filmmaking scene also is actually more important than what we expected to do in the beginning. So that's pretty, that's a very good feeling. Danny (19:38.743) Sure, sure, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the networking must be amazing. Danny (19:56.702) I-I-I- I had a few questions just kind of about the film festival and film festivals in general. So you know, obviously, again, like we mentioned, you know, Sundance or some of these big ones out there, you know, everybody is submitting to those kind of festivals in, you know, like something at the size of the Yucca Valley Film Festival. When you first get it going, is it a challenge to get submissions? Or are do you reach out to filmmakers and request a submission from anybody? Matt Beurois | YVFF (20:13.044) Yeah. Danny (20:28.656) primarily, you know, is there just so many independent filmmakers out there that once they know there's a film fest that's like game on and you're going to get a ton of inquiries. Matt Beurois | YVFF (20:39.943) It's not easy. It used 15 years ago, you could just put up a small event in a, literally in a cave, not a cave, a cellar in Paris, or an underground thing, and you would have 50 people showing up. Today, you have to, you have to give them something. Danny (20:41.543) Okay. Danny (20:50.551) Ha ha! Danny (21:06.786) Gotcha. Okay. Matt Beurois | YVFF (21:07.375) So the filmmakers, when they come to the Jokovare Film Festival, they know they're going to have the screening, they know they're going to have the Q&A's, the discussion afterwards. We have round tables, panels, we have a master class, we have meet and greets with the community, we have the red carpet, we have many things. Literally, I sent an email this afternoon to one of the filmmakers who's going to come to the festival and I sent her Danny (21:24.866) Mm-hmm. Matt Beurois | YVFF (21:38.009) detailed schedule almost minute by minute 15 minutes by 15 minutes and I told her at 6 p.m. you're gonna be doing this 6 15 you're gonna be on the podcast 6 40 you're gonna be on the red carpet 6 55 you're gonna be doing this and then we have the art opening and then screening starts at 7 so they need to show up on time because if they don't they're gonna miss out on something so Danny (21:50.849) Right, right. Danny (22:02.143) Right? Yeah, the whole thing's... Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (22:07.289) It became kind of a big enterprise, but when we started the Yokel Valley Film Festival, to answer your question, we already had a huge network of filmmakers that we were working with and involved with. So we do accept submissions, but my job for 10 months before the festival is to go online and to go to other film festivals in different states, mostly New York, Arizona, Utah, California. Danny (22:16.373) Okay. Danny (22:31.572) Mmm, okay. Danny (22:37.367) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (22:37.569) and to watch a lot of movies and to say oh this one is interesting oh this one it was filmed in Joshua Tree I should get in touch this one oh that's a sci-fi movie I've never seen something like that let's try to get this movie so the Yikavadifim festival really yes it's really yes Danny (22:45.94) Okay. Danny (22:51.694) Gotcha, so you're kind of curating, you know Films that you would like to have at this film festival to create that experience. Gotcha Matt Beurois | YVFF (23:02.415) Absolutely. If there is a connection to our Mojave desert, I'm going to be interested. But the film has to be good. We also get movies that are romantic comedies, filmed in a cafe in LA or Chicago, and the movie is so good and the performances are so good that we take the movie anyway. But it's really a mix between submissions, Danny (23:07.848) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (23:26.271) that we receive and the outreach we do 10 months a year to get the best movies on The Secret to get them to come to Yorke Valley. Danny (23:35.806) I see. Okay. Gotcha. Interesting. So, and give us the date of the event this year. Matt Beurois | YVFF (23:43.731) The Y'Kabal de Film Festival is going to be November 10, 11 and 12. So Friday 10, Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 of November. And you have a... Danny (23:55.114) And so what's the experience like then for just me as a film lover? How does it work? Do I purchase a ticket that works for the whole weekend? What do I get to do and see and all that good stuff? Matt Beurois | YVFF (24:11.219) The Yekebade Film Festival is 100% sponsored by the Town of Yeke Valley. It is admission free. So you don't have to buy a ticket, just show up. And the first thing I tell everyone is, when you're going to arrive this year, you're going to have a tent outside, you're going to get the program, if you're a filmmaker you're going to get a badge, we're going to give you all the information, and then, first thing you do, you're going to walk the red carpet. Danny (24:17.223) Okay. Oh. Danny (24:40.344) Cool. Matt Beurois | YVFF (24:42.113) on Friday and Sunday and everybody is welcome. We want everybody in the community, the kids, the dogs, everyone, the families. We want fun pictures and all the pictures we do every day the next day they are on Facebook. So you can take your own pictures out of Facebook very easy. Everything is free. Then you walk in the main room, the community center, the Yucca room, the big room. Danny (25:00.29) Cool. Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (25:12.233) and there is complimentary popcorn for everyone. It's free seating, we have an art exhibit during the three days, we have music playing. This year we're gonna have a podcast for the filmmakers inside the room. We have a photo booth also so if you want to take more pictures and not being under the slight light fun pressure of the red carpet. We also have a photo booth inside that's very cute Danny (25:30.835) Mm-hmm. Danny (25:36.866) Hehehehe Matt Beurois | YVFF (25:41.013) Yucca Valley staff does an amazing job as decorating the full house. Danny (25:42.281) Yeah. Danny (25:46.042) it sounds like, I mean, a really fun event for just, you know, the local community and to be able to kind of experience, you know, a red carpet and just kind of the whole, you know, shebang, the whole experience of a film fest that they're not going to get to go do it at Sundance or Tribeca, you know, but they can get to experience that on a smaller level. And I, you know, would imagine it could also be really inspirational for, you know, younger adults and teenagers or whatnot. Matt Beurois | YVFF (25:50.643) It is. Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (26:03.659) True. Danny (26:13.266) who may really get inspired to go into filmmaking. And I've just always been such a film fanatic. I've talked about it before on the podcast and I hate repeating myself, but who knows? Maybe this is the first episode somebody listened to. But... Matt Beurois | YVFF (26:17.684) Yes. Matt Beurois | YVFF (26:29.515) Ha ha ha. Danny (26:30.218) You know, I was lucky enough to go to a high school in Chicago that did a class called Cinema Study that I've rarely ever heard of any other high schools ever having anything like that. You got two teachers. It was a gigantic class. You had to be on you had to get on a waitlist like two years beforehand to get in the class. And it just from that class on. Matt Beurois | YVFF (26:34.581) Yeah. Danny (26:54.03) I have just been a lover of film and I often wish that I had gone into film instead of my music career. I know there's a lot of actors all have bands and they seem to want to be rock stars and a lot of rock stars, not that I'm a rock star, I'm a mid-level drummer in a punk rock band, but a lot of us are like, oh, I should get into some acting and getting into filmmaking and stuff. Matt Beurois | YVFF (27:07.145) It's. It seems absolutely. Matt Beurois | YVFF (27:21.147) Yeah, a lot of actors want to be rock stars and a lot of rock stars want to be actors. That's what it is. But you're absolutely right. Absolutely. The learning experience. Danny (27:27.992) Yeah. The grass always looks greener, I guess. Matt Beurois | YVFF (27:34.843) about filmmaking, learning how do people write a script, how do you film that scene, how do you do that stunt, how was it to direct the actors, all of that. Any screening, any event during the festival, at some point we take questions from the audience and we do have a lot Danny (27:56.226) Gotcha. Danny (28:00.018) Yeah, that's great. Matt Beurois | YVFF (28:05.297) implication and the involvement of the community. We have a community of people who love movies really and all the questions we get are always specific, smart, sharp and interesting and this is really it works both ways. The residents who come to the festival are gonna learn about scriptwriting, music composing for Matt Beurois | YVFF (28:35.117) You're going to learn from the filmmakers on the making of the films, but the filmmakers also Come to town and we created we use the film festival as a platform So they learn about our community this year. They are going to meet with the wrestling team from the high school They're going to meet with the martial arts club we have in Ikebari American Adjiuji Suu Collective and Yeah, and on Sunday they are going to meet with Miss Ikebari Danny (28:59.004) Yeah, Americana. Uh huh. Matt Beurois | YVFF (29:04.757) scholarship so it's ready for them it's also an opportunity to see oh Yerkevare is a small town I've never been and then they realize how Danny (29:07.106) Very cool. Matt Beurois | YVFF (29:17.407) cool we are, the many things that happen in the community and we would love them to come back and maybe film some of their next scenes in our area. So it's really, it works both ways and that's again, that's very unique for the UKVFM festival because people show up and they want they want that experience and that dialogue. Danny (29:19.092) Yeah. Danny (29:44.018) Yeah, I, you know, it keeps kind of revealing itself to me more and more. It wasn't something that I thought about when I moved out here. You know, for me, it was like, I like the outdoors. I like to, you know, I'm going on my motorcycle, stuff like that all the time. Uh, but now as I'm here, like I am blown away with the amount of creative people. Like the art scene, it's like art film, like it's off the. Matt Beurois | YVFF (29:57.183) Same, same, same. Matt Beurois | YVFF (30:07.251) Definitely. Danny (30:11.202) I mean, there's so many people from all these different backgrounds. And, you know, I guess we are slightly, you know, it's an advantage for what seems like smaller communities out here. But because of the proximity to Los Angeles, you