Newest articles on The Sacramento Press written by Jonathan Mendick

Jamie Kennedy looking to get 'Laughs Unlimited'

2010-07-01T06:00:45Z

Comedian Bob Saget told The Sacramento Press he has a reputation for visiting the California State Railroad Museum while inebriated. Pablo Francisco joked that he would impersonate a Sacramentan by using a heavy Latino accent and calling the Hells Angels to kick someone's ass.

Jamie Kennedy, on the other hand, said he didn't know enough about Sacramento to make a joke about it, but he respects the city for having genuine comedy fans.

"The audiences really like to laugh up there," he said. "People go to San Francisco, and they go to Santa Barbara, but Sacramento gets neglected, and I think it's a good place to see comedy."

Thursday and Friday night, Kennedy will bring his multifaceted approach of humor -- and perhaps a few hecklers -- to Laughs Unlimited in Old Sacramento.

Kennedy's willingness to talk about serious issues like the Gulf Coast oil spill is perhaps a sign that he had a humbling past, one that saw him living out of a car before he made it big in Hollywood. The Philadelphia-born actor moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and made it big in the first two "Scream" films before starring in the TV show "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" from 2002 to 2004 and doing stand-up.

Now 40, Kennedy's recent television credits include the last two seasons of "The Ghost Whisperer," with former girlfriend and co-star Jennifer Love Hewitt (cancelled last month), and voicing the animated character Federline Jones on "The Cleveland Show." In 2006, he recorded a comedy rap album called "Blowin' Up," which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Kennedy has a knack for turning negatives into positives. He credited taking something negative and finding humor in it for propelling him to success.

That includes rolling with hecklers and harsh critics. After starring in the 2006 film "Son of the Mask," Kennedy received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for worst actor in addition to a number of online reviews calling for his death.

As a result, Kennedy released the 2007 documentary "Heckler," which examines the roles of hecklers and critics and their relationship to entertainers. Ironically, it received a number of good reviews in Variety, Inland Empire Weekly and Horror.com along with some unfavorable ones.

After a heckler interrupted the recording of his stand-up for the 2006 film "Unwashed," Kennedy had a humorous dialogue with her about whether to use the word "waitress" or "server." In a recent five-day residency at a comedy club in Tempe, Ariz., Kennedy said a likely-inebriated heckler was kicked out of the audience every night.

"It's part of comedy, so you've basically got to deal with it," he said. "In a perfect world, I'd do my stuff, people laugh and I go home. It's only fun when it works for the show, when they say something that's off the mark, not just interrupting (and) commenting on what you're saying."

Kennedy's future projects continue to be diverse, including a Showtime special in November and a horror movie, though not the next "Scream" film.

"I guess I'm everything and nothing," he said of his career. "Some days I'll tell jokes, some days I'll act or rap. It's just about creative expression. If I can do it and people accept it, that's what I am."

Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased at laughsunlimited.com. Kennedy will perform Thursday at 8 p.m. and Friday at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Laughs Unlimited is located at 1207 Front St.

A slice of butchering at Taylor's Kitchen

2010-06-28T04:27:13Z

"Know Your Cuts of Meat" took the form of more than an audience participation game on the "David Letterman Show" Saturday morning. It was a the principle that guided Butchering 101, a class taught by Taylor's Market owner and butcher Danny Johnson at the adjacent Taylor's Kitchen on Freeport Boulevard.

Having wanted to teach it for years, Johnson was only able to make the class a reality this January, because Taylor's Kitchen opened early last year. The monthly class has consistently sold out, and it even received national press when Johnson was featured in Time Magazine.

Saturday's class was again sold out, and 25 people surrounded the butchering school graduate to see him de-bone, slice and trim hefty carcasses of lamb, hog and cattle, each more than one eighth of an entire animal. Students received an in-depth chart with regions to cut pieces of meat including common and choice cuts from the loin, shoulder, rib and leg.

"All the animals have the same bone structure, except for bear," Johnson said. "Learn the bone structure and you can apply that to sheep, pig and beef."

Audience members winced, laughed and took notes as Johnson quickly and carefully cornered off large cuts of meat using a only a saw and butcher's knife. All the while, he gave helpful tips and fielded questions from the group members, who were treated to a light lunch after the class.

Most of the tips were butcher-related, like the advice to only cut with the top inch of the blade. However, Johnson also gave some in-depth cooking advice and recipes for barbecuing ribs and lamb shanks. At one point during the class, audience members passed around a piece of fat, pulled from the hind leg of a lamb.

An audience member asked about germs, and if using the same cutting board for different meats would contaminate the food.

"About 95 percent of food poisoning comes from poor personal hygiene," Johnson said. He also mentioned that most of the cases of E. coli are not from from poor personal hygiene, but from fecal matter on the animal itself.

This was the last comprehensive Butchering 101 class this year, as Johnson has decided to teach more in-depth classes on individual animals. A seafood and poultry butchering class will be taught Aug. 28, a "Hunter's Special" class will follow on Sept. 11 to show attendees how to care for recently slaughtered animals, and a pig and sausage class teaching students all about pork will take place Oct. 23.

All classes start at 10 a.m. and last for about two hours. Space is limited to 25 attendees, and the $40 tickets, which include lunch, can be purchased from taylorsmarket.com. Taylor's Kitchen is located at 2900 Freeport Blvd.

Eat, drink and hear opera

2010-06-26T01:52:52Z

Imagine you're relaxing with a glass of wine, overlooking Tuscan-like vineyards and grassy foothills. Italian arias about intense romances are being sung to you and an intimate crowd of about 200.

That's the kind of opera experience the Sacramento Opera wants to provide with the second annual Opera in the Vineyards, happening Sunday night at David Girard Vineyards in Placerville.

The informal theme of the show is "Love Italian Style," said the opera's general manager, Rod Gideons. It features soprano Carrie Hennessey, mezzo soprano Julie Anne Miller, tenor Darron Flagg and piano accompanist John Cozza. Concert pianist Jennifer Reason, who was married at the vineyard, will open the show.

"It's absolutely perfect," Gideons said. "Girard Vineyards looks like a little slice of Tuscany: hills, vineyards and a little view of the Sierra."

David Girard, a huge opera fan, came up with the idea, said the vinyard's event manager, Judy Collinsworth. She said that a chilled grenache would pair well with opera.

Last year, several hundred people packed the shady hilltop amphitheater that will surely come in handy this year. Sunday's forecast is set to top out near 100 degrees, but Gideons said the evening in the foothills will likely cool down quickly once the sun sets.

Food will be available for purchase from Beth Sogaard Catering, and desserts and coffee will be sold by Sierra Rizing Café and Bakery. Food options include a dinner of pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes and asparagus, or a Caesar chicken salad option, both priced around $10.

Attendees will also be able to mingle with the artists and get a behind-the-scenes look at the opera's upcoming season, which begins in the fall.

"Our upcoming season is working under the thematic title, Love Makes You Crazy," said Gideons with a chuckle. "We've got some arias with characters who are a little bit on the crazy side."

Gates open at 6 p.m., and the performance begins at 6:45. Tickets are $30 and $20 for Girard Wine Club members, available online here. Tickets are available on the day of the show for $35, 741 Cold Springs Rd. Directions can be found at the vineyard's website.

Photographs provided by David Girard Vineyards.

Album release concert celebrates 'Sunday Evening Jazz'

2010-06-25T02:09:12Z

Many musicians learn how to read music before playing a song. It was the opposite for guitarist Doug Pauly.

"At some point, I started writing stuff out to teach myself," he said. "I didn't grow up playing music in formal situations, so it was a means to learning. I really learned to read well musically by writing stuff out. Most people learn to read well by reading in concert band or jazz band."

Pauly said being a good sight-reader doesn't necessarily mean you play well, it just means you read well.

This Sunday at JB's Lounge inside the Red Lion Hotel, the Doug Pauly Trio and Meleva Steiert will play an album-release concert for their new release, Play Nice. The show will also celebrate seven years of Sunday Evening Jazz, an event at the hotel created by musicians Glenn Hair and Vivian Lee to bring local jazz to an intimate audience of about 150.

Pauly, who said he is over 50, grew up in Sacramento listening to all kinds of music. As a young adult, he started playing professionally, learning music theory from Oscar Robinson's Oak Park Conservatory and attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

"I woke up one day and realized that I just had been drawn into it," he said. "At some point I said, 'I just want to play,' because I realized it's a craft. If you're not doing it consistently, then you're not getting better."

Now with nearly four decades of experience and six albums released, Pauly has played nearly every style of guitar. He spent nine years in a Bulgarian dance band and has released albums as a soloist, in a duo, in a trio, and as part of a five-piece Latin band.

It's apt to say that Pauly is a master of rearranging songs to fit any particular musical group, whether it's a solo composition or a band arrangement. Play Nice features Latin, pop and jazz covers arranged for bassist Paul Klempau, drummer Rick Lotter (Mumbo Gumbo), woodwind player Mike McMullen (Capital Jazz Project) and vocalist Steiert.

On Latin tunes, Pauly plays a guitar-type instrument called the Cuban tres to create a style called són, which blends African rhythms with Spanish songwriting. Steiert sings in a no-frills manner reminiscent of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn or Ella Fitzgerald, allowing McMullen's flute and saxophone flourishes and Pauly's chord compositions to embellish on the straightforward melody delivery.

There are even a few popular songs that a non-jazz listener could appreciate, including The Police's "Don't Stand So Close," R.E.M.'s "Electrolite," and the R&B classic "Fever," made popular by '50s and '60s artists like Peggy Lee and Elvis. The material is a collection of tunes the band has been playing over the last two years at local shows.

"It's just a general ethic: Why not 'play nice?' " Pauly said in explaining the album's title. "Even people who play really head-banging music, there's still an ethic of 'play in the way we've agreed to play.' All this music is very accessible and not in-your-face sort of music."

When he's not recording and playing shows, Pauly teaches private lessons three days a week at the Guitar Workshop in East Sacramento. He is currently working on a book of guitar exercises to hone budding guitarists' techniques.

The Red Lion Hotel is located at 1401 Arden Way. The show is all ages and costs $8. For reservations and more information, call 723-5517 or e-mail Vivian Lee at vtlee54@gmail.com. Sunday Evening Jazz takes place every Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m.

Photographs:

1. Pauly (credit Jonathan Mendick)

2. Pauly and Steiert (courtesy Doug Pauly)

Companies team with Google for Smithsonian exhibit

2010-06-19T01:48:50Z

Ever wanted to create your own doodle on the Google homepage?

Three local companies — Digital Deployment, Fuel Creative Group and JM Design — teamed up to create two web-based kiosks enabling you to do just that. They’re located in the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City.

“Doodle 4 Google: If I Could Do Anything, I Would...” features the kiosks alongside 40 doodles from children whose art finishes the sentence, “If I could do anything, I would...” The winning drawing was featured on the Google homepage last month. The kiosks also debuted in the exhibit last month, allowing visitors to draw custom doodles and e-mail them to themselves or friends from the museum site, said Carol Davydova, Fuel’s business developer.

Google contacted Digital Deployment for help on the project because they had worked together before, said owner and CEO Mac Clemmens. Clemmens and his team of four sub-contracted a small design team from Fuel, which was led by Brent Rector, as well as Flash programmer Jason McWhorter of JM Design. Google also contracted a kiosk designer from the Bay Area.

“It was fast-paced and had a lot of unknowns that we had to solve,” Rector said. “Google let us do what we thought was best. We had feedback to make sure it was within their standard.”

Digital Deployment and Fuel had worked together on a number of web design projects such as WEAVE, Inc., and Make a Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles, but this was their first time working with McWhorter. Fuel also has a working relationship with The Sacramento Press, consulting on site design and creating marketing and promotional materials.

“I think Fuel has a reputation for outstanding design,” Clemmens said. “We specialize in web, and they specialize in design. We work together on a lot of stuff and we're like two parts of a whole. Anything that's web-based, we can put it together.”

Considering it was the team’s first attempt at such creating such a product, things didn’t all go to plan. The kiosk had a last minute change to be more Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant, and due to a change in monitor size, the team had to scramble. May 17, one day before the exhibit opened, Google sent Clemmens to fix the problem.

Clemmens had to reprogram the website to fit the screen as well as ensure the kiosk’s software was secure. He stayed up until 5 a.m., slept for a few hours, and returned for the grand opening. Along with the children and great fanfare came more problems.

“All these kids came pouring into the room and (the kiosk) started going really slow,” Clemmens said. “Google asked me to stay one more day, so they asked a bunch of contractors to drill more wires into the computer.”

Even the security guards were seen drawing on the kiosk.

“I just got a kick out of the whole thing,” McWhorter said. “Even though (Google) are institutional clients, (the kiosk) can show that a website can empower anything.”

The following are videos of the kiosk, taken by Clemmens:

Photographs:
1: Clemmens
2: Fuel’s design of the interface

County slaps SMAC with budget cuts

2010-06-18T05:07:34Z

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission banded together Wednesday afternoon, bringing nearly a dozen arts supporters to a public County Board of Supervisors budget meeting that discussed funding cuts from the county's Transit Occupancy Tax, a hotel tax. It was the last day of public hearings on the county budget before deliberations.

Rob Leonard, the director of the county's Department of Economic Development gave a report on the cuts. Among organizations facing cuts from the TOT budget were the Sacramento Tree Foundation, the Sacramento Sports Commission and Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission.

Despite their efforts to oppose the cuts, which included public service announcements and several petitions, SMAC's funding from the TOT budget was cut Thursday afternoon from $309,655 to $175,000. That funding is allocated among SMAC's operations budget and Cultural Arts Awards.

"In the past, the board has given us some discretion to work with staff to allocate that amount as needed," director Rhyena Halpern said.

After Leonard's presentation Wednesday, nine people spoke in support of SMAC, for several minutes each. These included SMAC commissioners Dan Gorfain, Carlin Naify, Linda Cutler, Sid Heberger, as well as artists representing the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, La Raza Galeria Posada, and the Sinag-tala Filipino Theater and Performing Arts Association. Gorfain presented the board with a petition opposing cuts with more than 600 signatures.

"Over the course of the last three years, I lost my job, (my family) lost our house, we had to file for bankruptcy, and for a while we didn't know where we'd be living," said the vice president of the Sacramento Women's Chorus, Rebecca Wall, who brought her young daughter Audrey to the podium. "Music itself has been a wonderful thing for me during our situation. I'm honored to be able to be a part of the Sacramento Women's Chorus and I know that this funding is central to us to be able to do that in our community."

Sinag-tala CEO and artistic director Sonny Alforque said that SMAC funding is crucial to arts organizations, artists and the community.

"Many artists are the very same busboys, waitresses, janitors and retail clerks who serve us all for minimum wages," he said. "And yet most of us will tell you that without the generous assistance that SMAC provides to the arts and community with a small budget it now operates on, many of us would not be able to sustain our services to this community."

SMAC also receives funding directly from the city. After SMAC presented nearly 1,000 signatures in a petition opposing cuts Tuesday, the City Council decided to restore a proposed $150,000 in cuts to SMAC's Cultural Arts Awards Program.

"We are pleased by this development," Gorfain said in a prepared statement. "However, the cuts are steep. Rhyena Halpern says that the best way to think about these cuts is this: SMAC cuts for fiscal year 2011 will bring our total SMAC budget, excluding Art in Public Places, down from about $2.6 million in fiscal year 2008, to about $950,000."

The City Council must vote on its budget by June 22.

Photograph depicts painter David Garabaldi, the recipient of a SMAC scholarship to attend the California State Summer School for the Arts.

Sea of Bees album a buzzworthy debut

2010-06-17T03:56:25Z

You wouldn't guess when you listen to her new album, "Songs for the Ravens," that 25-year-old singer-songwriter Julie "Julie Bee" Baenziger hadn't heard The Beatles or the Rolling Stones a year ago.

"I didn't grow up listening to music except for my mom's Barbra Streisand and Cher," said the lead singer and main creative force behind Sea of Bees. "I've been kind of sheltered my whole life, so it was like a whole new world for me."

Sea of Bees, which is sometimes just Baenziger and other times a full band, will hold an album release party for its debut record Saturday night at the Townhouse Lounge. Sea of Bees will perform as an eight-piece band, opening for local band Doombird, as well as John Vanderslice, former Mk Ultra singer.

Though she didn't listen to much outside of the church and a few tapes, music has been a transformative force in Baenziger's life in terms of giving her a voice. She grew up in Roseville, knowing early on that the music in her church captivated her.

"I would start learning chords and singing because there was this girl at church with a beautiful voice and (who) played the guitar beautifully," she said. "She inspired me, so I would go learn her songs, mimic her voice and try to play it better."

Baenziger taught herself how to play guitar and left the church on good terms to pursue her own music. She moved on, writing her own songs for seven years. Last year, she was asked to play bass and sing backup vocals for Find Me Fighting Them, a local rock band she credits with boosting her confidence.

While recording with the band at The Hangar, where local artists Jackie Greene, Deftones and Tesla all recorded, Baenziger caught the attention of studio owner John Baccigaluppi.

"I was hanging out in the skateboarding room, a mini-pipe thing, and I was writing a song," she said. "John walked by and he liked what he heard. I was just in my own world writing a song. Everything was so new, and he said he liked it. I didn't know who he was."

She sent Baccigaluppi some songs, and he invited her to come down to the studio last fall. During her first time alone in the studio, she learned how to use Pro Tools, a recording software, and recorded her first four songs, which became the EP Bee Eee Pee.

Baenziger said "Songs for the Ravens" was inspired by her year living with Find Me Fighting Them, a time of new experiences. Her album is named after the "lonely, independent" bird she relates to.

It's also about those feelings.

"I felt a lot of things, desiring love, and a lot of loneliness," she said. "I had all these friends, but it didn't satisfy me. I have a lovely girlfriend now, and that's a whole new album coming out in the fall, but I've always felt restricted from loving the person I wanted to love."

Last year she got back into The Hangar to record the album with Baccigaluppi and some other friends on drums and synthesizers.

The album features acoustic songs, as well as full-band arrangements with upbeat synths. It's a dynamic offering for a debut, with Sigur Rós-inspired ethereal tracks like "Won't Be Long" that express a soul-wrenching sadness, as well as layered shimmering pop numbers like "Willis" and "The Gold."

Baenziger and Baccigaluppi got a number of label offers including Sub Pop, fomer Nirvana and Soundgarden label, but they chose Davis-based label Crossbill Records, which to them felt like a close-knit family. In the next month, Sea of Bees will be playing local gigs as well as ones in Los Angeles and New York City.

Townhouse Lounge is located 1517 21st St. Tickets cost $7 online and the 21+ show begins at 8:30 p.m.

River crossings bus tour

2010-06-16T01:52:41Z

While the riverfront areas near downtown Sacramento and West Sacramento are quickly developing, the two cities are asking for input on possible new river crossings. The cities formed the Sacramento River Crossings Alternatives Study, which will result in a report to the Sacramento and West Sacramento city councils by the end of December.

Monthly input is provided by a Stakeholder Advisory Committee, made up of neighborhood associations, business owners and local environmental groups (previous meeting coverage can be found here and here). Monday's SAC meeting featured an evening rush-hour bus tour of possible crossing locations.

A survey was also released Monday to field public input on favored locations and modes of crossings. It is due June 24.

Consultants Gladys Cornell and Gene Endicott welcomed about 30 SAC members to the bus, including representatives from Regional Transit, Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates and Walk Sacramento. Yolo County Transportation provided the compressed natural gas-powered bus, which began its journey just east of the Tower Bridge.

"We are trying to give everyone a sense of traffic during peak travel times," said the study's project manager, Ron Milam of Fehr & Peers Transportation Consultants.

He said the group has not ruled out any type of crossing so far, nor elected to create a new one.

"Crossings could be gondola, ferry, a fixed or movable bridge, or multi-modal," he said with a twinge of facetiousness.

Milam also described the differences between the three bridges currently connecting Sacramento to West Sacramento.

The northernmost I Street Bridge can hold trains on one level and pedestrians, bicycles and automobiles on another. However, the 12,728 automobiles that cross the bridge daily don't include buses because the lanes are too narrow.

To the south, the iconic Tower Bridge also takes bicycles, pedestrians and automobiles, including buses, and has a daily traffic of 15,665. Walt Seifert, executive director of SABA, noted that according to a study, about 300 bicyclists cross the bridge every two hours.

"I'm pleased that most stakeholders are considering bike and pedestrian bridges as a possibility," Seifert said.

The southernmost Pioneer Bridge, which raises Highway 50 over the American River, sees 162,058 vehicles per day, about 85 percent of all the daily traffic between the cities. However, it does not serve bikes or pedestrians.

Maureen Pasko, West Sacramento's capitol improvement manager, described developments in her city. These included from north to south: The Rivers, The Washington Plan area, the Bridge District, the Pioneer Bluff redevelopment and the Stone Lock Project.

Fran Halbakken, operations manager of Sacramento's Department of Transportation, described projects on the Sacramento riverfront, which include from north to south: The River District (the Richards Boulevard area), The Railyards and the Miller Park redevelopment.

The group is still researching locations and collecting data, but eight of nine potential crossing opportunities the group has identified so far connect to one or more of these developing areas. A ninth could connect Sutterville Road in Land Park and Linden Road in West Sacramento. Photograph five above shows these crossing locations.

For more information about upcoming public input meetings, or to provide direct input, visit the study's website or contact Fran Halbakken at 808-7194 or fhalbakken@cityofsacramento.org.

Photographs:

1. Yolobus about to cross Tower Bridge

2. Tower Bridge from the Docks Riverfront Promenade

3. Tower Bridge from the US Bank main office

4. I Street Bridge

5. A draft of possible crossings

Sacramento Cup: fans, fouls and free kicks

2010-06-14T02:28:04Z

Soccer fans were looking for a few more goals after the United States' 1-1 tie with England on Saturday. They didn't get any that night at Raley Field as the inaugural Sacramento Cup between Major League Soccer rivals San Jose Earthquakes and Chivas USA went goal-less.

The highly defensive game was decided on free kicks at the end of regulation time. In the end, the Earthquakes got six free kicks past the goalie against Chivas' five.

It started out ugly when Earthquakes defender Steven Beitashour earned a yellow card on a dangerous tackle. With several harsh tackles, shoves and scuffles, the atmosphere was testy.

Because both teams played a number of bench players and used multiple substitutions, there was a lack of cohesive passes. A dearth of goals added to the frustration.

However, the atmosphere in the stands was quite different.

There was a peppering of empty seats, but those near the midfield line and behind the goal were packed with thousands of loud supporters. The crowd was equally divided between Chivas and Earthquake supporters, so alternating chants circled the stadium simultaneously. During the second half, the entire stadium did "the wave."

It was the 1906 Ultras, a Bay Area-based Earthquakes fan group, who proved the loudest, most die-hard and entertaining.

Usually numbering in the hundreds, the Ultras travel to as many Earthquake games as possible. They are a well-organized group, dressed in Earthquakes black and blue. Members wave flags and cheer or heckle nonstop during each 90-minute game. During the second half of Saturday's game, they set off a blue smoke bomb, which Raley Field security discovered and confiscated.

About 100 Ultras attended the Sacramento Cup to sing songs that were altered to fit an Earthquakes or soccer theme. They included "When the Quakes Go Marching In," "Come on Earthquakes" ("Come on, Eileen"), and "Give Us a Goal" ("Give Peace a Chance").

Among jibes directed at opponents were one telling 230-pound Chivas goalkeeper Zach Thornton to go on a diet and chants about Los Angeles-based rivals Chivas and Galaxy.

The Ultras' motto, according to a T-shirt worn by founder Dan Margarit, is "Win or lose, we'll always be there for you." Margarit, a Romanian-American, said he has not missed an Earthquakes game since founding the group in 2003.

Perhaps the extra support helped the Earthquakes win the cup. The winning team ran to the Ultras section to thank their fans before Captain Bobby Burling was presented with the Sacramento Cup.

Chivas fans now can look forward to watching defender Jonathan Bornstein, who plays for the United States in the World Cup. The United States' next game is against Slovenia on Friday at 7 a.m. PST.

SMAC hit with budget cuts

2010-06-11T03:46:17Z

Chances are if you live in Sacramento, you know someone involved in the arts, or even a struggling artist.

The greater Sacramento area is home to an estimated 1,515 arts-related businesses employing 7,061 people, according to a 2010 study by the National Arts Index. The arts contributed $350 million, $1.35 million in taxes and had the potential to make $2.8 million more for the city, according to a 2001 study by The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission.

However, SMAC and its current 10 full-time employees are facing further cuts by the city and county, the agency's two largest funding sources. County staff recommended cutting $134,655 in 2011, while city staff recommended cutting $150,000.

SMAC was established in 1977 thanks in part to the efforts of then-mayor Burnett Miller. It helps promote arts and arts organizations in Sacramento. In the last two years, SMAC had its funding reduced by 50 percent (more than $1 million), forcing the agency to lose three full-time staff and cut re-granting efforts to arts education programs.

"Many of our funds help leverage education funds, and others go to train artists to teach art in the schools," SMAC commission chair Dan Gorfain said. "Some of our grants go to social service organizations to serve after-school youth, seniors and mentally challenged people. So our funds are really for (benefiting) education, social services and economic impact."

In light of these impending cuts, SMAC has taken action in two ways.

Earlier this week, the organization released a number of public service announcements for their marketing campaign "Arts. Open Daily," which began appearing on buses, billboards and local media last year. The new PSAs feature local artists and representatives from arts organizations speaking on the importance of the arts. They will be aired on local radio stations KFBK, KSTE, KHYL, KGVY and KHLX, and local television stations KVIE, KCRA, KMEX, KOVR, KQCA, KTXL and KXTV. They are also available online.

"What we hope to accomplish is to raise the community's awareness of the arts in Sacramento," Gorfain said. "(Another goal is) marketing the website Sacramento365.com as a centralized bulletin board for arts-related events."

SMAC also began circulating a petition last week for those who want to preserve and protect arts funding. The petition, which at the time of publishing this article has more than 800 signatures, will be presented to the City Council Thursday night. Gorfain plans to circulate a similar petition and present it to the county Board of Supervisors.

Gorfain praised Mayor Kevin Johnson's For Art's Sake initiative for complementing SMAC's mission.

"The mayor recognizes the value of SMAC to the arts community," he said. "I think it's been a very valuable resource, and we expect to continue to be involved. That's why Sacramento is the first pilot for the Any Given Child program and the mayor asked SMAC to run the implementation of that program."

Those who wish to help SMAC can contribute money to Friends of SMAC, the agency's non-profit wing. As a government agency, SMAC cannot accept donations from non-governmental sources.

"If we had adequate funding and adequate staffing, well, the sky's the limit," SMAC executive director Rhyena Halpern said. "We really are the hub of the arts community, we have a lot of partnerships, we have a good reputation, we have a lot of goals. For now, we need to get through this economic downturn and embark on envisioning ourselves."

Photographs depict painter David Garabaldi, the recipient of a SMAC scholarship to attend the California State Summer School for the Arts.

Sacramento celebrating soccer

2010-06-10T04:09:13Z

Time to paint your body, don your wigs and honk that old plastic noisemaker. The World Cup is just around the corner.

The month-long tournament begins Friday, and there are a variety of options for those willing to set their alarms to see the 4:30, 7 and 11:30 a.m. games. Below is a detailed list of different bars and restaurants hosting World Cup viewing events, as well as food and drink specials.

Local soccer fans can double their soccer fix for a few hours Saturday with the inaugural Sacramento Cup. For the first time ever, Major League Soccer teams will come to Raley Field and compete in an exhibition game: Chivas USA and the San Jose Earthquakes.

Scheduling the game became feasible because MLS is putting its season on pause during the first round of the World Cup, said Alan Ledford, president and general manager of Raley Field and the Sacramento Rivercats. Raley Field held annual exhibition matches featuring Mexican soccer clubs from 2006 to 2008, but Ledford said this will be different because the teams are relatively local and will be competing for a cup.

"The objective is to make it a recurring match," Ledford said. "We think Sacramento will support that. Based on the previous games, we think it will be very successful."

Watching the World Cup on TV is another spectacle in itself. ESPN will dedicate 24 hours of continuous coverage leading into the opener and air many of the games live and tape-delayed. Since games will take place in South Africa, most people in Sacramento will be stuck watching replays unless they want to wake up and eat their breakfast while watching a game.

The World Cup features 32 international teams (narrowed from 204 in the qualifying stage), who compete through five tournament stages: the group stage, the round of 16, the quarterfinal, the semifinal and the final (a third-place match occurs the day before the final). FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, currently ranks the top international teams as Brazil, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. But you can never count out other top-10 teams like Italy, Germany, France, Argentina or England. The U.S. is ranked 14, and only has a slight chance of upsetting one of the top eight to make it into the finals.

In 2006, Italy beat France in the World Cup final in Germany.

Hot Italian owner Andrea Lepore, who follows the Italian team closely, has since played a highlight tape of that World Cup in the restaurant. She said the team is still strong due to the addition of some younger players.

"Repeating is so difficult in any sport because everyone wants to take the champions down," Lepore said. "So I think they have as good a chance as anyone."

France, on the other hand, has seen some mishaps since then. In their final World Cup qualifying game against Ireland, French striker Thierry Henry handled the ball illegally twice, before setting up a teammate for a goal. The highly protested incident was not seen by the referee and Ireland was knocked out of the World Cup.

"Well, unfortunately you can't cry after the game's been called," de Vere's owner Henry de Vere White said. "Of course like any Irish fan, we're bummed, but we're here to celebrate the World Cup. Our slogan is, 'all fans welcome.' "

De Vere White said he would cheer for the U.S. soccer team, while his brother Simon said he would cheer for "Argentina. No, Spain."

View the World Cup at the following locations:

De Vere's Irish Pub
1521 L St.
231-9947
Open at 6 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: A World Cup breakfast menu features a full Irish breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomato and black and white Irish pudding), a breakfast burger (chicken apple sausage, over well eggs, house-made Irish bacon and cheddar) and a breakfast potato entrée (potatoes, Dubliner and Jack cheeses, Gardenburger pieces, chili, tomato, red onion, chives and sour cream). Breakfast will be served from 6 to 10:30 a.m. for the whole tournament.

Drinks: Customers must check in through Foursquare, the GPS-based social media site, to get them. There will be Foursquare-based specials on beer and appetizers during live games.

Other: Two new flat-screen televisions will show games, among them re-televised 4:30 a.m. games. "We want to be the home of the World Cup for everybody," de Vere White said. "We've added new shifts for everybody. We (even) have an extra kitchen staff."

Streets of London Pub
1804 J St.
498-1388
Open at 6:45 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: A special $10 breakfast menu will be available from 7 to 11 a.m. It will feature a choice of a breakfast pasty (a type of meat pie) with beans, or a breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and fried toast. Both come with bottomless tea or coffee.

Drinks: Irish coffee with Jameson whiskey will cost $5. Buckets of beer from different nations will be offered at a cost of five for $20. Among them are Newcastle (England), Peroni (Italy), Corona (Mexico), and Heineken (The Netherlands). Jagermeister girls will be on hand Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m handing out Jager shots.

Other: Streets will be blacking out the windows to run a large projector in addition to several flat screens.

Bisla's Sports Bar
7042 Folsom Blvd.
383-0133
Open at 7 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: For 7 a.m. games, a continental breakfast will be offered for $5. For 11:30 a.m. games, Bisla's offers six buffalo wings for $5 and sliders for $1.

Drinks: Domestic pints cost $2.

Other: Bisla's has 16 televisions, a projection screen and Dolby digital surround sound, said owner Bob Bisla.

M.V.P.'s Sports Bar and Grill
2010 L St. (Formerly 1629 Capitol)
441-4151
Open at 6 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: Because M.V.P. is busy moving from its old location, a manager said the food menu is still to be determined.

Drinks: To be determined.

Other: M.V.P. has 20 televisions.

Hot Italian
1627 16th St.
444-3000
Open at 11:30 a.m. for the entire tournament, with the exception of Italy's two early games on June 20 and 24, when it will open at 7 a.m.

Food: Though not providing a special menu, Hot Italian has pizzas named after Italian soccer players. The (Fabian) Cannavaro, named after the Italian team captain, is a classic pizza Margherita: tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. The (Marco) Materazzi, named after the player who was famously head-butted by Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final, features pepperoni, olives, tomato sauce, mozzarella and fontina cheese.

Drinks: There won't be drink specials, but owner Andrea Lepore pointed out that the restaurant serves Peroni beer, sponsors of the Italian national soccer team. Beers are all $4 or $5. Wines start at $5.

Other: Hot Italian will be holding a celebration that they call "Art of the Game."

Blue Hot Italian shirts will be available Friday, as an homage to Italy's World Cup jersey color.

Starting Saturday the restaurant will display soccer-inspired fine art officially licensed by FIFA. There will be 15 contemporary paintings from American, Italian and South African artists.

On July 12 at 8 p.m., a fashion installation will be displayed, featuring local designers, artists and dancers. Designers will be challenged to create an original piece of wearable art inspired by an international soccer jersey.

Hot Italian has a projector.

Bonn Lair
3651 J St.
455-7155
Open at 4:30 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: Likely to be breakfast pastys.

Drinks: To be determined.

Other: Bonn Lair has three televisions and a new sound system.

Zócalo
1801 Capitol Ave.
441-0303
Open 6:30 a.m. on Friday for the opening game featuring Mexico and host nation South Africa. Early opening for the rest of the tournament to be determined.

Food: Pozole and menudo for breakfast on Friday.

Drinks: A full bar will be available.

Other: Zócalo has flat-screen televisions behind the bar.

District 5 candidates kept their cool

2010-06-09T07:50:24Z

Despite controversy in other City Council district races, District 5's candidates were civil and respectful of one another.

"They were all polite and I have nothing but nice things to say about them," said Leticia Hilbert.

"The civility and consideration of opinions has been really great," said Terrence Johnson.

Henry Harry said that everyone ran a good campaign with no "cheap shots," while Jay Schenirer stressed that he felt that no one was running "against" each other.

Patrick Kennedy did not seem to mind running against four candidates.

