Last night was a beautiful evening in Petaluma. We had the pleasure of dining at Rosso Pizzeria & Mozzarella Bar. The service is amazing and the food is excellent. Also there is no corkage fee when you bring your own wine. We took advantage of this and brought our favorite bottle of Rombauer Chardonnay. We enjoyed the salad and the Margherita pizza which is made with local ingredients including McEvoy Ranch extra virgin olive oil. The theater district was bustling full of participants from the days 2014 Great PetalumaTreasure Hunt. We also enjoyed stops at Seared Restaurant and finished the evening out at Petaluma Taps with the incredible view of the river while enjoying a cold Petaluma Hills IPA.
I guess it was fitting to find a report this morning from KRON 4 News weekend anchor Marty Gonzalez who states that Petaluma has grown from a small quiet town to a culinary destination. Yelps north bay community manager Kevin Blum starts off talking about Rosso Pizzeria & Mozzarella Bar. He goes on to tell about our other fantastic venues including Lagunitas Brewing Company, Lombardi’s Gourmet Deli, Central Market, and Powell’s Sweet Shoppe. But Kevin says if you want to dive deep into the Petaluma culinary experience he recommends the Taste of Petaluma which is the best venue to journey through the Petaluma culinary experience on Saturday August 23, 2014 from 11:30AM to 4:00PM.
Here is the video from this recently released report.
The Press Democrat recently report an article on August 3, 2014 Polo in Petaluma?Located in the wine country and just off San Antonio road, the Cerro Pampa Polo Club is the closest venue to San Francisco offering an attractive place for polo teams all over the world. Polo SF has started an exchange program, bringing teams from other nations to compete in the U.S. as well as sending teams and players abroad. On August 3, 2014 The Horses Horsepower event was the first international polo tournament in the U.S. in years and the first match at the polo grounds at the Sonoma-Marin County line since 2009.
This facility also offers a playground for young Petaluman’s to learn and play in the sport. The PoloSF Club offers group and individual lessons as well as practice games for beginners. Cerra Pampa is located at 1295 San Antonio Road in Petaluma on a 25 acre lot set in meadows and oaks tucked in a knoll known as Round Hill. The property has turkeys, goats, rabbits and wildlife and of course the real kings of the sport, horses.
Today CBS San Francisco KPIX Channel 5 News released a video on their Where’s Roberta? segment. Reporter Roberta Gonzales takes us to Petaluma to learn about the game of poetry and motion with Polo SF. Here is that video clip.
Update – just found this on the Alice 97.3 Facebook
Jonny Gomes appears on MLB Network show Intentional Talk with hosts MLB broadcasters Chris Rose and 2004 World Series Champion Kevin Millar introducing Gomes as a “ratings booster”. It’s not clear who is actually running the show or if the hosts were ready for what Gomes was going to do. Gomes, now an Oakland Athletic, brings on a special guest Steve who is a satirical “Oakland Athletics NBA Basketball Referee”. Gomes choreographed this hilarious interview like a pro. Positively Petaluma sees great potential for Gomes to take over Kimmel’s job in the future. This referee is a crack-up. Click the video below to start enjoying this interview.
You may have seen our June 8th interview with Shelina, Herding cows on motorcycles to pro racing internationally: An interview with Shelina Moreda which was viewed by thousands. Recently she was interviewed by our very own Ken Wayne on KTVU Channel 2 news which aired last night. Here is the video of that interview titled Petaluma: Bay Area Woman Set To Make Racing History. Channel 2 and anchor Ken Wayne did a great job covering this story and putting it together.
1-18-2015 Update: It appears that KTVU removed the video coverage of her – so we are providing this video interview of her.
You may have already seen the new mural created by Maxfield Bala that has gained attention recently. Maxfield and Andrew Bala just created a video now available on YouTube and Vimeo that shows Maxfield create the artwork with a time elapse and him working of scaffolding.
The mural is 20 ft. tall and 40 ft. wide and it is visible from East Washington in downtown near the bridge and Water street. This had to be a challenge for the artist because the surface, or Maxfield’s canvas so to speak, twisted and uneven corrugated metal. The finishing piece would not make you suspect the surface was uneven.
Here is the recent video posted on YouTube.
For more information about Maxfield’s work go to his website Maxfieldbala.com. Here are some photos taken by Positively Petaluma.
The streets of Petaluma were packed today with visitors from all around the county for the 2014 Petaluma Art & Garden Festival. The music, food, wine and beer were awesome and from local Petaluma businesses. Here is a short video on today’s event.
Here are some pictures of today’s event. If you missed this event this year, don’t next year. Some of the chalk art was fantastic. Everyone young and old had a fantastic time.
You may have been wondering, what is all that activity going on across from the feed mill downtown. There was about 40 people working under several tents surrounded by wood material. Over the sound of hammers, nail guns, and saws people were busily communicating and working in concert to build something. A woman stepped out of her car in front of me as I was looking on. I asked her what they were doing. She told me they were building the Burning Man Temple. I asked if it was “thee” Burning Man Temple? And she replied “Yes”. I was talking to Jules Mancilla, aka “Little Wing”, who seemed to be like a foreman on the job. However she told me that no one is really in charge. The people come together and work to build the structure. Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada.
