Jack Williams will perform at the Lake County Wine Studio in Upper Lake, Calif., on Wednesday, October 27, 2010. Courtesy photo.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio is presenting a one-night performance show with guitarist Jack Williams at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27.

A dynamic performer and storyteller from the South, Williams is a sought-after artist on all contemporary acoustic music stages, from coffeehouses to music halls and city arts stages.

From 1958 through 1988, along with playing jazz (trumpet) and classical guitar, Williams was best known as an electric guitarist in a series of original rock bands and smaller acoustic ensembles.

In the late 1960s, he gave in to his troubadour nature and began performing solo – singing and playing a gut-string guitar and touring from coast to coast.

In addition to his solo career, as a guitarist he has accompanied such luminaries as Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow, Mickey Newbury and Harry Nilsson.

Reservation or advance purchase is required for this limited seating, 21+ event. Complimentary refreshments will be offered and wine will be available for purchase by the glass and bottle. Tickets are $20 plus tax.

Lake County Wine Studio is located on the corner of First and Main Streets in historic Upper Lake, across from the historic Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon & Café.

To RSVP and purchase tickets, call Susan Feiler at 707-275-8030 or 707-293-8752.

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

I have three dogs and they are always insisting on one thing or another. Having a dog is like having a dictator. In this poem by Mark Smith-Soto, who teaches in North Carolina, his dog Chico is very much like my dogs, demanding human company on whatever mission they choose to pursue.

Night Watch

Chico whines, no reason why. Just now walked,

dinner gobbled, head and ears well scratched.

And yet he whines, looking up at me as if confused

at my just sitting here, typing away, while darkness

is stalking the back yard. How can I be so blind,

he wants to know, how sad, how tragic, how I

won’t listen before it is too late. His whines are

refugees from a brain where time and loss have

small dominion, but where the tyranny of now

is absolute. I get up and throw open the kitchen door,

and he disappears down the cement steps, barking

deeper and darker than I remember. I follow

to find him perfectly still in the empty yard —

the two of us in the twilight, standing guard.

Ted Kooser was US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. He is a professor in the English Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, Nebraska, with his wife Kathleen Rutledge, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star.

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 ©2009 by Donal Heffernan, whose most recent book of poetry is

“Duets of Motion,” Lone Oak Press, 2001. Poem reprinted by permission of Donal Heffernan.

Introduction copyright ©2010 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. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

American Life in Poetry ©2006 The Poetry Foundation

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This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The booth will feature handcrafted items by local artists and shown only on Saturday.

Fine art will be displayed on racks down the center of the gallery beginning on Saturday and continuing through Thursday, Dec. 2.

Additional details for showing and contracts can be viewed online at www.lakecountyartscouncil.com or at the gallery, located at 325 N. Main St. in Lakeport.

Volunteers to man the booth and/or assist in the gallery can contact the gallery at 707-263-6658 or email event coordinator Cheryle at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

DeCanti will be at Magoon's Jewelry Store, 360 N. Main St. from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Throughout the day she'll do several readings from her book, “Return to Cobb Mountain.” She'll also sign the book, copies of which will be for sale.

Call the store at 707-263-1140 for more information or just stop by.

For information on how to have DeCanti sign copies of her books at your place of business or club e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit her Web site, www.kitdeeproductions.com/ .