"I ran my campaign as I would running against one other person, or 16," he said. "I ran on my 22 years in the district. It didn't really come into play how many people I ran against."

District 5 contains Oak Park, Curtis Park and more than a dozen other neighborhoods in and around the South Sacramento area. Harry said the district has a large diversity of people and problems, the crime rate being one of the most glaring to him.

"Whoever takes that seat is going to have a lot of work to do," he said. He suggested having two council members representing the district.

Schenirer suggested a way to represent each of the neighborhoods.

"What I'd like to do is meet with the leaders of each of the 19 neighborhoods, and figure out their top two or three priorities," said Schenirer. "We really have to figure out how to work together and regain the trust of the neighborhoods and the city."

Several of the candidates spent their day Tuesday finishing last-minute campaign efforts.

Kennedy started the voting day at 7 a.m., waving campaign signs to commuters at the corner of Sutterville and Freeport boulevards. Harry drove around a car with an election banner attached to the back.

Hilbert said the day was exhausting. She spent the day handing out fliers, and speaking with voters. Nevertheless, she was supported by a large group of family and friends at her election party Tuesday night.

Others spent the time to reflect on their campaigns and make last-minute phone calls.

Terrence Johnson spent the day as any other Tuesday: working. He campaigned very little, and assisted some elderly supporters with transportation to voting polls.

"(Winning) is up in the air. We have several candidates that are substantial," he said. "I feel good about my efforts and where I've been, so I'm pretty confident."

Agnus Farrant contributed to this story. Photographs by Agnus Farrant and Jonathan Mendick.

A sneak peek at the new Crocker

2010-06-05T02:25:29Z

The Crocker Art Museum is about to undertake the logistical nightmare of moving artwork to and from its new expansion. But it will be worth it, museum officials say.

"It's about art, sure." said Lial Jones, director of the Crocker. "But the building is also really about a sense of place for Sacramento and a sense of trying to make sure Sacramento's future is that much stronger."

Jones and Gerald Gendreau, a Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architect partner who has worked on the project since its inception nearly 10 years ago, led a media tour of the expansion wing Friday. Ten years ago, the museum was the 103rd largest in the nation. With the expansion, it is estimated to to be among the 70 largest, said Jones.

(Lial Jones)

The Crocker Art Museum will close Sunday and art will be moved from its original 50,000-square-foot building into the 125,000-square-foot expansion. After the old building is renovated, some art will be returned there, while the new wing will be filled with art from the old wing and the Crocker's eight storage areas.

And it all needs to be done before the Oct. 10 grand opening.

"We have a lot of work to do," said Jones. "It's a 175,000-square-foot building when we're done. If you're looking at a 1,700-square-foot house, it's the equivalent of moving your house 100 times in basically a couple of weeks."

One of the unique features of the new wing is its windows, which provide views of the city, Tower Bridge, courtyard and neo-classical design of the original Crocker building.

(The courtyard view from a window. It is piazza-style and features a waterfall sculpture on the right.)

The new design is the same height as the older portion of the museum and draws on subtle design cues such as skylights to match the historic structure.

(Gerald Gendreau)

"This courtyard and views of the river are reference points in the building," said Gendreau. "You won't ever be lost in this building. You'll always have peeks into the courtyard, and be able to locate yourself around the building. (The views) are also pauses in between an intense art experience."

(First floor open space with a view of the historic Crocker)

The new wing is a welcoming space. For instance, the first floor will be free to the public and feature Wi-Fi and a café.

(Auditorium)

The wing also houses an education center, reception area for more than 1,000 people, meeting rooms, a 260-seat auditorium and a store.

(Sorting, storage and conservation area)

An important addition is the second-floor storage and conservation area, adjacent to a loading dock and freight elevator. The Crocker's original storage area had a dirt floor.

(Vertical window with a view of the old courtyard)

The third floor, with its tall ceilings, is ideal for larger paintings and sculptures.

(Sculpture gallery with skylights)

Some third-floor gallery spaces feature Kalwall skylights that have "nano-gel insulation," according to Gendreau. Though the building was designed before Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications were required, it would qualify for the silver LEED certification, he said.

For more information on the new Crocker wing, visit this Sacramento Press article.

Photographs by Kati Garner.

Fair to showcase Sac entertainment industry

2010-06-04T04:50:13Z

You might not know it, but Sacramento is a growing market in the entertainment industry. It has it all: actors, directors, models, artist management, production studios and acting coaches.

"If you talk to somebody on the street, the general public doesn't know we have an entertainment industry," said Cody Dorkin, actor and founder of Studio 24. "I've been working in the industry since I was a little kid. I've lived up here in Sacramento the entire time, pretty much, and I had no idea what the industry actually held in Sacramento. I think people would be surprised to know that there are probably over 40 entertainment companies in Sacramento."

Studio 24 will host the First Annual Entertainment Fair Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free event, at its 2220 K St. site, will feature more than 30 entertainment companies, music, prizes and food from Golden Bear.

Attendees can watch performances by Comedysportz, hear from Northern California film commissioners, and participate in a model search for California Sun tanning salon. They also can get upclose and personal with Teleprompter and green screen simulations.

For those who want to try acting for the first time, there will be a "Lost" -themed screen test complete with a $100,000 rain-forest set. Inside the studio, participants will memorize a 30-second script, receive coaching, and hair, makeup and wardrobe styling before stepping into the makeshift jungle set in the parking lot behind Studio 24.

"The whole purpose of it all is to inform the general public that we have an entertainment industry," said Dorkin. "That way, if they know about it, they can get involved, and we can grow our industry."

Dorkin, 24, has acted in film, television and commercials since he was 6, including in television shows "Family Matters" and "Mind of Mencia," films "Nine Months" and "Village of the Damned," and voiceover work in "Toy Story," "Big Daddy" "and Planet of the Apes."

He opened his business two years ago and wants to write and direct. The studio provides acting classes, talent management, headshots and voiceover workshops.

Studio 24 has about 40 clients that it's helping navigate "the maze" of the entertainment industry, Dorkin said. His family backed his creative endeavors, and Dorkin said he wants to provide a similar support system for aspiring actors, whose hard work often is ignored.

The approximately 4,000-square-foot studio has offices, a sound-proof voiceover booth, makeup/wardrobe area, photography studio and a 45-seat theatre upstairs. Artist Krystine DiMeo was finishing a Hollywood-themed mural on a wall outside the studio next to an existing mosaic mural. Both are part of the Midtown Alley Project.

Derek Byrne, a part-time actor who took classes at Studio 24, said classes are necessary for working actors.

"If you don't practice what you're doing, you won't stay fresh, sharp or current," he said. "You never learn everything, so it's good to have a variety of classes, whether it improv, or scene study. You meet other people too, so it's not just good for practicing your craft, it's good for networking, as well."

Ed Claudio, an acting teacher of 20+ years and founder of the Actor's Workshop of Sacramento, agreed that practice makes perfect.

"I think there are a lot of aspiring actors, and they should seek out as much training as they can get," he said. "It's tantamount to becoming a professional ball player. A lot of guys can play basketball, and there are games all over the place. But to do it well, you have to train your ass off. "

Photographs:
1. Studio 24
2. Cody Dorkin
3. Krystine DiMeo
4. Mural outside Studio 24

For Art's Sake looks to make impact

2010-05-31T17:56:38Z

Sacramento's arts community is looking for more than just 15 minutes of fame.

"There's a stigma that artists can't communicate what they do," said artist Milton Bowens. "Or that our profession is all Andy Warhol's personality."

An effort to change that started in June, when Mayor Kevin Johnson's For Art's Sake initiative was begun to raise the profile of arts in the city. "We are going to promote the arts in a real way," he said.

It got off to a running start. To fund the monthly meetings, Johnson raised $100,000 within a week of starting the initiative.

The last 12-months, the planning stage of the initiative, were managed by Sharon Gerber. She owns Six Degreez, an event-planning company, and is the mayor's arts liason. Each meeting was open to the public and showcased an arts venue, giving hundreds the chance to experience different sites.

Meetings also provided each person the chance to work with specific aspects of the arts community: facilities, marketing, education, funding and film. Subgroups met monthly to discuss each of these areas.

"Celebrity" artists with local ties came to the hourlong meetings. Highlights included performances and speeches by painter David Garibaldi, singer-songwriters Jackie Greene and Lee Greenwood, Poet Laureate Bob Stanley, Bowens and actor/directors Logan and Noah Miller. Trumpet player and music educator Wynton Marsalis also joined the lineup of inspirational speakers.

For Art's Sake came up with a creative action plan that will implement three strategies over the next few years: strengthen cultural infrastructure; improve access to the arts and arts education; and invest in talent and the creative economy.

Implementation of the plan will begin in September. Two managers will help oversee it: Don Roth, executive director of the Mondavi Center, and Garry Maisel, president and chief executive officer of Western Health Advantage.

Gerber said that the biggest thing Sacramento's arts community lacked was a leader. She said that this initiative differs from other efforts to do something for the arts because it has quantifiable expectations.

"I think what is the most important element is the funding, and we'd really like to find a permanent source of funding, whether public or private," she said. "We're still looking at other cities to see how they do that."

It's expected that arts education will be impacted positively by the inaugural Any Given Child program run by the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. The program promotes art in city schools. Sacramento was chosen from 27 cities in part because of the For Art's Sake initiative, said Kennedy Center officials in October. The program will begin in the fall in the Twin Rivers and Sacramento City School districts.

"(I'm excited for) actually having an opportunity to show just how impactful art, when it's viewed as education, can be," said Bowens, who is a spokesperson for the program. "The one beautiful thing about art with young people is the process of getting them to think on their own. That can never start too early. If I'm giving them a blank white piece of paper, they're going to come up with something that is result oriented."

Photographs:
1. Sharon Gerber

2. David Garibaldi

3. Kevin Johnson

Local creative organization wins Emmy

2010-05-28T03:20:54Z

It's February, the Super Bowl is on, and you’re surrounded by food and drinks. You're glued to the game but only half-watching most of the commercials. Then an Emmy-award winning commercial comes on and blows you away.

Chances are if you saw the big game, you saw the work of local group Bongo Post + Music, which won an Emmy last month for "Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement."

Their commercial for the NFL Network, entitled "Run," followed Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden throughout the course of a year and debuted the U2 song "Put on your Boots," all in 30 seconds flat.

Work on the commercial started weeks before the Superbowl. It was filmed by director Matthew Cullen, founder of film company Motion Theory, who recently won a Grammy for the Weezer music video "Pork and Beans." The commercial is like a moving diorama, in which viewers follow McFadden through different time periods in the life of an NFL player — the offseason, the draft, training camp and finally onto the field.

Bongo Post edited the audio for the commercial, with founder Bob "Bongo Bob" Smith and Ryan Sibitz handling the sound design and Debbie McMahon working on the post-production. But when Smith received the U2 track, he felt it didn't fit.

So after cutting the U2 song to fit the video (view here), he got together with a group of musicians to make a second version that would fit the commercial better (view here).

"It's all about the visual telling a story," Smith said. "I had done a cut on the music and we did the sound design on it, and as we produced that, everybody fell in love with it. They thought we'd just use the U2 version for the Superbowl spot. When they submitted it for an Emmy, they used our cut and it won."

Smith got his nickname "Bongo Bob" when he started out as an ethnic percussionist before moving into classical music and studying composition and harmony at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He then worked with Grammy-winning San Francisco producer Narada Michael Walden on projects by Whitney Houston, Lionel Ritchie and Aretha Franklin.

Smith moved back to Sacramento, where he grew up, and started a studio in his extra bedroom. His work with composer Mark Isham on the horror film "The Hitcher" got him interested in doing film composition.

"We sat there with the film and improvised to it," he said. "It's what gave me the bug to create sound for visuals."

In 2001, Smith started Bongo Post and it quickly grew into a full-service creative company doing video shooting, editing and finishing, as well as audio recording and post-production. The company employs eight people but also utilizes a number of outside partners in San Francisco and L.A. It has produced commercials for local organizations like Raley's, Jimboy's, the California State Fair and MLK365.com.

Smith said that the Emmy award was exciting and validated the fact that Sacramento is a hotbed of creative talent.

"It's exciting and it's a real honor, but I think actually getting selected to do it was even more of an honor than the award, because we beat out so many people from all over the country," he said. "We're against the biggest shops in L.A. and wherever, doing sound design for the NFL."

The group is currently working on the Lifetime Network television show "Drop Dead Diva" starring Margaret Cho.

Photographs courtesy Bongo Post + Music

The lowdown on Sacramento's underground

2010-05-27T04:34:50Z

The largest storm in California's recorded history peaked in January 1862, turning the Sacramento Valley into a 250- to 300-mile-long inland sea. Since the previous winter, Sacramento had received 400 percent of its annual average rainfall. The storm moved as far inland as Tennessee, slowing down troop movements in the Civil War.

After 10 inches of rain in December 1861, Sacramento newspapers declared Christmas canceled.

By January 1862, steamboats sailed through what is now Old Sacramento, rescuing people from their homes, and boat-makers charged inflated prices to capitalize on the new demand. On Jan. 10, newly elected Governor Leland Stanford had to travel to the Capitol via boat for his inauguration.

The flooding was so dangerous, the legislature abandoned Sacramento for San Francisco. As residents left for safety, others made plans to raise the streets in an attempt to continue urban growth and thrive as the state's economic and political center.

This storm inadvertently created Sacramento's underground. As the streets were raised some 10 feet on average, new underground spaces were created. Some used their underground space as storage, others as lower levels for their stores. A Chinese herbalist used the space to conduct his business.

Sacramento State graduate Heather Downey recently completed her master's thesis project on the subject, writing an interpretive plan for a Sacramento underground tour. To earn her MA in public history, the 24-year-old also wrote an analysis of why the city decided to raise its streets as much as 14 feet in the 1860s and '70s.

In an hour-long presentation Tuesday night, sponsored by the Sacramento County Historical Society, Downey presented anecdotes and spoke about the underground to an audience of about 75 people in the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Building. In collaboration with the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation, Downey is planning an underground tour and exhibit. It will begin July 10 and will start and end at the Sacramento History Museum in Old Sacramento.

Tuesday was Downey's first speech on the subject. SCHS vice president William Burg introduced the new graduate and HOSF research historian.

She said that some people know nothing of the underground, while many have heard rumors and myths about it. An even smaller group, she said, knows that the underground pathways include glimpses of old storefronts and architectural features leftover from before the street-raising project.

Downey, who was raised in Turlock, said she first heard of the underground a year ago, while volunteering at the Center for Sacramento History. CSH manager and HOSF director Marcia Eymann asked her to help research the underground for HOSF's upcoming underground tour.

As a result, Downey began her research for the tour, as well as her thesis.

"The street-raising projects and the architectural features that are left over — the underground today — are merely portals from the past, pointing us to this one particular instance between the forces of nature and the power of man," Downey said.

Sacramento was the first city on the West Coast — and the only one in California — to raise its street level, she said. A tremendous feat for a 13-year-old city, it also predated Seattle's street-raising by 30 years.

"Even though the flooding was obviously very devastating and outsiders were starting to express little faith in their capital city, city dwellers in Sacramento were not giving up on their vision for growth in Sacramento," Downey said.

Sacramentans' plan was three-pronged: to reroute the rivers, reinforce the levees and raise the central city, she said.

But the plan drew critics like Mark Twain, who commented on the project in 1869.

"The system of raising its buildings has its advantages," he wrote. "It makes the floor shady and this is something that is great in such a warm climate. It also enables the inquiring stranger to rest his elbows on the second-story windows and look in and criticize the bedroom arrangements of all the citizens."

Despite the critics, and thanks to an enormous amount of physical work and commitment by the landowners, Sacramento stayed alive as a city.

"We want people to leave the tour equipped with new eyes to see our downtown district," she said. "You don't have to necessarily go under the city to see the underground because there are so many above-ground features that point to the street-raising project."

Several skylights into the underground exist around the J Street area downtown. Pinkish quartz squares dot several sidewalks downtown, shedding a little light into a piece of history.

"Old Sacramento Underground: Get The Lowdown" begins July 10 and runs through October. The 45-minute tours will be led by guides with theatrical backgrounds, and will travel between Front to Second streets, both above and underground. Tours will run hourly Thursday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the last tour beginning at 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for youth. The tour begins at the Sacramento History Museum, 101 I Street, Old Sacramento, 808-7973.

Photographs:
1. The flood (credit Center for Sacramento History)
2,3. Downey answers questions (credit Jonathan Mendick)
4. Current height of Old Sacramento compared to the Sacramento River (credit Jonathan Mendick)
5. Sacramento History Museum (credit Jonathan Mendick)
6, 7. The underground (credit William Burg)
8. Locations of existing hollow sidewalks in Sacramento

Rollins jazzes up Mondavi Center

2010-05-21T04:19:59Z

How to be a saxophone legend, step one: When you walk onto the stage with a five-inch afro, beard and dark sunglasses, don't even introduce yourself. Just start playing and let that do the talking.

At age 79, Sonny Rollins is perhaps the greatest saxophone player around, and he proved it Thursday at the Mondavi Center in Davis. He treated the nearly full 1,800-seat Jackson Hall to an almost three-hour performance of jazz flecked with Caribbean and Latin vibes.

After finishing his opener, a 10-minute cover of Noël Coward's "Someday I'll Find You," Rollins introduced his four backing musicians: guitarist Russell Malone, percussionist Victor See-Yuen, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Kobie Watkins.

The next song, a new one for his upcoming album next year, built a calypso-like groove on top of which Rollins soloed for the entire song. Then during the bebop-influenced "Nishi," off his latest studio album "Sonny Please," Rollins and Watkins "traded fours" (a call-and-response where each person plays for four bars) for several minutes before Watkins exploded into a Max Roach-inspired solo. This left the crowd awed and cheering loudly before the group took a 10-minute intermission.

Rollins traded his white shirt for a bright red one before the second half of the show to play his song "Why Was I Born?" which won a 2006 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. That tune also had traded fours between Rollins and See-Yuen, who played chimes, shakers, tambourines, triangle, wood blocks, bongos and congas throughout the night.

At this point in the show, Rollins stopped announcing song titles altogether, and the band played the last few songs with little pause. These included another song with an island-influenced groove, which the audience expected to segue into "St. Thomas," perhaps Rollins' best-known song.

Rollins soloed for what seemed like 10 minutes straight while employing some insanely difficult saxophone techniques like playing harmonic overtones, which are basically chords, as opposed to one solid note.

He borrowed licks from bebop standards written by his contemporaries and played trickling ostinatos - all the while building suspense by alluding to the melody of "St. Thomas" without actually playing it (click here to hear St. Thomas). The guitarist and bass player also took solos during which Rollins accompanied them.

The island groove gave way to a saxophone ballad that expressed a soulful sadness, before going back to the up-tempo calypso beat. Rollins commanded the audience: "Don't stop the carnival" near the end of the set, which brought the whole house to its feet. During the ensuing groove, Rollins twirled in a circle while playing a solo, drawing huge cheers.

The sax legend had even the seniors in the audience bobbing their heads, stomping their feet and getting their groove on all the way out the door, without even playing his best known songs: "St. Thomas," "Doxy" and "Oleo."

Photograph credit Michael Jackson.

Heart, Hagar co-headlining Walk 'n' Rock For Kids

2010-05-20T00:33:59Z

Ann Wilson loved watching her son play "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock." Heart's lead singer is honored to have her song "Barracuda" featured in the video game, adding that it's a good way of passing music on to younger generations.

"I have a son who's 12, and when he was 10 it was hard for him," she said. "But he got into it. He got a chair, took his shirt off, got his guitar on and he got good. It was fun to see him play the songs on that game."

Heart and former Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar are headlining the second annual Walk 'n' Rock For Kids at Raley Field May 31. The walk and concert event benefits the local Hope Productions Foundation, which aims "to strengthen nonprofit organizations and benefit local children and youth programs," according to its website.

It kicks off at 8 a.m. with a 5k walk from the Capitol to Raley Field, culminating later that night with a 7:30 p.m. concert with the classic rockers. Proceeds from the entire event will be donated to seven local nonprofits benefiting youth (view list here).

Neither Heart nor Hagar are strangers to benefit concerts. Wilson said Hagar invited her band to play the show, and it's fun playing concerts with classic rockers who are still relevant.

"If we can put our music where our mouth is, that's what we're going to do: to draw attention to something," Wilson said. "We said, 'yeah' partly because we wanted to help Sammy out and partly because of the project; it should be supported by anyone and everyone who has the energy."

Ann Wilson and her sister Nancy, Heart's lead guitarist, are the only original members of the band, which formed in Canada in 1973. Though released on a once-new and obscure label, Mushroom Records, their 1976 debut "Dreamboat Annie" quickly went gold, then platinum.

"We never dreamed that would happen," said Ann, and the band has hardly slowed down.

They've sold more than 30 million albums and have six platinum and two gold-certified albums. Currently on tour in North America, Heart has been debuting material from their upcoming album "Red Velvet Car," set to be released Aug. 30.

"We chose the three (songs from the new album) that we thought would translate the best live, and surprise surprise, they're really going well," Wilson said. "Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't because fans (only) go to see us perform 'Barracuda' and 'Crazy on You.' In the past, they've chosen those 'new song moments' to go buy a beer."

Though formed in Canada, Wilson considers the band a west-coast band because it currently has members in Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego. The Wilson sisters also have a close connection with the Seattle music scene, where they grew up listening to local blues rockers like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. These influences gave Heart a hard rock and metal influence in the '70s.

Heart reinvented itself in the '80s, going for the popular "arena sound," and Nancy Wilson married director and music journalist Cameron Crowe. Then in the '90s, as rock music trended away from a highly-produced digital sound to a roots revival, so did heart Heart - moving away from power ballads back to its original, harder sound.

The sisters created Seattle's Bad Animals Studio in the '90s with Steve Lawson of Steve Lawson Productions. During that era, grunge bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains recorded albums in Bad Animals' "Studio X." Ann Wilson contributed vocals to the Alice in Chains' EP "Sap."

The Wilson sisters were closely knit with the soon-to-be-famous '90s Seattle music scene depicted in Crowe's period film "Singles." But the grunge years weren't all fun and games.

"They were also very raw in the sense that we lost a few people," Wilson said. "Some of our friends didn't make it (because) people went really dark and some people died. It really brought the music community really close. We were always pulling someone back from the brink or going to someone's funeral."

Thankfully, their sisterly bond helped them through the life of a touring rock star.

"I would say we're friends first and sisters second," Wilson said. "We're just really close and we get when to back off and when to be supportive. It's just a lifelong friendship that I think will go beyond life."

For more information, visit walknrock.org. Tickets for Heart/Sammy Hagar are $40 to $250, available at Ticketmaster.com. Raley Field, 400 Ball Park Drive.

Photographs:
1. Heart, credit: Randee St Nicholas
2. Left (Ann Wilson) Right (Nancy Wilson), credit: Randee St Nicholas
3. Ann Wilson, credit: Randee St Nicholas
4. Sammy Hagar, credit: Sammy Hagar

Four former mayors speak in public forum

2010-05-18T04:04:55Z

A Sunday night panel with four former Sacramento mayors took a lighthearted tone at the Time Tested Books/Midtown Monthly Living Library series. Topics included Burnett Miller's alleged pornographic doodlings during council meetings ("You claimed they were pornographic," he said to Anne Rudin who kept several of them); Heather Fargo's love of animals; the expectation that Rudin look like Gloria Steinem ("aviator glasses, long hair and militant," she said); and Phil Isenberg's ability to politely interrupt people ("he knew how gently to cut everybody else off, so nobody hated him," said Miller).

Nearly 100 people, most appearing to be over 40, showed up at Time Tested Books to listen to the former mayors talk about their experiences and answer questions. Tim Foster, editor of "Midtown Monthly," moderated the hour-long public forum, which included both laughs and serious conversation.

The all-Democratic panel discussed recurring issues from past and present City Council meetings including the strong mayor system, containerized waste, city-county consolidation and the tax/spending conundrum. A camaraderie seemed to be evident between the mayors, who were all consecutive mayors from 1975-2008, not counting former mayors Joe Serna, who passed away in 1999, and Jimmie Yee, who was not present.

The former mayors joked with each other, even when they disagreed, but they all agreed that they didn't like calling Sacramento a "world class city," which elicited cheers from the crowd.

"When you can't raise taxes and you can't cut spending, games are all that are left," said Isenberg, who was mayor from 1975-82 before serving in the California State Assembly. He was known as a budget expert when he served in the Assembly.

Isenberg said some of the toughest City Council meetings he ever attended were about racial tensions. After the forum, he recalled a meeting in the early '70s when he was a councilman where hundreds of African Americans showed up.

They were there to support a young black youth shot by police officers who were looking for a gang of armed robbers in the Del Paso Heights area. The kid was innocent and unarmed, and the people demanded that the city fund his defense attorney.

After being asked by audience members, others spoke of their favorite accomplishments.

Isenberg said one of the things he is proud of was a number of City Council measures supporting the arts.

"The grandfather of the (Sacramento Metropolitan) Arts Commission is Burnett Miller," he said. "I got interested in the (SMAC) Art in Public Places ordinance."

Rudin, the first woman to be directly elected by voters, initially found the socio-political climate difficult.

"I had a lot to prove," Rudin said. "I had to prove first of all that I didn't have to be a militant woman - the term 'feminist' was a bad word - and that (I) could do the job, had enough of a background to hold (my) own there and understand public policy issues."

She said her favorite accomplishment was helping to establish the Regional Transit's light rail system.

"One of the things I did work a lot on were animal issues," said Fargo, who served from 2000-'08. "I still believe that if the animals could vote, I'd still be mayor."

Before leaving office, one of the last things Fargo accomplished was to help fund a giraffe barn at the zoo, she said. She's currently writing a book on animal issues. She also mentioned helping the community with water issues, the general plan for the Sacramento River, parks, libraries and community centers.

Responding to a questions by Foster on the current strong mayor initiative, Fargo said that while some things could be changed to make it better, she thinks it's "important for the mayor to sit with the City Council."

"My last year on the council, I was head of developing the river plan," said Miller, the last World War II veteran on the City Council. "About three years later, when I became the mayor, we got a barge on the river. The barge was the greatest thing. That and to develop a monkey cage out at the zoo."

Photographs:
1. Left to right: Rudin, Miller, Fargo, Isenberg
2. The audience
3. Time Tested Books
4. Isenberg
5. Rudin
6. Miller
7. Fargo

Saxophone legend Sonny Rollins to play Mondavi

2010-05-17T04:11:33Z

It's been said that saxophone legend Sonny Rollins is just as good as jazz greats John Coltrane and Charlie Parker were. It's a reputation he pretty much holds alone because at age 79, Rollins has outlived nearly all the jazz musicians of his era.

The "saxophone colossus" will return Wednesday to the Mondavi Center in Davis, which he said has "very good acoustics we (musicians) salivate at." He'll bring to Jackson Hall some of his classics as well as new material from an album expected to debut next year.

Born in New York City, Rollins picked up a saxophone as a teenager. By the time he was 20, he had played with jazz legends Thelonious Monk, J.J. Johnson and Bud Powell.

In the decade that followed, he composed some of his best-known songs, including jazz standards "Doxy," "Oleo" and "St. Thomas." His bebop bandmates in those days included Miles Davis, Max Roach, Coltrane, Parker and Clifford Brown.

Like many jazz musicians, Rollins is self-critical.

"There's never absolute perfection, but I have something in focus and I want to get as close to it as I can get," he said. "My own performance has been progressing as the years have gone by and I'm very optimistic about the future at this point."

He was part of the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet when Brown died in an auto accident. His good friend's death had a profound effect on Rollins and he began the practice of channeling fallen musicians.

"I used to channel (Brown) sometimes, and I got his spirit, (but) after a while I let his spirit go on because I didn't want to be greedy and keep him back here on Earth," he said. "So I let him go on. Same with the other guys."

As much as he respects his contemporaries, these days Rollins doesn't want to be known only for his associations with them.

"I don't feel any responsibility anymore for standing up for them or upholding their legacy," he said. "Now it's all me and I have to stand on my own, and I'm perfectly willing to do that. I've had years and years of associations. And I'll rise and fall now on my own accomplishments."

Rollins credits his diet and regular exercise, as well as staying away from smoking, for his longevity. He's also known as a private and solitary man who enjoys meditation and solo practice.

Rollins has been called reclusive and is famous for taking sabbaticals. For several years, he would practice alone on the Williamsburg Bridge. "I love playing outdoors because you can communicate with the sky," he said.

He's not content doing the same thing and likes to explore new musical ideas every day, Rollins said.

"I'm trying to make my own music as relevant and contemporary as hip-hop is," he said. "I can say it has a certain validity and, for its time, it's sort of what bebop was for our time."

Though he agreed that hip-hop is a genre that falls under the umbrella of jazz, Rollins said he isn't quite ready to perform a hip-hop song.

"You really have thrown me into a conundrum on that one," he said with a laugh. "(Other musicians) can use hip-hop in a way I can't and I don't know if I could make the transition."

A free pre-performance lecture will be given at 7 p.m. by Jeremy Ganter, associate director for programming at the Mondavi Center. The Alumni Center, AGR Room 8. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall, 9399 Old Davis Road. Tickets are $17.50 to $55 and are available at the University of California at Davis ticket office and online here .

Photographs:
1. Credit: Jamie-James Medina.

2. Credit: Michael Jackson.

Leipheimer ready to repeat as Tour of California champion

2010-05-15T04:13:13Z

The Amgen Tour of California doesn't begin until Sunday, but Levi Leipheimer already is heavily favored to win.

"I think it will be a wonderful race," cycling commentator Phil Liggett said at a news conference Friday. "Levi Leipheimer will still win, but what the hell."

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong echoed that sentiment about the winner of the last three Tours of California.

"If I were looking at it like an analyst, I would say that Levi, Dave (Zabriskie) and Michael Rogers are the big three," Armstrong said. "I guarantee you that Levi will kick (Mark) Cavendish's ass on hills."

Cavendish would do the same to him on sprints, Leipheimer said under his breath. He noted that in previous years the race was held in February, but that professional cyclists' fitness is at a higher level in May.

Leipheimer pronounced himself "ready and here to win it again."

Andrew Messick, president of co-sponsor Anschutz Entertainment Group Sports, presented Mayor Kevin Johnson and County Supervisor Roger Dickinson with yellow jerseys. Johnson praised the tour for bringing $8 million to local businesses. He vowed to keep Armstrong's bike safe and promised never to wear spandex.

Armstrong's time-trial bike was stolen after the race prologue last year, but returned three days later. He said this year he would keep the bike in his hotel room, instead of in a trailer, where it was stored last year.

Leipheimer and Armstrong will be racing on the newly formed Team Radioshack, which Armstrong said is similar to last year's Team Astana. Six of that team's riders remain, two have changed. Armstrong said one of his goals is for his team to win first place.

"We're going to support Levi," he said. "It's like his Super Bowl."

For more information on road closures in Sacramento, visit: www.sacramentopress.com/headline/26944/City_readies_for_rolling_street_closures_and_thousands_of_spectators_this_weekend.

For a bird's eye view of the first stage and stage one information, visit this article: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/26951/Birds_Eye_View_of_AMGEN_Race.

To view team rosters, visit: www.sacramentopress.com/headline/26484/Amgen_Tour_of_California_teams_announced.

For stage maps and other information, visit amgentourofcalifornia.com.

The race will be broadcast on the Versus Network for several hours daily.

Photographs:
1. Left to right: David Zabriskie, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck
2. Lance Armstrong
3. Phil Liggett, foreground: Levi Leipheimer (left), Lance Armstrong (right)
4. Mark Cavendish
5. Left to right: Andrew Messick, Kevin Johnson, Roger Dickinson
6. Fabian Cancellara
7. George Hincapie

Learn to Fly Day lands in Sacramento area

2010-05-14T02:33:44Z

Don Campbell, a pilot for more than 30-years, took several members of the press thousands of feet in the air Thursday morning. He pointed out different landmarks and roads where the Amgen Tour of California will be held Sunday. The roughly 30-minute flight passed over Auburn, Grass Valley and Nevada City.

The number of pilots in the air has been free-falling in the last few years, he said. Campbell, Sierra Vista Aviation founder and flight instructor, said 70 percent of flight students worldwide don't finish their flight training.

"It boils down to the economics," he said, adding that completing pilot training can cost up to $7,500. Add that to the cost of fuel at $4.95 per gallon and the cost of a new plane at $260,000, and you've got a hefty bill.

So the folks at Sierra Vista Aviation and Samson Motorworks, creator of the Switchblade Multi-Mode Vehicle (flying motorcycle), decided to participate in the first international "Learn to Fly Day" being held Saturday. Sponsored by the 160,000-member Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the day was created to "increase interest in flying and to encourage the aviation community to get others involved in aviation," according to its website.

But don't get the name wrong. "Experimental aircraft" are not all like the Samson Motorworks flying motorcycle (though it is an experimental aircraft). The term refers to the Experimental Airworthiness Certificate given by the FAA, because they are homebuilt kit planes, or ex-military - as opposed to company-built planes, which instead receive the Standard Airworthiness Certificate.

Homebuilt and kit planes are becoming more popular, said Campbell. Samson Motorworks is depending on that trend to become a viable kit plane manufacturer, while trying to make flying more accessible.

"It's going to make flying more approachable," said Martha Bousfield of Bousfield Motorworks, wife of flying motorcycle inventor Sam Bousfield. She added that the Switchblade Multi-Mode Vehicle will save money because it only costs $80,000, saves you from renting a hangar for storage and gets around 50 mpg on the highway in motorcycle mode.

She also mentioned that the flying motorcycle could enable you to beat local traffic by flying to other small airports in Stockton, Lodi, Woodland, Sacramento, Auburn, Placerville, Grass Valley and Lincoln.

A quarter-scale model of the plane will be available Saturday as will its inventor, who will be answering questions about it. There will also be a special price for an introductory flight at $34.95, a flight simulator and Sierra Vista staff will answer questions about learning to fly.

So what's the best part of flying?

"It's the look on a student's face when they first fly solo," said Tim Hinkle, Sierra Vista general manager and flight instructor. "The instructor signs off and they're scared, but excited and happy."

