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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.


I've arrived at an age at which I avoid looking into my old address books, although I've kept them all.

Too many of those addresses are those of people no longer among us.

Louis Phillips, a New Yorker, catches that feeling of loss in this poem from “The Domain of Silence; The Domain of Absence: New & Selected Poems,” from Pleasure Boat Studio.

The Address Book

How could I predict
That my life wd become whatever,
So many people
Passing thru—address books

Filled with names & numbers
I no longer recognize,
Pages torn loose,
Addresses crossed out,

Lives badly smudged,
Decades of earnest grief,
Missed opportunities,
Phones disconnected.

What am I now?
Just another old man
Among old men.
Turn the calendar upside down

& let the days fall out.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2015 by Louis Phillips, "The Address Book" from The Domain of Silence; The Domain of Absence: New & Selected Poems, (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Louis Phillips and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2018 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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Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio in “The Karate Kid.” Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The GenX Cinema series presents the 1984 family film, “The Karate Kid,” starring Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio, on Wednesday, July 11, at 7 p.m. at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport.

Entry is by donation.

This exciting, sweet-tempered, heart-warming story, with one of the most interesting friendships seen in a film in a long time, is directed by John G. Avildsen who also directed “Rocky.”

Pat Morita is simply terrific, bringing the appropriate authority and wisdom to his part as the Yoda-like karate instructor, a part for which he won an Academy Award nomination.

Ralph Macchio delivers a sympathetic and believable performance as Morita’s teenage student who desperately needs a way to put down the school bully.

The film is rated PG with run time of 2 hours 2 minutes, and is sponsored by Leather Feathers.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, telephone 707-263-0577.
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Alicyn Yaffee. Courtesy photo.


LAKEPORT, Calif. – Comedian Marc Yaffee and his daughter, musician, Alicyn Yaffee, bring a night of Jazz and Jokes to the Soper Reese Theatre, Saturday, June 30 at 7 p.m.

Marc Yaffee is a co-star of the Showtime special, “Goin' Native: The American Indian Comedy Slam,” and has also been seen on the Latino Laugh Festival and Comics Unleashed.

Alicyn Yaffee, a jazz guitar vocalist based in New York City, has toured across North America and Europe.

The Yaffees, both former Kelseyville residents, will be joined by comedian Ruben Mora. Mora has performed across the region, including at the Punchline and Improv Comedy clubs.

"I actually started my comedy career when I lived in Kelseyville, so I am excited to come back to Lake County," said Yaffee. "And I know Alicyn would not have pursued music professionally if not for the opportunity to play under Tom Aiken in the Kelseyville High School Jazz Band."

Marc Yaffee. Courtesy photo.


Marc Yaffee recently shot the TV pilot, “Almost Americans,” where he plays a comedian teaching citizenship to new immigrants.

The show's cast also includes Gerry Bednob (Mooj from The 40 Year Old Virgin), and Steven Michael Quesada (Agent Gomez from Breaking Bad).

Marc Yaffee also co-starred in the premier episode of the new standup series, “First Nations Comedy Experience” for the First Nations Experience Network.

Alicyn Yaffee released her debut album, “Someone Else,” on Mad Dog Junkyard Records and will begin recording a followup album later this year.

Tickets, $15 in advance and $18 at the door, are now available at www.soperreesetheatre.com; at the Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; or at the Soper Reese Theatre Box Office, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, two hours before show time and on Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Ruben Mora. Courtesy photo.
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OCEAN’S 8 (Rated PG-13)

Heist capers, even the mediocre ones, are usually a lot of fun. Quality is not an issue for “Ocean’s 8,” which picks up, in a sense, from where the “Ocean’s” trilogy left off.

The hand of Steve Soderbergh is greatly on view.

Soderbergh, the prolific producer and director of many feature films and television programs, serves as the producer for this one, having relinquished the director’s spot to Gary Ross (“The Hunger Games”), who is also credited as the co-writer with Olivia Milch.

To his credit, Ross keeps the Soderbergh spirit alive in much the same way as the original “Ocean’s Eleven” (not the Rat Pack version) set about a meticulous recruiting effort by former inmate Danny Ocean (George Clooney).

Apparently, larceny and grand schemes run large in the Ocean family because this time the ringleader is Danny’s sister Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), who just spent 5 five years, 8 months and 12 days plotting her next big score upon release from a New Jersey correctional facility.

Reference is made to Danny Ocean’s passing (or is he really dead?) and Debbie visits his gravesite for inspiration to carry on family history. In any event, the criminal equation this time is completely distaff. Debbie sets about to recruit the capable women needed for the job.

But first, fresh out of lockup, the penniless Debbie hits New York City, shoplifting at the fancy Bergdorf Goodman for beauty products and then conning her way into a free room at a ritzy hotel. The game is soon afoot to get a trusty crew.

