Chicken Soup

-
0
Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup for the Tummy

Making chicken soup is as good for you as eating it

By Sara Bir

Let’s talk about chicken soup seriously, because it is a serious matter. The distance we have put between ourselves and our food (purely circumstantial, of course) has created a kind of chicken-soup identity crisis, with any one of the following three scenarios resulting:

1. Junior: Mummy, where does chicken soup come from?

Mummy: Why, from a can!

2. Junior: Daddy, where does chicken soup come from?

Daddy: Why, canned chicken broth and boneless, skinless chicken breasts, son!

3. Junior: Billy, where does chicken soup come from?

Billy: Well, first you get a chicken . . .

Ah! scenario three–there’s the bottom-line truth, so obvious it seems scandalous. Believing that chicken soup comes from a can is like saying babies come from the stork. But the real-deal chicken soup–that’s like when you say “Mommy and daddy love each other very much, but sometimes they love each other a lot. . . .” In both instances a child is the result, but in the latter, there is both process–a wonderful process!–and result.

So it is with chicken soup. It is a thing of rare satisfaction to put a chicken in a pot with vegetables and water and, four hours later, find yourself with soup. It’s a closed circle with perceptible origins: the miracle of creation! The act of making chicken soup is both wholesome and empowering, and while there is nothing too ethically wrong with preparing chicken soup via can opener, every eater of chicken soup should, at least once, see his or her own chicken soup evolve from chicken to bowl. Which does take time, but it’s not demanding of time; chicken soup more or less makes itself as its chef vacuums the rugs, folds the laundry, and drinks the wine.

First, you get a chicken, a whole chicken: a roaster or broiler or fryer. Usually I get the smallest one I can, about two to three pounds. Bones and skin and fat are the keys to a stock with flavor and body, and all three are handily located on a whole chicken. It’s like nature’s chicken-soup kit! While at the grocery store, get a head of celery, two or three onions, three carrots, and some kosher salt.

To begin, rinse off the chicken. Give it a little chicken shower to wash away any of the mystery-processing-plant evil lurking on its pimpled skin. Next, reach into the chicken and pull out the soggy bag of giblets. Give them to the doggie or do whatever you do with giblets. The neck goes into the pot with the chicken.

Ah, the pot. It should be spacious, big enough to give the chicken some room to float around in–float, not swim. Toss in a peeled carrot, a stalk or two of celery, and a chunked-up onion. Other things to add, if you have them, are a bay leaf or two and a few peeled garlic cloves. Herb stems, thyme or parsley, are helpful. Cover all of this with cold water (I don’t know how much; just be logical, you’re all grown up now) and bring to a boil over high heat.

Keep an eye on the pot. The very second it comes to a boil, turn it down to a gentle simmer. Scum, the yellow stuff that looks like the foam in a polluted creek, will rise to the top. Get rid of that by skimming it off with a slotted spoon. These are the impurities from the chicken rising to the top, begging to be disposed of. If the scum is not skimmed off, the soup will be cloudy and taste yucky. Usually you have to skim three times or so.

While the stock simmers (meaning teeny, tiny bubbles leisurely making their way up to the outer edges of the pot), prepare the vegetables that will go in the soup. The vegetables bouncing away in the stock pot were for the broth; these are for the soup. Peel three carrots or so (a parsnip is nice too, just for variety) and cut those up as you like–half-moon, medium dice . . .–just as long as everything ends up roughly the same size and is small enough to fit in the bowl of a soup spoon. Cut up the celery and, if you feel like it, an onion. All of this chopped stuff does not need to be pretty: remember, the flip side of pretty is rustic, which is always well-received.

Set the chopped vegetables aside. Once again, use your brain: if you like chunky soup, cut up more vegetables. Now check on the stock. The longer it simmers, the better–four hours is ideal. Three is pretty good. Two hours can work. The house will swell up with that poultry-onion-celery aroma that’s definitive of Thanksgiving. When everyone is in a good mood because of the Thanksgiving smell and it’s impossible to lift the chicken out of the stock because the meat slips right off the bones, it’s probably ready. Put a colander over a large pot or bowl and strain the stock. Set the stock aside.

The solids left in the colander will look pretty rank. It’s OK. Let them cool off for 10 minutes or so and then come back to pick the chicken. This is the one tedious task of chicken-soup making, but the meat pulls apart much more willingly while it’s warm, so do it now. Get out a bowl for the skin and bones and junk, and set the cleaned, shredded meat into another bowl. Break up the larger pieces of chicken into bite-sized chunks, and look out for teeny little bones and gristle. They can be sneaky!

Next, defat the stock using a ladle. Once you think you’ve nabbed all of the fat, more will miraculously replace it. Persevere and skim on. Keep in mind that the rendered fat is now schmaltz, which is like fatty liquid gold, and you can save it for making matzo balls or adding to mashed potatoes.

Rinse out the stock pot. Set it on the stove over medium heat and add a teeny bit of just-skimmed chicken fat. Add the cut-up vegetables and cook until just barely tender, maybe five or 10 minutes (this is called sweating, and it builds up flavor.) Now add the defatted stock and the meat, bring to a simmer, and cook for half an hour or so. Throughout all of this, season the soup gradually with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (it’s easier to do it bit by bit, as the flavors change and deepen, rather than all at the end, because all of the tasting numbs your palate).

Presto: chicken soup. From this point on, you are now a complete person. Congratulations! Now feel free to indulge in the many moods of chicken soup:

*Add cooked noodles or cooked white or wild rice. You can cook the noodles or rice directly in the soup if you like, but keep in mind that in the leftover soup they will absorb stock and become soggy, especially if the soup’s frozen.

*For matzo ball soup, use the precious schmaltz to make some matzo balls. Cook them in highly salted water or strained chicken stock.

*Instead of any of the above, make dumplings. You can even cheat and make them out of Bisquick, though I can tell you now they won’t be as tasty.

*Roughly chopped fresh parsley or dill is very good with any of the above soups.

*For tortilla soup, leave out the cut-up celery and carrots. Simmer a canned chipotle pepper with the strained stock and chicken. Garnish soup with chopped tomato, fresh cilantro, shredded jack cheese, and corn tortilla strips. Pass lime wedges at the table.

*For the Scottish soup Cockie Leekie, leave out the cut-up celery and carrots. Sweat three small julienned leeks (white parts only–use the clean green tops in the stock) in a little bit of chicken fat, add stock and meat, and bring to a simmer. Add two peeled julienned potatoes and cook until tender. Garnish with thinly sliced prunes. This may sound pretty gross, but it’s really very good.

*For Asian noodle soup, leave out the celery and carrots, and use any combination of the following: sliced scallions, cilantro stems, shredded bok choy or Napa cabbage, cubed firm tofu, or any kind of rice noodle. Garnish with soy sauce and sesame oil or fish sauce and lime wedges.

From the November 21-27, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Les Blank

-
0
Les Blank

Click here to buy ‘Burden of Dreams’ at Amazon.com

Blank but not forgotten: Filmmaker Les Blank focuses on the music, culture, and cuisine of Americans outside the mainstream.

Celluloid Snacks

Eight restored Les Blank films highlight the director’s clear eye

By

On his website, El Cerrito-based filmmaker Les Blank describes a still-existent film palace in Tampa, Fla., that he loves: “It has twinkling stars in the ceiling and clouds that float by. Plus lots of bare-breasted women with long flowing tresses seemingly everywhere I looked. One held the water fountain out for me to drink from. Others . . . were strategically situated throughout the wondrous and mysterious darkened stucco caverns. For a breastfed kid of four, it was most stimulating.” Maybe here is where food and cinema became so happily entwined in Les Blank’s work.

Eight of Blank’s nearly three dozen short documentaries have been reissued in new prints commissioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With the exception of his landmark work Burden of Dreams, the films appearing at the Rafael Film Center series follow Blank’s many investigations of southern kitchens and southern music. His subjects are folk and blues musicians, people like Mance Lipscomb (A Well Spent Life), Professor Longhair (Always for Pleasure), and Lightnin’ Hopkins (The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins).

Dry Wood (1973; showing at the Rafael on Friday, Nov. 22, 8pm) is maybe Blank’s most vivid piece. It’s about the home life of the Creole fiddler Alphonse “Bois Sec” (“Dry Wood”) Ardoin of Mamou, La. We see a wild small-town Mardi Gras fade into a pious Ash Wednesday, soon followed by hog-killing.

Blank’s most unusual cooking-themed movie stars his friend Werner Herzog, star of Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980; showing Saturday, Nov. 23). Herzog could be summing up Blank’s themes when he philosophizes, “Cooking is the only alternative to filmmaking.”

