American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts

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American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts

Hammer time: Daphne L. Derven, assistant director for programs and curator of food, at the site of Copia.

Food Bash

Grandiose gourmet affair benefits American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts

By Paula Harris

LOCATING the semi-complete $70 million American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts in Napa is a bit like looking for a hole-in-the-wall restaurant on the seamy side of town. The trek requires turning your back on the city’s freshly rejuvenated and bustling central hub and tooling along First Street away from Napa’s shiny downtown into a less exciting neighborhood, bordering on dilapidated, on the shallow banks of the dark Napa River.

On the left is an immense chained-off area where the torn ground is populated by a hulking army of construction equipment–as still as shadows on this quiet Sunday morning. At the back of the construction site is the beginning of a massive undulating-roofed building. It seems odd to think that this quiet road will become the gateway to the one-of-a-kind world-class wine, food, and arts mecca, slated to attract an estimated 300,000 visitors each year.

“Yeah, that’s it,” confirms a woman, in a noncommittal tone, working at the cut-price liquor store next door as she wheels a cart laden with cases of beer toward the shelf. “That’s Mondavi.”

And Mondavi it is.

The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts (also known as Copia and named for the goddess of abundance) is the brainchild of Robert Mondavi, the venerable vino Granddaddy of the Napa Valley, and his wife, Margrit. Back in 1988, the pair envisioned creating a nonprofit cultural institution devoted to exploring the interrelationships of food, wine, and the arts, and their role in American culture.

Over the years, the idea for the center took root, attracting such key partners as the University of California at Davis, the Cornell University School of Restaurant and Hotel Management, and the American Institute of Wine and Food. It has since exploded into the ambitious concept Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts.

The idea got off the ground in 1995 when Mondavi purchased 12 acres of land on the oxbow of the Napa River and donated it to the center for its new home. The weathly vintner also forked out $20 million to fund the project.

The following year a group of supporters drawn from around the Bay Area made substantial donations to help make Copia a reality.

CELEBRITY experts in the fields of wine, food, and the arts–including such heavy-hitters as Julia Child, Hugh Johnson, Alice Waters, Robert Parker, Martha Stewart, Eleanor Coppola, and Wayne Thiebaud–have agreed to serve as honorary trustees.

Now both in their 80s, the Mondavis await the opening on Nov. 18 of their ambitious dream. But the events and programs will kick off this week in a big way.

A Feast Fit for a King, a March 31 benefit for the center, featuring the King Midas Banquet (named for the fabled king whose golden touch led him to starve to death), will attempt to re-create a sumptuous 2,700-year-old funerary feast believed to have been in honor of the legendary Midas when he finally kicked the golden bucket.

Dr. Patrick McGovern, an archeochemist with the University of Pennsylvania, has taken scrapings from vessels discovered in a tomb in Turkey thought to have been that of King Midas, and analyzed the contents so that chefs can replicate the traditional dishes.

“We are re-creating the meal eaten at the wake,” says Daphne Derven, the center’s assistant director for programs and curator of food. “We’re taking science and turning it into enjoyment and education.”

Using McGovern’s analysis, chef Mark Dommen–a Windsor native who nabbed the plum job of running Copia’s showcase Julia’s Kitchen (the main restaurant named for gourmet grand dame Julia Child)–and former Mustards pastry chef Brigid Callinan (now the center’s program coordinator) will re-create the ancient Midas meal.

Of course, they will use a pinch of culinary creative license.

“We know that 2,700 years ago they had lamb and lentil stew, and there was saffron, which we are using to flavor the broth; plus we’re making dates stuffed with goat cheese–we’re not sure they did that exactly–but we know they had both those things,” explains Derven.

“We interpreted and created the dishes from what combinations were in each old vessel. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle when you have no idea what the final picture is going to look like.”

For the Midas meal, Callinan will prepare a dessert using dried figs, muscat wine, and a panna cotta-style custard incorporating goat’s milk, which will be flavored with coriander and anise.

In addition, a Delaware-based brewery has come up with an interpretation of the unusual fermented beverage–a blend of wine, beer, and mead–found at the tomb.

“It’s a combination of grapes, grain, and honey,” explains Derven. The potent brew, aptly dubbed the Midas Touch, will be served at the banquet. McGovern will be on hand to describe the Turkish archeological discovery that led to the re-creation of the ancient dishes.

“This is exactly the kind of thing we’ll be doing when Copia opens,” adds Derven, of the Midas Banquet. When complete, the center will host an array of sensory-geared public programs, including seminars, lectures, culinary demonstrations, winetasting, and workshops.

WHEN completed, the American Market Cafe will serve as the center’s casual dining room, while Julia’s Kitchen will be the premier restaurant. Chef Dommen, who worked for two years at San Francisco’s four-star Fleur de Lys, among other gigs, intends to create the “freshest and finest” ingredient-based dishes, which will change regularly to reflect the center’s programming and the season.

“We will use some of Julia Child’s recipes, but more than that–we see her legacy as an ongoing exploration of food and flavor,” says Derven. “The restaurant will be more about the spirit of education than about a specific recipe.”

In addition, the center will feature more than 13,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 280-seat auditorium, an 80-seat demonstration kitchen, and a gift shop. Three and a half acres of working and decorative public gardens and a 500-seat outdoor concert terrace for live music and theater performances will grace the center’s grounds.

New York architect James Polshek is developing the 80,000-square-foot main building using native stone, metal, polished concrete, and large expanses of glass. And those with too much time on their hands can even monitor the project’s progress by logging onto a webcam at Copia’s website, which updates pictures of the construction site every 15 minutes.

Ultimately, Copia’s grandiose goals are as heady as the Midas Touch elixir that will help fund them. “Our mission is to explore food, wine, and art and to look at areas of intersection of the three,” concludes Derven.

“We’re the only institution in the world to be doing this.”

The King Midas Banquet will be held Saturday, March 31, at 7 p.m. at Ledson Winery and Vineyards, 7335 Hwy. 12, Kenwood. Admission is $175 per person. 707/257-3606.

From the March 29-April 4, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

‘Black Goo’

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Glassy-winged sharpshooters grab all the headlines, but local vineyard owners face yet another–perhaps even more insidious–threat

By John Nagiecki

MILK CARTONS stand like small tombstones in Bill Lerner’s Santa Rosa vineyard. From within the open cartons grow young chardonnay vines, whose thin crooked trunks rely on rebar stakes for support. To the untrained eye, the field looks like any other new vineyard in the county, with its small plants and forest of tall posts strung with trellis wire and irrigation tubing. But Lerner says his vines are diseased. He complains that, since he planted the vineyard in 1999, he has had to rip dead vines out and that others have grown spindly and weak. He has recently had to prune some of his vines back, giving them another chance to develop needed girth.

Lerner cuts open two vines to show why they are growing poorly. Tiny black specks dot the inner wood of the first vine. The second has a darkened core. Lerner says it is black goo.

Black goo is the nickname given to a type of vine ailment known as young-vine decline. It is associated with a group of fungi that live in the woody part of the plant. The black or brown gooey substance produced in the wood is the vine’s response to the pathogens’ injurious effects. But goo is not the only product of this disease. It has generated about as much, if not more, acrimony within the wine industry as it has dead wood.

Young-vine decline, according to some, is an insidious problem, threatening to cripple the region’s $2 billion grape-growing industry. Though it is not a new problem, it has become more prevalent recently because some nurseries allegedly have been selling diseased vines to unsuspecting growers. Others claim that young-vine decline is a nonissue, which affects only a tiny fraction of the vineyards in the county. They say it exists mainly in fields managed by growers who don’t know how to properly care for their vines. This latter group asserts that the disease continues to attract attention because small but outspoken vineyard owners are trying to indict nurseries for losses that are actually owing to their own mistakes.

Young-vine decline was among the topics discussed at last month’s meeting of the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance. The event featured scientific experts, vineyard consultants, and nursery representatives who offered their views and responded to questions regarding the problem.

The controversy surrounding the disease centers, in part, on whether the fungi–one of which goes by the name Phaeoacrimonium–will necessarily harm a young plant, or whether poor vineyard management is to blame.

According to Dr. Douglas Gubler, head of the plant pathology department at the University of California at Davis, “Stress is the key to this whole big picture.” Gubler, whose department has been studying the disease, defines stress in terms of restrictions on root system growth, including poor planting, water deficits, or even the production of fruit on the vines too early in their life, all of which can trigger a pathogenic response.

But Michael Porter, a viticultural consultant based in Forestville, disagrees. “Everything is called stress,” he says. The problem as Porter sees it is not whether a plant is mistreated, but whether it’s carrying a pathogen. He invokes the findings of international researchers who view stress not as a cause but as a catalyst of an infected vine’s decline. “The fact is,” he says, “that an infected vine is much more sensitive to stress. If it were not infected, it would be much more tolerant of stress.”

Along with the feud over the role of stress and infection in a young vine’s decline is a divide regarding the extent of the disease.

Gubler says that the whole problem has been grossly exaggerated. “This thing is being trumpeted as a huge problem,” he says. “For the guys who have the problem, it’s a problem. But industrywide it’s not.”

He adds that young-vine decline is confined largely to Sonoma County, estimating that no more than 1 percent of the acreage is affected. “Where we see this problem occurring most frequently,” says Gubler, “is in vineyards, usually small vineyards . . . that are not owned by traditional vineyardists that have been growing grapes for years and years.”

Porter thinks that Sonoma County may indeed have seen more than its share of young-vine decline. He first came across the problem at a Russian River Valley vineyard in the summer of 1991. He describes it as a vineyard “with wonderful soil and very experienced management.” Since 1991, he indicates, more than half of the vineyard’s vines have been replanted.

But Porter also sees the problem reaching beyond the county’s borders. “I’ve got lots of clients in Napa Valley who have a huge problem,” he says, adding that the problem also exists in South Africa, Australia, Chile, France, Italy, and Portugal.

