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Letters to the Editor
08.12.09
Coal fuels the fight
With regard to Juliane Poirier’s column about Bank of American and coal-fired generators in Peru (“Don’t Bank on It,” Green Zone, July 29), I would like to suggest that it’s disgustingly elitist for people who enjoy every possible convenience and who take for granted a cheap, reliable supply of electricity to impose their supposedly enlightened views upon the citizens of one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.Like it or not, coal-fired plants are, and will be for some time to come, the least expensive means of generating power. As things presently stand, many of Peru’s poor live entirely without electricity. And large parts of the country are being deforested to provide cooking fuel. It’s all very well for Kyle Thiermann to insist on green electricity in his own backyard. It’s arrogant for a cosseted student from one of the wealthiest communities on the planet to demand that the poor of Peru forego low-cost generation of electricity in order to conform to his own preferences. Perhaps Mr. Thiermann should spend less time surfing and more time living, as I have, among the poorest people of South America. I can assure him that they would welcome any method which would heat and light their homes and relieve them of the necessity to forage for hours each day in order to collect wood and dried grasses to fire their ovens.
Ken Kurtz
San Rafael
Juliane Poirier responds: I appreciate Mr. Kurtz’s concerns about the lack of electricity available to the poor in Peru and the deforestation caused by foraging for wood fuels. However, I do not agree that the “poorest people of South America,” as Mr. Kurtz claims, would “welcome any method which would heat and light their homes.” South America is the birthplace of Gaviotas, the first successful sustainable community in the Americas, built without Bank of America loans and without input from the United States. In the video created by Thiermann, Chileans (whose lives would be directly impacted by Los Robles coal power plant) voiced in their native Spanish that they did not want this coal power plant developed. Further, Kurtz’s claim is incorrect that coal power is the “least expensive means of generating power.” In fact, no economy in the world can presently pay for the external costs associated with coal-fire power plants including, in the case of Los Robles, the destruction of the fishing industry upon which the Chileans presently depend.
Doggie delight
“Yap Stars” (July 29) was hysterical. I loved it, and thank you for the early morning laugh.
Debbie Colgrove
Healdsburg
Workers, Unite
In response to Marty Bennett’s article, “Generation Debt” (Open Mic, July 22), let me begin by saying I support the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to join unions and make it harder for employers to retaliate against employees who choose to exercise their fundamental rights on the job. Let’s keep in mind that the United States is the only industrial country with such a bureaucratic and patently undemocratic process for joining a union. No wonder so few workers join and thus have fewer benefits, lower wages and less voice on the job. However, I would like to add another layer to this important debate. As a young worker and former union organizer, I am aware of the importance of organizing on the job. However, it is historically inaccurate to assert that workers will win their rights through legislation and the goodwill of our elected representatives.
We sometimes forget that FDR did not pass pro-worker legislation out of the kindness of his heart, but because millions of workers were militantly resisting exploitation by going on strike and facing death daily. FDR knew that if he did not allow some concessions, then capitalism would surely fall. Let’s also keep in mind that the biggest gains that workers made came at a time when unions were illegal. It is an unfortunate reality that unions today are not only weak because of undemocratic labor law, but because the undemocratic and authoritarian nature of those very same unions. Too many times have I heard workers complain about their union not listening to them, not fighting for them. Regardless of the future of EFCA, workers in this country will never rise above poverty if they are not strong, conscious and willing to fight.
Carl Patrick
Petaluma
Shakes Check
08.12.09
There is a great line in the movie Pretty Woman where Edward has escorted Vivian to her first opera and says to her, “People either love opera or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don’t, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.” That’s how some of us feel about Shakespeare. From the best-known to the least-known, the works of William Shakespeare have a way of hooking certain people—myself among them—and keeping them for life. Most of us keep a running record of the Shakespeare plays we have seen. It’s like our Shakespeare life list, and fans will often talk about their life lists in terms of those plays they have yet to see. Of the Bard’s 36 plays, the popular ones are usually the first to be crossed off. As of last weekend, during my annual summertime pilgrimage to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, I was able to check off two more plays from my own list, leaving me with three to see before I die: Henry IV, Part Two, Timon of Athens and Two Noble Kinsmen. For now, I remain grateful that OSF has finally offered All’s Well That Ends Well and Henry VIII.
I’ll get to those later.Of the 11 shows launched by OSF during its nine-month-long 2009 season, I’ve reviewed Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Death and the King’s Horseman (no longer playing), Macbeth and The Music Man (both running through Nov. 1). Among the other bounteous offerings presented this year, two others rounded out the quartet of shows I experienced last weekend.
