Pacific Sun August 28-September 3, 2019 by Weeklys

SERVING MARIN COUNTY

PACIFICSUN.COM

YEAR 57, NO.35 AUG 28-SEPT 3, 2019

MARIN TAKES ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING CHALLENGE P5

Directions Home Sausalito Art Fest P13 Ben Morrison Plugs In P14 Thai Coffee P18

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SOMO VILLAGE EVENT CENTER IN ROHNERT PARK FOR TICKETS AND INFO VISIT WWW.DAILYACTS.ORG

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Letters Heroes & Zeroes/Upfront Feature Sundial Arts Music Film Movies Stage Dining Trivia Calendar Classifieds Notices Astrology/Advice

Publisher Rosemary Olson x315 EDITORIAL

DROP OFF EXPIRED OR UNWANTED MEDICATIONS AT A KIOSK NEAR YOU!

WWW.MED-PROJECT.ORG FREE SERVICE FOR RESIDENTS. We cannot accept medicines from businesses.

MED-Project is supporting a medication collection and disposal program. Residents are invited to bring their expired or unwanted medications for disposal at a local kiosk.

CONTRIBUTORS Amy Alkon, Rob Brezsny, Richard von Busack, James Knight, Amelia Malpas, Howard Rachelson COPY EDITOR Mark Fernquest EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Alex T. Randolph ADVERTISING ACCOUNT MANAGERS

OFFICE MANAGER/LEGALS Liz Alber, legals@pacificsun.com ART AND PRODUCTION Design Director Kara Brown Art Director Tabi Zarrinnaal Production Operations Manager Sean George Graphic Designers Jimmy Arceneaux, Kathy Manlapaz, Jackie Mujica CEO/Executive Editor Dan Pulcrano ON THE COVER Design by Tabi Zarrinnaal PACIFIC SUN (USPS 454-630) Published weekly, on Wednesdays, by Metrosa Inc. Distributed free at more than 500 locations throughout Marin County. Adjudicated a newspaper of General Circulation. First class mailed delivery in Marin available by subscriptions (per year): Marin County $75; out-of-county $90, via credit card, cash or check. No person may, without the permission of the Pacific Sun, take more than one copy of each Pacific Sun weekly issue. Entire contents of this publication Copyright ©Metrosa, Inc., ISSN; 0048-2641. All rights reserved. Unsolicited manuscripts must be submitted with a stamped self-addressed envelope.

Saturday

Sept. 7

Premier Wine Tasting | 30 Wineries Live Music | Gourmet Appetizers

Group Managing Editor Stett Holbrook News and Features Editor Tom Gogola x316 Movie Page Editor Matt Stafford Arts Editor Charlie Swanson

Michael Levenson x312, mlevenson@pacificsun.com Danielle McCoy x311, dmccoy@pacificsun.com Marianne Misz x336, mmisz@pacificsun.com

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1020 B Street San Rafael, CA 94901 Phone: 415.485.6700 Fax: 415.485.6226 E-Mail: letters@pacificsun.com

Letters

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Blinded by theWhite

Long-standing colonial beliefs and principles are exhibited daily in America with racial inequality always at the core. White people have great difficulty even discussing the phenomenon of white privilege. So deep does white dominance in our culture go, that policy changes that might produce healing are dismissed with, “I’m not racist” and further examination of the subject goes nowhere. Like the words liberal and conservative, the word racism becomes twisted and oblique in the hands of our politicians and their talk show pundits. It seems to me that discussions about white supremacy should begin in the classrooms where extensive education that examines racism throughout history simply does not exist. There are not enough opportunities for whites to learn how they can bridge gaps of distrust, misunderstanding and guilt to achieve true equity and inclusion for people of color. Since each generation is more liberal (the live-and-let-live definition) than the one preceding it, I am confident that with time, white supremacy will be exposed for what it is—a backwards, backwoods and immoral philosophy. Dennis Kostecki Sausalito

At the Precipice

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President Trump is fighting and competing with China and the rest of the world when the future survival and well-being of humanity are calling out in the clearest voice for the world to replace centuries of fighting and competition with a new era of relaxed and friendly cooperation in all spheres of activity. Just a quick look back at the thousands of years of immense human suffering is absolute proof that the spirit of war and conquest has proved a total disaster for the entire human race. Today the world lives in both the greatest danger of self-annihilation and also the greatest potential for a revolution of peace for all people everywhere. And the outcome to either destroy ourselves with thousands of nuclear weapons and continued global warming or

A plan for tiny homes in Sonoma County is being touted as a solution for those who lost homes in the 2017 wildfires. Can the homes ease the affordable housing crunch statewide, too? p8

to work together for our common success and happiness is in our hands. How can any sane and conscious human being possibly choose this nightmare of global death instead of beginning life anew on this precious Earth and finally make our planet a home for the realization of humanity’s greatest dreams of complete happiness? Rama Kumar Fairfax

SB1 Lives

The Assembly Appropriations Committee suspended SB1 last Wednesday due to the high negative fiscal impact that the bill will have on our state. Not only will SB1 hurt our families and our communities, but now the committee has also made it clear that it will have a negative impact on our state’s economy. The California Water Alliance will continue to push the governor and the California legislature to negotiate amendments that support the best science available as it relates to the biological opinions and voluntary settlement agreements. What can you do? Please contact your state assemblymember and tell them to fix or nix SB1. Terra Brusseau Executive Director, California Water Alliance

Well, who wouldn’t want to live here?

Homeward Bound Affordable housing crunch in Marin highlights east-west challenges. By Tom Gogola

arin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni was on KWMR recently, the West Marin public radio station in Pt. Reyes Station, talking housing policy, the high cost of living here and what to do about it. Rodoni’s in an interesting spot insofar as his 4th district goes— his comments on the housing challenges across the county begged for a further exploration of the issues he raised, and the host kept

interrupting him to exclaim how complicated the issues were. The supervisor represents West Marin as well as a swath of San Rafael that includes the Latino-centric Canal District. As such, he’s plugged in to the rich urban fabric that characterizes the Canal District as much as he’s tuned in to the funky ruralism of West Marin. He sketched out for KWMR’s listeners a raft of housing initiatives and updates that didn’t so much spell out an “East-West Divide” when it comes to housing policy, as much as emphasize

the respective challenges in both parts of the county. Call it a dialectical dance between the populated east and the pristine west. Both areas are severely cramped for available space—the East by existing development, the West by restrictions to development. Is there a middle ground? To the East: The housing challenges are tied in with state efforts to goose the economy of the Canal District by creating an economic enterprise zone that offers tax breaks and »6

By Nikki Silverstein

Ever wonder whether your bus is on the way or if you just missed it? Golden Gate Transit now provides riders with actual bus arrival times through a partnership with Transit app. Taking the bus just got way easier. “Riders can track their bus in real time on their mobile device,” says Denis Mulligan, General Manager of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. The Transit app provides other helpful features, including service alerts with push notifications, schedules, maps, ride and bike share info, trip planning and a favorites list. Download the Transit app at Apple or Android app stores. Golden Gate Transit will also add the app to its website in the near future. Visit goldengatetransit.org for a step-by-step guide and answers to frequently asked questions. Now, where’s that bus? Jordan Adelso Escobar Perez, 19, of San Rafael, was arrested in April for allegedly forcing himself at gunpoint on a 16-year-old girl, among other things. The alleged attack took place during a party in San Rafael, police say. Marin County Sheriff ’s deputies found Escobar Perez at the party and arrested him. While the suspect denied the reported attack, he admitted to pulling out an unloaded gun. The Marin district attorney initially charged him with carrying a stolen firearm, resisting arrest, sexual battery and false imprisonment. Then came the absurd plea bargain. All Escobar Perez had to do was confess to carrying a stolen gun and resisting arrest. In a plea deal, the DA’s office dropped the other charges. Apparently, the alleged teenage victim was forgotten. But that wasn’t the worst part. Last week, Judge Geoffrey Howard sentenced the perpetrator to 120 days in jail and five years of probation. Four months in the county lockup for pulling a gun on a girl? Pop quiz: Who’s the bigger zero here, the perp or the D.A.? Got a Hero or a Zero? Please send submissions to nikki_silverstein@yahoo.com. Toss roses, hurl stones with more Heroes and Zeros at ›› pacificsun.com

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Upfront

Heroes &Zeroes

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6 Homeward Bound «5 incentives for developers. Those incentives, says Rodoni, have in turn led to marked increases in rent for locals, as he’s seen a string of developers come through, purchase properties and make improvements to them—spiking the rent to such a degree that residents have had to depart in some cases. Last year, a big set-to unfolded in San Rafael after a Vallejo-based entity bought a multi-unit property at 150 Belvedere St. and then sent out notices that tenants’ rents would rise by $900, according to a report in the Marin Independent Journal, which reported that some tenants were already paying $2,200 a month. To the West: The housing challenges in West Marin are exacerbated by several intersecting factors that include the short-term rental economy and its impacts on housing stock—but Rodoni says the biggest issue may simply be a lack of public understanding about an available program for homeowners looking to rent to federally subsidized Section 8 tenants. In a follow-up interview a few days after his radio gig, Rodoni elaborated and the timing couldn’t have been more spot-on. After two years of uncertainty, Marin County received the green light to go ahead with a long-proposed purchase of a former Coast Guard housing development in Pt. Reyes Station and redevelop it as workforce housing. “It’s a done deal,” says Rodoni, to the extent that the county’s been approved by the Coast Guard to buy the property for $4.3 million. There’s still a formal process to complete, a purchase agreement to hash out, “and then some other hoops,” Rodoni says. But he’s sure the deal will close by the end of the year, well in advance of spot legislation pushed through Congress that paved the way for the U.S. Coast Guard to turn over the title to Marin County. That law expires in February, but Rodoni says don’t worry about it; the Coast Guard has already told the county that “if we go over the time limit, they’ll still honor the deal. But we don’t want to.” The Coast Guard facility is 32 houses spread over 36 acres, and if $4.3 million seems like a good deal, that’s because there’s no on-site waste disposal system, which played in to the appraisal. That much acreage and that many houses, he says, “would be far more valuable than what we paid”

if there was on-site septic. Rodoni says he expects most of the eventual renters will be drawn from the local workforce. It’s a simple matter of logistics, says Rodoni: Who is going to apply for a housing unit in far-flung Pt. Reyes if they don’t have a job? The people who apply for the vouchers now in West Marin, he says, are typically connected to the community and working locally. The resolution of the Coast Guard to transfer its property to the county comes as Marin continues to work housing-related programs in the eastern and western parts of the county. The county passed an ordinance in 2015 to launch its Landlord Partnership Program and signed on to the Real Community Rentals Program that’s administered by the Community Land Trust of West Marin (CLAM). At its Aug. 9 meeting, supervisors supported two-year extensions for both programs, citing their successes even as they said there’s room for improvement. The county budgeted $500,000 to the respective programs. The LPP is administered by the county and got $450,000; CLAM got the other $50,000 after it developed 13 new affordable housing rental opportunities in West Marin. The LPP program has been a success to the east, says Rodoni, but not so much in West Marin. The MHA program is a two-year effort that set out to de-stigmatize renters who participate in the federal Housing Choice program, also known as Section 8. The voucher program allows low-income persons to put 30 percent of their incomes toward the rent, with the federal government picking up the balance. To encourage participation, the county created the LPP, which tells participating landlords: If your Section 8 tenant damages your rental unit or skips town without paying the rent, the county picks up the tab. According to county metrics, it’s been a success, at least in populated East Marin. The problem, or one of them, is that many West Marinites with Section 8 housing vouchers don’t want to move to the eastern part of the county, even if that’s where the buy-in is. “They want to stay in West Marin,” says Rodoni, but there’s just not enough Section 8 landlord participation to house everyone with a voucher. In an August news release, the county reports that from June 2015 to June 2018, “the probability that a tenant could lease a home