Herzog tucks into chaussure à la Chaplin as a result of losing a bet with documentary maker Errol Morris. The German director’s stout-heartedness (or stubbornness) leads him to further debacles–more serious than shoe indigestion–recorded in Blank’s full-length film Burden of Dreams.

Like Hearts of Darkness, about the catastrophes on the set of Apocalypse Now, Burden of Dreams (1982; showing Sunday, Nov. 24, 7pm) observes the behind-the-scenes troubles of Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo (1982). Shot in Peru, Fitzcarraldo is based on an incident about a rubber planter of the early 1900s in Amazonia. Supposedly, the European adventurer hired hundreds of Indians to haul a steamboat over a jungle ridge. Herzog’s dream was that Fitzcarraldo’s boat ought to be many times larger and fully intact.

Herzog decided to film in virgin territory unsullied by European contact. Once there, he unwittingly brought to these “pure” natives all the baggage of colonialism: forced drudgery, prostitution, displacement from their land. As Pauline Kael put it, Herzog had got himself into a zone between documentary and drama where neither worked.

Though his films are almost non-narrative, Blank’s is an orderly mind: you can see it as early as his 1968 film, lyrically titled God Respects Us When We Work, but Loves Us When We Dance. Being without dialogue, the film makes no special pleading for the flower children it watches at Los Angeles’ first love-in. Yet Blank seems to see everything worth seeing. The same kindly eye falls on everyone, from unimaginably innocent hippies to Louisiana farm workers to South American Indians: disparate people Blank unites in a universal love of food and music.

An Academy Salute to Les Blank takes place in four programs, Nov. 22-24. Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415.454.1222 or www.rafaelfilmcenter.org.

From the November 21-27, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

‘Far from Heaven’

-
0
‘Far from Heaven’

Autumn Leaves

If costume and art direction were everything, Todd Haynes’ ‘Far from Heaven’ would be celestial

By

Fall has brought us a bumper crop of movies soaking in the era of the Hollywood studios–it’s been film-geek city with the MGM chiffon of Punch-Drunk Love and 8 Women. Now comes the most elaborate pastiche yet: Todd Haynes’ Far from Heaven, which attempts to re-create the colors, mood, and melodrama of the autumn leaf blowers director Douglas Sirk turned out in the 1950s.

Sirk (1900-1987) did his share of genre work, including detective and Western movies. He’s best known, however, for his women’s pictures, such as his class-conflict romance All That Heaven Allows (1955) or his tragic-mulatto drama, the remake of Imitation of Life (1959). Sirk’s influence can be seen everywhere from Fassbinder’s melos to John Waters’ carnivals of crime.

Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Safe) has spun his film off the race relations of Imitation of Life and the romance between an affluent woman and a man of the soil in All That Heaven Allows. Far from Heaven does seem like a Sirk movie for a new century–the same satiny style but with more adult subject matter.

Julianne Moore plays Cathy Whitaker, a housewife in suburban Connecticut in the late 1950s. She has two children who are as perfectly kept and perfectly ignored as those in a sitcom: a girl taking ballet lessons and a son whose big problem in life is forgetting to wear a jacket outdoors. Her husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), pushes himself too hard at work.

This elegant life starts to fray when Frank begins arriving late for dinner and drinking too much. As we follow him, we’re privy to his unspeakable secret: He’s drawn to other men. Frank wrestles with this “sickness” through booze and visits to a doctor. Meanwhile, Cathy befriends her gardener, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert), who is kind, strong, and thoughtful–and black. This friendship is much commented on by the neighbors. Raging gossip adds to Frank’s angst.

Sandy Powell’s costumes are glamorous but deliberately stiff. Films in the 1950s starred actors bred to uncomfortable clothes, as today’s performers aren’t. This discomfort–Moore always seems to be wearing a girdle–adds a layer of meaning to Far from Heaven, but it also adds a layer of rigidity.

All praise is due to Moore and Quaid. It’s a mark of Moore’s talent that you’re never tempted to laugh at her quaintness. Still, Haysbert faced the most difficult task–after all, he didn’t have old movies to model his character on. His Raymond is so effortlessly dignified, it’s as if he’s only heard of the existence of racism as a troubling rumor.

This is an extravagantly beautiful film, including exhaustive contributions by production designer Mark Friedberg, who worked on the similarly dense Ice Storm.

Despite all the remarkable craft, I found it impossible to be swept away on these torrents of unspoken emotion. It sure gives you a turn seeing the age you were born into treated as if it were as far away as Elizabethan England.

Haynes makes the past seem estranged. You’re meant to see Far from Heaven and think, “It’s been a long time since the 1950s; how the world has changed,” when actually the truer thought is that it’s been a long time since the existence of a world that never existed except on Hollywood sound stages. The crack between Haynes’ formalism and modern issues is always visible. You can see his point, but the point doesn’t pierce the heart.

‘Far from Heaven’ starts Friday, Nov. 15, at Rialto Cinemas Lakeside.

From the November 14-20, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

The Artemis Quartet

-
0
The Artemis Quartet

Click here to buy Osvaldo Golijov’s ‘Yiddishbbuk’ at Amazon.com

Bloodied and Bowed

Antiterror law snares cellist

By Greg Cahill

The USA Patriot Act, approved by Congress in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, is supposed to snare terrorists before they have a chance to enter the country. So it was something of a shock within the normally staid classical music world when Berlin-based Artemis Quartet cellist Eckart Runge, 35, was denied a visa under stricter new procedures requiring lengthy background checks of any foreign national with a criminal record.

Criminal record?

You bet. According to the New York Times, Runge had been charged with misdemeanor shoplifting of a 99-cent pair of tweezers in 1991. The embarrassing incident–which the cellist has called “an inexcusable mistake”–occurred in Colorado where Runge studied cello. At the time of the theft, he went to court and was ordered by a judge to pay the court costs. He never served any jail time.

However, the subsequent cost was much greater: due to Runge’s visa problems, the acclaimed quartet–which recently won the prestigious Diapason d’Or de l’Annee from the French music magazine The Diapason–was forced to cancel all of its 13 U.S. tour dates this fall, including its Oct. 29 concert for the Chamber Music in Napa Valley series at the newly renovated Napa Valley Opera House Cafe Theatre.

However, the quartet did salvage an Oct. 20 concert in Montreal, where tweezer-stealing cello students are not considered a national security risk.

“We are very sad,” Runge told the Times during a phone interview from Paris. “Of course, one makes mistakes in one’s younger years, and these mistakes are there to be learned from. But now I have paid the price a second time–not only me, but all the other people involved, which is completely disproportionate.”

The quartet hopes to reschedule its concerts later next year.

Meanwhile, Chamber Music in Napa Valley continues to mark its 23rd season with an impressive lineup of world-class talent. On Sunday, Nov. 17, Finnish soprano Karita Mattila (hailed by the press as “the Finnish Venus”) performs with San Francisco Opera music director Donald Runnicles, who will put down his baton to accompany Mattila on piano.

The rest of the 2002-2003 season is equally impressive. On Dec. 2, the fiery pianist Yefim Bronfman, the Russian-born Israeli and protégé of Isaac Stern, will perform a program that features works by Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev; a new work by Esa-Pekka Salonen; and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 7 in D.

Other dates include Romanian pianist Radu Lupu’s program of Beethoven, Debussy, and Schubert (Feb. 3); the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble performing the Mendelssohn Octet for strings, among other works (May 5); and the pianist Emanuel Ax, who will close out the season with a surprise program (May 6).

For additional program and ticket information, call 707.226.7372, ext. 205, or write to Chamber Music in Napa Valley, 4050 Spring Mountain Road, St. Helena, CA 94574.

Spin du Jour

After two acclaimed albums of classical string quartets–by Schumann and Tchaikovsky, respectively–the St. Lawrence String Quartet has issued an extraordinary disc of modern recordings by Osvaldo Golijov, the Argentinean composer best known for his work with the Kronos Quartet. When Golijov says in the liner notes that his first meeting in 1991 with the redoubtable St. Lawrence String Quartet was a life-defining moment, believe it–you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more dynamic collaboration between a living composer and a contemporary ensemble.

Yiddishbbuk (EMI Classics) is in all likelihood the most powerful piece of new music you will hear this year. Think Hebrew mysticism mixed with the visceral force of a piercing Astor Piazzolla street-fight motif and the soul-shattering existential angst of novelist Franz Kafka, and you’ll get an inkling of the intense emotions that this recording can stir.

