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Local Singer Makes A Career Out Of Having A Rare Voice Type

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 20:31:00 GMT

By Jennifer Reason

Contralto is the rarest female voice type, with only 1% of all woman falling into that category. Able to sing lower, and with greater warmth and presence in the lower register than altos and mezzos, true contraltos are hard to come by. Sara Coudin is one. After studying at the SF Conservatory and Yale, she has made a greatly successful career as a contralto, in opera, concert and oratorio work. Performances include multiple appearances at The Met, as well as the San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and many more. And she lives right here in Northern California!

In this feature we learn all about what it is to be a contralto and why Sara believes opera to be one of the most powerful art forms. We also enjoy multiple examples of her singing.

Local Artist Feature October 30th, 2026

Remembering Patrick Stewart’s Trip to Nevada City

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 20:47:00 GMT

By Jen Picard

Patrick Stewart, best known for his work in “Star Trek,” the “X-Men,” and Shakespeare, died Thursday, Oct. 29.

The actor visited Nevada City in early 2010 for the world premiere of “Nature Propelled,” a film he narrated, at the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival. He spoke with former Insight Host Jeffrey Callison about his work on “Star Trek” and “X-Men,” as well as his thoughts on being knighted by the British government a few weeks prior to his appearance.

This interview was originally recorded Jan. 14, 2010 and has been edited for clarity.

Jeffrey Callison: How did you get involved with this film, “Nature Propelled?”

Patrick Stewart: Well, it's something of a long story, but I'll try to make it as brief as possible and as entertaining as possible. I was invited three or four years ago to be the president of a jury here in Los Angeles. There was one film in the competition… that particularly impressed me. A film directed by a man I didn't know called Seth Warren and it dealt with his adventures in a vehicle, an old truck that he had adapted to run on used restaurant oil. Seth took this vehicle all over the Southwestern United States and into Central America.

And in every town he would set up his stall and he would speak with school children or talk to town councilmembers or to anyone who is interested about the environment and particularly the issues of vehicle pollution and what he was doing to try to advance the cause of an alternative form of energy for vehicles.

But what charmed me about this documentary was that Seth and his friends … would take time off and sometimes make detours of hundreds of miles in order to unstrap their canoes from the top of their vehicle and do crazy things like going over 200 ft waterfalls and so forth. They were as adventurous and enthusiastic a group of people I've ever met.

I used my influence as a president of the jury to see to it that this film won first prize in the event. And as a result, I got to meet Seth Warren, liked him immensely and his attitude. His manner is a little bit eccentric and what appealed to me was that he started straight out by addressing me not as Mr. Stewart or Patrick, but calling me Stewie. Now, nobody had called me Stewie since I was at school. And he continues to do that except he's now added my new title in the front of it. We became friends and when he told me he was working on a second film, I asked if he would like me to narrate the film, which I have done.

Jeffrey Callison: Have you been to Nevada City before?

Patrick Stewart: I have not. I lived in Southern California for many many years and I know the area well. In fact, I was skiing only two weeks ago at Alpine Meadows just over a hill from Nevada City. But I've never been in the town before, but everyone tells me what a delightful place it is. And I'm looking forward to the two and a half days I'm spending there.

Jeffrey Callison: You're now Sir Patrick Stewart. Does anyone call you, Sir Patrick?

Patrick Stewart: Well, one of the nice things about being back in Los Angeles is that everyone here seems to have much more enthusiasm for using my new title than they did in England.

I think for so long everybody has known me there as a simple Pat Stewart. But here in my hotel and elsewhere I find the people seem to enjoy using the title. It still sits a little uncomfortably. It's only two weeks since this was announced. But I'm immensely proud of this distinction. I look on it as something which is an appreciation not only on myself, but on my colleagues, the companies that I work for, and the people of the British theatre all together because we are still continuing to do outstanding work on stage in front of live audiences every night throughout the UK, and it makes me very proud that I and the theatre should be recognised in this way.

Jeffrey Callison: When you were growing up in a small town in Yorkshire in Northern England, did you know then that you were going to be a professional actor?

Patrick Stewart: Oh, no. Not at all. You see, no one ever went into the acting profession in the community that I grew up in. A lot of people performed, but it was amateur theatricals. It wasn't until I was 16 or 17 that I decided that this is where I wanted to try and make a career.

Before that, I was just content to be working with the local amateur group building quite a reputation for myself as a teenage actor, but that finally wasn't enough and I was fortunate to be given a place at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School which was and is one of the premier training institutions for actors in the United Kingdom.

I was very fortunate because my family were poor, they couldn't afford to send me away to college. It was very expensive, but I was very lucky to be given a um uh what was called a county major scholarship to study. I did my two years of prep and then almost immediately went into the theatre and that was 52 years ago and I haven't really stopped working since then.

Jeffrey Callison: Well, you were doing well for yourself as a stage actor in England. But there was a big jump from that to starring in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” How did that come about?

Patrick Stewart: Wasn't it a big jump? Yes, it took everyone by surprise. No one more so than myself. It was a freak happening.

I used to come to the United States, especially to Southern California, to lecture and hold workshops and master classes on Shakespeare and acting and dramatic literature and so forth. And I was staying here in Los Angeles with a very good friend of mine, Professor David Rhodes of the University of California.

He was giving a public lecture and he asked me if I would help him illustrate it by reading some extracts from the plays he would be talking about, and signed up for that course of lectures was a man called Robert Justman… who had been an original producer on the first series of “Star Trek.”

He went into the studio the next morning and said to Gene, "I've found the captain." Gene was not impressed. He met me the next day and he was singularly unimpressed. And in fact, at some point I think a memo went round to all of the producers and casting people saying, "I do not want this man in my series. Will you please stop making any more references to him?"

Well, Bob was very tenacious and later a new producer joined the production called Rick Berman and Rick also became a champion for me. And the end result was that to my utter and complete astonishment, I found myself cast in an American science fiction syndicated TV series to play the captain of the enterprise not even just the you know the token Brit on the crew but to be leading the crew and I fully expected I wouldn't make it through the pilot episode.

I thought they'd wake up to the lunacy of what they had done in casting me, a middle-aged bald British Shakespearean actor, and I would be packing my bags and on my way home.

It didn't quite work out that way. And seven years and 100 and I think 78 episodes later we were a very well-established series and my career and my life had been utterly transformed.

Jeffrey Callison: Well, along with “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” the TV seasons, the movies, you also starred in the three “X-Men” movies. Is this just a coincidence? Or were you a fan of science fiction, superheroes and so on when you were young?

Patrick Stewart: Well, I was. As a child, I was a fan. My favorite comic when I was very young was one called “The Eagle,” which I don't think was ever published in the United States and Dan Dare was my hero and then later on I was to read H. G. Wells and Isaac Asimov and Arthur C.Clark and so forth, but never thinking that these things that were pure escapism for me would take over such a large part of my professional life.

Of course, I'm not the only one. British actors continually crop up in these high-profile big-budget science-fiction movies. There's Sir Ian McKellen who has appeared with me in the “X-Men” movies, Brian Cox, another actor from England.

I think it might have something to do with the fact that we all have had so much stage experience. That the heightened world, because it's not entirely naturalistic of science fiction is something that we're very comfortable with and we're able to make natural while at the same time existing within this somewhat epic world of science fiction. That's my theory.

‘To be or not to be, that is the question.’ Longtime Nevada County director bows out with Shakespeare

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:52:00 GMT

By Vicki Gonzalez

After nearly four decades, a Nevada County theater director and teacher is preparing for his final curtain call.

John Deaderick has been a longtime fixture in the foothills theater scene, first as an actor in local productions and then as a director and teacher mentoring generations of students at Colfax High School and Sierra College.

Deaderick had already retired once in 2015, which he talked about with then-Insight Host Beth Ruyak, but his road kept going.

Now, Deaderick is closing his illustrious career with a production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” at The Nevada Theatre in Nevada City, which is running through Nov. 8.

Deaderick joined Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez to discuss his swan song.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

You took the long and winding road to retirement. What drew you to the theater initially?

I think there was something about the need to express oneself that's just endemic in human beings. And there's also the collaborative aspect; it's a group event. The theater is interactive, it's interpersonal, and involves relationships. You have relationships with the playwright, the character, with your fellow actors, with the audience. It really binds you to people, and it's a way of bringing people into something that they may not know they are going to. The purpose of the actor is to take the audience somewhere else; let's go somewhere together. And that really appealed to me very much.

What has it been like working with so many young people and mentoring generations of thespians?

I love the fact that you can witness someone grow. I love watching someone take information and apply it in their own life. Most of my students over the decades have not really been actors, but there's something in training for the theater that can benefit whatever it is that you do. You can acquire poise. You can acquire a greater insight into your own emotional responses. You can acquire a sense of being open in relationship with others. Theater training can provide all that and more.

John Deaderick during his time as a teacher at Colfax High School in 2015.

Shakespeare's “Hamlet” is your swan song. Why did you choose this play?

