A crazy-eyed landlord struts around his apartment, plotting the death of whichever of his emotionally unstable tenants mistook his artistic masterpiece for common garbage, when a loud screech pierces the intimate theater. The audience jumps. The landlord rears in apparent surprise. The screech lasts for over five seconds. Finally, it stops. The landlord peers over his shoulder, toward the door and proclaims, "The doorbell!" The audiences erupts in laughter. This is just one of several hilarious moments in the Sacramento Theatre Company's production of “The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!” Written by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart, “The Musical of Musicals” takes a single plot and appl

Midtown might be missing the MARRS ice skating rink from last year, but it will catch a bargain with Winter Rollerland starting Friday night at the Midtown Bazaar's indoor location. Three weeks ago realtor Sabrina Berhane and her associates decided to put together a roller skating rink where the community can enjoy the nostalgia of skating to 80's pop and the glint of a disco ball. So they threw a couple dozen hay bails in a circle, wrapped some faux-snow and tinsel around the parking garage columns, and are hoping for at least 10,000 people to skate through by New Years weekend. Berhane organizes the Midtown Bazaar and is hoping the roller rink will provide some entertainment in the co

Kirk Blackinton and Liz Tachella Bowman gave hilariously snide performances Friday night in Big Idea Theatre's rendition of William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." The story revolves around two pairs of lovers whose paths toward and away from love run into unforeseen circumstances. The puppy love of Claudio and Hero hits a tragic roadblock, while the love-hate relationship of Benedick (Blackinton) and Beatrice (Bowman), by the design of their conniving friends, becomes more loving and less hateful. Directed by BIT company member Katie Chapman, the production has been a project of hers for the past decade. Set in the years between the World Wars, giant propaganda posters sit in th

Midtown residents and business owners gathered at the Ethel MacLeod Hart Senior Center Saturday morning to meet with city officials and representatives from the police department to discuss what can be done about the rise in violence and rowdiness following Second Saturday. For the first 30 minutes, more than 100 community members wrote on comment cards expressing concerns and proposing solutions. These were collected and sifted through for a seven-member "Safety Team" panel to address. Though Councilman Steve Cohn was adamant that the shooting death of Victor Hugo Perez Zavala was not inherently a Second Saturday problem, it was the obvious impetus for the gathering. In his introductory

Thousands converged on Discovery Park Saturday afternoon for the 16th annual California Brewers Festival to taste the ales, lagers, porters and craft brews from over 60 brewers. The festival was organized by Sacramento's Rotary Club of Point West to benefit the Assistance League of Sacramento. All festival proceeds will be donated to the league’s Operation School Bell — a program providing underprivileged youth with adequate clothing for school. Velvet Tongue and Utz! and the Shuttlecocks provided live music as festival-goers sampled beer with 4-ounce glasses and sought refuge in the shade from the summer sun. The participating brewers were mostly local, though there were some from as

Brewers from Maine, Vermont, Ireland and, of course, California will fill Discovery Park Saturday for the 16th annual California Brewers Festival. Around 60 brewpub, distributors and home brewers will be pouring ales, lagers and craft beers for what festival organizers anticipate will be more than 3,000 attendees. Although the festival attracts brewers from across the nation and overseas, the Sacramento region is heavily represented. Rubicon Brewing Company, Hoppy Brewing Company and Brew It Up! are a few locals participating. You can view the full list of brewers here. The festival is organized by Sacramento's Rotary Club of Point West to benefit the Assistance League of Sacramento. A

Slicing off the side of a 28-pound halibut is just another day at the office for Danny Johnson, co-owner and butcher at Taylor's Market in Land Park. It’s a skill he was happy to share with a dozen Sacramentans on Saturday for one of several Butchering 101 workshops his store has held since January. The class members bombarded Johnson with their seafood, poultry and butchering questions. He didn't let them down. "Everything I tell you, it's how it works (at Taylor's)," Johnson told the class. They started with poultry. Johnson explained where dark spots on chickens and turkeys come from, the current controversies with organic labeling, and good handling and knifing technique. He showe

Obsessed with cupcakes? Not as much as Dina Neils. With one oven and a hobby-turned-business, Neils is serving up cupcakes through her newly launched site, Cupcake and the City. Two months ago the 26-year-old debuted her morsels at Mixture – a pool party hosted by MXD Entertainment Group every year at the Red Lion Hotel. She brought five dozen cupcakes to the party, and they were gone in one hour. She started baking with her father when she was very young. His specialty was cakes, but Neils was interested in baking may different desserts. Her focus on cupcakes started after she graduated from California State University, Sacramento with degrees in public relations and journalism in 200

Hundreds of people converged in the Holiday Inn's convention center at 300 J St. Saturday night for Great Chefs 2010. Restaurants, wineries and breweries came together with area residents to eat, drink and donate to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Sacramento Area. BBBS is a non-profit organization dedicated to matching adults -- “Bigs” -- with young people -- “Littles” -- ages six to 18 to build lasting relationships and help youth achieve their personal and professional goals. They have chapters in communities all over the country. There was a silent auction where attendees bid on a two-night stay at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento with $50 to Bandera Restaurant and $100 to Yellow

Ever wonder if its possible to shop exclusively at farmers’ markets and eat nutritiously? Deliciously? The answer is yes, and Joanne Neft and Laura Kenny are making it easy for you. The duo spent every Monday night in 2009 hosting dinner parties where they treated guests to dishes prepared with local, seasonal ingredients purchased at farmers’ markets in Placer County. They recorded the menus they created and compiled them into a book with 360 recipes. "Placer County Real Food: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year” is the finished product and Neft and Kenny were at Grange Restaurant and Bar Wednesday night signing copies, meeting readers and foodies, and eating. The $45, four-

