Sunday, 24 November 2024

Register

Arts & Life

Posted On

Paul Robeson in “Show Boat.” Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1951 musical, “Show Boat,” starring Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and Ava Gardner, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, May 14, at 1 and 6 p.m.

Entry to the film is by donation.

Based on an Edna Ferber novel, with score by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, “Show Boat” abounds with wonderful songs that are staples of musical theater including “Make Believe,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” “Why Do I Love You?” and, best of all, “Ol’ Man River.”

Musicals made in Hollywood before “Show Boat” were frilly, simple boy-meets-girl scenarios with a string of unrelated songs, but “Show Boat” changed all that, adding drama and complexity by giving audiences a cohesive story, songs that are linked to the plot, and a theme that touches on serious subjects such as slavery and intermarriage.

The movie is sponsored by Arlene Hanson. Not rated. Run time is 1 hour and 48 minutes.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com.

Ava Gardner in “Show Boat.” Courtesy photo.
Posted On

Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.

There's nothing that can't be a good subject for a poem. The hard part is to capture something in such a way that it becomes engaging and meaningful.

Here's a poem from the Summer 2018 issue of Rattle, by Peg Duthie of Tennessee, in which two very different experiences are pushed up side by side. Her most recent book of poetry is “Measured Extravagance” (Upper Rubber Boot, 2012).

Decorating a Cake While Listening to Tennis

The commentator's rabbiting on and on
about how it's so easy for Roger, resentment
thick as butter still in a box. Yet word
from those who've done their homework
is how the man loves to train––how much
he relishes putting in the hours
just as magicians shuffle card after card,
countless to mere humans
but carefully all accounted for.
At hearing "luck" again, I stop
until my hands relax their clutch
on the cone from which a dozen more
peonies are to materialize. I make it look easy
to grow a garden on top of a sheet
of fondant, and that's how it should appear:
as natural and as meant-to-be
as the spin of a ball from the sweetest spot
of a racquet whisked through the air like a wand.


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 ©2018 by Peg Duthie, "Decorating a Cake While Listening to Tennis," from Rattle, (Vol. 24, No. 2, 2018). Poem reprinted by permission of Peg Duthie 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.
Posted On

Mary Daly working on a sculpture for Vertical Pathways. Photo courtesy of the Middletown Art Center.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The public is invited to join the final Restore sculpture workshop this Sunday, April 28, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Middletown Art Center.

Participants will be working on Vertical Pathways, a collaborative art piece for Rabbit Hill.

Natural wood sculptor Marcus M. Jung will lead this session with support from concrete and plaster sculptor Emily Scheibal.

Create vertical sculptures in natural wood combined with additive forms sculpted in hardware cloth and concrete.

Adults of all ages and teens 11 up are encouraged to join in this unique opportunity to collaboratively create and engage with the natural environment.

Contributions can be completed in one session and no previous participation or art making experience is necessary.

The cost is $5 per session. Sign up at www.middletownartcenter.org/restore. Preregistration is required as space is limited.

Vertical Pathways will provide a sense of protection and visual contrast and harmony, while honoring remaining trees.

The collaborative vision for the piece was inspired by both the totem like quality of remaining burned trees on the hillside and by stories told about the flutes that the former Rabbit Hill owners, “Huck” and “Skee” Hamann taught neighborhood children to make and play.

The “pathway” will add height back into the hillside and provide habitat for seed spreading birds, raptors, and pollinators.

Participants are invited to select a fallen tree to carve and add form and shape to. The “poles” will be installed in an undulating serpentine fashion to create a rhythmic visual pathway on the hillside.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org/restore to learn more about the project and see some of the sculptural works that have provided inspiration for the project.

MAC is working with the Lake County Land Trust to help revitalize public interest and appreciation of Rabbit Hill with this new art trail.

Community members interested in joining the project by helping with landscaping or installation can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call MAC at 707-809-8118.

Restore classes are coming to a close. A final printmaking workshop in drypoint etching and monotype will take place May 4.

A final writers’ workshop with Georgina Marie and Casey Carney will be held May 11. Both will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information and installation and other scheduling visit www.middletownartcenter.org/events .

The Restore project was made possible with support from the California Arts Council, a state agency, with additional support from the Lake County Land Trust and other local organizations, businesses, and individuals.

Visit www.ca.arts.gov to learn more about the California Arts Council’s work in communities and schools throughout California. Learn more about the Lake County Land Trust at www.lakecountylandtrust.org.

Be a part of the growing arts and cultural scene in South Lake County by becoming a MAC member, by participating in Restore classes, or by attending one of the many events or classes at MAC.

This Saturday, April 27, from 7 to 10 p.m., the public is invited to One World Dance, an Earth Day Celebration with music from around the globe.

