@First Coming Along

It looks like several of the retail spaces in the @First development (First St. and 237) are just about done. There are signs up for Union Bank, Panda Express, Five Guys, and Chipotle. There are also 2 buildings going up fast right next to the Target.

Santa Clara County Poet Laureate: Sally Ashton

I've been meaning to post about this for several weeks now, but am a little bit behind (okay a lot behind) with my planned posts. :/

Since April 1st, Sally Ashton has been our Poet Laureate. This is a role I didn't even know existed until a reader submitted the link I'm about to share, but it's an interesting role indeed. Sally's lob is to elevate the awareness for poetry in Santa Clara County; advocate for poetry, literature, and arts; make poetry more accessible; and contribute to Santa Clara County's poetry and literary legacy. Sally also teaches at San Jose State University and have a phenomenal blog.

Click here for the NBC story about our Poet Laureate.
Click here for Sally's blog featuring the favorite poems of Santa Clara County residents.

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

San Pedro Square Market has an Official Launch Date: September 10!

The market is opening just in time to catch some warm summer weather! September 10 is the official date, although there will be soft openings for several vendors before then. I also wouldn't be surprised if there is an epic SJ Eats event to coincide with the opening.

Also, check out this great blog post about the market at the Silicon Valley Lofts & Condo's blog right over here.

CORRECTION: This is not the official launch, but a sneak preview!

DRUM! Night Benefit

Enter Music Publishing is sponsoring its 2nd Annual Benefit DRUM! Night on Friday, Aug 12th at the San Jose Rep! All proceeds will be donated to the Performing Arts Music Program at Lincoln High, which has over 40 course offerings in dance, music, and theater. For all the details, read below:

For Immediate Release

Enter Music Publishing Plays In The Community Again With Its 2^nd Annual DRUM! Night: A Benefit For The Lincoln High School Music Programs

 

San Jose, Calif., -- Enter Music Publishing, publishers of hip drumming magazines online and offline, isn’t just obsessed with selling magazines. The company has a strong commitment to the community and drummers in need.

Last year, Enter Music Publishing, in conjunction with the San Jose Jazz Festival, sponsored Rhythm Night, a benefit for the family of deceased Little Feat drummer, Richie Hayward. The night was a tremendous success with more than 500 drummers and fans attending.

This year, Enter Music Publishing is sponsoring its second annual benefit, DRUM! Night, which promises to be an exciting drumming festival with a diverse lineup of drummers and percussionists. On Friday, August 12, drummers will descend on the San Jose Repertory Theatre in the heart of Silicon Valley to witness an evening of amazing drum clinics and performances by Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa, Missing Persons, Jeff Beck), Thomas Lang (Spice Girls, Tina Turner, Stork), and Santana’s fiery percussion section: Karl Perazzo & Raul Rekow, with special guest Armando Perraza (formerly of Santana).

The event will actually be kicked off at 4:30 in the afternoon when Street Drum Corps puts on a street concert outside the venue.

All proceeds generated by 2011 DRUM! Night will be donated to the Performing Arts Music Program at Lincoln High, a San Jose magnet school. With over 40 course offerings in dance, music and theater arts, more than 900 Lincoln High students of all ability levels study and learn to attain the highest levels of achievement.

“We’re really enthused to be sponsoring this event to assist music education in schools,” said Phil Hood, publisher and co-founder of Enter Music Publishing. “San Jose schools have a great reputation when it comes to the performing arts and we’re dedicated to supporting the arts through events like DRUM! Night.”

Doors will open at 5:00, an hour-and-a-half before show time, allowing

attendees to have their stick grips analyzed and tuned-up by local drum teachers, witness music demos, test new drum gear, and get in on a special autograph session featuring Brian “Brain” Mantia (Guns ’N Roses, Primus), Jimmy DeGrasso (Megadeth, Alice Cooper), and other notable Northern California drumming dignitaries.

DRUM! Night raffle tickets will go on sale shortly. Entrants for a chance to win a full custom drum kit featuring Mapex drums and Sabian cymbals, as well as a host of additional prizes from companies like Gretsch, DW, LP, Gibraltar, Vic Firth, Craviotto, Remo, Vater, and more. Winners will be drawn and announced at the close of the show. All proceeds go to Lincoln High.

Like last year’s Rhythm Night, DRUM! Night will help kick off the 22nd Annual AT&T San Jose Jazz Festival, one of the largest open-air jazz festivals in the world. SJJF closes off the entire downtown area, erects multiple outdoor stages, and draws up to 100,000 music lovers who converge from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening to enjoy jazz, blues, salsa, Latin, R&B, electronica, and many other forms of contemporary music.

General admission tickets for DRUM! Magazine Rhythm Night are $20 apiece (each additional ticket is $15). Ticket ten-packs are available for $125. Premium tickets are available for $25. Cosponsors for DRUM! Magazine Rhythm Night include Roland, DW, Sabian, Remo, LP, Mapex, Vater, and Vic Firth.

For additional information, please visit www.drummagazine/drumnight.

About Enter Music Publishing

Founded in San Jose, CA in 1992, Enter Music Publishing, Inc. is a leading publisher of hip, drum/percussion magazines, with distribution in 40 countries. DRUM! is the flagship publication of Enter Music Publishing, Inc. and continues to set the industry standard for editorial quality and innovation. Enter Music Publishing, Inc. also publishes great content on its website, drummagazine.com. Over the company’s history, Enter Music Publishing has pressed other well-respected publications, such as  How To Play Drums, and TRAPS magazine. The company’s mission is to be the best source of drumming news and info on this planet and others as they become populated.  The company’s founders, Phil Hood and Andy Doerschuk, are well-respected drum industry veterans with more than 50 years of experience in the field.

thinkbiggersanjose.blog.com

If you haven't done so already, I would highly recommend adding Think Bigger San Jose to your list of blogs to read each day. They have only been around for a month, yet the content they're pushing out is consistently outstanding. One more time, here's the link!

Vegan Cosmetics Company "100% Pure" Moves to San Jose

100% Pure--which sells "cruelty-free" vegan cosmetics--is moving from Oakland to a much larger 140,000sqft headquarters in North San Jose. They also plan to hire 100 new employees over the next 3 years. 100% Pure does a huge chunk of their business online, but also have retail stores in Santana Row and Berkeley. For more info, click here.

Dine Downtown City Bites Walking Map

Today you can sample food from 22 different restaurants throughout Downtown! To help kickoff Dine Downtown (San Jose's Restaurant Week), most of the participating restaurants are giving people walking by a taste of their cuisine between 4 and 6pm. Below is the walking map for the event, just click to enlarge and print out.

Video of the First Annual San Jose Pillow Fight

I'm glad I stumbled upon this one... looking forward to next year's event!