The Performers
Andrea Kline
Annie Connole
Beth Allen
Brian O'Hare
Casey Kiernan
Gretchen Grunt
Kennedy Verrett
Liz Meyer
Palo Xanto
Sarah Bliss
Andrea Kline
Andrea Kline, R.N., B.S.N. served in the U.S. Army with the 31st Combat Support Hospital during Operation Desert Storm. Her 40+ year nursing career spans bedside care, business development, and leadership. She has built products, led analytics at UnitedHealthcare, led the National Data Cooperative for Willis Towers Watson, and worked as a global healthcare industry expert in analytics and AI at Teradata. After retiring in 2024, she founded a consulting firm. She is the producer of I Am Speaking, an annual event that fosters community and healing among veterans, service members, and their families and is active in multiple veteran organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the Disabled American Veterans.
Annie Connole
Annie Connole is a writer, artist, and mystic who has lived in the Mojave Desert since 2015. Originally from Montana, her work has a strong resonance with place and landscape. She studied at The New School and earned a MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside - Palm Desert. Annie’s work has appeared in Alta Journal, High Desert Journal, Writers Resist, and The Rumpus. Her first book, The Spring: A Mythic Memoir, was published by Chin Music Press in 2021. Since 2023, she has led the Desert Book Club and produced climate storytelling events with Everything Change.
Beth Allen
Beth Allen is an ex-city girl — after 26 years in San Francisco she became a full-time desert rat in 2017, when she moved to Morongo Valley with her partner in crime, Shawn “Shonzie” Smith. A 9-5 graphic designer, she has a long list of hobbies outside of work. When she’s not on the clock, you might find her doing hot yoga, rocking out in one of her local bands (frontwoman for the Hot Patooties and ALiEN PROBE), dirt biking, creating multimedia art, or dabbling in taxidermy. She hates the color beige and is dedicated to keeping the desert weird.
Brian O'Hare
Brian O’Hare is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and former Marine officer. Currently, he’s an award-winning writer/filmmaker. His film Rizoo currently streams on The New Yorker Screening Room. His feature documentary Cannon Shot—about the world’s largest croquet match—will premiere in 2026. National Book Award winner Phil Klay awarded Brian Syracuse University Press' Veterans Writing Award for Surrender—his book of short stories published in 2022. Surrender was read as part of a WORDTheatre (LA) event with literary icons Tobias Wolff, Tim O’Brien and Richard Bausch. He’s at work on his novel, A Gathering of Vultures.
Casey Kiernan
Coming Soon
Gretchen Grunt
Gretchen Grunt, a fourth-generation resident of 29 Palms with deep family ties to the 29 Palms Inn, has pursued the arts since childhood. She attended Cuesta College and Sonoma State University where she explored drawing, painting, ceramics, and bronze casting. In 2003, Gretchen returned home to establish the 29 Palms Creative Center. The Creative Center has always welcomed and taught diverse art classes, including painting, printmaking, stained glass, music and bookmaking. Currently, Gretchen, who has served on the Morongo Basin Arts Council board, mainly teaches clay classes. Her artwork is inspired by native plants that are stamped into the clay and sold at the 29 Palms Inn restaurant.
Kennedy Verrett
Kennedy Verrett is a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work, described as "hauntingly beautiful," spans concert halls and film/TV scores. His compositions often explore social/political issues ("Change for a Dollar") and nature ("SoundCheckEarth"). A musician playing piano, didgeridoo, and custom instruments, he performs solo and with groups like The Cosmic Tones Research Trio. Verrett also served as music director at Portland Playhouse and has collaborated on films like Drag Me to Hell. Passionate about music education, he's adjunct faculty at Portland State University and founded Sound Sense, a STEM program blending music with science/math. His contributions have earned him multiple Best Score and BMI Scholar awards, plus residencies at institutions like Harrison House.
Liz Meyer
Liz Meyer has called 29 Palms her home for 81 years. As a daughter of pioneers Bill and Ada Hatch, she grew up as a “desert girl” and has never lost her preference to be strong, active, and barefoot. After college and a few years in the Peace Corps, she and her husband, Dave, decided the desert would be a good place to raise their family. Liz taught Spanish at Twentynine Palms High School for 28 years, served eight years on the City Council with two terms as Mayor, and served as a Trustee of Copper Mountain College for 19 years. She enjoys travelling in her camper van and spending time with her daughter Angela, son Jeff and their families.
Palo Xanto
Palo Xanto is a lyric poet and sound artist whose work channels the raw magic of the Joshua Tree desert. After leaving LA’s indie music scene in 2017, he found creative renewal in the High Desert’s vibrant community. His stripped-down, groove-driven sound debuted in 2022 with Plant Seeds, a personal anthem of self-reinvention. Since then, he’s continued releasing music and performing with his band across the region. Palo also curates HOMESTEAD SESSIONS, an intimate event series showcasing top local artists and poets, fostering connection and creativity under the desert sky.
Sarah Bliss
Coming Soon.
Cheryl Montelle
Co-Producer, Director and Host
Cheryl Montelle is thrilled to host and curate Mil-Tree’s spoken word fundraiser. She is a writer whose stories have been published in anthologies and magazines, and performed in Los Angeles, Joshua Tree and New York City. She created and hosted Desert Stories at the HDCC for 18 years, 14 shows. She has also produced similar shows in New York City and Los Angeles. Cheryl loves bringing community together and in 2012 she founded the veteran/ community non-profit, Mil-Tree. For more information go to mil-tree.org.
Mil-Tree is a non-profit that brings veterans, active duty and civilians together through arts and dialogue to help transform the wounds of war. Mil-Tree.org
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