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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Orson Welles’ first feature film – which he directed, produced and co-wrote, as well as played the title role – proved to be his most important and influential work.
The groundbreaking drama is loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst and is frequently cited as the finest American film ever made.
Watch Charles Foster Kane utter the enigmatic “Rosebud” on the big screen on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at the Soper Reese Community Theatre, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.
Suggested Donation $5.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Film begins at 6 p.m.
This special Lake County showing is part of a new Classic Movie Series recently debuted at the theater.
The showings take place on the second Tuesday of every month through June of 2012.
Check the theater's Web site, www.soperreesetheatre.com, to see what other classics are coming up.
The Soper-Reese Community Theatre is a restored, historic, performing arts venue established in 1949 and seating 300 patrons.
Run by an all-volunteer organization, the theater operates under the guidance of the nonprofit Lake County Arts Council.
The Soper-Reese brings dance, music, plays and poetry to all members of the Lake County community and to visiting tourists.
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – EarReverence, Lake County's eclectic 4-part A cappella group, have been invited to perform at the inaugural North Coast A Cappella Summit on Friday, Sept. 30.
The summit will be held at the First Baptist Church in Fort Bragg at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door for a suggested donation of $15.
The First Baptist Church is located at the corner Pine and Franklin in Fort Bragg (across from North Coast Brewery).
The following day, Saturday, Oct 1, the group will perform with other local bands at the Rising Stars Music Showcase.
The showcase is a 12-hour, multi-musician, multi-genre music competition where artists compete for prizes donated by the community while helping to raise funds for Lake and Mendocino county nonprofit organizations.
EarReverence is scheduled to perform for 25 minutes starting at 3:10 p.m.
The competition will be held on the outdoor stage of the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds on N. State Street in Ukiah. Suggested donation is $5 at the door.
For both events, EarReverence will show off its vocal skill by performing pieces across its wide range of musical styles – including jazz, comedy, soul, rock and doo-wop.
The group performs all of its music A cappella, which means they sing without instruments to accompany them.
Come and support this talented group, and help local non profits.
For more information, email Valerie Reid at
You can hear EarReverence on the group's Web site at http://earreverence.com.
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
People have been learning to cook since our ancient ancestors discovered fire, and most of us learn from somebody who knows how.
I love this little poem by Daniel Nyikos of Utah, for its contemporary take on accepting directions from an elder, from two elders in this instance.
Potato Soup
I set up my computer and webcam in the kitchen
so I can ask my mother’s and aunt’s advice
as I cook soup for the first time alone.
My mother is in Utah. My aunt is in Hungary.
I show the onions to my mother with the webcam.
“Cut them smaller,” she advises.
“You only need a taste.”
I chop potatoes as the onions fry in my pan.
When I say I have no paprika to add to the broth,
they argue whether it can be called potato soup.
My mother says it will be white potato soup,
my aunt says potato soup must be red.
When I add sliced peppers, I ask many times
if I should put the water in now,
but they both say to wait until I add the potatoes.
I add Polish sausage because I can’t find Hungarian,
and I cook it so long the potatoes fall apart.
“You’ve made stew,” my mother says
when I hold up the whole pot to the camera.
They laugh and say I must get married soon.
I turn off the computer and eat alone.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Daniel Nyikos. Reprinted by permission of Daniel Nyikos. Introduction copyright ©2011 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.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
MONEYBALL (Rated PG-13)
You don’t have to love baseball to enjoy the captivating story, the great dialogue and the well-developed characters in “Moneyball,” though it likely helps.
Baseball purists may object to certain liberties taken with factual accounts of the Oakland Athletics 2002 season. But that’s of no concern here.
The film is based on Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game,” which extolled cash-poor Oakland’s ability to compete with rich, big-market teams.
In certain respects, “Moneyball” is a Cinderella story set on a nicely trimmed field of dreams, except that baseball fans know that Oakland hasn’t won a World Series since the showdown with the Giants during the 1989 earthquake.
The story of hope is fueled by Oakland’s General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), a free thinker not constrained by the conventional wisdom of baseball.
After the witnessing the failure of his team to beat the Yankees in a 2001 playoff series, Beane takes it upon himself to develop new strategies.
Prior to the start of the 2002 season, on a trip to visit his counterpart at the Cleveland Indians to discuss trade options, Beane meets nerdy young assistant Peter Brand (Jonah Hill).
Beane is impressed by Brand’s mastery of numbers and a method of statistical analysis known as sabermetrics to determine which players are undervalued.
With Oakland’s inability to keep star players like Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen, Beane realizes he must approach the game from a different angle.
Some of the film’s most amusing dialogue occurs when Beane introduces Brand to a roomful of grizzled, aging scouts who only value gut feelings and information about the players’ personal lives to judge their baseball potential.
The Yale-educated Brand, with a degree in economics, is dismissed out-of-hand by the old-timers when he suggests that on-base and slugging percentages are determinative of a player’s ultimate performance.
The early stages of the baseball season are not very promising, starting with an effort to convert ailing catcher Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt) into a first baseman.
Even if you can’t root for the Athletics, the true baseball fan will ache when the team struggles to get its footing, falling behind in its division.
However, you can root for Billy Beane and his young protégé as they cope with the doubters in their own organization, including the grizzled manager Art Howe (a superbly crusty Philip Seymour Hoffman) who despises the math-driven method of playing ball.
For a movie about baseball, most of the action takes place off the field. Primarily, it’s about the brilliant dialogue and attempts for Beane to find redemption.
“Moneyball” is, at its core, focused on Beane’s checkered history with the game and his desire to fulfill a dream that eluded him during his playing career.
Flashbacks to Beane’s youth, when he was scouted by the New York Mets, tell a story of a young man’s wish to excel at the game even though he was wrongly overvalued as a potential player.
That Beane did not rise to the level of expectations that were held for his career as a player is a motivation for his yearning to manage his way into a contender.
Never fear that talk about statistics and players’ skills dulls the story into a dreadful morass that could only entertain the devotees of statistician Bill James.
Dealing with the intransigence of his team manager Art Howe, Beane is nonetheless confident in his approach. Part of the fun is watching him maneuver around the game’s dinosaurs.
Any sports movie requires the feel-good moments that define the genre. That comes with the incredible game-winning streak late in the 2002 season, when the Athletics set the AL record for winning 20 straight.
Winning is not the only thing, though. The story also triumphs when Beane finds washed-up or undervalued players who surprise the baseball world by their forgotten talent.
Another terrific aspect to “Moneyball” is the pleasing relationship that Beane, a divorced father, has with his young daughter Casey (Kerris Dorsey).
In baseball parlance, “Moneyball” hits a grand slam, the highest score you can obtain in one at-bat. Not just a great baseball movie, this is a winner for story, character and dialogue – all things that should matter.
DVD RELEASE UPDATE
Fans of “Hawaii Five-0” are set for a double treat. The “Eleventh Season” of the venerable crime series, nicely filmed on location, has just been released on DVD.
Much like Jack Lord’s rendering of the upright Steve McGarrett, the DVD release of the old series is a no-frills edition. The only special thing about it is that all 21 episodes are available.
Nearly timed with the start of the second season of the new “Hawaii Five-0” is the DVD release of its “First Season.”
The modern version of “Hawaii Five-O” has a hip take on the old classic series. The buff Alex O’Loughlin now stars as Detective McGarrett, a hotshot Naval officer-turned-cop.
The new “Hawaii Five-0” proved to be a big hit last season, and now all 24 sizzling episodes are available on DVD, along with a bunch of special features and deleted scenes.
Watching the “First Season” will be essential if you want to catch up on the explosive action of the hot new series.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.