S 2015 12 31

Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

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Volume 27, iSSue 37

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thurSday, december 31, 2015

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newSreView.com

2 | SN&R | 12.31.15

EditoR’S NotE

dEcEmbER 31, 2015 | Vol. 27, iSSuE 37

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STREETALK LETTERS NEwS + beats FEATuRE SToRy ARTS&CuLTuRE NighT&dAy diSh + off menu STAgE FiLm muSiC ASK JoEy ThE 420 15 miNuTES

CoVER dESigN By hAyLEy doShAy

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 Assistant Editor Anthony Siino Editorial Coordinator Becca Costello Editor-at-large Melinda Welsh Contributors Daniel Barnes, Ngaio Bealum, Alastair Bland, Rob Brezsny, Jim Carnes, Deena Drewis, Joey Garcia, Cosmo Garvin, Blake Gillespie, Lovelle Harris, Jeff Hudson, Jim Lane, Garrett McCord, Kel Munger, Kate Paloy, Patti Roberts, Ann Martin Rolke, Shoka

Design Services Manager Anne Lesemann Art Director Hayley Doshay Associate Art Director Brian Breneman Production Coordinator Skyler Smith Designer Kyle Shine Marketing/Publications Design Manager Serene Lusano Custom Publications Designer Sarah Hansel Contributing Photographers Lisa Baetz, Evan Duran, Wes Davis, Luke Fitz, Taras Garcia, Michael Miller, Bobby Mull, Shoka, Darin Smith, Lauran Worthy Director of Sales and Advertising Corey Gerhard Senior Advertising Consultants Rosemarie Messina, Olla Swanson, Joy Webber, Kelsi White Advertising Consultants Joseph Barcelon, Meghan Bingen, Angel DeLaO, Stephanie Johnson, Dave Nettles, Lee Roberts, Elena Ruiz, Julie Sherry Sales Assistant Matt Kjar Director of Et Cetera Will Niespodzinski Custom Publications Editor Michelle Carl Custom Publications Managing Editor Shannon Springmeyer Custom Publications Writers Kate Gonzales, Anne Stokes Executive Coordinator Jessica Takehara

Director of First Impressions David Lindsay Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Services Assistant Larry Schubert Distribution Drivers Mansour Aghdam, Daniel Bowen, Heather Brinkley, Mike Cleary, Jack Clifford, Lydia Comer, John Cunningham, Lob Dunnica, Chris Fong, Ron Forsberg, Garry Foster, Joanna Gonzalez-Brown, Greg Meyers, Kenneth Powell, Gilbert Quilatan, Lloyd Rongley, Lolu Sholotan, Mark Shelton, Jonathan Taea President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resources Manager Melanie Topp Business Manager Nicole Jackson Accounts Receivable Specialist Kortnee Angel Sweetdeals Coordinator Courtney DeShields Nuts & Bolts Ninja Christina Wukmir Senior Support Tech Joe Kakacek Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins

1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95815 Phone (916) 498-1234 Sales Fax (916) 498-7910 Editorial Fax (916) 498-7920 Website www.newsreview.com SN&R is printed by Bay Area News Group.

Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in SN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. SN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form and to edit them for libel.

Advertising Policies All advertising is subject to the newspaper’s Standards of Acceptance. The advertiser and not the newspaper assumes full responsibility for the truthful content of their advertising message.

Future perfect In this issue, SN&R looks back on 2015  (See “Year in Review,� page 10), but it’s  also time to look ahead.

The upcoming mayoral race, for  example. This isn’t so much about  moving on from the current office  holder, but rather about pushing for  changes that will benefit everyone— not just the privileged.

I’m ready to hear what forerunners Darrell Steinberg and Angelique  Ashby propose. I’m just as interested  to listen to underdogs Tony Lopez  and Russell Rawlings. The latter two  candidates may not seem to stand a  chance, but they do stand to push the  conversation. Let’s talk about, among  other things, social services and care  and resources for the homeless,  undocumented immigrants and other  underserved populations.

I’m also excited for changes to Sacramento’s arts, entertainment and  food scenes. 2015 birthed cool new  restaurants and bars—albeit many  of which were owned and operated  by the same stakeholders. In 2016, in  the interest of staving off all things  homogenous and boring, it’s time for  new players to enter the game. It’s  also time to extend the same creativity and entrepreneurship that drives  the food scene to the region’s visual  arts and performing arts communities. It can be done.

Finally, there’s the elephant on  the block. Earlier this week, I drove  by the new Golden 1 Center; the stillunfinished sports and entertainment  complex has proved divisive. Yet I’m  curiously optimistic. My wish: That it  can coexist with what’s still left of the  downtown region’s character-rich  buildings and businesses. Preservation and development needn’t be  mutually exclusive.

Here’s to the next 12 months in  the 916.

—Rachel leibRock r a c h e ll@ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

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“Driving DoWntoWn on FriDay anD SaturDay nightS Will be crazy.”

asked aT arden Fair mall:

What will change in 2016?

HannaH Takek awa

CarlOs OrTiz

student

It feels hopeful to me. In our own house, we are thinking of remodeling. We have a new puppy. College is taking off. Very positive. I don’t know all of the specifics, but the feeling in Sacramento is there is a lot of excitement over the new arena. Whether the feelings are positive or negative, it is still in the air.

guitarist

I am hoping we get tickets to the events at the new arena. … It is going to be hectic. Just driving downtown on Friday and Saturday nights will be crazy. They have the new light rail that is going from Elk Grove to downtown.

That is the way I would go.

GreG OrTiz

COnCepCiOn TadeO

high school counselor

Nationwide, we have a big election coming up and that should be nauseating to listen to for the next year. My son is going to be a firefighter in 2016. My daughter will be a senior in college and I am looking forward to her graduating, so I don’t hear the big sucking sound of my money going to UC Davis.

THeresa ruCker

writer

pharmacy technician

I am worried about where we are heading, but the human spirit always prevails. I think that the changes show that hope is coming back to the surface.

I don’t see it now, but I am hoping by next year America and the world comes to its senses. I see Sacramento as becoming more of a world-class city.

For myself, I am always changing. I don’t see much changing in Sacramento. The arena is supposed to be done by 2016, but we know how large projects go. They have a tendency to linger on. I am hoping the minimum wage goes up but, like I say, things with the state don’t move very fast.

anTOineT Te Hine flight attendant

I am really hoping the economy continues to improve. I am concerned because the feds have raised the interest rates which affects the Dow. There is a chain reaction.

I have heard property values in Sacramento are improving. … Maybe there will be more employment.

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Define ‘ridiculously abused’ Re “Grinches of the year!” by SN&R staff (SN&R Feature Story, December 24): First of all, I didn’t vote for Ami Bera to replace Dan Lungren.

I was afraid this Democrat son of Indian immigrants might not approve of screenings and background checks of immigrants, including those claiming to be “refugees” even when their lives are not at stake such as were Jews were under the Third Reich.

In the current wave of immigration, “refugee” status is probably being ridiculously abused just so immigrants can get into the U.S., including those who are criminals in their home country.

Personally, when it comes to immigration issues, I will respect those today who have the bravery to stay in their home countries through difficult or desperate political and economic times instead of those who decide to illegally immigrate or those who go whining that they are “refugees” just for not being satisfied with current situations in their country. Many of those whom even claim to be “refugees” in America are found traveling back to their home countries because, of course, political situations change all the time.

Michelle Kunert via email

Repurpose for a purpose Re “Holiday campout” by Nick Miller (SN&R News, December 17): Today, as I walked through Cesar Chavez Park and saw people and sleeping bags along the wall of the former Cafe Soleil building, I thought, “Why not open its kitchen to community service organizations as a food-preparation and serving facility for the homeless?” People could line up for their meals and then eat at the tables and benches in the park. Plus, the building has a covered patio/storage area that could be opened to provide a sheltered sleeping area for a limited number of people.

Meals are already being served on the Ninth Street side of City Hall, and the homeless are already in—and will continue to remain in—the areas around the park, City

Hall and the public library.

Cafe Soleil was a popular breakfast and lunch spot for many people working nearby, but it has remained closed for over a year, and no interested prospective tenants have been approved by the City of Sacramento. In addition, with the proliferation of food trucks and vendors that locate in and around the park on farmers market days and during other events, it may not be profitable for a small-business person to invest in opening and running a new cafe in the building. In the meantime, the building can be put to use to help the less fortunate.

Fred Bundock Sacramento

ONLINE BUZZ

On 2015’s lOcal GRinches Of the yeaR: “Hipster baiting homebuilders” LOL!

Alex BArrios v ia Fa c e b o o k You forgot perhaps the most serious. The city water had been poisoned for a good six months.

Now we wait to see who of us, that live in the center city, gets stomach cancer first. And no one has been held accountable.

John KreMpel v ia Fa c e b o o k After looking at the Creamery and Mill advertising, the world will be sure that Sacramentans are a bunch of douches.

Alison BrennAn v ia Fa c e b o o k

@SacNewsReview

Facebook.com/ SacNewsReview

@SacNewsReview

Online Buzz contributions are not edited for grammar, spelling or clarity.

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Fewer undocumented immigrant detainees have been sent to Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center after poor inspection reports.

ILLUSTRATION BY SERENE LUSANO

Detention hell Inside the Sacramento jail’s ‘Guantanamo Bay’

by Raheem F. hosseini Translation provided

by Angel DeLaO.

The handwritten letters, 20 in all, mostly in Spanish, form a pleading chorus from the immigration detainees inside of Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, on the southern edge of Sacramento County.

Their authors speak with one voice of dismal conditions—10-man cells for a minimum of 22 hours a day, long delays for medical care, no legal assistance, baths with toilet water, clothes that cause rashes and food that makes them ill. They complain about the cold and the squalor.

And they ask for mercy.

“We just want to tell them about the things that we can’t put up with anymore,” a 30-year-old detainee wrote in Spanish.

“We beg that you give us attention.”

6 | SN&R | 12.31.15

This rare glimpse inside one of the U.S. government’s contract-detention sites for undocumented immigrants comes courtesy of an unlikely whistleblower.

Artur Stepanyan is a native of the dismantled Soviet Union, as well as a federally indicted co-conspirator in a pharmaceutical-sales conspiracy. He spent two months inside RCCC as a detainee, but was released September 15, after his attorney sued federal immigration authorities and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, which operates RCCC on the agrarian outskirts of Elk Grove.

A gregarious sort who boasts that one of his attorneys once represented Michael Jackson, Stepanyan says detainees who

r a h e e mh @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

spoke up about problems inside RCCC were ignored or intimidated by deputies and the immigration-enforcement agents assigned to the facility. So, before exiting custody and returning to his family in Los Angeles County, the 38-year-old solicited letters from his fellow noncitizens and brought their voices with him to the outside world.

One of his attorneys provided the letters to SN&R and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California. The 18 letters that this paper reviewed create a sharply consistent document of neglect and deprivation, with detainees complaining about everyday indignities—such as having to share one

dull pair of nail clippers between more than a hundred men, or not being allowed to shower before immigration court, where most represent themselves—and a culture that treats civil detainees worse than the convicted criminals with whom they share the jail.

“This is like fucking Guantanamo Bay,” Stepanyan said of his experience. “It wasn’t America, I’m telling you.”

Or, as one anonymous letter-writer put it in Spanish: “They treat us like animals.”

“We are not criminals. We just don’t have our papers, but we are still humans.”—unsigned letter. Translated from Spanish.

Here’s what you need to know: The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, rents space at RCCC to hold male immigrants as they navigate civil-deportation proceedings. Under the profitable arrangement, which nets the sheriff’s department approximately $6 million a year, the RCCC dormitory for detainees is considered ICE jurisdiction. But it is maintained and operated

beatS

A SOlEmn VIGIl by sheriff’s department personnel, with medical services provided by the county.

The same goes for contract detention sites around the country.

“We have a presence at these facilities, but we are not responsible for the day-today operations of these sites,” explained an ICE official who was not authorized to speak for attribution.

Sacramento became a contract site in 2000. And, for more than a decade, detainees were housed at the downtown jail. In July 2013, they were relocated to the branch facility when the county and ICE inked a five-year deal worth $30 million for the sheriff’s department.

“There’s a big incentive to the counties to rent out space to ICE,” said Kevin R. Johnson, an immigration law expert and dean at the UC Davis School of Law. But many local jail facilities weren’t constructed with long-term detention in mind, Johnson and the ICE official say. ICE developed a set of standards that detention sites are supposed to adhere to and sends inspectors in annually to make sure that’s happening. At least in theory.

It took more than two years for inspectors to see the living conditions for detainees at RCCC, records obtained by SN&R show. ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight made its first visit to the occupied units this past January. ODO cited 49 deficiencies in 15 out of the 16 national detention standards that ICE observes. (By comparison, an ODO inspection last year of the Yuba County Jail, another contract facility with a larger detainee population, yielded 10 deficiencies across six standards.)

The preliminary report reflects some of the issues that detainees complain about: unsanitary conditions in the cells, main kitchen and shower facilities. But mostly the report concerns itself with technical violations, like the absence of a fire evacuation plan and orientation video for incoming detainees.

The ICE official defended the agency’s inspection process as “incredibly rigorous.”

“That’s why they do these reports,” she said.

As bad as RCCC’s January inspection was, conditions have actually worsened over the last several months, according to those who work and reside in the jail. In August, detainees were relocated internally to the Roger Bauman Facility, an aging housing unit at the north end of the sprawling compound.

“That’s when all the problems began,” Stepanyan said.

Comprised of four concrete wings totaling 19,150 square feet, the standalone

structure was originally built in the 1960s, of guys, their families don’t have any idea though it’s been upgraded since. Unlike where they are.” other housing units that can be managed In response to emailed questions from electronically from a command center SN&R, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Tony switchboard, “RBF,” as it’s known, remains Turnbull said RCCC staff was “highly a key-lock facility with heavy metal doors committed to providing a safe environment that deputies sometimes struggle to open. for all detainees and incarcerated persons.

Before the detainees were moved “Our agency’s motto of ‘Service With there—from a more spacious unit with Concern’ is at the forefront of all staff inter50-bed barracks and unfettered access actions,” he wrote. “Staff pride themselves to shower facilities—RBF was largely on being procedurally just, professional and inactive, said a deputy with knowledge of respectful.” the situation and who spoke on the Even on the best of days inside condition of anonymity. And RBF, the men are confined 10 for good reason. to a cell, furnished with The logistical chalbunk beds and a center lenges of separating table that restrict their and choreographmovement. Jesus ing the movement says they have little of detainees to do but play cards with different or board games, security clasand that it’s getting sifications—for too cold to go out meals, yard time, in the morning showers, medical during yard time.

Artur Stepanyan requests and the “This is all they give former immigration detainee law library—proved us,” he said, picking more difficult in at the thin thermal shirt RBF. Those frustraover his tee. tions spilled over into bad The open toilet in the customer service, the deputy corner of the cell doesn’t offer much acknowledged. Overwhelmed jail staff privacy or relief for the guys trying to eat a sometimes forgot to let detainees out couple of feet away, he adds. for scheduled activities, or denied those The latrine also served another purpose, requests out of frustration. according to Stepanyan: “We would use the “I’ll be honest with you, I would hate to toilet, we would shower in the toilet,” he be inside there,” he said of RBF. said. “We call that a bird bath.”

In letters and interviews, several detainShowers come up again and again as a ees complained about being denied yard source of friction. In RBF, the men shower time or television privileges over small, 10 at a time in a room with six showerheads sometimes mysterious infractions. and, until recently, no handrails. In letters According to Jesus, a 35-year-old and interviews, detainees complain about detainee who’s been in RCCC for more not being allowed to wash after haircuts than six months, the last time deputies cut that are administered around midnight. On the television feed, it was because one of an average night, that’s annoying. But when the detainees meowed at a passing guard. a detainee knows he will be woken at 3 “That’s the only excitement we have,” a.m. to appear before an immigration judge, said Jesus, who asked that only his first it’s stressful. name be used due to fears of retaliation.

That last complaint has been addressed, “They’ll turn it off over anything.” according to the deputy. Detainees are now For Karen McConville, Stepanyan’s allowed to shower after haircuts. And Jesus attorney, seeing the same complaints says a handrail was added to the shower articulated again and again proved upsetroom. But, he noted with a smirk, it was ting. “They don’t care,” she said of the installed in the back, so detainees have to sheriff’s department. “They’re getting paid cross a wet floor to use it. what they’re getting paid by ICE.” And the detainees, she added, “they’re being treated as low as anyone can be.”

