Almost five stArs see Dish, page 27
DEATH BY
Cabbie CraCkdown or
disCrimination? see News, page 11
whitewater rafting on muShroomS = heyo! see streetalk, page 5
PoP-uP meals on wheels
FUN BY R A H E E M F. H O S S E I N I
18
see Arts&Culture, page 22
vote! best of
ON SACRAMENTO'S SKYDIVING CULTURE—PLUS A FEW OTHER H I G H -A D R E N A L I N E H O B B I E S N O T F O R T H E R I S K-AV E R S E
Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly
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Volume 25, iSSue 50
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thurSday, march 27, 2014
E l k G rov E , F o ls o m , ro s E v i l l E a n d m o rE see page 16
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March 27, 2014 | vol. 25, issue 50
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Wealth equals health According to United States Census Bureau statistics, income disparity expanded to its widest divide in 2011; currently, nearly half of Americans are near or beneath the poverty line. The impact levied by such income disparity penetrates deeper than the pocketbook, however. It also affects physical well-being. The concept of the “longevity gap” isn’t new, but a story published earlier this month in The New York Times highlighted its troublesome reality. As detailed by data mapped by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, it appears there’s a true cause-and-effect relationship between wealth and health. Specifically, take Fairfax County, Va., an affluent community where men have a life expectancy of 82 years, and women live to be about 85. In contrast, McDowell County, W.Va., located approximately an eight-hour drive away, is a much poorer area (its median income is approximately one-fifth of Fairfax’s), where smoking, drug use, obesity rates and unemployment are high, and the life expectancy is low: 64 years for men, 73 for women. In Sacramento County, approximately 16.7 percent of the population is at or below the poverty line, according to the most recent census data. How does our life expectancy stack up against Ventura County, where the poverty rate is only 11.9 percent? Or, closer to home, how does it compare to the neighboring Placer County (which includes one of the state’s wealthiest enclaves, Granite Bay), where only 9.1 percent of the population is at or below the poverty line? Visit http://viz.healthmetrics andevaluation.org/us-health-map for the answers as well as other eye-opening numbers.
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STREETALK LETTERS NEWS OPINION FEATuRE STORy ARTS&CuLTuRE NIgHT&DAy DISH ASK JOEy STAgE FILM MuSIC + sound Advice THE 420 15 MINuTES bites is on vacation this week. coveR design bY haYLeY doshaY
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53 Client Publications Writer/Copy Editor Mike Blount Client Publications Staff Writer Meredith Graham Executive Coordinator Jessica Takehara Directors of First Impressions Alicia Brimhall, Matt Kjar Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Services Assistant Larry Schubert Distribution Drivers Mansour Aghdam, Daniel Bowen, Russell Brown, Nina Castro, Jack Clifford, Lydia Comer, John Cunningham, Lob Dunnica, Chris Fong, Ron Forsberg, Joanna Gonzalez-Brown, Aaron Harvey, Wayne Hopkins, Brenda Hundley, Greg Meyers, Kenneth Powell, Wendell Powell, Lloyd Rongley, Duane Secco, Lolu Sholotan, Jack Thorne
Kel Munger, Kate Paloy, Jessica Rine, Patti Roberts, Ann Martin Rolke, Steph Rodriguez Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Junior Art Director Brian Breneman Designers Serene Lusano, Marianne Mancina, Skyler Smith Contributing Photographers Lisa Baetz, Steven Chea, Wes Davis, Ryan Donahue, Taras Garcia, Lovelle Harris, Shoka
Our Mission To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages employees to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live. Co-editors Rachel Leibrock, Nick Miller Staff Writers Janelle Bitker, Raheem F. Hosseini Copy Editor Shoka Shafiee Entertainment Editor Jonathan Mendick Editorial Coordinator Becca Costello Contributing Editor Cosmo Garvin Editor-at-large Melinda Welsh Contributors Ngaio Bealum, Daniel Barnes, Rob Brezsny, Cody Drabble, Joey Garcia, Blake Gillespie, Becky Grunewald, Mark Halverson, Jeff Hudson, Jim Lane, Greg Lucas, Garrett McCord,
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3/25/14 7:51 AM
“I jumped off a bridge at about 3 in the morning.”
Asked at de Vere’s Irish Pub:
Have you ever risked your life to have fun?
Victor Avila
Ashley Ines
Kenten Brannon
club deejay
philanthropist
I jumped off the Stratosphere [Casino, Hotel & Tower] at the bungee-jumping station in Las Vegas. It was last year. It was crazy! I’m afraid of heights, but I did it anyway. It was my first time, and it was worth it. I’d do it again. It was only, like, 20 bucks.
IT technician
I did whitewater rafting in Oregon on the Klamath River. I almost hit a rock. I was too high: I was stoned on mushrooms in the raft. I almost hit the rock, and I had to turn sideways real quick. I went under, and I came back up, but my beer was safe, so it was OK.
F
O
l
s
O
I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane while skydiving. It was fun. I was in Lodi. It was for my 24th birthday last summer. I was having a slight quarter-life crisis, so I figured I had to do something. Go big or go home. I’m glad I did it. Everybody should go skydiving at least once.
M
l A
k
E
V
Josh McGuinn
Noah Whitmarsh
bartender
bar manager
I free-climbed a five-story building. I like to climb on the roofs of things. I climbed up the side of a building, did some jumps, stupid shit like that. I’ve done it since I’ve been in college. I go out at night when I get kind of bored and see what buildings I can be on the roof of.
O
l
k
s
Matthew Carter alarm-systems installations
I jumped off a bridge at about 3 in the morning, and I couldn’t see the water below. It was about 45 feet above the water. The water was deep enough that I didn’t touch the ground. No safety equipment, pitch-black, couldn’t see anything. It was at Rattlesnake Bar up in Folsom.
w A
g
E
I ride my Harley every day. I have a helmet. I was a raft guide on the American River, which is freakin’ dangerous. People pop into the water; it’s not guaranteed they’ll make it. I went after someone, but never any close calls with me. I’d go for fun again now, but not my career.
n
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r u o Y t c Perfe
Zero stars for Yelp
G N I SW
Re “The Yelp factor” by Nick Miller (SN&R Feature Story, March 20): Four-and-a-half stars for the Yelp story. It was a great peek behind the curtain and revealed some insights that are making me reconsider my level of trust. The fact that any Yelp user is getting freebies from businesses is troubling, as is a Yelper who gives five stars to more than half of the businesses they’ve reviewed. I think some businesses have a much higher opinion of themselves than is warranted and feel they are above criticism. letter of I also think Yelp reviewers have no clue as to what they the week are doing (and have too much time on their hands). Going forward, I’ll use Yelp only for directions and store hours. My trust has slipped to zero stars.
No Matter Your Skill or the Weather!
M.
via email
Gay panic travesty Re “Homophobic hooey” by Greg Lucas (SN&R Capitol Lowdown, March 20): Thanks for an informative article. It occurred to me while reading it that if every heterosexual woman who has been offended by a heterosexual man coming on to her could claim “offense” as their defense, then there would be a lot of dead straight men. Walking down the street as a man shouts from his car, hanging out in a bar for a drink with friends and being obnoxiously approached by some dimwit that won’t take no for an answer, fending off multiple advances by a male co-worker or boss—well, hell, let’s just take care of that with a little gun power. It’s travesty of justice to allow “gay” or “transgender panic” to aid in someone’s defense. Tara Crowley Sacramento
Public transit needs to advertise Re “The A.V. club” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Bites, March 20): In spite of autonomous vehicles, public transport will continue to be important for the foreseeable future. If large retailers ran their businesses like our public transporters do, their market share would also plummet to 3 percent. Why not take a page from Home Depot and other retailers: advertise! Put a tiny fraction of transport budget into listing destinations (Roseville, Auburn, Stockton, Fresno, etc.) and times, so people will be informed of these resources. Ask any person on the street how many trains Amtrak runs to San Francisco each weekday, or how many buses to the airport a day, and you’ll receive blank stares (answer: 16 Amtrak trains each weekday; 19 buses to the airport each weekday). Give promotional coupons for free seats; free seats cost no more than empty seats. Run daily specials. Evan Jones via email BEFORE
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Charter schools cherry-pick Re “Wake-up call” by Jeff vonKaenel (SN&R Greenlight, March 20): Charter schools may have all that buzz and positive energy because they are dealing with the cream of the crop, so to speak. Believe me, I don’t negate parent involvement, positive and can-do attitudes. Trouble is, those kids are skimmed from public schools, along with the money per student, while the children who do not have involved parents are left behind. Each student comes with dollar sign attached. If you take the best and the brightest and the most involved families (and, yes, who can blame them) and leave behind those who struggle, of course this leaves phenomenal challenges for the mainstream school system. One might want to ask whether this the way to teach community: “Is this the world I want to teach my children to create? I will just go over here, because I have mine, and will sail through life where I don’t have to be bothered with your, um, challenges that might hold me back.” Until, of course, karma finds you. Christine Thomas Sacramento
Email your letters to sactoletters@ newsreview.com.
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Women are out there Re “A woman’s place is in the kitchen” by Janelle Bitker (SN&R Feature Story, March 13): Loved the photo on the cover. Here is more female-chef info: Randy Paragary of the Paragary Restaurant Group has always been a promoter of female chefs in his kitchen. As stated in the article, Teresa Urkofsky is one. Others include: Laurel Melchor, Margie Tose, Stacey Johnson, Shannan Berg, Kelly Her, Erika Atkins, to name a few. Another restaurant owner, Evan Elsberry of Evan’s Kitchen, runs an all-female crew in the evenings. Female chefs may be out of sight but are not out of mind for progressive owners. Patrick Powers via email |
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Slow death sentence Women decry conditions at state prisons, former inmates say they were misdiagnosed and denied health care When Theresa Martinez was an inmate at the Central California Women’s Facility, prison health by officials diagnosed her as having HIV. Andrea She says her mental health deteriorated Abi-Karam as a result. Prison doctors also put her on a rigorous anti-HIV drug regimen for 10 years. Eventually, officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation transferred her to a state prison facility in Southern California. Once there, the facility’s health staffers urged Martinez to take another HIV test, even though she had assured them that she was infected with the virus. The results came back negative. They did the test again. It was negative, again. She didn’t have HIV. Martinez said she later learned that the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, where she and many other Sacramento women end up when they’re sentenced to prison, had a contract with a pharmaceutical company that sells HIV medication. Martinez, who now works for prisoners’ rights group Justice Now, shared the story of what happened to her at a recent public event. She contends that corporatedriven interests affect the physical and mental health of prisoners throughout the California prison system. There’s also compelling evidence that This story originally appeared in the East the health facility within the CCWF has a Bay Express. history of badly mistreating female prisoners. Late last year, a three-person panel of court-appointed medical experts released a scathing report on the deplorable conditions inside the prison. Overall, the panel found that CCWF “is not providing adequate medical care, and that there are systemic issues resulting in preventable morbidity and mortality [disease and death] and that present an on-going serious risk of harm to patients.” The 57-page report also stated that CCWF’s health facility is disorganized and overcrowded. “We believe that the majority of problems are attributable to overcrowding, insufficient health care staffing and inadequate medical bed space,” the report stated.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION
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Cabbie discrimination?
An aerial view of the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, some 140 miles from Sacramento. One female prisoner was diagnosed as HIV-positive and treated for 10 years, even though she was negative.
The court-ordered health-care evaluation came in response to a January 2013 report conducted by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office that declared the health-care conditions at CCWF improved. The dismal quality of health care inside California’s prisons was the driving force behind orders issued by federal judges to the state to dramatically reduce its inmate population. “Overcrowding and health care conditions cited by this Court to support its population reduction order are now a distant memory,” Brown’s office stated. Despite the scathing report on CCWF by court-appointed medical experts, federal judges agreed last month to give Brown and state corrections officials more time to relieve overcrowding in California’s prisons. The overcrowded conditions at CCWF worsened in 2012 when the state converted Valley State Prison for Women (which is located near CCWF) into a men’s facility and then funneled that facility’s female prisoners into CCWF and the California Institution for Women near Chino. CCWF’s inmate population quickly grew to 184 percent of capacity. According to the court-appointed medical experts, the packed conditions at CCWF resulted in health-care staff being slow to respond to inmates’ medical needs. “I would assume that during an emergency you would run toward the emergency, but no, 95 percent of the time they walk—stroll,” said Mianta McKnight, who was released from CCWF three months ago. McKnight says that when nurses at CCWF respond to an emergency, they’ll only provide care if the patient is incoherent and can’t stand up. She described an instance in which her roommate was waiting to get treatment for an earache. STORY
The pain became so intense, she passed out and hit her head on her bunk. “She was trying to be seen and was ignored,” McKnight said. And even if a prisoner does get seen by health-care staffers at CCWF, there’s a good chance she won’t get appropriate care. According to the court-ordered report, as well as firsthand accounts, CCWF medical staffers routinely prescribe expired, incorrect or insufficient medication. “You go in and say, ‘I don’t feel well because XYZ,’” McKnight said. “They’ll give you a cold pack, and you may have a migraine.”
“It’s corrections, but it’s not meant to be cruel and unusual punishment. And sometimes that’s what it turns into.” Mianta McKnight former inmate at Central California Women’s Facility Inmates also “were given the wrong medications at times—kind of like test this and see if it works, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else,” she continued. She said she once helped take care of a fellow inmate who became paralyzed down the left side of her body because she received the wrong drugs. McKnight also said that it was not uncommon for prisoners to wait in the pharmacy line for long periods and then watch staffers withhold their prescribed medications. They’d get to the front of the line, and then watch staffers pull up
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their mugshots and arrest histories on Google, and send the prisoners to the back of the line if the staffers disliked what they saw, she said. At CCWF, prisoners with chronic illnesses and disabilities are consigned to the skilled nursing facility, which further isolates them within the prison system, and further alienates them from their families. “They are sometimes thrown back there and don’t know why they’re back there,” said McKnight of inmates being put in skilled nursing. “They have little or no communication with their families.” Prison officials also regularly lock down the skilled nursing facility without explanation, she said. The court-appointed medical experts who examined CCWF substantiated McKnight’s experiences. The panelist said they “found problems with timeliness and quality of care.” They also stated in their report that “[i]nternal audits show lapses in continuity of chronic disease medication. We also found concerns related to expiration of chronic medication orders.” McKnight, who now works with the prisoners’ rights group California Coalition for Women Prisoners, said that the healthcare staffers at CCWF don’t treat patients as humans. “I would like to see people have the opportunity to have a better quality of life,” she said. “And not have them have a slow death sentence as a result of not being taken care of.” The California Coalition for Women Prisoners is working on a campaign that calls for health care staff to be held accountable; health care to be improved to the standards of care outside of prison; and prisoner release in lieu of overcrowding. “It’s corrections, but it’s not meant to be cruel and unusual punishment,” McKnight said. “And sometimes that’s what it turns into.” Ω 03.27.14 | SN&R | 9
house. .
It’s more than a it’s our
home! - Angelica & Alex (The Twins)
A
ngelica and Alex Young are fun loving twins who moved to Sacramento from Fairfield one year ago and immediately started looking for a church that was a good fit for them. They grew up in a traditional Christian Church family but they were looking for something more diverse and modern than their family church in Fairfield. They used modern technology for their search, googling all churches in
Sacramento that fit their criteria. The logo, look and spirit of The House – A Bayside Church appealed to them the most and they attended a service to check it out. They never left. Today they are active in The House Children’s Ministies and, more than anything else, love the sense of home and family and connection to the people they now consider family. To them, it’s not just The House, it’s their home.
sundays: 9:30am & 11:15am 1901 broadway, sacramento our first service at our new location will be will be on easter, april 20th. check here next week for more info. www.thehousechurchsac.com | 916.706.2337 10
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Time to help Hacker Lab co-founder loses nearly everything in house fire Bad news: Hacker Lab co-founder Gina Lujan and her family lost nearly everything when their Oak Park rental burned down last Thursday night. by Rachel Leibrock In addition to their possessions, they also lost their family cat. No one else was hurt, but the family doesn’t ra c h ell@ have insurance to cover the loss. ne w s re v ie w.c o m A relief fund has been set up to help the Lujan family at www.youcaring.com. As of deadline, more than $10,000 has been donated; the last day to do so is April 1. Last year, I got to know Lujan for a story that coincided with Sacramento Tech Week. To say that she impressed and inspired me is, to say the least, an understatement. As a journalist, you’re required to do your best to remain impartial, neutral and completely unbiased when you do a story—even (or maybe that’s especially) when it’s a profile meant to highlight someone’s accomplishments. It was really difficult to maintain that impartiality around Lujan. For one thing, she’s a hugger. Longtime friend? You’ll get a hug. Brand-new acquaintance? Hug. She’s also a smiler and a talker and a thinker, and she’s always brimming with ideas. She ran away from home when In addition to their she was 14 and dropped out of high possessions, they school. She was 23 with five kids also lost their when she convinced her family to help her buy her first PC so she could family cat. build a website for her holistic, herbalmedicine business. She built the site by copying HTML code from other sites. Over the years, Lujan had a number of jobs that further demonstrated her resourcefulness. Eventually, she returned to the computer, taught herself how to code and started participating in hackathons. In 2012, Lujan, by now mother to six kids, co-founded Hacker Lab in a tiny Curtis Park space with Eric Ullrich and Charles Blas. The idea was to create a co-working hub for developers, inventors and people just looking for a place to work. By 2013, the Hacker Lab had moved to a 10,500 squarefoot space in Midtown, a place for programmers, designers and entrepreneurs. Hacker Lab regularly hosts classes and meetups. It rents out permanent office space to a few larger businesses, but it’s also a great place for someone to fly solo, supercharged on the complimentary coffee and cookies that come with a nominal usage fee. In addition to all things techie, the Hacker Lab also has “maker spaces” for things like welding and woodworking. Last year, the Sacramento Business Journal named Lujan one of its Women Who Mean Business, and earlier this month, Valley Vision awarded her its 2014 Legacy Feast Award for her contribution’s to the region’s economy and growth. I emailed her last week to see if she was OK, if she Donate now to help the Lujan family at needed anything. She sent me back a one-line reply: www.youcaring.com/ “Please send newspapers :)” help-a-neighbor/ I’m guessing she wanted them for packing purposes, but help-the-lujanI had to laugh just a little. Leave it to Lujan to add a smiley family-recover-theirlives/153132. face to her message in the midst of such awfulness. Then again, this is a woman who, last year, summed up her life for me this way: “I am a hustler. Since I was a kid, literally living on the streets and then having my own kids so young. You just go into fight-or-flight mode.” Ω
Taxi griper
BEATS
Some immigrant cabbies think Sacramento’s new policies stink
Revisiting rape claims The state of California is trying to make up for stigmatizing
Sacramento’s efforts to clean up its fractious, in-fighting taxi industry are leaving tire marks over some of the city’s by immigrant cab drivers. Raheem F. Hosseini After more than a year of chatting with stakeholders, the Sacramento r a heemh@ Department of Finance unveiled a newsreview.c om host of new regulations to a city council committee on March 18. The eight policy recommendations are meant to straighten out an industry that hotel managers say is driving away tourists with bad behavior, poor hygiene and a lack of basic navigational skills.
regulations, saying Sacramento’s reputation suffers because of cabbies who fight over customers, refuse short-distance fares, are unable to navigate the city and don’t make change for customers. Yellow Cab Co. of Sacramento president Fred Pleines called the proposed regulations “the penicillin that will save [the industry].” The drafted ordinance would also cap the number of city-issued taxicab permits, prohibit older vehicles unless they’ve been exempted, and require Photo by nick MiLLer
While independent cabbies grumbled that the new policies are insulting, two University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law professors contacted by SN&R suggested they were likely legally defensible. Municipal governments have considerable leeway to license and regulate the people doing business within their boundaries, said Leslie Gielow Jacobs, director of the Capital Center for Public Law & Policy. “The constitution is just a floor— a really, really, really bottom floor for what governments can do,” she added. “What the cab driver would have to prove is some sort of purpose on the part of the city to discriminate against them.”
“I don’t know how you go about defining what smells acceptable and what level of smell.” Charles Kelso professor, University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
By unanimous vote, the fourmember committee advanced the drafted ordinance to the full council for a final decision, expected within the next two months. If approved, the new local law would require all cabbies to accept credit cards, pass a driving test that includes basic English questions and adhere to a dress code. If last week’s meeting is any indication, the decision is sure to draw a lively debate about the fine line between good customer service and painting independent-business operators with an unflattering brush, especially as larger companies horde government contracts and new car-service platforms siphon their customers. “Our taxicab business is almost really finished,” said cab driver Kazman Zaidi. “There are so many competition—this Uber, this Lyft and also this airport-taxi [contract]. …. Do you think [about] how we are suffering and how we are surviving?” Representatives of the local tourism industry and some of the larger taxi players support the new
The city of Sacramento is considering a new local law to clean up its taxicab industry that has some independent drivers upset.
