Rocking the Winery Music Awards

A soulful rocker from Los Angeles is heading to the Winery Music Awards finals after winning the music competition’s third preliminary round this weekend.
Justin Hopkins, leader of the band The Guilt, sang and played guitar as a solo artist Saturday at Silver Horse Winery in San Miguel.
Judges from the music and entertainment industries praised his talent, awarding him an average score of 78.30 out of a possible 100 points.
“Justin has refreshingly honest and soulful vocals and guitar playing,” said judge Roy Braverman, who owns a multimedia firm in Los Angeles. Judge Diane Steinberg-Lewis, an actress, singer and composer, described his music as “clearly commercial and still poetic.”
Also performing at Saturday’s four-hour concert were: Los Osos musician Matthias, Assaf Spector of Brooklyn, and The Laurie Morvan Band and Sarah Hethcoat, both from the Los Angeles area.
Hopkins advances to the final competition in October, where he’ll vie with five other musicians for a record deal, cash, a custom guitar and other prizes.
Musicians are graded on their originality, skill and marketability to the ever-expanding demographic of wine drinkers — specifically, men and women age 21 to 54.
Los Angeles singer-songwriter Shannon Curtis won the June competition. July’s winner was a San Luis Obispo band, Dominic Castillo and the Rock Savants.

The Winery Music Awards continue Sept. 15 at Silver Horse Winery, 2995 Pleasant Rd. in San Miguel. Tickets are $40.
For more information, call 467-WINE (9463) or visit www.winerymusicawards.com.

-- Sarah L.

Looking for family fun? Two reasons to head south

Looking for a fun family outing this weekend?
For fans of the Great American Melodrama, there are now two reasons to make the trip down to Oceano.
“The Wicklow Wedding” opens tonight at the Melodrama, joining “Davy Crockett” as this summer’s melodramas. It runs through Sept. 23.

Written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault, “The Wicklow Wedding” takes viewers back to the late 1700s, when Irish patriots battled with their British overlords.
When Arrah, a young Irish peasant girl (Cat Yates), hides a fugitive Irish patriot, Beamish (Andrew Beck) from the British army, the repercussions could lead to an arrest on her wedding day.
The fiendish Feeny (Nicholas Hamel) wants Arrah for his own and leads a British officer to her cabin. Meanwhile, Beamish’s jealous fiancé (Katie Swimm) is considering a marriage proposal from her guardian (Jim Shine.)
The two love stories combine with betrayal, self-sacrifice, comic characters and narrow escapes, Artistic Director Eric Hoit said.
As usual, “The Wicklow Wedding” is followed by a song-and-dance vaudeville revue.
According to Hoit, “The Complete History of California … Abridged” takes theater-goers on a 30-minute journey through time — touching on the Golden State’s international heritage, the beatnik movement and soaring real estate prices.
The revue ends with Melodrama favorite “Oceano,” sung to the tune of Oklahoma.
“We’re here to educate,” Hoit said with a laugh.

Starting Saturday, performances of “The Wicklow Wedding” will alternate with “Davy Crockett.”
That play, based on an actual 19th century melodrama, puts young Davy Crockett in the middle of a frontier love triangle. There’s plenty of peril in the form of snowstorms, vicious wolves and a blackmailer with a secret.
“Davy Crockett” runs through Sept. 22.

For more information on both plays, call (805) 489-2499 or visit www.americanmelodrama.com

-- Sarah L.

TV dads

Ever since "Father Knows Best," dads have been part of American television.
Thanks to sitcom writers, they're often bumbling fellows with gorgeous, capable wives and cute-as-a-button kids. They can solve a problem in half an hour. They rise to any occasion. And they usually know exactly what to say.
We combed through television's family men, single fathers and divorcés to find a few examples.

Dan Conner, “Roseanne”
We like Dan (John Goodman) because he’s such a genuine person — a real guy, even though he’s not actually real. Of course, he’s not perfect. He seems to be out of work quite a bit, he sometimes hangs out with the guys too much, and he could certainly lose a few pounds. But he’s a concerned parent who can speak to his kids on their level, yet at the same time knows his role is more parent than friend.

