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INSID E:

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Forced testimony against abuser

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The Bay chef who invented Sac’s dream

Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

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Volume 29, iSSue 52

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Esteemed almonds thurSday, april

S t ay P l ay A tourism guide for locals 12, 2018

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newSreView.com

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april

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Editor’s notE

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23 Creative Services Manager Christopher Terrazas Creative Director Serene Lusano

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.

Editor Eric Johnson News Editor Raheem F. Hosseini Managing Editor Mozes Zarate Staff Reporter Scott Thomas Anderson Calendar Editor Kate Gonzales Contributors Daniel Barnes, Ngaio Bealum, Alastair Bland, Rob Brezsny, Aaron Carnes, Jim Carnes, Willie Clark, Joey Garcia, Jeff Hudson, Matt Kramer, Jim Lane, Michael Mott, Luis Gael Jimenez, Rachel Leibrock, Kate Paloy, Patti Roberts, Steph Rodriguez, Ann Martin Rolke, Shoka, Bev Sykes

Editorial Designers Maria Ratinova, Sarah Hansel Publications Designer Mike Bravo Web Design & Strategist Elisabeth Bayard Arthur Ad Designer: Catalina Munevar Contributing Photographers Devin Armstrong, Karlos Rene Ayala, Kris Hooks Advertising Manager Michael Gelbman Sales Coordinator Victoria Smedley Senior Advertising Consultants Rosemarie Messina, Kelsi White Advertising Consultants Anne-Marie Boyland, Mark Kates, Michael Nero Director of First Impressions Skyler Morris Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Assistant Lob Dunnica Distribution Drivers Mansour Aghdam, Beatriz Aguirre, Gypsy Andrews, Rosemarie Beseler, Kimberly Bordenkircher, Daniel Bowen, Heather Brinkley, Kathleen Caesar, Mike Cleary, Tom Downing,

27 Marty Fetterley, Chris Fong, Ron Forsberg, Joanna Gonzalez-Brown, Kelly Hopkins, Julian Lang, Lance Medlin, Greg Meyers, Lloyd Rongley, Lolu Sholotan, Viv Tiqui, Eric Umeda N&R Publications Editor Michelle Carl N&R Associate Editor Laura Hillen N&R Publications Writer Anne Stokes, Rodney Orosco Marketing & Publications Consultants Steve Caruso, Joseph Engle, Elizabeth Morabito, Traci Hukill, Celeste Worden President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Director of Nuts & Bolts Deborah Redmond Director of People & Culture David Stogner Project Coordinator Natasha vonKaenel FPayroll/AP Wizard Miranda Hansen Accounts Receivable Specialist Analie Foland Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins

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STREETALK LETTERS NEwS + BEATs GREENLiGhT FEATuRE SToRy ARTS + cuLTuRE DiSh STAGE FiLm cALENDAR ASK joEy ThE 420 15 miNuTES

covER DESiGN by SARAh hANSEL

1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95815 Phone (916) 498-1234 Fax (916) 498-7910 Website www.newsreview.com Got a News Tip? sactonewstips@newsreview.com Calendar Events www.newsreview.com/calendar Want to Advertise? Fax (916) 498-7910 or snradinfo@newsreview.com Classifieds (916) 498-1234, ext. 5 or classifieds@newsreview.com Job Opportunities jobs@newsreview.com Want to Subscribe to SN&R? sactosubs@newsreview.com Editorial Policies: opinions expressed in sn&r are those of the authors and not of chico community Publishing, inc. contact the editor for permissions to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. sn&r is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or review materials. Email letters to snrletters@newsreview.com. 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.

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McClintock: enemy of the Earth It’s been 20 years since I dealt with a someone like Tom McClintock. But for a decade before that, as a journalist working in Montana, I dealt with guys like him all the time. For a generation, Republican politicians made their bones by attacking environmentalists. They called themselves the “Wise Use Movement,” and charged the environmentalists with “locking up” the natural resources contained in the nation’s wildlands.

When I arrived in 1982, Missoula was as much a logging town as a college town. Rolling Stone had labeled it “Berkeley in the Rockies,” but the writer who penned that phrase apparently didn’t notice the two sawmills, including what was once the biggest plywood mill in the world.

Both of those mills are now closed.

For years, the Wise Users warned that the environmental laws they successfully fought would force the mills to close. That’s not what happened.

Without strict laws protecting forests on the privately held land owned by the since-shuttered Champion International and other timber companies, those forests were clear-cut into extinction. The timber industry essentially put itself out of business in Montana.

There are still a lot of beautiful forests in Montana, for one reason alone: A lot of the state is public property— National Parks and National Forests where logging laws are fairly strong.

That is also true here in California. As this week’s cover story shows, Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) is trying to weaken those laws. As chairman of the House Federal Lands Subcommittee, McClintock is one of the most dangerous people in Washington when it comes to the environment.

This article is the first in a series.

—Eric Johnson e r ic j@ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

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04.12.18

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sn&r

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3

building a

HealtHy S a c r a m e n t o

Comic book tells the ‘real’ story of South Sacramento by e d g a r s a n c h e z

Fair moved to Cal Expo in the late 1960s, she says, the neighborhood began an economic decline that continues today.

Kathleen is visiting Ella, a young patient in the ER of UC Davis Medical Center, at the fair’s old site. Ella has pneumonia caused by the mold-infested apartment where she lives with her single father, Marcos, who has discovered that the Med Center no longer accepts Medi-Cal patients, except in its ER.

Comic books are powerful learning tools.

For proof, check out “How Did We Get Here?”, a new comic chronicling the history of South Sacramento, an underserved neighborhood where people fight for equality and justice every day.

A year in the making, it was published last month by 916 Ink, a South Sac nonprofit that promotes writing among youth, some of whom contributed to the 32-page graphic novel. With funding from The California Endowment, the comic is free, with a 1,000copy first edition on thick, quality paper.

“It’s a hIstory lesson In a new, engagIng format.”

“When I was asked to be part of this giant undertaking, it did seem a little intimidating,” said Sacramento professional illustrator Robert Love, who illustrated the book with beautiful characters in bright colors. “But ... if you feel intimidated, you’re not able to put in your best effort.”

Ian hadley executive director, 916Ink

Instead, he was guided by a team of collaborators. Major research, writing and coordinating contributions were made

by Sacramento City College’s Sociology Department, including by Professor Nicholas Miller and student Olivia Baxter, the comic’s principal writer.

After Ella’s release, she and Marcos face other issues common to underprivileged communities. Father and daughter eventually become activists who fight for a better South Sac.

Though fictional, the multi-racial characters in “HDWGH?” face problems all too real for South Sacramentans.

At the beginning, a studious lady named Kathleen explains that around 1910, South Sac began hosting the State Fair. Once the

Along the way, the book showcases historymaking Sacramentans, such as Nathaniel Colley, Sacramento’s first black attorney, and spotlights the city’s ethnic groups, ranging from Japanese Americans to refugees from war-torn Afghanistan and Syria.

Sacramento illustrator Robert love holds a copy of “How did We get Here?”, which tells the history of South Sacramento. Photo by Edgar Sanchez

Illustrator Love was recruited by 916 Ink’s founding director, Katie McCleary, who left the nonprofit last fall to pursue other interests. Ian Hadley, who is descended from a line of literature professors, was appointed new executive director by the nonprofit’s board.

“Everyone who has seen ‘How Did We Get Here?’ has become a fan,” said Hadley, formerly with the Child Abuse Prevention Council of North Highlands. “It’s a history lesson in a new, engaging format.”

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.

paid with a grant from the california endowment 4 | SN&R | 04.12.18

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, communitybased organizations and public institutions will work together to address the socioeconomic and environmental challenges contributing to the poor health of their communities.

To request a free copy of “how did We get here?” call 916-826-7323 www.SacBHC.org

“I guess people won’T undersTand The reperCussIons unTIl IT Is Too laTe.”

asked at laguna Village in elk groVe:

The biggest environmental threat to Calif.?

Carly MitChell stay-at-home mom

MeguMi k ato

tr aVis str aub IT specialist

personal stylist

Water conservation, or Single-use and unrecycleable rather the lack of water waste. We, in our home, conservation, is a big deal. have traded out all of the It seems like in the last five plastics we can’t reuse for to 10 years, we have been stainless steel. At restaurants, paying more fees. I think the plastic straw ban would there are bigger players in be a thing to pursue. Even the community that need to if it is inconvenient to lug conserve water that are not around all the cups and doing their part. stainless steel straws, it is worth it.

BDOG-SNR-HalfHoriz.pdf 1 3/6/18 9:10 PM

We have issues with people littering. I know we have a lot of nature spots, and I noticed more trash. It seems like people don’t seem to care much about picking up after themselves. I guess people won’t understand the repercussions until it is too late.

isr ael FisChbaCh civil servant

The environmental science is not my forte. I feel the social environment, just the way we treat each other, is poor.

I think some people would like to be socially integrated.

In California, I feel like there is cynicism and mistrust. The remedy would be to give people more of a benefit of the doubt socially.

khalid Mik zad

JaMes Mull

student

IT specialist

The rain and water issues we have been having is one. We are not going back to soil life, but the water has no where to go. The water builds up and causes havoc with drainage issues and even traffic issues.

I am not worried about anything. Everything is good. I have no complaints. If there is too many people, I still say everything is good.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

From midnight to midnight on May 3, go to bigdayofgiving.org & give to the nonprofits that strengthen the Sacramento region.

Brought to you by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.

04.12.18 | SN&R | 5

Bloom Farms’ ‘one-For-one’ eFFort donates its one-millionth meal

by Ken Magri Last January, Bloom Farms hit a milestone. The Bay Area based manufacturer of cannabis vape pens, oils and pre-rolls donated its one-millionth healthy meal to nonprofit food banks with its “One-for-One” program. For every sale, Bloom Farms donates the cost of sourcing and distributing one healthy meal to a California food bank.

“Donating our one-millionth meal shows that we’re succeeding for our customers, who have purchased one million of our products and appreciate that we are working toward the greater good,” said Bloom Farms CEO Michael Ray. “Today, one in seven Californians don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” said Ray. “That’s a lot of people, and we need to be there for them.”

“every single person can get involved in some way and help fight hunger.”

Blake young, President, sacramento food Bank & family services

Working with food banks in Los Angeles, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda and Sacramento counties, Bloom Farms began its program in 2015. They quickly got employees involved by paying them four monthly hours of work time to volunteer at food bank warehouses and distribution events.

“One million meals is no small feat,” said Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services President Blake Young. “Donations like these from Bloom Farms are so impactful in our community. Every single person can get involved in some way and help fight hunger.”

In a combined effort by local dispensaries and related businesses, Collective Giving joined in Bloom Farms’ effort to feed the hungry by placing food collection barrels throughout Sacramento dispensaries in 2016.

Bloom Farms CEO Michael Ray volunteers at a food bank. Photo by Kelly Ginn

“Having experienced the total loss of our family farm just two years ago in the Butte Fire, it broke my heart to see all of those affected in the Northern California fires,” said Ray, whose own roots go back to Calaveras County.

And Bloom Farms is still donating meals. “Our company’s vision is to change the conversation around cannabis, and one of our core values is to give something amazing back,” said Bloom Farms’ Keith Hart. Last year the company was recognized as one of the Top 100 Bay Area corporate philanthropists by the San Francisco Business Times.

“Cannabis patients really love to give back to the local community,” says Kelsi White of Collective Giving.

ColleCtives Caring for the Community.

To help Californians affected by the Northern California fires last fall, Bloom Farms focused the remainder of its 2017 donations to Santa Rosa’s Redwood Empire Food Bank. It helped pay for their drive-thru distribution program, which, at peak, was serving up to 85 meals an hour.

Sponsored by:

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Email lEttErs to sactolEttErs@nEwsrEviEw.com

Make Sacramento more like Mayberry Re “The whole world is watching” by Eric Johnson (Editor’s note, March 29): Common-sense rule for supervising law enforcement from The Andy Griffith Show. I propose the Barney Fife rule. Any cop with a disciplinary problem, or whom their supervisor deems less-than-trustworthy with a weapon, should be allowed to carry only one bullet, and they have to keep it in their pocket. Sheriff Andy Taylor understood the shortcomings of his deputy and took steps to protect the public from him. I suggest that our police can do likewise.

derek link Sacramento via newsreview.com

SPD must do better Re “Bullet points” by Raheem Hosseini (News, April 5): Activist Berry Accius says, “Sacramento could actually be a model of what policing looks like nationally...” I assume he meant that he hopes Sacramento policing becomes good enough

to serve as a model, as do I. However, when the police department thinks it already is good enough to be a model, you can expect a lot of institutional resistance. In 2014, Sacramento Police union president Dustin Smith said, in criticizing mayor [Kevin] Johnson for his comments on the grand jury

decision on the Michael Brown killing in Ferguson, Mo., “We feel like we’re the model for the rest of the state to follow.”

He went on to say that, since they’ve been doing things “so right” the mayor’s comments were hard to take.

Jan Bergeron Sacramento via newsreview.com

and give a close read to what his colleague Scott Anderson wrote a few issues back. Is there anything at all impartial about “Ghost guns?” The best journalism ever written in the United States is at its core polemical and ideological. You don’t write anything worthwhile being impartial.

CharleS Saydah Carmichael via U.S. Mail

Call it like you feel it Re “Reporting while black” by Kris Hooks (Essay, March 29): Whoever told Kris Hooks that “you have to be impartial in order to be a good journalist” sold him a bill of goods.

It’s the other way around; you have to be partial to be a good journalist. You have to have a core belief in something that animates you, that gives you an angle from which to look at and write about the world.

Hooks need look no further than the SN&R newsroom

Make science make sense Re “Bio-engineered news”

by Alastair Bland (News, September 22, 2016): The entry of large corporations paying public research-and-development officials and professors should be banned. I was shocked to see a corporate lobbyist sometime back appointed to a presidential science council.

My lab investigated rBGH

milk and concluded that fraud was involved. The whole thing needs cleaning up and focusing on a few important objectives that program a well-determined safe result, agreed to by all our great people, not just insiders.

Bill von Meyer Pendleton, South Carolina via newsreview.com

Corrections Re: “Rent revolt” (SN&R News, April 5, 2018): The story incorrectly stated that Fernando Nadal’s son suffered a fatal overdose. It was Nadal’s friend’s son.

SN&R regrets the error.

read more letters online at www.newsreview .com/sacramento.

@SacNewsReview

Facebook.com/ SacNewsReview

@SacNewsReview

Re: “His brother’s keeper” by Raheem F. Hosseini (SN&R News, March 29, 2018): The story misidentified the gender of Stephon Clark’s children. He is survived by two sons. SN&R regrets the error.

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IllustratIon by sarah hansel

A reluctant victim A domestic violence survivor feels caught between her abuser and Sacramento’s justice system

by Scott thomaS anderSon and michael mott

For a moment, it looked like Judge David De Alba didn’t understand what was happening.

With the aid of a Russian interpreter, a young woman stood in the crowded confines of Sacramento County’s civil harassment court asking for a restraining order. But instead of trying to block contact from the husband accused of imprisoning and assaulting her, she was asking for protection from the prosecutor working to bring her violent spouse to justice.

“I want you to defend me from this prosecutor who continues to pressure me to give testimony that is not true,” the woman, whom SN&R is identifying as “Sofia,” told the judge through her translator. “I’ve said repeatedly I’m not the victim of a crime. … Now, [the prosecutor] has 8 | SN&R | 04.12.18

been continuing to call and say that I could be charged with a crime if I don’t testify.”

The judge raised his eyebrows. “You want me,” De Alba began, “to order that the prosecutor has to stop trying to get testimony from you?”

“False testimony,” Sofia shot back through her interpreter.

De Alba gathered himself. The superior court magistrate was no stranger to cases involving domestic violence, a particularly knotty area of criminal law where victims are often reluctant to come forward because of the storm of human emotions that swirl around partner abuse. Sometimes hearts change. Sometimes victims are captives of circumstance, choosing abuse over outright homelessness.

sc o tta @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

Sometimes they doubt the justice system can protect them or their children with its slow, creaking wheels.

For whatever reason, many allegations of domestic violence never hear a judge’s gavel.

Convictions can be even rarer in ethnic communities, where language barriers, deportation fears, cultural differences and social isolation can make the already complicated paths to justice seem insurmountable, according to Nilda Valmores, executive director of My Sister’s House, a nonprofit serving survivors of domestic violence.

De Alba knew all this, but Sofia’s unusual request for a protective order against a deputy district attorney appeared to cause a double-take.

“Your request is respectfully denied,” he finally said. “The purpose of a restraining order is not to interfere in the discretion of a local prosecutor.”

Then, softening his tone, De Alba added, “I understand completely your reluctance to testify. I’ve presided over many cases when people were alleged to be the victims of domestic abuse, and may have made statements, and then later changed their minds and said their previous statements were false.”

De Alba leaned forward. “People just like you.”

With her request denied, Sofia exited through the halls of the downtown courthouse, stepping out into a gray morning. It was October 6, 2017. A jury trial was still coming, one in which the official justiceseekers would be fighting against the will of the victim.

The first sign of trouble came in a 911 call.

On June 14, 2017, Sofia told an emergency dispatcher that her estranged husband Olexandr Kasianov bound her by her head and hands, trapped her inside a bathroom and assaulted her both physically and sexually.

Some time between that alleged incident and the start of Kasianov’s jury trial last month, Sofia recanted her claims of abuse. In his opening statement on March 13, public defender

InvIsIble use of force vIctIms see neWs

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sWoP stoPs see neWs

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DebunkIng DIversIty myth see essAy

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beatS

surveIllAnce DebAte Jim Nelson zeroed in on the dueling narratives and argued that the DA’s office was over-prosecuting his client.

“Something happened,” Nelson acknowledged to the jury. “Marital relationships are never easy. … Now they’re back together. They solved their issues.”

Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Steffens, who’d taken over for the prosecutor Sofia tried to evade through restraining order, was soon laying out the peoples’ case. Sofia was planning to leave Kasianov, Steffens told the jury.

