Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "music"

See Sacramento via Kari Shipman

2013-06-17T19:36:16Z

Meet Kari Shipman – one of Sacramento’s hardest-working fashionistas. Shipman is the woman behind Juniper James, and you can also find her at artist incubator Flywheel at the Downtown plaza, which she co-owns. She’s proud to call herself a member of the creative working class, and is dedicated to seeing Sacramento’s artistic community grow. We almost lost her to Los Angeles. but fortunately for us (and unfortunately for L.A.) she made the decision to put down roots in Sacramento.

Below she shares her thoughts on the necessity of Sunday brunch, enjoying the outdoors like a true urbanite, where the boys can find the best vintage duds, and how to sustain a creative class. Watch the city fly by, Shipman-style.

Name: Kari Shipman
Occupation: Creative Director: Juniper James (Fashion Consulting) // Co-Owner: Flywheel
Neighborhood: Midtown & Downtown

SP: How long have you lived here?

KS: Sacramento born and raised.

SP: Why have you stayed?

KS: I had plans and opportunities to be in LA following high school, and stayed for family reasons. I somewhat begrudged everything in Sacramento for a while, and refused to plug in to the art, music, restaurant, (or any other) scene here, because it wasn't the life I thought I was going to have in LA. One day I woke up and realized that I was missing out on what Sacramento DID have to offer, and with no plans to leave, I jumped in head first. That's when I fell in love with my city.

SP: Where is your favorite spot in Sac to enjoy the outdoors and why?

KS: I'm not an "outdoorsy" type. It's nice and all, but I'm a city girl. My favorite place to enjoy the "outdoors" is from the patio of some of my favorite restaurants. Choice patio spots in Sac: Revolution Wine, Bows & Arrows, Hook & Ladder and Red Rabbit.

If I had to pick something officially outdoors: I love going to outdoor concerts here, especially because you always run into friends. Concerts in the Park, Pops in the Park, Hot Italian's Hot Lunch Series...

SP: What’s the best season to spend in Sacramento, and why?

KS: I really do enjoy all of the seasons here, each with it's own charm, events and fun to be had. But summers are so full of life and good times with friends.

Why? Outdoor concert series (see above), great food & drinks on patios & front porches (see above), rafting down the river, River Cats games, sangria, barbecues and bonfires, wearing sundresses and sandals, biking around midtown on a warm evening... so much more. but that'll do.

SP: Which is your favorite happy hour spot?

KS: Lucca has a great happy hour. With burgers sourced from local Lucky Dog Ranch, and summer white/red sangria by the glass or pitcher with girlfriends, Lucca is definitely my go-to. Also noteworthy: Ella, Sapporo and Red Rabbit.

SP: On Friday or Saturday night we’d find you...

KS: Friday nights lately, I'm usually resting at home with good cooking and wine after a BUSY on-the-go kinda week. But most Saturday nights - supporting friends at live music shows. As a musician myself, I can't get enough of experiencing the beauty of other's music. We have so many incredible musicians (who are even more impressive as people), and usually it's a tough decision on which shows to hit on any given evening.

SP: On a Sunday afternoon we’d find you...

KS: BRUNCH. Almost always brunchin' it up. I actually have a "Brunch Crew" with a private FB group & everything (what? you don't take brunch that seriously??), and every Sunday we pick a place and usually spend most of the day there. Hence my affinity for restaurant patios. :)

SP: Describe our city in 15 words or less.

KS: Sacramento is a growing, creative city with a big heart.

SP: I’m a tourist. What are the top three things I shouldn’t miss during my stay?

KS: This might be the hardest question of all. So many great places, so many categories, AND so much depends on what season it is. But speaking overall:

See a live show: Exquisite Corps or Autumn Sky are my favorite local bands. Sac Ballet - incredible.
Get a great drink: Adam Saake (Golden Bear) & Ian Beightler (Hot Italian) are my favorite (super talented!) bartenders.
Shop local, handmade: My shop (Flywheel) & Bows & Arrows carry mostly Sacramento Handmade.

SP: Name one of Sacramento’s “hidden gems” – this could be a place, person, business, etc. What makes this a gem?

KS: Ed's Threads. Ed has been a business owner in Sacramento way longer than I've been alive. He's the real deal. You walk into his shop and you've stepped through a time machine into the 'good ole days' when men dressed like gentlemen. Sustaining an all-men's vintage clothing shop for so many years is impressive in and of itself, but the flair & authentic style that Ed himself exudes is priceless. He is a purist, a true collector, who knows every piece and it's story.

SP: What conversation are you a part of, and why is it important?

KS: I am a part of Sacramento's creative class, as well as a business owner. It's one thing to be someone who has a regular 9-5 job working for someone else, and enjoys being creative outside of that. It's a whole different story being a working creative.

One of the biggest hot-button issues in the creative circles here (musicians, graphic design, photography, visual art, performance art etc) is whether or not Sacramento will sustain you here. It's a love/pain relationship for almost every creative I know. They love their craft, and (want to) love Sacramento, but whether it be corporate censorship of the media outlets inhibiting the dissemination of emerging art, or patrons not truly valuing it and choosing to pay for the show/piece/image/design, so many creatives find themselves moving to SF or LA.

One of the things that I think Sacramento can be proud of is it's ever-expanding community-minded values toward the arts. So many organizations, individuals and businesses choosing to respect, embrace and further the arts here. In SF and LA, it's cutthroat. Everyone you meet is trying to make it as a creative, and willing to eat others for breakfast to get there. Sacramento isn't that environment and I love that about us. But if we want to keep our creatives, they need to eat. They need to pay their bills and be appreciated.

How I actively work toward that goal:
Flywheel: all Sacramento handmade artisan retail
THIS is Midtown & Launch: monthly summer/annual events that showcase local musicians, designers & artisans.
Put my money where my mouth is: I buy local. I attend local. I promote local. I eat & drink local.

SP: Anything else?

KS: We live in an incredible city full of talented and fascinating people who care about each other and Sacramento. Get involved, support local and make a difference.

So who’s our photog on the streets this week? Sac Press goes tech this week as we hand over the @sacramentopress Instagram to Hacker Lab’s Eric Ullrich.

If you go see Pitbull, you will know all the songs

2013-06-12T07:21:14Z

Hate him or love him, the guy cranks out the hits.

International music sensation Pitbull will be performing live at Sleep Train Arena this Thursday, June 13.

The Miami-born entertainer has had number one singles in more than 15 countries. There's no doubt you've heard - and maybe gotten sick of - several on the radio, in a movie, or on TV.

"Rain Over Me," featuring Marc Anthony; "Give Me Everything," featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer; "International Love," featuring Chris Brown; and "Feel this Moment," featuring Christina Aguilera, are just a few of his poppy club anthems.

His seventh studio album, “Global Warming,” also features the hits "Don't Stop the Party" and "Back in Time," the lead single from the “Men in Black 3” soundtrack.

Supporting Pitbull will be Australian multiplatinum dance and pop music stars Justice Crew, along with special guest DJs Jump Smokers.

Singer Ke$ha, who has been providing the main support on this tour, is not slated to appear in Sacramento.

Tickets range in price from $39.50-$125, and can be purchased here. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.

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An uplifting performance by Capital Cities at Ace of Spades

2013-06-05T02:52:16Z

Last Friday, May 31, I had the pleasure of seeing Capital Cities perform live at Ace of Spades. Their electrifying performance was catchy and uplifting. The band took the stage with their signature neon-lighted sunglasses that rapidly changed color throughout the performance. Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian are the frontmen of the alternative dance group, which started after signing a record deal with Capitol Records in December 2012. The band is known for their electric pop catchy sound that makes the audience catch the jitterbug on the dance floor.

Since their record deal, the band has been touring, often seen wearing matching jackets and always teaching the crowd the “Capital Cities Shuffle” while performing “Center Stage.” The catchy tune provides a great beat for the band to show off their creative spinoff of the electric slide. It was very fun to go to a performance where the band really engages with the audience. It gave the performance a personality that allowed me to connect with the live performance and really get into it.

I really admired Spencer Ludwig’s stage presence. During the opening song, “Kangaroo Court,” there was a trumpet solo where he stole the stage, allowing me to accurately capture his enthusiastic energy in the photo above. He’s a statement maker through his stage presence and it was absolutely inspiring to watch. Whether it’s through his fashion sense or during his trumpet solos, he hardly ever falls into the background during a performance.

I just want to take a second to point out Ludwig’s outfit for the performance. I loved his crazy printed Keith Haring skirt that really complimented his neon socks, which really made his outfit pop. The vibrantly colored outfit also suits the band’s style well and really highlights his electric personality on stage. The skinny jeans in combination with their matching jackets really took me back to the 90s and I thought he rocked it perfectly.

It’s always fun seeing a band live, with all their raw emotion and sweat, and getting the opportunity to connect with them as artists on a deeper level than just listening to their songs on Pandora or iTunes. However their album, “In A Tidal Wave of Mystery,” was just released Tuesday, June 4. If you missed out on their performance last Friday, be sure to tune in to “Conan” on Thursday, June 6, on TNT. They are now headed to Southern California to play in Anaheim on June 5, and in Los Angeles on June 6 and June 7. Be sure to check out my vines from the performance (user name Tori Kobayashi) and more photos on my personal blog!

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Reading is So Delicious! Join our Summer Reading Kickoff on June 9

2013-06-04T18:53:46Z

The Sacramento Public Library invites you to our Summer Reading Kickoff Party at the Central Library on Sunday, June 9 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., 828 I St., Sacramento.

This year’s theme is Reading is so Delicious! We’ll have lots of activities for families and kids, including face-painting, jugglers, balloons, crafts, henna tattoos and more. The event also features Musical Robot, a drum and ukulele duo who combine songs, storytelling, puppetry, dancing, audience participation, and lots of “really bad robot jokes.”

The kickoff will also benefit the Sacramento Food Bank. This excellent organization provides food, clothing, educational opportunities and senior services to thousands of local residents in need. We’re asking visitors to help fight hunger in our community by bringing a non-perishable food item.

The Kickoff Party is one of over 1,500 events happening across all of our 28 branches. We’ll be having food-themed programs all summer, from June 1 to August 31. This includes cooking and nutrition classes for adults and kids, instruction on everything from raw foods to desserts, seminars on locally-sourced food and kitchen chemistry, and of course lots and lots of crafts, music and theater all summer long. Just a few of our highlights for kids include:

• "Hungry as a Bear" Puppet Show with Tony Borders
• "Cooking with Kids" - California Food Literacy
• Uncle Jer’s Traveling Bee Show

Summer Reading is the Library’s annual program to promote reading and fight the “summer slide.” Studies show that kids who don’t read during the summer months can lose up to two months of reading skills they learned during the previous school year. Kids who do read during the summer are more likely to finish high school and go on to college.

Last year, over 25,000 people signed up for Summer Reading, and 48,000 came to our library summer programs. Our goal this year to get 30,000 people to sign up—and to have our participants read over 100,000 books! We’re encouraging kids to read at least five books this summer.

All kids who finish at least one activity sheet will get to choose a free book to take home. Adults will receive a Sacramento Public Library book bag. Participants will also be entered into the prize drawing. Each branch will give out one $100 Target gift card to a lucky winner. We’ll also be giving away four iPad Minis, one each to age group: adult, teen, school-age children, and pre-readers.

The Summer Reading Program is made possible by the support of our generous sponsors, The Sacramento Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Sacramento Public Library, and Target.

MEDIA CONTACT: Malcolm Maclachlan, Public Information Coordinator,
(916) 264-2919, mmaclachlan@saclibrary.org

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Disclosure: I am Public Information Coordinator with the Sacramento Public Library.

Capital Cities comes to Ace of Spades [Preview]

2013-05-31T06:59:52Z

I’m so excited to see Capital Cities performing for their "Dancing with Strangers" tour live this Friday, May 31, at Ace of Spades! This Los Angeles alternative dance group is known for their uplifting, electronic-infused pop rock sound. I fell in love with their single “Safe and Sound” when I heard it on my Passion Pit Pandora station. When I heard they were coming to Ace of Spades, I was stoked to get the opportunity to see them live! I’m also hoping to hear “Holiday” and “Kangaroo Court.” I have an itching it’ll be an awesome Ace of Spades concert to check out.

Capital Cities is currently traveling for their "Dancing with Strangers" tour and will playing in Santa Barbara Saturday June 1, and the playing in Los Angeles June 5 ,6 and 7. They've also played at many music festivals such as the Sasquatch music festival and SXSW. This band has been together since 2009 and signed with Capitol Records in 2012.

Tickets are sold at Dimple Records, The Beat, Armadillo Music (Davis) or online. Doors open at 7 p.m.; Gold Fields and D W N T W N are the opening acts. There's street parking or you can pay $10 to park your car in the parking lot across the street.

Venue Location:
1417 R St, Sacramento, CA 95811

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Disclosure: Check out my Instagram: @torikobayashi for photos and Vine account (Tori Kobayashi) for updates on this awesome event if you can't make it!

Music brings thousands together at the Sacramento Music Festival

2013-05-30T10:16:01Z

This year's Sacramento Music Festival was expected to draw more than 60,000 spectators for the four-day Memorial Day weekend event. The festival has made a concentrated effort to draw more people. It has also widened the spectrum of musical acts that perform annually.

With over 300 scheduled performances on 18 stages, there was something for every music fan. Many musicians provided multiple performances throughout the weekend, giving fans more opportunities to enjoy new and favorite acts.

Although not highly publicized, there were quite a few free events on the streets of Old Sacramento.

Looking at the crowd, it appeared to me that as the festival has aged, so has its audience.

The event, with a couple of name changes, celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. In order to keep up with the changes in music styles and appreciation, the festival, for the past two years, has tried to create an event that appeals to a younger generation and a wider audience.

The Next Generation Band stage gave younger jazz bands a venue of their own. Talented young musicians showcased their talent as they played at different sites. The youth-oriented venue was primarily set up at the Downtown Plaza Piazza.

Next Generation Band musicians also played at Round Table Pizza in Old Sacramento, the Delta Dock and a couple of other spots.

Going a step further, Sacramento Music Festival lowered prices this year for daily and weekend passes. Children under 12 had free admittance.

To draw younger and wider audiences, the music festival also looked for more diverse musical performances.

Mindy Giles of Swell Productions was brought in to help book headline acts. Giles did not disappoint and was instrumental in bringing The Blasters, Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks, The James Hunter Six and Los Lobos to this year's festival.

Local promoter Jerry Perry was also quite visible primarily on the Turntable on the Green stage.

Other headline performers for this year's festival included the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, Ben Taylor, John Lee Hooker Jr., Wanda Jackson, Jimmy Pailer, Johnny “Guitar” Knox, James Garner’s Cash Tribute, The Rhythm Vandals, Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers, the Kyle Rowland Band, Beer Dawgs and many others.

The festival, to me, was mind-boggling. With so many performances it was hard making a decision as to which performers I wanted to see. After the first day, I just picked a couple of headline acts to view and decided to walk to as many performances as humanly possible. That decision did not work out as planned because I was exhausted.

This was also my first year at the festival and I loved the different performances and venues. I was able to enjoy music at the Delta King Paddlewheel Saloon, Laughs Unlimited, Embassy Suites, the Sheraton Ballroom and the Hyatt Ballroom, where swing dance competitions took place on the main stages.

Music festival ticket holders could also enjoy performances and free entrance to the Railroad Museum, as well as other Old Sacramento venues.

The annual music festival at times seemed like a giant party with venues all around. In order for guests to move from the Old Sacramento venues to the Sacramento Convention Center, free area bus service was provided. Hotel venues gave guests air-conditioned space to enjoy.

I heard some complaints from guests, but overall there were far more compliments about the festival.

Another thing that I enjoyed was the parade held on Saturday, May 25, and all the performances at the main stage. It was also a highlight to see Kyle Rowland, who I saw a couple of times play, when he was a young teen, with Mick Martin. Rowland personifies how great music can be passed down from one generation to the next, and I hope the music festival sees more performances from younger musical prodigies. Old-school performers still pack the venue though, which was easily seen in the presence of Los Lobos and the timeless Wanda Jackson.

Skip Maggiora, founder of Skip's Music, had a 40th Anniversary Celebration Concert at the Firehouse Lot.

Maggiora continues to sponsor many events in Sacramento to further music appreciation throughout the region. “It was great to see the diversity of our music community and have people like Frank Hannon of Tesla and other musicians representing, Pablo Cruise, Oleander, REO Speedwagon, the Beer Dawgs and others,” said Maggiora, as he expressed genuine gratitude toward these and other local musicians.

“It's great to see the festival moving to diversify and invite performers representing different music genres,” said Maggiora, and continued, “It helps the festival move forward.”

The festival formerly known as the Old Sacramento Dixieland Jazz Jubilee indeed continues to move forward. This year about half the performing acts were jazz bands.

The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society presented the 40th Anniversary Sacramento Music Festival with support from the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Besides being a very entertaining event, its proceeds support the preservation of traditional jazz through STJS Jazz Education Programs. To foster and preserve classic American jazz and develop a new generation of musicians, the Sacramento Music Festival will continue to present young music talent.

The annual festival has been held every Memorial Day weekend since 1974. If you haven't made any plans for next year's Memorial Day, begin planning to attend the 2014 event.

City of Trees Reggae Music Festival

2013-05-29T04:01:38Z

Are you looking to get out and enjoy some sun, fun and good Reggae music? Check out the City of Trees Reggae Music Festival this weekend.

This is the second annual run of the festival here in Sacramento, and this year will be featuring artists, including Don Carlos and Pato Banton. With great music, good food and a forecast for a sunny weekend, the City of Trees Reggae Music Festival is sure to be great fun.

Headlining act and legendary reggae artist Don Carlos will be hitting the stage Saturday, June 1, at 8:30 p.m. Carlos hails from Western Kingston, Jamaica – an area that is most known for pushing out many of reggae’s greatest talents. Carlos' last album, Changes, was put out in 2010 and brought hits like “I Love Jah Jah,” and “My Life.” Don Carlos is sure to perform an amazing set – hopefully including some of his major hits that landed him five top-ten singles in the eighties, as well as some of his newer work.

Tickets are available at Dimple Records, Beach Hut Deli, Zuhg and various other locations throughout Sacramento, as well as online. Camping is also available for those who want to stay and enjoy all of the music festivities. Doors open at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 31. The festival takes place at Rio Ramaza Marina and Event Park.

For more info and a full line up of performing acts check out http://www.cityoftreesmusicfestival.info/

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4th annual Sacramento Electronic Music Festival kicks off

2013-05-28T22:30:21Z

The Sacramento Electronic Music Festival, an independent festival created to highlight Sacramento’s local artists as well as bring internationally known acts to the area, will be starting its fourth annual event with a free performance from Tobias Wilner at LowBrau on Tuesday, May 28.

After the LowBrau performance, the rest of the event will take place between Thursday, May 30 and Saturday, June 1. Thursday and Friday nights will be held at Assembly while the Saturday night event is at a secret location that has yet to be announced.

Performances include PicturePlane, RAC (Remix Artist Collective) and EPROM as well as local acts including DJ Whores, Sister Crayon and Little Foxes.

More information can be found and tickets can be purchased via SEMF here.

Are you planning on attending any of the nights? Which acts are you excited to see? Let us know in the comments.

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Skip's Music celebrates 40th Year

2013-05-27T22:29:47Z

Sacramento's rock and roll history is closely associated with Skip's Music, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in business at the Sacramento Music Festival on Saturday, May 25. The Old Sac festival, although formerly called the Jazz Jubilee, also is celebrating its 40th year. Skip Maggiora opened his first music store in 1973 and has since added a few stores. SacTV.com covered the opening of the event as Skip gave a speech about why he got into music and the history of the store. He then introduced the event's hosts, Charlie Thomas from 96.9 The Eagle, Tom Romano from Classic 93.1 and Kitty O'Neal from KFBK. The radio hosts kept the show flowing with announcements and introductions between acts.

There really wasn't much down time between acts over the two and a half hour show. It was a fast-paced show that brought several well known musical acts to the stage such as members of Tesla, Pablo Cruise, Night Ranger and Steel Breeze. The lengthy and impressive roster of performers was put together by Skip in a short time. Brad Lang from Y&T and Alan Gratzer from REO Speedwagon contributed to the supergroup that culminated in a jam session with Frank Hannon, Jeff Watson and some of Sacramento's top musicians. Other acts who performed included Steve Wall and Bawb Pearce from the Beer Dawgs, Joe Getty and the Dead Flowers, Gene Smith from Kai Kln and Mercy Me. A young band who won last year's Stairway to Stardom competition called Four Days Out also played for the crowd of about 500 people in the Firehouse Lot.

The event brought back many memories of the 1980s when local rock bands were starting to get national attention. NIght Ranger, featuring Sacramento guitarist Jeff Watson, began having national hits in the early 1980s after being signed to MCA. One of those hits was "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," which the band performed on Saturday. It did not matter that some of the bands were only connected to Sacramento with one member. Pablo Cruise, for example, is usually thought of as a Bay Area band, but drummer Steve Price lives in Loomis. Pablo Cruise played their familiar hits "Love Will Find a Way" and "What'cha Gonna Do." Steel Breeze, who rose to popularity around the same time as Night Ranger, performed their national hit "You Don't Want Me Anymore." Each of the bands in some way was connected to Skip's Music over the years and thanked the store for serving the region.

Skip's anniversary concert was the most memorable local aspect of the Sacramento Music Festival. Much of the rest of the festival is dominated by national acts from other regions. This year's four day festival in Old Sac includes Los Lobos, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Blasters, The James Hunter Six, Wanda Jackson, John Lee Hooker, Jr. and Ben Tayor. Skip mentioned in his introduction that the festival organizers asked Skip to share their 40th anniversary celebration with him since he has already been involved with the event and was also celebrating his 40th anniversary as a store owner. The show brought together an audience made up of fans, local musicians and local media figures such as Tony Cox, a voice on Sacramento airwaves for decades.

One of the reasons Skip has stayed in business all these decades is that he has reached out and done meaningful things with the local music community. The whole key to running a successful small business can be learned by studying Skip's Music. The store has stayed close to the ethic of hiring talented people who know music and can help musicians build their careers. Many local artists bought their first instruments from Skip's Music. Frank Hannon gave a lot of credit to Skip's for Tesla's success before launching into "Little Suzi" with singer Jeff Keith. The show was a nice tribute to the Sacramento music scene as well as Skip's Music and it was presented in a classy way that gave local fans plenty of excitement and memorable moments.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

Sacramento Artists Council's speakeasy fundraiser

2013-05-22T06:01:42Z

Guys and dolls dressed in Prohibition-era attire attended Sacramento Artists Council's Speakeasy Fundraiser at the Antiquite Maison Privee on Saturday, May 18.

The fun-filled event included casino-style gambling for guests. Winnings could be used to purchase art donations scattered throughout the Antiquite Maison Privee's main entrance room.

The Sacramento Artists Council continues to support local artists, musicians and others through fundraisers such as the annual masquerade. This year, the SAC celebrated the 3rd Annual Masquerade Gala/Speakeasy Fundraiser and raised several thousand dollars to keep music and art in local schools (the final tally is not yet complete).

Spiffy dealers managed a blackjack, craps and roulette table where gamblers tried their luck. The Monte Carlo-style games were popular throughout the evening, and several guests were glued to the tables.

Many donated gift certificates were given out as guests played a fishing game.

James Cagney made a special appearance as a gangster in a Prohibition-era movie that played on the stage wall.

The juice joint was quite active and became a bit livelier as the Twilight Drifters came to the stage. The Sacramento band plays several different types of music and showcased their talents as they played swing and rockabilly sounds for the flappers and their partners to enjoy.

This year's event was different than the previous two masquerades. “This year we have a lot more activities going on. Instead of having a sit-down elegant feel we want people up and having fun,” said SAC’s founder and executive director, Susan Rabinovitz.

Proceeds from the fundraiser, Rabinovitz indicated, will help adopt art programs in local schools. “We want to make this fun and special while people are spending money and help support this charity event,” shared Rabinovitz.

Over 100 pieces of art as well as gift certificates from local businesses were donated for the fundraiser. Rabinovitz was thankful for and amazed by the show of support from artists and local businesses. “Actually it's been overwhelming,” she said.

Rabinovitz wanted to also acknowledge Dad's Kitchen, who partnered with SAC to supply food for the event. Speakeasy Ales & Lagers and 21st Amendment Brewery donated their specialty beers for the event.

Besides supporting local artists, SAC also helps with scholarships for high school seniors, and works to keep art alive in public education through its Adopt-A-School Art/Music Program. Log on to their webpage for more information about the organization and future events.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Pepper Ace of Spades [PHOTOS]

2013-05-21T04:22:28Z

Last Thursday, May 16, Pepper played for a sold-out show at Ace of Spades here in Sacramento. The band decided to shake things up a little bit, and played the entire show solo, with no opening acts. Pepper came to the stage with high energy and good vibes as they played some of the fan favorites, as well as four brand-new songs off their upcoming self-titled album.
Though some in the crowd got a little rowdy, Pepper kept a positive attitude throughout the night, and kept the crowd entertained and lively.

'Proteges' points way to future of dance

2013-05-18T02:34:36Z

Instead of looking back, as one might do when celebrating a 25th anniversary, Ron Cunningham of the Sacramento Ballet seems always to look forward. The latest ballet company production is Modern Masters Proteges, in which Cunningham invited three former dancers with the Sacramento Ballet to create new works for it. Jared Nelson, a Yuba City native who, after a stint with the local company, has danced for about a dozen years with the Washington Ballet; Ilana Goldman, who danced several seasons in Sacramento before moving on to the Trey McIntyre Project and then to the University of Washington where she’s soon to graduate with an advanced degree; and Amy Seiwert, who became resident choreographer with San Francisco’s Smuin Ballet and formed her own dance company, Imagery, after several years of dancing with the Sacramento Ballet each created a piece for the “Proteges” program.

They point toward the future of contemporary ballet – new and adventurous takes on dance possibilities, but grounded in the classical form. Seiwert, in particular, has been lauded (by the San Francisco Bay Guardian) as “quite possibly ... the Bay Area’s most original dance thinker.” A Cincinnati native, Seiwert gave “I Think of You Often” its world premiere last September in her home town. It’s an easy, elegant dance set at a seaside resort. It uses beach chairs as props (a rarity in more formal dance), and creates a rushing wave upon the shore with a line of female dancers. Music by Swedish pop group Koop accompanies the five movements of the dance, the most impressive of which is a stunning pas de deux featuring Alexandra Cunningham and Stefan Calka in “Strange Love.”

Nelson’s “Cinq Fois Deux (Five Times Two)” opens the program and is perhaps the most traditional dance of the evening (made more classical by its music by Sergei Rachmaninoff). Five couples (Evelyn Turner and Richard Porter, Alexandra Cunningham and Christopher Nachtrab, Ave Chatterson and Stefan Calka, Maggie Rupp and Mate Szentes, and Lauryn Winterhalder and Oliver Adams) begin the dance in darkness in an elegant tableau, then break off and dance – each given fine, classical turns in the spotlight – before ending the piece again in tableau.

Goldman’s “Elusive” is credited “in collaboration with the dancers,” and it is truly an ensemble piece. Based in today’s society, it’s about the eternal search for that ideal, unattainable goal. With people running here and there, in packs and small groups yet always appearing alone, it’s a meditation on the difficulty of making personal connections. Alexandra Cunningham and Stefan Calka are the main pair in Goldman’s vision. Calka sees Cunningham in the distance, calls to her and chases after her, ultimately losing her in the mass of humanity. He continues to search and gets rare glimpses but contact remains elusive. (Calka will dance the part tonight but will be replaced by Christopher Nachtrab for Saturday and Sunday performances.

The program also includes the delightful “The Professionals,” a satire on the dancer’s life, created by company member Rex Wheeler and first performed here May 25, 2011. It is a hilarious look at what may or may not go on inside the dancer’s studio during a typical work day. There are several excellent comic turns in the piece, particularly the sleepy-until-caffeinated “Coffee Girl” danced by Evelyn Turner, the headphone head case “Choreographer” danced by Alex Stewart, and “The Trouble Makers,” featuring Oliver Adams, Christopher Nachtrab and Mate Szentes. Ron Cunningham has a humorous walk-on part as “The Director.”

“Modern Masters” continues at St. Francis High School Performing Arts Center, 5900 Elvas Ave. through Sunday. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $45 and are available at the door. For more information, go to www.sacballet.org.

The ballet company has two other programs in quick succession. “Beer & Ballet,” which was reviewed here recently, continues May 23, 24 and 26 at the Sacramento Ballet Studios, 1631 K St. The dances on this program were created by members of the dance troupe to be performed by their peers, and they display a creative talent that’s equal to the artistic and athletic abilities they show as dancers. Tickets are $35 and include drinks. For more information, call (916) 552-5800, ext. 2, or go online at the address above. “Highlights,” a collaboration between the ballet company and Found Space Theatrical Productions will be presented on May 25 and 29 at the ballet studios. Half dance from the repertory of Sacramento Ballet and half musical theater from the folks who staged the wickedly witty “At the Ballet” fundraisers, “Highlights” is a multi-faceted entertainment featuring singers, actors and dancers. Tickets are $30 and include refreshments. For more information: (916) 552-5800, ext. 2 or www.sacballet.org.

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Concerts in the Park 2013

2013-05-17T06:19:27Z

This past Friday I attended my first Concerts in the Park of the year. The evening was spent with great friends, family and a full evening of phenomenal musical performances.

I could hear I'm Dirty Too playing from a block away before arriving at Cesar Chavez Plaza. I hurriedly made my way to the park entrance on 10th and I streets. My hurry was to no avail as I had to wait in a long line for 15 minutes for security to check everyone coming in.

Once inside I noticed a thirst had been built up so I got in line to purchase some drink tickets. After a short wait in line I got a drink and walked around the park.

Several food trucks and specialty food stations lined the park near 9th and J streets. Like last year Cesar Chavez Plaza had a large crowd that grew by the minute as the evening progressed.

Besides the many food trucks the Gypsy truck, a boutique on wheels, had many outfits and accessories available for buyers. The Gypsy mobile boutique is a black truck that's easily recognizable and participates at many events. Visit the boutique at Concerts in the Park or at their one year Gypsy celebration being held on Saturday, May 18 at the Truck Farm located at C Street between 14th and 15th.

As I walked around the park I could hear Zac Brown playing the guitar as he sang some tunes from their The Downhill Dive CD while Jess Gowrie delivered a raw and energetic beat on the drums. The Sacramento duo also perform with other bands but on Friday night they played as I’m Dirty Too and opened the second week of Concerts in the Park.

Dogfood, who played CIP last year returned to deliver another outstanding performance. Skyler Michael, Matt Harris and J.T. Reed brought a healthy doze of high energy to the stage playing original and cover songs. I particularly enjoyed their rendition of “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones.

Bad boy and often misunderstood Jonny Craig was joined on stage by Blake Abbe y, James Cavern, Jessie Brune and Zack Kampf. Craig's soulful voice continues to amaze and the crowd was treated to a great set.

The former Dance Gavin Dance singer also just recently released a video for his “The Lives We Live” single. Craig, after rehab (in 2012), appears to have a better outlook, looked very relaxed and treated the CIP crowd with his soulful lyrics and vocal range.

Craig's Tweeter account (@jonnycraig4L) has a profile note that summarizes his current state that says, “I am more insane sober than i ever was fucked up and i just found out for the first time in 27 years... im not black..”

Returning from last year and headlining the second CIP of the year was Middle Class Rut.

Once they took the stage there was no denying they're a good party band. What other band have you ever seen that brings their own keg to the stage?

Well the keg actually served as a drum as Zack Lopez and Sean Stockham were supported by some amazing backup players.

By the time MC Rut came on stage the park was packed. Fans of all ages made their way toward the front of the stage as MC Rut's music made the crowd jump up and down, dance and shout in approval.

MC Rut will be on tour across the country and will also be playing in London. The boys have been pretty busy and recently released a video “Aunt Betty” that's on their Pick Up Your Head album to be released on June 25. The video is a bit messed up but looks like they had fun making it.

CIP continues to be a great showcase for local artists. Come out every Friday from now until July 26 (except July 5) to catch your local favorites play at Cesar Chavez Plaza. This year's schedule features returning bands and DJs. The lineup for Friday, May 17 features DJ Whores, Live Manikins, Rasar, Syncro and Arden Park Roots.

Editor's Note: Plan your trip online! Ride RT to Concerts in the Park by jumping off at the stop on I and 9th streets. Sacramento Regional Transit supports The Sacramento Press and local journalism.

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4th Annual Vida de Oro Folk Art Festival

2013-05-15T06:45:41Z

Families enjoyed a Mother's Day celebration at the 4th Annual Vida de Oro Folk Art Festival. The festival was held at the Good: Street Food + Design Market building located at 1409 Del Paso Blvd.

Vida de Oro (which means “golden life”) was a free, family-friendly event held Saturday, May 11. This was the first year that the event was held at this venue.

Artists, vendors and performers were on hand to help celebrate the event.

The Good warehouse building has a high ceiling, and for most of the day it helped keep things somewhat cool, bringing relief from the hot weather. Delicious food and drinks were sold at the back of the building, providing a picnic-type setting.

Vendors and artists offered merchandise suitable for collection, and visitors looking for a Mother's Day present had many delightful choices.

Children watched performances and participated in hands-on activities. Angela James had a table to sell handmade musical instruments used by her Fenix Drum and Dance Company. James also provided craft materials for children to create their own artwork.

Artist Rob-O had a couple tables set up for guests who wanted to create their own sugar skulls, enhancing the market experience for both young and old. Many of Rob-O's creations were in the same area, giving art collectors the opportunity to purchase his renowned traditional Dia de los Muertos art.

Two other well-known artists had tables next to each other. Both artists shared their art experience with guests. Felipe Dávalos, an artist and author whose work has been published by National Geographic, sat next to Juanishi V. Orosco, one of the founders of the Royal Chicano Air Force, aka Rebel Chicano Art Front.

Both internationally known artists remain busy. Dávalos has spent the past 15 years living in Sacramento. Orosco has spent most of his life in Sacramento and continues to create bigger-than-life-size murals.

Most Sacramentans have seen Orosco’s work and yet don’t know it. His art, along with the work of other RCAF members, can be seen at the Southside Park amphitheater. If you ever walk from Old Sacramento to the Downtown Mall Plaza and take the tunnel that connects them, then you have seen his work. Orosco and the RCAF created the colorful mural that lines the tunnel. When you exit the connecting tunnel, you’ll see other Orosco murals on the plaza walls.

Orosco shared that he became interested in art at an early age. “I remember when I was around 10 years old, my older brother used to draw cartoons and I wanted to draw like him. I would practice and practice until one day I was as good as he was,” said Orosco. His love for art continued, and he made it a life goal to learn as much as he could about art and artists. His influences include Diego Rivera, Michelangelo, Dali and others.

Orosco takes pride in his work and his face shows that as he speaks about his murals and growing up in the Sacramento area. Other murals he's created appear up and down the Western United States, from San Diego, to Idaho, to California and to a new project in Oregon. When asked what keeps him going he quickly and enthusiastically answered, “Murals!”

Since 1969 the RCAF art collective and Orosco have been a part of the Sacramento art scene and it's great to see artists as committed to their trade as he is. “I'm not as young as I once was but creating murals makes me feel young,” said Orosco.

Other artists and performers scheduled to attend included photographer Frederick Romero and Gillermina “Mina” Perez.

Performances during the event included dancers from the Miktlantekuhtli Azteca Dance Troupe, Ballet Folklórico de Beamer, Cheyenne Danner, Summer Lynn, Folklórico Latino de Woodland and the Yemaya Dance Troupe.

Other performers included trick roper, whip master and Vida de Oro Festival Promotions Director James Barrera. I have seen Barrera's rope and whip tricks at other venues, including the World Music Festival and Festival de la Familia.

Singers Arieana and Pete Vidales, Carlos Lastra, Rose and Cecelia Marin, and Melissa Cobian rounded off the wonderfully entertaining performances.

The festival allowed local artisans and performers from the Del Paso area the opportunity to showcase their work and show what's available in the community. The festival also gave out-of-town artists, performers and vendors the opportunity to feature their talent.

Vida de Oro, a nonprofit arts and publishing organization, put together a well-rounded event in this family-friendly venue. Festival founders Adrian and Mina Perez and Barrera continue to promote cultural arts and entertainment in Sacramento through events and their online publication.

