Leaving Summer Behind in Sonoma and Beyond

What's up this weekend? More than you'll have time for, but not more than you can handle. Note that Saturday is the Autumnal Equinox, which is a fancy way of saying the first day of fall.

This is the first weeked of the CAPS Theater production of "The Foreigner" at the Sonoma Community Center's Andews Hall. The Tony Award-winning comedy by Larry Shue is set in a fishing lodge in rural Georgia when two English guests arrive. It plays weekends until Oct. 7; show times are 7:30 Thursday-Saturday, with a 3:00 p.m. matinee on Sundays. Yes, tickets are available online.

The FIA World Touring Car Championship, a global stock-car racing series with events in Europe, South America and Asia, will make its debut in the United States in 2012 at the raceway they now call "Sonoma," Sept. 21-23. The series features the best in touring-car racing with models such as BMW, Chevrolet, SEAT Leon and Volvo battling fender-to-fender in 30-minute sprint races.

Tonight, Sept. 21, Sebastiani Winery and Vineyards' Friday Night Music Series has BackTrax, featuring Sonoma Sun  music columnist, internet guru and musician James Marshall Berry.  Will this signal a much-needed break for the hard-working classic rock tribute band? "Still contemplating a Halloween show, but after a busy summer season, the band is looking at taking a little time to re-load," Berry writes in his regular column. No cover, show starts at 6 p.m.

(By the way, next Friday, Sept. 28, is the last scheduled Friday Night Music at Sebastiani. Band will be Sebastopol's funksters The Rolling Blackouts.)

Also tonight, get out your dancing shoes and hearing aid for the monthly Grange Barn Dance, up toward Boyes Hot Springs. Circle Right, Star Left, Swing Your Partner to the calls of Ken Olcott.

Annex Wine Bar, the long-awaited extension of the Community Café, gets down with a Wine and Chocolate Pairing this evening, from 5 - 7 p.m. For just $15, you can pair 4 chocolates with their favorite wines. Would you like a Pinot with that Sour Cherry Bark? You betcha!

The next day, Saturday, same time and same place, hang out with guitarist Jon Williams for live music and specially-priced happy hour small plates. We hope the Annex lives up to their aspirations and our expectations.

The local tavern music scene includes an acoustic bluesy show from Michael L. Castle in the Hopmonk Tavern the beer garden at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

Murphy's Irish Pub keeps the hits coming with jump blues from the Jami Jamison Band tonight (Friday) and David Aguilar & Peter McCauley, two-thirds of popular SV band Tudo Bem, tomorrow (Saturday).

If you're in the mood for movies, the Sebastiani Theater has Richard Gere's new film "Arbitage" this week, which has been gleaning great reviews for the graying matinee idol. It's about greed, how timely.

If you're willing to travel for your film fix, the Healdsburg International Short Film Festival starts tonight and continues through Sunday, with multiple screenings each day of over 50 short films (under 30 minutes, most about 10). This is the rebirth of last year's Bodega Bay International etc., which was a lot of fun but a heck of a drive: Healdsburg is only 35 miles away, practically next door.

Don't forget to add your Event to the Sonoma Patch calendar, so we can feature it in articles like this one.