“It was immoral for the county to ever do business [with ICE],” added Mary Helen Doherty, who coordinates a local continued on page 8 program in which volunteers visit the detainees to improve morale. “A number

“We would shower in the toilet. We call that a bird bath.”

“Detention hell”

Barbecued meats steamed from aluminum platters, lathering the low-roofed Harm Reduction Services clinic in Oak Park with a sour tang. Funky quilts draped down cubicle walls and a handmade sign reminded visitors: “Please don’t fix in your car.”

On that chilly Thursday night, December 17, HRS lent the room to organizers as a staging area to commemorate the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. The observance began in 2003, as a rebuke to Gary Leon Ridgway, a serial strangler of upward of 70 women, who targeted sex workers and runaways in Washington. As part of a plea deal that spared his life, Ridgway, dubbed the “Green River Killer” by the press, said he selected the women because they were easy targets.

The idea that sex workers aren’t missed when they disappear is noxious to Kimberlee Cline, a sex worker and member of the local Sex Workers Outreach Project. “There are people who care about us,” she told attendees. Twenty cities speckled across a dozen nations reiterate that message every December. This was the second year in Sacramento.

Joining for the first time was Monroe, a 23-year-old sex worker who had fled both her pimp and the FBI. She came at the invitation of SWOP Sacramento director Kristen DiAngelo, who helped Monroe access housing and drug counseling.

Monroe has taken advantage of the second chance, paying off old traffic fines through the state’s new amnesty program and getting her driver’s license reinstated for the first time in five years.

It’s depleted her savings, but not her spirits. Additionally, an HIV test brought both negative results and a wave of relief.

People may think lowly of sex workers, she told those gathered for the vigil, “But we’re really just good girls.”

Offering emotional support at a folding table piled with plastic plates and winter coats was Cocoa. In June, tears ran down her dazed face as the sex worker sat in a fast-food restaurant and recounted the routine violence of the streets. She was using then, and limped badly. Six months later, it was as if she’d shaken off a zombie virus. DiAngelo couldn’t help but dote. “Look how beautiful she looks,” she said.

Overhearing, Cocoa laughed bashfully. “Now you made it awkward,” she said.

Behind her, arrayed on a back table, were about 30 neatly stacked bags, packed with hygiene products and winter-weather supplies. In 45 minutes, the two survivors would head to Stockton Boulevard—Sacramento’s notorious prostitution stroll—and dispense them to the sex workers who were still out there.

(Raheem F. Hosseini)

HE HAS mAIl People with complaints or compliments for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department can now send both by email.

On December 23, the newly occupied Office of Inspector General, which takes citizen complaints and monitors what becomes of them, set up an online reporting system via a new email address that won’t be ignored like the last one.

“The goal of adding an online reporting system is to improve the community’s accessibility to the Office of Inspector General,” said new I.G. Rick Braziel, the former Sacramento Police Department chief who took office December 1, after it was left vacant for more than two years. “The more accessible and transparent we are the more we can improve community trust.”

The office can now be reached at (916) 876-4371 or oig@saccounty.net. (RFH)

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The Hall of Fame Class of 2016 results are in: - EVELYN ASHFORD, 4-time Olympic Track and Field Gold Medalist - LARRY BOWA, 5-time All-Star Professional Baseball Player - JERRY MANUEL, Professional Baseball Player and Manager - JERRY ROYSTER, 16-year veteran of Major League Baseball - URIJAH FABER, Mixed Martial Arts World Champion

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8 | SN&R | 12.31.15 8 | SN&R | 12.31.15

continued from page 7

“I want my liberty and I want to be back home with my family.”—35-year-old male, two years in detention. Translated from Spanish.

Behind the smudged wall of glass that divides the visiting tank, Jesus lifts a telephone receiver to his ear and smiles. He doesn’t get many visitors down this way.

His family lives in Modesto—too far to round-trip at night—and the prohibitive phone rates the sheriff’s department charges its inmates and detainees mean Jesus has been unable to call home. “It adds up quick,” he said.

Jesus has spent more than six months in detention. Convicted of a felony domestic violence charge earlier this year, he was taking court-ordered classes and serving a sentence of probation when his probation officer turned him over to an ICE agent in June. On June 25 at 2:20 p.m., he was booked into RCCC on an “INS” hold, online sheriff’s department records show. As for his domestic-violence case, the one for which he was serving a sentence of probation, online records from the Stanislaus Superior Court show one last update, also on June 25: “PURGE FILE.” Civil detentions are intended to ensure that noncitizens make their appearances in immigration court pending a possible removal from this country, but can’t be a substitute for a criminal sentence.

The ICE official said the agency considers “a variety of factors” before detaining someone, including an individual’s criminal history, immigration record and community ties. As of December 17, 32,372 noncitizens were in custody around the country. Several hundred thousand more immigrants with open removal cases, “the vast majority of people,” the official said, were being monitored out of custody.

Even as ICE has reformed its detention priorities, UC Davis’ Johnson says the standards are a little murky. Anyone with what ICE calls an “aggravated felony” is fair game, but that term applies to misdemeanor crimes as well, including possession of small amounts of marijuana. “Any drug crimes qualifies,” Johnson explained.

“There are very few exceptions.”

Jesus is 35. He says his parents brought him from Mexico to California when he was 1 year old, a common-law citizen without the paperwork to legitimize him. California is where his four children were born, too.

He doesn’t know what he’d do if deported to Mexico and worries that his U.S. upbringing would make him a target for a ransom kidnapping. “There’s cartels and stuff,” he said. “They’re going to think I’m wealthy, you know?”

Misconceptions aside, Jesus doesn’t have the money to hire an attorney. He’s

representing himself in a plea for amnesty.

Approximately 55 percent to 60 percent of detainees in Northern California lack counsel, says Saira Hussain, a staff attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice—Asian Law Caucus. “If you go to immigration court on any given day, you will find that the majority of people are unrepresented,” she said.

Both the Asian Law Caucus and UC Davis conduct monthly legal orientations for detainees at RCCC. Attorneys and law students used to meet individually with detainees afterward, but ICE put a halt to that a few months ago, Hussain says.

With limited access to outside representation, the jail’s law library becomes even more critical. Detainees are supposed to get five hours a week in the library, so that they may research their cases and make copies or toll-free phone calls to private attorneys, for the few who can afford them. The January preliminary audit at RCCC flagged waiting periods of at least a week and noted that some law library materials were outdated.

Though it took years for ICE inspectors to evaluate detainee conditions, RCCC has been visited a total of four times this year

by ICE representatives, an official says, and as recently as December 3. The ICE official says the latest report was still pending, but a sheriff’s deputy with knowledge of the inspection said the jail “got dicked pretty hard” regarding deficiencies with use-offorce procedures and food preparation.

The ICE official also confirmed exclusively to SN&R that the agency stopped sending detainees to RCCC in September as a result of the inspections. But that was temporary. On December 21, ICE notified the sheriff’s department that it would restart housing new detainees at RCCC due to progress made on some deficiencies.

“This signifies the confidence ICE has in our efforts to meet their standards,” Sgt. Turnbull wrote.

RCCC averaged 119 detainees per day last year, an ICE report states. On December 28, Turnbull said there were 73 detainees in custody.

Jesus has noticed the drop in population as well. “There’s less now,” he said.

“There used to be more. But they haven’t brought any.”

Asked at what point compliance issues would cause ICE to terminate its relationship with a contract facility, the official said it’s happened elsewhere but couldn’t provide specific occasions.

“I think the goal is to work with the facility,” she said. “If a facility cannot adhere to our stringent standards and [is] unable to take appropriate [action], we have terminated contracts and stopped working with jurisdictions. So yes, it does happen.” Ω

STILLL SMO STIL SMOKIN’ Buzz worthy UC Davis scientists work to bring back bees

BY ALASTAIR BLAND

As most people know, wild-bee populations are dropping around the country. At this same time, the demand for insectpollination services is increasing, according to a paper published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

To combat this trend, which could eventually compromise the United States’ food supply, UC Davis scientists are working with farmers throughout the Central Valley to restore native plant habitats adjacent to cropland. Their hope is that this will prompt a resurgence in numbers of wild bees, on which many farmers rely.

Neal Williams, an associate professor of entomology at UC Davis and a coauthor of the new paper, says he and colleagues have been planting native, drought-tolerant plants at 17 farm sites between Chico and Lost Hills, near Bakersfield.

The hope, he said, is to build up wild-bee numbers and reduce farmers’ dependence on domesticated honeybees, populations of which have been struggling for years around the world.

Bees are a linchpin of the world’s agricultural economy. In California, crops like blueberries, squashes, apples and avocados may not bear fruit if insects do not frequent the orchards “If we lose the and fields during bloom time and transfer flower pollen from one habitat wild bees plant to the next. In the case of need, we can’t bring almonds, the need for pollination them back.” is so huge that millions of hives of domesticated honeybees— Neal Williams distinct from the scores of native UC Davis entomology bee species that also live in North professor America—are shipped in from around the country and placed in the vast orchards of the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys during the winter bloom.

Having wild bees in proximity to almond groves helps farmers in several ways. For one, the insects assist directly with pollination, meaning farmers may need to rent fewer beehives. The presence of wild bees also seems to cause honeybees to work more efficiently.

The sites on which Williams is working amount to just a handful of acres so far. His goal, though, is to show farmers everywhere the potential benefits of planting and maintaining bee-friendly habitat.

The paper was led by scientists at the University of Vermont and mapped the widespread decline of wild bees. The research found that wild-bee abundance dropped in 23 percent of the nation from 2008 to 2013. The study also observed that 39 percent of American cropland that depends on insect pollination faces a “mismatch” between increasing pollination demands and declining bee numbers.

“Our hope is that wild bees can help offset drops in honeybee numbers,” Williams said. “But if we lose the habitat wild bees need, we can’t bring them back.” Ω

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5 1 20 Be honesT, sAcrAmenTo: 2015 eXhAusTeD. For me, it wasn’t just the effort of trying to keep more responsible-adult plates spinning at the same time than ever before while trying to figure out how to get a few more going. It was also the constant beatdown of bad news.

Part of that is my fault, for spending time on social media; it’s a hot, confining crucible of bullshit up in there most of the time. But the IRL sadness was real: mass shootings, Donald Trump, Martin Shkreli, our sleazebag mayor and his charter school cronies gradually tightening their grip, complex geopolitics with no easy solution, Donald Trump, a seemingly endless stream of videos starring police officers executing innocent citizens. And Donald Trump.

Confronted by all of that, it’s tempting to retreat into the comforts of pop culture. And 2015 gave us a fantastic bounty of amazing art.

THe SACRAMenTAnS We quIzzeD FOR THIS STORY: Berry Accius: activist and

Joe Kye: musician,

russell rAwlinGs: mayoral

Joseph in the Well

candidate

From Mad Max: Fury Road to Selma to Kendrick

founder, Voice of the Youth

Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, the past year was

cArmichAel DAve: host,

full of transcendent films, music, books, podcasts

KHTK

and TV.

Jose Di GreGorio: artist lAurA mATrAnGA: owner, TAmie DrAmer: chairwoman, Kicksville Vinyl & Vintage Organize Sacramento cArlA meyer: restaurant reviewer, cATherine enfielD: food

But let’s take this opportunity to let it all go (no, not like Frozen; that was 2013). We reached out to Sacramentans to fill us in on their highs and lows of 2015, and what to look forward to in the coming year. So breathe deep, Sacramento, and try to make peace—you’ll need it for 2016.

—BriAn BrenemAn b ri a nrb @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

KAcheT JAcKson-henDerson: fashion blogger, thelipstickgiraffe.com

TrishA rhomBerG: owner, Old Gold

Anne mArie schuBerT: Sacramento County District Attorney

sAm somers Jr.: chief, Sacramento Police Department

blogger, a.k.a. Miss Munchie

The Sacramento Bee

Johnny flores: podcast

Verge Center For the Arts

michAel sTevenson: producing director, Capital Stage

KATie mccleAry: founder of 916Ink, a literary nonprofit

meloDy sTone: podcast co-host, Hooks & Stone

host, Serious Talk Seriously

ryAn GrAhAm: brewer, Track 7 Brewing Co.

liv moe: executive director,

XochiTl: local musician

Look for many more Sacramentans chiming in on their 2015 favorites and memories, and more answers from those interviewed here, at www.newsreview.com.

10 | SN&R | 12.31.15

to piMp a ButterFLY

no citieS to Love

HaMiLton

tranSMiSSon.aLpHa.deLta

2015

Music that Made an iMpact anne Marie schubert: “Sugar,” Maroon 5.

Why? Because the music video that goes with it—surprising newlyweds at their receptions—is awesome and makes me smile every time I think of it. For those couples, it’s a memory of a lifetime.

Melody stone: Hamilton, the musical.

This incredible hip-hop opera about our $10 Founding Father without a father is a work of genius and everyone should go listen to the entire soundtrack right now.

Joe Kye: I’m a bit late to the party, but the Goat Rodeo Sessions—a collaboration between Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Stuart Duncan and Edgar Meyer—dominated my playlist this year. Their interesting blend of Americana, classical and jazz is utterly captivating. carla Meyer: Sleater-Kinney, No Cities to Love, because I waited so long for a

Year

in review

new album and this one’s great instead of just obligatory. Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly, because I love his phrasing, thoughtfulness and use of jazz.

Michael stevenson: Sarah Jarosz. She’s amazing. saM soMers Jr. : Chris Cornell. Good any year.

Jose di GreGorio: So Stressed.

Specifically their album The Unlawful Trade Of Greco-Roman Art. ryan GrahaM: Strung Out’s Transmission.Alpha.Delta. They have been my favorite band for years. Got to see them play twice touring in support of the album. It was definitely a high point of the year. berry accius: Hip-hop is dead.

Controlled and poisoned by corporate America and ruined by culture vultures. I

love a lot of underground talent this way like Luke Tailor and Will Pwr. carMichael dave: The D.O.C., No One Can Do It Better. With the NWA movie out, I, like a lot of suburban white kids of the ’80s and ’90s, was very interested to see the backstory of these childhood giants that I never understood. Rediscovering the music reminded me of perhaps the most underrated album of the gangsta rap movement. After D.O.C. released this album, he crashed his car, smashing his larynx, effectively ending his career. But not before laying down a masterpiece. People may remember “It’s Funky Enough” but the final track “The Grand Finale” featuring additional verses by Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E is (to me) the greatest rap song ever written. Check it out. Trust me.

Johnny Flores: Sleater-Kinney’s No Cities To Love. I love bands that are angry but don’t beat you over the head about it.

Sleater-Kinney are one the best bands that scratch that itch for me.

Katie Mccleary: I adored Ryan Adam’s cover album of Taylor’s Swift’s 1989. He found the dark, moody side of her lyrics and created an amazing sense of urgency— it’s the kind of music that makes you want to run away and find a quiet space to look at the stars.

Kachet JacKson-henderson: None.

Because it sucks. #oldschool.

Xochitl: Currently obsessed with Sara Bareilles’ Waitress album. She was feeling a lack of creativity and decided to spark it back by writing a musical. Very brave of her to step out of her comfort zone!

Bernie SanderS

the year’s Most inspirinG person

Joe Kye: Bernie Sanders. Because he’s not about the charade and parade of modern-day politics; he’s about representing and reinvigorating the middle class.

Feel the Bern!

Michael stevenson: Jimmy Carter. Endurance.

anne Marie schubert: San Bernardino Sheriff’s Detective Jorge Lucero. He walked into a room of complete strangers and told them he would take a bullet for them. In that moment in time and terror—the dedication and willingness of a police officer to risk his or her

life for others rose above all other debates that have questioned the professionalism and sacrifices of the men and women of law enforcement. russell rawlinGs: Without a doubt, Bernie Sanders deserves this title. I’m inspired that we have a starting point toward

progress, even given that the rest of the political landscape looks both frightening and dire.

Katie Mccleary : It’s difficult to find an inspiring person in a sea of sensationalized stories about celebrities turned criminals … and so I will turn locally to Jessica Rhodes, the executive director of the Yoga Seed Collective. She has this amazing ability to inspire fun and creativity while also exuding calmness. She is warm, authentic, optimistic, is utterly present and deeply cares about helping people, usually the most unfortunate, in Sacramento find balance through yoga.

