After seven public meetings and scores of surveys and in-depth interviews, some 700 people have had a hand in drafting a four-year plan for the arts in Napa County.

After seven public meetings and scores of surveys and in-depth interviews, some 700 people have had a hand in drafting a four-year plan for the arts in Napa County.

The Comets, formed in 1952 together with front man Bill Haley, were arguably the first rock ’n’ roll band. Among the pioneers who fused country and western with rhythm and blues to create rock ’n’ roll, they were leading musicians of the day and changed the face of music in the 1950s with hits like “Rock Around The Clock” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”

Kicking off this weekend with a lavish food and wine pairing, auction and dance, the 15th annual Napa Valley Mustard Festival  takes place from Feb. 2 to March 29 throughout wine country.

Like America’s other great pastime, the jazz world relies on a farm system of sorts. Young musicians, with an interest, desire and ability to carry on the traditions that began in the Afro-American communities of the South around the turn of the last century, form the basis for the future of jazz music.

The Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra’s mid-winter programs this weekend in Yountville’s Lincoln Theater have been scaled back to a chamber music concert.

For one night, on Feb. 1, the Napa Valley Opera House takes its audience time-traveling back to the heyday of the two-reel comedy, with three short films featuring the classic clowning of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin.

Two years ago, Vintage High School students dazzled Napa audiences with their performance of “Les Miserables.” Now students are mining both experience and imagination to recreate the chaotic world of Southeast Asia in the 1970s as they prepare their upcoming musical, “Miss Saigon.”

Nothing pleases Zuill Bailey more than turning people on to his music.

The Napa Valley Opera House has scored a coup in booking cutting-edge, controversial singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright for his only Bay Area appearance this year — a solo show scheduled on Sunday, March 9.

With more and more natives of the Aloha State relocating to the mainland and a growing interest in all things Hawaiian, it should not have been a surprise to find that Copia had posted a “sold out” notice for its Community Spotlight series concert last Saturday night.

Education

Pizza Azzurro shut its doors Friday night — but only at its old location on Second Street. The favorite Napa dining spot known for its authentic, thin crust pizzas and other specialties, is moving to a new, larger space in the new Wiseman “Main Street West” Building, at 1260 Main St., on Napa’s emerging “restaurant row.” Its name is also changing just a little — it will become Azzurro Pizzeria & Enoteca.

Chef Bob Hurley and the staff of Hurley’s Restaurant welcome back guest chef Karen Crouse for a Mardi Gras dinner Feb. 5, 5-10 p.m. and reservations are required. The Fat Tuesday prix fixe menu is $65 (including wines) and consists of Oysters Bienville, crawfish cocktail, red beans with rice, jambalaya, beignets and New Orleans coffee. There will be plenty of Mardi Gras beads and doubloons.

Chef Brandon Sharp, Solbar

There’s a kind of genius at work behind the menu at Solbar, although Chef Brandon Sharp won’t take all the credit for it.

When Ray and Texie McGowan planted their first camellias, they were a young married couple building a home in Napa. The year was 1950, and the seeds came from trees in downtown’s Fuller Park.

Napa County elementary school students recently won numerous awards at the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) American History essay contest. The theme of this year’s writing competition was “I Spy: Espionage during the Revolutionary War.”

GUTIERREZ — Julio vs. Marcy, Jan. 17, 2008.

QUEEN OF THE VALLEY

APPLEBY-CARSTENSEN — Matthew David Appleby, 24, Sea Hero Court, Napa to Caren Abigail Carstensen, 24, East Third Avenue, Napa.

Upvalley business logos were the focus of this month’s “Where In The Napa Valley Is?” A house, a Roman and an airplane are all part of signage identifying Calistoga businesses.

As a marketing scheme it is risky but evidently effective: Hang your hat on a premium product with a past so intriguing and at times dark that people will flock to your door. Or in the case of absinthe, to your distillery where you happily dispense limited quantities of the once-banned elixir to the devoted, the macabre, the well-heeled and the curious, all at a high price. In this case that works out to $75 for a 750ml bottle of the St. George Verte that is made in Alameda.

Bob Flook and Vic Vasquez have come up with a way to save money for vintners and save the environment at the same time.

Imagine a wine trade show without wine.

Napa Valley Vintners is sponsoring a Green Winery Workshop on Jan. 29 at the Solage Resort in Calistoga and will feature the launch of its new Green Certified Winery program.