North Bay Bohemian

Sonoma County Book Festival Launches a Kickstarter Campaign

Leilani Clark — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:09:34 -0700

It's official. Books are still rad.…

Extended Play: Direct Energy

Rachel Dovey — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:43:00 -0700

In this week's news story, we reviewed the final four contenders for Sonoma Clean Power. Direct Energy, especially, might raise the green-leaning eyebrow.…

Five best Time Magazine millennial spoofs

Rachel Dovey — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:20:00 -0700

Maybe you've read the recent, controversial Time Magazine cover story about how the Millennial generation (hey, that's me!) is made up of a bunch of lazy, unemployed narcissists who live with their parents. I haven't.…

Maybe the Whistles Will Keep on Blowing

Jenna Loceff — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:48:00 -0700

The New Yorker just launched a pretty awesome tool called Strongbox intended to allow people to anonymously send tips to the newsroom. Though this isn't in direct response to the recent Department of Justice subpoena of Associated Press phone lines—the New Yorker has been working on this for several years—it certainly could not have come at a better time.…

Watch Cotati Police Kick Door In, Tase Resident

Gabe Meline — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:36:00 -0700

Just how private is your private life?

A video of Cotati police kicking in a door and tasing a man filming them has spread like wildfire around the internet, raising questions about citizens' Fourth Amendment rights and excessive use of force.

Last week, when a neighbor called to alert Cotati police about an alleged domestic disturbance incident between James and Jennifer Wood, officers arrived at the couple's front window.…

May 18: Loveline Reunion at the Uptown Theater

Leilani Clark — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:31:00 -0700

Though they may be better known for hosting Celebrity Rehab and for making sexist comments about women comedians respectively, Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla had their start as a duo on “Loveline,” a syndicated radio show they hosted from 1995-2005. The two dished out advice on relationships and sex, covering everything from masturbation to infidelity, and lots of other topics that would only freak out sensitive ears.…

May 18: Alpha Bitch Soup at the Redwood Cafe

Leilani Clark — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:29:00 -0700

John Cougar Concentration Camp. Brian Jonestown Massacre.…

May 16: Walter Mosley at Book Passage

Leilani Clark — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:25:00 -0700

In 1990, the first Easy Rawlins mystery novel Devil in a Blue Dress joined a long line of books that take Los Angeles as its muse and antagonist. Written by Walter Mosley, the book was set in Watts, and introduced Rawlins, an African-American veteran who ends up broke and unable to find work.…

May 15: Ash Reiter at Lagunitas Tap Room

Leilani Clark — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:22:00 -0700

Back in the days when cassettes ruled the world, if I really liked a song, I would record it over and over in order so that I could listen to it on repeat without rewinding. “I’ve Got Something I Can Laugh About,” by Bay Area indie pop band Ash Reiter, is a song that bears repeating, and would have definitely had a cassette entirely to itself back in 1986.…

News Agencies Fight Back

Jenna Loceff — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:54:00 -0700

It's hard enough to get someone to pick up the phone when you're a regular reporter. But what will happen now that the Associated Press has announced the Department of Justice has subpoenaed phone records from its reporters?…

First Crescent

Nicolas Grizzle — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

Moonlight's Brian Hunt (finally) set to open tasting room in Santa Rosa by Nicolas Grizzle Moonlight Brewing owner, brewmaster, quality-control engineer, delivery man and part-time philosopher Brian Hunt doesn't make beer for money. He's been asked several times in the 20-year history of the Santa Rosa brewery why he never signed a distribution deal.…

Letters to the Editor: May 15, 2013

Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

Letters to the Editor: May 15, 2013 BottleRock Blues Napa has indeed changed ("Start of Something Big," May 8).…

Amista Vineyards

James Knight — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

Up Dry Creek Without a Zinfandel by James Knight Anyway, like I was saying, Syrah is one versatile grape. You can press it, crush it, punch it down, co-ferment it, saignée it, méthode champenoise it.…

