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Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

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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 Foon Rhee News Editor Raheem F. Hosseini Managing Editor Mozes Zarate Staff Reporter Scott Thomas Anderson Copy Editor Steph Rodriguez Calendar Editor Maxfield Morris Contributing Editor Rachel Leibrock Editorial Assistant Rachel Mayfield Contributors Ngaio Bealum, Amy Bee, Rob Brezsny, Aaron Carnes, Jim Carnes, Joey Garcia, Kate Gonzales, Howard Hardee, Ashley Hayes-Stone, Jim Lane, Chris Macias, Ken Magri, James Raia, Patti Roberts, Stephanie Stiavetti, Dylan Svoboda, Bev Sykes, Graham Womack

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concepts. “Garden” received the most support, by far, with nearly 750 votes.

The survey also asked if people preferred a simple and streamlined (20%) The 108-year-old I Street or elaborate and spirited Bridge spans the Sacramento (15%) design, and one that River. A new bridge will be is highly visible and stands built just up river. out (25%) or is understated and blends in (15%) with the surroundings.

It inquired what design The I Street Bridge is 108 years old and rusty, inspirations the bridge should take, including and it rattles when a train passes over it. So, Tower Bridge (19%), the state Capitol (6%) and yes, a new span over the Sacramento River is Golden 1 Center (10%). way overdue.

The city plans two more community meetings But the new bridge is not just another important before a design concept is picked at the end of transportation link between Sacramento and West the year. The final design and land purchases are Sacramento. It’s also an opportunity to make a to be complete by the end of 2020. Construction design statement for the region. is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2021 and At this point, there are nine concepts in the be finished by the end of 2023. running. Some of the most eye-catching are also Staying on that timeline depends on funding, the most expensive. What a shock. of course. The cities of Sacramento and West They’re in three categories: “low” cost of Sacramento have about $139 million in hand, $100 million to $150 million, “medium” of $150 more than half from the feds. The remainder million to $250 million and “high” of $250 of what’s needed would come from state and million to $350 million. federal grants.

The cheapest are basic, traditional designs, The current I Street Bridge will stay open. while the costliest are more intricate, including The lower deck will continue to be used for one that looks like an atrium and another that’s passenger and freight trains, while the upper called “Solar Arch.” deck will be closed to vehicles and be converted I’m partial to one of the four designs in into a pedestrian and bike path. the “medium” bucket. Called “Garden,” it’s The new bridge is just up river and will supposed to look as though the paths along the connect Railyards Boulevard on the edge of river extend across the bridge. It would feature downtown Sacramento, and C Street in the trees and plants that would move up and down Washington neighborhood in West Sacramento. with the span.

Whatever the design, the new bridge will The engineering firm—T.Y. Lin include some functional basics: one vehicle lane International, part of the joint venture that in each direction, a center turn lane and bike designed the new eastern span of the San lanes and pedestrian paths in both directions. It Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge—says that has will be a lift span, rising vertically to allow ships never been done before on a bridge anywhere in the world. And what better for the City of Trees? to pass underneath.

Still, it would be nice if the design stood out.

Quite a few other Sacramentans agree with If the city picks the right one, maybe someday, me. The city just released results from an April online public survey on the designs. About 1,350 the new bridge will become a landmark, as iconic as the Tower Bridge. Ω people responded, picking their four favorite Photo by Foon Rhee

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Re: “Culinary ambitions” by Robin Epley (Dish, May 23): Why are we paying $600,000 to get included in the Michelin restaurant guide and encourage food tourism when it lacks the transportation capacity to accommodate that increased activity? Are we going to start openly admitting that Sacramento is a city by and for motorists, and anyone else is condemned to a marginal life?

Those resources should go to increasing transit frequency and simplifying and consolidating routes, signage, and way-finding, rather than paying for press. Is it a Michelin-level meal if your experience getting there is traffic-filled (auto), expensive (ride-share) or torturous and time-consuming (transit)?

Why is Sacramento investing in signs of status, rather than needs, such as frequent and reliable transportation, that would make a real difference in people’s lives and have their own economy-boosting ripple effects? If appearances are Sacramento’s priorities, then, yes, it will surely become as expensive and inaccessible as San Francisco, if that’s what Sacramento wants.

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The reality will be like it is now— a mixture of modes for personal alternative transportation. Also, those who are drivers now who may be affected will have options to do other sorts of work. Economies, jobs, life—all change over time. This article mirrors the idea that cars replacing horse-drawn carriages will unemploy carriage makers so we shouldn’t allow cars to exist, or that we shouldn’t have automated telephone exchanges because we will unemploy switchboard operators.

impeachment proceedings. If you do not begin proceedings against him, then you may see such brought against you, for failing to fulfill your sworn oath to protect and defend the United States. His “election” was an obvious coup by Russia.

As a lifelong Democrat since 1980, who has never failed to vote, I do not say this with any pleasure.

Your inaction thus far is simply perpetuating your permission to continue to allow this coup to possibly repeat itself in the 2020 presidential election. We cannot afford to wait until then to bring necessary actions against Trump immediately.

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Re: “This grow house” by Lauren Jones (Capital Cannabis Guide, May 23): The Sacramento Housing Alliance estimate of families in need of housing in Sacramento County was understated. It is 58,000. SN&R regrets the error.

I wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about the need to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. She sent me an automated letter.

I responded to her: Ten offenses by him are justification for

read more letters online at newsreview.com/sacramento.

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5

eSSay

by Jeff Harris

StReetalk

by Kate Gonzales

Asked on R stReet:

Advice to your teen self?

Budget showdown The mayor’s plan for Measure U money is too risky The original Measure U, a half-cent increase in our sales tax rate, was passed in 2012 with the promise that it would restore police, fire, parks and library services lost to the Great Recession.

It worked very well and saved the city from severe stress. We restored many jobs in public safety and parks, but the City Council became dependent on the income. Part of the strategy to pass the tax measure was to have it sunset in six years.

It was up for renewal in 2018, and Mayor Jeff Harris represents District 3 on the Sacramento City Council.

Darrell Steinberg, with a desire to build the city quickly, wanted more money to work with and convinced council members to double the tax and Without these increasing pension costs, make it permanent.

Sacramento would be sitting pretty. With this I was the lone dissenting vote on the Council higher pension liability, we must use some of the to place this on the November ballot. I instead new Measure U money to pay our debts, with proposed offering voters a choice—to renew the some left over for new projects. half cent, or to add another half cent as an option.

This doesn’t sit well with the mayor.

The council disagreed and placed Steinberg’s It means that the cookie jar is not so proposal on the ballot. full as he had hoped. Promises It’s not easy to pass a tax he made can’t be kept. increase. So the mayor’s I have no So his plan is to take out campaign promised that problem with the a big loan—mortgaging Measure U would mean our real estate assets such rebuilt neighborhoods, mayor’s grand vision to as parks and fire stations affordable housing, create an “Emerald City,” and the Sacramento a renewed riverfront, Convention Center—to economic equity, high-wage but I want to pay for it pay for projects that jobs—you name it. responsibly, without are as yet unspecified.

But the actual ballot It means serious debt for language—the council’s mortgaging the 30 years. Should there be only promise to voters—was farm. a downturn in the economy, almost identical to the original which is likely, Sacramento measure: The tax would restore could face bankruptcy. core services, including public safety I have no problem with the mayor’s and parks, and would help reduce homelessgrand vision to create an “Emerald City,” but I ness and create jobs. want to pay for it responsibly, without mortgagThe fact is that the original Measure U never ing the farm. The debt that he favors is far too restored all of the jobs and services that we lost to the recession, but the second half-cent sales tax risky at this time.

The budget that the city manager has increase could get us there. proposed is sound, balanced and sensible. It However, a new wrinkle emerged around is rooted in reality and contains millions of 2016. CalPERS lowered its expected rate of dollars invested in all the things that Measure return on investments. Partly as a result, the U is supposed to pay for. We should adopt the city’s liability to pay for pensions is climbing budget, exercise fiscal prudence and grow our astronomically through 2025. It’s almost as bad city at a rate that we can afford. Ω as the Great Recession!

6 | | SN&R | 05.30.19

RobeRt stultz superintendent

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greenlight

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s message to business owners

by Jeff vonKaenel

Last Thursday—following in the tradition of Earl Warren, Ronald Reagan, Pat Brown and other California governors over the last 94 years—Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke to several thousand businesspeople gathered at the annual host breakfast sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce and the Sacramento Host Committee.

Although I missed the first 70 breakfasts, I have regularly attended for the last 25 years, and these breakfasts follow a somewhat predictable format.

This year, we heard Staff Sergeant Clinton L. Romesha, a Medal of Honor recipient, give an uplifting speech that put Chamber members’ concerns about taxes in some perspective when he and other soldiers were being shot at by hundreds of Taliban. Then the national anthem was sung superbly by the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus.

Grace Evans Cherashore, a San Diego business owner and the chamber’s chairperson, made a full-throated defense of trade and our relationship with Mexico, while not mentioning the person whose name starts with “t” and ends with “p” and who has orange hair. Describing her hometown as originally an Indian village that grew over time with waves of immigrants and that now encompasses seven million people on both sides of the border, Evans pointed out that San Diego is the country’s safest large city, dispelling the myth of mayhem and murder at the border.

And instead of focusing on getting government off the back of business, as so many Chamber leaders before her had done at the breakfast, she spoke of the responsibility of the business community to help solve our state’s housing and poverty problems.

We live in a blue state, a very blue state. The major responsibility of the Republican Party is to put together a competitive softball team for the annual

j e ffv @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

legislators’ game. Yet the Chamber crowd is a conservative one. The Chamber was a major funder of Meg Whitman in her race against Jerry Brown.

So while our Republican governors have an easy time speaking to their supporters at the Host Breakfast, it is not the same for the Democratic governors when they speak. Each governor handles it a different way. Grey Davis came into the room assuming that the Chamber members didn’t like him, so he spoke using poll-tested words and phrases to make the case that he was good for business. Jerry Brown played the role of philosopher-king as only he could, giving a rambling but deeply insightful speech that often included quotes from ancient scripts.

So I didn’t know what to expect from Newsom. Recalling his entrepreneurial background, he made a convincing case that he understood first-hand the trials and tribulations of running a business in California. But he pointed out that California’s impressive growth means that somehow, despite everything, we are still the best state to do business in.

Despite the negative press, California businesses receive more than half of the country’s total venture capital, our employment numbers are superb and we are paying off our state’s debts and putting money in reserve.

And he brought it home, saying that having 133,000 people living on the streets is a national disgrace. We need to solve the affordable housing problem, and the people in the room should put more of a focus on reducing poverty than on our balance sheets.

I left the breakfast feeling hopeful. Ω

Jeff vonKaenel is the president, CEO and majority owner of the News & Review.

05.30.19 | Sn&r | 7

Sacramento WriterS

15 minutes

by Maxfield Morris

ma x fie ld m@ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

Send us your

Fiction & Poetry tHe

tHe

ruLeS: ntries must be original and previously unpublished.

They must be about Sacramento, or set in Sacramento. There will be four categories: 1) The first part of a story of 500 words or less 2) Flash fiction of 100 words or less 3) Best opening line.

4) Poems of as many as 250 words.

E

DetaiLS:

S

end your entry as a Word document or a PDF, or place it in the body of your email to: fictioncontest@newsreview.com, with the category in the subject line. Deadline is noon, Friday, June 28. Be sure to include your name and a daytime phone number.

Fic·tion & Po·et·ry Contest DeaDLine to enter june 28 // iSSue on StanDS juLy 18

Michelle Chen, winner of SN&R’s 2010 College Essay Contest, graduated medical school very recently.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE CHEN

Doctor checkup In 2010, SN&R rolled out its annual College Essay contest. Since then, it has given local high school students the opportunity to share the personal essays required for many college applications. They have shared powerful stories about their struggles and triumphs, about the paths that led them to where they are. That inaugural year, Mira Loma High School senior Michelle Chen won first place with an essay about her grandfather’s passing when she was 8 years old and how her interactions with him led her to pursue a career in medicine. She received her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and just graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. We checked back in with Chen to see how that journey was working out.

How’s things?

Things are good. I’m just still in New York. I just graduated a couple days ago. Yeah. I mean, things are OK, things have finally calmed down, just kind of getting things settled in my new apartment.

What are you up to these days?

So I just graduated this past Thursday from medical school, and this July 1 I’m starting residency over at Montefiore, which is a hospital in the Bronx. So I’ll be there for internal medicine residency for the next three years.

So that’s what I’ll be doing in New York, and for now I’m just sort of trying to relax and enjoy the time off I have before I start my new job and everything.

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How is that? Being committed so many years into doing this?

Yeah. Well, I think, for me, that it wasn’t so bad because I knew for a really long time that I wanted to do this—and it’s basically the main topic of the college essay that I wrote to get into, like, the personal statement I wrote to get into colleges. So, I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to do this, so for me it wasn’t so difficult ... because this just kind of felt right. ... I know for a lot of people this is something they decide a lot later on, like they decide to have a career change after working in something completely different for a few years. But for me, I never really went there, I just sort of straight shot it from high school and yeah. Now I’m here.

Did you have any doubts along the way?

Yeah! One thousand percent, all the time. I think that with each step you kind of worry that you’re not going to make it to the next one, so in high school I was like, what if I don’t get into a good college that sets me up for med school? And like, in college, you worry like, “OK, what if I don’t have good enough grades or good enough test scores to get into med school in the first place?” And when you get into med school, you’re like, OK, now I need to score well on even more exams, and now I’m in a classroom full of people who are basically some of the best students in the country. It’s really easy to feel like you’re very average or below average when you’re around them. And you kind of lose sight of the fact that you’re just around a lot of really smart people who are just as accomplished and just as intelligent and hard-working as you are.

Has any of that gotten easier over time?

I don’t think it gets any easier. I think it’s still the same problem, it just kind of manifests itself differently with each stage of life that you go through. ...

Each time you run into a hurdle like that, you learn a little bit more about yourself and what you can do to overcome that sort of challenge. Ω

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California Democrats brace for their annual convention.

Image by Don DebolD vIa FlIckr For calmatters

Will the real Dems please stand up?

One party in California has all the power—and much of the turmoil

by Ben Christopher calmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining california policies and politics.

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SN&R

You might think a political party racked by scandal, facing three lawsuits and riven with infighting would be in a bad spot politically.

But, according to plenty of close observers, the California Democratic Party is doing just fine.

