Last week, I shared the story of my late uncle's quirky painting, 'Space Dogs," which has hung on the family room wall in his home for decades. Then I called on all of you to share your own hidden artistic treasures, and the responses starting coming in right [...]
When my Uncle Greg was a young man, someone gave him a paint-by-numbers kit for Christmas. But Gregory Doyle was an unconventional man. First, he was a brainy botanist specializing in genetics for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the University of Missouri. ("I study the sex life [...]
Now for something completely different ... Well, actually, it's sort of the same. Last year, Paul Stokeld of the Toad in the Hole Pub in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square put on a street party he called "Mostly Python." "It was great success and a lot of fun," Stokeld says. So, [...]
After well-received runs in Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, North Bay writer and performer David Templeton is taking his "one-sinner show" south to Marin County. "Wretch Like Me," Templeton's autobiographical tale of religious zealotry opens Jan. 20 at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre, located (logically enough) at 142 Throckmorton Ave. in Mill [...]
The Smothers Brothers have been clowning and singing, from time to time, at Santa Rosa's Wells Fargo Center for the Arts ever since it opened in the early '80s as the Luther Burbank Center. And they'll be back next spring. Tickets go on sale at noon Friday, Dec. [...]
A one-man show is normally a fairly straight-forward production,without a lot of complex personnel issues, but when that one man can't go on, there's a problem. Actor John Rowan opened in the new Pegasus Theater production of John Sedaris' "Santaland Diaries" as planned, on Dec. 5, but illness has forced [...]
The evidence is in. Audiences are looking for laughs this Christmas season. "Ham for the Holidays," the new farce by Santa Rosa's Shad Willingham, just premiered Dec. 4 in the Studio Theatre at the 6th Street Playhouse, and ticket sales have been good enough to warrant adding three additional performances: [...]
“Santaland Diaries,” writer David Sedaris’ wry memoir about his stint as one of Santa’s elves at Macy’s in New York, is becoming a new holiday favorite in Sonoma County. A downtown Santa Rosa production, directed by Argo Thompson and starring David Yen (above), had a successful run last December and [...]
Dan Hicks is one of those guys that is always coming out to play one more gig, and it's always fun to see him. Hicks and his Hot Licks will stage their seasonal concert, "Holidaze in Hicksville," at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, at the Raven Theater, 115 [...]
What is art? Whether it’s oil on canvas or actors on stage, dancers on their toes or comedians doing stand-up, Press Democrat staff writer Dan Taylor covers the fine and lively arts in Northern California. Meet the people, go behind the scenes and get ahead on what’s coming up.