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Russian Oligarchs Are Big Arts Patrons — in the U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/06/arts/russia-oligarchs-arts.html

Russian Oligarchs, as U.S. Arts Patrons, Present a Softer Image of Russia

Museums, the performing arts and historical sites like Fort Ross in California, where an old Russian company flag flies, have been the beneficiaries of their gifts.

By Graham Bowley | Published Oct. 6, 2019 Updated 6:02 PM ET | New York Times | Posted October 6, 2019 8:40 PM ET |

Vladimir O. Potanin, a Russian billionaire who made his fortune in banking and natural resources, has been a donor and board member of the Guggenheim Museum since 2002. More recently he gave $6.45 million to the Kennedy Center in Washington, which used some of the money to install the “Russian Lounge,” a meeting space, in the performing arts complex created, in part, by Congress. His name is now inscribed on a wall there.

At the New Museum in Manhattan, another wealthy oligarch, Leonid Mikhelson, helped underwrite a 2011 exhibition through his foundation, which is dedicated to the appreciation of Russian contemporary art. Two years later, the museum named him a trustee, a position he held until last year — three years after the company he directs was placed under sanctions by the United States government.

Fort Ross, a California state historic park that commemorates a 19th-century Russian settlement in Sonoma County, was struggling in 2010 when Viktor F. Vekselberg, another oligarch, stepped in to help financially. His foundation continued as a patron until last year, when sanctions were imposed on him and his company, and the Justice Department told the park’s caretakers to stop taking his money.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, rich Russians have emerged as influential patrons of the arts and Western cultural organizations have often been the beneficiaries. Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Lincoln Center are among those who have received gifts from moneyed Russians or the companies they control over the past decade.

Though wealthy patrons have long used the arts to advance their individual tastes and social standing, much of the Russian giving is different. While the oligarchs also promote their personal preferences and support a wide range of cultural activities, they often employ philanthropy to celebrate their homeland, depicting it as an enlightened wellspring of masterworks in dance, painting, opera and the like.

These patrons have been quite public in their philanthropy, and there is little evidence that their donations have been directed or coordinated by Moscow. But they all enjoy good relations with the Kremlin — a prerequisite to flourish in business in Russia — and their giving fits seamlessly with President Vladimir V. Putin’s expanding efforts to use the “soft power” of cultural diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy.

The effect, however cultivated, helps burnish the image of a nation whose aggression in Ukraine and election meddling have led it to be viewed by many as a hostile power.

“When Western publics think about Russia, Putin wants them to think about Pushkin, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky,” said Andrew Foxall, a Russia expert at the Henry Jackson Society in London. “What he does not want Western publics to think about is the actions of his regime that goes to war with its near neighbors.”

The Russian giving, and the strained relations between the countries, has created something of a minefield for American cultural organizations, many of which depend on philanthropic support and embrace shared aesthetic experiences as opportunities for bridge- building. It presents them with an ethical challenge: are they putting themselves at risk, however unwittingly, of helping to promote a one-sided view of a country that the United States is officially sparring with?

Two institutions accepted large donations from an oligarch whose company had been placed under sanctions by the American government. A third took money from a company that had been similarly penalized.

In two other cases, the cultural philanthropy was endorsed by the Russian Embassy, which for years has solicited oligarchs to help it promote Russia in America.

In other instances, from California to Brooklyn, American venues have hosted performances by Russian troupes whose operations are underwritten by companies or individuals under sanctions.

None of the transactions were illegal because the Russian donors were subject to limited sanctions that only restrict access to financial markets, not full blocking sanctions that generally freeze their American assets and bar doing business with a United States business or person. Still, experts said, accepting such donations runs counter to the spirit of United States policy designed to isolate some Russian interests.

“The whole point of sanctions is to prevent access,” said Alina Polyakova, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. Yet, because of their wealth, she said, individuals under government sanctions “are still allowed into these high echelons of cultural power.”

One Russian company employed culture to continue interacting with a high-powered American audience, even after it had been put under sanctions.

The company, VTB, a Russian-government-owned bank under limited sanctions since 2014, held two galas at the Kennedy Center. The first, in October 2016, a month before the American presidential election, featured a special performance by stars of the Bolshoi Ballet. The VTB logo decorated both the stage and the uniforms of the wait staff, and VTB’s president, Andrey Kostin, spoke.

Among the people invited were at least two State Department officials, including Daniel Fried, a senior official responsible for sanctions policy who had already been lobbied by representatives of the bank. Mr. Fried, as the Center for Public Integrity first reported, declined the invitation.

“I was not going to the Kennedy Center for a VTB thing and be photographed with them,” he said in an interview. “The optics were terrible. We are not their friends.”

Several of the American arts organizations declined to comment on whether they had given Russians a platform to spin public perception of their country. The Kennedy Center defended hosting the galas underwritten by VTB, describing its role as simply a landlord. “The Kennedy Center rents to all, while providing no judgment on the content or artistic quality of said events,” said a spokeswoman, Rachelle Roe.

But it also accepted a donation from VTB in 2017. The center said it had recently decided it would no longer accept money from the bank since its president, Mr. Kostin, was placed under full sanctions last year.

“The climate has changed since 2016,” said Ms. Roe.

Surprisingly little attention has been paid to these Russian efforts, even as the Kremlin is accused of using more insidious methods to sway American public opinion and elections. The United States, of course, also employs cultural diplomacy through a program run out of the State Department whose preachy use of the Voice of America during the Cold War is well established. But several experts said the Russian version is more coordinated, more baldly designed to muddy the discussion at a time when that country is perceived by many to be overly aggressive.

Michael R. Carpenter, a former National Security Council adviser to President Obama, said he had noticed years ago how the oligarchs were using cultural philanthropy to stay in contact with influential American political, diplomatic and business leaders.

“That access can be used to advance your business interests,” he said, “or the Kremlin’s interest.”

The cultural diplomacy of Communism

Russia’s rich traditions in ballet, fine art and orchestral music did not disappear during the days of the Soviet Union. But they became quite insular.

For decades, the production of art was tightly controlled by the state. Censorship was the norm. The Bolshoi toured, of course, but some of its excursions became threadbare affairs, its programming at times chained to ideological themes.

That all changed after the fall of Communism as the wealth concentrated in a powerful set of business leaders fueled an explosion of artistic interest and outreach.

Dmitry Rybolovlev spent $2 billion in a few short years capturing works by the likes of Picasso and Leonardo.

Mr. Vekselberg, an oligarch, and Mr. Kostin, a banker, joined the boards of the Mariinsky Theater and the Bolshoi, and helped, either personally or through their companies, to send them on polished world tours.

The spending evoked an era when 19th-century Russian czars and industrialists were among the world’s most extravagant arts patrons. Some of the newly rich, after forging fortunes in hardscrabble industries like natural resources, followed a patriotic impulse to recapture Russian cultural works smuggled abroad by nobles, sold by the Bolsheviks or otherwise lost after the revolution.

In 2005, Mr. Potanin’s foundation helped finance an 800-year survey of Russian art, from icons to 19th-century paintings, called simply “Russia!” at the Guggenheim. Mr. Putin spoke at the opening.

“Such events,” Mr. Putin said, “are the best and most eloquent way to understand a country that possesses huge humanistic and spiritual potential, a country such as Russia.”

More recently, Mr. Mikhelson, whose company, Novatek, is under limited sanctions, has staged exhibitions of contemporary art, often focusing on Russian artists, through his V-A-C Foundation.

Helen Weaver, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mikhelson’s foundation, said: “The foundation’s work is always about building bridges and fostering understanding through culture.”

Several experts on Russia said that the spending by oligarchs can resemble bouquets to Mr. Putin who is known to smile on efforts to project the national interest abroad.

“That is what you do if you don’t want to do something dirtier,” said Anders Aslund, an analyst at the Atlantic Council. “You are a patron of culture if you are trying to escape tougher demands from the Kremlin.”

A spokeswoman for VTB, the bank under limited sanctions, said in a statement “that the state or its representatives do not influence VTB’s decisions to sponsor museums, theaters, artistic groups. If we get any requests from state representatives, we review them according to standard procedure.”

But the Russian government has made clear, as it said in a 2016 statement of principles, that “‘soft power’ has become an integral part of efforts to achieve foreign policy objectives.” The following year, the Foreign Ministry created a working group of advisers, including government officials and corporate executives, “to coordinate steps to strengthen Russian-American cultural ties, preserve and develop Russian-associated memorial sites and heritage sites in the United States, and implement relevant future projects,” according to a document provided to The New York Times by the Russian government.

Its efforts include the commemoration of a Russian site, Fort Elizabeth, on the island of Kauai, to mark the 200th anniversary of a Russian presence in Hawaii.

Some of the philanthropy was driven by the former Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey I. Kislyak. A master networker in Washington, Mr. Kislyak helped arrange Mr. Potanin’s gift to the Kennedy Center, solicited help for Fort Ross and spurred an American philanthropist, Susan Carmel, to create an institute at American University that promotes Russian culture and history.

The ambassador later became  entangled in the controversy over Russian meddling in American affairs. He returned to Moscow in 2017. The embassy he left behind declined to comment further on questions The New York Times posed about Russia’s pursuit of cultural diplomacy.

“If the purpose of your article is ‘to investigate,’ rather than to promote Russian-American cultural ties, I’m afraid we cannot provide you further assistance,” said Nikolay Lakhonin, the embassy spokesman.

Michael McFaul, the American ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, recalled how Mr. Kislyak once told him that he had employed Russian culture as a tool to “get deeper into the fabric of society” in the United States. Mr. McFaul said he made limited efforts to do the same in Russia, once helping to bring through the Chicago Symphony, but never with the kind of resources the oligarchs offered.

“I remember joking with Kislyak when I saw him in Washington that he was able to convince these major business people to make serious investments,” he said.

Several oligarchs, or the companies they control, help underwrite the operations of the Mariinsky Theater, which coordinates cultural activities for several troupes that regularly tour in the West, including the world famous Mariinsky Orchestra. The organization is led by Valery Gergiev, the master conductor and ally of Mr. Putin, who, as head of state, has met regularly with the Mariinsky board.

The oligarchs resist the idea that their spending advances a national agenda.

Petr Aven, for example, leads one of Russia’s largest banks and has contributed financially to exhibitions on Russian art at the Tate Modern and Royal Academy of Arts in London, where he is also a trustee. The companies he helps direct have also helped underwrite exhibitions at museums like the Guggenheim.

But a spokesman for Mr. Aven said “he has not funded or contributed art to any exhibition at the behest of or in coordination with the government of Russia.”

One oligarch’s efforts in the United States

Along the Pacific Coast, a two-hour drive north of San Francisco, visitors to Fort Ross find a 3,400-acre California state park that was once the southernmost Russian settlement in North America.

The park recreates the 19th-century lifestyle of the Russians who scratched out an existence by farming and fur-trading long before California became a state. Visitors tour the stockade, the Russian Orthodox chapel and a windmill like the one used by the settlers. The signs are in English and Russian, and overhead the flag of the Russian company that once ran the settlement often flies.

Some exhibits note the contributions of the Alaskans who joined the settlement as well as the indigenous Kashaya. But when schoolchildren visit, they sometimes dress as Russian settlers, marching with muskets across the park, shouting in Russian, “Levoy. Levoy. Levoy.”

Left. Left. Left.

“We are working hard not to focus just on the Russian era,” said Sarah Sweedler, who runs the Fort Ross Conservancy, a nonprofit that helps operate the site, “but Russia is the reason for the park, after all.”

It’s certainly the reason Mr. Vekselberg, the oligarch, stepped up at Mr. Kislyak’s request to create a private foundation, funded by his company, to help the park. The Russian president at the time, Dmitri Medvedev, attended the signing of the funding agreement with Mr. Vekselberg and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in California.

Over the next eight years, the foundation donated more than $1.5 million to the park, paying for projects like the hiring of a bilingual tour guide.

“The contribution is modest,” said Ms. Sweedler, “and the influence they wield on the program is nonexistent.”

Last year, though, Ms. Sweedler said the Justice Department told the conservancy to stop taking the money. Mr. Vekselberg and his company, Renova Group, had been among the entities slapped with sanctions by the United States Treasury, which cited “a key role in advancing Russia’s malign activities,” including its occupation of Crimea, aggression in eastern Ukraine, support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, “attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities.”

Some sanctions are based on behavior, but many companies or individuals, like Mr. Vekselberg, were punished largely because they are viewed as influential supporters of Mr. Putin who benefit from the actions of his regime.

