Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "local events"

Nerd Night welcomes nerds, geeks and everyone in between

2012-10-25T00:35:28Z

Roughly every month, dozens of “nerds” gather at Bows and Arrows for Nerd Night to play card games like Magic: the Gathering, board games like Settlers of Catan, and video games like Super Smash Brothers, as well as participate in a variety of social activities. What started as a small “prog night” (progressive rock night) was taken over by local nerd Drew Walker and has turned into a full-fledged community event complete with its own Reddit page and a growing local following.

Nerds are often stereotyped as antisocial shut-ins, but anyone walking into Bows and Arrows on Nerd Night would quickly rethink that description. The scene usually features several tables of people talking loudly, drinking beer and throwing down their best Magic: the Gathering cards, a group of gamers frantically pounding Nintendo 64 controllers in a Super Smash Brothers tournament, screens playing Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos,” and Walker at the center on the microphone, wearing a duct tape helmet with horns and making announcements or shouting out trivia questions.

The next Nerd Night will be held at Bows and Arrows on Halloween night from 7-11:30 pm, and will feature a “costume karaoke” theme which is sure to bring in a wide range of people. Walker’s friend “Barry'd Alive” is also putting together a tape of “gory/silly/badass” scenes from VHS horror movies to play on the back patio. And of course, nerds are encouraged to bring any games they’d like to play.

“It should be a pretty chill party for those who already got wasted and celebrated the weekend before, and who would normally just sit at home and watch ‘Friday the 13th’ on the weeknight Halloween,” Walker said.

Although many of the games people play at Nerd Night are several years old (Magic: the Gathering was started in 1993, and Super Smash Bros. was created in 1999), their popularity hasn’t died.

“I think a lot of new games are just building on those old ones, reinventing the wheel with better graphics or dirtier words,” Walker said. “Plus I think there’s the nostalgia factor, people want to chase that feeling they had the first time they played their favorite game.” These kinds of games are often thought of as only popular among small subculture, but Nerd Night’s popularity proves that the nerd community in Sacramento is quite large.

Stephanie Rector, recently crowned as the Sacramento News & Review’s “Queen of the Geeks” and a frequent participant at Nerd Night, is committed to keeping this community active.

“(Nerd Night) is a great way for people with like interests to get together and meet and have fun,” said Rector. “I think any event that gives geeks a way to socialize in a comfortable manner outside of the house is a good thing.”

Rector said that the geek/nerd community in Sacramento is definitely thriving--her organization “Sacgeeks” has more than 1,400 members and 100 volunteer organizers. The Sacgeeks.com calendar has about three or four events listed per day, such as game nights, movie screenings, conventions, cosplay parties, sci-fi club meetings, lectures, and festivals. (For the record, stereotypically a geek is someone who is highly passionate about something particular like Star Wars, while a nerd is more intellectual and excels at math and science).

Nerd Night gives local nerds a place to play their favorite games and interact with each other, but the originality of the event also stems from the fact that many “non-nerds” participate as well, often simply by walking into Bows and Arrows while the event is happening. The open format of the games (as opposed to a more rigid tournament style) encourages new attendees to participate.

“Nerd Night (is) unique and accessible to everyone,” Walker said. He thinks it has a welcoming feeling you might not get from going to other “nerd” events like a tournament at a card shop.

A great deal of Nerd Night’s success seems to be based on the event’s accessibility to nerds as well as non-nerds, yet Drew is hesitant to put participants into any kind of category.

“Everyone considers themselves something of a nerd,” Walker said. “To me, being a nerd isn't about being good at one game or another, or being smarter or more experienced at something, to me a nerd is someone who has found a gem of fun and is holding it like a Smeagol with no care for the wider world's opinion on its coolness.”

Nerd Night will take place on October 31st from 7pm-11:30pm, at Bows and Arrows, 1815 19th St. Check out the Facebook Event page for more information and to sign up for karaoke.

Disclosure: Sarah Hansel works at Bows and Arrows

Tatsuya Nakatani and Fibers to play at Bows & Arrows this Saturday

2012-10-17T18:15:20Z

Tatsuya Nakatani and Fibers are performing this Saturday at Bows & Arrows for a unique experimental live music show.

Tatsuya Nakatani is a creative percussionist originally from Osaka, Japan, who is now based in Easton, PA. He’s been playing in his style for over 18 years and has performed at countless shows, workshops and events during his extensive tours all over the world.