He emphasizes that the fungi-induced disease is likely far more widespread locally than officially reported because vineyard managers often don’t know they have the problem and are not curious. “They’ll pull out vines that are sick and replant,” he says, “but don’t send the sick vines in for testing. They just throw them away and say, ‘Ah, must have been gophers.’ ”

Porter also believes that some managers are reluctant to say that their vineyards are diseased because they don’t want to scare the bank.

Gubler strongly disagrees with Porter on these issues. “I can’t imagine why somebody wouldn’t want to know that they’ve got a problem,” he says. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Nevertheless, Gubler agrees that lenders are part of the picture. The difference is that he sees bank loans stressing out growers who, in turn, stress out their vines. “Growers are finding themselves in a situation to produce a crop on those vines very early to start repaying the bank, and the vines can’t take it. So there’s predisposition stress.”

Again, Porter disagrees. He blames sloppy propagation practices at some nurseries as the reason young vines are becoming infected by pathogens. “It’s really your source that’s most important,” he says.

Gubler agrees that nurseries may be selling vines that harbor fungi. “There’s no doubt that some of the wood coming out of nurseries have these fungi in them,” he says. “But just because they have fungi in them doesn’t make it bad wood.”

WHATEVER the criteria, separating the good wood from the bad is something some growers worry more about these days. Some now hire experts to help them identify and plant good vines. James A. Stamp, a plant biologist and viticulture consultant based in Sebastopol, assists growers from coast to coast with young-vine decline problems. “Bad vines are shipped everywhere,” he says, “and you see signs of poor vineyard performance in many different places.”

Stamp, who completed a post-doc fellowship at UC Davis and has since started two nurseries, helps prevent weak vines from getting into a grower’s field by carefully inspecting a nursery’s practices in advance of delivery. He also provides the nursery with specific procedures and protocols to follow in the preparation of his clients’ grafted vines, and he checks on their condition until planting time.

For other clients who have already ordered vines, he ensures that what gets delivered is, in fact, worthy of being planted.

“We’ve rejected a lot of vines,” says Stamp. “I’ve rejected whole batches of 50,000 or 100,000 vines in particular cases.” He indicates that in any given shipment about 20 percent of the vines are sent back. In very good cases, only 5 percent will be bad. Overall, he estimates he’s rejected about 40 percent of the vines shipped to his clients.

In a recent issue of Wine Business Monthly, Stamp states that, until recently, the surge in demand for new vines had contributed to a corresponding drop in nursery-stock quality. The thirst for new vines has been so intense, he observes, that many nurseries had sold their entire crop two years prior to delivery. Stamp concludes that “vine quality is perhaps one of the biggest casualties of the recent California vineyard expansion.”

In the future, Stamp expects California grape prices to fall, which should lead to more competition among nurseries, along with a corresponding drop in prices and improved quality. In the meantime, those who have weak vines are either replanting parts of their fields or waiting to see whether their plants will regain some vitality.

MITCH PATIN manages 750 acres of vineyard in northern Sonoma County. Patin, who has been in the business since 1977, has been surprised by the failure of some of his young vines. “We never had this kind of problem 10 years ago as we have now,” he says. Over the last five years, Patin has had to remove 60 acres of vines. He recently pulled out an entire 12-acre block. Overall, he estimates it cost approximately $30,000 to $40,000 per acre in lost production and redevelopment expenses.

Patin is reluctant to point any fingers; he just wants the problem solved.

Bill Lerner says he would like his money back for vines he bought in 1999 from Sunridge Nursery in Bakersfield. Though the nursery has offered to replace all of his vines, Lerner has refused, claiming the replacements would not be healthy. Visiting the facility in December of 1999, he had the opportunity to cut open some nursery vines. “I wanted clean vines,” says Lerner, who claims he saw the same discoloration there that he saw in the vines delivered to his field.

Glen Stoller, founder of Sunridge Nurseries, says his plants are not diseased. He indicates that Sunridge, a family-owned nursery that’s been in business since 1977, sells up to 10 million vines a year. “How long do you think we’d stay in business,” he says, “if we were shipping diseased plants?”

Stoller says that “the same lot of plants that we shipped [to Lerner], we shipped to other growers. And we went and checked all those other vines, and everything was doing beautifully.” He adds that a company representative and consultant looked at Lerner’s vineyard. They determined that Lerner had waited too long to remove the mounds of dirt that had been piled around his vines, something that is initially required to protect the fledgling plants.

Stoller also says that Lerner planted in the latter part of June, which was too late in the season. “This is dormant material,” says Stoller, “he should have planted in February or March.”

He also cites Lerner’s inexperience, noting that “this is his first attempt at a vineyard.”

FROM WHERE he stands, Lerner believes Sunridge sold him stock that no one else wanted. He complains that the plants he received were sprouting, which is not what a dormant vine should be doing. “I spoke to one expert that’s farmed here for many years,” says Lerner. “I showed him the shooting, and he shook his head and said that shouldn’t be.”

Lerner explains that the tender shoots were unavoidably lost during the planting process, causing the vines to channel their limited energy stores into yet another set of new shoots. Nevertheless, he believes that had the vines not harbored a fungus, they could have withstood the stress imposed by the lost shoots.

Though frustrated, Lerner says he’s not going to give up. Last year, he decided to remove and replant the field of 5,600 pinot noir plants from Sunridge, using stock that he bought from another nursery. He would like to replace all of his chardonnay vines as well, but is constrained by the cost and the inability to find what he considers acceptable vines.

Research efforts around the world are under way to solve the young-vine decline problem, focusing both on the pathogenic agents and on their means of transmission. For example, UC Davis researchers recently discovered a new latent virus that is responsible for the disease. Other research is focusing on chemical treatments that can be applied to vines during propagation.

Porter is optimistic that international efforts will find a way out of the problem. “We should be able to get it out of the plants before they go into the ground,” he says.

Gubler states that considerable progress in understanding the disease has been made in the last few years. He also believes that research is under way to find out what triggers the fungi to become pathogenic in the plant.

Stamp believes that in the wine industry’s hierarchy of concerns, young-vine decline has already fallen off the radar. He believes that it has been displaced, in part, by concerns over Pierce’s disease transmitted by the glassy-winged sharpshooter. Nevertheless, writing in Wine Business Monthly, he still advises everyone to “take a close look at your new vines.”

John Nagiecki is co-author of ‘California’s Wine Country’ (Falcon Press, 2001).

From the March 29-April 4, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Spins

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Spins

Key Figure

Organist Jimmy Smith shows both sides

By Greg Cahill

JAZZ TRUMPET legend Miles Davis once called organist Jimmy Smith the greatest musician he knew. Indeed, a short-lived 1955 Smith trio once featured sax god John Coltrane, and Smith revolutionized the jazz keyboard with his way-cool Hammond B-3 sound. And while Smith has lingered on the fringe of popular music after making his name in the jazz world with such classic Blue Note albums as 1957’s The Sermon and 1960’s Back to the Chicken Shack, this stellar organist has remained a major influence. A new generation of soul-jazz devotees–including Medeski, Martin, and Wood; Galactic; John Scofield; Will Bernard; and especially hipster icon John Lurie (during his Get Shorty soundtrack period)–have tapped the master’s grooves for inspiration. In 1994, the Beastie Boys sampled Smith’s “Root Down.”

Now, after a five-year layoff, a pair of great new discs–the trendily titled Dot Com Blues (Verve/Bluethumb) and Fourmost Return (Fantasy/Milestone), a newly released live set recorded in 1990–spotlight the incredible talent of this 76-year-old musical giant.

Dot Com Blues provides Smith with a crack trio of backup jazz musicians–guitarist Russell Malone, bassist Reggie McBride, and drummer Harvey Mason–and then pairs the keyboardist on a series of tracks with an all-star lineup of guest blues performers that includes Etta James, Dr. John, B.B. King, Taj Mahal, and Keb’ Mo’, as well as the Texacali Horns. The result is one of the best jazz-soul/blues albums of the year, although at times Smith is relegated to little more than a support role for his guests–for instance, this version of Taj Mahal’s “Strut,” with Taj on lead vocals, is virtually identical to the one released on Taj’s recent studio album.

Thankfully, Smith and his band get plenty of elbow room on a handful of unaccompanied tracks, including Smith’s own “Eight Counts for Rita,” the chestnut “C.C. Rider,” and a glorious almost nine-minute version of Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo.”

That last track also appears on Fourmost Return, recorded in 1990 at Fat Tuesday’s in New York (a seven-track set, Fourmost, from the same session was released a decade ago). This swinging little set glides along easily and reunites Smith with tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, guitarist Kenny Burrell (both veterans of Smith’s successful ’60s quartets), and drummer Grady Tate. The band once again tools up “Back to the Chicken Shack,” which first paired Turrentine and Smith nearly 30 years earlier.

Absolutely amazing stuff and a must-have for any soul-jazz fan.

Spin du Jour

Various Artists Have You Had Your Vitamin B-3 Today? (Label M)

Organ jazz, once maligned by critics, has gone on to stand the test of time, veteran producer Joel Dorn rightly declares in the liner notes of this nine-track soul-jazz primer. Jimmy Smith is showcased on “Jumpin’ the Blues” from his classic 1960 Blue Note album Midnight Special, as are celebrated organists Jack McDuff, Shirley Scott (teamed here with longtime collaborator Stanley Turrentine), John Patton, and Carl Wilson. The illustrious sidemen include Grant Green, Ike Quebec, Gene Ammons, Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, and Yusef Lateef. You simply can’t go wrong with this bracing collection.–G.C.

From the March 29-April 4, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Open Mic

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Open Mic

Let’s Talk

By Judy Helfand

MOST OF US who check “white” when filling out forms walk through this world without letting the full meaning of our “whiteness” enter our conscious mind. We don’t talk about race, telling ourselves that being colorblind is the best antidote to racism. But deep within we know that this conversation about race is one we need to have. No white person is truly unaware of the racial divide in this country, but we try to believe we live in a just society where things will even out eventually.

