Southern Sonoma Country Life

Thanksgiving Greetings from Southern Sonoma County

 

Thanksgiving 

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1850 to 1919

 

We walk on starry fields of white
   And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
   We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
   To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
   Of pleasures sweet and tender.

Our cares are bold and push their way
   Upon our thought and feeling.
They hand about us all the day,
   Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
   We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives,
   And conquers if we let it.

There’s not a day in all the year
   But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
   To brim the past’s wide measure.
But blessings are like friends, I hold,
   Who love and labor near us.
We ought to raise our notes of praise
   While living hearts can hear us.

Full many a blessing wears the guise
   Of worry or of trouble;
Far-seeing is the soul, and wise,
   Who knows the mask is double.
But he who has the faith and strength
   To thank his God for sorrow
Has found a joy without alloy
   To gladden every morrow.

We ought to make the moments notes
   Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
   Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
   As weeks and months pass o’er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
   A grand Thanksgiving chorus.

Maybe because I'm an immigrant I personally don't have any major disappointment this year about not having as big a Thanksgiving as usual. Aside from dear friends who are staying home to be safe, my extended family and in-laws don't celebrate this American holiday with us anyway, as they're all overseas. There's no angst on breaking with tradition and hosting a smaller gathering than we typically enjoy. 

I know it's hard for so many and I hope that you're not too displaced yourself. 

I've been thinking that this year's Thanksgiving is a lot more like the European Harvest Festivals of my childhood in that we're looking more toward the natural bounty of our region than ever and we're extra grateful for home and hearth and garden and the simple pleasure of small outdoor fall and winter celebrations, whether it be a solo hike, supper for two or, best of all, for me, more intimate holiday gatherings with my husband and one, two or all three of our sons. 

There's not too much to say that hasn't been said a thousand times in the run up to the holidays 2020, so I'm sending you love and best wishes to you and yours from my corner of Sonoma County with a few of my favorite snapshots from this fall season. 

Enjoy your day, savor the simplicity and let Mother Nature do the decorating! 

 

Enjoy the Festive Revelry of The Great Dickens Christmas Fair & Victorian Holiday Party at Home This Holiday Season

Click here for Dickens Fair At HOME 

In lieu of gathering in person this year, our friends at Bay Area treasure The Great Dickens Christmas Fair invite us to enjoy the simple pleasures of "Dickens Fair at Home," launching on November 21 as their holiday gift to you! If you're a Dickens Fair fan you'll be heartened by the chance to immerse yourself in a virtual Victorian London this holiday season. 

And if you've never attended The Great Dickens Christmas Fair, join in the merriment online and find out what you've been missing! 

Each weekend from November 21st and on Christmas Eve, the Dickens Fair producers, The Patterson Family and team will generously release a splendid, festive stream of new content.

• Invoke the spirits of Christmas Past and Christmas Present with "A Christmas Carol" read by Mr. Dickens himself.
• Gather to sing in the parlour, or dance in the kitchen! Find favorite Fair music, videos, and the one and only Coventry Carolers in spirited song!
• Discover delicious recipes from merry old England and serve up holiday favorites with Dickensian flair!
• Entice your creative spirit (and young hearts) to make playful holiday gifts with instruction from Fair artists.

And we are invited to . . . 

• Shop online for lovingly crafted gifts to delight both family and friends . . . and to help boost the coffers of the fair's extraordinary artist community that has been struggling through the cancellation of a year's worth of events.

Be the first in line for tickets for next year's event. 

 

Mendocino's Blue Door Inns Joins Four Sisters Collection

Expanding their collection to the north coast, Four Sisters Inns welcomed Blue Door Inns of Mendocino this October to its family of 16 boutique inns and small hotels throughout California.

Blue Door Inns combines three thoughtfully curated venues in the heart of Mendocino village to offer 19 well-appointed guestrooms and an array of relaxing common spaces including outdoor gardens and patios. Each venue is within walking distance to restaurants, shops and the spectacular Mendocino Headlands, with cliff-side trails and panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean.

