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

Six o’clock Friday night found people waiting patiently in line at the Crest Theatre. They were waiting for the doors to open into Sacramento’s 10th French Film Festival. The festival started with a not-so-humble beginning in 2002 when they opened at Tower Theatre to a sold -out crowd, with a line to the pre-party around the block. They have since moved to the Crest, which seats about 940 compared to the 500 seats at Tower. The festival is the brainchild of Cécile Mouette Downs and Connie Georgiu. Downs still serves as the artistic and executive director. The festival has found support and acceptance from the community, artistic and otherwise. Among those who have embraced the festival

On Friday, May 27, the Crest Theatre hosted a CD release show for “Hands Up,” by Pastor Alonzo G. Morris. Guests included the Paradise Mass Choir from Paradise Baptist Church of Sacramento, the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and Lenny Williams. “Hands Up,” a labor of love two years in the making, was produced by Derek “DOA” Allen and features talents such as Pam Hunt, Pastor Terrell Jones, Teddy Cross and Pam Odem. Tickets for the event were $15. The price included the three hour concert and a copy of “Hands Up.” Part of the proceeds from the event went to the Ronald McDonald House which serves about 1,000 children and families in the Sacramento area each year. The night started off

Applause filled The Crest Theatre Thursday night when a scene from the documentary “The Next American Dream” displayed an enormous tractor claw demolishing a freeway overpass. The scene symbolized an end to urban sprawl, its destructive effects on nature and its seeming lack of forethought in urban planning. No one specific group, organization or political party took responsibility for the showing of the film. Instead, it was communicated to the audience that the film was being brought to the Crest by a group of people who call Sacramento home. Dustin Littrell, a local architect and designer, ambiguously revealed that the idea for showing the film in Sacramento began among “a group of ca

"Touching Home" was a film that shouldn't have been made, claim identical twins Logan and Noah Miller, who wrote, directed and starred in the semi-autobiographical movie. But the aspiring filmmakers tend not to take "no" for an answer. The twins, who were raised in the Bay Area, had an alcoholic father who was homeless for the last 15 years of his life and died in jail. As depicted in the based-on-real-life The movie portrays how the twins kept each other strong and trained together to be college (Noah) and professional (Logan) baseball players. The film had its Sacramento premiere Friday night at the Crest Theatre in front of nearly 1,000 people. The Millers were joined on the red carpe

This Friday, Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit will play a concert at the Crest Theatre. Please read this article for background on Schmit and details on the show. The following includes excerpts of an email interview with Schmit: You grew up in Sacramento. Do you have fond memories here, and how did the city, if it did at all, affect your decision to play music? Or was it purely a personal choice? I've always looked at Sacramento as having been a great place for me to grow up. That, coupled with a good family life, seemed to be a good recipe for my eventual trek out into the rest of the world. The reasons I left were numerous, but it mainly had to do with trying to further my musical in

Eagles bass player Timothy B. Schmit hit the road for his first music tour at about five years old. Schmit wasn't playing the music; he was on the road with his father, a musician active in the Northern California club scene. Schmit's father sold the family house in the Bay Area and moved them into a mobile home, driving from town to town, wherever his band had a show. After several upgrades, the family purchased an "Expando-Home" and settled in Sacramento, where Schmit began his long and winding career in music. Friday night, Schmit will play a show at the Crest Theatre to promote his latest solo album Expando, which was released in October. Americana singer-songwriter Elliot Randall wi

The "Coexist? Comedy Tour" is getting some national attention after more than two years of performing at a number of California comedy venues. About 600 people filled The Crest Theatre on Saturday to view a one-night-only performance that was taped live by filmmaker Larry Brand, producer of HBO's Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl. The Coexist Tour began with an everyday conversation between comedians Keith Lowell Jensen, an athiest, and Tapan Travedi, a Hindu. After speaking about religion, they realized that they were spiritual opposites -- Travedi believes everything is a god, while Jenson believes nothing is a god. They decided making jokes about their religious differences would make

The title of Todd Rundgren's 1973 concept album, A Wizard, A True Star, always seemed half true: A studio wizard he may have been, a one-man band with eclectic influences and an ear for a great hook, but he was never quite the star he aspired to be. Indeed, Rundgren, who made his recorded debut as a member of The Nazz in 1967, always seemed just a year or two behind the true trendsetters, and a bit ahead of the curve when it came to stardom. Despite several early hits -- "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" positioned him as a singer-songwriter in the mold of Carole King or Elton John -- his tendency to go off in five directions at once and a healthy skepticism about stardom itself seem

The Crest theatre brought back memories for one pair of Sacramentans Tuesday Night. Dick and Joanne Cossairt, both 76, were among hundreds on hand to celebrate the Crest's 60th anniversary with the screening of "That Midnight Kiss." "The new Crest marquee looks the same as when we were kids," Joanne Cossairt said. "They did an amazing job." The evening began around 6 p.m. with many in line at the concessions table for the 60th-anniversary special: ten packs of Smarties candy which were popular in the 1940s, soda and popcorn for $3. Then at 7 p.m., Crest manager Sid Heberger took to the stage to make a presentation. She thanked those who were there at the original screening and a young

As a throwback to the 40s, 60 cents will get you a ticket to That Midnight Kiss. For their 60th anniversary celebration, The Crest will try to recreate the atmosphere of the original grand opening event. After watching a Fox Movie newsreel of the opening night celebration, the audience will watch That Midnight Kiss, the same film screened 60 years ago at the grand opening. Attendees are also encouraged to wear '40s-style clothing and can eat 1940s candy such as Smarties, Flicks and Black Crows, available at the concession stand. The grand opening was attended by then-Gov. Earl Warren, and Sacramento's first female mayor, Belle Cooledge, as well as the film's stars Mario Lanza and Kathryn

Peace, love, war, sex and hair -- Sacramento will have a one-night opportunity to revel in hippie counterculture at Harlow's Thursday night. "HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" will rock the nightclub in the form of a concert. Local theater company Artistic Differences will perform musical numbers from "HAIR" as part of the company's Summer of Rock series, which kicked-off with "Tommy" at the Crest on Memorial Day. Many of the original cast members from the company's five-week run of the show in 2007 will return to sing the numbers, accompanied by a seven-piece band.   "HAIR" the musical brings to light a group of young flower children who band together as a "tribe" in the East

Paul Imagine is about as DIY as they come in Sacramento. A self-taught screenprinter and longtime rock poster artist, Imagine can often be seen at Peets Coffee on J Street sketching poster ideas, each sketch taking anywhere from three to eight hours to draw. His posters and flyers that he distributes on foot around town can take up to 16 hours for him to produce between drawing, screening and printing, and selling his work pays for little beyond what it takes to produce it. Imagine’s labor of love will gain recognition in Tuesday night's screening of American Artifact, a documentary tracing what it refers to as America's 21st century "rock poster art movement" from the '60s to the present