File this under the Feel-Good "Where Are They Now?" category:

Kaywin Feldman, who nine years ago left the Fresno Metropolitan Museum to become the director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, has catapulted into the top ranks of the nation's museums. She'll head the prestigious Minneapolis Institute of Arts, one of the ten largest museums in the country. She will step down as director of the Brooks in mid-December.

Here's a story (reg required) on Kaywin's new job from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Kaywin was only in Fresno for a few years, but she certainly left a mark. (I'm looking at a picture on my desk right now of her when she went as Eve to that awesome Halloween party and walked around with an apple and a big stuffed snake around her neck.) I know there are a lot of people in Fresno who are really, really proud of her. (Especially me!)

After the jump: the official press release:

Aithon Theatre Company was ambitious when it picked Sam Shepard's "True West" as its second full-length production. While there's a certain bravado to be accorded to those who reach high, in this case the company reached too far. For a community-theater production, it didn't work.

Who should play Don Quixote in "Man of La Mancha"? If Hollywood were to remake the 1972 musical film, it'd probably want someone hunky: a George Clooney type, mature but a solid sex symbol, someone who could sing "The Impossible Dream" with a rakish flair.

And who should play Aldonza? Anybody have a line on the next Sophia Loren? When I saw the recent Broadway revival of "La Mancha" starring Brian Stokes Mitchell (age 45) as Don Quixote, the striking Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio (age 44) played Aldonza, the beaten-down wench who becomes the idealized Dulcinea.

The point, of course, is not the ages of the performers -- playing much older or younger is stock in trade for accomplished actors -- but the general tone of the casting. In the case of the new Good Company Players production of "La Mancha," which opened Thursday at Roger Rocka's Dinner Theater, director Elizabeth Fiester has opted not for youth but for experience. I was slightly trepidatious when learning that well-known local singers Dean Rhodus and Ann T. Sullivan Whitehurst had been cast in the leading roles. Would they seem too mature? Would I have to refrain from wisecracks about the AARP's position on the Inquisition?

Stephen Mintz was kind enough to send off an end-of-the-festival report before he fell into bed 2 a.m. Monday. The audience awards, according to Stephen:

Best Feature: Un Autre Femme (Another Woman)

Best Documentary: For The Bible Tells Me So

Best Short: Private Life (Girl's Shorts Program)

Best Short-Short (under 10 min): Seriously? I can't remember! It'll be posted on the website soon.

The Directors' Club Awards:

Best Short-Short: LOCAL FILMMAKER DANIEL LOERA'S "WE HAVE EACH OTHER!!" Yay, Daniel! He wins $250.

Best Short: My First Time Driving (Youth Short)

Best Feature: Nina's Heavenly Delights (Donald's 'pick of the fest')

After the jump, more from Stephen and his take on the Beehive's reviews ...

It's fascinating to watch Sergei Babayan's fingers while he plays. Those fingers fly in a piece such as Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, of course: pummeling the keyboard at points, almost caressing it at others, all in runs so fast that the motion becomes a blur. But watch his fingers when he takes his hands off the keyboard and he puts his arms at his side for a brief rest while the orchestra plays. They still wiggle furiously.

I'm sure that he's just keeping them limber, sort of like a track-and-field runner bouncing up and down on his heels as he awaits the starting gun. But it's almost as if his fingers move of their own volition. They're so eager to get back to the keyboard that they can't help but run in place.

I'll leave the classical review to my Bee colleague, George Warren, but I just wanted to throw in a plug of my own for this afternoon's concert (2:30 p.m. at the Saroyan). The Tchaikovsky was beautiful on Saturday night. For me, it really soared. And Babayan is such an intense player that it's moving just to watch him.

I know things can get a bit unwieldy with all these separate Reel Pride entries on the Beehive, so here's a page that compiles everything in one convenient place. As the festival continues through Sunday, I'll continue to add links. Remember: Reviews, comments and observations from readers are most welcome. I've got a lot of other culture stuff to do this weekend, so help keep me posted on what's going on at the festival.

REEL PRIDE: It's opening night
An intro to the festival.

REEL PRIDE: 'Shelter' review
Beehive grade: B+

REEL PRIDE: Opening night report
A quick recap and chat with "Shelter" director Jonah Markowitz and producer JD Disalvatore.