The couple had met more than 10 years ago in Ukraine. Sofia followed Kasianov to the United States on a fiancee visa, where the two worked odd jobs and cobbled a life together—one Sofia eventually decided to leave. On that day in June 2017, Sofia returned to their Carmichael apartment to gather some things. She found Kasianov waiting. Steffens played Sofia’s 911 call for the jurors.

“He came and wrapped tape around my face and hands,” a woman’s voice tells the dispatcher in accented English. “He put me on the floor. … I wanted to call the police but he took my phone. I asked him to please, stop. Five to 10 minutes later, I escaped.”

The recording was a primary piece of evidence supporting the narrative that Kasianov forced his wife into a bathroom, bound and assaulted her. The physical evidence was limited to the nearly two feet of black duct tape left tangled in Sofia’s hair, a red mark on her arm and scattered bottles that hinted at a struggle. But Steffens had another damning piece of evidence—a recorded jailhouse phone call between Kasianov and Sofia.

The couple spoke Russian in the recording, so a translator read the exchange in English for the jury. In it, Kasianov asked Sofia to say that the duct tape had been wrapped around her “affectionately.”

“Was I supposed to say everything’s OK?” Sofia can be heard asking her husband. “This wasn’t the first time. …

I told the truth about what happened. …

They’re not stupid.”

At one point in the call, Kasianov told Sofia, “The truth isn’t an obstacle—in a court hearing, you just mitigate.”

It was after this conversation that Sofia changed her story. near the end of the trial, kasianov made the rare decision to take the witness stand.

Speaking through a translator, Kasianov testified that he, not Sofia, had wanted the divorce. He accused his wife of becoming “emotional” on the day of the incident,

slapping him and throwing bottles at him. failing to prioritize “investigative efforts or He said that the duct tape tangled in his partnerships to reduce domestic violence.” wife’s hair was part of a game she was Sheriff’s investigators do belong to the playing with him. He denied that he’d ever county’s Domestic Violence Death Review blocked her from leaving.

Team. The coalition, led by the DA’s office, “In emotion, she doesn’t know what she recently rung alarm bells about how abusive said,” Kasianov claimed. relationships often spiral into homicides During cross-examination, Steffens in Sacramento County. The team studied confronted the defendant about his stateseven murders and two attempted murders ments in the jailhouse call. Kasianov that happened in the area in 2017, all of argued the translated transcript wasn’t which were precipitated by a history of certified, that he’d been lied to domestic violence or stalking. when he signed it and that Addressing county he didn’t remember supervisors in November, “There’s making those stateAssistant Chief District ments. Steffens Attorney Paul usually a part pressed him about Durenberger said of the woman that Sofia’s comment the most dangerous that she had told time for victims in wants some justice or deputies what violent relationaccountability, but they’re really happened. ships is when they also just trying to live the best “So, she first announce told the truth?” their intention to way they know possible.”

Steffens asked. leave.

“She may have Evidence in Nilda Valmores told her own truth,” Sofia’s case suggests executive director, Kasianov replied. her attack came on My Sister’s House Jurors also heard the heels of just such an from domestic violence announcement. expert David Cropp, a witness The way these “lethality for the prosecution. Cropp testified that factors” can play out is something “a good 60 percent” of domestic violence Valmores, of My Sister’s House, is victims recant their statements to law painfully aware of. When battered women enforcement or refuse to cooperate with the arrive at her organization, it’s one of the district attorney’s office. That number was main things she explains to them. based, he said, on his experience and the “As advocates we may or may not agree literature, not a statistical study. with how a victim-survivor chooses to deal In Steffens’ closing remarks, she with their situation, but we really try to let returned to Sofia’s apparent change of heart, them know the options, the advantages, reminding jurors that she had come to the the disadvantages and the safety issues,” country as an immigrant, without family Valmores said. “And the most important support, and relied on the defendant in part to us is the safety.” multiple ways.

Without commenting on the Kasianov Some of those factors may be why Sofia case, Valmores explained that she’s only testified under duress and the threat of noticed many reasons victims are a bench warrant. On the witness stand, she sometimes reluctant to report an abuser claimed she couldn’t remember much of or cooperate with law enforcement: fear what she’d first relayed to law enforcement, that the justice system will fail them and adding that she had exaggerated her stateultimately leave them more vulnerable; ments that day because she felt stressed out trepidation or shame about their personal and vengeful. lives being dissected before juries; and “I told the judge I didn’t want to testify,” pressure from family or community Sofia said. “I’m not a victim; just a witness members to not punish a spouse. Finally, to what happened.”

Valmores observed, there’s often a well But the jury didn’t buy it. After delibof emotions that comes with being hurt by erating for three days, it found Kasianov someone who is extremely close. guilty of two separate types of assault, “There’s usually a part of the woman kidnapping and false imprisonment. He’ll that wants some justice or accountability, be sentenced in mid-April. He faces a maxi- but they’re also just trying to live the best mum of eight years in state prison. way they know possible,” Valmores said.

The conviction is a win for a “Oftentimes victims of domestic violence Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department really love their partner, so they have to criticized in a 2016 grand jury report for deal with that as well.” Ω

It only took minutes for george orwell’s 1984 to be invoked during an April 3 hearing at the state Capitol, where law enforcement and civil liberty advocates reached very different conclusions about the risk-reward ratio for new—and, in some cases, predictive—technologies.

The debate happened before the California Senate Public Safety Committee. Sen. Jerry Hill, representing the Silicon Valley, was exhibiting concern about some of the software his own district produces. His Senate Bill 1186 would make law enforcement agencies follow the same transparency requirements that currently apply to license-plate readers and cellphone trackers when those agencies use video surveillance and facial recognition software, some of which are now operating on social media platforms.

Specifically, the proposed law would require police and sheriffs’ departments to have an official policy, approved by their respective local government, about the use of their surveillance technologies, while also delivering bi-annual reports on exactly how they’ve used the tech.

One of the interests arguing against Hill’s proposal was the California Police Chiefs Association. CPCA’s Joshua Feldman said the new law would impose a bureaucratic burden on agencies, especially rural and small city police departments that only have a handful of officers and no administrative staffs. Feldman also said it would stymie future crime-fighting possibilities.

Despite opposition from an array of law enforcement groups, the public safety committee voted 5-1 to push the bill forward.

Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson told Feldman and his colleagues why she supported the bill. “This is philosophical on one hand, but part of it is about secrecy,” Jackson said. “Because you have certain surveillance approaches you take and you want to keep them, if you will, secret. So that becomes a problem.”

(Scott Thomas Anderson)

borroW bIg for homes With the United States losing 10,000 public housing units a year and California rents far outpacing income, many nonprofits are lining up behind a state ballot initiative aimed at securing shelter for veterans, low-income families and people with disabilities.

Dubbed the veterans and Affordable bond Act, the measure would put $3 billion into the construction of low-income units, while also channeling funds into the California Veterans Home Loan program. Last fall, more than 170 nonprofits, companies and local governments supported a state senate bill to fast-track the measure’s inclusion on the November ballot without the standard-signature gathering. In some cases, backers included groups typically at loggerheads over housing, such as Tenants Together and the California Apartment Association.

Marina Wiant is vice president of government affairs for the California Housing Consortium, one of four major sponsors of the bond. Wiant notes that, regardless of where advocacy groups fall on contentious housing issues, there’s a general consensus that California needs to build more low-income units and provide more below-market-rate mortgage loans.

“We’ve been pushing since the end of redevelopment [funding] to get a new housing bond on the ballot, especially with one-in-three Californians unable to pay their rent,” Wiant told SN&R. “This is the first housing bond we’ll have seen in the last 12 years.” (STA)

04.12.18 | SN&R | 9

requests from credible and unbiased organizations, but will not accept requests from groups including the ACLU that have already demonstrated extreme bias in this race or on criminal justice matters.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announces his office will oversee the investigation into the March 18 police killing of Stephon Clark. District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said she approved the decision.

Photo by Scott thomaS anderSon

The unrepresented dead Amid reelection campaign, DA remains silent on 2017 use of force incidents

by Raheem F. hosseini

Thomas Dean Correll was found hanging by his neck from a piece of clothing in his downtown Sacramento cell. He was 53, white and in custody for a parole violation.

Ryan Ellis died after falling out of a moving patrol car in North Highlands with his handcuffs still on. He was 29, black and had been arrested for violating a restraining order.

Mikel Laney McIntyre was shot and killed in Rancho Cordova by sheriff’s deputies who say he attacked them with a river rock. His mother says her son just needed help. McIntyre was 32, black and reportedly grieving the death of a relative.

The three cases are among a dozen local instances where someone died after coming into contact with law enforcement last year. More than four months into the new year, the Sacramento County district attorney’s office has yet to report on any of the officer-involved shootings or in-custody deaths that occurred in 2017, despite a commitment to conduct independent investigations that “serve the interests of justice, the community, the involved officers, those persons injured, and the families of those affected,” the DA’s office says on the webpage devoted to use-of-force reviews.

The lack of timely public accounting is actually one of the smaller political 10 | SN&R | 04.12.18

ra h e e m h @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

garbage fires for District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who is running for reelection at a time of heightened awareness about the role county prosecutors like her play in holding officers accountable for their actions.

Since the March 18 police killing of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man who was shot dead in his grandmother’s backyard, groups such as Black Lives Matter have been making the DA’s office a regular stop on their protest route. On Tuesday, local chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and National Lawyers Guild gathered outside her office with other organizations to ask why Schubert was ducking their invitation to publicly debate with challenger Noah Phillips, a homicide prosecutor running on a reformer’s platform.

“We’ve offered her multiple dates,” Elizabeth Kim, of the National Lawyers Guild’s local chapter, told reporters Tuesday morning. “She’s stopped responding to them.”

Added Tifanei Ressl-Moyer, of the local ACLU chapter, “Sacramento deserves a district attorney who will show up.”

Schubert’s campaign consultant Dave Gilliard issued a statement to SN&R saying his candidate has already debated Phillips once in a non-public setting and “will continue to consider debate

Make no mistake: Schubert is still in the driver’s seat in this election. As the incumbent, she holds advantages over Phillips when it comes to name recognition, fundraising and big-name political endorsements.

But Phillips has been closing the gap in all categories in recent weeks, mostly due to national media attention over the death of Clark, a 22-year-old father of two who was shot mostly in the back by two officers who mistook his cellphone for a gun, according to a private family autopsy and bodycamera footage.

Both the Bernie Sanders-affiliated Real Justice PAC and Democracy for America have thrown their support behind Phillips, while prominent local Democrats are calling on Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the rest of the Sacramento City Council to rescind their endorsements of Schubert. Local activists have also been calling on Schubert to return tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations she received from law enforcement groups in the days following Clark’s death, and are demanding that she charges the two officers in the shooting, who were responding to calls of a subject breaking car windows last month when a sheriff’s helicopter directed them to Clark.

While it’s early to expect a decision from Schubert’s office on the Clark killing, the public’s frustration with her isn’t borne out of a vacuum.

Since being elected DA in 2014, Schubert has prosecuted more activists for civil disobedience than she has officers involved in misconduct. Her office declined to file charges in 27 officerinvolved shootings and 16 in-custody deaths through 2016. The office has yet to publicly announce decisions on eight officer-involved shootings and four in-custody deaths from last year, according to an SN&R review of public data. This year so far, there is the Clark homicide and two deaths that occurred inside Sacramento County’s downtown jail, which is run by the Sheriff’s Department.

Asked why the DA’s office has released no use-of-force reviews since

the end of 2016, a spokeswoman said only that the webpage “is up-to-date with completed reviews.”

“People are very, very upset,” Phillips said. “If you look at the pattern, as a status quo with regard to officer-involved shootings, their frustration and anger becomes all the more clear.”

If Schubert determines that charges are warranted against the officers who killed Clark, identified by an attorney as Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet, it would be unprecedented for her. The California Attorney General’s Office last month took the unusual step of announcing it would oversee her investigation. Meanwhile, hard feelings remain over the decision not to press criminal charges in the July 2016 police killing of Joseph Mann.

For Mann, a 50-year-old AfricanAmerican man struggling with drug addiction, his death occurred after police responded to a call of an armed subject acting erratically outside of an apartment complex in north Sacramento. An initial fleet of officers was ordering Mann to surrender and attempting to contain his movements when two late-arriving officers—John Tennis and Randy Lozoya—raced to the scene, attempted to hit Mann with their patrol vehicle twice, then exited their car and shot Mann 14 times. Tennis said he believed Mann was armed with a gun, but police only found a small knife in his hand.

In exonerating Tennis and Lozoya, Schubert’s office made no mention of the officers’ attempts to run over Mann or how that escalated the situation. The Police Department fired Tennis for violating its use of force policy. Lozoya medically retired in lieu of termination. Mann’s death sparked a citywide campaign for police reforms that has accelerated since the Clark shooting.

In November, Mann’s brother Robert told SN&R that Schubert was an obstacle to true reform.

“The department has to be cleaned up,” he said. “And if the DA’s not willing to do her job, to make sure that this happens, then she needs to be removed.

You need to get somebody in there that’s really there for the people and not just there for the Police Department.”

Asked about the upcoming election, Robert Mann made a prediction. “She won’t be there,” he stressed. “I guarantee. I guarantee. We’re going to be pushing hard and heavy for her to be removed from her position. Definitely.” Ω

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Sex worker advocacy group suspends operations over proposed pandering law r a h e e mh @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

new pandering definition? DiAngelo says Bates’ A local organization that provides shelter, office couldn’t give her a straight answer. condoms, rides and other assistance to Convincing sex workers to accept condoms marginalized sex workers and trafficking was already difficult because Sacramento survivors has stopped doing so because of County’s sheriff’s department and district pending state legislation that could make such attorney’s office often cite the possession of aid illegal, the group’s founder says. three or more condoms as probable cause to The Sacramento chapter of the Sex Workers charge someone with prostitution.

Outreach Project, or SWOP, announced March SWOP adheres to a harm-reduction 31 on Twitter that it would “suspend many of philosophy, where resources are provided its direct services” following the introduction without the judgment or strings that might of state Senate Bill 1204, which would greatly resemble the oppressive conditions survivors expand the legal definition of “pandering,” a escaped. For instance, the group runs a six-bed felony crime that is often charged with pimpsafe house where survivors can come and go ing and refers to the act of procuring someone as they please, and design and apply their for prostitution. SB 1204, from California own programs that address their health-care, Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates, housing and economic needs. Granting would broaden the legal definition of survivors agency over their own what it means to pander—replaclives is intentional, as many ing specific restrictions on are coming from situations using “promises, threats, where their choices were or violence” with more tightly conscripted by interpretive language their oppressors. that prohibits “arranging” or “persuading” someone to engage Bates’ proposed in prostitution. legislation hasn’t Kristen had its first hearing, DiAngelo, who runs but it comes at a SWOP’s Sacramento rocky time in the chapter, fears the prostitution debate.

Kristen DiAngelo opaque terminology President Donald founder, Sex Workers Outreach could be applied to the Trump may this week Project—Sacramento help she and her volunsign the Stop Enabling teers provide to people Sex-Trafficking Act, or entangled in the underground SESTA. The bill would amend sex economy. the Communications Act of 1934 so “The things we do to save people’s that online content hubs such as Backpage and lives could actually criminalize us in the long Craigslist can be held legally responsible for run,” she told SN&R. sexually exploitative content created by third Bates’ press secretary didn’t respond to an parties advertizing on their websites.

SN&R request for comment before press time.

Supporters of the bill include U.S. Sen. DiAngelo says she attempted to address her Kamala Harris, California’s former attorney concerns with Bates’ office, but found whoever general, who took Backpage to court and she spoke to unable to answer basic questions argued the online classified portal made about the bill and its consequences, intended millions of dollars from child sex traffickers and otherwise. who advertised on the site using thinly veiled “If we’re passing out condoms, I want them keywords. Free speech and sex workers’ rights to use it while they’re working,” DiAngelo advocates say the law punishes all people said. “We don’t want a public health crisis.” engaged in sex work while doing nothing to But could giving a sex worker prophylacstop actual exploiters. tics—or housing or clothes—be construed as “Websites don’t exploit trafficking victims, “inducing” someone into prostitution under the their traffickers and their clientele do,” wrote

“The things we do to save people’s lives could actually criminalize us in the long run.”

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a Twitter user named Amanda Brooks, who identifies as an escort on her profile.

Sometimes the system exploit victims, too.

“Monroe” is a 25-year-old woman who recently prevailed in an 18-month legal standoff to get a misdemeanor prostitution charge dismissed in San Joaquin Superior Court.

The case was shaping up to be a showdown between a trafficking survivor asserting her rights under a new California law and prosecutors who want to maintain their ability to pressure victims into informing on traffickers.

The county district attorney’s office kept threatening to take the working single mother to trial unless she accepted a plea deal and conviction—or agreed to testify against the man she said threatened her family if she didn’t return to the stroll. After months of frustrating court continuances, Monroe learned on March 15 that the DA’s office would dismiss the

charge.

She’s now planning to get her record expunged, so that the September 2016 arrest doesn’t show up in background checks, and apply for college scholarships so that she can one day become a legal advocate for women like her.

“Nothing should stand in my way now,” she said.

Monroe says she wouldn’t be where she is without DiAngelo, who attended many of her court hearings and legal appointments, and wrote letters and made phone calls on her behalf. She says she wants to help SWOP stay afloat any way she can.

“It’s not for me. I’m never going back to that life,” Monroe said. Then, referring to the hardening federal landscape, she added, “I feel like I got out at the perfect time.” Ω

Photo by Raheem F. hosseini

A human trafficking survivor shows the poster she made about her story outside of a Backpage court hearing in Sacramento in November 2016.

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All-Star retaliated by repeatedly hitting On her reelection signs all around town, Thompson. The jury did not convict.

Sacramento District Attorney Anne Where is the justice for the hundreds Maria Schubert has the words, “Tough. of Sacramento residents who’ve sat in Fair. Independent.” The missing word is jail over the last three years, not because “Justice,” which makes sense, since that they have been convicted of a crime, but has been so absent in her last three years because they cannot make bail? Schubert in office. is actively opposing bail reform.

