Pacific Sun

YEAR 53, NO. 50 DECEMBER 16-22, 2015

SERVING MARIN COUNTY

PACIFICSUN.COM

‘STAR WARS’: MARIN ORIGIN TO WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON

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02 H O M E

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1200 Fifth Ave., Suite 200 San Rafael, CA 94901 Phone: 415.485.6700 Fax: 415.485.6266 E-Mail: letters@pacificsun.com ON THE COVER

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Design by Phaedra Strecher

Publisher Rosemary Olson x315 EDITORIAL Editor Molly Oleson x316 Movie Page Editor Matt Stafford Copy Editor Lily O’Brien CONTRIBUTORS Amy Alkon, Rob Brezsny, Charles Brousse, Tom Gogola, Tanya Henry, Stephanie Powell, Howard Rachelson, Nikki Silverstein, David Templeton, Charlie Swanson, Richard von Busack, Joanne Williams

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Letters

ADVERTISING Advertising Account Managers Rozan Donals x318, Danielle McCoy x311, Adam McLaughlin x336

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Trivia/Hero & Zero

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Feature

ART AND PRODUCTION Design Director Kara Brown Art Director Tabi Zarrinnaal Production Operations Manager Sean George Production Director and Graphic Designer Phaedra Strecher x335 ADMINISTRATION Accounting and Operations Manager Cecily Josse x331 CEO/Executive Editor Dan Pulcrano 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.

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Talking Pictures

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Food & Drink

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Theater

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Music/Film

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Movies

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Sundial

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Classifieds

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Astrology/Advice

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Letters

COLLEGE OF MARIN MUSIC DEPARTMENT presents

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According to Tom Gogola, this boat in Bolinas sank last week and the owner was awaiting a low tide to bail it out. Even at low tide, the locals are saying, the water is higher than it’s been in years.

Fat pensions So the extravagance of the Board of Supervisors has filtered down to the department heads who have been caught throwing away our tax dollars on excessive cell phone overcharges. I did not write my property tax check last week just to have it squandered. It is time these guys take their early retirements with their fat pensions and head out to Aspen or the Riviera or wherever it is they plan to spend it.

A new Finance Chief and County Administrator are in order.

—Alex Easton-Brown

in the land for more than twenty years, never involving himself in oral arguments, and a reliable second to however Scalia votes.

The saddest aspect of this: The seat Clarence Thomas occupies had been Thurgood Marshall’s, a true giant of jurisprudence.

—Hobart Bartshire

Product of process Editor: Outrageously ironic that Justice Scalia would argue for a “second tier” educational track to support what he perceives to be lesser intellects who might feel overwhelmed if thrust into a top-flight university program … when sitting on the same bench is a product of the process he decries as tainted. Indeed, Justice Clarence Thomas (an affirmative action beneficiary, Holy Cross, ’69) has articulated some of these precise feelings in his memoir, yet this “second tier” intellect has been seated on the highest court

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Justice Clarence Thomas

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A mysterious member of the Pacific Sun team was once told that, rather than being Princess Leia for Halloween like she wanted, she was to dress as C-3PO.

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Trivia answers «6 1The Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Scenic Railway, so named because of its 281 curves in eight miles of track. The train ran until 1929.

2 Sugar (about 99.99 percent) 3a. Quiz Show b. Twenty One; the returning champion and a challenger were situated in separate isolation booths. c. Ralph Fiennes; John Turturro 4 The blue whale.

5a. Zeus b. Jupiter 6a. Boggle was introduced with 16 squares; it now also offers 25-square games. b. The ‘Qu’ cube.

7 Those vertical lines that stretch from pole to pole are farthest apart anywhere on the Equator (about 69 milesloved for each one live safely and Help your senior degree; that is earth’s circumference independently divided by 360 degrees). at home with top-notch care 8from Whale hunting Home Care Assistance.

9 Thirty-three victories, by the Los Angeles Lakers Care Specialists. We offer the highest quality 24/7 Live-In 10 5,000.

It’s easy—take thefor average of around-the-clock care the most competitive price - guaranteed. the first and last term (50), and multiply by the number of terms (100).

Marin’s Top Caregivers. Each has at least 2 years of experience BONUS ANSWER: Called the Arroyo andParkway receives extensive through our Home Care Assistance Seco (also known as training the University.

All applicants Pasadena Freeway), it connectedare Losthoroughly screened, including DOJ background checks, drug tests and a proprietary psychological Angeles and Pasadena.

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By Howard Rachelson

1 What Marin County transportation system was called the “Crookedest Railroad in the World” by locals when it first opened for business in 1896?

2 What is the predominant ingredient in cotton candy?

3a. What acclaimed 1994 movie, directed by Robert Redford, tells the true story of a TV game show scandal of the 1950s? b. What trivia-based game show with a numerical title was caught manipulating winners? c. What actors played charismatic college professor Charles Van Doren, who was supplied answers by the show producers, and nerdy New York intellectual Herbert Stempel, who was forced to throw the final round?

4 What is the largest living animal?

5a. The god of sky and weather, and ruler of gods and men—who is this chief god of the ancient Greeks? b. And who was the Roman counterpart for this god?

6a. How many cubes are used in the classic game of Boggle? b. What is the name of the only cube that shows more than one letter?

7 Where on earth are the lines of longitude farthest apart?

8 On March 31, 2014, the United Nations International Court of Justice ruled against the Japanese for what activities in the Antarctic region?

9 Before the Warriors’ amazing winning streak ended with a recent loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team was challenging the all-time NBA record of how many consecutive victories, by what 1971-72 team?

10 Math students, this one’s for you: The halves have it: Determine the sum of this finite set of numbers: { 0.5 + 1.5 + 2.5 + 3.5 + ... + 99.5 } = ?

BONUS QUESTION: Seventy-five years ago, America had only a few freeways or limited access roadways, mostly in New York and a few large cities. The first freeway built in the western part of the U.S., in 1940, was the eight-mile-long Arroyo Seco Parkway, connecting what two cities of Southern California?

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3a.

3b.

Dear readers, I’m happy that you are enjoying our tide of trivial Answers tidbits, and invite you to our brand new year of Trivia Café team on page contests, continuing in January—generally the second and fourth Tuesdays at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, and the 3rd Tuesday »25 at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley, all at 6:30pm. Have a wonderful holiday season and … see you next week! Look out for the Trivia Café Highlights of 2015, coming soon to a Pacific Sun newspaper near you! Contact Howard at howard1@triviacafe.com, and visit triviacafe.com.

Zero

Meet Francie. Francie Bedinger is the Home Care Assistance Kentfield client care manager and works directly with clients and their families throughout Marin County. With a masters in Gerontology, Francie is an expert in health and wellness for older adults and works hard to ensure her clients are happy and healthy at all times.

Trivia Café

Hero

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▼ Our county tax coffers are $585,000 lighter, thanks to Evan Kubota, the trigger-happy, Marin County Sheriff’s deputy who shot and injured Chaka Grayson, an unarmed Marin City man as he sat in his parked car. The county supervisors approved the settlement earlier this week and probably thanked their lucky stars that Grayson, who suffered permanent damage in his arm, accepted the offer, rather than continuing with his $10 million lawsuit. Grayson was put through the wringer after the 2013 shooting, hit with four misdemeanor charges related to the incident, while Kubota got off scot free. Fortunately, the district attorney eventually dismissed the charges against Grayson and the sheriff fired Kubota as a deputy. Still, the saga continues, because Kubota is suing to get his job back.—Nikki Silverstein 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

▲ Did you lose a stash of cash on a Golden Gate Transit Route 4 bus last Tuesday during your morning commute into San Francisco? Well, the honest Mill Valley woman who found it would like to give it back to you.

Christa noticed the money sitting on an empty seat as she exited the bus. “I picked it up with the hopes of returning it to the person who lost it,” she said. We wonder whether Christa’s noble quest is uncommon. Have you ever found currency in a public place and did you seek out the owner? Tell us your story by emailing nikki_silverstein@yahoo.com. And, of course, if you are looking for your loot from a Route 4 bus, get in touch and we’ll hook you up with your hero.

Quality and Value in the ♥ of Marin

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NAUGHTY OR NICE?

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Since 1998 in San Rafael

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Ray Baltar

This photograph of George Lucas—creator of ‘Star Wars’—in his editing studio, was part of a 1980 Pacific Sun article. Lucas had little to do with the newest ‘Star Wars’ movie, released this week, but his name will always be tied to the historic films.

Blast from the past Revisiting a 1980 interview with George Lucas

Editor’s note: With the new ‘Star Wars’ film, ‘The Force Awakens’ hitting theaters this week, we thought it might be fun to revisit an old piece, published in the Feb. 8-14, 1980 issue of the Pacific Sun. At the time, writer Joanne Williams, who continues to contribute to the paper today, scored an exclusive interview with Marin’s reclusive George Lucas. Here, we print some excerpts that we hope you’ll enjoy.

By Joanne Williams

G

eorge Lucas’s carefully calculated gamble to put a popular space fantasy on the screen has paid off beyond his wildest reckonings. Lucas and the new generation of filmmakers like him have become the Force, Hollywood’s influential

extraterrestials who move about freely, Filmland as close as the cameras in their hands, principals in a universe nourished by Kodak’s silver celluloid.

Lucas has drawn the curtain on interviews since the phenomenal success of Star Wars and its four Oscars brought all the marginal people pounding on his studio doors asking for money, trying to

sell him scripts, making threats.

Becoming well-known was such a strain that Lucas withdrew to his editing studio in San Anselmo, wouldn’t answer the bell. The standard reply to an interview request was no. [“The last thing we want,” he says, later in the interview, “is people driving up and down the road saying, ‘They made Star Wars there.’”]

But the Sun kept asking, finally persuading him to forego the

hermit image and answer a few questions. So one day last week when the thermometer crept down to 35, Lucas met the press. He was wearing a green argyle sweater and green cord pants. He’s a dark-haired man about 5 feet 6 inches with a beard beginning to touch gray.

Thirty-six and beyond millionaire, he still comes off as a hellraising kid from Modesto who almost killed himself hotrodding. American Graffiti was about George Lucas.

thousand feet of film; that’s one spool. So Walter asked me to go over to the rack to get R2-D2, that's Reel 2, Dialog 2, and I said, “I like that, that’s a great name.” I wrote down in my little book, “Great name.” When I was developing the character of the little robot I developed it around that name.

Do you believe that your films contribute to a better world by having characters like Luke and Ben Kenobi with super-hero powers?

Star Wars was done with that in mind. As a student of anthropology I feel strongly about the role myths and fairytales play in setting up young people for the way they’re supposed to handle themselves in society. It’s the kind of thing [psychiatrist] Bruno Bettleheim talks about, the importance of childhood. I realized before I did Star Wars that there was no contemporary fairytale and that the number of parents who sit down and tell their children fairy tales is dwindling.

As families begin to break up, kids are left more to the television and they don’t hear bedtime stories.

As a result, people are learning their mythology from TV, which makes them very confused because it has no point of view, no sense of morality. It’s a very amoral thing and as a result, unless a child has a very strong family life or is involved with the church there's no anchor to hold on to. So when I developed Star Wars I did it as a contemporary fairytale. I think that’s one of the reasons it has universal appeal.

Why did you choose not to direct ‘Empire?’

I’ve sort of retired from directing.

If I directed Empire then I’d have to direct the next one and the next for the rest of my life. I have never really liked directing.

Writing is what you like to do?

No, I hate writing. What I enjoy is editing. I started out as an editor. I became a director because I didn't like directors telling me how to edit, and I became a writer because I had to write something in order to be able to direct something. So I did everything out of necessity, but what I really like is editing. I enjoy filmmaking in the pure, more abstract sense and not these giant productions.

At what point in your life did you decide you weren’t going to race cars and be a garage mechanic but a film producer?

It evolved. I was in a terrible car accident when I was 18 and spent

some time in the hospital. The accident was the only thing that got me through high school. All the teachers that were going to flunk me gave me a D, so I managed to get my diploma by virtue of the fact that everybody thought I was going to be dead in three weeks anyway.

But in the hospital I decided that I was going to junior college. I got interested in anthropology and psychology and stuff you didn’t get in high school. I got accepted at San Francisco State and my best friend said, “Come to USC with me, we’ll have fun down there.” I asked, “What can I do?” And he said, “They’ve got a great thing called the cinema department, films, and it's very easy, anybody can get through it.” I said, “Great,” and I applied.

Of all the places you might have lived between here and Hollywood,why did you choose Marin?

Because when I was growing up in Modesto we came to San Francisco all the time. I wanted to live near the city and have an air link with Los Angeles. We could have chosen Santa Barbara or Monterey or the Peninsula. I knew John Korty. He lived in Mill Valley.

When Marcia and I got married we came up the coast on our honeymoon and decided we liked Marin best. The further I get from the south the better I feel. I’m a northern Californian.

You really want to create a focus for the northern California film community like yourself, John Karty, Michael Ritchie and others who were written about recently in the book Movie Brats.

Where does that come from?

Part of it is aesthetic, creating a good place to work. Another part is using technology to advance the film industry. The industry is really a 19th century idea. We’re in the 21st century now, practically, but film is still very crude, very 19th century. I want to update film into the 1980s. Video and sound, the more electronic mediums, are way advanced beyond film. Film is still a piece of celluloid pulled through gears and sprockets. It’s going to advance but the film studios have never been interested in investing any money. We’re talking lots of money.

What difference will it make?

On a technical level it will make it much easier to make movies. Now it’s an extremely difficult process and it will become much easier, closer to being able to write. The ideal situation is the filmmaker as

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George Lucas was featured on the cover of the Pacific Sun in February of 1980.

In his interview with Joanne Williams, he reveals the origins of his ideas.

a still photographer. He has one little camera and he runs around and makes a movie. Now it takes 150 people to make a movie, so you have an enormous amount of equipment and an enormous number of resources, whereas in an electronic medium it’s much easier.

Eventually you’ll be able to take a machine the size of a Betamax with a little camera and make a movie.

You’ll get professional quality equipment that is in the electronic mode to give us the quality we now get with film.

Have fame and wealth put a strain on your personal life? Do you like becoming well-known?

Fame is not something I wanted.

It just happened. I didn't want to be well-known. But you can't be successful today without being well-known, and it's unfortunate.

A hundred years ago you could be successful and nobody would know who you were. There were tycoons all over the place, but now because there’s such an insatiable appetite on the media’s part … I try to keep a low profile.

Do you think you'll ever become a more public visible person?

Around here we’re trying to walk the thin line between being reclusive and private and having a sense of community. We don’t want to start a Universal City tour out there. We are a small industry. We spend a couple million dollars a year in Marin. I look at my main community effort as my films, which I feel are a social responsibility.Y

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Lucas spends much of his time in the Lucasfilm editing studios, a two-story converted apartment that his wife Marcia decorated in white and buff with a dark green carpet.

On the ground floor is the sound mixing studio, a small film room and a sound effects library. Upstairs are small editing rooms dominated by a clock the size of a coffee table, a fireplace with a blazing log to ward off the winter chill, a television set above it, a Betamax in the corner and several houseplants.

In the bathroom hangs a white towel imprinted with everybody's favorite, R2-D2.

Why does he keep working?

Because he wants the freedom to make what he calls “my little movies,” abstract, experimental films that will “show emotion.”

Star Wars was one of the biggest box office successes of all times with a gross of $400 million. What was its genesis?

Star Wars is really three trilogies, nine films. I wrote it as one long 18hour movie in two-hour increments.

When it’s all done it will be one of the most expensive films ever made.

There was no way to do it all at once; you have to do it one at a time and each time we learn a bit more technically. It won’t be finished for probably another 20 years. The next film in the trilogy, which I'm writing the screenplay on right now, will be out in 1983. I can't give out the title now because it isn’t trademarked yet.

Did you start in the middle for artistic reasons?

Artistic and practical. I couldn’t start with the first and walk through it chronologically because the first trilogy is more plot oriented, more soap-opera-ish than Luke’s story.

The problem is like a play, the first act is essentially exposition and you’ve got to explain everything.

That's usually pretty boring so I wanted to avoid that and get into the meat of the matter, get everybody interested.

To many people, R2-D2 was the star of the show. ls he a character you made up?

The truth of the story is, when we were mixing soundtracks from American Graffiti, sound editor Walter Murch, who works with us and lives here in Marin, and I were working at three o’clock in the morning mixing a movie—we wanted to fix something in one of the tracks. You have about 15 sound tracks a film and about three or four dialogue tracks. There are 21 reels to a movie. A reel is like a

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‘Star Wars’ action figures create a tactile experience for fans of the movies, leading to a deep connection with the characters.

Powerful objects The electrifying effect of ‘Star Wars’ memorabilia

By David Templeton

‘O

h my God! Look! It’s Han Solo. Frozen in carbonite!”

I think it was 20 years ago. Maybe more. I honestly can’t remember the exact year, but the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium at the Marin Civic Center was hosting a massive exhibition of props, models, sketches, costumes and scenery pieces from the archives of Lucasfilm and Industrial Light &

Magic. It was, I seem to recall, one of the most anticipated and exciting events of the year, enhanced by the fact that, of course, Marin County was the home of George Lucas, and headquarters (then, anyway) of his movie empire.

I attended the exhibition with friends.

