Arts & Entertainment
Festival of Altars celebration honors Dia de Los Muertos
MARTINEZ, Calif. – Sugar skulls, cigar-box nichos, large displays and a plaza filled with dancers turned Main Street into a Central American festival Saturday during the Dia de Los Muertos Festival of Altars. Under spreading black wings, which gained paper feathers decorated in colored chalk by children, residents set up small remembrances of lost loved […]
Thornton Wilder’s classic comedy delights at the Campbell
By SCOTT BABA Arts and Entertainment Editor Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker,” now playing at the Campball Theater in Martinez, defies simple definition. It would be completely fair to label the play as a farce – it is, after all, extraordinarily farcical, with slapstick, confused identities, ridiculously unlikely coincidences and a brief moment of low-grade accidental […]
Art passages gallery show illustrates importance of early child care
MARTINEZ, Calif. – A free exhibit of art by children and photographs of community-based child care centers is designed to show the availability of early child care programs in Contra Costa County. The show is the collaboration of the Arts & Culture Commission of Contra Costa County (ACS) and the Contra Costa County Community Services […]
Artist’s beaver mural attracts attention
MARTINEZ, Calif. – When artist Tim Hon made his first stroll of Martinez’s downtown area a few years ago, he was impressed. Little did he know the walk would lead to his creating a popular mural on the side of one of its businesses. And the owner of the business that bears the mural hopes […]
Martinez Arts Association’s Art in the Park Aug. 19
MARTINEZ, Calif. – More than 50 artists are expected to exhibit their paintings, sculptures and other works in Susana Park Aug. 19 in the 49th annual Martinez Arts Association Art in the Park show. More than an art show, this event also is the Martinez Arts Association’s largest fundraiser for the its goal of encouraging […]
Outside Lands with a twist
Steve Langsam ( Martinez News-Gazette ) San Francisco, Calif. – In one week from now Golden Gate Park will be filled with the music of over 50 artists as Outside Lands comes back for another addition of their wonderful summer festival in San Francisco. This year the festival from Another Planet Entertainment will of course […]
New play opening at the Campbell finds comedy in death
By SCOTT BABA Art and Entertainment Editor Women of Words premiered its sixth show at the Campbell Theater this weekend, opening “Dearly Departed” on Friday, a goofy southern comedy about life, death, and family. Written by David Dean Bottrell and Jessie Jones, “Dearly Departed” premiered in New Haven Connecticut in 1991, and that same year […]
Local band to play during Martinez’s Relay For Life
MARTINEZ, Calif. – While volunteers and team members take laps at the Martinez Junior High School during the Relay for Life of Martinez, they’ll be serenaded by a local rock and roll band whose music will keep them energized. The band is Dorothy Lane, formed by two brothers-in-law, Nick Knoblock and Lorin Holmen discovered they […]
Beaver Festival at Susana Park Saturday
The Martinez beavers are back, and so is the annual Martinez Beaver Festival that celebrates wildlife and their contributions to a healthy environment. Founded 11 years ago at a time a new beaver dam in Alhambra Creek might have exacerbated flooding in the city’s downtown business district, the first festival gave residents and ecology supporters […]
Nathan Turner comes home for book signing
MARTINEZ, Calif. – Nathan Turner, who has starred on a Bravo television show and has made a name for himself in interior design, returned to his roots Thursday for a book signing at the former Southern Pacific Railroad Depot. Turner, a Martinez native, happily autographed “I Love California,” but he frequently paused to hug friends, […]
