OUTSIDE PAPPAS on the big night. Courtesy Iona Morgan

Lights, camera, dinner during two-day grand re-opening guided by TV chef

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Take some wood slats and add some chicken wire, and what do you get? New lights at Pappas Restaurant.

Those lights, fresh blue and white paint and a vintage cash register caught the eyes of some of the patrons who had reservations Wednesday night for the grand reopening of Mike Anestasios’s Greek restaurant at 1654 East Second St.

It all came about after a whirlwind makeover courtesy the Food Network TV show, “Restaurant: Impossible.”

Guests at the restaurant’s first grand re-opening — another, strictly local event was held Thursday — were told the Benicia episode is expected to air in late March or early April.

Debbie Norman, owner of Bohnet Engraving and Awards, a local company, is a fan of the prime-time series that charges the chef, Robert Irvine, and his support team with making changes at a troubled restaurant in less than two days — and on a budget of just $10,000.

Changes remain a secret until the work is finished, unveiled at the restaurant’s showcase dinner.

Norman made reservations for Wednesday’s dinner, but was among those lined at the restaurant’s fence line earlier that day to watch some of the filming of the show.

She even got to meet Irvine, the show’s star. “He talked with everybody. We were able to meet and take pictures.”

Irvine is known for yelling during the show, but he gave a different kind of shout-out Wednesday night — telling Anestasios to be kind to his employees and urging customers to be generous tippers.

Norman said even the show’s crew members were friendly. She also met Tom Bury, the construction manager. “He talked to a lot of people … he said everything went well.”

She was impressed with the openness of the renovated restaurant. “It’s fresh, and up to date,” she said. Even the restaurant’s staff had a renewed energy, even though they worked late into the night, she said.

Norman and her daughter particularly liked the light fixtures. “They were on a budget,” she said, but if the unusual lights were made inexpensively, they didn’t look cheap.

Those who made reservations for the evening meal had to wait outside before being allowed to enter the restaurant, said Nannette Hardy, owner of A Perfect Ten salon. But she echoed Norman, saying the wait was worth it.

Customers weren’t seated for nearly two hours as the show’s crews finished their work, though most of those in the line used the time to chat with each other and watch as the television crews finished their jobs.

“They were still doing things,” Hardy said. She saw some of the crew carrying out paint buckets and others cleaning up after the renovation.

Anestasios and his family had not been participants in the makeover. They handed over the keys to Irvine, then left for a day and a half.

Hardy is a fan of the show, too, but she said she held her breath when Anestasios got his first glimpse at Pappas’s new look.

First, the Anestasios family was filmed outside the building. “I couldn’t hear the interview,” Hardy said, but she realized Anestasios and his family were being encouraged to look at each other, rather than the camera, as they answered questions.

Then Anestasios was led up to the restaurant’s front door and was told to close his eyes until the door was opened.

“I couldn’t see his expression. He went in, then came out and got the rest of the family and showed them the restaurant,” Hardy said.

“My heart was racing for them. I was hoping they’d like it and that they’d be so excited.”

Hardy said she liked the changes.

“They opened up the bar. It felt like it all flowed,” she said. “It’s brighter.”

She noticed the fabric and trimming treatment on the wall. “That added a nice touch, and added color to the room.”

Another detail she noticed: “You can’t see into the kitchen anymore.” Instead, bamboo and blue screen off the cooking area.

Norman went with her daughter, Brandy Shelton, a teacher, and their friend, Iona Amie Morgan, all of Benicia.

What surprised them first were the new lights.

“We liked the lights made out of what looked like chicken wire and thin pieces of wood slats,” Morgan said. “Pretty clever!”

She also liked the new look of the restaurant’s bar. “The old-fashioned cash register was pretty cool,” she said.

“It’s really cute, and very Benicia — not too much,” she said. “Diners were definitely star-struck and as far as the restaurant improvements go.”

Morgan also liked that Anestasios took time to greet the customers and accomodate a youngster who wanted chocolate chips in his meal, even as the night grew late. “He’s a sweet man,” she said.

