Dream On

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Dream On

Independent hip-hop artist and 2016 NorBay award winner Pure Powers was gifted with knowing what he wanted to do in life, and the talent and tenacity to realize his dreams.

Growing up in west Sonoma County and on the island of Maui, he’s been repping both as an emcee and rapper, and has gained a following through his affirming lyrics and lightning-fast delivery.

Two years ago, Pure Powers, born Brendan Powers, was wrapping up his debut record,

My Album, when he met Sonoma County producer Rudy G with
RG Recordings, a local independent hip-hop label.

“We both had the same dream of putting Sonoma County on the map,” says Powers. “We wanted to show that no matter where you’re from or what your background is, as long as you have a dream and you’re passionate about it, anything can come true.”

Over the last two years, Powers and RG Recordings worked together producing Powers’ new album, One Dream, out now. Featuring fast and inventive rhymes laid over smooth beats, One Dream boasts an impressive array of collaborators and guests, like Del the Funky Homosapien, Opio and Pep Love from underground Bay Area hip-hop icons Hieroglyphics, as well as San Francisco rapper Z-Man, singer-songwriter Khyenci Tienne and Oregon-based emcee Landon Wordswell.

“My whole saying is I make friends, not beats,” Powers says. The rapper co-wrote many of the hooks, beats and lyrics on One Dream, and the album shines as a focused work that is consistently fresh, funny, powerful and inspiring.

“The main message that I’m pushing right now, and that I feel is really important to be voiced, is that we all have the power to do what we want to do with our lives,” Powers says. “Do what you love and do it to the best of your ability.”

In the spirit of positivity, Powers and RG Recordings have released One Dream to the masses at no cost, as a token of appreciation to everyone following the journey.

This month, manager Brendan Ward with Euphoric Music Group booked Pure Powers on a tour with Oakland hip-hop stars Zion I and Lafa Taylor.

“I’m honored to be touring with them,” he says. “They’ve really helped pave the way for [eclectic] artists like me to not only have a voice in hip-hop, but to also go beyond genres and break down walls. Good music is good music, and good music with love behind it is even better.”

Homegrown Talent

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Homegrown Talent

Start with The Groove Is Not Trivial, Cloverdale documentarian Tommie Dell Smith’s fun film about Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser.

Add Green /is/ Gold, Sonoma Valley filmmaker Ryon Baxter’s sweetly sad coming-of-age story set within Northern California’s cannabis industry. Then throw in Paris Can Wait, Napa-based Eleanor Coppola’s very first feature film, featuring Alec Baldwin and staring Diane Lane taking a life-changing road trip through France.

Those three films alone would make for a tasty and full-bodied blend at any other cinema festival. But this particular wine country threesome will be appearing among more than a dozen films written and/or directed by North Bay filmmakers. All will be shown over a 10-day period at the 39th Mill Valley Film Festival, screening in various Marin County locations Oct. 6–16.

Though the above-mentioned films may not be as flashy as some of the blindingly star-powered events also on the schedule—including live appearances by Emma Stone, Amy Adams, Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Gael García Bernal, Julie Dash, Aaron Eckhart and Barbara Boxer—that so many locally made films are given pride of place within the lineup is a testament to the festival’s ongoing commitment to celebrate filmmakers at every stage of their artistic development.

Coppola—best known as the award-winning documentarian of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, about her husband, Francis Ford Coppola, and his efforts to make the acclaimed Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now!—is winning strong reviews for her first foray into narrative filmmaking. Paris Can Wait, which she wrote and directed, follows a woman (Lane) who finds herself on an unexpected journey of discovery after accepting a ride from Cannes to Paris from the charming, romantic best friend (Arnaud Viard) of her workaholic filmmaker husband (Baldwin). The film screens Saturday, Oct. 15, at 1:45pm at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, and Sunday, Oct. 16, at noon at the Lark Theater in Larkspur.

Green /is/ Gold is the story of two brothers trying to make a big business deal in the middle of the ever-changing world of medical marijuana. It screens Saturday, Oct. 8, at 3:45pm, at the Cinearts Sequoia in Mill Valley and Sunday, Oct. 9, at 6:30pm at the Rafael Film Center.

Dell Smith’s The Groove Is Not Trivial alternates live performances by fiddler Fraser and cellist Natalie Haas. It screens following the short film “Joe’s Violin” on Sunday, Oct. 9, at 5:45pm at the Cinearts Sequoia, and Monday, Oct. 9, at 6:15pm at the Rafael Film Center.

