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Art in Bloom March 7,8,9

The desert’s finest floral designers will offer their interpretations of works in the museum’s collection and we invite you to join the excitement. Not only can you view the exquisite floral arrangements, you can attend fabulous events throughout three days, including an exclusive gourmet dinner for Founders and Supporters, lectures by university professors and top design professionals, lovely luncheons in the museum’s sculpture gardens, floral demonstrations and a creative Flower Party for art enthusiasts of all ages, featuring the culinary creations of the finest chefs of Palm Springs.

Event and Culinary Sponsors

See “My Little Flower Shop” at Art In Bloom

http://mylittleflowershop.com

Food & Wine Festival Palm Desert

Food & Wine Festival Palm Desert to Feature More Than 100 Internationally Acclaimed Premium Wines From More Than 50 Wineries

The second annual c (March 25-27, 2011), which takes place under the Big White Tent during Fashion Week, will feature more than 100 world-class wines for one of the most outstanding viticulture and culinary events in Southern California.

Palm Springs, CA (PRWEB) March 7, 2011

The second annual Food & Wine Festival Palm Desert (March 25-27, 2011), which takes place under the Big White Tent during Fashion Week, will feature more than 100 world-class wines for one of the most outstanding viticulture and culinary events in Southern California.

Attendees of the three-day celebration will have the opportunity to sample the finest premium wines and champagnes from California, Europe and South America showcasing more than 100 varietals of wine. Samples of extravagant cuisine from more than 50 fine dining restaurants, caterers, and food suppliers will also be paired with these celebrated wines. Among the vintners and wineries participating in the Food & Wine Festival Palm Desert are:

Benziger Family Winery

Cakebread Cellars

Folie A Deux

Gainey

Gerard Bertrand, France

Gundlach Bundschu

Hahn Family Wines

Hail Wines

Hess Collection

JAQK Cellars

M by Michael Mondavi

Napa Cellars

Pahlmeyer

Piper-Heidsieck

Robert Oatley Vineyards

Roth

SAKE2ME

Schramsberg

Sonoma Coast Vineyards

Sonoma-Cutrer

Trinchero Family Estates

Willamette Valley Vineyards

“These wineries represent some of the world’s most extraordinary wines and it’s an exciting opportunity for the consumer to have them all gathered together under one roof for three days of stellar food and wine pairings,” said Jeff Hocker, executive producer.

The viticultural experience for this event will be made even more exceptional with appearances by several major national wine authorities including Hugh Davies, president/CEO of Schramsberg Vineyards and J. Davies Vineyards; noted sommelier and certified wine educator Antonia Quast; market manager and certified wine educator from Wilson Daniels, Ltd Tracy Cervellone.; and Joel Templin, co-owner of JAQK Cellars. Adding to the event’s appeal is the participation of nearly 20 renowned and respected chefs, including four James Beard Award winners: Paul Bertolli, Bradley Ogden, Jimmy Schmidt and Roy Yamaguchi. Another star attraction is Duff Goldman, star of the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes and Iron Chef America, who will join a lineup of nationally known chefs.

The James Beard Foundation and The Culinary Institute of American have joined the Food & Wine Festival Palm Desert in a groundbreaking partnership that will benefit the Friends of the James Beard Foundation and The Culinary Institute of America Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Food & Wine Festival Palm Desert is a fun gathering of epicureans and wine aficionados and will take place during the sixth annual Fashion Week El Paseo, both produced by Palm Springs Life. Over the week, the two events showcase the best of West Coast fashion, food, and wine with a variety of glamorous runway shows, cooking demonstrations, seminars, tastings and much more.

Sponsors of Food & Wine Festival Palm Desert include the City of Palm Desert, Time Warner Cable, The Culinary Institute of America, Friends of James Beard Foundation, Cambria, California Date Administrative Committee, Cunard, Viking Range Corp., Jensen’s Finest Foods, The Cook Street Group at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, R&R Broadcasting, Stella Artois, Icelandic Glacial Water, Trinchero Family Estates, Costco, Godiva Chocolatier, Beaverton Foods Inc., Sonoma-Cutrer, OpenTable.com, and Eisenhower Imaging Center.

For further information visit http://www.palmdesertfoodandwine.com. For Food & Wine Festival Palm Desert sponsorship opportunities, contact Jeff Hocker at 760-320-5272. For Fashion Week El Paseo information, tickets, or sponsorship opportunities, contact Michael Mathews at 760-325-2333 or michaelm@palmspringslife.com.

