Always on the hunt for new sounds and new contexts, the Berkeley-bred eight-string jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter is something of a Pat Metheny for the funk generation; last year, he was seen with Meters drummer Zigaboo Modeliste at Yoshi’s, and for his upcoming album, Gentlemen, I Neglected to Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid, he picked up seasoned players from Antibalas and TV on the Radio. Always with a tight group, Hunter is an unstoppable touring machine with a bounty of musical ideas and great sidemen. This weekend’s show features Hunter along with jazz trumpeter Ron Miles, the Lounge Lizards’ Curtis Fowkes, trombonist Alan Ferber, and Eric Kalb, who’s guested with Sharon Jones’ band, the Dap-Kings, on drums. Get down to new tracks like “High Pockets and a Fanny Pack” and “Every Day You Wake Up New York Says No” on Sunday, Dec. 13, at the Hopmonk Tavern. 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. 8:30pm. $20. 707.829.7300.
Gabe Meline
Since shutting its doors in the late 1980s, the Uptown Theater in Napa has been one of those dream projects of restoration—everyone wants to see it shine like the architectural diamond it once was when it first opened in 1937, but who’s got the money? Alas, good intentions and good benefactors have recently combined to save the decaying theater, and the Uptown is slated to reopen in early 2010, with full restoration to its original art deco splendor. The job hasn’t been easy (when it closed, its ceiling fresco was covered and the large auditorium was subdivided into four smaller theaters with separate screens), but the results are reportedly beautiful. The public gets its first chance to witness the restoration when Napa County Landmarks leads its 21st annual 
If you leaned over during New Edition’s “Mr. Telephone Man” on the roller rink and told me, in 1989, that Star Skate would one day turn into a Center for Spiritual Living and presented an annual concert by a Gay Men’s Chorus, I’d have eaten my skates in disbelief. But here we are 20 years later, Star Skate but a distant memory and the 
He’s presented the quirky North Bay holiday show Twisted Christmas Live for seven years, and now, longtime Bohemian stage reviewer, playwright and general man-about-town David Templeton hosts 
It’s one of the sports world’s greatest stories, and one that deserves as many retellings as the world can stand. In 1970, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis was called at the last minute to pitch a game against the San Diego Padres, and though he was already on LSD, decided to eat another hit of acid before taking the mound. In his dilated eyes, the umpire morphed into Richard Nixon, the batter turned into Jimi Hendrix, and the catcher . . . well, the catcher mysteriously disappeared from view. Time stretched and condensed, and the game was a blur, but at the end of the ninth inning, Ellis had amazingly thrown a no-hitter. Ellis’ achievement is reaching a whole new generation thanks to a quirky animated YouTube video that’s spreading like wildfire, and it’s immortalized in 
From his early days blowing up Fender amplifiers and helping to invent surf rock in Balboa, Calif., the enduring 72-year-old electric guitarist 
With computer-savvy tech geeks freaking out over Google Wave and the limited number of exclusive invites going around for it, one can easily feel left out. Why sit around for an invitation to join a web-based communications platform (boooo-ring) when you can dance your ass off (whoo-hoo!) with other human beings (imagine!) to live music (bring it on!) with no ridiculous, manufactured, viral “velvet rope.” This weekend, Eric Lindell slides back into town with his New Orleans all-star group, 
Attention all parents whose urge to control what their children view is superceded only by the urge to call networks and complain angrily about the blasphemous sacrilege that was the filthy and repulsive sight of Adam Lambert kissing another male while incidentally performing the most horrendously unlistenable crap under the guise of a “song” this side of the Black Eyed Peas, though no one seems to be outraged by the attack on our ears, my Americans, it’s all about the children! children! children! and protecting their innocent virgin eyes from the gays! gays! gays! although that keyboardist basically looked like a woman anyway, but holy bejeezus what’s with all the crotch-ramming and groin-sucking, ack, let’s all praise the FCC: there will be no offensive material for you or your precious family when 
Joe Krown
On Jan. 6, 1963, Marlin Perkins stood in front of the television cameras for the first time and introduced the world to Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, thus pioneering the “nature show” format. Other nature shows and, indeed, entire television networks would spring up in its wake, and appearances by animal trainers eventually became a late-night television staple. One such trainer is 