Mr. Vekselberg, who is fighting the sanctions, declined to be interviewed.

Ms. Sweedler views the Russian investment in Fort Ross as a harmless cultural interaction, an important counterpoint to saber-rattling. Others see something more deliberate.

“For me it did raise alarm bells,” said Mr. Carpenter, the Russian specialist in the Obama administration. “Fort Ross was part of a soft power operation.”

Mr. Carpenter said the outpost was important enough to Russia that Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, urged the Americans to turn it into a national park.

Anatoly I. Antonov, the current Russian ambassador to the United States, was exuberant in his appreciation of Fort Ross after a tour last year. “It feels like in some Washington buildings, the air is spoiled with anti-Russian sentiment,” he said. “The air is different here. And people are different, too.”

It is far from the only cultural initiative that Mr. Vekselberg, 62, launched after making his fortune during the rough and tumble privatization of Russia’s aluminum and oil industries in the 1990s.

In 2004, he spent about $100 million to secure the return of a collection of imperial Fabergé eggs and created a museum to showcase them. Though Russia experts do not see Mr. Vekselberg as personally close to Mr. Putin, the effort synced with the president’s mission to bring Russian cultural artifacts back to Russia.

Later, with other oligarchs, he helped build a Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, saying it would help paint Russia in a different light.

“The average American has developed this stereotype. They have a very wary approach to Russia, with the story of the evil empire and so forth,” he said at the time. “Americans who come here to work or visit, often for business, and come to this museum will assess what is going on in Russia in a different way.”

Mr. McFaul, the former ambassador, said he views Mr. Vekselberg, whose family owns homes in New York and Connecticut, as one of the more Western-oriented oligarchs. “I do think he considers himself a bridge-builder between the U.S. and Russia,” Mr. McFaul said.

But there have been rough spots.

Last year, agents for the special counsel Robert Mueller stopped Mr. Vekselberg at an airport, checked his electronic devices and sought to question him. Mr. Mueller’s team was interested in Mr. Vekselberg’s contact with Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer. The two men had had a meeting at Trump Tower in January 2017, just before President Trump’s inauguration. Mr. Vekselberg attended the inauguration with his cousin, Andrew Intrater, an American citizen and major donor to the event.

Prosecutors say Mr. Vekselberg is affiliated with Mr. Intrater’s firm, Columbus Nova, and were intrigued by $500,000 in payments the company made to Mr. Cohen for what was described as consulting work.

Mr. Vekselberg has denied being involved in the payments, and said he is only a client of his cousin’s firm. The investigators have not accused either man of wrongdoing.

Among the organizations that have received financial support from Mr. Vekselberg or his company are Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern in London. In a 2017 accounting, a Renova official said the company had spent $13.5 million on “arts and culture” in the nine years ending in 2016.

In many of these settings, the culture being promoted is Russian. Before Renova was hit with sanctions, for example, it helped fund a series of ballets and an opera in 2015 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music by the Mariinsky Theater, which the academy described as “the beating heart of Russian culture.”

Mr. Vekselberg’s company was not the venue’s only Russian patron. A few years earlier, the Mikhail Prokhorov Fund, named after the billionaire who then owned the Brooklyn Nets, announced a gift of $1 million to help underwrite an exchange program with the arts organization: “TransCultural Express: American and Russian Arts Today.”

In announcing the gift, Mr. Prokhorov said he was happy to “share some of the contemporary culture of Russia, the place I am proud to call home.”

Catherine Cheney contributed reporting from California and Michael Kolomatsky from New York. Susan Beachy contributed research.

Six Russians Whose Money Has Made Art and Friends in the West

Published Oct. 6, 2019 Updated 2:21 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted October 6, 2019 8:35 PM ET |

These men, personally or through foundations or companies they control, have given to arts organizations in the West and sponsored events that celebrate Russian culture abroad.

Leonid Mikhelson

Chairman and major shareholder of Novatek

GIFTS: Mr. Mikhelson’s V-A-C Foundation has the goal of promoting Russian contemporary art internationally. He has given to the New Museum, and the Tate Modern in Britain. His foundation helped to finance a 2017 show on Soviet art at the Art Institute of Chicago, which the museum says its own curators developed.

WEALTH: Novatek, which has been under limited sanctions since 2014, is Russia’s largest nongovernment-owned natural gas supplier. He also owns a large stake in Sibur, a petrochemicals company.

Viktor Vekselberg

Founder and principal owner of Renova Group

GIFTS: Mr. Vekselberg, either personally or through his company or foundation, has donated to Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern in London and Fort Ross in California.

WEALTH: Mr. Vekselberg, a billionaire, made his fortune when Russia’s oil and aluminum industries were privatized. He and his company have been under sanctions since 2018.

Vladimir Potanin

Founder and president of Interros

GIFTS: He has been a donor to the Guggenheim Museum since 2002. More recently he gave $6.45 million to the Kennedy Center in Washington.

WEALTH: He made his fortune in Russian banking and natural resources, including a major stake in one of the world’s largest nickel producers.

Petr Aven

Chairman and a principal owner of Alfa Bank and co-founder of LetterOne

GIFTS: He and his companies have sponsored exhibitions of Russian art at the Tate Modern and the Guggenheim. Mr. Aven, a trustee at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, also lent paintings from his collection of Russian art for a show at New York’s Neue Galerie in 2015.

WEALTH: His fortune is derived in part from Alfa Bank, one of Russia’s largest, and LetterOne, which invests in energy and telecoms, among other sectors.

Andrey Kostin

President and chairman of VTB Bank

GIFTS: The bank he leads has been a major financial supporter of Russia’s Mariinsky Theater, the Bolshoi Ballet and the Eifman Ballet, which have performed at venues across the United States. VTB has also given directly to the Kennedy Center.

WEALTH: Mr. Kostin is wealthy but his power stems from his role with Russia’s second largest bank, VTB, which is state-controlled and has been under limited sanctions since 2014. Mr. Kostin, who has been under personal sanctions since last year, serves on the Bolshoi and Mariinsky boards.

Mikhail D. Prokhorov

Founder of the investment company Onexim Group

GIFTS: He gave $1 million to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2012 for a three-year program of cultural exchanges between the United States and Russia.

WEALTH: A billionaire, he derives his fortune from Russian natural resources and banking. Until recently, he was the majority owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team.

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Oligarchs, as U.S. Arts Patrons, Present a Softer Image of Russia

Vladimir O. Potanin, a Russian billionaire who made his fortune in banking and natural resources, has been a donor and board member of the Guggenheim Museum since 2002. More recently he gave $6.45 million to the Kennedy Center in Washington, which used some of the money to install the “Russian Lounge,” a meeting space, in the performing arts complex created, in part, by Congress. His name is now inscribed on a wall there.

At the New Museum in Manhattan, another wealthy oligarch, Leonid Mikhelson, helped underwrite a 2011 exhibition through his foundation, which is dedicated to the appreciation of Russian contemporary art. Two years later, the museum named him a trustee, a position he held until last year — three years after the company he directs was placed under sanctions by the United States government.

Fort Ross, a California state historic park that commemorates a 19th-century Russian settlement in Sonoma County, was struggling in 2010 when Viktor F. Vekselberg, another oligarch, stepped in to help financially. His foundation continued as a patron until last year, when sanctions were imposed on him and his company, and the Justice Department told the park’s caretakers to stop taking his money.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, rich Russians have emerged as influential patrons of the arts and Western cultural organizations have often been the beneficiaries. Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Lincoln Center are among those who have received gifts from moneyed Russians or the companies they control over the past decade.

Though wealthy patrons have long used the arts to advance their individual tastes and social standing, much of the Russian giving is different. While the oligarchs also promote their personal preferences and support a wide range of cultural activities, they often employ philanthropy to celebrate their homeland, depicting it as an enlightened wellspring of masterworks in dance, painting, opera and the like.

These patrons have been quite public in their philanthropy, and there is little evidence that their donations have been directed or coordinated by Moscow. But they all enjoy good relations with the Kremlin — a prerequisite to flourish in business in Russia — and their giving fits seamlessly with President Vladimir V. Putin’s expanding efforts to use the “soft power” of cultural diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy.

The effect, however cultivated, helps burnish the image of a nation whose aggression in Ukraine and election meddling have led it to be viewed by many as a hostile power.

“When Western publics think about Russia, Putin wants them to think about Pushkin, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky,” said Andrew Foxall, a Russia expert at the Henry Jackson Society in London. “What he does not want Western publics to think about is the actions of his regime that goes to war with its near neighbors.”

The Russian giving, and the strained relations between the countries, has created something of a minefield for American cultural organizations, many of which depend on philanthropic support and embrace shared aesthetic experiences as opportunities for bridge- building. It presents them with an ethical challenge: are they putting themselves at risk, however unwittingly, of helping promote a one-sided view of a country that the United States is officially sparring with?

Two institutions accepted large donations from an oligarch whose company had been placed under sanctions by the American government. A third took money from a company that had been similarly penalized.

In two other cases, the cultural philanthropy was endorsed by the Russian Embassy, which for years has solicited oligarchs to help it promote Russia in America.

In other instances, from California to Brooklyn, American venues have hosted performances by Russian troupes whose operations are underwritten by companies or individuals under sanctions.

None of the transactions were illegal because the Russian donors were subject to limited sanctions that only restrict access to financial markets, not full blocking sanctions that generally freeze their American assets and bar doing business with a United States business or person. Still, experts said, accepting such donations runs counter to the spirit of United States policy designed to isolate some Russian interests.

“The whole point of sanctions is to prevent access,” said Alina Polyakova, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. Yet, because of their wealth, she said, individuals under government sanctions “are still allowed into these high echelons of cultural power.”

One Russian company employed culture to continue interacting with a high-powered American audience, even after it had been put under sanctions.

The company, VTB, a Russian-government-owned bank under limited sanctions since 2014, held two galas at the Kennedy Center. The first, in October 2016, a month before the American presidential election, featured a special performance by stars of the Bolshoi Ballet. The VTB logo decorated both the stage and the uniforms of the wait staff, and VTB’s president, Andrey Kostin, spoke.

Among the people invited were at least two State Department officials, including Daniel Fried, a senior official responsible for sanctions policy who had already been lobbied by representatives of the bank. Mr. Fried, as the Center for Public Integrity first reported, declined the invitation.

“I was not going to the Kennedy Center for a VTB thing and be photographed with them,” he said in an interview. “The optics were terrible. We are not their friends.”

Several of the American arts organizations declined to comment on whether they had given Russians a platform to spin public perception of their country. The Kennedy Center defended hosting the galas underwritten by VTB, describing its role as simply a landlord. “The Kennedy Center rents to all, while providing no judgment on the content or artistic quality of said events,” said a spokeswoman, Rachelle Roe.

But it also accepted a donation from VTB in 2017. The center said it had recently decided it would no longer accept money from the bank since its president, Mr. Kostin, was placed under full sanctions last year.

“The climate has changed since 2016,” said Ms. Roe.

Surprisingly little attention has been paid to these Russian efforts, even as the Kremlin is accused of using more insidious methods to sway American public opinion and elections. The United States, of course, also employs cultural diplomacy through a program run out of the State Department whose preachy use of the Voice of America during the Cold War is well established. But several experts said the Russian version is more coordinated, more baldly designed to muddy the discussion at a time when that country is perceived by many to be overly aggressive.

Michael R. Carpenter, a former National Security Council adviser to President Obama, said he had noticed years ago how the oligarchs were using cultural philanthropy to stay in contact with influential American political, diplomatic and business leaders.

“That access can be used to advance your business interests,” he said, “or the Kremlin’s interest.”

The cultural diplomacy of Communism

Russia’s rich traditions in ballet, fine art and orchestral music did not disappear during the days of the Soviet Union. But they became quite insular.

For decades, the production of art was tightly controlled by the state. Censorship was the norm. The Bolshoi toured, of course, but some of its excursions became threadbare affairs, its programming at times chained to ideological themes.

During the early Soviet era, paintings in the Socialist Realism style, like this work by Yuri Pimenov, “Increase the Productivity of Labor,” (1927), often depicted communist values, such as the honor and efficacy of collective labor.CreditYuri (Georgiy) Ivanovich Pimenov/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/UPRAVIS, Moscow

That all changed after the fall of Communism as the wealth concentrated in a powerful set of business leaders fueled an explosion of artistic interest and outreach.

