Singer Neon Napalm and legendary guitarist Mike Wilhelm are part of the Bottle Rock Blues and Rhythm Band. Courtesy photo.

LAKE COUNTY – Bottle Rock Blues and Rhythm Band formed in Lake County in August and describes its music as “Smokin’ R & B!” It is not often that one finds a band that has roots as deep and a family tree as broad as this one.

The band coalesced around 1960s legend Mike Wilhelm, vocal and guitar; and Neon Napalm, vocal and percussion.

Wilhelm is known as a founding member of the Charlatans, San Francisco’s first psychedelic group, as well as for his work with cult heroes Flamin’ Groovies.

Napalm, a card-carrying member of the Cherokee Nation, is the popular lead singer formerly with Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers, a Native American band well known throughout the Southwest.

“I had a concept for a rhythm and blues band featuring harmony vocals and a rock style rhythm section,” said Wilhelm. “I designed a logo with the letters 'Bottle Rock,' made from obsidian, common in Lake County and known locally as ‘bottle rock.’ I also had certain personnel in mind.”

First on his list was Napalm, whom he had met in the Lake County Blues Allstars.

“Neon is not only one of the best female vocalists I’ve ever heard – and I have heard many over the years – but we had already been singing harmony together in the Blues Allstars,” Wilhelm said.

Wilhelm and Napalm started playing with guitarist and vocalist Stephen Holland. He hails originally from Clarksdale, Miss, central to the Mississippi Delta, the ancestral home of Chicago blues.

Born in 1950, he has been playing for 44 years and has an original style all his own. He has played with the Bay Area band Cottonmouth and with members of Soundhole, Huey Lewis and the News and Tower of Power.

Holland introduced them to bassist Bill McMenomy, who had recently moved to Lake County after spending a number of years playing in the Portland, Ore., area.

McMenomy is originally from San Francisco. Back in the day, he played with the San Francisco rock trio Aum. He sings backup has a very powerful rock bass style, which is just what Wilhelm had in mind for the band.

Drummer Mark Phillips is probably best known as a member of the Grateful Dead cover band Street Dogs. He is an extremely well-seasoned player having played with P. T. and the Pleasers during the early 1980s in the Bay Area opening for acts such as Greg Kihn and Huey Lewis and the News.

In demand as a recording session musician, Phillips has divided his time between the Bay Area and his native England.

The resulting band has the much-sought-after quality of being more than the sum of its parts.

In addition to the R&B repetoire, they are also mixing in some classic rock from the 1960s and 1970s including songs associated with the Charlatans and Flamin’ Groovies.

For performance dates, visit www.flyingsnail.com/Scrapbook/Mike_Wilhelm.html. For bookings email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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The colorful gourd creations will be on display through Dec. 12. Photo courtesy of Linda Kelly.

BACHELOR VALLEY – The Bachelor Valley Gourd Club will be showing their gourds for the third year at the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum in November through Dec. 12.

Club members recently worked with museum curator Linda Lake to set up the display.

There are 18 members' gourds represented in this year's display.

A Christmas tree decorated with gourd ornaments placed first and best of show at the Lake County Fair in September.

Museum hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed on Thanksgiving Day and the day after Thanksgiving.

The Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum is located at 16435 Main St., Lower Lake, telephone 995-3565.

Bachelor Valley Gourd Club members recently set up their holiday display at the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum. Those taking part in the setup included, front row, from left to right, museum curator, Linda Lake, and club member Marilyn Crayton; back row, left to right, Linda Kelly, Sheryl Morris, Patricia Eisenbeisz, Terry Kahn and Sandie Coelho-Davis. Photo courtesy of Linda Kelly.

The display also features a Christmas tree with gourd ornaments. Photo courtesy of Linda Kelly.

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Blues Allstar Jim Williams solos at this years Blue Wing Blues Festival. Photo courtesy of Bernie Butcher.

KELSEYVILLE – The Lake County Blues Allstars play Thursday, Nov. 13, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Saw Shop Gallery Bistro Restaurant and Bar.

The rhythm and blues quintet plays the second Thursday of each month at the Saw Shop.

Featured are Lake County stalwart Jim Williams on guitar, harmonica and vocal; popular blues chanteuse Neon Napalm on percussion and vocal; and 1960s legend Mike Wilhelm on guitar and vocals.

Filling in on bass, for the absent Jon Hopkins, is Bill McMenomy from Bottle Rock Blues and Rhythm Band. Rounding out the band is former Street Dogs drummer Mark Phillips, also a member of Bottle Rock along with Napalm and Wilhelm.

The Saw Shop Gallery Bistro displays fine art by local artists and is known as one of Lake County’s top restaurants, featuring steak, seafood and pasta as well as nightly specials and a full bar.

Located at 3825 Main St., Kelseyville, it is open Tuesday through Saturday from 3 p.m. and has live music on Thursday night. Telephone 707-278-0129 for dinner reservations.

For more information go to www.sawshopbistro.com.

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With a title borrowed from an Ian Fleming short story, “Quantum of Solace” seems designed to prove that a story is somehow unnecessary to realizing a James Bond movie.