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Interview with Rock Museum Curator Dennis Newhall

2013-05-13T18:57:43Z

Dennis Newhall has been the organizer and curator of the Sacramento Rock and Radio Museum since 2000. The museum, which houses a wealth of local concert memorabilia, only opens for the public on Second Saturdays. It's located at 911 20th Street, next door to what used to be a hot local band venue called the Oasis Ballroom. Dennis himself played a role in the local music and radio scene, working for radio stations KZAP, KSFM and KROY. The museum showcases his vast collection of concert posters and donated memorabilia of mainly the 1960s through 1980s, but also includes later artifacts. On Saturday night, May 11, Dennis and I did a video interview for SacTV.com about the museum and how it has attracted large crowds of over a thousand people at one time.

The museum is fairly spaceous and might only take a few minutes to walk through if you were not concentrating on the displays. But since there's a story behind every framed picture, it's possible to spend hours at the museum recalling memories about shows, artists, venues and radio stations. Dennis has also put together a database of as many Sacramento concerts as possible to document local history. He found the information from ticket stubs, posters, publications and going through the records of the Memorial Auditorium. "The fantastic but unachievable goal," Dennis says in the interview, "is to have everything documented."

Almost every major act besides the Beatles visited Sacramento in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, one of the first shows the Rolling Stones ever did on their first American tour in 1964 was at Memorial Auditorium. The Stones, who kicked off another tour last week and played in the Bay Area, visited Sacramento four times over a two year span between 1964 and 1966, including the infamous Dec. 3, 1965 show in which the show ended early due to Keith Richards getting shocked. Huffington Post quoted Richards last week as saying "my most spectacular moment was in Sacramento."

Even for people who did not grow up in the region, the museum can trigger memories and conversations about rock history. The concert posters reveal many things about how society has changed, both musically as well as the cost of ticket prices. Many shows in the sixties, for example, cost no more than three dollars. Historians may be interested to know that the Beach Boys recorded a live album at Memorial Auditorium in the early sixties, which was not an era known for live concert recordings. According to Dennis, Sacramento was the band's biggest town for shows at the time, which is why they visited the River City so frequently.

As far as the local music scene, Dennis says the New Breed gained a lot of attention in the sixties. Their bassist, Timothy B. Schmit, went on to join the Eagles and eventually Ringo Starr's All-Star Band. "Pretty much in 65 and 66 the New Breed was regarded as the best local band by far," Dennis confirms. "They had some records produced that were on the air that should have been hits had they not been on small labels without much clout." One of the band's notable achievements was learning and performing the Beatles' entire Help! album the week it came out in 1965.

SacTV also captured a video tour of the museum that highlights many posters and radio logos, including the famous KZAP logo with an orange cat. Walking through the halls of this museum reminds Sacramentans that the city has been visited by many legends including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Doors. Bay Area concert promoter Bill Graham began doing big rock shows more frequently when the Cal Expo Amphitheatre opened in the 1980s. In many ways the museum is a reminder that Sacramento has been a part of music history for decades, which may even be of interest to diehard rock historians throughout Northern California.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

A Lot Like Birds Recording New Album in Portland, OR

2013-05-09T20:35:19Z

Sacramento's own post-hardcore outfit, A Lot Like Birds, is off on the road today to record their third full-length album with Producer Kris Crummett (Sleeping With Sirens, Dance Gavin Dance) at Interlace Studios in Portland, OR. For the last year or so the band has been slaving away at their rehearsal space at House of Hits in Sacramento, in-between touring the US and Europe, to lay the groundwork for their latest project which according to the band, is to be their most ambitious release to date.

"It's gonna be nuts," says drummer Joseph Arrington, stating that the band is both very excited and very stressed about the culmination of their journey on this new record. "We have 10 songs written [and] we still have to write one song in-studio."

In choosing the location and producer for the new as yet untitled album, the band reasoned that "[Kris has] become a good friend of ours. He's as excited about this project as we are. He's got great drum sounds, knows how to get the best takes, killer with tones and vocals and goes the extra mile. He is ridiculous." (The six-piece band recorded their last release, Conversation Piece, with Crummett which helped to generate quite the buzz around the band, building off of their debute release, Plan B).

And if the ridiculousness of Kris' workflow coupled with the band's outstanding writing and musicianship wasn't enough to set things off just by itself, they've outlined a special alliance with the famed Oakland String Metal band, Judgment Day; who will be providing string arrangements throughout the entire album.

I don't know about you... but excited doesn't quite cover it.

IGOR’S Back!

2013-05-08T19:25:40Z

Making a special appearance this Memorial Day, “Igor the Jazz Cowboy” will return to Sacramento for this one-of-a-kind exclusive performance. A star from decades of concerts at the “Sacramento Music Festival,” this show is not related to the festival and will feature the best of all Igor’s talent. His music includes the roots of Americana, from New Orleans to Arizona’s cowboys and beyond.

Igor will team up with local comedy magician John Heinen, and together for the first time they will perform at the gorgeous campus of Sacramento’s Unitarian Universalist Society, located near Fair Oaks Boulevard between Howe Ave and Fulton Ave at 2425 Sierra Blvd. The admission price of $15, children under 12 admitted free, includes three completely different shows that will delight the entire family.

As a member of the renowned Grammy Award-winning “New Christy Minstrels” in 1970, Igor says, “Being a part of this group and participating in the May 2002 PBS Special at Carnegie Mellon University ‘This Land Is Your Land: The Folk Years’ was probably the highlight of my career.” The show was hosted by the “Smothers Brothers” and featured “a sensational lineup of … the most popular (folk music) acts around.”

The talented and popular John Heinen, comedian, magician and “mind reader” brought unique, hilarious, jaw-dropping entertainment to hundreds of audiences for 22 years. After one show, E. Reagan Wisham noted, “A fresh mix of laughter and dazzling magic … A tremendous show beyond belief.”

Igor Glenn is also a three-time winner of the classic TV game program “The Gong Show,” which aired on NBC in the 1970s and 1980s. He says these shows were probably his most embarrassing and bizarre appearances. “At one point we all had to do the ‘Worm Dance’ so he, actress Jaye P. Morgan and others lay down on the floor and squirmed around like worms!”

Igor’s guitar-, banjo- and bass-playing talent and four-octave vocals have helped him gain worldwide fame, and he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Australia, Israel and Europe. Along the way he provided professional accompaniment for musicians including John Denver and Benny Goodman. While playing at an outdoor wedding reception after dark, he says he couldn’t see who was present; one number he sang and played was “16 Tons.” Afterward Tennessee Ernie Ford came by and told him how much he had enjoyed the song. At one point, Glenn says, he was at a coffee shop and Marty Robbins walked up, complimented him and expressed how much he enjoyed Igor’s voice.

Established in Sacramento in 1868, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento purchased, built and moved to its present location in 1960, when the Arden Arcade area near Campus Commons, where the society is located, was still considered mostly rural, with lots of new growth and plenty of open farmland. From the beginning, the organization had planned for the facility to be “harmonious with nature, spacious and open to the skies, winds, rains, dews, fogs, mists, stars, and sunlight.” Above all, they wanted an environment conducive to the “soaring of free spirits and the flow of ideas, enhanced by the beauty of the visual arts, of poetry spoken and written, of prose old and new.” The performance will be inside the large main hall, but connected to outdoor areas for enjoying the refreshments and relaxation.

Glenn writes online at the “Senior Correspondent,” March 11, 2013, that “I was born and reared in Alabama. My rural school in Muscle Shoals was supported by a religious group that allowed only a cappella singing: no organ, no piano, etc.” As a child he knew hundreds of songs from memory and started singing them when he was 5 years old. “I learned to sing with “shape note” music. Never heard of shape notes?” writes Glenn, “Shape Note music assigns a syllable to each note with simple shapes representing the notes on the musical scale. Instead of the sounds: do, re, mi … it uses shapes.” He continues, “During high school, I learned to accompany myself on guitar and string bass. My first band featured rockabilly music. My pianist was Donnie Fritts who gained fame as a songwriter for Ray Charles and was a long-time accompanist for Kris Kristofferson.” Later, Glenn performed on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., in front of 800,000 people, and says, "When the sound of applause stopped the silence came in waves and took 10 seconds to reach the stage.”

John Heinen says, “I love to entertain. I love comedy. I love magic.” He wishes that he would have started performing at age 25 instead of 45 and has learned that "if you say something funny to a couple of friends and they laugh it’s a thrill. If you say something funny to 200 people and they laugh it’s a HUGE thrill!" At a convention he was seated next to Harry Blackstone, Jr. John says, “I did a trick for him I learned from a book written by his father, Harry Blackstone, Sr. I’m sure he knew [how the trick worked] but he was very cordial and kindly made no mention of it. [He was] a wonderful magician and a true gentleman.”

When these two popular showmen are placed together on the same stage, anything can happen at this family-friendly event. Add to that the wonderful venue, and this Memorial Day will be a remarkable experience. Taking everyone with you to enjoy the holiday afternoon of fun and laughter will make a big hit.

Disclosure: "For further information, contact the writer at brucemmoulton@gmail.com" My work with the event is on a volunteer basis for the non-profit and I do not receive monetary compensation for this contribution.

A wave of new music in Sacramento

2013-05-06T22:22:37Z

Sacramento has been off and on the music industry's radar for many years, with its heyday being in the 1980s and 1990s as far as producing national acts. Lately Sacramento seems to be a music market of fresh material that includes national rock band Oleander, local r&b singer-songwriter Carla Fleming and local country/rock singer-songwriter Kally O'Mally.

Each of these new releases has a refreshing sound that contrasts with a controlled corporate era characterized by over-production and redundant formulas. Somehow, Sacramento is helping resolve the problem that today's national hits sound too corporate and predictable.

SacTV.com continues to document local music that stands out as Oleander has just released a new album called Something Beautiful. The title track is the lead-off single and sounds like one of their most catchy melodic songs to date. The humorous VEVO video can be seen on their website and on YouTube. It's their fifth album and their first in nine years.

The band, like many local bands including Deftones, got early airplay on KWOD as far back as the early nineties. They achieved national rock hits such as "Why I'm Here" and "I Walk Alone" in the late nineties. Their current album was recorded over a period of a few years, according to singer Thomas Flowers.

Oleander, now an indie band, is one of a handful of Sacramento artists who gained national attention after several major label signings in the 1990s. Although the 2000s have not produced as many major signings out of Sacramento, there's a sense that the local music scene lives on and fills some of the missing elements from national music.

Songs that tell interesting stories, for example, are hard to find on the charts these days, but the video to Oleander's song "Something Beautiful" reveals the funny story behind the song about how music deals are made. The band's CD release party was May 3 at Ace of Spades. Their website lists shows they have scheduled this summer in Ohio and Indiana.

Another type of music you don't hear much on the charts these days is social commentary music. But Carla Fleming fills the void with her new song called "Weapons Down," which promotes peace. She recently assembled a group of friends to collaborate on the song based on the concept of "take action now." As she explained in a March interview with SacTV, the idea came from seeing too many shootings in the news, specifically in Connecticut last December. The song combines r&b, jazz and other influences while delivering powerful lyrics.

"Weapons Down" is the type of conscious music that many people have been asking for since the seventies but have heard less and less on commercial radio, which is what makes the song so refreshing. It's an ideal track for any radio station that wants to strengthen their connection with the community.

Kally O'Mally, who has crafted a catalog of country/rock storyteller songs, released her new album in February called Easy Money. The title track mixes mandolin with horns. Her unique talent is that she's a multi-instrumentalist. She held her CD release party on May 3 at Fox and Goose.

These examples reflect only a fraction of the excitement going on in Sacramento. Another new release comes from alternative band King Never (www.music.kingnever.com) while Zen Arcadia (www.zenarcadia.com) is currently working on a new album. This year's Sacramento Music Festival on Memorial Day weekend in Old Sac will feature an all-star performance dedicated to Skip's Music owner Skip Maggiora, according to local radio legend Tony Cox.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

Mural unveiling at Rio Americano High School

2013-05-02T06:24:59Z

Paul Valéry, the French writer, poet and philosopher, once said, “An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.” Those words exemplify the process that took place over a three-year period to create a mural at Rio Americano High School.

On Tuesday night, April 30, the unveiling of the completed mural took place at Rio's band building.

The high school's “Rio Music” project commenced in 2010 with the sponsorship and support of the Sacramento River Cats and the Rio Band Boosters.

Artist Markos Egure was commissioned for the project, which proceeded in three different phases. Egure's other artistic work can be seen at various sites in the Sacramento area. Egure, and the company he founded, Wes Kos Images, have been creating projects in the Sacramento area since the company was established in 1997.

The Rio Music Project Mural unveiling and celebration included wonderful music by three young talented musicians.

A couple dozen supporters were on hand as they enjoyed the soothing sounds performed by the Rio trio.

The Rio Americano Band Program directors, Josh Murray and Max Kiesner, were also on hand to meet and greet visitors.

Murray addressed the crowd, thanking them for being at the event. Murray indicated the school had been built around 1965, and at the time was just going to be a temporary campus. “It was only supposed to be here 10-15 years, so they weren't thinking about aesthetics,” said Murray as he explained the mural project.

The idea of doing a mural was tossed around. “We wanted people to see the mural when they came to the school,” said Murray, and continued, “It would be the first thing they would see and notice that music is important and that it could be a source of pride for the whole school, for the community, for every kid that walks through this door.”

Murray also shared that after the decision was made to create a mural, the artist was found via a Google search, resulting in the selection of Egure, although his name did not pop up on the first page.

When Egure addressed the crowd, he talked about the process of beginning the mural in 2010. The artist gave some reasons for doing the project, and noted that the most important reason turned out to be the students, the future talent that practiced and played in the building.

“Overall the mural took one year and one week over three years’ time,” noted Egure, who said he was already looking at the other walls of the building. Egure's donated project took a lot of his time, but he noted that he does this type of work as part of giving back and being involved in community art. Egure has created 28 murals in schools he's been associated with and has donated 22 projects as part of giving back to the community.

As you drive into the Rio Americano campus, located at 4540 American River Dr., the band building is indeed the first thing that grabs you attention.

Egure has several other projects in the works. Beginning this summer, he will start on a mural at the YMCA, and also shared that he will be featured on a “Yard Crashers” episode in May or June of 2013.

Oleander CD release party at Ace of Spades

2013-05-02T04:27:56Z

Friday is Oleander day at the world famous Ace of Spades nightclub.

All are invited. Space is limited. Don't miss your opportunity to party with one of the best acts to come out of Sacramento – Oleander.

After a ten-year sabbatical, Oleander returns to Sacramento’s top spot, to throw a kick-ass show, bringing their new album "Something Beautiful," to light.
The show is Friday night 1417 R st. Ace of Spades Night Club. Tickets are $15 and doors open at 6:30. Tickets are still available visit your local Armadillo Music in Davis and Dimple records, you can also pruchase tickets online at at http://aceofspadessac.com/

Get festive with Cinco de Mayo in Sacramento

2013-04-30T18:41:45Z

Tequila, tacos, maybe some more tequila—these are but some of the tasty aspects of the quickly-approaching Cinco de Mayo. If you're lucky enough to spend this fifth of May in Sacramento, there's also comedy, music, and more to make your Cinco de Mayo celebration a festive one.

In addition to the events below, find even more in Sacramento365.com's Holiday Events section.

Laugh a lot:

Sacramento Cinco de Mayo Festival: Sleep Train Arena; Sun 6pm
Enjoy non-stop laughter on stage with the Latin Stars of Comedy, row after row of low rider cars on display, and Latin All-Stars Band playing all your favorite songs non-stop live.
Cinco de Mayo Comedy Jam: Punch Line Comedy Club; Sun 7pm
Come celebrate Cinco de Mayo along with the funniest Latin and urban comedians in California, all in one show.

Feast festively:

Tamale Party: Food Co-op's Community Learning Center & Cooking School; Thurs 6pm-8:30pm
Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, students are invited to join Chef Dio for this hands-on workshop, where they'll learn to make delicious tamales in their home kitchen.
Cinco de Mayo Fiesta: Centro Cocina Mexicana;
Sat Noon-2am; Sun Noon-9pm
The two-day party will include drink and food specials, an extended patio, no cover, an outdoor bar, music, and a pinata giveaway.
Tapas & Tutus: Elks Tower Historic Ballroom;
Sun 2pm-5pm *VIP Party 5pm-7pm
The benefit for the Sacramento Ballet features a variety of tapas stations, margarita and tequila bar, celebrity salsa bar, and entertainement galore.

Get your drink on:

6th Annual Tequila Festival: Zocalo; Thurs 6pm-9pm
Get your Cinco de Mayo weekend started right and join for this event featuring tequila tastings, appetizers, and a cigar bar.
Cinco de Old Sacto: Old Sacramento Bars; Sun 6pm-2am
All participating bars will have food and drink specials as well as live music, comedy, karaoke, and dancing.

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As an event partner for The Sacramento Press, Sacramento365.com provides information on activities happening in the Sacramento community. Find these and many more events on Sacramento365.com, the year-round source for Sacramento events.

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Disclosure: Alison Kranz is Assistant Editor for Sacramento365.com - the year-round source for Sacramento events.

Big Bands Ready Their Final Encore

2013-04-30T16:20:35Z

It’s never easy to say goodbye, especially to the legendary band who helped get this country through some of the roughest times it has ever seen. Lou Coppola and the Nor Cal Big Bands Preservation Society will say goodbye to the public on May 19 by holding a farewell ball in Sacramento.
There have been many leaders of the bands in the past, but Coppola, 85 and executive director of the Nor Cal Big Bands Preservation Society, has witnessed his band perform during difficult stages in American history. From the Great Depression to World War II, the vibrant and uplifting tunes of the big bands have helped bring light into the American people and always kept a positive tune in the hearts of all members of the “Greatest Generation”.
For many of the older generations, not only is this an opportunity for them to relive some of the golden days that lifted their spirits during times and marked triumphant times, but they may be able to showcase to their children and grandchildren what music was like for them during the young adult stages in their life.
This historical and final dance will be held May 19 at 6446 Riverside Blvd. in Sacramento and will only cost $12 for general admission. The cost will be $11 for each person for groups containing 10 or more people. Doors will open at 1 p.m. for a chance to see the youth dance band and they will be followed by dance music from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Discovering a Strange New World on cassette

2013-04-29T15:22:36Z

When I recently went through a box of old cassettes I was amazed to find so much music I had forgotten about. One of the songs I found was called "Strange New World" by Plastic Violents from 1992. David Conley, who hosted the local radio show "The Sound of Sacramento" on KWOD was the lead singer. It was like finding a nugget from the past that still sounds futuristic. David was talking about the project on Facebook, which gave me the idea to check my old library of cassettes. It turns out I have one of the last cassettes by Plastic Violets ever made. It made me wonder about not just how many other lost tunes I have on cassette, but all the other lost tunes that everyone else has on cassette.

After I rediscovered the song "Strange New World" I made a video of it for David on SacTV.com. He now lives in Monterey but still records music and plays live. Even though the video was just a thrown together slide show, suddenly this local song that was lost in the digitial revolution had a new life. Then I started to think about why there's so much analog material that ddn't transfer over to the digital world. Part of it was that the music was more demo quality than a finished product. Another reason so much of it got lost was time and cost. It takes time to transfer long form audio to a digital format. It also didn't cost much to make tons of cassettes back then, but it can cost a lot to make tons of CDs.

It was in the early 90s when David began asking the audience for CDs instead of cassettes to play on the local show. That's when Sacramento began to shift from a cassette town to a CD town, at least when it came to circulating local music. I remember when I met Steven Tyler of Aerosmith backstage at Cal Expo in 1988 he talked about how kids shared tapes of music, which he thought was the new way music was being discovered at the time. I remember as late as 1993 I still believed in the cassette as the medium for local talent. Cassettes sounded pretty listenable back then, except when the tape would stretch. It seemed reasonable to still send music on cassette as a demo to music industry professionals. Not anymore, of course.

Everything changed with the CD, the same way everything changed with downloads. The CD, which overtook vinyl and cassettes by the end of the 80s in sales, was more of a product that cost money to manufacture, whereas the cassette was a less expensive way to promote original music. These days the free digitial download or free streaming music plays the role the cassette once played. So why doesn't everyone transfer their box of cassette archives to the internet? Part of the problem is most people don't have the time to do so. It can take a few hours to transfer an hour's worth of analog audio to a digital format. For some people, it's easier to forget about cassettes as old junk than to transfer them.

Then I came across a box of cassettes of old radio shows. I kept hundreds of hours of "aircheck" tapes like all radio people have done of their on air broadcasts. I saved about 30 artist interviews that I transfered to digtial from cassette tapes. So there's a lot of audio history sitting around in boxes all over Sacramento. I notice that there still isn't a lot of Sacramento music history videos on YouTube, so it might make a fun project to get together with other musicians who want to share their gems of the past online. There's still time to preserve a lot of local music from the 70s, 80s and 90s before the boxes get forgotten or tossed.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

Katchafire at Ace of Spades [PHOTOS]

2013-04-28T18:09:49Z

Last Thursday night, reggae band Katchafire brought their New Zealand style to the stage at Ace of Spades, bringing along with them Through the Roots, Simple Creation, and Maoli.

Through the Roots is a California born band based in San Diego, they started the night off and had the early birds to the show moving to their beat and reggae sound.

Moving through the set the next band Simple Creation, was a little bit more upbeat and set a great mood for the crowd to get ready for Maoli, and Katchafire.

Maoli pumped up the crowd with high energy especially with their special guest Johnny T who jump around stage rocking his guitar and laying down some smooth vocals.

Ending the night and the reason everyone showed up to Ace of Spades, headling act Katchafire kicked off their set with some of their classics and also played a few of their new ones for the now packed crowd.

Midtown Art Walk

2013-04-26T00:46:00Z

April's Second Saturday Art Walk drew the highest attendance of the year. More visitors and vendors enjoyed warmer weather as they visited the various art galleries and events in Midtown.

Sacramento law enforcement made its presence known as they patrolled Midtown on foot, bicycle, horseback, patrol car and I even saw a helicopter flying in the 20th and J Street area,

The added security made some people feel safer. “I like to see the police out here. I've heard about people getting robbed and assaulted the past few months around here and I do feel safer walking the streets,” said Grant Martin. Other people walking with Martin's agreed with his comments as they nodded.

20th Street between J and K had plenty of activity. War protestors occupied the corner of 20th and J streets. Live jazz music played at the Entertainment Plaza in front of the MARRS building. The art of John Huerta also graced the area and both activities brought plenty of shoppers and on-lookers to the street.

Vendors usually occupy the alley area between J and K streets behind The Depot bar but it had been empty the past few months. Many returned to sell their specialties this month. Across the street, the always busy, LowBrau hosted the largest crown on the block.

I made a list of places to visit during Second Saturday. One of the galleries I wanted to stop at was the Gallery 2110 and The Sacramento Art Complex located at 2110 K Street. This was the first time in several months that I had visited the gallery and noticed right away that many of the previous artists had moved out and new artists had taken up residence.

The Main Gallery at Gallery 2110 featured the art of Susan Ballenger. Ballenger's paintings and drawings of farm equipment and old rusty engines showcased the artist's perspective on Americana artifacts. The rustic and vibrant colors drew my attention which in turn made me inspect each piece of art closer as I marveled at the details.

An artist reception allowed invited guests to visit the complex before it was opened to the Second Saturday crowd.

The Sculpture Garden patio in the back exhibited three dimensional art and the Loft Gallery, on the second floor, showcased the work of Jenny Long.

Several of the resident artists were on hand to meet and greet visitors to the art complex.

Another place I planned to visit was the Spanish Fly Hair Garage to view their promoted live music, fashion show, art, tattoo and body piercing demos. “Fly Fest” as the event was tagged had many guests in the front salon where a fashion runway had been set up.

When I arrived, the patio in between the salon and the back room was overflowing with guests and Ghost Parade played in the back room.

Since no tattoo or body piercing demos took place when I arrived I decided to return later for the fashion show.

More protestors could be seen on the corner of 16th and J streets in front of the Memorial Auditorium. These protestors stood in unity calling for gun reform and to protest the sale of assault weapons.

Music coming from Barber's Shop Automotive grabbed my attention and noticed several people admiring cars parked in front of the shop. The new Fiat 500 along with other vehicles were stationed in front of the garage while the Bathtub Gins played inside to an intimate crowd.

The Bathtub Gins can be seen playing on many Second Saturdays at the Alfa Romeo garage.

Making my way back to “Fly Fest” I arrived in time to catch Daniel Osterhoff aka DJ Whores, spinning some of his mixes while Casey Inkdup Lewis set up his drum set.

A fashion show soon followed and was repeated later in the evening. Hair and makeup for the fashion show was done by Spanish Fly and its sister salons Maverique Style House and Crushed VLVT. Krazy Mary's Boutique provided the outfits.

I stayed to watch Diamond Dez perform while Lewis played the drums. As Diamond Dez performed a little girl from the audience stood up and joined Dez on stage showing her dancing abilities that delighted the audience.

The audience at the Spanish Fly Hair Garage increased as the evening continued and other performances took place.

I had one more place to visit on my list. I made my way to Courtney Cuts on 9th and K near the KBar where a friend had some artwork on display. The salon unfortunately closed before 9 pm.

The Art Walk was exhausting but there is always so much to see and experience in Midtown during Second Saturday. If you're looking for places to visit during the monthly Art Walk, Sacramento Press and Sacramento News & Review publish several suggested events in Midtown a few days before each Second Saturday.

Aztec dance ritual at Southside Park

2013-04-24T22:45:26Z

Sacramento's outdoor festivals and events increase during the spring and summer. The Xipe Colores Ceremony is one of these festivities that has been celebrated for the past 37 years.

The annual ceremony recently took place once again at Southside Park. The April 13 event began a little later than expected but brought a good size crowd of supporters to the event.

The Xipe Colores Ceremony was organized by the Maquilli Tonatiuh Aztec Dancers and dancers from Kalpulli Itzkuauhtli also participated.

Xipe Totec was, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Aztec god of spring and new vegetation and also the patron of goldsmiths.

The Xipe Colores Ceremony held at Southside Park celebrated the beginning of spring and honors children.

The celebration area was roped off for a dance and cleansing ritual. A series of drums stood in the middle among ornate incense holders and other items.

The ceremony paying homage to springtime, regrowth and children was very colorful. Dancers created music as they walked with “Codo de Flailer” (ayoyote-seeded) ankle bands. Other instruments made from these seeds were carried by other dancers.

The weather was rather hot during the ceremonial dances and little or no shade fell on the ritual area. Once the drumming began the colorful and frantic dancing began and continued for hours with a few seconds rest in between dances.

The exhausting dance is full of symbolism celebrating life.

“The celebration has slightly deviated from its roots and now we mostly celebrate the beginning of spring. The ceremony is performed in expectation of a bountiful harvest for farmers, “said Salvador Poulos. The nearby resident continued, “Now the ritual of honoring Xipe Totec is celebrated, as I understand it, in the 'Danza de los Voladores' (Dance of the Flyers).”

The Xipe Colores Ceremony returns next year and will continue to be held at Southside Park. Visit the Maquilli Tonatiuh Aztec Dancers and Kalpulli Itzkuauhtli Facebook pages to view other upcoming events.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Overcoming the Barriers of Art

2013-04-22T15:34:15Z

A few weekends ago I was inspired by Second Saturday in Midtown, how it helps local talent overcome barriers. Art itself can be a direct expression, but in order to have the opportunity to communicate with an audience, the artist must have a venue then must overcome the noise of society to stand out and be perceived in a crowd of messages. For the artists connected with Second Saturday, local business owners help them overcome the first major barrier. The art that captures people's attention comes down to the art itself. The paintings that caught my attention for SacTV.com were the ones with not only bright colors, but expressions beyond the norm that communicated a vibrant sense of community progress, such as the art of John Huerta and Robert LaNeau.

Over the weekend I interviewed commercial make-up artist Richard Munoz at William Pond Park. He explained a story similar to many artists who I know. He does one form of art for a living to support his deeper passion of another form of art. Richard started as a fine arts painter, as the image with this article shows. Art was his personal form of expression to overcome a childhood in which he was abused. Over time he learned to channel his artistic endeavors in the commercial world, as he has developed as an independent make-up artist, working with advertising agencies and helping politicians look good for TV commercials. Sometimes he gets to use a lot of creativity, while other times he has to follow strict guidelines.

Richard has been working as a freelance make-up artist for 12 years. While many jobs can take the entire day, he still finds time to work on his paintings. He still loves his work, since it involves art in the form of make-up, hair style and wardrobe. Art was something he learned as a vehicle of self-expression that helped raise his self-confidence as a person. It's amazing how art can be the solution to many problems in society yet it comes with so many barriers attached. Why can't something so powerful and meaningful be someone's full time career? The answer seems to be that for many years art was pushed aside by the business world as secondary to business, but in the new century it is emerging as a more serious connection to culture and commerce. The business minds that dictated that art is the opposite of business were simply wrong all along, especially in the age of digital art.

Over the weekend I also saw local singer-songwriter Doug Cash perform at Vintner's Cellar. Doug was able to overcome a few artistic barriers with ease. He showed up as a guest for Ken Koenig's gig, which involved a simple sound system setup where all he had to do was plug in his guitar and start singing. Doug also has a strong voice that projects and cuts through crowd noise with or without a microphone. As he explained to me in our interview, he takes the approach of artists like Stevie Wonder or gospel artists, who use an open throat delivery that allows musical messages to be more loud and clear. His songs were exactly what I wanted to hear, which were tuneful positive messages that open minds and point to art as a solution instead of a problem.

A lot has changed it the world of art over the last 20 years, especially in Sacramento. It took a long time for the city to develop an artistic vision. The Crocker Art Museum went through hurdles to become one of the largest art museums in the nation, just as Sacramento International Airport overcame barriers to become a very artistic airport. The trend seems to continue to point toward art becoming more accepted as part of the business world, and not so much an opposition to it. The warped idea that a song or painting can't have a meaningful message to be commercially viable is finally falling into the past, as artists who do have something to say are finding avenues to say it.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

ZuhG music, ZuhG Life

2013-04-20T05:46:56Z

ZuhG is a band with deep roots in Sacramento. They have been described as unique, energetic, funky, lively and above all, fun to watch live. ZuhG is a band that moves audiences to their feet and inspires them to move to their beats and to dance.

The talented musicians that make up ZuhG are not afraid to experiment with different types of music and do things differently. They have played most of Sacramento's venues and venture out to spread their brand of music as they constantly tour.

Although reggae continues to be what most fans enjoy when they watch ZuhG play, the band continues to experiment with different music genres, including folk music. Their last CD was “Calm & Clear,” a folksy album released on March 30, 2013.

ZuhG opened ZuhG Life in the Sacramento Downtown Plaza in 2010. The store sells art, clothing, jewelry and music by local artists, and is located near the food court on the second floor of the mall. It was at the store that I met Bryan Nichols, who talked about the ZuhG Life, ZuhG the band and other topics.

Describing ZuhG music:

My auto response answer to that is usually; funky, reggae jam music. You know people ask that a lot. My guitar player will say rock ‘n’ roll right away. I'll say funky, reggae, jam and then on the flip side of that we just released a somewhat folk music record. We like to dabble in several elements.

On the current ZuhG lineup:

It changes quite a bit you know. We've been on a couple of national tours that are like a month long and whatnot and it's not for everybody so sometimes we come home and someone says, “I don't want to do that anymore.” So the lineup has changed a lot over the years but it's always been me, Charlie (Wheeler) and JR (Halliday), the guitar player. Right now we got a guy name Joe (Arrington) on the drums. Jesi Naomi doing vocals. We got Shawn Tindell who just joined us recently on the bass. He used to be in a band called Monkey Flower and now he's our bassist because they had their last show a while back.

We've had from five and up to 10 onstage.

On coordinating tours and picking up other players:

When we're finally ready to go on a tour we find the musicians and people in our band that are for sure able to go. In case we have something like if a drummer can't go we'll get a different drummer. All members are from Sacramento and they all live in Sacramento.

On playing Concerts in the Park this summer:

This will be the second time we're playing Concerts in the Park. The first one we played was last year. We got to headline and we have another one on July 12 and we'll get to headline that one again.

Other projects:

Other big events coming up? We have a lot of festivals all summer long. Some big ones I'd like to point out we have Cosmic Family Gathering which we help organize. It's up in Placerville and it's a three-day festival, May 17 through 19, with a lot of local bands and some out-of-town bands as well.

We're doing that and then another big project is a Dr. Dre Tribute concert project. It's members of ZuhG, guitar players and bass players and then we have a bunch of Sacramento rappers doing the rapping. So it's like a live band-Dr. Dre thing which is super fun. It's fun to play hip-hop music.

On the 19th we're playing in Chico but the big one is the show on the 20th. We're doing a 420 show at the Assembly (Sacramento). It's new venue, the Assembly on K Street. Some big names will be going trough there. It's bigger than Harlow's a little smaller than Ace of Spades.

Special things about touring:

There's a lot of things to look forward to when touring. Just getting out of town and out of your house and just being out on the road and being in a different town every day it's just a lot of fun. It's like there's not a lot going on when you're driving all the way from one town to another but at the same time it's entertaining and it's fun. So yeah just being in a different town every day, playing for new people, meeting new people every day it's just a lot of fun and people are usually pretty responsive and supportive. We get to hang out with a lot of new people so I think it's great.

On drawing inspiration and motivation:

Lots of things inspire and motivate you know. Musicians that I look up to inspire me. We watch as much music as we can when we're not performing. We watch bands that have just been killing it and it's inspirational just because they're so talented. That's what inspires me just the musicians that are better than me.

On jamming:

We do have some songs that are live that end up being 10-15 minutes long for sure and yeah a lot of that depends on the crowd. If they're feeling it and we're having a dance party and it's keeping you going then we'll go for a while, and if they're not then we might end early. We don't practice elongated improv jams really. We don't get together and practice where we practice the parts and transitions and the core of the song any live improv or extension is unrehearsed which makes it fun and different every time.

Regarding the Kings possibly building a new arena where the mall stands:

Rumor has it that if the arena is built here, yes most of the mall will be I guess torn down and turned into an arena.

I've accepted both outcomes. If it doesn't come here and we have the opportunity to stay in the mall longer, I'll do that and I'll be happy to do that. It's been fun working at the store and it's been a good thing for local musicians and everybody. On the flip side of that if we have to close because the new arena comes I'm excited to see what I'll do with all my free time that I would have. I'm here six days a week and my other band member Charlie is also here five to six days a week and we have some other friends who help. With the amount of work I do I'd just have so much free time so you know I'm interested on starting a record label with all the connections we've made. So we have other projects in mind to occupy my time with and this is rewarding. It would be fun to do something with other local music artists.

So, if the store closes I'd have to look at other things. Right now I'm trying to buy a house with my guitar player JR and we have dreams of building a recording studio. After that maybe starting a record label you know. I would enjoy recording bands, booking them tours, printing out CDs for them.

Regarding the ZuhG Life store:

We've been open two-and-a-half years. We had a grand opening on November 13, 2010.

The idea behind the store is definitely local. The original idea was to sell local music and be like a merch booth for all the local bands in Sacramento like ZuhG and bands that we work with and then that grew into other things.

I enjoy painting so when we started the store I was selling my paintings in here and then we had artists coming in here saying “Hey, can I sell my art here too?” So now we switch the art once a month and we have local clothing companies, local jewelry, anything that is Sacramento. People can just bring it in and if we like it we'll work with them.

This is just a local hub for anybody bringing in anything crafty you know what I mean? Or teaching music lessons out of the back room.

We also have live music on the stages outside. So yeah the concept has always been the same but it's grown a lot since the early days.

On ZuhG Life and what would happen to Nichols and other vendors:

The revenue here isn't huge, we just pay the bills. I work for free, anybody that works here works for free, we're happy to do it but because a lot of the items are consignment.

Where will they go after if we have to close? I don't know, I'm not saying that opening up another store is not an option, there's definitely that possibility. I'm not going to sell my fixtures and clothing racks I'd probably put them in the garage for a while and see if any location opportunities arise and if they do then it will be a serious thought to keep ZuhG Life going in a different location.

On live music at the Sacramento Downtown Plaza:

I actually had a job booking music before I owned my store so I was booking music for the mall and then after a while they asked me if I wanted to open up a store, a music store. They knew I taught guitar lessons at the time and there were some empty stores and they asked if I wanted to open up some kind of music, guitar or some kind of store and I thought about it. I went on tour to Oregon and told them I'd think about it.

When we came back I said yes and then came up with this idea. So we have two stages in the mall, upstairs and downstairs. We've been doing this for over three years now and I get a lot of touring bands which is cool because we meet a lot of great bands from all over the world and then we have a lot of locals. Right now we have live music every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

It's so cool that my day job is booking music for the mall, I'm very grateful to have this. It's what I like to do so it's not hard, I like my job.

