Tuesday, 26 November 2024

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The search continues for Lake County’s next poet laureate.

The term of office for the poet laureate will be from 2018 to 2020.

Any Lake County resident can apply, or nominate someone for the position.

For information and application guidelines visit the Middletown Arts Center Website at http://middletownartcenter.org/lake-county-poets.html.

Applications are due by March 4 at 5 p.m.
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From left to right, Elena Casanova, Elizabeth MacDougall, David Neft, Spencer Brewer, Tom Ganoung and Ed Reinhart. Not pictured: Tom Aiken. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A diverse range of musical styles on the keyboard will be presented at the Soper Reese Theatre on Sunday, March 4, by seven well-known professional pianists from the region.

Musicians will combine their talent and years of experience to benefit fundraising efforts for the arts and education in Lake County.

The Lake County Friends of Mendocino College is partnering with the Soper Reese Theatre to sponsor the seventh annual Pianists Benefit Concert.

The afternoon begins at 2 p.m. with a no-host reception featuring fine regional wines from Lake and Mendocino counties, followed by the concert at 3 p.m.

A silent auction of items donated by businesses and individuals will be held during the reception and intermission. All proceeds benefit the two sponsoring organizations.

Lake County artists Tom Aiken, Tom Ganoung, and David Neft will be joined by Mendocino County performers Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Elizabeth MacDougall and Ed Reinhart.

The concert will feature all the pianists on stage throughout the performance as they converse about their life experiences and play a variety of musical selections.

Persons or businesses interested in supporting this fundraising effort are welcome to become sponsors. Please contact the Soper Reese Theatre at 707-263-0577.

Sponsors to date include Peggy Campbell, CPA; Susie LaPointe; The Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon; Jim and Wilda Shock; Pat and Lori McGuire; Jennifer Strong, Strong Financial Network; Law Office of Judy Conard; and Tomkins Tax Consultants.

Tickets are $25 for regular reserved seats and $30 for premium reserved, and may be purchased online at www.soperreesetheatre.com or from the Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St. in Lakeport, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The theatre is located at 275 So. Main St., Lakeport. For more information call 707-263-0577.

“The Lake County Friends, an affiliate of the Mendocino College Foundation, was created to benefit students and programs at the Lake Center. We are delighted that proceeds from this benefit concert will enable us to continue support for the Lake Center campus in Lakeport,” said Wilda Shock, chairperson of Friends.

Proceeds from past concerts have funded scholarships for Lake County students at Mendocino College, a Chemistry laboratory and tutors at the Lake Center, and other programs benefiting local students.

The Soper Reese Theatre is a restored performing arts venue operated by an all-volunteer management team under the auspices of the Lake County Arts Council.

“Concert proceeds will be dedicated to the theatre’s Restroom Re-do renovation project which will modernize and expand facilities, and meet ADA standards,” according to Mike Adams, executive director.
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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A Coffee House Concert will be presented at Fore Family Vineyards Tasting Room on Saturday, March 3, at 7 p.m.

Billed as the “Masters of Americana,” this concert will feature Bill Bordisso and InVoice, a fresh stylized quartet that specializes in intricate harmonies accompanied by a variety of acoustic instrumentation.

Presenting a primarily folk and folk-rock repertoire, InVoice includes four talented musicians known to many in Lake County – Bill Bordisso, Libbie Larson, Doug Harris and Keith Larson.

Also performing at the concert will be Jim Williams, a guitarist who sings classic Americana tunes familiar to many.

Organizer Michael Richeson says of this concert, “This promises to be a spectacular evening of fine music, local wines and great people. It is an opportunity to support and enjoy incredible Lake County talent in a local venue sharing Lake County wines. We do not need to leave the area to enjoy a rich musical and cultural experience.”

The concert is one of the Coffee House Concert series presented by the Unitarian Universalist Community of Lake County.

Admission is $15. Beverages and treats will be sold.

Tickets are available at Watershed Books, online at www.uuclc.org, and at the door. Seating is limited.

Fore Family Vineyards is located at 3920 Main St. in Kelseyville.
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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.

So many contemporary poems fail for the lack of strong endings, but here's one with a masterful latch that snaps closed at the end.

Tami Haaland served as Montana's fifth poet laureate and she teaches at Montana State at Billings. The following poem is from South Dakota Review.

Returning

When I open the door
and reach to the light switch
the world opens as it did each time.

The garlic jar on the ledge,
the ceramic cup holding
cheese cutters and paring knives.

Outside a branch
from the ash tree
worries the window.

It was a place where I knew
the drawer pulls, the feel of steps
to the basement, the smell of cool cement.