The spectacle of the presidential election last November illustrated just how far we have to go. Most white Americans still remain unaware that a large proportion of the uncounted and disputed ballots came from counties with over 90 percent African-American populations. Black Americans were harassed on their way to the polls, and many were denied their right to vote because they were erroneously listed as felons. While the media focused on chad and legal challenges, the racial angle–though mentioned here and there–was largely overlooked.

The media also highlighted the synchronicity of an election controversy happening in Florida, which had hosted a similar situation in 1876, when a political stalemate over who would become president was resolved after the Democrats and Republicans reached a compromise.

But we didn’t hear much about the details.

That compromise pulled thousands of Union troops, who were protecting freed slaves from white violence in the South, and mandated that the principle of states’ rights would determine the future legal and political status of African Americans. This paved the way for white Southerners to roll back the gains of Reconstruction, using violence, terrorism, and then segregation to prevent blacks from voting, holding public office, or receiving land as promised earlier.

This may be ancient history, and the 2000 election is over and done with, but we are still living with the legacy of these (and many other) injustices. Denial or avoidance won’t open up the path to resolving the problems of racial inequality. Those of us who are white need to do more than worry about changing demographics that may put us in the minority in the United States (as we are already the minority in the world). We need to have those conversations about race, starting with each other, to talk about our fears, our guilt, and our responsibility for building a country where the coming generation can truly blossom in all its diversity. Sit down with white friends and family and ask the question, “What does it mean to be white in the United States today?”

Then really listen to what you all have to say.

Judy Helfand is in a longtime resident of Occidental. She can be reached at .

From the March 29-April 4, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Maintained by .

The Wide-Eyed Gourmet

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Exploring the spectrum of vegetable possibilities

By Marina Wolf

THE WEATHER may not have settled yet, but I’m already thinking about my spring and summer plantings, spurred on by memories of last year’s harvest. My collaborator and I had a grand ol’ time, shouting with glee at each new discovery: perky little peppers, green buds of tomatoes, summer squash that grew big enough to scare a cat. Under a jungle layer of bean leaves, we found quite a few slender pods. Grinning, my friend crunched her teeth into one and offered me another.

I accepted the bean with some bemusement. I was supposed to eat this raw? My gardening companion didn’t notice the pause when I discovered yet another childhood food prejudice.

In my childhood, see, the choice of vegetable was canned or frozen. You can’t do it any other way in a large suburban family. We had a garden, but the vegetables inevitably came out of the pressure cooker dull and overdone (now that I’m grown, I understand that pressure cookers are tricky, but at the time I blamed it on my mother).

Then, of course, there were the church potlucks, with countless vegetable dishes whose only claim to crunchiness lay in their crumb or potato-chip toppings. It was hammered into me from the baby-food beginning: salads and celery stalks are crisp. Everything else must be boiled into oblivion.

As I grew older and ventured out into the world, I encountered exceptions to the rule. Raw spinach, it turned out, makes a perfectly acceptable salad and tastes way better than cooked. Broccoli was fine on the crudité tray, with enough ranch dressing. Even raw onions were OK, if the burger was hot enough to warm them up. Through college and beyond, the vegetable kingdom continued to surprise me, with sweet, milky corn that needed no cooking, or peas that could be eaten both raw and in their entirety.

I also learned the corollary: some vegetables supposedly meant by God and nature to be eaten raw can actually be cooked. Lettuce, for example, frequently appears in green creamed soups. And if Jane Austen films can be considered historically accurate, then at one point celery was cooked and eaten by itself. Hmmm. . . .

WHY DIDN’T I find out about these things sooner? Well, exploring the spectrum of vegetable possibilities takes time and money that some families just don’t have. Produce has to be truly excellent to warrant any treatment–or lack of treatment–that depends entirely on the flavor alone. Corn needs to be fresh, picked just a few hours before at most. To eat it raw, you pretty much have to be standing in the cornfield. Peas ought to be newborn, barely big enough to notice between twice-daily visits to the garden.

For people who shop once a week, as my mother did, this sort of on-the-spotness just isn’t possible.

Above all, adherence to the raw/cooked dualism makes meal preparation easier for harried housewives and otherwise too-busy-to-care people. It draws boundaries, limits the possibilities that can both inspire and intimidate. Of course, crispness must be relegated to the salad bowl and the fried chicken, or else who knows what kind of alien anarchy might ensue! Why, you might get blanched young asparagus, marinated and served at room temperature, or wilted salad with warm drippings, or fava beans served raw and dipped in saucers of salt, or chopped raw tomatoes tossed with hot spaghetti. Or, say, raw string beans in the garden, crisp and green-tasting and untouched by anything but your fingers and a splash of sunlight.

Call the produce police. It’s spring, and another vegetable outlaw is on the loose.

From the March 29-April 4, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Kenneth Cleaver

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Consumer Correspondent

Feb. 22, 2001 “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” c/o Lipton 800 Sylvian Ave., Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

Dear ICBINB,

Sophisticated in their understanding of culture, politics, and literature, my friends–and you can dust this for sarcasm–are a bastion of profundity. They had little difficulty plowing through the teary-eyed haze of nostalgia surrounding The Phantom Menace and dismissing it for the travesty it was. They subscribed to Details magazine when it was under homosexual editorship and canceled months before it became the midwife to Maxim and Stuff. However, on one particular topic, their critical faculties have lapsed. My friends willingly believe that your product “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” is not butter. “It’s just margarine, Kenneth, get over it already.”

But I can’t get over it. While my cohorts may choose to believe they are not getting butter for margarine, I would like it known that I, Kenneth H. Cleaver, do not, will not, and cannot believe that your product “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” is not “good” butter. Perhaps it is not organic butter. Perhaps it is not churned colonial style in a gnarly wooden tub by shawl-clad indentured servants. But my internal radar, honed for detecting all kinds of consumer chicanery, issues forth strong blips in the general direction of Englewood Cliffs., N.J. I challenge you to prove me wrong and promise my confidentiality should you prove me right.

Sincerely, Kenneth H. Cleaver

Mr. Kenneth H. Cleaver P.O.B. 810 Bedford, N.Y. 10506

Dear Mr. Cleaver:

It was thoughtful of you to let us hear your comments about “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” For many years, our company has been making every effort to provide customers with superior products to meet their individual needs and preferences. Comments such as yours are certainly gratifying–and most welcome.

As a token of our appreciation, I am enclosing a coupon for your use. If we can be of use in the future, please contact us.

Sincerely,

Lee Hunter Consumer Representative

From the March 29-April 4, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Best Recreation

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Best Recreation

Best Recreation

Kickin’ Back

From Sausalito, over excellent, park-like boulevards, through the splendid redwoods and homes of Mill Valley, across the blossomed hills of Marin County, along the knoll-studded picturesque marshes, past San Rafael resting warmly among her hills, over the divide and up the Petaluma Valley, and on to the grassy feet of Sonoma Mountain and home. We covered fifty-five miles that day. Not so bad, eh, for Prince the Rogue, the paint-removing Outlaw, the thin-shanked thoroughbred, and the rabbit-jumper?

–from ‘Four Horses and a Sailor’ by Jack London


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Hourlong Boot-Camp Nightmare

I had never dreamed that my first aerobics instructor would be a 200-pound, 6-foot-tall bodybuilder who’d been competing for years, and had been named Mr. Arizona. “I’m not into the bodybuilding aspect of fitness anymore,” quips L.P., top trainer at Gold’s Gym in Santa Rosa. “I’m really more interested in the health and nutrition aspect of it now.” L.P. is, indeed, a paragon of health, and if anyone has the mental and physical strength to stick with his class, surprising results will be inevitable. The class, an hourlong session on Tuesday and Thursday, fills to maximum capacity fast, so be sure to get there early for a good step-spot. When one hears the word aerobics, the immediate picture that comes to mind is a Barbie doll in butt-floss jumping all over the floor. (Well, that’s the immediate picture that comes to my mind.) L.P.’s class is nothing of the sort. He combines kickboxing, cross-training, weight lifting, and a little bit of dancing the twist in the high, high-impact aerobics class. “Chizzled” attendees are a hardcore group, and the class will make you sweat like nothing else (except maybe Bikram’s Yoga!).

515 Fifth St., Santa Rosa. 707/545-5100. –E.L.

Best Place to Soak Up Night Sweats

Calistoga Spa Hot Springs, a resort/motel off Calistoga’s main street, opens its four outdoor naturally heated mineral pools and steam room to the public each day between 7 and 9 p.m.–and at a bargain price. For seven bucks, you can float, steam, and soak to your heart’s content. Part of the thrill is that you’re in the open air, under the moon, stars, clouds, mist, or fragrant smoke wafting over from the barbecue joint nearby. Alternate between the outdoor mineral pools of varying stress-melting temperatures, the dark and aromatic steam room, and the bracingly cool swimming pool. The large, palm-tree-lined soaking pool, which retains a mellow 100 degrees, is the perfect temperature and perfect depth. This is where you could spend an entire lifetime– punch-drunk and prune-limbed. The spa is open to the public between 8:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Mondays-Fridays at $10 per person, and on Saturdays-Sundays at $15. There are $7 bargain rates between 7 and 9 p.m. daily on a first-come, first-served basis.

1006 Washington St., Calistoga. 707/942-6269. –P.H.

Best Finale to a Grueling Hike

Sonoma County hikers have plenty of tough trails to choose from. But surely the Pool Ridge Trail in Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve is among the more challenging. It doesn’t lead straight up the steep hill, but it’s damn close. After several miles of high-grade roadwork among the redwoods, even the fairly fit are often gasping for breath and ready for refreshment–so it’s a good thing there’s a nice reward in store. At the top, like a dream, is an extremely fruitful grapefruit tree. Hikers pick a piece, peel it with their hands, bite into the bittersweet fruit–and promptly forget all about that burning sensation in their legs. At least until it’s time to head downhill.

Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve, north of Guerneville on Armstrong Woods Road off Highway 116. 707/869-2015. –P.S.