“YEAR IN REVIEW” c o n t i n u e d o n pag e 1 2

12.31.15 | SN&R | 11

Year

c o n t i n u e d F r o M pag e 1 1

in review

2015 photo by Jason franK rothenberg

Most MeMorable orable pop-culture MoMent carla Meyer: Caitlyn Jenner’s interview with Diane

Broad citY

russell rawlings: The Man in the High Castle on Amazon Prime. I love Philip K. Dick and “alternative history” as a fictional genre. It’s very well done, and very cinematic. I’m sure that this is Ridley Scott’s fault. liv Moe: It’s pathetic, but I watch a lot of competitive cooking shows.

Because I’m always operating on a bunch of crazy deadlines there’s something therapeutic about watching someone else freak out for 45 minutes. catherine enField: Jessica Jones— raw, real, not a ridiculous storyline.

Katie Mccleary: I’m always late to the “what’s on TV” game, but we started watching The Goldbergs and I have fallen deeply in love with the structure and story of the show. It’s like a funnier version of The Wonder Years, but for those of us who grew up in the ’80s. The show has great actors, genius comedic timing and provides a great commentary on ’80s pop culture.

Patton Oswalt provides the voice-over of the grown-up boy looking back on his childhood and it’s just perfect. ryan grahaM: New show: Blindspot, totally unsuspected and well done. Old show: The Americans.

Who doesn’t love Cold War cat-andmouse programming?

12 | SN&R | 12.31.15

Melody stone: I’m loving the quirky, how-did-this-get-made musical rom-com Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I thoroughly enjoyed binge watching season two of Transparent. But my favorite is going to have to be Netflix’s series about an alcoholic private investigator with superstrength, Jessica Jones. carMichael dave: South Park.

Continues to be the smartest show on television and it’s not close. saM soMers Jr.: The anne Marie “poLice Blacklist. James Spader, schubert : I’m across aMerica enough said! pretty naive and Joe Kye: Broad City. continue to uninformed on pop Hilarious, witty social culture. I would say kiLL BLack commentary on the the unraveling of peopLe without plight of the modern Bill Cosby has to be 20-something-year-old. repercussions.” my most memorable anne Marie schubert: event of 2015. Why? —berry accius House of Cards. I sure hope Twenty-seven women politics isn’t that twisted. having the courage to laura Matranga: I enjoy the step forward on 48 Hours home renovation show Rehab Addict was one of my most significant with Nicole Curtis. It’s the only one memories of all time. on TV that doesn’t make me cringe. liv Moe: “Hotline Bling,” both because I love the taMie draMer: Show Me a Hero video and for James Turrell’s response. miniseries from HBO, because the taMie draMer: Losing both The Daily Show and story was so relevant and similar to Colbert Report.

Sacramento’s affordable-housing saM soMers Jr.: A new Star Wars,, because the struggles.

Force is nothing to mess with. carla Meyer: Transparent and carMichael dave: Star Wars.. The one (semi-) Luther (old episodes on the latter; am constant since childhood. catching up on Netflix). Transparent Katie Mccleary: The Force Awakens,, i.e, the is so intimate and its characters so best Star Wars movie ever made, gave us hardcore flawed yet recognizably human. fans what we always wanted after the original three.

Luther is just juicy—exciting police Screw the prequels. Thanks, J.J. Abrams! drama.

i

oF the year

russell rawlings : Leonard Nimoy and B.B. King, two amazing humans, shuffled off this mortal coil.

Johnny Flores: ESPN backing out of showing K.J.’s movie once it came to light that he was accused of inappropriate behavior with a minor. ryan grahaM: Watching Ronda Rousey get knocked out. Sometimes even the most talented athletes need a dose of humility.

Kachet JacKson-henderson: Bill Cosby and all of the women. Because all of the WOMEN! Xochitl : Demi Lovato performing.

This girl has been through hell and back. After rehab, she has come back stronger than ever.

photo courtesy of disney abc television group

best tv

Sawyer.

caitLYn Jenner

Best movie of the year

PIXELS

AMERICAN SNIPER

THE FORCE AWAKENS

SELMA

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

ROOM

Carla meyer: Room.

Such terrific performances by (Elk Grove’s own) Brie Larson and the wonderful young actor Jacob Tremblay.

So much tension and intimacy.

Berry aCCius: This is

tough because I had two and the reason why is it spoke to my childhood and me coming up as teen, Straight Outta Compton! Shit, that was me, my era, this is how I moved back in the days. During the late ’80s, early ’90s, what youth wasn’t influenced

by NWA?

tamie Dramer: Selma.

Because it is good to be inspired over and over by the civil-rights movement and that setbacks can be overcome with determination and good organizing!

favorite restaurant of the year Carla meyer: Empress Tavern,

because it’s beautiful, and the food is sublime. liv moe: Dumpling House! One visit and the reason why is obvious.

Joe Kye: Laos Kitchen. Hands down best chicken broth ever—clean, deeply flavorful and reeking of homemade quality. sam somers Jr.: Mulvaney’s B&L. Great food and service! russell rawlinGs: Lou’s Sushi, because sushi and because Lou. There are lots of great restaurants in Sacramento, though, and this is a very tough question.

Berry aCCius: I have several favorites, but Chando’s Tacos: best tacos, period!

Johnny flores: Kasbah. They’ve completely revamped their menu with fresh, authentic recipes. Plus, they make my favorite sangria in town.

CarmiChael Dave: Mikuni. Taro and his crew make you feel like family, but that’s a small bonus if the food sucks. It doesn’t. It’s the best. anne marie sChuBert: Waffle Experience in Natomas. Why? I had a work lunch meeting there. Driving there, I wondered, “Why in the world am I going to some waffle place for

PARIS

sam somers Jr.: American Sniper and Selma … love movies based on real people and events.

MINIONS

anne marie sChuBert:

ryan Graham: With my

INSIDE OUT

kids, I only go to kid movies. So, I’ll say Minions.

Katie mCCleary: Inside Out is Pixar’s best-written film to date—the movie made me bawl and swoon all at the same time.

lunch … way too fattening and not my thing.” The food was incredible: fresh, fun and unique. You will see the restaurant filled with active-duty military and retired veterans. I hear the owner is a vet. The owners are great community partners. Fine food.

Fine people. ryan Graham: I can’t directly answer this as it would be an ABC violation for me.

Catherine enfielD: New—Localis, love how fresh and creative the dishes are. Overall—Fish Face, it’s the perfect after-workout food: full of protein, low on calories.

the one news moment you will never forGet

miChael stevenson: Star Wars. You know why.

Pixels. Why? Because my kids loved it. I did love the popcorn that came with it.

CHANDO’S TACOS

photo BY StEVEN ChEA

russell rawlinGs: The death of Freddie Carlos Gray and the subsequent protests in Baltimore. Sadly, we need reminders that racial inequality still exists, and this was a glaring example. We all need to remember and learn from the situation. meloDy stone: 2015 had more shootings than I care to remember; but I was working in the Capital Public Radio newsroom during the attacks on Paris and watching that news roll in hit me hard. I spent the

afternoon updating stories, retweeting news sources and sobbing. tamie Dramer: The mayor saying he will not seek a third term. miChael stevenson: Paris attacks.

Katie mCCleary: Same-sex couples can marry! That’s awesome.

KaChet JaCKson-henDerson: Paris attacks. I had just been visiting, and had noticed troops all around with guns at popular places. My initial thought was someone important

must’ve been visiting, not that the country was on alert. sam somers Jr: They found water on Mars! I was hoping they would find Martians! anne marie sChuBert: San Bernardino. trisha rhomBerG: November Paris bombing. Knowing the band, knowing people, such a huge and sad piece of the world. Horrific everyday possibilities are just mind boggling.

People are scarier than sharks.

Berry aCCius: Police across America continue to kill black people without repercussions. After one year of rebellions all across America, in 2015 it only got worse, nothing has gotten better.

Johnny flores: Paris and San Bernardino shootings. ryan Graham: The Paris terrorist attacks. The family and I were in Amsterdam that night waiting to fly home the next day.

“YEAR IN REVIEW” C O N T I N U E D O N PAG E 1 5

12.31.15 | SN&R | 13

building a

HealtHy S a c r a m e n t o

a Makeover for an Underpass

by N ata s h a vo N K a e N e l

I

t doesn’t always take millions of dollars to improve a city. In fact, it is often the smaller projects, spearheaded by community members and activists, that can really transform a neighborhood.

Katie Valenzuela Garcia, an Oak Park resident and project consultant for an upcoming mural beautification project, knows this. Valenzuela Garcia has been working with Caliph Assagai of Public Interest Advocacy to transform the Highway 99 underpass at 2nd Avenue between Franklin and Alhambra boulevards into a place of pride for local residents.

The underpass is one of the main connections between Oak Park and Curtis Park and has been a source of blight and concern for many years.

“Residents really saw the underpass as a safety and security concern,” Valenzuela Garcia says. “Traffic was moving really quick, it was really dark and people would park RVs under there for weeks at a time. It was terrible.”

The plan to revamp the underpass was drafted with input and support from Public Interest Advocacy, The California Endowment’s Building Healthy

Communities initiative, local residents and business owners, and other community supporters including Oak Park and Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Associations, the North Franklin District, and Oak Park Business District. Suggested changes include improving lighting, bike lanes and sidewalks, removing parking, and implementing traffic calming measures. But what Valenzuela Garcia is the most excited about it is the mural.

“This sorT of Thing can seem really small or insignificanT, buT iT makes a big difference in how people feel abouT Their neighborhood.”

Katie Garcia, Project Consultant and Oak Park resident

Phil America, an internationally known artist and writer based in Sacramento, has graciously volunteered his time to the project. And while the mural design is still

being finalized, Valenzuela Garcia says they plan on highlighting what has historically stood in both neighborhoods and what remains now. She hopes this project will improve cohesion between Oak Park and Curtis Park, and make the underpass “a place people move to, instead of a place people move through.”

“This sort of thing can seem really small or insignificant, but it makes a big difference in how people feel about their neighborhood, how they feel about really walking around and interacting with their neighborhood,” Valenzuela Garcia says. “Projects like this make people want to come outside and talk to people, to interact, to do things, and that increases health, both physical and mental health.”

As well as improving the health of the local community, Valenzuela Garcia emphasizes that this project has empowered local residents to become decision makers in their neighborhood. The multiple community meetings where they debated different ways to transform the underpass “gives people exposure to what it looks like to create change in their neighborhood, and the more people we do that with, the more change agents we create and the healthier these neighborhoods become.”

your ZIP code shouldn’t predict how long you’ll live – but it does. Staying healthy requires much more than doctors and diets. Every day, our surroundings and activities affect how long – and how well – we’ll live.

Health Happens in neighborhoods. Health Happens in Schools.

Health Happens with Prevention.

BuIldIng HEalTHy COmmunITIES In 2010, The California Endowment launched a 10-year, $1 billion plan to improve the health of 14 challenged communities across the state. Over the 10 years, residents, community-based organizations and public institutions will work together to address the socioeconomic and environmental challenges contributing to the poor health of their communities.

help make this project a reality! Individuals or businesses can email their feedback about the project design to 2ndavenueunderpass@gmail.com or attend one of the upcoming stakeholder meetings. To donate to the project, mail a check to Public Interest advocacy at 717 K Street, Suite 420, Sacramento, Ca 95814, or email the above address for more options.

paid with a grant from the california endowment 14 | SN&R | 12.31.15

Caliph assagai of Public Interest advocacy and Oak Park resident Katie Valenzuela garcia are working with the community to beautify the Highway 99 underpass at 2nd avenue.

Photo by anne Stokes

www.SacBHC.org

miranda JuLY

Year

c o n t i n u e d f r o m pag e 1 3

in review

2015

PolitiCal lesson oF 2015

photo BY CAMERoN WIttIG

Ryan gRaham: Hate rhetoric and

best thing you Read all yeaR? CaRmiChael dave: Twitter. An open book into our cruel, awesome, crazy, wonderful society. I’m addicted. We have been brought together like never before on social media, and I’m still not sure it’s a good thing. liv moe: I’ve read a lot of great books this year, although Sally Mann’s biography left the biggest impression. Mann’s meditations on art and photography caused me to reconsider what I value as an artist, curator and arts administrator. In an age where art as experience and spectacle continues to gain traction, the concept that we might appreciate something in a meditative, thoughtful way seems comparatively quiet but also refreshing. sam someRs JR.: The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

Russell RaWlings: The Political Campaign Desk Reference by Michael McNamara. miChael stevenson: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. anne maRie sChubeRt: The Sacramento Bee story, “Genny’s World: Homeless in Sacramento; A death on the streets.” beRRy aCCius: The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams.

Katie mCCleaRy: Hands down the best book published in 2015 was by our very own Christian Kiefer. His novel The Animals is about a man hiding from his wretched past at an animal sanctuary in Northern Idaho and what happens to the animals, the woman he loves and himself when the enemy comes calling. Literary and lush sentences with a good plot?

That’s good stuff.

CaRla meyeR: The First Bad Man by Miranda July.

Sleater-Kinney and Miranda July. I obviously have a type!

CatheRine enField: Well, I actually listened to The Third Plate by Dan Barber. It really opens up your mind to bigger thoughts regarding the farm-to-fork movement and sustainable food.

15 | SN&R | 12.31.15

one thing to leave behind in 2015 melody stone: Can this be the last year for

ugly Christmas sweaters? I’m so sick of that tradition.

Ryan gRaham: The drought.

CaRla meyeR: The drought (fingers crossed).

CaRmiChael dave: The heat. I sound old, but I hate the heat. And it seemed like it was hot pretty much the whole year. I can’t move because I’m a native and I love this city with all my heart, but I’m destined to be one of those old men yelling about the heat. It’s a lock. sam someRs JR.: You know that procedure they do when you turn 50? Done! tRisha RhombeRg: Diapers.

Katie mCCleaRy: It’s time for this nation to eradicate racism. What a stupid tragedy that so much violence in communities across the nation in 2015 was against black men … often young black men who had talents to share with the world. Honest conversations need to happen in homes, schools and churches across America that address the roots of racism and privilege (in its various forms) that don’t shame people into silence, but rather illuminate the many layered issues at hand and propel them to seek understanding and resolutions towards a better world.

fear-mongering play well with the American public.

Katie mCCleaRy: It’s scary and fascinating that Trump is likely to win the Republican ticket. What does that say about us and our participation in democracy? It says we don’t care—that we value pop culture over thoughtful government.

That’s frightening. Those who vote for him are just pissing away their opportunity to be smart and engaged citizens. anne maRie sChubeRt: Just because you are a billionaire doesn’t mean you are qualified to be president of the United States.

Jose di gRegoRio: Be kind and grateful to others. Don’t talk shit about people with different backgrounds, but stand up for yourself against bigots, bullies and fascists. tRisha RhombeRg: Never be surprised at how stupid your fellow countrymen can be.

beRRy aCCius: It’s a lesson I already knew: Politics is not about the people, but the money certain people put into their political agenda.

Johnny FloRes: Guns are more important than citizens.

KaChet JaCKson-hendeRson: If you have a lot of money, anyone can be a frontrunner in a presidential election.

CaRmiChael dave: I’ve always been a Republican. And now the party has turned into a festering hunk of psycho. I’m a political orphan. Change is coming. It’s inevitable. Can’t continue like this much longer. Too much weird.

CatheRine enField: That history repeats itself. Watching racism, bigotry and ignorance constantly rise up over and over. I’m actually not into following politics, but the next election is scaring me.

CaRla meyeR: There’s life after Celebrity Apprentice. liv moe: When embarking on a project, consider the expectations of all involved at the outset. tamie dRameR: Don’t bother to expect the city council to do the right thing, but fight like hell anyway. sam someRs JR.: Words matter.

What Will you miss the most about 2015?

Katie mCCleaRy: Another year has flown by and my children are a year older and I have more wrinkles and all the amazing things that happened are now memories. I always mourn the closing of December, but look forward to new adventures in 2016. I will also miss pizza rat. liv moe: A year spent enjoying the company of my friends and loved ones.

CaRla meyeR: I only get to review Empress Tavern the one time. tamie dRameR: Cosmo Garvin. miChael stevenson: Being younger. sam someRs JR.: The snowball fight with my daughters when we cut our Christmas tree. Didn’t want it to end, but it will always be a great memory.

Ryan gRaham: My kids at ages 9 and 6. They’ll never be this age again.

CaRmiChael dave: That for eight months of 2015 I was still in my 30s.

Russell RaWlings: All of the dry weather. Before I get roasted for this, I know that we need rain and I do love rain. Unfortunately, it’s very inconvenient for traveling outdoors in a powerchair! I am overjoyed that we are getting some rain again, but I do wish that it would happen between 2-6 a.m.