Dmitry Rybolovlev spent $2 billion in a few short years capturing works by the likes of Picasso and Leonardo.

Mr. Vekselberg, an oligarch, and Mr. Kostin, a banker, joined the boards of the Mariinsky Theater and the Bolshoi, and helped, either personally or through their companies, to send them on polished world tours.

The spending evoked an era when 19th-century Russian czars and industrialists were among the world’s most extravagant arts patrons. Some of the newly rich, after forging fortunes in hardscrabble industries like natural resources, followed a patriotic impulse to recapture Russian cultural works smuggled abroad by nobles, sold by the Bolsheviks or otherwise lost after the revolution.

In 2005, Mr. Potanin’s foundation helped finance an 800-year survey of Russian art, from icons to 19th-century paintings, called simply “Russia!” at the Guggenheim. Mr. Putin spoke at the opening.

“Such events,” Mr. Putin said, “are the best and most eloquent way to understand a country that possesses huge humanistic and spiritual potential, a country such as Russia.”

More recently, Mr. Mikhelson, whose company, Novatek, is under limited sanctions, has staged exhibitions of contemporary art, often focusing on Russian artists, through his V-A-C Foundation.

Helen Weaver, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mikhelson’s foundation, said: “The foundation’s work is always about building bridges and fostering understanding through culture.”

Several experts on Russia said that the spending by oligarchs can resemble bouquets to Mr. Putin who is known to smile on efforts to project the national interest abroad.

“That is what you do if you don’t want to do something dirtier,” said Anders Aslund, an analyst at the Atlantic Council. “You are a patron of culture if you are trying to escape tougher demands from the Kremlin.”

A spokeswoman for VTB, the bank under limited sanctions, said in a statement “that the state or its representatives do not influence VTB’s decisions to sponsor museums, theaters, artistic groups. If we get any requests from state representatives, we review them according to standard procedure.”

But the Russian government has made clear, as it said in a 2016 statement of principles, that “‘soft power’ has become an integral part of efforts to achieve foreign policy objectives.” The following year, the Foreign Ministry created a working group of advisers, including government officials and corporate executives, “to coordinate steps to strengthen Russian-American cultural ties, preserve and develop Russian-associated memorial sites and heritage sites in the United States, and implement relevant future projects,” according to a document provided to The New York Times by the Russian government.

Its efforts include the commemoration of a Russian site, Fort Elizabeth, on the island of Kauai, to mark the 200th anniversary of a Russian presence in Hawaii.

Some of the philanthropy was driven by the former Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey I. Kislyak. A master networker in Washington, Mr. Kislyak helped arrange Mr. Potanin’s gift to the Kennedy Center, solicited help for Fort Ross and spurred an American philanthropist, Susan Carmel, to create an institute at American University that promotes Russian culture and history.

The ambassador later became entangled in the controversy over Russian meddling in American affairs. He returned to Moscow in 2017. The embassy he left behind declined to comment further on questions The New York Times posed about Russia’s pursuit of cultural diplomacy.

“If the purpose of your article is ‘to investigate,’ rather than to promote Russian-American cultural ties, I’m afraid we cannot provide you further assistance,” said Nikolay Lakhonin, the embassy spokesman.

Michael McFaul, the American ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, recalled how Mr. Kislyak once told him that he had employed Russian culture as a tool to “get deeper into the fabric of society” in the United States. Mr. McFaul said he made limited efforts to do the same in Russia, once helping to bring through the Chicago Symphony, but never with the kind of resources the oligarchs offered.

“I remember joking with Kislyak when I saw him in Washington that he was able to convince these major business people to make serious investments,” he said.

Several oligarchs, or the companies they control, help underwrite the operations of the Mariinsky Theater, which coordinates cultural activities for several troupes that regularly tour in the West, including the world famous Mariinsky Orchestra. The organization is led by Valery Gergiev, the master conductor and ally of Mr. Putin, who, as head of state, has met regularly with the Mariinsky board.

The oligarchs resist the idea that their spending advances a national agenda.

Petr Aven, for example, leads one of Russia’s largest banks and has contributed financially to exhibitions on Russian art at the Tate Modern and Royal Academy of Arts in London, where he is also a trustee. The companies he helps direct have also helped underwrite exhibitions at museums like the Guggenheim.

But a spokesman for Mr. Aven said “he has not funded or contributed art to any exhibition at the behest of or in coordination with the government of Russia.”

One oligarch’s efforts in the United States

Along the Pacific Coast, a two-hour drive north of San Francisco, visitors to Fort Ross find a 3,400-acre California state park that was once the southernmost Russian settlement in North America.

The park recreates the 19th-century lifestyle of the Russians who scratched out an existence by farming and fur-trading long before California became a state. Visitors tour the stockade, the Russian Orthodox chapel and a windmill like the one used by the settlers. The signs are in English and Russian, and overhead the flag of the Russian company that once ran the settlement often flies.

Some exhibits note the contributions of the Alaskans who joined the settlement as well as the indigenous Kashaya. But when schoolchildren visit, they sometimes dress as Russian settlers, marching with muskets across the park, shouting in Russian, “Levoy. Levoy. Levoy.”

Left. Left. Left.

“We are working hard not to focus just on the Russian era,” said Sarah Sweedler, who runs the Fort Ross Conservancy, a nonprofit that helps operate the site, “but Russia is the reason for the park, after all.”

It’s certainly the reason Mr. Vekselberg, the oligarch, stepped up at Mr. Kislyak’s request to create a private foundation, funded by his company, to help the park. The Russian president at the time, Dmitri Medvedev, attended the signing of the funding agreement with Mr. Vekselberg and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in California.

Over the next eight years, the foundation donated more than $1.5 million to the park, paying for projects like the hiring of a bilingual tour guide.

“The contribution is modest,” said Ms. Sweedler, “and the influence they wield on the program is nonexistent.”

Last year, though, Ms. Sweedler said the Justice Department told the conservancy to stop taking the money. Mr. Vekselberg and his company, Renova Group, had been among the entities slapped with sanctions by the United States Treasury, which cited “a key role in advancing Russia’s malign activities,” including its occupation of Crimea, aggression in eastern Ukraine, support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, “attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities.”

Some sanctions are based on behavior, but many companies or individuals, like Mr. Vekselberg, were punished largely because they are viewed as influential supporters of Mr. Putin who benefit from the actions of his regime.

Mr. Vekselberg, who is fighting the sanctions, declined to be interviewed.

Ms. Sweedler views the Russian investment in Fort Ross as a harmless cultural interaction, an important counterpoint to saber-rattling. Others see something more deliberate.

“For me it did raise alarm bells,” said Mr. Carpenter, the Russian specialist in the Obama administration. “Fort Ross was part of a soft power operation.”

Mr. Carpenter said the outpost was important enough to Russia that Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, urged the Americans to turn it into a national park.

Anatoly I. Antonov, the current Russian ambassador to the United States, was exuberant in his appreciation of Fort Ross after a tour last year. “It feels like in some Washington buildings, the air is spoiled with anti-Russian sentiment,” he said. “The air is different here. And people are different, too.”

It is far from the only cultural initiative that Mr. Vekselberg, 62, launched after making his fortune during the rough and tumble privatization of Russia’s aluminum and oil industries in the 1990s.

In 2004, he spent about $100 million to secure the return of a collection of imperial Fabergé eggs and created a museum to showcase them. Though Russia experts do not see Mr. Vekselberg as personally close to Mr. Putin, the effort synced with the president’s mission to bring Russian cultural artifacts back to Russia.

Later, with other oligarchs, he helped build a Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, saying it would help paint Russia in a different light.

“The average American has developed this stereotype. They have a very wary approach to Russia, with the story of the evil empire and so forth,” he said at the time. “Americans who come here to work or visit, often for business, and come to this museum will assess what is going on in Russia in a different way.”

Mr. McFaul, the former ambassador, said he views Mr. Vekselberg, whose family owns homes in New York and Connecticut, as one of the more Western-oriented oligarchs. “I do think he considers himself a bridge-builder between the U.S. and Russia,” Mr. McFaul said.

But there have been rough spots.

Last year, agents for the special counsel Robert Mueller stopped Mr. Vekselberg at an airport, checked his electronic devices and sought to question him. Mr. Mueller’s team was interested in Mr. Vekselberg’s contact with Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer. The two men had had a meeting at Trump Tower in January 2017, just before President Trump’s inauguration. Mr. Vekselberg attended the inauguration with his cousin, Andrew Intrater, an American citizen and major donor to the event.

Prosecutors say Mr. Vekselberg is affiliated with Mr. Intrater’s firm, Columbus Nova, and were intrigued by $500,000 in payments the company made to Mr. Cohen for what was described as consulting work.

Mr. Vekselberg has denied being involved in the payments, and said he is only a client of his cousin’s firm. The investigators have not accused either man of wrongdoing.

Among the organizations that have received financial support from Mr. Vekselberg or his company are Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern in London. In a 2017 accounting, a Renova official said the company had spent $13.5 million on “arts and culture” in the nine years ending in 2016.

In many of these settings, the culture being promoted is Russian. Before Renova was hit with sanctions, for example, it helped fund a series of ballets and an opera in 2015 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music by the Mariinsky Theater, which the academy described as “the beating heart of Russian culture.”

Mr. Vekselberg’s company was not the venue’s only Russian patron. A few years earlier, the Mikhail Prokhorov Fund, named after the billionaire who then owned the Brooklyn Nets, announced a gift of $1 million to help underwrite an exchange program with the arts organization: “TransCultural Express: American and Russian Arts Today.”

In announcing the gift, Mr. Prokhorov said he was happy to “share some of the contemporary culture of Russia, the place I am proud to call home.”

Catherine Cheney contributed reporting from California and Michael Kolomatsky from New York. Susan Beachy contributed research.

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[wineanddinosaur]

Oakland’s Vibrant Wine Scene Features Bottles Made for and by Black Americans

Oakland’s appeal encompasses a cultural cornucopia of food, music, art, and activism. Wine lovers will feel right at home here, too, as a growing network of winemakers in Oakland and the Bay Area is establishing its own identity, apart from its well-established neighbors in Napa and Sonoma.

Along with Oakland’s Urban Wine Trail, which showcases tasting rooms in warehouses in the heart of the city, a subset of Oakland’s wine scene is flourishing in the city’s outskirts. Its sustainably sourced, award-winning wines are made for and by a historically underserved group of drinkers: black Americans.

Black Panthers to Black Vines

In 1966, the Black Panther Party formed in Oakland, Calif. Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the political organization’s goals included fighting police brutality against black Americans and establishing independence in black communities. The Black Panther Party officially dissolved in 1982, but it remains an integral part of the city’s legacy and identity.

Since then, Oakland has changed dramatically. The historically black city is one of the most ethnically diverse in the country, but gentrification from Silicon Valley spillover is creating a contrast to the city’s proudly black origins.

The annual Black Vines event showcases black-owned wineries from the Bay Area and beyond. Credit: Black Vines

“Oakland is kind of like the anti-Wakanda,” Shawn Taylor, co-founder of San Francisco’s Black Comix Arts Festival and the The Nerds of Color website, told KQED last year. In the “Black Panther” film, the Wakanda nation never faces imperial oppression and is a global technology leader. Locals say the opposite is true in Oakland. “Technology here is fueling gentrification and the displacement of Oakland’s historic black population,” Sandhya Dirks writes in KQED.

Oakland activists and community leaders are now reclaiming city spaces and celebrating their histories and futures in the city. The Black Joy Parade, which marked its second year on Feb. 24, 2019, is a “hyper-positive” community gathering of black artists, activists, and businesses. Black Vines, founded in 2010, is an organization that showcases black-owned winemakers in the Bay Area and beyond.

“It started as an idea to make the wine tasting experience more comfortable [for African-Americans],” Fern A. Shroud, founder, Black Vines, tells VinePair. It also serves as “a platform for black winemakers to showcase their wines.”

Shroud, herself a Silicon Valley executive, sees similarities between the wine and tech worlds. She hopes Black Vines can bridge “the gap between business, art, and community.”

One of Black Vines’ first participants was Mac MacDonald, founder of Vision Cellars and co-founder of the Association of African American Vintners. “My goal is to get more African-Americans enjoying wine and being knowledgeable,” McDonald told Rolling Out in 2011.

