Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

One of the reasons my wife and I have been married happily for more than 20 years is because — whether it’s her or me — we “know when to fold ‘em.” By that I mean we know when the other one has won the discussion on merit — and we just move on. It’s a good partnership.

My trip to Tennessee/Kentucky this week for the Breeders’ Cup horse races (a $26 million purse over two days) sparked a discussion on Elvis vs. Johnny Cash. I suggested they were on similar planes, as influential musicians.

“LOL!” she noted not so politely, pointing to the “King” as having helped to launch a new genre of music, while Johnny Cash — though hugely talented and a favorite of hers — merely was part of an ongoing trend (joining icons such as Patsy Klein).

According to Wikipedia, Cash is one of the “most influential musicians of the 20th century,” while Elvis is “one of the most popular singers of the 20th century,” “the King of Rock and Roll,” and a “cultural icon.”

Fine. Fine. I decided. Lose the battle, but win the war. Well, don’t count on it.

Here’s Kenny Rogers singing, “Know when to fold ‘em” (My wife’s response to Kenny R., “way too commercial; a rip off of Johnny Cash”):

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Caleb Dardick (photo credit: Georgette Aronow)

SYRCL’s new executive director Caleb Dardick is “coming home.”

Dardick grew up on the San Juan Ridge in the late ‘70s. He has fond memories of the Yuba River: “A neighbor used to come by in his pickup truck, honking the horn. All the kids came running, and he’d take us down to the middle fork. It was a special time.”

Neighbors volunteered in the schools. Dardick’s teachers included poet Gary Snyder and writer Steve Sanfield. “We just knew Gary as ‘Kai’s dad,’” not a famous poet, he says.

Dardick graduated from UC Santa Cruz and helped his father, Sam, a disability rights activist, get elected to Nevada County supervisor. He returned to “coastal” California and worked in Berkeley, for the Mayor and later at the UC campus.

This summer Dardick was selected as SYRCL’s new executive director. His goals include creating jobs related to river restoration projects, as well as keeping the South Yuba River State Park and Malakoff Diggins State Park from closing.

“It’s exciting to be part of a membership base that draws thousands of people from throughout the watershed to preserve and care for the river,” he says.

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A link to a fall and holiday gallery of photos from the current issue of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine on Facebook is here. It’s a reminder of all the photography talent we have in the foothills.

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Howard Levine has confirmed speculation he will step down as head of the Grass Valley Downtown Association next spring.

But the word on the street is that he will run for Grass Valley City Council next year. Several seats will be open.

I wouldn’t be surprised in the least. All the best Howard!

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“Frank McCourt has agreed to sell the Dodgers, surrendering the team he fought to retain for two years and in two courts,” according to the L.A. Times.

“McCourt and Major League Baseball have agreed to seek approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for an auction of the Dodgers, according to a joint statement issued late Tuesday night. The sale is expected to include the team, Dodger Stadium and the surrounding parking lots, a package bought by McCourt for $421 million in 2004 and likely to sell now for two to three times as much.

“‘The Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball announced that they have agreed today to a court-supervised process to sell the team and its attendant media rights in a manner designed to realize maximum value for the Dodgers and their owner, Frank McCourt. The Blackstone Group LP will manage the sale process,’ the statement read in its entirety.”

The article is here. “Good riddance. Now Selig owes us a good owner” is here.

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“The Occupy Wall Street movement is getting ready to occupy the presidential campaign,” according to the National Memo.

“Iowa activists are planning to ‘shut down’ campaign offices of all presidential contenders in the week leading up to the Jan. 3 caucuses in the hope that direct confrontation with the political system — at a time when hundreds of journalists will have descended on the state to cover the first official battle in the Republican presidential primary campaign — will focus national debate on income inequality, money in politics, and the needs of the “99 percent.

‘”Not just in Iowa but nationally, there’s a tremendous debate about whether to be involved in electoral politics at all,’ said David Goodner, a community organizer with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and a regular at the Occupy Des Moines protest. ‘But the Occupy Wall Street movement is the third-party candidate, and so we’re not going to lift up an individual as a candidate. We’re not going to do anything to help elect anybody.’

The rest of the article is here.

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