August Sebastiani’s last name might sound familiar if one happens to know a thing or two about wine.
He is, in fact, a fourth-generation member of one of California’s founding wine families. And being born into the Sebastiani name made a career in the wine business a no-brainer.
After college, he joined his dad and brother at Don Sebastiani & Sons, developing a whole new enology, mixology and zymology portfolio that is now known as 3 Badge Beverage Corporation, a wine and spirits négociant company with brands such as Gehricke, Subterra, Uncle Val’s Gin, Kirk and Sweeney Rum and Quechol Sotol. He and his wife, Allison, live with their four kids in Sonoma.
Amber Turpin: How did you get into this work?
August Sebastiani: I’m blessed to have been born into it. For all the good and the bad, it’s always been around. Obviously, the focus started with wine. We branched into spirits about a decade ago and have been so pleased with that experience that we’re looking to expand there.
Did you ever have an “aha” moment with a certain beverage? If so, tell us about it.
The “aha” moment came with spirits, in particular. My wife and I happened to be out to drinks with a group of friends and learned a thing or two as we began ordering. One ordered, “I’ll have a glass of whatever sauvignon blanc you have available by the glass.” And another said, “Do you have an IPA…? Whatever you’ve got sounds great, thanks.”
Then there was a run on mixed cocktails, and they were calling specific brands in their drinks:
“Grey Goose and soda.” “Hendricks martini, and a 7 and 7.” And the realization came. After a career trading in wine brand equity, it was spirits brand equity that carried more weight. People are considerably more loyal to spirits brands than they are to any wine or any beer.
What is your favorite thing to drink at home?
Sake is my drink of choice. Cold, filtered, dry sakes are surprisingly versatile and complex. It’s really fun also to enjoy a beverage without analyzing it professionally.
Where do you like to go out for a drink?
My wife and I often find ourselves at a wine bar a few blocks from our house. Great spot that has a TV for sports games and shares a kitchen with an amazing Italian restaurant next door.
If you were stuck on a desert island, what would you want to be drinking (besides fresh water)?
Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin, Gehricke Rosé and sake.
Taking place in Quincy on July 3-6, the High Sierra Music Festival’s annual gathering boasts an eclectic and fun lineup of music, including several Bay Area bands like The Coffis Brothers, ALO and Lyrics Born, as well as North Bay favorites, The Rainbow Girls. This year’s festival also marks the return of early festival producer Dave Margulies.
Margulies, who became a partner and co-producer in 1995, spoke about his long-time presence at the fest via email saying, “I got involved with High Sierra as a fan of music festivals and attended the High Sierra Music festival in 1992 in its second year when I went to see one of my favorite bands play, The Radiators.”
The aforementioned Rainbow Girls are also no strangers to the fest. Erin Chapin (vocals, guitar, slide guitar) said, “We’ve played High Sierra a few times, but we first came to the fest in 2015 as ticket holders. All of our friends from college had been talking it up for years, but we had spent the previous four summers busking in Europe and were never able to make it.”
When asked what makes music fests so special, Vanessa May (vocals, bass, guitar) said, “Festivals, and shows in general, are a great place for artists to come together and build community. When we’ve had the opportunity to meet our heroes along the road, it always felt like a gift, a chance to say thank you and make bonds that might have felt unimaginable before.”
Chapin added, “This year, the lineup is full of our friends, and we’re bound to share the stage with a lot of them throughout the weekend. The Heeters, John Craigie, Anna Moss, Whiskerman, California Honeydrops, Steve Poltz, Nathan Moore and Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars, to name some.”
This writer attended the festival back in the early aughts and had a blast. However, looking at this year’s lineup, it’s clear the festival has grown both in dates and in sheer volume of acts.
With so much happening, it almost seems overwhelming but in a good way.
“High Sierra is a kind, joyful, family-friendly vibe, one that started that way and has evolved and grown organically over 33 years. The fact that our guidelines are not like the ones you’ll find at corporate events contributes to that relaxed atmosphere, where patrons feel at ease,” said Margulies. “This is part of what makes High Sierra different than Live Nation and other corporate events. However, it goes much deeper than that. Everyone, from artists to staff, to vendors to patrons, brings the best of themselves to the festival each year, and that shows in the quality of the experience.”
Obviously, music festivals are a great way to attract new listeners, but bands also have to keep in mind their fans who make a choice to see them play in such a huge space.