Each year, Black Vines features a 21-ounce commemorative glass. “Some people have long days,” Shroud says. Credit: Black Vines

Fueling the awareness of black-made wines are venues and organizations that showcase their work. “With events such as April Richmond’s Soul of the City and Fern Stroud’s Black Vines, the Oakland community can come out and meet black winemakers from around the Bay Area and country,” V. Sheree Williams, publisher and editor-in-chief of Cuisine Noir Magazine, tells VinePair. “These events are great for introducing the brands to many for the first time.”

“The Oakland urban wine scene is great,” Erik Trinidad, a travel and food writer based in Oakland, says. He likens Oakland’s wine scene to the city as a whole: “Diverse and unpretentious.”

“In my Oakland wine-drinking experience, I’ve been to a winery where Sonoma reds are produced by Brooklyn Jewish transplants [Brooklyn West Winery], and a wine bar with Zins produced by a Californian African-American family,” Trinidad says. “At alaMar, a Michelin-recommended bistro, said Zinfandel pairs well with oysters and ‘90s hip-hop. At Campovida, the neighborhood is gritty — it’s in an industrial park — but the rosé and Pinot Noir are refined.”

Despite the growth and enthusiasm, many believe Oakland has some work to do. “None of the black winemakers have a tasting room in Oakland,” Williams says. Meanwhile, black-owned wineries such as Brown Estate in Napa, Longevity Wines in Livermore, Corner 103 in Sonoma, and J. Moss in Napa have tasting rooms in their respective cities.

Black Winemaking, Present and Future

At the eighth annual Black Vines “mini-festival” on Feb. 23, 2019, there were more than a dozen winemaker participants. Attendees included Paula Harrell of P. Harrell Wines, Theopolis Vineyards founder Theodora Lee, fondly known as “Theo-patra,” and Wachira Wines, an urban winery that offers “Urban Wine Safari” tours and tastings. There were also local artists, jazz musicians, and “culinary artists,” Shroud says. “It sold out completely.”

Its 2019 non-profit partner was BlackFemaleProject, an organization that prepares black women for “the various ‘isms’ in the workplace,” Shroud says.

Word of mouth has fueled Black Vines’ growth. “Every year I hear the same two things: One, ‘I never knew there were black winemakers.’ And two, ‘this is an amazing event, and I want to tell all my friends about it,’” Shroud says. Attendees “come in not knowing what to expect, and leave feeling whole,” she says.

Last year, Black Vines started its partnership with the Black Joy Parade. “It’s all about the ability to provide wine education,” Shroud says. And, she adds, those who skip the parade are “missing a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s a celebration of culture, of pride, of joy, and ultimately, of black future. It’s a wonderful end to Black History Month.”

5 Bottles From Black-Owned Oakland Wineries to Try

McBride Sisters 

McBride Sisters Wine (formerly Truvée) was founded in 2010 by Andrea and Robin McBride, half-sisters who met in their 20s after learning they shared a father. Their wines are made with sustainably farmed grapes from both California and New Zealand, where each sister grew up. Look for their New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and New Zealand Sparkling Brut Rosé; Central Coast California Chardonnay and Central Coast California Red Blend; and Black Girl Magic Riesling. The sisters plan to open a tasting room in Oakland in 2019.

P. Harrell Wines 

P. Harrell Wines sources its grapes from Sonoma County and creates wines as “a tribute to my family’s legacy,” founder Paula Harrell writes. Current offerings include a 2018 Haight Street Dry Riesling, a Gold Medal winner in the 2019 San Francisco Chronicle International Wine Competition; 2017 Three Fifteen Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel; and the 2017 P.J. Rosé.

Theopolis Vineyards 

Lawyer-by-day Theodora “Theo-patra” Lee, Esq., wasn’t expecting to launch Theopolis Vineyards in Yorkville, Calif. The brand began when, after a rainy season, the vineyard’s grapes were no longer viable to sell to clients. So, Lee decided to make her own wine and has produced several award-winning brands ever since.

The 2013 Theopolis Vineyards Estate Grown Petite Sirah won three golds – in the 2017 Orange County Commercial Wine Competition, 2016 San Francisco International Wine Competition, and 2016 Sunset Magazine International Wine Competition.

Free Range Flower Winery 

“Wine made from flowers — not grapes” sums up the mission of this organic, sustainable, local Oakland winery. RoseHybiscus, a ruby-red wine made from rose and hibiscus flowers, is its bestseller. “But the lavender sparkling is also amazing,” Shroud says.

Vision Cellars 

This award-winning winery established in 1995 specializes in Pinot Noir from Ms. Lil’s Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. According to a 2011 interview, the wines have even been served at the White House. Look for founder Mac McDonald, who also co-founded the Association of African American Vintners, at wine dinners around the city and country — next stop, Alabama.

5 of the Best Black-Owned Oakland Restaurants

alaMar Kitchen and Bar 

This Michelin-recommended bistro where guests are encouraged to eat with their hands is “a studied blend of high and low,” East Bay Express wrote in 2014. It melds a nautical theme with classy seafood boils, along with wines made by local black vintners. Location.

Brown Sugar Kitchen 

The beloved soul food brunch spot helmed by Chef Tonya Holland of “Top Chef” fame recently relocated to a new location uptown. In the new, 4,000-square-foot space, Holland serves Southern-inspired staples like fried chicken and waffles, gumbo, and shrimp and grits, SFist reports. Another Brown Sugar Kitchen location is debuting at Oakland Airport. Location.

Oeste 

A bar and cafe in Old Oakland, Oeste offers dishes and drinks made with fresh, organic, sustainably farmed California ingredients. The women-owned establishment merges Latino and Southern recipes from the families of owners Sandra Davis, Lea Redmond, and Anna Villalobos. The beverage list includes beers from trendy San Francisco outfit Fort Point and wines from Oakland winemaker P. Harrell. It also features a rooftop bar, complete with a green wall nourished with a greywater system. Location.

Souley Vegan 

Southern flavors meet fresh herbs and house-mixed spices at vegan soul food spot Souley Vegan. Go for the “zingy” smothered potatoes and tofu scramble, and stay for a local beer or a custom cocktail made with fresh lemons, limes, and berries. Location.

Kingston 11 

A favorite of Cuisine Noir’s V. Sheree Williams, this friendly Jamaican joint offers classics like jerk chicken and curried goat paired with signature cocktails, housemade ginger beer, Jamaican sorrel, and limeade. The menu also includes vegan, vegetarian, nut-free, and gluten-free options. The Fern Gully rum bar features the largest rum selection in Oakland, and its cocktail rotation has featured standouts like the Wakanda Punch made with pea flower served during Oakland Cocktail Week in September. Location.

Where to Stay

At press time, Oakland’s city center mainly has chain hotels including several Hilton and Marriott properties. In 2019, the Homage Hotel Group, a company dedicated to black travelers, will debut its Town Hotel.

“When I first had the idea [to open up a hotel], Oakland was at the top of the list,” Damon Lawrence, founder of the Homage Hotel Group, told Essence last year. “There wasn’t a brand that spoke to what Oakland is about and told the story well.” The Homage Hotel Group opened The Moor, a hotel focused on black culture, in New Orleans in 2018.

The Town will have bathrooms stocked with Shea Moisture and black soap, and “everything that caters to your unique black needs,” Essence writes. It will also include a rooftop bar and lounge, and a partnership with alaMar, which will reportedly open a new location inside the hotel.

The post Oakland’s Vibrant Wine Scene Features Bottles Made for and by Black Americans appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/oakland-urban-wine-black-vines/

[jesusvasser]

A Weekend in Sonoma and My First NASCAR Race

SONOMA, California — Have you ever attended a NASCAR race? Better yet, when did you last tune in to a motorsport event on television? If you are anything like me, it was probably that time you were cruising through the channels in search of another sporting event. With that being said, I recently had the opportunity to spend a weekend at NASCAR event and the experience altered my perception of the sport.

When Toyota extended a special invitation to a handful of women automotive journalists (myself included) to attend a weekend of NASCAR in Sonoma, I decided to give it a shot and signed up. There were two races taking place at Sonoma Raceway: the Carneros 200 of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West on Saturday and the Toyota/Save Mart 350 of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday—the latter included entry to the Toyota Racing suite for a total VIP experience.

The Toyota team and us women auto-journos striking a pose with Kyle Busch during our meet and greet at Sonoma Raceway.

The exclusively planned program granted us access to behind the scenes of NASCAR comprised of a FOX Sports studios guided tour with producer Pam Miller, a Q&A with Jill Gregory, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for NASCAR, and a garage tour with Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson. We were also treated to a meet and greet with Kyle Busch, a hot lap in a pace car with Erik Jones, and dinner with the fierce and up-and-coming Hailie Deegan.

I had never considered attending a NASCAR race prior to the invitation from Toyota. To me, NASCAR had always been that sport from another planet that I merely caught a glimpse of from a flat-screen mounted on the wall of a pizza parlor or sports bar. I could not fathom how any person had the attention span to watch a televised NASCAR race in its entirety.

Jeff Gordon was the only name I knew of in NASCAR. When I was growing up in the 90s, there was a plethora of commercials that featured Gordon promoting some product or just being a heartthrob. I can still vividly remember seeing his DuPont racing uniform on TV. A classmate that wore his DuPont jacket almost every day in eighth grade also helped reinforce it. Gordon dominated in the mid 90s, winning the Winston Cup Series championship in 1995, 1997, and 1998, and finishing in second in 1997

Though do not qualify as a loyal racing fan, I decided to give NASCAR a chance to shift my opinion­ rather than drag my feet to Sonoma Raceway in utter apathy. In doing so, I hoped to learn more about this motorsports’ culture, gain some general racing knowledge, and enjoy a sport I normally don’t watch. The fact that there was a 16-year-old female driver competing against 25 men also struck a chord with me.

Weee! A hot lap with 22-year-old race car driver Erik Jones.

We arrived to the 2.52-mile road course tucked away in the Sonoma Mountains on a blazingly hot Saturday morning. As we entered the venue, the onslaught of activities playing out caused my eyes to wander wildly. The air smelled of a mixture of exhaust fumes, hot dogs, and funnel cake. I felt like I was at a county fair, rock concert, and on the set of a movie all at the same time.

After a brief perusal of the grounds, we were taken on a tour of the FOX Sports broadcast compound. Have you ever been curious about what it takes to broadcast a live motorsport event? Neither had I, but if you were there to witness what I describe as a group of tech-savvy scientists working magic in mobile facilities, you would be intrigued.

I learned that nothing in a live motorsport broadcast is scripted. The production team goes by instinct and experience to produce the live broadcast in a spontaneous manner. Those on-screen graphics and statistics that inform us of the latest developments are handled entirely in one room. The tape room is responsible for replays, features, camera angles, and has access to all the cameras on the track. Then there is the onboard camera room, which controls the angles that are transmitted from a race car’s four cameras.

An inside look of the FOX Sports broadcasting compound.

That monumental amount of information put me in the mood to watch drivers duke it out on the racetrack. The sound of rumbling engines, impact wrenches removing tires, and scent of deteriorating rubber seemed very appealing.

There were 26 drivers competing in the 64-lap Carneros 200, a total of 127 miles. I was given a pair of ear plugs but opted for the raw and deafening noise coming from the snake of cars turning right on the track. The stock cars trailed one and another within inches. By the time the qualifying race ended it was outrageously hot in wine country. Fortunately, we had seats in the shaded area of the grandstands. Deegan was the only female participant in the race and qualified third; she finished the race in an impressive seventh place. Will Rodgers took home the victory, making his first win in Sonoma.

Deegan is the youngest of nine drivers in NASCAR’s Next class. This teenage phenom from Temecula, California received her high school diploma at the racetrack before the start of the race. Deegan is the type of driver this sport needs more of. Women are uncommon in professional racing and an increase in their participation has the potential to attract a broader audience and increase viewership. It was both empowering and inspiring to witness this young driver step up to the challenge and compete against veteran Cup drivers.

On Sunday I was instructed to hop into the back of a Toyota Camry pace car for a ride on the track. I had no idea who the driver was and minutes later I realized it was Erik Jones, an up-and-coming 22-year-old that won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in 2015 and was the Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 2017. The value of the thrilling hot lap skyrocketed. My cold pit pass placed me in the fan zone where I saw several professional race car drivers walk on the red carpet. Caitlyn Jenner also made an appearance, as did Guy Fieri and MC Hammer.

Oh snap! It’s Guy Fieri.