I've had a relationship with this play since I was a kid. When I was a kid in the ‘50s, I was an avid collector of Classics Illustrated comic books, and I had the ‘Hamlet’ comic book. The story really touched me in a way. And then when I was 18, I saw a production — a film production — with Anthony Hopkins as Claudius and Nicol Williamson as Hamlet. It just really lit a fire under me, such that then I was involved at university in an English department production of “Hamlet,” and I played Hamlet. Then many years later I directed “Hamlet” in 1994 in Nevada City at the Nevada Theatre — the same theater where I'm doing it now — as the first equity production for the now-defunct Foothill Theatre Company.

I always wanted to get back to it, always wanted to just try this a different way. Let me discover something more. Any great work has layers. It has different shades of meaning that you can find. There can be different productions of “Hamlet” that are all good and valid, but they can be very different from one another because you can find a different perspective on looking at it. I wanted to find that perspective and bring that to an audience today.

What's different with this iteration of “Hamlet?”

It's a modern dress production. I've cast more women. In Shakespeare's script, there are only two, and my script has five. I've trimmed it a bit to make it a more reasonable running time. It is Shakespeare's longest play, and if you don't touch it and leave every word, it's going to be over four-and-a-half hours long.

Every great play like “Hamlet” comes in with baggage. It comes in with inherited performance tradition. And sometimes those cloud our way of looking at, well, “what does this really say to me now?” “How is this relevant in 2026?” “What is the truth I can bring out that works for the audience of today?” So, I think that's what we're trying to do. I've said to people about this, “you think you know Hamlet? Well, think again.”

You are retiring from teaching and directing, but would you ever return to the stage as an actor?

I would return to the stage as an actor in the right project. I've said to people, “the first thing is I have to love the project. I have to love the people I'm working with. Those are the two criteria that I need." I would like something tidy like playing King Lear, for example, but in terms of directing and taking on the mantle of a big, big show like this, I just would rather not do that again. I'm happy to do something small.

How would you describe the state of theater in the foothills?

I think it's excellent. I think it's vital. There are a lot of great people involved. My cast is superlative, and I hand-picked everybody. I don't necessarily believe in auditions. Somebody can come in audition really well but not give you the performance you want, or somebody doesn't audition well but they're going to be stellar on stage. These are people I know, some of them are former students, many of whom I've worked with in other productions over the years.

I have a terrific Hamlet played by Danny McCammon; a great Claudius played by Micah Cone; my Ophelia, Iona Swift, is fabulous; Gertrude is Michaela King. These people are good, they're solid, and they're really committed to the program and making this really something quite extraordinary.

Since you wear so many hats, did being an actor early in your career help lead you down the path to becoming a director?

Unquestionably, because I was working decades ago with a wonderful director named Diane Fetterly, who’s since passed, in Nevada City at the Foothill Theatre Company watching her direct, and having her then put her faith in me. And then she said, “maybe I could get you a job at Sierra College?" That was in 1985. I really was baptized by fire in a sense, tossed into the deep end and learned how to swim. I learned from watching, from listening, from acting. And then it just was kind of a natural fit to then direct after that.

Are any emotions popping up, given this is going to be your last tour — until it’s not?

Are you trying to get me to cry on the radio? Yes, it is bittersweet, but I’m overjoyed to be doing this. I love doing this. I love working in the process. I love my actors. I love how they come together and support one another. I love their commitment to just make this really valid, real and convincing.

Violinist from Belfast Makes A Life Here With Many Prominent Local Ensembles

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 20:34:00 GMT

By Jennifer Reason

Naomi Rogers-Hefley was born in Belfast, and grew up playing musical instruments her father invented. She eventually came to study at the Royal College of Music in London, after which she spent two decades playing with French and British ensembles and touring Europe. Eventually though, life brought her here to the valley to make music with us! Years into living here, she is now a valued member of many regional ensembles, like the well-established baroque ensemble Sinfonia Spirituosa. In this feature we enjoy several recordings with that group, in addition to Naomi's thoughts on the value of improvisation and teaching!

Local Artist Feature October 23rd, 2026

Composer Completes Over 600 Works for Orchestra and Ensemble

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 21:08:00 GMT

By Jennifer Reason

Brian Adam McCune does it all- composing, orchestrating and arranging. Impressively, he's got 600+ completed works for orchestra, chamber, and ensemble and
300+ performances across international stages. And, he does it across many genres- from classical orchestral music, to video games and film, to even Green Day's punk rock set for the symphony. (And they came to see the show!) In this feature we get to know all about his life in music, learn a bit about how all those career avenues differ, and of course also enjoy some gorgeous recordings.

Local Artist Feature October 16th, 2026

Welcome Reno City FC: Nevada’s newest soccer team

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:42:00 GMT

By Vicki Gonzalez

Sacramento has long been considered a dedicated soccer town, with Republic FC remaining a league powerhouse and a new stadium going up in Sacramento’s Railyards neighborhood.

But across the border in Nevada, Reno is no stranger to “the beautiful game.”

For four seasons, the “Biggest Little City in the World” had a team of its own — Reno 1868 FC — which folded due to financial troubles during the pandemic, but the spirit of soccer never faded in the region.

Last year the United Soccer League announced that a team was coming back to Northern Nevada. In September that team’s new name was unveiled — Reno City FC — along with its crest, an orange octagon containing a capital “R”, flanked by two brown mustangs.

Along with a new identity, a new home for Reno City is also in the works. The team plans to build a 6,000-seat stadium as part of a larger entertainment district along Kietzke Lane.

The City of Reno’s planning commission recently voted 4-1 in favor of granting a conditional use permit for the project, which still needs to clear a full city council vote in November, and the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Commission in December.

Reno City CEO Wendy Damonte spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about what the road ahead looks like to bring a team back to the Silver State by 2028.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Looking back at the former soccer team, Reno 1868 FC, how popular was it in Northern Nevada?

It was extremely popular. The average attendance was about 4,000 fans in a baseball stadium. If you've been a fan of soccer in the United States for a while, you’ve been going to games in football stadiums and in baseball stadiums, you know in those locations it wasn't ideal. The field was off-kilter to the stands to make the field fit. And yet, 4,000 people still showed up weekly to support their team — we know for a fact that it was successful.

The pandemic shut it down for several different reasons, but it wasn’t for a lack of community support. And then during the World Cup this year, we had more than 20 watch parties and 20,000 people showed up to watch the World Cup with us. We know that soccer is alive and well in the “Biggest Little City.”

The fan base is there, but bringing a team back is not a simple process. What needs to happen for Reno City FC to become a reality?

You know, we're going to stay the course. We are local people doing this for locals. We have done outreach all over Northern Nevada communities since the very beginning. I've been working on this for about five-and-a-half years, so I am steadfast to this project. We are not going anywhere, which is something that we certainly heard during our community listening sessions.

But years ago, one of the first things I did was I got community leaders in one room. The university was there, City of Reno councilmembers, Sparks councilmembers, Washoe County commissioners, everyone who had a big stake in Northern Nevada was in that room. I said, "am I crazy, or do you really think this is going to be successful?" Every single person raised their hand and said, "we are ready for something new." Soccer is the growing sport here in the U.S. and we believe that this will be successful.

When we finally bought the land, that was when the community realized, "they're really going to do this." We bought nearly 30 acres in the heart of Reno right along the freeway. Everyone could see it, which was really important because if you don't see it every day, you maybe forget what's happening, but 130,000 people drive by our location every single day. They got to see the old Jones West Ford car dealership torn down. That created more of a reality that this was really going to happen.

We talked to more than a thousand community members about the team name, the colors, the crest, what was important to them, and that's really what formulated our identity. It came from the community… it was just kind of always there all along. We just revealed it. We're going to continue listening to our community so that on opening day, we have a sell-out crowd and we have locals who are proud to come watch their professional soccer team.

This isn’t just about a team, there’s also a new stadium. If everything goes according to plan, when could the team start playing?

We're still looking at 2028. When you're putting together schedules we will likely be gone for the first month or two; we can schedule them away just to make sure that our stadium is complete. We are working through the process right now with public votes. Last week we had the [city] planning commission vote which was successful. Then we head to the Reno City Council; we'll get their hopefully positive vote on Nov. 18. Then because of the size and scope of our project, we'll go to the regional planning commission in December but we don't anticipate any problems.

Breaking ground ideally would be at the end of this year because we are already preparing the land. We're getting ready to build but we’re waiting for those final votes before we start going vertical.

Team CEO Wendy Damonte (third from left) and other members of Reno City FC during a planning commission meeting focused on the team's new stadium, Oct. 14, 2026, in Reno.Courtesy of Reno City FC

Reno City aims to play in the same league as Sacramento Republic. Do you hope to build a rivalry there?

No question about it. In fact, when we looked at the teams that were on the West Coast. Las Vegas has a team, Sacramento has a team, Monterey has a team, Oakland has a team. That's just natural rivalries all over the place.