with voucher assistance rose 22 percent in Marin, and the Landlord Partnership Program is believed to be a big reason why.” Rodoni stresses that even if there hasn’t been any buy-in in West Marin, that’s not a criticism of West Marin homeowners but a reflection of the fact that they just may not know about it. Not one West Marin landowner has signed up, while 100 landlords in eastern Marin are participating. He’ll be talking it up, he says, at scheduled community meetings. Also at play is the absence of large, West Marin landowners with apartment complexes to fill. Rodoni stresses to his West Marinhomeowner constituents that the program is available to them, too, even if they’re just one landlord with one unit for one person. “It’s not a lack of people participating” because the program’s no good, he says, “it’s probably more about education on this issue than anything.” Social forces at play in West Marin have, over time, conspired to crimp the stock of available rental housing and helped lead to the very crisis now unfolding on the street-camping-choked avenues of West Marin. First, as Rodoni notes, it’s very hard to build anything anywhere in Marin County. Land is scarce, the neighbors are fussy, and building costs are out of this world. Second, West Marin’s towns and communities have become secondhome communities, and with that, there’s less permanent housing for the locals. Rodoni recalls Inverness relatives who used their house for two months a year and rented it out the rest of the year to locals. “Those were different times,” he says. “People needed the financial support to own the home but they still wanted to use it. Nowadays, they’re looking at it as a second-home write-off.” He’d like to see a return to that dynamic, which is where recent county moves on housing issues come into play. Rodoni sees an opportunity to have the best of both worlds—allow for short-term rentals for their transient-occupancytax potential while also potentially requiring anyone who uses their second home as a business to have a full-time renter on site. “So you can get back to the idea of having a caretaker in a rental,” he says. “We’re exploring that idea as a pilot.” Back in the east, in the Canal

District, the housing challenges are less about reanimating a kind of small-town, caretaker-owner dynamic. In the east, housing stress is driven more by a big push from developers who are taking advantage of the opportunity-zone imprimatur that’s been decreed by the state and which comes with all sorts of tax credits for developers. “What we’re seeing in the Canal District is purchases and redevelopment—new owners and landlords are coming in and because they pay today’s market price for these properties, they raise the rent, 100 percent in some cases.” San Rafael has fought to get those rent-raises on a timeline so that a renter isn’t faced with a whopping spike from one month to the next. But he says it’s not enough and “it’s only a short time before people can’t afford to live in the Canal District anymore. This is displacing families who have no place to go—and this is workforce housing that the county needs.” It’s a tough call for lawmakers who want to see the redevelopment of poorer neighborhoods but not at the cost of the neighborhood itself. The state legislature gave localities flexibility in their guidelines for how redevelopment in places like the Canal District unfolds, but still says the county was somewhat “blindsided” by the rush to redevelop. “Even the bowling alley may be closing and converted to housing there,” he says. When it comes to housing, everything’s on the table. To the north, in Sonoma County, an ambitious pilot housing program has been undertaken by Habitat For Humanity to address that county’s own housing crisis, as our feature story reports this week. They’ve teamed up with the developer of the Katrina Cottage program that emerged after Hurricane Katrina, The Cypress Group, to create a nine-house village of next-gen small houses that have all the resiliency bells and whistles one might wish for in this era of global climate change and the mega-wildfire: advocates for the houses say they’re energy efficient, fire-resistant—and could help solve the state’s affordable housing crisis. The pioneering New Urbanist Marianne Cusato led the Katrina Cottage effort in New Orleans and now she’s leading the Sonoma Wildfire Cottage effort in the North Bay. Cusato says the program

7 avoidable. If civic leaders in previous generations had the wisdom and political will to invest in mixed-use communities, build walkable cities, create public transit and upgrade community infrastructure, she says, “we wouldn’t have the affordable housing crisis that we have now.” Y

Flashback 50 Years Ago THIS WEEK

Most good white liberals would approve of this, in principle. But then comes the crunch of putting it into practice. Working together with blacks is fine, they say, but my third-grader simply isn't learning what he should. How will he ever get into Princeton, or even Cal Poly? Blacks, accustomed to rather more gutsy problems, have scant sympathy. —Steve McNamara, 8/27/69

Vandalism is becoming Marin's newest high-risk sport right up there with hang gliding, ice climbing and parachute jumping. “There's need for adventure in our lives, for taking risks," says the author of The WEEK Ultimate Athlete, George Leonard of Mill Valley, who believes the current emphasis on high-risk sports is a way of making conquests, discovering new frontiers of the self. But when sanctioned ways of taking risks aren't available people ⁠— especially the young ⁠— turn to unlawful ways of finding excitement. "People want to test themselves," Leonard says.

Years Ago

Vandalism has jumped noticeably in Novato ⁠— up 11% this summer. It's been sporadic, sometimes severe, in San Rafael, Terra Linda and Mill Valley. It includes systematically cutting trees in parks, trashing schools, slashing tires, shooting out car windows, breaking and entering schools and homes. Sometimes there's burglary, sometimes not. Sometimes kids drink six packs; often they smoke marijuana. When they get high, their behavior becomes impulsive. —Joanne Williams, 8/24/79

30 THIS

On Thursday afternoons when the lunch dishes have been cleared away, a handful of the guests at St. Vincent's San Rafael soup kitchen remain behind for a weekly "rap" group. Gathered around one of the WEEK low slug tables, homeless men and women sit and talk. Sometimes they talk about individual problems, sometimes about broader issues.

Years Ago

On this particular mid-August afternoon, talk focuses on the news that local efforts to build a temporary 55-bed tent shelter in San Rafael have been abandoned, even though $328,000 of the $400,000 needed has already been raised. The announcement, made two days earlier by members of Marin's homeless task force, was a blow to those who have been sleeping on the streets since late July, when the county's National Guard armory was closed as a homeless shelter. —Joy Zimmerman, 8/25/89

20 Years Ago THIS

Serving the North Bay since 1990 ( 29 years)

[Sausalito School District Superintendent Phil] Schneider believes that in Sausalito there must first be a bringing together of the races. Allowances must be made for the frustrations and anger inherent in the backgrounds of black children.

White parents, more and more liberals among them, believe that Schneider makes too many allowances; that if it is a choice between integration and learning he will take integration, believing that this must come before there can be any real learning.

THIS

Best of Marin 2 years in a row

A bunch of guys are running for the Republican presidential nomination for 2000. One guy is absolutely rolling in cash like a pig wallowing in mud. And how? Because he is the suck-up king. His WEEK name is George. He sucks up to corporate interests like there's no tomorrow. The media like him, because they also have to suck up to corporations. The media have decided to do us a favor; they've decided to save Americans the trouble of having to think, to pick, and choose between the Republican candidates. Slowly but surely the other candidates magically vanish from magazine pages, the airwaves, your TV screen, et. al., and all we are left with is the Cheshire Cat grin of George the Suck-Up Jr., the $37-million-dollar man himself. Is something wrong with this picture? —Beatrice Portinar, 8/25/99

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unfolding in Santa Rosa could be a model for communities across the state dealing with the one-two punch of unaffordable housing in disaster-prone areas. Marin County qualifies on both fronts. For Cusato, the affordable housing crisis is as universal as it was

Tom Gogola

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One house down, many thousands to go, as ambitious public-private housing plan takes root on Medtronic campus.

Road Home Redux They’re fire-resistant and politically connected, but are ‘wildfire cottages’ the solution to the region’s—hell, the state’s—housing crisis? By Tom Gogola

alloons flapped like giant, inflatable grapes in the hot wind of Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove area as a host of leaders heralded the completion of the first “Sonoma Wildfire Cottage” on a recent Friday afternoon. Against a backdrop of underconstruction cottages and a corporate parking lot, Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore took the mic and announced that the project underway was a portent of things to come. The cottages, he declared, represented the first metaphoric sparks to kick off a wildfire of public-private housing build-outs in Sonoma County. Habitat For Humanity’s nine-unit pilot program is housing, if only

temporarily, families displaced by the 2017 wildfires. It’s a partnership with the Washington D.C.–based lobbying firm The Cypress Group. The homes are located on a seemingly unusual plot of land on the Medtronic medical equipment campus and provide a visual symbol of the $1.2 million private-public partnership. The emphasis is on private contributions and public assertions that this is how Sonoma County is going to house a handful of wildfire victims short-term, while also setting a path forward to address the county’s crippling 25,000-unit housing deficit that predated the fires. Officials from all walks of government were on hand to celebrate the completion of “House

#1,” a tidy, white two-bedroom, shotgun-style cottage whose components were built off-site and constructed on the lot. Handmade quilts were ceremoniously presented to the new occupants and reporters were able to tour the unit built to withstand fires. Can they also withstand local politics and zoning issues? Gore was joined at the event by co-supervisor Shirlee Zane, Rep. Mike Thompson and Santa Rosa Mayor Tom Schwedlhelm. Everyone lauded the effort and declared it a huge moment in the history of Sonoma County’s housing crisis. Efren Carrillo, the former county supervisor and current executive with Burbank Housing, was also on hand. The cottage community is an

ambitious, complicated project that has attracted private sponsors from around the region—everyone from the Piazza Hospitality Group to Safeway Inc. has contributed to the effort—and was sponsored by a group called Wine Country Rebuild that’s comprised of young winemakers. Senses Wines in Occidental founded Wine Country Rebuild after the 2017 wildfires. Thew group crowdfunded $1.2 million for wildfire cottages (Senses was co-founded by Christopher Strieter, Myles Lawrence-Briggs and the actor Max Thieriot). The project is being built by the national housing organization founded by Jimmy Carter, Habitat for Humanity, which has extensive experience in sweat-

lobbying and advisory organization that “specializes in developing innovative housing solutions for disaster rebuilding and workforce housing.” Those issues have intersected in a negative, high-rent manner in Sonoma County, where workforce housing is scant and pricey and where a natural disaster burned thousands of homes and businesses. Habitat for Humanity contacted the organization after the 2017 wildfires, but it was initially reluctant to take on the rebuilding effort in Sonoma County, says Kennedy. In his remarks to the crowd gathered at the Medtronic campus, he recounted Cypress leaders telling him, “We had some experiences with New Orleans that weren’t exactly good, but we’ll team up.” Kennedy didn’t elaborate to the crowd as to the source of The Cypress Group’s “hesitation” to join the Sonoma County-City of Santa Rosa rebuilding effort. In a follow-up interview he says their reluctance was two-fold. First, he said, the firm was hesitant because the Sonoma Wildfire Cottage program is utilizing four separate developers to execute the vision of affordable (or at least, more affordable) homes for local residents. That’s a recipe for an inefficient construction management plan that’s potentially fraught with political considerations, with several local and regional contractors vying for a piece of the Habitat for Humanity plan. The Sonoma Wildfire Cottage project is already a year past Wine Country Rebuild’s schedule. The company’s website says that “construction on the cottages is expected to begin in the summer of 2018 and the anticipated date for occupancy late fall and early winter of 2018.” A year later, one cottage has been completed and occupied. And, Kennedy noted, The Cypress Group doesn’t necessarily hold the same sway in Washington housing agencies under President Donald Trump as it did with previous administrations—especially when it comes to bailing California out of its various woes. Trump’s been bad for the state on numerous fronts, Kennedy says with a slight laugh. But The Cypress Group claims it’s well-positioned to deliver on its promise, despite a build-out of similar intent in New Orleans that was anything but smooth: “The Cypress

