Series of seven “intelligent, inspiring events for women” kicks off Oct. 28 at the Mill Valley Community Center covering a wide range of subjects, from toxic ingredients in cosmetics and breast cancer in Marin to the impact of digital technology on children.

Four years ago, a pair of Mill Valley moms who’d left corporate gigs to raise families got together to debut their dream project: a season-long speaker series of “intelligent, inspiring events for women” – namely smart, busy moms like themselves.

Jenny Terry and Tracy Barsotti’s project, Speak to Me, is now a five-year-old juggernaut, launching its 2014-15 season next month with seven events that span a wide array of topics and featuring some of the most well known experts in their respective fields.

Terry and Barsotti were friends before they each got married and had children, and reconnected as they spearheaded fundraising events for the Bay Area Discovery Museum. During their first season with Speak to Me, they were joined by Christina Forte, who’d left corporate America in 2009 to pursue her role as a mom and help launch the popular mom-focused media company Red Tricycle in the Bay Area. Terry serves as the CEO, while Forte is the chief marketing and business strategy officer.

Speak to Me's mission is “to create a forum for women to learn, explore new ideas, connect and feel empowered to make a difference in the world around them. We believe that the more informed and connected we are as women, the better we feel, and the stronger our families, schools, businesses and communities become.”

As in year’s past, Speak to Me’s events are designed around a specific theme of wide interest to women, with plenty of time built-in for mingling, nibbling and wine-tasting before and after the speakers. The Evening Series occurs at the Mill Valley Community Center, while the Lunch & Learn Series is at Piatti Restaurant.

Here’s the lineup:

Evening Series – Mill Valley Community Center, 6:30pm
Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message – Oct. 28, 2014
Tara Sophia Mohr | Author of Playing Big and 10 Rules For Brilliant Women, expert on women’s leadership and the implementation of practical skills to make real change in oneself and the world and creator of the acclaimed Playing Big leadership program for women.

Toxic Bodies: The Unhealthy Truth & What We Can Do To Protect Ourselves – Jan. 27, 2015
Ken Cook | President and co-founder of Environmental Working Group, a public interest research and advocacy organization focused on protecting human health and the environment and the creator of the online consumer database Skin Deep. Ken has been named one of Washington's Top Lobbyists and is considered one of the most influential 20th Century leaders and change-makers in the world.

Digital Generation: How Technology is Shaping Our Youth – Mar 10, 2015
Jim Steyer | CEO and Founder of Common Sense Media, nationally known author of several books including Talking Back to Facebook and The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on Our Children. Jim is one of the most respected experts on issues related to children's media and education in the U.S.

Secret Lives of Women: Thriving At Every Stage of Life – Apr 28, 2015
Iris Krasnow | Journalism and Women's Studies Professor at American University and best-selling author of several books including Sex After...Women Share How Intimacy Changes as Life Changes, The Secret Lives of Wives, and Surrendering to Motherhood. Iris is an expert in the field of relationships, personal growth and “female generational angst" and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, on Oprah and several times on CNN.

Lunch & Learn Series – Piatti Restaurant, 11:30am
Breast Cancer in Marin: The Myths, the Facts, and the Science – Nov. 13, 2014
Leah Kelley, M.D. | Breast and Gynecologic Surgeon at Marin General Hospital, expert in state-of-the-art breast cancer and gynecological care, and honored as one of the “Top Doctors in Marin in 2014”.

Work and Flexibility: Why Women Will Lead the Way – Nov. 20, 2014
Katrina Alcorn | Writer, blogger, experience design consultant and author of Maxed Out: American Moms on the Brink, a look at the juggle of work and family, parent burn out, and what’s wrong with work and how to fix it.
Stacey Brooks Delo | Founder, Maybrooks.com, “where smart moms help each other find flexible careers.” Journalist. Connector. Passionate believer in asking for what you need to strike the right balance for yourself in the workplace.

What's Happening to Me? Hormones & Other "Taboo" Topics – Apr 2, 2015
Jennifer K. Voss, MD | Chair of Department of OB/GYN at Marin General Hospital who has been honored as one of the“Top Doctors in Marin in 2014."
Sujatha D. Pathi, MD | Urogynecologist at Marin General Hospital, a leader in her field who has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and nationally recognized for her research in urogynecology.

The 411: Speak to Me tickets may be purchased individually or as a series of five events. Click here for more information. 

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On October 1, the nearly 4,500-square-foot space at 250 East Blithedale Ave. won’t house a printing shop for the first time in nearly 35 years. 

Mill Valley Services, the print shop owned by Lagunitas resident Dave Semling for the past 25 years, and the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year in 1998 – is shutting down on Tuesday, September 30. The space was home to Mill Valley Printing for nearly a decade before Semling bought it after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

“It was a business that was just too far under water,” Semling says of the reason to shut down. “We’ve had an unbelievably great run here for the first 20 years. We have been so fortunate here in this community – we’ve worked with some of the greatest people you could possibly wish for.”

The property at the corner of East Blithedale and Sycamore avenues, which also includes Tony Tutto Pizza and a warehouse leased by SummerHouse, was sold in 2013 to San Francisco-based Worldco Company, a real estate firm run by Tony and Alvin Chan. Through MacCracken Architects, the new owners have proposed to redevelop the property, demolishing the 1,000-square-foot building that houses Tony Tutto Pizza and remodeling the 9,300-square-foot structure that contains Mill Valley Services and the SummerHouse space. 

The Planning Commission held study sessions on the proposal in November 2013 and again in March 2014. It is expected to hold a public hearing on the proposal in the coming months.

Semling says Mill Valley Services had been struggling financially for many years, first with the economic recession that began in 2008, which saw his business dip by at least 25 percent.

And then the rapid pace at which the printing business has been changing over the past decade made it difficult to take advantage of the economic recovery that followed, Semling says. He says he spent more than $1 million on digital printing equipment over the past five years, taking out lines of credit and using credit cards in the hopes that the business could survive. "But we just kept losing money," he says.

The industry’s technological changes have made it such that a business like his could buy the latest innovative printing equipment and see it become nearly obsolete just a few years later.

Couple that with national Internet-based competitors who can easily compete on price with local and regional independent businesses like his, and Semling says he was looking at a Sisyphean task.

He’s spent the past few weeks readying the transition, helping his nine employees figure out their next steps and having digital files transferred to Strahm Communications in San Rafael, a larger outfit that has already brought on one Semling’s employees.

“The printing businesses that are becoming something to everybody – those are the ones that will survive,” Semling says.

In addition to smoothing the transition as much as possible for employees and his longtime clients, the 75-year-old Semling has been planning for the next chapter of life with his wife Janet. They have to sell their home in Lagunitas in order to pay for their retirement.

“We have less objects around us, but our family is very close, so we’ll be fine,” Semling says, noting that two of his three daughters live in the area.

