Beating human hearts and artistically painted hearts in all forms filled the Alex Bult Gallery to raise funds to help kick off the Any Given Child program. Sacramento was chosen by the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC as the very first site in the country to pilot the Any Given Child program which seeks to ensure that every child in every K-8 school has access to quality arts experiences.  17 pieces were auctioned off by David Soborn Auctions. A silent auction followed. According to their FaceBook page this morning "Hearts for the Arts was a smashing success last night! Amazing art, music, food and a live art auction with lots of creative friends all partying together - and supporting

Before the Sacramento River Cats begin the 2012 season in defense of their 10th division title in 12 years, one of the most successful American professional sports franchises will host one of Major League Baseball's most storied champions. For the first time in half a decade Major League Baseball will be played in Sacramento as the River Cats host their parent affiliate Oakland Athletics on March 31, 2012. Following a successful 2011 season, in which Sacramento won its 10th Pacific Coast League South Division title, the River Cats kick off the 2012 season against some familiar faces who have found success at the Major League level. The River Cats will host the four-time World Series cham

The push to put a city parking lease to a vote fell flat Tuesday as the City Council rejected a motion to put the question on the June ballot. It was City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy who first suggested in November that the voters should have a say in whether the city leases its parking inventory to an outside company. She conducted a city-wide poll on her website in October, which indicated that 70 percent of respondents favored a public vote on a potential 50-year lease, according to Sheedy. “The (arena) plan hinges on leasing the city’s parking for 50 years,” Sheedy said Tuesday. “I think such a massive public investment warrants a public vote.” Still, after almost an hour of public d

Sacramento’s Trash Film Orgy Productions (TFO) is preparing to make a new feature film this spring. In an effort to bring the film to the big screen, TFO will hold a kickoff fundraising event this Friday, February 10 at Sacramento’s On the Y. TFO is a Sacramento-based film production company that specializes in creating high quality, low budget horror films. TFP also produces the annual Trash Film Orgy Midnight Movie Film Festival. The Crest Theatre has been home to the event since 2001. Friday’s Super-Special Fundraiser Show will feature a special screening of TFO’s hit, “Monster from Bikini Beach.” The film, shot in Sacramento, includes clips of several Sacramento landmarks. The 2008

On Sunday morning at the University of California, Davis Mondavi Center, Kevin O’Connor, Slater Penney, Christine Germain and Emily Leap led two free workshops on rope climbing, juggling, building human pyramids and using the trapeze. Each 90-minute workshop accommodated 60 very lucky participants ranging from age 4 to adult. More than 300 people could not be accommodated. Kevin O’Connor, an MFA choreography candidate and graduate of the National Circus School of Montreal, was the event’s organizer. O’Connor invited three other trained professionals to lead the four simultaneous workshops sponsored by the new UC Davis Institute for Exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance. The morn

La Raza Galería Posada, a local nonprofit Latino arts organization, succeeded in reaching its fundraising goals to stay open after Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna helped fill the funding gap with a music event Saturday. In November, the center announced that it needed to raise $25,000 or face closure. “We are extremely grateful for Supervisor Serna for his beyond-the-call-of-duty support,” said Marie Acosta, executive director of La Raza Galería Posada. “It’s very rare when an elected official will go out of their way and walk the talk for a nonprofit in need of funding.” Funding sources for the art gallery and cultural center, located at 1022-1024 22nd St., have been in steady

The Cave is a new music and multi-use venue coming to Stockton Boulevard, moving in next door to the Colonial Theatre. Formerly a shoe store, The Cave is currently used to hold wrestling events put on by Total Wrestling Federation, and starting Feb. 24, it will be opened to live music, standup comedy, art exhibits and other uses, said Mike Flanagan, who books the venue. “We want this to be a public space where people can come and see a show, hear some comedy or see an art exhibition,” he said. “We have no intention of getting a liquor license, because we want this to be an all-ages place.” Flanagan, who owns Bad Current Records and has been involved with the local music scene, said he w

Recently I made my first visit to Marilyn's on K St. The show was Lube & Roses: A Night of Bare Bellies and Drag, a fundraiser for The Gender Health Center (GHC) in Sacramento. Information about The Gender Health Center follows the photos of the fundraising evening. The show ran the gamut from silly to raunchy: "GHC is a non-profit agency that provides counseling/therapy services to anyone who expresses the need, as well as anyone who self- identifies or is perceived, to be gender variant," Ben Hudson explains. Their services are accessible to the most underserved communities, including the LGBTQQI ( Members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning,

The locally owned Willie’s Burgers plans to launch a food truck – the Willie Wagon – in Sacramento this week, carrying burgers, chili burgers and fries. “We’ve always thought a food truck was a good way to get the product and what we do out to people,” said Bill Taylor, owner of Willie’s Burgers. “I’d started developing the idea of a Willie Wagon since 1995, but it’s been in the back of my mind.” Willie’s Burgers opened at 16th and Broadway in 1991, and a second location opened in Carmichael in 2004. Now, taking the burgers to offices and events with the food truck is proving a good addition to the business, Taylor said Friday. “It’s been terrific,” he said. “We follow basically the sam

The Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar is now open in the space that used to hold Red Lotus in Midtown, and a grand opening is scheduled for Friday. The restaurant and bar aims to bring affordable food and drinks with an international flair to the block and see the same successes that other businesses – Harlow’s, BarWest Burgers & Wings and Centro Cocina Mexicana – have seen, said co-owners Matt Nurge and John Bays. “We’re going with the globally inspired concept,” said Bays, who is the restaurant’s chef. “We’ve got a little Vietnamese, a little American – a lot of braising going on, and we’ve got some Hawaiian.” An assortment of cheeses – including Spanish Manchego – will be on the menu, and whi

