Under Grounds Spoken Word

This June, we sponsored a literary reading/spoken word event at Under Grounds Coffee. The event was hosted by CSUSM’s Creative Writing Community Workshop (CWCW). Meagan Huerta, Jermane Cooper, Joanna Baguio, Karla Cordero, Ryan Allen Kelly, Mario DeMatteo, Jessica  Mulqueen, Wyatt Reno, Jane Sim, and Stephen Di Padova shared their poems and stories. Readers included CWCW members, recent CSUSM graduates, Palomar Poets, and a student of San Marcos High School.

The event was a success and Under Grounds Coffee has invited us to host Open Mics on the third Thursday of each month. We plan to hold the next open mic on Thursday, July 19^th and call this recurring event “Thir Thur.” We encourage any and all community members to dazzle us with your poems and other written works, but can’t guarantee a “pg” performance.  More information soon!

San Marcos Farmers Market: Now open SUNDAYS!

Public Art: CSUSM construction site houses mural display

Construction workers work at the Cal State San Marcos QUAD, which is displaying a new public mural project. The murals are at the construction site of the new CSUSM dorms and can be seen from East Barham Drive in San Marcos. Photo by John Koster\/For The North County Times

TERi Art Festival on Deer Springs Road

An amazing event featured local fine artists, live music, food, friends and more! A beautiful country setting and great fundraiser to raise funds for the new Campus For Life being built in San Marcos for TERi, an organization that works with children and adults with developmental disabilities and autism.

The Yellow Wellies, Sponsored by The San Marcos Foundation

The Yellow Wellies performed live at the 2012 Spring High Tech High Masters Series on May 18, 2012 in Twin Oaks Gallery. COVER song: The Cranberries "Zombie".

Community Car Show & Art Walk at Restaurant Row

On Sunday, May 6th 2012, Old California Restaurant Row hosted a Car Show and Art Walk in the parking lot and along the Village Shops! It was a Sunday Classic with a perfect blend of flavors that included Great Food, Great Cars, Live Music and an Art Walk. From Ferrari's to street rods to old classics, the car show had something for everyone. The Art consisted of paintings, jewelry, Pictures, Framed Art, hand made cards, wreaths,  hats, flowers and much more. The Music was great and performed by Bill Bradburry and Gunner Biggs. This was the first of many Summer Events scheduled at Restaurant Row in 2012. Click Here to stay informed about upcoming events at Restaurant Row.

Featured Artist: Julianna McDuffie

Around this time last year, Julianna McDuffie sat crocheting a purse on Carlsbad Beach sand. A domestic beach day with husband, children, and brothers triggered a fantastic performance/public/found art project. Julianna set up her blog “The Curious Pebble Project: Random Acts of Art—One Girl’s Quest” at Curiouspebble.com. Her first post outlined, each step paired with a lovely photo, finding that first pebble, crocheting a little sweater for it, and hiding it for someone to stumble upon.  She credits her husband for the idea, quoting him as saying, “Hey! You know what? You should make some of those crocheted rocks while we are at the beach… and then just leave them there for someone to find.” At this early stage, her intention was mainly performative, focused on the act of finding pebbles, sitting in their environment crocheting, hiding them, and hanging around to watch the reactions of those who found them.

Keep Art Alive

On April 20th, 2012 the students of CSUSM partnered with High Tech High and created an exciting event called "Keep Art Alive" at the CSUSM Art Gallery in Restaurant Row with the purpose of keeping art in the classroom. The artwork provided by the students will be auctioned off and all the money raised will be donated to Centre Artes Organization, which supports and encourages arts education and arts advocacy in San Diego County schools and communities.

SMAC Supports Artwork for Barham Dr Quad Structure at CSUSM

On April 11th at 5:30 PM, The San Marcos Arts Council held its monthly meeting at Old California Coffee House & Eatery in Restaurant Row in San Marcos Ca. In attendance: Craig Garcia, Jacob Angelo, John Walker, Mike McDonald, Raziah Roushan, Janice Arcaro, Marilyn Huerta and Lisa Schirmer as our guest speaker.

