Professor Jonah Raskin of Sonoma State University will discuss his new research on Jack London's life with Rosemary Manchester on her KRCB (90.9 or 91.9 FM) radio program "A Novel Idea" at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 12.
The conversation will begin with "White Fang," one of London's most unduringly popular books.
Raskin, chair of the Communication Studies department, has tackled tough subjects before - from Allen Ginsberg and Abbie Hoffman to B. Traven and Rudyard Kipling. Now he's writing a biography of London with a new way of looking at the American legend.
Jack London was a prolific writer of novels and short stories. Many of his books have remained in print since he wrote them a hundred years ago yet seldom can readers find him listed among the great American writers. His work is cherished by readers all over the world, and he has been translated into many languages.
Raskin says he will focus in his research on London's childhood and his earliest life - how much it shaped his personality and his work. "Readers tend to think of London as strong, optimistic, willful," says Raskin. "But there was what might be called the dark side of the man - vulnerability, loneliness, fear - that gave birth to his most emotionally powerful books."
Locally, there has been a surge of interest in Jack London. The Sonoma City Opera will present the World Premier of "Every Man Jack," an opera based on the life of Jack London, at the Green Music Festival in November. The Lifelong Learning Institute at Sonoma State University has scheduled a series of lectures on the man and his work for the fall semester.
For further information, visit http://www.krcb.org.
With the start of construction of the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center in Rohnert Park, naming opportunities have been announced for the $86-million cultural complex scheduled to be completed in 2008 at Sonoma State University.
Individual and corporate donors are now being sought to name the various aspects of this major Wine Country cultural facility that will support education and the performing arts in the North Bay.
The Green Music Center will be the home of the Santa Rosa Symphony and will feature the Green Music Festival and performances by hundreds of guest artists.
The opportunities range from $7 million for the main 1,400-seat concert hall, $5 million for a music education building where students will learn, practice and perform, and $4 million for a 247-seat recital hall. Others include symphonic and jazz rehearsal halls, a musician's pavilion, the grand entry plaza, dressing rooms, a recording studio, the grand staircase, the West Foyer and individual concert hall seats.
Donors to the GMC are being asked to make the community vision a reality after nine years of planning to usher in a new era of cultural life in the area. For the first time in the region, world-class classical and choral musicians will perform in a venue with concert hall-style acoustics.
Students from across artistic disciplines will have access to top-tier performances and state-of-the-art facilities. "We are excited about the cultural and educational cachet the Green Music Center brings to Sonoma State University and Sonoma County and are energized by the community's support," says Dr. Ruben Arminana, Sonoma State University President.
The main concert hall is designed by Architect William Rawn and Associates of Boston, Massachusetts, who also designed the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in western Massachusetts. The GMC will offer audiences an intimate concert-going experience with acoustics intended to replicate those of the Grosser Musikvereinsaal in Vienna.
This intimate hall becomes a much larger venue when the back wall is opened to a meadow suitable for an outdoor audience accommodating up to 10,000 people. Lawrence Kirkegaard, the project's acoustician, also worked on Ozawa Hall, as well as the re-design of the San Francisco Symphony's Davies Symphony Hall.
The music education building spotlights the dual missions of the GMC complex and features a 247-seat recital hall with acoustics ideal for choral and chamber music. The recital hall will hold student performances and smaller professional concerts as well. Lecture rooms and rehearsal spaces for students will share the building with the SSU Music and Theatre Arts Department.
This venue complements the main concert hall, combining the GMC's missions of education and entertainment.
Persons interested in making a donation to the GMC should contact Robin Draper, at (707) 664-2560 or robin.draper@sonoma.edu.
Editors: For images, interviews, or further information, please contact Susan Kashack, (707) 664-2122, susan.kashack@sonoma.edu.
The GMC Web site is greenmusiccenter.sonoma.edu.
