Jazz Night at the Movies

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Jazz Night at the Movies

Round Midnight, is featured in rare clips at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival film archive program.

Clip Art

Film collector’s rare jazz footage premieres at Healdsburg Jazz Fest

By Paula Harris

AS A LOS ANGELES kindergarten teacher, Mark Cantor may spend most days wiping runny noses and reciting nursery rhymes. But once school lets out, his role switches to Mark Cantor, music film archivist and historian in search of buried cinematic treasures.

Endowed with a lifelong love of music, Cantor, 51, has turned an all-encompassing hobby into a second full-time job. For the past 30 years, he has researched, located, preserved, and collected rare and historic music performances on film.

His vast collection of footage includes more than 4,000 individual film clips dating back to the early 1920s. It consists of mostly jazz performances, with a sprinkling of blues, country and western, and rhythm and blues.

“It all started as an outgrowth of early record collecting,” he explains. “I found I loved doing this because it gave another dimension to the music.”

Cantor will be delving into his extensive archive to combine a series of rare clips for “Jazz Night at the Movies,” a two-hour presentation and discussion that kicks off the second annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival, on Thursday, June 1. The unique footage will offer rare glimpses of about 25 noteworthy jazz performers.

“They’ll be very well-known artists. What’s unknown is that these particular performances are exceedingly rare and can’t be seen anywhere in the world,” says Cantor. “There are a number of films, [such as] many European television programs, that have not been seen in the United States and that have never been rebroadcast in Europe, which we will be screening for the first time at the Sonoma County event.”

The presentation includes footage by such musical legends as Wes Montgomery, Dinah Washington, Dexter Gordon, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Ben Webster, and Eric Dolphy. The program also features historical clips of jazz giants Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and Billie Holiday.

Filmmakers, television producers, and journalists regularly rely on Cantor’s expertise relating to jazz music and its documentation on film. And Cantor taps into a specialized network of collectors, preservationists, and historians to amass footage from many sources all over the world.

These include old movies and obscure television programs. In addition, some of the footage comes from jukebox film shorts, from an era when technically elaborate machines known as “soundies” were a fixture in bars, restaurants, and roadhouses. For a few cents you could peer into the box and see a few frames of film along with the sound.

Cantor is writing a book on the phenomenon, which was a kind of 1940s precursor to MTV.

THE QUALITY of the clips that Cantor receives varies widely. “Some are crisp originals, some muddy duplicates, and some are actually videotapes that must be transferred to film,” he says, adding that he is sometimes able to improve the quality, especially by digitizing the sound.

“Each clip has its own feel, just as each jazz performance reflects the feelings of the artists involved,” says Cantor. “Passionate and exciting are certainly [a good way to describe them]. Also fascinating, swinging, inventive, instructive, sometimes even funny. And almost always compelling. Remember, we’re talking about jazz and blues, which is a music of spontaneous creation.”

Cantor, whose interest in jazz ranges from early ragtime to the most contemporary expressions of the art form, says he cannot place a monetary value on the film collection. But, he says, the music itself is a national treasure.

“It’s the most original contribution Americans have made to world culture,” he explains. “[My collection is] a part of this treasure, and I wouldn’t know how to begin valuing it in terms of dollars and cents.”

So what’s the biggest high to be had when collecting such a kaleidoscopic view of jazz history captured on film?

Uncovering a real gem, says Cantor.

He cites as an example the late bebop trumpet master Clifford Brown’s only film appearance, which Cantor says “was rumored for years and only recently discovered. It’s truly exhilarating. Sort of like locating King Tut’s tomb, I guess. One loves the music and the artist, who has been dead for years. Now one can actually see him in live performance. Presto, change-o . . . the genius of Brownie lives on!”

Cantor believes the presentation will strike a real nostalgic nerve with local jazz buffs. “It’s going to be an opportunity to see historic performances by artists who have since passed away,” he explains. “This collection is their legacy–and it’s an exciting one.”

Jazz Night at the Movies hits the big screen on Thursday, June 1, at 7 p.m. at the Raven Film Center, 415 Center St., Healdsburg. Tickets are $8. For more information, call 433-4633.

Fest Highlights

THE SECOND ANNUAL Healdsburg Jazz Festival promises to be an antidote to the endless river of smooth jazz poisoning the airwaves. The fest opens on Wednesday, May 31, with a gala dinner and solo piano concert with pianist Fred Hersch ($125), at Villa Chanticleer. Hersch also performs two sold-out shows with Jane Ira Bloom on Friday, June 2, at the Raven Performing Arts Theater. Film archivist Mark Cantor serves up a “Jazz Night at the Movies” at the Raven Theater on Thursday, June 1, at 7 p.m. The great sounds continue on Saturday, June 3, at 1 p.m. when the George Coleman Quartet, with George Cables, Victor Lewis, and acclaimed tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, who played for two years with the John Coltrane Quintet, perform outdoors at Rodney Strong Vineyards ($32.50). Also on June 3 at 8 p.m., the Von and Chico Freeman Quintet hits the Raven Theater ($22.50); and on Sunday, June 4, at 1 p.m., the legendary Charles Lloyd Quartet–featuring John Abercrombie (above) and Billy Higgins (and local guitar prodigy Julian Lage)–performs outdoors at Geyser Peak Winery ($22.50). That program also features a Children’s World Music Workshop, led by Tacuma King. Tickets are available at Levin & Co. in Healdsburg or by phone at 433-3615.

From the May 25-31, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Carlo Marchiori

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Carlo Marchiori

Art in high places: Carlo Marchiori shows off the ceiling of his gallery in Calistoga.

Living Color

Calistoga artist Carlo Marchiori opens his stunning house to the public

By Shelley Lawrence

INTERNATIONALLY renowned artist Carlo Marchiori has been sought out by such clients as Disney, Donald Trump, and casino mogul Steve Winn. His work has been featured in galleries and museums in nearly every corner of the world. But his mother was never happy with his career choice. She wanted him to be a priest.

“Or a bookkeeper!” Marchiori says with a laugh.

But despite his mother’s wishes, the artist didn’t stick around home for long. Born in 1937 in Bassano del Grappa, near Venice, Marchiori attended art school in Italy from age 15 to 18, and then moved to Canada, where it was easy to obtain citizenship. Since then, he has lived and worked in countries around the world.

A 13-year resident of Calistoga, where he lives in a remarkable house of his own design, Marchiori phased out a second home in San Francisco last June after opening his gallery, Ca’Toga Galleria d’Arte, in Calistoga.

Now, in a rare treat for North Bay art lovers, his Paladian-style villa (which also houses his studio) and grounds will be open to the public on May 20 and 21 as a benefit for the Sharpsteen Museum of Calistoga.

Built in the style of Renaissance Italian architect Andrea Palladui, the interior of the villa is enhanced by Marchiori’s art. Many walls feature huge frescoes filled with mystical gods and monsters, and whole rooms are painted to look like caves or forests.

Like Marchiori’s Ca’Toga gallery, the house is a remarkable monument to his versatile talents. He began his career as a graphic artist in the advertising industry, doing animation and magazine and book illustrations for the Canadian National Film Board. He made his first animated film short in 1967: “The Drag” was an anti-smoking piece that was nominated for an Academy Award.

After leaving Canada, Marchiori spent six years in Japan doing animated television advertisements, then a year and a half in Brazil and a year in New Zealand, arriving in 1979 in San Francisco, where he decided to make his permanent home because he liked the weather. But he found the climate for his work was not so agreeable.

“When I came to San Francisco, I realized that the art world was restricted in the areas of magazine illustration, and to continue in that line [of work] it would have to be in L.A. or New York,” he explains.

Instead of moving, Marchiori switched from animation and commercial design to painting trompe l’oeil, a form of “artistic trickery” related to illusionism, an art that deceives the eye into believing that something painted is actually real.

“I thought I could do it a little better than what was currently out there because I’d apprenticed to do that in Italy,” he says. “I started working with Las Vegas casinos, doing mirages.”

Since then, Marchiori has been commissioned to create many large works, like painting the spa in the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, the ceiling of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and Tokyo’s Yebisu Garden Palace.

Ca’Toga is the artist’s first gallery, which he designed and built after tiring of being interrupted at home by requests to buy his work. The gallery’s exterior reminds one of an Italian plaza, although the building stands alone. It’s painted a faded mustard, with stone plaques carved in Latin.

The 1,300-square-foot gallery features mostly watercolors and hand-thrown ceramic plates and bowls, beautifully painted in browns and blues. One important theme in the artist’s work is the myths of traditional Venetian culture, with the 17th-century Harlequin clown Pulcinella playing a major role. Marchiori’s international influences are expressed in his striking opera plates, one of which shows a Japanese geisha with her mouth wide open, belting out a phrase in Latin.

THE GALLERY ITSELF is something of a work of art, featuring muraled walls with inlaid tile and insets of large sculptures. In the salmon-colored courtyard, aged stonework abounds, and a pillared portico sets the building back from its overlook of the Napa River.

Perhaps the most striking feature is the gallery’s painted ceiling. Arching high above the room, the ceiling mural is a Ptolemiac-style depiction of the heavens, full of allegorical figures of the zodiac, ancient mythical creatures, and representatives of each continent in full-color glory. The ceiling, which is actually 11 canvas panels painted by Marchiori over a four-month span, was inspired by a 16th-century fresco in Villa Farnese in Caprarola, Italy.

In the left corner, Marchiori has painted himself, piloting a boat with his two pet basenjis present (each dog painted larger than the boat). The stone floor shows a pre-Copernicus universe, complete with a full lunar cycle with the earth in the middle, into which is deeply carved the Latin inscription “HIC ES” (You Are Here).

