COBB, Calif. – The Cobb Mountain Artists group will host its open studio tour on Saturday, July 12, and Sunday, July 13.

It will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

Artists and craftspeople will offer the public the opportunity to “go behind the scenes” to visit the places in which they create.

This year's tour includes returning and new artisans with a wide range of media: ceramics – from functional to custom tiles – paintings, felting, jewelry, photography, glass, woodworking and much more.

Maps with directions easing you from studio to studio will be available at Mountain High Coffee, in Cobb and Hidden Valley Lake; Grinders Steep, Middletown; Loch Lomond Store, Loch Lomond; on the Web site, www.cobbmtnartists.org ; and at individual studios on event days.

For more information contact Joanne Sharon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-987-8827.

JERSEY BOYS (Rated R)

Did you happen to know that Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, at one time banded together as “The Lovers,” obtained the group’s name from that of a New Jersey bowling alley from which they were unceremoniously booted without the ability to fulfill an engagement?

“Jersey Boys” – more of a biopic about the fortunes of hardscrabble boys from a working class Italian-American neighborhood in Belleville, New Jersey than a musical – is full of nuggets of biographical information, more than had been provided by the Broadway musical upon which the movie is based.

It seems most doubtful that a major motion picture about streetwise crooners, whose heyday goes back about a half-century, would have been made in today’s world without the incredible success of a Broadway show now running for more than eight years.

The stage version of “Jersey Boys” put the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons back into the public conscience long after the group retired and gained well-deserved acclaim by being inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, an event that bookends the film.

Nostalgia is the driving force behind the appeal of “Jersey Boys.” It worked on Broadway, with the revival of upbeat pop songs like “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Dawn (Go Away),” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Rag Doll,” just to name a few of the endless hits.

That legendary Clint Eastwood is the director of “Jersey Boys” on the surface seems like an unusual choice, but his love of jazz music arguably puts this venture into his wheelhouse. Besides, the real Frankie Valli and songwriter Bob Gaudio are executive producers.

The film’s Frankie Valli is John Lloyd Young, the obvious pick for the singer with the falsetto voice as he won the Tony Award in his Broadway debut for the stage production that also won the Tony for Best Musical.

Young’s Frankie Valli is the natural fit, and it would be hard to imagine someone else in the pivotal role of the often temperamental singer with the Jersey accent, the perfectly-coiffed pompadour and natural style of a neighborhood kid making the big time.

Frankie and his street pals, Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) and Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), would as often as not get into trouble with the law for petty crimes. There are occasions in the early days when one of them would end up for a short prison stint, though this did not happen to Valli.

Local mob boss Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken), a fixture in the community, proves to be a big fan of Valli’s crooning talent.

DeCarlo figures into the story to help smooth out problems caused when the hotheaded, profligate Tommy gets the group deep in debt to the wrong people.

Bouncing around in lousy nightclub acts, the group finally coalesces when they discover Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), a natural talent for songwriting who does not come from the neighborhood. In fact, his background is more upscale but he fits in nicely with the group.

Gaudio’s talent is that he was either the writer or co-writer of “The Four Seasons” hit-parade of great songs.

With Gaudio on board, the group meets up with flamboyant record producer Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle), whose urbane flair is far removed the Jersey shore.

The members of “The Four Seasons” were not related by blood, but they were as close as family and sometimes just as dysfunctional.

As they rose to fame, infighting and squabbles became the norm, often because Tommy was the source of their dilemmas.

Performing at the Ohio State Fair, they are arrested by authorities for having skipped out on a hotel bill from their appearance the year before. None of their legal troubles proves daunting, and their career continues to soar with national TV appearances.

Frankie Valli is the lead singer and the star attraction, even to a female journalist who succumbs to his charms though he’s still married, while his wife Mary (Renee Marino) has become predictably angered by his aloofness and absence from the family.

But Valli is frequently eclipsed in presence by the volatile Tommy, the putative band organizer who prides himself on booking events and dealing with producers.

Tommy is the catalyst for much of the action, particularly the kind that gets the group on the wrong side of talent agents, producers and even the law.

“Jersey Boys” is about the music, but also very much tuned into the chemistry of “The Four Seasons” and how these strong-willed individuals cope with fame and fortune, and those bumps in the road that threaten to derail the storybook journey.
 
