LOWER LAKE, Calif. – On Friday, April 13, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Vigilance Winery in Lower Lake will host a free reception at the unveiling of  a photo exhibit, “Exploring the Undiscovered Landscape” with nature photos of the Berryessa Snow Mountain region.

The region includes more than 500,000 acres of public lands located in the Northern Inner Coast Range stretching over 100 miles from Lake Berryessa to the Snow Mountain Wilderness in the Mendocino National Forest, including the watersheds of the eastern shore of Clear Lake.

The exhibit is sponsored by Tuleyome, a conservation organization based in Woodland working to protect both the wild and agricultural heritage of our region.

The group is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and has engaged Northern California photographers Jim Rose, Andrew Fulks and Eric Machelder to provide some of their exquisite photographs.

Lead exhibitor Jim Rose has photographed some of California's wildest landscapes.

His early images appeared in the Sierra Club's small format book "The Last Redwoods and the Parkland of Redwood Creek" in 1969.

More recently, Rose's images have appeared throughout the California Wild Heritage Campaign. Now his work brings alive the unique and delicate beauty of the Berryessa Snow Mountain region.

Those who haven’t yet visited these places can experience them through Rose's images, from the surreal fog at Cold Canyon to a sunrise at Bean Rock north of Snow Mountain. As he says, “Lots happen when you use a tripod.”

Andrew Fulks grew up on the Peninsula in the Bay Area where he hiked the hills and grew to love wild places.

When he moved to Davis he began exploring the Berryessa Snow Mountain region. He started www.yolohiker.org to share his knowledge leading many hikes.

Fulks, currently UC Davis Reserve manager, was a founder of Tuleyome and serves as board president. His passion continues to be exploration and, he led the building of trails throughout the region, including Valley Vista, Annie’s and Berryessa Peak trails.

Eric Machleder lives in Mill Valley. His academic background is in biochemistry and cancer biology.

He describes himself as a photography hobbyist and he enjoys shooting images of wildlife while hiking around Marin County and beyond. The group is pleased that Machleder visited Zim Zim Falls and hope that he will continue to explore the Berryessa Snow Mountain region.

Additional information about the region and Tuleyome can be found at www.tuleyome.org or by calling 530-350-2599 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Tuleyome is grateful to Shannon Ridge Winery for the generous donation of space and wine for tasting at Vigilance Winery 13888 Point Lakeview Road in Lower Lake.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – January's First Friday Fling will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 6.

The event will take place at the Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport.

The First Friday Fling will introduce the work of Clementine Hall, Linda Richmond, Leonora McKenzie, John Winslow, John Eells and Leah Adams.

Currently showing at the gallery are Patsy Farstad, Lois Feron, Jacob Blue, Shelby Posada, Max Butler, Annette Higday, Diane Constable, Meredith Gambrel, Heidi Thomason, Naomi Key, Ellen Sommers, Kellie Denton, Barbara Sinor, Marge Bougas, Lynn Hughes, Kim Costa, Caroyln Wing Greenlee, Sherry Harris and Diego Harris.

The Linda Carpenter Gallery will feature photography by Clear Lake High School students under the instruction of Jan Hambrick.

Guitarist Travis Rinker will provide music and Lajour Estate Winery will pour their vintages.

For more information contact the Lake County Arts Council, 707-263-6658.

I don’t think we’ve ever published a poem about a drinker. Though there are lots of poems on this topic, many of them are too judgmental for my liking. But here’s one I like, by Jeanne Wagner, of Kensington, California, especially for its original central comparison.

My mother was like the bees

because she needed a lavish taste
on her tongue,
a daily tipple of amber and gold
to waft her into the sky,
a soluble heat trickling down her throat.
Who could blame her
for starting out each morning
with a swig of something furious
in her belly, for days
when she dressed in flashy lamé
leggings like a starlet,
for wriggling and dancing a little madly,
her crazy reels and her rumbas,
for coming home wobbly
with a flicker of clover’s inflorescence
still clinging to her clothes,
enough to light the darkness
of a pitch-black hive.

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 Jeanne Wagner from her most recent book of poetry, In the Body of Our Lives, Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010. Poem reprinted by permission of Jeanne Wagner and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 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. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

THE RAID: REDEMPTION (Rated R)

I know the big movie of the week is “The Hunger Games,” but the studio did not screen it widely in advance, probably because it is a genre movie like “Harry Potter” and “Twilight.”

With a built-in audience eagerly in waiting, “The Hunger Games” is one of those bulletproof films that will likely do amazing business at the box office regardless of what critics have to say.

As an alternative, “The Raid: Redemption” is an Indonesian film that made its North American debut at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where it gained a lot of buzz from an apparently bloodthirsty audience.

To call “The Raid” a mixed martial arts movie requires redefinition of that physical art to include machetes and machine guns along with a barrage of fists and feet causing maximum damage.

Directed by Welsh-born Gareth Evans, “The Raid” works from a deceptively simple premise, as practically the entire plot revolves around a police assault on a tenement building controlled by drug lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy).

First and foremost, this Indonesian action film is like an extended violent video game, almost entirely lacking in humanity.  Don’t expect much beyond jaw-dropping, bloody brutality.

However, the one character with a compelling personal story is expectant father Rama (Iko Uwais), an honest cop with killer fighting instincts who has the primary role to play in the police raid.

The audience instinctively knows that Rama is the good guy when the film opens with him in a tender moment with his pregnant wife as he prepares for his big mission.

