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M A R I N I J . C O M / E N T E R TA I N M E N T • C L A S S I F I E D S B 1 3 • M O V I E S B 2 • T V B 6 • A M Y B 6

PLUS SPORTS

By Marcus Thompson IIB a y A r e a N e w s G r o u p

SA N A N T ON IO

KLAY THOMPSON is returningto the site of his best game as apro. In Game 2 of the Western

Conference semifinals, in a game theWarriors had to have, Thompson puton the performance of his life at theAT&T Center.

Should be a welcomed trip downmemory lane, right?

“It’s over,” Thompson said. “Gottaput that in the past. Hopefully there’smany more to come.”

Oh, ok. So that’s how the Warriorsare playing this. They’re going with thejust-another-game approach.

Friday’s matchup against the host

San Antonio Spurs is merely one of 82.Not a rematch of the playoff clash inMay. Not a chance at revenge againstthe team that ended their dream run.

“Just two good basketball teamsmeeting early on in the season,” coachMark Jackson said.

Perhaps the relief from StephenCurry’s MRI trumps the excitement ofanother showdown with the Spurs.

It turns out Curry did not sprainhis ankle after all. Instead, the examrevealed a bone bruise in his left ankle,

WarriorsstayingloosepriortoclashwithSanAntonio

Holly daysΩ What: The San Geronimo

Holly Fair offers turkey din-ners, art, games, a holidayboutique and a silent auc-tion.

Ω When: 4 to 9 p.m.; contin-ues from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.Nov. 9

Ω Cost: FreeΩ Do it: San Geronimo Com-

munity Presbyterian Church,6001 Sir Francis DrakeBlvd., San Geronimo; 488-9318; www.sgpchurch.org

Tiny treesΩ What: The Marin Bonsai

Club’s fall show featuresdozens of trees, many in fullfall color, plus a demonstra-tion by bonsai artist PeterTea, a raffle and a silentauction.

Ω When: 5:30 to 10 p.m.;continues from 10 a.m. to 4p.m. Nov. 9

Ω Cost: FreeΩ Do it: Marin Art & Garden

Center, 30 Sir Francis DrakeBlvd., Ross; marinbonsai.org

Dolly knows bestΩ What: Two naive clerks

and a runaway niece receiveguidance from an eccentricwidow in the musical “HelloDolly!” running through Nov.24.

Ω When: 7 p.m.Ω Cost: $8 to $15Ω Do it: Marin School of the

Arts, 625 Arthur St., Novato;800-838-3006; www.brownpapertickets.com

YOUTH SPORTS

LIGHTNING BEATSAN RAFAEL

Marin’s California Light-ning 13s travel baseballteam beat San Rafael’sFuture Prospects 9-4 in thechampionship game to claimthe All World Baseball’sMartinez Chill tournamentover the weekend. BenSweet allowed five hitsin five innings and LukeZlatunich got the final sixouts for the Lightning. JakeHake was 2 for 2 with anRBI, Sweet 2 for 3 with twoRBIs, Matt Rosen 2 for 4and Mackie Skall had threeRBIs in the final game.

BUZZ

‘STAR WARS:EPISODE VII’ HASOPENING DATE

It’s official — “Star Wars:Episode VII” has a releasedate: J.J. Abrams’ newfilm will open Dec. 18, 2015.

“We’re very excited toshare the official 2015 re-lease date for ‘Star Wars:Episode VII,’ where it willnot only anchor the popularholiday filmgoing season butalso ensure our extraordi-nary filmmaking team hasthe time needed to delivera sensational picture,” saidAlan Horn, chairman of TheWalt Disney Studios, in theannouncement.

570Plus

FRIDAYNovember 8, 2013

CONTACT USPlus fax 382-7209Prep sports hotline 382-7307Email lifestyles@marinij.com

sports@marinij.comListings calendar@marinij.com

PLUS EDITORSVicki Larson, Plus Lifevlarson@marinij.com 382-7286Derek Arild, Plus Sportsdarild@marinij.com 382-7298

THREETHINGSTO DOTODAY

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See WARRIORS, page 11

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WONDROUSWONDROUS MARIN PROJECTMARIN PROJECT

‘THE MARIN PROJECT.”That’s the name of the mostintriguing album that’scome across my messy deskin a long time. To say thiscollection of a dozen mostlyinstrumental tunes is eclec-

tic doesn’t begin to describe how wonder-fully random it is.

I mean, how many CDscan you think of that havecompositions by Mozartand the early 20th-centuryParisian avant-gardistErik Satie alongsidetracks by Roger Eno,Brian Eno’s less famous

brother, the late Marin jazz pianist VinceGuaraldi and our own Booker T. Jones ofBooker T and the MGs?

While you’re thinking, I should tell you

that these are all meaningful pieces inthe life soundtrack of John Liviakis, a57-year-old Kentfield music lover whobills himself as “the world’s leading finan-cial relations consultant.”

Any profits from the album’s sale andfrom a planned January concert will go tothe Salvation Army and Marin’s Home-ward Bound. But Liviakis admits that

PAULLIBERATORE

ConsultantJohnLiviakis’personalventureturnsintodelightfullyrandomhomagetomusicofpast

BUY IT“The Marin Project” creat-

ed by John Liviakis, $10.99download, $14.99 CD; www.themarinproject.com

IF YOU GOWhat: The Marin Project

ConcertWhen: 7 p.m. Jan. 18,

6 p.m. VIP receptionWhere: Marin Center Show-

case Theatre, 10 Avenue ofthe Flags, San Rafael

Admission: $100 to $1,000Information: www.

themarinproject.com

‘These are historic, classic works, iconic in somecases,’ says John Liviakis, the instrumentalfigure behind ‘The Marin Project.’ ‘I didn’t feel Ishould start changing things around.’

