Events boasting music, art, wine and other delights are happening throughout the North Bay and online this weekend, and here’s a round up of what’s worth looking forward to.

Taste of Art
Toronto-based contemporary abstract artist Peter Triantos specializes in creating vibrant, large-scale works that incorporate his splashing-paint technique and expressive brushstrokes of colorful designs. Of Triantos’ most popular works, his “Napa Valley” series is a highly sought-after ode to the region. Seven of Triantos’ paintings are currently featured in the gallery space at Brasswood Estate in Napa Valley, and the artist joins winemaker Angelina Mondavi and Marcus Marquez for a virtual tasting of the new Brasswood Estate line-up, featuring the 2016 Pinot Noir, and a discussion on the inspiration for his “Napa Valley’ series on Friday, Sept. 25, at noon. Brasswood.com.

Bike Up
Since many people in the Bay Area are working from home due to Covid-19, the annual Bike to Work Day event that encourages commuting-by-bike is now “Bike to Wherever Days,” and bicyclists throughout the region are participating in activities the entire month of September.

The celebration is still going strong in its final weekend, and all three North Bay counties are hosting rides and other fun. Log your rides and win prizes from the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (marinbike.org) or the Napa County Bicycle Coalition (napabike.org) and participate in activities with Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition like a Bike Parade on Saturday, Sept. 26. Bikesonoma.org.

Hands-On Harvest
It’s Harvest Season, and that means work is in full swing in the North Bay’s vineyards and farms. If you’ve ever wondered what life is like for a local winemaker during this time of the year, Muscardini Cellars in Sonoma Valley is offering a chance to do just that with the interactive Harvest Experience & Blending Seminar. The three-part event includes a discussion with winemaker Michael Muscardini, vineyard-owner Dan Sanchez and Wine Club director Karen Hannah; a wine-blending event; and a harvest-inspired lunch catered by local purveyors on Sunday, Sept. 27, from 11am to 3pm. 9380 Sonoma Hwy, Kenwood. $105. Muscardinicellars.com.

Birthday Bash
Beloved Bay Area musician and longtime member of the Jerry Garcia Band, Melvin Seals (pictured) always celebrates his birthday with a massive concert experience. Even though the pandemic has kept social gatherings on hold, Seals and friends are rocking out for his big day anyways, performing a virtual concert on his actual birthday via Light Rail Station in San Francisco.

Catch Melvin Seals & JGB in a very special one night event titled, “Cats On The Bandstand: A Very Melvin Birthday Show.” Joining Seals for this major event will be his band, which includes former Furthur and Dark Star Orchestra guitarist John Kadlecik, deSol drummer Jeremy Hoenig, and bassist John-Paul McLean. Also expect call-ins and other surprise appearances from legendary members of the Jerry Garcia Band family, like Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally and Jerry Garcia Band manager Steve Parish. Head to Light Rail Station’s Facebook page or Youtube channel on Sunday, Sept. 27. 4pm. Free. Lightrailstation.com.

Revisit the Summit
Each September, nonprofit Roots & Branches Conservancy hosts the Sound Summit music festival on Mount Tamalpais. The fundraiser always features cool bands and awesome sights, though this year’s fest was canceled due to social distancing. In lieu of the live event, Sound Summit is turning the clock back with a streaming event, “Sound Effects: SF Bay Area Musicians Relief,” featuring recorded live performances by Wilco, Los Lobos, Bill Frisell, The Stone Foxes and Matt Jaffe from Sound Summit in 2016. The streaming event benefits local artists through the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7pm. Free to watch; donations welcome. Soundsummit.net.

The Alexander Valley Film Festival regularly screens engaging independent films and welcomes exciting filmmakers to Northern Sonoma County each fall, and this year’s AVFF—hosted by the Alexander Valley Film Society—will stay true to that mission while presenting a virtual version of the sixth annual film festival due to Covid-19.

“Our theme this year is justice,” says Kathryn Hecht, executive director of the Alexander Valley Film Society. “Social, economic, environmental, and mental and spiritual unrest are at crisis levels. And that is exactly where art—namely movies—come into play. Film helps us process our reality, either directly or as a moment of interlude to relax and refocus.”

Now streaming online for five days, the 2020 AVFF will screen feature films, short films and student films, and present panel discussions and Q&A events between Wednesday, Sept. 23, and Sunday, Sept. 27. Patrons can view the festival’s films and events from their computers and use Roku to screen it on their TVs.