Jose di gRegoRio: That this was the year I really tried to forge my own path with my life. In turn, it’s what I will look forward to continuing in 2016. tRisha RhombeRg: The cleanliness of new floors. We moved into a newly refurbished loft and the new appliances and shiny floors are beginning to dull.

Johnny FloRes: Having Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and that my 30s are over.

Joe Kye: Nothing! The show must go on! Ω

t

d JIM n a S E N R A B L E I N

BY DA

LANE

SN&R CRITICS DANIEL BARNES AND JIM LANE ON 2015’S BEST AND WORST FILMS 16 | SN&R | 12.31.15

Channel your inner Gywneth See niGht&Day

19

winG nutS See oFF Menu

20

Sorry, PatriCk Swayze See FilM

24

Joey reFleCtS See aSk Joey

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In the last two years,

SN&R critics Daniel Barnes and Jim Lane have placed the same film on their best-of-the-year lists only twice—12 Years a Slave in 2013 and The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014. In 2015, there’s not a single overlapping movie. Yet there are some strange similarities—both lists feature a Noah Baumbach movie (Mistress America and While We’re Young), an animated movie (Anomalisa and Inside Out), a story of teenage female angst (Breathe and Diary of a Teenage Girl) and a movie about stubborn women standing up to the patriarchy (Mad Max: Fury Road and Far from the Madding Crowd). From Brooklyn and Mars to Tehran and Timbuktu, from the mind of an adolescent girl to the mind of Marlon Brando, the best films of 2015 touched our hearts and fired our imaginations.

MIllennIal narcIssIsM and other cIneMatIc touch poInts

Top 10 films

Mad Max: Fury road

1. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence: Imagine Stanley Kubrick directing Monty Python, or Wes Anderson and Ingmar Bergman collaborating on an art installation, and you begin to sense the psycho-comedic mindset running amok through Roy Andersson’s categorydefying masterpiece.

2. Mistress America: Noah Baumbach’s film combines the millennial narcissism of Frances Ha with the jaundiced humanity of Greenberg and pitches it at the speed of screwball comedy. Greta Gerwig created a classic character and Lola Kirke became a movie star. ... Too bad hardly anyone noticed.

3. Anomalisa: If you thought Team America: World Police had the last word on puppet sex, think again. In this pensive and surreal stop-motion mind-blower, the most achingly real and unsettling intimate sex scene in movie history is only one of the many miracles on display.

4. Mad Max: Fury Road: An endlessly inventive action film that assaults patriarchal oppression as it much as it assaults the senses. Charlize Theron is a coal-eyed badass for the ages, but a second viewing reveals the scrambled intricacy of Tom Hardy’s performance.

5. The Duke of Burgundy: A lesbian love story with more to offer than Todd Haynes’ exquisitely crafted but emotionally chilly Carol. Writerdirector Peter Strickland previously made the hypnotic Berberian Sound Studio, but this film penetrates deeper, finding the erotic in the banal and the banal in the erotic.

6. Timbuktu: I could never shake Abderrahmane Sissako’s searing and lyrical look at an African city overrun by jihadists. Even as every act of religious repression gets met by a reflexive act of artistic expression, there persists a sinking feeling that quiet beauty will inevitably explode into senseless violence.

7. Jafar Panahi’s Taxi: Panahi’s third this-is-not-a-film since the Iranian government banned him from filmmaking, Taxi blurs the lines between documentary and drama until they’re irrelevant. It’s a commute through the streets of Tehran, a touching meditation on artistic powerlessness and a prankster’s ode to the creative spirit.

8. It Follows: One of the best horror films of the millennium, deeply unsettling and nightmarishly lucid while never betraying its high-concept premise. The effect felt like Texas Chainsaw Massacre-era Tobe Hooper directing a Richard Linklater rewrite of Under the Skin.

9. The Hateful Eight: In a year when racial tensions continued escalating, the gleeful exploitation of Tarantino feels like a strangely soothing salve. In this widescreen Western/ murder-mystery Tarantino subverts his own genre trappings to examine the

long cons necessary for black men to survive in white spaces.

10. Breathe: The most unfortunately overlooked film of 2015, a devastating look at anguish and manipulation in a teenage friendship. Directing her second feature, Melanie Laurent brings all the hellish truth of Welcome to the Dollhouse without any of the quirky sadism.

Top five documentaries 1. Listen to Me Marlon: Most contemporary documentaries begin with a conclusion and structure the rest of the film around reaching it, but every frame of Stevan Riley’s exhilarating audio tour through Marlon Brando’s tortured psyche teems with discovery.

2. The Look of Silence: Joshua Oppenheimer’s outrage-inducing flip side to the role-playing insanity of The Act of Killing is just as emotionally devastating and even more beautifully shot and edited, with an eye for ghostly compositions and an ear for eerie silences.

3. In Jackson Heights: As attention spans continue to shrink, the let-thecamera-roll patience and empathy of Frederick Wiseman feels more like a luxurious throwback. In Jackson Heights, about the culturally diverse Queens neighborhood, is three-plus hours of people delivering speeches at public forums and community

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continued from Page 17

the martian

Walt Disney’s flawless animated masterpiece was a gloriously sumptuous confection, telling the old story without irony or revisionism. Cate Blanchett brought the stepmother to malicious life, but the movie’s revelation was Downton Abbey’s Lily James in the title role, with one of the most radiant smiles in movie history.

4. The Diary of a Teenage Girl: Bel Powley’s breakthrough performance was the mainspring of this pseudo-memoir (from Phoebe Gloeckner’s illustrated novel) of growing up in 1970s San Francisco.

But actress-turned-director Marielle Heller’s movie had plenty else going for it: compassion for the flawed characters, an unerring eye for the period and some charmingly

grasp. Sleekly beautiful as Pixar at its best, the movie told a story as primal as The Wizard of Oz or any other journey through wonders and dangers to the safety of home.

8. Spy: Melissa McCarthy finally found her perfect role in this hilarious send-up of glossy espionage movies. It hilariously spoofed the genre while being a fine example of it; a franchise is inevitable, and may they all be this good.

9. While We’re Young: Writerdirector Noah Baumbach’s wry, perceptive dramedy of a 40-something couple (Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts) trying to be 20-something again was as good as anything he’s ever done—and movies hardly get any better than that.

if you thought Team America: World Police had the last word on PuPPet sex, think again.

brooklyn meetings, and it’s never less than riveting.

4. Cartel Land: The best war movie of 2015, but rather than focusing on faraway battles, Matthew Heineman unflinchingly surveys the violence being waged on America’s doorstep by the Mexican cartels, and by the armed vigilante movements that have sprung up in retaliation.

5. Approaching the Elephant: One of the year’s most disturbing onscreen horrors: a child without limitations. Amanda Wilder’s stark black-and-white mood piece takes place at a New Jersey “free school,” a place where classes are voluntary and kids call the shots. Warning: may inspire mass vasectomies.

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Bottom five films 1. The Cobbler 2. Testament of Youth 3. Youth 4. Entourage 5. Trumbo

—D.B.

Primal storytelling and Proto-feminism

Top 10 films With the customary disclaimer for major releases still unseen at press time, here are my top movies of the year, in alphabetical order: 1. The Big Short: Director Adam McKay and writer Charles Randolph, adapting Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book, turned out an

edgy satire on the 2007-08 housing market meltdown. They changed names and events but the general facts remained, mordantly funny and with a well-earned aura of moral outrage.

2. Brooklyn: Perhaps the best movie of the year, and almost certainly the loveliest. From the novel by Colm Toibin, with a heartfelt script by Nick Hornby and direction by John Crowley that framed the story in bright, bold colors, the movie was a showcase for Saoirse Ronan. As an Irish immigrant to America torn between the attractions of old and new worlds, Ronan delivered on the promise she showed as an adolescent in Atonement.

3. Cinderella: Equally lovely in a different way, Kenneth Branagh’s live-action remake of

naughty animated sequences by Sara Gunnarsdóttir to parallel Gloeckner’s illustrations.

5. Far from the Madding Crowd: Thomas Hardy’s protofeminist novel of an independent woman in Victorian England has aged little in 140 years, and it got sterling treatment from writer David Nicholls and director Thomas Vinterberg. The cast was first-rate, unerringly led by the amazing Carey Mulligan (who has yet to be the same in any two movies) as the headstrong Bathsheba Everdene.

6. The Martian: Andy Weir’s novel of an astronaut marooned on Mars was more tense and nerve-wracking, but Ridley Scott’s movie was a worthy adaptation—suspenseful, flawlessly cast (especially in the characters who get less screen time than in the book), and brilliantly designed; we never question that we’re really on the Red Planet.

7. Inside Out: Pixar hit it out of the park with this adventure inside an adolescent girl’s head, exploring subtle psychological concepts that all but the smallest kids could

10. Youth: Any movie that gives Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel the vehicle they have here is OK with me, but Paolo Sorrentino’s movie was even better than that, elegant and visually voluptuous.

Five biggest stinkers 1. The Good Dinosaur: After the homer of Inside Out, Pixar struck out without even taking a good swing; this was a beautiful-to-lookat-but-ugly-hearted bore.

2. Irrational Man: Good, bad or indifferent, Woody Allen has never misfired so completely.

3. Jupiter Ascending: This outlandish campfest should have been called The Wachowskis Crashing.

4. Pan: The backstory of Peter Pan, perpetrated by people without the slightest understanding of the fun and charm of the original.

5. The Visit: M. Night Shyamalan strikes again, proving once more what a lucky fluke The Sixth Sense was.

—J.L.

FoR THE WEEK oF DECEMBER 31

Downtown Sacramento Holiday Ice Rink THROUGH JANUARY 18 Can it really be the end of secular-Starbucks-cup season? Channel your inner Tara Lipinski and/or Chazz Michael Michaels by squeezing in a session at the downtown ice rink. Skates are ICE SKATING available for rent for $2 (and, uh, so are socks if you’re up for that). $8, hours vary at Seventh and K streets; http://godowntownsac.com/ events/signature-events/ice-rink.

—DeeNA DRewis

E-waste drop-off sATURDAY, JANUARY 2

H E A L T H Y (I S H ) I N 2 0 1 6

You can’t just throw your old computers in the trash.

Even if you think your hard drive is unusable, there are hackers who can extract personal RECYCLE data (and embarrassing photos) from it. Plus, it’s bad for the environment. Bring unused electronics to the Roseville Utility Exploration Center this Saturday and they’ll destroy them for you. Free, 9 a.m. at 1501 Pleasant Grove Boulevard in Roseville; www.facebook.com/RosevilleExplorationCenter.

—AARON CARNes

W

ill 2016 be the year you convince your taste buds that tempeh doesn’t taste like particle board slathered in guano?

I mean, let’s be honest. Probably not.

But some things to consider: (1) You’re probably full of good intentions right now, so might as well take advantage of opportunities to be your best sugar-freevegan-namaste self for as long as possible.

(2) Dine Downtown Restaurant Week is next week, which means a renewed glut of gustatory goodness, post-holiday-cookie carnage, so some counteractive measures might be in order, no? A few suggestions for going semi-Gwyneth Paltrow or else making some modest lifestyle changes: WholeHearted Juice Co. (1050 20th Street, Suite 110) is ready to have a lot of faith in you (and your $299) starting on Monday, January 4, with an eight-week cleanse with unlimited access to Fitness Quest Bootcamp (2476 41st Street), 13 organic meal-replacement juices and various workshops and coaching. On a slightly more scaled-back level, Sun & Soil Juice Co. (1912 P Street) is offering 12 group fitness sessions next door at Bodywise (1920 P Street) along with a full one-day juice cleanse for $195. If that whole squatsand-lunges thing is a bit much and drinking

your way to a cleaner spleen is more your speed, Peel’d (49 Bicentennial Circle) is offering a two-juice, one-smoothie, onesoup-per-day-for-five-days deal for $99 starting Monday, January 4.

If, on the other hand, your New Year’s resolutions include “spend less on coldpressed juice,” the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op (1900 Alhambra Boulevard) is offering a Healthy Eating on a Budget class on Wednesday, January 6, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The class will cover menu planning, food-waste-reduction pointers, cheap recipes and tips for frugal grocery shopping. Registration is $10 and more information can be found at www.sacfoodcoop.com.

Aspiring yogis can jump right in with the New Year’s Detox Flow at the Yoga Seed Collective (1400 E Street) on Friday, January 1, at 11 a.m. It’s technically free (though a $20 donation is suggested).

If you’re hooked after that, there’s a four-week beginner series taking place on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. starting on January 6 for $128, which includes unlimited access to other classes for the whole month. Visit www.theyogaseed.org for more info.

—DeeNA DRewis

I Love You, You Drive Me Crazy sUNDAY, JANUARY 3 Anyone who’s been in a long-term relationship should relate to this sentiment. With this workshop, the folks at Unity of Davis want to help couples understand what’s going on underneath the surface when they’re fighting about what feels like nothing important. It’s done with humor, because SELF-HELP what’s funnier than how insane we get about what to have for dinner? $10, 1 p.m. at Unity of Davis, 203 14th Street in Davis; www.unityofdavis.org.

—AARON CARNes

Luxury Wedding Show 2016 sUNDAY, JANUARY 3 Bridal shows are common, but the Luxury Wedding Show takes it farther. The organizers will set up a mock wedding ceremony and reception. How else can you really tell if a dress or a table setting WEDDING will be right unless you see it in context?

It’ll also be fun, with wine- and cake-tasting. $15-$20, noon at Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I Street; http://luxuryweddingshows.com.

—AARON CARNes

“Try Before You Buy” class MONDAY, JANUARY 4, THROUGH sUNDAY, JANUARY 10 As if their pricing for exercise classes wasn’t already cheap, the folks at UC Davis are offering a “Try Before You Buy” class. Classes for students and campus outsiders will be free for the first visit January 4-10.

Options include dance, martial arts and FITNESS yoga. Admission requires access to UCD Activities and Recreation Center. Free, 6 a.m. at the UCD ARC, La Rue Road at Orchard Road in Davis; https://cru.ucdavis.edu/content/391-registration.

—eDDie JORGeNseN

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ILLUSTRATIONS BY SERENE LUSANO

Happy New Year’s pizza!

INDIVIDUAL PIZZA, ZELDA’S GOURMET PIZZA For at least 10 years running we’ve had a New Year’s Day tradition in my household: Zelda’s Gourmet Pizza after dark for pie and pitchers of cheap beer.

We invite friends—no pressure, whoever can make it, great. The bigger the crowd, of course, the more pizza to share. But what if you’ve got your heart set on a New Spinach order and everyone else is talking Spinoccoli? Easy, every Zelda’s deep dish pizza is also available as an individual 6-inch pie ($6.50-$9). There might not be leftovers, but at least you won’t have to share. See you there?

1415 21st Street, www.zeldasgourmetpizza.com.

—RACHEL LEIBROCK

Nothing fancy OLD FASHIONED, B-SIDE ILLUSTRATION BY MARK STIVERS

Gimme wings

BY JANELLE BITKER

Wings all day, err day: Lovers of crispy, saucy hunks of chicken have two new local options: Fire Wings and Kiki’s Chicken Place. On the cusp of Elk Grove, Fire Wings (8785 Center Parkway) dishes out mass quantities of wings in a massive number of flavors. Will it be 10 pieces for $7.99 or 100 pieces for $70.99? Sauces and rubs lean Asian: Malaysian curry, Thai chili, teriyaki, Sriracha, Peking. Or go with classic barbecue, Jamaican jerk or garlic Parmesan. There are more than 20 options—plus the option to go bone-in or boneless—as well as eclectic sides, such as garlic noodles, mozzarella sticks and Hawaiian rolls.

North of Carmichael, Kiki’s Chicken Place (5110 Auburn Boulevard) offers a decidedly more

jan el l e b @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

minimalist menu: chicken tenders, wings and fries in various size combos. You could also get chicken in sandwich or salad form. No matter what your pleasure, expect to pay $8-$10.

Crafty: Bryan Widener’s Doughbot brought much, much joy. When the artisan doughnut shop closed, it brought much, much sadness. Now, Widener’s latest venture brings understandable anticipation. It’s a food truck called Craftsmen Food, focused on nondoughnut offerings.

Its debut featured a burger, cubano, bacon-broccoli chowder and vegetable fritto misto—somewhat standard-sounding food truck fare, but given Widener’s history at Magpie Cafe, everything is probably

delicious. Craftsmen held its official grand opening over the weekend, so watch its Facebook page for more movement: www.facebook.com/ craftsmenfood.