Reel Pride program director (and faithful Beehive correspondent) Stephen Mintz reports that the Saturday night screenings of "Itty Bitty Titty Committee" at the Tower and "Lezploitation" at the Starline sold out. That's quite a feat, especially at the Tower, considering the size of the place. Better watch it, guys: You might find that all the men's films are at the Starline next year and all the women's films at the Tower.

Today's schedule includes an event that returns after a hiatus of a few years. "The Director's Cut Shorts," 1 p.m. at the Starline, features seven edgy short films. Directly following at 2:30 will be a filmmakers' forum discussion panel moderated by Kathleen Mullen. The forum features directors and producers of some of this year's festival films.

Also scheduled today: The "Girls on Film" short film series at 2:30 p.m. at the Tower; and the Taiwanese film "Spider Lilies," about a teenager who runs an after-hours website under the discerning eyes of the Taiwanese police, 4:30 p.m. at the Starline.

By the way: any other updates would be most appreciated. I'd hoped to post more Q&A interviews with festival notables on this blog, but haven't received my responses back yet by email ...

"Out at the Wedding" plays 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

Easily the weakest closing-night film to mark the festival in years, this limp low-budget comedy from Lee Friedlander echoes the subquality offerings often found at gay film festivals 10 or 15 years ago. Built on a premise that in itself is offensive -- that 30-year-old Alex (Andrea Marcellus), a sophisticated Manhattan urbanite, is afraid to tell her Southern family that she's engaged to a black man -- the film is supposed to be a screwball comedy. But the essential elements for this genre just aren't here.

Through a misunderstanding, Alex's sister (Desi Lydic) thinks that her sister is a lesbian, so Alex hires one to complete the ruse. The acting is OK, but the film is plagued by weak direction and low production values. (What happened to an establishing shot at the rehearsal dinner?) Worst of all, the writing is staggeringly weak. The film includes a speech in which Alex compares herself to an animated Disney heroine that could roll your eyeballs all the way from the Tower to Blackstone Avenue. Grade: D. (By Donald Munro)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

"The Bubble" plays 5 p.m. Sunday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

From director Eytan Fox, whose "Yossi and Jaguar" was a better film, comes a riveting yet flawed drama set in Israel. Noam (Ohad Knoller), an Israeli reserve soldier, falls for a Palestinian named Ashraf (Yousef "Joe" Sweid) with a conservative family living in the occupied territories.

The joy they share -- oblivious to the consternation of the outside world -- puts them in the "bubble" of the title. Well-acted and intensely suspenseful, the film has a vibrant sense of place as we're immersed in the lifestyle of the left-leaning Tel Aviv intelligensia, and the crisp musical score and beautifully photographed sequences -- including a seaside rave -- add to the effect. It's a high-quality, feature-film quality production that unfolds with a compelling sense of both menace and light-hearted fun. It was certainly on the way for being one of my favorite -- if not THE favorite -- films in the festival.

However, "The Bubble" takes a twist that is wholly unbelievable and manipulative. It zooms from tender nuance to outrageous. Perhaps Fox could have gotten away with the storyline if he'd prepped us in terms of character and motivation, but the ending as it stands is outrageous. Grade: C+ (By Donald Munro)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

"We're All Angels" plays noon Sunday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

Robert Nunez takes an interesting look at Jason and DeMarco, a gay couple who sing Christian music. The young men are charming and talented -- a point that's driven home in the documentary.

Where Nunez stumbles is not delving more into the theological debates that swirl around these singers. Some Christians refuse to judge the pair. Others argue their performance of Christian music is a form of blasphemy because of what the Bible says about homosexuality. A little less music and a lot more discussion would have made this documentary better. Grade: B- (By Rick Bentley)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

"Itty Bitty Titty Committee" plays 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

The producer/director team of Andrea Sperling and Jamie Babbit ("But I'm a Cheerleader") again show that they can make a film that is loaded with thought-provoking material and still keep the work entertaining. Anna (Melonie Diaz), a receptionist for a plastic surgeon, is recruited by a feminist movement called the CIA. (You will have to see the film if you want to know exactly for what this is an abbreviation.)

