100 Things To Do In San Jose Before You Die

When I first found about about this book, I was expecting few surprises. I assumed that I would easily be checking off 90+ of the 100 items listed in its pages. I was wrong. How far did I get you ask? 54. That's right, as a hardcore San Jose aficionado that purposefully seeks out all the cool things to do in San Jose, I'm at 54/100 from this book.

"100 Things To Do In San Jose Before You Die" was written by Susannah Greenwood, the online content manager and social media princess for the San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau. She has lived in San Jose for the past 14 years and has done a great job assembling this book. The best part is she's a clever writer with a great sense of humor. I even read through the items that I had already checked off my list to get her perspective.

I recommend the book to anyone who is a fan of San Jose and guarantee there will be items in here that you did not know about. You can buy the book now on paperback or get the digital Kindle edition over here.

The San Jose Blog's Subtle Refresh

We have recently hit two major milestones on this blog: 2,500 posts and 2,000,000 visits! To celebrate, we made a few minor changes to make the blog easier to read and use:

• The background color has been changed to white in order to make the content on the page pop out more, especially photos.
• The top header has been completely eliminated as most of the links there were not relevant.
• We added a new search (red arrow below) that is far more effective and lets you quickly filter results by The San Jose Blog, content we link to, or the San Jose Blogroll.

We hope you like the changes. If not, let us know in the comments and we'll see what else we can tweak. Thanks everyone for making this blog a big success!

San Jose Kickstarter: Cellista (Solo Album Dedicated to San Jose)

If you are looking to contribute to San Jose culture, there is a Kickstarter project to back a local musician with 16 days to go. This September, Freya Seeburger--an accomplished cellist--is going to record her first solo album called Cellista. The album is dedicated to the Bay Area, but primarily San Jose. In fact, you may remember her as the cellist in the cage at subZERO 2014 (photo below). The first part of her album would even be recorded at Anno Domini in San Jose's SoFA District.

Listen to Freya tell her story in the short video below. Rewards start with contributions of $10 or more. Please visit her Kickstarter page over here!



San Jose, CA – Cellista the solo project of cellist Freya Seeburger launched a 30 day Kickstarter campaign on August 9th to finance her debut solo album. The experimental cellist with classical training and a penchant for performing classical works in unorthodox spaces has a long history of notable collaborations and genre blending.

The album will be recorded in two-parts. Tiny Telephone Studios, the home of producer John Vanderslice, will play host to the first session. The second will be recorded in downtown San Jose’s iconic Anno Domini art gallery. Maryam Qudus (Doe Eye) will help engineer the album along with cellist Shawn Alpay (matt pond PA, John Vanderslice).

Cellista will feature her musical friends and artists across disciplines on the album and music video including Santa Clara Poet Laureate David Perez, beat boxer Emcee Infinite, composer Joshua Icban, SF singer Rykarda Parasol, journalist Gary Singh, and the modern dancer Lauren Baines.

Cellista’s music making is experimental and immersive. Using elements of improvisation, theater, visual art and a loop station, her music is influenced by the French avant-garde and the creative collaborations that informed it.

Freya Seeburger is a noted session cellist. She has performed and toured with Grammy-nominated artist Tanya Donelly (Belly, Throwing Muses), The Coup, Don McLean (American Pie), and Doe Eye. She is the founding artistic director of the music and event production company Juxtapositions (juxtapositions.net), as well as a graduate student in music at San Francisco State University. She has won several awards for her musicological research writing on the French composer Olivier Messiaen, and has presented her research internationally as featured panelist at the University of Calgary's 2015 Graduate Music Conference.

Her music has garnered comparisons to Zoe Keating, Arthur Russell, Steve Reich, and Charlotte Moorman.

Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1280411509/cellista-a-first-solo-album-devoted-to-the-sf-bay

Saturday Stats: San Jose has #4 Highest 1BD Rents in the US

I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news. At $2,230 per month, San Jose had the 4th highest rent in the nation for one bedroom apartments in August. The positive way to spin this is that we did not have the #1 highest rent in the nation. San Francisco took that prize with a median rent of $3,500 a month. They were followed by New York with $3,100/mo and Boston at $2,250/mo. I have a feeling that some of the fancy new apartments Downtown will be driving this metric up over the next couple years.

Oh, and if we look at % change in rent this year for one-bedroom apartments, San Jose comes in at #5 in the nation with a 14.9% increase. Oakland was at the top of that list with 20% and San Francisco was 8th at 12.9%.