One device taken from the Broadway show is that the actors break the proverbial “fourth wall” – talking directly to the camera and, thus, right to the audience. It’s an effective means for each member of the “Jersey Boys” to tell the story from his own point of view.

Having seen the Broadway musical, an experience recommended to anyone, I would say “Jersey Boys” still works better as a stage production.

Nevertheless, many elements from the show translate well to the screen, and “Jersey Boys” the film is definitely worth seeing and the soundtrack worth buying.

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

The poems of Leo Dangel, who lives in South Dakota, are known for their clarity and artful understatement. Here he humbly honors the memory of one moment of deep intimacy between a mother and her son.

In Memoriam

In the early afternoon my mother
was doing the dishes. I climbed
onto the kitchen table, I suppose
to play, and fell asleep there.
I was drowsy and awake, though,
as she lifted me up, carried me
on her arms into the living room,
and placed me on the davenport,
but I pretended to be asleep
the whole time, enjoying the luxury—
I was too big for such a privilege
and just old enough to form
my only memory of her carrying me.
She’s still moving me to a softer place.

American Life in Poetry 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 2013 by Leo Dangel from his most recent book of poems, Saving Singletrees, WSC Press, 2013. Poem reprinted by permission of Leo Dangel and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2014 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. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

I’m especially fond of sparklers because they were among the very few fireworks we could obtain in Iowa when I was a boy.

And also because in 2004 we set off the fire alarm system at the Willard Hotel in Washington by lighting a few to celebrate my inauguration as poet laureate.

Here’s Barbara Crooker, of Pennsylvania, also looking back.

Sparklers

We’re writing our names with sizzles of light
to celebrate the fourth. I use the loops of cursive,
make a big B like the sloping hills on the west side
of the lake. The rest, little a, r, one small b,
spit and fizz as they scratch the night. On the side
of the shack where we bought them, a handmade sign:
Trailer Full of Sparkles Ahead, and I imagine crazy
chrysanthemums, wheels of fire, glitter bouncing
off metal walls. Here, we keep tracing in tiny
pyrotechnics the letters we were given at birth,
branding them on the air. And though my mother’s
name has been erased now, I write it, too:
a big swooping I, a hissing s, an a that sighs
like her last breath, and then I ring
belle, belle, belle in the sulphuric smoky dark.

American Life in Poetry 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 2013 by Barbara Crooker from her most recent book of poems, Gold, Cascade Books, 2013. Poem reprinted by permission of Barbara Crooker and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2014 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. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The June Spring Concert of the Lake County Symphony Association Youth Orchestra proved very popular, with the young musicians attracting a large crowd to the Soper Reese Theatre.

The concert – which took place on Sunday, June 8 – opened with a special presentation of the LCSA String Classes made possible by a grant from the Lake County Wine Alliance.

Because of this generous grant, new teachers, Clovice Lewis, cellist, and Jeff Ives, violist/violinist, came onboard to help teach the classes.

The beginning violin, viola and cello classes each played a selection, then all classes joined together for the final selection of the first part of the concert.

A viola solo was played by Rafael Contreras, whose primary instrument is violin. Ives worked with him on more advanced viola music, and suggested he play a solo as part of the viola string class presentation.

The string classes were well attended this year with students second grade to adult, and hopefully the students will become members of the Youth Orchestra in the future.

The string class presentation was followed by the full LCSA Youth Orchestra, delivering an impressive demonstration of their musical abilities.

The youthful musicians were led by conductor Sue Condit, who has challenged the students with higher levels of music. They have all met the challenge and presented an outstanding concert.

Presented were classical selections by Mozart – themes from two different symphonies and “Classical Symphony” by Prokofiev.

Also on the program was an energetic Morris dance, the exciting theme from a video game, and movie themes from the “Titanic,” “The Avengers” and ending with a grand finale of “Back to the Future.”

Members of the symphony joined them in the finale, and a slide presentation from “Back to the Future” was presented by Wally Fuller of the Soper Reese.

High school graduating members were recognized for their years of service in the orchestra and a few of them played a special presentation of two very difficult fiddle tunes.

First violinists, Clayton Rudiger, Lars Tisell and Edison Serena, received much applause after their energetic rendition of the challenging selections.

Thank you to Dr. Charles Marion Hovden who was so impressed with the concert that he donated $1,500 to the Endowment Fund for the “Youth Orchestra Conductor Chair” in memory of Thomas Bruner.

