Where we’re born is more than a location, it’s part of who we are. Where We’re Born, the stage play by Lucy Thurber, is a strikingly simple and honest look at a young woman’s struggle with life change, the desire to and difficulty of leaving the comfort of your home and history—however hurtful it may have been. It is not a story, but a more like a series of snapshots taken during the course of a few days when the relationships and potentially, lives of three people are forever altered. The catalyst for all of this is Lilly (Jessicah Neufeld), on a quasi-vacation from college. She arrives back in the small Western Massachusetts hill town she calls home just as a domestic crisis is unfoldi

If you’re going to remove the sound from a film, you’d better do it right. Not being able to hear what people are saying is very odd and kind of disconcerting, especially for a modern audience. Luckily for The Artist, there is a way to make it work, and work fantastically at that. The Artist opens during the late 1920’s, at the height of our star, silent film actor George Valentin’s (Jean Dujardin) career. He’s a loveable guy, instantly showing his charisma at a premier (evoking some shenanigans from Singin’ in the Rain) for one of his movies. After the premier he bumps into Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) a beautiful young dancer who soon falls in love with him. Unfortunately for George, hi

Lewis Black had high expectations for the 21st Century. They have not come anywhere close to being met, and he is not amused. He is, however, quite amusing. Although he claims to be disappointed by the direction the world is taking, he also admits to being swept up in the inevitable pull of progress. He started a web site; every performer needs a web site. But then he found out he needed a Facebook page to promote his web site! It all came to a head when one morning he woke up after a drunk and discovered he was now on Twitter! All this, he laments, and not a single flying car. Not what he had hoped for at all. The Community Center Theater was respectably full on Saturday night when

I downloaded five Sacramento-specific mobile apps to review to find out if there is truth to the famous slogan "There's an app for that." I had a mixed bag of results, with some useful and some novelty. Midtown Sacramento Price: Free The app encourages its users to explore Midtown, helping them find parking, taxi service, restaurants, boutiques and other needs. It also keeps users up to date with neighborhood events, sales and friends' updates and tweets through an in-app tab for Twitter and Facebook. Upon opening the app, I was pleased by the clean outline showing 12 different icons representing the different options to choose from: events, eats and drinks, entertainment, galleries, h

With 2,624 Sacramento restaurants reviewed on Yelp, the capital city has thousands of restaurant-goers using Yelp to share their dining experiences with others. A recent study done by Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Michael Luca found that local restaurants increase revenue 5 to 9 percent per star they gain on Yelp. The Sacramento Press wanted to see if this finding held true for restaurants in the central city. Comments and ratings on Yelp appear to make a big difference, but Sacramento restaurant owners and managers say they aren’t so sure. Luca combined data on Seattle restaurant revenues that he collected from the Washington State Department of Revenue and Yelp ratings o

If you are thinking about seeing B Street Theatre’s “Collapse” this summer, have high expectations. Within the first 10 minutes on opening night Sunday, the audience was already in an uproar of laughter. The play takes place around February 2009 and opens with an extremely comical scene between Hannah and David, a married couple trying to have their first child. Though Hannah is the one who is lying over her husband’s lap about to have a hormone shot injected into her left butt cheek, she is the one pep-talking an uneasy and uptight David. Their relationship becomes more and more strained and hilarious as Hannah's off-the-wall sister, Susan, unexpectedly stops in for a long-term stay wit

The Who’s ‘Tommy’ Opening Night UC Davis Wright Hall Main Theatre Thursday, May 19, 2011   With an impressive cast of young performers, “Tommy” lives up to its past Broadway reputation in this UC Davis reproduction. The musical drama is not an easy feat—it is a rock opera composed completely of musical numbers, all of which are performed live on stage and accompanied by a live band. The story, tragic in many ways, is quite appealing. It captures the early childhood of a young boy named Tommy, and follows him throughout a series of family-induced trauma. The powerful message of hope and belief is clearly portrayed by the end of the play, as Tommy overcomes his struggles and emerges a

