By Judith Salkin When you see a middle-aged man put-

ting kids to shame at a Coachella Valleyskate park, you’re probably watching Pas-tor Eddie Elguera In the world of skateboarding, Elguera is

as much a legend as Tony Hawk, Steve Ca-ballero and Christian Hosoi, and he’s thecreator of many of the moves that are con-sidered basics to be mastered by every kidon a board these days. To the congregants of The Rock in Palm

Desert, Elguera is the pastor who was sentto the desert to open the second branch ofthe San Bernardino-based church he hasbeen associated with since the late 1980s. The desert is a place Elguera was famil-

iar with, and seemed to be where he wasmeant to be. “My dad lived out here when I was kid,”

says Elguera. In 2005 when the lead pastorat The Rock in San Bernardino asked himto consider where he would want to bringhis ministry, “This just seemed to be whereGod wanted me to be.” While the church is his calling, skate-

boarding is his God-given talent, one thatthe 53-year-old Elguera has been workingon since the age of 8.

Early start“When I was a little kid we lived at the

beach, and my brothers all surfed,” he says.When they weren’t riding waves, his sib-lings were trying out early skateboards.“(The boards) were pretty primitive backthen, but I’d play with them. I’d putt around— on my knees mostly ‘cause it was hardfor me to stand up on them.” By the time he was 8, Elguera was using

the boards as a mode of transportation. Asstreet boards got more sophisticated,things began to change for skateboarders.Things changed for Elguera, too. The family moved from the beach to

Lake Arrowhead, and skateboarding be-came a way of life for him. He read Skate-boarder magazine, figured out early trickslike a 360 and cruised around the mountainvillage on his board. “I sort of stuck out,” he says. “Everybody

knew me as the kid with the skateboard.” As a teen, Elguera’s dream was to have

his picture in Skateboarder magazine,which he accomplished at 15, and to be

sponsored, “So I could get free stuff,” headds with a laugh. He became an early “vertical” boarder,

working the sides of bowls (mostly dryswimming pools at the time) to get thespeed to grind on the pool edges, or get farenough off the ground to do aerials. At a competition in Colton when he was

18, Elguera accomplished his second goal.He was seen by the Hobie Super Skatersand offered a sponsorship. “That was reallyexciting,” he says. “To be sponsored byHobie and get that (equipment) was adream come true for me.” He was named U.S. Amateur Skateboard

Association Champion in 1979, and then

turned pro. A Skateboarder poll named himSkateboarder of the Year and he receivedthe “Most Spectacular New Maneuver”award for creating the Elguerial. He won the 1980 Gold Cup Series and

became the World Champion for the sec-ond year in a row and appeared in Devo’s“Freedom of Choice” music video. And thinking it was better to go out on

top, Elguera retired at 20.

RedemptionThat’s when his life went a bit downhill.

“I started drinking and using drugs for a

More than 40,000 readers throughout the Coachella Valley

COMPLIMENTARY

VOL.5, NO.7

I N F O C U S F O R P E O P L E O V E R 5 0JULY 2016

Elguera blends ministry, sport

See SKATEBOARDER, page 17

I N S I D E …

The Coachella Valley

Eddie Elguera pulls off a Frontside Rock ‘N’ Roll move on his skateboard at the PalmSprings Skate Park. Elguera is also the pastor at The Rock in Palm Desert.

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We simply don’t handle death well. Ourculture denies death. It’s too scary to talkabout. It’s not easy to think about. It’s noteasy to write about. However, the California End of Life Op-

tion Act that went into effect on June 9 aimsto help people know of, understand andchoose options. It outlines medical aid indying, also known as death with dignity.While the procedure has many steps andqualifications, simply put, medical aid indying is asking a physician for a prescriptionto self-ingest to end unbearable suffering. California follows three other states with

medical aid in dying laws — Oregon, NewMexico and Vermont. Fifteen more statesare considering similar legislation, accord-ing to Paul Zak, LCSW and former psy-chotherapist, who explained the Californialaw during a well-attended seminar at theCathedral City Senior Center in mid-June.

He is associated with Compassion andChoices, a non-profit that has advocatedand lobbied to protect and expand end-of-life options for more than 30 years. Zak istrained to give presentations on the newCalifornia law. Usually people want to end their life at

home, with pain management, with theirspiritual needs met and without being adevastating burden to loved ones, Zak said.

Choices in dyingBarring an accident or sudden unex-

pected death, essentially there are six op-tions for the end of your life, Zak said: • You want the medical world to do

everything possible to keep you alive. • You avoid unwanted medical treat-

ment.• You ask for palliative care and palliative

sedation to be more comfortable.

• With a prognosis of six months or lessto live, you enter hospice care. • You voluntarily stop eating and drinking. • You ask for medical aid in

dying. Under the law, those who

seek medical aid in dyingmust meet certain criteria.You must be: • A terminal adult with a

prognosis of six months orless to live and be mentally ca-pable of making your ownhealth decisions.• A resident of California

and acting voluntarily.• Able to make an in-

formed decision, which includes beinggiven information about all other end-of-lifeoptions• Told that you may choose to obtain the

aid-in-dying drug, but not take it. • Capable of self-administering and in-

gesting the aid-in-dying drug. (This elimi-nates patients with Parkinson’s andAlzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.)• Two California physicians have to agree

that you are eligible to use the Act. One willprescribe the medication and the other givesa consulting opinion. If neither can determineyour mental capacity a psychiatrist or psychol-ogist must determine that you are capable ofmaking your own healthcare decisions. Qualifying for a prescription for aid-in-

dying medication involves a process thatmust be followed in order. Qualifying takesa minimum of 16 days, but can take longer. • Individuals must make a total of three

voluntary requests directly to the doctor —two oral requests at least 15 days apart andone written request on a statutory form

signed by two witnesses. Onlyone of the two witnesses maybe related by blood, marriageor adoption or be entitled to aportion of your estate.• Individuals must prove

residency in the state of Cali-fornia, give fully informedconsent and have the physicaland mental ability to self-ad-minister the aid-in-dying med-ication by ingesting it.• Individuals must com-

plete a statutory Final Attesta-tion form with 48 hours prior to ingestingthe aid-in-dying medication.

Scattered coverageDoctors and medical providers have the

option to participate. The three CoachellaValley hospitals will not participate andhave ordered their physicians and staff tonot order or administer aid-in-dying med-ication, although they can assist a patient infinding a participating physician or facility. Blue Shield California, which covers

more than 4 million residents, has commit-ted to covering the End of Life Option Actprocess, including payment for medication.Large systems like Kaiser, Sutter, UCSFand UCLA are allowing their physicians toparticipate in medical aid in dying.Zak outlined a planned scenario: FamilyBeaconThe Coachella Valley

I N F O C U S F O R P E O P L E O V E R 5 0

Submissions: The Coachella Valley Beacon welcomes reader contributions. Deadline for editorial is the20th of the month preceding the month of publication. Deadline for ads is the 15th of the month precedingthe month of publication. Please mail or email all submissions.

© Copyright 2016 On-Target Media, Inc.

The Coachella Valley Beacon is a monthly newspaper dedi cated to informing, serving and en ter taining the citi zens of the Coachella Valley area,and is independently owned and operated by On-Target Media, Inc. under authority of the Beacon Newspapers, Inc. Other Beacon editions serve Howard County, Md. and Baltimore, Md., as well as Greater Washington, D.C.

Subscriptions are available via third-class mail ($16),pre paid with order. Send sub scrip tion order to the officelisted below.

Publication of advertising contained herein does not necessarily con sti tute en dorse ment.

Signed col umns represent the opinions of the writers, and notnecessarily the opinion of the publisher.

• Publisher ........................................................................Michael Brachman• Local Valley Contributing Writers........ Jamie Lee Pricer, Judith Salkin

Coachella Valley Beacon31855 Date Palm Dr. Ste. 3-181Cathedral City, Ca 92234

Phone: 760-668-2226 • Email: mb@otmedia.netOther content and design provided by

The Beacon Newspapers, Inc., Kensington, Md.

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See FROM THE PUBLISHER, page 8

FROM THEPUBLISHERBy Michael Brachman

End of Life Act assures death with dignity

Letters to the editorReaders are encouraged to share their opinion on any matter addressedin the Coachella Valley Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to Coachella Valley Beacon31855 Date Palm Dr. Ste. 3-181, Cathedral City, Ca 92234or e-mail to mb@otmedia.net. Please include your name,

address and telephone number for verification.

WII BOWLING TEAM EYES COMPETITIONYou can warm up your bowling skills from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Fri-days at Mizell Senior Center in preparation for the Coachella Val-

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HealthFitness &PREDICTING KNEE PAINMRIs do a better job of predicting if patients will soon develop knee osteoarthritis than X-rays

COOL CUCUMBER TIPSUse cucumbers to soothe itchy eyes,heal burns, tone skin, treat acne and reduce pain

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We all experience a little stress from timeto time. It’s not so hard to handle whenwe’re young. But as we age, coping withstress isn’t as easy anymore. “We tend to have less resilience to stress

[as we age], and older adults often find thatstress affects them differently now,” saidDr. Michelle Dossett, an internal and inte-grative medicine specialist at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine.What’s different about coping with stress

when we’re older? “Our cells are aging.Heart fitness and lung capacity decline, es-pecially if you’re sedentary,” said Dossett.That keeps us from adequately accommo-dating the body’s natural stress response. If you have a chronic disease, which is al-

ready a burden on the body, it’s evenharder to bounce back physically from thetoll the stress response takes.You may also feel a difference mentally.

“Normally when we’re stressed, our brainsget flooded with stress hormones, the mid-brain takes over, and the front of the brain— which controls concentration, attentionand decision-making — works less well,”Dossett said. “Stress hormones in the braincan also contribute to short-term memoryproblems that are unrelated to dementia orage-related memory loss.

Good sleep is important“Restorative sleep helps to flush stress

hormones from the brain. However, manyolder adults have sleep problems. Stressmay make it more difficult to fall backasleep, and the inability to clear these stresshormones from the brain during sleepmeans that the cognitive effects of stresscan worsen over time,” Dossett added.When you were younger, your stressors

may have been a busy day at the office or acrying child.

“Stressors that tend to affect seniors arethe loss of a loved one; too much unstruc-tured time on your hands; a change in rela-tionships with children; or a loss of physicalabilities, such as vision, hearing, balance ormobility,” said Dossett.Symptoms of stress may include tension

headaches, indigestion, heart palpitations,poor concentration, sleep difficulties, anxi-ety, irritability, crying or overeating. If anyof these symptoms are interfering withyour quality of life, Dossett suggests thatyou seek help.