Our ownership group knows and is familiar with the ownership group of Sac Republic, so I anticipate some very fun rivalry games and just a long-time relationship with all of those teams.

Since news broke of a new soccer team coming back to Reno, what has the buzz been like from residents and fans?

The buzz is huge and we can prove that with our merchandise sales. We launched and there was a two-hour line at our merch store; people waited in line so that they could get Reno City FC merchandise. When we look at just our speaking engagements, those are constant. The different [civic] organizations, the rotaries of the world, they all want us to come down because people are really curious. This is big news for northern Nevada.

The last time that we had a new professional sports team was in 2008. That's almost 20 years of nothing new and huge and exciting in our community centered around professional sports. We're extremely excited that we are doing this. We're excited that we've put together a local ownership group, And we're excited that it's soccer. The United States is just on the verge of really blowing up into a huge soccer country. We saw that with the World Cup; it was the most successful World Cup ever, we anticipate [it] coming back to U.S. soil sooner than later, so we’re really excited to be doing this for Northern Nevada.

Sac Poetry Week is back, celebrating 40 years of local poets

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:40:00 GMT

By Esmeralda Garcia

It’s been 40 years since October 26 was proclaimed Sacramento Poetry Day.

In 2024, Poet Lauerete Andru Defeye chose to expand Poetry Day into a week-long celebration of poetry, now known as Sac Poetry Week. The week offers workshops, open mics, contests and a K-12 poetry curriculum honoring local poets.

Events will be taking place from October 19 through 26.

Insight host Vicki Gonzalez spoke with award-winning poet J. Rowe about why spoken word poetry is her medium of choice, and how poetry has empowered her to express herself.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

What drew you to this medium?

I like to say it was the beginning of self-actualization. I was learning a lot more about the world and had a lot of big feelings and just trying to find a way to use those big feelings in productive ways. I remember I went to an open mic. I heard somebody perform and I thought to myself, ‘oh my goodness, you too, you feel that way?’

So that got me curious about what it could feel like to express myself in that way. And so I've just been going ever since.

What is it about performance poetry and the spoken word on a stage in front of a mic, in front of an audience, that draws you to expressing yourself in that way?

It's the feeling. I've had moments where even if I'm not necessarily sure what someone is saying, I can certainly feel how they're saying. And I think it goes both ways.

I would love if you could share something.

All right. So this piece is out of my book [“Blossom”.] It's called Joy:

If joy could talk…

It would tell her to crawl out of the black abyss.

It would tell her to embrace charcoal curves

to forge not walls, but to fortify home.

For home is always sacred.

Is always body and temple

(and yours).

And don’t that make you worth worshipping?

And don’t that make you a queen?

If joy could talk

It would tell you to relish in the potential of becoming so full

that happiness becomes a way of life.

Becomes more expectation and less occasion.

Becomes more centerpiece and less background.

You become more centered in peace

(and hear less background…noise.)

If joy could talk

It would tell you to blossom in a silent storm.

To collect all of you

especially the uneven parts that never seem to fit in.

If joy could talk

it would remind you

that you are treasure not trinket.

It would say that you are woman and warrior.

Puzzle and picture.

Future and flash.

If joy could talk

it would say: smile.

Radiate love so bright

your laughter becomes the extension of the sun.

Becomes a home in which you dwell.

Becomes a song that sings tunes of sovereignty and simplicity.

If joy could talk it would say: blossom in quiet storm

Be bold

and magic.

and everything in between.

If joy could talk, it would say: you deserve me.

It would say: you deserve me.

It would say…

You.

Deserve.

Me.

Oh, that's so powerful. I mean, this is just one example of what pours out of you. What have you learned about yourself through poetry?

That there are just many different sides to me. It's allowed me to step into this more dynamic self and I've also had to accept that I have big feelings and I'm very sensitive and that's okay.

Sac Poetry Week begins today and runs through Monday, Oct. 26. Find details about this week’s poetry performances, workshops and open mics on Instagram @sacpoetryweek.

You can hear J. Rowe read the poem and hear from Andru Defeye about Sac Poetry Week’s efforts to make poetry accessible to youth in the full Insight interview.

GoldenSky Festival 2027 lineup announced

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 22:42:00 GMT

By Keyshawn Davis

After a two-year hiatus, country music festival GoldenSky revealed its full lineup featuring more than 20 artists performing over two days late next year. Zach Bryan, Megan Moroney and Treaty Oak Revival will headline.

The festival will make its return to Discovery Park on Oct. 9-10, 2027. Organizers said they had to postpone the last two years after they were unable to secure a lineup they felt was strong enough to draw crowds.

In its first three years starting in 2022, GoldenSky took place the weekend after rock music festival Aftershock. It hosted artists like country music singers Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Lainey Wilson, Tim McGraw, Shaboozey and more.

The festival’s return marks a new multi-year commitment to bring it back to Sacramento through 2029. GoldenSky is produced by Danny Wimmer Presents in partnership with Visit Sacramento, the city and county.

“We’ve missed GoldenSky, and after two years away, we knew if we were bringing it back, we needed to come back big,” said Chamie McCurry, general manager of Danny Wimmer Presents in a press release. “This lineup feels like the perfect return, reflecting what’s exciting in country music right now while staying true to what made people fall in love with GoldenSky in the first place.”

Visit Sacramento CEO Mike Testa said in a press release there is already excitement in the air. At the state of tourism event in June, he said the festival will return with additional music genres.

“GoldenSky was an event that showed so much promise in the first three years,” Testa said in an interview with CapRadio. “It was such a core country festival, and still, country is still the heart of it, but now you've got some Americana in there with the headliner Zach Bryan, and there's a lot of up-and-coming country acts, too.”

Testa said previous iterations of GoldenSky brought in around $15 million annually from people visiting Sacramento and patronizing local businesses.

“There's the direct economics that comes from a festival like this,” he said. “You've got people coming from states across the U.S. and different countries at times as well.”

For 2027, the festival is introducing The Tailagate, a pregame area with lawn games and eateries. There'll be an old west saloon with arcade games called Bar 1973, and a cantina. River City Dance Hall and Overtime Sports Bar will return with line dancing lessons from Sacramento instructors.

The lineup also includes Whiskey Myers, Ty Myers, Hudson Westbrook, Max McNown, Wyatt Flores and Vincent Masoni.

Ticket presales start tomorrow at 10 a.m. and the general sale will start at 12 p.m. on GoldenSky’s website.

The hunt is on: Third annual Wormie World scavenger hunt returns this weekend

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 23:33:00 GMT

By Andrew Garcia

This month scores of worms will descend on Sacramento, but have no fear these cute little creatures might just be your new best friend … if you can find them.

Wormie World, the beloved city-wide scavenger hunt is back for its third year Saturday, October 17th.

A dedicated team of two lovingly crafts hundreds of ceramic worms and hides them throughout the city of trees.

Humble beginnings

Brittany Clark came up with the idea in 2024 after she participated in the global scavenger hunt called “Game of Shrooms.”

“I was very inspired and I happened to love earthworms. I've always saved them when it rains,” Clark said in an interview with Vicki Gonzalez on Insight. “I thought the merging of the two would be really fun, and I felt like Sacramento needed a goofy, whimsical, fun thing that we could do every year.”

So she put her burgeoning ceramic skills to use, making over 100 worms at her kitchen table and hiding them throughout the Sacramento city center.

In her initial post announcing the first Wormie World, Clark writes, “This free event was created to help spread joy and to share in our appreciation for worms.”

The event went over like gangbusters and pretty quickly word started spreading.

Pumpkin Worm hiding out in the CapRadio garden area.Chris Felts/CapRadio

Recruiting more worm lovers

One of the participants on that first day in 2024 was muralist Karen Sue Chen.

“I had like literally the best day ever looking for worms,” Chen says. “I'm an artist by profession so when I saw all these ceramic worms, I knew there was a lot of love poured into it.”

She enjoyed getting a chance to explore Sacramento through such a unique lens. So much so, she started messaging Clark on Instagram, becoming good friends and offering her services to craft the next batch of worms. She ended up crafting 250 of them for the 2025 scavenger hunt. They estimate each one takes about an hour to make, from sculpting to glazinging to firing in a kiln.

The popularity of the event has grown so much that Clark and Chen have made over 700 worms for 2026.

“I never would have imagined that [it] would have grown to this scale,” Clark said thinking back to the first hunt in 2024. “I had told my husband the first week of Wormie World, that I truly thought no one would come to find them.”

Worms about town

If you want one of these cute little creatures for yourself (which I know you do) the scavenger hunt will start on Saturday the 17th. Video hints for each worm's location will be posted on the Wormie World Instagram and TikTok starting at 8 a.m.

They’ll be hidden throughout Midtown, Downtown, and the surrounding neighborhoods. Clark and Chen say they look for hiding spots year round and love to highlight cool places in the city, especially murals and art. All of the hiding places are public and don’t require any climbing to find your wormy treasure.

