Preview

Capitol Events for this week

2010-08-25T02:25:03Z

Wednesday, Aug. 25
12-4 p.m. The California Legislative Black Caucus will have health fair with medical screenings on the North Steps. Around 100 people are expected to attend.

Thursday, Aug. 26
3-6 p.m. The California Nurses Association will have a march and rally on the West Steps of the Capitol in honor of the 90th anniversary of women’s suffrage and also in protest of gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Before the march and rally, there will be a photo shoot on the North Steps at 9 a.m.

10-11:30 a.m. The California Women’s State Appointment Project will have a press conference on the South Steps of the Capitol. Around 50 people are expected to attend.

Capitol events for this week!

2010-08-17T23:55:47Z

Wednesday, Aug. 18
11 a.m. - 2 p.m. The California Physical Therapy Association will have a wellness screening near the fish pond. Around 25 people are expected to be participate.

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. The California Department of Public Health will have an awards ceremony south of the fish pond. Around 100 people are expected to attend.

Friday, Aug. 20
6 a.m. - 6 p.m. Warner Brothers Television will be shooting a press conference for film production, traveling across the West and South Steps of the Capitol. Around 75 people will be involved with the shoot.

This week at the Capitol

2010-08-16T01:48:40Z

Tuesday, Aug. 17
7:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary will have a fundraising bake-sale on the North Steps of the Capitol. Early in the day, a member of the nonprofit will be passing out fliers for the bake sale on the South Steps.

5 - 7 p.m. SEIU will have a rally on the West Steps of the Capitol. About 600 people are expected to attend.

Events at the Capitol this week

2010-08-11T20:42:24Z

Thursday, Aug. 12
9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Bloodsource Sacramento will be collecting blood donations near the fishpond.

Friday, Aug. 13
11 a.m. - 2 p.m. The California State Library will hold a picnic near the patio and fragrance garden. About 100 people are expected to participate.

Capitol events this weekend

2010-08-09T03:18:03Z

Tuesday, Aug. 10
7:45 a.m. - 1 p.m. The Clean Seas Coalition will have an art display on the North Steps of the Capitol. They will have about four water tanks lit with LED lights.

11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Human Rights Watch will have a day of lobbying in support of SB 399 on the South Steps of the Capitol. Around 100 people are expected to attend.

Capitol Events this weekend

2010-08-06T20:21:56Z

Saturday, Aug. 7
10 a.m.-1 p.m. The Military Order of the Purple Heart will have a celebration of Purple Heart Day at the All Wars Memorial. About 100 people are expected to attend.

Old Ironsides to host Beach Boys tribute with local artists

2010-08-05T01:43:56Z

This weekend, the sounds of summer come back to life as Jerry Perry hosts a Beach Boys tribute concert by local acts, showcasing the talents of Aaron King, Baby Grand, David Houston and many others.

It’s been 50 years since the Beach Boys formed and Perry has made it his mission to generate tribute concerts like this. In the past, he’s organized tributes to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and even Sam Cooke. He said this one promises to be awesome.

“I can’t wait to see it,” he said. “The bands that are on it are surprising and just really good.”

Perry was initially skeptical about having a Beach Boys tribute, but from a past experience, he knew they could handle it and, what’s more, do it with style.

“I felt like the Beach Boys would be too difficult,” he said. “We did a Sam Cooke one back in January, and I was really surprised how deep the bands dug into the library and yet kept coming up with great, quality stuff. It made me think, ‘If they can take on Sam Cooke, then maybe we can take on the Beach Boys.’ ”

Perry’s tribute concerts bring together multiple bands from different genres and challenges them to perform a certain artist’s work. The night of the Beach Boys tribute, two different numbers will be performed twice.

“Everybody’s doing anywhere from two to five songs,” he said. “There are two songs being repeated, but they’re by such distinctly different acts that can stand on their own and have their own vibe.”

The concert is listed to cover every phase of the Beach Boys’ career.

