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Janiva Magness Digs Through the Weeds

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

Janiva Magness Digs Through the Weeds: L.A.-based, Detroit-born blues queen Janiva Magness released autobiographical album Hard to Kill last year, a couple of years after she put an actual autobiography, a book called Weeds Like Us. Both saw her digging up some painful memories, and hopefully both proved therapeutic.Magness performs at the Venice West on Tuesday, and her shows are always thrilling so be there. The new material is stellar, as is her back catalog.Back in 2018, shortly after she had put out the Love is an Army album, she told us that, “I never want to make the same record twice. I look over my shoulder at what I’ve done, and I see that there’s been a continuum. When I’m in the moment of making records, I just feel like I’m doing what’s in front of me. I’m going where I’m being lead. But as I look over my shoulder, historically, I can see that there’s an absolute continuum.”“I’m not saying I’ve fallen in love with myself after all these years, because that’s certainly n...

Visionary Women Celebrate International Women’s Day

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

Maria Shriver and her daughters, Katherine Schwarzenegger-Pratt and Christina Schwarzenegger, received the 2023 Changemaker of the Year award for their philanthropy and leadership at the Visionary Women International Women’s Day Summit earlier this week at Waldorf Beverly Hills. The event also presented the 2023 Visionary Award for Economic Empowerment in partnership with the Hostetler/Wrigley Foundation to Omi Bell, founder and CEO of Black Girl Ventures, which creates access to capital for BIPOC female entrepreneurs.  The 2023 Rising Visionary Award was given to Briana Franklin, co-founder, President and CEO of The Prosp(a)rity Project, helping Black women overcome financial disparity.Giselle Fernandez moderated a conversation with Changemaker honorees, and Shriver talked about the need to slow down and focus on the present. “Life is a marathon and you want to look at your life over the course of it,” she said. “Don’t worry that you haven’t accomplished this, tha...

An Inspired Collage: Arts Calendar March 9-15

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

Porcelain against evil, music-inspired video collage, spoken word at the museum, an art film benefit for eco-justice, mixed media paintings about, and with materials from, home; paintings inspired by ikebana, memories of home, weather systems, the constantly changing city, and a folklore of everyday visitations; an art-infused walk along the river, a night of short stories about the river, a sound-based diaspora community diary, two weeks of cheap theater tickets across the region, three decades of obeying the giant, and more, more, more.Robert Russell: Lamb Model 107, 2022 (Anat Ebgi Gallery)Thursday, March 9Robert Russell: Porzellan Manufaktur Allach at Anat Ebgi. Russell is a conceptual painter whose work returns to ideas of memory, iconography, and mortality in a personal painting language that is attentive to beauty, the history of art, and the role of photography. His newest series depicts Allach porcelain figurines produced by forced labor in Nazi concentration camps and fact...

Isabella Mastrodicasa Is Helping Creators Build Successful & Meaningful Careers With Her New Venture, Never Settle Media

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

Isabella Mastrodicasa is a talent manager and film/TV producer who is making waves in the entertainment industry. With her unique blend of creativity, business savvy, and a passion for fostering new talent, Mastrodicasa has become a respected and sought-after figure in the industry.Mastrodicasa began her career in the entertainment industry in literary representation, working with  some of the biggest companies and names in Hollywood. Since she started expanding her business into digital in 2020, she quickly made a name for herself as a fierce advocate for her clients, using her exceptional negotiation skills to secure some of the best deals in the space. However, it was her passion for fostering new talent that set her apart from other talent managers. Mastrodicasa has a keen eye for spotting raw talent and helping them reach their full potential.In recent years, Mastrodicasa has diversified her portfolio to include film and TV development. She has produced a number of critically a...

Staying Safe: Guide to What to Do in a Tsunami

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

Only a handful of disasters can wipe out a civilization in an instant. And a tsunami is one of them. It may look astonishing to watch in films but a tsunami is very much a reality that we should all be prepared for — everyone should know what to do in a tsunami in case the ocean’s waves come crashing on our land.It’s important to understand how a tsunami works so you can do your best to prepare for it and prevent injuries that one may acquire from it.Causes of a TsunamiTsunamis can be caused by other types of disasters — most of the time, a tsunami is just one of the aftermaths. Earthquakes, for instance, can cause a tsunami to occur. When the tectonic plates beneath the earth’s surface shift, it can disturb the ocean and cause a tsunami; other tsunami causes are volcanic eruptions, landslides, and asteroids — basically, anything that can disrupt the ocean floor.When a tsunami occurs, the waves of the ocean can travel for as fast as 30 miles an hour. The waves can also be up to 100 ...

