Thursday, June 9, 2011

Evergreen Music Night with Alvon Johnson

Finally we've been getting nice weather & the nights are great.  A good way to spend one of these nights is at the Evergreen Village Square Music Night featuring Alvon Johnson & the All Stars.  Relax with a starry night & the blues.  They'll also be showing "Kung Fu Panda" to kick off the Summer Movie Night.  A night of music & laughs, that's hard to turn down.
EVERGREEN VILLAGE FRIDAY JUNE 10TH
LOCATION: RUBY AVENUE AT ABORN ROAD SAN JOSE, CA 
TIME: 6:00PM to 8:00PM

Wednesday Wishlist - More SubZEROs!

Last week's SubZERO festival was perhaps the best ever. These are exactly the types of events that we need to showcase San Jose's unique artsy subculture. It would be awesome to have more SoFA events at the scale of SubZERO throughout the year. We'll get a little taste of this next year with both SubZERO and ZER01 festivals going on in the summer. However, I still think we can support more. I would love to see a quarterly SoFA festival or event in addition to or as a supplement to South First Fridays!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Downtown San Jose Restaurant List Updates!

It's been a while since I posted about the Downtown San Jose Restaurant List, and there have been a ton of updates! 
  • Restaurants added to the list:
    • Myth (NEW)
    • Agenda Restaurant (NEW)
    • Froyo Delight (NEW)
    • Fusion Cafe
  • Added the following new columns:
    • Special Menus - this is to highlight restaurants that have Vegan, Gluten-Free, or Slow Food menus
    • Outdoor Seating - this one is self explanatory =) 
    • Private Dining - denotes restaurants that have private dining rooms available, very handy for corporate parties
  • Morocco's has been added to the list of chains started in Downtown San Jose due to the upcoming opening of their 2nd location in Mountain View (the full list is in the Chains tab at the bottom).
We also hit a sweet milestone... over 200 restaurants on the list!  

If you see any mistakes or know of restaurants that have special menus, outdoor seating, or private dining rooms that are not marked as such on the sheet, please let me know. Keeping this accurate will be a team effort.

If you haven't bookmarked it yet, here's the link to the spreadsheet! There is also a permanent link over to the right entitled Downtown San Jose Restaurants.


Monday, June 6, 2011

Photos of subZERO 2011

This is subZERO!  It was my first time being at subZERO and it was great, a night of art, music, food and friends.


For me it all started off early at 5p doing some behind the scenes photos for Trina Merry the body paint artist.  It was like a zoo, we had makeup artist, hairstylist, painters, models and dancers everywhere.  It was pretty hectic and I’m sure a logistics nightmare dealing with so many people but Dez did a great job of keeping everything moving forward.


In the end even I ended up helping to shuttle and escort the models/dancers everywhere before the show started.

Got some pre-show pictures of the Tahira: the Pure Dance Theatre.  Imani and Trina collaborated together to create an exhilarating mashup of living art.  Elizabeth, one of the living statues, looked great with her intricate hairstyle.  I was able to talk to James, the hair stylist, briefly and he came up with the style as a fusion of Victorian and Modernism.


Got a quickshot of Trina + Regard Tang, one of the Makeup Artist.


Not everything went according to plan, due the sound checks taking longer than expected but eventually the Black Lotus Fashion Show kicked off.  Most of the outfits were gothic in nature and fantastic.


Finally the Tahira Dance Troupe kicked off and it was brilliant!  Part of me wanted to just stop bothering with photos and watch them dance.


Afterwards, went to meetup with Josh and the others at the Single Barrel.  A massive line as always, but worth the wait.

We then went around to check out the rest of subZERO and although I was suppose to do more photos of the event I ended up taking photos of us instead.  I did get some fun photos of us, but the girls would beat me for posting them.



I still managed to get a few shots of what was going on.  The Disco Fish Mobile!


Here are the cosplay body paint models portraying DC comic book characters.   I actually drove Wonder Woman over, pushing the speed limit a few times to make it on time. =)


Luckily got some of the blacklight performers as well before the night ended.


To wind down the night we grabbed some food at the Mogo BBQ truck.  We hung out by the crub while waiting.  Now my question is, will she be towed for stopping?


Oh and I bet you’ve never thought of a massive Tofu Burrito before did you?  Well, the verdict is that it’s quite good.


It’ll have to be something I try next time since I got the tacos instead.  I have no picture of the tacos as I’m busy eating them, so here’s a picture of Josh eating his burrito to wrap things up.  (Get it? Burrito, wrap? haha)


You can check out the rest of the photos at the T2L site here.

May 2011 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:
  • Groundwerx continues to get great reviews. In 2011, beautification projects are going to be expanded to portions of Santa Clara Street.
  • Tons of great summer events are coming Downtown this summer, including Music in the Park, SubZero, Starlight Cinemas, Dine Downtown, Friday Farmer's Markets, the Soul Music Festival, Summer Pops Festival, Juneteenth Festival, and San Jose Jazz Festival.
  • San Jose is restricting the number of cannabis collectives citywide to 10 (there are 120 right now).
  • The ground floor of The Agenda will become a new sports bar with TVs and s simple menu for lunch and dinner (this actually opened yesterday). Check out agendarestaurant.com for future info.
  • Muchos! Taqueria will soon have a new Tequila bar and live music and dancing on the weekends.
  • SJEats was a tremendous success and also had a positive impact on restaurants in San Pedro Square.
To read the full newsletter, click here!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

USF Moving to Downtown San Jose

USF is planning to move their regional campus from a 11,000 sqft facility in Cupertino to a larger 14,000 sqft space in Cityview Plaza, right in the middle of Downtown San Jose. They are planning to open the new space in August.

