A&E

Admissions

Ira Levin’s 'Deathtrap,' the longest running comedy-thriller on Broadway, comes to Healdsburg this month, presented by the Raven Players. Continues with a pay-what-you-can show on Thursday, then Fridays through Sundays until Oct. 27. Reviewed this issue...

Goings on around town this coming week include Guy Fieri fundraiser at Rodney Strong, a wine-tasting fundraiser in the Plaza, and Art Trails studio visits from Petaluma to Cloverdale...

August and September often bring hot weather, so make sure mulch is in place and irrigation is working. Local and migrating birds are always thirsty, as are many insects, so dishes of water and birdbaths are appreciated and often vital. When seeds appear on plants, especially annuals, the plant considers it has done its job. If you remove the seed heads, you can prolong the bloom period. This is especially true of cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, and coreopsis. I leave many seed heads as I love to see the birds eating them. Autumn blooming bulbs may be planted this month that will bloom in the fall or the following year. These include certain crocuses and spider lilies. Watch the nurseries for these bulbs.

Restaurant Week, gallery openings, knife-throwing and Black History Month in Healdsburg this week. And lots more...

Seen from space, most of Africa can accurately be labelled “The Heart Of Darkness”— for although it is home to nearly a billion people, it generates just 1% of the world’s electricity. One of the darkest places on the continent is the East African nation of Wakanda—but in Ryan Coogler’s film, Black Panther we learn that our perceived lack of electric lighting is very, very wrong. For Wakanda is the only place on Earth depository for a rare-earth, meteorite called vibranium, and centuries of isolationist leadership has invested in a vibranium-powered infrastructure so modern, it makes other countries seem antiquated. It can’t be seen from space (or on the ground, either) because decades before the first satellites were launched, the technologically advanced nation erected an invisibility force-field around itself to protect it’s secrets, its people and its culture. 

Words like “visionary,” “electrifying,” “exhilarating,” “transcendent” and “breathtaking” get thrown around with abandon (by myself included) to describe much lesser films than Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. So I will try not to be overly precious in relating to you how special this movie is.