know, there is a lot of, you know, I met some artists and stuff this weekend during the Highway 62 art tours, you know, that are, you know, Matt Beurois | YVFF (30:29.707) to LA. Danny (30:40.716) worked on big projects and big films and you know but we're close enough that you know at some point they're like I want to live in maybe a smaller community but I can still work in the industry if I want to and so it's a little bit different than a smaller community that's you know not near an epicenter for music and art and music and things like that so it's just like Matt Beurois | YVFF (30:44.121) Yep, yep. Matt Beurois | YVFF (30:51.071) Yeah. Danny (31:02.946) It's like you go around a corner and all of a sudden you're like, Oh my God, look at this place and look at this, but this guy's doing, this is incredible. And it's a really exciting element of the area out here. It's in really just a vibrant scene. It's, it's really cool. Matt Beurois | YVFF (31:11.84) You're right. Matt Beurois | YVFF (31:18.883) It is a vibrant scene. I think we have exceptional artists around here We're gonna have once again this year at the festival many local artists competing for music videos for short films for Photography it's Every year we have more and more and I'm always amazed by the creativity of artists musicians Danny (31:31.389) Mm-hmm. Matt Beurois | YVFF (31:49.057) the mindset of people coming here? I don't know. Maybe it's because of the vortexes, because it's always been historically a place where you could be free. I think it's all connected and we all want to enjoy that and that's also a reason why we don't want the Yekavalefum festival not to become too big. It has to, I really believe, we have room to grow. Danny (32:01.832) Yeah. Danny (32:12.647) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (32:18.735) I understand that and I want that, but it's also a community film festival. Danny (32:18.978) Sure. Matt Beurois | YVFF (32:24.451) So I think to keep that and to keep a close relationship with the small businesses, with the artists, we need to keep that direct interaction between a filmmaker from LA, a photographer from, I don't know, Portland, and the local artist from Joshua Tree, the guy who does pottery in Pioneer Town. We all gather in the same place for three days, Danny (32:46.69) Mm-hmm. Matt Beurois | YVFF (32:54.345) festival has to be a platform for that. So when it becomes too big you can lose that and I really wanted the recipe of the Yikavere Film Festival to continue being, to continue serving the community. That's really the goal we have in making it. Danny (32:56.694) Yeah. Danny (33:13.062) Yeah. Well, I got to tell you, Matt, it sounds I'm like, excited and I'm jacked up to like come to the film festival. I'm really looking forward to it now. And I think it's just, you know, it sounds like an amazing event. Where is the best place for people to get more information about the film fest? Matt Beurois | YVFF (33:24.799) Thank you. Matt Beurois | YVFF (33:34.283) www.yukavadefilmfestival.com Danny (33:37.579) Okay. Matt Beurois | YVFF (33:37.867) website, www.yekevadefilmfestival.com. The program is going to be announced officially November 1st maybe a little bit before, maybe a little bit after, it depends. But we have a pretty good idea already of the program. We know we have secured more than 45 filmmakers and artists to come Matt Beurois | YVFF (34:07.921) They are going to be coming with a cinematographer and the producer and a friend and the actress and the actor and the family members so it could easily turn into more than a hundred people Just artists flocking into town to attend the festival for three days So we know already it's going to be exciting and successful and we know that Whenever you attend Friday Saturday Sunday, you're gonna meet exceptional artists and you're gonna have quality Danny (34:08.887) Yeah. Danny (34:23.732) Yeah. Matt Beurois | YVFF (34:37.841) time to talk with them and learn about filmmaking and of course watch great movies that's what it is at the end of the day the movies there's no movie we're gonna show this year that's not good every single movie is good has something to offer and a lot of them have been filmed around here so it's always like Danny (34:44.535) Yeah. Danny (34:51.782) Yeah, awesome. Matt Beurois | YVFF (35:01.595) Amazing to see how filmmakers from the outside use our use the outdoors we live in every day and how they see that and how they put it into film We have westerns comedies science-fiction dramas We have it all and we have the kids program on Saturday animated films for the kids Danny (35:06.538) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Danny (35:26.942) Oh cool, wonderful. Sounds great. I will make sure for the listeners, I'll put the show notes and, or in the show notes, I'll make sure to put the website address so you guys can find that stuff easily. And Matt, merci beaucoup. Matt Beurois | YVFF (35:40.395) Appreciate it. Matt Beurois | YVFF (35:44.331) Merci beaucoup and I hope to see you, Danny, at the festival and all the listeners. It's free admission, compliments to the Turner Yucca Valley. They really want the festival to be a place for the community to enjoy and have a good time. So it's all free, popcorn included. So just join. Thank you. Danny (36:00.462) That's amazing. I will be there.  

