04/30/2010 - The Independent

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4 THE INDEPENDENT • THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2010 Art & CommunityFr. Jim SullivanSeven Summers From the Shore Debutsin the East BayFr. Jim Sullivan of Our Lady ofGuadalupe Parish in Fremont, formerlyof Pleasanton, has publishedhis first book, Seven SummersFrom the Shore: A Seminarian’sStory.He launched the publicationwith with numerous book-signingparties and events in the East Bay.During the gatherings, Fr. Jimgave humorous readings from hisbook. He expressed appreciationto his friends, reminding themthat the entire proceeds from thebook will be used to support hisyouth ministry in Caracas, Venezuela.Tico and Valentina Zendejas,Miguel Vargas, and Ravi Armanof the Marysville Youth Group,and E.J. Rin from the AlamedaYouth Group, were special guestsat book-signing parties. Eventswill be on-going throughout thespring and summer. A secondprinting of the book has alreadybeen scheduled.The book is about Fr. Jim’spilgrimage from seminarian topriesthood and the young menfrom Marysville in his youth groupthat he mentored and traveled withto Betania near Caracas, Venezuela.While there, he met and hasbeen working with another groupof young men for three and a halfyears.Fr. Jim expressed gratitude forthe support given by his friendsand parishioners to continue hiswork with these impoverishedyoung men from Caracas. “I thinkthe main things the guys have gottenfrom me, so far, are deeper faith(which just) happens automatically,if you hang around with me forlong, and greater hopes, a broadervision of what might be possiblefor them, in life,” he stated.“They are great buddies withthe Californians. This is good forall of them — sometimes I thinkthis ministry is as much for theNorth Americans as for the SouthAmericans. I want to help thembuild better lives for themselvesand their families. I want them todraw closer to God, be more seriousabout their faith, which theyall have. I believe that several ofthem are future priests. We havesponsored some of them in Englishprograms, paid their tuition, paidrent for one of them for a semesterso he could study fulltime, and soon. Their employment opportunitiesrise with their capacity withEnglish.”Tico Zendejas, who was in theMarysville youth group, attributesthe success of the young men, bothCalifornian and Venezuelan, toFather Jim’s efforts.To order Seven Summers Fromthe Shore, go to www.catholiccaliforniapress.comThe Board of Directors of theMuseum on Main in Pleasantonis taking nominations for the FirstAnnual Museum on Main HeritageAwards. The awards recognizeexcellence in the preservation ofour community’s history.Each year a panel of qualifiedjudges, including historical preservationarchitects, members ofthe history profession, representativesfrom the community and themuseum’s board will select awardwinners in five categories. Thisyear’s honorees will be publiclyacknowledged at an award ceremonyto be held September 24,2010 at the museum, 603 MainStreet.The five awards that will bepresented are:• Historic Preservation Award:The building should demonstrateexcellence in the adaptive reuseof an historic structure maintainingthe historical integrity of the exteriorwhile renovating the interiorspace to a use other than that whichMuseum on Main to HonorExcellence in Preservation of Historywas originally intended.• Historic Business Award:The business should demonstrateexcellence in the preservation ofhistoric structure that has alwaysbeen a business or commercialproperty, maintaining as much ofthe original character of the structureas possible.• Educator Award: The honoreeshould be an educator in thePleasanton Unified School Districtwho has shown exceptional supportfor and dedication to formalor informal education programs,particularly in the area of history,civic engagement or the socialsciences.• Phoebe Hearst Award: Thehonoree should have made significantand lasting contributions tothe field of history and/or historicpreservation in our community,• Historic Organization Award:The honored group should havemade significant contributions tomaintaining the history and/or historiccharacter of our community,either through preservation of astructure, creation of incentivesfor preservation, or work in recordingthe community?s history; ORit may be a group that has had asignificant impact on the historyof our community.Those who wish to nominatea building, organization or individualmay pick up a nominationform and a complete set of criteriafor each award at the Museum onMain or by visiting the Museum’sweb site at www.musuemonmain.org. Nominators will be asked toattach a short essay, no more thana one page, single-spaced page inlength, discussing the reasons fornominating this particular property,business, group or individual.Other materials as appendices attachedto this application.All nominations must be receivedby June 30, 2010. For moreinformation, please contact JimDeMersman at 925-462-2766 orexecutive@museumonmain.org.Festivities Mark Opening of LivermoreSummer Farmers' MarketThe Livermore Certified Farmers’Market will open for the seasonon Thursday, May 8.The farmers’ market will beheld each Thursday from 4:00pmuntil 8:00pm in Carnegie Parkbetween J and K Streets throughOctober 21. The market willshowcase Northern California’sfreshest fruits and vegetables atreasonable prices.