This year will be their biggest event so far. In addition to the hundreds of worms hidden across the city, participants can also fill out a Wormie World passport. Twenty local businesses will be participating including the Sacramento Zoo and the Sacramento History Museum. In addition to having some worms hidden in their shops, each location will be stamping passports.

Clark and Chen can be found all day on Saturday at the Strapping Store in Oak Park. They’ll be selling merch, talking to fans, and giving out exclusive stickers to anyone who completes a passport.

Clark says she loves that people value her and Karen’s art and that so many people have resonated with Wormie Word over the years.

“There was a little girl who has social anxiety and her mom reached out and told us that she takes her worm to school with her every day and it helps her,” Clark said. “And so I just cried when I read [it], I just never would have expected that.”

Scuba Worm out in the CapRadio garden.Chris Felts/CapRadio

Local hip-hop artist hones his craft through personal storytelling and polished flows

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 21:51:00 GMT

By Vicki Gonzalez

In a relatively short amount of time, local hip-hop artist Jakhari Smith has become an essential figure in the Sacramento music scene.

Smith got his start in 2021, performing at open mics and has been part of the long-running jam series, “Sunday Sessions,” hosted by jazz fusion group LabRats.

Through that experience, he honed his craft, weaving personal narratives and propulsive flows on top of jazz inspired beats.

He can now be seen performing all over the city with his full band and has submitted entries for NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest four times over the years.

He joined us for a live performance at CapRadio for this month’s Insight Studio Session.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

You started five years ago this summer, take us back to summer of 2021.

Oh, man. [laughs] I started writing a few months before that, you know, just journaling and really just piecing together words and just getting my thoughts out on paper. Before that, I never thought about making music, writing wasn't even on my mind, but it was just something I decided to try out.

I had nothing else to do so I was like let me see what writing is like, if that can change my perspective on things. So I just started writing different poems and putting things together and then in July of 2021, I decided to release my first song.

I recorded it in Audacity, a free program. I didn't know about DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) or mixing/mastering. I was just like, here's this beat, I have these words. Let me just load it up and record myself. It was a dedication to my mom, my dad, called “Yours to Keep”.

I was just like putting different tracks out and slowly but surely I kept writing and eventually I had a full project. My first project that I put out in October. And then not too long after that — started performing at open mics at Golden Bear every week and from there it's been non-stop, a domino effect.

I love that, a formative force in your creativity and your journey is your grandfather, Charles Tillman Jr. How did he shape you as the artist you are today?

He never saw any of this, you know, he never got the chance. I didn't start writing until after he passed, but just the way I grew up, he was there every morning. As soon as I would get up for school, he would be the first person I would see. And just the things that he told me growing up, [he] told me to follow my dreams. Because my grandfather, before he passed, he had a lot of health issues.

And he always would tell me about things that he wish he would have done. Not regrets necessarily, but like a dream of his, like [a] bucket list thing. And there was a lot of stuff that he never had the chance to do before he passed away. So that that stuff kind of carried me. He told me to live my life. If you think you want to do something, just do it. Don't even think twice about it. And I took that and just ran with it. You never know when it's over.

I'm incredibly close to my grandparents. All of them have passed away, but they still are part of me to this day and a big part of who I am, so I can totally relate to that.

The next track you’re going to play for us is “Fly Me to the Moon” and it's from your project Reflections Volume 2. Before we begin, what inspired this song?

So, this one is really about looking at life from a different perspective. There was a lot of times where I personally was looking at what I was going through and I was like, it's bad right now. I'm down bad and I was like, ‘there's no way out.’ I'm just looking at it [with] tunnel vision. But then I just started to think about everybody else. We all have our own individual lives and there's people who don't have clothes on their back. There's people who don't have a roof over their heads. There's people who, their families are gone. Like they're alone.

I wrote this song basically about when you get into that tunnel vision of like ‘oh my life, life is bad.’ It may be that temporarily but there's always like, a darker side. And sometimes you have to step back and look and be grateful for who you are and who you got around you and what you have.

‘Fly Me to the Moon’ is about stepping away from your current position, and looking back on your life and reflecting on that, but also being grateful for who you are and who you have.

So “Fly Me to the Moon,” was also a Tiny Desk entry back in 2024. What does Tiny Desk mean to you?

Tiny Desk is like a dream. I love watching them. I love intimate, small settings. Whenever I get the opportunity to perform at a show like that I'm like, ‘yeah let's let's jump on that.’ It’s just like seeing so much music royalty going to that platform and like all in the same little square space right there.

So many musical legends have passed through there and to see them in that setting it it's just inspiring the way they're able to transform their music to that stripped down version. I just love listening to it and it's somewhere I hope to be one day. So we're going to keep submitting. We're going to keep letting them know what we do.

Please keep submitting because we love getting it here at CapRadio, too. “Questions,” is the last track you’ll be performing, it was actually your most recent Tiny Desk submission. So, tell us a little bit about it.

This song was the first single on my latest project. I dropped this album in February called When It All Falls Down. It's a story from a boy to man and from the first track all the way through is basically a linear timeline.

It'll take you from being a baby boy, all the way to [being a] teenager and having no worries with your friends, life hasn't really kicked in yet. And then you get to adulthood and you're like, ‘okay, like this is a lot.’ I feel like I just [got] dropped here [with] all these obligations, and I got to like, figure this stuff out.

It's like a feeling of being alone. You know, first you have to step out on your own. Then we get to a point in the middle where it's kind of like, ‘I'm going to take that step and talk to a therapist and try to figure out my mental, figure out what's going on with me. So that's where this song kind of lands on the project.

Towards the end, it's kind of like, ‘okay, I haven't made it to where I want to be mentally yet, but I'm working on it every day.’ I'm getting stronger every day. I'm proud of myself. I'm building love for myself.

Rarely Heard American Music Captured on Debut Album

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 18:10:00 GMT

By Jennifer Reason

Josh Tatsuo Cullen is a man of many talents, with particular giftings for both solo piano performance and conducting musical theater! If you saw Broadway Sacramento's production of Frozen this summer, you already have been exposed to his artistry, as he was the Musical Director.

In this feature we get an honest and intimate look into his musical journey. We also get treated to very rarely heard works for piano by Florence Price, works that give a window into life in the south for Black Americans in the early 1900's. They are all selections from his 2022 album Scenes in Tin Can Alley and will surely leave you wanting to delve into the rest of the record.

Local Artist Feature October 9th, 2026

Boulevard Park’s historic porches will host annual free music festival

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 22:45:00 GMT

By Keyshawn Davis

If you missed out on the 14th annual Aftershock at Discovery Park this past weekend, don’t fret: a free music festival is coming to the porches of a historic neighborhood this weekend.

The 11th annual Sac Porchfest is a free one-day music festival from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Boulevard Park around 21st Street, North of I Street, that features 12 bands on three porches and a special performance they’ve called “the after party.”

Organizers say Saturday's event is entirely volunteer-run and anti-profit, but they do sell t-shirts, koozies and all of their proceeds go to Mustard Seed School, which is a school for unhoused children aged 3 to 15.

“We reject any kind of a profit-oriented organization for this event because we feel like that's the sweet spot for us,” said Jalal Haddad, an organizer of the event. “It's a kind of a special, unique event in that way.”

Lorren Baker, also an organizer of the event, added that Sac Porchfest doesn’t collaborate with other organizations unless they’re fine with the idea they won’t earn any money.

“We want to make sure that everything that we're doing just goes straight to whatever cause that we are trying to raise money for,” Baker said. “It's been really hard to find someone else that we can agree more with than Mustard Seed School, so that's why we've chosen them for the last multiple years.”

This event was launched in 2015, according to Haddad who has been involved since its inception.

There will be a variety of different genres that will be on display this weekend and will feature its “most dynamic lineup” they’ve ever had. The lineup includes Spencer Kilpatrick & The Sand Gators, Prime Society, Crash Babes, Dogpatch and more.

“We try to create as much of a diversity as possible, trying to consider what people would want to hear, what would be appropriate for the audience, for all ages to be able to enjoy,” Baker said. “Sometimes I swear Jalal would probably have nothing but bluegrass, if he could, but we try to make a balance of everything that will sound good on a porch.”

Haddad said people should come to the event this weekend because it's a unique experience in Sacramento.

“There's nothing else that I can think of that I've been to where you can go in and not spend a dime, but get free music, and support your community without being asked for any of your money,” he said.

Porchfests have become somewhat of a national trend. Some cities, like Auburn which recently held its Porchfest, will close some streets to make the experience easier for pedestrians.

For people who are attending Sacramento’s festival, organizers are asking attendees to stay out of the street and enjoy the music from the sidewalks, or grass area because the music is being played on resident porches.

“We're not restricting folks in any way, and we're not trying to have that kind of event, so we ask people to stay off the streets because cars will be passing through, and we don't want anybody getting hit,” Haddad said. “One of the, I think, most charming parts about this whole thing is nobody has to walk through a gate and get frisked by a security guard and like have to dump out their water.”