As the Rainbow Girls’ Caitlin Gowdey (vocals, guitar, keys ) said, “I think whenever anyone plays at High Sierra, they sign an unspoken agreement which states that there is no guarantee that any people will be at your set, no matter how much they like you, due to the fact that they are probably standing in line for dumplings. We will show up exactly as we are and do our best at any given time, regardless of what stage we’re on.”
When asked what they would say to encourage someone to see their set over another band’s should schedules collide, the Rainbow Girls offered a comic litany of endorsements ranging from, “Hot shit, tight sound, loose feelings, sticky floors and tequila over ice with lipstick on the rim,” to “some abomination of indie folk, soul, classic country and rock ’n’ roll” and finally, “these girls are a gospel choir from heaven that make sex jokes in between songs … really chatty, but still good … we highly recommend us for you.”
So, clearly, there’s really no choice.
More info on the High Sierra Music Fest can be found at highsierramusic.com. The Rainbow Girls are at rainbowgirlsmusic.com.
Neil Simon’s Rumors (now playing in Andrews Hall at the Sonoma Community Center through June 15) is a farce in the traditional way. There’s a staircase, an overly convoluted plot, six doors and plenty of props/set dressings to trip over.
Charlie, the vice-mayor of New York, is celebrating his 10th wedding anniversary with his wife, Myra. They’ve invited their eight closest friends, Ken (Jimmy Gagarin), Chris (Katie Kelley), Claire (Jenny Veilleux), Len (Max Geide), Cookie (Bright Eastman), Ernie (John Gibbons), Cassie (Chelsea Smith) and Glenn (Matt Farrell). All are successful, well-connected people. But now Myra is nowhere to be found, and Charlie is in no condition to host a party.
Director Larry Williams and set designer Gary Gonser have done a good job fitting a complicated set onto the Rotary Stage. Similarly, Roxanne Johnson’s 1990s evening wear costumes are amazing. The attention to detail is impressive.
There are some good performances here. Veilleux has a comfort on stage well-suited to the time period and a natural sense of timing that helps drive the scenes, but it’s Geide who really shines. The role of Lenny is legendary for the level of control, skill and energy needed to do it well, and Geide goes all in. His final monologue compensates for a lot of the pacing issues that plague the production.
The more challenging the comedy, the more precise the timing needs to be. And there are many scenes in this production that move exactly right. Usually, those scenes involve Geide, Veilleux, Gagarin or Kelley. The four actors work well together, playing off each other’s energy. However, when Geide or Veilleux are not on stage, the pacing tends to drop, and a lot of air leaks into the lines. This sabotages the momentum needed to successfully pull off the scripted hijinks.
There were some unusual circumstances at the performance I attended. So in order for me to produce an equitable critique, this required me to see the play twice (on consecutive days). In dealing with the situation, I saw a cast that showed impressive professionalism and artistic integrity.
Yes, the Sonoma Arts Live production of Rumors needs to be tightened. But I don’t doubt that given some time, the pacing issues will work themselves out.
I can also attest that yes, it’s still funny the second time around.
Sonoma Arts Live presents ‘Rumors’ through June 15 on the Rotary Stage at Andrews Hall in the Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St., Sonoma. Thurs-Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. $25-$42. 707.484.4874. sonomaartslive.org.
Esperanza Rico and Estrellita Rico of The Princess Boutique in Santa Rosa offer their clients cradle to grave service—or nearly so.
The tall-walled and brick-lined showroom is divided into sections where first communion suits, quinceañera “coming out” gowns, prom and wedding dresses sit, lit in abundant sunshine. Their clothing covers the principle passages (marked with rose trellis) through which a traditional Latina processes during her lifetime.
I asked Estrellita Rico, the daughter and helpmate to owner Esperanza Rico, why they didn’t offer funeral wear to complete their clients’ lifetime needs. She laughed that they did—provided they wanted to be buried in a big foofy dress. And, come to think of it, yes, I do.
Entering their boutique on Railroad Square, one is immediately drawn to the quinceañera section, with its long rows of court dresses in every color of the rainbow, from the most traditional Mexican, big and black, embroidered with climbing red roses, to the most American, a straight ahead pink “Cinderella” ball gown.
And dancing pole to pole are gowns in shades of scarlet, magenta, lavender, lime and daiquiri, bedewed with “pearls,” or opulent with silver-threaded arabesques, lace, giant bows, silk butterflies or the blossoming flowers of maidenly spring.
