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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The regular monthly Fiddlers’ Jam at the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum will be held on Sunday, Feb. 3, from noon to 2 p.m. in the museum’s barn.

Food and beverages will be available for sale.

This month’s raffle basket is a hearts and flowers theme complete with fresh flowers from Flowers by Traci and a Gift Certificate from Woody’s, both of whom are located in Kelseyville.

The Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum is located at 9921 Soda Bay Road, between Kit’s Corner, Kelseyville and Lower Lake. Look for the museum flag.

Visit www.elystagestop.org or www.facebook.com/elystagestop, or call 707-533-9990 for more information.
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Stella Heath as Billie Holiday. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A special Saturday Night Jazz Club show featuring the songs and legends of Billie Holiday will be performed by the Stella Heath Sextet on Saturday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m., at the Soper Reese Theatre.

Tickets are now on sale for $20 with open seating.

Featuring some of the Bay Area’s finest jazz musicians, this show brings back the electric and intimate feeling of seeing Lady Day live in a 1930’s Jazz Club.

Drawing from some of Holiday’s most recorded tunes such as, Blue Moon, Billie’s Blues, God Bless the Child, and Strange Fruit, to name a few, the sextet also revives some of the earlier and lesser known tunes she interpreted.

The concert will feature lead singer, Stella Heath, invoking the vocal stylings of Billie Holiday; Neil Fontano, piano virtuoso from Sonoma County; Jason Bellenkes, rich and inventive on tenor saxophone and clarinet; Trevor Kinsel, interchanging between upright bass and cornet; and percussion legend Pete Lind on the drum kit.

Tickets are available at www.soperreesetheatre.com; at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; or at the theater box office two hours before show time.

The theater telephone is 707-263-0577; Travel Center phone is 707-263-3095.
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NORTH COAST, Calif. – Local writers take note: there’s never been a better opportunity to try your hand at play writing. Mendocino College is currently seeking short plays by local authors to be produced on campus this spring.

The new semester is under way at the college, and one of the most exciting events of the college’s spring theatre season is the annual Festival of New Plays.

Once again, theatre professor Reid Edelman will use short plays written by local authors to teach directing and acting students about the joys and challenges of working with new scripts. These plays will be produced in the college’s annual festival at the end of the semester.

This production of student-written scripts is now in its 15th year, and the event has become a highlight of the college’s annual theatre season.

For the past 14 years, Edelman has worked with Mendocino College Communications Instructor and playwright Jody Gehrman to find and develop student-written plays. Anyone residing in Lake, Sonoma or Mendocino counties is eligible to submit an original play.

“We clearly have an abundance of talented writers in this area,” says Gehrman, “but only a small percentage of them even think about writing a play. Playwrights aren’t born, they’re coerced by people like us to try it once. After seeing their work produced, most become addicted; it’s a tremendous high to sit in a theater and watch your ideas come to life.”

The deadline for submissions is Valentine’s Day, Thursday Feb. 14.

There are no limitations in terms of theme or content, but small casts (two to five characters) and minimal technical requirements are recommended for optimal chances at production.

Scripts should have a running time of no longer than ten minutes. Electronic submissions should be saved as PDF files.

For more information or to submit your play, contact Jody Gehrman, 707-468-3150 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also mail your play to Mendocino College, Attn: Jody Gehrman, 1000 Hensley Creek Road, Ukiah, CA 95482.
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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.

There are so many fine poems in Richard Robbins' new and selected poems, “Body Turn to Rain,” published by LynxHouse Press, that I had a difficult time choosing one to show you.

This one, though, with its tablecloth trick, is one of my favorites.

Robbins lives in Mankato, Minnesota, and teaches at Minnesota State.

Old Country Portraits

My lost sister used to try the trick
with the tablecloth, waiting until
the wine had been poured, the gravy boat filled,
before snapping the linen her way

smug as a matador, staring down
silver and crystal that would dare move,
paying no mind to the ancestor gloom
gliding across the wallpaper like clouds

of a disapproving front—no hutch
or bureau spared, no lost sister sure
the trick would work this time, all those she loved
in another room, nibbling saltines,

or in the kitchen, plating the last
of the roast beef. How amazed they would be
to be called to the mahogany room
for supper, to find something missing,

something beautiful, finally, they could
never explain, the wine twittering
in its half-globes, candles aflutter, each
thing in its place, or so it seemed then,

even though their lives had changed for good.

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 Richard Robbins, "Old Country Portraits," from Body Turn to Rain, (LynxHouse Press, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Richard Robbins 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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‘GLASS’ Rated PG

Writer and director M. Night Shyamalan might be a polarizing filmmaker in that his body of work engenders a range of emotions, pro and con.

“Glass” is certain to draw mixed reactions from audiences to prove the point.

The hardcore fans of Shyamalan’s films will tout “Unbreakable” as one of his masterpieces, along with films like “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs.” Those same folks are more likely all in for “Glass.”

