LAKEPORT, Calif. – February's First Friday Fling will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 3.
The event will take place at the Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport.
The First Friday Fling will introduce work from artists including Patsy Farstad, Naomi Key, Ellen Sommers, Kellie Denton, Barbara Sinor, Marge Bougas, Lynn Hughes, Kim Costa, Annette Higday, Diane Constable and Meredith Gambrel.
The Linda Carpenter Gallery will feature art work from Kelseyville Elementary School's third grade classes.
Phil Mathewson, also known as “Flipper,” will be the featured musician, with Cache Creek Vineyards pouring its wines.
For more information contact the Lake County Arts Council, 707-263-6658.
Guitarist David Burgess will perform in Kelseyville, Calif., on Sunday, February 12, 2012. Courtesy photo.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Popular classical guitarist David Burgess, just back from a seven-city European concert tour, will make his second concert appearance in Lake County on Sunday, Feb. 12.
The concert, presented by Clear Lake Performing Arts, will take place beginning at 3 p.m. at Galilee Lutheran Church on Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville.
In his last appearance here more than a dozen years ago, Burgess brought down the house with his polished technique and flamboyant style and his folksy narratives about his choice of music – especially the music of Spain and Latin America, with particular emphasis on Brazil.
Now a resident of North Carolina, he has since performed around the world to universal acclaim, as well as recording for CBS Masterworks, the Musical Heritage Society, Tritone and Athena Records.
A former student of all-time guitar master the late Andres Segovia, he has won prizes in major competitions in New York, Mexico City, Toronto and Munich.
Since he has spent much of the last decade in Brazil rediscovering guitar music from that nation's past, his program will be weighted toward compositions from some of its finest composers and guitarists including Garoto, who appeared with Carmen Miranda, and also became a favorite of such musical luminaries as Duke Ellington and Art Tatum.
Others are Raphael Rabello, who recorded with virtually every major Brazilian artist of the late 20th century, and Yamandu Costa, who is recognized as today's finest Brazilian guitarist, as well as the late Antonio Carlos Jobim, the best-known composer of Bossa Nova.
Burgess has an encyclopedic knowledge of the guitar, from its earliest inventions in medieval Spain to the present, and shares that knowledge with his audiences, especially guitarists and students of guitar.
Youthful players in particular can always count on answers to their questions about the instrument – made especially easy at the CLPA-sponsored concert where youths under 18 are admitted free.
General public admission is $25, while CLPA members are $20.
Membership forms will be available at the door, with discounted admission applicable to the Burgess performance.
Most CLPA concerts take place at Lakeport's Soper-Reese Community Theatre, but a conflict in performance dates required changing to another venue, with the Galilee Church graciously offering their picturesque facility.
The church is located at 8860 Soda Bay Road, just half a mile south of the former Konocti Harbor Resort.
CLPA President Ed Bublitz urged those planning to attend to arrive a little early, to assure best seating, since space is limited. and seats are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
The story of “Man on a Ledge” is so wildly improbable and preposterous that pompous film critics may consider leaping from a tall building after one viewing. Now that would be some great entertainment.
For the very reason that this thriller is implausible in countless ways, the adrenaline-pumping outcomes are ridiculously entertaining to the point that the opinions of snooty critics are immaterial and easily ignored.
Directed by documentary filmmaker Asger Leth, “Man on a Ledge” is a film devoid of pretensions. It only seeks the meticulous thrills that come from staging an elaborate heist or standing precariously at the edge of certain death.
The film opens with Australian actor Sam Worthington (“Avatar”), no stranger to the occasional tough guy role, checking into a Manhattan hotel under an assumed name.
After a hearty breakfast, with champagne to boot, in his room on the 21st floor, the nattily-dressed mysterious stranger exits the window facing an office building to perch himself on the ledge.
Of course, this dangerous stunt attracts the immediate attention of passersby as well as the NYPD. TV reporter Suzie Morales (Kyra Sedgwick) starts broadcasting from the scene, hyping the sensationalist aspect of a threatened suicide.
Meanwhile, the phlegmatic NYPD detective Jack Dougherty (Ed Burns) ends up on the scene at the hotel room, trying to talk the mystery man down from the ledge.
To explain what is happening, a flashback takes us to Sing Sing prison where Worthington’s Nick Cassidy, a disgraced former NYPD cop, faces a 25-year stretch for a crime he disputes having committed.
Nick’s former partner Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie) appears to believe his colleague’s innocence, though his efforts on Nick’s behalf also seem rather nuanced.
