From being named one of America's 20 best small towns by Smithsonian Magazine to more recent love from Conde Nast Traveler, Mill Valley has been on the receiving end of plenty of compliments over the years. But the latest attention to come our way – the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee's "50 Perfect Hours in Mill Valley" – might just make us blush.

Here's the lowdown: The 50th edition of the Super Bowl, the National Football League's championship game and the biggest sporting event in America, is set for February 7, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. The Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, which is raising the money to put on the Super Bowl and managing all of its planning and production, is celebrating some of the top destination towns and cities in the Bay Area, hoping to get attendees of the big game to spend extra time here before and after.

The committee tasked San Francisco writer Katie Morell with creating digests for a series called "50 Perfect Hours." To date, she's highlighted places like Palo Alto, Pebble Beach, Napa Valley and Walnut Creek. In her story, which has since been picked up 7x7 Magazine, Morell describes Mill Valley as "an idyllic town of 14,000 residents with tons of green spaces and leafy downtown streets filled with one-of-a-kind shops, art galleries and restaurants perfect for strolling at any time of day.... Mill Valley is a magnet for tourists from around the world, many of whom want to move immediately following a visit."

Morell's "perfect way to spend a 50-hour getaway in Mill Valley" begins at the Mill Valley Inn downtown, waking to its delicious complimentary breakfast before heading to the Depot Bookstore & Café before browsing shops like OSKA and and Summer House.

A bike ride around the lower slopes of Mount Tam follows, before a respite and dinner at El Paseo – A Marin Chophouse and some live music at Sweetwater Music Hall. The following day begins with grabbing a picnic lunch at Mill Valley Market and heading off to Muir Woods National Monument and Mount Tam State Park. Morell recommends moving over to the Mountain Home Inn – "a secluded hideaway perched within Mt. Tam" – for the next night. End your Perfect 50 Hours in Mill Valley by rising early to see the sunrise from the balcony before dashing off.

What do you think of "50 Perfect Hours in Mill Valley"? What would you have added? Tell us in the Comments below!

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.

In the 11 months since they launched Headlands Brewing Company, Mill Valley residents Phil Cutti and Patrick Horn have been among the hardest working duos in the brewing business, personally filling every role in the operation, from brewmaster to distributor and everything in between.

If the pair was searching for tangible proof that their hard work was paying off, it arrived earlier this week in the form of 150,000 16oz. cans, ready to be filled with one of Headlands’ three beers and waiting for its label to be slapped upon them. The leap reflects a steady spike in production from about 90 barrels total every four to six weeks up to about 220 barrels a month.

“To have the confidence of our board to make such a big next move – you have to pay for those cans up front,” Cutti says. “We’re really seeing some consistent growth, and that’s prompted this next big step. We’re feeling great about where we are.”

Headlands will showcase its beers at two upcoming local events: a Meet the Brewer event at the Sweetwater on June 16, and at Mill Valley Market Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting event on June 22 in the Depot Plaza.

The company’s early success is the product of hard work, but it’s also the result of the Bay Area brewing community from which it has spawned. Cutti and Horn are as steeped in the Bay Area home-brewing scene as any pair running an 11-month-old brewery could be, and they’re leaning on that tight-knit community as they catapult to new heights.

Take their fellow local brewers at Mill Valley Beerworks, who launched their 40-barrel Fort Point Beer Co. in the Presidio in January. Cutti has done some work for the four-year-old downtown Mill Valley outfit, and they collaborated on Ned, a Flanders Sour Red named after The Simpsons’ character. When it came time for Headlands to do some contract brewing – leasing space within another brewery to avoid the costs of running its own facility, a strategy often referred to as “gypsy brewing” – Beerworks owners Justin and Tyler Catalana were game, leasing Headlands space at Fort Point. Headlands is currently brewing its Hill 88 Double IPA and Groupe G Belgian RyePA at Fort Point and its Point Bonita Rustic Lager, a pilsner, at Sudwerk in Davis.

