20190919 100430

also in This issue:

page 18

aliEn assault

EpstEin, trump and ...

on arEa 51! page 15

sn&r?

By Raheem F. Hosseini, page 14

Lasers caused camp Fire!

T h e w o r l d o f c o n s p i r ac y T h e o r i e s Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

|

Volume 31, iSSue 23

|

thurSday, September 19, 2019

|

newSreView.com

2

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

contents

september 19, 2019 | Vol. 31, Issue 23

The Sacramento Burger Battle took over Drake’s Barn last Thursday. Find out which restaurants took home judge’s and people’s choice awards for tastiest burger.

25 04 05 letters 06 essay + streetalk GreenliGht + 15 minutes 08 10 news 14 feature 20 arts + culture editor’s note

staGe dish place calendar capital cannabis Guide ask joey

23 24 26 30 39 46

cover desiGn by serene lusano

Jenny Plummer, Lloyd Rongley, Lolu Sholotan, Carlton Singleton, Viv Tiqui

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.

N&R Publications Editor Debbie Arrington Associate Publications Editors Derek McDow, Thea Rood

N&R Publications Staff Writer/Photographer Anne Stokes

N&R Publications Editorial Coordinator Nisa Smith Marketing & Publications Lead Consultant Elizabeth Morabito

Marketing & Publications Consultants 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, Dylan Svoboda, Bev Sykes, Graham Womack Creative Services Manager Elisabeth Bayard-Arthur Art Directors Sarah Hansel, Maria Ratinova Publications Art Director Serene Lusano Publications Designer Katelynn Mitrano Publications and Advertising Designer Nikki Exerjian Ad Designer Naisi Thomas, Cathy Arnold

Advertising Manager Michael Gelbman Sales & Production Coordinator Skyler Morris Senior Advertising Consultants Rosemarie Messina, Kelsi White

Advertising Consultants Michael Nero, Rodrigo Ramirez, Vincent Marchese

Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Assistant Lob Dunnica Distribution Drivers Mansour Aghdam, Beatriz Aguirre, Rosemarie Beseler, April Blackmon, Kimberly Bordenkircher, Mike Cleary, Tom Downing, Marty Fetterley, Chris Fong, Ron Forsberg, Michael Jackson, Calvin Maxwell, Greg Meyers, John Parks,

Steve Caruso, Joseph Engle, Sherri Heller, Rod Malloy, Celeste Worden, Greta Beekhuis

President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Director of Nuts & Bolts Deborah Redmond Director of People & Culture David Stogner Nuts & Bolts Ninja Norma Huerta Director of Dollars & Sense Debbie Mantoan Account Jedi Jessica Kislanka Payroll/AP Wizard Miranda Hansen Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95815 Phone (916) 498-1234 Fax (916) 498-7910 Website newsreview.com Got a News Tip? sactonewstips@newsreview.com Calendar Events newsreview.com/calendar Want to Advertise? Fax (916) 498-7910 or snradinfo@newsreview.com Classifieds (916) 498-1234, ext. 5 or classifieds@newsreview.com Job Opportunities jobs@newsreview.com Want to Subscribe to SN&R? sactosubs@newsreview.com Editorial Policies: Opinions expressed in SN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permissions to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. SN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or review materials. Email letters to snrletters@newsreview.com. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form and to edit them for libel.

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

SN&R is printed at PressWorks Ink on recycled newsprint.

Circulation of SN&R is verified by the Circulation Verification Council.

SN&R is a member of Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, CNPA, AAN and AWN.

09.19.19

|

sn&r

|

3

4th AnniversAry

Customer Appreciation Party FridAy, sePtember 27 4Pm to 8Pm

Look good. See well. Pay wholesale.

2203 del paso blvd • 916.226.0257 • thatguyeyewear.com

Your Downtown Service Shop

3175

$

(reg $49.75) most cars.

Call for details. Same day.

Fast In/Out

OIL

CHANGE

2699

$

$60

EMISSIONS DIAGNOSTIC w/repairs at time of service. (reg $120) most cars.

For renewal reg. only.

Call for details.

Call for details.

M-F 7:30-5:30 Sat 8-4 sacsmog.com

Now Hiring: SMOG Technician

Awaken your Natural

Energy

Try our Coffee and Tea Readings.

• Tarot Card Readings • Crystals • Incense RosevIlle • Gifts Psychic Boutique • …and more!

Call for appt • 916.519.9642 • 124 riverside ave, suite B 4 | SN&R | 09.19.19

A capital idea

by Foon Rhee

fo o nr @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

architecture and engineering work, plus environmental approvals.

City Hall will also be seeking broader input from the public, after having already reached out to bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups, event organizers and area business and property owners.

Capitol Mall could look very To understand different if a revitalization why there’s so much plan is funded and built. interest—and potential controversy—in this project, you have to know The stretch of Capitol Mall between Tower some Sacramento history.

Bridge and the state Capitol is the closest thing Planners have had grand designs for more Sacramento has to the grand boulevards of than a century for an avenue to rival those in Europe. other capital cities, including Pennsylvania But these days, the gateway is looking as Avenue in Washington, D.C., according to a tired and unkempt as the yellowed, sunburned history put together by PAR Environmental, grass in the median. a cultural resources consulting firm in So to spruce it up, planners are looking Sacramento. at removing two of the four vehicle lanes After World War II, cities across America and putting the remaining two in the middle. redeveloped their centers. In Sacramento, Capitol As shown on early concept drawings, that Mall was the first “urban renewal” project. While would create wide public areas with trees, it had broad support from business and civic landscaping, public art and retractable shade groups, it meant demolishing a 15-square-block structures, plus a main stage. swath of the West End and displacing thousands “The goal is to improve walkability and of residents. activate the space,” Megan Johnson, manager While many city leaders saw it as a slum, it of the city’s Capitol Mall Revitalization was the city’s most diverse area and home to its Project, wrote in an email.

Japantown. Residents, including some who were Those are logical goals, so here’s the real detained in internment camps during the war, question: How much is a Capitol Mall makespoke out against the project. over worth?

As chronicled by the Urban History A feasibility study estimated the Association, after voters rejected a $1.5 million construction cost at $16 million to $17 million, bond issue, the Sacramento Redevelopment a very preliminary number. Whatever the final Agency successfully secured alternative financing price tag, the city must still figure out where from the Legislature. Demolition of the West to get the money. Depending on environmental End started in 1957, and ground was broken on reviews and funding, construction could begin the first major office building in 1959. In 1964, by 2023.

Capitol Mall won a national award for the best The feasibility study cost $169,000. To urban renewal project. plan the project, the city has also secured The current design was completed in 1965. $500,000 in federal funding and $100,000 from Various revitalization ideas have been floated in the joint city-state Capitol Area Development recent years, but this is the most serious effort to Authority, on top of $250,000 in local money. date.

The next phase, set to start with the It may be past time for a makeover, but at new year, calls for preliminary landscape what price? Ω Photo by Foon Rhee

916 554-6471 2000 16th St Sacramento

voiCes

How much is a Capitol Mall makeover worth?

That Guy Eyewear

SMOG CHECK

V

editoR’S Note

letters

Email to sactolEttErs@nEwsrEviEw.com @SacNewsReview

@SacNewsReview

Facebook.com/SacNewsReview

Welcome to Sacramento Re: “A Bay Area refugee’s plea” by Meaghan Douglas (Essay, Sept. 5): Couldn’t have said it any better myself! I love Sacramento, it’s my home. I could not imagine a time when I will be forced to flee. Welcome to Sacramento. Watch out for the Prius drivers, they’re the worst!

best Car Wash speCials only clay Magic $ 99 express package 129 * with snr coup

on Free Full Service “The Works” Wash Choice of Air Freshener Clay Bar Paint Surface • Hand Wax Wire or Mag Cleaning (Tunnel) Whitewall Cleaning & Tire Dressing

snr special wash 28.99 Full Service Wash including interior vacuum & wipe down 11.00 Triple Foam Wax 8.00 Underbody Rust Inhibitor 2.00 Air Freshener only 9.00 Sealant

normally $149.99

$51.99 Value

*Expires 9/30/19 • Cost may change for larger vehicles • Coupon Code 164

*Expires 9/30/19 • Coupon Code 158

2999*

$

with coupon

1901 L Street • 916.446.0129

(on the corner of 19th and L) •

www.harvscarwash.com

Jordan Motta S acr am en t o / v i a Sn & r E x t ra

The threat of 5G Re: “5G for fighting” by Scott Thomas Anderson (News, Sept. 12); Thank you so much for covering this story. Sacramento residents need to be aware of the threat that is knocking on our front doors. I have been fighting against the unchecked rollout of 5G since March, shortly after my family began experiencing health problems that we attribute to the Verizon antenna installed just 45 feet from our home.

The antenna is roughly the same height as our second story, pointed at our home and is radiating directly into our bedroom windows.

Left unchecked, companies such as Verizon and AT&T will install thousands of small cell antennas throughout the Sacramento area.

These antennas are being installed on top of light poles, closer than ever to people’s homes. The proximity, particularly on the vertical axis, is the greatest threat to our safety.