Ward Cleaver, “Leave it to Beaver”
There are mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, Ward (Hugh Beaumont) was so perfect, he made most real-life dads look like deadbeats. Always even-tempered, responsible and willing to offer sage advice to his sons, Ward was almost too good. (The guy wore a suit to dinner, for crying out loud!) Makes you wonder: Was he secretly a drunk? We suspect he might have been a robot. Still, he remains one of the all-time best TV dads.

Phillip Drummond, “Diff’rent Strokes”
The guy adopted his dead housekeeper’s sons. ‘Nuff said, right? He's a rich businessman, so you might think he's lost touch with the common people. You might even think he’s a pompous jerk. But you shouldn’t think things like that. First of all, it’s not nice. Besides, Phillip’s kids always came first. And even though he comes from a different background than his adopted kids (from the ghetto to the penthouse), he can relate to them, without neglecting his biological daughter. Too bad he couldn’t save the real-life kids, whose lives went down the tubes after the show.

Michael Brady, “The Brady Bunch”
So we know in real life that Robert Reed (Mike) thought the show was beneath him. And we know that his marriage to a woman demonstrated true acting ability. Still, he was a great TV dad and, the kids from the cast say, he was also a great father figure in real life.

James Evans, “Good Times”
You wanna talk about stress? Try living in Cabrini-Green, a public housing project rife with gang violence in inner-city Chicago. James (John Amos) also frequently deals with unemployment and poverty, making something as simple as Kool-Aid a bit of a luxury. And he constantly has to worry about the gangs that threaten to recruit or harm his kids. Yet — thanks, in part to his wife, Florida — he manages to keep it together and provide for his three kids.

Archie Bunker, “All in the Family”
Granted, Archie (Carroll O’Connor) always came through for his daughter, Gloria. And he even got teary-eyed when his son-in-law, whom he not-so-affectionately called “Meathead,” left the house. But his famed bigotry, name-calling and general grumpiness had to rub off in a negative way on his child. Perhaps he would have been better off single, rooming with Mel from “Alice.”

Peter Griffin, “Family Guy”
One of a score of oafish dads on TV, Peter Griffin draws an instant comparison with Homer Simpson. He’s childish, portly, greedy and not very bright. While Homer obviously dotes on his family, Peter often ignores his sons and always has an insult ready for his only daughter, Meg. Here’s one redeeming factor: He’s madly in love with his smokin’ hot wife, Lois.

Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, “The Cosby Show”
Bill Cosby’s much-loved sitcom broke ground in more than a few ways. It starred a successful black stand-up comedian, portrayed an upper-class African-American family with two working parents (an obstetrician and an attorney), and was filmed in New York — not L.A. Most importantly, the show set for the standard for decades of hideous “dad” sweaters. Shudder.

Dr. Katz, “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist”
Voiced by stand-up comedian Jonathan Katz, Dr. Katz is a divorced dad whose love for his slacker son, Ben, is palpable. They get on each other’s nerves occasionally, but in general their relationship is an easy, natural one — understanding mixed with gentle teasing.

Red Forman, “That ’70s Show”
This no-nonsense dad may be hard on his timid son, Eric — he frequently calls him “dumbass” — but he dotes on his daughter, Laurie. (“Daddy’s Little Girl,” as her brother knows, is actually a cruel, promiscuous flirt.) The show indicates that Red is actually trying to transform his teenage son into a tough, mature man. His methods just lack subtlety.

****

Ever wonder about the salaries of TV's most popular pops? CNN does the math with this handy chart, showing the paychecks of every dad from Tim Taylor of "Home Improvement" to Ricky Ricardo of "I Love Lucy."

-- Pat. P and Sarah L.

Stars, stripes and song

You hear it everywhere — at baseball games, rock concerts and high school graduations. It’s familiar, yet moving. Sweet and surprisingly easy to mangle.
And chances are, you only know the first verse.
Officials at the California Mid-State Fair are searching for local singers to belt out "The Star-Spangled Banner" in front of thousands of music fans this summer.
Performers will sing the national anthem a capella before Main Grandstand Arena shows.
That could mean a chance to meet some of the fair’s stars, including Aerosmith, Bob Dylan, Martina McBride and “American Idol” fan favorite Chris Daughtry.
Participants say performing the national anthem is a great way to gain experience and confidence about public singing.
“I could never get bored with the national anthem. I like it,” Paso Robles High School grad Briana McPartlan told The Tribune last year. She’s sung the national anthem at the fair three times.
Fair officials recommend that singers have experience singing for large groups, but auditions are open to all area residents. Past performers include an accountant, a personal trainer, a music teacher and a beauty salon owner.
The California Mid-State Fair runs July 25 through Aug. 5 at the Paso Robles Event Center. This year’s theme is “Country Days and Rockin’ Nights.”