Stress management If you’re feeling stressed, Dossett recom-

mends talking about your concerns withloved ones, and getting a physical check-up.

“Stress may be having a physical impact onyou that you’re unaware of,” said Dossett. Treatment may include addressing an

underlying condition, such as high bloodpressure. Eating a healthy diet and gettingplenty of exercise are also important, as isnurturing yourself by pursuing activitiesthat bring you joy, and making time to so-cialize.A big part of stress management focuses

on triggering the opposite of the stress re-sponse: that is, the relaxation response,which helps lower blood pressure, heartrate, breathing rate, oxygen consumption,and stress hormones. Techniques to elicitthe response include yoga, tai chi, medita-tion, guided imagery, and deep breathingexercises. “One breathing exercise is to inhale

slowly, mentally counting 1-2-3-4, and thenexhale slowly, silently counting 4-3-2-1,”said Dossett. Another treatment for stress is cognitive

behavioral therapy, which helps you iden-tify negative thinking and replace it withhealthy or positive thoughts. “These are great skills, but they often

don’t work right away. So you may needmedications, such as antidepressants, as abridge,” said Dossett.

Limit stress if possibleWhen the brain senses danger or a need

to fight, it sounds the alarm for action: ittells the muscles to tighten and signals theadrenal glands to release stress hormones— such as adrenaline and cortisol. Thosehormones make you breathe faster, gettingmore oxygen to your muscles, and theytrigger the release of sugar and fat into theblood, giving your cells more energy. Toaccommodate these needs, your heartbeats faster and your blood pressure goesup. These physical changes are all part of

the stress response, which is helpful if youneed to jump out of the way of danger.Once the brain senses safety, body functionreturns to normal.This routine isn’t harmful if it occurs once

in a while. But if you put your body throughthose paces frequently, or even constantly,you may suffer a cascade of dangerous andsometimes lasting effects such as highblood pressure, a weakened immune sys-tem, anxiety, depression, insomnia, heart-burn, indigestion, and an increased risk forheart disease.© 2016. President and Fellows of Harvard

College. All Rights Reserved. Distributed byTribune Content Agency, LLC.

How to manage stress as you get older

By Densie Webb, R.D.Nitrates in processed meats such as

bacon, ham, deli meats, sausages and beefjerky have been scrutinized and vilifiedsince the 1970s. Nitrates (in the form of sodium nitrate)

are added to most processed meats to“cure” or preserve them, giving them theircharacteristic color and taste, while pre-venting contamination, particularly with thesometimes deadly Botulinum and Listeriabacteria. Yet the Environmental Working Group

includes nitrates on its “Dirty Dozen” list ofdangerous food additives. And the WorldHealth Organization reports that consump-tion of processed meats, a source of ni-trates, is strongly linked to cancer. Thus, the concern over nitrates has led

to more meats labeled “no nitrates added.”

Should you go nitrate-free?

Nitrate factsBefore reaching for that “no nitrate”

product, here are a few things you shouldknow first:• You can’t completely avoid nitrates,

since 80 percent of the nitrates in our dietcome from vegetables — such as celery,greens, beets, parsley, leeks, cabbage, fen-nel and drinking water. Only about 6 per-cent come from cured meats.• Vegetarian diets, which have been

shown to be healthy, contain about fourtimes more nitrates than a conventionaldiet.• Nitrates themselves are not the prob-

lem; there is cause for concern only whenthey are converted by the body to ni-trosamines. Nitrosamines have been iden-

tified as cancer-causing compounds.• Meats, such as organic lunch meats, la-

beled “no nitrates added” are not actuallynitrate-free. Instead of adding sodium ni-trate, celery powder (naturally rich in ni-trates) is typically used. However, evennaturally occurring nitrates can be con-verted in the body to nitrosamines.• Antioxidants, such as vitamin C, found

in fruits and vegetables, help reduce theconversion of nitrates to nitrosamines.Some processed meats have vitamin Cadded (labeled “ascorbic acid”).• While some previous studies have

linked nitrates to certain forms of cancer,several recent studies, including one pub-lished in January 2016 in the AmericanJournal of Clinical Nutrition, have foundthat dietary nitrates may be beneficial byhelping to lower blood pressure and pre-

vent damage to arteries.

The bottom lineWithout nitrates, bacon and ham would

be an unappetizing gray color and lack thatunique “cured” flavor. Choosing processedmeat labeled “no added nitrates” doesn’tmean you’re avoiding nitrates; it simplymeans nitrate-rich celery powder has beensubstituted for sodium nitrate. Keep in mind that most processed meats

are high in saturated fat and sodium, whicheveryone should limit, whether or not youchoose no-nitrates-added meat.Reprinted with permission from Environ-

mental Nutrition, a monthly publication ofBelvoir Media Group, LLC. 800-829-5384.www.EnvironmentalNutrition.com.© 2016 Belvoir Media Group. Distributed

by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Putting added nitrates into perspective

By Lauran NeergaardScientists are peeking inside living

brains to watch for the first time as a toxicduo of plaques and tangles interact to driveAlzheimer’s disease — and those tanglesmay predict early symptoms, a finding withimplications for better treatments. It’s not clear exactly what causes

Alzheimer’s. Its best-known hallmark is thesticky amyloid that builds into plaques coatingpatients’ brains, but people can harbor a lot ofthat gunk before losing memories. Now new PET scans show that those

plaques’ co-conspirator — the tangle-caus-ing protein tau — is a better marker of pa-tients’ cognitive decline and the beginningof symptoms than amyloid alone. That’s es-pecially true when tau spreads to a particu-lar brain region important for memory,researchers reported in the journal ScienceTranslational Medicine. “It’s a location, location, location kind of

business,” said Dr. Beau Ances of Washing-ton University in St. Louis, who led thework. The plaque “starts setting up the sit-uation, and tau is almost the executioner.”

May aid drug development The new study is very small, and more re-

search is required to confirm the findings. Butit highlights the importance of developingdrugs that could target both amyloid and tau

buildup, something researchers hope one daycould help healthy but at-risk people stave offthe earliest symptoms of Alzheimer’s. “This is exactly the type of information

we’re going to need” for better treatments,said Alzheimer’s Association chief scienceofficer Maria Carrillo, who wasn’t involvedin the new study. “It’s cool to see the utilityof this new imaging technology actuallybeing deployed and used.” About 5 million people in the U.S. are liv-

ing with Alzheimer’s, a number expected tomore than double by 2050 as the populationages. Today’s medications only temporarilyease symptoms, and finding new ones iscomplicated by the fact that Alzheimer’squietly ravages the brain a decade or twobefore symptoms appear. Doctors have long known that many older

adults harbor amyloid plaques that increasetheir risk of developing Alzheimer’s but don’tguarantee they’ll get it. The latest theory:Amyloid sparks a smoldering risk while taupushes patients over the edge.

PET scans reveal tauOnly recently have scientists developed

a way to perform PET scans to see tau de-posits like they can see amyloid buildup, sothat they can test that theory. Currently, theexpensive scans are used only for research— doctors don’t know enough yet to use

them for routine patient care. Ances’ team analyzed both amyloid and

tau PET scans from 10 patients with mildAlzheimer’s and 36 apparently healthyolder adults. They compared patterns ofamyloid and tau deposits with a battery ofstandard memory tests. Sure enough, the Alzheimer’s patients

had a lot of amyloid in their brains, as didsome healthy people who scored fine onthe memory testing. Some cognitively nor-mal people also had bits of tau deposits.But tau tangles that clustered in the tem-

poral lobe, a region linked to memory, mostclosely matched cognitive impairment onthose memory tests, the researchers re-

ported. The findings suggest that while amyloid

is an early sign of Alzheimer’s risk, and peo-ple can tolerate some tau tangles, the toxictau spreading to the wrong spot is the “inter-action to tip the person over,” Ances said. He plans to study larger groups of people

to better understand that decline into full-blown Alzheimer’s. A number of drugs that target amyloid

build-up have failed in recent years. Many re-searchers think the treatment wasn’t startedearly enough, before patients showed symp-toms. A handful of anti-tau drugs also are being

developed. — AP

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Knee MRIs can predict

arthritis aheadPeople who are at higher risk to develop

knee osteoarthritis (OA) from being over-weight or having injured their knee in thepast may have normal X-rays, but worsen-ing lesions or damage appearing on theirMRIs predicts a significantly higher risk ofsoon developing knee osteoarthritis orpainful symptoms, reports a new North-western Medicine study.Depending on the type of lesion, their

risk of developing knee OA within three

years as diagnosed by X-ray is three to 20times greater.“These worsening lesions are an early

warning sign and an opportunity to inter-vene before a person develops the debilitat-ing disease,” said lead investigator Dr.Leena Sharma. “If we employ aggressiveprevention strategies in persons with theselesions before they develop knee os-teoarthritis, we may be able to delay dis-ease development or alter its course.”Sharma is a professor of medicine at

Northwestern University Feinberg Schoolof Medicine and a Northwestern Medicinerheumatologist.Prevention strategies include paying at-

tention to weight and carefully reviewingphysical activity to avoid potentially damag-ing activity and injury, said Sharma.This is the first study to examine and de-

termine the impact of knee lesions in per-

sons at higher risk for knee OA with nor-mal X-rays. Previously, it wasn’t knownwhether the lesions predicted the new de-velopment of OA or future symptoms suchas frequent knee pain. Many scientists had thought these le-

sions were insignificant and simply the re-sult of aging, though in the last few years,the lesions have sparked more suspicion.The study was published in the Annals of

the Rheumatic Diseases.Among Americans 55 years and older, 40

percent have frequent knee pain or knee os-teoarthritis. In older adults, knee OA is re-sponsible for as much chronic disability ascardiovascular disease. Current treatmentsmay help symptoms, but do not delay pro-gression of the disease.

— WhatDoctorsKnow

Bypass boosts survival in heart failure patients

Heart failure patients with clogged arter-ies have a better chance of surviving 10years if they get bypass surgery plus med-icine rather than just drugs alone, accord-ing to an international study. Earlier results from the same research

raised questions about the benefits of by-pass versus medicine alone, but re-searchers say the long-term evidenceclearly favors the surgery. The lead author of the study, Duke Uni-

versity cardiologist Dr. Eric Velazquez, saidthe results “are so definitive and so robust”that they would likely lead to stronger rec-ommendations favoring bypass surgery forthese patients. Nearly 6 million Americans and 23 mil-

lion people worldwide have heart failure,and many of them also have artery diseasesimilar to those studied. In recent years, by-pass surgery has increasingly been recom-mended for such patients, along withmedicines to ease heart failure symptoms. Concerns were raised when results after

nearly five years of research showed aboutequal number of deaths in bypass patients andin those who got only medicine, despite fewerheart-related deaths in the bypass group.Those findings were published in 2011.