From the November 14-20, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Wine Country Video

-
0
Wine Country Video

Photograph by Michael Amsler

Contested Ownership

Brush off your essay skills–a Kenwood store could be yours

By Joy Lanzendorfer

With a flourish of the pen and some sound business sense, the only video store in Kenwood could be yours. The current owners of Wine Country Video want you to vie for their store, and all it takes is your best 500-word essay and a $150 entrance fee. Thanks to inspiration from a 1996 movie set in a remote town in Maine, husband and wife Ron Freberg and Sylvia West are giving the business away to the best applicant.

When Freberg and West started thinking about retiring, they considered the best way to find new owners for their store, which is located in central Kenwood. Though they could have sold it to the owner of a video store in Glen Ellen, they opted instead to go with the essay contest.

“We saw the movie The Spitfire Grill, which is about an essay contest for a restaurant, and we thought it was a wonderful idea,” says Freberg. “The great thing about the essay contest in the movie is that it was a chance for someone to take over the business that ordinarily couldn’t afford to. We’d like to give that to someone too.”

In the movie, an older woman played by Ellen Burstyn has had her restaurant for sale for more than 10 years, but no one in the remote town of Gilead, Maine, has bought the place. Thus, the essay contest is born. After advertising in places like New York and Chicago, the contest brings in more than 2,500 entrants.

In the movie, the entire town gets involved in the contest and the camera pans to show even the surliest Maine native reading the essays. In the end, the person who most needed a new chance in life got the restaurant.

In real life, however, running an essay contest is a little more complicated than putting ads in various newspapers and enlisting the neighbors to help you choose the best one. Freberg and West have hired a lawyer and marketing firm to promote the contest, opened a bank account for the entrance fees until the contest is over, and chosen three judges to pick the winner.

“The way the contest is set up, no one can ever say, ‘Ron knew so-and-so and let him win the video store,'” says Freberg. “I see none of the essays. The lawyer picks them up from the post office, cuts all the names off, and assigns a number so that even the judges won’t know who they are reading.”

The three judges are artist and playwright Randy Sue Watkins, movie producer and director Paul Martin, and Lucasfilm employee Kathy Tichenor.

The criteria for judging the contest are a little more complex than picking the most heart-rending essay. Participants are judged on their business skills, how community- and customer-minded they are, and their concept of what it takes to own and operate a store. And, yes, spelling and grammar do count.

“What we’re looking for is the most well-rounded essay,” says Watkins. “Not just why they want the store, but reasons why they’d be good at it. We needed criteria that were more objective than who most needed a change.”

The store itself is located in Kenwood’s only shopping center between the post office and the grocery store. It is the only video store in the area, which means virtually no competition. By itself, the business is worth more than $100,000.

The store is a popular place, Freberg says, with everyone in Kenwood stopping in at one time or another, especially in bad weather.

The winner will receive the video store, the lease paid up until Nov. 30, 2004, a library of more than 7,000 video titles, and all other supplies. In addition the winner will receive 30 days of training to learn the computer, billing, and other systems in the store.

Ron and Sylvia have owned the store for two years. Previously, they worked in real estate in Florida, operated a resort on the island of Antigua, and operated a bed and breakfast in Palo Alto. They plan to retire in Mexico, where the cost of living is more reasonable and it is beautiful–and they can still rent movies.

The deadline for the contest is Feb. 15, 2003. For more information, visit www.winecountryvideos.com.

From the November 14-20, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Holiday Arts Guide

-
0
Holiday Arts Guide

Survival Techniques

How to get through the holidays in one highly entertained piece

By Sara Bir

Dark at 5pm, lights strung up on trees, winter storms, chestnuts. The signs are clear: It’s holiday season. And along with the acorn squash and declining quality in tomatoes comes winter’s attendant events. Ballets, chorales, crafts fairs–it’s all there to get you in the spirit of whatever winter holiday you celebrate. So enjoy it while it lasts, because before long it will be spring again.

Spirited Ballet

”Twas the Night before Christmas’ The students of Healdsburg Ballet set Clement B. Moore’s story to dance with innovative choreography and updated music. Saturday, Dec. 7, 7:30pm; Sunday, Dec. 8, 2:30pm. Sonoma Country Day School’s Jackson Theater, 4400 Day School Place, Santa Rosa. $15 adults; $10 seniors and students. 707.431.7617.

‘Sophie and the Enchanted Toy Shop’ Sophie meets icicle and frost fairies, the Snow Prince and Princess, Valentina Ballerina, and the dancing bear. Then they dance, thanks to the cast and crew of the Marin Dance Theatre. Saturday, Dec. 14, 1 and 5pm. Marin Center’s Veterans Auditorium, 10 Avenue of Flags, San Rafael. $25 adults; $12.50 seniors and children under 12. Following the 1pm performance, have photos taken with the cast of characters at the Teddy Bear Tea Party in the Redwood Foyer. $8. 415.499.6800 or www.mdt.org.

Nutcrackers Galore

Ballet California’s Nutcracker is the only one in Sonoma County offering a live orchestra. Ballet: Dec. 13 at 8pm; Dec. 14 at 2pm and 7pm; Dec. 15 at 2pm. Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. $14-$30. 707.546.3600. Nutcracker Breakfast: Sunday, Dec. 1, 9:30am-noon, Sonoma County Hilton, 3555 Round Barn Blvd., Santa Rosa. $20 adults; $15 children 10 years and under. 707.537.0140. Sugar Plum Parties: LBC’s Gold Room, Dec. 14 and 15 at 4:30pm. $12.

Marin Ballet’s Nutcracker, a 30-year tradition starring students from the dance school. Dec. 7-8, 1pm and 5pm. Marin Center’s Veterans Auditorium, 10 Avenue of Flags, San Rafael. $15-$26. 415.499.6800 or www.ticketmaster.com.

Ballet Califia’s staging features the choreography of David McNaughton, one of the brightest talents in ballet today. Dec. 20, 8pm; Dec. 21, 2:30pm and 8pm; Dec. 22, 2:30pm. Spreckels Performing Arts Center, 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park. $16 general; $12 youth and seniors. 707.588.3434 or www.spreckelsonline.com.

Stapleton School’s Nutcracker features a cast ages five to 18 years and original choreography by Virginia Stapleton. Dec. 20, 7:30pm; Dec. 21, 3pm and 7:30pm; Dec. 22, 1pm. Marin Center’s Veterans Auditorium, 10 Avenue of Flags, San Rafael. $21 general; $14 youth and seniors. 415.499.6800.

Merry Olde Chorale Concerts

Santa Rosa Symphonic Chorus’ ‘Mid-Winter Songs’ Under the direction of Dan Earl, the Santa Rosa Symphonic Chorus presents Mid-Winter Songs: An Evening of Morten Lauridsen. Nov. 23, 8pm, Santa Rosa High School, 1235 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa; Sunday, Nov. 24, 4pm, Our Lady of Guadeloupe Church, 8400 Old Redwood Hwy., Windsor. $10 general; $8 seniors and students. 707.579.6030.

Quire Quodlibet’s ‘Paens and Patronesses’ The newly reorganized Quire Quodlibet makes a joyful noise to celebrate St. Cecelia’s Day. Nov. 22, 8pm, Sebastopol United Methodist Church, 500 N. Main St., Sebastopol; Nov. 23, 8pm, Raven Theatre, 115 North St., Healdsburg; Nov. 24, 3pm, First United Methodist Church, 1551 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa. $15 adults; $10 seniors and students. 707.526.5787.

Russian State Chorus Recognized as one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, the long-established Russian State Chorus performs on Sunday, Dec. 1, 3pm. $15-$25. Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. 707.546.3600 or www.lbc.net.

Kitka at Russian River Chamber Music Ancient a cappella Balkan and Slavic village chants, as well as complex 20th-century choral works, make up the women’s choral group Kitka’s world-renowned holiday wintersong concert. Sunday, Dec. 1, 4pm. Healdsburg Community Church, 1100 University Ave., $20 general; $10 students. 707.524.8700.

The Edlos The weird guys of a cappella stitch together humor, costume changes, smoke machines, and extensive classical training into a holiday show of traditional and original numbers. Dec. 6, the Raven Theater, Healdsburg; Dec. 14, Santa Rosa High School, Santa Rosa (benefit); Dec. 21, Marin Center Showcase Theater, San Rafael; Dec. 23, COPIA, Napa. www.theedlos.com.

Sonoma Valley Chorale’s ‘Holiday to Remember’ SVC’s musical treats include Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on English Christmas Carols and Randol Bass’ Gloria. Saturday, Dec. 7, 8pm; Sunday, Dec. 8, 2pm and 7:30pm. Sonoma Veterans Memorial Building, 126 First St., Sonoma. $15 adults; $12 seniors and children 16 and under. 707.935.1576 or www.sonomavalleychorale.org.