Best Place to Really Get Bitten by a Snake

OK, so I’ve never been bit by a snake there, but Mt. Tamalpais’ Cougar Trail in Marin County is one of the loveliest backpacking spots in California. Some of my first memories of this place come from high school and weekend backpacking trips with my best friend and one of her three older brothers. With backpacks stuffed with a weekend’s worth of Clif bars, bread, and mustard packets, we’d tear madly down a mountain and through a ravine in search of a quicker and more scenic route. The routes we took never were quicker, and we often faced actual death, clinging onto the side of a cliff, hundreds of feet above the sea, or racing the tide two miles along a beach cove, hoping we’d beat it and not be drowned against the rocks. And while I have never forgotten the worst case of poison oak I’ve ever had (I was hospitalized for it), I also recall the sheer beauty of the tree-covered cliffs with the ocean crashing up against them. –E.L.

Best Place to Work Out Aggression while Swinging a Stick

Life is tense–there’s no denying. And there are plenty of ways to work off stress: Jogging, dancing, swimming, sex (not necessarily in that order). Or you could go and swing a hickory stick at a speeding baseball. The Redwood Baseball Institute offers nine regular batting cages–from slow-pitch soft ball to fast-pitch baseball–and a couple of instructional cages that for $35 an hour allow wannabe sluggers to work with an experienced instructor and work out those kinks. But be forewarned: If the sound of a cracking bat (or several cracking bats) and screaming kids stress you out, you might want to take up knitting instead.

917 Piner Road, Santa Rosa. 707/284-2880. –G.C.


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Place to Sweat and Groan and Pass Out

In the yoga Olympics in India, Bikram kept winning year after year. Finally, the judges made Bikram a judge, too, so that other yogis could have a chance at the gold. Then they went to study why it was Bikram had won, year after year. The judges found that where Bikram came from was over 100 degrees hot, all the time. This meant that Bikram was stronger and more flexible than the other yogis from practicing in the heat. After Bikram got tired of judging the yoga Olympics, he moved to Beverly Hills to teach his yoga to the stars. Over the next 10 years, Bikram’s Yoga has moved northward (as trends seem to do), and Santa Rosa now has two studios where students can practice the 26 postures in heat ranging from 100 to 105 degrees. Torturous as this may sound, it is the most rewarding form of yoga that I’ve ever practiced. The heat makes the body wonderfully flexible, and the 26 postures are designed to be practiced in an order to stimulate the internal organs to release toxins through the copious amounts of sweat being produced. (Bring at least two bath towels; you will need them.) The best part of the class is afterwards, going out on the balcony and watching your body steam in the cool air.

4527 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa. 707/539-8118. –E.L.

Best Place to Savor the Heart of Saturday Night

From the outside looking in, it’s been noted, motor racing looks like so many rednecks doing the same thing, round and round, in overpowered machines steeped in a megacorporate, yahoo culture of beer, cigarettes, and machismo. And there’s certainly some truth to that view. But at the Petaluma Speedway, regular folks–men and women–stage a grassroots version of that world. All summer long, after a long winter spent rebuilding their midget racers and stock cars in the garage, these competitors hit the raceway–the poor cousin to Sears Point Raceway’s NASCAR extravaganza outside of neighboring Sonoma. But whereas NASCAR is revved up in media hype and fueled by cash, these low-key Saturday night rumbles are all about grease, guts, and glory. This blue-collar Mecca–at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds–draws scores of fans week after week, all of whom sip their brews in the stands amid the incredible racket created by speeding demons driving in tight circles around the oil-stained dirt track. Bliss.

Petaluma Speedway, Payran and D Street, Petaluma. For schedule and admission info, call 707/778-3100. –G.C.

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Staff Picks





From the March 22-28, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Maintained by .

Newsgrinder

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Important events as reported by daily newspapers and summarized by Daedalus Howell.

Thursday 02.08.01

Petaluma’s ArgusCourier.com reports that a man and a women were caught in their convertible Camaro (danger sign) in possession of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, a loaded handgun, brass knuckles, assorted knives, walkie-talkies, a police scanner, Valium and Vicodin, false vehicle registration, and a suspended license. Had the culprits additionally been underaged, under the influence, and engaged in a sex act, and if there had been a dead hooker discovered in the trunk, the cops believe they might have had a case.

Sunday 02.11.01

Would-be folk balladeer Jim Stone has penned the protest ditty “The Cell Phone Song,” a five-minute diatribe against the popular telecommunications technology. Almost true to folkie form, Stone wrote the song on a bus and later recorded it in a Texas hotel room when on the road (er, for his gig as an architect). Stone’s lyrics describe various acts of violence he would like to inflict upon a cell phone: “I’d like to take a 3/8-inch drill and ventilate its plastic case, or stick it in the oven on high and melt its plastic case.” (Someone get this guy a rhyming dictionary.) “It’s all done in jest. It was a just a way to vent some emotions and have a laugh,” said the Singing Draftsman, who, according to some, put the square in T-square. “I have three daughters and they all think I’m behind the times.” Hey Jim, how ’bout a B-side about Palm Pilots?

Monday 02.12.01

The dry run of the evil Dr. Karl D’ring’s new Weather Manipulator 5000 turned out quite wet for Marinites this week. The Marin Independent Journal reports that a cold storm dumped a blanket of snow on Mt. Tam, which became a veritable winter wonderland for some county residents. Still, one is compelled to ask, why does it seem as if we’re entering another Ice Age in the midst of global warming? “Mother Earth is going through menopause,” D’ring avers. “Hot and cold, hot and cold.” The inclement weather will continue, according to National Weather Service forecaster Jim Carroll: “Showers will taper off in the afternoon hours. By Thursday it will be mostly clear, still chilly at night, but warmer during the day.” Like my ex.

Monday 02.12.01

Humboldt County pot farmers are watching their margins go up in smoke owing to the energy crisis, reports the Napa Valley Register. Many growers use 1,000-watt light bulbs to coax their plants into flowering–each bulb costs about $50 a month to run 18 hours a day, according to American Hydroponics, which sells the bulbs to “tomato and lettuce growers.” Says Napa Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Garcia, “Power is probably the biggest single cost for these guys. The more power they use, the better the quality of the product.” He, uh, guesses.

From the March 22-28, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Best Culture

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Best Culture

Best Culture

Feelin’ It

Music from her breast vibrating/ Soundseared into burnished velvet./
Silent hips deceiving fools./ Rivulets of trickling ecstacy/
From the alabaster pools of Jazz.

–from “Jazz Chick” by Bob Kaufman


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Place to See More Art than You Can Possibly Imagine

Want to be brought up to speed on what’s been happening in the Bay Area art scene for the last 40 years? The impressive di Rosa Preserve in the Carneros region near Napa has over 1,900 works by 650 artists displayed in 25,000 square feet of gallery space. The former winery houses the collection of René (depicted above) and the late Veronica di Rosa and includes the work of such well-known Northern California artists as Chester Arnold, Roy DeForest, Robert Arneson, William T. Wiley, and David Best. The 81-year-old René di Rosa has long been seen as a champion of Bay Area art, and his support has aided the careers of numerous emerging painters, sculptors, and photographers. The preserve is open to the public on a limited basis. Tours of both the gardens and the galleries are conducted on select days, and advanced reservations are required. Regular tours are 9:25 a.m. and 12:55 p.m., Tuesday through Fridays; and 9:25 and 10:25 a.m. on Saturdays. Cost is $10.

5200 Hwy. 121, Napa (across from Domaine Carneros). 707/226-5991 –B.E.

Best Place to Channel Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood has a fondness for North Bay roadhouses. The celebrated movie star once shot scenes for one of his films at Joe’s Crossroads in Novato–a glorious little dive bar nestled on the outskirts of town (the sign read Joe’s XX, or Joe’s Double-X, as we used to call it). It was demolished long ago to make room for a cutesy office park. The place had black-and-white photos of Clint and longtime co-star Sandra Locke on the wall. But as anyone who suffered through the 1999 film True Crime knows, the wrecking ball can’t stop a he-man like Clint Eastwood–Marin County might have gone and gotten all cutesy (though there are still some great dive bars around), but Sonoma County is loaded with roadside joints loaded with character. Specifically, the Washoe House in Petaluma, a onetime stagecoach stop built in 1859. Ten-year-old Cadillacs in the parking lot. Dollar bills dangling from the ceiling. Ranch hands at the bar. The Washoe House is a real blue-collar slice of life. Yeah, suffer a little and rent the True Crime video to catch Clint as a hard-drinkin’ (and, I mean, drinkin’ at his desk!) crime reporter who sidles up to the dark oak bar of this rustic restaurant for a stiff jolt before running off to save the day. But be prepared to suspend your disbelief: the joint is supposed to be on the outskirts of Oakland. Or just stop by for a steak and Stoli. Tell ’em Clint sent ya.

Stoney Point and Roblar Roads, Petaluma. 707/795-4544 –G.C

Best Place to Grill Big-Name Authors

Any good reader has them–those burning questions we long to put to our favorite big-name authors. We could sit around waiting for National Public Radio to ring up and ask us to fill in for Terri Gross on her interview program Fresh Air. But, despite our qualifications, Congress will probably yank NPR’s funding before that happens. For a more realistic alternative, head over to the Literary Arts Series at the Marin Center. There you’ll find some of the biggest names in contemporary literature–folks like Michael Ondaatje, Russell Banks, and Seamus Heaney–sitting on stage, engaged in unusually candid conversation with knowledgeable hosts. Best of all: the evenings conclude by offering audience members a chance to pose questions of their own to the authors. How else would you learn that Ondaatje (author of The English Patient) really, really admires the recent film adaptation of American Psycho? The series continues on April 6 with an appearance by storyteller Bailey White.

Marin Center, Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. 415/472-3500. –P.S.