The Lake County Symphony Association also thanks the Soper Reese staff and volunteers for partnering with us to make this performance of the youth music groups possible in their wonderful community venue.

The Youth Orchestra and the string classes will resume in September in Kelseyville.

Anyone interested in our LCSA youth programs is asked to please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or the Lake County Symphony Association Web site www.clearlakeperformingarts.org .

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (Rated PG-13)

John Green’s best-selling YA novel “The Fault in Our Stars” has been adapted into a major motion picture of the same title.

For those, like me, too far removed from the demographic, the acronym “YA” stands for “young adult,” which has spawned a literary genre increasingly making its presence felt big time in popular films.

Fittingly, “The Fault in Our Stars,” directed by Josh Boone, stars Shailene Woodley, one of the very best young actresses on the scene today and still capable of pulling off the role of a teenage girl enduring serious challenges.

The story is about teenagers with cancer, focusing on two central characters developing a bond of friendship in a support group which leads to a touching romance that results in a celebration of life even though longevity is fated to be short-lived.

“The Fault in Our Stars” is a love story about two kids with cancer, but it’s not about cancer. The disease may hang like a dark cloud over the young people, but the two main characters, once they bond and fall for each other, rejoice in life’s possibilities.

The story does not begin so wonderfully for Woodley’s Hazel Grace Lancaster, whose childhood cancer affects her lungs to the extent that her life depends on being hooked up to breathing tubes connected to an oxygen tank that she must wheel around as a constant companion.

Looked after by loving, doting parents (Laura Dern and Sam Trammell), Hazel leads a mostly lonely existence without any real friends, an unfortunate situation that worries her counselor.

Mostly, Hazel, a survivor but nonetheless withdrawn, spends time re-reading her favorite cancer-related novel “An Imperial Affliction.”

Encouraged to join a support group for kids with cancer, Hazel is reluctant to attend. But this is where she meets Augustus “Gus” Waters (Ansel Elgort), a charming, witty, charismatic young man who was once a star athlete until she lost his leg to cancer.

Gregarious and personable by nature, Gus is soon smitten with Hazel, who often prefers to call her Hazel Grace, seemingly making a personal connection to this lovely young girl and setting himself apart from all others who would otherwise overlook Hazel’s middle name.

An unlikely member of a support group, Gus is there mainly to help his best friend Isaac (Nat Wolff), a natural jokester whose unfortunate medical condition will soon result in total blindness.

Though a charm offensive has to be launched through witty texts and sarcastic banter, Gus wows the shy Hazel into a tentative relationship that he almost blows when he pulls out a cigarette and places it nonchalantly between his lips.

Aghast at his insensitive display, Hazel is nearly repulsed until Gus explains that the cigarette is a metaphor. He never lights the cigarette because he wants to demonstrate that it has no power over him.

The film has plenty of metaphors. Even a visit to the house of Anne Frank in Amsterdam is a metaphor. The interest in the author Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe), who resides in Holland and wrote Hazel’s favorite novel, may also be a metaphor.

Obsessed with the novel “An Imperial Affliction,” a touchstone for those fighting cancer, Hazel tries desperately to connect with the reclusive author in search of questions left unanswered by the book.

Gus manages to reach Van Houten through the author’s assistant, and it results astonishingly in an invitation to meet the writer in Amsterdam. Of course, there are financial and medical hurdles to clear before taking a European vacation.

As fate would have it, good things fall into place and the two teenagers, accompanied by Hazel’s mother, head over to Holland for an unexpected adventure, including a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant apparently arranged by the author.

Meeting Van Houten, though, is an entirely different story. The enigmatic author is like the Wizard of Oz. The teens expect to meet someone to give them answers, but instead discover a person who is scary, intimidating and not at all friendly or welcoming.

Whether “The Fault in Our Stars” is faithful to the source material of the book is an unanswered question that I leave to others familiar with the work of John Green to decide. Yet, the film succeeds to deliver a touching story that is lifted by a healthy dose of wit and humor.

What the film argues persuasively is that the answers Hazel craves don’t from a book or its cranky author. They come from living a great adventure that Hazel shares with someone she is not afraid to love, who has given them both what she calls “a little infinity – a forever within the numbered days.”

Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort have great chemistry as the romantic couple facing an uncertain future. They share great moments, alternately tender and funny, and always touching.

The audience will be touched as well, and as a result, tears and misty eyes are practically inevitable.

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