Model for neighborhood building is distinctly applicable to housing families in the wake of a disaster— quickly, safely and cost-effectively— with a view of the long-term health and stability of the family in a stable and permanent community.” Those claims are worth taking a closer look at, as they apply to Sonoma’s effort in relation to The Cypress Group’s Katrina Cottage program in New Orleans. As I reported in 2012 for the online investigative website The Lens, the Cypress Model in the Crescent City was anything but a quick and cost-effective build-out, and included a last-minute rush to remediate Katrina Cottages that had been nearly ruined after sitting out in the elements for years before being placed in their permanent locations around New Orleans. Back in 2012, The Cypress Group was under intense pressure to beat a FEMA deadline for delivery of around 20 highly nomadic Katrina Cottages that had been moved all over the state before winding up in various locales around New Orleans and that accrued nearly $1 million in remediation costs along the way.. So, quickly and cheaply? Not so much, at least in New Orleans. The Katrina Cottage program played out much more smoothly in other parts of the state and in Mississippi. But in New Orleans, after a five-year odyssey that the New Urbanists promised would be a quick and longterm solution to residents displaced by Katrina, the last of the Katrina Cottages were plopped in the city’s Lower Ninth Ward in 2012. New Orleans housing officials had a difficult time trying to site the Katrina Cottages, owing to designated lot sizes that turned out to be too small to accommodate the houses, or weren’t zoned to accept the homes. Some of the houses that did wind up in the city’s Ninth Ward were eventually plunked next to lots that still contained the flooded-out remains of houses demolished by the Katrina flooding. Is this the source of The Cypress Group’s “hesitation” to jump on the Sonoma Wildfire Cottages, which are already a year behind the proposed schedule outlined by Wine Country Rebuild? By the time those cottages were completed and residents moved into them, so much time had passed between the promise and the reality that they weren’t even calling them Katrina Cottages in

New Orleans anymore. The promise of a quick and efficient post-disaster response that didn’t involve toxic FEMA trailers was never realized in New Orleans. And now the same company is expressing reservations about doing business in Sonoma County, based on its NOLA experience. The Sonoma Wildfire Cottages, says Kennedy, have yet to be matched with a lot in Santa Rosa. The Cypress Group has positioned itself as a high-flying strategic advisory and lobbying organization with a robust client base that includes a few clients that might raise eyebrows among North Bay liberals. The company has billed out some $2 million in lobbying fees so far in 2019, according to online records. Lobbying clients include Koch Industries and Grupo Salinas, among others. The former is the flagship concern of the Koch Brothers (now down to one Brother with David Koch’s passing last week). The latter is a Californiabased consortium that represents the interests of Advance America Cash Advance Centers, a business targeted by wage activists for its high-interest, payday loans. Other Cypress clients include Wells Fargo, Prudential, Citi and Metlife. Kennedy noted that The Cypress Group may have less influence in Washington D.C. now that Trump is president. With less influence comes less ability to leverage limited federal dollars devoted to housing issues. For all of its enthusiastic altruism via its community-development nonprofit, The Cypress Group has long been held as an example of the “revolving door” lobbying community in Washington. Its founder, J. Patrick Cave, was an Assistant Treasury Secretary before leaving government and founding The Cypress Group. The revolving door apparently keeps spinning, and it looks like, on paper at least, the organization took measures to try to get some traction with the Trump Administration: In April 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company hired former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn as a partner. Dearborn worked under Trump before The Cypress Group hired him.

he mantra at last week’s Sonoma Wildfires wellattended opening on the Medtronic campus was that one house built is one less house that needs to be built to address »10

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equity partnerships with would-be homeowners. This is a different kind of project for HFH—volunteers from Medtronic and regional construction firms provided much of the sweat equity here. But what of The Cypress Group? The organization’s website says when it comes to its strategicadvisory services (which provide a big chunk of their business along with lobbying), “we view political risks as the probability that changing laws or regulations will create loss or change for a client.” And it looks as if the group did see some risk in engaging with Sonoma County’s rebuilding efforts. In his remarks to the crowd gathered in mid-August to check out the Wildfire Cottages, HFH Interim Executive Director John Kennedy noted the powerhouse lobbyist jumped on board the project with reluctance. It was an off-hand remark but one that’s worth exploring, as it may signal whether The Cypress Group is really up to the task of coordinating Sonoma County and Santa Rosa’s multi-faceted rebuilding efforts. A group of friends from Louisiana founded The Cypress Group as a strategic advisory and lobbying organization in D.C. in the 1990s. The group emerged from the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as an untested housing developer with deep connections in Louisiana Democratic politics and a stated desire to do something about their nearly-destroyed state and city of New Orleans. With Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco in the statehouse, Cypress leveraged their influence in Baton Rouge and Washington to manage the Katrina Cottages program that took root after the storm (Blanco died last week at the age of 79). Cypress Partner Patrick Cave, a big proponent of the New Urbanism school that highlights walkable communities and scaled-housing solutions, linked up with new urbanist Marianne Cusato to locate some 450 “Katrina Cottages” under robust FEMA rebuilding programs after the storm. The Cypress Group created an organization called the Cypress Community Development Corporation (CCDC) and put Cusato in charge. They’ve heralded the Sonoma Wildfire Cottage program as not just the solution to Sonoma’s housing crisis, but possibly for the whole state. The CCDC stresses its role as a not-for-profit division of the

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Wildfire Cottages «9 the city and county’s growing homelessness and affordable housing problem. The nine houses were designed by different firms and range from a one-bedroom house that looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright pool cabana to shotgun cottages that wouldn’t look out-of-place, at all, in New Orleans. The Wright-ish house and a handful of others others like it are pre-built homes that were plopped on the Medtronic campus with a crane. Those homes, says Kennedy, would fetch $350,000 on the open market. The remainders are two-bedroom shotgun-style homes that are largely pre-fabricated and assembled on site. Those, says Kennedy, are the ticket—or possible ticket—to solve an affordable housing crisis that’s so massive, he says, you’d need a Chinalike mass-manufacture of cottages to ease the local strain. In Habitat for Humanity’s grand vision, that’s the local model moving forward, explains Kennedy. He’s excited about the possibility of California replicating the Habitat For Humanity model in Edmonton, Canada, where there’s a HFH housebuilding factory that pumps out housing components that come together, not quite Acme-style, but pretty quickly, on site. Those homes, he says, would list at $400,000 in the Sonoma County housing market. Habitat for Humanity has leased a 30,000 square-foot property in Rohnert Park in an effort to replicate its Edmonton mass-buildout model. For now, the homes are being rented to wildfire survivors who were among the last victims unable to secure permanent housing after the 2017 inferno, organizers of the ground-breaking event said. The renters come from a familiar stream—they were selected by Catholic Charities from a pool of more than 40 families and individuals who are still sleeping on friends’ couches and elsewhere two years after the fires. Under its arrangement with Medtronic, the houses will be on this plot for two years. Kennedy says it could be up to five years, but that’s yet to be negotiated. The final resting place for these homes remains an open question—subject to finding a plot of land, dealing with any zoning or other local issues that may arise, and finding a buyer through Habitat for Humanity. Adrienne Lauby is the president of

the Board of Sonoma Applied Village Services, a local nonprofit that’s taken up the call for finding affordable housing solutions in a city and county that aren’t always amenable to grassroots notions about tiny houses, solar yurts and parking lots populated with trailers and campers. She’s been fighting for funding and grants under the county’s Home Sonoma network and received word last week that her group will be getting a $450,000 grant from a $500 million state fund for housing programs (Sonoma County got $12.6 million of that grant). They’ve got the green light to explore tiny houses and parking-lot communities. The next step, says Lauby, is to try and find a place to develop those programs. Lauby is supportive of the Sonoma Wildfire Cottage plan and believes that every bit of housing helps. She cautions, however, that local leaders need to focus on the plight of the some 2,000 regional homeless persons who’ll likely be sleeping out in the elements again this winter. “There’s no doubt that it requires a community response,” she says, invoking the wildfires’ impact on an already-compromised Sonoma County housing dynamic. Small business, big business, government— she says they all need to come together but also notes there’s a disconnect in the county and Santa Rosa between homeless people. She cites “a disparity between the ‘good homeless’ who were hurt by the fire and the ‘bad homeless’ who were already homeless.” The latter’s plight was exposed for all the world to see following the wildfires, much as Hurricane Katrina served to highlight a city that had suffered decades of poverty and neglect. “The city, county and the state have all declared a homeless emergency, but none of them are doing anything,” Lauby says. Since the wildfires, Santa Rosa has turned back numerous grant proposals from local housing nonprofits such as Homeless Action, mostly on technical grounds and because of the rules of the grant (ie, proposals for grant monies were too small to be considered). The federal and state money now arriving in Sonoma County, through the state’s Homeless Emergency Aid Program, says Lauby, “tends to go into brick and mortar housing” projects and isn’t pegged at smaller-scale solutions. So, while Sonoma Wildfire

In an interview, Cusato says that Cypress was never hesitant about teaming up with Habitat for Humanity. “We actually always wanted to do the project,” she says. “It’s our business model.” She said any reluctance on Cypress’ part was a function of HFH’s adding the variable of multiple builders to the project and that the Cypress nonprofit “helped shape the program with them. We asked them, ‘are you sure you want to enter in to this with all these variables, all these different builders on site sort of bumping into one another?” She says Cypress came to realize the benefit of having multiple builders working on the cottages, since it would provide a point of comparison to determine which builders were up to the task of delivering on-time, high quality homes. Cusato also brushed aside concerns about Cypress’ political juice in Washington these days and stressed that “this has nothing to do with one administration over another. This has to do with the fact that we have a broken system. It doesn’t matter who is in office.” She adds that, if anything, Cypress doesn’t have a view on Trump’s affordable-housing policies since “the process hasn’t even been set up for the money to even start coming in.” The Cypress housing nonprofit’s next move in the Sonoma Wildfire Cottages project is the release of a lessons-learned report which, she says, would be useful to any California municipality that wants to consider a Cypress-HFH publicprivate program of their own. “There’s a whole lot of potential here to help other communities in California,” she adds and notes that there were also lots of lessons learned in the Gulf Coast and Florida. “What we’ve learned is that every place is unique, and every place is universal. Every place is 100 percent local, but patterns emerge that are all similar.” Wherever they work, she notes, they have to deal with local municipalities to make sure what’s being proposed is legal and passes muster with the local community. One of the Katrina Cottage community build-outs in coastal Louisiana was rejected by locals because the cottages looked like manufactured homes even though they weren’t. “The NIMBY’s came out and said we can’t do this here,” she recalls. Y

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Cottages is pushing out $400,000 for potential workforce housing, Lauby says tiny-home housing-solutions in $5,000 range have been brushed aside in favor of private-public partnerships such as The Cypress Group and Sonoma County and Santa Rosa. The city of Santa Rosa has been especially aggressive in keeping tiny homes, trailer-park parking lots and other small-scale homeless solutions out of the city. The good news for Lauby is her organization just secured that $450,000 grant administered through the county’s Home Sonoma program. Home Sonoma is comprised of officials from the county and regional cities. Those officials voted last week in favor of Lauby’s grant; Schwedlhelm joined Rohnert Park city manager Don Schwartz as one of two no-votes. Lauby says everyone’s in the same boat when it comes to finding a place to actually site the housing— whether it’s a tiny home or one of the Wildfire Cottages. She cites the excruciatingly slow pace of local permitting as a factor even as she notes that the county is the biggest property owner in Sonoma County. “There are things like vet’s buildings, corners of parks, unused baseball parks,” she says, which could and should be considered for alternative housing solutions in her view. But her organization, she says, has been stymied by safety issues raised by first responders when they’ve submitted small-scale grant proposals, and by what she says is an over-reliance on working within established rules and guidelines. She says the safety issue is mis-construed: It’s not safe to sleep outside or under a freeway overpass. And she notes that if the county and Santa Rosa can accommodate a village of corporate-friendly homes in an industrial zone (the Medtronic development), why can’t county and city officials be more amenable to solutions to help the very poor and the chronically homeless, who were here before the fires and whose plight has only sharpened with the loss of more than 3,000 homes to the fires? She also notes there’s competition afoot in the county for what Cypress is angling to accomplish—whether it’s apartment complexes made from repurposed shipping containers or a big push from the manufacturedhousing industry. “Cypress is in a crowded market,” she says.