Following our meet and greet with Kyle Busch and Q&A with Jill Gregory, we made our way to the Toyota Racing suite for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 main event. With all the amenities the suite had to offer, I felt like royalty. I did my best to survive watching the entire 218.9 miles of the race in one setting and inevitably broke somewhere in the middle of the 110 laps. Going for a walk in between really helped. When I returned to the suite, Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Toyota Camry had a strong lead that he held on to, going home victorious.

For all of my life I had assumed that going to a NASCAR race would be boring. However I was wrong. What you get on a flat-screen does not compare to what you see in person. A live race is a totally different experience—one worth having at least once in your lifetime.

Additional photography courtesy of Toyota Racing and Deegan Family

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[jonathanbelloblog]

A Weekend in Sonoma and My First NASCAR Race

SONOMA, California — Have you ever attended a NASCAR race? Better yet, when did you last tune in to a motorsport event on television? If you are anything like me, it was probably that time you were cruising through the channels in search of another sporting event. With that being said, I recently had the opportunity to spend a weekend at NASCAR event and the experience altered my perception of the sport.

When Toyota extended a special invitation to a handful of women automotive journalists (myself included) to attend a weekend of NASCAR in Sonoma, I decided to give it a shot and signed up. There were two races taking place at Sonoma Raceway: the Carneros 200 of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West on Saturday and the Toyota/Save Mart 350 of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday—the latter included entry to the Toyota Racing suite for a total VIP experience.

The Toyota team and us women auto-journos striking a pose with Kyle Busch during our meet and greet at Sonoma Raceway.

The exclusively planned program granted us access to behind the scenes of NASCAR comprised of a FOX Sports studios guided tour with producer Pam Miller, a Q&A with Jill Gregory, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for NASCAR, and a garage tour with Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson. We were also treated to a meet and greet with Kyle Busch, a hot lap in a pace car with Erik Jones, and dinner with the fierce and up-and-coming Hailie Deegan.

I had never considered attending a NASCAR race prior to the invitation from Toyota. To me, NASCAR had always been that sport from another planet that I merely caught a glimpse of from a flat-screen mounted on the wall of a pizza parlor or sports bar. I could not fathom how any person had the attention span to watch a televised NASCAR race in its entirety.

Jeff Gordon was the only name I knew of in NASCAR. When I was growing up in the 90s, there was a plethora of commercials that featured Gordon promoting some product or just being a heartthrob. I can still vividly remember seeing his DuPont racing uniform on TV. A classmate that wore his DuPont jacket almost every day in eighth grade also helped reinforce it. Gordon dominated in the mid 90s, winning the Winston Cup Series championship in 1995, 1997, and 1998, and finishing in second in 1997

Though do not qualify as a loyal racing fan, I decided to give NASCAR a chance to shift my opinion­ rather than drag my feet to Sonoma Raceway in utter apathy. In doing so, I hoped to learn more about this motorsports’ culture, gain some general racing knowledge, and enjoy a sport I normally don’t watch. The fact that there was a 16-year-old female driver competing against 25 men also struck a chord with me.

Weee! A hot lap with 22-year-old race car driver Erik Jones.

We arrived to the 2.52-mile road course tucked away in the Sonoma Mountains on a blazingly hot Saturday morning. As we entered the venue, the onslaught of activities playing out caused my eyes to wander wildly. The air smelled of a mixture of exhaust fumes, hot dogs, and funnel cake. I felt like I was at a county fair, rock concert, and on the set of a movie all at the same time.

After a brief perusal of the grounds, we were taken on a tour of the FOX Sports broadcast compound. Have you ever been curious about what it takes to broadcast a live motorsport event? Neither had I, but if you were there to witness what I describe as a group of tech-savvy scientists working magic in mobile facilities, you would be intrigued.

I learned that nothing in a live motorsport broadcast is scripted. The production team goes by instinct and experience to produce the live broadcast in a spontaneous manner. Those on-screen graphics and statistics that inform us of the latest developments are handled entirely in one room. The tape room is responsible for replays, features, camera angles, and has access to all the cameras on the track. Then there is the onboard camera room, which controls the angles that are transmitted from a race car’s four cameras.

An inside look of the FOX Sports broadcasting compound.

That monumental amount of information put me in the mood to watch drivers duke it out on the racetrack. The sound of rumbling engines, impact wrenches removing tires, and scent of deteriorating rubber seemed very appealing.

There were 26 drivers competing in the 64-lap Carneros 200, a total of 127 miles. I was given a pair of ear plugs but opted for the raw and deafening noise coming from the snake of cars turning right on the track. The stock cars trailed one and another within inches. By the time the qualifying race ended it was outrageously hot in wine country. Fortunately, we had seats in the shaded area of the grandstands. Deegan was the only female participant in the race and qualified third; she finished the race in an impressive seventh place. Will Rodgers took home the victory, making his first win in Sonoma.

Deegan is the youngest of nine drivers in NASCAR’s Next class. This teenage phenom from Temecula, California received her high school diploma at the racetrack before the start of the race. Deegan is the type of driver this sport needs more of. Women are uncommon in professional racing and an increase in their participation has the potential to attract a broader audience and increase viewership. It was both empowering and inspiring to witness this young driver step up to the challenge and compete against veteran Cup drivers.

On Sunday I was instructed to hop into the back of a Toyota Camry pace car for a ride on the track. I had no idea who the driver was and minutes later I realized it was Erik Jones, an up-and-coming 22-year-old that won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in 2015 and was the Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 2017. The value of the thrilling hot lap skyrocketed. My cold pit pass placed me in the fan zone where I saw several professional race car drivers walk on the red carpet. Caitlyn Jenner also made an appearance, as did Guy Fieri and MC Hammer.

Oh snap! It’s Guy Fieri.

Following our meet and greet with Kyle Busch and Q&A with Jill Gregory, we made our way to the Toyota Racing suite for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 main event. With all the amenities the suite had to offer, I felt like royalty. I did my best to survive watching the entire 218.9 miles of the race in one setting and inevitably broke somewhere in the middle of the 110 laps. Going for a walk in between really helped. When I returned to the suite, Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Toyota Camry had a strong lead that he held on to, going home victorious.

For all of my life I had assumed that going to a NASCAR race would be boring. However I was wrong. What you get on a flat-screen does not compare to what you see in person. A live race is a totally different experience—one worth having at least once in your lifetime.

Additional photography courtesy of Toyota Racing and Deegan Family

IFTTT

[eddiejpoplar]

A Weekend in Sonoma and My First NASCAR Race

SONOMA, California — Have you ever attended a NASCAR race? Better yet, when did you last tune in to a motorsport event on television? If you are anything like me, it was probably that time you were cruising through the channels in search of another sporting event. With that being said, I recently had the opportunity to spend a weekend at NASCAR event and the experience altered my perception of the sport.

When Toyota extended a special invitation to a handful of women automotive journalists (myself included) to attend a weekend of NASCAR in Sonoma, I decided to give it a shot and signed up. There were two races taking place at Sonoma Raceway: the Carneros 200 of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West on Saturday and the Toyota/Save Mart 350 of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday—the latter included entry to the Toyota Racing suite for a total VIP experience.

The Toyota team and us women auto-journos striking a pose with Kyle Busch during our meet and greet at Sonoma Raceway.

The exclusively planned program granted us access to behind the scenes of NASCAR comprised of a FOX Sports studios guided tour with producer Pam Miller, a Q&A with Jill Gregory, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for NASCAR, and a garage tour with Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson. We were also treated to a meet and greet with Kyle Busch, a hot lap in a pace car with Erik Jones, and dinner with the fierce and up-and-coming Hailie Deegan.

I had never considered attending a NASCAR race prior to the invitation from Toyota. To me, NASCAR had always been that sport from another planet that I merely caught a glimpse of from a flat-screen mounted on the wall of a pizza parlor or sports bar. I could not fathom how any person had the attention span to watch a televised NASCAR race in its entirety.

Jeff Gordon was the only name I knew of in NASCAR. When I was growing up in the 90s, there was a plethora of commercials that featured Gordon promoting some product or just being a heartthrob. I can still vividly remember seeing his DuPont racing uniform on TV. A classmate that wore his DuPont jacket almost every day in eighth grade also helped reinforce it. Gordon dominated in the mid 90s, winning the Winston Cup Series championship in 1995, 1997, and 1998, and finishing in second in 1997

Though do not qualify as a loyal racing fan, I decided to give NASCAR a chance to shift my opinion­ rather than drag my feet to Sonoma Raceway in utter apathy. In doing so, I hoped to learn more about this motorsports’ culture, gain some general racing knowledge, and enjoy a sport I normally don’t watch. The fact that there was a 16-year-old female driver competing against 25 men also struck a chord with me.

Weee! A hot lap with 22-year-old race car driver Erik Jones.

We arrived to the 2.52-mile road course tucked away in the Sonoma Mountains on a blazingly hot Saturday morning. As we entered the venue, the onslaught of activities playing out caused my eyes to wander wildly. The air smelled of a mixture of exhaust fumes, hot dogs, and funnel cake. I felt like I was at a county fair, rock concert, and on the set of a movie all at the same time.

After a brief perusal of the grounds, we were taken on a tour of the FOX Sports broadcast compound. Have you ever been curious about what it takes to broadcast a live motorsport event? Neither had I, but if you were there to witness what I describe as a group of tech-savvy scientists working magic in mobile facilities, you would be intrigued.

I learned that nothing in a live motorsport broadcast is scripted. The production team goes by instinct and experience to produce the live broadcast in a spontaneous manner. Those on-screen graphics and statistics that inform us of the latest developments are handled entirely in one room. The tape room is responsible for replays, features, camera angles, and has access to all the cameras on the track. Then there is the onboard camera room, which controls the angles that are transmitted from a race car’s four cameras.

An inside look of the FOX Sports broadcasting compound.

That monumental amount of information put me in the mood to watch drivers duke it out on the racetrack. The sound of rumbling engines, impact wrenches removing tires, and scent of deteriorating rubber seemed very appealing.

There were 26 drivers competing in the 64-lap Carneros 200, a total of 127 miles. I was given a pair of ear plugs but opted for the raw and deafening noise coming from the snake of cars turning right on the track. The stock cars trailed one and another within inches. By the time the qualifying race ended it was outrageously hot in wine country. Fortunately, we had seats in the shaded area of the grandstands. Deegan was the only female participant in the race and qualified third; she finished the race in an impressive seventh place. Will Rodgers took home the victory, making his first win in Sonoma.

Deegan is the youngest of nine drivers in NASCAR’s Next class. This teenage phenom from Temecula, California received her high school diploma at the racetrack before the start of the race. Deegan is the type of driver this sport needs more of. Women are uncommon in professional racing and an increase in their participation has the potential to attract a broader audience and increase viewership. It was both empowering and inspiring to witness this young driver step up to the challenge and compete against veteran Cup drivers.

On Sunday I was instructed to hop into the back of a Toyota Camry pace car for a ride on the track. I had no idea who the driver was and minutes later I realized it was Erik Jones, an up-and-coming 22-year-old that won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in 2015 and was the Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 2017. The value of the thrilling hot lap skyrocketed. My cold pit pass placed me in the fan zone where I saw several professional race car drivers walk on the red carpet. Caitlyn Jenner also made an appearance, as did Guy Fieri and MC Hammer.

Oh snap! It’s Guy Fieri.

Following our meet and greet with Kyle Busch and Q&A with Jill Gregory, we made our way to the Toyota Racing suite for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 main event. With all the amenities the suite had to offer, I felt like royalty. I did my best to survive watching the entire 218.9 miles of the race in one setting and inevitably broke somewhere in the middle of the 110 laps. Going for a walk in between really helped. When I returned to the suite, Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Toyota Camry had a strong lead that he held on to, going home victorious.

For all of my life I had assumed that going to a NASCAR race would be boring. However I was wrong. What you get on a flat-screen does not compare to what you see in person. A live race is a totally different experience—one worth having at least once in your lifetime.

Additional photography courtesy of Toyota Racing and Deegan Family

IFTTT

[rickhorrow]

15 to Watch, 5 Tech, Power of Sports 5 102317

1. A return to the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers – their first Fall Classic appearance in 29 years – will likely "erase years of red ink." According to the New York Post, the Dodgers "might be close to break even” thanks to the increased number of MLB Postseason home games. The team had an Opening Day payroll of $242.2 million -- which increased to $265 million due to in-season trades. The Dodgers "posted an operating loss" of $20.5 million last year after an operating loss of $73.2 million in 2015. The team’s financial picture is "expected to improve next season -- with expected payroll cuts." And within a few seasons, the team "projects" making more than $50 million annually. The Dodgers’ World Series opponents, the Houston Astros, advanced to their second World Series in franchise history on Saturday with a shutout win over the Yankees in ALCS Game 7, a victory that, according to the Houston Chronicle, "lifted up a city that will long be recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.” But don’t expect the massive economic impact from the World Series that Super Bowl host cities experience: in multiple studies, sports economists peg the impact per World Series home game at around $6.8 million, a far cry from the $300+ million a Super Bowl brings in.