Benician Ola Peters also attended the gala event, joining six other friends who call themselves “The Bag Ladies.” They had received special invitations from Anestasios because the Bag Ladies — about a dozen friends who like to shop together — usually have Wednesday night dinner at the restaurant.

Anestasios greeted the women with hugs Wednesday night.

“He’s humbled by the outpouring of Benicia residents. He was overwhelmed,” Peters said.

“The décor is gorgeous: cornflower blue and white.”

She said the décor had a Mediterranean look that supports the restaurant’s renewed emphasis on Greek food on its dinner menu.

“They pulled the carpet,” she noticed, replacing it with taupe laminated flooring.

As for the food, Peters had calamari stuffed with olives, which she described as some of the best she’s ever had.

Others at her table had chicken lemon rice soup, strip steak and a classic Greek dish, spanakopita, a phyllo pie made with spinach and feta cheese.

“They were really impressed with the quality of the food, and how quickly it was served,” Peters said.

Hardy said the camera crews focused on Benicia officials, such as Councilmember Alan Schwartzman, City Attorney Heather McLaughlin and Interim Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani, as Irvine asked how they liked the meal.

He also took time to describe to diners what had taken place at Pappas over the preceding 48 hours, she said.

Irvine decided to end the event with a traditional Greek custom, breaking a plate — though Hardy said it took two takes for the chef to be satisfied with the effect of the shattering china.

Norman said getting a national spotlight is important to a local business. As the owner of a Benicia company herself, she said, “I know how important it is to stay and shop in Benicia. … This will put new life into the restaurant.”

“I hope this puts Benicia back on the map, and gets people into the restaurant,” Hardy said. Like Norman, she recognized that sometimes residents overlook the stores and restaurants in their home town. “They get forgotten,” she said.

“It’s a big thing for Benicia,” Peters said, echoing Hardy’s thoughts.

“I believe this will put Benicia on the map for tourism and put us in a positive light.”

Fliers in hand, diners formed lines all day Tuesday to get a bite to eat at First Street Café and help raise money to save Benicia’s two state parks at the same time.

In exchange for the handbill, the restaurant’s owner, Mark Krull, contributed 20 percent of the diner’s bill to the Benicia State Parks Association.

“It was very successful,” Carol Berman, president of the association, said of the event. She could tell: She had breakfast, bought take-out lunch and returned for dinner at the restaurant at 440 First St. — and each time the place was full, and sometimes she saw lines going out the door.

“People were waiting for tables,” Berman said. “They were full for lunch. And for dinner, they were full for two and a half seatings.”

The parks association is raising money and seeking members as it works toward participating in a multi-agency goal of keeping the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park and Benicia State Recreation Area open. Both are among the 70 on California’s parks closure list, scheduled to be shuttered some time this year.

Berman said she won’t have totals from the fundraiser until Krull’s bookkeeper returns, perhaps by early next week.

Berman praised Krull for participating in the program, and for expanding the BPSA share of the diners’ money. “Originally, Mark said 10 percent,” she said. Later he doubled the contribution.

And while it was the first time Krull used First Street Café to help the parks association, it won’t be the last. “Mark offered to do it bimonthly,” Berman said. “He’s a great person.” A March date hasn’t been selected, but Berman said she expects that event will take place early in the month.

The association, a registered nonprofit, is accepting memberships. Tax-deductible memberships are $10 for students, $12 for seniors, $25 for individuals, $40 for couples and families, $50 for contributors, $100 for supporters, $200 for sponsors, $500 for patrons, and $1,000 for curators, and can be sent to BSPA at P.O. Box 404, Benicia, 94510-1625.

LES OVERLOCK and the owls of Java Point Café. Keri Luiz/Staff

■ Java Point hosts new exhibit

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

One of the most appreciated things about Benicia is the likelihood of walking into a downtown establishment and finding on display some work by a local artist.