In this inspiring episode, Rachael Buettell from Black Luck Vitage And Vinyl is gonna tell us how she escaped a cult and eventually opened one of the coolest vintage stores to be found anywhere.  49950 29 Palms Highway ( Highway 62) Morongo Valley , California Black Luck Instagram https://www.instagram.com/blackluckvintage/    

A break in, a smashed cell phone, and a dog named Coco. In the early morning hours of  November 1st, 2015 Christina Bastian left her friend's apartment in Apple Valley, California with her dog, Coco.  Hours later her belongings were found strewn along the roadside.  Her truck was later found abandoned in Morongo Valley.  But where is Christina Bastian? SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit https://www.samhsa.gov Facebook Page for Christina Bastian: https://www.facebook.com/HelpFindChristinaBastian/ Get your episodes Ad-Free at: https://www.patreon.com/leastofthesepodcast  Least of These on Social Media: https://m.facebook.com/leastofthesepodcast/  https://m.facebook.com/groups/288046119723080/?ref=pages_profile_groups_tab&paipv=1  https://www.instagram.com/least_ofthese/

Gary takes your calls and talks with us about local development in Wonder Valley and Morongo Valley, as well as short-term vacation rentals, and the surge of new residents in our area.

Jim Brakebill, the acting General Manager of the Morongo Valley Community Services District and Fire Chief of the Morongo Valley Fire Department, talks with us about a rocky year in 2021 and severe staffing shortages. He also shares the current state of the department.