The 10-year results were published on-line in the New England Journal of Medicineand presented at an American College ofCardiology meeting in Chicago. The study involved 1,200 heart failure pa-

tients in 22 countries, including the UnitedStates. Most were men around age 60 whenthe study began. All were taking heart med-icines, and about half were assigned to alsoget bypass surgery. More than half the patients in each

group lived beyond the study’s first phase.The 10-year results are a look back at all pa-tients studied. A total of 359 bypass patients died from

any cause, or about 59 percent, comparedwith 398 medicine-only patients who died,or 66 percent. Deaths from heart disease-related

causes totaled 247 in the bypass group, or41 percent, versus 297 medicine-only pa-tients, or 49 percent.

— AP

Making radiationmore effectiveagainst tumors

Researchers at the Tisch Cancer Insti-tute at the Icahn School of Medicine atMount Sinai have discovered a key immuneresponse that causes radiation treatment(radiotherapy) against skin cancer tumorsto fail. In the journal Nature Immunology,they offer a novel solution to promote suc-cessful radiotherapy for the millions of can-cer patients who are treated with it.The team found that when radiotherapy

damages skin that harbors tumors, specialskin immune cells called Langerhans cells,which are normally dormant, are activated.These Langerhans cells can uniquely repairthe damage in their own DNA caused by ra-diotherapy.Then Langerhans cells travel to nearby

lymph nodes to communicate with other im-mune cells, and help program a populationof “regulatory” T cells. These cells thentravel back to the damaged tumor, andshield it from attack by the immune system.Investigators mimicked the effect of im-

Health Shorts

See HEALTH SHORTS, page 8

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Got Neuropathy?New Medical Treatment with an 87% Success

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munotherapy drugs that blocked the abilityof Langerhans cells to repair their ownDNA after radiotherapy, causing them todie, and thus preventing the immune re-sponse that protects skin tumors.“Our study suggests that this combina-

tion approach — combining radiotherapywith drugs that rev up a healthy immune re-sponse — will help make radiation therapymuch more effective,” said the study’s leadauthor, immunologist Jeremy Price, Ph.D.While this study was conducted using

mouse models of melanoma and focused onthe skin where these Langerhans cells arelocated, the researchers believe the same

process happens in organs throughout thebody.

— WhatDoctorsKnow

Group walkersare healthier

If you’re looking for a way to increaseyour physical activity, you might want toconsider joining a walking group.In a survey published early this year in

the British Journal of Sports Medicine, in-vestigators looked at data from studies in-volving close to 2,000 participants in groupwalking activities. They found that walking in a group effec-

tively increased physical activity for partic-ipants. They also found that people whowalked in a group were more likely to stickwith the activity over the long term. In ad-dition, group walking lowered blood pres-

sure, body fat, body mass index and totalcholesterol. Any type of walking done regularly is

likely to achieve similar results, but groupwalking appears to lower these factors by agreater degree. Group walking also re-duces the odds of depression and enhancesphysical functioning. All of these benefits occurred despite the

fact that most of the walking groups’ activitylevels fell short of moderate activity guide-lines.To find a walking group, you might

check with your doctor or local recreationalor community center. Many walking groupscan be found online. Try searching for the term “walking

group” paired with your city or ZIP code.Or visit www.walkers.meetup.com. If youdon’t have a computer, your local librarianmay be able to help.

— Mayo Clinic Health Letter

8 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U LY 2 0 1 6 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

Health shortsFrom page 6

members, close friends, spiritual leader,pets can attend. A peaceful setting can in-clude candles and music. A short-acting bar-biturate, like Seconal, has been prescribedalong with an anti-emetic. The patient takesthe anti-emetic to prevent vomiting about anhour before ingesting the seconal, whichcomes in powder form and is mixed with

water. Death can occur in five minutes or upto several hours, Zak said. Average is aboutan hour. Cause of death on death certificates will

be listed as the underlying illness.

It’s not suicideThe law specifies that death from self-ad-

ministering aid-in-dying medication is notsuicide and does not adversely affect a per-son’s will or insurance.

Zak suggested the differences betweenmedical aid in dying and suicide. In aid indying, a patient has a terminal illness andmental capacity and a desire to live. Deathis planned and gently. Survivors experiencenormal grieving. In cases of suicide, a patient may not

have a terminal diagnosis, wants to die, maybe incapable mentally and acts impulsively.Death is violent and causes survivors tohave abnormal grieving.

The peaceful death called for in the End ofLife Option Act may not be perfect for every-one, but it does expand available choices.In any case, Zak pointed out, you should

discuss your end-of-life priorities with yourmedical team now to make sure the optionsyou want will be available to you, and con-firm that your doctor will support yourchoices.

Information:Endoflifeoptions.org, (800)893-4548 or CompassionAndChoices.org

From the publisherFrom page 2

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In the winter you can’t get me to buy cu-cumbers, but come summer, there’s alwaysone or two in my fridge. Theyhave a lot of health benefits. Cucumbers are known

botanically as Cucumis sativus,and they’re actually a fruit, nota vegetable. They’re in thesame family as melons, zucchiniand pumpkin. Cucumbers have many ac-

tive constituents — amongthem, an anti-inflammatoryflavonol called “fisetin” whichsupports brain health. Cucum-bers offer compounds that areantioxidants, so they help pre-vent systemic rusting. Here are some fresh ideas: 1. Soothe itchy eyes. Cut two slices off

and lay them on your closed eyes. Thisfeels especially comfy if you have red, itchyeyes from whatever’s blooming. You can also cut slices and put in a jar of

water and infuse the water for an hour inthe refrigerator. Then make a compress outof the cucumber water. Squeeze it and laythat on your eyes.

2. Juice them. Cucumbers contain lari-ciresinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol— three important compounds when itcomes to reducing risk of reproductive can-

cers (ovarian, breast, uterine, prostate). Sec-oisolariciresinol is also found in flax.

3. Heal burns. Cut theslices lengthwise and apply toareas of sunburn, or use mycompress idea from above.

4. Drink them. Cut cu-cumbers into 1/2” slices alongwith 1/4” slices of lemon andput into a glass decanter orcarafe with some water andice. Let it marinate for an hour,and then drink all day. Amongthe many health benefits, youmay see a mild diuretic effect,which could help with bloodpressure and weight loss.

5. Eat them. The profound medicinal ben-efits of cucumbers may not be apparent toyou. I bet you walk right past them in the pro-duce section all the time. They can blockCOX2 enzymes (similar to Celebrex, a popu-lar medication) dampening down pain-causingcytokines. While cukes are not as strong as drugs,

I’d still chop some into your salad along withfresh tomatoes and basil leaves. Finish withcilantro-lime vinaigrette. This salad addsfiber, which in turn helps you manageweight.

6. Treat acne with them. Cucumbershave the ability to remove dirt, dead skin

cells, bacteria, and left over make-upresidue. It naturally calms and cools a redor inflamed area. Put a quarter of an unpeeled cucumber

in your food grinder along with a table-spoon of witch hazel, two drops of tea treeoil and five drops of lavender. Grind to asmooth consistency and apply as a ‘mask’or dab on an area.

7. Make a toner for your face. Slicecucumbers into two cups of pure distilledwater. After awhile, strain out the cucum-bers so you are left with cucumber water,

add one tablespoon of organic aloe vera leafjuice, 10 drops essential oil of lavender andfive drops of jasmine. For oily skin, also addfive drops of helichrysum. If you have dryskin, use rose oil instead.This information is opinion only. It is not

intended to treat, cure or diagnose your con-dition. Consult with your doctor before usingany new drug or supplement. Suzy Cohen is a registered pharmacist and

the author of The 24-Hour Pharmacist andReal Solutions from Head to Toe. To contacther, visit www.SuzyCohen.com.

Cucumbers have many healing properties

DEAR PHARMACISTBy Suzy Cohen

COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — J U LY 2 0 1 6 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health 9

Can we navigate chaos,grief and confusion withintegrity?

Listen to CyndaRushton discuss findingmoral resilience in atime of uncertainty.

How can we embrace ourquestions at the end-of-life?

So many unanswered questions…

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TREMOR SUPPORT GROUP An essential tremor support group meets the first Saturday of themonth from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Community Room at the

Palm Desert Public Library, 73-300 Fred Waring Drive. Contact support groupleader Janine Judy for information and to RSVP at (760) 285-0411 or de-sertcharm55@aol.com. For information on essential tremor, go to www.essential-tremor.org

ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION SUPPORT GROUPSA different topic related to Alzheimer’s is discussed from 11 a.m.to 1 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at Meaningful Mo-

ments Education Luncheons hosted by the Caleo Bay Alzheimer’s Special CareCenter. These luncheons are free, but reservations are required at (760) 771-6100. The center is at 47-805 Caleo Bay Drive, La Quinta.

BEACON BITS

Aug. 6+

July 20+

By Lindsey TannerThe first major research of its kind

shows that cholesterol-lowering statins canprevent heart attacks and strokes in a glob-ally diverse group of older people who don’thave heart disease. The results bolster recommendations in

recent guidelines on who should considertaking the drugs. The aim was to prevent heart problems

using a statin alone, blood pressure drugs,or a combination of the two. The three ap-proaches are commonly used in high-riskpatients or those with evidence of heart dis-ease. The patients in the study did not have heart

disease and faced lower risks of developing it,and the statin approach worked best.

World-wide studyThe research involved nearly 13,000 men

and women from 21 countries on six conti-nents. Most previous studies on heart dis-ease prevention have been in white, NorthAmerican patients with higher risks be-cause of high blood pressure, unhealthycholesterol levels or other conditions. But with heart disease a leading global

killer, causing 18 million deaths each year,there is a trend toward recommending pre-ventive drug treatment to more borderlinepatients. The benefits of this strategy were “seen in

people from every part of the world,” saidstudy co-author Dr. Salim Yusuf, a professorof medicine at McMaster University in Hamil-ton, Ontario. “This is globally applicable.”