At the heart of this effort is a story that shows how political and social causes often can be complicated by human emotions. The ending is slightly over the top but does not hurt the film that much. Grade: B+. (By Rick Bentley)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

"East Side Story" plays 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

Diego (René Alvarado) is a talented chef who lives in a gentrifying area of East Los Angeles, but not all is well in his life: He has a relationship with a swaggering real-estate agent, Pablo (David Berón), who considers himself straight; and he chafes at having to waste his culinary potential at the old-fashioned Mexican restaurant still owned by his grandmother.

Director Carlos Portugal's first feature can be a little wobbly, but he has a nice touch when weaving a larger social issue into a small, personal story while still keeping a light tone. The gays moving into the East Side spark annoyed reactions from some longtime neighbors. In a turnabout, the white characters veer more toward stereotype than the brown. As the lead character, Alvarado needed stronger direction, but he does have some assured moments on screen, particularly when he's interacting with his "wild" aunt, Bianca (Gladys Jimenez), who's a comic highlight. Grade: B (By Donald Munro)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

In the short-film program (1:30 p.m. Saturday, Tower Theatre), one of the featured films is "We Have Each Other," directed by Daniel Loera. This Reel Pride member and volunteer made an 8-minute film about a lifelong love story between two Valley men.

We didn't have a chance to see this short film, but Rick Bentley did see two other films on the program:

"For the Bible Tells Me So" plays 4 p.m. Saturday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

Though this is touted as the Reel Pride documentary centerpiece, this average production isn't very impressively made or compelling. We visit the famed Bible verse in Leviticus that is used so often to justify the view that homosexuality is an "abomination" and then get lots of examples of other abominations that many Christians seem to conveniently ignore, such as not eating shrimp, mixing linen and wool or comingling your crops. (The use of "abomination" is explained as something that goes against ritual, not necessarily a condemnation.)

So far, so good. But the focus of this documentary remains fuzzy. It purports to tell a series of coming-out stories and their religious implications, including the story of Rep. Dick Gephardt's lesbian daughter. But the stories are scattered and the documentary never seems to build. By the time you get to the inclusion of the Rev. James Dobson, he just comes across as a easy target. Grade: C. (By Donald Munro)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

"Through Thick and Thin" and "Freeheld" play 11 a.m. Saturday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

In "Through Thick and Thin," director Sebastian Cordoba misses a golden opportunity to shed some light on how immigration laws have torn apart gay couples. There are thousands of bi-national couples, where one partner is from another country, who are caught up in a stranglehold of red tape. The film focuses on a number of these couples. The problem is that Cordoba becomes too involved in telling us how good these people are. That's really not the point. The focus should have been on why the immigration laws are so strict when it comes to gay couples. This is a case where a documentarian becomes too attached to emotions and should have worked harder on the intellectual part of the arguments. That may come from the fact that Cordoba himself used to be in a bi-national relationship. That clouded the impartiality needed to tell this story fully. Grade: C- (By Rick Bentley)

We didn't have a chance to screen "Freeheld" before the festival, but director Jon Carroll says it's one of his favorites in the festival. Seen together with "Through Thick and Thin," it makes up a strong documentary program on the struggle same-sex couples face in a quest for equal rights.

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

As if the Reel Pride gay and lesbian film festival isn't enough, there are two other options I highly recommend:

1. Sergei Babayan performs with the Fresno Philharmonic. Babayan, one of Fresno's favorite pianists, will perform Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto. The orchestra also will play Dvorak's Three Slavonic Dances and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Schehrazade." Read my 7 story about the concert here.

2. The annual Tamejavi Festival, held Saturday at Radio Park adjacent to the Fresno Art Museum, will include music, art, film, food, poetry and dance, all around the theme of celebrating the Valley's rich cultural background. Here's what we ran in Friday's issue of 7 (scroll to the bottom). One of the highlights is an appearance by Francisco Vargas, director of the Mexican film "El Violin." He'll be here at 5:30 p.m. Saturday for a screening.

"A Four Letter Word" plays 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

Poorly written and vapid, this low-budget film is a clunker that struggles to fit the "raunchy fun-filled comedy" slot preceding the big gay party in the festival. When a party boy (a misdirected Jesse Archer) hooks up with a hunky suitor with a secret (Charlie David), will true love ensue? Or will the bad catty dialogue smother them like a Chelsea rent increase?