Light against the Darkness The Occidental Community Choir celebrates Hanukkah, Christmas, the solstice, and the coming of winter–a suitably ecumenical celebration. Under the direction of Doug Bowes, the choir will perform both classical pieces and choir originals. Saturday, Dec. 7, 8pm, Church of the Incarnation, Santa Rosa; Sunday, Dec. 8, 7pm and Sunday, Dec. 15, 3pm, St. Philip Center, Occidental; Friday, Dec. 13, 8pm, United Methodist Church, Sebastopol. $8. 707.547.0204 or www.occidentalchoir.org.

True Vine Gospel Choir Sonoma State’s well-received new choir, True Vine, holds its first Christmas Gospel Concert with East Bay Anointed Voices and the Kingdom Travelers. Sunday, Dec. 8, 5pm. Evert B. Person Theatre, SSU, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. $6. 707.664.2353.

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir Twenty-five Academy Award-winning voices soar in unison when the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir takes to the stage. In two performances the choir, led by the charismatic Terrance Kelly, will showcase the power of the voice. Saturday, Dec. 14, 4:30pm and 7:30pm. Bartholomew Park Winery, 1000 Vineyard Lane, Sonoma. $40. 707.935.9511.

Jarvis’ Annual Christmas Music Concert Napa’s Jarvis Conservatory invites three top high school choir ensembles from the area to perform, and the proceeds from the show go to the schools’ music programs. Saturday, Dec. 14, 7pm. Jarvis Conservatory, 1711 Main St., Napa. $30 adults; $15 students. 707.255.5445 or www.jarvisconservatory.com.

Petaluma Sings! The Petaluma Women’s Chorus joins up onstage with the Cinnabar Chamber Singers for a joyful holiday concert. Saturday, Dec. 14, 8pm. St. Vincent de Paul Church, 35 Liberty St., Petaluma. $12 general; $10 seniors and students; $6 children 12 and under. 707.763.8920.

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ ‘Home for the Holidays’ The 25th anniversary season of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus begins with their popular Christmas show, Home for the Holidays. A benefit for Face to Face/Sonoma County AIDS Project, the concert usually sells out fast. Sunday, Dec. 15, 5pm (reception), 6pm (concert). Jackson Theater, Sonoma Country Day School, 4400 Day School Place, Santa Rosa. $20. 707.525.6229 or www.sfgmc.org.

Chanticleer Christmas Concert The highly acclaimed 12-man a cappella group Chanticleer continues their tradition of Bay Area Christmas choral performances with two shows in Petaluma. Tuesday, Dec. 17, 6pm and 8:30pm. St. Vincent de Paul Church, 35 Liberty St., Petaluma. $34-$37 reserved; $25 general. 800.407.1400 or www.chanticleer.org.

Redwood Empire Sing-Along Messiah Don’t know the words? No worry–the Baroque Sinfonia, solo vocalists, and a 100-voice choir can cover for you. Wednesday, Dec. 18, 7:30pm. Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. $14 general; $10 students and seniors. 707.537.6809 or www.sing-along-messiah.org

Symphonic Seasons

Santa Rosa Symphony Dec. 7-9, Sonoma County Bach Choir and Sonoma County Honor Choir sing Brahms’ German Requiem. Jan. 11-13, Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Korngold’s Violin Concerto, and Schumann’s Symphony no. 4. 707.546.8742 or www.santarosasymphony.com

Carols in the Caves Musical “improvisator” David Auerbach plays dulcimers, harps, psalteries, and more in this annual acoustic-in-the-caves concert. Dec. 7-8, 2pm, Hans Fahden Vineyards, 4855 Petrified Forest Road, Calistoga; Dec. 14-15, 2pm, Folie à Deux, 3070 Hwy. 29, St. Helena; Dec. 21-22, 2pm, Vine Cliff Winery, 7400 Silverado Trail, Yountville; Dec. 28, 8pm, Buena Vista Winery, 1800 Old Winery Road, Sonoma. $35. 925.866.9559 or www.carolsinthecaves.com.

Festival Consort’s Renaissance Christmas Founded in 1976, Festival Consort is the oldest early-music ensemble in the Bay Area, playing both Renaissance and Medieval music on historical instruments such as the cornett and crumhorn. Dec. 9, 12:15pm. Newman Auditorium, Emeritus Hall, Santa Rosa Junior College, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa; Wednesday, Dec. 11, 7:30pm, Herold Mahoney Library, Santa Rosa Junior College’s Petaluma Campus, 680 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, Petaluma. Free. 707.527.4372.

New Century Chamber Orchestra’s Baroque Christmas Warm the cold season with rich baroque selections by Vivaldi, Handel, and Corelli. Sunday, Dec. 22, 5pm. Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. $35. 415.357.1111 or www.ncco.org.

Twinkly Parades, Trees, & Houses

Petaluma Festival of Trees The Downtown Petaluma Association’s Festival of Trees promotion plants trees (not literally) in stores and restaurants for merchants to decorate. Each tree will then be auctioned off with funds going to local charities. Trees go on display Nov. 26-Dec. 6. Call 707.762.9348 for more info.

Yountville Festival of Lights Yountville goes all-out for a day of food, wine, and holiday. Santa arrives at noon aboard the famed Anheuser-Busch wagon. Other attractions include a gingerbread house competition and the Napa Valley Ice Art Championship. Friday, Nov. 29. 12:30pm, ice carving begins; 5-6pm, tree lighting. Downtown Yountville. Free. 707.944.0904.

City of Lights Driving Tour Take a self-guided tour of highly decked-out homes and businesses in Petaluma. Dec. 6-27. Free. For details, go to www.visitpetaluma.com or call 707.769.0429.

Light Up a Life Hospice of Petaluma’s annual fundraiser electrifies the Christmas tree in Center Park. Friday, Dec. 6, 6:30pm. Center Park, Petaluma Boulevard at B Street, Petaluma. Free. To sponsor a tree light, call 707.778.6242.

Russian River Parade of Lights Fifty floats, cars, horses, and such cruise through downtown Guerneville, all bedecked and alighted. Saturday, Dec. 7, 7pm. Main Street, Guerneville. Free. 887.644.9001.

Holiday Lighted Boat Parade The most luminous flotilla on earth parades around Petaluma’s waterfront. Saturday, Dec. 7, 6:30pm. Petaluma River Harbor, Petaluma. Free. 707.769.0429.

Luther Burbank Holiday Open House Visit the Burbank Home as it’s decked out in festive Victorian holiday style and stop in for tea and cookies in the Burbank Greenhouse. Dec. 7-8, 10am-4pm. Luther Burbank Home and Gardens, Santa Rosa and Sonoma avenues, Santa Rosa. Free. 707.524.5445.

Heritage Homes Holiday Parlor Tour Experience four Victorian parlors, plus the vintage holiday decorations at the Petaluma Museum. Sunday, Dec. 8, 6-9pm. Petaluma Historic Library and Museum, 20 Fourth St., Petaluma. $15. 707.762.3456.

Healdsburg Victorian Inns Tour Step back in time and get a peek at five of Healdsburg’s quaint Victorian inns: the Madrona Manor, Haydon Street Inn, Camellia Inn, Grape Leaf Inn, and Healdsburg Inn on the Plaza. All you need to do is pick up a map at your first stop of this self-guided tour. Sunday, Dec. 15, 2-4pm. Free. 707.433.6935 or 707.433.5228.

Napa Holiday Candlelight Tour Napa Landmark’s yearly tour of Victorian homes with costumed docents, plus wines and chocolate. Saturday, Dec. 14, 3-8pm. Various sites, First Street neighborhood, Napa. Advance: $25 adult; $10 ages three to 12. Day of event: $30 adults; $12 ages three to 12. 888.255.1836 or www.napacountylandmarks.org.

Santa Sightings

Direct from the North Pole via the Petaluma River, it’s Santa’s Riverboat Arrival and Antique Wagon and Horse Procession, when Santa and Mrs. Claus land at the Petaluma Riverfront to hand out candy canes. Then, the Antique Wagon and Horse Procession makes its way through downtown Petaluma (it’s also a holiday open house for downtown merchants). Saturday, Nov. 30. Santa’s arrival, noon; Wagon Procession, 1pm. Petaluma Riverfront, Western Avenue, Petaluma. Free. 707.769.0429.

A Very Merry Morning with Santa Infants to children six years of age are invited to visit Santa at the “North Pole” for the traditional rite-of-passage photo-op. Presale-only tickets go on sale Nov. 12. Saturday, Dec. 14, 9-9:45am, 10-10:45am, and 11-11:45am. Steele Lane Community Center, 415 Steele Lane, Santa Rosa. $5 per child. 707.543.3282 or 707.543.3737.