The Sacramento Comedy Spot will host W. Kamau Bell Friday night and his critically acclaimed show -- "The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour.” Bell, 37, has been doing the “Bell Curve” show for the last three years. The jokes are tweaked slightly to accommodate current events, but the core has remained intact. Attendees of the show may be treated to laughs about the recent Shirley Sherrod debacle and the Tea Party. Bell has performed at the Punchline in Sacramento, but that was many years ago. He said he's excited to be back in the area. "I think I have about four or five fans in Sacramento," Bell joked. Bell’s career as a comedian has been on a steady rise ever since

Hungry? How about a slow-roasted pork roast with peppers, pink-eyed peas with Italian sausage and tomatoes, and then some roasted figs, peaches and raspberries with creme fraiche for dessert? Still not hungry? Grange Restaurant & Bar will host a dinner/book signing Aug. 18 with Joanne Neft and chef Laura Kenny, authors of "Placer County Real Food: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year," where they will serve the above dishes and others, all prepared with ingredients from Placer County’s farmers’ markets. Neft and Kenny spent 2009 hosting dinner parties every Monday evening where they treated guests to dishes prepared with local, seasonal ingredients. Neft has been involved in Pl

Ginger Elizabeth Hahn, owner of Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates, taught two sold-out classes Saturday to more than 70 students on how to prepare "French Desserts from the Orchard." The classes were held in the L Street Lofts penthouse across the street from Hahn's store. The students learned how to make four different desserts, all focused on fruits available to the Sacramento region. Hahn said this time of year is always good for fruit desserts, and this year especially. "This is the best plum season we've had in four or five years," she said. The first dessert was a cherry clafoutis, a cherry and flan-like batter dessert. Infusing vanilla bean into the cream, pitting cherries, and achiev

For the past eight weeks, 33 at-risk high school students have been renovating Howe Park. They have designed and built a small dog park, refurbished park benches and walking bridges, and remodeled landscaping – and they will be showing off their handiwork Thursday from 11 a.m.-noon. Funds to do the work were scarce, but a trio of government agencies collaborated to make it possible. The Fulton-El Camino Park District's general manager, Roy Imai, said that when the Sacramento County Office of Education contacted him about a partnership, his staff brainstormed several project possibilities. Imai said his office had six ideas, but were unsure of where the money would come from. The final p

Imagine being held at a security checkpoint for seven hours, told you can't return to where you have lived for the past four years, blindfolded, handcuffed and dropped at the border of a rough neighborhood in the middle of the night. This is Berlanti Azzam's story, as told by her to a diverse audience including Palestinians and Jews Wednesday night at the Sierra Arden United Church of Christ. The 22-year-old was six weeks away from graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bethlehem University when deported from the West Bank to her homeland, Gaza. Azzam was given legal aid from GISHA, an Israeli legal team dealing mostly with freedom of movement issues, but wa

For the past three weeks those who live and work in the Tahoe Park neighborhood have enjoyed Cafe Lumiere, an American-French family-owned croissant bakery and cafe. Co-owner Geoffrey Matsuyama, 28, has spent 13 hour days - seven days a week - at the cafe since the grand opening baking croissants, training employees, and making sure customers are happy. "I always wanted to open up my own restaurant," Matsuyama said. "I saw it as something I wanted to do when I retired, but it's actually good that I did it young. It's really a lot of work, and it puts a lot of stress on the body." The opportunity to open the cafe came through his connection to Peter Kuo, owner of Le Croissant Factory in

At a time when pop artists are opting for the lower octave in their live performances, Edwin McCain's hold-nothing-back vocals and down-to-earth acoustics provide refreshing and emotional entertainment. In his Friday night 12-song set at Harlow's, a crowd of 200 were treated to one part storytelling, two parts music as McCain disclosed the sources of inspiration for each of the songs performed. Some of the stories were touching, most of them were funny, and all of them were relatable. McCain was accompanied by one of his band members, Craig Shields, who played the saxophone and wind instrument synthesizer for the entire show. They opened with "Walk With You," a song about a father walki

LCD Soundsystem, MGMT and other techno-alternative bands played over the sound system as a few unfortunately punctual singles shuffled about Lounge on 20 staring at their shoelaces Wednesday evening. Within 30 minutes, however, the lounge filled up and local Sacramentans intermingled over drinks and hors d'oeuvres for Metrospark.net's launch party. The singles website is specifically for Sacramento area residents and it attempts to solve the problems Amar Dhariwal, 30, and her friends find in online dating. They want the experience to feel closer to home and in touch with the local scene. "There was a need," Dhariwal said. "I have so many single friends, and it's been in my ear so long,

Mike Singh and Saeed Choudhry met 13 years ago in a training session for new hires at Fry's Electronics in Fremont and have been planning to open a restaurant together ever since. Indian Grill was the realization of a dream, and the result of a lot of hard work. Singh, 34, and Choudhry, 39, are from northern India and Pakistan, respectively, and they stress that the food they serve is unique to that region. They said many of the Indian restaurants in the area focus on southern food, and they wanted to bring something authentic and homey to the table. The vegetables they use are from local farmers markets, according to their website, and they make their own paneer (cheese) and yogurt. "

The music was jive and the costumes were classy. The sun was setting on the New Beginning building at 33rd Street and Broadway in Oak Park Saturday night as more than 75 people of all ages were treated to live hip-hop, poetry, raffle prizes and a lot of cat-walking. The Wiz Fashion Show featured costume designs from Robin's Nest Fashion Boutique worn by models from Brigandis Fashion Production. The night kicked off with Shevon Blacksheyer reading a poem in the memory of her late brother, Stanley. It wasn't long before the lights went low and models of all ages strutted to the main stage to showcase concept pieces from local fashion designer Robin Melzer. Melzer owns and operates Robin's