Within minutes, the focus of “The Raid” turns to Rama and his crew in a police van on their way to Tama’s 15-story tenement building, where the drug lord is holed up on the top floor.

Under the command of a mysterious police lieutenant, the tactical squad, armed with knives, pistols and automatic weapons, has an objective to secure one floor at a time in order to take down Tama.

This mission is incredibly dangerous and suicidal, as even the bravest cops have never been able to breach Tama’s fortress in the past.  Not surprisingly, the stealth mission is quickly compromised.

Tama is a vicious criminal kingpin who uses his building to shelter his army of loyal dealers and many customers, all of whom are more than willing to take up arms against any invaders.

It takes only a matter of minutes for the police undercover operation to be blown, resulting in about half of the team being shredded in a barrage of gunfire and machetes.

Still, some of the cops manage to survive, including the valiant Rama, and they realize the only way out of their predicament is a determination to complete the mission and take out Tama for good.

The end result is a non-stop bloodbath that unleashes violence so brutal and unrelenting that “The Raid” might as well be marketed as a video game unsuitable for impressionable adolescents.

A serious drawback is the deficiency of character development which might give viewers a greater rooting interest in the heroic exploits of Rama and his dwindling crew.

Nevertheless, it’s very impressive to see Rama almost singlehandedly continue his explosive march through a seemingly endless parade of henchmen and drug-addled crazies.

Though not in wide release, “The Raid: Redemption” will find its audience looking for vicarious thrills in bloody action that makes audiences gasp.

TELEVISION UPDATE

Few television shows get more press coverage and less viewers than “Mad Men,” and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.

Anyone who has not been watching “Mad Men” on the AMC Network all along could not be expected to pick up on the storylines and intrigues of a Madison Avenue advertising agency.

It’s bad enough that the show has been on a long hiatus, and now the fifth season picks up somewhere in the mid-Sixties, when New York City loses its glamour as urban decay begins to set in.

The new season picks up where Jon Hamm’s debonair ad man Don Draper is making a go of his impulsive decision in the last season to propose to his secretary.

Those who were curious about Don’s rash engagement to Megan (Jessica Pare) will learn some interesting things in the season premiere.

Over at the Reelz Channel, Steven Seagal, who apparently has run out of opportunities for martial arts films, brings his crime fighting style to the new TV series “True Justice.”

Seagal leads a hardcore undercover team of Seattle cops who take on the local criminal element with the high-octane style that marked so many of his films.

One problem for “True Justice” may be the inability of the target audience to locate the Reelz Channel.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Clear Lake High School will partner with Main Street Gallery to feature the work of photography students.

The photography program is part of the Career Technical Education program at the school taught by Jan Hambrick.

Clear Lake High School photography students have displayed their photographs annually with rave reviews at Main Street Gallery for the past five years.

During the month of April, the work will be on display and for sale. The exhibit will be unveiled on April 6 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Due to the limited amount of wall space in the student gallery, students compete for the opportunity to display their work.

Work is gathered throughout the year and judged by their peers with the top ranking students work selected for the showcase.

In class students learn not only how to take photos both utilizing 35 millimeter film and digital photography, but also learn how to prepare their work for the exhibit.

Hambrick teaches the students how to mount, mat and frame their photos. All photographs are embellished by frames made by the schools woodshop program taught by John Moorhead.

All items on exhibit are for sale with proceeds going to support the photography program at CLHS.

“It is an honor and a privilege to show ones work in a gallery,” said Hambrick. “Most artists wait a lifetime to show in a gallery. Our thanks to Lake County Arts Council for their support in providing our students the opportunity of a gallery experience.”

Main Street Gallery does not charge a rental fee for the showcase and only takes a 20 percent commission fee from each piece sold.

The gallery continues to be a generous supporter of the photography program at Clear Lake High.

For information on the exhibit hours, please contact the Main Street Gallery at 707-263-6658.

It’s an ancient and respected tradition: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, wrote “Idylls of the King” to celebrate the life of King Arthur, and dedicated it to yet another of the royals, Albert, Prince Consort to Queen Victoria. How many poems have been written for people the poet admired? Here Carrie Shipers, who teaches in Wisconsin, writes about a contemporary superstar.

Love Poem for Ted Neeley In Jesus Christ Superstar

                                                                 Lincoln, Neb., 2009
 
That man’s too old to play Christ, someone said
when you appeared onstage—thirty years
in those white robes, spotlights tracking
your graceful sleeves, the attentive angle
of your head as you worked a crowd. I agreed
that you looked tired, but when Mary Magdalene
anointed you, when you cast merchants
and money changers from the temple, I forgot
your thinning hair and wrinkled brow, forgot
how your story ended: your broken voice
crying on the cross, your body arched as you
ascended. I’d lost track of how many songs
were in the second act, thought there might
be more—the empty tomb, your appearance
on the road, to Peter in Jerusalem—but the cast
came out for applause: soldiers, Apostles,
and women; Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate; Mary
in her red dress; Peter, that sturdy fisherman;
Judas, who has all the best songs; and finally
you, head bowed at our ovation. I didn’t come
to worship but you’ve left me no choice—
I don’t care how old you are, how many times
you’ve done this act before—you still rock
those power ballads, still heal with the same
sweet force before you rise. We’ll always want
too much from you. Tonight, I’ll believe until
the curtain closes, your tour bus rolls 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 ©2011 by Carrie Shipers, whose most recent book of poems is Ordinary Mourning, ABZ Press, 2010. Poem reprinted from New Letters, Vol. 22, no. 2, 2011, by permission of Carrie Shipers and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 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. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.