Past Year Temple Stickers: Photo By Wayne Dunbar
This is the first time this structure will be built in Petaluma. However it won’t be the first time this structure was built by a Petaluman. The man in charge is David Best from Petaluma. David started building the temple in the year 2000 and has become a legend for Burning Man attendees. Since then the event has grown so large that permits limit to sell 70,000 tickets that are sure to sell out and a lot of people will be disappointed that they will not be able to go. The pictures to the left are stickers of the past years temple’s affixed to his small Airstream trailer.
Jules Mancilla & David Best: Photo By Wayne Dunbar
The materials of this structure are all recycled or wood that had been discarded. Jules explained that it is all bare wood that cannot be finished or stained so it won’t emit fumes when they burn on the last day of the event. The cost of building this structure is purely by donations. You can donate any amount of money to help with this project by going to their Kickstarter campaign. Jules explained that no amount is too small – people donate small amounts and that is equally appreciated by all.
Jules Mancilla & Steve Crowe: Photo By Wayne Dunbar
The structure will take 14 days to build. Then after they build it, they tear it apart into sections. Several sections will be loaded on trucks and hauled to the event site. They will be the first ones on ground and will survey the land with GPS technology to determine where the structure will be placed. They put it back together, and then cover the outside with detailed skins to finish it off.
Photo By Wayne Dunbar
This structure was dedicated to one of the original builders of the structure who passed away in an accident. Since the dedication, many people who have lost loved ones volunteer to build the structure as they view it as a memorial. Also others look at the temple as a way to start a new life together, and couples get married on the structure during the event. So the temple has become more than just a pile of wood in the middle of the desert for a really big bonfire party. It is symbolic and has meaning for many.
Photo By Wayne Dunbar
Per Wikipedia the 2014 structure will be the Temple of Grace intended to be a spiritual and sacred space for memorials, reflection, celebration, and to commemorate life transitions. The structure incorporates a central interior dome within a graceful curved body made of wood and steel. It will again have intricately cut wooden panels for the exterior and interior skin. 8 altars will surround the temple inside a low-walled courtyard, creating a large exterior grounds for the community.
Photo By Wayne Dunbar
For weeks 40 to 65 volunteers will show up on any given day to work hours into building this structure. Young and old, carpenters, electricians, architects and people just walking off the street asking if they can help. The environment was one that everyone was working together and helping each other out for a common cause. Jules was talking to a taco truck vendor to see if they can be there all week as they have a lot of mouths to feed. He agreed to return for the entire week.
So this year when you see the Burning Man structure burning down on TV at the end of the event, you will know where it was build and what this structure means for a lot of people. Here is the video of their Kickstarter campaign.
As a former musician I had to watch closely to how Matt Bolton performs. After processing all that he does to create his music I was very impressed. I have to admit my first impression was – this guy has recorded tracks for his background music – WRONG! I am usually very impressed with artists like Geddy Lee of Rush who sings, plays bass, organ bass foot pedals, and keyboards at the same time. That would be too simple for Matt. Geddy would have to get rid of Neal Peart and play the acoustics as well to keep up with him.
Matt has toured with bands like Todd Rundgren and Jesse Colin Young band (that I actually had the opportunity to play a few songs with at the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati many moons ago). Rundgren recently said “I knew Matt was a player – that’s why I hired him. But, it wasn’t until I a saw him do his own thing that I realized what an entertainer he is.”according to the Kauai Music Scene.
This solo artist from the Island of Kauai tours nationally and plays several genres of music using guitars, bass guitars, drums, keyboards, piano, saxophone, violin, mandolin, slide guitar, ukelele, banjo, percussion, dobro and yes, he does the singing too. Matt was kind enough to dedicate this song to Positively Petaluma in this video we produced.
Carolina Chocolage Drops with Mentor Joe Thompson: Photo by Audiolog
Recently backstage at the Petaluma Mystic Theater, reporter Mirissa Neff interviewed Dom Flemons and Rhiannon Giddens of the band Carolina Chocolate Drops. Sound Tracks, Music Without Borders is a PBS TV Show produced with KQED in San Francisco. Footage includes the Mystic theater and portions of their performance there.
In this interview you will learn how Dom and Rhiannon met at the 2005 black banjo gathering in North Carolina where they met their mentor, the late Joe Thompson, who the New York Times credits as a musician who helped preserve the black string band.
If you have ever been in the loft at the Lagunitas Brewing Company, its hard not to recognize the signature paneling backdrop for this video. Karl Denson films his music video in what seem like the perfect venue for this notable artist. Denson played saxaphone in Grammy Winner Lenny Kravitz band. According to Wikipedia Kravitz met saxophonistDenson and invited him to play on the song, “Let Love Rule.” Kravitz was so impressed with his playing that Denson played on much of the album. Denson toured with Kravitz for the next five years.
According to Denson’s website this song is part of the lineup in Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe: Denson: Vocals, Sax & Flute; Chris Littlefield: Trumpet; Max MacVeety: Drums; Chris Stillwell: Bass; David Veith: Keyboards; DJ Williams: Guitar. This video also features local singer Nicki Bluhm who plays in Brokedown in Bakersfield which is a feature band for the upcoming Petaluma Music Festival.