Ever-evolving business an the heart of Tam Junction begins celebration with an art show on Saturday in San Francisco and a series of local anniversary events on the way.


Proof Lab, the surf and skate shop that has grown into the multi-faceted community epicenter of Tam Junction and is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with an art show in San Francisco Saturday and a series of events this fall, came from decidedly humble beginnings.

Mill Valley native Nate McCarthy and San Anselmo native Will Hutchinson, friends who’d met while working at Marin Surf Sports in Tam Junction, decided to open their own surf shop in a tiny 600-square-foot space in the small Poplar Plaza shopping center near the 7-Eleven on Shoreline Highway. The pair had driven a truck to southern California, bought as much surfing equipment and apparel that they could afford, and filled the tiny shop to the brim (see photos above).

Ten years on, the Mill Valley residents have built a mini-empire whose scale is overshadowed only by its variety and its clear vision for how to build community. Across 15,000 square feet at the corner of Shoreline Hwy. and Almonte Blvd., Proof Lab and its partners and subtenants have taken what was once a tiny surf shop and turned it into a hub that includes the Proof Lab surf and skate shop, the Proof Lab Station outdoor apparel shop, an indoor skate park, the Mill Valley Potter’s Studio, music lessons, a biodiesel station, the Little Art Studio and the CNL Native Plant Nursery, not to mention Equator Coffees at Proof Lab, whose arrival in 2013 made the space even more of a gathering spot.

“There was a lot of interest and motivation to make something good and different (in 2004), but the definition of that has changed over time as our intentions and our understanding of the world has changed – it’s been a process,” Hutchinson says.

“It’s all been about the same thing – great retail, building community, and connecting people with the arts and outdoors – but that has gone in a lot of different directions depending on what we’ve gotten into and what space has become available,” he adds.

Proof Lab’s biggest leap came in 2011. Although their business was growing at a healthily steady clip, the longstanding availability of a 10,000-square-foot warehouse that had previously been occupied by Webster Gears became enticing.

“It was a huge risk,” Hutchinson says. “The idea had been to take a leap and absorb some more space and hope the business catches up to that and then exceeds it. But this was a huge move – it was a re-invention.”

That changed everything.

It allowed Proof Lab to move the traditional surf and skate shop into the new space and add the skate park, rooms for music lessons and significantly more storage for inventory. And it allowed to put what is now Proof Lab Station – and outdoor apparel shop that features brands like Patagonia, Filson and Pendleton – in the former gas station space right on Shoreline.

Soon thereafter, the pair leased another 3,000 square feet in a partnership with the dog kennel and grooming business AlphaDog. Launching with a pumpkin patch around Halloween 2011, the venture became the GROW Art & Garden Center, testing a variety of community-oriented ideas. They eventually coalesced into three independent subtenants – Mill Valley Potter’s Studio, Little Art Studio and the CNL Native Plant Nursery.

Two years later, with Equator Coffees & Teas looking to expand their well-established wholesale business with some retail cafes, co-owner Helen Russell and Hutchinson connected on the long-vacant space on the streetfront side of the property. Equator has taken Proof Lab’s distinct sense of community to another level, Hutchinson says.

"Our partnership with Proof Lab has exceeded our expectations - Will and Nate have built a very special business that focuses on the local community, our shared values of making an impact and connection has made for a very special collaboration," Russell says.

The ability of McCarthy and Hutchinson to evolve their business, and their moves over the past three years in particular, have drawn rave reviews, including from both their landlord and their subtenants.

“I love them both to death,” says George Kim, whose family owns the entire property that includes Proof Lab and its partners and subtenants, about McCarthy and Hutchinson. “I love the way they approach business. They’re very community oriented – just great guys. And every year it seems there’s something new that they want to do – it’s a great story.”

For the latest new thing, Proof Lab has looked beyond their space in Tam Junction, building an outdoor public skate park in Marin City. They're in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to pay for it, with Proof Lab matching its $5,000 goal. "It could be a really good thing for Southern Marin as we don't have a good public skate park right now," Hutchinson says. 

Jhaya Warmington, an artist and art teacher, met Hutchinson and McCarthy through friends, and jumped at the chance to open Little Art Studio for children as young as 18 months.

“It was a wonderful opportunity,” Warmington says. “To be able to an art program like this in the community when rents are so high is really difficult. But they’ve been so supportive, and they’ve really been mentors for those of us who’ve started these businesses but didn’t understand how to run a business in the beginning.”

For Hutchinson, there was never a blueprint for what the brand and the property would become. Instincts and a bit of serendipity have certainly helped.

“Our interests and our thinking has changed over time,” he says. “When we started all this, we weren’t thinking about biodiesel and ceramics and music lessons and coffee. But none of it’s a surprise either. It all makes sense now and it all feels right.”

The 411: On Saturday, Sept. 27 at 6pm, Proof Lab kicks off its 10-year Anniversary Celebration with a 'Living in Transition' Art Show at Ian Ross Gallery, 466 Brannan St., San Francisco. The show features a host of artists that have worked with Proof Lab directly over the years or indirectly through one of the brands the shop carries, including locals like Zio Ziegler and Mike Shine. The show runs through Oct. 15. Click here for more info.

The Mill Valley Public Library’s Centennial Celebration in 2011 had a pair of notable outcomes: recognition for one of Mill Valley’s hallmark institutions and its ability to evolve in the digital age, and a shot of fundraising adrenaline for the once-disparate organizations dedicated to supporting that institution.

At the Mill Valley Library Foundation’s Beyond the Book Bash Saturday night at the Throckmorton Theatre, the celebration continued with a group of star-studded group of talent from literary, comedic and musical arts. And library supporters’ ability to raise money showed no signs of slowing down.

Foundation officials reported Tuesday that the event raised another $124,000 to support Library programs and services, and that the foundation has raised more than $1 million for an endowment and financial support of programs such as First Fridays and After Hours events; children and teen programming and digital entertainment. 

"Programs like these make the library more relevant than ever," City Librarian Anji Brenner said.

“We want to blow your mind about what a library can be in a community,” MVLF board chair Andy Mercy told the crowd of more than 200 people. “Tonight is a celebration of your thirst for knowledge and the library’s ability to quench that thirst.”

That thirst was quenched Saturday night from every angle, with local comedian Mark Pitta keeping the night moving swiftly with joke-laden segues, including light jabs at City Hall: “I almost didn’t make it here tonight on Miller Avenue; man, someday they might give us drivers our own lane!” and book sales in the digital age: “The title of my new book is ‘Add to Cart.’”