To one oppressed by regnant minimalism, it is all so rapturously extra. And I have not even described the rhinestone traced silk flower bouquets or the rhinestone mounting quince crowns that put the crown jewels of Europe to shame.
Fresh from a quince fitting, I sat down with Esperanza Rico. Estrellita Rico helped a bit with translation. I might add, for description, that as Esperanza Rico spoke, there hung over her shoulder a three-quarters life-sized double photo of her daughter as a 15-year-old quince princess, looking imperious, in a gown of peach and another of emerald.
Cincinnatus Hibbard: Why do you do this work?
Esperanza Rico: When I was a little girl, growing up in Michoacán, I never had birthday parties.
My single mother didn’t have the money for decorations or presents. But my grandmother made me a doll out of an old sock, and I would make beautiful dresses for it with paper and glue. I never had a quinceañera, but I dreamed of a peach-colored tule quinceañera dress… Now I live to make other girls’ dreams come true…
Lovely … perhaps you could give all us a rundown of the services you provide.
Special event clothing, from our inventory, catalogs and sometimes my own original
designs—I went to design school in Mexico and worked with dressmakers. We have inclusive sizing, from size zero to 4X. We do clothing alterations of our clothing or clothing people bring in. And we have accessories for everything. We are a one-stop shop.
And I understand you have extensive contacts in every aspect of event planning—if yourclient needs a balloon arch, make-up, catering or a stretch humvee.
Yes. We actually did event planning until the pandemic. We might start again…
How were you able to start this business?
We started a party business making decorations at home. Later, we were able to purchase an existing dress shop with money we won at the casino. We started with $100 (laughs).
Estrellita Rico: My mother is very lucky; she has a good spirit and good energy (laughs).
Tell me, Esperanza, is it too late for you to have a quinceañera?
When I turned 50, I had my “cincuentañera” with all my childhood best friends and family Michoacán. I wore an emerald dress….
Estrellita Rico: Her dream did come true. My dad was the chambelan.
Learn more: Their instagram is @princess_boutiquesr.
It’s time to dive into the fantastical, the horrific and the domestic with Betty and Clayton Bailey at di Rosa Downtown. Their exhibition showcases the quirky, wild worlds of ceramic sculptor Clayton Bailey, a legend of California clay art, alongside the prolific graphite and ceramic works of his wife, Betty Bailey. Together, this duo’s art explores the weird and wonderful chaos of fame, creativity and marriage, with monsters and mayhem galore. One may catch this mind-bending duo’s creations in the flesh—so to speak—from now through Sept. 7 at di Rosa Downtown. TheBetty and Clayton Bailey exhibition is free to attend and open from noon to 4pm Friday through Sunday. Find the exhibition at 1300 First St., Suite 251 in Napa. For more info, visit dirosaart.org.
Sebastopol
Light It Up
Are y’all ready for the gosh darned best 3rd of July party in town? Well, if so, then y’all be happy to hear that the Kiwanis Club of Sebastopol is back with their annual 3rd of July Fireworks and Music Extravaganza. This event promises a night packed with live music, good eats and sky-high pyrotechnics, guaranteed to make the eyes sparkle—literally. The music kicks off at 4pm and rolls on till the fireworks blast off at about 9:30pm. Before that, Uncle Sam himself leads the flag ceremony at 9:20pm, followed by the “Star-Spangled Banner”—and yes, a raffle to keep things interesting. Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for kids age 6-11 and totally free for the littlest firecracker kiddos under 5. No outside booze or pets allowed, so leave those at home, and don’t forget to bring that party spirit. For more info, visit sebastopolkiwanisclub.org.
Novato
Radio Days
Wondering how to survive in a world without Wi-Fi? Well, amateur radio operators (aka hams) just might have the chops to get through a low-tech resurgence. Enter the 2025 ARRL Amateur Radio Field Day, a 24-hour communications showdown where the Marin Amateur Radio Society (MARS) proves they can set up a radio station faster than one can say “no bars.” From wildfires to hurricanes, these folks are the reason disaster response doesn’t turn into a total communications blackout. Curious? One may come see the gear, meet the hams and maybe even chat with someone transmitting from across the country—or from a lawn chair in Kansas. Either way, it’s pure analog magic. ARRL Field Day runs 11am June 28 to 11am June 29 at Picnic Area 1, Stafford Lake Park, 3549 Novato Blvd. in Novato. Contact Steve Toquinto at kb****@*****st.net. Talk-in frequency: 147.585 MHz simplex.
