It's that time of year again when downtown Sacramento becomes the hub of entertainment for all party seekers and concert goers. This hub is located at Cesar Chavez Plaza, on the corner of Ninth Street and I Street. The Downtown Partnership announced on April 9 the after party locations for all concert goers to go to after Concert in the Park. The first set of bands will set up May 3, the first Friday of the concert series. Concerts begin at 5pm and go to 9pm and the last night of Concert in the Park will end on July 26.   As stated on their website there are nine official locations that are prime party spots to head to after the concert. To partake in the after party merriment check

If you haven’t made it to Concerts in the Park this year you’re missing out on some of the best music Sacramento has to offer. This past Friday was no exception as DJ X-GVNR entertained the CIP crowd in between acts. Playboy School was the first band to take the stage. The five member group includes Mackenzie Knoester and Liani Moore backing them was Steve Robinson on guitar, Ian McLachlan on bass and Alexa Golden on drums. The Sacramento based band started their set with “Chasing Rainbows.” Their original compositions and delivery were energetic, upbeat and included the use of a host of different instruments. Playboy School delivered enjoyable melodies and later went retro delightin

The Friday night summer concerts series returned to Cesar Chavez Plaza. Concerts in the Park returned for the first time without promoter Jerry Perry hosting the event. The music played on Friday, May 4 continues to be as entertaining as ever. Just like Fiesta en la Calle did last year this year’s CIP includes a DJ on site. DJ Shaun Slaughter supplied great music for those in attendance. Slaughter, writes and produces music under D.A.M.B., and also performed at the Sacramento Electronic Music Festival Saturday night. Concerts in the Park began on May 4 and runs every Friday until July 27. Many of last year’s bands return to the venue. Another noticeable difference this year is that

Mayor Kevin Johnson is currently in the process of visiting Sacramento’s six major counties to discuss the benefits of a future entertainment and sports complex along the stretch of what used to be the old Southern Pacific railyards downtown. At the mayor’s weekly press conference Tuesday, Johnson, who had just visited El Dorado County and the city of Folsom the day before, called his visits “authentic outreach.” Johnson is going on a bus tour Thursday to visit regions of El Dorado County, Davis, Roseville and Rancho Cordova to seek input from the communities there, he said. This city-to-city outreach is part of the the mayor’s Think Big Coalition. Johnson said the four guiding principl

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

Promoter Jerry Perry confirmed with The Sacramento Press Wednesday that the remaining three shows scheduled for End of Summer Fest have been canceled. According to Perry, the first two shows did not draw nearly enough people, resulting in a loss of money. In fact, the shows were about 2000 people short for the event to even break even, Perry said. "Attendance was about half of what I call 'break even,'" he said. "[During Concerts in the Park] there were times when we had over three times as many people." As a last ditch effort, Perry tried to relocate Friday's show featuring The Secretions to Old Ironsides, but the band declined the offer. The Secretions, a Sammie Lifetime Achievement Aw

"Unfortunately, I'm the idiot [who] came up with the world's worst f***ing band name," said Kai Kln drummer Neil Franklin. "It comes back to haunt me when I have to explain this name and try to pronounce it." Kai Kln (pronounced "kai" as in "kaiser" and "klin, but ignore the vowel," Franklin said) formed in Carmichael and played its first gig in August 1989 at Southside Park. When the four-piece headlines the inaugural End of Summer Fest concert in Cesar Chavez Plaza, it will be the 20-year anniversary of the band's first performance. Friday's concert, which is a continuation of Concerts in the Park, will also feature opening band Prieta, a 2009 Sammie award winner for best rock band. Pr

"People are probably going to give me [s***] about this," said Sol Peligro lead singer Sam Miranda. "Watching John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever [at] eight years old, I thought, 'This guy is cool.'" Though his band Sol Peligro plays reggae-influenced cumbia music -- not disco -- Miranda points to this moment as the first time he knew he wanted to be in a band. Friday night, Sol Peligro will be headlining a Concert in the Park that includes Retrograde Revolution and La Noche Oskura (click links for MySpace). Retrograde Revolution sounds like a Yellowman-influenced reggae/hip hop outfit, while La Noche Oskura combines punk and ska to sound like a Mexican Sublime. Miranda formed Sol Pel

"Country" music means different things to different people. To Rowdy Kate lead singer Keri Carr, it means feeling at home. She recalled that during her childhood, her father was a cowboy who rode horses and bulls and listened to country music. After her parents divorced, Carr and her mother moved away, distancing her from her father. "I missed him a lot when I was growing up," she explained. "It feels like home to me when I sing country music." Friday night, Rowdy Kate will bring the "back home" country spirit to Concerts in the Park. The band will headline a show that also includes Hellbound Glory and Flounder (click links for MySpace). Hellbound Glory members describe themselves as, a

The Brodys bring more than musical instruments to their Concerts in the Park shows: They also bring props. They like to up the entertainment value of their shows by bringing a little something extra. One year, they brought a fake 30-foot shark to go with a beach theme. Another year they brought in a Brodys cover band who played the band's instruments while the group listened from the beer garden. Once, they brought the entire Cal Aggie Marching Band to play a song with them. "Every year we raise the bar for ourselves; we can't just go back to showing up and playing," said The Brodys' lead singer Tony Brusca. "People coming out will get good music and chuckles, too." This year they will

If Baby Grand keeps their current lineup and releases an album this year, it will be a huge first for the band. It will be the first time one of their albums shares the same lineup as their current gigging band. This Friday at Cesar Chavez Plaza, Baby Grand will bring their most solid unit ever: a six-piece playing mellow organic pop. Opening for them will be Dog Party, The Poplollys and Ricky Berger. Dog Party is a duo consisting of 11- and 13-year-old sisters who play original songs and covers on drums and guitar. The Poplollys are a local trio who play Americana style country, while another favorite, multi-instrumentalist Ricky Berger, sings mellow folk music. Baby Grand first formed

Leading a band is like managing a kitchen, according to Jason Boggs. As both executive chef of The Shady Lady and lead singer of The Snobs, Boggs is qualified to make the analogy. "A lot of the same stuff that goes on in a kitchen goes on in a band on tour: drinking, bad tempers and egos to worry about," Boggs said. "You're trying to make a group of guys work together and most of the time they're misfits not [fit] for regular society." In order for the "misfits" to form a cohesive band, The Snobs created rules. Boggs, who played saxophone for local ska/reggae band Filibuster, was banned from playing saxophone. "It was the other guys in the band protecting themselves from me [playing reg

Golden Shoulders is a "breakup-proof" band. That's because it consists of Adam Kline and whatever friends are standing near him at any given time. In the past eight years, there have been 48 part-time collaborators, including former members of local bands Cake and Hella, as well as local singer Joanna Newsom. But one time, it was just Kline. Headlining Concert in the Park Friday night, Golden Shoulders will be a four-piece. The concert also features openers Radio Orangevale, Jeepster and Trainwreck Revival (click links for MySpace pages). Back in 2001, Kline formed Golden Shoulders with his friends from Nevada City. Since then they've recorded three albums and one EP, toured the U.S., a