Together, we all inched along, as thousands of gawkers walked the maze-like pathway, with little more than a rope separating us from an array of modern wonders

sprung from the brain of George Lucas. There were X-Wings and TIE fighters, miniatures used in staging the stunning space battles in the original Star Wars. There were posed-in-action AT-ATs, the massive four-legged battle machines that fought the rebels on the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.

There were actual Ewok costumes, looking only slightly less alive than when they appeared in the forest of Endor in Return of the Jedi.

Slowly, we snaked our way past a

Lucasfilm wonderland of marvels, feeling no less awe than when we’d visited an exhibition of treasures from the tomb of King Tut. Then we turned a corner.

There, on the wall in front of us, was, for me, the holy grail of all Star Wars artifacts. Han Solo. Frozen in carbonite. It was a perfect replica of the one used in the movie. Or was it … oh my god! It’s the actual thing!

The whole scene flashed before my eyes. Han, manacled and menaced

by Darth Vader, about to be frozen

in a state of artificial respiration for his trip to Tatooine, where the badass bounty hunter Boba Fett would deliver him to the slug-like crime lord Jaba the Hutt. Seconds before the machinery roars to life and Han is encased in a slab of black rock-like carbon, Princess Leia— forced to watch the man she secretly loves be subjected to a high-tech death-like state—steps forward and finally tells Han how she feels.

“I love you,” she says.

“I know,” he replies, and with a blast of steam and noise, he’s gone.

The next time we see him, he’s a grimacing statue protruding from a block of rock. It was, when I first saw The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, one of the most emotionally complex plot devices I’d ever seen, short of maybe Charlotte the spider writing “Some Pig” in her web.

On screen, it was a powerful image.

That afternoon in San Rafael, suddenly coming face-to-face with the real-life Han Solo, looking just as tragic as ever, was nothing short of breathtaking. It was, I must confess, an emotional moment.

OK. OK. It made me cry. I’m man enough to admit it. I actually got so choked up I couldn’t talk for a moment. My friends thought I was having a medical episode. But it was just the power of “Star Wars.”

So what happened?

Was it just that, a hit of nostalgia, an adrenalized rush of memory overload, a moment of surrender to the mythic preeminence of Star Wars, which I first saw when I was 17 years old, living in Los Angeles?

Or was it more? Was it

something about the fact that I was beholding an actual object? As the hyperspace-level enthusiasm builds in anticipation of this weekend’s release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first new Star Wars movie in 10 years, there have been plenty of articles written about Star Wars and the power of objects.

Much has been said of how the new film returns to the movie-making methods of the original three films, in which the actors are working within actual physical sets built of wood and iron, talking to robotic characters made of metal and plastic, or aliens made of latex and operated by a puppeteer. FX artists waxed nostalgic about the days they built actual small-scale spaceships and then blew them up on camera.

All of that had changed when Lucas decided to take a more aggressively digital approach to filming his prequels, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. While few could argue that the special effects in those films pushed the envelope of what was possible, creating some pretty impressive visuals, the entire series was criticized for its strangely mathematical, object-less coldness.

Cast members remarked on the difficulty of performing in a world created so much in a computer, having to pretend to engage with sets, props, people and spaceships that were never actually there.

After filming of the new film began, in which director J.J. Abrams has reintroduced actual objects to the filmmaking process, Anthony Daniels, the actor who has played or voiced the winsomely worried

the Civic Center, coming to within a few feet of the world’s greatest Star Wars collectible, the emotion I felt was overwhelming.

And I wasn’t alone.

It was kind of fun, standing there, watching other unsuspecting folks turn that corner and suddenly see Han hanging there on the wall. The looks on those faces were priceless.

So, what’s the deal, exactly? What power do such plastic and plaster artifacts hold over us? Why do we get such a kick out of owning this stuff—or even seeing the real things in exhibitions like that one all those years ago?

“Star Wars was the first movie I ever saw,” recalls William Deeths, currently the principal of Altimira Middle School in Sonoma. He was 3 years old when his parents took him to see Star Wars. “We saw it at the Cinema Theater in Corte Madera,” he says, “on that magnificent large screen. I learned later that that’s the theater where George Lucas apparently always took the employees of Lucasfilm to watch the first screening of new Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies.”

For Deeths, the visual power of the movie was just the tip of the iceberg, compared to how excited he was to begin collecting Star Wars action figures. There was just something electrifying, he recalls, about holding those little plastic people in his hands.

“My parents quickly learned,” he says, “that if they ever wanted me to do something I didn’t want to do, like swim lessons, all they had to do was offer to buy me a Star Wars

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At this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival, die-hard fans met ‘Star Wars’ characters at an event with Dennis Muren.

robot C-3PO in all of the movies, was widely quoted as saying it was a relief to have actual “stuff ” to work with.

On the other hand, when actor Harrison Ford, returning to the franchise as Han Solo, was injured during filming when a hydraulic door closed on his leg, there were probably a lot of people in the producer seats wondering if it wouldn’t have been better to have stuck with digital doors and fake spaceships.

Still, there is no doubt that one of the things fans are saying about this new movie is that it will look far more real than the last three, because so much of it actually is real. And with Star Wars, though it is first and foremost a fantasy, a sense of weathered reality has always been one of the series’ most impressive aspects.

I have to say, I was a late convert, having initially dismissed the movie based on its trailers on television, which I thought made the movie look, well, stupid.

It was my swim coach who told me I had to see it.

“It has everything,” he said, becoming uncharacteristically animated, on the morning after he’d seen the movie in Hollywood. “It has swashbuckling. It has spaceships.

It has princesses and aliens and bad guys. Trust me, it’s right up your alley.”

My “alley,” as Coach knew, was fantasy adventure: The Lord of the Rings, Watership Down, The Chronicles of Narnia. Anything with swordfights.

“Star Wars even has swordfights,” he said. “Sort of. They’re called ‘lightsabers’ or something. Anyway.

Trust me. You’ll love it.”

He was right. I loved it.

I saw it at least 10 times in the theaters, and bought up a small army of collectible Star Wars items—mugs, figurines, posters, models—just to bring a little of that magic into my home. Three years later, when the sequel— The Empire Strikes Back—was released, I camped out for hours on the sidewalk in front of a theater in downtown L.A., with a pack of friends, just to be one of the first to see the movie on its opening day. And I kept on collecting Star Wars stuff.

Not as obsessively as some, but enough to lock me in as a card-carrying nerd. And then, turning that corner at

Powerful objects «11 my museum. People see an item that meant something to them as a child, and they burst into tears. It’s the power of objects to return us to another time, to massage our brain cells and make us remember who we were at a different time.”

It’s no accident, McGowan proposes, that sacred totems and ceremonial objects have been used in spiritual ceremonies since the dawn of time.

“An object has honor and meaning in it,” he says. “There really is an emotional power in plastic molded forms. And objects inspired by movies are especially powerful, because they take the sensory experience of watching moving images and hearing sounds, and they condense that sensory experience into a tactile experience.

When we touch that plastic Yoda, or stand close enough to an actual slab of carbonite to touch it—of course, you can’t, probably—it makes your brain come alive with all of those memories. If those memories are good, then touching or seeing that object is a potent reminder of the joy you had while watching the film.”

To McGowan, the desire to collect action figures, whether you are a child or an adult, is less about greed, acquisition or the lure of amassing possessions, than it is simply and purely about love.

“An action figure from a movie, or a model of a robot or spaceship from that movie, is a piece of the soul of that film right there in your room,” he says. “An object or item from that movie is a reminder of what you felt when you saw the film. It’s a membership card of a kind, into a special club.

“What kid who just saw Star Wars for the first time didn’t want a 5-inch Millennium Falcon, hanging from a fishing line over their bed,” he continues, “so they could fall asleep dreaming of the movie?

That’s not about anything but imagination, excitement and love.

All we need is love, right? But we also need things.”

But how many things do we need?

McGowan marvels, nearly 40 years after the release of the first Star Wars film, at the enormous merchandising machine that was created by that movie.

“It’s astonishing how big the

Kids and adults around the world are deeply attached to ‘Star Wars’ memorabilia—reminders of the ways that the movies made them feel.

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action figure, and I’d go wherever it was they wanted me to go.”

In his office at the middle school, students can see nearly 75 of those original action figures hanging on the wall beside a number of other Star Wars items. He even has a copy of Christmas in the Stars, the rare Star Wars-themed Christmas album that includes such songs as “What Can You Get a Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)” and “R2-D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The latter, by the way, features the first-ever professional recording performance of Jon Bon Jovi. Deeths likes to play the album for students when they’re sent to the principal’s office, where they get to sit in the presence of all those Star Wars toys.

“When I grew up, I eventually got rid of all my old toys—but I could never get rid of my action figures,” Deeths admits. “There was just something about Star Wars, some deep connection to that movie, that wouldn’t let me get rid of them.”

“There is therapy in objects,” says Mickey McGowan. “They don’t get the respect they deserve, but an object in its natural state is a powerful thing.”

McGowan, of San Rafael, is the curator of the massive collection of objects known as The Unknown Museum, which for years was lodged in a storefront space in downtown Mill Valley. Today, the collection exists within his home, where he occasionally holds private viewings and tours of the thousands and thousands of toys, machines, books, lunch pails and other “stuff ” that was castoff in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.

McGowan, who includes several toys and other artifacts from the first movie in his collection, suggests that the power of objects is a logical and understandable phenomenon, and that stories of actors preferring to face real robots rather than pretend robots, makes perfect sense.

He even understands my emotional reaction to seeing Han Solo frozen in carbonite right before my very eyes.

“It was a healing moment, for you, probably,” he says. “It probably lowered your blood pressure. It gave you some kind of memory-inspired comfort food you needed, and that’s why you had an emotional reaction. I see it all the time with

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merchandising of Star Wars was,” he says. “But it was more than just about making money. It was providing magic in object form, and as a collector of objects, I can’t fault that impulse. The sheer joy of a kid seeing that ’77 movie, and then being able to have a robot from that movie in their room, it’s a powerful and beautiful thing. And that joy inspired an industry to supply more objects to satisfy it. It’s a doubleedged sword, definitely. Or should I say a double-edged lightsaber?”

McGowan does worry that much of that wonderful, dream-inspiring merchandise has ended up in landfills.

“I started the museum to save things from the landfill,” he says, suggesting that the best way to keep Star Wars action toys and other items from the landfill is simply to avoid ever getting rid of them. And he would like to give us permission to do that. “If you keep it you are saving it from the landfill, definitely.

If you love it, you should save it.

If those toys mean something to you, even if you only see them once every few years, they’re a good thing, and you should not be made to feel shame for that. We can’t save everything, I know, but we should.”

And if you can’t keep it, donate it.

“Donation keeps items alive forever,” he says. “The Toy Story movies have made that point quite beautifully. Of course, those movies have become a merchandising machine, too. It’s that double-edged sword again.”

McGowan does plan to see the new Star Wars movie, eventually, and anticipates that its celebrated return to filming actual objects will make it connect powerfully with audiences. And then, of course, those audiences will want to buy plastic versions of all of those objects.

“Then, some day,” he says, “when many of them have been loved and discarded, an artist will come along and take them, and build a pyramid of them or something, and people will come and see the pyramid, and they will feel strong emotions.

Whatever they feel, it will be beautiful, and all of those objects— and the power of Star Wars, the power of the human imagination— will still be alive.”Y

TALKING PICTURES

Grand adventure Dennis Muren on the popularity of ‘Star Wars’ By David Templeton

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verybody wants to know about the lightsabers,” says Dennis Murren, standing before a full house at the Century Cinema Theater in Corte Madera. Muren—a legendary special effects artist and veteran of Industrial Light & Magic, having worked on all of the original Star Wars films, and many other high-profile projects—is clearly still intensely enthused about the films he helped to create. As part of October’s Mill Valley Film Festival, Muren, the guest of honor following a screening of Return of the Jedi, is taking questions from an audience that is still humming with excitement after watching the third original Star Wars movie on the largest screen in the North Bay. The first question is about the lightsabers used in the films. The gentleman posing the question wants to know how a lightsaber can

glow with green light, even when being wielded in front of a green screen, which filmmakers use as a substitute for background sets, which are often inserted artificially afterwards. The question is a testament to how believable those lightsabers were.

“Those weren’t actually real lightsabers,” Muren admits. “The actors used sticks or rods of some kind when filming the scene, and the glowing light was added later, basically as an animated effect. I’m really thrilled you think that was real, though.”

With the highly anticipated new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, about to hit theaters this weekend, there has been renewed nostalgia for the original trilogy. The new film, directed by J.J. Abrams, based on ideas by Star Wars creator George Lucas, takes up the story 30 years

the best—I far prefer The Empire Strikes Back, with its moody, lyrical storytelling and muted, visually stunning visuals—but there are plenty of fans who prefer Jedi, mainly because of the quality of its special effects.

Muren doesn’t disagree.

“I think the work is amazing,” he says. “I saw the movie a year ago, on film. It was an original print, all scratched up and kind of purple, but it was an amazing thing to look at, and to know that thousands of people had looked at that exact same print. It was like going to the museum and seeing some artifact that’s slowly decaying but still exists.”

One woman asks if there were any shots planned for any of the films that never made it, and if Muren regretted that.

“Well, one thing we were going to do in Empire Strikes Back, which never made it, were these giant flying manta ray creatures. People would ride them, and they were going to be very cool. I’ve swum alongside giant rays in the ocean, and they’re amazing. But George cut them before we shot anything.”

The final question from the audience, it turns out, is mine.

“The popularity of these films is unprecedented,” I begin.

“Generation after generation has embraced them, and the only other series I can think of that has achieved that, at this level, are maybe the James Bond films. What is it, do you think, that has made these stories so captivating and enduring for so long?”

“I wish I could say,” Muren replies. “Like the Bond films, there is action, and adventure, and exotic locations. But what the Star Wars films have that makes them special, I think—and I only figured this out right now—is that there is a group of friends who would die for each other.

“They love each other, though they have some rough moments, but they are always there for each other,” he continues. “That’s not in the Bond films, or in most films, these days, with some exceptions, like the Star Trek films, maybe. I think that’s maybe it.

“Everybody wants to be a part of a strong group of friends, and in Star Wars, these friends get to go on one of the greatest adventures ever put on film.”Y

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Special effects artist Dennis Muren (left) was invited to speak at this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival, following a screening of ‘Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.’

after the events of Return of the Jedi.

It’s been 32 years since Muren saw the release of Jedi, and today, he still clearly remembers what was obviously, for an FX innovator, the experience of a lifetime.

“When we started working on Return of the Jedi, we’d been living and working in Marin for about five years,” acknowledges Muren. “The first Star Wars movie, The New Hope, was filmed in L.A., but Empire Strikes Back was done in Marin. Then we did Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T., and Poltergeist, and Dragonslayer.

So we had lots of experience, we’d assembled a lot of equipment, and we’d assembled a really great crew by the time we started making Return of the Jedi.”

In other words, they were more than ready to make the movie.

“What we weren’t ready for,” he recalls, “was George throwing three times as many FX shots into the movie. That’s two or three times as many FX shots as in Empire Strikes Back, which had two or three times as many shots as the original Star Wars. Each time, George is adding more shots, and the time we have to create them is growing shorter. So, if you pay attention, with the original three films, with each new movie, the credits grow longer and longer, as we added more and more people to the team.”

Muren says that by the time the third movie was being made, the stakes were infinitely higher than on either of the previous two films.

“Everyone was so excited to be doing a third film,” Muren says, admitting that when they made the second film—in spite of it ending on one of the most famous cliffhangers of all time, with Han Solo encased in carbonite and flown away by Boba Fett—there was no clear guarantee that there would ever be a third Star Wars film. “It was very clear, of course, that there was this huge cultural wave happening around Star Wars. It seemed to be building and building all over the world, so we knew that whatever we did in the third film, it would have to be terrific. It couldn’t be less exciting, or have special effects a notch or two down from the last one. It’s hard to do. New ideas don’t always come, and when they do, it takes a lot of work, and a lot of creative people, to bring them to life.”

There is still a healthy debate as to which of the original films was

FOOD & DRINK

Essence of home Bitter Girl Bitters draws flavors from the orchard

By Tanya Henry

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and orange.

“It all started when I was working at Nick’s Cove and was invited to be in a cocktail contest,” explains Hines, who began experimenting with different flavor and ingredient combinations. Though she never entered the contest, it was the beginning of what would become her now two-year-old business.

Originally used medicinally, bitters and tinctures eventually made their way out of medicine cabinets and into saloons by way of liquor. Booze, bitters and sugars were traditionally the three pillars for cocktail-making and, aside from some modern day creative tweaking, this essential trio remains the backbone for all classic drinks.

Hines knows the formula well, and after more than 10 years of

artending kind of found me,” says 32-year-old Erin Hines, who first discovered her love of the craft when she began working as a hostess at Piazza D’Angelo in downtown Mill Valley. As soon as she was old enough, Hines got a shot at working behind the bar—it wasn’t long before she knew she had found her career.

Today, Hines, who grew up in Novato and lived in Mill Valley for more than 10 years, spends three days a week serving her handcrafted cocktails to a steady stream of appreciative customers at Larkspur’s Picco. When she’s not behind the bar, she’s busy making her Bitter Girl Bitters, a key ingredient featured on the restaurant’s drink list for Erin’s ‘old fashioned,’ prepared with rye whiskey, turbinado syrup

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bartending throughout Marin at venues like the original Sweetwater, 19 Broadway and Terrapin Crossroads, she noticed that despite all of the spirits on the market, quite often there was only one bitters option—Angostura. She decided to make some of her own.

