San Jose Jazz Summer Fest!!! Aug 8-10th, Downtown San Jose

One of the largest Jazz festivals in the US is happening in Downtown San Jose this weekend. You will have world-class traditional jazz, Latin jazz, salsa, R&B, funk, smooth jazz, fusion, world music, and I'm sure a few surprises. The featured artists this year are 2014 Grammy winners Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Bootsy Collins, Snarky Puppy, The Poncho Sanchez Band, Ledisi, David Sanborn, Joey DeFrancesco, Warren Wolf & Byron Landham, Kris Bowers, Monty Alexander and the Harlem-Kingston Express and many more.

This year's San Jose Jazz Summer Fest will have music on 12 (!!!) different stages. Between the main festival and the side-events, you will be able to listen to live Jazz 24x7 throughout the course of the 3-day event. For more information, check out the links and the video below (which includes tons of great shots from across Downtown). This is an event you won't want to miss!

Event Link:
http://summerfest.sanjosejazz.org

Full Musical Lineup:
http://summerfest.sanjosejazz.org/2014-lineup

Ticket Link:
http://summerfest.sanjosejazz.org/tickets/buy-now

Prices
General Admission:
Weekend Pass: $55 through 6/8: Thereafter and at gate: $70
Fri: $15 through 8/6; Thereafter and at gate: $20
Sat or Sun: $20 through 8/6; Thereafter and at gate: $25

GA All Stages:
Weekend Pass: $65 through 6/8: Thereafter and at gate: $90
Sat or Sun: $30 through 8/6; Thereafter and at gate: $35

Priority Access:
Weekend Pass: $150 through 6/8: Thereafter and at gate: $170
Sat or Sun: $70 through 8/6; Thereafter and at gate: $75

VIP:
Weekend Pass: $285 through 6/8: Thereafter and at gate: $320
Sat or Sun: $140 through 8/6; Thereafter and at gate: $150

Children (Ages 5-12):
$5 daily

therethere Partnering with the San Jose Public Library Foundation

A civic pride apparel company called therethere is aiming to build "pride of place" via unique graphical t-shirts created by local artists. They are partnering with San Jose Public Library Foundation for the entire month of August. Specifically, 10% of their proceeds for the month will go towards the foundation! To check out their site and support our library system, click here.

P.S.: You have to love the Pho shirt below... we have the best Vietnamese food in the US!

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 2nd Best Swim City

Here is a fun stat for summer. San Jose is the 2nd best area for swimming in the US! We have the most swim members per 1,000 people and the largest multicultural make-up of any region. The SF metro was 5th on the list. The top 50 is below.

Source: USA Swimming, Hat tip to Barclay Livker for sending this in!

Rank	Metropolitan Area	Total Weighted Index	Population Age 6+
1.	Ann Arbor, Michigan	1,348	348,971
2.	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California	1,277	1,761,295
3.	Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina	1,235	1,476,825
4.	Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut	1,185	909,970
5.	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California	1,133	4,160,269
6.	Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado	1,088	280,068
7.	Madison, Wisconsin	1,077	550,312
8.	Austin-Round Rock, Texas	1,016	1,521,851
9.	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, California	993	13,133,921
10.	Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana	989	1,682,815
11.	Washington, D.C. area	956	5,377,932
12.	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, California	925	258,624
13.	Boulder, Colorado	920	284,607
14.	Trenton-Ewing, New Jersey	905	372,123
15.	Colorado Springs, Colorado	879	607,312
16.	Anchorage, Alaska	866	363,582
17.	Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota/Wisconsin	844	3,211,584
18.	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas	840	5,504,735
19.	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia	816	5,186,819
20.	Santa Barbara-Santa Maria, California	811	401,253
21.	Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky	810	435,465
22.	Lincoln, Nebraska	805	286,831
23.	Richmond, Virginia	793	1,202,109
24.	Denver-Aurora, Colorado	788	2,429,088
25.	Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, North Carolina/South Carolina	751	1,598,273
26.	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington	731	3,270,270
27.	Tallahassee, Florida	726	338,800
28.	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, California	718	468,963
29.	Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, Iowa/Illinois	717	376,817
30.	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California	711	812,013
31.	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin	704	1,519,871
32.	Omaha-Council Bluffs, Nebraska/Iowa	692	828,741
33.	Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Illinois	690	9,573,949
34.	Provo-Orem, Utah	688	483,990
35.	Reno-Sparks, Nevada	685	415,540
36.	Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Oregon/Washington	684	2,161,753
37.	New Haven-Milford, Connecticut	674	855,447
38.	Albuquerque, New Mexico	669	825,179
39.	Columbus, Ohio	657	1,742,026
40.	Baltimore-Towson, Maryland	650	2,695,688
41.	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	631	2,369,879
42.	Tucson, Arizona	630	955,724
43.	Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, California	629	2,136,139
44.	Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana	627	2,094,746
45.	Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, Florida	625	706,173
46.	Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, New York	624	685,207
47.	Fort Wayne, Indiana	622	409,934
48.	South Bend-Mishawaka, Indiana/Michigan	621	318,850
49.	Rochester, New York	617	1,039,940
50.	Salt Lake City, Utah	615	1,059,659

