Sidewalk chalk isn’t just for kids, anymore. This Labor Day weekend, Sacramentans can get in touch with their inner child at the 20th annual “Chalk it Up! to Sacramento” chalk art festival in Fremont Park. Saturday through Monday, 200 professional artists will be on their hands and knees, creating two-by-four masterpieces on the sidewalk. Non-professionals can purchase their own squares for $10, which includes a box of chalk. A communal space with communal chalk on the interior of the park will also be available for kids and adults alike to chalk it up. Darby Flynn, president of Chalk it Up! said this type of event is special to Sacramento. “We want to make sure that our arts remain vi

Over one hundred degree weather seemed to have kept many Concerts in the Park aficionados at home (or at least indoor at bars across Sacramento). Concerts in the Park’s line up for Friday included Juliana Zachariou, Autumn Sky, Gerald Pease and Kate Gaffney. As I approached Cesar Chavez Plaza tonight I could hear Juliana Zachariou singing in the background. Juliana was runner up in the Jammies 2010 held earlier this year and I've been lucky enough to have seen her performance before. I heard her singing in the distance as I waited for a traffic light to turn green on the corner of I and 10th streets. Just as I was about to cross the street an ambulance was heading toward the intersection

After a small break, The Sacramento Press will be back at Cesar Chavez Park, 10th and J Streets, for Concerts in the Park featuring Kate Gaffney. This free, all-ages outdoor concert series will run every Friday until Aug.13. This week’s show runs from 5-8 p.m. with acts Juliana Zachariou, Autumn Sky, Gerald Please and headliner Kate Gaffney featuring a full, live band. In its 19th year, Friday Night Concerts in the Park still attracts huge crowds from all walks of life. Interesting vendors, delicious food stands, great live music and the ever-popular beer garden make for a fun and inexpensive summer evening. Stop by the Sac Press booth to spin our prize wheel, enter a raffle, and sign u

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP) has released the 2010 schedule for the Friday Night Concerts in the Park. The free, outdoor concert series will rock Cesar Chavez Plaza (10th and J streets) every Friday night from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. starting May 7 though August 13. For the latest concert news, visit www.downtownsac.org/concerts. 2010 CONCERT SCHEDULE* May 7 - Kepi Ghoulie The Kelps, Dog Party, Simpl3jack May 14 - Rick Estrin & The Nightcats Low Down Dirty Dogs May 21 - Dance Gavin Dance Phallucy, Con of Man, Desario May 28 - Mike Farrell Aaron King & The Imperials, One Eyed Rhyno June 4 - Method Echo The Nibblers, Live Manikin June 11 - The Nickel Slots Los Blazing Hangovers

        Valentine's Day can be challenging for everyone out there, whether you've got a special someone to impress or not. The choices are limitless, and it can be hard to set something up that everyone will enjoy. This year, why not please the whole crowd with a just-before-Valentine's Day show starring local indie pop songstress Autumn Sky and up-and-comer Tre Burt?     Miss Sky, who recently won the Sac Show award for best Acoustic Show, holds a Valentine's Day show each year. 2009's show at Luna's Cafe drew a huge crowd, where patrons and audience members alike sat on floors and laps to fit in the tiny room. This year will prove to be no less of a good time, especially considering

You may have already heard the New Year's Eve ball drop is off for this year. Norm Alvis of Edaddywarbucks.com, which co-sponsored the drop last year along with Paragary Restaurant Group, asked both the city and the Downtown Sacramento Partnership to pay a third of the estimated $100,000 for a ball drop. Neither agreed, so the event was canceled. One celebration that might compare to the spectacle of last year's celebration, which drew an estimated crowd of 12,000 to 20,000 people, is a city-sponsored event in Old Sacramento. Organized by the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau, the celebration will feature live music, food and drink vendors and perhaps most importantly, a firewor

Autumn Sky's "Creature Feature" The only Halloween theme to land on a day sure not to interfere with your elaborate Trick-Or-Treats festivities falls on Friday, October the 30th. Join one of Sacramento's top chaunteuses, Autumn Sky, for a night of ghoulish tricks, treats, and musical fun at Luna's Cafe on O and 16th at 8:00pm. Cover at the door is only $6, and it's an all ages event sure to entertain with special guests Adrian Bourgeois, Carly Duhain, and Jared Emme. See you there (muahaha.) Costumes are highly encouraged, as all the talent will be in full Halloween-themed attire!   AUTUMN SKY'S "CREATURE FEATURE" 8:00pm on October 30th. $6, all ages, located at Luna's Cafe and Juice

If you're free this evening, grab a couple of cans and make it on down to Orangevale for this for-a-good-cause event. Autumn Sky will be opening the lineup of indie and rock bands, dedicated to getting food to needy families in the area this season. This will be an 8:00PM, all ages show. The cover will be somewhere around $6, and you are encouraged to bring at least two cans of food with you. Come early for a good place to stand, this is expected to be one of the biggest shows of the year at this venue. As usual, I'll be there early to chat and hang out with you guys. Don't be afraid to say hello!    

Most 20-year-olds don't play over 15 instruments or write three songs per week. Nor have they traveled and lived all over the United States. But Sacramento musician Autumn Sky didn't grow up in a so-called "normal" household. Having played hundreds of shows, the ambitious Sky is on the rise. Sky (she uses her middle name instead of her last name, Hall) was born in Paradise, Calif. She and her family lived out of a Volkswagen Beetle near Puget Sound in Washington and spent time in Oregon and Wisconson before settling in Sacramento. She also recalled living in a log cabin in Mendocino as part of a nudist colony. "There is a whole [photo] album that my parents have and it's all these babi

Saturday, Sept. 19 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The Effort will hold an "Out of the Darkness" community walk near the west steps of the Capitol. Musician Autumn Sky will provide music for the expected 1,500 participants. Sunday, Sept. 20 9 a.m. - noon The Sacramento chapter of the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation will hold its annual fund-raising walk. Participants can show up and register on walk day near the south steps. Four-hundred people are expected to participate.

  Luigi's Fungarden on 20th Street will be playing host to an album release party for one of Sacramento's homegrown songstresses, Autumn Sky, Friday, April 24. Also on the bill are The Early States and Adrian Bourgeois. Autumn Sky (whose lyrical name is, amazingly, not a pseudonym) has been working on her first album, entitled All Which Isn't Singing, since 2007, and its release on the 24th will be the latest milestone in a lifelong musical journey. Sky can boast of having danced with Santa Barbara alt-rockers Toad the Wet Sprocket while still a toddler, proficiency with 14 instruments, and an appearance on NPR Sacramento's Insight program. It would be easy to describe Sky's music as fo

There's a lot to do this weekend in Sacramento, with the Amgen race on Saturday and all its attendant events; and then there's Second Saturday, with a number of great openings at local galleries. But if you're up for music, there's a bit less to choose from. Still, there's enough to check out, and quite a bit to look forward to. Tickets are going on sale this Saturday and Sunday for a number of upcoming shows. More about that in a moment.  First, perhaps the most interesting live music event of the weekend is the Mega Bollywood Show this Valentine's Saturday, at the Crest Theatre. Colleen Belcher's story about the event on SacramentoPress.com says it all about a show that is going to be