Bolinas
A Howlin’ Good Time
Friday the 13th is coming once more, and what better way to mark the occasion than (you guessed it) … werewolves? Werewolf Serenade, a campy indie lycanthrope rom-com, is screening at the Bolinas Community Center on Friday, June 13 as part of the Bolinas Film Festival’s “Filmmaker’s Lounge” series. Even better? Local filmmakers Daedalus Howell (the editor of this very paper) and Kary Hess will be in attendance for a post-film Q&A to talk shop, spill secrets and possibly confirm whether lycanthropy is covered by Kaiser (spoiler: it’s not). This knowingly weird, weirdly tender film follows a Gen X couple grappling with marital ennui and sudden werewolfism—equal parts horror, humor and midlife crisis. Think sharp dialogue, occult academia and hair in increasingly inconvenient places. Audience howling is encouraged. Admission is free. ‘Werewolf Serenade’ will screen from 7-9pm on Friday, June 13, at the Bolinas Community Center, located at 14 Wharf Rd. To reserve tickets, visit dhowl.com/bolinas-wolf.
I sat spellbound. The man across the table was relating how he had wrangled his way into a detention center where he suspected torture was being committed. He convinced the guard to leave the room, quickly photographed the horrific scarring on a detainee’s back, smuggled the film out and showed the photos to a judge.
“The judge roundly condemned the torture, which was illegal but seldom exposed,” my companion explained. “Detainees were denied any access to their families and lawyers until they were charged. That could take several months, and by then the marks of torture would no longer show. But this time we had unexpectedly won a case granting access to the detainee.” He paused, then added, “The judge directed the offending security policemen to be prosecuted. The exposure stopped the torture.”
The man across from me was Dave Smuts, a white lawyer who had led the legal challenges to the apartheid regime in place in Namibia when it was under South African rule. Smuts is now a Namibian Supreme Court justice. He also was an international student at Harvard.
As the Trump administration curbs international student visas, I wonder about the cost. As a humanitarian aid worker, I often met foreigners who credit studying in the U.S. with the important work they now do. They also speak glowingly of the U.S. once they’re home.
A Bosnian official, fresh from a mid-career program in the U.S., admiringly recalled, “In America, people actually stop at red lights, even when no one is coming. They believe in the rule of law. That’s how their society gets ahead.”
The U.S. will be poorer without international students. We lose their perspectives and enriching campus conversations. We lose the financial benefits of their tuition and other spending. We lose the leading edge they bring us in science, business and the arts.
It’s time to slow down and think these changes through. We are losing too much.
Melinda Burrell, Ph.D.,is a former humanitarian aid worker and now trains on the neuroscience of communication and conflict.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your definition of home is due for revamping, deepening and expansion. Your sense of where you truly belong is ripe to be adjusted and perhaps even revolutionized. A half-conscious desire you have not previously been ready to fully acknowledge is ready for you to explore. Can you handle these subtly shocking opportunities? Do you have any glimmerings about how to open yourself to the revelations that life would love to offer you about your roots, your foundations and your prime resources? Here are your words of power: source and soul.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Do you have any frustrations about how you express yourself or create close connections? Are there problems in your ability to be heard and appreciated? Do you wish you could be more persuasive and influential? If so, your luck is changing. In the coming months, you will have extraordinary powers to innovate, expand and deepen the ways you communicate. Even if you are already fairly pleased with the flow of information and energy between you and those you care for, surprising upgrades could be in the works. To launch this new phase of fostering links, affinities and collaborations, devise fun experiments that encourage you to reach out and be reached.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I’ve always had the impression that honeybees are restless wanderers, randomly hopping from flower to flower as they gradually accumulate nectar. But I recently discovered that they only meander until they find a single good fount of nourishment, whereupon they sup deeply and make a beeline back to the hive. I am advocating their approach to you in the coming weeks. Engage in exploratory missions, but don’t dawdle, and don’t sip small amounts from many different sites. Instead, be intent on finding a single source that provides the quality and quantity you want, then fulfill your quest and head back to your sanctuary.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Let’s talk about innovation. I suspect it will be your specialty in the coming weeks and months. One form that innovation takes is the generation of a new idea, approach or product. Another kind of innovation comes through updating something that already exists. A third may emerge from finding new relationships between two or more older ways of doing things—creative recombinations that redefine the nature of the blended elements. All these styles of innovation are now ripe for you to employ.