Pomegranates and tangerines from her family’s Novato orchard provided the flavors for her first 21 2-ounce bottles, aptly titled First Batch. Met with plenty of encouragement from friends and family, she continued with her concoctions and now has a Bitter Rose (rose petals, hibiscus and lavender) and various seasonal releases that have included Pear Jordan (pears and hops) and Mom’s Prickly Poms (prickly pear, pineapple and guava).

Tanya Henry

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Erin Hines, founder of Bitter Girl Bitters.

With all things mixology having a moment, Hines couldn’t have picked a better time to launch her Bitter Girl Bitters. Lucky for Hines, her bosses with Real Restaurants share her enthusiasm for her products and feature them at several of their properties (on top of Picco), including Bar Bocce and the Buckeye Roadhouse. Even pastry chefs are using these essences in their cookies and cakes, adding subtle flavors and hues to their creations.Y For more information, and to see where you can find Bitter Girl Bitters, visit bittergirlbitters.com.

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In ‘Stage Kiss,’ She (Carrie Paff ) and He (Gabriel Marin), former lovers, are cast as lovers in a play.

THEATER

Romantic farce San Francisco Playhouse’s ‘Stage Kiss’ simple and funny By Charles Brousse

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at times in overlapping clusters.

National awards, prizes and even a coveted MacArthur Fellowship have recognized her achievements.

Still, while admiring Ruhl’s abundant theatricality, I’ve sensed a tendency to show off by dazzling audiences with over-calculated novelty one minute, followed by preachy asides (many feministrelated) the next. She has seemed more interested in creating a theatrical effect, with an impact that is mainly intellectual, rather than developing an emotional involvement in her characters’ lives.

This is why, for me, Stage Kiss is such a welcome arrival. Despite its intermixing of reality and on-stage

the door on the loving young school teacher who now shares his life?

Sorry, I’m no spoiler. You’ll have to attend to find out.

Damilano’s cast is first-rate. As She, Carrie Paff presents her finest performance among the many I’ve witnessed. She’s an attractive blond, but not a Hollywoodstyle bland beauty. There’s a certain awkwardness about her that, combined with a seemingly inexhaustible energy, makes her fascinating to watch.

Gabriel Marin (He) is Paff ’s perfect foil. Laconic, slightly befuddled but well-meaning, he projects an appealing innocence as he follows his quixotic partner step by step in a comic dance that reminds me of self-effacing Ginger Rogers’ response to Fred Astaire’s bravura slides and glides.

The two leads are given solid support by Mark Anderson Phillips (Director), Michael Gene Sullivan (Husband), Allen Darby (various roles), Millie DeBenedet (Laurie/ Millicent) and Taylor Iman Jones (various). All-purpose San Francisco Playhouse artistic director Bill English supplies the adaptable sets and is co-writer (with Theodore J.H. Hulsker) of an original piano composition that adds to the festive atmosphere.Y

NOW PLAYING: Stage Kiss runs through January 9 at the San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St., San Francisco; 415/677-9596; info@ sfplayhouse.org.

Jessica Palopoli

et me get right to the point. In both content and performance, San Francisco Playhouse’s current production of Sarah Ruhl’s romantic farce, Stage Kiss, is one of the year’s most entertaining evenings of theater, a perfect accompaniment to the holiday season’s happy mood.

Now, that’s quite an admission coming from one who has been somewhat skeptical of Ruhl’s meteoric rise to prominence.

During the past few seasons, works like In the Next Room, (or The Vibrator Play), The Clean House, Eurydice, Orlando, The Oldest Boy and Dead Man’s Cell Phone have been produced by Bay Area theaters,

fantasy, the play is a rather simple, very funny, very warm-spirited satire of how art mimics life and vice versa. No puzzling twists in the storytelling, no urgent half-hidden messages—it is what it is, and it succeeds wonderfully.

Building on the well-known public curiosity about what takes place in the mysterious world behind the footlights, Ruhl takes us to a rehearsal room where a group of actors, their director and an allpurpose understudy are working on a key section of their revival of an early 1930s potboiler, ominously entitled The Last Kiss. The script calls for the male lead (identified as “He”) to plant a credible smack on the lips of the female lead (“She”).

Trouble is, what should be an easy task for professional actors, isn’t, because He and She were lovers some years before, which makes their stage intimacy fraught with hostile emotional baggage. At the director’s urging, they practice over and over without getting it right and, when called upon, Kevin (Allen Darby), the gay understudy, is even clumsier. As the frustration level rises, a kind of panic sets in. Adroitly staged by San Francisco Playhouse’s Susi Damilano, this scene gets the evening off and running with about 10 minutes of antic comic fun.

Soon, however, the mood changes. Reluctant daily kisses that He and She exchange fan the dormant sparks of their abandoned relationship. Now, the burning questions are: Will She abandon a solid marriage and a 16-year-old daughter? Is He prepared to close

In ‘Stage Kiss,’ Allen Darby plays the understudy Kevin, who steps in to kiss She (Carrie Paff ) while Director (Mark Anderson Phillips) looks on.

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Fresh start

Sea of Bees hears the music again

By Charlie Swanson

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orn in San Rafael and raised in the Central Valley, singer-songwriter Julie Ann Baenziger has been making bittersweet indie pop under the name Sea of Bees since 2009.

Her powerful, melodious voice and earnest, introspective lyrics have made her a beloved underground figure in her home of Sacramento, though she’s been absent from the music scene of late.

“I just started going out again slowly,” Baenziger says.

After releasing her acclaimed 2012 album Orangefarben, Baenziger took a three-year hiatus to rest and refocus. This summer, Sea of Bees returned with a sunny, shimmering and imaginative record, Build a Boat to the Sun. Sea of Bees plays with fellow Sacramento rockers Sunmonks on December 18, at Smiley’s Saloon in Bolinas.

“I think I needed a fresh mind,” Baenziger says. “When I was doing music, I got a little burnt, and I got this block in my mind almost.”

Dealing with a slew of personal issues, including a difficult breakup, and feeling the growing pressure of being in the spotlight, Baenziger had a bout of exhaustion and writer’s block.

“I was in this space of trying so hard that it wasn’t natural, and mentally I hit a wall,” she recalls. “I think I put walls up, too, of how to write. And there shouldn’t be walls; that’s what’s wonderful about music.”

Taking time away from music allowed Baenziger to resolve her issues and helped rekindle her love for music, which she first developed as a teenager in a church choir.

“It was a very slow progression,” she remembers. “I just slowly started taking better care of myself mentally, and just tried to enjoy music again, not think of it as an exhausting job, because it’s really a blessing.”

Early this year, Baenziger says, she felt the fog lift and her imagination soar. She harnessed that feeling of revitalization to craft Build a Boat to the Sun, her most upbeat record to date, and also her best. Catchy guitar and pop hooks sparkle throughout the playful collection, and Baenziger’s ebullient voice seems to resound in joy. Baenziger’s strength as a songwriter is in full bloom, and though she doesn’t know where she’ll end up next, she’s learning to enjoy the ride.

“I think [the album] was like a new birth,” she says. “I feel again like music is an old friend. You can write sad songs when you’re not feeling great, but I want to be in a place … where it’s just a part of life to create.

I think I’m coming to that place.”Y

Sea of Bees and Sunmonks take the stage on Friday, Dec. 18 at Smiley’s Saloon, 41 Wharf Road, Bolinas; 9pm; $5; 21 and over; 415/868-1311.

The new ‘Star Wars’ film, ‘The Force Awakens,’ is a continuation of the saga created by George Lucas.

FILM

The awakening New ‘Star Wars’ development: Girl power

By Richard von Busack

G

eorge Lucas’s disinterest in women was part of the lethally boring side of the last three Star Wars films. In the three prequels, the film’s females were arranged like wooden geisha dolls on a shelf. In the new Star Wars film—The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams, the emphasis on girl power is a sight to see.

If there’s nothing that pleases an audience more than a lady with a sword, consider their rapture at the sight of a lady with a lightsaber. The brave Daisy Ridley makes this movie— more than the battalions of animators, more than the glorious 65mm locations in Ireland, Iceland and Abu Dhabi.

Ridley’s Rey is a junkyard scavengeress, circumstantially marooned on the dune planet Jakku; there she encounters an Imperial army deserter named FN-2187, or “Finn” (John Boyega, of Attack the Block). Finn is on the run after he helped a rebel pilot (Oscar Isaac) escape; a secret important to the rebellion is hidden aboard a droid they both know—the robot is typically wordless but eloquent.

Pantomime is important in these movies; actors acting around a suit of plastic armor or Chewbacca losing his temper. Abrams has to note the horror of the renegade storm trooper through body language and the blank face of his helmet striped by a dying fellow warrior’s bloody hand.

Darth Vader’s iron dream is being continued, more than 30 years later, by

a new helmeted menace called Kylo Ren. The interesting angle of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is that there’s a Louis Napoleon streak to this Ren. In quiet moments, he prays to the half-melted helmet of Lord Vader. It’s a sacred relic, but he has doubts about his own power.

So much of this movie is things we’ve seen before—from the X-wing dogfights, to the rebels lined up as if for a group snapshot at the end, to a catwalk duel. But one reprise is tender: A meeting between General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and the grizzled but still game Han Solo (Harrison Ford); the dialogue is lame, but the exchange of glances says it all between them. As an old hand to these movies, I couldn’t get enough of the frost of disenchantment when these old lovers see one another.

This massive cinematic cornucopia of fights, starship battles and planetsized weapons is still “a Crackerjacks box full of nothing but prizes” in Pauline Kael’s phrase. The way Star Wars: The Force Awakens is built, it can have neither ending or beginning. It’s leading from a sequel and heading to a sequel; a temporary victory over the planet-blasting fascists of the First Order leads to new adventures further down the line.

Though the new characters acquit themselves with fierceness, I had more eyes for the old Bogartian hustler Solo and his grey-haired Wookiee, still scheming in the troubled waters of a galactic civil war.Y

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MUSIC

‘Star Wars’

Sea of Bees

Singer-songwriter Julie Ann Baenziger, who performs under the name Sea of Bees, released the upbeat album ‘Build a Boat to the Sun’ this past summer.

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Movies

•New Movies This Week

By Matthew Stafford

Friday, December 18 - Thursday, December 24 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (1:28) Alvin, Simon and Theodore hit the road to Miami to stop Dave from getting married and ruining their happy home.

An American Tail (1:20) Don Bluth cartoon celebrates the immigrant experience through the eyes of a Russian-Jewish mouse and his Irish and Italian buddies.

Bajirao Mastani (2:40) Indian epic about soldier extraordinaire Bajirao I and his passionate marriage to the lovely Mastani.

Bolshoi Ballet: The Nutcracker (2:20) Direct from Moscow it’s Tchaikovsky’s holiday must-see in a dazzling production rife with toy soldiers, colorful costumes and little Marie, of course.

Bridge of Spies (1:35) Real-life Spielberg thriller stars Tom Hanks as a Brooklyn lawyer recruited by the CIA to rescue an American pilot from the Soviet Union; screenplay by Ethan and Joel Coen.

Brooklyn (1:23) Moving story about Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn.

Carol (1:58) Acclaimed Todd Haynes drama about the love affair between an elegant housewife (Cate Blanchett) and a humble shopgirl (Rooney Mara) in 1950s New York.

Creed (2:12) Rocky Balboa is back and better than ever, coaching the son of late rival Apollo Creed to be boxing’s next champ; Sly Stallone and Michael B. Jordan star.

The Danish Girl (2:00) Fictionalized account of the complicated relationship between 1920s artist Gerda Wegener and her husband Einar, aka Lili Elbe, a transgender pioneer.

Finding Noah (1:56) Documentary follows a group of archaeologists, explorers and theologians on a grueling trek up Turkey’s Mt. Ararat in search of Noah’s Ark. Freeheld (1:43) True story of a dying New Jersey cop who fought for the right to leave her pension to her domestic partner; Julianne Moore stars.

The Good Dinosaur (1:40) Pixar Animation’s take on what would have happened if the asteroid that hit earth and killed all the dinosaurs—missed! Raymond Ochoa lends voice to Arlo the Apatosarus.

Heart of a Dog (1:15) Musician Laurie Anderson’s acclaimed, unconventional documentary weaves together art, politics, philosophy and memory into a celebration of her late pooch Lolabelle.

Hitchcock/Truffaut (1:20) Documentary focuses on the groundbreaking 1962 interviews cineaste François Truffaut conducted with the Master of Suspense; Martin Scorsese, David Fincher and other filmmakers offer insights.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2:10) Rebel leader Katniss Everdeen is back, raising an army against the president as violence consumes the Capitol; Jennifer Lawrence and Donald Sutherland star.

In the Heart of the Sea (2:02) True tale of a 19th century whaling ship and the vengeful mammoth that pursued its crew; Ron Howard directs.

It’s a Wonderful Life (2:11) Frank Capra’s darkly moving holiday classic stars James Stewart as a man who wishes he’d never been born; Henry Travers co-stars as Clarence.

Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (1:22) The rogue filmmaker outfits a cab with cameras and

chats with his passengers about censorship, morality and other not-so-serious subjects.

Janis: Little Girl Blue (1:46) Documentary employs concert footage, correspondence and interviews (with Bob Weir, Country Joe McDonald and other notables) to craft a portrait of the blues-rock icon.

Krampus (1:38) Horror holiday comedy about a dysfunctional family’s un-merry Xmas at the hands of vengeful seasonal spirits.

Legend (2:12) True-life crime thriller about the rise and fall of Swinging London’s top mobsters, the Kray Twins, stars Tom Hardy as Ron and Reggie Kray.

The Martian (2:16) Ridley Scott sci-fi adventure about a daring NASA attempt to rescue an astronaut marooned on Mars; Matt Damon stars.

Meet the Patels (1:28) Reality rom-com about 30-year-old Ravi Patel, the apex of a triangle between himself, his parents and the woman of his dreams.

Miracle on 34th Street (1:36) Hollywood holiday fable about a department store Santa Claus who just might be the real deal; Edmund Gwenn and li’l Natalie Wood star.

National Theatre London: Hamlet (4:00) Catch Benedict Cumberbatch as the Bard’s conflicted, vengeful prince of Denmark, direct from London in big-screen high definition.

The Peanuts Movie (1:26) Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the gang return to the big screen in 3D animation; the Red Baron co-stars.

Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (1:37) Documentary by Lisa Immordino Vreeland about the colorful art collecor who was not only ahead of her time but helped to define it.

Piaf: Her Story … Her Songs (1:34) Concert film captures Raquel Bitton’s heartfelt cabaret tribute to the Little Sparrow.

Room (1:58) A 5-year-old boy who’s spent his life trapped in a tiny room with his loving mother gets to savor the outside world for the first time.

Sisters (1:33) Tina Fey and Amy Poehler star as rowdy sibs who plan one last lost weekend in the house where they grew up.

Spectre (2:30) Daniel Craig’s farewell to James Bond finds 007 on the trail of his favorite crime/terrorism/revenge/extortion outfit; Christoph Waltz and Monica Bellucci co-star.

Spotlight (2:08) True story about the Boston Globe’s tenacious investigation into a decadeslong Catholic Church cover-up; Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and John Slattery star.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2:20) Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are back in a post-Return of the Jedi reboot from J.J. Abrams and The Walt Disney Corporation.

Suffragette (1:46) Carey Mulligan stars as a turn-of-the-century activist who uses civil disobedience to fight for women’s suffrage; Meryl Streep cameos as Emmeline Pankhurst.

Trumbo (2:4) Bryan Cranston stars as the legendary screenwriter who won two Academy Awards before he became one of the Hollywood 10 and took on the absurdity and injustice of the Blacklist; Helen Mirren co-stars.

Youth (1:58) Old cronies Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel grapple with art, music, love and showbiz at an elegant Swiss spa; Jane Fonda and Paloma Faith co-star.

• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (PG) • An American Tail (G) • Bajirao Mastani (Not Rated) • Bolshoi Ballet: The Nutcracker (Not Rated) Bridge of Spies (PG-13) Brooklyn (PG-13)

Northgate: 9:40, 10:55, 12:05, 1:15, 2:35, 3:40, 4:55, 7:20, 9:45 Rowland: Fri-Wed 11:15, 1:50, 4:15, 6:50, 9:20 Lark: Sun 11 Northgate: 2:30, 5:55, 9:30

Lark: Sun 1 Lark: Fri 8:50; Mon 2:45 Northgate: 9:40pm Fairfax: Fri-Wed 1, 4, 7:05, 9:40 Regency: Fri-Sat 11:15, 1:55, 4:45, 7:40, 10:20; Sun-Tue 11:15, 1:55, 4:45, 7:40 Sequoia: Fri 4:25, 7:15, 10; Sat 1:45, 4:25, 7:15, 10; Sun-Wed 1:45, 4:25, 7:15; Thu 1:45, 4:25 • Carol (R) Sequoia: Thu 7:10 Creed (PG-13) Larkspur Landing: Fri, Mon 6:45, 9:50; Sat-Sun 12:35, 3:40, 6:45, 9:50 Northgate: 10:10, 1:20, 4:30, 7:40, 10:50 Rowland: Fri-Wed 9:45, 1, 4:25, 7:45, 10:55 • The Danish Girl (R) Regency: Fri-Sat 10:25, 1:20, 4:10, 7, 10:05; Sun-Tue 10:25, 1:20, 4:10, 7 Sequoia: Fri 4:35, 7:30, 10:15; Sat 1:35, 4:35, 7:30, 10:15; Sun-Thu 1:35, 4:35, 7:30 • Finding Noah (Not Rated) Lark: Sun 3:40; Tue 7:30 Freeheld (PG-13) Lark: Fri 4:10; Sun 8:35; Mon 8:15; Wed noon The Good Dinosaur (PG) Northgate: 9:35, 12, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15 Rowland: Fri-Wed 11, 1:45, 4:20, 6:55, 9:30 Heart of a Dog (Not Rated) Rafael: Sat-Sun 2:30 Hitchcock/Truffaut (PG-13) Rafael: Fri, Sun 4:15, 9:15; Sat 4:15; Mon-Thu 9:15 The Hunger Games: Larkspur Landing: Fri, Mon 6:30, 9:40; Sat-Sun 12:10, 3:20, 6:30, 9:40 Mockingjay Part 2 (PG-13) Northgate: 10, 1:10, 4:20, 7:30, 10:40 Rowland: Fri-Wed 12:15, 3:40, 7, 10:10 In the Heart of the Sea (PG-13) Larkspur Landing: Fri, Mon 10:10, 3D showtime at 7:15; Sat-Sun 4:20, 10:10, 3D showtimes at 1:25, 7:15 Northgate: 10:30, 4:15; 3D showtimes at 1:25, 7:10, 10 Rowland: Fri-Wed 10:05, 4:05; 3D showtimes at 1:10, 7:25, 10:20 It’s a Wonderful Life (PG) Regency: Thu 2, 7 Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (Not Rated) Lark: Fri noon; Wed 7:15; Thu 4:30 Janis: Little Girl Blue (Not Rated) Rafael: Fri-Sun 4:30, 6:45, 9; Mon-Thu 6:45, 9 Krampus (PG-13) Northgate: 9:55, 12:25, 2:55, 5:30, 8, 10:30 Legend (R) Regency: Fri-Sat 1, 4:10, 7:20, 10:20; Sun-Tue 1, 4:10, 7:20 The Martian (PG-13) Lark: Sat 5:10; Tue 2; Wed 4:20 Northgate: 6:15, 9:25 Meet the Patels (Not Rated) Lark: Tue noon; Wed 2; Thu 2:30 • Miracle on 34th Street (PG) Regency: Sun 2, 7; Wed 2, 7 National Theatre London: Hamlet (Not Rated) Lark: Sat 1 The Peanuts Movie (G) Northgate: 9:50am, 12:10 Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (Not Rated) Rafael: Fri, Mon-Thu 6; Sat 2; Sun 2, 6 • Piaf: Her Story…Her Songs (NR) Rafael: Sat 7 (Raquel Bitton in person) Room (R) Lark: Fri 6:20; Sat 8:10; Mon 5:45; Thu noon Sisters (R) Fairfax: Fri-Wed 1, 3:55, 6:50, 9:40 Larkspur Landing: Fri, Mon 7, 10; SatSun 1, 4, 7, 10 Northgate: 9:45, 11, 12:30, 1:45, 3:15, 4:35, 6, 7:25, 8:45, 10:15, 11:30 Rowland: Fri-Wed 10:35, 1:40, 4:35, 7:35, 10:45 Spectre (PG-13) Regency: Fri-Sat 12, 3:35, 7:05, 10:25; Sun 10:45am; Mon-Tue 12, 3:35, 7:05 Spotlight (R) Fairfax: Fri-Wed 12:30, 3:40, 6:45, 9:45 Regency: Fri-Sat 12:30, 3:55, 7:10, 10:15; Sun-Tue 12:30, 3:55, 7:10 Star Wars: Cinema: Fri-Wed 3D showtimes at 9, 12:20, 3:40, 7, 10:20; Thu 3D showtimes The Force Awakens (PG-13) at 9, 12:20, 3:40, 7 Fairfax: Fri-Wed 12, 1:15, 3:15, 4:30, 6:30, 7:45, 9:30; 3D showtimes at 12:30, 3:45, 7, 10 Marin: Fri-Sat 3:40, 9:50, 3D showtimes at 12:35, 6:45; Sun 3:40, 3D showtimes at 12:35, 6:45; Mon-Thu 4:05, 3D showtimes at 12:50, 7 Northgate: 9:30, 10:40, 12:40, 2:15, 3:50, 5, 7, 8:35, 10:10, 11:20; 3D showtimes at 10:20, 11:05, 11:50, 1:30, 1:50, 3, 4:40, 5:25, 6:10, 7:50, 8:10, 9:20, 11 Playhouse: Fri 3:30, 4:15, 5, 6:45, 7:30, 8:15, 9:50; Sat 12:15, 1, 1:45, 3:30, 4:15, 5, 6:45, 7:30, 8:15, 9:50; Sun-Wed 12:15, 1, 1:45, 3:30, 4:15, 5, 6:45, 7:30, 8:15; Thu 12:15, 1, 1:45, 3:30, 4:15, 5, 6:45, 7:30 Rowland: Fri-Wed 9:15, 12:35, 7:15, 10:35; 3D showtimes at 10:15, 1:30, 3:55, 4:45, 8, 11:15 Suffragette (PG-13) Lark: Fri 1:50; Sun 6:20; Mon 12:20; Tue 5 Trumbo (R) Regency: Fri-Sat 10:30, 1:30, 4:20, 7:20, 10:25; Sun-Tue 10:30, 1:30, 4:20, 7:20 • Youth (R) Rafael: Fri 4, 6:30, 8:15; Sat-Sun 1:30, 4, 6, 8:45; Mon-Thu 6:30, 8:15 Showtimes can change after we go to press. Please call theater to confirm.

CinéArts at Marin 101 Caledonia St., Sausalito, 331-0255 CinéArts at Sequoia 25 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley, 388-4862 Cinema 41 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, 924-6505 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, 800-326-3264 Playhouse 40 Main St., Tiburon, 435-1234 Rafael Film Center 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael, 454-1222 Regency 80 Smith Ranch Rd., Terra Linda, 479-5050 Rowland 44 Rowland Way, Novato, 800-326-3264

Clubs&Venues MARIN Belrose Theater Thurs, open mic night. 1415 Fifth Ave, San Rafael, 415.454.6422.

©HFPA

No Name Bar Dec 16, Justin Cohen & the Stable Boys.

Dec 17, Michael LaMacchia Band. Dec 18, Michael Aragon Quartet. Dec 19, Chris Saunders Band. Dec 20, Migrant Pickers and friends. Dec 23, Jimi James Band. Mon, Kimrea and the Dreamdogs. Tues, open mic. 757 Bridgeway, Sausalito, 415.332.1392.

Osher Marin JCC Dec 20, 5pm, “Holiday Lights” with New Century Chamber Orchestra. 200 N San Pedro Rd, San Rafael, 415.444.8000.

Osteria Divino Dec 16, Jonathan Poretz. Dec 17, Passion

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18

Center (415) 454-1222

#1

19 Broadway Club Dec 16, Fightin’ Smokey Joe with Mari Mack & Livin’ Like Kings. Dec 17, Counter Culture and IrieFuse. Dec 18, Jazz Iguanas and Rhythm Addicts. Dec 20, 5pm, Just Friends. Dec 20, 9pm, Eddie Neon Band.

Dec 22, Walt the Dog. Dec 23, Jose Simione Band. Mon, open mic. 17 Broadway Blvd, Fairfax, 415.459.1091.

FS/DM

Smiley’s Schooner Saloon Dec 18, Sea of Bees and Sunmonks. Dec 19, the Brian Travis Band. Sun, open mic. Mon, Epicenter Soundsystem reggaae. 41 Wharf Rd, Bolinas, 415.868.1311.

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Cheap Trick Power-pop pioneers are a rock and roll institution after 35 years together and millions of albums sold. Special meet-andgreet packages available. Dec 18, 8pm. $55$95. Uptown Theatre, 1350 Third St, Napa, 707.259.0123.

Pee Wee Ellis, who played with James Brown for years—and who celebrated his 70th birthday with the release of a double album—takes the stage at Fenix in San Rafael on Saturday, Dec. 19.

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NAPA

Marin Center Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium Dec 20, 4pm, SingersMarin presents ‘Tis the Season...Candlelight Magic. 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael, 415.473.6800.

Sausalito Seahorse Dec 19, Generation Esmeralda. Dec 20, Mazacote. Mon, Marco Sainz Trio. Tues, Jazz with Noel Jewkes and friends. Wed, Tango with Marcello and Seth. 305 Harbor View Dr, Sausalito, 415.331.2899.

MARIN PACIFIC SUN

A Very Trebuchet Christmas Indie folk band celebrates release of “Rivers Out of Streams” EP with a holiday showcase of Christmas classics and originals with John Courage, Emily Whitehurst and many others. Dec 20, 8pm. Free. Petaluma Woman’s Club, 518 B St, Petaluma.

Iron Springs Pub & Brewery Dec 16, Shut-Ins Xmas concert. 765 Center Blvd, Fairfax, 415.485.1005.

Rickey’s Dec 18, Andoni. Dec 19, Tracy Rose Trio. 250 Entrada Dr, Novato, 415.883.9477.

FRIDAY 12/18

Nostalgia Fest 2015 Several past Sonoma County indie rock bands reunite for one night only, with a tribute to the late Simon Matthew Carrillo and appearances by Ralph Spight, the Heat Creeps, Bad Kissers and others. Dec 19, 5pm. $10-$40. Phoenix Theater, 201 Washington St, Petaluma, 707.762.3565.

HopMonk Novato Dec 16, open mic night with Karen Behaving Bradley. Dec 17, Roseberry Jam with JB Jazz Ensemble and Intersection.

Dec 19, the Sorentinos and the Spectones.

Dec 23, open mic night with Christine McCann Band. 224 Vintage Way, Novato, 415.892.6200.

Rancho Nicasio Dec 18, Stompy Jones. Dec 19, Angela Strehli & the Broadsides Band. Dec 20, 4pm, Tim Cain’s Family Christmas Sing-along. 1 Old Rancheria Rd, Nicasio, 415.662.2219.

Center (415) 454-1222

Dave Koz Saxophonist and bandleader’s annual Christmas tour features lively arrangements of holiday favorites and more. Dec 22, 8pm. $39 and up. Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Rd, Santa Rosa, 707.546.3600.

George’s Nightclub Dec 19, DJ Marlo. Thurs, California Flight Project. Sun, Mexican Banda. Wed, George’s Jazz Time jam. 842 Fourth St, San Rafael, 415.226.0262.

Peri’s Silver Dollar Dec 16, the Elvis Johnson Soul Revue. Dec 17, Burnsy’s Sugar Shack. Dec 18, Breakin’ Bread. Dec 19, the Soul Satellites. Dec 20, La Mandanga. Dec 22, Waldo’s Special.

Dec 23, Heath Haberlin and friends. Mon, Billy D’s open mic. 29 Broadway, Fairfax, 415.459.9910.

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SONOMA

Fenix Dec 18, Bohemian Highway and friends.

Dec 19, Pee Wee Ellis. Dec 20, 2pm, Noah Griffin Quartet. Dec 20, 6:30pm, Sarah Aili.

Dec 22, Jellyroll Trio with Belinda Blair.

Wed, Pro blues jam. 919 Fourth St, San Rafael, 415.813.5600.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18

Michael McQuilkin’s Family Music Hour San Geronimo Valley Community Center presents this concert led by McQulkin’s allstar band and the best musical families in Marin. Dec 19, 7pm. $10. Lagunitas School, 1 Lagunitas School Rd, San Geronimo, 415.488.8888.

Dance Palace Dec 20, 3pm, Sing Along Messiah. 503 B St, Pt Reyes Station, 415.663.1075.

Panama Hotel Restaurant Dec 16, C-JAM with Connie Ducey. Dec 17, Deborah Winters. Dec 22, Lorin Rowan.

Dec 23, Donna D’Acuti. 4 Bayview St, San Rafael, 415.457.3993.

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Hard Working Americans A four-night residency and holiday toy drive from rock and roll super group that includes Todd Snider, Dave Schools, Neal Casal and others. Through Dec 18. $42-$45.

Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, 415.388.1100.

Corte Madera Community Center Dec 18, 8pm, Corte Madera Town Band’s Winter Holiday Concert. 498 Tamalpais Dr, Corte Madera.

Habanera. Dec 18, Eric Markowitz Trio.

Dec 19, Lorca Hart Trio. Dec 20, Robert Overbury Duo. Dec 23, Noel Jewkes Duo. 37 Caledonia St, Sausalito, 415.331.9355.

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MARIN

Benissimo Ristorante & Bar Thurs, Fri, live music. 18 Tamalpais Dr, Corte Madera, 415.927.2316.

CALENDAR

©HFPA

Concerts

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Dry Creek Kitchen Dec 21, Miles Wick and Jack Riorden Duo. Dec 22, Greg Hester and Jim Passarell Duo. 317 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, 707.431.0330.

Finley Community Center Third Friday of every month, Steve Luther.

Mon, 11am, Proud Mary’s ukulele jam and lessons. 2060 W College Ave, Santa Rosa, 707.543.3737.

Flamingo Lounge Dec 18, SugarFoot. Dec 19, Fusion. 2777 Fourth St, Santa Rosa, 707.545.8530.

Marin Men’s Chrous

The Marin Men’s Chorus ‘Let it Snow’ concert will take place on Sunday, Dec. 20 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Tiburon.

Spitfire Lounge Third Friday of every month, DJ Jimmy Hits. 848 B St, San Rafael, 415.454.5551.

St John’s Episcopal Church Dec 20, 4pm, Solstice sings for the holidays.

14 Lagunitas Rd, Ross.

St Stephen’s Episcopol Church Dec 20, 3pm, “Let It Snow” holiday concert with the Marin Men’s Chorus. 3 Bay View Ave, Belvedere.

Sweetwater Music Hall Dec 20-21, the Christmas Jug Band Family Night. Dec 23, Matt Jaffe & the Distractions.

Mon, Open Mic. 19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, 415.388.1100.

Terrapin Crossroads Dec 16, Wilco Wednesday tribute night.

Dec 17, Guitarmageddon. Dec 18, Ross James’ Supernova Spacetwang. Dec 19, the Incubators. Dec 20, San Geronimo acoustic.

Dec 21, Grateful Mondays with Stu Allen and Lebo. Dec 22, Neil Young night with the Terrapin All-Stars. Dec 23, Terrapin AllStars with Greg Loiacono. 100 Yacht Club Dr, San Rafael, 415.524.2773.

Throckmorton Theatre Dec 16, Throckmorton Chorus fall concert. Dec 18, the Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy. Dec 19, Narada Michael Walden Foundation’s holiday jam. Wed, 12pm, Noon concert series. 142 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley, 415.383.9600.

Unity in Marin Dec 16, “The Path Within” musical journey with Christine Tulis and Kem Stone. 600 Palm Dr, Novato.

SONOMA 755 After Dark (Aubergine) Dec 17, VX36 with Blood Cabana and Sepulchre. 755 Petaluma Ave, Sebastopol, 707.829.2722.

A’Roma Roasters Dec 18, Ricky Alan Ray. Dec 19, Now & Zen. 95 Fifth St, Santa Rosa, 707.576.7765.

Annex Wine Bar Dec 17, Dave Robbins Birthday Musical Celebration. Wed, Calvin Ross. 865 W Napa St, Sonoma, 707.938.7779.

French Garden Dec 18, New Skye Band. Dec 19, LaFlammeLawrence Ensemble. 8050 Bodega Ave, Sebastopol, 707.824.2030.

Friar Tuck’s Fri, DJ Night. Wed, Sat, karaoke. 8201 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati, 707.792.9847.

Glaser Center Dec 19, VOENA Children’s Choir presents Voices of the Season. 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, 707.568.5381.

Green Music Center Dec 18, Soweto Gospel Choir. Dec 20, 3pm, Handel’s “Messiah” with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. 1801 East Cotati Ave, Rohnert Park, 866.955.6040.

Guerneville Community Church Dec 22, 6pm, River Choir holiday concert & party. 14520 Armstrong Woods Rd, Guerneville.

HopMonk Sebastopol Dec 16, the Blasters. Dec 17, Songwriters in the Round. Dec 18, One Grass Two Grass. Dec 19, Sherrie Phillips with Skip the Needle. Dec 21, Monday Night Edutainment with DJ Jacques and DJ Guacamole. Tues, open mic night. 230 Petaluma Ave, Sebastopol, 707.829.7300.

BestBet

Annie O’s Music Hall Dec 16, Paint Nite. Dec 19, Sweet Leaf Xmas show with Lord Mountain. Sun, 5pm, Sunday Dance Party with the Blues Defenders. 120 Fifth St, Santa Rosa, 707.542.1455.

Aqus Cafe Dec 16, West Coast Songwriters Competition. Dec 18, the Mighty Groove Xmas Party. Dec 19, the Rains. Dec 20, 2pm, Gary Vogensen’s Sunday Ramble. Dec 23, bluegrass old time jam. 189 H St, Petaluma, 707.778.6060.

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Arlene Francis Center Tues, Open Didgeridoo Clinic. Wed, Open Mic. 99 Sixth St, Santa Rosa, 707.528.3009.

