Looking toward a year of fun
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JANUARY
"Michael Jackson 'The Immortal' World Tour by Cirque du Soleil"
Jan. 10, 7 p.m., Power Balance Pavilion, $50-$175, www.ticketmaster.com
Nothing quite captures the life and times of the late King of Pop than to have his legacy presented as a circus show, especially since it's the quirky gestalt of Cirque du Soleil. Entertainment Weekly calls the melding of avant-garde aerial glitz and Jackson's music and choreography "glittering" and says Jacko fans will "revel" in it. The Los Angeles Times opined that the show is "filled with Vegas cheese," as if that's a bad thing. One highlight: A little person dressed as Bubbles the Chimp serving as a DJ while men dressed to the nines swing on ropes. Did we mention, too, there's a one-legged dancer?
California State Home & Garden Show
Join radio's "Farmer Fred" Hoffman and scores of other experts as they try to educate gardeners of every thumb hue and home remodelers who shake uncontrollably when trying to put together some Ikea furniture in the California State Home & Garden Show Jan. 6-8 at the Convention Center.
Myth Busting
The coolest science geeks around – the Discovery Channel's "MythBusters" – come to the Community Center Theater on Jan. 9. Hope they don't accidentally shoot a cannonball through a suburban home, as they did in the Bay Area last month.
"Lewis Black: In God We Rust"
The comedian whose rants are as incendiary as they are hilarious takes on God, man and the economy Jan. 14 at the Community Center Theater. Hey, what else is there? Word is he might even raise his voice occasionally. -
FEBRUARY
Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts trifecta (Wilco, Oliver Stone, the Chieftains)
Wilco: Feb. 1, sold out; Oliver Stone: 8 p.m. Feb. 3, $17.50-$58; Chieftains: 8 p.m. Feb. 22, $28.50-$68, tickets.mondaviarts.org
Essentially, we're telling you to occupy UC Davis this month. Too bad, really, that this wasn't a one-night tripleheader. The Irish band The Chieftains, celebrating its 50th year, could infuse the crowd with its Celtic spirituality, then the controversial film director Oliver Stone could rail about the conspiracy theories behind "the troubles," then alt-darlings Wilco will further blow the audience's mind with its genre-bending rock. Yes, the Wilco show is sold out. One word for the 99 percent: scalpers. Stone figures to be worth the money by himself. Fresh off documentaries about Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, he is said to be researching a biopic of – we kid not – Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Paula Deen
Will fans shell out hard-earned money to watch a syrupy Southern dowager whip up scrumptiously sclerotic gastronomic confections? Of course. She'll do live cooking demos (with a big screen behind her) and take questions at the Sacramento Community Center Theater on Feb. 3.
Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa
The oddly named son of the oddly popular '60s musical icon shreds his guitar on stage at the Crest Theatre on Feb. 18, no doubt saving daddy's favorite "Yellow Snow" for the obligatory encore. No word on whether Moon Unit will be the opening act.
Big Time Rush
Dubbed "the Monkees for millennials," this made-for-TV (Nickelodeon) band consists of four hot teen boys who, in their TV persona, move from Minnesota to L.A., trading hockey sticks for guitars. Hilarity ensues. Piercing screams from 'tween fans will ensue Feb. 20 at the Sacramento Community Center Theater. -
MARCH
Lady Antebellum "Own the Night World Tour"
7 p.m. March 29, Power Balance Pavilion, $37-$57, www.ticketmaster.com
Straddling the line between melody and melodrama without plunging into a well of simpering pathos has always been this country band's recipe for crossover success. Their latest album, "Own the Night," has owned the charts, finding just enough twang and grit for country traditionalists without abandoning pop sensibilities for the adult-contemporary crowd. Will their recent chart- topper "Just a Kiss" and crowd favorite "Need You Now" resonate in that echo chamber known as P.B. Pav? Singers Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott no doubt will emote enthusiastically enough to cough up a lung.
North American Handmade Bicycle Show
What's billed as the largest gathering of custom bicycle builders in the world comes to the convention center March 2-4. The traveling show, which started in 2005, was held last year in Austin, Texas.