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo psychotherapist Carl Jung was halfway through his life of 85 years when he experienced the ultimate midlife crisis. Besieged by feelings of failure and psychological disarray, he began to see visions and hear voices in his head. Determined to capitalize on the chaotic but fertile opportunity, he undertook an intense period of self-examination and self-healing. He wrote in journals that were eventually published as The Red Book: Liber Novus. He emerged healthy and whole from this trying time, far wiser about his nature and his mission in life. I invite you to initiate your own period of renewal in the coming months, Leo. Consider writing your personal Red Book: Liber Novus.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the coming weeks, you will have chances to glide deeper than you have previously dared to go into experiences, relationships and opportunities that are meaningful to you. How much bold curiosity will you summon as you penetrate further than ever before into the heart of the gorgeous mysteries? How wild and unpredictable will you be as you explore territory that has been off-limits? Your words of power: probe, dive down, decipher.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): When traditional Japanese swordsmiths crafted a blade, they wrapped hard outer layers around a softer inner core. This strategy gave their handiwork a sharp cutting edge while also imbuing it with flexibility and a resistance to breakage. I recommend a similar approach for you, Libra. Create balance, yes, but do so through integration rather than compromise. Like the artisans of old, don’t choose between hardness and flexibility, but find ways to incorporate both. Call on your natural sense of harmony to blend opposites that complement each other.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio journalist Martha Gelhorn (1908-1998) was an excellent war correspondent. During her six decades on the job, she reported on many of the world’s major conflicts. But she initially had a problem when trying to get into France to report on D-Day, June 6, 1945. Her application for press credentials was denied, along with all those of other women journalists. Surprise. Through subterfuge and daring, Gelhorn stowed away on a hospital ship and reached France in time to report on the climactic events. I counsel you to also use extraordinary measures to achieve your goals, Scorpio. Innovative circumspection and ethical trickery are allowed. Breaking the rules may be necessary and warranted.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): My spirit guides enjoy reminding me that breakthrough insights and innovations may initially emerge not as complete solutions, but as partial answers to questions that need further exploration. I don’t always like it, but I listen anyway, when they tell me that progress typically comes through incremental steps. The Sagittarian part of my nature wants total victory and comprehensive results NOW. It would rather not wait for the slow, gradual approach to unfold its gifts. So I empathize if you are a bit frustrated by the piecemeal process you are nursing. But I’m here to say that your patience will be well rewarded.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Sometimes I’ve got to pause and relax my focused striving, because that’s the only way my unconscious mind can work its magic.” My Capricorn friend, Alicia, says that about her creative process as a novelist. The solution to a knotty challenge may not come from redoubling her efforts but instead from making a strategic retreat into silence and emptiness. I invite you to consider a similar approach, Capricorn. Experiment with the hypothesis that significant breakthroughs will arrive when you aren’t actively seeking them. Trust in the fertile void of not-knowing. Allow life’s meandering serendipity to reveal unexpected benefits.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Are you interested in graduating to the next level of love and intimacy? If so, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to intensify your efforts. Life will be on your side if you dare to get smarter about how to make your relationships work better than they ever have. To inspire your imagination and incite you to venture into the frontiers of togetherness, I offer you a vivacious quote from author Anais Nin. Say it to your favorite soul friend or simply use it as a motivational prayer. Nin wrote, “You are the fever in my blood, the tide that carries me to undiscovered shores. You are my alchemist, transmuting my fears into wild, gold-spun passion. With you, my body is a poem. You are the labyrinth where I lose and find myself, the unwritten book of ecstasies that only you can read.”
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What deep longing of yours is both fascinating and frustrating? To describe it further: It keeps pushing you to new frontiers yet always eludes complete satisfaction. It teaches you valuable life lessons but sometimes spoofs you and confuses you. Here’s the good news about this deep longing, Pisces: You now have the power to tap into its nourishing fuel in unprecedented ways. It is ready to give you riches it has never before provided. Here’s the “bad” news: You will have to raise your levels of self-knowledge to claim all of its blessings. (And of course, that’s not really bad.)
Over the many decades Albert Lee has strapped on an axe, he’s earned the nickname Mr. Telecaster.
As one of England’s pre-eminent country-rock guitarists, Lee has spent decades playing his trusty Fender Telecaster—first with Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, then in a five-year stint as a sideman for Eric Clapton and later as musical director for the Everly Brothers, a run that began with the duo’s 1983 reunion concert. Now, at 81, the octogenarian rock god performs at 8pm Monday, June 16, at HopMonk Tavern in Sebastopol.