Fresh off a historic electoral triumph in the 2018 midterms, the party now dominates both chambers of the state Legislature while maintaining a decadelong lock on every statewide elected office. At the end of this month, California Democrats will hold their annual |

05.30.19

convention in San Francisco, hosting at least 14 presidential contenders.

While in the national limelight, they also have to hold a special election for party chair—the very existence of which speaks to the party’s internal turmoil.

Earlier this year, the former chair, Eric Bauman, was forced to step down over accusations of sexual harassment and assault, which he denies. A number of former staff members and party activists have sued.

Accusations of a hostile work environment only compound what was

CAL ma tte r s

already an acrimonious climate within the party. In the last few months, critics of the party’s interim leader have accused her of “retaliation” and of stacking the staff with her allies. One group of delegates have accused another of trading in “anti-Semitic tropes.”

In short, the party will arrive in San Francisco with a lot of baggage.

“I hope the party gets its act together.

The convention will elect a new chair and I hope that they clean house,” said Garry South, a Democratic political

consultant. “But in terms of this being any kind of a significant factor in statewide politics, or in the standing of the Democratic Party itself in California, it is, in a sense, less important than what I had for breakfast this morning.”

If true, that’s a remarkable contrast to the state’s Republican Party, which holds virtually no power in Sacramento and whose once mighty House delegation could now easily fit in a minivan.

Shackled in the mind of many voters to President Donald Trump, whose approval rating in California sits at around 30%, the party has struggled to appeal to the state’s most rapidly growing demographic groups. That seems to have placed a cap on GOP electoral success in the state, no matter how wellfunctioning its party operation.

California Democrats rest on the flip side of that coin. Buoyed by demographic tailwinds and a deeply unpopular president, to many, the party can do no wrong—even when it seems to be doing nothing but wrong.

“California is a solid blue state,” said Drexel Heard, a Democratic delegate. “It

12

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CoMproMise oN use oF ForCe laW see NeWs

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My dad the proliFiC sperM doNor see Cover

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beats

Bike laNe or loadiNg zoNe? will take a little more than internal party politics to shake that.”

The Democrats’ Tale of Two Parties came into focus last November. In the same month, the party rode to a commanding victory at the polls and Bauman was forced to resign.

As first reported by the Los Angeles Times, the former labor leader from Los Angeles was accused of making “crude sexual comments” and engaging in intimidation and “unwanted touching.”

Since then, three lawsuits have been filed against Bauman and the party. The allegations include sexual harassment, verbal abuse, wrongful termination and sexual assault.

The divergence between the party’s electoral success and its interior strife is so stark, a relatively simple question— “what is the state of the California Democratic Party?”—tends to elicit an awkward silence or a strained chuckle.

“There’s much to celebrate and to be excited about,” said Rusty Hicks, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and one of seven people bidding to replace Bauman at this month’s convention. “At the same time, I think there’s some very serious issues that we should address.”

But, he added: “If not addressed, and Democrats don’t feel safe in engaging with their party, then it could absolutely impact both the energy, the activism and the ability to have real capacity throughout the state.”

The allegations made in the various lawsuits indicate that those issues go beyond Bauman. They depict a boozy workplace environment that allowed harassment, disparagement and assault of its own employes to go on unchecked or unnoticed. Amid all of this, questions have arisen about whether the party that claims to represent inclusion, tolerance and the spirit of the #MeToo movement lacks credibility with voters and donors.

“Of course it wasn’t just Eric,” said Daraka Larimore-Hall, the party’s current vice chair who is also running for the top seat. “The dysfunction is that someone was able to behave that way and get away with it for far too long.” it isn’t as though the party was troublefree before the allegations against Bauman rose to the surface.

Following a presidential primary that cleft Hillary Clinton supporters from backers of Bernie Sanders, the state party’s 2017 leadership race went narrowly and contentiously to Bauman. The candidate

who came in second, Bay Area $8 million in contributions since the progressive activist Kimberly Ellis, beginning of the year. That’s slightly cried foul, questioning the legitimacy less than the party’s haul during the of the outcome. Many delegates left the same period in 2017—the last nonconvention harboring resentments. Now election year—but that was a historic Ellis is running for chair again. high after Trump’s stunning win.

There are more recent dustups.

Orange County delegates called for Iyad the financial importance of the party is Afalqa, the chair of the party’s Arabsomewhat limited anyway, said Don American caucus, to be disciplined for a Perata, former top Democrat in the state Facebook post they claimed was appealSenate. Under California campaign ing to anti-Semitic tropes. finance law, the party channels much Then last month, Alex of the campaign cash spent in the Gallardo-Rooker, the acting state, but elected politicians chair of the state party, direct a lot of the raising kicked a few critics off and spending, he said. of a key committee, And with the rise “We simply need including Larimoreof well-financed to convince donors Hall. Those progressive politithat the party is healthy demoted called cal groups such it “retaliation;” a as Indivisible and despite the dysfunction.” party spokesman NextGen outside RL Miller called that characthe party, the orgachair, California Democratic Party’s terization “silly.” nization’s political environmental caucus The backbiting clout may no longer was bad before the carry so much weight. fractious 2017 conven“The persuasiveness tion, but “it feels worse of the California Democratic than the last time,” said Heard, endorsement has lost a lot of who represents part of the San Fernando its luster over the last decade or two,” Valley on the party’s executive board.

Perata said.

“It just feels more vicious.”

But as presidential candidates and Still it’s not clear that any of this the national media descend on San will imperil the party’s electoral Francisco, the party will have things to prospects. consider beyond self-analysis.

“I don’t mean to sound disrespectOn Saturday, June 1, 14 presidential ful,” said South, the consultant. “But candidates are slated to speak before if point-two percent of the California the delegates: New Jersey Sen. Cory population is even aware of who Eric Booker, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Bauman was or what happened to him, I Pete Buttigieg, Texas Rep. Julián would be shocked.”

Castro, former Maryland Rep. John Jackie Moreau agrees. Until recently, Delaney, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, she was among that 99.8 percent. Just New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, elected to the party’s executive board, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former she says the party needs to improve Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, coordination with local activists. But did Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Minnesota she worry that the party strife would turn Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas off voters?

Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Vermont Sen. “You mean, like regular voters?

Bernie Sanders, California Rep. Eric Regular people with everyday lives that Swalwell and Massachusetts Sen. don’t think about party things?” she said.

Elizabeth Warren.

“No.” “It’s hard to say what’s going to But the party’s reputation may matter overshadow what: presidential candimore with contributors, said RL Miller, dates speaking or the chair’s race,” said chair of the party’s environmental caucus. Andrew Acosta, a Democratic consul“Electorally, we’re in very good tant. “The delegates might get more shape,” she said. “We simply need to excited about all the other stuff going convince donors that the party is healthy on than this race for the party chair.” despite the dysfunction.”

For average voters at home, the Thus far, it doesn’t look like the latest soundbite from Sen. Kamala party’s donor base needs much reassuring. Harris or Pete Buttigieg might be all Though the new round of lawsuits are they hear—if they hear anything at all. still fresh, the party has received nearly Ω

The city of Sacramento is marking the first anniversary of implementing parking-protected bikeways. But there are some questions of how protected these lanes really are.

Bicycle commuter David Tibor provided photos to SN&R showing two cars parked near striped curbs within protected bikeways downtown. The city implemented the bikeways to create a protected corridor along roadsides, with drivers parking on the other side of these lanes, a few feet out from the curb.

“I can’t believe that this is really an approach the city is following—to set up parking protected bike lanes, and then encourage cars to drive down the protected bike lanes and stop/park in them,” Tibor said via email.

Jennifer Donlon Wyant, a transportation program specialist for the city, said curb striping within protected bikeways is meant to mark floating parking areas and wasn’t intended to encourage parking within the lanes. She said that state and federal regulations require Sacramento to stripe curbs, and that city parking enforcement will ticket drivers parked within protected lanes.

Donlon Wyant said a community member recently sent similar photos to City Councilman Steve Hansen’s office.

“This is the first time that we’ve gotten a concern like that,” Donlon Wyant said. “It is something that we’ve thought about internally. However, the regulations are at the state and federal level so it’s not something that we can just change.”

Both Donlon Wyant and Tibor praised the bikeways overall, with Tibor telling SN&R that they “have helped bike safety a great deal.”

(Graham Womack)

spottiNg a ChaNge-Maker The CEO behind a technology that alerts Sacramento law enforcement to possible gunfire in real time is a finalist for one of the nation’s most prestigious business awards.

Ralph Clark, Ceo of shotspotter, has been nominated by EY for its 2019 entrepreneur of the year. In Sacramento’s case, police officers and sheriff’s deputies get notified within 60 seconds and receive GPS coordinates for the origin point of the gunfire. EY is a national data research and analytics firm.

The Sacramento Police Department began using ShotSpotter in 2015 in its north city neighborhoods. Council members were so impressed with the initial results that they expanded it, first to south Sacramento and most recently to Oak Park. The Sheriff’s Department also utilizes ShotSpotter in some of its south urban neighborhoods.

A week after it was announced that Clark was a finalist for entrepreneur of the year, police Chief danial hahn reiterated to the council how successful—and valuable—the program is.

“So far this year, through April, there have been 87 ShotSpotter activations through the system that have been followed up on by officers,” Hahn said of the sensors in Oak Park.

Sgt. Vance Chandler, a police spokesman, later told SN&R that there have been a total of 262 shotspotter activations citywide in the first four months of the year. He provided stats showing the activations have gone up every year as the program has expanded, with 491 activations in 2016, 760 in 2017 and 908 in 2018.

“We’d love to add [ShotSpotter] to all our areas,” Hahn said during the budget hearing.

Reacting to his nomination for the EY Award, Clark said in statement that his company believes strongly its mission.

“This is an honor,” he wrote. “We take pride in building a successful company that is an agent for positive change in at risk and underserved communities.” (Scott Thomas Anderson)

05.30.19 | sN&R | 11

Tenant advocates and housing nonprofits gathered in front of City Hall May 21 to demand some of Measure U’s funds be deployed against the city’s rental crisis.

Photo by Scott thomaS anderSon

Stand and deliver Can Sacramento mayor keep Measure U promises on housing and poverty in face of opposition?

by Scott thomaS anderSon

Three years into Sacramento’s worst housing crisis in decades, the situation is not getting better and by some metrics is only intensifying.

That was the message tenant advocates and nonprofits trumpeted May 21 at City Hall, where they implored the Sacramento City Council to keep Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s promises for Measure U’s new funds.

While Steinberg projected confidence in speeches and radio interviews as he stumped to both raise and make permanent the sales tax increase—sharing his intention to use the money on the housing crisis, homelessness and underserved neighborhoods—at least two council members now oppose his strategy to follow through. The other members of the council stayed silent on the matter during nearly seven hours of budget hearings.

For nonprofits on the front lines of Sacramento’s housing crunch, news of 12

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the council dispute followed a new report from the California Housing Partnership that identified more alarming statistics across the region. That report found that Sacramento County lacks 63,000 affordable rental units to keep up with local demand, an increase of 5,000 units from the previous year. It also determined that renters in the county need to earn $27.97 an hour—almost two-and-a-half times the state minimum wage—to afford the median rent in Sacramento. In another bleak finding, 80% of extremely lowincome households in Sacramento County are paying more than half their income directly on rent.

Finally—and perhaps most relevant to the Measure U debate—the report identified a 68% reduction in state and federal funding to affordable housing projects in Sacramento over the last decade.

Advocates want some of the projected $50 million a year in new Measure U funds to back-fill those losses.

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

“We get hundreds of calls each month from tenants who are struggling to maintain their housing,” John Foley, executive director of Sacramento Self Help Housing, said outside City Hall. “We have seen numerous people who have been given an eviction notice for no reason at all.”

Foley added the crisis is so bad that some landlords know they can easily swap good tenants for wealthier ones.

Housing4Sacramento is advancing a ballot measure for 2020 that would bring rent control to Sacramento. A recent survey by Sacramento Housing Alliance found that 65% of the city’s likely voters support it.

Steinberg doesn’t, though he does want to augment the city’s dwindling housing trust fund. His plan is to use a portion of the Measure U revenues to issue bonds for housing and economic development.

But council members Angelique Ashby and Jeff Harris officially oppose that plan, preferring all Measure U money to go into

the city’s general fund, which would allow City Manager Howard Chan flexibility for dealing with sharply rising pension costs, as well as potentially adding more fire stations and police programs down the road.

City leaders are also negotiating a new contract with the firefighters this year.

Chan’s current budget proposal would not only keep nearly $50 million of the old Measure U money for police, fire, parks and other basic services, but add roughly $17 million of the new half-cent revenue to public safety as well. But that is not assuaging critics of the mayor’s bondissuing strategy.

Cathy Creswell, board president of Sacramento Housing Alliance, urged all council members to find an avenue for using Measure U to push back against the housing insecurity plaguing the city.

“The Measure U ballot specifically talked about affordable housing,” Creswell said at the rally.

Just four hours later, a line of city firefighters stood inside council chambers, emphasizing a different part of the Measure U ballot language. More than a dozen firefighters accused Steinberg of pulling a bait and switch, having urged them to campaign for Measure U as a safety initiative, only to then change the money’s mission after the vote. They also told Steinberg that, by making the new Measure U a full cent, he put police officers and firefighters in the uncomfortable position of either supporting a measure they weren’t sure about, or losing tens of millions of dollars from the city’s budget.

“I’m alarmed and dismayed by the mayor’s plan to divert funds from Measure U from the general fund to his own special projects,” firefighter Chris Harvey told the council. “It was very clear to those of us in our city who were paying attention at the time, that Measure U was heading to a resounding defeat until Sacramento firefighters supported the measure and began campaigning for the public to vote ‘yes.’ … Keep your promises to the citizens of Sacramento.”

Steinberg addressed the firefighters.

“I suppose I see the world differently than you do now,” the mayor said from the dais. “I would remind you, those who came up and talked about the ballot label, read the whole thing because it talked about other essential services … so that was also contemplated by the voters.”

The mayor added, “I’m going to continue leading the city in the way I think is best for all of the people.” Ω

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After months of negotiations to craft a bill meant to reduce police shootings in California, legislative leaders have landed on a version that appears likely to pass, with law enforcement groups removing their opposition, civil liberties advocates declaring victory and Gov. Gavin Newsom lauding a policy that “will help restore community trust in our criminal justice system.”

