LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Lake Community Pride Foundation is presenting “An Evening with David Neft on piano.”

The event will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 10.

The show is at the newly remodeled Lower Lake High School Little Theater.

Tickets are $10 and there are only 60 seats in the theater.

All proceeds go to support performing arts in Lake County.

Call 707-331-8445 for more information.

If you’ve been in a hospital, and got out alive, you’re really alive. In this poem, Anya Silver, who lives in Georgia, celebrates just such an escape.

Leaving the Hospital

As the doors glide shut behind me,
the world flares back into being—
I exist again, recover myself,
sunlight undimmed by dark panes,
the heat on my arms the earth’s breath.
The wind tongues me to my feet
like a doe licking clean her newborn fawn.
At my back, days measured by vital signs,
my mouth opened and arm extended,
the nighttime cries of a man withered
child-size by cancer, and the bells
of emptied IVs tolling through hallways.
Before me, life—mysterious, ordinary—
holding off pain with its muscular wings.
As I step to the curb, an orange moth
dives into the basket of roses
that lately stood on my sickroom table,
and the petals yield to its persistent
nudge, opening manifold and golden.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2011 by Anya Silver, whose most recent book of poetry is The Ninety-Third Name of God, Louisiana State University Press, 2010. Poem reprinted from the New Ohio Review, No. 9, Spring, 2011, by permission of Anya Silver and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 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. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A book reading and signing by local author Kit DeCanti will take pace on Wednesday, Feb. 29, at Main Street Bar and Grill, 14084 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.

The event starts at 9 a.m. Come early and enjoy no host breakfast with the author.

DeCanti has authored four books that depict Lake County at its best. You will recognize favorite places and enjoy the backdrop of beautiful Lake County.  

Her current novel is “Konocti Caves,” which is third in a series of mysteries beginning with “Secret On Cobb Mountain” and “Return To Cobb Mountain.”

The local library has all of DeCanti's books, including her first children’s book, “Rock House.”

You can drop by Lakeport Library or request books using the online system at Sonoma County Library at http://www.sonomalibrary.org/index.html.

DeCanti will have a supply of books and also will take orders. She will sign any of her books that you bring.

The free event is sponsored by “Lake County Views” and videotaped by producer McKenzie Paine.  

RSVP is a must. Please call 707-995-0160 to reserve your space.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – February's First Friday Fling will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. March 2.

The event will take place at the Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport.

The First Friday Fling will introduce work from artists including Heidi Thomason, Lois Feron and Jacob Blue.

Currently showing at the gallery is Patsy Farstad, Shelby Posada, Max Butler, Annette Higday, Diane Constable, Meredith Gambrel, Lilly Hilt, Marci Long, Ray Farrow, Barbara Levassuer, Steve Bilodeau, Kathy Dutra, Cathy Farris, Linda Farris, Patty Oates and J.V. Magoon.

The Linda Carpenter Gallery will feature art work from Kelseyville Elementary School's third grade classes.

Lake County's piano man, David Neft, will be the featured musician, with Steele Wines pouring its vintages and Main Street Pizza providing pizza.

For more information contact the Lake County Arts Council, 707-263-6658.

ACT OF VALOR (Rated R)

Hollywood is really good at fabricating heroes or bringing comic book versions to life on the big screen. Many get in the act, from Batman saving Gotham to Bruce Willis in the “Die Hard” franchise.

A more difficult task is to locate real heroes, those who put their lives on the line defending liberty and their country in circumstances most of us could not endure for one brief elusive moment.

Thanks to the swift and welcome elimination of Osama bin Laden last year, the U.S. Navy SEALs are not just heroes; they are legendary guardians of what we too easily take for granted.

While memories are still fresh in our collective short-attention span, “Act of Valor” comes along to remind us that heroes don’t get the job done with nifty special effects while the director yells “cut.”

Mike “Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh of the Bandito Brothers are the directors. Their backgrounds are perfect for the job, as both have been stuntmen and documentary filmmakers.

