LAKEPORT, Calif. – The local exhibition of talent known as Lake County Live! Returned to the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport on Sunday, Feb. 24, with the usual cast of players and three musical acts.
Fresh off the heels of the Winter Music Festival, the Mendo-Lake Singers performed for the live audience in the theater and those listening at home on KPFZ, Lake County Community Radio at 88.1 FM or listening on the Internet via www.kpfz.org .
This group of women, a part of the organization known as the Sweet Adelines, performed four-part harmonies while presenting a visually entertaining set.
Also on the program was In Voice, a quartet featuring Bill Bordisso, Keith Larson, Libby Larson and Doug Harris. They performed several wonderful songs in the folk and traditional manner, much to the delight of the audience.
Rounding out the show was a presentation by the child cast members of the local production of “The Sound of Music” featuring kids from the Lakeport schools.
Lake County Live’s very own Pamela Bradley, also known as Rhoda during the “Ladies of the Lake” section of each show, produced the performance by the young players.
The show also revisited the other “Ladies of the Lake” including Vicky Parish Smith, Kris Andre and Suna Flores, as well as featuring the talents of Richard Smith and Nick Reid.
Show creator and producer Doug Rhoades, who also hosts the program, said “I think this was one of the most entertaining shows we’ve done thus far, although it gets easier to say that as the talent keeps getting better and better. But it’s only entertaining through the efforts of our regular voice performers, and the great musical acts who come on the show.”
Rhoades added, “Without them, we wouldn’t be here at all.”
Lake County Live! is presented at 6 p.m. on the last Sunday of each month at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport. The show is broadcast live and streamed on the Internet at KPFZ 88.1 FM and www.kpfz.org .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Bob Culbertson will celebrate the release of his latest CD “Celtic Waters” with guest artists percussionist Rick Alegria and cellist Clovice Lewis during a performance at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre on Saturday, March 16.
The show will take place beginning at 7 p.m. at the theater, located at 275 S. Main St.
Culbertson is a virtuoso who has spent 30 years cultivating his unique sound on the 10 or 12 string Chapman Stick.
He’s hailed as one of the world’s finest one touch guitarists.
Tickets cost $18 per person and are available online at www.soperreesetheatre.com ; at the box office on Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; at the door the night of the show; and at The Travel Center in Lakeport, 1265 S. Main St., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
When spring finally arrives, it can be fun to see what winter left behind, and Jeffrey Harrison of Massachusetts is doing just that in this amusing poem.
Mailboxes in Late Winter
It’s a motley lot. A few still stand at attention like sentries at the ends of their driveways, but more lean askance as if they’d just received a blow to the head, and in fact they’ve received many, all winter, from jets of wet snow shooting off the curved, tapered blade of the plow. Some look wobbly, cocked at oddball angles or slumping forlornly on precariously listing posts. One box bows steeply forward, as if in disgrace, its door lolling sideways, unhinged. Others are dented, battered, streaked with rust, bandaged in duct tape, crisscrossed with clothesline or bungee cords. A few lie abashed in remnants of the very snow that knocked them from their perches. Another is wedged in the crook of a tree like a birdhouse, its post shattered nearby. I almost feel sorry for them, worn out by the long winter, off-kilter, not knowing what hit them, trying to hold themselves together, as they wait for news from spring.
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 Jeffrey Harrison, whose most recent book of poems is Incomplete Knowledge, Four Way Books, 2006. Poem reprinted from Southwest Review, Vol. 97, no. 1, 2012, by permission of Jeffrey Harrison and the publisher. 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.
At first, I thought the film of week would be “Jack the Giant Slayer,” if only because it appeared more family-friendly. Then, an unfortunate circumstance caused me to miss the press screening.
On top of it all, “Jack the Giant Slayer” looked like another derivative fairy tale film, most likely a subpar fantasy adventure that would fall below the standards of “The Hobbit” or even “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.”
And so, the next best opportunity was a screening of “21 and Over,” another derivative film that is an obvious offshoot of “The Hangover” film, as the result of the creative writing efforts of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.
This time around the team of Lucas and Moore are the writers and directors of “21 and Over,” apparently having learned a thing or two on “The Hangover” experience about rowdy, crude comedy.
One could easily sum up the plot, such as it involves one night of total debauchery, as a wild and crazy comedy that is undeniably a “Hangover” for the college crowd.
Geared to frat house pranks made popular by “Animal House,” this film stars relative unknowns, which at least makes it easier to accept their lunacy as some sort of rite of passage.
Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin), seemingly polar opposites in disposition, are old high school buddies who arrive at the fictional Northern Pacific University to celebrate the 21st birthday of an old pal.
The film opens with this pair, looking bruised and battered, walking across the campus completely naked with only tube socks covering their private parts. The manic nod to wackiness is almost immediate.
The buddy in question is Jeff Chang (Justin Chon), a rather diminutive Asian-American student that everyone, and particularly his domineering father, expects to be the stereotypical overachiever.
When Miller and Casey show up in a surprise visit, the studious Jeff Chang begs off from a birthday celebration because he’s getting ready for his critical medical school interview early the next morning.
After a serious bit of cajoling, Jeff Chang (everyone calls him by his full name) relents, agreeing to one celebratory drink at a local saloon.