The Architect, San Rafael director Jonathan Parker’s comedy-drama starring Parker Posey and Eric McCormack screens Thursday, Oct. 13, at 7pm at the Cinearts Sequoia, and Friday, Oct. 14, at 2:30pm at the Rafael Film Center.

Letters to the Editor: October 5, 2016

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Letters to the Editor: October 5, 2016

Cosmic Forces

Many people find this election unbearable and unwatchable, but I find it compelling. Something is truly happening here. The personalities of the presidential candidates have been analyzed to death, but the underlying forces that have thrust them into the limelight are ignored. While Donald Trump is a very colorful character attracting endless attention, he is a projection of a much larger phenomenon, as is Hillary Clinton.

The phenomenon of Trump is the business model of success. The successful businessman model is a function of the money system, which is a function of materialism itself. It is a false model of a false system of false materialism. The heart of the falsehood is scarcity consciousness. The root problem is not greed. The creation of a money system, founded in scarcity, set the greed force loose.

Now we a have person in the public spotlight who exemplifies the dynamic of money in full cartoon Technicolor. Money is the measure of everything in his life. Currently, he is riding on the biggest deal of his life: buying the presidency of the United States. He got there because he bought in, big time, when he saw an opening: no charismatic figure in the field of his opponents.

The business model states that wealth equals power. In a man like Trump, we see that nothing else has modulated his personality. He has no spiritual values, no religious practices, no reverence for anything in the natural world, no appreciation for transcendent creative expressions of humanity, no humility, no emotional depth. He eats crappy food and doesn’t even have a pet. He lives and breathes making money. If he got elected, which he won’t, he would be the first Scrooge to live in the White House.

Fate and destiny have everything to do with this election. There are huge waves of energy moving through our planet reaching tipping points of transformation. These are inexorable forces that represent culminations of cycles, the records of which are literally set in stone throughout the planet. All of nature bows to these cycles. As much as any human being turns his or her back on the industrial world, he or she will tune into the deep truths of the natural world, truths that resonate in each individual.

This is the framework of the election drama. Whether you admire the female who has shown up at this moment in time to challenge the false power of materialism or not is less important than seeing what she symbolizes. After her will come many more because the cycles have spoken. Gradually we will learn that what governs us is not control and punishment, not the power of time equals money and not competition for scarcity. We will break free from the false order to discover our own perfection reflected in the perfection of the cosmic order. This is the fate and destiny of this planet.

You can vote for that.

—Elizabeth Whitney

Point Reyes Station

Without a Clue

Just when I think I’ve seen it all, heard or read everything and again becoming bored, along comes one of those crazy little letters in the Bohemian to save me from myself (“Deplorable,” Sept. 28). Comparing Donald Trump to James Dean? Now I know Chicken Little had it right after all—the sky is falling.

—David Dale

Sonoma

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

Homeless Onstage

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Homeless Onstage

Three years ago, when a report was published claiming that more than 800 Santa Rosa Junior College students were essentially homeless, theater instructors Laura Downing-Lee and Leslie McCauley began envisioning a future theater project formed around exploring the issue.

This weekend, Leaving Home, opens a two weekend run in the Newman Auditorium. A “devised theatre piece,” created by students under the guidance of director Downing-Lee, the exercise in documentary theater is built around true stories of several SRJC students.

Framing the stories is the fictional story of a Humanities class, engaged in an oral history project in which students are asked the question, “What does leaving home mean to you?” The answers to that question begin to unravel a larger story of how the world has changed since these young adults parents, and their grandparents, first left home to experience the world.

Martyr’s Crown

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Martyr’s Crown

There are few actual Orson Welleses around, so filmmakers who are director-writer-actors are usually more talented in one aspect of their hyphenate than others. Birth of a Nation, by the much-hyped hyphenate Nate Parker (who produced, wrote, directed and stars in the film), is best in one aspect: he has an actorly presence that makes this film immediate and powerful.

The Birth of a Nation tells the story of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in the early 1830s, which terrified the South. When Turner and his band were broken up, about 60 white civilians were dead. Turner grows from a houseboy on the estate that gave him his name. When there’s a reversal of fortune on the plantation, Nat (played by Parker in adulthood) is sent into the cotton fields. Parker’s Turner seems to be discovering the world of slavery as we watch—learning all the pitfalls that befall even a well-meaning, gentle slave.

