Arden Way always strikes me as a snapshot of not just Sacramento, but American pop culture. Since I was a kid I've thought of it as the most familiar street in Sacramento. Sometimes I cruise down Arden Way just to take a trip down memory lane. It almost becomes a ghost story thinking of how so much of my life was spent on that street, yet so much of what used to be there is no more.  My first media experience happened on Arden Way when I was in the first grade in 1968. I got to be on a local TV show called "Captain Delta" on KOVR Channel 13, which at the time was the ABC affiliate, whereas now it's CBS. Back then I didn't know networks could flip stations because I was too young to unders

From Old Sacramento’s ‘prohibition style’ speakeasies, to the Man Men era of Downtown’s dueling politicos and backroom deals, Sacramento has a long history of working hard and playing harder. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership’s (DSP) new Cap City Sips happy hour promotion celebrates just that, the art of balancing business with a splash of pleasure. This summer, DSP and local downtown businesses have joined forces to create a budget-friendly happy hour promotion for the Downtown District. Each restaurant or bar participating in Cap City Sips will offer a happy hour menu every Wednesday from 3-7pm featuring $2 beers, $3 wine, and $4 cocktails. The deals will continue each week all summer

Bobby Cary from Woodcreek High School in Roseville has been named the grand prize winner in the Water Spots Video Contest, sponsored by the Regional Water Authority and Sacramento Bee Media in Education program. Cary's video was one of nearly 90 half-minute spots submitted in the first annual contest designed to teach kids about using water efficiently. Celebrity judges narrowed the videos submitted down to 11 finalists, and the public voted Cary's video their favorite. The finalists and grand prize winner were unveiled on Raley Field's Jumbotron before a Sacramento River Cats game. The top three winning students and teachers also received cash prizes. Cary's winning video is now part of

How much local music do you hear on your car radio? One way to check is turn on the radio and start counting local songs. Perhaps on Sunday night you'll hear regional rock on 98 Rock's "Local Licks" or local r&b on "Home Grown Soul Show" on V101.1. You'll also hear local music once in awhile on public radio such as Capital Public Radio, Access Sacramento, KDVS and KVMR. But that's about it. The rest of the dial is dedicated to either national hits or some form of one sided corp-friendly talk radio that mostly ignores Sacramento and focuses on what's best for big biz, which less than 30% of the population works for. The lack of local music on the radio, of course, has nothing to do with sh

"Make a Movie this Summer" at Access Sacramento   Access Sacramento is excited to announce the winners of this year's Place Called Sacramento Film Festival. The 10 winners were officially announced at the Cast & Crew Call on Saturday. It was tight race again this year as the judges numbers came in. There were lots of great stories to choose from and each year the scripts get better and better and the scores stay neck in neck until the last round of judging. The Script writers now become the Producers and will be  making 10 short films over the summer. All their films will be played on the big screen at The Crest Theatre on Sunday, October 7th at 1pm. They used the PCS Cast and Crew Call to

Access Sacramento invites actors, artists, film technicians, craft services spealists, and all who love seeing local movies on the big screen at the Crest Theater to come to the Coloma Center (4623 T St.) Auditorium today from 3-5 PM. Ten scripts have been selected and at 3 PM sharp, the ten writers now become producers and they ask for your help making their dreams come alive on the screen this summer. Celebrating the thirteenth year, A Place Called Sacramento Film Festival starts with ten slected short scripts. Each filmmaker describes his or her script to the attendees and then the fun begins. All are invited to meet the filmmakers and suggest how they can help. By 5 PM, the core cast

Building archives of local music scene history for SacTV.com has generated a whole new world of adventure. It helps that I happened to take a lot of video footage at local shows in the late 90s. I mostly concentrated on bands that I thought made some kind of mark in the local scene and had positioned themselves as permanent fixtures based on well-crafted songs that rivaled national hits. Two bands that always showed up on my radar have been Ninety  Nine Tales and Tattooed Love Dogs. Both bands were part of local internet history, frequently featured on Sacramento Music Scene, which became the area's first 24 hour internet radio station in 1999. By 2000 the station was called SacLIve and bo

Moves like Jäger won its 10 match sweeping the semis & finals while earning the Xoso Sport & Social League 2012 Spring Championship for Setter Volleyball! Moves like Jäger ended their season in noteable fashion as undefeated champions. Throughout the season, this team of very experienced veterans only gave up 2 games but never allowed a team to come close to taking an entire match. On this championship night, Moves like Jäger came out much like most Monday nights - with confidence and composure. In the SemiFinal game they were matched up against Ball So Hard whom they had played the previous week in regular season play and won in a 2-1 match. Last night's game wasn't as close as Moves to

Arthritis sucks, because today: · Three people will die from arthritis-related complications · 50 million men, women and children are in pain from arthritis · 3,750 joints will be replaced Arthritis and its forms, like RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis), are often referred to as the “invisible disease.” The symptoms are invisible when looking at an affected person’s appearance – so much that people with the disease often hear, “but you don’t look sick.” There’s also a misconception that only old people are suffering. However, JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) can be diagnosed as early as 6 months old. The effects of arthritis and all of its forms, however, are far from invisible to those who

Area residents can get answers to their most vexing landscaping questions and check out beautiful, low-water use plants at "Ask a Green Gardener Day" on Saturday, May 19. May is “Water Awareness Month." To celebrate, the Regional Water Authority and local water providers are partnering with nurseries throughout the Sacramento region to host "Ask a Green Gardener Day." Green Gardeners are landscape professionals that undergo an intensive, 10-week training course in sustainable, River-Friendly landscaping. They include maintenance professionals, contractors, designers, arborists and irrigation experts. During this free event, visitors will have the opportunity to meet qualified Green Gard

