Whew! Really can't wait! In 48 hours I will be en route to the airport with my girl and my bestie/biz partner, catchin' a flight to Palm Springs for another year of Pride in the desert. As Qulture Qreative, David Richey and I have been involved in planning and producing Gay Pride events the last two years at The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs and this year at a completely new venue that we are super excited about! This annual happening has become one of our favorites and this year promises to be the most spectacular yet! To commemorate the occasion, I thought I'd interview Mr. Richey in advance of the events....READ ON!
LAK: Well buddy, this marks our 3rd year queerin' it up for Palm Springs Pride. What are you most looking forward to this year?
DR : I know, It's kind of crazy but totally awesome! Not sure really? There is so much great stuff happening this year. I love starting new events and building new relationships so probably our new partners this year! It was great working with the Ace the past two years but this year with Compound I feel like we are working with a group of more supportive people. They trust our vision and we have total creative control and "Succeed or Fail" that's the best feeling ever! And in addition to that we have been working with the City of Palm Springs and that's a first this year! I love birthing new babies so to speak, hahahah!
LAK: I'm pretty excited about the new venue(s) we are working with. You opened one of the 3 on the property, Birba. Give my readers a little snapshot of what your role was there and what kind of events you planned/booked.
DR : Me too! There are now 3 properties Alcazar (Hotel), Birba (Bar/Dinner), and Cheeky's (Breakfast/Lunch) owned by married couple Tara Lazar and Marco Rossetti. They are kind of everything awesome about the Renaissance that is happening in Palm Springs right now. They asked to meet with me in august of last year and told me about there plans and asked if I would be interested in being involved. They have a great product, ideas and vision for the the future of Palm Springs, I could not resist it was a really great opportunity!
I was responsible for so many aspects of getting Birba up and running, from an empty lot to a fully functioning bar/restaurant. Conception, branding, design and overall aesthetics, PR, Staffing, Menu's, Marketing, programming and on and on! This was a lot of work but a great opportunity. I just got back from a pre-production meeting for Gay Pride and I have to say I am really proud of the work I did there. In less than a year Birba has become the hot spot in Palm Springs, featured in eater L.A., Vogue.com and voted best new bar in Palm Springs from CVAS.com.
LAK: In our partnership we tend to go back and forth project managing different clients and playing support roles for each other. This one has
been your baby. Might I say that the creative and imaging of everything is
fantastic and I am super proud of the z fold that you concepted. Where did
the inspiration come from?
DR : It's true, shit it's the the reason we work so well together! I never thought of it that way I mean essentially every project that I work on, you work on and visa versa but yeah it really has kind of been my baby! I just feel that this space, "The Compound" has such great potential to do so many awesome events. Compound will be the first "Big" event that they have done. Birba has held parties, DJ's and other special events, but this is the first that will involve all three venues. The Hotel was the last to be finished and now the triangle is complete The owners are excited to be able to provide a space that offers so many things to the guest. Amazing food, nightlife, hotel. It is the best spot in town to get everything awesome that Palm springs has to offer right now, seriously! The Z fold flier idea came organically, it's all about 3's-3 venues, 3 nights, 3rd year...Kyle Macy is the real genius here I mean I can give him a bunch of visual concepts and he always gets my ideas and executes all of it to a higher level!
LAK: ..and he does such a great job on Hard Times Press! This year we are working with lots of other groups in the community, either mutually supporting each others events or sharing talent. Is this as a result of your residency in the desert?
DR: I know it's really so exciting! I mean I feel like we get the best of both worlds. It's like the relationship that we've been able to forge with Egan at Pride Seattle. We get creative control over what and who we love and in addition we get this great opportunity to work with the city to book what I call "Gap Bridging" Talent. This year Palm springs is doing the 1st annual "Arenas Block Party" which is sort of intended to be a bit younger more edgy stage and takes place in the middle of all the gay bars. Reggie Cameron who is the talent coordinator for gay pride this year reached out to me about three months ago. Based on my reputation for the events that I produced for the Ace Hotel. We just started throwing ideas back and forth about how our event and this event could work in tandem to support each other. Ultimetly we were able to book Cazwell and Ultra Nate for the City and be the official after party for several city events. So to answer your question, yes I guess my reputation does precede me, hahaha! I was able to build a few very important relationships in the desert, it's nice when people love what you do and have some kind of respect for that.
DR: Can I just say that when we first met, I was rocking Ultra Nate's "Free" and it was the newest, hottest track out there. It's nearly 20 years later and we're involved in bringing her to P.S. for the festival. Does that blow
your mind? It kind of blows my mind.
DR: LOL, shit gurrrl we is old! I am kind of excited actually, its funny I think part of what makes what we do together so great is that we have a healthy respect for all artists-past, present and future! The fun of what we do is not having any pretense about who we book and why. It kind of needs to make some sort of intuitive sense but at the end of the day I don't really give a fuck! If you love it and think it's cool, awesome. If you hate and think its stupid and cheesy awesome! Cuz I'm free... hahahahaha!
LAK: What's going to make this year different than the last two years of events we've been involved with for P.S. Pride?
DR: So many things! On a personal/professional level working with supportive people that are excited about what we do that's huge! Artistically and culturally speaking what we were able to accomplish at the Ace is pretty astonishing not to mention all of the artists that have supported us. I really feel like Palm Springs is headed into a Renaissance and it will be really interesting to see what happens out there in the next 5-10 years. The desert really can be a magical place, add a little night life and a dash of culture = perfection.
LAK: Did you know that the "Packages Of Palm Springs" piece that I did after our parties last year remains one of the top 3 most viewed blog posts I've
ever done? My question is this: Do you think this year will top last?
Enquiring minds want to know!
DR: Hells to the YES! Your fascination with packages cracks me up its like a straight frat dude with boobies! Keep that camera away from my crotch gurl!
LAK: Damn! Now I feel like you've issued me a challenge! You better sleep with one eye open!
For more information about COMPOUND, click here.
Stay tuned for posts and pictures from all of our Palm Springs happenings!
Here's hopin' we'll see you there....
XXX
L.A.K.
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