This will result in unprecedented levels of exposure to radio frequency radiation inside our homes.

noah davidSon Sac rame n to / v i a em ai l

Solar energy is the future Re: “Nuclear power works” by Michael Stinson (Letters, Sept. 12): Acquiring energy from fossil fuels has been expensive in human lives, mostly affecting poorer people.

Nuclear energy, if it is not made safe, can also endanger lives, but affecting everyone, and the damage to the environment could be catastrophic.

Moreover I do not believe that relying on solar power will send us back to buggies and oil lamps.

Work being done at the University of Arizona and also in Oregon and

Utah suggests that solar energy collection and food production can be combined. Solar panels do not do so well in the desert sun because it is often too bright. It seems that milder sunlight, which grass and vegetable crops also need, is more advantageous. Plants with solar panels covering them apparently do better than those that are uncovered. Moisture is preserved for the crops underneath. Imagine safe energy pouring in from pastures all over this country. We’d be energy rich!

noni ChinEry rEdMond S acr am en t o / v i a e m a i l

Dodging bikes I just moved here recently from Ventura and live downtown near the state Capitol.

What’s the deal with all the bicycle riders on the sidewalks?

If that’s legal, who has the rightof-way? I’m going to get killed down here.

MiChaEl Shortz S acr am en t o / v i a e m a i l

Bring back film reviews Is there any way I could persuade you guys to reinstate movie reviews? I miss them so much. It’s made me pick up fewer and fewer issues than I once did. I’ll even write the reviews for you if that’s what it takes. I just hate that film criticism has become an acceptable loss in print. It’s so deeply, soul-crushingly depressing. I’m begging you, please right this wrong.

issue on stands

09/26

Brandon WolfE S acr am en t o / v i a e m a i l read more letters online at newsreview.com/sacramento.

09.19.19

|

sN&r

|

5

eSSay

by nia MooreWeatHers

StReetalk

by Patrick Hyun Wilson

Asked At the Country Club PlAzA on WAtt Avenue:

Best cheap food?

A second chance Sacramento should use Measure U money to clear criminal records During the Measure U campaign to increase the sales tax and in the debates that followed, Mayor Darrell Steinberg and other city leaders promised that they would use the proceeds to support “inclusive economic development.”

These new funds are meant to benefit all Sacramentans and all parts of the city, particularly those who have been excluded in the past. Among those who are most excluded Nia MooreWeathers is a community organizer with Youth Forward, a Sacramento-based nonprofit that advocates for from our economy are people with criminal youth and families. records, particularly those with felonies.

They face a series of personal, financial, social and educational barriers as they pursue life after incarceration. They can find it very of community-based organizations, the difficult to find employment and can be Sacramento County District Attorney, the blocked from access to affordable housing and Public Defender’s Office, Code for America education. These barriers also impact their and City Councilman Jay Schenirer, we families and children. The era of mass incarhave been able to identify about 6,000 ceration sent thousands of people to prison for Sacramentans who can benefit from a records minor offenses and drove thousands of change for a prior marijuana convicfamilies into poverty. tion. The district attorney has Fortunately, many people made a formal request to the with prior convictions can have Among those courts to begin the process their lives renewed by having of changing the records of who are most their records cleared or these individuals. excluded from our reduced. Through expungeBut much remains to be ment, they can petition the economy are people done. We estimate that there courts to have convictions are 100,000 Sacramentans with criminal records, reduced or cleared. With the who could benefit from particularly those passage of Proposition 64, expungement support from marijuana-related felonies can with felonies. the public defender and local be changed to misdemeanors. legal nonprofits.

According to research City leaders were correct in conducted by UC Berkeley professors taking on the challenge of growing and published in the Columbia Law Review, an inclusive economy. It’s clear that the the economic benefits of expungement for gap between the haves and have-nots in the individual and larger community are very Sacramento is widening quickly. Without significant. On average, individuals who have investments in an expungement process, cleared their records experience a 33% increase those with prior convictions will continue to in earnings and higher employment rates. remain on the margins as our city grows and The process of petitioning the courts, however, prospers. can be time consuming, expensive and can require We urge the Sacramento City Council legal assistance. Often, people with a prior convicto invest a portion of Measure U funding tion may not be aware that they can get relief. to build a more robust infrastructure of And there is little public or private funding to do attorneys and outreach workers to provide outreach and to provide legal assistance. expungement services—and to help thousands Over the last two years we have made of Sacramentans turn their lives around. Ω some good progress. Through a coalition 6

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

A Aron gr ACe assistant security director

There’s a place at Arden Fair mall called Dos Coyotes. For really inexpensive, you’ll get really high-quality food. It’s better than dumping five bucks on a “Hunger Box” from Taco Bell.

CynthiA JAynes retired

I like KP International Markets.

It has everything … They have a fish market where you can get a fish that’s swimming around, they’ll kill it and fry it for you and you can bring it home.

dArryl singh musician

Red Star is off Florin Road and they sell Jamaican food, Puerto Rican food for very cheap … I’m from back east and I like Jamaican food, and that’s the only place that has, like, Jamaican food.

Jose sAnChe z medical office assistant

Los Jarritos off Broadway. Good portions, inexpensive. I’ve been going several years. There’s La Esperanza bakery, which is owned by the Plasencias, and they opened Los Jarritos.

shAWnA sAnders social worker

There’s a taqueria on Fruitridge called Los Inmortales, which is probably the best place to get a burrito for really cheap… They have a sour cream guacamole that has just enough spice.

MArk WAtson community employment specialist

I go to a place religiously every Saturday morning, Capital Casino … You get eggs, hash browns or country potatoes, sausage or nice generous amounts of bacon and four slices of toast, and I get a coffee, too, for about $12.

09.19.19 | SN&R | 6

Distinguishing hemp from Cannabis legally S

ince the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp has been making a quiet comeback as an agricultural crop. Rediscovered for its versatility of uses, hemp is instrumental in the emergence of CBD oils. But people are still confused about the exact differences between hemp and cannabis.

In short, hemp is also a cannabis plant, but the one that doesn’t get anyone high.

Mature female hemp plants are a Sativa subspecies that contain less than 0.3% THC. Hemp can also be differentiated from marijuana by its appearance and environmental adaptability.

Used over the centuries for paper, clothing, rope and food, the American colonialists were encouraged to grow hemp plants. In 1914, the U.S. $10 bill was printed on hemp and showed a hemp harvest on the back side.

“if you’re in the industry, and you are worried about transporting to other states, this is a serious issue.”

Clark Wu, Attorney Rose Law Group

Hemp became a casualty of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which restricted exports and made it economically unviable to sell. Last year’s Farm Bill, however, separated hemp from cannabis so that it can be legally grown, transported and sold in all 50 states.

But not every state wants to go along. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem recently vowed to veto any bill legalizing hemp until law enforcement can reliably distinguish it from cannabis. “There is no question in my mind that normalizing hemp, like legalizing medical marijuana, is part of a larger strategy to undermine enforcement of drug laws,” she wrote when vetoing a similar bill earlier this year.

that every state eventually create a “hemp program.” South Dakota and Idaho do not yet have such programs. “I am curious to see how they are going to try to structure that in a way that lines up with their current position,” said Wu. Wu called the Idaho case, which goes to trial in October, a metaphor for the larger issue of interstate hemp commerce: “If you’re in the industry, and you are worried about transporting to other states, this is a serious issue.”

It makes the 2018 arrest of truck drivers transporting hemp across Idaho that much more concerning. Stopped while driving on the interstate from Colorado to Oregon, the drivers explained they were hauling legal industrial hemp. But Idaho law says that any plant containing THC, no matter how little, is illegal.

“That is in direct contradiction of what it states in the Farm Bill,” said Clark Wu, a cannabis attorney at Arizona’s Rose Law Group. Wu says the Farm Bill can mandate

Sponsored by:

ColleCtiveS Caring for the Community. for more info:

www.Collective-giving.com CA licenses issued

pa i d a d v e r t i s e m e n t

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

7

gReenlight

15 minutes

by James Raia

Learning from the Hoosiers

by Jeff vonKaenel

Indianapolis and Sacramento both have a metro population of about 2 million. Both have NBA teams that have never won a championship in their city. Both are river and railroad towns. So the Hoosier state capital was a natural choice for the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s annual study mission.

Along with approximately 90 business and nonprofit leaders, government employees and elected officials, I spent last Tuesday through Friday learning how a similar city handles transit, tourism, economic development, neighborhood development focused on poor minority areas and government decision-making.

We rode in a pace car whizzing around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 120 mph. That was a thrill! And we experienced Midwestern humidity. Not a thrill.

The chamber staff rounded up expert after expert, who were more than happy to share their Indianapolis experiences.

Some of these experts used to work in Sacramento, so they were able to compare and contrast our two cities. The study missions are a petri dish for good ideas.

The Hoosiers had more to teach than I have space to write. But here are my major takeaways. Over four days, we heard the word “collaborative” hundreds of times. One after another, people spoke about how governments worked with corporations, who worked with nonprofits, to “get stuff done.” Like what?

A major expansion of hotel rooms and convention space, which has increased the number of visitors by several hundred thousand, or roughly 50%. They built a professional football stadium even before they had a commitment for a team. They raised funds to subsidize direct flights to Paris. The business community led a major transit ballot initiative that raises $54 million a year from a 0.25% income tax, costing the average household about $120 a year.