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Sundial

THE WEEK’S EVENTS: A SELECTIVE GUIDE

TOMALES Founders’ Fun

Celebrating the colorful history and heritage of Tomales and West Marin, this year’s annual Tomales Founders’ Day Parade & Celebration embraces “Old California” and a way of life that has endured through the generations of residents who’ve called the town home for over 150 years. The parade kicks off an afternoon of live music from the Pulsators; local food, beer and wine; handcrafted items like clothing and jewelry for sale; farm animals and a playground for the kids; and more on Sunday, Sept 1, Shoreline Highway, Tomales. 11am. Free admission. 707.879.8030.

BOLINAS Labor Party

There will be dancing in the streets this weekend when the annual Bolinas Labor Day Barbecue commences with live music, plenty of delicious food and local goodies for all ages. The fundraiser for Bolinas Community Center includes a lineup featuring Grateful Dead Appreciation Society, Kelly McFarling, Just Friends and the debut of Midnight Cilantro (featuring Pacific Sun news editor Tom Gogola). The afternoon also includes a White Elephant silent auction, barbecue with beer and wine, and kids’ corner. Monday, Sept 2, Wharf Rd., Bolinas. Noon. Parking and shuttles at Mesa Park. 415.868.2128.

MILL VALLEY Embracing Imperfections

The concept of wabi-sabi is not an easy one to grasp; even the Japanese—who developed the idea—refuse to fully define it. Suffice to say, wabi-sabi is the knowledge that nothing stays the same, and it’s a celebration of nature’s transience and imperfections. The artists involved in the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts’ 16th Annual “Wabi-Sai” Exhibit try to capture this concept in their work, and will share their thoughts and work in an artist roundtable discussion that precedes the exhibit’s opening reception on Tuesday, Sept 3, at 616 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. Talk at 4pm; Reception at 5:30pm. Free. 415.388.4331.

SAN RAFAEL Conversations That Matter

Longtime Marin resident Michael Krasny is one of the most respected and beloved broadcasters in America and, as the longstanding host of KQED’s Forum program, has interviewed the world’s leading political and cultural thinkers. Now, Krasny appears in conversation for a program, “Remembrances of Things Past: Recollections of A Seasoned Broadcaster,” which introduces a season of offerings from nonprofit civic improvement organization Marin Coalition. Krasny speaks on Wednesday, Sept 4, at The Club at McInnis Park Golf Center, 350 Smith Ranch Rd., San Rafael. 11:15am check-in, $31-$35. Pre-registration required. marincoalition.org/events.

—Charlie Swanson

Roman Cho

Singer-songwriter, author and artisan-farmer Dan Imhoff performs off his new record, Peregrino, with friends Bobby Vega and Tim Weed on Friday, Aug 30, at Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley. See clubs & venues, pg 20.

ARTS

New Dimensions Art and technology meet at Sausalito Art Festival By Charlie Swanson

fter more than 60 years of festivities, the Sausalito Art Festival was in need of a revamp. So, for its upcoming annual celebration on Aug. 31–-Sept. 2, it’s getting a major revitalization—including a new Art Tech Pavilion boasting virtual reality art, augmented reality works, interactive exhibits and more..The Art Tech Pavilion is

curated by Lisa Kolb of Skadaddle Media, who specialize in creative technology within the realms of advertising, branded entertainment and emerging markets of content. Kolb teamed up with technology partners XR Marin, Academy of Art University and Looking Glass Factory to show this year’s festivalgoers a whole new world of art. “There are so many possibilities right now, it’s such a new area

of art,” says Kolb. “What we put together was a mix of where we are right now in the intersection of art and technology, and there’s quite a few different experiences that will be there.” The pavilion will feature works on the forefront of new technology from cutting-edge artists such as Zachary Lieberman, an artist and educator best known as one of the creators of open source art-

Sausalito Art Festival takes place Saturday, Aug 31, to Monday, Sept 2, at Marinship Park, Sausalito. Sat–Sun, 10am to 7pm; Mon, 10am to 5pm. $25–$30; kids 12 and under are free. sausalitoartfestival.org.

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Virtual reality art from animator Kevin Ang is featured at Sausalito Art Festival’s Art Tech Pavilion.

coding program openFrameworks. Lieberman’s video display at the pavilion will be created from computer code. Artist Nancy Baker Cahill's media includes drawing, video, virtual reality, augmented reality and original sound. For the festival, Cahill will geo-locate two pieces of augmented art—meaning the art won’t exist in real life, but rather will only be visible through smartphones enabled with the app. “Her theory is that it’s art without the materials and waste,” says Kolb, who adds that Cahill’s piece is making a statement about surveillance. Polish-born, San Franciscobased artist Marpi will offer one of the most interactive exhibits at the Art Tech Pavilion, with a series of touch-screens that allow participants to create vast ecosystems of digital creatures and control their movements. Animator Kevin Ang and artist Lisa Padilla will both perform and demo their virtual reality art live at the festival. Ang is renowned for his work on a number of films, including Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly. He also co-founded the XR Artists Collective, a community for those exploring and collaborating in this new medium. Padilla’s community outreach includes art, and therapy work that combines virtual reality and psychology. Visitors to the Art Tech Pavilion will be able to experience the works by these artists and other installations including a glimpse into how virtual reality is being incorporated into video game design, a virtual reality tour of Norman Rockwell paintings and hands-on, virtual reality art-making with Google Tilt Brush. “It’s exciting to have the Sausalito Art Festival involved in these early days to showcase what’s here now and tease what’s coming,” says Kolb. “This type of art lets you enter the world of your own art or someone else’s art and experience it in ways you’ve never been able to before.”

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North Bay-native Ben Morrison takes a turn in his musical road with his new solo album.

MUSIC

Plugging In Ben Morrison goes electric By Charlie Swanson

an Francisco singersongwriter and Petalumanative Ben Morrison is striking out on his own with a forthcoming debut solo album and tour this summer, after collaboratively fronting string band ensemble Brothers Comatose for over a decade. “I’ve been in the Brothers Comatose for over 11 years now,” says Morrison. “And last year there were some changes to the band.” With the departure of band members Gio Benedetti and Ryan Avellone, Morrison and his brother Alex put the band on hold while they recruited new musicians. At the same time, Morrison took

a much-needed breather from touring and playing over 100 dates a year with the band. “We took a little bit of downtime to figure out the next step,” says Morrison. That next step turned out to be a detour into rock ‘n’ roll, and Morrison’s new batch of songs finds him incorporating electric guitars and drums, something not seen on a Brothers Comatose stage. “I’ve always wanted to make a record with drums,” he says. “Sometimes, I write songs that don’t quite fit Brothers Comatose, so it was nice to have a different outlet for that.” Now, these new songs have found a home in Morrison’s forthcoming

debut solo record, Old Technology, which was recorded on twoinch tape at San Francisco’s Tiny Telephone Studio earlier this year and which features older songs he’s kept on the back burners as well as new material written especially with this project in mind. “It was really cool approaching writing in a different way,” he says. “A different sound in mind, a different angle to work from.” Old Technology gets its recordrelease party on Friday, Aug. 30, at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, but curious listeners can preview Morrison’s latest single and music video, “I Hope You’re Not Sorry,” in advance on his website. Filmed

by fellow San Francisco raconteur Sam Chase, the music video finds Morrison clutching a Fender guitar and singing to an empty chair in a smoky bar before donning a white jacket and fronting a full band. “The song was inspired by a stalker I had, and no longer have,” says Morrison. "It’s a love song to lost stalker love, like realizing that your stalker no longer comes to your shows anymore and wondering what you did wrong.” Ben Morrison Band performs with opener Kelly McFarling on Friday, Aug 30, at Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley. 8pm. $15-$18. 415.388.3850. benmorrisonmusic.com.

FILM

Bee Natural Old meets new in ‘Honeyland’ By Richard von Busack

ike Sweetgrass before it, Honeyland drops you into the old rural ways. Documentary directors Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov spent three years filming the life of Hatidze Muratova. This lean, hard-working woman in her mid-50s practices an almost extinct craft: She’s a gatherer of wild honey in the vicinity of her deserted village. The bees hive up inside stacked-stone hearths and chimneys, all that are left of what were once stone huts.

This is an obscure corner of the Balkans, where it already looks as if it’s after the end of the world. The country is so little known that its name change didn’t make it into most reviews of Honeyland; as of last February, Macedonia is now known as the Republic of North Macedonia. Hatidze is ethnically Turkish in a land where Turks make up 3 percent of the population. She speaks an old Ottoman dialect that isn’t easily understood even by Turks. This area had a lot of different

flags planted on it during the last century. This village of Bekirlijia, a four-hour walk from the North Macedonian capital of Skopje, was once intended as a place of resettlement for Turks. Over the years, they drifted away from its almost bald hills. They left Haditze to practice her honey gathering in peace, and to tend her disfigured, slowly dying mother. She hikes up the narrow ledges of the hills and picks open the rocks, smoking the bees out with a dung-fired smoker. She removes honeycombs luscious

‘Honeyland’ is now playing at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael.

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Macedonian bee-whisperer Hatidze Muratova practices an ancient method of honey gathering in new documentary.

with honey, and slices them in half — one side for her, one side for the bees. (She also spills some honey on the rocks to feed them.) Haditze’s skills are such that she’s able to do this unveiled and barehanded, calming the bees by murmuring to them. They crawl on her fingers as if they were pets. The life is interrupted when some new neighbors drive in to homestead the village. It’s the Sam family: mom, dad Hussein Sam, their seven or eight kids and several chickens that live inside their trailer. They pound up a tin roof and prepare to raise milk cows in a corral made of the foundations of a ruined house. In all innocence, Haditze teaches him how to gather honey, trusting that there’s enough for everyone. Hussein mucks it up with overproduction, and by introducing aggressive, perhaps Africanized bees. Hussein’s kids—particularly the eldest, the honey-woman’s favorite—are tough enough to deal with the half-wild cattle that kick them and knock them over. But they can’t deal with Hussein’s viciously stinging bees. The hapless father gets indentured to a pushy Bosnian middleman who insists that he can only accept 20 kilos of honey at a time; it’s a different matter for Haditze who hauls her honey to Skopje, jar by jar, chatting with the respectful shopkeepers at the main market to get the best price. Hatidze trusted the filmmakers. Perhaps she was unclear on the concept of what movies are, living as she does in a stone-floored house without electricity or plumbing. And Kotevska and Stefanov honored Hatidze. Though from what we see, there is an open question of what was docudramized and what just naturally appeared in front of the lens. Contrast and conflict are essential for any kind of filmmaking, but there’s a gradual sense here of the story being bent toward an agenda. Honeyland becomes a fable of how the new methods infringe the old ones. The contrast is underscored as heavily as if Kotevska and Stefanov had set out to retell the ancient story of the goose that laid the golden eggs. Honeyland is a haunting and immersive film, but the problem with it is that nothing in the world is quite this simple.

