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Clayton board members help lead new performing arts academy JAY BEDECARRÉ Clayton Pioneer
Since receiving its charter authorization in July, the new Contra Costa School of Performing Arts has its governing board in place and agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding with the Contra Costa County Board of Education. Three of its founding board members are Clayton residents. Executive Director Neil McChesney said the search for a temporary home is ongoing for the public charter school that expects to open next August. McChesney is looking at local sites to begin operating next summer while he continues dialogue with the city of Concord concerning place-
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ment and construction of a permanent site for the charter school on the grounds of the Concord Pavilion. The governing board appointees include Clayton residents Alison Bacigalupo, Jim Wickware and Sherrie Sarna plus Lisa Kingsbury and Gabriela Rowland. They began meeting last month. Bacigalupo worked with McChesney at Clayton Valley High School, was involved in the conversion of CVHS to Clayton Valley Charter and served on its founding governing board. From humble beginnings in a small Mississippi town, Sarna’s family moved to Southern California where she attended public schools in south-central Los Angeles. She relocated to the Bay Area in 1985 and has had a 26-year career in law enforcement. Sarna has been a county
resident for over 18 years and has raised six children in the public school system. She has two sets of identical twins currently attending local. Wickware has lived in the East Bay for almost 50 years. After attending public schools and then graduating from UC Berkeley in 1980, he worked for three international companies in statisALISON tics, manageBACIGALUPO ment and sales before starting his own firm in 1994. He’s been a board member at First Lutheran School and on the parent faculty club at Mt. Diablo Elementary School.
Rowland co-founded with another parent an afterschool enrichment program, DramaMama Productions, which worked with middle school and elementary school children. As a director and owner of DramaMama Productions, she worked with the Mt. Diablo Unified School District and city of Concord. Additionally the charter has an advisory council that currently includes Janet Gower, Kristin Avila, Donn K. Harris and Milton Reynolds. A month after receiving a maximum five-year charter authorization from the county school board, McChesney was back before the board in August to seek approval of a MOU. “This agreement essentially sets forth the conditions for us to open,” McChesney explains. He was quizzed by board
members about how the school will be funded. McChesn e y explained that the SHERRIE SARNA school is seeking donations and grants but will rely on a factoring loan based the expected daily attendance funds that will come from the state once the school opens next fall. The expectation is for at least 300 students spread across grades 6-10 in the first year. Ultimately the organizers project 750 students from grades 6-12. For more information and to contribute to the school’s fundraising drive visit the website: charthousepublicschools.org.
Secrets abound ‘In a Dark, Dark Wood’ Ruth Ware’s debut novel, “In a Dark, Dark Wood” (Gallery/Scout Press; August, 2015), possesses all the best elements of a thriller: a remote country estate, a bachelorette party and a group of frenemies that really, really should have scrubbed their email lists and left each other well enough alone after those terrible school days. But then, where’s the pleasure in that? The story is narrated by Nora, an author who specializes in crime thrillers. Back in school, she was called Lee, short for Leonora. Only one person ever called her Leo, and it was her first love, James. But then he broke up with her — via text — and she moved on. Ten years later, Nora is mostly okay, writing novels and living a fine, urban single life. Then one day out of the blue, she receives an invitation to an old friend’s wedding. Surprised, she feels a little sorry for Clare, thinking that maybe she has no other girls to invite, hav-
CYNTHIA GREGORY
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ing to dredge back 10 years for her bachelorette do. Nora is undecided about whether or not to attend the hen, but her invite is followed quickly by an email from Nina, who is also wary of Clare’s motives. “If you go, I will,” she says. Nora agrees and they somehow wind up traveling to the remote English countryside together. Nina hates the country and misses her girlfriend, and Nora is straightway filled with dread by their accommodations: a modern glass box dropped