One remarkable thing about this collaborative spirit is that it has been maintained even when the mayor’s 8

|

sn&R

|

09.19.19

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

position has switched parties. There has been a real effort to maintain continuity with the previous administration. There are not the extreme differences between Republicans and Democrats in Indiana that we have in California.

This is not to say that everything is working perfectly. Despite significant economic growth, there is a profound gap between the haves and have-nots in Indianapolis. Virtually every speaker remarked on the horrible poverty numbers and the large segment of their city’s population, particularly the minority population, that was being left behind in their economic expansion.

But the speakers also pointed out that Indianapolis is a blue island in a red Republican state, whose electorate is extremely hostile to higher taxes. So businesses and nonprofits need to step up because the government will not be able to.

Collaboration is the key for getting the most accomplished with finite resources. We heard over and over that this begins with trusting and listening to all community members, and a willingness to compromise and to model good behavior.

The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce has a national reputation for its large size as well as its ability to bring the community together, leading with trust, as opposed to political manipulation.

One of the reasons that we went to Indianapolis was to see an effective chamber. The Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, led by its new CEO Amanda Blackwood, is now on a similar path. The changes she’s made in her short tenure are impressive. Ω

Coffee Works? He sure hopes it does! Stevan Teague roasts beans for the East Sac esablishment.

PHOTO BY JAMES RAIA

Coffee roaster on ice Stevan Teague’s workdays begin at 3:30 a.m., and he’s on his feet 40 hours a week.

He has a seven-minute commute to Coffee Works and Jump Start Cafe, where he’s worked for 26 years, mostly as their coffee roaster. The funky coffeehouse on Folsom Boulevard opened in 1982, and has Jerry Garcia’s image immortalized in tile squares behind the counter. There, Teague is the senior staffer. His early-morning schedule may not be for everyone, but Teague’s work is done by noon—and that’s a good thing, because on Thursdays, the 64-year-old East Sacramentan spends a few more hours on his feet. He drives to Skatetown in Roseville and starts playing ice hockey.

SN&R chatted with Teague during one of his recent morning shifts about his long career as a roaster and his recreation of choice.

You’ve been here nearly 25 years, an old-school guy in an old-school place. A lot of coffee shops have come and gone, but Coffee Works remains. Is there a reason?

We’ve been consistent, and that’s how we’ve survived. I believe in a little bit more development on the roast. Being old school, we go a little darker with most of our stuff. There’s still a need for a lighter roast, but at the same time, I believe in the sweetness that develops in coffee, and I try to find that, rather than that sour mash others get.

How did you start playing ice hockey?

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

I did everything as a kid. I swam. I played baseball.

I played all sports at La Sierra High School. I never played hockey when I was young. I had opportunities, but I kick myself for the times I could have played when I lived up in Washington. But eventually

I went to Anchorage where my dad was, and I ran into a lot of people who played hockey. I went out to watch the first game of the season and thought, “There’s no way you’re going to get me on the ice.”

But then I just started to play.

But why hockey?

I was running, and I was trying to do that every morning, but my knees just revolted against me.

So I had to try something different, and one thing led to another. I’ve been playing for about 20 years now. It’s the best game in the world.

How have you improved as a player?

It’s funny. As we get older, we don’t get that much better. I joke about it. I call it “smart hockey.” It’s an inside joke. We walk in the locker room and there’s a certain age group in there. And there are also kids in there who bring the age down a little bit, and they have a little more talent sometimes. It’s mainly non-contact, but there’s some incidental contact. But we all have jobs to go to.

You’re 64 years old. When you play ice hockey, do you have aches and pains?

I do. But the thing is about playing a sport and doing any kind of exercise, you know where the aches and pains came from. You can blame it on that rather than anything else. I laugh about that, because when I don’t play for a couple of weeks, there’s a lot of stuff that crops up, and I say, “Where did that come from?”

What’s playing ice hockey like?

The hand-eye coordination over time is muscle memory with the repetition of the game … you get better with it. But as we get older, it’s different.

Some guys can knock down a puck in midair and control it. It’s not a ball. It’s a lot different optically. When it happens, it’s phenomenal. I get lucky sometimes. I knock it down, and even score every once in a while.

Finally, what does the game of hockey do for you?

It keeps me sane—it’s an outlet. It’s great; the camaraderie, and the exercise and the game itself. It’s fun. It’s classic.

Ω

Health care

shouldn’t be a

headache Open enrollment an annual reminder of rising costs by yvOnnE R. WALkER

I

t’s that time of year again when families pull out their calculators, crunch the numbers and keep their fingers crossed. (For this headache, they may reach for some pain relievers, too.) It’s open enrollment, that annual period when state workers stress about their health care for the coming year.

During open enrollment, state workers have to make a lot of tough decisions, often having to weigh the value of keeping their doctors and specialists versus saving a few dollars by going to a cheaper network — and perhaps even changing plans once a year to lower their costs.

Bouncing around between providers and systems can be stressful and hurt the quality of their care. For rural members, they usually don’t even have that choice and continually are forced to pay increasingly higher costs.

We are working to change this.

That starts with recognizing that affordable health care shouldn’t be a numbers game. Health care should be a human right.

Why is affordable health care so important? It’s literally a matter of life or death. Not only is it crucial to physical and mental well being, but can mean the difference between maintaining a roof over your head or being out on the streets.

There’s a direct correlation between uninsured catastrophic illness and bankruptcy. Mounting health care bills can overwhelm a family’s already shaky financial situation, forcing them to lose their home.

Even with coverage for our members and coverage under the Affordable Care Act, people often fall into this category of being under-insured. This means you have health insurance on paper, but you can’t afford to use it. How do we know?

A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and California Health Care Foundation found that almost a third of state residents making $49,000 or less for a family of four had problems paying medical bills. More then half delayed getting medical and dental treatment such as check-ups, tests, prescriptions and mental health care. Even for those with higher incomes, about a third delayed care, the survey found.

Even when they did get medical or dental care, a majority of low-income Californians had difficulty paying for it.

Almost three quarters of low-income residents said they had

to cut spending on other household items to pay medical bills, and about six out of 10 said they’d gutted their savings, put off vacations, or had to borrow money from family or friends to pay their medical bills.

As we fight for lower costs, we also need to be even more vigilant that employers and health insurance companies are not keeping premiums low on one side but under-insuring people on the other — making it impossible for people to afford to use the health insurance that they have.

I’ve heard from many state workers hit by sky-high deductibles. They may delay vital procedures such as a colonoscopy or cancer screening because they feel they can’t afford such preventative measures.

Here’s an example from Debby, a state worker: “Although I need medical care, I’ve been putting off important medical procedures because my $3,500 deductible is way too high. I’m still struggling with last year’s medical bills and being off work for several months to recuperate. I appreciate having insurance – I really do – but if we can’t afford to use it or are forced to pay more each month for an HMO that doesn’t include our doctors, how is that much of a benefit? Having to choose between housing and health care is a detrimental choice that employees should not have to face, but we do.”

To help workers like Debby, we successfully negotiated for the state to pay $260 a month to all our represented employees who get insurance from CalPERS. We continue to look for ways to bring down the cost of health insurance.

It takes time to make real systemic changes on all sides.

In future columns, I’ll discuss ways those changes can be accomplished.

But know this: Our members are leading the charge for affordable, accessible health care for all.

Yvonne R. Walker President, SEIU Local 1000

SPONSORED by SERvicE EmPlOyEES iNtERNatiONal uNiON lOcal 1000

Insured but still struggling

1 in 5

insured Californians struggled with medical bills in 2018

4 in 10

Californians say they or a family member skipped care due to cost Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

SEIU LOCAL 1000 1808 14th Street Sacramento, CA 95811 (866) 471-7348

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

9

Sacramento Climate Coalition activists wear fossil fuel costumes for an October 2018 rally outside the federal courthouse.

Photo by Dylan SvoboDa

The climate summit Why the 2019 U.N. gathering matters for our planet

by Mark Hertsgaard

this story originally appeared in the nation. It is republished here as part of Sn&R’s partnership with Covering Climate now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. an unabridged version is available at newsreview.com/ sacramento.

10

|

SN&R

As world leaders converge on New York for the United Nations Climate Action Summit on Sept. 23, they enter what may be the most consequential week in climate politics since Donald Trump’s surprise election as president in 2016.

Trump, of course, announced soon after taking office that he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, the landmark treaty signed at the last big U.N. climate summit in 2015.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres convened this summit precisely because the U.S. and most other countries remain far from honoring their Paris pledges to reduce heat-trapping |

09.19.19

emissions enough to prevent catastrophic climate disruption. The events of the coming days—including a global climate strike on Friday, Sept. 20 by the activists whose protests in the past year have pushed the term “climate emergency” into news reports around the world— may help answer a question that has loomed over humanity since Trump’s election: Can the rest of the world save itself from climate breakdown if the richest, most powerful nation on earth is pulling in the opposite direction?