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Movies

• New Movies This Week By Matthew Stafford

Friday August 30-Thursday September 5 Absolute Beginners (1:47) Cult 1986 musical about two teens chasing glam and glory in turbulent 1950s Britain; David Bowie, Patsy Kensit, Robbie Coltrane and Sade star. Adam (1:35) 21st century comedy about a small-town teen so bewitched by an envelope-pushing New York girl, he goes along with her assumption that he’s trans. After the Wedding (1:52) Remake of the acclaimed Danish drama stars Michelle Williams as the head of a Calcutta orphanage and Julianne Moore as her mysterious benefactor. Angel Has Fallen (1:54) Rogue secret service agent Gerard Butler dodges feds and fiends to stop a presidential assassination; Morgan Freeman is POTUS. Apocalypse Now Final Cut (3:03) Newly restored 4K UltraHD version of Francis Coppola's surreal Vietnam War epic follows Martin Sheen on a Conradian quest upriver for mad genius Marlon Brando. Aquarela (1:29) Victor Kossakovsky documentary immerses the viewer in the awesome power of water, from frozen Lake Baikal to ferocious Hurricane Irma; music by Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica. Bennett’s War (1:35) A disabled vet risks his future when he enters a motorcycle race to save the family farm. Blinded by the Light (1:54) A down-andout Pakistani teen gets a new lease on life when he discovers the inspirational workingclass poetry of Bruce Springsteen. Count Orlov (2:18) Moscow Operetta Theatre presents playwright July Kim’s fresh look at the real-life love affair between Catherine the Great’s aide-de-camp and a conniving young Italian. Don’t Let Go (1:43) Sci-fi mystery stars David Oyelowo as a detective who teams up with his time-traveling niece to prevent her murder. The Farewell (1:38) Acclaimed comedydrama about an impromptu Chinese wedding staged so its far-flung family can gather around their dying grandmother one last time. Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles (1:32) Acclaimed documentary charts the evolution of Fiddler on the Roof from Aleichem to Chagall to Mostel and beyond. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (1:29) Four skin-diving teens get in over their heads when the submerged Mayan city they’re exploring is infested with sharks. Good Boys (1:35) Raunchy, sweet-natured comedy about a posse of 12-year-olds enduring a terrifying day of angry cops, stolen drugs and older women. Hampstead (1:43) True tale of the unlikely romance between an upper-crust American expat and an Irish hermit; Diane Keaton and Brendan Gleeson star. Honeyland (1:25) Award-winning documentary focuses on the last of the Macedonian wild beekeepers and how her delicate relationship with nature is threatened by the noisy modern world. It: Chapter Two (2:49) Pennywise the clown is back and badder than ever, terrorizing the

town of Derry despite the best efforts of… Bill Hader? Kinky Boots: The Musical (2:15) Catch the London stage production of the Cyndi Lauper-Harvey Fierstein musical about a failing shoe factory saved from receivership by a flamboyant transvestite cabaret star. Lawrence of Arabia (3:36) Dazzling David Lean epic chronicles the exploits of the mercurial British desert warrior with wit and substance; Peter O’Toole is remarkable in the title role. Mike Wallace Is Here (1:34) Documentary focuses on TV’s toughest interviewer through long-unseen archival footage from Wallace’s 70-year career; Avi Belkin directs. My Place My Story Catch 10 short films crafted by 10 teen tale-spinners at the California Film Institute’s digital storytelling workshop. (Q&A and reception with the filmmakers follows the show.) The Other Story (1:52) Israeli drama about two troubled families with rebellious daughters, one in search of orthodox religious discipline, the other pursuing spiritual and sexual freedom. Overcomer (1:55) Faith-based family film about a down-and-out basketball coach who gets a new lease on life coaching a crosscountry runner. The Peanut Butter Falcon (1:36) Heartwarming tale of a fugitive from justice and a runaway with Down syndrome who elude the law on a ramble through Georgia’s delta country. Ready or Not (1:35) A newlywed learns more than she wants to about her new inlaws and their particularly horrific version of hide and seek. Los Reyes (1:18) Languid documentary about Santiago’s oldest skatepark and the teenagers—and more importantly the dogs—who live their lives there. Saaho (3:00) Indian actioner about a criminal mastermind’s intricate plot to dominate the world; Sujeeth writes and directs. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1:48) A group of teens face their fears in order to save their lives in this adaptation of the children’s books. Time Remembered: The Life and Music of Bill Evans (2:30) Haunting documentary pays tribute to the enigmatic, uber-cool jazz pianist and composer; Tony Bennett, Jon Hendricks and other icons illuminate. Tod@s Caen (1:58) Two experts in the art of seduction meet, spark and sizzle in a battle of the sexiest. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2:00) Portrait of the late Nobel Prize-winning novelist features her insights on race, history and the human condition plus tributes from Angela Davis, Oprah Winfrey and other fans. Where’d You Go, Bernadette (1:49) The Maria Semple bestseller hits the big screen with Cate Blanchett as a self-sacrificing mother determined to reclaim her identity; Richard Linklater directs.

• •

Absolute Beginners (R) Adam (PG) After the Wedding (PG-13)

Lark: Fri 8 Lark: Fri 3:40; Sat 7:15; Mon 9; Wed 10 Regency: Fri-Sat 11:15, 2, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15; Sun, Wed 10:20; Mon, Tue 11:15, 2, 4:45, 7:30; Thu 2, 4:45, 7:30 Angel Has Fallen (R) Larkspur Landing: Fri 6:30, 9:25 Northgate: Fri-Wed 10:35, 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 Rowland: Fri-Wed 11, 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:30 The Angry Birds Movie 2 (PG) Northgate: Fri-Wed 10:55, 1:40, 4:15, 7, 9:40 Rowland: Fri-Wed 11:05, 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:35 Apocalypse Now Final Cut (R) Lark: Sun 7:45 Rafael: Fri 4, 6; Sat-Mon 12, 2, 4, 6; Tue-Thu 6 • Aquarela (NR) Northgate: Fri-Wed 12:25, 3, 5:30, 7:55, 10:20 • Bennett’s War (PG-13) The Biggest Little Farm (NR) Rafael: Sat-Mon 12:30 Blinded by the Light (PG-13) Larkspur Landing: Fri 9:35 Regency: Fri-Sat 10:45, 1:35, 4:20, 7:15, 10; Sun-Thu 10:45, 1:35, 4:20, 7:15 Lark: Sun 1 • Count Orlov (NR) Northgate: Fri-Wed 12:05, 2:45, 5:20, 8, 10:35 • Don’t Let Go (R) Dora and the Lost City of Gold (PG) Northgate: Fri-Wed 11:15, 1:50, 4:35, 7:10, 9:55 Rowland: FriWed 10:50, 1:25, 4:10, 6:50, 9:25 The Farewell (PG) Regency: Fri-Sat 12:30, 3, 5:30, 8, 10:30; Sun-Tue, Thu 12:30, 3, 5:30, 8; Wed 3, 5:30, 8 Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (PG-13) Northgate: Fri-Wed 12:45, 4, 7:15, 10:25 Rowland: Fri-Wed 12:40, 4, 7:10, 10:15 • Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles (PG-13) Regency: Fri-Sat 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15; Sun-Thu 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (PG-13) Northgate: Fri-Wed 10:50, 4:20, 10 Good Boys (R) Larkspur Landing: Fri 7:15, 9:55 Northgate: Fri-Wed 12:30, 2:55, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15 Rowland: Fri-Wed 10:30, 12:50, 3:10, 5:30, 7:50, 10:10 Hampstead (PG-13) Lark: Fri noon; Mon 10; Tue 4:15; Wed 1:50 Honeyland (NR) Rafael: Fri 4:15, 6:15, 8:15; Sat-Mon 12:15, 2:15, 4:15, 6:15, 8:15; Tue-Thu 6:15, 8:15 Cinema: Thu 5, 9 Fairfax: Thu 5 Northgate: Thu 5, 6:15, 7:35, 8:50, • It: Chapter Two (R) 10:05, 11:15 Rowland: Thu 5, 8:40, 10:30, midnight Sequoia: Thu 5, 7 Lark: Wed 6:30 • Kinky Boots: The Musical (NR) Regency: Sun, Wed 1, 6 • Lawrence of Arabia (PG) The Lion King (PG) Northgate: Fri-Wed 10:25, 1:20, 4:10, 7:05, 10 Rowland: FriWed 10:40, 1:35, 4:30, 7:20, 10:20 Maiden (NR) Rafael: Fri 4:30, 6:30, 8:30; Sat-Mon 2:30, 4:30, 6:30, 8:30; Tue 6:30, 8:30; Wed-Thu 8:30 Lark: Thu 6:30 • The Merry Wives of Windsor (NR) Lark: Fri 10; Tue 2:15; Wed noon • Mike Wallace Is Here (NR) Rafael: Wed 6 (free admission; advance ticket required) • My Place My Story (NR) National Theatre London: The Lehman Trilogy (PG-13) Lark: Sat, Mon 1; Tue 6:30 Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (R) Northgate: Fri-Wed 10:30, 2:10, 5:45, 9:20 Regency: Fri-Sat 11:20, 2:55, 6:30, 10:05; Sun-Tue, Thu 11:20, 2:55, 6:30; Wed 2:55, 6:30 Rowland: Fri-Wed 12:15, 6:40 Sequoia: Fri 3:25, 6:50, 9:40; Sat 1:15, 3:25, 6:50, 9:40; Sun-Mon 1:15, 3:25, 6:50; Tue-Wed 3:25, 6:50 Rafael: 8 daily • The Other Story (NR) Overcomer (PG) Northgate: Fri-Wed 11:05, 1:55, 4:45, 7:35, 10:25

The Peanut Butter Falcon (PG-13)

Larkspur Landing: Fri 7, 9:45 Regency: Fri-Sat 11:30, 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30; Sun-Thu 11:30, 2, 4:30, 7 Sequoia: Fri 4:40, 7:15, 10:15; Sat 1, 4:40, 7:15, 10:15; Sun-Mon 1, 4:40, 7:15; Tue-Wed 4:40, 7:15 Northgate: Fri-Wed 12:20, 2:50, 5:25, 7:50, 10:15 Rowland: Ready or Not (R) Fri-Wed 12:05, 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:05 Lark: Fri 2; Sun 11; Mon 7:20; Thu 2:20 • Los Reyes (NR) Northgate: Fri-Wed 5, 9 (in Telugu with English subtitles) Saaho (NR) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (PG-13) Northgate: Fri-Wed 11:30, 2:15, 4:55, 7:40, 10:20 Lark: Sun 3:30 • Spaceballs Quote-Along (PG) Northgate: Fri-Wed 1:10, 6:55 Spider-Man: Far from Home (PG-13) Lark: Sat 5:10; Tue 10; Thu 12:20 • Tel Aviv on Fire (NR) Lark: Sun 6 • Time Remembered (NR) Northgate: Fri-Wed 10:45, 1:35, 4:25, 7:20, 10:10 (in • Tod@s Caen (NR) Spanish with English subtitles) • Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (NR) Lark: Sat 10; Wed 3:50; Thu 4 Northgate: Fri-Wed 11:45, 2:20 Toy Story 4 (G) Rowland: Fri-Wed 3:50, 10:25 Where’d You Go, Bernadette (PG-13) Lark: Fri 5:45; Sat 9:15; Mon 5:05; Tue noon; Thu 10 • Yesterday (PG-13) ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas (NR) Rafael: Sun 4:15 We have omitted some of the movie summaries and times for those that have been playing for multiple weeks.