Ye Olde Craft Faires

Gifts ‘n’ Thyme Holiday Faire Eighty-two booths of fresh herbs–er, make that arts and crafts, plus baked goodies. Nov. 15-17. Friday, 11am-8pm; Saturday, 11am-6pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm. Chardonnay Hall, Napa Valley Exposition, 575 Third St., Napa. Free. 707.224.3207.

Petaluma Alternative Christmas Bazaar The gifts are handcrafted by Third-World artists; all proceeds support the artists and their families. Saturday, Nov. 16, 9am-3pm. Free. United Church of Christ, 825 Middleford Drive, Petaluma. 707.763.2454.

Holiday Jubilee A top-quality venue for juried artisans, Holiday Jubilee offers gift items, plus winetasting and sales, gingerbread house workshops and kits, gift-making workshops for kids, and home-decor craft workshops for adults. Nov. 22-23, 10am-5pm. Sonoma Country Day School, 4400 Day School Place, Santa Rosa. $5 adults; $2 children. Workshops: $40 each, adult; $18 each, children. 707.284.3281 or www.holidayjubilee.org.

Meet the Artists Twenty-two consignment artists whose work is featured at the Graton Gallery will appear in a “meet the artists” holiday gift show and reception. Saturday, Nov. 23, 3-6pm. Graton Gallery, 9048 Graton Road, Graton. Free. 707.829.8912 or www.gratongallery.com.

Spirit of Christmas Crafts Faire Three weekends long with 250 exhibits and ongoing entertainment for the family, the Spirit of Christmas Crafts Faire is now in its 26th year. Nov. 28-Dec. 1; Dec. 6-8; and Dec. 13-15. Fridays, noon-9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 10am-6pm. Grace Pavilion, Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa. $4 general; $2 seniors and children ages six to 12. Fridays are half-price for everyone. 707.575.9355 or www.spiritofchristmasfaire.com.

Christmas Crafts Fair The 21st annual Christmas Crafts Fair, sponsored by the Russian River Watershed Protection Committee takes place Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 10am-5pm. Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, 1351 Maple Ave., Santa Rosa. $1.50. 707.869.0054.

Winter Open Studios The Industrial Center Building in Sausalito houses a thriving group of artists–75, to be exact. This makes it very convenient for them to throw their Winter Open Studios. Opening reception: Friday, Dec. 6, 6-9pm. Open studios: Dec. 7-8, 11am-6pm. ICB, 480 Gate Five Road, Sausalito. Free. 415.332.1909. A few blocks away, Sausalito’s Schoonmaker building also opens up Dec. 7-8, 11am-6pm. 10 Liberty Ship Way, Sausalito. 415.331.6466.

Dickens of a Holiday Crafts Show Santa Rosa Recreation and Parks’ 28th annual crafts show has over 60 booths of handcrafted gifts. Saturday, Dec. 7, 9am-5pm; Sunday, Dec. 8, 10am-4pm. Finley Community Center, 2060 W. College Ave., Santa Rosa. Free. 707.43.3737.

Herbal Christmas Fair The Sonoma County Herb Association’s herb and craft sale puts an old-fashioned spin on seasonal crafts fairs with one-of-a-kind holiday gifts by herbal artisans and homemade cookies at a bake sale. Proceeds benefit SCHA. Sunday, Dec. 15, 10am-5pm. Lodge Room, Santa Rosa Veterans Building, 1351 Maple Ave., Santa Rosa. Free. 707.585.8575.

Dramatic Affairs

Cinnabar Theater Cinnabar brings us two shows for the holidays. First, Cinnabar Young Actors Repertory Company presents the world premiere of Christmas Comes to Cherrywood, a tale of a lost unicorn and an enchanted forest. Nov. 15, 16, 22, and 23 at 7:30pm; Nov. 17 and 24 at 2pm. Then, Young Actors Repertory makes the classic Capra movie It’s a Wonderful Life come alive in musical form. Dec. 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, and 21 at 7:30pm; Dec. 15 and 22 at 2pm. Tickets for both productions are $10 general; $6 ages 12 and under. Cinnabar Theater, 3333 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma. 707.763.8920.

‘Holiday Memories’ Sonoma County Repertory Theatre offers an adaptation of “The Thanksgiving Visitor” and “A Christmas Memory,” probably Truman Capote’s warmest works. Nov. 22-23, 29-30, Dec. 5-7, 12-14, 19-21 at 8pm; Dec. 1 at 2pm. Sonoma County Repertory Theatre, 104 N. Main St., Sebastopol. $15. 707.823.0177 or www.sonoma-county-rep.com.

The 1940s Radio Hour A 10-piece orchestra adds to the madcap action of this nostalgic holiday treat, presented by Pacific Alliance Stage Company. Nov. 29-30, Dec. 6-7, 13-14 at 8pm; Dec. 1, 8, 15 at 2:30pm; Dec. 5 and 12 at 7:30pm. Spreckels Performing Arts Center, 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park. $22 adult; $18 youth and senior; $15 all seats. 707.588.3434 or www.spreckelsonline.com.

‘A Christmas Carol’ Dreamweavers Theatre stages the Christmas classic. Dec. 6-8, 13-15, 20-22, and 27-29. Fridays and Saturdays, 8pm; Sundays, 2pm. 1637 Imola Ave. (in the River Park Shopping Center), Napa. $15 general; $12 seniors and students. 707.255. LIVE.

An Imaginative ‘Christmas Carol’ Healdsburg’s Imagination Foundation, a new nonprofit theater for young actors, presents Dickens’ Christmas Carol with three holiday performances. Dec. 13 and 14, 8pm; Dec. 15, 3pm. Raven Theatre, 115 North St., Healdsburg. Advance: $10 adults; $5 children, students, and seniors. Door: $12 adults; $7 children, students, and seniors. 707.431.7ACT.

Festive Events

Chocolate and Carols Falkirk’s yearly Victorian holiday celebrates all things Dickens and Christmas-y. Carols, fine confections from local chocolatiers, and an authentic Father Christmas are all in store. Friday, Dec. 6, 6:30-9pm. Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission Ave., San Rafael. $8 adults; $5 members and children. 415.485.3328 or www.falkirkculturalcenter.org.

Madrigal Dinner Gualala’s art center gets the Olde English treatment and is transformed into the Great Hall of Sterling Castle for a six-course feast, complete with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with madrigal singing for dessert. Dec. 7-8, 6pm. Gualala Arts, 46501 Old State Hwy., off Highway One, Gualala. $65. 707.884.1138.

Annual Victorian Tea The Petaluma Women’s Club serves a proper English tea Upstairs, Downstairs-style. Benefits Petaluma Historical Library and Museum. Dec. 8-14, 11am, 2pm, and 5pm. Petaluma Women’s Club, 518 B St., Petaluma. $25 per seating. 707.762.4247.

Granny Bear’s Christmas Tea Party A traditional Victorian high tea meets the cuddly fuzziness of teddy bears with a live variety show, games, storytelling, and a souvenir photo with Granny Bear herself. Proceeds go to Story Bear Benefits. Saturday, Dec. 14, 11am and 2:30pm. Cotati Veterans Building, 8505 Park Ave., Cotati. $18-$40. 707.829.2494.

‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Sing-Along Sing, laugh, cry, and sing again. Come dressed as your favorite character, then watch the movie on the big screen and belt it out just like Zero Mostel. Lyrics provided. Register by Dec. 23–last year they sold out. Wed, Dec. 25, 11am-3pm. Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. $18 adult members; $22 adult public; $12 all children 12 and under. 415.444.8000 or www.marinjcc.org.

Hanukkah Celebrations

Latke Dinner Party Bring salad or dessert for four to this potluck and enjoy The Miracle of Chanukah, a professional multimedia musical puppet extravaganza. Reservations required. Tuesday, Dec. 3, 5:45pm. Congregation Beth Ami, Freedman Center, 4676 Mayette Ave., Santa Rosa. Members: $5 adults; $3 children. Nonmembers: $6 adults; $4 children. 707.545.4334.

Family Storytelling Family activities like making olive oil proceed a concert and storytelling by bestselling children’s musician Joanie Bartels and storyteller Joel ben Izzy. Sunday, Dec. 8, noon-3pm. Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. $6 members; $7 public. 415.444.8000 or www.marinjcc.org.

Kwanzaa

Sausalito’s Bay Area Discovery Museum goes global for its holiday celebration, bringing its fifth annual Kwanzaa celebration to the area. The seven guiding principles of Kwanzaa will be portrayed in the day-long event, as well as drumming, dancing, and crafts. Thursday, Dec. 26, noon-4pm. 557 McReynolds Road, Sausalito. 415.487.4398 or www.badm.org.