While most 80-somethings might be content reminiscing about the glory days, this affable Brit is still out promoting his most recent studio album, last year’s Lay It Down. The record is a beautifully played collection of covers that nod to several of Lee’s heroes, including the Everly Brothers, Bobby Darin and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Still, Lee admits he’d rather be on stage—even if time has brought a few challenges.
“The guy who books me in England said we needed new music for the next tour,” Lee said. “I have to be forced to do these things. Everybody was saying we’ve got to do this, so we booked Konk, the Kinks’ studio. My feeling was, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to find songs.’ But it turned out really well considering the time it was done. I’m really happy to have it out there. I found some old photographs where I don’t look quite so old. But it’s been a bit of a struggle for me because not having played before heading out on this tour, I lost the calluses on my fingers. I’m 81 now, so the skin gets kind of thin in your 80s. It’s taken a while to build them up.”
Calluses or not, Lee’s two days in the studio yielded a set packed with in-concert favorites. Highlights include a rollicking take on Dire Straits’ “Setting Me Up,” a countrypolitan-flavored cover of the Chris Hillman/Gram Parsons tune “Wheels” and a sweeping rendition of Jimmy Webb’s “Too Young to Die.”
An unabashed interpreter of others’ work, Lee hasn’t penned anything new lately.
“We just booked some studio time, went in for a couple of days and knocked out a few tracks,” he said. “These are songs it’s taken me a few years to get around to learning. And a good lot of them are ones we’ve been doing on stage.”
Lee’s musical journey began as a child idolizing early 1950s pop stars like Johnnie Ray, Doris Day and Guy Mitchell. But it was skiffle king Lonnie Donegan’s covers of Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly that inspired him to pick up a guitar. By 1960, he was on his first tour. Later, it was American country legends Jimmy Bryant and James Burton who sparked his lifelong love affair with the Telecaster.
“Jimmy Bryant had a crazy swing/country style and I could tell he was playing a Telecaster,” Lee recalled. “Around that time I’d become a huge fan of James Burton with Ricky Nelson, and James was playing a Telecaster, too. By 1963, I found a second-hand Telecaster and that changed my life completely.”
By the late ’60s, Lee had gone from playing with Chris Farlowe’s Thunderbirds to performing country music for U.S. military bases in the U.K. At the same time, Clapton, Page and Beck were becoming household names. Lee nearly abandoned country music altogether—until he was asked to join Head Hands & Feet, a British band often dubbed the U.K.’s answer to the Flying Burrito Brothers.
“I think we were influenced by people like Jimmy Webb, because there were two main writers in the band [Ray Smith and Tony Colton], and they did some country songs,” Lee said. “At that time, we were influenced by the Band as well. What was good about Head Hands & Feet is they forced me into playing piano more, which was interesting because as a kid I was lazy and I remember my piano teachers telling my parents they were wasting their time because I wasn’t practicing between lessons. But I’ve been an avid pianist since my time in Head Hands & Feet. I’m grateful for my time in that band because it was a good introduction to America for me.”
The band’s reputation opened doors. After it dissolved, Lee resettled in Southern California, where he connected with future collaborators like the Everly Brothers and Emmylou Harris. Ironically, his big break with Harris came when he replaced his guitar hero, James Burton.
“I’d first met the Everly Brothers in ’62 or ’63 and got really friendly with their guitar player, Don Peake, who is still a dear friend of mine,” Lee said. “By the time I got to L.A. the first time, Phil Everly came out to see Head Hands & Feet. After my group broke up in ’73, I was living in Los Angeles. A friend of mine called to say Don was playing at a local bar near where I was living. He told me to come on out because it was a great band and Don was leading it. I took my guitar out to this small bar and Don loved what I was doing.”
He added, “The real turning point for me was when I went to see Emmylou play this one gig down in Laguna Hills by the beach around ’74 or ’75. She asked what I was doing for the next couple of weeks and said, ‘Albert, we need you,’ because James was off to play with Elvis.”
Fast-forward to the present, and Lee has no plans to slow down.
“I’m 81 now, so I’m fortunate to still have the gigs out there,” he said. “It’s getting harder, but I’ll keep doing it. It’s like what I tell young musicians: Don’t do all your practicing in your bedroom. Get out there and play with other musicians. That’s when you really learn something. It proved well for me.”