The MAC Gallery currently features “Living Color,” a vibrant exhibit open to the public on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org or “Like” Middletown Art Center on Facebook to stay up-to-date.
Blog Left ad
Posted On

Dancer Clara Carstensen. Photo by Thomas Delgado.

UKIAH, Calif. – Every spring, for the past 16 years, the Mendocino College Spring Dance Festival has provided entertainment for the entire family.

This year is no exception.

Mendocino College dancers and local guest performers will take to the Mendocino College Center Theatre stage on Thursday, May 2, Friday, May 3, and Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 5 at 2 p.m. to share what they have to say, through movement.

Dance styles such as hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, ballet, and Middle Eastern dance will be performed.

Illuminating the stage with their passions, concerns, and ideas, Mendocino College student chorographers Jasmine Byerley, Clara Carstensen, Yves Charles, Rickie Emilie Farah, Traci Hunt, Oscar Montelongo Medina, Carolina Torres, Ari Sunbeam, and Megan Youell will share their original works.

Jasmine Byerley speaks about her riveting duet Solitude, which she performs with Oscar Montelongo Medina: “Anxiety, failure, pride, fear – what if we did not have to face our demons alone? This piece contemplates the isolation that comes from the fear of admitting the need for help.”

Choreographer Carolina Torres explores the subtle struggles of living with a mother who suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in a power solo titled, Part of Me.

In contrast, Clara Carstensen’s dance 21, 13, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1 melds her love of life with her interest in science.

“The name of the dance comes from the Fibonacci sequence, which is shown in the dancers’ steps and which represents the processes of how people accomplish their goals in life,” Carstensen said.

Rickie Farah, who will be graduating with an AA from Mendocino College this spring and attending school in Southern California to complete her BFA in Theater, debuts her first piece of choreography this spring, “Aferrándonos.”

Farah’s title reflects the passion she puts into her work: “Afferrándos means to hang on or hold on to each other,” she says, “and in this case, it is about the struggles of holding on to one another in a world full of diversions pulling one in different directions.”

First time choreographer Megan Youell brings her creative imagination to a group of nine dancers in her dynamic work When We Break. Youell said, “When We Break imagines people made of glass, who break under the stress brought on by anxiety.”

Veteran choreographers Traci Hunt, Yves Charles, Ari Sunbeam, and Oscar Montelongo Medina will also present new works that explore themes such as magnetism, the surrealism of scrawling text, the humor behind swimming with sharks, and what happens when someone continually asks you, “how are you doing?”

Mendocino College dancers. Photo by Thomas Delgado.

Dances choreographed by college dance instructors Rachel Young and Eryn Schon-Brunner will also be presented, with special appearances by Middle-Eastern dancer Juliana Castillo and Mendocino Ballet Co.

Mendocino Ballet will share original works by Trudy McCreaner and Piper Faulk, as well as a restaging of Ivanov and Petipa’s Swan Lake Pas de Deux, with Yves Charles (Mendocino College Dance) and Hannah Woolfenden (Mendocino Ballet Co.).

Mendocino College singers and musicians will share the stage with the dancers, and the Mendocino College Art Gallery, featuring student art works, will be open before the show and during intermission. It will be a multimedia event.

Additionally, Dance Club scholarships will be awarded during the evening to Traci Hunt and Jasmine Byerley, and the Kayla Grace Chesser Scholarship Awards will be presented to Rickie Farah and Margarita Diaz.

The Spring Dance Festival is a family-friendly event. Tickets are $10 for everyone and can be purchased at the door or in advance at the Mendocino College Bookstore, the Mendocino Book Company, in Ukiah or online.

Tickets may also be ordered over the phone by calling 707-468-3079. The Mendocino College Center Theatre is located at 1000 Hensley Creek Road, Ukiah.

Dancer Juliana Castillo. Photo by Thomas Delgado.
Posted On



‘LITTLE’ (Rated PG-13)

Role reversal is often a thing at the movies, and the Tom Hanks movie “Big” readily comes to mind when a 13-year-old boy magically wakes up the next morning in an adult’s body while retaining his adolescent mindset.

Switch the age, race and gender and the result is “Little” and a 38-year-old black woman becomes a middle-schooler who maintains the attitude and mentality of her adult self.

Regina Hall’s Jordan Sanders, who had suffered the indignities of bullying and ostracism in middle school, vowed to become a mean girl success as an adult in the highly competitive business world.

Jordan’s desires became reality as the founder and boss of a thriving software company whose enormous ego is inflated by blow-ups of magazine covers featuring her grand achievements adorning the office walls.

Having achieved the trappings of success with a swank apartment, exotic car and closets full of glamorous clothes, Jordan exercises tyrannical power by verbal abusing her browbeaten assistant April (Issa Rae) and all others in her employ.

