A condition of being human is the ability for deep, contemplative, private thoughts and emotions. We've developed ways of communication to express the thoughts that are rattling around in these big heads of ours- but these words we've created only work when and how we use them. There is no true way to ever really know what is going on inside someone else's head, no matter how close we are to them. I find this to be the theme behind Neil LaBute's play, In A Dark Dark House. An intense tale of the relationship between two 30 something year old brothers who are in two very different places in their lives. A tale where one man sets out to chase down the demons that have been haunting his brot

Did you know Sacramento's very own Trash Film Orgy (TFO) is credited with being home to the first organized Zombie Walk? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_walk#History The summer season is trigger for these midnight movie Trash Film Orgy fans, who descend like a mass migratory bugs filling the hallways and seats of the Crest theatre. Though their year round numbers never fully deplete, once their season starts you see them multiply exponentially for 6 consecutive Saturdays at midnight. The Zombie Walk is the yearly kickoff event for their TFO summer show season which has been growing ever since! Literally hundreds of "people" (if you can still call them that) converge on the midtown

I don't care much for RENT.  I know I know, everybody loves that show.. I don't.  There are many reasons I don't like the show, but I'm not here to hop on my soap box and tell you them.  I would instead like to tell you about a truly nice honest theatre experience that I recently had. The performance was a fundraiser for cancer research and having only one performance didn't require the actors to be completely off book.  In the footsteps of reader's theatre, the actor's carried scripts on stage! Though most scripts were used very little.  I heard that they had less than 10 rehearsals and for that- they sounded great!  Well except for the house speaker being blown and tinny (the fault of t

Starring Deni Scofield as Luba, a three time veteran of love lost. Lady and the Clarinet is an evening of self reflection done through comedic banter with a hired clarinet player (Christopher Cook), who is to set the mood for the evening with a new mystery man. It isn't long until he finds himself professionally and politely trapped in the corner of a house with a woman spiraling down the vortexes and rabbit holes of her past loves. I found all three of the leading men who were played by David Chernyavsky, Mark Ettensohn, Dennis Ray to be charming and lovable in unique and different ways. There were plenty of opportunities for an honest laugh and it was easy to see why each man was cast i

Good theatre truly touches the soul, it taps into something deeper inside of us than our everyday hum drum lives have to offer. Antigone accomplishes this beautifully. A timeless telling of a classic story. The actors are dressed in a time neutral fashion, the set simple, and there are almost no props- leaving our actors nothing to hide behind. Bold and brazen they bare their hearts and their stories for the audience. This is the story of Antigone, daughter of Odepius, is masterfully narrated by an enchanting Greek Chorus who lays out the events of Antigone as she attempts to secure a respectable burial for her brother Polyneices, even though he is considered a traitor to Thebes.  The la

Portugal. The Man, as you can read, has a period placed in the middle of their band’s name. Internet legend has it that co-founder and frontman John Gourley once explained this as, “an attempt to create a demi-mythic entity bigger than the individual members.” Whether a “demi-mythic entity,” or just four humble dudes in flannel shirts and tight jeans show up, Portugal. The Man will be performing a special all ages show for their fans this Thursday night at Harlow’s. Portugal. The Man Show begins at 6:30. Harlow's Tickets are $17.50 and can be purchased through Harlow’s web site. 

From a press release issued by the band: Sacramento stalwart punks The Secretions are celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band by hitting the road for northern Italy on an eight day tour, from April 15 to 22. The tour wraps up with a show featuring CJ Ramone's new band with Daniel Rey on guitar, and Italy’s own legends The Manges. For the stateside celebration in Sacramento, CA, The Secretions have planned a three-night festival show for Memorial Day Weekend dubbed "Suck-Fest", a nod to the band’s motto “We Secrete, You Suck.” The Suck-Fest will be held at Citrus Heights bar The Fire Escape, and the Saturday and Sunday shows of the weekend will be all-ages. The Secretions will share

