Events: Bakotopia

Divided Highway at Muggs, 1306 Airport Dr.

Back at Muggs for another day of Rock and Roll. Come in to cool off!! We have a great time, come in and join us!!

Bellydancers at the Faire

Psychic Faire Benefit - July 13, 11 am- 6pm.

Altar Metaphysical Market Place
616 Jackson St.
661 633 1220
www.AltarBookShoppe.com
Please contact the Alter for specific dance times.

Tribal Underground Bellydance Troupe along with guest dancer Catalina will be performaning this Sunday afternoon at The Alter . Family, Friends and everyone in between are welcome to enjoy the faire for a good cause. Come out and let TU and Catalina draw you into the dance with the beautiful moves and enticing music of our craft. And if you dare, to tempt the goddess within, join them and dance the afternoon away.

www.tribalunderground_bellydance@yahoo.com

Myspace/ TribalUnderground

WITH MATTS HELP...THE NEW KROTCH VIDEO RELEASE PARTY

THE NEWEST VIDEO FROM INTERNATIONAL SUPER GROUP "KROTCH" IS IN THE EDITIN ROOM...WE HADD A BLAAAST MAKIN IT.

MEATHEAD IS THE MAN.

STOP BY THE ....WWW.MYSPACE.COM/KROTCHMUSIC FOR DETAILS

ReallyBIGMidgetz up in Lone Oak July 18th/19th

ReallyBIGMidgetz all up in Lone Oak like a "midget porn" we are so looking 4ward 2 thro'n donw the jam'z @ Lone Oak on Rosedale Hwy this coming weekend of the 18th & 19th July... friday & saturday night... stop out & party w/RBM'z... listen' 2 some great music & many songs other band won't try... not cuz their scared... mainly cuz their smarter than us...haha! we really don't care or we're jus' that stupid... we're jus' here to have fun & entertain the people & the whatever bar we're gig'n @...

we have a ReallyBIGSelection of diff styles to try & please you... the listener!!!

hope to catch u @ Lone Oak this July 18th and 19th...Friday and Saturday night!!!

ReallyBIGMidgetz @ Lone Oak starts 2NITE! July 18th19th

ReallyBIGMidgetz @ Lone Oak... starts 2nite & end Saturday night... July 18th and 19th... covering all the great song... in funk, rock, classic rock, blues, & dance music w/hard rock added to make it interesting! stop out & have a few cold brews w/us!

ReallyBIGMidgetz starts playin' tunes @ 9:00pm & ends around 1:00am

MIKE MONTANO@THE BELLVEDERE

WE ALWAYS HAVE THE BEST BANDS IN TOWN

COME DOWN THIS WEEKEND

& JOIN IN ON THE FUN WITH

MIKE MONTANO

FRIDAY & SAT. NITES

Divided Highway at Players Lounge 1821 S. Chester Ave.

Divided Highway is at Players tonight, come in and enjoy this club. We have a great time!

Karaoke At Trout's Nightclub

Known for the best sounding and one of largest karaoke selections in Bakersfield. Come see what the fuss is all about at Trout's Nightclub:

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday- 9pm-1am

Friday and Saturday- 8pm-1:30am

Sunday- 8pm-midnight

The best karaoke available in Bakersfield!

He have a huge selection of songs with our database updated monthly. Your song is our priority!

If We Don't Have It, We'll Get It!

PURE COMEDY UNDERGROUND! is TONIGHT PEOPLE!

GET A FREE "Bobby D" STICKER WITH YOUR PAID ADMISSION TO THE SHOW

WARRNING! YOU TUBE VIDEO IS RATED "R"! ONLY PLAY IF YOUR OVER 18 YEARS OF AGE! THANKS!

Bobby D and Vinny's Bar Bring you:

"PURE COMEDY UNDERGROUND!" Hits Vinny's Bar on Friday July 18Th @ 9pm. NOW with "8" Comedians added to the ticket! You Wont Be Able to keep the Pee in your Pants! So Come Check out The Comedy, The Drink's and The Babe's (Trust me guys The Girls are HOT! Just look at My MySpace!) at this Laugh Fest of a Friday.

Vinny's Bar is found at 2700 S. Union Ave. Just south of White Lane.

(Keep in mind Vinny's is a cash only Bar)

Cant Find Vinny's? Click This Link:

http://maps.google.com/?q=2700+S.+Union+Ave.,+Bakersfield,+CA+93301&ie=UTF8&ll=35.350346,-119.003134&spn=0.029333,0.052013&z=14&iwloc=cent

Just Added to the List!!!.

Bobby D (Comedian) MySpace.com/DetrickComedy

Adam McCabe and Michael Armendariz(From Comedy Group "The Black List" Thats on KRAB Radio) myspace.com/blacklistcomedy

Chase Brockett (From Bakotopia Mag Staff. and also Comedian)

Mike Kitts (Comedian All The Way From NEW YORK CITY)

Joe Alaniz (Bako Local Comedian) Myspace.com/OpenMicJoe

Also added 1st timers to comedy

Peter Shubert (From Bako Band The Iron Outlaws) Myspace.com/TheIronOutlaws

Mystic Red Her Self (From Bako Band Mystic Red) Yes a Chick Doing Comedy in Bako Myspace.com/MysticRedTheBand

Note: The Bands that are Brought up in this post are not performing. Only Members there of who are Performing Comedy:) Come Check them out!

Get Up Get Down / Back off Warchild at Sandrini's!

come check out get up get down with back off warchild. show starts at 10:00 o clock and only cost 3 bucks. good atmosphere good beer and good music.

