The Torch Club will celebrate 12 years at its current spot on 15th Street across from Memorial Auditorium on Friday, but owner Marina Texeira said the club’s history dates back to the 1930s. The business opened in 1934, run by Johnny “Bananas” Oreb and Ernie Maskovich, and it was one of the first local businesses, along with Old Ironsides, to receive a liquor license after Prohibition, Texeira, 46, said Wednesday. “It’s kind of rolled with the tides and trends without being too trendy,” she said of the club’s longevity. The business came into Texeira’s family when her grandfather purchased it in 1969. It moved from its original location at 601 J St. to the corner of Eighth and L streets

After less than a year on Sacramento’s streets, local food truck Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen is adding a brick-and-mortar establishment at 908 15th St. that blurs the line between sports bar and food truck. The Republic Featuring Drewski’s is set to open the week before the Super Bowl (Feb. 5), and Drewski’s owner Andrew “Drewski” Blaskovich said he’s excited to be part of the growth in downtown Sacramento and to offer a late-night food and entertainment spot, closing around 3-4 a.m. on the weekends. “It’s going to be a sports bar,” Blaskovich said. “We’re going to have 12-15 TVs, pool tables, video games and – we’re hoping – skee ball.” The four pool tables will complement old-school vid

Limos filled with celebrities lined J Street for the 2011 California Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony at the Memorial Auditorium Thursday. The first ceremony in Sacramento was in 2006. The prestigious event was established by former California first lady Maria Shriver. The event was created to honor legendary people in California who encapsulate California’s “innovative” spirit. Many of the inductees were no stranger to the limelight. Rob Lowe, Lucy Liu and previous inductee Clint Eastwood, among others, graced the red carpet this year. The crowd cheered for the diverse group of inductees as they made their way down the red carpet. The 2011 inductees were astronaut Buzz Aldrin, The Beach Bo

by Tony Sheppard Capitol Weekly Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop Directed by Rodman Flender Last summer, Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium was one of the venues for Conan O’Brien’s “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.” That tour is now the focus of the behind the scenes documentary “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” – a somewhat unflinching look at an attempt to make show business lemonade from a deluge of unwanted lemons (or perhaps, in some opinions, a single unwanted Leno). For those who live in caves, go to bed at 9pm, or go to bed at 9pm in caves, last year saw messy contract negotiations over late night programming at NBC. Years earlier, O’Brien had been promised the holy

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP) conducts several walking Tours in the downtown area. The walking tours introduce visitors to people, places and events that have created California history. DSP’s mission is to establish downtown Sacramento as a vibrant business, cultural and entertainment destination in Sacramento via private and public partnerships consisting of residents, visitors and investors. This Friday they conducted a Rock & Roll History Tour and Pub Crawl. The tour began at the corner of 9th and J Streets at one of the entrances to the Concerts in the Park held at Cesar Chavez Plaza. The walk began at 6 in the evening. By this time, Wahnder Lust had begun their set at t

Jerry Brown was sworn in Monday morning as California's 39th governor, saying he has the opportunity to follow in his father's footsteps again. He also joked he was following in his own footsteps, referring to his return to the governor's office after 28 years. Brown served two terms between 1975 and 1983. Memorial Auditorium hosted the ceremony, which featured a cappella performances by the Oakland School of the Arts Choir. The choir opened the ceremony with a rendition of "This Land is Your Land" and sang the National Anthem as the Oakland Military Institute and California Cadet Corps Honor Guard presented the colors. Brown's wife, Anne Gust Brown, spoke first, describing the day as a

The Camellia Symphony Orchestra gave a spirited performance at Memorial Auditorium Saturday night. Conducted by maestro Dr. Allan Pollack, the 86-piece ensemble performed a collection of three works by Bach, Beethoven and Mahler. The collection was dubbed “The Titans” for the power, grandeur and breadth of emotion the compositions typify. Though beautifully performed by the musicians, Pollack’s promise of “sounds so powerful that they will lift you off your seat” was not fulfilled. “It’s a very beautiful building, and it’s old and it’s beautiful from the outside, and it’s historically interesting from the inside,” Pollack said. “But the stage definitely needs some kind of shell. If enoug

Lovers of classical music might normally expect a soothing musical experience from the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, but when the ensemble performs “The Titans” at Memorial Auditorium Saturday, concertgoers will witness some of orchestral music’s most dramatic and hard-hitting pieces. “It’s going to be big, and it’s going to be loud,” Executive Director of Camellia Orchestra Roberta McClellan said. “Most people are used to seeing smaller ensembles, but this has a lot of people all playing this music together.” More than 85 Sacramento-based musicians will take the stage to perform two of the three pieces, which include Bach’s “Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor;” Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto

"Listen for it as it comes…the pure, imperial sound of…Celtic Thunder." Sundry vocals, Irish folklore and dry ice poured majestically atop a meadow backdrop at Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium Thursday, one of 70 stops the Irish supergroup will make in support of its third PBS television special “It’s Entertainment,” a performance series showcasing both the old world and the new. The rhythm of heartbeats from the sparse yet euphoric audience resonated with the thunderous percussion of traditional Celtic instrumentation. An amalgamation of cello, harp, fiddle, keyboard, piccolo, guitar, concertina, bagpipe and mandolin merged with the steadfast drumbeat to introduce the six voices of the

The Women's Flat Track Derby Association 2010 Western Regional Tournament is coming to Sacramento this weekend. And the Sacred City Derby Girls are stoked. The skaters in one of Sacramento's two flat track roller derby leagues have not only become eligible to compete in the regional playoffs for the first time — they won Sacramento the honor of hosting one of four qualifiers for the national championship in November. Sacred City's travel team, the Sacrificers, and teams from as far away as Colorado and New Mexico will be skating at Memorial Auditorium Oct. 1-3. The league's founder, Gabriell Garcia, also known as "Chica Loca," said skating at the auditorium will fulfill a dream for many