Showtimes can change after we go to press. Please call theater to confirm. CinéArts Sequoia 25 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley, 388-1190 Century Cinema 41 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, 924-6506 Fairfax 9 Broadway, Fairfax, 453-5444 Lark 549 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur, 924-5111 Larkspur Landing 500 Larkspur Landing Cir., Larkspur, 461-4849 Northgate 7000 Northgate Dr., San Rafael, 491-1314 Playhouse 40 Main St., Tiburon, 435-1251 Rafael Film Center 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael, 454-1222 Regency 80 Smith Ranch Rd., Terra Linda, 479-6496 Rowland 44 Rowland Way, Novato, 898-3385

Russell Johnson

STAGE

Play in the Park Curtain Theatre’s latest is a very enjoyable trip to ‘Windsor’ By Harry Duke

or 20 years, Mill Valley’s Curtain Theatre has treated local audiences to admission-free, fully produced Shakespeare plays performed in the small, outdoor amphitheater in Old Mill Park. Whether they will continue to do so is now in the hands of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, which is vetting complaints from some neighbors who appear to be shocked—SHOCKED—that people actually use the park for its intended purposes. In the meantime, Curtain Theatre proceeds with this year’s production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. The comedy runs weekends through Sept. 8. Not one of Shakespeare’s

most critically revered plays, it commits the cardinal sin (to some) of actually being entertaining. Described by one of the actors after a recent performance as “a terrible read, but great fun to watch,” it contains one of Shakespeare’s greatest characters—the portly Sir John Falstaff (Grey Wolf). He arrives in Windsor a little short on coin and decides the best way to rectify that is to woo two wealthy wives and seduce them out of their purses. Falstaff attempts to enlist his servants Nym (Steve Beecroft) and Pistol (Phillip Swanson) in his scheme, but they refuse and are dismissed. Seeking revenge on him, the ex-servants notify the husbands of the wives, Masters Ford and Page (Marc Berman and

Mark Shepard), of Falstaff ’s designs. Mistresses Ford and Page (Heather Cherry and Marianne Shine) have already figured out Falstaff ’s plan, and plot his comeuppance. Meanwhile, young Anne Page (Lily Jackson) is being pursued by three men—Slender (Anthony Rummel), French Doctor Caius (Beecroft again) and young Fenton (Dan DeGabriele). Each suitor has support from various family members and associates, and it should come as no surprise that the two storylines will connect by the play’s conclusion. It’s interesting to note that in this play the female characters are all levelheaded, while most of the male characters are idiots. Director Kim

Bromley posits this may be one of the reasons this play is often dismissed. There’s a good ensemble at work here, led by Wolf’s charismatic Falstaff. He’s a rogue and a scoundrel, but you’re gonna like the guy. The same goes for the rest of the actors, who are mostly well cast and very entertaining—especially Beecroft’s Inspector Clouseau-ish Doctor Caius. Dress warmly, bring a picnic, borrow one of the theatre company’s blankets and say goodbye to summer with a very enjoyable, light-hearted trip to Windsor. 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' runs Saturday-Sunday through September 8 at the Old Mill Park Amphitheater, 352 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. All shows 2pm. Free. curtaintheatre.org

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The roguish Falstaff (Grey Wolf, left) is one of Shakespeare’s great scoundrels, in ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’

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Kamson Coffee’s beans come from the highlands of northern Thailand.

DINING

Thai This Kamson Coffee elevates Southeast Asian coffee By Amelia Malpas

ina Kamson didn’t always dream of starting a cafe. Heck, she didn’t even used to drink coffee. For the last few years, however, she’s been doing a lot of both. Kamson Coffee in San Rafael opened this spring. Ever since its doors opened and its espresso machines turned on for

the first time, Kamson Coffee has been winning customers over from other small-batch roasteries in the area. Its claim to fame? It only uses coffee grown in Thailand, and it’s the sole purveyor of Thai-grown coffee in the North Bay. According to Kamson, northern Thailand grows fine, 100 percent-

arabica coffee. Kamson Coffee serves it, and customers, Kamson says, are excited by both a new cafe in San Rafael and its niche, single-source product. For Kamson, the story is more personal than just making coffee that tastes great. She was born and raised in a small village in northern

Thailand. “Ever since I was young,” Kamson says, “I always wanted to do something in the hopes [of ] help[ing] out people from the villages back home.” Kamson Coffee is her chance to do it. In rural, northern Thailand, it’s difficult to sustain a living because there’s a lack of economic opportunity, she says. “Originally,” Kamson says, “the hill tribes would grow opium. Eventually, the previous king, Rama 9, introduced coffee plants to reduce drug addiction and human trafficking.” “I wasn’t a coffee drinker until I witnessed how hard the hill tribes work in order for us to hold a good cup of coffee,” she says. The workers, she says, handpick every coffee bean “at three in the morning, on uneven ground infested with mosquitoes and ants.” Four years ago, after visiting the coffee farms in that region, Kamson—then a manager of an IT business—started dreaming about opening a cafe that only sold this coffee. She started the project in earnest a year later, taking classes about managing coffee bars and roasting beans. Kamson then built a direct relationship with northern Thai micro coffee farms, which are supported by the agricultural department of Chiang Mai University. “We are heavily involved with the university to engage with the farmers in hopes that it will serve as a sustainable alternative to the opium trade and human trafficking,” she says. “The results of our efforts create a fascinating experience in the cup, as well as healthy and prosperous communities at the origin.” At first she was worried it would be difficult to break into the San Rafael coffee scene. But, she says, “we are serving a premium product with great customer service.” Kamson hopes more people learn about, and learn to love, the taste of Thai coffee through drinking Kamson Coffee. The more people in the North Bay who drink Thai coffee, Kamson says, “the more support we will all receive.” Kamson keeps the people who pick the coffee—and who inspired her to start the cafe—at the forefront of her mind. “Every time I drink my coffee, I make sure to appreciate it even more.” Y

SUPERB LOCAL WINES By Howard Rachelson

| OUTSTANDING CHEFS | LIVE SONOMA COUNTY

AUGUST 31 2019

1 Nearly all of the 50 states have

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Visa Signature® and Visa Infinite® cardholders receive ticket discounts and special benefits. For more details and Terms & Conditions, visit TasteofSonoma.com/VisaSignature.

an official state slogan. California has a few of them; what are the two most common?

What is the 2-word name for the maneuver a swimmer makes at the end of a lap, to reverse directions?

The fastest-moving animal is what bird, which can dive at 200 mph? (Two-word answer is best.)

SonomaCountyVintners | #TasteofSonoma

TasteofSonoma.com

What type of revolutionary food-server is named after a sluggish woman?

5 What 18th-century British navigator/explorer charted and named many

islands of the Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii and New Zealand?

6 Academy Award-Winning Actresses, you name the film: 6a. 1964 - Julie Andrews 6b. 1982 - Meryl Streep 6c. 1996 - Francis McDormand 6d. 2013 - Cate Blanchett (Woody Allen film) 7 The kiwifruit is native to which of these countries: New Zealand, China or

Australia?

8 After losing financial aid from its biggest supporter in the early 1990s, what small

country had to cancel its annual May Day celebration in 1994, due to lack of funds?

9 When Louise Brown was born in London on July 25, 1978, she became the

world's first baby fertilized in what unusual way?

10 The San Francisco Giants won the World Series in what three years this decade

(Hint: they form an arithmetic progression), and against what three opponents?

BONUS QUESTION: Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like: to, too and two. Identify the following (example: Gaze intently, or elevator (Stare, stair): a. Offspring, or breathing material; b. Affirmative, or coastline; c. Unmoving, or writing material; d. Central part missing, or completely intact Have a great question? Send it in with your name and hometown, and if we use it we’ll give you credit! Contact howard1@triviacafe.com.

Answers on page

»21

Tue 8⁄27 • Doors 7pm ⁄ $22–27 • All Ages

Outdoor Dining Sat & Sun Brunch 11–3

Din ner & A Show

Eric Lindell & The Natural Mystics with Anson Funderburgh Thu 8⁄29 • Doors 7pm ⁄ $14–16 • All Ages

Electric Waste Band feat Bill Walton & Jeff Chimenti

Fri 8⁄30 • Doors 8pm ⁄ $15–18 • All Ages

Aug 30 21st Century Rock ‘n Roll 8:00 ⁄ No Cover

Mari Mack & Aug 31 Livin’ Like Kings Sat

Rockin’ Soul & Blues 8:00 Acoustics on the Lawn Rancho Debut! Sep 6 French Oak Gypsy Band Doors @ 6 / Music @ 7:30 ⁄ No Cover

Ben Morrison Band

Record Release Party

Fri

Sat 8⁄31 • Doors 7pm ⁄ $23–25 • All Ages Steelin' Dan The Music of Steely Dan Thu 9⁄5 & Fri 9/6 • Doors 7pm ⁄ $27–32 • All Ages

THE FUNKIN' TRUTH

with Grammy Lifetime Awardee LEO NOCENTELLI (THE METERS) feat Jason Crosby (Phil Lesh), Felix

Pollard & Michael Warren

Sun 9/8 • Doors 7pm • Show 8pm • 21+ VIP Meet & Greet Seated: $92 GA Seated: $67 Advance/$72 Day of Show (+ fees) An Evening With

T.J. Miller

Mon 9/9 • 7pm • This event is all ages free Open Mic Night with

Austin Delone

www.sweetwatermusichall.com 19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley Café 388-1700 | Box Office 388-3850

Spirits of Turpentine

Fri

of The Brothers Comatose

Lunch & Dinner 7 Days a Week

The Sorentinos Sep 27 Retro Rock ‘n Roll 8:00 ⁄ No Cover BBQs on the LAWN 2019 HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Sun

Sep 1 Sun

Sep 2

Labor Day Weekend

Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio + Angela Strehli Band with special guest Ron Thompson

The Sons of Champlin

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Sun

Pablo Cruise Danny Click & The Hell Yeahs Sep 15 with Ron Artis II & The Truth Sun Sep 22 Illeagles Eagles Tribute Sep 8 Sun

Reservations Advised

415.662.2219

On the Town Square, Nicasio www.ranchonicasio.com

19 PA CI FI C S U N | A U GU S T 2 8 - S EP T EM B ER 3, 2019 | PACI FI CSUN.CO M

Trivia Café

PACI FI C SUN | AUG UST 2 8- S EP T EM B ER 3 , 2 0 1 9 | PA CI FI CS U N. COM

Calendar Concerts The Sons of Champlin Marin’s favorite sons of rock and roll play their annual Labor Day concert, featuring a barbecue on the lawn. Sept 2, 4pm. $30-$35. Rancho Nicasio, 1 Old Rancheria Rd, Nicasio, 415.662.2219. Steel Pulse Reggae legends headline an afternoon concert at the Beach Park with an opening set from Soul Ska. Aug 31, 2pm. $35. Terrapin Crossroads, 100 Yacht Club Dr, San Rafael, 415.524.2773.