unceremoniously in a meadow at the edge of a dark and menacing wood. The house belongs to Flo’s aunt and feels to Nora like a dangerous cage, though it is only a country estate, complete with a shotgun hung over the living room fireplace. Miles from anywhere, cell reception is sketchy and the revelers are coolly irritable. When Clare announces to Nora that the reason she was invited to the hen and not the wedding is because the groom-to-be is the infamous James, the weekend really takes a turn. It doesn’t help that Flo’s hen party games involve embarrassing details about the bride and groom, shaming and humiliating Nora repeatedly. And then it snows. And then the land lines go out and the hen fete devolves into a churlish clutch of drunken, paranoid hostages. Fun. When the phones go down, Melanie decides to bail, a welcome excuse to return home to her infant son. Flo is alternately weepy and aggressive toward
anyone who isn’t into the spirit of the weekend. Tom would rather be home with his husband but stays on, drinking gin and taking well-aimed shots at Nina and Nora. Clare plays referee, keeping anyone from coming to actual blows. After two days of slowly escalating hell, Nora wakes up in a hospital confused, horribly bruised, and under police watch. She is suspected of murder, but she can’t remember what happened. The harder she tries to recall, the more the truth evades her. Novelist Ware has created a deft and ominous page turner in this fabulous thriller, replete with plot twists, red herrings and a truly scary villain. If you’re still looking for provocative poolside reading to finish the summer, this novel should do nicely. Cynthia Gregory is a North Bay nonprofit leader, writer of short fiction, and author of a blog. Email comments and questions to Editor@ConcordPioneer.com
‘Compton’ loses its beat on screen Growing up listening to the relatively safe rhymes of RUN DMC and Beastie Boys, it’s safe to say that at 10-years old, the first listen to N.W.A. was an earopener. Sneaking around with a Walkman, trying to keep mom from hearing, didn’t last long. Eventually, the tape was taken away. Yet N.W.A. had a lasting effect, both on me and the rap world itself. They hit hard, loud and some would say, obscenely. They also lived the same way. F. Gary Gray’s new biopic “Straight Outta Compton” chronicles the brief career of what many call the greatest rap
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group in history. At two-and-ahalf hours, the film drags on a bit. However, Gray manages to keep it interesting with the help of fine acting and, of course, the music. In 1986, Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) are three young black men trying to survive in Compton. Dre spins records at a local R&B club, Cube writes lyrics while still in high school, and E sells drugs. The movie opens with what feels like a by-the-numbers introduction for our three main rappers. The writing here feels clichéd and forced. Yet, once we start to see their lives unfold, the beginnings of N.W.A. start to take shape. Dre realizes that with his production skills and Cube’s lyrics, they should all be laying down tracks. One frustrating thing about the process is we never see how the actual beats and music come about. Gray chooses only to show numerous recording booth rap sessions. After some hilarious attempts at rapping by E, he finally hits his stride and the first hit, “Boyz in Tha Hood” is born. N.W.A. was full of several very distinct personalities. “Straight Outta Compton” struggles a bit in giving equal screen time to each of the band members. MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) and DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) did not have the solo careers or the outspoken personalities of the other three. Brown and Hodge do a fine job but the characters aren’t given much to do besides joke and rap, respectively. Founding member Arabian Prince did not even get a men-
JEFF MELLINGER
SCREEN SHOTS tion in the film. Dre, Cube and E are the real backbone of the group and the film. They all deal with their own problems while trying to handle outside issues like police harassment, crooked record deals, and the violence that surrounds them. Hawkins flexes his acting range when Dre breaks down dealing with family strife and when he stands up to menacing producer Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor). We get a sense Dre is a more complicated character than what we see on screen. Jackson Jr. steps right into his
father’s shoes and inhabits the brooding, sometimes violent Ice Cube. However it is Mitchell that steals the show. Mitchell is at times menacing and heartbreaking as E. His friendship with shady producer Jerry Heller (a smarmy Paul Giamatti) may have been what ultimately ended N.W.A. From hardcore drug dealer, to rich husband, to dying of AIDS, Eazy-E lived a short and turbulent life. Despite the quibbles one can find earlier in the film, Gray handles this stage of the film beautifully. Whatever comeback may have been in the works in 1995 was snuffed out forever by the death of Eazy-E. Yet, N.W.A. will eternally live on as the grandfathers of gangster rap. “Straight Outta Compton” is a great starting point for those who have little to no knowledge of the band. It is also fine nostalgia piece for those of us who followed N.W.A. Here’s wishing the film hit equally as hard as the music. B
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‘STRAIGHT OUT OF COMPTON’ tells the story of young black rappers trying to survive in Compton. From left: DJ Yella, MC Ren, Eazy-E, and Dr Dre.