Step out Friday February 8th for the first Downtown Quincy Art Walk of the new year.

From 5 to 8pm there will be gallery openings at Plumas Art Gallery, Studio Galley Eagles Nest and Plumas County Museum. Downtown merchants will also use this opportunity to stay open late with enticing specials. Restaurants and pubs and bars offer specials and live music. You can also catch the movie at the Town Hall Theatre -- Charlie Wilson's War.

This will be a sure fire way to beat the wintry blues, so plan for an evening out soaking up local culture.

Get out early and stay late.

The Plumas Arts Gallery opens an exhibition of paintings by Ralph Caldwell. The opening will also feature a sampling of specialty chocolates from Quincy Natural Foods just in time to help you with your Valentine’s Day gift shopping.

The Eagles Nest brings you wildlife drawings and paintings by Karen Seik.

The Plumas County Museum will host a reception for artist Karen Urquhart

The Studio Gallery features work by jewelry artist Kelly Clyne as well as oil paintings by Kae Knight

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR plays at 7pm Friday through Monday, February 8th to the 11th with an additional 4pm Matinee on Sunday.

Charlie Wilson's War is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history. Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today.

Oscar winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman team with Academy Award winning director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to bring George Crile's best-selling book to the screen. The film is by terms dramatic with solid comic edges throughout. All the actors, based on critical reviews, are on top of their game within the film with each of them receiving Golden Globe nominations. Academy Award nominations will likely follow suit.

Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a "Good Time Charlie" exterior, which however, masked a deep sense of patriotism and a passion for the underdog. In the early 980's the underdog was Afghanistan - which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians.

Charlie's longtime friend and patron and sometime lover was Joanne Herring (Roberts), one of the wealthiest women in Texas and a virulent anti-communist. Believing the America response to the Russian invasion was anemic at best; she prods Charlie into doing more for the Afghan freedom fighters.

Charlie's partner in this uphill endeavor is CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), a blue collar operative in a company of Ivy League blue bloods. Together the three of them travel the world to form unlikely alliances among the Pakistanis, Israelis, Egyptians, arms dealers, lawmakers and a belly dancer.

Their success was remarkable. Funding for covert operations against the Soviets went from $5 million to $1 billion annually. The Red Army retreated out of Afghanistan. When asked how a group of peasants was able to deliver such a decisive blow to the army of a superpower, Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq responded simply, "Charlie did it."

The film is Rated R and is 97minutes long.

http://www.charliewilsonswar.net/