Veggielution Is Opening Up Farmstand on Saturdays

The group of socially conscious urban farmers known as Veggielution are about to start sharing some of that fine locally-grown produce of theirs. On Saturday Feb 13th, they are going to have a soft opening of their Farmstand from 2:30pm to 5pm. The plan is to have the Farmstand open every Saturday afternoon, and of course they are also planning to open up shop at The Public Market on San Pedro Square this summer.

For their opening they will likely be selling scallions, lettuce, choi sum, arugula, cilantro, broccoli, kale, and chard. What is really interesting (and commendable) is that pricing is on a sliding scale so you pay what you can.

Check it out Feb 13 at 647 S King Road in San Jose.

First Friday Art Walk Today!

It's that time again. Rain or shine, the show will go on tomorrow in the SoFA district. I say it ever month... there is no better way to experience the San Jose art scene than to participate in these art walks. The galleries are open from 8pm to late (sometimes all night) and you have literally a hundred restaurants in walking distance... not to mention bars, night clubs, comedy clubs, movie theaters, the highest concentration of yogurt shops in the world, and guaranteed good times. Okay, I may be exaggerating on the yogurt shops but not the good times, so check it out!

Below is a map of all the places participating in the art walk. If you want the details on what each venue has to offer, you can always click this link. But do you really want to ruin the surprise?

Photos From December's First Friday

To get you in the mood for First Friday tomorrow, here are a few photos I took last First Friday:

Icebee Yogurt Now Open

If you're craving yogurt and you just happen to be in Downtown San Jose, you surely won't go hungry. There are now at least 5 yogurt shops downtown: Penguin Froyo, Cafe Yolicious, Swirls, Chillfactor, and now Icebee.

Located next to the Pita Pit on 2nd St., Icebee is a self-serve shop with 12 different flavors--including organic yogurt which you don't see very often--as well as the usual assortment of toppings. The atmosphere is modern and hip with a really slick booth in the middle of the store. Definitely a sweet addition to First St. which will one day provide contiguous retail between Santa Clara and SoFA Downtown.

Axis Art Gallery Opens Its Doors

We have yet another art gallery opening in Downtown San Jose, this time at the ground floor of Axis in one of the live/work units (#101). Axis Art Gallery features the work of photographer Deborah Mills Thackrey, painters Archil Pinchkhadze and Chris Elliman, as well as work by Tom Thackrey, Michael Buscemi, Julia Jacobson, Chris Sican, Phil Bongiorno, and Stefani Esta.

For more information, take a look at their website here.

Art work above by Archil Pichkhadze

First Friday (anti)Valentine Exhibition & Auction @ Works

The same gallery that brought you a crazy 24-hour ART-A-THON last First Friday (in December) is now brining you a "my Bloody Valentine" dance and (anti)Valentine auction for February's First Friday coming up... this week.

Here's a link if you're interested in either of these events or would like to donate your art: http://www.workssanjose.org/wordpress/.

If you haven't attended a First Friday yet, it's definitely a worthwhile experience. Great way to see the San Jose art scene. If you have attended a First Friday, have you walked all the way down to Market St.? There are 3-4 galleries and exhibits that people tend to miss, including friends of mine that have been to several of these. Make sure you go all the way down for the full experience ;)

Cinequest Coming Soon!

One of the top film festivals in the world is just a few weeks away from taking Downtown San Jose by storm! This year the festival has expanded to 5 different venues: Camera 12, Camera 3, The Rep, The California Theater, and even San Jose State University.

Over 200 screenings will take place, including 45 world and US premiers, forums with actors and directors, VIP parties at restaurants across downtown, and even a Mavericks award ceremony. Over 80,000 people are expected to attend. This year, I think everyone will be plenty impressed with how far downtown has come. With all of the beatification projects and Groundwerx, the "Cinequest zones" have never looked so good.

Mark your calendars for Feb 23 to Mar 7! To start selecting which screenings you want to attend, hit up this link for a full list of what's playing. Hope to see you there!

Lost San Jose Exhibit @ Santana Row

Feb 6th kicks off a photography exhibition of Lost San Jose in the Blues Jean Bar at the Row. If you happen to be there between 7-9pm, you can also grab some drinks and meet the photographer himself. He has some pretty amazing work, definitely worth checking out!