Phantom Galleries: Variety Show & Poetry Slam

The Oversocial MoFo Revue_Jan. 14th

Save the date! The third installment of the Oversocial Mofo Revue is pleased to present the poetry of Laura Yes Yes, musical guest Emerald Hill, and burlesque with a twist from the lovely Laika Fox.

Note that this is the Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWPS) qualifier. That means the highest scoring female poet earns the right to represent San Jose at WOWPS 2011. It also means ALL LADIES get a discount at the door.

More details will be posted soon, or visit the Facebook event page here.

SoFA is Getting a New Gallery in Time for February's First Friday!

Call for Art at new Pho69 in SoFA District

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Phantom Galleries will be coordinating on-going art exhibitions at the newest SoFA District restaurant PHO69 (located next door to Caffe Trieste). The restaurant has been getting great Yelp reviews since their opening last month with special mentions of their contemporary decor, great food and friendly staff. It's just missing your art on their large spacious walls!

We are looking for large scale contemporary art work that will add to their overall ambiance and customer experience. Exhibition duration will be 2-3 months (yet to be determined) and will be a participating venue in the South First Fridays monthly art walks. Art may be available for sale.

Art work will hang from a professional hanging system that the restaurant installed (no screws/nails in the walls.) Hanging areas are: (2) 20' wide x 6' tall and (2) 12' wide x 6' tall.

To be considered for exhibition, please email 5-7 jpgs (sized no larger than 900 pixels wide at 72dpi), with short bio and exhibit history toinfo[at]phantomgalleries.com

We'd like to start their exhibitions by First Friday February 4th, so please respond soon if you're interested.

Feel free to pass this opportunity onto other artists you feel would be a good fit!





For more information, contact us at info@phantomgalleries.com

Wednesday Wishlist: San Jose Marina

Few people know that San Jose actually has direct access to the bay though Alviso. In 2010, we received some water access for small boats and kayaks, but in theory the area could support a full blown marina or port. Imagine one day taking a ferry ride from San Jose to other parts of the bay!

San Jose seen as #1 US Rental Market

There's an interesting article in the San Jose Business Journal saying rental pricing is expected to go up in 2011, and San Jose is expected to be the "best performing" for the year. By best performing, they means rents will likely go up the highest out of all markets in the US. San Jose currently has 97.1% rental occupancy and that is forecasted to rise to 97.7% in 2011. That in turn is expected to drive rents up 9.6% this year. Sounds like it's a good time to put up some shiny new apartment buildings. Click here to read the full article.

BTW, happy 1/11/11 day.

January 2011 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• The City Council asks the California High Speed Rail Authority to continue evaluating an underground option for High Speed Rail and approves a $200,000 visual guidelines study for the aerial bridge option.
• The San Pedro Square Market construction is preceding nicely (should be open late Spring, one of the key buildings is already up).
• To recruit more businesses to San Jose, the city and RDA have launched www.choosesanjose.com, a site filled with success stories and tips for business owners.
• Good Karma now serves Barefoot Coffee at the "Barefoot Karma Bar"
• Parking after 6pm is now $4 (up from $3 last year) for most city owned garages. The lot under 280 in SoFA continues to be the only city lot that is completely free after 6pm every night. It is also easy to get validation for any of the other lots.
• The second generation of downtown residential buildings is coming soon, starting with a 3 high-rise 736 unit project in North San Pedro.
• Downtown Doors is now open for competition and plans are to install new local art on 25 doors such as the ones on the Fairmont.
• Koalas are coming to Downtown San Jose =). To help beautify the area and surprise downtown patrons, 13 metal koala sculptures are being placed on eucalyptus trees. You can already see 4 of them on San Carlos between 2nd and 4th.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

New Incubator in Town: Semantic Seed

San Jose is one of the must entrepreneurial cities on the planet. We have an amazing ecosystem in place to help budding entrepreneurs shape their ideas, find capital, and launch companies that may one day change the world. Every time a new start-up incubator pops up, it strengthens our innovation/start-up community and helps increase our competitive advantage against other cities vying for the founders of tomorrow's Facebooks and Googles. When entrepreneurs are deciding where to launch their ideas, we want them to be here.

Semantic Seed is a new incubator right in the middle of downtown (12 South 1st, Suite 318) whose mission is to become a catalyst of early stage companies to graduate into venture capital-ready companies. The verticals they focus on are Social Media, Search and Discovery, Consumer Infrastructure, Platforms, and Evangelical. For more information on the incubator side of things, click here.

They also have coworking space available which is a really interesting concept. Professionals and entrepreneurs that typically work from home or coffee shops can instead work in an environment with like-minded individuals. You have the cost benefits of sharing office resources with others while being part of a community where innovation is embedded in the culture and you have startups launching all around you. For more information on coworking, click here.

Thanks to Peter Smith from el408.com for the info!

Guadalupe River Park Conservancy

I just wanted to give a quick plug to the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, a non-profit group that provides community leadership for the development and active use of the park. They have many events going on for all ages and interest such as walks, garden tours, sustainability gardening, and environmental info sessions. I also imagine they will be the ones responsible for helping turn the Guadalupe River Park into our version of Central Park!

You can find their website right over here, and their blog over here (there is also a permanent link in the right sidebar of The San Jose Blog).

Bad News: No Art Walk Today :/ Good News: New Exhibits Launch Anyway

Dark Matter & Other Exhibits this Friday, Jan. 7th

There's no downtown San Jose art walk this month (January 7th) but there's still a couple of great art openings going on so you don't have to wait til First Friday February!

The Samurai, sculpture by Matthew Pugh

Surgery.Art presents Dark Matter a group study of the dark and immeasurable.

Opening reception: JAN 7 2011, 7-10PM

Fashion study: Mike Kemling

Auditory guidance: Dr. Stats, Femme Mystique, Kevorkian, Mixer Djammed

Featuring dark analytical work by: Matthew Pugh, Marie Dvorkin, Alla Viksne, Jay Ruland, Alex Yanushkevich, Kelly Nelson, Emily Feucht, Haley Goodlett, J. Marie Valdivia, Centa Schumacher, Mike Dvorkin, Genevieve Hastings, Shauna Mork + more

Curated by: Marie Dvorkin, Dora Lee

Exhibit dates: JAN 7 - JAN 21, 2011

Gallery hours: Tuesday - Friday noon - 7pm & Saturday noon - 5pm

KALEID Gallery
88 South 4th Street, San Jose, CA 95112
www.KALEIDgallery.com
(408) 947 1785

Over at Art Ark is Candy Coated Visions: recent works and site specific installation byGwen Mercado-Reyes and Kajmear Reyes

Opening Reception: Friday, January 7 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Art Ark Gallery
1035 S. 6th street
San Jose, CA

and WORKS Gallery will be having a closing reception for the Works’ Member Exhibition "Ring In the New" from 7 to 10pm.

This exhibition is the most eclectic, startlingly open, unjuried annual regional exhibition of art. Work from the stars of the South Bay scene are brought together with first time exhibitors. Come celebrate and support your community art and performance center with the artists who do the same: including Tony May, Carmela Rizzuto, Catherine and Tim Thompson, Myrrh, James Morgan, Irene Suber, and 100 more!

There will be member announcements at 9pm. Artists in the exhibition can claim their work to take home at 10pm.

Works
451 South First Street
San José, CA 95113
http://www.workssanjose.org/