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The Happys Hear Voices in New Music Video

Music

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 13, 2020

The Happys Hear Voices in New Music Video

North Bay pop-punk group The Happys is a band that wears its emotions on its sleeve, singing about mental health and personal relationships with frank and amusing lyrics set against upbeat rhythms and shredding guitars.

Singer-songwriter and front man Nick Petty, a Marin County native, started the band as a positive outlet after a troubled youth that included depression, addiction and brief incarceration, and the band now features lead guitarist Alex Sanchez, bassist Brett Brazil and drummer Ben Moore.

Drawing musical inspiration from ‘90s alternative and 2000s pop-punk acts like Blink-182, The Happys lay out their issues on the fun, four-song EP, Bipolar, released in the summer of 2018. Now, the band has released new music video for the EP’s title track featuring the group running wild amidst the stunning scenery of the Ron Collins Art Gallery.

“‘Bipolar’ is a song written about a girl who I once liked who had bipolar disorder,” Petty says in a statement. “In hindsight, this song is based on the give-and-take nature of love. The song dives into personal struggles from my childhood with bipolar emotions and tendencies. I always want to empower people through my lyrics to never feel less than anyone else for struggling with their mental health and differences.”

Musically, “Bipolar” mixes lyrical paranoia and power-pop structures for surreal surf-rock aesthetic that the group matches with the music video’s visuals. The new video features Petty and the group playing on the grounds of the Ron Collins Art Gallery, a 13000-square-foot Petaluma chateau that Collins–a longtime board member of the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art–transformed into a three-story gallery space.

The band’s connection to Collins can be traced to the Marin nonprofit organization Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity, which Collins has long supported. The nonprofit helps homeless kids in Marin, and helped Petty through his own adolescent struggles. Through the nonprofit, Petty also met filmmaker Will Rushton, who shot the new music video.

The other songs on the Bipolar EP also feature mental-health subject matters. Opening track “Birdy” is about living with depression, while track two, “Cut the Rope,” examines elements in people’s lives that hold them back emotionally. The EP’s closer, “Manic,” is about being, well, manic. Despite the subject matter, the tempo on the EP stays pulsing with hints of heavy metal flair in the punk-rock revelry.

While the Bipolar EP came out two years ago now, the songs still hold meaning for Petty and for listeners who have been dealing with the emotional fallout of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“During these times, I want to help people to understand that it’s normal to feel weird and lost during this quarantine. While it will eventually pass, I truly believe that we can use this time to create something beautiful,” Petty says. “I get what it’s like to not be getting the necessary help while suffering from depression and anxiety. I am very lucky to have this musical outlet to help with my own issues and I want to spread the love and hope to anyone who will listen. I strive to entertain people and let people know it’s OK to be weird, it’s OK to be different.”

Watch the video for “Bipolar” below.

Stay Virtual with Upcoming Online Offerings

BohoBlog

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 12, 2020

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Stay Virtual with Upcoming Online Offerings

According to statewide data, the Covid-19 pandemic is still considered to be a moderate threat in Marin and Napa County, and a widespread threat in Sonoma County; meaning this weekend may be a good one to avoid crowds and instead engage with local music, theater and more from the safety of the internet. Here are five things to do virtually over the next five days.

Virtual Concert
There was a time earlier this fall when Mill Valley’s Sweetwater Music Hall toyed with the idea of reopening. They even tried to put some shows on the books, but for a variety of reasons–Covid’s continued presence in Marin for one–the venue is staying shut to the public for now. Still, Sweetwater’s stage will be busy tonight as the venue hosts local psychedelic soul brothers Monophonics for a live streaming show tonight, Thursday, Nov. 12. The band is playing a special set that will include them performing their new album It’s Only Us in its entirety as well as some fan favorites. Tune in to see the Monophonics Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6pm. $15. Get tickets at Sweetwatermusichall.com.

Virtual Film
While the Napa Valley Film Festival is on hold until 2021 due to Covid-19, the film, food and wine extravaganza offers a virtual substitution with its 2020 Napa Valley Film Festival Alumni Streaming Series. For the next few days, several films that were featured in past Napa Valley Film Festivals are available online and a limited number of tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Films include 2017 romantic drama The Year of Spectacular Men, the 2018 fantasy-drama Cold Brook, 2019 Chinatown gang-war comedy Lucky Grandma and several others. The streaming series is open, and new films debut in the series daily through Sunday, Nov. 15. Tickets and passes are available at Napavalleyfilmfest.org.