Signed in December 2015 by every government on earth except North Korea

Th e Na tio n

and Costa Rica, the Paris Agreement stands as the strongest achievement of climate diplomacy since governments first debated the issue at the U.N. “Earth Summit” in 1992. In a shock to climate insiders, the agreement not only committed signatory governments to limit temperature rise to the relatively less dangerous level of 2 degrees Celsius. It also obliged governments to keep temperature rise “well below” 2 degrees Celsius and, in a major victory for the most vulnerable countries, to strive for 1.5 degrees. That half-degree may not sound like much, but it spells the difference between life and death

for low-lying coastal nations such as Bangladesh and island states such as the Maldives—two of many places that, science says, would literally disappear beneath the waves with more than 1.5 degrees of warming.

The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement was big news, but also widely misunderstood. Despite Trump’s bluster, the withdrawal still has not happened.

Precisely to guard against such capriciousness, the negotiators in Paris stipulated that every signatory was legally bound to remain in the agreement until four years after the treaty took effect, which would only happen after countries responsible for 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions ratified it. Thus, the Paris Agreement did not take effect until Nov. 4, 2016. That means the United States cannot leave until Nov. 4, 2020—which, not by accident, is one day after the 2020 presidential election. If Trump loses that election, his successor almost certainly would move to remain in the Paris Agreement.

Trump is not expected to attend the summit; the U.S. delegation will instead be led by Andrew Wheeler, a former

Special-ed aS racial Segregation See neWS

12

Sutter HealtH’S alleged monopoly See neWS

13

could We Have prevented trump?

See cover

14

beats

a red menace coal company lobbyist who is now the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. In keeping with Trump’s denial of climate science and his administration’s dismantling of environmental regulations and accelerating of fossil fuel development, Wheeler testified to the Senate in January that he would not call climate change “the greatest crisis” facing humanity.

SHoW and tell “Don’t bring a speech, bring a plan!”

For months now, that’s what Secretary General Guterres has been telling heads of state and government. Instead of the endless blah-blah-blah heard at most U.N. meetings, Guterres wants this summit to be more like “show-and-tell,” a meeting where governments share concrete and replicable examples of how they are cutting emissions and boosting resilience to the climate impacts already unfolding.

As such, the summit aims to address a glaring deficiency of the Paris Agreement.

In part, because the agreement made emissions cuts voluntary, global emissions have continued to increase since 2015. At current trends, the earth is heading towards 3 to 5 degrees C of temperature rise—enough, scientists warn, to destroy civilization as we know it.

“The secretary general has very clearly demanded that all participants identify very concrete measures that can be implemented immediately,” Luis Alfonso de Alba, Guterres’s special envoy for the summit, said in an interview with Covering Climate Now, a collaboration of 250 news outlets around the world to strengthen coverage of the climate story.

Alba, a career diplomat from Mexico, steered clear of criticizing the Trump administration. “We need higher political will not only in one country but in a number of them,” he said, before pivoting to add, “We’re very much impressed by what states, cities and businesses are doing in the U.S. to move into renewables.”

Indeed, then-Gov. Jerry Brown of California announced at a climate summit last September that he signed an executive order committing the state, the world’s fifth-biggest economy, to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2045. This summer, New York state, whose economic output is roughly equivalent to Russia’s, passed a law requiring the state to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040.

The Under2 Coalition, a group of more than 220 state and local governments

local climate action Sacramento events for Global Week of Climate Action

#climateStrike 12-1:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 20, state Capitol west steps

Meanwhile, the burning of the Amazon, Hurricane Dorian’s devastation of the Bahamas, this summer’s heat waves across much of the Northern Hemisphere and countless less-heralded disasters illustrate that climate disruption is no longer a worrisome future specter but a punishing current reality.

green neW deal

In the United States, activists with the Sunrise Movement and other groups have protested against Democratic 5 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 24, and Republican politicians alike and Sacramento City Hall demanded that the government implement a Green New Deal. Championed green neW deal toWn Hall

by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio2-4:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28, Cortez of New York, the Green New Fruitridge Community Collaborative Deal calls for the government to kickstart the transformations of energy and other sectors the IPCC says are needed. around the world representing 43% of the Central to the plan is “climate justice,” global economy, is likewise committed the notion that poor and nonwhite to keeping temperature rise well below 2 individuals and communities have degrees. suffered the worst from climate change The climb remains very steep, and therefore should get precedence for however. Scientists with the U.N. the jobs and opportunities flowing from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate a Green New Deal.

Change declared last October in their Activist pressure has helped make the landmark special report that humanity Green New Deal the de facto position of had to slash emissions by 45% by 2030, the Democratic Party, while also spreadon the way to net-zero by 2050, to hit the ing the idea overseas. Each of the lead1.5 degree Celsius target. Failure ing Democratic candidates in to do so would condemn the race to replace Trump many millions of people, has endorsed one particularly in poor and version or another of Can the rest of vulnerable countries, to a Green New Deal. the world save itself destitution and death Guterres has and make irreversible gone out of his from climate breakdown global warming more way to boost the if the richest, most likely. Such dramatic visibility of the powerful nation on earth emissions reductions, climate youth, the scientists added, most notably Greta is pulling in the opposite would require the Thunberg, the direction? transformation of the Swedish teenager who global energy, agricultural, is the best-known face transportation and other of the climate movement. sectors at a speed and scale withMeanwhile, Alba’s own teenout precedent in human history. age son has given him advice on how China, the other climate superpower to make the case for action: Don’t talk along with the United States, will so much about the future that youth therefore have to do better as well. China will inherit but rather about the climate won plaudits in the lead-up to the Paris disasters happening now. summit in 2015 by closing many of its “This is an emergency we need to coal-fired power plants. But coal burning deal with today, not tomorrow,” Alba in China has recently crept back up, and said. “Talking about 2030 and 2050 is Beijing has also financed construction of important because science gives us those coal plants in other nations, particularly dates for achieving certain objectives, but in support of its massive “Belt and Road” there’s the danger that it tells people that initiative to construct ports, railways, and we have time to make these changes. And other infrastructure across Asia to the that is a mistake.” Ω Middle East, Africa and Europe.

climate emergency declaration demonStration

Turns out politicians don’t like getting splattered with what may be blood, even on a rare full-moon Friday the 13th.

During what was already going to be an end-of-the-2019-session marathon inside the California Senate Chambers, lawmakers had to pause the people’s business when an anti-vaccine

demonstrator lobbed a plasma-filled feminine hygiene device over the gallery’s second-floor balcony onto the Senate floor, according to the California Highway Patrol. “The liquid landed on several members of the Senate,” the CHP stated five hours after the incident, which occurred approximately 5:14 p.m. on Sept. 13.

Capitol security arrested the woman after she left the gallery into the hallway. She was booked into jail in downtown Sacramento on charges of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery, creating a health hazard on state property and disrupting official business inside the Capitol. Jail logs identified the suspect as 43-year-old Rebecca Lee Dalelio, who reportedly was protesting already passed legislation to limit medical exemptions for child vaccinations.

State Sen. Richard Pan of Sacramento, a former pediatrician who drafted the legislation and was shoved last month by livestreaming anti-vax activist Kenneth Austin Bennett, characterized both acts as signs of an escalating blood feud.

“Like the assault committed by Mr. Bennett, this incident was incited by the violent rhetoric perpetuated by leaders of the antivaxx movement,” Pan said in a statement.

The fact that Gov. Gavin Newsom has already signed Senate Bill 276 into law doesn’t necessarily mean the furor will die down.

A few days before Dalelio hurled menstrual blood and mixed metaphors, three women associating themselves with the Freedom Angels Foundation filed a referendum against SB 276 with the Office of the Attorney General. (Raheem F. Hosseini)

BuS a move Several South Sacramento residents are upset about what they describe as a noisy, fuming school bus lot near their homes.

Construction of the bus lot on San Joaquin Street began in March 2018, with buses up and running for the last six months.

One of the more vocal residents, Veronique Hanna, said she raised concerns more than a year-and-a-half ago, but didn’t get the response she wanted from Sacramento City Unified School District officials.

“I would say, ‘Please come to my house so I can show you [the noise and smells].’ And I would be told back that they didn’t need to come to my house,” Hanna said. “And part of the anger is that what you’re seeing, smelling, feeling isn’t attributed [to the bus lot.]”

Hanna and other residents estimate 200 buses go in and out of the bus lot four times a day—and that was before the school year started.

When asked what actions have been taken by the district since a July meeting with concerned residents, SCUSD spokesman Alex Barrios wrote in an email that “Sac City Unified is doing everything it can to be a good neighbor” and that it is “already working to mitigate some neighbor’s concerns regarding lighting and noise,” with a commitment to “continue working with the neighborhood on solutions.”

Despite neighbors’ complaints, Barrios said that the bus lot has been “very beneficial” to the community because with it the district is “able to provide better and more reliable transportation services to our students and families.” (Deana Medina)

09.19.19

|

sN&R

|

11

Darryl White Sr. leads the Black Parallel School Board, one of the groups suing SCUSD. Photo by kris hooks

No more waiting Coalition files federal lawsuit against Sac City Unified on behalf of disabled students

by Scott thomaS anderSon

“How much data do you need to take action?” the frustrated parent of an autistic student asked in January, after the Sacramento City Unified School District had spent 19 months mulling over a damning independent report on its handling of students with disabilities, while failing to act on most of its recommendations.