 

5 Basic Facebook Business Page Optimization Tips

Whether you need to connect with clients, promote your brand, generate buzz, or share post-event pictures, your Facebook Business Page should be a primary weapon in your marketing arsenal. With these five tips, this powerhouse program single-handedly offers the ability to spread the word, increase awareness, and accomplish your goals.

1. Create and set a unique Facebook name. You can do this by going to http://www.facebook.com/username and selecting your Business Page (not your Personal Profile) from the drop-down list. This unique name will also be used for your unique Facebook URL. Also, choosing your name is one and done – once you choose it, you can’t change it, so be sure to double check for errors.

2. Add interactive Facebook applications. Facebook offers over 550,000 active applications, many of which help promote your own website and content via your Facebook Business Page. In addition to providing a user-friendly interface, most of the applications are very easy to install and customize. Also, integration and usage of these applications will promote links to your website, blog, or online retail space. Here are my top five must-haves: Networked Blogs, Promotions, Slideshare, and Reviews, and Biz Page Pro http://bizpagepro.com/bizproapp4u

3. Add the Like button plug-in to your website. To encourage your blog followers and website visitors to follow you on Facebook, add the Facebook Like plug-in to your site. This button is a single line of generated code that allows people to share your content with their network of friends. By clicking on the Like button, a story appears in the user’s friend’s news feed with a link back to your site. In addition, users have the ability to add a comment, giving more prominence to the published story on Facebook.

4. Be social, and let your fans, too. Locking down your page to limit management time is going to make your page less fun and less interactive for users. Let users to post on your wall, add photos, tag, add videos and comment on your posts and posts made by other fans. Enabling interactive options may result in a spam post here or there, but you can monitor all activity and delete what you deem inappropriate.

5. Optimize your status updates with keywords. It’s significant to note that Facebook pages are indexed by search engines, meaning public updates from your Business Page (unlike your Personal Profile) often show up in Google’s real-time search results. When posting a new update on your page, keep your most important keywords in mind. Also, try to add a picture when possible – Facebook updates with images posted on Business Pages are clicked on 54 percent more than text-only updates, and even 22 percent more than posts with a video update.

For many small to mid-size businesses, Facebook pages are increasingly becoming a second homepage. Employing these basic optimization tactics within your Business Page can significantly enhance your visibility and outreach not only through Facebook, but the entire World Wide Web.

We highly reccommend this App. in order to Brand YOUR Page to YOUR business http://bizpagepro.com/bizproapp4u

Retailers Sing the Merits of Social, Local and Mobile in 2010

Three trends accelerated in 2010 that may redefine the way we shop for good: Social, local and mobile.

And, in case that’s hard to remember, for short we will refer to it as “so-lo-mo,”
like do-re-mi from the “Sound of Music,” except without much “Glee” for retailers.

That’s because other than the recession, this past year may represent the biggest challenge for the retail industry since the mid-’90s, when e-commerce was born.

Here’s how this daunting, yet exciting and opportunistic, trifecta played out this year:

Mobile: There’s definitely an app for that. As smartphones go mainstream, savvy shoppers use apps to price-check and read reviews of products in the store.

Result: Retailers watch in horror as shoppers leave their stores empty-handed and drive across town to another store or go online to order a different or cheaper product.

Social: Friends and social circles influence purchase decisions through the rise of Facebook and Twitter. Users check in on apps, such as Foursquare and shopkick, for discounts and incentives.

Result: Retailers who don’t bone up on their social media skills may miss out on generating conversations across the Web that result in online sales or traffic to their stores.

Local: Advertising begins shifting to Groupon and LivingSocial, as group discounting and daily deals gain popularity.

Result: At least initially, these deals have been successful at locking in sales for local stores and restaurants looking for a bump in visitors.

These trends led Cathy Halligan to leave her cushy job as chief marketing officer of Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s biggest retailer, for Power Reviews, an obscure social commerce early-stage start-up.

As the company’s SVP of marketing and sales, she explains her decision:

“I’ve been in retail for 22 years, and starting in fourth quarter of last year, I saw that consumers were adopting different tools, techniques and shopping methodologies at scale. I saw things like Groupon and Foursquare, and then there were things like [eBay’s] RedLaser, which lets you scan an item on a retailer’s shelf to get a price from the retailer across the street.”

That’s a catastrophic change she hasn’t seen since her days at Blue Nile when the high-end jewelry e-retailer was just getting off the ground.

The big difference with these trends in 2010 vs. e-commerce in the mid-90s, she said, is adoption: “Consumers are adopting stuff and actually using it.”

The uptick in behavior started occurring as early as the first quarter.

Now, at the San Francisco-based company, she’s mostly focused on the social component of the retail experience.