USF Logo

Saturday, June 4, 2011

South Bay Music Swap Tomorrow

If you're a music fan, then this swap meet tomorrow might be right up your alley:


**************************************
"An Urban Swap Meet"

CHECK OUT OUR BOOTH
@ SubZERO FESTIVAL
FRIDAY JUNE 3RD!!

ON SUNDAY JUNE 5th, 2011:

THE REAL DEAL!!!

BUY • SELL • TRADE

Records • Music Gear
Art • Clothes • Furniture
Collectibles • Toys • etc...

Limited Space Available!
To Reserve Your Spot, Contact:
alonso@southbaymusicswap.org

Visit Us Online: http://southbaymusicswap.org/

Connect With Us!
Facebook - http://facebook.com/southbaymusicswap
Twitter - http://twitter.com/sobaymusicswap

The South Bay Music Swap is currently a monthly congregation in the Southern region of the San Francisco Bay Area for underground-minded people of all types to bring forth their best music, items and collectibles to sell to the public. Events in the past have brought vendors of music (including vinyl, cassettes & CDs), gear+instruments, art, clothing, toys and food together with collectors and art enthusiasts in a sunny, industrial outdoor venue, located just outside of Downtown San Jose. One of this event's highlights includes not only the finding of rare and hard-to-find music and items, but live music performances by local artists and DJs, setting a fun, exciting mood for the day's trading activities. Come be a part of a new experience in an underground marketplace!



Downtown San Jose
831 South 5th Street
Sunday, June 5 · 10:00am - 5:00pm

Friday, June 3, 2011

SubZERO / South First Friday Overview

Okay, I lied... one more plug:

South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk + SubZERO Festival June 3rd!
This month's First Friday's art walk is also the 4th Annual SubZERO Festival!

Sean_June2011.jpg
Sean Sczepanik
Henry%20Hand.jpg
Steven Sczepanik
Start off the art walk by parking at South Fourth & San Fernando garage and check out KALEID Gallery's feature exhibit (located on ground level of the garage). Sean & Steven have put together an amazing show not to be missed!

Layers of Age in Monster Land
New installation and paintings by Sean Sczepanik & Steven Sczepanik. An exploration of monsters and cartoons from the imagination, referencing mainly Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, Fright Night, and Hellraiser. Also on view is a display of hands representing fellow artists. Each hand containing a characteristic of each artists’ style.
Artists' Reception: Friday June 3, 7-10pm, free & open to the public
part of the South FIRST FRIDAYS monthly art walk http://www.southfirstfridays.com
Feature exhibition on view through June 25, 2011
KALEID Gallery
88 South Fourth Street
San Jose, CA
info@KALEIDgallery.com / 408-947-1785
http://www.KALEIDgallery.com
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 7pm
Saturday, Noon - 5pm

Then take a short stroll to 2 new Phantom Galleries exhibitions!!

PG_guieu_.jpg
66 South First St.: Defragmentation 66 by Michele Guieu
Defragmentation 66 is an adaptation of the last installation I’ve made in San Diego: Defragmentation: Rearranging Bits and Pieces of Memory. It is an ongoing project and the occasion to reflect on bits and pieces of my memories, as I am recalling/documenting them. The project originated when I was about to leave San Diego after living there for 6 years. I thought about the different times I’ve left a place in my life. Defragmentation 66 is the first installation I am showing in San Jose since I’ve moved and it represents a link between the two towns – and beyond. The installation is on a smaller scale but uses some essential elements featured in the first version of the show: an ensemble of paintings, a painted background and videos. The videos in Defragmentation 66 are new memories and were taken here, in the bay area. The address number where the show is held, 66, is an interesting symbol in my life: the first time I came to the US, that’s the road I travelled on.
Exhibit on view through August 30th. Visible 24/7 from the sidewalk.

Gianfranco_June2011.jpg
95 South Market St.: Roundels sculptures by Gianfranco Paolozzi

"I was looking in the recycle container full of paper from flexo printing presses.
That’s when I felt the passion again: round surfaces screaming to be used. I looked at them changing on the floor of my studio. I had to use my marks, my moments on the surfaces as a sign of me being there.
That’s when the roundels were born." ~Gianfranco
Exhibit on view through August 30th. Visible 24/7 from the sidewalk.

Then make your way over to the SoFA District for the monthly art walk and 4th Annual SubZERO Subculture Festival!


South FIRST FRIDAYS presents the 4th Annual SubZERO Festival
Focused on emerging and present subcultures thriving in our region, SubZERO is a diy, artistically bent, hi/lo-techno mashup where street meets geek. Come downtown on June 3rd to San Jose's SoFA District from 6pm 'til midnight for an inspired evening of arts & culture. In addition to the South FIRST FRIDAYS monthly art walk you'll find outdoor stages of entertainment plus artists, performers & musicians celebrating the indie creative spirit!

FRIDAY JUNE 3, 2011 from 6pm-midnight
SoFA district in downtown San Jose
(on South First Street between San Carlos & Reed Streets)

http://www.SubZEROFestival.com

http://www.facebook.com/subzerofestival

For full information on all the South FIRST FRIDAYS art venues' exhibitions, please visithttp://www.southfirstfridays.com