Where was the justice when Where is the justice for those who Schubert filed felony “lynching” suffer because of a landlord who does charges against black activist Maile not obey housing law, or an employer Hampton for allegedly grabbing a who cheats employees of their wages? friend who was in police custody, Schubert has not made these types of during a January 2015 protest crimes a priority. against improper use of force by law Much of the public outrage we are enforcement? seeing in our city’s streets today is due Where was the justice when to Schubert’s past choices. It appears to Schubert failed to file charges against many that the District Attorney Sacramento police officers has one law book for John Tennis and Randy One people with badges and Lozoya, who arrived at another for the poor a scene that was under cannot look and for community control and then tried the demonstrators activists. to run over Joseph in the eye and say, “We Before the Mann before shootStephon Clark need to change policing ing him dead? Her murder, Schubert opinion stated that in Sacramento, but we was seen as a sure “Officers Tennis are supporting Anne winner. Although and Lozoya were Marie Schubert.” she is a Republican, justified in shooting many local Democrats Mann to defend themendorsed her. That was selves and each other, to then, and this is now. We as protect the public from immia community need to come together. nent harm, and to prevent the escape of a We cannot come together with Schubert suspected felon who posed a significant as our district attorney. Only a few days threat of death or serious bodily injury to after the Clark killing, she received others.” This opinion may be blind, but it $13,000 in political donations from two certainly is not justice. police unions.

Where was the justice when Schubert Those who have endorsed Schubert decided not to file charges against need to un-endorse her. One cannot Sacramento police officer Anthony look the demonstrators in the eye and Figueroa, who punched an alleged say, “We need to change policing in jaywalker 18 times, because she felt it Sacramento, but we are supporting was “not reasonably likely a jury would Schubert.” It is not believable. A vote convict either Officer Figueroa or Nandi for Schubert will ensure that we will not Cain of a criminal offense related to this have justice in Sacramento. And without incident”? Cain, the alleged jaywalker, justice, there cannot be peace. received a half-million dollar settlement Noah Phillips has just become a from the city last week. viable candidate. Most importantly, The lack of an assured conviction justice should always be a viable did not stop Schubert from filing candidate. Ω felony assault charges against Sean Thompson for smearing Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson with a cream pie.

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e i L g i B a h wit An d

by Al AstA ir bl

16 | SN&R | 04.12.18

E

nvironmentalists and forest ecologists are on edge—or maybe just rolling their eyes— over a Congressional bill that’s being promoted as a remedy for ailing forests, but appears to be a gift package for logging interests.

The legislation comes from Rep. Tom McClintock, (R-Elk Grove) chairman of the powerful Federal Lands Subcommittee, a politician known for strident pro-industry positions and a defiant denial of science—from climate change to wildlife ecology. In 2010, the Los Angeles Times called McClintock “California’s preeminent member of the don’t-confuseme-with-facts caucus.”

The way McClintock tells it, his bill will help dying forests. He places the cause for forests’ plight not only on the drought that has plagued California and the western United States, but also on environmental regulations that limit logging.

Forests have become overgrown, he points out, with trees now scrapping for elbow room, water and sunlight. He frequently quotes what he refers to as an adage that he probably coined himself: “Excess timber comes out of the forest one way or the other. It is either carried out, or it burns out.”

Indeed, trees are hurting in the Sierra Nevada and throughout parts of the West.

In the Sierra alone, more than 100 million conifers have died since the beginning of the drought, in 2012. Nationwide, the number is 6.3 billion. These dead trees have already contributed to a dramatic increase in wildfires.

McClintock says his bill will fix that.

“Under the status quo, we have lost hundreds of square miles of endangered species habitat to fire,” McClintock wrote in a statement emailed to SN&R. His solution? Bring on the chainsaws.

This story was made possible by a grant from Tower Cafe.

Clear-cut the forest to save the trees?

The idea comes with his House Resolution 865, the Emergency Forest Restoration Act, which died in 2016 and was reintroduced about a year ago. The bill would give states a “categorical exclusion” from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, a law, along with the Endangered Species Act, that McClintock has railed against.

Critics say McClintock’s bill ignores science and caters to the timber industry while generally ignoring the interests of voters who will decide in June if McClintock will stay in Congress.

Jessica Morse, who will be challenging McClintock in the election, blames him for deeper-rooted issues that have hamstrung forest managers and ultimately harmed the state’s forests.

“The underfunding of the Forest Service is the problem,” she said. “They’ve been hit by the budget cuts that Tom McClintock voted for.”

The U.S. Forest Service has long employed two fuelreduction strategies, thinning forests so that wildfires are not able to spread or intensify beyond firefighters’ ability to control them. In one tactic, dry brush is cleared by teams on the ground to prevent sparks from jumping, small trees that burn readily are removed, and branches that enable fires to reach into forest canopies are pruned. Prescribed burns, which evidence has shown were practiced by the indigenous peoples of California, achieve the same result. Cuts to the USFS budget have reduced both of these practices.

In the place of these surgical practices, McClintock’s forest bill would amend NEPA to allow potentially large logging sales on public land with virtually no public oversight or environmental review, so long as a governor declares an insect or disease outbreak to be an emergency.

“This creates the potential for a state governor to declare a state of emergency over insect or disease issues, which are often a natural part of a healthy forest, and the public would have no say in it,” said Justin Augustine, an Oakland-based attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, who has been closely watching McClintock’s forest bill. “It’s ludicrous because in the process they’d be destroying wildlife habitat.”

Chad Hanson, an ecologist and the director of the John Muir Project, a conservation and advocacy group, said McClintock’s bill is based on so many fallacies and myths promoted by the logging industry “that it doesn’t even pass the laugh test.” Hanson called McClintock’s bill “an antiscience timber grab.”

“He wants to allow clear-cutting to ostensibly save forests,” Hanson said. “Don’t be fooled. He wants to clearcut, and not just small trees but old-growth trees, too.”

According to research published in 2015 by the National Academy of Sciences, there were fewer large trees and more small trees in California forests in the early 2000s than there were in the 1930s. The author, Patrick McIntyre, a former California Department of Fish and Wildlife ecologist, says total forest biomass—a basic metric of living material often used to gauge ecological productivity—is down as a result. Further reducing biomass by cutting down forests populated by insect-killed trees would be harmful, he says.

McIntyre, now a plant ecologist with the Virginiabased NatureServe, said dead trees play valuable roles in forest ecology, providing food and habitat for a range of organisms, including fungi, insects and birds. The blackbacked woodpecker, McIntyre pointed out, is a rare bird once proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act that relies almost entirely on dead trees—often those killed by fire.

While he does not oppose some logging in the damaged forests McClintock purports to be concerned about, McIntyre says the bill goes too far.

‘‘The underfunding of the Forest Service is the

problem. They’ve been hit by the budget cuts that

Tom McClintock voted for.’’

JESSICA MoRSE Congressional candidate, District 4 “Going into a situation without any environmental review and removing those trees could have some unintended negative consequences,” McIntyre said.

Hanson says McClintock is propagating a false narrative, and one that has been widely repeated by media for many years. Working with scientists Curtis Bradley and Dominick DellaSala, Hanson published a study in the journal Ecosphere in 2016 that found that logging does not reduce fire intensity, as logging proponents often say. Hanson and his colleagues studied 1,500 wildfires that occurred between 1984 and 2014 across 20 million acres of the American West. What they found goes counter to the story McClintock is pedaling, that decreased logging causes more fires.

In science-speak: “Burn severity tended to be higher in areas with lower levels of protection status,” McIntyre reports. Which is to say: If we want to save

“TREEFUGGER” continued on page 18

04.12.18 | SN&R | 17

“treefugger” continued from page 17

trees, we must protect forests—not create a loophole big enough for a logging truck to drive through.

Slash piles and trash talk Hanson explains that logging activity can increase fire intensity through several mechanisms.

For one, he said, loggers tend to leave behind piles of highly flammable branches and trimmings.

Also, the material they remove—tree trunks—are the least combustible part of a forest. Finally, logging opens the canopy and allows sunlight to generate very flammable, low-lying shrubbery while also making the forest floor hotter and drier.

“The false notion that more logging will reduce fire risk and intensity is at the core of the McClintock bill, and it’s absolutely bogus,” he said.

Jens Stevens, a post-doctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, agrees with one element of McClintock’s claims—that the state’s forests are overgrown.

Stevens, however, believes California’s forests need more fires, not more logging. He said California’s forests need to be mechanically thinned and then, where safe and feasible, treated with prescribed burns.

McClintock’s proposed solution, Stevens says, steps too far.

“Exempting forest management projects from environmental review is not the answer,” he said.

McClintock insists his bill will help forests by expediting beneficial logging projects.

“The intent is to reduce paperwork, delay and cost,” he explained. He added that his bill would restrict intensive environmental analyses to “proposed actions that truly have the potential to cause significant environmental effects.”

McClintock has a reputation as a troglodyte among environmentalists, who dislike him not only for his policies but for the Trump-like way he has long fought for them: by misrepresenting the truth

and spewing divisive, amped-up rhetoric (albeit with more sophistication than his friend in the White House).

He blamed the shortages hurting his agricultural constituents on “the environmental left’s pet project, the Delta smelt,” when the shortage was provably due to drought and century-old water rights in the Central Valley.

His attempt with his so-called Emergency Forest Restoration Act subverts two of the pillars of environmental protection: NEPA and the Endangered Species Act, is part of a career-spanning mission to defeat what he colorfully described on the floor of the U.S. House as “the nihilistic vision of the environmental left: increasingly severe government-induced shortages … and a permanently declining quality of life for our children, who will be required to stretch and ration every drop of water and every watt of electricity in their bleak and dimly lit homes.”

As chair of the federal lands committee, McClintock is one of the most powerful antienvironmental forces in Washington, with power over not only the public lands in his district (including Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe National Park and the Emigrant Wilderness) but similar jewels in all 50 states.

While old dams are being decommissioned in many states to help fish, he sponsored legislation that would facilitate the construction of new ones.

Last year, he drafted a controversial bill that aims to amend the Wilderness Act so that mountain bikes would be allowed in wilderness areas—a bill opposed by not only the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, but also the International Mountain Bikers Association.

This latest logging bill is one of many he has introduced aimed at getting timber-cutters back in the woods.

The League of Conservation Voters ranked McClintock at rock

bottom for his stance on environmental issues, with a 4 percent lifetime score and score of zero for 2017.

Hanson noted that McClintock’s stance on climate change is evident in his forest bill. “Climate science is telling us we need to sequester carbon, that reducing fossil fuel use isn’t enough,” he said. “We have to be protecting forests, and McClintock is proposing we do the opposite. It’s unconscionable.”

Morse warned that McClintock is playing with fire, so to speak, with flawed forest management strategies that could have long-lasting impacts.

“If you make a wrong move with forest management, it can have consequences that can last decades,” she said. “Our watersheds and our water supplies could be affected.”

Morse says she has a better plan to help the state’s trees: “More funding for fire prevention.”

Augustine said he expects the Emergency Forest Restoration Act to fail because it may be too drastic a proposal to gain congressional approval. However, he suspects some of the bill’s components could be attached as riders to other bills that have broader bipartisan support.

Hanson says the logging industry continues to promote what he says is a false narrative strategically spun by the logging industry and the Forest Service.

McClintock, he says, is telling the same story.

“McClintock is trying to scare people,” McIntyre said, “so he can loosen environmental restrictions and increase logging.” Ω

‘‘the false n

otion that more logging wi ll reduce fi re risk and intens ity is at the core of the McClin tock bill, a nd it’s abs

olutely bo gus.’’

Chad ha ns John Muir on Project

18 | SN&R | 04.12.18

California’s troubled forests

33 million number of forested acres in California

129 million number of dead trees in California

500,000 acres number of acres Cal fire* aspires to clear each year

40,000 acres

number of acres Cal fire clears each year

$800

average cost per acre to fight a fire

$150

average cost per acre to clear a forest by controlled burn *California department of forestry and fire Protection source: little Hoover Commission report on forest management in California, february 2018

Prescription: California fights wildfires aggressively—but prevention takes a back seat

D

ave Kinateder has a keen eye for trees. But when Kinateder, a fire ecologist in the Plumas National Forest, surveys a hillside lush with pines, he doesn’t see abundance or the glory of nature’s bounty.

He sees a disaster-in-waiting.

“It’s a ticking time bomb,” he said, gazing across the dense, green carpet of trees high in the northern Sierra Nevada near Quincy.

Last year’s wildfires, the worst in modern California history, have put a microscope on the forests that cover a third of the state—in particular, on managing these wooded lands in ways that would reduce the frequency and intensity of such blazes.

California is grappling with the counterintuitive dilemma of too many trees, packed too closely together, robbed of the space they need to thrive. The state is also trying to figure out how to clear more than 100 million dead trees, felled by drought or insects, that provide tinder for the next infernos.

Curing these unhealthy forests is both difficult and expensive, and as with human health, prevention is far less costly than treatment. But these days the state firefighting agency, Cal Fire, spends the bulk of its resources battling fires rather than practicing preventive measures.

At stake is nothing less than life, property, air quality and the lands that hold most of California’s water. A state commission recently prescribed radical changes to address what it terms the “neglect” of California’s largest forests.

A 19th-century California forest would have held fewer than 50 trees an acre. Today the state’s forests have grown to an unnatural 300 to 500 trees an acre, or more. That doesn’t count the 2 million drought-stressed trees a month lost to bark beetles that have killed entire stands.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who in 2014 declared tree mortality a state of emergency, said in his January State of the State address that California needs to manage its forests more intelligently. He vowed to convene a task force “to review thoroughly the way our forests are managed and suggest ways to reduce the threat of devastating fires.”

California has dozens of agencies attacking the problem but still cannot keep up with the work. Crews around the state have been busy clearing trees as fast as funding allows. This wielding of chainsaws they call “whacking and stacking” leaves massive wood piles along highways in some areas. But it amounts to no more than triage: Cal Fire removes trees on fewer than 40,000 acres a year, far short of its goal of clearing a half-million acres annually.

Kinateder estimates that removing trees in this way costs as much as $1,400 an acre. By comparison, controlled burns—those set by fire managers to remove vegetation from forests—is a bargain at less than $150 an acre. Fighting a wildfire comes in at just over $800 an acre, according to the report.

Far from the forest floor, California officials are wrestling with the financial and environmental cost of the state’s

fire

by Julie Cart

forest practices. At a March hearing in Sacramento, legislators listened to lurid descriptions of raging fire and wrenching stories of human misery recounted by a stream of state and local officials: flames rearing up like an enormous beast, residents running for their lives, neighborhoods leveled, fire burning so hot and for so long that soils were rendered sterile.

A portion of the proceedings focused on a recent report about wildfires and forest health from the Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight agency that gave its findings to the governor and Legislature in February. The document pulled no punches, calling the state of the Sierra Nevada’s forests “an unprecedented environmental catastrophe.”

It cited a century of “mismanaging” the 10 million wooded acres in the Sierra, calling out state and federal firefighting agencies for their longstanding policy of aggressively putting out all fires rather than letting those that can safely burn do so, thereby thinning the choked woodlands.

Helge Eng, deputy director of Cal Fire, acknowledged the report was “spot on” in its assessment of the state of the Sierra, adding that the analysis “did an especially good job of recognizing that there are no easy, black-and-white answers to the problems we are facing.”

Cal Fire boasts that it stops 95 percent of fires at 10 acres or less, saving lives, property and entire forests from conflagration. Fire experts argue that a negative could be turned into a positive if fire bosses let them burn while still steering them away from people and structures and toward overgrown wildlands in need of clearing.

That’s an approach sometimes used by the National Park Service, but it’s difficult to defend when forests are ablaze, frightening the public and many elected officials alike.

Still, the report said, “It is not enough for agency leaders, scientists and advocates to recognize the benefits of fire as a tool; the bureaucracy of the state government and public sentiment as a whole must undergo a culture shift to embrace fire as a tool for forest health.”

In a moment notable for its rarity in Sacramento, there was bipartisan agreement in the hearing room this month about the problem, its scope and the appropriate measures to deal with it. Focus more intensely on the problem, they agreed, and throw money at it. The state spent $900 million fighting fires last year. Just one of those late-season blazes caused more than $9 billion in reported property damage.

“We’ve made mistakes, and we’ve created systems that are unwieldy. … It’s all of our fault,” Jim Branham, executive officer of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency, told CALmatters. “Money alone won’t solve it, but we won’t solve it without money, either.”

An extended version of this story is available at www.newsreview.com/sacramento.

CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

04.12.18 | SN&R | 19

S

apphire and pomegranate gem lights burn across the gilded waves of the Crest Theatre.

A large, eager crowd is spilling into the seats. And then he walks onto the stage, the man who turned sweat-dappled chefs into American cynosures; who proved growers were artisans and stove-tops were easels; whose kitchen alchemy made one restaurant famous, and whose magnetism filled another with power-brokers, film legends and rampaging yuppies.

A man without a country, Jeremiah Tower somehow created a mythos.

But it was almost forgotten. From the sunny shores of self-exile, Tower watched as his cooking achievements in Berkeley helped turn Alice Waters into an iconoclast. He saw how his obsession with marrying food experience to a theatrical persona in San Francisco birthed the concept of a celebrity chef.

Tower walked away from all of it while others made fortunes, but now he’s reluctantly back on the pop culture radar. And tonight, standing on the stage of the Crest, he’s still making that comeback. Yet in a mad dash of public appearances, there is something different about this particular evening. Tonight, Tower is standing on a stage in a city that’s been desperately trying to press its reputation into his own culinary DNA, like some mouthy bastard demanding a paternity test. Tonight, Tower is standing in the self-appointed “Farm-to-Fork Capital of the Nation.”

Facing a nearly sold-out crowd, Tower openly embraces the linage. Asked why he agreed to lead the upcoming Tower Bridge Dinner on September 30, the chef muses with a smile, “Well, how could I say no? When I started at Chez Panisse in 1972, people were embarrassed to live in Sacramento.” Laughter erupts in the theater. Tower quickly adds, “But, quite frankly, the revolution that was started in 1972 has continued, and this is the epicenter now. Nobody else can claim that.”

