For the first time since her unforgettable 2004 concert event, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Lila Downs returns to San Antonio for Encanto en la lucha con Lila Downs presented by the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. This FREE open-air concert will take place on Friday, March 27, 2009 at the historic Sunken Garden Theater, 3975 N. St. Mary’s St., San Antonio, Texas, 78212. Grounds open at 5:00 pm and will feature a Mercado with local artisans, vendors, and concession sales.

Fresh off her performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards where her latest album Shake Away was nominated in the Best Contemporary World Music category, Downs is eager to return to the city where she last drew an audience of over 3,000 fans. Joining Downs for this can’t miss performance are opening acts Azul with San Antonio musicians Bett Butler, Joel Dilley, Maya Guirao, and Paul Ward. Also on the bill are Rita Vidaurri, Beatriz Llamas, Blanca Rosa, and Janet Cortez, known as Las Tesoros del Westside, and accompanied by Mariachi Las Alteñas.

Encanto en la lucha con Lila Downs takes place on Friday, March 27, 2009 at the Sunken Garden Theater at 3975 N. St. Mary’s St., San Antonio, Texas, 78212. Although admission to the concert is FREE, donations will be accepted and concessions will be sold. Copies of Lila Downs’ latest CD Shake Away will be available for purchase. This event is co-sponsored  by the San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs. For interview requests contact Manuel Solis at esperanza@esperanzacenter.org or (210) 228-0201.

WHAT:    The Esperanza Center presents
Encanto en la lucha con Lila Downs
WHERE:    Sunken Garden Theater, 3975 N. St. Mary’s St., San Antonio, Texas, 78212
WHEN:    Friday March 27, 2009
        5:00 pm – Grounds open for seating and Mercado
        6:00 pm – Azul
        7:00 pm – Las Tesoros del Westside
        8:00 pm – Lila Downs

