Wolf Creek Lodge Newsletter

Adult Cohousing in Grass Valley, CA

April, 2017

In February Sunset Magazine featured Nevada City on its cover and named Nevada City No. 1 on its "Best Value Towns" list. Nevada City was characterized as "Where the Summer of Love Never Ended". You can download a "pdf" from the magazine HERE.

The City of Grass Valley and Nevada City are two adjoining towns established to mine for gold in the mid-1800's. The town centers are only four miles apart. The mines are long since closed but the towns live on. The Empire Mine - the largest - is now the Empire Mine State Park, offering trails for walkers, dogs, mountain bikers and horses.

Grass Valley had the mines and Nevada City housed the mining management. The two towns partner in many ways. For instance they have a combined Fourth of July Parade alternating between the two towns. Nevada City has an inter-generational cohousing community - "Nevada City Cohousing" whereas Grass Valley boasts "Wolf Creek Lodge".

In this newsletter we explore how members of Wolf Creek Lodge enjoy these two towns with a special emphasis on the performing arts. There is an abundance of facilities of all sizes that enable groups large and small to entertain the community.

Currently only a two bedroom home is available at Wolf Creek Lodge. See "Available Homes" below.

Bob Miller,

Editor.

Sierra Theaters

From their website:

"Sierra Theaters is a locally owned, family business that operates Sierra Cinemas, The Del Oro Theatre, Sutton Cinemas, and The Nevada Theatre Film Series. Each theatre features comfortable seats, friendly staff, and state-of-the-art projection and sound. The popcorn is delicious, too!"

Wolf Creek Lodge members particularly enjoy the Opera transmitted live in High Definition from the New York Metropolitan Opera and the National Theatre from London..

Off Broadstreet

Note that the Broad Street is the main street in Nevada City - hence "Off Broadstreet"

This small theater tells us:

" We produce only comedies, and most of these are musicals, with a slant toward familiar hit songs of the 1950's and 60's. Intimate cabaret seating and a relaxed and friendly atmosphere add to the uniqueness of the experience."

It's a favorite spot for members looking for a fun night out.
Read more ...

Penn Valley Cultural Center

Fund raising has begun by the Penn Valley Community Foundation to build a 27,700 sq ft cultural center on donated land.

It will be 8 miles from Grass Valley and 4 miles from Lake Wildwood. This will be the new home of InConcert Sierra and the Sierra Master Chorale, as well as the Lake Wildwood Theatre and Lake Wildwood Women’s Chorus.

Read more ...

The Center for the Arts

"The Center for the Arts has truly become the hub of arts for Nevada County. We are committed to bringing a diverse array of programming to western Nevada County, including music, dance, theater, film, visual art, comedy, youth arts education and literature. We manage and maintain a multi-use 21,000 square foot facility in downtown Grass Valley which includes a 300 seat Main Theater, two visual art galleries, classroom space, and a 90 seat black box theater."

Classical Music

There are two classical music associations, each with their own chorale of local singers - "InConcert Sierra" and "Music in the Mountains." They are both favorites of Wolf Creek Lodge members. Some are more closely involved. Nancy has been a professional violinist with various symphony orchestras. Before joining Wolf Creek Lodge she was with the San Diego Symphony. She played with Music in the Mountains but has retired from that role but still plays for InConcert Sierra. Virginia and Butch have been long time supporters of Music in theMountains both as volunteers and as financial donors.

Music in the Mountains

Music in the Mountains offers classical music performances throughout the year. These are often at the County Fairgrounds but also at other locations.

Lodge members especially enjoy the summer music series - this year "SummerFest 2017".

Music in the Mountains establishes a professional orchestra each year for the summer concerts. They will also bring the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera to the Fairgrounds for three orchestral concerts this season. See The Union Article.

Read more ...

InConcert Sierra

"Classical Music to Rock your World."

As well as their Master Chorale InConcert Sierra brings renowned ensembles and soloists to Nevada County.

Read more ...

Local Theater Groups

We have several community theater groups including:

Sierra Stages
LeGacy Productions
CATS - Community Asian Theater of the Sierra

They use the abundance of local theaters to stage their productions .

Film Festivals

Sponsored by the SYRCL (South Yuba River Citizens League) this film series "is a call to action .... to heal the earth"

Its 15th annual festival from January 16th - 20th, 2017 presented 132 films in parallel sessions in 10 different locations.

