All the glitz and glamour of Tinsel Town’s Academy Awards night once again came to the annual Capital City AIDS Fund benefit gala, Oscar Night Sacramento. Chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture and Arts and Sciences, Oscar Night Sacramento is one of only 49 sanctioned events in the country. Oscar Night America is a "grassroots program that enables local charities to host glamorous Oscar viewing parties and raise money for their organizations," according to an AMPAS press release. To set these parties apart from the thousands of unsanctioned events on Oscar Night, each ONA party receives copies of the official commemorative poster and show program among other items. The downtown Hyatt

With the Summer Olympics only a few months away, over a hundred hopeful students - boys and girls, men and women of all ages and skill levels, gathered this past weekend at the Sacramento Taekwondo Invitational at American River College (ARC) to compete for medals and advance to new belt colors. Stepping into the gymnasium at ARC, it was hard to imagine that it was a competition. Other than the athletes being dressed in their white uniforms and sparring gear, the atmosphere was very congenial. Before and after each demonstration and scrapping encounter, the athletes, referees and scorekeepers each bowed to each other as a sign of respect. The required insulation of a Taekwondo (TKD) war

A veteran of the Vietnam War, writer, director and producer, Oliver Stone began his movie career as a screenwriter in the late 1970s with credits that included “Midnight Express,” “Conan the Barbarian” and “Scarface.” He won an Oscar for best director for “Platoon,” his semi-autobiographical film about the ground war in Vietnam. He went on to make a string of successful and controversial films like “Salvador,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” both Wall Street sagas, and “The Doors.” His historical dramas “JFK” and “Nixon” earned Stone a reputation as a historical pragmatic and paranoid conspiracy theorist. Stone is currently producing a movie to be released this summer, “Savages.” The stor

Think Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Willie Nelson rolled into one, and yet you can only begin to imagine the sensation of a Lukas Nelson performance. Hitting the stage at the Powerhouse Pub in Folsom, with his talented band Promise of the Real, Nelson immediately captured the respect of his audience with his opening poetic dirge, “Let Me Smoke My Pipe.” He spent the evening rolling them into his powerful, soulful, rockin’ blues concert that left all satisfied with a truly smokin’ hot afternoon, indeed. At 23, showing off his recent clean-shaven face and shorter locks, the strikingly handsome yet still boyishly charming son of music legend Willi

It may be winter, but the warm sand and cool surf are calling, and what better way to ring in 2012 than a trip down to Kokomo with the legendary Beach Boys. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and recent California Hall of Fame inductees will be showcasing their fun in the sun songs that are set against a backdrop of surfing, girls and cars at Thunder Valley Casino 's Toast of The Coast-New Year’s Eve 2011 Celebration” in the Holiday Pavilion this Saturday in Lincoln.   Founded in Hawthorne, Calif. in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine. Neighbor David Marks joined the group