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all taxi fleets to use 24-hour dispatch centers to schedule fares rather than doing so via cellphone. Independent proprietors said dispatch centers, in particular, were too expensive to implement, while at least one unnamed driver took exception to the inference that cabbies are unclean. “I need to give a message to the lawyer, from me and a lot of the drivers,” he said. “You insulted me. You insulted 400 other drivers. Shame on you. Shame on you. I see you on 500 I Street. That’s federal court.” The driver was likely referring to the staff report’s justification for a dress code: “The city has also received complaints that some taxicab drivers have been dirty and unkempt,” the report reads. It goes on to state that a dress code would “consist of collared shirts, long or short dress slacks, and closed toe shoes,” and that drivers would have to “wear shoes at all times while on duty.” The dress-code language doesn’t explicitly acknowledge the existence of female taxi drivers.
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Cab drivers, by themselves, don’t fall into a protected class. But many in the city have emigrated from territories in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. McGeorge professor Charles Kelso said the city is within its rights to pursue policies that protect the general public, like ensuring cab safety, fair meter rates and that drivers are getting people where they’ve asked to go. But the city also needs more than an anecdotal basis for instituting new policies, he believed. “If they have nothing but their thoughts that this is a good idea, that could be an issue,” he said. As for regulating the aesthetics of a taxi experience, Kelso foresaw problems. “That begins to be a little bit remote from personal safety,” he said. “I don’t know how you go about defining what smells acceptable and what level of smell.” Kelso said he’s ridden in cabs where the drivers didn’t recognize his intended destination or know how to get there. Just not in Sacramento. “I have a car here,” he said. The finance department’s business permit manager, Dafna Gauthier, didn’t return a call for comment. Ω
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rape survivors. Last week, the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board approved restitution claims for 14 crime victims who were previously denied. Each one was from a sex worker who had been raped. A policy adopted in 1999 ruled sex workers ineligible for benefits, even when when their profession played little part in the attacks. Facing pressure from defenders of sex workers’ rights, the three-person CalVCP board scrapped the policy back in December 2013. At the time, the decision didn’t appear to be retroactive. But following a closed session meeting on March 20, board chairwoman Marybel Batjer released a statement announcing the about-face. “While the applications discussed in today’s closed session are, and will remain, confidential, I can note that the victims in these 14 cases were victims of rape,” Batjer’s statement reads. “Those 14 are now approved.” The CalVCP board’s deputy executive officer, Jon M. Myers, said the claims had been denied between the years of 2011 and 2013. Myers called these the “oldest applications” and said another handful would be recommended for approval next month. According to earlier figures provided by Myers, the board denied 80 sex-worker claims over the past three years alone, and every claim submitted by a sex worker before that. Myers said only rape- and domestic-violence-related claims were subject to reconsideration. SN&R contacted two women who survived brutal rape attacks while working as escorts and whose claims the state denied last year. Neither had been contacted by CalVCP. “I’ve given up on getting any help anymore,” one of the women, from Sacramento, said via email. CalVCP processed more than 54,000 applications last fiscal year, 58 percent of which were from women, and approved nearly $62 million in reimbursements for medical bills, lost wages, moving expenses and funeral costs, among other things. (Raheem F. Hosseini)
Youthful agenda Since joining Volunteers of America Northern California & Northern Nevada, Nicole Tallon has searched for her tribe. The 20-something, tasked by AmeriCorps VISTA with getting word out about VOA’s programs for the poor and underrepresented, wants to meet other young adults who are passionate about improving the world. So she had an idea: Invite them for a drink. On Thursday, April 3, the VOA will hold its inaugural #Network4Cause event at Tequila Museo Mayahuel on K Street. It’s a free social-media mixer for Sacramento’s young professional crowd, and Tallon says the idea is to get local millennials meeting and tweeting about the causes that are important to them. People can register to attend online at Eventbrite. The mixer starts at 5:30 p.m., and promises free grub and giveaways. (RFH)
Safety-net uncertainty After postponing its eagerly anticipated safety-net workshop last week, the county of Sacramento has moved it again— back to its original April 9 date. Hopefully the schizophrenic scheduling doesn’t shed community interest. The 2 p.m. workshop inside the board of supervisors chambers promises to draw representatives from a wide array of money-gutted groups—including Child Protective Services officials, affordable-housing activists, the homeless community’s continuum of care operatives and beyond. Settle on a date, already. (RFH)
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Lawmakers passed a bill last year requiring restaurant-kitchen workers to wear gloves when preparing food. Even sushi. Which is actually less healthy than bare hands, some argue. But there’s hope: A bill to fix the glove law is making its way through the Capitol as we speak. If the glove doesn’t fit ...
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+ 2,130
Bad parking job
San Franciscobased tech outfit Nerd Wallet ranked Sacramento as the 10th worst city for parking in the entire country this week. It also reported that auto theft is 67.5 percent higher than the average U.S. city. Chicago was voted the worst.
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As The Sacramento Bee reported last week, nearly two-thirds of the 641
Scorekeeper doesn’t usually condone vigilantism. But kudos to Midtown residents who stopped a bike theft early Saturday morning just after midnight. Residents heard noises outside in front of their home, then looked to see a suspect trying to steal a roommate’s bicycle. “The subject was able to be detained until police arrived” at I and 26th streets, the crime log stated. The suspect was booked for possession of burglary tools and attempted theft.
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District employees earned more than $100,000 a year, before benefits, in 2012. That’s outrageous. Scorekeeper agrees that this district needs oversight, and now.
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My mom just had her third stroke. She’s lucky to have my sister Rebecca and her grandson Ryan, along with other family members, to help her through the trials and tribulations of this chapter in her life. She also has the good folks at Kaiser Permanente and her new nursing home providing compassionate health care. And then, there is her church. Members of the First Unitarian Church of San José have regularly dropped by to cheer her up, to help in her care, and to provide little gifts, all of which have made a profound difference to her. l by Jeff VonKaene These visits mean the world to my mom. She is lonely and scared. The visits remind her that j ef f v@ n ewsreview.c om people care for her and that she is loved. Recently, while visiting my mom, I had the opportunity to spend some time with several members of the church who routinely visit fellow church members in the hospital. What a joy. The visitors are engaged, full-of-life people. The kind of people that are able to get eight hours of work done in just a couple of hours. They can bring hope to hopeless situations. And, although I did not ask, I expect they would say how much volunteering does them. Possible side for Health experts agree. effects include less While eating, exercising and picking the right parents are television watching all important, health-care point out that and less joy in specialists community connections, shopping. including being involved with a religious organization, extends life expectancy. Since studies have recently found that other expensive health treatments such as cholesterol-reducing drugs have very little impact upon life expectancy, I think it is time to promote something that the experts say does work. If developing commitments and helping others has such an important role in healthy living, then we should promote it. Let’s run a TV ad that reflects the data. I envision an actor, playing a regular person saying, “My life lacked purpose. Did I really matter? I felt listless and unimportant. I craved clothes and cars, but after I purchased them, I felt empty inside. So, I went to see my doctor. And my doctor gave me a Commitment Prescription. I took my C.P. down to my local church. Now, I have been visiting Jeff vonKaenel patients at the hospital on Tuesdays, and on Wednesday is the president, afternoons I have been helping the cutest third graders CEO and learn to read. I feel great. My aches and pains do not majority owner of the News & Review bother me as much. I am so glad that my doctor gave me a newspapers in C.P. and told me to turn off my television. I can’t believe Sacramento, Chico how much free time I have now.” and Reno. An authoritative voice continues: “If you are feeling unimportant, listless or have other symptoms of a selfcentered life, then you should ask your doctor about a Commitment Prescription. Possible side effects include less television watching and less joy in shopping. But you can count on a longer and healthier life.” Ω
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14 | SN&R | 03.27.14
We coach the Sacramento Lady Salamanders, a Street These children are seeing their parents Soccer USA program that helps women break and themselves in a whole new way. There by the cycle of homelessness, addiction and domeswas a time when many of our kids did not Tiffany Fraser tic violence. view their futures through a hopeful lens. and Now entering our fourth year, we’ve seen Today, they tell us about their college Lisa Wrightsman 92 percent of our players achieve permanent aspirations. We believe this is how to break housing, employment or continue their education negative cycles for good. within their first year of participation. Our team From then on, the Sacramento Lady Tiffany Fraser and lisa platform creates a supportive environment and Salamanders program sought to do much more Wrightsman are the a safe place for women to take courageous and than provide a support system for women; we program directors of life-changing steps. want to change that trajecthe sacramento lady And while we are tory for entire families. salamanders. There was a time ecstatic to have helped We began this year by when many so many formerly adding an emphasis on homeless women— our program’s youth. The of our kids did women who, in turn, children and grandchildren not view their support one another— of our players are just as there is one result that affected by their homefutures through we never anticipated. less circumstances, and a hopeful lens. Most of our players are equally in need of the have anywhere from one benefits soccer can provide. to five children, and some have grandchildren. Our youth initiative begins this month as Over the years, we’ve watched these young we bring two at-risk girls to compete at the people’s lives transform as a result of their moth- Street Child World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, ers’ participation with Street Soccer USA. Brazil. Starting March 28, the 10-day tournaAn online version of this Early on, we used the children as opponents ment brings street children from five contiessay can be found at for our players on the field, and they played their nents to play international football and call www.newsreview.com/ parts well. But we soon noticed the kids were attention to global homelessness. Our piece of sacramento/ this mission will continue as long as there are pageburner/blogs. bonding with their mothers and grandmothers in the ways that teammates do. In many cases, Sacramento youth experiencing the effects of broken relationships between parents and chilhomelessness. dren mended on the soccer pitch! Game on. Ω
ISSUE #
Next affirmative action The state Legislature pulled the plug recently on a proposed constitutional amendment that would have reinstated some form of affirmative action in the University of California admissions process. It’s understandable to want to avoid using race as either a positive or a negative when admitting students to the UC system. However, the effect of these “race neutral” admissions has been to reduce the number of black and Latino students—and that leads to not only less diversity on campuses, but also fewer minority students in government- and community-leadership positions post-college. There is one way to encourage diversity that doesn’t rely on race, and that is to offer programs that encourage the admission and support the academic success of first-generation college students. The post-World War II GI Bill enabled millions of firstgeneration college students, immigrants and the children of immigrants, many of them from impoverished backgrounds, to earn a college education. It changed our nation and led to a period of innovation, prosperity and social and civil-rights advances. We still have plenty of first-generation college students who could use help. Without parents to guide their college experience, too many of these students find the UCs confusing, frustrating and impossible. And it’s not as if affirmative action for first-generation college students would automatically affect only racial and ethnic minorities and recent immigrants. There are plenty of white American families that have never had a college graduate. Let’s talk about diversity on campus in a new way, one that rewards the hard-working first-generation students, the next American success story. Ω
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Saturday, April 5, 2014 at 8:00 PM
Sacto gun violence As we go to press with this edition of SN&R, another person has died in a spate of local shootings that, in the space of a single March weekend, injured 14 and killed four. A police spokesperson said the only commonality between the shootings was that most of them were drive-bys. We’d like to point out another commonality: guns. There’s no indication that someone’s pheasanthunting shotgun or deer rifle was used in these shootings. Instead, what was used were weapons designed to shoot bullets at people. Oh, perhaps the stated intention in their production was “target shooting” or “law enforcement” or even “home defense.” But that’s not what happened. These handguns ended up on the street in the hands of people who, for whatever reason (and there’s reason to believe that some of these shootings were gangrelated), decided to shoot them at people. Our sympathies lie with the victims of violence, no matter from where it comes. But sympathy isn’t enough to stop the carnage. We need to get the guns off the streets as a form of triage, a bandage to stop the blood loss from the underlying problems that lead to violence. Perhaps then we can begin to tackle the more complicated issue of the social disengagement and hopelessness that leads to violence of any kind. Ω B E F O R E | N E W S | F E AT U R E
5 MAR 20TH
Community Center Theater 1301 L Street, Sacramento 20% off for newcomers to the theater. Use promo code: VM20OF Last minute $15 tickets available for students with valid ID. Must purchase tickets at the box office an hour before the show.
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STORY
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R & N new S . w w t w
a w o n vote
o C . w e i Srev
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S B R U B
S T E S BE O M I N E N BeSt CHineSe
BeSt of folSom & el DoraDo HillS BeSt reStaurant
Aji Japanese Bistro Back Wine Bar & Bistro Bamiyan Afghan Restaurant Boucane’s Smokehouse & Sweetery Catering Cascada Chez Daniel LO: Land Ocean New American Grill Sienna Restaurant Sutter Street Grill Visconti’s Ristorante
BeSt Burger
Bidwell Street Bistro Burger Hut Burgerocity Early Toast Manderes The Purple Place Bar & Grill Relish Burger Bar Samuel Horne’s Tavern
BeSt SuSHi
Aji Japanese Bistro Aloha Sushi Blue Nami Chiyo Sushi Sky Sushi Suishin Sushi Sushi Kuma Sushi Unlimited Taiko Sushi
Folsom Palace Fortune Garden Chinese Restaurant Hop Sing Palace Lotus 8 Rice Express Sunny Garden Restaurant T2yan
BeSt inDian
Chaatney Curry Club Indian Bistro India House Mylapore Ethnic Indian Vegetarian Cuisine Peacock Indian Restaurants Ruchi Indian Cuisine
BeSt CoffeeHouSe
Bella Bru Cafe The Black Rooster Coffee Republic Folsom Grind Java Mama Cafe El Dorado Coffee & Tea Co.
BeSt plaCe for a Beer
36 Handles The Fat Rabbit Public House Manderes Mraz Brewing Company Pete’s Restaurant & Brewhouse Samuel Horne’s Tavern Sudwerk Brewhouse Grille
BeSt SHopping DeStination
Broadstone Marketplace El Dorado Hills Town Center Folsom Mercantile Exchange Folsom Premium Outlets Palladio at Broadstone
BeSt of elk grove BeSt reStaurant
Boulevard Bistro Brick House Restaurant & Lounge Happy Garden Loving Hut Mikuni Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar Red Chopstix Silva’s Sheldon Inn Thai Chili Restaurant Todo Un Poco Yoshi Japanese Restaurant
BeSt SanDwiCH
Baguettes Deli Bravo’s Soup and Sandwich Shoppe Jimmy’s Superb Subs Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop Nugget Markets
BeSt pizza
Fat Mike’s Pizza Lamppost Pizza New York Pizza Old Town Pizza & Tap House Original Pete’s Paesanos Pizza Bell
BeSt mexiCan/latin
Chando’s Tacos Dos Coyotes Border Cafe El Jardín El Potro Taqueria Plaza Del Sol Sol Mexican Restaurant Todo Un Poco
BeSt CoffeeHouSe
It’s a Grind Coffee House Java Time Donuts Wild Hawk Coffee Tapioca & Tea Tea Culture
See the complete list of nominees at www.newsreview.com 16
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BeSt Spot for family fun
Barbara Morse Wackford Community & Aquatic Complex Elk Grove Park Funtastic Play Center Laguna’s Awesome Party Palace SurfXtreme
BeSt of CarmiCHael & fair oakS BeSt reStaurant
El Papagayo Restaurant Skip’s Kitchen Mighty Tavern Mikuni Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar Peacock Indian Restaurants Noble Vegetarian Firebird Russian Restaurant & Gallery Stirling Bridges Restaurant and Pub Yui Marlu
BeSt SanDwiCH
Dad’s Kitchen Fair Oaks Coffee House & Deli Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop Rims Deli Skip’s Kitchen Sunflower Natural Food Restaurant
BeSt BreakfaSt or BrunCH
Dianda’s Italian Bakery & Cafe Fair Oaks Coffee House & Deli Hungry Hollow Cafe Lido Bar & Grill Mirabelle Cafe The Village Bistro Waffle Barn
BeSt Spot for family fun
Ancil Hoffman Park Effie Yeaw Nature Center Fair Oaks Village Park Fliptastic! River Rat Raft & Bike
BeSt plaCe to get BeSt SHopping DeStination
Fair Oaks Village The Feathered Nest Freestyle Clothing Exchange Thrift Town Tickled Pink
BeSt of roSeville, roCklin & granite Bay BeSt reStaurant
Anatolian Table Restaurant Baagan Early Toast Four Sisters Cafe Hawks Restaurant La Huaca Mehfil Indian Restaurant Mikuni Kaizen Ninja Sushi and Teriyaki Source
BeSt BreakfaSt or BrunCH
Early Toast Four Sisters Cafe Grandma’s Kitchen The Original Pancake House Pacific Street Cafe Pegs Glorified Ham n Eggs Short Stuff Cafe Susie’s Country Oaks Cafe Venita Rhea’s Waffle Barn
2014
Mikuni Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar Ninja Sushi and Teriyaki Raku Sushi Sushi House Sushi Mon by Sky Yoko Sushi
BeSt CoffeeHouSe
Bambu Desserts & Drinks Bloom Coffee & Tea Edwin’s Coffee & Tea Extreme Java Jungle Cafe Kona Coffee Cafe Lollicup Coffee & Tea Origin Coffee & Tea Shady Coffee and Tea
BeSt plaCe for a Beer
Boneshaker Public House The Boxing Donkey Irish Pub Final Gravity Taproom & Bottleshop Foster’s Pub & Grill GoatHouse Brewing Co. Out of Bounds Brewing Company Pete’s Restaurant & Brewhouse Roseville Brewing Company The Union
BeSt SHopping DeStination
Antique Trove Deja Vu in a Dress Denio’s Farmer’s Market & Swap Meet Fountains at Roseville Freestyle Clothing Exchange Nice Twice Consignment Shop Reinvent Clothing Boutique & Consignment Sei Bella Boutique Trixie Boutique Uptown Clothing Company Westfield Galleria at Roseville YSJ Trading Co.
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Blue Nami Ichiban Sushi Izumi Sushi Kenro’s a Taste of Japan
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B Y R A H E E M F. H O S S E I N I r a h e e m h @ n e w s r e v i e w. c o m
PHOTOS BY TARAS GARCIA
DEATH BY FUN Skydiving iS deadly, unregulated and growing in popularity. our writer free-fallS to find out wHy. as our utility plane breaches the troposphere, the skydiving instructor strapped to my back practices his bombing. “Why do blind people hate skydiving?” he says. “Scares the shit out of their dogs!” Nothing. He tries again. “What’s the hardest part about skydiving?” he says. “The ground!” Veteran instructor Blane Moler cracks one cornball joke after another, trying to elicit a chuckle, a sound, anything. But no luck. My voice disappeared before we reached the 2-mile mark. I long to do the same. Skydiving is nuts. Human lemmings dare gravity into a 110 mph game of chicken, then shout “psych” at the last moment. An estimated 25 parachuting deaths a year proves gravity is one sore loser. So why is its popularity thriving, with more than 3.1 million jumps anticipated this year, up nearly 20 percent from 2007? And why, roughly nine centuries after becoming the world’s first extreme sport, is skydiving still so unregulated? The answers are as elusive as Bill Dause, a Sacramento-area skydiving legend and someone whose counsel I’ll seek before this is over. Assuming I live. The cabin tilts roughly as our 1960s-era Twin Otter chugs into position over the drop zone. Our lunches roll with it. Below us: a vast field traced by an airport runway in the small agricultural town of Acampo, just south of Sacramento County. At the frigid altitude of 13,000 feet, the asphalt strip looks like a dead vein. This is where skydivers come to die. Or so the haters say.
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The Parachute Center is one of the more famous—or infamous—drop zones in the nation. Since Dause opened it in 1981, some 18 brave souls perished here, according to news reports. Yet area skydivers swear by Dause and the home he’s built for an itinerant, thrill-seeking community. “There is a lot of bad rap that this drop zone gets,” says Jhonathan Florez, a world-class wingsuit flier who frequents the Parachute Center.
