Hi everyone,

For those of you who weren't at the Sonoma County Book Festival on September 20th (see last entry) I wanted to share with you some of the great things that happened there!

As I mentioned, David Templeton and a team of actors gave a striking performance of a scene from To Kill a Mockingbird as the kickoff event of The Big Read Sonoma County .

At The Big Read booth at the festival, we launched the Flight of the Mockingbird (a distribution of more than 100 copies of To Kill a Mockingbird) and invited people to twitter about their favorite part of the book. We also showed video we created about people's reactions to the book, and recorded interviews about people's favorite books. David Kipen, the literary director of the National Endowment for the Arts, stopped by the book festival, and then went to KRCB studios. There he was interviewed as part of a great show created by our own A Novel Idea producer Suzanne Lang about what' s happening locally for The Big Read -- check it out! Also check out David Kipen's Big Read Blog .

Miss the launch of the Flight but still want a copy? Go over to www.bigreadsonoma.com/brb (the Big Read Blog). I'll leave some information about where people say they plan to leave the book, so you'll have some ideas where to look.

Finally, I met Sher Lianne, who has pointed me to her literary blog here .

There's so much more I could mention (I haven't even talked about Paul Flores' great workshop or Gil Mansergh's interview with Michael Krasny), but I'll leave those for another day.

Got thoughts on The Big Read or To Kill a Mockingbird? Got a blog you want me to share? Leave it for me in the comments.

(Some people have had trouble registering in order to make comments. If that happens to you, shoot me an email at robin_metalitz (at) krcb (dot) org telling me what happened. Make sure to include what operating system and web browser you're using.)

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Folks have heard me mention the Big Read in this space before. This fall, we will be encouraging everyone in Sonoma County to read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

You can check out the Big Read Sonoma County at two places this weekend:

T he Big Read Sonoma County kicks off at the Sonoma County Book Festival on Saturday, September 20th. The kickoff will be at the main stage at Courthouse Square in downtown Santa Rosa at noon. KRCB President and CEO Nancy Dobbs will say a few words, and then actor David Templeton will present a scene from the novel.

While you're there, stop on by the Big Read booth to participate in the Flight of the Mockingbirds, and stop by the KRCB booth to Talk Back to your Radio about your favorite book.

Tengo la Voz will also be presenting several events at the Sonoma County Book Festival: at the Tengo la Voz project space at 7th and Mendocino, author Paul Flores will be running a writing workshop from 1-3 pm, and at the youth space in Courthouse Square there will be a teen poetry slam from 3-4.

And that evening (at 7 pm) at the Glaser Center, KRCB's Word by Word host Gil Mansergh will be interviewing KQED host Michael Krasny.

On Sunday, the Big Read will be at the Race Equality Week Festival at the Finley Center, noon-4pm. The festival features performances on two stages, food, music, and art.

Hope to see you out there this weekend! All the events except the evening with Gil and Michael are free. For information about tickets to that event, call us at 707-584-2020.

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As you may have heard, a full-scale replica of the Niña, one of the ships captained by Christopher Columbus, is visiting the port of Petaluma. KRCB Auction Assistant Mike Palumbo headed down there with his camera, and had this to say:

This ship was built in Brazil 17 years ago. By hand. No power tools.

The "Skiff" (lifeboat) was built the same way by a 14 year old Brazilian boy.

The Coat of Arms denotes on top the two royal families that Columbus brought together, Spain and Portugal. The five anchors represent the five seas that Columbus sailed. The dots on the bottom left represent all of the islands that Columbus discovered. The globe on top represents a new continent on the planet earth depicted by the new equatorial band around the globe. The cross represents Christianity.

This crest was a gift to Columbus by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

It took 300 days to sail 3000 miles.

There are 32 tons of ballast rocks in the hull.

It took 3 years to build this replica ship.

And it will be there until Tuesday.

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This Saturday I went to the Outside Lands Concert in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The multiday festival showcased a variety of musical acts, from alternative, to funk to hard rock on six stages. I got a chance to check out a few acts ( Galactic's Crescent City Soul Crewe: great energy, underappreciated because they played so early; Kaki King: a little off-key but got better as they warmed up; Primus: excellent, a little heavy on the moshing; Tom Petty: exactly how you'd expect, but in a good way), and also attended a press conference of Kaki King, Primus's Les Claypool, and a few others discussing the festival, including its green theme. Plates and cups were compostable, and a variety of environmentally-inclined vendors were present, from an electric car company (it only goes 25 mph), to several solar panel companies and a store where you could purchase items using recyclable cans and bottles as cash.

At the press conference there was also a discussion of the need for San Francisco to have an ongoing music festival like other cities. Golden Gate Park makes for a nice space for the concert, and there is clearly an audience for such an event (the place was packed).

You can see more at the Outside Lands webpage .

Opinions? Leave them in the comments.

Images top to bottom: Galactic's Crescent City Soul Crew in concert; KRCB volunteer Raj Gupta with Primus bass guitarist Les Claypool.

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This Saturday, Railroad Square will be hosting a wide variety of tastes and experiences. A number of local restaurants, wineries, and other businesses have teamed up for a Taste of Railroad Square , a benefit for the Sixth Street Playhouse. Between 12 noon and 4 pm, you can get a "taste" of what these places have to offer.

It's a chance to learn a little bit more about this part of Santa Rosa as well, tucked away but easy walking distance from downtown. Beyond the cluster of restaurants, Railroad Square has important historic value. The Santa Rosa depot, built in 1904 after the old depot burned down, appeared in the Hitchcock film Shadow of a Doubt, and served as an important transportation hub when trains were more prevalent in the region. (The history geeks among you who want to learn more can go here .)

The Railroad Square neighborhood is also home to CHOPS teen center , which provides activities and a safe place for teens to hang out. It's not on the official tour but I encourage you to stop by if you're interested in learning more about this part of Santa Rosa.

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