The Servant of Two Masters, originally written by Carlo Goldoni in 1753, is a popular Italian comedy that seems to return to favor every decade or so. In the OSF’s Monty Pythonesque reworking of this farce, the text is dropped into a metaphorical food processor and poured out as a hilarious, anachronistic concoction that would baffle Goldoni but will delight anyone who thinks bad puns, silly faces, gross-out violence and fart jokes are funny (guilty as charged). In what will certainly go down as the least high-brow show ever staged at OSF, Servant is directed by Tracy Young and played by a cast of whirling, twirling comic maniacs who try to tell Goldoni’s story but are beset by budget set-backs. In a rare bit of comedic self-reference, the actors inform the audience early on that their director has been fired, their props have been borrowed from other shows currently playing at the festival and that they are at the mercy of random power outages approved by management as a cost-saving measure (cue blackout, the first of many, all beautifully timed).
And with that, they proceed with the story of Truffaldino (Mark Bedard), a very hungry professional servant who, in his quest for a good square meal in Vienna, ends up working for two masters: Federigo Rasponi, who is actually Rasponi’s sister, Beatrice (Kate Mulligan), in disguise, and Florindo (Elijah Alexander), Beatrice’s lost love. The whole pantheon of commedia dell’ arte characters are trotted out and fooled around with. The result is a slight but hilarious departure for OSF, and a smart move, as evidenced by the full houses drawn to the show by the good word of mouth.Equivocation (running through Oct. 31) is a world premiere by playwright Bill Cain. A brilliant and intoxicating historical “what-if-er,” the play examines the relationships between William Shakespeare (a first-rate Anthony Heald), his overlooked daughter Judith (Christine Albright), and the actors who made up his theater company, the King’s Men. The story follows Shakespeare (here called Shagspeare, one of many historical alternatives to the Bard’s name), as he is forced by King James’ right-hand man Sir Robert Cecil (Jonathan Haugen) to write a piece of propaganda about the recently foiled Gunpowder Plot, in which a band of Catholics may or may not have tried to blow up Parliament.
As Shag attempts to dig into the real story behind the plot, he finds his conscience awakening, and sets out, against his fellow actors’ wishes, to write a play that will tell the truth, whether they all hang for it or not. Gorgeously written, meticulously directed by OSF artistic director Bill Rauch, this is easily the best show of the season. As gripping as a thriller, as eye-opening as the best of satires, it also packs a huge emotional wallop, affirming what it is about Shakespeare that has captured the souls of so many.Which brings us to the two seldom-seen works.
Henry VII (playing through Oct. 9 on the outdoor Elizabethan stage) first appeared in 1613 and is believed to have been co-authored with John Fletcher, after Shakespeare’s official retirement a year or two before. This visually grand but textually dense drama, directed with grandeur and pomp by John Sipes, reveals exactly why this play is so seldom performed. Though very well acted, with strong performances by Elijah Alexander as the waffling King Henry, Anthony Heald as the manipulative Cardinal Wolsey and the great Vilma Shiva as Katherine, Henry’s fiery first but not last queen, the play is primarily interesting for the historical detail. Though there is little in the way of battles, and the plot is carried solely on a wave of words, Henry VIII describes the moment when England split with the Catholic church. The vibrant cast and sumptuous costumes save the show from tedium, but will probably appeal mainly to those who seek the novelty of viewing so rare an offering.
Ironically, All’s Well That Ends Well (playing through Nov. 1) is so rarely performed because of its ending, in which things don’t really end so well, after all. The miraculous thing about this shimmering, sweet-hearted production, staged in OSF’s intimate New Theater, is the way director Amanda Dehnert has transformed the play into something altogether new, with an ending that is memorably touching, and actually makes sense. That Dehnert has accomplished this by adding additional voiceover narration (“Once upon a time in a faraway land . . .”) and has wholly invented a new character to tie the show together, might offend some purists, but as Vivian might say in Pretty Woman, “Screw ’em.”
For the full lineup of shows, info, directions and ticket sales, visit www.osfashland.org.
