Page 391 – Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

Blue in the Face

News

Will Carruthers

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May 29, 2019

A House Divided? The state party is rudderless, says one progressive critic—even as it is all-powerful in Sacramento

If the past several years are any indication, sparks will fly at the California Democratic Party convention this weekend in San Francisco.

Attendees of the gathering of Democrats—second in size only to the national convention—will bump shoulders with 14 announced presidential candidates, elect a new chair for the state party and vote on a variety of resolutions from Democratic clubs around the state.

But, as 2020 approaches with 24 candidates vying for the party’s presidential nomination, the larger debate over the direction of the Democratic Party is pungently acute in the North Bay, where even a pro-impeachment liberal environmentalist like Jared Huffman is viewed by some progressive party activists as a corporate Democrat, Joe Biden is accused of being a Republican and Bernie bumper stickers are as common on the road as traffic jams.

Conventions are always wide open and messy affairs, since the many factions of the party are all under one roof. But given the “Trumpian” fallout from the departure of accused serial groper and former Chair of the California Democratic Party Eric Bauman late last year—this year could be a doozy.

Recent state conventions have highlighted the moderate-progressive divide in the Democratic Party across the country—even as the state is basically a one-party state with a supermajority in Sacramento that’s gaining steam under Gavin Newsom. Still, the party will now have to deal with an additional layer of divide as a handful of the candidates for party chair are explicitly running as a rebuke against Bauman.

At the 2017 state convention, Bauman narrowly won election as party chair over his African-American opponent, Kimberly Ellis. She’s running against six other candidates this year. Most of them highlight their activist-progressive bona fides in campaign literature and pledge to move the party beyond the Bauman stain. In November 2018, Bauman stepped down as chair after party employees and activists accused him of sexual harassment for inappropriate comments and physical contact with staffers.

If no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote on Saturday, a second vote will be held on Sunday morning to pick a party chair.

“The priority of this convention is the election of a state chair,” says Pat Sabo, the chair of the Sonoma County Democratic Central Committee. “That will give us a better idea of where the party is going into the [convention].”

Dividing Lines

In March, former vice president Joe Biden bragged that he had “the most progressive record of any candidate running” for president. The line irked members of the “Sanders wing” of the party, who don’t consider Biden one of their own. Then again, Sanders isn’t even a Democrat. Marin County progressive activist and author Normon Solomon penned a column that month that said Biden “might as well be a Republican.”

While it’s true that all politics is local—locally, Democrats really don’t like President Trump and want their elected officials to do something about it. Sonoma County’s Alice Chan, an elected Democratic Party delegate from Assembly District 10, said whether or not to impeach the president has been an increasingly divisive issue in the party in recent months.

Climate change is another issue of great interest to local Democrats, who give no eco-quarter when it comes to Huffman. At the local level, Chan disagreed with Huffman’s decision to join House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, but likes that he’s gone after Trump via impeachment.

“[Pelosi] hamstrung the committee by depriving it of the powers routinely given to congressional committees: the power to issue subpoenas and write legislation,” Chan wrote in an op-ed in the Bohemian earlier this year.

“If we are truly facing “the greatest moral, economic and environmental imperative of our time”—and we certainly are—why hasn’t Huffman spoken up about the powerlessness of this committee?” Chan continued. For that matter, why hasn’t centrist Democrat Mike Thompson?

Chan says she’s proud that Huffman had recently publicly disagreed with Pelosi’s opposition to efforts to impeach Trump. Huffman is one of about a dozen congressmen supporting impeachment proceedings against the president. Thompson is not one of them.

As the party’s been working to overcome the Bauman debacle, Sabo continues to believe that most disagreements within the party are over how to achieve goals shared among all Democrats.

“We have more in common than we think, but we might want to get there differently,” she says.

Recent skirmishes over universal healthcare, a policy included on the California Democratic Party platform, are an example of one divide within the party, with progressives criticizing elected officials over a lack of progress toward what’s presumed to be a shared goal on the state Democratic platform.

The Democrats currently hold all eight statewide executive offices along with a supermajority in the legislature. It’s not like they can blame Republicans for standing in their way.

In June 2017, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon pulled the Healthy California Act, a proposed universal healthcare bill, from consideration, arguing that it was “woefully incomplete upon reaching the Assembly for a vote. His decision sparked protests from the bill’s backers, which included the California Nurses Association.

Several months later, progressive Democrats in Humboldt County passed a motion by 16-11 that blasted Assemblyman Jim Wood for his role in the bill’s failure, and for “ignoring the clear will of the Democratic Party.”

Wood responded that he was not working in opposition to the bill, but that more groundwork needed to be done “to make the goals of this bill a reality.” Another attempt at universal healthcare was considered and shelved this year. Wood told reporters that it was still premature to push for a California single-payer universal healthcare system.

Party Mechanics

Attempts to guide the state Democratic party from the inside often come down to invoking over the party’s lesser-known rules and procedures. This fact came to a head in the North Bay at several public, but little-advertised elections, for state party delegates last year.

First, let’s consider the rules.

There are three ways one can serve as one of the roughly 3,000 delegates sent to the Democratic National Convention: serve as a member of a county central committee; be appointed by a state-level elected official; or win a seat in open, but little-advertised elections in each assembly district every other year.

The open elections, known as Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEM) have historically been viewed as one way for everyday Democrats to gain votes at the state convention without much investment beyond campaigning for the seat locally. That dynamic shifted somewhat this year when elected officials started to endorse slates of delegate candidates.

For example, in District 2, a sprawling district that stretches from Marin County to the Oregon border, Wood and Sen. Mike McGuire endorsed the California Rise Together slate. The slate included elected office holders and party members predominantly from Sonoma County. An opposing slate, the Progressive Labor Slate, fielded candidates from up and down the North Coast.

The decision by the elected officials to endorse candidates in the open election—a new practice, according to multiple local party members interviewed—struck some progressives as an effort by elected leaders to win sympathetic delegates in a category usually not controlled by them.

“If they wanted to serve as a delegate, they could have just asked their assemblymember for an appointment,” says Chan.

In February, Bill Wong, California’s Political Director of Assembly Democrats, told the Northern California online political hotsheet, Redheaded Blackbelt, that state legislators in the lower house are allowed to endorse candidate slates under the state party’s bylaws.

“Assembly members are members of the Democratic Party and they are allowed by the party bylaws to participate in the ADEM elections in the same manner as any other engaged and committed registered Democrat,” Wong wrote.

The state party’s bylaws don’t weigh in on the role of money in the ADEM elections. While candidates for public office are required to report financial contributions and expenses of their campaigns, the party isn’t beholden to those campaign-finance rules. The California Democratic Party didn’t respond to an inquiry about rules regarding financial disclosures in the district elections in time for the Bohemian’s deadline.

Sabo, the chair of the county central committee, called the practice of putting money behind slates “a slippery slope.”

“I think that money could have been better spent in [Sonoma County] rather than attacking each other,” Sabo said.

Despite the prominence of the electeds-endorsed slate members, the Progressive slate won 12 of 14 seats in the recent elections. How that translates this weekend remains to be seen, but local party officials are optimistic that, if nothing else, the party convention presents a chance for the state party to move beyond the Bauman debacle.

Convention Goals

Mary Watts, a Rise Together candidate from Santa Rosa, was elected to serve on the state party’s executive board as representative for District 2. She ran for Santa Rosa City Council last year as a working parent and renter in one of the nation’s priciest markets—and lost.

Watts said she hopes that a new party chair can help mend some of the party’s culture revealed, in part, by the unhealthy culture under Bauman’s leadership.

“We need to acknowledge that we have had faults and that we want to make changes,” she says.