Marchiori painted the ceiling as a “nice punch in the eye, a piece to give an idea of the kind of work that I do.” He placed his favorite piece on the ceiling because “a ‘not for sale’ sign creates disappointment, and nobody’s going to ask to buy my ceiling!”

The villa tour takes place Saturday and Sunday, May 20 and 21. Buses run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., departing every 15 minutes from the Sharpsteen Museum, 1311 Washington St., Calistoga. Tickets are $25. For details, call 963-4171 or 963-4171. The Ca’Toga Galleria d’Arte is located at 1206 Cedar St., Calistoga. For details, call 942-3900.

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Tape Traders

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Tape Traders

Photograph by Michael Amsler

Net Gain?

Tape traders find the Internet provides wide world of new musical resources

by Natalie Sibert-Freitas

WHEN I FIRST began trading tapes via the Internet, I felt something like Daffy Duck waiting for his next comic book. There was the anticipation, the arrival, and the final thrill of popping a new cassette into my tape deck, wondering just what aural pleasures would greet me.

OK, so I admit it: I’m addicted to music, can’t help it–it’s in my genes. I’ve made cassettes for friends and parties for years because I love to share good music, having been a college radio DJ. But my musical life changed greatly when I moved to Sonoma County about three years ago. Suddenly I found myself without my old urban resources for hearing underground music.

But my initial motivation for surfing the Net was to find web sites that might link to that of Neosoreskin, the ska band I was managing at the time. I immediately found myself lost in a miasma of information without a clue to how to sort through it all.

It was kind of like walking into a warehouse full of really great goodies but no rhyme or reason to how things were stocked.

Back to square one–go with something I already know: David Bowie. I found fan sites about the man, and his own official site. The first few I checked out had bulletin boards for exchanging ideas about lyrics and how to get concert tickets and all things Bowie. In my searching, I had a few experiences that launched me headfirst into trading tapes.

First, I made contact with a woman from Japan named Tomoko, whose web site is linked to a Bowie page. Looking at her site, I found a few uncanny similarities in our musical tastes. I decided to e-mail her. We soon were communicating regularly and discovered we were about the same age and had similar interests on a variety of levels.

I sent her a Neosoreskin CD. She sent me a tape of some Bowie music and a poster that she’d worked on.

My appetite whetted, I next found myself in a chatroom that was supposed to be dedicated to music. Chatting is an odd thing. My first few experiences were less than thrilling–people talking about their messed-up lives, people looking for cybersex, and others just there to stir things up.

Thankfully, I met a handful of sincere people who were genuinely in the room to discuss music. I quickly discovered that the best way to unearth such folks was to name drop the names of a few of my favorite bands and see who responded. Worked like a charm.

When I mentioned Bowie, old punk-rock bands like the Dead Kennedys, and arty Goth bands like Bauhaus, I discovered there were actually quite a few chatters who did want to talk music. One of my first chat trades was with Frank from New Jersey. Though a big Sinatra buff, he was also interested in new music. So I sent him a Neosoreskin CD and a mixed tape. In return, he sent me a collection of Sinatra and big-band tunes.

Be forewarned: chatting is time consuming, and I had loads of free time when I initially got into it. Making tapes for people can also take up a lot of time, especially if one wants to make a cohesive compilation of a variety of artists.

I’m a nitpicker and won’t send anyone a tape with uneven sound levels or songs that get cut off at the end of one side. I make tapes much as I used to plan my radio shows: pull out far more music than I need and figure it out as I go. When the tape was completed, a trip to the post office was in order since, for example, I’d no clue to how much it costs to ship a tape to England.

The types of recorded material traded over the Internet range from made-at-home compilations and concert bootlegs to out-of-print releases and band demos. Many lesser-known bands thrive on people trading their material just to get heard.

However, copyright issues are not to be taken lightly, as demonstrated by the recent slugfest between Metallica and the online music company Napster. Music publishing companies such as ASCAP or BMI are adept at monitoring public performances of artists who are under their wing, and they take it very seriously when someone sells unlicensed material.

“It’s a [legal] gray area,” says Greg Loescher, editor of Goldmine, a popular record collector’s magazine. “According to the law, if taped for home use or to give to someone, it’s OK. If it’s for a tape exchange, that’s a gray area. Obviously the industry as a whole would rather someone purchased music from a retail source. The danger lies in what the legalities and ramifications of taping are. . . . People think that just because they can tape music it’s OK to use it in any way they see fit.

“Some bands,” Loescher continues, “such as the Grateful Dead, encourage taping at concerts. But it’s tricky if done by other means, shuffling off the Net, etc. We have people who trade using [ads in] our magazine, so it’s not that we’re against it.”

It’s obvious that recording artists and their labels are more focused on the threat posed by the latest trend–MP3s or digital-audio recordings available on the Net.

“The problem is not just trading songs but full albums off the Internet in digital format,” says Ron Rodrigues of Records and Radio. “Control of intellectual property is lost if the sound is as good as on the album.”

As for tape trading, Rodrigues agrees that “it’s not a top concern in the industry. However, taping something for someone else does go against copyright rules.”

Trading Tips: Advice and related websites.

LEGAL QUIBBLES ASIDE, tape trading offers something MP3s do not–the fun of making personal connections around the globe. I’ve traded with people from England, Japan, Australia, Canada, and all over the United States. Of the people I’ve interviewed, most traded internationally as well. Brazil, Germany, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, and Switzerland were mentioned. Additionally, I’ve also found that the United Kingdom is oozing with fellow traders.

Most people I queried have been trading for about two years–some for as long as four years, others for only a couple of months. I’ve traded with people between the ages of 19 and 40. Some of the best tapes have come from college students who are completely immersed in the independent music scene.

One of my favorite tapes came from an advertising student in Toronto named Kevin. He had his own fanzine and sent a very comprehensive tape of Canadian bands. Susan, from Australia, got involved with trading tapes over the Net because of her love of the band Mr. Bungle. Despite a dedicated following in Australia, their material isn’t always so easy to find there. Susan and I share a love of an ’80s Aussie band called Hunters and Collectors, which is what got us chatting originally. I almost dropped my teeth on the floor when she mentioned Mr. Bungle, whose members hail from Arcata.

Tape trading not only fills a musical void; it’s introduced me to interesting people from around the globe. Though I have less time for it these days, I’ll always be trading with someone I’ve connected with. As for copyright worries, I have none. Gray areas work well for someone like me who trades to promote music, not profit from it.

Right now, I’m pulling some music from my collection to tape for a young man in England. How could I resist yet another opportunity to share music I think is wonderful with an attentive audience?

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Southern Rock

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Southern Rock

Southern Rock Is Gonna Rise Again

By Greg Cahill

IT’S HOG HEAVEN. You can stick your nose up at Southern rock, but the boisterous spirit of that sub-genre is alive and well in this slick, postmodern, tech-geek age. And Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa on the shores of Clear Lake (which is home to some of the most aggressive red ants this side of the Rio Grande) has become a mecca for rowdy rebel-yelling music fans who know how to infuse a rock concert with the over-the-top energy usually reserved for a raging kegger.

This summer is no exception (though I’m sure everyone will be on their best behavior).

The Southern rock season kicks off Friday, May 26, with a stiff shot of the Charlie Daniels Band (featuring every urban cowboy’s favorite on fiddle and plenty of good ol’ hippie boy vibes), plus Lynyrd Skynyrd soundalikes Molly Hatchet.

On June 10, .38 Special, featuring Donnie Van Zant (brother of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s late Ronnie), bring their gut-crunching ’70s rock to the resort.

Singer/songwriter Waylon Jennings, whose outlaw ways inspired the first wave of Southern rock innovators, has had plenty of cards up his sleeve of late. He holds court on Aug. 11.

And the sanctified Allman Brothers Band, the fellows who started it all in 1969 with their twin-lead guitar-driven jams and bluesy sensibility, will show why they’re still the best of the bunch Sept. 3, when they provide the grand finale for the resort’s summerfest.

And that’s worth a rebel yell.

Konocti Harbor is located at 8727 Soda Bay Road, Middletown. For ticket information, call 800/660-LAKE.

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Usual Suspects

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Traffic School

SRJC parking a nightmare for some, a cash cow for others

By Duane De Witt

“THEY PAVED paradise to put up a parking lot,” Joni Mitchell once lamented in song. But over at Santa Rosa Junior College the refrain is always the same: “We need more parking.” With nearly 30,000 students, the school has a parking shortage that is a major headache for them and a possible impediment to future growth at the school. Also the problem spills over into the surrounding neighborhoods, annoying business owners and residents more than a mile away.

This summer the school is preparing to cut down a stand of pine trees close to adjacent Santa Rosa High School to add 60 more parking spaces, but critics say that will do little to ease the problem.

“The stand of pines is infested with bugs and needs to be taken out,” says Nancy Morehead, manager of facilities operations, adding that no redwood or oak trees are scheduled for removal to add the extra parking spaces. To accommodate more spaces in the acres and acres of parking lots on campus, the school is also going to be restriping lots to shrink the space size.

According to SRJC Police Chief Terry Stewart, there are 3,300 parking spaces on campus. Of those, 2,500 are for students and 800 for faculty and staff.

But one nearby resident, John Perpinan, says that isn’t enough. He thinks that the school needs to build parking garages on campus to handle the thousands of students who regularly drive to school and clog the local streets, using up limited parking spaces. The problem is complex because the city has made a “residential parking zone” to protect the ability of nearby residents to park by issuing permits to them while limiting everyone else to one-hour parking.

However, Perpinan has had his fill of parking tickets dispensed by the ever-efficient Santa Rosa city parking-control officers who sweep through the residential parking-permit zones around the campus on their daily hunt for offenders. They ticket Perpinan and his family and friends when they overpark the one-hour limit also.

“Homeowners and residents only get two permits,” he says, not enough for a family or guests.