“It’s really diverse,” Perry said. “It’s everything from the early rock-n-roll stuff to the cool pet sounds era to the ’70s whacked-out Brian Wilson stuff. It’s gonna be a real fun ride.”

Old Ironsides at 1901 10th St. will host the show. Doors open at 8 p.m. ,and admission is $8.

For more information visit here.

What's happening at the Capitol this week?

2010-08-04T01:04:39Z

Wednesday, Aug. 4
9:30 - 10:30 a.m. The Republican Broadcast Services will be taking photos of assembly members on the South Steps of the Capitol. About 30 people are expected to attend.

Noon - 1 p.m. The California Breastfeeding Coalition will hold a walk meeting on the South Steps of the Capitol in honor of world breastfeeding month. About 100 people are expected to attend.

Thursday, Aug. 5
1 - 5 p.m. Senator George Runner will be leading a dedication east of the fish pond at the Capitol. The ceremony will be a dedication of a memorial bench to the late Capitol staffer Will Smith. Around 50 people are expected to attend.

Capitol events this week!

2010-08-02T04:25:17Z

Monday, Aug. 2
6 - 7 p.m. God’s Next Level Ministry will lead a prayer for state leaders and the government on the West Steps of the Capitol. Around 30 people are expected to attend.

Tuesday, Aug. 3
Noon - 3 p.m. The California School Employees Association will have an education rally and picnic on and around the North Steps of the Capitol. Around 3,000 people are expected to attend.

11:15 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. SEIU will have an informational rally in the DMV Plaza. Around 150 participants are expected.

River Stage's "The Little Mermaid is Not for Children" plays this weekend

2010-07-28T06:17:30Z

River Stage will finish its 2010 season with the annual playwright’s festival, and this year’s presentation of “The Little Mermaid is Not for Children” promises to be bubbly.

The playwright’s festival is a River Stage ritual, and was the program that started the theater off in 1994.

This year’s play is from the mind of Alina Trowbridge, 55, chair of the Playwright’s Center of San Francisco. The plot centers on a family of three sisters who deal with their mother’s death.

“It is all about healing from grief, facing reality and cutting ourselves off from the best of ourselves,” Trowbridge said. “It’s about people silencing themselves, and I think in a lot of ways we all do that.”

Director Frank Condon decided on this as the last play of his career as River Stage’s artistic director.

“It’s an extraordinary piece of theater,” Condon said.

After the show, audience members are encouraged to voice their criticism and opinions.

“The exciting thing about the playwright’s festival is that the audience gets involved with the feedback,” Condon said. “Much of that feedback is incorporated into the writing of the play.”

A staged reading of the play will be held July 30 and 31 at River Stage. For more information, visit here.

This week at the Capitol

2010-07-27T23:31:08Z

Wednesday, July 28
10 a.m.-8 p.m. The California Latino Capitol Association Foundation will hold a morning press conference, followed by a reception for its students on the North Steps of the Capitol. Around 200 people are expected to attend.

Capitol events this week

2010-07-26T05:00:35Z

Monday, July 26
11 a.m. - 5 p.m. The Department of Rehabilitation will have a celebration on the West Steps of the Capitol in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They will have testimonials from disabled people and speeches from multiple assembly members. Around 3,000 people are expected to attend. For more information visit here.

11 - 11:45 a.m. The California Youth Leadership Forum will have a group photo on the North Steps of the Capitol. Around 120 people are expected to attend.

The 11th annual Sacramento International Film and Music Festival is coming!

2010-07-22T00:48:38Z

The people of Sacramento better be geared up for a week full of local, independent and foreign film and music as the 11th annual Sacramento International Film and Music Festival kicks off its first showing Friday.

The festival is organized by co-directors Nathan Schemel, who also founded the festival, and Tony Sheppard, and will show more than 140 films from July 23 through Aug. 1.

The festival is different from most Sacramento Film Festivals in that it does not have any specific focus.

“The specialty of the festival is that, essentially, we don’t have a specialty,” Sheppard said. “We are all genre, international, submission based. Our programming model is to basically have films sent to us from around the world and just pick the ones we feel are the best.”

