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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LOWER LAKE – The second annual Bluegrass Festival at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park suffered in attendance because of the cold and rainy weather on Saturday, Sept. 22, but the event was enjoyed by those who were there.
Some of the best Bluegrass music in Northern California was performed, with all acts being presented. The weather was bad, but didn't prevent the festival from happening.
About 800 people braved the drizzle to enjoy great music, beautiful crafts, and delicious food provided by the event. The gospel music Sunday was very successful with the sun breaking through the clouds quite often.
Organizers, members of the Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association (AMIA) plan to continue with presenting the Bluegrass Festival which is becoming a signature event for the south county.
Local service clubs, community groups, and the Konocti Unified School District all joined with AMIA to put on this fun music festival.
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- Written by: Editor
Magdalene plays for a limited engagement: 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6.
Magdalene is a musical comedy modern translation of the Gospel of Mary Magdala as seen through the eyes of 50's rockabilly singer Marlene. Magdalene: The Mary Magdalene Story, hailed as “thoroughly enchanting” by Upbeat Times, features a bevy of traditional biblical characters, and some not-so-traditional characters, including the Jewish follower, an Egyptian Goddess initiate, a prostitute, and present-day female rapper, all passionately, and hilariously played by the multitalented Ketchum.
The San Francisco press writes, “Mary Magdalene Story is intense in both its onstage activity and its intellectual content. And it's thoroughly enjoyable on a visceral level.”
Albert Goodwyn of the San Francisco Bay Times writes of Ketchum, “her keyboard artistry is exuberant and flashy. Her first song 'Party' is reminiscent of the piano pyrotechnics of Jerry Lee Lewis.”
Ketchum's 'singing and effortless piano playing remained strong throughout,” said Erin Podlipnik of WCities, San Francisco. “All of these heavy hitting issues are turned upside down in this fantastical, always outrageous, minimalist production.”
After studying piano and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where Ketchum won several competitions sponsored by Her Majesty The Queen, she moved with her family to Lake County in the late 70s where she performed at Konocti Harbor Inn six evenings a week for over a year and starred as Maria in the Yuba College Lower Lake production of The Sound of Music.
A National Endowment for the Arts recipient, Ketchum has performed her music and theatrical presentations across the United States and Canada. “Magdalene” have been included in the Sacramento Theatre Company’s 2008 season where Ketchum will be performing this show in April and May www.sactheatre.org.
Tickets are $12 for seniors and $15 for the general public. For information and tickets please call 707-274-8779 or 707-274-5689.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Those of you old enough to remember the Bay Area coffee houses of the 1960s can imagine Bob Stark playing at many of them as he did 40 years ago. Now residing on Cobb Mountain, Bob returned to his musical roots recently by playing at a local Cobb coffee house's open mike and then at the Tuscan Village. Since he lives in District Five, Bob has decided to get involved in politics as well and is running for Lake County supervisor.
Stark started the show with a song made famous by the Kingston Trio, "Green Back Dollar" and then went into a Tom Paxton tune, "The Last Thing On My Mind," followed by more 1960s folk hits.
It was a great trip back to the good old days for the capacity crowd who were enjoying the music, the food from the 2 Goombas Deli and the wine from Terrill Cellars in the lovely vineyard location.
Bob accompanied himself with a 12-string guitar which added to the mellow sound. Some patrons could be found in the Terrill Cellars tasting room, where the music could still be heard, checking out the great 2002 wines, including the excellent Cab.
Visitors could also admire the work of local artists in the courtyard, such as the handmade earrings and decorated gourds that were on display Friday, while still listening to Bob's soulful refrains.
If you missed this show, head up to Cobb on the first Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. to hear him play again at the Mountain High Coffee Shop in the Meadows shopping plaza. He may also make an appearance at Café Victoria's First Saturday open mike from 4 to 6 p.m. in Lakeport.
For more information on the next concert call 2 Goombas, 994-DELI.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Canadian film director David Cronenberg has a long, interesting history of grappling with psychological themes in horror and science fiction work. Recently, he’s become the master of the crime thriller, a reputation earned by A History of Violence and now enhanced with Eastern Promises, a breathtaking story of the disturbing world of Russian mobsters in contemporary London.
In typical Cronenberg fashion, the brutal underworld is revealed by layers of subtlety, deception and intrigue. Yet, there’s more to it than just mind games, as scenes of bloody violence telegraph the central conceit. After all, with the star presence of Viggo Mortensen, a history of violence is almost certain to reoccur in this milieu of the Russian mob.
The story of Eastern Promises takes place around Christmas and New Year’s, but holiday cheer is noticeably lacking, and even the London weather is dreary and gloomy to boot.
The action starts with a mob hit in a barbershop where the victim has his throat slashed by a razor. Soon after that, a pregnant Russian teen collapses in a pharmacy and is rushed to a hospital, where midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) saves the baby as the mother dies in childbirth.
Anna retrieves a diary from the dead girl’s belongings, and takes it home for research, hoping to locate the girl’s family. She’s the daughter of a Russian father and British mother (Sinead Cusack). Her irascible Russian uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) finds disturbing revelations in the diary, namely that the Russian girl was forced into a prostitution ring and that names of mobsters are revealed.
Though Uncle Stepan, who claims to have worked for the KGB, warns Anna to steer clear of the Russian underworld, she can’t resist following up on the business card of an old-fashioned Russian restaurant that was found tucked into the diary. The restaurant’s owner is Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), courtly and well-mannered, and he shows great interest in the diary, but for reasons entirely unrelated to solving the girl’s sad fate.
Unknowingly, Anna has breached the inner sanctum of the local Russian mob, and Semyon is capable of extreme measures to cover up the dirty secrets contained in the diary.
A key player in the mob scene is Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), the chauffeur for Semyon and the mob boss’s psychotic son Kirill (Vincent Cassel). It becomes apparent that Semyon’s gang was involved in the barbershop murder. Given to excessive drinking, Kirill is a volatile character who may lack the restraint and discretion to properly carry out Semyon’s dirty work.
Nikolai is obviously much more than just a driver, and his tightly-controlled demeanor makes him appealing to Anna as an unlikely confidante. Driven by ambition, Nikolai seems to play all sides of the street, and yet he aspires to a higher job in the organization, one that might be fitting to the number of tattoos he acquired in Russia for his criminal career. There’s always a nice bit of tension between cool-headed Nikolai and the impulsive Kirill.
The twists and turns that run through the plot are rife with unpredictable results. Nikolai takes a keen interest in Anna, and it’s not just for her connection to the dead girl’s diary. Then Semyon asks Nikolai to get rid of Anna’s Uncle Stepan, who becomes a target for having read the diary.
There is probably no more jarring turn of events than the London bathhouse scene where a naked Nikolai has a deadly fight with two knife-wielding assassins. The brutality of this particular showdown, where Nikolai is most vulnerable, is likely to be the most memorable and talked-about moment of violence in the entire film.
A brutal efficiency is at work in Eastern Promises to make this film a lean, effective crime thriller with enough twists and surprises to prove truly mesmerizing. Following up on his success in A History of Violence, director Cronenberg proves that he knows how to triumph in this crime genre. And yet, the achievement of this film belongs as much to the terrific actors, where not one of the key players delivers anything less than a stellar performance.
Tim Riley writes television and movie reviews for Lake County News.
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