Arts / Culture / Preservation

City loans California Musical Theatre $300,000

2011-04-28T01:17:51Z

The struggling California Musical Theatre in Sacramento will receive $300,000 from the city to help it stay afloat.

The Sacramento City Council unanimously decided Wednesday to loan the amount to the theater over the next three years. The theater can withdraw the money in $50,000 increments each quarter until the $300,000 total is reached, according to a report by city staff. The money will go toward the theater’s operations.

California Musical Theatre runs Music Circus, the Broadway Series and Cosmopolitan Cabaret.

“It’s an important piece of downtown,” Councilman Jay Schenirer said, referring to the theater. The business the theater brings to downtown is “incredibly important,” he added.

The city is taking $300,000 from its Community Center Theater Renovation Project for the loan.

Councilwomen Sandy Sheedy and Angelique Ashby noted that the money for the loan is designated for the arts and cannot be used in the city’s general fund.

When the theater withdraws money from the loan during a fiscal year, it must pay back the city the amount plus interest by June 30 of that fiscal year, according to the city staff report.

The theater cannot receive a bank line of credit because of its financial situation, the staff report said.

Still, the theater provides benefits to the city, according to the report. The theater employs more than 550 people, and pays $800,000 to the Sacramento Convention Center in rent annually, the report said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

New arts group busy with projects

2011-01-02T19:36:29Z

Brainstorming a “Colorpalooza” project for schoolkids. Donating $500 to a local, young rocker. Helping artists get paid.

Sacramento Artists Council, Inc., a new arts organization based in Midtown, has spearheaded an array of projects since it launched in April.

Susan Rabinovitz, founder and executive director of the council, talked about the group’s projects in a Thursday interview. She explained that the group hosts events so artists have a space to exhibit and sell their work. The group asks for a 20 percent cut of sales, she said. “If your piece is sold, 80 percent is going back to the artist,” Rabinovitz said.

The group is a “full-fledged nonprofit charity,” she said, adding that it is not an artists’ cooperative. The council operates out of Sacramento Art Complex in Midtown.

At this point, the group has already incorporated as a nonprofit group with the state of California. The council is now waiting for the IRS to approve its tax forms, she said.

Rabinovitz, an artist and jewelry designer, said her organization is different from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, which sponsors art charities.

“We help create venues for local artists and musicians to showcase their talents,” she said.

The group hosted an Art Happens event in May and a Masquerade Gala dinner in November. Rabinovitz said the arts council will work with two schools in the Sacramento region as part of the June 2011 Art Happens event. The students will sell their art, and the proceeds will go back to the schools’ art programs, she said.

“Colorpalooza” is the theme the young artists will explore, she said. The theme is open-ended, and “they’re going to do whatever that interpretation is,” she said.

The council has also awarded a $500 grant to 15-year-old Julianna Zachariou of Sacramento. The money will go toward the young singer-songwriter’s expenses for recording her songs, Rabinovitz said.

The council was able to provide the grant to Zachariou and raise enough money to offset its business expenses in its first six months, Rabinovitz said.

Photo of Rabinovitz by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Advocate for Memorial Auditorium dies

2010-04-09T03:05:43Z

A community activist who was at the center of a campaign to maintain Sacramento’s historic Memorial Auditorium has died.

Richard LaVoie of Sacramento died April 2 from heart failure. He was 48.

LaVoie was the organizer of a campaign in the early 1990s to renovate Memorial Auditorium while staying true to its original design, said Bob Rakela, a member of the nonprofit group Friends of Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.

Today, the interior of the building looks impressive, Rakela said. And that’s largely because of LaVoie’s efforts and his fight to “keep it in its original configuration,” he added.

LaVoie pushed for passage of Measure H, the 1992 ballot initiative that successfully prevented the city from carrying out a plan to remake the auditorium into a fixed-seat theater, said Richard Clowdus, a member of the nonprofit group.

LaVoie was committed to preserving the auditorium as a “historic treasure,” Clowdus said.

Noelle Young is also a member of the nonprofit organization that LaVoie founded. “He was a very unique individual, and his loss was huge,” Young said. “He was a wonderful person -- very inspiring in a quiet way.”

Joanne LaVoie, Richard LaVoie’s mother, said phone calls have been pouring in from people who knew him. “I had so many people calling; I don’t believe it,” she said. “It’s just fantastic.”

The graveside service will be held at Sierra Hills Memorial Park and East Lawn Mortuary in Citrus Heights at 2 p.m. April 20, said Joanne LaVoie. After the service, a catered reception will be held at the Sierra Hills Reception Hall, she said. Sierra Hills Memorial Park is located at 5757 Greenback Lane. The public is invited to attend the services.

Photo: Richard LaVoie received a California Historic Preservation Award in 1998.

Photos courtesy of Joanne LaVoie.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Capital Public Radio wants competitor's jazz fans

2010-03-05T04:29:23Z

A Sacramento smooth jazz radio station is recasting itself as a rock station, but don’t expect the jazz-heads at Capital Public Radio to shed any tears.