Photographs are an important part of storytelling and can often tell a story on their own. After a brief workshop hiatus, our first Sacramento Press workshop for 2012 will be on photojournalism. (The Journalism Open workshop wasn't a typical workshop for us.) John Hernandez will teach an introductory photojournalism workshop from 6:30 - 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the Sacramento Press office called "Introduction to Photojournalism." Hernandez is a Sacramento-based photographer. He has professional experience in wedding, portrait and social documentary photography as well as various multimedia platforms, including audio slideshows. He has freelanced for ABS-CBN, a Filipino American news ch

On Saturday, the third annual Sacramento VegFest was held at the Artisan Building on Del Paso Boulevard. Hundreds of visitors came to explore the world of vegetarian and vegan lifestyle alternatives, to check out new products and ideas, and to attend presentations by some top chefs in the healthy food movement. It was a happy crowd wending their way through the booths and displays on a sunny afternoon. Both guests and vendors were eager to share their enthusiasm for all things vegetarian. The Sacramento Vegan Society had an information booth. So did the Sacramento Vegetarian Society, and representatives from both groups were careful to emphasize their particular focus, cautioning us not

Q. What’s going on at the Law Library? There is yellow caution tape across the stairs to the second floor, which is closed to the public, and there’s a whole lot of banging and clanging going on up there! Ted D. A. Sorry about the noise and disruption, Ted! We’re doing our best to keep it quiet, but the sound you hear coming from the second floor is the result of having workers dismantle our rather large shelving units--we’re preparing for our move to a new facility about two blocks on the other side of the courthouse. The Law Library and Civil Self-Help Center will be closed starting at noon on Friday February 10. We expect to open in our new location at 609 9th Street (corner of 9th &

The Republic Featuring Drewski’s opened downtown Friday, bringing a combination lounge, sports bar, video arcade, pool hall and food truck menu to one location. “I’m excited we pulled it off,” said Andrew “Drewski” Blaskovich, owner of the popular food truck Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen. “I’m 100 percent confident in our staff here, and I know our kitchen crew, wait staff, bartenders and everyone will help make this happen.” The 6,500-square-foot space opened at 5 p.m. Friday, and it is scheduled to stay open until 3 - 4 a.m. on the weekend nights. Customers filtered in the doors – including a glass-paneled garage door that opens onto a patio – from 5 p.m. onward Friday, and they quickly t

Wednesday was ladies’ night at the Goodies and Glam event, hosted by Face it Salon, Spa & Boutique on 18th and L streets. Patrons were invited to taste wine from Revolution Wines and cake and cookies from TreyBCakes. They shopped, got their makeup done and even scored a quick facelift. Owner Sherie Scalzi, 30, said this was the first event that was broadcast to the public, and that they will continue to have monthly events. Face it Boutique, which opened seven months ago, houses designs from local artists and students like jeweler Caroline Hearn from the International Academy of Design and Technology in Sacramento. “I have really, really loved working with local designers, so we try to

 They come into the bike shop with eyes darting from corner to corner.  You can actually feel their fading hope that  at any moment the stolen bike that gave them so much pleasure or secured them a swift passage to their livelihood will miracuosly show up. Then without a hello or how are you, the tragic mental record of loss unfolds. With their face quivering they often confess of the ommision of forgetting to lock up their trusty steed.The carelessness and absent mindedness is afterall a part of modern day life.     If the loss makes them just plain mad the next reaction is to get another bike to make up for the loss but this time its going to be invisible to the common bike thief. the

Big Miracle Directed by Ken Kwapis One film this week has noteworthy political content and the most surprising thing is which film it is. From a casual distance, “Big Miracle” looks like a very generic animal rescue story, essentially “Free Willy” x2.5, as assorted people try to help two adults and one juvenile whale escape from behind an ice barrier in the Beaufort Sea. It’s based on a true story of an event that captured national attention in 1988, and the film makes use of news footage from that period, with every major network anchor commenting on the situation as it unfolds. It also embellishes the story with various formulaic characters and circumstances, including a love story, a

SARTA MedStart is now seeking nominations for the third annual Claire Pomeroy Awards for Innovation in Medical Technology. The awards recognize individuals in the Sacramento region whose innovative and high-impact inventions, products or designs have transformed some important aspect of the practice of medicine or the delivery of health-care services by improving efficiency, safety, efficacy or accessibility. “The Sacramento region is establishing itself as a national leader in medical technology innovation and development,” said Meg Arnold, chief executive officer of SARTA. “This awards program recognizes not just individual company achievements but also the invaluable role that Dr. Pome

Local job search engine Sacjobs.com is expanding despite the economy and job sites such as Craigslist and Monster, and it launched Sackjobs.com Jan. 2, with plans to expand nationally. “We’ve got about 1,200 local listings right now, and then our next step is to focus on the Bay Area and Southern California, so we’re going to take our thrust from Sacramento and hopefully by next year take over the West Coast,” said Sackjobs.com owner Ian Coltoff, a 40-year-old Sacramentan. The site launched in 1999 as Sacjobs.com as an homage to Sacramento, and Coulter said he added the K to appeal to a national audience, with the tagline “Your next career choice is in the bag.” And to be clear – typing

We’re all aware of social media and the impact it has had on how we market our service or product and value to customers. The ability to deliver real-time marketing messages, at low or no cost via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social platforms has enticed businesses to embrace social technology for a large percentage of their outreach endeavors, and has changed the entire marketing and advertising landscape. Today, most businesses have done the work to embrace and brand themselves via social media. As a result of this shift, savvy companies are applying their social media technology and experience to streamline many of their internal programs and optimize organizational transparen