From the November 14-20, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

D’s Diner

-
0
D’s Diner

Photograph by Rory McNamara

I Do, I Do!

Who wants to go to D’s Diner?

By Sara Bir

People can tell you a restaurant is good, and that usually piques interest. But film a restaurant in a movie (Mel’s, from American Graffiti), name an album after it (R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People), write about it in a book (Fat Slice in Dave Eggers’ Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), and suddenly there’s this mystique about the place–which is the kind of thing that graces our goofy little lives, these brushes with public domain immortality.

It’s why I take visiting friends to Red’s Recovery Room in Cotati and say, “Hey, this is the place that Tom Waits gave a shout-out to in ‘Filipino Box Spring Hog.'” And then my friends say, “Neat! What’s up with that photo tiger on the pool table?”

It’s why today you are reading yet another of several recent reviews of D’s Diner in Sebastopol. Local bass virtuoso Les Claypool composed an ode to D’s on his latest solo album, and D’s took steps to alert us to this fact. “Lo and behold,” wrote D, “Les has written a glowing restaurant review in the form of a very funky song.” Though the lyrics are indeed lively (“Grab a booth or sit outside / Have a dose of rainbow pride”), the song itself is sort of a throwback to the quirky darkness of Primus days.

Anyway, the whole Les Claypool affiliation was intriguing, and the diner’s shameless little ploy to get our attention worked very well. For a while it sounded like a good idea to con Les himself into being a Mr. Bir du Jour, but (a) he’s on tour right now, (b) the song is actually a more acute review than this here one will ever be, and (c) Greg Cahill seems to interview Les every few months or so for this very paper, and if I intervened it might disturb the special media relationship they’ve forged. Since Les seems to know what he’s talking/singing about in “D’s Diner,” though, why not utilize his musical recommendations as a dining guide?

There’s a place just off the Gravenstein / Where the milkshakes flow like wine . . .

Wine does not flow at D’s, nor do any other alcoholic beverages, which is not surprising for a diner housed in a re-outfitted Foster’s Freeze. The interior dining area is small, with booth space a commodity. Stools line a counter that faces outside to Healdsburg Avenue. Red and white and black all over, the decor is very much in keeping with diner tradition. You have to order at the counter, which is only partly in keeping with diner tradition, but the staff does bring your order out to you.

The best damn breakfast burrito you can get anytime . . .

Right on, Les. Eggs, potatoes, and cheese all wrapped up in a flour tortilla and drizzled with a dark New Mexico red chile sauce. You can get breakfast-type pork products inside the burrito if you want. I didn’t, because what a splendid model of simplicity this breakfast burrito was! Not too much cheese, not greasy at all, and just the perfect size. The moderately spicy chile sauce provided all of the flavor needed. At $3.95, this is a cheap and reasonably wholesome breakfast.

Well, fancy ketchup, bendy straw / This ain’t your average ma and pa . . .

The ketchup is Heinz, and it says “fancy” right there on the bottle, though at D’s it’s in red squeeze bottles. The straws don’t bend, which leads me to suspect Les needed a word to rhyme with “pa.”

D’s does have a reformed ma-and-pa edge to it–as opposed to refined, and there is nothing refined about D’s (thank goodness!). The reformed part comes into play through touches like the organic Ecco Cafe coffee they serve or the canola oil they fry with or the real maple syrup you can get for 75 cents extra. An average ma and pa would also not have a stack of old Martha Stewart Living magazines available for reading pleasure.

D herself (that’s Deborah Klein) has a doctorate of philosophy from the University of New Mexico. What else can you do with a doctorate of philosophy besides open a diner? There are lots of things to be philosophical about when it comes to diners. In our American culture, the ideals diners represent–accessibility, promptness, casualness, thrift, pastel Formica, and bottomless cups of coffee–are hallowed ground. D’s is very mindful of this; it has a good feel to it.

Bring your daughters, bring your sons / They serve their franks on gourmet buns . . .

Mr. Bir du Jour liked his hot dog bun just fine. D’s Big Dog ($3.50), with relish, chopped red onion, kraut, and tomatoes, is a high-quality affair, an all-beef 1/4 pound kosher dog on said fancy bun, toasted. The hot dog itself is butterflied and grilled, which made it brown and crispy on the edges.

House-a-Hula Burger / Got teriyaki pineapple rings . . .

This comes with all the regular burger extras–red leaf lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, and mayo–but there’s the added bonus of a grilled pineapple ring and a boatload of teriyaki sauce basting the patty. A good idea, but the burger was a mite too salty from the concentrated teriyaki sauce. And what’s mayo doing hanging out with pineapple and teriyaki anyway? For the tasty addition of pineapple, this was almost a $5.25 burger–but not quite. Remember when that Wendy’s lady said “Where’s the beef?” in those commercials from the ’80s? She’d ask it here too.

Gotta get fries ($1.50) with a burger. They are crinkle-cut and crispy, everything you need diner fries to be, period. A side of sweet potato fries will cost you one buck more. Sweet potato fries are tricky–sweet potatoes have more moisture than regular potatoes, so it’s tough to make them crispy without burning them–but D’s hits the nail right on the head. Deep orange-gold and thin, these restored my faith in deep-fried sweet potatoes.

Malted buttermilk pancakes all day long . . .

These pancakes are good enough to eat at any time of day, or all day, should your constitution allow. Pancakes are dangerous things. They go down so yummy on a leisurely weekend morning, but five minutes after polishing off a plate, the dreaded pancake fullness, a leaden sensation in the stomach, sets in. It has been known to spoil entire days.

But–glory be!–D’s pancakes did not produce the dreaded pancake fullness. Tangy and light but not too fluffy, these were some of the best restaurant pancakes I’ve ever had. Malt that buttermilk! Try the Hasty Tasty Breakfast ($3.95), a moderate plate of one egg, two strips of bacon or one sausage, and two smallish pancakes.

Les never does say anything about the tasty barbecue menu at D’s, which is certainly worth mentioning. They slow-smoke their meats over mesquite, an investment whose flavor and tenderness comes through lusciously in tender, rich meat. The rib plate–three pork ribs in apricot sauce with a choice of two sides–barbecue beans, cole slaw, or fries–was a huge helping of meat ‘n’ stuff for $6.95. Apricot barbecue sauce may sound hoity-toity, but it contributes to a sweetness that’s fruity rather than cloying, and sugary, tangy, and peppery but not particularly spicy.

The Sloppy Jones spicy pork sandwich ($4.95) shared a similar flavor, only it was thinly sliced, super-moist pork butt, flecked with bacon and doused liberally with sauce. The meat of both the ribs and the sandwich was superb, but arrived at our table only lukewarm, which is somewhat disconcerting. Beans were OK, coleslaw was bland. I was full of candylike pork and didn’t mind.

After all these trips to D’s, I can see why Les wrote a song about the place. When Les returns from his current tour, D’s is going to present him with a Golden Spatula (“Spatty”) award for Most Prolific Regular. Woe to local would-be songwriters who had intentions to immortalize their favorite diner in song. Les has dibs on the coolest one.

D’s Diner. 7260 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol. 707.829.8080. Eat-in or takeout. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. The Les Claypool Frog Brigade’s new album, ‘Purple Onion,’ is out now.

From the November 14-20, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

‘Children of Abraham’

-
0
‘Children of Abraham’

Talk is Cheap: Yitzak Green and Hanan Mogannam talk it out in their dialogue group.

Giving It a Chance

Here in Sonoma County, peace can be made. Why not elsewhere?

By Davina Baum

The latest Palestinian intifada has burned on for years now, and there is no resolution in sight. Here among Sonoma County’s Jews and Palestinians, it’s been about 10 months. Friends have been made, conflicts resolved. Seven thousand miles away from the Middle East, people with land of their own–holy land in its own way–can talk, cry, and attempt to heal. Their families in Ramallah, in Jerusalem, in the occupied territories, cannot.

For almost a year, a group of Jews and Palestinian Christians have embarked upon a quixotic journey into themselves–away from conflict, away from bombs and terrorism. They tell stories about their past, about their families and their misconceptions. They share coffee and tea.

Faced with brothers and sisters dying, imprisoned on their own land, terrified for their safety, what can one do? Mediators have accomplished very little. Anger compounds the issue. By looking into their own community, the participants in this dialogue group have found a solution that works for them. Not a solution to the conflict, but a solution to the daily anger and frustration that news of the conflict evokes. And perhaps more, always the hope for more.

In past months, the group, which calls itself Becoming Allies, has reached outside itself to encourage people to think about the issue as it relates to individuals. In July, an event at Sonoma State University brought together an Arab and an Israeli to talk about their stories, shared and otherwise. In conjunction with the Rialto theater, the group presented two nights of dialogue in August after screenings of the touching documentary Promises. And on Nov. 16, Becoming Allies will screen the film Children of Abraham at Santa Rosa Junior College, with a dialogue session to follow.