Remembering “Unbreakable,” released almost two decades ago, is essential to understanding “Glass,” and the most recent “Split” fits into the equation as well. Both previous films provide key characters that complete an arguably botched trilogy.

Returning from the first film are Bruce Willis’ David Dunn, lone survivor of a train wreck, and Samuel L. Jackson’s Elijah Price, otherwise known as Mr. Glass given his brittle bones that shatter as easily as a porcelain dish.

In the present, David Dunn, who sells home security devices, roams the streets of Philadelphia as a vigilante fighting crime. He has an ability to divine a person’s criminal bent by merely brushing up against someone. His supernatural power is backed up by physical attributes.

Meanwhile, James McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb, established in “Split,” suffers from dissociative identity disorder. The multiple identities that reside with him include The Beast, a fearsome creature that has imprisoned four teenage girls in an abandoned warehouse.

Wandering around in a hooded poncho, Dunn pursues the superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters that result in a fierce showdown that ends up with both men being captured and detained at the Raven Hill Psychiatric Hospital.

Confined like prisoners, they come under the forced care of Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), who specializes in treating a specific type of delusion of grandeur, namely people who believe they are comic-book characters.

Kevin Crumb is the most puzzling character because he has about two dozen personalities, including a nine-year-old boy, a matronly British woman, and a sexual predator.

A long time patient of Raven Hill, Elijah Price now rests permanently in a wheelchair and is so heavily sedated that most of the time he just stares off into space, a shell of his former self.

Eventually, all three men are engaged in a battle of wills. For his part, Price awakens from his stupor and engages his brilliant mind to wreak havoc on the hospital’s surveillance system to plot an escape.

As is his wont, Shyamalan contrives a scenario that focuses on the grand opening of the tallest new building in the City of Brotherly Love. The ensuing climactic battle falls far short of expectations.

The best thing about “Glass” is McAvoy’s frenetic portrayal of a wildly unpredictable and frightening individual. The rest of the film is a slog through a jumbled mess of disappointments. “Glass” shatters upon closer scrutiny.



‘THE PASSAGE’ ON FOX NETWORK

An adaptation of the best-selling trilogy by author Justin Cronin, “The Passage” focuses on Project Noah, a secret medical facility in Colorado where scientists are experimenting with a dangerous virus that could lead to the cure for all diseases.

But, of course, we know that tinkering with hazardous medical procedures could have a bad outcome, particularly when the opening gambit is an expedition into the Bolivian highlands to find a man supposedly 250 years old who turns out to be a vampire.

The most interesting thing about “The Passage” is the relationship that develops between 10-year-old Amy (Saniyya Sidney), an orphan chosen to be a test subject, and Federal agent Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), who is tasked with delivering her to Project Noah.

The tone of this series is set by Amy’s narration. In the early going she notes that she didn’t use to believe in monsters but has changed her opinion. Her declaration that this “is how the world ends” provides an emotional hook to get involved with the series.

On the trek from Memphis to Colorado, Agent Wolgast, troubled by the death of his own daughter and the dissolution of his marriage, ditches the mission and becomes in essence Amy’s surrogate father.

They both go on the lam, dodging shootouts and high-speed car chases before seeking refuge at a Wisconsin farmhouse. Their safety turns out to be very elusive during an intensive manhunt.

Meanwhile, terrible things are happening at Project Noah where death row inmates have become guinea pigs in experiments that are not working out as planned. Dr. Fanning (Jamie McShane), infected in Bolivia, has become Patient Zero.

Fanning and other test subjects, including Shauna Babcock (Brianne Howey), manage to plant themselves into the nightmares of the project’s staff, demonstrating a power beyond the typical vampire neck bites.

While the lead researcher, Dr. Jonas Lear (Henry Ian Cusick), begins to harbor ethical doubts and others get queasy, internal conflicts that could get interesting loom on the horizon.

The best reason to watch “The Passage” is the chemistry between Saniyya Sidney and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. We root for their survival.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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A class on sculpting the human figure at the Middletown Art Center in July 2018. Photo courtesy of MAC staff.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Middletown Art Center’s Restore project features “Sculpting the Human Figure in Clay” with Emily Scheibal this Sunday, Jan. 27, from 1 to 5 p.m.

Adults and children age 12 and up of all levels of art making experience, from newbies to professionals are invited to attend this class for $10.

“We’ll cover techniques for sculpting the reclining figure from a live model in clay,” explained Scheibal. “Ideally participants, and the work they created in this class, will return to MAC for a follow up session in beginning waste mold techniques for a plaster casting in February or March.”

Join Scheibal, build your skills and experience sculpting the nude human form. After warm ups, work will focus on a single pose. Please bring drawing and clay tools if you have them. Those wishing to draw only are welcome to join, but priority seating will be given to sculptors following warm ups.

Preregistration is mandatory as space is limited. Visit www.middletownartcenter.org/restore, or call 707-809-8118 to register.

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

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