Interested?
Send a VHS videotape or DVD showing your performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” to: California Mid-State Fair, Attn: Nancy Paasch, P.O. Box 8, Paso Robles, CA 93447.
All entries must be received by Friday, June 22, at 5 p.m. Tapes will not be returned.
For more information, call the fair administration office at 239-0655.

-- Sarah L.

Organ concert changes hands

Music lovers will see a new face at the keyboard when the Performing Arts Center’s pipe organ debuts this summer.
French organist Olivier Latry was scheduled to play June 11 and 13 to herald the organ’s arrival in San Luis Obispo. However, the organist at Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral injured his arm in a fall, PAC officials said.
His replacement is Todd Wilson, chair of the Organ Department at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Wilson is organist and director of music at the Church of the Covenant in Cleveland, as well as organ curator at Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra.
He played at the dedication of the organ at Salt Lake City’s Mormon Conference Center and served as organ soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

ABOUT THE CONCERTS:
Although the June 11 recital is sold out, tickets are still available for the June 13 concert featuring Wilson, the San Luis Obispo Symphony and a community choir.
Tickets are $25. For more information, contact the PAC ticket office at 756-2787.
In addition, PAC officials are organizing two educational events for the public.
On June 12, staff with legendary organ builder C.B. Fisk will discuss the pipe organ’s design and construction during a brown-bag lunch.
Local organ enthusiasts can take a turn “pulling out the stops” during a free open keyboard session on June 17. Sign up in May to reserve your 10 minutes of playing time.

ABOUT THE ORGAN:
Built by C.B. Fisk of Gloucester, Mass., the pipe organ is three stories tall and features more than 2,700 pipes ranging from 32 feet to the length and width of a pencil.
It’s a gift to the PAC from Burt and Candee Forbes, founders of the local computer development firm Ziatech Corp.

-- Sarah L.

Blame It on the Bee Gees

As we watched news footage this morning of Johnny Cash’s Tennessee home going up in flames, my boyfriend turned to me and said, “Yet another reason to hate the Bee Gees.”
“Hate” might be a strong word for my feelings toward Barry Gibb, falsetto siren of the ’70s with such classics as “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever.” (I do harbor some resentment for his part in kickstarting John Travolta’s career.)
But I wasn’t happy to hear that the fire started while the home that J.R. and June shared for more than three decades was undergoing renovations for Gibb, its new owner.
According to authorities in Hendersonville, Tenn., the flames spread quickly because construction crews had applied a wood preservative to the house's walls.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that the Bee Gee purchased the property just last year with plans of using it -- not as a museum -- but as a vacation home during hurricane season. Miami, it seems, gets too breezy for him.
With the destruction of the Cash family’s home, we lose relics, physical remnants of a country legend. This three-story house by the lake was where Johnny Cash made music, kicked back and mended a life torn by drug abuse, hurtful habits and the pressures of fame.
He walked these halls with his children and, later, alone while making the Grammy-winning video for his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt.” He probably penned part of his signature autobiography in these wood-and-marble rooms.
All those memories. Up in smoke.
It’s a shame it had to come during Barry Gibb’s watch.

Music, wine and memories

As The Tribune’s features staff begins a brand-new week, we reach into our grab bag of arts-and-entertainment tidbits:

Pulling out the stops

Tickets are now available to the public for the first pipe organ concerts at the Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo.
Oliver Latry, organist at Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral, will perform June 11 and 13 on Harmon Hall’s new pipe organ.
Built by legendary organ maker C.B. Fisk of Glouchester, Mass., the organ is three stories tall and features more than 2,700 pipes ranging from a pencil’s length to 32 feet.
It’s a gift to the PAC from Burt and Candee Forbes, founders of the local computer development firm Ziatech Corp.
Tickets to Latry’s free recital on June 11 are available by contacting the PAC ticket office at 756-2787 or visiting
www.pacslo.org.
You can also purchase tickets for the June 13 concert featuring Latry, the San Luis Obispo Symphony and a community choir.

