The California Report Magazine

Putting On The Ritz
Outside the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood it's always show time, at least for the dozens of oddly compelling street performers there who dress up as rock singers living and dead, rising stars and faded has beens --- all of them amateur entertainers. We caught up with Columo Grimes to hear him blow his saxophone.

Raising the Curtain on Oscar Balloting
Conventional wisdom pegs "The King's Speech" as odds on favorite to win this year's Best Picture honor with "The Social Network" and "The Fighter" not far behind. Steve Pond is the Awards Blogger for The Wrap.com and he joined us from Los Angeles to talk about what Hollywood is buzzing about and to help explain the complex process of Oscar balloting.

Black Swan Actress Inspires Street Artist
In today's show we're hearing stories about performance. Triumphs and disasters. Here's a performer who was inspired by an actress who is up for an Oscar Sunday night. Melissa Wises plays it up grand for the tourists on Hollywood Boulevard.

Bright Lights, Big City
As a little girl Pidge Meade wanted to be on stage so badly, she used to pretend to accept the Oscar using a brass candlestick. Today she has a one-woman show in San Francisco titled "40 Pounds in 12 Weeks." She joined host Scott Shafer for a conversation about her work both writing and performing on stage.

Acting the Part
Some kids dream of acting one day, others just fall into it. Chad McClymonds was an international relations student in 2006 when he decided to study abroad in the West African nation of Ghana. As one of the only a few white students there, he was suddenly in demand -- on stage, in film and on television. His role: playing the "bad" guys.

Tapping for a Living
There is no red carpet for street performer Edward Jackson -- not that he needs one. He's been tap dancing every day of the week for 15 years on the streets of San Francisco. He says it's a good living.

From 'Fright' to Insight
Live performance means there's a live audience -- and that can bring anxiety. Paul Lancour can attest to that. He's an engineer on the California Report, but he's also a theater actor -- where the audience can look you right in the eye. And one night, early in his performance career he learned just how quiet a room full of people can be.

Sweet Sounds From the Dulcimer
This week we talked with a musician as he was sitting cross-legged near a public transit station in San Francisco. With long gray hair and a bright blue bandana, this former chiropractor played sweet sounds from a small canoe-shaped instrument called a dulcimer.

What's Old is New Again
Hit television shows like "Glee" and "American Idol" are helping to make singing cool again. At the Jazzschool in Berkeley, teens enrolled in the vocal pop class learn the standards, but they also perform songs by artists like Amy Winehouse and Alicia Keys. As Caitlin Esch reports, a little bit of R&B goes a long way in helping teens find their own voices.