Virtual Theater
Forced to cancel its live theater season due to Covid-19, Marin Theatre Company is transitioning to an exciting lineup of virtual experiences for its 54th season. Currently, MTC presents the digital premiere of an interactive play, Leila Buck’s American Dreams, in which the audience participates in judging a game show for U.S. citizenship. Buck’s script imagines a government-run broadcast where three hopeful competitors debate various democratic policies. The play ultimately sends a message of unity and digitally creates a space for connection, while also offering a good portion of laughs and lively entertainment. American Dreams is running online daily now through Sunday, Nov 15. Times vary, $30 general admission, no latecomers allowed to the performances. Get tickets at Marintheatre.org.

Virtual Food & Drink
Traditionally, Sunday is the day for families or friends or whole communities to get together and have a special meal, and Sebastopol’s Emeritus Vineyards is recreating that gathering online with its Virtual Sunday Social Club Supper this weekend. RSVP as soon as possible to get the emailed ingredients list, then join the Zoom event to create the dishes and enjoy the wine with a special guest chef on hand to prepare it with you online. The supper club then invites everyone to toast together and stick around to enjoy the meal together over Zoom on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 4pm. RSVP at Emeritusvineyards.com.

Virtual Reading
In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Petaluma’s Rivertown Poets have moved their “Amuse-ing Mondays” reading and open mic series from the Aqus Café to Zoom, keeping the poetry going online. This time, Rivertown Poets welcomes Terry Ehret, John Johnson and Nancy Morales—a trio of translators who recently worked on the late Ulalume Gonzalez de Leon’s poetry collection, Plagios (Plagiarisms), published by Bay Area group Sixteen Rivers Press. The featured poets will read from the collection and an open mic follows on Monday, Nov. 16, at 6:15pm. Free. Sign up in advance for open mic or join the Zoom reading through the group’s Facebook page.

Michael Krasny Signs Off

BohoBlog

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 12, 2020

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For the last 30 years, Bay Area residents have received in-depth coverage of local and national news from KQED’s Forum, the long running radio call-in show helmed by broadcaster, author and academic Michael Krasny since 1993.

As the host of the radio program, Krasny has become an indelible part of the Bay Area. Yet, Krasny recently announced that he will be stepping away from the microphone and concluding his regular hosting duties on February 15, 2021.

“Michael is a Bay Area jewel,” says Holly Kernan, KQED’s Chief Content Officer, in a statement. “His is a model public service career and he has brought depth, compassion and the expertise of a literature professor to the airwaves on a daily basis. Forum shows how a regional public affairs program can serve listeners with reasoned and thoughtful dialogue that cuts across so many disciplines and important issues.”

A longtime resident of Marin County, Krasny began his broadcasting career in the late 1970s as host of “Beyond the Hot Tub,” a weekly program on the small Marin rock station KTIM FM.

By the mid-1980s, Krasny was working in both radio (KGO AM) and on local television. He joined KQED in 1993 as host of Forum, where he explored issues related to local and national news, politics, culture, health, public affairs, art and more.

Over the course of Krasny’s tenure, Forum developed a loyal audience whose engagement with Krasny made the show one of the Bay Area’s top drive-time radio programs. Forum is also one of the top-ranked regional programs in all of public media, reaching an average of 246,000 radio listeners each week and engaging another 70,000 online listeners.

Over his broadcasting career, Krasny has interviewed prominent figures such as Maya Angelou, President Jimmy Carter, Cesar Chavez, Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Garcia, Toni Morrison, President Barack Obama, Rosa Parks, Gene Wilder and many more. For his work, he has received several broadcasting, writing and scholarly awards, including the recent Silver SPUR Lifetime Achievement Award, the most prominent award for lifetime civic achievement in San Francisco.

In addition to his broadcasting career, Krasny has worked as Professor of English at San Francisco State University and taught at prestigious institutions like Stanford University. He has also authored several books, including Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means.

