"The crowd was not what one would typically expect to see at a comedy show. This was not the typical venue for a comedy show and Paula Poundstone is not a typical comedian. The Crest Theatre was full to the ceiling on Friday night. The older crowd crammed their way into the tiny seats of the main auditorium. They were likely public radio enthusiasts who had heard Poundstone’s frequent appearances on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me,” or the “Prairie Home Companion.” Poundstone ambled onto the stage slightly after seven-thirty after a short hold while patrons who had arrived merely on time were herded to their seats. Poundstone, who has been performing for over thirty years, entered in he

Blvd Park is a former Sacramento band, newly transplanted to Seattle after the end of their “New American Dream Tour” in May. They are coming back to play a special show at Harlow’s Thursday night with Keri Carr Band and Kate Gaffney with Steve Randall. Founding member Brian Ballentine recently spoke to The Sacramento Press about the upcoming show. What brings you back to Sacramento? One of our friends down there is getting married. We haven’t been there in a while. It’s been half a year I think. Have you ever played Harlow’s before? Yeah, we played Harlow’s about a year ago with Split Lip Rayfield before, I think about two years ago. What are you expecting from this show? A coupl

One of the joys of concert reviewing is traveling far out beyond my comfort zone and seeing a performance of someone who is not normally on my radar. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m pretty narrow in my music tastes. I’ve got a couple of things that I really like and everything else gets a big, fat “meh” in my book. It’s not that I don’t want to listen to new and different things, I just never seem to get around to it. Attending the Sade show at the Power Balance Pavillion on Wednesday evening, I gleefully threw caution to the wind and stepped into an unfamiliar musical landscape.  Admittedly, I did enter with some preconceptions about Sade’s music. In my mind, Sade is to melancholy sl

Walking up to the venue, the thumping sounds of the opening act were clearly audible from half a block away. Clustered at the front entrance, a small swarm of well-dressed clubbers attempted to talk their way onto the VIP list as the line of ticket-holders stretched out past to the left, waiting patiently for the bouncers to take aside the rope and usher them into District 30 for the much-anticipated appearance of legendary DJ and producer Paul Oakenfold. Upon entry to the club, the place was already full to capacity with a crowd that would more likely fill a place like this on Friday or Saturday than a Thursday night. The openers, local DJs three b, treated the early arrivals to an expe

What can you say about Cirque du Soleil that hasn’t already been said? It’s magical, beautiful, wonderful, exciting, breathtaking and heartbreaking. But none of that really gets to the heart of the experience. You start to think to yourself, “Hey, that girl twirling in that hoop suspended 50 feet in the air up there? That doesn’t look so hard. Couple more visits to the gym, I could totally do that.” But you couldn’t. The artistry and the precision that make them look so effortless are the same things that make these feats such that we mere mortals can only gape in awe. Jump ropes? Don’t kids do that in gym class? What’s so impressive about jumping rope? How about 20 acrobats jumping rop