If a general sense of music in the air at Vintage High School is not enough of an indication something special is in the works, perhaps the prevalence of "Les Misrable" T-shirts and sweatshirts on students is the giveaway.

Our consumer driven society places merit on items that are useful to us in our everyday lives, only as long as they serve our wants and needs. Once items deliver their potential value to us, i.e. candy wrappers, plastic sandwich bags, junk mail, empty soda cans -- they take on a patina of refuse, something dirty and vile. Our reaction -- to throw these items away and rid ourselves of their spent promises -- is learned as children and we carry it with us the rest of our lives. Indeed, ordinary objects are designed to become obsolete.

The art of

From Register Staff

Performer Andrea Marcovicci is an acquired taste.

In an unexpected visit to the Napa Valley the Bay Area Blues Society will present Mississippi's the Johnny Rawls Revue for a one-time performance at DG's Saturday. Honoring black history month, Ronnie Stewart, executive director of the society will present a short lecture on the history of blues followed by this special concert.

Norman Thayer Jr., approaching his 80th birthday, glumly recognizes that "me and my body are having a great race to see who can poop out first." Nonetheless he and his wife, Ethel, have arrived their summer home on Golden Pond in Maine, for their 48th, and what he is persuaded will be their last, visit.