On future goals:

We've always focused on playing festivals and that's a constant. You want to upgrade each time you start off at festivals; opening up and maybe getting a bad slot and hope maybe you get a better slot next year. This upcoming festival season is full of great slots and good festivals all over California so we're going to continue that push, keep playing the festival circuits and keep getting bigger and better at it.

We also have a guy who is going to book us a big tour again in the near future. We don't have the dates yet or even where but we just found out that he is indeed going to book a tour for us.

At the moment we’re concentrating on summer events. We're booked all the way to September now and then I have a festival called ZuhG Fest in October so I'm going to be busy with that and then we'll see what starts happening in 2014. It's crazy to even think about 2014, I feel like 2013 just got here.

Thoughts on recording “Calm & Clear”:

Every album is different but this last one “Calm & Clear” is an acoustic folksy album. We didn't originally have that idea. We were in the studio recording a normal funky rock ‘n’ roll ZuhG album. We recorded a couple of songs and I also recorded a couple of acoustic songs.

We go to the studio we go once or twice a month, we like to spread it out. We don't go like every day and try to pump out an album. We go like once or twice a month for 10-hour days. So anyway we had a couple of acoustic songs and then we started adding stuff to them and adding different things and after a while we're like “Yeah let's just record an acoustic album.”

JR and I just kept going to the recording studio and recording these acoustic songs that had been on the waiting list forever. We didn't play too many acoustic songs live but we have them you know. So anyway yeah it just kind of started happening and we just kept going.

Jesi Naomi sings on it and we wrote a lot of music in the studio which was good for us and fun at the same time because you're creating things on the spot that will go on CDs that will last forever.

As a guitar player, singer and songwriter I write songs like you see us play live. I also sit at home with my acoustic guitar on my couch and I'll write some folk or acoustic songs. I know we'll not be getting the crowd dancing with songs like that. We're not going to be performing that at Concerts in the Park but that doesn't mean they're not good songs though. It's an album full of songs that you won't hear us playing live too much which is the unique thing about it.

Final thoughts:

Check out our new CD. We're excited about our 420 show and the Cosmic Family Festival and come by the store to chat and say hi.

Petunia and the Vipers Roll into Town on Sunday Night, April 21 at the Torch Club

2013-04-16T21:33:02Z

Sunday night (April 21), Sacramento audiences will have a unique musical experience and that is to meet and experience Canada's Petunia and the Vipers when they perform at the Torch Club (901 I Street, Sacramento).

Petunia And The Vipers’ name may suggest an L7 covers band, but in actuality they are an altogether more eclectic outfit, combining old-style country, rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll with elements of big band and swing. Furthermore, Petunia is the stage name of 100% male frontman, Ron Fortugno.

With a piercing gaze, Petunia looks into the collective soul of the audience, then launches into some high and lonesome vocals that conjure up the ghost of Jimmie Rodgers. Not content with mesmerizing the crowd, Petunia’s tapping boot propels the band into a snarling fire and brimstone rave-up as a wave of frantic jitterbuggers compete for space on the dance floor.

Imagine that David Lynch and Nick Cave had a hillbilly baby. A hillbilly baby that yodeled. That’s Petunia. Now imagine he’s backed by a band whose talents match his own. That would be the Vipers. Imagine that man and that band can step onstage and hold a crowd in thrall song after song, until the last note fades away, and that would be Petunia and the Vipers.

Since forming a few years ago Petunia and the Vipers have been very busy bringing their exciting and highly original brand of roots music to an ever increasing audience. They've been on the road almost constantly in Canada and the US, and recently toured for a month in the UK and Ireland to rave reviews. This is their only Northern California date, on their way to several nights in Los Angeles and beyond.

Growing up in rural Ste.-Dorothee, Laval, (Quebec) seems like an obvious connection for a sometimes country blues yodeler. Picture shady creeks with fallen tree bridges, and secret hiding spots. Part wanderer, part musician Petunia has been on the road for full years at a stretch at time -- sometimes propelled by nothing more than his outstretched thumb alongside of the trans-Canada highway. He has laid his hat and made his home in many, many spots along the way as befits a wandering troubadou. His traveling libido has led him to secure bands of musicians spanning across three continents. He has played with literally hundreds, and maybe thousands of musicians. Personal highlights from recent California West Coast tours include Phil Alvin (Blasters), Exene Cervenka (X), and country music icon Wanda Jackson.

Petunia loves to keep you guessing, often throwing a Spanish Ballad or Chanson a la Edith Piaf into the set. It's the spirit of adventure that attracted the high calibre musicians that make up The Vipers. The Vipers collectively have decades of experience working their magic with some of the most exciting names on the country and rockabilly circuits. Some of the Vipers were formerly with the legendary Ray Condo and his Richochets.

Sacramento's Delta City Ramblers open the show at 8:30 pm. Admission: $8 at the door.

Disclosure: The writer has no personal or professional connection to this story.

Alt-J plays Sacramento venue and brings plenty of Fitzpleasure

2013-04-16T18:41:54Z

7 p.m. The doors to Ace of Spades are to open soon and the line of eager fans wraps the length of the R Street block, twice. Sunday’s all-ages show sold out within days after going on sale. But the venue isn’t just packed with teens dressed in Thunder Horse’s cropped shirts and jean short cut-offs. The 900-person capacity room has plenty of 21 and over attendees squeezed into its small side bars and patios.

∆ (pronounced Alt-J), first to mark mainstream media in early 2012, has shortly since been packing concert halls and music venues across the country, all the way to the other side of the pond, where they call home. Within a year of releasing its first full-length album, the British-based band won the Mercury Prize and soon filled its schedules with in-studio recordings, blog posts and Vimeo-cued music videos.

“Where did you first learn of these guys?” I ask the 16-year-old next to me. “Reddit. We all heard about them through Reddit,” he grins as he’s enveloped back into a small circle of teenage friends.

It’s no surprise Alt-J has caught indie and mainstream attention alike. The band, who’s come to be recognized for unexpected dub-step beats and synthesized vocals, crosses a series of musical tastes. Front-man Joe Newman’s nasally vocals elicit an attentive trance, freely interweaving falsetto melodies and harmonic humming. Their live performances carry the same edgy interest. While the group doesn’t stray far from their recorded set, leaving a little bit lacking in the freestyle realm, it does stress crowd-pleasing rifts and notes, best heard within Alt-J’s first few played songs.

Most well-known, “Tessellate,” starts off deep and heavy with repetitive keyboard chords. After an extended intro, the band members blend in multiple elements; bass, guitar and drums, snaking Newman's vocals as an added layer. On amplified speakers, Thom Green’s percussions drive a cuttingly clear ting-ting-ting; the cowbell quite fitting for a Sacramento crowd. The beats continue, rhythmic, and then fall clear away into a stretched silence before a haunting vocal drawl - “Till morning comes....let’s Tessellate.”

Other favorites of the night include Alt-J’s midway performance of “Matilda.” With whispered vocals and picked strings, the sweet hymn is stretched with growing crescendos and balanced with light snare taps. Newman introduces the first lines, “This is from, this is from...” and waits for the crowd to slide back, “this is from Matilda.” The most up-beat of An Awesome Wave’s song collection, the tune poses a strong contrast to the eerie and sometimes dark lyrics of such hits like “Breezeblocks,” which ends with a murderous allusion and is the last song played before the band slips past their electric lights into the dark backstage to await an encore.

Alt-J ends with a satisfying exaust of “Taro.” Metallophone tones replicate Asian influences, referencing the lyrical tribute to two romantically engaged photojournalists who lost their lives photographing war zones; Robert Capo in Indochina and Gerda Taro during the Spanish Civil War.

The lights dim and the crowd files out, sticky with (Fitz)pleasure.

Alt-J returns to the West Coast in late Fall. Catch them at Oakland’s Fox Theater on August 29th or Portland’s McMenamin’s Crystal Ballroom on September 3rd.

Also, check out well-received Hundred Waters, Alt-J’s opener. The young band has also toured with popular group, The xx, and will continue to accompany Alt-J on stage for the duration of their U.S shows.

Scenes from Second Saturday, April 2013

2013-04-16T01:01:21Z

Midtown had a modest turnout for Sacramento's Second Saturday Art Walk. One of the things I wanted to find out about was who gets to play live music at these events. I understand from talking to local owners that an entertainment permit from the city is actually required but many artists show up without a permit and use it to get exposure. I ran into a few bands who didn't know what I was talking about when I asked about permits. Funny how I keep running into groups who perform at Second Saturday who don't even have a group name yet. What's amazing about Second Saturday, despite the cold breeze, was that I found great opportunities for local musicians and painters to showcase their work.

SacTV.com interviewed Clubhouse 24 owner Bobby Griffith about his private venue that opens for the public every Second Saturday. The club is located at 920 24th Street off off J Street. Normally the venue is used for private parties, business meetings and other private social events. Bobby has seen consistent growth in Second Saturday's development and believes any type of culture that can be brought to Sacramento is a big advantage. After four years he has developed an artstic venue that includes live bands and paintings. During our interview we listened to the live music of local band Folsom Prison Blues Trio.

Bobby explains in the video interview how Clubhouse 24 helps local artists. "If you have a band," Bobby says, "you have a duet, you have a trio, any kind of type of music, you come to us, (and say) hey we'd like to play at your venue, and basically we pitch you in. We get you a place to play and people to follow you. They can come and watch you work your craft." Bobby enjoys giving Sacramento a voice and place to showcase art. He believes culture helps local business. Clubhouse 24 has large well decorated rooms and was selling tacos outdoors. The stage area looks completely artistic and all the other rooms have a positive ambiance as well.

I interviewed other local scene owners and artists at Second Saturday, which I will be highlighting all this week on SacTV. One of the artists I talked with earlier in the day was Robert LaNeau, who moved to Sacramento from Haiti six years ago. His paintings have bright colorful abstract themes using fruit and vegetable imagery merged with crowds of people to convey farmer's markets. Robert's paintings generate a friendly upbeat sensibility about a forward moving culture. I also talked with Little Relics owner Susan Rabinovitz about the art that changes every month at her gallery/jewlery manufacturing store. We did a video interview that will be produced later in the week for SacTV.

Others I interviewed from Second Saturday who will appear on SacTV this week include painter John S. Huerta, whose paintings are meant to communicate happiness in death, more as a celebration of one's life. His interesting colorful portraits, as shown with this article, are very eye catching. I also spoke with Brad Newey, who hosts an event called "Drag Queen Bingo." Finally, I talked with painter Pete Conine, whose car art was on display at Cuilla Brothers, an auto body shop that turns into a classic car museum on Second Saturday. I also ran into several local scene people like Allyson Seconds, Tom Bixby, my high school classmate Sue and some friends from way back named Doreen and Glynese. That's what's fun about Second Saturday. You never know who you'll run into.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

Imagine Dragons, Girl Talk, Rocket From the Crypt top Launch 2013 lineup

2013-04-12T19:49:32Z

Yep. Launch just went “next level.”

Does it really surprise anyone? It shouldn’t, if you’ve followed the progression of the Launch Festival over the last couple of years, as it moved from a one day fashion, music and art shindig at the Greens Hotel on Del Paso in 2011, to a weeklong series of individual events around town, culminating in a blowout festival at Cesar Chavez Plaza in 2012.

And now, this.

Launch and Radio 94.7 dished up the lineup for the 2013 installment of the Launch Festival on Facebook earlier today, and it is a doozie!

Those top two spots are going to get the most attention when Launch fires up on September 7 and 8, again at Cesar Chavez Plaza, with hot-charting arena rockers Imagine Dragons topping the bill. It’s likely that when they hit the stage in September of 2013, it will be ushering out the last round of mid-sized venues and festivals for this group of hellcats from Las Vegas (also home of their stadium rock brethren and musical papa bears the Killers) – they seem to be right on the cusp of big things, and their next touring cycle will likely see a huge swell.

Joining Imagine Dragons up top is DJ mash-up wunderkind Girl Talk. With all due respect to every artist who has ever played Concerts in the Park, this electronica powerhouse will likely turn Cesar Chavez into a dance party the likes of which the park has never seen.

And then there’s the really “big deal” of this lineup. If you are anywhere near the Shady Lady today, that giant boom you just heard was likely the sound of Jason Boggs’ head exploding – because if you’ve ever seen his currently dormant local band the Snobs play, you know they were titanically influenced by Rocket From the Crypt, the seminal San Diego punk band that has been likewise dormant since 2005 – that is, until a top secret reunion show on April 1 at the ridiculously small (for them) Bar Pink in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood. They’re currently in Europe on a small series of reunion shows – and they’ll be in Sacramento in September.

What?!

(By the way, this reporter expects due credit for not making a really bad launch/ rocket pun in that last paragraph).

It doesn’t stop. Wild eyed indie rock staples Minus The Bear will also perform, joined by Sonic Youth-influenced fuzz-flooded noise rockers Blonde Redhead , Bay Area art rockers Geographer, and Minneapolis-based underground hip hop troupe Doomtree (Atmosphere fans, take notice).

Keeping in the tradition of also showcasing local talent, string-laced indie rockers and Launch staples Exquisite Corps will perform, along with instrumental jammers Life in 24 Frames, Paper Pistols, the Bell Boys, and Doombird (hmm, seems to be a lot of doom in this lineup?).

And there’s plenty more. No word yet on which bands are playing which day, or on the full schedule of events that will lead up the big kahuna in the park. When we know more, so shall you. Check out www.launchsacramento.com for details.

2013 Launch Festival lineup:

Imagine Dragons
Girl Talk
Rocket From the Crypt
Minus The Bear
Blonde Redhead
Van She
Grieves
Cults
Surfer Blood
Doomtree
Geographer
Family of the Year
P.O.S.
Gold Fields
Dessa
Turquoise Jeep
Exquisite Corps
Doombird
Life in 24 Frames
Paper Pistols
DLRN
The Bell Boys

Perfect weather and a beer, anyone?

2013-04-12T01:31:13Z

April and May are the perfect months for enjoying the Sacramento sun. Sure, you can drink a decent beer outside on many a streetside table, but this is about back patios, gardens and out-of-the-way spots to drink out of doors. A lack of car traffic is key, and both fountains and live music earn you extra points.

Before long it will be far too hot to sit and bask with a beer, so without further ado, here are five excellent places in the area to enjoy a beer outdoors. If you agree, disagree, or wish to share your favorite spot in the area, I invite you to do so – secret spots welcome!

Bows & Arrows

This collective has a nice, albeit generally minimal, selection of beers; excellent food made by in-house chef Gabriel Nokes; a great back courtyard and a constantly changing supply of art throughout the complex. Going to Safeway for groceries? Why not stop for a drink and bask in the sun for an hour or two on the way?

They are set up to sell almost anything in the place – clothing, art, jewelry, you name it. Don’t be intimidated – this is a benefit. There are things you are going to want. If you haven’t been, go. It’s a fountain oasis back there.

The Shack

The Shack has amazing beer and plenty of it – and a fire pit for breezier evenings. They also have live music Thursday nights, mussels on Belgian Beer Night (Tuesdays) and Sacramento Beer Week master Dan Scott hosting trivia on Wednesdays.

Belgian beers, local beers, lambics, saisons, German beers – The Shack has choices for everyone. In fact, they have so many beers that you won’t know where to start.

Dad’s Kitchen

Dad’s Kitchen, featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives back in 2011, opened a new tap room and expanded patio on Tuesday night. The shady back patio can get rather packed, but the atmosphere is fun and the staff very friendly. They also frequently have live music. They stock numerous local brews, and as you may have guessed, their food is terrific and goes well with beer - health food fanatics need not stop by.

“Holy crustification,” Guy Fieri said about the Dad’s Burger, a burger encrusted with blue cheese and bacon. Pairs well with an IPA.

Notable facts: All-day happy hour Tuesdays means all beers are $4. During regular happy hours they have a $7 pitcher of PBR, plus one featured craft beer – usually for $4. They also serve Temple coffee if you are headed there for brunch and prefer not to drink in the morning.

Berryessa Brewing Company

This one is a must. It’s true, Berryessa Brewing Company probably isn’t within walking or biking distance of home, but it’s well worth the drive to Winters. They make great brews and the location is picturesquely situated between a vineyard and an orchard. In fact, they share the property with Berryessa Gap Vineyards. They also have frequent live music and along with it, a food truck or specialty caterer such as The Pasta Queen, The Hotdogger or Fuzion Eatz on site. You can also bring a picnic of your own.

Festivals

I admit, this is not a place, per se; you cannot just stop by any day of the week. But on a perfect spring day with sun and just the right amount of heat, there is no better place to be than at an outdoor beer festival. Fremont Park, Discovery Park, Raley Field - picture it.

There is an abundance of outdoor beer festivals in the Sacramento region, starting with the Sacramento Beer and Chili Festival at Fremont Park last Saturday and the Bockbierfest at the Sacramento Turn Verein, also this past weekend.

If you missed last weekend, fear not. There are many more opportunities to come. Pick your favorite locale and get yourself a ticket. Bring friends and enjoy the beautiful weather and the insane variety of beers to choose from.

Upcoming festivals include the Capitol City International Beerfest at the Sacramento Turn Verein (STV) on Saturday, April 27. Proceeds from this event will go to the United States Handball Association FirstAce. The STV’s annual Maifest will take place on May 5 from noon to 5. Now there’s a way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Of all the beer festivals around, those hosted by the STV are the most family friendly. Before you are done with a liter, your son or daughter may be signed up for German language classes, dancing lessons or the STV soccer team. They also generally serve up some pretty delicious traditional German eats.

The West Coast Brew Fest will be Saturday, May 18 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Miller Park – a great spot right on the Sacramento River - and the 7th Annual Raley Field Brewfest will take place on Friday, June 7. Tickets are already on sale, so check it out for your chance to have a beer in the outfield.

If you’re a real planner, the California Brewers Festival at Discovery Park has already been set for Sept. 21, 2013. This festival serves as a terrific sendoff to the summer heat.

Honorable Mention goes to Lagunitas in nearby Petaluma. It’s not local, but it just isn’t right to have a list of outdoor drinking spots without mentioning them. Actually, next week here at the Sacramento Beer Writer we will be laying out a beer road trip. Block off a weekend in your calendar because you're not going to want to wait long before giving it a try.

[Sponsored: Get the tools to brew your own beer at Brew, Ferment and Distill, now at new location; 3216 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.. Learn more here.]

SERGE! IS COMING TO TOWN...

2013-04-10T00:53:34Z

On Saturday, April 13, 2013, the Sacramento French Film Festival will bring Gainsbourg-mania to Sacramento for the fourth year in a row, with Serge! a party paying homage to one of France’s most provocative artists, Serge Gainsbourg. Featuring films, music, art and French cocktails, Serge! is one of the most fun and unique parties Sacramento has to offer!

Serge Gainsbourg, a major figure in the 1960's, ‘70's, and ‘80's pop-culture, took the world by storm through a fog of Gitanes and alcohol, reinventing himself from Gainsbourg to “Gainsbarre”! Singer-songwriter, director, actor, photographer, provocateur, and iconoclast, Gainsbourg was the lover of sex-symbol Brigitte Bardot and fathered singer-actress Charlotte Gainsbourg with famous English beauty Jane Birkin. He wrote songs for countless artists including France Gall, Vanessa Paradis, Juliette Greco, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Adjani. Gainsbourg is still considered one of the world's most influential and popular artists.

Serge! brings together several Sacramento musical talents: from DJs Christophe and Roger to live tribute bands Afternoon Teacup Collection and Peter Petty IS Dirge Gainsbourg. Serge! will also feature a lightshow from Rainbow Prism Atomic and local Gainsbourg inspired artwork…

A program of three short films inspired by Gainsbourg will start the evening: Une nuit qu’il etait à se morfondre… (One Night He Was Lingering Around…) by Cyril Paris, Variations sur Marilou by Félix Dufour-Lapierre and L’Histoire de Melody Nelson by Sébastien Merlet. Films will be presented in French with English subtitles. After the screening, you will dance the night away to the sound of live tribute bands and Gainsbourg songs!

Don’t forget to visit the bar for champagne, beer, wine and the SFFF’s signature Pastis cocktails served to you with an enchanting Southern French accent by Guy, the SFFF bartender!

In conjunction with its Serge! celebration, and for the first time this year, the Sacramento French Film Festival is launching a call for artists so that the Sacramento arts community can be represented on the “Gainsbourg Wall” in Paris! Gainsbourg lived at 5 bis rue de Verneuil in the 7th arrondissement from 1969 until his death in 1991. Since he passed away, artists and fans have been paying homage to him by adding graffiti, poems, collages, and stencils on the wall in front of his house, making the “Gainsbourg Wall” a constantly evolving work of art. Sacramento artists are invited to create a stencil inspired by Gainsbourg. The winning design will be stenciled on the iconic graffiti-covered wall in front of Gainsbourg’s house in Paris this summer. Entries will be judged by a team composed of members of the SFFF, Verge Center for the Arts, and local artists (deadline is May 30, 2013). Winners will be announced during the 12th Sacramento French Film Festival (June 21-30 at the Crest Theatre). More information can be found on the Sacramento French Film Festival website.

SERGE! 4th ANJNUAL GAINSBOURG TRIBUTE PARTY will happen this Saturday, April 13 at Verge Center for the Arts. 625 S Street, Downtown Sacramento.
7:30p.m. Doors and bar open!
8:00p.m. Short Film Screening.
9:00p.m. Live Music by Afternoon Teacup Collection & Peter Petty IS Dirge Gainsbourg.
10:00p.m. till 1:00a.m. French Pop Dance Party w/ DJ Christophe & DJ Roger Carpio.

The event benefits the Sacramento French Film Festival and Verge Center for the Arts.

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Disclosure: Cecile Mouette Downs is the Executive & Artistic Director of the Sacramento French Film Festival.

How local parks have improved

2013-04-08T23:48:32Z

Recently I learned that a well known park in Sacramento called Goethe Park changed its name to River Bend Park. When I asked several different people who know the area what happened I was given several answers. After I did my own research I found a more shocking answer than anything anyone had told me.

But the good news is that the name change resolved the issue to the degree that local parks should not be named after people, no matter how wealthy, who were associated with genocide. When you Google search "Charles Goethe" the first link that comes up is Wikipedia, with a listing that begins "Charles Goethe (1875-1966) was an American eugenicist."

Eugenics was once a growing science in the 1920s that called for reductions in certain ethnic groups as a form of population control. Hitler used the concept during World War II and it turns out Charles Goethe was sympathetic to Hitler's views, not to mention president of a eugenics association. Goethe was a wealthy real estate developer who helped fund Sac State. Some of the people who could not tell me why the park name changed were at first disturbed that the name changed since they always remembered the park as "Goethe Park." But once they learned the story they preferred to call it "River Bend Park."

The more natural name is fitting since it is located where the river bends and connects with William Pond Park in Carmicheal, via the Harold Richey Bridge. Both parks are extremely beautiful and are stops along the American River bike trail. Since these parks represent a transformation to a new world that is friendly to people and nature, I created a song and video for SacTV about it called "Where the River Bends" set to scenes of River Bend Park.

I can remember in 1996 when Park Plaza changed its name to Caesar Chavez Park, after the founder of the United Farm Workers union. Chavez (1927-1993) had started out as a farm worker himself before rising up in his community and began to organize farm labor in California. He rose to prominence in the 1960s as one of the state's most respected game changers. This was another instance where a park name change had helped bury some of Sacramento's shady past.

Plaza Park had originally been founded by John Sutter, who was known to exploit the labor of minorities, as told in the Sacramento history video hosted by Timothy Busfield, called Rising Above: Building the Indomitable City. The name Sutter has become embedded in local history, so it's difficult to see that name going away.

SacTV.com has been turning the spotlight on natural scenery, more for how certain parks have been upgraded over time and how Sacramentans should cherish these incredibly nice parks. Chavez Park is one of Sacramento's most active parks for delivering local culture. Beginning April 30 Chavez Park will feature Farmer's Market through Octocter 30.

The park will also be the site for the Summer Concert Series, kicking off May 3 with Element of Soul. The concert series will continue through July 26 with the Brodys. Other acts to play throughout the series include Arden Park Roots, Mumbo Gumbo and Mother Hips. Another park to feature concerts has been Fairytale Town at William Land Park, where Jackie Greene performed a few years back. Greene played in Sacramento frequently before becoming a member of the Black Crowes late last year.

Chavez Park is also home to an historic national landmark that may become more significant through time, once America moves deeper into alternative clean energy. At the corner of the park is the California Environmental Protection Agency, a building that received the first certification in the nation for the most important honor of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. California is clearly on the cutting edge of green energy, leading the nation in environmental issues and projects.

At some point, association with environmental protection will become historic, adding to Sacramento's profile as one of the greenest cities on earth, thanks to all the trees and parks that have been preserved. The more Sacramento promotes itself as a green and culturally friendly city, the faster its economy will likely improve. A huge segment of society wants to gravitate to a more organic evironment. So it's refreshing that the city and county are working to make our parks reminders of the area's natural beauty.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

Winners of the 'Sacramento Has Talent' show

2013-04-06T16:12:08Z

Emcee Dennis Mangers promised the “Sacramento Has Talent” show audience that they would leave saying, “That’s entertainment!” His prediction proved true, as a lineup of talented local dancers, bands, musicians, comedian, filmmaker, singers and a spoken-word artist delighted the crowd.

The April 4 show at the Crest Theater was presented by Access Sacramento as a benefit for a neighborhood youth reporter program.

Guest artist Lisa Daggs and her five-member band opened the show with a rocking performance of her hit single “Forgiveness is a Powerful Thing.” An energetic Daggs connected with the crowd as she moved about the stage and let her raspy, powerful voice soar.

Daggs’ musical career took off after she won the “Voice of the 90s” contest at the Crest Theater and signed a recording contract. Mangers said that he hoped that the “Sacramento Has Talent” winner would have the same success as Daggs.

Mangers shared his own talent, singing “That’s Entertainment” while a Vegas-like line of dancers from the Sound Out Tap Company engagingly tappety-tapped across the floor.

Twelve performers, including one in a short film, took their turns on stage and their high-quality and entertaining performances made the judges’ jobs challenging. The night’s judges were Melissa Paul from News10, Richard Lewis from the California Musical Theatre and Brittany Young, co-host of “Mark at the Movies.”

The judges sat at a table on the edge of the stage and offered their critiques after each performance. Each performer was rated on a one to 10 scale, based on their showmanship, performance quality and entertainment value. Young remarked, “It was amazing to watch. The whole time, I’m like 10, 10, 10, 10!”

After the scores were tallied, the winner was Chris Barron aka Chris B Fresh. The nine-year-old dancer, wearing white sunglasses and white suspenders over black pants and shirt, drew huge applause. One judge said, “You are the coolest, most swagged-out nine-year-old I’ve ever seen in my life!”

Fresh has been dancing since he was six, and was recently filmed in a soon-to-be released ad for Sketchers shoes. His goals are to “dance on the Ellen show, go to college, become a scientist and travel the world.”

Dancer Ava Chatterson won second place honors with her bawdy, bluesy and humorous interpretation of Ruth Brown’s “If I Can’t Sell it, I’ll Keep Sittin’ on it.” Chatterson performs with the Sacramento Ballet and had many supporters in attendance.

Third place went to Suyash aka “Bombay,” a 16-year-old spoken word and hip-hop poetry artist who bounced onto the stage. In his bright red jacket and red Keds shoes, he got the audience chanting “B-o-m-b-a-y!

Another winner during the event was Dr. Barbara O’Connor, who was given the first “Power of Voice” award for her lifelong work using the power of her voice to “express her unique point of view.” Dr. O’Connor is a retired California State University, Sacramento professor who has mentored thousands. She is also a nationally recognized speaker and the founder of KXPR-FM, Sacramento’s public radio station.

In accepting her award, O’Connor said, “Passion is what we’re experiencing tonight and that’s what it takes to have a powerful voice.”

Ron Cooper, executive director of Access Sacramento, and the man who conceived of the “Sacramento Has Talent” event, said that he hopes that the event “signals the beginning of many wonderful careers.” Cooper also announced the end of his career with Access Sacramento and his plan to retire in August.

The winners of “Sacramento Has Talent” were awarded prizes from $100 to $500, but the real winners are Sacramento residents who are blessed by so much local talent.

For those who missed the live show, Access Sacramento filmed it and will broadcast it on its public TV stations, channels 17 and 18.

March's Final Friday at Beatnik Studios

2013-04-02T07:32:00Z

Beatnik Studios' Final Friday attracted a crowd of over 100 guests to its monthly event.

Final Friday featured the artwork of David Mohr, Trent Liddicoat and James Angello. The three artists were present for a meet-and-greet.

I had met one of the artists at an artist reception last year at Sol Collective. Liddicoat indicated that his work, along with that of the other two artists, will be exhibited for two months.

“I was asked to exhibit because I'm friends with the other artists who are showing and they studied at Sac State with the curator (Kelley O'Connell) who is working here,” said Liddicoat.

The self-taught artist shared that he did not attend art school, has been friends with Angello for two years and that they met when they both previously worked together. Many of the artists and guests shared the commonality of being friends with others and made the event an intimate gathering.

Liddicoat stated that most of the art in this show, except for four pieces, was created for the Beatnik exhibit.

The musical part of Final Friday included the Rook Family, Orion Walsh, Musical Charis and Autumn Sky.

Musical Charis, which recently returned from their "Desert Dessert Tour" that also included Orion Walsh, took the stage first.

Musical Charis kicked off an evening of great music with “Eye Candy.” After playing “East West” it became evident that the local band was set to deliver a great performance. Different artists picked up instruments and joined Musical Charis at different points, making the event more like a family reunion than anything else.

Audience participation also contributed to the fun, with much hand clapping, foot stomping and joining in to sing to some of the songs.

Most of Musical Charis' songs are original, but once in a while they throw in a cover song. Their rendition of U2's “Sunday Bloody Sunday” with Orion Walsh was a great addition to their set.

Orion Walsh, accompanied by Musical Charis, also sung a wonderful rendition of "Amazing Grace." After Musical Charis had played for a while, they departed from the stage, leaving Orion Walsh alone onstage.

Visitors continued to enter Beatnik Studios throughout the evening to enjoy the art, music and socializing in a very casual atmosphere. On the side patio, several guests enjoyed the warm evening, while still listening to some of the music.

The Rook Family entertained with a folksy set that captivated the audience. This was the first time I've seen them perform, but at the same time they've only been together for a few months. The audience joined in with some hand clapping and foot stomping. Several members took turns at the microphone, sharing vocals.

Autumn Sky was the last performer to take the stage. Having seen her on stage before, I was quite pleased to see her performance at Beatnik Studios. Her energetic set had the audience involved as well, as she asked the audience to move closer to the stage.

Autumn Sky's set included a more traditional rock style, and she made it livelier by jumping and moving around the stage. Autumn Sky's musical talent was well-received, and she delivered a great closing performance.

Final Fridays at the Beatnik, from what I've witnessed, are a great showcase for Sacramento-area talent. By combining art, music and a great place for social gathering, Beatnik has created an entertaining venue for guests of all ages to enjoy.

Log on to Beatnik Studios to view their upcoming events during the month of April. Visitors can view some of their past events as well as other information about their space availability for venue rentals.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Final Friday at Beatnik Studios

2013-03-28T01:58:40Z

Expect an evening of art, music, food and family fun at Beatnik Studios during its Final Friday event. Final Fridays is a free monthly event that showcases local, regional and statewide talent and is open to an all-ages audience. Beatnik Studios is located on the corner of Broadway and 17th Street.

Final Friday will feature the art of David Mohr, Trent Liddicoat and James Angello. An artist reception will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on March 29.

Music will be provided by Rook Family, Orion Walsh, Autumn Sky and Musical Charis.

I sat with Wesley Davis, photographer and co-owner, Beatnik Studios to talk about Final Fridays.

Davis began by saying, “We actually have a new artist director. Her name is Kelley O'Connell who has been a friend of ours for a long time. She's a recent graduate of Sac State with a degree in Fine Arts. She has a good network of artists and is really passionate about doing new things with Sacramento artists.”

As the new Gallery Director, this will be O'Connell's first Final Friday. Davis stated, “She brought in all the artists which is exciting. The artists are David Mohr, Trent Liddicoat and James Angello. Both David Mohr and James Angello are Sac State graduates and Trent Liddicoat is a self-taught artist.”

Music is an integral part of Final Friday and Davis talked about the lineup saying, “I asked Musical Charis to host this Final Friday because they haven't done it in a long time. They're good friends of ours, they live right upstairs here. They're on tour and are basically bringing their tour package. It will be like their homecoming show they're touring with Orion Walsh. Autumn Sky will be here as well with the Rook Family. So Musical Charis put the music portion together for this Final Friday.”

As we talked about Final Friday, Davis shared some thoughts about how the event started.

“Final Friday started about three years ago. Beatnik opened five years ago, in reality it will be five years in May. Actually we may have been doing Final Friday for four years, maybe over four years. Anyway, we started doing them as an open studio it was called Last Friday Open Studios and it kind of disappeared for a while and then we brought them back. I was like the one that said 'Hey we should really be doing these Final Fridays because it's a night to showcase studio space and to invite the community to come in and see what we're up to.' So we started it back up and the venue is really accessible, it's open to people of all ages. We don't charge to get in and then we have live music. So our goal, our main goal, for Final Friday is just to kind of give a little cross section of music and art culture in Sacramento to as many people as we can.”

Davis has been at Beatnik since its beginning and he shared a little history about the studios.

“When we first opened up we were a shared studio. Our business plan was to have kind of like an Urban Hive, a common working space but for photographers specifically where we would have a studio then offices and spaces just to meet clients. That was really up and down and then we also had the gallery pretty much from the get-go. We would hang art and show art and that was also kind of up and down and then we started doing events here. That was never really the original intent, to do events, but the events were very popular and we saw the potential of having them.”

Davis saw the use of events saying, “Event revenue helped support the studios so we made the transition to become an event space and now you now we're a full out event space. We do weddings almost every weekend from spring to fall. Weddings are the big events but we also do fundraisers and all kinds of different parties. The cool thing about the events is that all those people who come for the events they get to see the art and they get to experience the culture that we provide.”

Beatnik has been around for almost five years and Davis noted that they must be doing something right and they're not planning on going anywhere as they continue to grow.

When asked why Final Friday was chosen instead of Second Saturday or First Monday or anything similar Davis said, “We're not trying to compete (with other events). We did Second Saturday but we want to provide a completely unique experience. We'd like to provide an evening where you can be in one place not hop from place to place to place. We want people to come and soak it all in, in one place and spend quality time with the artists' work. We wanted our own kind of night something out away from the grid, away from that cluster of galleries. We wanted to give people a night where they could really feel like they've been soaked in an atmosphere that we provide instead of going for 10 minutes and then leave.”

The public is invited to enjoy local art and music at Beatnik Studios every Final Friday. The venue is open to guests of all ages. Log on to the Beatnik Studios Facebook or website to find out more about the studio and other events throughout the month.

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

'Sacramento Has Talent' raises funds for youth journalism program

2013-03-26T00:18:56Z

Nonprofit, non-commercial media Access Sacramento, offers paid stipends to young journalists ages 16-21. To raise funds for the stipend program, on April 4, you can sample local, diverse and enteraining talent – 12 acts in all – set to perform at 7 p.m. at the Crest. Click here and judge for yourself.

Funds raised help pay stipends to the two-year media project "Neighborhood News - Youth Correspondent Stipend Program". As social media grows, especially with younger generations, traditional mass electronic and print media continue to struggle with diminished advertising revenues, reporter layoffs, and fewer resources for the coverage of local neighborhood news. New challenges invite new solutions – welcome to the world of “Neighborhood News”. Much progress has been made in the first two-years of this innovative use of aggregated web site technology. Here's a quick history.

Access Sacramento, the community radio and television nonprofit organization for Sacramento County, launched a new web site www.AccessLocal.tv in late 2010. Designed to better serve the information needs of diverse communities in South Sacramento, the site invites local residents, leaders, and young journalists to record digital stories, submit them directly to the web site with their “smartphones”, post blogs and videos for all to see, and share this new content via an RSS feed to the Sacramento Bee “Sacramento Connects” and KXTV News10 “My Neighborhood” aggregated blog sites.

Thanks in particular to our “Neighborhood News – Youth Correspondent” stipend program, local 16-21 year old students are taught and mentored in the fine art of shooting and editing videos and crafting well written news stories. AccessLocal.tv shares all the digital neighborhood content online with our readers and with local media – television, radio and print. For the past six months, we have been offering our “Neighborhood News Youth Correspondents” specific writing assignments, deadlines, financial stipends and gift cards to their friends who contribute stories to the site. These efforts have accomplished our goal of at least one new story or video per day and averaging 60 new stories per month. The stipends permit the youth to be contributing members of their households and help with much needed resources for lower income families.