Wine, women and song

TV's "Bachelor" will host this year’s Winery Music Awards.
Andrew Firestone, son of vintner Brooks Firestone and former contestant on ABC’s "The Bachelor," will serve as the host of the summer-long music competition held at wineries throughout Paso Robles.
According to producer Kathy Kelly, bands will compete one Saturday every month from June to October. Participating wineries include Maloy-O’Neill Winery and Silver Horse Winery.
Winners receive cash, prizes and industry recognition.
Arroyo Grande rock band Threes and Nines, recipient of 2005’s grand prize, won a recording contract with RNB Entertainment Group of Los Angeles. They’re set to release their first album this year.
RNB also plans to release a compilation disc this summer featuring many of 2005’s artists, Kelly said.
For more information, visit the Winery Music Awards Web site

Tell me a story

Out past the cow pastures on west Foothill Boulevard, there’s a rustic restaurant with a varied past.
The 1917 building has been known alternately as the Callaway House, This Old House, This Ole House, A.J. Spurs and Pinky Carmine’s.
Now it’s got a new name: The Clubhouse At This Old House.
According to publicist Cheryl Westfall, owner Andrew Adams plans to turn the space into a restaurant, music venue and local sports clubhouse. It opens April 19.
To celebrate, The Clubhouse is seeking stories from its 90-year history. Winning stories will be published in the menu, Westfall said.
The Clubhouse is also offering prizes for the three best stories ranging from $100 to $300 gift certificates.
It’d be hard to beat this: According to Dan Callaway, his father Harold watched oil tycoon J. Paul Getty pass out drunk on the front porch.
Send your memories to clubhouseslo@gmail.com, fax them to 805-548-8506 or mail them to 740 W. Foothill Blvd., San Luis Obispo, CA 93405.
The deadline is this Friday, April 6.

- Sarah L.

"I can see clearly now ..."

The future of film is coming to the Fremont.
This week, San Luis Obispo’s historic movie house becomes one of the first theaters in the area to screen films using a state-of-the-art digital projector.
“It’s the way of the future,” said Sanborn Theatres Inc. spokesman Harold Taylor, whose company runs the Fremont Theatre and SLO’s Downtown Centre Cinemas. “Once the public hears about it and the word goes around, they’re going to go nuts over it.”
According to Taylor, the Barco projector will mean a “brighter, clearer, crisper picture” for new releases.
The new projector also opens the Fremont to digital 3-D movies such as Disney’s “Meet the Robinsons,” which opens Friday.
“It’s not like those green and red glasses you used to wear … It doesn’t tire your eyes out,” Taylor said, adding that the digital format “brings a new depth to the picture.”
As Taylor explains it, digital films are downloaded from the studios onto a Kodak computer server, then projected onto the Fremont’s massive screen. Plans for a digital projector have been in the works for about six months, he said.
Based on their experiences in San Luis Obispo, Sanborn Theatres hopes to implement the technology at its other movie theaters.
“After a while, you just have to admit that it’s an improvement,” Taylor said.

So, is it better? Check it out for yourself at The Fremont Theatre, 1025 Monterey St., in San Luis Obispo.

-- Sarah L.

How They Do It

Ever wonder how they do it? The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival offers a series of workshops and panel discussions this weekend aimed at showing how filmmakers perfect their craft.

Today, start your day with "Hollywood Dreams," a discussion about the challenges of acting and directing in Hollywood.
The panel discussion features Oscar-nominated actor James Cromwell and indie director Henry Jaglom, as well as "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" star Melissa Joan Hart, who directed the short film "Mute."
It starts at 10 a.m. at the Oddfellows Hall, 520 Dana Street in San Luis Obispo.

Next at the Oddfellows Hall is "Meet the Filmmakers," a panel discussion about the trials and thrills independent cinema. The talk, which features many of the filmmakers involved in this year's festival, starts at 12:30 p.m.

"Behind the Scenes with CafeFX," 3 p.m. at the Oddfellows Hall, highlights Santa Maria special effects firm CafeFX, which handles visual effects for some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters.