The research was published in the NewEngland Journal of Medicine and presentedat an American College of Cardiology meet-ing in Chicago. Study sites included Canada, Europe,

China, South America and South Africa.About 20 percent of patients were white. Patients were at moderate risk because

of age — men were 55 and older andwomen were at least age 60 — and becausethey had another heart disease risk factor,including obesity, family history or smok-ing. On average, their cholesterol levelswere nearly normal, and blood pressurewas slightly lower than the cutoff for highblood pressure, which is 140 over 90. They were randomly assigned to receive

one of the treatments in low doses ordummy pills for almost six years. The drugtreatments all reduced cholesterol and bloodpressure levels but other results varied.

Large risk reductionStatin-only patients were about 25 per-

cent less likely to have fatal or nonfatalheart-related problems than those givendummy pills. Those in the combined druggroup fared slightly better, and the re-searchers credit the statin for the benefit. Blood pressure drugs alone worked no bet-

ter than dummy pills at preventing theseevents, except in the fraction of patients whohad high blood pressure. The drug dosesused may have been too low to provide muchbenefit to low-risk patients, althouvgh longerfollow-up may be needed, according to a jour-nal editorial published with the research.

Heart problems and deaths were rela-tively rare in the three study groups. In thecombined drug group, less than 4 percentof patients had those outcomes, versus 5percent of those on dummy pills. Nearlysimilar results were seen in the statin-onlygroup. Those outcomes occurred in about4 percent of patients on only blood pressuredrugs and in those on dummy pills. Patients on statins had slightly more

muscle pain or weakness — known statinside effects — than those on dummy pills.Statin patients also had slightly morecataract surgeries, but the researchers saidit isn’t known if the drug played a role. Dr. Clyde Yancy, cardiology chief at

Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, saidthe results add important evidence favoringdrug treatment for lower-risk patients, butemphasized that lifestyle approaches in-cluding diet and activity should be in-cluded. He wasn’t involved in the research. The study used 10 milligrams daily of ro-

suvastatin, sold as a generic or under thebrand name Crestor. The editorial authorssaid other statins would likely have similarresults. Crestor’s maker, AstraZeneca, and the

Canadian Institutes of Health Research paidfor the study. Yusuf reported receiving grantsfrom both, and several co-researchers re-ported grants and personal fees from thecompany and other drugmakers. The blood pressure drugs were candesar-

tan, sold as a generic and by AstraZeneca asAtacand; and hydrochlorothiazide, a genericdiuretic. — AP

Statins benefit even lower-risk patients10 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U LY 2 0 1 6 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

WANT TO KNOW ABOUT BARIATRIC SURGERY?

Desert Regional Medical Center hosts a bariatric surgery support

group for those who have had the surgery, those interested in having the surgery

and family members on the first Wednesday of the month. Sessions start at 6

p.m. in the Stergios Building on the center campus. A topic is presented, followed

by a Q and A session. The medical center is at 1150 Indian Canyon Drive, Palm

Springs. (877) 228-3638, desertregional.com

BEACON BITS

Aug. 3+

By Steven GoldbergSeven years after the end of the worst fi-

nancial crisis since the Great Depression,the U.S. economy continues to lead the de-veloped world. Gross domestic product inthe U.S. has been rising only about 2 per-cent annually (compared with a more nor-mal 3 percent), but the economies of mostother major nations are at, or just above,stall speed.Will we ever get back to normal global

growth? Probably, given time. But a returnto the good old days is still a ways in the fu-ture.Meantime, efforts by central bankers to

light a fire under the global economy havepushed down bond yields to ridiculouslylow levels. Until growth picks up, thoseyields should stay artificially low. Citingconcerns over sluggish employmentgrowth, the Federal Reserve once againopted to leave rates unchanged at its Junemeeting.

Little gain, future painBecause interest rates are so low, invest-

ing in most kinds of bonds is risky. If yieldsincrease (and there’s a lot more room for

rates to rise than there is for them to de-cline), bond prices will fall, so fixed-incomeinvestors must be vigilant.Take the benchmark 10-year Treasury

bond. As of June 14, it yielded a puny 1.61percent. If consumer prices rise at the his-torical annual rate of 3 percent, a 10-yearTreasury is a guaranteed loser even if thebond’s price remains unchanged. Heck,even at 2 percent inflation, you’ll be in thehole with a 10-year Treasury because thebond’s interest will be less than the rise inconsumer prices.The best argument for owning U.S.

Treasuries is that they pay more today thangovernment bonds issued by many otherdeveloped countries. Many overseas bondssport negative yields — a phenomenon Ican’t begin to understand. In effect, youbuy a government bond knowing that youwill get back less when the IOU maturesthan what you put in. Makes me want tobuy stock in a company that makes safe-de-posit boxes.The advent of negative yields has

prompted investors to lock up their cash insuper-long-term bonds that pay meageryields. Spain — get this — recently issued

50-year bonds with a 3.45 percent coupon.France also issued 50-year bonds. Belgiumand Ireland each sold 100 million euros of100-year bonds in private deals. I predict that one day we will look back

on long-term bonds with tiny or negativeyields, such as the 10-year Treasury, inmuch the same way we now view the in-sanely high price-earnings ratios of techstocks in the late 1990s.When yields inevitably do head north,

those holding bonds will suffer hugelosses. Just a one-percentage-point rise inthe yield on the 10-year Treasury wouldcause its price to fall by 9 percent. A two-percentage-point increase would trigger a17 percent plunge. Depending upon theircurrent yields, a one-percentage point risein 50-year and 100-year bonds would bringa price collapse of 25 to 45 percent.

The case for owning bondsSo, why own bonds at all? Because stash-

ing all your money in stocks can be toorisky. Bonds provide ballast for your port-folio, and investment-grade bonds oftenrise, or at least generate positive total re-turns, during periods of falling stock prices.

Bonds issued by shaky companies (aptlycalled junk bonds) currently offer the mostattractive yields: 7 percent, on average. Buthigh-yield bonds come with substantial riskthat the issuer might not be able to pay youback, and often perform poorly whenstocks are tanking.With all that in mind, here are my fa-

vorite bond mutual funds and exchange-traded-fund picks for the current market,listed from the most conservative to theriskiest. Note that I’m not including past re-turns for any of the funds because theywould tell you little about how the fundswill likely do in the future.You’ll never grow rich owning Vanguard

Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (sym-bol VCSH), but you won’t go broke, either.I especially love two numbers about thisfund: its annual expense ratio of just 0.10percent and its average duration of 2.8 years(duration is a measure of interest-rate sen-sitivity; a duration of 2.8 years suggests thatthe fund’s price would drop by 2.8 percentif interest rates rose by one-percentage-point). The exchange-traded fund invests in

COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — J U LY 2 0 1 6 Say you saw it in the Beacon 11

MoneyLaw &MEDICARE DRUG CHANGES?The rising cost of drugs may spur Congressional action on Medicare Part Dto help save money

JUMP STARTING START-UPSNew rules mean that small companiesgoing public can now sell shares directlyto consumers

BE A CHEAPSKATEMutual funds charging the lowest feesnearly always come out on top

Best bond funds given low interest rates

See BEST BOND FUNDS, page 13

By Ricardo Alonso-ZaldivarCalling the rising cost of drugs “unsustain-

able,” congressional advisers in June recom-mended major changes to Medicare’spopular outpatient prescription program,now 10 years old. The proposal from the nonpartisan

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission,or MedPAC, steers clear of calling for thegovernment to negotiate drug prices di-rectly, an option both presidential candi-dates advocate. For beneficiaries, the plan is a mixed

bag. All seniors would get better protectionfrom extremely high costs, but some mayhave to spend more. The recommendations are unlikely to

gain traction in Congress during an elec-tion year, but they will get a serious lookfrom staff experts on key House and Senatecommittees overseeing Medicare. MedPAC is a congressional agency

charged with making regular recommenda-

tions on Medicare, the government’s pre-mier health insurance program, with about57 million elderly and disabled beneficiar-ies. Echoing widespread concerns aboutdrug costs, MedPAC said spending forMedicare’s prescription program grew bynearly 60 percent from 2007 through 2014,from $46 billion to $73 billion. That was driven by spending on high-

cost beneficiaries who tend to use the mostexpensive medications, such as the recentbreakthrough cures for hepatitis C infec-tion. Congress should re-examine the pro-gram’s design “to better ensure financialsustainability,” the commission said.

Out-of-pocket limit sought The MedPAC proposal would protect all

seniors by setting an annual limit on howmuch they can be required to pay for med-ications — a new safeguard. However, it would also raise costs by about

$1,000 for some beneficiaries who land in the

widely loathed coverage gap known as the“doughnut hole.” And MedPAC also pro-posed restructuring modest copayments thatlow-income beneficiaries may face, in orderto encourage greater use of generic and pre-ferred brand name drugs. Insurance companies, the middlemen

who deliver coverage to some 39 millionbeneficiaries in the prescription program,aren’t likely to be pleased. The MedPAC plan wouldn’t change the

share of total program costs subsidized bythe government, which is roughly three-fourths. But a change in the payment for-mula would put insurers more directly onthe hook for managing spending on thepriciest drugs. That could expose the com-panies to greater financial risk. Currently, after a beneficiary reaches

what’s called the “catastrophic” thresholdof the benefit, taxpayers are responsible for80 percent of the cost of drugs. The in-surer’s share is 15 percent, and the benefi-ciary pays 5 percent. That threshold isabout $7,500 this year, counting spendingboth by the patient and by the insurer. Under MedPAC’s proposal, beneficiaries

would no longer have to worry about how tokeep paying that 5 percent, which can be sub-stantial with some drugs costing $100,000 ayear. Instead, the beneficiary’s exposurewould be limited to about $4,850.

Insurers, however, could face a potentialdownside. MedPAC concluded that the cur-rent formula doesn’t give insurers much in-centive to drive bargains with pharmaceuticalcompanies, since Medicare picks up 80 per-cent of the cost of catastrophic coverage. Theplan calls for gradually dialing down the gov-ernment share to 20 percent. Drug companies may not like that either,

since insurers would demand bigger rebates.It could also pressure pharmaceutical compa-nies to restrain prices for new drugs.

