A Press Democrat Blog

Arts

Dan Taylor on the fine arts scene.

6th Street Playhouse wins six Critics Circle awards

Thursday, at 7:00 by

The 6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa has won six awards from the San Francisco/Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle for 2012. The Playhouse won for best ensemble performing in a theater with 100-300 seats for its production of “August: Osage County.” The show also won awards in that division for Jill Zimmerman, as best principal female in a play; John Browning, best featured male in a play, and Marty Pistone “best specialty,” for his fight choreography. For its Studio Theater… Read More »

New season opens in August at Wells Fargo Center

Wednesday, at 12:00 by

Wells Fargo Center will kick off its 2013-2014 season in August in a newly renovated auditorium, with shows by soul diva Patti LaBelle, singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, country music superstar Randy Travis and comedian Ron White. The opening blitz includes: LaBelle, Aug. 16, with tickets priced from $79 to $119; Carlile, Aug. 18, $39-$49; Travis, Aug. 21, $45-$59, and White, Aug. 24, $62-$172. The season also features comedy by Lewis Black on Sept. 13, $47.50-$57.50; an appearance by stars from the… Read More »

New Freedom Jazz Choir performs in Santa Rosa

Tuesday, at 7:00 by

The new HJF (Healdsburg Jazz Festival) Freedom Jazz Choir, a chorus of more than 100 voices, led by jazz bassist Marcus Shelby and accompanied by his 17-piece orchestra, will perform Saturday, May 18, in Santa Rosa. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino Ave. Admission: $20. The program will include “Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” a jazz suite written by Shelby. Performers will include Faye Carol, and Adam Ivey’s… Read More »

Navajo dancer and musician Tony Redhouse to perform in Petaluma

Monday, at 9:17 by

Tony Redhouse, Grammy-nominated performer from Tucson, Ariz., will perform at a “Native American Song Dance & Music Concert” from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 25, at the Petaluma Veterans Memorial Building, 1094 Petaluma Blvd. S. Redhouse, a dancer, musician and spiritual teacher of the Navajo Nation, also teach a “Dream Catcher Workshop” from 1 to 3 p.m. the same day at the same location. Admission costs $20 for the concert. The workshop fee is $7 for ages 7 to… Read More »

Former Sonoma County artist hosts Australian TV series

Friday, at 10:50 by

Followers of local fine arts may remember an Australian painter named Graeme Stevenson, who lived and worked in Sonoma County for a decade, from 1991 to 2001, before returning to his homeland. He was back in Santa Rosa recently, talking about his Australian reality television series, “Put Some Color In Your Life.” A husky 54-year-old, with piercing blue eyes and reddish and white hair and beard, Stevenson doesn’t look much like the art critic type you might expect to host… Read More »

Tickets go on sale for two Diana Ross concerts in SF in August

Thursday, at 2:55 by

Tickets go sale at 10 a.m. Friday, May 10, for two concerts by Diana Ross, scheduled  for 8 p.m. Aug. 6 and 7 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre. The shows were booked by concert promoter Rick Bartalini, who brought Ross to the Golden Gate Theater in 2011 for a sold-out concert, her first in San Francisco in 40 years. Both theaters are part of the SHN (Shorenstein Hays Nederlander) group. Selling over 100 million records, with 18 number-one hits,… Read More »

Rialto Cinemas screens ‘Mumia’ documentary

Thursday, at 7:00 by

“Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary, a two-hour documentary about journalist and writer Mumia Abu-Jamal, opens Friday (May 10) at the Rialto, 6868 McKinley St. Sentenced to death after he was convicted of murdering a policeman in 1981, Abu-Jamal continues to live and work on Death Row in a Pennsylvania prison. The film includes interviews with author-activists Cornel West, Alice Walker and Angela Davis, comedian and activist Dick Gregory, and journalist Amy Goodman. Tickets prices range from $7.25 to $9.50. Information: 525-4840,… Read More »

Rodney Strong and Robert Mondavi concert series open in June

Wednesday, at 12:00 by

Music lovers can look forward to the return of two iconic Wine Country traditions this summer — the Rodney Strong Vineyards Summer Concert Series and the Robert Mondavi Winery Summer Festival Concert Series. Former Doobie Brothers lead singer Michael McDonald opens the Rodney Strong series June 22 at the vineyard, 11455 Old Redwood Highway, just south of Healdsburg. Admsission: $75-$115. The rest of the series includes: Aug. 3 — Pop trio BWB (Rick Braun, Kirk Whalum and Norman Brown). $60-$90.… Read More »

Santa Rosa singer Pete Stringfellow gets a bit part on ABC-TV’s ‘Nashville’

Wednesday, at 7:00 by

Santa Rosa actor and country singer Pete Stringfellow wants his fans and friends to tune in to ABC-TV’s “Nashville” at 10 tonight, May 8. Assuming he hasn’t been edited out, he’ll appear in several scenes as a member of a band’s road crew, speaking a few lines and even playing a little guitar. “Hopefully, I’ll make the cut,” he said. “They treated me like a rock star during the shoot. I had a stand-in and even a trailer.” Stringfellow, 40,… Read More »

Paintings by Grace Slick to be shown in Healdsburg

Tuesday, at 12:19 by

Based on her tempestuous rock-star career as lead singer for Jefferson Airplane in the 1960s, no one would expect Grace Slick to be shy or demure, even at age 73. And sure enough, she isn’t. “I’ve lived a good life,” she said by phone from her Malibu home. “Now I’m an old broad.” In her second career as an artist, Slick produces paintings just as colorful and provocative as her songs. She’ll appear Saturday, May 18, at the Norcal Modern… Read More »