Assembly Bill 392 would give California a new and tougher legal standard to justify the use of deadly force by police. It was inspired by the death last year of Stephon Clark, an unarmed man Sacramento police killed after mistaking the cell phone he was holding for a gun.

With outrage over police shootings spreading amid the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, Clark’s case attracted national attention and contributed to a groundswell of political momentum in the state Capitol. Though the Legislature’s first attempt to pass a new use of force standard stalled last year, lawmakers vowed to keep working at it and appear to have made good on the promise.

The new version of the bill unveiled May 23 says police may only use deadly force when “necessary in defense of human life”—a stricter standard than prosecutors apply now, which says police can shoot when doing so is “reasonable.” Supporters say the policy will save lives by putting new limits on police.

“Assuming this bill passes, then California will have one of the strongest use of force laws in the nation,” said Lizzie Buchen, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, a key backer of the bill. “It retains the core elements that we’ve always had, which is that officers can only use deadly force when it is necessary and that ‘necessary’ includes the actions of the officers leading up to the force.”

But the new version of the bill doesn’t go as far as originally proposed, removing some key provisions that were particularly loathed by law enforcement. It removes a section that would have held officers criminally liable in cases of criminal negligence resulting in someone’s death.

It also deletes a definition that says a “necessary” use of force is when there is “no reasonable alternative.” Police objected to that wording, arguing it would encourage prosecutors to second-guess their actions in hindsight.

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“It’s clearly a compromise,” said Seth Stoughton, a professor at the South Carolina School of Law, who has studied use of force standards around the country and supported the initial version of the bill. He added that even with the compromise language, the strictness of California’s standards would be in the nation’s “top tier.”

The bill’s author, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber of San Diego, had promised to work with police to find some common ground after the bill passed a committee with tepid support from some fellow Democrats. The original version of her bill appeared unlikely to pass the full Assembly as long as police groups remain opposed.

With their agreement to go neutral on the new version, passage appeared nearly certain on the Assembly floor this week. It must then go through the Senate before reaching Newsom’s desk.

“AB 392 now reflects the shared experiences, perspectives and expertise from everyone at the table, from families and communities to the officers who have sworn to serve and protect them,” Ron Lawrence, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said in a statement.

Law enforcement groups have proposed their own bill intended to reduce police shootings with more training and tougher police department policies. Senate Bill 230 has become a companion measure to Weber’s bill and would train officers on the new standard and alternatives to drawing their guns.

The two bills together “create a legislative package that will do more than any other state legislation to achieve better outcomes and minimize the use of force in our communities, said a statement from Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, a federation of police unions. Ω

CALmatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. An unabridged version of this story is available at newsreview.com/sacramento. Follow this issue as it moves through the Legislature this year with CALmatters’ podcast, Force of Law.

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S N & R’ S college essay contest winners

share their thou

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he college admissions process is highly competitive. Good grades, top test scores, extracurricular activities and long community service hours are all essential. But these days, top universities are under investigation for allowing well-to-do parents to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to coaches, faculty and exam administrators to guarantee their child’s access.

Despite these scandals, there are still young minds willing to put in the hard and honest work. SN&R found some of those students during the 10th annual College Essay Contest. The winners receive cash prizes to help with college expenses: First place gets $2,000 from InterWest Insurance Services, Inc.; second place receives $1,000 and third place receives $500, from by Tri

thank you to our 2019 sponsors:

14 | SN&R | 05.30.19

ds n e i Fr me a ' a call'banan

Counties Bank, Sacramento Payments Co. and Gilbert Associates, Inc. Thanks to this year’s contest sponsors.

In the weeks to come, the winners will graduate and move on to UC Davis, George Washington University and other colleges. They will take the next big steps toward their educational goals and carve their space in a world that needs the next generation of young talent.

These students aspire to dance on Broadway, write the next great American novel or provide health care in underserved communities. They have also struggled with self-identity, with loss and their culture. These are the essays that resonated most with SN&R’s editorial staff, but we support any students who dream big.

—Steph RodRiguez

Fr call 'b

‘Language doesn’t have to be a barrier’ Name: Victoria KorotchenKo Now attending: Folsom high School College attending: University of california, Santa Barbara Plans to study: english and history Any fun summer plans? i’m visiting the British isles and France with my family!

Dream job: editor What’s your personal motto: adventure is out there!

English was a fiend. Every vowel, a villain. Every consonant, a dragon.

That was my family’s perspective, anyway. They were the ones struggling with the language when they immigrated, trying to pass night school while conquering the American Dream.

When I was born, English became a destroyer of culture, of the past, of familial connection. Learning English led to forgetting my native Russian. My parents feared that they wouldn’t be able to understand my mile-a-minute speeches, especially as I started speaking multisyllabically while they were still embarrassed of their spy-esque accent.

But I was in love—English freed me from surrounding turbulence.

Beverly Cleary got me through my dad’s incarceration. Harry Potter was there in the lonely middle school. Charlotte Brontë guided me through the high school crowd.

“Beverly Cleary got me My love of the English language, however, deepened the rift between my through my dad’s family. For me, Russian equaled stuttering incarceration. Harry and miscommunication. I didn’t want to speak to anyone in my foreign first Potter was there in the language. lonely middle school.

This is what my family must feel like.

Each side had their struggle, and Charlotte Brontë guided instead of helping each other, we preferred me through the high school quiet oblivion. Before, I had missed out talking to my great-grandmother about her crowd.” experience in World War II and the USSR Victoria Korotchenko because of naive fear. But this realization, First place winner this newfound relatability prevented me from making the same mistake.

Instead of silence, I helped my grandfather with “knight” and “night.” My grandmother described histories and superstition: Never whistle indoors if you want to keep your money. My past was filled with doomed romances and bloody battles straight out of novels—but instead of fiction, it was my own story.

English is a friend, and so is Russian. Each vowel, a unifier. Each correct consonant, a lesson in family.

I can’t read Dostoevsky in his original language, nor will my parents give me essay advice, but language doesn’t have to be a barrier.

Communication comes in many forms, and while words are powerful, so are connections formed from interactions. Every story, every Skype call to Russia and every messed-up sentence brought my family closer together, even if these interactions were in broken verbals.

“high school confidential” continued on page 16

05.30.19 | SN&R | 15

“ high school confidential” continued from page 15

Name: Riley Bu Rke Now attending: M cClatchy High School College attending : George Washin gton universit Plans to study: M y ass communica tio ns and journali Any fun summer sm plans? i’m trav eling

to london an Paris after i gr d aduate for a co up le weeks!

Dream job: Som ething in journ alism or just communicatio ns in general. W riting for a maj publication like or The Washingt on Post would be a dream. definitely

What’s your pers

onal mo

tto: you can’t lau afraid at the s gh and be ame time. (it’s a Stephen Colb adage that’s al ert ways stuck w ith me.)

‘the children of 555’

The sun was about to rise over Washington, and Sofia was telling me about how much she loved Bob Dylan. We had stayed up all night. In the dawn, I told her that I felt healed. I was no longer alone in the universe: I was many. I had 20 brothers and sisters.

Four years earlier, my parents told me about the donor. I had no idea that my dad couldn’t have kids. I suddenly became a foreigner in my own body. What was known became unknown as I began the tedious process of unlearning half of my DNA. I looked in the mirror and suddenly did not know who looked back. I spent many days in a kind of haze. The world became big and distant. Too many people could have been my dad. I spent many nights Googling, wondering about the identity of the donor.

My mom later gave me a manila envelope labeled “555”—in it was all that we had of him. My biological father donated his sperm in Fairfax, Virginia, 2,731 miles from where I was conceived and born.

Donor number 555 has small ears like I do.

The shape of his eyes are the shape of my eyes. His face is my face. He likes art museums and doing technical theater and making movies just as much as I do. The sperm bank sent us an audio file with an interview he gave. I got goosebumps the first time I heard his voice. He felt familiar, in a strange way. I made it a point to carry around the flash drive it was on.

I grew older. I stopped seeing my dad. I started high school.

Then, in the springtime of 2017, I was put in a group chat with 20 brothers and sisters. It was my oldest brother who had found us all. He had spat in a tube and used one of those DNA websites to find out he had half-siblings. He found us online and brought us together: The children of 555.

We found the donor soon after. It was so simple. One of my brothers found him on Google. I had not looked hard enough. The world was small again. I knew my father. I saw a picture of him for the first time, and all I could think was “huh.” He was smaller than I had imagined. He looked sort of 16 | SN&R | 05.30.19

lonely. He was not God, nor the answer to my late-night Googling sessions attempting to gain back the missing half of my DNA. He was just a man who looked a little sad.

I told Sofia this in the early hours of our last morning together. She agreed. She’s from Florida and I’m from California. Yet, there we were speaking in hushed tones so we wouldn’t wake the others—20 of us in one house on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. for two days in the dead of summer.

I live in a quiet city, on a quiet street, in a quiet house, with only my single mother and a dog to keep me company. I spend my nights alone for the most part. But for two days, a handful of hours, I was many. I was Ben’s eyes and Robin’s ears and Olivia’s smile and Sofia’s sense of humor. I was Emily’s dislike of berries and Kylie’s nose and Derek’s crooked pinky finger. I was all of them. And we were loud.

I told Sofia that I was starting to think maybe I didn’t need half of my DNA back, a donor to take the place of an absent father.

That all I needed was a room full of 20 siblings, with my ears and eyes and nose, laughing together. The same loud laugh.

Sofia smiled and nodded. The sun had risen.

Moon

hool Name: JiMin ior High Sc : Davis Sen ng di ity en rs tt ve a ni Now ate u ding: Penn St re College atten at the dy: Musical as a TA Plans to stu ns? Working la p er m m ive Any fun su Arts intens er idge Summ for Artsbr . ta so in Minne get model eam job: Tar

rd, Dr otto: Work ha personal m What’s your ou! do y

d have fun an

‘My struggle with My identity as a person of color is not over’ Bananas are a wonderful fruit. The flesh provides potassium that relieves aches and pains and the peel provides an assortment of benefits (for health and comedy). The problem I see with bananas is that the fruit is two colors—yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Just like me: Asian on the outside, Caucasian on the inside.

Growing up mixed Korean-American was difficult. I was perpetually embarrassed of my dad and his thick Korean accent.

The stinky foods he would eat—kimchi and gochujang—made me gag. I refused to learn the Korean language. I complained when Korean food was served, and I was horrified at the dining mannerisms. I thought all these behaviors my dad exhibited made him uncivilized and, by contrast, the whitetablecloth Italian restaurants and my mom’s uber polite public persona made the whitehalf seem like the normal half.

So for the first 14 years of my life I would laugh and say thank you when my friends at school would call me a banana.

I believed that being seen as white on the inside was the greatest compliment and, so, I completely cut my Korean heritage from my public persona.

When I was 14, my dad mentioned he had heard me call myself a banana and found it hilarious. We were both chuckling about it (my chuckle was mostly from nerves) when I heard my mom say, “Jimin you’re pretty white on the outside too.”

I stopped cold. I was furious that my mother didn’t see me as Asian and I couldn’t figure out why. Nevertheless, I ran around the San Francisco airport terminal asking every worker what ethnicity they thought I was. (Side note: If you are thinking of using airport terminal workers to test what ethnicity you present as, rethink your experimental process. It doesn’t work. I have never been

stared at with so much confusion in my life.)

While the data I collected during that airport jaunt is by no means statistically sound, it was the catalyst for my personal racial revolution.

I have spent the last three years actively working to accept every part of my identity and, although more self-love would be ideal, I’ve learned to cherish my Korean half. I discovered leftover bulgogi bibimbap is perfect for lunch and kimchi is a delicious, magical cure-all.

More important than Korea’s culinary mastery is the respect I gained for my father.

I finally took the time to learn the details of his life and, when I did, he became my biggest hero. From being born in extreme poverty in the South Korean countryside to finishing his master’s in engineering in only one year, he epitomizes the American Dream. My father, who grew up in backwoods Korea where being gay was not even a possibility, accepted my sexuality the second I told him. And he enthusiastically supports my theatre and dance aspirations, which allows me to be fearless in all artistic ventures. Basically, he’s the best.

Of course, my struggle with my identity as a person of color is not over. Thankfully, I live a very privileged life and I am so grateful I live in a community where my identity is celebrated. However, I still rarely see myself in mass media, which has sparked my life goal: To create entertainment that gives every child the opportunity to see themselves as the hero. Especially in our modern political climate where the color of someone’s skin can incur so much discrimination, it is more important than ever for the arts to step up and scream to the universe that we may all look different, but inside we’re biologically one species.

Humans are just bananas.

‘I want to do thIs forever’

‘thIs Is what It means to love. thIs Is what It means to be strong. ‘

E x c E r p t : ... My aunties taught me the role that history plays in identity. As they had with my father’s generation, they were determined to instill an understanding of my Chinese heritage in me. I remember sitting at their dining table, counting out pennies in Cantonese.

Following Daisy’s hunched figure through San Francisco Chinatown. Winter-night drives down south for Chinese New Year, knowing brightly lit rooms awaited me crowded with aunts and uncles, cousins and secondcousins—people I didn’t even know were related to me—all watching as my aunties miraculously procured from their tiny kitchen a feast to feed dozens. ...

I remember observing the gentle concern Alice kept for my family; how even in her last years she’d crack jokes, encourage us, listen intently to our stories; thinking: This is what it means to love. This is what it means to be strong ...

Name: Zoë Senter Now attending: Davis Senior High Sch ool College attending: Boston University Plans to study: Psychology with a pr e-med focus Summer plans: Catching up on sleep !

Dream job: Providing mental health se rvice

underserved communities.

s to

What’s your personal motto: What’s the worst that can happen?

Name: MiCHelle lin Now attending: luther Burbank High School College attending: University of California, Berkeley

Plans to study: Health science and nutrition Dream job: i want to be an anesthesiologist.

What’s your personal motto: enjoy the present ’cause we are never coming back.

‘CookIng Is my way to ConneCt wIth my naI-naI (grandmother)’ E x c E r p t : ... I cook two to three times a week for my brother when my parents are gone to work.

My signature Chinese dish is Chinese noodle filled to the brim with love and delicacy. I use my hands to roll and fold the dough, then I pull it into pieces of thin strings. I enjoy its soft texture and elasticity. Just from touching it, I instantly know when to start cutting the dough into thin strings. But most importantly, cooking is my way to connect with my Nai-Nai (grandmother) that I lived with at 8 years old. My Nai-Nai used to be a chef in a local restaurant in China. She worked as a chef for more than 20 years. ...