Fists of Glory

Leilani Clark — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

by Leilani Clark More than 40 years after John Carlos and Tommie Smith—the U.S. bronze and gold medal winners in the 200-meter sprint at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City—raised their fists in a black power salute on the Olympic podium, the iconic image still induces goose bumps. Carlos and Smith planned the statement in solidarity with the Civil Rights movement as a way to protest the racism and poverty afflicting so many African Americans in the United States, and they paid dearly for having a political conscience in a supposedly apolitical and commercialized sports world.…

Paradise Loss

John Borstelmann — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

An Idaho visitor has some tips for our 'cycling mecca' by John Borstelmann I spent two weeks this past month vacationing and riding my road bike around the stunningly beautiful, rugged country of western Sonoma County. Levi Leipheimer wasn't exaggerating when he described your home as world-class cycling country.…

Poached Eggs & Pasta

Nicolas Grizzle — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

by Nicolas Grizzle Fans of Dierk's always-crowded Parkside location now have another option for top-notch breakfast at decent prices. Dierk's Midtown Cafe (1422 Fourth St., Santa Rosa) is now open for breakfast and lunch.…

The Final Four

Rachel Dovey — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

So just how 'clean' are the companies vying for the Sonoma Clean Power job? by Rachel Dovey With the tentative approval of Sonoma Clean Power by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, each of the county's municipalities has a choice to make. With a short-list of four potential energy suppliers, the county's Community Choice Aggregation—which would break with PG&E to buy power on the open market—is poised to go forward pending each city's yea or nay.…

Steep Climb

Nicolas Grizzle — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

Will the doping scandal affect public interest in America's biggest bike race? by Nicolas Grizzle By now, we all know about the wreckage. In January, Lance Armstrong sat down and told Oprah Winfrey, and thereby the world, that he used illegal performance-enhancing substances to win a record seven consecutive Tour de France titles.…

Not So Great, Then?

Richard von Busack — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

Another scattered adaptation with 'Gatsby' by Richard von Busack A novel of riches, self-made men and the attempt to grasp a single, pure image of the past, F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby has already been filmed three times for the big screen. "His determination to have my company bordered on violence," says Nick Carraway of Tom Buchanan, and it sums up the shaping of the new Baz Luhrmann version.…

Climb Ev'ry Mountain

David Templeton — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

Mountain Play celebrates 100-year anniversary by David Templeton 'Climb ev'ry mountain," sings the wise and benevolent abbess in Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved musical The Sound of Music. In the Bay Area, there is only one mountain audiences need to climb to hear the abbess perform that iconic song, following in the footsteps of local theater-seekers who have been climbing said mountain every year for an entire century.…

Fun and 'Young'

David Templeton — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

Spreckels hits big with 'Frankenstein' by David Templeton These days, the vast majority of new Broadway musicals are based not on original stories but on films. Rarely are they ever made from films that are actually any good.…

Best of the Fest

Gabe Meline — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0700

Things we saw at BottleRock by Gabe Meline Perry Farrell, shitfaced and horny, hitting on girls in the front row. Huge clouds of dust swirling above the pit during Bad Religion.…

There's Something Happening Here

Jenna Loceff — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:43:00 -0700

A media interest group has recently formed in Sonoma County. They have dubbed themselves The Sparky Project, a "group of local media thinkers seeking a vibrant and sustainable multimedia ecosystem for Sonoma County and the North Bay," according to the group's website.…

Photos: BottleRock 2013

Gabe Meline — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:50:00 -0700

See our photo gallery from Napa's BottleRock Music Festival by Gabe Meline Bajillions of people, great bands on every stage and food galore marked the inaugural BottleRock festival on May 8-13, 2013, in Napa. Click on the slideshow for a full photo gallery from the festival!

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Dramatic Duckling Rescue in Marin

Rachel Dovey — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:40:00 -0700

According to this Marin IJ story, a deputy sheriff rescued six ducklings from a storm drain yesterday using a handy device made of string and a shoebox.

While this may not exactly be hard-hitting news, it does include a video of the duckling rescue, during which the box is lowered into the drain and tiny, chirping fluff balls are lifted out.…