October is here, which also means it’s the onset of ARTober—Sacramento’s celebration of National Arts & Humanities Month. Throughout the month the public can experience and participate in more than 150 art events, performances and free family activities, including exhibitions, poetry slams, art festivals, concerts, musicals and plays. This week features: Opera at the Crest: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, at the Crest Theatre “Opera at The Crest” will feature the "best of the best"—popular and favorite arias, duets and ensembles taken from the top 10 most popular operas voted on by Sacramento Opera patrons this summer. Selections will be performed by six acclaimed singers who will be appeari

Show for all ages Day one of this year’s Norcal Noisefest was held on Friday, October 1 at Luna’s Café on 16th Street. About a dozen acts showed off their unique Noise (music) making abilities. Some of these acts, probably like people back in the Paleolithic Age, used any available material to construct music making instruments for their performance. Styrofoam, 10 gallon plastic water bottles, tin foil, bricks, soda cans, nails on a board, sticks, and other rudimentary noise making instruments were used to make rhythmic sounds. None of the shows I witnessed used the nails screeching down a blackboard but it would have been interesting. Traditional instruments played their part with some

On October 1 and 2, Sacramento's annual Norcal Noisefest returns for its 14th festival. Founded in 1995 with a two-year hiatus in 1998 and 1999, the Noisefest (sometimes known as the Northern California Experimental Music Festival) is a weekend-long gathering of experimental musicians from across North America who come to Sacramento to provide an audio experience unlike anything else around. The Noisefest was described by Sacramento News & Review writer Julie de la Torre as "the musical equivalent of taking sandpaper to your eardrum, but in a good way." (http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1747208) Noise is not for everyone--but for those seeking musical experiences ranging fr