Sierra Vista Aviation is located at the Auburn Airport, 2410 Rickenbacker Way. International "Learn to Fly Day" will be celebrated from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Auburn Airport with muffins and juice in the morning and hot dogs, chips and soda in the afternoon. Free flights will given to youth ages 7 to 17 courtesy of the local EAA Young Eagles program.

Sacramento Executive Airport (6151 Freeport Blvd. Suite 151) and McClellan Airport (3028 Peacekeeper Way, McClellan) will also be giving free seminars on flight instruction from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Photographs:
1. Auburn Airport
2. Don Campbell in plane
3. Don Campbell
4. Instrument panel
5. Martha Bousfield
6. The Aerocar in the Auburn Airport

Photographs 1 and 2 by Jonathan Mendick, 3-6 credit Kati Garner

Crocker director explains expansion

2010-05-08T03:38:45Z

On June 6, the Crocker Art Museum will close its exhibits in preparation for an Oct. 10 reopening that will unveil a 125,000-foot expansion. During the four-month closure, new exhibits will be installed and many existing installations will be moved.

"We're closing all of our galleries, but we're still going to be open for programing like Third Thursday Jazz," said Lial Jones, museum director. "During the time we're closed, the first floor of the building gets renovated and turned into an education center. All of the artwork in this building has to be moved out for construction and then all of the collections will be rehung because pieces will not be where you've known them to be."

Jones explained the expansion process in a "Director's Preview" presentation Friday evening. The project was being discussed when Jones became director in 1999. At that time, the museum had two computers -- one with Internet access -- and no voicemail.

"For me, our expansion is about our service to the community," Jones said. "It's really about how we operate as an institution. Two major parts of design tenets behind the building: We wanted to improve operational efficiencies and the visitor experience."

She noted that with the expansion, the museum will move into the 21st century. There will be a new loading dock, storage facility, freight elevator and a conservation lab to take care of the collection.

Currently, less than 4 percent of the Crocker's collection is on display. The addition will nearly triple the size of the museum, enabling it to show 10 percent to 15 percent of its 15,000-object collection.

With 96 percent of the collection in eight storage facilities, no one from the museum has seen the entire collection nor have hundreds of items been photographed.

"One of the things we're doing when we move it to the new building is explore it," said Jones. "We need to go through all the materials, see what's there and determine the best work we can put out."

There also will be a new art studio, a library, courtyard, cafe, auditorium and the building will be wheelchair accessible. Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, which renovated the Guggenheim Museum in New York, was chosen from a pool of 34 other architects to design the master plan in 2000.

Four exhibits will be featured at the reopening:

"Tomorrow's Legacies: Gifts Celebrating the Next 125 Years," 125 pieces that will become part of the Crocker's permanent collection. Through Jan. 9.

"Wayne Thiebaud: Homecoming," works from the internationally known Sacramento artist. Through Nov. 28.

"The Vase and Beyond: The Sidney Swidler Collection of Ceramics," international vessels. Closing date not established.

"A Pioneering Collection: Master Drawings from the Crocker Art Museum," 56 drawings. Through Feb. 2.

And there are post-reopening plans, Jones said, to make Crocker Park an outdoor sculpture area.

Photographs 1-3 credit the Crocker Art Museum.

Photographs 4-6 by Jonathan Mendick.

Amgen Tour of California teams announced

2010-05-08T01:27:01Z

Amgen Tour of California teams were announced Friday morning. The roster includes seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong as well as Levi Leipheimer, winner of the last three consecutive Tour of California races, among others.

The Sacramento Press will continue to cover the Amgen Tour of California, which rolls through the city Sunday, May 16. This will include a pre-race press conference May 14 and race day coverage.

The following is a press release about the team announcement, via Bob Burns of the Sacramento Sports Commission.

The world-class roster of teams and cyclists scheduled to participate in the 2010 Amgen Tour of California has been announced by race presenter AEG. An internationally sanctioned, professional cycling road race, the 2010 Amgen Tour of California will host 16 teams, comprised of 127 riders, from 23 countries for the fifth-annual race taking place May 16-23.

The 2010 Amgen Tour of California will bring an exceptional concentration of cycling talent to compete across more than 800 miles of the state of California from Nevada City to Thousand Oaks, home of race sponsor Amgen. Attracting an unprecedented field of riders from around the world, cyclists hail from countries as far away as Belgium, Finland, Spain, France, Germany, New Zealand and Sweden.

“We are proud of the powerful and talented group of international and domestic cyclists set to participate in the 2010 Amgen Tour of California,” said Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports. “From Tour de France champions to Olympic medalists and world champions, this field is one of the best that has ever competed on American soil. The growing reputation of the Amgen Tour of California has resulted in a very accomplished field of cyclists, which should make for a great race.”

The field will include riders from well-known teams such as Team RadioShack, Team HTC-Columbia, Quick Step, Team Saxo Bank and Garmin-Transitions, who will all be competing to take the title in the overall team competition. Some of the notable riders planned to begin the race in Nevada City, Calif. on May 16 include:

Team rosters are subject to change.

Tour de France Overall Podium Finishers
Lance Armstrong (USA), Team RadioShack; first 1999-2005, third 2009
Andy Schleck (LUX), Team Saxo Bank; second 2009
Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack; third 2007

Tour de France Stage Winners
Lance Armstrong (USA), Team RadioShack (22)
Mark Cavendish (GBR), Team HTC-Columbia (10)
Tom Boonen (BEL), Quick Step (6)
Fabian Cancellara (SUI), Team Saxo Bank (5)
Stuart O’Grady (AUS), Team Saxo Bank (3)
Yaroslav Popovych (UKR), Team RadioShack (3)
Jens Voigt (GER), Team Saxo Bank (3)
Heinrich Haussler (GER), Cervélo TestTeam (1)
David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Transitions (1)

World Champions
Lance Armstrong (USA), Team RadioShack
Lars Boom (NED), Rabobank
Tom Boonen (BEL), Quick Step
Janez Brajkovic (SLO), Team RadioShack
Fabian Cancellara (SUI), Team Saxo Bank
Mark Cavendish (GBR), Team HTC-Columbia
Tom Leezer (NED), Rabobank
Yaroslav Popovych (UKR), Team RadioShack
Michael Rogers (AUS), Team Columbia-Highroad

Olympic Medalists
Lance Armstrong (USA), Team RadioShack
Theo Bos (NED), Cervélo TestTeam
Fabian Cancellara (SUI), Team Saxo Bank
Levi Leipheimer (USA), Team RadioShack
Bret Lancaster (AUS), Cervélo TestTeam
Stuart O’Grady (AUS), Team Saxo Bank
Hayden Roulston (NZL), Team HTC Columbia

Current National Champions (by country)
Michael Rogers (AUS), Team Columbia-Highroad, Time Trial
Tom Boonen (BEL), Quick Step, Road Race
Matti Breschel (DEN), Team Saxo Bank, Road Race
Lars Ytting Bak (DEN), Team HTC-Columbia, Time Trial
Andy Schleck (LUX), Team Saxo Bank, Road Race
Stef Clement (NED), Rabobank, Time Trial
Jeremy Vennell (NZL), Bissell, Time Trial
Janez Brajkovic (SLO), Team RadioShack, Time Trial
Fabian Cancellara (SUI), Team Saxo Bank, Road Race
George Hincapie (USA), BMC Racing Team, Road Race
David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Transitions, Time Trial

American Stage Race Champions
Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack), 2007-2009 Amgen Tour of California
David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions), 2009 Tour of Missouri
George Hincapie (BMC Racing Team), 2007 Tour of Missouri
Janez Brajkovic (Team RadioShack), 2007 Tour de Georgia
Tom Danielson (Garmin-Transitions), 2005 Tour de Georgia
Lance Armstrong (Team RadioShack), 2004 Tour de Georgia
Chris Horner (Team RadioShack), 2003 Tour de Georgia

The 2010 Amgen Tour of California roster includes the following 16 professional cycling teams. The seven ProTour teams compete regularly on the UCI’s ProTour race calendar, including the Grand Tours of Europe – Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.

Pro Tour Teams

1.) Garmin-Transitions (USA)

Steven Cozza (USA)

Thomas Danielson (USA)

Ryder Hesjedal (CAN)

Robbie Hunter (RSA)

Thomas Peterson (USA)

Peter Stetina (USA)

Matthew Wilson (AUS)

David Zabriskie (USA)

2.) Liquigas-Doimo (ITA)

Francesco Bellotti (ITA)

Francesco Chicchi (ITA)

Davide Cimolai (ITA)

Manuel Quinziato (ITA)

Peter Sagan (SVK)

Ivan Santaromita (ITA)

Brian Vandborg (DEN)

Elia Viviani (ITA)

3.) Quick Step (BEL)

Carlos Barredo Llamazales (ESP)

Tom Boonen (BEL)

Kurt Hovelynck (BEL)

Kevin Hulsmans (BEL)

Nikolas Maes (BEL)

Andreas Stauff (GER)

Jurgen Van De Walle (BEL)

Maarten Wynants (BEL)

4.) Rabobank (NED)

Lars Boom (NED)

Stef Clement (NED)

Steven Kruijswijk (NED)

Sebastian Langeveld (NED)

Thomas Leezer (NED)

Paul Martens (GER)

Grischa Niermann (GER)

Maarten Tjallingii (NED)

5.) Team HTC-Columbia (USA)

Lars Ytting Bak (DEN)

Mark Cavendish (GBR)

Bernhard Eisel (AUT)

Tony Martin (GER)

Mark Renshaw (AUS)

Michael Rogers (AUS)

Hayden Roulston (NZL)

Tejay Van Garderen (USA)

6.) Team RadioShack (USA)

Lance Armstrong (USA)

Janez Brajkovic (SLO)

Christopher Horner (USA)

Levi Leipheimer (USA)

Jason McCartney (USA)

Dmitriy Muravyev (KAZ)

Yaroslav Popovych (UKR)

José Luis Rubiera Vigil (ESP)

7.) Team Saxo Bank (DEN)

Matti Breschel (DEN)

Fabian Cancellara (SUI)

Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)

Juan José Haedo (ARG)

Stuart O'Grady (AUS)

Andy Schleck (LUX)

Andre Steensen (DEN)

Jens Voigt (GER)

8.) BMC Racing Team (USA)

Chad Beyer (USA)

Marcus Burghart (GER)

Chris Butler (USA)

Mathias Frank (SUI)

George Hincapie (USA)

Alexander Kristoff (NOR)

Jackson Stewart (USA)

Simon Zahner (SUI)

9.) Cervélo TestTeam (SUI)

Theo Bos (NED)

Joao Correia (POR)

Philip Deignan (IRL)

Heinrich Haussler (GER)

Jeremy Hunt (GBR)

Brett Lancaster (AUS)

Oscar Pujol Munoz (ESP)

Dominique Rollin (CAN)

10.) Bissell (USA)

Rob Britton (CAN)

Daniel Holloway (USA)

Andy Jacques-Maynes (USA)

Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA)

Peer Latham (NZL)

Paul Mach (USA)

Jeremy Vennell (NZL)

Kyle Wamsley (USA)

11.) Fly V Australia (AUS)

Jonathan Cantwell (AUS)

Jai Crawford (AUS)

Benjamin Day (AUS)

Charles Dionne (CAN)

Aaron Kemps (AUS)

Bernard Sulzberger (AUS)

Jay Robert Thomson (RSA)

Phil Zajicek (USA)

12.) Jelly Belly Presented by Kenda (USA)

Jonathan Chordoff (USA)

William Dicknson (AUS)

Michael Friedman (USA)

Charles Bradley Huff (USA)

Jeremy Powers (USA)

Kiel Reijnen (USA)

Will Routley (CAN)

Bernard Van Ulden (USA)

13.) Kelly Benefit Strategies (USA)

Ryan Anderson (CAN)

Jesse Anthony (USA)

Dan Bowman (USA)

Alex Candelario (USA)

Reid Mumford (USA)

Neil Shirley (USA)

David Veilleux (CAN)

Scott Zwizanski (USA)

14.) SpiderTech Powered by Planet Energy (CAN)

David Boily (CAN)

Guillaume Boivin (CAN)

Lucas Euser (USA)

Martin Gilbert (CAN)

Kevin Lacombe (CAN)

Bruno Langlois (CAN)

Francois Parisien (CAN)

Andrew Randell (CAN)

15.) Team Type 1 (USA)

Davide Frattini (ITA)

Ken Hanson (USA)

Aldo Ino Ilesic (SLO)

Christopher Jones (USA)

Valery Kobzarenko (UKR)

Javier Megias Leal (ESP)

Thomas Rabou (NED)

Scott Stewart (USA)

16.) UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis (USA)

Christopher Baldwin (USA)

Matthew Crane (USA)

Marc De Maar (NED)

Max Jenkins (USA)

Karl Menzies (AUS)

Andrew Pinfold (CAN)

Rory Sutherland (AUS)

Bradley White (USA)

Stages for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California include:
Stage 1: Sunday, May 16 – Nevada City to Sacramento
Stage 2: Monday, May 17 – Davis to Santa Rosa
Stage 3: Tuesday, May 18 – San Francisco to Santa Cruz
Stage 4: Wednesday, May 19 – San Jose to Modesto
Stage 5: Thursday, May 20 – Visalia to Bakersfield
Stage 6: Friday, May 21 – Palmdale to Big Beak Lake
Stage 7: Saturday, May 22 – Los Angeles Individual Time Trial
Stage 8: Sunday, May 23 – Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village/Agoura Hills

For more information about the Amgen Tour of California, please visit www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

Photographs one and two credit Anthony Bento. Photographs three and four by Jonathan Mendick.

'Follow the Chef' through the farmers market

2010-05-06T03:15:15Z

With more than 10 local farmer's markets open weekly starting this month, it's difficult to navigate all the options and choose something you can easily prepare. Enter Michael Tuohy, Grange Restaurant's executive chef and leading proponent of the Slow Food Movement, whose mission is to "understand the importance of caring where their food comes from, who makes it and how it’s made," according to its website.

Tuohy holds a weekly "Follow the Chef" lunch at the Grange, located on the corner of 10th and J streets inside the Citizen Hotel. At 11 a.m. every Wednesday between May and October, he meets with a group of 15 people or less at the Grange and leads them through a tour of the farmer's market at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

He introduces them to farmers, shows them his favorite farm stands and talks about the different varieties of fruits and vegetables, as well as different ways to prepare them. After walking the group back to the Grange, he cooks up a meal featuring the locally grown produce bought at the farmer's market. It's served at a special "chef's table," the table nearest to the kitchen.

Wednesday was the first Follow the Chef lunch of 2010, now in its second season.

"Farmer's markets are the next-best thing to having your own farm or growing your own vegetables," Tuohy said. "You can truly cook locally here as much as possible."

He noted that spring and summer are great seasons to buy asparagus, artichokes, snap peas, fava beans and English peas. Strawberries, usually ready in early summer, are unusually not sweet so far this year, Tuohy said, pointing to the recent rain for their "waterlogged" taste.

Perhaps that's why a number of usual farm stands at the farmer's market were missing, causing the chef to remark that it looks a little "thin." He explained that since it's the first farmer's market of the season, the produce might not be ready yet.

But for the fruits and vegetables that were there, "the prices are good," Tuohy said. "I feel like they don't charge enough. It's amazing."

And there was still a large variety of in-season produce including cherries, beets, daikon, bok choy, garlic, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, cilantro and dates among others. Local apples are popular year-round, even though they're from the fall harvest. A few early tomatoes are also available, but slightly out of season. There will be more later in the summer.

Tuohy noted that not all of the farm stands are certified organic. But what does that mean, exactly?

"Buying local is more important than buying something organic certified, (as long as) they grow sustainably with no pesticides," he said. "Organic certified is a bonus."

Among other local media outlets, local food bloggers representing The Sac Rag, Cakegrrl, Sac Foodies, Sacatomato and Poor Girl Eats Well all took the tour and sat down for a sample four-course meal paired with wine, usually priced at $35.

The lunch group sat at the chef's table, slightly curtained off from the rest of the restaurant, while Tuohy and his staff worked their magic on the fresh produce in the kitchen.

Dishes included spring onion soup with crème fraiche; asparagus salad with dry beets and local Barioni olive oil; spring vegetable risotto with fava beans, artichoke and English peas; and a strawberry crustada with fresh strawberry, crème fraiche, caramel and St. Germain liqueur - created by pastry chef Elaine Baker (see below for photos). The dishes were paired with a choice of Bogle pinot noir or a Conway Deep Sea rosé.

Dishes vary by week, depending on what the chef purchases at the farmer's market. Reservations for the Follow the Chef lunch are available by calling 492-4450.

Above photographs of farmer's market credit Ashlee Gadd. Food photographs below by Jonathan Mendick.

Spring onion soup with crème fraishe

Asparagus salad with dry beets and local Barioni olive oil

Spring vegetable risotto with fava beans, artichoke and English peas

Strawberry crustada with fresh strawberry, crème fraishe, caramel and St. Germain liqueur

'The Readers of Homer' on an international odyssey

2010-05-04T04:22:35Z

Does an all-nighter eating lamb, reading Homer and dancing to Greek music sound like your idea of fun? East Sacramento resident Kathryn Hohlwein thinks it does. That's why she formed The Readers of Homer in 1998: to stage all-night readings of Homer's epics "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey."

For someone with such a deep devotion to reading and appreciating Homer, it's a bit surprising that Hohlwein (pronounced "whole vine") didn't read the epics growing up. Though she's a master of Homer now at nearly 80, Hohlwein hadn't even read much Homer until she was a teacher at California State University, Sacramento, about 40 years ago.

After teaching it for years, she retired, and fans of her class on Homer wondered how they would be able to study the epics elsewhere. Greek American attorney George Spanos pitched her the idea.

"He asked me out for coffee and said, 'I've always had this dream of doing all-night readings of Homer, people there having lamb on a spit,' " she said. "I've always given him credit over the years (because) it was his idea and I ran with it. He opened it in ancient Greek the first couple of readings."

Since Spanos opened the first two dusk-to-dawn readings in 1998 and 1999 at Gibson Ranch, The Readers of Homer have held readings in New York City; Chois, Greece; and Alexandria, Egypt. The city of Chois, Homer's purported birthplace, enjoyed the readings so much that they began sponsoring the group as part of an annual Festival of Homer since 2007.

But it wasn't until the 2008 reading in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the Alexandrian Library) in Egypt that the nonprofit organization got a ton of publicity.

"That was just a great change in our fortunes and recognition," she said. "Not that we're that famous, but it sort of took off after Alexandria."

It might have been a stretch to compare Hohlwein to Odysseus, the protagonist of the Odyssey, but Hohlwein drew the comparison herself.

"I've learned so much about protocol, how to honor mayors and dignitaries, what you do and don't do and how to deal with all these customs - like Odysseus," she said. "So I'm learning like crazy, and I love that (because) I've always been a student."

Hohlwein was born in Salt Lake City, where she appreciated poetry and art. She studied English, philosophy and French at the University of Utah before earning a graduate degree in English from the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont.

It was in graduate school that she met poet Robert Frost, who she described as "a complex and irritable human being, but a great conversationalist." She also enjoyed playing baseball with him.

She spent time studying in Europe and teaching in the central United States before marrying German artist Hans-Jurgen Hohlwein and having three children with him. Then she taught at Sac State, where she was first introduced to Homer and taught a seminar called Homeric Imagination for 30 years.

For the 10-to-12-hour readings, there are only two rules: no apologizing for mispronunciations and no interrupting or analyzing the text. Among other languages, readers have sung, chanted and read the works in Arabic, Greek, Mandarin, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Flemish, German and Japanese.

Participants and audience members can be any age, wear whatever they want - one person wore a gladiator outfit once, while another wore cartoonish Homer Simpson footwear - and are encouraged to take naps during the long night of reading. About 350 is an optimal amount of people per reading, Hohlwein said. This allows each person to read for a few minutes and listen the rest of the time.

The next reading, billed as "The Biggest Celebration of Homer in the history of Latin America," will take place in Montevideo, Urugay, May 17-22, and will feature the Mayor of Montevideo and a former president of Uruguay, as well as respected Urugayan author Eduardo Galeano. Another trip to Greece - this time the island of Kos - and New York City are planned for this year.

Though none are scheduled, Hohlwein wants to stage more local readings as well as one strictly for veterans and their families.

"It's really very universal, not stuffy and old," she said. "It's about life and death, war and peace, homesickness, veterans and the difficulty of returning to civilian life. I teach it as an anti-war poem."

For more information, visit thereadersofhomer.org.

Matisyahu headlines the Jewish Heritage Festival

2010-05-03T04:58:52Z

Sure, there was a rabbi or two, kosher food and people passing out the newspaper Kabbalah Today. But Sunday's Jewish Heritage Festival seemed more like a Matisyahu concert than a festival celebrating Jewish culture.

The American, Hasidic Jewish reggae artist is known for his top-40 hit "King Without a Crown," and "One Day," an official 2010 Winter Olympics Anthem. He's also known as a great live performer.

It was a much larger audience than last year's festival, several thousand people lining in front of the west steps of the Capitol, with hundreds more sitting on and behind the steps. The line for a falafel sandwich was a wait of more than 30 minutes at one point.

Vendors - including everything from a jewelry vendor to an Omri Casspi-themed Sacramento Kings gear booth, even a shofar (a ceremonial ram tusk horn) vendor - began lining 10th Street between O and L in the early afternoon. The festival kicked off a little after 1 p.m., and shortly after an eco-friendly fashion show took place on the stage.

The crowd was diverse. Some wore traditional Jewish garb, others were in urban clothes. There were families, young adults and reggae fans who were there just to see the concert.

Hundreds more showed up for the L.A. Israeli Dance Team, but it was clear that the thousands of people congregated at the stage were there for the free Matisyahu performance. Matisyahu was supposed to be onstage by 3:15 but he didn't show up until a little before 4 p.m. to an outburst of applause from an eager audience.

Live, he is usaually backed by at least a three-piece band, but today he was accompanied only by Dave Holmes, guitarist for Brooklyn band Dub Trio.

He began his set by saying that the show was his "largest acoustic gig ever." With Holmes laying out a foundation of melody on acoustic guitar, Matisyahu (Hebrew for Matthew) sang "Jerusalem," "Exhaltation" and "One Day," ending each song with beatbox solos.

Despite the small instrumentation, Matiyahu was able to cover a large range of sounds.

His voice is a soulful falsetto when he's singing, but he mainly delivers lyrics in the form of Jamaican toasting - or rhyming over a reggae beat (think Damian Marley or Yellow Man). His beat-boxing work was nothing short of amazing, with beatboxing solos on nearly every song, sometimes evolving into scat singing.

In the middle of his set he covered Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Who Feels It Knows It."

He also employed crowd-pleasing antics. He used call-and-response, and he even invited one person to give him a hug. This invitation turned into a massive group hug as people rushed the stage, leading Matisyahu to exclaim that the hugging session was like the book, "If You Give a Moose a Muffin."

One time, he answered his iPhone between songs, talking to a friend who happened to call. Off the same iPhone, he read lyrics to a new song he debuted at the show, adding, "I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't a free show."

He also riffed on what he knew of Sacramento, joking that the falafel vendor was great, as is shopping at Dimple records and swimming in the American River, which also elicited cheers.

It was satisfying enough for a free Matisyahu show and a fun day overall. That being said, hopefully he brings the whole band and plays a proper show next time he's in Sacramento.

'Touching Home' playing at The Crest

2010-05-03T04:50:38Z

"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 carpet by co-star Ed Harris, producer and Sacramento developer Brian Vail, and Mayor Kevin Johnson, who introduced the film.

The brothers are hard to tell apart at times. They finish each other's sentences and stories.

"It doesn't matter really (who is who)," they said in response to a question from a fan after the movie. They might have meant that they've been through so much together that they're pretty much the same person.

They essentially play themselves in the film, giving viewers a glimpse of their strongest differences in how they react to adversity. Noah's character, Clint Winston, appears more laidback and thoughtful, while Logan, Lane Winston, is stubborn, headstrong and emotional when they're both cut from their respective baseball teams on the same day.

The Millers were physically and emotionally powerful in their acting debuts. The scenes in which they played baseball were realistic. Shots of the Bay Area, especially the nature surrounding Marin County, were especially beautiful.

The audience cheered as the opening credits rolled, the loudest for the Millers, Harris and Vail.

Harris plays Charlie Winston -- based on the twins' father, Daniel Miller -- with passion and fearlessness. He's a troubled man who can't overcome his alcoholism, yet teaches his sons about unconditional love.

It was while their father was in jail that the brothers first joked they would have Ed Harris play him. All three respected the actor and agreed that he resembled Daniel Miller.

When their father died in jail, the brothers didn't have a chance to say goodbye, so they visited his body in the morgue and promised that they'd make the film as a way to say goodbye.

They tracked down Harris in a San Francisco alley and pitched their movie. "They asked me if I would play their dad and they said I was the only guy to do it for them, and that was kind of interesting to hear," Harris said in a question-and-answer session after the film. "One thing led to another and they wouldn't let me say no."

Despite this being the twins' first screenplay, and the fact that they had no training in film-making, Harris called them nine days later and agreed to be in the movie. Still, the Millers had no funding and few Hollywood contacts.

Enter Vail.

"Brian pretty much wrote us the ($2 million) check and let us run with it," said Noah Miller, which elicited cheers from the audience.

"Touching Home" plays at the Crest Theatre through Thursday, at 5:15 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $6.50-$9 and available at the Crest Theatre box office, 1013 K St.

UC Davis to help re-open UC Center in Sacramento

2010-04-30T02:26:43Z

University of California and UC Davis officials announced in a press conference Thursday morning that UC Davis will take over operating the UC Center in Sacramento (UCCS). Initiated in 2003 and funded by the UC Office of the President, the center served UC students system-wide until it closed after the 2009 fall term due to lack of state funding.

From now on, students at the UC Center in Sacramento will be enrolled as UC Davis students and receive benefits like health care and access to other UC Davis campus services and teachers.

It will continue to offer two programs: an internship program offered year-round, pairing students with another organization, and a summer public policy internship with classes taught by UCCS and UC Berkeley faculty. Located in downtown Sacramento, UCCS is just one of many satellite campuses and research centers not housed at one of the 10 main UC campuses.

"Budget constraints made us reevaluate circumstances, and we temporarily suspended efforts here," said University of California Provost Lawrence Pitts. "Thanks to the commitment of UC Davis and Chancellor (Linda) Katehi, we have found a way to preserve and enrich the program here so it can continue to serve state government as well as future generations of students from all of the UC campuses."

Pitts said a restructured program will allow UCCS students to take advantage of a broader array of faculty at the UC Davis campus. UCCS associate director and professor A.G. Block said that in the past, approximately 120 to 130 students attended the Sacramento campus per year.

Instead of an approximate $1 million annual budget, the center will now work with $400,000 per year, financed by student fees. Previously, students' UCCS fees would be sent to their respective home campuses. UCCS will also receive transitional funding from the UC Office of the President until it is self-sufficient under the UC Davis campus.

"It represents the opening day for a new and renewed effort at UC Sacramento," said Robert Huckfeldt, newly-named UCCS director, "a new effort on the part of the University of California in collaboration with UC Davis to address its threefold mission of teaching, research and public service."

Katehi expanded on the mission of the reopened center, which includes creating a public policy research center.

"We will try to look at important state issues and try to inform the public and legislators about (them)," she said. "We are hoping that the center will also create a think tank where we will have access to the many faculty across the system."

UC Davis student Ignacio Torres said he had a great experience while interning at the Sacramento bureau of "La Opinion," the nation's largest Spanish newspaper, during the UCCS summer program.

"All those skills I was learning in the classroom, I was able to apply in the internship," he said. "I know that because of this program I have the opportunity to attend graduate school and hopefully continue in the profession of journalism."

Photographs:

1. Robert Huckfeldt
2. Lawrence Pitts
3. Linda Katehi
4. Ignacio Torres

Community Center Theater renovation planned

2010-04-27T05:07:10Z

Let's just say that you bought tickets to your favorite musical but had to sit in the back because those were the only seats available for a wheelchair user. Or you're a woman who needed to use the bathroom at intermission, but the lines were so long you had to miss the first 10 minutes of the second act.

If you've been to the Community Center Theatre since it opened in 1974, you could have experienced a problem of this sort, said Convention Center Manager Judy Goldbar. Luckily, those are two major issues that a proposed $40 million renovation seeks to address. The theater, run by the Sacramento Convention Center, hosts a number of local and touring productions, including Broadway Sacramento, the Sacramento Ballet and Sacramento Opera.

The City Council seeks to pass a resolution Tuesday Night approving the renovation, which would initially cost around $3 million in design services by Westlake Reed Leskosky Architects. The remaining projects, costing about $37.5 million, will need to be be paid back late in the 2010/11 fiscal year through bonds.

"We've talked about it in the past, even before 1999," Goldbar said. "When the building was built in 1974, it was state-of-the-art at that time, and it was our desire to update the theater."

Since the theatre is currently not Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant, making it compliant will be the top priority. The theater, which Goldbar said was "designed to be a multipurpose venue for ballet, symphony, opera and entertainment venue," also seeks state-of-the-art electronics, a new heating and air system and LEED energy efficiency certification in the remodel.

To afford $3.5 million for the design contract, the facility will utilize more than $1 million it's saved since 1999, $1.5 million from a "Capital Improvements Project" fund, and another $2 million that it was awarded for renewing a contract with Classique Catering. The rest will be paid off in part by the Transient Occupancy Tax (hotel tax) and a Convention Center user fee of up to $3 per ticket.

"They are a magnet for activity downtown that in turn helps support the businesses surrounding them," said Lisa Martinez, The Downtown Sacramento Partnership's director of marketing and outreach. "They bring a lot of clientele, (and) the businesses get a lot of overflow."

Martinez also echoed the sentiment that the facility could use more bathrooms.

"I think (they) have the opportunity to create a better experience for the theater audience," she said. "Part of that is improving restrooms."

She also mentioned that the plan was comprehensive and would elevate downtown as a hub for the arts. With the new construction plan, Martinez said she hopes that people can drive by and know right away that it is a theater.

Goldbar stressed that the Convention Center renovation won't impact the city budget.

"None of (the money) comes out of the general fund," she said. "We are an enterprise fund, so as such, we pay fees back to the City of Sacramento for the privilege of renting the facility. The city has done a great job of maintaining it's asset, so I think it's a good idea that we update our facility."

The full resolution can be viewed here.

Celebrating cycling history and heroes

2010-04-24T01:25:15Z

The first bicycle was used as a replacement for a horse, required a saddle and was propelled like Fred Flinstone's car.

According to University of California, Davis, Bicycle Program Coordinator David Takemoto-Weerts, an early bicycle-like invention was a "Draisine," a 19th-century invention of German forest ranger Karl Von Drais, for whom the the proto-bike is named. Similar machines were tweaked by engineers until bikes evolved into what we use today.

Takemoto-Weerts helped facilitate the purchase of a Draisine, part of the Pierce Miller collection that U.C. Davis bought in 2000 for a little under $400,000. It is now one of the dozens of historic and modern bikes displayed at the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame, which will open Saturday morning in downtown Davis.

The mission of the organization, which has been in the process of moving from Somerville, NJ, for nearly a year, is "preserving the history and heroes of cycling in the United States," said Treasurer and board member Ray Cippolini. Besides being a museum, it's also a member-based organization and cycling and fitness advocate, according to its website.

Fourteen different cities were initially interested in hosting the Hall of Fame, but it was narrowed down to two: Davis and another city in North Carolina. U.S. Bicycling hall of famer and board member Ernie Seubert described why the Hall of Fame came to Davis.

"Davis won out because of its passionate (cycling) community," he said. "This is going to be vastly improved; we have the backing of the town."

That's evident when looking out the windows of the building onto Davis' Third Street, a major bicycle thoroughfare. The U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame sits in a three-story building, formerly a teen center, on one corner of Central Park, which is home to the Davis Farmer's Market. Near the park, the number of bicycle commuters seems to outnumber the cars.

In addition to featuring a range of historical bikes, some nearly 200 years old, the building also contains modern biking memorabilia, medals, photographs, trophies and unicycles. One room is filled with more than 100 plaques for the the 128 Hall of Fame inductees.

Inducting someone into the Hall of Fame is a two-part process, Cippolini explained. Inductees are nominated by a Hall of Fame committee, then voting takes place. Nominees may include former competitive cyclists from road or track racing, off-road riders (which includes BMX, mountain bike and cyclocross riders) and non-competitive cyclists who have contributed to the sport.

Then all the members of the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame Board, which expanded last month to include the board of the Davis-Based California Bicycle Museum, vote for a nominee. So does every inducted hall-of-famer, and a number of journalists, Seubert said.

He and others noted their favorite piece of Hall of Fame memorabilia: Greg Lemond's bicycle and 1986 Tour de France yellow jersey. Lemond was the first American winner of the Tour de France and also ran a successful bicycle company, which is now part of international company Trek Bicycles.

Cippolini said his favorite items are in the exhibit on hall of famer Marshall "Major" Taylor, an African American track cycling champion who become an international cycling star even while facing racial prejudice. The exhibit includes Major's century-old bicycle as well as photographs.

"He was recognized at a time in this country when there was a lot of bias toward him as a person, but not toward him as an athlete," Cippolini said. "He was recognized for the great athlete he was, even overcoming the social bias at the time."

At 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Davis Mayor Ruth Asmundson and three Hall of Fame inductees will celebrate the Hall of Fame's opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Sunday morning, Davis will host the Amgen Breakaway from Cancer ride, which gives amateur riders a chance to ride a stage of the Tour of California. It will be led by American cyclist George Hincapie.

The U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame is located at 303 B St. in Davis.

'Bodies Revealed' back in Sacramento

2010-04-22T03:21:26Z

After a nearly two-year absence, "Bodies Revealed" is back in Sacramento. When the exhibit debuted in 2007, it drew sellout crowds and a month-long extension of its limited engagement.