No negotiation with drugmakers While the complex proposal involves

major restructuring, Medicare would notnegotiate with drugmakers. In many othereconomically advanced countries, the gov-ernment is actively involved in settingprices, leading to lower costs for con-sumers. The drug industry says if the U.S.takes that road, it could reduce their invest-ment in research and development. But in this election year, both presidential

candidates have called for some form of di-rect negotiation by Medicare. For RepublicanDonald Trump, that stance puts him at oddswith Republican congressional leaders op-posed to the government setting drug prices. MedPAC said its entire package would

save an estimated $2 billion annually, and$10 billion over five years. — AP

Drug costs may spur Medicare changes12 Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U LY 2 0 1 6 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

By Joseph PisaniLast year, Randy Murphy went to

DietBet.com and bet $25 that he could drop4 percent of his weight in four weeks. Aftershedding about 20 pounds, he won back $50. Now he’s making an even bigger bet:

Murphy invested $1,000 in the companythat owns DietBet, New York-based Way-Better Inc. Making the purchase — which was the

first time he’s bought a company’s stock —was easy. Murphy clicked a link in an email

from WayBetter that invited DietBet usersto invest. After a few clicks, he had orderedup 1,000 shares for $1 each. “I’m not a wealthy guy, but I felt like the

risks were worth it,” said Murphy, a pro-gram manager and a volunteer medical firstresponder. “It has the potential to pay off.” Usually only rich people and venture cap-

italists invest in startups. But now moreregular folks are getting the chance. That’s because of two major changes to

a federal law that have made it easier for

small businesses to sell shares and raisecash from the public. In June 2015, rules known as Regulation

A were updated in an effort to get morecompanies to raise money from the public.And this May, brand new crowdfundingrules went into effect allowing even smallercompanies to raise up to $1 million a yearfrom average Joes and Janes.Many are hitting up their customers.

Shoppers who go to BeautyKind.us to buy

moisturizer or perfume will see a banner onthe top of the site: “BeautyKind is goingpublic! Click here to learn how you can bea BeautyKind shareholder!” Fans of Virtuix, a developer of virtual re-

ality gear for video games, will see a link onthe top of its website: “Interested in invest-ing in Virtuix?” N1ce, which sells frozen mojitos, daiquiris

Not afraid of risk? Invest in a start-up

short-term, high-quality corporate and gov-ernment bonds. It yields just 1.9 percent,but the modest payout is a fair trade-off forthe low risk.For money held in taxable accounts, I

favor Vanguard Limited-Term Tax Ex-empt (VMLTX), which charges 0.20 per-cent a year and yields a paltry 0.9 percent(equivalent to a taxable 1.6 percent for aninvestor in the top, 43.4 percent bracket).But the average duration is only 2.5 years. If you can meet the $50,000 minimum,

you can qualify for the fund’s Admiral shareclass (VMLUX), which charges just 0.12percent and yields 1.0 percent (a taxable-equivalent yield of 1.8 percent for a top-bracket investor).If you find it beneficial to invest in a sin-

gle-state muni fund, which delivers interestthat is free of federal and state incometaxes, make sure it has a relatively modestduration.Jeffrey Gundlach, co-manager of Double-

Line Total Return Bond N (DLTNX), hasbeen a good prognosticator of the futurecourse of interest rates. Over the past sixmonths, he has trimmed his fund’s averageduration from 3.5 years to 2.9 years, suggest-ing that he thinks rates will rise a bit. Total Return, which sports a relatively

generous 3.2 percent yield, holds a mix ofgovernment mortgages and much riskierprivately backed mortgages. About 20 per-cent of its assets earn junk ratings. As the name suggests, Metropolitan

West Unconstrained Bond (MWCRX)has a lot of flexibility. Among other things,the managers can sell bonds short (that is,bet on their prices to fall and yields to rise).At last report, the fund’s average durationwas just 1.4 years. Some 85 percent of thefund’s assets are in corporate bonds, non-government-backed mortgages and othersecuritized debt. All told, about one-fourth of the fund’s as-

sets was in junk-rated securities. The fundyields 2.5 percent. Its four managers havea long and superior track record runningMetropolitan West Total Return (MWTRX),a more-traditional, middle-of-the-road bondfund that is a member of the Kiplinger 25.Loomis Sayles Bond (LSBRX) fishes

in treacherous waters. The fund, whichyields 3.9 percent, has about 30 percent ofits assets in bonds with junk ratings and an-

other 10 percent in unrated bonds, as wellas 8 percent in common stocks. It also in-vests a sizable chunk in foreign bonds. Sayscomanager Elaine Stokes: “There’s so littleyield in the world that we don’t think it paysto be in bonds with high credit ratings.”

Steve Goldberg is an investment adviser inthe Washington, D.C. area.

COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — J U LY 2 0 1 6 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money 13

Best bond fundsFrom page 11

NEED NOTARY SERVICES? Mizell Senior Center has notary services on the second Monday ofthe month between 9 and 11 a.m. Cost is $5, which is donated

back to the senior center. Clients must call (760) 323-5689 or stop by the frontdesk to make an appointment. Mizell is at 480 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs.(760) 323-5689, Mizell.org

BEACON BITS

July 11+

See START-UPS, page 15

By Stan ChoeStay cheap. Research keeps piling up to show that

one of the best predictors for the success ofa mutual fund is if it has low fees. Whetherthe fund specializes in stocks, bonds orother investments, having low costs tendsto lead to higher future returns.The latest piece of support comes from

Russ Kinnel, director of manager researchat Morningstar. He recently looked at re-turns for several categories of fundsthrough 2015 — from foreign-stock to mu-nicipal-bond offerings. He ranked funds in each category into

five groups, based on their expenses. Foreach type of fund, he found that the lowest-

cost group had a higher rate of successthan the second-cheapest, which had ahigher rate of success than the third-cheap-est, and so on. To see how much your mutual fund

charges in fees, check its expense ratio.The number shows what percentage of itsassets goes each year to pay for managersalaries and other costs. Many stock funds have an expense ratio

of 1 percent, but most of the dollars in-vested are in funds that charge significantlyless than that. Kinnel recently talked about the impor-

tance of keeping that number as low as pos-sible. Answers have been edited for lengthand clarity.

Q: So, when I’m considering a mu-tual fund, the very first thing I shouldlook at is its expense ratio, right? A: I’m always careful to point out that it’s

not all you need, but it’s a great place tostart. It’s such a strong predictor of futuresuccess. Our data show that it works in allkinds of funds and in all kinds of markets. And the longer you hold an investment,

the more important it becomes. The com-pounding effect of getting into lower costsis huge. In a single year, that 0.30 percentage

point difference between the expenses ofFund A and Fund B is obviously not goingto be a huge deal for your returns. But theway compounding works and the way thatinvesting is a very long-term game, it addsup tremendously. Q: What about people who are com-

fortable being in a higher-cost fund be-cause it’s done well for them the lastfew years? A: I could say they overcame the fee in

the past, so who cares? But the reason youshould care is that fees are far more persist-ent than outperformance. Performance, es-pecially in the short term, is a combinationof luck and skill and fees and other things. We’ve tested it, and you can take the top

performers and pit them against cheapestfunds, and in the next five years, the cheap-

est funds will crush the top performersfrom the previous year. We’ve gone so far as to say that if you put

cheap funds with bad performance versusgreat funds with high costs, the cheap badperformers will win.Q: It feels strange for something with

a lower price tag to be better than the“premium-priced” one. A: Often, we’re inclined to think that if

you pay more for something, you get some-thing better. If I pay more for a car, com-puter or bottle of wine, I’m generally goingto get something better. Not always, butgenerally. There are a couple catches with that.

One is that when you’re looking at a fund’sexpense ratio, you’re not looking at the dol-lars that the manager is paid. You’re look-ing at the percent (of the fund’s assets).Because of economies of scale, it’s often thecase that the manager of the lower-costfund is actually getting paid much more, be-cause they’re running an $8 billion fund for0.70 percent versus a $500 million fundcharging 1.0 percent. The manager of thebigger fund is getting paid more. So it’s kind of comparable to a Ford or

Toyota versus if someone made a car foryou by hand. It would cost 10 times more,

Cheapskate mutual fund investors do better14 Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U LY 2 0 1 6 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

See INVESTORS, page 15

LEARN HOW TO ASK CORTANA QUESTIONS

Cortana, Microsoft’s new virtual assistant, can tackle local

searches, can help you track down stuff on the web and stay organized. A class

on Windows 10 Cortana Basics is scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 19

at Mizell Senior Center. Those who sign up for the class should bring their laptop,

tablet or Smartphone and sign up at the ticket window or at (760) 323-5689,

Ext. 107. Cost is $30 Mizell members, $60, nonmembers. Mizell is at 480 S. Sun-

rise Way, Palm Springs. Mizell.org

BEACON BITS

July 19

and other cocktails in easy-to-carry tubes, toldits 13,000 Instagram followers that it wascrowdfunding: “Take your chance to own apart of N1ce and claim a front row seat to ourjourney as we go global.”

Big risks Investing in startups is risky. Most fail. And

many don’t have a proven business model.Some desperately need the money to hire em-ployees, make a product or open a store. Experts say there are a few ways in-

vestors can make money from their invest-ment, such as if the company is bought orif it goes public. But none of that is guaran-teed to happen, and if it does, it could takeyears before it happens, experts say. “The bottom line is that Main Street in-

vestors should not invest beyond what theyare comfortable losing,” said Mike Pieciak,who is the deputy commissioner for Ver-mont’s securities regulator and serves on acommittee that advises the Securities and Ex-change Commission about small companies. To protect inexperienced investors, the

SEC publishes financial details and other in-formation about the companies on the SECwebsite. More importantly, it also limits howmuch they can invest, depending on whichrules the companies use to raise money. For example, if your annual income or

net worth is below $100,000, you can investa maximum of $2,000 or 5 percent of yourincome or net worth, whichever is less, instart-ups.

While the crowdfunding rules are brandnew, Regulation A has been around for years.But small companies rarely used RegulationA because the maximum $5 million they couldraise in a year didn’t justify the costs of win-ning regulatory approval, said Gary Em-manuel, a securities attorney in New York. In2011, for example, only one company receivedapproval to sell shares under Regulation A, ac-cording to a 2012 report by the U.S. Govern-ment Accountability Office. The 2012 law known as the Jobs Act in-

creased the amount companies could raiseto as much as $50 million in a 12-month pe-riod. Since the law took effect last June,more than 80 companies have applied to theSEC to sell shares, and more than 30 ofthem have been approved. And as soon as new crowdfunding rules

went into effect last month, more than 25companies signed up.

Getting in on the ground floor Murphy read about the risks before he

invested in WayBetter. His $1,000 invest-ment is small enough that it won’t hurt himmuch financially, he said. Murphy believesin the company and already knows that Di-etBet helps people lose weight. He also liked that WayBetter is expand-

ing its betting model to other products,such as StepBet, which motivates people towalk more. WayBetter, which declined tocomment for this story, wants to raise asmuch as $20 million through Regulation A. “I love the idea of getting in on the

ground floor,” said Murphy. — AP

COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — J U LY 2 0 1 6 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money 15

but would probably be worse. Also, fees are very persistent. All around,

having low fees improves your margin forerror. You don’t know what the market’s

going to give you. If you know the next 10years will be the greatest bull market ever,then great, you could probably buy ahigher-cost fund. But it’s probably morelikely that the next 10 years will have sub-par returns, and you’re forking over aneven bigger chunk of your return.

