Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Happy wet and wild 2023 Tomatoes. Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday season and now it’s time to pop into a New Year. Since the weather is a storming, it’s a good time to hit an indoor show and Broadway San Jose has an incredible line up this year.  Laughing is always a good idea and 20 years of Sketchfest in SF will raise your endorphins, so many great shows and events at this epic fest.  Chinese New Year is later this month, but you can start with good fortune this weekend in Chinatown. Grace Cathedral has offerings to soothe your soul, from music, to their labyrinth to sound healing. Let’s start the year off with positive vibes and our January 17^th zoom webinar is a great place to start.

What Will the Year of the Rabbit Bring?

This month starts the Chinese year of the Rabbit which is a symbol of longevity, peace, and prosperity. Join us on ZOOM with Feng Shui Master Debra Duneier and learn how to harness and enhance all that the new year will bring and a forecast as to what to expect for the next 12 months. GET THE DETAILS.

Musicals from Broadway San Jose

Broadway San Jose has reemerged as a leader in musical theatre performances – incredible talent and easy parking are simply two reasons to head to the Performing Arts Center. Playing now through the 15th is the classic “Annie”, surely giving us a reason to SMILE. Next month the classic “My Fair Lady” brings to life the transformation of Eliza Doolittle a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a “proper lady.”  But who is really being transformed? You will want to “Dance all night” and waltz “Down the street where you live”. February 21 – 26th. Broadwaysanjose.com

Sketchfest The Festival

Did you know…Sketchfest – The festival – debuted in January of 2002 at the Shelton Theatre in downtown San Francisco and has grown rapidly into a nationally recognized comedy festival that mixes national headliners, local favorites, and the best up-and-coming groups from throughout North America for a month of sketch, improv, stand-up and alternative comedy. This highly anticipated artistic showcase consistently delivers top quality comedic performances, tributes, and panel discussions. January 20th – February 5th you can find a tribute to Cheech and Chong – I know you tomatoes are familiar with their offbeat comedy brand, a tribute to Larraine Newman, an evening with Elliot Gould and so many more entertaining events. Another favorite that we have earmarked is “A MIGHTY WIND” 20th ANNIVERSARY ,an Afternoon with Christopher Guest, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, and Michael Hitchcock with a screening and conversation with Kevin Pollak.

This Weekend: Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit

Chinese New Year is all about welcoming good fortune. This weekend you can begin the journey to the lunar New Year in Chinatown’s Jack Kerouac Alley as they change the theme of the zodiac wall to welcome the year of the rabbit. This upcoming year’s theme is “富” meaning wealth. It is quite an experience to witness the changing of the theme. On the 7th between 12 – 2 is the changing of the theme, stop by any time between 2-8 pm to buy a red envelope from Asia fantasy write your wish for the New Year inside the red envelope, and paste it on the wall for your wish to come true. On the 8th at noon is the opening ceremony of the new wall, followed by a calligraphy demonstration and ending the day with a Fortune teller and I-Ching reading with teatime at China Live.  Happy Year of the Rabbit! Get the details.

Yoga in the Labyrinth at Grace Cathedral

The iconic Grace Cathedral is a warm and welcoming place to start the Zen for 2023. No need to “be religious” to walk into this welcoming space. Grace Cathedral is home to not just one but two labyrinths — and to the Modern Labyrinth Movement. Labyrinths have appeared in many cultures since ancient times and in Christian spirituality since the fourth century.

The labyrinth is an archetype, a divine imprint, found in all religious traditions in various forms around the world. By walking a replica of the Chartres labyrinth, laid in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France around 1220, we are rediscovering a long-forgotten mystical tradition.

Grace Cathedral has an indoor and an outdoor labyrinth. The indoor one is available during cathedral hours, and the latter is available 24/7! If your goal is to create space for meditation this year, walking the labyrinth is a great place to start.  On January 23rd another type of meditation is available, a sound bath. Top Bay Area musicians Egemen Sanli, Phoenix Song, Sam Jackson, and special guests will take you on a deeply meditative sonic journey.

Bring your favorite yoga mat and/or blanket (for cozy fun) to fully enjoy the immersive sound and light filtered through stunning stained glass, an atmosphere unlike any other in San Francisco. 6:30 p.m. https://gracecathedral.org