By reviewing the AccessLocal.tv topics under the “Youth News” heading, one is impressed by the many “health and well being” topics reported by our correspondents. Here are a few titles posted within the past few months: “Young Mothers Must Strive to Be Extraordinary”, “Urban Farming: A New Way of Producing Food”, “What Brought Me Back to the Brink of Veganism”, and “Fairytale Town Hosts Canned Food Drive.”

The web site is functioning well as an online platform for surfacing and sharing all manner of digital content directly and via local major media partners, surfacing previously untold hyper-local stories from the underserved communities of South Sacramento. While expected, the success of the program is both (a) simple to explain – gathering and distributing stories of life in our wonderfully diverse neighborhoods - and (b) challenging – identifying, training, and facilitating the “digital contributions” of many individuals and organizations, posting them to an aggregated Word Press web site, and sharing the content with all local media organizations interested.

Community media facilitator, Access Sacramento, has successfully served as a “neutral party” in the competitive world of regional news and information providers. Though varied in the level of cooperation, every major television station has contributed to the success of the program. KCRA Channel 3 hosted the First Youth Media Forum and continues to be supportive of the process. Both the print and online versions of the Sacramento Bee have featured stories and content developed by the NNB and hosted the Second Annual YMF. The online Sacramento Press hosted our Third Annual Youth Media Forum for Social Change and continues to find new ways of highlighting our Youth Correspondents.

The news gathering field continues to be very competitive but the identification of hyper-local stories as “news leads” for newsrooms depleted by lay-offs combined with the NN-YC development of our future generation of journalists have successfully positioned the NN concept as a project worth supporting.

However, we have also discovered many new challenges including the academic careers of our youth correspondents. As they move on to college or to other jobs, new replacements must be found. This training challenge “churn” was addressed by developing a specific group of “Youth Correspondents” who worked closely with a specific NN-YC mentor (Isaac Gonzalez). Gonzalez summarizes this experience as follows:

“Going forward into 2013, I envision that our group will be seasoned and ready to be deployed into breaking news environments, covering important and topical events as they happen, from a youth perspective. Our primary focus area will remain the South Sacramento target area, but we also cover the surrounding areas as well, in order to remain relevant in the Sacramento region. Internally, fundraising has been added to our list of things to do, to maintain their stipends and the monthly awards for submitted peer produced content.”

The latest challenge is ongoing funding for the project. The initial grant fund from The California Endowment we used to pay for the stipends, has now run its course. How do we sustain the program financially now the TCE Grant has expired?

On April 4, 2013, Access Sacramento will host “Sacramento Has Talent” on the stage at the Crest Theater. The best local talent will be on display honoring Dr. Barbara O’Connor with the first “POV Award” for her advocacy work with youth and senior citizens. She exemplifies “the Power of Voice expressed from a unique Point of View”. The goal of the evening ticket sales and major corporate underwriting will be funds sufficient to support the continuation of our Neighborhood News Youth Correspondent stipend program.

We will invite local nonprofits, corporations, and media organizations to join with others to underwrite this event. For ticket information go to www.AccessSacramento.org and plan on an entertaining evening. The Youth Correspondents will be there to welcome each guest. Together, each correspondent is “making a difference in our community, one voice at a time.”

Further questions may be directed to:
Ron Cooper, Executive Director
Sacramento Community Cable Foundation
d.b.a. Access Sacramento
4623 T Street
Sacramento, CA. 95819
(916) 456-8600 ext. 112
www.AccessSacramento.org
www.AccessLocal.tv

Disclosure: Ron Cooper is Executive Director of Access Sacramento

Chris Goslow's eclectic musical exploration

2013-03-25T22:55:01Z

How many acoustic rap/ballad medleys have you heard lately? Does hip hop mix with classical music or are there strict rules that say this cannot be done? Whatever the rules are, Chris Goslow loves to experiment beyond musical boundaries with different styles. Part of his multicultural slant on music comes from growing up in San Francisco and studying music at U.C. Berkeley. Another part of his diversity comes from a love of many styles that covers a wide spectrum of music. He now makes a living performing and teaching music in Sacramento while being happily married to photographer Charr Crail, who has worked for the Sacramento Bee and now does freelance photography and digital art.

Chris surrounds himself with creativity and has ambitions to take his eclectic music as far as it can go. On Saturday, March 23, I met with Chris to do a series of video interviews for SacTV.com, focusing on his musical background and his unique musical ideas. From a songwriting standpoint, his musical diversity goes way back to growing up with pop, rock and alternative music, then learning classical music and eventually hip hop. When he first moved to Sacramento from the Bay Area a few years ago, his first gig was joining a Journey tribute band. During his years in the Bay he earned a living playing a wide mix of popular standards and classical pieces for retirement homes. This experience has given him a very broad musical perspective.

Our five part video series kicks off with Chris talking about his journey from the Bay to Sacramento. In the second segment he talks about his musical message and purpose, which is essentially to have fun, but he also believes music can impact society in powerful philosophical ways that go beyond entertainment. Chris performs two of his songs in the third segment, which may very well be the first video of its kind: an acoustic piano medley of a rap song and a love ballad. The songs are called "Snuggle Bunny" and "Here With You I'm Home." While "Snuggle Bunny," which is dedicated to his wife, has an upbeat playful sound, "Here With You I'm Home" takes on a more serious love song approach. Hearing these two completely different styles in a medley is interesting in itself, but the fact that this hybrid is done as a solo performance on piano without electronics makes it very unique.

Crossing musical boundaries is just one idea that artists can do to stand out. In the internet age of indie music, of course, it's much more advantageous to be one of a kind than to compete with thousands of soundalikes. The indie world is a vast terrain of forgettable names trying to resist the status quo while sometimes ironically falling into conformity with certain movements. But Chris Goslow stands out because he certainly is not trying to fit into any prefabricated mold or subgroup. By blazing his own trail he has the opportunity of creating his own niche, which is the precise key to success in the internet era.

"I think as artists we get the opportunity to express something that other people may want to express," Chris observes. "So you know, there's this great freedom to kind of create on a canvas for the world to watch and take in. And I think that's exciting. That's just who I am as an artist anyway ... I like to entertain and perform ... Sure, it's all ideals but at the end of the day it's about expression, entertainment and fun." One of his greatest inspirations has been 18th and 19th century composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who helped pave the way for musicians of the Romantic Era to be their own freelance merchants.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

Sacramento – in living color

2013-03-23T01:56:13Z

A colorful day of events transpired this past Saturday, March 16.

Run or Dye is a 5K event that took place at McClellan Park in Sacramento.

Run or Dye

Billed as the world's most colorful 5K the event lived up to its billing and was attended by over 2,000 participants.

Run or Dye has scheduled events that take it from coast to coast and is also open to participants of all ages.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

That same day Old Sacramento held its annual St. Patrick's Day Parade where green was the color most prevalent.

Participants followed the beat of drummers and marched behind bagpipers as Sacramento celebrated St. Patrick's Day.

Thousands of spectators lined the streets to watch the parade that featured Irish and Highland dancers, bagpipe and drum bands, several cultural organizations and community groups to celebrate the 17th annual St. Patrick's Day parade.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

March's Second Saturday

2013-03-21T08:32:32Z

March's Second Saturday saw new art exhibits throughout Midtown and Downtown Sacramento. Next month Folsom will start their Second Saturday for 2013 and join Roseville's Third Saturday as alternative venues in Sacramento.

On a warm evening 20th Street between J and K had some activity, mainly anchored by patrons at LowBrau.

Kennedy Gallery made a move to the corner of L and 20th Streets some time in the last couple of months and that was my first stop of the evening

Scheduled showings at the Kennedy Gallery Art Center included an "Abstractions Show" featuring the work of Michael Kennedy, Maleheh Bartolomeo and others.

On the bottom floor the work of John Huerta was on exhibit. Huerta's art centers on Dia de los Muertos art. When I met Huerta he was excited about a project he had recently been commissioned for.

Huerta shared some good news about Hollywood Forever Cemetery's Día de los Muertos.

Huerta made some friends at Sacramento's Día de los Muertos and through those new acquaintances he was asked to become involved in LA's Día de los Muertos in Hollywood.

Huerta spoke about how he became involved saying, “My friend Sylvia said she knew, through a good friend, one of the main organizers of the event. They want to see about me doing a poster to advertise the festival. So it's a big honor and I'll pretty much need to go over the details.”

Asking if he had anything in mind regarding the poster Huerta answered, “I'm going to think about it and see what kind of ideas, once I discuss it with her, come up and then I'll go from there. I'm not sure when the event takes place if it will be on October 26 or November 1st and 2nd. In a couple of months we'll find out more about the details. So I'm really excited about it.”

One of my favorite stops on the Second Saturday venue has been the Viewpoint Photography Art Center on J Street.

The “Anasazi Project” was on exhibition at the main Viewpoint gallery. The work of husband-and-wife photographers Don Kirby and Joan Gentry was featured.

The Anasazi Project was a long-term photo exploration of Anasazi dwellings in the Four Corners region. The project resulted in a book published by Nazraeli Press in 2012. The magnificent photographs adorned the walls of Viewpoint’s main hall.

In the Step Up Gallery at Viewpoint the work of Jorge Santana was on exhibit. The exhibit "Cuba Today: Street Photography" was a much smaller exhibit and artist Santana was on-hand to talk to visitors. The photos shown were taken during a travel-study trip to Cuba in March of 2012.

Santana is a professor at Sac State and several of his students and friends joined Santana for an inside look at communist Cuba. Most of the photos were taken in the Cuban capital of Havana.

Having worked up a little thirst I made my way to Spanglish Arte to enjoy some sangria and view the artwork of artist Raul Mejia.

When I arrived the Folklorico Aztlan de Sacramento, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization had several youngsters dancing for a small crowd. Five dancers took turns entertaining the crowd in the front of Spanglish Arte. These dancers also danced on the back patio.

Mejia's art occupied the back patio along with a dj and a table that sold cupcakes for the event. The cupcake table was occupied by a student from Sac State representing the M.E.C.H.A. Club.

I met Mejia by the front entrance of Spanglish Arte and he was gracious enough to answer a few questions about his exhibit.

Not having met Mejia before I asked him to give me a little background about himself. Mejia answered, “My name is Raul Mejia. I'm 33 years old, I'm a hardworking father, artists, student, musician employee etc., etc. I'm a man with of many skills and I still have a lot to learn, yeah so, I'm a student of life.”

When asked to describe the art he had hanging in the back patio Mejia answered, “Things fluctuate for me a lot of the time. I have a lot of fun with my art where I don't necessarily have subjects. It's more along the line of abstract or wild things but specifically for those pieces. They're obviously catrinas but they're done in a certain way and a certain style which is different from the typical catrinas which are very well done and executed. My style is a very simplistic style, where I keep the most needed line work without going above and beyond to where you beat it to death. I would call it a simply complex style.

Asked when he became interested in art Mejia replied, “Oh wow let' see. Since I was a child I recall drawing everything from tigers to wolves to Ninja Turtles. It's been in my life, my whole life.”

As an artist Mejia had a hard time saying who he would consider an artistic influence. After thinking about it he said, “Wow that's always been kind of a tough one only because there's many artists that I appreciate and like but there isn't an exact artist that I completely emulate or find to be brilliant I find many of them to be amazing. I would say someone like Picasso with his simplified line works that he did and his cubism. I would say that a lot of that is like coming to fruition in my work, you know, a lot of the simplified lines.

As we were ending our conversation Mejia shared information about a new project. “I'm actually working out a new art show. I'm doing a collaborative with her (pointing to mutual friend Donelle O'Brien). We're going to do a collaborative. It's going to be called 'Pushing Daisies.' It's kind of a feeling of death and also rebirth and we're going to do it for an April or a spring show. It's going to be very metaphorical."

As the evening drew to a close for March's Second Saturday Art Walk visitors to Spanglish Arte slowly made their way out and I followed.

Last stop of the evening took me to Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen to listen to some music.

April's Second Saturday usually brings more people to Midtown and Downtown. Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Press, Sacramento 365 and other sites have helpful information on venues and artist exhibits.

Local Radio History presentation for SOCA

2013-03-19T00:30:38Z

Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) President William Burg invited me to give a presentation for SOCA about local radio history on March 9. The presentation was held at Mdtown Village Cafe and lasted over an hour. I captured a lot of it on video for SacTV.com. It was fun because afterward I hung around Midtown for Second Saturday and visited several artistic galleries. The presentation covered almost the entire evolution of radio, mixing national and local history. One of the themes was that Sacramento radio has contributed to national history many times. Another theme is that radio started with the telephone and that's what's replacing radio as mobile phones are steadily becoming the most preferred form of popular media.

The SacTV video series is divided into three segments. The first segment covers early history from the invention of radio through the Great Depression. From the earliest stations onward, radio programming was typically sent over telephone lines from the station to a tower and then over the airwaves. During the 1920s the city only had one radio station, which was KFBK on the AM dial. Then Sacramento got its second AM station in 1937 when a city council member named Royal Miller launched KROY. By 1945 the city had a few more stations on the dial, which were KCRA and KXOA. FM stations then began appearing in the post war period, with each of the four being sister properties of the four AM stations. But at that time most people didn't have FM receivers yet.

The second video segment covers the 1950s through the late 1960s. As television took over as the most popular medium, radio had to find a new way to get people to listen. So they shifted from variety programming to formatted progamming. Pop stations that incorporated rock and roll targeted younger age groups while Middle of the Road (MOR) stations targeted adults who preferred big bands and pop standards. The first stations in Sacramento to play rock and roll were KGMS, KROY and KXOA. The popularity of transistor pocket radios starting in 1957 also helped fuel the craze for teen-oriented stations. By 1962 the main battle for the young audience was between 1240 KROY and 1470 KXOA. KROY became the number one station for a six year run starting in 1968, the same year that 98.5 KZAP began experimenting with freeform radio. Part of KZAP's appeal was that the playlist wasn't restricted to the same 40 songs over and over.

Due to the fact that my pocket video camera could only record so much, I had to redo the third segment later on, covering the 1970s through the 1990s. The seventies was a period when more FM stations became familiar to Sacramentans, especially by 1979 when new technology made FM more listenable in moving cars. It marked a huge migration of music fans abandoning AM for FM. Despite the fact that KSFM Earth Radio had become very competitive with KZAP, both stations shifted their programming in 1979. KZAP moved from freeform to "Album Oriented Rock," which was the format of a national radio consultant that trimmed the playlist to the most popular rock. Meanwhile, Earth Radio became FM 102 and started playing top 40 music. KROY AM listeners moved to its sister FM station, which became a rock station.

Each decade marked a transition period for radio. In the 1980s FM 102 competed with KWOD and then the return of KROY for the top 40 audience. KZAP had won the rock battle by the middle of the decade but faced a new challenger that had been KPOP, formerly a soul station that briefly experimented with new wave then pop, then rock. It had been consulted by Sac State graduate Rick Carroll, who coined the slogan "rock of the eighties" while he was Program Director at KROQ in Los Angeles and a consultant for MTV. KPOP switched to AOR and became KRXQ. Meanwhile, on the AM dial, Rush Limbaugh helped make KFBK the number one station in town before he moved on to national syndication, eventually becoming the highest paid on air person in radio history.

The video series touches on my experience as Program Director of KWOD in the 1990s, which made national industry news, since it was one of the highest rated independent alternative major market stations in the country. But the entire industry changed starting with the Telecom Act of 1996, which allowed big corporations to borrow as much money as it took to buy out as many mom and pop stations as they could. Sadly, it didn't work as corporations bought into a bubble of high valuations that eventually came crashing down, leaving the big companies deep in debt. As a cost cutting measure they began automating much of the programming and a lot of it became duplicated nationally, ending an era of localized radio culture.

Public radio still exists as an alternative for people who want musical or educational variety with local flavor mixed in. The future of radio is uncertain, but it's clear that the heyday was quite a long time ago. Most people still listen to radio on their commutes, but listening time has diminished while new technology provides a wider selection of choices. Radio in many ways has become nostalgia, which is why the SOCA presentation was fun for me. At one time radio had a lot to do with local culture and helping small businesses, but it's hard to say if that's true anymore. A deeper look at Sacramento radio history can be found at my site PlaylistResearch.com.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and PlaylistResearch.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

TDA Forum: Who is the Downtown Generation?

2013-03-18T08:44:59Z

On Monday, March 18, Turn Downtown Around presents a Public Forum, a discussion of how downtown Sacramento reached its current state, what its situation is today, and what can be done by regular citizens to create positive change in our urban core. I was asked to talk about how we got here. If we want to turn downtown around, this implies that, at some point, downtown Sacramento was going in the right direction. How did that Sacramento differ from the one we know today, and how can we recapture some of that spirit? What lessons can we learn from the past--both the mistakes to avoid, and the useful elements that we can use today?

[Note: Read the live blog of the forum as it happened here.]

The subject is broad, and impossible to cover fully in a 15 minute talk, but I will focus on the issue of housing. Downtown Sacramento once had about 30,000 more residents. During the 20 year period from about 1950 to 1970, the central city's population was halved, primarily from downtown, and has grown only slightly since then. Today, Sacramento's central business district has a population density of only seven people per acre, lower than suburban neighborhoods like Land Park or East Sacramento.

While still perceived as a "high density" neighborhood due to its enormous number of jobs and growing number of entertainment and dining venues, there are few housing choices available for anyone interested in living downtown. I'll talk a bit about why this loss of population was no accident, but deliberate policy, and what the consequences of those decisions were.

However, this talk isn't all gloom and doom. Over the past century, successive generations of Sacramentans came together downtown. It was a place to work, to celebrate, to meet friends, and a place to call home. Even when downtown Sacramento was losing its population and businesses moving to the suburbs, people still found reasons to be downtown. In an era when moving downtown was actively discouraged, some people fought the tide toward the suburbs and built communities and businesses in the central city. The call of city life brought them close to downtown, not just to visit, but to stay.

I'll share stories and photos from my most recent book, Sacramento's K Street, and new research and pictures from my forthcoming book, some that have never been presented in public before. They will include views of downtown Sacramento before the wrecking ball, and the stories of local entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, thinkers and innovators.

Younger visitors to the Forum will see images of Sacramento history that aren't mentioned in the standard narrative (the one that considers little outside Sutter's Fort, the Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railroad worth mentioning.) Older visitors will see a Sacramento they might remember, one that is almost forgotten, but whose memory is still alive.

And then, we'll ask the question, where do we go from here? If you are interested in the question, and want to help find the answers, we'd like to hear from you.

Turn Downtown Around Open Forum

Monday March 18, 6:00 PM

Downtown Plaza--enter on L Street beween 5th and 6th (go up the escalator) or from K Street via the rotunda (turn south through the doors when you reach the 6th Street rotunda at the kids' play area.) All are welcome to attend--of every generation.

The Sacramento Press will live blog the forum. Join in via Twitter with the hashtag #LetsTDA.

Disclosure: William Burg is a freelance writer and historian, and part of the "Turn Downtown Around" committee.

Musician Vince Vicari at Mayahuel Tequila Museo

2013-03-14T22:03:31Z

Looking for something to start your weekend off right with ? Why not check out a special screening of "Destined for Greatness" which features local muscian Vince Vicari. Afterward Vicari will offer the crowd a selection of original work as well as some old favorite covers he is known for.

A musician who also moonlights as a singing waiter, Vicari is not new to the music business.

"I come from a long lineage of musicians in my family." Vicari said. "My grandfather played trumpet, my dad plays the drum. I have two siblings who play guitar and piano and I myself have been playing piano since I was eight. Music is in my genes; it's also something I have wanted since day one"

Vicari said that he finds inspiration from many different artist from many genres, such as the charismatic Dean Martin and the hard-working reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee & Angel Y Khriz.

"And Ludacris," he said, "my family's favorite rapper. My sibilings and I grew up washing dishes after dinner to Ludacris."

Where does Vicari hope that his career leads him to?

"The Grammy's. To me there is no bigger, hats-off-to-you moment in the music business than being given the opportunity to perform at the Grammy's... That's when you know you've made it."

You can see Vnce Vicari tomorrow night, March 15, from 7pm to 9pm at Mayahuel Tequila Museu 1200 K Street in the Coa Room, where he occasionaly moonlights as a waiter who sings Spanish Ballads. Seating is limitied and there is no cover charger, but must RSVP at facebook.com/VinceVicariMusic

Go green for St. Patrick's Day this weekend

2013-03-14T16:53:12Z

Don your green and get into the St. Patrick's Day spirit this weekend! Sacramento celebrates everyone's favorite Irish holiday this Saturday and Sunday with a slew of entertaining events.

In addition to the ones listed below, see even more selections in Sacramento365.com's Holiday Events section.

Family-friendly fun:

-17th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade: Old Sacramento; Sat 1pm
Hundreds of colorful marchers dressed in green, along with Irish and Highland dancers, pipe and drum bands, historic re-enactors, and a variety of cultural organizations, will all join together to be a part of the 17th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

-St. Patrick's Day at the California Automobile Museum:
California Automobile Museum; Sun 1pm-4pm
Adults and kids get in for just $4 if they wear primarily green. Coloring stations and a “Luck o’ the Irish” scavenger hunt will be available for kids and families to enjoy.

-Four-Leaf Clover Scavenger Hunt: East Sac Mercantile; Sun 2pm-5pm
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by going on a scavenger hunt. Highlights of this event include light hors d'oeuvres, wine, and the chance to win raffle prizes and a $100 gift certificate for East Sac Mercantile.

Beer-filled shenanigans:

-5Hundy's St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl 2013:
Begins from Blue Cue; Sat 3pm-Midnight
Join the 8th Annual 5hundy Social Club St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl revelers as they journey through downtown Sacramento bars, all in the name of St. Patrick’s Day. Wristbands entitle you to drink specials at select bars.

-St. Patrick's Day Pub Party: de Vere's Irish Pub; Sun 9am-2am
There’s no better place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than at de Vere’s, the only Irish-owned, Irish-run, and authentically Irish pub in Sacramento. Even better? There’s no cover!

-K Street Krawl: Downtown Sacramento; Sun Noon
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the K Street Krawl. Hop from one party to the next and collect 9 hole punches at different locations for a chance to win a one ounce solid gold nugget.

Musical meanderings:

-St. Patrick's Day with Wil O'Mylar:
Gallagher's Irish Pub; Sat 8pm-11pm & Sun 4pm-7pm
Wil O'Mylar returns to perform beloved traditional Irish music for the annual St. Patrick's Day celebration.

-Torch Goes Irish: Torch Club; Sun 4pm-11pm
Come celebrate St. Patrick's Day at Torch Club. Your favorite artists—including Mind X, Delta City Ramblers, Lew Fratis, Golden Cadillacs, Peter Petty, Denim Wedding, Island of Black and White, Emmie Jones, and Sawmill Gravy—will be covering Irish bands.

-St. Patrick's Day with Stepping Stone, Whiskey & Stitches, and
The Three Way: Harlow's; Sun 6pm
The night starts with Stepping Stone playing traditional tunes and songs from Ireland, Shetland-Scotland, and Old Time America. Then it will get kicked up with performances by Whiskey and Stitches and The Three Way.

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Above all, be sure to travel safe this St. Patrick's Day. Berg Injury Lawyers is offering their Safe and Sober Free Cab Ride Home and the Sac Town Hopper will be out and about as well.

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As an event partner for The Sacramento Press, Sacramento365.com provides information on activities happening in the Sacramento community. Find these and many more events on Sacramento365.com, the year-round source for Sacramento events.

Disclosure: Alison Kranz is Assistant Editor for Sacramento365.com - the year-round source for Sacramento events.

Film on Fashion

2013-03-13T07:27:05Z

The California Film Foundation (CFF) in collaboration with Sacramento Fashion Week (SACFW) presented an event called Fashion on Film.

Filmmakers were invited to create a music video, short documentary or narrative using the California fashion industry as the focus.

CFF and SACFW were available for help if filmmakers needed guidance. Each film had to meet several conditions in order to show their film.

The completed films were part of the scheduled events during Sacramento Fashion Week.

Filmmakers, directors, models, designers, merchandisers, musicians and others engaged in the fashion industry gathered teams together to create film projects.

The completed films were shown to a sold out audience on Wednesday Feb. 27 at the Fusion International Arts Center.

Several vendors occupied spaces near the front entrance where they showcased fashionable outfits, shoes, bags, jewelry and other accessories. Each vendor was given the opportunity to say a few words about their shops and show off their wear during a couple of short fashion shows and in between film showings.

Vendors represented at the event were Nor Cal Fashions, Z Boutique, Nikki's Dollar Jewelry & More, Keepstars Clothing Co., and Designs by the Diva. Each vendor had plenty of merchandise and brought their products to show and sell.

The Fashion on Film event allowed artists, their supporters and guest the opportunity to make further connections with other film and fashion industry leaders.

Lari Miyamoto, model and CEO of Mad by Design Studios, served as host for the evening. Miyamoto wore an elegant black outfit and shoes by Z boutique making the statuesque model even taller. Miyamoto kicked off the first Fashion on Film VIP gala reception.

Will Rodriguez Creative Director and Co Producer of Sacramento Fashion Week was in attendance and welcome guests to the event saying, “I want to thank everybody here tonight. This is an exciting and new event we've added to Sac Fashion Week. We're fully exited to be working with global and regional creative talent and it seems like a natural fit where you have fashion, you have entertainment and you have filmmakers so why not come together and put it all together during fashion week.”

Rodriguez also introduced Film on Fashion. “We have a number of films to watch tonight and once again I just wanted to thank you for all of the love and support for Sacramento Fashion Week. We're really trying to make Sacramento get that exposure that it truly deserves. There's a lot of really great talent in this town and around this area that needs that exposure so that's what we're trying to do. With the partnership of California Film Foundation, Sacramento Fashion Week and some of our other partners it's been blossoming into something so grand and we're really exited to be sharing this experience with you guys. So thank you.”

Martin Anaya, Executive Director at Sacramento Film Festival (California Film Foundation), followed Rodriguez on stage. Anaya thanked guests and also thanked his volunteers. Richard Burnsed, Program Director CFF, also joined Anaya on stage. Before stepping off the stage Anaya announced singing artist Tia Ferrera was present.

Films shown included music, fashion, photography and designer showcases featuring Sacramento landmarks. Various boutiques and their owners were also featured in different videos.

Ferrera was featured in the first film which was a music video for her “Ladies Night” single from her upcoming “It's Complicated” debut album.

As the other films were shown the director of the featured film said a few words before or after the showing. Each film featured was well received and used local talent to create their project.

The last film of the evening was Fashion Alley directed by Richard Pannell. The film included the song “Be Fly” by Bellatre. The trio also performed live to the audiences' delight.

After the showings Bellatre performed an outstanding rendition of “Be Fly” and received great ovation.

Guests were invited to stay and mingle and be photographed at a photo booth set towards the back of the Fuse Center.

The Fashion on Film short films were very entertaining and each had its own following. It would be great if at a later time the films would be posted by the California Foundation Film in order for the films to be seen by a wider audience.

The inaugural Fashion on Film was a great addition to SACFW and allowed smaller boutiques and vendors the opportunity to showcase their products. Creative local talent showing an interest in film making and fashion also benefited from the event and several participants indicated they looked forward to next year's event.

Carla Fleming: The Queen of Sacramento Soul

2013-03-11T22:13:19Z

Aretha Franklin earned the title "Queen of Soul" after releasing several critically acclaimed timeless recordings that showcase remarkable talent in the soul genre. It's a debatable topic, for sure, since the pinnacle of any genre can be based on several factors such as popularity, talent, reviews or legendary staying power. Aretha is hard to beat in each of those categories since she is still well respected today, as are many artists in her league like Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and Beyonce. The list of R&B/Soul artists in Sacramento is somewhat obscure since there are not that many venues in town that showcase the music despite being one of America's all time most popular genres.

Carla Fleming deserves the title "Queen of Sac Soul" for now for several reasons, until more emphasis on R&B develops in the local live entertainment scene. Harlow's has been one venue open to R&B acts and there have been others, but it appears most night clubs in town focus on every popular style but R&B, although jazz and blues, which are closely related to R&B in an historical sense, get plenty of support. Ironically, some of Sacramento's all time most popular radio stations in history, such as KSFM (102.5), KDND (107.9 The End) and The Bomb, now called Hot 103.5, have done very well programming R&B and hip hop. "Old school" soul station V101 recently dropped its Sunday night "Home Grown Soul" show hosted by Akil, who has given airplay to Carla Fleming and many other local acts.

This week an exclusive video interview series with Carla Fleming is featured on SacTV.com, which continues to explore the best of the Sacramento music scene and various aspects of local culture. A big reason Carla deserves recognition for her recordings, videos and live shows is that she is an authentic artist with a commercial sound that rivals national acts. The best place to find local acts of any genre, including R&B, these days is ReverbNation.com. The site now has close to three million independent artists from all over the world. Part of the site's appeal is that it has charts for multiple genres in every region of the world. Carla Fleming, for example, is ranked in the top five on the Citrus Heights R&B chart. Other high ranking regional R&B artists include Nevada Breeze, Ava Lemert, Eric EQ Young, Thai Nicole and Odayaka. Each of these artists also deserve honorable titles for their contributions to the local soul scene.

The music of Carla Fleming is particularly special because it is message-driven by a mix of emotional matters of the heart, social commentary and creative themes. She writes music and collaborates with other local musicians including Elk Grove jazz artist Garrett Perkins. Their latest project is called "Weapons Down," which was written and recorded as a tribute to victims following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut last December 14. The message of the song and video is anti-violent and encourages people to adopt a deeper commitment to love and respect for fellow human beings, much like the USA For Africa project. Several artists contributed to the recording and video, as they plan to do a benefit show in May.

Carla was born in Chicago and moved to Sacramento in her youth, attending Grant Union High School, which she describes as having a family atmosphere. Her songwriting grew out of an evolution from writing essays then poems, which transformed into lyrics set to music. Since the early nineties she has been working on musical projects while learning about the recording process. The videos she makes have been outstanding, working with local filmmaker Nick Leisure. The video to her song "Heartbreaker" can be seen on YouTube, where it has had over 4,000 views, which is a very high number for a local artist. The song adds humorous variety to her repertoire, teaching males who cheat on their female partners to at least think twice about it.

A more serious song by Carla is called "Rise Again," which has a very warm and positive message about overcoming life's struggles. She believes that people are naturally positive and peaceful and that music can enhance that power. One of her favorite songs for positive inspiration is the 1990 national top ten hit "Feels Good" by Tony! Toni! Tone!, who are based in the Bay Area and have recorded in Sacramento. Other R&B artists who have come from or through Sacramento before or after their national success have included Jay King's Club Nouveau, Wayman Tisdale, DRS, C. Webb and Karyn White. The R&B genre has a huge audience who could help the local scene grow if they had more opportunites to see live entertainment. Our SacTV interview was recorded March 2 at Sac State, where Carla has performed. Her music can be found on her website, YouTube, iTunes, CDBaby and ReverbNation.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

Fabulous fashion forum

2013-03-09T03:46:56Z

Sacramento Fashion Week came and went much too quickly. The week dedicated to Sacramento fashion was not all glamor and included several workshops.

As part of the week long schedule there was the return of a panel discussion when Sacramento State University hosted the 2013 Sacramento Fashion Week (SACFW) Fashion Forum. In collaboration with Sacramento Fashion Association (SFA) the forum was held at Sac State's University Union on Monday, Feb. 25.

The moderator for the SACFW event was Tracy Saville, CEO & Publisher of Possibility Media Group.

The open panel discussion included various industry professionals and was open to the public.

Former International Academy of Design and Technology instructor Ester Amato was the first panel member introduced. Amato recently began teaching at Sac State. She began by describing her fashion background saying, “I just started here at Sac State, teaching, I've actually been in the industry for 30 years in every area of fashion designing. I've traveled all over the world in the name of fashion and had my own company for several years.”

Amato is proud of having had several of her students become involved in SACFW. “Several of the designers are students that I taught,” said Amato. She also takes pride in mentoring several of them and said, “ I'm actually going to be like a mother out there excited to see them go down the runway knowing that I had them when they started out so it's going to be amazing.”

Joining Amato was Uduak Oduok, Founder & Editor in Chief of Ladybrille Magazine and Attorney & Partner at Ebitu Law Group. Oduok welcomed the audience and during her introduction said, “I have been practicing for the past 12 years I look forward to sharing some insight and hopefully you'll walk away empowered and hopefully some of you might think about being fashion lawyers.”

With over 20 years of experience in the fashion and entertainment industry, Oduok brought a wealth of legal knowledge to the forum. Oduok has spoken at previous Sacramento Fashion Week workshops about contract, business, licensing, copyright and trademark law as it applies to business, modeling and everyday law.

Naima Mora, winner of America's Next Top Model (Cycle 4), also joined the forum panel. Mora competed with regional models Noelle Staggers (Reno, NV) and Lluviana "Lluvy" Gomez-Gibbs (Modesto, CA) in America's Next Top Model. Staggers and Gomez-Gibbs have modeled for local designers at Couture Press fashion shows in Sacramento.

Mora continued to model after the 2005 competition and has been involved in music and recently authored her first book “Model Behavior”.

Mora summarized her background saying, “I've been involved in the fashion industry over the last 6-7 years since winning America's Top Model. I'm the singer of my rock band, I sing and play guitar and I just published a book actually with Tracy (Saville) called Model Behavior. So I guess my favorite part about Sacramento Fashion Week is just being able to partake in supporting all the emerging talent that comes out of lesser known fashion cities.“

Mora let the audience know that she's from Detroit and said other smaller cities like Sacramento have a lot of unhidden talent. In describing local designer talent Mora said, “I'm seeing things I haven't seen before because the designers are like untouched, you know, they're not living in these huge fashion cities that are recycling ideas that you see over and over again.”

Returning as a panelist was Gerry Simpson, Model Coach/Visual Artist & Photographer for GOS” Art.

Simpson told the forum audience how he became involved in fashion. “I got into fashion when I was nine years old. I have a twin brother and my mother hired us out to model so I got my first job as a model. My twin became a mechanic and I kept on modeling,” said Simpson.

Simpson continued, “I took to modeling and my modeling got me into fashion design and making clothing. I won a trip to California 29 years ago. I was supposed to be here a week and I've been here 29 years. I've been in visual merchandising, stylist for Nordstrom. I'm currently a self-taught photographer and artist 13 years.

The talented artist will also be exhibiting a fine art and photo exhibit during this month's Second Saturday. An opening reception is scheduled on Mar. 9 from noon to 5 pm. The exhibit is being held at the Brickhouse Art Gallery located at 2837 36th Street, off of Broadway.

Amy Wister was also part of the panel. Wister told the audience, “I'm probably an anomaly in the panel here. I do not have a traditional fashion background. My background is in IT so I got here through a very interesting journey I'm the founder and CEO of a company named The Stylist Online. We have a proprietary system that teaches women a lot about their body types and really how to embrace their individual figure.”

The Stylist Online has many helpful suggestions for everyone on their website and as Wister put it, “We work with everyday people on an everyday basis.”

Wister also told the audience that the forum and other SACFW workshops would pay dividends for the students and commended them for being at the event.

Amber Collins, a former model, was the sixth and final panelist. The model talent agent began by telling the audience something about her Sacramento based company Cast Images Talent Agency and what they do.

Collins described her fashion background as a model working in the larger fashion trend setting cities such as Paris, Milan and other places. Her 20 year career as a model and casting agent has brought her to work with clients such as Calvin Klein, Trussardi, Abercrombie, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Kohl's Macy's, Nordstrom and many others.

Collins also said a few words about SACFW saying, “Everyone working in Sac Fashion Week is absolutely doing it for passion.” Collins continued, “Every year it gets better and better. There are so many things that are getting better but there's still not a lot of infrastructure in our city, so everybody who's working on this does it because they are very passionate. They're passionate about fashion, they're passionate about their community, they're passionate about working so that we all get together and together we raise this city and the things that are going on in it and that really moves me. I love seeing everyone working on this event and doing it as a volunteer. They do it just for the love of fashion and there is so much comradery as well so I think that's my biggest pleasure.”

Such passionate and positive words continued through the forum as the panel discussed their work and gave supportive advise.

Other interesting topics included the impact of social media. The panel offered suggestions on what to focus on such as quality not quantity, not overexposing personal information and being on point not just posting noise. Personal branding was another topic discussed as well as addressing opinionated social media exchanges.