Q: Is a takeaway from this that weshould just invest in index funds?They’re often the cheapest funds. A: That can be a takeaway. But not all

index funds are cheap. If you look at ETFs,there’s a lot of high-cost garbage out there.

There are crazy ETFs for crazy niches. I’d turn it the other way and say: Stay

with a low-cost provider, such as Vanguard,American Funds, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price,iShares.

— AP

InvestorsFrom page 14

NEED A HELPING HAND?

A caseworker from Jewish Family Services visits the Indio Senior

Center from 9 a.m. to noon on the first and third Thursdays of the month to help

seniors apply for various programs. Examples include Medi-Cal, food stamps, SSI,

in-home support services, utility discounts, affordable housing, food banks and fi-

nancial assistance. Sign-ups are accepted at the center’s front desk or at (760)

391-4170. Service is free for center members. The center is at 45-700 Aladdin

Way, Indio. Indio.org.

BEACON BITS

July 21+Start-upsFrom page 13

16 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U LY 2 0 1 6 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

TravelLeisure &

By Jamie Lee PricerIt’s really fruit juice. So said Thom Curry,

standing in the midst of an olive grove nes-tled between Mt. Palomar and the SantaRosa Mountains in Aguanga. As generalmanager of the Temecula Olive Oil Co. thatwas one of numerous tidbits about olive oilhe offered on a recent tour of the firm’solive ranch.We started with a short meander

through the ranch gardens to the adjacentolive grove and ended cozied up to a tile barin a shaded outdoor tasting room, enjoyingsamples of olive oil and vinegar.

Along the way we learned how historyruns deep in this family-owned operation.Now a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it town,Aguanga was once a well-traveled site. Be-cause of water sources, Indians lived andtraded here for hundreds of years. Later, aButterfield Stage route ran through the valley. Because it was part of a sprawling cattle

ranch dismantled in the 1960s and acquiredabout 11 years ago, Curry had a two-yearprocess of cleaning up the squatter-littered

acreage, including restoring an adobebuilding dating from the 1800s. The com-pany’s Old Town Temecula tasting room(there are others in Old Town San Diego,Solana Beach and Seal Beach) is a formersaloon and speakeasy.With this land, the company owns more

than 200 acres of olive trees in California,with more groves ranging from the Impe-rial Valley north to near Malibu. Once es-tablished, the trees don’t need a lot of waterand tend to bear fruit on alternate years.The ranch practices sustainable agricul-

ture and uses no chemicals or fertilizers,only the compost left from the millingprocess. Harvest is done by hand withrakes and bamboo sticks. The fruit ismilled six to eight hours after harvest inone of the company’s custom-made mobilemills. The resulting oil settles for about 30days, is strained one more time and bottledat the company’s facility in Temecula.Listening to Curry, you finish the tour

and tastings with so much knowledge thatyou’ll never look at a bottle of olive oil the

same again. For instance:• Olives originated in sub-Saha-

ran Africa and were brought toCalifornia by the Spanish whenthey built missions here.• Harvest season is September

through March, starting withgreen olives for a few months,then black fruit.• Spain produces more olive oil

than any other country.• Labeling standards are less

strict in other countries and im-ported “extra virgin” usually isn’t,Curry said. Oil bottled in Italy mostoften includes olives from othercountries. • Temecula Olive Oil Co. bottle

labels carry a harvest date. Oncea bottle is opened, Curry said, theoil is best used in no later than 9months. And always look for oliveoil in dark bottles; light oxides theoil. One last Curry tidbit: What’s

the difference between a grove

and an orchard? Trees in a grove never losetheir leaves. Trees in an orchard do.

If you goWhat: Temecula Olive Oil Company, 28-

653 Old Town Front St., TemeculaRanch: 46-780 Highway 371, Aguanga.

From the Coachella Valley, take Highway 74from Palm Desert to Highway 371. You’ll seea sign for the ranch on the left just as you ap-proach Highway 79. About 50 miles. If youtake the tour, then go into the shop in Temec-ula, you can return to the desert throughHemet to Interstate 10.

Where to visit for the best view of thetotal eclipse of the sun next summer.See story on page 18

Tour tells about olive oil, from tree to table

Thom Curry, general manager of the Temecula Olive Oil Company, gives tours of thecompany’s ranch, about 20 miles east of Temecula in a valley between PalomarMountain and the Santa Rosa Mountains.

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The ranch site offers a shel-tered tasting bar surrounded bya vibrant garden area with mani-cured walking paths.

1. Shave2. Shine stainless steel3. Remove eye makeup4. Moisturize cuticles

5. Treat dry skin6. Unstick a zipper7. Dust wooden furniture8. Silence squeaky doors

Use olive oil to:

1 tsp. = 3/4 tsp.1 tbl. = 2 1/4 tsp.1/4 cup = 3 tbl.1/3 cup = 1/4 cup1/2 cup = 1/4 cup + 2 tbl.

2/3 cup = 1/2 cup3/4 cup = 1/2 cup + 1 tbl.1 cup = 3/4 cupFor recipes: temeculaoliveoil.com

/recipes

Butter/margarine= olive oil

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couple of years,” he says. It stopped whenElguera realized he needed to find fulfill-ment for himself and his soul. “I started going to church and learning

the Bible,” he says of the turnaround. “Iwas looking for my purpose in life.” He married and started a family, and

began to realize maybe there was a way toblend the two parts of his life. “God wastelling me that I could use my talent and bea witness for Him,” he says. “And that wasmy purpose in my life.” Back on the pro circuit by 1986, he com-

peted around the world and helped others

in their search for spiritual fulfillment. He joined The Rock Church in 1988, and

was asked to youth camps and other youthevents to talk about his life and to show kidswhat life could be like. He became a youth pastor in the early

’90s, one of the most fulfilling parts of hiswork. “It’s great when I see the kids I worked

with that have families and good lives,” hesays, “especially the ones who gave me ahard time.” His life weaves its way between compet-

ing as one of the Top 5 of the Masters Divi-sion of World Cup Skateboarding and asSenior Pastor at The Rock, and his life phi-losophy explains how the two work to-

gether. “It’s ‘God’s will, God’s way’,” he says.

“His will is that I am a pastor and His wayis for me to use my talent on a skateboardto reach out to people.” Whether in competition or to get away

from the world, the board is Elguera’s fa-vorite place. “It’s the one time I don’t thinkof anything else,” he says.

Board mastersIn January 2014, Elguera held the first El

Gato Classic Legends’ Weekend in PalmSprings, with guys like Tony Hawk, SteveCaballero, Christian Hosoi and Eric Kostoncoming to the valley. The next weekend

event is planned for January 2017. “It’s like a high school reunion for us,” he

says. “We get to skate and have fun.” The accolades keep coming, too. Elguera

was inducted into the Skateboard Hall ofFame at the seventh annual awards in Mayat the City National Grove of Anaheim,something he never dreamt of as a kid. In fact, if he could give the 8-year-old

Eddie any advice, “It would be to enjoy thejourney,” he says looking back over the past40-some years. “The goal shouldn’t be to befamous; it should be to enjoy the journey ofyour life. If it takes you to the Hall of Fame,that’s great; if it doesn’t, you should stillenjoy the ride.”

C O ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — J U LY 2 0 1 6 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel 17

SkateboarderFrom page 1

HUFF AND PUFFStrength, balance and cardio will be emphasized in Indio Senior

Center’s next boot camp exercise program, July 27 to Sept. 7.

The sessions are held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the

center, 45-700 Aladdin Way, Indio. Cost is $30. The class is limited to 6 people.

Signups are taken at the center’s front desk. (760) 391-4170, indio.org

I CALL YOUR TRUMPPlayers meet from 9:45 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and Thursdays for

rounds of Pinochle at Joslyn Center. The games are free, but a

center membership is required. Want to join but don’t know how to play? Call the

center at (760) 340-3220 to schedule a lesson. The center is at 73-750 Catalina

Way, Palm Desert. Joslyncenter.org

BEACON BITS

July 27+

Ongoing

KEY TO A LONG, HEALTHY LIFEDamoun Rezai, M.D., a family medicine resident at EisenhowerMedical Center, will cover information on preventative screenings,

blood work results and imaging related to prevention for diseases and cancer at atalk from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday, July 28 at Mizell Senior Center. Reservations arenecessary at (760) 423-4855 until the day of the lecture. Mizell is at 480 S. Sun-rise Way, Palm Springs. Mizell.org

LIFE IS A CABARETLes Michael’s live performance cabaret series continues throughOct. 30 at the Arthur Newman Theatre, Mizell Senior Center.

Shows are at 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $11 cash at the door. The center is at73-750 Catalina Way, Palm Desert. Lesmichael.com, (760) 325-2731

BEACON BITS

July 28

Ongoing

By Mead GruverWhere’s the best place to watch next

year’s total eclipse? If you’re thinking thegrand open spaces of Wyoming, you haveplenty of company. Hotel rooms across the Cowboy State

are going, going, gone, well over a year be-fore the arrival of the first total solar eclipseto be seen from the mainland U.S. in almostfour decades. A national astronomy convention has re-

served Casper’s largest hotel. Internationalguides plan eclipse-oriented tours of theYellowstone region. Jackson Hole is brac-ing for big crowds, and Native Americantribes are promoting their heritage as theperfect backdrop for the rare natural event. Tourism boosters are giddy. They’ve

done little to market Wyoming as an eclipsedestination, with millions already visitingGrand Teton and Yellowstone each year,and yet even campsites are being claimedmore than a year before eclipse day, whichwill be Aug. 21, 2017. “What’s hot on everybody’s mind is,

what’s the attendance number?” going tobe, said Brook Kreder with the CasperArea Convention and Visitors Bureau. She projects 20,000 visitors, one-third of

Casper’s population. With an influx likethat, many more locals might join in theprofits. “We have had some people inquire

about putting their personal bedrooms upon Airbnb,” she said. Some are calling this the Great American

Eclipse, because the moon’s shadow willcross Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska,Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Ten-nessee, Georgia, North Carolina and SouthCarolina before heading out over the At-lantic.

