Sunday, 24 November 2024

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The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is conducting an art contest to select the design for the state’s 2019-2020 upland game bird stamp.

The California Upland Game Bird Stamp Art Contest is open to all U.S. residents ages 18 and older. Entries will be accepted from Nov. 18 through Dec. 6.

This year’s stamp will feature the ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus). These medium-bodied forest dwellers are the only member of the genus Bonasa, and have a range extending across North America. In California, they inhabit riparian and conifer forests in the northwestern portion of the state.

Ruffed grouse have intricately barred or variegated plumage in shades of brown and gray, depending on environmental variables, with a conspicuous neck “ruff” and dark tail banding which they use to attract mates. Their most notable courtship ritual, however, is their “drum display” – a low-frequency booming sound created by beating their wings against their bodies.

Contest entries must include at least one ruffed grouse, preferably in a habitat or setting representative of California. Entries will be judged on originality, artistic composition, anatomical accuracy and suitability for reproduction as a stamp and a print.

The 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, with the date and location to be announced later.

An upland game bird validation is required for hunting migratory and resident upland game birds in California. The money generated from stamp sales must be spent on upland game bird-related conservation projects, education, hunting opportunities and outreach.

CDFW sells over 150,000 upland game bird validations annually. Any individual who purchases an upland game bird validation may request their free collectable stamp by visiting www.wildlife.ca.gov/licensing/collector-stamps.

For collectors who do not purchase a hunting license or upland game bird validation, or for hunters who wish to purchase additional collectible stamps, an order form is also available on the website.

For contest information and entry forms, please visit www.wildlife.ca.gov/upland-game-bird-stamp .
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The Higher Logic Project. Courtesy photo.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Higher Logic Project comes to Middletown Art Center on Friday, Aug. 23, from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m.

The MAC welcomes this beloved local band to perform in the MAC gallery, surrounded by artwork from the “Nature” exhibit currently on view.

DJs will provide additional dance music. Enjoy Reggae-infused dance rock and soulful melodies with lyrical consciousness.

The cover charge is $12. A no-host bar will be onsite.

The performance is the Higher Logic Project’s debut of it newest lineup which is bursting with flavor and harmony.

“We have added a new drummer, keyboardist, guitarist, steel pan and three new vocalists to add even more spice to our sounds as we prepare to get back in the studio to cook up something new for our fans!” said Dooby Logic, founder of the band.

Dooby (Derek) Wells, lead vocalist and song-writer, began his venture into reggae under the moniker Fuzzy Logic.

Wells has been a local fixture in the Lake County music scene for a number of years. Originally from Santa Barbara, he has made a home for himself here, a place where he can truly express himself and where his “creativity flows through his heart.”

In a shared vision of enriching life in South Lake County through the arts, Matt Barash of Luvbug Presents has partnered with MAC to bring live musical performances to the area. Concerts will feature both local musicians and guests from afar.

Up next on Sept. 27 is headliner Milk for the Angry, an alternative psychedelic rock band from the Bay Area with local bands, Wormhead, Death and Taxes and JFK.

“We hope that these shows will be set the foundation for exciting live musical performances here for a long time to come,” said Barash. “If you are a local band looking to be heard and seen in a Lake County feel free to send your inquiries to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..”

Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 Highway 175 at the junction of Highway 29.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org or “like” Middletown Art Center on Facebook to stay up-to-date with what’s happening at MAC.

Check out MAC’s nominal cost “Locus” classes at www.middletownartcenter.org/locus.

The Higher Logic Project music can be found on Facebook or download the group’s CD.
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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.

During the 14 years we've published this column we've shown you many fine short poems, and the newspapers that print our weekly selections like it that we don't take up too much of their "news hole."

I thought this week it might be good to show you a haiku, which as you know is a Japanese form that tries to capture life in a spark-like flash. This one is by Lori Becherer of Millstadt, Illinois, and I found it in a 2017 issue of Modern Haiku. There's a great deal of life, and of life's end, in these eight words.

no more dandruff

no more dandruff
on his blue suit
open casket


American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It 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 ©2017 by Lori Becherer, "no more dandruff," from Modern Haiku, (Summer, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Lori Becherer 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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Mixed media work by Anne Ducrot.


MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Join artists Anne Ducrot and Lisa Kaplan for a 2D mixed media workshop “All That is Now” on Sunday, Aug. 25, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Middletown Art Center.

“‘All That is Now’ refers to anything and everything about being here, in this place, now, and the broad gamut of emotions and experiences of both recovery and living with fire. From danger to opportunity, loss to renewal, to normalization, each of us has experienced this differently and is in a different phase of adjustment,” explained Kaplan. “This workshop provides a forum for skills building and self expression of both our personal and collective experiences through individual and collaborative art making.”

Kaplan said a group piece will be created for exhibition in the fourth fire anniversary show, which is also entitled “All That is Now.” The exhibit opens on Friday, Sept. 13.

Adults and children age 12 and up of all levels of art making experience, from newbies to professionals, are invited to join the class for $15 including canvas, paints and other materials and supplies. Participants are invited to bring photos, objects, writing for reference and inspiration, if desired.

Please register in advance for this and all Locus classes at www.middletownartcenter.org/locus, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 707-809-8118. Space is limited and reservations are required.

The Locus project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, returns with this workshop after a short summer break. Having reopened the EcoArts Sculpture Walk, Locus activities will focus on workshops that lead to design and implementation of a second collaborative sculpture for Rabbit Hill. The public is invited to participate in the design and creation of new work.