“I want to thank all of the listeners, guests and exceptional colleagues I’ve had the great fortune to encounter over the years as host of Forum,” Krasny says in a statement. “I’ve been unusually fortunate to sustain such a long career serving the Bay Area in a role that allows me to participate in such rich and thoughtful conversations about the topics of our times.”

Now 76 years old, Krasny plans to spend his retirement with family, including his first grandchild, and he will also focus on writing and other opportunities.

KQED will conduct a thorough national search for his replacement. In the meantime, Mina Kim will continue to host the 10am hour of Forum, which focuses on statewide issues.

KQED.org/Forum

Letters: King of Denial and the Road Warriors

Letters to the Editor

Bohemian.com

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Nov 11, 2020

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Letters: King of Denial and the Road Warriors

Trump lacks the guts to admit that he lost the election because of his own mistakes on many important issues. Any President who openly brags about conquering women with his personal wealth is almost begging to lose his chance for re-election. And openly denying the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic while thousands of his constituents are dying from this deadly virus was also a sure way to lose this election.

Yet for me the final straw that broke the camel’s back is President Trump’s adamant climate change denial. With our planet quickly overheating and igniting massive wildfires all over California, any politician who refuses to fight for our Earth’s environmental survival has no right to even think about being the President of a major greenhouse gas emitting nation.

So instead of pretending to be the victim of any election fraud President Trump needs to more honestly face his own major mistakes during his four years as our nation’s most powerful person.

Rama Kumar

Fairfax

Road Warriors

It’s too bad Sonoma County doesn’t have a genuine Fire Marshal (“Not So Safe,” Open Mic, Oct. 21).

At the August hearing when the Board of Supervisors adopted this ordinance, he failed to mention any public safety concerns, which is presumably his job. Does his professional training and background give him any insights about one lane, dead-end roads during fire storms? Who knows?

But he did talk about “regulatory takings,” a legal doctrine for which he has no training or expertise. He thinks land owners should be able to develop anything they want, anywhere, on inadequate roads. I suspect he’s mostly toeing the line of supervisors so he can keep his job and survive to retirement on a fat pension.

*Disgusted

via Bohemian.com

Sonoma’s Annual Recycled Fashion Show Walks a Virtual Runway

Arts

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 11, 2020

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Sonoma’s Annual Recycled Fashion Show Walks a Virtual Runway

Trash and fashion are not usually the best bedfellows—unless you ask the artists, designers and ecologists who contribute to Sonoma Community Center’s fundraising Trashion Fashion Show.

For the last ten years, dozens of recycled garments and recycled art made of cast-off Barbie dolls–also decked out in trash-made dresses–wow the crowds each spring, though the ‘Trashionistas’ were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic’s breakout this year and the event was postponed until this month, when the Trashion Fashion Show and the recycled Barbies art exhibit make their online debut as free virtual events open to the public.

The virtual offerings begin with the online exhibit, “Barbie: Reclaimed & Reinvented,” featuring 50 dolls that were saved from local thrift stores, recycling plants and landfills and then turned into new works of art by conservationist-minded artists who adorn the dolls in one-of-a-kind dresses made from recycled materials. “Barbie: Reclaimed & Reinvented” goes on display in a live streaming show on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 11am, and the exhibit will remain online for a week. Each Barbie will also be for sale in a silent auction to benefit the Sonoma Community Center.

“Having a virtual event is a great opportunity to reach an even wider audience than we normally do, especially when it comes to inviting guests,” Sonoma Community Center Creative Programs Manager Eric Jackson says in a statement. “For example I’m so excited that we can now have members of the Mattel Company finally make an appearance at our gallery show.”

On Saturday, Nov. 21, the tenth annual Trashion Fashion Show takes to the virtual runway during a live streaming broadcast beginning at 4pm. A panel of recycle artists and designers from around the country were handpicked to judge this year’s
Showcase of outrageous head-to-toe apparel designs handmade by local community members from recycled materials and found objects.

In addition to the live runway event, the Trashion Fashion Show broadcast will also include pre-recorded material shot on location in Sonoma.

“Since Trashion is no longer an indoor event this year, we decided to take these wonderful outfits and film them in various different locales throughout town,” Jackson says. “So now the show has also become a love-letter to Sonoma that I think everyone will enjoy.”