Subplots proliferate to an annoying degree, although a nice thread involving a multiracial couple mostly succeeds, and there's an obligatory yet cursory lesbian storyline that is thrown in to appeal to festival programmers. The acting is uneven with some borderline embarrassing amateur performances. The biggest problem is the directing. There isn't anything wrong with a good, raunchy Friday night party flick, but this one is slapdash. Even compared to the glut of teen-raunch flicks out there, it simply isn't up to feature-film standards. Grade: D+. (By Donald Munro)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

"Une autre Femme" plays 7 p.m. Friday at the Starline. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

When a French doctor abandons his family for a sex-change operation, he stays away for 10 years before venturing to see his wife and children. Nathalie Mann is terrific in the leading role as the morose Lea, whose quivering insecurities at the beginning of the film change to a stubborn determination to reconnect with her family.

Though there's a soap-opera cadence to the plot, particularly in regards to the ex-wife's relationship with the new man in her life, the film is most touching when Lea pines after her children. Mann is understated yet riveting, and she handles the physical as well as the emotional demands of the role with real finesse. This sturdy and well-produced French subtitled film eschews stereotypes in favor of an intense exploration of transgender identity and the impact on families. Grade: B. (By Donald Munro)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

"Kate Clinton: 25th Anniversary Tour" plays 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

This documentary about one of the pioneering lesbian comics has a cherished leading-lady feel, but make no mistake: The newly bottle-blond Kate Clinton is not in doddering, toast-to-the-past mode. She's as feisty (and occasionally coarse) as ever, mixing her pointed political commentary with raucous observations about the contemporary scene. The war in Iraq is a prominent target, but Clinton's bite is wide- ranging, and some of her funniest bits play off the everyday stuff of lesbian life.

The 60-minute documentary includes a couple of long sets from the comic's 25th- anniversary tour. Off-stage interviews are sandwiched between, including a rare glimpse of Clinton's partner of 18 years, Urvashi Vaid. It would have been nice to get a little more sense of the private side of Clinton, not only in terms of her background but also just regular life. Director Andrea Meyerson's camera never achieves fly-on-the-wall status, and there's little sense of a documentary adventure -- just a nice, easy-going romp. Grade: B-. (By Donald Munro)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

In Friday's issue of 7 I talk with Philip Bryan, director of the Aithon Theatre Company production of "True West," which opens Friday night and continues for two performances Saturday at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Here's a continuation of the interview:

You never see the father on stage, but he's an important character. Talk about him.

The Father is an underlined character in "True West". You never see him physically but as you get to know him through stories and the brothers themselves. The direction I chose for the brothers to follow on the subject of their father was to see themselves not as two separate people but as one whole person, their father. Throughout the show you see actions that Lee and Austin coincide with stories about their father and even more obvious moments when the brothers comment about it. So, my decision was to have my actors see themselves as th! e choices that their father could have made, each one having made the opposite choice, leading them to where they are at the beginning of the play. Then through the countless scenes of dialogue and self realizations you find out that not matter which choices they make they will wound up in some desert sooner or later. The father symbolize the brother and in return they symbolize him. The hopelessness of fate, loneliness and self-destruction which each brother fears drive each one to help their father, to help themselves.

"Nina's Heavenly Delights" plays 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

The magical, warm-hearted "Nina's Heavenly Delights," my top pick of this year's Reel Pride festival, mixes two distinctive cultures: the tangy taste of Indian curry and the crisp energy of a thick Scottish brogue. The result is a happy food movie that simmers into a pleasing love story between two lasses.

Director Pratibha Parmar revels in the sights and smells of an Indian kitchen as she tells the story of Nina (a sparkling Shelley Conn), a rebellious daughter who isn't yet out of the closet to her immigrant family in Glasgow -- but is enough of a rebel to have already avoided the marriage they've arranged for her. When her beloved father dies, Nina comes back from London after a three-year absence to help pick up the pieces. She's shocked to learn that the family's top-rated restaurant is about to be sold to a competitor even before Glasgow's hard-fought curry competition is held.