Barley & Hops Tavern Dec 17, Dave Hamilton. Dec 18, Jen Tucker.

Dec 19, Hilary Marckx. 3688 Bohemian Hwy, Occidental, 707.874.9037.

Bergamot Alley Dec 18, DJ dance party. 328-A Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, 707.433.8720.

The Big Easy Dec 16, Bruce Gordon & the Acrosonics.

Dec 17, the Christmas Jug Band. Dec 18, David M’Ore. Dec 19, Laura Benitez & the Heartbreak. Dec 20, Cameron Christmas Jazz. Dec 23, Jordan Samuels & Certified Organic. Tues, the American Alley Cats. 128 American Alley, Petaluma, 707.776.4631.

B&V Whiskey Bar & Grille Dec 18, Mister Regal. Dec 19, Train Wreck Junction. Tues, “Reggae Market” DJ night.

400 First St E, Sonoma, 707.938.7110.

Cellars of Sonoma Dec 17, Greg Yoder. Dec 18, Craig Corona.

Dec 19, John Pita. Tues, Wavelength. 133 Fourth St, Santa Rosa, 707.578.1826.

Coffee Catz Dec 17, 4:30pm, DJ Kudjo. Dec 19, 2:30pm, Alice Bradshaw. Mon, open mic. Tues, 12pm, Jerry Green’s Peaceful Piano Hour. 6761 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol, 707.829.6600.

Corkscrew Wine Bar Dec 18, Saffell. Dec 19, French Oak Gypsies.

Dec 22, songwriter’s lounge with Lauralee Brown. 100 Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma, 707.789.0505.

The Narada Michael Walden Foundation’s annual Holiday Jam will feature three-time Grammy Award-winner Walden, along with an impressive lineup of other musicians.

Get into the beat and the real spirit of the holidays at the Narada Michael Walden Foundation’s 19th Annual Holiday Jam at the Throckmorton Theatre on December 19. This year’s event, the Dancing in the Street Christmas Party, will feature Martha and the Vandellas, Neal Schon of Journey, the Narada Michael Walden Holiday Jam Band and more.

Founded by producer, singer, drummer, and three-time Grammy Award-winner Narada Michael Walden, the Foundation is committed to promoting music education for young people in the Bay Area and beyond. By partnering with other nonprofits, the organization receives help in providing college scholarships and grants, mentoring, instruments, music education, performances and workshops, along with access to recording facilities and coaching.

The Holiday Jam also offers the opportunity for young people in the program to get real-life experience by taking on key roles in the production of a professional live show.

Narada Michael Walden began his career as a drummer for John McLaughlin’s groundbreaking jazz-fusion group Mahavishnu Orchestra, and over the course of more than 30 years, he has earned an equally stellar reputation as a recording artist and as a producer—producing hits for musicians including Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles and Steve Winwood.—Lily O’Brien Narada Michael Walden Foundation’s 19th Annual Holiday Jam: Dancing in the Street Christmas Party! Saturday, Dec. 19; 9pm; $125-$175; Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley; 415/383-9600; throckmortontheatre.org.

HopMonk Sonoma Dec 18, John Lester. Dec 19, Tom Rhodes. 691 Broadway, Sonoma, 707.935.9100.

Jasper O’Farrell’s Dec 18, AZ Redsmoke. Tues, Sessions hiphop and reggae night. 6957 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol, 707.829.2062.

Lagunitas Tap Room Dec 16, the Rhythm Drivers. Dec 17, Mitch Woods. Dec 18, the Rhythm Rangers. Dec 19, Cascada. Dec 20, Jeffrey Halford. Dec 23, Kingsborough. 1280 N McDowell Blvd, Petaluma, 707.778.8776.

Main Street Bistro Dec 17, George Heagerty. Dec 18, Bruce Halbohm’s Blue Jazz Trio. Dec 19, Wendy DeWitt. Dec 23, Willie Perez. 16280 Main St, Guerneville, 707.869.0501.

Mc T’s Bullpen Dec 18, DJ Miguel. Dec 19, Wiley’s Coyotes.

Dec 20, DJ Miguel. Mon, Wed, DJ Miguel.

16246 First St, Guerneville, 707.869.3377.

Murphy’s Irish Pub Dec 18, David Thom. Dec 19, the Perfect Crime. Dec 22, Benefit for F.I.S.H. with the Carrtunes. 464 First St E, Sonoma, 707.935.0660.

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art Dec 20, 1pm, “Artifacts” with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. 551 Broadway, Sonoma, 707.939.SVMA. Spancky’s Bar Dec 18, the River City Band. Dec 19, Hart ‘n’ Soul. Thurs, 7pm, Thursday Night Blues Jam. Thurs, 11pm, DJ Selecta Konnex. 8201 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati, 707.664.0169.

St John’s Episcopal Church Dec 20, 5pm, Celtic Evensong. 40 Fifth St, Petaluma.

St. Vincent’s Church Dec 20, 6 and 8:30pm, A Chanticleer Christmas. 35 Liberty St, Petaluma.

Stout Brothers Dec 17, Used Goods. Dec 18-19, DJ Dave. 527 Fourth St, Santa Rosa, 707.636.0240.

Toad in the Hole Pub Dec 17, the American West and Maita with Joshua James Jackson. Sun, live music. 116 Fifth St, Santa Rosa, 707.544.8623.

The Tradewinds Bar Dec 19, Ocho Osos. Dec 20, Ugly Sweater Contest. Tues, Open Mic. Wed, Sonoma County Blues Society. 8210 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati, 707.795.7878.

Mystic Theatre Dec 17, Anuhea and Paula Fuga. Dec 18, the Dean-o-holics Rat Pack X-Mas Show. 23 Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma, 707.765.2121.

Twin Oaks Tavern Dec 16, the Roadhouse Ramblers. Dec 17, Levi’s Workshop with Levi Lloyd. Dec 18, Stax City. Dec 19, the Hots. Dec 20, 5pm, Blues and BBQ with Weekend At Bernie’s.

Dec 23, Third Rail. Mon, Blues Defenders Pro Jam. 5745 Old Redwood Hwy, Penngrove, 707.795.5118.

Phoenix Theater Dec 18, Disrupted Continuum with Secure the Sun. 201 Washington St, Petaluma, 707.762.3565.

Whiskey Tip Dec 18, “Cartoon Cabaret” with North Bay Cabaret. 1910 Sebastopol Rd, Santa Rosa, 707.843.5535.

Pub Republic Dec 18, the Restless Sons. 3120 Lakeville Hwy, Petaluma, 707.782.9090.

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts Dec 23, Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks! Tour. 50 Mark West Springs Rd, Santa Rosa, 707.546.3600.

Raven Theater Dec 17, Healdsburg High School’s holiday concert. Dec 19, Speed of Sound Music’s annual community concert. 115 North St, Healdsburg, 707.433.3145.

Redwood Cafe Dec 16, Irish set dancing. Dec 18, Elephant in the Room: Alternative Americana. Dec 19, Dgiin. Dec 20, 11am, Douglas Cross. Dec 20, 5pm, Gold Coast Jazz Band. Dec 23, Irish set dancing. Thurs, Open Mic. 8240 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati, 707.795.7868.

Rossi’s 1906 Dec 16, the Lonestar Retrobates with dance lessons. Dec 18, Tuto Bem. Dec 19, Ten Foot Tone and Tsunami. Dec 20, Sweet Potato 5. Dec 23, the Poyntlyss Sistars Xmas Extravaganza. 401 Grove St, Sonoma, 707.343.0044.

Ruth McGowan’s Brewpub Dec 18, Out of the Blue. Dec 19, Greenhouse.

Sun, Evening Jazz with Gary Johnson. 131 E First St, Cloverdale, 707.894.9610.

Sebastopol Community Center Dec 20, 2:30pm, Mr Music Holiday Sing-Along. 390 Morris St, Sebastopol, 707.874.3176.

Sun 12/20 • Doors 6pm & Mon 12/21 • Doors 7pm ADV $24 / DOS $27 / Discount $17

NAPA Billco’s Billiards Thurs, live music. 1234 Third St, Napa, 707.226.7506.

City Winery Napa Dec 16, Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett. Dec 22, Paint the Town’s “Christmas Fire” Party.

1030 Main St, Napa, 707.260.1600.

Downtown Joe’s Brewery & Restaurant Dec 17, 6pm, the Sorry Lot. Dec 17, 9:30pm, Dr. Mojo. Dec 18, EZ Street. Dec 19, David M’ore Band. Sun, DJ Aurelio. Tues, the Used Blues Band. 902 Main St, Napa, 707.258.2337.

Molinari Caffe Thurs, Open Mic. 828 Brown St, Napa, 707.927.3623.

Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater Dec 21, California Symphony presents Traditions New and Old. 100 California Dr, Yountville, 707.944.9900.

River Terrace Inn Dec 18, Johnny Smith. Dec 19, Craig Corona.

1600 Soscol Ave, Napa, 707.320.9000.

The Christmas Jug Band

marincenter.org

Jamison’s Roaring Donkey Dec 18, Ugly Xmas Sweater Party with the Dixie Giants. Wed, open mic night. 146 Kentucky St, Petaluma, 707.772.5478.

21

Join Singers Marin for their holiday concert, ‘Tis the Season … Candlelight Magic,’ at the Marin Center in San Rafael on Sunday, Dec. 20.

Thur 12/31 • Doors 8pm • ADV $75 / DOS $85

The Weight NYE Celebration with Moonalice Fri 1/1 & Sat 1/2 • Doors 8pm • ADV $27 / DOS $32

Tainted Love New Year's Weekend Party Sun 1/3 • Doors 7pm • ADV $12 / DOS $15

Bongo Love from Zimbabwe

Silo’s Dec 16, Christmas show with the Deadlies duo. Dec 17, John Brazell & Anadel with Ashton Whitaker. Dec 18, Garage Band 101 for Adults. Dec 19, “Home for the Holidays” with Tori Anna and friends. Dec 20, Garage Band 101 for Adults. Dec 23, Mike Greensill jazz. 530 Main St, Napa, 707.251.5833.

Wed 1/6 • Doors 7pm • ADV $17 / DOS $20

Uncorked at Oxbow Thurs, open mic night. Fri, live music. 605 First St, Napa, 707.927.5864.

Sun 1/10 • Doors 7pm • ADV $20 / DOS $25

Uva Trattoria Dec 16, Le Jazz Hot. Dec 17, Three on a Match. Dec 18, Gentlemen of Jazz with Phil Smith. Dec 19, Nicky DePaola. Dec 20, Justin Diaz. 1040 Clinton St, Napa, 707.255.6646.

Art OPENING SONOMA Sonoma Valley Museum of Art Dec 19-Mar 6, “Contemplative Elements,” Sonoma artists Danae Mattes and Frances McCormack split the museum with “Between Nature and Technology” exhibit from New Orleans artists Courtney Egan and David Sullivan. Reception, Dec 19 at noon. 551 Broadway, Sonoma. Wed-Sun, 11 to 5. 707.939.SVMA.

CONTINUING THIS WEEK MARIN 1108 gallery Through Dec 31, “Community Artists Group Show,” abstract works from Nina Bravo and Mark Parker join other local artists in a showing. 1108 Tamalpais Avenue, San Rafael. Thurs-Fri, 5pm to 8pm 415.454.1249.

Art Works Downtown Through Dec 31, “Small Works Exhibition,” a wonderful opportunity to find affordable, quality artwork for the holiday gift-giving season. 1337 Fourth St, San Rafael. Tues-Sat, 10 to 5. 415.451.8119.

Bay Model Visitor Center Through Dec 26, “Art & the Environment,” exhibit of oil paintings by Bay Area environmental impressionist George Sumner promotes conservation. 2100 Bridgeway, Sausalito. 415.332.3871.

The Lauren Murphy Band + Special Guests Fri 1/8 • Doors 8pm • ADV $22 / DOS $25

Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express Delta Deep

Wed 1/13 • Doors 7pm • $5 • Includes New CD!

Buck Nickels & Loose Change www.sweetwatermusichall.com 19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley Café 388-1700 | Box Office 388-3850

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Jackson Theater Dec 19, Redwood Empire Sing-Along Messiah. Sonoma Country Day School, 4400 Day School Place, Santa Rosa, 707.522.8786.

Sonoma Speakeasy Thurs, R&B classics. Fri, Sat, R&B party.

Sun, R&B diva night. Tues, New Orleans R&B night. 452 First St E, Ste G, Sonoma, 707.996.1364.

PACI FI C SUN | DECEM B ER 1 6 - 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 | PA CI FI CS U N. COM

22

DON’T FORGET…WE SERVE FOOD, TOO!

McNear’s Dining House Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner THUR 12/17 • 8PM DOORS • 21+ SINGER/SONGWRITER

ANUHEA PLUS PAULA FUGA FRI 12/18 • 8PM DOORS • 21+ COMEDY/THEATER

THE DEAN-O-HOLICS RAT PACK XMAS SHOW

FRANK, DEAN, SAMMY, PETER AND JOEY TOGETHER AGAIN!!!

WED 12/30 • 7:30PM DOORS • 21+ AMERICAN ROCK

CRACKER & CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN PLUS TBD THU 12/31 • 8PM DOORS • 21+ SINGER/SONGWRITER

OUR NEW YEARS EVE BASH WITH

BROTHERS COMATOSE PLUS

FRANKIE BOOTS & THE COUNTY LINE SAT 1/2 • 8PM DOORS • 21+ SINGER/SONGWRITER

JACKIE GREENE PLUS HANS

No Children Under 10 to All Ages Shows 23 Petaluma Blvd, Petaluma

707.765.2121

www.mcnears.com

Lunch & Dinner Sat & Sun Brunch

Fireside Dining 7 Days a Week

D I N N E R & A S H OW Dec 18 STOMPY JONES Fri

Sat

Swing and R&B 7:45 Dance Party!

Dance Lessons!

Dec 19 MIKE DUKE, ANNIE

SAMPSON, ANGELA STREHLI AND THE BROADSIDES BAND

8:00 / No Cover

ANTA & MRS. CLAUS Dec 20 S 2:00–3:30 Sun

TIM CAIN’S

FAMILY CHRISTMAS SING ALONG 4:00–5:00

9TH ANNUAL GOSPEL CHRISTMAS EVE Dec 24 WITH THE PRIESTHOOD DINNER AND SHOW 7:00 or JOIN US FOR CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER Thu

5:00–9:00 A Salute to the Beatles!

Sat Dec 26 THE SUN KINGS 8:30

Dec 27 THE MIGHTY MIKE Sun

SCHERMER BAND AND SPECIAL GUESTS

Original Blues and R&B 4:00 / No Cover 13th Annual New Year’s Eve Party!

Thu Dec 31 THE ZYDECO FLAMES 9:00 Reservations Advised

415.662.2219

On the Town Square, Nicasio www.ranchonicasio.com

Desta Art & Tea Gallery Through Jan 30, “The Way of Art,” featuring paintings, bronze sculptures and jewelries from local Bay Area artists. 417 San Anselmo Ave, San Anselmo. Mon-Sat, 10 to 6 415.524.8932.

Atlas Coffee Company Through Dec 30, “Upland & Plain,” Richard Ciccarelli’s exhibit of oil paintings offers amazing looks at Taylor Mountain and the Llano de Santa Rosa. 300 South A St, Santa Rosa. 707.526.1085.

Falkirk Cultural Center Through Dec 20, “Fall Juried Exhibit,” annual show displays works by many local artists. 1408 Mission Ave, San Rafael.

415.485.3438.

Chroma Gallery Through Dec 27, “Four Seasons: Sonoma County Landscapes,” paintings by Brooks Anderson, Thomas Creed and Donna DeLaBriandais capture nature’s beauty in their own unique styles. 312 South A St, Santa Rosa. 707.293.6051.

Gallery Route One Through Jan 17, “Time As We Know It,” photographs from West Marin’s Marna Clarke joins a “Wild Book Show” that features Dylan Yvonne Welch and drawings

by Vickisa. 11101 Hwy 1, Pt Reyes Station.

Wed-Mon, 11 to 5. 415.663.1347.

The Image Flow Through Jan 23, “Holiday Art Show,” featuring diverse original artwork by Stephen Bruce, J Scott Cilmi and Donna D’Acuti. 401 Miller Ave, Ste. A, Mill Valley.

415.388.3569.

Madrigal Family Winery Through Jan 13, “Celebrate the Holidays,” art installation in the tasting room features Bay Area oil painter Kay Carlson. 819 Bridgeway, Sausalito. 415.729.9549.

Marin Museum of Contemporary Art Through Jan 10, “Thirty-Six Views of the Bay Bridge,” David Garnick’s series of photographs exhibits in the main gallery, with Gale S McKee’s “The American Car: A Family Portrait” in the Ron Collins Gallery.

500 Palm Dr, Novato. Wed-Fri, 11 to 4; SatSun, 11 to 5. 415.506.0137.

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts Through Dec 19, “Art of the Spirit: Epiphany,” eclectic exhibit is juried by Rosemary Ishii MacConnell. Dec. 20, Sunday Salon/Winter Solstice: Share a poem, dance, work of art or song, plus potluck, 5-8pm, $10, limited to 15, register at ohanloncenter.org. 616 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley. Tues-Sat, 10 to 2; also by appointment. 415.388.4331.