Spectators watching the Porch Fest in Boulevard Park from the side walks keeping the streets clear from ongoing cars.Photo courtesy of Sac Porchfest
Boulevard Park

Noah Mebane, the president of the Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association, said residents love hosting the event and consider it a feature of the neighborhood. He’s been attending Sac Porchfest since before he lived in Boulevard Park.

“It's something that I think is kind of unique to where we are at because of Boulevard Park's position within Midtown,” Mebane said. “It's a little bit less busy, so you don't have to worry so much about car traffic and being able to use up the residences that are in the neighborhood.”

Mebane said the neighbors are always clamoring to be part of Porchfest and has never heard any complaints from residents in the neighborhood.

“I know it's actually quite competitive to be one of the porches that hosts it,” he said. “I think people want to be able to show off their homes and kind of be a space that people can gather around and create this awesome atmosphere.”

The benefits of having Sac Porcfest in the neighborhood is that it brings a great atmosphere and vibes, Mebane said. He mentioned it brings a lot of foot traffic to a neighborhood.

“It allows people to kind of enjoy what a lot of the residents of Boulevard Park get to enjoy, which is a beautiful backdrop,” he said. “We've got a lot of trees in our neighborhood, we've got a lot of beautiful old historic homes, and that's usually those types of homes that are the porches that are used for Porchfest.”

5 things to know about the 14th annual Aftershock

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 19:05:00 GMT

By Keyshawn Davis

The 14th annual Aftershock will rock Discovery Park this week, running for four days starting Thursday, October 1, through Sunday, October 4, with its biggest lineup to date featuring over 140 artists.

Aftershock is for fans who enjoy the music genres of rock, heavy metal and punk, which welcomed over 164,000 fans from around the world in 2025, according to Danny Wimmer Presents.

The headliners for this year include My Chemical Romance, TOOL, Limp Bizkit and Pierce The Veil. To honor the 140 plus artists, Aftershock at Discovery Park is expanding and adding a 5th stage.

There are a lot of things to look forward to this weekend, but here are a few things to consider ahead of the festival.

1. Friday is hip-hop day

Along with the heavy metal and rock music, Friday seems to be hip-hop heavy when it comes to the sets. Artists like Wu-Tang Clan. Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Three 6 Mafia, Insane Clown Posse, Haarper and $ucideboy$ are all performing on Friday.

P.O.D., and Silly Goose are holding it down with the nu-metal and rap-rock genres.

Hip-hop artists at Aftershock are not new to the festival, but this year it seems they’ve dedicated an entire day to the genre.

If you want to cleanse your pallet from all the heavy guitars consider going to one of these sets on Friday.

2. Wrestling ties

If you’re a fan of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) then you’ll notice some songs from pay-per-views and wrestler entrances.

For instance, rock band Limp Bizkit is the headliner for Friday’s show. Their song “Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle) was the entrance music for The Undertaker when he switched his to the American Badass.

Their song “Crack Addict” was the theme song for Wrestlemania 19, “My Way” served as the theme song for Wrestlemania 17, and “Build a Bridge,” was the theme song for Survivor Series in 2023.

Drowning Pool, who is also performing on Friday, has a song with ties to WWE. The band has a total of 5 songs that have been used as themes for their pay-per-views, which includes “Bodies,” “Tear Away,” “Sinner,” “Step Up,” and “Rise Up.”

P.O.D. (Payable on Death) is performing on Friday as well and they are known in the wrestling world as the band who made the iconic Rey Mysterio theme “Booyaka 619.” Their songs “Lights Out,” “Boom” were also used for themes and their track “Addicted” was used in a video game.

And finally, Three 6 Mafia’s “Some Bodies Gonna Get It” is the theme song for wrestler Mark Henry who is known in the WWE as the world's strongest man.

3. In between sets

An Aftershock sign at Discovery Park. The rock and metal festival runs through Oct. 13.
If you’re looking for things to do while you’re waiting for your favorite set to begin, there are a lot of experiences to do besides listening to music.

Aftershock is also bringing back their tattoo experience. Yes, you read that right — festivalgoers can get their next tattoo at the 14th annual Aftershock by Body Art Express, which is a mobile tattoo shop that also offers piercings.

There are also several bar experiences like the Aftershock x Jungle Bird Tiki Bar, a new Cantina del Diablo serving Mexican cocktails, a Jack Daniels Karaoke bar, and a sports bar. There’s also a soda shop for the non-beer drinkers.

You can also check out the merchandise. It is highly recommended doing this the first day if you’re going all weekend because they sell out pretty fast. You can also purchase some merch on their website and can have it delivered to you. That could take weeks, though.

4. Hometown heroes

Lead singers and lead guitarist from Dance Gavin Dance perform in front of a sold out crowd at Hard Rock Live Sacramento on Friday, June 27, 2025.Keyshawn Davis/CapRadio

Besides hip-hop day and the headliners, there are a few artists from Sacramento that will grace the Aftershock stage.

Oleander is an alternative rock band that made its debut in 1995. You might remember their songs “I Walk Alone” and “Bruise,” which were featured in the movie American Pie 1 and 2.

The band is slated to take the stage Sunday, October 4 at 12:20 p.m. on the Shockwave stage. This would be one of their first shows since 2018.

Dance Gavin Dance is a post-hardcore band from Sacramento that formed in 2005. The band last performed in the city in 2025 during their “Return of the Robot Tour,” at the Hard Rock Live Sacramento venue in Wheatland.

Their music incorporates elements of post-hardcore and screamo, with influences from 1970s funk and 1990s R&B.

Drummer and percussionist of DGD Matt Mingus said in a text message that this Aftershock performance will be their only in Northern California for the year, so they hope to see a lot of new and returning fans.

“We are extremely grateful that Dance Gavin Dance gets to play at Aftershock again this year here in our beautiful hometown, Sacramento,” Mingus wrote. “Not to mention, being a part of a bill that is so eclectically stacked with so many talented artists is a really nice reward for all the hard work we have put into our music over the years.”

DGD will perform Sunday at 8:10 p.m. on the Faultline stage.

5. Transportation

There are many ways to get to and from the festival and it all depends on how you want to arrive.

The easiest option is to Uber or Lyft to and from Discovery Park, although they will drop you off by the Denny’s on Bercut Drive and you will have to walk to the festival. If you’re choosing that option just know the surge prices on Uber and Lyft do get pricey after the festival.

There is a park and shuttle option where you can pay for parking at Cal Expo and take a shuttle to the festival. Four day park and shuttle passes are available or individual days.

Sacramento Regional Transit is another option to consider if you’re attending the festival. Festivalgoers who show their valid Aftershock wristband can ride the bus or light rail for free.

SacRT has shuttle buses available between the 8th and K street bus stop downtown that will take you to and from the stop located in front of the ARCO station on Jibboom Street.

You can also take the light rail with the Blue Line Train and the Gold Line Train. The last Blue Line Train will depart at 11:55 p.m. and the last Gold Line Train will depart just after midnight.

You can plan your whole trip on their website.

There is also a biking option as well and the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates is offering complimentary bike valet service. SABA will accept all active transportation videos including skateboards and scooters.

From KEDG to KSSU, the return of student radio at Sac State celebrates 35 years

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 23:20:00 GMT

By Andrew Garcia

KSSU, Sacramento State’s Student run radio station turns 35 today!

Over those three plus decades KSSU has remained a bastion for students who want to express themselves through the music and culture of the times, including yours truly, Insight Senior Producer Andrew Garcia aka DJames the host of Left of Center from 2013 to 2016.

Ten years ago, as a burgeoning radio professional and KSSU’s student manager, I joined Insight to talk about the station’s 25th anniversary.

From left to right, KSSU Promotions Director Jerel Labson, former guest host for Insight Beth Ducan and Insight Senior Producer Andrew Garcia.Courtesy of Jerel Labson

I am now a guest host for the show. And in a full circle moment, that still doesn’t feel real when I think too hard about it, a decade later I welcomed the current crop of KSSUers into the studio to talk about the 35th.

KSSU’s early beginnings

In the early 90s a ragtag club brought student voices back to the airwaves at Sacramento State. Students Chris Prosio aka DJ Chris Allen and Jim Bolt aka Racer X host of Ska Train, founded the Associated Broadcasting Club (ABC) in 1989.

50 students strong ABC led what would be a years-long fight for a student-run radio on campus. In an interview with KSSU in the lead up to the 35th anniversary Bolt said, “we were told no at every juncture.”

When they reached out to the former faculty advisor for the original student station KERS, Bolt said he wanted nothing to do with them and they wouldn’t last. “He basically slammed the door in our face.”

But they would eventually find some champions on campus. They recruited a new faculty advisor, professor Linda Rhodes and got helpful advice from Dean Sorensen, the advisor for UNIQUE, the student-led program that books campus events.

The club would then go on to host a 24-hour music marathon to get exposure and eventually got major support from fellow campus media organization the State Hornet.