Those who visited the exhibit before it closed in 2008 can look forward to an entirely different "Bodies Revealed" opening Saturday. They will have 11 new bodies, a section with 13 cancerous organs and a research center focusing on health and fitness.

The art/science exhibit will again fill the former CompUSA store location with displays of 14 plastinated bodies and more than 200 total body parts. Attendees will also be able to measure their blood pressure and pulse rate and calculate their Body Mass Index - a new interactive feature.

Returning are the fetal development room, an audio tour and a "touch booth" where visitors can feel a plastinated rib bone, stomach and liver. Like the debut exhibit, the specimens and bodies are grouped by organ system - skeletal and muscular, nervous, circulatory, digestive, etc.

But the biggest differences will be immediately noticeable: fresh and bright lighting, increased interactiveness and the openness of the exhibit, allowing patrons to view the exhibit in any order.

In the old exhibit, entering one room ultimately forced visitors into the next. This time around, the openness makes viewing every specimen optional, including the embryo/fetus room. While the last "Bodies Revealed" exhibited just the bodies throughout a string of dark and narrow rooms, the new incarnation features colorful artistic lighting and multimedia.

The Atlanta-based company Premier Exhibitions that runs "Bodies Revealed," also runs a similar international exhibit, "Bodies The Exhibition," as well as other national exhibits such as "Dialog in the Dark" and "Titanic: the Artifact Exhibition." Sacramento remains the only location for "Bodies Revealed," which is the company's only exhibit on the west coast.

"We want people to know that if you saw it before, don't think that you've seen this way we've chosen to display everything," said Premier Exhibition's Vice President of Education, Cheryl Muré. "We're excited to have a chance to come back to Sacramento and showcase (the exhibition)."

Muré also shed new light on a years-old controversial topic: Where do the bodies come from?

In the last few years, a number of "bodies" exhibits around the world drew extensive media criticism for not knowing the bodies' origins. Premier Exhibitions released a 2008 disclaimer about its New York City exhibition saying it could not independently confirm the bodies were not from a Chinese prison.

That disclaimer does not apply to "Bodies Revealed," according to Muré. "The specimens in 'Bodies Revealed' in Sacramento were all donated to medical universities for the purposes of educational display," she said.

Bodies for the exhibit are plastinated by removing all the body fluids and replacing them with acetone. They are then placed in an silicone chamber where the acetone becomes a gas. A silicone polymer replaces the acetone in the empty space and is hardened once removed from the chamber.

"It's something that's been around for quite some time, especially in the medical professions," Muré added. "It's interesting for anyone who's a student of the human body, and that means of course kids studying anatomy in school, but also massage therapists, acupuncturists, respiratory technicians, EMTs, first responders, (or) anybody who works with the body."

She also noted that a big takeaway from the exhibit is in seeing healthy organs juxtaposed with the diseased organs. In fact, there's a cancerous and healthy lung next to each other, and right next to that, a clear plastic trash case for visitors to ditch their cigarette cartons.

Muré said that one of her favorite moments working in "Bodies" was witnessing a group of schoolkids pressure their teacher to toss his cigarettes into the case. After he finally conceded to the group chants of "Do it!" the class erupted in applause and cheering.

From 4-8 p.m. Thursday, teachers can preview the exhibit for free. From noon-4 p.m. Friday, state workers will be able to preview the exhibit for free and are eligible for a 20 percent discount every Friday after that. The exhibit will run through summer, with the possibility of extensions into fall at 2040 Alta Arden Expressway. Tickets are $14 and up. More information is available at bodiesrevealed.com.

Local organization aims to empower youth through poetry

2010-04-19T17:40:41Z

A youth mentor for a local educational program said he used poetry to see himself through a difficult past.

Coon, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, was walking home when he was shot three times. One bullet hit his spine and ricocheted into his lung.

"I was hanging out with somebody who really wasn't my friend, and I pretty much took on their beef, their issues, and I was guilty by association," he said. "I've never been in a gang or anything like that. You don't have to be (involved) in a gang for something bad to happen to you."

Asking to be referred to only by his last name (and stage name), Coon channeled the pain from his wounds and started taking his writing and poetry seriously as soon as he left the hospital. He joined a musical group and, with his friend TroubleSin, became part of a spoken word team called E-legal Tag Team.

The two are now poet mentors for Sacramento Area Youth Speaks, which uses innovative methods to help Sacramento-area kids learn. Since last year, SAYS, part of the University at California at Davis School of Education, has empowered youth by giving them a voice through poetry.

SAYS will inaugurate its poetry slam season Wednesday night at the Roberts Family Center, and the season will culminate May 7 at the 2010 SAYS Youth Summit at the Mondavi Center. Youth ages 13 to 19 are invited to participate, and the preliminary rounds, held at a different venue each night, will be open to the public.

"We can all talk about pipelining youth into college, but that's empty unless their hearts are here," said Dr. Vajra Watson, founder of SAYS and a former Bay Area high school teacher. "I saw firsthand the perils of education as well as the opportunities, and I became an advocate for young people to seek insight into their own lives."

So in January 2009, Watson founded SAYS, which partners with the Twin Rivers and Sacramento City school districts as well as the city's Office of Youth Development and the Sierra Health Foundation.

The program holds an assembly at a participating school, a writing workshop and eventually, after-school programs. During the school year, a poet mentor, who has gone through a six-week training course, pairs with a class, making lesson plans, mentoring students and helping the teacher engage with students in "living literacy" programs.

"The underlying philosophy is reaching and teaching the youth," said Watson. "We underestimate young people. They're ready to grab the mic. Are we ready to listen?"

Demand from students led to the poetry slam season. The program, which began in January 2009, grew to 350 people by May. Its popularity brought the first annual SAYS Summit, drawing youth from five school districts.

After attending a day of workshops with alternative educators and local poets, the youngsters participated in a poetry slam, competing and showcasing their stories. SAYS had to turn away poets. Teachers also received training at the summit.

Charday Adams, Grant High School senior, won the slam.

"Youth Speaks gave me an opportunity to write, discover who I was and define some emotions I had," she said. "I found myself wanting to read more books and explore more sensations; it gave me a better view of myself."

Watson said the program also employs youth as poet mentors because they can connect more deeply with students, making their work more relevant.

Coon agreed. The 20-year-old explained how he thinks of the students at Elinor Lincoln Hickey Junior-Senior High School, which he described as a charter school with mostly juvenile delinquents.

"I'm not an authority or an adult, I'm just like (them)," he said of students, adding, "I'm just trying to give (them) a way out. Sometimes it's the hardest to get them motivated because they've been institutionalized, but I let them know that I graduated from a continuational school."

Coon, who is also taking classes to become a juvenile probation officer, said he wants to get more school districts involved with SAYS because there are a lot of "silent poets" out there.

Adams wants to write for film and television and will attend the University of Southern California next year on a full-ride scholarship. "I definitely want to incorporate everything I learned," she said, adding, "a lot of people in spoken word are in screenwriting as well."

Poetry slam season will run from Wednesday to Saturday at a different venue each night. Semifinals will be held April 30 and May 1 at La Raza Galeria Posada, 1022 22nd St.

Finals will be May 7 at the Mondavi Center in Davis as part of the SAYS 2010 Youth Summit. It also will feature Def Poetry Jam poets Dennis Kim, Ise Life and Queen GodIs. UC Davis will host the professional development segment of the summit on May 15 for teachers.

More information on SAYS, the poetry slam season and the 2010 SAYS Summit is available at www.says.ucdavis.edu.

Photographs courtesy SAYS.

New sponsorship and advertising program for city parks

2010-04-16T03:34:19Z

Imagine playing softball at your local park and seeing an ad for a local sports equipment store, or going to a city skatepark and finding out there's a sale at the nearest skate shop. This type of city-business interaction could be possible with the Department of Parks and Recreation's Community Sponsorship Initiative.

Thursday afternoon at the Sacramento Softball Complex, the department unveiled its new funding program, CSI, which was approved by the City Council April 6. The program provides individuals, groups and businesses sponsorship and advertising opportunities, all while funding Parks and Recreation programs and facilities.

"It's taken us a year to get to where we are now, but today we're happy to announce that this initiative will help us with our budget problems by bringing in new revenue to the department," said Hindolo Brima, spokesperson for the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Operations Manager Dave Mitchell said at the April 6 City Council meeting that department staff hopes to earn between $80,000 and $100,000 in the first year of the program.

Brima said that funds from the CSI would be placed in a general parks fund unless otherwise specified. Sponsors can also choose for the money from their purchased advertisement to benefit a certain facility or program.

Ads can be placed at designated specialized facilities (like skate parks, community gardens and dog parks) and special events (like Doggy Dip Day and the Jr. Olympics Competition), in the "Department of Parks and Recreation Seasonal Recreation Magazine," a quarterly publication, or on the department's website.

Recreation Manager Alan Tomiyama said there has been a terrible financial crisis in the department over the last three years. "Sometimes it takes a crisis or a catastrophe to enable people to think out of the box, innovatively, and think how we can take advantage of the economic situation we're in," he said.

He also mentioned that the Sacramento Softball Complex is one of the first specialized facilities now accepting advertisements. Placement could be on the scoreboard, the side of a building, or on the outfield fences.

Tamayama said the SSC averages about 400,000 visitors per year, including 50 weekend softball tournaments. He also said that the complex hosts a number of teams from out of town, and local weekday softball games take place as early 8 a.m. while others end as late as midnight.

Jamie Engelleiter, director of sales for Holiday Inn Express & Suites, was one person from the business community already interested in advertising.

"This opportunity for us to be able to advertise and get our name out there, to be able to work with this facility, will be an honor," she said. "We look forward to offering all the sports teams package rates."

Rates for advertising start at $250 and reach up to $9,000 for a "Platinum Package." Sponsorships, on the other hand, can be as little as $10, and can go to any specific purpose related to the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Brima said that advertisers were in charge of creating and styling their own ads, but all ads need to meet provided guidelines and approval from a city committee. The community will also be notified of all pending advertisements via fliers and will be able to call a hotline to voice their concerns about advertisements.

He added that the first advertisements could be up as early as this summer.

More information on the CSI can be found at supportsacparsandrec.com. Rates descriptions of all advertising packages and options are available by contacting Hindolo Brima at (916) 808-5972 or hbrima@cityofsacramento.org.

Local artists visiting Cambodia, restoring hope to victims

2010-04-08T03:45:15Z

When Shane Grammer's old church acquaintance Clayton Butler asked him to paint a mural in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, he didn't think twice. Grammer, a 38-year-old artist currently residing in Roseville, completed similar murals in Peru, Mexico and Brazil, sometimes teaming with urban kids on the pieces.

"I'm ecstatic; I love that," Grammer said. "I've offered stuff like that before, and people are just busy or don't do it. So when I'm asked to do it, I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm there tomorrow. Where do I sign up?' "

On April 12, he will be leading a team of six to Cambodia to help Agape International Missions, where Butler works, to help end child sexual slavery and help restore hope to its victims. The team's goal is to "bring hope and joy" through art to the young girls in Phnom Penh's red light district, Svay Pak. They will paint a mural on a new building planned to be a new community center for the girls.

Grammer discovered his passion for art as a young teenager after he was assigned a project in driver education. He had a choice of writing a 10-page paper or creating a model. After choosing to do the model, he found that he enjoyed the two-week-long project so much, he would spend hours every day perfecting his assignment.

Watching the 1983 documentary "Style Wars" on graffiti and hip-hop culture sealed the deal and introduced Grammer to urban art. He's made a living as an artist for the last 15 years and currently runs a company, SG Studios, that makes themed environments for theme parks, casinos, and even churches. On the side, he creates fine art, and painted a graffiti mural at the B Street Skate Park.

When he told his sister-in-law, artist Becky Watson, about the opportunity to paint a mural in Cambodia, she replied to him, "I'm coming with you. You need to find a way, because I have to go."

Watson said she'd done art with youth before in Africa and Nicaragua, but this would be her first time creating a mural with kids. She also invited friends from different fields - a writer, a videographer, a photographer and a musician.

She wants the group to help the girls - some recovering victims of sexual abuse, some still working in brothels - "to tap into their creative process. I think if we can unwind them and give (them) a paintbrush in hand (to) experience it, they will remember it."

But while the two are "like a literal brother and sister," said Watson, they have different ways of mentally preparing for their trip.

"I've broken down and cried once," Grammer said. "That was last Saturday night at a church. They gave me about five minutes to speak and tell them about what I was doing, and they ended up giving me about $2,000."

Since then, Grammer, a self-proclaimed "emotional guy," said he's been so busy with work and family, he's been able to file away his emotions.

Watson, on the other hand, is planning the group's itinerary.

"I think about it every day, and I think about the kids we're going to see, so I keep my mind on it and I'm focusing on it 100 percent of the time," she said. "I just don't want to forget something I want to impart on the kids."

The group, called "Heart for the Kids," will hold a final fundraiser for the trip Thursday night at the Roseville Tower Theatre, 421 Vernon St. The 7 p.m. event will feature art, music and a live auction. Admission is a $10 donation at the door. All proceeds from the event will cover the group's expenses for the trip, with the remaining money raised being donated to Agape International Missions, a Rocklin-based nonprofit. See the above flier for more details.

Hina's Tea in legal battle

2010-04-02T02:42:05Z

Hina's Tea announced Monday that it will close soon. Owner Hina Soni, who has been in a legal dispute with her landlord, Gary Orr, since mid-2007, learned last week that Orr was entitled to repossess the property until litigation is complete.

Soni and Orr declined to comment, saying to contact their lawyers.

There are more than 100 court documents attached to the case, number 07AS02841 on the Sacramento County Superior Court's website, some reaching 330 pages.

According to the most recent court order, there are several key disputes unresolved. "There is a triable issue of fact as to the amount of back rent, if any, owed," according to the document. "There also is a triable issue of fact as to when, if ever, the lease commenced."

It also found that Hina's Tea is an unlawful detainer of its property, adding that Orr "is entitled to possession of the premises while the parties litigate the issue of damages."

According to older documents, the disputes of rent owed and whether a lease exists arose in 2006, when Soni and Orr initially met to discuss the property rental. Orr was said to have offered to remodel the property for a certain price and to ensure it complied with building codes. The lease was said to be contingent on these renovations, which didn't go according to plan.

"The allegation (is) that in Orr's role as architect, designer, agent and construction manager, the work performed was substandard, over budget and in need of costly repairs," said another document.

Orr's law-firm don't see it that way.

"Hina's commenced this (legal) action in bad faith with the intent to cease payment to my client," said Dan McGee of Ellis, Coleman, Porier, Lavoie & Steinheimer, which is representing Orr. "The bottom line is we have a business who has been operating from the premises rent free."

Calls to Radoslovich Law Corp., which is representing Soni, were not returned.

"In response to Mr. Orr’s attorney’s comments that Hina’s Tea refused to pay rent without justification, Hina’s Tea does not refuse to pay rent," said a written statement on the business's behalf. "Hina’s Tea believes Mr. Orr was paid all that he is due and that he failed to meet numerous obligations ... These issues, among others, remain subject to ongoing litigation with Mr. Orr and it will be left to the Court to resolve them."

McGee said a trial is set for Sept. 29 to resolve remaining issues.

Hina's Tea to close

2010-03-31T04:40:27Z

It's a sad day for Sacramento tea lovers. Hina's Tea is closing shop, losing its employees, online retail store and loyal fan base.

The store received a minute order from the Sacramento Superior Court March 25, saying they were no longer legal tenants of the property and that they should return possession to the owner.

"Defendant (Gary Orr) is entitled to possession of the premises while the parties litigate the issue of damages," said the document. "Orr is entitled to the right to possession of the premises as (the tenants) have failed to pay rent or quit in response to a valid three-day notice to pay or quit."

Hina's Tea informed their customers of store's closure through its website and email.

"After successfully fighting our landlord Gary Orr's effort to evict us for over eight months, we are being ordered out of the premises while our ongoing lawsuit continues," according to a written statement posted Monday to Hina's website. "In light of this news, we believe we have a limited amount of time to sell off all inventory before we are forced out of business."

Though the exact closing date is unknown, it could be as early as two weeks, according to the statement.

Owner Hina Soni, who opened the store five years ago in Folsom, declined to comment on the dispute based on her lawyer's advice. Orr did not respond to a phone call or e-mail by the time of publication.

The store, which was Soni's first venture into tea (she was previously in the computer business), moved to Sacramento three years ago. Soni, who moved to Sacramento in 1989, grew up drinking tea in London, but her travels to Europe and Asia inspired her to open a business with a larger variety of teas.

A few years ago, Soni decided to open up an online retail store to complement the business, because after visiting the shop, people from around the country would want to have tea shipped to them. She said she didn't want to continue online retail because it's not marketable without a physical place to "see, touch, smell and taste the tea."

Soni's store was full Tuesday afternoon, emotions running high, dozens of patrons hugging, drinking and stocking up on tea, which is marked down by 30 percent as the store prepares to close. A group of more than 15 college-age students, which has spent every other afternoon in the tea shop for nearly two years, seemed to be the most disappointed about the news.

"When we discovered tea, we started coming here on a regular basis," said Adam Beckner, a 21-year-old Elk Grove resident. "Getting educated about tea opened a new world for us. We sit in here for hours and talk about different types of tea."

He said his group of friends is composed mostly of people from the South Sacramento and Elk Grove areas, and they have known each other since they were in high school. Several of the group members said they come an estimated three times a week, and have been in the store hundreds of times.

"Customers became our friends," said Soni. "We're like a huge extended family."

Chris Eshenaur, 23, a Natomas resident and Sacramento City College student, is another a loyal customer who said he came to the shop more than three times per week for the last three years. He befriended Beckner's group of friends at the tea shop and was one of several people who cried Tuesday morning after hearing of the impending closure.

"I ended up crying in (Soni's) arms," he said. "She's like a mother to me. She's concerned about my essays and what I do. She's very motherly to me and other people."

Eshenaur, who has helped Soni run several tea classes, said he would study at the shop or go there when stressed out. He called the environment "peaceful" and "zen-like."

"These are the most consistent group of customers," said Stephen Freeman, who has worked at the shop for three years, almost as long as it has been open. "A lot of people are upset about us having to leave."

So upset, in fact, that as a tribute to Hina's, the young group of friends wants to open a new tea shop.

"We are going to open a tea shop by the end of the year," Beckner said. Freeman noted that the students already know how to brew the teas themselves.

"It's the ultimate compliment (and) I have no problem helping them whatsoever," said Soni.

Nevertheless, Soni still feels like she's losing a family, not to mention one of the two tea shops in the grid she knows of (Tea Cozy is the other).

"It's like a loss, a bereavement, and there's going to be a long period of mourning, but I still have a glimmer of hope that someone will swoop down and save us."

Those who want to stock up on bulk orders of tea should do so by Tuesday because Soni is placing the last order to suppliers, according to the Hina's website. Hina's is located at 2319 K St.

Editor's Note: The Sacramento Press editorial department added the second and third paragraphs to this story post-publication in order to clarify the legal status of Hina's Tea, as recorded in court documents.

Stories on Stage brings prose to poetry center

2010-03-26T04:56:45Z

If you love a good story but also seek a theater-like experience, Stories on Stage just might be your cup of tea. The series, masterminded by Sacramento author Valerie Fioravanti, features local short fiction read by local actors.

Friday night, the series will host its third monthly event, held at the Sacramento Poetry Center.

After spending 30 years in New York and several years in other states and countries, Fioravanti moved to Sacramento because of the affordability and the arts scene. The Brooklyn native came up with the idea for Stories on Stage after noticing something strange about Sacramento.

"The poets are organized, but the prose writers are not," she said. "We want to show short fiction some love, and to pay writers, artists and actors."

The series debuted in January to a standing-room-only audience and continued with a packed house in February despite a rainstorm. Local writers submit stories, and actors submit audio samples to Fioravanti, a fiction writer and instructor, monthly. Then she decides what is strong enough to be read.

"You can just do whatever you want to do with it," said Cynthia Mitchell Speakman, who read Naomi Williams' "Snow Men" in the inaugural performance. "That's a neat thing about doing this, there are different kind of things that you wouldn't get to do onstage."

Speakman also noted that it's a good opportunity for writers to get their works out there. Fioravanti agrees.

"The idea is to support local writers, bring in people from the region and (show) Sacramento is an important (arts) market," she said. "I like having a multidimensional art scene."

In addition to great stories and acting, food will be served by personal chef Matthew Fischer, former executive chef of Bella Bru and chef at Paragary's and Scott's Seafood. He was such a smash at last month's event he will return Friday.

"It's a great way for people to have thought-provoking, inexpensive entertainment on a Friday night," Speakman said. "You actually have to think a little bit about these stories."

Videos of the performances are posted on the Stories on Stage website. Stories on Stage takes place at the Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th St. (between Q & R), the last Friday of each month at 7 p.m. $5 suggested donation. Submissions should be sent to valfiora@yahoo.com.

Photographs credit Dorine Jennette.

Urban Design Alliance discusses building small

2010-03-26T04:44:36Z

Sacramento resident and architect David Sarti posed a contentious question at Thursday night's Urban Design Alliance meeting: Why do Sacramento neighborhoods resist modern architecture?

The question spurred an hour-long dialogue that shifted several times among a group of 50 people. It touched on everything from the nature of different Sacramento neighborhoods to form-based architectural codes to the definition of modern architecture itself.

But first, Sarti, who recently moved to Sacramento after living in a house he built in Seattle, showed how small urban developments can transform a neighborhood. His "Little Red House," which he built in Seattle in 2006 for around $200,000, including land, was featured in several publications and blogs including the Seattle Times, Grassroots Modern and Future House Now.

With views of Mt. Rainier, the two bedroom, 800-square-foot house with a 200-square-foot outdoor work area, proved that bigger is not always better. Sarti recently sold the house, an infill project built on a 40 by 50 foot plot, for more than twice what he bought it for.

"Small developments, small projects can inspire and give great opportunity for designers to explore," he said. "It's an inspired way the city can grow, giving more individuals the opportunity to build their own home, realize a dream, express themselves and enrich social interaction, contributing to a much more vibrant, eclectic street."

He also wanted to apply the same philosophy to K Street redevelopment.

"I'm thinking, here's this amazing opportunity to transform this blighted area, and one development team is going to have the say on what that's going to be?," he said. "What if the city were to say, I'm going to have 10 or 15 developers or builders have a piece of the pie? In my opinion, you would end up with a very unique streetscape."

But is Sacramento resistant to modern architecture?

"It depends on what neighborhood you're asking it in," said William Burg, historian and Winn Park resident. "From my front porch I can look around and see buildings from the 1870s to the 1980s, some of which I celebrate more than others, but I live in a neighborhood defined by its eclecticism."

Many of the central city neighborhoods are more eclectic and are more open to modern architecture, he added. "If you try to do a project in Land Park, you're going to get a very different response than trying to do one in Oak Park."

One participant suggested that Sacramento has a collective consciousness viewing the city and its homes as a museum. Another audience member said that preservation became such an important priority after the Alhambra was torn down that newer-looking designs have fared poorly.

One thing that could be agreed upon was the idea that modern architecture isn't always good architecture.

"I think 'modern' is a word that doesn't even need to be in this conversation," Sarti said. "It's about having the freedom to design an architecture that responds to its place without having to be beholden to a certain style."

Next month's UDA meeting will feature eco-builder and developer David Mogavero. UDA meetings take place at the American Institute of Architects Central Valley building, 1400 S St., the fourth Thursday of each month at 5:45 p.m. Videos of this and other meetings will be posted at the UDA website.

Another one bites the dust: Hard Rock Café and its memorabilia

2010-03-19T23:57:31Z

There are very few known details about the closing of the Hard Rock Café downtown. Manager Kim Templeton deferred answering questions to a public relations firm. That firm would not answer phone calls.

According to a Sacramento Bee article, it will close March 27, but is that before or after the private event listed the same day on the Hard Rock website as "Morgan's Bat Mitzvah?"

One thing is for sure. With the Hard Rock closing, Sacramento is losing several important things: a restaurant, a music venue, a 36-foot guitar with neon highlights and a small museum chock full of Rock 'n' Roll memorabilia. Not to mention an employer.

The following is a photo essay depicting some of Hard Rock's historical artifacts.

The first four photos are part of a small collection from local band Tesla. Pictured: Troy Luccketta's kick drum.

Caption: BRIAN WHEAT, TESLA. At a time when Rock & Roll consisted of makeup, strange hairdos, and elaborate costumes, Tesla were always about being comfortable. Simple blue-jeans, t-shirts and pure rock. With over 14 million albums sold, Tesla is Sacramento's finest. This bass was custom built for Tesla bass player Brian Wheat. It's known as the Shredded Wheat Bass. That was Brian's nickname in the early '90s. This bass was used on the Tesla 1991/1992 tour.

Caption: FRANK HANNON, TESLA. "This guitar has been used throughout my career in Tesla and specifically to record the hit single 'What You Give.' This guitar is featured in the video for 'What You Give' and has been in many live performances including 'Hanging with MTV' and the 'Psychotic Supper' tour of 1992. This guitar is also featured in the video solo of 'Love Song' from the 'Times Makin' Changes' DVD." - Frank Hannon.

Caption: TOMMY SKEOCH, TESLA. "Hey, what's up? Tommy Skeoch from Tesla Here. I put this guitar together when I was about 20 years old. It's a Kramer Voyager body with a Kramer Berreta neck. I used it a lot on our first record and many other recordings! I've also used this guitar at countless rock shows! I did the artwork on it too. ...Hard Rock forever!" - Tommy Skeoch.

Caption: BILL HALEY. 1959 swamp brown Guild guitar was used and signed by Bill Haley. Given to a former employee of Haley's "Essex" record company in Chester, Pa., Bill Haley signed the guitar just seven months prior to Bill Haley's death.

Caption: ELVIS PRESLEY. Orange "TCB" bodyguard's jacket with "TCB" patch on lapel worn by bodyguard Sonny West. West became a member of the Memphis Mafia (Elvis' bodyguards) when he was introduced to the King by his cousin Robert "Red" West - also a Presley bodyguard.

Caption: JANIS JOPLIN. Janis had a major part in defining the role of women in rock. Her wailing voice and amazing stage presence was truly a blessing in the late '60s. This is her silk shaw that she owned and loved in the '60s.

Caption: TONY IOMMI, BLACK SABBATH. Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page are debatably the only two guitarists that can take full credit for pioneering the sound of heavy metal. This guitar was used by Tony in performances and recordings.

Caption: PETE TOWNSHEND, THE WHO. Heavily influenced by the Beach Boys and Motown, The Who was one of the key groups in the British Invasion. Pete was known to be a very active guitarist from his wild windmills to his demolishing of guitars. This guitar is one of the famous numbered series of guitars used by Pete.

Caption: NIKKI SIXX, MOTLEY CRUE. 1986 custom Harley Davidson Softail. This motorcycle appeared on the cover of their 1987 album "Girls Girls Girls," but has since been repainted.

Caption: FREDDY MERCURY, QUEEN. Never really taken seriously by critics, Queen was taken seriously by fans being one of the most popular groups, especially in England. These red vinyl pants with black tie belt were worn by Freddie during Queen's 1980 European tour. They were featured on the cover of the program for that tour and signed on the back of the left leg by Freddie.

This vintage Fender Jaguar was owned by Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys.

Photo Essay: St. Patrick's Day in Sacramento

2010-03-18T23:05:15Z

Sacramento usually sees large crowds on Second Saturday. But Wednesday, it looked more like Dublin as thousands of green-clad Sacramentans attended block parties, drank green beer and celebrated everything even remotely Irish.

The following is a photo essay, depicting some of the Wednesday evening festivities. The first seven photos are from the de Vere's St. Patrick's Day Block Party.

Outside the de Vere's St. Patrick's Day Block Party on L Street, this dog dressed for the occasion in a green sweater. The party drew thousands of people to the 1500s block of L Street.

Kings mascot Slamson showed up to the block party on stilts and showed off his shamrock-covered blazer. He was a crowd pleaser, and he even sat down for an interview with Sacramento Press' own Sonny Mayugba. Slamson mimed and nodded while answering mostly yes or no questions.

Kings player Jon Brockman (left) speaks with Mayugba (right) during an interview. Mayugba interviewed a number of people throughout the day for a live stream of the event, which can be watched here.

Green beads, hats and Guinness were everywhere inside the de Vere's St. Patrick's Day Block Party. A headband, sticker and glittery hat made this pair of party-goers stand out.

A sea of green fills the 1500 block of L Street.

San Diego band The Silent Comedy played a set of folk-influenced rock, with a fiddle providing an Irish pub-style twist to the set.

Guinness was the preferred drink for many.

Streets of London Pub threw its own party, turning its parking lot into a beer garden.

Though not an Irish Pub, hundreds visited Streets of London to eat Irish food like shepherd's pie and corn beef and cabbage while celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the makeshift beer garden.

Hangar 17 was so full of people, its crowd spilled onto the patio area.

A crowd gathered on the 1400 block of R Street as R15, Venue, Shady Lady and Burgers and Brew all participated in the R Street Block Party.

Searchlights outside Venue illuminated the sky and the large crowd outside the R Street Block Party.

Local band Blvd Park played a mini-set outside the Shady Lady.

More than 100 performers to pay homage to 'The Duke'

2010-03-17T05:45:06Z

This weekend, the Sacramento Master Singers will perform excerpts from Duke Ellington's "Sacred Concerts." It marks several important homecomings.

It will be a homecoming for the Grammy-winning piece, which was played by Ellington and his legendary orchestra in 1965 at Sacramento's Westminster Presbyterian Church. Friday through Sunday, it will be played at the Crest Theater, less than half a mile from the church.

It will also be a homecoming for Ardie Bryant, the "Ambassador of Tap," who spent his early years in Sacramento and graduated from Sacramento High School. Saturday, the legendary bebop jazz tap dancer, who has danced with everyone from Ellington to Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, will turn 81.

He will join the Master Singers during a section of the "Sacred Concerts" called "David Dance," originally performed by Tap Dance Hall of Fame inductee Bunny Briggs.

Bryant said he will do two things upon returning to Sacramento. The first is to visit his parents' grave site, and the second is to participate in the Duke Ellington concert, which he said he considers an honor.

It's more than just a couple of homecomings, though. It's going to be a mammoth performance, probably the largest and most complex the SMS have ever performed, said Conductor Ralph Hughes.

All told, the stage will feature more than 100 performers, including the Master Singers, two American River College jazz bands, the Harley White Jr. Orchestra, several dancers and readers from Celebration Arts, the Capital Jazz Project, a handful of vocal soloists and Bryant.

According to Kathy Ossman, Sacramento Master Singers president and lead alto, to fit on the Crest's stage, the performers will need extra platforms to extend beyond where the current stage ends. Hughes said the score is so complex, ARC Jazz Director Dyne Eifertsen, CJP Pianist Joe Gilman and Hughes are all required to share cues and conducting duties.

Then, on top of that, there will be audience interaction. The Sacramento Regional Community Foundation, which helped SMS fund the show, wanted the group to include community participation.

"Some (audience participation sections are) with the whole audience, and some are with volunteers," Ossmann said. "There's a prayer section about what we need (to be) forgiven (for), and we have a chance for audience members to write what that may be in a booth in the lobby, and they can read that."

No one is more qualified to comment on Ellington's music than Bryant, Ellington's friend and musical partner. He also performed the "Sacred Concerts" for the first time in 2004 at the Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

"He composed all kinds of music, but (the Sacred Concerts) were the religious perspective of the man," Bryant said. "It's very moving, well-written and exciting to know that the man was that kind of person."

Ellington was also one of the most prolific jazz composers of all time, best known for penning some of the genre's most enduring classics, including "It Don't Mean a Thing," "Take the 'A' Train" and "Caravan."

"You really had to be on the ball to be in his company, because everyone working with him was saying something, and he gave you freedom to express yourself," Bryant said. "He used to play (piano) with me (tapping), and we would exchange rhythms," he said, adding, "bop-a-dee-bap-a-dee-bop!"

The 8 p.m. Friday show will be a free performance to high school and youth groups. Those who wish to attend should contact the Sacramento Master Singers business manager at 916-788-7464 or smsbusiness@surewest.net.

Public performances will be held Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $10 for students and can be purchased at mastersingers.org, by contacting the business manager, or at the door at 1013 K Street.

Photographs: Sacramento Master Singers, credit Bruce Patt Photograpy.

Harvesting the 'City of (fruit) Trees'

2010-03-15T02:42:49Z

Sacramento is nicknamed the "City of Trees" for a reason. Even in its most urban core, the city is filled with fruit trees.

So what happens when those trees produce more fruit than the owners can harvest, let alone eat? One option is to let Harvest Sacramento take care of it. This year alone, the group has collected more than 13,000 pounds of fruit from the Sacramento area, all of which goes to the Sacramento Food Bank.

Harvest Sacramento organized a Midtown Fruit Harvest on Saturday in which 25 community volunteers helped pick more than 1,300 pounds of citrus for the food bank. In just three hours, the group collected grapefruit, oranges, lemons and kumquats from nine houses in the grid.

The group was inspired by an East Sacramento couple, Mary McGrath and Robin Aurelius, who organized a grass-roots effort to harvest unwanted oranges from trees in the McKinley Park area. After that group delivered more than 3,000 pounds of citrus to the Sacramento Food Bank in early 2009, Soil Born Farms joined in and took a lead role in increasing community involvement.

"We have big white bins to put the fruit in, and the food bank picks them up and weighs them," said Randy Stannard, a food access coordinator at Soil Born Farms. "The giver gets a receipt and a tax write-off for about $1 per pound."

He mentioned that the group canvasses the grid and asks homeowners if they would be willing to let Harvest Sacramento harvest their fruit. He also said the group is trying to create an urban food forest map to keep track of the number and type of fruit trees in Sacramento.

"It's a service for homeowners, taking unused and unwanted fruit," said Courtney Cagle, an Americorps Vista member working at the Sacramento Food Bank. "It's taking a resource that's already available, that would go to waste, and instead we turn it into healthy, nutritious food for people who can't afford it."

She said that the 1,300-plus pounds of fruit will begin to be distributed at the food bank Monday.

