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.