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Week of May 7 - 13, 2008

Picks by Gabe Meline

Rohnert Park
Just Breathe
While the 22-year-old singer Anna Nalick sat in the audience as a nominee at the 2006 New Music Awards, she was so convinced that she'd lose the Adult Contemporary Female Artist of the Year Award to Sheryl Crow that she kicked off her shoes and relaxed in her seat. Yet on the widespread success of her Starbucks-friendly anthem "Breathe (2 a.m.)," Nalick was announced as the winner and will forever remember accepting her first big award—barefoot. Not that she gives a damn. Her latest single, "Shine," is a motivational urging to let go of other people's preconceptions. Nalick appears for free on Tuesday, May 13, at the Latitude Island Grill. 5000 Roberts Lake Road, Rohnert Park. 5pm. Free. 707.588.1800.

Rohnert Park
Floating World In Masami Teraoka's inviting mashups of ancient Japan and modern America, geisha feast on Big Macs, Japanese women wear thong bathing suits and samurai flash Timex watches. (His Sushi Ghost Tales is above.) "Japan has embraced Western culture," says Teraoka, "and it isn't always pretty." The artist's visual work—immediately enjoyable to most, immediately vulgar to Catholic ministers—inspires conversation on cultural and sexual borders of art while looking undoubtedly fabulous; his show at SSU late last year was a sensation. Find out why when Teraoka lectures on Saturday, May 10, at Sonoma State University Commons. 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. 2pm. Free. 707.664.2295.

Yountville
Amado Mio
In the hipster lounge craze of the late 1990s, a strange band popped up from Portland, Ore., offering a distinctively and classically trained offshoot of the retro genre. Not surprisingly, Pink Martini hit it off with the middle-aged NPR crowd instead of the soul-patch Swingers crowd, and 10 years later they're going stronger than ever. Led by the concise compositional talents of pianist and leader Thomas Lauderdale and the Petula Clark–esque vocals of China Forbes, the band distills sounds from around the world into a smooth concoction palatable to even the staunchest ethnophobes. They appear with the Napa Valley Symphony Friday–Saturday, May 9–10, at the Lincoln Theater. 100 California Drive, Yountville. 8pm. $35–$110. 707.226.8742.

Sebastopol
Tales & Bales
It's a thrill to stumble across an album's lyric booklet as thick and dense as that of Adam Carroll, and even more so when every song's a winner. Even if the only song Carroll ever released was "Red Bandana Blues," the leadoff song on his 2000 album South of Town, he would deserve a place in the songwriter's hall of fame. The song is a poignant, detailed and funny snapshot of two wild hippies in love who grow up but never grow out of their ideals. The rest of the record, produced by noted Dixie Chicks dad Lloyd Maines, is filled with tattooed sailors, crushed menthols, blown kisses, good whiskey and a sense of home, as Carroll's John Prine–like stories race by just as fast as his guitar picking. Catch him with guitar whiz Michael O'Connor on Friday, May 9, at Studio E in rural Sebastopol. Map supplied with ticket. 8pm. $23. 707.542.7143.

Fairfax
Turns into Obsession
Listening to the Metallica tribute harp duo Harptallica is like listening to the cello tribute to Metallica or the violin tribute to Metallica or the piano tribute to Metallica: all it does is make you totally want to go listen to the real Metallica. Still, Harptallica, consisting of two young and attractive girls playing songs like "Enter Sandman" on pedal harps, accents the important elements of Metallica's composition, the triad harmonies between Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield on "Master of Puppets," for example, or the major-minor drone of "Orion." Hammett and Hetfield are both Marin residents, and if they had any sense of humor, they'd come and sit in when Harptallica play on Sunday, May 11, at the 19 Broadway Niteclub. 19 Broadway, Fairfax. 10pm. Free. 415.459.1091.

Napa
Rollin' on the River
There's nothing like an in-town river to bestow a city with a certain classicism, but few residents of these blessed cities actually see the river from anything but bridges. Why not hop on a boat and see the river up close and personal? This weekend, the option is yours with a free 20-minute guided riverboat tour from Napa River Adventures in the fourth annual Celebrate the Napa River Festival. Also on hand will be a Coast Guard rescue boat, fly-fishing demonstrations, a raffle and the Napa Valley College Jazz Band, all on Saturday, May 10, on the Napa River at the newly restored Hatt Mill Plaza. 500 Main St., Napa. Noon to 4pm. Free. 707.254.8520.