South Land Park resident Juliet Rice found out about the harvest from her son, Miles Tsue, a junior at McClatchy High School. The event was one of the community service options that McClatchy requires as part of its Humanities and International Studies program, and a number of high school volunteers showed up.

"It's a wonderful hands-on, real-world service that can go directly to the people who need it," said Rice. "I'm happy (the fruit) will go directly to the food bank, otherwise it would just go to waste."

Added Waimen Yip, another parent of a McClatchy High student: "You're helping the homeowner and the people getting food."

Homeowners seem to agree. While harvesting a grapefruit tree at one house, a neighbor asked Harvest Sacramento volunteers if they could harvest her lemon tree. The group accepted the offer.

Another homeowner explained how Harvest Sacramento helped her.

"My husband planted the (orange) tree 20 years ago and it gives good fruit, but he recently passed away and it's been really hard to do yard work," said 60-year-old Rosemary Sanchez. "When these people came, I thought, "This is a godsend. This is all good: It's a way of sharing with others and they're always welcome back next year."

For more information, visit harvestsacramento.wordpress.com.

I can has cheezburger? Squeeze Inn holds grand reopening

2010-03-12T03:28:28Z

Loosen your belts. Sacramento's most famous burger place, The Squeeze Inn, held its grand reopening celebration Thursday morning.

The celebration featured guest appearances by Mayor Kevin Johnson, City Councilman Kevin McCarty and County Supervisor Don Nottoli as well as music, speeches, a raffle and a burger-eating contest. Several hundred people shuffled into The Squeeze Inn throughout the lunch hour for special prices on the burger known for its famous "cheese skirt," which extends an inch beyond the bun.

The burger is constructed by cooking a one-third-pound beef patty and putting "a giant handful of cheese" on top of, and around, the burger, said Squeeze Inn employee Keith Lenhart. Then an ice cube is placed on the grill while the cheesy patties are topped with a lid, creating a steam chamber for the cheese to melt quickly.

"We go through about 200 to 300 pounds of cheese per day," said employee Charles Rogers.

"And about 270 pounds of potatoes," added Lenhart.

Lenhart, who said he has been eating at the Squeeze Inn for 15 years, only recently started working there a few months ago. Now, he and Rogers are in the process of opening a new Squeeze Inn on the corner of Sunrise Avenue and Douglas Boulevard in Roseville next month.

With locations in Sacramento, Galt and Napa, a Roseville location would be the fourth for the Squeeze Inn, which originally opened in Sacramento 34 years ago.

"This is the perfect location," Lenhart said of the burger joint's new digs on Power Inn Road in Sacramento. "I love it. It helps serve the people better, and (soon) we will get this great product out there in Roseville."

After being featured on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," hosted by Guy Fieri, the restaurant gained national fame. It was later mentioned on "Good Morning America" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

It also gained notoriety for not being in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. After several lawsuits, the Squeeze Inn moved to its new location.

"We (would have) had to make changes to the restaurant that would destroy the character, so we decided to move to another location," said owner Travis Hausauer. "The great people of Sacramento gave us wonderful support, and it was amazing what everybody did for us. We're really happy with the location, and we hope to have another 34 years here."

Now larger and wheelchair-accessible, the new location still retains the feel of the old restaurant. It incorporates the entire front entrance, all the bar stools and many of the decorations from the old location.

Michael Whipple, a Certified Access specialist for ADA Resource Associates and wheelchair user, said the old Squeeze Inn location had some wheelchair accessible seating. Although he doesn't eat burgers for health reasons, he helped plan the new location to make sure everything from the entrance to tables to the bathroom, were completely accessible.

He presented Hausauer with a plaque to put in the window. It certified that the restaurant is now fully accessible.

Trombone Shorty bringing New Orleans soul to Harlow's

2010-03-11T04:55:42Z

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews is a musician's musician. The prodigy started playing music at age 3 and got his big break at age 4 sharing the stage with Bo Diddley.

"It was so long ago I can't remember," said Andrews, now 24. "I remember my mom saying I was playing (trombone) and some people crowd-surfed me to the stage, and they put me on the stage, and that was it."

He earned his name because he could play a trombone before even being as tall as the horn.

Sunday night, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue will play their high-energy set at Harlow's. Opening will be The Nibblers, a seven-piece rock band led by local singer Hans Eberbach and Mumbo Gumbo members Lynn Michael Palmer, Jon Wood and Reggie Marks.

Andrews grew up listening to jazz and other sounds in the musical Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, the same neighborhood that jazz forefather Louis Armstrong called home. Both his mother and his brother, trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews, inspired him to embrace music.

He attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, a high school that produced other talented artists like Harry Connick Jr., Nicholas Payton and Wynton and Branford Marsalis. After graduating, Andrews quickly received an invitation to tour in Lenny Kravitz's band at the age of 18, which allowed him to see the world and grow as a musician.

Around the same time, he began releasing albums with his brother, a quintet, and his current band, Orleans Avenue, a project that mixes funk, hip-hop and pop. In 2006, Andrews had the opportunity to perform with U2 and Green Day for the reopening of the New Orleans Superdome.

He also shared the stage at the New Orleans House of Blues with Wynton Marsalis, who said of Andrews, "Shorty possesses the rarest combination of talent, technical capability and down-home soul," adding, "I'm his biggest fan."

Though Andrews is known first and foremost as a virtuoso trumpet and trombone player, he recently started singing.

"My brother James is a singer, and my grandfather was an R&B singer," Andrews said. "I was listening to some of (my grandfather's) music, and it inspired me, and (so did) Lenny Kravitz. Everyone in New Orleans sings, (including, for example,) Louis Armstrong."

Voice, trumpet and trombone all represent part of his character, but Andrews said the two horns best convey who he is. As for his band's sound, he described it as "supafunkrock."

"Supafunkrock to me is just rock, hip-hop and funk from New Orleans," he said. "We just put it in a gumbo bowl, and that's what it is: high-energy funk-rock dance with elements of different things."

Andrews is not just steeped in the culture of New Orleans - it's his passion. His new album Backatown, which will be released April 20, is a personal record about growing up in New Orleans and reaching where he is today.

He explained that Backatown is New Orleans slang for "the next neighborhood over." So "backatown" for the Tremé would mean the Seventh Ward, the French Quarter or even Bayou St. John, he explained.

The album has a number of modern, gritty elements including hip-hop rhythms, according to Andrews. Guests on the album include Kravitz, Marc Broussard and Allen Toussaint, who plays piano on a cover of his own song, "On Your Way Down," the album's only non-original song.

"People in Sactown know how to get down," added Andrews, who played at Sacramento's now-closed Hard Rock Café in May. "The energy I get from the audience and fans, it makes my energy go higher than normal. It's a wonderful feeling to get that energy, and I give it back."

Tickets cost $17.50 in advance and $20 on day of the show. Tickets can be purchased online (here) and at R5 Records, located at 2500 16th St. Harlow's is located at 2708 J Street. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Photographs 1 and 2 credit Jane Richey.

Photograph 3 credit Kirk Edwards.

G. Love gets saucy at Harlow's

2010-02-19T03:34:54Z

G. Love and Special Sauce brought summer early to Harlow's Wednesday night.

A packed house of several hundred people crammed into the nightclub, body heat permeating an otherwise chilly winter night. Button-up T-shirts and hats were popular among the mostly 20- and 30-something crowd, most of whom were ironically watching a Winter Olympics ski event by the bar.

Redeye Empire, a Vancouver-based rock group, left the stage a little after 9 p.m. Anticipation grew for T-shirt clad Garrett "G. Love" and his laid-back, summertime-blues band Special Sauce, while images on TV of a snowy Vancouver mountain captivated the crowd, drawing collective "oohs" and "aahs."

At about 10 p.m., G. Love kicked off his set with "Baby's Got Sauce," which instantly sent the crowd into daze of mellow. It was as if Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz duetted the opening lyrics to the song: "Cooling out, cooling out, waiting for my lady."

Not that the audience wasn't wild - people cheered their guts out after every song. But the combination of the mellow songs and lack of elbow room left gatherers only enough room to bob their heads the whole time.

Throughout the night, G. Love played a number of electric guitars, an acoustic guitar and several harmonicas. Though he was constantly chugging several cold beverages (perhaps Gatorade G?), blowing his nose, and spraying some sort of Chloraseptic down his throat, his persona remained upbeat and charming.

He even performed a couple of freestyles and engaged the audience in cliché hip hop call and responses like "Make money, money, money!"

Special Sauce, made up of drummer Jeffrey Clemens, keyboardist Mark Boyce and new (as of this year) bassist Timo Shanko, played everything from blues to reggae and hip hop. G. Love rapped, sang and played simple blues riffs during songs about basketball ("I-76" and "Shooting Hoops"), life ("The Hustle," and "Still Hanging Around") and sex (in a self-proclaimed "dirty" version of "Booty Call").

Special Sauce's ability to move from jazzy A Tribe Called Quest-like hip-hop beats to simple southern blues was in part due to Clemens' simple and steady drumming. During extended solos on the band's closer and debut 1994 hit, "I Like Cold Beverages," the musicians showed the concertgoers their true talent and eclecticism.

Boyce did his best Wild Bill Davis impression, playing his tone-wheel organ like a madman and utilizing a wah-wah pedal, while Shanko moved from his upright bass to tenor saxophone. Surprising to all, his tone and skill on the tenor matched his slap-bass technique, and he sounded like a riffing Lenny Picket in the altissimo register.

The crowd left dazed and impressed by the Abstract Entertainment-run event around 11:40. Unfortunately, the hot, steaming and buzzed audience spilled out of the club to another winter night.

Photos: Tết Festival and Little Saigon celebration

2010-02-17T01:05:23Z

Sunday was the Lunar New Year for several Asian cultures, including the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese New Year celebration, Tết, began Saturday morning in a parking lot on the corner of Stockton Boulevard and Fowler Avenue. It started with the City of Sacramento's ribbon cutting ceremony for Little Saigon. This was followed by a New Year parade proceeding south down Stockton Boulevard to Florin Road, where participants viewed the County of Sacramento's ribbon cutting ceremony and participated in the Tết Festival. The following is a photo journal of the weekend's events and festivities. For more photographs and information, please read this article on the festival and celebration.

Councilman Kevin McCarty, who was instrumental in the creation of Little Saigon, talks to the crowd. Foreground: Vietnam War Veterans wearing maroon Berets.

State Assemblyman Dave Jones supports Little Saigon, congratulates the crowd of nearly 300 people.

Dancers dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing.

Councilmen Rob Fong and McCarty, State Assemblyman Dave Jones, State Senator Darrell Steinberg and SMUD Board Director Nancy Bui all help cut a ribbon in celebration of a 1.5-mile stretch of Stockton Boulevard being named Little Saigon. White doves (left, bottom) are released into the air simultaneously.

Lion Dancers entertain onlookers and lead the parade down Stockton Boulevard.

A CHP Officer makes sure traffic is blocked along Stockton Boulevard as the parade marches toward Florin Road.

Bright balloons and a large Little Saigon sign are carried by Little Saigon committee members and women in Vietnamese dresses.

County Supervisor Jimmie Yee speaks to a crowd at the County of Sacramento ribbon cutting ceremony for Little Saigon.

Kim Quang Lion Dance Troupe performs at the Tết Festival in front of hundreds. Deafening firecrackers and drums accompany the performance.

Food vendors are a big part of the Tết Festival.

Food included bún (rice noodle), bánh mì (sandwich), phở (soup), papaya salad, egg rolls (pictured) and skewers.

A carnival area included rides, midway games and a large slide.

A Venue for all occasions

2010-02-13T03:31:31Z

Randy Paragary, Bob Simpson, and Rick and Earl Lobley opened Empire Event Center in 2004. It was almost alone on the R Street Corridor for four years, before being joined by, among others, Shady Lady Saloon, Magpie Catering, Burgers and Brew, Space 07 Salon and Top This Yogurt.

With all of these businesses opening in the past year, it was time for the space to undergo a facelift - to the tune of $2 million.

Well, not just a facelift - a complete change.

Today, all that remains of Empire are memories of past performers, including The Roots, Muse and David Garibaldi, Sacramento's own performance painter. According to its managers, from now on there will be no more 18-and-over club nights, meaning no more college Wednesdays and no more student discounts.

Over the last several weeks, Empire's former address, 1417 R Street, has undergone a quiet and speedy renovation. It reopened Thursday night as Sacramento's newest entertainment destination - Venue.

"R Street, this whole section (of Sacramento) is ready to explode," said Venue general manager Elvis Lindsey. "We wanted a little more classy of a nightclub."

He and assistant general manager Ben Benoit, Lobley's cousin, said they've been remodeling the place around the clock, for ten days. Workers were putting finishing touches on the interior of the 1,000-capacity club Thursday evening.

Among other new features are 1,000-plus feet of crown molding, freshly painted red walls, four colorful bars, chandeliers, a state-of-the-art light and sound system, three VIP areas with bottle service, a DJ booth and stage, and art that former Sacramento-based painter Jacob Patterson described as "punk rock meets Victoria's Secret."

Most of the staff is new, managers said, and Mosaic Salon has added a twist of glamor by styling female employees' hair.

Benoit drove 3,000 miles, from Miami, for Venue's opening.

"The green room is more conducive for a band to come and enjoy; (it's) just a nicer environment," he said, adding, "(Venue will) bring high quality bands to Sacramento that usually bypass the area."

Venue looks to hold 120 shows per year, said Benoit, starting Friday with Lake Tahoe-based, '90's cover band The Alternates. Though Venue's nights are all 21-and-over, during some musical performances, the venue will be open to all ages.

"Personally, as a music fan, I'm excited," said Barry Prickett, former SN&R music critic and Venue's publicist. "Why wait for a good thing?"

Benoit called Venue's speaker system, a Meyers Pro, one of the best in the industry.

Managers said the club usually will be open Thursdays through Sundays, with a different theme every night. Thursday will be a mash-up night featuring a DJ paired with a live drummer. Friday nights will feature a live band with a DJ, while Saturday nights will be a top-40 night with a "stylish, provocative" dress code enforced.

Sunday nights might be "hospitality night," said Prickett, adding that many facets of Venue are to be determined.

Aside from concerts and dance club nights, Venue's management hopes to open the space to "other performances," and special and corporate events.

Cover charge will start at $10, and bottle-service packages for 10 people will cost $300.

Lots of music through a little Banter

2010-02-11T03:09:00Z

When Sacramento's Tyler Stover and Matt Halverson started Banter Records five years ago, they never expected to be where they are now.

The two friends just found that Neon Indian, a Texas-based band signed to Banter's sister label, Lefse Records, is scheduled to perform live on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Thursday night. Popular music website Pitchfork Media described Neon Indian's debut album, Psychic Chasms, as "one of the year's most replayable albums," and rated its lead single, "Deadbeat Summer," the 13th-best song of 2009.

As a result, Neon Indian gained wide popularity and is scheduled to play at major festivals like Bonnaroo and SXSW this summer.

"No one really knew about [Neon Indian]," Halverson said. "It was only a week or so after we signed them that they took off."

Halverson, 31, and Stover, 29, both grew up in Fair Oaks but went their separate ways after high school. Stover earned a degree in industrial technology at Cal Poly, while Halverson quit school in Santa Barbara to intern for a New York music label.

After Stover got his first taste of the music business writing the business plan for the music label as his senior project, the two decided to move to San Diego and start a home-based record label. They signed a number of their friends' bands in the San Diego and L.A. areas, but after four years, they decided to add management and promotional services, changing the name to Banter Media and Management.

They created Lefse in part to sign Neon Indian. After discovering Neon Indian on a blog last year, they wanted to sign them to a unique label, since their sound didn't match up with Banter's lineup. They named it Lefse after a Norwegian flatbread Halverson's family grew up eating.

Last May, Halverson moved back to Sacramento, and Stover followed six months later.

Wednesday morning, the friends sat in their Midtown Sacramento office with Halverson's shaggy gray Shih Tzu and roommate/intern "M.K." The three walked from East Sacramento while Stover walked alone from his Midtown home.

All three employees in the room - Stover, Halverson and M.K. - type on Apple laptops. The office is small, but holds a lot of CDs and records. No one has a title or a business card.

Only months ago, Stover and Halverson had day jobs, but now they're running three record companies full time. Stover worked full time until last October testing packages for medical suppliers so they can have their shipments approved by the FDA. Halverson didn't mention what he did. Instead, he kept typing.

Halverson's duty is to recruit bands onto each PR roster and label, while Stover runs each band's management and promotional services. A handful of interns (during the interview, one named Megan worked in a back office booking tours for bands) do everything else.

The friends recently decided to start another label, to highlight lesser-known bands they personally listen to.

"We've got Banter Records, Lefse Records, Banter Media, and now we're also starting an all-digital label, Waaga records," Stover said.

"Waaga (is) an all-powerful African god from Ethiopia," added M.K., who runs the Waaga imprint for Banter.

Waaga's first release, Witches, from another Texas-based artist, FUR, will come out Feb. 23. But for analog lovers, Lefse still releases vinyl of Neon Indian's album Psychic Chasms.

"Lefse is reserved more for bands that are on tour nationally, who demand product and physical distribution" Halverson said. "Waaga is for bands we want to work with but are not at that level yet. Because there is less risk involved, we can sign more niche bands."

Photo 3: From left to right: M.K., Halverson, Stover

Stage one of 2010 Amgen tour to end at Capitol

2010-02-10T05:51:19Z

"For us domestic riders, this is our Tour de France," Chris Jones said of the Amgen Tour of California. "It's the biggest race of our year," added the 31-year-old cyclist from Auburn.

Jones and Michael Sayers, a retired professional rider, are Amgen tour veterans. They joined John McCasey, Sacramento Sports Commission director, at a Tuesday press conference at Mason's Restaurant. They introduced the tour's first stage -- from Nevada City to Sacramento -- with Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilmen Ray Tretheway and Steve Cohn also in attendance.

The event kicked off with a video that provided a glimpse of the scenery cyclists will see when they ride from Nevada City to Sacramento on May 16.

Several months ago, fans learned via Twitter that Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer will race again this year. Starting Monday, preview videos began revealing each stage with aerial shots and and cyclists giving first-person accounts. The videos will continue to be released on YouTube and amgentourofcalifornia.com, two per day, until Friday. Each stage log, with turn-by-turn directions, will also be available on the Amgen tour website.

"Nevada City, the start this year, has a rich history," said Sayers, who is a Sacramento native. "Some of the biggest names in American cycling have competed in the Nevada City (Bicycle Classic), and I think it's a big honor that the race is giving Nevada City a few circuits before the stage starts."

After several miles in Nevada City, the 104.2-mile day will take riders through Grass Valley, Placer County and Meadow Vista before entering Auburn.

"My favorite part is going through Auburn about two blocks from my house," said Jones. "Then we'll head over the (Foresthill) Bridge."

Jones explained in the stage-one preview video that the Foresthill Bridge is the tallest in California. Built in 1973 to accompany the never-built Auburn Dam, the bridge provides breathtaking canyon views 738 feet above the American River.

Aside from a 1,500-foot climb to Cool, cyclists will continue downhill through El Dorado County into East Sacramento, before finishing at L and 11th streets. The stage will favor sprinters, and close to the finish line, cyclists may reach up to 40 mph. Streets will be closed to traffic along the entire stage route, details available here.

Sacramento will host free events May 16, McCasey said, including the mayor's ridealong in the morning and festival sponsor Anschutz Entertainment Group's Lifestyle Festival, from noon to 4:30 p.m. Stage two of the tour will feature a 109.5-mile ride from Davis to Santa Rosa.

The local economic impact of the Amgen tour is considerable.

"You're talking about $8 million," said Mayor Kevin Johnson. "Quality of life, a free family event, 80,000 people downtown, and we'll all look like Chris (Jones) if we cycle enough."

Photos 4 and 5 credit Anthony Bento.

'Rent' ends tour in Sacramento

2010-02-05T05:06:12Z

"Rent: The Broadway Tour" stopped in Sacramento Wednesday night, bringing a slice of New York to the Community Center Theatre. An audience of over 2,000 sang along, hollered and gave a standing ovation to the play, which featured the male leads from the original Broadway cast, Adam Pascal (as Roger Davis) and Anthony Rapp (as Mark Cohen).

Led by poignant performances by Pascal and Rapp, the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama featured powerful acting, dancing and singing. Watching the play was like viewing a prototypical hip-hop song come to life, describing characters in an urban New York City neighborhood dealing with a mosaic of issues including AIDS, drugs and homelessness.

The performance began with Pascal's character walking onstage with a white Fender Telecaster, eliciting a chorus of girls screaming in the audience. Rapp, holding a video camera, entered next, receiving a similar response.

In the background, a complicated set of intertwined clothing, paper lanterns and bicycle frames wrapped around several black staircases to give the stage an authentically New York feel. Gray brick graffitied with a skyline, streetlights and silhouettes allowed the stage to remain minimalist.

Clustering in one corner to the side of the stage, a live four-piece band consisting of drums, guitar, keyboards and bass provided the entire soundtrack. However, the play opened with Pascal's character Roger, a struggling musician, strumming his Telecaster. He began several of the play's songs on guitar, later being accompanied by the band.

A diverse cast portrayed a group of friends, with characters ranging from struggling artists to drug addicts and drag queens. Crowd favorite Justin Johnson played a drag queen named Angel, whose nearly every movement drew cheers from the audience.

Comic relief came in the form of Nicolette Hart, who played Maureen, a clownish bisexual performance artist who dressed in everything from a brightly colored farmer's outfit to a vinyl Catwoman one-piece. She performed a "performance art" send-up called "Over the Moon," which conjured Lewis Caroll's Jabberwocky, while using props like a cowbell, a drum stick and sunglasses to add wackiness.

Quick skits depicting 30-second voicemails left to the characters also provided intervals of comic relief and acted as distractions for the actors to shift props on the stage. Imminent eviction, several love stories and a love triangle drive the plot, though it's really an amalgam of many characters' experiences in New York throughout one year.

Though the film version opens with it, the musical's signature song "Seasons of Love" came later in the stage version, the first song in the second act. Gwen Stewart, another original cast member and soloist on the song, added a soulful falsetto verse and a touch of beautiful gospel.

Elements of the song reappeared during the act as drama unfolds, death, eviction and sickness wrenching apart the characters' lives. After the last song, the audience erupted in applause and other audible praises, over 2,000 people on their feet to show their appreciation.

It was a fitting end to the show, one of the best this reviewer has ever seen in Sacramento. Audiences seemed to agree, with many leaving the Community Center Theatre with "Rent" backpacks, purses and sweaters.

Sunday night will mark the end of the tour.

"Rent" runs through Sunday at 2 and 8 p.m. A limited number of tickets are still available at the Community Center Theater, 1301 L St. Front row seats are available two hours before each performance at the Community Center Theater box office at a cost of $23, cash only, two per person.

Photographs credit "Rent: Broadway Tour 2009"

Stockton Boulevard: A Little Saigon in Sacramento

2010-02-04T02:57:20Z

Tuesday night's City Council meeting featured dancing, cheering and even crying. The excitement anticipated the City Council's unanimous vote for the area on Stockton Boulevard between between Riza Avenue and Fruitridge Road to be named Little Saigon.

Councilman Kevin McCarty, whose district includes the one-and-a-half-mile stretch of Little Saigon, proposed the vote to the City Council in January after months of public input from South Sacramento business owners and community members. It's now the city's inaugural cultural district.

Starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, hundreds of Vietnamese and supporters of the campaign for Little Saigon began filling the city council chamber for a pre-council-meeting reception. The group included, among others, a Korean pastor, Vietnam War veterans, monks, several busloads of Vietnamese from South Sacramento, a nine-member Little Saigon committee, councilmen McCarty and Rob Fong as well as Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Many were holding American flags, waving South Vietnamese flags and wearing pins which read "I ♥ Little Saigon."

"This is an important recognition that is long overdue," McCarty said in a conversation before the council meeting. "In the last decade you've seen this stream of revitalization and it's a large part because of these Vietnamese businesses, so calling it Little Saigon is an important thing to do. Having a certain spotlight on this one ethnic group helps bring positive attention."

He also explained that 100 years ago, Stockton Boulevard was a thriving transportation corridor and the main connecting road between Sacramento and Stockton — hence the name.

Rob Fong joined McCarty to speak at the reception. He said before addressing the crowd that this is a completely different deal than an unofficial designation like the "historic Chinatown" between Third and Fifth and along I and J streets.

"Little Saigon is heavily populated with Southeast Asian businesses," he said. "A lot of our Southeast Asian community lives out in that area, and it's a natural positive move for the city of Sacramento."

California State Assemblyman Van Tran from Orange County — the site of the oldest and largest Little Saigon in the U.S. — and SMUD board director Nancy Bui were among the Vietnamese community leaders who spoke to the gatherers in Vietnamese.

Bryan Ngo, a 39-year-old office worker, said he often travels to Stockton Boulevard to get a bite to eat or go shopping, and feels the recognition of Little Saigon is long overdue.

"It's very good for the people around there, and it's time for us to be united," he said. "As soon as I heard about (the campaign) a couple months ago, I volunteered a few hours to help."

Nhon "Neo" Trinh, who has owned Design Copy Print Center on Stockton Boulevard for the last nine years, has seen the growth of the area firsthand.

"It changed a lot," he said. "New buildings and businesses have helped the area grow. Years ago, there was a lot of prostitution, but it's been better since the Vietnamese dominated the area."

But will new signage and the name Little Saigon continue to improve business in the area?

"Yes, it helps and everybody needs it," said Trinh, who is also the fundraising and sponsorship chair on the Little Saigon Committee. "It's branding, so when people think to get Vietnamese or Chinese food, they'll go there. People love the name, and tourists on the highway can see signs for it, too."

Before the City Council's unanimous decision, teary-eyed councilman and Vietnam Veteran Ray Tretheway described what the name meant to him.

"Tonight, you've truly empowered me, and now I know why I was there," he said. "You really captured for me that you're willing to build a legacy with us in America. Thank you."

His statements drew applause from the audience.

An adjacent half mile of Stockton Boulevard is expected to be approved as part of Little Saigon Feb. 9 by Sacramento County supervisors. A Feb. 13 ribbon-cutting ceremony is tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m. on the corner of Stockton Boulevard and Riza Avenue to coincide with the Vietnamese New Year (Tết) celebration, said a representative from McCarty's office.

Kathleen Haley contributed to this article.

Chuck D to speak at Sacramento State

2010-02-03T07:43:03Z

Chuck D is a rebel without a pause. The co-founder of seminal hip-hop group Public Enemy is a rapper, author and activist. He refers to himself as a "raptivist," and "an ambassador for hip-hop."

Thursday night, D will give a free speech at Sacramento State, where he'll be talking about rap, race, technology and communication. The event will also be a celebration of Black History Month.

D likes to talk. Given that he writes a blog, tours the world on speaking gigs, and owns the SLAMjams music label, which recently threw together an iTunes album for Haiti, he is surprisingly available. He called me for an unscheduled interview, just a few minutes after I e-mailed him.

"You can't go through life afraid to speak your mind," he said. "That is what you have your mind for. You're not a robot. Companies make robots. You have the capacity to think beyond that."

Public Enemy holds itself to the same mantra. Including its debut, "Yo, Bum Rush The Show" in 1987, Public Enemy has released 10 ten albums, each one a complete reinvention for the group. It even released albums online before MP3s were popular.

Most importantly, Public Enemy defied listeners to remain open to different types of music and people. Their collaboration and tour with thrash metal group Anthrax is still groundbreaking. On top of that, Public Enemy was one of the first hip-hop acts to use songs like "Fight the Power," "Bring the Noise" and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," as political statements.

"I think that people want to be (politically) active, but the business, the music industry, has not encouraged artists to go far out of the box," he said. "It's kind of like a controlled state."

But the future has hope. D wants artists to reach inside themselves and form their own opinions, he said.

"I think the thing that inspires me is young minds, especially on the collegiate level," he said. "It's important to understand that a lot of young minds are not corrupted by the things that have plagued society — they're like an open book."

Relative fame and fortune aside, the nearly 50-year-old D is still humble. He still has love for his longtime friend and Public Enemy co-founder Flavor Flav.

"He's the same Flavor Flav as he was on day one," D said. "It's no different than Bruce Springsteen and Little Stephen. (We're) still in the same band."

When the earthquake struck Haiti last month, he threw together a Haiti benefit album in five days by asking artists on his label to contribute songs. D reasoned that any dollar he can donate will be a dollar more than what the Haitians have now.

Chuck D, 7:30 - 10:30 p.m., CSUS University Union Ballroom, all ages, free.

Photograph credit Walter Leaphart

Mutaytor conjures spirit of Burning Man

2010-01-30T03:33:43Z

By the time Mutaytor began playing a little before 10 p.m. Thursday, it was unclear who was a member of the band: The woman with the gothic Lolita get-up? Probably. The guy dressed as a sadomasochistic clown? Absolutely. The guy in all vinyl, wearing a cowboy hat with glowing LED lights? Apparently, just a fan.

It wasn't a Black Rock City-run show, it was put on by Abstract Entertainment. But that didn't stop about 100 people from thinking it was Burning Man. Mutaytor, the dance orchestra/visual art project born in Black Rock Desert at the Burning Man festival, was visiting Sacramento for the first time, playing at Harlow's.

Though Mutaytor didn't have its entire team of pyrotechnicians, circus performers and aerial silk dancers, it still packed an audiovisual wallop. The Oingo Boingo rhythm section pumped deep grooves while the audience danced, hugged and mingled with Mutaytor's dancers during the two-hour performance.

The show started with a slideshow of words, inviting the audience to scream. It was followed by a greeting from Mutaytor guitarist Buck Down: "I hope you brought your s****ing pants, because we're going to make you s*** your pants!"

Oingo Boingo bass player John Avila kicked off the music by slapping a funky bass line, on top of which horns, two drummers, a guitarist and keyboardist added a textured groove. At different times, the seven-piece resembled Rob Zombie, Primus, and Sly and the Family Stone. Lyrics were rare, but incorporated into the music, sometimes sung, sometimes chanted.

Several songs into the set, burlesque dancers took to the stage, followed by clowns, belly dancers and a fire spinner who substituted glow sticks for flames.

About 10:30, the number of spectators increased, with among others, several men in high heels, a number of people with LED-lit top hats, and a woman with an LED-lit foam hand (Mutaytor's logo is a hand), roaming the dance floor.

The woman with the hand was dressed in a top hat with a three-inch scrolling marquee that read "Drop the Laundry!!!!!" in reference to a Mutaytor tune. She also was giving away lollipops.

As 11 p.m. neared, a few older couples took off, perhaps in anticipation of what was to come.

First, during "Drop the laundry," a pair of burlesque dancers performed a striptease. Then, after being spanked by the aforementioned sadomasochistic clown, the gothic Lolita danced with dozens of audience members and removed her corset. Before the night was over, she was almost topless, save for hand-shaped stickers affixed to her breasts.

During the last song, minutes before midnight, Buck Down instructed the audience to squat. On the count of three, the audience jumped into the air and onto the stage. People kept dancing all the way through the exits.

Gimmickry aside, Mutaytor is a talented group of artists and a wonderful dance band, deserving of a Burning Man-size audience of 40,000-plus. The next time they perform, it wouldn't be unexpected to see a fireball explode into a tower of flame.

'Under the Dragon' at the California Museum

2010-01-29T18:12:32Z

Suspended from a wall, a Chinese dragon's red eyes peer into mine. Its multicolored head sways playfully, side to side, up and down, mechanical tongue wagging while dancing with glimmering sequins.

To the left of the 5-foot dragon head, a small circular Chinese Moon Gate welcomes me into a new exhibit I've been invited to tour several days before opening. I vaguely remember viewing similar scenery my first time outside of California.

My mind wanders back to 1990, age 5, learning the lion dance in the streets of southern China. I complain to Mother how I'm the only Chinese American Jew in all of China. I miss my Californian friends of many different races.

I walk past a rope, a ladder and a tarp before passing through the Moon Gate. Beyond the gate, the dragon's bright orange, red and green tail continues, 150 feet long, weaving in and out of photographs printed on sailcloth suspended from the ceiling. It's as if all the people in the photographs are holding up the tail.

The photographs feature faces like mine, the faces of other multicultural Californians. It's here I realize it seems silly being a Californian in The California Museum, looking at a to-be-constructed exhibit about other people like me.

The exhibit is called "Under the Dragon: California's New Culture," based on a book by the same name written by Lonny Shavelson and Fred Setterberg. The book and museum serve the same purpose: Each section tells the story of a subject immersed in a stereotype-busting activity, photos capturing moments that lead to a visual anomaly.

Though the book mainly captures people and events in the Bay Area, a prominent section about Mien Americans highlights students at UC Davis. Another section focuses on a photo shoot along the banks of the Sacramento River.

Back in the exhibit, I'm surprised to see nearly 25 cultures represented. More cultures lie on the ground on 6-foot-long strips of sailcloth. I also see Californians adopting other cultures: a Mexican Muslim, a black cowboy, a Filipina Hindu. In another room are an Aztec Catholic, an American in a Balinese orchestra, and a Chinese man and a rabbi — both in sombreros.

It takes me back to the scene that first gave the authors the idea for the book: an annual Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco. A sudden cloudburst hit, interrupting the parade. The only refuge for the gatherers was under the 200-foot tail of a Chinese dragon. Under the dragon, together with the Chinese, the authors walked alongside Russians, Samoans, African Americans and Latinos through the streets of San Francisco.

Under the Dragon's thesis comes out in the second section: "Ethnicity, nationality, culture and religion persistently intersect, overlap, startle and confuse. The Bay Area has leapt out of the melting pot and into the fire — where the new America is being forged."

The authors further investigate the lives of a handful of people, whose actions and unlikely alliances provide "momentary annulments of hostilities, grievances, and even traditions itself." But equally important, the authors spotlight other Californians who stay at home, or in homogenous communities where they only mingle with people of their own race.

I called up Shevelson to ask if the dragon was intended as a metaphor for the Bay Area, all of California, or the whole nation.

He explained that the book was not intended as a metaphor for the United States, but as a preview of what we can look forward to as other states become more diverse.