Justin Catalana says Cutti and the Beerworks team hit it off right away in terms of creative energy and a dedication to making great beer, so supporting Headlands’ fledgling brewery made perfect sense. When Cutti told Catalana this week that Headlands was nearing its one-year-anniversary, he was stunned.

“I honestly thought it had been a lot longer than that,” Catalana says. “They’ve really worked hard to make it happen.”

“We all just try to look out for each other,” Cutti says of the local brewing community. “People ask about competition among us, as in, ‘Aren’t you trying to try to take that person’s tap handle at a bar?’ – but a high tide raises all boats – so if we make each other make the best beer we can by teaching someone the best technique or by helping someone with equipment, it helps us all.”

Though their company is still in its infancy, Cutti and Horn are not entirely newbies. Horn is one of the co-founders of Pacific Brewing Laboratory and Cutti has been brewing at Southpaw BBQ in San Francisco in recent years. They connected at an event put on by the Sirwisa Brewing Collective, Cutti’s organization for home brewers who want to move to the commercial side. Sirwisa is the Peruvian word for beer – Cutti is of Peruvian descent.

Cutti started home brewing in 1995, and began thinking about it as a career in the early 2000s. But then the University of San Francisco grad became the director and exercise physiologist of the Human Performance Lab at Stanford, a great job that delayed the transition.

He later met Horn, who’d spent the better part of his career as a lobbyist in Washington, DC, primarily for the alternative energy business. They connected over their love of endurance sports, specifically long-distance open water swimming, a bond that seems to take a back seat only to brewing beer.

Through the open water swimming group Night Train Swimmers, Cutti met Matthew Davie, a Belvedere resident whose career in the tech sector has included stints at the Walt Disney Company and as CEO of Breaktime Studios. Davie now sits on Headlands’ board and handles the financial of the business.

“We’ve shown that we can make great beer at scale this quickly,” Davie adds. “For a company that’s on this trajectory, they’re doing exponentially more with less resources than other companies would be at this point. They’ve stayed true to themselves.”

Kim Sturdavant, brewmaster at Social Kitchen & Brewery in San Francisco’s Sunset District and an alum of Marin Brewing Company, says Cutti and Horn have a work ethic that matches their talent.

“They’ve been hustling since day one,” he says. “They’re just all over the place, handling every aspect of their business. I’m expecting their product to get better and better.”

Headlands’ three-year plan included adding a brick-and-mortar facility in the third year. They’ve pushed that leap into year two, hoping to ink a lease on a space, preferably in southern Marin, in the next 12 months.

“We’ve looked at some spots in the city, but with a name like Headlands, it behooves us to be in Marin,” Cutti says. “We always wanted to be a near the mountain and the bay. Marin speaks to us in that way.”

Cutti and Horn take their two-man operation to the distribution side of things as well, personally checking in with the beer buyers at places like Mill Valley Market, Whole Foods, BiRite, BevMo and Tony Tutto Pizza, all of which carry their beers.

At the June 22 Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food event, Headlands will be pouring a limited edition Hill 88 Double IPA aged in Four Roses Bourbon barrels especially to be sold at Mill Valley Market.

“You have to make bets on good people – Patrick and Phil are incredibly quality people, and they were put on this planet to make great beer,” Davie says. “It’s that simple.”

The 411: For more info on Headlands Brewing Company, check out their Facebook, Twitter, and website. And click here for more info and to buy tickets for the Mill Valley Market Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting event on June 22 in the Depot Plaza

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The 94941's day-long event of the year kicked off with the Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association's annual Pancake Breakfast and a remembrance service at Lytton Square and ended with the Kiddo! Carnival, Concert on the Green and Community Celebration – with a massive Memorial Day Parade thrown in for good measure. Check out photos from throughout the day below.

In addition to the photos above, here's a fantastic video from Mill Valley filmmaker Gary Yost about the Greenwood School's entry in the 2014 Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade:

The biggest day-long party of the year in the 94941, the Memorial Day Parade, along with the pre-parade Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters’ Association’s Pancake Breakfast and the post-parade Kiddo! Memorial Day Community Celebration and Concert on the Green, is upon us. 