Building a home recording studio to produce the indie music album of your dreams can take a lot of time and work but the end result is worth it if you want the best sound without sacrificing artistic control. Many bands become frustrated with their recordings at expensive pro studios because the finished product doesn't meet the standards of the music industry or the artist's own expectations. Part of that problem has to do with the clock, which adds stress when studio time is limited. At the same time the clock drains a budget that also may be limited. You can end up with a recording that costs over $10,000 but does not sonically measure up to the major label recordings heard on radio, wh

SACRAMENTO-- Clever narrative, humor and even some animation--those are some of the ingredients found in the nearly 90 videos submitted in the Water Spots video contest, sponsored by the Regional Water Authority (RWA), Sacramento Bee Media in Education and local water providers. From raps and jingles to serious messages about water scarcity, Sacramento-area high school students showed off their creativity in 30-second public service announcements on outdoor water efficiency. Celebrity judges narrowed the videos down to 11 finalists, now it's the public's turn to vote for their favorite by Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at www.sacbee.com/mie. The finalists and grand prize winner will be unvei

Thunder Valley Casino Resort will kick off their summer concert series on May 18. Thunder Valley has brought a diverse lineup of acts to their summer stage in past seasons, and 2012 promises to be just as good, with everything from local favorites such as Tesla to cross-border sensations, including three-time Grammy-winner Diana Krall. Krall also just recently collaborated with Paul McCartney on his latest album, “Kisses from the Bottom.” According to Doug Elmets, spokesman for Thunder Valley; “Our hope is that the entertainment will appeal to a broad cross-section of our patron base while also attracting people who haven’t experienced our AAA Four Diamond resort,” Thunder Valley spoke

At this Wednesday’s Hearts for the Arts Benefit Event (6pm-9pm at Alex Bult Gallery) artists, community leaders, and Sacramento’s finest convene to celebrate and raise funds for Any Given Child Sacramento. This initiative, spearheaded by For Arts’ Sake, strives to ensure that art experiences are accessible to every child in grades K-8. As a part of this fun, alternative event you can treat your Valentine to a night like no other, all while supporting a great cause and enjoying an evening of art, music, cocktails, and refreshments. Esteemed auctioneer David Sobon will auction off “heart-works” donated donated by over 24 local artists, including Raphael Delgado, Shane Grammer, and Micah Cr

  Access Sacramento is excited to kick off PCS 2012, our thirteenth year, on this Thursday February 2nd at the wonderful Crocker Art Museum. If you would like an opportunity to see all 10 films on the big screen in the museum's theatre, now's your chance. It's a one night only event and rare chance to see all the films from 2011 together again. We hope to see you there!     The Crocker Art is pleased to present an encore screening of the 2011 "Place Called Sacramento" film festival. Friends of Access Sacramento, PCS filmmakers and fans are invited to celebrate, again, the 10 short films first premiered last October at the Crest Theatre.   Crocker Art Museum 216 O Street Thursday Fe

Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame member and legendary Righteous Brother Bill Medley brought a crew of extremely talented individuals to Thunder Valley Casino Resort Friday, including daughter McKenna. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Righteous Brothers. The second half of the duo, Bobby Hatfield, died of a heart attack back in 2003; Medley now tours with the 3 Bottle Band and McKenna. Kicking off the show was a video showing Medley as he made appearances in various shows throughout his career, including the David Letterman Show and the hit television series, Cheers. As the video ended, Medley started to sing “A Song for You” while he was still offstage. After about a minute he start

Growing up, sometimes we forget to exercise our creative activities. For some, our creative drive dies right along with the hand-me-down car from Grandma senior year in high school. Sometimes our creative energy is put on the backburner as stresses and responsibilities of being an adult such as finding a job, keeping a job, paying bills, the mortgage and providing for our families take over… or our creative energy fades away completely. Here in Sacramento, we love each other. We support each other. Seriously, we do. Just stop for a moment and think back on how many creative projects, ideas and businesses that have thrived in the last decade or so. Regardless if the doors of any of these i

The world renowned Harlem Globetrotters were at Power Balance Pavilion Sunday to take on the International Elite, as they went head-to-head to determine who would be the world champions. Globie, the team mascot, came out before the show to entertain the crowd with a little bit of magic and some dance moves. As Globie strutted around like Michael Jackson the crowd went wild with some kids jumping up to dance along with Globie. Even though the stadium was far from sold out, the audience members made up for it in enthusiasm. Throughout the game the crowd was cheering and clapping for the Globetrotters, with a few boos thrown in for team Elite. As with all Globetrotter games this was an aud

Armed with 20 vocalists, six band members and four crew members impersonating the legends of Motown, RPM Crown Productions brought their Hitsville USA Legends of Motown Tribute Show to Thunder Valley Casino Resort on Saturday. There was a sold-out crowd of diehard Motown fans there to enjoy some of the greatest hits from the Motown era. It was perplexing that more people weren’t up on their feet during some of the performances. However, after each performer finished their set they were met with more than a few people giving them a standing ovation. The all-star lineup included acts such as The Four Tops, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and even a brief break from Motown for a little bit of

The world renowned Harlem Globetrotters are scheduled to appear at Power Balance Pavilion this Sunday. As is customary, the Globetrotters have had a couple of players in town before the big event on Sunday. They were meeting with television and radio stations in the area, but more importantly they were getting out to meet their fans. I was able to meet up with “Handles” Franklin and one of their newest members, “TNT” Maddox. TNT is only the ninth woman in 86 years to play with the Globetrotters and the first woman since 1993. I found the two at the Project R.I.D.E. facility next to Jesse Baker Elementary School in Elk Grove. The two Globetrotters participated in a bit of horseplay — lit