No more chasing: In other food truck news, Granola Girl Food Truck started parking regularly at its east Sacramento headquarters (6421 H Street) earlier this month.

If you’re sick of hunting down food trucks via Twitter or hate waiting in lines at specific food truck events, now is the time to check out Granola Girl more or less whenever it suits your schedule. Granola Girl is serving its atypical, healthy breakfasts and lunches from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Wednesday and Thursday.

One last quick note: First it was Blackbird Kitchen & Bar. Then it was Blackbird Kitchen + Beer Gallery.

Then, when it reopened earlier this month, the restaurant rebranded itself yet again. Now it shall be known as: “Blackbird.” Yes, with the period.

That is all. Ω

B-Side comes from the people behind Shady Lady Saloon, but without any of that high-end cocktail business— when I asked for fancy, the bartender looked at me like I was hopeless before making me an Old Fashioned ($6). Turns out it was exactly what I wanted.

Four Roses bourbon, lemon and orange rinds and a cherry: a smooth and sweet take on a staple.

Between the aced fundamentals and the Smiths on vinyl rotation, I could come to like this cozy little place. (B-Side people: Hit me up if you ever want a doom metal DJ to utterly destroy the vibe.) 1430 S Street, www.facebook.com/B-Side-967305699999018.

—ANTHONY SIINO

Apple a day CIDER Those stories of Johnny Appleseed were about cider apples: sour ones that people used to grow specifically for the juice. It was made into fresh and hard cider that people drank instead of beer, wine and even water. At farmers markets and Apple Hill, you can find plenty of sweet nonalcoholic cider, which is fantastic warmed up with cinnamon or stirred with brandy, Cointreau, simple syrup and club soda for an old-fashioned Cider Cup. It’s also good mixed with butter and rum for a sauce on gingerbread or—let’s be honest—almost anything.

—ANN MARTIN ROLKE

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Eat, drank and be meaty SN&R’s food reviewers dish on the year’s foodie fixations, trends and tastemakers

By Janelle Bitker, Garrett Mccord and ann Martin rolke

What a year. With SN&R’s expanded food section, we dished out more reviews and tasty-related news than ever before. Per usual, many restaurants opened and several others closed. Chefs changed jobs and new small-scale food businesses emerged. Even still, there was plenty that didn’t make it in print—or simply merits repeating. Here’s to hoping our reflections on 2015 help inspire your next meal.

All about that drank It was the year of restaurant empires, sweets and drank.

Randy Paragary, the Wong brothers, Michael Thiemann and the Broderick and Shady Lady teams all opened hotly anticipated concepts this year.

I’d argue that only one—Localis—truly exceeded expectations. Regardless, dining in Sacramento keeps getting more fun.

And thanks to Broderick’s expansion into Midtown as well as Eatuscany Caffe’s opening, I am inhaling more sugar than ever in the Handle District. Broderick’s custard shakes, Eatuscany’s gelato, Divine Gelataria’s cakes, Ginger Elizabeth’s everything—I feel quite cozy with my extra fat layer this winter. We finally got our first legit ice cream shop downtown in Cornflower Creamery. And, a SusieCakes opened in Pavilions Shopping Center, serving my favorite cheesecake in town.

As far as drank goes, I’m talkin’ new breweries, new cafes, more juice and Bottle & Barlow, the fantastic cocktail bar from Sacramento-native-turnedSan Francisco-bar-star Jayson Wilde. I’ve never had a drink there that didn’t surprise and delight me.

More Sacramento coffee roasters got rated by the Coffee Review: Insight Coffee Roasters, Pachamama Coffee Cooperative and Seasons Coffee Roasters joined the previous lineup of Temple Coffee and Tea, Old Soul Co. and Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters. Pachamama

also opened its first cafe in East Sacramento, and I became a serious regular at the Mill. While it opened last fall, it wasn’t until this year that the Mill really unleashed its delicious creativity: shrub sodas, velvety almond-macadamia-date milk and affogato collaborations with Maiden Ice Cream, from Mother’s Matt Masera.

Sad to say I never got around to trying most of Sacto’s new breweries: Twelve Rounds, Dragas, Blue Note and Fair Oaks Brew Pub among them. Also sad to say I stopped drinking Knee Deep beers once its co-owner and brewmaster Jeremy Warren left.

Sacramento’s cold-pressed juice scene got crowded, with Liquidology and Whole Hearted Juice Co. opening up. Plus, Sun & Soil added a minilocation inside a new Insight. And there’s way more in the burbs.

Surprisingly, no fancy juice downtown yet. DoCo, perhaps?

—J.B.

Eggplants and apps The city’s restaurant scene saw the rise of its newest power couple, who likely don’t know or care that they’re a power couple: Shannin Stein and Shannon McElroy. Stein is the general manager of the popular Empress Tavern, not to mention the event coordinator for Empress, Mother and Crest Theatre.

McElroy is the ingenious head chef at Federalist Public House (and a Masullo alumnus) who is rocking the pizza world.

Between the two of them, they’ve helped elevate the local dining world to new heights.

The food literati welcomed Dan Barber at a fundraiser for the Food Literacy Center, inspiring a huge audience to completely rethink farm-to-fork production in order to create a more sustainable agricultural system that places the farm and the soil first.

It also seems that we’re rather obsessed with

The 2015 food scene here was dominated by scads more pizza, coffee and local beer additions.

eggplants now as the farmers markets carried an unending variety: striated Sicilian eggplants, Japanese eggplants, pumpkin-shaped Hmong eggplants, meloncolored Thai eggplants and slender pink tung longs. I even saw hard-to-find red eggplants bubbling away in a home cook’s curry!

Lastly, dining apps really hit the scene. Requested (created by Sacramento’s Sonny Mayugba) has made dining out even easier for some, while Postmates delivers your favorite restaurant dishes right to your door.

—G.M.

Just meaty The 2015 food scene here was dominated by scads more pizza, coffee and local beer additions. Are we at saturation yet? You can even legally drink beer while cycling with friends on the Sac Brew Bike and Off the Chain Bike Bus. The R Street Corridor exploded with food choices, including Iron Horse Tavern, Roxie Deli, Nido Cafe and Fish Face Poke Bar. We’re ahead of the trend with poke, which is just entering other city food scenes.

We lost longtime local producer Sacramento Tofu Co., but saw the reopening of the venerable Joe Marty’s, which was closed for a decade before being resurrected by local baseball fans.

Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services broke a Guinness World Record by collecting 170,924 pounds of fresh produce in one day. The event kicked off the third annual Farm-to-Fork Festival, which was also marked by the fastest-ever sellout of the Bridge Dinner tickets in mere seconds.

The additions of V. Miller Meats butcher shop and Empress Tavern may signal an increased local craving for meat, despite the World Health Organization’s dire warnings about red meat and local emphasis on farmto-fork produce.

Burgers were wildly popular, too, with an insanely rich $26 option offered at Ella Dining Room and even richer $50 one at Grange Restaurant & Bar. Our No. 1 burger in town from Pangaea Bier Cafe not only won the 2015 Sacramento Burger Battle, but it was ranked in the top 20 at the World Burger Championship in Florida.

—AMR

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SHOP LOCAL AND SAVE CHECK OUT THESE SWEET LOCAL DEALS. REMEMBER, THE MORE YOU SHOP, THE MORE YOU SAVE!

Food for less It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The holidays are over, stress levels have lowered and Dine Downtown Restaurant Week is about to begin. Finally, you can get around to trying some of Sacramento’s most highly regarded restaurants without footing an enormous bill: three courses cost $35 at 30 participating restaurants January 7-16. Think along the lines of Biba, Brasserie Capitale, Empress Tavern, the Firehouse Restaurant, Grange Restaurant & Bar and other fancy spots.

Not all menus have been created yet, but among those that are already online, Localis looks like a great bet. They’ll serve beets—cooked many ways—with goat cheese mousse, braised beef cheeks with farro and a seasonal dessert. Vegetarians should look to Ella Dining Room & Bar, which will once again offer a veg-friendly menu with a truffle-laden, handmade pasta option. Check out the full restaurant list, menus and other details at http://godowntownsac.com.

Eat Eat Ea

—JANELLE BITKER

MEAT

Café Colonial: $10 for $5

Kyoto Sushi Bar Grill & Ramen: $20 for $14

Edible Arrangements: $25 for $10

Lola’s Lounge: $20 for $10

El Jardin Mexican Restaurant: $20 for $10

Midikat Boutique: $25 for $6.25

Baker’s Donuts: $10 for $5

Fenix Drum & Dance Co.: $45 for $22.50

Sandra Dee’s BBQ & Seafood: $25 for $17.50

French Cuff Consignment: $25 for $6.25

Sei Bella Boutique: $25 for $6.25

Goldfield Trading Post: $25 for $12.50

Sky High Sports: $12 for $6

Java Mama: $10 for $2.50

The Parlor Ice Cream Puffs: $5 for $3

EGGS

BACON

DAIRY

Kupros Craft House: $25 for $12.50

AND MORE...

NO SERVICE FEES!

Check out our website to get great deals on concerts at Ace of Spades, Goldfield Trading Post and Harlow’s.

WWW.NEWSREVIEW.COM 22 | SN&R | 12.31.15

The kindest year

BY SHOKA It’s self-improvement season, and for those who made their new year’s resolution to go vegan, it’s a kind choice that benefits oneself, the environment, critters and shrimp slave laborers alike. It can be overwhelming going from omnivore to herbivore cold turkey (imagine how the turkey feels!

Ba-dum-tshh!), so transitioning in steps may lead to higher success. For instance, eliminate one category of meat monthly, and then subtract dairy and eggs in phases.

Support also helps, so befriend a vegan—they can be spotted by the “Powered by kale” bumper sticker on their Prius (just kidding—not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Load up on apps: Is It Vegan? allows users to scan bar codes to verify if products are vegan, VeganXpress lists vegan options on chain restaurant menus, and I Feel Good Vegan Recipes and Meal Plans helps plan chowing down at home. A happy, healthy new year to all!

ReviewS

Photo courtesy of kolt run creations

2015 exits stage left SN&R critics share their favorite stage moments of the year

by Jim Carnes, Jeff Hudson, Patti roberts and bev sykes

They call themselves the “Gang of Four” but SN&R’s theater critics don’t cover communist politics or aging punk bands.

Instead, they scour the local stage scene weekly, previewing and reviewing local productions, watching trends and taking note of the region’s brightest stars. Here is their take on the year that was.

Requisite heart and humanity Best theater group: Big Idea

Theatre, a community theater group that appears to be taking a page out of the Capital Stage playbook—appealing to an adventurous audience by offering interesting new or rarely produced plays and intelligent interpretations of Shakespeare and other classics. Big Idea also regularly sends out actors, directors and technical people to work in other companies’ productions.

Best single production: Green Valley Theatre Co.’s Striking 12, a decidedly different holiday story, but with the requisite heart and humanity.

Comeback of the year: Sacramento Theatre Co., finding its legs finally with several excellent productions, including: an updated Julius Caesar (adapted by Kirk Blackinton and Brian Harrower from Big Idea Theatre), The Whipping Man, Sense and Sensibility (directed

by Shannon Mahoney of Big Idea Theatre) and the premiere

of Grass Valley author Gary Wright’s Of Kites and Kings.

—J.C.

Past, present, future Outstanding work: There were great shows at Sacramento Theatre Co. (The Whipping Man, Of Kites and Kings), and at B Street Theatre (Grounded, Bars and Measures). But for sheer consistency and quality this year, nobody topped Capital Stage.

Biggest financial breakthrough: The official announcement won’t come until 2016, but word on the street indicates that the B Street Theatre has found a $3 million “naming rights” donor for their long-planned new venue. Stay tuned.

—J.H.

The colorful and the clever Best overall production teams: It’s a three-way tie between Big Idea Theatre, Green Valley Theatre Co. and the Falcon’s Eye Theatre at Folsom Lake College. Each one incorporates innovative, clever and creative production elements in its productions including video, lighting, sound and staging.

Best acting: This year I enjoyed Brittni Barger as Nora in Capital Stage’s A Doll’s House; the production repositioned Henrik Ibsen’s 19th-century Norwegian wife as a frustrated 1948 American housewife.

Kelley Ogden and Greg Hanson

koLt run Creations’ there is a Happiness that morning is earned several nods from sn&r theater critics.

also excelled as a team of poetry professors in KOLT Run Creations’ imaginative There is a Happiness That Morning Is. Finally, the Sacramento Theatre Co.’s cast of the Civil War drama The Whipping Man deserves recognition, specifically Sean Patrick Nill, Michael J. Asberry and Anthony Simone.

Best plays: Shockheaded Peter, Green Valley Theatre Co.’s strange, creepy and fully engaging musical adaptation of an 1845 dark children’s book, boasted a creative production with colorful and clever puppets, dioramas and costumes. I also liked No Exit, Big Idea Theatre’s thoughtful production of Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic existential play. Then there was the excellent There is a Happiness That Morning Is; this was KOLT Run Creations staging of the relationship

between two college professors delivered as lectures to the audience. Also of note: Italian Opera, California Stage’s very clever and amusing lampoon of, well, Italian operas with talented operatic performances and imaginative production.

Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 was produced both by Big Idea Theatre and Falcon’s Eye Theatre—it was fascinating to see two interpretations of the same play so close together.

Both combined great acting and directing, combined with creative productions.

—P.R.

Predictably excellent Best theater: Capital Stage, for

always presenting predictably excellent productions, for the efficiency of its support staff and for having the most comfortable lobby.

Best productions: B Street Theatre’s Grounded was a

strong one-person play which kept the audience on the edge of its seats and posed a lot of interesting questions for debate.

STC’s Pirates of Penzance, proved that a 100-plus-year-old operetta can still find a crisp new production and appeal to 21st-century audiences. And KOLT Run Creations’ There is a Happiness That Morning Is: One of the perks of being a critic is the opportunity to discover gems like this that you otherwise would never think of seeing.

Best acting: Alicia Hunt’s performance as the pilot in B Street’s Grounded was a masterful, emotionally charged tour de force. Ryan Snyder was perfection in Capital Stage’s The Homecoming, a cool customer, but with an underlying hint of something sleazy behind that polished veneer.

—b.S.

12.31.15 | SN&R | 23

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So many tattoos, so little point to this remake.

1

by Jim Lane

Utah’s past comes in handy when the bureau investigates a gang of thieves committing extremesport heists: robbing a diamond depository at the top of a Mumbai skyscraper, then crashing through Point Break is (let’s hope) the final entry in the 2015 edition of Remakes Nobody Needed. The original Point the glass wall on motorcycles and parachuting to earth strewing the jewels among the beggars below; Break (1991) starred Keanu Reeves as an FBI agent relieving a C-130 cargo plane of its cargo of U.S. going undercover to infiltrate a gang of bank-robbing currency, then showering a poor Mexican village surfers led by a bleach-blonde Patrick Swayze, and it with $100 bills as they plunge into the nearby was just as awful as it sounds. It does have its partisans jungle. today—it’s sometimes proclaimed a classic by the sort Utah is convinced that these daredevil Robin of people who spend their nights in Mom and Dad’s Hoods aren’t in it for the money but are out to basement posting on IMDb message boards, while complete something called the Ozaki Eight, a series others find it a guilty pleasure, convinced that it must of challenges set up by a legendary extreme really be a straight-faced parody. Giving due athlete in tribute to the forces of nature. credit, director Kathryn Bigelow did presage (I am not making this up.) He predicts her Oscar for The Hurt Locker by making It’s their next move will be to surf the best of a bad situation (i.e., W. Peter some once-in-a-century waves off Iliff and Rick King’s birdbrained significant France, and convinces his FBI script), and there were some pretty that in Point Academy boss (Delroy Lindo) to cool surfing and skydiving scenes Break’s credits, the let him investigate. along the way.

That’s how Utah falls in All that can be said about this visual effects crew with Bodhi (Édgar Ramírez, year’s model is that Kurt Wimmer’s outnumbers the stepping in for Patrick Swayze). script makes a bad situation worse. stunt crew.

