The down side to this performance was the family atmosphere that merely used Lemo for background music. True, some were bobbing their head and tapping their feet Read the rest of this entry »
Mother’s Day always has extra significance around the San Jose Giants. That’s because ballplayers have more than one mother to be thankful for. Their birth mothers, of course, and their wives if they happen to be married with children. But also the generous “host moms” who allow them to live in their San Jose-area homes during the season. Read more here.
Ed & Donna Musgrave with Angel Villalona and Wilmin Rodriguez
Title: San Jose Bike Party
Location: Dick’s Center @ 1350 S. Bascom Ave, San Jose, Ca 95128
Link out: Click here
Description: Tonight’s theme is “Battle of the Helmets”. So come out with your best dressed up helmet and have an awesome ride with us.
Find out more details at the event’s website: www.SJBikeParty.org
Start Time: 20:30
Date: 2009-04-17
It has been a year since the last event of this kind and I have been anxiously awaiting a chance to drape myself in leather straps and ties. Whip me oh whip me!
Who’s going? 
While I won’t be attending, I enjoy the diversity of events and cultures that San Jose hosts. Now if only they’d bring Carnival here
My view from Castle Rock
A hop, skip, and a jump from Downtown San Jose is a panoramic viewed perch, fitted for a super hero and sits over looking the South Bay.
Located in Castle Rock State Park, at the top of HWY 9, is a skyline hiking trail that you can either start at the crossing of HWY 9 and HWY 3 (about a 4.5 mile hike), or you can take a cheat-cheat drive to the half mile trek which takes you directly to Summit Rock. It’s easy to miss the exit for the shorter route, so look for this exit approx 2 1/2 miles up hwy 35.
All you need to remember once you’re on the trail is just stay to your left. There are a few different trails as you head up but if you stay to the left you’ll no doubt run right into it. And when you get there, you’ll know it. It is quite big.
Check my photos as I hiked up to the big rock at the twitpic photo album.
Headed somewhere cool yourself? Let us know and right about it! We’ll throw it into the mix.
If you haven’t been to The Mountain Winery off of hwy 9, I highly recommend it. While I know there are plenty of other wineries all over the area, the view, the wine, and the ambiance of this place is unlike no other.
When Friday roles around and you’re thinking of something fun to do, think about starting the afternoon off right with a nice drive up hwy9 to The Mountain Winery, a little wine tasting, and ooing and aahing over the view. It really is beautiful up there.
In case this is the first time you’ve heard of the Mountain Winery, I felt it would be a good idea to introduce you to the other major appeal of this wine palace. For starters, The Mountain Winery boasts an incredible outdoor amphitheater where performers such as Styx, Kathy Griffin, Chris Isaak, Los Lonely Boys, The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, and many others have performed. And those were just some of the names from the 2008 Concert Season.
The Mountain Winery Construction
With the 25 million dollar renovation project nearing its end make sure to check out the concert schedule to get more information on upcoming shows and events.
I spent some time with Inside Cinequest during the film festival and had the honor to see, first hand, interviews with producers, directors, and everyone in between.
So far I have had the privilege of meeting with Jeff Lam (Producer) and Timo Chen (Music Producer) from the film Why Am I Doing This, Mary Haverstick (Director/Producer/Writer) and Michele Mercur (Executive Producer) from the film Home, as well as Wayne Lachman (Director) and Scott Macgregor (Executive Producer) from the documentary film Life For A Child. One thing each of these people shared was a personal passion of the art of film making and conveying a message.
Cinequest is a great launching point for many films. While speaking with the Director of Corps Run (John Michael Thomas), he mentioned that just by being a part of Cinequest, his movie was going to gain traction it wouldn’t achieve by any other method. The recognition and prestige of having a film at Cinequest is something in and of itself.
On average there are 3000 independent films made each year – of those, only about 1000 find their way into a festival. Beyond the 1000 in festivals only a 100 get any sort of recognition. Only a few, maybe 1-5 of the top films get distributed to the rest of us once passing the rigorous battery of judging sessions and peer reviews.
Films like Slumdog Millionaire are an example of the top percentile that truly makes headway into the big time blockbusters. However, can we really call films with huge 10+ million dollar budgets, Indies? It’s a tough concept to lock down but some have characterized it by the amount invested to create a film, others have defined it by a film, which isn’t supported by a major studio. The definition isn’t as clear as one might think but one thing we can agree on is that Indie films are becoming more the rave than anything before as the big studios and actors are taking on Indie film roles to gain popularity and grab a piece of the growing audience.
One thing we can be sure of is that Cinequest 19 has been one of the best we’ve seen. To top it off, it was just a few steps from out backyards – or balconies for those of us in high-rises.
Keep in touch, as I’ll be writing more about the experience and the films I’ve seen along with my experience hanging out with the crew of Inside Cinequest.
If you haven’t you really need to! Cinequest is one of the greatest events to hit Silicon Valley each and every year.Want to get inside Cinequest? Here are a few options for you:
Visit the Inside Cinequest website and get up to date interviews and reviews.
Follow them on Twitter to see what they’re up to throughout the day.
On the other hand you can also visit the Cinequest site directly at www.Cinequest.org.
This video is of a group of hikers romping around Stevens Creek County Park as well as Fremont Older Open Space near Saratoga, Ca:
Title: Monday Night Madness Karaoke
Location: Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge
Link out: Click here
Description: Join us for our award winning karaoke from 9pm-1am brought to you by Avent\’s Empty Band. New singers get a complimentary beer or well drink on us!
Also featuring $3 Beers & $3 Wells all night long.
Now featuring Guitar Hero & Rock Band every week in the upper lounge!
Start Time: 20:00
Date: 2009-03-02
End Time: 23:45