An article from The State Hornet supporting the quest for a student run radio station on campus.Courtesy of CapRadio

After two years of fighting and making their case to everyone who would listen, KEDG was born in 1991. Playing alternative, punk and ‘left of the dial’ music/talk through the decade.

The station was eventually renamed KSSU, supposedly for Sacramento State University (though that is the subject of debate).

It has moved all over campus from the library basement, to an alleyway, to the student union, to The WELL, and back to the union again. And moved from an AM frequency to online streaming in 2005, where the stream can still be found 24/7 at kssu.com.

While constant evolution and reinvention has been necessary, one thing has stayed consistent: students.

Community spirit lives on

As a transfer student commuting over an hour to campus three days a week for classes, I knew literally no one. But luckily for me, my first day at student orientation I found KSSU.

They were playing music at lunch, likely the millennial indie hit of the day, and like a fly to honey I was hooked. Within seconds of walking up they asked, “would you like your own radio show?” What other answer is there than an emphatic yes!

For the next three years I had a built in community on campus. Yes I learned the ins and outs of radio and became the Music Director (getting to listen to the latest Daft Punk and Parquet Courts albums before they were released). But the real boon of my years at the station and the things that stick with me the most are the people. Dare I say the, “friends I made along the way.”

And that sentiment remains true for many of the students and KSSU alumni I’ve talked to over the years. Founders Bolt and Prosio love to come back to campus for anniversaries and reminisce about the fight to start the station.

My generation loves to complain about the multiple moves KSSU went through during the 2010s, including an ill-fated temporary studio that shared a wall with the school boxing gym.

Based on my conversation with KSSU’s current Station Manager Luna Diaz Contreras aka DJ LuaAbril, host of New with Lu, the community spirit is alive and well.

I asked her what she hopes remains true about KSSU five years down the line when she comes back for the 40th anniversary. “I hope that whenever I do go back, it's still that same idea of free format, promoting the student voice. I feel like the core of the [station’s] motto, ‘Be yourself,’ as cheesy as it is, it’s quite literally what I hope stays [the same].”

Founder Bolt has a nice way of bringing things full circle, “It’s a huge sense of pride that this ragtag band of students got together and built something that had such staying power.”

KSSU is truly built out of the hard work, dedication, joy and heart of the hundreds of students who have called the station their home and I have no doubt it will continue to thrive for another 35 years.

“It just proves that previous faculty advisor who said we’d never stick around was dead wrong.”

From left to right: KSSU Station Manager Luna Diaz Contreras, current Insight guest host Andrew Garcia, and ASI Student Services Coordinator Hector Hernandez.CapRadio/Esmerelda Garcia

The station's 35th Anniversary festivities are taking place Thursday, the 24th. Alumni takeover shows start at 9am, you can listen live at KSSU.com or on the KSSU app.

Ruby Setnik: ‘Financially responsible’ comedian

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 22:38:00 GMT

By Ruth Finch

Ruby Setnik started doing stand-up while still in high school at The Met in Sacramento. Now, eight years later, she’s toured across the country, and was featured by Netflix in a new comic showcase in 2025.

When she first saw an open mic night in Sacramento, she said that she wasn’t impressed with anyone who went up. Setnik thought she could do better.

“The next week, I came back and I did probably worse than everybody who I had seen,” Setnik said. “It’s very hard. But it was exciting to me that it was difficult.”

Now, having toured all over the country, she’s back in Sacramento for a show this Saturday at Punchline Sacramento. She said Sacramento is unique because of just how normal people are here.

“Sacramento isn’t a city that people live in and then brag about living here,” Setnik said. “I think that you figure out Sacramento is a cool city by living here.”

She also said that there’s a spirit of inventiveness in Sacramento, which she thinks is necessitated by the terrain Sacramento sits on. People in a place like hilly San Francisco have everything laid out in front of them.

“They can see the ocean, they can see the trees, they can see the hills, they can see Oakland, they can see the curvature of the Earth,” Setnik said. “In Sacramento, it necessitates that you have the creativity necessary to understand that there’s a river without seeing it at all times.”

After Setnik got her start in stand up in Sacramento, she went to college in Massachusetts at Hampshire College, a school that has an alternative approach to education.

“My bachelor’s at that school was in comedy,” Setnik said. “The school is like you choose your own adventure.”

She filmed a stand-up special as her thesis for her degree that never saw the light of day.

“But that’s classic. So many comedians have the same,” Setnik said. “I spent five grand on something that no one will ever see.”

But to Setnik, it's all about the process. She said that she’s drawn to the difficulty of stand-up, and she also values the instant feedback you get on stage.

Ruby Setnik performing in Sacramento circa 2019.Courtesy of Ruby Setnik

“Most art can be easy right away and that it’s not obvious whether or not it’s going poorly, and one could do it in the privacy of their own home,” Setnik said. “With stand up, you have an immediacy. Either it works or it doesn’t.”

For Setnik, it’s worked, maybe a bit too well. When she was featured in the Netflix Is A Joke’s “Introducing…” stand-up showcase, it was a hallmark in her career. However, she started to realize that touring and doing shows all the time might not be the best way to live.

“Everything just became a bit too scary for me,” Setnik said. “I was unhealthy in many ways, and I wondered if stand-up was really something that I wanted to choose, or if it was something that I had chosen when I was 18.”

She started to wonder if it’s something she would choose again as a 26-year-old, or if it was only something that she was able to deal with because her brain was still young and malleable. She said that there’s a lot of things that young brains deal with that would be a lot more difficult today.

“When you’re a kid, for example, you lose all of your teeth. Imagine if right now, you lost all of your teeth… and then the tooth fairy gives you a dollar for it,” Setnik said. “You don’t even need psychological counseling. You need like, mysticism and a rumor to recover.”

So, she took about a year off to really try to figure out what she wanted to do. She wanted to get a “normal” job that didn’t involve travelling across the country talking to strangers. Setnik tried to get a job at a grocery store, but she just couldn’t land it. So, she went back to performing.

“The economy is so bad right now that it actually became the financially responsible thing to pursue my dreams,” Setnik said. “Stand-up is what I do… This is the valuable skill I have to offer. Trader Joe’s doesn’t care how many followers I have on Instagram.”

Now, she’s back on tour again. Setnik has a show in Sacramento this Saturday, and in November, she’ll be performing on a comedy cruise with Bert Kreischer—one of the top-grossing stand-up comedians in the world—and a big group of comics she looks up to. However, she’s a little apprehensive about returning to a life on the water.

Setnik said that when the markets crashed in 2009, her parents — her mother, a real estate agent and her father, a contractor — took the hit especially hard. They had to declare bankruptcy and they also got a divorce. Her dad, in response, bought a boat.

“Which is something that a man does both at rock bottom and at the tippy-top of his life,” Setnik said. “When one buys a boat, [it’s] in crisis or celebration. In this case, it was because he couldn’t afford to live on the land anymore.”

So, for a while, Setnik had to live on a boat. She said she has some “bad associations” with boats because of it, but she said she’s excited to be with a bunch of stand-ups all in one place.

“I’m excited about it because you don’t really get to see the comedians that you work with all at once,” Setnik said. “We’re all pretty scattered around the country.”

Setnik will be performing at Punchline Sacramento on Saturday, September 12 and will be touring across the country. You can find tickets at her website.

Movie rental store opening in Oak Park

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 17:56:00 GMT

By Keyshawn Davis

In the mid-1980s through early 2000s, movie night meant driving to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, wandering the aisles, and heading home with a stack of VHS tapes.

That experience lasted into the 2010s when both chains went bankrupt and Netflix’s DVD’s-by-mail — Redbox, and then movie streaming —took over.

Now, in 2026, Chris Emery and Jefferson Miller are trying to bring that vibe back and plan to open a video rental store in Oak Park.

Very Good Video is a new store that combines rentals and retail, offering new and used VHS, DVDs, and Blu-ray. The store is slated for a soft opening in October and Emery and Miller are planning to hold a grand opening before Halloween.

Everything has changed in the era of streaming. Even in the video game space — companies like Sony are telling people they don’t actually own the digital games they purchase.

But Emery and Miller believe there’s still a demand for physical media and a place where people can watch, share and talk about movies.

“We both kind of drank the Kool-Aid when it came to the streaming services and how they have everything like at the tip of your remote control,” Emery said. “You can have any title you want at any time, and then slowly but surely, not only did they jack up the prices, but they started ripping titles away from us.”

Emery said he wanted to watch an older movie like “Roadhouse,” but couldn’t find it anywhere, but on streaming.

“You could buy it for $19.99, but you don't really own anything, or you don't own anything if you buy something on streaming,” he said.

Miller pointed to friends and family who said they missed the old feeling of renting a movie at a store.

“It was like every single person we talked to; it was kind of like we felt the same way,” Miller said. “We waited for years for someone to maybe reopen the video store that they ran before and then after a while, it was like we should just do it.”

This isn’t the only place people can get VHS tapes, My Cat’s Video in Midtown opened in June this year and Sparky’s Retro Resale that opened in 2024.