The night’s entertainment included:

• Tam High student Emma Weinswig reading her poem “26 Seconds,” which juxtaposed the rate of high school dropouts in the U.S. and the struggles of children in places like Afghanistan, where the Taliban “scare dreamers into silence.”
• A reading by local author Holly Payne from her new book Damascena: The Tale of Roses and Rumi that took the audience to Turkey in 1270. Payne brought the unparalleled poet Mevlana Rumi to life, unraveling the mystery surrounding a legendary orphaned girl who discovers her gift of turning roses into oil.
• Tam Valley actor, author and ubiquitous documentary narrator (including Ken Burns’ The Roosevelts) Peter Coyote gave a wildly entertaining reading about a youthful jaunt through Mexico from his latest book, The Rainman’s Third Cure, a spiritual memoir that will be published by Counterpoint Press in spring 2015. 
• In a hilarious chat with Pitta, legendary comedian and political humor pioneer Mort Sahl spoke about Last Man Standing: The Life and Passion of Mort Sahl, author James Curtis’ impending biopgraphy, with Sahl drawing raucous laughter with lines like: “There are many wives to chase down and they’ll tell him, ‘Every minute with him was pure hell,’” and “It wasn’t a very puritanical life, but it was a whole lot of fun.”
• Joined by piano, drums and Beyond the Book Bash producer Tom Corwin on bass, longtime Santana singer Tony Lindsay gave a spirited performance, while New Tork Times best-selling author Tom Barbash delivered a reading from "The Break," a story about a newly single mother who in interferes in her son's love life over his Christmas vacation from college – part of Stay Up With Me, his 2013 collection of stories that explore the myriad ways we try to connect with one another and with the sometimes cruel world around us. 

But while the readings, the music and the performances were stellar, it was the tributes to the library itself that stood out.

• "Hi I’m Mark and I have a Library Card," Pitta quipped at the evening's outset.
  
• "The Mill Valley Library is showing the way in how to stay relevant in the digital age," Corwin said.
  
• "Our library is a ridiculopusly beautiful place," Barbash said.
  
• "I’m so excited to see all these people out here for this secret leftist institution, the library, paid for by your tax dollars – how discreet," Coyote joked.

"For thousands of years the library has been a vital repository for knowledge and books, a place to explore and touch the physical world," Mercy said. "In Mill Valley, we are blessed also by a place of beauty that nurtures contemplation and collaboration. Tonight's event celebrates that legacy and the innovation that keeps it relevant in today's changing world."

Click here for more information of the 31-year-old Mill Valley Library Foundation.

For the past three weeks and through mid-October, one film has the distinction of being played in theaters across Marin before hundreds of screenings and events in advance of and during the 37th Mill Valley Film Festival.

That distinction belongs to the festival’s trailer, which was conceived by San Rafael resident and Pixar visual effects editor David Tanaka as the idea that “one can find calm amidst all of the noise that surrounds us,” according to Mill Valley filmmaker Gary Yost, who shot every frame of the trailer and applied his much-heralded time-lapse photography talents to create the trailer, which shows the main character finds peace as a sea of people whizz by him in his jaunt from the Depot Bookstore & Café to the Cinearts @ Sequoia Theatre for the opening night of MVFF37.

“Movies and the collective enjoyment of movies is more than just mere entertainment,” Tanaka says. “It is instead a shared experience that enriches all of us, for we choose to laugh, cry, experience it together.”

The trailer shows the main character, played by Mill Valley composer and producer Ron Alan Cohen, finishing his coffee at the Depot and heading to the theater at “a normal, leisurely pace, but everyone around him is moving a mile a minute," Tanaka says.

To do so, Cohen and the sea of people whizzing about him were filmed entirely separately, Tanaka says, and visual effects supervisors Jamie Clay and Mike Macklin used a process called rotoscoping to combine, frame by frame, the two camera passes.

“The camera movement (on Cohen) was purposely slowed down greatly so that when you later speed it up to match the first recorded camera movement, the extras are moving at an unnaturally high and jittery rate of activity,” Tanaka says. “You then have your desired effect – mild mannered patron in a sea of frenetic coffee drinkers!”

The technique of blending time-lapse and real-time footage is still a rarity in video production, and Yost used eMotimo Robotic Cameras and custom software to allow him to move the camera exactly the same way in the real-time and high-speed time-lapse passes.

The trailer ends with a shooting star amidst a star-laden sky above Mount Tam, the mountain that has been the hallmark of much of Yost’s work, from his widely lauded film "The Invisible Peak" to his viral video time lapse from the Mount Tamalpais fire lookout, with a bevy of films throughout the 94941 in between.

"The Invisible Peak" screens at MVFF37 on Oct. 4 at 3:30 p.m. at the Smith Rafael Film Center. Click here for more info.

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More than 600 people turned out for the Zero Breast Cancer's 12th Annual Dipsea Hike on Saturday, Sept, 13 in Old Mill Park, raising nearly $70,000 in the process. 

The San Rafael-based nonprofit organization, which focuses on research, prevention and education, has been hosting the event since 2002, seeking to both heighten awareness of the benefits of physical activity in reducing breast cancer as well as raise mont for continued research. The event has raised more than $300,000 in support of ZBC’s research and educational programs and more than 3,100 people have participated.

The Dipsea Hike for Zero Breast Cancer is an all ages noncompetitive 6-mile course starting at the Dipsea steps in Mill Valley. This year’s honorary event chair, inspirational speaker and lead hiker was Astronaut Yvonne Cagle, who graduated from Novato High in 1977. Dr. Cagle Yvonne Cagle was a member of the Astronaut Class of 1996. 

Zero Breast Cancer was founded in 1995 and is a community based organization dedicated to prevention and finding the causes of breast cancer through local participation in the scientific research process. They focus on identifying environmental factors and the role they play in breast cancer at all stages of life and across generations. To find out more about Zero Breast Cancer’s work, visit zerobreastcancer.org

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We're reviving a fun little feature from a past life: Posting interesting photos from around town and asking you to guess the exact location. The first correct answer submitted in our Comments section below gets a prize, to be picked up at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce!
Let's start with a pretty easy one, and a window into Mill Valley's rich entrepreneurial history:

Where in Mill Valley am I? Let us know below in the Comments!

The Mill Valley Library Foundation has made supporting the Library an increasingly entertaining exercise.

The foundation's annual Beyond the Book Bash, set for Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Throckmorton Theatre, features an entertainment program from some of the most well known and multi-talented people in Marin, with comedian Mark Pitta serving as emcee. They include:

• Mill Valley’s own actor, director and screenwriter Peter Coyote
• Internationally published Discover Great New Writers author Holly Payne
• New York Times bestselling writer Tom Barbash
  
• Legendary comedian Mort Sahl
  
• Grammy-winning musician and Santana frontman Tony Lindsay

"The event, for all involved, isn't just about the library," Foundation board member Lynn Brinton said. "It's about our community and how we seek to connect and support the arts. This event raises money so that we can continue to support the arts at the library, as a place to meet and share not only literary arts but music, theatre, and much more."

