Bury the Problem

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Bury the Problem

What if it were possible to reverse climate change by efficiently disposing of diseased vineyards, dead trees and invasive plants? At the same time, suppose one could also improve water quantity and quality in vineyards, agricultural lands and open space?

Award-winning astrophysicist Frank Shu of UC San Diego will be explaining how all of this is possible in a lecture April 20 at Sonoma State University. Part of the “What Physicists Do” series, Shu’s talk, “The Future of Energy,” focuses on the production of a material called “biochar.”

Biochar is a particular type of charcoal destined for a particular purpose: it’s a carbon-negative energy alternative to burning fossil fuels that can also be used as a soil amendment. It’s created by burning plant material like grape vine cuttings. Biomass otherwise degrades to produce greenhouse gases, contributing to the problem of climate change.

When transformed into biochar and buried in the ground, biomass is prevented from releasing more greenhouse gases; additionally, its carbon-sequestration properties keeping carbon in the ground.

Shu is concerned that if the most pessimistic projections for climate change become reality, the effects could disrupt civilization. As a result, he has chosen to devote his attention and considerable scientific acumen to the issue. Shu speaks April 20 at 4pm in Darwin Hall, Room 103, at Sonoma State University, 1801 East Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park.

Double Standards

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Double Standards

‘California Puts Mandatory Curbs on Water Use” reports the April 2 front page of the New York Times. “Steps to Confront Record-Setting Drought,” a headline reads. The article describes
Gov. Jerry Brown’s executive order—California’s first time restricting water use. A 25 percent reduction over the next year is required of residents and many businesses.

But wait. “Owners of large farms . . . will not fall under the 25 percent guideline,” reads another story. Big Ag can continue to dig deep wells into our common water table and extract as much of our limited water supply as they want, for free. This includes vineyards. It takes around 30 gallons of water to make one glass of wine. This sounds like a double standard.

“California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?” a Los Angeles Times article from last month asks. Many residents ration. We’re still waiting for responses from large wineries.

“Experts say ag exception may defeat program. Agriculture consumes 80 percent of the water that Californians use,” an AP article reveals. The drought plan calls for “personal responsibility.” What about corporate responsibility?

“There is something fundamentally unjust when one segment of the population is given unrestrained access to a vital natural and shared resource while another segment is constrained. Without proper protections, a temptation is created to take more than one’s share of a common shared resource,” says Geoff Ellsworth, member of Napa County’s Vision 2050, a coalition challenging winery over-development in rural areas.

“The proposed Dairyman Winery/Event Center [near Sebastopol] would use over 1 billion gallons of water annually to produce 500,000 cases of wine and 250,000 gallons of brandy,” adds Preserve Rural Sonoma County’s Padi Selwyn in an interview. “It’s not justifiable to expect residents to let their lawns go brown and curtail water usage while allowing wineries to expand.”

“We’ve gone from an agriculture that benefited all, to a monoculture that benefits a few,” says Sebastopol grape-grower Bill Shortridge. “We have 70,000 Sonoma County acres planted with wine grapes, and only 12,000 acres of food crops.”

So much for the diversity that nature relies upon.

Shepherd Bliss (3s*@*****st.net) teaches college at Dominican University, farms and has contributed to 24 books.

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.

Letters to the Editor: April 15, 2015

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Letters to the Editor: April 15, 2015

Prohibit Pot Prohibition

The war on peaceful cannabis consumers has been raging for more than 80 years (Debriefer, April 1). How much more blood needs to be spilled before the prohibitionists finally give up the fight or the more sensible public demands immediate change? Cannabis prohibition has never been about public safety; it has always been about money—and lots of it. Please demand full legalization and nothing less! Let’s end this war as soon as possible!

—Joe Smith

Via Bohemian.com

Hippies in Cages

Great article about a great citizen (“Reefer Badass,” April 8)! Favorite quote: “Ending prohibition means law enforcement can re-prioritize. Figueroa hopes that if California goes legal, the police will redeploy resources, for example, to go after identity-theft cases.” But for now, he says, “It’s easier to point a gun at a hippie and put him in a cage.”