“On three!” Moler calls. “One!” There is no two.
trust falls Popular legend (and the self-published book, Parachuting: The Skydiver’s Handbook) has it that the earliest prototype chute may have been deployed in 12th-century China. Some 900 years later, the particulars of skydiving—and its consequences—remain
two Sacramento-area drop zoneS account for roughly two-dozen Skydiving deathS . Just then, Moler grabs my shoulder. “Listen up!” he barks. “What I’m about to say is super important.” Someone pries open the plane door, and Moler’s instructions are lost to the roaring wind. He starts humping us toward the exit. This is how all 18 of us go to meet our maker, sliding our crotches up narrow benches. Ahead, the first wave of tandem duos vanishes into a gray void. The force at which they’re ripped into the ether verges on the biblical. Moler bellies me to the razor’s edge, not giving me time to object. There is nothing to grip along the hull’s smooth surface, nothing to stall what is coming. The makers of this craft built it with cowards in mind.
murky, even to the one organization that regulates the sport. The U.S. Parachute Association estimates that 323 people died in skydiving-related accidents between 2000 and 2012, the most recent year for which the association has figures. But even these numbers might not be completely accurate. The USPA relies solely on its 34,000-plus members to report death and injury statistics during annual membership renewals. “It’s just self-reporting,” says Nancy Koreen, the USPA’s director of sport promotion. “It’s just a good estimate from what information we can gather.” Neither the Federal Aviation administration nor the National Transportation
Safety Board, which have limited authority over skydiving practices, does their own tracking. Neither do state or federal publichealth departments, for the most part. Even local officials draw a blank. “We just don’t have data that we can share with you,” says Barb Alberson of San Joaquin County Public Health Services. “It doesn’t come up as anything other than ‘other.’” Which means informal counts by the media and safety watchdogs are the only kind likely taking place. Dropzone.com, which relies on user-submitted information, recorded 28 skydiving deaths in the United States last year, and three so far this year—including two at a parachute center in Arizona and one involving a 34-year-old Army paratrooper, who died of a torn aorta after landing a jump in Alaska. Closer to home, two Sacramento-area drop zones account for roughly two-dozen skydiving deaths going back to 1985, according to a compilation of news reports. The most recent occurred in August 2013 at SkyDance SkyDiving in Davis, where a 23-year-old Lodi man with more than 600 jumps under his belt fell out of his harness. That was one of six fatalities linked to SkyDance since the business opened in 1987, say media accounts. A male skydiver was injured there last June, when he collided with another parachutist and knocked himself out midair, reported the Daily Democrat. The man suffered a hard but non-lethal landing, however, when his reserve chute deployed automatically. That same month also saw a close call at the Parachute Center in Acampo. Veteran skydiver Mark Elizondo had already landed multiple jumps that Sunday when one got away from him, according to various media
“DEATH by fun”
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Kill thrills Here are some otHer fun ways to die in sacramento
Death wishes are no longer the sole province of charles Bronson. arounD sacramento, there’s no shortage of ways to Die raD . For goofy-foot skateboarders, there’s the Granite Skate Park north of the Florin neighborhood. It’s 45,000 square feet of swimming-pool-sized concrete bowls, as well as a “challenging” street course that exists to devour your scabs. Considering this is where world-famous rock climber Alex Honnold learned to crawl walls, we’d be remiss not to mention the Cosumnes River Gorge. Just outside of Placerville, the grouping of clefts and canyons comes outfitted with more than 50 rock-climbing routes of various difficulty levels, says Rock climbing.com, an online community of climbing enthusiasts. Honnold is famous for eschewing ropes and other assistance, but his isn’t the only way to get your rocks off. If all these activities are too dry for your tastes, the north fork of the American River, less than an hour east of Sacramento, offers a whitewater-rafting experience that starts off intense. Rafters begin the daylong excursion squeezing through a steep-walled gorge before crashing over a Class 4+ waterfall, according to the touring company, Tributary Whitewater 20
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Tours. Then comes sharp rapids with crazy names like Tongue and Groove, Bogus Thunder and The Staircase. If you haven’t guessed it already, this one’s not for amateurs. But for true rule-breaking death-defiers, there’s nothing quite like the Foresthill Bridge in Auburn. The 730-foot tall structure—the tallest in California— has become a not-so-secret destination for illicit BASE jumping, a sport that involves leaping from fixed objects outfitted with little more than a rapid-deploying parachute. (BASE stands for “Building, Antenna, Span, Earth.”) In September 2012, state and county public-safety crews rescued a supposed veteran of the sport when he attempted an illegal nighttime jump and got snagged in a pine tree. The 26-year-old was cited for misdemeanor code violations of breaking the park’s curfew and participating in an unsafe practice, local media reported. It could’ve been worse: In separate incidents, two BASE jumpers recently died in Utah’s Zion National Park, where the sport is also outlawed. While jumping off the Foresthill is usually illegal—the bridge is notorious for suicide attempts— an effort is underway to turn the state-controlled recreation area it spans into a sanctioned locale for adventure sports. A BASE jumping-centric festival is being eyed for 2016. Because tourism dollars, yo. —RFH
Credited with bringing skydiving to Northern California, Bill (left) and Kathy Dause opened the Parachute Center near the Lodi Airport in Acampo in 1981.
A pack of skydivers sneak in a jump on Tuesday morning, before forecasted rainfall scrubs the rest of the day.
Hayley Ashburn gathers her gear on the floor of the Parachute Center. The world-class trickliner is a regular inside the cluttered, colorful hangar.
reports. The 62-year-old was said to have drifted too far downwind, suffering electrical burns when he landed atop power lines. The most recent death at the Acampo center occurred April 2012, when a chute’s hard opening may have knocked out a 71-year-old Novato man, who plunged into a nearby vineyard. No fatalities have been reported at the relatively new Skydive Sacramento in Placer County. Skydiving proponents say the sport has gotten much safer since it went mainstream in the 1950s, when the homeland started making use of surplus military rigs held over from the great wars. “Thirty years ago, the equipment was not as reliable as it is today,” Koreen says. A death or injury due to equipment failure is almost unheard of these days, she adds. It’s mostly human error—especially among veteran divers pushing their limits—that accounts for things going wrong. “You can get ahead of yourself,” Koreen says. The USPA appoints safety and training advisers at every drop zone. These sentries are tasked with reporting problems to the USPA’s 14 regional boards. Even so, Koreen acknowledges that disciplinary actions are “pretty rare” and can’t provide figures when asked. Meanwhile, federal regulatory agencies are largely restricted to making sure backup chutes are rigged properly and that commercial skydiving aircraft are up to code. Their limited authority occasionally results in action—sort of. According to FAA records, the agency sanctioned the Parachute Center twice, in 2010 and 2011, for operating two de Havilland Twin Otters that violated “airworthiness directives.” The federal agency proposed civil penalties totaling $933,000, but has yet to collect. “We referred the cases to the U.S. Attorney’s Office … because we couldn’t reach a settlement with the company,” says FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, says a 7-year-old investigation “into some compliance issues” at the center remains ongoing. “I know [owner Bill Dause] has several issues with various agencies,” she adds.
Chasing Bill At first glance, there isn’t much to the wide, squat building that houses the Parachute Center. The hangar is one of three on the south side of the Lodi Airport, at the tail end of a quiet access road that loops around the country airport complex, past a throwback diner and decommissioned planes with shark teeth painted below their snouts. But inside, a funky, flophouse aesthetic bares its earthy guts. Flags and banners—representing nations, athletic brands and, in one case, Snoopy—teem from the rafters, listing over a graveyard of mismatched couches and love seats. A pack of small dogs nips about aimlessly, paying little attention to the cosmopolitan adventurers gathering up their nylon chutes and conversing in various foreign tongues. BEFORE
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Sitting quietly behind the register is the owner of this place. With his willowy white hair, narrow eyeglasses and wiry build, Bill Dause resembles a mad scientist of sorts, one forged by the counterculture. As such, he can be hard to read. Is it humility or orneriness that prompts Dause to wave off an interview request? “Go talk to her,” he says, nodding at a muscled redhead disrobing and dropping into a yoga pose. “She’s a world champion.” “What’s her name?” I ask. Dause shrugs. “I don’t know.” The woman in question is Hayley Ashburn. She is indeed a world champion, in women’s tricklining, a sport where people execute stunts atop a loosely suspended wire. Ashburn also wrote a paper on Dause that earned her entry to the University of Colorado Boulder’s creativewriting program. Asked if she interviewed Dause for the project, Ashburn laughs at the question and flops on a couch.
diver has died in the company’s 33-year history. “Everyone who comes in here walks out of that door.” To support his point, Florez leads the way to a neatly curated storage area, where oversized cubbyholes are stuffed with new tandem rigs, worth $15,000 apiece. Each one is outfitted with an automatic activation device. Dause turns over his inventory on the regular, Florez says. Over the course of an afternoon, it becomes clear that Dause is considered a prickly hero by the friendly vagabonds who frequent here. No one in this community makes much money doing what they love, even rising stars like Florez and Ashburn, and they appreciate Dause and his wife for running one of the least expensive shops around. “They give enough of a damn to keep it affordable,” says Christine Wolfers, who’s studying to be a tandem instructor. At one point, Dause tells the young Frenchwoman to get off the couch and into the
“The firsT one-TenTh of a second is The worsT. buT The second one-TenTh, iT’s The besT.” Christine Wolfers skydiver “Wait until the end of the day, after he’s done with all this. He’s usually more talkative then,” she suggests. “Though not always.” Florez appears through an awning and flashes a toothy grin. He peels off his wingsuit, webbed with fabric under his armpits and between his legs. The Red Bull-sponsored athlete blames the Parachute Center’s bad reputation on media fear-mongers and jealous competitors. Considering how busy the Parachute Center is, he says, its safety record is better than most. It’s equal to Perris Valley Skydiving in Riverside County, which has tallied a comparable number of fatalities—18—in a shorter span of time. The Perris location opened in 2000, 19 years after the Parachute Center. Much of the scrutiny is also probably due to the legend of the “skydiving granny.” In May 2011, an Oakdale woman by the name of Laverne Everett decided to celebrate her 80th birthday with a tandem jump at the Parachute Center. A video of the fumbling attempt went viral when Everett’s sister posted it to YouTube a year later. It depicts Everett slipping out of her harness backward mid-free fall. The worst part? The neardeath experience unfolds to an Offspring song. It’s worth noting that Everett didn’t blame her tandem partner or the Parachute Center for the scary experience. (Skydivers say in private that Everett’s body type was to blame.) Despite the pandemonium the video caused, Florez points out that not one tandem
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air. “Why am I the only one to get skied?” she faux-complains. Every skydiver knows they can only lounge so long before Dause reminds them why they’re here. Outside, a small group waiting on a plane lists off Dause’s accomplishments: world record in accumulated free-fall time at around 420 hours, and near the top when it comes to total jumps, at more than 30,000. The man continues adding to those totals. Just then, the legend appears. He’s not happy. “You make a better door than a window,” he carps. We clear a path and watch him pedal a bicycle toward a distant hangar. Behind him, a white spear of a plane carries his admirers in the opposite direction. At the end of an atypically busy weekday, Dause finally agrees to talk. He sets his leg on a pew that faces a TV screen where a younger version of him espouses the proper way to leap out of a perfectly good airplane. “Now, droopy knees are quite awkward for us,” television Dause says. “Just relax, and let the wind skew them back.” This year marks his 50th as an instructor in the sport. Back then, there were no drop zones like the one he operates, just “sport-jumping clubs” that couldn’t always get access to equipment and planes. “I came to the realization that if I wanted to skydive … I would have to organize everything myself,” he says.
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In 1968, Dause opened a commercial skydiving center in Utah. It thrived for a while, but the sparse population and long winters eventually drove him west. “I decided that California would be the place to be,” he says. Over the decades, Dause watched the sport evolve from a fringe interest—a curio performed at airshows by orphans and runaways calling themselves “barnstormers”—to the mainstream activity it is today, appropriate for dads and grannies, sorority chicks and bros. Dause still thinks it holds its edge. “That’s the reason most people are here today,” he says. “You can’t compare it to anything else. It’s not like it tastes like chicken.”
sky dying Behind a curtain-shrouded doorway awaits Moler, a chummy Las Vegas native with a dark-brown soul patch. He outfits me in a crotch-hugging pack and leads me to a bench outside, where I request the most boring jump possible. “I basically want the missionaryposition version of a jump,” I say. Moler squints. “You can still do anal in the missionary position.” Most tandem instructors are this irreverent, Florez says. They’re such old hats that their only fun comes from goosing the newbies. Moler takes pity on me, though, distracting me with groaners. “OK, this one’s actually a little racist. Hope you don’t mind,” he begins. “A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, ‘We don’t serve your kind here.’” A Russian instructor the others call “Red Dawn” torments my brother with his boyish poker face. Brother: “Is this strap supposed to be loose?” Red Dawn: “Probably not.” Brother: “What happens if I don’t remember everything? Could I die?” Red Dawn: “Probably.” Moments later, we’re crammed into a sardine can thousands of feet above a pale-green stitch of earth. Moler barks instructions into my right ear—keep my head back at the drop, fold my legs behind me once we clear the exit and some other things lost to the currents—and pelvic-thrusts me to the exit, where the other first-timers blink out of existence. Look, there goes my brother. When it’s my turn, I don’t even have a chance to scream “rape” before my sneakers leave the turreted floor. For that first inverted instant, when my equilibrium goes haywire, I want to die. “The first one-tenth of a second is the worst,” Wolfers says of her own first free fall. “But the second one-tenth, it’s the best.” She’s right. Once we clear the grumbling belly of the plane and pierce a tattered layer of clouds, I peel open my eyelids and see the green-and-yellow Central Valley reveal its bounty. And, beyond my capacity to conjure such a possibility, the moment is beautiful. Sacred, even. Under Moler’s advice, I roar my love song to the ripping sky. Ω
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IS R R A H E LOVELL
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Hungry? Check out these local pop-ups: The Roaming Spoon, www.facebook.com/ theroamingspoon916. Tree House, www.facebook.com/ treehouse sacramento. Testa Duro Salumi, www.facebook.com/ testadurosalumi08.
y by
ood fads typically fall into one one of his pop-up dinners, this was maybe of two categories: 1. annoyingly a week or two after Blackbird closed, and I pretentious—the overuse of foam thought, ‘What if I did this, and instead of quickly comes to mind—and 2. a doing what he’s doing, go ahead and just do visionary concept that shakes up vegan?’” the status quo and revolutionizes the game, à Mislang hosted an intimate affair earlier la the so-called food-truck revolution. this month at Orphan Breakfast House in East A new trend, which builds on the aforeSacramento. Here, a ravenous group of six mentioned recession-era mobile-food movecouples embarked on a five-course journey ment, has inspired a group of chefs looking that included a shepherd’s pie and a decadent to make their mark in the industry—without chocolate mousse with pistachios. The group having to mortgage their souls—by forgoof strangers instantly connected with one ing the traditional brick-and-mortar setup another as conversations about food, politics for a more transient approach: the pop-up and even the plight of medical cannabis restaurant. stretched the distance of the communal table. These temporary eateries set up camp, By the meal’s conclusion, friendships were usually in monthly, one-night stints, at uncon- made, and Mislang received a roaring round ventional spaces such as wineries, art galleries of applause from her guests. or other restaurants that close down regular “Everyone’s best friends by the time they operations for the night. leave,” O’Connor says. “My interpretation of pop-up While the economics of opening [dining] is you don’t have just a restaurant are frighteningly one spot,” says Sylvanna expensive—figure between Mislang of The Roaming $100,000 to a cool halfSpoon, a monthly supper million dollars to open club that specializes in a basic, no-frills joint, vegan fare. “Basically, according to 2013 data you can travel all from Restaurants.com over, and that’s what I —many local chefs wanted, to take people say it’s the freedom to places they haven’t explore their creativity been before.” in the kitchen that Mislang, a 10-year keeps them popping up Kevin O’Connor industry veteran who has for more. Tree House worked her way through “I [was] working at the kitchens of Mikuni Ella and cooking another Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar, chef’s food to the T, so I wanted the now-defunct L Wine Lounge & Urban to branch out, be creative and fuck around a Kitchen, and Blackbird Kitchen & Bar, says bit,” says O’Connor of his pop-up. she embraced the pop-up model as a way to O’Connor, who started working in establish herself as a restaurateur without the kitchens in his hometown of El Dorado Hills headache of managing payroll, employing a as a teenager, started tinkering with the idea large staff and all the other responsibilities of the underground supper club when he that come with being the chef-owner of a started hosting dinners at his home four years traditional restaurant. ago. Soon, word got around, and Tree House She’s in good company. Kevin O’Connor, outgrew his abode by 2010. one of Mislang’s former colleagues at “I started as just kind having other friends Blackbird, went solo a few years back and over for dinner,” O’Connor explains. “I found success with Tree House, a mobile self- mean, young cooks are broke, and we’re like described collaborative dining group. scavengers, but we know the best food, so This prompted Mislang to take a chance our [first] dinners were superghetto fabulous.” and explore her passion for creating elevated Born out of 2000s-era kitchens (brothers vegan cuisine. Chris and James Tanner’s pop-up at the “I was totally inspired by Kevin,” Mislang Plymouth Christmas Market in Plymouth, says. “He’s very dear to my heart. I went to England), apartments (Nuno Mendes’
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“Young cooks are broke, and we’re like scavengers, but we know the best food.”
REstaurant
Why some Sacramento chefs are ditching traditional brickand-mortar setups in favor of a more transient approach: the pop-up restaurant
stor & s o t o ph
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Left to right: Jason Azevedo, Kevin O’Connor and Sylvanna Mislang have all parlayed traditional restaurant experience into pop-up dining ventures.
illustration by HAYLEY DOSHAY
WILL
Love this Mother See DISH
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communal dining experiment, The Loft Project in Birmingham, England) and even rooftops (Pierre Koffmann’s pop-up on the top of Selfridges department store in London), the trend has quickly become a serious contender on the American grub scene. The National Restaurant Association surveyed nearly 1,300 professional chefs on what would reign supreme on restaurant menus for its What’s Hot in 2014 Culinary Forecast, and the pop-up came in at 14 on its Culinary Themes segment. Now, Sacramento diners are eating it up, too: Mislang and O’Connor say their events are typically sold-out affairs. “Roaming around is fun. It’s cool to go to different locations,” O’Connor says. “The idea of a nomadic dining room is really intriguing to people.” Jason Azevedo, who runs the kitchen at Mighty Tavern in Fair Oaks, as well as his own roving dinner enterprise under the moniker Testa Duro Salumi, says popping up in unexpected venues, like glassblowing studios and local breweries, is what he enjoys most about the concept. “Pop-ups are a way, when you’re running other kitchens, to do what
Kitten goes to school See COOLHUNTING
you can’t with your regular audience,” Azevedo says. “You’re going to taste something that probably isn’t on the menu in a space that you wouldn’t think of, but has dining potential.” Favoring an approach that he calls “whole-animal cuisine,” Azevedo says part of the fun is also exposing people to new food experiences—much like the Have an Offal Day event in August 2013, for which he and a group of local chefs treated a sold-out crowd to dishes composed of animal offal parts—you know, heart, tongue, liver and other “nasty bits.” As the name suggests, pop-ups also don’t involve long-term investments—chefs can flex their culinary muscles for the cost of a few bags of groceries and supplies. And, adding to the ephemeral element, some chefs don’t tell diners what to expect on the menu or the dinner’s location until the day of the event. Hell, sometimes even the chef doesn’t know the location until the last minute. “There have been some down-to-thewire dinners where I’ve been like, ‘Hey, can I throw a dinner at your place tomorrow night?’” O’Connor admits.
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Autumn in spring See MUSIC
Operators also rely on the generosity of local businesses—the owners at Orphan and Exhibit S donated their space to Mislang for her first and second dinners, and O’Connor has partnered with Revolution Wines on several occasions with just a handshake, and a bit of free publicity. “It’s local businesses helping local businesses,” Mislang says. “I’m drawing attention to them while they’re helping me out.” Like food trucks, pop-up restaurants allow chefs to explore their gastronomical dreams without sacrificing their life savings. And as the restaurant industry in California emerges from the depths of the recession—the National Restaurant Association projects nearly $70 billion will be spent in 2014—these chefs are turning the trend into the new model for culinary success. “At a restaurant, you need consistency. That’s [essential] for a restaurant. But with Tree House, I can just keep rapidly evolving and do just about anything,” O’Connor says. Ω
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The money voice See 15 MINUTES
SCENE& HEARD Eating Europe I don’t fashion myself a foodie, even though I happen to review restaurants and write a food column in SN&R. Rather, I’ve always held a somewhat utilitarian view of food: I enjoy living cheaply while eating reasonably well. But I was forced to splurge on food during a recent two-week honeymoon in Paris and Rome. We chose restaurants based on proximity to where we happened to be instead of Yelp reviews or price. In doing so, I think we got a pretty good idea of how the Sacramento restaurant scene stacks up to a few of the culinary giants in Europe. French cuisine is highly influential throughout the world, and that includes Sacramento to an extent. That’s because food’s ingrained in the culture there. UNESCO put the “gastronomic meal of the French” on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010. In Paris, it seemed like just about everyone spent his or her free time eating and socializing at a brasserie, bistro, cafe or restaurant. We tried plenty of different types of meals, but some of the standout dishes included foie gras and escargot. Foie gras—now banned in California—tasted like a meatflavored butter on my copious delicious baguettes; and the escargot was also buttery, yet soft, sweet and salty. Nevertheless, Sacramento’s produce is much better than the French’s. One dish I tried called pot-au-feu was a beef stew with cabbage, onion and carrots. The vegetables were soggy and plain. Perhaps there wasn’t a large selection of good veggies because of cold winter weather. Or maybe French chefs are just more comfortable with pork and butter. French fruit is also expensive compared to what we can buy in the Sacramento Valley. So, eventually, I turned to drinking lots of wine instead, since many grocery stores sell regional wines for 5 euros or less, and some are quite good—better than anything I’ve tried in Napa. Beer, on the other hand, is probably just about on par with Sacramento—with lots of European beers in bottles and on tap in restaurants and grocery stores. Nothing I couldn’t get here. Rome is more low-key with better produce, and its chefs seemed to have great technique as well. But there are a lot of tourist traps that serve bad, overpriced food. Most pizza here is good, and pairs well with cheap wine (again, many bottles for 5 euros or less). Also, the handmade pastas we ordered were amazing, and the two most popular Roman dishes we tried seemed more like gourmet mac ’n’ cheese than what’s available here: cacio e pepe (pasta, Romano cheese, pepper), and pasta carbonara (bacon, egg yolk, cheese, pepper). The beer selection in Rome really sucks, though. By the end of the trip, I was not very happy to be coming home, but I was looking forward to the larger variety of foods I’m used to eating in Sacramento: tacos, salads, sushi. To be clear, I’m not going to be happy with a local baguette, pastry or pasta dish for a long while. But at least I can find a vegetarian taco and a Trappist ale from Belgium all in one easy stroll down a street in Midtown.