The Beyond the Book Bash has consistently provided a unique opportunity to see Marin's most talented artists on one stage, often performing new works for this event exclusively. Participants over the years have included Annie Lamott, Joyce Maynard, Maria Muldaur, Tim Hockenberry, The Kitchen Sisters, Jason Roberts, Liss Fain Dance, teen slam poet Billy Butler, Mac Barnett, Chinaka Hodge, Glen David Gold and James Nash.

Proceeds from the event help ensure that the Mill Valley Library "continues to offer the highest-quality programs, technology, and services and remains one of the most celebrated community treasures in Marin," according to the Foundation. 

Foundation officials said they expect to gross more than $100,000 from this year's event. The Foundation has raised more than $250,000 for the Library over the past four years.

The event kicks off at 7pm with a cocktail buffet featuring local food purveyors and specialty beverage makers, and the show begins at 8pm. 

The 411: Tickets are $150 per person. Go here for more info and to buy tickets.

One month after the passing of Robin Williams, the legendary comedian and actor and longtime Mill Valley fixture, hundreds of cyclists gathered at Blackie's Pasture on Sunday morning to begin "Robin's Ride," a jaunt around the famed Paradise Loop ride that Williams loved to do himself for years. The event was organized by the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and featured brief speeches by Coalition Director Jim Elias and famed American cyclist and commentator Bob Roll. Even organizers seems taken aback by the massive turnout.

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For Tam Valley residents pining for the neighborhood grocery store they’ve been missing since December 2010, the wait is over. Well, almost.

Fairfax-based organic foods market Good Earth Natural Foods confirmed their long-in-the-works plans to open a second location in Marin, this time in the 26,000-square-foot space at 207 Flamingo Road that has been vacant since DeLano's IGA Market closed the week of Dec. 17, 2010, one of five DeLano's markets in Marin and San Francisco that shut down as part of a mass eviction of the struggling grocery chain.

Good Earth officials said they are in the planning stages of an "total renovation and aesthetic transformation" of the building under the guidance of Santa Cruz-based C/D/M Crocker-Fry, which designed and built Good Earth's Fairfax store. They are projecting that the store will open in Fall 2015.

Good Earth opened in 1969 at 123 Bolinas Avenue in Fairfax. In response to growing demand, the company moved to 1966 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at the end of 2000, and opened its current 22,000-square-foot store in Fairfax store in February 2012 "to meet the needs of our customers who requested a larger store with more selection store-wide, wider aisles, additional check-out stands, and indoor seating."

“We have received many requests for a store in Southern Marin from folks seeking a more organic choice,” said Mark Squire, one of two partners at Good Earth. “Although organic food is still a bit pricier, we know that enough people recognize the superior quality and safety of organic food to support a store with Good Earth's commitment. We look forward to serving a new community with healthful food.”

“Along with meeting the additional market demand for what we already do, it also brings me great pleasure knowing our staff will continue to grow too - this opportunity represents real leadership growth opportunities for many current Good Earthlings,” Partner Al Baylacq added.

Good Earth officials are asking potential 94941 customers to take this survey about their new store as they seek to gather feedback on the community's priorities.

For more than a year as it underwent repairs for water damage and sat vacant, the space formerly occupied by Champagne French Bakery Cafe was at the center of the Mill Valley rumor mill: What was going to move into the prominent space at 41 Throckmorton Ave., where Champagne had been since 2002 and where the legendary deli/cafe Sonapa Farms had been from 1959 to 1995 (with a Noah's Bagels stint from 1998 to 2000 in between)?

Mill Valley has its answer, as Karen Goldberg, whose TamalPie Pizzeria has become a fixture on Miller Avenue since it opened in May 2011, plans to open Playa, a "modern Mexican serving authentic Oaxacan cuisine," Goldberg says. 

Goldberg says she's excited to bring a new restaurant to downtown, particularly into the former Champagne space. 

"I've always loved that space and I feel like it's been under-utilized," she says. "We need healthful, local, organic Mexican food in town – something that is family-friendly and casual yet sophisticated."

The moniker, the Spanish language word for beach, reflects the fact that "when you walk in, you'll feel relaxed and able to just hang out," Goldberg says, noting that she hopes to make some use of the outdoor space behind the building as well. "Put your feet in the sand, have a beer or a margarita (Playa will have a full bar) and a taco and relax."

Goldberg plans to submit a conditional use permit (CUP) application to the City of Mill Valley for the 2,000-square-foot space later this month and hopes to get a hearing within the next two months. 

Goldberg, whose sister Susan Griffin-Black is the co-founder of EO Products, which has a retail shop in downtown Mill Valley, is no newcomer to the restaurant business. More than two decades ago, she opened Rustico restaurant in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill district. A native of Pittsburgh, Pa. who has lived in Mill Valley for nearly 30 years, Goldberg closed Rustico in 1996 and then bought Annabelle’s, in the space that is now Vasco on Throckmorton Ave. at Bernard Street.

“I only had it open and running for a year and then I got pregnant and I couldn’t stand the smell of food,” Goldberg says with laugh. She sold Annabelle’s to chef Chris Majer, who then opened Vasco predecessor the Frog and the Peach.

In 1998, Goldberg took a break from the restaurant business and started flipping homes – buying houses, remodeling them and selling them. When the bottom dropped out of the real estate market, she eyed a return to the restaurant business.

“The real estate drop forced me to go back to what I really know,” Goldberg said.

Stay tuned for more details on Playa as Goldberg and her team navigate the permit process.

Hilary Swank, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Jason Reitman, Elle Fanning and Eddie Redmayne are among the stars set to appear, with each of the four members of legendary Bay Area rock band Metallica serving as Artists in Residence.

The California Film Institute unveiled its 37th Mill Valley Film Festival on Tuesday, a lineup loaded with Academy Award winning actors, likely 2015 Oscar contenders, Hollywood luminaries, emerging stars and a slate that is chock-full of far-reaching range of international flair and documentaries, including a robust menu of music docs.

The 11-day event, set for Oct. 2-12, will once again take over venues in downtown Mill Valley and across Marin. The festival has attracted appearances from a number of big name stars, with Hilary Swank, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Jason Reitman, Elle Fanning, Eddie Redmayne all set to appear. In addition, each of the four members of legendary Bay Area rock band Metallica are serving as Artists in Residence, individually selecting a film to screen at MVFF37 and appearing at that event. Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong will appear at the US Premiere of Like Sunday, Like Rain, in which he makes his acting debut alongside Leighton Meester and Debra Messing. Meester will be in attendance with Armstrong and director Frank Whaley.

The festival has become one of the key predictors of Oscar success, as five out of the last six Academy Award winners for Best Picture (Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech, The Artist, Argo and 12 Years A Slave) were screened at MVFF with filmmakers and cast members in attendance.