In my heart, Nai-Nai is my inspiration, she is the person who developed my passion and my talent for cooking. She is my master chef because, despite the simple ingredients she uses, it always tastes stunning at the end. ...

I’m proud to have cooking skills because it connects me to my Chinese heritage ... it’s the food that I present and prepare that brings back the taste of old-fashioned China and the taste of Nai-Nai into the home. My food is brimming with a Chinese flavor and my passion for cooking, but most importantly, memories. Memories that come back as I present the dishes. Memories that bring smiles to every face touched by the intoxicating smell. Memories that bring Nai-Nai’s warm presence into the room. Memories that make me have this cooking skill.

Age 6.

I stay up for hours reading stories and trying to write my own, writing about whatever I want, not caring about my bad grammar or rambling plot. I have dozens of ideas, and the possibility of putting them to use as a writer excites me. I want to do this forever. ...

Age 10.

My stories are accidentally deleted. But it’s OK. I can create new ones. I have a new computer, and it works faster. I open up a new document, and the blank page represents endless possibilities. I want to do this forever.

Age 14.

High school approaches. For once, I have to think about my own future and not about a character’s. Suddenly, I don’t have time for stories. Anxiety dominates my mind as school dominates my time. In the rare moments when I am free, I try to write. I end up staring at a computer screen and wondering why the ideas don’t come as quickly anymore, and decide that this path must not be for me. The blank page represents an end. I can’t do this forever. I can’t do this at all. ...

Age 17.

At my school, there’s a literature magazine called Spoke. I pick up a copy one day and read the stories within. Then I read the next issue. And the next. Inspiration returns. ...

I think of the girl I used to be. The girl who wrote with wild abandon when she was younger, not having a care in the world about originality or word count or the expectations and criticism of others, and even though I’m not the same person now, I realize that I’ll only improve if I allow myself to make mistakes and be criticized, if I show my work to others, if I let out the ideas I lock up in my head, if I recognize that I’m deciding someone’s opinion about my writing for them before they even have a chance to see any of it.

So I sit down. And I write.

I manage to write something short, only a few paragraphs. I read it a few times and edit it a few more and know it still needs rewriting. It’s not extraordinary.

It’s not fantastical. It’s not perfect. ...

But I want to keep writing.

I want to do better. And for the first time in a long time, I think: I want to do this forever. Ω

te

ne CHoqUet

Name: CatHeri r High School : Davis Senio , Davis Now attending of California ing: University College attend e : Food scienc Plans to study hor

be.

Dream job: aut we choose to : We are who Personal motto

Read SN&R’s 2019 College Essay Contest winning entries in their entirety at newsreview.com/Sacramento.

05.30.19 | SN&R | 17

Army

of friends story and photos by Patrick Hyun Wilson

Sacramento’s tabletop gamers don’t just compete, they build community

18 | SN&R | 05.30.19

S

pace stations and silos dot an intricate, rocky grassland. A battalion of giant mechanical spider tanks line one side opposite an army of battle-ready orcs. The armies here have three hours to compete in a game of tactics and wit.

The scene at Great Escape Games isn’t a real-life blood battle, though, it’s the Twin-Linked Tournament for the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 and it’s part of a growing trend. Whether it’s a Great Escape Games tournament, or a locally produced game that celebrates landmarks

of the city, the Sacramento tabletop gaming community is vibrant and competitive— and so are its stakes: friendships and prizes, including the chance to participate in an international battle.

Mark Broughton, an inventory manager at Great Escape Games, organized the 58-player Twin-Linked Tournament.

Tabletop games are unique, he says, because they require players to be physically present creating an atmosphere that’s necessarily communal.

The appeal of tabletop gaming applies to people of all ages, including competitive

gamers who want to prove strategy on a global level, and families and friends spending time together. Tabletop gaming lets people socialize face-to-face, a form of interaction that is increasingly distant in a world where video gaming and social media dominate.

“That sense of camaraderie and belonging is what keeps businesses like this thriving,” Broughton said. “Otherwise, everybody could just play games online.”

The phrase “tabletop games” isn’t synonymous with board games. Rather, it’s a general genre definition, with board

sacramento’s ‘Jailbirds’ see arts + culture

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games considered a subset. For example, it includes games such as Dungeons and Dragons, which is played on a tabletop but doesn’t require the use of a game board.

Some of the games are intricate and complex. While Warhammer 40,000 may seem daunting to some—players use tape measures, 20-sided die and a textbook-sized rule book—others say they just take time to learn.

Chris Mobley, who works by day as a mail carrier, thinks the army game isn’t difficult to pick up even if there are seemingly endless rules to learn, particularly, how different character classes interact on the battlefield.

While you can’t know everything in the game, Mobley says there’s a strong international community of people who become deeply invested by attending events like Twin Linked.

“I never knew anybody that played Warhammer before, and now I know quite a few people,” he said.

The crew at Great Escape created the tournament; its prizes are limited to store credit and bragging rights, but competitions like it exist at stores around the world.

For three days in July for example, Mythic Championship IV, a tournament for the card game Magic: The Gathering, (MTG), will take place in Barcelona. The competition boasts a half-million dollar prize pool.

Great Escape will host a Mythic Championship Qualifier on June 1, during which players compete for an invitation and round trip plane ticket to compete at a global level at the Mythic Championship IV in Barcelona.

Inari O’Meara brought the Mythic

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Championship Qualifier to Great Escape after helming the MTG community at Great Escape for more than 10 years. He wants to build a supportive space for the Sacramento tabletop gaming scene, and the qualifier is a way to help that scene grow.

“From people being introduced to the game to the competitive players wanting to grind out getting to those championships, I want to be able to offer events for the whole slew of ‘em,” he said.

The tabletop gaming community isn’t limited to tournament players who want to compete for big money. One reason for the growing popularity of such games are independent groups such as Time2Tabletop, which streams tabletop gaming on Twitch.tv, an online live video streaming site.

The group was founded in 2016 to organize events like the upcoming Pull Up a Chair Expo on June 29 at Yolo

tabletop games are unique because they require players to be physically present, creating an atmosphere that’s necessarily communal.

savory, spicy indian food see disH

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Brewing Co, which aims to connect developers and gamers for a day of workshops, classes and gaming.

Time2Tabletop founder Vincent “Scooter” Hamilton holds a high regard for the value of tabletop gaming and says that interacting face-to-face over a tabletop game can change the world.

“My passion to get into tabletop games came from the idea that we as people could resolve our differences by pulling up a chair and getting to know one another,” Hamilton said.

The Pull Up A Chair Expo will feature nine guests, including the owner of the game publishing company TableStar Games and Peter Hansell, the developer of the upcoming Sacramentocentric route building game, Bike Route Sacramento.

Hansell worked on Bike Route Sacramento for a year and a half, the 20th game he has developed with TableStar Games. In it, as many as four players use pawns to create paths between Sacramento landmarks such as the Crocker Art Museum, Vic’s Ice Cream and the Tower Bridge.

There probably won’t be any Bike Route Sacramento tournaments at Great Escape Games, but the game made for Sacramento families may inspire an appreciation for tabletop gaming and lead to the growth of the community in the long run.

“A lot of guys and gals, like myself, grew up in an era when the core board games were Monopoly and Clue and a few others.

Now there’s such a huge plethora,” Broughton said.

“There’s a game out there for everybody.” Ω

Learn more about Great Escape Games’ tabletop games at greatescapegames. com/contest-of-champions-2010/ warhammer-40k-events.

yo-yo weatHer on your-your garden see place

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Creatives on edge Sacramento arts advocates scored a victory last week when the City Council agreed to ramp up funding after an alert that local arts could lose big come July 1.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg and council members committed to $2.2 million in the 2019-20 budget for the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, up from the $1.3 million in City Manager Howard Chan’s draft proposal.

The commission oversees Creative Edge, the city’s longterm vision to make Sacramento an equitable, worldclass arts destination competing with the likes of Austin, Nashville and Chicago.

In Creative Edge’s debut last year, the city gave approximately $500,000 in grants to 57 art projects through its Creative Economy pilot program, including the all-local arts weekend First Festival in Natomas and the Sac chapter of the surprise-concert series Sofar Sounds.

The commission’s new budget includes $580,000 in grant funds and $157,000 to create a Sacramento Film Office for development of the local industry.

The initial proposal for $1.3 million wasn’t enough, said Dennis Mangers, an adviser to Steinberg. Mangers and other arts advocates called for the $2.2 million.

Mangers had warned prior to the city manager’s budget release in April that without more money, Creative Edge would have to compete for the projected $50 million a year generated by the Measure U half-cent sales tax increase.

In a call to action to the local arts community, Mangers wrote that it would pit arts groups against more influential special interests competing for the same cash.

At the May 21 council meeting, the chamber was packed with prominent members of the arts community, many of whom wore red or held red fans in solidarity. During public comment, nearly 20 speakers pleaded the city to recognize the importance of the arts by adequately funding Creative Edge.

They included Trisha Rhomberg, who runs Old Gold, Makers Mart and Sac Made on the grid, where hundreds of neighborhood creatives sell their products. “My businesses are local, my businesses are Sacramento,” Rhomberg told the council. “They thrive when artists thrive.

And Sacramento does not thrive without arts.”

Hip-hop artist Paul Willis argued that funding was essential to improving equity in Sacramento. “The current tools that exist don’t fully capture the depth and level of impact that the arts have in our communities to change lives and save others,” Willis said.

Others appealed to the pocketbook, including Buck Busfield, B Street Theatre’s artistic director.

“Investing in the arts is economic development,” Busfield said.

Each council member signaled support for matching the request, with the budget slated for a final vote on June 11.

But even $2.2 million isn’t enough, said Steinberg, who recommended more one-time funding for Creative Edge in the future. The plan, approved last year, projected costs of $6 million to $9 million a year to implement over the next seven years.

“It’s going to take increased investment, and it has to be sustained,” he said.

—LesLie Hicks and Mozes zarate

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Megan “Monster” Hawkins in Jailbirds.

Back in orange Review: Jailbirds humanizes Sacramento women behind bars

by Mozes zarate

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

Aside from the people directly affected by the crimes, the audience that’s going to be most provoked by Jailbirds is Sacramento.

The Netflix series, which premiered in May, is getting national buzz and customary “where are they now?” articles. It follows mostly female inmates at Sacramento County Main Jail and at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, documenting their daily struggles and dreams of freedom. Through shots of the Tower Bridge, Cesar Chavez Plaza and other familiar places, the show constantly reminds us of what’s obvious and overlooked: that the women in these Orange Is the New Black, reality-TV moments are human, and they’re our neighbors.

It starts at intake: Yasmin Sundermeyer is on $100,000 bail for an alleged carjacking. The 19-yearold is distraught and worried about missing work. She has a kid and wants to be a veterinarian.

The first of six episodes introduces a cast of women who call the jail’s seventh floor home. There’s Megan “Monster” Hawkins, a former New York tattoo parlor owner and drug dealer who wants to turn her life around. There’s Rebecca Temme, or “Baby Girl”, who was facing a life sentence for murder, and trying to get out of isolation to join her half-sister in the jail. Court records show she was convicted on May 10.

Many of the inmates, including Tayler Coatney, grapple with guilt. The 19-year-old was convicted of burglary in connection with a gruesome home invasion in South Sacramento that left three dead in 2016.

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The show offers some insight into jail life: the uncomfortable intake process where new inmates are forced to strip down and bend over in front of an officer; the confusing “jail math” used to calculate sentences; jargon such as “messy” and “out-of-pocket,” used to describe problematic inmates who are dramahappy and out of line.

Mostly, Jailbirds dishes personal drama. Some of the women fall in love with male inmates on other floors, chatting through the toilet. If you empty all the water from the bowl, they explain, you’re able to communicate by yelling through the pipes, and even send notes and treats through a string-and-spoon process called “fishing.” To hang up, flush.

Others argue and scuffle. An early conflict arises when an inmate named “Drea” snitches on Hawkins and her cellmate for cooking up “pruno,” an alcoholic drink made from fermented fruit.

Coatney connects with an inmate who calls himself “A1.” He’s facing domestic violence charges for assaulting Hawkins, his ex. Two inmates get married in the jail’s basement, and several are freed by the end of the show.

It’s tempting to say that the latter half of the season gets bogged down by too many petty conflicts. But it’s also another opportunity to empathize. While incarcerated, these women only have each other, and the drama is not unlike what you’d see on the outside.

There are moments, particularly with Coatney, that will give you pause. If an accused accomplice to murder has her own Netflix series, what do the victims deserve?

Jailbirds makes the most sense if everyone deserves to be humanized. Some of the most powerful scenes show the women in freedom—walking down I Street, hopeful and out of “oranges,” slang for jail clothes.

Hawkins recently made headlines for returning to jail. She’s faces charges including for identity and vehicle theft. Like most characters in documentaries and reality TV—and most people who enter the criminal justice system—their stories don’t end when the credits roll. Ω

Watch Jailbirds on Netflix.

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Reviews

Mashed potatoes and bigotry

by Jim Carnes

Photo courtesy of Warren harrison

more than just food gets heated at this dinner party.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

3

fri 8pm, sat 8pm, sun 2pm. through 6/9; $19-$21; chautauqua Playhouse, 5325 engle road in the La sierra community center; (916) 489-7529; cplayhouse.org.

It would be easy to dismiss Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner as dated, a relic from another time. Based on the 1967 film of the same name (starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier), it’s a meat-and-potatoes comedy-drama about a white, liberal couple trying to reconcile their words versus their actions when their daughter announces her intention to marry an African American man.

The production currently on stage at Carmichael’s Chautauqua Playhouse has plenty of the old clichés and little to no recognition that times have changed since Janis Ian’s 1965 song “Society’s Child.”

Matt and Christina Drayton (Steve Minow and Lynnette Blaney, respectively) are delighted when their daughter Joanna (Kloe Walker) returns home unexpectedly, but when they realize Joanna’s guest, Dr. John Prentice (Fetalaiga Faga), is her fiancé, all their talk about love and equality gets put to the test.

The doctor’s parents, John Sr. and Mary (the imposing Corey D. and Mary Winfield), aren’t thrilled with their son’s choice; nor is the Drayton’s African-American maid Tilly (Voress Franklin, who is magnificent). Only Monsignor Mike Ryan (Rodger Hoopman, assured as ever), wholeheartedly accepts the young couple’s decision.