When a young girl doesn’t take kindly to Jordan’s harsh arrogance, she uses her amateur magician standing to wave a wand wishing that the devilish Jordan would be brought down in size as just punishment.

The hex is realized when Jordan wakes up the next day inside the body of her teenage self and is soon reported to child protective services as a truant minor who has to be enrolled in the same middle school where she had suffered humiliation some twenty-five years earlier.

Suddenly, the younger version of Jordan (Marsai Martin) has to rely on the beleaguered April to manage the tech company and to make some big adjustments to boost employee morale and to try to keep a vital client from defecting to another firm.

There’s expected humor in the predicament now faced by the younger Jordan who still doesn’t fit in at school and is quickly relegated to only being welcome at the nerds’ table during lunch breaks.

Meanwhile, April thoroughly enjoys the role reversal, taking expensive clothes from Jordan’s closet to impress coworkers. Awkwardness sets in when young Jordan starts flirting with the handsome teacher (Justin Hartley) she insists on calling by his first name.

“Little,” plodding along at times with a simplistic romanticism, casts a spell on both Jordan and April, offering them a bumpy road paved with cheerful humor as second chances are realized in desirable life lessons.



‘BLESS THIS MESS’ ON ABC NETWORK

The premise of the new comedy series “Bless This Mess” on the ABC network is deceptively simple. A yuppie newlywed couple leaves the hustle and bustle of New York City to take over a farm in rural Nebraska.

If this sounds like the “Green Acres” series, cast member Ed Begley Jr. informed critics during the winter press tour that “Bless This Mess” was “similar in plotline” but different in that it is “very edgy.”

Lake Bell, also co-creator of the show, and Dax Shepard star respectively as Rio, eager to give up her therapy practice, and music journalist Mike. On a whim, they decide it’s a wonderful idea to move to the Midwest when he inherits a farm from his great aunt.

Before packing for the road trip, the couple must first contend with the cynical skepticism of Rio’s mother (Susie Essman). Then faster than ordering a latte at Starbucks, Rio and Dax arrive at a farmhouse that should have been deemed uninhabitable by a building inspector.

Predictably enough, the clueless Rio and Mike quickly set about attempting home repairs when it appears neither has ever held a hammer. The hopelessly dilapidated house instantly recalls the struggles of another young couple in “The Money Pit.”

Another surprise in store for the New Yorkers is the parasite Rudy (Begley) living in their barn and casually using their bathroom even when they are in the shower. Rudy’s quirky antics suggest that he’s the type of neighbor who is way too invasive of personal space.

Rio and Mike are very likable with their city slicker frivolity. Unfamiliar with even basic facts of rural life, Rio instantly displays an unreasonable yet humorous fear of a docile cow roaming free.

The show’s urban-centric writers apparently traffic in the typical oblivious understanding of rural life, casting neighbors (Lennon Parham and David Koechner) as a scheming hayseed couple eager to buy Rio and Mike’s farmland.

As one of the locals, Pam Grier fares much better as the cowboy hat-wearing Constance, owner of the local hardware store doing double duty as the town sheriff who also happens to run the local theater with a production of a Broadway musical.

“Bless This Mess,” much like the “Green Acres” mockery of the clash between city folk and the local rubes, mines the comedy of cultural differences and urban pretensions. Running for only six episodes, it may not take long to see if this show has promise.

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

Nalani Marlowe was the Lake County, Calif., finalist in the 2019 Fifth Congressional District Art Competition for her piece, “A Day in the Life.” Courtesy photo.

NAPA, Calif. – On Wednesday, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that local judges have selected Nalani Marlowe from Kelseyville High School as the Lake County finalist in the 2019 Fifth Congressional District Art Competition for her piece, “A Day in the Life.”

“Congratulations Nalani Marlowe, Lake County’s 2019 Fifth Congressional District Art Competition finalist!” said Thompson. “Every year I have the privilege of seeing our district’s up-and-coming artistic talent and showcasing our students’ artistic talent and skills. I am so proud of each student who worked hard and participated and want to thank all the dedicated teachers and parents who supported their efforts.”

Finalists from each county in the Fifth Congressional District will now be judged and a grand prize winner will be selected.

That student and a guest will be flown to Washington, D.C. for an awards ceremony with winners from across our nation.

That student’s artwork will also be displayed in the halls of the U.S. Capitol for one year.

Thompson is proud to represent California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

Students’ art on display at the New Artist Gallery in Napa, Calif., on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Courtesy photo.

Subcategories

Cinema

Home and Garden

LCNews

Responsible local journalism on the shores of Clear Lake.

 

Memberships:

 

Search