Trade Co at the Gate with some others unanounced yet

This is our first show at the Gate so we are up first.

we'll be playing with Pictures in Braille

Godmakers: A play about making modern gods

Godmakers at The Empty Space
The Actionfolksinger opens up about his new play, opening July 18.

By Helen Acosta, Bakotopia.com contributor

Written and directed by local playwright Enrique Acosta who might be best known for his other Empty Space shows ("Spider Baby - the Musical" and the "True Tales" series,) as well as his work as El Cable for the Brighthouse commercials, "Godmakers" is next to be added his list of inventive works.

I had a rare opportunity to sit down with the reclusive auteur at his palatial 1,000 square foot estate in downtown Bakersfield.

“Godmakers” - I googled it and found an anti-Mormon documentary? Is this a play based on that film?

No. Godmakers is a play that follows 40-years in the history of a fictional comic book company. But it’s not just a show for fans of comic book history. It follows the 40-year friendship of the publisher, Bert Stephans (played by Jarrod Cantrell) and the company’s top selling writer, Izzy Davis (played by fRed); A friendship tested by war, government persecution, and low sales. If you’ve ever been torn between doing what you love and doing what will pay the rent you’ll see yourself in these characters.

So, why write a play about a west coast comic book company?

The west coast thing was a plot contrivance to keep them away from the big names in the industry. Back then there was a lot of cross over of talent and I didn’t want to write an actual history. Setting it in California was just a way to allow me to tell a story without having to have my characters deal with a bunch of real people and maybe get me sued by their families.

As to the subject itself: I wanted to write about a comic book company because I’d read several biographies. I discovered a whole new level of geekdom in the history of the industry. (chuckles) I realized that not only would it make a great setting for a workplace drama but also that it really hadn’t been done before. There have been lots of plays about publishing: newspapers, novels, even travel books, but I hadn’t heard of anyone focusing on the unique problems faced by a comic book company.

Such as?

Well like a newspaper: You have a deadline though [in comic books] it’s once a week not once a day. Like publishing novels you have to create a new story but novels can take years. In comic books you only have ten days maximum. Also the first act takes place in the 40’s: The infancy of the genre. There were no real set rules so folks were making them up as they went along. It was a really exciting time.

The leads in this show are a transplant from London and a lesbian working in the comic book industry in the 1940s—did you lose a bet?

The publisher is based in part on my Grandfather who was an immigrant from England. Like most of the people in my family he held a whole series of jobs, which is what his character does in the play. A lot of his [my grandfather’s] humor and some of his stories made their way into the show.

As to the lesbian, well that was kind of an accident. It was one of those weird things that happens when you’re writing. I’ve got this female character and suddenly out of nowhere another woman comes into the scene. I keep typing and suddenly they’re girlfriends.

Writers talk about their characters taking on a life of their own and I guess in a sense there is some truth to that. In my first draft the publisher and writer were meant to be more antagonistic and hostile towards each other but somehow as I was writing them they became friends and their friendship became one of the central themes of the show.

There is a lot of talk these days about “The Greatest Generation”. Was there a “Greatest Generation” in the comic book industry?

Well I suppose it would depend on who you ask. Certainly in the 30’s and 40’s there were the people who started the whole thing. There are the folks who first cut out newspaper funnies and collected them into magazines. There are the folks who first thought to write original material and publish that instead. There were the folks who first thought to do stories about people with amazing powers and the folks who realized that they could change their drawing style to fit the magazine format better. Back then you might not have had the best stories or art the industry ever produced but you had the start of it all. Most of the people who worked in the industry had no idea what they were starting they just wanted to collect a paycheck. But I guess that’s what’s so interesting to me about the character of Izzy Davis. She sees the potential of comics.

You tackle several controversies and taboos in this show. Was that your intent from the beginning?

I’m not really sure that there is anything all that controversial in the piece. This might be the LEAST controversial show I’ve ever written. I mean we touch on the way gay people were treated in the middle of last century. We talk a little about censorship. We talk a little about how getting too wrapped up in your work can kill your personal life. But most of those things are subplots. Comic books weren’t just an escape for the kids who read them. Yes there were deadlines and work pressures but from what I read I got the impression that the work was kind of an escape for the people who produced them, too. A way to escape the horrors of wars they couldn’t understand, society’s prejudices, even horrors as mundane as rent. Sure there is an escapist aspect to the work but there’s also something transcendent about the act of creation; something beautiful. It can be a little addictive.

-Godmakers opens July 18th at The Empty Space Theatre, 706 Oak St. (next to Pizzaville.)

-Show dates: July 18, 19, 24, 25 & 26 at 8pm and 1 matinee: July 20 at 2pm.

-Runtime: 2 hours including a 15 minute intermission. Suggested donation: $10 adults, $5 students.

Godmakers: A play about making modern gods

A brand new play from local playwright Enrique Acosta.(Spider Baby the musical, the True Tales series).

A play about comic books

A play about writers

A play about dreamers

Charlotte's Web

Hello, this is Brian Brown, the Publicity Director at the
Bakersfield Community Theater. The next show we have coming up is a very cute
youth show, "Charlotte's Web". It is being directed by Tim Fromm. The
production dates are July 18, 19, 25 & 26 @ 7:00 PM and July 20 & 27 @
2:00 PM. Adult prices are $7.00 and children between 5-12, students, active military & Seniors
are $5.00. Our address is 2400 S. Chester, and our parking lot is in the
rear on S. O St. If you have any questions you may call the theater at (661) 831-8114.

-Brian

MIKE MONTANO@THE BELLVEDERE

WE ALWAYS HAVE THE BEST BANDS IN TOWN

COME DOWN THIS WEEKEND

& JOIN IN ON THE FUN WITH

MIKE MONTANO

FRIDAY & SAT. NITES