Of course, before dinner is served, everyone moves toward acceptance and enlightenment.

Director Sam Williams gets us there with only a few lumps in the gravy. Ω

Out of the park

scReen pick

The first festival highlighting Shakespeare plays is traced back to the late 1800s in England. The annual staging of summer Shakespeare shows in the U.S. began in 1935 with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Locally, the three largest Shakespeare festivals— Sacramento, Davis and Lake Tahoe—all follow the same tradition of offering plays in repertory, of staging them Elizabethan-style and of holding the plays in the same location every year.

However, this year the 50-year-old Sacramento Shakespeare Festival is breaking one of those traditions by moving its plays (Twelfth Night and Shakespeare in Love this year) from their longestablished outdoor Land Park Amphitheater, where they’ve been for the last 34 years, to inside the Sacramento City College auditorium.

This will be a big change for the Sacramento summer crowd that is used to picnicking and play-watching under the stars. But no need to panic, says Sacramento Shakespeare Festival coordinator Luther Hanson, since the shift indoors is temporary while the Land Park Amphitheater undergoes renovations.

“There’ll still be a picnic area outside the doors with food trucks nearby, a lowered orchestra pit that will provide ‘park seating’ and wine and beer in the evenings,” Hanson says.

This year’s inside move does have one big advantage: air conditioning.

—Patti RobeRts sacramento shakespeare festival: rotating repertory of twelfth night and shakespeare in Love; June 28 through July 28; $16-$20; sacramento city college Performing arts center, 3835 freeport Boulevard; (916) 558-2173; sacramentoshakespeare.net.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge looks at the camera a lot in this show.

Like a prayer Phoebe Waller-Bridge writes, directs, produces and stars in Fleabag, a series that explores self-destruction and how we process trauma. The second and final season is now on Amazon Prime, and while it only lasts about two hours total, it hits pretty hard.

The story follows Fleabag, a young woman living in London who uses sex to deflect from the screaming void inside her empty heart. In her own words.

Through witty, fourth wall-breaking asides to the camera, Fleabag introduces us to an eclectic cast, including a rotation of men she sleeps with, her emotionally repressed sister Claire (Sian Clifford), her even more repressed father (Bill Paterson) and her passive aggressive godmother (Olivia Colman). Her arsenal of fast quips and charming delivery pulls us in and we watch her lie, steal and use people for her own gain.

In season two, Fleabag meets a Catholic priest. The two hit it off, and it immediately becomes a will-theyor-won’t-they situation. That’s the least interesting part of the story, though. What drives the drama isn’t romance, but the way Fleabag navigates the uncomfortably invasive nature of love and emotional intimacy.

Of course, that tension inevitably leads to a sexually charged scene in a confessional box. That also drives the drama.

The time spent with Fleabag is brief, but during it we’re posed with plenty of difficult questions. How do you atone for past mistakes? Where does forgiveness come from? There aren’t any easy answers, but that’s kind of the point.

—Rachel Mayfield

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illusTrATiOn BY MAriA rATinOvA

Quiche with crunch Veggie quiche, cOffee WOrks Besides the nutty aroma of fresh coffee beans roasting in-house, Coffee Works, a small cafe in East Sac, also offers an array of tasty pastries, hearty breakfast burritos and large empanadas to accompany its extensive drink menu. My go-to morning indulgence is its veggie quiche ($3.85). Made from scratch daily, each creamy bite is layered with thinly sliced zucchini, onions, mushrooms and topped with a blanket of Parmesan that’s baked until golden brown and crunchy. Ask for some Valentina hot sauce on the side and grab a window seat to enjoy the busy traffic whizzing by. 3418 Folsom Boulevard, coffeeworks.com.

—sTeph rOdriguez Paneer Kadai (fresh Indian cheese) is pan-fried before it’s mixed with a spicy masala.

Savory dishes of India Preethi Indian Cuisine 1905 Capitol Avenue; (916) 573-3052 Good for: Workday lunch, casual get-togethers and vegetarian options Notable dishes: lunch buffet, Goat Curry, Aloo Mutter, Galub Jamun

$$$

Indian, Midtown

Preethi Indian Cuisine has brought its popular daily buffet and voluminous dinner menu from Davis to Midtown Sac. Its homemade, from scratch Southern and Northern regional dishes are highly conducive to the buffet format. The vegetarian and non-vegetarian offerings are evenly split, allowing for optimal grazing and increased chances that everyone at your table will have their dietary needs met.

The buffet menu changes daily, but when I visited there was an abundance of aromatic basmati, coconut and tamarind rice; tender on-the-bone chicken biryani; an assortment of crisp, fresh pakora; intensely spicy goat curry and channa masala; juicy tandoori chicken; robust sambar (lentil and veggie stew); butter chicken (although, I am convinced it was actually a mislabeled mellow tikka masala); delicious dal curry and much more, including fresh chutney for dipping and saucing. The pleasant staff also brought complimentary mango lassi (a yogurt-based smoothie) and garlic naan for the table.

I ordered Gulab Jamun ($3.99) for the first time. I first thought the drenched orbs were small, swollen grapes warmed and bloated with fruit juice, but no. Fried dumplings made with milk pastry are rolled and soaked in saffron syrup. Think of the best doughnut holes you’ve ever had and then cry because they weren’t Gulab Jamun.

With Preethi’s buffet ($12) a success, it was time to explore its dinner menu. It’s a sizable menu, maybe too 22

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PHOTO BY AMY BEE

by Amy Bee

big. A smaller, more concise and cooked consistently well menu might be preferable than offering everything and the kitchen sink.

Our table enjoyed some spongy-yet-crispy Dosa ($8.99), thin and crepe-like, perfect for sopping up sambar or coconut chutney. I also ordered some sweet lassi to counter the impending onslaught of spicy heat. The Goat Curry ($14.99), tender and chewy, blasted instant heat throughout my mouth. The succulent Lamb Biryani ($13.99) also scolded me with fiery sass. While both were too hot for me (making me the wimp in the group), they were savored by everyone else. I headed back down to my comfort level with the extra creamy, buttery Chicken Koorma ($13.99), which has a nice, slower heat that grows from the back of the throat. Same with my favorite dish, Chicken Tikka Masala ($13.99): A low, slow heat combined with a yogurt and spice sauce so well-balanced and flavorful. I could have given the chef a high-five.

Also noteworthy was the Aloo Mutter ($11.99), a potato dish so savory, you’d think there was meat broth involved. The Paneer Kadai ($11.99), with cubes of pan-fried cheese coated in spices and mixed with green peppers had snappy, chewy textures and the Okra Masala ($11.99) was so spicy it kicked everyone’s butt.

Add in fragrant rice, crunchy naan, copious raita and you’d better believe everyone left with numb tongues and round bellies.

Preethi’s is affordable, casual and friendly. The perfect combo for workday lunches and/or dinner with friends.

They have an arsenal of homemade family recipes ready to tempt your eyes and prompt your taste buds, and a mighty menu to prove it. Preethi’s doesn’t just go big— they go buffet. Ω

Breakfast blend recipe: blueberry basil bliss Smoothies are amazing. I enjoy throwing fruit and ice into a blender in the morning because it’s easy, it’s healthy and I get to be creative with my recipes. I was craving something fresh recently and came up with one of my favorite combinations yet: Blueberry Basil Bliss. To make it, I poured 6 ounces of Blue Diamond Almond Breeze milk into a blender, followed by a banana, a handful of blueberries, three basil leaves and a few ice cubes. That’s it. Sometimes, I add extra blueberries and banana slices on top as edible decorations. They add a dynamic texture to the smooth, chilled concoction. Follow your own bliss and blend it up for breakfast.

—Tessa MargueriTe OuTland

PlaNeT v

Plant-based sushi dreams I just flew in from New York City, and boy, are my arms tired—from shoveling copious quantities of amazing vegan food into my face. Apologies for both the bad joke and the visual, but trust me: NYC’s vegan scene is the stuff of plant-based dreams. One restaurant, however, made me surprisingly homesick: Beyond Sushi, which ambitiously serves only vegan sushi (and more, hence, the “beyond”)—but strays too far from the traditional Japanese fare, including the sheer absence of seaweed.

To truly appreciate the deliciousness potential of vegan sushi—as opposed to the oh-so basic avocado and cucumber rolls found at most sushi joints—check out Midtown Sushi’s expansive selection of innovative vegan rolls, including a Spicy “Tuna” Roll: eggplant roasted with garlic and chile, served with daikon. Mikuni’s Saving Nemo Roll is another noteworthy vegan option, a tantalizing medley of avocado, cucumber, Inari tofu, salsa, ponzu and teriyaki sauce.

—Ted saMsOn

IllustratIon by Mark stIvers

Good Food, GReAt enteRtAinMent,

GRAnd tiMe!

Delicious Hot Wings & Nachos!

Nightly Drink Specials!

1672

n Smartvil A Hammonto

89 Ne 530-443-20

le Road, Mar

ysville

its Showgirls

xt to City Lim

Home cook hesitation

by Steph RodRiguez

When free quesadillas were passed out at the annual UC Davis Picnic Day in April by Foodnome, a local network of home cooks, things got a little messy.

Isaac O’Leary, cook organizer with Foodnome and a UC Davis alum, said the group was simply trying to raise awareness for Assembly Bill 626, a new law that allows home cooks to gain a permit to operate microenterprises from their personal kitchens. On May 8, Foodnome received an email from Yolo County’s Environmental Health Division warning it to cease operations.

O’Leary told SN&R that Foodnome, which connects local home cooks through its online platform, has been organizing private dinners and free food events to promote the bill, which took effect in January. AB 626, however, must be accepted by each county, and Yolo County has no desire to opt in at this time, according to April Meneghetti, director of the county’s Environmental Health Division.

“Most environmental health professionals and public health

professionals are not in support of this,” Meneghetti said. “And there’s a lot of reasons behind that.”

The concerns start with limits on health inspections. A health department inspects operating restaurants twice a year, unannounced. Under AB 626, home kitchens are only required to be inspected once, announced.

Another major concern Meneghetti noted is that home kitchens are exempt from displaying those green or red inspection certificates that tell customers how that particular restaurant did on its inspection.

AB 626 also exempts home kitchens from certain requirements that restaurants must follow, such as using commercial grade equipment.

Meneghetti says that is reasonable for home kitchens, but what is unreasonable is an exemption of having a designated hand-washing station other than the home’s bathroom sink.

“Our hands are really tied in a lot of areas for requiring things that we feel are important to being protective of the public health and the prevent food-borne illnesses,” she said. “The bill specifically states that we cannot

s t e p h r@ne w s re v i e w . c o m

require any additional food safety requirements other than what’s written in the law.”

But for O’Leary, AB 626 would open many opportunities for those— including stay-at-home parents and new immigrants—who don’t have the money to start a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

“It’s about $250,000 to start a restaurant in California on average,” he said. “Some of the folks we’ve been hearing from are new immigrants to this country, who have plenty of amazing ideas for delicious food and want to share their gifts with the community, and have no opportunity.”

Riverside County supervisors approved AB 626 on May 7 with a 4-0 vote and will start dishing out permits in June.

“Food is really one of the most primal connectors of people throughout all human history. It’s one of the key factors of community building,” O’Leary said. “In our society, something like this home restaurant bill is essential for repairing the social fabric in a pretty major way. This really can change our society for the better.” Ω

BUY 1 GET 1 1/2 OFF Buy any dinner entree at regular price, get the second for HALF OFF! Must present coupon, cannot combine with other discounts.

One per table. Valid Mon-Thu only. Expires 06/05/19.

Happy Hour

Monday–Friday 3–6pm Voted “Best of Sacramento” 3 years in a row!

1315 21st St • Sacramento 916.441.7100

Can’t get enough of our coverage?

CheCk out our new blog www.sacblog.newsreview.com

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Visit our Misty Jungle Nursery!

Many unique species, orchids, succulents, bromeliads, carnivorous plants, tillandsias, hoyas, terrarium plants, & all the suppies to grow them!

Tues - Sat • 10am - 5pm 7621 Fair Oaks Boulevard (around in back) Carmichael

flori-culture.com

grow your business with our new place section

yOu’Re iNViteD tO

Daylily Days!

SAtuRDAy & SuNDAy JuNe 8 & 9 OPeN 9Am tO 4Pm Join us for flowers, fun food and FREE tram rides! Tour the gardens, visit with artisans, shop for daylilies, and learn something new from our professional demos. Admission FREE!

Over 1000 Daylily Varieties, Full Nursery, 13 Acres, Demonstration Gardens & Picnic Area 22001 SheNANDOAh SchOOl ROAD | PlymOuth 209.245.6660 | AmADORFlOweRFARm.cOm | OPeN 9Am - 4Pm DAily

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place

When it rains, it pours Sacramento’s record downpours in May are a mixed bag for gardeners

by Debbie Arrington

“I already have six little green tomatoes on my three plants,” Salers said. “It’s been a fabulous spring.”

The rain came in absorbable amounts, Salers noted. “We had three inches in a week, not in one day. It gave everything a real good deep soaking; it wasn’t a flood.”

Not all plants loved the extra A rose bush with a blind shoot, a stem that won’t rain. Too much moisture can rot bloom due to Sacramento’s succulents and cactus. Low-water yo-yo weather. landscapes don’t like soggy soil.

All that rain also brought an explosion in weeds. Surviving years of drought, dormant seeds Feeling soggy? With so much late spring rain, this waiting in top soil suddenly sprouted and grew has been an unusual month, bringing some surprises rapidly. Bindweed, nutgrass and bedstraw seemed to to local gardeners. come out of nowhere.

With temperatures 10 degrees or more below Also enjoying these wet normal, Sacramento saw its wettest May ever. conditions: powdery mildew.

About 3.3 inches of rain was recorded This was a perfect May in downtown Sacramento, breaking a Cooler for this fungal disease, mark set in 1889. That’s more than temperatures which puckers leaves four times normal; a typical May in and eventually Sacramento totals less than threeprolonged early spring defoliates plants. Rose quarters an inch of precipitation. crops such as lettuce and bushes look like they It’s been a very wet year overall. sugar snap peas. But heatwere dusted with flour.