"We are honored to showcase the stylish Blue Door Inns and expand our growing collection to this alluring destination," said company President Tamara Mims. "They provide the perfect retreat for guests seeking a quiet coastal refuge with a relaxed pace."

The flagship of the three locations is the Blue Door Inn, which serves as the trio's main hub for guest activity. Sophisticated decor, refined common areas, and lush gardens welcome guests to this historic and fully renovated inn. Each of the five luxurious guestrooms has a fireplace and many rooms boast a soaking tub and views of the ocean.

Three blocks away, the peaceful and intimate Packard House draws inspiration from the natural beauty of the headlands with a serene palate and artistic touches. The six plush guestrooms offer spacious and inviting accommodations, including two cottages with private entrances and patio access. The expansive interior courtyard and patio reflect the creative vibe of the town with a whimsical "dancing man" sculpture.

Steps from the picturesque coastline, the JD House venue features ocean views, a well-manicured English garden and eight charming guestrooms. Coastal hues and understated furnishings make this the perfect choice for those seeking a casual, nautical-inspired experience.

All guests enjoy Four Sisters Inns' signature amenities with their stay, including a complimentary breakfast basket delivered directly to their room each morning, and an afternoon wine and cheese mini-picnic complete with the collection's hallmark freshly baked cookies. Luxurious Lather bath amenities, personalized concierge services and high-speed wireless Internet access are also included.

As the newest member of the Four Sisters Collection, Blue Door Inns joins with sister properties in offering the collection's popular Stay One Night, Receive Your Second Night Free promotion, available between Oct. 24, 2020 and April 1, 2021. Some restrictions apply. For more information, visit https://www.bluedoorgroup.com/special-offers

Room rates range Sunday through Thursday from $209 to $369, and Friday and Saturday from $249 to $409 per night, plus tax.  

Rates range from $189 to $449 per night, depending on the room and date selected.

For reservations and more information, go to https://www.bluedoorgroup.com/ or call (707)-937-4892.

Sonoma Valley's Kenwood Inn Reimagines Covid-Shuttered Spa Spaces; Former Treatment Rooms Now Available as Private Retreats

Kenwood Inn's brand new spa in Sonoma Valley was open a mere six months before pandemic protocols forced it to pause operations. Rather than let the luxurious new spaces sit idle, two have now been temporarily reimagined as day-use, poolside retreats, available Monday through Friday for both hotel and non-hotel guests to reserve.

The newly converted Poolside Retreat opens directly to the outdoor pool and patio with two sets of French doors. It provides lounging and seating areas for two guests, and a fireplace. Rates for the Poolside Retreat are $209 for overnight hotel guests, and $259 for non-hotel guests.

The spacious upstairs Spa Terrace Cabana has also been reimagined. Overlooking the pool, this retreat provides a lovely view of the surrounding vineyards and features a secluded, couples-only indoor spa tub. This oversized space accommodates up to six guests. Cost for the Spa Terrace Cabana for the first two guests is $259 per day if staying overnight at the inn, and $309 for non-hotel guests. There is a $50 per person charge for each additional guest, with a maximum of six.

Guests reserving these new spaces are greeted with sparkling wine, cheese and charcuterie plates, soft drinks, bottled water, a wet bar and mini refrigerator, a Bluetooth speaker for streaming their favorite music and gift bags with sample spa products. A dedicated attendant ensures excellent, personalized service.

 "We look forward to the day when we can fully reopen the beautiful Spa at Kenwood Inn and once again offer our full menu of treatments," said Four Sisters Inns President Tamara Mims. "In the meantime, we are excited to welcome guests to these creatively redesigned spaces, introducing a new poolside experience in Wine Country."

 The two temporary, private retreats join two existing, semi-private Poolside Cabanas at Kenwood Inn & Spa. Those may also be booked at $209 for overnight hotel guests, and $259 for non-hotel guests.

