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The Bakersfield Californian Thursday, December 29, 2011
Eye Street Editor Jennifer Self | Phone 395-7434 | e-mail jself@bakersfield.com
Index 2011’s breakthrough artists .................... 17 Scott Cox’s best-of .................................. 18 Meet a Prince............................................ 19 Polar Bear Plunge .................................... 20 Antique Show and Sale ............................ 21 The Lowdown with Matt Munoz.............. 23 Bob & Tom Comedy All-Stars.................. 26 Calendar .............................................. 28-29
Jennifer Self CALIFORNIAN LIFESTYLES EDITOR
What moved and grooved us Loss, yes, but plenty to celebrate this year
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onsidering how thoroughly subjective one’s entertainment likes and dislikes are — music vs. theater vs. film vs. visual art and high-brow vs. middle brow vs. no brow — it’s tricky to isolate the moments that moved us most as consumers of culture in Bakersfield this year. While my colleagues on the newsier side of the room make sense of the year by tallying the crime figures, rounding up the reams of economic reports and revisiting the various political antics, I am looking at a year’s worth of clippings on concerts, festivals and art openings — which were a big deal to some and a snooze-apalooza to others. A big Saturday night for a lot of people I know is a trip to the Bakersfield Speedway topped off by a longneck at Trout’s. For others, it’s a glass of wine at Imbibe and a symphony concert. In other words, it’s all very personal. Take my most entertaining experience of 2011: My husband and I took our 10-year-old daughter to the Pixies concert in November. It was a great show (the best of the year, according to my colleague Matt Munoz, who knows these things), but it wasn’t the music or even the playful spontaneity of the legendarily stormy band. What made the night special was that it was my daughter’s first concert, which counts as a Major Life Moment to her parents, who understand the magical alchemy that happens when you put hundreds of people together in one place to share the singular experience of live music. The near-rapture of the fans, the lights, the smells — the sheer rock ’n’ roll of it all — create an energy that’s hard to explain and impossible to replicate in any other setting. My daughter got a T-shirt ($30!) to remember the evening by, but I don’t need one. The memory of the look on her face that night will be with me forever. So if your
Greatest Night Ever, 2011 Edition was just as personal, I get it. But let’s face it: The most memorable cultural moments are usually communal. With that in mind, my (highly subjective) list of events and trends that stood out this year:
The one that got away Every city needs an establishment or two that puts live music first, and we have a few: Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, Trout’s and B Ryder’s come to mind. But even in that esteemed company, Fishlips, which closed earlier this month, was special. Not because the bar was universally loved (it wasn’t); not because every show was a success (for every Dave Alvin there was a band of wrestling midgets); and certainly not for those bathrooms with the unfortunate lighting and vintage plumbing. No, Fishlips will be remembered for being fearless. There was no slavish devotion to any particular genre, they weren’t afraid to book interesting but unproven performers, and they felt a duty to feature local musicians, who returned that loyalty in spades. The joint, replete with sassy bar personnel, gave off a kind of messy, by-the-seat-of-our pants vibe that, in the end, probably did them in. But when you walk into a place that has (sadly, make that had) murals of Ray Charles and Merle Haggard on the walls, you know music lovers, not accountants, are running things. Here’s hoping that a new savior of live music comes forward or that the other bars in town will pick up the slack. If not, there’s an entire tier of cool-butnot-big-enough-for-the-Fox performers who will no longer come to Bakersfield, not to mention a void for local musicians. And that would be a shame.
The food Oscar goes to ... We pretend it doesn’t bother
CASEY CHRISTIE / THE CALIFORNIAN
Actor Charles Napier autographed copies of his memoir, “Square Jaw and Big Heart,” at Russo’s Books in March. The actor, beloved by many in his adopted hometown, died in October.
us, but all the digs about Bakersfield being the cultural armpit of the world get a little old. Which is why it felt like sweet validation in March when the James Beard Foundation — a culinary organization that honors the finest restaurants in the country — bestowed an award on the Noriega Hotel, believed to be the oldest restaurant in town. Getting a Beard Award is like winning an Oscar. Though the judges loved the hearty, tasty food, the award really was more an acknowledgement of the wonderful Basque culture and traditions that help make our city distinctive. And in another great sign that local restaurants are on a roll, raise your glass to Kern River Brewing in Kernville, which won the equivalent of Olympic gold in the craft brewing world for its Citra Double India Pale Ale. Please see 22
HENRY A. BARRIOS / THE CALIFORNIAN
Kathy Sierra with the band Golden Bough played at the Kern Scottish Society’s Celtic Music Festival at the CSUB amphitheater in 2009. Awareness and appreciation for all things Celtic that has been building for years in Bakersfield reached a crescendo in 2011.