Lauren Cho - Lauren, better known as El, is a young woman from New Jersey has gone missing in the state of California. She was last seen Monday at around 3 p.m. in the area of Hoopa Road & Benmar Trail in Morongo Valley on foot, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department reported. She was last seen wearing a yellow tee shirt and jean shorts. Resources mentioned in this episode: NJ People CNN NBC News The Sun Washington Post Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Visit our website    

Mark Tadros is a Date Farmer located in Termal, Ca. and Eric Wilson is a Farmer in Morongo Valley, CA. They both have CSA Boxes that provide fresh locally grown produce from around the Southern California area. Their stories are interconnected and seem to grow parallel to each other. I guess great minds think alike. Tune in to hear how they meet, what they are current doing and where they are taking their business. http://www.somewhereinthedesert.com http://www.yellowdates.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/selected-series/support

It has been an active start to the week for San Bernardino County fault lines. The region was hit with two 3.5 magnitude earthquakes within a 10-hour period according to the U.S. Geological Survey. On Tuesday morning one quake was centered in the Mojave Desert, 40 miles east of Barstow, and on Monday evening another was recorded 60 miles to the southwest near Morongo Valley. It was felt in Big Bear Lake and Palm Springs. These are some of the largest seismic events since a 3.9 earthquake was recorded near the Salton Sea in late October.

Artist and founder of Earth House Studios, Sharon Davis creates colorful art and installations at her home in Morongo Valley.   Sharon and I bonded as two Jersey girls, so you might get hungry listening to the beginning of this episode.   Sharon left NJ for the first time in in 1974 and came to California, landing in Huntington Beach, moving on to Moreno Valley, then Palm Springs. After that she's moved between the east coast and Texas, Virginia and Maryland, with a few stops back to California in between.   Her first desert experience was in Palm Springs, which Sharon found to be way too hot. When she did decide to come back west, having some pretty specifics requirements for her property, she thought she'd land in Pioneertown, but found the perfect place in  Morongo Valley - a place she feels doesn't get enough credit and notice in the basin.   Sharon has always liked art and being creative, dabbling in many different types of art from drawing to sewing. As a kid, a woman came to her parents house to buy a couch, saw some of Sharon's art and invited her to come apprentice with her husband, who worked for Tiffany's. Sharon spent one Saturday with the man and another young artist, learning how to inlay enamel with toothpicks.   After have her kids, Sharon set aside her creativity and art, only using it to work on projects she typically gave away as Christmas gifts.   She finds herself very inspired by the desert and the night sky and tells a story about her high school art teacher, with whom she re-connected with many years later. We also hear a bit of history around the Morongo Valley Art Colony.   Being part Cherokee, Sharon tells us a bit about ceremony, sweat lodges and a recent art installation event she hosted at her home to bring awareness to the disappearances of over 6,000 missing native American females – women and children.  

Like the roots of the honey mesquite and creosote, Robin Kobaly's desert roots go deep. Her immediate family moved to Morongo Valley when she was 2 years old. At six, Robin had an extraordinary experience with desert wildflowers - an experience she was hesitant to share, being part of a scientific community, fearing her work would not be taken seriously.    In her studies of plants, Robin also came to appreciate the ways in which Native Americans used plants dyes for basket-weaving, textiles and ceremonial paints and tells a story about the dye found in prickly pear cactus.   Studying plants with her mother in the Morongo Valley, they would collect and sometimes serve them for dinner. "My brothers were always petrified about what they were going to eat the next night".   Having spent time as a botanist for the federal government, her life has been dedicated to try and protect plants and the desert while educating people to do the same. Robin is the Founder and President of The Power of Plants as well as serving as Executive Director of SummerTree Institute.   In this episode, Robin explains how much more alive the desert is than it appears, what is happening underground, how the plants are partnering up to survive, and the value the desert provides in naturally removing carbon from the air.   Robin's recent book, 'The Desert Underground', began as a scientific 'white paper' of sorts to assist the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to understand what happens to the desert when it is prepared for thousands of acres of industrial solar fields. With a number of folks asking for a copy of this 'report', Robin decided to turn it into a book. The book was extended to large display boards, creating expositions, which Robin is now developing for a traveling exhibit and along with her husband, Doug. If that wasn't enough, they are also creating a documentary on the subject, to educate even more people about the importance of the desert.   Robin was the 2018 recipient of the Minerva Hoyt California Desert Conservation Award, presented annually by the Joshua Tree National Park Association. "The Minerva Hoyt California Desert Conservation Award recognizes annually individuals or organizations that have worked to further Mrs. Hoyt’s legacy by making notable achievements in the areas of leadership, protection, preservation, research, education, and stewardship of California’s desert lands. The award seeks to recognize an individual or persons whose efforts lead to a significant and lasting contribution on behalf of the deserts of California."   When things slow down a bit, Robin is looking forward to hearing the flowers talk to her again.    