"Bears" plays 6 p.m. Thursday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

If you're in the mood to see a real movie star at Reel Pride, look no farther than the documentary "Bears," which prominently features one of Fresno's own. The big and hairy Larry Carpenter, who won the title "Mr. Golden State Bear 2004," went on to compete in the Olympics of beardom: the annual International Bear Rendezvous in San Francisco. He's one of the contestants followed in this account of the contest.

If you haven't figured it out already, a "bear" is a term in the gay community that refers to large, hirsute fellows who revel in their girth and hairiness. In this amiable documentary, director Marc Klasfeld captures not just a sense of an annual bear "beauty" contest but also a tight-knit community.

The Reel Pride folks picked a fine opening-night film for the festival with "Shelter," a coming-of-age, surfer-themed drama with a lot of crowd appeal. I talked to director Jonah Markowitz and producer JD Disalvatore after the film and learned a little more about this promising title.

Where it's played before: "Shelter" is in the middle of making the rounds of the gay film festival circuit. So far it's played at the Frameline festival in San Francisco, Outfest in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Colorado Springs and now Fresno. It's garnered a lot of positive strokes so far, including winning the audience awards at Outfest and Vancouver. Markowitz says the film will travel to about 20 festivals before its theatrical release.

Fresno's biggest film festival gets under way tonight, and my colleague Rick Bentley gave the opening film, "The Shelter," a really good review. (We'll be running separate capsule reviews for each day's films here on the Beehive; we're hoping folks will write their own reviews by clicking the Comment link for each film.) Tonight's festivities at the Reel Pride gay and lesbian film festival include a VIP party beforehand for members and sponsors at Bobby Salazar. Theater doors open at 7, and the film starts at 7:30. Following the screening,the Opening Night Gala will be held in the Reel Pride Pavilion behind the Tower.

Scheduled to appear tonight are a bunch of folks from the film, including the producers, directors and cast. Yep, it'll be just like a Hollywood premiere: You can watch the movie and afterward have a drink with the stars.

What can you expect if you've never attended opening night at Reel Pride before? A big, boisterous, welcoming crowd that includes a big swath of society -- gay, straight, women, men, young, old, rich, not so rich. You'll find film snobs and lovers of cinematic trash, and everyone in between. It's a great place to see a movie, especially a comedy, because the audience becomes an integral part of the experience.

"Shelter" plays 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Tower Theatre. Click here for the Reel Pride schedule.

Zach (Trevor Wright) is caught in the middle of numerous conflicting worlds. The recent high school graduate longs to study art but knows there are family commitments that keep him mired in his mundane life in San Pedro. He's also trying to deal with a sister who has put her new love before his nephew.

And then there is Zach's sexual confusion. He struggles with an on-again/off-again love affair with his girlfriend Tori. Shaun (Brad Rowe), the openly gay older brother of Zach's best friend finally helps provide some of the answers.

It would have been easy for this film to dwell on one of the multiple emotional levels. But director Jonah Markowitz uses solid acting and a well-paced script to give each emotional strata equal time. Grade: B+. (By Rick Bentley)

What's your opinion? Click on the Comments button to add your own review.

In my Sunday Spotlight column I write that one of the cultural highlights this week is the annual performance of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. You might remember this highly energetic (and highly political) theater company from its performances at Roeding Park. This year, the venue is different. The company will perform 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Roosevelt High School Auditorium. Tickets cost $20 general, $10 low-income, $5 students and veterans.

The company also will offer a Youth Theater Workshop 1-4 p.m. Wednesday. This educational component is a significant part of the Mime Troupe's work, writes local organizer Camille Russell.

Just what can you expect from the Mime Troupe's performance? According to the company:

The SFMT delights in savaging the norms of mainstream American theater, with its naturalistic values, its emphasis on personal (or at most family) psychology, its settings confined to living rooms and patios. We admire the depths reached by 20th-century realism, but we also think it sanctions social inaction. Our characters are individuals but they are also members of social classes: conscious or unconscious participants in the unending wars over land and power and wealth which drive human history.

A reader writes:

I enjoy reading your reviews. However, as a former English major who appreciated your analysis of The Brave One, your failure to rate its "Entertainment Quotient" does harm to the credibility of your alphabetical "Critical Rating" (C+) rating and your intellectual presentation. Re entertainment value, The Brave One is at least an A-and you know it. Try sitting back and enjoying the movies more.