The opening film of the festival, which will be played at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, is “Official Rejection” by Paul Osborne, a feature-length documentary about the “trials and tribulations” of entering a film festival.

“For us it was a kind of fun and ironic pick,” Sheppard said, “to not only officially accept ‘Official Rejection,’ but actually to make it the opening night feature.”

After the film, the producer and star will have a Q-and-A session.

Another film to hit the festival this year is a documentary called “Walking Dreams” about performance artist David Garibaldi and his amazing antics with canvas and action-portrait paintings. After the film’s debut on July 29, Garibaldi will have a performance showcasing his talents.

The festival is host to the 10X10 Filmmaker Challenge. Each team gets its assignment and members must write, direct, edit and submit their film within 10 days from the start date. This year, 26 teams entered, and 23 submitted their films.

“I’m happy to be able to jump into this scene,” 10X10 filmmaker Dennis Brodsky said. “You get to know a lot of people that are making films in the area.”

The festival has been a local haven for Sacramento’s booming independent film scene and has made a way for upcoming directors to have their work showcased in a large festival, as all of the 10X10 films, after inspection, are submitted into the festival’s roster.

“I did a lot of projects in school, trying to prepare myself for this,” director Cody Parcell, 25, said. “This is the first real project that I’ve directed and lead and had the final say on. This is the first one that’s all about me, creatively if you will.”

The festival is also the genesis of Sac Music Seen, known for the creation of more than 150 local music videos since it started eight years ago. This year, the festival will show six new videos.

“We decided that we just needed something that was a strong music component,” Sheppard said. “We wanted to combine it with a film component and so the obvious answer was music videos.”

The festival opens this Friday and runs until Sunday, Aug. 1. For more information visit here.

Upcoming Capitol Events!

2010-07-21T00:20:23Z

Wednesday, July 21
11 a.m. - 4 p.m. The Campaign for College Opportunity will have its “One Million More Capitol Day,” an awards and recognition ceremony, on the North Steps of the Capitol. Around 450 people are expected to attend For more information, visit here.

This week at the Capitol!

2010-07-14T03:41:10Z

Wednesday, July 14
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The Iranian American Community will hold a rally in protest of the current Iranian regime on the North Steps.

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Parent Voices will hold a march and rally for child care on the North Steps of the Capitol. About 100 people are expected to attend. For more information, visit here.

Thursday, July 15
11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. The Office of State Treasurer Bill Lockyer will hold a staff appreciation luncheon on the lawn of the Capitol. About 100 people are expected to attend.

This week on the Capitol Steps

2010-07-07T02:02:42Z

Wednesday, June 7
1 - 4 p.m. Gamal Alaqwari will hold a peace protest for Yemen on the North Steps of the Capitol. Banners and signs will be hung, and around 400 people are expected to participate.

This week at the Capitol!

2010-07-05T02:09:40Z

Monday, July 5
6 - 7 p.m. God's Next Level Ministry will hold prayers for government officials and leaders on the West Steps of the Capitol. About 30 people are expected to participate

This weekend at the Capitol

2010-07-03T06:52:40Z

Saturday, July 3
12 - 2 p.m. Madeline Lowery will hold a rally and prayers for California Department of Corrections prisoners on the South Steps. About 30 people are expected to participate.

Sacramento Shakespeare Festival Celebrates 25th Anniversary

2010-06-30T03:28:38Z

With the summer heat getting suddenly hotter and the evenings getting just right, Sacramento can always count on one thing for summer: The Sacramento Shakespeare Festival.

Celebrating it’s 25th year, the festival is at its peak, and continues to entertain locals and draw travelers with its amalgam of brilliant plays, community atmosphere and local talent.

“It’s a little bowl in a park that gets filled up,” actor and student Anthony Person, 25, said. “Families come out and they bring their picnics, and they come and they see a good night of theater.”

This year’s roster boasts two of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” a tale of fairies, young lovers and comical fools, directed by David Harris, and “Othello: The Moor of Venice,” the tragic story of an outcast’s life and jealousies, directed by Luther Hanson, festival director.

