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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Linda Drake
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Join the Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum docents and the California Old Time Fiddlers Association on Sunday, April 3, for the monthly Fiddlers’ Jam in the Ely barn. Musicians will jam round-robin style from noon until 2 p.m.
Spring has sprung on the museum property so make it a day. Bring a lunch and maybe some wine and picnic in the Oak Grove. View the stagecoach, chuck wagon, buckboard and other large display items on the grounds around the barn.
Celebrate local musicians and the American music heritage from the Ely Stage Stop Victorian Era. Take a ride up to the house on the hay wagon where you can enjoy the newest displays and learn about antique cookware.
Beverages and tasty treats will be provided by the docents in the barn. Donations made during the fiddling benefit both the Ely Stage Stop, helping to fund the blacksmith shop, and the Old Time Fiddlers Association, District 10, who uses it to partially fund their scholarship programs.
The stage stop, operated by the Lake County Historical Society, is located at 9921 Soda Bay Road (Highway 281) in Kelseyville. Current hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.
Visit www.elystagestop.org or www.lakecountyhistory.org , check out the stage stop on Facebook at www.facebook.com/elystagestop or call the museum at 707-533-9990.
Come join the Lake County Historical Society and become a volunteer at Ely or our sister museum, the Gibson Museum & Cultural Center in Middletown. Applications are always available.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
Patrick Warburton has an unmistakable voice, one that is often heard in voiceovers and commercials.
Yet, his monotone, deep voice, conveying a nonchalant attitude has served him well in TV comedies, whether it was the “Seinfeld” show or the many years of “Rules of Engagement.”
All you really need to do is to turn Warburton loose as his deadpan self, punching one-liners with brutal efficiency in his muted baritone.
NBC evidently thought the same when casting him as the family patriarch in the new comedy series “Crowded.”
In the role of Mike Moore, Warburton is like many sitcom dads. For instance, after watching the first two shows I have no idea or don’t recall what he does for a living, but his life, and that of his wife Martina (Carrie Preston), is thrust into domestic turmoil.
The basic premise of “Crowded” is that college-grad daughters Shea (Miranda Cosgrove) and Stella (Mia Serafino) suddenly move back into the family home, considering the job market is unable to sustain a frustrated astrophysicist and an aspiring actress, respectively.
To make matters worse, Mike’s father Bob (Stacy Keach) and stepmother Alice (Carlease Burke) decide to put a retirement move to Florida on hold and instead create an unwanted extended family arrangement in the Moore household.
Mike and Martina are just beginning to enjoy the empty nest when the kids come home to roost, and well, everyday living just becomes crowded. Naturally, the daughters bring some baggage with them, mostly in the form of endless complaints and an errant doltish boyfriend.
The odd conceit of “Crowded” is that Mike and Martina talk about and seek to act upon sexual desires to a much greater extent than you might expect for a long-married middle-aged couple.
So the humor supposedly comes from the parental figures trying to have sex while their young adult offspring have taken over the family home, thus precluding trysts in the kitchen or family room, or just about anywhere else.
For that matter, both Shea and Stella have sex on the mind, with former too uptight and socially awkward and the latter just a tad promiscuous, so that by the second episode her hairstyle has changed and she’s had a sleepover lesbian pal.
“Crowded” was a show I wanted to like, but really only because Patrick Warburton could read the telephone book and make it sound funny. But there’s not much he can do here to rescue a sitcom mired in predictable circumstances that won’t deliver comedy gold.
TCM Classic Film Festival update
It’s getting close to that time of year again for the TCM Classic Film Festival, scheduled for April 28th through May 1st in the heart of Hollywood, using iconic venues like the Chinese Theatre and Egyptian Theatre to unspool classic films.
This year’s theme of the seventh annual event if “Moving Pictures,” noting the magic of movies isn’t just motion, it’s emotion. “Moving Pictures” are the ones that bring us to tears, rouse us to action, inspire us, and even project us to a higher plane.
There will be a 40th anniversary screening of “All the President’s Men,” the tense political thriller about the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s investigation of the Watergate break-in that eventually led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
A tribute to screen legend director-writer Carl Reiner will feature a screening of the Steve Martin comedy “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid,” a spoof of the private eye genre. Reiner will be on hand for an extended conversation with the audience.
Another tribute will be for Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, featuring screenings of her Golden Globe nominated “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell” (1968) and “Trapeze” (1956). Nearing 90 years old, she remains an unforgettable screen legend.
The festival will have an anticipated showing of Charles Chaplin’s “The Kid” (1921), his first feature as star, director and writer of a story that drew on his childhood experiences to create the story of a tramp who adopts an abandoned child.
Other classics in the tradition of premiering restorations include Jennifer Jones turn as the peasant girl with visions of the Virgin Mary in “The Song of Bernadette” (1943) and Gregory Peck’s “The Keys of the Kingdom” (1944).
Eva Marie Saint will be on hand to introduce a screening of the political comedy “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” (1966), while director John Singleton presents a 25th anniversary screening of his coming-of-age classic “Boyz N The Hood” (1991).
Stacy Keach, now starring in the TV series “Crowded,” may be used to better effect when he discusses John Huston’s gritty look at the world of small-time boxing in “Fat City” (1972).