Opening Night – Oct. 2

The Homesman – Two-time Academy Award-winning actress Hilary Swank stars as the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy, tasked with saving three women living on the edge of the American frontier and transporting them by covered wagon to Iowa. Cuddy employs a feisty low-life drifter, George Biggs (director Tommy Lee Jones), to join her. The film screens at CineArts at Sequoia Theatre in downtown Mill Valley, and will be followed by an Opening Night Gala at the Corte Madera Town Center, with Swank expected to appear at both events. Thursday, October 2 at 6:45PM & 7PM at the CinéArts@Sequoia. Click here for more info.

Men, Women & Children – Director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air) will premiere his latest film, the story of a group of teenagers and their parents as they attempt to navigate the many ways the internet has changed their relationships, their communication, their self-images and their love lives. Reitman and Ansel Elgort, best known for his starring role in hit film The Fault in Our Stars, will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening. Thursday, October 2 at 7PM at Century Cinema Corte Madera. Click here for more info.

Opening Night Gala – After those screenings, the party moves to the Corte Madera Town Center, with food from Balboa Café, Big Jim’s BBQ, Caribbean Spices, Equator Coffees, Il Fornaio, Johnny Doughnuts, Judy’s Breadsticks, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Pig in a Pickle and Pizza Antica. Lagunitas Brewing Company and local wineries are providing libations, with live music from The Brothers Comatose, hot off their performance at Outside Lands and US tour, and tunes spun by The Crackerjack DJs. Thursday, October 2 from 9PM – Midnight at Town Center Corte Madera. Click here for more info. 
 
Spotlight on Elle Fanning: Low Down – Elle Fanning launched her career at the age of three, and now, at the age of 16, has built an accomplished body of work and is the subject of a Spotlight event. The evening will feature a screening of her latest film, Low Down, and will be followed by a live on-stage conversation. Elle Fanning stars in the film as Amy-Jo, the teenage daughter to the gifted but troubled jazz-pianist Joe Albany (John Hawkes). Saturday, October 4 at 7PM at Smith Rafael Film Center. Click here for more info. 

Soul of a Banquet special screening with Wayne Wang and Cecilia Chiang – The Mill Valley Film Festival is proud to honor the contributions of renowned local filmmaker Wayne Wang and the subject of his new film, legendary culinary artist Cecilia Chiang, with a special screening of Soul Of A Banquet. The film, a moving tribute to Cecilia Chiang, the celebrity chef who changed the face of Chinese food and culture in the Bay Area, will be followed by an on-stage conversation with Wayne Wang and Cecilia Chiang. Sunday, October 5 at 5PM at Smith Rafael Film Center. Click here for more info. 

Centerpiece Film: Black and White – Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer star in Mike Binder’s latest film, which follows an attorney (Costner) who becomes entangled in a custody battle with his bi-racial granddaughters paternal grandmother (Spencer) following the death of his wife and daughter. Mike Binder will be in attendance for the screening. Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30PM at Smith Rafael Film Center. Click here for more info.

Spotlight on Eddie Redmayne: The Theory of Everything – Having already won an Olivier and Tony Award for his work on John Logan’s acclaimed Red, and garnered recognition for his roles in Les Miserables, and My Week With Marilyn, actor Eddie Redmayne has established himself as one of the most promising actors of his generation. The Spotlight program on Redmayne features a screening of his latest film, The Theory Of Everything in which he plays a young Stephen Hawking. A discussion with Redmayne follows the screening. Thursday, October 9 at 7PM at Smith Rafael Film Center. Click here for more info.

Tribute to Chuck Workman: Magician – In addition to creating short films and openings for 20 Academy Award presentations, Chuck Workman has directed the Oscar-winning short Precious Images, produced several documentaries, and edited main titles and sequences for countless film and television series. With his latest film Magician, Workman pays homage to Orson Welles, and MVFF37 is recognizing his work with a special Tribute. Workman will be in-person for the screening and a post-screening conversation. Friday, October 10 at 7PM at Smith Rafael Film Center. Click here for more info.

Closing Night – Oct. 12 

Wild with a Tribute To Laura Dern – Academy Award-nominated actress Laura Dern will be presented with a special Tribute. Born into the movie business as the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, Laura Dern has starred in numerous acclaimed films including Wild At Heart, Rambling Rose, Inland Empire and Blue Velvet. This event will feature an onstage conversation with Dern and a clip reel highlighting her past work including previews of her latest film Wild, in which Reese Witherspoon stars in Jean-Marc Vallée’s (DALLAS BUYERS CLUB) adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s best selling memoir, a striking account of the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail trek she undertook to grieve the death of her mother (Dern) and give closure to her troubled past. Sunday, October 12 at 5PM at CinéArts@Sequoia and Smith Rafael Film Center. Click here for more info.

Closing Night Gala – The festival will wrap following the screenings at the Elks Lodge where film goers will enjoy live music performed by Danny Click and the Hell Yeas and tunes spun by DJ Richard Habib. Food from Sol Food, Teresa & Johnny’s Comfort Food, Big Jim’s BBQ, and West End Café among others. Sunday, October 12 at 7:30PM at Maple Lawn Estate at the Elks Lodge. Click here for more info.

Metallica: MVFF Artists in Residence – Metallica, locals and longtime friends of the festival, are serving as Artists in Residence for MVFF37. Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Robert Trujillo have each selected a film to host at the festival and will be present to introduce and discuss their chosen films.

• Kirk Hammett, a noted horror movie aficionado presents an unadulterated, schlock-filled, Z-movie euphoria, late night screening of the 1971 favorite Dracula Vs. Frankenstein.Friday, October 3 at 10PM at Smith Rafael Film Center.
• Robert Trujillo brings MVFF audiences a sneak peek at Jaco, the new documentary that brings the story of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius to the screen; produced by Trujillo with John Battsek of Passion Pictures.  Monday, October 6 at 6PM at CinéArts@Sequoia.
• Lars Ulrich makes a cutting-edge selection with Whiplash. This indie feature about an aspiring drummer and his ruthless teacher won multiple awards at Sundance this year. Following the screening, director-screenwriter Damien Chazelle will join Lars on stage for a conversation. Tuesday, October 7 at 7PMat Century Cinema Corte Madera.
• James Hetfield’s classic pick The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is in all its restored, big-screen glory. Wednesday, October 8 at 7PM at Century Cinema Corte Madera.

Children’s Film Fest
Music dominates this year’s family films. Whether it’s the hip-shaking beat of Brazil or the lilting of 1940s swing, most of our programs will have you dancing your way out of the theater after the credits roll. The Boy And The World starts with simple washes of color and samba and ends with neon cityscapes, hip-hop, and scarcely a word spoken. In France’s 3D animation Minuscule: Valley Of The Lost Ants, there are no frantic melodies but instead a lovely, upbeat score that complements the action as our ant friends move sugar cubes across perilous landscapes. 

Movies in the Park
In partnership with the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and the City of Mill Valley's Recreation Department, MVFF37 is presenting a free screening of the 1941 animation by the Fleischer Brothers, Hoppity Goes To Town, a takeoff on Jimmy Stewart films that will have everyone swinging to jazz and crooning love songs. Click here for more info.
 