Wine & Wings
We've heard of social butterflies, but social raptors? In Loomis on March 3, the High Hand Conservancy, Nursery and Art Gallery is hosting "Wings & Wine." Sip and munch wings while owls, bald eagles and other wildlife mingle among you to benefit a wildlife rescue program.
Jackie Evancho Live
Come see Evancho, an 11-year-old classical singing diva from Pittsburgh who was just another prodigy until she appeared on "America's Got Talent," finishing second. She's at the Community Center Theater on March 28. -
APRIL Kings vs. Lakers
7:30 p.m. April 26, Power Balance Pavilion, $10-$340
It's the Lakers. It's the last game of the truncated NBA regular season. And, yeah, it could turn out to be the final game ever for the Sacramento Kings, if the new-arena soap opera doesn't unfold to our city's liking. Either way, you don't want to miss this chance to jeer Kobe Bryant and company. Maybe new coach Mike Brown will get the memo from Phil Jackson and say something disparaging about our two-cow town to enliven things. This lone 2012 home game against the Lakers is the main A-list tussle, since the Miami Heat aren't headed this way. That March game against defending champ Dallas? Meh.
"Titanic – The Musical"
Starting April 13, the Davis Musical Theater Company stages "Titanic – The Musical," in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking. We hope the play fares better.
"Barrymore"
Starting March 28 and running through May 6, the Sacramento Theatre Company presents "Barrymore," a one-man show on the thespian who was the George Clooney and Brad Pitt of his day but now is better known as Drew's grandpappy.
"Million Dollar Quartet"
Sounds like the start to a joke: So Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins walk into a studio … Actually, it's "Million Dollar Quartet," April 17-22 at the California Musical Theatre. -
MAY
Hangtown Motocross
Speaking of happenings, about 30,000 gearheads will descend on Rancho Cordova's Prairie City State Vehicular Recreation Area on May 19 for the annual pro motocross event, where spectators get as dusty as the riders.
"Wicked"
May 23 through June 17, Sacramento Community Center Theater, $97-$137, www.sacramentoconventioncenter.com
In the stratosphere of wildly popular Broadway musicals, "Wicked" has ascended to the heights of "Rent" and "Phantom of the Opera." Before now, the closest the touring company has come has been San Francisco, where even those urban sophisticates went gaga over the story of the machinations in Oz before Dorothy went into that drug-induced – uh, sorry, tornado-induced – dream. So what if the critics were mixed on "Wicked?" It's proved review-proof. This character study (with hummable tunes) into the knotted psyche of the Wicked Witch of the West has become a pop culture reference point, even showing up as a plot device on "Glee." If you don't want to attend, it just proves you're green with envy.
Whole Earth Festival
Long before the Occupy UC Davis folks put up tents, neo-hippies and oh-so-natural Davisites flocked to the Whole Earth Festival (May 11-13) on the campus quad, featuring endless drum circles and vegan delights on a stick.
Sacramento Music Festival
OK, so they now call it the more nebulous "Music" festival, but most of us still know it as the Jazz Jubilee. (The website still has "jazz" in the URL.) By whatever name, it's a Sacramento tradition over the long Memorial Day weekend. -
JUNE
"Mel Ramos: 50 Years of Superheroes, Nudes and Other Pop Delights"
June 2 through Oct. 3, Crocker Art Museum, $10, crockertxscityofsacramento.org/tickets
Absurdly provocative or leeringly voyeuristic, Mel Ramos' modernistic work stimulates the intellect, especially for those whose intellect is located just below the navel. But isn't that the premise behind advertising – and Ramos' parody on sexist advertising – to manipulate via illusory images? The native Sacramento son, who studied with Wayne Thiebaud, has been embraced by feminist critics for his work, such as "Lola Cola #5," showing a well-endowed nude blonde immersed in a soft-drink glass. Pop humor also shines through, as in "Candy #3," in which a peeled Oh Henry bar wrapper reveals a topless Angelina Jolie.
Sacramento Pride Parade & Festival
On June 2, head to the annual Gay Pride parade and festival, which draws about 10,000 to the Capitol mall.