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State Seizure
08.12.09
Well, now we know what we face. The governor has cut an additional $6.2 million from the state parks budget, bringing the total to $14.2 million for the 2009–2010 fiscal year. That doesn’t count the three furlough days that state park employees are required to take each month and the potential revenue losses with park closures. This is devastating news for our parks statewide. We can expect to see the potential closing of more than a hundred state parks after Labor Day unless local communities can attract financial sponsors to help keep them open. Seasonal and midweek closures will also be considered. The governor has put the responsibility on the people of California to keep our parks open through public-private partnerships. With the economy affecting so many people, we need our parks. Day use attendance is at record-breaking levels, and our campgrounds are full because people are using our parks more than ever. State parks provide an affordable vacation for most Californians. Where will they go to recreate with their families during these trying economic times?
Our local rural communities will suffer with the loss of tourism dollars. Russian River District State Parks attract close to 5 million visitors a year. That represents an influx of millions of dollars into our local economy. How will struggling local businesses survive? How many more small business owners will be forced to close their doors at the end of summer?It’s now up to us locally to come up with a strategy to keep Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, Austin Creek State Recreation Area, Sonoma Coast State Park, Fort Ross State Historic Park and Salt Point State Park open in the Russian River District. Funding is needed to keep our facilities open, including the office of the Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods and our visitor centers. Our parks need our help in order to maintain essential services like water, sewage, electricity and trash pickup, to name just a few.
Park visitors have suggested fee increases, an idea which we need to be receptive to and ready for. Many of our parks are free for walk-in visitors. We hope that locals who use our parks daily for exercise and to walk their dogs will find a way to give back either by way of a monetary donation or by volunteering their time. Fees benefit the state park system statewide. Donations to the Stewards and volunteer support for our special events, like the Bodega Seafood, Art and Wine Festival and the Old Grove Festival, will directly benefit our local state parks. Either way, it’s going to take all of us contributing to keep our parks open.The more life support we can provide, the greater opportunity there will be to reduce the number of parks that will close. If you are someone who thinks you can help bring significant financial support to our parks, please contact me. We will be convening a working group of people to move us forward with this effort as soon as possible. If you are able to contribute even a modest amount, we will put your donations to good use specifically to keep our local parks open.
Initially, we see this as a two-year project, after which we are hopeful that we can float a successful ballot measure that provides a sustainable funding source for our state park system into the future.The time is now to create a positive legacy for our grandchildren, so they will not lose the chance to visit a state park and learn about the fragile natural and cultural resources that need our stewardship into the future!
Michele Luna is the executive director of Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods. She can be reached at ml***@*cn.org or 707.869.9177, ext. 4. Visit www.oldgrovefestival.org for event information.
Open Mic is a weekly feature in the Bohemian. We welcome your contribution. To have your topical essay of 700 words considered for publication, write op*****@******an.com.
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Strung Out
08.12.09
It’s the oldest original event of its type,” says director Chris Herrod of the Healdsburg Guitar Festival. Slated for Aug. 14&–16, the festival showcases the works of 100 of the world’s finest luthiers. In turn, guitarists from all over the world will share their music and teach workshops. “It’s a truly international event, with guitar builders traveling from six continents,” Herrod says.From the top-of-the-line guitars and merchandise to workshops to highly skilled luthiers and numerous concerts, the festival has something for every guitar enthusiast at every skill level—and even something for those who are not quite the enthusiast. “We have people who go to the event who are not particularly into guitars who have an amazing experience,” Herrod assures. The performances alone make the festival worth attending.Beginning at 10:30am each day, workshops will cover just about everything. For those looking to tap into their inner rock star, there’s “Acoustic Hendrix: How to Play Rock Music on Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar.” If something a little softer is in mind, there’s “The Chords-First Approach for Jazz Guitar.” Beyond genre, the workshops assist in performance, navigating the fingerboard, alternative tuning, guitar as vocal accompaniment and more guitar topics than one could imagine would fit into a three-day festival. Healdsburg’s own Tom Ribbecke will be in attendance again this year, showing off his beautiful craftsmanship. A regular at the festival who has made guitars for the pop star Seal, Ribbecke remains a huge presence, even extending his workshops to those coming from abroad in preparation for the event.
Ribbecke used to be a guitarist himself, but interviewed years ago in these pages he revealed a change of heart. “I had a six-week gig down in San Jose over Christmas, and on Christmas Eve—during my fifth week of doing this four nights a week—I was looking out over the audience, and it was a piano bar, and some guy threw up his gin and tonic on my feet,” he remembered. “You know, who are you going to see in a bar on Christmas Eve except the most dysfunctional? It was like the Star Wars bar scene. I looked at those people and I looked at myself and said, ‘I’ve got to stop this. I’m getting too old for this particular environment.'”
