Santa Rosa + Other Locations
Indie Film Festival
Lights, camera action as the eighth annual AVFest returns, in person for the first time since 2019. A film festival that originated from a collaboration to promote film between Cloverdale and Healdsburg, AVfest regularly showcases and hosts new emerging talent from around the world, and provides an opportunity for the community to gather together, appreciate film and connect with one another. This year, the festival starts with feature film Calendar Girls, a documentary centered around retired Florida dancers, in support of the natural and gracefully aging woman. There will be an accompanying Block Party opening night, on First Street in Cloverdale. AVFest is all over, with events in Cloverdale, Windsor, Healdsburg and a new expansion into Santa Rosa at Lost Church, with a Live@LostChurch screening featuring upcoming Asian-American filmmaker H.P. Mendoza, who Buzzfeed has referred to as one of 28 Asian-American filmmakers to watch. There are multiple screenings in multiple locations; visit avfilmpresents.org for all event details. Live@LostChurch is Friday, May 6, at Lost Church, 427 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. Doors open at 7pm; event starts at 7:30pm. Individual tickets $25, student tickets $5. www.avfilmpresents.org
Oakland
Dream Pop/Folk
Kalinders is the music project of Sonoma County-raised, Oakland-based singer/songwriter Holly Tzeigon-Whitaker. Kalinders has a dreamy folk meets pop sound, built from Tzeigon-Whitaker’s years of playing on her own and reflecting on her sound while spending time living on a goat farm in Sebastopol. In Fall 2021, Kalinders recorded their debut singles, Convenient Hell and Evidence Now, at White Whale Studios in Santa Rosa, with additional support from Maryam Qudus at New, Improved Studios in Oakland. Convenient Hell dropped this Friday, accompanied by a music video available on YouTube. Kalinders, Mac Cornish & Ha Vay will play at Amado’s San Francisco, 998 Valencia St., San Francisco, Thursday, June 2, at 7pm. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. www.amadossf.com
Healdsburg
Sip n’ Sculpt
This weekend, celebrate International Sculpture Day in Healdsburg at Savor Sonoma Sculpture with nine Sonoma County sculptors and their artworks. Hosted by the T Barny Gallery & Sculpture Gardens, this event invites you to savor local sculpture in stone, wood, bronze, fabricated metals, bone, ceramics and electronic parts. According to T Barny, “The idea of bringing nine Sonoma County sculptors together creates a feast for the senses. To ‘savor’ sculpture, you need to see it, touch it…” The T Barny Gallery & Sculpture Gardens are the home of sculpture T Barny, who has been creating with stone for over 40 years, and has taught stone carving in California, Kansas, Washington and New Mexico. His sentiment around sculpture is informed by over four decades of relationship with the craft. Along with his staff, which includes several very reliable dogs, he curates a significant selection of work. Savor Sonoma Sculpture will be held at T Barny Gallery & Sculpture Gardens, 4370 Pine Flat Rd., Healdsburg. Event is 9am-4pm Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1 and is free. www.sonomacounty.com
Sonoma
Catskills Comes West
Presented by Sonoma Arts Live and directed by Jaime Weiser Love and Larry Williams, with musical direction by Sherrill Peterson, Saturday Night at Grossinger’s is a representation of the once-glorious 1,200 acre resort—complete with its own post office and airstrip—frequented by artists, writers and actors from New York City. The stage is set on a Saturday night in the early ’60s in the Catskills. When the regularly scheduled stars don’t show up to entertain the full house, the founders of Grossinger’s Resort gather around to share how it all happened—how the Catskills came to be the East Coast entertainment retreat. This kind-of-true tale of fame, fortune and fun is an excellent activity for a Saturday night. Saturday Night at Grossinger’s is playing at the Rotary Stage in Andrews Hall, Sonoma Community Center, 276 E Napa St., Sonoma. Showtime 7:30pm April 30, with other times available through May 8. Tickets range from $25-$42. www.app.arts-people.com
—Jane Vick