Robert Allen Fine Art Through Jan 29, “Lands End Allegory,” solo show of new works from San Francisco artist Jay Mercado. 301 Caledonia St, Sausalito. Mon-Fri, 10 to 5. 415.331.2800.

Throckmorton Theatre Through Dec 27, “Sherry Williamson Solo Show,” the artist and architect’s work includes ceramics, sculpture and mono type prints. 142 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley.

415.383.9600.

Toby’s Gallery Through Dec 31, “10,000 Buddhas Project,” new paintings from Amanda Giacomini’s project. 11250 Hwy 1, Point Reyes Station.

SONOMA Art Museum of Sonoma County Through Feb 7, “Inside Magnolia Editions: Collaboration & Innovation,” an experimental collection of renowned works from the top-notch Oakland printmaking company. 505 B St, Santa Rosa. Tues-Sun, 11 to 5. 707.579.1500.

Arts Guild of Sonoma Through Dec 27, “Holiday Invitational Show,” guild members get festive with these holiday-inspired works. 140 E Napa St, Sonoma. Wed-Thurs and Sun-Mon, 11 to 5; Fri-Sat, 11 to 8. 707.996.3115.

Coffee Catz Saturdays-Sundays. through Dec 20, “UpBeat Artists Show,” third annual holiday show features artists from the Sebastopol collective. 6761 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol.

707.829.6600.

Fulton Crossing Through Dec 31, “Gallery Re-opening Show,” celebrating the newly remodeled gallery, many works by local artists include exquisite metal sculptures by Susandra Spicer and stained-glass and fine-woods furniture from Skip Thomsen. 1200 River Rd, Fulton.

Gallery One Through Dec 30, “Deck the Walls with Red,” juried multimedia group show revolves around the color red. 209 Western Ave, Petaluma. 707.778.8277.

Healdsburg Center for the Arts Through Dec 31, “Holiday Gift Gallery,” a winter wonderland of art from over 50 regional artists is on display through the holiday season. 130 Plaza St, Healdsburg.

Daily, 11 to 6. 707.431.1970.

Opera House Collective Through Dec 24, “Maxfield Bala Solo Show,” the rising Bay Area artist creates vivid illustrations with imaginative figures drawn in a complex fine-line style. 145 Kentucky St, Petaluma. Daily, 11 to 5 707.774.6576.

Orpheus Wines Tasting Room Through Dec 20, “clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose,” Marin artist Jamie Weinstein creates visual commentary on the everyday world.

8910 Sonoma Hwy, Kenwood. 707.282.9231.

Petaluma Historical Library & Museum Through Dec 27, “Artists & Artisans of Petaluma,” photographer Gary Kaplan exhibits stunning portraits of twenty four Petaluma artists in their studios, accompanied by a piece from each artist. 20 Fourth St, Petaluma. Wed-Sat, 10 to 4; Sun, noon to 3; tours by appointment on MonTues. 707.778.4398.

Redwood Cafe Through Dec 30, “Monthly Art Exhibit,” the cafe welcomes local artists to display on their walls. 8240 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati. Open daily. 707.795.7868.

Sebastopol Center for the Arts Through Dec 31, “Annual Members Show,” eclectic and inclusive exhibition displays members’ multimedia works that are available to purchase. 282 S High St, Sebastopol. Tues-Fri, 10 to 4; Sat, 1 to 4.

707.829.4797.

Sonoma Community Center Through Dec 27, “Ephemeralities,” ceramic works by artist-in-residence Xia Zhang. 276 E Napa St, Sonoma. Daily, 7:30am to 11pm.

707.938.4626.

Comedy Comedy Open Mic Third Sun of every month, 8pm. Free.

HopMonk Sebastopol, 230 Petaluma Ave, Sebastopol, 707.829.7300.

Johnny Steele The superb standup with a comic-book character’s name takes the stage with special guest Phil Johnson. Dec 17, 8pm. $20-$25.

Trek Winery, 1026 Machin Ave, Novato, 415.899.9883.

Mort Sahl Social Satire from Sahl. Thurs. $15-$20.

Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley, 415.383.9600.

Tuesday Night Live Featuring comedians at the top of their game, both rising stars and names known worldwide. Tues, 8pm. $17-$27.

Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley, 415.383.9600.

Dance Belrose Theater Sundays, 4pm, Argentine Dance. 1415 Fifth Ave, San Rafael 415.454.6422.

Club 101 Wednesdays, 8:20pm, salsa dancing with lessons. 815 W Francisco Blvd, San Rafael 415.460.0101.

Dance Palace Sundays, 10am, Ecstatic Dance Point Reyes, explore different rhythms with no experience necessary. Wednesdays, 6pm, Women’s Collaborative Dance. $5-$15 per month. 503 B St, Pt Reyes Station 415.663.1075.

Ellington Hall Fridays, Friday Night Swing. 3535 Industrial Dr, Santa Rosa 707.545.6150.

Fairfax Pavilion Belly Dance Classes with KaRaSheba; Mondays, Jan. 4 through Feb. 22; 7:45pm9pm; Fairfax Pavilion; 415/717-8263.

Flamingo Lounge Sundays, 7pm, salsa with lessons. Tuesdays, swing dancing with lessons. 2777 Fourth St, Santa Rosa 707.545.8530.

Marin Center Showcase Theatre Dec 19, 2 and 5:30pm, Dance with Sherry Studio’s Tapcracker. $12-$25. 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael 415.499.6800.

Marin Center Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium Dec 19, 1 and 5:30pm, Marin Dance Theatre’ Sophie & the Enchanted Toyshop. $30$40. 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael 415.473.6800.

Monroe Dance Hall Dec 18, Santa Rosa Holiday Gala Contra Dance. Dec 19, Tom Rigney with Flambeau.

Thursdays, Circles ‘n Squares Dance Club.

Sundays, Country-Western dancing and lessons. Mondays, Scottish Country Dancing. Tuesdays, Razzmataz folk dance club. Wednesdays, Singles and Pairs Square Dance Club. 1400 W College Ave, Santa Rosa 707.529.5450.

Spreckels Performing Arts Center Dec 18-20, The Nutcracker Ballet, Santa Rosa Dance Theater and the Sonoma County Philharmonic present the holiday dance classic with a live orchestra. $25$30. 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park 707.588.3400.

Wells Fargo Center for the Arts Dec 19, 3 and 7pm, Moscow Ballet presents The Great Russian Nutcracker, bring the whole family for the sweetest Christmas celebration of the season. $34 and up. Dec 20, 8pm, So You Think You Can Dance, TV show’s twelfth-season Top 10 finalists are coming to Santa Rosa. $56 and up. 50 Mark West Springs Rd, Santa Rosa 707.546.3600.

Events Art In the Park Bring the whole family out to paint, color or draw the surrounding flora and fauna while looking out at the picturesque bay. Supplies provided. Dec 23, 11am. Free. McNear’s Beach Park, Cantera Way, San Rafael.

California Native Holiday Expo Inaugural event boasts holiday gifts, art and crafts from Native American vendors, raffles, free food, family games and more.

Dec 19, 1pm. California Indian Museum & Cultural Center, 5250 Aero Dr, Santa Rosa, 707.579.3004.

Clothing Swap Extravaganza Bring clean clothes to donate and grab something new while enjoying live music and warm drinks. The winter clothing drive will donate all left behind clothing to charity. Dec 20, 6pm. $12 donation. Arlene Francis Center, 99 Sixth St, Santa Rosa, 707.528.3009.

Family Christmas Pageant & Petting Zoo All are welcome to watch this pageant with live animals participating and available following the service to pet. Dec 20, 10am.

St Stephen’s Episcopol Church, 3 Bay View Ave, Belvedere.

Galley Tour Discover the art, history and environment of the Napa Valley. Third Sat of every month, 11am. Free. Napa Valley Museum, 55 Presidents Circle, Yountville, 707.944.0500.

Harmonia Holiday Soiree Celebration of the new Harmonia includes optional VIP cocktail reception, several rooms of live music, lounge, outdoor garden, hookah bar and more. Dec 19, 8pm. $20-$40. Harmonia, 2200 Bridgeway Ave, Sausalito, 415-332-1432.

La Frida Selfie Painting Party Join in painting your own Frida Khalo portrait with artist Amanda Ayala.

Benefits Raizes Collective events. Space is limited. Dec 20, 2pm. $40. Peace & Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Ave, Santa Rosa, 707.486.6300.

Le Cirque de Bohème An old-style circus based on the French tradition of the 1920s presents a new show,

“Stolen Moonlight,” with an amazing cast of characters. Through Dec 20. $28-$55.

Cornerstone Sonoma, 23570 Arnold Dr, Sonoma, 707.933.3010.

Matryoshka Doll Show Local artists highlight the creative diversity in Santa Rosa and showcase their individual styles through the beloved Matryoshka Nesting Dolls. Dec 18, 6pm. Brew, 555 Healdsburg Ave, Santa Rosa, 707-303-7372.

Mill Valley Library Book Sale Friends of Mill Valley Library holds monthly sale of all genres of literature and reference books, CDs and videos.

Third Sat of every month, 9am. Mill Valley Library, 375 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley, 415.389.4292.

Open Studios at Fulton Crossing Artists and crafters open their studios to the public, show their work and engage in community conversations that foster creative energies. Third Fri of every month, 5pm. Fulton Crossing, 1200 River Rd, Fulton.

Pacific Coast Air Museum Third weekend of every month from 10 to 4, folks are invited to play pilot in a featured aircraft. Third Sat of every month and Third Sun of every month. $5. Pacific Coast Air Museum, 2330 Airport Blvd, Santa Rosa, 707.575.7900.

Ping-Pong & Right-Brain Exploration Table tennis takes on a whole new light.

Mon, 7:30pm. $15 per month. Dance Palace, 503 B St, Pt Reyes Station, 415.663.1075.

West Coast Live Sedge Thomson’s variety show returns with renowned authors and musicians for a live radio show. Sat, Dec 19, 10am. $5-$15. SHED, 25 North St, Healdsburg, 707.431.7433.

The Santa Clause Tim Allen has to take on the role of Santa in this ‘90s holiday film. Dec 20, 1pm.

Sebastiani Theatre, 476 First St E, Sonoma, 707.996.9756.

Winter Market Holiday fun for all features pop-up shops, live music, mulled cider and treats. Also includes special Christmas Circus shows. Sat, 5pm. through Dec 26. Marin Country Mart, 2257 Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur.

Time Out of Mind Award-winning film starring Richard Gere is presented by SAY and Catholic Charities, and includes a post-film discussion exploring how youth homelessness impacts young people locally. Dec 17, 6pm. $10. Third Street Cinema Six, 620 Third St, Santa Rosa.

Field Trips Afternoon Community Service Participate in center restoration projects.

Third Wed of every month. Richardson Bay Audubon Center, 376 Greenwood Beach Rd, Tiburon, 415.388.2524.

Bird Walk in Bodega Bay Search the harbor, adjacent seas and woodlands for birds, including Doran County Park. Led by Madrone Audubon Society. Wed, Dec 16, 8:30am. Bodega Bay Harbor, East Shore Rd, Bodega Bay, madroneaudubon.org.

Bohemia Hiker Series Bohemia docents share the beauty of this property through the changing seasons.

Registration is required. Third Sat of every month, 10:30am. Bohemia Ecological Preserve, 8759 Bohemian Hwy, Occidental.

White Christmas Bing Crosby holiday classic gets a screening as part of the Vintage Film Series. Dec 21, 7pm. Sebastiani Theatre, 476 First St E, Sonoma, 707.996.9756.

Food&Drink Cooking from the Farmers’ Market Hands-on cooking class features seasonal produce grown within miles of Cavallo Point, hand-selected from local farmers and purveyors. Dec 19, 6pm. $125. Cavallo Point, 601 Murray Circle, Fort Baker, Sausalito, 415.339.4700.

Demystifying Wine & Food Interactive discussions on pairings with delectable demonstrations. Sat-noon. $75.

Hall Winery, 401 St Helena Hwy S, St Helena, 707.967.2620.

Radiant Presence With Peter Brown. Every other Tues. Open Secret, 923 C St, San Rafael, 415.457.4191.

Habitat Restoration at Taylor Trail Help remove the pesky invasive French broom plant and clear the land. marinwater.org. Dec 19, 9am. Sky Oaks Headquarters, 49 Sky Oaks Rd, Fairfax, 415.945.1180.

Feast of the Seven Fishes Chef Louis Maldonado and his culinary team conjure up an elaborate multi-course holiday meal featuring seven different types of seafood. Dec 19, 5pm. $85. Spoonbar, 219 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, 707.433.7222.

Riverfront Thursday Nights Wine, dine, shop and play as shops stay open late. Every third Thurs, from 6 to 9. Third Thurs of every month. Free. Riverfront District, Downtown, Napa, 707.251.3726.

Nature for Kids Bring the kids for a winter walk that looks at the changing seasons and habitats for Marin County critters. Dec 22, 10am. Free.

Indian Tree Preserve, Vineyard Rd, Novato.

Friday Night Live Enjoy delicious themed buffet dinners with live music on hand. Fri. $7-$14. San Geronimo Golf Course, 5800 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, San Geronimo, 415.488.4030.

San Rafael Lighted Boat Parade Marin’s boating community comes out and lights up their vessels for a family-fun holiday evening. Dec 19, 5:30pm. Free. San Rafael Creek, Canal St, San Rafael.

Winter Mushrooms Walk Enjoy spectacular views and an amazing array of mushrooms that come out this time of year. Dec 20, 9am. Free. Indian Tree Preserve, Vineyard Rd, Novato.

Singles Holiday Mixer Festive holiday affair for friendly singles. Dec 22, 7pm. $10. Four Points Sheraton, 1010 Northgate Dr, San Rafael, 415.507.9962.

Film

Holiday Dinner Seasonally themed gourmet food and exceptional wine pair with stunning views of the Alexander Valley. Dec 19, 6:30pm. $175. Stuhlmuller Vineyards, 4951 West Soda Rock Ln, Healdsburg, 707.431.7745.

Snowflake Craft Fun family winter craft event lets you create a decorative snowflake from craft sticks, glue and paint. Children under the age of 8 will need adult supervision. Dec 19, 11am.

Marin Civic Center Library, 3501 Civic Center Dr #414, San Rafael, 415.473.6058.

Solstice Celebration & Holy Nights Ritual Igniting the Light Within: Celebrating & Calling Forth Our Gifts. On the eve of the winter solstice, join Rev. Cristhal and the Counsel of Silver Light Center to celebrate the return of light to the world with friends, potluck dinner, stories, ritual and song. Saturday, Dec. 19, 4-7pm; Silver Light Center for Spiritual Healing and Renewal, 473 Alameda De La Loma, Novato, silverlightministries.com.

Starhawk Winter Solstice Ritual Join Starhawk and friends in a winter ritual to call back the suun, and sing and dance with community. Dec 19, 7pm. $10-$50.

Sebastopol Grange Hall, 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol, 707.484.7786.

CULT Film Series It’s Christmas, CULT style, with a double bill of “Scrooged” and “Bad Santa” for naughty holiday fun. Dec 17, 7pm. $10. Roxy Stadium 14 Cinemas, 85 Santa Rosa Ave, Santa Rosa, 707.525.8909.

Mind Reels Weekly series presents notable documentary films as well as guest speakers and performers bringing the film’s ideas to life. Tues-noon. $25-$30. Lark Theater, 549 Magnolia Ave, Larkspur, 415.924.5111.

Movie & a Meal Community event for all to share in.

Third Fri of every month. $5-$10. Sonoma Shambhala Meditation Center, 255 W Napa St, Sonoma, 415.412.8570.

Piaf: Her Story...Her Songs On the occasion of Edith Piaf ’s 100th birthday, Raquel Bitton presents in person a rare 35mm screening of the acclaimed concert-documentary. Dec 19, 7pm. $8-$12.

Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael, 415.454.1222.

Holiday Winemaker Dinner Festive and elegant dinner welcomes Kathleen Inman of Inman Family Winery and Kurt Giusti of Via Giusti Winery to pair their wines with a menu by chef Mike Selvera. Dec 17, 6:30pm. $75. Seaside Metal Oyster Bar, 16222 Main St, Guerneville, 707.604.7250.

Pop Up Dinner Third Fri of every month, 4pm. Gourmet au Bay, 913 Hwy 1, Bodega Bay, 707.875.9875.

Renaissance Tea Treat the belly with specialty teas, sandwiches, scones and sweets. RSVP; ages 12 and up. Third Sun of every month, 3pm. $35. Cedar Gables Inn, 486 Coombs St, Napa, 707.224.7969.

What’s in Your Cookie Tin? The cooking school team puts together some of their favorite holiday treats for a hands-on bake and take event this holiday season. Dec 17, 1pm. $85. Cavallo Point, 601 Murray Circle, Fort Baker, Sausalito, 415.339.4700.

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Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater Dec 19-20, Napa Regional Dance Company’s The Nutcracker, fifteenth annual production features live music by the Symphony Orchestra of Northern California. $25-$35. 100 California Dr, Yountville 707.944.9900.

