DT Social 1 - Thursday, May 14
A fundraiser to support the Desert Trumpet
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In celebration of its fourth anniversary, the Desert Trumpet is holding its first in-person fundraiser, titled DT Social 1, on Thursday, May 14 from 6:30-8:30pm. The event will feature a special concert at Spirit Wind, the residence designed by Joshua Tree architect, composer and rock climber George Zelenz (1968-2022). Attendees will be treated to refreshments provided by Más o Menos as well as light appetizers.Tickets are $50 per person and available via www.deserttrumpet.org/support,
The fundraiser supports the Desert Trumpet, an independent nonprofit reporting on politics, culture and the environment with a focus on Twentynine Palms and the Morongo Basin. Paid subscriptions are optional and all reporting is free and available online. Subscription revenue pays a portion of the organization’s budget but does not cover reporting expenses. Monies raised will be used to report on the 2026 elections and underwrite a City Council Candidate Forum for Twentynine Palms residents.
The Zelenz “Spirit Wind” is located on 5 acres in Quail Springs, Joshua Tree. The proportions of the house are based on an atonal scale, and a large curved wall in the great room was shaped to enhance the room’s acoustics. This 2,271 square-foot, three story postmodern residence also has sweeping views of Joshua Tree National Park.
The concert features local musicians Derek Monypeny, Ash Ingalls and Ellen Scholff responding to the house using a musical interpretation of the Surrealist game Exquisite Corpse. In this adaptation, musicians located on different floors will present a series of overlapping solo improvisational performances. Fundraiser attendees will wander freely, experiencing a changing mix of sound as they move from floor to floor.
About the Desert Trumpet
The Desert Trumpet is a nonprofit publication that seeks to increase political engagement and encourage a participatory political process by reporting on city government. Our focus is on Twentynine Palms, but our goal is to report on social justice, equity and environmental issues throughout the Morongo Basin, as well as provide a forum for residents to interact on these issues. The Desert Trumpet is published by Morongo Basin Projects, a 501c3 charitable organization. Reporting is available free of charge at www.deserttrrumpet.org.
About George Zelenz
George Zelenz (1968–2022) was a self-taught composer, licensed architect-builder, and rock climber who spent most of his adult life in and around Joshua Tree, California. Working at the intersection of microtonal music and desert architecture, he composed works performed at international festivals — including the Spoleto Festival USA and MicroFest — and scored a PBS documentary on glass artist Dale Chihuly. His friendships with composer Lou Harrison and tuning theorist Ervin M. Wilson placed him within one of the most rigorous traditions in American experimental music. As a builder, he designed and constructed Spirit Wind, a 2,271-square-foot post-modern desert dwelling in Joshua Tree whose proportions, he said, were based on atonal scales — a literal fusion of his two disciplines. He described the house simply as “pure music.” Zelenz died in Los Angeles in 2022.
About the musicians
Derek Monypeny
Born in the Arizona desert, a veteran of multiple explorations into the Sahara desert via Morocco and Western Sahara, and now a resident of the Mojave, Derek Monypeny sees his musical mission as adding to and expanding on what he calls the “desert continuum;” the psychedelic sirocco swirl of desert-based stringed instruments played with utter abandon by musicians the world over.
Derek uses a variety of instruments to achieve these ends. In addition to guitar, he has recorded an album of solo oud recordings (Don’t Bring Me Down, Bruce) and is currently performing and recording using the 15-string bulbul tarang (Indian electric banjo).
Derek is a former member of the bands Oaxacan (Oakland, CA), ALTO (Portland, OR), and Sir Richard Bishop’s Freak Of Araby Ensemble. He has collaborated and toured with artists such as Bill Orcutt, Jozef van Wissem, Mike Watt, Eva Aguila, Ak’chamel, and many others.
Ash Ingalls
Ash Ingalls wanders many pathways of vibrational praxis though their work as an improviser, recording artist, radio DJ, and independent researcher, in addition to founding & facilitating Searching Records, a cassette label presenting a wide spectrum of improvised music from both local and international community. Ash is involved in multiple music projects as a producer and multi-instrumentalist, with an intuitive gravitation towards acoustic string instruments (cello, bass, guitar, ruan, banjo, etc) modified through shadowy electronic effects. They perform ritualistic drone-folk with Ritual Ashing, loop-based explorations with Entwined, and chaotic free-rock with Aeon Jung. Based in Joshua Tree, CA.
Ellen Schloff
Ellen Schloff is an experimental multi-instrumentalist & vocalist whose improvised performances draw from their classical training in violin and piano and merges electronic elements of layered loops with effects, creating a kaleidoscope of sounds and gestures, transforming them into symphonic compositions.
DT Social 1 is a project of the Desert Trumpet Fundraising Committee:
Cindy Bernard, Caileen Brandt, Jonathan Hume, Ted Meyer and Anna Stump.