Java Point Café on First Street is one of those places. Walk in there today and you’ll see displayed on one wall some artwork from Bonnie Weidel’s kids’ art classes. On the other will be several small paintings of owls created by local artist and Herald contributor Les Overlock.

Overlock’s portraits are part of an ongoing, ever-changing exhibit he will continue to add to as he creates the paintings.

For him, the owls are also part of a journey.

“Take a little square out of an artist’s canvas and see if you can identify the artist by his mark,” he said. “Just enough to get a little bit of a flavor.”

From the beginning, Overlock has had his mark. “It always used to give me a very good feeling because people used to say, ‘Oh, this is yours.’ Not like it was a Van Gogh or brilliant or anything, but it had my mark on it.”

The former teacher always encouraged his students to develop their mark, too — to answer the question, “What is your signature?”

“Mine stays very consistent, whether I’m drawing or painting or anything else,” he said — or whether his paintings depict African themes or, most recently, owls.

“This is owl awareness year for me,” Overlock said. He is embarking on a personal study of owls in Benicia, and painting them along the way, with help from people who have shared their stories of hearing owls in their yard or seeing them flying around at night.

Owls, Overlock said, “bring out a certain spirit in people.”

That spirit has also informed Overlock’s art therapy work at the Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Martinez. He recently brought in a lot of black-and-white pictures of owls to show the patients, and “after they did their owls, I had them give their owl a name.”

The work made the veterans look inside themselves, he said, using the owl as a focus. “Then on the back of the owl, they had to write down some word of wisdom that either they knew or made up on the spot,” he said.

“When you are looking into the eye of an owl, you are looking into that reflection of that part of us that needs to contemplate, deal with the dark, and realize that the dark is not a place of fear,” he said. “And that the darkness is a different world.”

Overlock plans to add to the owl paintings on display at Java Point as he continues to learn more about them, which he hopes Benicians will help him do by contacting him at lesartist@yahoo.com.

“This is a little niche. Those owls are just nesting at Java (Point). They’re not anywhere else, they’re not out there as art. They’re just kind of in the corner there.”

If You Go
Les Overlock’s owl paintings can be seen at Java Point Café, 366 First St. Java Point is open daily until 5 p.m. Call 707-745-1449 for more information.

Benicia police said an armed robber entered a Southampton business Thursday afternoon and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.

No one was injured in the holdup at Check Into Cash, 806 Southampton Road, police said.

The lone suspect, armed with a handgun, entered the business around 4:48 p.m. and approached two female clerks and demanded money, police said.

Given cash, the suspect then reportedly fled the area on foot before police were notified. Benicia officers and detectives responded to the reported robbery but were unable to locate the suspect, according to a news release.

Police reported that witnesses described the suspect as a black male, between 18-25 years old, of medium height and with a thin build.

Police said detectives are following possible leads in the case. Those with information may call Benicia police at 707-745-3411.

BENICIAN SHANNA ROSSI. Courtesy photo

Benician creates winning style for rising country singer

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Shanna Rossi loves horseback riding and she loves design. A chance to bring the two together has brought her recognition — and maybe shown her a potential career path.

Rossi, a 2008 graduate of Benicia High School, recently won an online contest to design a pair of Justin brand cowboy boots for country singer Lauren Alaina, the 2011 runner-up on “American Idol,” as part of Alaina’s promotional effort for her new album “Wildflower.”

For Rossi, 21, currently enrolled at Sacramento State University, it all started with a “Why not?” moment.

An avid horseback rider, she visited the Facebook page of Justin Boots and hit the “Like” button. “A pop-up came up saying, ‘You have a chance to enter into a contest for Justin Boots,’” she told The Herald on Wednesday.

Rossi clicked the link, and it took her to the website of Talenthouse, a site geared toward artists with a focus on film, fashion, music, design and photography. Talenthouse offers opportunities for collaborations and contests in many different media.

She registered a Talenthouse profile and signed up for the contest. Given an outline of the boots to work with and told the boots should thematically adhere to the title of Alaina’a album, Rossi went to work.