Live Events 
A Musical Celebration of Jaco honors the pioneering jazz musician Jaco Pastorius and feature a work-in-progress screening of Jaco, a documentary from Stephen Kijak, which captures the story of Jaco Pastorius. The evening will be hosted by Robert Trujillo and will feature MAERIC with Mary Pastorius, David Pastorius and Eric Young, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo of Metallica, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, L. Shankar and other special guests. The event is a benefit for the California Film Institute. Monday, October 6 at 9PM at Sweetwater Music Hall. Click here for more info.
 
Professional comedians and award-winning filmmakers weave together film and live stand-up comedy for a unique storytelling experience in 3 Still Standing – On Stage!. The evening will be part film, and part stand up with the world premiere of 3 Still Standing, a documentary about local comedians Will Durst, Larry “Bubbles” Brown, and Johnny Steele. Following the film, the 3 comedians will take the stage for a live stand-up act. Saturday, October 4 at 8PM at 142 Throckmorton Theatre. Click here for more info.
 
With Robin Williams: A Celebration, MVFF37 hosts an informal celebration of the life of one of the most beloved and brilliant members of the Bay Area film community. The event will feature footage from his appearances at the Mill Valley Film Festival, including a spontaneous routine with his mentor Jonathan Winters, as well as his 1988 MVFF trailer, in which, playing campy film critic Lex Leed, he interviewed himself as five different filmmakers. More details and guests TBA. This is a free event, but will be ticketed. Sunday, October 5 at 1PM at 142 Throckmorton Theatre. Click here for more info. 

Other Major Film Screenings

In addition to the bevy of special events, MVFF37 features screenings of a number of major films, including:

• Director Bennett Miller won the Best Director Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for his latest film Foxcatcher, a dark drama starring Steve Carrel, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.
  
• Director Morten Tyldum directs Benedict Cumberbatch as the British mathematician Alan Turning in The Imitation Game.
  
• The German drama Beloved Sisters about two aristocratic sisters who find themselves in a love triangle with poet Fredrich Schiller.
  
• Olivier Assayas’ Cannes Film Festival selection Clouds Of Sils Maria starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz.
  
• The Israeli drama Gett: The Trial Of Viviane Amsalem which will make its US Premiere at the festival.
  
• David Dobkin’s drama The Judge starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall.
  
• Lynn Shelton’s latest film Laggies starring Keira Knightley, Sam Rockwell and Chloë Grace Moretz.
  
• Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong will be in attendance for the US Premiere of Like Sunday, Like Rain in which he makes his acting debut alongside Leighton Meester and Debra Messing. Meester will be in attendance with Armstrong and director Frank Whaley.
  
• Xavier Dolan’s Cannes Jury Prize Winning film MOMMY
  
• Timothy Spall won Best Actor honors at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Mr. Turner; the Dardenne Brothers’ (Jean-Pierre and Luc) latest film Two Days, One Night starring Marion Cotillard.
  
• A special screening of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back with Skywalker Sound veterans Matthew Wood and David Acord on hand to discuss the sounds of the Star Wars universe.

Click here for more info on the 37th Mill Valley Film Festival.

By Ronnie Sharpe, from Ronnie’s Awesome List

Want to hear something funny? Go find a comedian. How about 3! 3 Blonde Moms are rolling into Marin with their hilarious hit comedy show called "3 Blonde Moms....See How They Run!" I sat down with Joanie Fagan, the Bossy Mom, creator and producer of the show to see how these 3 friends with their own successful comedy careers came together. They perform on Sept. 18 at 8pm at the Throckmorton Theatre.

Q. Hit me (but not too hard please) with a pitch on your upcoming show? Give me a brief me on each of the 3 Blonde Moms?
Joanie Fagan: We are 3 unlikely friends that live in The Valley but this last month both Beaumont Bacon and Donna Cherry hubbies are now employed on the east coast but we are still a trio. The 3 of us are so distinctly different that none of our material overlaps.

• I am perky mom. That Martha Stewart wannabe but I fall short of being perfect or being Martha Stewart. I’m always one craft away from snapping. I think I’m perfect but I’ll walk out of the house with a velcro roller on the back of my head.
• Beaumont is the feisty mom. She tells it like it is. Beaumont is a 5ft. whipper snapper from Texas and it doesn’t get any feistier then that. She is in a different phase of her life. Her children are older and she’s re-learning how to date her husband again. Reentering that phase of her life she is so use to bossing people around she says to her husband at the movies “Get me some popcorn! Oh, I mean, I love you!”
• Donna is the hot momma. Always perfect with her make-up and heals. Donna actually is a former Ms. California, a Juliard trained singer, use to open for Barry Manalow and does these amazing singing impressions of famous moms. She is very girlie, loves pink and has 2 boys 7 & 17 so she has great boy jokes.

So, if you are not one of us, you know one us.

Q. How is juggling motherhood and a career working out for you?
All things go back to being a good mom. I am lucky because I get to work in spurts. 3 Blonde Moms performs 1-2 times a month and then I am a stay-at-home mom 90% of the time. The kids get to travel with us to really cool places like Washington DC and San Francisco. Half of the time we perform, we donate the show for charity. One year I donated the show to Save the Tata’s which was on the Royal Caribbean in the Bahamas. It a great balance. I am home most of the time, I make an income for the family, I get to make other families happy and my 13 year old daughter will not let me leave the house in sweats. I love what I do. I meet women who haven’t been out in so long and it’s so therapeutic. They laugh so hard they cry, it’s like a release. Laugher heals. Laughter is jogging on the inside. At the end of a 90 minute show people say "I feel better, lighter, refreshed, I can start the new day." We forget how important laughing
is.

Q. My 10 year old daughter says she wants to be a paleontologist and a comedian. Were you a funny kid? What advice would you give to a kid who wants to be a comedian?
Yes, I was funny kid. I took a lot of acting, drama and improv classes. I was at Harvey Lembecks Comedy Workshop for six years and then I joined The Groundlings. I suggest as soon as your daughter can, join an improv class. You learn timing and find out what you are funny at. Some people are funny writers, some are funny characters, some are physically funny, some people just stand there and have such a dry wit. Get her into acting or improv classes as soon as she can so she can start exercising that muscle. And also she should still focus on paleontology and keep going in that direction. I have a journalism degree from USC and it was something I could always fall back on and I use it now when I write press releases. You can’t be diverse enough. The more you have in life, the more you can talk about it and reflect it on stage. Her interest is so fascinating and specific that her talking about that or relating it to life and tying it all together is very unique.

Q. Who did you admire or influenced you to become a stand up?
Sadly we lost Joan Rivers and Robin Williams so recently. Both of those people have had a thread through my life as either motivators or people I looked up to. And then I met Robin twice at the Throckmorton Theatre which was amazing to me because I’m also an actor and he’s been able to successfully live in both worlds. He was just so nice. Joan Rivers always said “Stand up comedy is a calling” because it’s so odd that we would want to go on stage and tell jokes to people and make them laugh. It’s so hard at the beginning when you don’t have enough material but it is a calling.