—Jonathan Greenberg

Sebastopol

Fifty Shades
of Lame

In regards to the article about Venus in Fur (“Getting Kinky,” April 8), while I have heard good things about this play, I must say that I was left feeling dismayed. It greatly concerns me that there is a trend to connect anything BDSM to the novel Fifty Shades of Grey. In no way does this work of fiction represent the BDSM community, nor does it attempt to realistically portray its dynamics. The book itself violates our most highly regarded principle, which is that all BDSM relationships should be based on communication and consent. At its worst, it puts our members back in the dark ages when those with an interest in BDSM were considered mentally ill, who needed a “healthy relationship” to cure them.

This concept of cure where there is no illness is just as insulting in my mind as the concept that if you sit and think happy thoughts you can “pray away the gay.” While I do not speak for the entire BDSM community at large, I will say that this book in no way represents me. I am sad to say that most things that are popular are neither accurate nor even “good.”

—Goddess Athena

Emeryville

Starving Artists

I’m disappointed (“Iconic Opening,”
April 8). I’ve been pretty excited about the opening of the Art Museum of Sonoma County, only to find out that admission to its Studio 54 themed party, complete with red carpet, is $200, $175 if you’re a member. I didn’t see a “normal” cost of admission for the exhibit that runs through May 24 in this article or on the museum’s website. Way to isolate a lot of us, especially the starving artist. Sheesh!

—Ro

Via Bohemian.com

Editor’s note: Admission is $7 for adults. Students and seniors $5. Children under 12 are free.

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

“A Night of Voodoo” at the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma

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“A Night of Voodoo” at the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma

Photos by Jamie Soja http://sojaphotography.com/       
Bill Kruetzmann, Steve Kimock, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, Dave Schools, and Jeff Chimenti formed a supergroup together to perform “A Night of Voodoo” at the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma Wednesday April 8th and 9th  2015. The show was announced just a couple of days before and sold out immediately. A second show the next night was announced the day of the first show and also sold out immediately. The night featured a wide variety of material including classic reggae song “Congo Man Chant” by The Congos, “Fire on the Bayou” by The Meters, and of course, during the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary, many Dead songs including “Morning Dew” with guest Jerry Joseph on vocals.
 
SETLIST:
Set I:
Takes A Lot To Laugh A Train To Cry
Mystery Train
Congo Man Chant
Get Up Stand Up
Man Smart, Women Smarter
Scarlet Begonias
Fire On The Bayou
 
Set II:
After Midnight
Eleanor Rigby
After Midnight
Bertha
Morning Dew (Jerry Joseph on vocals)
Deal
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Apr. 9: Global Focus in Tiburon

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Apr. 9: Global Focus in Tiburon

For over a decade, the Tiburon International Film Festival has been supporting indie filmmakers from near and far—it’s a flat-out showcase for world cinema, even as this year’s festival includes several Marin filmmakers, such as Cynthia Harrison, director of Silver Tsunami, and Jennifer Juelich, director of Neon Sky. International offerings include the Czech Republic’s All My Tomorrows, and Once My Mother, from the land down under. There’s also a tribute to Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci, best known for art-house films that are obsessed with finality—Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor. The festival will also feature young-adult filmic fare from Mongolia to Norway. April 9–17, at the Playhouse Theater, 40 Main St., Tiburon. 415.251.8433.

Apr. 11: Intimate Artistry in San Rafael

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Apr. 11: Intimate Artistry in San Rafael

Singer-songwriter Jennifer Berezan has long been a Bay Area fixture of the Americana music scene, not to mention a dedicated activist working in Berkeley. Since debuting on the scene in the late 1980s, she has captured hearts with an eclectic style and approach to lyric writing that touches on both the topical and the universal—and her live shows have been described as musical meditations. Last time she appeared in the North Bay, the show sold out—so meditate on that, but not for too long, and get your ticket now. She’ll bring a full band when she performs on Saturday, April 11, at Marin Center’s Showcase Theater, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. 8pm. $27–$37. 415.499.6800.

Apr. 12: Song Surprises in Napa

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Apr. 12: Song Surprises in Napa

You guys, we live in a golden age of song mashups. No one knows that better than the talented and imaginative folks behind the Transcendence Theatre Company, and they’ll show off their tour-de-force performance power this week in ‘Oh What a Beautiful Mashup.’ The company behind the summer tradition “Broadway Under the Stars” welcomes guests to a night of musical medleys and special VIP packages. A pre-show reception and toast gets you on the Historic Napa Valley Opera House stage for an uplifting collection of songs from performers Stephan Stubbins and Leah Sprecher. It’ll all make for a lively night when the Mashup goes down on Sunday, April 12, at City Winery, 1030 Main St., Napa. 5pm. $35–$100. 707.260.1600.

