The Dancing Cat gets a purrfect gift from donor
The Dancing Cat — the delightful feline-and-human lounge near downtown San Jose — has scratched by fairly well for the past two years, finding homes for dozens of adoptable meowers. And it’ll be helped along toward its goal of sustainability thanks to the generosity of one of its regular visitors.
Norm, who prefers not to have his full name publicized, has pledged to match donations of up to $10,000 made by the end of September in hopes of inspiring others to give to the Dancing Cat, which operates under the umbrella of the Silicon Valley Pet Project.
Co-founder Mary Ru- bin said that Norm walked into the converted liquor store at 702 E. Julian Street one day and just kept coming back. Wanting to help the facility keep going, he hit upon the idea of the challenge grant.
“In the two years we’ve been open, we’ve never had a crowdsourced fundraiser before so this is a bit of an experiment for us to infuse some muchneeded capital into our operations,” Rubin said.
Donations can be made online at the Dancing Cat’s website, www.thedancingcat.org, or in person if you’re planning to visit the cats.
JAZZED ABOUT THE WEEK- END » The best-sounding weekend in downtown San Jose is upon us, with the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest kicking off its three- day run this afternoon. The big draw opening night will be George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic — who memorably blew out the power to Plaza de Cesar Chavez during their set a few years back — but there’ll be acts all weekend to satisfy a full spectrum of musical tastes.
Chris Botti, Maceo Parker, the Whispers and the Robert Glasper Experiment will all be at the main stage, which is sponsored this year by the Sobrato Organization. The Blues and Big Easy stages have been combined into one stage, which will fill Post Street from First to Market. The Hammer Theatre Center is back in the venue lineup and will host the Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio, as well as Jazz by 5 and Carmen Lundy. And the San Jose Museum of Art will host the Next Gen stage, showcasing youth groups. Admission to that stage is free.
You can check out the lineups and get pass information at summerfest. sanjosejazz.org.
OPENING ACT » If you’re heading to the jazz fest, you might want to stop by the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art for its weekly Free Friday event. The San Jose Chamber Orchestra’s string quartet will be performing pieces from various genres in the gallery at 560 S. First Street from 5 to 6 p.m. to help kick off the festival. And if you’re looking for an encore, the quartet will perform the same set at 6:45 p.m. at Caffe Frascati (315 S. First Street).
HERE COMES THE ECLIPSE
» Foothill College astronomer Andrew Fraknoi will be giving one more talk before the Aug. 21 solar eclipse, and it’s this Saturday at the Milpitas Library. Fraknoi, who’s heading to Oregon for a view of the rare event, is also the co-author of “When the Sun Goes Dark,” a children’s book on solar eclipses that should be pretty popular right now. His free lecture begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at the library at 160 N. Main Street.
The San Jose Public Library also has some eclipse-related events coming up including a viewing workshop presented in partnership with the San Jose Astronomical Society on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Bascom branch. More events are listed at events.sjpl.org.
By the way, the Rotary Club of San Jose has teamed up with the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy and the Happy Hollow Foundation to give out 11,000 pairs of eclipse-viewing glasses so kids can observe the event safely. They’re being distributed at Happy Hollow, the Rotary PlayGarden at the Guadalupe River Park and selected schools.