“We are pleased to continue ourwell-received presence in the communityas a way to help promotebuying local and eating healthy,”said John Silveira, Director ofPCFMA.To celebrate the new seasonLivermore Downtown Associationwill be in attendance for a special“Thirsty Thursday” event. Marketpatrons can sample local wines.There will be live music and gourmetfood. Local artisans will alsobe in attendance, displaying handmadearts and crafts. Market manager,Thomas Dorn, says “Therewill be food, fun, live music andother great entertainment offeredthroughout the season. It’s going tobe a lot of fun for everyone.”Local farmers and other producerswill bring produce likestrawberries, raspberries, cherries,salad greens, artichokes, and lateron in the season terrific peaches,nectarines, tomatoes, peppers andcorn, all locally grown and straightfrom the fields. Live music as wellas visiting bands will be featuredeach week.The Pacific Coast Farmers’Market Association is the state’slargest operator of Certified Farmers’Markets, with over sixty CertifiedFarmers’ Markets weeklyin the Bay Area during the peaksummer months. Certified Farmers’Markets are locations that offeronly California-grown productssold directly to consumers by thefarmers that grew, nurtured andharvested the crops. All PCFMAmarkets accept WIC FMNP (WomanInfant and Children Farmers’Market Nutrition Program coupons)and EBT (the Golden Stateadvantage food stamp cards).For more information on theLivermore Certified Farmers’Market, please contact the PacificCoast Farmers’ Market Associationat (800) 949-FARM, (925)825-9090, or go to www.pcfma.com.Featuring Joan Gelfand andRebecca Foust with guest hostDeborah Grossman, poet laureateof Pleasanton, reading poemsabout mothers and motherhoodon Sun., May 2 at RavenswoodHistoric Site, 2 to 4 p.m.The City of Livermore and PoetLaureate Cher Wollard present thePoetry at Ravenswood This Weekendlatest in a continuing series.Featured poets will read at 2p.m. An open follows, after a shortbreak.Joan Gelfand of San Franciscois a 2008 Pushcart prize nomineeand winner of the 2005 Best FictionAward from Chaffin Journal.She is the Fiction Editor for ZeekMagazine and a teacher with CaliforniaPoets in the Schools. Thewinner of the 2010 Cervena Barvafiction award, her chapbook ofstories “Here and Abroad” will bepublished late this spring. She willbe reading from her books SeekingCenter and A Dreamer’s Guide toCities and Streams.Rebecca Foust is the authorof Dark Card and Mom’s Canoe,awarded the 2007 and 2008 RobertPhillips Poetry Chapbook prizes,and All that Gorgeous, PitilessSong, winner of the Many MountainsMoving Poetry Book Prize.God, Seed, a book of environmentalpoetry with art by LornaStevens, will be released this yearby Tebot Bach Press. Her poemshave appeared in Atlanta Review,Margie, The Hudson Review andWomen’s Review of Books. Shehas been twice nominated forPushcart awards.Light refreshments will beserved. Admission is $5. Ravenswoodis located at 2657 ArroyoRd., Livermore.
Art & CommunityTHE INDEPENDENT • THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2010 5Music Review: Battle of the BassesProduces Exciting ProgramBy Nancy O’ConnellOn Saturday evening, April24th, the last of the three earlymusic concerts was given in theLas Positas College library. Everyseat was taken, so word of thesewonderful programs is spreading.Kevin Fryer, a master harpsichordbuilder, was the pre-concertspeaker, and he first interviewedDavid Morris, who brought threefascinating instruments with him– the viola da gamba, a bass violin,and a Baroque cello. Morrisspoke on the evolution of thesethree basses over the last four anda half centuries.David Morris started his cellostudies at the age of 12. Later hereceived his BA and MA in musicfrom U.C.Berkeley. He receiveda scholarship to Jerusalem andencountered the viola da gambafor the first time. His instrumenthas seven strings instead of theusual six. The viola da gamba isin the lute family, and it is tunedin fourths, rather than fifths, withthe interval of a third in the middle.He told the audience that all of thestring instruments are descendedfrom the Arab world’s stringedfiddle, called a spike fiddle. Thisis still played today in Egypt andother countries, and the bow is heldunderhanded, instead of the way amodern cellist holds his bow.Next he introduced a bass violinwhich he had created especiallyfor him. It is bigger than a cello,is tuned down one whole notefrom cello tuning, and was playedstanding up, because one was notallowed to sit in the presence ofroyalty. In the days of courtlymusic, royalty was often the employer.The third instrument hedemonstrated was the Baroquecello, which closely resembles thecello of today, but it had no endpin, so he played it gamba style,holding it between his legs.Yuko Tanaka, harpsichordist,a native of Japan, has played withmajor Baroque ensembles andreceived her PhD in early musicfrom Stanford University . Herbeautiful instrument was built byRon Nakashima and is based onone created in 1624 by JoannesRuckers. This instrument belongsto Marilyn Marquis, who spearheadedthese early music concertsfive years ago.The concert itself opened witha work by Diego Ortiz for viola dagamba and harpsichord. Ortiz in1553 wrote a book on ornamentation,and this piece demonstratedsome of the many types. Not onlytrills, but mordents and appoggiaturasembellished the melodies. AsMorris played, one had a chanceto look closely at the gamba. Thefingerboard is much shorter thanon a modern cello, and there arefrets which enable the player toplay chords more easily.According to David Morris, TobiasHume ( ca. 1569-1645) wrote“scads of pieces”. The three whichhe played demonstrated the varietythat the viola da gamba can attainwithout