From there, the movie more or less And if the new movie’s director, Ericson follows the outline of its predecessor, Core, expects ever to follow Bigelow to only with more and bigger action scenes. the Oscar podium, he’ll need to start making More and bigger, but not better. CGI has more with what he’s given than he does here. made us all jaded, and it’s significant that in Point The Keanu Reeves role is taken by Luke Bracey, last Break’s credits, the visual effects crew outnumbers seen as the younger version of James Marsden in the the stunt crew 246 to 37. The surfing and skydiving Nicholas Sparks weeper The Best of Me. The character’s the first time around may look tame in 2015, but name, Johnny Utah, is now a nickname. His real name in 1991 at least we knew somebody actually did it. being Brigham, called “Utah” in reference to where he Nowadays, we can’t be so sure. Ω was born. Utah is an agent-in-training this time, with more tattoos on his body than the rest of the bureau put together (to say nothing of native Utahans named Brigham). He’s come to the FBI after a career in extreme sports, having soured on that line of work when one of his motorcycle Poor Fair Good Very excellent stunts caused the death of a friend.

Good

1 2 3 4 5

BY DANIEL BARNES & JIM LANE

fiLm CLiPS

2

The Big Short

Director and co-screenwriter Adam McKay (Step Brothers) bungles a great opportunity to savage the architects of the 2008 financial crisis in The Big Short, wasting an A-list ensemble cast in the process. Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling play various tenuously related members of the finance industry, men who made made a killing by betting against the housing market, which at that point had superficially swelled to record highs.

All of the elements are in place for a lacerating satire, but almost every aesthetic choice in the film is bad, from the U-Turn-era Oliver Stone visuals to Carell’s sketch-comedy performance to the cheeky cutaways where Selena Gomez and Anthony Bourdain explain complex financial concepts. After a brutal opening half, it finally settles into a groove, and there’s a queasy charge in watching a credit-drunk America walking towards that cliff’s edge, but not enough to save the film. D.B.

4

Carol

Directing his first feature film in a decade, director Todd Haynes returns to the era of his 2004 success Far from Heaven for another story of repressed love, only this one’s a little less Douglas Sirk and a little more Ranier Werner Fassbender. A methodical, beautiful and often chilly film adapted from a Patricia Highsmith novel, Carol stars Rooney Mara as Therese, a 1950s shopgirl who locks on to the seductive gaze of lesbian divorcee Carol (Cate Blanchett, absolutely ravishing). While watching Sunset Blvd., one character remarks, “Right now I’m charting the correlation between what the characters say and how they really feel,” and you could make your own flow charts for Carol.

The music, cinematography, costumes, sets and overall design are flawless, and the film as a whole is utterly exquisite. Maybe a little too exquisite—Carol is so painstaking, I felt like I was watching it from behind a velvet rope. D.B.

3

Concussion

In this blandly efficient biopic from writer-director Peter Landesman (Parkland), Will Smith dials down his energy level to play Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian-born forensic pathologist (and current UC Davis professor) whose groundbreaking study on long-term brain trauma in football players got challenged and suppressed by the NFL. On a purely thematic level, Concussion fits nicely with the documentaries Happy Valley and The Hunting Ground as the final third in a football-is-the-root-of-all-evil trilogy, but as a drama it’s dead-eyed and unresponsive. Smith gives a fine lead performance, peeling away his usual affectations to expose his natural charm, but Omalu never becomes a fully developed character. The wonderful Gugu Mbatha-Raw is totally wasted as Omalu’s wife, but there are solid supporting turns from Albert Brooks and David Morse, among others. D.B.

2

Daddy’s Home

A straight-arrow, earnest and well-meaning but slightly dull stepfather (Will Ferrell) finds his cozy life turned insideout when his wife’s freewheeling bad-boy ex-husband (Mark Wahlberg) blows into town, dazzling the kids and making stepdad look even duller. The visit escalates into a testosteronepowered pissing contest, with each man trying to out-alpha-male the other. The script by Brian Burns, John Morris and director Sean Anders has promise, and Anders grapples with a good cast (including Linda Cardellini as Ferrell’s wife, Thomas Haden Church as his boss and Hannibal Buress as a freeloading handyman). There are a few good laughs scattered about, but with these stars it should have been a lot funnier—and Thomas Haden Church shouldn’t have gotten most of the funniest lines. J.L.

2

The Danish Girl

Director Tom Hooper and writer Lucinda Coxon present a measured adaptation of David Ebershoff’s novel, which fictionalized the

Needed: some special forces. Stat.

4

Star Wars: Episode VII–The Force Awakens

“Luke Skywalker has disappeared.” With those four words, judiciously chosen by director J.J. Abrams to begin the opening crawl of his hotly anticipated Episode VII, the Star Wars franchise reorients itself in the land of things that people give a rat’s ass about. There’s nothing about trade embargoes or tariffs, nothing about filibusters in the Galactic Senate. No parliamentary procedure bullshit at all, just a terse and mysterious plot setup largely focused on characters you care about. This is not a groundbreaking approach, but it’s sensible, which is groundbreaking in its own way compared to the nightmarish self-absorption and fan disservice of the prequels. The infantile fussiness of the prequels flattened the Star Wars universe to the point of discouraging imagination, but The Force Awakens turns it back into a tactile and dimensional cinematic world. It’s a real Star Wars movie; it’s just not a great Star Wars movie. D.B.

true story of Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne)—born Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener—who in 1930 became one of the first persons, maybe the very first, to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

The movie focuses on the understandably complex relationship between Wegener/Elbe and his/her wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander), and Redmayne and Vikander share an earnest screen rapport. Hooper and Coxon honor Elbe (who died in 1931 from complications of her fourth and final surgery) as a pioneer of the transgender movement, but reverent as the movie is, it’s also rather dreary—the kind of embalmed, oversolemn opus where the actors whisper their lines slowly, one word at a time. J.L.

5

The Hateful Eight

Quentin Tarantino’s masterful Western/ murder-mystery hybrid The Hateful Eight is getting a lot of attention due to its limited, “road show” presentation, a three-hour theatrical experience projected on 70 mm film, with an overture of Ennio Morricone’s score and a 12-minute intermission. Therefore, audiences may be surprised that the widescreen photography in The Hateful Eight is much more focused on the contours of a single interior space than on wide-open exterior spaces. Long-time Tarantino leading man Samuel L. Jackson stars as Major Marquis Warren, a merciless bounty hunter in post-Civil War-era Wyoming waiting out a blizzard with a den of scoundrels (including Kurt Russell, Tim Roth and Bruce Dern), all of whom seem to be concealing a secret. The first half is nearly perfect, a slow build of pinprick tension, and while the second half gets a little repetitive, it’s also where the brilliant Jennifer Jason Leigh is at her no-holds-barred, bloodsoaked best. D.B.

2

Joy

Yikes. Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle director David O. Russell reassembles much of his stock company (Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro) and most of his stock mannerisms (Scorseseian camera moves and song cues, nonsensical exuberance) for this extremely loose biopic about the inventor of the Miracle Mop. Joy is all forced smiles—it feels like an album made by a

band that should have broken up years ago, just a rambling and incoherent series of unmotivated actions and overemphatic gestures. Everyone gets points for gusto, especially Lawrence as a single mother holding together her wacky family while navigating a booby-trapped business world, but every scene feels like an undirected rehearsal, so the actors are left to screech their way through two hours of face-palming embarrassment. I never imagined I could dislike Isabella Rossellini in anything, but here we are. D.B.

2

Sisters

Two adult sisters, one caring and reliable (Amy Poehler) while the other (Tina Fey) is scattered and devil-may-care, go home to clean out their old room when their parents (Dianne Wiest, James Brolin) sell the family home—and decide to recreate the wild parties of their youth, inviting all their old high school pals for one last blowout. Paula Pell’s script is like a distended Saturday Night Live skit, overworking one lame joke: what if a bunch of 40-somethings threw the kind of party you only see in movies about hormonal teenagers? Still, Fey and Poehler are always fun, and the movie is so completely over-the-top that frequent laughs are inevitable, in an I-can’t-believe-I-just-saw-that sort of way. Director Jason Moore makes little effort to control the mayhem. J.L.

4

Youth

At a spa in the Swiss Alps, two old friends, a composer (Michael Caine) and a film director (Harvey Keitel) cope with old age and their waning careers. That glib synopsis does little justice to Paolo Sorrentino’s visually voluptuous movie, stunningly photographed by Luca Bigazzi with echoes of Sorrentino’s countryman and cinematic forebear Federico Fellini. Sorrentino moves delicately, like a barista making pictures in the foam of a caffe latte, drawing in Rachel Weisz as Caine’s resentfully solicitous daughter, Paul Dano as an ardent young actor and other characters who weave and flow through the fragile story. It’s a movie where very little really happens, and sometimes it feels as placidly shallow as the pools where the spa’s guests soak themselves, but there’s always something fascinating going on. J.L.

DISCOUNT TICKETS TO THE BEST SHOWS IN TOWN. DON’T MISS OUT! UPCOMING EVENTS Art Mix @ Crocker Art Museum: $10 for $2.50 Club Fantasy Admission: $20 for $8 Crest Theatre Admission & Concessions: $10 for $5 & $13 for $6.50 Laughs Unlimited: $20 for $10 Powerhouse Pub Admission: $15 for $3.75 Todd Morgan & The Emblems @ Harlow’s (01/02): $10 for $6 Jelly Bread: Here There & Everywhere Release Party @ Harlow’s (01/15): $10 for $6 Tainted Love @ Harlow’s (01/22 & 01/23): $15 for $9 Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame Celebration @ Thunder Valley Casino (01/30): $90 for $45 Foreverland: A Michael Jackson Tribute @ Harlow’s (02/13): $15 for $9 Valentine’s Soul Jam @ Thunder Valley Casino Resort (02/13): $80.76 for $40.38

Check out our website to get great deals on concerts at Ace of Spades, Goldfield Trading Post and Harlow’s.

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PHOTO BY NATLY PACO

local sister act dog Party’s Burger records debut was among the year’s best.

Hometown heroes, ’90s love and earplugs

LIVE MUSIC. DRINKS. ART. THURSDAY, JAN 14 5-9 PM 21+ MUSIC BY DJ LARRY RODRIGUEZ SAN KAZAKGASCAR

By Janelle Bitker, aaron Carnes, eddie Jorgensen, raChel leiBroCk and anthony siino

Music is such a subjective art form.

One person’s furious love for death metal is another person’s obsession with experimental jazz. A common thread—at least among SN&R’s music writers—is a passion for Sacramento’s ever-evolving sound and vision. Venues come and go.

Bands form and, inevitably, break up. Always, though, the beats go on.

Following is the requisite 2015 recap, which includes sonic obsessions local and otherwise.

+

Good things in the 916

BELLY DANCING

So. Much. Music: Many excellent

FORTUNE TELLING

releases from local and locally-tied artists this year. Among the former, I was particularly impressed by Jacob Golden’s powerful Invisible Record, Zac Nelson’s experimental pop album New Once, DoofyDoo’s sprawling opus of sample-based art via The Tourist, Dog Party’s debut on Burger Records Vol. 4, Sea of Bees’ joyful comeback Build a Boat to the

INTERACTIVE ART PERFORMANCE

BY JESSE VASQUEZ #artmix @crockerartmuseum

crockerartmuseum.org

26 |

SN&R music writers riff on 2015’s best sounds and shows

SN&R

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12.31.15

Sun and Joseph in the Well’s lushly orchestrated self-titled debut. Among the latter, Tiaras and Sister Crayon absolutely killed it.

Too. Much. Music: And, of course, there were many excellent national releases. While most critics will be arguing about Kendrick Lamar vs. Adele, my personal faves were those from Florence + the Machine, Courtney Barnett and Leon Bridges.

Best new place to see live music: Last year, we were all lamenting the closure of so many music venues. This year, we got the Warehouse Artist Lofts rooftop. Unfortunately, shows don’t happen often enough, but when they do, they’re free, well-curated and full of the best possible vibes.

More gatherings: We got a few new festivals this year, including First Festival, Sac PorchFest and City of Trees. Hopefully they’ll return, but in the case of City of Trees, in a different fashion. That one-day affair—as well as, for the first time, Aftershock Festival—took place at Gibson Ranch, an ill-equipped harbinger of

awful traffic. Something, anything must be done to help remedy that pain next year.

Teamwork: When Witch Room closed, sound guy Drew Walker threw one last blowout party featuring 20 local artists. Walker recorded the whole thing and eventually put out a corresponding 20-song compilation. It remains a lovely encapsulation of the Sacramento alternative scene—and, somehow, one of the only ones.

—J.B.

Feline awesome Best remix album: Meow The Jewels.

Rap duo Run the Jewels took its second full-length—the best album of 2014—and remixed it using cat sounds. It’s surprisingly fantastic, and not-so-surprisingly surreal. “Creown (The Alchemist Remix)” has to be one of the best (and weirdest) tracks of 2015.

Best concert tour: The “Weird Al” Yankovic Mandatory World Tour. I saw Weird Al in Bend, Ore., instead

of Folsom for reasons too long to go into here. Incredible show: Costume changes, props, video interludes, insane crowd work. And, of course, hit parody tunes stretching from the late ’70s to 2015.

Best new album by an old band: The Selecter, Subculture. The Selecter is the best of the 2 Tone ska bands of late ’70s-era England. The band’s newest album, Subculture, embodies everything that made 2 Tone so wonderful: upbeat, catchy dance tunes with timely political statements.

Best local album: DoofyDoo, The Tourist. This is one behemoth of an experimental record. It’s actually a collection of 15 EPs, each one centered on a different city. It’s a really weird mix of samples and improvised off-the-wall music.

Confusing? Just go get the album and spend the weekend listening to it.

Best album: Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly, and Sufjan Stevens, Carrie and Lowell. A tie, these are two phenomenal records for two totally different reasons.

To Pimp A Butterfly is a densely packed, dizzyingly creative jazz-rap album that speaks on the complex subject of being black in modern-day America. Carrie and Lowell is a simple, quietly personal album dealing with the death of the singer’s mother, who left him when he was just a young boy. One of his best.

—A.C.

Earplugs (mostly) mandatory Shocking mess: Bad sight lines and

abysmal wait lines, awful early afternoon opening acts and major parking problems—many felt duped by this year’s Aftershock Festival. Although successful on a commercial scale, myriad details need to be worked out before the next one.

Still got love: The raucous Sonic Love Affair returned from the dead to open a show for Mudhoney and the Troublemakers in mid-October. It was so loud, many fans’ ears are still ringing.

Rooftop rocking: Locals Buff Clout played a blistering set of frenetic punk and rock-tinged fare to open one of the first WAL rooftop soirees back in May. Although the show was limited to only 50 patrons due to legal capacity constraints, Buff Clout got the party started right playing its guitardriven experimental rock mix.

Rhyme pays: Local rapper and longtime member of the Cuf, emcee

N8 the Gr8 brought his trio out to Harlow’s Restaurant & Nightclub and burned the house down with a spirited set of uplifting hip-hop.

Tribute time: A longtime tradition of great outdoor shows continued at Swabbie’s earlier this Summer with AC/DC tribute Riff/Raff. Mike Barnes, who sings for the group and books shows at the Garden Highway destination, put together one helluva bill that included the Who tribute act Whoville, which drew upward of 500 people to a place known more for its fish tacos and Bud Light offerings than music. Kudos.

Cherry, Lana Del Ray’s super-stoned Honeymoon, Dick Diver’s supercatchy Melbourne Florida, Best Coast’s super-millennial California Nights, Chastity Belt’s super-biting Time to Go Home, Sleater-Kinney’s super-tough No Cities to Love and Ryan Adam’s super-perfect take on Taylor Swift’s 1989.

—R.L.

Murdered drum kits—what?!?

NyE party!

DJ, No CoveR ChARge, ChAMPAgNe ToAST oN The houSe

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2 $ 00 7 $ 00 4 $ 00 4 $ 50

Local excellence: Sacramento’s own put

out quite a few good albums across the shredded-guitars-and-murdereddrum-kits spectrum, from the Everything Sacto, ’90s stomping and shamanic Battle Hag’s and awesome EP to Will Haven’s noise opus Open the Mind to Discomfort. Add to that #SacramentoProud: Lots of love this year for Sacramento (and Sacramento- Cross Class’ hardcore beast Minimum Rage, Psychosomatic’s classic thrash ish) acts such as Sea of Bees, Clicking Sound of a Hammer Pulled Sister Crayon, Vasas, Bright Faces, Back, the emergence of Defecrator’s Buildings Breeding, Two Sheds and bestial death EP and Graveshadow’s Knock Knock. symphonic Nocturnal Resurrection, Hello, music: Though I’m still and you’ve got a solid splatter of mourning the loss of Witch Room, sound. My local fave? Unanswered it’s good to applaud venues that Hymns by Chrch, a bold keep on keepin’ on despite vision of misery that the “it’s complicated” garnered high marks nature of live music.

