Welcome to the 500th Turkey Vulture column! You’re welcome! Ha! Ha! There have actually been 432 of these compilations of “wise words, good thoughts and curmudgeonly moans and groans” since July 2007, which saw the beginning of the current “reign” of AVA Supremo, Bruce Anderson, who had previously owned and edited “America’s Last Newspaper” from January 1984 until the summer of 2004.
Posts published by “Turkey Vulture”
Given all the current new/revived restaurant business in the Valley, and in recent years a number of them coming and going almost as quickly as it takes to make a pizza, it is clearly a wonderful achievement that Lauren’s Restaurant in Boonville will be celebrating it’s 20th Anniversary this coming Saturday, February 27.
With Erica Lemons’ departure, the School Board is once again a member short. Three new members joined long-time trustee Richard ‘Dick’ Browning just a couple of months ago, and the new appointee will be nominated and selected by these four folks, who will hopefully have more than one applicant to choose from. So far, just Robert Pinoli Jr, who failed to get selected in the recent round of appointments, has applied. Robert is a pleasant, approachable, and intelligent man, who in normal circumstances would probably be an asset. However, he is the son of Robert Sr, the High School Athletic Director and current “Dean of Discipline,” a sort-of Vice Principal if you will. Do I hear “That must be a conflict of interest” from anyone? Given that the Board oversees the school’s administration and its duties, I’m sure I do.
We are already at Valentine’s Day; February 14 is this coming Sunday, and yet the year seems as if it began yesterday. In fact some folks are still wishing me a Happy New Year! Valentine’s is of course a day to express love and affection, and we all need some of that, particularly curmudgeonly Turkey Vultures like myself, so I am expecting lots of hugs over the next few days. Don’t be bashful.
What links these celebrities (pretty much a D-list at this point): Cher, Mike Tyson, Gary Busey, Charlie Sheen, Kenny Rogers, Hulk Hogan, Mark Cuban (outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team), Terrell Owens, Ted Nugent, Dennis Rodman, Lou Ferrigno, Chuck Yeager, Mike Ditka, Tom Brady, Stephen Baldwin, Tila Tequila (reality tv “star’), Gene Simmons, Dan Blizerian (self-styled “King of Instagram’), Willie Robertson (Duck Dynasty), and Jessie Ventura (wrestler/‘politician’)?
Hummingbird and I visited the newly-opened Bewildered Pig at the Floodgate in the Deep End last weekend. The restaurant looks wonderful, the ambience works very well, and the service was excellent. I won’t go into the food details; you can find out for yourselves, suffice to say it was delectable, and the twenty or so local folks there to whom I talked all had very positive things to say.
Last week I mentioned my intent to exclusively reveal a new development on our local restaurant scene. Well that time has now arrived. Stone and Embers restaurant at the Madrones complex just south of Philo is reopening on Friday, February 19th under a new partnership, and dinner service will be resumed. New investor Matt Barnes has been a regular customer since the restaurant opened and he will join Patrick Meany, chef/owner, and chef Jon Fussell, who will also become a partner. The two chefs began using fruits and vegetables from Matt’s Three Dog Farm in 2013 and the three of them saw an opportunity to work together to create a farming plan and ever-changing menu where over 75% of the produce will come directly from the Farm, only two miles away from the restaurant. Initially they will open Fridays to Mondays from 11:30am to 8:30pm each day, like a “proper” restaurant for everyone, adding Thursdays as Summer approaches.
This coming Monday, January 18, Martin Luther King’s birthday. With the world facing so much chaos and uncertainty, and witnessing hatred, cruelty, and conflict in so many places, it certainly seems appropriate to pay heed to his words, “We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.” As true today as on the day he uttered it.
How are your New Year’s Resolutions coming along? Surely better than mine, which were all out the window, in tatters, by late on Sunday, January 3rd. But, we must carry on and what better place to start than with this week’s Public Service Announcements?