Best Surly Local Celebrity

Before the Whole Foods invasion, I was a cashier at Food for Thought in Sebastopol. The highlight of my week was when Tom Waits came in to shop. He usually wore the porkpie hat and filthy denim jacket that seem to be his trademark. He and his wife would shop for hours, filling up their grocery cart so high that it began to resemble the leaning tower of Pisa. Tom Waits would wander dreamily up and down the aisles, taking things off the shelves apparently at random and scrutinizing a package for a good 10 to 15 minutes. Sometimes he would take the thing over to his wife, if she was in the vicinity, and they would look at it together for another long while. The thing, whatever it was, would usually get placed upon the mounting tower of groceries already in their cart. Having been a fan since I was 7 years old (and having often heard of Tom Waits sightings at Jabba the Hut in Freestone or Copperfield’s Books in Santa Rosa), I would watch and wait, hoping that Waits would come through my line. He never did. Not surprising, considering that he’s a celebrity who despises recognition. One day, after I had been staring as hard as I could, he whipped his head around after writing a check for 16 bags of groceries and leveled his gaze at me, staring as directly as I’d been doing for the last few hours. I flushed with shame, realizing how rude I’d been, and tried not to stare at Tom Waits anymore when he came in. Although he never did come through my line, once he came running back into the store, straight up to me. “Can I have a freezer bag?” he rasped, grabbing one. I didn’t have time to think of a clever response before he was gone, throwing a “thanks” over his shoulder. I suppose his ice cream was melting. –E.L.

Best Place to Enjoy Free Music and the Great Outdoors

The joy of connection is the answer. The question is: Why would 75 professional musicians be willing to play without getting paid? An all-volunteer orchestra is not the world’s easiest project to undertake, but in Cotati–the musical heart of Sonoma County–such a beast not only exists, but flourishes. “This is an opportunity for people to experience creating something,” says Gabriel Sakakeeny, conductor of and inspiration for the Cotati Philharmonic Orchestra. “As artists, we don’t have that many opportunities to do what we do. So why aren’t we just giving it away?” If that sounds idealistic, it’s nothing compared to the sound of the orchestra itself. Since its first free concert two years ago, CPO has been drawing packed houses and rave reviews for the polished passion of its musical selections. “It’s not like this is a great way to make money,” says Sakakeeny. “Most of us in the orchestra have day jobs. But there’s something special that comes from volunteering. The pressure is off, and you’re just doing it out of love.”

Cotati Philharmonic (), 201 W. Sierra Ave., Cotati. 707/792-4600, ext. 664. –Y.B.

Best Place to Pour on the Art

When wealthy Swiss entrepreneur and winery founder Donald Hess decided to blend his two passions, art and vino, under one elegant roof, he hit upon an intoxicating idea. Napa’s Hess Collection Winery boasts more than wine; it also houses a permanent exhibition of contemporary art, which Art in America magazine calls one of the top 200 collections in the world. Hess’ personal collection consists of about 140 pieces on two main floors of gallery space, including works by such internationally acclaimed artists as Francis Bacon, Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, Magdalena Abakanowicz, and Gerhard Richter. The gallery is spacious, airy, and minimalist, with a soaring entryway. It’s all crisp white walls and ceilings, subdued lighting, and huge stretches of bleached oak floor, as polished and expansive as an ice rink. The Hess Collection Winery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for winetasting (minimal charge) and free self-guided art tours. No appointment is necessary to view the art.

4411 Redwood Road, off Hwy. 29, Napa. 707/255-1144. –P.H.

Best Place to Check Your Opera Chops

Care to step up and unleash an aria? At Saturday Night Opera at the Jarvis Conservatory in Napa both amateur and professional opera singers get up before an open microphone on an unadorned stage and sing their hearts out. The action happens at the whim of the piano player Richard Evans or one of the many other accompanists who participate. “Think of it as a piano bar for opera singers,” Evans tells the audience. For the last four years opera singers and fans have come to this small jewel of a theater to celebrate their favorite musical form. Most performances are sold out and feature 15 singers per evening. Singers are selected before the performance and then randomly called to the stage by the piano player adding excitement and drama. Some of the singers are great, and rarely is someone truly bad. Unlike stand-up comics, who all think they’re funny, most aspiring opera singers tend to undervalue their talents. Saturday Night Opera is held on the first and third Saturdays of the month. The cost for the audience is $15.

1711 Main St., Napa. 707/255-5445. –B.E.

Best Place to Discover Regional Writers Both Famous and Not-So-Famous

Jack London was the first writer to make a million bucks for his literary efforts, but the North Bay has been the home to many famous and not-so-famous authors over the years. Now the Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center, on the campus of Sonoma State University, has gathered together a collection of writers from London to sainted food writer M.F.K. Fisher and given them a space of honor. The newly opened $41.5 million center contains 600,000 books, but it’s the acquisition of a nearly $500,000 collection of autographed and inscribed works by London donated by a Minnesota collector that really makes this regional writer’s collection such a standout. It includes rare first editions of nearly all of London’s titles, along with signed letters and original magazine articles. The center has also collected the works of many other notable Sonoma County scribes and will offer tutorial services for fledgling writers in the student body. A special writers’ room is in development and will provide a quiet place where the works of these regional writers can be read and appreciated.

1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. 707/664-2161. –B.E.

Best Mom-and-Pop Baseball Franchise in the North Bay

OK, it’s the only mom-and-pop baseball franchise in the North Bay. Bob and Susan Fletcher are now familiar faces on the North Bay baseball scene. After six full seasons of Western Baseball League action at the Rohnert Park Stadium, the Fletchers have had more than their share of home runs and bad hops. They won WBL Championships in 1998, had ex-major leaguers on their rosters as players and managers, and have seen many of their league competitors perish on the harsh yoke of small business realities. But the Crushers have survived and even thrived because of their close link to the community. Susan Fletcher is actively involved in finding host families for the Crushers players during the season. Players make around $1,000 a month, and most can’t afford the high rents in Sonoma County. “The host families have been great,” Susan says. “But it’s a real challenge to place the right player with the right family. And what do you say to a child when the Crusher in the guest bedroom gets traded?” The Crushers have signed Tim Ireland as their new manager for the 2001 season. Ireland has played in the major leagues and in Japan and Italy. With his extensive managerial career (1994 Minor League Baseball Manager of the Year), he’s sure to bring an exciting group of players on board. “Tim is a proven winner,” Bob Fletcher says. “He’s well connected in the baseball community, which is key to locating the best available players.”

Rohnert Park Stadium, 5900 Labath Ave., Rohnert Park. 707/588-8300. –B.E.


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Place to Play Pinball with Skateboarders without Having to Pay for a Pizza

Sure, sure. The Phoenix Theatre may be the best all-ages music venue in Sonoma County, if not the entire Bay Area. It may be famous for having been the first one of the stages on which Green Day and Primus and Metallica ever played. It may also be haunted, but that’s another story. The real reason to go to the Phoenix is for what goes on when no bands are playing. A vital after-school hangout for North Bay teens (including Danielle Haywood, left, Jesse Figone, and Katrina Rossman), the lobby hosts a number of pinball machines that usually work pretty well and provide a benign focal point for kids’ attention, in between gossiping, skate-boarding in the auditorium, and trying to borrow change from manager Tom Jaffe. It’s no Chuck E. Cheese, and that’s a very good thing.

101 Washington St., Petaluma. 707/762-3565. –D.T.

Best Place to Get Bitten by a Snake while Listening to Indie-Rock Bands

“Bitten by a snake?” you exclaim. “But isn’t the Old Vic an English pub?” Indeed, it is. And one of the house specialties is a snakebite: a pint of Red Rocket ale and Ace apple cider, mixed. It’s quite delicious. Also recommended are black-and-tans and black velvets (Guinness and Bass, and Guinness and cider, respectively). But what’s really fine is the Old Vic’s music. It’s the only live-music venue left in downtown Santa Rosa, and one of the few in the county. If you’re searching for the place that has the highest concentration of hipsters per square foot, the Old Vic is it. Local bands like Cropduster and Army of Ants are regulars, and sometimes Sonoma County gets an out-of-town treat like Black Heart Procession, the supertalented indie-rock band out of San Diego (of all places for indie rock!). When dining there, be sure to ask the jovial and usually soused owner about Ma.

731 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707/571-7555. –E.L.

Best Place to Wallow in the Mud

Want to have some good filthy fun? Does the idea of straddling a slippery pole and knocking your neighbor into a muddy bog hold a certain appeal? Then this midsummer event is not to be missed. The World Pillow Fighting Championship in Kenwood offers people from all over the world the opportunity to go to war over a riverbed of muddy slime. It all happens on the Fourth of July when the population of this small wine country village swells from 1,200 to over 12,000. Many contestants consider this event to be serious business and train for it. Some have competed in the mud fights for decades and come to win. But for most people it’s an occasion for drinking beer and wine, eating classic American food, and listening to some great music. The pillow fights are the centerpieces for an all-day celebration that includes a parade of classic cars and a 3K and a 10K run. Entrance to the pillow fights is $4.

Kenwood, on Hwy. 12 between Santa Rosa and Sonoma. 707/833-2440. –B.E.


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Place on the Street to Draw Attention to Your Art

How about hitting the streets with your artistic aspirations? On one weekend in early June, pastel artists from all over the world are set free to decorate select streets in downtown San Rafael. In 1994 Youth In Arts imported this Italian form of street art known as madonnari to the North Bay. More than 300 muralists cover around 30,000 square feet of blacktop with designs ranging from classic Renaissance images to Japanese animation. In addition, over 1,300 kids create a patchwork of color squares on what is called Children’s Avenue. The public is invited to roam the streets to watch the various masterpieces evolve. You can meet the artists and perhaps serve as an inspiration to their creation–one artist at the center of the event was including portraits of the crowd in his mural. When the festival is over, all the work is quickly washed away–but not before it’s admired and photographed by over 40,000 visitors. During the Italian Street Painting Festival artists work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

Fifth Avenue and A Street, San Rafael. 415/457-4878. –B.E.

