Events & Activities

A visit to Western Australia in 2016 was particularly inspirational allowing him to produce a collection of photographs of man-made and natural geography. These landscapes are reflected in Australian aboriginal art: themes, designs, colors, and patterns. By manipulating selected images, Reece’s photos become abstract elements he inkjet transfers to fabric. He stitches collages adding a three-dimensional aspect. The result is the joining of landscapes influenced by aboriginal art expressed with Western perspectives.

The current series titled 16 Hours Ahead -- Images of Western Australia is a collection of photo constructions reflecting his impressions of this land. Reece’s desire is to share this captured atmosphere of the other side of the world.

Reece attempts to present a mystery as to how the pieces were achieved. The viewer asks ‘How was this manufactured and with what materials?’ Each individual construction emerges slowly with the paring of desired colors and textures into an expressive and relaxing composition.

Blaise Tobia artistic practice has often involved the pairing of photographs. He finds that image juxtapositions can both disrupt and stimulate the normal process of “reading” the images to extend, clarify or otherwise modify perceived meanings. Indeed, many photographers other than myself have experimented extensively with image pairings, including Ray Metzger, Nathan Lyons, and fellow Philadelphian James Abbott, to name just a few (Note that he consciously avoids the term “diptych” for these pairings because -- as one of my art historian colleagues explained -- a diptych is a continuous image in two parts, rather than a pairing of distinct images.)

In creating his own pairings, Tobia sorts through thousands of images from his own archive, looking for potential matches. When a pair works, an overall whole is created that is a synthesis of the two images while also preserving their individual integrity. Often, a “third” image is created that may be perceived simultaneously with the two individual images.

Emergent technologies give rise to novel art forms, yet the panoramic app installed on smart-phone cameras still awaits its artists. Responding to this conspicuous neglect, Fotographic Phictions proposes a new visual practice that bridges still photography and motion pictures. Peter Sutherland calls it cubist panoramics -- if by cubist you simply mean combining multiple perspectives in a single image.

In 2012, while exploring the panoramic app on his first smart-phone camera (a Samsung-SGH), Sutherland discovered a glitch in its Android operating system that frees photography from the dominance of Renaissance perspective and the cardinal rule of panoramics -- not to shift the camera’s viewpoint, while you sweep it through the scene to be recorded. Doing so normally aborts the algorithm’s routine, whose early Samsung/Android version divided the sweep into eight separate stills, then stitched them into a seamless panorama.

Long before John Sutter stepped foot in Gold Country, the Sacramento Valley was home to a proud and diverse culture of native peoples. During the month of June the artists at Kennedy Gallery will celebrate the rich, everlasting legacy of our Native Americans with the "Spirit Nation" exhibit.

This exhibit features works from over 20 resident artists and three floors of open studios in the heart of Midtown’s entertainment district.

The Spirit Nation exhibit runs June 4 through July 7 at the Kennedy Gallery.

The Midtown Association and Yoga Moves Us are pleased to offer a one hour free yoga class each Tuesday and Thursday evening, April through September on the north lawn of Fremont Park. Rotating Yoga professionals will guide you through an hour long class where you can build your yoga skills.

Midtown’s yoga classes are free and open to guests of all ages and ability levels. Attendees are encouraged to bring yoga mats, water bottles and a friend or two if they choose.

Life comes at you fast. For young couple, Carolyn and Mike, life has been a series of questions that have led them to the biggest one yet: should they have a second child?

In this hilarious and inventive new comedy, winner of the inaugural B Street Theatre New Comedies Festival, playwright James Christy examines the small and not so small occurrences that build our lives and lead Carolyn and Mike to a question that could affect their lives…well, forever.

Sharon, in her mid-50s, is recently divorced and needs a roommate to share her Iowa home. Robyn, also in her mid-50s, needs a place to hide and a chance to start over. But as Sharon begins to uncover Robyn’s secrets, they encourage her own deep-seated desire to transform her life completely. A dark comedy about what it takes to re-route your life -- and what happens when the wheels come off.

Stories on Stage Sacramento will be dabbling in dystopia and tinkering with time with novelist Maggie Shen King, author of An Excess Male, and Davis writer Scott Alumbaugh. Yes, it’s a science fiction evening! No aliens or spaceships though -- just two terrific imaginations at the top of their game.

From An Excess Male: Imagine it's China, sometime in the future -- and the One Child policy has left the country with forty million excess males and they all want wives. Or, from “San Andreas Fault” by Scott Alumbaugh: imagine you're driving along the San Andreas fault with a guy you're kind of sick of, and pick up a hitchhiker who seems vaguely familiar. Stories on Stage is thrilled to present two stories you won't be able to forget from two amazing imaginations.

Reading by Matthew Hanjoong and Ethan Ireland.

Short Cuts is a fast-paced, game-based improv show similar to Whose Line is it Anyway?. Fun, short-form improv games and a great cast of performers will ensure that this is one show that you won’t want to miss!

It’s time to stretch, hydrate, and double-knot your dancing shoes, because San Francisco’s favorite soul party band, Midtown Social, is back with their first full-length release. Their freshly squeezed blend of California soul, funk, and rock is downright irresistible. Midtown Social is a nine-piece tour-de-force. But it’s more than just a band. Together, these nine musicians are a collaborative community of writers, arrangers, and artists. When they’re on stage, they invite you into the family. The mission is to spread the message of positive social change through art and music.

The Gold Souls are bringing the driving grooves of funk, the rich textures of soul, and the compelling storytelling of the blues to the Northern California scene. With the dynamic Juniper Waller at the helm, the band combines their many influences to create a unique sound that rings true to the idioms that inspire them. Their recent efforts include the release and tour of their self-recorded and produced, eponymous EP in May of 2017. This release, while remaining an honest representation, is only the beginning of the band’s creative journey.