A third space

Very Good Video won’t just be a place where you can buy and rent movies — Miller and Emery want it to serve as a “third space” with movie screenings, trivia, watch parties and movie-related events. Their events will be members-only.

“You sign up – pay monthly or annually — and you get something similar to Blockbuster, where you get certain rentals, you get discounts on merchandise because we're going to be selling T-shirts and mugs and local artwork,” Miller said. “It'll also get you access to these events, the screen screenings of films, which will be hosted after hours.”

Emery said VGV also plans to do live interviews with local directors or host TED Talks with local film professors.

“The local director Q and A's are going to be really fun, but then we're also just going to have to come and watch ‘The Goonies,’ come and watch ‘Friday Night Lights’ or ‘Friday,’” Emery said. “Or if a couple comedians in town want to come do a riff on like a really bad like a ‘Sharknado’ movie or something.”

Miller said they added events because they want to be a place where people can come to not just to rent movies.

“We want the community aspect,” Miller said. “It's like bringing people back together, interacting, talking about movies, being surrounded by movies, just turning into more of a social experience.”

Types of movies

Emery and Miller said there will be a wide variety of movies to choose from all different genres. They mentioned having 17 copies of Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy” which came out in 2004.

“We're doing every genre,” Miller said. “A lot of more niche video stores, lean horror, I think we've noticed, but we're gonna try and do the full gamut — So it'll be family stuff, action, rom-coms, horror, thrillers.”

A box of movies and tv shows that Very Good Video will have for rental or purchase when the store opens in October. Keyshawn Davis/CapRadio
Since VGV will be selling and renting three different physical home video formats — the store will give consumers the opportunity to rent or buy VHS or DVD players at the store.

“We've been sourcing around Northern California trying to find devices so that we can either sell them or rent them to people,” Emery said. “If you wanted to have a movie night and watch a bunch of old VHS tapes – you can rent one of our players — for like very discounted, very cheap, just so you can have that movie experience.”

The experience of renting a movie is everything and from Emery’s experience that’s where the best memories come from.

“You're creating memories when you come into a place like this and rent your movie,” he said. “So I would very much look forward to seeing families come in here and create traditions and Friday night traditions and memories.”

Recent Lavender Heights attacks lead to community patrol

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:13:00 GMT

By Ruth Finch

Recent attacks in the Lavender Heights district has led to the formation of a community patrol in the area. Groups of lavender-vest clad volunteers will help people get home safely from the bars and clubs in the area.

A victim of one attack that happened on August 30, Joseph Sais, said that he won’t let these attacks stop him from going out in Lavender Heights, a historically LGBTQ+ neighborhood in Midtown. He attended the patrol training that was held Wednesday evening at Mango’s Sacramento.

“Regardless, I’m not going to stop living my life,” Sais said. “Seeing the amount of people here has made it known that hate like this shouldn’t happen in Lavender Heights.”

Captain Robert Young with the Sacramento Police Department attended the community patrol training, and he said that the team of officers that patrol Lavender Heights and other entertainment districts are spread thin, with five officers patrolling these districts in Sacramento.

“There’s only so many of us to go around,” Young said. “If we have a large, for lack of a better term, bar fight that breaks out on Second or Front Street, sometimes those large incidents can pull 10 or 12 officers.”

Community Service Representatives from Sacramento Police Department advised patrollers not to intervene if they see an attack or confrontation, but to call the police if they see a crime taking place.

Some community members called for more police presence in the area. Neil Galimba, a business owner in Lavender Heights, said that he’s talked to a number of people who have been victimized by hate crimes in the area who don’t report the crimes to police.

“I’ve discovered four more victims I didn’t know about, and I told them we have to file a report, otherwise the city doesn’t know these things are happening,” Galimba said.

Phil Pluckebaum, the city councilmember who represents the Lavender Heights district, attended the patrol training. He said that he would like to see more officers patrolling the area as well, but the city doesn’t have the funding.

“The bad news is we’re, as a city, in a position of making cuts. We just made $66 million worth of cuts in the last budget. We have another at least $35 million to make in the next budget,” Pluckebaum said. “The likelihood of getting additional funding for any service in the city right now is pretty dire.”

Zachary Basler, Vice President of the Sacramento Stonewall Democrats, leads the community training on September 9, 2026.Ruth Finch/CapRadio

However, others were made uncomfortable by the police presence at the meeting, and at the prospect of more police presence in the area. The history of LGBTQ+ rights has been fraught with discrimination from police after raids on gay bars, from the infamous Stonewall Riot in New York in 1969, to the lesser-known 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco, to the 1979 police raid on a gay disco in Sacramento that helped inspire Sacramento’s first Gay Pride Parade.

In the community patrol training, Sais called for meetings and other training for the community patrols to be held without police presence, so that more community members who feel uncomfortable with police presence would still be able to volunteer for patrols.

“There are queer voices that may not be heard, and with us making sure that we bring the communication style back to the community and finding alternative pathways,” Sais said. “We could find ways to reach individuals that still have systemically been abused by the police system.”

Zachary Basler, the Vice President of the Sacramento Stonewall Democrats, has spearheaded the effort to start these patrols. He said that he’s seen an outpouring of support for LGBTQ+ people in Sacramento.

Patrollers will walk with bar patrons to their rideshare or walk with them to ensure they can get home safe.

“I really see a big lifting-up of everybody and camaraderie happening and it’s … a beautiful thing to see,” Basler said. “I’m sorry that it’s happening under these unfortunate circumstances.”

One attendee of the meeting, Jo Collins-Carter, said that she came out to support her community, and that as a victim of attacks because of her identity and orientation, she wants to prevent any more violence coming to her community.

“I don't want anyone else to go through the pain and struggle of recovering after something like that,” Collins-Carter said. “I still deal significantly with the repercussions of that, and if I can help prevent [that] or at least be present for someone in their time of need, it might change, might make a difference.”

She said that a patrol like this is a way to connect with your community.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to become close with your community if you’re not familiar with those in it and what organizations already exist,” Collins-Carter said. “This is a good jumping-off point to become involved and aware of those around you and how they both can help you and you can help them.”

Basler, who will be organizing further patrols in the future, said that there will be people patrolling Lavender Heights this weekend. Interested volunteers can reach him to sign up by calling or texting him at (415) 299-7027.

George Lucas presents a galaxy of art that goes far, far past 'Star Wars' in new Los Angeles museum

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 16:47:00 GMT

By ANDREW DALTON, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will serve “Star Wars” fans what they crave, but the saga George Lucas spawned represents just one small corner of the galaxy of creative work within the walls of the Los Angeles institution he calls a "temple to the people’s art.”

The purpose of the palace that has become his life's work since he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 is to take the work of populist painters, commercial illustrators, comic artists and paperback cover-creators and treat it with a reverence normally reserved for Rembrandts.

“That’s really what the mission is, that there’s these incredibly familiar pieces that have not had the opportunity to be platformed in this manner, to be placed like this, to be curated in this way, for people to really see the genius behind it,” museum CEO Tracey Bates said in an interview with The Associated Press inside the museum.

The building opens to the public Sept. 22.

The 82-year-old Lucas made an unannounced appearance at a media preview day at the museum on Wednesday with his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson, the museum's co-founder. He said he couldn't believe the place now exists after being conceived 17 years ago and having been “kicked out of” proposed locations in cities including San Francisco and Chicago, places where previous sites fell through.

"Part of the problem is that I’m a contrarian. I don’t like to do things people think can be done," he said, wearing a T-shirt that read “Dedicated to the people's art.”

“I’m used to doing the impossible," he said. "This one almost broke me.”

Visitors to the new museum will be greeted by a bright yellow Naboo N-1 Starfighter from 1999's “The Phantom Menace” that hangs in the lobby of the public research library. The opening exhibit, “Star Wars in Motion,” shows production versions of Luke Skywalker's landspeeder from the original film and speeder bikes from 1983's “Return of the Jedi.”

But Bates points out that “'Star Wars' only occupies 7% of the museum, actually.” And chief among the tasks of the CEO and her staff in the final days before opening is spreading the word about all it has to offer.

Nearly everything in the vast museum's 100,000 square feet of galleries comes from the personal collection of Lucas or Hobson, a major collector of African-American art.

The filmmaker began collecting original comic art from newspaper strips like “Alley Oop” when he was in college and it could be had for pocket change. When blockbuster money started rolling in, he started buying paintings from commercial artists, including Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish, that were deemed the height of uncool at the time. He joked at a San Diego Comic-Con panel last year that he needed a museum just to have somewhere to put it all.

Production designer Norman Reynolds' robot R2-D2, left, and John Mollo's costume for the C-3PO character from the "Star Wars" franchise are displayed in the Cinema Gallery during a preview of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026Chris Pizzello/AP Photo

Treating Rockwell like Renoir and Parrish like Picasso

Bates, who joined the project in 2020, spoke to the AP while sitting in the gallery devoted to Rockwell, the 20th century painter and illustrator who embodies the spirit of the museum more than Luke Skywalker or C-3PO.