“They’re crowd pleasers,” Lighting Designer and Sound Engineer Stephen Jones, 37, said. “'Midsummer' is always an audience favorite. Dave Harris has really come up with some creative ways to tell an old story.”

Often in modern Shakespeare festivals a theme is added to the production to add a variable element for the audience. For this year’s “Midsummer,” Harris decided to set the play in a “bohemian world,” adding fanciful recreations of absinthe posters to the set and original songs played on the stage.

For Hanson’s “Othello,” the well-known scenes of Venice and Cyprus have been moved to mid-1920s New Orleans. The setting reflects the recurrent issue of race throughout the play and highlights the mystique of the main character. By setting it in a modern atmosphere, the audience might sympathize more with the protagonist’s struggle with social stability.

Another new spin for the festival this year is the addition of live music onstage for both plays, even having original songs for “Midsummer.”

“We use local musicians, local choreographers, everything,” Hanson said.

The choreographers for the plays are Brent Bianchini for “Othello” and Sunny Mitchell for “Midsummer,” the latter being a choreographer for the Sacramento Ballet.

The Sacramento Shakespeare Festival is a part of City Theatre, the theater department of Sacramento City College. The festival begins with “Midsummer” on Thursday and “Othello” on July 9. Both shows begin at 8:00 p.m.

For information about showtimes and venue, visit here

This week at the Capitol!

2010-06-30T03:20:20Z

Wednesday, June 29
11 a.m. - 1 p.m. The Service Employees International Union Local 1000 will have a rally with the theme of, "We Are California" on the West Steps of the Capitol. Around 5,000 state workers and supporters are expected for the event.

12 - 1:15 p.m. The Service Employees International Union - United Service Workers West will have a press conference on the South Steps of the Capitol. Around 50 people are expected to attend.

What's going on at the Capitol this week?

2010-06-28T00:58:06Z

Monday, June 28
9:15 - 9:30 a.m. The CA 4-H Youth Development Program will have a photo shoot in the traffic circle of the Capitol. They expect around 70 people for the event.

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. California Against Slavery will have a rally protesting human trafficking on the West Steps of the Capitol. The group will have several speakers throughout the rally, including Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Jenny Williamson of Courage to Be You, Daphne Phung of California Against Slavery. Music will be provided by the Tony Savo Band and Krista White.

Tuesday, June 29
10 a.m. - 3 p.m. The California League of Conservation Voters will hold an energy and green jobs fair on the North Steps of the Capitol

This weekend at the Capitol

2010-06-26T04:45:39Z

Saturday, June 26
8 - 9 a.m. The local Kappa Alpha Kappa Sorority will hold a solidarity walk supporting women and family health on the North Steps of the Capitol. At least 45 attendees are expected for this walk put on by many KAK sororities throughout the country, including Georgia and Massachusetts chapters that will have their walks on the same date.

Sunday, June 27
9 a.m. - 2 p.m. The Pacific Gold Rush Ramblers, a club dedicated to the restoration and preservation of American cars built between 1957 and 1969, will have a photo shoot in the traffic circle of the Capitol. Many car owners will be taking pictures of their vehicles in front of the Capitol.

What's happening this week at the Capitol

2010-06-24T02:49:17Z

Thursday,
Noon - 1:45 p.m. The American Legion & California Boys State will have a lunch on the lawns around the Capitol.
www.calegion.org/html/boys_state.html

Friday
11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Special Olympics of Northern California and Nevada will have their annual press conference on the North Steps of the Capitol. The conference comes just before the final leg of their Flame of Hope torch run through Northern California. After Sacramento the torch will continue on to UC Davis to open the Special Olympic Summer Games. www.sonc.org/index.html

Capitol events this week!

2010-06-21T03:51:20Z

Monday, June 21
11 a.m. - 7 p.m. The Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association will be hosting the African New Year Jubilee on the West Steps of the Capitol. African New Year’s Day celebrates the year 6,250 based on the Great Pyramid Complex, an ancient African science of the Earth's rotation.