Carnival
The four-day Carnival, which begins Friday at noon and wraps up at 5 p.m. Monday. More than 15 rides, from the Berry-Go-Round and Tune Train for little ones to the Sizzler, Zipper, Tilt-A-Whirl and Texas Tornado, are being provided by Sacramento-based California Carnival Company. After an eight-year hiatus, the Carnival was revived in 2012 as part of the 30th anniversary party for Kiddo. The event has become the centerpiece of Memorial Day weekend on the property around the Community Center and Mill Valley Middle School.

After an eight-year hiatus, the Carnival was revived in 2012 as part of the 30th anniversary party for Kiddo. The event has become the centerpiece of Memorial Day weekend on the property around the Community Center and Mill Valley Middle School.

Advance $20 ticket books are available in the Kiddo! office at the Mill Valley School District from May 19 May 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on May 23 from 9 a.m. to noon. Ticket books are $30 once the carnival begins. Books may be turned in for a one-day wrist band for unlimited rides. Food and games are extra.

Pancake Breakfast
Memorial Day events kicks off with the Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association's annual Pancake Breakfast, with volunteers serving up some 1,500 to 2,000 plates of pancakes, eggs and sausage, and lines forming around the block outside the Mill Valley Fire Department’s downtown station. The massive event is set for 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on traffic-free Corte Madera Ave. in front of City Hall and outside the fire station.

Memorial Day Parade

The Memorial Day Parade kicks off at 10:30 a.m., with the Mill Valley Community Church selling fresh coffee and donuts, bottled water and chocolate milk at the corner of Throckmorton & Olive from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. In response to calls from veterans to make the event more traditional, the I Love a Parade Committee is building this year's parade around the theme of “Honoring Those Who Gave Their Lives for Freedom.” 

Organizers have scheduled a ceremony prior to the parade to honor soldiers from Mill Valley who died during war. The ceremony will be held at Lytton Square, the tree-laden island that splits Throckmorton Ave. between Miller and Corte Madera avenues into two. The island is named for Lytton Barber, Mill Valley’s first WWI casualty.

I Love a Parade Committee Chair Larry "the Hat" Lautzker said that while the parade will be much more inclusive of Mill Valley’s original Memorial Day Parade, it won’t lose the community party spirit that has been so evident over the past decade. The parade, which runs down Miller Avenue to Tam High, regularly draws more than 6,000 spectators each year, and includes more than 60 participants. 

Kiddo! Memorial Day Community Celebration
When the float riders, school bands, dignitaries and a bevy of youth groups head to the Mill Valley Community Center after the parade, they’ll have a plenty of fun in front of them.

In addition to the Carnival, tasty treats will be served up by the likes of:

• Zen Grill
• Piazza D’Angelo
• Beth’s Community Kitchen
• Good Foods Catering
• Tru Gourmet
• Noci
• Kernel Steve’s Kettle Corn
• Nothing Bundt Cakes
• Laughing Glass Cocktails
• Lagunitas Brewing Company
• Whole Foods Market, East Blithedale Store

Concert on the Green
If food, floats and furious Carnival rides don't quite satiate you, the annual post-parade musical celebration produced by the Sweetwater Music Hall should do the trick. 

Local prodigies Matt Jaffe & the Distractions get things started at noon. The band – Mill Valley singer-songwriter Matt Jaffe is a local prodigy and a music industry veteran at just 19 years old, with Terra Linda resident Alex Coltharp on drums and Novato musician Sammie Fischer on bass – plays a sharp brand of smart indie rock, drawing on a range of influences from the Talking Heads and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists to the Decemberists and Django Reinhardt.

Dan Lebowitz, a founding member of jam band ALO, makes frequent appearances at the Sweetwater Music Hall, including a pair of upcoming performances with the likes of Jason Crosby, Stu Allen, Reed Mathis of Tea Leaf Green and Lukas Nelson, many of whom will be joining Lebo for a set that promises to be a foot-stomper.

Nearly 20 years after his death, the legend of Jerry Garcia continues to reverberates around the world, perhaps nowhere more than in Marin and Mill Valley, where the Grateful Dead god lived for years and where he regularly held court at the old Sweetwater.