Surprisingly, there are three writers credited to crafting the screenplay, when it’s obvious that a graduate student at film school, possessing knowledge of James Bond lore, could have managed just as well.

“Quantum of Solace,” tricked out by its aggressive video game sensibilities, is so heavy on action that there’s hardly a moment of respite. You may have heard this elsewhere, but it bears repeating that James Bond is now almost indistinguishable from the Jason Bourne character.

Forget about Sean Connery, Roger Moore or even Pierce Brosnan. Daniel Craig is the James Bond for a new generation, even if he comes off as a possibly grittier version of Matt Damon.

Craig’s James Bond can still wear the tuxedo with elegant grace, but this guy’s tougher than Steven Seagal in a dozen martial arts films. He delivers the goods with the brutal efficiency of an almost robotic assassin.

Steeped in its revenge story, “Quantum of Solace” presents agent 007 as an unstoppable killing machine, indestructible in pursuit of his mission. But just like his boss, M (Judi Dench) the head of the British Secret Service, you may question exactly what his mission is about.

Picking up where “Casino Royale” left off, the opening scene has Bond being pursued by a carload of baddies, probably because he’s got Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) stuffed in the trunk of his Aston Martin.

Not exactly a sentimental guy, Bond is nonetheless anxious to track down the criminal mastermind behind White’s sinister organization, knowing that it may enable him to exact revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd. As you may recall, Vesper is the woman he fell in love with, despite good reasons to be wary of any romantic entanglements.

After an interrogation of Mr. White and an unexpected betrayal in a secret location in Spain, Bond is off to Haiti to track down an MI6 traitor.

In a case of mistaken identity, Bond is introduced in slapdash fashion to the beautiful but feisty Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who has her own vendetta agenda, but one that coincides with Bond’s plans.

Camille leads Bond straight to the bug-eyed Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ruthless businessman who hides under the cover of his environmental credentials. Al Gore will be none too pleased at how this green planet advocate abuses his trust.

Linked to Quantum, Greene has sinister plans to take control of vital natural resources in Bolivia for his own gain, primarily by forging a deal with corrupt General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio), itching to stage his own coup d’etat.

The scheme turns out to be barely more evil than the theft of water from the Owens Valley in “Chinatown.” Whatever happened to ominous plots for world domination? Bond villains, like Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Auric Goldfinger, used to have ambitions that matched their outsized egos. Now we have some creepy environmentalist telling a gathering of gullible rich folks to support his green initiatives.

Pared down to the shortest running time of any Bond film in history, “Quantum of Solace” expends its energy mostly on an almost nonstop sequence of car chases, fights, running across rooftops, explosions, airplane chase and more fights. Especially when Bond dashes across tile roofs in hot pursuit, it seems like another chapter in a “Bourne” movie.

With all the chasing and fighting, there’s little time for Bond to display much personality. Though the consummate tough guy, Sean Connery always had time to drop a few witticisms. Humor is almost nonexistent in this all-business affair.

It’s comforting to know that Bond still has some of his bad habits, though they don’t seem to include smoking or drinking martinis shaken not stirred. Still, he manages time to seduce the very attractive Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton), while going undercover as part of a teachers’ group that apparently hit the lottery jackpot.

Sadly, Fields’ most memorable moment is a tribute to “Goldfinger.” Not so memorable is Bond tailing bad guys doing business at the avant-garde Austrian opera house. Nor does he have any truly memorable scenes with the sexy Camille, who appears stripped of any real personality. Oddly enough, there’s zero chemistry between Bond and Camille.

I have enjoyed every single James Bond film, all 56 or 57 of them if you count the Woody Allen spoof. Despite a few misgivings on style and substance, I find “Quantum of Solace” another worthy entry, though for reasons far different than the early Sean Connery ones. The action and the stunts are absolutely breathtaking, and Daniel Craig is the definitive contemporary Bond.

Nevertheless, a few things amount to letdowns, the most egregious of which is the worst Bond title song ever, even more dreadful than the one by Madonna.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

I am wondering when the DVD market will reach the saturation point. If you don’t want to watch current TV shows, Paramount Home Entertainment is pushing old series at a rapid clip.

This week alone brings at least four oldies, including “Star Trek The Original Series: Season Three,” now remastered for the first time.

“Odd Couple: The Final Season” allows the last look at Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as the two comic misfits, one a slob and the other a fussbudget.

Wouldn’t it be great to have an acting career working on location in Hawaii? The enduring popularity of “Hawaii Five-O” continues with the release of its fifth season.

Not exactly in the vintage category, all eight seasons of “Charmed: The Complete Series” features some beautiful women as sibling witches. The Deluxe Edition has a suggested retail price above $300, and I am curious about the volume of sales for this type of product.

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

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A Kids' Fest filled with great animation and short films will be on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Every ticket is $5 at the door.

Both screenings are at Calpine Geothermal Visitor’s Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown. The program will be approximately 75 minutes.

The animation and short film lineup is appropriate for kids ages 5 through 14 and those of us who are kids at heart.

Please come at least 15 minutes before the show begins. There will be popcorn, candies and drinks for sale, as well.