Source: Zumper, hat tip to Barclay Livker

% Changes This Year

1. Oakland, CA – $1,980 (+20%)
2. Austin, TX – $1,170 (+17%)
3. Kansas City, MO – $770 (+16.7%)
4. Sacramento, CA – $900 (+15.4%)
5. San Jose, CA – $2,230 (+14.9%)
6. Atlanta, GA – $1,250 (+13.6%)
7. Dallas, TX – $1,190 (+13.3%)
8. San Francisco, CA – $3,500 (+12.9%)
9. Chicago, IL – $1,920 (+11.6%)

Grammy Winning Los Lonely Boys Play Music in the Park - Aug. 28

SAN JOSE - Grammy Award winners Los Lonely Boys – the beloved brother trio of Jojo, Henry and Ringo Garza – bring their “Texican” brand of rock ’n’ roll from San Angelo, Texas, to Music in the Park on Aug. 28.

Los Lonely Boys combines elements of rock ’n’ roll, Texas blues, soul, country and Tejano. The band’s debut single, "Heaven" became a Top 20 hit, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s adult contemporary chart, and eventually won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a duo or group with vocal. 

Los Lonely Boys followed their initial success with two more Grammy nominations in 2006 for their album “Sacred.”  On tour in 2014 supporting their latest album, “Revelation,” Los Lonely Boys has alsoincluded a number of stops along the California coast in 2015, most of which offer tickets starting at $40.

At Music in the Park, advance $10 tickets are on sale atmusicintheparksj.com. Tickets are $15 the day of the show.  Children 12-under are free when accompanied by an adult.

Visit loslonelyboys.com.

Local favorite J.C. Smith Band (jcsmithband.com), which has been voted “best blues band” in South Bay numerous times, opens the show, which starts at 5:15 p.m. at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, Market and San Fernando streets.

The concerts are produced by San Jose Downtown Association.  Series sponsors include:  Metro, City of San Jose, NBC, Telemundo, KQED, El Observador, Content Magazine, KFOG 97.7 SJ/104.5 SF, La Raza 93.3, Lagunitas Beer Company, J. Lohr Wines, Republic Services and Silicon Valley Bike Coalition.

This is the 26^th year of the series.

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Also at the event:

Kids fun including art activities

Food and drink:

•    New this year – Lounge in the Park:  Mixed drinks and lounge seating in a transformed space, courtesy Method42 Productions. method42.net

•    Craft Beer offerings from local breweries, including Lagunitas Brewing Co. and Strike Brewing.

J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines

Transportation:

•   San Jose Bike Coalition, in cooperation with the City of San Jose, will provide free valet bike parking from 4:30 p.m.-9:45 p.m.

•   To find the nearest parking options to Plaza de Cesar Chavez, go to sjdowntownparking.com

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt Opened First Airport Location at SJC

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt has opened its first ever airport location at San Jose International Airport (SJC). They are known for a wide variety of rotating flavors and toppings. It is a self-service yogurt shop where you can load up on as many different kinds of yogurt and toppings as you'd like and then pay based on the weight at the end. Their Bay Area locations seem to be well reviewed on Yelp, and I'm pretty happy about finally having a Yogurt shop at SJC.

Menchie's is located in Terminal B near Gate 19 and will be open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. If you are not travelling any time soon, there is also another location in San Jose at Oakridge mall.

Fifth Annual Stroll The Alameda - This Sunday

The Shasta / Hanchett Park Neighborhood Association in conjunction with the Alameda Business Association is hosting the fifth annual "Stroll the Alameda event" on August 23rd from 2pm-5pm. Tickets purchased in advanced are $25 per person and includes 12 tastings (take an Uber home). On the day of the event, the cost goes up to $35 per person.

Participating venues include Art Boutiki, Black & Brown, La Dolce Velo, Tee Nee Thai, The Arsenal, Whole Foods, Wine Affairs, The Usuals/SJ Made, and many more. The event starts in front of Crema Coffee (950 The Alameda), where you will get a wine or beer glass and a map of all locations.

For more information, click here. Big thanks to Alex Shoor for sending this in!

G2G: San Jose's Late Night Delivery App

G2G is a new food delivery app that specializes exclusively in late night food deliveries. They service San Jose, Santa Clara, Milpitas, and Campbell. Currently they only partner with a dozen restaurants, but several are Downtown San Jose stand-outs like Nick the Greek, Dosa & Curry Cafe, and La Victoria. 4th St. Pizza is also on the list as is The Garret.

The only deliver between 10pm and 4am each day. There is no minimum order size, just a $7 flat delivery charge. There is also no delivery charge on the first order.

For more information and to get the app, head over to the G2G website.