Eight months later, it’s not just parents exasperated by the lack of action: A coalition of nonprofits and youth advocacy groups just filed a federal lawsuit against the district, one that seeks to force fundamental change in its special education program.

Some parents had long suspected the district has potentially illegal polices for educating disabled students, though their concerns became impossible to ignore after May 2017. That’s when 12

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

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

the independent audit by Council of the Great City Schools determined disabled students at SCUSD had abnormally low graduation rates, weren’t getting adequate mental health services and were experiencing alarmingly high suspension rates. The audit singled out the district’s handling of African-American students, many of whom suffered from emotional disturbances and had nearly twice the suspension rate as non-disabled students.

The analysis was soon bolstered by another independent study, this one by San Diego State University. It found that black male students with disabilities in the district were the group with the highest suspension rates.

A year after the audit’s release, all 11 members of the district’s Community Advisory Committee for Special Education

resigned in protest, specifically because SCUSD officials had failed to implement recommendations from both them and the audit.

On Sept. 6, Disability Rights California, Equal Justice Society, Western Center on Law & Poverty, the National Center for Youth Law and the Black Parallel School Board jointly filed suit against the district and school board in federal district court.

“Sacramento City Unified School District has created and perpetuates an unlawful school system that results in modern-day segregation and mistreatment of students with disabilities, particularly Black students with disabilities,” attorneys wrote in their 54-page complaint. “Despite being on notice of its discriminatory conduct for years, the District has not taken steps to effectively eradicate the problems. … As a result, discrimination persists and students languish in a hostile, stigmatizing and demoralizing school environment.

“Sacramento City Unified School District places nearly half of its students with disabilities in segregated placements,” the suit alleges.

The suit is filed on behalf of three African-American students—a fourth grader diagnosed with autism and dyslexia, a fifth grader diagnosed with autism and anxiety disorder and a high school junior assessed with mental health conditions.

While the suit contends each student was not given the education to stay in classrooms with non-disabled peers, it’s also filed as a class action on behalf of hundreds of other potentially affected students.

The lawsuit seeks a court injunction to compel the district to adopt an inclusion plan originally recommended by Council of the Great City Schools.

SCUSD chief communications officer Alex Barrios declined to comment on the pending litigation, but said in a written statement that the district understands the level of community concern.

“We want to be clear that the District will not tolerate any form of discrimination in our schools and is taking these allegations very seriously,” Barrios wrote.

“Although these matters are complex, we will continue to look deeply at how to meet

the academic and social and emotional needs of all students, including students with disabilities, who are among our most vulnerable.”

One group driving the legal action is the Black Parallel School Board, a local organization that grew out of the Sacramento Area Black Caucus. Board chairman Darryl White Sr. says his organization was aware of problems long before the independent audit, but hadn’t seen the full scope because it often referred parents to outside organizations that specialized in disability issues.

“We didn’t really have the expertise in special education we thought we needed to take it on,” White said. After news broke of the audit, his board began meeting with disabled students and their families.

“The number of parents that showed up blew us away,” White said. “And the stories we heard were so emotional. After listening to that, we knew we had to get directly involved.”

Mona Tawatao of the Equal Justice Society, one of the lead attorneys in the lawsuit, pointed out that, by some metrics, the disproportionate suspension of black students with disabilities has actually gotten worse since the independent audit.

“By segregating, we don’t just mean separating these students out into special classes and programs—though that has been happening—but we also mean the disparity in disciplining them,” Tawatao told SN&R. “When you suspend rather than find other ways to address behavior, the student begins to see him or herself as bad or problematic, and that gets internalized. In some cases, this leads to self-harm.”

Michael Harris, senior director of legal advocacy and juvenile justice for National Center for Youth Law, said that his organization joined the lawsuit because Sacramento City Unified has become a glaring outlier within the most populous state in the union.

“They have the highest suspension rates for African-American students of any district in California, period,” Harris said, citing the San Diego State study. “And that’s even above L.A. Unified. … We want a culture change. We hope to achieve a total transformation of how this district does business.” Ω

Bring this ad in for $5 toward an entrée*

Sutter Health has its day in court

by Jenny Gold

SAN FRANCISCO—Economists and researchers long have blamed the high cost of health care in Northern California on the giant medical systems that have gobbled up hospitals and physician practices—most notably Sutter Health, a nonprofit chain with 24 hospitals, 34 surgery centers and 5,000 physicians across the region.

Now, those arguments will have their day in court: A long-awaited class-action lawsuit against Sutter is set to open Monday, Sept. 23 in San Francisco Superior Court.

The hospital giant, with $13 billion in operating revenue in 2018, stands accused of violating California’s antitrust laws by leveraging its market power to drive out competition and overcharge patients. Health care costs in Northern California, where Sutter is dominant, are 20% to 30% higher than in Southern California, even after adjusting for cost of living, according to a 2018 study from the Nicholas C. Petris Center at the University of California-Berkeley cited in the complaint.

The case was initiated in 2014 by selffunded employers and union trusts that pay for worker health care. It since has been joined with a similar case brought last year by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

The plaintiffs seek as much as $900 million in damages for overpayments that they attribute to Sutter; under California’s antitrust law, the award can be tripled, leaving Sutter liable for as much as $2.7 billion.

The case is being followed closely by industry leaders and academics alike.

“This case could be huge. It could be existential,” said Glenn Melnick, a health care economist at the University of Southern California. If the case is successful, he predicted, health care prices could drop significantly in Northern California. It also could have a “chilling effect” nationally for large health systems that have adopted similar negotiating tactics, he said.

“We feel very confident,” said Richard Grossman, lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

“Sutter has been able to elevate their prices above market to the tune of many hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Sutter vigorously denies the allegations, saying its large, integrated health system offers tangible benefits for patients, including

Kaiser Health News

more consistent high-quality care. Sutter also disputes that its prices are higher than other major health care providers in California, saying its internal analyses tell a different story.

“While insurance companies want to sell narrow networks to employers, integrated networks like Sutter’s benefit patient care and experience, which leads to greater patient choice and reduces surprise out-of-network bills to our patients,” spokeswoman Amy Thoma Tan wrote in an emailed statement.

There’s no dispute that for years Sutter has worked aggressively to buy up hospitals and doctor practices in communities throughout Northern California. At issue in the case is how it has used that market dominance.

According to the lawsuit, Sutter has exploited its market power by using an “all-ornone” approach to contracting with insurance companies. If an insurer wants to include any one of the Sutter hospitals or clinics in its network, it must include all of them. “All-ornone” contracting allows hospital systems to demand higher prices from an insurer with little choice but to acquiesce, even if it might be cheaper to exclude some of the system’s hospitals that are more expensive than a competitor’s. Those higher prices trickle down to consumers in the form of higher premiums.

The California Hospital Association contends such negotiations are crucial for hospitals struggling financially. “It can be a great benefit to small hospitals and rural hospitals that don’t have a lot of bargaining power to have a larger group that can negotiate on their behalf,” said Jackie Garman, the CHA’s legal counsel.

California legislators have attempted to limit the “all or nothing” contracting terms several times, but the legislation has stalled amid opposition from the hospital industry.

Now the courts will weigh in. Ω

*1 per table, only valid Monday – Friday

1111 21st Street | Sacramento www.themorningfork.com

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent service of the Kaiser Family Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. An unabridged version of this story is available at newsreview.com/sacramento.

09.19.19 | SN&R | 13

epstein, trump and … sn&r?

It didn’t start with a phone call, but I thought it ended with one.

A 2 a.m. tremor on my nightstand. I reached for the phone already knowing who was on the other end and what they were going to say. Your mother’s dead and you weren’t there.

I thumb-dragged the red cursor and tried to say, “Dad.” But it wasn’t him. The voice I recognized. Its master I never knew.

“You still want to talk to Katie Johnson?”

It had been months since I’d heard that name.

“Katie Johnson” was the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed in April 2016 in Southern California. According to her claim, Johnson was an adolescent when she drifted into Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit. You may have heard

of him. The devil sure has.

Epstein was the obscenely wealthy, insidiously connected financier who allegedly procured and sexually assaulted dozens of girls, with little more than a legal wristslap. But his victims grew up and, eventually, made us listen. Epstein was in a New York jail cell on federal child sex trafficking charges when he died of a mysteriously broken neck last month, igniting conspiracy theories that one of high society’s most

► b y R a h e e m F . h o s s e i n i / r aheem h@ n ewsr eview.c om

an unbelievable news tip. a dead-oF-night phone call. and a jouRney to the edge oF an unknowable political scandal.

untouchable was killed to keep him from implicating members of a powerful inner circle of pedophiles.

Which brings us back to Johnson, who claimed that she, too, had been lured to Epstein’s New York penthouse in 1994 when she was 13, only to be swallowed into a nightmarish underworld of sexual enslavement. Her chief tormenter for the next three months, she alleged, was a real estate mogul named Donald Trump.

Those allegations haven’t been substantiated. And no one has been able to prove that Katie Johnson exists. Bottomless mysteries are getting to be a thing in post-truth America, perplexing even the media literate.

One week after Johnson’s lawsuit was filed, a judge for the U.S. Central District Court of California dismissed it for failing to cite an actionable civil rights claim. More troubling to those of us in the journalism field, the only identifying information avail available for Johnson proved inconclusive—mail to her supposed Twentynine Palms address returned, calls to her supposed phone number disconnected. But text messages sneaked through. At least mine did.