The live runway show will feature several live models strutting their stuff, combined with commentary and reactions provided by returning Master of Ceremonies, Gary Saperstein, and the esteemed panel of judges. Prizes will be awarded during the show in multiple categories and votes will be collected from viewers for the “People’s Choice Award.”

The Trashion Fashion Show is partners with and is sponsored by Republic of Thrift, Recology, Chateau Sonoma, Cornerstone Sonoma, Sweet Scoops, Bon Marche, The Church Mouse, and the City of Sonoma.

Online visitors and broadcast viewers are encouraged to pre-register for both events online at Sonoma Community Center’s webpage, where they can also find ways to donate to support the center’s yearlong arts and educational programs. Supporters may donate online as well as by texting the word “TRASH” to 44321.

County Purchases Santa Rosa Hotel for use as Transitional Housing

News

Bay City News Service

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Nov 11, 2020

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County Purchases Santa Rosa Hotel for use as Transitional Housing

The purchase of a Santa Rosa hotel to provide temporary housing for vulnerable people lacking shelter was approved Tuesday by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

The $8 million acquisition of the 44-room Hotel Azura was made through the state’s Project Homekey program, established in June in response to the COVID-19 health emergency.

Officials said the hotel on Healdsburg Avenue would be converted into interim housing for up to 66 individuals when escrow is closed, possibly by next week.

“Adding Hotel Azura into our housing portfolio will give us the opportunity to bring more of our Covid-19 vulnerable individuals who are experiencing homelessness into supportive housing, with a path to permanent housing,” said Supervisor Susan Gorin. “I applaud the state for helping counties pursue housing that truly meets people’s needs, with supportive services and access to grocery stores, medical services and transportation.”

Priority access to the accommodations will go to those who are homeless and are most vulnerable to Covid-19.

Those housed at the hotel will have also receive assistance from the county’s Accessing Coordinated Care to Empower Self Sufficiency Initiative (ACCESS) program that uses county and community programs to provide needed resources.

ACCESS services include primary health care, behavioral health services and support, economic and food assistance, and employment training.

Supervisors on Tuesday also approved the purchase of the Sebastopol Inn in Sebastopol, but that acquisition is pending state approval of funding.

Holiday Arts Guide

Features

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 11, 2020

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If 2020 proved anything, it’s that time marches on. Even as the Covid-19 pandemic shutters social gatherings in parts of the North Bay, the holidays approach, and with them comes a plethora of socially distant and virtual events that promise to brighten spirits. To help navigate the season, we present a guide to local holiday events, shopping, performances and other artsy offerings leading up to Christmas.

The Thanksgiving Play
Anyone who has experienced familial quarreling during the holidays will relate to Sonoma County–based Left Edge Theatre’s virtual production of The Thanksgiving Play. The satirical comedy about reconciling the holiday’s celebratory atmosphere with the dark legacy of colonial expansion in America is presented live over Zoom on Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 12–15, at varying times. The show will then be available to stream on demand from Nov. 16–29. $10–$30. Leftedgetheatre.com.

Warren Miller’s Future Retro
Each year, adventure-film producers Warren Miller Entertainment assemble a feature-length film based on winter sports spotlighting world-class skiers and other sports figures performing mind-bending stunts around the world. This year marks the first-ever digital release of the annual film, and Warren Miller’s Future Retro streams into homes this month. The jaw-dropping film features athletes taking big risks and finding big rewards on mountains in Iceland, Alaska and elsewhere. The film will be released in regional premieres; West Coast audiences can view Future Retro on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7pm. The film will be available to stream for two days, and tickets include other digital content and other perks. $69. Warrenmiller.com.

Holidays Along the Farm Trail
Each winter, Sonoma County Farm Trails hosts a series of shopping and agricultural activities to celebrate the season. This year, Sonoma County Farm Trails is keeping gatherings small and close to home, though the organization will still host several virtual offerings, including farm-fresh gifts and local décor available on the group’s Facebook and Instagram pages and at Farmtrails.org.

Holidays in Yountville
Dubbed “the brightest town in Napa Valley,” Yountville annually offers an escape from big-box store shopping with down-home events and experiences throughout the season. This year’s calendar includes more than 50 virtual and safe in-person events, with craft and cooking classes, virtual tastings, an online gift guide and a virtual holiday light tour of Yountville on Friday, Nov. 27. Yountville.com.