In this episode you'll hear from cultural worker Blanca S. Villalobos on the importance of reclaiming the dream realm and supportive plant allies.  Blanca identifies as a queer proud daughter of immigrants with roots in the Sierra Madre Occidental of México. Her work as an interdisciplinary artist braids themes such as identity, folklore and healing modalities. As an artist, she has been awarded residencies with Caldera Arts, Signal Fire, The Living School of Art and Residency in the Garden. Her integration of community organizing & art making has been supported through grants and fellowships by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Calligram Foundation and Epicenter. While living on Multnomah territory Blanca taught bilingual anti-oppression curriculum to Latinx youth and their families in order to prevent gender-based violence, organized transit justice efforts with an environmental organization and founded a queer Latinx collective dedicated to community healing through arts and activism. She has been facilitating dream classes and workshops to all ages in homes, art galleries, community centers and conferences since 2016 and couldn't be happier. She has been an avid dreamer since she can remember and was called to share this work now as an adult.  After an almost 8 year cycle in the Pacific Northwest, Blanca returned to Southern California in early 2018 to give back to the land and people that raised her. She is now based in the high desert of Morongo Valley, CA on the traditional lands of the Serrano people. She is an artist, educator & cultural worker. In addition, Blanca volunteers as a backcountry guide for Signal Fire and is a recent council member for the Joshua Tree National Park Association. In her free time she enjoys making ceviche for loved ones and hiking with her pup. You can learn more about her community work & practice at www.blancasvillalobos.com and IG at @blanca.s.villalobos Thanks for listening to the HerbRally Podcast! www.herbrally.com 

01 - Peter Jastermsky - Host • 02 Peter Jastermsky - Five Poems • 03 John Sierpinski - Two Poems • 04 Jan Gray - from Station Eleven • 05 John Sierpinski - reads Gabriel Hart • 06 Jan Gray - reads Bonnie Brady • 07 Marty Fenn - Survival • 08 Jan Gray - Survival • 09 Ernesto Nevarez - Desert Life • 10 Peter Jastermsky- Haiku • 11 John Sierpinski- reads Tobi Alfier • 12 Ernesto Nevarez - Poetry • 13 Outro --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rich-soos/message

