The Buzz

New rock concert venue up the road? Most everyone has heard about plans for the Green Music Center, the $100 million world class concert hall and music education complex currently under construction on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park. The concert hall, future home of the Santa Rosa Symphony, is expected to rival the finest in the world, including the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass. What is perhaps less known is the fact that the grassy hillside adjacent to the hall is targeted to become a venue for outdoor rock concerts accommodating up to 10,000 people, a crowd similar in size to the sold-out Eagles concert that SSU hosted two years ago. From classical to rock: looks like the Green Music Center will have it all.

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Leaving on top: Popular Cafe Zazzle waitress Cassidy Emge is hanging up her waitin’ shoes for a job closer to her heart. The recent SSU kinesiology department grad has her sights set on working with sick kids as a pediatric health educator, so she’s off to Mill Valley’s Prima Medical Group to work in their pediatric center. As of Monday, she’s working as a receptionist and also doing consultations there. Her last day at Zazzle — where she was named SoCo’s “Best Waitperson” in the North Bay Bohemian’s Readers’ Choice awards in March — was Friday. Rumor has it her supporters also put her name in the hat for Petaluma Magazine’s annual “Best of Petaluma” contest (winners announced Sept. 5). So how does Cassidy feel about leaving? “I’m definitely going to miss this place. It’s been like a second family,” she said. “I’ve been here since the beginning, since the trial run.”

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Buses, trains and automobiles: A 69-year-old Sunday school teacher from Oxnard went to great lengths to make her dream of visiting Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory come true. Ina Howard got up at 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 15 to catch a taxi to take her to the bus that would take her to Bakersfield to catch an Amtrak train. The taxi never came, so Howard grabbed her suitcase and ran three miles to catch the bus. The bus was leaving as she got there, so Howard had to wait for the next bus. From Bakersfield, Howard traveled to Martinez where she caught a bus that dropped her off at the Petaluma Library around 9 p.m. that day. A very tired Howard took a taxi to the Best Western hotel, and the next day, her dream of going to Mrs. Grossman’s finally became reality. “She’s been a Sunday school teacher at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Oxnard for 34 years and came all that way just to take a tour of our sticker factory,” said Barbara Marino, spokesperson for Mrs. Grossman’s. Not only did Howard take a factory tour, but she also got to meet and chat with the sticker queen herself, Andrea Grossman. “It has been a dream come true,” Howard said.

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Jennie Low’s is open: Mill Valley’s loss is Petaluma’s gain. The original location of Jennie Low’s Chinese Cuisine in Mill Valley has closed due to rent increases. But a new location opened Saturday in Theatre Square, right across C Street from Boulevard Cinemas. On a recent Wednesday evening, The Buzz peeked into the restaurant as final preparations were being made for the opening and Jennie Low herself was there, clearly excited about her latest venture. She also has a restaurant in Novato’s Vintage Oaks mall, but said she will be spending most of her time at her Petaluma venue.

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Not ready for prime time: While channel surfing last Wednesday around 9 p.m., a Buzz reader tuned into Petaluma Public Access Channel 28 only to see a picture of the empty City Council chambers with the caption “Parks and Recreation Commission, Aug. 15, 2007, 7 p.m. session.” The same empty room continued to be broadcast well past 10 p.m., the Petaluman reported, but then someone entered the picture: a custodian sweeping the floor, emptying the trash and removing the pitchers of water and drinking fountains from the dais. Could it be that PCA had no other programming available or is this the first example of a “surveillance camera” to discourage unauthorized activity at City Hall?

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