San Rafael Parade of Lights & Holiday Festival
San Rafael’s 41st annual event moves ahead in 2020 as a single-day celebration that opens with an afternoon holiday marketplace boasting local shopping and kids activities before the evening’s brightly-lit events which include the parade at 5:30pm followed by a tree-lighting ceremony with Mr. and Mrs. Claus in the city’s plaza. Fourth and B streets, San Rafael. Friday, Nov. 27, noon to 8pm. Free. sresproductions.com.

Winter Lights
Santa Rosa’s downtown Courthouse Square lights up each Christmas with a massive tree-lighting ceremony. This year, rather than a one-day event, Winter Lights will take place from Thanksgiving through New Years Day, with activities for the family, photo opportunities, holiday specials from local restaurants and shops, and other entertaining elements presented with social distancing and safety in mind. Nov. 27 to Jan. 1, at Third Street and Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa. Downtownsantarosa.org.

Sausalito Gingerbread House Competition & Tour
This 14th-annual citywide event features festive and delicious gingerbread houses displayed in the windows of local businesses that are mostly within walking distance of each other, meaning this is a family-friendly diversion from the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping. Dec. 1–31. Downtown Sausalito. Maps are available at participating merchants or at Sausalito.org.

Broadway Holiday Experiences
Sonoma County’s award-winning Transcendence Theatre Company has already proven it can provide theatrical entertainment to at-home audiences with this past summer’s “Best Night Ever Online” season of virtual showcases. Now, the company sets its sights on the holidays with festive song and dance performances playing at drive-in venues and online. Broadway Holiday Experiences play Fridays to Sundays, Dec. 4–6 at SOMO Village, 1100 Valley House, Rohnert Park; and Dec. 11–13 at Sonoma Raceway, 29355 Arnold Dr., Sonoma. 5pm. $59 and up. Online performances stream Dec. 18–23 on YouTube, times vary. Free, donations accepted. Transcendencetheatre.com.

Light Up a Life
Heartland Hospice honors lives lost with annual candle- and tree-lighting ceremonies in Sonoma County each winter. This year, Light Up a Life will be a virtual tree-lighting and remembrance ceremony on Friday, Dec. 6, at 6pm. Purchase a light to honor a loved one by calling 707.778.6242.

Calistoga Lighted Tractor Parade
This small town celebrates the holiday season and its agricultural heritage each winter with a parade featuring vintage tractors, antique trucks and other rustic autos adorned in dazzling lighting displays. This year, the event has been modified to display tractors decked in lights throughout town for a social-distanced celebration on Saturday, Dec. 5. Lincoln Avenue, downtown Calistoga. 5:30pm. Free. Visitcalistoga.com.

Winterfest Sausalito
This 33rd annual event will comply with Covid-19 safety precautions when it presents its popular Lighted Boat Parade—featuring dozens of brightly decorated vessels along the Sausalito Waterfront—on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 6pm. Entry forms for participating vessels and other details can be found at Winterfestsausalito.com.

Luther Burbank Plant Sale & Gift Shop
While Luther Burbank’s historic home and gardens are not holding an annual open house this holiday season, there will be a two-day sale featuring socially distant shopping with holiday-themed cards and face-coverings available in the gift shop. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 12–13, Luther Burbank Home & Gardens, 204 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa. 1–4pm each day. Lutherburbank.org.

Songs of Light
San Rafael’s Osher Marin JCC is usually the scene of one of Marin’s biggest Hanukkah parties. This year, all are welcome to Osher Marin JCC’s virtual holiday presentation, “Songs of Light: A Multi-Genre Musical Celebration of Hanukkah” that takes place on Zoom for one night only. The event will be hosted by James Sokol, the director of the Kurland Center for Adult Learning & Living at the Osher Marin JCC, who leads a virtual program that explores the Festival of Lights through the music of Broadway, opera, pop and more. Register in advance for the free event, and take the musical trip on Sunday, Dec. 13, at 1pm. 415.444.8002.