Ribbecke never hung up the guitar, though, devoting his life to the craft of building them.
“If there’s a heaven, it looks just like the Healdsburg Guitar Festival,” jested guitar buyer Henry Lowenstein in Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars. “The nation’s best luthiers get together to talk, play and show the best of what they have to offer the public.” Lowenstein forgets that these luthiers are from all over the world, giving a much broader view of what this festival will bring.
Guitar makers will be holding a sale and exhibition, showcasing the highest quality guitars and equipment, both for purchase and for admiration. Specialists in steel, archtop, classical and electric guitars will all be on site, ready to speak to the craftsmanship of their instruments.
But when workshops and beautiful guitars become too much, it just might be time to kick back and take a listen. For this, there’s still ample opportunity. Each of the three days, there will be performances from 11:30am to 5:30pm at both the Merlo Theater and in the more intimate Carston Cabaret. While the sets may be short, the list of artists is long. From jazz to country, from classical to rock, there’s an artist on the itinerary to meet everyone’s musical desires.
On Saturday, the “Italian poet of the acoustic guitar,” Franco Morone headlines the day’ grand finale, playing his fresh reinterpretations of traditional pieces as well as his original musical “poetry.” Opening for Morone will be Tim Thompson, who won first place last year at the International Fingerstyle Guitar Competition in Winfield, Kan. Thompson has television and movie soundtrack credits under his belt and has also provided accompaniment for country singer Crystal Gayle, sister to country great Loretta Lynn.
Come share the love of a craft that lives on and continues to thrive, setting the musical backdrop for life. Festival director Chris Herrod encourages all to go and “expect to be dazzled by amazing musicianship.”
The Healdsburg Guitar Festival runs Friday&–Sunday, Aug. 14&–16, at the Wells Fargo Center. 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. $12 per day; $22 whole festival. Workshops, $35; concert, $15. 707.546.3600.
Secret Cookie Man
08.12.09
Behind a Sebastopol building, I walk up the plant-lined ramp and knock on a screen door. Glenn Zix steps out of the shadows. There is a warm fatherly smile on his face, and he greets me with an enthusiastic “Hello!” Immediately, I feel like I am with a family friend. The former businessman is dressed casually in jeans and a comfortable-looking blue shirt; he is relaxed and merrily leads the way into the kitchen.Inside, there are three ovens with a large stainless-steel cooking surface in the middle of the room. Pots and pans hang from the ceiling, and the large windows on the south wall let in pleasant and comfortable light.
While Zix bakes original and unique goods, this is no cookie-cutter operation. He sells his cookies on an individual basis. When he receives an order, which can be done either by phone or through his website, he finds a professional kitchen to borrow, bakes in it and meets the customer at an agreed upon location, such as a coffee shop or a parking lot, with his goodies.
Not always a doughman, Zix spent most of his life in the business world as a CFO for a software company. In late 2001, the company was sold, and Zix took the chance to do something new. Per-order sweets may not be the first thing that a software pro might choose, but Zix explains, “I have always baked. I would have to give my mother credit for starting me. She is a baker, also known as the fudge queen.” He merely followed his mother’s footsteps to the mixing bowl.
In order to fine-tune his culinary skills, Zix enrolled in the pastry baking program at Santa Rosa Junior College. “I got to the window at six in the morning,” he says, remembering shouting, “Will you let me in and come bake?!” They did. Zix’s cookies are innovative and unique. Confections such as lavender mint, mojito with rum chocolate ganache, bay leaf plum tomato, plummed rose geranium, rosemary lemon butters, and blue cheese and walnut cookies are among his creations. Reflecting on his craft, he says, “Things come to me, and I don’t know from where.”It’s clear that Zix pays attention. Last summer it was ice cream that interested him. “We are in the East Bay a lot,” he says. “There are a couple ice cream stores, and they have odd ice creams like basil ice cream. While looking up at menu, I said, ‘Gosh, I could bake bay in something.’ The tomatoes were so sweet this past year, I dehydrated a bunch of them, so I chopped them up and put them in some butter cream, and it was good.”Zix kept playing with ingredients and shared them with friends and family. Eventually, he marketed his cookies locally. He says, “At first, I sold them at the markets—Oliver’s, Fiesta, Pacific—I did cookie tastings there, but it wasn’t satisfying. You just go in, and there are a bunch of cookies and you don’t have personal contact with people, which is really the part that I like.”
