Arts & Culture

Give these tracks a listen: “Red Moon,” “In the New Year”
For fans of: Yo La Tengo, The Unicorns, The Velvet Underground

Editor's picks

Arcs, Casper Pony, The Heather Show

Friday, 7 p.m.

M Street and Colgate

Jeremy Jay, Fancie, Pets, Green Green

Saturday, 9 p.m., $6

Luigi's Fun Garden

When UC Davis evolution, ecology and behavior Ph.D. Tim Lee first started doing stand-up comedy five years ago, it was painful - audiences are not generally patient with a bad comic and he was no exception, he said. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to let that discourage him forever.

Some may say that the local theater scene has been slow to catch up to those of other Californian cosmopolitan cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

But Sacramento-based theatre company Artistic Differences is trying to include the state capital as yet another destination for provocative theatre production in California with its performance of bare, a musical chronicling two teenage boys struggling with their sexuality while in a Catholic boarding school.

It's been seven years since Hawthorne Heights officially formed. Fragile Future, released last Tuesday, is only their third album.

What's taken them so long? Was it their dispute with their record label, world touring, or maybe the death of vocalist/guitarist Casey Calvert in late 2007?

Editor's picks

OK Ikumi, JP Haynie, All on Seven

Saturday, 8 p.m., $5

Old Firehouse

Jake Mann, The Spires, The Dazzling Strangers

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

Sophia's Thai Kitchen

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.