Hanukkah with Shomrei Torah
This year this progressive Santa Rosa congregation hosts a virtual version of the Jewish holiday of lights, beginning with a three-part Zoom presentation on Hanukkah’s origins, spiritual meaning and more on three consecutive Wednesdays, Dec. 2–16, at 7pm. Free. Then, Congregation Shomrei Torah holds a virtual Hanukkah celebration—details to come—on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 6:15pm. Cstsr.org.

Holiday Gift Market
Healdsburg Center for the Arts’ annual gallery show offers an opportunity to find and purchase original, handmade creations, crafts and goods from local artists. Saturday, Nov. 21, though Wednesday, Dec. 30. Healdsburg Center for the Arts, 130 Plaza St., Healdsburg. Free. healdsburgcenterforthearts.org.

Petaluma Merchant’s Holiday Open House
Each year, downtown Petaluma helps shoppers find deals and enjoy festive holiday treats, horse-and-carriage rides, balloon art, face painting and more during an open-house outing. This year’s event will look different due to Covid-19, with details still forthcoming. For now, the open house is happening Saturday, Dec. 5. Putnam Plaza, 129 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma. 11am to 5pm. Get further details by calling 707.762.9348.

Posada Navideña
A holiday tradition in Mexico, Posada Navideña features performances blending dance, music and song. Each year, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts hosts a showcase, and this year the venue welcomes Northern California company Calidanza for a virtual performance featuring lively entertainment online on Friday, Dec. 11, at 7pm. The online performance will be available for free for 48 hours after its premiere. Lutherburbankcenter.org.

Artist Jim Isermann Designs Russian River Reopening Installation

Arts

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 9, 2020

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Artist Jim Isermann Designs Russian River Reopening Installation

In a career spanning four decades, artist Jim Isermann envisions a brighter world in his modernist, abstract work by utilizing bold patterns and colors that bridge the realms of fine art and pop culture.

Splitting his time between living in Palm Springs and Guerneville, Isermann is making the Russian River his next canvas and designing artwork that will be seen throughout the community as part of a partnership with the Russian River and Monte Rio Chambers of Commerce, Creative Sonoma, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The “Creative Reopening Project” features Isermann’s designs dotting more than five miles of art installations which appear on the roads and in businesses in the Russian River corridor. Isermann’s designs mix bright colors with messages of Sonoma County solidarity and Covid-related awareness on eye-catching signs and banners.

Isermann is a globally renowned artist, and he has shown his works in more than 30 solo exhibitions in cities like Paris, London, New York City and many others. Isermann’s other recent projects include works for the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Yale University Art Museum in Connecticut and an installation for the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

“One strength running through my forty-year practice is a belief in math, structural logic and geometric algorithms,” Isermann says in his artist statement. “The asymmetric only occurs as the result of a set of rules. What keeps me on this road is the unpredictable, the serendipitous moments that make the work imperfect, breathe and come alive.”

The “Creative Reopening Project” installation features messages that aim to educate and enliven the area, and Isermann’s patterns are meant to reflect the natural arrangements and scenery native to the Russian River, the Sonoma Coast and the Redwoods.

In addition to Isermann’s designs, the project benefits from it’s lead creative designer Bob Pullum, owner of the Guerneville Bank Club. Pullum is an art director and graphic designer who has worked at many top agencies in the United States and he is overseeing the installations to help visually unite the region.

The works on display throughout the five-mile corridor range from vinyl banners and sandwich boards to window clings and even Isermann’s specially designed face mask that’s being manufactured by San Francisco company Open Editions–which collaborates with artists to design goods made by factories in the US. The public art also hopes to enliven the region without the need for social gathering, and works can be safely viewed in small groups for from the car.

“I have had a summer cabin in Guerneville since 2010,” Isermann says in his statement. “I spend half the year in the desert and when I return to Guerneville each year I view the landscape with fresh eyes.”

“Although the patterns I create are often representative to me, this project was a rare opportunity to design two patterns that represent the Russian River to all our neighbors and visitors,” Isermann says. “The river and the redwoods were obvious choices. I solved the challenge by emphasizing the contrast between the curvilinear aspect of the river and the rectilinear design of redwood bark. I look forward to seeing the paired patterns on monumental vinyl banners, vinyl window wraps and custom face masks!”

