UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio is presenting monthly art classes with wine, co-hosted with artist Anna Sabalone.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – Take a journey to the world of Fado, often described as the Portuguese version of the blues, in recognition of Portugal Day on Sunday, June 10.

The concert will take place at 7 p.m. at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport.

This concert presents Fado as interpreted by Ramana Vieira, a Northern California native of Portuguese descent who has been described by The New York Times as an American at the forefront of the Fado resurgence.

The San Francisco Examiner calls her “the Rising Star in World Music." Her authentic and individual style, brilliant musicality, and colorful heritage has broad appeal.

The audience will be immersed in an evening of the romantic, yet haunting rhythms of Fado, the folk music of Portugal.

Fado, which literally means fate or destiny, is the most widely recognized genre of Portuguese music, dating back to early 19th century, Lisboa. Traditionally, fados are dramatic ballads expressing love, loss and redemption.

Vieira is performing here in Lake County in recognition of Portugal Day which celebrates the death of Portugal’s national literary icon, Luís de Camões, who died on June 10, 1580.

De Camões has been compared to William Shakespeare in his mastery of the language while his poetic masterpiece, Os Lusiadas (The Lusiads), has become an icon of Portuguese literature.

Fado has Moorish musical roots and is often associated with pubs, cafés and restaurants.

Originating in 1820s Portugal, this style of singing is characterized by poetic lyrics related to the elements of love, loss, redemption and occasionally humor. These ballads evoke the emotion of “saudade,” a yearning for something lost.

Tickets are $20. Open seating. Tickets are available at www.soperreesetheatre.com, at the theatre’s Box Office, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, on Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, Monday-Friday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm; or at the theatre Box Office two hours before show time. Theatre telephone is 707-263-0577; Travel Center phone is 707-263-3095.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Land Trust and the Lake County Rural Arts Initiative partnered on May 5 to have a wonderful event at the Land Trust’s Rodman Preserve.

The event kicked off with a photography walk along the Rodman Preserve’s nature trail and included a family hike, local art exhibits, yoga for kids, hand-painted tattoos, live music, plein-air stations, scavenger hunts, nature journaling, and educational nature booths. It was a lovely day.

The student photo contest was a huge hit with amazing cash prize winners for kids of all ages.

The photos were of the local nature and close to one hundred photos were submitted. We have some very talented student photographers and nature lovers growing up in our county.

Art & Nature Day was instituted as a way to participate in and support “Take it Outside California,” a statewide initiative designed to connect Californians with great outdoor spaces.

To learn more about Lake County Rural Arts Initiative go to www.lcrai.org and to discover the ongoing activities of the Lake County Land Trust go to www.lakecountylandtrust.org .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The GenX Cinema series presents a double feature celebrating 1980s film classics with “Police Academy” and “Revenge of the Nerds” screening on Saturday, June 16, at 7 p.m. at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport.

Entry is by donation.

No host beer bar will be open; additional refreshments will be on sale at the concession stand including popcorn and candy.

The 1984 comedy, “Police Academy,” is directed by Hugh Wilson, and stars Steve Guttenberg and Kim Cattrall. So dopey and sophomoric you can’t help but love it. In fact, this film spawned six sequels and an animated TV series. Rated R. Run time is one hour and 36 mins.

Undeniably lowbrow but surprisingly sly, “Revenge of the Nerds” (1984) has enough big laughs to qualify as a classic in the slobs-vs.-snobs subgenre. Rated R. Run time is one hour and 30 mins.

Both films are sponsored by Valenzuela Tire & Wheel and by The Nerd Cave.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com.

I'm writing this column in the earliest days of another spring, and here's a fine spring poem from Rose King's book Time and Peonies, from Hummingbird Press. The poet lives in California.

In Spring

I'm out with the wheelbarrow mixing mulch.
A mockingbird trills in the pine.
Then, from higher, a buzz, and through patches of blue
as the fog burns off, a small plane pulls a banner,
red letters I can't read—
but I do see, over the fence,
a man in a sky-blue shirt walking his dog to the beach.
He says he missed it, will keep an eye out.
Four barrows of mulch around the blueberry bushes,
I'm pulling off gloves, and he's back, beaming.
"It says, I LOVE YOU, MARTHA.
Are you Martha?"

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright 2017 by Rosie King from Time and Peonies,(Hummingbird Press,2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Rosie King and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2018 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1957 courtroom drama, “Witness for the Prosecution” starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, June 12, at 1 and 6 p.m.

Entry to the film is by donation.

An unusual murder case tempts an ailing barrister back into action in this Billy Wilder-directed suspense adapted from an Agatha Christie play.

Charles Laughton delivers a first-rate theatrical performance as the defense attorney in this powerful, immensely satisfying film with a killer ending.

The film received six Academy Award nominations.

The movie is sponsored by Classic Film Fans. Not rated. Run time is 1 hour and 56 minutes.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com.