After the forum ended a mixer hosted by the Sac State Student Fashion Association was held across the hall from the panel room. Students, guests and panel members chatted about the event and SACFW.

SFA together with SACFW did a great job in hosting the Fashion Forum which gave valuable information to students and guests interested in the fashion industry.

Photos: Black Veil Brides at Ace of Spades

2013-03-08T07:09:48Z

Hollywood band Black Veil Brides performed at Ace of Spades on Wednesday night in support of their new album "Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones."

The air was thick with anticipation as support bands Overwatch and William Control played their sets. When Black Veil Brides finally took the stage, the packed venue erupted with the defeaning squeals of teenage girls and made me very thankful I had brought hearing protection.

I can say with complete confidence that it was an entertaining show.

Want to see what shows are coming up at Ace of Spades? Click here.

Mexican Flag Day at Sutter's Fort

2013-03-07T00:08:55Z

Sutter's Fort, built by John A. Sutter, is an American institution that continues to host events that feature California's early history. On Sunday, Feb. 24, Mexican Flag Day was celebrated at Sutter's Fort.

Sutter was a Swiss immigrant who took Mexican citizenship not long before the California Gold Rush. Sutter's Fort was established on the large track of land granted to Sutter by the Mexican Department of Alta California.

Events held at Sutter's Fort help bring California history to life and the many docents and volunteers help make this possible.

The celebration began with an American flag ceremony at Sutter's main gate. Mindy Orozco welcomed guests and after raising the American flag invited guests to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Inside the fort guests could embark on self-guided tours and docents made themselves available for questions and posing for photos.

The Mexican flag ceremony took place inside the fort.

Omar Gonzale z welcomed guests saying, “Welcome to this year's celebration of Mexican Flag Day. This program is put on by the Comité Fiestas Patrias 2013 in collaboration with the Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California with the support and sponsorship of the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento.”

Gonzalez continued, “Now before we start I'd like to ask everyone to give a very loud round of applause for Sutter's Fort and all their wonderful staff and volunteers that made this event possible. My name is Omar Gonzalez I'm a local attorney and I'm also president of the Comité Fiestas Patrias and a member of the board of directors of the Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California.”

Addressing students from Ethel I. Baker Elementary School who sat in the audience Gonzalez asked, “Do you know who California belongs to? Raise your hand, it belongs to each and everyone of you. You guys are our future, California is yours so it's important that you learn your history and that you appreciate your history because we have a beautiful legacy here between the state of California and the country of Mexico.”

Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, Ambassador and Consul General of Mexico also addressed the crowd. Gutierrez gave special thanks to Ethel I. Baker students for being in attendance and gave them a brief history of California's roots and its relationship to Mexico.

Maria Lesso, the 2012 Reyna Fiestas Patrias pageant winner made an appearance and also addressed the young students saying, “I just want to say some words to the kids. You guys, dreams can come true I'm living one of mine right now and you guys just have to keep on trying and never give up.” Students seated in the first row smiled as she addressed them.

Several Ethel I. Baker students were asked to read an essay they wrote about the Mexican flag.

Hot chocolate and Mexican sweet bread were provided by La Esperanza Bakery and were served by volunteer students from Sacramento State University who represented several fraternities and sororities.

Students were able to witness demonstrations at Sutter's Fort and were most excited to see docents wearing costumes firing off their weapons. A canon firing was also on the schedule of events.

Live entertainment was provided by Folklorico Aztlan de Sacramento. Their colorful outfits and lively dancing were well received.

Also in attendance were representatives from the State of California Franchise Tax Board who were there to answer questions regarding personal taxes. General information was given and they also answered questions about the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program provided by the IRS.

The free event was full of activities, it was educational and served as a family outing for many.

Word to Your Motherland at Sol Collective

2013-03-05T21:33:23Z

Sol Collective celebrated eight years of art, culture and activism as well as a recent community leadership award by hosting Word to Your Motherland.

The celebration took place on Saturday, Feb. 23 with an art show curated by Nisha K. Sembi and Mandeep Sethi.

Art from Word to Your Motherland will be on display at Sol Collective until March 18. The exhibit seeks to embody and inspire new ways of thinking and highlights artist collaboration and interaction with their cultural background.

The multimedia showcase was well attended and several guests came from as far away as the Bay Area just to attend the event.

Sol Collective invited special guests to a pre-event for the opening of Word to Your Motherland. Sol Collective treated guests to the pre-event party with samosas and wine.

Before doors were opened to the public for the free event I asked Sembi a couple of questions.

When asked to describe Word to Your Motherland Sembi gave an elaborate answer saying, “Word to Your Motherland originally started last year. This is the second Word to Your Motherland, the first one was held in Oakland last summer. I was a visual artist in the Bay Area and then I took a trip to India and when I went to visit India, which is where my family is from, I ended up meeting a lot of people that were involved with hip-hop out there and I really had no idea that they listed to hip-hop. When I went out there I got the chance to meet a lot of graffiti artists, break dancers and MCs. So when I came back from India I was just so inspired by the hip-hop movement out there. When I came back I was actually approached by a gallery curator who asked if I was interested in having my first solo show.”

Sembi continued, “At that time I was full of inspiration. So I said yeah let's do it and I decided that the show should be dedicated not just to my artwork but also towards shedding light on the hip-hop movement in India. I reached out to Mandeep Sethi who's helping me curate the show. He's an MC and I do a lot of work with spray paint and so together we sort of curated the art show and put together Word to Your Motherland which is basically just a show that transposes the culture of Indian people and their intersections with the hip-hop culture.”

Sembi's enthusiasm showed as she spoke about her project and I could see her passion in her eyes. “A lot of the artwork that you see incorporates a lot of traditional Indian elements and then they all have like a hip-hop twist. I have a lot of fine art pieces and street art mural pieces so we really try to make it like a mix-media show with visual elements, audio elements and then some live performances. We have the art pieces and we have the video projection that shows the documentation of the hip-hop movement in India. What we wanted to do with this space was really just to transform it into a space that embodied the five elements of hip-hop so MCing, DJing, break dancing, graffiti and some say the fifth element is knowledge and that's were Word to Your Motherland came from.”

The Berkeley native described the Word to Your Motherland logo saying, “My mom is from India and my dad is from Africa. So that's how we came up with the logo.”

Other artwork hanging from the walls of Sol Collective included the work of Puzzl3Peace, Fantauzzi Brothers, SETI X and FistUp.TV.

Spoken word performances and some break dancing also contributed to the evening's entertainment.

Word to Your Motherland showcased an exhibit that most of the visitors that attended could relate to. At the heart of the exhibit was culture. Culture that separates us can also work to connect us and the exhibit showcases our cultural links. Part of this culture is hip-hop that as Sembi points out can be seen as a revolutionary movement because it brings people together across religions, caste and socioeconomic levels.

Sol Collective has hosted many hip-hop events over the years. They have hosted these type of events from local and national performers as well as international guests. Sol Collective has introduced international hip-hop artists such as Brazilian born Zuzuka Poderosa and Chilean Ana Tijoux.

Word to Your Motherland focused on the connections between India and Africa and the role of hip-hop in those areas. Photography, murals, digital artwork, projection showings and other visually stimulating art gracing the walls created a magnificent exhibit.

The Word to Your Motherland display guides guests through different elements of hip-hop culture that now reshape and revolutionize global culture and daily life throughout India and Africa and many other parts of the world.

Live performances were provided by several guests including Jagmeet Hoodini Singh, Gunjiv Baagi Singh, Salvin Chahal, Simarpreet WiseChild Singh, Mandeep Sethi, Ras Ceylon, El Indio, DJ Smokestack and others.

The event was a joyous gathering bringing people of several cultures together to share something we have in common, the love of art, music, poetry, dance and sharing our similarities under the hip-hop umbrella that continues to spread globally.

Word.

Support your local custom guitar designer Mark Dobbins

2013-03-04T22:14:40Z

Anyone who plays guitar professionally or with passion should think about upgrading to a custom handcrafted guitar, which can have much better tonality and durability than factory made guitars. One of Sacramento's premiere custom guitar makers is Mark Dobbins, who creates his own line of instruments called Dobbins Guitars from his home workshop. Not only does he build guitars, he designs and manufactures mandolins, ukeleles and other instruments. This past week I interviewed Mark for a SacTV.com video series, exploring the nature of handcrafted guitars and how they compare with mass produced assembly line guitars.

Mark likes guitars made by C.F. Martin, which not only makes handcrafted instruments, but has become the model company that many other guitar makers try to pattern their acoustic guitars after. Mark has learned a lot about the art and science of such quality guitars and has applied this knowledge to his own custom work. In this five part video series he explains how he builds his instruments, the nature of what affects guitar quality, how he repairs and restores guitars and how various guitar parts affect tonality. He talks about how even banged up guitars can hold their value as long as they sound nice and are playable.

Originally from Cleveland, Mark moved to Dallas after high school and eventually to Sacramento, which actually has excellent humidity for preserving guitars as long as they are properly stored to avoid extreme hot and cold temperatures. He learned how to play guitar at an early age and has now been handcrafting guitars and other instruments for over a decade. He also repairs and restores instruments for Northridge Music in Citrus Heights, Strum Shop in Roseville and Tim's Music in Sacramento. As Mark explains, guitars must be handled with care if they are to live long and healthy lives. Mark also works on electric guitars as well as innovative hybrid instruments.

Ukeleles, says Mark, have become extremely popular in recent years because they are lighter, easier to play and less expensive than guitars, which still remain popular as well. In fact, he will be showcasing some of his ukes, along with guitars and mandolins, at a Golden Nugget festival in Sparks, Nevada April 12-13 next month. He says another reason ukeleles have become so popular is due to their bright tonality, earning the nickname "the happy instrument." In his workshop, as the SacTV video series reveals, he has blueprints and instrument bodies laying around that can make any musician marvel at the fascinating process of how these instruments are made. He has even built his own machines for manufacturing the instruments.

So if you've ever wondered why some guitars sound cheap and others sound amazing, this video series answers many of those questions. The major factors affecting the sound quality are the types of wood the bodies are made from, the care put into the fretwork, the strength of the neck, the materials used for even the smallest guitar parts such as nuts and bridges and the lightness of the guitar. Mass and weight work against guitar quality, Mark says. One of the most amazing aspects of the manufacturing process is how guitar curves are made by heating wood. Despite his incredible knowledge in building guitars, he says he's always learning something new about it. He also performs original and cover material at local venues on bills with other local artists such as Ken Koenig and the Taylor Chicks.

Disclosure: Alex Cosper owns SacTV.com and posts in partnership with The Sacramento Press.

Wallpaper. brings bass and musical talent to Sacramento

2013-02-27T21:47:58Z

Keytars, neon clothing and multiple wardrobe changes were just the start of a fun-themed night at Ace of Spades.

From an alternative model to a professional lacrosse player and his friends, openers Diamond Dez and Con Bro Chill set the stage February 21 with a mixture of sass, attitude and entertainment for the night's headliner, Wallpaper.

Poking fun at pop culture, Oakland musician/producer Wallpaper., a.k.a. Ricky Reed, started making music for a purpose.

"When I started this project, the entire goal was to be a satire of pop music and pop culture. It was ultimately my music as wallpaper, background music," explains Reed. "We don't usually engage in music in the way that it deserves to be engaged with, so it's a way of making a statement about it."

Songs like "Puke My Brains out," "Good 4 It", and "#Stupidfacedd," are all examples of today's generation getting wasted and partying. But it's something that Wallpaper. is able to do in a light hearted and fun manner.

Calling the Bay Area home, Ricky Reed's musical influences have shaped his sound, allowing him to use a mixture of influential genres to produce an eclectic genre all his own.

"The Bay Area is a very special place," explains Reed. "It's not the center of the world musically. People from the bay are underdogs, so we have to do things that make us stand out and rise to the top."

Reed pointed to punk rock bands like Rancid and Rapper E-40 as inspirations in the sound of his music.

"Growing up around Rancid, Green Day, E-40, The Federation and Too $hort, it all had an equal impact on me," explains Reed. "From a gritty bass sound of a Rancid record, against a hyphy 808 sound in a track, is just an example of the end result of my music."

The heavy bass sound Reed talked about could be heard in his opener, "Puke My Brains Out."

Accompanying Reed on stage was vocalist and San Francisco native, Novena Carmel.

With hot pink hair and a funky attitude, Carmel was a great addition to the high energy of Reed and his three drummers.

Continuing with their fast tempo set, Wallpaper. performed the dance track "Shotgun," followed by "Good 4 It" and "T-Rex."

On the last song of the regular set, Wallpaper. ended with the dub-step influenced song, "Okay."

Entering the stage for the encore, Reed played the song "F*cking Best Song Ever," using a ukulele in the intro and ending the show with the song MTV made famous, "#Stupidfacedd."

Local Deejay, Shaun Slaughter (a.k.a. DAMB) took to 1s and 2s, setting the mood for opening acts Diamond Dez and Con Bro Chill.

With a multifarious sound that ranged from soul and hip-hop to funk and pop, DAMB was able to set the tone of musical expression, and expertise, for the two openers.

Sassy and in control, Sacramento native, Diamond Dez took the stage with black ripped jeans, big hair and a gaudy gold chain.

A lot of energy and attitude from a small package, Dez opened up her set with a group of B-Boys taking the stage.

Resembling the intensity and creativity of Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga, Dez gave a fully energetic and strong performance showing both her rapping and singing skills.

Next up was a set that one could never prepare for.

Seriousness, with a hint of fun ridiculousness, describes Pro Lacrosse Player, Connor Martin and his band Con Bro Chill: SAMM (Lead Vox),Ty Andre (Art Director) and Steve Felts.

A wardrobe that included (but not limited to): fur coats, '80s puffer vests and shiny leggings with jock straps over the top, it was evident that this band didn't take itself seriously.

Opening their set with a warrior fight and leading into their song "Dance Thief," where they proceeded to throw waffles into the audience, Con Bro Chill kept the audience entertained with its eccentric clothes, sound and dance moves.

With a night full of dance moves, flashy clothes and letting loose, the collection of musicians proved that being yourself and having fun is the most important part of music.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Pretty in black: Black Veil Brides to play Ace of Spades

2013-02-27T21:46:21Z

Don't let the party stop after you've had your fill of beer and fashion this week, Sacramento!

How do tattoos, black face paint, and tight, black leather sound?

Good? Then check out Hollywood rock band Black Veil Brides at Ace of Spades next Wednesday, March 6.

While seemingly more known to some for their visual aesthetics than their music, these wild-haired bad boys in eye shadow are continually refining their musical style and have seen it evolve from screaming heavy metal to a more anthemic rock sound.

They're making a play for the big time with their third album, "Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones," an ambitious rock opera à la My Chemical Romance's "The Black Parade."

BVB will be joined at Ace by William Control and Overwatch.

General admission tickets are $18 plus a $3.95 service fee. Doors are at 7 p.m. and it's an all ages show.

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Ken Koenig's originals and covers mix with Vintner's custom wine

2013-02-26T00:14:26Z

Sacramento indie musician Ken Koenig played to a packed house at Vintner's Cellar in the Nimbus Winery Shopping Center Saturday night and mixed the show up with performances from other singer-songwriters, such as his daughter, a custom guitar maker and myself. Vintner's Cellar, located at Hazel Avenue and Highway 50, has a cozy and intimate atmosphere for about 30 to 40 people. The music also projects to a bigger crowd outside the venue, waiting to eat at Spaghetti Factory or visit Tommy T's comedy night club. Vintner's main attraction is that it allows customers to create their own custom wine. What could be more indie than that? Add indie music and you've got quite a nice atmosphere. Vintner's, launched by Kim Oliver and Andi Rothman in 2008, is also used as a venue for private parties and weddings.

Ken Koenig is a singer-songwriter-guitarist who has introduced me to wonderful people, including his wife Cindy and daughter Amanda, who did her first public performance that night. He also introduced me to Mark Dobbins, who also performed a short set and spoke with me about how he designs custom guitars, which I would like to write about in the near future. Each of us got up on stage and mixed familiar cover songs with our own original material. Ken does a lot fo Beatles and Elvis songs along with 80s and 90s music such as songs by Men at Work and Crowded House. Most of the people there were already familiar with Ken's music, in which he has released three CDs available on iTunes and CDBaby. The most recent release came out last year called The Organic Life, featuring an instantly uplifting opening song called "Beautiful Day."

One of the amazing things Ken does that stands out among Sacramento indie artists is that instead of selling his CDs at shows, he gives them away while asking for donations in return. It works. The idea is similar to what the game-changing band Radiohead has accomplished in recent years, allowing fans to name their own price for music. This warmer approach that contrasts with the failed major label strategy of suing customers for downloading or sharing free music illegally, puts him in a much better light with fans than the tired struggling greed-driven 3-label music industry.

In our exclusive SacTV.com interview, Ken explains how he grew listening to the music of his older relatives, which shaped his musical choices. He recognizes that there is something very timeless about 60s and 70s hit music that even today's younger generation can appreciate. Many of those songs communicate a spirit and vision of social unity, not to mention rich memorable melodies. It is pretty amazing how much audiences still admire these songs. What's even more interesting is how he is able to integrate his original material into this diverse mix of legendary music and make it work. As he says in the interview, he never set out to play one specific genre, which differs from the one dimension marketing rule of the music industry the past few decades. Instead, he incorporates many styles into his music, including pop, rock, soul, jazz, folk and country.

The idea of mixing covers with originals is nothing new. It's just something that makes perfect sense, yet many local artists who go nowhere seem to only want to do originals. Sacramento's home grown bands Tesla and Cake both rose to national fame drawing from a blend of originals and covers. During KWOD's heyday as an alternative station when I programmed it in the 90s, the way we were able to prove local music can work in regular rotation is to surround it with familiar music. Creating a relatable atmosphere by reaching a common ground with the audience with covers is one way to get people's attention and then introduce them to original music written in a similar vein.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com and have been friends with the Koenig family the past few years. I have also performed with Ken several times at Vintner's Cellar.

Cave Women open for string master David Lindley

2013-02-20T21:40:29Z

Swell Productions presented an evening of music with multi-instrumentalist David Lindley and local artists Cave Women.

The concert was held at West Sacramento's Center for Spiritual Awareness (CSA) on Friday, Feb. 15.

Lindley has been creating astounding music for several decades. He has collaborated with well known musicians such as Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Ben Harper and many others as well as being frontman for his band El Rayo-X.

Lindley's prolific music along with collaborations with top artists has made him a much sought-after performer. His much anticipated appearance at the CSA brought a near capacity audience to listen to the artist tell colorful stories of his experiences to go along with his music.

With an array of string instruments sitting on a rack near the back of the stage Lindley's entertaining stories amused the audience and his music transfixed those in attendance.

Local sensation Cave Women opened the show. The Sacramento based band recently released their first album “Cave Women” and played a wonderful set.

Casey Lipka, Kim Davis, Alicyn Yaffee, Emily Messick and Vanessa Cruz make up Cave Women. Cruz was unavailable for the concert and although the percussionist's sound was missed they still sounded great.

Cave Women came to the stage and Lipka began to strum her stand-up bass. Lipka began their set saying, “We just wanted to let you know that we are going to take you back to prehistoric times,” the audience laughed and as the other Cave Women joined in she said, “just kidding.”

As the audience settled in Cave Women began their set with “Blizzard.” Cave Women plays original music and they all take turns performing vocals. Other times that I've seen them they have also taken turns playing different instruments.

The talented group followed their opening song with “Who Needs Dreams?”

The intimate setting allowed for some dialogue between the musicians and the audience making things a bit more personal.

Cave Women's set was 7-8 songs long and ended with “White Lies.” They played all but two of the songs from their debut album.

All members of Cave Women play and compose for the group that was formed about a year and a half ago. They all met as students at Sac State. Their music is a mixture of jazz, folk, classical, Brazilian and African music among others.

After the show I asked Cave Women some questions. Davis and Lipka took turns answering while Yaffee and Messick gathered their equipment. In discussing their first album Cave Women indicated they worked on the music for about a year and that all except for Messick, who is working on a Master's program, have graduated.

Cave Women indicated that they are working and looking forward to making new music. When asked what was the hardest and easiest part of making an album they said, “Hardest? I wouldn’t say really that there was a hard part. It was a fun learning experience, a tremendous learning experience and it was an honor to create an album of original music.”

In response as to what they enjoyed about the concert for that evening they said, “It was so much fun to play with David tonight. It was a huge honor, he's so incredible.” That was a compliment uttered by others in the crowd.

After Cave Women left the stage, a loud reception welcomed Lindley. Lindley began by welcoming the audience. He continued saying, “Found a clean pair of pants.” The audience responded with laughter and cheers and that dictated how the rest of the evening would go with Lindley throwing in humorous statements to get the audience involved.

Lindley had a story either introducing or at the end of each song. This also allowed him the opportunity to change to a different string instrument while keeping the audience involved.

Lindley started his set with “Ain't no Way” a song written by a friend of his. Lindley introduced the song saying “I'd like to do this song by a friend of mine who's no longer with us (Robert) Frizz Fuller who was a prolific song writer.”

Lindley relayed that his friend joined the Coast Guard but ended up not liking it at all. Frizz ended up being a schizophrenic. Lindley's story about his friend continued as he said, “He got out and with his schizophrenic medicine he took acid and things like that and he would come over to my house and talked for a long time. “ As he told his story Lindley would be tuning up his instruments.

Lindley's stories amused and captivated the audience. Lindley has played with many great musicians and his other songs performed included collaborated songs he had played with Warren Zevon. For a period he said he even played in a band at Disneyland where he learned to drink. The Disneyland story led him to play “Pretty Polly” using the oud.

One of the most entertaining songs was “Little Green Bottle” a song about Excedrin.

The story teller continued with several other songs showcasing his playing ability. His music serenaded and enthralled the audience as his anecdotes made for a unique live performance that won't be forgotten soon.

As the evening came to an end Lindley played another Warren Zevon song and returned for an encore. The evening was quite a delight and Lindley received a standing ovation after the regular set as well as for his encore.

Guests remained to have their purchased CDs and merchandize signed by the artists. Lindley is on tour until mid March with several California stops.

Black History Month Family Festival at the Crocker

2013-02-19T23:26:34Z

In partnership with Target, the Sojourner Truth Multicultural Art Museum, and the Sacramento Observer, the Crocker Art Museum sponsored the Black History Month Family Festival on President's Day 2013. Several thousand were in attendance to take part in activities which included Dance, Art, Music, and History. Come along with them as I photographed the performances and activities as the people enjoyed the festival.

The youngest of the Dance Group UMOJA at 5 years of age shows her stuff.

UMOJA drummers treated the audience to original African music while the dancers showed off traditional works from around the African continent.

Enjoy this audience participation number along with UMOJA .

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Vukani Mawethu are a multicultural choir that treated the audience to spirituals, traditional african music, and contemporary music expressing the emotions of black people from the days of slavery through the ending of apartheid.

Youth Hip Hop and Step dances were performed by the Phoenix Park Dancers.

Attendees mill around the main foyer where black memoribilia was available for purchase.

Asheba entertained young and old alike with a blend of music and comedy which was as infectiious as his Trinidadian accent.

Black Concert Dance was performed by the Sacramento Black Art of Dance (S/BAD). Here one of the performers dances with hand and body movements in sync with the soothing music.

A Touch of Africa encouraged attendees to experience the feel, smell, and use of traditional african artifacts. Here touch is highly encouraged and we can see young and old being offered the chance to try out these implements.

Sacramento RT's Old Blue was parked outside. Old Blue showcased volunteers educating attendees about civil rights activist Rosa Parks.

Join the Crocker Museum for the next Holiday Monday celebration, FamilyPalooza. Monday May 27, 2013 11AM - 3PM. http://www.crockerartmuseum.org/

Former Crest Theatre manager shares history

2013-02-18T19:35:27Z

Matias Bombal managed the Crest Theatre from 1986 to 1991 and was part of the restoration team that put the movie house back in business after several years of darkness. Last week he met with SacTV.com to do a series of video interviews about the theater's history and how the theater business has evolved. He became known in town from appearing on Channel 58 to introduce classic films. Matias went on to help restore the Guild and Colonial theaters and then moved to Oregon for several years to run a theater and co-host a radio show. Now in Sacramento, he is working on a YouTube video series that will offer movie reviews.

At age nineteen in 1986, Matias rose to manager of the Crest, working with a team of partners who put the structure back on the map as a movie theater and also transformed it into a live entertainment venue. The Crest, which opened in 1949, had strictly been a movie house, although if you go further back in history when the building had a different name, it was a different story. The space that now occupies the theater at one time was part of another building called the Empress, which opened in 1913. The name changed in 1918 to the Hippodrome, which offered a mix of movies and live entertainment until closing in 1946. The first live show at the Crest was the Shirelles in 1986.

Born in Santiago, Chile, Matias moved to Berkeley in 1968 at age one and then Sacramento in 1976. He developed an interest in music of the 1920s and 1930s, which prepared him for a show he hosted on KXJZ. Over the years he has also established himself as an MC for live presentations. Although he never set out to be an actor, he has appeared in numerous films. His knowledge of Sacramento history and his ability to articulate colorful stories are manifesting into opportunities to do more local history videos. Matias is also the Vice President of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America in Sacramento.

In this SacTV video series Matias talks about the early days of the Crest, particularly the Hollywood-style grand opening in 1949. In the next segment he goes deeper into the early history of the theater, when it was called the Empress and then Hippodrome. In the third segment he describes the work he's done since managing movie theaters, which includes developing a video show for smart phones. The fourth segment is about the future of movie theaters, in which Matias suggests that many cinemas will likely evolve into live entertainment venues. He urges patrons to support establishments that show movies if they don't want to see the big screen experience disappear.

Matias believes that movies will always be around, but isn't sure movie theaters will survive because of the cost of the rapidly changing expensive digital technology. As more people have transformed their homes into personal movie theaters and can order movies at their fingertips, it's a good bet that YouTube culture and people programming their own entertainment will continue to be a trend in society. But people who want to see live entertainment will always need live venues. The big screen will probably never go away completely. It's like how drive-In theaters never disappeared completely, since there are still a few left.

The Crest is one of the most interesting landmarks in town because it clearly represents several eras and still appears to be a vibrant destination on the Kay. It certainly has gained a lot of history as a live venue since its renovation and reopening in 1986. Although the seating capacity has been reduced since its early days, the Crest is still one of the finest places in town to enjoy any event, live or recorded. It simply has an atmosphere and ambiance that inspires conversations. Like the Memorial Auditorium, it's a fixture that has told many historic stories and helps define Sacramento culture.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com

Wallpaper. returning to Sacramento with special guests

2013-02-14T01:13:54Z

Bay Area. Partying. Personality.

All three things that describe Oakland based rapper, Wallpaper.

Returning to Sacramento for a second round of fun, Eric Frederic aka Wallpaper., hit the Ace of Spades stage last December with a range of energy and excitement.

With two EPs out, #STUPIDFACEDD and Doodoo Face, and new singles "Puke My Brains Out" and "Good 4 It," it is safe to say that this will be a show unlike any other.

With a mixture of Bay Area flavor and a pop/electro sound, Wallpaper attracts a collection of listeners.

If you're down to dance and have some fun with a laid-back and talented musician, Wallpaper. is the artist to check out.

He will be taking over Ace of Spades on Thursday, Feb. 21, with special guests Con Bro Chill, Diamond Dez and Shaun Slaughter (The Lipstick Weekend/D.A.M.B.).

Tickets are available on aceofspades.com for $12 (with a 3.95 service fee), but if you want to skip the service fee, you can pay just the $12 at your local Dimple Store.

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Andrew McMahon and The Reel inspire Sacramento

2013-02-11T07:20:36Z

Two bands brought encouraging and positive vibes to Ace of Spades on Friday. The alternative rock band, The Reel, opened the night with their inspiring sound and lyrics, and was a great, positive opener for the headliner, Andrew McMahon.

Formerly part of the bands, Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin, singer and songwriter McMahon shared his talents with the crowd.

With over seven albums worth of material, he performed a wide range of material from all of his past albums and solo projects.

Taking the stage with a pink button-down, smoothed back blonde hair and a bottle of Sierra Nevada on top of his piano, McMahon was set to give an unforgettable performance.

Interactive with the crowd throughout the show, the audience was ecstatic with McMahon, cheering and applauding at the beginning and end of each song.

McMahon chatted with the audience a bit before heading into a Jack's Mannequin song, "What Gets you off?"

"You feeling sexy out there people?" shouted McMahon to the audience. "This song is for the fine and sexy people."

McMahon was talkative and personable with the audience throughout his entire performance. He was able to convey his true passion and love for not only creating music, but performing it as well.

He had a sense of confidence and coolness as he spoke with the audience and introduced song titles.

"This next song is a traveling song," explained McMahon. "Carrying these piano strings across the country, I encourage you to just keep pushing forward and do what inspires you. This song inspires me, and it's called 'Hammers and Strings.'"

McMahon's set list included, "Holiday From Real," "Bruised," "Keep Rising," "Konstantine" and "Dark Blue."

Opening act, The Reel, reigning from Placerville, gave Sacramento a great local feel with songs that showered the venue with their talents.

Fronted by Cameron Stymeist (lead vocalist) with Curtis Van Winkle (guitar), Jacob Ricketts (bass) and guest performers on guitar and drums, The Reel was a great opener for the show.

Wearing a flannel shirt, acoustic guitar in hand, Stymeist had a charismatic and confident presence on the stage that gave the crowd a lot of energy.

The band is currently independent, with two full albums and working on their third.

"We all have families," explained Ricketts, "so we have to plan our schedule around that."

Stymeist recently became a new father to a set of twin boys, which put the band on a little break while he spent time with them.

Their own musical inspiration ranging from Dream Theater to Coldplay, The Reel is an eclectic group of musicians that gives their listeners a wide range of sounds that keep them on their toes.

From slower songs, to covering "Stand by Me," The Reel showed their creative and unique performing style.

If you enjoy listening to bands like The Fray, OneRepublic and The Script, The Reel is definitely a band to check out!

From the inspiration of the local band, The Reel, to McMahon, who has been in the industry for countless years, both bands give reassurance to those going for their dreams - whether doing it independently or with a family, anything is possible.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Hot Water Music, La Dispute at Ace of Spades

2013-02-09T05:25:20Z

If you didn't make it out to Ace of Spades last night to catch the Hot Water Music tour, you missed some great performances.

Critically acclaimed group The Menzingers kicked off the night right with a set of rough, blue-collar punk.

Vocalist Greg Barnett mentioned that it was the band's first time in Sacramento. Mission accomplished on making a good first impression.

After finishing a set that included fierce songs like "Nice Things" and "Irish Goodbyes," the crowd hoped to hear more, chanting "One more song!" which doesn't happen very often with supporting bands that no one cares about.

All signs (my past experience) pointed to second support act La Dispute putting on a passionate, entertaining show, and that's what happened.

Starting out in fine fashion with "The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit," the set also included songs "Harder Harmonies," "Andria," and "New Storms for Older Lovers," which vocalist Jordan Dreyer dedicated to headliners Hot Water Music.

The songs played like confessional diary entries; spoken and shouted-word lyrics accompanied by minor-chord harmonies. The crowd would finish some of Dreyer's lines by shouting out lyrics which added another visceral element to the show.

Dreyer mentioned playing a "pizza place" in Sacramento before, recalling a 2010 show at Luigi's Slice and Fun Garden with Touché Amoré, Loma Prieta and A Lot Like Birds.

The band ended with the excellent "King Park," which draws you in and paints a picture of a drive-by shooting and its aftermath in intense detail.

Unfortunately, La Dispute didn't allow any photography, so my overall experience was soured a bit. You'll just have to use your imagination to get a visual.

Headliners Hot Water Music wrapped up the night with a set of raw, butt-kicking organic rock.

The Gainesville, Fla., band has a catalog eight albums deep going back to 1995, and they dipped into a little bit of everything.

Their set included the songs "Remedy," "Mainline," "Trusty Chords," "Giver," "State of Grace" and "Paper Thin."

The band came back on stage for an encore of "True Believers," a Bouncing Souls cover, and "Turnstile," from 1997's "Fuel for the Hate Game."

Check the Ace of Spades website for information on upcoming shows.

Photos by Steven Chea.

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An evening with Emilie Autumn

2013-02-05T07:16:11Z

Months of waiting for Emilie Autumn and the Bloody Crumpets to grace the stage of the Colonial Theatre came to an end Friday, Feb. 1. The Sacramento Horror Film Festival presented the show.

Autumn's scheduled appearance last year in Sacramento was canceled last October due to illness. Autumn's return to the Colonial was well-received by the crowd that saw the theatrical performance by Autumn and her band.

Upon arriving at the venue, a line had already formed. Fans came to the Colonial Theatre in costume to support their idol. “Plague Rats,” as these fans are called, are also characters in Autumn's autobiography, “The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls.”

Although doors would not open until 8 p.m., the line had already formed at least two hours prior.

VIP and Meet and Greet ticketholders were lucky enough to enter the theater at 6:30 p.m. A line formed as each of these Plague Rats came to the front of the stage to meet Autumn.

Showing her love for fans, Autumn met each fan with a huge hug, making them feel appreciated. Many followers brought Autumn gifts to show their appreciation, and shared personal stories.

Two fans shared their encounter with Autumn. Kaitlyn Benson and Brittney Baron were two of the first devoted fans to stand in line at the meet and greet. Benson and Baron have been fans for the past five years.

Benson shared which qualities she admires about Autumn, saying, “Her strength and individuality in her music. When you listen to Rihanna or Lady Gaga it's not personal. It's like they're singing about sex and money and that's not interesting, it's sort of shallow. Here it's like this beautiful world with a passion that's she's created for herself and it's fantastic. You can watch it with her fans, she's loving, caring and it's wonderful. This is so raw and so real that it's attractive.”

Baron put it simply saying, “She's just all-around awesome. She's very different from many artists.”

Benson also shared her experience meeting Autumn at the event, saying, “She's very good at magnetizing what she wants in her world She wants everything to be a very personal experience and relationship. She's not like, 'Here, I've signed an autograph, go,' it's more like she wants to get to know you.” Benson followed, “She lets you know that you're loved.”

As the doors opened for the public the Colonial Theatre quickly began to fill and fans waited for the start of the Fight Like a Girl tour to begin.

Devoted Plague Rats in front of the stage talked about other places, such as the Bay Area, that they had seen Autumn perform. One fan, who drove from Reno for the concert, indicated that she too had been at the same show.

Fans waited in anticipation and cheered at every release of fog from the fog machine, erupting in glee as the Bloody Crumpets, Captain Maggot and Naughty Veronica, took the stage. The cheers became much louder as Autumn appeared.

Just when you thought the fans couldn't get louder, Autumn sang the tour's signature song “Fight Like a Girl.”

Most of the songs from the latest album “Fight Like a Girl” were performed onstage. The stage design, music, costumes and performance created a great atmosphere for a wonderful rock opera.

The Victorian Gothic costumes changed from time to time to bring life to the theatrics on stage.

The concert seemed to go by quickly, as Autumn and the Bloody Crumpets kept the audience entertained and filled with awe throughout their performance.

As Autumn and the Bloody Crumpets left the stage after “One Foot in Front of the Other,” the audience remained, chanting for an encore.

Autumn did not disappoint as she returned to the stage to say a few words to thank the staff at the Colonial for their hard work to produce the show.

Filled with emotion, Autumn addressed the audience to introduce the first encore song, saying, “Now I would love to sing with you a song that is in fact one of my very, very oldest songs, and I'm going to guess that a few of you know this song, but what you might not know is that this is in fact from long before the enchantment era. Of all things this is from when I was in fact, I think, 14 years old. And so the thing about this song is that it proves that love, in fact, does imitate art. However had it not all come true, I would not have a story to tell and I regret nothing.”

Playing the harpsichord, Autumn began her encore and the audience soon accompanied her with a sing-along of “Mad Girl.”

The evening's musical entertainment ended with “Thank God I'm Pretty,” with the audience once again joining in.

The Sacramento Horror Film Festival presentation was well-managed, and showcased a great artist. The Fight Like a Girl tour stop in Sacramento ended like it began, with fans discussing what a great person and performer Autumn is.

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Hot Water Music to play Ace of Spades

2013-02-01T01:41:13Z

Florida's Hot Water Music has been refining a brand of gravel-throated rock somewhere between punk and post-hardcore (or whatever you want to call it) for nearly 20 years now.

On Thursday, Feb. 7, they bring it to the best live music venue in Sac, Ace of Spades.

Led by guitarist and vocalist Chuck Ragan and featuring a very tight and complex rhythm section, HWM is touring behind 2012's "Exister," their eighth studio album and first album of new material in eight years. A live album, “Live in Chicago,” was also released in late 2012.