2. In Northern California, Sonoma Raceway is ready to re-open in the wake of area wildfires. As firefighters appear to have devastating fires contained in Wine Country, Sonoma Raceway is ready to re-open. The track closed for more than a week after fires broke out in Sonoma and Napa Counties. The fires burned the hillside around the course, but raceway VP/Communications & Marketing Diana Brennan noted that structures came through unscathed, and fortunately so did the staff, none of whom lost their homes. The track will conduct a test day on Monday, with the first race to follow this weekend. Last week, Sonoma Raceway opened its 50-acre campgrounds as a stop-through shelter, offering three meals a day for evacuees. Brennan said at the peak, there were around 75 RVs and campers on the adjacent grounds. “This valley (Sonoma) and the community are amazing on a good day,” she noted, “and, it turns out, even better on a bad day. It’s a long haul, but we need to be a part of the restoration process.” From hurricane relief to wildfire shelter, this is just the latest example of American pro sports stepping up to aid disaster relief in 2017.

3. After a meeting between NFL union representatives and players, no changes have been made regarding rules on protesting the National Anthem. According to the New York Times, athletes will still be allowed to kneel or sit during the anthem in coming weeks without penalty. The NFL has flirted with the idea of changing the rules to require players to stand for the playing of the anthem, but no consensus has been reached. After the meeting, the NFL “did promise to help support some of the causes targeted by the protesting players, including reform of the criminal justice system.” Fans across the country have voiced their objections to the anthem protests, saying that they feel players are being “disrespectful to the flag and the military.” One of the chief critics of this movement has been President Trump. “The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our National Anthem. Total disrespect for our great country,” he tweeted. The NFL and its players association continue to show unity and resolve in the face of political forces attempting to cast them as dividers, not unifiers. Moving forward, hopefully cool heads will prevail, and the league can identify more ways to affect positive social change.

4. The 2018 NFL Draft is heading to Dallas. According to SportsBusiness Journal, the event, scheduled for April 26-28, will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Philadelphia held last year’s draft and Chicago hosted the two preceding events. The NFL Draft has become more than just an isolated event – it is now a weekend-long celebration that goes beyond just picking players. Cowboys Executive Vice President & Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones Anderson tweeted that she is “so excited” to have won the rights to host the event. In terms of logistics at AT&T Stadium, the NFL plans to utilize the field, stands, and outdoor plazas, “where the NFL Draft Experience festival would take place.” The Cowboys’ state-of-the-art practice facility, The Star at Frisco, will be used in some capacity as well. It’s clear the NFL Draft has cemented itself as a must-attend event, and solidified the league’s quest to capture sports fans’ attention year-round.

5. The NBA season is underway, and a new report from Wasserman notes that jersey patch sponsorships are worth an average of $9.3 million across the league. According to SportsBusiness Journal, more than half of NBA teams signed jersey patch sponsors ahead of the new season, giving them additional revenue sources. The reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors lead the way with an NBA-best deal worth $20 million annually with Japanese tech company Rakuten. The $9.3 million marker is “slightly up from projections,” which were initially forecast at $9.0 million annually. The NBA jersey sponsorships are the first for any of the four major sports leagues in the U.S., so selling the “high-priced inventory was proven no easy task given it had never been done” before. The league gave teams an “18-month runway to sell the patches.” Look for the NHL to be the next domino to fall in the uniform patch revenue hunt – the league will test the scheme at hockey’s World Cup next December.

6. Nike was sent scrambling just a day into its tenure as the official jersey provider of the NBA after LeBron James’ jersey ripped down the middle on national TV. According to ESPN.com, Nike executives are “extensively reviewing” why James’ jersey split down the back middle on opening night. The James incident marked the second time a Nike NBA jersey was torn during a game; in a preseason game again the Timberwolves, Lakers guard Tyler Ennis’s jersey ripped between the 1 and 0 on his No. 10 uniform. Nike took over as the official outfitter of the NBA from adidas after signing an eight-year, $1 billion deal with the league. The Oregon-based sportswear company is debating whether or not it is at fault for the recent rips. While “Nike makes the materials and provides blank uniforms to the squads, it is often the team’s responsibility to find a vendor to custom-stitch the names and numbers on the official jerseys.” If Nike is smart, it will avoid the blame game, solve the problem, move on, and sell thousands of NBA replica jerseys to satisfied fans.

7. Not news to anyone, but LeBron James is the NBA’s most marketable player. According to a survey of sports business executives and reported by SportsBusiness Daily, James finished “comfortably ahead” of Stephen Curry for the top spot. King James received 38 of the possible 49 first place votes, while also appearing on 98% of the ballots. Rounding out the top five are Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and James Harden. Four members of the Warriors cracked the top 10 – more than any other team – while rookie Lonzo Ball finished tied for 10th with Draymond Green. The survey was distributed to marketing/branding executives, agencies, sports business professors, and basketball media across the country. “…When you have the NBA Finals and all the exposure of the last few years for the Warriors and Cavs, it’s hard not to have a list dominated by those teams’ players,” commented Bruin Sports Capital Partner David Abrutyn. As the NBA season gets underway for real, it will be interesting to see which new brand stars emerge over the next eight months.

8. The Target Center, home of the Minnesota Timberwolves, is now on par with other state-of-the-art arenas across the NBA. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the facility’s $140 million facelift actually saw the total capacity reduced by 400 to 18,798, but the added features give it some flare. Extra windows were placed throughout the concourse, “making Target Center look bigger, even while staying in its same smallish footprint in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.” A new beer garden that overlooks the court was added, along with the new Lexus Club and a second arena entrance. The team’s new locker room is noted to be “spacious and clean, with a circular design that creates more open room.” “This place has actually some life in it,” noted forward Shabazz Muhammad. The Timberwolves have high expectations on the court this year, with the additions of Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson from Chicago.

9. The San Antonio Stars are officially set to become Las Vegas’s newest professional sports franchise. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the WNBA team has been purchased by MGM Resorts and will start playing in Las Vegas beginning with the 2018 season. The WNBA and NBA Board of Governors were quick to approve the relocation, as this transition “has been in the works for several months.” One of the biggest questions leading up to the move was where the team will play its home games; the Mandalay Bay Events Center has been chosen as the team’s arena. “Mandalay Bay is a smaller, more intimate arena with about 12,000 seats,” said MGM Resorts Chief Experience & Marketing Officer Lilian Tomovich. “We feel it’s the absolute right size arena for the fans to have that intimate experience to come watch basketball.” While unrelated, it’s also terrific that Mandalay Bay, currently associated with terror and tragedy, has something much more positive and uplifting in its near future. It’s good for the resort, and for the city.

10. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is toying with the idea of raising the city’s amusement tax on large concerts. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, if implemented, the new plan would “eliminate the 5% tax and charge a 9% tax on tickets at venues with a capacity over 1,500 people.” Small venues and concert halls would welcome this change, while larger ones – like the United Center and Wrigley Field – could expect to lose concerts due to the high tax rate. In a statement released by the United Center, venue management noted that “the plan would be the highest amusement tax for fans attending sports and concerts in the United States.” The Cubs issued a similar statement. “World class entertainers like Billy Joel and Lady Gaga who perform at Wrigley Field have their choice of venues and the new proposal puts Chicago venues at a disadvantage,” noted Cubs VP/Communications & Community Affairs Julian Green. As soon as Chicago loses a major concert tour stop to Milwaukee, Indianapolis, or Ann Arbor due to its high amusement tax, look for Mayor Emanuel to negotiate offsetting tax credits or incentives with Wrigley, the United Center, and the like.

11. The NHL expects facial recognition software to be implemented in arenas within the next two years. According to TSN.ca, the NHL and some of its 31 teams are now “fielding pitches from companies offering to install high-definition cameras and facial recognition software,” hoping to have the technology adopted in the near future. One of the reasons for this push is that professional sports leagues across the world have come to terms with the fact that they are targets for terrorists. The conversations around facial recognition software are part of league-wide security reviews that could potentially help limit “the league’s financial exposure if terrorists targeted an NHL game.” “They’re looking to keep out the really bad guy and the technology has improved dramatically in the past few years,” said FaceFirst CEO Peter Trepp, whose firm sell this type of software. “We can identify someone literally as they walk through the door.” While some fans might decry the lack of privacy that would accompany putting the software systems into place, in this day and age can we really afford to dismiss them?

12. The Las Vegas Knights are looking to provide fans with an unparalleled in-game experience. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the NHL expansion club is trying out different entertainment aspects in its first season. The team plays its games at the brand new, state-of-the-art T-Mobile Arena right off The Strip and is trying to use its location as a selling point for fans. “We are making adjustments with every game,” said Golden Knights VP/Events & Entertainment Jonny Greco. “We listened to what people like and what they don’t like.” One way the team has showed its willingness to try new tactics is when it chose its mascot. Instead of a “Golden Knight,” the team chose a Gila monster, an animal indigenous to the region. The Golden Knights are on their Vegas honeymoon at present, and currently sitting in second place in the NHL Western Conference. If they continue to win, it looks like this marriage will be a lasting one.

13. The Columbus Crew could be leaving town for Austin, Texas, as soon as 2019. According to SI.com, Owner Anthony Precourt recently announced that he would move the Ohio-based MLS franchise if a soccer stadium in downtown Columbus is not finalized within the next year. If prompted to move to Austin, the Crew would be forced to play in a “temporary facility in 2019 and 2020” before making the move into a soccer-specific stadium the year later. Mapfre Stadium, where the Crew currently play, became MLS’s first-ever soccer-specific stadium when it was built in 1999, but its amenities are now “far behind those of recently-built stadiums in the MLS.” Precourt bought the team in 2013 and has since rejected numerous offers from other suitors to purchase 100% or 50% of the team. If they move to Austin, the Crew would most likely play home games at the University of Texas in the interim – a move that could help them build a lasting millennial fan base.

14. U.S. soccer great Landon Donovan is contemplating running for U.S. Soccer President. According to SI.com, Donovan has been approached by “a number of respected figures in American soccer” to run for the position, citing his qualifications to better handle the soccer aspects of that job than current President Sunil Gulati. Gulati is expected to run for his fourth term, though the USSF presidential campaign seems up for grabs following the USMNT’s failure to quality for next summer’s World Cup in Russia. The election is set for February, and the American soccer governing body is concerned about Gulati “continuing to control decisions on the technical side – including hiring head coaches.” Donovan does lack experience in governing roles, however, which could pose a potential problem for his candidacy. One big difference between Gulati and Donovan is that the former tended to prioritize money, whereas Donovan is expected to prioritize youth reform and quality.

15. Political debates regarding Catalonia’s split from Spain have stalled media rights conversations for La Liga. According to Reuters, La Liga President Javier Tebas commented that the proposed secession has “held up negotiations” regarding the league’s international TV rights deals. The situation in Catalonia has been controversial in Spain, but the split could have severe consequences on La Liga, considering Barcelona is within the region. “La Liga would lose about 20% of its income if Real Madrid or Barcelona left,” said Tebas. “We’re talking about a problem that could have a huge impact on our competition, even though I don’t think [Catalonia splitting from Spain] will occur.” The TV rights are not only being sold in Spain and throughout the European Union, but in India, Singapore, Turkey, and beyond. Talks regarding new La Liga deals are being delayed a few weeks until a final political decision has been reached – the situation became more serious over the weekend, after Madrid announced drastic measures to stop the region from breaking away, and close to half a million people took to the streets in protest.

  Five Top Tech

1) MLB’s American League Championship Series was one of the first of its kind in terms of technology. Over 100 microphones were used during the ALCS to capture every sound, along with a high number of cameras. Further, MLB is increasing those numbers for the World Series. As a result, fans will have an unprecedented amount of access to player reactions and emotions after each play. FOX Sports Senior Vice President of Field and Technical Operations Michael Davies noted in a press release: “We will have eight Super Slow Motion and Hypermotion Cameras, including the FOX Phantom Cameras, at either side of the plate to capture at-bats and close plays at a blistering 1,500 frames per second. Quite simply, it’s more Motion Cameras in play than at any other baseball game on any network this season.” For MLB, this is a great way to capitalize on some of the biggest moments the World Series has to offer. Having players “mic’d up” has been a part of sports technology for the last decade, but now MLB has placed microphones along with high-speed cameras right on the field, to fans’ advantage and delight.