Even Nick’s own family, particularly his younger brother Joey (Jamie Bell), apparently doubt his version of events, evidencing palpable sense of betrayal.
Soon enough, as the scene reverts to the Roosevelt Hotel, one starts to ask the question of why Nick has not jumped already. Well, duh. Then the movie would end too soon.
The larger point, of course, is that Nick is waging a psychological battle, which is why he requests to speak only to controversial NYPD negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks).
Having failed to save the life of a jumper at the Brooklyn Bridge, Lydia is battling her own inner demons, which is why we first see her being called to action as she recovers from a massive hangover.
As damaged souls, Nick and Lydia have more in common than one would suspect. Their conversations on the ledge create a certain amount of emotional heft.
I am loath to give away much of the surprises in store, so it is a nearly insurmountable challenge to address the unfolding events to any significant degree.
Suspense comes from not whether how long Nick can hold on to his precarious outdoor perch. Bigger things are happening in the vicinity, and none of it is good for the villain of this story.
Ed Harris is appropriately despicable as crooked land baron David Englander, who figures prominently in Nick’s fate.
While Nick remains the man on a ledge, Englander is being targeted in a daring heist of an impregnable safe protected by the high-tech security of his penthouse office.
One thing for certain is that one member of the heist team turns out to be the sexiest accomplice for the job. Genesis Rodriguez proves unforgettable as she strips down to her lingerie in order to wiggle into a tight-fitting latex costume.
“Man on a Ledge” may prove to be ultimately forgettable, but its high-octane energy delivers the goods for the momentary enjoyment of this exciting white-knuckle thriller.
Take pleasure in the suspenseful thrills of this popcorn movie, and then later on you can dissect the evident flaws when it no longer matters.
TELEVISION UPDATE
Few race tracks are more beautiful than California’s Santa Anita Park. It’s the perfect setting for the new HBO drama series “Luck.”
The talent behind this effort is impressive. To get off to a good start, Episode One, written by David Milch (“Deadwood”), is directed by the legendary Michael Mann.
The front-of-the-camera talent is also first-rate. It’s not often that a TV series brings together Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina.
Set in the world of horse racing and gambling’s denizens, Hoffman stars as Chester “Ace” Bernstein, recently released from three years in federal prison.
Given his criminal record, “Ace” gets in the racing business by using his driver and bodyguard (Dennis Farina) as the front man for his ownership of the $2 million Irish race horse, Pint of Plain.
Meanwhile, veteran trainer-turned-owner Walter Smith (Nick Nolte) has his hopes pinned on a promising colt, but there’s a dark history and a shadow of scandal behind the horse.
We’ll soon see if HBO’s “Luck” is aptly named, but with a great cast and beautiful horses, there’s hope for a fortunate outcome.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The first performance of the new variety show “Lake County Live!” will be rebroadcast on community radio this week.
The show, which took place last Sunday, Jan. 29, in the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport, was broadcast live on KPFZ 88.1 FM and streamed it online.
The streaming link can be found at the radio station's Web site, www.kpfz.org. The debut show will be rebroadcast on 88.1 FM and online from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, and on Saturday, Feb. 4, from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The title of this beautiful poem by Edward Hirsch contradicts the poem, which is indeed a prayer. Hirsch lives in New York and is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, one of our country’s most distinguished cultural endowments.
The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has extended the deadline to submit entries for the state’s 2012 upland game bird stamp contest. Artists can submit their contest entries up until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 29.
The contest is open to all U.S. residents who are age 18 or older. The species selected to appear on the 2012 upland game bird stamp is the Band-tailed Pigeon (Columba fasciata).
The design must include at least one adult Band-tailed Pigeon. Designs will be judged on originality, artistic composition, anatomical accuracy and suitability for reproduction as a stamp and print.
This is the fourth design that will be featured in the “Encore Edition” since returning to the use of original artwork for the stamp’s image in 2009.
An upland game bird stamp validation is required for hunting migratory and resident upland game birds in California.
The money generated from stamp sales is used to fund upland game bird related conservation projects, education, public hunting opportunities and outreach.
Hunters are no longer required to physically attach the stamp to their license, but the stamps are still produced and mailed to purchasers upon request.
DFG sells almost 200,000 upland game bird stamps annually, which includes sales to collectors who value them for their artist depiction of upland game birds.
The upland game bird stamp contest will be judged by a panel of experts in the fields of ornithology, conservation, art and printing. The winning artist will be selected during a public judging event to be held in the spring of 2012. A date has not yet been set for the judging.
For contest information and entry forms, please visit the DFG website at www.dfg.ca.gov/upstamp.