Overnight La Vita Privata Package

For the ultimate private retreat experience, Kenwood Inn & Spa is offering a new luxury package this season, available Mondays through Fridays, now through November 25, 2020.  La Vita Privata includes two nights at the inn, exclusive use of the Spa Terrace Cabana, a private, on-site wine tasting by Muscardini Cellars featuring a flight of six wines paired with small bites, and dinner for two created by Chef Sam Badolato accompanied by a bottle of wine. All guests of Kenwood Inn & Spa enjoy breakfast each morning and a daily afternoon wine and cheese mini-picnic.

 La Vita Privata must be reserved at least seven days in advance. Price depends upon the guestroom and dates selected; prices begin at $1,351 per couple for the two-night stay, plus tax and resort fee.

For reservations or more information, see the website at kenwoodinn.com, or call the inn at 800-353-6966. 

About Four Sisters Inns

     Founded in 1975, Four Sisters Inns is comprised of 17 properties throughout California. The collection includes the Blue Lantern Inn (Dana Point), Newport Beach Hotel (Newport Beach), Hotel Casa 425  + Lounge (Claremont), Inn at Playa Del Rey (Los Angeles), Channel Road Inn (Santa Monica), Coachman's Inn (Carmel-by-the-Sea), Gosby House Inn and Green Gables Inn (Pacific Grove), West Cliff Inn (Santa Cruz), Milliken Creek Inn and Spa (Napa), Maison Fleurie and Lavender (Yountville), Inn at Sonoma (Sonoma), Gaige House + Ryokan (Glen Ellen), Kenwood Inn and Spa (Kenwood), Healdsburg Inn on the Plaza (Healdsburg), and Blue Door Inns (Mendocino). For more information, https://www.foursisters.com/

 

Recipes For Rolling Kitchens Presents — A Moveable Feast — A New, Illustrated Cookbook by Sonoma County Artist & Airstream Gourmet Claudia Jack Sutton

Bringing a book from long-held dream to concept and all the way to fruition in print and e-book formats is a feat! I should know. And with several friends close to home who have shared their journeys into print with me over the past few years, let me tell you, it's a big task and one that is tailor-made with its own set of requirements according to the type of book.

When my friend Claudia Jack Sutton shared her dream to create her own cookbook with her family's favorite recipes for the road, paired with her gorgeous illustrations of cooking up a delicious storm in and outside of she and her partner, John's beloved Airstream second home, I thought it might take a couple of years to get the project ready for print. 

How wrong I was! Claudia's unstoppable enthusiasm for life, style, design, travel and food combined propelled the Healdsburg resident to take advantage of some relative Covid period slow time and cram every spare second with bringing her book to life. 

And here it is, within mere months of careful revision and creation. It's unique, original and packed with the sorts of recipes and tips that I will use in my Southern Sonoma Country everyday life and maybe, some day, in a mini-second home on wheels for weekend getaways along the coast. 

Click here for the Recipes for Rolling Kitchen website. A Moveable Feast would make a lovely holiday gift for anyone on your list who loves to camp/cookout or share the bounty in their backyard. 

I'm hoping that we'll have a chance to host a local book author's safe distance shindig some time in the holiday season for some fun readings and book signings and sales — will keep you posted on that. 

As with all local businesses, please support your local authors whenever possible! 

Claudia and John are members of the Wally Byam Airstream Club and Airstream Club International and The Greater Bay Area Airstream Club and enjoy joining other 'streamers' at rallies. Claudia is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and when not out camping she works in the wine industry in the Dry Creek Valley. 

Here's a link to a feature in the Press Democrat on Claudia's cookbook. 

Healdsburg Jazz Announces Acclaimed Composer & Bandleader Marcus Shelby As New Artistic Director

Renowned Northern California jazz institution Healdsburg Jazz announces today the appointment of acclaimed composer and bandleader Marcus Shelby as their new Artistic Director. Shelby will lead the organization and its flagship Healdsburg Jazz Festival into its next generation of dynamic and innovative programming. Shelby takes over the new role Oct. 1, 2020 from the festival's founder, artistic director and guiding spirit, Jessica Felix, who launched the festival in 1999. Shelby has worked closely with Felix over the past decade and looks towards the future to maintain and elevate the spirit of the festival.

