WHAT: San Francisco’s world-famous Ghirardelli Square kicks-off the holiday season on Friday, November 28, hosting the 44th annual Ghirardelli Square Tree Lighting Ceremony, benefiting the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center, a charitable organization dedicated to providing health and wellness programs and broadening educational and cultural experiences in the North Beach, Chinatown, and Fisherman's Wharf neighborhoods of San Francisco.

Entertainment includes a visit from Santa, live music, strolling holiday carolers, entertainment for the children and more. Holiday entertainment begins at 1:30 p.m. and continues throughout the ceremony. At 5:30 p.m. Roberta Gonzales, weather anchor at San Francisco’s KPIX-TV, CBS5, will lead the crowd in anticipation of Santa’s arrival and the lighting of the 35-foot-tall Ghirardelli Square tree.

WHEN: Friday, November 28 at 1:30 p.m. (Tree Lighting between 5:30 - 6:00 p.m.)

WHERE: Ghirardelli Square
900 North Point Street
www.ghirardellisq.com
415-775-5500

WHY: Ghirardelli Square will hold a book drive from November 15 through November 30 to provide holiday gifts to families served by the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center. For each new book donated, participants will receive a raffle ticket that will be entered to win a $150 Ghirardelli Square gift card.
Through its preschool and after school programs, senior program, teen center, and community organizing activities, Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center serves 600 low to moderate income children, seniors, and community members each day.

Downtown San Rafael will once again commence the Holiday Season with the Parade of Lights, Winter Wonderland, and the special Holiday Market on Friday, November 28, 2008.

This will be the 29th Annual Parade of Lights in Downtown San Rafael, and the 19th straight year of free snow sledding on A Street between Fourth & Fifth Streets.

The snow will be open to the public from noon to 4pm, closed during the Parade of Lights and Downtown Tree Lighting Ceremony, re-opened at approximately 6pm, and closed again at 8pm. On Saturday the snow will be open from 9am until 2pm or until the snow is no longer safe.

Participants in the Parade of Lights will begin to gather at Fourth and “E” Streets at 5pm on Friday evening. The Parade will start down Fourth Street at 5:30pm, ending at Courthouse Square.

The Holiday Market will be held from 4pm to 8pm on Friday. It will be located on Fourth Street between Lootens Place and B Street. There will be Holiday Entertainment and musical performances at different locations on Fourth Street between Lootens and “A”.

To request accommodations for persons with disabilities or if you have communication needs such as large print, braille or sign language interpreters, please call 1-800-310-6563 or fax us at 415-456-6436 at least three weeks prior to the event.

Formed in 1980 and widely heralded as a powerful, expressive and groundbreaking modern dance company, the Mark Morris Dance Group is known especially for its mastery of musical human movement.

ohGr is a band formed by Nivek Ogre, of Skinny Puppy, and musician/engineer Mark Walk. Although the pedigree of the group's members might suggest otherwise, ohGr is not strictly an industrial group, as it draws heavily from elements of electro-pop and metal.

Under the direction of Savion Glover, 'Savion Glover's Bare Soundz' is an exuberant celebration of tap dance to sound and sound to dance. Using tap as song - Mr Glover merges acoustical vibrations in a musical mosaic hosting sounds explaining Jazz, Caribbean beats and other contemporary musical genres. Featuring Marshall Davis Jr. and Maurice Chestnut with special guest Lori Ann Stevens.

Jonathan Coulton is the Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science magazine and the musical director for John Hodgman's Little Gray Book Lectures. His songs about vengeful nerds, ennui-afflicted clowns, self-loathing giant squids and devotees of a certain Swedish prefab furniture store are insanely clever without ever being too clever for their own good. They repeatedly lure you into laughing before suddenly breaking your heart. And the sick part is, you keep coming back.

Buckethead is one of the most bizarre and enigmatic figures in American underground and experimental music since Parliament-Funkadelic birthed their bevy of cosmic characters in the mid-'70s. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist best known for his virtuosic command of the electric guitar, Buckethead (born Brian Carroll) is one of the instrument's most recognizable contemporary innovators, his rapid-fire riffing, near-robotic fretwork, and idiosyncratic lead lines combining elements of Yngwie Malmsteen, Adrian Belew, Slayer's Kerry King, P-Funk's Eddie Hazel, and avant-improv artist John Zorn's Scud-attack sax abuse.