South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk + Street Mrkt Today!

Join us for the South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk + Street Mrkt on First Friday August 1st, 7pm–11pm
Downtown San Jose's SoFA District (& beyond)!

In addition to the monthly Art Walk featuring 20+ participating venues, August 1st is Street Mrkt, our nighttime urban faire featuring 40 local artists and live music out on the street in the SoFA District (on South First St. from San Carlos to San Salvador) and in the People's Park at South First & William St.
Free and open to the public.

Check out the exhibition images:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152108813130736.1073741840.46066000735&type=1

----- NEW EXHIBITS -----

Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design -
366 South First Street
Artist's reception: "A Human Race" a solo exhibition of new work by Tel Aviv street artist Zero Cents.

KALEID Gallery- 88 South Fourth Street
Artists' receptions for feature exhibitions:
"States of Being" by Kushlani Jayasinha
"INCLINATIONS" solo exhibition by John Kurtyka

Phantom Galleries – 95 South Market Street
"California" new works by Alexandria Kerekez

Silicon Valley Music Festival at Sliding Door, Co. -
355 South First Street
The Silicon Valley Music Festival presents harpist Anna Maria Mendieta.

Works San José - 365 South Market Street
Opening reception: "Flesh Frosting" group exhibition.

ZERO1 Garage - 439 South First Street
"The Operature" by Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality (ATOM-r) part of the BRING IT! Performance Art Series.

Art Ark Gallery - 1035 South Sixth Street
Opening reception: "Repetitive Stress – we have all experienced it..." group exhibition.

Discover San Jose - 150 South First St.
"Wire Roots." by mixed media artist Jason Oliver, and special guest. vocalist Christopher Michael , the "Sober Junkie."

First to Market Restaurant - 399 South First Street
First to Market presents mixed media works by Colin Jaramillo.

Pho69 - 321 South First Street
Phantom Galleries presents "Definitely Not Digital: an excursion into the abstract and surreal" by artist Tom Dytko at Pho69.

South First Billiards - 420 South First Street
"Art Lifer" by Alfredo Reyes and Debbie Doherty with music from DJ Mystik Mike.

Spartan Pop Up Gallery - 320 South First Street
A group exhibit of 30 artists by San Jose State University's Fine Art students and alumni.

TechShopSJ - 300 South Second Street
TechShop San Jose presents artist Steve Haman.


----- Continuing Exhibits -----

MACLA - 510 South First Street
COSMOS CODEXVargas-Suarez UNIVERSAL exhibit on view and a Puerto Rican Bomba performance by Aguacero in the Castellano Playhouse at 8:30pm.

Caffé Frascati - 315 South First Street
First Fridays is Caffe Frascati Opera Night presented by First Street Singers, with the Bay Area's finest opera singers performing your very favorite classical arias and duets live in the cafe!

Downtown Yoga Shala - 450 South First Street
“San Shui” - An Exhibit by Russell Altice Case

Psycho Donuts - 288 South Second Street
Ongoing group exhibit featuring the work of Nicolas Caesar, Murphy Adams, Christine Benjamin, Michael Foley, Michael Borja, Valery Milovic, Carlos Villez, Eric Joyner, Laura Callin Bennett, John Hageman and John Cloud!