Bay Area’s best picnic spots: Marin French Cheese Co., Petaluma

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

If you’re driving out to some gorgeous spot on the coast, you could certainly stop at the Marin French Cheese Co. and pick up provisions — the company’s famous artisan cheeses, fresh sandwiches, wine —for a delicious picnic.But here’s another idea: Make this Marin cheese company your destination. Set amid rolling hills on a 700-acre dairy farm in Hicks Valley, its cheese shop and expansive picnic grounds offer a vision of West Marin pastoral heaven.The company’s iconic sign along the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, west of Novato, invites passers-by to stop and stay a while. For locals, the cheese company, known simply as “The Cheese Factory,” has long been a destination for a day out. It’s especially popular with families looking for a pretty lunch spot where kids can run around.The cheese shop is housed in a classic, farmhouse-style building. The surrounding property is home to cows, chickens, a pig farm and a vegetable garden. And the historic creamery be...

The Bay Area’s best picnic spots: Concannon Vineyard, Livermore

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

Northern California has no shortage of picturesque wine country destinations where you can unfurl a blanket and plant your picnic basket. But few have as much trailblazing historical significance as the 210-acre Concannon Vineyard property in Livermore Valley.As the famed story goes, Irishman James Concannon founded the winery in 1883 — it is one of the oldest continuously operating family-owned wineries in the country — after immigrating to the United States and settling in the Livermore Valley, where he noticed a striking similarity to the terroir of France’s Bordeaux vineyards. He planted cuttings from Châteaux Margaux, and his son, Joe, kept the family business going through Prohibition by making and selling sacramental wine.A Victorian house built in 1895 is nestled among the vines at Concannon Vineyard in Livermore. (Courtesy Harrison Miller) Related ArticlesThings To Do | Bay Area’s best picnic spots: Marin French Cheese Co., Petaluma Things T...

Livermore Wine Trolley: An afternoon of sipping, singing and so much more

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

Who knew an outdoor food and wine tasting assignment would involve singing Tupac and Lou Bega songs with a gaggle of new friends?But there I was, aboard the heated, vintage-style Livermore Wine Trolley, chanting “California Love” as it boomed in time with the trolley’s LED lights and bonding over breakups with a 30-something from Danville. We’d just departed Las Positas Vineyards, an award-winning winery on Wetmore Road, where we tasted a flight of five delectable wines paired with nibbles curated by the winery’s executive chef.(In warm weather, many wineries offer tastings on the patio, making this an outdoor adventure of the most civilized variety — but on this very wintry Sunday, we’re grateful to be indoors!)The $149-tour, which includes three winery stops and a designated driver, Fernando, who had the presence and panache you’d expect from a former San Francisco 49ers announcer, offers a fresh, deep-dive into a wine-growing region many ...

2 American survivors of deadly Mexico kidnapping are being treated in US hospital as bodies of 2 killed are examined

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

Two of the Americans who were kidnapped at gunpoint in a Mexican border city on Friday have returned to the US and are being treated at a hospital, while the remains of the two Americans who were killed are expected to be repatriated back to the US soon.LaTavia Washington McGee, one of the surviving Americans, is expected to come home Wednesday, her mother, Barbara McLeod Burgess, said in an interview with “CNN This Morning.” Burgess also described her understanding of what happened in the harrowing attack.“They were driving through and a van came up and hit them, and that’s when they started shooting at the car, shooting inside the van,” Burgess said. “She said the others tried to run and they got shot at the same time. They all got shot at the same time. And she watched them die.”The other survivor, Eric Williams, was shot in the legs three times and was brought to a hospital in Texas to undergo surgery, his wife, Michele Williams, told CN...

He’s filed more than 2,000 disability lawsuits in California. This case could set precedent

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:35:45 GMT

It all started with a parking spot.On a breezy afternoon in September 2017, Chris Langer couldn’t find one that would accommodate his van and the ramp he uses for his wheelchair behind a San Diego lobster shop.What transpired next has been the subject of arguments before two federal courts and opened a wide door to more federal disability lawsuits in California, home to more of these lawsuits in the last litigious decade than any other state.Four months after that fall day, Langer filed a disability access lawsuit in federal court against the lobster shop, a smoke shop in the same building and the building’s owners, Milan and Diana Kiser, claiming a violation of his rights.Langer has filed more than 2,000 claims like those over the past decade or so. For the last two years, his case against the Kisers was headed to defeat, with a federal judge ruling against him and questioning his motivation.But last month, Langer prevailed before a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court o...