Lisa Rae Black remembers her first experience with the desert as a visit to Grandpa's house - he lived in Morongo Valley. As a five-year old, she recalls jumping out of the back of her dad's 280Z, feeling like she'd landed on Mars. Fast forward about 50 years, Lisa inherited the property from her now deceased brother, Jim, who’d lived there for many years with his three thoroughbred horses.     Her grandfather purchased the property in1931 and built the 300 foot homestead in 1951.  In this episode, Lisa talks about the little bits of history that have come her way from her grandfather during the permitting and renovations process of the homestead.   Lisa's interest in the guitar began early. At five, she commandeered her brother's Christmas gift, a Snoopy guitar. She began taking lessons at age 12 and credits her instructor, himself an accomplished classic flamenco guitarist, with instilling the importance proper posture, timing/beats and scales. After discovering she could play some Chuck Berry guitar licks, she was ‘off to the races’.   Her neighbor, a drummer for their high school marching band and a local surf band, was her ride to school each day. Eventually, he joined forces with the lead singer of the stoner band in the same school – if you’re familiar with hair metal bands from the 80’s you’ll want to hear this story, which leads to another story of how Lisa got into her first band, The Pandoras, who got their first record deal after their first gig. Lisa says it all happened ‘too fast, too soon’ and admits she was too young to appreciate the opportunities. She says that while she’s worked with some successful names you’ll recognize, that level of notoriety never really manifested for her.   After having recorded a five-song EP with The Pandoras, Lisa stayed on at the studio for awhile, recording with Berlin, Social Distortion and was in many other LA bands including Helle's Belles, Hardly Dangerous, Feline and Bellylove, whose music was featured on the third season of  'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'.   Thinking her move to the desert had put her band days behind her, one Sunday, she and Paul were looking for something to do and headed up to this place they'd heard some local folks talk about called Pappy & Harriet’s.  There was a band playing some mellow tunes and when the band called the Security guy up on stage to sing, Lisa and Paul didn't know what to think. The band  launched into Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song'. Afterward, Lisa immediately approached him about singing Sabbath covers and ‘Hammer of the Ozz’ was born with Security guy 'Big Dave Johnson' on vocals and local Landers resident and another accomplished musician, Greg Gordon, on drums.  The band is looking forward to recording at Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree in August 2019. Lisa and Paul have also formed a soul, funk band called ‘The LP’s’.   Photo: Sandra Goodin     Check out the bands:   www.hammeroftheozz.com   www.facebook.com/hammeroftheozz   www.facebook.com/thelpsofsoul

Raised as one of five girls in a suburb of Boston, MA, Mimi had never seen a desert until her plane landed in Palm Springs in the late 70's. Mimi was coming to southern California to see about jobs with the Riverside and San Bernardino school districts - her real goal was to eventually get to San Francisco to live and work.   After being shown around by the school district, Mimi went back to Atlanta, thinking the desert wasn't going to be her next move.  Shortly after her return, the school district called back, aware of a job opening in the Morongo Valley. Mimi came back and in the course of being interviewed, met a man in a local Joshua Tree restaurant who wrote for the local paper and was also from the Boston area - he would eventually become her husband. Mimi took the job.   When Mimi started the job, she traveled to various schools in the district - picking up stray dogs along the way. During our conversation, Mimi indicates the problem of dog dumping was much worse at that time. She was thrilled when the Morongo Basin Humane Society opened in the 80's. Though not a no-kill shelter at the outset, Mimi was happy to have a place to take the strays she was encountering. Eventually, Mimi was asked to be on the Board, the shelter had gone to no-kill status and the rest is history.   Mimi has been the Board President of and on (more 'on' in the last several years) of the Morongo Basin Humane Society for many years. If you have an interest in animals and would like to make a donation to the shelter, you can do that here. If you'd like to volunteer your time, go to the shelter on Sundays and walk a dog!   In this episode, Mimi also recounts a 15 month overseas trip with a friend. They covered Wales, Switzerland, Spain, Morocco and many other places along the way.   Mimi says she loved her old desert neighborhood, in the Highlands of Joshua Tree, but it changed over the years, with neighbors moving or most dying off. She's moved from that area and still has a place in the desert and also a place in Oregon now, where she likes to go in the summertime. Mimi isn't sure whether the desert will continue to have a hold on her or not, but she does know she'd like to step away from the responsibility of the shelter and enjoy her retirement. http://www.mbhumanesociety.com/donations.html  

