For the last few years the public response has been growing steadily to the Winter Music Fest in the Soper-Reese due to the excellent acoustics, visibility, and comfort the theater provides, and as the crowds have swelled, the quality of the performers, always high, has gotten even higher.

Artists who would like to participate in the Winter Music Fest should contact the Lake County Arts Council office before Jan. 8 in order to be sure to get a place in the audition lineup.

Auditions will be held all day Jan. 15 at the Soper-Reese, and although you can show up there on the day of the auditions, you might have to wait around until there is an opening. Sign up right away and get a specific audition time.

All kinds and styles of music are welcome for this show, and groups of any size from soloist up are encouraged to audition.

Auditions can be accompanied by recorded music, but use of commercial recorded music for background accompaniment by performers is strongly discouraged, partly because this is a local show and not meant to showcase performers recording in LA, and partly because in the presence of live music, recorded music tends to reveal its artificiality. They will help solo singers find an accompanist for their performances.

The council also encourages performers to show acts that are completely ready for the stage, and prepared for a professional presentation.

The council has a theater with a dark background, and a light colored or reflective costume sets the performer off to the greatest advantage. Care in producing a well-thought-out costume shows the audience that you care about their enjoyment, and adds to the audience-performer dynamic. That is to say, they like your music better when you look cool.

To contact the Lake County Arts Council, call 707-263-6658 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., write to the Main Street Gallery, 325 North Main St., Lakeport 95453, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Start 2011 off right with rock legend Mike Wilhelm at Hopper's Corner Saloon, 10770 Main St., Potter Valley, Calif. Courtesy photo.

POTTER VALLEY, Calif. – Dance the night away at the Hopper's Corner Saloon New Year's Eve party featuring music by Mike Wilhelm.

Potluck supper will start at 6 p.m. and the band starts at 7 p.m.

Complimentary champagne will be served at midnight.

The band will consist of veteran musicians Wilhelm on guitar, slide guitar and vocal; Frank Roblano, from the Ft. Bragg band Rootstock on drums and James Weber, formerly with the band 12:30, on bass. Special guest guitarist Dave Diaz also will perform.

Hopper's Corner Saloon is located at 10770 Main St., Potter Valley, telephone 707-743-1678.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

Here’s a poem by Christopher Todd Matthews that I especially like for the depiction of the little boy who makes more of a snowball than we would have expected was there. This poet lives in Lexington, Virginia.

Eating Them As He Came

Dark by five, the day gives up and so do I,

stalled at the top of the stairs I forget what for,

adrift in a scrap of dream that’s not a dream

exactly but a stupor, unrefined. I go astray

in old routines, I dare myself to reconstruct

the rules of old invented games—that one

of throwing snowballs at the roof, to watch them

shrink as they rolled down, spinning to their pits,

to see the force that made them briefly a thing

so neatly undone. Today an old friend’s tiny boy

lobbied me to pitch some snowballs at him. I bowed

to his dense little will. But planned to miss.

As I packed and flung each one to its unpacking,

he hunted down the humble bits and crumbs

of every impact, as they ran from him along

the icy slope, and gathered and carried them

back to me at the top. Eating them as he came.

So that’s how you get to the marrow of breakdown.

I forgot. That you could put what’s left to your lips.

Ted Kooser was US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. He is a professor in the English Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, Nebraska, with his wife Kathleen Rutledge, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Christopher Todd Matthews and reprinted from West Branch, No. 65, Fall/Winter 2009, by permission of Christopher Todd Matthews and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2010 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.

Stone will perform modern Native American flute music with classical guitarist Lindy Danton from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the restaurant, located at 6330 Soda Bay Road, Kelseyville.

Being of Cherokee and Japanese ancestry and living in Lake County, Kevin Village Stone records original instrumental compositions of Native American and Ecuadorian flutes over both modern and traditional instruments.

His work also includes the renowned “Whispering Light” series of meditation music, a favorite of yoga instructors, massage therapists and well-being practitioners throughout California.

The unique flavor of his music is that he writes and arranges it all himself and plays every instrument on the recordings.

Having been classically trained and now a retired professional from the music industry, Stone's main instruments of study are native flutes. bass guitars, keyboard and piano following jazz and classical trumpet.

“The music I perform is a type of cross-cultural renaissance from inside me that uses every musical element I have learned and experienced,” he explained. “I am merely expressing what is in my soul and heart and hopefully others will join me in the journey.”

Zino's Ristorante and Inn is located in Soda Bay at 6330 Soda Bay Rd (reservations are not necessary but recommended). Call 707-279-1620.

For more info on Kevin Village Stone, his music and credits, visit www.whisperinglight.com .

The performance will start at 5 p.m. and continue to as late as 8 p.m. at Williams' Silk's Bar & Grill.

Williams will put his incredible voice to work on old favorites.

Silk's Bar & Grill is located at 14825 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.