Rather than categorize party members as “progressive” or “moderate,” Watts says she tends to consider a party members’ stance on different issues.

“The bigger issue is that everyone can go into a room and focus on common goals,” says Watts. All eyes are on 2020 and she hopes the state party can help lead the national party to take back the White House and the U.S. Senate in 2020.

David Hildebrand, a candidate for northern chair of the Progressive Caucus, who got involved in electoral politics as a result of the Sanders campaign, believes the state party is not acting quickly enough on major issues such as climate change and universal healthcare. He decided that pushing the state party to the left from the inside would be quicker than building a viable third party in time for 2020. He’s hoping for a positive result this weekend.

“This election is going to be a bellwether for the direction the party is moving,” Hildebrand predicted. “The person in charge of the party has to be that speaker pushing the issues and the platform In the past the [moderate] chairs have not done that because they don’t need to.”

Helen Sizemore, an elected delegate in Assembly District 2 hopes that a new chair will provide unifying leadership for a state party that Sizemore sees as adrift—yet seemingly all-powerful at once.

“I think the party is a ship without a rudder,” says Sizemore. The election, she hopes, will start to set state Democrats on a new course.

Rock Valley

Music

Aiyana Moya

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May 29, 2019

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Rain, pulled pork sandwiches and the intersection of millenials and Wine Country natives all made an appearance this year at BottleRock Napa Valley.

Friday began with an hour of traffic and a blessed parking pass (definitely worth purchasing). My first year at BottleRock, I was surprised by the aesthetic appeal of the festival. With string lights swinging from the lush trees and trendy signs decorating food stands, the event is picturesque, though a dry pulled pork sandwich for $16 and a Michelada for $13 was a harsh introduction to festival-priced food.

Among the daytime bands, Neon Trees kept the crowd dancing with catchy pop tunes, while Anderson East serenaded his audience with his melodic voice, leaving the crowd enamored. The highlight of the day goes to Sylvan Esso, with band members Amelia Meath and Nick Sonborn delivering contagious enthusiasm. Meath performed a tireless stream of dance moves in silver, cut-out pants and Sonborn happily rocked out alongside her.

Friday headliner Imagine Dragons included strobe lights, confetti and smoke cannons in their show, with the audience singing along to the band’s multiple hits. Lead singer Dan Reynolds reiterated a message of inclusivity and positivity throughout the performance.

Saturday began with the punk rock Regrettes. Their songs moved lyrically between topics such as the social pressures women face, first dates and friendships, giving the group equal amounts of vulnerability and the take-it-or-leave-it punk attitude.

In an interview, the band revealed a level of clarity with insightful perspectives that belied their youth, discussing the importance of writing lyrics about societal pressures women, particularly young women, face. “I think it is important to use whatever kind of platform you are given to unapologetically speak about things that matter,” says lead band member Lydia Night.

Other notable performances included hip-hop group Cypress Hill, drawing a crowd who grew up in the early ’90s and sang along to all the cannabis-laced lyrics. The standout performance of the day was Latin pop star Juanes, who had the whole audience busting out enviable salsa moves and singing along to every word (in Spanish of course). The headliners, Pharrell Williams and Neil Young, had predictably different audiences. Young sang his hits in a beanie and raised a mason jar filled with “water” to his older fans, while Pharrell Williams moved across his stage with seven dancers by his side to a younger audience.

Sunday rain deterred me from making the trek to Napa, but two days of wine, overpriced food and good music were enough for me.

BottleRock Napa Valley will return May 22–24, 2020.

Don’t Fence Me In

Arts

Bohemian.com

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May 29, 2019

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Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Sonoma Mountain Preservation released Where the World Begins, a book of photographs and stories centered around the namesake landmark. Created by Art Dawson, the book rose to the top of Copperfield’s bestseller list in Petaluma shortly after it hit stores this spring.

“Our intention is to deepen people’s relationship with place, because when you’re aware of something you’re more likely to care about it,” said Meg Wheeler, president of Sonoma Mountain Preservation, a land preservation organization. “It helps people see themselves in their environment in a different way, how the mountain roots the landscape because it’s encircled by a quarter of a million people.”

Sonoma Mountain presides over the west side of Sonoma Valley like a round and furry beast. At 2,464 feet high, its importance is easily taken for granted by the traffic rushing by on Highways 12 and 101. With Mt. Bennett and Mt. Taylor, it forms the smallest mountain range in the Sonoma Country. It can be seen from all over the county, but its exact peak has never been definitely identified.

“It’s a mountain without an ego,”chuckles Dawson.

Dawson is the son of a physics professor who began roaming the woodlands as a boy growing up in New Jersey. He is a storyteller, a poet and a teacher who has calls himself “historical ecologist.” He’s also authored The Stories Behind Sonoma Valley Place Names and worked with the Sonoma Ecology Center to collect stories about Sonoma Creek as told by local elders. That became the book Creek Wisdom.

As much as Where the World Begins documents the history and science of the land, the book is about the relationships of local people for whom the mountain matters deeply. The late Pat Eliot, to whom the book is dedicated, was a longtime advocate for Sonoma Mountain. She passed away in 2016. She became friends with another would-be defender, Mickey Cooke, when they were young girls exploring the mountain on horseback. Eliot was working at the dude ranch that had been Jack London’s Beauty Ranch. Both returned in the 1970s to discover that Sonoma County had changed.

“Pat was the one who recognized what was going on,” said Cooke.”This place was just booming. You couldn’t ride anywhere because fences were going up. The new people liked their fortresses with eight-foot fences.”

Eliot and Cooke dedicated themselves to protecting the mountain.

“Of course we also wanted to create open access,” said Cooke, “so that people could enjoy the mountain, but we didn’t want to push that because we were afraid we would get pushback from neighbors.”

The duo worked with county agencies to create an ordinance to regulate the design of new housing. It was adopted in 1978. In 1994 Sonoma Mountain Preservation took form and battled the state over a vineyard proposed on the eastern slope above the Sonoma Developmental Center. “We saw the mountain as a whole piece being chopped up into little tiny bits.”

With support from local environmentalists, they blocked the vineyard. In 2009, the late Kirsten Lindquist, Cooke’s daughter, learned that the top of the mountain was for sale. She called Eliot’s daughter Wendy Eliot, conservation director at the Sonoma Land Trust, for help.

“We’ve got to get this for the moms,” the younger Eliot said.

They did. The Sonoma Land Trust, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District and the California Coastal Conservancy put up $9.95 million to buy the orchard property. The mountaintop later became part of Jack London State Historical Park.

In a recent victory, the land trust and other parties got the state to commit to protecting 700 acres on the eastern slope of the mountain around the Sonoma Developmental Center, which is an pinch-point in an important wildlife corridor that runs from Lake County to the sea.

The stories told in this new book are lyrically rendered. Beautiful photographs of the mountain, its surroundings and the people who are part of its story enrich the tale.

“To visit the mountain is to exchange a human centered world for something akin to the old tales—a place where a more ancient order still holds sway,” writes Dawson.

Facing another era of booming development, inflated real estate, and growing numbers of people, the book reminds us of “the healing we receive by becoming connected with place,” says SMP’s Wheeler. “We all have indigenous souls.”

The Ethics of Place

An interview with Greg Sarris

“On a fence up on Gravity Hill, where Lichau Road seems to be going up but is in fact going down, two Crows sit talking. One is called Question Woman. She has no memory, and has to ask a lot of questions. The other is Answer Woman. She can only tell stories when she is asked.”

Thus does Greg Sarris frame his recently published collection of children’s stories, How the Mountain Was Made. Sarris is the Tribal Chairman for the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria who own Rohnert Park’s Graton Casino, which donates a percentage of profits to help tribal people and preserve native lands in the region.
The following are excerpts from an interview with Sarris about the book and Sonoma Mountain.