He echoes the sentiment of many who think that the city unfairly exploits the situation for financial gain. Many students have also complained over the years because the permit system around the campus is for only one-hour parking while most classes are two hours long.

“The residential parking zones are only put in place when the neighborhood petitions for them,” says Bill Gallagher, parking programs coordinator for Santa Rosa. He notes that neighbors around the campus have been complaining about parking for decades and that the residential parking permit zones were enacted in the late ’80s to protect the residents.

But Perpinan disagrees, saying the city parking-enforcement program is “extorting” both the students and the residents now in an unfair pursuit of money.

That may be true.

WHILE CITY OFFICIALS claim they don’t have the exact figures on revenue from fines in the campus area, the SRJC residential parking zone is the biggest of the city’s parking zones and garners the largest amount of fines, according to one city worker, who asked not to be named. City accountant Guy Ross says, “For the entire city, the amount of parking fines revenue for 1998-99 was $547,000. For 1999-2000, the year-to-date total is $423,491.”

Perpinan wants to find out just how much money the city is milking from the area. He has been fighting his parking tickets in the court system, saying the fines are unfair because residents were promised exemptions when the zones were enacted. However, a city ordinance regulating the residential permit-parking program states, “A motor vehicle on which is displayed a valid residential parking permit . . . shall be permitted to stand or be parked . . . without being limited by time restrictions. . . . Any vehicle which does not display such a permit shall be subject to the parking regulations and consequent penalties in effect for such area.”

But Perpinan is urging students to fight their tickets, too. He wants the city to change the time limits to two hours and give residents more permits for unlimited parking.

“These zones were supposedly set up to help us residents,” he says, “not to rip us off with parking fines.”

Usual Suspects loves tips. Call our hotline at 527-1200 or e-mail us at In**@******re.com.

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

‘Where the Heart Is’

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An optimist looks at life, rock-and-roll, ups and down, and the new film Where the Heart Is.

Writer David Templeton takes interesting people to interesting movies in his ongoing quest for the ultimate post-film conversation. This is not a review; rather, it’s a freewheeling, tangential discussion of art, alternative ideas, and popular culture.

“I want to thank you,” sighs Chris Stewart, turning in his seat to face me, his cheeks wet with tears, his British-accented voice slightly strained from the effort of prolonged sobbing. “Thank you for encouraging me to see this. I thought it was exquisite. I think it’s a masterpiece.”

We’ve just seen Where the Heart Is, starring Natalie Portman.

The enthused and grateful giddiness with which my guest has received this new film–a so-called “chick flick” about the Karmic fortunes of a golden-hearted trailer-trash dreamer named Novalie Nation–can best be explained by pointing out a couple of facts:

One, the movie, contrary to sneering dismissals from Neanderthal critics, is a genuine charmer. There are powerful performances from a solid ensemble cast (including Ashley Judd and Stockard Channing) and a flawed-but-indomitable heroine (Portman) whose spirit of goodness and generosity, as it carries her through everything from bad boyfriends and murderous tornadoes, is nothing short of inspiring.

Fact number two, Where the Heart Is marks the first time Chris Stewart has been inside a movie theater in over 20 years.

A former drummer for the rock group Genesis–he performed on the band’s first album and was then replaced by Phil Collins–Chris Stewart has lived a life every bit as surprising and chance-filled as Novalie Nation’s. After dropping out of the music biz in the early 70s, he became a professional sheep shearer and a some-time writer for Rough Guides, publisher of travel books for economic adventurers. Thirteen years ago, having saved a few thousand pounds, Stewart and his wife Ana bought a little farm in the Alpajurras, a remote region of Spain at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, where they’ve lived without running water, in relative poverty and “extreme happiness” ever since. Another twist occurred when , on a whim, Stewart agreed to write a book about his life in Spain. Called Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia, it was published in Britain last year, and became an enormous, instant best-seller (a quarter million books and counting), unexpectedly transforming Stewart into a wealthy man.

The American edition, published by Pantheon Books, is on its way to becoming a word-of-mouth hit in the states as well.

Which brings Stewart to Where the Heart Is.

Now on the last legs of a massive book-signing tour, the drummer-turned-farmer-turned-celebrity author–“I feel like a pole-cat in a poodle parlor,” he says–accepted my offer of an afternoon at the movies, and is still reeling from the over-amped stimuli of state-of-the-art stadium seating, cupholders, deafening THX sound system promos, and grossly expensive snacks.

“Where I come from this could feed an entire family,” he notes, hoisting a small bag of popcorn.

“People must be entertained,” allows Stewart, basking in the warm sun after the show, “so art should be entertaining, but an artist can also set out to change the world, to somehow reduce the sum total of human swinishness and human misery.

“And this film has achieved that,” he adds, waving an arm at the theater, “because we were both so inspired by its story. It’s made us want to be like Novalie Nation, to go out and commit some decent act in the middle of our otherwise rotten miserable lives.”

Though anything but rotten and miserable, the extremely well-liked Stewart–a committed environmentalist who has successfully introduced the notion of organic farming to his fellow farmers–argues that environmentalism is not the greatest of virtues.

“Being environmentally friendly is very easy to do,” he says. “To leave our farm in a better state than we happen to have found it is a black and white matter. No trouble at all.

“What’s difficult,” he chuckles, “is dealing with other people as you should do.”

We pause to watch observe a one-footed blackbird, until now quietly snatching crumbs from the sidewalk, attempting to defend himself against a noisy attack from a marauding two-footed black-beaked bullies.

“Birds are like that, you know,” he remarks. “You shouldn’t learn messages from nature, because nature is a bitch. Nature is fascism at its purest. No deviations are tolerated. You can’t run the world like nature unless you want to run a fascist dictatorial society.

“I talk about nature as if it were the enemy, and yet I live in the middle of it in Spain. But nature is the enemy. Nature is the beast that stops your vegetables from growing by putting slugs and caterpillars and diseases and fungi and God knows what else.

“Nature fights you at every turn.”

Musing on the twists and turns of his own life, Stewart takes a characteristically optimistic view. He claims no bitterness at having just missed mega stardom as a rock-and-roller.

“I sort of know what my life would have been like had I remained with Genesis,” he says, “and I think I’ve had the better life. I think about it a little, now and then. Those fellows have had wonderful lives, certainly, but I’ve had the opportunity to take advantage of twists and turns that they’ve never been able to take. Those decisions we made so long have lead me into a different part of the maze. And it’s been a life of great contentment.”

In the film, Novalie says, ‘You’re whole life can change with a single breath,” and every change brings pain, new opportunities–and more change.

Stewart’s own twists and turns are far from over.

“I learned a couple of months ago that they ‘re going to build a long-delayed dam in our valley,” he reveals. “It won’t flood the valley but it will raise the river, possibly within the next five years.

“Here I’m using expensive organic fertilizers,” he laughs, “taking great care with the land in every way. And now it looks like it’s going to be buried under the bed of river in a few years time.

“It’s wonderfully ironic, isn’t it?”

Stewart knows that even this tragedy will bring new twists and turns, good and bad, to his own remarkable story.

“As my publisher said to me,” says Stewart, “when I told him about the dam, ‘Well, that’s the most awful thing I’ve ever heard. It’s so terribly sad. But there may be another book in it.'”

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Saffron Restaurant

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Saffron Restaurant

Photograph by Michael Amsler

Saffron Satisfies

Flavors with a Spanish twist

By Paula Harris

IT’S EASY to fall in love with tapas, those tasty, tiny Spanish appetizers that accompany a glass of wine and beer and stave off hunger pangs between meals. In Spain, a typical day’s intake of tapas could easily involve cured ham and sheep’s cheese on rustic bread, a saucer of shining piquant olives, an array of crisp-fried fishes, a slice of tortilla, hot mussels grilled with olive oil and topped with breadcrumbs, thumbnail-sized baby clams immersed in white wine broth, and an earthenware pot of bubbling white beans and artichoke hearts cooked in fragrant amontillado sherry.

Just back from a recent trip to Seville, I still crave those distinctly Spanish flavors, and so I began a quest to replicate some of these tastes locally.

Enter Saffron Restaurant in Glen Ellen. Now, Saffron isn’t a Spanish eatery, although the name leads to that conclusion; and although it doesn’t technically serve tapas, it does serve a number of dishes with an unmistakably Spanish influence.

It also boasts a varied selection of Spanish wines.

Saffron, which opened last fall, occupies the former Mes Trois Filles space along the small town’s impressive “restaurant row.” The long, narrow dining room and sectioned-off kitchen has an intimate bistro feel that lures romantic couples rather than raucous clans.

There are burgundy tablecloths, and a heavy burgundy curtain conceals the restrooms. Tables are set with tea lights and miniature fresh flowers. An antique wooden sideboard is decorated with flickering candles.

A promising start to the meal is the green lentil soup of the day ($4.95) served in an oversized teacup. The lentils are whole and have a rich, thick consistency. The dish is similar to a wholesome lentil soup with carrots, onion, and garlic that I ate in Spain, except this version includes a mild hint of curry and is topped with crispy slivers of deep-fried onion.

Now there’s an old saying: “A man who is stingy with the saffron is capable of seducing his own grandmother.” That’s a scary thought. Fortunately, this chef’s steamed mussels with saffron, sherry, parsley, and garlic ($9.95) doesn’t stint on this precious spice–there are visible red-gold threads throughout the tasty broth. One qualm, though: some mussels are plump and juicy, but others appear to be dried out and don’t look appetizing. Maybe they were left too long under some heat source. We note, however, that on an earlier visit the mussels were fine.

Back on the search for food with Spanish spirit, the big attraction of the baby spinach salad ($8.95) is that it contains not only dried cherries and walnuts, but also Spanish Manchego cheese (also a fixture on most Spanish tapas menus), although we’d have preferred whole triangles of the tangy sheep’s cheese rather than just a mere grating. Still, our server thoughtfully brought over an extra bowl of grated cheese after we mentioned this. (It’s been a while since we’ve encountered such enthusiastic and willing-to-please wait staff.)