Corpus Christi, TX-Dinosaurs once again roam the earth in a spectacular theatrical arena show, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular, based on the award-winning BBC Television Series. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular is now on tour in North America and will perform 3 performances at American Bank Center Arena in Corpus Christi, TX. More than 2.4 million Americans have seen the production since it opened in July 2007. Tickets go on sale on Friday, July 24 at 10:00am and can be purchase by phone at 1-800-745-3000, on-line at www.ticketmaster.com, or in person at American Bank Center Box Office. For groups of 15 or more, please call 361-826-4754. The show originated in Australia, where after years of planning, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS came to life at Sydneys Acer Arena in January 2007. The show proved itself such a sensation, that this North American tour was fast-tracked. It began a short three months after completing its sold out engagements in Australia. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular is brought to North America by The Creature Production Company, headed by CEO Carmen Pavlovic. Pavlovic said, The BBC Series was a brilliant blend of special effects, escapism, excitement and information. Our show brings together all of that, plus something extra - it is live! In this production, fifteen roaring, snarling live dinosaurs mesmerize the audience and are as awe-inspiring as when they first walked on earth. Pavlovic continued, The dinosaurs are life-size, making the show so immense, it could only fit in arenas. Its a $20 million arena spectacle of unprecedented size and quality, which captivates young and old alike. With Walking with Dinosaurs, we really believe we have created a new genre in entertainment and we hope to continue to bring new product to arenas for years to come. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular has sold out performances and broken records in arenas all over the America generating $110 million in ticket sales to date. It has been seen on "The Today Show," Good Morning America," "Live with Regis and Kelly," and has been written about in Newsweek, The New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor and the Wall Street Journal. It was the subject of a Discovery Channel Really Big Things episode and a video clue category on Jeopardy. The production has won the THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Touring Event (2007) and the Billboard Touring Award for Creative Content (2008) as well as the Pollstar Concert Industry Award for Most Creative Stage Production (2009). The THEAs recognize excellence in the creation of compelling educational, historical, and entertainment projects; and both the Billboard Touring Award and the Pollstar Concert Industry Award recognize a show or tour that creatively expands what is offered on the road. Artistic Director William May developed the creative vision of the show based on an original idea by entrepreneur Bruce Mactaggart to create an arena version of the Walking with Dinosaurs television series. A talented and experienced team of creative artists came together to produce WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular. The show is directed by Scott Faris, a Broadway veteran who has worked side by side with Harold Prince, Trevor Nunn, Michael Blakemore, Gene Saks, John Caird, Tommy Tune and Jerry Zaks. The creatures are designed and built by Sonny Tilders; the set and projected image design are by Peter England; the shows lighting is by John Rayment, our score was composed by James Brett; and Warner Brown wrote the script. Tim Haines, creator and producer of the original BBC series, which was seen by a worldwide audience of 700 million, serves as Project Consultant to WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular. The series won six Emmy and three BAFTA Awards. Ten species are represented from the entire 200 million year reign of the dinosaurs. The show includes the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the terror of the ancient terrain, as well as the Plateosaurus and Liliensternus from the Triassic period, the Stegosaurus and Allosaurus from the Jurassic period and Torosaurus and Utahraptor from the awesome Cretaceous. The largest of them, the Brachiosaurus is 36 feet tall, and 56 feet from nose to tail. It took a team of 50 including engineers, fabricators, skin makers, artists and painters, and animatronic experts a year to build the original production. The show depicts the dinosaurs evolution, complete with the climatic and tectonic changes that took place, which led to the demise of many species. With almost cinematic realism, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS has scenes of the interactions between dinosaurs, and the audience sees how carnivorous dinosaurs evolved to walk on two legs, and how the herbivores fended off their more agile predators. The history of the world is played out with the splitting of the earths continents, and the transition from the arid desert of the Triassic period is given over to the lush green prairies and forces of the later Jurassic. Oceans form, volcanoes erupt, a forest catches fire-all leading to the impact of the massive comet, which struck the earth, and forced the extinction of the dinosaurs. Variety said, The dinosaurs are stunning, life-size and faultlessly nimble. In act one, the beasts parade into the arena gnashing and cavorting as a safari-suited paleontologist describes their attributes & in the second half, the action cranks up, culminating in a spectacular clash as a T-Rex mom defends her baby from predators. Sonny Tilders triumphant creature design ensures Walking With Dinosaurs is a truly spectacular spectacular. It is everything a dino-phile could want. The New York Times said that in this show dinosaurs make "a thundering comeback after 65 million years." Gloria Goodale of the Christian Science Monitor said, When the dinosaurs start pouring out onto the stage, if you do not have to stifle the natural flight response of any living breathing being, then it is your pulse that needs checking. Newsweek called the show, "that rare entertainment beast that parents and kids can enjoy together." It took 50 artists and technicians one year to build the show. The 15 dinosaurs were originally hatched by Tilders, the head of creature design, in a Melbourne Docklands workshop big enough to park a 747. For the North American tour, the only building large enough to house rehearsals for the dinosaurs some as large as 36 ft tall by 56 ft long, was the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center! Artistic Director William May is known around the globe for co-producing shows with Malcolm Cooke for the past 30 years, including The Hobbit and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. He produced Marilyn An American Fable on Broadway and co-composed and wrote the musical Always for the West End. Director Scott Faris directed Michael Crawford in EFX at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, which at the time was the biggest stage production ever conceived, and was on the production team that created Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage Hotel. Faris has directed Chicago the Musical in 16 countries around the world in over a dozen languages. Most recently he directed Bette Midler in her new Las Vegas show, The Showgirl Must Go On at Caesars Palace. Faris said, "We take the audience on a journey back in time and show them how the dinosaurs might have actually looked in their prime - huge, sometimes frightening, sometimes comical monsters - that fought for survival every day of their lives.  Our dinosaurs move exactly like they are real-with all the roars, snorts and excitement that go with it.  The realism is mind-blowing!" Sonny Tilders, who designed and built the creatures has been, for the past decade, one of the major creative forces of the high-tech world of animatronic puppetry for film and television. He was one of the lead animatronic engineers for Jim Hensons Creature workshop on the Farscape series, followed by work on Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Peter Pan, Ghost Rider and The Chronicles of Narnia. Tilders said, Many of the technologies we are using on WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular are borrowed from film. The computer software and hardware we have developed is based on the systems used to control animatronic creatures in feature films. To make it appear that these creatures are flesh and blood weighing six, eight or even 20 tons, we use a system called muscle bags, made from stretch mesh fabric and filled with polystyrene balls, stretched across moving points on the body. These contract and stretch in the same manner that muscle, fat, and skin does on real creatures. The puppeteers use voodoo rigs to make many of the dinosaurs move. They are miniature versions of the dinosaurs with the same joints and range of movement as their life-sized counterparts. The puppeteer manipulates the voodoo rig and these actions are interpreted by computer and transmitted by radio waves to make the hydraulic cylinders in the actual dinosaur replicate the action, with a driver hidden below the animal, helping to maneuver it around the arena. Suited puppeteer specialists, who are inside the creatures, operate five of the smaller dinosaurs. Warner Brown wrote the script of WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular. He is an accomplished writer whose works include the book of the musical Flickers on Broadway, the screenplay of Nijinsky for Regent Entertainment, the musical The Black and White Ball, which features music by Cole Porter and The Truth About Light, written with composer Jimmy Roberts. Other credits include a new version of Half A Sixpence for the West End in 2008, Garbo: The Musical with music by Jim Steinman and Michael Reed, playing in Europe, and the plays and musicals Scandal, The Biograph Girl, Six for Gold, Cinderella, Talullah for a Day and Dance for Life. The score of WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular is by James Brett whose work can be heard on soundtracks including 10,000 BC, Alien vs Predator, Miramaxs Ella Enchanted and the forthcoming UK feature Outpost. He also helped create the groundbreaking collaboration between Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony. The album S&M has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. The sets and projections are by the multi-award winning designer Peter England whose work has toured the world extensively. A frequent collaborator at Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre, he also designed sections of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, three City of Sydney New Years Eve Celebrations and in 2002 was a finalist in the international design competition for the Pentagon Memorial in Washington DC. Lighting Designer John Rayment lit the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games; Hong Kongs original A Symphony of Light, a massive cityscape permanent lighting display involving over 18 buildings; Singapores 2002 National Day Parade stadium event; and Singapores Marina Bay annual New Years Eve Countdown display. Rayment also works frequently at Opera Australia and has lit 30 productions for Sydney Dance Company. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular was originally produced in Australia by Gerry Ryan, Malcolm Cooke and Jill Bryant and is brought to North America by The Creature Production Company. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: The Arena Spectacular will perform 3 performances at American Bank Center Arena in Corpus Christi, TX. The performances are: Tues. Nov. 10 @ 7pm, and Wed. Nov.11 at 10:30 am and 7pm. Tickets range from $35 - $59. Special student, scout and group pricing is available by calling 361-826-4754. Tickets go on sale on Friday, July 24 at 10:00am and can be purchased by phone at 1-800-745-3000, on-line at www.ticketmaster.com, or in person at the American Bank Center Box Office. For groups of 15 or more, please call 361-826-4754. Walking with Dinosaurs is presented locally by the Corpus Christi Education Foundation and caller.com. The Corpus Christi Education Foundation is a non-profit organization that raises funds annually to support Corpus Christi Independent School District in becoming a world class school system. The Corpus Christi Education Foundation awards funds to classrooms, schools and district-wide initiatives that promote innovation, promote a culture of college readiness for all and recognize student achievement and teaching excellence. For more information, please visit www.dinosaurlive.com. Video of the show is available on our site under Meet The Dinosaurs tab in the middle of the front page.