Sacramento French Film Festival
Don a beret and get to work on growing that intellectual-looking goatee, you Francophiles. During June 15-24 at the Crest, see classics by Godard and Demy and new dramas and comedies from French cinema.
Sacramento Celebrity Chef Challenge
Each year, chefs from Sacramento's top restaurants vie for supremacy in a charity cookoff (June 23 at the InAlliance office in Sacramento). Chefs are given five ingredients and must create. Judges this year will be attendees. -
JULY
California State Fair "Big Fun 2012"
July 12-29, Cal Expo, $6-10, www.bigfun.org
Fair officials have yet to release the theme for the 2012 extravaganza – you'll have to wait until May – but the essence of the fair every year can be gleaned from the name of its website – "Big Fun." Ah, yes, deep-fried dough round as a hubcap, and breaded, fried sticks of butter longer than a billy club. Presumably, the big thinkers with the fair have other things in mind beyond attendees' stomachs. But let's be real: The fair could go themeless one year, and it wouldn't matter; you'd still go. It's the fair. You've been inculcated since toddlerhood to want to go.
"Camping With Henry and Tom"
What happens when Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and President Warren G. Harding get together on a camping trip? Find out July 6 through Aug. 5 at the Sacramento Studio Theatre's production, based on actual events.
Tour of the California Alps Death Ride
The Amgen Tour of California may have snubbed Northern California (north of Santa Rosa) this year, but the annual Death Ride in Markleeville on July 14 is a big event on the cycling calendar. You'll gain a total of 30,000 feet if you do the five mountain passes.
Eppie's Great Race
For 39 years, Sacramento sportswomen and -men have taken on this unusual triathlon – run, bike, kayak – on the American River Parkway. This year's race is July 21. -
AUGUST
"Red Hot and Blown"
The Crocker Art Museum's exhibit celebrates the 50th anniversary of America's studio-glass movement, featuring work by Tacoma, Wash., native Dale Chihuly and others. It runs through Sept. 23.
"How I Learned To Drive," a play by Paula Vogel
July 18 through Aug. 12, Capital Stage, $16-$28, www.capstage.org.
Good thing the edgy theater troupe Capital Stage moved from the Delta King to new midtown digs, because this 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Vogel might have capsized the old paddlewheeler. This is a serious examination of some serious themes, most notably child sexual abuse but, strangely, not without funny moments. In other words, it doesn't come off like a melodramatic Lifetime Network TV movie. Vogel has said she conceived the play as " 'Lolita' told from Lolita's point of view." Capital Stage had good timing picking "Drive," what with child sexual abuse in the news (Penn State) and the play being revived on Broadway in February.
Sacramento Banana Festival
Watch where you step at Land Park on Aug. 10, or you might do a comedic pratfall. Yes, it's the third Banana Festival, a tribute to that potassium-rich fruit. Many bananas will be harmed in making shakes, bread and soups.
High-Hand Tomato Gathering
Some might say Aug. 18-19 is too early to celebrate the tomato crop in the area, but not for the folks at High-Hand in Loomis. Modeled on Carmel's successful festival, there will be heirloom tastings and a growers contest for largest tomato. -
SEPTEMBER
Gold Rush Days
Labor Day Weekend, Aug. 31-Sept. 3, Old Sacramento, free, www.sacramentogoldrushdays.com
Sure, you can take to the river or cruise on up to Tahoe to soak up the unofficial end of summer. But wouldn't you rather spend a few days walking the dusty streets of Old Sac, circa 1850, dodging mock gun battles, grooving to banjo ditties, listening to one of the 22,000 Mark Twain impersonators in the U.S., and raising a fist at the women's suffrage rally? Of course you would. The best thing about Gold Rush Days is that you leave your irony at the swingin' saloon doors and you can drop your g's while speakin' with impunity without comin' off like some freakin' poseur.
American River Music Festival
Down on the river near Coloma on Sept. 14-16, you can groove and grind to the best of Americana, west of Austin. Last year's lineup included Band of Heathens, James McMurtry and Blame Sally.
Chicken Festival
The weirdness of the Fair Oaks Chicken Festival (Sept. 15) comes from the juxtaposition of oohing and ahhing at the feathered fowl afoot but also smelling the barbecue scent of said birds. There will be a band, dancing and a run.