Tuesday, June 22
9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The Strategic Counsel will have an electric vehicle info booth and a rally on the North Steps of the Capitol.

What's happening at the Capitol June 16 - 18

2010-06-16T04:53:16Z

Wednesday, June 16
10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. The California Deaf Newborn Identification & Advocacy Stakeholder Coalition will be having a rally on the South Steps of the Capitol. The rally is intended to voice opposition to AB2072, which will be heard by a committee the same day.

11 a.m. - 4 p.m. The State Agency Green Employees will be hosting the Green Fair on the West Steps of the Capitol. If you have recyclables like old cell phones, plastic bags or printers, the fair will have proper places for them.

Thursday, June 17
11:30 a.m. The Cal-Nevada Methodist Church will have a rally for immigrant rights on the South Steps of the Capitol.

Friday, June 18
6 - 9 p.m. The Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center will be having their Dyke March Experience on the West Steps of the Capitol. There will be live music and speeches throughout.

Star Trek -- The Exhibition

2010-05-31T16:40:28Z

Red shirts beware: Star Trek -- The Exhibition is in town.

For those who don't know, "red shirt" is the loving term given to unfortunate Starfleet members of the famed "Star Trek" television show who are unlucky enough to beam down to planets with Spock and Kirk, and who are usually killed very, very quickly.

The exhibit, a traveling show designed to preserve antique props and sets from the show and its movies, including the 2009 J.J. Abrams film, has come to the McClellan Business Park's Aerospace Museum. It opened Friday and will run through Jan. 5.

The museum, which houses aeronautic paraphernalia, is now full of "Star Trek" sets, costumes, props and many other facets of the successful show's more than 40-year career.

“You feel like you’re in a 'Star Trek,' ” says Roxanne Yonn, executive director of the museum. “You go in there and you’re in a different world.”

It sure looks different. Members of various clubs dedicated to preserving and personifying "Star Trek’s" various cultures are on hand, including some from local Klingon Assault Group (KAG) IKV nom HegH, Klingon for "swift death." KAG members will volunteer throughout the exhibit's seven-month run.

Many people at the exhibit were impressed with the sheer size of the collection, and said seeing it in person was far better than seeing it on a screen.

“I never realized the extent of all the different uniforms and the weapons,” says museum volunteer Larry Mowrey, 68. “When you’re watching it, it’s different. You’re just watching a movie or the show, but when you see this stuff live, it's really, truly amazing. I just love it.”

The intricacy of the individual models also turned heads, including original tricorders and ‘borg’ weapons from the show.

"I didn't expect them to have such serious props," said Ken Hartley, 38, a self-described Trekkie. "Even if it's a replica, it's very accurate."

Fans enter an impressive area about three-quarters of the way through the exhibit, a corridor that details the chronology of the shows' and movies’ universe.

“It told the story, and it showed it, too,” said Matt Lidham, 15. “It wasn’t just a timeline. It was, ‘Here’s a timeline. watch it.’ ”

The exhibit also features multiple placards that depict physicist Albert Einstein discussing the show’s many uses of science and theory in application. The show’s mystique is seen in the story of the inventor of the cell phone getting the idea from "Star Trek’s" communication devices.

“It was all fantasy, but there were some young engineers or students who saw that and said, ‘We need to make that,’ ” said Yonn. “So the students that come through here, what will they be inspired to do?”

The Aerospace Museum of Sacramento is at 3200 Freedom Park Drive in the McClellan Business Park. For more information, visit www.aerospacemuseumofcalifornia.org/star-trek-the-exhibition.html.

1. Model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, courtesy of Maxwell McKee

2. Model of the Borg Sphere, courtesy of Maxwell McKee

3. Mannequins with Kirk and Spock costumes, courtesy of Maxwell McKee

4. Girl playing with bridge controls, courtesy of Maxwell McKee

5. Jean-Luc Picard's Room, courtesy of Kati Garner

6. Hall of the history of Star Trek, courtesy of Kati Garner