The PowerReviews platform works across more than a thousand e-commerce sites, including REI’s, and Diapers.com (now owned by Amazon), to let consumers leave messages about products and link their reviews to their Facebook profile, if they choose.

In 2010, Facebook shifted the shopping scene to become one of the leading ways people discovered new products, she said.

The social network did so by becoming a significant source of referral traffic to e-commerce sites–and, in some cases, surpassing Google. The “Like” button allowed users to connect to brands and helped them spread virally.

The most stunning example of the year, in her opinion, was when Apple released the Beatles on iTunes and more referrals came from Facebook than from Google.

Eva Manolis, Amazon’s VP of retail customer experience, had a contrarian viewpoint for the online behemoth.

“There’s still a ton to be done. Social hasn’t really gotten farther than sending an email,” she said.

Amazon allows users to log in to their Facebook account on the site in order to get recommendations for bands, movies, etc., based on what their friends have “Liked,” but she says one of the more exciting social uses is the Wish List functionality that allows users to tag products from all over the Web to a list.

The feature is 11 years old, but it was particular popular during the 2010 holiday season, with Wish List purchases increasing six percent compared to the rest of the year. Manolis said it’s logical that “the rise in being more comfortable with social is making Wish List more popular.”

But if it’s not social, it’s mobile that’s creating retail disruption this year.

EBay is not the only major retailer that has a price-comparison app. Among many barcode readers, Google has one. And this year, Amazon launched Price Check on the iPhone, which allows users to search by scanning a barcode, clicking a picture of a product or speaking the product’s name into the phone.

This week, Amazon disclosed that there were millions of Price Checks from Black Friday through its Free Super-Saver Shipping cutoff date for delivery before Christmas.

Mobile also often intersects with social.

Take shopkick, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based start-up that already counts big retailers as its clients, including Target, Macy’s, Best Buy and others.

CEO Cyriac Roeding, a former EVP for CBS’s mobile unit, created the concept to get people inside stores by giving points and other rewards to consumers who check in on their mobile phones.

Founded in the summer of 2009, shopkick is already getting some positive feedback. Sports Authority details its experiences after running several tests over a four-month period. After increasing the amount of rewards they gave, the sporting-goods store saw a 50 to 70 percent increase in shoppers walking into the store.

Users can then exchange the “kickbucks” for gift cards, Facebook Credits and more, or retailers can provide discounts on items in the store.

Likewise, Foursquare also tries to encourage consumer loyalty.

Merchants may team up with the so-lo-mo network to offer discounts or other incentives for check-ins, or for those who visit often enough to become the “Mayor.” While discounts and incentives were only beginning to take off at the start of the year, Foursquare now has a steady stream.

Just take the middle of nowhere as an example: The Pizza Hut in El Dorado, Kan., will award the Foursquare Mayor one free order of breadsticks per day with purchase of a large pizza. And in neighboring Wichita, Payless ShoeSource is giving first-time check-ins $5 off any $25 purchase.

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Jewelry Designers Branch Out

Square resin bracelets, c. 1985.
Courtesy Martha Sturdy.

Jewelry Designers Branch Out

By Matt Burkholz
http://route66west.com

In the early 1990s, while doing research for my book Copper Art Jewelry: A Different Lustre, I discovered that designer Jerry Fels, owner of the midcentury copper jewelry company Renoir of California, was also the mysterious Curtis Jeré of Artisan House, the premier producer of modernist metal wall sculpture. This fact made me realize that the copper jewelry I had come to love was a microcosmic version of the wall sculpture that I also collected and sold. I began pondering the relationship between the design of jewelry and the design of larger scale art and objects, and wondered which came first? The brooch or the atomic-burst wall sculpture?

I really delved into this question in 2008 when I discovered the late-1970s vintage jewelry designs of Martha Sturdy, Vancouver, Canada’s, most noteworthy design export. I fell in love with her square and triangular bangles, oversized faux gilt-chain bracelets and necklaces and finishes of matte, shiny and bronzed gold-tone patination. Her jewelry seemed distinctly ancient in tone while utterly a product of the late ‘70s and the ‘80s. At the same time, it seemed futuristic. I discovered that although Sturdy was no longer creating jewelry, she was still a force in the world of modern furniture design and home accessories in Canada; from the late ‘80s through the ‘90s, she had operated retail shops all over the country. Although the retail operation had ceased, she still ran a factory and wholesale showroom in Vancouver. I speedily made an appointment with her studio manager, Amanda MacGregor, to see the place first-hand.