Studio Climbing Gym - 396 South First Street
Petrified by mixed media artist Andy Wallace


plus STREET MRKT!
A nighttime DIY urban faire that brings together 40 local artists, creative indie vendors and a live music stage out on South First Street (between San Carlos and San Salvador streets and in the People's Park at South First & William streets.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk
First Friday August 1st, 7–11pm
SoFA district in downtown San Jose
(on South First Street between San Carlos & Reed streets)
Free & open to the public

For full listing of events and information: please visitwww.SouthFirstFridays.com or call 408-271-5155

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtWalkSJ

Media Sponsor: Metro Newspapers

The South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk event is produced by Two Fish Design in partnership with the participating art organizations and independent businesses.

Civic Hacking: Code For San Jose

A group of local volunteers have decided to put their tech skills to good use outside of their day job. Code for San Jose enables civic-minded hackers to develop apps and tools that are useful to the San Jose community. It has just been around for a few months and they already have a couple projects underway. If you're a techie and you want to give back to the local community (while meeting like-minded folks), this looks like a pretty cool option. For more info, just head over to the Code for San Jose Website.

Who We Are

Launched in March 2014, we are a Code for America brigade: a group of volunteers who are passionate about using our skills to advance civic innovation in San Jose. Our members represent a range of skill sets and interests, spanning the high tech, local government and non-profit sectors. Our co-leaders are Kalen Gallagher and Michelle Thong.

What We Do

We promote civic innovation in two main ways:

1. Civic hacking: Our members develops civic apps, data visualizations and other tools that are useful and inspiring to the San Jose community. We hold twice-monthly civic hack nights and organize quarterly special events such as hackathons.
2. Policy and advocacy: Our policy team educates community leaders on open data and open government best practices, and advocates for local open data policies.

Join Us

We welcome coders, designers, data geeks, policy wonks and community members of all types with an interest in using technology, creativity and the human spirit to solve real problems.

Code for San Jose is a platform for you to work on projects that you’re passionate about and that make a difference in your community.

Come check out our Civic Hack Nights on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month at Nextspace San Jose from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. RSVP on our Meetup page!

Three New Apartment Buildings Coming to Japantown

8 acres of land in Japantown at 357 E. Taylor St. is expected to go into contract with a major apartment builder soon. There were big plans for this site five years ago, but the economy killed any potential for development back then. Now, it looks like things are moving forward and the land is already entitled for around 400 residential units.

The project should include three new five-story buildings with a chance for even greater density. The old Continental Can Co. brick warehouse at the site will be preserved and even perhaps integrated into the project. A 1-acre park would be in the mix here as well.

Source: SVBJ

Winchester Movie is Back on Track

A couple years ago news broke that Hammer Films would make a movie based around the Winchester Mystery House. The original target launch was Halloween of 2013, which would have been perfect given Sarah Winchester's obsession with the number 13. Now, it looks like they are bringing on brother filmmakers Michael and Peter Spierig to both rewrite the original script and direct the movie.

This will be the very first film to be shot inside of the Winchester Mystery House and filming is being penned for early 2015. I'm really looking forward to this one!

Sources: ComingSoon.net, hat tip to Mark and Dark Horizons, hat tip to Dan De La O

Electronic Sriracha Festival on Aug. 30th @ St. James Park!

This has to be one of the best ideas for a new event that I've come across in a long time. A couple years ago Moveable Feast launched The Taco Festival of Innovation, then last year they started the Bacon Festival of America, and now they are going for their hottest event yet... the Electronic Sriracha Festival!

The festival will encompass two city blocks at St. James Park and features three stages, 24 DJs representing the best of Bay Area-bred electronic music (list below), four bars, and 120 sriracha-infused dishes. There will be over 40 food trucks and food tents and all dishes and drinks will be priced at $6 or less. Oh, and SJ MADE will be there as well.

It is all going down Labor Day Weekend--August 30th--from noon to 8pm. Admission will run $20 in advance or $30 at the door (kids under 12 are free).

These are the types of events that will return St. James Park to its former glory, so lets help make this one a success! You can get more info at their Facebook page over here.

OLMSTEAD STAGE
Thee-O
Sam F
John Beaver Live with Krishna Lee on Drums & Greg Manacho on Guitar
Ross FM
Taj
Carlos Alfonzo
Tomas Phan
Ian Rey

KENNEDY STAGE
Aaron Axelsen
Dead Funk
Andy P
Mr. Tyler Jackson
California Casual
DJ Hil
Bare Knuckles
James Ashley

HART STAGE
GoldenChyld
Los Disco Duro
Bobby Acosta
DRU
Double A and Jay Reese
DJ Basura
Haptic Synapses
Mike Zhao