From there, Tower starts turning the charm burner onto its highest setting. He lands joke after joke as the 20 | SN&R | 04.12.18

one of the country’S moSt influential chefS reflectS on tieS to Sacramento’S food movement

by Scott thomaS anderSon | sc o tta @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

audience prepares to watch the documentary about his life, The Last Magnificent. The mood will sober once the screen lights up. Melancholy, half-surreal, the film tells the Icarus-like story of Tower’s rise to prominence at Chez Panisse, followed by the society page luster he shined with after opening Stars in Union Square, and ending with his public feuds, financial turmoil and evaporation from the narrative of who invented “California cuisine.” Directed by Lydia Tenaglia and produced

by Anthony Bourdian, The Last Magnificent is a seesaw yarn about endless ambition, quietly sprinkled with deep meditations on originality and death.

While the film digs hard at Tower’s psyche, it’s the chef’s own memoir—published in 2003 as California Dish and re-issued last year as Start the Fire—where details emerge of how he actually steered American dining away from commercial food trucks and into the realm of first-rate, locally-sourced ingredients, which in turn are fired and plated with a clean, rustic elegance.

Tower’s own recollections of that time range from forging across every outdoor market in the Bay in a Dodge Dart that couldn’t climb the hills, to baffling Oakland’s Sicilian butchers by thrusting his arms into buckets of blood as he grabbed at just-cut calve livers.

Tower’s book also reveals he’s no stranger to the capital region. In 1980, he was the chef for a party at an old Delta mansion along the Sacramento River. That night, Tower wowed the Dean of the California Culinary Academy with a spread of soaked and poached ham, grilled Delta sturgeon, duck with kumquats and pear tarte tatin, all paired with rare champagnes and Hungarian sweet wines. The recherché vino selection was brought to

the party by Darrell Corti, whose family has owned Corti Brothers Emporium in East Sacramento for 71 years. These days, Corti’s considered a near-savant of wine, cheeses and exotic cooking ingredients. Having maintained his connection to Tower for decades, Corti looks on from his theater seat as the star of the evening gives him a shout-out.

“We’ve been friends for a long time, but it started because he used to be a customer,” Corti reflects. “I think a night like this is really good for people. They seem to like the film, and that’s what great films are supposed to do.”

But Corti is not Tower’s only longtime link to the Sacramento area.

Sitting in another row of the Crest is Jerry Budrick, one of Tower’s original business partners at Chez Panisse.

Budrick agrees with the premise of The Last Magnificent, specifically that Tower’s culinary innovations aren’t fully recognized.

“It’s amazing how his story just got lost in the swirl of time,” Budrick says. “His food was incredibly better than anything anyone in the Bay Area ever had up to that point.”

Asked about Tower’s reputation for being difficult, Budrick smiles and shares a war story: It involves the day Tower was bit by a live clam while doing kitchen prep at Chez Panisse. Budrick soon began to worry his chef was suffering from a nasty bacterial infection spreading through his arm. He says Tower wouldn’t get medical attention. He was trying to soldier through the pain. Eventually, Budrick strolled into the restau restaurant’s dining room where a prominent Berkeley doctor —the father of actress Kelly McGillis—was enjoying one of Tower’s dishes. As Budrick tells it, against his chef’s stubborn protests, he arraigned a discrete checkup inside the wine room.

“The doctor told Jeremiah, ‘Another day and that could have killed you,’” Budrick recalls.

As for one of the central conflicts of The Last

Good ’Bama GumBo See dISH

24

Bourne In BeIrut See FILm

30

Jer em I aH

Magnificent, the question of whether California Cuisine was invented by Tower or Alice Waters, Budrick had a front row seat for the contributions each made. He says there’s no way to ignore Tower’s influence, which Budrick thinks is connected to the chef’s elusive childhood. Bourdain’s film portrays Tower’s earliest memories with a veneer of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel—if the script had been written by Stephen King. Told through numbing clips and flashbacks, Tower recalls being virtually abandoned by his wealthy parents, often left wandering through the kitchens and dining rooms of luxury hotels and cruise-liners as the family hauled him around the world. But Budrick believes that, if those times were lonely for Tower, they also gave him a vision that changed American cooking.

“The thing you have to understand about California cuisine is that it’s got to have that classical touch to it that Jeremiah brought,” Budrick explains.

“It’s kind of like music, where there are performers who were classically trained but then went into rock and ’n’ roll … It’s a combination of the fresh, brightcolored beautiful things picked that day, but with the knowledge of how great dishes look—that eye that Jeremiah has. And it comes from his upbringing on those fancy ships and hotels, where they had true chefs working.”

With seconds to go before the documentary plays, and with Sacramento chefs and film buffs waiting to line up for selfies with Tower, the resurrected personality offers a last piece of advice on how to keep the local Farm-to-Fork movement genuine. For him, it’s still all about the outdoor markets from Davis to Folsom.

“All the young chefs in the United States should remember to keep it simple,” Tower says. “Because the great chefs are the ones who know how to find the perfect ingredients, keep them the centerpiece of the cooking, and make them look like they’re supposed to look. … You make menus from your voyages through the markets, and that’s the best voyage you can ever take.” Ω

FoLkS SonGS at mondavI See muSIC

32

my HuSBand, tHe narCISSISt See aSk Joey

38

t ow er

Famed CheF

Jeremiah Tower speaks in front of a crowd at the Crest Theatre April 10.

Photo by lucas fitzgerald

04.12.18 | SN&R | 21

Did you know voting is good for your health?

TAP INWARDLY! www.CalEndow.org

#RiseUpAsOne 22 | SN&R | 04.12.18

Alcott Elemntary School students in Chicago featured in the documentary film Lunch Line.

Photo courtesy of uji films 2010

Fork-to-Film Sacramento Food Film Festival pairs local chefs with documentary shorts

by Andrew westrope

When the Sacramento Food Film Festival launched in 2012, it was a pet project of local food blogger Catherine Enfield, who rented out the Guild Theater on 35th Street for a day.

Later that year, the Sacramento nonprofit Food Literacy Center pushed a statewide resolution through the legislature declaring September “Food Literacy Month,” and local officials declared Sacramento the Farm-to-Fork Capital of the nation. Just as political gestures were drawing attention to the region’s agriculture, Enfield’s marathon of food-related documentaries—one of seven like it in the United States—had cropped up.

Six years on, the Farm-to-Fork logo is all over town and the festival is entering its seventh annual incarnation, now organized by the Food Literacy Center and its founder, Amber Stott.

“Her goal was to bring these food documentaries to Sacramento that weren’t being shown at the traditional theaters,” Stott says of Enfield, who remains involved as a member of Stott’s planning committee.

The festival found success in its sophomore year by recruiting chefs to serve bites that complemented the selected films. Enfield donated the growing festival to Food Literacy Center

in 2014, and the ensuing years brought new venues, sponsors, chefs and patrons.

The center says it now partners with “an average of 98 local businesses and restaurants and 68 volunteers” to mount the event.

“This is the first year since those early years that we’re back in a theater at all. We were doing [screenings] in restaurants; we’ve done them on a bus; we’ve done one in a park; so we really took the show on the road over the years,” Stott says. “And the goal of it is to educate people … We try to have this range [from] quirky-and-interesting to the hard-hitting political issues that we really want to address.”

The Film Festival is the primary fundraiser for Food Literacy Center, founded

by Stott in 2011 with the express mission of inspiring kids to eat their vegetables.

Supported by a staff of seven, Stott says, she accomplishes this by visiting lowincome elementary schools.

“Our approach to education with kids is fun,” Stott says, mapping this onto her approach with the festival. “If we make the event fun, people will show up to watch food documentaries … Some people do a gala, we do a film festival. And this is way more fun.”

WaSted!

One of the only regulars on a constantly shifting roster of venues for the festival, Lucca Restaurant & Bar hosted a sold-out screening of Wasted! The Story of Food Waste on April 11.

Directed by New York filmmakers Nari Kye and Anna Chai and produced by Anthony Bourdain, Wasted! explores the issue through the eyes of chefs, activists and food-industry insiders.

Lucca’s chef, Ian McBride, prepared a four-course meal from ingredients that are often needlessly discarded—a “dumpsterdive” salad of scraps and trimmings; leftover-bread gnocchi, grilled scallion ends and salmon skin crumbs; grilled rib-eye trim with potatoes roasted in saved beef fat; and for dessert, burnt orange peel and coffee-ground cremoux.

“Supporting that cause is my biggest draw,” McBride says. “At the same time, especially with a movie like this, it spreads some awareness.”

Saturday night ShortS For the festival’s main event on Saturday, the Colonial Theatre will host six chefs, each of whom was assigned a short film.

Attendees will be treated to small bites,

followed by a “vegetable pun-off” among four local comedians.

Seven short films will then screen back-to-back. Filmmakers Lars Fuchs and Matthew Fleischmann (Food City: Feast of the Five Boroughs,) will then take the stage for a Q&A. It’s a point of regret for Stott that only one film is from Sacramento: Know Your Farmer, a last-minute entry from young filmmakers associated with the Oak Park Farmers Market.

“That’s the big dream, that we would have more local filmmakers making food films,” she says. “We’re the farm-to-fork capital, but we’re not documenting that from a film perspective.” Everything offscreen, however, will be local.

Whole Foods spokeswoman Christina Clarke, whose company has been a festival sponsor from the start, said her team is making in-kind contributions of food as well as preparing it for two events. For Saturday, they’ve planned a twist on a crostini using kale as the topping and a whitebean puree as the base, to complement a short called “Super Veggies.” For the final event at the future Broccoli HQ site, their bite will showcase the chosen veggie of the day, Romanesco.

“It’s an educational experience for the community that we saw the unique opportunity to be a part of, and it’s in such great alignment with our values,” Clarke says. “(Certain films) will raise the issue of awareness about food systems, or tie back into the importance of healthy-eating education for kids.”

Broccoli hQ The film festival’s last event, the only one that had sold out as of press time, will be the first public look at the city school district’s Broccoli HQ site, planned to accommodate a kids’ cooking school, 1.5-acre student-run farm and community garden next to Leataata Floyd Elementary.

The April 21 event will be co-hosted by school board member Jay Hansen and city councilmember Steve Hansen (no relation), who will take guests on a tour of the site. The cafeteria will then provide what Stott calls an “ideal school lunch,” served family-style by the district’s executive chef, before a screening of the documentary Lunch Line, about the history and potential future of school lunches.

Hansen says the 1.5-acre farm on the school district, Broccoli HQ, is going to be one of the largest working farms in California that’s part of a school district, and being in the backyard of the capital, it’s going to get a lot of visibility.

He hopes to see Broccoli HQ constructed and open for business by the end of 2019. Ω

04.12.18

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Top tacos in taco town tacos aNd cHIcHarroNes, NIxtaco Roseville, like Sacramento, is a taco town, and Nixtaco sets the bar for some of the region’s best. While the short rib barbacoa and sautéed octopus tacos generally win the day, don’t forget a glance towards the starters menu. It’s here you’ll find one of the best things on the menu: chicharrónes con chile ($4). Light as air with just a touch of heat, Nixtaco’s freshlyfried pork rinds can best be described as “meat candy.” Their exquisite combo of salty, fatty, spicy and sweet will have you downing two orders before your tacos hit the table. (Not that I’d know… ahem.)

1805 Cirby Way in Roseville, www.nixta.com.

—stepHaNIe stIavettI

Celestin’s Gumbo boasts enough meat for two meals.

photo By reBecca huval

Spicy rivalry Good for: an intimate date or catchup session with a friend, but not for large groups

Notable dishes: gumbo—seven versions of it

$$$

Southern, east Sacramento

re b e c c a h @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

artworks glitz up the wooden walls, while carmine red chairs and teal booths accent the elbow-to-elbow tables.

Larger parties might have to wait during busy hours, but there’s often a stool or two available at the bar, even during lunch.

The menu brings back the old classics—the gumbo, the shrimp creole, the fried plantains—while adding a few more ambitious dishes, such as a small plate of Chiquetaille ($11), a Haitian meal of salted cod in a spicy vinaigrette. It’s a razor-focused menu with just a smattering of sides and salads and only four entrees outside of the seven varieties of gumbo. The Celestins know what they do best.

The vegetarian gumbo ($13) is a recent addition, and a rare find in most Southern restaurants. Though the broth lacks the umami of the meat version (duh), it’s thick as mud with a darkly peppery spice and wholesome seasoning from the many, many vegetables: jalapeños, zucchini, carrots, peas, cremini mushrooms and butternut squash that soaks up the garlicky stew.

Another Haitian dish resurfacing from the former menu is Griot ($14), which centerpieces crisp pork, marinated until dark brown, with a Caribbean jerk flavor that’s spicy and sour at once. I ordered it in part because this dish comes with fried plantains that you dip in bright ti-malice sauce (a vinaigrette of fresh lime, shallots, thyme and habaneros). These two made for a tangy, invigorating combo.

All entrees come with a small salad of diced heirloom tomato, avocado and red onion spiked with a delightful lime-paprika vinaigrette, and the one item that left me unsatisfied: overly dry rice with an underwhelming amount of beans.

But hold out for dessert. The housemade key lime pie ($7) is a brisk breeze of creamy citrus on a bed of crumbly graham cracker crust. Ω

—kate goNzales

A superior cartoonrabbit food NaNtes carrots Would you eat more carrots if they had a smoother core, and a sweeter flavor when eaten without peeling? Meet Nantes carrots, distinguished from the rest by their blunt, rounded ends. They’re in season locally March through July, and can be eaten raw, pureed into sauces and soups, fried or roasted. For a simple recipe that honors these carrots’ unadorned sweetness, blanch them for two minutes, then sauté with salt, pepper, brown sugar and butter. If you eat them often enough, maybe you can avoid saying, “What’s up, doc?”

—rebecca Huval

(enhanced to Show cuteneSS)

My parents are from Louisiana, so I was raised sippin’ on gumbo and smack-talking ‘Bama football (Alabama, to you non-Southerners). Against my programming, I have to concede that the Alabamian gumbo at the newly reopened Celestin’s in East Sacramento may be the best in town.

The sharp sting of jalapeños rides on oil that pools in the thick roux, flavored with scallops, sausage and a strong allium flavor from sauteed onions. The Celestin’s Gumbo earns its $21 price-tag with enough meaty ingredients to be parsed out over two meals: flaky rock cod, chicken and wild shrimp marinated by the stew, and Polska Kielbasa sausage that carries a satisfying blood-pepper taste, all supplemented by rice.

Gumbo also graces the menu at such nearby favorites as South and Sandra Dee’s, as well as a kick-ass bucket of okra-laced stew at Tory’s Place, but I found Celestin’s rendition to be the most full-bodied and complex.

The recipe was passed down through Phoebe and Patrick Celestin’s family, whose Alabamian and Haitian culinary heritage is present throughout their menu. The husband-and-wife co-owners reopened Celestin’s on March 13—their original Midtown joint opened at 25th and J streets in 1983, moved to 18th and K streets, then closed seven years ago.

The new dining room is much smaller—only about 30 seats—with a cozy, Caribbean-influenced interior. Glittery 24 | SN&R | 04.12.18

by RebeCCa Huval

Shorts have made their annual migration back to Sacramento for the spring, and Block Butcher Bar has just the drink to welcome the warmth. The Isle of Montenegro ($10) is a tangy treat to sip on the MARRS patio in Lavender Heights.

This drink is packed with ingredients: Old Forester Bourbon, Amaro Montenegro, strawberry jam, strawberry and chipotle shrub, honey, on eg orange bitters and Laphroig 10.

Kat y B o phot It’s a sweet and tarty cocktail with a smokiness that sticks with you. 1050 20th Street, www.blockbutcherbar.com

leS

3610 McKinley Boulevard, (916) 258-4060 www.celestinsgumbo.com

Isle of MoNteNegro, block butcHer bar

za

Celestin’s

Pink and smokey

Photo by James Raia

Come for the Pizza

Stay for the Beer

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Nik Cvetich (left), head bartender and Eric Newell, manager, of Capitol Beer and Tap Room.

drink

Canned beer blows up

by James Raia

Nik Cvetich was behind the counter one recent morning folding hand towels, corners perfect, stacks deep. The bottle shop and pub at Capitol Beer and Tap Room was quiet and it gave the bartender ample time to discuss aluminum cans. Cvetich and Eric Newell, manager of the nearly six-year-old establishment in University Village on Fair Oaks Boulevard in Sacramento, are both enthusiastic about canned beer.

The concept dates back to 1935. Gottfried Krueger Brewing in Richmond, Va., in partnership with the American Can Company (maker of tin cans), delivered 2,000 cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale to faithful drinkers. Unlike bottled beer, consumers didn’t have to pay a deposit. A few years later, during World War II, U.S. breweries shipped millions of cans of beer to soldiers overseas.

In recent decades, with the proliferation of microbreweries and particularly hoppy beers with shorter freshness spans, distribution of beer in cans is back.

Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colo., promotes itself as the original craft beer in a can. It began selling its flagship Dale’s Pale Ale in 12-ounce cans in 2002. The idea was to prevent light damage and oxidation and guarantee purity.

“Particularly with American ales, you really don’t want light,” Cvetich says. “It will diffract. It will mess up the hops. The residual will just be destroyed by the sun. That’s why cans are better. It just keeps the beer fresher and keeps it protected from the sun. It’s a little easier to cool and it’s little easier to store.”

In his short tenure at Capitol’s recently renovated shopping-center location, Cvetich has witnessed a

drastic increase in canned beer buyers. It’s now about 75-percent-to-25-percent cans over bottles. (Capitol Beer and Tap Room is among only a few beer establishments with both off-site retail and on-premise drinking options.)

Newell remembers when it was difficult to acquire enough craft beer in cans to fill one of the bottle shop’s eight glass cases. Now, in the canned beer boom, there’s not enough space in all eight for the variety of choices available.

“I think there’s just something about having a can, maybe even culturally,” said Cvetich. “It gives people a different feeling than tapping a bottle. In the last two or three years, you’ve seen it where you have the big breweries like Sierra Nevada and Firestone that have forever put their beer in bottles now putting it in cans.”