All in all, an excellent salad dressed in a subtle pomegranate vinaigrette.

Vegetarians with lumberjack appetites may enjoy the decadent house-made Stilton ravioli with chard and an herb-cream infusion ($13.95). The tomato pasta squares are crammed with Stilton cheese that’s pleasingly gooey in the middle. There’s more cheese in the creamy cheddar sauce, a blend of cream, thyme, white wine, and grated sharp cheddar. Quite a sinful little number.

THE DAY’S SPECIAL is roast squab ($22.95). The game bird is roasted and halved and served in a red currant sauce with baby corn, fava beans, diced red pepper, and roasted fingerling potatoes. The dark, steaklike meat is pleasingly tender, with a mellow flavor that’s stronger than chicken, milder than duck.

A good-sized, mid-priced wine list includes five Spanish whites (three by the glass) and nine Spanish reds (three by the glass).

If you want to splurge, the 1997 Guelbenzu EVO ($38), a Spanish red wine from Navarra, composed of 70 percent cabernet sauvignon, 20 percent temperanillo, and 10 percent merlot, is smooth with a bitter dark-chocolate aftertaste reminiscent of cocoa powder on top of tiramisu.

Fresh-faced pastry chef Lindsey Ayers is youthful, but excludes real confidence and pride in her creations. She personally comes to the table to talk desserts and take orders. She then can be glimpsed in the kitchen lovingly assembling her edible art.

The Valrhona chocolate bread pudding ($6) has panache. The dessert is color coordinated, with hues of banana slices, caramel, chocolate sauce, and mocha gelato, all decorating a rich brownielike bread pudding.

The red rice pudding ($6) features Indonesian red rice layered with coconut tuile cookies and fruit salsa–a colorful cache of exotic fruits, including mango, kiwi, and papaya. It’s a cool creamy pudding with a slight bite of rice grains. A lovely summertime sweet.

Finally, don’t miss the heart-meltingly luscious Meyer lemon cheesecake ($6), one of the most heavenly desserts around. Add an after-dinner drink of Spanish Antonio Barbadillo dry sherry ($5.50) and you could almost believe you’ve dined in Seville.

Saffron Restaurant Address: 13648 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen; 938-4844 Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays, 5 to 9 p.m. Food: Imaginative American cuisine with Spanish and French influences; great desserts Service: Excellent– enthusiastic and knowledgeable Ambiance: Intimate bistro Price: Moderately expensive Wine list: Fairly extensive, including several Spanish wines Overall: 3 stars (out of 4)

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Summer Arts

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Summer Arts

Hot time: Elaine Marlowe puts some sizzle into the summer during the FlamencoArts performances.

Heat Wave

Summer brings hot times to the North Bay arts scene

By Heidi Blankenship, Greg Cahill, Paula Harris, Shelley Lawrence, and Patrick Sullivan

READY, SET, kawabunga! Like a smiling swimmer leaping from the high dive into the sparkling waters of your local swimming pool, we’re taking another exuberant belly flop into the season of warm weather, cold drinks, and lazy days at the beach. As always, under this hot sun a thousand flowers bloom across the North Bay art scene. Music festivals, parades, art shows, dance performances, studio tours: they’re all there, waiting for you to shake the sand from your swimsuit and point your feet toward fresh sources of fun–so dive right in!

May

Rose Parade

Happiness is . . . the 106-year-old Luther Burbank Rose Parade Festival–which this year pays tribute to the late Charles Schulz and his lovable Peanuts gang. Celebrating the theme will be a bevy of special grand marshals: Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Linus, and Schroeder, who will lead more than 4,000 marchers in 120 units. Among them will be floats, drill teams, bands, clowns, cars, and equestrians. The Peanuts characters step off the parade at 10 a.m. at Sonoma Avenue and E Street. Curbside viewing is available along the entire route: E Street, Third Street, and Santa Rosa Avenue. The event also offers an assortment of food, music, exhibits, an Italian street painting gallery, and other activities along First Street between Santa Rosa Avenue and D Street. May 20. The festival continues from 11 a.m. to a finale at 4 p.m., when a massive Snoopy balloon on loan from Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade will float taller than City Hall! Free. 542-7673.–P.H.

Petaluma Adobe Living History Day

Step back into the 1840s as the Petaluma Adobe Ranch brings history to life. Traditionally dressed volunteers demonstrate the crafts and trades of the period, including brickmaking, basketry, corn grinding, candlemaking, the firing of flintlock muskets, and homemade banjo playing. May 20, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 3325 Adobe Road, Petaluma. $3 for adults and $2 for children 7 to 11. 769-0429.–H.B.

Backyard Concert Series

KRSH radio celebrates summer’s return with a series of free concerts every few weeks. Vagabond Lovers perform on May 22, and John Eddy on June 12. Musicians are still being chosen for the concerts in July, August, and September, but possibilities include Nina Storey and Sumac. The music runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. behind the KRSH studios at the Station House, 3565 Standish Ave., Santa Rosa. Free. 588-0707.–S.L.

Sonoma County Crushers

Big-league names grace the Crushers lineup in the team’s sixth season of minor league baseball. Former Giants superstar Jeffrey Leonard is managing the team, and former Giants slugger Kevin Mitchell is going to bat for them. The season opens on Friday, May 26, at 7:05 p.m. when the Crushers face off against the Zion Pioneerzz. The action continues through early September. Rohnert Park Stadium, 5900 Labath Ave. $5 to $13. 588-8300.–P.S.

Santa Rosa Downtown Market

The popular event once known as “Thursday Night Market” now continues on more family-friendly Wednesday nights. Grope the fresh produce, ogle the community arts and crafts, and take in a little live entertainment. Wednesdays, 5 to 8:30 p.m. May 31-Sept. 6. On Fourth Street between B and E streets. Free. 524-2123.–P.H.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival

If you’re looking for an antidote to the endless river of smooth jazz poisoning America’s airwaves, here it is. This annual festival opens on May 31 with a gala dinner and solo piano concert with Fred Hersch ($125), who also performs two sold-out shows on June 2 at the Raven Performing Arts Theater. On June 1 at 7 p.m., film archivist Mark Cantor serves up a “Jazz Night at the Movies” at the Raven. The fun continues on June 3 at 1 p.m., when the George Coleman Quartet and the acclaimed Pharoah Sanders Ensemble perform outdoors at the Rodney Strong Vineyards ($32.50). On June 3 at 8 p.m., the Von and Chico Freeman Quintet hits the Raven ($22.50); and on June 4 at 1 p.m., the Charles Lloyd Quartet performs outdoors at the Geyser Peak Winery ($22.50). Tickets are available at Levin & Co. in Healdsburg. 433-3615.–P.S.

June

José Galván and FlamencoArts

Direct from Sevilla, Spanish dance master Galván and guitarist Manuel Parejo join forces with Flamenco Arts for another season of passionate dance, from the piercing wail of siguiriyas to the joys of alegrías. June 2 at 8 p.m. at the Community Center, 390 Morris St., Sebastopol (823-1511). June 3 at 8 p.m. at LBC, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa (546-3600). June 4 at 2:30 p.m. at the Sebastiani Theatre, 476 First St. E., Sonoma (996-9756). $20 in advance, $25 at the door. 544-0909.–P.S.

Black Bart Festival

Cloverdale’s Black Bart Festival has the proverbial something for everyone. And if ya don’t believe us, here’s the rundown: Gold Rush Race (10K and 3K walk/run), open-air antique show, art show, crafts, winetasting, food booths, a variety of live music–including rock ‘n’ roll, country, jazz, opera arias, and easy listening. There’s also entertainment like the Black Bart Gunfighters, a Civil War re-enactment, the bathtub races, a cow-chip doubles competition (Uncle Stan’s favorite), a live Cinderella preview, clowns, an era fashion show and costume contest, a barbecue, a balloon jump, street dancing, break dancing, and much more. Phew! June 3. Races start at 8 a.m.; everything else runs from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Western dress is encouraged. Free. 894-4470.–P.H.

Beerfest

Over 30 of Northern California’s microbreweries are represented at the ninth annual Beerfest, an afternoon of brew sampling, snacking, and live music from the Uncle Wiggly Band. All proceeds benefit Face to Face, a nonprofit organization providing services to men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS in Sonoma County. Gourmet food tasting, unlimited beer, and a spiffy souvenir glass are included in the ticket price. The Beerfest takes place rain or shine on June 3 from 1 to 5 p.m. in the Luther Burbank Center’s mall and courtyard, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. $24 in advance (tickets available at Face to Face and Third Street Aleworks in Santa Rosa, or through BASS) and $28 at the door. 887-7031.–S.L.

Art at the Source

This annual event provides a firsthand look at working art studios and the opportunity to meet and talk with 79 of Sonoma County’s finest artists while they do their thing. Free maps are provided at locations throughout the county (including the Sebastopol Center for the Arts and Copperfield’s Books). June 3-4, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A preview exhibit of work by participating artists is open through June 4 at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 6821 Laguna Park Way. 829-4797.–S.L.

Valley of the Moon Arts

Enjoy a weekend of fine arts and crafts, jazz, and good food at the Valley of the Moon Art Association’s 39th annual art and craft show. More than 100 Northern California artists will display and sell their work during the event. Added attractions include music by Ancient Winds. June 3-4, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. On the Plaza, Sonoma. Free. 453-1656.–P.H.