Pirate Festival
The Garden Highway along the banks of the Sacramento River will be transformed into a pirate's lair Sept. 22-23 at the Seafarer's Marketplace & Pirate Festival. You can talk like a pirate and collect booty like one, too. -
OCTOBER
Apple Hill Harvest
Oct. 6-7 and Oct. 13-14, free, Highway 50, Camino
Few libations (nonalcoholic division) cut into that autumnal chill more than a hearty cup of hot apple cider. Gee, you might be able to find some at Apple Hill, an expanse of orchards and produce stands that rakes in about $20 million a year in sales. Clearly, apple picking is big business, but they still make it seem wholesome, small-town and noncommercial.
Cool Patch Pumpkins Corn Maze
Oct. 20-21 and Oct. 27-28, 6585 Milk Farm Road, Dixon, $10, www.coolpatchpumpkins.com
There's nothing small about the Cool Patch corn maze, just off I-80 in Dixon. At 45 acres, the maze has the official Guinness stamp as a world-record labyrinth. People have ventured from halfway around the world to get lost like lab rats in this tricky thing.
Golden State Street Rod Nationals
The noise will be deafening at Cal Expo on Oct. 5-7 when muscle cars, street rods and all makes and models of vintage automobiles rumble in.
Urban Cow Half Marathon
No, cows will not be running, though that might make it even more interesting. Thousands of runners will plod 13.1 miles through the streets of Sacramento on Oct. 7.
Pooch Parade
The Midtown Business Association will hold its annual Halloween parade on Oct. 27 for pets whose owners think it's the height of cuteness to dress them in costumes. -
NOVEMBER
Run To Feed the Hungry 5K 10K
Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22), east Sacramento, $35, www.runtofeedthehungry.org
Can 28,000 people be wrong? Yes, in some cases. But not when it comes to the region's most popular participant sporting event, if you insist on calling it that. Some people do actually run (and race) the annual event that benefits the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services. But most flock to east Sac to help the less fortunate, get in a nice preprandial stroll before another gluttonous turkey dinner and add another T-shirt to their collection. You cannot call yourself a true Sacramentan without participating in the Run To Feed the Hungry at least once. And once you do, you're liable to come back for seconds.
Ice skating
The Westfield Downtown Plaza Ice Rink will opens its 21st season at St. Rose of Lima Park, Seventh and K streets, on ... well, it's weather-dependent. But mark it for the second week of November.
The Causeway Classic
The 59th football meeting between Sacramento State and UC Davis – and first as members of the Big Sky Conference – will be played Nov. 17 in Davis.
Black Friday
Circle Nov. 23 and start lining up in front of your favorite big-box store. Then again, after the 2011 frenzy of stores opening on Thanksgiving, it may turn into a Black Thursday. -
DECEMBER
"The Nutcracker"
Dec. 14-23, Sacramento Community Center Theater, $26-66, www.sacballet.org
Come the apocalypse, there still will be "The Nutcracker" each December. It's that unkillable. The mice might be portrayed by post-nuke cockroaches, but this holiday tradition will endure. Each December, the Sacramento Ballet performs with the verve and freshness that which some might consider a perfunctory yearly exercise in sweetness. The Sacramento Philharmonic is dutifully on hand to fill the theater with joyful noise. You know Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Sal from Billings are going to want to see it. It's either this or "A Christmas Carol," and we say, go for the aestheticism of dancers in tights.
California International Marathon
Those hoping for their Boston Marathon qualifying time should circle Dec. 2. That's the 29th running of the CIM, from the foot of the Folsom Dam to the steps of the state Capitol.
Christmas Tree Lighting
The annual Capitol Christmas tree lighting, featuring 10,000 LED lights, has traditionally occurred during the first week of December. Energy prices permitting, it will happen again in 2012.
"The Art of Norman Rockwell"
Wholesome Americana will be oozing when the Crocker Art Museum exhibits original oil paintings of Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers, as well as works not usually seen outside of The Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachussetts. The exhibit opens Nov. 10 and runs through Feb. 3, 2013.
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