Albert Lee performs at 8pm Monday, June 16, at HopMonk Tavern Sebastopol, 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. Tickets start at $36.37 and are available at bit.ly/albert-lee-hopmonk.
In the fall of 2020, during the reign of deep Covid, I worked in-person as a frontline behavioral healthcare counselor at a residential complex for adults with serious mental illness.
It was a strange time to be a commuter. And as I drove from my apartment in Rohnert Park to work in Santa Rosa on the deserted Hwy 101, it was hard not to imagine that the world had ended right under my nose.
I fell into a sort of paranoid solipsism on these drives, lost in an anxious dream that people would never leave their houses again, that we had been placed in a continuous stasis from which there was no escape. That is, until I started noticing the strange evidence of other people along the highway, proof that I was not alone in the world.
Bedsheets and torn cardboard canvases, affixed with twine to chain-link fences, began appearing at freeway onramps and along frontage roads. All of them bearing the same hastily scrawled or spray-painted message: “Listen to the Happys.”
CRITIQUE Not all North Bay residents are fans of The Happys’ marketing efforts. Screengrab from instagram.com/thehappys
Nick Petty came up with the idea to start a band in 2012 while living in a halfway house in San Francisco. He had recently been released from jail and was doing his best to envision life free of the OxyContin and heroin habit that had followed him for years. While discussing potential names with a friend, he landed on the Happys as a tongue-in-cheek description of the music he wanted to make and the conditions he currently found himself in.
Now, in 2025, sitting in the attic of a barn on the property of the San Rafael Elks Club, the Happys’ current rehearsal space, Petty tells me, “Writing is what kept, and keeps, me sane.” As he tells it, he has been clean from opiates since that stint.
The current lineup of the Happys comprises Brett Brazil (bass/vocals), Alejandro Sanchez (lead guitar/vocals), Elijah Smetzer (drums) and Petty (songwriter/lead vocals). The band prides itself on having a wide range of influences and a somewhat chameleonic sound.
During the interview, they cite Kurt Cobain, Eliot Smith and Sublime as influences, and their most popular songs on Spotify tilt from surf-rock to post-punk to arena-rock anthems. It is hard to pin down their specific genre within the vague boundaries of “rock.” This amorphousness works, though, as it is undergirded by excessive energy and dedication from every member of the band. “All of us are all in on this,” Sanchez tells me. “We are in it for the long run.”
In 2019, Petty’s father passed away, and he was pushed into a bit of an existential crisis. “I just started thinking about the time I have left and what I wanted to do with it,” Petty says. He decided to channel this angst into the Happys, a project that had already ferried him through one crisis years earlier. Starting around this time, the Happys crew started putting up makeshift signs around the North Bay, encouraging anyone and everyone to listen to them.
“The signs were inspired by graffiti,” Petty says.
“And garage sale signs,” Brazil adds.
The idea was guerrilla and anti-algorithm. In an age where musicians are encouraged to have an online presence and market themselves to specific demographics, the Happys decided to aggressively market themselves to literally whomever happened to be driving down the freeway that day.
After an especially long overnight shift back in 2020, I drove by another sign that read “Listen to the Happys” and finally caved. I loaded up their music on the spot and started listening. Several months later, as the world began coming back into focus, I saw a flyer advertising a live performance by the Happys in front of George’s Nightclub in San Rafael as a part of the Dine Under the Lights event series. Dear reader, I went and saw the Happys live. I bought a bumper sticker that says, “Listen to The Happys,” and it is still on my car. If anyone has ever wondered if this sort of marketing works, it at the very least did on me.
Sanchez claims that over the past five years, any time there is a Happys show in or around the Bay Area, they are approached by people who claim they came because of all the signs. “People come up to us and are like, ‘I’ve been waiting to meet you guys,’” he says with a nervous chuckle. He is also quick to qualify that he doesn’t think the signs are solely responsible for the growing success they’ve experienced over the past half-decade. “What helps us is that we are down to play a show anywhere and everywhere,” he states.
“I don’t think people understand how hard we work at this,” Petty adds. Outside of traditional venues, the Happys have played shows at Petaluma High School, nonprofit organizations and substance-abuse centers. When Jack White played a pop-up show at the Phoenix in Petaluma in October 2024, the Happys played a pop-up show outside it for people waiting to get into the show.
At this point in the interview, I ask Petty if he feels like he might have some obsessive tendencies about the band. He responds by nodding and offering me a fist-bump.