"California was one of the first states, if you exclude Hawaii, that crossed the minority/majority threshold," he said. "What that means is that if you add up all of the cultural groups, none of them — including anglos — make up more than 50 percent of the population."

I can't help but think of how well the book characterizes California as I wait in line to spend $25 on "Under The Dragon" at the museum's gift shop. A busload of elementary school children from Elk Grove are in line in front of me. Their diversity reminds me that South Sacramento contains a number of neighborhoods with, among others, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mien, Hmong, Latinos, African Americans, all living next to each other.

Saturday, Jan. 30 through Friday, July 30. California Museum, 1020 O St. $8, $7 college students/seniors, $6 children.

Photographs 4 and 5 credit Lonny Shevelson

What's happening at the Capitol: January 27, 28

2010-01-27T17:40:18Z

Wednesday, Jan. 27

Noon - 1 p.m. The California Prolife Council will be holding a "Rally For Life" on the West Steps of the Capitol. Following the rally, the group of approximately 350 will meet with legislators.

Thursday, Jan. 28

Noon - 1:30 p.m. The California Office of Privacy Protection will be holding a press conference on the north steps of the Capitol. They will discuss the importance of protecting privacy by disposing of personal information, especially electronic data. Approximately 15 people are expected.

No further events will occur outside the Capitol until Feb. 1.

What's happening at the Capitol: January 25

2010-01-25T06:00:31Z

Monday, Jan. 25

Noon - 2 p.m. The U.S. Census Bureau will hold an informational rally on the west steps of the Capitol. About 250 participants are expected.

No further events will be held outside the Capitol until Wednesday.

Sacramento Theatre Company to present 'Tuesdays with Morrie'

2010-01-20T05:32:44Z

After leaving sports writing, journalist and author Mitch Albom truly found his niche. His first foray into the non-sports world was the book "Tuesdays with Morrie," the best-selling memoir of all time.

"Tuesdays with Morrie," which recounts Albom's conversations with his former sociology professor who is dying of Lou Gherig's Disease, was subsequently adapted into an Emmy Award-winning television movie as well as a play. Wednesday, the Sacramento Theatre Company will begin staging its run of the Albom-penned play of the same name.

The idea for the book first came to Albom after seeing Nightline's Ted Koppel interviewing Morrie Schwartz, his former professor at Brandeis University. After Schwartz tells Koppel of his life — and imminent death — with Lou Gherig's Disease, Albom is inspired to reconnect with Schwartz, whom he has not seen since college.

Albom schedules time every Tuesday to see Morrie, eventually finding that his time speaking with the professor is liberating and enlightening. Dialogue between Albom and Schwartz juxtaposes humor and life lessons, creating a moving portrait of Schwartz's last days.

Albom relates the life lessons he learns to past and contemporary events, giving the book a universal and timeless philosophical quality. By applying Schwartz's lessons to everyday life, Albom's tone turns indignant and urgent, not mourning loss, but instead inspiring the reader to help make positive social changes.

"Tuesdays with Morrie" will be performed at the Pollock Stage, 1419 H St. through Feb. 28. Tickets cost $15-$44 and can be purchased through tickets.com and at the STC box office.

Review: Madea's Big Happy Family

2010-01-14T09:06:38Z

Arco Arena was turned into a musical theatre Wednesday night for Tyler Perry's "Madea's Big Happy Family." The play featured a high-tech set that revolved around the stage to create different scenes for a 15-part cast backed by a 12-part band in the orchestra pit.

Beginning around 8 p.m., thousands, including former Kings players Bobby Jackson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim and current Kings player Francisco Garcia, laughed, cried and sang along to the play.

Perry, who is best known for his recent work as writer, producer, director and actor in a number of Hollywood films (Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Why Did I Get Married, Madea Goes To Jail), wrote this play to honor his mother who passed away last month. Madea, the play's main character and a recurring character in Perry's works, was inspired by his mother, he told the audience after the show.

Madea (played by Perry in drag) is a candid, belligerent smoker who holds the dysfunctional family together like glue. Interspersed through the play's dialogue are musical numbers which range from gospel spirituals to an R&B medley.

At one point Madea jokingly requests Don McLean's "American Pie" for the white people in the audience.

But for every comic element, there seems to be a serious moment as well. The play deals with issues like religion, drugs, and rape. The moral of the play, given by a dying grandmother to her family is, "If you're loving real love, then you've lived life."

The characters have surprising depth during serious parts of the play, but the comic elements remain slapstick. At one point, Madea slaps a drug-dealing young father and chokes his girlfriend for being stupid.

Madea's stage presence is perhaps the most slapstick element of the play. Perry, who is 6'5", is an imposing man who does not possess any woman-like qualities whatsoever, belying Madea's feminine appearance.

The play ends in a sing-a-long of R&B tunes which covered everyone from Rose Royce to Luther Vandross.

During several moments, Perry clearly ad-libbed lines, throwing the band off queue. He later apologized, sans drag, saying, "The show is only a week-and-a-half old."

He also thanked the audience for its energy, and for giving him a standing ovation even though it's been five years since he's graced a stage. The audience left, feeling a little more like a big happy family, with hugs and other displays of affection.

Leverage Sacramento offers open mics, entertainment

2010-01-14T07:51:05Z

What do a Sac State student, an entrepreneur, an emcee, a visual artist, a photographer and a sound technician have in common? They're all part of Leverage Sacramento, a new arts organization seeking to expose untapped local talent.

The group threw a launch party Monday night at Tré Nightclub with several local spoken word performers, comedians, and hip-hop, soul and R&B performers. Hosting the event was The CUF emcee Marc "Crush" Hayes, who also sits on the seven-member Leverage board of directors.

The party, which was only expected to draw 50 people, drew an estimated audience of 200.

The idea of creating an arts promotion company began when 24-year-old entrepreneur Justin Eve was asked to promote a Second Saturday event for Bisla's Sports Bar. He realized that he had several friends involved in art, music and fashion, but none of them worked with each other.

Of the seven friends, three have strong ties with the hip-hop community — emcees Crush and Carlos "Cawzlos" Lopez and Sacramento Hip Hop Congress Administrative Chair Nina Rebultan.

But it's not about hip-hop, or any other artistic genre for that matter. It's about talent.

"We're a very modest board, and we're worried about helping the lives of the music scene in Sacramento," Rebultan said. "Eventually we're making this a non-profit organization. We would like to make money to donate to sponsoring charities, and we're planning to have a quarterly event."

Aside from quarterly events at My BBQ Spot, the group also plans to have weekly open mic nights and a competition for entertainers vying for a prize. Their next event, Feb. 1 at Tré nightclub, will be a free open mic night.

"The goal is to change Sacramento so that every day of the week you'll be able to go somewhere and see entertainment," Eve said. "We're the capital of the greatest state in the world and we have to show people that."

The group will post events on their Twitter and Facebook page, and is developing a website at whatisleverage.com.

"It's unification of every aspect of Sacramento that we're striving for, (and) we're going to lead by example," Eve said. "The more people involved in a process, the quicker things move."

Photographs credit Zaved Khan.

Music Never Stops Foundation offers scholarships, concerts

2010-01-13T06:06:41Z

School music programs are dying, according to guitar teacher Monty Schmidt. There are rare programs that have lasted for decades thanks to parental support, but in neighborhoods where families struggle financially, you don't see them, he said.

So how does a student who can't afford private lessons learn to play an instrument?

Scholarships. That's what Schmidt's Music Never Stops Foundation aims to give, though not a single student has applied so far.

This Thursday, the group will kick off their publicity and fundraising efforts with a Winter Jazz Concert Series at Beatnik Studios. The Rio Americano High School Jazz Combo will open for Capital Jazz Project and the concert will end with an open jazz jam session.

"I taught briefly as a public music teacher and the resources were very slim," Schmidt said. "The administrators that were trying to deal with holding their programs together didn't have much attention, help or resources."

After years of teaching private lessons in local music stores, he decided to teach music in his own home before opening the Earthtone School of Music in 2006. The school aims to create a studio-like environment where teachers can communicate with other teachers and students can speak to other students.

A group of business owners and some parents and students in the studio, realized there was a greater need, Schmidt said. The group wanted to bring awareness to the community about the lack of resources for music education.

They pooled resources and set out to develop an outreach program to cultivate an understanding that there was a need. In September, the group was recognized as an official nonprofit, with the mission to fund private music lessons using festivals and concerts to generate funds.

The nonprofit will give scholarships to under-18 students who need financial help. Each scholarship will be awarded on a case-by-case basis, with the awards including everything from an experience in a summer jazz camp to a year of private instruction.

The foundation is made up of a board of directors which includes business owners, parents of music students and Schmidt as president. There is also a small event committee to assist in scheduling concerts.

Since not a single applicant has reached the foundation so far, Schmidt hopes the Winter Jazz Concert Series will raise awareness of the organization. The Winter Jazz Concert Series will be followed by the to-be-scheduled Music Never Stops Foundation Festival.

At the festival, a group of musicians will attempt to play the world record-breaking longest jazz song, to prove that "music never stops."

"We will be running the same tune in shifts of musicians," Schmidt said. "The song will start by a particular group of players and, as their shift winds down, the next group will be ready to be passed the torch. It will be 45-minute shifts for 24 hours."

The tentative schedule for the Winter Jazz Concert Series is as follows:

Jan. 14: Winter Jazz Concert Series Kickoff featuring Capital Jazz Project and the Rio Americano High school Jazz Combo. Ends with an open jazz jam.

Jan. 28: Earthtone School of Music Faculty Jazz Ensemble, open jazz jam

Feb. 11: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

Feb. 25: Swing Dance Ball with Atomic Jump Revival, dance lessons at 8 p.m., band begins at 9 p.m.

March 11: Folsom High School Jazz Ensemble, open jazz jam

March 25: CSUS Jazz Ensemble, open jazz jam

April 8: Swing Dance Ball with Atomic Jump Revival, dance lessons at 8 p.m., band begins at 9 p.m.

April 22: Adam Jenkins Trio, open jazz jam

All events begin at 8 and end at 11 p.m. at Beatnik Studios, 2421 17th St. Concerts cost $10, $7 for students. $50 pre-sale tickets for the entire series are available at Beatnik Studios and musicneverstops.org. Musicians who show up at the door for the jam sessions with the ability to play at least two recognizable jazz or bebop standards are admitted with a sliding scale donation.

Photograph depicting music students courtesy Earthtone School of Music.

Art Beast offers fun and funding

2010-01-11T06:08:53Z

Working with youth in crisis is a tough profession. Bridget Alexander can tell you firsthand. She and her partner Blithe Raines are the co-founders of the Waking the Village foundation. The nonprofit runs a transitional living community called The Tubman House, which serves young parents and their children.

Alexander and Raines have worked with youth for over a decade, sometimes receiving gut-wrenching 2 a.m. phone calls about crises needing immediate action. Realizing they needed something fun, easy and not gut-wrenching at all, the couple decided last year to open Art Beast, a venue that introduces children under 7 to the arts.

Kids are a good motivator, said Alexander, 42, who has three children with Raines. Besides providing an open area for children to explore the arts, Art Beast also provides a source of funding for Waking the Village, and former Tubman House residents will soon be offered jobs there.

Alexander first began working with youth in the '90s, as a high school teacher working with gang members. Raines was a teacher at the Mustard Seed school for homeless children. They both agreed youth needed stability to be able to grow and learn, so they founded Waking the Village in 1999.

To kick off the organization, they took a group of 25 at-risk youth, ages 11-21, on a 2,300-mile cross-country bike ride from California to Florida.

"That (journey) was testament to our (mission) that if you surround people with support and create a community, you get people to the finish line," Alexander said. "It's amazing how resilient, strong and fearless young people are embarking on the unknown."

That experience also inspired them to continue with plans to create the Tubman House in 2003. With recent instability in the grant market, they decided to open Art Beast as another source of income to fund, and hopefully expand, Waking the Village.

Benefitting from a strong renters' market, the pair received five months free rent at their Midtown location for Art Beast, which allowed them to achieve their goal of breaking even. To keep costs as low as possible, Alexander, Raines, their friends and family built the studio by hand.

Since opening in July, Art Beast has seen a strong start with up to 60 children dropping by every day. It has already provided some funding for Waking the Village, and Tubman House graduates can bring in their children for free.

"Parents are usually right in there with their children," Alexander said. "About 75 percent of the parents are doing art with their kid."

Art Beast runs like a gym -- you can either buy a membership or drop by any time. It offers classes like painting, singing, dancing and even a young children's theatre workshop. Parents as well as children 8 and over are allowed, but need to watch their speed and elbows, Alexander said.

"It's not intimidating, and it's fun," she added. "We think it will be good for kids."

A new season of classes begins Monday and classes are stand-alone, with the exception of a linear theater class called "Art Beast Mini-Players," which kids should be signed up for by Monday, Jan. 18. Click here for the full schedule of classes.

Alexander also said to expect expanded night hours soon, enabling kids to be dropped off for several hours while their parents participate in Second Saturday or go on dates. A summer camp is also in the future for Art Beast.

Photographs by Kati Garner.

What's happening at the Capitol: January 11, 12

2010-01-11T04:26:54Z

Monday, Jan. 11

1 - 2 p.m. California State Student Association will hold a press conference regarding AB 656, which creates a California Higher Education Fund through a new 9.9 percent oil severance tax. About 75 people are expected on the north steps of the Capitol for the press conference.

Tuesday, Jan. 12

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. The Foundation for a Drug Free World will have an information booth on display near the north steps of the Capitol. The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is supported by Scientology churches and other volunteer organizations.

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. International Faith-Based Coalition will be holding a public safety and public health rally on the West Steps of the Capitol. About 400 people are expected to attend.

Pablo Francisco performing at the Punchline

2010-01-08T02:48:37Z

Though he's not onstage at the moment, comedian Pablo Francisco is already warming up. A little after 8 a.m. Thursday, Francisco is on the phone telling dirty jokes, making fun of himself and impersonating celebrity actors Michael J. Fox and Shia LaBeouf.

Francisco brings a fresh and diverse persona to comedy, with sound effects, slapstick impressions and fast-paced non-sequiturs peppering his routine. Thursday through Sunday evening, the Chilean-American comedian will perform at the Punchine with Matt Claybrooks, Sean Savoy and Ashley Fils-Aime opening.

Originally from Tuscon, Ariz., Francisco's career choices didn't always go over well with his parents. He recalled delivering pizzas in the afternoon and doing comedy at night. Occasionally after a show, he would come home at 1 a.m. and his parents would be pissed off.

"This guy who lived a few blocks away, the cook at the comedy club, used to always let me stay at his house so my parents wouldn't give me s**t," he said. "And he let me drink all the beer I wanted, so we became good friends."

Francisco eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career. He worked on television commercials and wrote for NFL Films before landing a job as writer and featured player in the second season of "Mad TV". He became the first Latino cast member of the show in 1996.

Since leaving "Mad TV," he appeared in several Comedy Central specials, toured with Carlos Mencia and Frank Soto as part of the "Three Amigos," and collaborated with fellow "Mad TV" alumnus Frank Caliendo.

He's now perhaps most famous for celebrity impersonations, which began with him impersonating his friends as well as radio personality and voice actor Casey Kasem. Since then, he's become best known for impersonating voice-over artist Don LaFontaine, but his impersonations of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Keanu Reeves are also spot on.

"I met Aaron Neville when I was doing his voice," he said. "He gave me a 'what the f**k?' look. I wouldn't do that in front of him now, because he has a tattoo on his face."

Despite success in television, Francisco credits the Internet for boosting him into the limelight.

"I'm happy YouTube exploded and worked for me and my comedy tremendously," he said. "You can advertise and be on the Internet. Everyone's moving to the Internet sooner or later. I started realizing that and relaxed a little more."

He credits this for his successful tour in Europe last year.

"We sold like 10,000 tickets in seven minutes," he said. "They all knew who I was. That was a good moment — you don't even know you're popular somewhere and you still sell tickets. They love the YouTube."

How do you do an impression of someone from Sacramento?

"I'd put (on) a mean heavy Latino accent," Francisco said, "and when you want someone's ass kicked, you call the Hells Angels."

Pablo Francisco, 8 p.m., Thursday through Sunday at Punchline Comedy, 2100 Arden Way, with an additional 10 p.m. show Friday and Saturday. $25, advance tickets can be purchased here. Two-drink minimum. 18+

Flying motorcycle inventor to speak at California Auto Museum

2010-01-07T04:06:53Z

A high-speed rail connecting Sacramento with the Bay Area could take years, if not a decade. But on Sam Bousfield's flying motorcycle, you would be able to make it to the Bay in less than 45 minutes.

Bousfield's Meadow Vista-based company Samson Motorworks is currently creating a prototype of the hybrid motorcycle/airplane. The Switchblade Multi-Mode Vehicle is a two-passenger three-wheeled motorcycle with fully retractable wings that turns it into a plane.

Well, at least it will be, said Bousfield, who hasn't yet actually built a working model.

This Saturday, he will bring a quarter-scale model of his imagined vehicle to the California Auto Museum's "Born To Ride" exhibit, which will be on display from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Between 1 and 3 p.m., Bousfield will also be available for a public meet-and-greet and discussion about the future of transportation.

Bousfield, 53, describes himself as "mechanically inclined." He earned an architecture degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo before working with Boeing engineers on aircraft propeller technology for a race plane. He eventually helped design a new plane wing that would allow a propeller plane to break the sound barrier.

Moving on from that project, he created Samson Motorworks in 2000 which develops aircraft. Bousfield first thought about creating a flying motorcycle in 2003, but two and a half years ago, he got serious about the Switchblade, realizing aviation needed something useful.

"I wanted to get more people into aviation, off the roads and into the air," Bousfield said. "You look at anybody's dream of the future and they're (traveling) in the air."

He teamed up with about 16 other people, including employees of an aeronautical engineering company, and a team of three certified flight instructors, one of them Bousfield's personal flight instructor, Don Campbell. The plane is a kit-plane, meaning its $60,000 cost will only cover the purchase of the frame's parts.

Purchasing one of three engine options, which can give the engine up to 260 horsepower, will cost an estimated $20,000 more.

Then, you have to put it all together.

The kit is for a person who has average tool skill, not a professional, Bousfield said. Though he says it takes about 2,000 hours for the untrained builder, he plans to have a build center where professionals can help you put it together in less than three weeks.

Also in the works is a pair of non-flying models called Aerobikes, which get up to 70 miles per gallon, and another flying vehicle called the Snowbird. The Snowbird will be able to store a pair of skis on top of the vehicle during drive mode, and move them underneath the cabin during flight mode.

Campbell, 64, who will finish training Bousfield to fly in about three weeks, said he hasn't seen any viable flying car-type invention since the 1950s.

"There happens to be an Aerocar at the Auburn airport, and it's a flying car," Campbell said. "It's about as close to one I've seen with the same abilities, (but) the Switchblade and Samson Motorworks is really on the cutting edge."

Campbell explained that the aviation controls, motorcycle controls and instrument panels are extremely conventional and familiar to any motorcyclist or pilot. The senior flight instructor at Sierra Vista Aviation in Auburn, also offered to teach future pilots of the Switchblade.

Samson Motorworks received its first $2,000 deposit for the Switchblade kit in July and has received 20 more since then. A motorcycle license is required to drive it, and a private pilot license is required to fly it.

What's the next invention?

"I've always wanted to go into space," said Bousfield.

To view the full specs of the Switchblade, visit Samsonmotorworks.com.

California Auto Museum, 2200 Front St., Sacramento. Admission to the museum is $8, $7 for seniors, $4 for students. Children under 5 are free.

Submerge magazine celebrates anniversary, 50th issue

2010-01-05T23:52:49Z

For a number of Sacramento's magazines, the phrase "labor of love" takes on a double meaning. Three of the best-known local magazine publications are run by talented couples.

Sactown Magazine is run by husband-and-wife team Rob Turner and Elyssa Lee, and Midtown Monthly is run by married couple Tim Foster and Liv Moe. Sacramento's newest couple-run magazine, Submerge, is run by Jonathan Carabba, 24 and Melissa Welliver, 29, who are unmarried.

This Saturday, their biweekly will be celebrating its two-year, 50th issue anniversary with a party at Marilyn's on K. It will feature live music from hip-hop artist TAIS, dub artist CHLLNGR (formerly Dub Defender) and DJ Mike Diamond.

"I think (working with Welliver) is awesome and a special partnership is beneficial because you learn your roles and feed off of each other," Carabba said. "It's beneficial for both of us, and it kind of goes to show, it's a winning combo (since) Sactown and Midtown Monthly are both amazing publications. We're fans."

Carabba, originally from Santa Cruz and Welliver, from the Mt. Shasta area, met in Chico about four years ago. They were in different graduating classes at Chico State. Welliver earned a degree in graphic design while Carabba majored in music business and minored in marketing.

Soon after meeting, they relocated to Sacramento with the idea that a larger city had more opportunities. They realized that they both had a passion for the arts, and with Welliver's experience in art direction at a publication and Carabba's marketing abilities, they had what it took to start a business.

The magazine-obsessed couple immediately dove into the publishing industry.

"We knew right away what we wanted to do," Carabba said. "It was a matter of doing the research, getting the right people on our team, and really just diving in and doing it. We borrowed money from Mom and Dad, and I would pound the pavement trying to get enough ad dollars to cover the printing bill."

They picked up a senior editor, James Barone, and the three of them formed Submerge's core staff. Submerge employs a team of between six to 12 freelance writers and photographers who contribute to the magazine regularly, but the business looks to expand the number of staff.

With such a small core — Carabba as advertising director and Welliver as editor-in-chief and art director — Submerge has always been a tight ship.

The magazine is created digitally before going to print, so until Carabba began renting office space at the Urban Hive last month, the couple never worked from an office. Submerge's office was Carabba and Welliver's home in the Marshall School area. After moving to the College Greens area near Sacramento State, the couple changed Submerge's address to a P.O. box.

It was stressful and difficult to pay the bills for the first eight months, Carabba said, but their friends and family told them to stick with it for two years before measuring their success. Now they publish nearly 18,000 magazines monthly, which they still load in their Camry and hand deliver. In the last two years, Submerge has conducted interviews with big-name entertainers like Cheech and Chong, Katy Perry and Dane Cook before their respective performances in Sacramento.

What's in store in the next two years?

"In the next two years I think we will have a little office space, a couple more people helping us out full time, interns and a few more pages," Carabba said. "I see growth."

Submerge can be found in local newsstands, coffee shops, record stores and other businesses.

Submerge's 50th issue party takes place at Marilyn's on K, 908 K St. at 8:30 p.m. Drink specials include $2 Bud Lights, $5 Kamikazes and $6.50 beer and shot pairings. 21+

What's happening at the Capitol: January 5

2010-01-04T05:45:10Z

Tuesday, Jan. 5

11 - 11:45 a.m. The Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog group based in San Rafael, will hold a press conference and rally in support of AB 1019 on the west steps of the Capitol. Authored by Assembly Member Jim Beall (D-San Jose), the bill proposes to establish a state alcohol-related services program funded by large alcohol wholesalers. The bill, which was introduced in February, will be reconsidered by the state Legislature this month.

New Year's Eve ball drop off, fireworks on

2009-12-31T04:14:12Z

You may have already heard the New Year's Eve ball drop is off for this year.

Norm Alvis of Edaddywarbucks.com, which co-sponsored the drop last year along with Paragary Restaurant Group, asked both the city and the Downtown Sacramento Partnership to pay a third of the estimated $100,000 for a ball drop. Neither agreed, so the event was canceled.

One celebration that might compare to the spectacle of last year's celebration, which drew an estimated crowd of 12,000 to 20,000 people, is a city-sponsored event in Old Sacramento.

Organized by the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau, the celebration will feature live music, food and drink vendors and perhaps most importantly, a fireworks display at 9 p.m. and midnight. Internationally renowned company Pyrotechnique By Grucci planned the $40,000 "Sky Spectacular," choreographed to music and featuring computer-assisted launching from West Sacramento.

One unique vantage point for the fireworks display is the Empress Hornblower cruise boat.

The free event begins at 6 p.m. near Rio City Cafe. A tent will hold live music by rock'n'roll singer-songwriter Todd Morgan and Jimi Hendrix-tribute band Ralph Woodson Experience. Radio Disney Rockin' Road Crew will also provide a variety of individual and group performances.

Entertainment continues in the streets of Old Sacramento.

Clemon Charles, a pop and rock artist will play from 6 to 10 p.m. on the corner of Second and J streets. Allie Marcel and Friends will play blues-rock on the corner of Front and J streets from 8 p.m. to midnight, and Autumn Sky will sing pop-folk on Front Street in front of the train ticket booth at 8 and 10 p.m. The Obsidian Butterfly Fire Dance and Performing Arts group will perform on the corner of Front and K streets from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Vendors will be selling warm drinks including coffee, tea and hot chocolate as well as snack foods like kettle corn, hot dogs and pretzels, until about 12:30 a.m. Restaurants in Old Sacramento will also be open and selling food.

"(Previous years), we've had anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 people," said Mike Testa, The Convention and Visitors Bureau's vice president of communications and public affairs. "Our attendance might be higher because of the economy (since) people are looking for value and it's a family event."

Luckily, a break in rainfall is predicted Thursday night and into the wee hours of the new year. It's not expected to return until about 4 a.m. New Year's Day, give or take a few hours.

There will also be plenty of portable toilets, Sac PD officers and private security, Testa said.

Visit nyesacramento.com for the full entertainment schedule. Visit sacramentopress.com/tag/newyearseve for more New Year's Eve events.

What are your New Year's plans? Please discuss below.

New Year's family style

2009-12-30T04:46:37Z

New Year's Eve isn't all about adults. Besides the New Year's Eve dancing and live music options, there are some family-friendly events to choose from.

Sacramento Press community contributor Julia Beckner created a guide to family activities, which is a great resource, but here are a few more opportunities to share quality time with your family.

Noon Year's Eve at the Y

What: Carnival games, swimming, family relays, food, music and dancing for kids ages 2-12 and their adult chaperones.

Where: Sacramento Area YMCA, 2021 W St.

When: 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Cost: $5 for YMCA members, $7 for non-members. Pre-registration is required by visiting sacymca.org or calling 916-452-9622.

Blue Moon New Year's Eve Walk

What: Walk 5 or 10k (3.1 or 6.2 miles) with the Sacramento Walking Sticks, California's largest American Volkssport Association-affiliated walking club. Flashlights are recommended, pets are allowed and the route is suitable for strollers and wheelchairs. Food will be available after the walk.

Where: Starting at the Pioneer House, 415 P St.

When: 5 to no later than 9 p.m.

Cost: Free, but commemorative patches are available for $3.

New Year's Eve at Capitol Bowl

What: Two hours of glow bowling, shoe rental, party favors and noisemakers.

Where: Capitol Bowl, 900 West Capitol Ave., West Sacramento

When: 7 to 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight

Cost: $50 per lane from 7 to 9 p.m., up to five people per lane. $60 per lane from 10 p.m. to midnight. Reservations required (click here).

New Year's music

2009-12-30T04:37:55Z

There is so much to choose from this New Year's Eve in Sacramento. New Year's dancing venues are detailed in this article. Sacramento Press community contributor Barbara Ambler-Thomas wrote about the Empress Hornblower Cruise in Old Sacramento and Julia Beckner previewed several family activities.

The following is a guide to several of Sacramento's New Year's Eve concerts featuring (mostly) local bands.

Twitch Angry, White Minorities, Prylosis, Nekrosylum, Chernobog and Lycanthrope

What: "New Year's Cancer's Evel" will feature metal and punk bands, hosted by music video and MySpace star Metal Sanaz. The event is also a cancer research fundraiser for the Derek's Wish Foundation. All ages.

Where: The Colonial Theatre, 3522 Stockton Blvd.

When: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Cost: $10 at the door

Three Bad Jacks, The Secretions, Baby and The Problem Girls

What: Punk Rock New Year's Eve at The Blue Lamp, 21+

Where: The Blue Lamp Lounge, 1400 Alhambra Blvd.

When: Doors open at 8 p.m., show at 9 p.m.

Cost: $12 in advance (click here), $15 at the door

Richard March, The Inversions, Pushtonawanda

What: New Year's Eve Extravaganza of folk and indie rock. All ages.

Where: Fox & Goose Pub and Restaurant, 1001 R St.

When: 8 p.m.

Cost: Free

Dirt Nasty, Andre Legacy, Justin Barnes, Dominic "D-Trix" Sandoval, nearly a dozen DJs

What: A live hip-hop show, dancing and all-inclusive well drinks and beer are included with tickets to this show. 21+

Where: The Elks Building, 921 11th St., Grand Ballroom and House Mezannine

When: 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Cost: $75 presale (purchase here), $100 door. VIP booths range from $900 to $3,000 and can be purchased by calling 530-870-7049 or emailing vip@sacnewyears.com. Tickets after 1 a.m. cost $25.

Lite Brite, Storytellers and Shades of Grey

What: Jerry Perry Presents hosts a New Year's rock'n'roll concert. 21+

Where: Old Ironsides, 1901 10th St.

When: 9 p.m.

Cost: $7 at the door

The Mother Hips, The Parson Readheads

What: Marilyn's annual New Year's Eve Bash. 21+

Where: Marilyn's on K, 908 K St.

When: 9 p.m.

Cost: Sold out.

Sources: emusiconnect.com, undietacos.org, sacramento365.com

Rude Year's Eve at The Blue Lamp

2009-12-29T03:45:30Z

Abstract Rude's name tells a lot about the L.A. emcee. He picked up "Abstract" when interpretive dance duo Tribe Unique witnessed his crazy dance style and put a name to it.

The second half of the name was added when Abstract Rude began growing dreadlocks in 1991. Older Rastas told him his locks were going to be "rude."

Saturday at The Blue Lamp, Rude will bring his poetic style to live performance, incorporating everything from reggae to soul to interpretive dance. Local emcees C-Plus, Matt Cali, Illicism and Random Abiladeze will open the show, along with DJ Nocturnal.

Rude became interested in hip hop at age 9, when he was inspired to break dance after seeing b-boys perform in the 1984 Olympic ceremonies. He also began doodling on notebooks after seeing graffiti artists in the movie Beat Street.

Rude began rapping in 1991 as a teen. He first recorded in '93 before gaining more attention as part of Project Blowed, an open-mic workshop at the Good Life Cafe in South Central Los Angeles.

Hip hop artists Jurassic 5, Freestyle Fellowship and Pigeon John came out of the workshop. In 1994, Rude and Aceyalone from Freestyle Fellowship produced a Project Blowed compilation album that featured fellow Good Life Cafe rappers.

It quickly gained worldwide acclaim.

"There were letters from South America, everywhere in Europe, everywhere in Canada and that’s when we knew we got something here — there’s a lot of kids feeling what we were doing," Rude told the L.A. Record in a recent interview.

About the same time, Rude gained the attention of Mike D from the Beastie Boys and earned a spot on two of their label's mixtapes, Mixed Drink, Volumes 1 and 2. He soon released an album on that label, Grand Royal, and the rest is history.

Since 1995, Rude has released nearly an album a year, solo and as part of Abstract Tribe Unique (with Tribe Unique), The A-Team (with Aceyalone) and Haiku D'Etat (with Aceyalone and Myka 9 of Project Blowed and Freestyle Fellowship). He also was featured in the 2008 documentary This is The Life: How The West Was Won. The film tells the stories of individuals involved in Project Blowed and The Good Life Cafe scene in general.

Earlier this year, Rude released Rejuvenation, his first solo album in nearly six years, earning critical acclaim. "Abstract Rude boasts an indelible, intoxicating voice," said a review in Spin Magazine. "He raps and sings with equal verve, and his deep baritone resonates with rhythmic power."

The Blue Lamp, 1400 Alhambra Blvd., Saturday at 9 p.m. Tickets $8 at the door. 21-and-over.

New Year's dancing

2009-12-28T18:01:43Z

Looking for a place to go for New Year's Eve? The Sacramento Press would like to break down the most appealing dance parties for those who like to get their groove on.

Paragary Restaurant Group, who put on the ball drop last year, will be hosting what they bill as the "largest party of 2010."

What: Dinner at Cosmo Café. The Spazzmatics playing 1980s hits at the Cosmopolitan Cabaret and DJ Pat Allen spinning dance hits at Social Nightclub. The cafe and cabaret are all-ages and Social Nightclub is 21-and-over.

Where: The Cosmopolitan Building, 1000 K St.

When: Dinner from 5 - 11 p.m., dancing from 8 p.m. - 1 a.m.

Cost: $50 for access to Social Nightclub and the Cosmopolitan Cabaret. Purchase here. $99 for access to Social Nightclub, Cosmopolitan Cabaret and a three-course dinner at Cosmo Café. Purchase here. $450 and up for VIP tables. For more information call 443-9004 or email vip@nightclubsocial.com.

V101.1 R&B and Old School radio station will be hosting its ninth annual "New Year's Jamming Eve" dance party.

What: The SOS Band, One Way featuring Al Hudson, Kurtis Blow and DJ Gino will perform R&B and classic hip hop. The event is 21-and-over.

Where: The Radisson Hotel Grand Ballroom, 500 Leisure Lane

When: 9 p.m. - to be determined

Cost: $67, tickets available at The Radisson Hotel gift shop (916) 922-2020, Sandra Dee's BBQ and Seafood (916) 448-6375, online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (866) 448-7849.

EasternMpire Promotions will hold the "Ménage á Trois" party, billed as the biggest New Year's Eve event in Downtown Sacramento.

What: Three rooms including a "Bollywood" music room headlined by DJ Sohbash, a Top-40/hip hop room headlined by DJ Alazzawi, and an electronic music room headlined by Dyloot, plus a live fashion show put on by Fetti Entertainment. The event is 18-and-over.

Where: The Sheraton Grand Hotel, 1230 J St.

When: 8 p.m. - to be determined

Cost: $40, December birthdays $25. Tickets available at Dimple Records, The Beat and by calling 916-709-2578.

The MiX's First Anniversary and New Year's Eve Celebration

What: A rooftop party with champagne, DJ Jus James, holiday food and drinks. The event is 21-and-over.