The virtual offerings begin with an opening-night film, the 1955 French film Rififi. Watch the film online beginning the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 23, and then tune in at 8pm for a panel featuring Hecht and film-critic Jil Hales in a discussion of Jules Dassin’s quintessential caper film. All other films will be available for viewing starting Thursday, Sept. 24, at 9am and will remain available until Sunday, Sept. 27, at 10pm.

The festival’s feature-film lineup includes several new movies such as Critical Thinking, a biopic about an inner-city chess team that is directed by John Leguizamo; The Artist’s Wife, a drama about living with dementia that stars acclaimed actors Bruce Dern and Lena Olin; and Aggie, a feature-length documentary about art-collector Agnes Gund, who sold Roy Lichtenstein’s painting “Masterpiece” in 2017 for $165 million to start the Art for Justice Fund.

The festival’s short-film highlights includes 26.2 to Life: The San Quentin Prison Marathon, which tracks San Quentin inmates as they train for a marathon race as part of a prison running team. Director Christine Yoo, volunteer coaches Frank Ruona and Diana Fitzpatrick, and film-subject Markelle Taylor discuss the filmmaking journey and what is next in the process on Sept. 26 at 2pm.

Other featured online panels include an expert discussion covering the media’s representation of the transgender community on Sept. 24; a panel about new queer cinema and how it intersects with social justice on Sept. 25 at 2pm; a conversation on healthcare challenges facing vulnerable members of the community on Sept. 25 at 8pm; as well as many other events focusing on social-justice storytelling, equity in the arts and more.

In addition to feature-length and short-film presentations, AVFF once again spotlights several local student filmmakers, with two blocks of student films from Healdsburg High School, Santa Rosa High School, the Geyserville Unified School District and the AV Film Society’s film camps. Meet the student filmmakers during a panel on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 2pm.

To compliment the movies, AVFF will also team up with local restaurants and wineries to offer pick-up food and wine options for a fully immersive film experience. Healdsburg’s Barndiva offers dinner and wine on Sept. 23; Young & Yonder Spirits sells a summertime paella and cocktail pairing on Sept. 25; Trading Post in Cloverdale helps close out the festival with food and wine on Sept. 27.

Passes to this year’s virtual festival range from $75 to $125, and individual films can be screened for $15 each. All proceeds from the festival benefit Sonoma County students through the Alexander Valley Film Society’s year-round educational and cultural enrichment programs.

The virtual Alexander Valley Film Festival is taking place online between Wednesday, Sept. 23, and Sunday, Sept. 27. Avfilmsociety.org.

As the North Bay continues to stay socially distant due to Covid-19, local theater companies are inventing new ways to perform, including Petaluma’s Cinnabar Theater. This week, the acclaimed organization goes online and opens its virtual run of the one-woman play, The Lady With All the Answers.

“Despite the restrictions of COVID-19, we want to provide the community with a unique theater experience, the opportunity to enjoy streaming theater from the comfort of your home,” says Cinnabar Theater executive director Diane Dragone.

Filmed in Cinnabar’s playhouse in Petaluma with a small staff on hand, the show stars Cinnabar veteran Laura Jorgensen as beloved advice columnist Ann Landers, aka Eppie Lederer, the midwestern woman who took over the popular advice column after Ruth Crowley, the creator of the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ask Ann Landers, died in 1955. Lederer wrote the column for 47 years, and she addressed several taboo topics in that time; writing columns about infidelity, addiction, and even the proper way to hang toilet paper.

The Lady With All the Answers is set in 1975 as Lederer struggles to write a particularly personal column. While she tries to find the words to address her readers, Lederer flips through old newspaper clippings and shares them with the theater audience—essentially talking directly to the crowd throughout the show. At one point she even surveys the audience to get their opinion on the toilet paper topic.

That presents a particular challenge to Cinnabar’s new virtual theatrical experience, though the staff and crew–under longtime director Michael Fontaine–have been preparing all summer, and Jorgensen as Lederer learned to interact with the camera as if it was the audience.

Cinnabar Theater was actually one of the first North Bay theater groups to invest in digital video technology, as the Bohemian reported in July, and before working on The Lady With All the Answers, the theater company honed their video skills by presenting two 30-minute episodes of a new online production, “The CinnaTriv Theater Game Show.” Hosted by another Cinnabar veteran, Clark Sterling, the “Jeopardy”-style game, in which three contestants are tested on their knowledge of all things theater, is available to watch on YouTube now.

