The Sacramento Ballet can never be accused of élitism.  Not when it dresses up as zombies and arranges a "Thriller" flashmob dance and encourages everyone to join in! Last week we attended a 'performance rehearsal' at the Sac Ballet studios for the work-in-progress of the upcoming performance of 'Dracula'.  The news is that it looks great! - Lots of exposed necks and flashing fangs and swirling velvet capes, even if Vincent Price won't be in it. Smart patrons have already got their tickets booked (we have). Spooky haloween-themed fun, but without the high fructrose corn syrup! But, after the rehearsal, there was a rehearsal of another kind  - As the audience filed out, another group was

Some scenes from Midtown's Modern Art Festival:   For article about the art festival, CLICK HERE>>>

A myriad of local artists and hundreds of community members gathered in the street Saturday to celebrate art in multiple forms for the first Midtown Modern Arts Festival. The free, family-friendly street festival was held on 20th Street between J and K streets and featured six hours of music, dance, comedy, visual and performing arts and creative, hands-on activities for kids. The festival was run largely in part to the multitude of volunteers willing to give their time to put the event together, and neither the attendees nor vendors were charged to attend. “This is one way for use to give back to the community — bringing art organizations, artists and businesses together,” said Heather

More than 100 downtown workers took part in a flash mob on Capitol Mall at Sixth Street Thursday afternoon that saw choreographed dancing to various songs during the farmers market. Kam Grant, a nearby worker, said she had fun during the approximately four-minute dance session. “It’s basically to help promote the Capitol Mall district and promote the businesses here on Capitol Mall,” she said Practicing was done in small groups, with Grant’s group holding four hour-long practices before Thursday. Capitol Mall flash mob from Brandon Darnell on Vimeo. Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Darnell.

Tonight, we gathered the family to go to the Roseville Galleria to sing the Hallelujah Chorus, shop for some last minute Christmas items, and to have dinner together. Our daughter was asked to come and sing by her high school choir and we had heard of these “Random Acts of Culture” in other communities. We understood that the singing was being organized by the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra, so we thought it would be a fun, family thing to do. We’ve had it on our calendar for weeks. The traffic was heavy in Roseville, but when we finally arrived at the Galleria, we were very excited. There seemed to be hundreds, if not thousands of wonderful and excited people just hoping to sing

It was a genuine mob scene—a “flash mob”, that is.  The Westfield Galleria in Roseville was evacuated Monday evening when a large crowd strained the capacity of the food court to its limits—and possibly beyond.   Amid reports of the floor cracking and buckling under the combined weight of an estimated 5,000 people, the Roseville Fire Department ordered the entire mall closed and evacuated everyone.  It was an orderly evacuation, though many people were slow to abandon their vantage points. Eventually the grumbling crowds were cleared away from the area around the carousel, the upper gallery and lower floor courtyard, and the surrounding corridors. Shop keepers stood bewildered in their d

Police ejected a flash mob of hundreds of choral singers tonight from the Roseville Galleria mall. The choral singers, many clad in their Christmas clothes, had been anticipating singing an “impromptu” rendition of the “Hallelujah Chorus” in the food court.  The performance was conceived of by the Sacramento Choral Society and over the last few weeks, word quickly spread via email, Twitter and good old-fashioned word of mouth. As the 7:30 performance time neared, dense traffic in the food court came to a near standstill while singers clutched their sheet music for the 4-minute song. When mall security was unable to redirect the crowd, the Fire Department closed the mall and ushered every

Last night was an amazing meandering ride from Downtown through Midtown for the 1st Annual Bikeramento Crawl. Set the scene of a moving banner from sanctuary to sanctuary in the light rain. It all begins with the religious experience of a cup of mojo at Temple Fine Coffee & Tea. The loose Bikeramentans gather and awkwardly introduce themselves to the team. It’s to be expected. Who are these bike-crazy folks, these Spokes People, who believe that they can influence city planning and have fun doing it? Ah….soak up that caffeine. A fine whiff of a single origin espresso parting the perfect foam of that cappuccino. David Barton shows up with the sharp photographer for Sacramento Press. And

On New Year’s Eve a few friends and I went to Social nightclub to see the ball drop on 10th and K. The place was packed, the streets were packed (12,000 to 20,000 people) and there was a seriously festive atmosphere. But the ball was small. And it wasn’t really a ball, more of a diamond inside a round cage. The ball didn’t drop very far. It dropped maybe ten feet. The whole thing got plenty of media coverage. There were complaints the day after about all sorts of minor incidents. But really who could have expected a crowd of 20,000 people to show up to 10th and K? I started thinking, without any tradition or expectations all it took to get 20,000 Sacramentans to go party in the streets