Dry Creek Vineyard Summer Celebration

Indulge your senses with a variety of wine and food samplings. On offer are current wines, barrel tastings, and library selections, plus gourmet products from purveyors such as Fling Goat Coffee, Howler Sorbet & Gelato, and DaVero Olive Oil. Visitors will learn to blend their own meritage from the winery’s 1999 red-wine barrel samples. The event also features live jump, jive, and swing music from the Hucklebucks. June 3, noon to 5 p.m. 3770 Lambert Bridge Road, Healdsburg. $35 in advance (if purchased by May 22), $40 at the door. 433-1000.–P.H.

Summer Concert Series

Smooth jazz comes to the outdoors in this series of musical performances at Rodney Strong Vineyards. On June 4 at 3 p.m., catch Craig Chaquico, Willie & Lobo, and Slim Man. On July 15 at 5 p.m., see Peter White and Rick Braun. On Aug. 6 at 4 p.m., enjoy Richard Elliot and Avenue Blue. On Aug. 19 at 4 p.m., Dave Koz and Joyce Cooling perform. Finally, on Sept. 17 at 3 p.m., Ottmar Liebert and Acoustic Alchemy bring their sounds to the great outdoors. 11455 Old Redwood Hwy., Healdsburg. General lawn seating is $30; Golden Circle chair seating is $35. 433-0919.–P.S.

Italian Street Painting Festival

Hundreds of professional and amateur artists take to the streets to create 30,000 feet of colorful frescoes during this annual event. The festival also features Italian food, musical entertainment, and more. June 10, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; June 11, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Downtown San Rafael. Free. 415/457-4878.–P.S.

Zarzuela Festival

Hand-picked student artists take part in a four-week immersion program for training in voice, dance, theater arts, and acting that culminates in full-scale productions of two zarzuelas, or Spanish light operas. The productions will feature 30-piece orchestras and authentic colorful costumes. Water, Candy & Brandy (Aqua, Azucarillos y Aguardiente), a humorous musical comedy by composer Federico Chueca, will be performed June 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. The Troublemaker (La Revoltosa), another musical comedy, this time by composer Ruperto Chapí, runs June 16 at 8 p.m., June 17 at 8 p.m., and June 18 at 2 p.m. Jarvis Conservatory’s theater, 1711 Main St., Napa. $40 for adults and $30 for students; $70 for season ticket for performances on June 10 and 17. 255-5445.–P.H.

Save the planet: Environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill speaks June 11 at the 22nd annual Health and Harmony Festival.

Health and Harmony Festival

Now in its 22nd year, this two-day festival features multicultural entertainment and hundreds of exhibits promoting healthy and harmonious lifestyles. On June 10, hear a speech by Ralph Nader and music by Wailing Souls, Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra, Motherhips, and others. On June 11, hear a talk by tree-sitter Julia Butterfly Hill and performances by jazz drummer Pete Escovedo; singers Roy Rogers, Shana Morrison, Joanne Rand; and many others. June 10-11, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. $15 for adults in advance ($8 for seniors and teens 10-16), $18 for adults at the door ($10 for seniors and teens 10-16), and $25 for both days. Kids under 10 get in free. 575-9355.–P.H.

Marin Art Festival

The North Bay’s most eclectic lawn party presents work by 150 professional artists, including painting, sculpture, prints, and jewelry. Also on offer are international cuisine, face painting for the kids, and a wide array of entertainment. On Saturday, enjoy performances by the Napa Valley Taiko and the Murasaki Ensemble. On Sunday, the Nob Hill Trio, Lloyd Gregory and Friends, and a daring display of stilt stunts by Danger Ha Ha! will provide the pleasure. June 17-18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lagoon Park, Marin Center, Civic Center Drive, San Rafael. $6. 415/472-3500.–P.S.

High note: Blessid Union of Souls hit the Sonoma County Fair on July 28.

Sonoma-Marin Fair

“Tracks to the Future” is this year’s theme for Petaluma’s annual fair. John Kay and Steppenwolf perform on June 16 with the Nelsons; June 17 features Chris LeDoux (Williams & Ree open); June 18 highlights War and Freddy Fender. The fair also boasts a carnival, family entertainment, arts and crafts, food, chef’s demonstrations, and . . . pig racing. June 14-18, noon to 10 p.m. 175 Fairgrounds Drive, Petaluma. $7 for adults, $3 for juniors, and free for kids under 6. 283-FAIR.–S.L.

Russian River Blues Festival

Voted Sonoma County’s best musical event in 1999, the blues festival on the river offers topnotch musicians in a lovely outdoor setting. On June 17, check out the Average White Band, the Funky Meters, Bobby Murray, Tommy Castro, and Little Milton. June 18 features the talents of Los Lobos, the Duke Robillard Band, Etta James & The Roots Band, Angela Strehli, and Mighty Mo Rodgers. The music starts at 11 a.m. both days. Winetasting, gourmet food, and snacks will be available, along with vendors of arts and crafts. It gets hot during the day and cool at night, so be prepared. Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville. A portion of the proceeds goes to local nonprofit organizations. $40 for one day and $75 for both days, with discounts for advance purchase. 510/655-9471.–H.B.

Duncans Mills Festival of the Arts

The turn-of-the-century village of Duncans Mills annually holds a charming festival incorporating the best of Sonoma County. The event features arts and crafts, wine and microbrew tasting, a wide array of food, and two stages of entertainment from such musicians as Pamela Rose, Solid Air, and Jessie Turner, as well as performances by puppeteers and jugglers. And, of course, you can’t miss the ever-popular Duncans Mills duck races, where participants race yellow rubber duckies on a waterway for hefty prizes. June 17, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; June 18, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Head for the meadow next to the village. Proceeds benefit Stewards of Slavianka, a state park association. $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and free for children under 12. 824-8404.–P.H.

Garden Expo

Historic Luther Burbank Home and Gardens plays host to an old-fashioned garden party featuring green thumb experts, specialty flora, live music, kids’ activities, food, and demonstrations. Come revel in the flowers and silently thank ol’ Luther for another first–making Sonoma County the world’s No. 1 spot for allergies. June 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Luther Burbank Home and Gardens, Santa Rosa and Sonoma avenues, Santa Rosa. $3 for adults; children 12 and under get in free. 524-5445.–S.L.

Cotati Jazz Festival

This pleasant low-key institution has earned a reputation as “the biggest little mainstream jazz festival in the North Bay.” This year marks the fest’s 20th anniversary with bebop combos, vocalists, trios, quartets, and quintets enlivening a half-dozen downtown cafes, saloons, and coffee shops. Scheduled performers include (on Saturday) gut-bucket blues singer Brenda Boykin (worth the price of admission alone), the Eddie and Madeline Duran Quartet, and vocalist Kitty Margolis; and (on Sunday) pianist Dick Conte (of the now-defunct KJAZ-FM), trumpeter Peter Welker, and Chuck Sher and his Latin Sextet. June 17-18, from 1 to 6 p.m. at various locations in downtown Cotati, including the Inn of the Beginning, Tradewinds, North Light Books, and Dos Amigos restaurant. $15 for one day and $25 for both (tickets available only at the bandstand in La Plaza Park during the event).–G.C.

Grassroots Gourmet

A sure-fire sellout every year, Sonoma County Conservation Action’s annual Grassroots Gourmet Celebration features a gourmet dinner, premium wines, a silent auction, live music by the Pulsators, and the presentation of the Upstream Swimmer environmental award to a tenacious local official who’s shown “leadership in the face of adversity.” June 24, 6 p.m. Odd Fellows Temple, 545 Pacific Ave., Santa Rosa. $30 in advance and for members, $35 at the door (if tickets available–but it’s not likely). 571-8566.–P.H.

Scrapture

Talking trash takes on a whole new meaning at “Oh, Rapture, It’s Scrapture,” Garbage Reincarnation’s 14th annual junk-art scrapture competition. In addition to sculpture made from items normally dumped in the bin, the event features live entertainment from local musicians. Aspiring artists are invited to participate, but you must register by noon. June 24, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. La Plaza Park, Old Redwood Highway and West Sierra Avenue, downtown Cotati. Free. 584-8666.–P.H.

Hot-Air Balloon Festival

Feel the rush and get a closer look at the beauties of the sky at Rohnert Park’s annual celebration, which features over 20 different balloons, car shows, an inflatable playground, hayrides, an antique airplane fly-by, and refreshments. June 24-25 at 6 a.m. Grossi Farms, near Sonoma State University. Free. 664-1602.–H.B.

Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival

This annual three-day event benefits noble causes in memory of the late singer/songwriter Kate Wolf. Artists on stage June 23, starting at 1 p.m., include the Modern Hicks, Greg Brown and Garnet Rogers, and Nina Gerber. On June 24, beginning at 10 a.m., the festival serves up music by New Grange, Eric Bogle, Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum & Nina Gerber, and others. On June 25, starting at 10 a.m., check out Cheryl Wheeler, Hart Rouge, Utah Phillips, and others. Caswell Vineyards, 13207 Dupont Road, Sebastopol (rain or shine). Proceeds benefit the Leukemia Society of America, SEVA, KRCB, Friends of Free Speech Radio, and Bread & Roses. $20 on Friday and $37 on Saturday and Sunday, with special discounts for advance purchase and for kids and seniors. There is a small parking fee. 823-1511 or 829-7067.–H.B.

Hip-Hop Dance Camp

Kids 12 to 19 can pick up the hottest new tricks and moves when a visiting teacher holds two workshops at the Sebastopol Teen Center. The one-week sessions are held from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. on June 26-30 and July 24-28. 425 Morris St., Sebastopol. $90 for one-week session. 491-1568.–H.B.

Napa County Fair

Five days of festivities kick off with the Soroptomist Club’s champagne art preview at this year’s Napa County Fair. Other highlights include homemade-wine and barbecue contests; a destruction derby on June 30 at 7 p.m.; a country music concert by Blackhawk on July 3 at 8:30 p.m.; a motorcycle stunt show on July 2 at 3, 5, and 7 p.m.; hypnotists; musical acts; and a carnival and midway. June 30-July 4, noon to 11 p.m. daily. 1435 N. Oak St., Napa. $5 for adults, $2 for kids ages 6 to 11, and free for kids under 5. 942-5111.–S.L.

