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Rockin' in the free world

A former computer science major and slave to the corporate world, CURT YAGI took a major leap a few years ago and landed himself in the Bay Area music scene. After playing piano, bass, guitar and "just enough ukulele to get myself in trouble," Yagi began his solo career singing and songwriting only a couple of years ago. And it didn't take long for the accolades to amass—in their most recent Best of the Bay issue, S.F. Bay Guardian voted him singer/songwriter of the year: "Multi-instrumentalist Curt Yagi has been making the rounds at local venues, strumming with the swagger of Lenny Kravitz and the lyrical prowess of Jack Johnson." Besides rocking on stage, Yagi also rocks in his day job, running the nonprofit Real Options for City Kids, or ROCK for short. 7-10pm Aug. 23 at Shaky Grounds Cafe, 1800 Fourth St. in San Rafael. Info: visit online at www.curtyagi.com or www.rocksf.org.—Samantha Campos

BBQ, brews, bands and 'The Birds'

The sleepy town of Bodega, otherwise known as the location for the seminal Hitchcock thriller The Birds, is also host to a weekend of unbridled ingurgitation. The 14th annual BODEGA SEAFOOD, ART & WINE FESTIVAL is yet another delectable summer extravaganza, this time offering the best Bodega has to offer in arts, wine, brews and seafood—including barbequed oysters, albacore wrapped in bacon, crab cakes and other things not of the sea, like bratwurst and curries. Three stages at the festival will be host to bodacious bands—Tommy Castro, Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88's, Stompy Jones, Zydeco Flames, Joe Craven, Poor Man's Whiskey and many others. Bring your bib! 10am-6pm Aug. 23; 10am-5pm Aug. 24 at Watts Ranch, 16855 Bodega Hwy., in the village of Bodega. Info: call 707/824-8717 or visit online at www.winecountryfestivals.com .—SC

The greening of art and music

The San Geronimo Valley Community Center (SGVCC) is located on the Lagunitas School campus, where they've recently installed solar panels—and what is lauded to be the largest solar system West Marin has ever seen. So now the community is looking to take it a step further, and they're doing that by highlighting "how performing and visual artists are responding positively to the environmental challenges we face as a community," says event programmer Hannah Doress in a press release. The resultant event, the GREEN NOTE FESTIVAL, is a showcase for eco-music and recycled art, as well as a fundraiser to green up the SGVCC. Environmentally inspired musical acts include the Tom Finch Group, the Rebecca Riots, Space Debris, Singing Bear, Paul Berensmeier, Animal Instincts and Let's Go Green. Also featured are a recycled art exhibit from notable local artists, workshops and a green marketplace. 2-8pm Aug. 23 at SGVCC, 6350 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in San Geronimo. Info: visit online at www.sgvcc.org .—SC

Video

Ken Loach's lifelong socialism gives his IRA thriller THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY some very sharp teeth indeed. An epic take on a chunk of Irish history that's still rife with controversy—many UK reviewers panned the film without having seen it—Barley makes its point of view plain early on: Throw the bastards out. But Loach, like Battle of Algiers director Gillo Pontecorvo, never lets his compassion for the beaten-down Irish peasantry get past an awareness of what they're capable of—self-interest, brutality and terrible hypocrisy. Opening in the 1920s, just as British troops are growing their foothold in the country, the film follows two brothers from their first guerrilla successes down to the IRA's fateful split at the time of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. And it's here that Loach's bolshie politics are brought fascinatingly to bear: He stages two of the film's most crucial scenes as freewheeling group debates—obviously improvised but tense with suspense over the stakes—and the results are riveting in their eloquence. The Loach method, in which vast areas of movie set are lit and the crew then packed off to a safe distance while actors wander and talk as they please, is beautifully laid out in a DVD bonus track. Cillian "Scarecrow" Murphy stars.—Richard Gould