Even in patients with advanced Alzheimer’s Disease, familiar music from long ago can awaken memories and prompt interactive behaviors. But how does that happen? A U.C. Davis researcher is working to unravel the neural mechanisms within the brain.

Much of the research that has been done so far on how music stimulates the brain has used musical samples that are not particularly stimulating. Dr. Petr Janata, associate professor of Psychology at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, says that a new round of studies should work with recognizable samples, and could discover that the brain encodes different types of music in different ways or areas.

That’s one area of research that Janata hopes to explore himself, along with expanding the studies he’s done on Alzheimer’s patients to include different age groups.

Dr. Peter Janata will discuss his research into “Music, Memories and the Brain"  in a public presentation Friday, Feb. 19 at 8 pm in the Glaser Center in Santa Rosa, a benefit event for the Sonoma County Bach Society.

You can read more about research into the associations between music, memory and Alzheimer's Disease in this Wall Street Journal article.

In addition to the usual parents-plus-kids households, modern families can be cross-generational, or blended in other ways. However these households may be structured, the Sonoma Kinship Family Center exists to provide them with assistance and support.

Morrow adds that, whenever possible, the Kinship Center will extend their efforts to assist individuals who may not be part of the immediate family group, but are still concerned for the welfare of the children involved.

The Center is located at 411 King Street, near downtown Santa Rosa (see map below) and is open M-F, 9-5.  (707) 569-0877.  Their services are also available in Spanish.

The Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation has a new home—one that’s almost 150 years old.

Ken Churchill, who oversaw the restoration project, says they had to adhere to historical accuracy for the exterior, but inside was a different story.

This portrait of the aged farmhouse at the historic  Stone Farm overlooking Occidental Road is by Calistoga painter Jocelyn Audette. The original now hangs inside the building itself.

The North Bay Report previously covered the early stages of the restoration of the civil war-era farmhouse as the project was getting started, back on August 9, 2007.

Since the Laguna Foundation was established, back in the early 1990s, Executive Director David Bannister says they have worked with considerable success to elevate public awareness of Sonoma County’s central ecological resource.

Below is a map of the full watershed that drains into the Laguna de Santa Rosa, outlined in orange. The Laguna itself flows into the Russian River at the upper left of this map, near Forestville.

A whole world of handmade guitars are on display in Santa Rosa this weekend, as dozens of instrument makers showcase their individual variations on this traditional craft.

Cotati guitar-maker Mark Berry was a longtime furniture maker when he got the itch to try making a guitar soon after his 50th birthday.

Which comes first in the guitar-making process, the neck or the body? For Mark Berry, it's a  chicken-and=egg question; it's not the sequence that matters, but how they come together. The images at right are a sampling of his finished instruments.

Duane Noble is seen above in his workshop with both a conventional acoustic guitar and a harp guitar on the right. To find out more about these instruments, you can read an exhaustive history of harp guitars.

Michael McCarthy (above in his workshop in Berkeley) used computer technology to develop his design for the underside of his arched top acoustic jazz guitars. He also employs a computer-driven router to carve the single-piece spruce guitar top, seen below with the interior side exposed.

These three luthiers are among the dozens of craftsmen who are showing their creations this weekend at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts. Click here for a schedule of events.