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Open Mic: My Friend, Tony Good

Bohemian Staff and Contributors

Jun 2, 2021

By Nikki Silverstein

I’ve been corresponding with an intelligent, quick-witted Pacific Sun reader for more than a decade. Tony Good lived on the streets of San Rafael. Although just 44, he suffered from several medical conditions and disabilities, and sometimes from drug addiction. He recently told me he thought he was going to die. Two weeks ago, I found out his demons got the better of him. He passed away.

Tony was born in San Antonio, Texas, and attended the University of Texas at Dallas. An avid writer, he previously worked for the Dallas Morning News, Digital Press Magazine and Electronic Games Magazine. You could also frequently read Tony’s musings in the Pacific Sun’s Letters to the Editor section.

Well-read and up on current events, Tony was always prepared for a rousing debate on politics. I was forever on the losing end, even though we both leaned to the left.

Tony was a regular visitor at video arcades, where he loved playing classic video games. He often boasted he held the world record on his favorite game, Do! Run Run, and consistently played for one to two hours on a single quarter. He once jokingly asked me to include these achievements in his obituary.

My world has dimmed with Tony’s passing. I didn’t realize what a big part of my life he occupied, but his messages popped up every time I turned on my computer. In the same email, he could completely frustrate me and then make me laugh out loud. Until today, I didn’t know that Tony could also bring me to tears.

Tony is survived by his mother Lupe Bueno and sister Wendy Askew. His father, Antonio Bueno, preceded him in death.

Rest easy, Tony. You will be missed.

Nikki Silverstein writes a weekly news column for the Pacific Sun. We welcome your contribution. To have your topical essay of 350 words considered for publication, write op*****@******an.com.

LA Times Weighs in on North Bay ‘Newspaper War’

Will Carruthers

Jun 1, 2021

LA Times Weighs in on North Bay ‘Newspaper War’

The ever-expanding black hole around former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli is nipping at the heels of the North Coast’s largest newspaper, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

In a May 30 article, the Los Angeles Times’ media critic James Rainey weighed in on the ongoing “newspaper war” between the San Francisco Chronicle and Sonoma County’s daily paper. The conflict began in early April after the Chronicle published the first of many articles laying out numerous womens’ sexual assault and abuse allegations against Foppoli.

Foppoli finally resigned from public office in late May, but his now-toxic brand has continued to tarnish the reputations of his former supporters and associates. That includes the Press Democrat, which got wind of the Foppoli story years ago but failed to act.

Ironically, Rainey wasn’t the first to cast the Press Democrat’s role in the Bay Area newspaper market in violent terms.

In a 2013 speech to the California News Publishers Association, Darius Anderson, a prominent Sacramento lobbyist and an investor in Sonoma Media Investments, the company which owns the PD and six other Sonoma County print publications, was full of bluster.

“I plan to go to San Francisco and rape and pillage other publications and take their talent and bring it to Santa Rosa,” Anderson told the crowd of media types, according to a report from Sonoma West publisher Rollie Atkinson.

Eight years later, many of the Press Democrat’s staff are leaving, retiring or being placed on leave. In short, if this is a war, the PD is losing at least by attrition.

The upside? Readers are finally getting a peek into the messy world of Sonoma County’s political class as the Press Democrat scrambles to compete with its big-city rival. Let’s hope that the Foppoli scandal triggers better coverage of Sonoma County politics in the long term.

Sonoma County Teenagers Participate in 266-Mile Climate March

Will Carruthers

Jun 1, 2021

Sonoma County Teenagers Participate in 266-Mile Climate March

On Friday, May 28, seven young climate activists set out from Paradise to complete a 266-mile march to San Francisco in an effort to bring attention to the worsening effects of climate change on Northern California.

“I’m tired of inaction while watching my city burn. Living in California is terrifying, in the past 4 years alone I’ve had to pack more than ten evacuation bags,” Madeline Ruddell, a 16-year-old Sonoma County resident participating in the action, said.

The march was organized by the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate action organization with local chapters around the country. The marchers—impacted by the worsening impacts of climate change and the ever-declining economic prospects of America’s younger generations—are attempting to pressure Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senator Dianne Feinstein to support the creation of the Civilian Climate Corps (CCC), a proposed government program to hire people to construct projects to recover-from and stave-off the impacts of climate change.

The proposal would amount to a 21st Century version of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a short-lived government program which hired Americans to work on wildland conservation projects between 1933 and 1942, between the Great Depression and the start of World War II.

If created, the new CCC would be the first step towards passing the Green New Deal, a legislative proposal that Sunrise and other backers say would pair climate improvements with additional climate-friendly jobs—a two-for-one deal which seems especially appealing for young Californians considering living through years of worsened wildfires, droughts and sea level rise.

Backers estimate that the $10 billion program, which is included in President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan, could create 1.5 million jobs over the next five years.

The Covid-19 pandemic’s disastrous effects on increasingly fire-prone Wine Country offer an example of why such a jobs program could be effective. As workers were laid off in the early months of the pandemic, instead of repeatedly calling the state’s inadequate unemployment insurance phone line, some could have been paid by the government to prepare the region for the coming wildfire season.

“There are millions of us looking for good work, and so much that needs to be done. It will take all of us to build a renewable energy grid, restore our parks, and retrofit old buildings as well as carbon-intensive transit infrastructure,” a statement from Sunrise California announcing the march states.