Best Place to Have a Sunset Picnic and Be Run Over by Stray Dogs

At Marin County’s legendary Film Night in the Park, you can experience all of the above, plus great films and plenty more. Held every summer and fall, the long-running series features classic movies shown beneath the stars in a number of well-manicured Marin County parks. The schedule is posted online in late spring (at ) and alternates between serious stuff, like last year’s Tuskeegee Airmen, great family fare like Grease, and The Princess Bride, and, um, scary stuff like The Thing. Films are often preceded by short talks from local filmmakers and seasoned movie critics, and there’s always a cartoon or two. Admission is three bucks for adults and free for kids, who will love the adventure of it all, not to mention getting to stay up late. –D.T.

Best Unknown Dance Club

Situated inconspicuously next to the Sonoma Taco Shop (which, incidentally, has some of the best Mexican food around) on Third Street and Brookwood Avenue in Santa Rosa, Anthony’s Music Box keeps up a good front as a honky-tonk dive. The bouncers have mullets and Raiders jackets, and the jukebox just inside the front door features mostly Dwight Yoakam discs. Step inside on a Wednesday or Thursday night, however, and the music and crowd tell a different story. Every other Wednesday, Anthony’s hosts a score of talented DJs from Sonoma County, San Francisco, and beyond. The cover charge is cheap and so are the drinks. A fervent critic of the rave scene, I was skeptical until I walked inside and saw every single one of my friends there. After recovering from my rage that they’d been keeping their fun a secret for so long, I proceeded to get down and boogie. I have dubbed Thursdays at Anthony’s “booty night,” because that’s where the 20 to 30s in Santa Rosa come to try and get some. I’ve been once with a couple of girlfriends, and while I really enjoyed the music (a DJ playing Top 40 hip-hop), I haven’t been back because of the amount of times I was picked up with “Wassssuuuuuup, baby, do you have a boyfriend?” (five times).

53 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa. 707/575-9140. –E.L.

Best Place to Catch Up on Tchaikovsky under the Summer Sky

The second annual Festival on the Green–which in a few years will move into its stylish new state-of-the-art concert hall at the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center at Sonoma State University–promises to blend world-class performances with educational opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, and to become a major cultural arts festival. Very ambitious, indeed. And with Santa Rosa Symphony conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane, himself a world-class act, at the helm, that is a promise that you can bank on. The four-weekend-long event will feature the “Youth Festival Weekend” (July 27-29) that includes the Santa Rosa Symphony Summer Music Academy, Young Artists’ Chamber Ensembles, Santa Rosa Children’s Chorus, EXCEL music and drama classes, Summer Arts for Youth, Singabout! The Z Festival, and special guests; “Independence Day on the Green” (July 4), with Kahane conducting a swing-era patriotic program; “A Midsummer Night on the Green” (Aug. 11), highlighting the Santa Rosa Symphony in an all-Tchaikovsky program; and “Jazz on the Green” (Aug. 11), with a major guest artist yet to be announced.

SSU, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. 707/546-8742 or 415/931-3924. –G.C.


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Place to Work on Your Tan While Grooving to the Blues

Remember when we gathered as a tribe to boogie to the sounds of our favorite bands? If you want to recapture that old Golden Gate Park music vibe from the ’60s, check out the Russian River Blues Festival in Guerneville. Last year blues singer Etta James got down with the Average White Band, Tommy Castro, and a number of other hot acts to rock the Russian River for an entire weekend of sun, swimming, and funky live entertainment. For the last five years, thousands of people have sat side by side in lawn chairs and on blankets as they grooved to the acts performing on the large stage on the beach. The festival includes winetasting from the likes of Kenwood, Davis Bynum, and Ravenswood wineries, plus a small city of tents overflowing with gourmet foods and local crafts. Be sure to bring blankets, swimsuits, sunscreen, and wide-brimmed hats. Leave the video cameras and audio recording equipment at home because neither is allowed. The festival runs on both Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $45 for one day, $85 for a two-day pass.

Johnson’s Beach, Guerneville. 510/655-9471. –B.E.

Best Local Rabble Rouser

Lynn Hamilton, a former mayor of Sebastopol, settled in Occidental three years ago and became a driving force behind the movement to stop widespread vineyard conversions. Before that, she spent several years in South America working for Ashoka, the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that promotes social change by funding creative people who have come up with new ways to help the poor and improve social systems in their countries. Now she is applying her expertise to the Town Hall Coalition, a loose-knit group of environmentally minded Sonoma County residents intent on battling big wine interests to preserve their quality of life. “Working for Ashoka and meeting social entrepreneurs from around the world has helped me be more effective,” Hamilton, 53, told reporter Sara Peyton. Seeing the Napa-based Phelps Vineyard preparing a golden Freestone hillside for grapes and hearing about widespread forest conversions–including a plan to clear-cut 4,000 acres of coastal land for the largest vineyard conversion of all–got Hamilton thinking. In 1999, she and her husband, Frank, celebrated their marriage with a party at their home. In lieu of gifts, they asked for donations to start a fund to protect watersheds and forests in Sonoma County. The money raised (about $1,500) helped underwrite the cost of the first town hall meeting. Now the coalition has inspired similar groups in Sonoma and Healdsburg, and a spin-off organization–the No Spray Movement–is gathering support throughout the North Bay in its bid to stop forced-spraying of pesticides to combat the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a tiny pest that the Sonoma County grape growers fear will infect vines with the shriveling Pierce’s disease. “The purpose of the Town Hall Coalition is to effect social change,” Hamilton explained. “We’re giving people information so they can come up with new proposals, write a letter, testify at a hearing, or reach out to a neighbor. This is not a protest movement–it’s a social change movement.” –G.C.

Best Artist to Find Rooting through Your Trash Can

He’s the best. In so many ways. David Best, the infamous Petaluma-based junk-artist/sculptor/raconteur is a modern master of assemblage art, capable of creating whimsical sculptures–from twisted-metal Christmas trees to television totem poles to some really trippy auto-body work–all out of scraps and bric-a-brac and broken stuff he might have found in your trash can. Not only is Best an inspiration to other artists, a living example of how you can do more with quite a bit less; not only is he a very happening dude, with an eccentric flair and a knack for tangential rummage sale conversation; David Best is also a nice guy, a tireless supporter of the arts, a mentor to aspiring junk artists–and musicians, for that matter–around the North Bay. Last year he came up with a doozy of a fundraiser for the struggling Phoenix Theatre: he built an eight-foot tall phoenix sculpture out of little cast-off pieces of wood. Painted fire-truck red, the big bird was put on public display at Petaluma’s closet-sized Live Art gallery, then auctioned off to the highest bidder. That’s when the story gets special, because the high bidder didn’t get to take the thing home. Instead, Best hosted a little dinner party for the winner and a few friends, at the Sonoma Mountain home Best shares with his wife. After dinner, in the flames of a ceremonial bon-fire, the phoenix sculpture was reduced to a pile of ashes, a testament to the ephemeral nature of art. That’s the Best art tale we’ve heard in a long, long time. –D.T.

Best Evidence We’re Living in the End Times

The End-of-the-World-As-We-Know-It may not have arrived during the whole Y2K computer fizzle, but the apocalypse is definitely coming, “not with a bang but a whimper.” Consider these depressing facts: Lexuses (or is that Lexi) are now the predominant automobile in the parking lot at the once-earthy and tie-dyed Marin Summer Music Festival. In a desperate attempt to garner a feeling of positive community good will, supporters of the questionably imprisoned Leonard Peltier have adopted a highway, resorting to picking up trash along 101. A seriously babbling man with a Let’s Make a Deal complex–he likes to shout about what’s “hidden behind three doors”–has taken to disrupting North Bay events, barging his way into everything from local Martin Luther King celebrations, to the annual conference of the Jesus Seminar, to Sunday services at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Not only has the Petaluma Safeway unveiled a new indoor Starbucks store–to compete with the Deaf Dog just outside–but it’s installed little coffee cup holders in most of their grocery carts, to further encourage the purchase of Venti lattes. –D.T.


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Place to Ogle Erotic Art

You may not know the difference between art and a dirty picture‚ but if you yearn for smoldering images, the annual Erotic Art Show at the Soundscape Gallery in Santa Rosa is not to be missed. Over the past six years, this event has gained a reputation for pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. Most of the year Soundscape offers high-end audio/video entertainment systems, but for two months in late summer the walls and floors are graced with carnal images. Over 20 artists in a variety of mediums contributed to last year’s event. Owner Marc Silver says he is proud of presenting real erotic art. “I want to do something that pushes the envelope. I put warning signs up, but innocent people still wander in.” The show features everything from Hustler-like photographs to erotic edibles. The viewer is left to determine what is art and what is pornography. The Erotic Art Show is held from late August through the end of October. Parental guidance is strongly recommended.

314 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. 707/578-4434. –B.E.

Best Reason to Love the Net

Rohnert Park’s ragtag PBS radio station KRCB (91.1-FM), in an attempt to take its public broadcasting efforts to a larger audience, has installed a new transponder–accessed at 90.9-FM–that makes it possible, for the first time, to hear the station in Petaluma. Unfortunately, what’s good for KRCB–an undeniably good-hearted and worthy resource for arts and news–is pretty damn bad for fans of quirky student-run radio. The new transponder has resulted in a complete local obliteration of the signal from the unique Berkeley-based indy station KALX (90.7-FM), among the oldest college radio stations in the country. Fortunately, owing to the dual miracles the Internet and streaming audio, we can now hear KALX on the Web at . –D.T.

Readers’ Poll Results






Staff Picks






From the March 22-28, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Maintained by .

Best Everyday Stuff

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Best Everyday Stuff

Best Everyday Stuff

Wild Things

[Neal] listened with enthusiasm to my father’s stories of the local folkways, crops, and animals, and throughout our stay remained remarkably serene and agreeable, as pleased as the little girls with the horses, cattle, pigs, and lambs and the sight of tobacco growing. A cowboy he wasn’t, and I couldn’t get him on a horse, much to my surprise, but we took walks and played in the creek. I taught him to churn butter, and we toured the historic battlefields and ghost-filled mansions of the Old South as well as my former Nashville haunts.