From the Nevada City Film Festival website:

"NCFF screens over 60 films, including comedies, dramas, documentaries, animation, and international shorts, in a variety of historic locations in downtown Nevada City. By combining creative programming of short and full-length films, enthusiastic audiences and a truly festive environment, NCFF has become known as one of the most innovative, fun and artist-friendly events on the film festival circuit. In addition to creating a one-of-a-kind experience for both the audience and filmmaker, NCFF offers terrific opportunities to network and forum.

Letter from #104

Suzanne Marriott

Lucky in Love

WCL members Vicki, Jacque and I recently went out for a glamorous evening on the town, that town being Nevada City. We dressed up in high fashion for a one night only, glitzy event at the Miners Foundry Cultural Center. The Center was lavishly transformed into old Las Vegas, decorated with the sophistication and glamour of the 1950s. Lucky In Love, a benefit concert for the Foundry, was an intimate, Rat Pack-style cabaret show featuring sultry songstress Tamara Fouyer and her entourage, backed by a three-piece band. The venue featured cabaret seating and, for the price of our tickets, we were treated to a delicious dessert and a complimentary glass of champagne.

Songstress Tamara Fouyer is well known to Vicki, Jacque and me, as she is also our hairdresser (as well as the wife of the recently retired mayor of Grass Valley). As a child, Tamara studied classical voice and piano under Laura June Breen, who inspired in Tamara a love of many forms of music, from classical opera to jazz Broadway and American Standards. In college she studied in Spain and loves to incorporate songs of the Romance languages. We were especially captivated her rendition of Edith Piaf’s La Vie En Rose, sung in French, and The Girl from Ipanema, sung in Portuguese.

Astounding talent abounds in the Grass Valley area. Here’s an example, a video of Tamara singing Besame Mucho. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2b1TlJQxLc

Mike offers his reflections

I’m amazed that little Grass Valley and Nevada City can bring some top flight musicians from many genre.

We’ve been following he career of John McCutcheon in the Bay Area for 30 years and were thrilled to find that he includes the Sierra Foothills in his annual ‘Left Coast’ tour — due to the influence of folk singer Utah Phillips who lived here at the end of his life.

The classical concerts are not left out. Current big names like Joshua Bell and Emanuel Ax love the intimate venues here, after a few days in SF, Sacramento and Davis, along with some rising stars such as cellists Amit Peled and Peter Wyrick, and the Norwegian women’s brass ensemble, tenThing.

It was quite a thrill to see Helen Myren, via the National Theatre from London performing The Audience, and then to see her live a few months later in NYC.

To top it off, InConcert Sierra has House Concerts where you can get up close and personal with their artists. And there’s the well-kept secret of free, unadvertised house concerts at the privately owned Il Tempio Di Musica — but I have to keep information on those strictly on the hush-hush!

Digging in the Dirt
Claire Miller

Some time (at least once) during the month of April, take a break from ‘dabbling in your own dirt’, to take a trip to Crystal Hermitage Gardens. The gardens are at Ananda Village, a scenic 20 mile drive north from Nevada City.

Throughout the spring, the colors and textures are an evolving display. All are truly amazing.

Last year I visited when the tulips were at their peak – red, yellow, orange, pink, white, mixtures and patterns. Above them, casting dappled shade, there is a giant wisteria that was hanging with huge bluish purple blooms

The gardens are beyond description beautiful. Go see for yourself!

An hour is far too short. All day is better. A week would not be too much to drink it all in.

Living in the Lodge

Magdalene Jaeckel

I have been a music fan all of my life. As soon as I moved to Nevada City in 1982 I discovered Music in Mountains and joined the Festival Chorale. I was part of that for almost 20 years, participating in many outstanding works, like Mozart’s Requiem, Grosse Messe as well as Karl Orff’s Carmina Burana, under the baton of the late Paul Perry. Now I never miss any of their concerts.

There is also the other organization of classical concerts: “In Concert Sierra” whose performances I never miss. For years, we have had “Cats” the Community Asian Theatre, who give outstanding performances of plays with an Asian theme.

Aside from these live performances we have a chance to see Metropolitan Opera “live” broadcasts at the local cinema as well as broadcasts from “National Theatre Live” from London.

There is always a group from Wolf Creek Lodge going, so I don’t have to worry about not driving anymore. I am so fortunate to be part of Wolf Creek Lodge.

Available Homes

A two bedroom home is now available.

We try to keep the latest status on our website. By checking on these links to the website during the month you will get the latest updates. Here are the links:

email: [email protected]

For details of Open Houses and much more visit our website at:

www.wolfcreeklodge.org .