After receiving positive feedback, Zix was encouraged to keep baking and also to look for his niche in the cookie world. He found it. Selling his treats at the farmers market, where his cookies always sell out, and on an individual basis.
All of these confections are made with fresh, local and seasonal ingredients, including chocolate from Guittard Chocolate Company, a San Francisco staple since 1868. (“They have very, very good chocolate” he says.) The fruit he uses comes from the farmers market when available. “I have an oatmeal plum cookie. I take plums from the market and I dry them into leather, chop them up and put them into oatmeal cookies, then you get local fruit—and it is not a raisin—it is tart, a really nice combination.”
His cookies are especially popular around the holidays. When he gets very busy, he has neighborhood kids come help him watch timers and bake, thus getting them involved in the kitchen and away from the television.
Working in a borrowed kitchen is a bit difficult, yet the space allows him to crank out up to 9,000 cookies at a time during the holiday season. However, he says, “Frankly, if I get to the place where I can be busier, I will just buy a little space and make it my own.” His ideal kitchen, he says, “Would be casual, the espresso machine would be out and people could come in and chit-chat.”
This family and community man takes his baking seriously. All his ingredients are weighed, his equipment is perfectly calibrated, and he has tested his recipes over and over again before settling on the perfect version of it. “My baking is all real high-tech with lots of love in it,” he says. “And you can taste the difference, so whether I am in a rental kitchen or in my own kitchen, it turns out great.” Zix has recently expanded his offerings to pie crusts after a friend encouraged him to sell them. He uses a recipe that he has spent time and care in perfecting using all organic flour, organic vegetable shortening and local butter. All his shells are hand-rolled and, like his cookies, are made to order.
Zix reflects on who he was as a business man and who he is now. “Baking is a way for me to grow parts of myself that I hadn’t had the chance to do,” he says. “People see a certain side of ourselves and others do not, so it is neat to bring other parts of my personality out.”
Zix smiles widely and hands me a white box. In it is a selection of beautiful cookies delicately wrapped in clear plastic with handwritten gold labels saying what kind they are. He says, “Baking for people is the part that I really enjoy.”
Check out Zix’s tasty confections anytime at www.zixtreats.com or give him a ring at 707.823.2615 to arrange a pick up.
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Bilingual Puppets on Wheels
08.12.09
Squinting under the hot July sun, Jenine Alexander inspects Sergio Zavala’s bike as he circles along Sebastopol Avenue in Santa Rosa. The thick stack of 10-foot-long pieces of lumber strapped to the back of his bike wobble in his wake.”How does it feel?” she asks him in Spanish, her second language, his first. “Bien, bien,” he responds, pedaling past.
Alexander, an actress and animator who once quit her job working in Cyprus to join the Cyclo Circus for a bicycle journey through Russia to Indonesia, waves Zavala over so they can tighten the bungee cords holding his cargo in place. Zavala is no stranger to epic journeys—three years ago he traveled by river raft from his home near Mexico City to enter the United States—and pulls his bike over to consult.
Inside the Quonset-hut-turned-performance-space that Zavala and Alexander stand next to, others are at work: two college-aged girls cut human silhouettes out of cardboard; a seasoned actor with an air of an old Vaudevillian practices flute; a married couple debate in Spanish how to best attach a child’s bike seat; a musician tunes his guitar; two small children eat fruit snacks; and a pair of artistic directors scramble around, a bit harried, sweaty but remaining positive.
This is the Imaginist Theatre Collective, and today is a very big day.
On this particular Sunday afternoon, they will give the second performance of their original production Art Is Medicine / El Arte Es Medicina, a bilingual, free, all-ages, traveling puppet show. Before they can perform, they have to get to the day’s performance space at Howarth Park which, if you’re transporting a multitiered marionette stage, dozens of puppets, a heap of props, two young children, a bunch of sound equipment and large papier-mâché masks is no easy feat—especially if you’ve decided to travel exclusively by bike. But for the Imaginists, whose very name implies implausibility, the impossible challenges of process and journey are what matter most.
Headed by cofounders Amy Pinto and Brent Lindsay, the Imaginists originated at the North Carolina School for the Arts in the early 1990s as an experimental theater ensemble named Knights of Indulgence Theater United States (KITUS) that performed original works in the woods of Winston-Salem. Pinto and Lindsay, along with fellow ensemble members, closely read the works of avant-garde theorist Jerzy Grotowski as well as modeling themselves on the communal structure of the Bread and Puppet Theater.