Turner learned how to read, and what the masters gave him to read was key to his revolt. These slaveholders, so enamored of the Bible, never considered how their slaves might have understood the more genocidal passages in the first Book of Samuel.

Turner may have been a revolutionary who grasped a martyr’s crown, or a religious fanatic who saw signs in the heavens and heard the voice of God. The Birth of a Nation is so much of a Christian movie that it’s being advertised as an enlightening spiritual entertainment. Parker may have oversimplified this rebel, the way they always oversimplify Jesus in a movie.

But for its weaknesses, The Birth of a Nation is an important corrective more than 150 years since slavery ended. Take, for example, Bill O’Reilly’s opinion that the slaves who built the White House were well-fed. The point isn’t that, at some points in history, certain American slaves ate well; the point is that if you own a man, you can feed him as much or as little as you like.

‘Birth of a Nation’ is playing in wide North Bay release.

New Frontiers

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New Frontiers

Recently my Google alerts put me on to something intriguing. The combination of CBD and THCV (tetrahydrocannabivarin) looks to have significant therapeutic potential in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

While this was news to me, scientific studies concerning THCV and Type 2 diabetes have been making scientific news for at least three years.

What is THCV? Simply put, THCV is what chemists call the propyl variant of THC. To quote a Leafly article, “THCV is similar to THC in molecular structure and psychoactive properties, but it provides a variety of pronounced and altogether different effects.” While THCV is psychoactive, it’s a shorter, more intense high than THC. THC is a few hours at the amusement park; THCV is an hour on the roller coaster.

As it turns out, THCV has another application: appetite suppression. No munchies! Before we go too far, let’s throw a little cold water on THCV and weight loss. The science concerning THCV and weight loss is not well-developed. No one knows how long the effect lasts and how much weight loss can be expected. Even with that caveat, the possibilities are highly intriguing. In big round numbers, the weight-loss industry is about $60 billion a year, the same as the cannabis industry. What happens when those two industries intersect? So, Snoop Dog, Jenny Craig and Warren Buffet meet at a party. Venture capital apoplexy. World domination.

It turns out that there aren’t any high THCV/CBD strains out there. Even THCV by itself is hard to find in any significant concentration. The strains Jack the Ripper and Durban Poison have approximately 2 percent THCV. Doug’s Varin has closer to 7 percent THCV, but has a reputation as a scrawny plant. The strain Willie Nelson has some THCV, but none of the people in my circles know anything about it.

There is a micro-grow (10 plants) here in Sonoma County with a strain code named Elizabeth Taylor with 6.7 percent THCV and 12 percent THC. It’s a robust plant with the highest terpene (essential oils that give cannabis strains their unique aromatics) profile measured around here. For Elizabeth Taylor to be useful, the THCV may need to be isolated from the THC and the terpenes.

I think the big-market potential from secondary cannabinoids, thin science and the lack of THCV/CBD rich genetics is (IMO) the perfect opportunity for any forward-thinking entrepreneur. Whether it’s THCV or something else (CBDV?), our cannabis future, both economic and cultural, will be shaped, not by what we know, but by what we will be able to learn.

Michael Hayes works for CBD Guild. Contact him at mh*******@*****st.net.

Power Play

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Power Play

Everyone I talk to is saying they’re scared of Trump. Many of us ask, “Why would people vote for a guy who brags and wags his you-know-what in public and wants to build walls across countries?”

I wonder if Trump represents one of the Jungian principles called “the negative masculine.” This is a male archetype in our shadow. Could our collective longing for a protective father figure have taken this form?

In “Addiction to Perfection,” Marion Woodman writes, “Having grown up without a real relationship to her actual father, she had created a . . . world in which patriarchal values were idealized.”

But real power for a man or a woman has to do with caring about the common good, not putting nationalities down and building walls. Real strength at its most individuated is an integration of kindness and solid self; it is not mean-spirited or inflated. As Woodman says, “When a woman goes out into the professional world, in an effort to take responsibility for her own animus she often finds herself applying masculine standards of perfection to her entire life. She is exhausted.” Both sexes have bought into a false, competitive, power model.

As I was asking everyone why they thought Trump was so popular, the deepest conversation summed it up as fear. And when people are afraid—of losing their healthcare, their social security, their jobs and homes—they want a powerful, strong force to appear. How do we heal our own fear and become empowered instead of seeking Godzilla to save us?