YOU! The Musical is a completely improvised musical inspired by your suggestion of a title. Everything in the show is made up on the spot—lyrics, music, dancing -- everything. Each 60-minute performance features a full story with heroes and villains, sidekicks, and allies.

Hosted by the Midtown Association and managed by Unseen Heroes, this free, family-friendly market takes place year-round, every Saturday, on 20th street between J and L streets.

The Midtown Farmers Market showcases local agriculture, prepared foods, artisans and crafters, while providing an opportunity for Midtown residents and business owners to discover regionally grown foods. Anchored in the heart of Midtown, the market serves as a lively and fun gathering place where Sacramentans can come together to shop and enjoy the community with neighbors and visitors alike.

This summer we embrace the heat with A Celebration of the Sun hosted by the Creative Alliance and the Brazilian Center for the Cultural Exchange of America. Live performances by Nat Freeman and Ifʎʎellow, followed by an open mic emceed by Moon Magic and DJ Theater Mutiny.

There will also be local artists, vendors, live painting, art gallery, music, food and drinks, and more! We encourage you all to bring your poems, songs, lyrics, music, and/or artwork that will highlight this months theme: "A Celebration Of The Sun."

Paul Thorn has created an innovative and impressive career, pleasing crowds with his muscular brand of roots music -- bluesy, rocking and thoroughly Southern American, yet also speaking universal truths.

Among those who value originality, inspiration, eccentricity and character -- as well as talent that hovers somewhere on the outskirts of genius, the story of Paul Thorn is already familiar. Raised in Tupelo, Mississippi, among the same spirits (and some of the actual people) who nurtured the young Elvis generations before, Paul Thorn has rambled down back roads and jumped out of airplanes, worked for years in a furniture factory, battled four-time world champion boxer Roberto Duran on national television, signed with and been dropped by a major label, performed [on stages with Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, Sting, and John Prine among many others, and made some of the most emotionally restless yet fully accessible music of our time.

He’s also appeared on major television shows such as Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live, been the subject of numerous National Public Radio (NPR) features and charted multiple times on the Billboard Top 100 and Americana Radio Charts.

Jay Electronica, is an American rapper and record producer from New Orleans. Electronica first gained significant attention after the release of the musical composition Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), which was made available on a MySpace page in 2007. It is fifteen continuous minutes of music, without drums, built from Jon Brion's soundtrack to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In late 2009 he released two singles, both produced by Just Blaze, "Exhibit A (Transformations)" and "Exhibit C", the latter of which won a Sucker Free Summit Award for Instant Classic.

Enjoy an amazing night at Harlow's listening to C-Plus and his incredible music!

The Darling Clementines have delivered the best high energy and vivaciously wild burlesque and variety shows full of amazing local and touring entertainment since 2014. Their comedy is hilarious, the DJ is on point pumping energy into the party, and the performers are incredibly unique, being handpicked by executive producer, ChaCha Burnadette.

The Aristocrats (Guthrie Govan, Bryan Beller, and Marco Minnemann) have released critically acclaimed albums, toured the world, and established themselves as one of the most musically-original, refreshingly irreverent, and astoundingly-entertaining instrumental rock-fusion acts on the planet. Call them a virtuoso supergroup if you must, but their musical high-wire act -- employing random amounts of rock, jazz, pop, metal, and even traditional country -- is informed by the spirit of a true band, one whose improvisational soul allows for anything to happen onstage at any moment, including the occasional wink and nod at the audience.

The Aristocrats are touring to promote their most ambitious and exploratory studio album yet, entitled You Know What…?, and will be supported by fellow rock-fusioners, Travis Larson Band.

The concept of the “human zoo” has existed in art and literature for centuries, thus Electric Six recognizes and accepts it is not breaking new conceptual ground by naming its tenth studio album Human Zoo.

From the opening track “Karate Lips,” Human Zoo takes the listener immediately into a teenage karate tournament for girls as refereed by Def Leppard. The crunchy guitars hit you in the face like a teenage foot and you immediately remember why you purchased or illegally downloaded this latest Electric Six album.

Like many E6 albums, Human Zoo does not have one defining sound, rather it is a sampler’s plate of the entire history of rock and roll music. “Alone With Your Body” is the feel good necrophilia anthem of the summer and it sees the band embracing this oft overlooked section of our hometown’s musical history.

Opener Kyle Shutt (of The Sword) also performs.

First Friday Fun Flow Yoga presented by Sutter Health is open to all skill levels and is a great way to welcome the weekend.  On the first Friday of each month, April through September, a Yoga Moves Us instructor will lead participants through poses set to a background soundtrack, on the southwest lawn of Sutter's Fort Park, near the corner of 26th & L Street.

Midtown’s yoga classes are free and open to guests of all ages and ability levels. Attendees are encouraged to bring yoga mats, water bottles and a friend or two if they choose.

Dark. Literate. Mildly classy. Plus lasers. And swearing. Squad Patrol is Comedy Spot’s live, main-stage sketch comedy show, similar to Saturday Night Live and Key and Peele.

Enter a world of stories told through jokes: cat detectives; sexual tension on construction job sites; the horror of bats and banana slugs; Casio keyboards; bears and lady boys; time machines; Mr. Trollywhiskers; judicious use of nerd references; Chuck E. Cheese flashbacks; the pathos of good grammar; space hamsters. All theatrically expressed through flamboyant costumes, cardboard props, original songs and videos, sound effects and gratuitous spot-lighting, and of course, verbose language replete with the swears.