WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that he is now accepting applications for the 2019 Fifth Congressional District Art Competition, open to high school students.

This annual competition showcases the artistic talents and ability of students in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.

All winning pieces are displayed in the United States Capitol.

“Each year, I am honored to see the artistic talent and skill from young artists across our district who submit pieces to my Fifth Congressional District Art Competition. These students represent our best and brightest artistic ability and I am proud to support them every year,” said Thompson. “One student’s artwork will be selected to hang in the halls of the Capitol for a full year and represent our district to the nation and I encourage everyone to participate in this exciting competition!”

The 2019 Fifth Congressional District Art Competition is open to high schoolers across Thompson’s District.

The deadline to submit artwork is Tuesday, April 16.

Artwork can be submitted to one of Thompson’s District Offices, including in Napa located at 2721 Napa Valley Corporate Drive, in Santa Rosa located at 2300 County Center Drive, Suite A100, or in Vallejo located at 420 Virginia Street, Suite 1C.

Artwork submitted must conform to the rules and regulations of the competition in order to be considered and those guidelines can be found by clicking here.

Students, parents and teachers with questions can call Thompson’s office.

Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Take a journey to the world of fado, often described as the Portuguese version of the blues, in a concert this month at the Soper Reese Theatre.

The concert will take place on Saturday, March 30, at 7 p.m.

This concert presents Fado as interpreted by Ramana Vieira, a Northern California native of Portuguese descent who has been described by The New York Times as an American at the forefront of the Fado resurgence. The San Francisco Examiner calls her “the Rising Star in World Music."

Following her show at the Soper Reese last year, this year's performance will concentrate more fully on the authentic fado style.

Vieira is performing here in Lake County in recognition of Portugal Day, which celebrates the death of Portugal’s national literary icon, Luís de Camões, who died on June 10, 1580. De Camões has been compared to William Shakespeare in his mastery of the language while his poetic masterpiece, Os Lusiadas (The Lusiads), has become an icon of Portuguese literature.

Fado has Moorish musical roots and is often associated with pubs, cafés and restaurants.

Originating in 1820s Portugal, this style of singing is characterized by poetic lyrics related to the elements of love, loss, redemption and occasionally humor. These ballads evoke the emotion of “saudade,” a yearning for something lost.

Tickets are $20. Open seating. Tickets are available at www.soperreesetheatre.com; at the theatre’s Box Office, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, up to two hours before show time; at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The theatre telephone is 707-263-0577; Travel Center phone is 707-263-3095.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Soper Reese Theatre’s long-running Third Friday Live dance party returns on Friday, March 15, at 7 p.m. with The Psychedellos.

Tickets are now on sale for $15, open seating, with dance floor open.

The Psychedellos were born on July 29, 2016, at The Spot in Clearlake, after an impromptu gathering of friends got together to celebrate drummer Steve Toma’s 66th birthday.

Together, their eclectic sound of rock, folk and country sounded so good, and felt so good, the group decided to make it permanent.

Musicians are Dave Hagberg, vocals and lead guitar; Phil Oiler, vocals and lead guitar; April Knoll, vocals; Dale Billester, bass; and Steve Toma, drums.

Major sponsor is the Strong Financial Network. Also sponsored by KXBX 98.3 and KNTI 99.5. Dance floor will be open.

Tickets are available online at www.SoperReeseTheatre.com; or at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main, Lakeport, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Box office open two hours ahead of show time.

For more information call 707-263-0577 or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio is presenting monthly art classes with wine, co-hosted with artist Anna Sabalone.

This month's wine and art session with Sabalone is scheduled for Sunday, March 10, and will feature a crab painted in oil pastels.

The session time is 1:30 to 4 p.m.

The class fee of $40 covers all of the provided art supplies needed along with step-by-step guidance and a glass of Lake County wine.

Reservations are required for each month's class as participation is limited to 12 people.

Sabalone was born and raised in Lake County. She has been involved in the Lake County Arts Council since her teen years.

She attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Leeds, England for her undergraduate degree in English, history and anthropology. She earned her teaching credential and Master’s of Education from UCSB and has been teaching art, English, history and academic decathlon at Upper Lake High School since 2008.

For class schedule, reservations and additional information, contact Susan Feiler at 707-293-8752.

The Lake County Wine Studio is both a gallery for display of arts and a tasting room, wine bar and retail shop for the fine wines of Lake County. Artists’ shows are held on a monthly basis with art and wine receptions held the first Friday and subsequent Saturday of each month.

The gallery is located at 9505 Main St., in Upper Lake.

For more information call LCWS at 707-275-8030.

John Stanizzi is a poet living in Connecticut, whose work we've published before. His most recent collection of poems is Chants, from Cervena Barva Press.

Our column has published a number of poems about facing the loss of family members, and others about the rush of time. This poem addresses both subjects.

