Happy New Year! It’s still the holiday season as I write this on Friday and am taking advantage of it by going to the movies, sleeping in, and turning off most news except for Washington Week with the Atlantic. It’s a glorious day with the sun finally out, a change from the frigid gloom that has enveloped the Strait. The sidewalks are alive with families – little ones with new toys, and dogs sporting leather and knits. Cafes are filling up even at the outside tables.
Loved the new Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” which took me right back to the 1960s. Timothy Chalamet was a wonder as the young Dylan and even sang the songs, which I assumed were dubbed. Back in the day Bobby’s music enticed me to transfer from UCSB’s surfer culture to Berkeley where the action was. His was the voice of protest, but he never owned it.
Back at home I went on an internet binge watching old concert footage and interviews including the seminal Newport Folk Festival of 1964 where he went electric. Drifted into Joan Baez territory where I found her 2023 movie “I Am Noise.” “Bobby broke my heart,” she admitted — a fascinating, honest, and surprising film supplemented with video tapes from the Civil Rights Movement that had been lost for decades.
Stopped by the Benicia Library art gallery where artist John Tullis was putting the final touches on his show of oil landscapes and pastel figurative works. (See the excellent story on him by Jean Purnell in Benicia Magazine’s December issue.) He considers painting his second career after having worked in book publishing much of his life. His third is as a noir novelist authoring “Ebony Bangs: A Richard Dake Noir” where he follows a Sam Spade-type character through World War II Berlin with a cigaret stuck to his lips and a tough talking dame driving him crazy.
Tullis has brought his love of art and writing together at the library show by asking local writers to participate in his Ekphrastic Writing Challenge — responding to a work of art in poetry or prose. In addition to the landscapes in the show are six portraits he has painted of shady looking characters who are the suspects in a major fictional art heist at the also fictional “Benicia Museum.”
Written instructions to writers who sign up to participate read as follows: “As the Curator of the Benicia Museum you’re pulled in for questioning by the DA in connection with the heist who knows you’re lying through your teeth when you say, ‘All I know is what I read in the Herald.’ The DA says —‘Shut yer pie hole and listen up. You’re the Curator of the Museum and we know you’re the one who organized the whole thing. You don’t want your names in the papers so let’s do this — give me the names and whereabouts of these six characters and make them take the rap. Maybe you do a little community service.’ ”
To hear what the writers come up with the public is summoned to the library on Jan. 11 at 2 pm. If you recognize any of the suspects at the gig don’t be a stool pigeon or you’ll end up wearing cement booties. johntullisfinearts.com.
Ran into Kirk Arneson on First. “Take a look at what we’ve been working on all year,” he said, showing me the poster on his father’s studio window announcing the availability of an extensive new line of Arneson merchandise. Proceeds will go to the upkeep of the giant bronze Egghead sculptures on the UC Davis campus where Robert Arneson taught from 1962 until 1991.
Caps, T-shirts, sweats, pencils, mugs, lanyards, lapel pins, glasses, keychains, mouse pads, and even a brown bear are available on-line and at the UC Davis Bookstore. eggheads.ucdavis.edu
The University celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Eggheads throughout 2024 with shows, lectures and other programs including a pop-up show and sale at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. Watch the two-part film “Unexpected Legends: Arneson, Eggheads and Arts at UC Davis | A Documentary” on You Tube.
Gerald Christiansen, owner of Benicia Fitness on First St., has begun a new chapter of his life at age 75 — offering an innovative wellness program and a collaborative work space on First St. A lovely patio and garden is in the works where a cutting edge Functional and Integrative Breathwork Program will be taught by breath coach Alex. Two metal storage containers will be outfitted for ice baths, a sauna, and steam. Alex has taught both functional/restorative and transformational breath work using VO2 max technology at schools, health facilities, corporations, and one-on-one. For more on this method go to breatheonpurpose.com
An adjoining warehouse where Gerald currently stores his vast collection of antiques will become a “green hive”— an airy workspace for anyone who uses a desk and a computer. The hive will allow for co-working, collaborative and private spaces, offer virtual mailboxes, a large conference room, and a kitchen, for starters. Opens March 2025.greenhivespaces.com
Apologies to Callum Wilsie and family for getting her name wrong in my last column. Callum played the part of Titania, Queen of the Fairies through the persona of Marilyn Monroe in a stunning performance of Benicia High’s “A Midwinter Night’s Dream.” Her younger sibling, Jude Wilsie, brought this to my attention in a graciously written LTE in the Dec. 27th Herald. I appreciate your making this correction, Jude, in such a diplomatic and generous way.
Prospero ano y felicidad!
Letters From Benicia 