For Kids

PACI FI C SUN | DECEM B ER 1 6 - 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 | PA CI FI CS U N. COM

24 SINCE 1984 • LIVE MUSIC 365 NIGHTS A YEAR!

IRIEFUSE/MND/BAD POETRY 8:30pm | 21+ 17 JAZZ IGUANAS REUNION W/ RHYTHM ADDICTS 18 9pm | $15 Adv | $20 door| 21+

Thur Dec

Fri Dec

Rock $10 | 21+ 19 THE BAD JONES NEON 9pm IRISH JUST 5pm EDDIE BLUES BAND 20 JAM 2pm FRIENDS Free! | 21+

Sat Dec

Sun Dec

W/ WALT THE DAWG 22 BLUESDAYS!8pm | Free! | 21+ JOSE SIMIONI BAND 23 Tues Dec

Wed Dec

8:30pm | Free! | 21+

Upcoming shows:

Bay Area Discovery Museum Ongoing, “Animal Secrets.” Hands-on art, science and theater camps, art studio, tot spot and lookout cove adventure area. WedThurs at 10 and 11, music with Miss Kitty. $5-$6. Fri at 11, aquarium feeding. Ongoing.

Admission, $8-$10. Bay Area Discovery Museum, Fort Baker, 557 McReynolds Rd, Sausalito, 415.339.3900.

Gingerbread House Program Come make a Gingerbread House, all materials supplied. Ages 4 and up. Dec 19, 10:30am. Free. Guerneville Library, 14107 Armstrong Woods Rd, Guerneville, 707.869.9004.

Photos with Santa Claus Town Center Corte Madera will find itself once again on Santa Claus’s annual route from the North Pole during this holiday season to help spread holiday joy for families and children of all ages. Through Dec 24. Town Center Corte Madera, 100 Corte Madera Town Center, Corte Madera, 415.924.2961.

NYE WITH THE FAIRFAX ALL STARS! Special guests! $25 9pm Free Champagne Toast!

Star Wars Party Come celebrate your love of Star Wars with food, activities, a costume contest and much more. Dec 18, 4-7pm. Free. Napa Main Library, 580 Coombs St, Napa, 707.253.4235.

Food being served Wed-Sun 530p-1130p (2am on weekends)

CBT/DBT Group for Depression Skills-based education and training group is designed to help you cope with facing basic everyday problems including distressing emotions like depression and anxiety. Tues, 6pm. $20-$40. Community Institute for Psychotherapy, 1330 Lincoln Ave #201, San Rafael, 415.459.5999.

FAIRFAX • 19BROADWAY.COM • 459-1091

224 VINTAGE WAY NOVATO

EVERY WEDNESDAY OPEN MIC NIGHT WITH DENNIS HANEDA THUR 12/17 $6 6:45PM DOORS / 7PM SHOW ALL AGES

33 1/3 MILE SHOWCASE ROSEBERRY JAM, JB JAZZ ENSEMBLE, INTERSECTION

SAT 12/19 $10 7PM DOORS / 8PM SHOW 21+

THE SORENTINO’S WITH THE SPECTONES

TUES 12/29 $25 7PM DOORS / 8PM SHOW 21+

BIG FAT YEAR END COMEDY SHOW

THUR 12/31 $50 8PM DOORS / 9PM SHOW 21+

PETTY THEFT

SUN 1/03 $6 6PM DOORS / 7PM SHOW ALL AGES

RIDGWAY SPACE STATION THUR 1/07 $6 6:50PM DOORS / 7PM SHOW ALL AGES

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FRI 1/08 $10 8PM DOORS / 8:45PM SHOW 21+

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Lectures

CityZen Evening of sitting meditation, tea and dharma talk. All are welcome. Mon, 7pm.

Free. Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, 707.568.5381.

Dharma Study & Discussion The Rev Ron Kobata leads a discussion class on a variety of Buddhist topics. Dec 17, 7:30pm. Free. Buddhist Temple of Marin, 390 Miller Ave, Mill Valley.

Golden Gate Computer Society Apple Group Explore everything Apple, including Mac computers and iOS devices such as iPhone, iPad, etc. Third Thurs of every month, 1pm.

First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, 1510 Fifth St, San Rafael, 415.927.2289.

Introduction to QuickBooks Join Pamela Lyons, “Queen of QuickBooks,” and Alycia Paletta, CPA, for an evening introduction. Dec 16, 6:30pm. Free. San Rafael Library, 1100 E St, San Rafael, 415.485.3323.

Draw Fast & Loose Develop skill in sketching what you see as simply and boldly as possible using basic art materials. Third Sat of every month, 10:30am. $40. Napa Valley Art Supplies, 3250 California Blvd, Napa, 707.224.2775.

The Story of the Gnostic Christ Presentation looks at original and complex descriptions of Christ and draws from historical investigations into early Christianity. Dec 22, 6:30pm. $5-$10.

dhyana Center, 186 N Main St, Sebastopol, 800.796.6863.

$5-$25. The Imaginists, 461 Sebastopol Ave, Santa Rosa, 707.528.7554.

Support Group for Women in Transition Encouragement during life transitions such as relationship changes, career changes and difficult life events. Thurs, 6pm. $20-$40.

Community Institute for Psychotherapy, 1330 Lincoln Ave #201, San Rafael, 415.459.5999.

The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical Lucky Penny Productions presents an allnew and hilarious holiday romp that looks at Christmas antics in a Florida trailer park.

Through Dec 19. $27-$38. Lucky Penny Community Arts Center, 1758 Industrial Way, Napa, 707.266.6305.

Ten Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease Presented by Shelley Dombroski, director of the Northern California Alzheimer’s Association. Dec 18, 2pm. Free. San Rafael Library, 1100 E St, San Rafael, 415.485.3323.

Twenty-Something Support Group Explore adulthood with emphasis on life skills such as mindfulness, interpersonal skills and healthy coping skills. Thurs, 6pm. $20-$40. Community Institute for Psychotherapy, 1330 Lincoln Ave #201, San Rafael, 415.459.5999.

Writing Workshop Get motivation and writing assistance from rotating hosts. Wed, 7pm. Smiley’s Schooner Saloon, 41 Wharf Rd, Bolinas, 415.868.1311.

Readings Book Passage Dec 16, 7pm, “Guittard Chocolate Cookbook” with Amy Guittard. Dec 17, 7pm, “Getting Beyond Better” with Sally Osberg. 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera 415.927.0960.

Commonweal Dec 18, 10am, “Wise Aging: Living With Joy, Resilience and Spirit” with Rabbi Rachel Cowan, in conversation with Michael Lerner. Free. 451 Mesa Rd, Bolinas.

Depot Bookstore & Cafe Dec 19, 12pm, “A Dream Begun So Long Ago” with David Johnson and Jacqueline Annette Sue. 87 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley 415.383.2665.

Point Reyes Books Dec 21, 7pm, “To Know the Dark” candlelit poetry reading. 11315 Hwy 1, Pt Reyes Station 415.663.1542.

Theater A Christmas Carol New stage version of the famous Dickens story of Ebenezer Scrooge comes to life for the whole family this holiday season.

Through Dec 20. $15-$37. 6th Street Playhouse, 52 West Sixth St, Santa Rosa, 707.523.4185. Production by Sonoma Community Center and the Sonoma Valley Shakespeare Company is directed by Aidan O’Reilly and adapted by Jocelynn Joy Murphy. Dec 17-23. $10-$15. Andrews Hall, Sonoma Community Center, 276 E Napa St, Sonoma, 518.339.5625.

Don Juan in Hell The Curtain Call Theatre presents George Bernard Shaw’s humorous, naughty play.

Closing night includes a gala fundraiser.

Through Dec 19. Russian River Hall, 20347 Hwy 116, Monte Rio, 707.524.8739.

The Eternal Return of the Cosmic Star Child from the Songbook of the Invisible Sky The Imaginists perform their all-new interstellar operetta, inspired by Pink Floyd and ancient astrology. Through Dec 20.

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play Beloved American holiday classic of idealistic George Bailey’s fateful Christmas Eve comes to captivating life as a live 1940s radio broadcast. Through Dec 20. $10-$25.

Raven Theater Windsor, 195 Windsor River Rd, Windsor.

The Ladies of the Camellias Ross Valley Players perform this funny farce about two famous theater divas embroiled in competitive productions and the Russian anarchist who threatens to blow it all up.

Through Dec 20. $14-$29. Barn Theatre, Marin Art and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Ross, 415.456.9555.

The Little Prince Based on the classic story, this fantastic journey and the resonant life lessons within it will delight and warm the hearts of families of all ages this holiday season.

Through Dec 20. $18-$22. Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave, Mill Valley, 415.388.5208.

Little Women: The Musical Thomas Chapman directs award-winning actress Rebekah Pearson of Santa Rosa in the Broadway musical based on the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott. Through Dec 20. $12-$26. Spreckels Performing Arts Center, 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park, 707.588.3400.

Polar Bears New one-man play from “Bohemian” contributor David Templeton is a heartwarming holiday tale of fatherhood, death and Santa Claus. Through Dec 20. $15-$27. Main Stage West, 104 N Main St, Sebastopol, 707.823.0177.

White Christmas Classic Christmas musical rings in the season with Roustabout Theater’s Apprentice Program. Through Dec 20. $16-$26. Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Rd, Santa Rosa, 707.546.3600.

Winnie the Pooh Christmas Tale H-Town Youth Theatre presents this very special and enchanting musical, an annual holiday tradition. Through Dec 20. $10-$15.

Raven Theater, 115 North St, Healdsburg, 707.433.3145.✹

Got a listing for our Sundial section, full of the best events in Marin and beyond?

Send it to calendar@pacificsun.com two weeks prior to desired publication date.

Seminars&Workshops To include your seminar or workshop, call 415/485-6700 x 311.

SINGLE MEN WANTED Single & Dissatisfied? Tired of spending holidays and weekends alone? Join with single women to explore what’s blocking you from creating the relationship you desire. Nine-week Single’s Group starts Thur., Jan 7 (no holiday week meetings). Also ongoing, weekly groups: 3 coed Intimacy Groups and Women’s Group (now forming). Space limited. Also, Individual and Couples sessions.

Central San Rafael. For more information, call Renee Owen, LMFT #35255 at 415/453-8117.

OUTSIDE – INSIDE, Where Are We Now? Workshops for Those Raised In Systems that Control and Exploit High Demand Groups, Families, and Cults This psychoeducational interactive workshop on Saturday, January 16th, 10:00AM – 4:30 PM and Saturday, January 30th, 1:00PM-4:30 PM, one or both Saturdays, provides participants opportunities to identify common characteristics of abusive and healthy environments in families and groups, share experiences, learn from each other, find strategies to navigate through loss and trauma, and recognize individual goals.

Facilitators Colleen Russell, MA, LMFT, CGP and Gina Catena, MS, Colleen Russell, NP, CNM have a combined total of 35 years working in the field of high LMFT, CGP demand group education and recovery; both have personal experience in high demand groups. Fee : $125 for January 16th; $65.00 for January 30th , totaling $190.00.

Limited seating. For reservations or questions contact Colleen: 415.785.3513; website: Colleenrussellmft.com.

Trivia answers «6

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1The Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Scenic Railway, so named because of its 281 curves in eight miles of track. The train ran until 1929.

2 Sugar (about 99.99 percent) 3a. Quiz Show b. Twenty One; the returning champion and a challenger were situated in separate isolation booths. c. Ralph Fiennes; John Turturro 4 The blue whale.

5a. Zeus b. Jupiter 6a. Boggle was introduced with 16 squares; it now also offers 25-square games. b. The ‘Qu’ cube.

7 Those vertical lines that stretch from pole to pole are farthest apart anywhere on the Equator (about 69 miles for each degree; that is earth’s circumference divided by 360 degrees).

8 Whale hunting 9 Thirty-three victories, by the Los Angeles Lakers 10 5,000. It’s easy—take the average of the first and last term (50), and multiply by the number of terms (100).

BONUS ANSWER: Called the Arroyo Seco Parkway (also known as the Pasadena Freeway), it connected Los Angeles and Pasadena.

Community Spanish Language Learning Center In Downtown San Rafael www.spanishindowntown sanrafael.com BELLY DANCE CLASSES with KaRaSheba Mons. 7:45-9:00pm 1/04-2/24 Fairfax Pavilion 415-717-8263

Got Rot? Decks • Bathrooms Car Decks Termite Damage

415-235-5656 Lic.# 696235

Mind&Body HYPNOTHERAPY Thea Donnelly, M.A. Hypnosis, Counseling, All Issues. 25 yrs. experience.

415-459-0449.

Home Services CLEANING SERVICES ADVANCED HOUSE CLEANING Licensed. Bonded. Insured.

Will do windows.

Call Pat 415-310-8784 All Marin House Cleaning Licensed, Bonded, Insured.

Will do Windows. Ophelia 415-717-7157

FURNITURE REPAIR/REFINISH FURNITURE DOCTOR Ph/Fax: 415-383-2697

GARDENING/LANDSCAPING GARDEN MAINTENANCE OSCAR - 415-505-3606

YARDWORK LANDSCAPING

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GENERAL CONTRACTING

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Kitchens • Baths General Remodels • Additions Carports • Concrete

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References

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We are now hiring EXPERIENCED CAREGIVERS for Live-In & Hourly Shifts. Top Pay! Flexible Hours! 401K, Health Insurance and Signing Bonus!

Best Training! Requirements: 3 professional references, Proof of eligibility to work in the US. Interested candidates should apply in person on weekdays between 9am and 5pm at: Home Care Assistance, 919 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Ste. 107, Kentfield, CA 94904. Contact Francie Bedinger 415 532-8626

Real Estate HOMES/CONDOS FOR SALE

25 PA CI FI C S U N | D ECEM B ER 1 6 - 2 2 , 2 0 15 | PACI FI CSUN.CO M

TO PLACE AN AD: Call our Classifieds and Legals Sales Department at 415/485-6700.Text ads must be placed by Monday Noon to make it into the Wednesday print edition.

AFFORDABLE MARIN? I can show you 50 homes under $500,000. Call Cindy @ 415-902-2729.

Christine Champion, Broker.

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ENGLISH HOUSESITTER Will love your pets, pamper your plants, ease your mind, What Marin County system HANDYMAN/REPAIRS while you’retransportation out of town.

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Pls for busiWorld” by locals it first opened Callwhen Jill @ 415-927-1454

1

ness in 1896?

Instruction, 2 What is the predominant ingredient in cotproblemton candy?

Seminars & solving: 3 a. What acclaimed 1994 movie, directed by Workshops Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, TV, electronics. Robert Redford, tells the true story of a TV show scandal of the 1950s?

Small household game repairs.

TO INCLUDE YOURS b. What trivia-based game show with a numeriServing Marin Since 2013 cal title was caught manipulating winners?

CALL 415•497•6130 415/485-6700 c. What actors played charismatic college professor Charles Van Doren, who was supplied answers by the show producers, and nerdy New York intellectual Herbert Stempel, who was forced to throw the final round?

4 What is the largest living animal?

5a. The god of sky and weather, and ruler of gods and men—who is this chief god of the ancient Greeks? b. And who was the Roman counterpart for this god?

Facebook.com/PacificSunNews 6a. How many cubes are used in the classic game of Bogg b. What is the name of the only cube that shows more tha 7 Where on earth are the lines of longitude farthest apart 8 On March 31, 2014, the United Nations International Co against the Japanese for what activities in the Antarctic reg 9 Before the Warriors’ amazing winning streak ended wi Milwaukee Bucks, the team was challenging the all-time N consecutive victories, by what 1971-72 team?

1

3a

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PACI FI C SUN | DECEM B ER 1 6 - 2 2 , 2 0 1 5 | PA CI FI CS U N. COM

26

PublicNotices FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138624 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: CORE PHYSICAL THERAPY, 4050 REDWOOD HWY #G, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903: MARIN INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE ASSOCIATION, 4 HAMILTON LANDING #100, NOVATO, CA 94949. The business is being conducted by A CORPORATION. Registrant is renewing with changes under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County ClerkRecorder of Marin County on Nov 18, 2015 (Publication Dates: Nov 25, Dec 2, 9, 16 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138616 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: GREEN THUMB LANDSCAPING, 6 TURNER DR, NOVATO, CA 94949: AUDON MAGANA, 6 TURNER DR, NOVATO, CA 94949. The business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. Registration expired more than 40 days ago and is renewing under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on Nov 18, 2015 (Publication Dates: Nov 25, Dec 2, 9, 16 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 2015138608 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: GOLD COUNTRY MODERN REAL ESTATE, 2144 FOURTH STREET, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901: MARIN MODERN REAL ESTATE,INC., 2144 FOURTH STREET, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901.

The 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 Nov 17, 2015 (Publication Dates: Nov 25, Dec 2, 9, 16 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138650 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: SPECS AND TECH, 8 REDWOOD ROAD, SAN ANSLEMO, CA 94960: DENISE IRENE BONDY, 8 REDWOOD ROAD, SAN ANSELMO, CA 94960.

The 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 Nov 23, 2015 (Publication Dates: Nov 25, Dec 2, 9, 16 of 2015) STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME File No:304655 The following person(s) has/have abandoned the use of a fictitious business name(s). The information given below is as it appeared on the fictitious business statement that was filed at the Marin County ClerkRecorder’s Office on Sep 25, 2015 Under File No:138228. Fictitious Business name(s) JC AUTOBODY,49 LARKSPUR ST, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901: SOPHEAK CHAO, 49 LARKSPUR ST, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901.This statement was filed with the County Clerk Recorder of Marin County on Nov 23, 2015.