Santa Rosa Crews Quickly Control Two Structure Fires

News

Bay City News Service

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Nov 9, 2020

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Santa Rosa Crews Quickly Control Two Structure Fires

Fire crews responded to and quickly controlled two structure fires in Santa Rosa Sunday night, fire officials said.

The first fire, located at 5070 Charmian Drive, involved a two-story home. The occupants contacted the fire department and safely exited the home after being alerted by their neighbors that their roof was on fire.

Fire crews arrived in several minutes, and found the wooden enclosure around the chimney and part of the surrounding roof structure on fire. Firefighters battled the fire from the roof and the exterior of the house, and controlled the fire in approximately 15 minutes.

The damage to the home is estimated to be $100,000, but the occupants of the home were able to remain in the house after the fire.

The second fire, located at 1514 Ronnie Drive, involved a single-story home. The occupants of the home, an elderly couple, noticed the fire from their fireplace had spread to the roof structure.

Fire engines arrived within minutes and assisted the elderly couple out of the home safely.

Crews attacked the fire from the roof and the exterior of the house, and controlled the fire in about 45 minutes.

The house sustained approximately $150,000 in damages, and the elderly couple was displaced.

Documentary on Saving Native California Languages Airs on KRCB Television

BohoBlog

Charlie Swanson

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Nov 5, 2020

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Documentary on Saving Native California Languages Airs on KRCB Television

For decades, a group of Native activists and language experts have convened at the University of California, Berkeley, to help preserve and revitalize more than 100 individual native Californian languages.

Hosted by the nonprofit organization Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS), this biennial gathering is dubbed the ‘Breath of Life’ conference, and while the event could not take place this year due to Covid-19, the public can get an in-depth look at the painstaking work that Native Californians do to keep their tribal languages alive in the half-hour documentary film, Breath of Life: Revitalizing California Languages.

The film airs in the North Bay on Northern California Public Media’s KRCB-TV for Native American Heritage Month on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 2:30pm. The film also airs in the South Bay on KPJK-TV on Nov. 11 and Nov. 14 at 9:30pm and 5:30pm respectively.

Breath of Life is the sixth self-funded film from Emmy Award-winning independent producer Rick Bacigalupi, who has partnered with the Oakland Museum of California to create the film. Bacigalupi is best known for his work on programs and films like “Bay Nature on the Air” and “Only in the Castro with Trevor Hailey” that highlight the region’s ecological and cultural diversity, and his credits also include contributing to NorCal PublicMedia’s monthly “Bay Area Bountiful” program.

In this film, Bacigalupi covers past Breath of Life conferences and the AICLS’s other work in telling Native peoples’ stories in their own tongues.

AICLS board member Vincent Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone) opens the documentary by stating, “We haven’t had a native Ohlone speaker in about 70 years. That’s not to say we don’t have speakers now—I consider myself to be one of the first new generation of fluent speakers in our language, which is exciting.”

Today Native California peoples’ story is emerging as one of persistence, revitalization and pride. Yet, no accounting of their experience is complete without acknowledging the atrocities of the recent past, and the film follows the Breath of Life group on a field trip to nearby Mission Dolores in San Francisco and a tour of the adjacent cemetery containing 5,000 unmarked native graves.

Despite showing the pain of past persecution, the tone and outlook of Breath of Life remains optimistic. The film shows how the conference participants work with noted visiting linguists like Professor Pamela Munro from UCLA, and Professor Catherine Callaghan from Ohio State, a foremost authority on Miwok languages since publishing her thesis in 1963.

The film also demonstrates the challenging and emotional experience that native speakers go through in rediscovering and speaking their cultural languages, and it also takes time to watch presentations given “in language” on topics that range from hilarious personal stories to singing the “Hokey Pokey” translated into Tongva, a Southern California language.

The next Breath of Life conference will take place in 2022. Until then, the AICLS will continue to host events and activities on online platforms such as Zoom, Facebook and YouTube.

‘Breath of Life’ airs on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 2:30pm on KRCB-TV via antenna on UHF Channel 22, on digital channels 22-1, 22-2 and 22-3; and on Comcast Cable channel 22 in Sonoma, Marin and Napa County. Norcalpublicmedia.org/television.