Where: MiX, 1525 L St.

When: 7 p.m. - 2 a.m.

Cost: $50, $75 with dinner.

Empire Event Center's New Year's Ball, promoted as "the biggest New Year's bash in Sacramento."

What: Top-40, hip hop and mashups by DJ Junior Fresh and DJ GI, a balloon drop and a live broadcast by KSFM 102.5. The event is 18-and-over.

Where: Empire Event Center, 1415 R St.

When: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Cost: $20

Micromidas turns waste into plastic

2009-12-28T06:04:39Z

In the 1967 film "The Graduate," Mr. McGuire advises protagonist Ben Braddock, "There's a great future in plastics." A handful of recent UC Davis graduates have heeded that advice and are building the next generation of plastic.

Their company, Micromidas, processes sewage sludge, the hardened layer of waste from sewage treatment facilities, into Polyhydroxyalkanoates, or PHAs. Simply put, it turns poop into plastic.

Founder and CEO John Bissell said he was motivated ethically and economically to form a truly "green" plastic company in all aspects of production. Micromidas uses bio-waste and biological methods to create biodegradable plastic.

The idea that in the right conditions, bugs create PHAs, first came to Bissell and his friends doing external research at UCD. In April 2008, Bissell partnered with six other UCD students to replicate these conditions, and their experiment won first place in the Environmental Protection Agency's "People, Prosperity and the Planet" competition.

As a result, they received a $75,000 two-year grant, which was dispersed earlier this year. They then attended UCD's Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy, where they learned how to realize their business' potential.

Their business methods are both complicated and somewhat confidential, said Bissell, who has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. Micromidas' office in West Sacramento currently holds the company's 10 full-time workers and six interns.

"The main thing I do here is screen for productive microbes that will make a lot of plastic under the conditions that we want," said Casey McGrath, director of biological research and UCD alumnus with a bachelor's in biochemistry. "One of the things that is difficult is figuring out which bugs make plastic in an easy way."

That question was solved by taking an agar jelly plate and putting bugs with dyes and chemicals into the plate. The bugs will uptake those dyes and chemicals, and if those chemicals bind to plastic then they will glow under an ultraviolet light.

There are also homemade bug sorters, a bug library and a bug graveyard.

"We take millions (of) bacteria out of a pond," Bissell said. "There are certain characteristics that bacteria have to have to be PHA-producing bacteria. So we apply selective conditioning so only those bacteria can survive. So it sorts it down from a million to maybe a thousand bacteria."

When a not-yet-finalized formula of those micro-bugs interacts with sludge from Sacramento and Yolo County waste-water treatment plants, they create a kilo of PHA in five to six days.

As for their PHA, "It has no toxicity level at all," Bissell said. "You could eat it."

He demonstrated its superior physical properties over the most produced bioplastic, polylactic acid, or PLA. He noted how one popular PLA product, a cup made of corn starch, melted when holding hot water. The PHA, he said, has a higher melting point.

PHA is sold in pellets and can turn into anything, Bissell said: cards, bottles, anything you can fit into a thermal injection mold. Micromidas is currently in talks with Johnson and Johnson, Pepsi and Nestlé to purchase their product.

"The bugs need to work (well enough) to go to commercial scale; they're nowhere near the optimum formula," Bissell said. "The next step is to set up a satellite office, commercial plant, and expand from that."

The 'Mother of Sacramento'

2009-12-26T01:03:06Z

Mother Ruby Muhammad is proof that it's never too late to do anything. An orphan who met her father when she was a teenager, Muhammad joined the Nation of Islam at age 49 and learned to read at 60.

Sacramento's oldest supercentenarian at age 112, Muhammad will perform songs and tell stories about her life March 7 at the Imani Community Church. The first-time performer will be joined for the one-night-only performance by her friend, playwright and vocalist Suzanne Brooks, and Brooks' band, The Jazz Generation.

The show is tentatively called "I Believe I Can Fly," after Muhammad's favorite song, written by R. Kelly. It also aligns with her positive outlook and her belief that if she had wings, she could fly.

Muhammad was born Ruby Macie Grayer in Sandersville, Ga., in 1897. She grew up in Americus and worked on a farm that belonged to the family of former President Jimmy Carter.

Muhammad's first memory is picking cotton. In her childhood, the family didn't own much, not even a bed. Muhammad's daily routine was to pick up her few belongings from the floor and work in a cotton or peanut field from 4 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m., said Brooks, who was asked recently to write Muhammad's biography.

"They were like slaves, really," Brooks added.

On the farm, Muhammad used work tools as musical instruments. One of her favorite songs was "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder," which she plans to perform.

Because she never had a formal education, Muhammad made her living doing housework. Besides Georgia, she has lived in St. Paul, Minn., San Francisco and Sacramento, where she moved to be closer to her daughter after Muhammad's second husband died.

She's surprisingly physically and mentally sharp for a 112-year-old. Sitting in a recliner in her home in a South Sacramento retirement community, Muhammad moves to her couch without a walker to pose for a photograph.

She wrote a book of poetry in 2001, and recites one of the poems off the top of her head. Muhammad claims she's still a limber dancer, an avid bingo player and a cook.

She uses a hearing aid and owns a wheelchair that was a gift. But Muhammad is all smiles and can talk your ear off.

"She loves me and she helps (me) to understand love in a really special way," said Brooks. "She will call me sometimes at one or two in the morning to chit chat about politics, the world, or the environment."

In 1986, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, named Muhammad the Mother of the Nation of Islam.

Muhammad said she loves the title of "mother," and added, "I'm proud I took care of children."

She recalled finding a 4- or 5-year-old Jimmy Carter getting into her peanut sack.

"I shoved him off. He went 'Waaah,' " she said. "His mother came in the door and said, 'What happened?' I said, 'He fell.' "

Carter didn't hold it against her. After all, Muhammad was the boy's nursemaid. During his presidency, Carter invited Muhammad to the White House.

"I love people and I think they love me," she said. "I may be fooling myself, but I don't believe I am. That's me."

The great-great-great-grandma said she would like to be regarded as "the mother of the U.S.," "the mother of Sacramento" and "Mother Ruby to the whole world."

Her goals include writing more books, being the oldest woman on Earth (she must outlast a handful of supercentenarians) and receiving a third invitation to the White House to meet the Obama family and eat dinner with them. "I didn't ever think I would live to see a black president," Muhammad said. "I like him and I think he'll make us a good president."

She's traveled all over the United States, to Mexico, the Bahamas, Italy, England and France. Muhammad loves music, especially jazz, as well as writing poetry. "I do what I want to do, and I go where I want to go," she said. "I'm just happy to be alive."

Her advice for younger generations?

"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it. Plant that in your mind like a seed in the ground."

Advance tickets can be purchased by mailing a check or money order with the number of tickets requested and return address to: 3325 Northrop Ave., Sacramento, CA 95864. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. The Imani Community Church is located at 2100 J St.

Check The Sacramento Press closer to the event date for more information.

DJ Rock Bottom spins the wheels of steel

2009-12-24T19:15:27Z

Looking to dance to the beat of a different drummer? Sacramento's DJ Rock Bottom strives to enable you to do just that.

The first and third Friday of every month, Rock Bottom spins a dance party called "Hot Pants" at Level Up Lounge. Whether it's Prince, Black Star or remixes of old-school Motown, Rock Bottom said his goal is to "challenge people to push the envelope, get outside of their box and let go musically."

Rock Bottom, born John Word, grew up in Gary, Ind., about 25 miles from downtown Chicago. He recalls as a child listening religiously to Common Sense (now Common), perhaps Chicago's most innovative emcee. He also emulated a cousin's musical taste by listening to Afrika Bambaataa, one of the three originators of break beat DJing.

In 2001, he came to Sacramento to "find himself." Checking out the music scene, with DJs playing the same songs all the time, Rock Bottom said he realized that the scene lacked originality.

"Instead of (being) hip hop DJs, they would just play these sick songs that would get the crowd going," he said. "I love A Tribe Called Quest, I love hip hop, but it was 2004, and I felt like DJs weren't pushing the envelope."

He got his break when DJ Mad Planet of the Zulu Nation gave him a chance to perform in front of an audience at The Golden Bear.

"I knew I couldn't at the time. I could mix worth nothing," he said. "He gave me a chance. He put his name on the line and gave me a shot. I just wanted to make sure my selection was impeccable. (Afterward) cats were like, 'You killed it at The Golden Bear!' "

Rock Bottom, 31, has been DJing since that moment in 2004. He works as an afterschool team leader at Woodlake Elementary School in Del Paso Heights, and takes classes at Sac City College with the goal of becoming a teacher.

Rock Bottom is realistic about his aspirations.

"If the opportunity came up to become a full-time DJ, I would, but there are no health benefits," he said. "I need to work and DJ."

From 2004 to 2005, Rock Bottom toured as the backing DJ for SAMMIE-award-winning, five-piece hip hop group Righteous Movement. "It was a good learning experience for me, getting to see different places, a lot of good shows, a lot of good food," he said.

Rock Bottom still works with emcee Tais from Righteous Movement, but his energy is largely on Hot Pants. He said it's his favorite gig because Level Up Lounge gives him creative freedom to honor artists dead or alive, known or unknown.

Many of his records come from The Beat, 1700 J St., or Records, 1618 Broadway. Rock Bottom said when he can't find them there, he purchases records online.

"I play (turntables) like an instrument. It is by no means like a guitar, because with an actual instrument, you're limited to that instrument," he said. "With turntables, whatever our imagination allows us to do, with hard work you can do it."

Rock Bottom performs "Hot Pants" every first and third Friday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Level Up Lounge, 2431 J St. The event is free, for ages 21 and older.

Photographs credit Amanda Lopez.

'MLS' CD-release show highlights Sac hip hop

2009-12-18T05:32:52Z

Dennis Weaver Jr., better known as Rapper Monotone, has opened for Michael Franti and Spearhead, Talib Kweli and De La Soul. But the 34-year-old West Sacramento resident doesn't usually perform in the big shows that hit the area.

However, people who love the music of Monotone's group, MLS, can hear the musicians play Saturday when they release their EP "Target Practice" at Capitol Garage. Local hip hop acts Mahtie Bush, Tribe of Levi, Izreal, 2-4-1 and Torrance the Poet also will perform. Those in the know can recite the double meanings behind the initials MLS: "Monotone and Lou Slugga" and "Major League Spittaz."

Monotone's a valley guy. He was born in Fresno and moved to Sacramento when he was about 11. Monotone grew up singing in church. In high school, he began sneaking into his brother's room to listen to his EPMD, Kool Moe Dee and NWA tapes.

In his sophomore year, he began purchasing cassette singles such as Nas' "The World is Yours." When Monotone attended Sacramento City Community College, he was introduced to A Tribe Called Quest and Wu Tang Clan. "That did it," he said. "It was a wrap."

From then on, Monotone immersed himself in hip hop culture, learning to break dance, emcee, write graffiti and even mix a little bit on turntables. He said he wanted to be like local hip hop artists E-Train, Soul Clap and N8 the Gr8.

Six years ago, Monotone formed MLS after hearing his brother's friend Darren "Lou Slugga" Heath rap over the phone a cappella: "Some of these fools spit trash/they call me the cleanest/I bring careers to short stops/but not Derek Jeter." Impressed by Slugga's lyrics, the members of MLS began performing and hired DJ Kool Kuts as their DJ.

Their beats sound like highly-polished mainstream hip hop, while their raps are both hardcore and poetic. Kool Kuts brings back the essence of 1980s DJs such as Grandmaster Flash with quick scratching, while the emcees pay homage to vintage East Coast stylings.

MLS gained underground recognition, but its management company "screwed them over," Monotone said, resulting in a two-and-a-half-year hiatus. The group recently started fresh and added a third emcee, Courtney "Century" Turner from New York.

Monotone sounds as starstruck as his students might when he recalls his favorite moment in his musical career -- hanging out with De La Soul all day before performing with them in 2002.

"I was doing (Black Sheep's) 'Flavor of the Month' live onstage live with these cats," he said. "We (got) liquor, I was on the tour bus with them, and we ended up going to a club. I remember calling my wife and telling her, 'I'm not coming home tonight and this is why!' "

It's not all fun all the time, though. A lot of hard work goes into Monotone's music. Nighttime often finds him in his home studio composing beats, rhymes, hooks, designing album graphics and editing music videos.

"I have enough music done (that) you could pick your favorite local rappers (and) I've got enough beats to supply at least 20 artists for their album," Monotone said. "I don't sleep very much."

MLS will release its first full-length recording, Sharpshootaz, on Jan. 15.

Show: Saturday, 9 p.m., Capitol Garage, 1500 K St. Meant for 21-and-older audience. Tickets and EPs are $5.

Photographs credit Monotone

Richard March and Tyler Ragle to perform CD-release concert

2009-12-17T05:29:05Z

Local Americana musicians Richard March and Tyler Ragle are not afraid to get political.

Their new song "Gold Star Café" includes a café conversation about politics, praises for President Obama and criticism of the public for not being involved enough in politics.

"Thank God this young man got the vote/But he alone won't save this boat/Gonna take 'all hands' to get her right/So we can sleep at night," March writes.

Saturday at Javalounge, the local country-influenced folk duo will play a CD-release concert for their five-song EP Kings and Thieves, their first release as a duo. Davis-based singer-songwriter Nat Lefkoff will open the show.

March lived in the Bay Area until age 30, when he moved to Nashville to pursue a music career.

After only two months there, he came back to California and settled in Sacramento because his wife was from here, he said. Currently living in West Sacramento, March spent time recently as a substitute teacher and still commutes to the Bay Area every weekend to play music in church.

Ragle grew up in Roseville and worked Skip's Music in Sacramento for five years before becoming a school aid helping autistic children in Orangevale. He has played in several "serious" local bands over the years, which he defined as bands that have played many live shows.

March, on the other hand, has a Bachelor of Arts in Popular Styles from San Francisco State, and hasn't stopped writing songs since he was 18. In 2007, he won a SAMMIE award for best male vocalist.

About a decade ago, March and Ragle met at an open mic night at Old Ironsides, where March asked audience members to name the artist he was covering. Ragle, a self-described music trivia fan and snob, shouted "Springsteen!" and March gave him a free CD as a reward.

The two have been playing music together ever since.

March has four albums, two with Ragle playing bass, but Kings marks the first time the duo have released a collection of songs they wrote together.

With harmonica, guitar, vocals and an occasional piano, Kings has a touch of Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel and the Eagles. The duo's chemistry is apparent on the album and they complete each others' sentences over coffee like an old married couple.

Writing political songs is difficult, said Ragle, 31, in part because certainly the pair are not foreign policy or politics experts. But opinions tend to be best expressed through song, he said.

"There are a couple of songs that people walk away from (when played live)," March said.

"We've had a good reaction to 'Gold Star Café' so far, but it will be interesting how that reaction will change in a year or two," Ragle added.

They both agreed some of their favorite moments in music included opening for folk music legend Ramblin' Jack Elliot and playing Concerts in the Park with Jackie Greene.

In addition to recording another full album, March said he is ready to hit the road and start some serious touring.

"I've never been one to throw caution to the wind," he said. "I'm a square-ass suburban white boy that's fairly comfortable. But at the ripe age of 40, I'm starting to try and tour, travel and focus on (music) full time."

The show begins at 8 p.m. and will cost $5. CDs will be available for $5. Javalounge is located at 2416 16th Street.

What's happening at the Capitol: end of the year events

2009-12-16T00:22:35Z

Through December 31, there are fewer Capitol events, according to the CHP's Capitol Permit Officer.

The only event scheduled in the next few weeks is a rally Monday, Dec. 21. From noon to 1 p.m., the Sacramento Area Coalition Against the Death Penalty will be holding a vigil against the death penalty on the north steps of the Capitol. About 15 people are expected.

What's happening at the Capitol? will resume in January.

Any Given Child survey for arts education

2009-12-15T23:17:24Z

A little over two months ago, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts chose Sacramento over 27 other cities as the first partner for the "Any Given Child" program. The program, which promotes arts education, will be developed in Sacramento over the next two years before rolling out nationwide.

Mayor Kevin Johnson emailed the following survey regarding participation in the Any Given Child program:

In October, the Kennedy Center announced that it would pilot its Any Given Child program here in Sacramento with the goal of providing access and equity in arts in education to all students. Since then, we've been hard at work focusing on this welcome opportunity to expand arts opportunities for all children in Kindergarten through eighth grades.

Part of the Any Given Child work here in Sacramento is an audit of arts education resources that are currently available in and out of schools. We need your help to gather this information.

If you are a teaching artist, a representative of an arts organization or of community-based organization with an arts program, I ask that you complete the appropriate online survey below by January 8th. The survey should not take more than 8 minutes of your time. The survey is being conducted by Meta Research, an independent research firm.

We expect the data that results from the survey will lead to recommendations for ways more teaching artists and organizations can be more involved in working with students in and out of schools. We will share the survey results with all who participate in the Spring. Your participation is key to a future where ANY given child has access to the arts.

For Art’s Sake Education Initiative Survey Link:

http://www.keysurvey.com/survey/284698/9ac5/

The survey will be open until January 8th. Please fill it out today!

Feel free to forward the survey to others you think should fill it out.

Casspi celebrates Hanukkah with community

2009-12-12T04:55:19Z

Sacramento Kings forward Omri Casspi scored a career-high 20 points Wednesday, grabbed eight rebounds and notched two assists. Thursday, he noshed and schmoozed with about 200 people at a Hanukkah party at Memorial Auditorium put on by the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region.

Casspi sat in the lobby for nearly an hour signing autographs, talking to fans and posing for photos. He also spoke of how he celebrates the Jewish holiday in Israel.

"I usually (celebrate it with) a small group of family, we get everybody to come together, light the candles, sing songs and pray together," he said. "Usually we do that all week (and) on the last night, we go to my grandparents' house, invite all the family and go out together."

Casspi said he misses his father, but is happy his mother, brother and sister could come to Sacramento to celebrate Hanukkah with him. "I'm not a religious person, but I love to pray to God and celebrate all the holidays," he said.

Casspi ranked sixth on www.NBA.com's rookie rankings this week and teammate Tyreke Evans ranked first. He sounded happy about his first season with the Kings.

"It's great we have a young team," he said. "It's (a) very talented (team) and throughout the season, we're only going to get better."

Thursday's celebration included another guest from Israel, Lior Suchard, who provided what he called "supernatural entertainment." His one-hour performance blended magic, comedy and reading the minds of audience members.

Aside from honoring In addition to Casspi, the Jewish Federation honored three generations of Jewish activists -- Lou Weintraub, Dr. E. Scott Rosenbloom and Brian Fischer -- for community service. A man dressed as Judah Maccabee, founder of Hanukkah, passed a ceremonial torch to each of the three men, who then spoke.

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabees triumphed over the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. The first of eight nights of celebration began Friday at sundown with the lighting of the first candle on the Hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiyah.

"It was great fun. We came because we wanted to support the community," said Anne Eisenberg, 69, of Congregation B'nai Israel. "They honored good people (who) work for the community and deserve it. The community only works because of volunteers."

Eisenberg's husband, Hal, 70, said their Hanukkah celebration will be different this year because their children are in France. They mailed Hanukkah presents and potato latke (pancake) recipes to them and will chat online via Skype during the gift opening.

Mike Singer, 64, a member of Congregation Mosaic Law, said he enjoyed the celebration, adding that Suchard was an astonishing entertainer. The board president of the California State University, Sacramento/UC Davis Hillel House for Jewish students described his ideal Hanukkah present.

"We've already raised $3 million for a new UC Davis/Sac State Hillel House," he said. "What we need is $1 million more."

The fun continued late into the night with plenty of gelt (Hanukkah chocolates) to be eaten, dreidels (Hanukkah tops) to be spun and Hanukkah children's book to be read.

Photos by Anthony Bento of Anthonybento.com

Timothy B. Schmit interview

2009-12-11T06:52:10Z

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 interests. I, along with my other musician friends, had big aspirations and dreamed of continuing for as long as possible. In the late 60's I received a great offer that required me to leave my home town, so naturally, I accepted. Music has always been a big part of my life, starting with my father, who made his living by playing in clubs pretty much all his life.

Your album, Expando is named after a mobile trailer that you used to live in. Which neighborhood in Sacramento was your Expando?

Our Expando resided in what used to be called the Casa Grande Trailer Village, which was on Auburn Blvd just east of Bell. The trailer park is still there under a different name. It was there before we first arrived in the late 50's. Sometimes when I'm up there visiting my family, I take a little cruise through it, and I'm always amazed at what I would now consider my humble beginnings. By the way, there was a second Expando at the trailer park, and it's still there!

Early on, you were in a surf music band and then another band that was more folk influenced. What was your musical direction based on back then?

Actually, it's the other way around. I started playing and singing folk songs. The surf band evolved out of that (we found a drummer and rounded up some electric instruments). I think my friends and I were a group of musical sponges. We listened to everything.

Did you have a mentor early on that helped you develop your career, someone who encouraged you to follow through with a career in music? Was it your father?

My father just happened to be a musician. He never forced me to take it up, but I really liked the concept of what he was doing.

You've said this is your most personal record. You even worked with your son on one of the songs. What was that experience like?

The experience of working with my son was what any parent might expect. It was part elation, part struggle, and everything in between. Anyone who's raised a teenager knows what I'm talking about. When it was all said and done, I was very proud to add his name to the list of very accomplished musicians who appeared on this project.

What would you say is your favorite moment in your musical career?

Too many to pick just one. My career has far exceeded my wildest expectations. I've worked with Poco, Eagles, CS&N, Ringo Starr, members of The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Elton John, Steely Dan, and on and on. The greatest part is that it's still going strong for me. I try not to take any of it for granted.

Your new album, Expando, is amazing, and it's got some amazing guests -- I was especially impressed by the Kenny Wayne Sheppard solo on "Parachute." Was it intimidating to call up any artist in particular, maybe one who you'd never worked with before?

I figured it was all worth a try. A "no thanks" was the only worst case scenario. I'd say 95% of everyone I called accepted my invitation.

If you could collaborate with anyone on a future record, who would be your first choice? Alison Krauss?

She almost sang on this project. She wanted to, but at the time she was very busy touring with a certain British rock star. Hopefully, next time.

Do you spend a lot of time in Sacramento these days, and is there anything in particular you're excited about for the show here on Friday?

I'd say I get up there to visit my mother and family every couple of months or so. I can't wait to come back and play as a solo artist. It will mean so much to me.

For this tour will you be playing everything from Expando, other solo records, Eagles and Poco too, or is there a more specific focus on this tour?

I'm playing mostly new songs from the album. They are all songs that came totally from me. I will sprinkle the set with some Poco and Eagles material as well.

Obviously, music is a big part of your life. But what else do you have a passion for besides music?

I like being at home doing normal things. I also like to travel with my wife. We enjoy being able to be more spontaneous again after raising children.

After this tour, what's next for you? Do you have any other plans musically, perhaps some work with the Eagles before the April shows at the Hollywood Bowl?

I'll keep writing for the next record. And I'll continue being an Eagle for as long as it lasts.

Political collectibles show and sale in Sacramento

2009-12-11T06:11:59Z

Looking for a way to hold history in your hand? Former presidents Bush, Carter and Clinton, as well as President Obama, will appear at the Sierra 2 Center on Sunday -- on buttons, badges and posters.

They are all part of a political collectible show and sale put on by the Northern California Chapter of American Political Items Collectors.

The APIC, a nonprofit that began in 1945, has more than 2,000 members and 19 regional chapters. Northern California's chapter has about 300 members, said Adam Gottlieb, the chapter's president.

Gottlieb has been collecting political memorabilia since he was 11, starting with a Teddy Roosevelt button from 1904. Gottlieb, 45, said Roosevelt memorabilia makes up the bulk of his collection, which will be among those on display.

In addition to the show and sale, the gathering will serve as the chapter's meeting. Besides showing off their collections, local members of the APIC will appraise memorabilia brought in by the public.

"If a button comes in, we can separate the real pins from the fakes," said Gottlieb. "We can tell you the condition, scarcity, and give an estimated value."

One year, a man came in with a chest full of various presidential memorabilia, among them Taft and Roosevelt buttons, and left with a check for $4,600. Thousands of buttons will make up the bulk of the show and sale, Gottlieb said.

He also noted that the button as we know it was created in 1896. Before that, people had badges or tokens people would hang with a ribbon or a clasp.

Some of the rarest political artifacts in existence are from George Washington's presidential campaign. They include buttons that would be sewn onto a vest or jacket.

Many APIC members have a collection from a specific president; Nixon, Lincoln and Kennedy are among the most popular. Cary Jung, an APIC member, will be displaying his collection of Jerry Brown memorabilia at the event.

"(Collectors) come from all walks of life: (from) stock brokers, students and scientists (to) people who work in the Capitol," said Gottlieb.

The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday in Curtis Hall at the Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St. General admission is $4, children and students are free.

Photographs courtesy Adam Gottlieb

Timothy B. Schmit to play the Crest Theatre Friday

2009-12-10T07:52:27Z

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 will open the show with a country-influenced set of rock 'n' roll.

For Schmit, there was never a clear path to success. Schmit formed his first band Tim, Tom and Ron, while in his first years at Encina High School. Adding another member, the band became The Contenders and developed a surf-rock sound.

After graduating from high school, The Contenders changed their name to the New Breed, and in 1965, they opened for Herman's Hermits and Sonny & Cher at the Memorial Auditorium. Heavily influenced by The Beatles, the band drew a local following, and in 1966, they opened for Lovin' Spoonful and The Yardbirds.

The New Breed picked up psychedelic influences in 1967, changing their name to The Breed and opening for popular Bay Area bands The Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Jefferson Airplane. Following their final name change to The Glad in 1968, the band lost a large number of fans and Schmit joined the country-rock band Poco in 1969.

During nearly a decade with Poco, which was formed by ex-Buffalo Springfield members Jim Messina and Richie Furay, Schmit scored a handful of Billboard hits. He quit Poco to join the Eagles in 1977. His initial tenure with the Eagles lasted only three years because the Eagles broke up in 1980, but not before one of Schmit's songs, "I Can't Tell You Why" became one of the band's biggest hits.

During the Eagles' hiatus from 1980-1994, Schmit embarked on a solo career and became a member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, then The Ringo Starr All-Starr Band. He rejoined the Eagles in 1994, and has been with them ever since.

For Schmit, Expando marks a return to home. Aside from being named after his childhood mobile home, Schmit's son Ben plays drums and guitar on "White Boy."

"This is the best work I’ve done to date," he said last month to country music blog The 9513. "I think it’s the truest representation of my music and me than anything I’ve done."

Expando features an eclectic, star-studded lineup of guests including Kid Rock, Gary Burton, Keb' Mo', Graham Nash and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. It peaked at #43 on Billboard's Heatseekers charts.

Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased at www.tickets.com and at the Crest box office, 1013 K Street. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Hot Club of Cowtown comes to Sacramento

2009-12-09T05:59:43Z

Despite what the name implies, the Hot Club of Cowtown is not Sacramento's hottest music venue. In fact, it's a jazz-influenced, Western Swing trio that formed in New York City's East Village.

Thursday night, the band will be performing for the first time in Sacramento at the 24th Street Theatre. The Poplollys, a local hillbilly country band, and Hard Clumpin' Litter, a local blues band, will open the show.

The Hot Club of Cowtown formed in 1998 when fiddle player Elana James responded to a Village Voice newspaper ad placed by guitarist Whit Smith. Upright bass player Bill Horton rounded out the trio, but was subsequently replaced by Jake Erwin.

James was born to a violinist mother and grew up in Kansas City around professional musicians. In college she grew fond of Western Swing and Hot Jazz, and she soon realized that her passion lay in music because it brings joy to people, she said.

The Hot Club of Cowtown was formed with the purpose of merely making music and having fun, James said.

"I've never been willing to put a lid on what the band has in store for it or what we're capable of," she said. "We went from busking for tips in San Diego at a park for a year to doing tours with Bob Dylan."

The band is named after Quintette du Hot Club de France, a jazz group featuring gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli. "Cowtown" refers to the state of mind of being Western, and the influence of Western Swing and fiddle bands on the group, James said.

Since forming, the band released six studio albums, a live album, a greatest hits collection and a DVD. About five years ago, the band got its biggest break when they were asked to join Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson on tour.

Dylan recognized James' talent and asked her to play with his band for several years beginning in 2005.

"One of the greatest things about touring with (Dylan's band) was hearing the material every night, and how incredibly expressive it can be when they've played those songs thousands and thousands of times," she said.

Hot Club's latest album, Wishful Thinking, 2009, is the band's first in five years, and the first with a drummer.

"The new album, Wishful Thinking, is one of their most polished efforts so far," said a recent London Times album review. "But to catch the Hot Club at full temperature, you really need to see the group in the flesh."

Doors open at 6 p.m., and the show begins at 7 p.m. at the 24th Street Theatre, 2991 24th Street. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at R5 Records and www.inticketing.com.

Photograph courtesy the Hot Club of Cowtown.

The Hub: Sacramento's 'secret' venue

2009-12-08T05:11:32Z

The Hub is perhaps Sacramento's best music venue you've never heard about. The location is secret, only members can attend shows and newcomers are invited by word of mouth.

Once you attend a show, you've become an official member. A required $1 fee for first-timers adds your name to The Hub's e-mail list that will send you information about future shows.

The Hub's four founders requested their identities and the location of the venue remain anonymous.

Sunday night, a group of about 50 people braved the rain to see The Ganglians, The Fresh and Onlys and Woven Bones rock a packed Hub. Christmas decorations, a Persian rug and a homemade mural on parchment paper adorned the minimalist one-room club. A merchandise table sold T-shirts for $10 and bands' records.

The stage, complete with a PA system, monitors and a soundboard, took up about a fourth of the room. The only other amenities were a water cooler, about a dozen chairs along the walls and a bathroom.

Earlier Sunday, The Hub held a members-only dinner, the remnants of which remained available for the taking by the time the show began. Outside, a small crowd smoked cigarettes while huddled around a makeshift fire.

Local band The Ganglians started about 9 p.m. filling every nook of the venue with echoing, reverberating, surf-inspired rock. Their spirited caterwauling over catchy rhythms drew a large crowd of dancers, heads bobbing and hips shaking.

The four-piece, which consists of vocalist Ryan Grubbs, guitarist Kyle Hoover, drummer Alex Sowles and bassist Adrian Comenzind, performed a polished handful of eclectic tunes.

Last year the band released a self-titled EP on Woodsist Records, a full-length record, Monster Head Room, and toured the United States, Comenzind said. He added that the group plans to release a new album and tour Europe next year.

Online album review website www.Pitchfork.com said of Monster, "Ganglians are wild men -- they make music that gets fresh air all up in your teeth and gums." The review also compared the group to the Beach Boys and indie rock band Grizzly Bear.

Woodsist labelmates The Fresh and Onlys took the stage about 45 minutes later, sounding like a rawer version of the Killers. The band, who recently backed Stephen Malkmus on his California tour, played ambitious rock anthems that sent an already fervent audience into a frenzy of head shaking and interestingly, swing dance moves.

Woven Bones, an unsigned rock trio from Austin, Texas, began its set a little before 11 p.m. to a much smaller crowd. About 20 people stood outside the venue smoking and talking while the rest of the audience stayed until nearly midnight listening to the psychedelic blues rockers.

With the help of Sol Collective, a nonprofit, arts education center, the Hub's organizers hope to launch a second public music venue near the corner of 21st and Broadway early next year, said one of the club's founders. She also said The Hub has held more than 30 shows.

If you're looking for one of Sacramento's best live music experiences, ask a friend if they know about The Hub. It's a unique venue with a hipster appeal. And with ticket prices under $10, it's worth the hunt.

Photographs 1-4: The Ganglians

'Coexist? Comedy Tour' brings comedians and audiences together

2009-12-07T04:24:00Z

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 a good comedy tour.

Sid Heberger, manager of The Crest, started the night off by working the crowd with a few jokes of her own, introducing the comedians. More than two hours of religious (and not-so-religious) comedy ensued, beginning with Sammy Obeid (the Buddhist), who also acted as the group's host. Each comedian performed a 20-minute set.

Obeid recently won a number of Northern California comedy competitions, including the 2008 San Jose Improv Comedy Competition and the 2009 Vallejo Comedy Competition. He joked about everything from giving Buddhist presents to his girlfriend -- an empty box-- as well as his Buddhist belief in polygamy -- in moderation.

Tissa Hammi (the Muslim) took the stage next in a black hijab, or head covering, and large black coat, both of which she later discarded in a "strip tease" that still left her covered from neck to toes. Hammi ended her routine by performing an original song called "The Ramadan Song" and accompanying herself on keyboard.

With the same melody as Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song," it listed famous Muslims and the chorus ordered "put your turban on/it's time for Ramadan."

Mike Winfield, whose Comedy Central debut on Live at Gotham aired less than 24 hours before the show, left the audience in stitches. As the Christian, he told several jokes about his faith, but mostly poked fun at his love-hate relationship with his wife and made fun of himself, especially his trademark large teeth.

Moshe Kasher, the Jew, echoed Winfield's theme of self deprecation, describing his appearance as a "Gitler," a gay-looking Hitler. He pulled out an iPhone and read his five favorite negative comments about himself from a popular Youtube video of one of his stand-up routines.

Trivedi spent much of his routine explaining the differences between Hindus and Muslims. "(Muslims) are from Pakistan; we are from India," he said. "They don't eat pork; we don't eat beef. They are associated with 9/11, we are associated with 7-Eleven."

Jensen closed the night with "atheist comedy," which made fun of religion as a whole. By the end of the night, the diverse audience knew a little bit more about each other's religion.

"There are a lot of hopes riding on this recording," Trivedi said before the performance. "Let's hope people will like it a lot; my pie in the sky is that HBO will think it's cool and buy it."

Photo 1: Keith Lowell Jensen. Photo credit Kiny McCarrick.

Photo 2: Tapan Travedi, credit Tapan Travedi.

Sacramento Philharmonic Neighborhood Concert Series

2009-12-05T02:51:04Z

Few concert experiences are as moving as those for live classical music. An orchestra can fill even the largest venue with clear trebles and thundering bass.