“I was pretty excited about it,” she said. “I thought, ‘Why not?’ It’s free, I could win, and I could easily get my name out there.”

Because Rossi was familiar with the way Justin represents its boots — “they’re not the most flashy kind of boots, they’re more of a rugged work boot,” she said — she had a bit of an advantage.

But she also “wanted to represent (Alaina).” So, using Adobe Illustrator, she elected to go with a two-tone design, with blue roses and vines on the calf of the boot, embellished with silver studs. “It took a lot of time, but it came out great. Nobody else that entered did anything like it,” she said.

Rossi’s design was voted among the top three, and Alaina was to pick the winner. That’s all Rossi was told.

Then she received an email telling her she was among the top three, and contest organizers wanted to do a Skype interview with her.

“I didn’t know I was the only one that had a Skype interview,” she said.

“I woke up at nine in the morning, got on Skype, and started talking to them.” That was when she found out they had tricked her — she had actually won the contest.

Rossi’s winning design is being made into a pair of boots Alaina will wear at an undetermined date, and the designer will get a pair, too. Eventually she’ll also receive the pair worn by Alaina, autographed, along with a couple autographed copies of Alaina’s CD.

“I’m excited to see the final product,” Rossi said. And she’s excited about the recognition. “Being recognized on multiple websites as a designer, it gets my name out there for companies and even celebrities to see it,” she said. “Anything could happen.”

In particular she hopes the contest win helps her get into the Sacramento State graphic design program. “They have an awesome program. Only 40 people get into that program,” she said.

W.J. PUGH, below, founded the company that became Ralphs-Pugh Co., which is based in the Benicia Industrial Park. Courtesy photos

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

One hundred years ago, William J. Pugh started a business to distribute rubber goods to agriculture and food processing companies.

Over the years, Pugh added his father-in-law, Isaac Ralphs, as a partner, and the company became incorporated, changed its product focus and moved from San Francisco to Benicia.

Now Ralphs-Pugh Co. is marking its 100th anniversary.

But though it has weathered the storms of many decades, Ralphs-Pugh may not be a familiar name to many residents, said Tom O’Brien, vice president of sales.

“I really don’t know that a lot of people in the business community are aware of us,” he said, poiting out that its current owner, Bill Pugh, is known by members of Benicia’s Rotary Club. “Some local businesses do have our product on a retrofit basis. But we’re not a household name.”

Yet Ralphs-Pugh is recognized internationally, well known to Federal Express, United Parcel Service and the United States Postal Service. “They’re our three biggest users,” O’Brien said. Ralphs-Pugh products are sold from Canada to Mexico, throughout the U.S. and to a smaller degree in Australia, Europe and South America.

ISAAC RALPHS. Courtesy photo

Back when it started in San Francisco, Ralphs-Pugh made custom conveyor belts and slitting machines, O’Brien said. The company spent its first half-century expanding its distribution into national and international industrial markets.

In 1959, it added a new product to its line. “They saw conveyor belting needed rollers,” O’Brien said. So Ralphs-Pugh started making rollers, at first from plastic using bushing-style bearings, and later from metal. When clients wanted quieter operations, the company turned out precision bearings in plastic housings.

Eventually, those rollers and their components became Ralphs-Pugh’s primary products, and the company closed its distribution and belt-slitter operations. It brought in more equipment and developed stainless steel rollers and bearings for the food and chemical industries.

The company also has added a “Green e-series” line of rollers that are more environmentally friendly. Those rollers can be used by many of the company’s customers.

Those customers are diverse, O’Brien said — clothiers such as Columbia Sportswear and Nordstrom; beverage companies including Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo and MillerCoors; and food processors including Seneca Foods and Dole.

The company even supplies to its competitors. “A lot of the people we compete with are big conveyor system manufacturers,” O’Brien explained, whereas Ralphs-Pugh specializes in rollers and their component parts — and because of that it can sell to those larger manufacturers. “We upsell. There are things we do (that) our competitors aren’t doing.”