Clubs & Venues

Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio with Angela Strehli Band. 1 Old Rancheria Rd, Nicasio, 415.662.2219. Smiley’s Schooner Saloon Aug 31, House of Mary. 41 Wharf Rd, Bolinas, 415.868.1311. Sweetwater Music Hall Aug 29, Electric Waste Band. Aug 30, Ben Morrison album-release show. Aug 31, Steelin’ Dan. 19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, 415.388.3850. The Tavern on Fourth Aug 30, the Melt. Aug 31, the Gold Souls. 711 Fourth St, San Rafael, 415.454.4044. Terrapin Crossroads Aug 29, Colonel & the Mermaids. Aug 30, Top 40 Friday with Jeff Miller and Friends. Aug 31, Kelly McFarling Band. Sept 2, 2pm, ALO at Beach Park. 100 Yacht Club Dr, San Rafael, 415.524.2773.

Belvedere Community Park Sept 1, 4pm, the Sun Kings. 450 San Rafael Ave, Belvedere, belvedereconcerts.org.

Throckmorton Theatre Aug 29, Tibetan Bell Experience with Karma Moffett. Aug 30, Tim Weed with Bobby Vega and Dan Imhoff. 142 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley, 415.383.9600.

Downtown Tiburon Aug 30, 6pm, Friday Nights on Main with the Flaming O’s. Main St, Tiburon, 415.435.5633.

Vladimir’s Czech Restaurant Sept 1, 6pm, Paul Schneider Trio with Fred Lamberson. 12785 Sir Francis Drake, Inverness, 415.669.1021.

George’s Nightclub Sept 1, 5pm, Donna D +3. 842 Fourth St, San Rafael, 415.226.0262.

William Tell House Aug 30, Swing 42. 26955 Hwy 1, Tomales, 707.878.2403.

Hamilton Amphitheater Park Aug 31, 5pm, Hot Amphitheater Nights with the Ha. 601 N Hamilton Pkwy, Novato, novato.org.

Art Opening

Harmonia, 2200 Marinship Way, Sausalito, 415.332.1432. Marin Comics Fest Discover new comics and meet authors and artists at libraries and other venues throughout Marin all month. See website for complete schedule. Sept 4-25. Free unless otherwise noted. San Rafael Library, 1100 E St, San Rafael, marincomicsfest.org. Sausalito Art Festival Art, music, food and wine come together with artists from around the world showing their works and concert performances from Blood, Sweat & Tears, Blues Traveler and others. Aug 31-Sept 2. $30 and up. Marinship Park, Marinship Way, Sausalito, sausalitoartfestival.org. Tomales Founders’ Day Parade & Celebration Celebrate the spirit of “Old California” with live music, barbecue, a parade and more; benefitting local nonprofits. Sept 1, 11am. Free. Downtown Tomales, Shoreline Hwy, Tomales, 707.879.8030.

Field Trips Indian Tree Naturalist Walk Bring a lunch and meet at the trailhead on Vineyard Rd. and walk to the summit. Sept 4, 9am. Free. Indian Tree Preserve, Vineyard Rd, Novato, marincountyparks.org. Sunrise Tour of Muir Woods See majestic trees and hear the story of the forest. Reservations required. Sun, Sept 1, 6:30am. Free. Muir Woods Visitor Center, 1 Muir Woods Rd, Mill Valley, 415.388.2596.

HopMonk Novato Aug 29, Metalachi. Aug 31, Heavy Petty and U2Boy. Sept 1, 6pm, Tim Flannery & the Lunatic Fringe. 224 Vintage Way, Novato, 415.892.6200.

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts Aug 29-Sept 19, “Wabi-Sabi,” annual group exhibit features works based on the aesthetic that celebrates imperfections. Reception, Sept 3 at 5:30pm. 616 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley. 415.388.4331.

Mantra Wines Aug 31, Bo Hoss Boogie Boys. 881 Grant Ave, Novato, 415.892.5151.

Comedy

The Breakfast Club Inaugural “Dominican Night at the Rafael” features the classic ’80s John Hughes comedy. Aug 29, 7pm. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael, 415.454.1222.

Muir Woods Club Sept 2, 3pm, Dirty Cello. 40 Ridge Ave, Mill Valley, mounttamartists.org.

Tuesday Night Live See standup comedians Shawn Pelofsky, Anthony K, G King and others. Sept 3, 8pm. $17-$27. Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley, 415.383.9600.

Movies in Creek Park Family-friendly movies screen at dusk with raffles, trivia contest and more. Aug 31, 7pm. Creek Park, Sir Francis Drake Blvd and Center Blvd, San Anselmo, moviesincreekpark.com.

Events

Food & Drink

Bolinas Labor Day Barbecue Street party and fundraiser for the community center includes two stages of live music, dancing, delicious food and drinks, a silent auction and a kid’s corner. Sept 2, 12pm. Free admission. Bolinas Community Center, 14 Wharf Rd, Bolinas, 415.868.2128.

Off the Grid Food Trucks Eat your way through the largest gathering of mobile food trucks in Marin, listen to live music and take in great views. Sundays, 10am. Marin Country Mart, 2257 Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur, 415.461.5700.

19 Broadway Nightclub Aug 29, Victor Little’s Big Hit. Aug 30, Koolerator. Aug 31, the Receders. Sept 1, 6pm, 19 Broadway Goodtime Band. 17 Broadway Blvd, Fairfax, 415.459.1091. Old Western Saloon Aug 30, Awesome Hotcakes. 11201 Hwy 1, Pt Reyes Station, 415.663.1661. Osteria Divino Aug 29, Ian McArdle Trio. Aug 30, Tammy Hall Trio. Aug 31, David Jeffries Jazz Fourtet. 37 Caledonia St, Sausalito, 415.331.9355. Papermill Creek Saloon Aug 30, Kelly Peterson Band. Aug 31, Soul Ska. Sept 1, 6pm, Papermill Gang. 1 Castro, Forest Knolls, 415.488.9235. Peri’s Silver Dollar Aug 29, Shambolicks. Aug 30, Angelex. Aug 31, Kingsborough. Sept 1, Bluelight Cheap Motel. 29 Broadway, Fairfax, 415.459.9910. Rancho Nicasio Aug 30, Spirits of Turpentine. Aug 31, Mari Mack & Livin’ Like Kings. Sept 1, 4pm,

Cycle Fest 2019 Bikes, bike parts, gear, equipment and anything else bike related will be available to buy, sell or trade. Sept 1, 9am. Free admission. Sports Basement Novato, 100 Vintage Way, Novato, 415.493.2633. Harmonia Community Gathering Monthly party at Harmonia features sales and specials, bites, drinks, live music and more. RSVP requested. Aug 29, 7:30pm. Free.

Film

Singles Pizza Night Dress to impress, eat pizza and meet new friends. Sept 4, 7pm. $10. Moseley’s Sports & Spirits, 55 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, 415.704.7437.

Lectures Bring Your Voice to College Application Essays Ellen White helps students discover what is unique about their history, experiences

or talents and enables them to bring that experience to their college applications. Sept 4, 7pm. Free. Corte Madera Library, 707 Meadowsweet Dr, Corte Madera, 415.924.3515. Community Media Orientation Get answers to all your media questions, including how you can produce content and get it on the air in Marin. Sept 3, 7pm. Free. Community Media Center of Marin, 819 A St, San Rafael, 415.721.0636. Ed Hardy & the Art of the New Tattoo Presentation covers the work of the renowned tattoo artist and how his art elevated the tattoo to an important visual art form. Sept 4, 1pm. San Rafael City Council Chambers, 1400 Fifth Ave, San Rafael, 415.485.3321. Remembrances of Things Past: Recollections of a Seasoned Broadcaster Marin Coalition presents legendary broadcaster Michael Krasny in discussion to begin its 2019-20 season of programs. RSVP required. Sept 4, 12pm. $31-$35. The Club at McInnis Park, 350 Smith Ranch Rd, San Rafael, marincoalition.org. Zentangle Art with Romi Marks Learn to draw using patterns to increase focus and creativity. Registration required. Aug 29, 11am. Free. Larkspur Library, 400 Magnolia Ave, Larkspur, larkspurlibrary.org.

Readings Aqus Cafe Sept 2, 6:15pm, Rivertown Poets Amuseing Mondays, featuring Sonoma County Poet Laureate Maya Khosla and Camille Norton, with open mic. 189 H St, Petaluma 707.778.6060. Book Passage Sept 3, 7pm, “Brave New Medicine” with Cynthia Li. 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera 415.927.0960.

Theater Merry Wives of Windsor Curtain Theatre celebrate 20 years of theater and presents the Shakespearean comedy. Through Sept 8. Free. Old Mill Park, Throckmorton and Cascade, Mill Valley, curtaintheatre.org. A Midsummer Night’s Dream See preview performances of the Marin Shakespeare Company’s new production, which officially opens Sept 6. Aug 30-Sept 1. Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 890 Belle Ave, Dominican University, San Rafael, marinshakespeare.org.

The PACIFIC SUN’s calendar is produced as a service to the community. If you have an item for the calendar, send it to calendar@bohemian.com, or mail it to: NORTH BAY BOHEMIAN, 847 Fifth St, Santa Rosa CA 95404. Inclusion of events in the print edition is at the editor’s discretion. Deadline is two weeks prior to desired publication date.

PublicNotices

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT— File No: 2019147240. The following individual(s) are doing business: A.L. ELECTRIC, 527 BRET HARTE RD., SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901. ANTONIO LUSINCHI, 527 BRET HARTE RD., SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901, This business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on JULY 19, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 7, 14, 21, 28 of 2019) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT— File No: 2019147295. The following individual(s) are doing business: LITTLE FLUFF, 27 CHERRY STREET, PETALUMA, CA 94952: LISA B JAMES 27 CHERRY STREET, PETALUMA, CA 94952. This business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on JULY

25, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 14, 21, 28 SEPTEMBER 4 of 2019) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT— File No: 2019147164. The following individual(s) are doing business: WEDNESDAY YACHTING LUNCHEON, 439 WELLESLEY AVENUE, MILL VALLEY, CA 94941: RONALD P YOUNG, 439 WELLESLEY AVENUE, MILL VALLEY, CA 94941. This business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on JULY 8, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 14, 21, 28 SEPTEMBER 4 of 2019) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT— File No: 2019-147333. The following individual(s) are doing business: COA CHOCOLATE, 707 BRIDGEWAY, SAUSALITO, CA 94965 CURTIS CAPITAL LLC, 239 BRANNAN, 5C, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, This business is being conducted by A CORPORATION. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on JULY 30, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 14, 21, 28 SEPTEMBER 4 of 2019)

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT —File No: 2019147402. The following individual(s) are doing business: MARIN MEDICAL, AESTHETICS MARIN BODY SCULPTING, 1375 SAN ANSELMO AVE, SAN ANSELMO, CA 94960: MARIN MEDICAL AESTHETICS, INC 1375 SAN ANSELMO AVE, SAN ANSELMO, CA 94960. This business is being conducted by AN CORPORATION. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on AUGUST 9, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 21, 28 SEPTEMBER 4, 11 of 2019)

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT— File No: 2019147379. The following individual(s) are doing business: MARIN BEAUTY ACADEMY, 854 FOURTH ST, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901: MARIN BEAUTY ACADEMY LLC., 854 FOURTH ST, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901. This business is being conducted by LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on AUGUST 6, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 28, SEPTEMBER 4, 11, 18 of 2019)

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT— File No: 2019147468. The following individual(s) are doing business: HOT YOGA REPUBLIC, 4050 REDWOOD HIGHWAY, SUITE G, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903: HOT YOGA REPUBLIC LLC., 109 GREGORY REPUBLIC LLC, FAIRFAX, CA 94903. This business is being conducted by LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on AUGUST 21, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 28, SEPTEMBER 4, 11, 18 of 2019)