Q. How do you envision 3 Blonde Moms in the future?
3 Blonde Moms has been a live stage show for 12 years. And I do other things, I have a vod-cast (video podcast) called The Joanie Show. I did 10 episodes for the Jon Lovitz Podcast Theatre - I LOVED IT. I finally got to use my journalism degree and interview great people. It was a lot of fun. The thing I want to do next is go into movies. "The Adventures of the 3 Blonde Moms" because we are so different from each other - we can take adventures to Vegas or go camping. Like the Vacation movies but more PG and showcase the things we naturally go through. I envision one of the moms would only communicate with her kids through texting back and forth - we never see the kids just their hands. Moms are just amazing!

Q. What do your spouses and kids think of your act? What compromises have you had to make? Is there territory that they ask you not to talk about?
The spouses are cool with it. Actually, we don’t talk about them much. I know a lot of comics are more "male bashing." We talk about ourselves and how we fit into the world. The in-laws, you have to explain, I might say a thing or 2 but it’s done in the best of ways. For instance, my husbands 4 sister all came to my wedding pregnant and they were all bridesmaids. We had to keep adding panels to their dresses. So I just line them up in order of trimester. They got progressively larger as they walked down the aisle. It was ok, I came down feeling “Oh, look how fit I am." Its all in fun - they’re ok about it.
The kids we talk about them sometimes. For instance, with my 13 year old, I can only shop at certain stores like Brandy Melville. On the door it says one size fits all. So, I
walked up to the counter and said to the clerk, "One size fits all?" And he looked at me up and down and he says "Well, not all." I thought, Hmph! I think I’ll go try on all your stretchy clothes NOW. Things happen - we’re kind of talking about the kids but in the friendliest of ways and experiences we go through. They love that we make people laugh.

Q. You each had successful careers in show business. What made you realize you wanted to collaborate together and create a stand up routine? When did you get that ah ha moment?
I birthed my child and a couple of years later I birthed the show. When I did stand up while I was pregnant and talking about my experiences about anticipating being a mom, people listened. I realized it’s so interesting and no one is talking about that. Then when I had my daughter I was talking about being a mom. People were leaning in, nodding their head and relating to what I was talking about. Before that, my material might have been funny but it wasn’t relatable or real until I became a mom. I thought, I’m perky and blonde so wouldn’t would be really funny to have 3 totally different moms on stage? The title came from the nursery rhyme “3 Blind Mice" but said “3 Blonde Moms...See How They Run” and the title clicked. Diversity on the stage just took off. We were selling out shows in advance. My favorite part is meeting other moms with the same experiences. I found a niche that’s underrepresent.

Q. How old are your kids? Who has the funniest kid and why?
We all have funny kids in their own way. Beaumont has 2 girls 10 & 15 and the whole family is funny. Donna's 7 year old wants to be Indiana Jones and runs around with a hat and whip and her 17 year old is funny. My 13 year old daughter is funny. She makes me laugh all the time. Years ago, I walked into a room and turned on the light and my daughter said, “No, no mommy. You look so much better in the dark.” And I looked at her and said “Aw, thank you honey." It was so adorable.

Q. So, do you write your own routines or do your kids?
Ha, we all write our own material. From the beginning, I talk about how different we are, how different our husbands, kids, background, etc. By the time we go one stage together it’s like you already know us.

Q. Did your parents support your dreams? Is "funny" in your genetic make up?
When I was growing I took acting classes. My dad is a lawyer and he thought I’d grow out of it. I never did. So he said, well, just go to college and get a degree and then you can do that as your minor. So I did. I went to college in journalism but minored in theater and went to improv classes. It was my path all along. When I was little, I was always performing so my parents eventually thought she is actually good and motivated and they did get behind me. I have a head for business and I’m creative. Just the fact that I was creating this whole act on my own my parents always said they are so proud of me. They have come to every show that is close by in LA. Sadly, my mom passed away last year. My dad is 86, still practices law, still comes to shows, and still couldn’t be more proud.

Q. They say "if you don't ask you don't get.” Of course, you need talent too. What lengths have you gone through to go after what you want and standing up for yourself?
You can listen to “no" all day long but I carved my own path, and we fill these rooms and get repeat audiences who want to hear from us. As Joan Rivers said, that is where "the calling comes" in. It’s almost an undeniable course that we are set on because it can be challenging and difficult and there is sexism and ageism. It’s better now but luckily I created 3 Blonde Moms out of thin air and we are all out there and the audience proves we, and all other moms, have something important to talk about, that's relatable and significant. The proof is in the actual results so I don’t have to pay attention to all that stuff luckily.

Q. Funniest person ever - past and present?
I was immersed in comedy since I was a baby. Growing up, Carol Burnett and her whole cast, Tim Conway and Harvey Corman, made me laugh so hard. When I started doing stand-up, one night at the Improv, Tim and Harvey were hosting and they brought me on stage. I was speechless. Beaumont is one of the funniest people I've ever met. Robin Williams was one of my most favorite as both an actor and comic. Joan Rivers, I saw her as a teenager in the Catskills and fell out of my chair laughing so hard. Watching her on E as the fashion police was so funny. She forged the path for women. There weren’t many women doing stand up when I started. I was just behind Kathy Griffin, Rosie, and Ellen who are all great. People on Saturday Night Live - off and on, Gilda Radner when I was in college. I always loved Peter Sellers. Current comedians, so many - Kathy Griffin still makes me laugh, she is unique with her own way, Zach Galifianakis, Steve Martin, Jamie Fox, just so many.

Q. Parenthood is already a stand up act on a good day. What recommendations do you have to other moms and dads out there who want to consider stand up or writing humor especially about parenthood?
Just write, especially in the beginning. I wrote down everything. I always had a pad or paper and pen ready to write. If it is funny to you, it’s probably funny to other people. The next step is get on stage and start doing it. There are open mic nights where you can try it out for 5 minutes and even if they don’t laugh eventually you’ll find your rhythm where you’ll fine-tune your punchlines and figure out new material, get rid of what doesn’t work and keep what does. It’s a whole process. I teach at the San Francisco Comedy College a couple times a year. It’s a great place. I love teaching comedy because l love what I do so much and I can share it with other people. Almost anyone can be funny, and if you have a passion for it, you just need a little guidance.