The beer selection in Rome really sucks.
—Jonathan Mendick
jme nd ic k @ gma il.c o m
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For the week of March 27
wEEkLY PICkS
‘Art Lecture: This Is Your Brain on Art’ Thursday, March 27 Psychologist and artist Dr. Foad Afshar joins artist and educator Michael Ariel—both from the New Hampshire Institute of Art—to show what happens to the brain when viewing and LECTURE creating art. Let’s just say the whole brain is invited to the party. $8-$10, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street; (916) 808-7000; www.crockerartmuseum.org.
—Jessica Rine
Double-feature drive-in movie saTurday, March 29 Sacramento Modern (a.k.a. SacMod), a local nonprofit group whose mission is “promoting, preserving and protecting modern art,” FILM hosts a film night. Catch two films, Going Attractions and American Graffiti, all while eating some popcorn and taking in the nice spring air. $7.25, 7:30 p.m. at West Wind Sacramento 6 Drive-in, 9616 Oates Drive; www.facebook.com/ sacmod.
—Jonathan Mendick
Women’s History Day saTurday, March 29 It’s Women’s History Month, so the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation will be flooding Old Sacramento with historical re-enactors. Dressed in 19th-century attire, men and women will debate women’s suffrage (“they’ve suffered enough HISTORY already, end suffrage” is not a valid argument, by the way). Free, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Old Sacramento, www.historicoldsac.org.
—Jonathan Mendick
California Spirit Festival saTurday, March 29, and sunday, March 30
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t’s officially spring. Yes, just last week, the season of increased sunlight, flowers, pastel-colored sundresses, skirts and shorts began. But in Sacramento, it’s more like the season of conventions. With the Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con and Sac-Con having just come and gone,
Let’s just assume you’re an aging hippie or perhaps a New Age hipster. You probably enjoy Sun Salutations, expressive dancing and world YOGA music. Partake in all three at this festival, featuring workshops with yoga teachers, musicians and guest speakers. $49-$229, 9 a.m. Saturday and 9:30 a.m. Sunday, at the Sacramento Masonic Temple, 1123 J Street; http://californiaspiritfestival.com. we can now look forward to Sacramento’s Twisted Terror Convention (www.twisted terrorconvention.com). Happening this weekend (11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 29; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 30) at the DoubleTree by Hilton Sacramento at 2001 Point West Way, the convention is like the combination of a mini-horror film
festival and a comic-book convention. Film screenings—all day Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday—include short films such as The Cabin, The Spread and Found, as well as feature films such as Provoked, The Bighead and Disciples. Special guests include actors Chandler Riggs (Carl in The Walking Dead), Tyler
Mane (Troy, X-Men and Halloween), and Sacramentobased comic-book author and illustrator Jason Dube. Also in attendance will be the guys from Beers N Fears, an online show based in Sacramento that pairs “the best in brews and horror films,” according to its website. Tickets are $25 for one day or $35 both. Nightmares not included, but highly likely.
—Jonathan Mendick PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN BRENEMAN
24 | SN&R | 03.27.14
—Jonathan Mendick
International Alpaca Odyssey saTurday, March 29, and sunday, March 30 Cal Expo is being taken over by alpacas. Herders showing off their prized animals to be judged for ALPACA their fibers, breeders searching for a sire and vendors displaying their handmade goods made from alpaca wool will accompany the great herd of the llamalike beasties. Free, $10 for parking, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Boulevard; (919) 340-0183; http://iaoshow.com.
—Jessica Rine
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807 Howe Ave Sacramento, CA (916) 922-6227
Ease Into your Lunch Hour
Comfort-food mecca Mother 1023 K Street, (916) 594-9812, www.mothersacramento.com Orleans, declared the chicken-fried mushroom Since it opened in January, much has been written about po’boy one of the best he’s had outside of Mother. Critics have swooned or pooh-poohed NOLA. The battered and fried mushrooms pair the hype, but no one is spelling doom. The by Ann Martin Rolke fact is that Mother is a well-crafted comfortperfectly with pickles and house-made hot sauce on a hearty roll. food mecca. The chile verde comprises chunky potatoes, Chef-owner Michael Thiemann, a local chef pinto beans and hominy for a “meaty” texture. who formerly helmed Ella Dining Room & Try it topped with a soft-poached egg and stir the Bar and worked briefly with Tyler Florence’s yolk into the zingy chile sauce. Slices of radishes restaurant group in the Bay Area, has nailed the add a spirited bite to the flavor. details here. He and his partners started testing food concepts with pop-up dinners at Old Ironsides It’s no secret that Mother last year. They also picked a well-trafficked rating: is a vegetarian restaurant, HHHH 1/2 spot on K Street for their permanent location— a spot with a reliable lunch crowd. but don’t expect tired At lunchtime, diners order from a menu dinner for one: sunflower-seed burgers. board at the counter and then find a seat. $10 - $15 Runners quickly bring the food. At dinner, there Kale has been done almost to death, but are printed menus and table-side service for a Mother’s version is a take on the Waldorf salad more relaxing vibe. that makes eating your greens easy. Lots of The open kitchen is busy but not hectic, and golden raisins, celery, walnuts and cleverly the waiters are confident and well-trained. But presented balls of apple with a bit of skin the best part is food. It’s delicious, challenging attached join dilled yogurt, baby kale, and that and satisfying. H flawed freekeh garnish we loved. It’s no secret that Mother is a vegetarianMother has managed to find a perfect blend of vegan restaurant, but don’t expect tired HH haS momentS different, yet familiar in its version of a vegetarsunflower-seed burgers and grilled portobello ian restaurant. A bit of Southern influence makes mushrooms. This is not just a place that HHH it even more impressive, as that cuisine is usually replaces the meat in a meal. Instead, Mother appealing heavy on the meat. celebrates an endless array of fresh vegetables HHHH As I learned in a business class recently, and grains. Diners are practically guaranteed to authoritative you don’t sell a product, you sell an experience. see something on the menu that they’ve never HHHHH Mother is a fun experience. Ω tried before—but will be glad they did. epic Ever taste sea beans? I hadn’t, but I enjoyed their tender freshness in several dishes. How about freekeh? That crunchy toasted grain was a revelation of texture on the kale salad. And don’t miss the vanilla-pine kombucha from local producer Zeal. It’s flat-out fantastic. The best deal is the “10 for $50” sampler that’s available at dinner. Here, a party of two Cruelty-free is beautiful or more can sample eight different dishes of the Even if you have no interest in being vegan, chef’s choice, plus two desserts. Our variety most likely, you’re not a fan of animal testing included velvety grits topped with molasses for cosmetic products. If you really want the butter; pan-seared mushrooms with frisée; a gory details on the cruelty that companies Still hungry? huarache (masa flatbread) topped with blackmake rabbits endure for mascara and Search Sn&r’s eyed peas, creamy buffalo cheese and chili whatnot, feel free to Google it to see all “dining directory” slices; and surprisingly flavorful collard greens to find local their blistering eyes and convulsions from restaurants by name with not a trace of bacon (practically ubiquitous concoctions companies put on them and or by type of food. elsewhere). Some early season asparagus was want you to put on your body, too. Instead, Sushi, mexican, indian, expertly prepared with a hint of spice and a let’s focus on kinder solutions. There are italian—discover it squeeze of lemon. actually plenty of options these days that all in the “dining” A bowl of blistered shishito peppers was a section at contain vegan ingredients and have not www.news bit heavy on the salt, as were the seared mushbeen tested on cute creatures, such as review.com. rooms, but the other dishes were so layered 100% Pure (www.100percentpure.com), with flavor that we didn’t long for the umami which uses fruit and tea as pigments. More that meat usually adds. widely available is Tarte, which has a vegan Dessert included the now-legendary brown collection (http://tartecosmetics.com/ butter and sea salt cookies that some have tarte-shop-vegan-cosmetics). Look for the described as “cracktastic.” Do yourself a favor Leaping Bunny logo on product labels, and consult www.leapingbunny.org for a helpful and get some. Cocoa-dusted chocolate truffles guide of companies that don’t do animal plated prettily with bits of fruit and edible oxalis testing, because living cruelty-free is a blossoms offered a bittersweet end to the meal. beautiful thing. Lunchtime is a quicker affair, but the food —Shoka is no less refined. My husband, raised in New B E F O R E | N E W S | F E A T U R E S T O R Y | A R T S & C U L T U R E
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Downtown
dishes are spicy, but unless you’re a newborn kitten, trembling and mewling, you might not even be aware of the chilies in your food. Thai. 2502 J St., (916) 447-1855. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHH1/2 G.M.
Darna This Palestinian restaurant serves an excellent baba ghanoush that, instead of being blended into a smooth paste, is served chunky and studded with eggplant seeds. Its smoky, deep flavor is balanced out by a lemony brightness, and it’s good on the somewhat flabby pita bread with which it’s served, but it’s even better on the house-made za’atar bread. Chicken-breast kebabs are not particularly flavorful but have some char from the grill, while the falafel and chicken shawarma are underwhelming. Do order a side of tabbouleh salad, however. It’s pretty to look at—bright-green chopped parsley studded with white grains of bulgur—and tastes refreshing. Palestinian. 925 K St., (916) 447-7500. Dinner for one: $15-$25. HHH B.G.
Where to eat?
Here are a few recent reviews and regional recommendations by Becky Grunewald, Ann Martin Rolke, Garrett McCord and Jonathan Mendick, updated regularly. Check out www.newsreview.com for more dining advice.
Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co. The restaurant, by the same owners as Midtown’s The Golden Bear, sports a firefighting theme (a ladder on the ceiling duct work, shiny silver wallpaper with a rat-andhydrant motif) and a bar setup that encourages patrons to talk to each other. An interesting wine list includes entries from Spain and Israel; there are also draft cocktails and numerous beers on tap. The brunch menu is heavy on the eggs, prepared in lots of ways. One option is the Croque Madame, a hamand-Gruyere sandwich usually battered with egg. This one had a fried egg and béchamel, with a generous smear of mustard inside. The mountain of potato hash alongside tasted flavorful and not too greasy. The menu also features pizzas and house-made pastas, but one of its highlights includes an excellent smoked-eggplant baba ghanoush, which is smoky and garlicky. The bananas foster bread pudding is equally transcendent. American. 1630 S St., (916) 442-4885. Dinner for one: $20-$40. HHH1/2 AMR
Midtown The Coconut Midtown The food here travels a path between standard and inventive. Creamcheese wontons, for example, aren’t the epitome of culinary Southeast Asian traditions, but damn it if they aren’t delightful. Soft cream cheese and chives in a crispy wrapper and served with a sweet chili sauce? Nothing wrong with that. The chicken larb—a spicy mincedmeat salad—is fragrant and intense. Mint, chilies, basil and iceberg lettuce are drenched in a spicy lime dressing punctuated with a heavy hand of fish sauce. The Coconut has warnings in its menu about which
Thai Basil SN&R readers consistently vote this place among the city’s top Thai restaurants for this paper’s annual Best of Sacramento issue. And for good reason. The restaurant’s tom
yum soup may be one of the best foods served in the City of Trees. It features an incredibly savory broth with layers of flavor. Likewise, the tom kha gai—a coconut-broth soup—is a veritable panacea against Delta winds. Salads make up a large part of Thai cuisine and should not be overlooked. Larb gai consists of simple shredded chicken over mixed greens, cucumber and tomatoes. Fresh mint and a chili-laden dressing heavy with fish sauce and vigorous squeezes of lime juice pull it all together for an addictive and satisfying lunch. One of Thai Basil’s true highlights is its homemade curry pastes. These balanced constructions of basil, lemongrass, shallots, chilies, kaffir lime leaves and other ingredients, when roasted, have been known to drive hungry Sacramentans into a berserk craze. Service here is impeccable. Thai Basil has earned its reputation. Thai. 2431 J St., (916) 442-7690. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHHH G.M.
Land Park/ Curtis Park Spice Kitchen The menu here has a few tangential dishes like pad thai, but it’s mostly focused on Japanese cuisine, with a side menu of Chinese-American favorites. Tasty options include the vegetable tempura, lightly fried with slices of Japanese sweet potato and yams. If you want ramen, the hot soup dish these days, try the red tonkotsu version: It’s served with lots of nicely chewy noodles, spinach
and the requisite soft-boiled egg. Spice Kitchen also serves bento boxes in lunch and dinner portions for a good price. Here, diners get soup, rice, salad and tempura, as well as a meat of choice. Japanese. 1724 Broadway, (916) 492-2250. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHH AMR
de rajas poblanas, fully vegan and similar to a Mexican minestrone, is full of chickpeas, poblanos and onions in a rich broth uniquely flavored with vanilla and epazote. Mexican. 3672 J St., (916) 736-2506. Dinner for one: $20-$25. HHHH AMR
East Sac
South Sac
Cielito Lindo Mexican Gastronomy
Kansai Ramen & Sushi House This
Instead of cheese-blanketed entrees, diners here can order upscale dishes such as enchiladas de mole: tortillas wrapped around amazingly moist, flavorful chicken, bathed in a housemade mole poblano. The sauce has a million wonderful flavors. The portions here are quite generous. A green salad with fruits and nuts was big enough for a meal, even without the optional meat or seafood topping. The restaurant’s empanaditas de salpicon con papas are little turnovers standing up amid a drizzle of ancho sauce. The crust features a bit of leavening that makes it both crunchy and fluffy. The filling of beef, potatoes and vegetables tastes well-flavored and a bit spicy. Or try the tacos de arrachera—three soft tortillas enclose marinated strips of meltingly good steak, topped with roasted poblano chilies, lots of fresh cilantro and crema. They’re drippy, but worth every napkin. The menu is meatcentric, but the kitchen is vegetarian friendly as well. The crema
place serves its own take on ramen and sushi, with varying degrees of success. The kakuni ramen, which features three thick slices of braised pork belly in lieu of the house ramen’s thin slices of chashu, boasts a nice, sweet marinade; tender consistency; and copious flavor. Be sure to order noodles al dente, and it’ll make for a good option, even with its run-of-the-mill broth. Or amp it up with the spicy tan tan men, which uses a beefy and seafood-tinted soup base that teems with flavor. The sushi rolls here are Western style—a.k.a. loaded with toppings. Try the Mufasa roll. With crab and avocado on the inside and salmon and sauce outside, it’s particularly tasty, seasoned in sesame oil and baked—a somewhat unusual technique for sushi. Japanese. 2992 65th St., Ste. 288; (916) 455-0288. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH J.M.
Yang’s Noodles This is perhaps the only place in town that serves niu rou jian bing (sliced beef rolls)—a specialty of northern China—and the ones at Yang’s hit the spot. This is basically the Chinese version of a burrito: meat (thinly sliced beef marinated in soy sauce) plus veggies (diced green onion, cucumber and cilantro) wrapped in a large, flat carbohydrate crepe (a thin pancake made out of flour, water and green onion). Elsewhere on the menu, Yang’s eponymous noodles are homemade, alkaline and chewy. Chinese. 5860 Stockton Blvd., (916) 392-9988. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHHH J.M.
West Sacramento Wicked West Pizza & BBQ This popular destination for kids’ sports teams and birthday parties also caters to adult diners with good food and healthy options, such as organic whole-wheat crusts. Gluten-free and vegan choices are also available. With a texture closer to Chicago style than New York style, the pizzas are tasty but quite filling. Choose from housemade sauces and fresh toppings, or pick from one of the inventively named presets. The Old Lady is especially good, with pesto, potatoes, spinach, lots of veggies and a zingy balsamic drizzle. The biggest secret here, though, is the barbecue. Wicked West
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Arden/ Carmichael FreshMed Mediterranean Cuisine This restaurant broadens the definition of “Mediterranean.” In addition to the usual options—gyros, hummus, falafel, etc.—it also serves dishes from a wide range of cultures. For example, FreshMed offers a $6 Indian and Pakistani lunch buffet. Selections include stir-fried eggplant; curried chickpeas, lentils; and a creamy, spicy and hearty chicken tikka masala. The Mediterranean Nacho and chicken panini are examples of what the restaurant does well: culinary mashups that aren’t derivative, but instead rely heavily on flavor and innovation. The paninis are standouts: The bread is sweet, thicker than one might expect, and pressed nicely on a grill, with char marks on both sides. Mediterranean. 1120 Fulton Ave., Ste. I; (916) 486-1140. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH1/2 J.M.
Roma’s Pizza & Pasta This eatery claims to serve “authentic Italian-style” food, but that’s only partially true when it comes to its pizza. That’s because it actually serves two types: one with the kind of thick, doughy crust usually found on an American-styled pizza, and another with a thinner crust, resembling a pie one might actually have in Italy. The thicker crust is chewy, but ultimately lacking in flavor. However, the tomato sauce makes up for the dough with a nice, spicy kick, and Roma’s doesn’t skimp on the toppings. The thin-crust pizza impresses: It’s light and crispy like a cracker and clearly is the superior option. Italian. 6530 Fair Oaks Blvd. in Carmichael, (916) 488-9800. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH J.M.
sauce on the table. Pub. 5220 Manzanita Ave. in Carmichael, (916) 331-2337. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH1/2 J.M.
North Highlands Kim Son Mongolian BBQ Vietnamese & Chinese Food It’s difficult to rate Mongolian barbecue by regular reviewing standards, because it’s the diner who chooses the ingredients and seasoning and then gives them to the chef to prepare. But here’s what Kim Son does well: It stocks plenty of fresh veggies; thin slices of meat; thick, chewy chow mein noodles; about a dozen sauces (including cooking wine, ginger, teriyaki, and Sriracha sauces); and additional toppings (sesame seeds, minced garlic). Want to stick to the menu? Try the Kim Son Spicy Beef, seasoned with sha cha jiang, a sauce composed of minced garlic, chili, shrimp and other seasonings: It’s the best dish from an otherwise lackluster menu of Chinese food. Chinese. 4980 Watt Ave. in North Highlands, (916) 331-8188. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHH1/2 J.M.
Stirling Bridges Restaurant and Pub This British- and Scottishthemed gastropub offers an adequate beer selection and an extensive menu that goes beyond standard deep-fried pub fare. Try the Irish onion soup, a French onion-styled soup kicked up with Irish whiskey and Guinness beer. Or order the house-made veggie burger—it’s one of the tastiest black-bean patties around. The most unusual dish on the menu is the Scottish Mafia Pizza. Topped with turkey pastrami, potatoes, cabbage and Swiss cheese, it falls short with its too many flat flavors to actually benefit from their unusual pairing. Thankfully, there’s Tabasco
Davis Raja’s Tandoor This place has long been a favorite with the area’s student population, thanks to its lunch buffet featuring multiple vegan and vegetarian options (dinner at Raja’s also won’t disappoint,
IllustratIon by Mark stIvers
delivers with shredded, tender meat that’s lightly smoky and tossed with a vinegarbased sauce. The pork ribs are dry-rubbed and toothsome, while the tri-tip is well cooked but leans toward a dry texture. The chicken is rubbed with olive oil and herbs and rotisserie-smoked to produce a moist and juicy result. Pizza/ Barbecue. 3160 Jefferson Blvd. in West Sacramento, (916) 572-0572. Dinner for one: $5-$10. HHH AMR
by the way). The potato-andpea samosas are a meal in and of themselves. It is highly recommended that you slather these with spicy chutney and seasoned raita. The chana masala here is one of the best dishes by far. It usually tends to feature a strong butter taste but is actually cooked with canola oil here—it’s vegan—and the tenderness of the chickpeas as well as the punch of the ginger and coriander makes it worth returning for. Indian. 207 Third St. in Davis, (530) 753-9664. Dinner for one: Less than $10. HHH1/2 G.M.