MacGregor met me at the gated entrance to the factory, and I was instantly bowled over by the scent of curing resin, a smell I knew well as a purveyor of Bakelite and celluloid jewelry. I was whisked away for a tour and dazzled with exquisite modernist furniture, artwork, lighting, huge centerpiece bowls and rectangular floral containment systems, all swirling in an array of resin colorations from earthily naturalistic to indisputably fantastic: Carrara marble-like white, amber, matte coal black, grass green, hot pink and orange, all mildly transparent and simulating nature’s own creations. I also noticed massive brushed steel sheeting, bronze detailing and metallic elements. I was captivated by the power of pure geometry at work in Sturdy’s clean-lined simple furniture designs. Then I spied another treasure: a bowl of long-forgotten geometric bangle bracelets made of resin, thick, chunky, deliciously rich, glowing art objects for the wrist. As with Jerry Fels’s jewelry and Jeré’s wall sculpture, I realized that this was a designer whose vision was pure and consistent. The sensibility in these resin bangles created 30 years earlier was still engendering this contemporary art and furniture.

Melissa Morgan Fine Art Opening –

D.J. Hall Featured at Melissa Morgan Fine Art Gallery

Robyn Blackwood, Alec Longmuir, Dr. Nancy Carlson, Melissa Morgan & “Wyatt”

New works by D.J. Hall headlined Melissa Morgan Fine Art’s season preview opening. Hall, whose works were recently featured in a retrospective at the Palm Springs Art Museum, is best known for her figurative realism, often depicting social scenes from the region. Collectors and art enthusiasts anticipate a full gallery installation of the work of Deborah Oropallo on December 10th, accompanied by famed Magnolia tapestries from contemporary greats such as Enrique Chagoya, Squeek Carnwath , Chuck Close  and William Wiley. Nellie King Solomon, Andy Moses, Eric Johnson, Ivan De Pena and Jesse Small will also have openings in the new year. Works from Deborah Butterfield, Bruce Beasley, and Roberto Matta will be  featured throughout  the season as well. For more information, visit www.melissamorganfineart.com

Photography by Sherri Breyer

Melissa Morgan Fine Art
73040 El Paseo
Palm Desert, CA 92260
760-341-1056

The sixth annual Fashion Week El Paseo™

Designer - Colleen Queen

The sixth annual Fashion Week El Paseo™ unfolds March 20-28, 2011, under The Big White Tent in the heart of Palm Desert’s most celebrated shopping district.

Showcasing the newest collections by a marquee West Coast couture designer Oliver Tolentino, as well as retro styles by L.A. designer Trina Turk and fresh ideas by emerging designers from Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, to mention just a few of the shows, the Palm Springs Life-produced Fashion Week El Paseo™ is one of the desert’s most popular events.

Come to the tent’s ultra-lounge for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres before each night’s runway show. Then enjoy parties and after-parties, in-store events, trunk shows, expert panels, charity events, and other fun and innovative programs.

The couture runway shows have generated tremendous excitement over the years, featuring designers Kevan Hall, Lloyd Klein, Eduardo Lucero, Juan Carlos Obando, and Colleen Quen.

Welcome PeroXide Studio Hair!

We at TheDesert411.com family are VERY excited to welcome PeroXide Studio Hair Salon.
“We think they are a dip in the pool on a HOT Desert day”
We are looking forward to co-producing some super fun beauty events
in their huge 12,000 sq ft space. Stay tuned for details…..

PeroXide Studio Hair is NOT your Mom’s hair salon.
(Although feel free to bring Mom…She’ll love it!)

The PeroXide Complex is a “Concept” started by Jett & Cary owners and stylists
of the Award Winning Liquid Hair Studios in Boston.

* Mention TheDesert411.com and receive 30% off your first visit.

(cut and color)

PeroXide bustles with an energy that you can feel, as soon as you enter the room.
“We are determined to provide customer service beyond compare.”

“We wanted to create a “scene” with a mix of fashion, makeup, skin care. music,
art, youth culture, and performance.
It’s simlple: Getting your hair done should be fun, not a chore.”

Our stylists are bright shining stars, the best of the best.
They are well trained, motivated, and most importantly authentic.
We want you to enjoy a place that is Beautiful… but NOT pretentious”

“We have specialists in haircutting, hair coloring, makeup, skin care,
and lovely indulgent bath and beauty products.”

Come Visit Soon:
68406 East Palm Canyon Dr. (Highway 111)
in Cathedral City, CA. Close to The IMAX Theater at Cathedral Canyon.

PeroXide serves men and women at a price point to suit every budget.

Book your appointment Online! CLICK HERE: http://peroxidestudios.com/Welcome.html

* Mention TheDesert411.com and receive 30% off your first visit.

(cut and color)