Things to do in Sacramento

People Magazine staff writer Oliver Jones will be at the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis tonight (April 4) for a reading of his essay "The Last Time I Had Zinfandel," part of the book "The Time of My Life: Writers on the Heartbreak, Hormones and Debauchery of the Prom."

Jones, who was written for magazines including Details and Premiere and is a past winner of the Glasscock Poetry Prize, will be joined by poet and UC Davis English and creative writing professor Joe Wenderoth, whose work has been widely anthologized.

Language and topics might be not be suitable for some listeners. Time permitting, there will be a Q&A after the event (an open mic at the gallery begins at 9 p.m.).

John Natsoulas Gallery is located at 521 First St. in Davis. Event starts at 8 p.m.

-- Tim Swanson

Maybe it's not so much of a drag getting old.

The Rolling Stones have announced new dates for its "50 and Counting" tour - celebrating the band's 50th anniversary - and they include stops at Oakland's Oracle Arena on May 5 and San Jose's HP Pavilion on May 8. (What? No Sleep Train Arena?)

Front man Mick Jagger, who turns 70 this summer, will be there along with guitarists Keith Richards, Ron Wood and drummer Charlie Watts. Former Stones member Mick Taylor will also share the stage.

"'50 and Counting' has been pretty amazing so far," Jagger said in a statement. We did a few shows in London and New York last year ... and had such a good time that we thought ... let's do some more. It's a good show. Lots of the classic stuff everyone wants to hear ... with a few gems tucked in here and there."

The last major Stones tour was its "A Bigger Bang" show that ran August 2005 to August 2007.

"50 and Counting" tickets for Oakland, San Jose and other cities go on sale Monday (April 8) at 10 a.m. local time and will be available at rollingstones.com

-- Tim Swanson

Bogey and Bergman will always have Paris, and film buffs will always have "Casablanca."

Round up the usual suspects, get the tub of popcorn and settle into a screening Wednesday of the 1942 Academy Award winner at selected Sacramento-area theaters.

The showings are part of the Cinemark Classics Series.

When: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Cinemark theaters in Elk Grove, Rocklin, Roseville and Sacramento.

Cost: $7-10

Information: http://www.cinemark.com/

Singer-songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips appears tonight at the Miner's Foundry in Nevada City.

If you don't know the native of Stockton from his successful Grant-Lee Buffalo, you might know him as the troubadour on the "Gilmore Girls."

In his new album, "Walking in the Green Corn," Phillips sings about his search into his Native American lineage. His show tonight features his instrumental versatility and his emotionally rich lyrics.

When: 8 p.m. tonight

Where: Miners Foundry, 325 Spring St., Nevada City

Cost: $18 online until 4 p.m.; $22 at the door

Information or tickets: (530) 265-5462; http://minersfoundry.org

The kendama craze in Sacramento continues with back-to-back events set for this weekend. For those not keeping score at home - or don't spend much time with young people - the kendama is a traditional ball-and-cup toy from Japan that's become all the rage locally. In this recent story from The Bee, local shops reported selling more than 200 kendamas a week and waiting lists have become the norm in some cases.

One quick observation: kendama-mania is very much a Sacramento phenomenon right now. I visited San Francisco's Japantown over the weekend and didn't see any kendamas in the toy shops. For all the kids eating and shopping with their folks, none of them seem to be carrying a kendama either. Check out any Sacramento schoolyard these days and it's the total opposite. Kendamas are everywhere.

Meanwhile, the SacKendama club has reinvigorated its Facebook page. Be sure to "like" this page if you're interested in keeping up with the latest kendama news and local events.

Sacramento's Tower Theatre is rolling out the red carpet Thursday night (March 28) for a special screening of Tyler Perry's new movie "Temptation," which stars Cordova High School and UC Berkeley graduate Robbie Jones, who will be in attendance.

In the film, Jones plays Harley, an entrepreneur who has an affair with Judith ("Friday Night Light's" Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a married young woman who works for a matchmaking service.

While Jones' resume includes TV shows such as "90210" and "One Tree Hill" among other projects, "Temptation" marks his highest profile film role to date.

Look for a profile of Jones from The Bee's film critic Carla Meyer in Friday's Ticket section, in which he talks about working with filmmaker Perry as well as the other actors in the movie, including reality-TV star Kim Kardashian and pop-singer Brandy Norwood.