Q. Stand-up comics write "savers," funny comebacks for the things that can go wrong. Envision yourself on stage and various scenarios are bound to happen. What is the first thing that comes to your head when I say:

• Hecklers? Drunk - usually in theaters they don’t heckle although you’ll occasionally hear a mom say "Right On!" In comedy clubs they serve alcohol and shows are later, so heckling happens all the time. Sometimes it’s funny or can be a minefield. Your instinct has to say to I want to participate or is this a sinking ship. Sometimes it can be funny banter and I learn from it. I have a bit about being past puma and past cougar and I thought, what would be funny past cougar and I thought badger. But someone yelled out saber tooth - that was funny.
• Bombing a joke? (i.e. they don’t laugh) Awkward
• Offending an audience member? More awkward

Q. What do you tell yourself on days when you really don't want to get out there? How do you stay motivated, focused, fresh and original?
The show must go on. At the end of the day and we’re professionals. Like yesterday, we found out about Joan Rivers passing but there were comedians booked and they were so sad about her passing but Joan Rivers, above of, would want us to go on stage and be funny. The last thing Joan and Robin would want is for anyone to be sad.

Q. Where else will you all be performing while you are here?
Beside our performance on September 18th, 8pm, I will also be at The Mark Pitta Show at the Throckmorton Theatre on Tuesday September 16th. Beaumont Bacon does the spicier version of her act Friday and Saturday at The Legendary Purple Onion in San Francisco (where Joan Rivers spent a year perfecting her act.) Use code word "blonde" and get $2 off.

Q. Finish this sentence - The best thing about being a comedian is.....?
Free therapy, I get to go on stage and talk about what ever I want and I have a captive audience.

Q. What does being a comedian mean to you?
Aw, sweet question because of losing 2 of my comic heroes. I feel like I have the ability and gift to bring laughter and joy and we need that so much that I am grateful I can do that.

Q. Are you going to write a joke about this conversation?
I don’t have any jokes but I did have a lot of laughter in the conversation.

Aw, thank you Joanie!

Ten months after his FXX show “Totally Biased” was canceled midseason, longtime Bay Area comic gets ready to record a comedy special as many of the greats like the late Robin Williams have done – by trying out some new material at Mill Valley’s laugh house.

In the days and weeks after the August 11th death of legendary comedian and actor Robin Williams, tributes poured from around the globe, from fellow Hollywood icons to local residents who were amazed at Williams’ grace and generosity upon their interaction with him over the years.

But few of those tributes could match the gratitude of that of W. Kamau Bell, a veteran Bay Area comedian who had met Williams a number of times over the years. Bell recounted a story on the heels of his performance at the same event as Williams, a benefit for the Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco:

“And then one day out of the blue I got an email from an email address that didn’t have the words ‘Robin’ or ‘Williams’ anywhere in it, but it was him. And he told me that my stand-up was a ‘revelation’ and ‘you got the spark.’ Robin had no idea how often I thought of the fact that HE thought I had ‘the spark.’ He had no idea that those simple words helped dig me out of my own dark corners and emotional dead ends. Even now I spend more time offstage wondering if this career makes any sense for me than I spend onstage doing it. And his simple words have often made a difference in me getting up and getting at it again and again.” (Click here to read Bell’s full tribute)

Bell is indeed “getting up and getting at it again.”

Ten months after “Totally Biased,” his late-night comedy show produced by Chris Rock on FX (and later FXX) was canceled in the midst of its second season, Bell is set to perform at the Throckmorton Theatre on Thursday, Sept. 11, part of a series of shows he’s doing to prepare for a much larger comedy tour and, in January, the recording of a comedy special that he’ll be shopping around to “the titans of show business” in Los Angeles in a few weeks.

The Throckmorton is far from unfamiliar territory for Bell, who actually was on the bill the night that local legend Mark Pitta began his now decade-old Mark Pitta & Friends Tuesday Night Comedy showcase. He shared the stage that night in 2004 with Pitta and Dan St. Paul, and has been back a number of times over the years.

We spoke with Bell about the craziness of his past two years and his upcoming plans. 

Enjoy Mill Valley: What’s life been like since your show ended?
W. Kamau Bell: You know how you have half the time you were in a relationship to mourn that relationship? I’m still in that phase where I’m allowed to talk sh** about my ex. It was a whirlwind. It was a great car accident. Getting a TV show turns your life upside down and now it’s kind of strewn all across my mental highway.

Enjoy Mill Valley: You and your wife and daughter moved to New York to do the show. Are you back in the Bay Area now?
W. Kamau Bell: I’m actually in LA right at this moment, but we live in Berkeley. We thought for a while about whether we should stay in New York, but then my wife got pregnant, so it was, ‘Do we want to have a baby in New York City?’ That sounded like a reality show that I wouldn’t want to watch. Most of my wife’s family is from the Monterey area, and I have 15 years of friends in the Bay Area, so it made sense for us as a family to come back. And with things like planes, emails and phones, you can stay connected to places like New York and LA from the Bay Area.

Enjoy Mill Valley: Give me a sense of what this series of stand-up shows you’re doing is all about.
W. Kamau Bell: With the show, I wasn’t doing a lot of stand-up. I did a tour in the spring and now this is me getting ready to do a much bigger tour and recording my first comedy special. 

Enjoy Mill Valley: Why play the Throckmorton?
W. Kamau Bell: (Founder and executive director) Lucy (Mercer) has always been great, has always been really supportive. I’ve played there a bunch since that first time with Mark (Pitta), so I’ve got some Mill Valley street cred (laughs). The Throckmorton's legend is that comics go there to push themselves and present new vistas. I’m excited to take part in that.

Enjoy Mill Valley: Your tribute to Robin Williams was fantastic. 
W. Kamau Bell: That thing could have been 3-4 times as long. Every time I saw him, I felt like I had gotten into the club. I introduced myself to him every time – but he would always remember my name  and ask me when I was doing shows. I often felt like I probably didn’t push as hard as I could have in connecting with him. I just didn’t want to be a person who was ever perceived as someone who wanted to know to him. We weren’t friends. But the amazing thing that struck me was that Robin “got me” with Mork when I was a kid, and then he “got me” again as an adult. That’s incredible.

Enjoy Mill Valley: Did you miss doing stand-up?
W. Kamau Bell: The incredibly complicated nature of doing a TV show certainly made me a fan of doing stand-up comedy. I crave contact with the audience, and with 'Totally Biased,' I was always like, ‘Can we get the audience closer to me? This isn’t just about me. This is about me talking to these people.' So yeah, the stand-up experience is much more intimate.

Enjoy Mill Valley: Does your set reflect that intimacy? “Totally Biased” was focused largely on current events and the headlines. 
W. Kamau Bell: Yeah, I’ll be talking more about my personal life and how that affected my look at the outside world. We’re about to have another baby, so that inherently makes it much more personal than the TV show since I have the time to talk about those things.

Enjoy Mill Valley: But I imagine you’ll still have plenty to say about the recent events in a certain town near St. Louis.
W. Kamau Bell: What events? I hadn’t heard about that (laughs). Uh, YES, people who follow me on Twitter know I’ve had plenty to say about that.

The 411: W. Kamau Bell performs at the Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Ave., on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 8pm. Click here for more info and to buy tickets.

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