Village Bakery Diners can order pizza and pastries, but let’s talk bread instead. Village’s seed loaf is slathered with sesame, poppy and sunflower seeds inside and out, and it has a devout following. Earthy and nuttier than a Burning Man festival, it’s best taken home to be toasted and then slathered with butter and jam. A rosemary focaccia is soft as a pillow and greedily soaks up any oil and balsamic put in front of it. But if there is one loaf that sets Village Bakery apart from every other bakery in the region, it’s the garlic-and-Parmesan bread. An utter umami bomb of halfway-caramelized garlic—sweet but retaining a slight sulfury bite. The pockets of Parm are blessings from the bread gods, and the snappy cracker of cheese on the crust will make a devoted acolyte of anyone. American. 814 Second St. in Davis, (530) 750-2255. Dinner for one:
Grand opening, grand closing
The Fresh Market closed its three Sacramento-area stores on Wednesday, March 12. Two of the stores, one on Fair Oaks Boulevard and one on Laguna Boulevard in Elk Grove, were open for just six months, while the Roseville location on Douglas Boulevard lasted about a year-and-a-half. The publicly traded company offered upscale grocery items, including 200 cheeses, local goods and even an olive bar—not too different from its national competitor Whole Foods Market. Last week, Fresh Market CEO Craig Carlock told investors, “We decided we should just leave Sacramento, operate our stores that are successful in Palo Alto and Santa Barbara, and continue looking in Orange County, L.A. County, San Diego County, the Bay Area—those kinds of places.” It’s not a huge loss. Sacramento still has plenty of better, local grocers to keep kitchen pantries stocked: Corti Brothers, Nugget Markets, Raley’s, Bel Air and all the mom-and-pop grocers on Stockton Boulevard in south Sac. —Jonathan Mendick
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Just walk trail therapy There’s a moment in the short online documentary Trail Therapy where Steve Fugate defines tenacity as being bold enough to make the decision to do something fantastic, but stupid enough not to quit once you started. Fugate’s own tenacity is captured both in this film and on his website. He’s spent the last decade walking the United States. But why walk? Fugate calls it his therapy. It was a path to coping after Fugate’s son committed suicide in 1999, and again in 2005 after his daughter died of an accidental drug overdose. Fugate said he eventually realized the only way he’d FILM feel better is if he made other people feel better. Watch the documentary at www.korduroy.tv/ shows/specials/trail-therapy-steve-fugate, and read about Fugate’s journey at www.trailtherapy.com. —Aaron Carnes
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1722 J s tr e e t, s ui te 1 | do w n to w n sa crament o | 916. 736. 1947 30 | SN&R | 03.27.14
In the United States it’s easy to take education access for granted—the government mandates it’s compulsory for minors, regardless of gender. In many other countries, however, girls face barEDUCATION riers such as gender-based laws, cultural norms, early marriage and sex trafficking. Girl Rising aims to change that with a global campaign centered around a film by the same name. Directed by Richard E. Robbins (Operation Homecoming), the documentary explores the stories of young women around the world, and is available for screenings. Anyone can become a social-media or community ambassador; for teachers, there’s a free educational curriculum, and companies can utilize the resources and tools needed to invest in a better future. www.girlrising.com. —Rachel Leibrock
Beat Up Creations By angela rossi It’s picture day at school. And the kid in the maroon sweater (layered over a lavender collared shirt, by the way) is the cutest little guy ever. Of course, “kid” meaning adolescent goat. The circa 1970s photo of a boy with apathetically slumping shoulders had his head swapped for ART that of a young, handsome goat by Los Angeles artist Angela Rossi. Rossi edited the heads of 19 other animals of varying yet adorable species as a set of blank cards called Picture Day Notecards, printed by Chronicle Books ($14.95). The anthropomorphic bunch includes a prissy Persian pussy in a private-school uniform; a droopy-faced, severely slouching hound dog; a scowling, buff otter; and rascally looking raccoon in a Lacoste polo. This kitschy collection is but a gateway to the rest of Rossi’s work for sale on her website, including elegant, gilded, baroque-style vintage plates with these portraits on them. Her other plated subjects get antique with 19th-century portraits of ladies with antlers; campy with pop-culture icons, like Frankenstein’s monster, Patti Smith and Mr. T—though, not on the same plate—and even classical with Renaissance human-body donors, so to speak. If that’s not enough, Rossi is now plastering Billy Goat—our main goat-man from above—and a few of his classmates on T-shirts. The note cards are the most economical way to share these humorous images with others. Anecdotally speaking, recipients immediately love and want to see more of the collection. Or sometimes they just ask for a set of their own as a gift. School picture day victory! www.chroniclebooks.com/ titles/picture-day-notecards.html; www.beatupcreations.com. —Shoka
Fight or flight? My fiancée and I have always argued a lot, but I just considered it normal. People disagree sometimes, right? We love each other, and our relationship is good in other ways. But our wedding is in June, and we’ve been arguing more than usual. My best friend says it’s a red flag, but she has never had a serious relationship, so I’m not sure she knows what she’s talking about. Is it bad for a couple to argue? by Joey ga rcia Arguments happen, even in healthy relationships. When a s kj oey @ ne wsreview.c om a discussion goes awry, it can erupt into an argument. Arguments can escalate quickly into fights, which are serious Joey and, often, dangerous. Here’s a longs for a vacation breakdown of communication breakby the sea. downs: In a discussion, two people are sharing feelings and concerns while fully mindful of the value of the other person’s position. A discussion requires each participant to mentally occupy the paradox that we are, in reality, connected to the other person and, simultaneously, a unique and separate being. The
When couples fail to unravel the little irritants in their relationship, those small stressors build up, triggering an argument. intention in a discussion is to resolve a thorny issue to the satisfaction of both parties. When one person’s opinion morphs into a conviction that the other person is completely wrong, that discussion shape-shifts into an argument. Arguments rarely resolve the disagreement they are based in. The primary, although unconscious, value of an argument is to release anxiety and tension. When couples fail to unravel the little irritants in their relationship, those small stressors build up, triggering an argument. When an argument explodes into a fight, the natural boundaries that ensure respect are erased. Fights are defined by any of the following behaviors: name-calling, insults, physical violence, threats or intimidation. Fights are huge red flags that should never be ignored. The first time a fight occurs, you must both see a counselor, separately or together, and be prepared for the possible end of the relationship.
Got a problem?
Write, email or leave a message for Joey at the News & Review. Give your name, telephone number (for verification purposes only) and question—all correspondence will be kept strictly confidential. Write Joey, 1124 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815; call (916) 498-1234, ext. 3206; or email askjoey@ newsreview.com.
Before your wedding, please commit to seeing a psychologist with your fiancée to assess your communication skills. You and your future spouse must learn new ways of managing disagreements so that issues find resolution while communication flourishes. After 20 years of marriage, my wife and I separated. Honestly, I was done with her and this marriage five years ago. I have been dating online and find it confusing, or maybe I’m just out of practice. The women I contact never want to meet in person. I have spent a lot of time emailing and have had a few phone calls, but when I invite women out, they usually refuse or cancel on me. The two gals I have met in person were nothing like their profiles or photos, either. What gives? Most people do not know themselves well enough to pen an accurate selfdescription. That means the bulk of online-dating profiles are sweet stories of who a person imagines herself or himself to be, or who a person hopes to become through the love of a soul mate. It is deceptive, but people don’t realize they are being misleading. They see their activity as wishful thinking, for the most part. Online daters pour that same sensibility into profile descriptions of the perfect partner. And that’s partly why online dating is such a gamble. If you intend to provide an accurate profile, know this: Selfknowledge follows self-reflection. Self-reflection demands deep solitude interspersed with consultations from an honest, evolved spiritual guide. Often people who are divorced after a long marriage find it difficult to be quiet, alone and in reflection, or to seek wise guidance from another person. Start here: Wait until your divorce decree is in hand before dating anyone. Ending one relationship completely before beginning another is one of the basic criteria for dating like an adult. Ω
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Born outside the USA
now playing
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4000 Miles
Immigrants An original work by Sacramento playwright Alan Truax, Immigrants is a promising debut for fledgling company Genesis Productions. Leo McElroy, a two-time Elly Award winner for original by Kel Munger plays, directs. Immigrants is the story of two families who migrated to the hills around Sonoma and Napa counties, bringing with them the skills necessary to tend the vineyards and make the wine for which California has become famous. Separated by nearly a century, their struggles as immigrants resonate across the years, based as they are in actual accounts of people’s lives—Truax used material from When the
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stage action to resolve the narrative rather than allow the ambiguity of reality to intrude. This leads to a TV-movie feel that undercuts the power of the play’s theme. Ω
W 7pm; Th, F, Sa 8pm; Su 2pm. Through 4/13. $24-$36. Capital
Spring Awakening
Immigrants, 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; $20. Genesis Productions at the William J. Geery Theater, 2130 L Street; (916) 821-0932; www.facebook.com/ genesisprods. Through April 6.
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Rivers Ran Red, Vivienne Sosnowski’s account of wine country during Prohibition, and the case of Los Angeles veteran Ekaterine Bautista as his source. The Scoletti family, headed by patriarch Urbano (Mark Hoffman), has built a small independent vineyard from hard work and frugal living. In 1922, it’s threatened by the impending enforcement of Prohibition—and by a particularly xenophobic, corrupt Volstead Act enforcement agent (Dennis Gunvalson). In 2008, Mexican immigrant Luiz Mendoza (Daryl Petrig) is tending the vines, now owned by someone else, and his daughter, Maria (Wendy L. Bosley), returned from service in Iraq, is seeking citizenship. Her application is threatened by a disturbed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer (also played by Hoffman). By doubling actors, the sense of resonance in the two stories is amplified, assisted as well with some almost-too-convenient plot twists. The actors perform admirably—especially Hoffman and Petrig, with a nice turn by Ashley Lucas as the 21st-century immigration lawyer. The accents for the Italian immigrant family are a bit overdone—almost comical— but otherwise, the work is solid. As a play, Immigrants suffers from one flaw: a tendency to push for the most dramatic |
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—Jim Carnes
Spring Awakening, 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, and Friday, April 11; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 12; and 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 13; $12-$18. Harris Center for the Arts, 10 College Parkway in Folsom; (916) 608-6888; www.harriscenter.net.
Stage, 2215 J St.; (916) 995-5464; www.capstage.org. K.M.
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
B Street Theatre’s Family Series is reviving its very successful comedy-mysteryadventure of the legendary deducing detective, his sidekick Dr. Watson and his nemesis Dr. Moriarty. Good choice, since the adaptation gives us everything you want in good children’s theater: engaging actors, fun characters, funny bits, suspenseful story, exotic locations (moors, parlors, pubs and underground Druid caves), clever scenery, beautiful costumes, and a production adults can fully engage in as well. Sa, Su 1 & 4 pm. Through 4/13. $15-$20. B Street Theatre, Family Series Stage, 2711 B St.; (916) 443-5300; www.bstreet theatre.org. P.R.
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The Merry Wives
Big Idea Theatre brings Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor to a gold-rush town, with Jeffrey Lloyd Heatherly as a properly bombastic and outrageously funny Falstaff. Directed by Angelina LaBarre, the show takes advantage of Big Idea’s strong, collaborative
ensemble for a streamlined, funny production with high values—including excellent costumes (Laura Kaya) and set (Alex Slater). Th, F, Sa 8pm. Through 3/29. $10-$16. Big Idea Theatre, 1616 Del Paso Blvd.; (916) 960-3036; www.bigidea theatre.com. K.M.
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The Train Driver
Athol Fugard’s The Train Driver is a powerful play that explores white guilt and the legacies of South African apartheid through the story of one black woman’s act of hopelessness and its traumatizing effect on one white man’s psychological well-being. Inspired by an actual event and written with compassion and understanding, The Train Driver is devastating. Chris Lamb delivers an intense performance as the title character, while James Wheatley (who also directs) gives a subtly nuanced physical performance. Th, F, Sa 8pm; Su 2pm. Through 4/13. $8-$15. Celebration Arts Theatre, 4469 D St.; (916) 455-2787; www.celebration arts.net. J.C.
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Wrong for Each Other
Melinda Parrett and Kurt Johnson star in Norm Foster’s heartwarming comedy about a couple who met, married, got divorced then meet by chance some years later and review some of the highs and lows of their relationship. The actors do a sterling job throughout this now-and-then adventure, shy and flirty upon first meeting, gradually becoming comfortably at ease and then on edge. Tu 6:30pm; W 2 & 6pm; Th,
F 8pm; Sa 5 & 9pm; Su 2pm. Through 4/13. $33-$35. B Street Theatre,
2711 B St.; (916) 443-5300, www.bstreettheatre.org. J.C.
Short reviews by Jim Carnes, Kel munger and Patti roberts.
PHoTo by ANdrEW ECCLES
It’s never easy being a kid growing up. All those hormones. All those urges and questions and doubts. All those adults with no— or wrong—answers. Spring Awakening (book and lyrics by Steven Sater and music by Duncan Sheik, famous for his ’90s hit “Barely Breathing”), is a rock-musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s 1891 controversial (and frequently banned) play The Awakening of Spring, about such subjects as child abuse, puberty, sex, rape, abortion, suicide and the sexually oppressive culture of Germany at the time—which he blamed for such ignorance and tragedy. We’re so much more enlightened now, right? Falcon’s Eye Theatre will present Spring Awakening from Thursday, April 10, through Sunday, April 13, at the Harris Center for the Arts at Folsom Lake College. It’s the first play the combination campus and community-theater company really wanted to put on the main stage at the center, said David Harris, Falcon’s Eye founder and Folsom Lake College theater department chair. Still, it’s daunting. First, there’s the cost: Falcon’s Eye, despite its association with the college, still has to rent the theater. Then there’s the sizable audience that will need to be attracted. “We’re closing off the upper level, but that still leaves 500 seats for five performances in a single weekend,” Harris said. “It’s certainly our biggest undertaking.” Harris said musicals “are not my forte,” yet he found Spring Awakening intriguing, “more edgy and adult.” And he said, “As a college theater, we expect college students to be a main part of our audience, [but] I don’t know anyone over 25 who actually dislikes the play.” PHoTo by bArry WISdom
Back in Italy, this gesture might mean “What were you thinking?”
Twenty-something Leo (Teddy Spencer) shows up at the door of his grandmother’s (Dee Maaske) New York apartment at 3 in the morning after a cross-country bicycle trip for an unexpected, extended visit. Family dynamics and history, new-left vs. traditional communist politics, aging and grief form the terrain they traverse in this critically acclaimed play by Amy Herzog.
Now here’s a press photo that properly shows the vibrancy of Rachel Barton Pine’s bowing.
String fever Get a nice dose of classical music next weekend when violin virtuoso Rachel Barton Pine comes to town for a pair of shows. At 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, she’ll perform with the Sacramento Philharmonic in a concert titled Violin Magic, featuring works by John Williams, Glazunov and Dvorak. Show up at 7 p.m. for a preconcert talk that aims to “take audiences deeper into the music,” according to the Philharmonic’s website. Then, at 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 6, Pine will perform works by Vivaldi, Bach and Milandre with the Davis Senior High School Baroque Ensemble. All the proceeds from this fundraiser will help send the ensemble on a concert tour in Italy this June. Violin Magic, $16-$76, 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, at the Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street; Rachel Barton Pine Benefit Concert, donations accepted, 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 6, at the Richard Brunelle Performance Hall, 315 W. 14th Street in Davis; www.facebook.com/dhsbe. —Jonathan Mendick
DeVille-Shows-NewsReview-032014.pdf
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Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday Through April 13 2014 Season
Celebration on Art Artss Thea TTheatre h tre Prese Presents ents
by Athol Fugard Directed byy James Wheatley A Powerful Drama in Post-Apartheid South Africa A slow burning exploration of conscience when a train driver seeks relief from his sorrow and guilt. Fugard continues his masterful storytelling about relations between whites and blacks in his beloved South Africa. Chris Lamb and James Wheatley comprise the dynamic cast.
Celebration Arts Theatre 4469 D Street, East Sacramento 95819 www.celebrationarts.net 916/455-2787 Thurs, Fri & Sat at 8pm, Sun at 2pm Gen $15 Students, Seniors & SARTA $13 Thurs $8
As a matter of faction Divergent Divergent is the latest entry in the young-adult literature sweepstakes, movies designed to compete in the market that has proved so profitable for by Jim Lane the makers of The Hunger Games and The Twilight Saga. Veronica Roth’s novel is set in a dystopian Chicago, so far in the future that Lake Michigan has dried up, but close enough that the ruined skyline is recognizable to us in the 21st century. Human society has evolved—or regressed—into five factions, each built around a perceived virtue: Abnegation (the virtue of self-denial), Candor (honesty), Amity (peacefulness), Erudite (knowledge) and Dauntless (courage).
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IN SELECT THEATRES MARCH 21 34 | SN&R | 03.27.14
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At age 16, young people are administered a test that determines the faction for which they are best suited; then, at the Choosing Ceremony, they decide what faction they will commit their lives to. It may agree with their test results, it may not, but whatever they choose, there’s no going back. If they fail training, they are turned out by their chosen faction and condemned to live among the factionless, disregarded and despised. Enter Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley), a young woman who feels unsuited to the Abnegation faction she was born into. Her test results, as it happens, are inconclusive. The woman who administers it warns her: Beatrice is Divergent, variously suitable for Abnegation, Erudite or Dauntless. Tell no one, the woman says, trust no one. If they suspect you’re Divergent … When her turn comes, Beatrice chooses Dauntless and joins the other initiates in training, which amounts to a sort of military boot camp where her trainer is a mysterious young man named Four (Theo James). Beatrice, now going by the name of “Tris,” must survive the rigorous, even cutthroat training process, all the while wondering why it’s so dangerous to be Divergent. Like The Hunger Games, Roth’s novel is essentially Nancy Drew with delusions of
George Orwell (Twilight, by a similar analogy, was Harlequin Romance with delusions of Bram Stoker), but it’s a good read, with a heroine immature enough to be believably imperfect, yet strong enough to be sympathetic as she discovers unsuspected resources in herself. The movie (directed by Neil Burger from a script by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor) is as lucky to have Shailene Woodley as The Hunger Games was to have Jennifer Lawrence. Woodley may not prove to have the stunning versatility that Lawrence has displayed outside her own blockbuster franchise, but she showed a sensitive, appealing presence in last year’s The Spectacular Now. Divergent, after an apprenticeship in supporting roles, gives her a vehicle of her own, and she carries it well. (Oddly enough, Woodley’s romantic partner in The Spectacular Now, Miles Teller, plays a tormenting bully in this picture, while Ansel Elgort, her co-star in her next movie, The Fault in Our Stars, plays her brother.) Daugherty and Taylor’s script smoothly distills and compresses Roth’s book—which may sound strange for a movie that runs nearly two-and-a-half hours, but incidents and characters are combined in ways that sometimes improve on the text—for example, moving the novel’s exhilarating zip-line scene to earlier in the story, where it serves to underline Tris’ increasing sense of belonging to her new faction. On a more mundane level, Daugherty and Taylor increased the role of one of the villains, Erudite leader Jeanine, to the point where the movie was able to recruit a star like Kate Winslet to play it. (The brief but key roles of Tris’ parents are taken by Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd.)
The movie is as lucky to have Shailene Woodley as The Hunger Games was to have Jennifer Lawrence. Director Burger, along with production designer Andy Nicholson and cinematographer Alwin H. Küchler, gives the movie a sweeping but credibly lived-in look, and he keeps the action moving at a swift pace that makes the picture feel shorter than it is. True, Divergent never quite climbs out of the shadow of The Hunger Games. But for that matter, neither does Veronica Roth’s book. (Can it even be done?) Still, Neil Burger, Shailene Woodley and company succeed in getting the trilogy off to a strong start—stronger, in fact, than Gary Ross managed with the first Hunger Games. It should please Roth’s fans, and it bodes well for the next installment. Ω
by daniel barnes & JiM lane
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3 Days to Kill
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2508 LAND PARK DRIVE LAND PARK & BROADWAY FREE PARKING ADJACENT TO THEATRE
Although the revolting 3 Days to Kill is basically a revamp of French au-turd Luc Besson’s lousy 2013 film The Family, this movie is so awful it makes The Family seem good enough to have not been based on a Besson script. As supposedly directed by McG, 3 Days to Kill stars Kevin Costner as grizzled CIA killer-for-hire Ethan Renner. After learning he has inoperable cancer, Ethan reunites with his estranged wife and daughter, but a mysterious agent (Amber Heard, playing one of the most asinine characters in recent memory) lures him back with the promise of a life-saving cure. Ethan’s ex-wife divorced him out of mortal fear, yet she immediately departs for a business trip the second he shows up, leaving her only daughter with this near-stranger and career murderer. “She’s a good mother,” growls Ethan. Agree to disagree! D.B.