“I suppose each book has its reason for being. For native peoples, the landscape has always been the sacred text. That’s how we know ourselves, how we understood who we were. With so many indigenous people throughout the world, not only do we get disenrolled or colonized or whatever, but the landscape suffers the same kind of horrendous treatment and so as the landscape gets burned or destroyed, reshaped in some cases. What we’re fortunate to have left are just shards and pieces. What we’ve been trying to do is pick up those pieces and keep the culture alive. What can we learn from them and how can we continue those cultures, those histories, those stories in a contemporary context?

“The stories had to do with teaching that community is important, thinking for the self will usually get you in trouble, where they contrast with a lot of the western fairy tales that are pretty dark and scary, and they’re not real. Look at Cinderella. If you work hard and put up with abuse, your prince will come. No wonder so many of us grow up unhappy. The prince doesn’t come along. What happened?

“Our central figure is coyote and he’s a trickster, he gets into trouble, and you get the sense that the world was created by a series of mistakes whereby you’re forced to negotiate your own reality, always remembering that if you’re selfish, bad things will happen.

“We believe that when the animals were people, they lived together in a village. Coyote and a couple of animals got greedy and hungry and they decided to kill someone, a deer, to eat her. They trapped her and she escaped, and she ran home and said, Coyote’s trying to kill me! Then all the animals said “oh my God,” we have to figure out something, and bear grew claws, eagle grew wings, they all ran away. And the only ones that were left were Coyote and people. And people, human beings, were seen as the dumbest of all, who because of trickery lost communication with all the animals and what our job as human beings is to constantly look for ways to reconnect with our villagers.

“Coming on the mountain you find things that are so unpredictable, so unbelievably unusual [like] outcroppings of rocks, Gravity Hill. And the mountain has so much water! And it’s shifting! A hill will rise, another will sink. Our rock walls are always giving way. The land is always moving.

“We always believed everything had a spirit, had songs. We had to think of others because it would come back on you. When the white people came, they called them pala’chah. In Kashia Pomo, it means miracle. They were damming the water and chopping down trees and killing all the animals, and people said, we always believed that if we did things like that, we would be punished, but instead of being punished, more of them kept on coming! So we called them the miracle people.

“And of course, as you know, it has come back on us.
“That’s why we need these stories, and things that make us responsible to one another and for one another, that’s what’s going to save us.”

—Stephanie Hiller

Real Food

Dining

Jonah Raskin

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May 29, 2019

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What’s happening now, finally, is that people are beginning to realize that Mexican cuisine is one of the great cuisines anywhere in the world,” says Karen Waikiki on the patio of El Molino Central in Sonoma. It’s noon on a Friday and the parking lot is full and all the tables are taken.

“I never thought we would be as busy as we are,” she says.

The tiny kitchen is tightly packed with a half dozen bodies performing a variety of demanding tasks: grinding blue corn, making tortillas, cooking fish tacos, refrying black beans, stuffing roasted poblano peppers and turning ripe avocados into creamy guacamole.

Zoraida Juarez, who comes from Oaxaca, prepares a red mole sauce, using a recipe she learned from her mother. Zoraidas’s “Mother’s Oaxacan Red Mole Chicken Enchiladas” is a popular dish on the menu. Intense, alert Jose Andrade, who comes from Guanajuato, is cooking one of his signature dishes, “Jose’s Tacos De Birria Tatemada.” It’s made from roasted goat, and is also quite popular.

Like Jose and Zoraida, the dishwashers and the servers come from Mexican regions far apart. At El Molino, they rub shoulders, share regional cooking secrets and create new dishes with local ingredients.

“It’s crazy in the kitchen,” Andrade says. “People are talking, screaming and running, and we’re all learning from one another. I learn from Zoraida and she learns from me.”

Sometimes the Mexican cooks teach Waikiki and sometimes she teaches them, though she encourages them to do what they do best without her ideas, some of which are adapted from Diana Kennedy’s unparalleled cookbooks. Waikiki studied in Mexico with Kennedy, who has educated generations of cooks about Mexican cuisine.

Right now, from Mexico City to San Francisco, New York and beyond, Mexican cooking is going through a transformation. Last year, three savvy New York restaurateurs opened Gran Electrica in downtown Napa and promised to serve “regional Mexican fare plus mezcal and tequila cocktails in a rustic-chic space with a patio.”

In January, the French Laundry’s Thomas Keller opened La Calenda in Yountville which features “classic Mexican” and “casual Oaxacan-style dishes.” Traci Des Jardins closed her flagship San Francisco restaurant, Jardinière, and announced she was going to open a Mexican place.

With so many Anglos throwing their hats into the huge cauldron of Mexican food and cooking, American chefs, foodies and critics are asking why. After all, as Waikiki points it, “great Mexican food has been around for ages.” It seems that Americans who have binged on French and Italian food want something new and different, casual and classy. Mexican food fits the bill.

Waikiki worries not only about what’s really “authentic” and what’s genuinely “traditional,” but also about “appropriation,” which is as controversial a topic in the world of cuisine as it is in the world of art and music.

San Francisco Chronicle food critic Soleil Ho recently published an essay in which she wrote of Keller’s La Calenda, “I think it is certainly an example of culinary appropriation. And I think that’s fine.” Waikiki isn’t so sure if it’s fine or not.

“I’m part Swedish,” she says. “If I made Swedish food no one would make a fuss, but since I’m not Mexican some friends have suggested that I ought not to be making tortillas, tacos and tamales, and also that I’m taking away something that ought to go to an Hispanic person.”

If anyone has a righteous claim to traditional Mexican cooking it ought to be Waikiki.

“I have very distinct food memories of Mexico,” she says. “I prefer not to use the word ‘authentic’ to describe the Mexican food we make at El Molino, but rather to use the word ‘traditional.'”

She studied at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and later began to spend time as an intrepid traveler in Mexico. She’s gone back again and again to listen, eat and learn in nearly every region, each with its own traditions and culinary styles.

Forty years ago, Waikiki began to cook in local Mexican restaurants. Nine years ago, she opened El Molino Central, which took Mexican food beyond the conventional platters served with rice, beans and enchiladas smothered in a red or a green sauce.

Waikiki hasn’t visited Keller’s La Calenda, and isn’t planning to, but Jose ate there soon after it opened and came back shaking his head. He knows what he likes best and what he likes are his own dishes: potato tacos, an Asian-style chicken called “pollo oriental,” and a Yucatecan salsa called sikil pak that’s often made with roasted pumpkin seeds and that’s sometimes called Mayan hummus.

Waikiki thinks nearly all stories about food are also stories about culture, and that cultures that borrow from one another are among the most appealing the world over. More than 500 years after Columbus sailed across the Atlantic, it’s not easy to say with absolute certainty: “this is European” and “that’s Latin American or Mexican.”

Hot Summer Guide

Features

Charlie Swanson

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May 22, 2019

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Has it finally stopped raining? Really? That must mean that summer is near and it wouldn’t be summer without our Hot Summer Guide, your official program to all the music, festivals, art shows and fun that summer in the North Bay has to offer.

May

BottleRock Napa Valley The biggest concert festival to hit Napa has been long sold-out, so hopefully you already got your tickets to see headliners Imagine Dragons, Mumford & Sons and Neil freakin’ Young while you savor the best Napa Valley food and wine. May 24–26 at the Napa Valley Expo Center. 575 Third St., Napa. bottlerocknapavalley.com.

