Lisa Newman is a city planner and the author of For The Love of Apricots: Recipes and Memories of Santa Clara County. The book is peppered with essays and original recipes featuring what else but apricots. Newman grew up in Saratoga in what was then known as “The Valley of Heart’s Delight” that was filled… Continue Reading
Reading books has become something of a luxury in these modern times. I managed to snatch some time during the year to read a few books. Here are a few that I enjoyed reading and are mentioned in no particular order. Not all the books were published in 2017. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 84, is… Continue Reading
We caught up with filmmaker James Gray to talk about his new film The Lost City of Z. Gray was in San Francisco to attend the 60th San Francisco International Film Festival. We spoke to Gray about why Brad Pitt sent him the novel and how he got attached to the project and what did… Continue Reading
Flor de Anís is a song composed by Jorge Licego by Cascada de Flores, a San Francisco Bay area ensemble. Liceaga sings the music and is accompanied by Arwen Lawrence (vocalist, dancer), Kyla Danysh (violinist, vocalist), and Saul Sierra-Alonso (bass). You can watch the entire performance and an interview with Lawrence here. The show was… Continue Reading
Alam Khan is a musician, composer and educator. He plays the sarode. We spoke with Khan about his father Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, the legacy of Maihar gharana and his love for both Hindustani or North Indian classical music and hip-hop. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was one of the most famous sarode player and Khan… Continue Reading
You know how Netflix makes recommendations for you? That is how I discovered Brown Nation. At first I overlooked their suggestion since I had no clue what Brown Nation was all about.And then I succumbed out of sheer curiosity and was hooked. Part of the reason for being hooked is the way the series captured… Continue Reading
Dr. Aaron Lington and Chris Motter play their version of Bags’ Groove, a well-known jazz tune by Milt Jackson. Dr. Lington shares how they have funkified their version and explains how they improvised this well-known jazz number. Dr. Lington is an educator, composer and arranger, who teaches at San Jose State University. Motter is a… Continue Reading
Singer-songwriter and novelist Leonard Cohen died in his sleep in Los Angeles on November 7, 2016. He was 82 years old. Cohen’s “dry, monotone voice…provided a rarefied alternative to more accessible troubadours, employing meticulous language to plumb the vagaries of the human condition,” writes Joseph Cerna of Los Angeles Times. And, Cerna is absolutely right.… Continue Reading
Damien Chazelle’s beautifully crafted film La La Land hits theatres in December 2016. I saw the film a couple of months ago and instantly fell in love with it. The film pays homage to dreamers, Los Angeles, Hollywood musicals and to French filmmaker Jacques Demy. We have an interview coming up with Chazelle and Justin… Continue Reading
3rd i’s San Francisco International South Asian Films Festival is back this year in two locations: San Francisco and Cupertino in Silicon Valley. The San Francisco leg of the festival is a 4 day event that runs from November 10th-13th, 2016. And the Silicon Valley leg of the festival in Cupertino is a one day event… Continue Reading
We sat down with Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger to talk about how they wrote the screenplay for Trolls. Happiness is the central theme of this 3D animated film. How did they write the screenplay and create a universe for trolls? Tune in to find out. A long time ago in a far away city where… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Barry Jenkins Moonlight is an elegant and brilliantly evocative film about coming-of-age and love.This is one of the best films I have seen so far this year. There is an aura of quiet grace about Moonlight that makes you think long after the end credits have rolled. You go away wondering what is that little… Continue Reading
Like films, food and wine? Then the 6th Annual Napa Film Festival (NVFF) is the place to be from November 9-13, 2016. For 5 days you get to see feature films, shorts and documentaries and listen to panel discussions on food. And a big bonus of attendig a film festival in the wine country means you… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Ewan McGregor makes his directorial debut with American Pastoral that is based on a Philip Roth novel by the same name. Roth won a Pulitzer prize for his novel. American Pastoral stars McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakokta Fanning, David Strathairn, Uzo Aduba, Rupert Evans and Valorie Curry. We caught up with McGregor in San Francisco to talk about the making… Continue Reading
The annual United National Association Film Festival (UNAFF) is back this year with an interesting mix of documentaries and shorts from the US, Ethiopia, Spain, India, Canada, Guatemala and other countries. The theme for this year’s festival is Compass For A Better World. “We went through 600 screeners to select the films for this year’s festival,”… Continue Reading
