Page 5 | Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

Big Hits, Rick Springfield in Napa

May 26, 2026

Psychotherapist Virginia Satir once said individuals should not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define them.

Rick Springfield has definitely embraced that mantra throughout a career dating back roughly six decades since he first plugged in a guitar.

His cultural imprint can be found on the singles charts, the soap opera landscape and in other roles that have found him popping up on prime-time television, Broadway and on the silver screen. He brings his well-honed hits to Napa’s Uptown Theatre this Saturday, May 30, supported by Los Angeles–based duo Sun And The Saint.

Springfield began reaching a wide audience in 1981 as both a guitar-slinging pop star and a soap opera heartthrob. That was the year his fifth studio album, the multi-platinum Working Class Dog, hit the racks at the same time General Hospital became a must-see soap opera.

The former yielded a handful of hits (“Jessie’s Girl,” “I’ve Done Everything for You,” “Love is Alright Tonight”) along with a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. The latter found Springfield playing fictional playboy Dr. Noah Drake, a role that calcified a teen idol image he neither wanted nor sought.

“It’s been a double-edged sword,” he said of his dual success in music and acting. “When I first started out, everyone thought I was this daytime one-dimensional guy who someone handed a song to and happened to stay in tune for three minutes in the studio. And then ‘Jessie’s Girl’ was right there, and it’s a natural thing to think the two go together. They don’t and never have. They wanted me to sing on my original appearances of ‘General Hospital,’ and I knew it was going to be a problem with me being on the show because it was becoming so successful. I was just doing it for the money.

“It just happened that summer; it became THE show around the same time ‘Jessie’s Girl’ went to number one. They’ll probably be forever entwined even though they aren’t from where they were born and everything. They are two very disparate children joined in fame I guess,” he explained with a laugh.

Springfield’s career dates back to the early 1970s. Following a brief stint in Australian pop group Zoot, he landed a record deal that yielded the minor hit “Speak to the Sky.” A move to the United States to pursue more musical opportunities in mid-1972 found him trying to find his footing and survive. Acting proved to be a lifeline for him during a very trying time.

“I was between record deals and getting pretty hungry and low on money,” he said. “I met a woman, and (she) said to come to this acting class if I wasn’t doing anything. I started taking acting classes, and that really saved my life. I was by myself at the time, kind of all alone in America, and it really brought life back to me. I started working as an actor and was one of the last contract players signed by Universal.

“The Six Million Dollar Man was my first role, and I ended up doing Rockford Files, Battlestar Galactica and tens of nameless shows most people don’t even remember. It was good practice, and it helped me a lot. It actually paid the light bill,” he added.

Over his career, Springfield has refused to rest on his laurels. He’s still recording new material, with his last studio record being 2023’s double-CD Automatic. (“Twenty songs of dark to happy stuff—a chronicle of what I’ve been going through and thinking about,” he said.)

In 2024, he released Big Hits: Rick Springfield’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. Composed of material starting with 1999’s Karma up through the aforementioned Automatic, this double-CD anthology reflects the rather wide stylistic net Springfield casts whenever he hits the studio.

“There are a lot of those songs that are fan favorites and a lot of songs that I think are the best ones from the past 20 years,” Springfield noted. “(It includes) some unreleased stuff like one I did with Sammy Hagar called ‘Party at the Beach Bar.’ There is also a song with the Foo Fighters called ‘The Man That Never Was,’ a new single called ‘Lose Myself’ and ‘Jessie’s Girl’ because we threw it on there as a re-recording. It sounds like the original, only bigger and stronger.”

Rick Springfield performs at 8pm, Saturday, May 30, at the Uptown Theatre, 1350 3rd St., Napa. Tickets and info at uptowntheatrenapa.com.

Not for Kids: ‘Avenue Q’ at Left Edge in Santa Rosa

Theater

Harry Duke

May 26, 2026

Not for Kids: ‘Avenue Q’ at Left Edge in Santa Rosa

If you’re a fan of South Park and Team America: World Police, then the stage show Avenue Q should be right up your alley.

It’s an adult send-up of Sesame Street, the children’s television classic where humans and puppets co-exist and life’s problems are acknowledged and solved with humor and song. Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre has a production running at The California through June 7.

Recent college graduate Princeton (Marc Assad) arrives on Avenue Q looking for an apartment and a purpose in life. He rents a room from building manager Gary Coleman (Shanay Howell and, yes, THAT Gary Coleman). He’s welcomed into the neighborhood by wannabe stand-up comedian Brian (Dana Hunt); his wife, Christmas Eve (Elinor Keyes); roommates Rod (Eden James), a closeted Republican investment banker, and Nicky (Dmitri Dene), an amiable slacker; and the sweet Kate Monster (Bethany Cox).