Yitzak Green, a healthcare consultant and mediator, is an organizer and participant in the dialogue group. “This is not a conflict between strange nations; these are cousins–our ancestors are brothers,” he says.

The group focuses on personal stories because, according to Green, “[People are] learning that the suffering in the families who left Palestine since the occupation is not unlike the suffering in the Jewish families after the Holocaust. They go through the same depression, anger, foisting it upon themselves, upon their family members, and then maybe come out of it, maybe not.”

One of Green’s cohorts in dialogue is Hanan Mogannam, a Palestinian Christian with relatives in Ramallah. Sitting with Green and Mogannam in Courthouse Square one morning, we have a dialogue of our own. In measured and fair terms Mogannam explains her interest in the project. It’s been difficult, she says, to find Palestinians–Muslim or otherwise–who will partake in the dialogue.

“It’s painful and it’s risky and it takes a lot of courage, and they don’t want to bother because what’s the use, is it going to do any good? I feel it on my own part with what I’m doing. I do it because I get something out of it and I think something good will come out of it for other people, but it takes a lot of emotion–there’s anger and frustration. Look at the situation, look what we’re hearing on the news.”

The group tries to avoid talking about what’s happening on the news, because it gets too disheartening. “I’m more encouraged to think that if we can somehow get people to speak to the emotional rather than the rational–the personal family stuff rather than the political-national stuff–we’re likely to at least become friends and be able to talk to one another. I think that can spread,” says Green.

Separating the emotional and the rational, however, when emotions rule over these two nations and their diasporas and rationality ceased to exist 10 years ago, is a challenge.

“It’s easy and it’s superficial to just say that, well, if Arafat only got unhooked or if Sharon got unhooked and if we had someone like Rabin or whatever . . . I’m tired of those conversations, they don’t go anywhere,” Green says.

In the dialogue process, though they share personal stories about their histories and personal lives, Green, Mogannam, and the others can’t avoid sharing their thoughts on how to resolve the conflict. They appear to be largely in sync: The settlements–Israelis reclaiming land within the Palestinian territories–must go; pre-1967 borders must be implemented.

“Settlements are a mistake,” says Mogannam. “The ones who want peace in Israel and are willing to get out of the settlements are not in control.” Green agrees: “On both sides, the extreme factions are in control.”

Outside their largely sympathetic dialogue group, however, all participants encounter opinions that mirror the brutal emotions felt across the world. Green explains, “I had this experience meeting with an elderly Jewish woman who’s filled with anger toward Palestinians, and it’s hard to talk to her without evoking her anger.” Green, employing his listening skills, didn’t counter her rage. “I said, you know, I want to give you all the space you need to say that, and I want to be here to see what we have to talk about after it gets out.

“So one of the things that we’re learning,” Green continues, “is that it takes some training to have the patience to listen to someone’s anger and pain, because we want to get beyond it. ‘How much land do you want? How much security are we going to get’–that’s a conversation that, if we’re in fear or in anger, is a very difficult one to have.”

When it comes down to it, although both groups have strong opinions about the governing bodies and their ineffectiveness, it is the stories that they return to.

“There are a lot of people with stories here–a lot of holocaust survivors, a lot of people who left since the occupation,” says Green. “What if we spent three or four months in churches, in temples, in movie theaters, wherever it is, and we heard from these people. And then those people went to their cousins and said, ‘You know what I heard?’ and then they say, ‘You know, I think I’ve heard something similar in my town.’ And then we hash it out over coffee.”

The emphasis is on humanizing the combatants, who–in the eyes of their enemies–are more often excoriated as animals. Terrorist animals, land-grabbing animals, murderous animals.

“Everybody’s ideology consists of wave the flag and throw some bombs and it will all be better,” says Green. “That’s only a way to immortalize those who have chosen to give their lives to this–I mean suicide bombers. It’s not like going out and meeting somewhere in the streets or in homes and saying, ‘Hello, I’m a human being and so are you, let’s have a cup of coffee.'”

Mogannam counters: “But right now, for you and I to do that, it’s not difficult. I’ll do it, and I don’t feel any hostility from you. I feel like we want the same thing for that part of the world. But for people over there, to say, ‘Hello, can I have a cup of coffee?’–there’s a lot of stuff you have to go through to get to that point. . . .”

The global-local link is utmost on their minds, because though they gain personally from their dialogues, all of the participants have a larger purpose in mind: peace. “I think it will spread out,” says Mogannam. “I think people have to get educated. Once they see that there are human beings here who’ve got stories [and that] there are injustices on both sides, they will stop and see that it’s not going anywhere, that there’s got to be another way. Because it’s got to change here before they change over there.”

Technology, of course, speeds the passage of good will. Green explains that while their small dialogue group may not seem to have great reach, “People are in e-mail connection with people who are there and I have an e-mail connection with a number of peace groups, and an idea that hasn’t been seeded starts someplace.”

That someplace could be Sonoma County. It could be anywhere–people in liberal pockets across the country are seeking resolution to a conflict that’s miles away but so closely tied to nation and religion, race and heritage.

“That’s why I think that maybe we’re in a really unique place,” says Green, “because we’re far enough from the bloodshed so that we feel comfortable enough to have that conversation. And maybe those who are closer to it and have difficulty reaching that point can hear about the fact that there are relatives here talking when it gets peaceful enough. And maybe they can put down their guns long enough to at least learn about these conversations.”

Mogannam says multiple times during our conversation that there is no choice: “You live side by side–isn’t that what everybody wants? They’ve done it in the past. Eventually it’s going to happen. It has to happen.”

The wisdom of distance is powerful, but are the emotions at the core of the conflict surmountable? Hope is all there is.

‘Children of Abraham,’ a film of the Compassionate Listening Project, screens at Newman Auditorium at SRJC on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7:30pm. Dialogue will follow. 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. 707.793.2133.

From the November 14-20, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Mike Watt and the Secondmen / Eyes Adrift

-
0
Mike Watt and the Secondmen / Eyes Adrift

Saving Grace: Mike Watt puts out fires.

Attention Adrift

Mike Watt and the Secondmen deliver what Eyes Adrift don’t

By Sara Bir

For a supergroup, Eyes Adrift were pretty mediocre. The curious audience of Nirvana-, Meat-Puppets-, and/or Sublime-lovin’ fans at New George’s in San Rafael last Saturday didn’t seem to mind too much, though it was easily apparent that no one was particularly enthralled during their performance.

A newish collaboration between bassist Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), guitarist Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets), and drummer Bud Gaugh (Sublime), Eyes Adrift came together when both Novoselic and Gaugh independently approached Kirkwood, who had been playing some solo shows, about jamming. So they did, and after discovering they all had an instant affinity for working with each other, Eyes Adrift toured for a month and went into the studio to record their self-titled debut album, which came out in September.

The critical reaction so far has been tepid, but go figure–their music itself is pretty tepid. Though the show was by no means bad, it was highly unremarkable. The crowd, an odd mix of old-school Meat Puppets and Minutemen devotees with pot bellies and thinning hair, and kids in their early 20s who probably listened to Sublime and Nirvana songs on the radio when they were in the eighth grade, gave off the feeling that people hadn’t come to see Eyes Adrift–they had come to see a real live member of Nirvana.

Or they had come to see opener Mike Watt and the Secondmen, who proved that it is indeed possible to create new and challenging material long after what the public will likely view as your glory days have passed. In Watt’s case, those glory days were in the legendary early-’80s punk-folk trio the Minutemen. But increasingly since the demise of the post-Minutemen trio fIREHOSE, Watt has conceived an inspired solo career as a professional Mike Watt. His joy at being onstage is contagious, and his approachability and musicianship inject whatever project he happens to be involved in with an irresistible vitality.

Even if, in the case of the Secondmen, that project is a bit much to digest. The bass-drum-organ trio makes for bottom-heavy music, and Pete Mazich’s jazzy free-form hammering away on a lovely vintage Hammond organ met up with Watt’s fluid bass in a busy manner that didn’t always gel. Most of their set came from their upcoming album, The Secondmen’s Middle Stand, an operatic song cycle inspired by Watt’s two-year battle with an abscess in his perineum that nearly left him dead.

It’s a pretty grandiose thing to tackle onstage before anyone’s had a chance to hear the album, though, and the Secondmen’s better moments in the show were drawn from Watt’s previous work. The highlight was actually a cover, a searing rendition of “She Don’t Know Why I’m Here,” a terrific nugget by the Last, a band in the late-’70s L.A. punk scene whose Hammond-heavy sound perfectly suited the Secondmen.