Where to watchCommunities from coast to coast are al-

ready arguing for bragging rights as thebest place to watch: • Madras, Oregon, claims its high-

desert setting 100 miles southeast of Port-land gives the best odds for clear weather.The city plans an Oregon SolarFest, withcamping, music and beer gardens. • North Platte, 275 miles west of Omaha

by Interstate 80, bills itself as a safe and ac-cessible viewing place in the NebraskaSandhills region. • The sun, moon and Mississippi River

will meet 80 miles south of St. Louis inPerry County, Missouri, local promoterssay. • Nashville will be the biggest city under

total eclipse, but Hopkinsville, Ky., an hournorth, boasts it will have the greatest de-gree of eclipse anywhere, meaning it willremain “total” for longer.

• South Carolina offers the closesteclipse-watching for 100 million people onthe East Coast, right before the moon’sshadow crosses into the Atlantic Ocean, as-suming summer rain clouds don’t block theview.

How eclipses occurSolar eclipses, which happen when the

moon passes directly between the Earthand sun, are not rare. But they seldom hap-pen in such easily accessible places. A roughly 65-mile-wide zone, called the

path of totality, will offer the best viewingas the moon’s shadow races over theEarth’s surface at more than 2,000 mph.Stars and planets come out, and the sun’scorona glows in a perfect circle around thedark side of the moon as the effect of a sun-set appears in all directions. Depending on the location, the eclipse

will be total for less than 30 seconds to aslong as 2 minutes, 41 seconds. “It gets darker and darker and darker.

And what’s weird is, the temperature dropsand then wildlife becomes mysteriouslyquiet,” explained amateur astronomer Low-ell Lyon. “All of a sudden — boom! — itsuddenly gets dark.” Astrocon2017, next year’s annual con-

vention of more than 240 U.S. amateur as-tronomy groups in the AstronomicalLeague, will bring dozens of experts toCasper over the four days leading up to theeclipse. Lyon, who sells insurance in SaltLake City by day, is organizing the event. Even without astronomical phenomena

to attract them, tour groups in JacksonHole often reserve blocks of hotel rooms acouple years ahead of the winter and sum-mer peak seasons. People hoping to watch the eclipse from

the foot of the Teton Range began bookingrooms even further in advance, saidClarene Law, who owns four Jackson ho-tels. “Some of these photographic groups got

in here before my staff realized it was theeclipse,” Law said. She said she doesn’tplan to raise rates — by much — for thefew rooms she has left. One company that provides eclipse-view-

ing tours worldwide plans several multi-day,multi-state packages that will take hun-dreds of travelers to Tennessee, northwestWyoming and Oregon to watch the eclipse.Past customers of the Prescott, Arizona-based TravelQuest International — whohave traveled as far as Bali, the Faroe Is-lands and Ethiopia — have signed up fornext year’s trips, President Aram Kaprieliansaid. “This time, they’re traveling with their

children and with their children’s children.So we’re getting these inter-generationalgroups that are joining us,” he said.

Watching in Wyoming One eclipse-watching advantage in

Wyoming: A two-lane highway, U.S. 26,crosses the state entirely within the path oftotal eclipse. In case of clouds, eclipsewatchers seeking clear skies will be able todrive more than 400 miles without leavingthe prime viewing zone. All while keepingtheir eyes on the road, of course. The route also crosses the Wind River

Indian Reservation in central Wyoming,where the Northern Arapaho and EasternShoshone tribes plan eclipse-orienteddances and eclipse-day tours to the sites ofancient petroglyphs, said Casey Adams, aspokeswoman for the Wind River VisitorsCouncil. “It can be a more personal experience.

It’s not going to be crowded. You can gofind your own special little corner of Fre-mont County and take it in with just yourclose friends and family by your side,”Adams said. Or, you might join the lively, festival at-

mosphere in Lander, a funky outdoors townat the foot of the Wind River Range, shesaid. A lonesome Wyoming mountaintop

would offer a spectacular view, but Lyon,the convention organizer, wants to be withhis other dedicated stargazers. “Just to hear the reaction of the crowds

and the wild cheers that will go up,” Lyonsaid. “It’s kind of an adrenaline rush whenyou’re in a mass of people all sharing thatexperience.”

— AP

18 Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U LY 2 0 1 6 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

Reserve now for next year’s solar eclipse

Many years ago, when starting a vaca-tion, a priest I knew packed his bags andpapers, headed for the San Francisco Air-port, went to the Pan Amcounter (I told you it was along time ago), and said to theagent, “I’d like a seat on thenext flight.” The puzzled agentresponded by asking, “Nextflight to where?” And thepriest answered, “Whereverthe next flight goes.” That might be an extreme

case of impulse travel, and itcertainly isn’t practical nowwith walk-up fares as high asthey are. But if you’re really loose about po-tential destinations, you can find some ter-rific deals if you’re willing to go where theairfare bargains take you.A handful of websites, some purely infor-

mational and some selling tickets, offerposts, blogs, tweets and email bulletinsabout airfare deals. I tend to follow airfare-watchdog.com, secretflying.com, and, ofcourse, smartertravel.com, where I’m acontributor.

Domestic and international dealsAs of the day I’m writing this, May 29, sam-

ple “deal” domestic round-trip fares includeAtlanta-Sacramento and vice versa, $198 for

flights on selected dates through February2017; Denver to Ft. Lauderdale and vice versa,$166 for August; and Newark to Phoenix, $249

for late summer and fall.But the best deals tend to be

for international flights, both re-gional and long-haul. Examplesi nc l ude Los Ange l e s t oBangkok, $448 for fall travel;Chicago to Mexico City, $288 forlate summer; Seattle to Manila,$417 for October through Feb-ruary; and Chicago to Kolkata(Calcutta), $604 for Octoberthrough December.Most of the deal fares are on

major airlines; sometimes just one line,sometimes several. Some of the deal faresrequire stops; others cover nonstops. Mostdeal fares are subject to seat limitations andblackout dates.Occasionally, these and other websites

will post what their operators think are“mistake” fares that an airline really didn’tintend to post. As the operators note, air-lines sometimes honor mistake fares; othertimes they don’t. But there’s no risk in buy-ing a mistake fare: You may not get thedeal, but you get your money back.Typically the purchase windows for

these special deals are pretty short, maybeeven just a day or two. But the travel period

is usually a month or more, and usuallyweeks in advance, giving you the opportu-nity to tailor a trip to your needs.

Economy and business class dealsBy far the largest numbers of deal fares

— and the lowest prices — are for economyclass travel. But often the most spectaculardeal fares are in business class. A few days ago, for example, British Air-

ways posted round-trip fares from the EastCoast gateways to Israel at less than $2,000,which you could cut to $1,600 with an AARPdiscount. Last winter, I grabbed a less than$2,000 round-trip business class fare from theWest Coast to enjoy Christmas in Vienna. Idon’t see anything that spectacular availableright now, but I’ll keep looking.Although the websites I mentioned also

post business class fares, the gold standardin premium-class deals is Matthew Ben-nett’s First Class Flyer. Unfortunately, theannual fee of $97 to $297, depending on thelevel of service, puts this resource outsidethe reach of most vacation travelers, but the

free sites do a reasonably good job. Each site presents information in its own

way: Some tailor the presentation to yourhome airport, others give you the picturethroughout the nation. Which one you usemost depends on your preferences. Themain minor annoyance to secretflying isthat it lists every fare as “only” some figure,which seems condescending and gets oldvery quickly. The blog “View from the Wing”

(viewfromthewing.com) is also good forpremium deals, although it concentrates oncredit-card “points” deals more than wouldinterest the average traveler.No matter what your interest, the secret

to finding the best deals is almost always tocast a wide net. And these days, that net cancome up with some terrific airfare deals withenough diversity that you can almost counton finding something you’d like.S e n d e - m a i l t o E d P e r k i n s a t

eperkins@mind.net. Also, check out Ed’s newrail travel website at www.rail-guru.com.© 2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Traveling on impulse: Fun or foolish?COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — J U LY 2 0 1 6 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel 19

Landscape Rebates & Discounts

Designed to help homeowners, HOAs & businesses reduce their outdoor water use.

Rebate & discount programs for CVWD customers

Turf conversion rebates are available to HOA, business and residential customers. Homeowners can receive $1 per square foot, up to $2,000 for converting grass lawns to desert-friendly landscaping.

Smart controllers are free for residents; CVWD will refund half the cost for large landscape customers.

Rebates cover the cost of new generation irrigation nozzles (up to $4 each).

Indoor water conservation kits are free for residential customers.

Residents can receive $100 rebates for installing a high-e!ciency toilet (maximum two per home). Commercial establishments, such as hotels, can receive a rebate of half the cost of installing these water-e!cient toilets.

Visit www.cvwd.org/rebates for current program details, eligibility requirements or to apply for rebates and discounts online. For questions regarding these programs call (760) 398-2651.

Connect with us! (760) 398-2651www.cvwd.org

Facebook “f” Logo CMYK / .eps Facebook “f” Logo CMYK / .eps

TRAVEL TIPSBy Ed Perkins

Please tell our advertisers, “I saw you in the Beacon!”

20 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U LY 2 0 1 6 — C O A C H E L L A VA L L E Y B E A C O N

By Jamie Lee PricerIf numbers are a good prediction, the

2016 Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines festival willsee sell-out audiences. Some 27 artists andgroups will perform on four stages Aug. 19to 21 at the Idyllwild Arts Academy.

Rounding out the experience, a FestivalMarketplace will offer 50-plus vendors withjewelry, pottery, other arts and crafts, T-shirts, hats and posters as well as a broadrange of food and drink options with Cajuncooking and barbecue, ice cream, smooth-ies and much more on the menus.

For jazz, blues and R & B lovers, the 23rdannual event aims to raise scholarshipfunds for the Academy’s high school-age

students and summer programs. Guestswill experience solo musicians, jazz ensem-bles, big bands, jazz orchestras and brassbands.

Coachella Valley fans might pay special at-tention to two of the singers. Two-timeGrammy winner Diane Shuur, who lives inCathedral City, is one of the nation’s leadingcontemporary jazz singers. Two-time winnerof the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Musician ofthe Year singer and pianist Yve Evans per-forms regularly in desert night spots.

Longtime favorites, such as legendarystand-up bass jazz musician MashallHawkins who founded the Academy’s JazzProgram and the Jazz in the Pines festival,

will join new faces. “We are very excited about the per-

former line-up and talent we will be present-ing at our 23rd annual “Jazz in the Pines”festival,” says Pamela Jordan, president ofIdyllwild Arts Foundation. “As always, weappreciate the support and underwritingwe have received for this important jazzweekend at Idyllwild.