Princeton and Kate hit it off until Lucy the Slut (Cox again) enters the scene and Princeton follows the advice of the Bad Idea Bears (Dene and Katalina Motley).

Various personal crises rear their heads and are addressed through songs by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, like “It Sucks to Be Me,” “If You Were Gay,” “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” “The Internet Is for Porn” and “You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You’re Makin’ Love),” the latter performed after a particular energetic bout of puppet sex.

Director Serena Elize Flores’s cast gets quite a workout running around the multi-level set (by Collin Seeber) as primary or secondary puppeteers. I doubt any of them are experienced in the art form (and it shows), but that just adds to the show’s charm.

Charm is also exuded by the superb vocal and character work of Bethany Cox, who does double duty as Kate and Lucy. I was also quite taken with the work of Dmitri Dene as the genial Nicky and gregarious, porn-obsessed Trekkie Monster. Eden James shines as the conflicted Rod. Their “My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada” was a highlight.

Timing is everything in comedy, and scene transitions were a problem at the opening night performance. Too many moments of darkness and silence interrupted the show’s flow. Hopefully, they’ll be tightened and/or covered better over the run.

Transitions aside, you should have a good time hanging out and laughing with the residents of Avenue Q.

Left Edge Theatre’s ‘Avenue Q’ runs through June 7 at The California Theatre, 528 7th St., Santa Rosa. Wed–Sat, 7:30pm; Sat & Sun, 1pm. $20–$45. 707.664.7529. leftedgetheatre.com.

A Golden Moment, Kristen McMahan’s Fun with Small Lots

Food & Drink

Amber Turpin

May 19, 2026

A Golden Moment, Kristen McMahan’s Fun with Small Lots

Kristen McMahan grew up in Atwater, in California’s Central Valley, where her proximity to Yosemite sparked a lifelong love of the outdoors.

While studying communications and journalism at the University of Arizona, a six-month exchange in Australia ignited her passion for wine.

In 2012, she relocated to Sonoma County, joining Korbel’s winemaking team, earning an enology degree from Santa Rosa Junior College and gaining cool-climate experience at Freestone Winery. Since joining Goldeneye in 2019 as winemaker, McMahan has become one of Anderson Valley’s most celebrated pinot noir specialists.

Amber Turpin: How did you get into this work?

Kristen McMahan: Like many in this industry, I had a circuitous route to winemaking driven by passion and curiosity. In college, I was fortunate to spend my last semester studying in Australia. While I was there, I did a fair amount of wine tasting and was bitten by the proverbial “bug.” Actually, I was stung by a Portuguese man o’ war—but that’s a story for another time.

Upon returning to the U.S., I began volunteering to help with bottlings and wine club pick-ups to get my foot in the door. In 2012, I moved to Sonoma County to seriously explore the idea of a career change to wine production. I enrolled in the viticulture and enology program at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) and secured a harvest internship as a lab technician. After that first season, I knew this was the career path I wanted to pursue, as it’s my ideal blend of science and artistry.

Did you ever have an ‘aha’ moment with a certain beverage? If so, tell us about it.

I never really had an affinity for chenin blanc until I visited the Loire Valley. I attended a tasting event in the town square of Vouvray, hosted by local producers. Upon first sip, my eyes opened wide, and I immediately realized how beautiful these wines could be. I’ve been a fan ever since.

What is your favorite thing to drink at home?

Empress gin with Fever Tree tonic and a squeeze of lime or a vibrant glass of Txakoli.

Where do you like to go out for a drink?

For wine, Disco Ranch in Boonville. For cocktails, Bravas and Underwood have some of the best.

If you were stuck on a desert island, what would you want to be drinking (besides fresh water)?

Tough question. I would hope that some bottles of Goldeneye Pinot Noir washed ashore with me. I imagine myself savoring each sip while sitting by a campfire on the beach, watching the sunset.

Goldeneye,9200 CA-128, Philo, 707.895.3202, goldeneyewinery.com.

A Taste of Heaven: The Highlands Reunite for a 20th Anniversary Show

Locals

Cincinnatus Hibbard

May 19, 2026

A Taste of Heaven: The Highlands Reunite for a 20th Anniversary Show

Reader, I am convinced that the feeling of heaven is reunion. For what do we anticipate, day one on the streets of glory, but a blow-out reunion show with long-lost friends and family—those lost parts of ourselves—that missing strength.

Discontent to wait on heaven, defunct proto-punkers The Highlands have reunited for a 20th anniversary show or two (at 40-something years old, they’re only half-way dead).

They have a bit**in’ show planned for us at the Arlene Francis Center on Friday, May 22, with support from OKOK (new garage rock), Passive Relentless (post-punk synth), Moon Sick (psychedelic space-punk) and Cherry Spit (rockstar noise-rockers out from Denver).