Many local country music fans donned in cowboy hats and boots cheered and clapped for the Zac Brown Band concert at Raley Field Thursday night. Throughout the concert, fans cheered at lead singer, guitarist and Georgia native Zac Brown as he hollered at the crowd to rile them up. The band is known for its hit “Chicken Fried,” a song about loving the important things in life and, of course, having your chicken fried. “Chicken Fried” was first recorded in 2003 and later re-recorded to be included in their first album, “The Foundation,” in 2008. In 2009, the single won “Breakthrough Video of the Year” from Country Music Television and USA Weekend. In 2010, the Zac Brown Band won the Grammy

On Sunday, author of “Sacramento’s Southside Park” and board member of the Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) William Burg led a walking tour of Southside Park and the surrounding area. “The tours stemmed from Jane’s Walk USA, a national organization that began in 2007 using neighborhood walking tours as a way to help people get in touch with their environment,” said Kay Knepprath, event coordinator and fellow board member of SOCA. This is the event’s second year in Sacramento. The tour of Southside Park was one in a series of five tours that occurred throughout Sacramento on Saturday and Sunday. While the morning was a bit gray and chilly, a group of about 20 gathered together just

As I walked into Harlow's, I tried to push aside preconceived notions about the kind of band that does an all-ages show at a nightclub (strike one), has a Facebook page that insists they're not a band but rather "a movement” (strike two and three) and inserts a period into the middle of their name. Portugal. The Man was good, though. And so was their opening musician, Telekinesis. Telekinesis is the alter ego of singer, drummer, songwriter (etc.) Michael Benjamin Lerner, who is accompanied by Cody Votolato and Jason Narducy while on tour. Lerner has worked extensively with Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, and the influence was easy to recognize in Telekinesis’ song “Rust.” Tho

When I was growing up, my parents played me Shel Silverstein tapes constantly. I had this old, beaten up copy of a selection of Where the Sidewalk Ends, and it seemed like I always had it with me. When I was 16, my dad had me listen to “Freakin’ at the Freaker’s Ball” and “I Saw Polly in a Porny.” He thought it was funny. I thought it was devastating. As I grew I learned to accept Shel for who he was, and not just a fallen angel as I had at 16. I learned that he was and is one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. His biting satire of adults, politics, social institutions and sex made clear to readers that things in this world are crazy and often fetishistic, and we need to not onl

Big Idea Theatre’s latest production, William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure,” directed by Kirk Blackinton and Katie Chapman, opened Friday. The play is a lesser-known bit of the canon, often put in the category of “problem play” as it fits neither the specific parts of a comedy nor a tragedy. The plot is divided between the struggle of the play’s antagonist, Angelo, played by Jeffrey Lloyd Heatherly, and the nun-in-training Isabella, played by Gina Williams. The play covers moral ground of a more philosophical nature with Isabella’s plight being the question, “Should she commit an act against God to save a life?” Set in Vienna, the production takes interesting liberties with the sta

California Stage’s premiere of playwright Steve Lyons’ “Mystery Spot” production was full of optical illusions, science and wonder Saturday night. Directed and produced by Ray Tatar, the comedic play is set in Santa Cruz and revolves around young UC Santa Cruz student Dingo and his wacky experiences working as a Mystery Spot tour guide. Dingo, a women’s studies major, is all for “feminisms” as long as it gets him a college woman. When he meets Liz, a fellow Intro to Feminisms classmate, he goes on a quest to become worthy of her affections. Dingo gets a job at Mystery Spot, where he meets Liz’s mother, the owner of the tourist attraction. Actor Nick Koehler, who plays Dingo, brings out