2) Even though they failed to reach the World Series this year, the New York Yankees are moving forward in the esports arena. The team has entered into an investment partnership with Vision ESports, and will also invest in three other esports companies. The move is the latest example of professional sports franchises recognizing the legitimacy of esports and striking while the proverbial iron is hot. Yankees Co-Chairperson and Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner told Fortune, “The New York Yankees are thrilled to partner with Vision Esports and its diverse portfolio of esports companies. Guided by an impressively skilled and sports-savvy leadership team, Vision Esports is transcending the industry with a bold, innovative approach to their business, and we are excited to enter into this dynamic arena as their partner.” The Yankees continue to push the envelope of their global brand in new ways. By investing in esports, they also open the door for the industry to tap into the massive New York market. The impact of an open door into NYC could pay enormous dividends for the entire esports image and brand.

3) FIFA will implement Video Assistant Referees in an effort to better aid on-field referees in making crucial calls during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The technology was used during the most recent Confederations Cup, and now FIFA is reaching out to technology companies in order to better prepare for the World Cup. A FIFA press release described their search for outside help: “It became clear how important it is to make correct decisions regarding the possible offside position of a player in one of the reviewable situations particularly when a goal is scored. Calibrated offside lines are requested to offer support in decision-making. FIFA calls for providers to offer a solution for a calibrated virtual offside line that will be made available to the VAR in order to assist with decision-making for possible offside positions.” If FIFA is able to increase its use of technology in the largest soccer tournament in the world, we could see VAR use expand faster than expected. With more teams and leagues in Europe seeing how the integrity of each game changes for the better, the quality of professional soccer globally could increase.

4) The Green Bay Packers and Microsoft are partnering to create a technology facility near Lambeau Field. According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the facility, called “Titletown Tech,” is a tech accelerator created in an effort to boost the growth of startup companies and revitalize the local economy and beyond. The project is a significant financial commitment for the team, as they committed $5 million for the next five years to fund Titletown Tech. Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy had this to say about the Microsoft partnership: “Titletown has gained a tremendously impactful partner in Microsoft. Economic development is the key to our region’s future, and Microsoft, with its array of tools and expertise, will help grow new businesses as well as assist our existing companies to use technology to realize greater success.” The Packers are looking to boost their brand through this investment in technology along with aiding their fan base’s local economy. As a publicly-owned entity, the Packers famously have a very close relationship with their fans. As a result, this sort of investment perfectly fits their image and will only help them in the long run.

5) Kevin Durant grows his tech investment portfolio with his most recent support of autonomous drone startup Skydio. Skydio is believed to be one of the 30 or more tech investments Durant has made over his playing career. That number is not expected to decrease. Skydio describes their drone product as such: “At Skydio our fundamental goal is to deliver the power and magic of flying cameras without the complexity. Current drones are cool gadgets for enthusiasts but still a curiosity to mainstream consumers. Our belief is that advanced onboard computer vision and artificial intelligence, combined with world class hardware product design, will yield a breakthrough that makes drones a trusted part of our daily lives.” Durant is no stranger to the tech industry. A marquee NBA player who heavily invests in tech startups, Durant has always shown a willingness to try his hand at new ventures. Durant, Stephen Curry, and Andre Iguodala are notable NBA players that invest in tech companies, and not coincidentally they all play for the Bay Area Golden State Warriors. It’s inspiring to see pro athletes invest in ventures that represent the markets in which they play.

 

Power of Sports 5

1) Eagles DE Chris Long to donate year’s salary to education equality efforts. This week, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long announced that he will donate the remainder of his salary this year to help improve educational equality. Long had already donated his first six game checks from this season to provide scholarships for students in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. Now, over the next ten weeks, each game check will go towards launching the Pledge 10 for Tomorrow campaign. The Pledge 10 for Tomorrow campaign aims to encourage people to make donations to help improve equal education opportunities. The foundation has selected four organizations that focus on making education easily accessible for underprivileged youth while providing the support and resources they need to help them develop a strong social identity. The four selected organizations are located in the three cities in which Long has spent time during his NFL career: St. Louis, Boston, and Philadelphia. Each foundation will receive donations throughout the season, and the organization that raises the most money by the end of the season will receive an additional $50,000 donation.

2) Premier League players pledge a share of their earnings toward Common Goal Foundation. Premier League footballers Charlie Daniels and Alfie Mawson have pledged a share of their earnings towards Juan Mata’s Common Goal charity, becoming the first English players to do so. Mata, the star midfielder for Manchester United, believes that the support from Daniels and Mawson will help the foundation take a step forward in its international growth, and could help the foundation attract support from athletes around the world. Common Goal was started by Mata less than three months ago, with the goal of uniting the football community behind a shared commitment to give back. The idea is that each player will pledge a minimum of 1% of their annual salary to a collective fund. From there, the money will be distributed to various football charities around the world that provide underprivileged children with the opportunity to play and learn the game. To date, 12 players from various European clubs have committed to participate with Common Goal.

3) NCAA schools scheduling exhibition games to raise money for hurricane victims. Several major college basketball programs have added exhibition games to their schedule in an attempt to raise money for the victims of the recent hurricanes that impacted Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean. The University of Oklahoma will host a charity scrimmage against UT Arlington on October 28 before their homecoming football game against Texas Tech. The basketball game will be free to attend and will have open seating, but fans will be encouraged to make a donation. All money raised at the game will go towards the United Way Harvey Relief Fund. Mississippi State University will also host a charity basketball game against the University of Nebraska next weekend. The game will be held on Sunday, October 22 at the Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Mississippi. Admission to the game will be free, but the schools will be partnering with the American Red Cross to collect monetary donations at the gates. All of the money collected will go towards helping the victims of Hurricane Irma throughout Florida and the Caribbean islands.

4) Saudi Arabia appoints first female head of sports. Last week, Saudi Arabia appointed the country’s first ever female president of the Saudi Federation for Community Sports. Princess Reema bint Bandar was named head of the organization, which manages sports and sports-related activities for both men and women throughout the country, after she led the effort to license female-only gyms and sports clubs in her previous role with the national General Sports Authority. In a country where women are not allowed to exercise or participate in sports with men, the hope is that the new appointment will create more opportunities for women to exercise and will help them gain access to proper health and wellness facilities. According to a recent study done by the country, only 13% of the population exercises weekly. The hope is that by changing the way people view fitness, the country will be able to raise this number to 40% by the year 2030.

5) U.S. women’s hockey team given Wilma Rudolph Courage Award. On Wednesday night, the U.S. women’s national hockey team received the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award. The team was presented with the award at the Salute to Women in Sports event in New York City, an annual event hosted by the Women's Sports Foundation. The players were given the award for their courage and leadership both on and off the ice. Earlier this year, the team announced it would boycott the upcoming International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship. The boycott was promoted as a way to advocate for equality in their sport. Just two weeks after the boycott was announced, the dispute was successfully resolved and the team was able to participate in the IIHF World Championship, in which they emerged victorious after beating Canada 3-2 in overtime during the championship game. Now ranked number one in the world, the U.S women are training for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games, where the team hopes to medal for the sixth time since the sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1998.

[thomasreedtn]

Goodbye Sonoma County Redux: Synchronous Owls, NaNoWriMo, and Safe Passage

My February 2010 entry, “Goodbye Sonoma County, Goodbye California,” has haunted me for nearly eight years. David and I decided to get married in December 2016 in preparation for purchasing a house in Michigan and relocating from Goshen, Indiana. Ever since then, memories of my sudden departure from California have tumbled across consciousness at least several times per week. From needing to retrieve Sonoma County divorce records — to a two-week stint on Instagram that felt like an assault of photos from places I worked so traumatically hard to leave — to discerning and executing our own exit plan from Goshen, the late 2009-early 2010 time period in Sonoma County kept bursting through.

Although David and I met as friends in Chicago, unbeknownst to me at the time, our story actually began in Sonoma County and Napa. Synchronicities too intricate to tell here led to our star aligned meeting, fatefully becoming housemates, and then falling in love. Recurring dreams and bizarre musical playlists played big roles, too, for both of us.

I’ve previously described six months of recurring dreams while living in Sonoma County. Those dreams featured me living in a cottage-like house filled with painted doors in Northern Indiana, long before I began painting doors. The dreams seemed so real that whenever I awoke in my bed in Santa Rosa, California, it took me about 20 minutes to reorient myself. Towards the end of my then marriage, I often felt and voiced, “I’m in the wrong reality. I’m not supposed to be here.”

Mike Clelland’s upcoming book on owls and synchronicity (sequel to his popular book, “The Messengers,” ) features a whole chapter on me, including, how owls and synchronicity rescued me. Very long story short, after years of trying, the opportunity finally opened to get divorced and leave California. What I have never shared publicly — and only very rarely in private — was just how matter of life and death I felt the need to leave California when I did. Towards the end, I kept hearing a roar and seeing bright light barreling towards me if I stayed. I felt suffocated, a full body, fight or flight need to Get. Out. Now.

Keep in mind, I loved living in Sonoma County, and my only trips through Indiana had convinced me I would never in a million years want to live there. (This March 2015 post describes how and why I wound up in Indiana.) My urgency to leave Sonoma County and get back to Chicago with an eventual destination of Indiana seemed irrational to anyone I told. My landlords said they needed to handle me “with kid gloves,” and my now-ex diagnosed me as having “fugue moments.” Meanwhile, that roar and light barreled towards me if I chose to remain.

Knowing how panicked I sounded, I just prayed that someway, somehow I could leave before the chance to jump that timeline closed. If I elected to stay in Sonoma County after my divorce, I knew I would remain there for the rest of my life — however short that life might be.

I don’t want to rehash the chapter in Mike’s book before he releases it, so I’ll just say that synchronous owls played a major role in opening my California exit door. In summoning that opening, I posted an old and new story called “Synchronous Owls,” which led Mike Clelland first to contact me via the comments. He and I failed to connect until Summer 2015, not realizing until then just how many times we had each tried but failed to contact the other.

The story I tell in Mike’s chapter involves an owl painting I completed in late January 2010. This painting now hangs in David’s and my new living room. This past weekend, that very same painting came alive in synchronicities. After teaching the Reiki Level 3 Master Teacher course, I headed out to dinner with David and then to my hairdresser’s husband’s 40th birthday party. We knew no one besides my hairdresser, but we met loads of musicians at the party. We loved all the music and the creative people.

Sunday morning, David and I lay in bed, pondering one particular musician and a song she sang about her mother. I suddenly got an unshakeable urge to go to the Portage Farmer’s Market. David didn’t want to go, and I couldn’t articulate why I did, so we figured we’d better check it out. Following David’s urge to explore the State Theater a month ago led to that party invitation in the first place; we decided to go with the flow even if we couldn’t explain our why. The Portage Farmer’s Market had very few vendors this week, but one booth caught our eye. The Quirky Bohemian. Fun clothes, jewelry and more engaged us until I looked up and said, “Hey, aren’t you? Didn’t we just? Were you????”

Sure enough! This stall belonged to the very same musician we’d listened to and chatted with the night before. It turns out she has a running joke that her new band will be called “The Black Squirrels of Goshen,” and this little tidbit led to many synchronous rabbit holes. I contemplated getting an elephant print dress from her booth when suddenly, Quirky Bohemian’s mom appeared (yes, “Mom” from the song we discussed that morning right before I got the wild urge to go to the Portage Farmers Market). She wore as a tunic the same elephant dress I held in my hand.

“My mom’s so cute. She always wears my clothes whenever she comes to market.”

Eventually, talk turned from black squirrels to Goshen music venues (Ignition Garage), to gardening, to Kalamazoo Kal, because it all comes back to Kal, doesn’t it? Well, no. Apparently, it all comes back to owls, because according to “Mom,” “Groundhogs hate owls.” This statement prompted more tales of calling owls, including David pulling out a photo of my painting of the great horned owl I’d called. More owl stories followed, including growing up in a house full of a mother’s owl collections — something Mike Clelland finds frequently in his research.