Sonoma Valley Shakespeare Festival

Once more into the breach, dear friends, for another summer of Shakespeare in the outdoors is upon us. This year’s festival offers three plays in revolving repertory: a comedy, a history, and something completely different. Twelfth Night plays on June 30, July 1-2, 22-23, 28, Aug. 13, 18, and Sept. 2. Henry V plays on July 14, 16, 21, Aug. 19-20, and Sept. 3 and 8. Good Night, Desdemona plays on July 7-9, 28-30, Aug. 19-20, and Sept. 3 and 8. Gundlach Bundschu Winery, 2000 Denmark St., Sonoma. $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and children; free for kids 2 and under. 584-1700.–P.S.

Bard in the yard: The Sonoma Valley Shakespeare Festival returns.

July

Art in the Park

Catch another summer of free outdoor music and theater furnished by the city of Santa Rosa starting in July. This year’s performances will be supplemented by culinary samples from some of our finest local eateries. The featured entertainers are keyboard artist John Allair on July 2, The Louisiana dance band Cajun Coyotes on July 9, the Afro-Cuban jazz outfit Quantum Pulse on July 16, Actors Theatre performing The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales on July 23, jazz musician Cat Austin on July 30, and the Santa Rosa Symphony Chamber Players on Aug. 6. All concerts begin at 7 p.m. in Juilliard Park, 211 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa. 543-3737.–S.L.

Play ball! The Sonoma County Crushers take the field for a new summer season.

Barbecue on the Lawn

Enjoy cool music in the warm outdoors during this summer series at Rancho Nicasio in Marin. Performers include Asleep at the Wheel on July 1, Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums on July 2, and Joe Louis Walker on July 23. It all wraps up on Sept. 3 with the Tee Fee Swamp Boogie Band. 1 Old Rancherio Road, Nicasio. Call for prices. 415/662-2219.–P.S.

Festival on the Green

It’s a curious combination when you think about it. Savor the sounds of American independence and music inspired by England’s most famous playwright at this brand-new summer music festival, which is co-produced by Sonoma State University and the Santa Rosa Symphony. There are two days of events. On July 4, at 4 p.m., “Independence Day on the Green” begins with jazz music, games for kids, appearances by historical characters, and wine and beer tasting. Then, at 7:30 p.m., the Santa Rosa Symphony offers an evening pops concert of patriotic music, followed by a fireworks show. On Aug. 5, a 7:30 p.m., “A Midsummer Night at the Green” features the symphony performing Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet and other Shakespeare-inspired music. It all goes down at the campus lakes at Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. Ticket prices start at $25. 546-8742.–P.S.

Bernadette’s Witnesses is shown above) open their studios June 3 and 4 during Art at the Source.

Kenwood Pillow Fights

Mix together pillows, mud, and a bunch of feisty entrants clinging to a pole-spanning Los Guilicos Creek and you’ve got the recipe for an instant crowd pleaser. The feathers fly again as the 34th annual Kenwood Pillow Fighting Championships get under way this Independence Day. Other attractions are the Kenwood hometown parade, 3K and 4K foot races, live music by the California Cowboys and the Gig Jung Band, and games for kids of all ages. You must be at least 14 to enter the pillow fights. Pillows and mud are supplied. July 4. Races start at 7:30 a.m.; pillow fights go from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plaza Park, on m Springs Road, Kenwood. $4; kids under 12 get in free. 833-2440.–P.H.

Sonoma Valley Poetry Festival

For three weeks, poetry breaks its chains and comes roaring out onto the streets of Sonoma during this quasi-annual event (it didn’t happen last year). North Bay poets of all shapes, sizes, ages, and reputations come together for three weeks of events, beginning with a Children’s Poetry program on July 9 at 2 p.m. in the courtyard of the Trinity Episcopal Church and ending on July 22 with two events: an appearance by nationally known poets at Readers’ Books; and Soapbox Poetry, which allows anyone to climb onto a soapbox in Sonoma and give voice to verse. In between, there’s Short Order Poetry, Poetry on the Menu, Song Line Sonoma, and much more at various locations around Sonoma. 935-7638.–P.S.

Smooth stuff: Peter White performs July 15 at Rodney Strong Vineyards.

The Sonoma County Millennium Showcase of Wine & Food

This series of food- and wine-related events is so much fun you’ll forget how much good you’re doing–proceeds go to Share Our Strength, a local hunger-prevention program and other local charities. There are many activities to participate in, including Appellation Tours & Tastes, a lunch and conversation with local vintners on July 13; the Barrel Auction & Dinner on July 14; and Taste of Sonoma County, which on July 15 offers a fine arts exhibit, gourmet tastings from local and internationally known chefs, and pourings from 70 wineries. Prices vary (but expect to dig deep). 586-3795.–H.B.

Wine Country Film Festival

Year 14 finds this annual cinematic extravaganza sprawling across the North Bay, screening films at theaters and vineyards in both Sonoma and Napa counties. Details about titles and special events will be available closer to the event. July 20- Aug. 13 at various times and locations. 935-FILM.–P.S.

Battle band: War strut their stuff on June 18 at the Sonoma-Marin Fair.

Sonoma County Fair

In addition to the standard attractions, this year’s fair offers big-name musical performers, including Sixpence None the Richer on July 26, Blessid Union of Souls on July 28, and the Blues Festival on Aug. 5. July 25 to Aug. 7, noon to midnight. Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. Admission is $5 general; senior and kids’ rates are available. 545-4200.

Sonoma Salute to the Arts

Cirque du Salute is the theme for the 15th year of this celebration, an ultra-premium food, wine, and art extravaganza. Get out the glitz: organizers expect guests to dress as acrobats, lion tamers, and ringmasters. The opening celebration is July 28 at 6:30 p.m. (Buena Vista Winery, end of Old Winery Road, Sonoma; $75). The showcase event is July 29-30, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a Saturday night auction ($75) and a Saturday and Sunday winetasting (Sonoma Plaza, downtown Sonoma; $25). A gala opening, auction, and tasting package is $150; everything else is free. 938-1133.–P.H.

August

All-Nations Powwow

Celebrate Native American culture at this second annual gathering of artists and craftspeople from various Northern California Indian tribes. The event also features dancers, Native American flute music by Mary Youngblood, and Indian tacos. Aug. 5-6, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Petaluma Adobe, 3325 Adobe Road, Petaluma. $3 for adults and $2 for children. 769-0429.–H.B.

Marin Music Festival

The sixth year of this outdoor event is still in the planning stage, but performers booked so far include the Mickey Hart Band and the Steve Kimock Band. Watch out for surprise guests! Aug. 5, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lagoon Park, Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael. Call for prices. 546-BASS.–P.S.

Petaluma Summer Music Festival

There’s something for everyone this year as the Cinnabar Theater hosts the best in local entertainment, with performers offering everything from Celtic music to Chinese rhythms. Tickle your funny bone at a presentation of The Star, Emmanuel Chabrier’s comic operetta. Hear music from some of the world’s greatest composers during the Candlelight Concerts. Enjoy four concerts in Petaluma’s finest vintage Victorian homes during Music in the Mansions. Aug. 5-26, at various times. Locations vary, but many performances take place at the Cinnabar Theater, 3333 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma. Prices vary. 763-8920.–H.B.

Napa Town and Country Fair

Now 70 years old, the fair is taking this year to celebrate its birthday and the dawn of the millennium with a multicultural theme, “The Spirit of Joy.” Highlighting the main attractions are the Tibetan Monks of the Gyudmed Tantric Monastery, who are making their only public U.S. appearance. The monks will give demonstrations of sand painting, mandalas, and Thangka painting. All the usual fair stuff (including a carnival) and musical entertainment lights up the evenings. August 9-13, noon to 10 p.m. 575 Third St. (between Silverado Trail and Soscol Avenue), Napa. $7 for adults, $4 for juniors and seniors, and free for kids under 5. 253-4900.–S.L.

Petaluma Quilt Show

Seven hundred colorful quilts decorate downtown Petaluma during the largest outdoor quilt show in California. Among the special attractions this year are appearances by talented quilt artists Robert Horton and Geneva Foote Carrol. Aug. 12, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Downtown Petaluma. Free. 769-0429.–P.S.

Gravenstein Apple Fair

Taste the bounty of local farms at “The sweetest little fair in Sonoma County.” The annual event offers displays of agricultural culture, cooking, hayrides, live entertainment, arts and crafts–and don’t forget the wonderful food. Aug. 12-13, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ragle Ranch Regional Park, Ragle Road (one mile north of Bodega Hwy.), Sebastopol. $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $1 for kids. 571-8288.–H.B.

Bodega Bay Seafood, Art, & Wine Festival

This festival on the ocean offers lots to keep you busy, including arts and crafts exhibits, wine and beer tasting, live entertainment, puppets, pony rides, wetland tours, seafood specialties, and lots of salty air. Aug. 25, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Aug. 26, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Chanslor Ranch, 1 mile north of Bodega Bay on Hwy. 1 (follow the signs). $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and free to kids under 12. 824-8404.–P.H.

Cotati Accordion Festival

Accordion aficionados, take note! This two-day extravaganza is your Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and wedding day all rolled into one tidy, wheezing bundle. The lineup for this year’s event is still to be announced, but expect the biggest names in squeeze play to be there to make your day. Aug. 26-27, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Downtown plaza, Cotati. $8 per day; $15 for both. 664-0444.–P.S.