It didn’t feel right to just interview the band about the signs. Obviously, they were going to have a positive pitch. I wanted to hear a counter opinion, a voice from the community on how they feel about the presence of so much DIY marketing. So I turned to the only reliable source of information gathering I could think of: Reddit. Creating a burner account, I posted on the Sonoma and Marin County subreddits asking what people thought of the signs.
As it stands at the time of writing this, the threads have a combined total of more than 200 comments. Some commenters hate the signs and think they are just litter; others respect the hustle but aren’t fans of the music. Others still love the signs and encourage everyone to see the Happys live, promising an excellent show. One commenter in particular observed that a real journalist wouldn’t lazily poll Reddit for opinions. Ouch.
Judgments aside, one thing is irrefutable: People know who the Happys are and feel passionate one way or the other about their presence in the North Bay.
Petty is quick to address the litter question when I ask about it. “We take trash that is already there and make signs out of it. I’ve also hauled a bunch of litter off the highway to try and clean it up,” he says. The signs, then, are part of a green mindset: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. As far as the people who hate the signs and call them a nuisance, he says quite matter-of-factly, “Some people hate to see other people following their dreams.”
Speaking of following dreams, in the past five years the Happys have released a full-length album, sold out Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley and have performed as openers for the Mad Caddies, Hobo Johnson and Sublime with Rome. They are currently preparing for an East Coast tour, which will be the first part of a nationwide tour, and will be releasing a new album in the coming months, titled Listen to The Happys.
When I ask the members about their long-term plans for the band, Sanchez and Brazil tell me they value the possibility of longevity. Smetzer says he wants to reach as wide an audience as he can. When I ask Petty the same question, he smiles for a second and then says, “Biggest band in the world.”
Every well-rounded theatergoer should see at least one Gilbert and Sullivan production in their lifetime, and Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse is presenting a delightful opportunity to do so. Its robust production of The Pirates of Penzance runs through June 21.
Perhaps W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s most-produced piece, the comic opera debuted in New York in 1879 and remains a favorite of light opera companies and adventuresome community theaters. The demands of costume, set, music and especially voice make it somewhat of a gamble for a non-operatically inclined company—but if done correctly, it can pay off with very satisfied audiences.
The five principal roles are double-cast in this production. The “Bones” cast features Aidan Cumming, Caroline Flett, Drew Bolander, Ginger Beavers and Ted C. Smith. The “Skull” cast includes Andrew Cedeño, Nicole Stanley, Skyler King, Laura Downing-Lee and Tim Setzer. While I attended a performance with the “Bones” cast, the caliber of talent in both groups would lead one to expect similarly high-quality performances.
Pirates is the tale of young Frederick (Cumming) who, on his impending 21st birthday, will end his indentured apprenticeship with a rather inept band of pirates led by the Pirate King (Bolander). Frederick looks forward to his return to respectable society—and the extermination of his former employers.
Their undiscoverable pirate’s lair is soon found by a group of giddy girls who all turn out to be the daughters of Major-General Stanley (Smith). The eldest, Mabel (Flett), and Frederick quickly fall in love. But before wedding bells can ring, a complication arises: It seems Frederick’s apprenticeship may not be over after all.
Co-directors and choreographers Jonathen Blue and Emily Lynn Cornelius and music director Les Pfützenreuter do yeoman’s work in bringing this colorful tale to life. The same goes for costume designer Donnie Frank, lighting designer April George, and co-scenic designers Aissa Simbulan and Peter Crompton. The show looks and sounds great.
The leads all deliver strong vocals and clearly defined comic characterizations, with Beavers gloriously chewing the scenery as Frederick’s nursemaid, Ruth. The production is also supported by a strong ensemble and an excellent seven-piece orchestra.
What ought one do? Join a rollicking band of pirates and two young lovers for this very entertaining show! And bring the kids—it’s a great introduction to the magic of theater.
Yo-ho-ho.‘The Pirates of Penzance’ runs through June 21 in the GK Hardt Theatre at 6th Street Playhouse, 52 W. Sixth St., Santa Rosa. Thu–Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. $29–$56. 707.523.4185. 6thstreetplayhouse.com
August Sebastiani’s last name might sound familiar if one happens to know a thing or two about wine.
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Every well-rounded theatergoer should see at least one Gilbert and Sullivan production in their lifetime, and Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse is presenting a delightful opportunity to do so. Its robust production of The Pirates of Penzance runs through June 21.
Perhaps W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s most-produced piece, the comic opera debuted in New York in 1879 and remains...