That’s a lot of talent. But with dues paid along with venue fees, Highlands deserve to top that vertiginous wall of sound. Theirs is primitive, chaotic proto-punk with two drum kits, cello and a violin revolving a pastiche of DC punk, K-Records, American folk and free jazz. So chinstrap that wig.

But all in all? The emotional core of the thing will be reunited friends getting one with sound, loving on each other. With the young punks, expect friends and fans from 2010’s contemporaries the Polar Bears, Iditarod, Santiago, New Trust, Velvet Teen, Chores, Moggs, The Crux! and all of Astronomy Club Ghost Story Records.

Cincinnatus Hibbard: Dean, you’re the primary song writer. This material is from the late aughts. Does that date it?

Dean Tisthammer: Most of our old music was written during the Bush era. But that means it was influenced by themes of corporate exploitation of nature and humanity, imperialism, war, the impact of technology on the human mind. Those themes feel even more relevant today. There is some element of nostalgia in reuniting, but the music and the themes of Highlands really started resonating with me again. It feels vital.

I think of your song, ‘General Displeasure of the Populous.’ That resonantes. In terms of sound—do you think the Highlands sound is still relevant 20 years on?

Anthony Jiminez: To this day, there is nothing else like The Highlands, especially locally. The variety of instruments, the quirkiness, the lot. We staked our spot.

Y’all are punk rock jazzers, so it’s natural for y’all to rework your old material. You have a lot—three albums of it. How have you been reworking your old songs?

Adam Erwin Martinetti: Yes. We are much better able to execute on the ideas and vision that we had in our 20s.

Anthony Jiminez: And there’s more maturity to our playing too—refinement. We’re not coming from that place of adrenaline and haphazard chaos because we’re not in our early 20s anymore… We’re grown-ass men (laughs).

Adam Erwin Martinetti: For me, I have always associated our old music with trauma—it’s been interesting because I’m coming to the same music more from a place of healing.

Dean Tisthammer: You can put those raw and visceral feelings you had into a context…

Tell me about reuniting with your bandmates.

Adam Erwin Martinetti: It’s been a lot of fun, but still it’s strange. I’m meeting people that I used to know very well but have changed so much. Meeting them on their own terms and learning more about the people they are now. It’s a lot different, but the same jokes still work (laughs).

Learn more: The Highlands top the bill at 7pm, Friday, May 22, at Arlene Francis Center, 99 6th St., Santa Rosa. $15 at the door. Old 4-track recordings from Dean Tisthammer’s parents’ garage can be sampled at acgs.bandcamp.com.

Lone Wolves, Los Lobos at Rancho Nicasio

Arts

Dave Gil de Rubio

May 19, 2026

Lone Wolves, Los Lobos at Rancho Nicasio

Founded in 1973 by high school classmates David Hidalgo and Louie Perez, Los Lobos has carved out quite a niche for themselves as a quintessential American heritage band.

Over the past half century-plus, the quintet has built a legacy with a unique sound that leans heavily into a mix of rock and roll, blues, country, Tex-Mex and soul spiced up by healthy doses of Latin flavors including cumbia, boleros and nortenos. The group plays at Rancho Nicasio this Saturday.

For Steve Berlin, the “new guy” in the group, who signed on in 1982, his journey started with him being a fan caught up in the buzz Los Lobos had after a legendarily disastrous experience opening for Public Image Limited in Los Angeles during the latter’s 1980 tour. Berlin remembers the story well.

“When they did the Public Image Limited show, it was infamous,” Berlin recalled in a recent interview. “During that era, they had long hair, long beards and were wearing serapes. These weren’t costumes—they wore what they would wear to a fancy folkloric show, so it was like waving a red flag at a bunch of bulls. People went crazy at that first show, throwing [crap] at them and spitting at them—you know, that whole wonderful punk rock experience.”

But it would be at a show Los Lobos played at The Whiskey A-Go-Go that really caught the scene and Berlin’s attention when he was still playing saxophone as a member of The Blasters.

“The first time Lobos played for real in front of people with electric instruments was opening for The Blasters in 1980 at the Whiskey,” Berlin explained. “They’d shaved, cut their hair and looked relatively like everyone else. It was kind of mind-boggling how amazing it was that there’s this band from 15 miles away. They may as well have been from 15 galaxies away for how unusual it was.”

Berlin added, “That night basically started my life in some respects. That was the first time I ever saw Los Lobos. It was kind of a big deal for The Blasters and was basically Los Lobos’ coming-out party, even though the band had been together for seven years playing in East L.A. At that point, I wasn’t in the band yet, but every opportunity to play with them, I would.”

“They very graciously let me produce a couple of things early on. I started with the By the Light of the Moon EP, and by the end of it, I was in the band. That’s why I’m not on the album cover picture because I was still in The Blasters at that moment. It happened pretty quickly,” he continued.