The phenomenon has fostered “can release parties.”

Beer fanciers wait for hours to taste a new batch of a specialty canned selection. Crowlers, filled-to-order large cans, the aluminum siblings to glass growlers, are another booming concept. Canned four-packs, sometimes a collaboration of beer from four breweries, have a following.

“Tell me. When have you ever seen a four-pack of different bottles?” said Cvetich. “Breweries want you to drink their products within three months, but ideally within a month. That’s why breweries are more in-your-face with it, ‘Drink this fresh. Drink this fresh.’” Ω Capitol beer and tap Room is located at 2222 Fair oaks blvd.

(916) 922-1745; www.capitolbeer.com

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“Start your journey here”

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When warmth hits Sacramento in the spring, I break out my bike and ride to the paper’s Del Paso Heights (sorry, I mean Woodlake …) office.

Entering the American River Bike Trail near C and 20th streets, to my right is the railroad and to my left is the Blue Diamond Growers plant and headquarters. Little did I know as I peddled past each day, the Blue Diamond folks were devising some delicious nut plans.

Last month, Blue Diamond released a line of almonds geared less toward casual snacking and more toward garden-party charcuterie boards. Flavors like Bold Sriracha and Habanero BBQ, which are packaged in cans, are by now pretty recognizble on store shelves.

These new nuts have a different look—they’re packaged in dark gray resealable bags with pairing suggestions on the back.

The new line, officially Blue Diamond Crafted Gourmet Almonds, was showcased during a

pairing event in early April at Canon in East Sacramento. Chef Brad Cecchi and blogger Alicia Lund arranged a grazing table with fruits, meats, cheeses and the nuts. Guests enjoyed a tour o’ nuts as each flavor (Pink Himalayan Salt; Black Truffle; Rosemary and Sea Salt; and Garlic, Herb and Olive Oil) was paired with wines from a rosé to chianti.

My personal favorite is the Garlic, Herb and Olive Oil. Eric Tinson, senior brand manager at Blue Diamond, tends to agree with my taste. But it’s a tougher choice for him; he’s put his heart in those nuts.

“They’re all my kids so I love them all,” Tinson joked.

The new line is available in most major grocery stores like Safeway and Raley’s, and on Blue Diamond’s website at about $8 for a 10-ounce bag. As distribution expands, Tinson said, he’s excited to see the almonds become a part of special occasions. “[But] If you want to snack on these every day, please do,” he added.

k a te g@ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

So, I have been. Everyone who attended the Canon event went home with a 5-ounce bag of each flavor. I shared them with coworkers, who took them in with [varying levels of class and delicacy].

One writer was overwhelmed by the strong flavor after eating several of the truffle almonds at once. He’s since learned that it can be unwise to shovel handfuls of truffle-flavored anything in your mouth.

Later in the week, the nuts joined me for a Sac News & Review softball game, where dusty paws scooped them out of the sandwich bag they’d been transferred to. The team loved the almonds, but I’m sad to say they did not fuel a winning game.

Stop by the Blue Diamond Nut & Gift Shop to give them a try and if you like what you taste, pick up a bag for a wedding reception … or a Thursday night softball game. Ω

Café? Are you going to represent, Yellowbill Cafe Bakery? It’s not too late to join, Freeport Bakery, Karen’s Bakery & Café, Pushkin’s Bakery and everyone else. Just a few vegan cupcakes, cookies, brownies, tarts or truffles can help organizations that are working toward making the world a kinder place, like Animal Place, RedRover, Sacramento SPCA or California Partnership to End Domestic Violence. Again, it’s your choice, although it’d be pretty sweet. Also, I need a cupcake. Ω

The Department of Commerce has assessed preliminary newsprint tariffs, which range as high as 32%.

The cool thing about the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale is that anyone in the world can participate—just whip up and sell some vegan baked goods April 15-30 and contribute the profits to a charity of your choice. That includes individual bakers and local bakeries. Go to www.veganbakesale. org to see the events folks have already registered for, which include bake sales in South Korea, New Zealand, Estonia, Brazil—but none in Sacramento. Zilch in the Farm-to-Springform-pan Capital?

Where you at Ettore’s Bakery &

Trump’s Tariffs

by Shoka

These tariffs are already being collected. Local newspapers, printers, and book publishers cannot absorb these costs. This will lead to fewer jobs and less access to local news in our community.

Bake sales in Estonia and Sacramento

Go to: stopnewsprinttariffs.orG

—Rebecca Huval

tell congress that news matters. ask them to end the newsprint tariff.

It’s back! After selling out in its first year, the Sacramento Grilled Cheese Festival has returned for a second weekend of many variations on melted cheese between two slices of bread. Who knew so many Sacramentans would pay serious dollars to sample grilled cheese outside of their kitchens? The Saturday, April 14, event is smaller and adults only (21+). A $60 general admission ticket gets you unlimited samples of beer, wine and grilled cheeses from 1 to 4 p.m. The Sunday, April 15 festival is a family-friendly free-for-all with bounce houses, face paint, games and live music. A $10 ticket gets you admission only, though, so come with plenty of cash on hand to buy quarter sandwich samples, beer and wine. The vendors sizzling cheesy bread on a grill include Oak Park Brewing Co., Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen, Kupros, Broderick, Bacon Mania, the Pop Up Truck Sacramento, Kaliko’s Hawaiian Kitchen and Cousins Maine Lobster, among others. Learn more and buy tickets at www.sacgrilledcheese.com.

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now playing

Reviews

4

Russian meddling Photo courtesy of Actors WorkshoP

by Bev SykeS

brother-in-law, now married to a trophy wife Yelena (Jenny Cox), and a disruptive element in the house. Claudio can always be counted on for top notch performances, and this is no exception.

Outstanding are Darryl DeHart as the doctor, Astrov, who falls in love with Yelena, and Cattaryna Tekin as Sophia, the young daughter of Serebryakov, suffering unrequited love for Astrov.

As in many Russian plays, most characters have more than one name and it takes a bit to get them sorted out. Scenes are nicely set by projected backdrops on the back wall.

There is no “happily ever after” for these people; merely “life goes on, whether you want it to or not.” Ω

The Arsonists

The Arsonists pulls the audience into the deep, dark recesses of Florida swamps and introduces us to fatherdaughter arsonistsfor-hire. It’s an intense 70-minute play full of family relationships, secrets, losses and binding love, with memorable performances by the two-member cast.

Thu 7pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 2pm, Wed 7pm.

Through 4/15; $28-$45; Capital Stage, 2215 J Street; (916) 995-5464; www.capstage.org. P.R.

4

Dry Powder

Smart direction and superior acting mark this financial dramedy about the art of the deal— and the price paid to make it. Melinda Parrett, Dave Pierini, Jason Kuykendall and Jahi Kearse co-star Buck Busfield directs it. Thu 8pm,

Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm & 9pm, Sun

1 fouL

7pm. Through 4/30; $15-$38;

2pm, Tue 6:30pm, Wed 2pm & 6:30pm. Through 4/29. $27-$46;

Sacramento Theatre Company, Pollock Stage, 1419 H Street; (916) 443-6722; www.sactheatre.org. P.R.

B Street Theatre at the Sofia, 2700 Capitol Avenue.

(916) 443-5300, www. bstreettheatre.org. J.C.

4

A Time to Kill

4

Mothers and Sons

The John Grisham courthouse drama is brought to life by playwright Rupert Holmes. An African American man, distraught at the rape and near death of his 10-year-old daughter, shoots the perpetrators.

His attorney goes for an insanity plea. Very good performances by most of the cast. Fri 8pm, Sat 8pm,

This 90-minute play by award-winning playwright Terrence McNally traverses many decades as well as many issues, pains, battles and triumphs of the gay community. It’s a story of a mother’s long-stemming resentment of her deceased son’s gay relationship and ultimate death from AIDS decades ago, played out by her unexpected and uninvited visit to her late son’s widower.

The Sacramento Theatre Company cast works well together to create believable characters in this compact, heart-tugging production that takes place all in one long scene. Thu 7pm, Fri 8pm,

Sun 2pm. Through 4/22; $19-$21; Chautauqua

Playhouse, 5325 Engle Road, Suite 110 in Carmichael; (916) 489-7529; http://cplayhouse.org. B.S.

short reviews by Patti roberts, Jim carnes and Bev sykes.

Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 2pm, Wed

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fAIr

GooD

WeLL-DoNe

4 Literary mystery Darryl DeHart as Astrov and Jenny Cox as yelena.

Uncle Vanya

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fri 8pm, sat 8pm, sun 2pm. through May 6; $20; three Penny theatre, 1721 25th street; (916) 501-6104; www.actinsac.com.

There were nine actors in the cast of the Actor’s Workshop production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya on opening night—and five people in the audience. Yet the show must go on, and the cast members, performing a new contemporary translation by Annie Baker, behaved as if they had a full house.

Uncle Vanya is not a show with a lot of laughs. It is filled with anger, angst and ennui, has one bright moment, and ends sadly. Yet, when performed well it is powerful, and several actors in this production do right by the play.

Sean Williams is Vanya, a man depressed that he is now old (47!) and has accomplished nothing. He is the caretaker of his late sister’s estate.

He has no fame, no fortune, and no love in his life. Williams grew in the performance throughout the evening and was a powerful Vanya by the second act.

Ed Claudio (director, producer and set designer) is Serebryakov, Vanya’s grumpy

Fifty local actors, including veteran Shakespearean Matt K. Miller, are presenting readings of five “lost” plays which may (or may not) have been written by Shakespeare.

These plays, which scholars have argued over for centuries, are rarely performed.

The series begins with a free (and spirited) discussion by a panel of academics and theater artists, “Who Wrote Shakespeare?”—it takes place in the West Meeting Room of the Sacramento Library, 828 I Street, on Tuesday April 24, 2018 from 6:30pm to 8pm.

The readings are at the Wilkerson Theater in the R25 Arts Complex, 1725 25th Street.

Tickets are $20, www.calstage.org or (916) 451-5822.

Edmund Ironside—Early kings of England battle it out for supremacy. Fri 8pm, April 27, and Sat 2pm, April 28.

The London Prodigal—A father learns his son has become a complete debaucher.

Fri 8pm, May 4, Sat 2pm, May 5.

The Puritan—A bereaved widow, without her kindly husband, falls prey to poor judgment. Fri 8pm, May 11, Sat 2pm, May 12.

A Yorkshire Tragedy—Terror in the recounting of a grisly murder. Fri 8pm, May 18, Sat 2pm, May 19.

Lord Thomas Cromwell—The rise and fall of King Henry VIII’s crafty strategist, who was beheaded in 1540. Fri 8pm, May 25, Sat 2pm, May 26.

—Jeff Hudson

5 suBLIMe– DoN’t MIss

Photo courtesy of fALcoN’s eye theAtre.

Revolution now There will be fringed vests, bell bottoms, headbands and maxi skirts at Falcon’s Eye Theatre’s production of the iconic ’60s happening, Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical—and that’s just the audience members’ attire. Director David Harris says that hippie outfits are strongly encouraged to match the fashions worn onstage by the Tribe—a community that exalts free love and denounces war. “I saw a mirror to our current climate that might provide audiences some fresh insight,” Harris said. He said he expects that some of the play’s controversial issues will promote dialogue like it did in the ’60s. Fri 7:30pm, Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2pm. Through 4/21; $25 general, $15 students/seniors; Falcon’s Eye Theatre, Stage One at the Harris Center, Folsom Lake College, 10 College Parkway in Folsom; (916) 608-6888; www.HarrisCenter.net.

—Patti RobeRts

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Beirut What is John Hamm so mad about, anyway? Why you mad, John Hamm?

3

by Daniel Barnes

city to serve as negotiator. If you haven’t figured out that the kidnapper is a now-grown and radicalized Karim, then you will probably experience Beirut as a Another week, another serviceable but thoroughly non-stop series of left-field surprises. Anyone with a unspecial story of Middle East intrigue and terrorism passing familiarity of storytelling conventions will be co-starring an impassive Rosamund Pike. Unlike last a lot less impressed. month’s fact-based 7 Days in Entebbe, though, Brad Pike fits into the picture as Sandy Crowder, Anderson’s Beirut eschews an inexplicable modern a CIA operative assigned to track and control dance component in favor of a more Bourne-esque Mason, and then report back to a trio of shady State take on Bourne-esque themes (unreachable redemption, Department officials played by Shea Whigham, government corruption, moral relativism and cyclical Larry Pine and a bewigged Dean Norris. Unsure who violence) from a script by Bourne franchise screenwriter to trust, Mason begins freestyle-negotiating, wheelTony Gilroy. ing and dealing from the back alleys of Beirut to the Jon Hamm stars as Mason Skiles (Beirut largely halls of power in Israel, while Sandy slowly takes place during the Lebanese Civil War, forms an emotional attachment (this is with a story that traces over many actual gathered entirely through context, events, but the name “Mason Skiles” since Pike never once changes her alone is enough to establish that the expression). script is pure fiction), a professional A Sundance sensation from Beirut feels like arbitrator living the sweet life in the late 1990s, Brad Anderson all the nuances and 1970s Beirut. With no shortage of was a semi-hot property for a conflicts to mediate, Mason resides few minutes in the early 2000s complexities of an entire in a beautiful mansion overlooking with films like Session 9 and season of a TV series ... the city with his wife and a teenager The Machinist, but he has spent named Karim, a sweet-faced orphan most of the last decade-plus that the family is in the process of working in television. That might officially adopting. explain why Beirut feels like all the Mason’s world comes crumbling nuances and complexities of an entire down one night during a swanky cocktail party season of a TV series were condensed into a at his house, as Karim’s Palestinian terrorist brother perfunctory 109-minute movie, with relationships too Rajal arrives with a team of gunmen to abduct the boy shadowy and nebulous to provide real payoff. before the Israeli government does, and Mason’s wife Anderson and Gilroy put together a solid gets killed in the confusion. A decade later, Mason is machine but neglected to fill the tank with any scraping by as a labor negotiator in Boston, a broken emotional fuel. Ω and walled-off man soaking his sorrow in alcohol, determined to never set foot in the city of Beirut again.

That all changes when Mason gets word from the CIA that his old friend Cal (Mark Pellegrino) has been abducted by Palestinians, and that the lead kidnapper Poor Fair Good Very excellent Good specifically requested Mason return to the war-ravaged

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fiLm CLiPS

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Chappaquiddick

BY DANIEL BARNES & JIM LANE

Three parents of teenage besties (Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz), having gotten wind that their daughters (Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan and Gideon Adlon, respectively) are planning to lose their virginity on prom night, launch a desperate campaign to stop them. The movie’s posters have the silhouette of a rooster, or “cock,” right above the title—“cock blockers,” get it? Hyuk, hyuk.

That’s about the level of humor struck by Brian and Jim Kehoe’s script and Kay Cannon’s direction, but things aren’t quite as crude as they might have been, for which we can all be grateful. In fact, it’ll probably go unnoticed among all the penis and vagina jokes, but Barinholtz gives a very good performance as a rueful father whose bad choices have kept him from being the parent he wanted to be. J.L.

Director John Curran and writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan reconstruct, first, the 1969 auto accident on Martha’s Vineyard involving Sen. Edward Kennedy (Jason Clarke) and campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) in which Ms. Kopechne was killed; and, second, the aftermath as Kennedy, his family, and his political allies went into damage-control overdrive. Allen and Logan’s script sticks scrupulously to the documented record, with the result that the docudrama comes off as neither a hatchet job nor a whitewash, while Curran’s measured, unhurried direction infuses a feeling of authenticity.

Performances are excellent, led by Clarke and Ed Helms, who plays Kennedy’s cousin Ed Gargan (coming off as a poor-relation lackey). The movie is not unsympathetic to Kennedy, but he comes off none too well. J.L.

3

The Miracle Season

Director Sean McNamara and writers David Aaron Cohen and Elissa Matsueda tell the true story of the Iowa City West High School girls’ volleyball team, defending state champions in 2011 who had to battle back from overwhelming grief when team leader Caroline Found (Danika Yarosh) died in a moped accident just before the start of the school year. It’s a by-thenumbers sports tearjerker, and high school girls’ volleyball isn’t exactly the World Series or Super Bowl, but the story is inspiring enough to make up for a more or less routine telling. Helen Hunt as the team’s coach, Jason Gray-Stanford as her assistant, and William Hurt as Caroline’s heartbroken father all lend professional heft to the cast, and the team members (led by Erin Moriarty and Rebecca Staab) tackle their roles with youthful ardor. J.L.

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Foxtrot

Originally positioned as a contender for Best Foreign Film awards, Israeli writer-director Samuel Maoz’s surprising Foxtrot was unsurprisingly phased out of the race in favor of films that are much worse (don’t get me started on In the Fade). Foxtrot stars Lior Ashkenazi and Sarah Adler as Michael and Dafna Feldman, a Tel Aviv couple who’ve hit with the news that their son Jonathan was killed while serving with the Israeli Defense Forces.

The film’s opening movement follows the Feldman family through the first few hours of an overwhelmingly emotional grief process, up until the military informs them that it was a different Jonathan Feldman who died and that their son is still alive. That powerful portrait of grief gives way to an ecstatic and absurdist midsection that follows Jonathan during his military service at a lonely desert roadblock, and there are still a couple more wallop-packing twists to come. D.B.

Journey’s End

R.C. Sherriff’s venerable 1928 play about life in the trenches during World War I lives again in the hands of director Saul Dibb, screenwriter Simon Reade and a terrific cast: Sam Claflin as the captain driven to drown his horror in alcohol while somehow rising to his duty; Asa Butterfield as the naïve, idealistic youngster; Paul Bettany as the older lieutenant everyone calls “Uncle;” Toby Jones as the company cook (who provides merciful comic relief)—and those are just for starters. Dibb’s hyper-realism is a drawback at times—soft voices and regional British accents make some dialogue hard to catch, and the nightmarish confusion of combat tends to obscure what’s happening to whom. But those are minor quibbles; the movie is very strong stuff, offering proof that Sherriff’s play is unjustly neglected. J.L.