Ascension

First day of February,
and in the far corner of the yard
the Adirondack chair,
blown over by the wind at Christmas,
is still on its back,
the snow too deep for me
to traipse out and right it,
the ice too sheer
to risk slamming these old bones
to the ground.
In a hospital bed in her room
where her bed used to be,
and her husband,
my Aunt Millie keeps reaching up
for the far corner of the room,
whispering That is so interesting.
I will go now.
In April
I will walk out
across the warming grass,
and right the chair
as if there had never been anything
to stop me in the first place,
listening for the buzz of hummingbirds
which reminds me of how fast
things are capable of moving.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It 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 ©2018 by John Stanizzi, "Ascension." Poem reprinted by permission of John Stanizzi. Introduction copyright ©2019 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.

‘HAPPY DEATH DAY 2 U’ Rated PG-13

Something about a killer wearing a creepy baby mask is even more disturbing than a killer clown or a madman chasing his victims with a chainsaw, and that alone is the scariest thing about “Happy Death Day 2 U.”

Ostensibly, the genre for this sequel to “Happy Death Day” is classified as horror. Nevertheless, it plays well for its comedic tone, which is mainly a result of Jennifer Rothe’s college student Tree Gelbman gamely defying death in amusing ways.

All that you need to know about the original film inspired by “Groundhog Day” is that Tree had to relive being killed over and over again on her birthday until identifying and overcoming the killer.

The premise remains fairly much the same, albeit with the twist that Tree is now looped into an alternate universe infused with a science-fiction element due an expanded role for nerdy Asian tech wizard Ryan (Phi Vu) drawn into same vortex of demise.

Along with fellow science students, Ryan figures notably in the scheme of things by spending his college years building a machine designed to prove that time can be slowed down to the molecular level.

The experiment could qualify for a Nobel Prize or, more likely, result in the university and everything within a 100-mile radius being blown to smithereens. No wonder the college dean is constantly throwing fits and threatening expulsion.

Though Tree again wakes up with a hangover and unharmed in the same room with nerdy Carter (Israel Broussard), things are different in that her mother is still alive, her sorority sister Danielle (Rachel Matthews) is dating her boyfriend, and her roommate is sane.

What does remain, more or less, the same is that Tree is still blissfully yet amusingly self-centered, and has no trouble taunting the closeted male student who wants to know why she won’t return his texts or displaying general disrespect to some classmates.

While frustrated about tossed so rudely back into an endless spiral of death, Tree develops a greater sense of humanity. This could be attributed to the fact that the slasher threats are now also directed as well to other students in her circle.

Seeking to put an end the cycle of death at the hands of a masked killer, Tree finds ways to hasten the denouement by suicidal means, from leaping from the clock tower to jumping head first into a wood chipper.

Anyone who enjoyed “Happy Death Day” should find that the “2 U” sequel is equally, if not more so, entertaining, particularly because the contagious humor smoothes the rough edges of the horror elements into a pleasant package.

Also working to its advantage is that “Happy Death Day 2 U,” much like its predecessor, knows full well that it has turned the usual horror tropes into an agreeably humorous exercise of mindless fun.



‘FREE SOLO’ ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL

The daring, death-defying exploits of free climber Alex Honnold in “Free Solo,” originally released in limited theatres, is now featured on the National Geographic Channel.

Fittingly, “Free Solo” has now taken home the Oscar for best documentary feature and the timing of this award could not prove to be anything but a big boost to garner a wider audience for an event that looks humanly impossible.

To watch Alex Honnold climb the 3,000 feet of the sheer granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park is to witness a feat never accomplished before.

The act of free solo is when a rock climber scales the vertical wall of a mountain without the benefit of ropes and a safety system. In comparison, surfing the Banzai Pipeline on Hawaii’s North Shore seems much less hazardous.

The documentary notes the unfortunate deaths of many free solo artists, but Honnold is not among them. Instead, we see a man undaunted by having climbed untold number of mountains, but El Capitan initially gives him pause.

The film fleshes out some elements of his childhood and the fact that in his adult years (now in his early 30’s), Honnold has cut his own path, unencumbered by relationships until he meets his girlfriend Sanni McCandless (also featured in the film).

The presence of Sanni adds an emotional connection to the business of figuring out a guy who lives in a van roaming the world for his next adventure. It’s noted that he always chooses the mountain over the girl.

What motivates Honnold to risk death? While the subject may not provide the answer, the brain scan discovery of his amygdala reveals that, unlike us mere mortals, he has no fear.

Whatever the psychological makeup of Honnold may be, “Free Solo” is gripping drama as you watch his perilous ascent up El Capitan using only his hands and feet to climb sheer cliffs.

During the winter press tour, Honnold claimed that he still wants “to improve as a climber.” One wonders what could be the next challenge for his nail-biting adventures.

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