The Lady with All the Answers begins streaming online Friday, Sept. 18, and features online performances Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm and 7:30pm through Oct. 4. Tickets are $20 for one device or $40 for multiple devices. Ticket sales will offset ongoing expenses and will support the cast and crew, including set designers, lighting designers, stage managers and videographers involved in the production.

“During these uncertain times, it’s important to keep local theater and the arts alive,” Dragone says. “These virtual performances require the same production efforts and cost as their live counterparts. We hope our patrons and the community will discover the same value, joy and entertainment in our virtual productions that we do in creating them. Theater allows us to escape for a time and encourages us to laugh and listen and be connected, even if we can’t be together in person.”

‘The Lady With All the Answers’ streams online Fridays–Sundays, Sept. 18–Oct. 4. 2pm & 7:30pm. $20-$40. Cinnabartheater.org.

The first “Peanuts” comic strip was published in seven newspapers on October 2, 1950. In the 70 years since then, “Peanuts”–written and drawn by longtime Santa Rosa resident Charles M. Schulz–has become one of the most beloved comic strips ever, with it’s iconic characters appearing in thousands of newspapers as well as animated films, live stage shows and more.

Now, Santa Rosa’s renowned Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center celebrates the comic strip’s Platinum Anniversary and covers other timely topics with a fall season filled with public programs.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Schulz Museum will present the fall season entirely online, meaning “Peanuts” fans around the world will have the opportunity to join in the fun from the comfort of their own home.

Right now, the museum is already offering fall online classes for kids, running through October and featuring art and cartooning classes led by professionals.

This Wednesday, Sept. 16, cartoonist Joe Wos hosts an online class for ages seven and up on drawing endangered animals with simple step-by-step instruction. Also on Sept. 16, artist Barbara Golden begins a six-week class on Manga and anime art for students in grades seven to ten. A full list of classes can be found online now.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, the museum hosts a live event, ‘Telling Her Story: How Women are Changing Animation’ that will feature three women from Pixar Animation Studios’ Story Department–Aphton Corbin, Valerie LaPointe, and Louise Smythe–in conversation with Pixar Animation Studio’s Animation Department head Becki Tower. The conversation will examine how women are impacting the animation industry and how audiences experience animated films in the 21st century.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, the museum offers an interactive crafting class based on the new book Peanuts Origami, in which participants can learn to fold paper to create characters like Charlie Brown and Snoopy while they learn a bunch of fun “Peanuts” trivia along the way.

The museum opens October, the comic strip’s anniversary month, with a live conversation between Charles Schulz’s widow, Jean Schulz, and cartoonist Stephan Pastis (“Pearls Before Swine”) on Saturday, Oct. 3. Schulz will share stories about her husband’s legacy in the world of cartooning as well as the strip’s ongoing popularity.

Next, presented in conjunction with the exhibition, “Lucy! Fussbudget to Feminist,” the museum hosts a live event, ‘Women Rising: Local Leaders Speak Out’ on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The live conversation features Camilla Gray-Nelson (owner of Dairydell Doggie Dude Ranch and Training Center), Jennifer Reichardt (owner and winemaker at Raft Wines), and Vivienne Wei (author of Labor Force) sharing the challenges and successes they’ve experienced in their careers.

Another anniversary party, ’70 Years with the Peanuts Gang,’ commences on Saturday, Oct. 17, when author Simon Beecroft presents his new book, The Peanuts Book: A Visual History of the Iconic Comic Strip. Charles M Schulz Museum curator Benjamin L Clark and archivist Sarah Breaux join Beecroft in conversation, charting the evolution and endurance of the “Peanuts” characters.

October wraps up at the museum with an online drawing party focusing on ‘How to Draw Peanuts Halloween.’ Learn how to depict Charlie Brown in his ghost costume, Lucy in her witch hat and mask, Snoopy as the WW1 Flying Ace and the Great Pumpkin with instruction from Atlanta-based cartoonist Robert W. Pope on Thursday, Oct. 29.

Fall 2020 at the Charles M Schulz Museum continues in November and December with more drawing classes and live conversations on topics such as the Black experience as told through graphic novels and comics. Advanced registration is required for all online events. Visit schulzmuseum.org to sign up for these events now.