3

Yonaton Shiray in Foxtrot.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

I was largely left cold by Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, but I remain an unabashed fan of his 2013 monster mash Pacific Rim. That story of humancontrolled robot “jaegers” defending the planet against enormous “kaiju” beasts

was everything I ever could have wanted from the Transformers movies, offering a thoughtful and progressive take on the genre without skimping on the action and destruction. The monster mush sequel of Steven S. DeKnight’s Pacific Rim: Uprising is more in line with what the Transformers movies already are: a brainless orgy of bad jokes and PG-13 violence that never stops cutting to the chase. Set 10 years after the original as those pesky kaiju invaders launch another attack, Uprising strips away del Toro’s cinematic zest and humanity in favor of non-stop robot punching. It certainly satisfies on a base level, even though Uprising often feels like a straight-to-VOD fugitive. D.B.

4

A Quiet Place

An outbreak (or invasion) of blind carnivorous creatures with supersharp hearing forces the remnants of the human race to live in absolute silence, in isolated pockets with little means of communication. The script by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and director John Krasinski concentrates on one family: father (Krasinski), mother (Emily Blunt), son (Noah Jupe), and a daughter (Millicent Simmonds) whose deafness, under the circumstances, is even more of a handicap. The creatures are unexplained; when we see them, they’re generically bizarre, but sightings are wisely few. The result is an old-fashioned horror movie, and a nerve-wrackingly effective one.

Director Krasinski ratches up the tension and dread almost to the breaking point, knowing just when to let up and when to start tightening the screws again. J.L.

3

Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero

Georgia-based Fun Academy Motion Pictures makes their first foray into feature-length animation with Richard Lanni’s deliberately old-fashioned Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero. Based on the true story of t he heroic street dog who became mascot of the Yankee Division of the 102nd Infantry

Regiment during World War I, forming a bond with doughboy Robert Conroy (Logan Lerman) and going on to save many lives, Sgt. Stubby is a mixed bag in almost every respect. The humans all look like different versions of the same dead-eyed automaton, but the character design for Stubby is excellent, his face and movements marvelously expressive yet perfectly natural at the same time. There are strong individual scenes, but the story structure is shoddy, with Robert’s unseen sister Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter, doing an Ashley Judd impression) narrating for no reason at all. For all the film’s faults, though, passionate voice performances might have pushed it over. D.B

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Unsane

A stressed-out stalking victim (Claire Foy) unwittingly commits herself to an asylum for observation—then begins raving that her stalker is one of the institution’s male nurses (Joshua Leonard). Foy harrowingly sheds her royal image as Elizabeth II in TV’s The Crown, and director Steven Soderbergh, shooting the whole film with digital iPhone cameras, gives the movie a jumpy, disorienting energy, looking somehow wideangle and claustrophobic at the same time.

That’s the good news. The bad news: Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer’s script is a low-schlock thriller, patently implausible and tipping off its “secrets” much too soon. It’s exhilarating to see Soderbergh, with nothing to prove, still willing to experiment, and Foy’s performance is riveting, but they’re essentially putting lipstick on a pig. J.L.

Unmatched steadfast service to our communities.

Like the SN&R readers, I get it! You have to genuinely care about your community. That’s why I founded two organizations, East Sac Give Back and Mercy Pedalers (founding pedaler), focused on providing assistance to Sacramento homeless individuals and families in need.

(916) 402-3261 | realtybymichael@gmail.com www.realtybymichael.com | UC Berkeley BA | CSU MBA | SRES® Certified

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Longtime folk-singer Mike Justis and his band gear up for two Mondavi Center gigs this year

by Mark Hanzlik

that kind of cynicism. You see, it’s best to stick with my genre.

I just don’t write a lot of love songs.”

Justis, a Vietnam vet, supplanted from his Louisiana home in the ’60s and came to discover his passion for music in the ’70s. Though the Army experiences don’t appear often in his songwriting, he clearly has absorbed much from that time.

He names some of the influential songwriters (Dylan, Young, The Mike Justis Band will open for folk-star Joan Baez Prince) but claims he didn’t in November. pattern himself after any of them.

“You don’t have to have a great voice to be a great songwriter,” he says.

Over the past 10 years, Justis has recorded three Fox & Goose seemed like an appropriate place to albums, all self-released in limited supply. Those meet Mike Justis. The public house, known for its records, Barroom Philosopher (2008), One Foot open-mics and English breakfast-style atmosphere, is In (2012) and Live at Wendells (2015) all feature where he not only made his Sacramento public debut McLane and Barwick as his featured players. in 1978. Justice continues to hold down a regular slot One Foot In is an achievement of sorts, as on the second Tuesday of every month, performing Justis attests to when he introduces the title song solo, in a duo or with a larger group which on some in McLane’s Three Seals Studio, fully aware of nights can be a rocking band. the redolence in his words, “It’s only taken us six A week before our interview, I caught Justis decades to get our second CD out.” What follows is a on such a night, where he and three cohorts were varied yet consistent collection of original tunes from preparing for a higher profile gig at the Courtyard Justis’ canon of musical ideas and influences. When Marriott outside the Mondavi Center in Davis he’s storytelling and using familiar folk on April 13. Those players include longmusic conventions, the results are often time friends Steve McLane (guitarist), remarkable.

“It’s only Kathy Barwick (mandolin and resoThough Justis, who often finds phonic guitar), and a more recent himself stranded between musical taken us six addition, Jim Ivler (bass). styles, is fairly pragmatic about decades to get our Justis, a self-effacing his career at this stage, he’s never second CD out.” bandleader, repeatedly calls attengiven up the dream of making it tion to the live interplay between in music.

Mike Justis McLane and Barwick: “To me, “I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied bandleader, The Mike that’s the secret sauce,” Justis says. or finished until I can’t sing or play Justis Band “When the band is in a groove, it’s anymore. I just keep trying. I need to just like a drug. That’s our shtick, the have that to strive for.” interplay between Steve and Kathy.”

As if it were icing on the cake, Justis and Though their live sets mostly consist of songs his bandmates were also invited to open similarly at from Justis’ own catalog, the covers include fresh Mondavi in November for Joan Baez in her final tour. interpretations of familiar ’70s folk, blues and rock “I remember hearing Joan Baez in 1968 in Vietnam songs through Justis’ own unique vocal filter. His on Armed Services Radio,” he says. “She was singing voice lies somewhere between Joe McDonald and about the war and here I’m in the war. That’s a big Townes VanZant. deal after all these years.” Ω As for his songwriting, Justis isn’t shy about sharing his thoughts about the world in his verses.

Whether it’s his anger about the environment or see the Mike Justis band perform live at the Mondavi Center on Friday, april news of the day, disgust seems to work for him.

13. show starts at 6:30 p.m. no cover. 1 shields avenue In Davis. learn more “If somebody’s happy right now, there’s at www.mondaviarts.org. something wrong with you,” Justis says. “I have Photo by serene lusano

it uupp..

Still striving

for the week of april 12

by kate gonzales

snr c a le nd a r @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

Online listings will be considered for print. Print listings are edited for space and accuracy. Deadline deadline for print listings is 5 p.m. Wednesday. Deadline deadline for nightlife NightLife listings is midnight Sunday.

Send photos and reference materials to Calendar Editor Kate Gonzales at snrcalendar@newsreview.com.

Post EVENts POst events ONLINE online FOr for FrEE free At at

www.newsreview.com/sacramento

FOOd & dRInK

mOndaY, 4/16 GHOst-NOtE: Featuring members of Snarky Puppy, with special guests. 7pm, $15$18. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

THURSdaY, 4/12 GrILLED CHEEsE CELEBrAtION: Celebrate the

MAYE CAVALLArO: The vocalist performs with

best day, National Grilled Cheese Day, with a grilled cheese and beer/cider pairing class.

Jason Myers Trio. 7pm, $25. Antiquite Midtown, 2114 P St.

6:30pm, $25-$29. Community Learning Center & Cooking School, 2820 R St.

FESTIValS

FRIdaY, 4/13 50tH ANNUAL stV BOCKBIErFEst: Beer lovers

THURSdaY, 4/12

sAt

PHOTO COURTESY OF Emma SanCHEz dE PaUlSEn

14

“The Wall Separates Families, But Never Feelings.”

Putting a face to the stories Sol ColleCtive, 5 P.M., no Cover Many of us can’t forget what 45 has said about those who cross the U.S.-Mexico border. In the wake of insults Art and a lack of understanding around the lives of immigrants, artists and storytellers have been inspired to combat xenophobia. Challenging Exclusion | Humanizando la Deportación is a multimedia project that puts the people who have been deported in charge of their own narratives. In more than 40 videos

mUSIC THURSdaY, 4/12 DEstrOY ALL GONDOLAs: With Las Pulgas, the

Butt-Tones. 8pm, call for cover. The Press Club, 2030 P St.

tHE UNDEAD: With Strange Party, Danny

Secretion. 8pm, call for cover. Cafe Colonial, 3520 Stockton Blvd.

FRIdaY, 4/13 DAVE DOUGLAs sAC stAtE JAZZ ENsEMBLE: With

guest trumpeter Dave Douglas. 8pm, $5-$10.

Sacramento State, 6000 J St.

DEVIN tHE DUDE: With Willy J Peso, M.Dot-80, K Mac, Yung K and more. 7pm, $26.72-$70.45.

Holy Driver, 1517 21st St.

collected in part by UC Davis, we hear stories of families chasing the American Dream, sometimes being pulled apart in the pursuit. The interactive installation and exhibit will be on display through 5/2, with the World Café opening reception (4/14) kicking off a month of activities and conversations around immigration. 2574 21st Street, http://humanizandoladeportacion. ucdavis.edu/en/.

PEACH HOUsE MAsQUErADE PrOM: Michael Cruz, The White Lighters, SpaceWalker and Boy Romeo. 7pm, $8-$10. Sol Collective, 2574 21st St.

tHE rIGHtEOUs BrOtHErs: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame duo Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield come to Sac. 7:30pm, $59-$89. Crest Theatre, 1013 K St.

SaTURdaY, 4/14 CELLY CEL: With RBL Posse, Loverance and

more. 9pm, $25. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St.

ELEMENt BrAss BAND: Album release party for “Cali Got a Brass Band.” 9pm, no

cover. Shady Lady, 1409 R St.

tHE POLYOrCHIDs: With Sun Valley Gun

Hearts. 8pm, $5. The Colony, 3512 Stockton Blvd.

SUndaY, 4/15 sACrAMENtO AUDIO WAFFLE #42: Waffles, coffee and noise featuring Art Lessing & the Flower Vato, Endometrium Cuntplow, Holiday Special, Nicotine Mantis and more. Noon, $10.

The Red Museum, 212 15th St.

stEAKsAUCE MUstACHE: With Florida Man, Chaos Mantra, Pervert & Kaidan hitting the Colony. 7pm, contact for cover. The Colony, 3512 Stockton Blvd.

U.s. BOMBs: With the Losing Kind, Knocked

Down, Banger. 7pm, $19-$21.58. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St.

FEstIVAL OF tHE Arts: This six-day celebration of Sac State’s arts and humanities students and faculty includes art, music, theater, dance and discussion. 5pm, various costs. Sacramento State, 6000 J St.

unite each year for Bockbier, a traditional Bavarian beer that is dark and strong!

Join them for German music, Bavarian folk dancing, traditional German food, beer and more. Friday’s grand opening will include a flag march and keg tapping. 6pm, $5$20. Sacramento Turn Verein, 3349 J St.

MCKINLEY PArK FOOD trUCK MANIA: Food, music

SaTURdaY, 4/14

and family entertainment. 5pm, no cover.

Mckinley Park, 601 Alhambra Blvd.

CrUIsING FOr PEACE & UNItY LOWrIDEr sHOW—BrOWN BErEt 6-YEAr ANNIVErsArY: A lowrider bike and car show, with musical performances by Cihuatl Ce, Richie Ledreagle, Poor Majesty, Las Pulgas and others. The day will also include performances by Mexican dancers, youth activities, guest speakers, raffle prizes, a Know Your Rights workshop and more. Noon, no cover. Mariscos Los Primoz, 2425 Northgate.

OrCHID sHOW AND sALE: The longtime orchid show and exotic plant market features a display of orchids from local growers, exotic plants from around the world, raffles, classes, demonstrations and more. 10am, no cover-$10. Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 6151 H St.

sECOND sAtUrDAY At KULtUrE: Enjoy the courtyard filled with local artists, vendors, food and new shops. 4pm, no cover. Kulture, 2331 K St.

SUndaY, 4/15

SaTURdaY, 4/14 50tH ANNUAL stV BOCKBIErFEst: See event

listing on 4/13. 3pm, $5-$20. Sacramento Turn Verein, 3349 J St.

BLACK PANtHEr WAKANDA PArtY: Enjoy a delicious gourmet dinner and wine while you paint a character from the popular superhero movie. 5pm, $45-$50. 1900 28th St.

HErOEs Vs VILLAINs BAr CrAWL (sACrAMENtO): Be on the good team or be very, very bad as you get drunk dressed as your favorite hero or villain and go from bar to bar with your crew. 3pm, $15. Mango’s Sacramento, 1930 K St.

WALK tHE BOULEVArD LIVE: Take a walk through Old North Sac to explore the breweries, restaurants and other businesses on Del Paso Boulevard. 3pm, no cover-$20. Various locations, 1525 Del Paso Blvd.

SUndaY, 4/15

OrCHID sHOW AND sALE: See event listing for 4/14. 10am, no cover-$10. Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 6151 H St.

sACrAMENtO GrILLED CHEEsE FEstIVAL: The main highlight of this two-day event is a family-friendly day of live music and entertainment, sandwich samples, kids zone, adult play area and more. Note: $10 is for admission only (bring extra money for samples and drinks). 11am, $10+. Southside Park, 2115 6th St.

sAC COMIC-CON: A family-friendly convention with the opportunity to meet with illustrators, artists and actors. Enjoy a video game room, a costume contest, workshops and more. 10am, no cover-$10.

Sacramento Convention Center Complex, 1400 J St.

sACCIrQUE PArK tAKEOVEr: Indulge your inner circus performer during this potluck-style event and freestyle skill-share jam with acro-yoga, hand balancing, flow arts, juggling and more. 1pm, no cover. Southside Park, 7th and T streets.

sUNDAY FUN DAY: A day for the community— students, staff, faculty, alumni and others— to visit the campus and experience the creative programs of study. 11am, no cover.

Sacramento State, 6000 J St.

FIlm FRIdaY, 4/13 sOIrEE CINEMA—VIOLEttE NOZIErE: In an interwar France struggling with profound social and political change, 18-yearold Violette Noziere rebels against the constraints of her claustrophobic, workingclass family, with troubling consequences.

English subtitles; bring a snack to share. 7pm, contact for cover. Alliance Francaise de Sacramento, 2420 N St.

Club, Jesus & the Dinosaurs, Car Crash

CALENDAr LIstINGs CONtINUED ON PAGE 34

04.12.18

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SEE mOrE EvEntS And SUbmIt YOUr Own At newsreview.com/sacramento/calendar

Friday, 4/13

explores the quest for love and meaning in life. through 5/6. $18-$20. 1721 25th St.

mike Epps ToMMy T’s coMedy cLuB, 7:30 P.M., $35-$50

art AlIStEr pHOtOgrApHY: Bending Gender. New

Whatever you do, don’t call him Day-Day. He hates that name.

After getting cOmEdY his major break with Def Comedy Jam in the mid-’90s, comedian Mike Epps built a decades-long career in entertainment. He’s played memorable roles in films like Next Friday (and the one after Photo courtesy oF shearer Public relations that) and The Hangover and has written a book about overcoming life’s struggles. But don’t worry, he’ll probably keep it light at this weekend’s stop in Sacramento. 12401 Folsom Boulevard in Rancho Cordova, www.tommytsrancho.com.

on stage

cAlEndAr lIStIngS cOntInUEd frOm pAgE 33

24tH StrEEt tHEAtrE: Fly Brave’s Got Talent.

saturday, 4/14

Performances showcase the talents of singers, dancers, family bands, comedians and others who are on the Autism spectrum. Register online to attend. 5pm

2018 SAcrAmEntO fOOd fIlm fEStIvAl— SAtUrdAY nIgHt SHOrtS: An all-star cast of chefs pairing bites with short food films from Sacramento. 5:30pm (vIp), 6pm (general), $50-$75. Colonial Theatre, 3522 Stockton Blvd.

Saturday, 4/14. no cover (donations accepted). 2791 24th St.

b StrEEt tHEAtrE: Delivered. A story slam featuring tales of reproductive health— from contraception to pregnancy and beyond. 7pm thursday, 4/12. $12. Dry Powder. This comedic drama is set in the world of high finance, where the CEO of an enormous private equity firm desperately needs a deal to come through to save him from a public relations nightmare. through 4/29. $9-$41. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The timeless story of four siblings in the magical world of Narnia, performed by two actors. through 5/5. $18$23. 2700 Capitol Ave.

mArY pOppInS: The children of a wealthy, uptight family embark on a series of adventures with their new nanny, Mary, and her friend, Bert. 7:30pm, $7.50-$9.50. Crest Theatre, 1013 K St.

sunday, 4/15 dr. StrAngElOvE: This dark comedy shows a war room full of politicians and generals frantically trying to avoid the ultimate catastrophe. 12:30pm, no cover. Sacramento Public Library at Central Library, 828 I St.

cHAUtAUQUA plAYHOUSE: A Time to Kill. The drama based on the bestselling John Grisham novel about race, crime and family in small-town America. through 4/21. $19-$22. 5325 Engle Road, Suite 110 in Carmichael.

comedy lUnA’S cAfE & JUIcE bAr: Capitol PUNishment.

A Jason-themed night of Capitol PUNishment comedy in celebration of Friday the 13th. 8pm friday, 4/13. $10. 1414 16th St.

SAcrAmEntO cOmmUnItY cEntEr tHEAtEr: Finding Neverland. This award-winning musical based on the critically acclaimed film tells the incredible stories behind the beloved character, Peter Pan. through 4/15. $25-$82. 1301 L St.

pUncH lInE: Tony Roberts. The comedian/

actor/writer comes to Sac. through 4/14. $23.50-35.50. 2100 Arden Way, Ste 225.