A sculpture workshop will take place in mid September at Joe Felber’s studio in Middletown. Folks who have kept artifacts from the fire, large or small, are invited to weld, hammer and combine these into something new. Please visit www.middletownartcenter.org/locus, to stay up to date on class schedules and to preregister.

Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 Highway 175 at the junction of Highway 29. Be a part of the growing arts scene in South Lake County by becoming a MAC member, by coming to the “All That is Now” workshop this Sunday, or by attending one of the many arts and cultural events or classes at MAC.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org or “Like” Middletown Art Center on Facebook to stay find out more about what’s happening at MAC.
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Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman star in the 1943 drama, “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Courtesy photo.


LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1943 adventure drama, “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 1 and 6 p.m.

Entry to the film is by donation.

Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, this tale of love, derring-do and sacrifice during the Spanish Civil War is laced with tragic fatalism.

Hemingway himself chose Cooper and Bergman to play the leads, with both of the actors receiving Academy Award nominations.

The movie is sponsored by Jim and Carol Dvorak in honor of Sen. John McCain. Rated G. Run time is 2 hours and 40 minutes.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com .
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‘THE KITCHEN’ (Rated R)

The empowerment of women in the crime business is hardly a new premise, and the gritty, female-driven mob drama “The Kitchen,” with strong leading characters, doesn’t break a lot of new ground.

Only a year ago, Sandra Bullock assembled a female team for a stylish robbery of an art museum in “Ocean’s 8,” and “Widows” followed wives executing a heist after their husbands were killed in a botched getaway.

Sophisticated illicit behavior is not what is in store when mob wives in “The Kitchen” take a criminal enterprise into their own hands after their not-so-bright husbands are caught robbing a liquor store.

The setting is 1978 New York City, when Times Square, far from the global attraction it is now, was seedy and dangerous, where drug dealers and prostitutes roamed freely in an area populated with sex shops and peep shows.

The grittiness of that era overran the nearby neighborhood of midtown Manhattan known as Hell’s Kitchen, a bastion of working-class Irish-Americans in a place that later on succumbed to inevitable gentrification.

The Irish thugs in Hell’s Kitchen were obviously not Rhodes scholars. Kevin O’Carroll (James Badge Dale), Jimmy Brennan (Bryan D’Arcy James) and Rob Walsh (Jeremy Bobb) get caught in an ill-conceived holdup.

Working for Irish gang boss Little Jackie (Myk Watford), the foot soldiers for the mob had been under surveillance by an FBI crew run by agent Gary Silvers (Common).

When Kevin, Jimmy and Rob are sent to prison, their respective wives Ruby (Tiffany Haddish), Kathy (Melissa McCarthy) and Claire (Elisabeth Moss) expect that the gang leader will provide for their welfare as loyal spouses.

No such luck is forthcoming from the odious Little Jackie, who shorts their take to the extent that the wives don’t even get enough to pay the rent, let alone put food on the table.

The situation is no better with the Irish mob matriarch Helen O’Carroll (Margo Martindale), a nasty racist who despises the fact that her son Kevin had the audacity to marry a black woman.

The absence of financial support and inability to find gainful employment is a big problem for the ladies, especially for Kathy who has two small children to feed and clothe.

Ruby prods the other two desperate housewives to seize an opportunity to fill a void created by the incapacity of their husbands to provide protection to local businesses they had long subjected to extortion.

But Kathy and Claire, though facing dire circumstances, are not so easily convinced to make a risky move that would inevitably lead to getting on the wrong side of Little Jackie’s hair-trigger temper.

Albeit grudgingly, Kathy realizes the need to take care of her family, and Claire, who has been scarred by the emotional and physical abuse of her vicious spouse, slowly comes around to gaining some self-respect.

In short order, the three women take Hell’s Kitchen by storm, offering better deals and superior protection to the businesses, aided by the fact they poached on some of Little Jackie’s crew for the muscle needed to help their clients.

Their seemingly effortless success as enforcers is readily apparent when counting such large piles of cash that they can’t even keep track of this new revenue stream.

It’s almost surprising that they are not immediately buying furs and expensive jewelry, although they start wearing nicer apparel, and Claire wonders if they should dress up for a sit-down with a rival gang.

Getting deeper into the criminal world proves to be liberating as well as transformative for the women. They soon exhibit brutally violent tendencies that hardly set them apart their male counterparts.

The ladies get some extra help from hitman Gabriel O’Malley (Domhnall Gleeson), who has been on sabbatical outside the city but has not lost his touch on how to dismember his victims for easier disposal in the Hudson River.

Brooklyn-based Italian mob boss Alfonso Coretti (Bill Camp) is so intrigued by the aggression and business sense that Kathy, Ruby and Claire display that he offers a partnership deal they can either accept or reject at their own peril.

Destructive behavior is on full display when the ladies shake down a group of Hassidic Jews to use their approved construction workers on a major development project. The lone holdout meets a fatal end.

Things get really dicey when the husbands are released early from prison and think that they should shove the women aside and take back what they consider their rightful positions within the mob.

Conflict becomes unavoidable, leading to some double-crosses, surprising twists and brutal retributions. Ugliness is no surprise when one of the women has no qualms about dismembering dead victims in a bathtub.

While the female leads deliver good performances, the film is a thinly-drawn generic gangster movie that fails to make the women entirely convincing as criminals.

In the final analysis, “The Kitchen,” although it nicely captures the period details of a decaying metropolis, proves to be a crime story that is equally predictable and yet not credible.

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

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