In the Secondmen’s less accessible moments, it was still amazing to watch Watt play bass. Once he gets going, his hands canvass the strings so nimbly it appears he’s not even touching them. The trio played themselves into a sweaty frenzy, the intensity of which wound up being more thrilling than the actual music.

Unlike Watt, whom fans look upon as a cool punk-rock uncle, no one member of Eyes Adrift delivered the sort of charisma that can salvage a so-so live performance. And unlike Novoselic’s former band mate Dave Grohl’s megaband the Foo Fighters, Eyes Adrift’s washed-out echoes of grungy Meat Puppets and Nirvana heydays never laid their own distinctive ground.

Even though Novoselic, Kirkwood, and Gough are all very experienced and capable musicians, Eyes Adrift turned out to be as forgettable as the name they chose for themselves. Kirkwood’s country-tinged guitar dominated their songs, as if the band were just a badly rehashed version of latter-day Meat Puppets.

They opened up with “Telescope,” a catchy enough song whose sing-along chorus marked a high point all too early. After that, the songs became flaccid and pokey, a trend that culminated in Novoselic’s childish playground vocals on “Inquiring Minds,” a song commenting on the tabloids’ obsession over JonBenet Ramsey.

Three songs into Eyes Adrift’s mountingly tiresome set, I overheard three people behind me: “This sucks and it’s boring. Let’s go,” one said. They left, and, man, did I ever want to follow them.

From the November 7-13, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

‘Heaven’

-
0
‘Heaven’

Soul Power

Bald and penitent, Cate Blanchett stars in the arid ‘Heaven’

By

After a very fast and shallow hit titled Run Lola Run, the German director Tom Tykwer has headed for deeper, more rooted material. Heaven is based on a screenplay co-written by Poland’s Krzysztof Kieslowski. The story has the skeleton of an action movie, with a jailbreak, fugitives in love, and police chases, but it’s really about transgression and repentance.

Just like the celestial spot it’s named after, the film exists in a set of circumstances that would be hard for the average person to imagine. Philippa (Cate Blanchett), an English teacher living in Turin, Italy, uses a time bomb to blow up the office of a drug kingpin. But the drug lord isn’t injured. Because of a twist of blind fate–the random chance that so often intoxicates Tykwer–four passersby are blown to kingdom come. The police find and capture Philippa with remarkable speed and take her in for questioning.

We learn her reasons, but the police have no interest in them. Since the drug lord poisoned her husband and killed a little girl, she’s an honorable avenger, yet the police do nothing because they are on the criminal’s payroll. Philippa’s in misery because of the innocent blood on her hands. However, the police still think she’s a terrorist–a crafty one with a pretty odd story, admittedly.

When Philippa demands the right to testify in her own language, she is granted an interpreter, a young and angelic policeman named Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi) who volunteers for the task and quickly falls in love with the repentant woman. He decides to risk everything to help her escape.

Heaven‘s one part of a trilogy of screenplays Kieslowski co-wrote with Krzysztof Piesiewicz (co-author of the films Red, White, and Blue.) The late Polish director planned a sequence that when finished would have encompassed Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Watching this Heaven sequence suggests why the Hell sequence is everyone’s favorite part of Dante–Hell is more fascinating.

The purifying of the two lovers (Philippa and Filippo, two halves of the same person) begins after their passage through a railroad tunnel (like death) and arrival in a town removed from the world–a limbo. Together they reclaim a lost state of grace, from confession to contrition to penitence. The last stage is indicated by both leads shaving their heads, ostensibly to fool the police.

It never struck me previously how actors really use their hair as part of their masks; when their heads are bald, there’s so much less to act with. Ribisi, plump and with a puckered look from the sufferings of true, pure love, looks a little like a young John Lithgow. He’s better than he’s ever been. By contrast, the usually stunning Blanchett never gets her footing here.

Tykwer’s visual motif in the film involves plenty of aerial shots–“God’s eye” camera–including a love scene conducted in silhouette seen by helicopter. The same helicopter ultimately represents transubstantiation when it rises in the sky to a vanishing point–inspired, yes, and reverent too. Yet Heaven is as free from humor as a Jesuit’s argument. This film works through a system of symbolism so inflexible that this movie might as well be based on an algebra textbook.

‘Heaven’ plays at the Rafael Film Center.

From the November 7-13, 2002 issue of the North Bay Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup for the Tummy Making chicken soup is as good for you as eating it By Sara Bir Let's talk about chicken soup seriously, because it is a serious matter. The distance we have put between ourselves and our food (purely circumstantial, of course) has created...
Read more

Les Blank

Click here to buy 'Burden of Dreams' at Amazon.com Blank but not forgotten: Filmmaker Les Blank focuses on the music, culture, and cuisine of Americans outside the mainstream. Celluloid Snacks Eight restored Les Blank films highlight the director's clear eye By On...
Read more

‘Far from Heaven’

Autumn Leaves If costume and art direction were everything, Todd Haynes' 'Far from Heaven' would be celestial By Fall has brought us a bumper crop of movies soaking in the era of the Hollywood studios--it's been film-geek city with the MGM chiffon of Punch-Drunk Love and...
Read more

The Artemis Quartet

Click here to buy Osvaldo Golijov's 'Yiddishbbuk' at Amazon.com Bloodied and Bowed Antiterror law snares cellist By Greg Cahill The USA Patriot Act, approved by Congress in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, is supposed to snare terrorists before they have a chance to enter the...
Read more

Wine Country Video

Photograph by Michael Amsler Contested Ownership Brush off your essay skills--a Kenwood store could be yours By Joy Lanzendorfer With a flourish of the pen and some sound business sense, the only video store in Kenwood could be yours. The current owners of Wine...
Read more

Holiday Arts Guide

Survival Techniques How to get through the holidays in one highly entertained piece By Sara Bir Dark at 5pm, lights strung up on trees, winter storms, chestnuts. The signs are clear: It's holiday season. And along with the acorn squash and declining quality in tomatoes comes winter's...
Read more

D’s Diner

Photograph by Rory McNamara I Do, I Do! Who wants to go to D's Diner? By Sara Bir People can tell you a restaurant is good, and that usually piques interest. But film a restaurant in a movie (Mel's, from American Graffiti),...
Read more

‘Children of Abraham’

Talk is Cheap: Yitzak Green and Hanan Mogannam talk it out in their dialogue group. Giving It a Chance Here in Sonoma County, peace can be made. Why not elsewhere? By Davina Baum The latest Palestinian intifada has burned on for years...
Read more

Mike Watt and the Secondmen / Eyes Adrift

Saving Grace: Mike Watt puts out fires. Attention Adrift Mike Watt and the Secondmen deliver what Eyes Adrift don't By Sara Bir For a supergroup, Eyes Adrift were pretty mediocre. The curious audience of Nirvana-, Meat-Puppets-, and/or Sublime-lovin' fans at New George's in...
Read more

‘Heaven’

Soul Power Bald and penitent, Cate Blanchett stars in the arid 'Heaven' By After a very fast and shallow hit titled Run Lola Run, the German director Tom Tykwer has headed for deeper, more rooted material. Heaven is based on a screenplay co-written by Poland's Krzysztof...
Read more
1...9989991,000Page 1,905 of 1,000
11,084FansLike
4,606FollowersFollow
6,928FollowersFollow
north bay bohemian newspaper sonoma napa county logo
CURRENT ISSUE & ARCHIVES
East Bay Express cover
East Bay Express cover
CURRENT ISSUE & ARCHIVES
Newsletters Subscribe Advertise About Us Contact Us Letter to the Editor Press Release Obituaries Writing an Obituary Archives Find a Paper Distribute Bohemian Vote for Best Of Plaques & Banners
win free stuff
Features Local News News
Arts Books & Literature Crush Culture Movies Music Spotlight Theater
Astrology Look Media Opinion Letters To The Editor Open Mic Press Pass Rolling Papers
Dining Restaurants Small Bites
Readers' Picks 2025 Arts & Culture Beer, Wine & Spirits Beauty, Health & Wellness Cannabis Everyday Services Family & Pets Home Improvement Recreation Restaurants Romance Shopping
All Upcoming Events Today's Events Submit an Event Promote Your Event
weeklys california local media group logo

FOLLOW US

Copyright © Weeklys All rights reserved.

Our Publications

ADVERTISING Advertise Legal Submit an Obituary Legal NoticesFictitious Business Name (FBN) StatementsDoing Business As (DBA) NoticesTrustee Sale Notices

COMPANY INFO Job Opportunities Journalism Awards Privacy Policy Terms of Service

Support Local Journalism