The group eventually crossed the country to Truckee but dissolved by 2000. Lindsay and Pinto, life partners as well as creative ones, relocated to Sonoma County, where Lindsay grew up. In search of recreating the artistic community they had so thrived on with KITUS, they began anew, forming the Imaginist Theatre Collective in 2001.
Since then, the Imaginists have moved into a performance space on Sebastopol Avenue in Santa Rosa and now perform a full season of works. The collective consists of three distinct facets: Project 104, a professional company that performs original, experimental works as well as established classics; two youth ensembles composed of local children and teenagers; and an annual community-based project that casts nonprofessional community members in original works. This latter project has captivated Pinto and Lindsay most recently.
“In the last three of four years, we’ve been really wanting to integrate and make it a multicultural institution as well,” Pinto says.
“Theater’s not just for the gray-haired set that pay a certain amount of money to go see Urinetown or whatever, but something that is really connecting to the larger community, and responding to it, that they’re a part of it.”
Since relocating to Sonoma County and having a child, Pinto and Lindsay had observed a sharp split between the white and Latino communities and wanted to create a performance that addressed this divide by casting actors from both communities.
“Everybody was always saying, ‘You’ll never do it,'” Lindsay says of trying to successfully reach out to Latinos. “‘We’ve tried it here’—we heard that time and time again.”
Though they struggled at first to put together a diverse enough ensemble, the Imaginists’ 2007 bilingual production, The Divide / La División, on the theme of crossing borders, excited a whole population who normally don’t go to theater. With half the cast Spanish-speaking, La División, part of Performance Sonoma, got a lot of attention from the local Latino press.
“‘Ah! We’re invited to something,'” Lindsay quotes the general response of the Latino community who showed up in droves to sold-out performances of the Imaginists production.
Their latest project, Art Is Medicine, is in an extension of that initial collaboration between communities. Inspired by the poetry of Federico GarcÃa Lorca and Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez’s short story “The Man with Enormous Wings,” it casts a diverse and bilingual group of actors: trained ones from Project 104, former youth ensemble students and community members who were originally involved in La División. But unlike all previous shows, this one is mobile.
Earlier this year, when the Imaginists received a CASH Grant from Theater Bay Area, they pondered what to do with the money, until Project 104 company member Jenine Alexander suggested doing a traveling show on bikes like the Cyclo Circus. Lindsay and Pinto loved the concept and were able to put together a small fleet.
“The idea is that every summer we’ll do a touring show,” Pinto says. “In order to respond to your community, you invite community in. But you also have to go to your community. Why should they always come to us?”
The going out part can be a bit tricky.
As the company prepares to disembark for its Howarth Park performance, Lindsay walks through the space cluttered with puppets and bike tools grumbling to himself: “Kinks! Kinks! Kinks!” Last time they rode out, some of the bikes didn’t have brakes, an omission to be corrected this time.
“We’ve been building bikes in one half of the space, and the show in the other half,” Lindsay says.
Since this is only the second performance and the first real time riding with the whole company, there is obviously a lot that still hasn’t been worked out. Certain puppets don’t yet have hands because the papier-mâché didn’t dry fast enough. Company members Maria and Mario Solano are bringing their three-year-old daughter, Jimena, along for the first time and are having difficulty attaching a child seat to Mario’s bike. Former youth ensemble member Alejandra Villagomez has only ridden a bike a handful of times.
“I learned how to ride a bike for this show,” Villagomez says with some pride. “So I’m confident about the show, but I’m nervous about the bike ride.”
Pinto has been searching for an extra helmet for Villagomez for several minutes. In addition to Villagomez’s novice bike-riding skills and some missing puppet hands, Pinto has more to worry about this morning. Because some of the rotating cast members couldn’t be here today, they are a little low on people to perform. She and Lindsay had to scramble to pay for a permit and book a time at Howarth Park. And so far, everything is running late.
Ever positive, when asked if she feels ready for the day, Pinto responds with a laugh, “I guess I’m ready for anything. I’m even ready to get kicked out of the park.”
At around 2:30pm, the company has tightened their bungee cords, found helmets for all parties and are ready to take off, about 30 minutes later than Pinto anticipated. Dressed in all white and each carrying a small load, bike trailer or child, the 12 riders are a sight to behold as they round the corner of Sebastopol and A Street. However, within only a minute a two they need to stop. Alexander’s bike, a huge, red frame modeled after Dutch postal bikes and specially commissioned from local artist Todd Barricklow, has a problem with its chain.