–from ‘Off the Road’ by Carolyn Cassady


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Way to Catch a Whiff

Bohemian readers have voted Rosemary’s Garden best herbal apothecary in Sonoma County, and it’s easy to smell why. Owner Lena Shaboon’s old-fashioned term herbal apothecary conjures up all kinds of delicious aromas and healthful home remedies, and that’s just what this fragrant little store in Sebastopol has been offering since 1972. Many of the herbal products are grown in Sonoma County–and there’s a lot of choice, from essential massage oils to herbal teas to aromatherapy bath products. Popular products include teapots, aromatherapy diffusers, essential-oil gift packs, eye pillows, candles, and hydrosol mists. Visit their or pay an in-person visit and let your trusty nose be the judge.

132 N. Main St., Sebastopol. 707/829-2539. –P.H.

Best Place to Find an ’83 Datsun Side Mirror

You can look up Pick ‘n’ Pull in the yellow pages, but you won’t find a phone number. This poor man’s auto-parts emporium, located just west of Hwy. 101 in Windsor, gets so much business from word of mouth that it doesn’t need to advertise. For a few bucks, you can walk through the gate onto a vast field of junked cars, parked in neat rows by the hundreds and separated by make. Amid the smashed windshields, twisted fenders, and soggy upholstery are struts, drums, belts, and mirrors that work as good as new, for a fraction of the price. This is one graveyard where it’s OK to disturb the deceased. Bring cash money and a tool kit, and don’t forget to wear your dirty clothes–you’ll need them.

Pick-N-Pull (), 10475 Old Redwood Hwy., Windsor. –Y.B.

Best Country Smell from the Freeway

Bucolic cows notwithstanding, the stretch of 101 between Novato and Petaluma is bleak and mean. It’s the Novato Narrows, the bottleneck in the road that seems designed for maximum irritation. But, hey, since you’ve already slowed down, you might as well smell the roses, or whatever else the breeze brings. Next time you’re heading north on a warm day, take a good whiff right as you pass the Atherton exit. I swear it smells like nutritional yeast on buttered popcorn. Turns out I’m not crazy. A ranger with the Marin County Open Space District reveals the source of the aroma: a sewage treatment pond that uses yeast to accelerate the decomposition process. The ranger says he does the same thing for his home septic tank and throws brewer’s yeast in from time to time, on the advice of his septic company. And it beats cowpie any day of the week. –M.W.

Best Reason to Get a Parking Ticket in Santa Rosa

Ouch! You’ve just spent two minutes too long in the downtown post office and returned to your car to discover an ominous blue envelope tucked under the windshield wiper. There goes that $20 you were going to spend on the new O-Town CD! But then, despite the financial pain, a little grin flits across your lips. Rolling smoothly and quietly away from the scene of the crime is the Santa Rosa parking enforcement officer who nailed you–driving a silver-colored, futuristic vehicle that seems like something straight out of Blade Runner. The city is leasing these nifty little electric vehicles (the eco-friendly Hyper Mini EV) through a Nissan pilot program to cut down on air and noise pollution. But maybe, just maybe, there’s also a PR motive at work. After all, how can you stay mad at someone driving such a cool little car? –P.S.

Best Place to Drag-Race the Cops

Do you have a teenager with a lead foot who’s racked up more speeding tickets than your insurance company cares to deal with? If so, Sears Point Raceway may have the solution to your problem. In an event called Top the Cop, the raceway’s quarter-mile drag strip is opened up every Wednesday night from April through November for a unique form of racing. For the fifth consecutive year, Sears Point offers teenagers a safe and legal place to race. But the main allure of this event is the competition the kids face. They go head to head with local cops in their patrol cars. The evening gives the police an opportunity to meet with teenagers and develop a positive relationship, while instructing them on safe driving. But nothing beats the thrill of gunning your Camaro and then blasting down the track with a cop in uniform trying to shut you down. According to the National Hot Rod Association, there are more than 70 law enforcement race-a-cop programs across the United States and Canada, but Sears Point offers the only one where the kids race uniformed officers in their squad cars. Top the Cop costs $17 for participants and $10 for spectators.

Hwys. 37 and 121, Sonoma. 800/870-RACE. –B.E.


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Place for an Elvis Sighting

Aah, star power! Village Music is a veritable treasure trove for music fans of all stripes, but especially those lovers of roots music, including jazz, blues, gospel, soul, R&B, Cajun/zydeco, and early rock and roll. Proprietor John Goddard has been packing his world-renowned CD/record store to the rafters for more than 30 years. And, indeed, it’s not uncommon to bump into Elvis Costello (who used to frequent the nearby Sweetwater Saloon), Tracy Chapman, Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder, or any one of a hundred other music celebs who cherish the sheer volume of material and the incredible depth of Goddard’s inventory. For a while, it looked as if Goddard may have had to dust the cobwebs off those ultra-rare Jimi Hendrix picture discs, since it appeared he’d be losing his lease during a byzantine business negotiation. (And wouldn’t that be one helluva sale!) But the good news is Goddard signed a new lease in February and plans to be around for a while, so there’s still time for that Elvis sighting.

9 E. Blithedale Ave., Mill Valley. 415/388-7400. –G.C.

Best Place to Cut a CD within Earshot of a Great Music Store

Want to cut that 20-minute version of “Angel Baby” you’ve been working on in the shower? Then check out Zone Recording in the back of Zone Music in Cotati. According to owner/engineer Blair Hardman, his recording studio is the only one in the world where you can literally choose from hundreds of guitars, amps, keyboards, and microphones before you start your session. Blair acts as producer and spiritual musical adviser. “A solo act can come in here and I’ll help them with all aspects of their arrangements. For a few hundred bucks you can have your song on a CD with a nice label.” Hardman recommends making advance reservations (“It’s great to dream‚ but make an appointment”). He also offers a free consultation before the actual session, which he encourages in order to save you time, money, and grief. “Recording at Zone means never having to say you’re sorry,” Hardman claims. Everything is digitally recorded on a computer. And if that’s not enough, all the salespeople at Zone Music are skilled studio musicians and can make for a killer backup band. Remember that Elvis was driving a truck when he wandered into Sun Records.

884 Old Redwood Hwy., Cotati. 707/664-1221. –B.E.

Best Place to Buy a Betty Page Picture Disc while Clearing the Cobwebs out of Your Addled Brain

A lot of folks think of Petaluma as a sleepy cow town in which the denizens mope around all year long just dying for a chance to watch corn-fed farm boys working up a sweat at the annual World Wrist Wrestling Championships. But River City has its pockets of cosmopolitan living–you just have to know where to look. For example, Red Devil Records. This 3-year-old CD store has an eclectic inventory and some great collectors’ vinyl. It’s also a mecca for local fans of Betty Page, the ’50s pinup version of the girl next door with a whip who was immortalized a couple of years ago in a popular tune by country rockers BR-549. Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), baby boomers with a fetish for lingerie and a hankering for a little (not-too-painful) discipline are prone to collect Betty Page cigarette lighters, playing cards, and the like. Red Devil Records lives up to its name by carrying a number of items devoted to Betty worship–a nifty little picture disc being one of my personal favorites. “You can never have enough Betty Page material,” says owner Barry Lazarus, who cut his teeth as a record-store clerk at the infamous Leopold’s Records in Berkeley. Browse at your leisure as Lazarus keeps the in-store play filled with surprises while alternating between ’50s and ’60s jazz favorites and contemporary (and often local) punk music. A very good place to clear the cobwebs out of your addled brain while waiting for next year’s wrist wresting championships.

170 Kentucky St., Petaluma. 707/769-8999. –G.C.

Best Reason to Flush Local Politicians Down the Proverbial Toilet

Let’s see, which of the plagues is going to get us first, the persistent power shortage or the impending drought? All I can say is that Santa Rosa has its share of turds on the City Council. Coincidentally (or not), as the largest city in the North Bay, Santa Rosa produces the most wastewater. That’s the stinking truth. And, coincidentally (or not), it produces quite a bit of stinky public policy. And let’s just say that the city’s wastewater policies over the years haven’t exactly smelled like a bed of roses. The 1999 decision to pipe all that wastewater–a couple of billion gallons a year–along a 41-mile route to the Geysers geothermal electrical-generating plant now may seem unusually foresighted (don’t forget, that the city dragged its collective heels on this issue for 20 years while flushing wastewater into the Russian River) in the face of the power crisis and the cry for alternative power sources (and, yes, Calpine is milking that situation for every kilowatt it can coax out of this public relations coup). But that doesn’t change the fact that plans by the feds to stem the flow of Eel River water diverted into the Russian River makes that wastewater all the more valuable for Sonoma and Marin county farmers who could have used it to irrigate crops (oh, sure, big corporate grape growers got their share). In short, flush the turds who backed the pipeline at your next visit to the ballot box. While Saint Rose of Lima, the city’s namesake, was a pious mystic known for her self-imposed penances, don’t hold your breath waiting for any apologies over this multimillion-dollar disaster in the wings. –G.C.


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Way to Savor the Past, Present, and Future

Some end tables look as though they couldn’t support more than a half-empty wine glass. But a structure from Urban Rubble appears as if it could hold up an entire cocktail party. Rich Anderson uses new rock and recycled rusty girders (begged from construction sites) to make functional art that might understatedly be called “sturdy” tables of all sizes. Prize for missing the point: People who ask him to make stuff out of wood. “We don’t need to be cutting down trees,” Anderson says. “We can make our furniture from what’s already here.” Custom-designed Urban Rubble tables cost $300 and up, not counting any retrofitting of your floor. Before you drop in at his workshop, he’d appreciate a call.

Anderson’s Workshop, 9482 Lazy Creek Drive, Windsor. 707/837-9025. –M.W.