We speak with filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra about his new film Mirzya. “It is a film about love,” shares Mehra. The film is set in two, different time periods he adds. We talk to Mehra on how how the idea for the film was born, the preparation that went into making the film, the music… Continue Reading
We caught up with Zoe Elton, Director of Programming for the 39th Mill Valley Film Festival (Oct 6-16, 2016) to find out what they have in store at this year’s festival. We spoke to her about the film, actors and the new sections they have on Latin America & Culinary Cinema. This is one of… Continue Reading
A kitchen computer, that too a binary one? Yes, way back in the 1960’s Honeywell Corp. made a kitchen computer for home makers. And, the home computer was featured in a Neiman Marcus catalog from 1969. We turned to Chris Garcia, curator at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley to find out about this… Continue Reading
We sat down with Vic Vanni of Solis Winery of Santa Clara Valley to talk about how his family got into the wine business and also taste some wine from his winery. Vani remembers the good old days when they lived in the “Valley of Heart’s Delight,” which is now known as Silicon Valley. His… Continue Reading
Earlier this week I visited the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley. I got a guided tour from Chris Garcia, a curator at the museum. This is the place to see how the “Computing Revolution” started 2,000 years ago. The artefacts range from primitive calculating devices to Napier’s Bones to the Enigma machine and the first… Continue Reading
Here are 3 more picks from me for this year’s 39th Mill Valley Film Festival that runs from Oct 6-16,2016.. These 3 films take you on a culinary and mediation journey across the world. In case you missed it, here are my first 3 selections of films from this year’s film festival. The Last Dalai… Continue Reading
Meet Tom and Sandy Moller of Satori Cellars of Santa Clara Wineries. Tom is a techie-turned-winemaker, while Sandy is a yoga teacher and winemaker. The Mollers started Satori Cellars over 10 years ago and have gone on to win awards for their wines. We spoke to them to find out how they got started with… Continue Reading
Movie lovers are in for a 4-day treat of Vienna And The Movies at the historic Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto. The silent film series is curated by film historian David Thomson. One of the joys of watching silent films at the Stanford Theater is the opportunity to listen to the Wurlitzer organ. Dennis James will play… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Matt Johnson’s Operation Avalanche is set against the space race between US and the USSR during the Cold War period. The film is about the fake landing of Apollo 11 on the moon. The film was part of Johnson’s Masters project at York University in Canada. Johnson directs, acts and co-wrote the film with Josh… Continue Reading
Gino Fortino of Fortino Winery in Gilroy talks about Charbono wine, which is made out of an Italian grape varietal. There are only 80 acres of the Italian grape varietal Charbono grown in California and Fortino’s grows some of them. “Cult wine,” is often a phrase used when talking about Charbono. Fortino Winery was founded in… Continue Reading
The 39th Mill Valley Film Festival (Oct 6-26,2016) is packed with so many wonderful films that it is going to be a challenge to figure out which ones to watch. For the next couple of weeks I will share a few of the films that caught my eyes. Here are my first 3 films that had me… Continue Reading
Meet Dhruv Khannna, a lawyer and owner of Kirigin Cellars, the oldest winery in Santa Clara Valley. 2016 marks the centennial year of Kirigin Cellars located in the oldest wine growing region in California. Khanna combines the tech and agriculture strands of Santa Clara Valley, once known as “Valley of Heart’s Delight,” and now known as “Silicon… Continue Reading
Meet Rasika Kumar, who has learnt the fine art of balancing her twin interests in technology and dance. You could say Kumar combines the professional interests of her parents – her father is an engineer and her mother is a dancer. And growing up in Silicon Valley she was surrounded by cutting-edge technology and tech… Continue Reading
The annual Mill Valley Film Festival, which is one of the last film festivals in California before the Oscar season starts is back this year with a fantastic mix of films. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the festival that started the same year the first Star Wars film was released. The 39th Mill Valley… Continue Reading
Mythili Kumar is the founder, choreographer and artistic director of Silicon Valley-based Abhinaya Dance Co. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the award-winning dance company that is recognized for teaching Indian classical dance & innovative dance dramas. Besides teaching dance, Kumar also teaches classical Indian dance forms at the University of California in Santa… Continue Reading
The Kamla Show 