NCT: Student drawings, paintings, on display at Restaurant Row

Cal State San Marcos' off-campus student art gallery at Restaurant Row is showing a new exhibition of student work.
The exhibition features work by five current Visual and Performing Arts students at CSUSM.
The artists included in the showcase are Marissa Daly, Meredith Daly, Meghan Freund, Michele Grayeb and Natalie Shapiro. Their displays include drawings, paintings, mixed media and 3-D pieces.
The gallery opened earlier this month in a small space in the Village Shops, a courtyard of stores and eateries at the northwest corner of Restaurant Row, across from Canapes restaurant.
Restaurant Row owner Bob Eubanks donated the space to the university in hopes of creating an "arts epicenter" at the location.
Admission is free and open to the public. The Spring Spotlight show will be on display beginning Friday through April. 14. The gallery is open Friday and Saturday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m.
For more information, call Marilyn Huerta at 760-750-8889.

Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/san-marcos/san-marcos-student-drawings-paintings-on-display-at-restaurant-row/article_bd360a50-9abd-5062-9978-ce23af510bf7.html#ixzz1r0nro7aY

CSUSM Art Gallery Opens at Old California Restaurant Row

On March 9, 2012, The Cal State University San Marcos Art Gallery held its Grand Opening party at Old California Restaurant Row. A special THANK YOU needs to go out to the Eubanks family, who donated the space to the CSUSM Visual & Performing Arts Department. Another Thank You should also go out to all the restaurants who supported the Grand Opening party as well as their commitment to promote the Art Gallery throughout the year with special events; hence, drawing more attention to the art department of CSUSM. The Gallery looked amazing and it was filled with many great pieces that just amazed onlookers the entire night. It was a great event with local student artists coming out to show their work, give live demonstrations, have great food and listen to some incredible music. It truly was a VIP star treatment event and many officials from CSUSM, the City of San Marcos, The San Marcos Arts Council and some San Marcos Chamber members came to enjoy the festivities.  The image above depicts artwork by CSUSM VPA Student and Arts Association President, Brittany Galante. This image depicts CSUSM VPA Student, David Chavez who brought out his work. He was giving live demonstrations on how to paint and he continued working on his painting there the entire night. It was great to see him work on the painting... You can see in the background of this picture, that many people were enjoying the music, food and art in the courtyard area of the Village Shops at Old California restaurant Row. Here is Amanda from Rhythm City Grill, who was out supporting the event with delicious food and hanging out with Craig from Old California Coffee House & Eatery, who was serving up coffee & dessert! It was a fun event for us as we got to enjoy the art and music for a couple of hours. We had local musicians come and play for two hours. They were fantastic! Thanks again to the Eubanks family, Old California Restaurant Row and all the participating restaurants, who donated their time, money, food and manpower to make this event a very special launch party for CSUSM Art Gallery and all in attendance!

CSUSM ART GALLERY: Grand Opening

CSUSM ART GALLERY

2011 Arts Alive Oct 23rd in San Marcos Ca

San Marcos Arts Council was proud to participate in ARTS ALIVE hosted by the City of San Marcos this past weekend, October 23rd, 2011! A great day for enjoying the arts, meeting new people and doing crafts with the little ones! Here is a great picture of Craig Garcia from Old California Coffee House & Marilyn from SMAC & the beautiful table display that Jacob and Marilyn setup.

 A special thanks goes out to Jacob for setting up the incredible booth for the children. As you can see from the picture above, our arts & craft table was a huge hit.

The children had a blast making Halloween pumpkins and Frankenstein faces!! Thanks again Jacob! You were a Rockstar this weekend!!!

Here is a great shot of the San Marcos Arts Council with John, Craig, Marilyn adn Jacob! Who all donated their time to help keep Arts Alive in San Marcos!

The smile on this little girls face says it all....

Welcome

SMAC Invites Rick Ross & Dorene Terryberry to the Art & Music Show

What a beautiful day we had in San Marcos Ca as Old California Coffee House played host to the San Marcos Arts Council's Sunday Matinee Art & Music show, where live jazz music from Rick Ross was performed and the art show was going on with local artists Dorene Terryberry and Sarah Dorian. The weather was perfect, one of those nice days where you can just sit outside, with a slight breeze blowing, we had our choice of shade or sun on the patio of Old California Coffee House and Eatery as the people flowed in continuously to see the art and listen to Rick play. So last week, if you remember, we had the young guys with Coco Jam. This week, Rick Ross played these incredible classical jazz tunes, many of them from movies and almost everyone of them you knew, so it set the tone for an extremely enjoyable day. I was as impressed with this group as any other group we've ever had play on Sunday at the coffee shop for the Matinee performances. There was something about the vibe that they brought, made the day very enjoyable. I am usually working throughout the performances, but I couldn't help but to sit in the sun with the cool breeze blowing and listen to these two play. Rick, on lead guitar connects with his audience in a different way than I've seen other musicians. I guess it is his style or personality, I don't know, but he'll look at you and let you know the song he is playing, where it came from etc. Or if he doesn't tell you in the beginning, he'll ask the audience who recognizes it and asks who remembers where it was from... It's awesome! I felt as if I were the only person in the audience and he was playing just for me! We also featured Dorene Terryberry, who I met at the Del Mar Fair this Summer, is featured here with one of her clients, Off to the right in this picture is the Jewelry art of Sarah Dorian.

