Très cool

If you feel like celebrating high culture this weekend, Antiquité Maison Privée is surely the place. Friday night it will host the debut of the Guitar Expressions Music Series, or GEMS, which will showcase some of Sacramento’s most innovative guitarists. The festival, featuring five guitarists in four concerts over the next six months, kicks off this Friday with Ross Hammond, the accomplished jazz guitarist who started a local festival called In the Flow four years ago. He will perform solo and duet with Bay Area saxophonist Phillip Greenlief.

Then on Saturday night, Antiquité Maison Privée will host Alliance Française de Sacramento’s Fête du Beaujolais Nouveau. This annual festival dates back to the 19th century, when the French would celebrate a successful harvest and the opening of the Beaujolais wine. The light, acidic red wine is generally harvested in August and September and released the third Thursday in November, while it is still young and fruity. Saturday’s Beaujolais festival will feature live music, wine for purchase, French hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction and a presentation on regional Beaujolais wines by Marc Feldman, director of the Sacramento Philharmonic. Newscaster David Bienick will emcee the event, and proceeds go to the Alliance Française and its building fund, La Maison de la France.