Mendocino College Jazz Band won the community band division award at a competition in Nevada in April. Courtesy photo.

UKIAH – The Mendocino College Jazz Band won the community band division award at a jazz band competition held at the University of Reno on April 23-25.

Mendocino College competed against Chaffey College, Cuesta College, Moorpark College, MiraCosta College, Lane College and College of Sequoias in the community band division.

“This is a huge honor for our local musicians. Mendocino College is always the smallest college in attendance and for them to walk away this year with top honors competing against the large LA, San Diego, and Eugene, Oregon schools was quite a coup,” Mendocino College Jazz Band Director John Parkinson said.

Since Mendocino College competed in the Community Jazz Band division, it means that the members of the group are community members and not full-time students. There was only one full-time student in the group.

The Mendocino College Jazz Band performed “Tickletoe” by Lester Young, “China Blue” by Jeff Jarvis, “Opus One” by Sy Oliver and “La Almeja Pequena” by Gordon Goodwin.

Several individual awards were won by members of the jazz band, including the entire rhythm section.

Matt Rothstein won for alto sax and clarinet. Sunny Cordell won for tenor sax. Gary Miller won for trumpet. Paula Samonte won for vocals. The rhythm section consisting of Dorian May on piano, Don Cornell on guitar, Burton Segall on guitar and Eric Ehrenpfort on drums won individual awards.

Under the direction of Parkinson, there are 17 members of the Mendocino College Jazz Band. Paula Samonte is on vocals, while Matt Rothstein, Laurie Spence, Sunny Cordell, Nick Biondo and Tracie Triolo play the sax. Gary Miller, Tom Woodville and Charlie Sawyer play the trumpet and Adam Ehrenpfort, Josh Muir, Jake Turner and Al Bent play the trombone. Dorian May plays piano, Don Cornell plays guitar, Burton Segall plays bass and Eric Ehrenpfort plays drums.

The Mendocino College Jazz Band has been attending the Reno Jazz Festival and the Pacific Coast Jazz Festival at the University of California-Berkeley for many years. They have placed second many times at both events and have always finished in the top echelon of the groups.

The next concert featuring the Jazz Band is Tuesday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m. at Mendocino College.

Another concert of interest will be presented by the Community Concert Band on Thursday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. Music for this concert will be by Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and George Gershwin. Making a special appearance with this band will be vocalist Paula Samonte.

For further information on the Mendocino College Jazz Band Program or to inquire about becoming a member, please contact John Parkinson at 707-468-3026 or visit www.mendocino.edu.

LAKEPORT – The 69 members of the Lake County Symphony, under the direction of John Parkinson, put together an outstanding collection of favorite standards for their annual salute to mothers, and the many moms in attendance – including grandmothers and even some great-grandmothers – responded with enthusiasm.

The May 10 concert, sponsored by Lake County's nonprofit music support group Clear Lake Performing Arts, took place at the Marge Alakszay Center at Lakeport Unified School's campus.

Entitled "Another Op'nin', Another Show" Parkinson's program was a tribute to that song's composer, the late Cole Porter, but also to a whole range of music makers from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s who created some of America's most memorable music.

Lead-off performers, however, were Kelseyville's Andi Skelton and the Konocti Fiddle Club consisting of more than a dozen fiddlers supported by guitars, bass and keyboard playing diown home versions of "Stinky's Blues" and "Cairo."

The orchestra then took over and following the Cole Porter medley launched one featuring the work of George and Ira Gershwin including "Foggy Day" with an opening phrase containing not only the chimes of Big Ben, but a brief segement of "God Save the Queen" just so everybody would know for sure they were referring to London Town.

Other Gershwin numbers were "I Got Rhythm," "Someone to Watch Over Me," "S;Wonderful," and "Rhapsody in Blue."

"Deep Purple" by Peter DeRose and "Georgia on my Mind " by Hoagy Carmichael were next, followed by a tribute to Louis Armstrong entitled "Satchmo."

Armstrong, who popularized the idea of solo performances in jazz numbers, provided the same opportunity to many of the symphony's star players including clarinetist Nick Biondo, trumpeter Gary Miller, trombonist Cory Cunningham and percussionist Eric Ehrenpfort, all of whom were recognized individually by Parkinson at the conclusion of the Armstrong set.

Following intermission the 15 youngsters of the CLPA Youth Orchestra, under the direction of Wes Follett, presented their last public performance before their June 14 concert at Keseyville's Presbyterian Church.

The talented group played the "Prayer" from Humperdink's "Hansel and Gretel," Matt Turner's rhythmic "Tango Expressivo" and the "Russian Sailor's Dance from "The Red Poppy" ballet by Gliere.