SAcrAmEntO cOmEdY SpOt: The Gateway Show.

A show for stoners and stoner-lovers, where comedians tell some jokes, get way too high, then try to tell more jokes.

Hosted by Billy Anderson. 9pm friday, 4/13. $12-$15. Weird | Strange | Bizarre. A day of offbeat, unusual and creative explorations in comedy, including improv, sketch, characters and stand-up that veer off the traditional path. See single shows or get an all-day access pass. 2pm Saturday, 4/14. $8-$25. 1050 20th St., Suite 130.

tOmmY t’S cOmEdY clUb: Mike Epps. See

event highlight above. through 4/14. $35$50. 12401 Folsom Blvd.

34

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SIErrA cOllEgE: The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde’s best-known play, this farce has identity confusions, back-handed courtships and double lives. through 4/22. $10-$15. 5100 Sierra College Blvd. in Rocklin.

tHE lOUngE: Fierce Femme Show. Comedy, music, dancing and more in this showcase of the talents of women and non-binary performers. April’s showcase will benefit River City Gems. 7pm Saturday, 4/14. $10 suggested donation. 1812 J St.

tHrEE pEnnY tHEAtrE: Uncle Vanya. Anton

04.12.18

Chekhov’s story of two dissatisfied middleaged men who pursue the affection of a young, married woman who has fallen out of love with her husband. This show comically

works by Alister Oliver. An artist talk will be held at 4pm, followed by a Second Saturday opening reception at 6pm Saturday, 4/14. through 5/4. no cover. 1614 K St.

ArtIStIc EdgE gAllErY: April Exhibit. Featured artists include Diana Ormanzhi, Jonathan Lowe, Carolyn Junge and Cynthia Hayes. A themed show titled Flowers—Pink/Red is also on display. through 4/30. no cover. 1880 Fulton Ave.

AXIS gAllErY: Revision 1. Nick Shepard’s color still-life photographs of everyday objects in playful geometric compositions that challenge the perception of space. Second Saturday reception will be held at 6pm Saturday, 4/14. through 4/29. no cover. 625 S St.

bEAtnIK StUdIOS: Still in the Streets. An exhibit of four generations of street photography from the 1930s into today. Works by Kent Lacin, Marion Post Wolcott, Jeff Landi, Richard Hughes and Alexis Wilson. through 5/21. no cover. 723 S St.

cK Art gAllErY: Welcome to the Flower Shop.

A solo exhibit of new works by local artist Tyson Anthony Roberts. A meet the artists reception will be held at 5:30pm Thursday, 4/12. A Second Saturday reception (6pm, 4/14) will feature a live painting session, floral installations, poetry readings, wine and more. through 4/30. no cover. 2500 J St.

mcKInlEY vIllAgE: McKinley Village Art Walk. A showcase of public art installations, where guests can meet the artists and take a walk around each installation, enjoy food truck, live music, crafts and more. noon Saturday, 4/14. no cover. McKinley Village Way.

SOl cOllEctIvE: Challenging Exclusion | Humanizando la Deportación. See event highlight on page 33. Opening reception at 5pm Saturday, 4/14. through 5/2. no cover. 2574 21st St.

tHE brIcKHOUSE gAllErY & Art cOmplEX: Photography Month. Photos by Kurt Fishback, Larry Dalton, Lisa Daniels, Cassaundra Williams and more. A screening

of the documentary Half Past Autumn: A Retrospective, followed by a discussion, will begin at 2pm. noon Saturday, 4/14. no cover. 2837 37th St.

UnIOn HAll gAllErY: A Crack In The World.

Photography by Barbara Kyne. Opening

reception at 6pm Saturday, 4/14. no cover. 2126 K St.

museums cAlIfOrnIA StAtE ArcHIvES: California Memoirs The William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection. Explore nearly 3,000 photographs that depict early-20th century travels through California and beyond. through 4/27. no cover. 1020 O St., Fourth Floor.

Uc dAvIS dESIgn mUSEUm, crUESS HAll: It’s Bugged—Insects’ Role in Design. A fascinating exploration of the creative relationship of people and insects that shows how designers, architects and artists draw on nature’s patterns. through 4/20. no cover. 1 Shields Ave. in Davis.

taKe action thursday, 4/12 OUt Of tHE dArKnESS wAlK fOr SUIcIdE prEvEntIOn: An annual walk raises awareness and funds for suicide prevention. 4pm, no cover. Sacramento State, 6000 J St.

Friday, 4/13 prISOnEr SOlIdArItY nIgHt: Write letters to folks who are currently incarcerated and, if it’s your first time joining, consider becoming a pen-pal with someone. 6pm, no cover. Lavender Library, 1414 21st St.

saturday, 4/14 mArcH fOr ScIEncE SAcrAmEntO 2018: Join thousands of others in support of science-based approaches to today’s pressing problems (you know, like climate change). 10:30am, no cover. California State Capitol, West Steps, 1315 10th St.

tuesday, 4/17 SAc ActIvISt ScHOOl KnOw YOUr rIgHtS trAInIng: A training presented by the

Sacramento Immigration Coalition. 6pm, no

cover. Sol Collective, 2574 21st St.

classes saturday, 4/14 EnglISH cOnvErSAtIOn grOUp: Practice speaking English in a friendly, small group led by a trained facilitator. Discussion topics include everyday life, news, local things to do and more. Children are welcome. noon, no cover. Sacramento Public Library—North Sacramento-Hagginwood Library, 2109 Del Paso Blvd.

IndIAn vEgAn cOOKIng clASS: Learn to make Aloo Gobi and Malai Kofta. Students are welcome to stay for the Songs of the Universal Peace record release and concert at 7pm. 5:30pm, no cover. Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive.

fUtUrE mIdwIvES InfOrmAtIOn SESSIOn: Learn about the Apprentice Program with Welcome Home Midwifery Services. The program is an 8-week classroom training covering terminology, basic life support for healthcare providers, emergency skills and equipment setup for out-of-hospital birth and more. 2pm, no cover. Colonial Heights Library, 4799 Stockton Blvd.

IntrO tO tHE dArK rOOm: A class on creating prints from your black and white 35mm or 120mm negatives, that covers the basics of a darkroom, safety guidelines and best practices. 10am, $25-$50. Hacker Lab, 1715 I St.

wednesday, 4/18 AcrOYOgA At pIpEwOrKS clImbIng: Come learn how to spin each other around on in this acro-yoga class. All levels welcome. 7pm, no cover-$25. Sacramento Pipeworks Climbing and Fitness, 116 N 16th St.

mAcrAmE wOrKSHOp: Learn basic knots and techniques to create a macrame plant hanger. Class includes instruction, inspiration and all materials needed. 6pm, $60-$100. Verge Center for the Arts, 625 S St.

Friday, 4/13

I SEE YOU Logos Books, 6 P.M., no cover

For eight weeks, folks have gathered at the Mary L. Stephens Branch of Yolo County Library to paint, print, draw and Art simply create. I SEE YOU is an arts engagement project for folks experiencing homelessness or low-income to learn and practice artistic skills. The results of their work will be on display through 5/5, with an opening this Friday. Meet the artists who have benefited from the program, and purchase a piece to further support them.

513 Second Street, https://yoloarts.org/isee-you-program.

image courtesy oF robert e smith iii

submit your calendar listings for free at newsreview.com/sacramento/calendar THURSDAY 4/12

FRIDAY 4/13

SATURDAY 4/14

SUNDAY 4/15

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 4/16-4/18

The acousTic den cafe

Songwriters in the Round, 7pm, $5

Gillian Underwood & Friends, 7pm, $5

Debbie Wolfe & Halfmoon Highway, 7pm, $5

Ukulele Jam and Singalong, 11am, no cover

Open-Mic Wednesday, 6:30pm, W, no cover

Badlands

PopRockz ’90s Night, 9pm, no cover

Fierce Fridays, 7pm, call for cover

Spectacular Saturdays, 9pm, call for cover

Sunday Tea Dance & Beer Bust, 4pm, no cover

Trapacana, 9pm, W, no cover

Legal Addiction, 9:30pm, no cover

Smith & Tegio, 9:30pm, no cover

First Festival Pre-Party, 8pm, $5

Go Betty Go, Glame Skanks and more, 8pm, $10

J Diggs and more, 8:30pm, $15-$30

House Party, 8pm, $10-$15

Capitol Fridays, 10pm, no cover before 10:30pm

Dinner and a Drag Show, 7pm, $5-$25

Annual Starz Dance Showcase, 7pm, $14-$20

Annual Starz Dance Showcase, 1pm, 7pm, $14-$20

10271 FAIRWAY DRIVE, ROSEVIllE, (916) 412-8739 2003 k ST., (916) 448-8790

BaR 101

101 MAIN ST., ROSEVIllE, (916) 774-0505

Blue lamp

1400 AlHAMbRA blVD., (916) 455-3400

Drunk Poetry (hosted by SpaceWalker and Andru Defeye), 8pm, call for cover

The BoaRdwalk

9426 GREENbAck lN., ORANGEVAlE, (916) 358-9116

capiTol GaRaGe PHOTO cOURTESY OF ZAcH GARNER

devin the dude with Willy J Peso 7pm Friday, $20-$50 Holy Diver Rap

Capitol Garage’s Next Drag Superstar, 8pm, no cover

1500 k ST., (916) 444-3633

The cenTeR foR The aRTs

314 W. MAIN ST., GRASS VAllEY, (530) 274-8384

faces

Hell Fire, Haunt and more, 8pm, $10

Whores. 8pm, T, $12-$15; Joe Jack Talcum (of Dead Milkmen), 8pm, $10

Geeks Who Drink, 8:30pm, W, no cover Genticorum (CD release), 7pm, $20

Bettye LaVette, 7:30pm, W, $27-$37

2000 k ST., (916) 448-7798

RuPaul’s Drag Race Screening, 5pm, no cover

Absolut Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

Second Saturday Exposure Party, 3pm, no cover

faTheR paddY’s iRish puBlic house

Guy and Carol, 7pm, no cover

Whiskey & Stitches, 6pm, no cover

Smokehouse Reunion, 7pm, no cover

fox & Goose

Michael B. Justis, 8pm, no cover

SpaceWalker, Ctrl-Z, LaTour, 9pm, $5

Kally O’Mally & the 8-Tracks, Richard March, 9pm, $5

Open-Mic, 7:30pm, M, no cover; All-Vinyl Wednesdays, 8pm, W, no cover

500 DAVID J STERN WAlk, (888) 915-4647

Gloria Trevi vs. Alejandra Guzmán, 8pm, $46-$496

V101 Freestyle Throwback Jam w / Taylor Dayne and more, 7:30pm, $30.50-$60.50

halfTime BaR & GRill

College Night, 9pm, no cover

Black Water, 9pm, $5

Journey’s Edge (Journey tribute), 9pm, $7

Let’s Get Quizzical Trivia Game Show, 7pm, T, no cover

haRlow’s

Kim Burrell, 6:30pm, $22-$25

Bilal, The Philharmonik, EJ Jackson, 8pm, $25-$30

An Evening with Peter Asher & Albert Lee, 5:30pm, $27.50-$30

435 MAIN ST., WOODlAND, (530) 668-1044 1001 R ST., (916) 443-8825

Golden 1 cenTeR

5681 lONETREE blVD., ROcklIN, (916) 626-3600 2708 J ST., (916) 441-4693

hideawaY BaR & GRill hiGhwaTeR

1910 Q ST., (916) 706-2465

the undead

holY diVeR

with The Strange Party 8pm Thursday, $10 Cafe Colonial Punk

kupRos

Mt. Joy, Element of Soul, National Lines, 7pm, no cover

1517 21ST ST.

John 5 & the Creatures, Hero Jr., 7pm, $20-$25

1414 16TH ST., (916) 737-5770

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

SEND US YOUR COLLEGE ESSAYS!

THE PRIZES: First place will receive a $2,000 award, second place $1,000; and third place $500.

THE RULES: High-school seniors graduating in 2018 are eligible. Only one entry allowed per student, and you must live in the Sacramento region to apply. No SN&R employees or their relatives may enter.

THE DETAILS: Essays must be no longer than 650 words. Email essays as a Word document or PDF attachment to collegeessay@newsreview.com, with the subject line “College Essay Contest.”

Deadline is Friday, May 11, at 5 p.m.

Joe Montoya’s Poetry Unplugged, 8pm, $2

Cuffin R&B Soul Party, 9pm, call for cover

The Brunch Club, 11am, call for cover

Island Vibes Reggae Night, 10pm, call for cover

The Trivia Factory, 7pm, M, no cover; Comedy Night, 8:30pm, W, call for cover

Devin the Dude, Willy J Peso, K Mac and more, 7pm, $20-$50

Celly Cell, RBL Posse, LoveRance, 8pm, $25

U.S. Bombs, The Losing Kind, Knocked Down, Banger, 7pm, $14-$16

Fallout Kings, Stars of the Party, Gypsy Solution and more, 6:30pm, W, no cover

Kupros Quiz, 7:30pm, no cover

Open-Mic, 8pm, T, no cover; Ross Hammond, 8pm, W, no cover

Capitol PUNishment: An Evening of Pun!, 8pm, $10

Open-Mic Comedy, 7:30pm, T, no cover; STAB!, 8pm, W, $5

Toad Mortons, Natalie Cortez, 8pm, $5

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

2708 J Street

Coming Soon

www.momosacramento.com 4/12 7pm free tix online/$3 at the door discover thursdays:

Hans! and tHe HOt Mess, POlyFunctiOn (all ages)

4/12 6:30PM $22aDv

Kim burrEll (aLL agES)

4/14 5:30pm $15adv

tHe GOsPel GrOOve sessiOn

4/13 8PM $25aDv

bilAl

& THE PHiLHaRMOniK 4/18 6PM $10aDv

chAos chAos

DEaTH PaRTY aT THE BEaCH (aLL agES)

4/20 7pm $20adv sacramento’s favorite djs every fri at 10pm

For booking inquiries, email Robert@momosacramento.com

& HERO JR.

ghost-notE

vernO, deacOn Free HeatrBreaka, yunG Jae, kusta

john 5 & thE crEAturEs

(FEaT. MEMBERS OF SnaRKY PuPPY)

4/18 5:30pm $8

4/19 7pm free tix online/$3 at the door discover thursdays:

4/15 7PM $20aDv

4/16 7PM $15aDv

(all ages)

BOurBOn & Blues : dOs HOMBres Funk/Jazz cOalitiOn

Ghost-Note, 7pm, M, $15-$18; Chaos Chaos, 6pm, W, $10-$12 Karaoke, 8pm, M, no cover; Cactus Pete, 8pm, T, no cover; Trivia, 8pm, W, no cover

1217 21ST ST., (916) 440-0401

luna’s cafe & Juice BaR

Noche Latina, 9pm, T, no cover; Purgatory, 9pm, W, no cover

Sumo Princess, 8pm, $5-$10

2565 FRANklIN blVD., (916) 455-1331 PHOTO cOURTESY OF R cROlAND PHOTO

Trivia, 6:30pm, M, no cover; Open-Mic, 7:30pm, W, no cover

4/14 5:30PM $27.50aDv

An EvEning with PEtEr AshEr & AlbErt lEE (aLL agES)

4/19 The Drums 4/19 Moneybagg Yo 4/20 Luniz 4/21 Foreverland 4/22 Moonchild 4/27 Hot Buttered Rum 4/30 Zola Jesus 5/1 Prof 5/2 Zaytoven 5/3 Metal Street Boyz 5/4 Lissie 5/5 Sunny Sweeney & Ward Davis 5/6 Ekolu 5/9 Cheap Tissue & The She’s 5/10 Once and Future Band 5/11 Pedro the Lion 5/12 Built to Spill 5/13 Sinatra & The Rat Pack 5/15 Horse Feathers 5/16 Stephen Jay & Jim “Kimo” West

04.12.18 | SN&R | 35

submit your calendar listings for free at newsreview.com/sacramento/calendar THURSDAY 4/12 momo sacramento

FRIDAY 4/13

SATURDAY 4/14

2708 J ST., (916) 441-4693

old IronsIdes

Nerd Night, 7:30pm, $10

Mondo Deco, Little Zebra, Vasas, Bachelor Paradise, 8:30pm, $8

Rebel Punk, The Phantom Jets, Blue Oaks, 9pm, $5

on tHe Y

Open-Mic Comedy, 8pm, no cover

Roa Brothers Band, Smoky Knights, Working Man Blues, 8pm, call for cover

Supernaut, Frack, Sky Pig, 8:45pm, $10

1901 10TH ST., (916) 442-3504 670 FUlTON AvE., (916) 487-3731

Palms PlaYHouse

PlacervIlle PublIc House PowerHouse Pub

with The Big Poppies 8pm Friday, $18 Palms Playhouse Indie rock

8-Track Massacre, 10pm, $10

614 SUTTER ST., FOlSOM, (916) 355-8586

tHe Press club

2030 P ST., (916) 444-7914

Destroy All Gondolas, Gutara Kyo, Las Pulgas and more, 8pm, call for cover

sHadY ladY

Tone Mosaic, 9pm, no cover

1409 R ST., (916) 231-9121

socIal nIgHtclub

1000 K ST., (916) 947-0434

stoneY’s rockIn rodeo

1320 DEl PASO BlvD., (916) 927-6023

Country Thunder Thursdays, 9pm, no cover

swabbIes on tHe rIver

5871 GARDEN HIGHWAY, (916) 920-8088

tHe torcH club

Heath Williamson, 5:30pm, M, no cover; Eats & Beats, 4pm, T, $5

Adrian Legg, 7pm, $22

Power Play, 10pm, $10

Lydia Pense, 3pm, $10 DJ Larry’s Sunday Night Dance Party, 9pm, no cover

Reggae Night, 9pm, T, no cover; Eternal Sunshine Dance Party, 9pm, W, no cover

Zorelli, 9pm, no cover

Element Brass Band, 9pm, no cover

DJ Mez, 10pm, no cover before 10:30pm, $5 after

Rock and Rhyme Live, 10pm, no cover before 11pm

Hot Country Fridays, 7pm, $5-$10

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@AskJoeyGarcia

To stop a bully My husband of nine years is the latest in a string of passive aggressive, bullying, depressed narcissists. I’ve been able to dump boyfriends, but getting a divorce is much less easy. So I ran away from my marriage to live happily ever after alone. Recently, a friend said: “Maybe you don’t think you deserve to be happy.”