Warehouse in Best of 2015 Props, in particular Artist Lofts lists from metal to Third Space blogs across the Art Collective, rooftop shows don’t country. the Hideaway happen often enough, The end: Bar & Grill, but when they do, they’re Speaking of Colonial end-of-year lists, Theatre and the free, well-curated it’s astounding Bike Kitchen. and full of the best how many Plus, mad love to possible vibes. bands on them the Sac LadyFest toured through Sac organizers and all the at some point. Bell rad KDVS deejays who Witch, Kowloon Walled keep me company in the car.

City, False, Cattle Decapitation, Reunited: Two of my favorite Ufomammut, Primitive Man, Thou, acts hit the road this spring: the The Body and many more stopped Replacements and Sleater-Kinney. here in 2015, meaning we’re in a The ’Mats delivered raw, messy special position to see what’s up-andmagic and S-K was more kickass coming in a way that may not be fully than ever. appreciated—yet.

That ’90s show: Some of my favorSome nonlocal favorites of 2015: Bell ites this year were heavily influenced Witch, Four Phantoms; Sabbath by grunge-era music: Courtney Assembly, Sabbath Assembly; Barnett (Nirvana, Liz Phair), Speedy Christian Mistress, To Your Death; Ortiz (the Breeders), Chastity Belt He Whose Ox is Gored, The Camel, (Sleater-Kinney), Girlpool (Liz Phair, The Lion, The Child; Disemballerina, the Breeders) and Joanna Gruesome Poison Gown; False, Untitled; Ghost, (riot grrrl meets shoegaze pop). Plaid Meliora; Iron Maiden, The Book of flannel, cabernet-red lipstick and Doc Souls; The Goddamn Gallows, The Martens forever.

Maker; Spectral Voice, Necrotic Can’t stop, won’t stop: Albums in Doom; Khemmis, Absolution; obsessive rotation included Courtney Lucifer, Lucifer I; Oneohtrix Point Barnett’s super-smart Sometimes I Sit Never, Garden of Delete; Pissgrave, and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit, Suicide Euphoria.

Beach House’s super-sad Depression —E.J.

—A.S.

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12.31.15 | SN&R | 27

02 SAT

02 SAT

02 SAT

03 S UN

Todd Morgan & the Emblems

J. Stalin

Tyler Rich

Vinnie Guidera & the Dead Birds

Harlow’s restaurant & nigHtclub, 5 p.m., $10-$12 Who says kids these days have no style?

Those folks haven’t seen Todd Morgan, a young lad who’s got the dress and Rock swagger of one cool cat from the ’50s. The local musician’s latest album, Sweet Pretender, released earlier this year, mixes a ton of elements like jazz, rockabilly, pop and funk. Back when he started in 2007, his love for all things ’50s was apparent in every note he played, and while he’s really broken out of that mold with his more recent work, he hasn’t scrapped his roots altogether. And, of course, he still sports stylish threads.

2708 J Street, http://toddmorganand theemblems.com

tHe boardwalk, 7 p.m., $20-$25

goldfield trading post, 9 p.m., no cover

Since 2006, Oakland rapper J. Stalin has released a massive body of work—12 studio albums, to be exact. Lineage of his region runs deep; J. Stalin’s latest record features a track entitled “Jacka’s Prayer,” referencing the befallen Bay Area legend, and declares J.Stalin as the “realest of the last left.” With the Jacka taken from this earth too soon, J. Stalin has merit to his claims.

Tears of Joy is one of his stronHip-Hop gest records to date. It’s deeply tied to street hymns, but is not above pop-culture crazes like the reemergence of “Bye Felicia.” 9426 Greenback Lane in Orangevale, www.jstalinlivewire.com.

—blake gillespie

If you pay attention to country music and you’re from Sacramento, Tyler Rich is probably already on your radar. After all, Sacto is often cited as his hometown even though he’s really from Yuba City (no worries dude, we get it), and he’s coUNTRY shared the stage with the likes of Sam Hunt and Cole Swindell. Now living in Nashville, Rich is bro-country without being too bro. His paean to California, “California Grown,” is especially fun in that it makes you think “Hey, us Californians are kinda country.” (Yuba City represent!) Catch this solo show before his national tour supporting Dustin Lynch. 1630 J Street, www.tyler richmusic.com.

—aaron carnes

y&t

Skin of SaintS – onoff - roSwell Sunday, January 10

All Ages Welcome!

Saturday, January 23

neVer shout neVer granger smith

the SteppaS - the SkintS

drew baldridge

wedneSday, January 13

marianas trenCh thurSday, January 14

Saturday, January 30

bone thugsn-harmony wedneSday, february 3

stiCK figure

triVium

Saturday, January 16

2 Chainz

friday, february 5

the white buffalo

TickeTs available aT all Dimple RecoRDs locaTions anD aRmaDillo RecoRDs 28 | SN&R | 12.31.15

—amy bee

1417 R Street, Sacramento, 95814 www.aceofspadessac.com

friday, January 29

tribal seeDs

It’s okay if you need three days to recover from your epic New Year’s Eve extravaganza, because indie-rock band Vinnie Guidera & the Dead Birds is having an acoustic pajama party. Just because VGDB’s melancholic songs discuss things like depression and grief doesn’t mean the band doesn’t know how to have a good time at iNDiE Rock a show. In fact, the moodier elements of their songs rendered acoustic will be a good excuse to cuddle up to friends.

No word yet if VGDB will be telling bedtime stories. 3520 Stockton Boulevard, www. facebook.com/vinnieguideramusic.

—deena drewis

aCe of spaDes thurSday, december 31

cafe colonial, 8 p.m., $5

COMING

SOON

02/12 02/13 02/15 02/17 02/18 02/20 02/21 02/22 02/24 03/01 03/05 03/06 03/10 03/11 03/21 03/31 05/12 07/23

Mickey Avalon & Dirt Nasty Geoff Tate’s Operation” Mind Crime Strfkr / Com Truise Keys N Krates Brian Fallon & The Crowes Cradle of Filth The Word Alive Neck Deep / State Champs Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys Children of Bodom Mute Math Mike Stud Born of Osiris Silverstein Tonight Alive & Set It Off Ciara Tech N9ne Julietta Venegas

A PACE RESERvED fOR THE INCAPACITATED.

05 T UE

07 T HU

07 T HU

07 T HU

Dead Meadow

Harm

Non Drummer Drum Off

Yidhra

Starlite lounge, 8 p.m., $12

addiSon’S Bicycle repairium, 7 p.m., $5

Dead Meadow rose to notoriety with the release of Shivering King and Others on Matador Records in 2004, and the rest has been psych-rock history.

PSYCH ROCK With a catalog that spans seven studio albums and dates back to 2000, this trio is now a headliner across the country. Led by the guitar and vocal stylings of Jason Simon, the group is propelled by the able rhythm section of Steve Kille (bass and sitar) and Mark Laughlin (drums) to create a wall of stoner and psych rock swell unlike any other on the touring circuit. An analog liquid light show courtesy of Lance Gordon and Mad Alchemy will accompany the music. 1517 21st Street, www.deadmeadow.com.

harlow’S reStaurant & nightcluB, 8 p.m., $10

Defying the laws of genres, Harm blends the classical sounds of cello and clarinet with— wait for it—hip-hop, chamber-style vocal harmonies, beatboxing and a multilayered experimental orchestra that includes banjo and acoustic and bass guitars. To peel back even more layers, this group from Alaska uses its music as a platform for lyrical activism with songs that explore themes of gender, sexuality and violence. Check out INDIE Harm’s music video for “Between a Rock & a Rock (is the distance spent searching for fertile soil)” on the band’s website to prep before the show. DoofyDoo will also perform. 2311 S Street, www.harmalaska.com.

Starlite lounge, 8 p.m., $7

It sounds like a cruel joke: Assemble a bunch of people who don’t play drums and command them to play drums. The fourth annual Non Drummer Drum Off will showcase the non-talents of 14 nondrummers—mostly musicians, but also others in the NOISE creative community. Everyone expects them to be terrible, but hopefully hilarious as well. Real drummers will issue judgment. James Cavern will host. Local singer-songwriters Sandra Dolores (pictured), Carly DuHain and Dean Haakenson will provide some much-needed, off-drum musical relief. Bring earplugs and a sense of humor. 2708 J Street, www.facebook.com/ events/1484565575183808.

—Steph rodriguez

—eddie JorgenSen

Those who’ve been patiently following the slow rise of Los Angeles’ Yidhra already know this quartet delivers a heady brew of obnoxious guitar riffs at a pace reserved for the incapacitated. And while their new Cult Of Bathory EP doesn’t drop until early next year, the band has some great pre- order bundles available for the vinyl freaks.

Fans of Corrosion of Conformity, Trouble and Saint Vitus will appreciate tracks like “Reign Of Terror” and the STONER METAL eight-minute epic “Iron Mountain.” Opening the show are the Bay Area’s Tvsk and local post-metal outfit Decade of Statues. 1517 21st Street, http://yidhra.bandcamp.com.

—Janelle Bitker

—eddie JorgenSen

2708 J Street Sacramento, CA 916.441.4693 www.harlows.com

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Coming Soon 01/14 Cory Morrow 01/15 Irishpalooza 01/15 Jelly Bread 01/16 Stu Hamm Band 01/16 Dead Prez 01/17 JD Mc Pherson/HoneyHoney 01/17 The Luniz 01/22-23 Tainted Love 01/24 Chicano Batman 01/28 Led Kaapana 01/29 Night of Flamenco 01/29 Abney Park / Diego’s Umbrella 01/29 Duendes – A Night of Falmenco 01/30 Mania: The Live Beatles Experience 01/30 Peace Killers 02/03 The Motet 02/05 Joy & Madness 02/06 Steelin’ Dan 02/06 Some Fear None 02/12 Glen Phillips 02/12 Crywolf

12.31.15 | SN&R | 29

THURSDAY 12/31

FRIDAY 1/1

SATURDAY 1/2

BADLANDS

New Year’s Eve party, 8pm, call for cover

Fabulous and Gay Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

Spectacular Saturdays, 9pm, call for cover

BAR 101

New Year’s Eve party with RADIO HEAVY, call for time and cover

2003 K St., (916) 448-8790

List your event!

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.

Trivia Night, 6:30pm M, no cover; Open-mic night, 7:30pm W, no cover

BLUE LAMP

THE CORE ASSEMBLY, 9pm, call for cover

FLIGHT OF RYAN, 8pm Tu, call for cover

THE BOARDWALK

J STALIN, LIL YASE; 7pm, $20-$25

1400 Alhambra, (916) 455-3400 9426 Greenback Ln., Orangevale; (916) 988-9247

CENTER FOR THE ARTS

New Year’s Eve with LOLO GERVAIS, Beau Tie Beauties; $22-$122

COUNTRY CLUB SALOON

New Year’s Eve with DJ Eric Mann, 8pm, call for cover

ISLAND OF BLACK AND WHITE, 9pm, no cover

THE COZMIC CAFE

Open-mic night, 7:30pm, no cover

Green Tara Sand Mandala Opening Ceremony with Gaden Shartse Monks, 4pm

Vajravadarana Healing Ritual, 7pm, call for cover

Meditations on the Six Perfections Workshop, 10:30am, $50

Dharma Talk: Karma, 7pm Tu; Dharma Talk: Patience, 7pm W

DISTRICT 30

New Year’s Eve party with Bad Boy Bill, 9pm, $35

FACES

New Year’s Eve party, 8pm, $25

Absolut Fridays dance party, 9pm, $5-$10

Party Time dance party with Sequin Saturdays drag show at 9:30pm, $5-$12

Sunday Mass with heated pool, drag show, 2pm, no cover

EDM and karaoke, 9pm M, no cover; Latin night, 9pm Tu, $5

FOX & GOOSE

New Year’s Eve with the Flower Vato, 9pm, $10

314 W. Main St., Grass Valley; (530) 274-8384 4007 Taylor Rd., Loomis; (916) 652-4007 594 Main St., Placerville; (530) 642-8481

2000 K St., (916) 448-7798

Hey local bands!

1001 R St., (916) 443-8825

JEM AND SCOUT, THE STUMMIES; 9pm, $5

GOLDFIELD TRADING POST HALFTIME BAR & GRILL

Beachin’ New Year’s Bash with THE MOCK-UPS, 9pm, call for cover

HARLOW’S

New Year’s Eve party with MUSTACHE HARBOR, 9pm, $35

THE HIDEAWAY BAR & GRILL

Swingin’ New Year’s with Cactus Pete, 9pm, no cover

5681 Lonetree Blvd., Rocklin; (916) 626-6366 2708 J St., (916) 441-4693

Trivia night, 7:30pm Tu; Bingo, 1pm W TODD MORGAN AND THE EMBLEMS, 6pm, $10; TAO TARIKI, 10pm, $10

JENN ROGAR, ANNIE CORBET, KYM TRIPPSMITH; 8pm, $6

MIDTOWN BARFLY

86X: dark ’80s DJ dancing, 9pm, call for cover

1414 16th St., (916) 441-3931 1119 21st St., (916) 549-2779

Phone hours: M-F 9am-5pm.

All ads post online same day.

Deadlines for print: Line ad deadline: Monday 4pm Adult line ad deadline: Monday 4pm Display ad deadline: Friday 2pm

STILL

FREE!*

*Nominal fee for adult entertainment. All advertising is subject to the newspaper’s Standards of Acceptance. Further, the News & Review specifically reserves the right to edit, decline or properly classify any ad. Errors will be rectified by re-publication upon notification. The N&R is not responsible for error after the first publication.

The N&R assumes no financial liability for errors or omission of copy. In any event, liability shall not exceed the cost of the space occupied by such an error or omission.

The advertiser and not the newspaper assumes full responsibility for the truthful content of their advertising message.

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KAREGA BAILEY AND SOL DEVELOPMENT, 8pm, $15-$20 Record Club, M; Cactus Pete’s 78 RPM Record Roundup, 8pm Tu

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MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 1/4-1/6 Big Mondays happy hour all night, M; Karaoke, Tu; Trapicana, W

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East Coast Countdown Party GRANT CHESIN, LARISA BRYSKI; 6pm, $5

MILLION DOLLAR CREEP, LINDSAY DAHMS-NOLAN; 8:30pm, $5

AREA GRAY, KID DREAMER, CALL SIGN; 8:30pm, $5

OLD IRONSIDES

New Year’s Eve with Lipstick, 9pm, $10

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New Year’s Karaoke Bash with Ni Kara and Jessica, 8pm, no cover

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SUNDAY 1/3

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 1/4-1/6 Naked Lounge Quintet, 8:30pm M; AUGUSTUS, 8:30pm W, $5 Guest chefs serve $5 plates, M; Karaoke, 9pm Tu; Open-mic, 9pm W

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

Sunday Night Football with Cory, 5pm, no cover

Karaoke, 9pm Tu, no cover; Movie night with Jandy Barwench, 7pm W

THE PALMS PLAYHOUSE

13 Main St., Winters; (530) 795-1825

PISTOL PETE’S

140 Harrison Ave., Auburn; (530) 885-5093

POWERHOUSE PUB

New Year’s Eve party with 8 TRACK MASSACRE, call for time and cover

THE PRESS CLUB

New Jack Fling ’90s hip-hop party with CrookOne and BenJohnson; 9pm, $7

SHADY LADY SALOON

New Year’s Eve with CRESCENT KATZ, 9pm, $20

614 Sutter St., Folsom; (916) 355-8586 2030 P St., (916) 444-7914 1409 R St., (916) 231-9121

ONE LEG CHUCK, call for time and cover

BRANDED, call for time and cover

USED BLUES BAND, 3pm, call for cover

Pop 40 dance party, 9pm, $5

6 BEERS DEEP, ROLLIN’ BLACKOUTS, SLUTZVILLE; 8pm W, call for coverNew

STARLITE LOUNGE

DEAD MEADOW, SLA, SLOW SEASON; 8pm Tu, $15

1517 21st St., (916) 704-0711

STONEY’S ROCKIN RODEO

8th annual New Year’s Bash, DJ dancing, Country DJ dancing and karaoke, karaoke; 5pm, $10 8pm, $5

TORCH CLUB

New Year’s Eve party with IDEATEAM, BLACK STAR SAFARI; 9pm, $25

1320 Del Paso Blvd., (916) 927-6023 904 15th St., (916) 443-2797

Live band karaoke, 8pm Tu, call for cover; 98 Rock’s Local Licks, 8pm W

Country DJ dancing and karaoke, 8pm, $5

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Country DJ dancing, 8:30pm W, $5-$10

Blues jam, 4pm, no cover; Front the Band karaoke, 8pm, no cover

All ages, all the time ACE OF SPADES

Y&T, SKIN OF SAINTS, ONOFF, ROSWELL; 7pm, $35-$40

1417 R St., (916) 448-3300

Crescent Katz New Year’s Eve party 9pm Thursday, $20.