A Patrons Dinner and Dance in theFrench Quarter themed “Magic in the For-

est” will kick off the jazz weekend on Aug.19. Guests will listen and dance to themusic of well-known jazz performerDeanna Bogart, enjoy a Bourbon Bar, tastedinner presented by Idyllwild Arts LeadChef Chris Stroud and bid in a silent auc-tion. Entertainment will also include a “live”painting, a magician and a photo booth.

Arts &Style Paul Simon’s new CD uses a variety ofunusual instruments. See story on thefacing page.

Idyllwild festival mixes music, arts and food

The Jazz in the Pines festival, Aug. 19 to 21 this year, will offer a diverse line-up ofperformers and talent.

We off er carefully customized Thai food dishes that will suit any palette! Bring Your Family & Friends to Talay Thai Dim Sum Restaurant to experience delicious food in a friendy and welcoming atmosphere.

Mon. - Wed. : 5 pm - 9 pmThu. - Sun. : 5 pm - 1 am

LATE NIGHT SPECIALThu. - Sun. : 9 pm - 1 am

Tuesday-Wed. 5:00pm to 9:00pm

(Dine-In only)

LATE NIGHT SPECIAL: THUR. –SUN. 9:00 PM- 1:00 AM

ALL 8 CHOICES OF DRAFT BEERS for $5,HOUSE WINE: CHARDONNAY, MERLOT, PINOT NOIR,

CABERNET, SANGRIA $5

Talay Thai Restaurant

15% OFF

See IDYLLWILD FESTIVAL, page 21

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C O A C H E L L A VA L L E Y B E A C O N — J U LY 2 0 1 6 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style 21

By David BauderLook at the liner notes on Paul Simon’s new

disc, “Stranger to Stranger,” and it seems likea laboratory of exotic instruments. Musiciansuse a mbira, a bamboo marimba, cloud cham-ber bowls, a chromelodeon, a zoomoozo-phone — and a cheap clock.

It’s an album as notable for its sound asits songs, without the feel of an academicexercise. Simon, at 74, is more adventurousmusically at an age many peers are contentto ride on their reputations.

“There’s no point in resting on laurels,”said Simon, whose Manhattan office displaysboth of his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tro-phies side by side. “You’re either interestedin an idea, in which case you pursue it, or youhave no ideas or aren’t interested in pursuingideas... Rest is indicated by a sign on a staff.”

Busting beyond his folk-rock roots is notnew for Simon, an impulse that has becomemore pronounced in the past few decadesfollowing his work with African musicianson “Graceland” and Brazilians in “TheRhythm of the Saints.” It hasn’t always beensmooth; the success of “Graceland” openeda debate about cultural appropriation.

“It’s not like I set out to explore,” he ex-plained. “There’s a connection that I’m fol-lowing that pushes me toward somepleasing sound that I can barely imagine, soI go looking for it.”

Innovative instrumentsFor the percussive “Stranger to

Stranger,” which was released in June,Simon was initially intrigued with flamencomusic and the use of hand-claps. Throughhis son, Simon met and collaborated withItalian producer Digi G’Alessio, whorecords under the name Clap! Clap! Oldrecordings of the vocal group the GoldenGate Quartet are used to ghostly effect. ButSimon’s most intriguing journey took himto Montclair State University in New Jersey.

At the time, Montclair housed a collec-

tion of instruments created by the lateHarry Partch, a composer who workedwith instruments that had smaller tuningdifferences than is typical. Simon broughta portable studio in to record instrumentslike the cloud chamber bowls — glass-shaped bowls that hang from a woodenframe and produce a haunting sound, saidRobert Cart, director of Montclair’s John J.Cali School of Music.

“I wasn’t surprised that if there were a popmusician who was interested in the instru-ments, that it would be Paul Simon,” he said.

Simon was the only popular musician toexplore the Partch instruments in the 15years they were housed at Montclair, Cartsaid. They’ve since moved to the Universityof Washington following a caretaker’s death.

Unexpected lyricsSimon believes he has an unusual song-

writing process, connecting sounds togetherto see if they fit and bringing in lyrics later.Here, his observational songs muse on mor-tality, mental health, insomnia, romance andan overzealous security guard.

In “Wristband,” the narrator is a musician

who sneaks out of a concert hall for a smokeand isn’t allowed back in because he lacksthe evidence that he belongs backstage. To-gether with “The Werewolf,” they contain a

Simon: Still adventurous after all these years

See PAUL SIMON, page 21

SWINGIN’ SOUNDSDr. Henry Le Pughand Friends plays live

music for listening and dancing from10 a.m. to noon Fridays at MizellSenior Center, 480 S. Sunrise Way,Palm Springs. The Summer Jam Festis free for members, $5 for nonmem-bers. (760) 333-5886. Mizell.org

WIN CASH AND PRIZESMonday at MizellSenior Center is the

place to be if you love to play bingo.Card sales start at noon with gamesat 12:50 p.m. through 4 p.m. Cost is$7 for a set of 10 sheets (6 bingocards per sheet) for members and$12 for nonmembers. Mizell is at480 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs.(760) 323-5689, Mizell.org

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

Ongoing

quality not always present in music: humor.The Milwaukee man he describes in “TheWerewolf” had “a fairly decent wife,” hesings. “She kills him — sushi knife.” “I’ve always had that in my music,” he

said. “A lot of it has been in there and peo-ple don’t know that I’m kidding. My mind

works in comedy a lot but my voice is not acomedic voice.” Later in the album, Simon guesses that it

took dozens of takes for him to get the rightread on a 12-letter obscenity that the song“Cool Papa Bell” even concedes is “an uglyword.” The very surprise of it alters thesong’s mood. Simon is heading out on tour, crafting a

show with a mixture of the old and new. He

understands the need for crowd-pleasing fa-vorites, even for something he doesn’t par-ticularly like (“You Can Call me Al”). Thereare enough new songs from the pastdecade that go over well in concert, he said. He’s toured with Sting and done a

“Graceland” reunion tour over the past fewyears. Don’t expect any reunions with es-tranged partner Art Garfunkel. “I wouldhave been happy enough to sing with Artie

if it would have been pleasurable,” he said. When he finishes a new disc, Simon won-

ders whether it will be his last. But then thecycle of creativity begins again. “Six months later you have an idea, and

you do begin,” he said. “That’s happened tome my whole life. From that, I infer that it’spart of my nature to do that. But it’s not anautomatic thing that will happen forever.”

— AP

22 Arts & Style | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U LY 2 0 1 6 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

The line-upSaturday, Aug. 20Main Stage 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Los Hermanos

Arango 12:45 to 2 p.m. Gilbert Castellanos Ham-

mond B-3 Quartet2:30 to 4 p.m. Graham Dechter Quartet 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. Diane Schuur with

Ernie Watts French Quarter 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. Hot Club of L.A.12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Greg Jones Band2 to 3:30 p.m. Gilbert Hansen 4 to 5:30 p.m. Yve Evans Trio Stephens Hall10:45 to 11:45 a.m. Joshua White + CodesNoon to 1:15 p.m. Gregory Page1:45 to 2:45 p.m. Rose Mallett3:15 to 4:15 p.m. The Westerlies

4:45 to 5:45 p.m. DefiniensLowman Concert Hall6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Seahawk Mojo with

Richie Cole, (Patrons VIP Package only)Sunday, Aug. 21Main stage11 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Voices in Praise

Gospel Choir 12:45 to 2 p.m. Richie Cole Alto Madness

with The Jazz Project Big Band 2:30 to 4 p.m. Lori Bell Quartet 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. Casey Abrams with

Haley Reinhart French Quarter10:30 to 1:45 a.m. Steph Johnson Quartet 12 to 1:30 p.m. Lisa Haley and The Zy-

dekats 2 to 3:30 p.m. Chuck Alvarez Band 4 to 5:30 p.m. Euphoria Brass Band Stephens Recital Hall10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Robin Adler and

Mutts of the Planet Noon-1 p.m. Stevie D & Solar Flare

1:45 to 2:45 p.m. Marshall Hawkins withHarry Pickens and Roy McCurdy withRose Colella 3:15 to 4:15 p.m.

Besos de Coco 4:45 to 5:45 p.m.

Henry FranklinQuartet

If you goWhat: 23rd an-

nual Idyllwild Jazzin the PinesWhen: Perform-

ances 10 a.m. to 6p.m. Aug. 20 to 21;Patron dinner anddance 6 p.m. Aug.19Where: Idyllwild

vArts Academy, 52-500 Temecula RoadTickets: $85 one

day, $150 two day, $350 patronInfo: (951) 468-7210, jazzinthepines.comIdyllwild festival

From page 19

Paul SimonFrom page 20

With a cool mountain setting, shade from trees and tarps, plusa marketplace replete with arts, crafts and foods, Jazz in thePines attracts a wide-range of audience members.

AccountantsBean Counter Bookkeeping . . . . . . . .11

ArtsCreighton Davis Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . .21Idyllwild Arts . . . . . . . .21

AutoPalm Springs Subaru Volvo . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Dance StudioStep By Step Dance Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Financial ServicesHeritage Living TrustAlbert Boykin . . . . . . .13Capital Growth Group . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Funeral PlanningForest Lawn . . . . . . . . .12Tom Anderson . . . . . . .12

Home Repair / Improvement /

ServicesAffordable Storage Cabinets & Closets . . .18All Desert . . . . . . . . . . .18Reliable Roofing . . . . . .6

HousingCaleo Bay Alzheimer’s Special Care Center . . .6Casa Victoria . . . . . . . . .8Mission Hills at Rancho Mirage . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Insurance ServicesThe Wright Group . . . . .5

Legal Services/Attorneys

Nordstrom, Steele, Nicolette & Blythe . . .12

Medical/Health/Dental

Crystal Clear Water Pure Elements . . . . . . .9Desert Nerve Center . . . .7Final Transition . . . . . . .9Life Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Inside Back CoverMcDonald Chiropractic . . . . . . . . .8Sunlife Dental . . . . . . .15

Personal ServicesTom the Barber . . . . . . .10

RetailPawnshield . . . . . . . . . .11Unique Coins . . . . . . . .15U Watch Your Back . . .10

RestaurantTalay Thai . . . . . . . . . . .20

Tour & TravelCardiff Limousine & Transportation . . . . . .17

UtilitiesCoachella Valley Water District . . . . . . .19Renova Solar . .Back Page

WorshipPeace Christian Fellowship . . . . . . . . .17

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