Our seasonal rainfall total topped Powdery mildew 24 inches, more than 6 inches above loving peppers and melons thrives between 65 normal. So much moisture was a are sulking in the cold, and 75 degrees. With boon for some gardeners, a challenge damp ground. temperatures staying on for others. the cool side, this fungus “Everything is happy!” exclaimed had a chance to spread through Marie Salers, a UC Cooperative Extension many gardens. The cure: heat. Once master gardener and manager of the Lincoln temperatures hit the 90s, powdery mildew will disapCommunity Garden. “Things are growing so fast. I pear. Infected plants will drop the mildewed leaves have pole beans up to the very top of [6-foot] tomato and grow new foliage. cages. Carrots and beets are sprouting from seed that Another consequence of our weird spring was just sitting in the beds. I’m very happy.” weather: blind shoots. A problem on roses, these Cooler temperatures prolonged early spring stems look healthy with lots of foliage and fast crops such as lettuce and sugar snap peas, which are growth. But no matter how long those stems grow, usually well past their prime on Memorial Day. they won’t flower. Ω But heat-loving peppers and melons are sulking in the cold, damp ground. And some tomato transplants had trouble adjusting, especially if their roots Debbie Arrington, an award-winning garden writer and lifelong and soil became oversaturated. Vines with good gardener, is co-creator of the Sacramento Digs gardening blog drainage thrived, however. The bees were busy, too, and website. pollinating early tomato flowers.

Photo by Debbie Arrington

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garden

for the week of may 30

by maxfield morris

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

Send photos and reference materials to Calendar Editor Maxfield Morris at snrcalendar@newsreview.com.

POSt eVentS OnLIne FOR FRee at newsreview.com/sacramento

MUSIC

sale and more, it’s one desk-themed event that’s guaranteed to keep you musically stimulated. 6pm, $10-$12. Capital Public Radio, 7055 Folsom Blvd.

THURSDAY, 5/30

tHe CaRMICHaeL PaRK BanD FeStIVaL: Join

neW KIDS On tHe BLOCK: On tour again, these

SHIBa San: The house artist is coming to a

HeROeS anD VILLaInS: Take to the Harris

music venue near you, performing all the eclectic electric sounds you’d expect from the DJ and producer. 10pm, $12.50-$15. The Park, 1116 15th St.

Center as it gets filled up with the iconic sounds and leitmotifs that you associate with film heroes and villains. With classics including James Bond, Superman, Darth Vader and more, this show will have you saying “I recognize this song!” over and over and over again until you’re asked to leave. 7:30pm, $25-$59. Harris Center, 10 College Parkway in Folsom.

SWeet & LOW: Spend a little time with Sweet & Low at the Shady Lady. They’ll be performing in that cabaret in this city, one I can recommend to you. They’ll play just the sweet and low down there. 9pm, no cover. Shady Lady, 1409 R St.

IMPenDIng DOOM: The Riverside-based

FRIDAY, 5/31 a CanCeR BeneFIt COnCeRt FOR MaRK tHe VOICe gUY: The Brodie Stewart Band and other

you could be selected to perform up on that exalted stage, the biggest monument to consumerism since the megamall. If you don’t get selected, don’t sweat it—you can just go to a friend’s house later and try to guess how much their possessions cost, which is just as fun. 1200 Athens Avenue in Lincoln, priceisrightlive.com.

female quartet will be performing for one night only at the Sofia. They’re all singersongwriters, and will, whether they know it or not, be vying with each other for your attention. 7pm, $40. Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, 2700 Capitol Ave.

song “Missing You” and from his interview on Decades TV Network where he talked about the song “Missing You,” so come check him out live and in person. 7pm, $55. Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, 2700 Capitol Ave.

COnCeRtS In tHe PaRK: Lyrics Born is headlining Concerts in the Park this week, making it a rap-heavy day at the plaza.

There will also be performances from Cities You Wish You Were From, Analog Us and DJ Elements. Show up to hear the music, stay for the live art from Mark Pedras. 5pm, no cover. Cesar Chavez Plaza, 910 I St.

LOng BeaCH DUB aLLStaRS: I would tell you where this band is from and their genre, but their name gave it all away all ready … they’re a dub band from Long Beach. 6:30pm, $30. Ace of Spades, 1417 R St.

MIDnIgHt PLaYeRS: Catch the 1977-formed

by live musicians, and this night of live jazz promises to feature only the living. Catch The New Harmony Jazz Band in all 12 pieces of their jazzy glory. 7pm, no cover. John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st St in Davis.

band as they continue their Sacramento musical cruise, bringing you R&B and old school music that promises to keep things funky beyond belief. 10pm, $10$12. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

gHOSteMane: Perhaps you know the rapper by

ANDREA BOCELLI The Sacramento

Philharmonic and Opera join the famed Italian singer fresh off his album, Si. If you want to cry, it’s allowed. 6/15, 8pm, $124-$490, on sale now. Golden 1 Center, ticketmaster.com.

GIN BLOSSOMS The ’90s rock band

from Arizona and from your hearts and minds is coming to town to play your favorite songs, potentially. 6/26, 8pm, $29.50-$109, on sale now. Ace of Spades, concerts1.livenation.com.

MICHAEL BUBLé You won’t want to

miss the Canadian vocal sensation as he makes his way downtown, walking fast to the Golden 1 Center. He’s from Burnaby, British Columbia. 7/10, 8pm, $65-$325, on sale now. Golden 1 Center, ticketmaster. com.

CAM’RON The Harlem rapper and

founding member of The Diplomats is coming to Sacramento along with some special guests, to be announced. 7/26, 9pm, $30-$100, on sale now. Harlow’s, ticketfly.com.

DOUBLE VISION REVISITED

Catch David Sanborn, Bob James and Marcus Miller as they restore Double Vision for an evening of jazzy fun. You’ll remember Sanborn from your vinyl record collection.

8/7, 8pm, $72-$102, on sale now. Harris Center in Folsom, harriscenter.net.

MOGWAI The soundscape band will be performing their dreamy, melodic

Hey, Cam’ron.

soundscapes and they’ll be joined by Papa M. 8/29, 8pm, $25, on sale now.

Ace of Spades, concerts1. livenation.com.

DAVE MATTHEWS BAND Catch the

most famous Dave Matthews-fronted band that’s got Carter Beauford playing on drums: Dave Matthews Band. 9/7, 8pm, $43.72$595, on sale now. Golden 1 Center, ticketmaster. com.

his current stage name—or maybe you’re more familiar with the name Eric Whitney, Baader-Meinhof, GASM or Ill Biz. They’re all the same person—and they’re all going to be at Ace of Spades performing. 7pm, $31. Ace of Spades, 1417 R St.

J HOLIDaY: The artist who brought the song

JOHn WaIte: You know him from the hit 1984

DaVIS JaZZ nIgHt: Live jazz is best performed

Purchase a ticket, dummy.

Christian deathcore band is coming to Sacramento. 6:30pm, $16. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St. “Bed” to music listeners everywhere is bringing himself to Sacramento for music listeners in the area. The multi-talented performer is going to be “Up Close & Personal.” 9pm, $25-$30. Ambiance Lounge, 910 2nd St.

BLaMe SaLLY: The San Francisco-based

Thunder Valley Casino resorT, 8pm, $49.95

tICKet WInDOW

The Sacramento Valley Symphonic Band Association for this festival of music.

There will be 15 bands performing over the course of two days, so come check it out.

There’s Ben Ali Shrine Band, Ophir Prison Marching Kazoo Band & Temperance Society and more. Come check it out. 11am, no cover. Carmichael Park, 5750 Grant Ave. in Carmichael.

New Kids on the Block have been around the block a time or four, and they’re ready to bring that history to home plate. It’s The Mixtape Tour, so join the Kids mixed up with other performances by Salt N Pepa, Naughty By Nature, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. 7:30pm, $26.39-$450. Golden 1 Center, 500 David J. Stern Walk.

special guests come together to benefit Mark the Voice Guy, from the Pat Walsh Show. 6:30pm, $20-$25. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

the Price is Live You’ve worked yourself to the bone for years—day in, day out, punching your timecard and paying your On Stage dues. Well, you know what?

You deserve a break. You deserve to see an advertisement disguised as a TV show, but live and in person. If you show up three hours before the show, you can register to be considered as a contestant. From there,

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRANSON MISSOURI, CC BY-ND 2.0

1gH 3 tHROU 01

Watch other folks vie for showcases.

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

POPS In tHe PaRK 2019: If you’ve followed the SN&R Calendar for very long, you’ll know that Joe Craven & The Sometimers are often mentioned here and that they defy genres.

Catch them for free as Pops in the Park kick off. 6pm, no cover. East Portal Parkl, 1120 Rodeo Drive.

SATURDAY, 6/1

SUNDAY, 6/2

ann MaRIe: Join Ann Marie for an R&B

BeRnSteIn tO SOnDHeIM: This Evening of

performance the likes of which this city has never seen, ever. The vocalist is going to be performing along with MarMar Oso, Yelly and Jeaux. 7pm, $20. The Rink Studios, 1031 Del Paso Boulevard.

CaPRaDIO PReSentS tInY DeSK SaCRaMentO 2019: Want to see what local musicians put forward this year for CapRadio’s Tiny Desk contest? Well, this is one of the ways you can see what the musicians had to offer.

With local musicians, Nick Brunner, food for

Broadway Show Tunes from Vox Musica is a great way to celebrate the incredible musical touchstone that is show tunes. 5pm, $20-$25. Beatnik Studios, 723 S St.

MONDAY, 6/3 MILeS DaVIS BIRtH OF tHe COOL: Join Byron Colborn on saxophone as he brings the music of Miles Davis to Luna’s along with the music of Gerry Mulligan from The Mulligan

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See more eventS and SuBmit your own at newSreview.com/Sacramento/calendar

thurSday, 5/30

uPtown marKet on tHe Boulevard: It’s a weekly market featuring local makers.

With 65 folks setting up to sell you their products, show you their wares and more, you’ll have more than enough interaction with people to last you for weeks. There’s also food and drinks. noon, no cover. Uptown Market, 1409 Del Paso Blvd.

may is Bike month after-party sacYard communitY tap House, 5pm, $20

Sunday, 6/2

If you’re like me, you’ve biked your tail off this past month. There’s something about recording each of your trips and being ranked against the rest of the city FeStivalS that’s appealing.

Anyway, now that the month’s nearly gone, come celebrate your pedaled Photo courteSy oF dallaS KwoK accomplishments with Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates. You’ll get a drink ticket, a SABA cup and a sense of community. Plus, there’s music and a bike valet. 1725 33rd Street, sacbike.org/may-is-bike-month-after-party.

daviS CraFt & vintaGe Fair: Take to Davis for a celebration of crafts as well as all things vintage. If you’ve got an eye for reusing fashion trends and items and you’d like to hear some live music as you appreciate the crafts, this is your best bet. 11am, no cover. Davis Central Park, 3rd. & C St. in Davis.

FiliPino FieSta oF SaCramento: Celebrate Philippine Independence Day with a fietsa with lots of live entertainment from local organizations and groups. There will be a parade, performances, food and much more. 10am, no cover. Jose Rizal Community Center.

river City marKetPlaCe CraFtS + draFtS:

Calendar liStinGS Continued From PaGe 25

Friday, 5/31 oranGevale town Fair: Celebrate the best of Orangevale at this fair. There’s a parade, some displays, plenty of activities and no shortage of foods and drinks for your to by and share with your daughter. 4pm, no cover. Orangevale Community Park, 6826 Hazel Ave. in Orangevale.

Project. 7:30pm, $5. Luna’s Cafe & Juice Bar, 1414 16th St.

younG m.a: The Brooklyn rapper is coming to Sacramento to perform. M.A stands for “Me Always,” so catch her if you can. 9pm, $22$95. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

SaCramento PodCaSt FeStival: Do you like

wedneSday, 6/5

podcasts? Do you like them enough to celebrate them at their very own festival?

Put that to the test. Come check out performances from some of the area’s podcasts, including Letter Talk, Neon Clubhouse, Wasting ALL the Time — A Podcast and more. Those are only selections from the first day’s offerings. Check out somewhere else for more info! 6pm, $5$25. STAB! Comedy Theater, 1710 Broadway.

tHe reCord ComPany: Touring on their All of This Life album tour, the rock back the Record Company will perform. 7pm, $20. Ace Of Spades, 1417 R St.

Sammie: Performing with Damar Jackson, Sammie will be sharing his copyrighted style with the audience. 7pm, $15-$20. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

Saturday, 6/1 tHe 2nd annual HaCK tHe ParK FeStival: Parks

FeStivalS

aren’t just for hanging out and illegally having your dog off leash any more—they’re also for technology-themed festivals. H@ ck the Park Fest will bring STEM to North Laguna Park, featuring lots of fun festivities, speakers, activities, science, technologies, engineering, mathematics and more. No offense about the dogs comment. 10am, no cover. North Laguna Creek Park, 6400 Jacinto Ave.

thurSday, 5/30 may iS BiKe montH aFterParty!: Did you spend all month biking around and want to commiserate on that fact with other folks? Check out this event preview on page 26. 5pm, $20. SacYard Community Tap House, 1725 33rd St.

Pride oF tHe PoCKet: Do you have pride for the neighborhood known as The Pocket? Show up for the Pocket Greenhaven Community Association’s award ceremony for people who contribute in some way to the community. 5:30pm, no cover. Didion School Park, 6490 Harmon Drive.

6tH annual SaCramento BlaCK BooK Fair: Check out the event highlight on page 26 for more details about the annual black book fair. 10am, no cover. The Brickhouse Gallery & Art Complex, 2837 37th St.

tHe 6tH annual SaCramento taCo FeStival: For six years, tacos have been coming to Sacramento in the form of this festival.

Celebrate the foods with taco contests, a Chihuahua beauty contest and much more.

But mostly come for the tacos. 10:30am, $8. 1901 Del Paso Blvd.

r Street PoP-uP SerieS: Walk through the R Street Corridor in Sacramento on Thursday and you might end up running into more interesting things than you’d expect. With pop-up shows going on all over the street, you’ll end up smack-dab in the middle of a cultural exchange. Featuring art and performance spread over the area, you’ll want to see the folks willing to put their work forward for scrutiny in the public eye. 5pm, no cover. R Street Corridor, 14th15th Street.

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old SaCramento JuneteentH HeritaGe CeleBration: Join Sacramento Juneteenth

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for this celebration of Sacramento area history telling the stories of Pan African contributions to the state’s history. 5:30pm, no cover. Old Sacramento Historic District in Old Sacramento.

Have you had enough of local craft marketplaces yet? If not, check out the event highlight on page 27 for one more. noon, no cover. Drake’s: The Barn, 985 Riverfront St. in West Sacramento.