keyboard accompaniment.There were many double stopsin The Spirit of Gambo. LovesFarewell sounded more like alively folk song with much crossingof the strings, and A SouldiersGaliard was rhythmical – a truegalliard, a 16th century dance form– gay and rollicking, in 3/4 time.Marin Marais lived from 1656to 1728, and he left five books ofmusic for gamba and bass viol.Explaining that playing the entireSuite could take all evening, DavidMorris chose a subset to share. ThePrelude was delightful, and theAllemande was livelier with manydouble stops, ornamentation andtrills. The Sarabande, a populardance form, was more serious andrefined and in triple time with anaccent on the second beat. DavidMorris used every inch of his bow,using an underhanded hand position.In the Gigue, there were rapidnotes, and his fingers climbed farup the fingerboard past the frets.The harpsichordist flawlesslyfollowed him. The Rondeau andChaconne demonstrated difficultpassages which Morris surmountedwith ease.This Suite for gamba was verypopular in 1724, but it was 50years later before viola da gambamusic reached Germany. No formof instant communication in thosedays! Karl F. Abel’s father was agood friend of J.S. Bach, and Karlbecame close to one of Bach’ssons when both lived in England.Abel’s Sonata in E Minor had aModerato which featured drivingrhythms, and an Allegro which ledthe performer from the lowest tothe highest range of his gamba.After the intermission, DavidMorris brought out his bass violin.He said that because it wasa band instrument, there was nosolo music for it. He performeda work of Francesco Rognoni’s,who died around 1525. For thebass violin, Mr. Morris held hisbow overhanded, but not all theway at the frog, as it’s held formodern cello playing. There wereno longer frets on the fingerboard,but marvelous deep sounds cameforth.Domenico Gabrielli was themost famous cellist of his day. Hewas connected to a church in Bolognawhich was like a conservatory,and he trained many cellists. HisSonata, written about 1689, hadfour movements. In the Largothere was an especially beautifulmelody played principally on thetop two strings, the D and the A.Accompanied by the harpsichordistthroughout, this Sonata had aslow third movement, followed bya very brief Prestissimo.David Morris referred to JohannSebastian Bach as a “brilliantdinosaur”. Suites as danceforms were dying out, but Bachperfected the form based on all thathad gone before. He performedthe Bach Suite #2 in D Minor forcello solo. The Prelude had muchcrossing of strings and ended withseveral chords. In the Allemandehe handled the trills and doublestops with ease. The Courante haddifficult 16th note passages, but histone quality remained beautiful.The Sarabande, here presented asa stately dance form had doublestops and several chords crossing3 or 4 strings. Morris had perfectbow control, even at the tip. In theMenuettos, he played with his bowmuch closer to the fingerboard,wending his way through verytricky passages. The Gigue in 3/8time was gay, with staccato usedfor emphasis, and again, manychords.The last work on this excitingprogram was by Giacobo BaseviCervetto, who lived for 101 years!An Italian of Jewish descent, hetraveled to England to sell Stradivariusviolins. This venture wasnot successful, but he and hiscompositions were very popularwith the English.His Sonata IX in F was for celloand harpsichord. The Caccia wasa tour de force for the cellist, butmost memorable of the four movementswas the Andante allegrowith its haunting melody.Cheers erupted from the backof the audience when the playersstood to take their bows, andtwo curtain calls brought themout again from behind the librarystacks. No actual stage curtain inthis setting! Next year, however,these early music concerts willbe held in the new performingarts center on the campus. Whenconcert halls replaced the smaller,private homes, the beautiful violscould not be heard. Whichinstrument won the “battle of thebasses?” The cello. Its tone carriedto the back of every concert hall.Hike forHope OffersTwo TreksThe trails of the Sunol RegionalWilderness are are the location forthe Hike for Hope benefiting HopeHospice.It will be held May 1. The hikewill start between 8:30 and 9:30a.m.Registration fee is $35, children6 years and younger are free.There are two treks availablefrom easy to moderate: The LittleYosemite Hike is along a tree linedpark service road. The moderatetrail continues up the CanyonView Trail.The park is located at 1895Geary Rd., Sunol.Registration can be completedat www.hopehospice.com/hikeforhope.Parking is $5 per car. Hikefor Hope’s designated parking isadjacent to the Alameda CreekPicnic area. Follow the parkingdirectional signs after entering thepark. Additional parking will beavailable in the overflow parkinglot located 1.3 miles of the parkentrance, (watch for signs). Ashuttle bus will be available fortransporting you to hiker registrationinside the park.Spring StampedeOffers Variety ofHorse EventsCalifornia State Horsemen’sAssociation, Region 5 is holdingits 17th Annual Spring Stampede,May 1st & 2nd at Robertson Park atthe Livermore Rodeo Grounds.This is a fundraiser for the Region5 Equestrian Program.The 2-day includes a Gymkhana,Cattle Sorting, WineryTrail Rides, Western/English HorseShow, Kiddie Korral Children’sArea, Vendors, Food & Drink.For information go to www.springstampede.info or contactGina at 925-354-6514 or Lvs-2ride@yahoo.com.
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04/30/2010 - The Independent

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