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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – “Art from the Heart,” an art show and sale to benefit Operation Tango Mike, will take place on Saturday, June 15.
The fundraiser will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave.
Lifelong artist Pat Skoog will show a variety of her works and a portion of sales proceeds will benefit Operation Tango Mike in sending care packages to deployed military personnel.
Light refreshments will be available.
For more information call 707-349-2838 or 707-263-1303, or e-mail
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- Written by: Editor
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In June, Poets and Writers, a national organization that supports working writers, renewed their grant to the Lake County Arts Council and The Writers Circle.
This grant supports the free public writing workshop offered monthly in Lakeport at the Main Street Art Gallery, 325 N. Main St., at 6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month.
The Lake County Arts Council sponsors the workshop, and former Lake County Poet Laureate Mary McMillan facilitates it.
Residents from all over Lake County are welcome to attend the Writers Circle and join other writers who share memoirs, fiction, essays or poems they have written – or just listen and get inspired.
More seasoned writers and writers just beginning join together to offer feedback, build skills and find new ideas.
Aged 19 to 90, some people come only one or two times, and others show up every month.
Poets and Writers provides this grant through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.
For more information contact Mary McMillan at
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- Written by: Editor
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake Community Pride Foundation will present “An Evening with … XL” on Saturday, June 8.
The show will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Lower Lake High School Little Theater, on the campus at 9430 Lake St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 with all proceeds going to promote youth performing arts.
XL is made up of five members. Tom Xavier, one of the two singers, has been writing songs for over four decades while Chad Leeburg has been writing songs for most of his adult life. Leeburg has opened for Bonnie Raitt and Carlos Santana among many other musical achievements to his name.
Max Lehman has been playing with Xavier for over two years and is only 17 years old. “Lehman is a great example of what is possible when young people are given the chance to explore the potential of creative activities,” said Xavier.
Lehman is seen as a musical prodigy by XL. Besides playing a multitude of instruments, Lehman has the innate ability to feel the music and respond in a spontaneous manner, always on beat and always with the right note.
Wade Osborne is the lead percussionist. He is the backbone of the rhythm section. His innovative beats and approach to drumming adds a unique sound to the group’s mix.
Ryan Xavier plays the box drum and has been playing with Leeburg and Osborne since grade school.
Don’t miss out on a great family show where XL will feature an organic, honest, fun, non-altered musical experience.
The group offers a wide spectrum of ages with Tom Xavier (60) and Lehman (17) and offers music that will keep you humming long after the show will be over. This is an evening you don’t want to miss.
For tickets and information call 707-701-3838 or go to www.aneveningwith.org .
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
Lots of us find ourselves under the interested fingers of dermatologists, who prosper on the fun we once had out in the sun.
Here George Bilgere of Ohio, one of our most amusing American poets, sits back in his skin doctor’s chair and reminisces about a party that took place years ago.
Basal Cell
The sun is still burning in my skin
even though it set half-an-hour ago,
and Cindy and Bob and Bev and John
are pulling on their sweatshirts
and gathering around the fire pit.
John hands me a cold one
and now Bev comes into my arms
and I can feel the sun’s heat,
and taste the Pacific on her cheek.
I am not in Vietnam,
nor is John or Bob, because
our deferments came through,
and we get to remain boys
for at least another summer
like this one in Santa Cruz,
surfing the afternoons in a sweet
blue dream I’m remembering now,
as the nurse puts my cheek to sleep,
and the doctor begins to burn
those summers away.
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. Poem copyright 2012 by George Bilgere, whose most recent book of poems is The White Museum, Autumn House Press, 2010. Poem reprinted by permission of George Bilgere. Introduction copyright 2013 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. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.