Sonoma Arts Live The nonprofit theater company’s current season, themed “A Toast to the Classics,” offers two last productions that vary widely. First, the one-woman-show The Belle of Amherst stars actress Jennifer King as Emily Dickinson, running through Jun 2. Then, the beloved musical My Fair Lady plays on the Rotary Stage, Jul 12-28. Andrews Hall at the Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St., Sonoma. sonomaartslive.org.

Live at Lagunitas Everyone’s favorite Sonoma County brewery has lots of music on tap this summer in their Petaluma amphitheaterette. Round one of tickets for series openers the War & Treaty on May 27 are already sold out, as are tickets to Fidlar on Jun 4, but there’s still time to grab spots to upcoming appearances by Antibalas on Jun 18, James McMurtry on Aug 8, Man Man and Creed Bratton on Sept 3 and more. Free tickets go on sale three weeks before each show on the bands’ websites, so set your calendars accordingly. 1280 N McDowell Blvd., Petaluma. For the full lineup, visit lagunitas.com/live.

Concerts at Montgomery Village Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village Shopping Center offers several music lineups throughout the season. Look for rocking weekend afternoons and Thursday concerts under the stars with bands and performers like Pride & Joy, Super Diamond, Wonder Bread 5 and others. May 30 through September. 707.545.3844. Full lineup at mvshops.com.

Mendocino Film Festival The 14th annual film fest features an acclaimed lineup of films, featuring 13 films fresh from Sundance, three films from SXSW, two California premieres and an array of award-winning independent and international films. Other highlights include spotlight programs that boast the best short films of the year, and live music performances accompanying several screenings. May 31-Jun 2 at several venues in Mendocino and Fort Bragg. For details, visit mendocinofilmfestival.org.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival Sound the trumpets and walk that bass right on up to Healdsburg for the 21st annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival. The cornucopia of all things jazz features acclaimed artists and acts like opening night performers Ralph Towner and Paul McCandless, the trio of Ravi Coltrane, Matt Garrison and Jack DeJohnette, Harold López-Nussa Quartet and others. Concerts take place May 31-Jun 9 at various locations in and around Healdsburg. Prices vary. 707.433.4633. healdsburgjazzfestival.org.

Sonoma County Pride Weekend Several events abound in Santa Rosa and elsewhere for the annual Pride event, embracing a theme of “Year of Love 2019.” First, a kick-off dance party features DJs, pole dancers, go-go dancers and live art on Friday, May 31 at Casa Del Mar in Santa Rosa. Then, the 32nd annual LGBT Pride parade and celebration featuring live music and festive fun marking a heritage of love on Saturday, Jun 1, at Courthouse Square, Fourth Street and Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa. 11am. Other Pride events include the laidback, family-friendly Pride in the Park and the Peace, Love & Wine tasting extravaganza on Sunday, Jun 2 at Juilliard Park in Santa Rosa and the Astro Motel respectively. sonomacountypride.org.

June

High Times Cannabis Cup NorCal The premiere destination for marijuana fans worldwide features A-list musical performers, hundreds of the best cannabis producers in the world and unforgettable experiences when it returns to the North Bay on Jun 1-2, at Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Rd., Santa Rosa. Doors at noon. $50 and up. Cannabiscup.com

Art at the Source More than a hundred artists in dozens of studios throughout western Sonoma County open their space to the public for this 25th annual self-guided and interactive art experience the first two weekends of June. Saturdays and Sundays, Jun 1–2 and Jun 8–9. Maps can be found at artatthesource.org or at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, the home of the event’s preview exhibit, 282 S High St, Sebastopol. Free. 707.829.4797.

Napa Valley LGBTQ Pride Events A series of offerings celebrating LGBTQ pride and benefiting local nonprofit LGBTQ Connection include the “Rock Around the Clock” sock-hop themed youth pride dance on Jun 1 at Napa Library, a free Pride breakfast and potluck for LGBT seniors on Jun 4 at Queen of the Valley Community Outreach in Napa and the splashy return of “Drag Queens Of The Valley” on Jun 8-9 at the JaM Cellars Ballroom at the Napa Valley Opera House. Additional events are still being added to the schedule so check the latest at NapaSonomaPride.org.

Twin Oaks Backyard BBQ Series The roadhouse spends its summer Sundays offering live music, fresh craft beer and top-notch food straight off the grill. Season openers Sol Horizon set the mood with their energetic performance blending reggae, hip-hop and world music on Jun 2, and other artists appearing at the BBQ include the Real Sarahs on Jun 16, Whiskey Family Band on Jul 21, Achilles Wheel on Aug 4 and Train Wreck Junction on Aug 25. While show ticket prices vary, a meal and a beer is only $15 (tax included) all season at Twin Oaks Roadhouse, 5745 Old Redwood Hwy N., Penngrove. Doors at 4pm. 707.795.5118.

Goose & Gander Music Series Napa Valley’s wine country public house is the perfect setting to see locals play on the lush patio while sipping cocktails. The summer series opens with a set by Marty O’Reilly on Jun 2 and continues each Sunday afternoon through September with performers like Sean Carscadden, the King Street Giants, Lonesome Locomotive and others. 5pm. Free admission. 1245 Spring St, St. Helena. goosegander.com.

Napa Valley Jazz Getaway Musician and producer Brian Culbertson’s eighth annual event features an incredible lineup of jazz and R&B artists including iconic stars like Sheila E, David Benoit, Eric Darius, Michael Lington and others. Wine receptions, dinner concerts and after-parties mix up the fun, June 5–8, at various locations throughout Napa Valley. jazzgetaway.com.

Napa City Nights Hailed as the event “where Napa makes music,” this family-friendly concert series offers a perfect view for local crowds to see and dance to their favorite North Bay bands and artists like Purple Haze, Road Eleven, the Soul Section, Tommy Odetto, the Hots and many others. Every Friday, Jun 7–Aug 23. Veterans Memorial Park Amphitheater, Third and Main street, Napa. 6:30pm. Free admission. napacitynights.com.

Huichica Music Festival A refreshingly intimate and impressively curated take on the music festival format, Huichica (pronounced wah-CHEE-ka) features a music lineup that includes an eclectic array of artists like soul man Lee Fields and his band the Expressions, indie-pop darlings Real Estate, alt-rock veteran Dean Wareham playing Galaxie 500’s On Fire, and a live tribute to The Basement Tapes. Amazing views, delectable culinary options and plenty of beer and wine round out the weekend. June 7–8 at Gundlach Bundschu Winery. 2000 Denmark St., Sonoma. $46-$121. Kids 12 and under are free. 707.938.5277.

Funky Fridays The seventh annual weekly summer series brings popular North Bay bands like Levi Lloyd & Friends (Jun 7), the Big Fit (Jun 21), Dylan Black Project (Jul 12), Funky Dozen (Aug 30) and many others to the gorgeous lawn in front of the historic Hood Mansion while raising money for Sonoma Valley parks every Friday through Aug, Casa Manana Rd., Santa Rosa. Doors at 5:30p.m. Show starts at 7:00 p.m. $10, Kids under 18 are free. Funkyfridays.info.

Beerfest: The Good One All beerfests are good, but this one gets the title for its combination of good brews and a good cause. Whether you prefer hoppy IPAs, sour beers and even ciders, you’ll find old favorites and new loves at this massive tasting event featuring nearly 50 pouring stops and awesome food vendors. The day also benefits local nonprofit Face to Face, whose mission is ending HIV in Sonoma County and supporting the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV/AIDS. June 8. 50 Mark West Springs Rd., Santa Rosa. 1pm. $50-$60. beerfestthegoodone.com.

Peggy Sue’s All-American Cruise Hundreds of classic, stock and custom All-American Cars roar into Santa Rosa for the annual cruise, and will be on display with live music, pin-up contest and awards at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds throughout the day. Then those classic cars roam downtown Santa Rosa in the evening to show off for families and car lovers. June 8. cruiseforpeggysue.com.

