Looking for a special way to turn your Valentine’s Day into a memorable holiday? There are myriad options out there, but here are a few highlights for the upcoming weekend: For the foodie (Fri & Sat 6pm): Let GrubCrawlUSA's Pre-Valentine's Sexy Singles Mingle & Consensual Couples Crawl take you on a taste-tastic tour of Sacramento's finest dining spots. Whether you’re single or paired up, there’s a spot for you—Friday is aimed toward singles & Saturday to couples (so, presumably, if you find someone on Friday you can make a return tour on Saturday!). For the single lady (Fri 9pm): Stroll Now 100.5’s Mile of Men at The Park Ultra Lounge and take your pick from the area's most eligible bac

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

There are many places in Sacramento city and county where a long roadway travels through numerous neighborhoods: Fair Oaks Boulevard, Watt Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard, for starters. When the street name is very close to the neighborhood name – such as Del Paso Boulevard and Del Paso Heights – people unfamiliar with the area often confuse the road and the neighborhood. Sacramentans take pride in their neighborhoods and, since the reputation of one neighborhood is not always carried on the roadway to the next, that confusion can get on a resident’s nerves pretty fast. For example, a commenter on a recent Sacramento Press article about road improvements along Del Paso Boulevard had this t

The Old City Cemetery Committee, in conjunction with the Sojourner Truth Multicultural Arts Museum in Sacramento, will offer a free tour of the Historic City Cemetery at 10 a.m. on Feb. 18 to honor Sacramento’s black pioneers. “We’ll be featuring a dozen or so fascinating people from Sacramento’s history who were African-American or who affected their experience,” said Dr. Bob LaPerriere, founding member of the Old City Cemetery Committee. Several guest docents from the Sojourner Truth Museum will be positioned along the tour to speak about Sacramento’s black pioneers. Eric Bradner, volunteer docent with the Old City Cemetery Committee, will lead the tour. Among the stories he will featu

Art pays homage to art in a new gallery exhibit called “Musicians of Midtown” at Gallery 2110 as artist Brooke Walker-Knoblich exhibits 10 paintings of local musicians playing in Midtown venues. “I’ve always been intrigued by musicians in particular – not just music, but the performance of music,” Walker-Knoblich said. The paintings – all done in oil – evoke the emotions she felt in hearing the music, she said, adding that she watched the musicians perform, drawing sketches of them in as little as 30 seconds, then painting the larger works using the sketches as foundations. Some of the works have shorter brush strokes to fit with the quicker pace of the music, while others are longer, a

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

Get your taste buds ready!  With a focus on locally grown foods from the North Valley, the third annual California Nut Festival is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, 2012, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Each year, this popular culinary event showcases plentiful gourmet food offerings, wine and beer sampling, nut-inspired cooking demonstrations, live musical entertainment on two outdoor stages, an inspiring art show featuring talented local artists and much, much more.  Tickets go on sale March 1 for the 2012 California Nut Festival that takes place outdoors on the historic grounds of the Patrick Ranch Museum in Chico, California. Locally grown nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans and pistachios

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

At this Wednesday’s Hearts for the Arts Benefit Event (6pm-9pm at Alex Bult Gallery) artists, community leaders, and Sacramento’s finest convene to celebrate and raise funds for Any Given Child Sacramento. This initiative, spearheaded by For Arts’ Sake, strives to ensure that art experiences are accessible to every child in grades K-8. As a part of this fun, alternative event you can treat your Valentine to a night like no other, all while supporting a great cause and enjoying an evening of art, music, cocktails, and refreshments. Esteemed auctioneer David Sobon will auction off “heart-works” donated donated by over 24 local artists, including Raphael Delgado, Shane Grammer, and Micah Cr

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,

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

Well over 800 visitors participated in the Museum Day festivities at the Sojourner Truth Multicultural Arts Museum this past Saturday. The day’s events included cultural performances, storytelling, arts and crafts activities for children, food demonstrations and vendors displays of ethnic jewelry, greeting cards and well as original works of art. “We had a beautiful event today,” stated museum director and founder, artist Shonna McDaniels. “All of our activities today were intended to further our primary mission to educate children and adults about the cultural diversity that has strengthened this nation while providing a platform to develop and showcase artists from culturally diverse

“A Dangerous Method” A Film Review by Gary Chew Not being a student of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung or Sabina Spielrein (not to mention Otto Gross), it's difficult knowing to what extent accuracy has been taken in David Cronenberg's “A Dangerous Method.” But suppose that what's depicted in this really chatty film is what happened, starting - as it did - one century and eight years ago. Right now, the film is playing at Sacramento's Tower Theater, Broadway at Land Park Drive. Let's begin with a line spoken by Viggo Mortensen (as Dr. Sigmund Freud). With the soaring phrase of the sentence being “...the black mud of superstition,” it's easy to infer that Cronenberg continues his intellectual-l

It is February. The month of love. The month of loneliness. Pretty much everyone falls into one of those categories, but I want to remind you that single does not mean alone. Make a point to connect with a friend this Valentine's Day. After all, love is not just intimate, but a feeling we have for people who matter to us. Reach out and schedule coffee, dinner, or a fun night in. Forget gifts. They don't matter in the face of time spent together. Don't get depressed about being alone, but remember to be thankful for what you have, for who you have. Write a love letter to yourself. Remind yourself who you are and what makes you thrive. Make a list of things you have done and things you h

“Water Falling Down,” currently in its American premier as part of the current B3 Series at B Street Theatre, is the story of Dad and Son. Dad is an elderly man loosing his mobility, at least under his own power, and is slipping into aphasia — “poor man’s Alzheimer’s,” as his son calls it. His wife of 30-some years died not long ago without, it seems, telling anyone that she was sick. Son is a dutiful sandwich generation child with a son who won’t talk to him and a surviving parent that often does not make sense when he does talk. The only other “family” is ex-wive(s) who only seem to make his life miserable, leaving him to deal with Father on his own. A common story for many boomers: t

It’s Friday night at Ace of Spades with Chino Moreno, lead vocalist of the Deftones, and Shaun Lopez, guitarist of Far, crossing over to a new experimental era with †††. A line of tattooed girls with skin tight jeans slink through the crowd as fans trickle in. Over 500 people paid homage filling the bar, to near capacity with a mix of high school students, collegiate couples, 80’s heavy-metal fans, punk rockers and adult film models. There were two openers Secret Empire, a six man band from Los Angeles and Dawn Golden and Rosy Cross from Chicago.  Both bands were the opposite of the other, balancing a yin that sided on the side of heavy metal and the yang on the side of experimental elec

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

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 &