The Pacifica Historical Society will be conducting guided tours of Sam’s Castle August 12, 13, 19 and 20. During the tours docents are present in each room and “ghosts” wander throughout the castle telling their unique stories of their association with the castle and Pacifica.
Availability is limited and advance tickets are required. To buy tickets or to learn more, visit the Pacifica Historical Society’s website at http://pacificahistory.org/castle-tour/.
All proceeds go to benefit the Pacifica Historical Society.
(San Jose Mercury News) If you want to traverse a true Pacifica story of romance, elegant parties, uniformed gentlemen and maybe even murder, then stop by Florey’s Saturday, May 14, 2 to 4 p.m., to meet the author and pick up a signed copy of Bridget Oates’ “Sam’s Castle.” Also check the “Sam’s Castle of Pacifica Book” facebook page for future announcements. Florey’s Book Co., 2120 Palmetto Avenue, Pacifica (www.floreysbooks.blogspot.com)
For more information, click here.
Leading local history publishers Arcadia Publishing has just released “Sam’s Castle”— a comprehensive history of the storied building the Sam Mazza Foundation is proud to call home. Thoroughly researched, and written by Pacifica resident Bridget Oates, “Sam’s Castle” is sure to dispel some popular Castle legends and confirm quite a few others.
For more information, visit the Sam’s Castle page at Arcadia Publishing.
(San Francisco) – For over ten years, Door Dog Music Productions has staged innovative trail-blazing productions with master artists and youth in the Bay Area and from many countries abroad as a catalyst for cultural understanding. This Fall, experience three innovative evenings of transformation as our 11th annual San Francisco World Music Festival brings together the music of many cultures in a festival commissioned world premiere called “The Ritual Project: Offering | Entering the Fire | Feasting,” featuring world renowned master musicians and the Festival’s Youth Orchestra from the San Francisco Bay Area and Burma, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Taiwan, Tibet, and Uzbekistan, with Artistic Direction by Michael Santoro, Music Direction by Jim Santi Owen, Visual Installations by Jim Block, Lighting & Scenic Design by Matthew Antaky, film projections of Kyrgyz children of Jany-Tilek village, musicians and youth of Burma, and live satellite streaming of the Thao indigenous people of Taiwan.
“At a time where there are profound shifts in international perspectives, especially within the political, economic, and cultural spheres, there is more than ever a need to understand our evolving obligations to our growing global community,” notes Artistic Director Michael Santoro. From every mountain range to every valley of the world, communities seek answers to the mysteries of the future through divinations, rituals, rites, and ceremonies. “The Ritual Project” is an innovative music production designed to bring artists from many diverse traditions together through the exploration of ancient rites and rituals, in an effort to find balance among the increasingly complex global forces affecting individuals and their communities today, including Tibetan shamanistic rituals from the Himalayan and Pamir Steppes, ancient divination practices based on the profound Chinese oracle, the Yi Jing, the initiation rites of the West African and Carribbean Santería, the land rituals of the Humaya Singers and Dancers of the Costanoan, Rumsen Carmel Tribe of Ohlone, the Aramaic rites for the dead within the Jewish tradition, and the deeply spiritual classical musical traditions of India.
Combining live performance with live streaming technology, and in partnership with Be The Match: National Marrow Donor Program, “The Ritual Project” will also project onto the stage a real-time “face montage” of marrow transplant patients who have passed as well as those who have survived a transplant, provide live web casts of the three day performance ritual to select hospitals around the Bay Area, and offer audience members on-site donor stations to register with Be The Match, so that people with diseases that can be treated by marrow donation and cannot find one in the registry can increase their odds of finding a match. “Working with Be The Match is about harnessing the power of music to ignite the human spirit and inspire social change,” explains Music Director Jim Santi Owen, who lost his partner Bay Area dancer Liza Matlack to leukemia three years ago. “For every music project we undertake, we also offer social activist options for the different communities drawn together by that project’s music.”
“The Ritual Project” will showcase master musicians, teachers, and composers including: Ohlone Tribal Elders; Thao Shamans of Taiwan, Tibetan singer Techung; South Indian percussionists T.H. Subash Chandran and Ganesh Kumar; Afro-Cuban percussionist John Santos; Burmese harpist Su Wai; Uzbeki percussionist Abbos Kosimov; Indian tabla master Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri; South Indian violinist Anuradha Sridhar; Chinese percussionist Wang Wei; Orff teachers Doug Goodkin, Sofia Lopez-Ibor, and James Harding; percussionist Jim Santi Owen; as well as Bay Area Youth Ensembles including: South Indian Youth Ensemble of the Trinity Center for Music, Echoes of the Dragon Chinese Percussion Ensemble, Ali Akbar College of Music Youth Tabla Ensemble, The Jumping Buddha Youth Ensemble, The San Francisco School Orff Ensemble, and more.
The Ritual Project: Offering | Entering the Fire | Feasting
November 19, 8:00 pm Program A: Offering
November 20, 8:00 pm Program B: Entering the Fire
November 21, 7:00 pm Program C: Feasting
Festival Pass for all three events: $35
All individual events: $12 Members | $15 Public | Children under 12 & Seniors Free
Festival Background
The San Francisco World Music Festival, now in its 11th year, is produced by Door Dog Music Productions. The mission of Door Dog Music Productions is to harness the power of music to challenge human nature and inspire social change. In addition to supporting and revitalizing traditional music cultures around the world, we create multi-generational, trans-cultural dialogues through our innovative staged productions, music research, documentary films, and educational resources. Our unique position within the arts field enables us to develop new strategies for promoting global synergy and the diversity of cultures around the world.
Learn more at http://www.sfworldmusicfestival.org/festival/.