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“VIBRANT AND IMAGINATIVE.” - Justin Chang, VARIETY
THE
“APPEALING.”- Manohla Dargis, NEW YORK TIMES
Bad Words
Tim’s Vermeer
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is literalized, and madness is sacrificed at the altar of lesson-learning. D.B.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
WED/THUR: 1:15, 3:00, 4:45, 6:30PM
“A RAMBUNCTIOUS CAPER
In an Eastern European country between the World Wars, a meticulously correct concierge at a gleaming luxury hotel (Ralph Fiennes) basks in the crisp stylishness of his position—until he runs afoul of the heirs to one of his richest and most besotted customers (Tilda Swinton plays the old woman under pounds of hilarious age makeup; Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe lead her cabal of greedy relatives). Director and co-writer (with Hugo Guinness) Wes Anderson begins in the present day, moving back to the 1930s in stages, like a time traveler, and his movie overflows with endearing comic invention, countered by an undercurrent of melancholy nostalgia for a lost (and maybe imaginary) elegance. It’s a funny, sad movie and a rueful delight. Tony Revolori is fun as Fiennes’ adoring sidekick. J.L.
Bad Words
A middle-aged man (Jason Bateman, who also directed, and smoothly) uses a loophole in the rules to enter a national spelling bee for junior-high students, and he advances easily up the tournament levels, making a mockery of the whole process, to the frustrated rage of students, parents and administrators— except for one youngster (Rohan Chand, very likable) who somehow wants to be his friend. Andrew Dodge’s script is raunchy, profane and definitely not for kids. Bateman’s character is (mostly) bitter and unlikable. Still, the movie is funny in a quirky I-can’t-believe-he-just-didthat way, and unpredictable enough to pull us in despite ourselves. Kathryn Hahn is hilarious as Bateman’s neurotic novice lawyer, and old pros Allison Janney and Philip Baker Hall are along as the bee’s exasperated bigwigs. J.L.
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Lone Survivor
In 2005, a team of Navy SEALs (Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster) drops into the Afghan mountains to ambush a high-level Taliban warlord—but are ambushed themselves, unable to call in air support or rescue. Based on a real operation, the movie has grueling scenes of combat, some of the most realistic and harrowing ever seen. But writer-director Peter Berg and writer Patrick Robinson (adapting the memoir by Marcus Luttrell, the “lone survivor” of the title) never get around to establishing the characters as individuals. This makes the closing array of names rather confusing. Besides, the title is the ultimate spoiler, so there’s little suspense. We know only one will survive, and since only Wahlberg is billed above the title … J.L.
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God’s Not Dead
When a college freshman (Shane Harper) refuses his philosophy professor’s (Kevin Sorbo) order to sign a statement saying God is dead, the professor gives him three class sessions to prove the contrary. Directed by Harold Cronk and written by Hunter Dennis, Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, this faith-based drama is standard Sunday-school stuff, with many characters—but all of them cut from the same sheet of cardboard. Performances are awkwardly sincere. It’s all preaching to the choir—until the last scene, set at a concert by Christian rock group the Newsboys, when the choir preaches to us. The faithful will be comforted, atheists derisive; agnostics, meanwhile, will get the point early on, then glance regularly at their watches. Cast members of Duck Dynasty make cameo appearances, bearing witness. J.L.
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The Monuments Men
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Mr. Peabody & Sherman
The Lego Movie
Director Rob Minkoff and writer Craig Wright (with additional dialogue by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon) demonstrate yet again—as if we needed more proof—the folly of turning six-minute cartoons into 92-minute features. The old “Peabody’s Improbable History” segments of The Bullwinkle Show had lousy animation but clever writing; the movie reverses the equation, and it’s not a fair trade. In an apparent nod to animal-rights advocates, Sherman is promoted from Peabody’s “pet boy” to his “adopted son,” and that’s all Minkoff and Wright need to turn the movie into a maudlin wallow on the meaning of parenthood. Along the way, they cluck their tongues over that other family issue, school bullies. Ty Burrell and Max Charles provide the voices of Peabody and Sherman, and they’re all wrong. J.L.
The U.S. Army’s Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section, tasked during World War II with retrieving millions of artworks stolen by the Nazis, is somehow turned into a movie in praise of stars Matt Damon and George Clooney (the latter also directed and co-wrote with Grant Heslov, from Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter’s book), making the section’s fine work look like a 1940s prequel to Ocean’s 11. It also reduces the 400 workers from 13 nations to a handful of Americans (John Goodman, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban) with a few token Europeans (Cate Blanchett, Hugh Bonneville, Jean Dujardin). False notes abound—words to a song that weren’t written until 1954, etc.—and, as usual, Clooney’s preening vanity gives him all the best lines. J.L.
Given the many cinematic atrocities that have been produced by Hasbro in recent years, it is completely understandable to approach The Lego Movie with a certain amount of suspicion and dread. However, this is as wildly imaginative and fun as any film you’re likely to see this year, even if it is based entirely on corporate synergy. Written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs), The Lego Movie concerns a lonely conformist (Chris Pratt, extremely personable) mistaken for a prophecy-fulfilling rebel savior. The film never takes its mumbo-jumbo seriously, opting instead to focus on giddily anarchic comedy, a childlike sense of visual invention, and a copyright-protected wet dream of supporting players. The only missteps are made in the third act, as that childlike wonder
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One of the best moments of unintentional hilarity in Noam Murro’s noisy and stupid 300: Rise of an Empire is almost a throwaway line. As an Athenian general surveys his chiseled and battle-worn troops, all of whom appear to have wandered out of a 1980s Bowflex commercial and into a gladiator-themed stag film, he remarks with a straight face, “Not bad for a bunch of farmers, poets and sculptors.” OK, so 300: Rise of an Empire isn’t exactly Double Indemnity in terms of snappy dialogue and complex characters, but that’s not the problem here. The problem is that in terms of being a hyperstylized, dreamily captivating, deliriously homophobic-homoerotic bit of action kink, it’s not exactly Zack Snyder’s original 300, either. Only French actress Eva Green transcends the cartoonish mayhem, savoring every word of the dopey screenplay as though they were stuck between her teeth. D.B.
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WED-TUES: 10:45AM, 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00PM NO PASSES
“EXQUISITELY FUN.” - Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“Go ahead, check us out on Yelp.”
300: Rise of an Empire
BEFORE
GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
WED/THUR: 10:15AM, 11:00AM, 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 8:15, 9:20, 10:25PM FRI-TUES: 10:15AM, 11:00AM, 12:15, 1:15, 2:30, 3:30, 4:45, 5:45, 7:00, 8:00, 9:20, 10:15PM NO PASSES
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F E AT U R E
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5
BURSTING AT THE SEAMS WITH QUICK WIT, FAMOUS FACES, AND WES ANDERSON’S PATENTED AESTHETIC DELIGHTS.” ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
RALPH FIENNES F. MURRAY ABRAHAM MATHIEU AMALRIC ADRIEN BRODY WILLEM DAFOE JEFF GOLDBLUM HARVEY KEITEL JUDE LAW BILL MURRAY EDWARD NORTON SAOIRSE RONAN JASON SCHWARTZMAN LÉA SEYDOUX TILDA SWINTON TOM WILKINSON OWEN WILSON introducing TONY REVOLORI
Muppets Most Wanted
The reunited Muppets set off on a world tour, never suspecting that their new manager (Ricky Gervais) is using the tour as cover for a crime spree masterminded by an escapee from a Russian gulag, “the world’s most dangerous frog”—a near-perfect double for Kermit. The movie opens with one of many clever songs by Bret McKenzie, “We’re Doing a Sequel,” frankly admitting that “the sequel’s never quite as good.” Happily, the movie belies that truism. It’s not only even better than 2011’s The Muppets, it’s the best Muppets movie since the first one in 1979. Nicholas Stoller and director James Bobin’s script is a riot of groan-and-guffaw jokes, and Bobin’s pacing is sprightly and joyous. Gervais, Tina Fey (as a gulag guard) and Ty Burrell (a French cop) head the customary all-star supporting cast. Pure fun. J.L.
1
Need for Speed
As the listless lead of this dim-witted video-game adaptation, Aaron Paul already seems decades removed from his days of winning awards for Breaking Bad. Here he plays street racer Tobey Marshall, who, after winning a street race, is wrongfully blamed for the death of his friend in a different street race, leaving only one way to clear his name— a street race! For some reason, director Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) and screenwriter George Gatins felt that this single-celled Fast and the Furious clone demanded a leisurely 130 minutes of hand-me-down characters and monosyllabic dialogue. There is an argument that this sort of cinematic twaddle “isn’t hurting anyone,” but then, illiteracy isn’t technically hurting anyone, either. If you find this sort of vroom-fetish nonsense irresistible, go ahead and turn off your brain, but just know that it may never turn back on. D.B.
3
“ WES ANDERSON MAKES ‘ THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL’
The Single Moms Club
Five divorced or never-married mothers from widely disparate backgrounds (Cocoa Brown, Zulay Henao, Nia Long, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Amy Smart) are thrown together when their respective children are disciplined by the private school they all attend. The moms form an ad hoc support group, bonding in ways that surprise them all. Writer-director Tyler Perry employs his standard mix of soap opera and sassy humor (the latter mostly from earth-mama Brown), but to smoother effect than usual. Perry’s knack for attracting good actors and (especially) actresses serves the movie well, and the movie is bathed in a glossy feel-good vibe thanks to Perry, the cast and cinematographer Alexander Gruszynski. J.L.
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A RT S & C U LT U R E
A FOUR-STAR DELIGHT.” LOS ANGELES TIMES Kenneth Turan
EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENTS NOW PLAYING
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03.27.14
SACRAMENTO The Tower Theatre (800) FANDANGO #2721 SACRAMENTO UA Laguna Village 12 (800) FANDANGO #518
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35
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT E VERY FRI & SAT 9 P M
Cute overload Singer-songwriter Autumn Sky proves her talent is more than skin-deep
taco tues
SUPERLICIOUS
$1 tacos, $2 coronas, 2–8pm
80’S FLASHBACK COVER BAND / $5
wednesday
MAR 29
open mic
REBEL YELL
sign-ups at 7:30pm
ULTIMATE PARTY BAND, 80’S & MORE / $5
thursday
APR 04
KaraoKe @ 7:30pm
FLAT BUSTED
open for lunch & dinner 7 days a weeK
COUNTRY / $5
APR 05
Whatever you do, don’t call Autumn Sky’s music cute. First, it’s not cute. Sky’s songs deal with heady topics—depression, abortion, self-doubt— by Janelle Bitker and for the past two years, she’s performed with a rocking band behind her. Yes, she likes j a ne l l e b @ sundresses and sometimes decorates her stages ne w s re v i e w . c o m with flowers, but that has nothing to do with her songwriting. So the cute comments piss her off.
80’S COVER BAND / $5
EVERY TUESDAY
TACOS - 2 FOR $2 LIVE TRIVIA - 7:30PM EVERY THURSDAY
COLLEGE NIGHT 9:30PM-1AM UNLIMITED BOWLING & SHOES ONLY $12 - FEATURING DJ KOOL KUTS
HALFTIME BAR & GRILL INSIDE STRIKES UN L IM I T E D 5681 L o n et ree B l v d • Rock lin 916.626.3600 H AL FTIM E R OCK L IN .C OM
live music mar 28 the island of black & white mar 29 jras band + massive delicious mar 30 vagabond brothers ”unplugged” 2-5pm apr 04 sea legs apr 05 pine street ramblers apr 05 ruppidy buppidy apr 12 james cavern & the council facebook.com/bar101roseville 101 main street, roseville • 916-774-0505
happymonday hour friday menu 5pm – 7pm thru
parmesan garlic fries
$ 50
zucchini cake
$
flat bread pizza
$
fried ravioli’s
$ 50
kettle chips
$ 50
chicken queso
$ 50
baby bacon & cheese burger
$ 50
sauteed mushrooms
$ 50
house-made chili
$ 50
with herbed sour cream
a) prosciutto, pear, arugala, fontina b) tomato, pesto, mozzarella c) pepperoni
36 | SN&R | 03.27.14
Autumn Sky, girl unafraid.
2 4 4
3 1 2 2 2 2
says. “I’d rather have less music out in the world and just release things that are stellar.” Her new band includes as many as seven people at a time—drums, guitars, bass, piano, synth, backup vocals—and allows her to focus on being a frontwoman. Sky says she has no plans to return to a solo project; she had always striven for a fuller, more powerful sound than her single acoustic guitar could give her. She’s also been inspired by bands with excellent songwriting—the Mountain Goats, Death Cab for Cutie—but not singersongwriters themselves. “For a person that spent a big portion of her life being a singer-songwriter, I don’t actually like singersongwriter music,” she says. “It’s too simple. When I’m writing in my head, it’s always way more passionate, way more emotional, and it’s hard to go back once you hear that your music can actually be that thing.” Onstage, Sky throws herself into her singing and dancing. Offstage, she pores over her songs, her choice medium for storytelling. So now, finally armed with a record she can send to labels and distributors, Sky says she wants to break out of town a bit. Her eyes are set on touring—a hop through California colleges is in the works—and hopefully hitting the festival circuit. The band is already slated to play BottleRock 2014 in Napa Valley and is trying to put on other Bay Area gigs once a month. pHoTo by bobby MuLL
doors open at 11:30
SKID ROSES
www.starlitelounge.net
trivia @ 6:30pm tuesday
MAR 28
1 517 21 st stre e t | 916 .7 04 . 0711
monday
Listen to Autumn Sky’s music online at www.reverb nation.com/ autumnsky, or in person at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, at Assembly Music Hall, located at 1000 K Street. The cover is $10, and Life in 24 Frames, Contra and Cold Eskimo are also on the bill.
“It’s like people just look straight at your face and not at what you’re saying,” she says. “You share yourself so fully, and it feels like a betrayal to have people be like, ‘Cute set.’” She recounts unofficial advisers telling her to change her look, to get bangs, or that she won’t find success because her face is too long. “At first, you try to take it with a grain of salt,” she says. “But the more I’m in music, the more I realize how fucking heavy it is to be a girl in music.” Sky started out playing open-mics when she was 15, and last year, she entered the Sacramento Area Music Awards, a.k.a. the Sammies, Hall of Fame. Her sound has matured dramatically— understandably—over the past 10 years. Now, at age 25, she’s finally putting on her second album-release show—her other homegrown effort took place when she was just 17—on Saturday, March 29, at Assembly Music Hall. The three-track EP, SCOUT, will also be her band’s very first collection of recorded music. “I’m so excited,” Sky says. “Showing up to shows with no product is the most frustrating thing—it’s like chasing your tail in a circle for years and years.” She had announced record releases—most recently Hallelujah Chorus in 2012—but was never fully satisfied with her results and, ultimately, never followed through. “It was very well-intentioned, but at this point, I’m really glad I didn’t put it out,” she
“ For a person that spent a big portion of her life being a singer-songwriter, I don’t actually like singer-songwriter music. It’s too simple.” Autumn Sky “When you’re in a place where everyone’s grown up with you, it’s not the same,” she says. “But going out of town, like to the Bay Area, is a reaffirmation that we’re good and can make people excited.” Sacramento fans need not worry, though. When Sky grew up in the suburbs, Midtown was the fantasy—she even spent her time writing mystery novellas that took place on the grid. “Midtown was literally a dream since childhood,” she says. “I can’t leave—it’s home.” Ω
30 day
lOcal brewery
The time trippers Soul of garage: Something very strange happened on the evening of March 18. I felt totally nostalgic for a time period I can’t quite place, and that I definitely wasn’t alive for. Vancouver, British Columbiabased, seven-piece the Ballantynes transported The Press Club somewhere, though. The place was packed, and the crowd jumped around uncontrollably to a mix of ’60s soul, gospel and garage rock. Bandleader Jarrod Odell dramatically hunched over his Hammond organ as two drummers banged away. Singers Vanessa Dandurand and Jennifer Wilks brought the sweet soul—and tambourine-shaking—to counter Odell’s impossibly vintage voice. All together, plus guitar and bass, and the Ballantynes easily filled the room with a crazy, infectious energy that felt absolutely nothing like Sacramento on a Tuesday in 2014. The band’s debut EP, Liquor Store Gun Store Pawn Shop Church, is a time-trip on its own, with six bounceworthy, analog-sounding tunes. And with it, the Ballantynes are getting some well-deserved press. Vancouver Weekly placed the band in its “Best of Vancouver Music 2013” feature, and The Huffington Post ranked the EP fifth on a list of that year’s best indie releases. It streams for free at www.theballantynes.bandcamp.com, and if the track “No Love” doesn’t win you over, there will probably be no love between us either.
Up-and-coming grit-pop trio the Kin headlined the show. It was a
little tough to take the band seriously when its members were dressed so intentionally cool—sleeveless jean vest, leather jacket, miniponytails, glitter. The striking Australian brothers alternated vocals, keyboard and guitar, while its Brooklynite drummer elected to play stickless. Despite any technical finesse, the stage felt too big for just three people—especially after seeing Finish Ticket’s six spread across it. The whole atmosphere changed when the Kin abandoned the stage and told the crowd to form a circle. “This is a robbery!” one brother shouted, as the Kin effectively musical-robbed its own concert. They took fans by the hand to twirl them in circles. They spoke with silly irreverence and made inside jokes. The drummer pounded on an equipment case on wheels, rolling it in circles and creating textural beats with a set of keys. And the brothers took turns jumping on said case. For four songs, we all felt part of a good friend’s intimate jam session, at once in awe and in a giggle fit. And later—either to remind everyone that the Aussie brothers are indeed Aussies, or as a statement that the Aussie brothers will indeed act young and silly forever—the Kin pulled out a didgeridoo.
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NEWS
cOntest:
1) Each Brewery has 3-5 taps for April 2) Our customers vote on their favorites 3) The votes are tallied throughout April 4) Winner receives 1 year guaranteed tap!
DOCKING ON StaNDS
2019 O street sacramentO, ca 916.442.2682
05.15 2014
Blame it on Foreigner: Sacramento singer-songwriter Jeremy Briggs earned a spot on Team Shakira on The Voice with his rendition of Bad Company’s “Bad Company,” but his network ride made its last stop (for now) on March 18. Briggs squared off against fellow teammate Clarissa Serna during the Battle Round. The pair sang Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice,” which is never really a good idea, but I’m guessing they didn’t have much a choice in the song selection. The judges were split on the performances, but ultimately it was Shakira’s decision, and she sent Briggs home. But, whatever, because even as Briggs was kicked to the networkTV curb, he also announced a headlining gig on Saturday, May 24, at Harlow’s Nightclub & Restaurant (2708 J Street). Tickets are $15-$20. Pretty sure Briggs will be just fine without all that reality-TV singing-show hoopla. Congrats on a good run, and here’s to better things.
THINK FREE.
april 1st – 30th
—Janelle Bitker
jan el l eb @ne w s re v i e w . c o m
Brotherly love: The theme of the evening could have been the sibling connection—between the two main acts, there were three sets of brothers. It could have also been the whole growing-up thing—I went to high school with the supporting act, and I still can’t believe they’re beyond playing talent shows. Finish Ticket looks like your standard Bay Area hipster indie band, capable of making any 15-year-old girl swoon. Perhaps the 15-year-old girl comment isn’t entirely fair. According to the band’s guitarist, the Strokes recently complimented Finish Ticket’s good looks at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. The Strokes. Anyway, most of the audience Friday night at Assembly Music Hall seemed to be there for Finish Ticket. Plenty of fans were waving their arms in the air and singing along to the band’s melodious, hook-laden pop rock. The band recently signed with Atlantic Records, so big things are expected very soon. Hopefully a major, serious label doesn’t mean Finish Ticket’s members have to stop wearing penguin-patterned onesies. BEFORE
challenge
SN&R
—Rachel Leibrock
r achel l@ne w s re v i e w . c o m
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F E AT U R E
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28FRI
28FRI
28FRI
29SAT
Ricky Berger
Bleed by Example
Tel Cairo
Paige Anderson & the Fearless Kin
Blue Line Arts, 7 p.m., $22-$24
Starlite Lounge, 8 p.m., $5
Ricky Berger’s been entertaining audiences for the better part of 20 years. As a little cricket, she began chirping at recitals. At PoP/JAZZ age 17, she chose music as her profession. In 2013, she was nominated for a Sammie in the singer-songwriter category, and she’s an accomplished pianist who plays more than 15 other musical instruments, though not at the same time. She’s toured with Adrian Bourgeois and performed at the Crocker Art Museum. With a voice that covers much ground, she’s set to sing upbeat pop and some darker jazzy tunes. 405 Vernon Street, Suite 100 in Roseville; www.facebook.com/ rickybergermusic.