If I open the middle cabinet,
the linen is there as you left it,
well-ordered, none of it fine.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2016 by Tami Haaland from South Dakota Review, (Vol. 52, nos. 3 & 4, 2016). Poem reprinted by permission of Tami Haaland and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2018 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
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‘Black Lightning’ on the CW Network

The upcoming film ”Black Panther” has nothing to do with the revolutionary Black Panther Party of the Sixties, but it does seem timely in that its main character has enhanced powers of violent action in the role of ruler of a fictional African nation.

On the CW television, though it is not a companion piece, the new series “Black Lightning” features appealing high school Principal Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), the reluctant titular character, doing his best to keep his school and family in a safe zone.

The setting of fictional Freeland, could be a microcosm of Detroit circa 1968, but seems more like present-day violent Baltimore on steroids. Racial strife is boiling over and African-American Jefferson (aka Black Lightning) is in the thick of the turmoil.

Divorced but yearning to reunite with his ex-wife Lynn (Christine Adams), Jefferson is the father of two daughters, with the youngest Jennifer (China Anne McClain) a student at his school, while Anissa (Nafessa Williams) teaches some health classes while studying pre-med.

Having been caught up in a protest against violent street gang, The 100, Anissa is not only arrested but bailed out by her dad. On the way home, Jefferson is pulled over the local police who rough him up in a terrible case of racial profiling.

At this point, it’s clear that “Black Lightning” is involved in the social issues that have festered for a long time, and Jefferson has to keep in check the superior mighty force of his Black Lightning superpowers lest he be drawn back into the morass of vigilante vengeance.

His patience is soon tested, and contrary to his promise to Lynn to have retired his costume, he has to face the fact that his former student Lala (William Catlett) is a despicable trafficker in all things illegal.

When one of Lala’s street thugs kidnaps Anissa and Jennifer to provide prostitution at a seedy motel run by The 100, the doting Jefferson has no choice than to unleash his pent-up fury on assorted bad guys to liberate his daughters.

Of course, this is only the beginning of serious trouble, as an uneasy truce between the safe zone of Jefferson’s Garfield High and The 100 is soon violated, and street warfare threatens to resume.

Meanwhile, Jefferson reconnects with Peter Gambi (James Remar), a tailor with a shop full of bespoke suits (reminds me of the hideaway for “The Kingsman”), getting outfitted for a new latex superhero costume.

Black Lightning is a fallible superhero, too easily wounded, and the charismatic Cress Williams makes an interesting case for watching the end game of “Black Lightning.”




‘Private Eyes’ on ION Television

With hundreds of cable channels available, the television landscape is constantly evolving. Originally launched as PAX TV nearly twenty years ago, ION Television follows a programming strategy similar to many major cable networks.

That means that most of its schedule is filled with acquired broadcast and cable drama series, along with some original programs. ION is where you tune in for reruns of network series “Blood Bloods” and “Criminal Minds” or the cable offering of “Psych.”

“Private Eyes,” starring Canadian-born Jason Priestley, best known for the “Beverly Hills, 90210” series, is going to feel like original programming for American audiences even though it is a pickup of a Canadian series that first launched north of the border in 2016.

Comparisons to “Moonlighting” could be inevitable only because Priestly’s Matt Shade (sounds like a Mickey Spillane character), an ex-hockey player who finds a new career as a private detective, seems invested with the same carefree spirit Bruce Willis had in a similar role.

In “Private Eyes,” Shade, who is caring for his visually impaired teen daughter Jules (Jordyn Negri), teams up with intense private eye Angie Everett (Cindy Sampson) to form an unlikely partnership in a Toronto agency she inherited from her father.

Similar in ways that “Moonlighting” had the bickering couple of Willis paired with Cybill Shepherd, Shade is mismatched with Angie, with the crackling banter coming from Angie’s sharp mind and attention to details and Shade’s impulsive reliance on gut instinct.

Fittingly enough, “Private Eyes” rolls out its setup when Shade, still acting as a hockey scout, begrudgingly teams up with Angie to investigate how his hockey top pick for the pros ended up with a heart attack blamed on drug use that Shade believes to be an erroneous conclusion.

One could say that the core of “Private Eyes” is the “fire and ice” relationship between Shade and Angie. Working with Angie, Shade discovers a fantastic rush of adrenaline he once used to get from hockey.

Shade likes to think that his skills on the ice to read people and anticipate their moves are more than impulsive. On the other hand, Angie takes a plodding approach to planning and strategizing, dismissing her partner’s amateurish spontaneity.

As the ten-episode season moves along, just like in “Moonlighting,” there is bound to be some sexual tension between the adventurous achiever Shade and the driven, yet very attractive Angie.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

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