THE GOOD NEWS. Years of barn sales and crab feeds have gotten the dedicated parishoners of St. Elizabeth Seton's Catholic Church to the design stage of their new church off Anderson Valley Way. Jerry Cox said Monday that the parish will soon gather to look at the design proposals, which will include one from local architects Steve Wood and Ron Verdier, to choose the one they like best. From there St. Elizabeth Seton's not-to-be-denied congregation moves to a ground-breaking and very soon the Anderson Valley will have it's first new church in many years.
THE SECOND MEETING concerning the planned replacement of the Philo Greenwood Bridge is now set for Wednesday, May 29 at 5:30pm at the Apple Farm on the Bridge's east end, and if all public meetings were held in such pleasant locations the public would begin turning out in droves. The Valley's public is certainly interested in the plans for the 60-year-old Philo Greenwood Bridge, hence the Bates' gracious invitation to assemble at the Apple Farm on the 29th a few yards from the iconic landmark. At the last gathering in the utilitarian space of the Boonville Fire House, Supervisor Dan Hamburg and County Transportation Chief Howard DeShield introduced the structural engineers from the Sacramento firm designing the new bridge. Many people remain unconvinced that the bridge needs to be replaced, and even if it does, that it needs to be wider than the present structure as federal transportation dollars apparently require.
MENDOCINO COUNTY YOUTH PROJECT and Mendocino Family and Youth Services held a reception honoring the 6 Jim Levine Legacy Scholarship Award winners on May 7, 2013. In addition, the event also shared the announcement of the MCYP Board’s community initiative to break down and resolve the barriers keeping our children and youth from attending school. The 2013 Jim Levine Legacy Scholarship awardees are: Alethea Davies of Point Arena High School, Clarisa Anguiano of Anderson Valley High School, Carina Ocampo of Anderson Valley High School, Kylie Richards of Fort Bragg High School, Nallely Rubio of Fort Bragg High School and Dakhota Wilson of Redwood Academy of Ukiah. Each graduating senior receives a $500 scholarship, to be paid directly to the university, college or trade school the student enters in the Fall of 2013, to be used for fees, books, and other school items.
A CAN'T MISS at the Botanical Gardens, Saturday, May 25th. 2013 ~ 4pm. The featured speaker will be Kate Frey, Mendocino’s resident world class garden designer, specializing in sustainable, bio-diverse, ecological gardens and landscaping. Kate won the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in London, receiving gold medals in 2005, 2007 and receiving a Silver Gilt in 2003. In 2009 she was invited to participate in the World Garden Competition in Hamamatsu, Japan, and in 2011 she participated in Malaysia’s Floria Flower Show. Kate also consults and works part time in Saudi Arabia on a small, organic farm near Riyadh for one of the Saudi Princes. Topics: gourmet farm-to-table sit down dinner; specially crafted beer from North Coast Brewing Company; award winning wines from Yorkville Cellars; live auction of brilliantly hand crafted one-of-a-kind: garden items built exclusively for My Garden 2013 by Mendocino County craftsmen. Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, 18220 N. Highway 1. Fort Bragg 95437. Preview auction items & purchase tickets at www.gardenbythesea.org. Limited Seating Available.
SANTA MUERTE! Death shrines prayed at by Mexican gangsters are increasingly common in Mendocino County and every other place drugs are produced and sold. Not long ago, a drug raid in Boonville found an entire room devoted to the worship of Santa Muerte, which is also prayed to generally by people considered on the margins of respectable society.
NATURE CALLS: Golden light productions presents Nature, solo acoustic piano original dinner music concert. Lauren's Restaurant, Boonville, Friday night, May 31, 7-9pm.
THE SCHOOL DISTRICT is interviewing candidates for the high school principal position. The hiring process is, of course, the usual inside job, meaning the selection process is dominated by people either employed by the district or might as well be. They will choose a person exactly like themselves while everyone else hopes for a new person drawn far from Mendocino County's edu-swamp, a new person who just might bring energy and intelligence to a high school where it hasn't been seen in the principal's office for years. But prepare to downgrade your expectations. Local school hiring has been rigged for years: the new meat will be a version of the old meat, the old meat that just grabbed permanent Boonville pine.
SPEAKING of which, it was nice to see a couple of young guys playing one-on-one on the re-surfaced outdoor court at the high school. Thanks to Scotty Johnston, whose senior project it was to revive the the court, the entire community now has another wholesome recreational option for our young people.
SCOTTY'S PROJECT, by the way, having been approved by school authorities, was then suddenly balked at by the principal (Tomlin) who'd sent out a blanket e-mail to high school staff objecting to the work and gratuitously insulting Scotty's family. Tomlin's e-mail elicited an eager response from teacher Jim Snyder asking Tomlin if Tomlin wanted Snyder to file a grievance! I got an e-mail from Snyder asking me who'd leaked the telltale e-mails to me. Where are we, Roosha?
BUT THE SCHOOL has weightier matters to solve these days: Somebody has been pooping in student backpacks. A major investigation is underway, and guess who was hauled in and grilled first? Scotty Johnston's younger brother.