 

"Jessica did an incredible job building the Healdsburg Jazz Festival with first-class talent, including national and local artists," said Shelby. "She never dumbed down the programming to get more people to come. I'm looking forward to expanding her extraordinary legacy and also develop a fresh vision that reflects my interests and strengths."

 

"We are so fortunate to have Marcus Shelby on board as artistic director to help guide Healdsburg Jazz as it enters a new chapter in its history," said Jack Raineault, Board Chair of Healdsburg Jazz. "He has contributed so much to the educational component of the organization and is passionate about our mission. He knows the music scene both locally and nationally and brings the perspective of a musician to the artistic director role. Marcus has also focused on social justice issues and building community in his music and in the organizations he has been a part of. We are excited at the prospect of what new directions Healdsburg Jazz will take both artistically and in its commitment to promoting social and cultural connections under Marcus's leadership."

 

Shelby is taking the helm at a moment of unprecedented challenges for the performing arts due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, and he's already working with the festival's Board of Directors on strategizing for the 2021 festival. Beyond the lauded spring jazz festival, he's ideally suited for running the nonprofit organization's year-round concert series and education programs. Shelby has a strong track record in the picturesque Sonoma County town near the Russian River, which is one reason why Felix is so confident that Shelby is the right person for the job. "He's done a lot up here already and everybody loves him," Felix said. "He's really endeared himself to this area. He believes in the festival and believes in me."

 

Felix first met Shelby about 30 years ago, when Los Angeles drum legend Billy Higgins, a close friend of hers, recommended that she book Shelby's band Black/Note at the Eddie Moore Jazz Festival. Higgins had mentored the young group at the World Stage, the performance space he co-founded in LA's Leimert Park neighborhood, and on his advice Felix hired the quintet sight unseen. Though Shelby relocated to San Francisco a few years later it wasn't until a decade ago that he started playing an important role at Healdsburg, when Felix hired him to bring his Black History Month programming to local schools. A prestigious grant the festival received from the James Irvine Foundation enabled Shelby to create and direct the Healdsburg Freedom Jazz Choir, a 100-piece community choir that has continued over the years, perform in various settings with his big band and small group.

 

"Jessica and I have become good friends and we've worked very closely together on these projects, like working out ideas for the choir," he said. "She built the festival from scratch and she's leaving her life's work in my hands. We've spent countless hours talking about these things."

 

Shelby has deep roots in the San Francisco Bay Area arts scene. He's a composer in residence with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival and has taken on a variety of roles at SFJAZZ, including a stint as a Resident Artistic Director. He's a teacher at the San Francisco Community Music Center and has served on the San Francisco Arts Commission since his appointment by the late Mayor Ed Lee in 2014. That's all on top of his regular gigging as a leader and a sideman.

 

On his decision to become the Artistic Director of Healdsburg Jazz Festival, Shelby comments, "Leading a major jazz festival supports and enriches my professional practice in many ways. Some colleagues who are much better known are part of organizations they lead, Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jason Moran at the Kennedy Center, and Christian McBride in several organizations. That inspired me to think bigger and really embrace the possibility of working with a large community of artists, and influence how this music is curated. I need to keep evolving and growing."

 

Creative growth has been the hallmark of Shelby's career. Born February 2, 1966 in Anchorage, Alaska, he grew up in Sacramento and first gained attention on the burgeoning LA scene in the early 1990s as a co-founder of the hard-bop band Black/Note (which also launched top-shelf New York drummer Willie Jones III). He earned the Charles Mingus Scholarship to study at Cal Arts in Valencia, where he also worked closely with flutist/composer James Newton and bassist Charlie Haden (both artists closely linked to the Healdsburg Jazz Festival). Black/Note recorded four albums, including 1994's Jungle Music (Columbia) and 1996's Nothin' But the Swing (Impulse!/GRP).