Chic and stylish locals gathered for Sacramento Fashion Week’s Finale Designer Showcase at the Elks Tower Ballroom Saturday night. The showcase, hosted by KCRA reporter Kristin Marshall, started at 8 p.m., featuring work from established designers. The fashion show ended at 10 p.m. The Elks Tower Ballroom turned into a high-profile fashion event, with screens set up in front of black curtains, visually useful for the audience to admire a designer’s work. Many photographers snapped pictures of the models strutting down the brightly lit runway. A.M.P.E.D. Entertainment group kicked off the show with lyrical ballet and energetic hip-hop dance performances. The audience of around 250 peopl

Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, “Macbeth,” has just been given a new pair of legs on which to stand, and the timing couldn’t have been better. With recent discussions coursing through National Public Radio concerning the role of the female military leader, Resurrection Theatre director Benjamin T. Ismail decided to cast a woman in the traditionally male role, and the results are fantastic to watch. Played in modern dress, the traditional roles of Macbeth and Lady M. as husband and wife are adapted into daughter and mother, and the play of persuasion and bitterness makes as much, if not more, sense than the play traditional. This is apparent in two vastly important plot-points: Macbeth’s r

Comedian Shayla Rivera entertained a packed house with her playful jokes and animated gestures during her performance at the Punchline Comedy Club Thursday night. The spectrum of her stories and jokes varied widely, from her Puerto Rican traditional mother to her experiences in the women’s bathroom. Rivera also joked about jobs she’s had in the past, from working on a cruise liner to her days as an aerospace engineer for NASA. She also turned her attention toward people in the audience, but Rivera was not afraid to make fun of herself throughout her set. Rivera took insecurities and stereotypes and incorporated them into her material. She touched on race, gender and body image, showing

Grange has a reputation for its fine dining experience. With the tall windows, dim lighting, and big chairs you certainly get that, but the food doesn’t quite match up. There are some good points to the food, and my meal at Grange started off with some velvety corn soup which was probably the best part of the entire meal. It was sweet, tangy, and seasoned beautifully. However the entrée was an interesting combination of a big juicy pork chop with some bbq sauce, grits, and a misleading side of roasted jalapeno peppers. Reading this on the menu seemed as if they were mixed into the grits, so beware. It seemed a bit careless to give someone something so abrasive to stand alone. Despite this

These days, navigating Folsom’s deconstructed Sutter Street is a lot like mounting an expedition to the top of Mt. Crumpit during a midwinter jicker. And while the moose-juiced weekend celebrants who rumble and stumble around the corners and against the lights of the historic district can be more awfully awful than any unreformed Grinch, there’s good reason not to zizz-zizz, but to jump on your Zike-Bike and brave the dirt roads and heavy machinery: the Sutter Street Theatre production of “Seussical,” now playing through Sept. 26. An admittedly ambitious undertaking for such an intimate space, director Connie Mockenhaupt does well by her cast of 18 men, women and children (and they by he

Thursday night, venerable comedian and OCD-stricken performer Howie Mandel appeared at the California State Fair on the Main Stage. After a less-than-tasteful and off-color opening act, Mandel took the stage with a rapid-fire delivery and a huge smile. Almost immediately, it was obvious that he has not lost his comedic edge even after appearing as a dramatic actor (“St. Elsewhere”), voiceover actor (“Bobby's World,” “Muppet Babies” and “Gremlins”) and talk show host and judge (“Deal or No Deal,” “America's Got Talent”). The fair provided a delightful interpreter for the deaf, Sharon Ramsey, who was addressed multiple times by Mandel as he used words and expressions just to see how they w

 A lesbian metallurgist, a psychotic psychiatrist and a power-hungry physicist all walk into a bar. The bartender says, “What is this, a joke?” Not quite. The characters in the B Street Theatre’s latest production, “Spacegrrls” by Sharon Eberhardt, which opens today includes all of the above characters and many more. The show itself is witty, and plays on gender themes to great effect. The plot focuses on the first all-woman team of astronauts going to an international space station. The only catch is that they are represented by a shallow cosmetics company and must perform commercials while on the station. The cast consists of interns for the 2009-2010 B Street Theatre season, and many