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Arts & Life

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Preview of the Middletown Art Center Members Holiday Show. Photo by MAC staff.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Ring in the holidays with a celebration of local art and artists at the Middletown Art Center’s Members Holiday Show Opening Reception this Friday, Nov. 29, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Engage in an evening of art and culture in downtown Middletown.

“The holiday show is different from most of the others we hang because there is no unifying theme. This makes curating more challenging, but very rewarding,” said Programs Director and co-curator Lisa Kaplan.

MAC professional members and affiliated artists who have participated in juried and curated exhibits throughout the year are featured in the show.

Authentic, locally made, high quality and affordable are just some of the common denominators of the work on view.

“We encourage everyone to join us at the opening reception or during hours of operation to see the show. Take pride in our local talent, and consider giving the gift of unique artwork while supporting Lake County artists and our local economy this holiday season,“ said Kaplan.

On Saturday, Dec. 14, from 4 to 8 p.m., the MAC will host a variety of artists and maker vendors inside the gallery and studio, and be a Passport to Fun station as part of Christmas in Middletown.

The MAC is a vibrant cultural hub and nonprofit dedicated to weaving the arts into the fabric of Lake County communities.

Exhibits and opening receptions are just one of many enriching events MAC hosts. These include dances, classes, films, performances, art and wine pairings and First Fridays.

Consider becoming an annual member with special discounts while helping to sustain local arts and culture, and art education. Donations to MAC are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

MAC is located at 21456 Highway 175 at the junction of Highway 29 in the heart of Middletown.

Gallery hours are Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment at 707-809-8118.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org to learn more.
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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.

Minnesota has many fine writers, gathered together by a deep and trusting affection for one another.

Freya Manfred has been an important part of that community for her entire life, having been brought up at the side of her father, Frederick Manfred, a master novelist of the American West.

Here's a poem from Freya's new book from Red Dragonfly Press, “Loon In Late November Water.”

Old Friends

Old friends are a steady spring rain,
or late summer sunshine edging into fall,
or frosted leaves along a snowy path—
a voice for all seasons saying, I know you.
The older I grow, the more I fear I'll lose my old friends,
as if too many years have scrolled by
since the day we sprang forth, seeking each other.

Old friend, I knew you before we met.
I saw you at the window of my soul—
I heard you in the steady millstone of my heart
grinding grain for our daily bread.
You are sedimentary, rock-solid cousin earth,
where I stand firmly, astonished by your grace and truth.
And gratitude comes to me and says:

"Tell me anything and I will listen.
Ask me anything, and I will answer you."


We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2018 by Freya Manfred, "Old Friends," from Loon In Late November Water, (Red Dragonfly Press, 2018). Poem reprinted by permission of Freya Manfred and the publisher. Introduction copyright @2019 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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A past “Give Thanks” dance at the Middletown Art Center in Middletown, California. Courtesy photo.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center is hosting its annual “Give Thanks” dance on Saturday, Nov. 23.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

DJs Blue and Nic will be digging deep into their archives, the result of many years of collecting.

“I’ve been threatening my friends with a Disco show for some time now. I’m handling the first set this Saturday, and it’s a labor of love to share these jubilant tracks. Disco is so much more than the Bees Gees and Village People,” said DJ Blue.

For the second set, mind bending, body shaking, soul soothing Funk, R&B, House, Hip Hop and Reggae will be spun by Nic to keep things moving.

Food and drink will be available. Children under 14 enter free, high school students $5.

Children’s movies will be playing in back. All proceeds from “Give Thanks” help keep MAC alive and offering quality arts and culture programming to Lake County communities.

MAC is located at 21456 State Highway 175 at the junction of Highway 29 in the heart of Middletown.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org to learn more about exhibitions, classes, events, volunteer opportunities and MAC memberships to support and sustain local arts or call 707-809-8118.
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Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer star in “Gaslight.” Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1944 melodrama, “Gaslight,” starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 1 and 6 p.m.

Entry to the film is by donation.

When top-flight stars join forces in performing a beautifully directed psychological thriller, the effect is strong, so strong that this film led to the coinage of a new word: "gaslighting," which describes behavior that seeks to manipulate other people’s fears in order to undermine their sanity.

Filmed in black and white, set in foggy Victorian England, and directed by George Cukor, this dark, Hitchcock-like mystery brought Bergman her first Best Actress Oscar.

It also features an 18-year-old Angela Lansbury in her first film role.

The movie is sponsored by Tomkins Tax Consultants. Rated PG. Run time is 1 hour and 54 minutes.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com.
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‘FORD V FERRARI’ (Rated PG-13)

The title of “Ford v Ferrari” points to competitive racing but there’s so much more to this exciting film than the high-speed 200 miles per hour chases on the premier racetracks in America and overseas.

It’s the acrimonious clash between automotive industry titans Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) and Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) that fuels the desire of the American manufacturer to upend Ferrari’s dominance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

A young hotshot Ford executive by the name of Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) pitches the idea that the post-World War II generation of young people are searching for automobiles that are more powerful, sexy and not the bland imitations of the Fifties models.