 

Relocating to San Francisco in 1996, Shelby quickly established himself as an essential creative force on the Bay Area arts scene. Leading both the Marcus Shelby Trio and the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, he earned increasingly prestigious commissions from dance companies, theatrical productions, and presenters such as Intersection for the Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. No one has a closer view of his determined growth than Kate Dumbleton, his manager and co-founder of his label Noir Records.

 

"In all the years I've known Marcus he's always been poised to take the work that he does in multiple directions at any given moment," says Dumbleton, Executive and Artistic Director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival and Associate Professor at the Art Institute of Chicago. "He's a conceptualizer. He knows how to connect history to musical ideas and storytelling. He thinks in really interesting ways about narrative. When I first met him he was really interested in working with dancers, choreographers, theater artists, and filmmakers."

 

Shelby started exploring history and narrative in his own work with the release of 2006's Port Chicago (Noir Records), a suite for his jazz orchestra inspired by the World War II miscarriage of justice that saw 50 young black seamen convicted in the largest mutiny trial in U.S. naval history (a story that unfolded in the Bay Area). Since then he's focused his creative energy on a series of hard-swinging works exploring key historical events and personalities, like 2008's two-disc Harriet Tubman (Noir Records), 2011's Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Porto Franco), and 2018's Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues, a suite commissioned by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.

 

In recent years, he's also served as a musical foil for playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith throughout the interview-driven creation of her one-woman show about the school-to-prison pipeline, Notes From the Field. "Her process is genius," he said. "As much as I can absorb from her, I'm just trying to find ways that I can use blues and swing to tell these different stories."

 

In many ways, Shelby has turned his orchestra into an exemplar of the kind of equitable society he advocates for off the bandstand. It's an ensemble that embodies the diversity that makes the Bay Area such a creative hothouse, where the horn section features veteran masters sitting next to rising teenagers. Over the years, he's become increasingly proactive in making sure that women are well represented in the band.

 

"I've thought a lot about how an ensemble can create an overall expression and the diversity of the band can really enhance that," he said. "A big band looks like a village, with good young players, older players who can serve as mentors, and everything in between."

 

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival offers a larger forum for his ideas and Shelby is committed to continuing the festival's track record as a binding force in the town. With the support of Emeritus Artistic Director Felix, who will be on call for advice, he sees a bright, innovative future for an event that has earned universal respect for uncompromising standards.

 

"One of my goals is to maintain a strong local and Bay Area presence," Shelby said. "I realize you can't book everybody. I'm really committed to making the most diverse festival possible, with the highest degree of talent. That's always going to be my goal."

 

About Healdsburg Jazz

Healdsburg Jazz celebrates the indigenous American art form known as Jazz. Over the past two decades, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival has become a favorite local tradition with a growing national reputation. The 10-day festival of public performances by world-renowned musicians in diverse settings, including the historic Raven Theater, the glamorous Hotel Healdsburg, and several boutique restaurants and wineries, has grown into one of the North Bay's most celebrated annual musical events.

 

In addition to the annual festival, held the first week of June each year, the non-profit 501(c)(3) organization sponsors numerous

music education programs in Healdsburg area schools for primary and secondary school students, and presents a series of Jazz Masters concerts throughout the year.

For more information, please visit: https://www.healdsburgjazz.org

Healdsburg Jazz Announces Acclaimed Composer & Bandleader Marcus Shelby As New Artistic Director

Renowned Northern California jazz institution Healdsburg Jazz announces today the appointment of acclaimed composer and bandleader Marcus Shelby as their new Artistic Director. Shelby will lead the organization and its flagship Healdsburg Jazz Festival into its next generation of dynamic and innovative programming. Shelby takes over the new role Oct. 1, 2020 from the festival's founder, artistic director and guiding spirit, Jessica Felix, who launched the festival in 1999. Shelby has worked closely with Felix over the past decade and looks towards the future to maintain and elevate the spirit of the festival.

 

"Jessica did an incredible job building the Healdsburg Jazz Festival with first-class talent, including national and local artists," said Shelby. "She never dumbed down the programming to get more people to come. I'm looking forward to expanding her extraordinary legacy and also develop a fresh vision that reflects my interests and strengths."