After all, Jeff Chang, who still looks like a teenage girl, is now unencumbered by the nuisance of using a fake ID to get past bothersome bouncers.
Taking great pleasure in flashing his real ID to the stoic bouncers, Jeff Chang, loosened by copious amounts of alcohol, is soon flashing co-eds, downing shots and riding a mechanical bull.
As the night progresses, Jeff Chang’s nearly perpetual state of inebriation to the point of being comatose leads to a series of comic misadventures.
After a substantial amount of hard-partying, Miller and Casey, surprisingly lucid if not completely sober, decide to take Jeff Chang home so that he can be ready for his crucial interview.
The only problem is that Miller and Casey have no idea where their buddy lives, and no other students know him at all. A tenuous lead that involves perky blonde Nicole (Sarah Wright) sends the boys on a wild goose chase.
In search of Nicole, Miller and Casey drag Jeff Chang around like a rag doll, even invading a Latina sorority where they become engage in pranks that later lead to serious repercussions.
Aside from paddling sorority pledges in lingerie, Miller and Casey also cause a near-riot at a pep rally, turning the school’s buffalo mascot into a rampaging beast that terrorizes the student body.
The boys also tangle with some snotty frat boy types who happen to be rah-rah yell leaders, modeled after the same type of uptight jerks that were repulsed by John Belushi in “Animal House.”
Bad taste gags abound, and yet much of this film is surprisingly funny. In the pursuit of laughs, it goes for shameless physical comedy.
The high (or low) point may well be when the drunken Jeff Chang, suddenly hungry, begins chewing on a tampon, mistaking it for a candy bar.
Working a successful comedic formula, “21 and Over” is mostly an entertainment for the spring break crowd. Those college kids sure have a lot of dumb fun, and they let us in on it.
TELEVISION UPDATE
The ABC TV network is unleashing a new drama series, though one would easily guess that it derived its cue from another similar-themed but failed series of another network.
I am referring to “Red Widow,” which is not entirely dissimilar from “Mob Doctor,” a fall series already long forgotten.
The same fate may well await “Red Widow,” despite the best efforts of Radha Mitchell’s Marta, the daughter of a Russian mobster who wants nothing to do with the underworld.
Trouble is, and this is not giving away any surprise, her husband Evan (Anson Mount) is killed as part of some sort of revenge plot for a heist gone bad.
The grieving Marta must protect her three children at all costs, but a shadowy figure named Schiller insists that she must repay a debt owed by her late husband.
Midseason shows are not usual successful, and “Red Widow,” slated for an expected eight episode run, may soon run out of sustainable interest.
It doesn’t help when the most interesting character, in this case Anson Mount’s Evan, is bumped off in the pilot episode.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Arts Council will host its First Friday Fling on March 1.
The event will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport.
This month the event will introduce a special showing of work donated to the Lake County Arts Council by the estate of the late Charles Hoeppner, a renowned watercolorist whose art depicts beautiful botanical illustrations. All proceeds from this collection will benefit the arts council.
Hoeppner, a world-traveled artist, called Lower Lake his home for 18 years. His works span a wide spectrum of artistry in the use of flowers.
A longtime supporter of the Lake County Arts Council, Hoeppner created a program through the arts council some years back called “Art Forum” in which he coordinated local artists, art teachers and students in all of the county's high schools.
Also, showcased this month at the Main Street Gallery: George Waterstaart’s exceptional wood turnings and gorgeous hand-painted porcelain original’s by Pat Courtney.
Returning with many new pieces of art are Max Butler’s original and charming oils; Bobbie Bridges' original watercolor prints of the Mendocino coast and more; Jay Glimme's whimsical pastels; Nell Knapp's acrylics with a unique touch; Travis Rinker's enchanting wood carvings with a German touch; Leah and Phillip Tulley's mixed media presentation; Annette and Robert Higday's original; and fired pottery and handcrafted jewelry by Creative Gatherings.
This month the Linda Carpenter Gallery will again feature art pieces from the Kelseyville Elementary School first and fifth grades. Shop the gift gallery for one-of-a-kind gift items there are many reasonable priced items – lots of inexpensive earrings, bracelets, miniature paintings, prints, baskets, ceramics, cards and scarfs.
There will be finger food, music by Paul Farley and Steele Wines will pour their vintages.
For more information contact the Lake County Arts Council, 707-263-6658.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of us are preoccupied with keeping up a civil if not loving relationship with our parents. In this poem, Mark Irwin (who lives in Colorado) does a beautiful job in portraying, in a dreamlike manner, the complexities of just one of those relationships.
Portraits
Mother came to visit today. We hadn’t seen each other in years. Why didn’t you call? I asked. Your windows are filthy, she said. I know, I know. It’s from the dust and rain. She stood outside. I stood in, and we cleaned each one that way, staring into each other’s eyes, rubbing the white towel over our faces, rubbing away hours, years. This is what it was like when you were inside me, she said. What? I asked, though I understood. Afterwards, indoors, she smelled like snow melting. Holding hands we stood by the picture window, gazing into the December sun, watching the pines in flame.
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 2010 by Mark Irwin from his most recent book of poems, Large White House Speaking, New Issues, 2013 and reprinted by permission of Mark Irwin and the publisher. Poem first printed in The Sun, July 2010. 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.
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