A special thanks goes out to SMCF San Marcos Community Foundation for sponsoring this event! We couldn't do it without you!

The San Marcos Arts Council’s Sunday Art & Music Show

Today's featured artist was Janeane Povilaitis, black light art. Janeane is a very talented artists who creates art unlike any other artist we have ever showcased for the Sunday Art & Music Show at Old California Coffee House & Eatery before. It was a great day of art and music as always, when it comes to the San Marcos Arts Council, they do things right. The goal here is to showcase local artists and musicians, to give them a venue and audience and allow them to practice or showcase their work. The feedback from the artists, the musicians and the audience is tremendous and it is a good time for everyone! The musicians are getting a chance to perform in front of an crowd, where otherwise may not get a chance to perform at all, so I think we are doing some real good in the community here twith this program. Please come out to support your local artists and musicians as they practice their craft in front of a friendly audience and practice their music in hopes of getting booked for gigs in the future. This particular Sunday, we had a young, but really good band come play this particular day. It's a local Raggae band called Coco Jam Stand with local San Marcos Musicians, Spencer, Chase & Todd, who cut his hair so short for the Summer, I didn't even recognize him... lol Sorry Todd. I looked right at you and I thought to myslef, I know this guy, but who are you again...? lol Oh, I was a little embarrassed, since I know these guys very well now... Anyways, all in all, a great day with lots of fun, great art and awesome music. So the next time you want to relax on Sundy afternoon and enjoy yourself with great art and great music, come on down to Old California Coffee House and Eatery in San Marcos, Ca where the best Live Music is always happening, all weekend long!

A special thanks goes out to SMCF San Marcos Community Foundation for sponsoring this event! We couldn't do it without you!

2011 Student Film Festival @ San Marcos Civic Center

Child Star Plays Classical Piano at Old Cal Coffee

On Sunday, June 12th, 2011, the San Marcos Art Council put on their weekly Art and Music show at Old California Coffee House and Eatery in San Marcos, Ca. where 16 year old piano playing, singer/songwriter Lizzy King and her big brother Nate on drum box, performed for the first time! Each week, the San Marcos Art Council invites local artists and musicians to come play, perform and display their art work to give exposure to the artists and to give them a venue to showcase their work! The San Marcos Arts Council provides the weekly venue at no cost to the artists and the artists are selling their art work and keeping 100% of the proceeds! The San Marcos Arts Council also provides a small scholarship to student musicians for performances of classical and jazz music. Here is a little clip of Lizzy King and her brother Nate performing and playing Live Music at Old Cal Coffee... Take a look! I remember sitting on my patio one night watching one of our weekend performers, taking notes for my blog, when I started talking to Lizzy's Dad, who began talking... ok bragging about his little girl... "Lizzy King". He went on and on... "Like any proud Dad would" to the point of embarrassing Lizzy a little bit, but it was all in fun! He kept insisting that Lizzy was a great pianist & singer/songwriter, so I told him what I was doing at the coffee shop for the Sunday Matinee and how I was introducing new artists, new musicians and bringing in the art and music Matinee. I exchanged information with Lizzy, who is very professional for her age and booked the gig directly with her. I was so glad I met Lizzy because she did an AMAZING performance for us on Sunday wither brother Nate and they were simply.... "Awesome!" Here's a picture of the packed house as they were playing their gig... We also had one of Old California Coffee Houses' very Own Erin Nenow playing piano that day. She has taken lessons for 12 years and rarely performs in front of an audience, so when I found out Erin played piano, I couldn't wait to invite her to play. The main objective of the San Marcs Art Council is to provide venues for musicians, student or ameteur musicians and artists to showcase their work! This was a perfect example of a successful day! The San Marcos Arts Council puts on this weekly event is held every Sunday at Old California Coffee House and Eatery in Restaurant Row in San Marcos, Ca. Come on down and support your local artists and musicians. It's a great time for all. Our featured artists of the day was actually Sara Hancock who brought guitarists friend David with her and these guys rocked the house too! It was an amazing day! I have a picture of Sara and David performing on piano and guitar, take a look. I remember the first time I was introduced to Sara Hancock through a mutual friend and regular coffee shop visitor Joclyn Wolfe on a Friday night. I was told that she was a singer song writer and that I had to get her in here to play. So I made her give me a demo cd as I do with all musicians who play at the coffee shop, and wow was it good! It was just a home video, nothing too fancy, but I just wanted to make sure she up for the challenge! She "NAILED IT" Just take a look at how comfortable she is singing in front of a huge crowd! Thanks again Sara Hancock! We loved your performance! Now let's not forget about the artists... We had three great artists displaying their paintings and art jewelry that day. Terri Mille, a painter and photographer who's specialty is painting horses, which is dear to my heart as my wife Giovanna rides dressage at a nearby horse barn. We also had Sara Dorian, which displayed her amazing art Jewelry and of course, John Sprague from the Merkhaba Project. Take a look at the fun filled day of art and music. Thank you to all of you who participated in this fun event and thank you to all the patrons who came out for a day of art and music at old California Coffee House and Eatery in San Marcos, Ca! .... in Restaurant Row! This is Sara with her Friend Jess, who also is an artists and has great art to look at.... Thanks for coming out girls, We loved having you!

