MIDDLETOWN – D’s Coffee & Tea Shop in Middletown will host its monthly Open Mic Night on Friday, Sept. 25, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

This is a free event.

All musicians, singers, storytellers, comedians and others are welcome.

This is fast becoming a big event so early sign up is encouraged.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

For more information or to sign up to perform please call 707-987-3647.

On Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009, the Soper-Reese Community Theatre will host its Harvest Moon Dinner and Dance at 275 S. Main St. in Lakeport. Courtesy photo.

LAKE COUNTY – The Soper-Reese Community Theatre will host its annual fundraising event, Harvest Moon Dinner and Dance, on Saturday, Oct. 3, at the theater, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.

The inside of the theatre is being transformed into a big band nightclub for dining and dancing.

Catering a full sit-down dinner will be Blue Wing Saloon & Café Chef Mark Linback.

Tulip Hill Winery, Brassfield Estate Winery, Zoom Wines, Steele Wines, Gregory Graham Winery, Six Sigma Ranch & Winery and Ceâgo Vinegarden have generously donated wines. Providing the musical entertainment for the evening will be the award winning big band sound of John Parkinson and the Mendocino Jazz Band.

The evening will begin with appetizers and local wines in the new outdoor courtyard, with background music provided by guitarist Dan Meyer.

The Early Lake Lions Club will be serving drinks in the main lobby. A table of select silent auction items will be on display for guests to place their bids.

Before the dancing begins, Shaun Hornby of Hornby’s Furniture Restoration will serve as auctioneer for some fabulous and fun live auction items, including a Lake Tahoe cabin weekend, a one-week two-bedroom timeshare, and sailing on San Francisco Bay. The goal for our next building renovation phase is $100,000, which will finish the dressing rooms and green room along with handicap restrooms

Following the auction, the Mendocino Jazz Band will play two 45-minute sets for listening and dancing enjoyment.

The festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m. for dinner guests. Dinner and dance tickets are on sale for $100 per person. The deadline for purchasing dinner and dancing tickets is Sept. 26.

Tickets for music and dancing only are available for the reduced price of $40 per person and can be purchased at the door after 7:30 p.m. on the night of the event. Tickets are also available for music and dancing only at the reduced price of $40 per person. Dancing and music only guests should arrive at the theater by 7:30 p.m.

For tickets and additional information, contact Nina Marino, 707-279-4082. The deadline for purchasing dinner and dancing tickets ($100) is Sept. 26.

The Soper-Reese Community Theatre is your theater. Growing out of a community wide need for a beautiful and versatile venue for theater, symphony and other musical and entertainment events, as well as a practical meeting place for political and educational programs, the facility has been an evolving project.

Launched by a major gift from Jim and Florence Soper to the Lake County Arts Council to renovate the nostalgic old Lakeport movie house, then owned and managed by the late Bob Reese. The Soper-Reese building has now been open for over 20 months during which a variety of shows and programs have been presented to the public.

Nearly simultaneously, two renovation phases have created an entirely new interior, a handsome innovative wall-to-wall stage with thrust wings out into the house area for added staging options, state of the art light and sound equipment, new orchestra chairs, and the new courtyard, among other major improvements.

Community support for this project has been overwhelming, and the Soper-Reese Committee wants to thank the Lake County Winegrape Commission and others who have generously donated items and their time for their continued sponsorship of this exciting annual fundraiser.

The goal for the next building renovation phase is $100,000, to finish the dressing rooms and green room along with handicap-accessible restrooms in the new building under construction in the back of the theater.

Community support for this project has been overwhelming, and the Soper-Reese Committee wants to thank and we thank the Lake County Winegrape Commission and others who have generously donated items and their time for their continued sponsorship of this exciting annual fundraiser, along with those who have generously donated items and their time.

Join the theater's supporters for a romantic, fun-filled evening and help “ your” community theatre reach its goal.

Book lovers should be gloating “Let it rain!” because this looks like our year.

Here are just a few of the early fall fiction temptations.

Dan Brown is back with Robert Langdon in “The Lost Symbol,” releasing Tuesday, this time probing the connections of Freemasonry and Washington, D. C. Washington pols and critics reportedly are waiting breathlessly.

Book club favorite Anita Diamant, who captivated so many with "The Red Tent," gives us “Day After Night,” young women escaping to Israel from Nazi Germany.

Anita Shreve, who specializes in couples under great stress, “A Change in Altitude,” puts her protagonists in a Kenyan tragedy.

Lorrie Moore sets her post-9/11 novel, “A Gate at the Stairs” in the Midwest with a 20-year-old punster as her protagonist.

Margaret Atwood imagines another dystopia in “The Year of the Flood,” with much of the human race wiped out. (Guess: She'll somehow find the humor in that.)

Audrey Niffenegger, whose "The Time Traveler's Wife" was recently released for the big screen, follows it up with “Her Fearful Symmetry,” set in a London cemetery.

E.L. Doctorow's “Homer & Langley” examines the famous Collyer brothers, whose hoarding of old newspapers and other debris was world class. (Could have you putting down your book for a bit of tossing out.)

Kazuo Ishiguro, author of the lovely and melancholic "Remains of the Day," with another evocative title in “Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall,” stories connected by music.