Some of the titles for this weekend’s fest include “CrabFu” ( a crazy kung-fu crab), “The Ringbearer” (Sometimes dogs just do what they want!), “The Zit” (need we say more), “Gopher Broke” (gopher plans gone awry), “Hold the Onions” (a tween orders fast food), “Mommy, Mommy, There’s a Monster on the Stairs” (a boy’s imagination runs wild) and many others.

All films have been well received at kids' fests across the country. They'll keep the program going fast and fun.

In addition, a food drive will be at Coyote for folks to donate food from the list below and receive $1 off the ticket price for each item. You can get in free with a frozen turkey or canned ham, or five items. This will help families in the South Lake County to celebrate the holidays.

Food donations needed are: frozen turkeys, canned ham and meats, canned cranberry, corn bread mix, Bisquick, corn meal, flour, sugar, brown sugar, canned pie filling, pie crust mix, Jell-o, pudding mix, canned veggies, yams, marshmallows, stuffing mix, instant mashed potatoes, rice, dried beans, fruit cocktail, canned fruit, canned gravy, broth and canned milk.

Coyote Film Festival is the fundraising arm of EcoArts of Lake County, an arts nonprofit dedicated to bringing visual arts opportunities and education as well as ecologic stewardship to the residents and visitors of Lake County, California. Visit www.EcoArtsofLakeCounty.org or www.CoyoteFilmFestival.org.

See you at the movies!

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Family comedies seem increasingly rare these days, owing in part to the fact that so many of them are animated films, which are not as speedily produced as regular features.

Pleasantly for a sequel, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” does a better job on its jokes and sly humor, not to mention its brilliantly colorful animation.

Several of the lively characters from the original secure more face time, adding significantly to the laugh quotient. Even a few new ones brought into the mix prove to be either unusual or intriguing. On the other hand, there’s some outright imitation of key elements of “The Lion King” that appears useful only for creating some needless dramatic tension.

You may recall that the quartet of New York zoo animals ended up marooned on the distant shores of Madagascar. Alex (voiced by Ben Stiller), the show business lion, has a flair for Bob Fosse-inspired dance moves. The hypochondriac giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) is certain of his imminent demise. Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) doesn’t know if he’s black with white stripes or vice versa, and this proves to be a problem when he meets up with his species. The lovable hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) is looking for love in all the wrong places.

Meanwhile, the loopy King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), aided by his fawning flunky Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer), is anxious to establish his kingdom without regard for the wishes of his potential subjects.

Later, the wacky king is involved with a misguided plan to mollify the water gods with a ritual sacrifice in a volcano. More fun is at hand with the penguins, under the leadership of Skipper (Tom McGrath), working feverishly to repair an old crashed cargo plane as the instrument for flight back to New York City.

Claiming ownership of the aircraft, King Julien imagines that he will become King of New York, just by the sheer force of his charismatic personality. But first, in order to get the aircraft functional, Skipper and his penguins require help from a large group of monkeys, who figure on organizing a union to secure a hefty benefit package. For Air Penguin, liftoff proves successful, but it turns out to be short-lived, and soon the aircraft lands on the African continent, in the vicinity of a wild animal preserve.

Alex and company feel they have returned to the motherland, though they are hardly prepared for a primitive existence. As a young cub, Alex was lost to poachers, eventually ending up at the zoo, and now he is reunited with his father Zuba (Bernie Mac, chief of the local pride, and mother (Sherri Shepherd). As the alpha male of the pride, Zuba’s authority is being challenged once again by the nefarious Makunga (Alec Baldwin), who sees an opening by insisting that Alex go through the rite of passage, one that the urbanized lion is certain to fail.

At first, Marty is all excited that he gets to run with hundreds of zebras who share his heritage. But then, he quickly tires of the novelty when realizing that all zebras look and sound exactly like him. On the other hand, Gloria is thrilled to splash around in the water with her species, especially when she meets the charming hustler Moto Moto (will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas) who eagerly woos her. Melman has had so much experience with medication back at the zoo that the locals make him the witch doctor. Fearing that his life is at an end, Melman struggles to make his deep feelings for Gloria known, even though it would an interspecies romance.

Full of jokes and slapstick humor, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” is a pleasant surprise for a sequel. Let’s face it, there’s something funny about a lion making the dance moves of a Broadway professional. The hard-nosed penguins and the wild and crazy King Julien don’t disappoint as fun, amusing characters. It could be a very good thing if a “Madagascar 3” is just around the corner.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

There’s little need in this space to tell you about the release of “The Jason Bourne Collection.” After all, it’s all three films in one neat package. So let’s look at a truly oddball film, an intriguing rite of passage story that is weirdly erotic and dark.

“Mister Foe” stars Jamie Bell as a troubled young man whose knack for voyeurism paradoxically reveals his darkest fears and most peculiar desires.

Haunted by the sudden death of his mother, Bell’s Hallam Foe spends his days spying on his family, suspecting his beautiful stepmother of playing a hand in it. Running away to Edinburgh, he becomes a Peeping Tom, looking for love. No wonder that “Mister Foe” is rated R for strong sexual content and language.

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

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