A special thanks goes out to SMCF San Marcos Community Foundation for sponsoring this event! We couldn't do it without you!

Hey Ryan Dart, What’s a Melodica?

I am very excited to write this article today because I was so impressed last Sunday with Ryan and Therese Dart, I think they stole the show! Ryan Dart, a local jazz musician dropped off a cd one day to Old California Coffee House and asked if he could play here. I listened to his cd and thought he would be a perfect fit for the brand new Sunday 3-5pm Art & Music Matinee sponsored by the San Marcos Arts Council. He did not disappoint us at all... In fact, he and his wife Therese captived the audience for two hours! Another thing that I really liked about Ryan is that he called two weeks before just to confirm that we were still on. It shows a strong level of professionlalism that I appreciated very much! you bet this jazz musician will be playing again here at Old Cal Coffee very soon! I had a chance to take some video's and some pictures. I think the only way to really describe how cool this day was is to show you some pics and some some videos... So, you here go: Ryan & Therese Dart playing Jazz Music with the guitar and melodica at Old Cal Coffee last Sunday May 22nd. After the Show, I had a chance to Interview him, so you would have a chance to get to know hi as well as know his music. here ya go everyone: Mr Ryan Dart:

It's an Art Affair at Old Cal Coffee

Nathan Serrato, a local artist and frequent patron of Old California Coffee House & Eatery, had his day to shine and he made the most of it. Nathan brought an entire entourage to help him setup. It's a good thing too because he has a lot of photographs... There are only a few pictured here... Nathan also invited and brought another local artist with him and her name is Natalie Ladik and she is also a local photographer. Natalie also brought a ton of pictures with her too. If you want to learn something about how to put on an art show, take a look at these two young entrepreneurs and look how well they display their work. I know you artists out there are usually anti corporate, but there is nothing wrong with displaying your work in manner that makes people want to buy your work. I mean, I know you would do your art for nothing because you love it so much, but it doesn't hurt to get paid for what you are worth too. The good part about all of this is that we have so many great local artists and we here at Old California Coffee House are giving local artists a place to show their work of art. I took a couple of video and some more pictures and if have room in this post, I'll add some more stuff to it so you can see what we are doing here in San Marcos! As always, I want to thank the San Marcos Arts Council for sponsoring this event and without them and thier contributions to the arts, this program would not have taken off at all!

A special thanks goes out to SMCF San Marcos Community Foundation for sponsoring this event! We couldn't do it without you!

Clayton Judd plays classical piano music

 Clayton Judd plays classical piano music at in San Marcos, Ca. Clayton Judd was honored by the San Old California Coffee House & Eatery Marcos Arts Council and received a scholarship and performance appearance! He also has won the classical music scholarship for most improved musician. Clayton Judd, originally self taught, now classically trained, is in school at Mira Costa College for two and half years. Clayton is proficient in Trumpet and Guitar, but Clayton is a whiz at piano! After his perfomance, someone walked up to me and told me that they had been playing piano for 15 years and they can't play anything like Clayton...lol Here's a little video clip we took of his performance from last Sunday... The Sunday Art & Music Matinee continues to go strong in San Marcos Ca. Last Sunday, the San Marcos Arts Council honored Desiree Fleck, originally born in Germany, made her way to Texas as in infant with her parents, is now a self taught local artists who believes in creating things of beauty and prolonging the life of an existing object she turns into art. Here is Desiree with San Marcos Arts Council Treasurer Eldon Eller. To learn more about Desiree, visit her website or bloat at http://dezdino.carbonmade.com/ or http://ddtheadventurer.blogspot.com/