Sonoma County Dixie Jazz Festival

Dixieland jazz seldom gets the respect it deserves, despite its important role as a spawning ground for mainstream jazz. Now in its 21st year, this dynamic festival draws fans from throughout Northern California for a high-energy showcase of some of the best Dixieland players around. The lineup includes the Grand Dominion Jazz Band, the Golden Eagle Jazz Band, the Black Swan Classic Jazz Band, the Devil Mountain Jazz Band, the Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, and the Barkin’ Dawg Jazz Band. Aug. 25-27. Doubletree Hotel, 1 Red Lion Drive, Rohnert Park. $60 in advance (before June 30), $70 at the door. 539-3494.–G.C.

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

North Bay Symphony Conductors

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North Bay Symphony Conductors

Photos by Michael Amsler

Orderly Conduct

As North Bay symphonies prepare for the summer season, four conductors reflect on the state of the art

By David Templeton

Jeffrey Kahane Santa Rosa Symphony

JEFFREY KAHANE is telling a story. “I was reading this article,” he explains, perched comfortably on his sofa, sipping strong coffee while a cloud-challenged sun throws intermittent splashes of midmorning light across Kahane’s spacious Santa Rosa living room.

For an instant, a warm wave of sunshine washes over the family piano, illuminating the glowing white pages of two open songbooks: Bach’s Passion of St. Matthew and The Best of the Beatles–currently opened to the music for Yellow Submarine.

“Some college in the East had started a program to punish students,” Kahane is saying. “These are students who were having academic problems, and the punishment was that they were required, as an official form of detention, to go out and attend a symphony concert.”

Kahane, the conductor and musical director of the Santa Rosa Symphony, and also the conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, now laughs at the notion of classical music as state-sanctioned torture.

“My first reaction, though,” he admits with a laugh, “was that I got really pissed off. I was infuriated. But then, of course, as I continued reading I had to chuckle. The article went on to say that a lot of those young people, after finally giving in and going to a concert, ended up saying, ‘Hey! Wow! This is great!’

“But the idea that classical music would ever be conceived of as a punishment,” he says, “is pretty appalling.”

Kahane was already a world-renowned conductor and pianist when, in 1995, he came to Sonoma County to take over the Santa Rosa Symphony, which had been in existence since 1928.

Now the ninth largest orchestra ensemble in California, the symphony has seen a remarkable resurgence of local interest: ticket sales have more than doubled over the last five years, with a paid subscriber base of over 3,000 people. That’s 2 percent of the overall population of Santa Rosa.

Demand is so great that Kahane has added a third performance night to every scheduled event and is looking at adding a fourth, an act that will make the Santa Rosa Symphony the only orchestra in America within its size and budget category to have to play four nights.

On top of that, this summer will see construction begin on the new concert hall on the grounds of Sonoma State University. When the hall opens in 2002, the symphony will host an international music festival featuring ensembles from around the globe.

“A lot of orchestras have rolled up into a ball and died in the last decade or so,” says Kahane, “and many of those that are still alive are only barely so. But in Santa Rosa we are experiencing the exact opposite.”

The reason for this culture boom, he says, is a combination of factors, including a high level of local affluence, a culturally ingrained appreciation of the arts throughout the North Bay, and a staunch refusal on the part of the symphony itself to be run-of-the-mill.

In fact, Kahane’s ambitious choice of material–from last season’s spectacular presentation of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem to the recent program of radical works by Anton Webern–is far more likely to open eyes and ears and get the listeners’ hearts racing than to put anyone to sleep.

“Of course, with the Webern, a small number of people absolutely hated it,” Kahane says. “We even got one ‘Boo!,’ which was truly invigorating.”

He’s serious. Kahane loved getting booed.

“I’m not interested in towing the line down the middle of the road,” he says, “keeping everybody happy. It’s OK to annoy people once in a while. In fact, for an orchestra today, it’s vital.

“See, one of the problems with classical music is that it’s become too polite,” he adds. “It’s that old ‘snob phenomenon.’ It began a century ago, when symphonies somehow became the playthings of the wealthy, a symbol of status, a stuffy, upper-crust, upper-class, intellectual art form. But that’s absolute baloney. Classical music was never conceived of or intended that way.”

According to Kahane, the parts of the country where classical music is experiencing a resurgence, the North Bay included, are the very same places where young people are learning that classical music, often challenging and “in-your-face,” is anything but stuffy.

“It’s time,” says Kahane, “for young people to take back the music.”

Asher Raboy Napa Valley Symphony

ASHER RABOY has found what he’s looking for. Rising from the floor, he waves the CD he’s just extracted from the bottom shelf of a crammed music case. Gliding through his sunny, downtown Napa office, Raboy deftly sidesteps an antique Steinway piano and then maneuvers around a high-tech electronic keyboard-and-computer console on which he composes daily.

Next to his CD player sit the neatly stacked pages of a recent Raboy composition, “Orchestral Dances”–written for the 67-year-old Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra, of which Raboy has been musical director and conductor since 1990. The piece enjoyed its world premiere last month, in a rousing program that included an early work of Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo, a collection of French folk songs by Joseph Canteloube, and a symphonic tone poem by Antonin Dvorák.

Having loaded the CD into the player, Raboy steps back and waits. Two seconds later, the room is filled with the unmistakable voice and energetic melodies . . . of Bob Dylan.

“This is the CD that won all those Grammys a few years ago,” notes Raboy, appreciatively. “It’s really different for Dylan. It’s like 1950s music.”

Raboy, 43 years old and bursting with energy, hardly presents the staid, imperious, white-haired image one traditionally conjures up when thinking of a world-class symphony conductor. As adept at discussing the works of Bruce Springsteen as he is at dissecting Verdi’s operas or Dvorák’s symphonies, Raboy represents a new breed of classical conductor: young, feisty, and a little rebellious–definitely a child of the ’60s.

“I’m a born rock-‘n’-roller,” he confesses. “But I was a lousy rock-‘n’-roll musician.”

Born in New York, Raboy began learning the piano at the age of 5. He’s composed and conducted for orchestras around the nation, including the Hudson Valley Philharmonic.

As the director of the Napa Valley Symphony, Raboy has helped re-energize the North Bay music scene with distinctly unusual programming and performances that are designed to give classical music a shot in the arm. With a creative mix of old and new works–and irresistible events like the annual Labor Day Concert on the Bridge, where the full orchestra performs over the Napa River–the symphony has won increasingly enthusiastic fans.

With an aggressive outreach program in Napa Valley schools, Raboy hopes to inspire the next generation of classical rebels. Indeed, it’s the lack of widespread musical knowledge in the country that concerns Raboy the most.

“A century ago,” he says, “you were not considered civilized if you didn’t play the piano. By the time you heard Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony performed by an orchestra, you’d had your own fingers in that piece of music hundreds of times. Nowadays, there’s no pressing need to learn the piano because we can all just load our CD players instead. So the majority of people today no longer have a sophisticated knowledge of music.”

But, according to Raboy, changes are a-coming, led largely by the living composers of orchestral music.

“The new composers will be the salvation of classical music,” Raboy predicts, “because there’s a new breed of classical music that is very much like the music we grew up with in the ’60s and ’70s, in that it speaks directly to people today, with lots of energy and vitality. There are conductors who are now looking for that music, and we’re putting it on the stage, and the word is getting out.

“I think we’re about to see a complete revitalization of classical music,” says Raboy, grinning like a kid who just heard his favorite song on the radio. “You watch. The 21st century will be the century in which symphonic music moves to the forefront of the culture again.”

Gabriel Sakakeeny Cotati Philharmonic Orchestra

GABRIEL SAKAKEENY is standing tall. Literally. The lanky conductor and musical director of the fledgling Cotati Philharmonic has playfully clambered up onto a wooden bench (a pew, actually) to demonstrate the acoustics inside the beautiful sanctuary of St. Joseph Church.

A soaring wood-framed ceiling rises to a tentlike point 50 feet above Sakakeeny’s head. A series of orange-hued stained-glass windows saturate the 1,000-seat room with rich, coppery light. Birdsong floats through a shuttered opening in the roof.

“This is probably the best-sounding room in the county,” says Sakakeeny, arms out to his sides, speaking oh-so-softly while remaining clearly audible from anywhere in the room.

“When the new concert hall is built at SSU, of course, the philharmonic will have to settle for performing in the second-best-sounding building in the county,” he continues. “But I think we can deal with that.”

Formed just last year, the Cotati Philharmonic is an all-volunteer orchestra that features some of the best professional musicians in the county, playing alongside highly skilled nonprofessional performers who come from far and wide for the opportunity to play full-blown orchestral music with a first-class ensemble.

Sakakeeny, who also donates his services, works full time as a video producer for Agilent Technologies, though his musical pedigree is outstanding. A former music director of the Houston youth ymphonies and ballet, Sakakeeny was also principal conductor of the Campanile Orchestra in Houston and has conducted with West Bay Opera and the Fremont Philharmonic.

When the idea of a Cotati orchestra was first posed in November of 1998, it was Sakakeeny who insisted the philharmonic be run as an all-volunteer organization–and that all concerts be free to the public.

The result of that decision is remarkable.

The first concert, held last July in the park–a program of American music, with works by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and George Gershwin–attracted over a thousand people. Subsequent concerts have filled the seats at St. Joseph, where attendees, ranging from homeless people to entire families to curious professional musicians, often marvel at the quality and passion of the philharmonic’s spirited performances.

“I wanted people who would do this for love and not for money,” says Sakakeeny, back on the ground again. “I wanted to see what could happen if we rid ourselves of the concerns of having to meet a budget.”

Supported by a core group of like-minded musicians–including several who perform with other local symphonies–Sakakeeny and his associates drafted a charter that proclaims, “Our mission is to have the beauty of music and the power of community alive and available to everyone.”

“We wanted to start from the ground up,” says Sakakeeny, “to reinvent the symphony orchestra.