Garcia's musical interests were famously varied, and he had a slew of side projects, including his eponymous band, which played rock music that was influenced by blues, folks, country and jazz and also performed rock versions of R&B, roots and reggae songs. Other than bassist John Kahn, Melvin Seals had the longest-serving tenure in the band before Garcia's death, and he has carried the torch almost ever since.

The 411: Click here for more info on the Memorial Day parade and festivities, and here for more info on the Carnival.

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

The two-year-old Sweetwater Music Hall has long since matured into a venue capable of booking a diverse array of top-notch performers, including an incredible run of late that has featured the likes of Patterson Hood, Michael Franti, The Headhunters, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Bombino and Taj Mahal.

But in case you needed another reminder, Bay Area jazz greats Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola led a packed house on a scintillating journey Wednesday night. Hunter can play basslines, rhythm guitar and solos on a custom-made, seven-string guitar, while Amendola is the seemingly perfect complement on drums, adapting to each of Hunter’s improvisational jaunts and inciting his own.

The pair has released four 5-track EPs, one each focusing on the music of Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, the Cars and Hank Williams, respectively. They dove into the catalogs of each of those artists Wednesday night, including a raucous version of the Cars’ “Let the Good Times Roll” that had the crowd eagerly flexing their vocal chops.

Hunter, as entertaining with his guitar faces as he is with his brilliant playing, also led the duo into covers of such divergent hits as Dionne Warwick’s “Walk on By” and Tupac’s “California Love.” They also delighted the crowd with a rendition of Lorde’s “Royals,” arguably the most popular song in the world over the past eight months. Check out the snippet above.

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Three-year-old event has featured films from surfing storytellers like Taylor Steele, Chris Malloy and Garrett McNamara with musical performances from Mason Jennings and Rogue Wave. 

Less than two years after it debuted at the Sweetwater Music Hall with five films in one day, the Mill Valley Surf Film Festival has a new name and an ever-expanding array of films and musical talent to showcase – across three days.

The newly named Highline Festival of Surfing is set for Sept. 5-7 at the Sweetwater, giving surfers and those that love the surfing culture a chance to celebrate the surfing lifestyle through film, music and art. The lineup will include 20 films, including multiple world premieres, three incredible evening concerts, surf photography and art exhibits with film directors, professional surfers, artists, photographers and world-renowned musicians on hand.

The festival was started in 2012 by Mill Valley resident Ari Lurie, a San Francisco native who is the founder of Eastern Horizons, a nonprofit after-school tutoring program for at-risk Marin City children. It has grown with the sponsorship help of local businesses like Proof Lab and Equator Coffee & Teas.

In its first two years, the festival featured films from great surfing storytellers like Taylor Steele, Chris Malloy and Garrett McNamara with musical performances from the Mermen, Mason Jennings and Rogue Wave. 

"The Highline Festival of Surfing celebrates surfing through various mediums," Lurie said. "This event is growing into a beacon of what's happening in surf culture, and we see its momentum continuing to reach the surf community across the country in the near future."

The 411: Click here for more info on the festival’s website or its Facebook page.

Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

On the heels of 2013’s “Let the Good Times Roll” theme, parade moves toward a more traditional focus, “Honoring Those Who Gave Their Lives for Freedom.” Pre-parade Pancake Breakfast and post-parade Kiddo! Carnival, Concert and Community Celebration bookend the day-long party of the year in Mill Valley.

The daunting “fashion police” will be out in full force as usual at the Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade on May 26, and this year they won’t just be looking to issue citations for "don'ts" like jean shorts, leather fanny packs and sockles.

Be warned: the 2014 edition of the parade is all about breaking out your red, white and blue duds.

The biggest day-long party of the year in the 94941, the Memorial Day Parade, along with the pre-parade Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters’ Association’s Pancake Breakfast and the post-parade Kiddo! Memorial Day Community Celebration (see below), are taking a traditional turn this year. In response to calls from veterans to make the event more traditional, the I Love a Parade Committee is building the parade around the theme of “Honoring Those Who Gave Their Lives for Freedom.”

