Arts & Culture

Perhaps appropriate for a movie filled with stoners, Pineapple Express starts off doing one thing, goes to do something else, but forgets what, exactly, that other thing was along the way.

Jason Mraz is coming to campus, and pre-sale tickets are being sold today starting at 10 a.m.

Mraz is currently on tour promoting his latest May release, "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things," and will perform at Freeborn Hall on Nov. 3. Vocalist Lisa Hannigan, known for her work with Damien Rice, will open for Mraz.

Conor Oberst is taking a break from digital urns and Floridian clairaudients.

The black-and-white cover of Oberst's newest self-titled album with the Mystic Valley Band - a supporting cast formed specifically for the album - features the Bright Eyes frontman enjoying a sling-aided nap, presumably somewhere in the Mexican mountain villa of Valle Místico where he recorded the 12-song album due out Tuesday.

Fiddlers and guitarists interested in bluegrass, Celtic and Romanian Gypsy tunes should take out their string instruments. Beginning on Wednesday, the Davis Waldorf School will be hosting their guitar and fiddle workshop. All else that is needed is a tape recorder because the music will be taught solely by ear.

Editor's picks:

Franklin For Short, Le Petit Protest, Autumn Sky

Today, 10 p.m., $3-5, 21

Sophia's Thai Kitchen

In the Flow Festival

Saturday and Sunday, noon, $15 per day

True Love Coffeehouse in Sacramento

In the dramatic twist of Randall Miller's upcoming film Bottle Shock, an intern and the heir to Calistoga's Chateau Montelena winery make a shocking discovery about a batch of Montelena Chardonnay.

The pair, played by Rachael Taylor (Transformers) and Chris Pine (Just My Luck, Smokin' Aces), head east for some expert advice - at UC Davis.

This weekend, the True Love Coffeehouse in Sacramento will host the first In The Flow music festival, a weekend of modern and improvisational jazz, rock, blues and more.
Performances will be held on two outdoor stages throughout the event. More than 15 groups are scheduled to perform, including local and regional musicians of varied styles of music and improvisation.

As long as you don't expect Daft Punk, you shouldn't be too disappointed. The third album from electro duo Ratatat isn't as rousing and danceable as one would hope and is generally reminiscent of car commercial background music. That being said, LP3 and its exotic, fluttery beats are hard to dislike.

Upstairs in the Pence Gallery, tranquility kisses the walls but as you move downstairs, the mood drifts like leaves. One floor down, loud colors and a beautiful woman dressed in haute couture fill the lower showroom.

Despite what some believe, karaoke is fit for more than the bar townies or "American Idol" wannabes. According to Raina Lee, UC Davis alumna and author of the newly released Hit Me With Your Best Shot: The Ultimate Guide to Karaoke Domination, karaoke is fun for everyone.

Editor's picks:

All My Pretty Ones, The Beat Nun, Ellie Fortune

Sunday, 8 p.m., $3-5

Primary Concepts at 219 E St.

Del Castillo

Monday, 7:30 p.m., free

The Quad

If Green Day were cool, they'd be The Fratellis. There's only so far you can go with power chord anthems without sounding like you're kicking a dead horse.

There's also a certain fullness required to elevate a band's sound to a higher level, no matter how small a band's numbers or simple their instrumentation. Social Distortion was never able to get this right, and the White Stripes got off the train a while ago.

Before longtime art gallery owner Barry Smith opened the new Sacramento Art Complex between K and 21st streets in Sacramento, he looked up the noun "complex" in a dictionary.

"It's an interrelated but separate [group] of intellectually creative entities," said Smith, who has been an art dealer for 25 years. "I loved it, so I thought, 'Hey, what if I had a gaggle of artists around me as this synergetic entity?'"

When Kenyan-born Victor Sila first came to America 15 years ago, he wanted to be a Michael Jackson or Babyface-style R&B singer. However, he was rejected by every label he approached.

"It felt inauthentic, especially with my heavy accent," Sila said. "I was trying to be westernized, trying to do what I thought was the cool thing to do, but I was miserable and everyone else who heard me could feel it."

Christopher Nolan gave new life to the Caped Crusader franchise with his 2005 adaptation Batman Begins. His second film about the comic book icon smashes all expectations of the much-hyped The Dark Knight. Serving endless climatic scenes and twisting the imagination with his unsettling use of darkness in the film, Nolan reminds the audience about the stuff heroes are made of.