Apr. 14: Pop Stompers in Santa Rosa

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Apr. 14: Pop Stompers in Santa Rosa


Ganglion Reef, the debut album from Los Angeles psych-rockers Wand, came out just last August, but the band is moving fast. Their visceral follow-up, Golem, released in March, takes on wizards and warriors with stony riffs and pop nostalgia, expansive metal textures, throwback glam and dark, effortless hooks. Wand has made fans out of fellow rockers like Ty Segall, and this week they wave it in the North Bay, with the help of fuzzed-out rockers Male Gaze and local outfits OVVN and Creep Beat. Wand cast their spell Tuesday, April 14, at the Arlene Francis Center, 99 Sixth St., Santa Rosa. 7pm. $8. 707.528.3009.

Wine Tool Noir

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Wine Tool Noir

Never get in a fight with an 18th-century French winemaker. That’s one takeaways from a visit to the Wine Tools Museum at Buena Vista Winery, which opened for public tours last week.

Inspired by a collection of antique winery and vineyard implements that a gentleman in Burgundy had amassed over the years, the Boisset family purchased the lot and divided it between the modernistic Imaginarium in Nuits-Saint-Georges and the historic Champagne Cellars at Buena Vista.

Leave it to wine impresario Jean-Charles Boisset to turn a heap of rusty old plows, clippers and adzes into a dynamic attraction. Located on the third floor of the expensively retrofitted 1864 stone building, illuminated by spindly, gothic chandeliers, the museum is no static display. A video kicks off the show with an unabashed nod to the visitor center film genre, booming voiceover courtesy of Sonoma actor George Webber as winery founder “Count” Agoston Haraszthy.

Weaving French wine history with Buena Vista’s, the Count laments his vineyard’s malady was eroneously linked to his viticultural techniques, when it was actually California’s first brush with the vine-killing louse, phylloxera. Cue dramatic sound effects and spotlight on two outsized syringes that desperate French farmers once used to inject fumigants into their vineyards.

But it doesn’t get medieval until the pomace cutters. These were used to break up the “cake” that forms when grapes are pressed, so that a second pressing yielded a little more juice. They look positively wicked, and the animated display uses them for maximum effect, as two sets of weapon-like cutters are set in motion to a dark synth soundtrack.

The wines had better keep up with the high style and entertainment. Thanks to winemaker Brian Maloney and consultant David Ramey, they do.

Nothing remains of the Count’s original vineyard, but Buena Vista sources solid, boysenberry-scented Zinfandel from a neighbor’s 30-year-old vines. Other notable reds include a juicy Calistoga Valdiguie ($50), with arbor grape and berry Newton aromas (2012 tasted; 2013 currently available), and the 2012 Aristocrat ($85), pricey for a blend of Valdiguie, Charbono and Petite Sirah, but enjoyably plush with boysenberry fruit and velour-textured tannins.

Buena Vista Winery, 18000 Old Winery Road, Sonoma. Daily, 10am–5pm. Tours at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. With tasting, $25; museum only, $10. 800.926.1266.

The Goonie Divide

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The Goonie Divide

The kind of laughter director Noah Baumbach evokes in While We’re Young is like the low growl in a watchdog’s throat: the older and crankier the viewer, the deeper the growl.

While teaching his sparsely attended continuing-education class, Josh (Ben Stiller) meets a couple half his age. Jamie (Adam Driver of Girls) is an ardent fan who saw Josh’s long-out-of-distribution first film; Jamie’s wife, Darby (Amanda Seyfried), is the Brooklyn-artisan type. She makes ice cream.

The young blood catalyzes Josh’s new project, a half-dead documentary he’s been laboring over for a decade. Josh’s wife, Cornelia (Naomi Watts), makes it a quartet for dates, but the focus is on bromance. The men wear matching stingy-brims and share bike rides.

Long before Josh senses it, the viewer smells a Patricia Highsmith-style rat: Jamie is too good to be true. He and his mob start to act like those goddamn kids every middle-ager dreads. The kids feel everything is equally old and neat, and fail to appreciate the difference between vintage quality and vintage crapola. At one point, Josh moans, “When did The Goonies become a good movie?”

