Doni: Pretty exciting week, huh?

Kelly: You said it. Hard to believe Hawkman Studios and ArtHop really are finally going to mash up with anewscafe.com. But I guess once they asked if we wanted to hook up (!), it was only a matter of time.

Doni: It’s kind of like that knee bone is connected to … Adam Mankoski and Troy Hawkins own HawkMan Studios, and HawkMan Studios has ArtHop, and now that they’ve joined anewscafe.com, they’ve expanded our events section into Day & Night: Arts & Entertainment in the North State. Day & Night has nine categories. Sorry, where are my manners? Jump in there. Want to discuss the Day & Night categories?

Kelly: Mais oui. Where we used to have Events and Calendar and Jim Dyar’s Picks and Philbert’s cartoons, we now will have north state Events, Jim’s Picks, Philbert’s cartoons, Music, ArtHop, Community Events, Theater, Art and Movies — all in one place: Day & Night. Starting next week. (So if the website goes occasionally cattywhompus this weekend, just pay no attention. It’s the man behind the curtain.  Anyway, why is anyone indoors? It’s a holiday weekend. Go outside! Do something!)

Doni: All this time we’ve had an Events and Calendar section, but we’ve totally blown it up. Now readers can click on any of those categories that interest them. Plus, because ArtHop is one of the boxes, that’s the go-to place for ArtHop featured artists, businesses, activities, Art Attacks — and come August we’ll have some very cool ArtHop maps. (July’s maps are in Enjoy magazine during this transition, but they can also be found in the ArtHop page on anewscafe.com. As of Aug. 1 they’re not just static maps. You can look up the different artists’ and businesses websites and work, and then print out whatever area you want. It’s easy.  And our hope is that eventually you can pull it up on your cell phone and decide where to go, just in case you forgot to print out a map.

Kelly: Or if you’re younger than 30, in which case you do nothing on paper — everything is on your mobile. Indoors or out.

Doni: This year has flown by. Seems like just yesterday we were invited to Vintage to hear about the unveiling of a big secret, which we later learned was ArtHop. I remember being so impressed with Adam and Troy and so smitten with Enjoy’s design. I just thought it was so cool. I also — oh me of little faith — wondered if ArtHop was sustainable, and thinking, gosh, maybe they should ditch ArtHop in the winter. Course, I was wrong, and some of my favorite ArtHops have been in the winter.

Kelly: The Tuesday “Reveal,” as Adam and Troy liked to call it, was fun. So many nice, smart, talented, creative people joined in. But for anyone who couldn’t make it or are just curious, we should share the video we showed Tuesday.

Doni: I love the video. I could watch it every day. It really does explain ArtHop’s new direction. It makes me so glad we’re not videographers. As least with words we can just cut and paste or copy and paste. Alan Phillips and Rick Nixon took about 1 million hours of videotape and created a miracle in just a few days. They’re incredible. Even though the video’s only 4 and a half minutes, I feel like we’ve got an Academy Awards’ list of thanks for people who helped, I mean other than Alan and Rick, our super film producers. What about Hanna Gallery? What terrific photos they provided. And Janis at Vintage did great. She’s so articulate and photogenic. And gorgeous teeth, just gorgeous. Which reminds me, my only wish is that Alan and Rick had deleted my parts. Oh, God. It’s so hard to watch. Shut. Me. Up. And my profile. I look like monkey girl. You look great, as always.

Kelly: Knock it off. Everybody looks great.

Doni: Brat. While we argue, we can share the video. Actually, it’s good timing to run the video now. It gives us time to work on rolling out the new Day & Night section for next week. It’s kind of like plopping the kids in front of the TV while we run to the store.

Kelly: Did you ever? No way. Me either. OK, but just this once. We have lots of work to do before Day & Night is ready. Let’s go. Shhh. Tiptoe. They’ll never miss us.

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Doni: Kelly. Everyone finished watching the video. They’re back again.

Kelly: OK, anyone left here must suffer through my story about the falling glass. You’ll be sorry. Here goes: One afternoon this week I was reaching for something on a high shelf that my canvases and paintings and frames — and the glass that fits in them — are stored. I swear I didn’t touch them, but all of a sudden, they came crashing down. I have no idea why. This enormous sheet of glass bounced off my head, slid down my neck and landed — harmlessly — on the floor. Didn’t cut me. Didn’t bruise me. Didn’t shatter. Over in a second. Whew. Made me jump out of my skin, though. That was my aerobics for the week. OH. I know what it was. It was my very own personal ArtHop.

Doni: Oh, brother. You could have been decapitated. I guess you were spared. I have a story like that myself. I was a late driver, like 18 or something. One night I was driving with my foster sister back to where we lived in Palo Cedro from Redding. I wasn’t an experienced enough a driver to judge headlight distance, so I pulled out to pass a line of cars. Lori, my foster sister who was three years younger, reached over without a sound, grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it hard to return us to our lane. In that instant a car from the other lane whooshed by, just missing a head-on collision. We would have been killed. No doubt about it. (Thanks, Lori.) Like you, I was spared. I imagine everyone has a story or two like that.

Kelly: Can you say “guardian angels”? Hey, how’d you like that part in the video where Adam says he’s sick of The Dish?

Doni: He funny. Oh, he hilarious. He might want to slip some OT to his guardian angel. … Actually, I think it’ll be terrific when you and I want to take a break. Can’t you just see Adam and Troy doing The Dish? I can. They’d be great. Lord knows what topics they’d choose. But I’ll bet there are some things they’d never address, like lip-plumping products, which is my fashion tip of the week.

Kelly: No offense, but I’m not sure if I can stand to hear your lip story again, but go ahead, if you think it’s a helpful cautionary tale. I’ll plug my ears. Tell me when you’re done.

Doni: Well, it was my fault for subscribing to the if-a- little-is great, a-lot-is-better school of thought. I had this little tube of clear lip stuff my sister had given me years ago. She said you’re supposed to put a little on, then apply lipstick over it. Did I do that? Nooooooooo. Instead, I kept it by my side as I worked at home one day, and kept applying it, over and over and over and over and over. It was clear and smooth and felt good. Apply, apply, apply, apply. I didn’t notice a thing. Until morning. I awoke with lips that looked like a pair of split ballpark franks. So painful. That was -what - two weeks ago? My lips are healing slowly, and the skin on them is just sloughing away. Smiling hurts. I look like I have leprosy. So learn from my lesson, grasshopper. Oh, and thanks for those lip products. They bring great relief.

Kelly: That’s what we do for each other. You’d do it for me.

Doni:You bet. Happy Independence Day, everybody.  Enjoy the long weekend. Make sure you check back next week to see the new Day & Night section.

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