2010 WFTDA Western Regional Tournament Sacred City Derby Girls is pleased to be hosting the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) 2010 Western Regional Tournament at the historic Memorial Auditorium in downtown Sacramento, Oct. 1-3.   The tournament will feature the top 10 ranked WFTDA teams in the Western Region, regarded as the most competitive of all WFTDA regions this year. At the close of the weekend, the top three teams will move on to compete in the WFTDA Championship Tournament in Chicago in November. “Rollin’ on the River” is WFTDA’s Western Regional invitation-only tournament. This year’s participating teams (in order of ranking) are Oly Rollers, Rocky Mountain Roller

The Primus Oddity Faire tour kicked off in Sacramento Tuesday at the Memorial Auditorium.   The first act to take the stage, a group from Los Angeles, was called El Bronx. The group consisted of a mariachi band decked out in traditional black mariachi suits with a rock-and-roll flare.   The singer brought a ton of energy to the stage, talking to the crowd and encouraging everyone to clap along. Fans of Primus who would normally be moshing in the pit were dancing and having a good time.   At first listen, El Bronx sounded like an ordinary mariachi band, but once the violin kicked in and the singing began, it was obvious that there was something odd about the mariachi tunes.   The subjec

Primus is probably best known for blending funk-based slap bass riffs and interesting and usually humorous characters and situations into long and often psychedelic songs.   Vocalist and bassist Les Claypool tells tales of fisherman, controlled substances and downright ridiculous antics with a twang in his voice and (usually) a Carl Thompson bass in his hands.   Although Claypool has a number of other musical projects such as Oysterhead, Frog Brigade and a number of albums under his own name, he is reuniting with Primus bandmates Larry “Ler” LaLonde (guitar) and Jay Lane (drums) for a full-blown Primus tour across the states.   In regards to the North American Oddity Faire tour, Claypoo

Boxing returned to Sacramento Saturday night with Battle of the Badges VII, an annual charity boxing event featuring correctional officers, police officers and firefighters from the Northern California area. Fifteen bouts of three two-minute rounds took place in front of an estimated 2,000-3,000 boxing fans at Memorial Auditorium, benefiting such charities as the Firefighters Burn Institute, Sac Fallen Officers Resource Fund, The Sacramento Sheriff’s Toy Project and Sacramento SPCA. Some agencies represented in the matches included the Sacramento and Vallejo fire departments; the Sacramento, Davis and Woodland police departments; the California Highway Patrol and California State Prison,

It’s not often that bruises and beat-downs have anything positive associated with them. But that’s exactly what will take place Aug. 28 at the seventh annual “Battle of the Badges” charity boxing fundraiser. Police officers, correctional officers, and firefighters from throughout Northern California will step into the ring at Memorial Auditorium to duke it out all in the name of a good cause. The event was founded in 2003 by correctional officers Israel Montes Jr. and Yvonne Vasquez of California State Prison-Sacramento before a third officer, Pablo Vasquez, joined the team. Vasquez passed away in 2007. The annual tradition began as a small-scale event held at the Boys & Girls Club in

I adore food, I love to travel, and it is my dream to write for a living. As you might imagine, writer, chef, Travel Channel star and bon vivant Anthony Bourdain is an idol of mine. When I saw the erstwhile chef of Les Halles Brasserie and current host of "No Reservations" would be making an appearance at the Memorial Auditorium in September, I called up my liaison at The Sacramento Press and begged her to let me cover the event. A couple days later I got a note in my inbox: "Lindol, they're happy to have you cover the event on the condition that you don't mind doing a preview, and interviewing Mr. Bourdain." I've never said "yes" with more enthusiasm. A few days after that, I got a

There’s a lot more to Sacramento City Treasurer Russ Fehr than you might think. Yes, he knows all about municipal finances and wears a suit at City Council meetings. But he also plays guitar in a rock band with fellow city employees. Fehr, age 58, is one of six members of The Newz Makers, a city-employee band that started rocking in 2006.  For band gigs, Fehr exchanges his suit for casual garb and goes by the stage name “Luke.” He loves Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones, and was a member of a Sacramento group that was the precursor to the Rutabaga Boogie Band. Fehr’s band mates are Joe Valenzuela, a police captain; Jim Berg, an information technology supervisor; Tom Moore from Human Reso

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.

A SacramentoComedy.Com Interview Comedian Cedric The Entertainer is one of the hardest-working men in the entertainment business. Perhaps you love him from his roles in "Barbershop," "Be Cool" or "The Original Kings Of Comedy." You may have became a fan of his voiceover roles in "Madagascar," "Charlotte's Web" or "The Proud Family." Maybe it was his starring role in the hit "Johnson Family Vacation." Any way you look at it, Cedric IS "The Entertainer." Even with his success as an actor, producer and director, Cedric The Entertainer is coming to Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium and going back to his roots of stand up comedy. We spoke to Cedric, (Mr. Entertainer?), by phone as he was reco

"Laser Spectacular’s The Spirit of Michael Jackson" will light up the Memorial Auditorium on the first anniversary of Michael Jackson’s passing (June 25, 2009). Steve Monistere, creator and producer of the multimedia tribute performance to the King of Pop, has a background in the music scene playing bass in a band, producing music, concerts, and writing radio jingles. Monistere began the project late summer of 2009 and the first show ran late October of the same year. “What I think people will get when they walk away from it is this real sense of how much he really impacted pop music," he said. "He (has)  the title 'King of Pop.' I think people will come away with a sense of music histo