Nakatani's performances incorporate a variety of instruments, including gongs, drums, cymbals, singing bowls, metal objects and bells, sticks, kitchen tools and homemade bows. Nakatani’s approach to music is “visceral, non-linear and intuitively primitive, expressing an unusually strong spirit while avoiding any categorization,” reads his website bio. “His approach is steeped in the sensibilities of free improvisation, experimental music, jazz, rock and noise, and yet retains the sense of space and quiet beauty found in traditional Japanese folk music.” Nakatani said he doesn’t have any specific influences, but he’s influenced by “every day and every moment.”

Fibers is a local duo comprised of two well known Sacramento musicians: Kevin Corcoran of Dead Western and Wes Steed of Hearts + Horses. Both Kevin and Wes have explored improvised music in other projects and are expanding on the idea with Fibers; outside of playing at gigs, they don’t practice together. “Our style is improvised music in which all sounds are acceptable. Our focus is directed toward texture and timbre rather than harmony or melody, and is not concerned with rhythm as a way to think about sound in time,” said Kevin. “Each set is different and I hope is at some point approaching some new musical experience for both of us, and for the listener. I think we both strive to make music outside of any singular type, working to open up some interesting sonic situation.”

Kevin has played with Tatsuya Nakatani on several occasions. “[Tatsuya] represents an underheard area of percussion music combining certain orchestral techniques with inspirations from the history of free improvisation and traditional/regional styles of music,” said Kevin. “While many percussionists share some of these techniques and inspirations, Tatsuya is very much a singular force behind his drum kit.”

The show will take place at Bows & Arrows, 1815 19th St., at 8pm on October 20th. There is a $5 door charge.

Disclosure: Sarah Hansel works at Bows & Arrows

High School Students Journey to Wellness By Way of Oz

2012-04-18T00:30:27Z

True or false: High school students in Sacramento are actively and enthusiastically involved in changing the way they and their families think about, shop for, and consume food?

Absolutely true.

And if this surprises you, you should have a chat with some of the teens involved in what could really be thought of as “living laboratories” of Hiram Johnson, Sacramento Charter, and Luther Burbank Senior High Schools.

No doubt they are not the only adolescents interested in engaging in a healthier lifestyle, but they are the first local students to participate in a movement, co-founded by well-known celebrity heart surgeon and television host, Dr. Mehmet Oz, known as HealthCorps.

The idea took root in 2001, after Dr. Oz performed a heart bypass on a 21-year old woman. When he returned to the young woman’s room, he found the family celebrating the success of her surgery with a mountain of fast food burgers and fries! He was dumbstruck at the lack of awareness, knowing that what he had just given her was likely only a temporary fix. He realized that to make a permanent difference, intervention would have to begin much earlier. There were already programs designed for younger age groups, so, despite some skepticism from colleagues, Dr. Oz chose teenagers as his focus for affecting change.

Unable to convince anyone to finance a program based on changing the mindsets of teenagers, Dr. Oz reached into his own pocket for seed money. He modeled HealthCorps after the Peace Corps, recruiting college graduates to commit to a term of (paid) community service before continuing on to med school. In 2003, a New York high school was the first to put HealthCorps into action. There are now 53 schools around the country, with a goal of 100. The program now consistently recruits their coordinators from top universities, putting them through a comprehensive training program, before determining which school they feel is the most appropriate demographic fit.

True or false: Making a lifestyle change—eating, exercise, giving up smoking—is often easier with a support system?

You may have answered false, but there are a lot of executives at smoking cessation programs and certain weight loss organizations betting their ad budgets against you.

True or false: You have at some point heard a teenager express the desire to have something, do something, see something, be something, think something, because a friend is doing it?

See the correlation?

Teens are more likely to become invested in things their friends are doing, and things they have had a hand in developing. They are also more likely than adults to turn information into action. With that in mind, HealthCorps allows them to participate in planning and execution of projects, to experience anything from meditation or creating a community garden to Teen Battle Chef or “How to Make a Healthy Breakfast in 30 Seconds.” It also arms them with information to become teachers in their own homes, effectively turning the tables, and giving them a sense of empowerment. Empowerment is at the heart of Heathcorps. Unhealthy eating, after all, isn’t just about food.

The ultimate goal is to give every young person the opportunity to grow in three key areas: mental resilience, nutrition, and physical activity.

Although No Child Left Behind effectively stripped many school curricula of PE and health education in elementary schools, California is currently leading the country in school wellness programming, according to HealthCorps National Education Director, Dr. Shawn Hayes. HealthCorps, too, has strong backing, and a growing presence in California: of the 53 schools—or “living laboratories,” as Hayes likes to think of them—15 are located in California. The organization recently opened a second home office here, and at the end of the month will hold a fundraising gala to further raise awareness, as well as to honor and acknowledge the tremendous support they have received in Sacramento.

