BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER Back in the Bay Area for the first time in four years, John Mellencamp delivered a career spanning retrospective of his greatest hits at the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco Friday night. Nearly five decades after his debut, the artist initially branded as John Cougar against his will …

BY J.A. SCHWARTZ 2023 is a World Baseball Classic year, the first since the 2017 version that saw the United States win the tournament. The pandemic cancelled the 2020 edition, which means the US have been defending champions for the past six years. Superstars Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Pete Alonso, …

Our dearest Nancy passed away at home surrounded by family after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was a light in the lives of all who knew her. Always authentic and warm, caring and loving; you could not help feeling the beauty and grace of her generous spirit. …

BY DEBRA J. MORRIS We’ve received quite a few questions about the Farmers Market in the last few months, such as whether farmers always sell what they grow, when produce will arrive at the market, and why we don’t sell certain items. So this month we will endeavor to answer …

BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER The 49ers wore down the Cowboys in the second half of a defensive struggle to advance to the NFC Championship game next Sunday in Philadelphia with a 19-12 win over Dallas Sunday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium. San Francisco’s defense picked off Dak Prescott twice to stop Dallas …

BY DEBRA J. MORRIS Cauliflower has recently become the trendy, go-to vegetable since keto and other low-carb diets have taken over the diet-crazed world. Its low-carb versatility is what sets it apart from other cruciferous veggies because it can be turned into any number of dishes and prepared much as …

Although records are now the best selling medium for music, record stores are scarce in Contra Costa County. Records have surpassed CD’s and downloaded MP3’s and many are looking for new releases, but the major market is for vintage vinyl from the 1950’s to the 1980’s. Classic rock is especially …

BY HELEN LAME’ BottleRock Napa Valley has announced their 2023 festival lineup featuring over 75 musical acts including headline artists Red Hot Chili Peppers, Post Malone, Lizzo, Duran Duran, Lil Nas X, and The Smashing Pumpkins. The three-day music, wine, craft brew and culinary festival will take place in the …

BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER Brock Purdy overcame first half jitters in his postseason debut to deliver the best game of his young career and Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel’s big plays broke the Seahawks back as the 49ers rallied to blow out Seattle for a 41-23 Wild Card weekend victory at …

BY J.A. SCHWARTZ It’s the second week of January, and now that the college football title game has been decided, fans of the sport will be riveted to their televisions to track which NFL team will emerge from a group of 14 hopefuls to lay claim to the Super Bowl …