Food & drinK thurSday, 5/30 elderS ediBle eduCation: Get a cooking lesson from Yisrael Family Farms’ own Judith Yisrael. Inspired by ancestral food traditions, this series brings all kinds of foods to the table for a cooking class. 10:30am, no cover. Oak Park Community Center, 3425 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.

matCHBooK wine Co. dinner and wine PairinG: Grab some wine and the food it’s been paired with at this event from Matchbook Wine Company. 6pm, $69. La Crosta Pizza Bar, 330 3rd St. in West Sacramento.

Saturday, 6/1 ranCHo ameriCana BrewFeSt: Join the

benefits SELF’s mission of sustainable community development in Honduras. Plus, there’s beer and food. 1pm, $15-$45. Village Green Park, 3141 Bridgeway Drive in Rancho Cordova.

Film Friday, 5/31 PotterFeSt Harry Potter movie niGHtS: Put your Potter passion and your beer bent to good use at this tap room screening of the fifth movie concerning the life and times of Harry Potter, who is a real wizard. 7pm, no cover. Jackrabbit Brewing Co., 1323 Terminal St. in West Sacramento.

PurPle rain: Catch the rock musical movie starring Prince, featuring the music of Prince and based on the life of Prince. 7:30pm, $7.50-$9.50. Crest Theatre, 1013 K St.

Saturday, 6/1 imPriSoninG a Generation: This screening followed by a community discussion concerns the lives of four Palestinians imprisoned under the Israeli military and political systems. 4pm, no cover. Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, 2425 Sierra Blvd.

comedy old ironSideS: Real Live Comedians at Old Ironsides. Catch some comedians on tour as they stop in at Old Ironsides. There will be an hour and a half of laughs from Jason Mack and more. The show guarantees that “if you don’t laugh, you are an idiot.” That’s not made up—that’s a direct quote. thursday 5/30, 8pm. $10. 1901 10th St.

PunCH line: Steve Hofstetter. This funny fellow is performing a series of shows. Perhaps you know him from YouTube, or from the grocery store. Have I used that joke before? See the “Ginger Kid” live and in person. through 6/1, $17.50-$25.50. Stay Silly Comedy. See some very silly comedians have a very silly time. Sunday 6/2, 7pm. $16. 2100 Arden Way, Suite 225.

Sustainable Empowerment Leadership Foundation for this brew festival that

on StaGe B Street tHeatre: The Forever Question by James Christy. The B Street’s 2018 New Comedies Festival produced a number of new comedies, and this is the one that won.

Catch the new play about a couple who are trying to decide whether or not to do something. through 6/5. $20-$47. 2700 Capitol Ave.

Clara auditorium: Stories on Stage Sacramento with Sharma Shields and Simeon Mills. Sharma Shields’s new novel The Cassandra will be read in part, and Simeon Mills, Shields’ husband, will read from his novel, The Obsoletes. Friday 5/31, 7:30pm. $5. 1425 24th St.

CroCKer art muSeum: Hatch Danceworks in Progress. Join Hatch for some art-inspired dance works. It’s the eighth year of the performances, and you’ll get to participate in an audience Q&A. thursday 5/30, 6:30pm. $16. 216 O St.

SaCramento rivertrain: Murder Mystery Train. Catch a dose of murder mystery on the Murder Mystery Train. With a truly wacky cast of characters and one murder to be solved, it’s the highest form of train-based theater. Friday 5/31, 6:30pm. $100. Sacramento Rivertrain, 400 N. Harbor Blvd. in West Sacramento.

tHe wilKerSon tHeatre inSide tHe CaliFornia StaGe ComPleX: The Young Directors 2019.

Young directors share some works, including Justin Kortuem directing a parody of The Glass Menagerie. through 6/15. $15. 1721 25th St.

tHunder valley CaSino: The Price Is Right Live!. Grab a seat and get ready to watch some consumerism in the form of a TV show, featured on page 25. through 6/1. $49.95. 1200 Athens Ave. in Lincoln.

art alPHa Fired artS: Out of Clay. They’re not out of clay—but their work is made out of clay.

Check out the show from Tilde Marksbury, Robyn Brakel, Muna Halabi, Melody Nix and Gloria Sakato. through 6/1. no cover. 4675 Aldona Lane.

arden Fair: Arden Fair UnchARTed presents Constellation. Join UnchARTed for this collaborative art experience. The Sacramento

Friday, 5/31-Saturday, 6/1

Sacramento Black Book Fair Various locations and times, no coVer

For the sixth year running, the Sacramento Black Book Fair is back. Celebrate black authors with a number of activities around Oak Park. Books on Parade kicks off on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Women’s Civic Improvement Center. It’s a walk around the community with encouragement from the Natomas High School Nighthawk FeStivalS Drum Corp. Don’t miss the Kids Zone at Brickhouse Art Gallery, featuring all kinds of activities. There’s also an opening reception at Underground Books on Friday at 6 p.m. Visit the website for more information and locations.

Sacramentoblackbookfair.com

Photo courteSy oF Glen noBle

Saturday, 6/1

Take Me Out to the Ball Game Sacramento HiStoric city cemetery, 10am, no cover

How much do you like baseball? Enough to learn about its local history in your free time? Good—I thought that might be the case. Join Alan O’Connor MuseuMs as he leads a tour group through the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery. There, you’ll learn all about the local ballplayers who left their mark on the city and are buried in the cemetery.

It’s guaranteed to be a “home run” of a cemetery tour.

1000 Broadway, historicoldcitycemetery.org.

Youth Symphony and LED Labs join forces to play live music and see an LED constellation made by Christopher Schardt Through 6/2.

No cover. 1689 Arden Way.

sACRAMeNTO FINe ARTs CeNTeR: Celebrating the Figure. The human figure isn’t just everywhere you look, it’s also at the Fine Arts Center. Join them for this exhibition celebrating everything there is to celebrate about our bodies. Through 6/23.

No cover. 5330 Gibbons Drive, Suite B in Carmichael.

THe BRICKHOuse GALLeRY & ART COMPLeX: The Invisible Man: Reclaiming the Image of the Black Father. Kareem Daniel’s work comes to the Brickhouse, featuring insights from interviews along with recordings and more. 7pm. Through 5/31. No cover. 2837 37th St.

MID-CeNTuRY MODeRN HOMe TOuR: 60 Years of Streng Bros. Homes. Catch this home tour featuring the homes created by Jim and Bill Streng in mid-century modern style. sunday 6/1, 10am. $25-$40. Location announced 5/31.

MuSEuMS CROCKeR ART MuseuM: Bubbles and Brushes.

Spend a little bit of time in the art museum while landscape painting and sipping on sparkling wine. Thursday 5/30, 6pm. $50. Art Auction. Want to go to the Crocker and walk out with a piece of artwork? We’ve all thought about it—but now you can participate in this evening that combines dining with auctions. Saturday 6/1, 5:30pm. $100. 216 O St.

eFFIe YeAW NATuRe CeNTeR: Sensational Snakes. Snakes are dying to you at Effie Yeaw Nature Center. You’ll wander through the park and get some details on the reptiles that live in the area. sunday 6/2, 1:30pm. $5. 2850 San Lorenzo Way in Carmichael.

POWeRHOuse sCIeNCe CeNTeR: Family Workshop Squid Dissection. Dissect a squid with the Powerhouse Science Center. saturday 6/1, 9:30am. $25. 3615 Auburn Blvd.

sACRAMeNTO HIsTORIC CITY CeMeTeRY: Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Take some time to explore the cemetery with Alan O’Connor, learning about the folks buried there with ties to the local baseball history. saturday 6/1, 10am. No cover. 1000 Broadway.

AeROsPACe MuseuM OF CALIFORNIA: History Comes Alive D-Day Living History. Join WWII veterans Colonel Bud Anderson and Commander Dean Diz Laird to learn what D-Day was like along with other moments

PHOtO COurtESy OF MattHEW t radEr

from the war. saturday 6/1, 11am. $20. 3200 Freedom Park Drive.

SPOrtS & OutdOOrS Saturday, 6/1 DOWNTOWN LINCOLN CLAssIC CAR sHOW: Classic cars will fill the streets of Lincoln. With all kinds of vehicles as well as food and vendors, it’s a great day to explore the area. 9:30am, no cover. Downtown Lincoln, Beermann Plaza in Lincoln.

eN PLeIN AIR PAINTING AT THe KOOBs NATuRe AReA: Want to paint some nature? This day of artwork production lets you use the nature contained in the Koobs Nature Area for inspiration. 10am, no cover. Koobs Nature Area in Carmichael.

LGBtQ SuNday, 6/2 DRAG QueeN sTORYTIMe: Children are invited to hear a story from a drag queen at the Central Library. Challenge definitions of appropriate clothes and gender roles. 2pm, no cover. Central Library, 828 I St.

FrIday, 5/31 TRANs YOuTH & FAMILIes WORKsHOP: This workshop is designed to connect trans and gender non-conforming youth and their families. 4:30pm, no cover. The Sacramento LGBT Community Center, 1927 L St.

taKE aCtION tHurSday, 5/30 HeALING FROM TRAuMA: Native American adults and support agencies that serve Native American families are invited to attend a one-day free workshop addressing suicide prevention in Native communities by bridging the gap between systems. 9:30am, no cover. Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St.

Saturday, 6/1 AFRICAN AMeRICAN MeNTAL HeALTH AWAReNess sYMPOsIuM: Discuss mental health awareness in the African American community with Hopeful Inc. 2pm, no cover. North Natomas Library, 4660 Via Ingoglia.

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THURSDAY 5/30 ArmAdillo music

Hip-Hop Night Live, 6pm, no cover

BAdlAnds

Poprockz 90s Night, 9pm, no cover

207 F ST., DAvIS, (530) 758-8058 2003 k ST., (916) 448-8790

BAr 101

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

Sam Peter, 9:30pm, no cover

SPCA Fundraiser Kickoff, 11:30am, no cover N-Men presents: 2019 Summer Sessions Party, 8pm, call for cover

The BoArdwAlk

Midnight Masquerade, 9pm, $10-$20

Esham, Knights of the Sound Table and more, 7pm, $10

ProjectK Summer Kickoff, 9pm, $15

1500 k ST., (916) 444-3633

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

Dinner and a Drag Show, 7:30pm, $5$25; Karaoke, 9:30pm, call for cover

cresT TheATre

Purple Rain, 7:30pm, $7.50-$9.50

Mario Aguilar, 8pm, $35-$65

1013 k ST., (916) 476-3356

FAces

Faces Karaoke, 9pm, call for cover

Absolut Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

Sequin Saturdays, 9:30pm, call for cover

FATher pAddY’s irish puBlic house

Ralph Gordon, 6pm, call for cover

Loose Engines, 8pm, call for cover

One-Eyed Reilly, 8pm, call for cover

Fox & Goose

Steve McLane, 8pm, no cover

Sea Legs, Stummies and more, 9pm, $5

The Dive Bar Bombers, 9pm, $5

2000 k ST., (916) 448-7798 435 MAIN ST., WOODlAND, (530) 668-1044 1001 R ST., (916) 443-8825

Golden 1 cenTer

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

New Kids on the Block, 7:30pm, $26-$450

hAlFTime BAr & Grill

College Night, 10pm, call for cover

Live music, 9pm, call for cover

Nani, Nate Curry and Complex, 10pm, $10-$15

A Cancer Benefit Concert ft. the Brodie Stewart Band, 6:30pm, $20-$25

5681 lONETREE blvD., ROcklIN, (916) 626-3600

hArlow’s

2708 J ST., (916) 441-4693

Midnight Players, 10pm, $10-$12

2565 FRANklIN blvD., (916) 455-1331

hiGhwATer

Open-Mic, 7:30pm, W, no cover; Monday Night Trivia, 6:30pm, M, no cover The Von Tramps, Not a Part of It and Slutzville, 8pm, call for cover

Royal Thunder and Dead Now, 8pm, T, $12-$15

Boot Scootin Sundays, 8pm, $5

Geeks Who Drink, 8:30pm, W, no cover

Every Damn Monday, 8pm, M, no cover; Noche Latina, 9pm, T, no cover

Open-Mic Night, 7:30pm, M, no cover

Let’s Get Quizzical, 7pm, T, no cover; Cornhole, 6pm, W, $10

hideAwAY BAr & Grill PHOTO cOURTESY OF JAMES HARMAN

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 6/3-5

B.P.M. & Sunday Funday Remixed, 4pm, Trapicana, 10pm, W, no cover call for cover

Fierce Fridays, 7pm, call for cover

RocDaMic featuring Wurdplay Official, 9pm, $15-$20

cApiTol GArAGe

with Salt N Pepa 7:30pm Thursday, $26-$450 Golden 1 Center Pop

SUNDAY 6/2

Chaotic Bride, 7pm, no cover

Burlesque Roulette, 7pm, $12-$15

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the nfl and the devil’s lettuce see ask 420

33

how to germinate seeds

Maturing Alien Fire cannabis plants from a local backyard grow.

Photo by Ken Magri

the more you grow

Cannabis is easy to cultivate and inexpensive

by Ken Magri

they don’t call it “green gold” for nothing. Cannabis was California’s largest cash crop in 2017. The $23.3 billion estimate topped the next five commodities of milk, almonds, grapes, cattle and lettuce combined, according to the Orange County Register. So why not grow some yourself?

Anyone who can grow a decent crop of backyard tomatoes can grow dispensary-quality buds. As long as it’s legal where you live, it’s like growing cash and it just takes a little time and loving care.

good seeds and clones Today’s cannabis seeds benefit from the accumulated research of thousands of growers. Seeds from dispensaries are guaranteed to be female, and come in a wide variety of sativa and indica strains,

including CDB-only strains with no psychoactive properties.

A few local dispensaries sell clones, which are starter cannabis plants. Clones come from branches that were clipped, or “cloned,” from a mother plant. Clones are best for a quick start, because they come ready to transplant, at 6 to 10 inches high. Metro Cannabis and River City Phoenix dispensaries both offer clones from the renowned Dark Heart Nursery, whose weekly drop-offs sell out so quickly that customers start lining up before dawn.

On rare occasions, a perfectly good seed will pop out of a store-bought bud.

Sometimes it’s because of genetics, a sort-of hermaphroditic fluke. Or a tiny bit of male pollen might have found its way there. In any case, consider it a gift from the grower. If the seed is spotted or marbled, and darkish, it is ready to plant.