Organizers see the CCC as the first part of the Green New Deal, a green jobs proposal which has become a rallying cry for activists in recent years.

“I’m marching because when I’m a mom, I know I’ll have to tell my kids a story about how when I was their age, fires would devastate my community every year. But then I want to be able to finish that story by talking about my power: The power I had to walk 266 miles and demand a CCC from our leaders,” said Lola Guthrie, a 17-year-old Sonoma County participant in the march.

Whether or not the march is successful in its goals, the participants are not alone in grappling with the numerous monumental problems facing the world these days. The California march is paired with a similar journey from New Orleans to Houston.

The California procession is expected to pass through the cities of Winters, St. Helena and Napa on June 7 and 8, before heading on to Santa Rosa on June 9 and 10. Supporters of the protest will hold a rally at Santa Rosa’s Julliard Park at 10am on Thursday, June 10. The march will conclude in San Francisco on Monday, June 14.

You can follow the climate procession in real time on Twitter @smvmtgenonfire or on Instagram at @sunrisegenonfire.

Healdsburg Raises Pride Flag for First Time in City History

Charlie Swanson

May 28, 2021

Healdsburg Raises Pride Flag for First Time in City History

First designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978, the rainbow flag is now the most iconic symbol of LGBTQIA+ Pride.

In the four decades since its debut, the rainbow flag has become an international symbol for Pride Month in June. More rainbow flags have also been designed to celebrate the broader community and the progression of LGBTQIA+ rights.

Now, the city of Healdsburg joins the Pride movement with its first ever official Pride Flag Raising Ceremony on Tuesday, June 1, at Healdsburg City Hall.

The flag that will be raised is called the Progress Pride Flag and was designed in 2018 by Daniel Quasar. The Progress Pride Flag adds a five-color chevron to the six-color rainbow to honor the transgender community and LGBTQIA+ people of color.

Throughout the month of June, all of Healdsburg’s city government buildings will show their Pride and allyship with the LGBTQIA+ community thanks to a new resolution, written by Vice Mayor of Healdsburg Ozzy Jimenez and unanimously approved by Healdsburg City Council.

Jimenez, who owns Noble Folk Ice Cream and Pie Bar, is the first Latinx city councilperson in almost three decades and is believed to be the second-ever openly councilperson.

“This is such a personally meaningful milestone,” says Jimenez. “I’m so proud to see my city make this public display of LGBTQIA+ support.”

On June 1, Jimenez will raise the Progress Pride Flag at Healdsburg City Hall (401 Grove Street) at 6pm, and both he and Mayor Evelyn Mitchell will speak at the ceremony. Afterwards, the public is welcome to walk to Healdsburg Plaza for an all-ages Pride celebration happening 6:30pm to 8:30pm and hosted by LGBTQ Connection and Positive Images–two local organizations that serve the LGBTQIA+ community.

The plaza celebration will feature music, snacks, activities and keynote speakers including councilperson Skylaer Palacios and Noe Naranjo, a young LGBTQIA+ activist from Healdsburg.

The Mother Hips Mark Rock Milestone

Charlie Swanson

May 26, 2021

From their college days to midlife, Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono have remained connected at the hip—the Mother Hips, that is.

Since 1991, the two guitarists and singer-songwriters have blazed a trail of West Coast rock-and-roll that put them on the map locally and nationally.

This year, the Mother Hips mark 30 years together, and the group’s label, Blue Rose Music, celebrates with a special, limited-number vinyl reissue of all 10 of the band’s studio albums leading up to the release of a brand-new, still-untitled record in late 2021.

The band is also hitting the road this summer for the first time since Covid-19 canceled live music more than a year ago. The Mother Hips make their next North Bay appearance in a special Cookout Concert on Sunday, July 11, at HopMonk Tavern in Novato.

Bluhm and Loiacono co-formed the Mother Hips while attending college in Chico, and the band was signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings before they graduated from school.

“I think about how much music we played all the time,” Loiacono says about college. “Every molecule and minute was spent on the music, and I loved it.”

“I’m recalling those days and reviving those memories now more than I normally would,” Bluhm says. “It’s a good feeling; I enjoy talking about those times, but they were just regular old times, like any other time if you break it down. We were just doing what was in front of us, same as we are now.”

While the band’s lineup and self-described “California Soul” sound shifted around over the last three decades, Bluhm and Loiacono remained the constant core of the Mother Hips.

“We really like making music with each other and the band, and I think it’s as easy as that,” Loiacono says.

Bluhm and Loiacono are taking a trip down memory lane by reissuing their studio albums on vinyl with Blue Rose Music. Many of these albums are being released on vinyl for the first time, and the artists worked with the label to include extra liner notes and photos for the releases.

“It was an exciting undertaking,” Loiacono says. “We are fortunate that Blue Rose—and [label owner] Joe Poletto in particular—not only came up with the idea, but saw it through.”

After spending most of 2020 in social isolation, the Mother Hips worked quickly to record their upcoming studio album, slated for release in November 2021, and they are excited to see fans once again at their often sold-out shows.

“At 30 years, there’s a lot of good vibes going around, a lot of love and support, and that’s probably the main thing that keeps us going,” Loiacono says.

“This band has been a huge part of our lives,” Bluhm says. “So much of my life is written in those Mother Hips songs, and those songs are a part of other people’s lives. Now, someone will walk past me and say, ‘Oh! Mother Hips guy!’ That’s part of my life, I’m Mother Hips guy.”