The event, “Journey to Oz,” will be held at the Memorial Auditorium on April 30 from 6:00-9:00pm, and will be co-hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, and his wife, Lisa. Oz, and is Co-chaired by Dennis Balint, CEO of the California Walnut Board and culinary specialists Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney. Guests will visit various tables hosted by HealthCorps students and coordinators, as well as a combination of 30 local private and non-profit organizations invited by HealthCorps President, Michele Bouchard, who wanted to acknowledge them as part of the cooperative wellness community in Sacramento. At each table, guests will educate, inspire or give an action item to each of their visitors, maintaining the core philosophy of the program. Guest speakers are Montel Williams and Dr. Dean Ornish along with entertainment by Tony Award Winner Ben Vereen and an original dance number by Stepp Stewart performed with Sacramento’s Step 1 Dance & Fitness. The night will end with dancing to The Dick Bright Orchestra where guests can cut a little rug with their hosts. The idea is to make the evening informative, but engaging, smart but not stuffy—like Dr. Oz. Like HealthCorps.

Purchase tickets for “Journey to Oz” and find more information about the HealthCorps program, including local activities at www.healthcorps.org and look for the event page “Journey to Oz” on Facebook.

Special thanks to HealthCorps Shawn Hayes, Ph.D., who contributed the background for this story.

Sacramento Concerts, Music Events, and The Local Music Scene This Week

2009-12-04T21:58:11Z

Here are some of the concerts and music events happening this weekend and next week in the Sacramento area. For more detailed information on these events and many more go to the www.eMusiConnect.com homepage. Get out and enjoy!!

Concerts & Music Events This Week:

Through SUN 1/3: St Rose of Lima Park Holiday Carnival includes daily carnival games, rides, food, and live music & entertainment. Admission is $7Gen/$6 Under12. More information on www.Downtownsac.org/carnival.

FRI & SAT Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus presents Alleluia at All Saints Episcopal Church on 2076 Sutterville Road in Sacramento. Concert at 8PM $12ADV/$15Door

FRI: Sacramento Philharmonic presents A Soldier’s Tale at Guild Theatre on 2828 35th Street in Sacramento. Concert Begins at 8PM/Free.

SAT: Napalm & Noise Tour with All That Remains – The Devil Wears Prada – Story of the Year + more @ Empire on 15th & R Street in Sacramento. All Ages 2PM/$25

SUN: Sacramento Youth Symphony & The Saltarello Flute Ensemble at Sacramento Central Library on 828 I Street in Sacramento. Concert Begins at 1:30PM/Free

TUES: 12/8: Metallica & Machine Head @ Arco Arena. Concert at 7PM. TIX: $52-$72

THURS 12/10: Eddie Money – Benefit for Toys for Tots @ Harlows 9:30PM

The Local Club Scene:

FRI: Atapaz – Ras Matthews Band @ Blue Lamp 9PM/$7

FRI: Black Tar Cavier – Tough Luxury – Repeater – Astra Kelly @ Old Ironsides 9:30PM/$7

FRI: Hot Buttered Rum – Kate Gaffney @ Marilyns 9PM/$14

FRI: Split Lip Rayfield @ Harlows & The MoMo Lounge 10PM

FRI: F*CK Fridays w/DJ’s Shaun Slaughter – Jon Droll – Roger Carpio @ Town House $3 Before 11PM

FRI: MR December Band @ Torch Club 9PM/$7

FRI: Black Mackerel – Atom Bomb @ The Distillery 10PM/$5

FRI: Kevin Seconds – The Inversions – Sea of Bees @ Fox & Goose 9PM/$5

FRI: Jon Concuzzi @ JB’s Lounge 9PM/No Cover

FRI: Jackson Griffith – J.T. Baily – Earl Brooks @ Lunas 8PM/$6

FRI: Beauty & Bubbles Breast Cancer Benefit at Social Night Club 6-9PM $20 – After Party with DJ Gabe Xavier

FRI: DJ Mike Moss & DJ Billy Lane @ Park Ultra Lounge 10PM

SAT: The Clash’s London Calling 30th Anniversary Tribute (Album Played in full by Sacramento Local Musicians) @ Old Ironsides 9PM/$8

SAT: The N-Men Party – Ray Stevens – Lonely Kings @ Blue Lamp 9PM/$5

SAT: Latin Touch @ Harlows 10PM

SAT: Sac City Rollers Holiday Benefit with Rendezvous & Cool Beans @ Marilyns 9PM/$10

SAT: Voker Strifler @ Torch Club 9PM

All These events and many more can be found on www.eMusiConnect.com. Have a great weekend!