Tonight's 7:30 p.m. special screening at the Tower, hosted by radio station KSFM, is invite only (the station has been giving away tickets to listeners), however "Temptation" opens in Sacramento-area theaters Friday.

-- Tim Swanson

Photo credit: Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Robbie Jones in "Temptation" from Lionsgate Films.

Bows & Arrows tonight taps into the Bay Area's "New Song Movement" with a three acts.

On the billing is Grex (pictured), which synthesizes indie and blues rock, modern jazz and contemporary structuralist composition, and features Karl A.D. Evangelista, M. Rei Scampvia and Robert Lopez.

Rounding out the evening will be singer/songwriter Chris Peck and LURK, a one-man band from Davis.

Evangelista says the New Song Movement is "meant to represent a recent groundswell of music in the Bay Area that synthesizes popular song and experimental concepts. This is a relatively new phenomenon (originating at Oakland's Mills College) but it's been gaining momentum."

Where: Bows & Arrows is at 1815 19th St., Sacramento.

When: 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $5

Info: http://www.grexsounds.com

Friday night at Sacramento's Colonial Theatre, songs will be sung, organs will be extracted (on screen), and a cult-horror film director and star will interact with fans.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman and actor/writer/performer Terrance Zdunich will accompany their horror rock-opera films "Repo! The Genetic Opera" and "The Devil's Carnival, Episode I." The films will be presented as a double feature.

The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre, 3522 Stockton Blvd. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here. Zdunich will sing a song from "Devil's Carnival," and he and Bousman -- who also directed the second, third and fourth "Saw" films -- will hold a Q&A with audience members.

"Repo!" involves rock songs, widespread human-organ failure and a corporation that finances organ replacement and then repossesses the organs of those who can't cough up cash for payments.

"Repo!" was (barely) released by Lionsgate in 2008, despite one of the more intriguing casts of the past decade, with Paul Sorvino, Paris Hilton and pop opera star Sarah Brightman among its actors.

But the film found new life through midnight screenings and "shadowcasts" -- actors performing along with the film a la "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Amber's Sweets, a performance-troupe offshoot of the Sacramento Horror Film Festival, has held shadowcasts at the Colonial.

Bousman, reached by phone Thursday, said he was sure "Repo!" would be a hit before its studio release.

"When anyone makes a movie, they think, deep down, 'This is going to do amazing, this is going to be big,'" he said. "I thought it was going to be 'Les Mis' or 'Chicago.' I was coming off 'Saw.' We were kind of slapped in the face when it was released in four theaters."

Rather than let it drop, Bousman and crew toured with it, and the film reached "cult classic" status within a few years. 'Rocky' took almost 15 years" to do that, Bousman points out. "But now we have social media."

Bousman and Zdunich made their subsequent, horror rock opera, "The Devil's Carnival" (also starring Sorvino, along with sean Patrick Flanery and "90210" actress Jessica Lowndes) independent of a studio.

They took the 60-minute first episode around the country. Sacramento actress Stephanie Hydenacted as mistress of ceremonies during the tour, Bousman said. Tonight's program will include a preview of "Carnival" episode 2.

PHOTO: LIONSGATE

Spring arrives today with a new spin on gardening at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at the San Mateo Event Center.

Centerpiece for the mammoth show - the third largest flower show in the nation - is the world's largest succulent globe.

This green planet fits this year's theme, "Gardening Makes the World Go Round." Created by the show's staff and Succulent Gardens nursery in Castroville, this living planet spins at a 23-degree angle - just like Earth - but completes a rotation in 30 seconds, not 24 hours.

This is no garden-variety container planting. The 14-foot-tall globe weighs 2,800 pounds and measures more than 32 feet in circumference. It took more than 30,000 succulent cuttings to create its surface. They've been growing in place for more than seven months.

In addition, the event showcases 18 internationally themed gardens and offers 90 seminars and workshops. More than 300 vendors are part of the marketplace. There also is a large activity area for children. Celebrity chefs will demonstrate garden to table recipes.

The San Mateo Event Center is located at 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Admission: $20; seniors, age 65 and up, $18; children 16 and under admitted free; parking, $12.

Questions? Click on www.sfgardenshow.com or call (888) 695-0888.