(Publication Dates: Nov 25, Dec 2, 9, 16 of 2015)

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 2015138660 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: GT COMPUTERS, 50 TIBURON STREET, SUITE 4-A, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901: MAURICIO A GALVEZ, 124 MERRYDALE RD. Apt #11, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903. The 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 Nov 24, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 2, 9, 16, 23 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138554 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: SHERRY PAGE BOOKS, 77 CENTRAL AVENUE, SAUSALITO, CA 94965: SHERRY LAWSON FLANDERS, 77 CENTRAL AVENUE, SAUSALITO, CA 94965. The 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 Nov 09, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 2, 9, 16, 23 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138628 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: CIEL TRANQUIL, 175 OAK VIEW DRIVE, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903: CONSTANZE LASOWSKI, 175 OAK VIEW DR, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903.

Registration expired more than 40 days ago and is renewing under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. The business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on Nov 19, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 2, 9, 16, 23 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 2015138567 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: MHA CREATIVE LANDSCAPES, 1142 MISSION AVE #C, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901: MICHEAL H ALVARADO, 1142 MISSION AVE # C, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901. Registrant will begin transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. The business is being conducted by AN INDIVIDUAL. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on Nov 10, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 2, 9, 16, 23 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 2015138690 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: BAG NASTY, 175 WHITTIER AVE, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903: VINCE DEOCHOA, 175 WHITTIER AVE, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903. The 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 DEC 1, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 9, 16, 23, 30 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138716 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: CCMW

PARTNERSHIP, 2165 FRANCISCO BLVD EAST STE G, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901: 1) CHRISTOPHER D COCHRANE, 2165 FRANCISCO BLVD EAST, STE G, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 2) CHARLOTTE A. COCHRANE, 2 ADMIRAL DRIVE B477, EMERYVILLE, CA 94608 3) BRIAN MOORE, 1138 INGRAM DRIVE, SONOMA, CA 95476 4) ELIZABETH WALD, 1138 INGRAM DRIVE, SONOMA, CA 95476.

The business is being conducted

by A GENERAL PARTNERSHIP. Registrant is renewing filing with changes and is transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed herein. This statement was filed with the County Clerk-Recorder of Marin County on DEC 4, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 9, 16, 23, 30 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138712 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: J&D MOBILE ROAD SERVICE, 42 LOS RANCHITOS RD , APT #1, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903: 1) EMERSON DANIEL LEMUS CARRILLO, 42 LOS RANCHITOS RD APT # 1, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903 2) YESSICA ANGELICA LEMUS ZAVALA, 42 LOS RANCHITOS RD APT # 1, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903 3) JULIO ELEAZAR LEMUS CERON, 42 LOS RANCHITOS RD APT # 1, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903.

The business is being conducted

by CO-PARTNERS. 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 DEC 3, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 9, 16, 23, 30 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 2015138687 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: DINO T’S, 11 EDWARDS CT, NOVATO, CA 94949: JAVIER BLANDINO, 11 EDWARDS CT, NOVATO, CA 94949. The 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 DEC 1, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 9, 16, 23, 30 of 2015) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138665 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: BAY AREA GREEN DESGIN LANDSCAPING, 16 SAN PABLO AVE #18, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903:1) ELISEO BERIOS, 16 SAN PABLO AVE # 18, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903 2) YANIRA CARMONA, 16 SAN PABLO AVE # 18, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903. The business is being conducted by A MARRIED COUPLE. 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 Nov 24, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 16, 23, 30 of 2015, Jan 6 of 2016) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 2015138605 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: SASSHEA, 122 PARK STREET, APT B, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901: RAYSHONTE J BOCAGE, 122 PARK STREET APT 8, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901.

The 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 Nov 16, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 16, 23, 30 of 2015, Jan 6 of 2016) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138734 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: ORS- ORIENTAL RUG SPECIALIST, 121 GRANADA DR, CORTE MADERA, CA 94925: MOHAMMAD ALI BANIE, 121 GRANADA DR, CORTE MADERA, CA 94925. The 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 Dec 08, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 16, 23, 30 of 2015, Jan 6 of 2016) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 2015-138732 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: LITTLE STEPS CHILD CARE, 829 VIA CASITAS, GREENBRAE, CA 94904: ADRIANA COSTA, 829 VIA CASITAS, GREENBRAE, CA 94904.

The 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 Dec 08, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 16, 23, 30 of 2015, Jan 6 of 2016) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 138688 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: VALE AUTO REPAIR, 7374 B REDWOOD BLVD, NOVATO, CA 94945: 1) CARLOS ERNESTO FLORES QUEZADA , 1454 LINCOLN AVE UNIT D, CA 94901 2) MARVIN EDUARDO ESTEBAN GONZALEZ, 40 CLEO CT, NOVATO, CA 94947.

The business is being conducted

by A GENERAL PARTNERSHIP. 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 Dec 01, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 16, 23, 30 of 2015, Jan 6 of 2016) FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT—File No: 2015-138656 The following individual(s) is (are) doing business: SINCERELY YOURS CLOTHING AND DESIGN, 273 DRAKE AVE, MARIN CITY, CA 94965: 1) LENA WILSON HAYNES, 273 DRAKE AVE, MARIN CITY, CA 94965 2) WYAMONE WALKER, 273 DRAKE AVE, MARIN CITY, CA 94965. The business is being conducted by A GENERAL PARTNERSHIP. 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 Nov 24, 2015 (Publication Dates: Dec 16, 23, 30 of 2015, Jan 6 of 2016)

OTHER NOTICES NOTICE CONTENT: SUMMONS (CITACION JUDICIAL) NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: PETER KOCH DBA PETER KOCH ASSOCIATED DBS PETER KOCH BAIL BONDS; and Does 1-10, inclusive YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: FINANCIAL PACIFIC LEASING LLC.CASE NUMBER: CIV-1402168.

NOTICE! You have been sued.

The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below. You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you.

Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online SelfHelp Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form.

If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court.

There are other legal requirements.

You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www. lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case.

The name and address of the court are : SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF MARIN, HALL OF JUSTICE, 3501 CIVIC CENTER DRIVE ROOM 113, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903 The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiff’s attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is: HOLLINS LAW, RONNIE CHOW (SBN 241946), 2601 MAIN ST, PENTHOUSE SUITE 1300, IRVINE, CA 92614. PHONE: (714)558-9119 DATE: June 05, 2014. (Publication Dates: Nov 25, Dec 2, 9, 16 of 2015) ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF MARIN. No. CIV 1504255. TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner JESSE GOLDING filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: KANYA KUMARI HART to KANYA HART. 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: 01/11/2016 AT 09:00 AM, ROOM A, Superior Court of California, County of Marin, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. 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 following newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Marin: PACIFIC SUN. Date OF FILING: NOV 23, 2015. (Publication Dates: Dec 2, 9, 16, 23 of 2015) ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF MARIN. No. CIV 1504354. TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner SARAH AVIRON filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: SARAH AVIRON to SARAH WEITZEL. 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: 01/15/2016 AT 08:30 AM, DEPT B, ROOM B, Superior Court of California, County of Marin, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. 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 following newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Marin: PACIFIC SUN. Date OF FILING: DEC 2, 2015.

(Publication Dates: Dec 9, 16, 23, 30 of 2015) ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF MARIN. No. CIV 1504423. TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner KIM SUZZETTE HOLT filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: KIM SUZZETTE HOLT to STARFLOWER SUZZETTE HOLT. 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: 02/08/2016 AT 09:00 AM, DEPT E, ROOM E, Superior Court of California, County of Marin, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. 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 following newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Marin: PACIFIC SUN. Date OF FILING: DEC 9, 2015.

(Publication Dates: Dec 16, 23, 30 of 2015, Jan 6 of 2016)

Q:

By Amy Alkon

Goddess

I’m an unhappily married 30-year-old woman. I’ve been with my husband for 10 years, but we only got married seven months ago. We argue almost daily, and he spends all of his time working. Because we fight so much, the thought of him touching me has become repulsive, so we are rarely intimate. Though these problems long preceded our marriage, I felt I needed to move forward in life (marry, have kids, etc.), so I went through with the wedding. I recently got sexually involved with a co-worker, and I think I’m falling in love with him. We have all the loving passion I don’t with my husband. However, I want to have children before I’m 35. My husband can afford to raise a family, and my co-worker cannot. I can’t go on like this much longer, and I don’t know what to do.—Miserable

A:

Getting married is supposed to be something you do when you find the right person, not whichever person happens to be right next to you when the clock above your ovaries strikes “HolyshitWe’re30!”

Sure, there comes a point in a woman’s life when conceiving and carrying a baby to term is miraculous to the point where unicorns should be pawing at the delivery room door. But keep in mind that even good marriages get strained by the addition of children, thanks to the poo-splosions, sleep deprivation (a form of torture violating the Geneva Conventions) and mystery rashes that look just like Ebola when you Google them at 3:03am.

It’s also seriously unfair to bring kids into a marriage that’s tanking. Sociologist Paul Amato calls children “the innocent victims of their parents’ inability to maintain harmonious and stable homes.” Reviewing the research on divorce’s effects on children, Amato explains that “compared with children with continuously married parents, children with divorced parents … score significantly lower on measures of academic achievement, conduct, psychological adjustment, self-concept, and social relations.” This isn’t to say enemy combatant parents who stay together are doing right by their kids. Amato notes that some studies show that children in “high-conflict households … are worse off than children with divorced parents.”

Obviously, staying together “for the children” is a particularly bad idea when you and the husband you despise don’t even have the little buggers yet. So why did you make this “repulsive” guy your husband instead of your ex-boyfriend?

It probably has something to do with our tendency to engage in ego-protecting “self-justification.” Psychologist Elliot Aronson finds that we are prone to refuse to acknowledge our mistakes—even when they’re banging us over the head with a leftover wedding centerpiece. Our denial allows us to keep seeing ourselves as smart people who make good choices. Which keeps us mired in our bad choices.

There is a way out, and it’s gritting our teeth and admitting mistakes instead of marrying them and making little bundles of stressjoy with them. For you, admitting that you screwed up by marrying this guy—the first step in unmarrying him—would take accepting the potential cost: You might not find a suitable candidate for daddyhood in time (or ever). Yes, that would be rough—but so would the possible alternative: Having an adorable pair of twins who go to Harvard— because it’s a great place to mug dazed freshmen so they can feed their staggering meth habit.

Q:

To quote the Facebook relationship status, “It’s complicated.” I went out with this man a few times and slept with him once. It didn’t work out, and now his sexy guy friend, who’s also his boss, has asked me out. However, the boss guy used to date one of my female friends.We are all in the same social circle.

What’s the protocol here? Do I need to ask permission or give anybody a heads-up about my going out with the boss guy?—Messy Picture

A:

It can be a little touchy for all involved when everybody’s answer to, “Where have you been all my life?” is “Having sex with your friend.”

But perhaps you missed the news. They passed an amendment against owning people. In, uh, 1865. So, assuming your girlfriend isn’t in a fetal position behind her couch sobbing over the boss guy, you should feel free to go out with him. But considering how often first dates end up being last dates, it’s best to avoid putting out a press release about your plans. If dating the guy does take a relationshippy turn, that’s when you give your girlfriend a little heads-up: “Hey, just wanted to let you know, I was rummaging through your trash and I found this fabulous old chair, along with your ex-boyfriend.” Stay classy—that is, avoid any temptation to go gloaty: “They both are, like, so comfy and are really perking up the bedroom!”Y Worship the goddess—or sacrifice her at the altar at adviceamy@aol.com

For the week of December 16

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Neanderthals

were a different human species that co-existed with our ancestors, homo sapiens, for at least 5,000 years. But they eventually died out while our people thrived. Why? One reason, says science writer Marcus Chown, is that we alone invented sewing needles.

Our newborn babies had well-made clothes to keep them warm and healthy through frigid winters.

Neanderthal infants, covered with ill-fitting animal skins, had a lower survival rate. Chown suggests that although this provided us with a mere one percent survival advantage, that turned out to be significant. I think you’re ready to find and use a small yet ultimately crucial edge like that over your competitors, Aries.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Artist Robert

Barry created “30 Pieces,” an installation that consisted of pieces of paper on which he had typed the following statement: “Something which is very near in place and time, but not yet known to me.”

According to my reading of the astrological omens, this theme captures the spirit of the phase you’re now entering. But I think it will evolve in the coming weeks. First it’ll be “Something which is very near in place and time, and is becoming known to me.” By mid-January it could turn into “Something which is very near and dear, and has become known to me.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “There is in every

one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild, and lawless,” wrote Greek philosopher Plato in his book The Republic, and I’m bringing it to your attention just in time for your Season of Awakening and Deepening Desire. The coming days will be a time when you can, if you choose, more fully tune in to the terrible, wild and lawless aspects of your primal yearnings. But wait a minute! I’m not suggesting that you should immediately take action to gratify them. For now, just feel them and observe them. Find out what they have to teach you. Wait until the new year before you consider the possibility of expressing them.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Congratulations!

You have broken all of your previous records for doing boring tasks that are good for you. On behalf of the other 11 signs, I thank you for your heroic, if unexciting, campaign of self-improvement. You have not only purified your emotional resources and cleared out some breathing room for yourself, but you have also made it easier for people to help you and feel close to you. Your duty has not yet been completed, however. There are a few more details to take care of before the gods of healthy tedium will be finished with you. But start looking for signs of your big chance to make a break for freedom. They’ll arrive soon.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The English word “fluke”

means “lucky stroke.” It was originally used in the game of billiards when a player made a good shot that he or she wasn’t even trying to accomplish. Later its definition expanded to include any fortuitous event that happens by chance rather than because of skill: Good fortune generated accidentally. I suspect that you are about to be the beneficiary of what may seem to be a series of flukes, Leo. In at least one case, though, your lucky break will have been earned by the steady work you’ve done without any fanfare.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You may not have

to use a literal crowbar in the coming weeks, but this rough tool will serve you well as a metaphor.

Wherever you go, imagine that you’ve got one with you. Why? It’s time to jimmy open glued-shut portals … to pry loose mental blocks … to coax unyielding influences to budge … to nudge intransigent people free of their fixations. Anything that is stuck or jammed needs to get unstuck or unjammed through the power of your willful intervention.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to consort with hidden depths and unknown riches. In every way you can imagine, I urge you to go deeper down and further in. Cultivate a more conscious connection with the core resources you sometimes take for

By Rob Brezsny

granted. This is one time when delving into the darkness can lead you to pleasure and treasure. As you explore, keep in mind this advice from author T. Harv Eker: “In every forest, on every farm, in every orchard on earth, it’s what’s under the ground that creates what’s above the ground. That’s why placing your attention on the fruits you have already grown is futile. You cannot change the fruits that are already hanging on the tree. You can, however, change tomorrow’s fruits. But to do so, you will have to dig below the ground and strengthen the roots.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the coming

weeks, the pursuit of pleasure could drain your creative powers, diminish your collaborative possibilities and wear you out. But it’s also possible that the pursuit of pleasure will enhance your creative powers, synergize your alliances and lead you to new opportunities. Which way will you go? It all depends on the kinds of pleasures you pursue. The dumb, numbing, mediocre type will shrink your soul. The smart, intriguing, invigorating variety will expand your mind. Got all that? Say, “Hell no” to trivializing decadence so you can say, “Wow, yes” to uplifting bliss.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Garnets are considered less valuable than diamonds. But out in the wild, there’s an intimate connection between these two gemstones. Wherever you find garnets near the surface of the earth, you can be reasonably sure that diamonds are buried deeper down in the same location. Let’s use this relationship as a metaphor for your life, Sagittarius. I suspect that you have recently chanced upon a metaphorical version of garnets, or will do so soon. Maybe you should make plans to search for the bigger treasure towards which they point the way.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Ready for the Cool Anger Contest? You can earn maximum points by expressing your dissatisfaction in ways that generate the most constructive transformations. Bonus points will be awarded for your ability to tactfully articulate complicated feelings, as well as for your emotionally intelligent analyses that inspire people to respond empathetically rather than defensively. What are the prizes? First prize is a breakthrough in your relationship with an ally who could be crucial to your expansion in 2016. Second prize is a liberation from one of your limiting beliefs.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): A fourthcentury monk named Martin was a pioneer winemaker in France. He founded the Marmoutier Abbey and planted vineyards on the surrounding land. According to legend, Martin’s donkey had a crucial role in lifting viticulture out of its primitive state. Midway through one growing season, the beast escaped its tether and nibbled on a lot of the grapevines. All the monks freaked out, fearing that the crop was wrecked. But ultimately the grapes grew better than they had in previous years, and the wine they produced was fabulous. Thus was born the practice of pruning, which became de rigueur for all grape-growers. What’s your equivalent of Martin’s donkey, Aquarius? I bet it’ll exert its influence very soon.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “The deepest urge

in human nature is the desire to be important,” said educator John Dewey. If that’s true, Pisces, you are on the verge of having your deepest urge fulfilled more than it has in a long time. The astrological alignments suggest that you are reaching the peak of your value to other people. You’re unusually likely to be seen and appreciated and acknowledged for who you really are. If you have been underestimating your worth, I doubt you will be able to continue doing so. Here’s your homework: Take a realistic inventory of the ways your life has had a positive impact on the lives of people you have known.Y

Homework: Make a guess about what you will be most proud of 15 years from today. Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

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