—Trina L. Drotar
Witch Room, 9 p.m., $6
Kids these days, mixing metal with their hip-hop, electronic music and their crazy psychedelic hippie-dippie jams. Whatever happened to good ol’ fashioned meat ’n’ potatoes, ma ’n’ pa, apple-pie American metal? Well, local melodic five-piece band Bleed by Example sticks to the metal basics, and it does it well. It has the riffage, the shredding, the half-tempo breaks, the screaming, the growling, the double-bass rolls—everything. The band members may not have long hair, but they still love to MEtAl head bang. They have a sort of Iron Maiden approach to metal: medieval meets classical meets a heavy dose of evil, but they play with the adrenaline of early Metallica. 1517 21st Street, www.face book.com/bleedbyexample.
Tel Cairo, a duo comprising Cameron Others and 7evin, mashes up myriad influences to create sounds that are at once familiar and forward-thinking. The group’s 2013 album Voice of Reason sounds like taking a long, long drive and letting the radio fade in and ElECtRoNICA out of tune to play whatever indie, rock, rap, dance or electronica sounds it can pick up. The record includes guest vocals from the likes of Terra Lopez, Mahtie Bush, Jonah Matranga and Task1ne. Check out the latter pair’s contribution on “Evening Push”— a track that sounds like a dream collaboration between Deftones and DJ Shadow. The show is 18-and-over, and DLRN is also on the bill. 1815 19th Street, www.facebook.com/ telcairo.
—Aaron Carnes
—Rachel Leibrock
Off Center Stage, 8 p.m., $12-$15 “Fearless Kin” is an appropriate name for these kids. Because, seriously, they’re siblings who at the very least don’t have stage fright. Paige Anderson, 19, the singer-songwriter of the bunch, is the eldest, with Aimee, 18, on fiddle and Ethan, 15, on mandolin and bass. And it would be easy to write them off because of their youth, but they create bluegrass, roots and folk music in a fresh, soulful way. It’s not their first effort: They played with their family band, Anderson Family Bluegrass, for years, including in the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco AMERICANA before breaking off on their own in 2012. 315 Richardson Street in Grass Valley, www.thefearlesskin.com.
—Janelle Bitker
RESTAURANT ss BAR BAR CLUB ss RESTAURANT COMEDY COMEDY CLUB
Thu 03/27
churn magazine show remix & dj katz 9pm // $7 fri 03/28
g time lon bosTon TribuTe // classic rock 9pm // $10 ($8 adv) saT 03/29
foresocks revolver
rage against the machine red hot chili peppers tribute band 9pm // $8 sun 03/30
showcase sunday open mic 9-12am // free comedy 7-9pm // TalenT mon 03/31
karaoke 8pm // free Tues 04/01
greatest stories ever tol//dfreedead // garcia dylan revue // 8pm Wed 04/02
pub night
pub atmosphere 4pm
UPcOMING sHOWs: 04/09 brian buckley band, for sayle
908 K Street • sac 916.446.4361 wwwMarilynsOnK.com 38 | SN&R |
03.27.14
VOTED BEST COMEDY CLUB BY THE SACRAMENTO NEWS & REVIEW!
THURSDAY 3/27 - SUNDAY 3/30 FROM COMEDY CENTRAL & MTV’S GUY CODE!
JULIAN MCCULLOUGH CHRIS STORIN, JOHN ROSS
THURSDAY 4/2
SACRAMENTO COMEDY SHOWCASE THURSDAY 4/3 - SUNDAY 4/6 FROM NIKKI & SARA LIVE AND @MIDNIGHT!
NIKKI GLASER FORREST SHAW, CASEY LEY
THURSDAY 4/10 MONDAY MORNING PODCAST PRESENTS:
JOE BARTNICK, PAUL VIRZI & JASON LAWHEAD
FRIDAY 4/11 - SUNDAY 4/13 FROM LAST COMIC STANDING!
JOHN HEFFRON STEVE MAZAN, RACHEL MCDOWELL
THURSDAY 4/17 - SATURDAY 4/19 FROM CONAN & FOX SPORTS NETWORK!
MICHAEL KOSTA GRANT LYON, LYDIA POPOVICH
THURSDAY 4/24 - SATURDAY 4/26 4/24 – SMARTEST MAN IN THE WORLD PODCAST TAPING!
GREG PROOPS
CONOR KELLICUTT, DHAYA LAKSMINARAYANAN
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! ;>0;;,9 *64 7<5*/305,:(* -(*,)662 *64 73:(*
WWW.PUNCHLINESAC.COM
CALL CLUB FOR SHOWTIMES: (916) 925-5500 2100 ARDEN WAY s IN THE HOWE ‘BOUT ARDEN SHOPPING CENTER
2 DRINK MINIMUM. 18 & OVER. I.D. REQUIRED.
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE CLUB BOX OFFICE WITH NO SERVICE CHARGE.
aWesoMe Food everyday!
Wednesday March 26 KNCI 18 & over College WedNesdays $2, $3, $4 drINK speCIals
Thursday March 27 roCKIN’ CouNtry BaNd NIghts Featuring road 88!!! Free BullrIdes No Cover IN MarCh
Friday March 28 $1 pBr 8pM - 9pM $1.50 JaCK 9pM - 10pM
saTurday March 29 $3 JaCK & $2 Coors lIght 9pM - 10pM
sunday March 30 18 & over Free daNCe lessoNs KaraoKe IN the FroNt Bar
1320 del paso blvd
stoNeyINN.CoM | 916.927.6023
29SAT
29SAT
30SUN
02WED
Spangler
The Old Screen Door
Reverend Horton Heat
Beats Antique
Berryessa Brewing Co., 3 p.m., no cover
Harlow’s Restaurant & Nightclub, 10 p.m., $7
Rain is in the forecast this weekend. That’s a good excuse to head out to Winters—just a 35-minute or so drive from Sacramento—and drink some beer. Berryessa Brewing Co. (a craft brewery located next to the also quite tasty Berryessa Gap Vineyards) hosts live music on a regular basis in its tap room. This Saturday, catch Spangler, featuring Helen and Tim Spangler’s folk and Americana-tinged harmonies. As a full band—with an added guitarist, keyboardist, bassist and drummer—the group can get more indie-rock FOLK ROCK flavored at times, sounding something like a lower-profile Wilco—especially that one track with Feist. 27260 Highway 128 in Winters, www.spanglermusic.com.
Old screen doors are a reminder of a simpler time, when people didn’t lock their doors, and the slap of them against the ROCK door frame could be heard as neighborhood kids ran out to play. This group is what its name suggests. The Old Screen Door’s combination of the old-school sounds of rock with quick rhythms and jazzy vocals results in a fun, sexy sound that moves with the echoes of old-timey soul. The five-piece Northern California band, which burst onto the Sacramento music scene in 2011, is about to embark on its first tour, but first is getting ready with a performance at Harlow’s Restaurant & Nightclub. 2708 J Street, www.theoldscreendoor.com.
—Jonathan Mendick
—Jessica Rine
Ace of Spades, 6:30 p.m., $20
Ace of Spades, 6:30 p.m., $22
Before it was mere background music on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, Reverend Horton Heat conquered the psychobilly scene and has avidly represented the genre for decades. Guitarist and vocalist Jim Heath—otherwise known as the Reverend—started the threeman group in 1985, and its current lineup also includes Jimbo Wallace on upright bass and Scott Churilla on drums. Together the Dallasbased trio combines country, bluegrass and PSYCHOBILLY punk, with elements of rhythm and blues to achieve its psychobilly sound. Victory Records swooped up the Reverend and crew in 2012, followed by the release of its 12th studio album, REV. Catch RHH with Nekromantix and Deke Dickerson in tow. 1417 R Street, www.reverendhortonheat.com.
Formed from a belly-dancing troupe and initially aided by music exec Miles Copeland, Beats Antique’s shadowy Middle Eastern sway serves as a foundation for excursions into hip-hop, acid jazz, Balkan, dub, Afrobeat and WORLD electronica. The beats are heavy enough for club appeal, while the mesmerizing rhythms and textures are crafted with sufficient sophistication to entice the couch-bound set. Multi-instrumentalists David Satori and “Sidecar” Tommy Cappel studied music and experimented for at least a decade before uniting with dancer and composer Zoe Jakes for six albums since 2007. Their dramatic instrumentals possess deep, almost physical intensity—slinking and swerving and exploding like a modern contemporary dance number. 1417 R Street, www.beatsantique.com.
—Steph Rodriguez
—Chris Parker
1000 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
FOR TICKETS TO ALL SHOWS VISIT AssemblyMusicHall.com
For Rentals or Private Parties please contact AssemblyMusicHall@gmail.com
apr 05 @ 4:30pM
thu Mar 27 @ 6:30pM
sat Mar 29 @ 7pM
fri apr 04 @ 7pM
kingdom of giants, ellipsis, awoken shadows, with wowes, before the fall, flub, dead in seconds, shorelines
Upcoming ShowS
sun apr 06 @ 7pM BEFORE
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NEWS
tue apr 08 @ 6:30pM |
F E AT U R E
STORY
wed apr 09 @ 7pM
| A R T S & C U L T U R E
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AFTER
apr 11 apr 12 apr 18 apr 19 apr 23 apr 25 apr 26 apr 27 may 02 may 05 may 08 may 09 may 11 may 16 may 17 may 20 may 23
bombay bicycle club Jamies elsewhere Dance Gavin Dance The siren show ThrouGh The rooTs Drop ciTy yachT club arDen park rooTs beware The Darkness forTune youTh Gza will hoGe TiG noTaro sTephen raGGa marley upon This DrawinG The siren show helloGooDbye / vacaTioner The Green
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39
NIGHTBEAT
THURSDAY 3/27
Post your free online listing (up to 15 months early), and our editors will consider your submission for the printed calendar as well. Print listings are also free, but subject to space limitations. Online, you can include a full description of your event, a photo, and a link to your website. Go to www.newsreview.com/calendar and start posting events. Deadline for print listings is 10 days prior to the issue in which you wish the listing to appear.
SUNDAY 3/30
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 3/31-4/2
Sin Sunday, 8pm, call for cover
Sonique: house and techno, 10pm Tu, no cover; Mad Mondays, 9pm M
ISLAND OF BLACK & WHITE, 9:30pm, $5 J RAS, MASSIVE DELICIOUS; 9:30pm, $5
VAGABOND BROTHERS, 2-5pm, no cover
Trivia, 6:30pm M, no cover; Open-mic, 7:30pm W, no cover
OPEN MIC EAGLE, KURT HUSTLE; 8pm, $6
WHISKEY & STITCHES, ONE EYED REILLY, PIKEYS; 8pm, $7
Get Down to the Champion Sound reggae night, 9pm-2am, $3
Acoustic open mic, 8pm M, no cover; Naughty Trivia, 8pm W, no cover
ANARCHY LACE, LONG IN THE TOOTH,
A.STEUBER, KID FRESH, IANC, SNFC;
ANIMALS AS LEADERS, AFTER THE BURIAL, NAVENE-K, CHON; 6:30pm, $16
BADLANDS
2003 K St., (916) 448-8790
Tipsy Thursdays, Top 40 deejay dancing, 9pm, call for cover
Fabulous and Gay Fridays, 9pm, call for cover
BAR 101
Karaoke, 7:30pm, no cover
BLUE LAMP
1400 Alhambra, (916) 455-3400
THE BOARDWALK
1000 K St., (916) 832-4751
List your event!
FRIDAY 3/28
ASSEMBLY MUSIC HALL
101 Main St., Roseville; (916) 774-0505
AUTUMN SKY, LIFE IN 24 FRAMES, THE CONTRA, COLD ESKIMO; 7pm, $10
CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Starz Dance Showcase, 7pm, $12-$15
314 W. Main St., Grass Valley; (530) 274-8384
THE COZMIC CAFÉ
Open-mic, 7:30pm, no cover
594 Main St., Placerville; (530) 642-8481
DJ Oasis, 9pm, call for cover
DIVE BAR
SOME FEAR NONE, LONELY KINGS, DR. LUNA, OTTOS DAUGHTER; 9pm, $7 J. STALIN, DAYONTAY; 8pm, $20-$23 PAIGE ANDERSON & THE FEARLESS KIN, RAINA ROSE; 8pm, $12-$15
DJ Jules, 9pm, call for cover
Deuling Pianos, 9pm, no cover
1022 K St., (916) 737-5999
Community Music Jam, M; SIMON PHILLIPS & PROTOCOL II, 7:30pm W
SIMMS BAND, 8pm, call for cover
1016 K St., (916) 737-5770
FACES
MISS MADDY’S F STREET STOMPERS, 9pm, no cover
THE PRESSURE LOUNGE, 9pm Tu, no cover
Dragalicious, 9pm, $5
Queer Idol, 9pm M, no cover; Latin night, 9pm Tu, $5; DJ Alazzawi, 9pm W, $3
Hip-hop and Top 40 Deejay dancing, 9pm, $5-$10
Hip-hop and Top 40 Deejay dancing, 9pm, $5-$10
THE UNCOVERED, 9pm, $5
WANTED EXOTIC, PUNCH-OUT, THE PUNKNECKS; 9pm, $5
Open-mic, 7:30pm M; Pub Quiz, 7pm Tu; Northern Soul, 8pm W, no cover
SUPERLICIOUS, 9pm-midnight, $6
REBEL YELL, 9pm-midnight, $6
Trivia night, 7:30-9pm Tu, no cover
ZEPPARELLA, 8pm, $18-$20
ADRIAN BELLUE, AWKWARD LEMON; 6pm, $8
TRAVIS GARLAND, 7pm, $18-$37; OLD SCREEN DOOR, THE KELPS; 10pm, $7
1414 16th St., (916) 441-3931
Joe Montoya’s Poetry Unplugged, 8pm, $2
SARA LYNN, EMILY O’NEIL, DANE UKELELE, HANNAH KILE; 8pm, $5
DAVID HOUSTON & STRING THEORY, 8pm, $6
MARILYN’S ON K
REMIX, DJ Katz; 7pm, $7
LONG TIME, 9pm, $8-$10
REVOLVER, THE FORESOCKS; 8pm, call for cover
Showcase Sundays, 7pm, no cover
Karaoke, 9pm M, no cover; Greatest Stories Ever Told, 8pm Tu, no cover
1119 21st St., (916) 549-2779
Electronic and house deejay dancing, 9pm-2am, call for cover
EDM and House $5, 9pm-2am
EDM and house, 9pm, call for cover
Goth, darkwave, industrial, electronic deejay dancing, 9pm-3am, call for cover
Swing dancing lessons $6, 7:30pm Tu; Salsa lessons, 7:30pm-midnight W, $5
NAKED LOUNGE DOWNTOWN
MONONYMOUS, JOE GETTY; 8:30pm, $5
ANCIENT ASTRONAUT, COBRA LIGHT, THE JAWBONE CLUB; 8:30pm, $5
PLOTS, DER SPAZM, MEDODORA; 8:30pm, $5
Jazz, 8pm M; ADAM MARSLAND, 8pm W, $5; DAVID HOUSTON, 8:30pm W, $5
STORYTELLERS, FUDI, FOREVER WE ARE; 9pm, $6
FUNK.DEFIED, THA DIRT FEELIN; 9pm, $6
Karaoke w/ Sac City Entertainment, 9pm Tu, no cover; Open-mic, 9pm W, no cover
2000 K St., (916) 448-7798
Hey local bands!
Saturday Boom, 9pm, call for cover
9426 Greenback Ln., Orangevale; (916) 988-9247 WILD THRONE, INFINITE VASTNESS; 8pm 8pm, call for cover
DISTRICT 30
Want to be a hot show? Mail photos to Calendar Editor, SN&R, 1124 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815 or email it to sactocalendar@ newsreview.com. Be sure to include date, time, location and cost of upcoming shows.
SATURDAY 3/29
FOX & GOOSE
THE CELTIC METHOD, 9pm, no cover
1001 R St., (916) 443-8825
HALFTIME BAR & GRILL
5681 Lonetree Blvd., Rocklin; (916) 626-6366
HARLOW’S
2708 J St., (916) 441-4693
LUNA’S CAFÉ & JUICE BAR 908 K St., (916) 446-4361
MIDTOWN BARFLY
1111 H St., (916) 443-1927
OLD IRONSIDES
1901 10th St., (916) 442-3504
TYRONE WELLS, 7pm, $15-$18 Nebraska Mondays, 7:30pm M, $5-$20; Comedy night, 8pm W, $6
2708 J Street Sacramento, CA 916.441.4693 www.harlows.com - April 5 • 8pm • $20adv -
- March 29 -
- March 27 -
Zepparella (all Female led Zepplin Tribute)
The old sCreen door
ChuCk RAgAn, The WhiTe BuffAlo
9pm • $7
50Th anniversary CeleBraTion oF BoB dylan’s pre-eleCTriC period
The Kelps said the shotgun
7pm • $18adv
- March 28 -
Tyrone wells
5:30pm • $8
5:30pm • $15adv
hans!
- April 04 -
oh! The Band
Travis garland
The Cosmopolites
Jasmine nichol 6pm • $18adv
SN&R
dylAn ‘64
adrian Bellue
- March 29 -
|
- April 6 • 5:30pm • $8adv -
- March 30 -
awkward lemon
40
Johnny Two Bags
6pm • $8 |
03.27.14
- April 8 • 5:30pm • $25adv -
Joe ely david ramireZ
- April 10 • 6pm • $12adv -
MegAn niCole - April 11 • 9pm • $15adv -
RoMe
Coming Soon Apr 12 Apr 13 Apr 14 Apr 17 Apr 19 Apr 20 Apr 24 Apr 25 Apr 26 Apr 26 Apr 27 May 2 May 4 May 8 May 9 May 10 May 12 May 16 May 19 May 20 May 30
Hip Service Polyrhythmics The Colourist White Lies Chickapalooza Mojo Green Zoso Marsha Ambrosius Cream of Clapton Trentino Matt Anderson David Wilcox Toad the Wet Sprocket Asleep at the Wheel Tainted Love Tycho Skid Row / Black Star Riders Dustbowl Revival Tab Benoit The Cave Singers Pimps of Joytime
follow us harlowsniteclub
- April 12 • 5:30pm • $10 -
SupeR huey
harlowsnightclub harlowsnightclub
THURSDAY 3/27
FRIDAY 3/28
ON THE Y
SATURDAY 3/29
TOTAL CHAOS, AVENUE SAINTS, SAD ALTERBEAST, THE KENNEDY VEIL, BOY SINISTER, THE LEFT HAND; 8pm, $10 THE ZENITH PASSAGE; 8pm, $7
670 Fulton Ave., (916) 487-3731
THE PALMS PLAYHOUSE
MARCIA BALL BAND, 8pm, $25
13 Main St., Winters; (530) 795-1825
DJ Peeti V, 9pm-2am, $15
1116 15th St., (916) 442-7222
Top 40, 9pm, no cover
1009 10th St., (916) 448-8960
Top 40 and mashups, 9pm, no cover
502 29th St., (916) 446-3624 5461 Mother Lode, Placerville; (530) 626-0336
POWERHOUSE PUB
BRODIE STEWART BAND, 10pm, call for cover
614 Sutter St., Folsom; (916) 355-8586
THE PRESS CLUB
2030 P St., (916) 444-7914
SHADY LADY SALOON
DAVID O’KEEFE, 9pm, no cover
1409 R St., (916) 231-9121
STARLITE LOUNGE
1517 21st St., (916) 706-0052
STONEY INN/ROCKIN’ RODEO 1320 Del Paso Blvd., (916) 927-6023
ROAD 88, 9pm, no cover
Salsa w/ Mike Del Campo and Mr. DJ Omar, 8:30pm, no cover; $5 after 9:30pm
TORCH CLUB
X TRIO, 5pm, no cover; THE 44S, KIRK FLETCHER; 9pm, $10
904 15th St., (916) 443-2797
Asylum Downtown: Gothic, industrial, EBM dancing, 9pm, call for cover
STELLAR, 9pm, no cover
Battle of the Musicians, 9:30pm-1am Tu; Open-mic, 10pm-1am Tu, no cover
UNLICENSED THERAPY, 9pm, $5
TAINTED LOVE, 10pm, $10
MIDNIGHT PLAYERS, 10pm, call for cover
SHANE DWIGHT, 3pm, call for cover
Rock On! live-band karaoke, 8pm Tu, no cover
Top 40 w/ DJ Rue, 9pm, $5
Top 40 Night w/ DJ Larry Rodriguez, 9pm, $5
Sunday Night Soul Party, 9pm, $5
HNKY DNKY AND HEARTBREAKER, CAROLYN MARK; 9pm M, $6
ELEMENT BRASS BAND, 9pm, no cover
GOLDEN CADILLACS, 9pm, no cover
CAROLYN MARK, 9pm, no cover
NO FUCKS GIVEN, JKKFO, SYSTEM ASSAULT, BLEED BY EXAMPLE; 9pm
Zombie Club, 9pm, call for cover
MILLBURRAY, A HAPPY DEATH, GHOSTPLAY; 8:30pm, $5
Country dancing, 7:30pm, no cover; $5 after 8pm
Country dancing, 7:30pm, no cover; $5 after 8pm
Country dance party, 8pm, no cover
SKID ROSES, 3pm, call for cover
NOTHIN’ PERSONAL, 2pm, $5
Salsa with Mike Del Campo, 8:30pm, no cover; $5 after 9:30pm
Domingos Latinos with Mr. DJ Omar, 9pm, $5-$10
Blues jam session, 8:30pm Tu, no cover
Blues jam, 4pm, no cover
LEW FRATIS, 9pm Tu, $5; Open-mic, 5:30pm W; BRIAN ROGERS, 9pm W, $5
REVEREND HORTON HEAT, NEKROMANTIX, DEKE DICKERSON; 6:30pm, $20
BLUE OCTOBER, THE ARCHITECTS; M; BEATS ANTIQUE, SEAN HAYES; W, $22
5871 Garden Hwy, (916) 920-8088 1100 Orlando Ave., Roseville; (916) 728-1166
Karaoke, 9pm Tu, no cover
DJ Zephyr, 9pm, no cover
SWABBIES
THE STATION
Open-mic comedy, 9pm, no cover
DJ Club mixes, 10pm, no cover
PINE COVE TAVERN PJ’S ROADHOUSE
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 3/31-4/2
JANIVA MAGNESS, 8:30pm, $20
THE PARK ULTRA LOUNGE PARLARE EURO LOUNGE
SUNDAY 3/30
PAILER AND FRATIS, 5:30-7:30pm, no cover; CON BRIO, 9pm, $8
VAL STARR & THE BLUES ROCKET, 4pm, $15; BLACK MARKET III, 9pm, $8
J. Stalin with Dayontay 8pm Saturday, $20-$23. The Boardwalk Hip-hop
Comedy open-mic, 8pm M; Bluebird Lounge open-mic, 5pm Tu, no cover
Val Starr & the Blues Rocket 4pm Saturday, $15. Torch Club Blues
All ages, all the time ACE OF SPADES
SP3CTRA, ALI K, MATT SERTICH; 7-11pm, $15-$20
LUIGI’S SLICE AND FUN GARDEN 1050 20th St., (916) 552-0317
THE SPEED OF SOUND IN SEAWATER, CONFLUENCE, LIGHT THIEVES; 7pm, $8
DYLAN JAKOBSEN, CARSON ALLEN, THE DESARIO, ALL ABOUT ROCKETS, DENVER J BAND; 8:30pm, call for cover GLADNESSS; 8:30pm, $5
SHINE
DR. ROCK & THE STUFF, 8pm, $5
DUPLX, XOCHITL; 8pm, $5
1417 R St., (916) 448-3300
1400 E St., (916) 551-1400
HAIR OF THE DOG, THE SAD JUICEES, COLDAIR; 8pm, $5
Open-mic, 7:30-10pm W; Open jazz jam w/ Jason Galbraith, 8pm Tu, no cover
Dov Davidoff
April 4th
Tick ets
Doors: s: 7pm • Show: 8pm
Fre Playe e Do o
At th
Tickets available at colusacasino.com/entertainment.
r
Must be 21 to Attend. Management Reserves All Rights ©2014.