I exchanged a few with a person claiming to be Johnson. I was told to answer a phone call from a blocked number. When I did, I heard a man’s voice, offering the improbable—an opportunity to stop Trump from becoming president.

I hung up.

Six months later, in October 2016, he called again.

“You still want to talk to Katie Johnson?”

The voice more than the question burned through me.

It was thick and duplicitous. It was sucking and sickeningly familiar. It was these things at this wrong hour to a son waiting for his mother to die.

I hung up.

We were just days from Trump’s inevitable defeat, and I’d had enough of frauds.

Three years later, my mom is gone, Trump sits in the White House and Epstein’s corpse refuses to confess or atone. And I want to know who was behind it all, and whether—in this dark, unenlightened age—something can be both true and false at the same time.

Grill the messenGer I restart my search not with Johnson, but with the person who began it: Elaine Halleck.

She’s the one who sent a May 9, 2016 email under the subject line “Murky CA lawsuit against Trump.” This is how I fell down the rabbit hole.

Halleck’s email said she was a former SN&R contributor working a news desk in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was unclear to me at the time why a border-adjacent reporter thought a hyper-local alternative weekly was positioned to blow open a story with national implications. The New York Times we were not.

Before phoning Halleck for a trip down memory lane, I skim our email exchanges, both to refresh my memory and for any overlooked clues. I learn a few things that could be significant or meaningless. It’s a bit like waving a flashlight in a dark forest. You get glimpses of what’s there, but never the whole picture.

In May 2016, Halleck said she had written a couple of pieces for SN&R with Alex Landon, a San Diego attorney and law professor. While I’m able to find two op-eds credited to Landon in our online archives, I don’t find Halleck’s name anywhere. But interestingly, Landon’s commentaries, from 2003 and 2006, contended that California was crafting laws against sexual predators that went too far.

This feels pertinent somehow. While I can’t find Halleck on our outdated Geocities

◄ Jeffrey Epstein, recently deceased spawn of Satan?

(ARTIST RENDERING)

14 | SN&R | 09.19.19

“ E P S T E I N , T R U M P a N d . . . S N & R ? ” c o N T I N U E d o N Pa g E 1 6 ►

Cult of misinformation Camp Fire lasers and other belieFs rooted in vulnerability ►by Ken smith

“That’s not a wildfire, that looks like it was hit with a laser beam.” unidentiFied Female narrator

YouTube video TiTled “Genocidal california fire o p e r aT i o n s ”

As the Camp Fire burned last November, a startling conspiracy theory spread with the flames that added a sci-fi element to the real-life terror and chaos on the Ridge—that the blaze was intentionally started by blue laser beams fired from helicopters, specifically targeting homes and vehicles.

The masterminds behind this terrible act, depending on which YouTube video you watch or whom you talk to, could be anything from the Rothschilds to Big Cannabis corporations to Satan himself. But by far, the suspect most often named is the U.S. government.

Fueled by doctored or improperly identified photos and pseudoscientific “experts” sharing their “evidence,” the laser theory is still being propagated via far-right bloggers, conservative fringe talk radio and, most effectively, YouTube.

In one video posted just days after the fire started titled “Genocidal California Fire Operations”—which garnered tens of thousands of views before being taken down just last week—an unidentified female narrator shared aerial videos of Paradise after the town burned.

“That’s not a wildfire, that looks like it was hit with a laser beam,” she said, her voice dripping with knowing authority and rage. “Common sense should at least beg questions in people’s minds when they see what I’m showing you right now.”

However, cult expert and retired Chico State professor Janja Lalich believes it’s a breakdown in common sense that leads to fervent belief in such theories. “[Conspiracies] are extremely popular now, and it’s quite similar to the prevalence of cults in our country and around the world.

“As the world has gotten more complex, people are looking for solutions, and America has a culture that looks for the quick fix,” Lalich said.

“People will latch onto something that provides them a framework for understanding the world, even if it defies logic, science and critical thought.”

The idea that California’s recent deadly and destructive wildfires were caused by malevolent forces wielding directed energy weapons wasn’t sparked by the Camp Fire, but began to proliferate when the Tubbs Fire ravaged Santa Rosa in October 2017.

Tracing the theory back to its original source is like trying to find the longest noodle in a dumpster full of spaghetti.

Online videos, some with hundreds of thousands of ▼One of the Twitter posts views, touch on directed claiming that airborne lasers may be starting California energy weapons (some claim wildfires. lasers also started the Notre Dame Cathedral fire) and offer interwoven theories about why and by whom these attacks were perpetrated. One theory circulating by word-of-mouth in Butte County—largely in pot-growing circles—is that large cannabis companies will benefit from the disaster by burning out small growers and acquiring cheap, fertile land for their operations. Another theory is that property owners are being dislocated to allow construction of California’s controversial high-speed rail project.

The most widespread and popular theories revolve around something called Agenda 21.

In reality, Agenda 21 is a nonbinding United Nations action plan developed in 1992 to encourage sustainable environmental practices, but the plan has been the subject of odd theories and conservative ire since its inception. The anti-Agenda 21 sentiment is particularly strong in rural Northern California, where some residents see efforts to limit mining, agriculture and logging—as well as to create unpopulated wildlands and protect endangered species—as an attack on their way of life.

“The idea of Agenda 21 isn’t a conspiracy theory, it is a real plan by the U.N. for what is now known to be world domination,” said Paul Preston, a Yuba City-based broadcaster whose Agenda 21 Radio show—broadcast on AM radio and online—focuses on conspiracies.

“They’re using environmentalism and the notion of sustainability to destroy sovereign states and boundaries so you have one borderless world.”

Preston said he’s on the fence about laser attacks during the Camp Fire, though that hasn’t prevented him from sharing the theory on air. He said he received at least a dozen calls from Ridge residents during the fire saying they saw blue lasers. After spending 23 days on the scene of the Camp Fire, he concluded it’s “suspicious” and “very odd,” citing burn patterns and the flames’ extreme temperatures. (The latter detail is along the same lines as 9/11 Truthers’ claim that fire can’t melt steel beams.)

Preston said he invited researchers from “a very prestigious private university” to the burn site and that they found suspicious evidence. However, he declined to name the institution until they “got back to him with some official results.”

Lalich, who has written books about cults, elaborated on why people of all education levels buy into such outlandish ideas: “In a moment of vulnerability, even someone who’s intelligent and curious might see something that for some reason resonates with them. Then they go online and find a community of other people who believe this, too, which reinforces their beliefs.”

Photo by Evan tuchinsky

“People will latch onto something that provides them a framework for understanding the world, even if it defies logic, science and critical thought.”

JanJa laliCh

c u lT e x p e r T a n d r e T i r e d c h i c o s TaT e p r o f e s s o r

These beliefs can be hurtful to fire survivors, she said, and cause even more damage by contributing to a rise in extremism.

“It creates this us-versus-them mentality, where one group believes they have all the answers and only they know what’s really going on. That leads to extremist viewpoints and, potentially, extremist action. Most of these theories are formed around paranoia. Combined, that’s a perfect mix for violent action.” ■

09.19.19 | SN&R | 15

◄ “EPSTEIN, TRUMP aNd ... SN&R?” coNTINUEd fRoM 14 webpage, Amazon shows that she and Landon collaborated on a 2011 book it describes as an exploration of the “designer laws” that Landon condemned in his columns. The book does this, its synopsis says, by mixing fact and fiction. It’s titled A Parallel Universe.

How fitting. I feel as if I’m in one.

I ask myself: Could Landon and Halleck have fabricated a salacious lawsuit and/ or pressed for media coverage to somehow call attention to sex crime laws they find problematic?

I soon discover how preposterous the question is.

Today, Halleck is still working for the Guadalajara Reporter, a community newspaper geared toward American and Canadian expatriates. She says she ghost-wrote Landon’s columns (which is why I couldn’t find her byline), and is updating the book she coauthored with him. She says the book scrutinizes the unintended consequences of reactionary sex-offender legislation, not true monsters like Epstein.

Halleck tells me two people at her church brought Johnson’s lawsuit to her attention.

Halleck did a little online digging, finding speculative stories by “sleazy British newspapers” fixated on Epstein’s relationship with Prince Andrew, as well as the lawsuit, which had already been dismissed. She wasn’t sure what to make of it all, but hoped someone else could.

“I just thought it was weird that no one really paid that much attention to it,” she says.

I tell Halleck why I didn’t write about the lawsuit at the time, that it all felt too unverifiable. Other, stronger allegations against Trump were already competing for voters’ attention.

How his casinos bled Atlantic City dry. How he groped women and peeped on his Miss Teen USA contestants. Inaccurately reporting one claim could heap discredit on those telling the truth about him.

Not that any of it ultimately mattered.

When my mom died, I remember thinking she just missed America electing its first female president. Instead, Teflon Don overcame all manner of boorish indiscretions, siphoning enough electoral votes to defeat the popular will.

“I guess society had changed a lot by the time Trump came along,” Halleck reflects.

“All these outrageous things come out about him, and none of it affected his chance of being president.”