“It makes sense, especially to remind the children of Mill Valley what this holiday is all about,” said Larry “the Hat” Lautzker, head of the I Love a Parade Committee that runs the event. “We had gotten a bit too far left of what the event is all about. This year, we’re going to be more inclusive of that. It’s a somber day and we’ve kind of disregarded that element of it for a while.”

In addition to fellow committee members Clifford Waldeck and Paul Moe, a subcommittee consisting of longtime prominent local residents Jim Wickham, Stephanie Wickham-Witt, Larry Moss, Chris Raker and Susan Cluff has focused on incorporating a more traditional theme into this year’s parade.

“Break out the Red White and Blue, build wondrous floats, great window displays and show our kids and country how creativity and working together help to create amazing results,” Lautzker said.

Organizers have scheduled a ceremony prior to the parade to honor soldiers from Mill Valley who died during war. The ceremony will be held at Lytton Square, the tree-laden island that splits Throckmorton Ave. between Miller and Corte Madera avenues into two. The island is named for Lytton Barber, Mill Valley’s first WWI casualty.

Lautzker said that while the parade will be much more inclusive of Mill Valley’s original Memorial Day Parade, it won’t lose the community party spirit that has been so evident over the past decade. The parade, which begins at 10:30 at Old Mill School and runs down Miller Avenue to Tam High, regularly draws more than 6,000 spectators each year, and includes more than 60 participants. 

Applications to enter are now available online, and must be received by May 23. Entry fees are $75 for commercial entities and $35 for nonprofits.

Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters' Association Pancake Breakfast

When the Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association launched its annual Pancake Breakfast nearly 20 years ago, John Thompson, Fred Martin, John McClure and Bob Hughes, among others, cobbled together a bunch of portable grills, coolers and propane tanks and prepared to serve up a Memorial Day breakfast for a few hundred people.

And then 800 showed up. And hundreds more showed every year after that, with volunteers serving up some 1,500 to 2,000 plates each and lines forming around the block outside the Mill Valley Fire Department’s downtown station on Corte Madera Avenue.

The massive event is set for 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on traffic-free Corte Madera Ave. in front of City Hall and outside the fire station with pancakes, eggs, sausage, juice and coffee.

As the Pancake Breakfast has continued to grow over the years, one aspect of it has gone largely unnoticed: the event’s organizers have created quite a mobile kitchen setup that would come in handy in the event of a catastrophic event like a massive wildfire or earthquake, says Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighter Ron Vidal.

“We feed nearly 15 percent of Mill Valley’s population in four hours on that day,” Vidal says of the Pancake Breakfast. “We’re building resiliency and the ability to do a mass feeding if we’re ever in that situation.”

In addition to showcasing an impressive mobile kitchen, the Pancake Breakfast is also the biggest fundraiser of the year for Mill Valley’s volunteer firefighter program. The Mill Valley Fire Department took shape more than 120 years ago as an all-volunteer organization, beating out some fires with wet potato sacks and renting space to store its gear.

“You keep the department strong by continuing to develop that volunteer pool,” Vidal says. “The program creates a candidate pool for the hiring needs for Mill Valley and departments all over Marin and the Bay Area.”

Volunteer program officials estimate that it costs about $4,000 to properly train and equip an active duty firefighter and the group hopes to raise between $10,000 and $15,000 at this year’s event.

Kiddo! Memorial Day Community Celebration

When the float riders, school bands, dignitaries and a bevy of youth groups head to the Mill Valley Community Center after the parade, they’ll have a plenty of fun in front of them.

That includes the final day of the four-day Carnival, which begins Friday at noon and wraps up at 5 p.m. Monday. With more than 15 rides, from the Berry-Go-Round and Tune Train for little ones to the Sizzler, Zipper, Tilt-A-Whirl and Texas Tornado, are being provided by Sacramento-based California Carnival Company. 

