The young dancers taking part in the Creativity Workshop taught by Lawrence Pech and Wendy van Dyke will give a free performance Saturday at 1 p.m. at the District Auditorium in Napa.

Billed as a “celebration of the art of life,” Festival del Sole returns to the Napa Valley for a second season next month.

Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, considered one of the top swing and jump blues bands in the country, perform at the Napa Valley Opera House Saturday. The sultry vocals of chanteuse Lavay are backed by her all-star eight-piece band consisting of four horns, guitar, piano, bass and drums. 

When Benny Barth sits down at the drums on the Garden Stage at the 50th annual Monterey Jazz Festival in September, his contemporaries and a whole lot of ghosts of festivals past will surround him.

Copia’s Friday Night Flicks take on a special glamor in July, in conjunction with the Festival del Sole. All the films start at 8 p.m. Friday night; a complementary tasting of a pinot noir takes place before each screening, 7:15 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $7 general, $6 for Copia members.

David Grisman brought his quintet and his self-described “Dawg Music” to the Napa Valley Opera House Wednesday night.

Some four decades after it held sway on the nation's airwaves and music charts, Iron Butterfly is still churning out its distinctive brand of acid rock.

Jonelle Raffino said two passions brought their Italian family together -- good food and good yarn.

Local student named to Dean's List

Education

At most winemaker dinners, the chef who planned the menu is out of view until the end of the meal, when he or she appears to take a bow.

Oxbow Public Market, scheduled to open in the fall of 2007, announced today that three new tenants have been added — Whole Spice, Tillerman Tea and Kitchen Library. 

Our neighbors in Suisun City have reason to rejoice, in that a classy new restaurant has opened on Main Street in a storied brick building that dates from the late 19th century.

While he was comfortable working at a young age in his father’s shadow, Matt Meyer was nevertheless uneasy about following in his footsteps.

The Charles Shaw 2005 California chardonnay (yes, the $1.99 “Two Buck Chuck” made by Bronco Wine Company sold at Trader Joe’s)  was judged Best Chardonnay from California at California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition.

Look past the Mike Grgich bobble heads, his trademark berets and the other knickknacks that sell Grgich Hills wines to the public and one finds not kitsch, but a lot of hard work. Years and decades of work, lovingly done with a passion to excel.

The Napa Valley Grapegrowers  celebrated its 32nd anniversary and elected new directors and advisors to its board of directors at its annual dinner on June 1.

When Suzanne and Derek Gibbs looked at the three-bedroom house in east Napa, what sold them on it was its country setting amid oak trees, its expansive windows with views of the distant hills and its pool for their two young swimmers.

Years of wearing out the asphalt, plodding between a fluorescent-lit office and a Formica-laden apartment, can make city dwellers feel more than a little removed from nature.

Does your garden hose look like a snake attempting to swallow an inordinately large meal? Or maybe it has a small pinhole leak that occasionally squirts you in the eye. More important, your hose might be leaking massively, wasting gallons of precious water and leaving you with little or no water pressure.

If you hop in a boat this summer to take in a bit of nature, consider this: A few hours in a motorboat could be as polluting as tens of thousands of miles in a car.

AGUILAR-NATAL -- Charles Love Aguilar, 30, Jefferson Street, Napa, to Anna Marie Natal, 29, Jefferson Street, Napa.

MORENO -- Ronald Moreno vs. Jeanine Moreno, June 13, 2007

Tracy Ann Black of Napa and Christian Shann Solaro of Sacramento were married April 28 at 6 p.m. The ceremony took place in a quaint little chapel in the Smoky Mountains Town of Helen, Ga. Those present were the bride's parents, Juanita Black of Napa and Robert Black of San Francisco; the groom's parents, David and Margie Solaro of Hilton Head, S.C.; and family friend Martin Bailey.

Jennifer Healer and Fernando Sanchez of Casa Grande, Ariz., announce their engagement to be married on Dec. 1.

Laura Brianne Cucco and Benjamin Paul Green of Davis were married May 6 at Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma.

Dr. Bill Mathis of Napa happily announces the engagement of his son, Brett Mathis, 35, to Stephanie Scholderer, 31, of Antioch. Brett is a PGA golf professional and Stephanie is a commercial real estate agent, both working and living in Monterey. The couple plans to wed on Aug. 25 in Carmel Valley.

Queen of the Valley