Corpus Christi, TX (August 10, 2009) Darius Rucker, whose voice was best known to fans behind the band Hootie and the Blowfish, is coming to Corpus, November 22, 8 p.m., American Bank Center Selena Auditorium for a special Pre Thanksgiving concert. After reaching No. 1 last year with Do not Think I Do not think About It, Rucker has topped the Country Charts again recently for the third time with Alright. Tickets for this concert are priced at $32, $37, $47 and $67 and will be available beginning this Saturday, August 15st, 10 am, at the American Bank Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at 1.800.745.3000. Rucker first came to prominence as the lead vocalist and songwriter for the pop group Hootie & The Blowfish, whose 1994 debut, Cracked Rear View, sold more than 16 million copies to become one of the best-selling albums in history. In early 2007, Rucker signed with Capitol Records Nashville and has since been embraced by the country music community with his chart topping 2008 debut, Learn To Live an album that has produced three consecutive No. 1 singles. Ruckers transition has been highly praised, with the New York Times proclaiming he has one of the years most vibrant country albums. For More Information: www.dariusrucker.com www.americanbankcenter.com About Coondog Concerts & Events Coondog Concerts & Events is a full-service national entertainment organization with offices in Nashville, TN., Houston, TX., and Beaumont, TX. that produces live entertainment events. Coondog Concerts & Events has produced successful live events with ZZ Top, Kid Rock, Hank Williams, Jr., George Jones, Chicago, Los Lonely Boys, Korn, Foreigner, Big & Rich and many more. Additional information on the company can be located at www.coondogconcerts.com Additional Service Fees may apply. All dates, acts and ticket prices subject to change without notice. No one act(s) is/are a condition of ticket sales.