Popular Spokane native author Sherman Alexie ("Smoke Signals") lightens it up with “War Dances,” a collection of stories.

Anne Rice, dominatrix of vampire novels for years, left the field for Christian themes about the time lots of competition moved in. She returns Oct. 27 (just in time for you-know-what!) with a hybrid of popular themes in “Angel Time: Songs of the Seraphim.” A killer meets an angel who gives him a chance at time travel to right some wrongs.

Sophie Annan Jensen is a book lover and retired journalist. She lives in Lucerne.

British actress Kate Beckinsale stars as U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko in “Whiteout.” Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers.

The remote, unforgiving environment of the frozen Antarctica seems an unlikely place for serious crimes, particularly murder.

That’s why the conflicted character of Kate Beckinsale’s U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko accepted a transfer from balmy Miami to a research station located at the bottom of the world.

However, a tipoff that something is afoot is signaled by the opening flashback scene to the crash of a Soviet cargo plane during the 1950s somewhere on the South Pole. The mystery aboard the doomed flight is going to surface more than 50 years later.

From the very start, “Whiteout” telegraphs its full-blown intent to crank up a serviceable potboiler, one that is entertaining enough to keep you from wondering too much about the obvious pitfalls and superficiality of the plot.

To throw you even further off stride, one of the earliest scenes with the comely Kate Beckinsale shows her stripping off for a nice hot shower. Fortunately, it doesn’t turn out to be anything like the shower scene in “Psycho,” and it’s the only brief moment of titillation, as long as you don’t count the naked guys streaking outdoors.

“Whiteout” takes some time to develop Marshal Stetko’s frustration with the isolation and claustrophobia that comes from being stuck in an isolated place.

As the action gets started at the Amundsen-Scott research complex, the inhabitants are counting the hours to their departure in advance of the oncoming winter.

Stetko contemplates turning in her badge at the end of this assignment, and she can hardly wait to get on the flight back home.

Not only is she stuck at a lousy post, Stetko keeps reliving the nightmare of a mission that went horribly wrong in Miami. Over the course of the movie, brief flashbacks shed more light on the traumatic experience that continues to haunt the dedicated law enforcement officer.

In the waning hours of the Antarctica duty, Stetko is startled by the shocking discovery of an American geologist found frozen to the ground by blood and ice out in the middle of nowhere. Closer examination reveals that the homicide victim, the first ever in the region, has some mysterious wounds that were crudely stitched up.

Suddenly, with an eye of the clock and the approaching winter storm, Stetko realizes that she has an obligation to investigate, a mission that becomes even more urgent when she gets a communication from one of the victim’s partners, who claims to be terrified and is on the run and hiding at the Russian outpost of Vostok.

Assisted by the friendly pilot Delfy (Columbus Short), Stetko flies to the remote area only to discover a second murder, followed by a near deadly encounter with an ax-wielding killer disguised by his dark goggles and parka.

Then, another mysterious figure arrives in the form of UN investigator Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht), who has been sent down to expedite the case and control the flow of information about the crime. Why this is a necessary mission for the UN is absolutely unclear. Furthermore, how did Pryce get to the scene so quickly? Why is there so much interest in the death of an unremarkable geologist? Adding to the mystery, these questions go unanswered.

In any event, an interesting cat-and-mouse element develops between the evasive Pryce and the wary Stetko, along with the more visceral cat-and-mouse game that flows from the tracking of the killer.

To add to the tension, the confrontation with the ax-wielding murderer is set in the outdoors when the winds and snowdrifts cause the blinding condition of “whiteout.” The fight scenes in this situation lose their potency because it is impossible to identify the good guys from the bad one.

Stetko’s best friend at the base is Doc (Tom Skerritt), who becomes a central player in the autopsy work as well as patching up the US Marshal after a nasty bit of frostbite.

A skilled veteran actor, Skerritt brings depth to his character, making himself believable as a kindred spirit who understands Stetko’s conflicted past.

Characters with depth, however, are not crucial to the murder thriller plot of “Whiteout.” This action movie thrives on its conventionality of plot twists and red herrings. It’s enough fun while it lasts, but won’t really hold up over the long haul to any serious scrutiny.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Believe it or not, one of the longest running and most popular television westerns is marking its 50th anniversary, as the first season of “Bonanza” officially rides onto DVD.

This milestone is celebrated with a brilliantly remastered collection of all 32 full-length episodes, which is being released as “Bonanza: The Official First Season” in two volumes.

For 14 years, audiences followed the charming Cartwright clan and their High Sierra adventures during an era of violence and lawlessness in the middle of the 19th century.

Lorne Greene established himself as the patriarch Ben Cartwright, who cared deeply for his three sons, played by Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon, certainly three dissimilar characters.

“Bonanza” is credited as TV’s first regular hour series in color, and during the course of its long run the popular show garnered a devoted following.

As family-oriented action adventure, “Bonanza” featured strong characters and engaging plots tied around a revolving cast of interesting guest players, helping the series to stand out among the usual gun-slinging formula Westerns of the day. Notable guest stars during the first season included Buddy Ebsen, Vic Morrow, Yvonne DeCarlo and James Coburn.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.