 

"We are so fortunate to have Marcus Shelby on board as artistic director to help guide Healdsburg Jazz as it enters a new chapter in its history," said Jack Raineault, Board Chair of Healdsburg Jazz. "He has contributed so much to the educational component of the organization and is passionate about our mission. He knows the music scene both locally and nationally and brings the perspective of a musician to the artistic director role. Marcus has also focused on social justice issues and building community in his music and in the organizations he has been a part of. We are excited at the prospect of what new directions Healdsburg Jazz will take both artistically and in its commitment to promoting social and cultural connections under Marcus's leadership."

 

Shelby is taking the helm at a moment of unprecedented challenges for the performing arts due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, and he's already working with the festival's Board of Directors on strategizing for the 2021 festival. Beyond the lauded spring jazz festival, he's ideally suited for running the nonprofit organization's year-round concert series and education programs. Shelby has a strong track record in the picturesque Sonoma County town near the Russian River, which is one reason why Felix is so confident that Shelby is the right person for the job. "He's done a lot up here already and everybody loves him," Felix said. "He's really endeared himself to this area. He believes in the festival and believes in me."

 

Felix first met Shelby about 30 years ago, when Los Angeles drum legend Billy Higgins, a close friend of hers, recommended that she book Shelby's band Black/Note at the Eddie Moore Jazz Festival. Higgins had mentored the young group at the World Stage, the performance space he co-founded in LA's Leimert Park neighborhood, and on his advice Felix hired the quintet sight unseen. Though Shelby relocated to San Francisco a few years later it wasn't until a decade ago that he started playing an important role at Healdsburg, when Felix hired him to bring his Black History Month programming to local schools. A prestigious grant the festival received from the James Irvine Foundation enabled Shelby to create and direct the Healdsburg Freedom Jazz Choir, a 100-piece community choir that has continued over the years, perform in various settings with his big band and small group.

 

"Jessica and I have become good friends and we've worked very closely together on these projects, like working out ideas for the choir," he said. "She built the festival from scratch and she's leaving her life's work in my hands. We've spent countless hours talking about these things."

 

Shelby has deep roots in the San Francisco Bay Area arts scene. He's a composer in residence with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival and has taken on a variety of roles at SFJAZZ, including a stint as a Resident Artistic Director. He's a teacher at the San Francisco Community Music Center and has served on the San Francisco Arts Commission since his appointment by the late Mayor Ed Lee in 2014. That's all on top of his regular gigging as a leader and a sideman.

 

On his decision to become the Artistic Director of Healdsburg Jazz Festival, Shelby comments, "Leading a major jazz festival supports and enriches my professional practice in many ways. Some colleagues who are much better known are part of organizations they lead, Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jason Moran at the Kennedy Center, and Christian McBride in several organizations. That inspired me to think bigger and really embrace the possibility of working with a large community of artists, and influence how this music is curated. I need to keep evolving and growing."

 

Creative growth has been the hallmark of Shelby's career. Born February 2, 1966 in Anchorage, Alaska, he grew up in Sacramento and first gained attention on the burgeoning LA scene in the early 1990s as a co-founder of the hard-bop band Black/Note (which also launched top-shelf New York drummer Willie Jones III). He earned the Charles Mingus Scholarship to study at Cal Arts in Valencia, where he also worked closely with flutist/composer James Newton and bassist Charlie Haden (both artists closely linked to the Healdsburg Jazz Festival). Black/Note recorded four albums, including 1994's Jungle Music (Columbia) and 1996's Nothin' But the Swing (Impulse!/GRP).

 

Relocating to San Francisco in 1996, Shelby quickly established himself as an essential creative force on the Bay Area arts scene. Leading both the Marcus Shelby Trio and the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, he earned increasingly prestigious commissions from dance companies, theatrical productions, and presenters such as Intersection for the Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. No one has a closer view of his determined growth than Kate Dumbleton, his manager and co-founder of his label Noir Records.