SPARROW KIDS PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR AT FAIRGROUNDS Sheltered Sparrow Productions with young talent from around the Coastal Bend will present "A Magical Fairytale Christmas" on Sunday, December 6th at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds, Ballroom A. The troupe will present the Musical Revue of favorite childhood stories including Princesses, Adventurers, Jungle Animals and others to delight the child in all of us. The talented young cast ages 6-20 will perform in a matinee and a dinner performance. The 3 pm matinee is a show only with tickets for children $5 and adults $10. The supper show for kids and parents will be at 5 pm with tickets priced at $8 and $12 Dinner theatre style seating at both performances. Pajamas or fairytale costume is appropriate attire for kids. Or come dressed in festive holiday best. Tickets are available at the Fairgrounds box office weekdays. Reservations can be made by calling 361 547 2585. Seating is limited. Directed by Peter and PJ Brown and Lorissa Chapa with musical direction of Daneille Keen.; Guest artists include Miss Chapa, Ryan Wyatt, and Aaron Kenigsberg. Chapa, the young recording artist, was this year's Disneyworld American Idol Award winner. She was the young Selena in the Selena tour when she was 10. Wyatt serves in the music ministry of First Baptist Church of AP. Keen is a pianist for Faith Baptist of AP. All are students at Delmar College. Kenigsberg is in his fourth year with Sparrow. He was awarded the best male vocalist under 18 at the Port Aransas Sandy awards. Sparrow, a non profit outreach of Spirit Life Fellowship of CC, finds an Aransas Pass nest at First Baptist Church of AP & another nest at Hilltop Comm. Ctr.. Currently Sparrow is seeking sponsors for this special event to join the support of Absolute Waste, MG Pizza, and Spirit Life Fellowship. Sparrow's mission is to provide a safe place for children to express themselves through the theatre arts. PJ teaches drama at TAMUCC's Early Childhood Education Center in El Teatro de Las Tortugas. Formerly of Met2, San Diego Childrens theatre since 1990, PJ was involved there with many young people including Adam Lambert of American Idol Fame. Sparrow evolved in San Diego, Ca. in 2000 and came to the Coastal Bend in Feb. 2006 with the Premiere performance of Alice in Wonderland at the Rialto Theatre. For information call 361 547 2585, email pjciao@hotmail.com www.shelteredsparrow.blogspot.com

Nashville, Tenn. - If you missed the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards show last night , make plans to see the CMA New Artist of the Year, DARIUS RUCKER, up close and live in concert November 22, 8 PM, at the American Bank Center Selena Auditorium with special guest Whitney Duncan. Rucker, who first burst on the music scene as the front-man of the successful band - Hootie and the Blowfish, has topped the county music charts with three consecutive Number One"s for "Don't Think I Don't think About It," "It Won't Be Like this for Long," and "Alright" from his debut album Learn to Live. Country Newcomer and Nashville Star Finalist - Duncan is celebrating the success of her latest single, "Skinny Dippin," from her forthcoming Warner Bros. album Right Road Now which broke the Top 20 on the MusicRow Charts and has sold over 50K digital singles. Tickets for this concert are still available at the American Bank Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000. For More Information: www.dariusrucker.com www.whitneyduncan.com www.americanbankcenter.com About Coondog Concerts & Events Coondog Concerts & Events is a full-service national entertainment organization with offices in Nashville, TN., Houston, TX., and Beaumont, TX. that produces live entertainment events. Coondog Concerts & Events has produced successful live events with ZZ Top, Kid Rock, Hank Williams, Jr., George Jones, Chicago, Los Lonely Boys, Korn, Foreigner, Big & Rich and many more. Additional information on the company can be located at www.coondogconcerts.com About American Bank Center Selena Auditorium & SMG American Bank Center Selena Auditorium is managed by SMG, which is headquartered in Philadelphia, and is the world's leading private facility management company. With 180 venues, in 41 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and Europe, SMG controls over 1.46 million entertainment seats world-wide, and over ten million square feet of exhibit space. For additional company information, visit www.smgworld.com Additional Service Fee's may apply. All dates, acts and ticket prices subject to change without notice. No one act(s) is/are a condition of ticket sales.