3770 Hwy 45 • Colusa, CA • 530.458.8844 • www.colusacasino.com BEFORE
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what’s on your
horizon?
NOw OFFERINg PLaNTs! Join Horizon Non-Profit today for safe access to a wide variety of high quality medical cannabis. Whether you prefer flowers, extracts, edibles or topicals, indica or sativa, we have the right medicine for you. Whatever your medical condition or employment situation, you can come to Horizon knowing that we respect and hold your
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HORIZON NON-PROFIT COLLECTIVE 3600 Power inn rd suite 1a sacramento, Ca 95826 916.455.1931
Hello, legalization What is wrong with Sen. Dianne Feinstein? —Worried in Woodland Right? She recently spoke out against marijuana legalization (again!) in an interview with the Associated Press, spouting nonsense like, “The risk of people using marijuana and driving is very substantial,” and “I saw a lot of where people began with marijuana and went on to hard drugs.” As if. First of all, states with medical-marijuana laws BEALUM have seen a decrease in traffic accidents. Second, the by NGAIO whole marijuana-is-a-gateway-to-hard-drugs trope has been disproved again and again. I know she is busy, what with defending the ask420@newsr eview.com National Security Agency (until it spied on the Senate) and such, but maybe she could take the time to look into marijuana legalization and not just spout ’13 leftover slogans from the failed war on some drugs. I have an idea: Perhaps Feinstein and Gov. Jerry Brown could come over to my house, and we will sit around, have a drink (or a joint), and discuss how cannabis legalization can help this great state of California. Whaddya think, senator? I am sure you can find my phone number if you need to speak to me. Or maybe you and Gov. Brown First of all, states with could talk to your homeys medical-marijuana laws at the California Democratic Party. You know, the same have seen a decrease in group that just added a plank traffic accidents. to the party platform pledging to support the “legalization, regulation and taxation of pot in a manner similar to that of tobacco or alcohol.” You didn’t get the memo? Don’t be a party pooper. I invite Sen. Feinstein and Gov. Brown to join us in the 21st century. What’s this I hear about the cops proposing legalization in California? —Mike in Midtown You heard it right. The League of California Cities and the California Police Chiefs Association have decided to end their years of flat-out opposition and get behind Senate Bill 1262, introduced by Sen. Lou Correa. This bill would give authority over medical marijuana to the Department of Public Health, disallow butane hash oil (or “dabs”) and other forms of concentrated cannabis, and audit doctors that write more than 100 medical-cannabis recommendations. While I applaud the LCC and the CPCA for finally starting to come around on medical cannabis, this bill has some flaws. No hash oil? No way. How many times must it be said? Prohibiting drugs doesn’t work. It just creates an underground market. And auditing doctors? Psssh. Doctors shouldn’t even be in charge of deciding who gets to smoke weed. Weed should be legal! The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has said it will work to kill the bill if changes aren’t made. A statewide medical-cannabis law should be simple. All it has to do is set up zoning parameters, keep cities from banning collectives, and set up a tax and fee structure. The state is running out of time to get it right. According to the most recent polls, support for marijuana legalization in California is at about 60 percent. 2016 will be here sooner than you think, and by then, groups like the Drug Policy Alliance and the Marijuana Policy Project will have something to put on the ballot. Ω
Ngaio Bealum
is a Sacramento comedian, activist and marijuana expert. Email him questions at ask420@ newsreview.com.
BE EF FO OR RE E B
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Your information is 100% private and confidential Visit our website to book your appointment online 24/7 at
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FE EA AT TU UR RE E SST TO OR RY Y | | A AR RT TSS& &C CU UL LT TU UR RE E | | A AF FT TE ER R | | 03.27.14 03.27.14 F
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SN&R | 03.27.14
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BEFORE
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80
Blu
me
Joellis Way
nfe
ld D
r
Arden Mall
F E AT U R E
916.646.6340
monday–saturday 10am–8pm sunday 10am–6pm
STORY
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@southsacramentocarecenter
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Simply the BeSt Winner 3 years in a row! ’13
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BEFORE
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STORY
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C a p i ta l C a n n a b i s G u i d e
April 13th – 20th at the Quail Ridge Resort EVENTS:
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12468 La Porte Road
Clipper Mills, CA
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’13
9719A Folsom Blvd. Sacramento, CA 916-822-5690 • www.cannmedical.org
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45 CAP
t
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515 Broadway, Sacramento 415-935-8005 / Open Mon-Sat 10a-7p
5th st.
Catherine Emond and Edward “Kalif” Jenkins offer a mobile medical cannabis testing service.
LARG
$
in taxes
Photo courtesy of green style consulting
F EE PRER for ev ROL L
RAM G E FRE EDIBLE OR patients
by M e r e d i t h J. G r a h a m
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All your medicinAl cAnnAbis needs in one locAtion!
hen it comes to medical cannabis, most proponents agree that different strains affect people in different ways. That’s due to the content of THC and other compounds, including CBD (cannabidiol) and CBN (cannabinol). But how do you know the potency of each strain? That’s where testing comes in. Catherine Emond and Edward Jenkins (who goes by Kalif) run Green Style Consulting, a mobile medicalcannabis testing lab, out of Rio Vista. With their scientific backgrounds — Kalif has been testing plant matter since the 1950s, and Emond is an engineer and computer scientist — they make the complex process of potency testing seem easy. Emond and Kalif use a machine called a gas chromatograph, which is a box the size of a microwave. They’re able to inject samples — of raw plant material, edibles or oils — into the machine, which separates and analyzes their compounds. The data is then sent via USB cable to Emond’s laptop, from which she can print it out on the spot for clients. They also offer labels, which include the name of the strain as well as the THC, CBD and CBN potency.
“By testing medical cannabis, you know what you have so you can better control dosages,” Emond says. In addition to potency testing, Green Style Consulting checks for mold and pesticide residue. Emond and Kalif also offer tips and tricks they’ve learned along the way for things like eliminating mold or ensuring consistent potency of edibles.
“ By testing medical cannabis, you know what you have so you can better control dosages.” Catherine Emond, Green Style Consulting
Testing is entirely voluntary, and Emond and Kalif travel around the state offering their services to dispensaries, cooperatives and individual growers with valid recommendations. “My current feeling on testing is that you’re a pothead growing weed until you have your product tested — now it’s medicine,” Kalif says.
Capital Cannabis Guide coverage is sponsored by its advertisers. This content was produced by the publications division of News & Review. A RT S & C U LT U R E | A F T E R | 03.27.14 | SN&R
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ARIES (March 21-April 19): I have coined a new word just for your horoscope this week. It’s “zex,” short for “Zen sex.” Zex is a kind of sex in which your mind is at rest, empty of all thoughts. You breathe slowly and calmly, move slowly and calmly, grunt and moan slowly and calmly. You are completely detached from the sensual pleasure you are experiencing. You have no goals other than the intention to be free of all goals. Zex is the only variety of sex I recommend for you right now, Aries. April fool! I lied. Zex may be fine to practice at any other time, but not these days. The style of sex you need most is exuberant, unbridled, expansive and even zany.
there’s a law that forbids you from putting your used chewing gum on your nose and walking around in public. Fortunately, you don’t live there, so it’s fine if you want to do that. In fact, I encourage you to go right ahead. To do so would be right in alignment with the cosmic omens. April fool! I lied. You should definitely not take yourself too seriously this week; you should look for opportunities to playfully lose your dignity and razz the status quo. But there are craftier ways to do that than by sticking gum on your nose.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Face
Slapping Tata Massage Boxing is a salon in San Francisco that provides an unusual beauty treatment: face slapping. The Thai masseuse named Tata claims to be improving your complexion as she smacks your cheeks and forehead with her hands. She also does “massage boxing,” in which she administers healthgiving punches to your body with her fists. Is there a comparable service available where you live? I highly recommend it. April fool! I lied. Here’s the truth: You should be absolutely firm that you won’t tolerate whacks and wallops—including the psychological kind—even if they are supposedly good for you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): When a
human embryo begins to develop in the womb, the very first body part that appears is—can you guess?—the anus. This scientific fact led the witty commentators at QI’s website to declare that “Every human being starts out as an asshole.” They were making a joke, of course, hinting that every one of us has an unattractive quality or two that make us at least a little bit of a jerk. That’s the bad news, Scorpio. The good news is that you now have an unprecedented chance to transform the asshole aspects of your personality. April fool! I lied. You’re not an asshole, not even a little bit. But it is true that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to try to fix or at least modulate your least attractive qualities.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
To be in strict compliance with cosmic necessity, you should attend a party every day in the coming week. Dance ecstatically, make love abundantly and expose yourself to previously unknown pleasures. Feast on a wide variety of food and drink that introduces you to novel tastes. Make sure you experience record levels of sensual enjoyment, nonstop excitement and dynamic socializing. April fool! I’m exaggerating, although just a little. Try doing a 70 percent version of what I advised.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Lifehacker’s website has a step-by-step guide to set up your home as a command center where you can pursue your plans for world domination. The article provides advice on how to build a surveillance system, encrypt your computer files, and prepare for blackouts and weather emergencies. Do it, Capricorn! Get the lowdown at http://bit.ly/secretlair. April fool! I lied. You don’t really need to create a high-tech fortress. But you would be wise to make your home into more of an ultra-comfortable, superinspiring sanctuary—a place where you feel so safe and strong and smart that you will always have total power over yourself, and never feel driven to fulfill anyone else’s standards of success but your own.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Now
would be an excellent time to launch a new tradition or instigate a fresh trend or make a beautiful thing that will last for a thousand years. I’m talking about an amazing marvel or useful innovation or unique creation that will improve the lives of countless humans all over the planet for the next 40 generations. April fool! I was exaggerating a bit. Producing something that will last a thousand years is too ambitious. How about if you simply launch a new tradition or instigate a fresh trend or create a beautiful thing that will last for the rest of your long life—an amazing marvel or useful innovation or unique creation that will continue to teach and amuse you all along the way?
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The
planetary omens suggest that you need to experience all possible flavors of Doritos corn chips. Here’s the problem: The place where you live offers only a limited range. That’s why I urge you to drop everything and travel to Japan, which is the world leader in Dorito variety. There you can sample coconut-curry-flavored Doritos, along with fried chicken, corn soup, smoked bacon, tuna and mayonnaise, and many others. Buy your plane ticket now! April fool! I lied. The truth is you will benefit from communing with a wide variety of sensations and experiences and ideas in many areas of your life, not just Doritos.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Your patron saint
for the next three months is surrealistic artist Salvador Dalí. Regard him as your muse and role model. In fact, you might want to spout some of his famous declarations as if they were your own. Start with these: 1. “The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad.” 2. “I do not take drugs. I am drugs.” 3. “Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature.” 4. “Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it.” April fool! I lied. Dalí is your patron saint, role model and muse for only the next 14 days, not three months.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You know
bRezsny
blah-blah.” Many hand gestures and shifting vocal inflections accompanied his rap, always in support of variations on “blah-blah.” This is the spirit you should bring to all of your important conversations in the coming week. April fool! I lied. In fact, the opposite is true. It’s crucial for you to speak very precisely and articulately in the coming week. Say exactly what you mean. Don’t rely on meaningless bullshit like “blah-blah.”
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In Somalia,
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): According
to a survey by Public Policy Polling, 4 percent of the population believes that “shape-shifting reptilian people control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies.” My own research suggests that 62 percent of those believers are Pisceans. Are you one? If so, now is a good time to intensify your fight against the shape-shifting reptilian people. April fool! I lied. In fact, I strongly encourage you not to feed your paranoid delusions and fearful reveries. This should be a time when you bolster your positive fantasies, constructive visions and inspiring dreams.
how Jesus could supposedly turn water into wine? Well, St. Brigit, a sixth-century Irish nun, was legendary for an even greater miracle. When visitors came to her monastery in Kildare, she changed her old bathwater into beer for them to drink. I think there’s a good chance you will develop that precise talent sometime soon. April fool! I kind of lied. You won’t really possess St. Brigit’s supernatural power. However, you will have an uncanny ability to make transmutations that are almost as dramatic as changing bathwater to beer.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The band Rush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last May. Guitarist Alex Lifeson delivered an unusual acceptance speech. For the two minutes he spoke, he repeated one word endlessly: “blah.” “Blah-blah-blah,” he began. “Blah-blah-blah, blah-blah
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you can call Rob brezsny for your Expanded Weekly horoscope: (900) 950-7700. $1.99 per minute. Must be 18+. touchtone phone required. Customer service (612) 373-9785. And don’t forget to check out Rob’s website at www.realastrology.com. |
F E AT U R E
photo by LISA bAEtZ
by ROb
For the week of March 27, 2014
STORY
Man of a thousand voices During 30 years as one of the top voice actors in Sacramento, Ray Nakamoto practiced reading aloud for hours every week to maintain his lucrative speaking skills. Always community-minded, Nakamoto added meaning to these drills by reading newspapers and circulars for the Society for the Blind. “I even read Talking Personals in SN&R,” he said, “because the print was so tiny. I thought, ‘Man! If I can sight-read all those abbreviations and that tiny print, that’s going to help me with my technical discipline.’ It was really informative, and that’s how I met my wife, Emma.” Emma is now the talent liaison at Nakamoto Productions, the Sacramento recording studio where Nakamoto works on his current passion— teaching others to break into voice work. A battle with throat cancer ended his voice-acting career in 2004, but didn’t diminish his love for the industry. “I’ve been so blessed that God gave me this talent for 30 years to do voice work,” he said. “Now I want to give back to the community.”
How has technology changed the voiceacting industry? Fifteen years ago, building a home studio would take $2,000. Now you can do it for $250.
Does that increase competition for jobs? There’s a lot of competition. No longer are we working only in Sacramento. The competition is nationwide, but the jobs are nationwide. In fact, they’re international now. So if you’re really good at voice work, the world is your oyster. We’ve never had opportunities like this. Sacramento’s in a recession, but you’ve got all these little towns all across the nation that need voices. There are thousands of channels on cable now. When I was growing up in Sacramento, there were five TV stations. There were 10 radio stations. Now there are, like, 60 just in Sacramento. Then you have Internet radio, website audio, audio wherever you look. Cammie Winston, my co-instructor, does Regional Transit. You hear her voice: “Next stop, Watt Avenue.”
You’re a native Sacramentan? Third-generation Japanese-American. My parents were in the internment camps. When they got out, they said, “We aren’t going to speak Japanese at home. We’re going to live in the white American neighborhood, and if we speak Japanese, we’re going to do it when the kids are asleep. We want our kids to grow up and blend in.” So, [the only Japanese] I know is “teriyaki.” |
A RT S & C U LT U R E
I’m full American. I took broadcasting at [Sacramento State University].
Is that how you got into voice work? Do you see that black-and-white photo on the wall there? That’s me in high school in [my band] Children of Stone. We cut a 45 [record] at Bill Rase Productions, and that was my entree into the recording field at the age of 17. I thought, “Wow! I love this.” I loved the microphones and speakers, I loved working on tape recorders. So I was a producer and voice-casting director at 19, not knowing what the hell I was doing.
You started on the production end? Yes, because I was too shy. I was afraid to get behind a mic.
What was your first paid voice gig? 1975, I think. It was [a commercial for] the Transist-Ear AM radio you put in your ear. I got paid 15 bucks. I thought, “Wow! This is fun!” Then I went on to do Lombards, which was a stereo store. It aired every week on Casey [Kasem’s] American Top 40. And then, my latest jobs, before I stopped doing voice work in 2004, I was the voice for Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Harrah’s Reno, Harveys [Lake Tahoe] and for Tower Records. We produced all the Tower Records spots all across the country.
What was your “money voice”? I did everything. Back in those days, if you were a man of a thousand voices, you were going to get jobs. And I was that, |
AFTER
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in Sacramento. Now, everything is very specific with all the competition. So you want to narrow your niche and become the head of your niche.
Can anyone do voice work? You have to be able read well. You have to have a good ear to take direction. Average voice. You don’t need a spectacular voice. Ninety-five percent of all spots out there are regular people talking. You have exceptions—Sam Elliott, your deep-throated movie-trailer voices. Ninetyfive percent of everybody is just talking normally. The more real you can sound, the more jobs you’re going to get.
How do you sound energetic if you’re reading boring copy? We’re in the digital age, so if you can only maintain high energy for two sentences and then take a breath, you can edit the breaths out. All the radio spots you hear, no one’s breathing because it’s retail. We’re accustomed now to hearing spots where no one’s breathing. When you do audio books or narration, you need the breath for transition and pacing.
What’s the secret to recording a compelling demo? Because there is so much competition, the attention span for a demo is nine seconds. ... If you can’t grab the producers’ attention in nine seconds, you’re out. My strategy on producing demos is to get the producers’ attention on the first spot, and lead them into the next spot so they won’t stop. Ω
03.27.14
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SN&R
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53
Ace of SpAdeS sunday, march 30
monday, march 31
1417 R Street, Sacramento, 95814 www.aceofspadessac.com
All Ages Welcome! friday, april 4
wednesday, april 2
The Brothers Comatose saturday, april 5
wednesday, april 9
sunday, april 13
THREE 6 MAFiA / DA MAFiA 6ix
(CROSSES)
tuesday, april 15
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wednesday, april 16
wednesday, april 23
COMING SOON
04/19 04/21 04/24 04/25 04/27 05/02 05/03 05/07 05/08 05/11 05/12 05/15 05/16 05/17 05/20 05/21 05/23 05/30 05/31 06/13 08/23
Jon Pardi The 1975 The Dandy Warhols Drive-By Truckers Julieta Venegas Ty Dolla $ign Fallrise Suicidal Tendencies Chiodos Twenty One Pilots Riff Raff Devin The Dude / Berner “One” Metallica Tribute Band (Hed) P.E. YG Christina Perri The Unlikely Candidates Black Flag Tech N9ne Mickey Avalon Y&T
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