CHRIS BALSON & FRIENDS: Talented High School senior Chris Balson decided to do a variety show featuring “young talented people (and Oscar Montelongo)” for his Senior Project. It was an ambitious undertaking to say the least but I can report that it was pretty much an unqualified success. The show was a benefit for the family of Henry Hill a beloved community member who recently passed away. Henry was a magician in many senses of the word and much of his magic unfolded on the stage at the Grange. It was fitting then that Chris’s show would be held at the Grange with the help of the highly capable Variety Show veterans for staging assistance. The Grange generously waived their rental fee for this night supporting both Chris and Henry’s family. So, on May 11th around 7:30 Chris emerged to introduce the MC for the night Hugo Montelongo. Hugo dressed in a conservative dark suit white shirt and tie struck a formal note as he strode to the microphone (which we soon found out was a ruse). Acts ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime. Gabriel Suddeth also dressed in suit and tie looking very Buddy Hollyish sang a first song that had something in it to offend everyone but it was delivered in kind of a growl that made actually hearing the words kind of difficult. While full of teen angst his owlish delivery and apology before singing took some of the sting out of the naughty bits. Surprisingly Gabriel continued with a sweet and sad Cat Stevens song. A troupe of improvisation guys called “An Inside Joke” came next. One young man had an especially keen and intelligent gaze reminiscent of a young Dick Van Dyke. His bit pawing the air as a helplessly upended turtle was hilarious. We in the audience were asked to provide quotes, last words and song lyrics on tiny slips of paper before the show which were put into coffee cans with slits in the lids. The “Insiders” stuffed their pockets with these papers then used the prompts to string together some fast moving scenes and it was fun hearing our own pieces read out in improbable ways. A cohort came on stage from the audience to do a rap song on any suggested subject- someone shouted out “Toaster Ovens” and he did a hard-to-forget send-up of an overly attitudinal rap artist obsessing on toaster ovens. At some point Oscar Montelongo shambled onto the center stage and someone threw a long white stick with red ends at him. It turned out that he twirls this “stick” in amazing ways to create patterns and effects that are mind-boggling. He is like a majorette baton twirler on steroids. His movements were beautiful, he took my breath away.
Mariah Kate a young woman with a voice as sweetly seductive as Norah Jones played her ukelele and sang “Let’s get rich and buy our parents houses in the South of France” among other things. Later Mariah joined forces with Mason Brooks a guitar player and singer to blend the female and male voice together, “Even the wrong words seem to rhyme, you and I collide, ships in the night”. Mason in his plaid shirt and peg leg brown jeans and trim haircut looked surprisingly similar to boys I went to high school with in 1967 (the only difference being his very large black ear plugs). Our own Raina Wallace came next she started slow by apologizing profusely for not having prepared but she warmed up as she went along. Her songs were kind of sad but funny. “My life is like a lemon drop I’m sucking on the bitter to get to the sweet” for better days ahead. She sang the “Trailer for Rent” song that we heard at the Variety show and last but not least a song she dedicated to her dad about a Blue Tick Hound. Also she managed to whistle for part of one song which I think would be really hard when you are nervous- bravo Raina for pulling that off. Throughout the show Chris would periodically stick his head out the door at the side of the stage like a trap door spider and someone from the audience would hastily run to the door and pop in to consult with “the man behind the curtain”. It was pretty funny.
After the intermission we had a big rock band called Van and the Swells. They really looked like they were “living the dream” (of being rock stars). Good looking boys all of them several playing more than one instrument. Julian Hardage-Vergeer did some stand-up comedy. He told us he was 16 and a half. Where a 16 and a half year old would get the courage to do stand-up I’m sure I cannot imagine. He did not hit exactly the right note with locals but he gave it his all and must be commended. Finally the man we had all been waiting for Chris came out to do his stand-up. Chris sees the world just a little bit differently and therein lies the beauty of his comedy. Who else would think about Abraham Lincoln in a Twitter War with Robert E. Lee? He spent quite some time discussing the slogan on the side of a can of Playdoh, “Fun to play with not to eat” His point being that not eating Play Doh is not not fun. Well maybe you had to be there on that one. He had recently been to Humboldt and mentioned “The Hill of Confusion????” that you see signs for along the highway. He wondered if the confusion is that you decide to go to this roadside attraction, you go and there is nothing there and you ask yourself, “Why am I here?” You feel confused- hence you really are now at “The Hill of Confusion????”. He talked about how bacon is like no other food in the world. I personally really like to think about such things which is why I am a big fan of Chris’s and judging by the laughs he got I am not alone. He talked about how he doesn’t really like hugs or a lot of physical contact and warned us not to hug him just to bug him. Finally he was done and he left the stage. He came back and told us, “Now I am not doing comedy I am ‘Not my same dry joke self’ now I am just me. He then thanked us all very sincerely for coming in a way that definitely came from the heart although not sentimental in the least. He acknowledged that this was the end of any era for him- the end of High School, or living in Anderson Valley. He said that he really wasn’t a complete person and that many had helped him. He said he used to be awkward and then endearingly admitted that he still was… He thanked Zoe Triplett especially. He thanks his AV friends and his Ukiah friends. We gave him a standing ovation. Why? Because he shows us ourselves. Because he is so himself. In the very end he told the stage crew simply “We’re done” and we were. His cast came onstage and gave him a huge (no doubt excruciating to him) group hug. It was a stage filled with vital young people who are willing to DO something, BE something, DREAM something. It was pretty cool. Thanks Chris and good luck in whatever life you make for yourself. I think you and Henry Hill had something in common. Both of you could hear that different drummer and you help us to hear that different drummer too. (—Terry Ryder)
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