With some wire and intuition, Alexander fixes her bike, and the Imaginists take off. Traveling under the midday sun along Sonoma Avenue, the mobile company gets more than a few stares. People in their front lawns stop what they’re doing and watch as the row of bikers pass. The Imaginists keep their formation pretty well. Much to everyone’s delight, Villagomez rides smoothly, upright and like a pro.”It’s so great to show people how much can be carried by bike,” Alexander says pedaling confidently. “I’m carrying this huge set, and can easily wave to passing cars.” By 3:15, the Imaginists arrive at the park a bit tired and overheated, but there isn’t time to rest. There’s a show to do. They find a space in the shade by a large cluster of picnickers and get to work unloading their bikes and building a stage. Within the hour, a puppet stage rises above the lawn and a small crowd has formed. Company members Eliot Fintushel and Sergio Zavala act as barkers calling “Come to the show!” and “Venga al show!“
The performance that follows is not without, in Lindsay’s words, “kinks”—children from the audience come up onstage to play with props, airplanes fly above drowning out actors’ voices, there are a few dropped lines and moments of confusion—but nonetheless the performance draws people in and keeps them watching. Like the eclectic group of actors themselves, the audience is young, old, Spanish- and English-speaking and ready to engage with story, color, music and a unique journey.
The Imaginists will be riding their bicycles to various parks and fairs all summer. Most shows are free with a suggested donation. Aug. 14 at 6pm, Bayer Farms. Aug 15 at 3pm, Santa Rosa’s MLK Park. Aug. 20&–22 and 27&–29, at the Imaginists Theatre Collective, 461 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa. 707.528.7544. For full schedule visit www.theimaginists.org.
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News Blast
08.12.09
No place like home
It was many immigrants’ worst nightmare: on April 20, 2009, Congolese immigrant Okili Nguebari of Santa Rosa was seized in front of his house by six ICE agents. The agents, acting on a 23-year-old outstanding order of deportation, held Nguebari briefly in San Francisco before relocating him to a detention center in Arizona with no visitation rights. A fundraising effort was quickly organized by Nguebari’s family in May to gain money toward legal costs, and soon a community-wide movement to free Okili followed, with assistance from Congressman Mike Thompson, who made numerous calls to the ICE detention center and directed the flow of letters pressuring for Nguebari’s release.
Three months after his relocation to a private detention facility in Eloy, Ariz., Nguebari has been discharged and allowed to return to his American-born wife and children in Santa Rosa. For now, it is assumed he was released as a result of his involvement in a 1988 immigration class action suit that currently protects him from deportation.
His homecoming is being celebrated with an African-inspired dinner and dance party, along with additional legal fundraising and appearances by numerous entertainers from all over the county, including Midnight Sun, Olembe Nguebari and Sang Matiz.
Nguebari first came to the United States in 1981 on a student visa from the Republic of Congo. After dropping out due to his inability to pay expenses, thereby violating his student visa, deportation trials dragged on for three years. During that time, Nguebari adjusted to life in American society: he held a steady job, mingled with other Congolese immigrants and met and married his wife, Sabrina Krauss. The couple has been married for 22 years and have two full-grown children together.
The welcoming party is also billed as a time for healing for all those who were hurt by this shocking disruption of a peaceful life. Krauss says she and her husband never intended to flout immigration laws. “A simple letter would have sufficed,” Krauss told the Bohemian in May. “We were never trying to hide from anyone.”
After wading through red tape and sticky immigration laws with the support of an entire community, a celebration is definitely in order. Welcome Okili Nguebari home alongside his family and friends on Friday, Aug. 29, at the Sebastopol Community Center, 390 Morris St., Sebastopol. Doors open at 6:30pm. $20 suggested donation, with drinks and food available for purchase. 707.823.1511.
Locavores R Us
08.12.09
If you’ve ever bitten into an heirloom tomato purchased at a roadside farm stand, picked not too long before that, you know that eating the pale, plastic-wrapped varietals at the megamart just isn’t the same. Now, thanks to the Sonoma County GoLocal Cooperative, you can gobble up that tomato like an apple and earn points at the same time.As part of the month-long Eat Local Challenge promoting the bounty of Sonoma County and the benefits of eating locally, the GoLocal Cooperative invites community members to sign up on the group’s website to pledge to eat locally for the month of August. Every time participants report that they buy produce at local farmers market, eat at a locally owned restaurant, plant a garden or even read about food issues, they’ll get points.