Joining HWM on the bill are the indisputably excellent Grand Rapids, Mich., band La Dispute and The Menzingers, from Scranton, Pa.

The Menzingers' "On the Impossible Past" was recently voted the number one album of 2012 by AbsolutePunk, Punknews.org, and Rock Sound.

Do yourself a favor and get there early for La Dispute and The Menzingers!

Tickets are $18 plus a $3.95 service fee. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and it's an all ages show.

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Disclosure: I have seen La Dispute perform before and I was VERY impressed.

Fight Like a Girl tour brings Emilie Autumn to Sacramento

2013-01-31T06:32:54Z

Emilie Autumn's Fight Like a Girl tour comes to the Colonial Theatre this Friday, Feb. 1.

The Sacramento Horror Film Festival presents Autumn and her band the Bloody Crumpets. The current tour brings a delectable theatrical presentation by the versatile artist, who is also an author, poet, actress, singer-songwriter and trained violinist.

The North American tour that was scheduled to pass by Sacramento last year was rescheduled due to illness. The FLAG tour promotes their latest album “Fight Like a Girl.”

Local Autumn fans patiently waited for the tour to be rescheduled, and grabbed tickets as soon as they were released, nearly selling out the performance.

Autumn is no stranger to the Colonial Theatre stage. Last May, Autumn performed in SHFF's presentation of the cult film “The Devil's Carnival.” Autumn appeared in Darren Lynn Bousman's film as the Painted Doll. “The Devil's Carnival” is a musical horror film that continues to attract new followers.

Autumn has amassed a following of dedicated and passionate fans who love and appreciate her on-stage theatrics. The current tour aims to bring a spectacle to the stage that will showcase Autumn's musical and melodramatic antics as well as her theatrical talent, and she is also involved in costume and stage set design.

Autumn intends the Colonial Theatre (and all FLAG) performance to be more like a musical than a concert. These performances are a precursor to a full-blown planned musical that Autumn has been working on. That production will be based on her 2010 novel, “The Asylum for Wayward Girls.”

The FLAG tour is in essence part of the musical that Autumn plans to present in 2014. Who knows, it may also have the potential of being put to film. Autumn is always thinking about new projects to fill her talented creativity.

Autumn's writing, acting, songwriting, set design, costuming and music take center stage at the Colonial Theatre for an evening of pomp and musical entertainment. The creative performer, whose music touches classical, electronica, glam rock, industrial and other genres, will perform Feb. 1 at SHFF's presentation at the Colonial Theatre.

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Muse kicks off North America Tour in Sacramento

2013-01-31T03:44:36Z

Muse came to the Sleep Train Amphitheater in Sacramento Tuesday night to an almost sold out crowd. This was one of several stops in California to kick off their North American Tour.

Band of Skulls opened for Muse. They were a great compliment to the headliners. The same old school rock and roll music quality that Muse has in some of their songs is mirrored in this band. The songs focused on instrumental solos and well played transitions almost as much as the lyrics. While this is a relatively new band, having only formed in 2009, I don't think it will be long before they are headlining their own show. They have a raw quality and a unity to their music that makes them special.

Muse has been known for taking risks with their stage set up and really providing a unique experience for their fans. Last night was no exception. The entire stage was a backdrop for one of the coolest audio visual experiments I have ever seen. Rather than use props, the stage housed screens that played videos that changed with each song they performed.

The lighting effects also helped create the mood for the show, alternately turning into a laser light show or plunging the entire stage into darkness before erupting into vibrant color. Having been to many concerts at Sleep Train in the past, I can say this was one of the most intricate light displays I have ever seen.

They started off with songs from some of their older albums including, Super Massive Black Hole. The thing that really strikes me most about Muse is that they regard their music and the way they play their instruments to be almost as important as the content of their song lyrics. They moved almost seamlessly from electric guitars, which were also outfitted with an impressive lighting system, to a grand piano.

In the middle of their show Bellamy starts a guitar solo of the Star Spangled Banner that seemed a tribute to the rock and roll of old. It was on a patriotic level that normally you see at sporting events. It was so well played and moving that I found myself, much to the chagrin of my neighbors, standing to my feet and belting out the anthem to the top of my lungs. The level of excitement rose to the point that I actually started getting goose bumps. Muse understands the power of music.

This transitioned perfectly into Muse playing songs from their album, The Second Law, which was released in October 2012. Madness, which is currently rated as their most popular song in iTunes, got the crowd to their feet. As it is also a personal favorite of mine my neighbor got further treated to my singing voice.

Towards the end of their show, they played a video of a group of people running away from what looked like sound waves that were slowly destroying everything in their path. Slowly one by one the members of the group succumbed to the waves without choice, the destruction taking them over until you were left with only one person. That person stopped suddenly, and instead of running from what chased her, she turned and ran into it.

This had a surprising effect on me. I did my research of the band before going to the show and what has stood out to me the most is that from the very beginning, when they were just a band starting out in a small town in England, they have remained true to who they are. When label companies tried to change them or adjust their sound they left rather than conform. The video represented to me the fear or doubt of the unknown that chases us all. What Muse chose to do and what they inspire us to do as well is to face the unknown head on and run towards it rather than away.

This makes their music transcend notes or beats and becomes more of a consciousness. The variety between their songs makes Muse a universal band. There is a truth for everyone.

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March for the dream continues in Sacramento

2013-01-24T20:24:39Z

“We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

The words of Martin Luther King Jr. were quite evident as the 32nd annual March for the Dream took place on Monday, Jan. 21.

An estimated crowd of 30,000 marched to the Sacramento Capitol Building and the Convention Center. Marchers of all ethnic persuasions came to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. as they marched from the Oak Park Community Center, Sacramento City College and Grant High School.

Community representatives, local employers, healthcare professionals, small business vendors and others attended the event to supply guests with valuable information about education, employment and community services.

This year the event also featured a rally in front of the Capitol West Steps.

For the first time in several years rain did not come down on this parade allowing families to enjoy a car show and other outdoor events.

Crowds gathered inside two large halls to view high school marching band performances, poetry readings, community educational and employment panels. Dozens of community organizations were represented and had booths at different halls in the convention.

Educational videos played during the event emphasizing the work of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. The event also included many activities for children and adults to participate in. The hands on activities added to this year's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

The work and name of Martin Luther King Jr. and the role he played in American history continues to be kept alive through the annual Sacramento celebration.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

How Public Radio Helps Indie Artists

2013-01-21T22:54:01Z

Sacramento has a short list of public radio stations that actually do something for the community, such as helping local independent artists. While public radio can be found in every city, not every city has public radio stations that offer diverse programming or a chance for local artists to shine. This past week I decided to visit a few public radio stations in town. On Thursday, January 17, I was interviewed by Pablo Baxter at Sac State's student run station KSSU (1580 AM). Then on Saturday I went to Access Sacramento's station 88.7 The Voice where Mike Lidskin hosts a freeform music show every Saturday from 4 to 6 pm called Twirl Radio. I also interviewed Mike before the show for my local video website, SacTV.com.

My experience was enjoyable at both stations. In fact, I enjoyed it more than what I did on the air in the 1980s and 1990s on commercial radio. When I look back on my radio career I can definitely find many highlights such as artist interviews, but it was still within the realm of restrictions, such as most of the talk was brief between songs or over intros. I couldn't just play all my favorite songs, since ratings pressure in the commercial radio world dictates serving specific demographics with hits they expect to hear. At the same time, when I went to high school in the late seventies and early eighties, commercial radio was a lot more flexible than it is today, which is interesting because it was much more popular back then. Through the eighties, when I began working in radio, formatting became strict, DJs lost control of the music and advertising began to shape programming instead of just interrupting it.

KWOD 106.5, where I made my mark from 1984 to 1996, was unique from most of the market because it was independently owned at the time. We were allowed to break the rules that made radio sound so corporate and redundant. During that time I had written public radio off public station KPFA, which became one of my favorite stations in the Bay. I found that I could turn it on at any time and be surprised, even if it was music I had never heard before. I had always enjoyed the concept of freeform radio, in which imagination and intelligence are welcome. Sacramento had great freeform stations in the seventies, such as KZAP and Earth Radio, which gave me a lot of ideas for alternative radio on KWOD in the nineties.

The past few years I have explored public radio stations around the country, such as KCRW from Santa Monica College. It has been part of my research project for my other site, PlaylistResearch.com, to document the best places in America for indie artists to send their music. Former Bee and SacPress writer David Barton, who also worked at Capital Public Radio last year, had told me in a SacTV interview that Capital Public Radio helps sell music at The Beat Records in Midtown. It made me realize how important public radio really is to local communities, especially in an era when most of the commercial radio dial not only ignores its local artists, but ignores its local community in order to promote national music and national sponsors.

Pablo Baxter is a student at Sac State with media aspirations. His weekly talk show on KSSU is called "Shuffle," which airs every Thursday from 2 to 3pm. Last Thursday we spent most of the hour talking about my radio career here in Sacramento and how I have made the transition into online media. What impressed me about his show was that he was able to keep a long conversation flowing without all the tricks that commercial radio talk hosts use to keep people listening. In other words, he didn't rely on repeating the same material over and over. Instead of AM radio's typical dumbed down presentation that usually give one narrow viewpoint supported by big advertisers, I felt that I was free to talk about anything, including how stale commercial radio has become.

I felt the same sense of freedom on Saturday talking with Mike Lidskin on his show Twirl Radio. We were able to discuss many topics that revolve around independent music and the attitude behind freeform radio. He even played a few of my original songs from my band, Tangent Sunset, and let me do a live performance on acoustic guitar, in which I did a song called "Sky Blue Heaven." Then he asked me questions about the song, which dovetailed into interesting social views. It was actually the type of radio I had always wanted to do: a mix of cultural talk and homegrown music.

Lidskin grew up listening to freeform radio in Los Angeles and Chicago, which has been a major inspiration for his show. He likes to play music created by his listeners, as well as mixing popular rock with indie music. He also likes to tell stories about the songs, which is exactly what makes a music show interesting. The experience was uplifiting, much like my visit to UC Davis freeform station 90.3 KDVS last November, when I covered the KZAP reunion for SacTV. Commercial radio was fun within its rigid boundaries, but being allowed to talk in depth on music, including my own original work, was much more satisfying. That's why I would encourage other local indie artists who have something to say to consider approaching public radio as a forum for reaching the community.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com, PlaylistResearch.com and TangentSunset.com

Sum 41 rocks out Sacramento

2013-01-18T15:42:14Z

From all-female rockers to an eclectic rock duo, there was a rock band for every style this past Wednesday, Jan. 16, at Ace of Spades in downtown Sacramento.

If you have any doubt that all-girl rock bands no longer exist, you will be mistaken once you hear Canadian-based rock group Hunter Valentine.

Not your sweet and innocent girly group, Hunter Valentine brings a masculine femininity to the rock genre.

With a raspy yet distinguished voice, lead vocalist Kiyomi McCloskey, accompanied by Laura Petracca (drums), Veronica Sanchez (bass) and Aimee Bessada (guitar and keyboards) set it off with her band, making a great opening to the night of rock ‘n’ roll.

As McCloskey engaged with the crowd, she let them know, "Just because we are girls doesn't mean we are going to play some folk songs."

Showing a tough exterior similar to rebel pop singer Pink, it's evident that McCloskey is nothing but a strong female. With spiked dark hair and tattooed sleeves, McCloskey and Hunter Valentine give the image of a hard rock band, but have the lyricism of strong females ready to make a riot.

Closing their set with “Liar, Liar,” off their recent album release, “Collide and Conquer,” McCloskey sang "You said we'd keep this pact forever/A polite way of laying your curse from the start/you had your hands in my pockets/Taken everything I had/I keep my mind straight, get my mind straight."

With heavy guitar riffs and loud noise, this wasn't your average fluffed-up pop rock, and was a great opener for a night full of rock ‘n’ roll.

“Where Did You Go” was the opening song for the next opener, Detroit-based band IAMDYNAMITE.

Just a two-man group, Christopher Martin (lead vocals, guitar) and Chris Philips (drums) had the energy and musical talent of a full band.

With catchy lyrics and an upbeat sound, IAMDYNAMITE got the crowd amped up with their eclectic sound.

From a glance at Phillips, wearing an old-school Michael Jackson shirt, teal glasses and a black bandana, it was obvious that this band doesn't take itself too seriously.

The laid-back style of IAMDYNAMITE gives you the feeling that you're just watching two friends jamming in the basement.

With an eight-song set, the last song, "Ms. Jones," off their debut album “Supermegafantastic,” was the perfect closure to their set.

With an opening reminiscent of a White Stripes song, “Ms. Jones” layers in three parts. It starts with a slow tempo, and a hymn style of singing. Drums come in, and the tempo and lyrics pick up. Then, cycling back to the opening of the slow tempo, it gradually progresses to a psychedelic instrumental break that has similarities to the crazy commotion of a Mars Volta song.

Strong and creative bands IAMYDYNAMITE and Hunter Valentine were a perfect collective sound to open for the evening’s headliner, Sum 41.

Making their band a household name back in 2001 with their debut album “All Killer, No Filler,” Sum 41's 10th anniversary tour, “Does This Look Infected?” showed how their sound has matured through the years. From hard rock style-songs (“Blood In My Eyes,” from their “Screaming Bloody Murder” album) to their slower ballads and fun songs (like “In Too Deep,” from their “Does This Look Infected?” album), Sum 41 is one of the few diverse bands left.

Opening their set with "Part of Me," front man Deryck Whibley and his band members, Steve Jocz (drums), Jason McCaslin (bass) and Tom Thacker (guitar), took the stage. Whibley appeared with fire-red hair and wearing a red shirt with a black vest, dropping f-bombs throughout the set.

From crowd surfers to mosh pits, Sum 41 did not disappoint their fans, putting on an unforgettable performance.

Whibley showed his personable personality by bringing up a few audience members on stage to rock out with the band.

Their set list included the songs “Still Waiting,” “In Too Deep,” “A.N.I.C.,” “No Brain” and “My Direction.”

Of course, coming back out at the end of their set for an encore, Sum 41 had some fun covering a few songs, including Queen's “We Will Rock You,” and Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.”

Diverse, loud and passionate about their music, Hunter Valentine, IAMDYNAMITE and Sum 41 rocked out the stage at Ace of Spades, and showed that rock music is still alive and in style!

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Exploring Sacramento and San Francisco Concert History

2013-01-15T01:25:46Z

Sacramento has a deep concert history that spawns many memories. But when I decided to Google search local concert history, I was frustrated that I didn't find the information I was looking for. While it's easy to check upcoming shows, it's difficult to look up shows from the past, unless they happened to be uploaded to YouTube. There is a sense that shows come and go then are forgotten, at least from an internet research perspective. I decided to preserve the history of Sacramento concerts, so I created a special section for listing Northern California shows of the past for my websites SacTV.com and PlaylistResearch.com.

The reason I am suddenly fascinated with concert history is that there isn't a lot of documentation of these cultural events. Yet people save up money for these big shows months in advance and there's not much of a track record of this cultural pastime except for ticket stubs. The same point can be made about San Francisco Bay concert history, although there are plenty more reviews of Bay Area shows archived online. There is actually plenty of Bay Area music history to explore, but it is scattered among several websites.

So I decided to research both San Francisco and Sacramento concert history for SacTV.com. I started with a list based on ticket stubs of concerts I had attended in the 80s and 90s in Northern California. That list alone began with over one hundred shows. I have since visited websites such as YouTube and Setlist.fm, where I learned a lot more about concerts that have come to the area. These lists represent fractions of the enormous number of concerts that have come to the region, while focusing on some of the more historic shows. Since I started compiling these lists in early January, I have expanded the project to include every decade since the 1960s.

Although Sacramento isn't widely regarded as a concert capital, it's a city with a concert history big enough to have too many shows to count. It's fun to document these shows since concerts sometimes represent huge time markers in people's lives. It may have been a birthday gift, for example, or the concert may have coincided with personal events that involved certain songs. Sometimes concerts themselves can be historic events, such as when the Beach Boys recorded their Concert album at the Memorial Auditorium on August 1, 1964. Other historic shows in Sacramento include the Roling Stones at Memorial Auditorium Dec. 3, 1965, the Doors at Memorial Auditorium Dec. 15, 1967, Jimi Hendrix at Cal Expo April 26, 1971 and Pink Floyd at Hughes Stadium April 23 and 24, 1988.

The idea of documenting Northern California concerts came from studying local history. When I began interviewing local producers and musicians about their stories with local music, it occured to me that concerts have been a big part of people's lives and certainly are important dates to remember. Concerts with national acts have also influenced local musicians. I have found that people enjoy talking about concert history, perhaps more than any other type of history. Festivals like Day on the Green and Lollapalooza are particularly memorable. Like sporting events, concerts become dates in history that many people share.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com and PlaylistResearch.com

Tremor Low at The Townhouse

2013-01-12T06:03:31Z

SacAnime's growing pains

2013-01-09T11:12:17Z

A new year, a new venue and a new experience were all part of the winter SacAnime held at the Sacramento Convention Center and the Sheraton Grand Hotel Jan. 4-6.

SacAnime has outgrown several venues and the larger venue attracted a bigger audience. A larger crowd than the 7,700 who attended the summer convention held at the Woodlake Hotel was expected.

SacAnime fans from northern California and beyond gathered for the three-day weekend event dressed in their favorite cosplay outfit. Many planned their wardrobe months in advance and some came with three prepared costumes, one for each day of the event.

Alex Martin drove from Alameda with some friends and could not hold his excitement, saying his parents gave him a birthday present that included hotel and admission to SacAnime.

“I've worked on my two Soul Eater and a ninja outfits since Halloween and am stoked to meet others with similar costumes. I was so excited I talked my parents into letting me pre-register and pick up my pass the day before SacAnime opened,” Martin said.

Several fun events were included in the new venue, including the return of the Viewing Room that showed anime and other videos for most of the day during the weekend.

Friday and Saturday included dance workshops that included lessons in salsa, tango, foxtrot and waltzing. The lessons helped guests prepare for another new event: the Starlight Ball. Both the lessons and the ball itself were very popular and the Starlight Ball sold out. The ball gave guests the opportunity to attend a formal attire event.

The rave venue, now known as Late Nite Electronik Dance, was just as popular but was held at a large hall. The hall housed late night dancing on Friday and Saturday night.

Kazha, a Japanese rock band, returned to the SacAnime Concert Series. Kazuha Oda's vocals delighted the audience with songs that included “Wake Up,” “I Still Remember” and others. Band members Hideki Matsushige and Zen Takamura's hard rock sounds were well complemented by new drummer Kazumaru.

Kazha closed their show on Friday night with the popular, “Breath Through Your Dreams,” which highlighted the band's world music fusion and diverse sound. Kazha was available for autographs and held a Q&A panel session.

Besides the new events, SacAnime brought back many guests, vendors and events from previous years. Vendors, artists and featured tables filled the Vendor Hall and the large space was busy during the event.

The J-Fashion Show returned and showcased both professional and amateur designers and models on stage. Prince Noir, winner of the past two J-Fashion events, returned to showcase their wonderful designs. As winner of the last contest, Prince Noir was awarded a vendor table for the winter SacAnime, and because they were previous winners, they were not eligible to compete.

Carlyfornia Love was the gracious and charming host for J-Fashion and introduced an assortment of Asian-inspired fashion.

Several participants also had tables at the larger and much-improved Exhibitor's Hall. One of those tables was occupied by Scattered Comics. Visitors were treated to autographed free limited prints signed by Shadow Hunters characters. The Shadow Hunters 2013 calendar was also available and fans were given the opportunity to pose with their favorite characters for photos.

In appreciation and honor of its anime roots, SacAnime included several special guests from Japan. Mai Aizawa, a Japanese voice actress who might be best known for her role as Natsumi Murakami in the anime series, Mahō Sensei Negima, was one such guest.

Toshio Furukawa, known for his voice acting roles as Ataru of Urusei Yatsura, Inumaru of Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai and Piccolo of Dragonball, was also available for autographs.

Anime designer Tsuyoshi Nonaka held a Q&A session that used a Japanese translator. Nonaka seemed to have some command of the English language but relied on the translator to help things flow. Nonaka has also served as a toy designer and planner for Bandai Co. LTD (Japan) for over 20 years. Nonaka is probably best known for his work in shows from Ultraman Tiga and Kamen Rider.

Artists from Japan have been requested by many fans, and SacAnime heeded their advice by bringing in these artists to give fans a perspective of Japanese style and culture and a fresh look into the roots of the country that created anime as we know it.

Long lines are still a norm for autographs. SacAnime brought artists such as Kevin Conroy, Grey DeLisle, Maile Flanagan, Tony Oliver, Hynden Walch, Liam O'Brien and others to share their experience as voice actors and serve in panels and autograph sessions.

SacAnime staff was very helpful in keeping walking lanes open, helping in registration, checking credentials and providing directions for visitors, among other things. SacAnime is still one of the better-organized events of its size and cordial attendees create a friendly community that has grown over the years.

The convention has something for all anime fans and there is so much to do that attendees, coordinators, staff and vendors appear to be exhausted one day, only to return the next with a bright outlook. That bright outlook is something that SacAnime appears to have claimed as its own, as they continue to attract larger audiences.

Sunday's closing ceremonies allowed remaining fans to view the Anime Music Video (AMV) contest winners and to voice their concerns regarding the event.

Director of Programming Jodon Bellofatto reviewed several factors about the first SacAnime held at the new venue. The theme of the event was “Growing Pains” and Bellofatto shared that 7,500 attendees had been counted as of Saturday. Many estimates indicated that over 10,000 people attended the convention.

Bellofatto talked about the difference in attendance between summer and winter, saying the summer event draws more fans.
“They are still crunching the numbers. I can tell you things that I do know. We ran out of program books; we ran out of weekend badges. We had to run over to Kinko’s and have them print us out some more. We ran out of a whole bunch of different things,” Bellofatto said. “I haven’t gotten Sunday's numbers or the final tally. We'll make an announcement on our website once we have a true number, but our very rough estimate for this weekend, so far not including Sunday, is 7,500 attendees.”

Other findings discussed were how SacAnime would be received by new neighbors. Bellofatto shared that traffic slowed as people tried to drive by the event and marvel at the number and dress style of SacAnime attendees.

Nearby businesses were not expecting the large crowds and wish they had known about the event. Some businesses expressed a desire to partner with SacAnime, keep doors open longer and offer discounts to attendees.

Bellofatto shared comments from the Sacramento Police Department who paid a visit, saying, “This reflects on you, guys; you should be very proud of this, you guys should be very happy to hear that representatives from Sac PD came by all three days and sometimes twice a day to check on us. They were very happy with what they saw at the show. They think you're a great crowd. They think you're very well-behaved; they have no complaints.”

The Sheraton did not know what to expect with SacAnime and its fans, and were very flexible and accommodating. They were caught off guard as to how many would attend and book rooms and will be looking to make more rooms available for the next convention. Nearby Marriott and other hotels accommodated the overflow. SacAnime will be working on getting favorable room rates at the Hyatt as well for the summer convention.

Work for the next con has already begun, and Bellofatto shared that the size of the Exhibitor's Hall will again be increased. The third floor of the Convention Center, which was closed for the winter event, will be made available to SacAnime during the summer.

The Home and Garden Show shared the Convention Center during the weekend and it was discussed that the Greek Food Festival will be sharing the center with SacAnime. A badge for either event will be good for either gathering as well, but the logistics are still being worked on.
Concerns about the event centered around parking, which seems to have caused confusion in some cases. Other concerns about the event were discussed but did not seem to have detracted from the overall effectiveness of the event.

SacAnime returns to the Convention Center Aug. 30 – Sept. 1, Memorial Day weekend. Rooms can now be booked at the Sheraton. Early bookings provide extra perks, but rooms must be booked by January 31 for the initial release of rooms.

SacAnime is an all-ages event that allows a fun weekend for attendees. Follow the SacAnime website for further details on rooms, guests and other events. The webpage also includes a forum where visitors can discuss parking, carpool, cosplay gathering information, concerns and other valuable information.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

The Writer's Brush returns to SPC

2013-01-08T23:47:31Z

Both Visual and Verbal – The Sacramento Writer’s Brush returns to Sacramento Poetry Center with two special events on Saturday evenings: January 26 and February 9.

You know that Jack Kerouac, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, and Federico Garcia Lorca were all writers, but did you also know they were visual artists as well?

In the tradition of these literary greats, the 4th annual Sacramento Writer’s Brush features local writers who are also artists.

Join Jennifer O’Neill Pickering, Bethanie Humphreys, Ann Privateer, Joseph Finkleman, Tim Mchargue, Kimberly White, Jeanine Stevens, Katy Brown, and Christy Lenzi in an art exhibit of their visual pieces and a reading of their literary work.

Saturday, January 26 from 7:30 to 9pm
at the Sacramento Poetry Center/Poets Gallery
1719 25th Street (25th between Q & R).
Singer/songwriter Mike Pickering, with guitarist Chris Mackey will open the show.

Saturday, February 9th from 5-8pm, The Writer’s Brush will also hold a Second Saturday art reception at the same location, featuring musical guest George Sheldon.

The Writer’s Brush art show will be up at SPC through through Feb. 28, 2013. Events are free, but donations are gratefully accepted and benefit the Sacramento Poetry Center.

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Runaway Stage Plans Broadway Musicals in 2013

2012-12-31T17:47:50Z

Runaway Stage Productions is a Sacramento theater company that's been presenting popular Broadway musical plays since the late nineties. Director Bob Baxter recently did a series of video interviews with SacTV.com to talk about the history and future of the company. The group plans musicals with voluneteers and seasoned professionals then performs at the theater next door on 24th Street. One of the productions coming to the live stage in 2013 will be 9 To 5, based on the Dolly Parton song and movie. Other shows coming to the theater will be 42nd Street and The Wizard of Oz.

Bob explains how the theater group gives local people of various ages opportunities to develop their acting and singing craft. The non-profit organization runs throughout the year and is built on volunteers, who get to learn from professional actors. Some of the recent performances that were well received included Legally Blonde, Fiddler On The Roof and You're In My Town. The intimate theater holds 260 seats but sometimes shows are moved to bigger venues.

The theater promotes its shows to season subscribers and Broadway fans in the Sacramento area and has received press coverage from the Sacramento Bee. The group tries to cater to all fans of musicals from family classics to cutting edge new shows. Runaway Stage Productions has won several "Elly Awards," which are local awards named after Eleanor McClatchy annually presented to theater talent.

The state of live theater in 2012 has been positive, according to Bob. Certain shows are scheduled due to their track record for popularity while the company also allows for newer untested shows. Part of Bob's job is to attract new fans to the shows, while at the same time it's important for the non-profit company to at least pay for expenses. That's why the six show season offers diversity.

Musically, Runaway Stage Productions has the hardest working orchestra in town. The company originally used just piano, bass and drums. These days all the shows use a full live orchestra of dedicated volunteers. "It just keeps getting better," Bob says about Runaway Stage. "The staffing gets better, the artists involved, the performers involved, the musicians involved ... it just keeps growing and growing and getting more professional."

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Disclosure: I own SacTY.com

Sandy Hook Memorial Fundraiser

2012-12-29T19:08:43Z

The Tragedy in Newtown Connecticut has left us stunned and speechless. On Sunday at Laughs Unlimited, local artists are doing their part to contribute the families who have lost so much.

The music starts at 11 am Sunday December 30th and goes until 6pm.

The Sandy Hook Memorial Fundraiser
December 30th Sunday Laughs Unlimited
11-6pm 1207 Front st Old Sac Cover 10.00 bucks

Mark Herin 11:00-11:25
Doug Cash-11:30-12:00
Taylor Chicks-12-12:25ish
Michael Rogers-12:30-1
Ken Koenig Band-1-1:45
Break for announcements etc...
Rumpsharker 2:45-3:30ish
Yesterdays news Band 4-4:45
Liqorsick-5-5:45

Hosted by Ken Koenig

Ricky Berger concert at the Crocker Art Museum

2012-12-26T22:17:15Z

The Crocker Art Museum holds its doors open late during their Thursdays ‘til 9 program series.

This past Thursday, Dec. 20, as part of American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell, local talented musician Ricky Berger held a concert at the Crocker.

The Rockwell exhibit, located on the third floor of the Crocker, celebrates his work with several rarely circulated works from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass. Several original oil paintings and other work created for The Saturday Evening Post are also part of the exhibit. A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Masterpieces Program, made the exhibition possible.

On the Crocker theater stage, Rika Nelson, Crocker Art Museum manager of public programs, welcomed guests. In her speech Nelson said, “It's been really an exciting time for us to do all this kind of programing. You may all probably already know, or you might not know, that we have a real exciting exhibition located in the third floor, and it’s up until February. It’s called the American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell.”

Nelson also described the concerts being held at the stage, saying, “This concert is a part of a series of concerts that we’ve been doing that we’ve sort of dubbed ‘American Storytelling.’ So we’ve brought in a variety of different performers who in our eyes are really great musicians and who are really fabulous.” Nelson continued, saying as far as storytellers went she immediately thought about bringing in Berger to perform, and she thought it was a perfect match, as Berger indicated Rockwell was her all-time favorite.

Nelson ended by introducing the show, saying, “Please join me in welcoming our opening act tonight. It’s his second time performing at the Crocker, a great performer and a super nice guy, please join me in welcoming Adrian Bourgeois.”

Bourgeois opened for Berger and performed a series of songs that included “Shot in the Dark,” “Here We Go Again” and “My Face in the Dark.”

Bourgeois plays different instruments while on stage, and the stage was full of different instruments, including a grand piano that took the space of about half the stage. He and Berger also performed together on a couple of songs.

Berger stepped onto stage, wearing a stunning glimmering dress. The Sammie award winner brought her Americana folk brand of music to an intimate setting. The theater was full of Berger’s family, friends and fans.

Berger took the stage, welcomed guests and noted the show was a big deal for her. She's been working on her sophomore album and had taken a hiatus from performing. Berger was excited when the Crocker asked her to perform.

Audience members responded with much enthusiasm as Berger performed crowd favorites. Berger began the evening by playing “You're No Good,” and although she had an assortment of musical instruments on stage, she used her mouth to imitate a trumpet sound during the song.

As a true storyteller, Berger's second song, “My Permanent Valentine,” was dedicated to her mom, who was selling Berger merchandise. Each of her songs was introduced by a short reference as to what inspired it or how it evolved. Before “My Permanent Valentine,” the introduction and story behind it was used to introduce Berger's repertoire for the evening. Later, Berger dedicated “The Man of My Dreams” to her dad.

Several songs also included recorded background music, all performed by Berger as well. It was something she had not tried out before, but which I think shows more of her talent.

Berger delighted the audience with original songs, and also performed “I'll Be Home For Christmas.” Later, with Bourgeois, she performed the Simon and Garfunkel classic “The Boxer.” Both Berger and Bourgeois also sang “Baby It's Cold Outside,” their duos showing how well they performed together.

Through the evening Berger showed her musical and writing talent. She ended her show with an emotional introduction to a song about her grandparents, and “Why Be Blue,” a song dedicated to her sister.

After the show, adoring fans remained to talk with her, pose for photos and get autographs.

I was able to sit with Berger and do a short interview, posted below.

Sacramento Press: You're a storyteller in many ways. You tell stories when you introduce a song, as well as when you're singing and in your art. How did you come about, or to what do you attribute, your storytelling talent?

Ricky Berger: I think it all started when I was a kid. I started writing songs when I was about 4 years old. I didn't write them with words, but I started writing songs around that age. I think I was a very lonely child in many ways. I think I had a lot to say, but I didn't know how to say it exactly out loud. I needed a way to express it, and recently I started doing therapy and I started learning how to communicate my feelings better. That has opened me up to a world of possibilities, I encourage that to anybody. Therapy has been amazing for a crazy person like me.

SP: The times I've seen you perform you're surrounded by several musical instruments. Were there any that you did not play tonight?

RB: Oh sure, plenty. A whole scads worth.

SP: When did your love for music begin and what inspired it?

RB: Actually the first memories I have of music was through movies. Cartoons like Bugs Bunny, I think it's 1947, you might want to check that. The very first time I remember hearing music I was about 3, and it was a 1947 episode of Bugs Bunny, and it was called “Gorilla My Dreams,” and there's a song in it called “Someone is Rocking My Dream Boat.” I just remember I saw “The Wizard of Oz”; the impact that it had was so great. It expressed what I was feeling inside so much. I think I was born with the love for music. There's like no difference between me and the music, in a way.

You know, honestly, I feel that if music is going well for me, everything is going well. If it's not going well, then nothing is going well. It's just a part of me like nothing else.

SP: I've noticed you like to collaborate with other artists (like tonight). Have you ever been part of a group or have you, for the most part, been a solo performer?

RB: I've pretty much always been solo. I think the way I share music is not really in a band setting, for myself. I'm going to be going to Eastern Europe to record with an orchestra and a choir. I'm not really interested in playing with a band, I'm more interested in playing with orchestras and choirs, and you know, having a full ensemble like that, which one day I'll have.

I will probably be there for a couple of weeks to visit places like Berlin, Prague and Budapest.

SP: Have you seen the Norman Rockwell exhibit?

RB: I haven't, but I'll be doing that in the next two days. It's been a crazy busy month.

SP: Do you have any current projects you're working on? Any future projects?

RB: Gosh! I guess I'm just working on my second album, that's the biggest thing. That's really the focus of my life at the moment, working on the arrangements. It's a lot of work.

SP: Take us through your process in doing an album. How long did it take to make your first album?

RB: Well, it's really strange because I started recording when I was 14, but I did not put my album out until I was about 20. I actually had it done. I had it done when I was about 18, but I didn't release it because I was so scared. I was so scared; I thought everybody would hate it. My therapist helped talk me through it and told me to put it out.

As far as making an album, for me the process usually goes. I guess I choose my very favorite songs, the ones that make me the happiest to play, and I guess usually I sit at home and I stay in my room for days and days or months and months at a time, arranging the harps, violins and flutes and oboes, bassoons and clarinets and tuba, trumpet, triangle, all of the above and different choir parts, and I do all of that on my little laptop. Then I go in the studio and I go track by track and recreate it in a very nice environment.

I think it's important; people don't take the time anymore. I'm in love with it.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up .

The Nutcracker 2012

2012-12-26T21:20:12Z

Pamela Hayes Classical Ballet brought its troupe to Folsom's Three Stages to perform The Nutcracker. Performances took place on Dec. 21 – 23.

Friday's sold out performance of The Nutcracker 2012 brought a large audience to Three Stages to enjoy a beautiful performance. Children, along with their parents and other family members as well as friends enjoyed art in motion as the Pamela Hayes Ballet brought a colorful spectacle to the stage.

The Nutcracker is based on the book by E.T.A. Hoffman "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King."

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was commissioned by choreographer Marius Petipa in 1891 to write the music for the Nutcracker Ballet.

Throughout its history the story of The Nutcracker remains the same. On Christmas Eve the Silberhaus family hosts their annual Christmas party as they welcome the arrival of their guests. Suddenly, Clara's beloved Herr Drosselmeyer appears. Drosselmeyer entertains guests with magical tricks and life-size dolls. Clara embarks on enchanting travels through the Kingdom of Sweets with her Nutcracker Prince.

Since 2000 Artistic Director Pamela Hayes has brought The Nutcracker to the stage and has successfully worked to make the production one of the most entertaining.

The Nutcracker showcased guest artist Michael Onstad in the role of Herr Drosselmeyer. His talents are sought-after to perform this role each year and his performance was splendid.

Another guest artist was George Rusafov who performed the role of the Cavalier. The Bulgaria native joined the National Opera and Ballet Sofia Bulgarta after graduating high school. His masterful dance skills highlighted a wonderful performance.

Allyn Ginns, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Sarah Beth Kosterman, as Clara and Aly Andersen, as Spanish dancer were other guest artists for The Nutcracker.

Ginns, Kosterman and company dancer Kristoffer Reyes were made available for a quick photo or two by publicist Jan Hurst of Hurst Works. Along with other marvelous Pamela Hayes Ballet company dancers and over 70 ballet performers they delighted the audience from beginning to end.

A graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Dance and an alum of the Royal Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, Ballet West and Eugene Ballet, Pamela Hayes brought a delightful cast of dancers to Three Stages.

The audience was in awe during several scenes and oohs and aahs were heard from the audience. One memorable scene began with angels gliding through smoke machine fog looking like angels on clouds brought positive audible comments from the audience (specially from the younger fans).

This year new snow sets graced the stage. As if in a dream, sparkling snow flakes fell to the stage.

