SEARCH the Guide, by date, band, artist, event, festival, etc. (in addition to the sidebar)

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Festival Venue on TV Sunday Night

.
.
First, a full new edition of the Guide's LIVE MUSIC EVENTS is available, just below or in the sidebar at left, and there are more new "late additions" to the "Tuneful TeeVee" section, also at a separate click.
.
Now, our special report.
.
Next weekend's events include the 20th Annual SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FESTIVAL, and the unique place that hosts it is the setting for a TV show, Sunday night on CBS.

"The Mentalist" airs 10-11 pm, and this week's episode is set in a fictional Old West town that is just the latest role for the real-life movie set in the Newhall portion of Santa Clarita, north of the San Fernando Valley, nestled in a connecting series of canyons between Interstate 5 and the 14 Freeway.

Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studios was built by the late GENE AUTRY and has been the setting for thousands of television shows, hundreds of feature films, and hundreds more commercials. Everyone from GARY COOPER to RANDOLPH SCOTT to JOHN WAYNE has walked its boardwalks and ridden horseback through its streets. More recently, it became the Black Hills boom town in HBO's gritty, no-good-guys western series, "Deadwood."

"The Mentalist" will likely include camera angles you've never seen before, since the rambling set is playing a different kind of role.

Of course, nothing beats experiencing it for yourself. And the only time the public can access Melody Ranch is during the culminating weekend of the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, one weekend each year. Full coverage of the festival, with its Thursday and Friday evening events and the lineup of top performers on the weekend, are in the newest full edition.

And speaking of venues, you may catch some news of the giant outdoor venue down in Indio. The polo fields there will become the Stagecoach Festival, April 26-28. The GUIDE will be there, covering that for you. Meanwhile, you'll hear (but not from us) about that site for the role it is playing the two preceding weekends. It'll generate plenty of media hype during the Coachella Music Festival, a pop, alternative, electronica affair that we'll avoid like the plague. But now you'll know why the grass is so trampled when you get to Stagecoach.
.
=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=÷=
.
Copyright (c) 2013 Lawrence Wines and Tied to the Tracks.
All rights reserved.
.
.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually I have wondered why the giant lawns are all trampled at Stagecoach every time I went.

Anonymous said...

Melody Ranch is such a cool place. I'd work there if I they'd hire me.

- Larry, the editor said...

We don't know about employment at the ranch, but they recruit volunteers for the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, specifically for the Saturday & Sunday events at Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studios. Training is required, so it may be too late for this year. It's handled by the city, sponsors of the festival. Check their site for contact info. It's in the Guide, in the write-ups.

Anonymous said...

Glad to see the extra boost for the Cowboy Festival. It's our favorite music event of the year! We have attended the last 14 years and will always return. Our kids now go on their own and love it as much as we do.

See you there! We're the ones under the big hats! :)

Lucy & Len