by Juliana Birnbaum Fox
Los Pleneros de Severo, de Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico’s Los Pleneros de Severo Quiñones (PSQ), a dynamic Bomba & Plena group, will be playing the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts on August 24.
Pleneros de Severo Quiñones is Charlie (dir. & Congas), Tony (singer), Bandy (Quinto), Raul (Guiro) & Agustin (Bas). Jose Nogueras, one of the main characters in Puerto Rico’s folkloric representations says: “PSQ has taken Plena to another level.”
Angel Alvarado, director of Grupo Esencia, the main Plena group in Puerto Rico”When PSQ is on stage – everything else just stops, is like if your inner self says -listen, watch, and dance.” Tickets are available through www.MissionCulturalCenter.org.
City College Rams host football scrimmage
The Rams, City College’s football team, will host a scrimmage match against San Joaquin Valley College at 4:00 P.M. at Rams Stadium on Wednesday, August 22, 2007. San Joaquin Delta was one of the top five teams in the Valley Conference last year and is traveling out to play the Rams for their fourth annual face-off.
Led by Coach George Rush, the Rams were the top team in the NorCal Conference last year and remain a prime source for Division I recruiters. In 2006, 15 team members transferred to prominent college football programs, including Penn State and Nebraska. Rush described the scrimmage as “a valuable opportunity to provide a competitive atmosphere while protecting our players and getting to see them perform together as a team.”
The two teams will meet at CCSF’s Rams Stadium, located on City College’s main campus at 50 Phelan Avenue in San Francisco.
37th Annual Millbrae Labor Day Festival brings music, crafts and food to the streets
Every year for the past 37 years, the last unofficial weekend of summer brings throngs of festival lovers to Millbrae for one of the Bay Area’s biggest Labor Day weekend events, transforming the downtown streets into a vibrant street fair with two days of live music, arts and crafts, and food and wine. This year the festival is expanding its green initiative, encouragingrecycling and composting and running a shuttle service from the Milbrae BART/Caltrain station to the south end of the festival.
The music lineup this year highlights bands that pay tribute to history’s great rock and roll. It will feature Zoo Station (U2), Who Too (The Who), Evolution (Journey), The Gator Alley Band (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Replica (80’s rock bands), along with talented teenage sensations Lane Four, fan favorites in the KFOX Last Band Standing Competition. String ensemble HeartStrings Music, jazzy r&b trio Emerson & The Growiser Band, and woodwind/keyboard duo Dreamroad round out the stellar lineup of music. The festival will also feature performances by the Chinese Folk Dance Association, the Mills High School Dragon Team, and the Shinnyo Temple Taiko Drum Group.
Presented by the Millbrae Chamber of Commerce, this year’s festival runs September 1-2 (Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend) on Broadway (1 block west of El Camino Real) between Victoria and Meadow Glen. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Admission is free.