Fast forward to 2026, and Los Lobos had just spent the last quarter of 2025 on a long talked-about string of dates with longtime friends X dubbed the 99 Years of Rock n’ Roll tour. While this bill featuring these long-time stalwarts of the late ’70s/early ’80s Los Angeles punk/rock scene had played dates throughout California in recent years, this was the first time these gigs had gone beyond the borders of the Golden State.

Snafus with booking that Berlin was not at liberty to discuss wound up getting these non-California dates canceled. Nonetheless, Los Lobos are leaning into a super-power they’ve possessed throughout a career that’s found them topping the Billboard magazine charts, winning a handful of Grammys and getting inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame—playing live shows.

With a canon consisting of 17 full-length albums and counting, Berlin admits making setlists has become a good challenge given the amount of material the band has recorded over five-plus decades.

“We try to make it an overview as much as we can within the 75 to 90 minutes that we’re doing,” Berlin explained. “We’re not pretending to visit every album, but we’re trying to do something that speaks to all of it and hope that people are happy in the end. My favorite songs are ones where we stretch out and there’s room to screw around. Those are the most fun to me—‘The Neighborhood’ and ‘Mas y Mas.’”

“Depending on how we’re feeling, sometimes they’ll take an unexpected turn. For me, I always like when we venture off into the unknown, but we’re not Phish. It’s not built in. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn’t, and depends on how we’re feeling and so forth. I think that’s the stuff I really like,” he added.

As for what the future holds, there is a Native Sons documentary (named after the band’s 2021 all-covers album of the same name). Helmed by Doug Blush (who edited 2013’s Twenty Feet from Stardom) and director of photography Pierre Justy (who shot the last several Los Lobos album covers), the film was supposed to come out four years ago, but finding money to bring it across the finish line has been the challenge.

“It’s just hard to find funding for any art in the world right now,” Berlin said. “The way it goes with most documentaries, they started it without all the funding they needed, and now they’re trying to finish it. My hope is that it’ll see the light of day. It’s been the better part of four years that we’ve been waiting for it to happen.”

“Doug and Pierre’s bona fides are strong. It’s not like they are amateurs or have not done it before. It’s just really, really hard to find money. The editing and finishing are not cheap—it’s expensive. We’re hoping one day soon they say it’s done and we should come watch it,” Berlin noted.

Currently without a label, plans for recorded material from Los Lobos in 2026 are murky at best. In the meantime, the road beckons with U.S. shows on the books through the summer. The road is a place Berlin and his musical brothers are comfortable residing in for the time being.

“Obviously, every concert is a bit of a look back because we’re playing songs we’ve played before, but there is a bit of nostalgia,” he said. “But I think we’re operating at peak efficiency and a chance for folks to catch us at the top of our game. I just know we’re not planning to stop anytime soon.”

Los Lobos plays at 4pm, Saturday, May 23, at Rancho Nicasio, 1 Old Rancheria Rd. As of press time, this show is sold out. ranchonicasio.com.

Megalomania: With Trump, the Signs are Undeniable

Open Mic

Lawrence S. Wittner

May 19, 2026

Megalomania: With Trump, the Signs are Undeniable

Although Donald Trump has never been modest about his abilities or reluctant to exercise personal power, during his second term in office he has shown clear signs of megalomania.

One sign, of course, is his blatant demand for the territory of other nations. Since January 2025 alone, he has suggested annexing or seizing control of Greenland, Canada, Mexico, the Panama Canal, Gaza, Venezuela and Cuba. In addition, he has proclaimed the “Donroe Doctrine,” declaring that “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”

Other actions, too, have underscored Trump’s decision to “go it alone” in world affairs. Like the foremost military conquerors of the past, Trump has been busy building up his nation’s armed forces and their weaponry. The United States is already the world’s biggest military spender, with about three times the military spending of the number two nation (China).

Nevertheless, this April, Trump proposed adoption of a record $1.5 trillion U.S. military budget, with the largest annual increase ever in Pentagon funding: 42%. This dramatic increase does not include an expected supplemental budget for the Iran war, which could cost an additional $200 billion.

Trump’s 2027 fiscal year military budget calls for $98 billion in nuclear weapons spending, most of it to build a new generation of U.S. nuclear weapons. Furthermore, like past U.S. presidents, Trump has assumed the power to launch a nuclear war totally on his own. And he has publicly and repeatedly threatened to do so.

Although it’s tempting to regard this behavior as reflecting an overheated nationalism, the remarkable degree to which Trump regards himself as the savior of the world suggests a more personal lust for supreme power.

This descent into megalomania is deeply disturbing, for the dangers to the world, and even to human survival, are sharply enhanced by one-man rule, and even by one-nation rule.

How long will it take to recognize that international security requires the sharing of power by all people and nations in the human community?

Dr. Lawrence Wittner is professor of history emeritus at SUNY/Albany and the author of ‘Confronting the Bomb.’