“Wow, this is such a beautiful and sophisticated event,” Miley Cyrus said from the stage Saturday night at the Palm Springs International Film Awards, where she received the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award for her song “Dream As One” (Avatar: Fire and Ash). “It is truly the most elegant Palm Springs party that I have ever been to,” she continued, with a knowing smile. “There are fewer drag queens than I like, but I’ll be stopping by Toucans on my way back to L.A. to get my fix, OK?”
Plaza Theatre Restoration The Plaza Theatre opened in 1936 with the star-studded world-premiere of the Greta Garbo film Camille. After a yearslong restoration, the historic venue reopened in December 2025 with a lineup of variety shows, comedy, and major touring...
You host shows at hot spots around Palm Springs, including Chill Bar and Reforma. What do you think visitors should know about desert drag? The scene is very eclectic. It doesn’t fit into a box. There’s something for everybody. What should folks expect at your shows?...
Desert Dream to Silver Screen: The Story of the Historic Palm Springs Plaza Theatre made its debut Sunday, Dec. 21, with a meet-and-greet book signing at Destination PSP in Palm Springs. Produced in collaboration with Palm Springs Life, the book traces the Plaza...
Elaine Mathews still has her first plein air painting, a junior high art project. “Our teacher let us set up in front of the school,” says the artist, who grew up in Compton. The scene she proudly painted? Houses across the street. Now, living in Rancho Mirage, she...
What do you do at NBC Palm Springs and when can people tune in? I anchor the morning news on NBC Palm Springs from 6 to 7 a.m., then head out to report on stories throughout the day. I started my career in news over 30 years ago, eventually transitioning to sports...
Each morning, Palm Springs Life curates good reads and insider recommendations of the best things to do across Greater Palm Springs. Get The Daily Guide for fresh ideas, local flavor, and a daily dose of inspiration that’s actually worth reading.
This is the fourth excerpt in a five-part series tracing the history of The Plaza Theatre in downtown Palm Springs. The storied venue opened Dec. 12, 1931, with the world premiere of Camille, starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor. This month, we turn to the 1990...
Pioneering Public Arts Palm Desert was the first city in Riverside County to establish a formal Art in Public Places program. In 1986, the City Council signed an ordinance requiring that developers incorporate public art in their projects or pay a fee into the city’s...
Each year, Palm Springs Life invites readers to vote for their favorite businesses, experiences, and attractions across Greater Palm Springs in our city-by-city Best of the Best competition. Below, you’ll find this year’s winners for Best Music. Explore the full list...
What do you love most about desert life? The desert gives me space — both physical and mental — to create. Its vast horizons, dramatic light, and quietude fuel my painting practice and allow my work the space to breathe. Cathedral City offers me a view that feeds my...
The steady rhythm of gourd rattles and the layered voices of men and boys will fill the gymnasium as women and girls move in unison during Singing the Birds, the bird song and dance festival hosted by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians on Jan. 24, from 10 a.m....
Calle Málaga Directed by Maryam Touzani, Morocco In this audience award winner at many festivals, Carmen Maura stars as an aging woman in Tangier fighting to keep her home — and her sense of self. 6:30 p.m. Jan. 2 Glenrothan Directed by Brian Cox, Scotland Making his...
SPONSORED The Plaza Theatre Since 1936, The Plaza Theatre has stood at the intersection of glamour and grit in Palm Springs. Its debut, the world premiere of Camille, drew whispers of Greta Garbo slipping in after dark. Over the decades, The Plaza became a fixture of...
“I’m Julia, this is my friend Sean, and I am so excited for what’s about to happen to everyone in this room.” On a September 2025 evening in the Hollywood Hills, “Julia” was Julia Roberts, “Sean” was Sean Penn, and the imminent happening was a screening of Brazilian...
Kate Hudson on Music, “Song Sung Blue,” and Life in Palm Desert
Later this evening, Kate Hudson and her Song Sung Blue co-star Hugh Jackman will regale a packed house at Old Mates Pub in New York City. Jackman will stand atop the bar, his dinner jacket shed, and he’ll belt out the chorus to Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” to a...
A New Documentary Reexamines the True Story Behind the Ramona Pageant
In the high desert basin now known as Anza Valley, a killing in the early 1880s sent shockwaves far beyond the Cahuilla community it devastated. The crime inspired a novel, a play, and generations of mythmaking that often eclipsed the real woman at its core. Now, that...
In an age when words travel faster than understanding, language demands more care than ever. Words document what happened, imagine what could be, and set the terms for how we interpret the world we inhabit. They can clarify history or distort it, deepen understanding...
Tod Goldberg is grinning, eager to tell me about the ashes of a rock star’s mother. He won’t let me print the rocker’s name — “I’ll get in trouble,” he warns — but that detail isn’t important anyway. What matters is that these ashes have been sitting for decades in a...
Alexis Wilkins — country music singer, songwriter, political commentator, and podcaster — will perform Jan. 31 at the third annual Starry Starry Night Gala, a glittering evening of entertainment at Chaparral Country Club in Palm Desert, to support breast cancer...
DIY has always been in the desert’s blood. Decades ago, a group of creatives dragged generators into the barren expanse, cranked their amps, and created music together. Those improvised desert parties produced a wave of rock bands — most notably Kyuss — that carried...