 

"In all the years I've known Marcus he's always been poised to take the work that he does in multiple directions at any given moment," says Dumbleton, Executive and Artistic Director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival and Associate Professor at the Art Institute of Chicago. "He's a conceptualizer. He knows how to connect history to musical ideas and storytelling. He thinks in really interesting ways about narrative. When I first met him he was really interested in working with dancers, choreographers, theater artists, and filmmakers."

 

Shelby started exploring history and narrative in his own work with the release of 2006's Port Chicago (Noir Records), a suite for his jazz orchestra inspired by the World War II miscarriage of justice that saw 50 young black seamen convicted in the largest mutiny trial in U.S. naval history (a story that unfolded in the Bay Area). Since then he's focused his creative energy on a series of hard-swinging works exploring key historical events and personalities, like 2008's two-disc Harriet Tubman (Noir Records), 2011's Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Porto Franco), and 2018's Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues, a suite commissioned by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.

 

In recent years, he's also served as a musical foil for playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith throughout the interview-driven creation of her one-woman show about the school-to-prison pipeline, Notes From the Field. "Her process is genius," he said. "As much as I can absorb from her, I'm just trying to find ways that I can use blues and swing to tell these different stories."

 

In many ways, Shelby has turned his orchestra into an exemplar of the kind of equitable society he advocates for off the bandstand. It's an ensemble that embodies the diversity that makes the Bay Area such a creative hothouse, where the horn section features veteran masters sitting next to rising teenagers. Over the years, he's become increasingly proactive in making sure that women are well represented in the band.

 

"I've thought a lot about how an ensemble can create an overall expression and the diversity of the band can really enhance that," he said. "A big band looks like a village, with good young players, older players who can serve as mentors, and everything in between."

 

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival offers a larger forum for his ideas and Shelby is committed to continuing the festival's track record as a binding force in the town. With the support of Emeritus Artistic Director Felix, who will be on call for advice, he sees a bright, innovative future for an event that has earned universal respect for uncompromising standards.

 

"One of my goals is to maintain a strong local and Bay Area presence," Shelby said. "I realize you can't book everybody. I'm really committed to making the most diverse festival possible, with the highest degree of talent. That's always going to be my goal."

 

About Healdsburg Jazz

Healdsburg Jazz celebrates the indigenous American art form known as Jazz. Over the past two decades, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival has become a favorite local tradition with a growing national reputation. The 10-day festival of public performances by world-renowned musicians in diverse settings, including the historic Raven Theater, the glamorous Hotel Healdsburg, and several boutique restaurants and wineries, has grown into one of the North Bay's most celebrated annual musical events.

 

In addition to the annual festival, held the first week of June each year, the non-profit 501(c)(3) organization sponsors numerous

music education programs in Healdsburg area schools for primary and secondary school students, and presents a series of Jazz Masters concerts throughout the year.

For more information, please visit: https://www.healdsburgjazz.org

Discover More Award-Winning Wineries, Craft Breweries, Cideries and Micro Distilleries with the New Sonoma County Tasting Pass

Good news for staycationers and wine country visitors alike. In an effort to showcase the vast diversity of the local craft beverage community, Sonoma County Tourism (SCT) has rolled out the “Sonoma County Tasting Pass,” featuring award-winning wineries, renowned craft breweries and cideries, and unique micro distilleries.

The Sonoma County Tasting Pass is a collection of tasting flights and discounts, presented by over 20 craft beverage producers throughout the County. Offered for purchase on SCT’s website, consumers have three pass options, at different price points: 1-day for $44.99; 3-day for $79.99; or 90-days for $149.99. After purchasing the pass, it is instantly delivered to the purchaser’s phone via text and email and is ready to use immediately. When visiting a participating business, consumers simply present their phone to the staff member to redeem the special offer.

Each participating business is offering enticing deals, including discounts on purchases. For example, boutique winery Armida is offering a tasting flight plus 20% off six bottles and more, while Ace Cider is offering a tasting flight and 25% off the total bill.