Mos Def and Dyme Def... definitely!

Bring your Tin Can luminary along with a candle and meet in the parking lot of the Rainier Valley Cultural Center at 4:30pm. We will light our candles and start the walk from Columbia City to Hillman City at 5pm. The procession will end in Hillman City - details on the culminating event still being determined!

Meet at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center parking lot (3515 S Alaska St)

Dia de Muertos is not a Mexican version of Halloween. It’s a centuries old ceremonial festival celebrated since the first people inhabited the Americas.

Ancient indigenous people of Mexico buried the dead close to their homes and emphasized close ties with their family’s deceased. Dia de Muertos is a mixing of those beliefs with the Roman Catholic All Saints Day brought by Spanish settlers. Today, nearly 77 percent of Mexicans identify themselves as Roman Catholic.

Discover more …

The art and spirituality of Mexican culture is celebrated at Dia de Muertos. This “Day of the Dead” festival honors the lives of loved ones who have passed with community altars, sugar skulls, special food, candles, music and dance. Renowned artists from Mexico and the United States display and create artwork showcasing this country’s cultural emphasis on the links between the living and the dead. This event highlights the life-affirming creativity of the Mexican people with traditional crafts and a procession to remember lost loved ones. Presented by Taller Mexicano Para Las Artes.

Seattle Center’s Safeco Insurance Festál is a year-long series of FREE cultural events that honors the richness and diversity of the Pacific Northwest. Safeco Insurance Festál plays a vital part of Seattle Center’s efforts to connect our dynamic and varied community.

This collection of events is produced by Seattle Center and individual cultural organizations, and is presented with generous support from Safeco Insurance, Western Washington Toyota Dealers, Wells Fargo, Verizon Wireless and KUOW 94.9 FM. Additional support is provided by The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, The Boeing Company, Seattle Center Fund, the City of Seattle.

Produced by Taller Mexicano para la Cultura y las Artes
2031 Fairview Ave. E, #D
Seattle, WA 98102
(206) 356-6673
http://www.tallermexicano.org

exhibitions, dance installations and events Nov. 15 & 16 at Seattle Center open to the public.

November 15 at 7:30pm November 16 at 2:00pm

En l'air Dance was created in 2002 by Seattle area dancers with the purpose of creating a venue for new works. All proceeds are donated back into the Seattle area community. En l'air 2008 will fund the inception of the Catherine E. Saltwick Memorial Dance Scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded to a chosen applicant at our 2009 performance.

November 21 at 8pm; November 22 at 2pm and 8pm

Choreography by Donald McKayle, Christina McNeil, Jason Ohlberg, Olivier Wevers and Deborah Wolf

Beyond the Threshold: Seattle International Dance Festival takes over Seattle Center's Center House with evening shows at Broadway Performance Hall encompassing a three day long event with performances by international and local artists presenting artist-driven exchanges of international scope. Presenting staged and site-specific works including over 50 local, national and international artists with daytime performances at the Center House, Saturday ad Sunday Novemebr 15 & 16 from 10am-5pm, and evening performances at Broadway Performance Hall Friday and Sunday November 14 & 16.
The split-bill evening performances will feature four groups. The Phffft! Company will present The People's Project, Artistic Director, Cyrus Khambatta's new work inspired by four members of the public - a millionaire, a union worked, a homeless person and a dancer - as they tangle with notions of creativity as well as B RR MIG, by Swedish Choreographer Gilda Stillbck and her Company. The two company's will aslo present a collaborative work, as yet untitled. From Canada, MachineNoisey Dance Society will present Vancouver vs. Vancouver as well as a collaborative piece with another local surprise guest choreographer.
Seattle Center House will be the site of numerous performances highlighting architectural elements throughout the building and featuring the works of over 35 artists including Swedish Choreographer, Jonas Radvik's Reach, with a dancer hung from the rafters beyond the reach of a guitar, the symbol of his confined expression and recent New York transplant, Jasmine Zimmerman, as well as Spanish Fullbright dancer/choreographer, Trinidad Martnez, Brazilian choreographer with her Oregon-based company, Traduza, Bangalore/Seattle-based Indian dancer Arhana Kumar, Canadian
choreographer/dancer Jennifer McLeish
and many, many more.

