Vol. XLIX, No. 10
October 2025
™
THE NOE VALLEY VOICE
Thanks for the Spiffiness: Neighborhood volunteers, including Supervisor Rafael Mandelman (center), pose at the monthly cleanup launched from the Noe Valley Town Square on third Sundays, 10 a.m. to noon. For the scoop on the latest event, go to Rumors Behind the News, page 23. Photo courtesy Olga Zubashko
Music Royalty Reigns at James Lick
Handbell Choir Rings Out for New Members
Students Perform a Tribute to Pop, Soul and Latin Icons
‘Bell Appeal’ Seeking New Recruits for Holiday Concerts
By Emily Hayes
By Matthew S. Bajko
Y
G
ou can catch local kids singing their hearts out during a music royalty tribute concert at the newly renovated and reopened auditorium at James Lick Middle School on Thursday and Friday nights, Nov. 6 and 7. The show—A Royal Tribute: Celebrating the Kings and Queens of Latin, Pop and Soul Music—is led by the school’s theater teacher and arts CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
band, Oscar-nominated documentarian Jay Rosenblatt. “I said, ‘Jay, we have to film it and meet these dogs and their owners,’” recalled Rapp. So that’s what they did. With cameras trained on the canines playing on the grass, the couple turned the event into a nine-minute short called Tripawds. For filmmaker Yuriko Gamo Romer,
rowing up in Washington state, Andrea Peng had performed with the handbell choir at her school, as had her mother. Peng’s own three children were in the handbell choir at their schools, first in the Bay Area and then in Seattle after the family had moved to the Puget Sound region. After moving to Noe Valley several years ago, Peng was looking for a way to meet people in the neighborhood. She happened to learn about Bell Appeal, the handbell choir sponsored by Bethany United Methodist Church at the corner of Sanchez and Clipper streets, a short walk from her Elizabeth Street home. Last fall, she took part in her first rehearsal with the group. Having also played piano and the clarinet in her youth, Peng was able to put her musicreading ability to use again. “It is a fun outlet and not a huge commitment. It gets you to be playing in a group,” Peng, a world champion speed jigsaw puzzler, said of joining Bell Appeal. The handbell choir first came together in the summer of 1996 after Steve
CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
Part of the Crew: Terrier-poodle Buddy, 14, and pit-lab-shepherd Sadie, 5, are eager to provide support to filmmakers Stephanie Rapp and Jay Rosenblatt, especially if they make another documentary like Tripawds. Photo courtesy Rapp-Rosenblatt family
Local Directors Find Heart and History Films Reveal Resilience— From Dogs to Diplomacy By Matthew S. Bajko
S
ometimes inspiration comes in surprising packages—like a poster at a vet’s office announcing a picnic in a park for three-legged dogs aiming to break a Guinness World Record. That’s what caught the eye of Noe Valley writer and filmmaker Stephanie Rapp. She hurried home to tell her hus-