For instance, the company isn’t afraid to consider customizing products for a client. “We entertain things that we don’t catalogue,” O’Brien said.

Courtesy photo

If a customer is having an issue that needs addressing, or comes to the company with a different application or materials need, “we work with them to find a solution,” he said. “One thing about being small, we’re flexible.”

Ralphs-Pugh has 50 employees at its Benicia plant. Its sales force is made up of manufacturer representatives who sell company parts as independent contractors rather than employees, receiving straight commission for their work.

Like many companies, Ralphs-Pugh has been impacted by the recession. In fact, O’Brien said, the recession has affected “the whole material-handling industry. Some people have had a tough go.” The local company, too, experienced a downturn, especially when its manufacturing clients began suffering.

But Ralphs-Pugh also sells replacement and repair parts, and when industries began delaying new equipment purchases they instead invested in maintaining their original equipment.

That market, O’Brien said, has remained “pretty steady.”

In fact, he said, “We rode out the recession — we kind of saw it coming.” That makes the company luckier than others. “Some people we know didn’t make it.”

Ralphs-Pugh, now at 3931 Oregon St., initially moved to Berkeley after leaving San Francisco, O’Brien said. When it shifted its operations to Benicia, it began renting space on Teal Court, where it spent “years,” O’Brien said.

Ralphs-Pugh’s next home was on Stone Road, where it stayed until it could buy the Oregon Street address about seven years ago.

The company and its current owner like being in this city, O’Brien said. “One reason we located here is it’s a convenient location close to a reliable labor pool,” he said.

“It’s an attractive place to be.”

He credits the company’s longevity to “the spirit of entrepreneurship and a commitment to work with people,” and the firm’s willingness to look at different market opportunities. “At one time we had a contract supplying clothing to the California Highway Patrol and other agencies. The family saw an opportunity and pursued it.”

He said Ralphs-Pugh “has one of the best reputations for customer service in the industry, because we’re small and responsive. Those are key components to longevity.

RALPHS-PUGH CO. Courtesy photo

Former Benicia High basketball player James Pierre Mitchell has hired an attorney to represent him in his defense of a felony statutory rape charge filed in late December.

Vincent R. Maher has taken the case from Mitchell’s public defender and said Wednesday he has begun his own investigation.

Mitchell, 18, a senior starter for the Panthers, was arrested early on the afternoon of Dec. 23 at the high school on the felony charge. According to the Benicia Police Department, the victim was between the ages of 14 and 18.

The maximum sentence in Mitchell’s case is three years and eight months.

“We’re investigating the case,” Maher said. “We’re going to do everything we can for him. He’s a very nice young man and it’s unfortunate that he has to deal with this while he’s in high school.”

Mitchell was a starting forward/guard for the Panthers throughout most of the last two seasons. He averaged 8.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game for Benicia last season but was dismissed from the team after being charged.

Mitchell’s case was scheduled for a readiness conference last Friday and a preliminary meeting last Monday, but the switch from a public defender to Maher postponed the readiness conference until Friday, Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. in Room 103 at Solano Superior Court.

No preliminary meeting has been scheduled, giving Maher time to conduct his investigation.

“My guess is it’s just a setting date,” Maher said of the Feb. 24 conference. “We’re just going to go and discuss the case. If we can resolve it, fine. If not, we’ll pick a date for a preliminary hearing.”

Solano County Deputy District Attorney Denise Harrison is listed as prosecutor on Mitchell’s case docket report. She could not be reached by press deadline.

Judge Tim P. Kam is presiding over the case.

For his February “Coffee with the Cops” meeting, Benicia police Chief Andrew Bidou is switching the time from a morning session to one in the afternoon.

Bidou, who launched the pilot program of informal meetings with the public last November, set the first two as morning meetings so local business people could stop by and still have time to get to work.

This time around the meeting has been scheduled for those who find afternoons more convenient.

The meetings were started to enhance communication between residents and the police department. Bidou and other members of the department use the meetings to describe neighborhood crime trends and strategies to deal with them, as well as to answer questions from and give tips to residents.