This episode is a little different than what you've heard so far. Typically, I sit down and have a casual one on one conversation for the entire 30 minutes. In this episode, I've had similar, shorter conversations with eleven desert women, asking them, in most cases, the same five or so questions. As you listen to the episode, you'll get the gist of the questions.   How did this happen? Well, I sometimes bring the podcast to community events. I set up a table, have some handouts and introduce the podcast to people who may not have heard of it. Some folks have never heard of podcasts in general, while some know many of the people I've interviewed.  Recently, I got the idea of not only setting up a table with information about the podcast, but of taking my recording equipment with me and doing 'woman on the street-style' interviews. It turned out to be really fun.   The first four interviews in this episode were recorded at the Covington Park Fall Festival in Morongo Valley, on the further west end of the Morongo Basin. The remaining seven were recorded at the Landers Bizarre Bazaar.   Most of the ladies, if not all, were not born here - they moved to the area for various reasons: jobs, creative work, housing affordability, a climate conducive to better health or just looking for a place to quiet down to listen to their inner voice.   They give some recommendations about where they take out of town guests. The most popular places being Joshua Tree National Park, Pioneertown and Pappy & Harriet's, Landers and La Copine.   And when asked what their favorite thing about living in the desert is, their answers ranged from being peaceful, calming and grounding to the desert's amazing colors and wildlife,  to the people and activities and... the sky. The pictures of sunset and sky above are my own and, if you ask me or anyone who lives here, they don't do it justice.   Special thanks to the willing participants:  Donna Gowland, Kelly Moynihan, Mia Torres (stay tuned for her full episode in the coming weeks), Susan Abbott, Terry Burkhardt, Kim Fulleman, Jet Tucker, Debbie Solaris, Claudia Bucher, Claude Fenton and Diana.   If you enjoy this episode, tell me why and what you liked best.          

Wendy Lee Gadzuk is a visual artist and musician who grew up near Philadelphia, PA, attending art school and playing in her band The 440's, and found her way to the Sonoran desert of Tuscon, where spirits live in the saguaros.   Wendy left Tuscon for Los Angeles and while she found plenty of ways to make art and music, making money proved a bit more challengin. In this episode, Wendy talks about the the LA 'hustle' and gives us a peek into the competitive, audition-like process of applying for bar tending jobs.   Wendy eventually left Los Angeles and headed north to Oakland, where she founded the band Andalusia Rose. Currently, Wendy and her boyfriend, Tony Buhagiar, are the musicians behind Stone Levitation - listen to one of their tracks at the end of the episode.  Wendy has been playing classical piano since the age of four and has also played violin. Have tried guitar as a teenager, Wendy picked up it's cousin, the bass, after hearing one too many complaints from a roommate about his inability to find a bass player for his band.   An art school friend of Wendy's kept posting photos of Joshua Tree and Wendy reached out and learned about the art community here. After a few visits to her friend, she left Oakland and settled in her place in Morongo Valley, which, while lusher than the Sonoran desert, has it's share of critters that keep Wendy on her toes.   Currently (September 2018) Wendy has four assemblage pieces in the 'Desert Icons' exhibition at the Yucca Valley Visual & Performing Arts Center and will be one of ten artists participating in a panel discussing the desert's influence on her work. The panel is September 30 at 4 p.m. tickets and more information here.   www.wendyleegadzuk.com   Photo of Wendy credit Guillermo Prieto

Our guest on this episode of The PRAGMAGICK Cast, GABRIEL HART believes "Saudade" is the essence of the creative process, and I couldn't agree more.  Hart, the main reveler in the neo-noir rock'n'roll gang, JAIL WEDDINGS chats with me, REVEL ROSZ, about his journey into the high desert from his Echo Park days and the writing that has been pouring out of him ever since.

We revisit the baffling mass sighting over Arizona and Gram Parsons' sad death in Joshua Tree. Guest: Nicole Holland from the beloved Cactus Mart in Morongo Valley. Support the show.

Morongo Valley Life Podcast Episode 3 - How to donate to a local Morongo Valley area charity through Amazon.

How to find unclaimed money if you live in California... Visit us online at MorongoValleyLife.com   And now… on with the show!

  Welcome to the Morongo Valley Life Podcast   Brought to you from a dark spooky cave deep within the Yucca Ridge Trail.   Sometimes hosted by a jack-a-lope, produced by a gnome and written by a unicorn. … bringing you priceless tidbits, random factoids and useless knowledge all under one show.   Visit us online at MorongoValleyLife.com   And now… on with the show!