And “Katie Johnson,” where did she fall into all of this? Was she a fraud, perpetrated by the left to smear Trump with Epstein’s heinous crimes—or a “deep fake” ploy of the right to discredit the media? And all this time later, why do I still care?

The GuTerman TanGenT People other than me have supposedly communicated with Katie Johnson, including someone from the venerable (cough) Daily Mail and attorney Lisa Bloom, daughter of Gloria Allred, go-to lawyer of the #MeToo movement.

But several videos purporting to show Johnson telling a piece of her story—in a deposition, to a therapist—have been scraped from the internet.

It’s one of those scrubbed videos, on a pop-up-cluttered, bloggy-looking website called Democratic Underground, that points me to Jeffrey Guterman, “PhD.” The video, posted July 10, is advertised thusly: “Katie Johnson video re: grooming by Epstein and rape by Trump …” When I click on the embedded box, I get a darkened screen with a white-lettered letdown:

Flashback to May 10, 2016. I text: “Is this the phone number for Katie Johnson?”

I receive a green bubble before 8 the next morning: “Who are you Rahim? Friend or foe!

Give me info on u please. Thank you, Katie.”

I was surprised by the response, not just because the tone seemed at odds with the seriousness of her claim—I reminded myself sexual assault survivors are often unfairly disbelieved because they don’t “behave” how someone thinks they should—but because I had never given her my name.

Sorry This video does not exist.

K aT I E ?

Of course it doesn’t. The poster credits the video to Guterman, a Trump-bashing Florida personality with a rabid Twitter thread. We’re talking more than 200,000 tweets in less than two months. We’re talking archival photos, John F. Kennedy audio clips, retweeted Trump stories, shaky hand-held Periscope videos and racier material that’s attracted the eyes of both the Secret Service and Twitter’s code-of-conduct enforcers.

I scroll through it all, back in time through thousands of posts, including a lewd cartoon of Trump in a sweaty masturbation pose, only to find that Guterman’s Twitter account starts at July 14, four days after the Katie Johnson video was supposedly uploaded.

Damn you Guterman!

I waste more time perusing Guterman’s extensive vlog, including one YouTube video that’s just him on his laptop listening to cable news for a half hour, shirtless for some of it, pantsless for all of it.

Somewhere around minute 14, I conclude he’s not going to be my Deep Throat.

The conversaTion Katie Johnson of Twentynine Palms has a Facebook profile. Does that mean anything? I honestly can’t tell. I send her a friend request and a message.

Two days later, she breaks the news: She is not the plaintiff I’m looking for.

Feeling like I’m running out of ways to nip around the edges, I punch Johnson’s number into a new text and stumble across the old ones.

They remind me how weird this whole thing was from the start—how, even then, I questioned whether the lawsuit’s author was who she appeared to be on paper: an unemployed model with $276 to her name, acting as her own attorney against one of this nation’s most litigious developers. A woman with a swooping, unhurried, back-leaning, cursive signature, who dotted her “i’s” with circles that almost looked like thought bubbles.

I waited 40 months to send a follow-up.

Epstein’s death reopened the mystery for me— or was it a wound?

FindinG ‘KaTie Johnson’

On the same day I sent the other “Katie Johnson” a Facebook friend request, I reached out to a private investigator for help—three, in fact. Rob Hessee was the only one to volunteer his services.

The retired Placer County sheriff’s sergeant and homicide detective is now a licensed private K aT I E ? ! ? investigator. And he comes up . . .

N o S N h o j E I aT K E b R E T T oK, ThIS bE big time. Besides confirming that Facebook Katie Johnson is not lawsuit Katie Johnson, he runs the only solid leads I have—the phone number and the supposed home address, which turns up a 2012 Google Maps image of a white-shack house with brickred trim on a flat, arid stretch of

On May 13, 2016, I got a call from a blocked number. I didn’t answer it. Johnson texted, telling me to answer the next call from that blocked number because “it’s me.”

We connected the following morning just before 10. I heard not a woman’s voice but a man’s, refusing to give his name and purporting to speak for Johnson. For as little as I knew about him, I knew enough to distrust him. I told him I would only speak with Johnson.

“I’m trying to figure out if she’s a real person,” I said.

“Oh, she’s real,” the voice said.

I scolded him, but I don’t remember what I said. And then I hung up. The call lasted less than nine minutes.

I then texted Johnson’s number: “Hey Katie, this is Raheem. It’s totally OK if you’re not ready to talk to me, but don’t have that weird guy call me and waste my time again. Good luck with everything.”

“Katie” never responded.

nowhere called Twentynine Palms.

Regarding the latter, Hessee gets 28 hits. But only five people were associated to the address at the time the lawsuit was filed, including a man who died 13 years ago. Of those five names, none link back to the phone number, which is my best lead, as I had actually corresponded with someone on the other end.

When I personally ran the phone number through Google, I got two names.

Tantalizingly, one possible owner worked as an administrative assistant for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Her job? To provide clerical support within the bureau’s forensic

“ E P S T E I N , T R U M P a N d . . . S N & R ? ” c o N T I N U E d o N Pa g E 1 9 ► 16 | SN&R | 09.19.19

Please join us!

Sunday Sept. 29, 2019 • 11am to 3pm AT ThE STATE CApiTol NorTh STEpS

…to form Sacramento’s Largest Human Chain united we stand

arM in arM

We are Showing Solidarity in our Country that is now divided by the Current Administration.

We Welcome All immigrants…pEriod

around the We Welcome All religions …pEriod CaPitol Grounds We Believe in equality for All… pEriod

1.1 Miles

We need leaders and speakers who care!

We will be reading the victims’ names from the last 4 mass shootings.

Gilroy, CA • El Paso, TX • Dayton, OH • Midland & Odessa, TX

We will have tables set up to rEgiSTEr To voTE and a petition to sign to

STop SAlES oF SEmi-AuTomATiC riFlES ANd AuTomATiC riFlES. My Name is Richard Alcala, my Father was a Mexican Immigrant and came here for a better life and by that our family had the chance for a better life in America. I’m just someone who gives a DAMN about what’s happening to our country.

This is a peaceful if you give a dAmN, please join demonstration. us and stand with us uNiTEd. Everyone is welcome.

This is a peaceful demonstration. Everyone is welcome.

For more information please call

For more information please call RichaRd alcala • 916.202.8613 RichaRd alcala • 916.202.8613 09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

17

Space Let’S See

invaderS invader

theM

aLienS ►by Matt Bieker mattb@ n ewsreview.c om

Before Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing, before the grassy knoll, before “Bush did 9/11,” there was Area 51. Perhaps the clearest indicator among believers that the U.S. military is hiding evidence of alien visitation, the top-secret Air Force base in the Nevada desert has been a subject of fascination and skepticism alike for decades.

In June, Matty Roberts, a college student from Bakersfield, created the “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” event on Facebook with the intended goal to “see them aliens.”

He later said it was a joke, but the event took off, and more than 2 million Facebook users responded as “going,” prompting the Air Force to issue a formal

▲Matty Roberts talks on a Las Vegas TV station about “Storm Area 51.”

warning to anyone seriously considering attempting to cross the hard border of Area 51, where signs authorizing “use of deadly force” have hung for years.

“As a matter of practice, we do not discuss specific security measures, but any attempt to illegally access military

18 | SN&R | 09.19.19

installations or military training areas is dangerous,” Air Force spokesperson Laura McAndrews told ABC News in July.

The base itself is part of the vast Nevada Test and Training Range in Lincoln County, about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. People referring to “Area 51” often colloquially include the Groom Lake facility, a dry lakebed used as an airfield for experimental aircraft, the officially sanctioned Homey Airport, and an even more secretive site called S-4. (More on that later.)

In 2005, Jeffrey Richelson, a senior researcher at George Washington University, filed a Freedom of Information Act request about the CIA’s U-2 spy plane program and the SR-71 “Blackbird,” which were developed at Groom Lake. Eight years later, his request was granted in the form of an unredacted report called The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974.

“This is a history of the U-2,” Richelson, who died in 2017, told The New York Times in a 2013 interview.

“The only overlap is the discussion of the U-2 flights and UFO sightings, the fact that you had these high-flying aircraft in the air being the cause of some of these sightings.”

The report makes no mention of aliens or UFOs stored on site, but for the first time ever, it referred to Area 51 by name, confirming—unwittingly or not on the CIA’s part—the base’s existence.

“That was sort of a bonus,” Richelson told The Times.

According to that same CIA report, then created the “Storm Area 51, They “Area 51”—its map designation by Can’t Stop All of Us” event on Facebook. the Atomic Energy Commission at the After national attention, Roberts came time—was commissioned in 1955 by forward to explain that it was a joke, President Eisenhower, and experimental and implored people not to take it seriaircraft have long been the govern govern- ously. Still, the Facebook page became a ment’s unofficially official explana- repository for memes and internet jokes, tion for UFO sightings in the area. with mock battle plans and images of The public’s attention waxed thousands of internet denizens “Naruto and waned over the decades, with running”—look it up—through a hail various UFO-ologists occasionally of machine gun fire to free the captive positing theories about alien visitation. aliens within.