While his slide presentation doesn’t excite the other suits in the boardroom, Iacocca leads a delegation to Italy to present an offer to buy the Italian luxury sports car company, which Enzo Ferrari dismisses with contempt by spewing graphic slurs of Henry Ford II.

For Henry Ford II to entertain a challenge to Ferrari, which has been fueled by Ferrari’s insults that he is “fat” and that Ford Motor Company makes “ugly little cars in ugly factories,” he has to find the right team.

Enter Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), the fearless Texan who beat the Ferrari team and won the Le Mans race in 1959, which proved to be the end of his racing career as he was shortly thereafter diagnosed with a grave heart condition.

Endlessly resourceful, Shelby reinvents himself as a car designer and salesman working out of warehouse space in Venice Beach with a team of engineers, led by Phil Remington (Ray McKinnon), and a crew of mechanics.

Next to Shelby, the other key player in the race world is the prickly British race car driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) who operates a repair shop for foreign cars. He’s not exactly a people person and frequently offends his customers for not being savvy drivers.

The friendship between Shelby and Miles is marked by occasional conflicts when they come to blows, but they need each other to function as a team because Shelby can no longer race and Miles is like a race car whisperer who can take any car to the 7,000 RPM limit.

The Ford Motor Company recruits the firebrand visionary to design the ultimate race car, a machine that can beat even Ferrari, the perennial winner at Le Mans, on the unforgiving French track.

The early stages of the relationship that Shelby has with Henry Ford II hit rough spots due to heavy-handed corporate interference and the laws of physics that hinder the process of obtaining perfection in building the appropriate race car.

Worse still for Shelby, Miles and the ragtag crew of mechanics is that Henry Ford II has designated his right-hand man, senior vice president Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas), to oversee Ford’s racing program.

While Shelby’s team is developing and testing the race cars in the Ford program, the lead test driver Ken Miles, who is brilliant behind the wheel but also blunt, arrogant and unwilling to compromise, complicates the relationship with the corporate suits.

In particular, because there is a need to juice up the tensions with one person filling the role of the villain, Beebe does his best to manipulate Shelby and box-out Miles at every turn.

Adhering to the corporate playbook, Beebe doesn’t want the irascible Miles to be the poster boy for the Ford brand, dismissing him as a “beatnik” until Shelby retorts that Miles doesn’t fit that profile because he courageously drove tanks during World War II.

To be sure, Miles is rough around the edges but he’s a devoted family man to his supportive wife Mollie (Caitriona Balfe) and their young son Peter (Noah Jupe), who idolizes his dad and dreams of racing cars someday.

Along the way, there is plenty of gamesmanship between the Shelby team and Ford’s buttoned-up corporate executives, such as the time Shelby outfoxes Beebe in order to take Henry Ford II for a hair-raising test drive.

Following some failed attempts on the racetrack, the Shelby team eventually delivers the impressive and thrilling racing sequences that would eventually lead to the most satisfying victory at the 1966 Le Mans.

Getting to know the characters behind the stunning coup that knocked Ferrari off its dominant perch at the world’s most exclusive racing event is really the most fun of “Ford v Ferrari.”

The job of director James Mangold (“Walk the Line”) was made easier by the teaming of Matt Damon and Christian Bale as the lead characters who inhabit their roles, respectively, of the easy-going visionary and the caustic loose cannon who has problems with authority.

While car racing is a dangerous sport that is evident from the inevitable crash scenes, “Ford v Ferrari” delivers plenty of humor and witty zingers that come naturally in a highly competitive environment when tensions need a relief valve.

“Ford v Ferrari” deserves a winner’s trophy for delivering a solid entertainment.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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Matt Rothstein and The Rothstein Experiment will entertain at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport, California, on Saturday, December 7, 2019. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – At 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, the Rothstein Experiment opens the Christmas season at the Soper Reese Theatre with a unique concert encompassing the sentimental, sacred and serious.

The Rothstein Experiment invites you to put on your ugliest Christmas sweater and join them for an intimate evening of stories and songs, many personal and original. It’s fun for the whole family.

Ensemble leaders Matt and Jill Rothstein are accomplished musicians, arrangers and composers. Both were raised in Lake County and the pair have been leading musical ensembles for nearly a decade.

Jill Rothstein. Courtesy photo.

Matt Rothstein was recognized by DownBeat Magazine and the Grammy Foundation as a prodigious talent while in high school. Jill Rothstein began composing music at the tender age of eight and was the 2007 award winner for music theory and composition at Azusa Pacific University.

The group is comprised of Jill Rothstein, vocals, compositions, set design; Matt Rothstein, vocals, saxophone, arrangements; Tom Aiken, piano, keyboard, melodica; Jacob Turner, guitar; Steve Baird, vocals, bass, sousaphone; and Alex Aspinall, percussion.

Tom Aiken. Courtesy photo.

Tickets are now on sale at $15 for adults; $10 for children between 12 and 18; and free for under 12. Seating is open.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport. Tickets are available online at www.soperreesetheatre.com; or at The Travel Center, 825 S. Main, Lakeport, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information call 707-263-0577.

Jacob Turner. Courtesy photo.

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