The costumes and stage production were beautifully designed. The Pamela Hayes Ballet production created visual spectacles on stage that went wonderfully with magnificent choreography.

The audience, as did I, enjoyed every aspect of the show. Families gathered in the theater lobby to share their experience. Jonathan Laundry and his family was invited by his neighbors and he shared a few words about what he saw. “I loved the scenery and I loved the dancers. I've always enjoyed the music of Tchaikovsky but I've never seen a live showing of The Nutcracker and I think it just might become a Christmas tradition for us.”

The Pamela Hayes Classical Ballet studio is located in El Dorado Hills and offers various ballet training classes and workshops that includes a summer workshop series. The series will feature Peter O'Brien's staging of “Giselle.”

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Christmas crafts, art, music and grand openings

2012-12-24T06:18:32Z

The last Second Saturday Art Walk of 2012 contained an assortment of events not only in Midtown and downtown but also in Granite Bay and Folsom.

Folsom hosted its 45th Annual Arts and Crafts Fair. Nearly 200 vendors, live entertainment and fun for the entire family was part of the event rescheduled from the week before because of weather.

Christmas craft vendors lined the middle of Folsom's Historic Sutter Street to sell goods suited for children, adults, pets and Christmas gift giving.

Businesses were open along Sutter Street as well and visitors were able to enjoy the pubs, restaurants and shopping areas in Historic Folsom.

The Folsom Historic District Ice Rink which had been closed because of the weather was re-opened for guests to enjoy. The rink will be open until Jan. 21 and is open seven days a week.

One of my favorite places for art, jewelry, and local crafts is Spanglish Arte. Their new location at 2512 J Street has more than double the space than their last site. The store also has a back patio that was available to house several art stations during Second Saturday.

Spanglish hosted a Holiday Bazaar that included holiday food such as pozole, hot chocolate, pan dulce and other items that went well in helping support local artists and vendors.

Artist John Huerta brought recently completed paintings and other items to the event. Huerta offered a large collection of art and had two tables set up, one was at the front of the store and the other at the back patio.

Lately, I’ve noticed new businesses starting up in Midtown, Oak Park as well as in other areas and December’s Second Saturday saw another grand opening event within days and within a block of each other. Muse Makeover held their grand opening on December 5 and Morris & Terry held their grand opening on Second Saturday.

Morris & Terry Athletic is located in an upstairs suite at 2115 J Street.

Many relatives and friends of owners Marisa Minasian and Terry Buccat attended the event. At times it seemed like a high school reunion as several friends indicated they attended high school together.

The J Spot, located next door to Morris & Terry Athletic, served as a gathering place where delicious food and drinks were served during the event. Kombucha Kulture served a variety of their organic and raw drinks for guests.

On the balcony outside the new shop artists and musicians entertained guests. Artist Gabriel Roberts and Samuel Ross Novinger exhibited their work. Martin Purtill and Jay Shaner shared their musical talents with the audience.

Buccat and Minasian were quite busy during the event but they took a few minutes to talk about the grand opening. In describing their business Buccat said, “We are Morris & Terry and we just opened our first women’s boutique which branches out from our women’s yoga active lifestyle line; Morris Terry Sport and we’re soon bridging more into day wear pieces and building a more overall Morris Terry brand and so you’ll see more of that transition in our store.”

Minasian and Buccat have been working together since 2010 and attribute their growth to word of mouth. Buccat shared that they were relying on word of mouth by friends, press outlets like Juniper James, Sister Brother Style, Eat Breathe Fashion, facebook and a segment that morning on Good Day Sacramento would help bring clientele to their grand opening.

Selection of their location was based on several factors. “We did a lot of research and it was good fit for us, for our size. We’re right in the middle of Midtown, it was a real nice space and our neighbors are so sweet we just kind of really love being back here,” Minasian stated.

Buccat and Minasian look forward to introducing new items to their store and holding future events. They also look forward to working with other local businesses saying, “Everything is made here in California we keep it as local as we can, we design everything ourselves here and we do a charity line that benefits foster youth.”

My last stop for December’s Second Saturday for the evening was a Christmas tree lighting event at the Quarry Ponds Shopping Center in Granite Bay. Artists Randy Rivera’s work was on exhibit at Crushed VLVT.

Fashion in the City

2012-12-23T01:51:57Z

Fashion in the City, a fashion, makeup and hair stylist competition was held at the Fusion International Art Center in Sacramento.

The event, held on Saturday, Dec. 15, drew a sizable audience where 15 of the best stylists in northern California competed for $3,000 in prizes.

The Fusion International Arts Center, located at 501 Arden Way has a large main hall that hosted Fashion in the City. A “T” shaped stage served as the catwalk for the fashion show. VIP tables were set around the stage and a DJ station were set up near

Beautiful gowns and dresses were provided by Georgene Originals. Georgene Scott, owner of Georgene Originals, is a fashion designer and pattern maker whose gowns are specially made for proms and weddings.

DJ Nez, DJ Memo Aguilera and DJ Essense shared their talents with the audience as they played music for dancing and listening enjoyment.

Rosa Jimenez and Sebastian Olvera C Bash served as hosts for the evening.

Each Fashion in the City model who walked the runway had their own following in the audience and wild cheering by audience members was loud and constant in an effort to sway the judges.

Solons and stylist participating in the event included Progressive Hair Salon, Expressions Hair Designs, Karina's Makeup, Maquillaje y Peinado by Sorelle, Irma Patiño, Chiklee Hair Studio and Rosario Tijeras Salon.

Also competing was Sandra de la Horta, Andre & Drea Designs, Judy & Anmarie, Beauty of the Art by Artemio Ibarra, Glammedup, Kurlz by Karla and Glamour Touch.

Fashion in the City is the brainchild of Vision Entertainment booking agent Cutberto (Beto) Aguilar. When asked about what inspired the event Aguilar said, “I came up with the concept because I think we need to showcase our local talent and this was the perfect event. This time I partnered with d'primeramano magazine and Borges Media.”

Aguilar indicated he expected an audience of about 400 guests for the evening's event matching last year's attendance.

This was the second year of the Fashion in the City event. Aguilar stated that last year's event was held at Antigua Ultra Lounge.

Aguilar explained why they chose to hold the event at the Fusion International Arts Center saying, “Miguel (Borges) has friends and he works here. I was looking for a good place that was larger and nice to make this a success.”

Aguilar is also CEO of Vision Entertainment a company that acquires and promotes talented entertainment for private and public parties and events. Vision Entertainment presented a well organized Fashion in the City event.

Sergio Romero from CBS TV, Cynthia Moreno of ~~Univision~~ Vida en el Valle and designer Rory Castillo were introduced as the judges for the evening's competition.

Miss Sacramento Latina Erika Vaca was introduced before the fashion show began and remained at the event socializing and posing for photos with guests.

Once the fashion show began models walked the runway and posed to showcase the hair and makeup stylist work as well as the beautiful Georgene Original outfits.

Three teams were selected as finalists; model Tania Cisneros represented Karina's Makeup, Yuri Munguia represented Chiklee Hair Sudio and Nancy Sanchez represented Irma Patiño.

After tabulation the Fashion in the City winner was Cisneros' team. The winning team, as expected, celebrated as their name was announced.

The Fashion in the City event was fun, well organized and showcased regional talent. Next year the event is expected to attract strong competition and local entertainment.

Editor's Note: Paragraph 15 has been edited. Cynthia Moreno is employed by Vida en el Valle.

Music brings warmth to the homeless

2012-12-21T03:30:50Z

It’s a wonderful feeling when doing something you love also helps someone else.

The Sacramento Women’s Chorus has found a way to combine their passion for singing with their commitment to improving the lives of women.

And Maryhouse, a daytime hospitality shelter for homeless women and children operated as part of the Loaves and Fishes organization serves plenty of women in need of a little help.

Each December, the Chorus hosts a holiday concert, featuring a variety of holiday music from many cultural traditions, a community singalong and reception, and an opportunity for audience members to donate items for Maryhouse.

“This year, the Maryhouse staff let us know that they had a serious need for sleeping bags, blankets, and quilts,” said Rita Birdsong, chair of SWC’s outreach efforts. With temperatures dipping into the 30s and 20s at night, sleeping outside is very uncomfortable and even dangerous for the women and their children.

The 2012 concert was titled “Holiday Quilt: a Patchwork of Seasonal Song”, and guests were asked to donate new or gently used clean sleeping bags and other warm coverings for the homeless women and families.

The response was terrific, and this week several people from SWC delivered an entire van full of donations to Maryhouse. “Our audience and our singers were very generous,” said Jeanie Schultz, SWC board president.

The staff at Loaves and Fishes and Maryhouse agreed. Garren Bratcher on the loading dock dispatched a forklift with two huge crates to collect the donations, which were stacked to the cieling in Birdsong's van.

Sister Libby Fernandez, Executive Director of Loaves and Fishes was wearing a cheerful set of elf ears beneath her jaunty hat, and she expressed her appreciation for the donation with twinkling eyes and good humor.

Alyssa Gerber, a staff member at Maryhouse, was on hand to receive the warm blankets, and she offered a tour of the Maryhouse operation. Noting that the center serves over a thousand homeless women and children each year, she cited the need for blankets, toiletries, toilet paper, towels, and diapers.

She also discussed the Maryhouse “Undercover” campaign, which seeks donations of the things many women take for granted, but which can make a huge difference in the life of a homeless woman: clean new underwear, new or gently used bras, and maxipads and tampons. The chorus members had collected quite a load of these items and delivered them with the sleeping bags, because “every woman can relate to the need for those things,” as Schultz said.

Years past have seen “Sock It to the Holidays,” when chorus and audience members collected warm socks and shoes, and “Hats Off to the Holidays,” which gathered hundreds of hats, scarves, and gloves. The 2013 holiday effort will likely focus on providing towels, as each guest at Maryhouse is afforded the opportunity for a hot shower and clean clothes laundered on site.

For both the Maryhouse staff and the women of the Sacramento Women’s Chorus, the collaboration is a natural fit.

To learn more about Maryhouse, or to make a donation, please visit http://www.sacloaves.org/programs/maryhouse.

To learn more about the Sacramento Women’s Chorus, please visit http://www.sacramentowomenschorus.org
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Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Disclosure: Writer Mary Nares Nikakis is a longtime community contributor to the Sacramento Press, and has a special interest in choral music. She serves on the board of directors of the Sacramento Women's Chorus and sings first soprano with the group.

Take 30 seconds and help Sol Collective win $10k for youth recording studio.

2012-12-20T21:39:35Z

For those of you who may not know about the Sol Collective, it is a cultural hub in Sacramento. Functioning as an art gallery, community space, and music venue by night, Sol Collective is also a non-profit youth center during the day offering Sacramento's next generation workshops in music production/recording, writing/blogging, urban gardening/sustainability, and art of all kinds. The Sol Collective was started by Director Estella Sanchez over seven years ago out of a necessity. An educator by trade, Estella met some young children (not even teenagers) in the Del Paso Heights area who were selling crack. Heartbroken by the painful realities facing youth in low income neighborhoods, Estella put a down payment on the first Sol Collective location that day. Since then, the story of the Sol Collective has grown to encompass an entire generation of Sacramento artists, musicians, activists, and entrepreneurs.

This year Estella was nominated as a finalist in the 2012 Women Who Inspire/Mujeres Que Inspiran campaign sponsored by CoverGirl and Pantene. The winner of the contest will receive $10,000 for the charity of their choice. If Estella wins, the money will go toward building the Sol Collective recording studio and helping to further the dreams of aspiring youth singers, musicians, poets, and more. The vote takes place on Facebook daily. You can vote EVERY DAY. As the deadline of January closes in, The Sol Collective and the youth of Sacramento could use your help.

To VOTE:

1. Go to https://www.readysetrocket.com/inspiran/detail/estella

2. Be sure to "Like" the page.

3. (The instructions are in spanish) Click the "Vota" button and cast your vote for Estella

Please be sure to share with your Facebook friends and get on to vote every day. Every vote counts in the lives and dreams of these kids.

Disclosure: I have been blessed to be the Marketing Director at Sol Collective and see all of the hard work this group of people has done in the community over the past three years. No one deserves it more. Find out more about all we do at www.SolCollective.org

Master Singers' Celtic Christmas is a joy

2012-12-18T22:36:06Z

Nobody celebrates Christmas like the Sacramento Master Singers.

The Master Singers, under the direction of Dr. Ralph Hughes, have produced a holiday concert of beauty, musical excellence, and joy each season for the past 26 years.

This year’s offering, the first Celtic-themed event in the history of the Master Singers’ Christmas concerts, was delightfully different, and stood up well to the standard of excellence set in years past.

An unusual collaboration between the Master Singers and Men of Worth, a Celtic performance duo, set the tone and stirred in the flavor for this lively and charming concert.

The Saturday evening performance at St. Francis of Assisi church in midtown Sacramento was sold out, and the audience members queued in the cold chatted and reminisced about past Christmas concerts as they waited for up to an hour for the doors to open.

Inside, the lovely church was wreathed in simple evergreen decorations. The pews were soon filled with the sparkle of sequins and the excited chatter of guests shedding their heavy coats and settling in for an evening of musical entertainment.

Soon the lights dimmed and were then extinguished as the traditional candlelight processional began. Yet to audiences familiar with the plainsong and haunting chant of the processional in years gone by, the lilting Ecce Quod Natura was a lovely surprise. Arranged by Michael McGlynn, Dublin composer and founder of Ireland’s national choir, Aruna, the ancient text began the evening with a distinct Celtic flavor. The only accompaniment to the lovely choral harmonies was the crystalline sound of the hand chimes and the steady thrum of the bodrhan (Irish drum).

There Is No Rose followed, and then Angelus Ad Virginem, another McGlynn arrangement of a medieval Irish song once again lifted the chorus into the Celtic spirit. McGlynn’s sweet ballad Christmas Memories brought forth the full tenderness of each voice in the choir.

Men of Worth played a variety of instruments from their Irish and Scottish traditions: in addition to the bodrhan, James Keigher and Donnie Macdonald played guitar, mandocello, concertina, and the octave mandolin. Their rich voices, distinctive accents and quirky colloquialisms added greatly to the performance.

Clifford Shockney, esteemed composer, arranger and accompanist for the Master Singers, worked with the Men of Worth and the chorus to develop some collaborative treatments of songs from the choir’s repertoire and some choral arrangements of the traditional Irish and Scottish tunes sung by the Celtic duo. The resultant blend of traditions and vocal styles was a delightful departure for both groups.

The candlelight processional continued with one of these arrangements, The Rising of the Moon. Soprano Julie Jeness exhibited another musical talent as she played the flute with Tina Harris on piano.

The audience sat in profound silence as the Men of Worth sang Chistmas in the Trenches, John McCutcheon’s poignant ballad about the amazing and spontaneous truce the occurred in 1914 as opposing German and British forces in several locales across the Western Front. Soldiers crossed over no man’s land to exchange songs, small gifts of cigarettes and food, and even to play soccer together in recognition of their shared humanity, even though the following morning would find them once again firing at one another. This true tale evokes a deep spirit of the true love and joy of the Christmas season, and Keigher’s deep baritone was reverent and strong.

There followed Shockney’s arrangements of a traditional Scottish ballad, The Sound of Iona, the beloved Little Drummer Boy, and the Wexford Carol, a 12th century Irish carol, combining the voices and harmonies of the choir and the duo.

Closing out the first half of the program was a beautiful and intricate arrangement of the Peter, Paul, and Mary hit A ‘Soalin’.

The program continued with a blend of traditional carols and some surprising treatments of familiar songs, including Silent Night sung in Irish Gaelic and a wonderful a capella jazz version of The Holly and the Ivy arranged for women’s voices.

The men had their moment with a Patrick Rose arrangement of I Saw Three Ships.

Pat-a-Pan is a favorite French carol which has been reinterpreted many times, and the Master Singers delivered a joyous version as their penultimate selection.

As always, the program ended with the singing and signing of Peace, Peace, a beautiful wish for the world which blends beautifully with the audience singing Silent Night.

There were several interesting instrumental accompaniments throughout the evening. Bass singer David Robinson lent his skills on both the upright and the electric bass to several songs. Thomas Voight is an accomplished drummer and percussionist, and Joseph Silmaro played keyboards. Julie Jenness’ flute enhanced a number of songs as well.

Soloists throughout the program included Stephen Hill, Kevin Mirsepassi, Joseph Silmaro, David Manea, Justin Pratt, William Zinn, Jon Eric Hill, Carol Horner, Mia Watts, and Amber Lidskin.

The collaboration of the Master Singers and the Men of Worth came about “over a whiskey in a castle in Scotland,” according to James Keigher.

In addition to singing together for 26 years, and traveling the country bringing music education to schools and colleges, the Men lead guided tours to their home lands of Ireland (Keigher) and Scotland (Macdonald).

It was on one such tour of Scotland that Master Singers’ alto Mary Patt broached the idea of collaboration. Ralph Hughes seized on the possibilities and enlisted Shockney’s help in creating a blend of choral and troubadour repertoire.

Though the Men of Worth have occasionally sung with school choirs in their travels, this level of cooperation with a large choir is unprecedented for the duo. Neither Keigher nor Macdonald reads music, and having sung together for over two decades, they are so familiar with their repertoire and their individuals tastes and talents that they seem to intuitively grasp the right way to support one another instrumentally and harmonically.

“The biggest adjustment was rehearsing with the Master Singers,” said Macdonald. “We never rehearse, we just stand up and play.”

Both musicians said that they thoroughly enjoyed their work with the Master Singers, and even speculate about recording a joint CD.
As for Hughes, his choir has so enjoyed the Celtic music that he is planning a concert tour of Ireland in 2013 with a workshop with composer Michael McGlynn.

This adventure in music is yet another example of the power that comes from understanding and engaging in another’s experience of life. In recognition of our shared humanity and the language of music which all cultures have in common, The Master Singers are moving us yet one step closer to peace, peace.

The Master Singers and the Men of Worth will perform their Celtic Christmas twice more: on Thursday, December 20 at 7:00 pm, and on Sunday, December 23 at 3:00 pm. Both concerts will be held at St. Francis of Assisi church, 26th and K strees in Sacramento. Both performances are very nearly sold out, but there may be a very limited number of tickets available at the door; call the Master Singers at (916) 788-7464 for information.

The Men of Worth will be performing as a duo in Auburn on Saturday, December 22 at 7:00 pm at the Music and More Theatre; visit their website at http://www.menofworth.com/Calendar for information.

Three Stages in Folsom hosts Posada Navideña

2012-12-18T08:12:35Z

An enchanting evening full of music and dance came to the Three Stages Performing Arts Center at Folsom Lake College. The Compañia Mazatlán Bellas Artes de Sacramento presented a festive Christmas performance on the main stage.

The “Posada Navideña,” a Christmas processional, was performed by a group of 30 dancers and musicians. They brought traditional live Mexican music and traditional Mexican dance mixed with ballet to the stage.

Executive director Yolanda Ramos-Colosio began teaching traditional Mexican folk dance in Sacramento in 1994. Four years later, as the school grew, she introduced a school (Instituto Mazatlán Bellas Artes) and a professional performing company (Compañia Mazatlán Bellas Artes).

Dynamic dancer and choreographer Steven Valencia became CMBA’s artistic director in 1998, and since 2000 the company has performed locally and internationally.

Under the direction of Valencia, the CMBA has toured throughout California, the Southwest, Mexico and China, and has won national and international competitions.

The Sacramento native announced his resignation as artistic director effective Dec. 31. Valencia's last performance was at Three Stages. The Posada Navideña in Folsom was also his final dance performance for CMBA.

Valencia's credentials as a dancer and choreographer are impressive. The award-winning director has also served as a grant writer for IMBA, and successfully secured several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council and other organizations. Valencia has also been influential in creating in-school programs in the Sacramento region and partnering with the city's Any Given Child program.

Valencia's work in Sacramento is well-documented, and his work as a peace officer at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has helped him understand other local issues. His work at the CDCR made him see firsthand that many children may not have a positive outlet in life, and may turn to doing negative things.

He's been quoted as saying, “My goal has been to teach kids and young adults about culture, discipline and goal reaching through a positive forum: dance." Valencia's dedication as director, dancer and choreographer will be missed, and Friday's spectacular performance showcased his talent.

Three Stages at Folsom Lake College continues to attract top events and performances and Friday's Posada Navideña performance showcased the theater’s versatility, comfortable seating and magnificent stage.

A live band played in the background and brought life to the performances as regional dances came to the stage. Dancers in magnificent regional costumes began with a set of dances from Veracruz. The initial performance was choreographed by Valencia and guest artist David Lopez-Mancilla.

Wearing typical Veracruz outfits, dancers celebrated Christmas traditions. Several songs, including “La Bamba,” played during the visually enriching dances.

Other traditional dances and songs from Michoacán were highlighted by a whimsical dance in which dancers wore masks and costume to make them look like old men as they performed “Danza de los Viejitos.” The dance had guests laughing, especially the younger members in the audience.

"Yucatan- Fiesta del Pueblo" was a debut choreographed performance by Lopez-Mancilla.

Each dance was well-received by the audience, and regional pieces were welcomed by audience members with ties to those areas.

Christmas, or Navideña, songs and dances were performed, representing the pilgrimage made by Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem for the birth of baby Jesus. This posada celebration was celebrated on stage with classic ballet moves, and included a battle between the devil and the archangel Gabriel. The scene was colorfully performed and was followed by the arrival of the Three Kings at the site of Jesus' birth.

The final pieces performed included a full-blown fandango with traditional renditions of “La Piñata” and “Feliz Navidad” that also had audience members singing along.

The Posada Navideña was very colorful and the brilliant performances were very lively, leaving me with some lasting memories.

Some members of the audience shared that the program made them nostalgic for traditional celebrations. One member was Mona Almanza, who came to see her daughter Becca perform. When asked for her opinion on the show, she said, “Wonderful, it made me cry.”

The event continued in the lobby, as performers shared their experience with audience members who remained after the show.

Log on to Compañia Mazatlán Bellas Artes to find out more about their dance performances and programs. Three Stages' website has a full schedule of events for the rest of the year, as well as a 2013 schedule for visitors to view.

Davis Writers Release Third Music Research Book

2012-12-17T22:23:54Z

Marti Smiley Childs and Jeff March, who run a publishing company in Davis called EditPros, recently released their third book in a series about American pop music legends of the sixties and seventies. On December 8 they gave a book signing presentation at the Avid Reader in Downtown Davis. Most of this presentation can be seen on SacTV.com. The latest international release of the book series is called Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? Volume 2. The book series reports on acts who had hits on the national charts in the "golden age of pop" and then moved on to various different careers.

The first book of the series was called Echoes of the Sixties and was published by Billboard. March says they were able to get that deal from a well-written query letter and proposal without knowing anyone at the magazine. Since then, which was the late nineties, Marti and Jeff have gone the direction of self-publishing through their own company EditPros. The combination of the three books has produced about 90 artist interviews by telephone. The latest book focuses on the career paths of The Buckinghams, The Moody Blues, Sam & Dave, Ray Stevens, Bobby Goldsboro, Donnie Brooks and The Grass Roots. Some of the members are deceased, some still tour and some simply left the music industry.

The video presentation captures interesting facts about these artists and uncovers mysteries about the music industry. Did these artists abandon the industry because the pay wasn't what they thought they deserved? Why did some of the artists decide to be bus or limo drivers? Which ones had the capital to start their own restaurants? Which artists moved on to singing commercial jingles? Why did some of them settle on office jobs? An interesting revelation about some of these post-music careers is the connection with the rock star lifestyle, yet these under the radar jobs offer an escape from the spotlight. Other artists distanced themselves from the music industry completely. But the co-authors wanted to make sure that all the stories they wrote about led to positive scenarios, so they omitted artists who were bitter or were entangled in unresolved depressing issues.

The latest book also traces how these pop legends rose to fame in the music world. One of the most compelling chapters in the book showcases members of The Moody Blues. As Jeff describes in the book signing presentation, the group's formation was preceded by founding member Mike Pinder working for an electronics company that tested the Mellotron. This early electronic keyboard instrument was a seminal part of the experimental music of the sixties. Interestingly, their legendary album Days of Future Passed, which combined rock with symphonic sounds, was originally only meant to be a demonstration to showcase the Mellotron, which contained the sound samples of various orchestra instruments.

Two of the groups mentioned in the book, The Buckinghams and The Grass Roots, performed at Cal Expo last summer on the "Happy Together Tour" with the Turtles. Jeff and Marti hung out with The Buckinghams backstage, which gave them deeper insight on the band, whose song "Kind of a Drag" was a number one hit in 1967, followed by a string of other hits. The SacTV.com video series of the book presentation also captures stories about other artists of the era mentioned in the team's earlier books, such as Peter and Gordon, The Angels and The Zombies. March, who worked at Sacramento top 40 station KROY in the seventies then wrote for Sacramento Magazine, opened the discussion by talking about the personal bond people have with songs and how they become time markers in people's lives.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com

12 things to do in Sacramento on 12/12/12

2012-12-12T17:13:13Z

People get gung-ho about repetitive dates, and so do we here at Sacramento365.com! In that spirit, we decided to get in the groove of 12/12/12 and round-up 12 fun things for you to do in Sacramento today.

1. See choirs from the Lodi Seventh Day Adventist Elementary School (11am) or the US Army Corps of Engineers (Noon) perform holiday tunes for free at the Capitol's annual Holiday Music Program.

2. Do a little shopping at Sacramento Downtown Plaza and then bring your receipt to the Downtown Sacramento Ice Rink for a free skate rental.

3. Learn about the local and regional impact of the arts at Pence Gallery's Art Grown Locally panel discussion.

4. Shop for wine while drinking wine at Enotria's Great Holiday Blowout.

5. Bring a canned food donation or a new and unwrapped toy to the Sacramento Zoo and receive $1 off your admission.

6. See B Street Theatre's holiday play, A Pail of Grace, which has two show times on Wednesdays to choose from: 2pm & 6pm.

7. Keep healthy this holiday season by attending Arden Hills' Live with the Chef: Healthy & Sweet Holiday Treats cooking class.

8. Hear multi-faceted musician Charlie Hunter live in concert at Harlow's.

9. Traipse from District 30 to Pizza Rock to Dive Bar at MetroWize's Party on K Street.

10. Celebrate Sacramento's finest at Sacramento Magazine's Best of Sacramento 2012 Party.

11. Laugh along at Bows & Arrows' free Stand Up Open Mic Night, and even try your own hand at humor if you're feeling brave.

12. Close out the 12 Days of Midtown at the Nutcracker Meet & Greet with dancers from the Sacramento Ballet.

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Disclosure: Alison Kranz is Assistant Editor for Sacramento365.com - the year-round source for Sacramento events.

Jay Shaner's View of the Indie Music Revolution

2012-12-11T01:27:29Z

Last week I visited with Sacramento independent artist Jay Shaner to do a series of video interviews about the indie music revolution of the 21st century, comparing it with the old music world of the 20th century. These videos can now all be seen on SacTV.com. I chose Jay Shaner for this series because he impresses me as someone who is like the Bob Dylan of Sacramento. I say "like" because there will always only be one Bob Dylan, the songwriter who influenced almost every artist since the sixties in some shape or form, whether they realize it or not, unless they are completely manufactured by corporations. Musicologists will instantly agree about Dylan's place in history, whereas the less informed people who think this week's assembly line autotune "hits" that will burn out in a matter of weeks are all that matter.

Although Bob Dylan is thought of as a sixties artist that still makes music, the fact that he opened the door for the rest of the world to express themselves in music however they feel makes him a legend. He influenced the Beatles, Steve Jobs, folk music, blues music, pop music, the peace movement, rap music and local singer-songwriters who can't afford $100k to record elaborate high end studio albums with all the fancy tricks that hide artistic flaws. What Dylan represents is really a mix of tradition and revolution, the elements that inspired not just one generation, but multiple generations. His popularity in the sixites allowed artists to follow his lead, breaking music industry rules with honest and creative expression as opposed to learning narrowly defined industry marketing formulas.

There are other artists in Sacramento who fit the authentic singer-songwriter description that only requires a creative songwriter who can sing and play a portable acoustic instrument. Another such artist who I'll have to catch up with sometime is James Israel, who has written very impressive social commentary songs. For now I did the video series with Jay Shaner because I found his music on ReverbNation.com and enjoy the melodic storyteller aspect of his compositions. His songs tell vivid stories and don't require all the fancy studio tricks that replace authentic raw sounds with slick, polished over-produced layers of bells and whistles. He is also very knowledgeable about the history of music and can share tips on improving musical performance.

Jay also has his own home recording studio, which allows him to have control of the recording process, instead of compromising with an expensive producer that might not hear what he is trying to accomplish. The main problem of working with a technically perfect producer who has state of the art fancy equipment is that there's a tendency to treat the art of songwriting as secondary and the scientific frequencies of the audio spectrum and the limitations of techonological tools as primary. Although it took Jay over a year to record his current album Ruth, it was worth the time and effort because it came out the way he wanted and it didn't cost him any money, just time. Compare that with bands who somehow come up with $20k to finance a studio project that doesn't come out the way they want due to studio time and budget constraints.

He did some acoustic performances for this video series but it's important to point out that he still likes to explore the creative aspects of electric guitar and electronics, but more for subtle flavor that doesn't drown out the lyrics and melody of his songwriting. His four albums are all currently available on iTunes.

Last week Jay joined other local indie artists and performed Christmas songs for a Toys For Tots charity at the Naked Lounge in Downtown Sacramento. It's these kind of events that demonstrate how local performers are more into helping society than just trying to make money for themselves. Jay writes songs from the heart such as "Young and In Love" and "Talk Me to Sleep" and he isn't trying to jump on bandwagons that will accelerate his music career just to make a quick buck. His unique songs and his acoustic guitar playing project his own personal spirit, offering an eclectic blend of poetic pop, rock, country, folk and blues.

We recorded six video interviews at his home studio on December 5 last week and we covered an amazing amount of musical territory in less than an hour. From home recording tips to musician tips and an analysis of how indie music has evolved the past few decades, there is a wealth of knowledge in these interviews that is inspiring for both indie artists and indie fans. These videos are the type of interviews I enjoy doing as I continue my search for local artists who have great musical contributions to offer that elevate the intellect and integrity of the Sacramento music scene.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com

SCSO comes home for the holidays

2012-12-10T20:58:44Z

The Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra “Home for the Holidays” concerts are always delightful. This year, SCSO returned to the Memorial Auditorium on Saturday for a festive evening of beautiful music, a rousing audience singalong, and even a visit from Santa.

Each year, the SCSO opens the holiday program with a processional. The singers ringed the walkway around the first balcony and each held a luminous glowstick in blue, green, rose, or lavender. The darkened auditorium was very still as Sacramento Children’s Chorus sang a haunting a capella Hodie, Cristus Natus Est, followed by the adult voices singing Lara Hoggard’s Personent Hodie.

The combined choirs, over 200 singers, then filed down the stairs and through the audience to take their places on the risers behind the orchestra as Kendrick directed the musicians in the Leroy Anderson medley, A Christmas Festival.

The program continued with a wonderful variety of holiday music, from the lush and lyrical I Wish You Christmas to the more familiar carols The First Noel and Deck the Hall.

The Children’s Chorus sang a lovely arrangement of Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, and their clear voices underscored the innocence of that air.

One of the most delicious treats was the world premiere of The Festival Magnificat. The work from Randol Alan Bass was jointly commissioned by the SCSO and the Children’s Chorus to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Children’s Chorus.

The youth organization came into being two decades ago as a Sacramento State Masters’ project for Lynn Stevens under the tutelage of Donald Kendrick. It has grown to become one of the most impressive of Sacramento’s arts organizations, and under Stevens’ direction has garnered state and even international honors.

The Children’s Chorus now includes six separate age-specific choruses. Both the Cantoris and Capella groups performed in the Festival Magnificat.

One of the more startling offerings of the evening was the Nigerian carol Betelehemu, as arranged by Barrington Brooks. Accompanied only by driving percussion, and featuring a solo by baritone Tim Mascarenas, the carol was presented with choreography, rare for the SCSO, including a visually arresting sequence of hand moves.

The audience singalong was great fun. It is not often that non-singers are afforded the opportunity to sing along with a full orchestra and chorus in the company of over 2500 other people, and the audience enthusiasm was heartwarming.

Throughout the program, the Choral Society orchestra played with the professional expertise for which they are known. The orchestral rendition of the Leroy Anderson favorite Sleigh Ride was sprightly and surprised the audience when director Kendrick’s podium was briefly usurped by an interloper dressed in red velvet and fur. Apparently Santa Claus counts among his many other magical qualities an aptitude for orchestral conducting.

SCSO is a longstanding champion of bringing great music to the community, and to making the arts accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Many people are seldom exposed to live performance of the important and beautiful works of the orchestral and choral repertoire.

As funding for the arts had decreased dramatically in our schools, many students are never exposed to classical music at all.
This focus of the SCSO mission found a champion this year in Wells Fargo, the major sponsor of this concert.

Wells Fargo sponsored several hundred students from three local elementary schools, Leataata Floyd (formerly Jedediah Smith) Elementary, St. Patrick’s Elementary, and St. Joseph’s Elementary.

All of these schools are identified as Title One schools, which serve a large population of economically disadvantaged families. Many of these students might never have attended a live musical performance of this caliber without the joint sponsorship of the SCSO and Wells Fargo. Additionally, the Sacramento Adventist Academy sponsored 85 of their students to attend.

The concert held special meaning for Loren Weatherly. Seated in the first balcony, Weatherly was hearing the chorus and orchestra as an audience member for the first time.

He has spent several years on the risers with SCSO, first as a baritone and now as a bass. He is on leave of absence this season as he pursues an educational opportunity, and said that he was greatly enjoying the performance.

Even listening with a critical ear, inevitable in a singer who has performed in prestigious choral groups since 1988, Weatherly said he had only praise for the performance. He spoke about the freedom to just enjoy the evening “worry-free: I’m not nervous about 'do I have my music? Will I remember the words?' It's wonderful.” He was especially impressed by the excellence of the balance between the orchestra and the delicate voices of the children.

The audience seemed to share his appreciation of the beauty, fun, and balance of the concert. In the Memorial Auditorium, everyone was truly home for the holidays.

SCSO is a unique Sacramento arts organization which provides their audiences with quality programs several times a year. To learn more about SCSO’s upcoming productions, please visit the website at http://sacramentochoral.com/.

Editor’s note: The “News Digest” goes out every Tuesday morning and highlights our best stories, photos and videos from the week prior. Sign me up.

Food bank benefit; good music, good cause

2012-12-10T07:50:16Z

On stage at the Antiquite Maison Privee Friday night, Sacramento’s musical community put together a taster of local talent that both entertained the audience and supported the community.

The second annual Holiday Benefit for the Sacramento Food Bank showed that some local artists are as talented as they are generous. In the nearly 100-year-old rough-brick gallery and winery, artists donated their abilities to assemble an eclectic bill of musical Americana that stretched from Appalachian bluegrass to North Shore surf.

In an effort to help local citizens in need; cash, food and clothing were accepted as admission. In response to the heightened demand for social services, the show was presented by tenured local guitarist Ross Hammond.

“It’s nice to get folks out. We hope to raise some money and supplies and do some good,” said Hammond. “It’s good to see artists and musicians answer the call.”

Opening the show with an electric jolt was a trio of ace players called Crossing The River. Playing instrumental compositions, they used bass and drums to set up syncopated rhythms complemented by dexterous, melodic guitar. After finishing their final number in swinging 3/4 time, drummer Joseph Palermo mentioned their upcoming gig at Luna’s.

Following soon after was Jackson Griffin on vocal and acoustic guitar accompanying his sweet melodies with finger-picked tributes to the Carter family and traditional folk and country.

Next was longtime Sacramento rock guitarist Gene Smith playing an acoustic set along with bass player Nick Embly. Their intricate, almost baroque style was played with astonishing dexterity - especially when considering his reputation as a heavy electric player. After the performance Smith mentioned that his latest project will proclaim Gene Smith Lives!

Guitarist Hammond not only organized the event but also played a large part in the performance. His first appearance was with singer and guitar strummer Amy Reed in a duo that highlighted her mountain-spring clear vocal tone on folk and country songs. Hammond also played later with his duo, Electropoetic Coffee.

Another highlight was the authentic Bluegrass and Celtic music of Kathy Barwick, who was joined by an accompanist on several American and Irish folk songs. Their interplay on guitar, mandolin and dobro, along with Barwick’s heartfelt vocals, filled the room with acoustic warmth.

Also on the bill were singer/songwriter Kevin Seconds and the scorching instrumental surf of The Lava Pups.