Railroad Square Music Festival This fifth annual celebration of local music and community in the heart of Santa Rosa features popular acts like Royal Jelly Jive, John Courage, Ismay, Stone Cold Mollie and many others on several stages, with a shop party of local vendors, food, beer and wine, art and fun for all. June 9 at Railroad Square, Fourth and Wilson Streets, Santa Rosa. Noon. Free admission. railroadsquaremusicfestival.com.

Alexander Valley Film Society Summer Outdoor Screening Series From classic comedies to beloved animated features, the folks at AV Film Society are offering a summer full of family-friendly screenings under the stars, and sometimes in cars. The Healdsburg Plaza will host showings like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse on Jun 11, Ralph Breaks the Internet on Jul 9, and a Spanish-language screening of Inside Out. In Cloverdale, the drive-in lives on when the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds opens the gates for car-friendly screenings of Ghostbusters on Jul 20 and American Graffiti on Sept 7. For info and tickets, visit avfilmsociety.org.

KRUSH Backyard Concerts The summer series continues to reflect the radio’s laidback, community-oriented vibe with a selection of North Bay stars of Americana and beyond paired with good food and good company. The concerts kick off on Jun 13 at 3565 Standish Ave., Santa Rosa. Doors at 5:30pm. Free admission. Get the full schedule at krsh.com.

Petaluma Drinks Partake in a weekend tasting experience with the beer, wine, spirits and cider producers like 101 North Brewing, Acre & Spade Cider and Adobe Road Winery who reside in and around the historic downtown Petaluma district. Jun 15-16, at several venues. Saturday, 11am to 6pm; Sunday, 11am to 4pm. $65 and up. Petalumadrinks.com.

Calistoga Concerts in the Park Bring your blankets, lawn chairs, picnic dinners and friends and family to enjoy these weekly concerts in a gorgeous natural setting. Each week’s show offers something different, from jazz pop outfit the Klipptones on Jun 20, Americana act National Park Radio on Jul 11 to old school rock ‘n’ roll band Kingsborough on Aug 1. Concerts in the park take place every Thursday, June 13–Aug 22, Pioneer Park, 1308 Cedar St., Calistoga. 6:30pm. Free admission. Visitcalistoga.com.

Country Summer The biggest country music event in the North Bay also features Western-themed attractions, country-inspired culinary delights and an array of libations. Headliners this year include Jake Owen, Tim McGraw, Big & Rich and many others. June 14–16, at Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Rd., Santa Rosa. $89 and up. 707.543.0100. countrysummer.com.

Broadway Under the Stars Presented each year by Transcendence Theatre Company, some of the top stars in Hollywood and on Broadway come to perform in the Sonoma County night air. This summer’s schedule starts with the series’ first foray into producing a full-length musical with A Chorus Line Jun 14-30, the ever-popular Fantastical Family Night Jul 19 and 20, “Those Dancin’ Feet” Aug 9-25 and the Gala Celebration Sept 6–8. Jack London State Park. 2400 London Ranch Rd., Glen Ellen. Pre-show picnics at 5pm; concerts begin at 7:30pm. 877.424.1414.

Cotati Music Festival After three decades of the Cotati Jazz Festival, the small and spirited town of Cotati’s chamber of commerce expands the musical offerings for this eclectic summer concert event. The Cotati Music Festival’s lineup includes local favorites like the Big Fit, Gator Nation, Hangman’s Daughter and Nate Lopez, with food, beer and wine on hand. June 15. Noon. Free admission. cotati.org.

Sonoma-Marin Fair This year’s Sonoma-Marin Fair marks eight decades of family fun with headlining concerts, the world’s ugliest dog contest, homebrew contest, wine tasting, carnival rides, fair food and more Jun 19–23, at Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds, 175 Fairgrounds Dr., Petaluma. Gates open at noon each day, $10-$15 general admission. sonoma-marinfair.org.

Luther Burbank Center for the Arts The performing arts center brings some of the biggest events and names in music and comedy to the stage this summer. International standup star Jim Jefferies appears on Jun 21, Indigo Girls rock out on Jun 22, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah takes the stage on Jul 6, Chris Isaak croons on Sept 4 and many other events happen at the venue, 50 Mark West Springs Rd, Santa Rosa. 707.546.3600.

Rodney Strong Concert Series The wine-tastic annual live music series in the sunny grasslands behind the Rodney Strong Vineyards always features adult contemporary favorites and music legends. This year’s lineup includes Alanis Morissette on Jun 22, Rick Springfield and Richard Marx on Jul 14, the Beach Boys on Sept 7 and Jay Leno on Sept 8. Rodney Strong Vineyards, 11455 Old Redwood Hwy., Healdsburg. 5pm. $89-$129. 800.514.3849.

SOMO Concerts Rohnert Park’s grand outdoor venue, the SOMO Village Event Center, once again packs a powerhouse lineup of performers for their seasonal series. Heavy metal-turned country rock frontman Aaron Lewis opens the summer on Jun 22, Mexican norteño music masters Los Tigres del Norte performs Jun 28, blues legends Buddy Guy and Charlie Musselwhite come together with Jimmie Vaughan on Aug 10 and country music star Billy Currington plays on Sept 19 among other shows. 1100 Valley House Dr, Rohnert Park. Somoconcerts.com.

Uptown Theatre’s Summer Lineup Downtown Napa’s art deco concert venue welcomes an array of performers to its landmark stage. Alternative rockers Gin Blossoms play on Jun 27, Lyle Lovett & His Large Band spend two nights in town on Jul 10-11, veteran stand-up comedian Tom Papa laughs it up on Jul 13, Boz Scaggs performs on Aug 18 and David Crosby welcomes friends to the stage on Sept 6. 1350 Third St, Napa. 707.259.0123.

Kate Wolf Music Festival This festival always draws excellent musical acts to honor the work of the late singer-songwriter it’s named for, and this 24th annual year’s lineup is one of the best yet. Confirmed performers include Los Lobos, Kris Kristofferson, Booker T, John Hiatt and many others, with artists like Rainbow Girls and Joe Craven & the Sometimers representing the North Bay. Camping is the best way to experience this festival. June 27–30 at Black Oak Ranch, Laytonville. $75 and up. katewolfmusicfestival.com.

Mondavi Winery Summer Concerts The popular concert series marks its 50th anniversary with a stellar lineup of events featuring St. Paul & the Broken Bones on Jun 29, the Struts on Jul 7, Thievery Corporation on Jul 13 and more. These concerts are already selling out, so don’t wait to grab tickets. Robert Mondavi Winery. 7801 St. Helena Hwy., Oakville. Dinner available. $70-$225. 888.769.766.6328. robertmondaviwinery.com.

July

Green Music Center Summer at the Green 2019 Sonoma State University’s superb Weill Hall hosts a season of concert events that spill out on the lawn and span classical, jazz, country, Latin and spoken word. The season’s Fourth of July concert features Transcendence Theatre Company and the Santa Rosa Symphony, followed by fireworks. The annual Bluegrass & Craft Beer Festival returns on July 21 with David Grisman and Steep Canyon Rangers. Other performers include Trombone Shorty & Oceans Avenue on Jul 11, Michael McDonald and Chaka Khan on Aug 4 and Diana Krall on Sept 26; and free movie screenings happen all summer on the lawn at Weill Hall, 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. 866.955.6040.

Star-Spangled Social Napa Valley’s annual Fourth of July celebration includes a parade at noon through downtown Calistoga followed by a carnival full of food, games, music and a fireworks show on Jul 4 at the Napa County Fair. 1435 North Oak St., Calistoga. $15-$20. celebratenapavalley.org.