“He’s one of the greatest storytellers of our lifetime, really,” she said. “I mean the level of nuance and depth in a Rockwell, I get lost in them constantly.”

Best known for his weekly covers of “The Saturday Evening Post,” with images of Boy Scouts and family Thanksgiving dinners, Rockwell's paintings were quintessential small-town Americana, which made them wildly popular but brought them scorn for their squareness.

Senior curator Ryan Linkof told the AP that when he joined the museum in 2018, he knew only the consensus view of the painter.

“Working here I really just grew to absolutely love the work and find him as an image-maker, him as an artist, him as the figure, the cultural icon, just to be incredibly sophisticated,” Linkof said.

The Rockwell gallery gives special prominence to a painting that shows he had greater depth than many realize: his rendering of Ruby Bridges, a 6-year-old Black girl who is surrounded by marshals as she walks into an all-white New Orleans school in 1960. It's titled “The Problem We All Live With.”

The gallery also has a sculpture of the artist, newly commissioned for the museum, that recreates a famous comic portrait of him painting himself.

Lucas also stockpiled the work of Parrish, another painter and commercial illustrator whose imagery helped define the 20th century but who could be dismissed as cloudy fluff. His work is ethereal and angelic, marked by a signature shade of blue, and the paintings' luminosity gives them a glow that feels made for a museum, even though one of the most ornate paintings in the collection was made for a chocolate box.

Linkof walked with the AP through the Parrish gallery, a favorite of many early visitors, calling it “a little sanctuary, a little chapel in some ways, dedicated to the work.”

“He was known for these really gorgeous light effects and creating these atmospheric landscapes,” the curator said. "We wanted to respect that and create a space that really let the paintings create that sense of tranquility.”

Many galleries are organized not by artist, era or genre but by aspects of everyday life, merging eras and styles. One examines sports. Another civic activism.

“We’re interested in the stories that they’re telling, rather than these kind of somewhat artificial categories defined by discipline,” Linkof said. “The gorgeous idea of these myths, myths of everyday life, the stories that we tell ourselves.”

The museum has its share of higher-brow artists too, with work from Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Andy Warhol. If it tells a story, it has a place.

A visitor looks at Mel Ramos' oil paintings "Man of Steel," left, and "The Green Lantern" during a preview of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Los Angeles.Chris Pizzello/AP Photo

The building gives vibes of a spacecraft, a tree canopy and a cloud

Visitors will walk through the museum designed by architect Ma Yansong eight years after its groundbreaking in Exposition Park, next to Lucas' alma mater: the University of Southern California.

Ma and his firm were chosen in 2014, and an architecture gallery in the museum shows his proposed models for San Francisco and Chicago along with the origins of the Los Angeles project.

Given the name outside, it’s hard not to think of a spacecraft when looking at the building. The architect acknowledges this, and says visitors will especially feel it when standing in front of broad oval windows that give views of Los Angeles from spaces spread throughout the galleries.

But Ma's style is more organic than mechanical, and the museum gives the feeling that it hovers above the neighboring Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and surrounding buildings like the California Science Center.

“For me it’s like a cloud or like a tree canopy that’s floating above you,” Ma told the AP. “It feels formless almost. But you want to discover. So you have to start a journey. You have to start to walk around.”

As he looked around inside the museum, he said he couldn't wait to see people flowing through it.

“We designed an architectural space with emotion,” he said. “We want to see people’s reaction to those spaces.”

Mellody Hobson, left, and George Lucas, co-founders of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, appear during a press preview for the museum on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles.Chris Pizzello/AP Photo

Comics, sci-fi and kid stuff permeate the space

The museum has as much sci-fi and fantasy from Lucas' collection as from his own work. The sword-and-sandal comic book and paperback art of artist Frank Frazetta has a dedicated space. Nearby are huge, heavy-metal-epic paintings of images from J.R.R. Tolkien by Paul Raymond Gregory, complete with skull-studded frames.

A children's section includes a painting of Eloise of “Eloise at the Plaza” fame by illustrator Hilary Knight, a painting of Pikachu modeled on a Van Gogh self-portrait from Pokemon illustrator Naoyo Kimura, and rooms full of anime and manga images.

And the comic art that started Lucas' collecting has several halls dedicated to it, with some of the earliest drawings of “Star Wars” inspiration Flash Gordon on display, along with Flash Gordon's own inspiration, Buck Rogers, and proto-“Peanuts” panels from Charles Schulz, along with edgier alt-comic work from artists including Robert Crumb.

Artistic Co-Director of World Renowned Ensemble is a Folsom High Grad!

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 17:42:00 GMT

By Jennifer Reason

We've been playing the recordings and performances of Tafelmusik for as long as I have been hosting classical music on air for CapRadio, and that's been over 8 years. They are a world-renowned Baroque Ensemble with a rich history of albums. I was delighted to since discover that they have a local tie! Their current Artistic Co-Director and principle bassoonist Dominic Teresi is a Folsom High graduate! And past that, his family still has key ties here- if you have ever set foot into Northridge Music store, you have patronized a 40 year love labor of the Teresi family.

In this feature we get to know Dominic's musical journey, and enjoy delightful samples of the work of Tafelmusik. We also get to know a second group that Dominic is involved with- an ensemble named Quicksilver, who I'm sure you will fall in love with.

Local Artist Feature August 28th, 2026

After a fire at the Folsom Boulevard Flea Market, artist collective perseveres

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:15:00 GMT

By Ruth Finch

A fire at the Folsom Boulevard Flea Market on Friday left a collective studio space and a $500,000 retro video game collection destroyed. The source of the fire is unknown, but no one was injured.

Mary Sand founded the Red Barn Collective, originally called Et Cetera, a group of eight artists that’s been operating out of the space since 2023. The space operated as a studio, a storefront to sell art and a music venue. She said that sorting through the damage, there wasn’t much that could be salvaged.

“We did have access to go in and try to save what we could, rummaging through in the dark for a couple hours,” Sand said. “Things were melted. Everything had a layer of soot on it. Just terrible, terrible damage that can’t really be replaced.”

David Smith, who owns Dave’s Retro Games, had a store in the Flea Market. He’s been collecting video games for 43 years. According to KCRA, he lost 20,000 games valued at over $500,000 in the fire. He said one game, a version of the NES game Punch Out featuring Mike Tyson, was worth over $200 by itself.

He said that he’ll miss the sense of community that came with running the store.

“We had it set up where in the store we had 15 televisions lined up with all different systems hooked up to them, and kids would come in and they could play their games,” Smith said.

Sand said that the Red Barn will also miss the community space due to the fact that, according to her, the building will most likely be demolished.

“Stuff can be replaced, losing the things, we can deal with that. For me, the most heartbreaking thing is losing the space,” Sand said.

The Red Barn Collective, formerly known as Et Cetera or ETC, sat adjacent to Dave’s Retro Games at the Folsom Flea Market. A sign remained on August 31, 2026, following the fire on August 28.Ruth Finch/CapRadio

However, one facet of the Red Barn Collective has recovered remarkably quickly. For the last month the group has hosted a weekly lineup of live music playing out of the space, set up and recorded by two members of the collective, Anthony O’Brien and Miguel Lopez-Escalante.

They only started running live music out of the space a month ago. O’Brien said that he and Lopez-Escalante had talked originally about running a music studio out of the space.

“That just evolved into, ‘Let’s just have live music here and record it and do the best production possible so we can give back to the local artists and really shine just a light on all the musicians that are in Sacramento,’” O’Brien said.

When the fire hit on Friday, they decided the show still had to go on. They talked to Lopez-Escalante’s employer, Jalapeños Mexican restaurant in Midtown Sacramento. They were able to throw their next Sunday show at the restaurant, and they were surprised how smoothly it went.

“There was magic at the Red Barn, there is magic at the Jalapeños. I think it was just a matter of time that they fused together,” Lopez-Escalante said. “It just happened overnight.”

They said that about 60 people showed up to Jalapeños on Sunday, which was consistent with the numbers they were seeing at other shows at the Red Barn. Lopez-Escalante said he was surprised with the number of people who came for brunch and stayed for music.

“We’ve had acoustic singers and DJs, but nothing like a full band,”” Lopez-Escalante said. “So to see regular customers and families stay for the music even when it gets a little heavier and more crazier, it really reminded me that people in Sacramento really enjoy the arts, of all ages.”

According to O’Brien, the shows are going to stay at Jalapeños, and he’ll keep them up as long as possible.

“The shows will go on every Sunday, I’m going to say until I die,” O’Brien said. “For the foreseeable future, we’ll still be doing shows at Jalapeños.”

Sand said that the Folsom Boulevard Flea Market will be staying open as well.

“It does not close for rain or shine or fire, now,” Sand said. “It’s a really special community there. And the culture there has preserved something that I think we’ve really, really lost in this modern world.”

The Red Barn Collective currently has a GoFundMe active to help the group secure a new space to host their community following the fire.

Chris Felts contributed reporting to this story.