San Marcos Arts Council honors Finger Guitar Player Scot Ryder

The San Marcos Arts Council honored finger guitar player Scot Ryder with a scholarship and an opportunity to showcase his talents at Old California Coffee House and Eatery in San Marcos Ca on Sunday April 17, 2011. Scot was greeted by Eldon Eller of the San Marcos Arts Council and both Eldon and I stayed and applauded the entire performance as we really enjoyed Scot's music. His guitar style reminded me the first time I heard and saw the acoustic guitar being played to Spanish Flamenco Style Guitar. Now Scot's sound is nothing like Flamenco, but the passion and the power of the guitar as Scot plucked those strings with his fingers, you could just tell the enthousiasm he has for his craft! It's special to watch... I also wanted to thank Scot for bringing a special guest in Jesus Gonzalez who stepped in and allowed Scot to a break when needed. Jesus Gonzalez pictured here with Scot Ryder played with a Middle Eastern Flair and was a very talented musician. We all enjoyed having him as our special guest. Thanks Jesus! Here's a little snip I took of Scott playing that guitar I was talking about....

A special thanks goes out to SMCF San Marcos Community Foundation for sponsoring this event! We couldn't do it without you!

Reggae Music in San Marcos?

Saturday night April 9th, Coco Jam Stand brought their rastafari roots and culture to Old California Coffee House & Eatery to play Reggae in San Marcos, Ca. Spencer Relator on Lead Guitar and vocals, Todd Mata on Drums & Chase Cloyd on Bass & Rhythm guitar played Reggae covers like Bob Marley along with original songs of their own. This is a great band with a great story as these youngsters can really play! Coco Jam Stand was invited to play at our regular Sunday Matinee Art & Music Festival and we were so happy with their performance, we booked them on Saturday Night. Our Sunday Matinee is reserved for student artists, up and coming artists & teacher/student recitals, but because they did such a great job, I felt they deserved a headline spot on a Saturday night and they did NOT disappoint. The Patio was packed with coffee shop patrons and fans of Coco Jam Stand. It was a cool scene as some the girlfriends, family members and friends came out to support the band. The entire coffee shop, employees and customers were still talking about the band the next day. They were saying things like, "What a cool band last night" & "What a great Vibe these guys put out" and many more great comments! Look for Coco Jam Stand to play at North County's "Premier Artist" Coffee House with Live Music every Weekend in the near future! I would highly recommend Coco Jam Stand to play at any venue as they are really good, very respectful and great to work with.... Here's Clip from their perfomance playing badfish from Sublime... Sorry the sound is just ok & lighting is terrible in the clip, but take a listen... I think you'll like it... Coco Jam Stand - Sublime- Badfish

A special thanks goes out to SMCF San Marcos Community Foundation for sponsoring this event! We couldn't do it without you!

Poetry & The Spoken Word at Old Cal Coffee

Lauren Slocum and this group of brave individuals were the first people to perform Poetry and the Spoken Word at Old California Coffee House & Eatery on March 13th, 2011. Lauren, a Literature Major and a member of San Marcos Arts Council's Sunday Matinee Committee, was recently accepted to the great school of San Francisco State. While we are very dad to be losing Lauren at the end of May, I am most proud of this lady for founding & starting the Poetry Reading program through The San Marcos Arts Council. I look forward to following your career as a young lady. I know you will go on to do great things in your life! When we say poetry and the Spoken Word, it leaves a little openness to interpretation as one performer got up in front of a crowd for the very first time and spoke his rap song. Now you might think rap? What does rap have to do with poetry? I agreed with this question until I heard this young man speak.... I mean rap.... Call it rap, call it poetry, call it whatever.... but this man created and wrote his rap with rhyme and had the guts to stand up in front of everyone a read his rap to the world. It was an expression of him, his life and you could tell how he poured his feelings and emotions into his work. Now, whether he becomes Charles Dickenson or Snoop Dog, is still yet to be seen, but it is nice to see young people passionate about something, study, learn and practice their art or craft and see it come to life in the real world is an amazing feeling. Oh yea, Did I mention, he was the only person that memorized his performance! Great Job! I am so excited to be part of this Sunday MatineeI want to thank the SMCF San Marcos Community Foundation for sponsoring this event! We couldn't do it without you!