Live at Juilliard Twenty-sixth annual summer concert series returns to downtown Santa Rosa for weekly performances on the lawn at Juilliard Park. See local favorites like Dgiin, Black Sheep Brass Band, Miss Moonshine, Free Peoples and others and enjoy food from popular vendors and drinks that benefit ArtStart. Sundays, Jul 7-Aug 11, 227 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa. 5pm. Free admission. srcity.org/liveatjuilliard.

Festival Napa Valley Now in its 14th year, the event offers more than 60 elegant and entertaining events over 10 days, ranging from concerts and dance performances to vintner-led luncheons and free community events. With a focus on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, this year’s fest includes highlights like opening night’s Opera Under the Stars at Meadowood, a screening of Star Wars live with an orchestra, the Arts for All Gala in St Helena with platinum-selling artist Seal, Taste of Napa featuring Wonder Bread 5 and much more July 12–21, at various venues in the Napa Valley. festivalnapavalley.org.

Flynn Creek Circus The boundary-pushing ensemble of performers flies, tumbles and juggles its way into the North Bay with a new show, “Out of Hat,” that promises the company’s biggest acrobatic stunts yet. Set on the high seas, this magical odyssey mixes classic circus hijinks and hilarious comedy when it runs in Calistoga July 11–14 and in Santa Rosa Aug 1-4. Get details about locations and times at flynncreekcircus.com.

Mendocino Music Festival For two weeks every July, the town of Mendocino is taken over by a horde of classical, chamber and contemporary musicians. And this year is no different. Over two dozen concerts pack a lineup of blues, bluegrass, classical, Celtic opera and jazz between Jul 12–27. mendocinomusic.org.

Wine Country Comedy Fest Local grape-stomping and funny-bone smashing company Crushers of Comedy hosts its fourth annual summer standup extravaganza with a diverse lineup of comedians, a slew of craft beers, wine tasting, live music and more Jul 13–27 at several venues in Kenwood, St Helena and Santa Rosa. crushersofcomedy.com.

Petaluma Art & Garden Festival Presented by the Petaluma Downtown Association, the fest brings local eats, beer and wine and plenty of music to town for an 18th year. The vendor booths offer unique and charming items for the home and garden, plus animal mobiles and fun fairy clothing for the wee ones. The event also includes the annual chalk art competition. Jul 14. Kentucky and Fourth Streets, Petaluma. 11am. petalumadowntown.com.

Northern Nights Music Festival Cook’s Valley Campground, set in a redwood forest on the Humboldt/Mendocino County line, comes alive for the seventh annual dance and DJ-centric festival. Camp out for the weekend and immerse in a weekend of headlining music, specialty bars, hammock lounges, silent discos and community bonding. Jul 19–21. 83950 Road 442E, Piercy. northernnights.org.

Rivertown Revival The Friends of the Petaluma River present the tenth annual “Greatest Slough on Earth,” and this year’s outing features local artists and bands like Ben Morrison, Burnside, the Timothy O’Neil Band and others performing, interactive art installations, kid’s activities, local food vendors and more. The eco-friendly event even boasts a Nautical Mass commute by boat, led by a historic schooner. Revive your summer on Jul 20 at the McNear Peninsula at D and Copeland street, Petaluma. 11am. Rivertownrevival.com.

Cochon 555’s Heritage Fire Napa Dozens of grills light their fire to roast and cook responsibly raised meats ranging from pig to rabbit and duck. More than 50 chefs and butchers offer up the succulent creations, paired with wine from several small wineries and artisan cheeses and other bites. The outdoor banquet commences on Jul 27 at Charles Krug Winery, 2800 Main St, St Helena. 5pm. $150 and up. cochon555.com.

Music in the Vineyards The chamber-music festival is now in its 25th season, and to mark this milestone, the season offers a catalog of highlights including works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms, and more. The fest also features the return of the Pacifica Quartet and the debut of the Tesla and Dover Quartets among other performers. Jul 31–Aug 25, at winery venues in the Napa Valley. $55 and up. musicinthevineyards.org.

August

Sonoma County Fair In addition the largest themed flower show in the country and horse racing, the annual affair once again offers rodeos, destruction derbies, carnival rides, local art and agriculture and all your favorite fair cuisine. Separate admission is required for some events. Sonoma County Fair runs Aug 1-11. Horse racing happens Aug 1–4 and Aug 8–11. Sonoma County Fairgrounds. 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. 11am to 9pm; $7–$12; kids 6 and under are free. sonomacountyfair.com.

Reggae on the River Originally conceived as a fundraiser for the Mateel Community Center, the event has become known from Jamaica to Humboldt as the place to be for good vibes and great music. Aug 2-4 at French’s Camp. 657 Hwy 101, Garberville. Camping is included in the price of your event ticket. reggaeontheriver.com.

Petaluma Music Festival The 12th annual festival benefiting music programs in Petaluma schools features another massive lineup of North Bay favorites like headliners ALO, David Nelson Band, the Mother Hips, Hot Buttered Rum and many others. Aug 3 at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds, 175 Fairgrounds Dr, Petaluma. Noon. $55-$65 and up, students age 13-17 can get limited $20 tickets at the door, kids 12 and under are free with adult admission. petalumamusicfestival.org.

Gravenstein Apple Fair Billed as the “sweetest little fair in Sonoma County,” the 46th annual event, presented by Sonoma County Farm Trails, celebrates the locally-found Gravenstein apples in all their delicious glory, with several food vendors, live music and local arts and crafts. Look for the artisan tasting lounge, the farm life arena, kid’s activities and games and contests throughout. Aug 17-18 at Ragle Ranch Park, 500 Ragle Rd, Sebastopol. 10am to 6pm. $8-$15, kids 5 and under are free. gravensteinapplefair.com.

Cotati Accordion Festival Bay Area accordion veteran Sheri Mignano Crawford is saluted as the honorary director and international stars takes the stage at this 29th annual squeezebox party, which boasts both international stars and local favorites. Aug 17–18 in La Plaza Park. Old Redwood Highway, Cotati. 9:30am–8pm. cotatifest.com.

Blues, Brews & BBQ Mixing together live music, microbrews and enough barbecue to fill a pickup truck, this summertime party is not to be missed. There’s a rib-eating contest, kid’s area and, of course, blues artists all along the streets. Aug 24 at First and Main streets, Napa. Noon–6pm. Free admission, beer tasting tickets available for purchase. donapa.com.

Bodega Seafood Art & Wine Festival Dozens of culinary companies come together to offer delicious seafood specialties at the 25th annual event. Aside from the art and the eats, there are four stages of entertainment. The Main Stage features blues, jazz, swing, bluegrass and more from the likes of David Luning, the Musers, Dirty Cello and others, while jugglers, magicians and other non-musical acts join in on the fun as local art, food, wine and beer overflows Aug 24-25 at Watts Ranch, 16855 Bodega Hwy. Saturday, 10am–6pm; Sunday, 10am–5pm. $15-$20, kids under 12 are free. bodegaseafoodfestival.com.

Taste of Sonoma This signature event from the Sonoma County Vintners group makes the most of its home at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center; gathering wineries from across the region to pour hundreds of wines that can be paired by bites from dozens of local chefs. The event also hosts seminars and demonstrations that cover a wide range of wine topics to tickle the intellect and stir the imagination. You can also upgrade the experience with an optional Club Reserve package that gets you in early and intimate with local winemakers. Aug 31, 1801 E Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park. Noon to 4pm. $180-$255. tasteofsonoma.com.