“We were thrilled that he (Hammond) selected Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services to be the beneficiary,” wrote Sacramento Food Bank’s Kelly Siefkin, in an e-mail correspondence. “Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services serves 20,000 men, women and children each month, so support from events like this one greatly help us provide food, education, clothing and hope for families in need.”

Siefkin also suggested ways for the public to assist the food bank such as volunteering to help distribute services, donating food, funding or other supplies, or donating through estate planning or in memory of another.

Danú opens the holiday season for the Mondavi Center

2012-12-07T04:33:06Z

On Wednesday the holiday season officially began at the UC Davis Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. “An Nollaig in Éirinn,” or “Christmas in Ireland,” was the theme for the evening of entertainment by award-winning Irish ensemble, Danú. The performance was all about sharing Irish Christmas traditions – both those that include music and those that don’t.

Christmas in Ireland must be a whole lot of fun. The six-member group shared the stage throughout the night, each taking the mic on different occasions to introduce a song, story or joke to educate and amuse the Jackson Hall audience.

Lead vocalist Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh had a voice that was powerful, smooth and entirely enchanting. She could have been singing about anything and it would have been lovely. The fact that she was oftentimes singing traditional Christmas hymns simply added to the romanticism of the evening. Nic Amhlaoibh also played the flute throughout the night and even jumped on the whistle once or twice. Donal Clancy, on the guitar, had a tremendously rich voice as well.

Brendan (Benny) McCarthy played melodeon and button accordion, while Martin O’Neill, a self-proclaimed half-Irish, half-Scottish addition to the group, played the Bodhran, an Irish Drum, with superlative skill. O’Neill also hopped on and off the piano throughout the night.

Éamon Doorley sang backup vocals and played the Irish Bouzouki, cracking jokes along with the others. Liam Flanagan shined on the fiddle, and was a particularly noteworthy addition to Nic Amhlaoibh’s lead vocals in “Angels We Have Heard on High.” Flanagan clearly demonstrated his ability to use the fiddle to inspire an amazing range of emotion.

Danú’s repertoire included a few songs known by all, but also several more “instructional selections,” one might say.

How and when should one make a Christmas cake? Exactly how much liquor is fed to the marzipan encrusted cake? The morning after a pleasant and appropriate Christmas day in Ireland, when does the drinking begin?

The group’s responses and explanations were certainly both entertaining and educational. They introduced each and every piece, noting that they would play “several reels” and “a few reels;” they played so many reels, each of which made you feel unreasonable giddy and wanting for a beer to sip along with your toe-tapping.

As is the Irish way, pubs were mentioned on no less than two dozen occasions. Add to this the way English rolled rollickingly off their tongues and the fascinating licks of Irish we got to hear, and I’m searching for flights. Christmas in Ireland, I’m on my way!

The night flew by, even with a short intermission, and soon it was all ending.

After the first verse of “Silent Night,” which was beautifully sung in Gaelic by Nic Amhlaoibh, the crowd joined in for the English version.

The evening’s display of Christmas spirit and tradition was the perfect start to the month of December. Danú has released seven CDs as well as a DVD over the last decade and a half. Following Wednesday evening’s show, the group has just a few more U.S. performances before heading back to Ireland just in time for Christmas.

The next holiday event hosted by the Mondavi Center will be this Saturday, Dec. 8. Cantus Vocal Ensemble will perform, “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.” For tickets and information for the Theater Latté Da performance, visit MondaviArts.org.

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

After the storm, the American River Bike Trail remains active

2012-12-04T01:44:17Z

A storm in Sacramento can shut down many things, as we saw the past weekend, with one of the most powerful showers we've seen all year. But it can't stop bike trail enthusiasts from enjoying the outdoor adventure along the American River. The latest SacTV.com video shows how the bike trail at the Watt Avenue Bridge was completely unaffected by rising water levels and the threat of mudslides. The storm had subsided by Sunday after three days of pounding rain and Monday appeared to be a mellow aftermath. Meanwhile, the island at the Watt Avenue Bridge appeared to be almost underwater.

History shows that some of the worst storms to ever hit the Sacramento area created levee damage and flooding along the American River, but not so much the Sacramento River. The Discovery Park area, though, seems to always be a concern. This storm, despite warnings from the National Weather Service, seemed to cause minimal damage, but it doesn't mean people should ignore the issue. The American River is not only one of Sacramento's biggest strengths due to its natural beauty, but is potentially one of the area's biggest hazards. Just because this storm was not a big disaster doesn't mean the levee system is okay and should be ignored.

Not all areas of the region were this lucky. Reports surfaced over the weekend of Roseville residents being evacuated temporarily as a result of rising water levels. It's not clear yet how serious this problem was but it's always a major inconvenience when a fireman knocks on your door and says you have to vacate your property. Most of us in the region seem unprepared for an actual massive flooding disaster, as we learned back in the mid 1990s with dangerous flooding.

To refresh people's minds about Sacramento flooding history, Downtown ended up completely underwater as a result of floods in 1850, 1862 and 1863. It was so terrible, people had to sail in boats to get across town. Even Governor Leland Stanford had to sail on a boat to get to his inauguration ceremony. After that local leaders decided that river flooding was too risky to ignore. Even though the solution at the time was keep constructing buildings at higher elevations, city and county officials convinced the state that the American River needed to be rechanneled so that water would run off into Yolo County instead of Sacramento. The solution ended Sacramento's worst flooding nightmares, but now we are faced with the problem of an old levee system that needs upgrading.

At the moment everything appears to be calm and the problem doesn't seem to stand out. Flooding dangers appear to be overshadowed by what the Sacramento Kings need to do to improve their season or what Downtown Plaza needs to do to not have such a ghost town atmosphere. At some point, Sacramento will need to address the levee issues. Sometimes the best way to make people conscious of community issues is through music. Luckily, a local band called Pyschosomatic has a song called "Concrete Rain" to at least keep the issue on our minds. After a national tour, they've returned home and will be performing this Friday, December 7 at the Blue Lamp.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com

Uptown Fashion Night 2012

2012-11-30T00:16:42Z

For the second year in a row The Pink House, Sparkle Bridal Couture and Krazy Mary’s Boutique combined efforts to bring East Sacramento an evening full of music, shopping, socializing and fashion at the Uptown Fashion Night 2012. The event was held on Thursday, Nov. 8 and drew many friends and shoppers to the event.

The three businesses are located next to each other on the corner of 32nd Street and Folsom Blvd.

Peggy Orr, owner of The Pink House, Sandra Gonzalez who owns Sparkle Bridal Couture and Mary Kawano, owner of Krazy Mary’s Boutique opened their shops to customers for the 2012 Uptown Fashion Night.

The event drew hundredths to the event and visitors were able to enjoy sale items being offered at each shop.

Guests were also invited to donate to Sacramento Crisis Nursery. Sacramento Children's Home operates the Crisis Nursery Program whose mission is to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing support to families at times of crisis.

The Pink House offered a selection of fashionable items, hand bags, shoes, jewelry and other accessories.

Delicious appetizers and drinks provided a relaxed setting for visitors to shop and enjoy sale items at The Pink House.

Krazy Mary’s Boutique carried a wide assortment of the newest trends. Kawano and her staff shop for the latest trends and know what customers are looking for. Krazy Mary’s staff is courteous and was very attentive to customers indulging them with a vast inventory suitable for its wide customer base.

Kawano and staff were busy catering to their customers at Uptown Fashion where they also provided visitors with music, appetizers and wine.

Sparkle Bridal Couture’s bridal showroom showcases wedding gowns as well as bridal and special occasion dresses. The bridal showroom is California’s first and only bridal salon solely dedicated to bridal and special occasion outfits sizes 14-30.

Sparkle had several vendors and a DJ on hand. Gonzalez also had several members of her family helping making this event a true family affair.

Sponsors and vendors at the event included Jaime Becker of Lyon Real Estate, Deeda Salon, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, La Trattoria Bohemia, Girls on the Grid, Good Day Sacramento, Rinfrancare, DJ Esef, Thai Basil, DJ Trait, Leslie Andrews Photography, Strands Hair and Spa and others.

All three shops also collaborated to bring a fashion show at Sparkle Bridal Couture.

The fashion show was the highlight of the evening and brought guests and store owners together to enjoy a red carpet fashion walk highlighting various styles and accessories that helped create a delightful Uptown Fashion Night 2012 event.

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys roll into Sacramento on Saturday night, December 1

2012-11-28T00:02:09Z

Big Sandy (and His Fly-Rite Boys) rock midtown Sacramento's Townhouse (1517 21st Street) on Saturday night, December 1. No, not the weather that recently deluged the East Coast. This Big Sandy is the recording artist and Rockabilly Hall of Famer from Southern California who has entertained audiences for over 20 years.

Big Sandy and HIs Fly Rite Boys play their own brand of classic rock, seamlessly blending rockabilly, American roots music, western swing and traditional country into a free-wheeling good time sound. Their stellar vocals and musicianship combine for an unforgettable live show. Big Sandy's vocals and material are so authentic that they would easily fit in with the Sun Studio sounds of Elvis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.

"I think of us as just a rock and roll band, a rock and roll band that's letting the roots show," says bandleader Big Sandy. Whether they're playing the Grand Ole Opry, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, or simply climbing out of a bus after rolling into your town, these guys are bringing us some great old-time rock and roll.

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys are almost always on the road, enough to burn through two tour buses in recent years. The first was a converted passenger bus from 1949 that they retired for use on an old movie set, followed only a few years later by a yellow 1950 school bus that they left for dead in Montana. "We're flying more now," says Big Sandy. But before the school bus died, Big Sandy tells the story of driving it to one particular thrift store: "There was a kid out in front, and he was just like in awe when we pulled up. He looked a little bit confused, and then we come walking up, and he wasn't sure if he should approach us or not. Then he asked us, 'Are you guys from the past?'" Big Sandy laughs. "As if we were traveling in a time machine or something."

Saturday night's show is not only a Holiday Party, it's a Toy Drive for Sacramento's foster children. Bring an unwrapped toy and get $5 off admission.

Sacramento favorites, The Twilight Drifters open the show. Described as an” American roots music sensation,” the Twilight Drifters follow in the tradition of such artists as Bob Wills, Hank Thompson, Webb Pierce, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, and bring new life and energy to a classic American sound. Performing danceable tunes spanning such genres as vintage country, honky tonk, western swing, rockabilly and west coast blues, the Twilight Drifters offer a compelling musical retrospective that entertains, moves, and captivates audiences.

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys / The Twilight Drifters
Saturday, December 1, 2012 - 9:00 pm
The Townhouse - 1517 21st St., Sacramento, California 95814
Holiday Party and Toy Drive to Benefit Sacramento Foster Children
$10 cover with unwrapped toy donation, $15 without
21 / over - (916) 837-3374

Disclosure: The writer has no personal or professional connection to this story.

Sacramento’s finest take the stage

2012-11-27T18:29:00Z

T-Mo Entertainment’s annual Holiday Jam showcased local talents’ finest this past Saturday, Nov. 24, at the Guild Theatre. For only a $10 admission, the show was affordable to all, with proceeds going to local homeless shelters and T-Mo’s Boy to a Man workshop. The theatre is illuminated starkly in the quaint Oak Park neighborhood - truly a diamond in the rough. Local vendors lined the theatre walls with a vast array of handmade jewelry, music and clothing.

Jennifer Bernard, founder of Haute Baubles Jewelry & Accessories, was one of many vendors in attendance. Her handmade glittering jewels sparkled across black velvet fabric, enticing, yet affordable. Bernard, who works full time, explained that without owning a boutique, she depended on local events like the Holiday Jam to showcase her products. Ursula Johnson of Sista Girl Clothing shared similar circumstances for her Sacramento-born clothing line. Perusing the various tables, patrons eased past one another, eying the homemade goods with admiration. As the clock neared 7 p.m., the smooth melodies by Sacramento’s own LSB (short for “LoveSomeBody”) cajoled the 100-plus individuals swiftly to their seats.

Reminiscent of “Showtime at the Apollo,” the performers were local gems from all walks of life, including ex-convicts and Grammy nominees. Although all performances can be spoken for, there were some that deserve special attention. T-Mo’s own Tony R. was the first to take the stage and capture the audience’s attention. Boy, did T-Mo put their best foot forward. Tony R. blew the house down with a voice so powerful I literally could not believe my ears. This was blue-eyed soul like I’d never experienced. With a voice like Maxwell, Tony went straight for the heart, singing R&B classics we couldn’t help but sing and dance to. Black people love themselves a little white boy with some soul, and they ate him up! Tony was definitely aware of the crowd’s vibe and fed it. The stage had been impressively set after a mere three songs. Although we could have listened to him all night, talent beyond years was looming in the near distance.

Fifteen-year-old Samara Brandon blessed the audience with a larger-than-life voice. Her cover of Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Put Your Records On” was debatably superior to the original. The audience was in awe as the vibrations of Brandon’s sultry voice resonated through each of us, leading to a euphoric synesthesia - both hearing the words and feeling them alike. It’s incredible how an adolescent girl could possess such talents equivalent to, if not better than, a trained, seasoned professional. Samara was truly phenomenal and an inspiration to all, with a promising future lying ahead.

Other notable performers included 2005 Artist of the Year Grammy nominee Izreal. Music producer and hype-man Harry Brown, with Shawn Raiford on the saxophone, were in attendance with gospel hip-hop artist Izreal. How refreshing it was to listen to politically and religiously conscious rap music performed by educated individuals. The beat is what grabbed our attention, but the lyrics are what kept us listening. The gospel didn’t stop there. Izreal was followed by a few other gospel performances both unique and inspiring in their own ways.

The highlight of the night and what brought most people to Guild Theatre that Saturday evening was the poetry performance by T-Mo Entertainment. The lights sulked, the stage emptied and a voice from the top balcony whipped our heads around. The crowd attentively listened, desperate to catch even a silhouette of the seemingly phantom speaker “He Spits Fire.” Suddenly! A voice on the stage, heads whip in the other direction as Claudia Epperson creeps into the stage lighting, caressing us with poetic lullaby. She chants “T-Mo, T-Mo, T-Mo,” as Terry Moore, founder of T-Mo Entertainment, thundered yet again from another corner, with necks snapping to locate the speaker. Each poet set the stage for the other in a cyclical rhythm, using the entire theatre to his or her advantage for an admirable performance.

T-Mo’s 12th annual Holiday Jam was a great success. Talent from all walks of life found themselves congregated within the walls of Guild Theatre for a night of inspiration. With close to 25 performances throughout the year, T-Mo’s Holiday Jam is definitely not one to miss. The turnout was great, the performers were fabulous, the production was impeccable, and with a reservation at the food truck out front, you can definitely count me in on T-Mo’s 2013 Holiday Jam!

Editor’s note: Every Thursday we deliver a local event guide straight to your inbox, right on time to make your weekend plans. Sign me up.

Giving back through music

2012-11-27T06:15:51Z

It’s the time of the year again when canned food drives get into high gear. Recently, The Conscious of Self and the Love Renaissance Project took a different approach to giving back by holding a canned food drive concert. Conscious of Self is a campus organization at Sacramento State University that promotes student advocacy on campus. The Love Renaissance Project is a collective of local artists, photographers,musicians, writers, and entertainers. All of the performers were local, many of them are students at Sacramento State and part of one of the two organizations.

“I chose to perform at this event because it was for a good cause.” says Steffen Hudson, a performer who goes by the stage name Edi Futur.

The event started off rocky, with many technical setbacks. That didn’t stop people from coming. Some arrived with backpacks full of cans, others only had one or two. Those who didn’t have any cans donated money so that cans could be purchased for them. It was a small and intimate performance with about fifty people in attendance.

Each performer improvised and performed a cappella. They converted their songs into spoken word pieces and even made beats by beating on the table. “We got up there and walked around that room, passing the spoken word around through all of us, it was pure energy. said Nate Tate, a performer who goes by the stage name Young Natho. "We didn't have music to back us up. We made music. We beat on the stage, the walls, a table. We were music.”

“At the end of the day, it wasn't about the music. It was for a larger purpose. Giving back was the goal.” said Jamie Garcia, an audience member and a Sacramento State student.

In total, 400 cans were collected and delivered to Loaves and Fishes the following Tuesday afternoon. There were no specific goals of how many cans event organizers wanted to collect but they were satisfied with the number collected. They are even hoping to put on another benefit concert in April with a larger turnout and more cans.

Disclosure: Brianna Taylor is a Neighborhood News Correspondent for accesslocal.tv. For more stories about our community, visit accesslocal.tv.

Did anyone notice Small Business Saturday in Sacramento?

2012-11-26T23:34:45Z

Saturday, November 24 was "Small Business Saturday" across the nation. Supporting small business is more important than ever since it has been the main force driving the economic recovery. The idea came from American Express a few years back and was embraced by President Obama on Saturday, as he went Christmas shopping for his family at an independent book store. The question is, did this concept, sandwiched in between "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" have an impact in Sacramento? I decided to take my SacTV.com camera Downtown and to Old Sac to investigate on Saturday between noon and 2pm.

Walking around the K Street Mall, which now has the title "The Kay," I did not find much action going on. Of course a lot of The Kay is former small businesses that used to occupy all that empty office space. The ice skating rink near the Downtown Plaza seemed to be the only real sign of noticeable activity going on in that area. Then I walked through Downtown Plaza, which had a pretty sparse crowd. There were Christmas decorations everywhere but not a huge crowd of Christmas shoppers. Then again, most of this mall is composed of national corporate chains, so it's not like this would be the destination for small biz supporters.

Old Sac, which is mostly small local businesses, was a different story. There was an upbeat atmosphere and a crowd on every street. There's a good chance people would've been there anyway regardless of what name you gave the day. It could've been called "Museum Saturday" and probably would have done just as well. People were more likely there to see the big Christmas tree than to support a national day of observing small businesses.

Even though the Downtown Plaza was recently taken over by new owners, there's still a sense that it's nothing more than a duplication of more popular malls like Sunrise Mall and Arden Fair. Basically, for any corporate item you need, you are likely to find it at a mall closer to your home than driving all the way Downtown, unless you happen to live near Downtown. Old Sac, once again, is a different story. There aren't a bunch of Old Sacs all over town to turn to if you are shopping for unique items that go along with the city's heritage.

Conversely, if you're looking to buy nationally popular products, you are not likely to find them in Old Sac. That's why one can only assume that the more populated destination of Old Sac vs Downtown Plaza indicates Sacramento really does have a loyal market for local businesses and local culture. But was anyone raving about Small Business Saturday? Not really. I didn't see any banners or specials using those words. Sacramento's support for small business is more of an engrained undertone than an in-your-face promotion.

For years I've heard outsiders call Sacramento "an old cow town," which never made sense to me. I watched it mutate from a mom n' pop town to a standardized corporate mall town in the 80s. At the time I thought of it as moving toward modernization. There was never a time in my life when I thought of Sacramento as a farming town, even though prior to the 60s, before I was born, that's sort of what it was. To double check this perception, how many farms have you found in Downtown, Midtown or Old Sac? I haven't bothered counting because I've never noticed any. You also won't find many farms in the immediate surrounding areas. The biggest misconception about Sacramento, especially from outsiders, is that it's a small town like Lodi or Placerville.

My analysis of the Sacramento market is that it is overly nationalized or corporatized. When people ask me to describe it, I tell them it's strip mall after strip mall, unless you visit Midtown or Old Sac. The thinking behind city planning seems to support more corporate malls and less small business. On one hand it makes sense to fill malls with national companies who can pay the rent because they are financed by Wall Street firms or have their own giant bank accounts. Even in bad times they can still borrow the money to pay expenses, whereas small business owners can't really do that anymore.

Yet, if you look at how Sacramento's economy has been destroyed over the past five years, a lot of it has to do with corporations doing the wrong things and not so much small businesses creating the damage. If it weren't for Wall Street's deceptive mortgage-flipping schemes, we might not have ever had a huge recession. That's what brings us to the question: how much do we really need big corporations?

I personally have cut a lot of corporate products out of my life. There aren't that many things at a corporate mall that I need or want anymore, besides maybe the Apple Store and a few things at Sears. At one time almost all my spending money went to the corporate world until I began to analyze my finances. I decided from that point that most corporate products are unnecessary in my life, beyond automobile or computer-related items and certain enterainment choices. When it comes to giving away gifts, I would rather give someone something more personalized than commercialized.

I don't think most Sacramentans think this way because this kind of conversation doesn't come up a lot. I think Sacramento is mostly corporate-driven due to convenience, since most people are surrounded by strip malls. Also, local media, especially radio, is saturated with corporate advertising. People buy corporate products because that's what's most visible in our environment. Sacramento's appreciation for small biz exists, but is buried under layers of media bombardment.

One of the best ways I can see to help small businesses this Christmas season is to support local music. CDs are still great gifts since they only cost about $10 and can provide long lasting pleasure. My song "Support Your Local Scene" is not available on CD but makes a nice video link if sharing links for free can be considered a gift, even on Cyber Monday. Sacramentans clearly support local business when it's obvious and in front of them, but small business still needs more exposure and discussion to help accelerate the area's economic recovery.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com.

Grammy-nominee Ana Tijoux performs at Sol Collective

2012-11-21T09:31:49Z

Sol Collective hosted Grammy-nominee Ana Tijoux and other artists on Monday, Nov. 19.

Tijoux was up for Best Urban album at the Latin Grammy Awards that transpired on Nov. 15.

International and local talent continues to be showcased at Sol Collective and Monday night provided over five hours of entertainment. Andru Defeye served as host for the evening and kept things moving along.

Once onstage, Tijoux, who is currently six months pregnant, thanked the audience for attending and apologized for not being able to perform the last time she was scheduled to appear at Sol Collective, in late August.

Tijoux started off with “Obstaculo” (Obstacle) and “Partir de Cero” (Starting From Scratch) off her “1977” album. Rhythmic, thought provoking and catchy Spanish rap lyrics were presented with enthusiasm and expressive style. Five other songs from Tijoux's “La Bala” album followed.

Music provided by two talented backup musicians helped Tijoux deliver an impressive performance that showed how rap continues to transcend language and international borders to bring music and the voice of the people to all. Tijoux's talent also showed that rap in Spanish continues to grow and attract audiences throughout the world.

Before the show, I was invited to go backstage and hold a short interview with Ana Tijoux. We spoke in Spanish and I translated her answers for this story The interview has been included at the bottom of this article.

Sol Collective and its team of community members, educators, activists and volunteers put together a great show that showcased both local and international artists. They continue to make their building available for art exhibitions, community forums, and advocacy and other community programming. On Monday nights they make their space available for an open mic night as well as live art demonstrations such as those done by Fresno's Barrio Art Collective. The open mic is available for community members to share their poetic, rap, comedic, musical and singing talent.

Microphone Monday was held earlier than usual this week to accommodate the musical acts of the evening. Monday night's crowd welcomed over a dozen performances to the stage.

Monday's open mic brought some heart-wrenching spoken word poets to the stage and audience support was instrumental in allowing these artists to share their message. Some participants took the stage for the first time, and many awed the audience and inspired others to take the stage.

Topics covered during open mic included a gamut of topics including sex, drugs, politics, love, Kurt Cobain and comedy.

Performances by participants were very impressive. If you've ever had an inkling to share your talents, Mic Mondays at Sol Collective provide a great atmosphere in which to share those talents.

Host, Defeye, also served as the opening act for the evening full of music at Sol Collective. Defeye's rap and lyrics were well received by the ever-growing audience on hand.

Pro Mañon followed Defeye and also entranced the audience with their rap style. This was the first time I've seen Pro Mañon perform, and although I only caught part of their act, I became an instant fan.

Mentes Diferentes took the stage, and although they were missing several members, their performance had everyone moving to the beat. Mentes Diferentes continues to rap about political, social and community awareness. Their catchy beat and lyrics also capture the imagination as they reach out to English, Spanish and Spanglish speaking audiences.

Oakland's Bukue One brought his brand of rap to Sacramento and the audience loved the performance. The creative lyrics of Bukue One also had the audience moving, and he was not shy to get them involved.

As Bukue One performed, he threw in some Jamaican-style rap as well as some light-hearted lyrics dealing with taking long walks, hip-hop shows, being a momma's boy, sex, freakiness, Romney and more sex.

Bukue One's rapid rap style, lyrics and personality captivated the audience as he delivered an outstanding performance.

Ana Tijoux Interview

Sacramento Press: When did you arrive in Sacramento?
Ana Tijoux: We arrived today from Los Angeles.

SP: Can you tell us a little about yourself for our readers who may not know you?
AT: I'm a musician from Chile and I've been doing rap for the past 15 years. I have three solo albums. I used to be in a band before going solo. I'm a mother; I have a 7-year-old son and am pregnant with my second child.

SP: Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?
AT: This will be a girl.

SP: Are you currently on tour?
AT: Yes, I am. It's not a long tour and this is our third stop.

SP: Have you played in Sacramento before?
AT: Yes, and every time I come to Sacramento I perform at Sol Collective.

SP: Do you have any other current projects?
AT: No, but right now we're touring to promote the last album entitled, “La Bala” (The Bullet), and possibly start the next record, so that's the plan at the moment.

SP: When did “La Bala” come out?
AT: It came out last year. Wait, it was released (in the U.S.) at the beginning of this year in January 2012.

SP: Have you picked out a name for your child?
AT: Yes, she'll be named Emilia.

SP: Is she named after a family member?
AT: It's my mother's name.

SP: So you were a Latin Grammy-nominee this year. What are your thoughts about that?
AT: It was held in Las Vegas. It was an interesting event to be in and enjoy. I was very grateful for the nomination. Although we did not win we are thankful for the opportunity.

SP: What are you doing after the show?
AT: Going to sleep (laughing). Like a good pregnant mom I need to rest. I'll drink orange juice, milk and go to bed.

SP: What kind of music do you listen to?
AT: Wow, let's see. I listen to a lot of Latin American music. I love Brazilian music, Chilean folkloric songs; well, I like a lot of other music like African music, jazz, soul...

SP: Any future plans for tours, books or records?
AT: Yes, I have several projects under my belt. At the moment creating a new album comes to mind. I hope to take the time to create and release it in the near future. I would also like to publish something but I don't want to rush any projects.

SP: Any closing remarks for the Sacramento audience?
AT: I would like to tell readers that it is always a pleasure to visit and perform here. We find it full of surprises and I like Sacramento. This city cultivates a lot of talent and there are many creative and inspirational people here.

Royal Drummers and Dancers of Burundi bring African rhythm to Three Stages

2012-11-21T06:42:59Z

In a “Big Bang” of African rhythm, the Royal Drummers and Dancers of Burundi brought their primal cornerstone of music to Folsom Lake College’s Three Stages theater Monday night.

Carrying their handmade drums on their heads while playing a solemn march and wearing authentic ceremonial outfits from their east-African country, the 13-man ensemble entered from the lobby single-file before planting their instruments in a half-circle of ten supporting drums around the painted Inkiranya lead drum.

Native chants determined a starting point and unified the troupe until they detonated the first note of each cadence with tightly synchronized overhand arm strokes, organizing the players into sections of drums, some keeping a constant beat while others added accents.

While playing, the drummers all kept uniform, tribal dance steps to the pulse while those not currently playing came forward to demonstrate astonishingly athletic leaps and kicks in perfect time with the stirring, repetitious pounding.

Revolving through the stations of play and dance, the Inkiranya allowed each member to move to the center and be featured, solo or in pairs, using their powerful grace and broad smiles (which appeared slightly contrived) to create an audience bond without any verbal interaction.

African drumming, which most certainly traces back to the dawn of human music making, is used in traditional culture to communicate on many levels. The rituals these distinct beats celebrate are indicated in their names, some of which translate to English as “The Long Walk,” “The Honest Men” and “Rhythm Played When You Receive a Cow as a Present.”

These rhythms, in various time signatures, conveyed an essential power of the bond between our origin culture and the perceived earth. Using heavy sticks over a foot long, the drummers played clicks on the wooden shell to give a binary light tone before their united barrage dropped in on the calf-skin heads like a surprise blast of thunder, a universally recognizable vibration that any creature with hearing will have a reaction to.

The powerful, emotion-stimulating sound that the Royal Drummers and Dancers of Burundi create would seem to be a source for the ancestry of powerful music from around the globe, having evolved into such examples as the Taiko drums of Japan; the military drumming that, for many eons previous to the mechanical age, was an integral part of moving an army; and the raucous heavy metal of today’s first-world musicians.

To conclude their performance, the Royal Drummers and Dancers of Burundi helped each other place their drums back on their heads and, following a leader holding a shield and spear, played themselves off stage, completing their performance with one final thump and chant that rang through the theater as if it were a jungle.

A long ride on the road to success, WhoRide?

2012-11-20T10:21:17Z

Hard work, dedication, and perseverance is no easy ride, but it eventually pays off. A group of local artists who call themselves WhoRide knows first-hand that making it big isn’t something that happens over night.

Four friends from Roseville who came together on a series of coincidences are no strangers to late night recording sessions in their garage turned recording studio. With limited budgets, full-time jobs, and other responsibilities, it is truly a testimony to their passion for music that has brought them this far.

WhoRide will perform on stage Sunday, December 16 for their fifth time at Ace of Spades in Downtown Sacramento. They will be opening for Snoop Dogg, the famed rapper, for a crowd of about 1,200 fans, which is to be their largest sell-out so far.

It all began five years ago, after Michael “Money Mike” Carlson, artist and producer, moved back to California from Hawaii and started working at a local restaurant where he met Brandon “B.K.” Kelley, fellow group member. From there, Carlson was introduced to Justin “JSi” Silas, Gerald “G Money” Miguel, and Stephen “Burn” Jackson and together they began making music.

WhoRide, who describes their music as hip-hop, reggae, club and underground with a mainstream sound, says they like to be “well-rounded.”

While for now, they earn only a small fraction from ticket sales for each show, for “Money Mike” making music is about more than just money.

“Of course everybody wants to be rich and famous, but I would be okay with just being comfortable,” says Carlson. “I do it because I love the music and because I like hearing that other people also enjoy listening to it.”

WhoRide, who can be spotted at local bars competing in Beer Pong Competitions, released their first music video earlier this year. It was appropriately titled, “Balls Back” (Beer Pong Song), featuring C-Smoove of Cali Swag District. They have come a long way over the course of four years.

“I would describe it as a lot of patience, a lot of waiting and a lot of hard work,” says Carlson. “It’s been exciting.”

As for what’s to come, “The sky’s the limit,” he says.

History of local intersections begins at Watt & El Camino

2012-11-20T00:10:23Z

Kicking off a series of SacTV.com videos about the history of Sacramento intersections is "Watt & El Camino," which is an introduction to stories about this legendary intersection. It's hard to believe that this intersection is nothing like what it was in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s when Tower Records and Tower Books were the key hangouts on this block. Even though the bowling alley, Country Club Lanes, still thrives and survives as a busy family fun entertainment center, much of the block has gone through a major facelift. There used to be a hair salon where my friend Dotti worked, next door to Tower Books, which is now a health food grocery store called Fresh & Easy. The Goodwill Donation Center has replaced Tower Posters while Sam's Hof Brau Restaurant has been there forever and remains.

A big differerence between the 1990s and 2010s is that this intersection attracted radio stations, which at one time were a very big deal to the local culture. KWOD promoted Club Gnaw, which historically and currently is called Candlerock Lounge. It's a place where KWOD presented a show by Erasure in 1992 and local cover band Octavia, whose singer Brad Adams worked for both KRXQ and KWOD. It was also this legendary parking lot where KRXQ (then 93 Rock, now 98 Rock) presented a free show by Metallica in 1996. It was a last minute deal promoters put together and 93 Rock scooped the market by confirming the rumors the day of the show that the band would play free.

Looking at this intersection today it's easy to put into perspective how times have changed. Tower Records symbolized a completely different era than what we're in now, just like Metallica makes a better 20th century than a 21st century reference. It was in the early 2000s that the band took the initiative to start suing fans for downloading their music illegally for free. Even though the music industry was correct that unauthorized file swapping was against copyright law, it was right about that time that the popularity of both Metallica and the music industry slipped dramatically. Music fans still don't think of file swapping as stealing, although the music industry has won some huge settlements against fans. Apple's iTunes turned out to be the bridge between the crumbling old music world and what it became.

Tower Records symbolizes the small company that started locally and became national then wanted to become international. But the step between national and international proved to be too far of a stretch. The company over-extended itself on credit and then got hit with being unprepared for the direction that iTunes took the music industry with paid downloads. So in 2006 Tower Records folded, but for years its office space was vacant. In the past year a European grocery chain, Fresh & Easy, moved in, symbolizing where the consumer market is headed in the 21st century. Health food has actually become a bigger hit in 2012 than popular music, which has been on a decline since 1999.

I enjoy reminiscing about Tower Records, although I completely understand how the empire folded. I went to high school with David Solomon, son of Tower head Russ Solomon. When we last talked in 2010 he explained to me the story. For me, I have several memories of the location tied to my radio history. It's where I met KZAP personality Mick Martin and where the Sacramento Bee once covered a special presentation about KZAP's history. FM 102's Chris Collins made appearances there. I spent a lot of time at this intersection in high school and through my years at KWOD in the 80s and 90s.

Prior to entering the radio industry in 1984, I worked around the corner on Arden Way spinning tunes at a roller rink called King's Skate Country. It was during that time when the skating industry began to decline as a popular cultural activity. I bought 45 rpm records for the rink from 1982 through 1984, the year it closed. I believed that part of what hurt the skating business was that was around the time that home video games were becoming popular. You were more likely to be a superstar at home with video games than a show-off on wheels in public. You either had to skate a lot to look hot on wheels, or you weren't considered part of the scene. It's interesting to me that skating was music-driven but didn't survive in the neighborhood, yet bowling proved to be the stronger survivor and still packs the building at Country Club Lanes. Family fun centers that include bowling have done well throughout the recession.

What I want to do is get together with people who remember this location and get their memories on video. Although I prefer to download music from iTunes these days, which saves me from driving somewhere just to buy music, one thing I miss about the location is that it was a meeting place to hang out with music fans. I actually spent more time reading books at Tower Books once I got into the radio industry in 1984, when I started getting a lot of music for free. Even though the intersection is not as musical as it historically was, it still stands out as an instant reminder of local music history. It's interesting how much history this intersection also tells us about the shifts in American pop culture.

Disclosure: I own SacTV.com

Minus the Bear rocks out Sacramento

2012-11-17T04:46:47Z

It was indie night at Ace of Spades this past Wednesday, Nov. 14. From unique female vocalists to experimental post-hardcore, three bands gave Sacramento a great show.

Emotion-stricken vocalist Nina Diaz and her band, Girl in a Coma (Phanie Diaz, drums and Jenn Alva, bass), were first to take the stage.

All the way from San Antonio, Texas, Girl in a Coma showed a strong and fun female presence.

Nina Diaz has a rockabilly style of vocals that, paired with their indie rock sound, puts Girl in a Coma in their own genre.

With four studio albums, Girl in a Coma has a mixture of fast-tempo rock songs like “Say” off their first album “Both Before I'm Gone” and slower and more emotional tracks like “Smart” from “Exits & All The Rest.”

Girl in a Coma set the stage for the next band, Cursive.

From Nebraska, Cursive (Tim Kasher, lead vocalist; Matt Maginn, bass; Ted Stevens, guitar; and Cully Symington, drums) has an experimental post-hardcore sound. If you’re familiar with the band At The Drive-In, Cursive has a lot of similar sounds and layers on their songs.

“This House Alive” from their sixth album, “I Am Gemini,” opened up Cursive's set.

With a variety of layering and progressively building up the tempo in their songs, Cursive is creative and exciting in their sound.

Some of their songs performed include “The Sun and Moon,” “From the Hips” and “The Radiator Hums.”

Both Girl in a Coma and Cursive were a great matchup to open for headliner Minus the Bear.

A fully packed house, the audience was ready for the Seattle-based band Minus the Bear, who opened up their set with the song “Steel and Blood.”

With a polished sound, Minus the Bear, which includes Jake Snider, vocals; Dave Knudson, guitar; Cory Murchy, bass; Alex Rose, synths; and Erin Tate, drums, gave a flawless performance.

Heavy on lyricism, Minus the Bear touches on serious topics such as drug use (on the song “Into the Mirror”) and drinking (“Absinthe Party”).

Similar to the bands The Early November and Thrice, Minus the Bear is a band that stands for meaning and rock.

Cursive played a set of over 15 songs, including “Diamond Lighting,” “Into the Mirror,” “Toska,” “Lies and Eyes,” “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse” and “The Game Needed Me.”

All three bands gave a well-rounded performance, showing their various sounds of indie rock.