Comedian Shayla Rivera will be coming to Sacramento on Feb. 17 for a four-night run of comedy shows at the Punchline Comedy Club. This is Rivera’s first time performing at Punchline Comedy Club. She said she has performed once in Sacramento years ago, but she is still new to the city. “It’s fun for a comedian to go to a city for a first time,” Rivera said. “Sacramento is going to be a special treat for me. I plan to stick my head everywhere.” A self-proclaimed history buff, Rivera said she is excited to see the different buildings and learn more about the history of Sacramento. Rivera was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She immigrated to the United Sstates after high school and attende

“Tony Silva rides the bus to see the punk rock bands    He rides out from BFN and no one understands   He doesn’t have a car and he’s not old enough to drive    But seeing punk rock concerts is what keeps Tony alive.” --“Tony Silva Rides the Bus”, by The Secretions   Despite a bad economy and multiple venue closures this year, punk rock is alive and well among the under-18 crowd. “There will be times when things get closed down, and it’ll affect the scene negatively, but in the long run, there’s a resilience in Sacramento,” said Craig Usher, who has been going to punk shows since his freshman year of high school. Usher, now 42 with children, runs a Facebook page cataloguing shows. He sa

2011 New Year’s Eve Wine Fest Sacramento’s Masonic Temple, 1123 J St. 9 p.m. - 2 a.m. $89 per person. No tickets will be sold at the door. 21+ Sacramento Wine and Nightlife Tours invites all wine lovers to ring in the new year with their favorite glass of red, white or bubbly. Held at the Sacramento Masonic Temple, this bash promises to be one of the biggest and most elegant new year’s celebrations in the city. Hosted in two rooms, the Wine Fest will feature a champagne toast, open bar with wine and beer, live music from performers Larry Ellis Jr. and Southwind, saxophonist Ava Lemert and DJ Rock Bottom. Appetizers will also be served, prepared by local chefs Anthony Brenes of Enotria Res

Can there be anything better on a mid-October Friday night than some smooth, mellow jazz music conveniently placed in a stylishly intimate club? If you're underage – probably. But for those applicable, the show will be about the genius of jazz. Collaborating with orchestras including The Sacramento Philharmonic, selling out concerts and Jazz festivals across America and Europe, The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, featuring Daniel and Chris Brubeck, will be filling up the evening with plenty of reasons to ditch out on Netflix and that cheap bottle of wine. These versatile musicians, accompanied by guitarist Mike Demicco and pianist Chuck Lamb, have been received nationally for their contagious

Audiences will be puzzled and amazed by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s presentation of “Barnum’s FUNundrum!” coming to Arco Arena Sept. 9-12. The event celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of legendary showman P.T. Barnum. The 130 performers hail from 15 different countries. Acts include body benders, a two-level trapeze arrangement, stilt walkers, high-wire motorcycle balancing, trampoline acrobats and, of course, plenty of clowns. A menagerie of exotic animals, including 100,000 pounds’ worth of elephants, will be incorporated into the various acts performed throughout the show. Ticket holders are allowed access to to an “Animal Open House” 90 minutes before show time,

The 6-piece Americana-Rock phenoms, The Whiskey and the Devil Chaplain, are making their Sacramento debut at Naked Coffee on Saturday, May 22nd. The guys make up a fantastic mix of indie roots, folk and straight ahead Americana music. Formed at the latter-end of 2007, the Whiskey is making a name for themselves one show at a time through their knock-down live performances.  Here is just some of the attention they've been getting: “The fellas that make up this Valley-born folk/bluegrass group played just a handful of songs, but it was enough to make an impression. They opened a February night show at the Cellar Door in Visalia for genre-faves Langhorne Slim and April Smith, and both were