In becoming whole human beings ourselves, we can develop the ability to say what we need. We can be strong and soft at the same time, disclosing our vulnerabilities while creating connection and interdependence.

In the meantime, the evolution of our species seems a ways away.

Katy Byrne is a psychotherapist and marriage and family therapist who lives in Sonoma.

Open Mic is a weekly feature in the ‘Bohemian.’ We welcome your contribution. To have your topical essay of 350 words considered for publication, write op*****@******an.com.

Spice Station 95436

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Spice Station 95436

I’ve been passing by the Jigar Wines tasting room in Forestville for two years now, only thinking to myself, huh, never heard of that one—guess I’ll have to stop by sometime. But some folks screech to a halt when they see the sign—they’ve just got to go in and get the story.

In the Indian state of Gujarat, winery owner Jigar Patel’s name is so common, “it’s like Mike Smith,” says Jigar Wines office manager Patrick Lytle, who’s just finished his last case delivery for the day and is sharing the winetasting with our group. Not so common is a winery run by a guy with an Indian name, and that’s why vacationing Indian and Indian-American families on their way up Highway 116 often stop in, just to make sure. Satisfied thus, they usually buy a bottle and continue on their way.

Toronto-born and raised in Chicago, Patel attended Purdue University in Indiana, where he met winemaker Josh Bartels (formerly of Kokomo Winery) and Lytle, as well. One of our group is from the area, and in no time everybody is reminiscing about places like Shelbyville and Batesville. “You can’t escape Hoosiers out here,” says Lytle.

A former service station, the building was spiffed up for its one-time stint as an art gallery. But inside, it’s just casual, walk-up winetasting. Whether it’s power of suggestion from the Ganesh statuette or the Grateful Dead poster, or just the choice of oak barrels, the 2012 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($32) makes me think of spicy incense. While Jigar Wines does not choose to highlight Indian food pairings, this might rock with chana masala.

Presented as a sort-of-secret blend of two highly prized vineyards, the 2013 Chenoweth Vineyards Pinot Noir ($75) bears the new Sedition label, a partnership between winemaker Bartels and Patel. This shows less spice, more raspberry and marshmallow, while fine tannins detail a hibiscus tea infused finish.

Good news for Cab and Zin fans, the wines get bigger and the prices smaller as we move down the list. I’m told the 2014 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($28) is a “departure” from their usual style, but it’s a departure to boysenberry goodness. Frankly fruity, soft and plush, the 2013 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon ($28) is less claret-like than the silky 2013 Dry Creek Valley Malbec ($28). The northern Rhône-ish 2013 Raja Cuvée ($24) is named for Patel’s dog—”King” being a good name for a boxer. With 48 percent Mendocino County Syrah in the blend, it’s certainly got that animale aroma.

Jigar Wines, 6615 Front St., Forestville. Daily, 11am–5pm. Tasting fee, $5. 707.820.1225.

The Sam Chase & the Untraditional Have a New Music Video for “Great White Noise”

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[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MhULmqn3DU[/youtube]

The Sam Chase & the Untraditional, San Francisco’s raucous Americana outfit, never shy away from the chance to ruffle a few feathers, or make a strongly worded point.  This attitude reached a fever pitch with the release of their latest album, “Great White Noise” back in late April.  It is a sarcastic and unapologetic look at the societal effects of the constant bombardment of information that we have to wade through as a culture today.

It is only fitting, that their music videos match the subject matter.  The official music video for the title track, “Great White Noise,” is best enjoyed with a stiff drink. It is visually as heavy and confrontational as the lyrics.  It starts with a helping of sweet nostalgia, and melodic major key optimism in order to lull the viewer into a false sense comfort of a simpler time, before bashing you over the head with the ugly side of our American dream and projecting the side of us that we try so hard to look away from on a giant screen behind our prophetic anti-hero, Sam Chase.

Upon the release of this video, the band will be heading out on a 17 date East Coast tour through the month of October.  They are sure to raise some eyebrows with this video in the towns they will be hitting through the bible belt.  Perhaps they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Their triumphant return will be just in time before election day and Sam’s birthday, on November 4th at The Mystic Theatre in Petaluma. Joining them on the bill will be the North Bay’s “best folk band” according to this year’s NorBay Awards, The Crux. 

Green Music Center Will Not Add Outdoor Pavilion

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0

Weill Hall. photo by Drew Altizer.
Weill Hall. photo by Drew Altizer.