Everyone has a favorite method for germinating seeds, but the “Amsterdam technique” is the most reliable. Fill a dish with filtered water and drop in a folded paper towel. Place a cannabis seed between sheets of the submerged paper.

Leave the dish in the dark for a couple days, or until a white sprout pokes out from the seed a half-inch or so. When germinating, make sure that the seed is always wet.

Seed scuffing isn’t required, but helps. Scuff up part of the seed with fine sandpaper before germinating. This creates a weak spot for the new growth to break through. Once germinated, plant the new sprout a half inch deep in potting soil.

outdoor or indoor Growing outdoors is less expensive because the light source is free. But it’s illegal in Sacramento County. “Indoors” doesn’t mean hydroponic growing.

Plants grown inside do equally well in soil containers, and won’t require the meticulous attention needed for hydroponic grows. For less than $300, a grow room can be installed in an interior space as small as a closet. Simple grow-tent set ups allow 24/7 growing all year long. More importantly, they eliminate the risk of bug and mold infestation.

There are several single-plant grow tent designs, costing as little as $150. Chico’s Hydrobuilder.com makes a good one. Four full-spectrum LED grow-lights, a timer, a fabric grow-pot (for better drainage) and fertilizers will cost another $130. Add a water filter and a tiny fan, and you are ready to go.

soils and fertilizers Don’t plant cannabis in cheap dirt as the plant will absorb all the toxins. Mainstream nurseries carry great potting soils, and the workers don’t snicker anymore when you say you’re growing cannabis. Oregon’s Only #4 potting soil, from Grower Supply House, is a great mix, specifically designed for growing cannabis indoors or outside.

Use one good fertilizer for the growing stage, and another for the flowering stage.

The recommended amounts on most fertilizers are set as high as the plant will

35

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tolerate without burning up from overfeeding. A better approach is to dilute the fertilizer to a quarter strength, and feed the plant more often. This puts less stress on the plant by giving it a lighter, but steadier supply of nutrients.

overwatering This is the most common mistake. Don’t drown the plant with each watering.

Roots in waterlogged soil can die because they aren’t absorbing the oxygen needed to function normally. Cannabis leaves curl downward and turn yellowish when overwatered. To prevent this, use a fabric container, or one with several drainage holes at the bottom. Set the container upon a grate, a half-inch above the ground. Use a water meter to monitor saturation, or simply lift up the container. If it feels too heavy, cut back on the watering until the first two inches of soil are dry to the touch.

the flowering period Indoor growers must initiate their own flowering period. Cut the light cycle from 22 hours per day down to 11 hours. The plant will think autumn is coming and begin to flower. Switch to a flowering fertilizer, and grow for seven to nine more weeks before harvest time.

When to harvest Harvest when half of the cannabinoids on a bud turn from milky to opaque white.

A strong magnifying glass is needed to see them up close. Some growers harvest only a part of the plant, leaving the rest to grow a bit longer. Dry the plants by hanging them in the coolest, darkest place possible. A fan helps keep the air flowing.

When a branch snaps upon bending, it is completely dry. The buds should be sticky, but dry. There are different philosophies to trimming. While some favor a light dry trim, others trim as soon as the plant is harvested, and go in for a tighter bud.

Use small scissors, or buy a bud trimmer.

Keep the trimmed buds inside glass jars, cool and away from light. Remember to open the jars up every so often, to make sure there is no residual moisture inside that can create mold. Growweedeasy.com is a good overall resource for advice from seed-to-harvest. Ω

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By Ngaio Bealum

as k 420 @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

Bud and basketball I don’t think I’ve seen commentary from you on the black market of marijuana. Considering your experience and knowledge in marijuana over a few decades, have you noticed or heard of a decrease, increase or unchanged amount of low-grade “brown frown” on the black market?

—C. D’StanDStemS v i a tw i t t er

First of all, I live in California, so low-grade weed is hard to find out here.

Even in states where weed is illegal, you don’t see that brown, compressed—because it was smuggled in from Mexico or Jamaica or wherever—seedy, unflavored weed anymore.

Seriously. I haven’t run into any “brick weed” since I bought a $20 ounce in Farmington, New Mexico, around 1996. This is a good thing. No one wants to smoke low-grade weed, especially when you can buy good California weed just about anywhere in the United States and parts of Europe. There is no profit in importing subpar pot across international borders anymore. So, yes, I have seen a decrease in low-grade weed in the traditional market, and I thank the weed gods and the paraquat scare of the ’70s for making it so that we never have to smoke terrible grass ever again.

When will an entity like the NFL or NBA change their stance on weed?

—mon e. Ball

I am surprised that the NBA hasn’t changed its stance already. Weed and basketball go together like weed and basketball. Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, told sports blog SB Nation last May: “My own view is that there are substantial signs that support [marijuana’s] efficacy and the value that it has for us, especially pain management.”

Meanwhile, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told Bleacher Report last December that he and Roberts have a somewhat similar view on this, which is: “We should follow the science. …

This is not an ethical issue for me. It’s not a moral issue for me. I obviously see what’s happening in states around America.”

The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement expires in 2022 or 2023 (there’s an opt-out clause). If the rules haven’t changed by then, I think any new agreement would reduce cannabis testing and penalties. Go Warriors! Bring back the halftime weed ramp!

As for the NFL, it just agreed with its players association to sponsor joint studies looking into cannabis’ efficacy as a pain reliever.

Even though many current players regularly use cannabis (looking at you, Chris Long), the league pretends to be strict and still suspends players who test positive for THC (although my understanding is that the NFL’s drug test is easy to plan for if you pay attention).

The NFL is owned by fuddyduddies, and I don’t expect them to let go of the preconceived notions about the “devil’s lettuce” anytime soon. Ω

Ngaio Bealum is a Sacramento comedian, activist and marijuana expert. Email him questions at ask420@newsreview.com.

@Ngaio420

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Free will astrology

ask joey

For the week oF May 30, 2019

when to let go of a relationship

by JOey GARCIA

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks,

@AskJoeyGarcia

to engage. I’m overwhelmed at work why do I hang on so long to relationships and have no idea how to balance things.

I’m not into? I start dating a girl, but Please help. then know it won’t work out because we don’t sync or I’m not really attracted to Actually, you do know how to balance her. Instead of backing out, I keep going. things and you’re excellent at it. Here’s She ends up thinking we’re in a serious your self-care routine: Between work and relationship while I’m wishing she was home, you slip in about 20 minutes of different or that I could meet someone alone time. The problem is you don’t give who was a better fit. why do I do this? yourself 100 percent permission to enjoy You think love is in short supply. your break. So you sit in a parking lot and Scarcity leads us to believe we don’t feel badly about taking care of yourself. have enough—money or love or status or Let’s upend that drama. On the way truth—and that we will never get enough. home from work, find a spot that sings So we cling to whomever or whatever with natural beauty. Immerse yourself shows up because we’re afraid in it for 30 minutes. If guilt rushes it’s all we deserve. Feeling in, sweep it away. You are not stuck (in a relationship, doing anything wrong. You job, or life circumFeeling are not a bad person. You stance) undermines a are a man who cherishes stuck (in a person’s self-worth. himself and his commitrelationship, job, The lower it drops, ments. To give fully to the worse we feel. or life circumstance) your family and career, The worse we your inner resources undermines a person’s feel, the harder it must be full. One self-worth. The lower it becomes to rustle method of replenishup the energy to drops, the worse we ment is time alone. improve our lives. At Allow yourself to enjoy feel. least, that’s the story daily quiet time without we tell ourselves. the distraction of self-critical Here’s a fresh approach: thoughts. Think of it as an act of Instead of focusing on what it is kindness for yourself, yes, but also for the about a woman that you find unattractive, world. Ω do the opposite. Keep your mind centered on her most attractive qualities. When you notice you’re not syncing with a woman, ask yourself what obstacle MedItatIon oF the week you’ve cemented into place to block the connection.

“Healing does not mean going Are you too critical and controlling? back to the way things were Do you try to make her over into your before, but rather allowing image of the ideal mate or in the image of what is now to move us closer an ex-girlfriend? Dare to honestly assess to God,” said Richard Alpert. your approach to relationships. It may be Where does your heart live in humbling to see how you have kept love at the time-space continuum: arm’s length, but isn’t it better to know? past, present or future?

I find myself parking my truck in an empty lot a few streets down from my house. It’s not that I don’t want to go home after work. I’m just exhausted. I feel like the 20 minutes I spend sitting is the only time I get for myself. I love my wife, I do, but I can’t get her to understand I need some time to myself. I walk in the door and it’s full-on pressure 38

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by ROb bRezsny

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.

it will make good sense for you to travel down winding paths replete with interesting twists and provocative turns. The zig-zags you’ll be inspired to pursue won’t be inconvenient or inefficient, but rather will be instrumental in obtaining the healing you need. To honor and celebrate this oddly lucky phase, I’ll quote parts of “Flying Crooked,” a poem by Robert Graves.

“The butterfly will never master the art of flying straight, yet has a just sense of how not to fly: He lurches here and here by guess and God and hope and hopelessness. Even the acrobatic swift has not his flying-crooked gift.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Has a part of you become too timid, docile or prosaic? Is there an aspect of your beautiful soul that is partially muzzled, submissive or housebroken? If so, now is a favorable time to seek an antidote.

But listen closely: The cure isn’t to become chaotic, turbulent and out of control. It would be counterproductive to resort to berserk mayhem. Here’s a better way: Be primal, lush and exciting. Be wildly playful and unpredictably humorous and alluringly intriguing. Try experiments that rouse your rowdy sweetness, your unkempt elegance, your brazen joy and your sensual intelligence.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I prefer live theater to movies. The glossy flawlessness of films, accomplished by machines that assemble and polish, is less emotionally rich than the direct impact of live performers’ unmediated voices and bodies and emotions. Their evocative imperfections move me in ways that glossy flawlessness can’t.

Even if you’re not like me, Gemini, I invite you to experiment with my approach for a while—not just in the entertainment you choose, but in all areas of your life. As much as possible, get your experience raw and unfiltered.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I’ve got a message for you from Cancerian poet Tyler Knott Gregson.

Please read it every day for the next 15 days, including when you first wake up and right before sleep. Here it is: “Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you have always loved to swim.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 2003, a group of thieves in Antwerp, Belgium pulled off the biggest jewelry heist in history. To steal the diamonds, gold and other gems, together worth more than $100 million, they had to outsmart security guards, a seismic sensor, a protective magnetic field, Doppler radar, infrared detectors and a lock. I mention this because I suspect that in the coming weeks you will have a comparable ability to insinuate yourself into the presence of previously inaccessible treasures and secrets and codes. You’ll be able to penetrate barriers that have kept you shut off from valuable things.

(P.S. But I hope that unlike the Antwerp thieves, you’ll use your superpowers in an ethical manner.)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the northeast corner of Spain, bordering France, is an area known as Catalonia. With its own culture and language, it has a long history of seeking complete autonomy. On four occasions it has declared itself to be independent from Spain. The most recent time was in 2017, when 92% of the Catalans who voted expressed the desire to be free of Spain’s rule. Alas, none of the rebellions have succeeded. In the latest instance, no other nation on Earth recognized Catalonia’s claim to be an independent republic. In contrast to its frustrated attempts, your own personal quest to seek greater independence could make real progress in the coming months. For best results, formulate a clear intention and define the precise nature of the sovereignty you seek.

Write it down!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A Libran blogger with the handle OceanAlgorithms wrote, “I’m simultaneously wishing I were a naturalist whose specialty is finding undiscovered species in well-explored

places; and a skateboarding mathematician meditating on an almost-impossible-to-solve equation as I practice my skateboard tricks; and a fierce forest witch who casts spells on naturedespoilers; and a Gothic heroine with 12 suitors; and the sexiest cat that ever lived.” I love how freewheeling and wide-ranging OceanAlgorithms is with their imaginative fantasies. In light of current astrological omens, I encourage you to do the same. Give yourself permission to dream and scheme extravagantly.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Geologists aren’t exactly sure why, but almost 6 million years ago, the Strait of Gibraltar closed up. As a result, the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean, and within a 1,000 years, it had mostly disappeared. Fast forward 600,000 years. Again, geologists don’t understand how it happened, but a flood broke through the barrier, allowing the ocean to flow back into the Mediterranean basin and restore it to its previous status as a sea. I propose that we invoke that replenishment as a holy symbol for the process you’re engaged in: a replenishment of your dried-out waters.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I invite you to meditate on this proposal from writer Radha Marcum: “The spiritual definition of love is that when you look at the person you love, it makes you love yourself more.” I hope there’s a lot of that kind of action going on for you in the next four weeks. According to my assessment of life’s secret currents, all of creation will be conspiring to intensify and deepen your love for yourself by intensifying and deepening your love for other people. Cooperate with that conspiracy, please!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Is there a creature on Earth that’s more annoying than the mosquito? I’ve never heard anyone gaze upon one of the pesky monsters sucking blood out of her arm and say, “Aw, what a cute little bug.” And yet every year there is a town in Russia that holds a jokey three-day celebration in honor of the mosquito. The people who live in Berezniki even stage a “most delicious” competition, in which people allow themselves to be pricked by mosquitoes for 20 minutes, with an award going to whoever accumulates the most bites. I highly approve of the spirit of this approach for your own use in the coming weeks. If you have fun with the things that bother you, I bet they won’t bother you as much.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): It’s the Forever Season. You have a poetic license to act as if your body will live for a hundred years and your soul will live for all eternity. You are authorized to believe that in the coming decades you will grow steadily wiser, kinder, happier and wilder.

During the Forever Season, you may have dreams like flying over a waterfall at sunset, or finding the lost magic you were promised before you were born, or discovering the key to a healing you feared would always elude you. As you careen through this unpredictable grace period, your understanding of reality may expand dramatically. I bet you’ll get practical epiphanies about how to express yourself with greater effectiveness.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A musical historian from Cambridge University decided it would be amusing to perform forgotten songs that were written in the Rhineland a 1,000 years ago. His research wasn’t easy, because musical notation was different back then. But he ultimately reconstructed the tunes in ways that he felt were 80% faithful to the originals. He and other musicians subsequently performed and recorded them. I propose a somewhat comparable assignment for you in the coming weeks. You will benefit, I believe, from trying to recover the truth about events that occurred a long time ago and/or by trying to revivify old beauty that has new relevance.

Quit waiting around for the world to dry-clean away your problems.

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