8/7/2019 San Jose Mercury News: Valley Awards for

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ffiROUNDTOWNsArntRRd-Valley \Mardsor'firsts'helprir,.gn thenew rcarAnotheryearhascomeandgone,andthe third annualFirstFestcelebrated omeof SiliconValley'sfamous frrsts"onNewYear'sDav.Led by festiialfounderLeighWeimers, apanelofjudges- Appleco-founderSteveWozniak, concertpianistJonNakamatsu andamateurhistorianRussGoodsite- sifted hroughdozensof nominationso pickthisyear'shistorical iop,whichwasannounce0,pproprFately,at 11a.m. n 1/1/11.

For thesecondear n arow, ongtimeSanJose esi-dentAlma Taylor nominatedtwo of the winningentries:Olympic igure skater and LosGatosesidentPeggyFlem-ing in the sports categoryandNobelPrizewinnerDudleyR. Herschbach nbusinessand ech.Taylorhadtousesomesleuthingskills o comeupwith the Herschbach omina-tion.A Realtor or thepast24years,sheknew hat was henameof alocalhomebuilderin Willow Glen.A corurectionof hers at Willow GlenUnitedMethodistChurchhad hesame ame, oshecheckedhefamily history on the Inter-netand discoveredhat thebuilder'ssonhadwon the No-bel Prize n chemistry n 1986.He's he first and only suchwinner romSanJose, ccord-ingto Taylor'snomination.ConcertpromoterPaulCatalanawashonored orbeing hefirst persono bringthe Beatleso the BayArea.California'si rst honbybeeswon n thehistoricalcategory;the SiliconValleyconnection

there is that thevwerebrought o aranchon the currentsiteof MinetaSanJose nternationalAirport.l\nd JamesPhelanwashonoredin thenersonalcat-egoryior his accom-plishments sa U.S.senatorin the early2Othcentury andfor foundingVilla Montalvg.Youcan checkout theother nominees andvotefor the People's hoiceAward- at wwwfirstfest.org.TALKIN'ARTTheSanJoseMuseumofAr"t s start-

ing the yearoff with somegreat programb.OnWednes-day, he musenm s launchinga free noon ecture series hatwill run on the first Wednes-day of every month in theCharlotteWendelEducationCenter.Griff Williams, theownerof SanFrancisco'sGallery16and Urban DigitalColor,will discuss ewmediaand digital art, which s aperfectaccompanimentothe museum'sstunningLeoVillareal exhibit closingSunday).Itnd onThursday,SammyRodriguez andMatthewRodriguez will stopbyat 5p.m. or a conversatio4.anddemonstrationof the eye-catching and very artistic- custom-madeowriderbicycles roduced ytheircompany,Shorty Fatz. Thatevent s freewith museumadmission,andyoucan$otowww.sanjosemuseumofart.org to check he upcomingschedule.Gota tip?Call So,lHzano at408-627-0940r e-mailhim atsp zano@merurymew.com.