The chief said he was surprised by the turnout at the first Coffee with the Cops, at First Street Café in the city’s downtown. He thought perhaps five or 10 people would show up but more than 30 attended.

They heard how reorganization has allowed the department to maintain services despite budget cuts, and they asked a variety of questions about such topics as bicycle laws and ways to discourage motorists from using their telephones while driving.

At the Jan. 5 meeting at Benicia Grill in Benicia Industrial Park, residents learned how the department has used grants to upgrade dispatching equipment and how police would like to see more such changes. Residents asked about metal thefts, protecting their identity, security alarms and whether gangs have moved to the area.

At the conclusion of the second meeting Bidou said, “I’ve been fortunate. From both, we’ve gotten a lot of positive comments.”

The department has noted residents’ comments and has used them to make changes, he said.

The next Coffee with the Cops will be from 4-5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, at Mike and Gayle’s Restaurant, 800 Southampton Road. It is open to the public; those with questions may call Volunteer Coordinator Patti Baron at 707-746-4268 or email her at pbaron@ci.benicia.ca.us.

BENICIA HIGH SCHOOL senior Clifford Cheng, above, practices and sings “Hallelujah” during rehearsals Tuesday for the school’s talent show, which is Thursday night from 6-9 and Friday from 7-10 p.m., as theater technician Abriana Cabrillo marks the alignment of the piano with masking tape. Below, senior Matt Johnson, left, and sophomore Stuart Blackie call their act Brocrastination — because, Johnson said, drumming is what they do a lot of when they are procrastinating, and they procrastinated coming up with their act before the show. The talent show will be held in the high school’s Performing Arts Building, 1101 Military West.

Photos by Herman Bustamante

LOCAL MUSICIANS will hold a benefit concert for Donna Plummer, whose flutes and other possessions were stolen on Christmas.
Courtesy photos

Editor’s note: This story was originally published Jan. 17.

■ Concert to benefit local jazz flautist victimized on Christmas Day

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

A thief stole more than Donna Plummer’s car on Christmas Day. They stole the flutes Plummer uses in her career as a jazz musician.

Since then, the car has been found, but the flutes and equipment — which weren’t insured — remain missing. For a musician, there can be no more devastating loss.

Now Plummer’s colleagues are coming to her rescue, organizing a free concert in Vallejo Jan. 26 in hopes that those attending will donate enough for Plummer to buy new instruments.

Her last performance on her own flutes took place in San Francisco on Christmas Eve, and she arrived to her Vallejo home late, she said. Her husband, Dale, told her the family was expected early Christmas morning for breakfast with his adopted mother.

“I never leave the stuff in the car, but I had been playing all day,” Plummer said. Rather than unpack her gear right away, she said, “I went to sit down. I never went outside.”

As the family prepared to leave for the breakfast about 7:15 a.m. Christmas Day, they first noticed the car was frosty from the cold.

They brought music and a microphone stand in from the back seat, but when they returned to get the rest of her equipment, they saw “the car was gone — that fast. I looked up and down the street.” But the thieves, the car and the musical instruments had vanished.

Police learned the thieves drove the gold Buick Century back and forth over the Carquinez Bridge because of the FasTrak toll tag on the car.

Eventually it was recovered, damaged, in Napa, full of needles, syringes, dirt, clothes, a backpack, some car radios and a baseball bat. It was declared a complete loss by the Plummers’ insurers.

But worse still was that her Gemeinhardt silver and gold flute and her Sterling Allora flute — a model no longer made — were gone, she said.

Also missing were her four-channel amplification system, two new microphones, a collection of music that took several years to compile, a music stand and the purple floral suitcase Plummer bought in Hawaii to hold the items. None was covered by the car’s insurance.

Plummer, hoping someone might have tried to sell her prized possessions, has visited area pawn shops. Meanwhile, to make scheduled concert dates she has borrowed instruments from friends.

