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Category Archives: Personalities

Emmy Kaplan: Patrón of the Arts

By Daedalus Howell | October 14th, 2009
For Emmy Kaplan, the proprietress of both the San Francisco and Sonoma, California iterations of Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack, the secret ingredient to a good cocktail is “freshness.” Fear not for Emmy’s punk rock cred, however, a favorite among Bay Area musicians, artists and foodies alike, the Shack (as it’s colloquially known) has not been Michael [...]
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Hollywood and Vines

By Daedalus Howell | April 3rd, 2009
Though I had moved to Hollywood from the Bay Area in the early part of this century I remained a stringer for the San Francisco Chronicle (the ink in my veins apparently outshone the stars in my eyes). My contributions amounted to a handful of celebrity interviews (I specialized in what we called “Blisters,” a [...]
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Closet Case: André Benjamin

By Daedalus Howell | March 2nd, 2009
André Benjamin, rapper, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor, perhaps best known by his nom-de-music Andre 3000 in the group OutKast, can add a new gig to his resume: fashion designer. Last Fall, Benjamin launched his Benjamin Bixby line, inspired by American college football culture circa 1935. He took a moment to speak editor Daedalus Howell about [...]
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Gary Vaynerchuk: Wine’s Brand Man

By Daedalus Howell | October 26th, 2008
Despite the media credentials I was granted, I somehow I managed to miss the Wine Bloggers Conference 08, hosted this October in Sonoma County’s Santa Rosa, California. No worries, the conference’s main attraction was video wine blogger and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibraryTV.com with whom I recently had a chat for FineLife Sonoma Magazine. Vaynerchuk [...]
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Alan Rickman gets Bottle Shocked

By Daedalus Howell | August 17th, 2008
As part of a new podcast series produced for the Arts Council of Sonoma County, dig on this chat about wine biz flick Bottle Shock with star Alan Rickman. [Audio clip: view full post to listen]
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Gang a Bong: Tommy Chong

By Daedalus Howell | July 15th, 2008
In 2003 comedian Tommy Chong, long-associated with the comedy duo Cheech and Chong, was arrested for “conspiracy to manufacture and distribute drug paraphernalia” as part of a nationwide sting dubbed “Operation Pipe Dreams.” Chong, who had been marketing personally-branded bongs, was the only defendant (out of the 55 defendants involved with the case) without a [...]
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Joe Mantegna Says It’s So

By Daedalus Howell | April 8th, 2008
A critically-lauded and much beloved veteran of stage and screen, the devilishly dapper Joe Mantegna has worked with such luminaries as David Mamet, Woody Alley and Francis Ford Coppola. His film Elvis and Anadelle plays the 11th Annual Sonoma Valley Film Festival this April. DH: Last issue, I interviewed Olivia Newton-John and while I was doing [...]
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Robert Kamen: Hollywood & Vines

By Daedalus Howell | March 4th, 2008
FADE IN: EXT. COUNTRY MOUNTAINSIDE – DAY ROBERT KAMEN, the wordsmith behind well over a dozen films (from Taps and the Karate Kid franchise to the wine-themed romance A Walk in the Clouds – he has also collaborated with French diretor Luc Besson such as The Fifth Element and the Transporter films) navigates an SUV through the [...]
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Let’s Get Spiritual: Olivia Newton-John

By Daedalus Howell | February 15th, 2008
Pop-star, actress and healthy lifestyle advocate Olivia Newton-John recently visited the wine country to tape episodes of the nationally syndicated integrative health show “Healing Quest,” joining Sonomans Judy Brooks and Roy Walkenhorst as co-host. During a wrap party at Sullivan Vineyards in Napa, she had a chat with Daedalus Howell. DH: it’s the 26th anniversary of [...]
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Getting on with Gordon Getty

By Daedalus Howell | October 15th, 2007
Plumpjack Winery, one of several enterprises on which composer and philanthropist Gordon Getty has partnered with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, was the setting of a recent press shindig that found your humble reporter sipping what Getty exuberantly described as “smash-mouth” cabernets. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Getty, who graciously obliged me [...]
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