Best Place to Rent Obscure Cult Picks

One of my favorite movies as a preteen was The Forbidden Zone, Oingo Boingo’s strange and wonderful musical. The black-and-white cult flick is not available at Blockbuster (not surprising), and I was beginning to think that the movie was just a figment of my ragingly hormonal, 12-year-old fantasy. Until, that is, I went into the Video Droid in Santa Rosa a few weeks ago. Already a regular customer, this night I felt like really getting into the titles in their cult section. (Another personal favorite is Killer Klowns from Outer Space, which has a great rock music video at the end. Very Daniel Pinkwater.) I saw a copy of the long-sought Forbidden Zone and realized that Video Droid is, in fact, the Elysian Fields. Other favorite Droidian features are the indie film section, divided up by directors (John Sayles, blank, blank, blank); the British Humor section; and the actor/actress-of-the-month section (some past featured artists have been Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, and Cher). Video Droid’s prices are about half as cheap as those of any other video store in the county, and its staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and hip.

1240 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa (707/536-3313); 590 E. Cotati Ave., Cotati (707/794-9797); Third Street and Lincoln Avenue, San Rafael (415/456-3146). –E.L.

Best Ridiculously Cheap Airfare

Last winter, I went through a starving-artist phase. I lived with my French musician sweetheart in a rundown one-bedroom apartment. One night, we decided to go to Paris and be starving artists there for a few weeks. Our plight, naturally, was that we didn’t have any money. Looking in the phone book for a travel agency, I came across Dirt Cheap Travel. Good, I figured, if they live up to their name, maybe we can afford it. After already having called 12 travel agencies that day, I rang Dirt Cheap. They managed to beat the other 12 travel agencies’ prices by at least half. We went to Paris, roundtrip, for $450, including tax. This year, not a starving artist anymore, but still not rich, I called them up again, wanting to visit family in Germany over the holidays. I gave them one week’s notice and got a roundtrip ticket for $550. And the service is excellent. The staff of three runs the business out of a two-bedroom house refurbished into an office. It has printers in the pantry.

307 S. Main St., Sebastopol. 707/824-2550. –E.L.


Photograph by Michael Amsler

Best Place to Find Puppy Love

Singles scene got you down? Tired of lame-ass pick-up lines, nightclub meat-markets, and blind dates that make you wish you were deaf? Well, perk up, little friend: if you’re looking for love, humans aren’t the only option. Dogs and cats offer companionship, loyalty, and affection–and they don’t leave the toilet seat up or demand to go to tear-jerking chick flicks. Of course, picking an animal for a companion is no easy matter. After all, once you commit to living with a lovable animal, you’d look like a real cad, jerk, and bounder if you went back on the deal. So get to know your prospective best buddy first by checking him or her out at the Marin Humane Society. Thousands of homeless animals find shelter every year at the MHS, which uses a sophisticated adoption process to find the right permanent home for each one. Human visitors get to review temperament and health profiles, visit with an adoption counselor, and have a hands-on visit with the perfect pawed pal. It’s a bit like a first date, but without the awkwardness over the check. For more info (including photos of available animals), check out .

Marin Humane Society, 171 Bel Marin Keys Blvd., Novato. 415/883-4621. –P.S.

Best Place to While Away an Hour in Black and White

I live very close to downtown Santa Rosa, and sometimes on a weekend afternoon I’ll take a stroll. After walking up and down Fourth Street once or twice, peering at the windows of the touristy shops, my final destination is always Sawyer’s News, across the street from the public library. If it’s still late morning or early afternoon, I’ll buy a wonderful, pricey cappuccino from the Centro Espresso cart and head over to the card racks. Sawyer’s has a great collection of black-and-white greeting cards. A few of my favorites: ex-Philippine iron lady Imelda Marcos, posing in her closet (surrounded by hundreds of pairs of shoes that all look eerily similar); a man in a three-piece suit, being towed on blocks of ice by a model-T Ford around the Champs Elysées; and three German men drinking beer at a sidewalk cafe out of glasses twice the size of large fishbowls (one of the men wiping his forehead, apparently overwhelmed by the amount of beer he must consume before it goes flat). Not only does Sawyer’s have great greeting cards; it also features just about every magazine known to humankind, plus a candy rack with blast-from-the-past candy like Necco Wafers and Blackjack Gum.

733 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, 707/542-1311. –E.L.

Best Way to Have Flowers Secretly Delivered to Your Sweetheart

About this time last year, I thought I had a stalker. I’d come home to find mysterious and beautiful bouquets on my front porch; my car was entirely covered with flowers, and roses were secretly delivered to my work. It turned out to be not a stalker (whew!) but a wonderfully romantic man who had a penchant for sending me flowers (wow!). During the course of our relationship, I’d continue to receive flowers when and where I least expected it. One day we went on a special outing. “I want to take you to meet my florist,” he said. So we hopped on his motorcycle and zoomed over to the Town and Country Center, home of La Belle Fleur. We walked in, and he announced “This is her!” The staff of the flower shop all turned around and stared at the woman who’d been receiving ridiculous amounts of flowers for months, and I was introduced to the owners, a sweet husband-and-wife team who I couldn’t imagine doing anything else besides owning a flower shop. While I can’t guarantee you can find a man as wonderful as the one who sent me flowers for a year, I can guarantee that La Belle Fleur’s bouquets and arrangements will make that special someone’s eyes light up.

1425 Town and Country Drive, Santa Rosa, 707/542-6729. –E.L.

Best Place to Pick Up Homeopathic Remedies and a Bottle of Wild Turkey

Think all health food stores have an unnatural fixation on health? For evidence to the contrary, stop by Organic Groceries in Santa Rosa, where you’ll find a wide array of vitamins, homeopathic remedies, organic foods–and a well-stocked display of hard liquor behind the front counter. If you’re the kind of person who washes down her B-12 pills with a bottle of Absolut, this place can hook you up. If you like to follow your vegan muffin with a Wild Turkey chaser, these fine folks have you covered on both counts. The store even stocks something called Hot Damn 100–which, frankly, doesn’t look very organic.

Organic Groceries, 2481 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa. 707/528-3663. –P.S.

Best Excuse for Walking Around in Dirty Clothes

Everybody knew there’d be plenty of hurtin’ to go around when prices for gas and electricity started to rise. But who knew the power shortage would hit us in the dirty clothes hamper? Yet that’s exactly what’s happened at laundromats around the North Bay, where rising power costs have forced dramatic increases in the cost of the weekly wash. At the laundromat at the corner of Third and Dutton in Santa Rosa, for instance, the price of using a washing machine almost doubled last month, going from $1.25 to $2. Ouch! Time to start employing the famous sniff test. –P.S.

Readers’ Poll Results






Staff Picks





From the March 22-28, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Maintained by .

American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts

Hammer time: Daphne L. Derven, assistant director for programs and curator of food, at the site of Copia. Food Bash Grandiose gourmet affair benefits American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts By Paula Harris LOCATING the semi-complete $70 million American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts...
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‘Black Goo’

Glassy-winged sharpshooters grab all the headlines, but local vineyard owners face yet another--perhaps even more insidious--threat By John Nagiecki MILK CARTONS stand like small tombstones in Bill Lerner's Santa Rosa vineyard. From within the open cartons grow young chardonnay vines, whose thin crooked trunks rely on rebar stakes for support. To the untrained eye, the...
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Spins

Key Figure Organist Jimmy Smith shows both sides By Greg Cahill JAZZ TRUMPET legend Miles Davis once called organist Jimmy Smith the greatest musician he knew. Indeed, a short-lived 1955 Smith trio once featured sax god John Coltrane, and Smith revolutionized the jazz keyboard with his way-cool Hammond B-3 sound. And while...
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Open Mic

Open MicLet's TalkBy Judy HelfandMOST OF US who check "white" when filling out forms walk through this world without letting the full meaning of our "whiteness" enter our conscious mind. We don't talk about race, telling ourselves that being colorblind is the best antidote to racism. But deep within we know that this conversation about race is one...
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The Wide-Eyed Gourmet

Exploring the spectrum of vegetable possibilities By Marina Wolf THE WEATHER may not have settled yet, but I'm already thinking about my spring and summer plantings, spurred on by memories of last year's harvest. My collaborator and I had a grand ol' time, shouting with glee at each new discovery: perky little peppers, green buds...
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Kenneth Cleaver

Consumer Correspondent Feb. 22, 2001 "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" c/o Lipton 800 Sylvian Ave., Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Dear ICBINB, Sophisticated in their understanding of culture, politics, and literature, my friends--and you can dust this for sarcasm--are a bastion of profundity. They had little difficulty...
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Best Recreation

Best RecreationKickin' BackFrom Sausalito, over excellent, park-like boulevards, through the splendid redwoods and homes of Mill Valley, across the blossomed hills of Marin County, along the knoll-studded picturesque marshes, past San Rafael resting warmly among her hills, over the divide and up the Petaluma Valley, and on to the grassy feet of Sonoma Mountain and home. We covered fifty-five...
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Newsgrinder

Important events as reported by daily newspapers and summarized by Daedalus Howell. Thursday 02.08.01 Petaluma's ArgusCourier.com reports that a man and a women were caught in their convertible Camaro (danger sign) in possession of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, a loaded handgun, brass knuckles, assorted knives, walkie-talkies, a police scanner, Valium and Vicodin, false vehicle registration,...
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Best Culture

Best CultureFeelin' ItMusic from her breast vibrating/ Soundseared into burnished velvet./Silent hips deceiving fools./ Rivulets of trickling ecstacy/From the alabaster pools of Jazz.--from "Jazz Chick" by Bob KaufmanPhotograph by Michael AmslerBest Place to See More Art than You Can Possibly ImagineWant to be brought up to speed on what's been happening in the Bay Area art scene for...
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Best Everyday Stuff

Best Everyday StuffWild Things listened with enthusiasm to my father's stories of the local folkways, crops, and animals, and throughout our stay remained remarkably serene and agreeable, as pleased as the little girls with the horses, cattle, pigs, and lambs and the sight of tobacco growing. A cowboy he wasn't, and I couldn't get him on a horse, much...
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