The Sacramento Philharmonic is no exception.

Thanks in part to sponsorships by the National Endowment for the Arts, Target and the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Sacramento Philharmonic is putting on a first-time venture of five nights in a row of free neighborhood concerts.

The first show in the series was Thursday night at the Benvenuti Performing Arts Center in Natomas. Though the venue could hold many more, about 75 children, parents and couples laughed at two playful introductory pieces before intermission, followed by the hourlong "The Soldier's Tale" by Igor Stravinsky.

The program began with Bohuslav Martinu's "La Revue de Cuisine," or "Kitchen Revue," a 1927 ballet in which kitchen utensils are the main characters.

Sacramento Philharmonic Director Michael Morgan explained the plot: Pot and Lid's marriage is threatened by Twirling Stick when Pot is wooed by Twirling Stick's sweet talk. In Pot's absence, Dishcloth tries to court Lid. After a duel with Broom, Pot and Lid return to one another, while Twirling Stick's affections move to Dishcloth.

Although the dancing portion of the piece was not performed, a sextet conjured up the story with a performance of the jazz-influenced suite.

A grand piano introduces the main theme, while a muted trumpet joins in with quick jazzy runs. A violin, bassoon, clarinet and cello join in the mix, slowing the tempo a bit while the bassoonist plays a warm, emotive solo.

It all ends after a Gershwin-esque ragtime extravaganza that evokes a lighthearted kitchen utensil fight, crescendoing to a halt.

A percussionist, oboist and baritone singer Brian Leerhuber join the sextet for the next piece, Francis Poulenc's 1932 cantata, "Le Bal Masqué," or "The Masked Ball." House lights brighten the room so the audience can read the translated lyrics, in which a man observes and mocks several strange characters at a masked ball.

Backed by an array of purposely chaotic music and unusual percussion (slapstick, castanets, triangle, whistle), Leerhuber steals the show with his powerful voice. He emits a wall of sound that hits even the back row, all while staging unusual impromptu hand gestures in charactgr as a Frenchman.

Leerhuber clenches his fists, shrugs and points his finger during the piece. He dances around his chair before an out-of-character falsetto soprano ending.

After intermission, piano, oboe and cello are replaced by bass, trombone and narrator Mitchell Agruss of the B Street Theatre Acting Company in a performance of "The Soldier's Tale," from 1918. Agruss has enjoyed a long acting career, sharing the stage with Thornton Wilder, Harpo Marx and Katharine Hepburn. He won an 2008 Elly Award for best supporting actor in "Endgame."

"The Soldier's Tale" features a call and response between narrator and band, with Morgan directing Agruss and the musicians. From the middle of the stage, Morgan queues the band to play and Agruss to narrate, sometimes doing both at the same time. It marked the first collaboration between B Street Theatre and the Sacramento Philharmonic.

"The Soldiers Tale" is a cautionary tale in which a soldier bargains with the devil over a violin, unlimited wealth, a magic kingdom and a princess. Agruss performs all the characters -- narrator, soldier, devil and princess -- seamlessly, changing his voice to have a dialogue with himself.

Meanwhile, violinist Igor Veligan and percussionist Amy Stubbs play lengthy and passionate solos to end an amazing evening of music.

Four nights of the concert series remain:

Friday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m. at Oak Park's Guild Theater, 2828 35th St.

Dec. 5, 5 p.m. at Del Paso's Artisan Gallery, 1901 Del Paso Blvd.

Dec. 6, 3 p.m. at Orangevale's Temple Or Rishon, 7755 Hazel Ave.

Dec. 7, 7:30 p.m. at B Street Theatre, 2711 B St.

Tickets are available at the door one hour prior to concert.

Saturday: 'Coexist? Comedy Tour' at the Crest Theatre

2009-12-04T06:15:32Z

What do a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist and atheist have in common? Besides the fact that they all perform stand-up on the "Coexist? Comedy Tour," they are all from Northern California and have spent time in the same Prius while on the road.

Saturday night, the Coexist Tour will stop at the Crest Theatre for a live taping. The show features Tissa Hami (the Muslim), Mike Winfield (the Christian), Tapan Trivedi (the Hindu), Moshe Kasher (the Jew), Keith Lowell Jensen (the atheist) and Sammy Obeid (the Buddhist) performing stand-up about their religious differences.

It started a little over two years ago, with a conversation between Jensen and Trivedi about God. Jensen told Trivedi that he was an atheist and that nothing is a god, while Trivedi explained his belief that nearly everything is a god.

Jensen, the creative brain behind the Crest's Trash Film Orgy and All-Sketch Comedy Festival, figured he was on to something. So he pitched the idea of a religious comedy show to Trivedi and the rest is history.

"I like people coming together laughing at their differences, and then afterwards all having a drink," Jensen said. "This is why I co-founded the Coexist Tour."

They loaded into Trivedi's Prius, but it wasn't always a smooth ride. Along the way, the original Christian, Sacramento's John Ross, lost his faith and quit the tour. He was replaced by Winfield, another Sacramento-based comic.

"I was 'saved' when I was 14," Ross said earlier this year. "But I really fell away from Christian culture over the years."

That wasn't the only rough spot on the road. "The Jew and Muslim comedian fought a lot," said Trivedi.

Then there were tough questions from audiences like one posed in Stockton: "Why do you want to kill everybody?" someone asked Hami, the Muslim.

"She is not one to throw punches, (but) she gave it right back to them. She didn't take any prisoners," Trivedi said. "We tried not to do shows in Stockton (after that)."

Aside from such ignorant questions, Trivedi said his favorite moments on tour came while speaking with audience members when they tested the routine at the 49-seat Geery Theater, 2130 L St.

"After the show, people wanted to talk to us, and that to us was valuable, awesome," he said. "When people came and asked specific questions about things that matter to me in my heart, that's when I realized I'm doing something right."

Saturday's show will be taped by filmmaker Larry Brand, producer of HBO's Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl. Travedi said he hopes HBO will buy the tape.

Not particularly religious? "Atheists who show up will be made fun of as well," Jensen said. "Always laugh at yourself first."

Tickets are $25, and can be purchased here, or at the Crest box office, 1013 K St. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Photo 3: Tapan Trivedi, courtesy Tapan Trivedi

The return of classic albums, live in Sacramento

2009-12-02T04:27:16Z

Since the advent of radio, MTV and the iPod, personalized playlists and hit singles have taken precedence over the once popular trend of listening to an album as a whole. A recent trend, however, seems to suggest that the album as an art form is coming back.

Last month, Steely Dan played a different classic album each night during three back-to-back concerts in San Francisco.

This month, Sacramento music fans will be able to hear three classic albums in their entirety: Wednesday, Todd Rundgren will play his 1973 album, A Wizard, A True Star at the Crest Theatre; Saturday, a handful of Sacramento bands will play The Clash's 1979 album London Calling at Old Ironsides; Saturday, Dec. 12, The Who-Dunnit will be playing The Who's 1969 rock-opera album, Tommy, at Marilyn's on K.

Rundgren never decided to play the album in its entirety. It was a promoter's idea, he said, in an interview with online newspaper LAist.

"Our promoter approached me with the idea of doing the album once, in London," he said. "By the time word of this got through the internet to all the fans, we wound up doing seven shows in five cities during the first 10 days or so of September. So it went from being a single special event to being a series of dates."

The album is notable for its experimentalism as well as a medley of soul songs, with covers of the Impressions, the Miracles, the Delphonics and the Capitols strung together. "Todd Rundgren becomes a wizard at playing that most complex of modern instruments, the recording studio," said Rolling Stone in a 1973 review.

The Clash's London Calling is known less for its progressive aspects than its eclecticism. The album covers ground from punk to reggae to pop, and yielded some rock classics, including "Train in Vain," "Spanish Bombs" and the title track.

"(London Calling) was beyond a political or protest album, it was just a great rock and roll album," said the concert's promoter Jerry Perry. "I was 15 when it came out. It was like my God. It was everything to me."

This will be the second show in as many years that Perry has put on with local bands covering an entire album. The first featured bands playing The Beatles' untitled album, commonly known as "the White Album."

Sacramento punk rock bands The Secretions and The No-Goodniks will be playing some of the raucous tunes like the title track and "Brand New Cadillac" while rockabilly band Stars and Garters and blues band The Kelps will offer a different take on the classic album. Other bands include Final Summation, Bastards of Young, Armed Forces Radio, Tom Knockoff, Broken Poet, I Scream on Sundae and The Storytellers.

After performing London Calling on Saturday, three or four bands will cover other Clash songs including "Clash City Rockers" and "Tommy Gun," Perry said.

Local band The Who-Dunnit have been playing The Who's music since 2006 and have recently recorded their first record, a cover album of The Who's Tommy.

"There are a lot of other bands who have been tributed: Journey, Led Zeppelin, but not The Who," said Rob Elmore, Who-Dunnit's bass player. "It's intense to play, it's such a challenge which makes it rewarding."

This concert will be the second time The Who-Dunnit play Tommy in its entirety, and the first time they've performed it in Sacramento. After a short break, the band plans to return for an encore, playing material from Who's Next and Quadrophenia.

Will there be a signature Who ending with guitar smashing? Elmore replied, "Yes. If the crowd is good."

Tickets for the Todd Rundgren show are $36.50-$73 and can be purchased here, the Crest box office or 1-800-225-2277. The Crest Theatre is located at 1013 K St. The show is Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

"London Calling" will be played at 8 p.m. this Saturday. Tickets cost $8. Old Ironsides is located at the corner of 10th and S streets.

The Who-Dunnit will perform "Tommy" Saturday, Dec. 12 at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $10. Marilyn's on K is located at 908 K Street. The first 50 to enter receive a free CD of The Who-Dunnit's "Tommy."

Photos 1-3: The Who-Dunnit. Photo credit Jason Pryor.

Sactown Magazine moving

2009-12-01T05:44:18Z

Sactown Magazine will celebrate its 3-year anniversary by packing and moving. The move anticipates the bi-monthly magazine's hopes of going monthly and increasing editorial, advertising and sales staff, said Rob Turner, Sactown's co-editor-in-chief.

Sactown will move Saturday from one historic skyscraper, completed in the 1920s, to another one a few blocks down the street. The move will more than double Sactown's office space, to 4,100 square feet.

Co-Editors-in-Chief Turner and Elyssa Lee hired their first Sactown Magazine employee, art director Jason Malmberg, in January 2006. At the time they were operating out of their house. They moved into the Elks Tower that June, and have published 19 issues and won six awards at the 2008 and 2009 Western Publishing Association's annual Maggie Awards.

Over the last few years, Sactown's 12 employees have outgrown the space on the 13th and 14th floors at Elks Tower. They'll move seven blocks down J Street into the California Fruit Building on the corner of J and 4th streets.

"We literally don't have room for one more person here, so it just became obvious that we would need more space" Turner said, adding that both buildings have panoramic views of the city, the river, downtown and the Capitol.

Turner said the publication will benefit from the California Fruit Building's amenities. The building once held the California Fruit Exchange, but now holds a number of smaller offices.

"We'll have a conference room and a break room in the new place," Turner said. "We're going to have a library in the new space, (to) store thousands of magazines we subscribe to."

Those magazines will be the most difficult items to move, Turner said.

Other changes may be afoot for the magazine.

"I'm not sure how many (new people) we'll need to go monthly, but we can barely put out a bi-monthly with the staff we have," Turner said. "We're like a lot of people waiting for things to get better, but there are hints of the economy improving (so) we want to be in a position where we can hire quickly when that happens."

Turner said that he has been pleased by how many Sacramentans have told him that the magazine makes them proud of their hometown.

"That was one of the big missions when we launched, to give people in the Sacramento region a sense of pride," he said. "We're really happy that the community has embraced the magazine."

Photos show Sactown's premier issue cover and the latest cover, the third anniversary issue. Photographs courtesy Sactown Magazine.

Hmong New Year celebration

2009-11-30T06:14:33Z

Thanksgiving Day usually means eating turkey. But for thousands of local Hmong, it means eating Hmong sausage, grilled pork and sticky rice while attending the Sacramento Hmong New Year celebration at Cal Expo.

More than 40,000 people are expected to attend the four-day celebration which begins Thursday and ends Sunday, said John Thao, Hmong New Year Committee board member. The board formed six years ago and consists of one representative from each of the 18 Hmong clans which make up Sacramento's community of approximately 26,000 to 28,000 Hmong. Hmong come from the mountainous regions of China and other countries Southeast Asia.

Nov. 14 and 15, Hmong already celebrated the new year at home with their immediate families and close relatives, Thao said. The celebration at Cal Expo is more than a New Year celebration - it's a festival of unity, a way to show wealth, meet new faces and come together to show support for the Hmong community in Sacramento, he said.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, General Vang Pao, will be cutting a ceremonial ribbon and giving a speech during the celebration's opening ceremony. A Hmong American born in Laos, the General fought in the Royal Lao Army and is revered by both Hmong in the U.S. and Asia. He was recently released of conspiracy charges.

His speech will kick off four days of events including a Miss Hmong California pageant, a Hmong Idol singing competition and a play reflecting on why the Hmong celebrate the new year.

The celebration will include local and international performers singing, playing music and dancing, said Tony Moua, the event's entertainment chair. Hmong people from China, Thailand and Laos, as well as other Asian American groups from Sacramento, are expected to attend the festival.

Moua and Thao both said they were excited that General Vang Pao will attend the celebration.

"He doesn't visit the area very often, (so) this is a wonderful event for Sacramento," Moua said. "It means the whole world to me, and it means that the region is strong and dynamic."

"It's important to all the Hmong, he's a hero to the people," Thao added.

Sacramento and Fresno both have about the same population of Hmong, the largest in California. Thao said that Fresno's Hmong International New Year celebration will be held Dec. 26 - Jan. 2, and will hold the Miss Hmong International pageant.

He also said he was looking forward to watching the play, which will reflect the history of why Hmong people celebrate the new year. This will be the first time the play will be produced, and it will be held on the first day of the event.

One New Year tradition is playing "Swb Pob", pronounced "pah-bah," which Moua said has similar rules to an egg toss. It acts as a way to socialize and meet new people.

Competitors wearing traditional Hmong clothing begin standing 10 feet apart while tossing a ball to each other. Each team must back up five feet every three minutes until they are 35 feet apart. The last person still tossing at the end will win a $100 cash prize.

"It's a celebration of life and for people to meet each other and promote culture," Moua said. "We are extending our hands to reach out and we would hope others do the same."

Hmong New Year takes place from 10 a.m. until an unspecified evening closing time, Thursday through Sunday at Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Blvd. Click here for the full schedule.

Photographs credit Lou Lo Photography. Photos show My Tzer Lao, last year's Miss Hmong California.

Cosmopolitan Cabaret announces 2010 season

2009-11-25T03:44:12Z

On Monday, Cosmopolitan Cabaret announced its 2010 season, the cabaret's first scheduled season with a full lineup of shows. Nov. 30, California Musical Theatre, which runs the Cosmopolitan Cabaret as well as the Music Circus and Broadway Sacramento, will begin selling tickets for the three shows making up the season.

The 2010 season will begin Jan. 26 with My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, followed by a murder-mystery non-musical play called Shear Madness and end with Suds, an upbeat love story with a 1960s top-40 soundtrack.

Last September, the cabaret began its first show, Forever Plaid, as an open-ended run. It ended after a year, earlier than had been hoped. But it lasted 387 performances and drew 46,000 people before closing as the longest-running, professional-equity theatre production in Sacramento history.

"We were hoping it was going to run for five years and be a smash hit," said Christopher Bower, CMT's director of marketing. "But we didn't really have a certain date in mind (to close), we were just going to see how it went."

Last spring, CMT management decided to move to a normal cabaret season with several productions per year.

"We got hit pretty hard with the economy going down the tubes right after we opened, but it started to get its legs and we decided last spring that it might be better to go with a season format," Bower said.

As CMT executive producer Richard Lewis saw ticket sales dwindling, he decided to close Forever Plaid, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee. On Sept. 22, CMT opened Late Night Catechism: 'Til Death Do Us Part, a one-woman show which ended Nov. 22.

The production featured a minimalist set, with Emmy-Award winning actress Nonie Newton-Breen playing a nun who offers humorous lessons on various Catholic sacraments.

She will reprise her role as a nun for six weeks beginning Tuesday, Nov. 24 in Sister's Christmas Catechism, followed by a one-week encore show of 'Til Death beginning Jan. 5, 2010. Both shows have improvised material with heavy audience interaction.

Bower said that there is much to be learned from the first year, and the CMT won't know if the cabaret is a success until having completed several more seasons. He also said Forever Plaid was so funny and well done, once the word got out, people started buying tickets quickly.

"Artistically, the show itself got great reviews and great audience response," Bower added. "Financially, (the year) had its ups and downs but it's a learning process. We didn't really know what to expect, we'd never run a cabaret-style theatre before."

Cosmopolitan Cabaret is located on the corner of 10th and K streets.

The following is the Cosmopolitan Cabaret's 2010 season schedule and plot summaries, taken from www.californiamusicaltheatre.com:

My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra

Jan. 26 - May 9 (previews Jan. 26 – 28, opening night, Friday, Jan. 29).

The four-person musical review celebrates the music of this icon of cool: a singer whose style, voice and attitude defined much of 20th century music. Two dynamic couples perform 58 songs made famous by the Chairman of the Board, including "Strangers in the Night," "I’ve Got You Under My Skin" and “New York, New York.”

Shear Madness

May 25 - Sept. 5 (previews May 25 – 30, opening night, Tuesday, June 1).

Taking place in a beauty salon, this uproarious whodunit includes colorful characters, spontaneity and topical humor. And the audience gets to solve the crime! "Shear Madness" has had long-running engagements around the country including Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C. (9,000 performances and counting) and the original Boston production which opened in 1980 and is still going strong.

Suds

Sept. 21 - Jan. 9, 2011 (previews Sept. 21 – 23, opening night, Friday, Sept. 24)

Suds is a delightful musical about a teenage girl and the guardian angels who come to teach her about finding true love. This bubbly musical set in a laundromat features hits from the '60s including "Where the Boys Are," "These Boots Are Made for Walkin’," "Respect," "I Feel Good" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret."

Subscriptions are available for purchase beginning Monday, Nov. 30, at the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office, 1419 H St., Sacramento, or by calling (916) 557-1999.

Subscription tickets are discounted more than 20 percent off the price of the tickets sold separately. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evening performances and Thursday matinee performances are $79 for the three-show package. Friday and Saturday evenings and Saturday and Sunday matinee packages are only $89. Subscriptions for premium tables on the first tier are $89 and $99 respectively. Discounts are available for groups from 12 to 199 by calling (916) 557-1198.

Single-show tickets for each of the productions will go on sale at a later date.

'Deadliest Catch' tour at Harlow's a homecoming for Gift of Gab

2009-11-23T04:42:06Z

In 1987, aspiring rapper Timothy Parker met DJ Xavier Mosley in economics class at Kennedy High School in Sacramento. Parker became MC Gift of Gab and Mosley became DJ Chief XCel and together they formed Blackalicious. In the two decades since that time, the duo has become one of the most beloved groups in hip hop, praised for bringing intelligence back to a music form sometimes panned for its shallowness.

Rolling Stone called Gift of Gab a "phenomenal lyricist who could battle any of today's multi-platinum-selling MCs," and the Village Voice called XCel "technically miraculous."

Gift of Gab, Mr. Lif and Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) will play Monday at Harlow's in a show hosted by fellow rapper Lyrics Born. Dubbed the "Deadliest Catch Tour," it may feature individual sets from all three and a freestyle session with Lyrics Born, if it's anything like Thursday's show in Seattle, according to a review by The Seattle Weekly.

Lyrics Born and Gift of Gab also are known for the musicians with whom they associate. In the '90s, they were part of a KDVS radio station scene which was a hotbed of talent, including DJ Shadow, Lateef the Truthspeaker, Lyrics Born, Blackalicious and DJ Zen.

The group of friends would form the Davis-based Solesides record label, later renamed Quannum. Lyrics Born told The Sacramento Press the crew owes part of its success to sharing time together in Davis.

"I think that had we not attended school there together, my career definitely would not have been what it was," he said, "and I think the other guys would all tell you the same. That hip-hop community was definitely a saint (for our careers), that's the best way to say it."

In a recent side project, Gift of Gab teamed with Lateef the Truthspeaker to form The Mighty Underdogs. The Underdogs' 2008 debut album, Droppin' Science Fiction, features all of Monday's performers: Lyrics, Gab, Lif and 2na.

Harlow's, 2708 J St., 9 p.m. Tickets are $25.

What's happening at the Capitol: November 21

2009-11-21T03:21:22Z

Saturday, Nov. 21

11 a.m. - 3 p.m. California State Sen. George Runner and California State Assemblyman Roger Neillo will team up with the Patriot Defenders Network to sponsor the "Water For Farmlands" forum. The group seeks a temporary waiver of the Endangered Species Act in order to revert water that is currently rehabilitating endangered fish species to Central Valley farmers. About 500 people are expected to attend the forum, which will be held on the Capitol's west steps.

2 - 5 p.m. Aspiranet, a nonprofit that provides social services to foster children, will be holding a National Adoption Day rally on the north steps of the Capitol. About 300 people are expected to participate.

No further events will take place until Wednesday, Dec. 2.

'Some Assembly Required' features vintage toys, brings back memories

2009-11-21T03:16:02Z

A 1950s Lionel train advertisement shows a father, mother, little girl and boy peering into a window display featuring a model train going through a city, over a bridge and into the mountains. The father appears to be the most interested -- head cocked, hand on his chin, ready to help his child build the toy train set.

An adjacent Lionel Train advertisement shows a father sitting on the ground assembling a train set, while his son sits in the background frowning.

California State Railroad Museum's "Some Assembly Required" exhibit, which opened today, featured a somewhat similar scene. Many families were in the museum, but the historical toy exhibit seemed to strike the strongest chord with older men.

Filled with erector sets, trolleys and wind-ups, the exhibit shows vintage toys from the 1870s to the 1960s. The pièce de résistance is a layout, complete with a working Lionel Train set, that looks like the window display of Bullock's department store in 1956 Los Angeles.

For Jeff Hall, a 54-year-old who was born in Los Angeles, the layout brought back a lot of memories.

"I had a Lionel train set and looked forward to putting it around the Christmas tree every year," he said. Hall, the father of four daughters, said he brought home a train set for his children one year, but it wasn't a big hit.

"They were into other things," he said. Two were interested in horses and the other two were more into sports.

It was a similar story for another father, John Curtis, who also grew up putting a train set around the Christmas tree. While his 4-year-old daughter Emily likes riding real trains, Curtis said she doesn't really play with toy trains.

"(Emily) likes to play on the Nintendo DS, she's big on Barbies and she's all about Play-Doh," Curtis said.

Jeff Allen, a CSRM volunteer docent in his 50s, said he played with nearly every toy in the exhibit when he was younger.

"It really gives you an idea of what toys were like. I remember playing with most of these," he said. "When I'm working around these toys, it's like I'm 4 years old."

Allen said he played with toy trains as a kid, and still has two sets of operational model trains. He said that his love of trains led him to become a docent, adding that working at the museum "is a kick" because he can be around trains.

In addition to "Some Assembly Required," the permanent display of toy trains on the third floor is a must-see. The exhibit shows the history of the toy train, nearly every train size available from Z scale (smallest) to G scale (largest), and interactive toy sets and layouts.

In keeping with the holiday spirit, the museum's first floor also features a working toy train chugging around a Christmas tree.

Those who seek an additional holiday-themed train experience can sign up for Santa's Steam Train, Nov. 27-29. The steam train departs from the Central Pacific Railroad Freight Depot adjacent to the museum and riders also have admittance to the museum and the 13th Annual Toy Train Holiday Show.

The annual show, on Thanksgiving weekend, features local hobbyists displaying their toy and model train layouts in the museum. Tickets for Santa's Steam Train are $15, $7 for ages 6-17, free ages 5 and younger. The train departs hourly from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

California State Railroad Museum, 125 I St., is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Museum admission is $9, $4 ages 6-17, free ages 5 and younger. "Some Assembly Required" runs until Feb. 20.

All photographs are of "Some Assembly Required," except for image 5, which shows the Christmas tree display on the first floor.

High school students welcomed to Newton Booth neighborhood

2009-11-20T04:39:54Z

Wednesday night's Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association meeting saw an increase in teenage members.

Held at Temple Coffee's 28th and S streets location, the meeting was attended by Country Day high school students and several faculty members, including headmaster Steve Repsher. Though a long permit process lies ahead, the school is closer to the goal of moving into the vacant Newton Booth School, 2600 V St., by August.

The neighborhood group consisted of residents from three areas: Poverty Ridge, Newton Booth and Alhambra Triangle. Richard "Bud" Halliday, Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association president, welcomed the school's representatives and invited them to attend future meetings.

Last month, Repsher identified two major hurdles the school needs to clear before moving the private high school students into the building: being granted a Special Use Permit by the city and raising $1.8 million to complete the first phase of reconstruction, which will renovate the first floor for classroom use.

The pre-K to 12th grade school, now in the suburban Sierra Oaks neighborhood east of the central city, has 520 pre-K and elementary students and 152 high school students that Repsher said he hopes to move into the first floor of the Newton Booth campus by August. It will fulfill a dual campus vision first imagined by Dan White, the school's headmaster 20 years ago.

Repsher said that a planning committee likely will convene in January to plan for the move. Repsher said he hopes the school can accommodate at least 100 more high school students, and expand beyond the first floor over the next several decades.

Since hearing about the possible move last spring, the neighborhood has welcomed the school. Last month, Halliday told The Sacramento Press that the situation is a "win-win," and that he has heard no opposition to the move.

"It's a good fit for the neighborhood," said Dairl Helmer, a Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association board member. "So far, we haven't heard anyone objecting to it." Helmer said that he was looking forward to seeing what kind of culture the school would bring, and that he would like to attend school plays and concerts.

Repsher added that Councilman Rob Fong and Mayor Kevin Johnson approve of the move.

"Welcoming us is the biggest thing," Repsher said. "When I first looked at the facility, the first thing I did was check with the neighborhood leadership to see what they thought."

Country Day students aren't as uniformly supportive of the move.

"Some students are nostalgic about moving from the old campus," said sophomore Richard Whitney. "They've been there their whole lives."

However, Whitney and his friend Cabot Jackman, also a sophomore, support the move and are excited about the prospects of a larger school. Jackman said that once students visit the campus and get to know the neighborhood, they will lose their preconceptions and "forget about" the old school.

"It seems to be a great community," Jackman said. "At the old campus we are limited to what we can do in the community."

He pointed out that the Newton Booth area is closer to a larger concentration of businesses, museums and historic buildings.

Friday from noon to 1 p.m., students and Newton Booth community members will get their first taste of the Newton Booth campus. Middle and high school students will be transported to the site for a tour and they and members of the neighborhood will be served free hamburgers. Neighbors who wish to attend should e-mail office@saccds.org.

Eclipse chaser to speak at Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society meeting

2009-11-18T04:54:55Z

Eclipse chasing is like storm chasing, but without any danger.

In fact, the only danger in eclipse chasing is if you try to look at a partial eclipse, said David Buchla, an eclipse chaser himself.

"During a totality [a total eclipse] the brightness of the corona is roughly the same as a full moon, (but) as soon as the sun comes out from behind the moon it is no longer safe," he said. "It's a shame that some people have gone outside and not looked because they heard it's not safe."

Friday night, 70-year-old Buchla, now living in Grass Valley, will be sharing his travel experiences, photographs and tips on viewing eclipses during the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society's monthly meeting.

Buchla heard about the SVAS in 1991 from a fellow eclipse chaser, and he joined the group the same year.

The veteran eclipse chaser has seen countless partial eclipses, 10 full eclipses and even an annular eclipse, where the moon aligns with the sun, but does not block it. It all started in 1963 when Buchla witnessed his first partial eclipse in Minnesota.

"I thought, 'gee, I wish it was a total,'" he said.

He saw his first total eclipse (2 minutes, 36 seconds) from an ocean ship called the Olympia on July 10, 1972 in Nova Scotia. Buchla was so awestruck, he wished his children were there to see it with him, he said.

"I guess when you have to say which one trumps them all, the first one seems to be so memorable because I didn't know what to expect," Buchla said. "As you see more eclipses it's still a lot of fun and enjoyable, but it's not as jaw-dropping as the first one was."

So when he went to Africa to see another eclipse the next summer, he brought the whole family. As it turns out, that eclipse was nearly the longest of the century, seven minutes, four seconds.

Duration doesn't really matter much, he said. Buchla has seen both short and long eclipses in places as far as Russia, China, Egypt, Zimbabwe and Australia.

He simply enjoys traveling and refers to the eclipses as "icing on the cake." In 2001, Buchla spent $10,000 and more than 10 days in Australia and New Zealand - all to see a 30-second eclipse.

Of all the eclipse chases, only one resulted in a near miss, due to weather.

"In China, we had rain that morning and I was pretty sure we were going to be skunked," he said. "But it was still interesting and we saw the corona," he said.

Many Chinese in the area thought the total eclipse was a bad omen, he said. But as a scientist, and author of a number of engineering textbooks, Buchla said he doesn't read many of the astrological explanations behind them.

The next total eclipse will be July 11, 2010 in the South Pacific (Cook Islands, Easter Island). The next total eclipse in the U.S. will be August 21, 2017, which will be viewable from coast to coast.

SVAS meetings occur the third Friday of each month and are open to the public. Meetings take place at Sacramento City College, 3835 Freeport Blvd., in Mohr Hall, Room 3.

Photographs Credit David Buchla. Both photographs show a total eclipse in Russia.

Sacramento to host Global Entrepreneurship Week events

2009-11-17T03:20:52Z

Global Entrepreneurship Week debuted in Sacramento on Monday. Former Kings player Bobby Jackson was among nearly 50 entrepreneurs at ARCO Arena for "Mentoring Equals Millions," featuring a panel of owners of multimillion-dollar businesses each telling how a mentor helped him reach success.

After the event, speakers and GEW organizers gathered at Capsity Offices, 2957 3rd Ave., for a networking lunch.

GEW will feature 10 more speakers in Sacramento throughout the week, said Ricardo Robles, Capsity Offices co-founder, and regional coordinator for GEW. Robles also mentioned that more than 87 countries around the world will participate in the event, which was begun last year by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Make Your Mark, an organization based in the United Kingdom.

Robles added that GEW provides an opportunity for Sacramentans to meet other entrepreneurs.

"Lots of people were engaged and it set the tone for the rest of the week," he said. "It's the perfect place for GEW because there's a lot of talent (in Sacramento) that can help the economy."

One of Monday's speakers, Bert Gervais, talked about his experiences creating www.Placefinder.com, which helps college students find housing. The 24-year-old also spoke of his book, Who's in your Top Hive: How To Find Your Success Mentors, and his plans to create a "Success Mentor Education" program.

"It was a very positive and engaged audience," Gervais said. The New York resident just completed a monthlong speaking engagement called the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour at a number of California city colleges. "It is awesome how authentic people are here; people have a purpose."

Local entrepreneur Kristene Smith came to the GEW gathering at Capsity to network and display her eco-clothing and home fashion line made out of bamboo fibers. The Kristene Smith Collection can be purchased at the Britt Steele fashion boutique.

"A lot of (entrepreneurs) are isolated and it's great for us to get together and listen to someone who's insightful," Smith said.

Tim White, president of www.Sacmix.com, a resource for food and drink specials in Sacramento, helped provide food for the event. White, who said he wanted to present a sampler of "Sacramento's best" food, had dishes by Tres Hermanas, Roxy Restaurant, Pete's Pizza, Sapporo and Beach Hut Deli on hand.

"I'm excited to meet other entrepreneurs," he said, adding that he would be attending several of the week's events. "In this economy, owners have to be dedicated, (because) only amazing businesses will thrive."

Here is the schedule for the rest of the week:

The "G" in Entrepreneurship
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6 - 8 p.m.
West Sacramento City Hall, 1110 West Capitol Ave.

Speakers:
Chris Schuring (COO, Ternion Bio Industries)
Ingrid Rosten (Executive Director, SARTA CleanStart)
Phil Tretheway, (Senior Designer, Marketing By Design)

Being a Woman Entrepreneur
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 6 - 8 p.m.
Sacramento City Hall, 915 I St.

Speakers:
Sharon Gerber (President, Six Degreez, Inc)
Griselda Barajas-Keolani (CEO, Griselda’s Ventures)
Patricia Hudak (Founder and CEO, Real World 101)
Kathy McKim (Vice President, External Affairs, AT&T)

A Night with Chip Conley (sold out, wait list accessible here)
Thursday, Nov. 19, 6 - 8 p.m.
The Citizen Hotel, 926 J St.

Speaker:
Chip Conley (Founder and CEO, Joie de Vivre Hospitality Company)

Entrepreneurship in Art and Music Industries
Friday, Nov. 20, 6 - 8 p.m.
The Verge Gallery, 1900 V St.

Speakers:
Laurie Pederson (Project Manager, Nehst Studios; and Executive Director, Capital Film Arts Alliance)
Beth Jones (Founder, Jay Jay Gallery)
William Bronston, M.D. (Founder and CEO, Tower of Youth)

Tickets can be purchased here. $15 students, $25 general admission, except for Thursday's event, which costs $75. View images 5 - 9 for additional free GEW events.

What's happening at the Capitol: November 16, 17

2009-11-16T05:31:13Z

Monday, Nov. 16

Noon - 1 p.m. Sacramento Area Coalition Against the Death Penalty will be holding a noon-hour vigil in opposition of the death penalty on the north steps of the Capitol. 15 people are expected.

Tuesday, Nov. 17

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Following a tradition which began 27 years ago, State Department of General Services employees will raise the California's official Christmas tree, a 55-foot fir, on the west lawn of the Capitol.

After its delivery by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, it will be trimmed and adorned with 1,500 handmade ornaments created by developmentally disabled Californians. The Governor and First Lady's official tree lighting ceremony on Dec. 10 will show off an additional 14,000 ultra-low-wattage, light-emitting diode bulbs on the tree.