Photos provided by the Marin Project

TRI engineer Rick Vargas (above, from left) and Anastasi Mavrides, musical director for ‘The Marin Project,’ work in the controlroom at TRI Studios in San Rafael. Bassist Marty Fowler performs a piece in the recording studio for ‘The Marin Project.’

Debra Del Mastro (from left) and SusanGundunas provide vocals for ‘The MarinProject,’ which has released a new album.

See LIBERATORE, page 5

WARRIORS REPORTΩ Friday: Golden State at San Antonio, 6 p.m.,

CSN

Bay Area News Group photo/Doug Duran

Klay Thompson and the rest of the Warriors say theyare treating Friday’s showdown against San Antonioas just another game. San Antonio eliminated theWarriors from the playoffs last season.

as altruistic as thatsounds, “The MarinProject” began as a van-ity project.“I have to be honest, my

original thought was thecreative aspect of makinga record,” he told me theother day, speaking fromhis office in Mill Valley.

“I had wanted to do thisfor many years of my life.”

As the founder of Livi-akis Financial Commu-nications, a financial PRand investor relationsfirm, he’s done prettywell for himself. Forbesreported that his fee forone deal alone was worth$12 million. The mancan afford to race thor-oughbreds, so there wasno need to skimp on hiscoming out party as anexecutive producer andcreative director, shellingout $90,000 of his ownmoney for this maidenvoyage into the invitingbut often treacherouswaters of the music busi-ness.

Working with co-pro-ducer Anastasi Mavridesof Fairfax, he hired acouple dozen top BayArea session musicians,including several sym-phony players, to recordover a monthlong periodat TRI Studios, Grate-ful Dead co-founder BobWeir’s uber-high-techdigital facility in SanRafael.

A couple of thingsstruck me listeningto this CD. First, howgood the production is.TRI’s Rick Vargas, whorecorded and mixed it,knows his stuff. And sec-ond, that it’s just abouta note-for-note renditionof the original recordings.

That last bit made mewonder why, for example,you’d hire local musi-cians to try to re-createthe Memphis soul soundof “Time Is Tight,” theclassic 1968 instrumen-tal by Booker T and

the MGs that featuredBooker T on HammondB-3, drummer Al Jack-son Jr., bassist Donald

“Duck” Dunn and thegreat Steve Cropper onguitar?

I don’t care who youare, or how much betteryour recording equip-ment is, you’re not goingto sound as hip as thoseguys did in that magicalstudio in Memphis backin the day. They aren’t inthe Rock and Roll Hallof Fame for nothing. Sowhy even think abouttrying to sound just likethem? Same with Guar-aldi’s “Cast Your Fate tothe Wind,” a 1963 Gram-my winner for best origi-nal jazz instrumental.

I’m not the first to askLiviakis that question.And he has his reasons,seeing this effort assomething of a homage —with apologies to Proust,as a remembrance ofthings past. If he hearssomeone playing a songthat doesn’t sound likehe first heard it, forinstance, it doesn’t sitwell with him. He actu-ally fired a musician hethought was deviating

too much from the tran-scribed score.“There is some inter-

pretation, obviously,because these are humanbeings playing,” he ex-plained. “But I didn’twant to embellish. Ididn’t want to be pre-sumptuous and startmeddling too much.These are historic, clas-sic works, iconic in somecases. I didn’t feel Ishould start changingthings around.”

This somewhat anti-septic approach worksbetter with the four lessfamiliar pieces by Eno,and with Mozart’s SullAria from “The Marriageof Figaro” and “Pa, Pa,Pa” from “The MagicFlute.” Satie’s “La DivaL’Empire” is so obscurenobody knows what it’ssupposed to sound like inthe first place, so knockyourself out.

And that’s what Livi-akis did. This album wasdone on his dime, andhe picked pieces that areimportant to him, thatbring back memoriesand stir him emotion-ally. He’s a tenor in theSt. Anselm Church Choir

under the direction ofMaryliz Smith, whosemusicianship is all over

“The Marin Project.”When she sat down at thegrand piano and beganplaying the poignantopening notes of Eno’s

“Winter Music,” Liviakis,a father of four, wept.

“I actually cried,” heconfessed. “And to thisday I’ll have some tearswhen I hear it. I grew upwith these pieces, andmy children grew up withthem, from the time theywere newborns. It reallymeant a lot of me to hearit played one instrumentat a time. It was a mov-ing experience. It wasone of the great momentsof my life, really.”

Producing an albumlike this takes a lot oftime and effort andmoney, as Liviakis foundout. The Salvation Armywants him to produceone a year for fundrais-ing purposes, but he’srealized his dream and

now that he’s done that,he wants to wait and seehow this one does beforeeven thinking aboutdoing another.

“I’m not planning onproducing more recordsfor the time being,” hesaid. “I’m not going tojump into making an-other disc unless we havea really compelling rea-son. I’m not going to doit just to do it. It’s got tobe something as great asthis one is.”

Contact Paul Liberatore viaemail at liberatore@marinij.com; follow him on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/LibLarge.Follow his blog at http://blogs.marinij.com/ad_lib.

LIBERATORE:VanitypiecefromLiviakis turns intoahomagetomusicof thepastM A R I N I N D E P E N D E N T J O U R N A L • M A R I N I J . C O M 570 F R I D A Y, N O V E M B E R 8 , 2 0 1 3 • B5ENTERTAINMENT

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From page 1

Photos provided by the Marin Project

Pianist Maryliz Smith is one the participating musicians with the Marin Project.

EdGoldfarbworks onthe MarinProject.