According to Cooperative events coordinator Julie Montgomery, the point system is a means of providing a structure for participants to change their habits. Though there are no prizes for the highest point winner, Montgomery says that the results of eating locally itself produces huge rewards.”There are a lot of benefits,” she says. “I hope people who do the challenge will learn that their health can improve and the local economy can be improved.”
To further its educational mission and provide another venue for point seekers, the GoLocal Cooperative is teaming up with county restaurants to hold screenings of, you guessed it, food films. On Aug. 17, Santa Rosa’s Bistro 29 serves a three-course meal as well as a chilling look at genetically modified produce in the documentary The Future of Food ($40). On Aug. 19, the Union Hotel in Santa Rosa will present Fresh, a look at new ways to feed communities, and hearty Italian family-style platters ($20). Another food doc and flavorful feast will greet guests at Sassafras on Aug. 22 when The Real Dirt on Farmer John is paired with local modern American cuisine ($35).
For more information on the Eat Local Challenge, more events and a full listing of all the places you can earn local points visit www.golocal.coop or call 707.888.6105.
Quick dining snapshots by Bohemian staffers.
Winery news and reviews.
Food-related comings and goings, openings and closings, and other essays for those who love the kitchen and what it produces.
Recipes for food that you can actually make.
Thomas George Estates
The story so far: When Russian River Pinot pioneer Davis Bynum hung up the hose clamp for the last time and retired, he sold his eponymous wine brand to the Kleins, owners of Rodney Strong, leaving the actual, bricks-and-mortar estate to be acquired by the Bakers, formerly of Toronto. Both parties vowed to continue the winemaker’s 40-year legacy, yet this still begs the question: Who is Thomas George? The winery’s thirty-something president, yet to make a name for himself in these parts, named the enterprise in honor of his father’s and grandfather’s given names. Meanwhile, back at the tasting room: If the nose is redolent of fresh varnish, don’t look for it on the aroma wheel—it’s not the wine. The gutted and revamped facility is still in the throes of construction. The winding, tree-shaded drive up to the winery is quaint and packed with contractors’ trucks. Caves were being ground out of the shale hillside, concrete mixed, bottles clanked down the bottling line, while inside the tasting room, the din grew louder. Now that I’m on the record as saying that Monday is the kick-back, relaxed locals’ day on the tasting trail, it’s unsurprising that the very next time I go out, it’s a li’l different.
The attractive space features a long, stained concrete bar, video screens flashing vineyard views in brilliant RGB, and unfortunate acoustics. My cohort, on a rosé kick, couldn’t help but note another patron’s booming approval of the “rich, fruity” rosé. The unlikely cuvée of loose juice from the bottom of the picking bins was nice enough, but we did not, so to speak, echo his assessment. Our host, perfunctory but professional, could have used some help behind the bar.
Although served ice-cold, the 2007 Russian River Valley Chardonnay ($32) showed a typical nose of popcorn with real butter, slices of baked apple and pineapple, and stayed lively in the mouth with moderate acidity. The 2007 RRV Pinot Noir ($38) showed candy-coated forest floor and black cherries roasted on thyme sprigs, coffee and marshmallow; cherry-brambleberry flavors lingered on a long, sweet finish. With aromas of cocoa, coffee and toast, the lush, soft, atypical 2007 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($34) lubricated the palate with glycerin and juicy, chewy cherries, topped with chocolate, raspberry and a note of jalapeño jelly.
Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009. For a peek at the good works done and things to come, try visiting on a weekend. Or for the real action, try the middle of crush.
Thomas George Estates, 8075 Westside Road, Healdsburg. Open daily, 11am–5pm. Tasting fee, $5. 707.431.8031.
Letters to the Editor
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News Blast
08.12.09 No place like homeIt was many immigrants' worst nightmare: on April 20, 2009, Congolese immigrant Okili Nguebari of Santa Rosa was seized in front of his house by six ICE agents. The agents, acting on a 23-year-old outstanding order of deportation, held Nguebari briefly in San Francisco before relocating him to a detention center in Arizona with no visitation...
Locavores R Us
08.12.09If you've ever bitten into an heirloom tomato purchased at a roadside farm stand, picked not too long before that, you know that eating the pale, plastic-wrapped varietals at the megamart just isn't the same. Now, thanks to the Sonoma County GoLocal Cooperative, you can gobble up that tomato like an apple and earn points at the same time.As...
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