The sunrise over the Coachella Valley this morning, July 3, 2021.
Sunrise over Coachella
Blog
Spotted in the wild: Rare Hertz/Team Hendrick Camaro
Spotted in the wild on the streets of Palm Springs: This rare Hertz/ Team Hendrick custom Camaro is one of just 224 created.
Based on the Camaro SS, the Hendrick/Hertz Camaro’s 6.2-liter V-8 engine is modified to produce 480 horsepower, thanks to #Chevrolet’s cold-air intake and cat-back exhaust system. This hot rod rental was photographed last year driving past the historic Tramway Enco gas station on the fun road out of town.
Kelso Depot. Mojave Desert, California.
Kelso Depot. Mojave National Preserve, Southern California.
Kelso Post Office. 90920. Mojave Desert, California.
In addition to being the town’s post office, the building also housed the L. J. Packard general store.
Located in the Mojave National Reserve, California desert, the Kelso Post Office was assigned zip code 90920. The post office opened on May 20, 1905 and closed 1962.
“…the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.”
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy, Lieutenant, Junior Grade (LTJG), commanding officer, patrol torpedo boat PT-109.
First Steps: Desert Bighorn Lamb
Meanwhile, in the neighborhood a tiny Bighorn lamb learns the joy of climbing rocks under the watchful eye of his mother ewe.
On Any Sunday
“Every time I start thinkin’ the world is all bad, then I start seeing some people out having a good time on motorcycles and it makes me take another look.” — Steve McQueen from the Bruce Brown movie, On Any Sunday.
Photographs from our visit to Southern California’s Cahuilla Motocross Park this weekend.
Hidden Valley, Joshua Tree National Park.
These massive boulders are part of what is believed to be a legendary cattle rustlers’ hideout. Today, the area supports healthy populations of Joshua Tree, pinyon, juniper and oak, along with mesquite, yucca, nolina, various cacti and dozens of other species.
My name is Joshua Tree.
Made fertile by a yucca moth, my mother cast her seed which became me onto the desert floor in your year of 1871. Over the following ten summers, I reached just 30 inches from the ground, while providing shelter from the wind and sun to countless tiny insects and reptiles.
It took another 30 winters to double my height. Thereafter, as I slowly grew, branches began to emerge and ever-larger animals and birds began to find shelter and food among my canopy. The ancient ones would carefully harvest my flowers and seeds for food, and shape my leaves to make baskets to carry their burden and make sandals for their feet.
As the countless seasons passed overhead, I saw humans from other worlds trample my home, cutting down my sisters to fence off the land and fuel their fires. But, as if by divine intervention, I missed their fate and survived.
My summers of late have grown longer and hotter. The soil beneath me slowly dries and loses the moisture that nurtures new life.
Now, one hundred fifty winters have gone by and I stand and watch the flames of fire edge closer, as an endless line of machines of a human world pass by. I stand evermore alone, scarred and twisted by the ages. I will survive.
The Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take it” House.
For all you Twisted Sister fans… I was living in this historic West Adams house near USC’s Los Angeles campus in 1984 when an unknown rock band called “Twisted Sister” rented it for two days to film their first video for MTV, “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
I found old snaps of the house from 1984 in an old box in the workshop recently, and thought you might enjoy a few of my favorite memories of their visit.
I think it’s safe to say that pretty much no one outside the club scene in New York had heard of Twisted Sister when the massive studio filming truck pulled up to film the video at our house. So, I was expecting the band members to be women. You can imagine my surprise when I met Dee Snider and his bandmates dressed in their outrageous stage attire. I knew right then this was going to be a very outrageous video.
In the video, the opening scene begins with the kid playing the guitar in what is the front “guest” bedroom upstairs, seen in the photo above as the upstairs left window. Dad gets tossed off the balcony off the master bedroom seen on the right.
Later on, the band are squeezed together, hanging out of my upstairs bathroom window singing. I’m really not sure how the four band members squeezed into those windows, as there was a cast iron claw-foot bathtub directly under the window. The faucet-end of the tub was under the window, making the squeeze impossibly tight for the band-mates. I wonder if they remember jamming themselves into the tub and out of the window!
A few of the neighbors’ homes also made it into the video, including the scene where “dad” is swinging out of a tree (the tree is gone now).
As outrageous as Dee Snider and the band looked, they were the nicest people and, most noticeably, absolutely dedicated to their family and kids who had joined them at the house during the filming.
Oh yeah, the house was built in 1909 in a true craftsman style of architecture, and those are my college pals, including my friend and roommate, the late Bob Bortfeld, hamming it up on the porch steps.
Several other videos and movies were made at the house over the years I lived there, including playing Barry Manilow’s mom’s house in his Copacabana TV movie, and other flicks with Christopher Lee and James Earl Jones. But, Twisted Sister was the first and most memorable by far.
My story of Twisted Sister’s most memorable visit in 1984 goes deeper, but I’ll leave it for later.
Here’s a link to the original and official Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It” video: https://youtu.be/4xmckWVPRaI
danstiel.com 
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