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 t

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,

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. Sat

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 si

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

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

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 o

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 clos

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 ar

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 seri

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, Estell

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 Sacr

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 Maz

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 sa

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 E

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

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 fi

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 prese

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.