For two years, Discovery Duck — the Children’s Discovery Museum’s inflated, yellow mascot — has had a big purple mask covering her beak. It served as a way to let the learning center’s young visitors know that it wasn’t so scary to wear a mask, and maybe as a reminder to their grown-up companions that everyone needed to be masked up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But with most Santa Clara County restrictions relaxed because of widespread vaccinations and schools returning this fall without masks, Discovery Duck had her mask removed Friday afternoon. And it’s still symbolic because Children’s Discovery Museum is now mask optional.
After being closed for a week for cleaning and maintenance, the Purple Museum in downtown San Jose was set to reopen Saturday, Oct. 1, with a pair of live performances by Grammy-nominated musician David Sharpe, better known to fans by his stage name, PapaHugs. The museum is open Wednesday through Friday mornings and all day Saturday and Sunday. Go to www.cdm.org for hours and other details.
LAW FIRM TURNS 50: The worlds of law and art came together Thursday night at the San Jose Museum of Art, where a crowd of more than 300 people celebrated the 50th anniversary of San Jose law firm McManis Faulkner. It was a who’s who of Silicon Valley’s legal community, with attorneys, clients and judges mingling with other community leaders and members of the art community.
The venue was a perfect fit, as partner Bill Faulkner has served on the museum’s board of trustees for 25 years and it’s right next door to the firm’s offices at 50 W. San Fernando Street. As it did for several of its milestone anniversaries, McManis Faulkner commissioned Berkeley graphic artist David Lance Goines to create a print to celebrate the occasion. Like previous versions, this one features a female figure holding the scales of justice. Interestingly, this time around, she’s also holding the hilt of a sword.
To be accurate, McManis Faulkner is 51 years old, but partner Jim McManis said the firm had postponed its golden anniversary celebration a year so it could have the party it wanted to have and without the stringent COVID-19 policies that were in place last year.
FUN AND GAMES WITH SPUR: Once San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and City Councilman Raul Peralez are termed out at the end of the year, they might want to hit the stage at the San Jose Improv with a comedy act.
During the 10th anniversary of SPUR San Jose, Liccardo congratulated the urban planning group for its work in the city over the past decade but realized he had shown up empty handed to Blanco Urban in San Pedro Square. Just then, Peralez came bounding to the rescue with a city commendation in hand.
“I was about to say that the slacker mayor forgot the commendation,” Liccardo said.
“I’m not the slacker,” Peralez retorted with a laugh. The pair, joined by council colleagues David Cohen and Matt Mahan presented the certificate to SPUR San Jose Director Fred Buzo.
CAPITAL HONOR: As one of Silicon Valley’s legendary developers, Barry Swenson has built thousands of walls in this region. But now Swenson and his famous white cowboy hat are going to be featured on one as the latest honoree on the Silicon Valley Capital Club’s Wall of Fame.
Swenson, 83, was honored in a ceremony at the business club on the 17th floor of 50 W. San Fernando St. with his wife, Molly Swenson, and children, Case Swenson and Tamara Current, telling a few family stories. Ron Gonzales, former San Jose mayor and current Hispanic Foundation CEO, presided over the event as chair of the club’s board of governors and was able to welcome Swenson to the wall. Gonzales himself was inducted a few weeks ago.
BOOK REPORTS: Former Mercury News scribe Larry Slonaker recently released his first novel, “Nothing Got Broke,” about a ex-newspaper columnist from the Bay Area who packs up for Montana only to be embroiled in the mysterious death of a man in San Jose. It’s only partly biographical — Slonaker grew up in Montana and moved to California, and to the best of my knowledge hasn’t been embroiled in any mysteries outside the pages of his book.
He hopes he can bring the novel to some book clubs here in the Bay Area and recently got back from doing a reading and signing in Montana. “My qualms — about whether folks there would have taken offense as some of the portrayals — turned out to be for naught,” he said. You can pick up the paperback on Amazon.com.
Meanwhile, San Jose author M.D. Neu has released his latest sci-fi fantasy novel, “Volaria,” which features vampires in space. And like Neu’s previous works, this one features LGBTQ characters and has a San Jose setting, though it’s San Jose 100 years in the future. “This is something different for me,” Neu said. “I wanted to stretch my writing muscles and see if I could write something darker and outside the norm for me.”
It’s been a busy year for Neu, who released “A New World – Conspiracy” — the third book in his science-fiction series — in August.
THE SHOW WILL GO ON … NEXT SUMMER: So maybe we’re not done with COVID-19 yet. Because of an outbreak, San Jose Stage Company was forced to postpone its “Monday Night Live” fundraiser that was set for Oct. 3. I’m really disappointed about that because I was slated to be this year’s guest host. The show, which had been postponed once already from June, is now scheduled to go on June 26, 2023.
Part of the reason behind the postponement was to keep from disrupting the schedule for the first show of San Jose Stage’s 40th anniversary season, “Sex With Strangers,” which opens Oct. 12. You can find out more at www.thestage.org.
