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Arcadia Intro Artefact Design & Salvage Cook It Dessert Wines Servers North Bay Habitats Zazu and Bovolo Restaurants Genetically Modified Organisms Ban Arts Organizations Wineries This Side of Paradise 'Arcadia' our take on living in heaven on earth When performance artist Laurie Anderson quipped that "paradise is exactly like where you are right now--only much, much better," we can only reflect that she'd never spent much time in the North Bay. With Arcadia--our first annual guide to food, wine and the arts--we essay to mirror back just a small slice of this side of paradise, the way that we see it. Both reverent and irreverent, Arcadia is an issue you'll want to hang on to for its lists of wineries, restaurants, towns and arts organizations, and one you'll want to read voraciously for its bitchy tale of four-star servers, its recipes, GMO guide, sweet profile of the Zazu kids and other treats. Lawd knows, special issues take the talents of many people. For this inaugural tip-toe, we greatly laud the talents of art director Michael Merrill, a Portland-based designer who hauled wig designer Madame Buoffant, make-up genius Tera Piezonka and photographer Tim Gunther down from the Pacific Northwest to compose a series of visual poems to the four essential food groups: champagne, asparagus, bread and dairy. Once here, they threw a guerrilla shoot at the Korbel Vineyards with models Jennifer Killian (champagne), Nolan Taylor (dairy), Joshua Smith (butcher), Sharon Lew (bread), Rayna Pitter (asparagus) and Alexia Lippman (dairy), the results of which continue to tickle us--and we've looked at these photos a lot. Michael additionally gifted us by drawing the whimsical watercolors scattered throughout. We are also indebted to the ideas and talents of Bohemian design director Kara Brown as well as to William O'Keeffe, Heather Irwin and our gosh-darned hard-working editorial intern Tessa Brunton. This side of paradise, one side of paradise, our glimpse of paradise. Arcadia. --Gretchen Giles [ North Bay | Metroactive Central | Archives ]