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VINNIE GUIDERA AND THE DEAD BIRDS, 8pm, call for cover

3520 Stockton Blvd., (916) 736-3520

THE COLONY

Consolcade retro console gaming, 6pm Tu, no cover

Mustache Harbor New Year’s Eve party 9pm Thursday, $35.

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MOXIE, THE INFLUENCE; 7pm, call for cover

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2015 reflections to grow on since 2010, but this year the trend spread What was hot in love and relationships in to adults, especially the recently divorced.

2015? Some trends that should be kicked to When physical and emotional closeness the curb, and others worth keeping. Check with their partner became too intense, it out: they headed home for solitude. Problems The social media EKG: Teens and erupted for couples who never defined the 20-somethings often use social media to terms of their relationship (dating? friends suss the possibility of a crush turning seriwith benefits?), and were heartbroken to ous, or to DTR: define the relationship. It’s discover their partner was also involved easy, they say, to find your crush online, and search posts for clues. If you’re already with someone else. The other stayover mess occurred with couples who slid from talking, but want to become a thing, you stayover to staycation, and then into cohabcan drop memes that hint at what you hope iting without ever discussing commitment will happen. If you think he’s cheating, or fidelity. or that she’s lost interest, you Toxic friendships: More can subtweet about what you people became aware of would do to someone who the qualities of unhealthy cheated or abandoned friendships through the you. (Subtweeting is Clicks are simple, proliferation of online gossiping about or bullybut a conversation blogs, and made the ing someone without can be awkward and move to end those mentioning their name, connections. Others but doing it in a way that uncomfortable. opted to understand the is obvious who you are challenge was personal. talking about.) Clicks are They learned to connect simple, but a conversation differently with a difficult friend can be awkward and uncomfortby managing confrontation, engagable—that’s the excuse, anyway. ing clear communication and practicing Unfortunately, the practice of using compassion. These individuals gained social media as an EKG grew among powerful interpersonal skills and selfmiddle-aged adults this year. Hey, why tell awareness in the process. someone things aren’t working out when As 2015 ends, let’s initiate a new trend: you can send a text, or just post a photo a commitment to grow in intimacy by of yourself with your new bae? Yes, it’s listening deeply, loving widely and being true—that was the sad state of the human transparent in all of our relationships. Ω heart in 2015.

Single and satisfied: More people are choosing the single life over marriage, or even dating. These individuals enjoy career, family and friends without succumbing to social pressure to be in a committed, longMeditation of the Week term relationship. Other single adults are “I have found that if you love content to date casually without demanding life, life will love you back,” that the relationship morph into anything said pianist Arthur Rubinstein. more. It’s not the end of marriage, but the Are you ready to give life arrival of less judgment toward people who everything you’ve got? choose a different lifestyle. Young women have even embraced the title of “spinster,” acknowledging that the label originally signified a career woman capable of taking Write, email or leave a message for Joey at the News & Review. Give care of herself. your name, telephone number The stayover: A staycation at your (for verification purposes only) and question—all significant other’s home that’s not as casual correspondence will be kept strictly confidential. as hanging out, yet less formal than cohabitating, or getting hitched. The stayover Write Joey, 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA has been popular with 18- to 29-year-olds 95815; call (916) 498-1234, ext. 3206; or email askjoey@newsreview.com.

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34 | SN&R | 12.31.15

Medicinal vs. recreational A criticism of legalized medical marijuana is that medical cards are easy to obtain (i.e., buy) and that a large proportion of card holders are basically recreational users. What is your view and experience?

—Waiting for Legal Here is my view: So what? Marijuana should be legal anyway. If going to the doctor and claiming you use cannabis to treat your pretendinitis will keep you out of jail and away from the criminal justice system, do it. Going to jail is a gigantic threat to your health and well-being.

Yes, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 was intended to assist people with serious diseases (cancer, HIV, arthritis, etc.).

However, cannabis has been proven to be effective for a variety of health issues, and it is a natural stress reliever. Stress will kill you in a hurry, and going to jail will definitely increase your stress levels, so getting a medical cannabis recommendation is a preventative health measure. Boom. Plus, why should someone have to try to find a marijuana dealer when they could go to a friendly neighborhood cannabis dispensary and choose from a plethora of fine products that have been tested for quality? Marijuana is the safest medicinal and recreational drug of all time ever, and no one Going should ever have to deal with the criminal to jail is a justice system because they like weed. gigantic threat to So don’t wait for legalization, because California may never get it right. your health and

well-being.

Several years ago I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I found that marijuana often helps ease the anxiety and racing thoughts associated with manic episodes. Yet, most evaluators won’t approve medical-marijuana use for people suffering from BPD. I’m wondering, is that because there hasn’t been sufficient research done on the matter, or are there proven dangers associated with it?

—Sleepless in Salinas There hasn’t been sufficient research on how marijuana affects people with bipolar disorder. The esteemed Dr. Lester Grinspoon published a study a few years ago (http://tinyurl.com/cannabisandmood) showing that cannabis may help, but he also says that more study is needed. The DEA makes it very difficult for American scientists to study the medicinal effects of marijuana (probably because they need marijuana to remain illegal to justify their enormous budget). That’s why Israel is leading the world in cannabis research. Although the DEA just announced that it’s easing the rules for research on CBD, which is a nonpsychoactive component of the cannabis plant (meaning it won’t get you high). Still, CBD has been shown to be an effective anti-anxiety med, so maybe the scientists will find a way to help you with your condition. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence suggesting that cannabis can help people with BPD, but I would suggest that you find a doctor or therapist who is a little more open minded about cannabis and talk to them before you go out and start smoking all the weed all the time. Ω

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www.420MD.org 12.31.15 | SN&R | 35

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Free will astrology

by AAron CArnes

by rob brezsny

FOR THE WEEk OF DECEMBER 31, 2015 ARIES (March 21-April 19): John Koenig is an

artist who invents new words. Here’s one that’s applicable to your journey in 2016: “keyframe.”

Koenig defines it as being a seemingly mundane phase of your life that is, in fact, a turning point.

Major plot twists in your big story arrive halfhidden amid a stream of innocuous events. They don’t come about through “a series of jolting epiphanies,” Koenig says, but rather “by tiny imperceptible differences between one ordinary day and the next.” In revealing this secret, I hope I’ve alerted you to the importance of acting with maximum integrity and excellence in your everyday routine.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The coming months

look like one of the best times ever for your love life. Old romantic wounds are finally ready to be healed. You’ll know what you have to do to shed tired traditions and bad habits that have limited your ability to get the spicy sweetness you deserve. Are you up for the fun challenge?

Be horny for deep feelings. Be exuberantly aggressive in honoring your primal yearnings. Use your imagination to dream up new approaches to getting what you want. The innovations in intimacy that you initiate in the coming months will keep bringing you gifts and teachings for years to come.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In ancient times,

observers of the sky knew the difference between stars and planets. The stars remained fixed in their places. The planets wandered around, always shifting positions in relationship to the stars. But now and then, at irregular intervals, a very bright star would suddenly materialize out of nowhere, stay in the same place for a while and then disappear. Chinese astronomers called these “guest stars.” We refer to them as supernovae. They are previously dim or invisible stars that explode, releasing tremendous energy for a short time. I suspect that in 2016, you may experience the metaphorical equivalent of a guest star. Learn all you can from it. It’ll provide teachings and blessings that could feed you for years.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Be alert for an

abundance of interesting lessons in 2016. You will be offered teachings about a variety of practical subjects, including how to take care of yourself really well, how to live the life you want to live and how to build the connections that serve your dreams. If you are even moderately responsive to the prompts and nudges that come your way, you will become smarter than you thought possible. So just imagine how savvy you’ll be if you ardently embrace your educational opportunities. (Please note that some of these opportunities may be partially in disguise.)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The silkworm grows fast.

Once it hatches, it eats constantly for three weeks. By the time it spins its cocoon, it’s 10,000 times heavier than it was in the beginning. On the other hand, a mature, 60-foot-tall saguaro cactus may take 30 years to fully grow a new side arm.

It’s in no hurry. From what I can tell, Leo, 2015 was more like a silkworm year for you, whereas 2016 will more closely resemble a saguaro. Keep in mind that while the saguaro phase is different from your silkworm time, it’s just as important.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “The sky calls me,”

wrote Virgo teacher and poet Sri Chinmoy.

“The wind calls me. The moon and stars call me. The dense groves call me. The dance of the fountain calls me. Smiles call me, tears call me.

A faint melody calls me. The morn, noon and eve call me. Everyone is searching for a playmate.

Everyone is calling me, ‘Come, come!’” In 2016, Virgo, I suspect you will have a lot of firsthand experience with feelings like these. Sometimes life’s seductiveness may overwhelm you, activating confused desires to go everywhere and do everything. On other occasions, you will be enchanted by the lush invitations, and will know exactly how to respond and reciprocate.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the 19th century,

horses were a primary mode of personal transportation. Some people rode them, and others sat in carriages and wagons that horses pulled.

But as cities grew larger, a problem emerged: the mounting manure left behind on the roads.

It became an ever-increasing challenge to clear away the equine “pollution.” In 1894, a British newspaper predicted that the streets of London would be covered with nine feet of the stuff by 1950. But then something unexpected happened: cars. Gradually, the threat of an excremental apocalypse waned. I present this story as an example of what I expect for you in 2016: a pressing dilemma that will gradually dissolve because of the arrival of a factor you can’t imagine yet.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The longest river

in the world flows through eastern Africa: the Nile. It originates below the equator and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Although its current flows north, its prevailing winds blow south.

That’s why sailors have found it easily navigable for thousands of years. They can either go with the flow of the water or use sails to harness the power of the breeze. I propose that we make the Nile your official metaphor in 2016, Scorpio.

You need versatile resources that enable you to come and go as you please—that are flexible in supporting your efforts to go where you want and when you want.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In many

cases, steel isn’t fully useful if it’s too hard.

Manufacturers often have to soften it a bit.

This process, which is called tempering, makes the steel springier and more malleable. Car parts, for example, can’t be too rigid. If they were, they’d break too easily. I invite you to use “tempering” as one of your main metaphors in 2016, Sagittarius. You’re going to be strong and vigorous, and those qualities will serve you best if you keep them flexible. Do you know the word “ductile”? If not, look it up. It’ll be a word of power for you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In his essay “The Etiquette of Freedom,” poet Gary Snyder says that wildness “is perennially within us, dormant as a hard-shelled seed, awaiting the fire or flood that awakes it again.” The fact that it’s a “hardshelled” seed is a crucial detail. The vital stuff inside the stiff outer coating may not be able to break out and start growing without the help of a ruckus. A fire or flood? They might do the job.

But I propose, Capricorn, that in 2016 you find an equally vigorous but less disruptive prod to liberate your dormant wildness. Like what? You could embark on a brave pilgrimage or quest.

You could dare yourself to escape your comfort zone. Are there any undomesticated fantasies you’ve been suppressing? Unsuppress them!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Frederick the

Great was King of Prussia between 1740 and 1786. He was also an Aquarius who sometimes experimented with eccentric ideas. When he brewed his coffee, for example, he used champagne instead of water. Once the hot elixir was ready to drink, he mixed in a dash of powdered mustard. In light of the astrological omens, I suspect that Frederick’s exotic blend might be an apt symbol for your life in 2016: a vigorous, rich, complex synthesis of champagne, coffee and mustard. (P.S. Frederick testified that “champagne carries happiness to the brain.”)

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): My Piscean

acquaintance Arturo plays the piano as well as anyone I’ve heard. He tells me that he can produce 150 different sounds from any single key, using the foot pedals accounts for some of the variation. How he touches a key is an even more important factor. It can be percussive, fluidic, staccato, relaxed, lively and many other moods. I invite you to cultivate a similar approach to your unique skills in 2016. Expand and deepen your ability to draw out the best in them. Learn how to be even more expressive with the powers you already possess.

PHOTO BY KEVIN CORTOPASSI

Take the shot One of them is the Three Way. They’re very active, very fun on the stage. There’s a photo of them right now on exhibit at Viewpoint Gallery. I have a photo of [guitarist-singer] Justin Forcione from a juried exhibit. It’s called the Twelve show. He stepped off of stage out on the dance floor. I went on the stage and shot down at him. He’s leaning back, playing his guitar. This was over at PJ’s Roadhouse. The other band that’s fun to photograph is Tha Dirt Feelin from Davis.

They’re the best band in Davis. They call themselves hip-hop, but it’s more like fun rock ’n’ roll, with kind of a hip-hop touch to it.

How many shows do you hit each week?

Shoot anything besides bands?

It might be one on one week, but there’s three the next and then you have to add in some festivals. We’ll call it two.

What was the first band you photographed?

It happened in 2004. It was the band 2Me. Reid Foster, who’s not with them anymore, asked me when I was at work at the state parks and recreation, to come photograph his band. That’s how I got started. I was working in the architecture section. Reed worked at the front desk. He knew that I took photos. They played at a place in Old Sac.

Has your style changed since you started?

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.

Who are your favorite bands to photograph?

Chances are, if you’ve been to a show with any one of Sacramento’s many local bands, you’ve probably seen Dennis Scott taking pictures.

After retiring from the California State Parks and Recreation department in 2007, the 67-year-old former architect took to photographing local bands’ performances. He burns these photos onto a CD or DVD and then gives them to the band the next time he sees them. He’s been snapping photos most of his life. In fact, he has a photo show—not a music one— coming this February at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center.

I look back at my old stuff and compare it to my new stuff and I’ve improved. I’ve learned a lot. I don’t get in the way of the audience. A lot of photographers don’t understand that. I try to shoot from the side. You never want to interfere with a show.

I’ll be having an individual show on Cambodia at Angkor in the back gallery in Viewpoint in February. It’s pictures I shot at the Angkor complex in Cambodia. I went there last February. I did a lot of architectural photography, and I shot a lot of people there, street photography. I went up to merchants there.

I’d say, ‘Do you want to do a photograph?’

One of the things I’ll do is I’ll go buy something and then talk to them and then get the photograph. When they know you’re doing it, it’s sort of set up. It’s called an environmental portrait, but I’m using the natural light there.

I’m using the shop as part of the story.

Favorite photograph of yours?

One of my earliest environmental portraits was at the old Mayflower Warehouse, which is where the MARRS complex is now on 20th street. There was this mechanic there. This would have been 20 years ago. He was about 70 years old, and had been the mechanic for Mayflower Trucks for almost 50 years.

He had this really interesting garage. He had all his stuff in there. He had this fantastic old

Jeep, which they eventually gave him for his retirement. He had old pinups from Playboys from the ’50s and things like this, calendars and stuff. It was just a fascinating photograph.

Do you charge bands for photos?

I don’t charge the bands because local bands, they can’t afford this stuff. They’ll usually let me in the gate, even if it’s a low turnout. Sometimes I’ll pay to help them along because my retirement is adequate.

This allows me to do my hobby and give it to somebody that wants it, instead of being tossed in a closet and nobody sees it. So I go out, have some fun, listen to music. It keeps your old bones young feeling. It keeps you in touch with the younger people. I have young friends as well as old friends. I’ve gotten really close to one musician, Jake Jarzemkoski. He’s a bass player that’s played with Zuhg and several other bands. He now plays for a band called Rubbidy Buppidy. He’s 36 years old. I would have never crossed paths with him were it not for this.

Do musicians ever not want their photos taken?

I’m probably one of the first people that photographed Jackie Greene without him being bothered. He doesn’t like to be photographed. He’s gotten used to it now. But in the early years, he really didn’t like it. I knew about it beforehand. I got to know Alex, his brother, from Walking Spanish. I was able to shoot him because I know how to take photos without being a nuisance, standing back a little bit, get over in the corner out of eyesight. It was really the first time Jackie Greene was photographed. Ω Check out Dennis Scott’s exhibit Angkor Views at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, 2015 J Street, from February 9 to March 5.

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