“This is a very musical little town, you know,” he continues. “The residents of Cotati strongly identify themselves with music, from the accordion festival to the jazz festival, to the Inn of the Beginning and the whole local history of rock ‘n’ roll.”

In this true community effort, orchestra rehearsals are held at nearby Congregation Ner Shalom. There is much mingling of orchestra and audience following performances. The performers can be easily persuaded to demonstrate their instruments for starstruck children.

“Who knows,” says Sakakeeny, “the future geniuses of classical music may be inspired after their parents bring them to a free concert in downtown Cotati.”

As Marin Symphony conductor Gary Sheldon has pointed out, exposure to the music is the first step toward keeping the art form alive.

“I think people are hungry for what art music has to offer,” Sakakeeny muses, now sitting in the soft light of the sanctuary. “When you come into the presence of a great piece of art, your mind stops and you’re just present to the beauty of the thing. You are in the moment and you feel a sense of respite in the middle of your day, a moment when you can be with something beautiful and be awed and overwhelmed and changed by it.

“That’s what great music does.”

Gary Sheldon Marin Symphony

GARY SHELDON, “between airports” for a few short hours, is walking-talking evidence that symphonic music is alive and well. It’s so alive, in fact, that the mighty maestro can hardly rest for a minute.

After conducting the final concert of the season just last week, Sheldon–musical director of the Marin Symphony for the last 10 years–immediately hopped on a plane to Ohio, where he also runs the popular Lancaster Arts Festival and will be conducting a world premiere for Opera Columbus.

Following that, there are a dozen or so conducting opportunities that will send Sheldon around the world until next fall, when he’ll be back in Marin to conduct Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor for the opening night of the Marin Symphony’s new season.

A few weeks later, he’ll be taking a sabbatical, during which he’ll hit the road again to conduct a number of operas and ballets in Europe, while preparing several of his own compositions for publication.

“Believe me,” he says, “classical music is thriving.”

Even so, Sheldon is at the forefront of musicians who believe that without vigilant effort and ongoing education, classical music could well end up losing some of the steam that is powering his own musical enterprises.

“I’m confident that orchestral music will remain an important part of our society,” he says, “but I believe it can only do that if we can find a way to keep up and keep pace with other types of entertainment–movies and television and computers and all the other forms of music that are out there. To that end, we are constantly reaching out to new audiences, looking for ways to draw first-timers into the concert hall.”

Like other North Bay symphony organizations, the Marin Symphony has put tremendous effort into local educational programs. Among the most notable is Sheldon’s own creation, a series of annual concerts for children based on the popular Carmen Sandiego video game.

Where in the World of Music Is Carmen Sandiego? incorporates history, geography, and classical music in an onstage extravaganza that has become one of the hottest tickets of the year. This season Sheldon also introduced the SEATS program: Symphony Education and Training in the Schools. In the ambitious three-step program, Sheldon and one of the symphony’s soloists visit Marin County schools to make initial presentations, followed by a concert at the school by a string quartet or brass quintet, after which free symphony tickets are offered to all students.

“Exposure is even more important than education,” says Sheldon. “Our principal challenge is to get people into the hall for the first time. After we get them in the seat, the music has a way of taking it from there.”

He’s seen it hundreds of times.

“When I talk to people, of any age, who’ve just come to their first concert,” Sheldon proudly reveals, “the phrase I hear most often is ‘I had no idea what I’ve been missing.’ ”

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Russian River Redevelopment

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Russian River Redevelopment

The man with the plan: West county Supervisor Mike Reilly supports the recommendations of a $100,000 study urging redevelopment of impoverished Russian River communities, but constituents are unsure about the ultimate cost.

River Watch

Russian River-area residents look the redevelopment gift horse in the mouth

By Stephanie Hiller

TO HEAR IT from Sonoma County Supervisor Mike Reilly, the redevelopment sounds like the best thing to come down the river since the steelhead left: Monte Rio and Guerneville, forested river towns suffering from depressed economies, sharing in an estimated $185 million in new tax money over the next 45 years and transformed into lively little hubs, with nice structures tastefully redesigned and a flourishing tourist industry.

According to Reilly, redevelopment means money for housing renovation, river restoration, a new park by the historic old bridge, a community center, a park and trail in Monte Rio–“amenities that both visitors and residents could enjoy.”

But the community isn’t buying it, or at least 90 percent of the community isn’t, by activist Brenda Adelman’s reckoning. “We care about different things, and they’re not things you can put a price tag on,” she says. “We don’t want to look like the rest of the county. And we don’t necessarily want more tourists here.”

At the first meeting of the Russian River Forum, held May 3 in the supervisors’ chambers to give the public a chance to comment on the redevelopment plan, which was released last November, Guerneville resident Steven Spector, who followed the plan closely, painted a grim picture of tall hotels and parking lots from Rio Nido to the Rio Theater, sort of a biggest little city in the west county–Reno without the gambling halls.

Activist Lenny Weinstein calls this plan “affirmative action for developers.”

Although he believes Reilly is “sincere,” Weinstein suspects political ambitions are the ulterior motive. Others have accused Reilly of being in the pocket of the developers, a remark that makes the embroiled supervisor laugh.

“When all this is over,” he remarks, “we’ll see who is in whose pocket.”

REILLY HAS MADE his name in these parts by doing good for people who need help. The head of West County Community Services for 10 years and a committed environmentalist, he is especially proud of the establishment of the Guerneville Senior Center, which he got built with what he calls “guilt money” from developers.

In his first campaign for the supervisor’s post, four years ago, Reilly stressed his commitment to urban growth boundaries. “I’ve always been a limited-growth person, and I’ve said that we don’t need to be taking major residential growth into the west county.” Then what’s all the fuss about redevelopment?

“Fear of change,” he calls it.

We are sitting at a table on the outdoor patio at Reilly’s favorite hangout, the Northwood Restaurant, located on the golf course outside Guerneville. With its rich green lawns and golfers, it’s the closest thing to a country club the west county has to offer. Alluding to the hectic day he has just spent driving up and down the freeway to cover his beat, Reilly orders a pint of fawn-colored ale.

“Redevelopment will result in little if any residential growth,” he says. “The only new residential development even anticipated in the 30 years of the plan is for affordable housing. Everything else is focused on rehab of existing units.

“If there’s residential growth, it’s not because of redevelopment.”

Business development will occur only within the current “commercial footprint.” And the plan “will have to live within the bounds of the present infrastructure.”

As for the towering hotels, “there’s only one that I know of right now”–that is Kirk Lok’s proposed 150-room edifice, twice the size of his new Sebastopol hotel. One hotel not only can add to the tax base, but also becomes an “umbrella” to support smaller bed and breakfasts. The goal is to bring back the 300 or so rooms that the river area has lost over the past 20 years with the demise of Southside, River Village, Donovan’s, Hexagon House, and the like.

“I don’t think bringing that many [rooms] back will break the back of the river community,” Reilly says.

Maybe not, but many locals continue to feel they are being steamrollered into something that will change the face of their community.

Jim Neeley, spokesperson for Guerneville’s fire district, runs a tax and securities business in Santa Rosa. Only 20 percent of property tax increases from redevelopment will go to the fire district, he says. Instead, “developers can get cheap money. Probably tax relief, too.”

THE DREADED proposed regional sewer plant will have to be built, Neeley believes, to supply needed infrastructure. Like other opponents, he challenges the definition of blight on which the plan is based. “How did Northwood get to be a blighted area? There are half-million-dollar homes there!”

And why won’t the county reveal the addresses of these so-called blighted homes, asks Roni Bourque, 62, who has found “thousands of pages” on redevelopment abuse around the country on the Internet, and “something like a million lawsuits against it.”

She’s worried that her property taxes will be higher than she can afford and she’ll have to move. And “the practice of eminent domain is horrific,” she says, though Reilly has said that the county is not retaining that right over residential properties.

But Bourque is not persuaded by Reilly’s assurances. “This [plan] is money-driven, it has to be.”

Attorney Barbara Barrett, president of the Guerneville Chamber of Commerce, acknowledges that there have been problems with redevelopment, mostly prior to 1993. Since then, she says, laws have gotten stricter. She challenges the assertion that 90 percent of local residents are opposed to the plan. Supporters agree that redevelopment anxiety might be allayed if citizens had greater input in its implementation.

To that end, Reilly promises to recommend the formation of a citizens’ advisory committee that will review all building proposals. The county Board of Supervisors will have the final say, but only on projects that the committee recommends.

“At least the committee will have the ability to say no, which is an important control mechanism,” he chuckles, “maybe the most important control mechanism.”

From the May 18-24, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Jazz Night at the Movies

Round Midnight, is featured in rare clips at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival film archive program. Clip Art Film collector's rare jazz footage premieres at Healdsburg Jazz Fest By Paula Harris AS A LOS ANGELES kindergarten teacher, Mark Cantor may spend most days wiping runny noses and reciting nursery...
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Usual Suspects

Traffic School SRJC parking a nightmare for some, a cash cow for others By Duane De Witt "THEY PAVED paradise to put up a parking lot," Joni Mitchell once lamented in song. But over at Santa Rosa Junior College the refrain is always the same: "We need more parking." With nearly 30,000 students,...
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‘Where the Heart Is’

An optimist looks at life, rock-and-roll, ups and down, and the new film Where the Heart Is. Writer David Templeton takes interesting people to interesting movies in his ongoing quest for the ultimate post-film conversation. This is not a review; rather, it's a freewheeling, tangential discussion of art, alternative ideas, and popular...
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Russian River Redevelopment

The man with the plan: West county Supervisor Mike Reilly supports the recommendations of a $100,000 study urging redevelopment of impoverished Russian River communities, but constituents are unsure about the ultimate cost. River Watch Russian River-area residents look the redevelopment gift horse in the mouth By Stephanie Hiller ...
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