On Sunday, Hollywood screenwriters Gregg Rosen, Brian Sawyer and David Garrett share their tips for writing a marketable script.
Garrett is the co-writer of such hits as "Deuce Bigalow: American Gigolo," "First Pet" and "Corky Romano." Rosen and Sawyer have collaborated on a number of television and film projects.
That workshop goes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the San Luis Obispo City/County Library, 995 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo.

All workshops and panel discussions are $15 or $10 for students and film society members. For more information, call 543-3456 or visit www.slofilmfest.org.

The Truth About Tall Men

On the phone, James Cromwell sounds like your favorite smart uncle.
The Oscar-nominated actor is warm and self-effacing, with just the slightest touch of gravel.
He chuckles. He raises his voice to discuss a lifetime of activism — animal rights, the anti-war movement, the Black Panthers — then moves to another room when his wife tells him he’s being too loud.
Cromwell appears Saturday at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival when he accepts this year’s King Vidor Career Achievement Award for acting.
The ceremony is at 6 p.m. at the Fremont Theatre, 1025 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo; tickets are $25 or $20 for students and film festival members. Call 546-3456 or visit www.slofilmfest.org for more information.
Before you go, we bring you some insights that didn’t make the print edition.

As the son of a Hollywood director and two theater pros, was it always expected that you would become an actor?
I was actually going to be a mechanical engineer (at Middlebury College in Vermont). That sounds a lot fancier than it really was: I wanted to design sports cars.
My father came to the Sunday morning after a Saturday night fraternity party at my fraternity house — I think this was what prompted him. It was probably my wonderful stepmother who said, “You know, we should really take Jamie to Sweden.”
So he was making a picture in Sweden and once I saw him working, in my quasi-adult state — I was not an adult but I had pretensions to maturity — I thought, “That looks like a lot of fun. Let’s do that.”

At 6-foot-5, you tower over a lot of actors. Has your height ever been an issue professionally?
It’s been an issue for two groups … Somebody at Fox said, “Y’know, I gotta tell you, it’s going to be a problem because I can tell you more than five big stars who refuse to work with anybody over 6 feet.” So I thought, “Oh well, I guess I won't be doing films.”
And then Blake Edwards (on the set of “10”). I came in with a wonderful casting director who really liked me and Blake said to the casting director, “What am I supposed to do with that?”
And the casting director said, “Oh, I thought for the cop.” He said, “How tall is Dudley? How tall is he?” He was trying to figure how he was going to get Dudley (Moore) and me in the same shot without tilting the camera.

You’re definitely taller than most people we see in the movies.
When you’re 45 feet in the theaters, you realize that even if you’re small of stature, one way to appear big is to be the lead in a motion picture. That’s as big as you can get. So it attracts people who have issues and who have compensatory behaviors of the Napoleon variety.
The problem is — and it happens on stage as well — it tends to make the person who’s tallest the normal one and everybody else short. So when I appear on stage with a normal-sized actor, I look normal and everybody else looks like they’re Lilliputians.

Besides your Oscar-nominated role as the farmer in “Babe,” you’ve played a number of authority figures: presidents, police officers, military men.
Do you ever worry about being typecast?
When you said typecasting, it (used to mean) that you were given the kind of roles which were one-dimensional and they really only cast you because of the look. They didn’t have to go through any exposition.
I think the creativity as far as casting directors has shifted from their ability to appreciate an actor’s range to being able to very specifically match an individual actor with the qualities a director describes that he wants for a role.
We get established in the audience’s mind as having a particular quality. It is that quality that the casting director sells to the director: You will be getting this kind of performance from this actor. It’s a given.

Do you ever get tired of taking supporting roles?
When you’re a supporting actor, you know what your role is. Your role is to support them and to assist them in the scene so they can keep the level of their performance where they want it to be rather than having to compensate for your inadequacy.
I’m not a believer in, “Listen. As long as the camera’s on me, it’s my film and I’m going to do any damn thing.” … What happens is the story is not told.

You call yourself “a strong opponent of the Academy Awards system.” Why?
The fact that it is a choice between five superlative performances in which one person will win and four people will lose is obscene in my mind.
My solution is that the five nominees gather together in a room. No one is allowed to vote for themselves. And they discuss each of the films and they vote one of them as being the performance that they admired.
To compare what Kate Winslet did in “Little Children” to what Helen (Mirren) did in “The Queen” is an absurd thing to do.
-- Sarah L.