The orchestra's return was marked by a series of Duke Ellington pieces including "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)", "I Got it Bad (And That Ain't Good) and the mesmerizing "Caravan" with percussionist Ehrenpfort providing a driving beat At the number's conclusion a side note was added to the program when violinist Ilse Arndt reached out to Parkinson with her bow, as if ushering him into knighthood, only to brush away a wasp that had landed unnoticed on his shoulder

For the Gershwin"s "Embraceable You" Parkinson invited Gary Miller to bring his flugelhorn down front and center where, backed by the lush strings of the orchestra, he rendered a crowd pleasing performance of that classic song.

Near the show's conclusion jazz singer Paula Samonte, stunning in a light lavender gown with a flower in her hair, sang a medley of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "I'll Take Romance" and "I've Got The World on a String" after which she planted an appreciative buss on conductor Parkinson's cheek.

Other upcoming CLPA sponsored events will be the annual garage sale scheduled for Saturday, June 6, in Corinthian Bay, the Spring Concert of the Youth Orchestra on June 14 at 6 p.m. at the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church and the seventh annual Home Wine Maker's Festival on June 27 in downtown Kelseyville.

LAKE COUNTY – The Lake County Theatre Co.'s production of the musical comedy “The Pajama Game” opens this week.

Performances are at 7 p.m. May 7, May 8, May 14, May 15 and May 16; and 2 p.m. May 10, May 16 and May 17 at the Little Theatre at Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport.

There will be no performance on May 9, a Saturday, because of the auto races and the noise they make.

Ticket prices are $15 for reserved seats and $13 for general admission; LCTC members, seniors and students get a $2 discount.

Ticket outlets are Catfish Books, Lakeport (707-263-4454) reserved and general admission; Wild About Books, Clearlake (707-994-9453) general admission only; and Shannon Ridge Winery, Clearlake Oaks (707-998-9656) general admission only.

On opening night, Thursday, May 7, the theater company invites its audience to come in their pajamas and compete for prizes and join in a cast party afterwards.

Alex White Plume working in his horse corral near Manderson, South Dakota. Photo courtesy of Prairie Dust Films.

This quietly moving and forthright documentary introduces us to the extended White Plume family of the sovereign Lakota Sioux Nation.

When the two young women who made this film arrived at Alex White Plume's small home, he informed them that only 10 minutes earlier, the Drug Enforcement Administration had served him with a summons detailing eight federal charges against him – for growing industrial hemp, a relative of the marijuana plant, but with a THC count of 0 percent.

Hemp, the “standing silent nation” as the Lakotas call it, has tens of thousands of uses, from superior textiles and cosmetics to biodegradable plastics. It is environmentally friendly, requiring no pesticides, little water and fertilizer and no herbicides. It controls erosion, produces huge amounts of biomass and oxygen, and replaces trees in making not just paper products, but building materials. That wild-eyed revolutionary Henry Ford actually built a CAR out of hemp! Yet growing industrial hemp remains illegal in the US.

Two local speakers/presenters will be present at this screening. Ron Kiczenski is a Lake County resident who was crucially involved in the events that led up to the making of this film. He is also a globally respected advocate for industrial hemp, and he will share his knowledge of hemp and the film (which didn't turn out as he had hoped).

Lori Patozka is a Lake County vegan cook and teacher. She will present some of the many hemp food products that are increasingly available in this country. She will have enough of at least some to share with the audience.

The White Plumes, a hard-working family, hoped to lift themselves and their fellows out of the grinding poverty of their windswept, hardscrabble reservation land – much of it unsuited to either farming or livestock.

Unemployment in the Pine Ridge Reservation where the White Plumes live is 85 percent. Clearly, hemp production could create desperately needed and creative alternatives to poverty and despair, now that the buffalo are gone.

The words of an angry reviewer from The New York Times say it very well: “The story of a dirt-poor but enterprising family thwarted by shocking, stupid acts by jerks armed with red tape and guns produces a single effect: umbrage. It's good umbrage, mostly, that surging, almost euphoric response to a crusading documentary that frees you from the duty to be even-handed or hear out the other side.”

Deborah White Plume says: “As hemp is a multi-BILLION dollar a year industry, it very well can take our people – as a Nation – out of poverty and dependence. Perhaps THAT is why the US does not want us to grow hemp. If we have resources as a Nation, we won’t need welfare AND we might fight for our land, water, treaty.”

Second Sunday Cinema exists to bring important information to the people of Lake County.

Information is empowering. It allows us to make decisions that benefit us, rather than the rich and powerful.

Our films are always free, and the atmosphere is warm and supportive. Our doors open at 5:30 p.m. for snacks and socializing. The film/presenters will begin at 6 p.m.

Our venue is the Clearlake United Methodist Church at 14521 Pearl Ave. in Clearlake.

For more information call 707-279-2957.

Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. Photo courtesy of Prairie Dust Films.

DEA agents walk through the White Plumes' hemp fields during eradication operations. Photo courtesy of Prairie Dust Films.