Given that the TCM Classic Film Festival is still more than a month away, there’s still time to plan that trip to the heart of Hollywood, hanging out at the fabled Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the classic theaters, to enjoy a festival tailor-made for those who enjoy classic films.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Editor
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center is preparing to celebrate the first anniversary of its opening as it gets set to unveil its eighth exhibition.
The opening of the newest exhibition, “Subversive Biology,” takes place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26.
The exhibit runs through May 1 at the center, which is located in the heart of town at the junctions of highways 29 and 175.
Lake County residents and visitors are invited to enjoy artist’s interpretations of the combination two generally unrelated words: sub·ver·sive: “tending or intending to overthrow, destroy, or mutate an established or existing system” and, biology (bio): “A branch of knowledge that deals with living organisms and vital processes: the plant and animal life of a region or environment.”
Join them for an evening of art and community, meet the artists, enjoy refreshments and music by Tear Drop Trailer. Children are welcome.
The Middletown Art Center has a lot to celebrate. Founded in partnership with EcoArts of Lake County, the center provides a year-round arts and cultural presence in south Lake County where formerly there was none.
Team members transformed the old Middletown Gymnasium into a beautiful space for contemporary art, performance and events.
The back portion of the building serves as a studio where classes in drawing, painting, ceramics, photography, drama and more, are offered for children, teens and adults.
The art center opened its doors on March 28, 2015, and has since presented eight extraordinary art exhibitions featuring work by local artists, including the 13th annual EcoArts Lake County Sculpture Walk.
The first year of operations of the Middletown Art Center was fruitful, but also dramatic. Nine of 10 MAC and EcoArts board members lost their homes to the Valley fire. Twenty-five affiliated professional artists lost their homes, studio or place of work.
But board leadership understood the pressing need to bring back a sense of normalcy to the Middletown area community, despite their own crises. The center immediately resumed classes following the fire, to encourage the public’s engagement in self-expression and healing through the arts.
The center has provided free, and continues to subsidize classes to those in greatest need. Its key goals are to inspire every child and adult to express themselves and grow through the arts and arts exposure, while bolstering the quality of life and sustainability of our community in support of a healthy local economy.
EcoArts and the Middletown Art Center have even more to celebrate thanks to #Lake County Rising - The Lake County Fire Relief Fund which is a joint project of the Lake County Wine Alliance, the Lake County Winery Association and the Lake County Winegrape Association.
The Middletown Art Center and EcoArts received a major grant to support their continued growth and contributions to both community and economic development. Soon the community will be able to participate in the making of a mural and enjoy benches, shade structures, gardens and sculptures outdoors at the center.
More of the center's neighbors can benefit from engaging with the arts through expansion of our scholarship fund; the studio and gallery will have lighting improvements; center artist’s Web presence will grow, and outreach beyond the county to encourage visitors will increase.
The Middletown Art Center is an arts nonprofit made by community members for the community to enjoy.
The center offers a colorful palette of classes for children, teens and adults most days of the week. Aside from lively art openings every six weeks, the center hosts musical performances, open mic or hootenannys every other Friday.
The Middletown Art Center Theatre will soon be auditioning for its first production, “It was So Sudden I Wasn’t Prepared,” a live multimedia theater performance commemorating the Valley fire. They are seeking stories of residents and first responders who were impacted by the fire to be included; visit www.middletownartcenter.org to fill out a simple survey.
The gallery is open Friday to Saturday 12 to 6 p.m., or Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. (subject to seasonal changes). It will be closed on Friday, March 25, and will reopen on Saturday, March 26, at 6 p.m. for the opening.
Middletown Art Center offers an array of memberships with benefits, as well as tax deductible donation and volunteer opportunities. When you support MAC, you are supporting our local community and community development.
Find out more about MAC online at www.middletownartcenter.org , email
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
When I was a boy, because of the song, I thought there really was an Easter parade, but the Easters came and went without one.
But here's a glimpse of just a little piece of a parade by Kim Dower, who lives in Los Angeles. Her forthcoming book is Last Train to the Missing Planet, Red Hen Press, 2016.
I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom,
breezy, floral, dancing with color
soft, silky, flows as I walk
Easter Sunday and you always liked
to get dressed, go for brunch, "maybe
there's a good movie playing somewhere?"
Wrong religion, we were not church-goers,
but New Yorkers who understood the value
of a parade down 5th Avenue, bonnets
in lavender, powder blues, pinks, hues
of spring, the hope it would bring.
We had no religion but we did have
noodle kugel, grandparents, dads
who could fix fans, reach the china
on the top shelf, carve the turkey.
That time has passed. You were the last
to go, mom, and I still feel bad I never
got dressed up for you like you wanted me to.
I had things, things to do. But today in L.A.—
hot the way you liked it—those little birds
you loved to see flitting from tree to tree—
just saw one, a twig in its mouth, preparing
a bed for its baby—might still be an egg,
I wish you were here. I've got a closet filled
with dresses I need to show you.
American Life in Poetry 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. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright ©2015 by Kim Dower, “I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom,” from Rattle, (No. 48, Summer, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Kim Dower and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2016 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.