After an eight-year hiatus, the Carnival was revived in 2012 as part of the 30th anniversary party for Kiddo. The event has become the centerpiece of Memorial Day weekend on the property around the Community Center and Mill Valley Middle School.

Advance $20 ticket books are available in the Kiddo! office at the Mill Valley School District from May 19 May 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on May 23 from 9 a.m. to noon. Advance tickets will also be sold outside the Mill Valley Community Center during the week leading up to the Carnival – times TBD. Ticket books are $30 once the carnival begins. Books may be turned in for a one-day wrist band for unlimited rides. Food and games are extra.

Aside from rides, the Community Celebration features food from the likes of Piazza D'Angelo, Beth's Community Kitchen, Nothing Bundt Cake, among others. And as in year's past, a Concert on the Green, sponsored by the Sweetwater Music Hall & Cafe, will keep attendees dancing throughout the afternoon.Local prodigies Matt Jaffe & the Distractions get things started at noon, followed by Lebo & Friends, fronted by Lebo (Dan Lebowitz), a founding member of ALO. Melvin Seals & the JGB headline, playing the music of the late and legendary Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia.

The 411: The annual Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association’s Pancake Breakfast takes place from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on traffic-free Corte Madera Ave. in front of City Hall and outside the fire station with pancakes, eggs, juice and coffee. Fees are $7 for adults and $5 for kids with all proceeds to benefit the Mill Valley Volunteer Firefighters Association to equip a new batch of volunteer recruits.

The Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade begins at 10:30 at Old Mill School and runs down Miller Avenue to Tam High, regularly draws more than 6,000 spectators each year, and includes more than 60 participants. Applications to enter are now available online, and must be received by May 23. Entry fees are $75 for commercial entities and $35 for nonprofits.

The Kiddo! Memorial Day Community Celebration runs from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. The four-day Carnival is Friday 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Monday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Here's a video about from the 2014 Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade website about this year's theme:

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Mill Valley resident, former Grateful Dead singer/guitarist and digital music innovator links with four-year-old competitor to the likes of Pandora and Spotify on an initiative called "Artists for Quality," hoping to improve the sound quality of streaming audio.

On the heels of fellow rock icon Neil Young's hugely successful Kickstarter campaign to launch Pono, a music download-service and dedicated music player focusing on "high-quality" recorded audio, Mill Valley resident Bob Weir is looking to improve the audio quality of the other major piece of the digital music pie: streaming audio.
Weir, a co-owner of the Sweetwater Music Hall and well known as a digital music innovator with ventures like TRI Studios in San Rafael, appeared on CNBC recently to discuss with his friend and CNBC Squawk Box anchor Steve Liesman his latest campaign, "Artists for Quality." 
The initiative teams Weir with Rdio, a popular online streaming music service, to raise the audio quality of streaming music, starting with Rdio itself. The company is improving the "bit-rate" of the music it streams to 320 kbps, a move that Rdio says will improve the music-listening experience for its customers without raising the price.
"Our joint mission is to ignite and lead discussions on inequity in streaming audio quality, and to commit to both artists and music fans to establish the highest standard of streaming quality in the digital music space," Weir and Rdio said in a statement on Rdio's website."Through Bob Weir and his network of friends, from music legends to top emerging artists, we are looking forward to working together to ensure that Rdio delivers the best possible audio quality option to both artists and music fans," Rdio added.

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Former Second Breakfast owner Kevin Ries is heading up a new monthly Dishcrawl in Marin, starting with a March 18 event featuring three downtown Mill Valley restaurants. The “Dishcrawling Under the Mountain" event kicks off at 7 p.m. at the Sweetwater Music Hall & Café. The event is $45 excluding drinks. Click here for more information or to buy tickets.

“Locals and visitors alike will appreciate this true culinary adventure, a mouthwatering multi-plate tour featuring three chefs in Mill Valley showing off their talents,” says Dishcrawl Founder Tracy Lee. “Dishcrawling is a fantastic way to bring the community together with local chefs who are bringing exciting new things to our culinary scene.” Dishcrawl spans 250 cities across the US, Canada, and soon the UK.

