July 2008

07/31/08

Wine lovers will dig "Bottle Shock"

Looking for the anti-blockbuster movie experience? You can't go wrong with Bottle Shock, a sweet little independent film that was shot up in Napa last year. The movie offers the "based on a true story" tale of how Napa came to the fine wine table—when, in 1976, some upstart Napa wineries bested acclaimed French wineries in a blind tasting. It's a feel-good, Rocky-for-wine lovers, little charmer that wears it's heart on its sleeve. For a small-budget film, Bottle Shock boasts an impressive cast, including Alan Rickman (Die Hard) as a British ex-pat who is running a failing Parisian wine shop, Bill Pullman (The Last Seduction, Zero Effect) as a stubborn Napa winemaker, and Freddie Rodriguez (Six Feet Under), as an...

Posted at 05:31 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments

07/30/08

Concord hairstylist on Bravo TV's "Shear Genius"

If you're watching TV tonight, make sure to tune into Bravo's series, Shear Genius. Concord salon owner Nekisa Addis is one of the 12 stylists from across the country cast in this reality show, which is essentially Project: Runway for hairstylists (In fact, Genius follows Runway at 10 p.m.) Addis is the only East Bay playa in the stylist smackdown, which is hosted by Jaclyn Smith of Charlie's Angels fame. In fact, tonight's episode has a Charlie's Angels theme, and Kate Jackson makes a guest appearance. Get ready for feathered flashbacks to the late 1970s!

Addis wasn't at liberty to let me know how she did on the show. "I have not even told my mom and dad," she says with a laugh. She's getting noticed in public,...

Posted at 07:49 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments

07/27/08

Country Fastball baseball and music radio show

I'm sitting in the press box of the Oakland Coliseum (aka McAfee), watching the A's smack the Rangers around, and listening to the Dixie Chicks' "Lubbock or Leave It". Speaking of baseball and killer country music, on the elevator ride up to the press box, I ran into A's broadcaster Robert Buan, an East Bay resident who does a great job producing the A's radio broadcasts and hosts the very entertaining Extra Innings postgame program. Robert also hosts a cool radio show called Country Fastball, in which he talks with big league ballplayers about country music. The two-hour talk and tunes program is syndicated across 7 states, and can be heard in the Bay...

Posted at 04:06 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments

07/25/08

Bob Dylan outtake, "New Danville Girl"

Just came across this cool Bob Dylan outtake from his 1987 album, Knocked Out Loaded. The album is widely considered one of Dylan's worst, but it did contain the standout track, Brownsville Girl, an epic, sprawling song that was also included on Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3. Apparently, the working title of the song was "New Danville Girl." Check it out!

Dylan's hero, Woody Guthrie, wrote a classic song named "Danville Girl." Don't know when Bob decided to change from the Woody homage to Brownsville, but I'll make sure to ask him if we run into one another.

Posted at 12:42 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments

07/24/08

Beth Lisick & Tara Jepsen's new show: Getting in on the Ground Floor and Staying There

One of my favorite assignments this year was interviewing Beth Lisick, the hysterically funny Berkeley author and performance artist. If you haven't read her books Everybody Into The Pool and Helping Me Help Myself, pick them up—they are perfect summer reads. Beth just sent me a note that she and her friend Tara Jepsen are perfroming a comedy show in San Francisco, which kicks off tonight and runs through next weekend at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. Here's what Beth says about the show:

Tara  and I are gearing up for our show, Getting In On the Ground Floor and Staying There, a ten year retrospective of our comedic "career" together. We'll be doing bits from our lady duos Carole & Mitzi, Miriam & Helen, and...

07/24/08

New season of Mad Men premieres July 27

I'm halfway through season one of Mad Men on dvd, hoping to get through it before the premiere of season two this Sunday. Have you seen this show? It's amazing! It's like The Best of Everything, Twin Peaks, and The Sopranos wrapped up into one delicious hour. Big props to AMC for its foray into original programming. For the uninformed, Mad Men is about the world of early 1960s Madison Avenue advertsing executives, and features some of the coolest set decorations and art design I've ever seen on television. The melodramatic story arc involves ad exec Don Draper (Jon Hamm), his secret identity, the sinister side of the Leave it to Beaver suburbs, sexist office politics, three martini lunches, and oh, so much more. Here's

Posted at 12:13 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments

07/23/08

Tri-Valley produced, star-studded film premieres in SF this weekend

Tri-Valley resident Donna Garrison just let me know that Full Grown Men, a new feature film she produced, is premiering this weekend at the lumiere Theater in San Francisco. While I haven't seen the film, I have to say I'm quite impressed by the cast—especially Debbie Harry, one of my fave divas and indie actresses of all time. Also, Judah Friedlander, so good on 30 Rock and in the brilliant American Splendor, is always watchable. Information about the opening below:

FULL GROWN MEN
The Sundance Channel Undiscovered Gems Audience Award-Winning Comedy
by local filmmakers
David Munro, Xandra Castleton, and Brian Benson
Starring Matt McGrath, Judah Friedlander, Alan Cumming, Amy Sedaris & Debbie Harry

San Francisco...

Posted at 02:46 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments

07/23/08

The Daily Show in the East Bay

I'm watching much more TV content online these days than on the old fashioned boob tube. One of my favorite shows is the Daily Show, Comedy Central's brilliant news and politics satire. I missed this clip when it aired back in March, when the Daily Show sent a correspondant to cover the controversy at the Marine recruiting office in downtown Berkeley. Let's just say the clip doesn't help dissolve the stereotype about Berkeley's hippie population...very funny stuff!

Posted at 10:28 AM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments

07/22/08

Fantastic French thriller: Tell No One

Everybody's all hyped up about Batman and rightfully so: The Dark Knight is the most spectacular big budget blockbuster to come around in a long, long time. But if you're a mystery lover like me, you'll want to check out the French thriller Tell No One, playing now at the Albany Cinema and the Embarcadero in San Francisco. Hopefully, it will come to the Orinda or the Pleasant Hill Cinearts soon, as a film this smart and entertaining will find an audience in CoCoCounty.

The movie is based on a novel by American author Harlan Coben, who collaborated on the screenplay with writer/director Guillaume Canet. The densely plotted story revolves around a doctor, whose wife was murdered...perhaps...eight years earlier. The doctor had been a suspect in his wife's murder,...

Posted at 11:27 AM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments

07/17/08

Diablo gets the first look at The Dark Knight

Halfway through an early screening of the Dark Knight, the sensational new Batman movie by British director Christopher Nolan, the picture went dark and the film stopped. A half filled IMAX theater of critics and entertainment insiders booed and hissed the faux pas like a batch of petulant babies. But not me. I sat in the theater quietly, trying to absorb the 90 or so minutes of brilliance I had witnessed, when I realized that my heart was literally pounding from the suspense that Nolan had been cranking from the film's first scene.

This is not your typical summer blockbuster.

Dark, brooding, and best for adults (or older teens), The Dark Knight  feels more like A Clockwork Orange or Silence of the Lambs than it does  your...

Posted at 12:04 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink | Comments