People enjoyed musings about the movie business from the Chicago native and Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper Wednesday night at the Community Center Theater for the fourth installment of the Sacramento Speaker Series. He said people often come up to him at parties and say, “I want your job. You get to watch movies all day then talk about them.” What they mean is, “Any idiot can do you job.” After annually reviewing 250 films, many run together, he said. However, the last movie he saw in a theater was the classic 1946 masterpiece “It’s a Wonderful Life.” “Great movies really didn’t have a life beyond the theater or TV,” he said. Today you can find movies three months later on DVD or Bl

photographs by Barry Wisdom It wasn't the glitziest parade on the block, and more ads passed by than during a Talladega Superspeedway Nascar event, but the smiles that beamed from the shoulder-to-shoulder spectators at Sacramento's 2011 Santa Parade are the stuff that Christmas dreams are made of. Presented Dec. 9 by D&H Special Event Management, the capital city's 29th annual holiday tradition once again delighted young and old with an eclectic lineup of merry marching bands, a spate of sports cars, a bunch of Boy Scouts, a gaggle of Girl Scouts and a Santa in a pear tree. (OK – a Santa in a horse-drawn carriage.) Horses aside, chances are if it had an internal-combustion engine, it tr

Access Sacramento opened its doors and studios to the public to mark its 25th year of offering community media for Sacramento County. For 25 years, nonprofit organization Access Sacramento has been “making a difference, one voice at a time,” through its commitment to covering local entertainment, high school sports and cultural events. Saturday’s event will showcase what local media has to offer the community and how attendees can play a major role in community reporting. I was 'the media covering the media' as I roamed around snapping photos for a couple of hours. Here are some shots: Many special guests including Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, City Councilman Steve Cohn, Supervisor

News is no longer designed for idle consumption: It is becoming more and more interactive as bloggers, community journalists, Twitter users and witnesses equipped with smart phones make their mark in distributing news. Access Sacramento will be hosting its 25th anniversary celebration Saturday and invites you to be seen and heard by telling your stories through digital media. The event also kicks off “Sunshine Week” (March 13 - 19), a national effort promoting the freedom of information and open government. To help celebrate Sunshine Week, Congresswoman Doris Matsui and city, county and state agency representatives will be in attendance. Access Sacramento is having an open house from noo

An audit report stating that the city’s development department failed to collect more than $2.3 million in fees from developers raises a host of questions. The audit’s finding that city employees broke state and city laws makes the situation even more complex. The audit, prepared by Sacramento firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, Inc., investigated the department’s work from fiscal years 2007 through 2010. “In summary, the weak system of internal controls allowed employees to disregard state and city building laws, codes, and regulations aimed at protecting the public’s health, safety, and general welfare,” the audit states. Read the full audit report here. The City Council is expected to

Anyone looking for a clean kill in tonight’s gubernatorial debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman probably walked away a little disappointed. If you were hoping for another Jan Brewer moment in which a candidate seems to simply and completely lose it on camera, again, disappointment reigns. But if you were looking for a reasonably thoughtful discussion of many of the real issues facing California, there was much to appreciate in the debate staged at the Mondavi Center at University of California, Davis. Three local journalists – Amy Chance of the Sacramento Bee, Marianne Russ of Capital Public Radio and Kevin Riggs of KCRA Channel 3 – led the candidates through ten questions ranging f

On August 22nd, 2010 the eighth annual Walt Gray Ride For Kids roared into action with thousands of motorcycles lined up at Raley Field in Sacramento. Registration, a $25 per rider charitable donation, began at 8:00 am with free pastries, coffee and bottled water. Over the past seven years the Walt Gray Run has raised over $320,000 with all proceeds benefiting children’s charities. This year, the recipients were: Autism Speaks, Bikers against Child Abuse and Hope Productions Foundation. As the day started bikers of all creeds and ages filled the parking lot at Raley Field with every style, shape and color of bike you could imagine. The registration began early with riders braving the chi

The First Annual Designing Dreams Fashion Show at Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium went off without a hitch. The Tiana Vega Collection was the anchor piece of the fashion show. Tiana and six other designers participated in this gala event that was co-produced by Couture Connections. Beautiful designs were modeled down the runway, something that the Memorial Auditorium has not seen since the early 1940’s.  (Tiana Vega) Couture Connections did a fantastic job putting together this show that has been in the works for months. Everyone associated with Couture Connections did a great job greeting guests, distributing literature, escorting media and VIP guests to exclusive sections of the show.

Second Saturday was very well attended for the July 10 Art showings. I think this was the largest crowd of the year. Jen Cimaglio and Stephanie Oliveira actually started with their art starting on Friday. They were doing a chalk mural for the forthcoming 20th Aniversary of the Chalk It Up event. You can see their work on J Street near Cesar Chavez Plaza. Other performers that I stopped to listen to were Meghan Collier who also sings with the Corner Pocket Band was on hand. Meghan has a webise at www.myspace.com/myredsky. Mae McCoy and the Neon Stars played at the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen. The last act of the night that I had the pleasure to listen to was Lindsey Cook playing in a court

Anita Webb, a volunteer with the Sacramento Sierra American Red Cross, talks to a person who has called in to donate to the relief efforts for the Haiti earthquake survivors. KCRA 3 and the American Red Cross are raising funds to help the victims in Haiti today until 7 p.m., The Call 3 volunteers will be taking your calls if you'd like to make a donation. As of 2:16pm $82,219 has been raised. Just call 916-447-2255.You can make a difference in the lives of people who have lost everything. If you would like to make a Red Cross donation online click here. SacPress Photo | Kati Garner

Wednesday night, the Urban Hive was packed with people eager to hear what local media outlets had to say about the changes they've made recently in response to the economy, technology and social media. Jim Jakobs, Assignment Manager of KCRA, Jon Schuller and Anne Shulock, Office Manager and Reporter of Sactown Magazine, Jen Picard, Senior Producer of Insight, David Watts Barton, Editor in Chief of Sacramento Press, and Nick Miller, Arts Editor of Sacramento News and Review, had a lively discussion moderated by Janna Santoro. Here is the first part of the video from that night. Nick Miller joined the panel a little late. This first segment is before he arrived.    Media Panel video

Many of you have asked about workshops and events being posted on our site in addition to the email invitations. Here is some information about our planned December events. We've organized a media panel Dec. 9. and a Google workshop Dec. 15. The media panel is a collaboration between the folks at the Urban Hive and The Sacramento Press. It will be held at the Urban Hive, Dec. 9 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. The panel features representatives from each type of news outlet and will focus on the changes each has had to make over the past few years with technology, the economy and social media. Each panel member will also be asked where they see the future of journalism is headed. Attendees will ha

"Oh god, this is gonna be a long night," said radio personality Jack Armstrong as he and Joe Getty kicked off the 11th annual Best of Sacramento party on Thursday. The party, a benefit for the March of Dimes, was full of Sacramento Magazine's notion of the best of what Sacramento has to offer, everything from food and drinks to local media and entertainment. "It's really a huge honor, it's a reflection of the station I work for," said 'Best TV Reporter Team' winner Edie Lambert. "It's a big compliment to quality journalism." Booths filled the Convention Center, and lines wrapped around the exhibit hall as attendees took full advantage of the free food, services and other goodies. Expre