The target of Debbie’s meticulous plan is to steal the famous Toussaint diamond necklace worth a stunning $150 million. It’s the property of the legendary Cartier jewelry emporium on Fifth Avenue where it remains locked in an impenetrable vault.

This will not be a jewelry store version of a casino heist breaking into the vault. The diamond is scheduled to make an appearance at the annual elegant Met Gala held in the tight security confines of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s dinner party.

Debbie first enlists the help of old colleague Lou (Cate Blanchett), a brainy tough cookie with street smarts who despite her harsh exterior actually comes to act like the voice of reason to restrain Debbie’s over-the-top instincts likely hardened from a stretch in prison.

Together, Debbie and Lou assemble an interesting crew to infiltrate the Met Gala and get close to the event’s celebrity host, Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway), who will be dressed in a stunning gown cut low enough to allow plenty of room for the display of the diamond necklace.

Needing a fashion designer to work on dressing Daphne is Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter), whose floundering business needs a big cash infusion, and she proves game to join the crew to keep her enterprise afloat.

Mindy Kaling’s Amita, a shady jeweler, has worked with Debbie before on low-level schemes. Expert fence Tammy (Sarah Paulson) has retired to motherhood and family duties in suburbia but can’t let go completely of her past life with the stolen goods in her garage.

Constance (Awkwafina) is a young street hustler and deft pickpocket that Lou and Debbie meet in Queens. Rihanna’s Nine Ball, a dreadlocked hacker, is a brilliant key to decoding the museum’s security to create the necessary vulnerabilities.

If you kept count, the crew described above totals seven participants. So where does the eight in “Ocean’s 8” come into play? Could it be an unwitting accomplice in the grand scheme? That’s one of the plot twists that turns into having its own twist that is not to be revealed here.

The plot operates on Debbie’s pithy assessment of how a female crew works best. “A ‘him’ gets noticed. A “her” gets ignored. For once, we want to be ignored.” This appears to have more to do with entering the ladies’ room then being spotted among throngs of other beautiful women.

Claiming to be filmed entirely on location in New York, “Ocean’s 8” does benefit from a venue more exciting and elegant than casinos in Las Vegas. You can’t go wrong with places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art or swanky hotels like the Plaza and the Pierre.

Men are not ignored in pivotal scenes. The sleazy art gallery curator Claude Becker (Richard Armitage) is the subject of Debbie’s revenge plot. Late night host James Corden plays rumpled British insurance investigator John Frazier all too familiar with the Ocean family history.

“Ocean’s 8” is what a heist caper should be – fun and interesting to watch unfold with a plot that is convoluted but not so not puzzling that it could not be satisfactorily understood or explained without turning into a pretzel on steroids.

The chemistry with the female cast is good and believable enough in service of advancing the heist to an enjoyable entertainment. As a fan, in particular, of the first “Ocean’s” film, if not as much for the others, “Ocean’s 8” is a pleasurable diversion.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The scariest summertime flick ever, “Jaws,” starring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, July 10, at 1 and 6 p.m.

Entry to the film is by donation.

Director Steven Spielberg paces this 1975 film beautifully, so that one is always on edge, tensed for the scary moments that turn out to be false alarms, and left totally unprepared for the real shocks.

The film was the winner of three Academy Awards including best musical score by John Williams.

The movie is sponsored by John H. Tomkins Tax Consultants. Rated PG. Run time is 2 hours and 4 minutes.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com.
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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.


James Crews, who lives in Vermont, was for two years our assistant at American Life in Poetry.

A fine poet in his own right, he has just published a new book, “Telling My Father,” the winner of the 2017 Cowles Poetry Prize from Southeast Missouri State University Press.

Strict Diet

Though the doctors said no salt,
salt was all my father craved.
His body bloated, skin water-logged
and gray, still he wanted potato chips,
honey-baked ham, greasy slabs
of Polish sausage from Piekutowski's.
He begged for pepperoni pizza,
garlic butter, ribs slathered in sauce.
But when I did the shopping,
I searched only for labels that said
low sodium and no preservatives, instead
bringing home heads of broccoli,
turkey burgers, shredded wheat.
And when he died anyway,
guilt gnawed me like an ulcer—
how could I have denied him
his few final pleasures?—
until I found Big Mac wrappers
stuffed under the car seat,
jars of pickles in the hall closet,
and hidden among wads of tissues
near the night stand, his stash—
a half-used canister of salt.
I sat down on his sagging mattress
now stripped of stained sheets
and studied that blue label
with the girl in the yellow dress
holding her umbrella against a rain
of salt still falling from the sky.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2017 by James Crews, "Strict Diet," from Telling My Father, (Southeast Missouri State Univ. Press, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of James Crews and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2018 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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