Already a highlight of live music in the North Bay, the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University has announced that it is dropping plans to build a proposed 10,000-seat outdoor pavilion on the university’s campus. The school will instead focus efforts on enhancing graduation rates, the student experience and academic programs.
In a statement, new Sonoma State University President Judy K. Sakaki said, “After reviewing the project with my new administrative team, and consulting with key stakeholders we’ve agreed that utilizing our already existing facilities at the Green Music Center, in lieu of adding an additional facility, would best serve our students, our academic mission and the surrounding communities.”
The Green Music Center already includes the dynamic Weill Hall, which features outdoor lawn seating for bigger concerts, and Schroeder Hall, housing an amazing pipe organ and used for recitals and student classes. This weekend, the Green Music Center opens its 2016-2017 season with a performance by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on Saturday, Oct 1, and Buena Vista Social Club vocalist Omara Portuondo on Sunday, Oct 2. 

Dream On

Independent hip-hop artist and 2016 NorBay award winner Pure Powers was gifted with knowing what he wanted to do in life, and the talent and tenacity to realize his dreams. Growing up in west Sonoma County and on the island of Maui, he's been repping both as an emcee and rapper, and has gained a following through his affirming lyrics...
Read more

Homegrown Talent

Start with The Groove Is Not Trivial, Cloverdale documentarian Tommie Dell Smith's fun film about Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. Add Green /is/ Gold, Sonoma Valley filmmaker Ryon Baxter's sweetly sad coming-of-age story set within Northern California's cannabis industry. Then throw in Paris Can Wait, Napa-based Eleanor Coppola's very first feature film, featuring Alec Baldwin and staring Diane Lane taking a...
Read more

Letters to the Editor: October 5, 2016

Cosmic Forces Many people find this election unbearable and unwatchable, but I find it compelling. Something is truly happening here. The personalities of the presidential candidates have been analyzed to death, but the underlying forces that have thrust them into the limelight are ignored. While Donald Trump is a very colorful character attracting endless attention, he is a projection of...
Read more

Homeless Onstage

Three years ago, when a report was published claiming that more than 800 Santa Rosa Junior College students were essentially homeless, theater instructors Laura Downing-Lee and Leslie McCauley began envisioning a future theater project formed around exploring the issue. This weekend, Leaving Home, opens a two weekend run in the Newman Auditorium. A “devised theatre piece,” created by students...
Read more

Martyr’s Crown

There are few actual Orson Welleses around, so filmmakers who are director-writer-actors are usually more talented in one aspect of their hyphenate than others. Birth of a Nation, by the much-hyped hyphenate Nate Parker (who produced, wrote, directed and stars in the film), is best in one aspect: he has an actorly presence that makes this film immediate and...
Read more

New Frontiers

Recently my Google alerts put me on to something intriguing. The combination of CBD and THCV (tetrahydrocannabivarin) looks to have significant therapeutic potential in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. While this was news to me, scientific studies concerning THCV and Type 2 diabetes have been making scientific news for at least three years. What is THCV? Simply put, THCV is...
Read more

Power Play

Everyone I talk to is saying they're scared of Trump. Many of us ask, "Why would people vote for a guy who brags and wags his you-know-what in public and wants to build walls across countries?" I wonder if Trump represents one of the Jungian principles called "the negative masculine." This is a male archetype in our shadow. Could our...
Read more

Spice Station 95436

I've been passing by the Jigar Wines tasting room in Forestville for two years now, only thinking to myself, huh, never heard of that one—guess I'll have to stop by sometime. But some folks screech to a halt when they see the sign—they've just got to go in and get the story. In the Indian state of Gujarat, winery owner...
Read more

The Sam Chase & the Untraditional Have a New Music Video for “Great White Noise”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MhULmqn3DU The Sam Chase & the Untraditional, San Francisco's raucous Americana outfit, never shy away from the chance to ruffle a few feathers, or make a strongly worded point.  This attitude reached a fever pitch with the release of their latest album, "Great White Noise" back in late April.  It is a sarcastic and unapologetic look at the societal effects of...
Read more

Green Music Center Will Not Add Outdoor Pavilion

Already a highlight of live music in the North Bay, the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University has announced that it is dropping plans to build a proposed 10,000-seat outdoor pavilion on the university's campus. The school will instead focus efforts on enhancing graduation rates, the student experience and academic programs. In a statement, new Sonoma State University President Judy K. Sakaki...
Read more
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