The Busy Season

Movies

Richard von Busack

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May 22, 2019

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Among this summer’s cascade of moving images, there’s one fun coincidence: a reboot of Child’s Play opening the same late-June weekend as Pixar’s Toy Story IV. At least one distracted dad will goof at the ticket booth and end up wondering why Cowboy Woody turned into a knife-wielding bad-bastard who talks like Mark Hamill. (The longtime voice of the Joker, Hamill is the larynx for Chucky the devil doll.) In the actual Pixar feature: the gang hits the road, and Woody (Tom Hanks) gets uncomfortable in that familiar cowboy-around-a-school-marm manner with Bo Peep (voiced by Annie Potts).

Disney, which just snapped up Hulu, is cashing in with a live-action Aladdin (May 24), with the spectacle built in and the Tex Avery-ness removed. It’s followed by the live-action The Lion King (July 19), about which the most hopeful thing to be said is that Billy Eichler of Difficult People dubs the talking meerkat.

Both will coin big money. But given the box-office triumph of Bohemian Rhapsody, there are hopes the biopic Rocketman (May 31) will be a hit; it promises not to be as covert about Elton John’s sexuality as Bohemian Rhapsody was about Freddie Mercury’s nightlife.

Nostalgia is in the air, like tear gas. A couple of films note the 50th anniversary of 1969 and the radicals hatched by that dangerous year. Patty Hearst’s crimewave is reimagined in American Woman (June 14). And ol’ spiral eyes is back: Charlie Manson (Damon Herriman) and his gang are but one group of drifting Angelenos in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (July 26).

Speaking of comebacks, there is a certain organ-like majesty to the title Godzilla, King of Monsters (May 31), no matter how the CG Kaiju plays out. Considering current events, King Ghidorah, triple-headed reptile of the apocalypse, is quite overdue.

Also on May 31: Ma, some straightforward Blumhouse horror, directed by Tate Taylor (The Help). Octavia Spencer is a maternal neighborhood lady, giving good old fashioned discipline to a bunch of naughty teens, using whatever weapons are at hand.

Just the Vaxx

News

Bohemian.com

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May 22, 2019

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As an outbreak of measles courses through California, Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Celeste Philip issued a warning and recommendation that parents immunize their school-age children against the highly contagious disease. Some Sonoma County public schools field immunization rates that are among the lowest in the state.

“I . . . write this letter to emphasize to parents and guardians the seriousness of this current measles outbreak and the potential impact to unvaccinated or under vaccinated children,” says Philip in a note distributed to schools and parents yesterday.

As of the middle of May there have been 44 reported cases of measles in California and 750 nationwide this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. That’s the highest number of cases, reports Philip, “since measles was nearly eliminated in 2000.”

The Bohemian reported on the letter from Philip last week on Bohemian.com and responses on social media were characteristic of this highly emotional debate pitting pro against anti-vaccination. One pro-vaccination Sonoma County reader said it was time to roll the vaccination truck into Sonoma County and get everyone up to date on their shots. An anti-vaccination readers said it was time to check those suspect numbers coming out of the CDC about the spike in measles this year.

In 2017, the state moved to rein in abuses over a “personal belief exemption” in the state vaccination law and Philip notes that since then, there’s been a 94 percent rate of compliance with state law that requires vaccination as a condition of attending public school. But there are strong pockets of anti-vaccination resistance, including in Sonoma County.

None of the measles cases this year originated in Sonoma County, “but we are vulnerable,” Philip writes, given that “in some (Sonoma) County schools less than half of students are up to date with the recommended vaccination schedule.”

Any measles outbreak in Sonoma County will be met with swift action in the schools, Philip warns. “If your child is unvaccinated or cannot provide laboratory confirmation of measles immunity and there is a case in their school, they will likely be excluded from attending school for 21 days after their last exposure to the contagious individual. This exclusion helps protect the susceptible students and limits further spread of disease.”

Online data indicates that Sonoma County is one of the least-compliant counties in the state, if not the country, when it comes to parents getting their children vaccinated. The state requires that children entering kindergarten be immunized against 10 communicable diseases, including for measles, mumps and rubella.

Those three are covered under the so-called “MMR” vaccine, which Philip says “has a long-established history of being safe and effective.”

That view is not generally shared by an anti-vaccination community with a strong presence in Sonoma County. Here’s how the immunization debate and changes in state law have played out in one Sonoma County school over the past few years: the Sebastopol Independent Charter elementary school had 45 students enrolled in 2017-18. That year, 35.5 percent of students were up to date in vaccinations; up from 26.67 percent the year previous. Fifty eight percent of the exemptions in 2017-18 were for medical reasons, up from 25 percent the year before. Before the personal belief exemption was curtailed, 38 percent of students were exempted in 2016-17 because of personal beliefs against vaccination held by the parents.

Those numbers are at odds with recent polling around vaccinations.

A Pew Research study from 2015 found widespread acceptance of vaccinations, as 68 percent of adults said childhood vaccinations should be required. Thirty percent said the choice ought to be the parents to make—and many of those respondents were young adults aged 18-29 who have no experience with, for example, the devastating effects of polio, which has largely been eradicated.

Philip’s warning comes as the California legislature is considering closing a loophole in the state’s childhood immunization law that came about after it curtailed the personal belief exemption in 2017. That effort was undertaken in response to a less-severe measles outbreak that year.

In closing one loophole, the state opened another: Now California’s vaccination law permits medical exemptions for parents of children whose health might be impacted negatively by vaccinations. The exemptions are granted by a family health-care provider approved by the state to grant the exemption.

Critics say the loophole has been abused by parents who oppose vaccinating their kids, whether it’s for medical or personal reasons.

A state senate bill this year would close the loophole in a bill sponsored by pro-vaccination legislator Richard Pan, who is both a senator and a pediatrician. He’s been making the media rounds this month promoting SB 276, which would put the final decision about medical exemptions in the hand of the California Department of Public Health—and create a state registry of all children who have been granted medical exemptions.

As that bill works its way through committee, Sonoma County’s health official Philip is urging that “unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children should be vaccinated as soon as possible through their healthcare provider so they will have protection, will not further spread illness and will not need to be absent from school.”

She’s supporting Pan’s bill. “If passed it would send a clear message about the importance of vaccinations to keep individuals and communities healthy,” says Philip via email, “and emphasize that vaccines are safe for the overwhelming majority of children and adults.”

One of the most persistent critiques of vaccinations—and the driver of much of the debate about their efficacy and health risk—is that they cause or can contribute to autism. The autism-immunization debate continues apace, and one of its highest-profile proponents is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., founder of the organization Children’s Health Defense (CHD).

Kennedy has compared a purported vaccine-driven rise in autism rates to the Holocaust, and noted in an interview that ran on the CHD site that “life for these children is an endless agonizing progression of twilight and terror. The tormenting gut aches, excruciating sensory sensitivities, the serial head banging and screaming, the isolation and perpetual joylessness. The entire family is permanently devastated.”

State Sen. Pan, in turn, has been stressing his pro-vaxx viewpoint on behalf of public school children with severe health problems and/or auto-immune disorders—who can often only attend public school if everyone is also vaccinated, given the health risks they could face if one of their peers came down with the measles.

Economics of the Death Penalty

Letters to the Editor

Bohemian.com

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May 22, 2019

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I’m a capital habeas attorney. I was very interested in your article (“Capital Intensive,” May 15, 2019) as I felt like I’d been hit by two trucks after the 2016 election (the other being Trump, of course). But we all really thought that Prop 62 would pass.

Now I am living and working under Proposition 66. Per Prop. 66, one of my cases was transferred back to the superior court (in Sacramento County) and now I’m being paid to relitigate the same issues in the lower courts, and then work my way up again. In short, I will be paid twice for much of the same work, but with weird twists that will make it more expensive.

