It’s a normal day in kindergarten at Starr King Elementary in San Francisco. The kids have circle time, identify shapes and colors, practice writing, and sing the “clean up” song. Seven months ago these students entered the classroom for the first time and could not understand a word their teacher was saying. She refused to speak English, sticking only to Mandarin, as frustrating as it was to everyone. But today they are happily learning characters instead of letters, singing Mandarin versions of popular kiddie songs, and watching Chinese videos on rainy days. Starr King’s language-immersion program had a few initial hurdles to overcome. The hope was to start with an even mix of Mandarin and English speakers. Instead the two classes were filled entirely with English speakers. One teacher still needed to be hired when school began. The Chronicle has been visiting with the class regularly since its inception. Most recently it visited with one of four African American students recruited into the program.

Christie’s in New York is auctioning off a Stradivarius violin today and, the N.Y. Times realized, violinists who attended the public viewing last week actually had the unique opportunity to play this prized instrument. They first had to pass muster with Kerry Keane, overseer of Christie’s musical instruments in New York or Benjamin Hebbert from Christie’s London office. No one was rejected, though Hebbert wished he had turned down a few of the bad players. Hebbert also admitted to checking for “the telltale bruise under the jaw” that violinists often have. (I’ve never heard it referred to as a bruise. Those of us in impolite musician circles call it “the violin hickey”.) The Strad, named the “Solomon, Ex-Lambert” after two previous owners, has an auction estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million. Christie’s sold ‘The Hammer’ Strad last year for over $3.5 million. Let’s hope it goes to someone who will play it or lend it.

Martha Stewart has filed to trademark Katonah, the name of her current hometown, for use on her company’s products. The Katonah Village Improvement Society isn’t liking this one bit and is making plans to file a formal opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A lawyer for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has cited Nantucket Nectars and Philadelphia cream cheese as examples for placenames used as trademarks without negative consequences for the communities. The chocolate chip cookies Stewart brought to a recent neighborhood meeting apparently didn’t further her cause.

When I thought to myself “Where has Paula Cole been?” I didn’t expect to get a detailed response just by visiting her website. There, in about 500 words, is a mini-autobiography of her life since she stepped out of the spotlight. She became a mom, dealt with her daughter’s severe asthma, tried to relax, left her record label, thought about leaving music altogether, but regained her joy of that creative process after she moved back to the east coast. Her new album, appropriately titled “Courage” is scheduled for release on June 12, 2007.

Plastic shopping bags at large markets are being phased out by law in San Francisco. I encountered my first plastic grocery bag on my first day of kindergarten. A Stew Leonard’s bag was being cleverly re-used as an art smock, with the bottom cut open and the handles sitting on the shoulders of a five-year-old. Stew Leonard’s (“the World’s Largest Dairy Store”) displays walls of photos of its customers holding the iconic bag in front of landmarks. And some pour soul(s) actually scanned them into a database so they could be viewed online. While I couldn’t find any of myself (I know I was in a few Girl Scout trip shots but I don’t know who submitted them or where they were taken) I found some 30+ year old photos of my best friend snapped in Williamsburg with her mom’s Instamatic (no I’m not going to link to them, she’d kill me).

Baseball is full of ritual and many a player harbors superstitions, some bordering on compulsive behavior. The Seattle Times’ Art of Baseball series went in depth on the tradition of superstition in 2005 from lucky items to obsessive behaviors to strict routines. Yesterday they revealed a few of the Mariners’ rituals. Right fielder José Guillen is very picky about his bats and won’t use one if he knows someone else has touched it. Left fielder Raúl Ibáñez ignores his statistics all season. And on opening day, pitcher Félix Hernández will be doing his usual skip-step on the foul lines each time he heads to the mound.

There must’ve been some sort of record store vibe in the air yesterday. After I posted about the SF Chronicle’s article on independent record stores, the Seattle Times went to press with an article on local chain Silver Platters. This “fiercely independent” CD and DVD store was one of the first CD-only stores when it opened in 1985. With three locations in the Seattle area, the owners displayed outrageous chutzpah in opening a fourth in the defunct Tower Records building in Queen Anne. That’s an additional 42,000 square feet of retail space, 120,000 CDs and DVDs. They’ve kept 11 Tower employees and carry more CDs than the previous occupant. They also have an eye on cornering the used CD market. “Selection and service, service and selection,” says co-owner Mike Batt.

Back in 2003 when the musician’s union Local 802 threatened a strike against Broadway producers, risk management came in the form of the orchestra synthesizer Sinfonia. The theater press took note of this potential replacement for fully staffed pit orchestras and more controversy arose in 2004 with Sinfonia’s use in a new show alongside real musicians. Now a competitor product, Notion, has gotten the attention of the N.Y. Times. While this PC software has yet to debut on Broadway, it has been successfully bulking up the sound of touring groups and amateur productions. The primary sample source for Notion’s instrumentals is the London Symphony Orchestra (“no American ensemble would cooperate”). The musician operating Notion just taps along with the conductor (any key on home row will do). Some argue that this new technology isn’t putting musicians out of work, but bringing more music to people who would otherwise not be getting the experience of a full orchestra. Local 802 may have some choice words about that.

A controversial decision at my high school is getting national attention with an article in the NY Times and a feature on Good Morning America. The principal of Wilton High School canceled performances of a play about the war in Iraq which drew from the writings of American soldiers. A student found the script too critical of the war and parents complained. The theater teacher greatly altered the script in response, but the subject was still deemed too inflammatory to be performed. What angered me was the mention, via the principal that “a school administrator who is a Vietnam veteran also raised questions about the wisdom of letting students explore such sensitive issues.” Nicholas Madaras, a 2005 graduate, was killed serving in Iraq last September. Some of these students are going to vote for the next president of the United States. Maybe the play was too one-sided. But believing it’s unwise to let students explore these issues? Education isn’t just about learning facts. It’s about teaching people to think for themselves and make their own decisions.

The San Francisco Chronicle has rounded up a listing of what amounts to a health report on local independent record stores. Some common survival themes include giving up on the younger crowd who are just going online for their MP3s and focusing on customer service and specific vintage collectibles and memorabilia. The article reminded me of the map of Cambridge and Boston my brother gave me when I went to college. It pinpointed his favorite used record stores and formed the basis for many off-campus shopping trips. I dug it out from my college files, put the scan up on flickr, and did a little web research to see if any of them were still in business. A surprising number still are.