In a way that critics use the dual DVD movie and DVD content ratings, please consider adding an alphabetical (and + and -) "Entertainment Rating" to the Bee's "Critical Rating" reviews. Name it what you like. You will have people saying, "Bullshit" and "He doesn't know what he's talking about" a lot less.

My response: This might come as a shock, but in my mind I don't separate my "entertainment" and "critical" ratings. They're the same thing. If I give a silly movie such as "Hot Rod" a B, it's because I genuinely enjoyed it and thought it was entertaining. If I knock a grim revenge flick such as "The Brave One" and give it a C+, it's because I thought it less than competently filled its movie mission and didn't think it was very entertaining.

1. Last chance with the Bard. This is the last weekend for free outdoor Shakespeare at Woodward Park. Vanessa Pereda and Jay Felix lead an enthusiastic cast in "The Taming of the Shrew." Read my earlier entry about this fast-paced show.

2. Think about the war. Perhaps it's not the subject with which you want to relax this weekend, but the documentary "No End in Sight" has gotten a lot of attention as an important recap of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. I didn't get a chance to screen this movie before it opened in the Fresno market today, but you can read the Miami Herald review that we ran in Friday's issue of 7.

This strays a little from the culture beat, but file it under Quality of Life issues in Fresno. In Thursday's Bee, reporter Sanford Nax writes about a proposed six-story apartment building in the Fig Garden area. The 349-unit complex is proposed immediately east of Fig Garden Financial Center. Predictably, the Not in My Backyard crowd is already yammering about the project. One local resident, Waymon Kissler, condemned the project:

The size. The height. The traffic. I'm opposed to the preposterousness of it all.

In Friday's 7 section I write about the upcoming performance of the Georgian State Dance Company, which plays 2 p.m. Sunday at the Saroyan Theatre. Here's a good link to more information and photos of this dynamic group.

Check out video of the dancers:

There are just three more performances of Woodward Shakespeare Festival's fast-paced production of "The Taming of the Shrew," which rolls by so quickly you'll be out of the theater quicker than you can say "Why are the men wearing diapers?"

I've gotten some interesting comments on the show. One reader wrote last week:

Was every performance like last night's or were they trying to make up for lost time because of the theft delay? Never have Shakespeare's words been spoken with such speed! Could hardly understand a bit of it, except Vanessa's part.

I have to admit I was stumped. What's a "theft delay"?

In my Sunday Spotlight column I write about the renovation of the Severance Building in the Tower District. If you'd like to read more about the history of the building, check out this story that ran in The Bee in 1986.

On the jump you'll find several photos of the newly renovated building provided by owners Julie Ann Keller and Chris Campbell. The bottom floor, which used to have a large apartment, has been turned into studio space. The second story performance space features a new floor and updated options for lighting and sound.

Whoa there, arts people: Anne Scheid is GOOD. I've known this for years, but it becomes hit-you-over-the-head obvious when you walk into her new show at Gallery 25. (It helps that she's paired with another fine artist, Stephanie Ryan.) Scheid's new show, "Earthbody," is a moody and moving combo of virtuoso drawing talent along with a potent ability to connect emotionally with a viewer.

Gallery 25, therefore, gets my nod as top pick for September's art scene.

I also recommend the Timberline group exhibition at the Chris Sorensen Studio, which means you don't have to drive all the way to Oakhurst to see one of the best cooperative galleries in the Valley.

And for places to see and be seen, the new Frank Arnold studio is certainly a contender.

I'm all for publicizing arts and cultural happenings in the Valley. So to KMPH's mammoth morning program, "Great Day," which is on the air so many hours each weekday that I'm surprised Kopi Sotiropulos' face isn't burned into area TV monitors, I commend the station's commitment to showcasing local events. KMPH doesn't just do stories about different happenings: It lets performers do their thing live for minutes at a time and often in multiple segments.

Which is great publicity, right? The station gets to fill air time and local groups get great exposure. Everybody's happy.

Except -- me. The grouchy critic. And maybe potential audience members who get turned off by the amateurishness of the presentations. Here's the problem: The production values are so low when it comes to live in-studio performances on this morning show that they come across in a not so flattering light.

Case in point: the plug last Friday morning for the Children's Musical Theaterworks production of "Zombie Prom."