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As he eyes his next move, former Beerworks chef says attendees of March 13 event can expect an interactive, supperclub-style atmosphere, food-centric stories and great music, all to benefit the Conscious Kitchen in Marin City.

When he arrived in Mill Valley to help Justin and Tyler Catalana launch the new kitchen at Mill Valley Beerworks, launching a vegetable-driven cuisine that garnered a glowing three stars from San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer, chef David Wilcox says Mill Valley residents greeted him with open arms. 

Wilcox has left Beerworks and is transitioning to a new venture – a pop-up oriented project to benefit food-focused nonprofit organizations that he’s mostly keeping quiet about for now. Before he makes that leap, Wilcox says he wants to express his gratitude for the local support the best way he knows how: by hosting a big, supperclub-style culinary bonanza.

The MVDW Pop-Up Dinner is a March 13 event at the Sweetwater Music Hall, “an evening of gratitude and gustatory celebrations to be shared with any and all who have supported David Wilcox in his culinary endeavors thus far – a moment to share stories and what the future holds.”

“This is basically a big thank you note for Mill Valley,” Wilcox says.

The multi-course, family-style menu will be comprised of an abundance of spring vegetables, seafood and local meat, all prepared thoughtfully paying homage to old favorites and new inspirations, Wilcox says.

“I love having big supper club events, and I’ve done some of those before in places like Los Angeles, Hawaii, Michigan. It gives me a chance to get out and interact with people more directly, tell stories about the food and not be chained to a stove. I’m really excited about it.”

The dinner will be followed by music from gypsy jazz sextet Gaucho and the Quiet Men, and Wilcox says some people who do swing dancing to Gaucho’s music will be on hand to take the event “over the top.”

The proceeds of the event will go to the Conscious Kitchen in Marin City, a program launched by Teens Turning Green that is “dedicated to a systemic transformation of school food programs, to the health and well being of our children, and to a thriving future for our planet.”

Wilcox says associating himself with organizations like Conscious Kitchen is “mandatory” for his next project.

“They are working with kids who don’t have the privilege or access to learn about these things,” he says. “A big part of what I want to do is to inspire people to get more involved in these types of programs – go out have a good time, eat great food and become more aware of projects like this.”

Though details will be unveiled in the coming weeks, Wilcox’s upcoming pop-up events will be in San Francisco, elsewhere in the Bay Area and down in LA.

“There’s a lot of potential to rethink the way we approach the food business and our interaction with people in the community,” Wilcox says. “It’s about really putting your money where your mouth is and take steps to change the system.”

Wilcox, who calls his departure from Beerworks “amicable, with no hard feelings or anything,” will continue to live in his cabin in Mill Valley for now. “Mill Valley’s been really good to me,” he says.

The 411: The MVDW Pop-Up Dinner is at 6 p.m. on March 13 at the Sweetwater Music Hall. Click here for more info and to buy tickets for either the entire event ($87) or just the concert ($10).

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Local music fans and patrons of the old Sweetwater have a pair of chances to take a holiday-oriented trip in the wayback machine this weekend.

The Christmas Jug Band, the "irreverent crew of stalwart purveyors of the jugabilly mystique" that started as the Monday Night Wild Turkey Jug Band in Mill Valley in the mid-1970s at venues like the Old Mill Tavern and the old Sweetwater, is playing shows at the Sweetwater Music Hall on Friday and Saturday.

The band, whose ever-evolving lineup over the years has included local legends like Dan Hicks and Austin DeLone, is a "seasonal assemblage of misfits of Commander Cody alumni and others from notable Bay Area musical aggregations such as Those Darn Accordions, The Moonlighters, Jesse Colin Young, and Elvis Costello."

"What started as Wild Turkey-inspired momentary lapse of sanity is now five albums (over 25,000 sold) and 35 years of fruitcakes later, an unconventional tradition of highly skewed merriment," according to the group's website.

The 411: The Christmas Jug Band performs Friday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 21  at 8 p.m. Friday tix are $24 and $15 for anyone under 12 or over 65. Saturday tix are $24. Click here for more info or to buy tickets.

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