I was stunned! I had a good childhood, never suffered major trauma, have close friends and a good profession. How could I harbor such a belief? More importantly, how could I figure out where it comes from and work on it? Therapy is not an option, financially. Can you help me dig into my issue?

Absolutely! Your reaction to your friend’s question is fascinating. If you didn’t think you deserved to be happy, you would not have married—or left your marriage.

But you heard her question and froze in fear. That might be a habit that makes you a target for criticism—your own and a partner’s. Here’s another approach: Notice and celebrate everything you do that aligns with your values. Accept that your emotions provide information, but not necessarily answers. Don’t base decisions only on how you feel.

Consciousness matters, too. We grow in consciousness as we process our drama rather than projecting it on others.

To seek happiness is to nurture compulsive pleasure seeking. That’s a pattern of regulating your internal world according to whatever is happening outside of you. Some people anxiously assess relationships to determine where to secure the next hit of the attention they think they need to feel happy. That’s drama. So avoid blaming “bad” feelings on others, and don’t shame or attempt to control them. Create a life of contentment, instead. To be content is to know joy—the bliss of having passed through suffering with grace, gratitude, forgiveness, wisdom and a sense of completion.

Contentment means we know how to appreciate every person and experience as a spiritual lesson. It’s part of the path to authenticity: we process our emotions and experiences as information and take

responsibility for our thoughts, feelings and actions. Blaming, shaming or trying to control someone are signs of your separation from your true self, and theirs.

It doesn’t matter whether your husband or ex-boyfriends are all passive-aggressive, bullying, depressed narcissists. They might be. Or you might be unconsciously recreating a childhood script of unhealthy behavior and acting it out with men. If you truly desire change, disrupt your pattern.

To stop a bully, stop behaving like a victim. Can’t think of ways you wear victimhood? You might be blocking your ability to own your drama. Try this: Notice places in your life where you buy into feeling small, or situations where you want your feelings validated, or where you avoid speaking up (without drama) in support of yourself. Or when you talk about the same problem over and over again (My husband is always staring at other women!).

If you detach from a victim mindset, it’s harder for a bully to attach to you. It’s also easier than to admit that sometimes you have bullied yourself into being a depressed, passive-aggressive victim. Whoa!

That’s deep, isn’t it? Ω

You might be blocking your ability to own your drama.

MedITaTIon of THe Week “We’re all curious about what might hurt us,” wrote Federico Garcia Lorca. Do you bond to others by their wounds and yours? Or through shared honesty that leads to trust?

Write, email or leave a message for Joey at the News & Review. Give your name, telephone number (for verification purposes only) and question—all correspondence will be kept strictly confidential.

Write Joey, 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95815; call (916) 498-1234, ext. 1360; or email askjoey@newsreview.com.

SN&R’s SN&R’s

What’s What’s inside: inside: The 420 43

The 420 49

Product Review Women in Cannabis: Part 2 53 45 Capital Cannabis Map 57 Capital Cannabis Map For More deals, updates 47 & Listings Visit

For more cannabis news, deals and listings, and visit the www.capitalcannabisguide.com & sign upatfor the newsletter. newsreview.com

04.12.18 | SN&R | 39

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42 | SN&R | 04.12.18

Why do people mix weed and tobacco? I don’t get it.

—Johnny Blazeit If you are asking me if I am pyrokinetic, the answer is: Not yet. If you want alternatives ways to fire up, there’s always a magnifying glass. Nothing beats a solar hit on a sunny day, bruh.

If you never see the sun, maybe you could invest in a plasma arc lighter. They are great for windy days. They are also rechargeable, if sustainability is your thing. Plus, they look cool. It’s like a tiny repulsor ray that fits in your pocket. Enjoy the future! Ω

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—Nick O’Teen Who knows why people do what they do? There are some mysteries that cannot be explained. However: This one is fairly simple. If you are talking about blunts, there are two reasons: A blunt will make your horrible weed taste better. This goes back to the days on the East Coast where good weed was hard to find. The second is that cops can’t give you a paraphernalia charge if you are carrying cigars instead of rolling papers. Once again, this goes back to a time when cannabis was way more illegal than it is now. If you are talking about mixing together a little hashish and some tobacco into a joint like they do in Europe, this is mostly a matter of convenience. Tobacco helps the hash joint burn more efficiently.

The main reason to mix tobacco and cannabis is that mixing tobacco with THC gives you more THC per hit, at least according to a study done by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. They made a smoking machine (That was my nickname in college, BTW) and tested the smoke from “pure” joints, and joints mixed with tobacco. They found that joints mixed with tobacco increased the vaporization efficiency of THC by as much as 45 percent. So, a joint will get you high, but a blunt will get you HELLA high.

But don’t start adding tobacco to all of your cannabis products just yet. There are many reasons to eschew mixing cannabis and tobacco. The most obvious is that tobacco is bad for you. We all know that tobacco has been identified as a heavy duty carcinogen, as in it causes cancer. That is enough reason to leave it alone.

The other is that nicotine is super addictive.

According to the NIDA, tobacco is more addictive than heroin, while pot’s addiction rates are about the same as coffee.

Mmmmm. Weed and coffee. So enjoy that blunt every once in a while, but if you find yourself craving a blunt or a cigarette mixed with hash (I call a hash and tobacco joint “a Eurotrash”) every day, maybe take a look at your addictions and ask yourself if you really want to be a nihilist or a fatalist for the rest of your life.

capital cannabis newsletter

Weed pairing

Ngaio Bealum is a Sacramento comedian, activist and marijuana expert.

Email him questions at ask420@newsreview.com.

04.12.18 | SN&R | 43

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Haley Andrew, co-owner of Dixon Wellness Collective

The NexT Wave

U se t l u d o p e n Fo r A

New dispensary owner enters the male-dominated cannabis industry Now accepting new “Adult Use” members with government issued I.D. over the age of 21.

BY KEn MagRi

Editor’s note: This is part two in a three-part series on women in cannabis.

Read the series at www.newsreview.com/ sacramento/capital-cannabis.

“We’re ready for it,” said Haley Andrew, about opening her new dispensary, Dixon Wellness Collective. At 30 years old, Andrew represents the next wave of California cannabis businesses founded and owned by women.

The Elk Grove resident previously worked in insurance and restaurants, while her husband was a budtender. “I actually talked him out of the industry. With a family, it was too much risk,” said Andrew. “But then Kimberly [Cargile] called, when she was starting A Therapeutic Alternative.” The Andrews both accepted jobs.

Haley was soon bit by “the bug” when the mother of an autistic patient expressed such gratitude for the relief provided. Andrew was inspired by this woman to do her own research on the medicinal qualities of cannabis.

Last year Cargile said to Andrew, “I heard Dixon is opening up their ordinances. Do you want to go for it?” Andrew said yes, and the two became partners in creating what will be the city’s first storefront dispensary this spring. “We will have adult use products, but are still gearing towards medicinal, and having that education side,” says Andrew.

To make the economics more attractive, Dixon Wellness will absorb 5 percent of a local 15 percent tax. Andrew worked with the planning commission and city council to alleviate community concerns. To show her

personal commitment to the city of 19,000 residents, “our family is moving there,” Andrew said.

According to a 2017 study by MJBizDaily. com, The percentage of women-owned cannabis businesses in California exceeds the national average, 34.5 percent to 26 percent.

But Cargile said that number is still low.

“The women who pioneered this industry opened the door so moms like me would not be so scared.”

Still accepting medical patients with CA I.D. over the age of 18 with valid doctor’s recommendation.

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Haley Andrew, co-owner, Dixon Wellness Collective “Our industry is like many others in which fully women-owned companies are the minority,” said Cargile, who works with local women to provide new business opportunities and increase their numbers at executive levels.

Although Andrew survived her own encounter with Child Protective Services, she sees great power in a mother’s advocacy.

“The women who pioneered this industry opened the door,” says Andrew, “so moms like me would not be so scared. There is strength in a mother going to local government saying, ‘This helped my child.’”

premier cannabis dispensary 3015 H Street | Sacramento, CA 916.822.4717 | 9am–9pm Everyday www.ATherapeuticAlternative.com

Produced by N&R Publications, a division of News & Review

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04.12.18 | SN&R | 45

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FRee will aStRology

by Michael Mott

by Rob bRezsny

FOR THE WEEk OF APRIL 12, 2018 ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries statesman

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States. He wrote one of history’s most famous documents, the Declaration of Independence. He was an architect, violinist, inventor and linguist who spoke numerous languages, as well as a philosopher who was knowledgeable about mathematics, surveying and horticulture. But his most laudable success came in 1789, when he procured the French recipe for macaroni and cheese while living in France, and thereafter introduced the dish into American cuisine. JUST KIDDING! I’m making this little joke in the hope that it will encourage you to keep people focused on your most important qualities, and not get distracted by less essential parts of you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the early 1990s,

Australian electrical engineer John O’Sullivan toiled on a research project with a team of radio astronomers. Their goal was to find exploding mini-black holes in the distant voids of outer space. The quest failed. But in the process of doing their experiments, they developed technology that became a key component now used in Wi-Fi. Your digital devices work so well in part because his frustrating misadventure led to a happy accident. According to my reading of your astrological omens, Taurus, we may soon be able to make a comparable conclusion about events in your life.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the fictional world

created by DC Comics, the superhero Superman has a secret identity as a modest journalist named Clark Kent. Or is it the other way around?

Does the modest journalist Clark Kent have a secret identity as the superhero Superman?

Only a few people realize the two of them are the same. I suspect there is an equally small number of allies who know who you really are beneath your “disguises,” Gemini. But upcoming astrological omens suggest that could change.

Are you ready to reveal more about your true selves? Would you consider expanding the circle that is allowed to see and appreciate your full range and depth?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Playwright Tennessee Williams once spent an evening trying to coax a depressed friend out of his depression. It inspired him to write a poem that began like this: “I want to infect you with the tremendous excitement of living, because I believe that you have the strength to bear it.” Now I address you with the same message, Cancerian. Judging from the astrological omens, I’m convinced you currently have more strength than ever before to bear the tremendous excitement of living. I hope this news will encourage you to potentize your ability to welcome and embrace the interesting puzzles that will come your way in the weeks ahead.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Are you finished dealing

with spacious places, vast vistas and expansive longings? I hope not. I hope you will continue to explore big bold blooming schemes and wild free booming dreams until at least April 25. In my astrological opinion, you have a sacred duty to keep outstripping your previous efforts. You have a mandate to go further, deeper and braver as you break out of shrunken expectations and push beyond comfortable limitations. The unknown is still more inviting and fertile than you can imagine.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Between December

5 and 9, 1952, London was beset with heavy fog blended with thick smog. Visibility was low.

Traffic slowed and events were postponed.

In a few places, people couldn’t see their own feet. According to some reports, blind people, who had a facility for moving around without the aid of sight, assisted pedestrians in making their way through the streets. I suspect that a metaphorically comparable phenomenon may soon arise in your sphere, Virgo. Qualities that might customarily be regarded as liabilities could at least temporarily become assets.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Your allies are always important, but in the coming weeks they will be even more so. I suspect they will be your salvation, your deliverance, and your treasure.

So why not treat them like angels or celebrities

or celebrity angels? Buy them ice cream and concert tickets and fun surprises. Tell them secrets about their beauty that no one has ever expressed before. Listen to them in ways that will awaken their dormant potentials. I bet that what you receive in return will inspire you to be a better ally to yourself.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the coming

weeks, I suspect you will be able to find what you need in places that are seemingly devoid of what you need. You can locate the possible in the midst of what’s apparently impossible.

I further surmise that you will summon a rebellious resourcefulness akin to that of Scorpio writer Albert Camus, who said, “In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. No matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger—something better, pushing right back.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In 1936,

Herbert C. Brown graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in science.

His girlfriend Sarah Baylen rewarded him with the gift of a $2 book about the elements boron and silicon. Both he and she were quite poor; she couldn’t afford a more expensive gift. Brown didn’t read the book for a while, but once he did, he decided to make its subject the core of his own research project. Many years later, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discoveries about the role of boron in organic chemistry. And it all began with that $2 book. I bring this story to your attention, Sagittarius, because I foresee you, too, stumbling upon a modest beginning that eventually yields breakthrough results.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In 20 B.C.,

Rome’s most famous poet was Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known to us today as Horace. He prided himself on his meticulous craftsmanship and advised other writers to be equally scrupulous.

Once you compose a poem, he declared, you should put it aside for nine years before deciding whether to publish it. That’s the best way to get proper perspective on its worth. Personally, I think that’s too demanding, although I appreciate the power that can come from marshaling so much conscientiousness. And that brings me to a meditation on your current state, Capricorn.

From what I can tell, you may be at risk of being too risk-averse; you could be on the verge of waiting too long and being too cautious. Please consider naming a not-too-distant release date.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Luckily, you have an

inventive mind and an aptitude for experimentation.

These will be key assets as you dream up creative ways to do the hard work ahead of you. Your labors may not come naturally, but I bet you’ll be surprised at how engaging they’ll become and how useful the rewards will be. Here’s a tip on how to ensure you will cultivate the best possible attitude: Assume that you now have the power to change stale patterns that have previously been resistant to change.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): May I suggest that

you get a lesson in holy gluttony from a Taurus? Or perhaps pick up some pointers in enlightened selfinterest from a Scorpio? New potential resources are available, but you haven’t reeled them in with sufficient alacrity. Why? Why oh why oh why?!

Maybe you should ask yourself whether you’re asking enough. Maybe you should give yourself permission to beam with majestic self-confidence.

Picture this: Your posture is regal, your voice is authoritative, your sovereignty is radiant. You have identified precisely what it is you need and want, and you have formulated a pragmatic plan to get it.

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.

Art and power in high school My Than, a second-generation Vietnamese-American student, never did much art. That was before Luther Burbank High School. But her art at the Operation Project and Defend show last year demanded attention: The Angry Creamsicle atop a globe, arms outstreched to stop immigrants. Than took first place at the show. The piece sold. “Seeing her face light up that someone wanted to buy it—watching that is why I’m a teacher,” Joel Michael Smith says.

The show at Sol Collective is a staple for Smith’s students, who produced immigration-related works and defended them before real judges and lawyers. Smith is in his fourth

year teaching seniors ceramics at the South Sac school. He’s also helping students create a city-funded mural of a “cultural tree,” to showcase the school’s diversity; there are Tongan, Hmong, black and Latino students at Burbank.

So, how did you come to teach art?

After art school, I was over L.A., so I moved to an island in Washington where I farmed and put on puppet shows with artists. After that, I was out of money so I came back to Sacramento and never left; it is the vortex [laughs]. I fell into teaching.

I was in a mandala class, cutting collages, and was offered a job at a charter school. Eventually, I became a long-term middle-school sub. It was amazing; the kids were so hungry to learn to draw. I had 180 kids—every single one of them wanted to learn. That’s what inspired me to teach high school. My personal art aims to capture the felt-sense of people. I might not get every proportion correct, but the feeling that someone can be captured with marks on a page—it amazes me. In teaching, I focus on discovery. I want them to discover how much talent and skill and amazing things they have inside them.

Have students been more politically active since the election?

Definitely. I have a lot of students who were scared about what was going to happen and still are. I have students who would qualify for DACA and their future is up in the air.

One of my student’s parents was forced to begin the deportation process. One of my soccer players, his mom just got her papers to be legal—he’s the sweetest, nicest kid.

His dad lives in Mexico. Sometimes, because they’re in such hard situations, they are the

PHOTO BY MICHAEL MOTT

most mature. Some kids are helping raise three kids at home. Then I have kids who are typical high school boys in the same room—so it’s a balance.

There have been a few instances of racism in Sacramento high schools over the last year. What’s the atmosphere at Burbank?

Why does representation matter in art?

The things my kids go through just getting back and forth to school has blown my mind.

Burbank has a really supportive, caring staff.

Most of the teachers have been here 20 years. Our principal, Jim Peterson, is into restorative justice and is really supportive.

Occasionally, there are fights, but it’s usually very peaceful. One incident shades Burbank forever. I’ve known a handful of students who were shot. But 99 percent of students are nice and happy and just trying to figure out how to be adults. All of these kids push through and work hard every day. We went on a camping trip, where teachers drove and we brought our families. None of the students let my wife do any dishes.

It’s crazy to see our kids messed with. [One boy] had special needs and was beat up walking home since his hands were in his pockets, and they taunted him, “What’s in your pockets?” He came to school the next day and said, tears in his eyes, “There’s nothing that will keep me from going to school.” Those are the kids you do it for.

Now, he’s in the Marines. The difference in kids here is when I walk around, they look me in the eye and say, “Hi, Mr. Smith.” Ω

For the kids, it’s a big part of their identity. They’re really curious what race I am [white, Italian]. Some of our Tongan students and African-American students bond like brothers here, like they grew up together. The real asset at Burbank is all those cultures overlapping and mixing in a pretty friendly way.

What else do students make art about?

Political and social ideas, along with everything you deal with in high school. One of my Hmong students made a piece about heartbreak [Smith grabs a ceramic box with a hand sticking up, a heart portrayed as a lock and a key beside]. He realized no matter what he did, he wouldn’t get the key to his ex-girlfriend’s heart again. Another student did a wall with a family coming to America, with an American family on one side and a desert on the other, with the Muslim [crescent] and Mexican flag symbols together.

A lot of our kids in poverty draw in their free time. They develop this creativity that many don’t value. Another student, from Pakistan, made this [a ceramic artwork with two figures, a flag, stars and fireworks]. He got a full ride to Chico and was our valedictorian.

Joel Michael Smith will be presenting an art show on June 10, from 6-8 p.m. at Delta Breeze Records, 1715 10th Street. Smith’s art is rooted in painting, drawing and woodburning with inspiration from nature and ancient art techniques.

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