Among those who helped her meet those dates is Ariane Cap, founder of Step Up Music Vallejo, a studio that holds classes for musicians and singers. “I contacted her. I was so upset. I had a gig New Year’s Eve,” Plummer said.

Both ABC Music of Benicia and Cap have let Plummer borrow flutes and sound equipment, displays of generosity that left Plummer speechless. Cap also began spreading word about the theft, and as more musicians in the Bay Area heard about the loss, the idea of a benefit concert began to take shape.

Jeff Charles, communications director and member of the board of directors of the Mare Island Recreation Area (Mira) Theatre Guild, which operates the Bay Terrace Theater in Vallejo, heard Plummer’s story and decided to act.

“I said, ‘We can do something, make some calls, send some emails.’ We all stick together in Vallejo,” Charles said.

He said that since Cap closed Step Up’s studio building when she was hired by Cirque du Soleil, many Step Up instructors teach music classes at the Bay Terrace Theater. In addition, Mira works with the Vallejo Jazz Society — so Charles didn’t have far to look to find musicians willing to give their talents to a fundraiser for one of their own.

Other volunteers agreed to help with lighting and stage dressing, and the guild itself is donating the stage, Charles said.

“It should be a fun evening,” he said.

Rather than charge admission, he said those attending the concert will be asked to bring cash, checks and credit cards and make a donation to the Mira Theatre Guild, which in turn will cut a check to Plummer. That’s because the guild is a recognized 501(c)3 organization, and donations to it are tax-exempt.

Among those in the concert lineup are Carleton Alexander, a vocalist who sings jazz and American standards; Maye Cavallaro, a contralto who sings jazz, modern pop and rock as well as classical and world music; Leo Cavanagh, music director, composer and jazz guitarist; and jazz and classical guitarist Christian Deardorff.

Also on board are Darrell Edwards, keyboardist and leader of the blues, jazz and neo-soul Darrell Edwards Heavy Weather Band; Bryan Girard, saxophone player who has run jazz programs in San Francisco and at the Shoreline in Benicia and founding member of the Vallejo Jazz Society; vocalist Donalyn Bussear; drummer Matt Guggemost, who specializes in experimental and progressive jazz; and Mark Petrella, bass player for The Dangerous Martini, the ensemble behind Tré Taylor’s vocals.

The lineup also includes Bob Simmons, whose vocals and guitar work range from rhythm and blues to jazz and Hawaiian; Raymond Victor, a musician and composer whose Raymond Victor Band has been a longtime Vallejo staple; and Wolfgang Wein, owner of Wolf Track Audio in Vallejo, the audio lead and senior audio lead for LeapFrog educational games whose work has been heard on such TV shows as “America’s Got Talent” and “American Idol.”

Charles said he is hoping for one more musician — Donna Plummer herself. “I’ve never seen her perform,” he said. “I’m hoping she’ll perform during the show.”

He said the theater has 164 seats, and he’s hoping full a full house that Thursday, a day chosen for the event because musicians usually have commitments on weekend nights.

Plummer has been a musician since she took up the flute at 22. Soon she was playing local clubs in Pittsburgh, sharing the stage with widely known jazz musicians who were also performing in Pennsylvania.

She took a break from her career to raise her children, but she began playing again when the family moved to the Bay Area in 2005. She’s performed at events ranging from private parties to night clubs to festivals.

Plummer has played at the Jazz in the Park festival on Vallejo’s waterfront; at Savannah Jazz in San Francisco; at a variety of Bay Area hotels and restaurants; and most recently at Gracie’s in Vallejo.

“I was so hurt — so devastated someone would take my stuff,” she said.

On the other hand, she doesn’t know what to think about the benefit concert.

“There are some fantastic people here. It’s absolutely amazing. I’m just me. I feel so blessed.”

If You Go
The concert for Donna Plummer will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, at the Bay Terrace Theater, 51 Daniels Ave., Vallejo. Admission is free; donations of cash and checks and by credit card will be accepted. Those interested in helping at the event may email benefit@miratheatreguild.org.