Summer’s school of hard rock
Andrew Lloyd Webber bought the stage rights to the 2003 Richard Linklater/Mike White film starring Jack Black and joined with playwright Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey!) and lyricist Glen Slater (The Little Mermaid) to bring the tale of Dewey Finn’s transformation of a group of prep school students into rock stars to Broadway as a musical. It's now at the Raven Theater in Healdsburg.
Letters: A vote for oaks in city plant survey
"I was so happy to see that the City of Healdsburg has given us a chance to suggest an official City flower, plant or tree as representative of Healdsburg," writes reader Mary Kelley. "I was especially pleased to see that all of the options are California Native Plants. There are five different plants from which to choose, and the sixth option is a category which encompasses a variety of species of Oak trees."
4th of July is patriotism with a bang
Once again Healdsburg throws itself wholeheartedly into the 4th of July holiday, starting at 10am with the Fourth of July Kids Parade and Duck Dash in the Healdsburg Plaza. Arrive on bikes, tricycles and wagons adorned with red, white and blue decorations. There will be live music and activities for all.
Are all Wes Anderson films alike? Not quite
Wes Anderson is a genius, and whether or not one appreciates his highly mannered and idiosyncratic style is mercifully subjective. And his singular vision is one that I guarantee will be studied a hundred years from now alongside Jacques Tati, Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard.
Bump in the road brief for 12-1 Packers
The June 18 game was as dramatic as it was unexpected for the home team. The previous night, in the teams’ first meeting this year, Healdsburg built a seemingly insurmountable lead of 11-3 at the end of only five innings, and it looked like another one of those Packer blowouts...
The first peaches of summer
When I was younger, I used to walk to the dusty farmstand from the Prestons’ house on Dry Creek Road. We’d eat a peach on the way back, the warm, sticky juice running down our cheeks and arms marking summer’s beginning in quiet streaks of gold.
New bond election for SMART follows Windsor opening
On the same day a welcome party was thrown for the commuter rail service in Windsor, a voter-led group called 'the SMART Initiative" announced it was beginning a campaign to renew the quarter-cent sales tax that funds the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system “and secure the future of public transit in the North Bay,” according to a June 13 statement from the agency.
Healdsburg Happenings, June 26-July 4
OPENING
‘School of Rock’
The Raven Players present the stage version of the hit Jack Black film School of Rock, with new music by Lloyd Weber and book by Julian Fellowes. Weekends from June 27-July 13, for details and tickets see raventheater.org.
THURSDAY, JUNE 26
Book Release
Author Alice...
Two schools get summer facelift
The line of redwoods that created a corridor from the main entrance, Prince Avenue, to the colorfully muraled Smith Robinson Gym is now gone. One of the dozen trees toppled over in a recent windstorm—no one was hurt and there was no damage, but it made all the more clear the importance of dealing with the hazard.
Windsor asks SMART to slow their roll
The affected routes are the three earliest departures from Windsor, headed southbound to Larkspur. Morning departure times scheduled at 4:35, 4:58 and 5:30am will be temporarily discontinued starting Monday, June 23. The first morning departure on weekdays will then become 6:02am. The reason: those damn train horns wake up the residents.