I’m also convinced that the opposition to eliminating the death penalty is really economically driven by the DAs. They don’t account for how much of their budget goes to capital cases from what I can see, but I am willing to bet they heavily rely on them to justify hefty budgets. So many of the death penalty cases come out a few counties, Riverside, Kern, San Bernardino, Sacramento, etc. that don’t have all that much money to spare but do have conservative populations.

I’ve been doing criminal defense work for 40 years in Sonoma County (I started here in the DA’s office). Much of all of it is economically driven—I just think we should be upfront about what it really costs both in dollar and human terms, to make more intelligent decisions. I see signs of progress, but a long way to go. I really hope you don’t stop with that article but continue to explore this area.

—Marylou Hillberg

Via Bohemian.com

Our Lumps

I don’t know, Bohemian, I’m just not feeling you the way I used to. I’m not on the same page with your reviewers in the May 15-21 edition. The Netflix “Wine Country” romp that pleased your reviewer left me cold. Stopped watching when I didn’t find myself amused, let alone laughing. Not my people, not my humor. Pretty scenery, of course. And, I’m “At Odds” with Harry Duke about “This Random World.” I love Left Edge Theatre! I love their boldness in bringing different kinds of plays to us, the design of the small, tidy, attractive venue itself. I can sit anywhere and have an intimate experience. As for the play? I did laugh, I did get caught up in the random misses and I thought the ending was just fine. It left me in a very contemplative mood on Mother’s Day. I recommend it highly.

—Laurie Lippin

Guerneville

Whine Country

I forced myself to watch 23 minutes of “Wine Country” (“Lost Weekend,” May 15, 2019) hoping it would get better. I bailed at that point. What a vacuous, boring, self-indulgent, inane movie. Don’t waste your time on it. Thank God I don’t have shallow friends like the ones depicted in this time-waster. And the script is beyond awful.

—Georgia Kelly

Via Bohemian.com

Some movies are dogs, but his one is even worse, an ugly stinky mutt of a movie. Bad screen writing combine with characters that are shallow and stupid and you have it: a really really awful movie that does not warrant watching.

—Don Scott

Via Bohemian.com

It should be titled “Whine Country.” Disappointing.

—Connieinca

Via Bohemian.com

Write to us at le*****@******an.com.

Hot Sips

Swirl

James Knight

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May 22, 2019

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By now it’s official: Sonoma Valley’s summer of 2019 cocktail is the “Sonoma Spritz.” How official? The hot-pink refresher, a collaborative effort from Prohibition Spirits and Gloria Ferrer, is termed “official cocktail” in their press release, anyway. But I’m told that Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau Executive Director Tim Zahner had a hand in it, so I track him down to verify.

“I am not a mixologist,” Zahner says, “even though I had facial hair before they did.”

Zahner doesn’t take credit, but he says he got really excited when Prohibition Spirits co-founders Fred and Amy Groth said they wanted to create something for the Sonoma lifestyle similar to what they experienced during a trip to Italy—a low alcohol aperitif to mark the start of a relaxing evening. The official recipe calls for 2 ounces. Prohibition Spirits’ SPRITZ Apero Americano ($35), a bright pink digestif made with a base of their grape brandy, and infused with orange, cherry and bittering herbs, and colored naturally with cochineal—an insect shell, so not vegan; 3 ounces Gloria Ferrer brut sparkling wine; 1 ounce club soda; orange slice for garnish.

Prohibition Spirits is not licensed to pour cocktails at their Cornerstone Sonoma tasting room, but Sonoma’s official cocktail can be ordered during “Spritz Week,” May 20–26, at the Swiss Hotel, Mary’s Pizza Shack, BV Whiskey Bar, Maya, Hopmonk, Palooza, Tips Roadside, The Girl & the Fig and more locations.

Pale by comparison: Made from Pinot Noir grapes, Kathleen Inman’s Endless Crush OGV Estate Rosé ($38) is a light, crunchy, strawberries-and-watermelon sipper in the Provençal camp, with accents of rosewater and just a touch of a vegetal edge that readies the palate for summer salad and goat cheese.

Road worthy: both excellent picnic wines, Clif Family’s 2018 Rte Blanc Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($28) and 2016 Bici North Coast Red Blend ($42) inspire a more adventurous summer, with his-and-hers labels featuring co-founders Kit Crawford and Gary Erickson cycling up steep roads in Northern Italy. The Sauv Blanc is grapey and grassy, with notes of lemon verbena and juicy, tart melon, and the red is a supple Grenache-Syrah blend. Get inspired, pour half the bottle in a canteen, and enjoy the other half at the end of the journey.

Outlook juicy: hazy IPA may not go the way of yesteryear’s craze for cloudy hefeweizen this summer, but Bear Republic’s bright, grapefruity Thru the Haze IPA would be fine with a slice of Meyer lemon. Less citrusy, more floral, Sonoma Springs’ Juicy in the Sky hazy double IPA is maltier, at 9 percent alcohol, but deceptively restrained in the brewery’s crisp, Teutonic style.

Emerald Cup Heads to England

News

Jonah Raskin

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May 16, 2019

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“I’ve never been to England,” Tim Blake says. “I’m eager to go. My ancestors came to America from England, Scotland and Ireland. It’ll be like going home.”

This August, Tim Blake—the founder of the Emerald Cup— and his daughter, Taylor, the cup’s second-in-command, will join forces with James Walton, the founder of England’s Product Earth Expo-Fest.

For three days, Aug. 23-25, British cannabis aficionados and their American counterparts will gather at the National Agricultural & Exhibition Center at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, near the geographical heart of England.

Expo Fest is the Brits version of the Emerald Cup and a bit tamer.
It’s the first international event for the cup, which has taken place since 2013, at the Sonoma County Fair Grounds in Santa Rosa. Crowds have grown larger every year.

“The partnership with the Brits is a good thing,” Blake says. “The Emerald Cup is branching out and looking at other spots around the world. We’re going slowly ‘cause the rules are crazy.”

Sixteen years ago this fall, Blake convened a cannabis event he called “Area 101” that took place in his own living room in Laytonville, near the heart of the Emerald Triangle.

Voters had approved Prop 215 in 1996, and California was moving slowly out of the era of pot prohibition. That first gathering, Blake remembers, was more like a family get-together than a cannabis industry country fair. In 2012, there were so many raids on pot farms in Mendocino, that he moved “Area 101” to Humboldt.

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Now in his 60s, Blake has one of the most visible faces and names associated with cannabis, which is why James Walton wanted him to be at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire this summer.

For over 20 years, Walton has focused attention on the future of farming in the UK, with special emphasis on hemp and CBD.

“Tim and the Emerald Cup are doing the same thing in the U.S. that we’re doing here,” Walton says. “So why not join forces?” Like Blake, Walton loves the cannabis plant and homegrown music.

“We’re not bringing any cannabis with us to England and there will be no competition for the best cannabis, either,” Blake says. “We’ll be doing a lot of speaking and a lot of PR.” He added, “It’s an opportunity for us to kick the tires over there.”

At Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, there will be food, drink, panels, workshops and exhibits about nearly all things related to cannabis, including harvesting, genetics, wellness and medical uses.

If the Emerald Cup does well in England this summer, Blake wants to go global and take it to Canada, China and Thailand. Meanwhile, the Cup will be back in Santa Rosa, December 14 and 15, 2019 with lots of competition.

“It’s nice to live this long and to see the legalization and the normalization of cannabis,” Blake says. “There’s no stopping it now.”

Jonah Raskin’s new book is “Dark Day, Dark Night: A Marijuana Murder Mystery.”