“As a distillery deeply committed to quality and innovation in making and serving the best grain-to-glass spirits in the world, Spirit Works is proud to be highlighted among such an amazing group of creative, artisan producers,” says Ashby Marshall, owner and spirit maker at Spirit Works Distillery, which was named ‘Distillery of the Year’ by American Distillery Institute in July 2020. 

The pass is the result of a partnership with Bandwango, a travel technology platform, that creates access to places and experiences for both visitors and locals to enjoy. Bandwango works with over 85 destinations throughout the U.S. and Canada, creating passes of all kinds, with great success.   

“We are excited to launch the Sonoma County Tasting Pass,” said Todd O’Leary, vice president of marketing and communications at Sonoma County Tourism. Our partnership with Bandwango is creating new opportunities to package and promote Sonoma County to visitors and residents alike.”  

For more information about the Sonoma County Tasting Pass, visit: https://explore.sonomacounty.com

Once Upon A Time There Were Four Little Rabbits . . .

Pictures via Pinterest 

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.”

Beatrix Potter 

Where shall we go on our Easter weekend rambles? Not the beach, not the park, not to friends and family. Seeing as we're all on lockdown together, apart, I thought I'd take you on a little romp around Beatrix Potter world!  Writer, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist, Beatrix Potter was born in Kensington, England in 1866 and was educated by governesses, isolated from other children. (click here for more about Beatrix Potter)

Her love of landscape, flora and fauna and the woodland creatures who make their homes in its midst make her hugely successful children's books amongst the most endearing and enduring stories of all time. 

We may learn a lot from Beatrix while we're sequestered, young or old. Simply look around, into and under the trees in our yards or outside of our apartment windows. There's a magical world out there and within our imaginations if we listen to the birdsong long enough. 

I've always loved maps, ask Nicky Ovitt, who hand illustrated the map on the back of my second book, Fog Valley Winter. Maps take us place we never dreamed of. 

Beatrix left behind quotes of how she perceived her childhood gifted her the way she looked at the world and the treasures it, in turn, produced. 

Happy Easter, and Passover friends. 

“Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. ”

“I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations.”

“Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.”

“Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.”

“I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever.”

“Thank goodness my education was neglected.”

“I remember every stone, every tree, the scent of heather... Even when the thunder growled in the distance, and the wind swept up the valley in fitful gusts, oh, it was beautiful, home sweet home.”

“It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is 'soporific'.”

“Thank God I have the seeing eye, that is to say, as I lie in bed I can walk step by step on the fells and rough land seeing every stone and flower and patch of bog and cotton pass where my old legs will never take me again.”'

“In Summer there were white and damask roses, and the smell of thyme and musk. In Spring there were green gooseberries and throstles [thrush], and the flowers they call ceninen [daffodils]. And leeks and cabbages also grew in that garden; and between long straight alleys, and apple-trained espaliers, there were beds of strawberries, and mint, and sage.”

“The place is changed now, and many familiar faces are gone, but the greatest change is myself. I was a child then, I had no idea what the world would be like. I wished to trust myself on the waters and the sea. Everything was romantic in my imagination. The woods were peopled by the mysterious good folk. The Lords and Ladies of the last century walked with me along the overgrown paths, and picked the old fashioned flowers among the box and rose hedges of the garden.”

 

Travel into the Mojave Desert with Music and Film by Dominic Rivetti Vino Production B8B Studios

 

Travel into the Mojave Desert with Dominic Rivetti and his fellow U.C Davis student, Mao. Explore the arid rain-shadow desert, the driest desert in North American southwest, primarily within southeastern California and southern Nevada.

Small areas also extend into Utah and Arizona. Dom spent his spring break last year hiking and exploring this part of the country. This spring break he spent making music, writing original song lyrics, editing and art in his student house in Davis.

“Everything’s gonna go crazy, baby, maybe we could just go love everyone...”  at 5.48 into the video, lyrics written during this current crisis we are all in. “Everything’s gonna go crazy, baby, maybe we could just go love everyone...”

I miss Dom and his brothers and I can't wait to see them all again soon.