AT NECTAR Friday October 31st - Wake Up, Sealed With A Kiss, and Death of the Party Present: Halloween with DIPLO, Abe Vigoda, Boy 8 Bit, Telepathe. $15 ADV, 9pm Doors, 21+.

Although he needs no introduction, we'll go ahead and give him one anyway. Ralph was born in Dickenson County, Virginia, where he still resides when he's not on the road. After 55 years in the business, he's still the best banjo picker and tenor singer in bluegrass music. As a recording artist, he has performed on more than 170 albums, tapes, and CDs. He's also written many songs himself and with his brother, the late Carter Stanley. Ralph's played throughout the United States and in many foreign lands, too, including several tours of Japan. In addition to the many honors Ralph has received as a bluegrass musician, including membership on the Grand Ole Opry, he is also a Shriner, a member of the Primitive Baptist Universalist Church, and active in his local community, having served on the Dickenson County School Board. Ralph is married to Jimmi Stanley, and they have two daughters, Lisa and Tonya, and, of course, one son, Ralph II.

The Clinch Mountain Boys currently live in scattered communities in the mountains of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. They meet up in Coeburn, where their tour bus is parked and head out on the road. Their typical work week starts on Wednesday or Thursday and wraps up on Sunday, when they normally head in home for a couple days of well-deserved rest before starting out all over again.

John Reischman
As one of the acoustic world’s top-ranked mandolin players and composers, veteran artist John Reischman is renowned for his exquisite taste, tone and impeccable musicianship.

His mastery of the instrument is showcased today in the powerful bluegrass band John Reischman and the Jaybirds, and his Latin/jazz instrumental duo with highly-regarded acoustic guitar stylist John Miller.

The Jaybirds’ fourth and most recent album Stellar Jays is now available. "Any argument about John Reischman & the Jaybirds being a leading bluegrass band can be settled by listening to their exceptional third album, The Road West." - Billboard, 2005. "The musicianship is, as ever, flawless." - The Georgia Straight, 2005. Their previous CD Field Guide (Corvus/Copper Creek) was nominated for Canada’s highest music award, the Juno, in the Roots and Traditional Group category for 2002.

A singer/songwriter born to Jewish and Tunisian parents, Yael Naïm first hit the pop-music scene in 2001, but her debut was not what she had hoped for, and it wasn't until 2007 that her follow-up appeared.

Born in Paris in 1978, Naim first got a taste for pop music when she discovered the Beatles. Adding Aretha Franklin and Joni Mitchell to her list of influences, Naïm soon found herself playing shows with Winton Marsalis' backing musicians in Tel Aviv (where she had moved at the age of four). During her obligatory military service for Israel, Naïm started her first band, the Anti-Collision, and her appearance at a charity concert in 2000 scored her a record deal with EMI. After an appearance as Miriam in a French production of The Ten Commandments, she recorded her debut album on both coasts of the United States. The album, In a Man's Womb, was a sobering affair for Yael, who considered the album a personal failure. She kept on singing to make a living, but it wasn't until she met up with David Donatien, a West Indian percussionist, in 2004 that she regained her desire to write and perform. Working as a group, Donatien and Naim came together to record Naim's second album, Yael Naïm. Released in October of 2007, the album contained songs in French, English, and Hebrew, and included a surprising cover in Britney Spears' "Toxic." Critical acclaim and chart success followed — the album hit number 11 in France and broke the top forty in Switzerland — and in 2008, Naim's song "New Soul" was used in a commercial for Apple's new MacBook Air computer.

Courtesy of Allmusic.com

For more information, visit www.yaelweb.com

The Black Kids will be stopping by Friday night @ 6PM at our Queen Anne store to show us why their new record Party Traumatic was so highly anticipated!

The super awesome folks over at Neumos have offered up a pair of tickets to their show that night which I will give away to one lucky winner who sends an email to jesse@easystreetonline.com with the subject line "Partie Traumatic". We'll put em all in a big hat and draw a winner Friday afternoon, so get on it!

Also, when your here for the In Store, be sure to enter to win a I-Pod Nano and a collection of music from The Black Kids, The Ting Tings, Low Vs, Diamond, Wild Sweet Orange (Who will be at Queen Anne on Siunday 10/12 @ 3PM), The Annuals, Does it Offend You Yeah?, and Cory Chisel. The enter to win box is at the front counter.

What better way to end a hectic week and kick off the weekend?