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUMBER: CIV 21902959 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF MARIN TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS 1. Petitioner (name of each): Marilyn Hien Petranto, has filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present Name: Michael James Butcher to Proposed Name: Michael James Petranto 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter shall appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above

OTHER NOTICES

must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. if no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING a. Date: 10/4/2019, Time: 9:00am, Dept: B, Room: B. The address of the court is same as noted above; 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. 3.a. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the Pacific Sun, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Marin. DATED: AUGUST 5, 2019 Andrew E Sweet Judge of the Superior Court James M Kim Court Executive Officer MARIN COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT By E. Anderson, Deputy (AUGUST 14, 21, 28 SEPTEMBER 4 of 2019) ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE NUMBER: CIV 1902964 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF MARIN TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS 1. Petitioner (name of each): Chelsea Adriana Rodriquez, has filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present Name: Chelsea Adriana Rodriquez to Proposed Name: Chelsea Adriana Rodriquez Reyes 2. THE

COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter shall appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. if no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING a. Date: 10/3/2019, Time: 9:00am, Dept: E, Room: E. The address of the court is same as noted above; 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. 3.a. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the Pacific Sun, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Marin. DATED: AUGUST 5, 2019 Andrew E Sweet Judge of the Superior Court James M Kim Court Executive Officer MARIN COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT By E. Anderson, Deputy (AUGUST 14, 21, 28 SEPTEMBER 4 of 2019)

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94901, This business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on JULY 29, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 7, 14, 21, 28 of 2019)

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PublicNotices 94901, This business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on JULY 29, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 7, 14, 21, 28 of 2019) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT— File No: 2019147240. The following individual(s) are doing business: A.L. ELECTRIC, 527 BRET HARTE RD., SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901. ANTONIO LUSINCHI, 527 BRET HARTE RD., SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901, This business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on JULY 19, 2019. (Publication Dates: AUGUST 7, 14, 21, 28 of 2019) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT— File No: 2019147295. The following individual(s) are doing business: LITTLE FLUFF, 27 CHERRY STREET, PETALUMA, CA 94952: LISA B JAMES 27 CHERRY STREET, PETALUMA, CA 94952. This business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on JULY

OTHER NOTICES

By Amy Alkon

If a guy is trying to amp up his attractiveness by working out, what areas of the body should he focus on? What do women notice and want? And how much of that can I get without any kind of surgery or dangerous potions?—Office Bod

If a woman says to you, “You’re like family to me,” it shouldn’t be because you have arms like her sister. Women seem to go for the body shape that evolutionary psychologists Rebecca Burch and Laura Johnsen refer to as “Captain Dorito.” This describes the golden triangle seen in cartoonishly masculinized male superhero bodies: broad shoulders leading down into a small, tight waist and butt. As for why women might have evolved to prefer this body type, evolutionary psychologist David Buss explains in Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind that ancestral women were obviously better off with a “physically formidable” partner, able to protect them and their children. The inner biochemical landscape of physical formidability is high testosterone. Accordingly, Buss notes that, in men, high testosterone is associated with a very masculine body and facial features (like a square jaw and more pronounced cheekbones). Noting that high levels of testosterone compromise the immune system, Buss cites psychologist Victor S. Johnston’s observation that only males who are very healthy can “afford” to produce high levels of testosterone during their development. The bodies of less healthy males need to suppress T production so they can hang on to the limited immune resources they have. As for you, when you hit the gym, your areas of focus should be your shoulders, arms and butt. However, you should do whole-body workouts, too, lest you end up pairing superhero pecs with broomstick thighs and calves.

My girlfriends and I have had this experience numerous times: A guy who’s interested in one of us will suddenly stop texting us, but then reappear a few months later liking our social media posts. This just happened to me. It’s about three months since he vanished, and he’s suddenly all up in my Instagram. Why do guys do this?—Annoyed

You almost wish the guy would greet you honestly: “‘Sup, Plan B?!” This guy might’ve initially been interested in you. However, chances are you eventually became what evolutionary psychologists like Joshua Duntley call a “backup mate” (basically the dating-and-mating version of a spare tire or the vice president). Duntley’s work suggests humans evolved to identify and cultivate backup mates so we wouldn’t be left high and dry for long if our main boo died or ran off with the hot neighbor. I know … so romantic. That said, it isn’t wrong to have backup mates. Research by Duntley and his colleagues points to many or most of us having them, though we’re often not aware of it. The thing is, this guy’s disappearing and then sliding back into your life with likes on some of your Instagram posts is a big, red flag—a big, red, sequined flag with cop flashers on top. Character is revealed in how people behave when they feel they have nothing to gain from someone. Maybe this guy got the hots for some other woman and the lukewarms for you. Or maybe he just got busy. Whatever the reason, it takes minimal effort to make a kind exit—even saying, “I’ve got a lot going on right now, and I need to take a break from talking.” When someone shows themselves to be a jerk, you may want to broom them out of even the edges of your life. This is clickably easy on Instagram, thanks to the block function. Blocking a guy like this should be a wise preemptive measure, considering his idea of good manners is probably prefacing the 2 a.m. “I’m horny!” text with a few likes on photos of your kitten in a tinfoil conspiracy hat. Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon at 171 Pier Ave. #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email adviceamy@aol.com. @amyalkon on Twitter. Weekly radio show, blogtalkradio.com/amyalkon

Astrology

For the week of August 28

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Here are examples of activities I recommend you try in the coming days. 1. Build a campfire on the beach with friends, and regale each other with stories of your most interesting successes. 2. Buy eccentric treasures at a flea market and ever thereafter refer to them as your holy icons. 3. Climb a hill and sit on the grass as you sing your favorite songs and watch the moon slowly rise over the eastern horizon. 4. Take naps when you’re “not supposed to.” 5. Sneak into an orchard at night and eat fruit plucked just moments before. 6. Tell a beloved person a fairy tale in which he or she is the hero.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The hardiest

creature on the planet may be the bacterium known as Deinococcus radiodurans. It can endure exposure to radiation, intense cold, dehydration, acid and vacuum. I propose we make it your power creature for the coming weeks. Why? Not because I expect you’ll have to deal with a lot of extreme conditions, but rather because I think you’ll be exceptionally robust, both physically and psychologically. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to succeed at demanding challenges that require you to be in top form, now is a good time to do it. P.S. Deinococcus radiodurans is colloquially referred to as Conan the Bacterium, borrowing from the spirit of the fictional character Conan the Barbarian, who’s renowned for his strength and agility.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the yearly cycle of many Geminis, retreating into a state akin to hibernation makes sense during the end of August and the first three weeks of September. But since many of you are high-energy sophisticates, you often override your body’s signals. And then nature pushes back by compelling you to slow down. The result may be a rhythm that feels like constantly taking three steps forward and two steps backward. May I suggest a different approach this year? Would you consider surrendering, even slightly, to the invitation to relax and recharge? CANCER (June 21-July 22): If you decide to travel to a particular place via hot air balloon, you must be prepared for the possibility that your route will be indirect. At different altitudes, the wind may be blowing in different directions: toward the east at a hundred feet high, but toward the southwest at two hundred feet. The trick for the pilot is to jockey up and down until finding a layer that’s headed toward the desired destination. I see your life right now as having a metaphorical resemblance to this riddle: You haven’t yet discovered the layer that will take you where you want to go, but I bet you will soon. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Considering how brightly

you’ve burned since the Flame Angels designated you as the Hottest Cool Person of the Month, I hesitate to urge you to simmer down. But I must. Before there’s a meltdown in your vicinity, please lower your thermostat. Not a lot. Just a little. If you do that, everyone will continue to see your gleaming charisma in the best possible light. But don’t you dare extinguish your blaze. Don’t apologize for your brilliant shimmer. The rest of us need your magical radiance.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Shogun is a bestselling novel about an Englishman who transforms himself into a samurai warrior in 17thcentury Japan. Written by James Clavell, it’s over 1,100 pages long. Clavell testified that the idea for the story sprang up in him when he read one line in his daughter’s schoolbook: “In 1600 an Englishman went to Japan and became a samurai.” I suspect it’s highly likely you, too, will soon encounter a seed like that, Virgo: A bare inspiration that will eventually bloom into a Big Thing. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran athlete Mickey Mantle is in Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame. He had a spectacular 18-year career, winning the Most Valuable Player Award three times, playing in 12 World Series and being selected to the All-Star team 16 times. So it’s astounding that (according to his biographer Jane Leavy) he

By Rob Brezsny

played with a torn ligament in his knee for 17 years. She quoted an orthopedic surgeon who said that Mantle compensated for his injury with “neuromuscular genius.” I’m thinking that in the next few weeks you’re in a position to accomplish an equivalent of Mantle’s heroic adjustment.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Most people

who belong to the Church of Satan neither believe in, nor worship, Satan. (They’re atheists, and don’t believe in the supernatural.) I think a comparable principle is true for many rightwing,fundamentalist Christians. Their actions and words are replete with bigotry, hard-heartedness, materialism and selfishness: so, contrary to what the real Jesus Christ taught, in effect they don’t believe in, or worship, Jesus Christ. I mention this, Scorpio, in hopes of inspiring you to take inventory of whether your stated ideals are reflected in the practical details of how you live your life. That’s always an interesting and important task, of course, but it’s especially so for you right now. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to purge any hypocrisy from your system and get your actual behavior in close alignment with your deepest values.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): It’s the right time for you to create a fresh mission statement and promotional campaign. For inspiration, read mine: “My column ‘Free Will Astrology’ offers you a wide selection of realities to choose from. With 4,212 years of dedication to customer service (over the course of my last 13 incarnations), I’m a reliable ally supporting your efforts to escape your oppressive conditioning and other people’s hells. My horoscopes come with an ironclad guarantee: If the advice you read is wrong, you’re under no obligation to believe it. And remember: A panel of 531 experts determined that ‘Free Will Astrology’ is an effective therapy for your chronic wounds and primordial pain. It’s also dramatic proof that there’s no good reason to be afraid of life.” CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Here are

good questions for you to meditate on during the next four weeks. 1. How can you attract resources that will expand your mind and your world? 2. Are you bold enough to reach out to wise sources and provocative influences which could connect you with useful tricks and practical treasures? 3. What interesting lessons can you stir up as you explore mercurial edges, skirt changeable boundaries, journey to catalytic frontier, and make pilgrimages to holy hubbubs? 4. How best can you encourage lyrical emotion over polished sentimentality? Joyous idealism over astringent zealotry? Exuberant integrity over formulaic kindness?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the best you can do is choose which rules you want to live by,” wrote author Wallace Stegner, “and it’s persistent and aggravated imbecility to pretend you can live without any.” That will be an excellent meditation for you during the coming weeks. I trust you are long past the time of fantasizing you can live without any rules. Your challenge now is to adjust some of the rules you have been living by—or even dare to align yourself with some new rules—and then completely commit yourself to being loyal to them and enjoying them. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Given the

astrological omens that will symbolize your personal story in the coming weeks and months, I think Piscean author Nikos Kazantzakis articulated the perfect prescription for you. I invite you to interpret his thoughts to fit your circumstances. “We’re going to start with small, easy things,” he wrote. “Then, little by little we shall try our hand at the big things. And after that, after we finish the big things, we shall undertake the impossible.” Here’s an additional prod from

Go to realastrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text Message Horoscopes. Audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1.877.873.4888.

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