When an aspiring young musician of 17 has a chance to get sage advice from one of the great professionals of our day, it often has lasting influence.

San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle returns for his fourth annual Napa Valley Arts & Lectures appearance on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at Copia.

Students from Napa County will compete in the second competition round of Idol NV at the Napa Valley Opera House Saturday.

More than a concert, “In the Mood” takes a look at the life and time of America’s greatest generation with music and dance that combines up-tempo Big Band rhythms with intimate ballads. The String of Pearls Big Band orchestra and cast of 24 singers and dancers bring back the music that moved a nation’s spirit more that 60 years ago,

One of the Bay Area’s favorite entertainers, Val Diamond, returns to the Napa Valley on Monday night to serenade fans gathered at Copia.

LONDON — Coca-Cola Co. has reached an agreement with an unsigned London ska band over the global soft drink giant’s use of the band’s material in TV ads.

Napa Valley College presents “Faculty and Friends” a vocal recital Sunday at 3 p.m. in the NVC Theater

The 14th annual Napa Valley Mustard Festival kicks off this weekend with the traditional food, wine and arts gala, Mustard Magic, at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena.

Familiar melodies, virtuoso saxophone playing and a dash of the contemporary highlighted Sunday afternoon’s concert by the Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Asher Raboy.

Celebrating the release of a new compact disc and their first local performance of the decade, California Zephyr will bring its rich, folk-inspired harmonies and songs to Copia next week as part of the Community Spotlight Concert series.

Editor’s note: Colin McCuen, a senior at Napa High School, provided this piece on a visit by Wynton Marsalis to Napa last fall. Through a computer glitch, it got lost on its way to the Register, but it has finally arrived and we wanted to include it today with our coverage of his brother’s visit.

The “American Idol” program is famous for cut-throat competition among its singers and cutting criticism from its judges.

Napa student on Graceland dean list

Local man graduates from basic training

Crying. Spitting up. Nursing. These are not only accepted, but sometimes gently encouraged, in Jodi Earls' "Mommy and Me" class -- a yoga session designed for mothers with babies from four months to crawling age.

Ed Sbragia had been making wine at Beringer Vineyards for about 25 years when he made a big career move. At a time when some people might consider retirement, Sbragia took on even more winemaking responsibility — he formed Sbragia Family Vineyards to make and sell wine from his family’s property in the Dry Creek area of Sonoma County.

Lamb, long considered a harbinger of spring, too often gets a bad rap.

Sad news for fans of Foothill Cafe: Chef and owner Mari Jennings has announced she plans to close the charming neighborhod  bistro in early February.

The promise of a relatively unknown fruit to boost the immune system and add a healthy component to the diet is driving several firms to prepare and market juices and sorbets that carry the unlikely name “açai.”

“Please try our new organic chipotle-mango-cranberry-coconut-lemongrass-sour cherry-ginger-garlic-walnut-pistachio-pomegranate-cilantro-olive-tomato-cumin-cocoa-lime-basil-pineapple dipping sauce. It’s made with sherry vinegar and agave nectar, with a hint of green tea.”

With Valentine’s Day looming, we’re always on the lookout for a romantic angle for the food page and I think we found one that beats them all.

Editor's note: A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a story about finding two rats who'd made their way into my kitchen, become trapped between the oven and the walls and subsequently, were baked. It provoked such a flood of responses, we concluded that this was not a lone event in Napa, and invited readers to share their own rat tales. It appears we may have as many rats and mice in the Napa Valley as we have grapevines. -- Sasha Paulsen

Here's a great way to spend a Saturday morning with a hot cup of coffee: Put pencil to paper to conjure up that fence, pergola, arbor or other decorative structures on your must-do list.

The ancient Romans were famous for their baths.

Unless it's a pet, nobody wants a rodent in the house. Rats can carry a dozen diseases and they contaminate about 10 times as much food as they eat. Mice may look cuter, but they carry many of the same pathogens as rats and one pair of mice can produce up to 87 children in a year.

As the suburbs creep closer to rural land and homes are built far up the hills, people have frequent close encounters of the natural kind. This goes beyond spotting Bambi and her babies chowing down on your roses. This is home invasion.

The often damp and dreary days of winter seem interminable, but they present opportunities to assess and plan for the spring and summer to come.

As the national housing market continues to weaken, prices of homes in the $1 million range are slumping in many parts of the country. In once-golden Sunbelt cities like Miami and Santa Barbara, Calif., as well as in major Midwestern cities like St. Louis and Chicago, prices fell in the fourth quarter of 2006 from a year earlier, in some places by as much as 7.2 percent. In other areas, prices rose slightly but appreciation was sluggish, with gains of 4.3 percent or less. Still, analysts say, the category is holding up better than the overall market, which declined 10 percent during the same period.

Andrew Balaguy and Jennifer Lodge were married Aug. 12 in Alexander Valley. Andrew is the son of Jennie Williams of Napa and Dennis Balaguy of Fallon, Nev. Jennifer is the daughter of Doug and Brenda Lodge of Rincon Valley.

CALDERON HERNANDEZ-YANEZ ORTIZ -- Jose Luis Calderon Hernandez, 22, Lincoln Avenue, Napa, to Maribel Yanez Ortiz, 22, Petaluma Hill Road, Santa Rosa.

St. Helena Hospital

EWING -- Ed Ewing vs. Charleen Ewing, Jan. 10, 2007