What can you do with a cowboy boot, a hand saw, some metal pipes and string? A whole lot says Mike Silverman, performing as That 1 Guy on Thursday at Beatnik Studios. Don't miss your chance to see this one man band and his invention, The Magic Pipe. Silverman, who grew up in the Bay Area, was introduced to music by his father's vintage stand-up bass. He says he remembers banging on it until he could reproduce sounds he liked. The instrument and being "in the right place at the right time" to his present career. That 1 Guy has performed internationally and has large fan bases in places such as Europe and Australia, as well as the United States. He plays annually at the Woodford Folk Festi

It wasn't long ago that we were all hankering about in excitement (chaos, really) about bringing back, once again, our notorious production of "Cinderella"... and now here we are, days before Christmas, selling out shows and reaching out more than ever to gain a new audience of eager faces, young and old, to play along with us in the magic that is our beloved spin on the classic fairytale. Added performances are: Sunday, December 27th - 7 PM Tuesday, December 29th - 7 PM Sunday, January 3rd - 7 PM Call the box office now for the best seats available. 443-6722. And don't miss this holiday romp at the Sacramento Theatre Company Featured Above: Brian Rodda, William Elsman, Michael RJ 

  At 6’9 and 250 lbs, it is amazing that Big Easy Lofton made it across the zip line. Big Easy Lofton and his friend and teammate Flight Time Lang of the Harlem Globetrotters were recently on the Emmy award-winning CBS television show, “The Amazing Race.” One of their challenges was to cross a zip line suspended over water. In an interview with both Flight Time and Big Easy, Big Easy said the challenge was “exhausting.” He told me that he was told the zip line was tested, but just never tested for someone of his size. Luckily, his strength and athletic ability allowed him to finish. Flight Time and Big Easy finished fourth in the race that premiered the season final on December 6, 2009.  

What do The Band, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and half of the Beatles have in common? Aside from making some of the finest popular music of the 20th century, all of these artists have collaborated with Leon Russell. The long-haired and bearded organist/singer-songwriter has been working behind the scenes (and occasionally in the spotlight) with an innumerable amount of music’s heavy hitters for half a century. “I've been lucky to work with so many great musicians,” Russell said via email a few days before his show at Harlow’s on Thursday, Nov. 12. Russell began his music career as a session musician, working live and in the studio wi

A love letter to Minus the Bear: Dear criminally underrated Seattle indie rock quintet, I love everything about you. For instance, the way you balance complex time signature changes and finely honed musicianship with catchy pop sensibility. It takes a truly skilled collective to make music this intricate seem so natural. Or the fact that Jake Snider’s bittersweet lyrics about lost innocence and simpler times are relatable not only to high schoolers who are experiencing the subject matter for the first time, but to grown adults twice their age who have been through it numerous times and have the benefit of hindsight. I love that Snider can make potentially corny lyrics like “It’s rare t

It was a solemn scene with chains and bars accompanied only by candlelight. A spotlight and a single pirouette performed flawlessly by one of the male troupe members accompanied by a Spanish song set the mood of the Music Circus sensation The Man of La Mancha. The setting was that of a prison where Miguel de Cervantes, also known as Don Quixote, played by Walter Charles, told his story of love and never giving up on your dreams as a defense in a mock trial held by the prisoners, to save his beloved manuscript from destruction. The first act was full of witty puns and adult humor describing Quixote, a wise man who is a little mad, accompanied by his loyal servant Sancho, played by Kevin

"The 2009-10 season is a dream come true," said dancer Alexandra Cunningham. A financial crisis in the 2008-09 season has given the 24 dancers a new perspective on their dancing career. Relocating from the 2,398-seat Community Center Theater to the studio with only two rows of seats was perhaps the biggest eye-opener. For the in-studio shows, only the bare minimum -- chairs, curtains and lights -- separated the dancers from the audience. Both the community and the dancers loved it. "Performing to sold-out audiences in our studios was exhilarating!" Cunningham said. "I felt that I could share so much more with audience members because I could see their every reaction." Cunningham praise