Gary Vercelli, CPR’s jazz music director, said the format switch at KSSJ 94.7 FM could be a boon for CPR’s three jazz shows.

CPR, at 90.9 FM, wants to pick up KSSJ’s listeners.  “We’re just hoping that people will find us” on the radio dial, Vercelli said.

CPR and KSSJ shared the same pool of jazz listeners, he added.

Vercelli said he was surprised to learn that KSSJ was overhauling its format.

John Nelson, who is listed as a media contact for 94.7, was not immediately available Thursday afternoon and did not return two phone messages.

Entercom Communications Corp., which owned the jazz station, continues to own the station in its new rock music format.

A March 3 press release that Nelson e-mailed to media outlets said that RADIO 94.7 will play the music of rock bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band and The Killers.

The old version of the KSSJ website notes that the station is changing because it faced a tough financial situation. “In the past few years, the business side of KSSJ has become increasingly difficult,” according to the website.

CPR's jazz programs include Excellence in Jazz, Acid Jazz and Classic Jazz and Swing.

“We’re just doing the best we can with our brand of jazz nightly,” Vercelli said.

Listeners can hear the shows in the evenings at 90.9 and on demand at CPR’s website.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Exene Cervenka of the band X reflects on new works, older artists

2009-12-27T23:04:39Z

To call Exene Cervenka a “punk rocker” doesn’t begin to describe her complex and multi-faceted artistic career.

It’s true that Cervenka is a vocalist and songwriter for the band X, a pioneering Los Angeles punk group that formed in 1977. But Cervenka is not just “punk” or “rocker”: she’s also a folk musician, poet and visual artist who thinks about what it means to create art as she gets older.

Cervenka, who will appear with the original line-up of X at Harlow’s on Dec. 29, talked to The Sacramento Press about plans to make new music with the band and her thoughts and emotions relating to her work. In the interview, she also talked about her recent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and how it has led her to a greater appreciation of her friends and kind strangers.

For starters, Cervenka is not letting her diagnosis get in the way of her tour with X. She said she hopes that this tour will not be any different than previous tours. “So far, so good.”

Cervenka also explained a June 2 statement she wrote on X’s website — that she was “choosing to see the positive” in the diagnosis.

“Well, when you have a transformational life change and you realize that you have amazing people that love you so much who don’t even know you, or people who you love and now you realize that your friendship is even deeper, or whatever it is ... that kind of stuff is extremely positive because it changes your outlook on humanity,” she said.

While the diagnosis gives her a stronger appreciation of people, it makes her reflect on her mortality. “I am a human body, after all, you know,” Cervenka said. “Because nobody believes that until the day it comes. Everybody thinks they’re 21 ... and we’re not.”

While X has not made a studio album since "hey Zeus!" in 1993, Cervenka said she plans to create new music with John Doe, X’s vocalist and bassist. She noted that X recently created versions of the Christmas songs “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Jingle Bells.” As for original new songs, she said that she and Doe will need to take a block of time to create music.

“I think the only hang-up is that John and I just haven’t made time to stay at each other’s house for a week and write songs together, or go spend the day in downtown Los Angeles, hanging out,” she said.

While they haven’t yet coordinated their plans, Cervenka says she and Doe “have every intention” of writing new music.

Cervenka also addressed the question of whether X can be considered a “heritage band” because it hasn’t produced new work in many years. “I think we are unique,” she responded. “And I think that uniqueness is that we have a body of work that is still timely and vital. And, at least in my mind, it’s better over time. I like being in X more than I did in the early '80s, when I was all fucked up and a mess.”

She noted that the band doesn’t want to make an album that is not as good as its previous albums. In her view, X is going strong. Plus, Cervenka said she believes that a new album from X — now that the members are aging — could show that older artists continue to be innovative. “I would love to [make a record with X] at this late stage in the game because it would prove something to me that I’ve always wanted to prove,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to prove a lot of things to myself, but one of those things is that artists don’t always suck as they get older.”

Cervenka said that many musicians who made albums in the 1960s had “amazing” hit songs, and then “for some reason” did not make music again. Still, she thinks it's inaccurate to assume that artists will have a major creative period in their lives followed by lesser work. “And I think there’s a misconception that you have this brilliant moment and then you burn out,” she said. “And I think for some people, that’s true ... But it’s not always true.”

Cervenka, 53, already may be proving that artists can have a lifelong creative streak. In October, she put out a solo album, "Somewhere Gone," for which she’s the writer, vocalist and producer. (She describes producing as a “harrowing” job.) She also has a new band that will work with her on solo projects.

“I love my new band, it’s called California Mothership,” she said. “And we’re just getting ready to go back out on the road, so that’s great. And I’m doing a lot of art right now, and showing a lot of art, and making a lot of art — and that’s really exciting. And then we got a bunch of shows with X. So, I couldn’t be happier because I like to do more than one thing at a time. So, I focus on everything equally, with a lot of joy.”

Photo of Cervenka courtesy of http://www.exenecervenka.com

Photo of X courtesy of MAD Ink, PR

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.