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THEATER
Tuesday, July 24 鈥 Sunday, July 29
Broadway at Music Circus
1419 H Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
This landmark show, with a celebrated score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, is based on the life of burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee. A singularly-focused mother takes her daughters on a cross-country adventure in pursuit of fame and fortune on the dying Vaudeville circuit. Classic songs include, 鈥淵ou Gotta Get A Gimmick,鈥 鈥淟et Me Entertain You鈥 and the show-stopping 鈥淓verything鈥檚 Coming Up Roses.鈥
From award-winning playwright, director and choreographer Larissa FastHorse, this play presents a satirical comedy about four people attempting to devise a politically correct play celebrating both Thanksgiving and Native American Month. The actors navigate a thicket of privilege, history and school district rules to share a better understanding of marginalized communities.
FILM
Friday, July 20
7:30pm: Mumon: The Land of Stealth
Saturday, July 21
11:30am: Sisters of the Gion
2pm: In This Corner of the World
4:30pm: Oh Lucy!
7:45pm: After the Storm
Sunday, July 22
2pm: Tokyo Family
5pm: The Ito Sisters: An American Story
Thursday, July 19
7:30pm
Verge Center for the Arts
625 S Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
鈥淗ERE TO BE HEARD: The Story of The Slits鈥 is a film about the world鈥檚 first all-girl punk band who formed in London in 1976, contemporaries of The Clash & The Sex Pistols, they are the pioneering godmothers of the musical movement known as 鈥淧unky Reggae鈥. The film tells the story of the band and the lives of the women involved, from the bands inception in 1976 to the bands end in 2010 coinciding at the death of lead vocalist Ari Up.
When Ari passed away she was working with SLITS tour manager and friend Jennifer Shagawat on a film about the band. After Ari passed and the film was still not completed Jennifer contacted her long time friend William Badgley over at Molasses Manifesto to come on and help finish the project.
MUSIC
Thursday, July 19
6:30pm
Crocker Art Museum
216 O Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Sacramento鈥檚 longest-running summer jazz series is tuning up in 2018 with premier performances on third Thursdays, May through August. This year's lineup was selected by Capital Public Radio鈥檚 Jazz Music Director Gary Vercelli.
Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers keep things jumping with their brassy mixture of horns and sultry vocals. One of the most popular jazz acts in San Francisco, Lavay and her band light up stages around the world with sparks of swing and traditional jazz. Channeling the robust sounds of 20th-century marvels like Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers will get you on your feet for an evening of high-energy, swinging fun!
Thursday, July 19
7pm
贬补谤濒辞飞鈥檚
2708 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95816
It makes sense that Julien Baker is a big fan of Los Angeles鈥揵ased singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. Like Baker, Bridgers makes quiet, personal, wrenchingly sad songs that document intimate feelings and disappointments. Though she鈥檚 played music for years, it wasn鈥檛 until 2017 that she released her debut album, Stranger in the Alps. Where Bridgers diverges from influences like Baker and Conor Oberst, who also appears on the album, is in her willingness to tread into pop territory, as on the break-up single 鈥淢otion Sickness.鈥 If her voice were slightly louder, and the tempo slightly faster, this could be a killer pop punk tune. As it is, it鈥檚 a lovely and bitter remembrance of a failed romance.
-Sophie Weiner, Village Voice
Friday, July 20
8pm
Palms Playhouse
13 Main Street, Winters, CA 95694
There is no label to accurately describe the music of Joe Craven and the Sometimers. Acid-rockgrass? Jazz fusion Americana? To try to box it in would be to crush the exuberant creative spirit that happens when Craven, Jonathan Stoyanoff, Bruce MacMillan, Barry Eldridge and Hattie Craven play together. 鈥淣o genre left behind鈥 is their musical motto, and they accomplish the task with joyful abandon, playing paradigm-shattering free range music that entices and excites.
Saturday, July 21
8pm
Palms Playhouse
13 Main Street, Winters, CA 95694
Four time Grammy-nominated, world-renowned Pine Leaf Boys have made a name by presenting their own brand of Louisiana music with an undeniable youthful exuberance. Hailing from southwest Louisiana, the Pine Leaf Boys, known for their wild shows and thoughtful arrangements, have breathed new life into Louisiana music, reviving ancient songs and bringing them to the bandstand. Described in the New York Times as 鈥溾he link that connects the young and the old generations,鈥 and, 鈥渢he best new, energetic, and fun Cajun band in a very long time,鈥 the Pine Leaf Boys play the old fashioned dance hall standards while making a priority to bring many of the more obscure songs of past masters into their repertoire and play them with gusto.
Sunday, July 22
7:30pm
Golden 1 Center
K St & 7th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Country music superstars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are heading to Sacramento to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their record-breaking 鈥淪oul2Soul II鈥 tour, the highest-grossing country music tour of all time.
When Monty Python鈥檚 Eric Idle created the fictional band 鈥淭oad the Wet Sprocket鈥 for the program 鈥淩utland Weekend Television鈥 in 1975, he never dreamed that anyone would actually use such a silly name. Fast forward to 1986, when four California teens desperately needed to come up with a name to call their band for an upcoming gig at a Goleta, CA watering hole. From 1989-1998, they made 5 studio albums which sold over four million copies combined, had five major radio hits and won over audiences across North America and Europe.
After a series of indie record releases, Shawn Mullins鈥 critical breakthrough came when 1998 鈥淪oul鈥檚 Core鈥 album shot him to fame on the strength of its Grammy-nominated No. 1 hit, 鈥淟ullaby.鈥 The song arrangements have evolved through the years as he performed them live and grew as an artist. For the 20th Anniversary, Shawn will revisit the music on Soul鈥檚 Core and record two new versions of the album. He is calling this Soul鈥檚 Core Revival. This is not a remix or a remaster of the original, but rather brand new recordings with new arrangements of the songs 鈥 one album will be new stripped down solo performances, some on guitar, some on piano and maybe one a capella and the second will be a new studio recording with his full band, Soul Carnival.