Baumbach’s main interest here may be in exploring the clash of styles in documentary filmmaking. Josh quotes Godard: “Documentary is about someone else, fiction is about me.” Is the best approach invisible filmmakers or on-camera guerillas using their cameras for ambushes? The former, classic approach is represented not only by Josh but by his disappointed father-in-law, played by Charles Grodin, who plays a famous figure akin to the late documentarian Albert Maysles.

Decades ago, Grodin played low-testosterone males. Age has stiffened him, but in a good way. He’s formidable now. But he’s part of the reason the elders overbalance this comedy. What makes a fogey is a lack of curiosity, and the skimmed surfaces and cultural stereotypes never give the youthful side of the documentary debate an even break.

‘While We’re Young’ is now playing at Summerfield Cinemas,
551 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa. 707.522.0719.

Bury the Problem

What if it were possible to reverse climate change by efficiently disposing of diseased vineyards, dead trees and invasive plants? At the same time, suppose one could also improve water quantity and quality in vineyards, agricultural lands and open space? Award-winning astrophysicist Frank Shu of UC San Diego will be explaining how all of this is possible in a lecture...
Read more

Double Standards

'California Puts Mandatory Curbs on Water Use" reports the April 2 front page of the New York Times. "Steps to Confront Record-Setting Drought," a headline reads. The article describes Gov. Jerry Brown's executive order—California's first time restricting water use. A 25 percent reduction over the next year is required of residents and many businesses. But wait. "Owners of large farms...
Read more

Letters to the Editor: April 15, 2015

Prohibit Pot Prohibition The war on peaceful cannabis consumers has been raging for more than 80 years (Debriefer, April 1). How much more blood needs to be spilled before the prohibitionists finally give up the fight or the more sensible public demands immediate change? Cannabis prohibition has never been about public safety; it has always been about money—and lots of...
Read more

“A Night of Voodoo” at the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma

Photos by Jamie Soja http://sojaphotography.com/        Bill Kruetzmann, Steve Kimock, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, Dave Schools, and Jeff Chimenti formed a supergroup together to perform “A Night of Voodoo” at the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma Wednesday April 8th and 9th  2015. The show was announced just a couple of days before and sold out immediately. A second show the next...
Read more

Apr. 9: Global Focus in Tiburon

For over a decade, the Tiburon International Film Festival has been supporting indie filmmakers from near and far—it’s a flat-out showcase for world cinema, even as this year’s festival includes several Marin filmmakers, such as Cynthia Harrison, director of Silver Tsunami, and Jennifer Juelich, director of Neon Sky. International offerings include the Czech Republic’s All My Tomorrows, and Once...
Read more

Apr. 11: Intimate Artistry in San Rafael

Singer-songwriter Jennifer Berezan has long been a Bay Area fixture of the Americana music scene, not to mention a dedicated activist working in Berkeley. Since debuting on the scene in the late 1980s, she has captured hearts with an eclectic style and approach to lyric writing that touches on both the topical and the universal—and her live shows have...
Read more

Apr. 12: Song Surprises in Napa

You guys, we live in a golden age of song mashups. No one knows that better than the talented and imaginative folks behind the Transcendence Theatre Company, and they’ll show off their tour-de-force performance power this week in ‘Oh What a Beautiful Mashup.’ The company behind the summer tradition “Broadway Under the Stars” welcomes guests to a night of...
Read more

Apr. 14: Pop Stompers in Santa Rosa

Ganglion Reef, the debut album from Los Angeles psych-rockers Wand, came out just last August, but the band is moving fast. Their visceral follow-up, Golem, released in March, takes on wizards and warriors with stony riffs and pop nostalgia, expansive metal textures, throwback glam and dark, effortless hooks. Wand has made fans out of fellow rockers like Ty Segall,...
Read more

Wine Tool Noir

Never get in a fight with an 18th-century French winemaker. That's one takeaways from a visit to the Wine Tools Museum at Buena Vista Winery, which opened for public tours last week. Inspired by a collection of antique winery and vineyard implements that a gentleman in Burgundy had amassed over the years, the Boisset family purchased the lot and divided...
Read more

The Goonie Divide

The kind of laughter director Noah Baumbach evokes in While We're Young is like the low growl in a watchdog's throat: the older and crankier the viewer, the deeper the growl. While teaching his sparsely attended continuing-education class, Josh (Ben Stiller) meets a couple half his age. Jamie (Adam Driver of Girls) is an ardent fan who saw Josh's long-out-of-distribution...
Read more
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