“Act of Valor,” which blends reality and fiction, has the feel of a documentary, but one that takes extraordinary lengths to make a fictionalized account of Navy SEAL operations convincing and accurate.

The film opens in San Diego, the home base for the SEAL unit getting ready for another mission. We meet leading military professionals like Chief Dave and Lt. Rorke, along with guys in their unit like Ajay, Mikey, Sonny and Weimy.

A barbecue at the beach is a brief introduction to the team. But the most telling point is that the military men are not actors, so mercifully the story shifts to action fairly quickly.

While a terrorist assault at an international school in the Philippines results in the death of the U.S. ambassador, the Navy SEAL team is dispatched to Costa Rica to extract a CIA agent abducted by a drug cartel.

As Agent Morales (Roselyn Sanchez) is held in the jungle and brutally tortured by the henchmen of drug kingpin Christo (Alex Veadov), Chief Dave and Lt. Rorke are forced by circumstances to stage a daring and explosive rescue operation.

One of the many exciting, action-packed and adrenaline-pumping moments involve a pair of heavily armed American gunboats sweeping in behind the SEALs to blast the villains to smithereens.

Though the mission is successful, the SEALs unearth some intelligence that connects Christo to fierce Chechen terrorist Abu Shabal (Jason Cottle), who is hiding out in Somalia to formulate a plot to send suicide bombers across the Mexican border.

Oddly enough, Shabal has recruited a group of Filipinos to carry out a bombing plot on American cities involving the detonation of sophisticated explosives made of undetectable gels.

But to get to the target cities, Shabal links with Mexican drug cartels to move his assassins through cross-border tunnels that are used primarily by drug mules carrying contraband into the United States.

An assault is launched in a dusty Mexican border town where the baddies hide out. The willing cooperation of the Mexican authorities might be the most inauthentic moment in the film, but it helps diplomatic relations.

Except for Senior Chief Van O, who efficiently interrogates the slippery Christo, the SEALs are too good at being a team, to the point that they do not come across as individuals.

We should keep in mind that the SEALs are not actors; they are very good at undertaking perilous missions, but acting in films is not their forte. Nevertheless, the authenticity of their dedication shines through.

“Act of Valor,” fueled by edge-of-the-seat thrills in a dangerous world, offers a chilling sense of realism in the unpredictable battlefield of modern warfare. It’s an action film well worth seeing.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

This is another shameless plug for one of my favorite TV series, “Mission: Impossible,” starring Peter Graves as IMF team leader Jim Phelps.

We have already burned through all of the original seasons, and now we focus on the revival of the series during the late 1980’s, with Peter Graves the sole returning original cast member.

“Mission: Impossible: The ’89 TV Season” continues on its merry path of the Impossible Mission Force solving dangerous and seemingly impossible tasks.

The DVD release of “The ’89 TV Season” includes all 16 episodes of the series’ final breathtaking season.

Unfortunately, special features are practically non-existent, with only episodic promos on select episodes available.

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

LAKEPORT, Calif. – PULSE Fitness Center will hold its first music and dance event Saturday, Feb. 25, at 8:30 p.m.

The center is located at 851 Bevins St. in Lakeport, in the Gateway Business Center.
 
The event features Righteous Vibrations with reggae rock, Akuko Obi Drum Tribe performing an open drum circle, Capoeira Yokayo dance music, jam sessions, a special guest DJ as well as various Zumba master instructor performances from throughout the United States.
 
Tickets can be purchased in advance for $20 by calling Melissa at 707-245-6693 or can be purchased at the door for $25.

Your ticket enters you into a raffle with great prizes including Thai massages, wine gift baskets, personal fitness sessions for Zumba and Yoga and class passes.
 
You won't want to miss this chance to dance the night away. Check out PULSE'S Web site at www.PULSEweraiseit.com for other upcoming events and class schedules.