Later that day, I received multiple emails about owls, including one about an owl brewery t-shirt, and would I “please tell David.” I did, and funnily enough, he had just unpacked a vintage Bell’s Best Brown Ale great horned owl t-shirt he procured on EBay.  I snapped a photo of him wearing it next to my painting, and sharing this image led to more owl stories from more people. The next morning brought texts about screech owls and Mike Clelland. All this owl talk brought my mind right back to late 2009-early 2010 Sonoma County.

I’ve also had Sonoma County on the brain because after an 8 year hiatus, I recently decided to inaugurate my return to writing fiction with NaNoWriMo 2017. The last time I wrote any fiction was NaNoWriMo 2009 — in Santa Rosa, California, the downtown of which just burned to the ground. That NaNoWriMo’s frenzied writing forced me to realize in no uncertain terms that my marriage was over and I needed to leave California even sooner than ASAP. Which brings me full circle to the beginning of this post, referencing Goodbye Sonoma County, Goodbye California. Although I did not detail the intensity of my need to leave California, I did reference “the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire,” Biblical allusions that captured my mood at that time.

For years, I’ve wondered why I felt such panic and urgency to flee Santa Rosa, California. That roar and bright light still would haunt me, almost like PTSD of something I never experienced. I used to think maybe I would have been run over by a train or hit by a truck if I stayed in Santa Rosa. After awhile, I tried to dismiss that visceral message as metaphorical. Then I saw yesterday’s headline from ZeroHedge:

“10 Dead, 1000’s Displaced After Wildfires Engulf Napa, Sonoma, and 6 Other California Counties.”

I read yesterday in the comment section:

In all seriousness, here’s an email from my brother a couple of hours ago:

“The fires are burning to the north, east and west of us. Many parts of Santa Rosa, including downtown have been leveled and the fire is burning into Rohnert Park. Kenwood and Glen Ellen are burning. More than 1500 structures gone so far. 20K+ evacuated. My manager’s home was lost in Santa Rosa. The news reports keep mentioning the lack of fire support due to the massive size of the burn (currently 50K+ acres). No containment of any sort yet. From the last report I saw, the fire is approximately 3 miles away from us.

Winds have died off, which should help going forward. No evacuation orders as yet. We are packed as best we can. Cross your fingers.”

  Reading that comment and seeing footage of the fire, I realized without a doubt that this is what I foresaw and fore-felt. I reread my February 2010 post and now see how strong a premonition it was. “The pillar of cloud and pillar of fire.” That roaring sound and utter panic as fire unexpectedly engulfs a downtown. I am so grateful I trusted my intuition to leave when and how I did, even though it seemed rash to those around me. The positive synchronicities that led me to get together with David and for us to find our way from Chicago to Madison to Goshen and now home in Kalamazoo amaze and delight me. But the warnings and supernatural care humble me beyond anything I can express.

I Am Grateful.

And prayerful. Peace, safety and rain to Northern California … and care and love to anyone displaced by the many challenges on Earth right now. May clarity and Grace prevail … may we always recognize our openings and the help that surely comes.

  from Thomas Reed https://laurabruno.wordpress.com/2017/10/10/goodbye-sonoma-county-redux-synchronous-owls-nanowrimo-and-safe-passage/

[ileansc-memberspotlight]

Jessica Yau, Garden Valley Ranch

Meet Jessica Yau.

Jessica is Owner and the Events Lead for Garden Valley Ranch, a beautiful rose garden venue in Petaluma.

Jessica acquired the beautiful Garden Valley Ranch when she and her brother threw caution to the wind and dove head first into the worlds of events and growing commercial roses in a natural and sustainable way.

“I attend ILEA meetings to make new connections, strengthen existing ones, get inspiration for new projects and goals, and to strengthen my skills in order to be successful.”

Prior to entering the events industry, Jessica had a background in commercial real estate.  She considers her biggest accomplishment to date as arriving at the point in her career where she had the confidence and means to take on a big project like buying an events venue (that is also a flower farm)!

Jessica says “I attend ILEA meetings to make new connections, strengthen existing ones, get inspiration for new projects and goals, and to strengthen my skills in order to be successful.”  Jessica is very interested in fruitful collaborations with fellow ILEA members like the upcoming Wedding Open House on October 7!

Jessica’s favorite spots in Wine Country are in Sebastopol in Sonoma County: Lynmar Estates, Handline, and Two Dog Night Creamery.

Jessica has been to North Korea on vacation. She has a dog named Katniss and a cat named Gizmo, and is addicted to adopting baby chickens. Ask her about it when you see her at the next ILEA NSC event!

You can reach Jessica at jessica@gardenvalley.com or 707.792.0377.

[hotelsmarket]

Historic Sonoma Hotel MacArthur Place Acquired by IMH Financial Corporation

IMH Financial Corporation has acquired MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa, an upscale 64-room hotel situated on a five-acre parcel in Sonoma, California. The Scottsdale-based group also manages L’Auberge de Sedona and Orchards Inn, both in Sedona, Arizona. “The historical significance and provenance of MacArthur Place are precisely the attributes we seek when acquiring a boutique property,” said Lawrence Bain, chairman and CEO of IMH. “We look forward to bringing the same five-star level of service and quality to the Sonoma community as we have in Sedona.”    IMH is planning a major renovation of the entire facility including the arrival experience, reception, culinary venues, spa, pool and all of the guest rooms and suites. Upon completion, which is anticipated by early summer, IMH plans to rebrand the hotel as L’Auberge de Sonoma, adding another property to their boutique 5-star resort portfolio.  “The unique nature of the 160-year-old property and its Victorian architecture makes this project exciting and fun for the guest and our team alike,” Bain continued. “We will expand MacArthur’s outdoor setting to include dining and seating so that the amazing gardens can be enjoyed to the fullest. “  Originally a prestigious vineyard and working ranch, MacArthur Place has long been a centerpiece of the Sonoma community. Currently, there are 19 buildings on the parcel, including a spa, meeting space, restaurant and pool. The inn is a short distance from historic Sonoma Plaza, home to a vibrant farmers’ market, local cafés, world-class wineries, fine dining, shops and galleries.  “IMH are stewards first, who will honor the heritage of MacArthur Place while taking Sonoma hospitality to the next level.  We are excited about IMH’s plans to build on what we created here at MacArthur Place and continuing to improve it for future guests” said Suzanne Brangham, developer of the hotel. The team of agents who represented MacArthur Place were Henry Bose and Mark McDermott from CBRE in San Francisco.  Sonoma is a 45-minute drive from San Francisco with a steady stream of wine-enthusiasts lured by the sense of discovery. Sonoma County is one of the largest wine regions in the world and houses more than 425 wineries and approximately 60,000 acres of vineyards. By the end of the year, IMH expects to acquire another high-end boutique resort property to re-brand as its third L’Auberge property, expanding the IMH collection of resort hotels renowned for luxurious, high-touch service and bespoke guest experiences. Under IMH’s management, L’Auberge de Sedona was ranked the No. 1 hotel in the Southwest by Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards in 2016. The 88-room property offers world-class dining, award-winning wellness programming and partnerships with Sedona vendors that make it easy for visitors to discover the best of the destination.

[starbluegalaxy]

EMAIL: starbluelovesmusic@gmail.com

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/starblueplaysmusic and facebook.com/starblueonthescene and  facebook.com/edgyopenmic

INSTAGRAM: @starblue333 and @starblueonthescene and @edgyopenmic

VIDEO: youtube.com/starblue

BAND AUDIO: starblue.bandcamp.com

EARLY DEMO AUDIO: soundcloud.com/starbluemusic

ABOUT STAR’S CREATIVE WORK:

* music: Star plays ukulele, sings, and writes her own songs that range from feminist folk-punk to to humorous hip-hop. She also enjoys reworking covers of rock, pop, country and indie songs to fit her style. After getting her start at open mic nights, she has also performed at the Arlene Francis Center, Brew, 3 Disciples, Shady Oak Barrel House, Local Barrel, The Orchard House and Whiskey Tip  in Santa Rosa; The Phoenix Theater, The Big Easy and Lagunitas in Petaluma, Redwood Cafe in Cotati; Hopmonk Tavern Sebastopol, Sebastopol Community Market and The Star in Sebastopol, Sound Barn Studio in Lower Lake, Outer Space in Arcata.

In addition to her solo work, Star has performed as “Star Blue and the Sea Shells” with Cameron Escobar-Shells, with “Star Blue and Friends,” and as “Two Blue” with father Marke Blue. 

In July 2018 she debuted Star Blue Band, playing her original songs with Baylee Russell of Lee Vandeveer Band on bass and and Nicco Weisskoff of Washington Hill on drums, as well as Marke on lead guitar and harmonica. The most recent incarnation of Star Blue Band featured Bob Pittman of X Confidence on bass guitar and Nick Craft of Shapeshifters on drums, and included popular covers. 

Star Blue Band has also included Ken James of Hawai’fi on drums, Libby Cuffie of Buck-Thrifty, Sharkmouth and Token Girl on drums, Paz Del Rescate of Viva La Reve on violin, Michael Fortunato of Buck-Thrifty and The Syllables on reed instruments, David Gray of Aly Rose Trio on cajon, Jamie Voss of The Spindles, Sad Party and The Nervous on bass guitar, Cesar “Crow” Lopez of Jaz & Crow on trumpet, percussion and backup vocals, Jaz Paige of Jaz & Crow on ukulele, percussion and backup vocals, Oliver Rogoff of Washington Hill on violin, Layla Wright on backup vocals and tambourine, Dave Fichera on trumpet, Rob Wegner on sax, Geena Rae on viola and vocals, and Cameron Shells on rhythm guitar and vocals. 

In addition, Star has performed spontaneously with a variety of people at open mic nights and during solo performances.

*Star Blue on the Scene 

Star started her Facebook Page and Instagram account “Star Blue on the Scene” to document the shows and creative events that she was attending. This led to organizing, promoting, hosting and emceeing a number of showcases featuring singer-songwriters, comedians, poets and more under the name Star Blue on the Scene. 

*Edgy Open Mic: Star hosts “Edgy Open Mic” at Whiskey Tip on Thursday nights (now every Thursday), from 8pm to 10:30pm with signups at 7:30pm. Whiskey Tip is on 1910 Sebastopol Road., Santa Rosa (Roseland). Variety, diversity and innovation are encouraged, and a community-oriented, daring environment has evolved. Hosting Edgy Open Mic has led Star to organize and host pre-booked Edgy Variety Shows.

* comedy: Star has made appearances at Hopmonk Sebastopol Comedy Open Mic (on the third Sunday of each month) in order to share her perspective as a feminist woman of color. She performed a comedic ukulele hip-hop song as an opening act for Santa Rosa improv troupe The Gentlemen Basterds’ show in July 2018. She brings humor to the stage as the emcee of Edgy Open Mic and other events.

* activism:

Star is an open mic activist who encourages people to express their ideas and their talents. Before starting Edgy Open Mic, Star organized and co-hosted two meetings of “Balanced Breakfast: North Bay Music Community Meetup,” the local chapter of an international movement, and two special “Equal Opportunity Full Employment Open Mic Jam” nights at The Arlene Francis Center. Star makes a special effort to support and increase participation and visibility of women, non-binary people, queer people and people of color in the music scene as well as everyone else. 

Star created these two resource lists by gathering information off the internet.

resource lists:

Sonoma County Open Mic Nights Venues and dates for all the known open mic nights in Sonoma County. https://scomn.tumblr.com

Sonoma County, We Make Music, Too! A list of solo female and non-binary gendered performers, and bands that include women and non-binary performers. https://scwemakemusictoo.tumblr.com

Facebook Pages to “Like” and Follow:

Star Blue on the Scene

Star Blue Plays Music

Edgy Open Mic

Star Blue and Friends YouTube Channel

ADDITIONAL PROJECTS AND LINKS

* video: When Star first started documenting the local music and open mic scene, she published videos of live local music performances on her YouTube channel, “Star Blue and Friends,” including her own. Now she focuses more on the live experience, and only uploads videos occasionally. 

Star directed and performed in the music video for her song “Wish I Could Run Back to the Past” that premiered in October 2017 and won “Most Original Film” at the Video Droid Film Festival sponsored by Creative Sonoma. 

* art: Star likes to draw, especially with pen and colored pencils. She has designed flyers for shows with her own line drawings, handwritten text and zine-inspired collages.

Thanks for taking the time to read about me and my projects in the third person! I hope to hear from you or see you soon!