It wasn’t until 1989 that someone came In place of the actual “raid,” set to forward with knowledge of not only take place on Sept. 20, Roberts and the workings of Area 51, but the trove a few partners lent their name to an of extraterrestrial technology housed “Alienstock” festival planned in the within. tiny town of Rachel, Nev., near Area 51, “There are several—actually promising live music, events and a place nine—flying saucers, flying disks for believers to connect. But on Sept. … the propulsion system is a gravity 9, Roberts announced Alienstock was propulsion system, the power source is canceled, citing a “potential humanitaran anti-matter reactor. This technology ian crisis” on the website, in that none of does not exist at all,” a man with his the infrastructure or events promised by face obscured by shadow and identified his partner in Rachel had been delivered. only as “Dennis” said on KLAS-TV in The event will be replaced with a oneLas Vegas in a May 15, 1989, broadcast. night concert in downtown Las Vegas The report generated international on Sept. 19. attention. In a follow-up interview Another event, “Storm Area 51 months later, “Dennis” was revealed Basecamp,” is also scheduled for this as Bob Lazar, a young scientist who weekend at the Alien Research Center claimed to have been tasked with reverse- in Hiko, with a panel by guest speakers engineering alien hardware in Area 51’s including Jeremy Corbell and Bob Lazar. secret hangar at S-4, a few miles south of Despite the confusion on the ground, the base proper, Facebook users for almost six are keeping their months. hopes up. While Lazar says he one event responcan’t prove his dent answered a claims with hard message about evidence, but in her plans to a 2018 documenattend the event tary by Jeremy with “I feel Corbell called like you’re the Bob Lazar: Area government, so Steven DaviS 51 & Flying why would I tell AreA 51 stormer you all this?”

Saucers, Lazar presents his case another, Steven in greater detail, Davis from including home footage he claims to Pennsylvania, responded with, “Hell yeah, have filmed of flying saucer test flights I’m going.” Davis said he plans to fly out “real soon” and potentially camp on the above the facility.

On June 20, 2019, Lazar and outskirts of Area 51.

Corbell went on the popular Joe Rogan “In all honesty, if taxpayers fund the Experience podcast and spoke at length government, why can’t the taxpayers go about his experience. Rogan, himself a see what’s up there? Why do they have believer in aliens, is gracious to Lazar such big secrets?” Davis said. throughout the interview, making allowDavis cites his own belief in—and ances for Lazar’s migraine that prevents personal experience with—UFOs for his him from answering succinctly at times, interest, and as far as the government’s and not pressing him for specific times or official explanation of top secret aircraft dates in his account. The interview has at the base: “You’d have to be dumb to close to 8 million views on YouTube. believe that.” ■ One of those views, however, belonged to Roberts, the student who

If taxpayers fund the government, why can’t the taxpayers go see what’s up there?

◄ “ E P S T E I N , T R U M P a N d . . . S N & R ? ” c o N T I N U E d f R o M Pa g E 1 6

u o y e ar l a c o l a

? t s i t ar

science laboratory. What were the odds that my would-be puppet master learned her subterfuge skills watching lab techs crack encrypted cellphones and analyze hard drives?

But something tells me this Colorado secretary didn’t file a lawsuit in Southern California. (Then again, what a good way to divert suspicion.) Which brings me to my second phone number hit and back to Hessee, who independently comes up with the same name.

We’ll call her “Bethany.”

Bethany is a 29-year-old esthetician living in Riverside County. According to PeopleFinder, she’s a Christian and a registered Republican. According to a criminal background check, she was convicted of possessing methamphetamine almost a decade ago, with a couple of traffic infractions on either side of that.

Her husband is tall and rawboned, with a light-bulb-shaped head and heavy tattoo ink crawling up his long neck.

If someone hoaxed the lawsuit as a stunt to blow up in the media’s face and discredit all of Trump’s other accusers, could it have been them? Could Bethany’s husband be the nameless man who tried to get me to bite?

Critically, Hessee is able to determine that the phone number was registered to Bethany between July 23, 2011 and June 6, 2019. That means the number belonged to her during the time I received texts from it.

So now what? Place a call from a blocked number like they engineered? Maybe in the dead of night. Maybe during a listless sleep, while they’re waiting for word of a loved one’s demise.

But that isn’t journalism. It’s vendetta.

He called once more, the nameless man,

in October 2016. He left a message. I no longer remember his exact words. But the same voice, husky and solicitous, left a brief rejoinder, a juvenile tease.

My memory aborted the rest. I deleted the message. I waited for my mom to die, for the call I dreaded all my life: Come now. It’s happening. It arrived on Oct. 22, 2016.

A couple weeks later, Trump was elected president. At the time, it felt like he broke the last promise I ever made to her. As she rasped and shook into the void, I squeezed her hand and told her we’d be all right.

Maybe she would find this country unrecognizable today, its people worn down to the coarse edges of fear and suspicion, quick to blame and so afraid to look inward.

Every clumsy expression an excuse for revenge, every stranger an enemy. Maybe she wouldn’t recognize this country, but had I changed, too?

I return to Bethany’s Facebook page and weigh the value of a curated life. She’s married with two children. She and her husband look happy. They’ve been together a while. A 2012 photo shows them kissing a newborn girl. Three months later, they walk an aisle hand-in-hand under an overcast sky.

Four years later, a son is born.

I don’t know them. And I may never know who called on that desolate October night. But I know who I am. I slide my phone away. Good luck, Katie Johnson.

Whoever you are. ■

For more on the search for Katie Johnson, visit sacblog.newsreview.com for an extended version of this story.

If you’re a local artist interested in painting one of SN&R’s newspaper racks, reach out to Greg Erwin at GREGE@NEwSREvIEw.com mAttER

tofGRAy

AR ARtISt: @

14th Annual

Fair Oaks ChiCken FeStival

Presented by Fair Oaks Recreation & Park District

saturday, sept. 21st

10am – 5pm F RE E GE N E RA L A D M ISSIO N & PA R K ING village of Fair Oaks – 7003 Park Dr., Fair Oaks, Ca 95628 | www.forpd.org • Pancake Breakfast ($3 child & $6 adult) • Craft Brew Tasting ($3 tastes) • Vendors (craft & company) • SactoMoFo Food Court • Cluck n’ Crow Contest @ 12pm • Great Chicken Display

• Pop-Up Paint Class ($30) • Live Entertainment - Jax Hammer @ 10am - FBI @ 12:30pm - Mullet Mechanix @ 3pm • Kid’s Park & Family Entertainment - Inflatables & Carnival Games ($7)

Sponsored By

A federal lawsuit filed in April 2016 made disturbing allegations against Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump. It was signed by someone who may not exist.

Do you dream of covering the city in artwork? Well, we’ve got a box-shaped canvas you can start with.

09.19.19 | SN&R | 19

e Th at c t h g i N

by Mozes zarate

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

blues e h t d n a o Sacrament player Rick saved harp e new album s Estrin, who ary drops r Contempo this week

R

ick Estrin fondly remembers San Francisco’s country-blues scene in the 1960s. At the Club Long Island in Hunter’s Point, the night’s first performer was often a novelty act such as Iron Jaw Wilson, who balanced furniture on his teeth.

One night, a friend persuaded headliner Lowell Fulson, the famed blues guitarist, to allow Estrin, buzzed and 18 years old, to be the club’s next onstage oddity.

“Instead of picking up chairs and tables in my teeth, I was a white guy playing [the blues],” Estrin told SN&R. “First [the audience was] laughing and thinking it was gonna be a joke. … I guess I was good enough that people went out of their mind.”

The standout gig got Estrin an opening slot with blues singer Z.Z. Hill at the Club Long Island, and then steady work at the Playpen on Divisadero Street.

Fast-forward to 2019, and Estrin, the 69-year-old bandleader of Sacramento

blues troupe The Nightcats, recently discovered that he had also conceived a son.

“My sister did a DNA deal, and that’s how my son found me through her,” he says. “I did a little investigating to see who this person is. Turns out, he lived in Florida, and he’s a COO of a company that’s located in Rocklin ... like 18 miles from me.”

Estrin doesn’t remember the mother. “I was a fun-loving guy,” he says.

Estrin has spent most of his life zoned in on the craft. He dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, and picked up the harmonica and singing after his father died when he was only 15. He was lost, uncontrollable and in love with the old roots music created by artists such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Little Walter and the songs contained in his beatnik older sister’s vinyl collection. The San Francisco nightclubs, and later—the scenes in Chicago and Sacramento—were

20 | SN&R | 09.19.19

Photo Courtesy of raChel Kumar

rick estrin & the Nightcats, from left to right: estrin, guitarist Kid andersen, drummer Derrick "D'Mar" Martin and keyboardist Lorenzo Farrell.

lucha libre art show see arts & culture

22

see stage

new, old timey diner see dish

“You’ re ne old to ver too evolv e.” rick e strin , b Rick es and leader, trin & the nig htcat

s

strategy. If you look at what I’ve done in my life, I’ve just been absurdly lucky. … I just pursued what I loved, and worked on expressing my ideas and thoughts.”

Backed by tight instrumentation from an all-star band—guitarist Kid Andersen, keyboardist Lorenzo Farrell and drummer Derrick “D’Mar” Martin—Estrin spills his latest thoughts on the album.

The song “I’m Running” tackles mortality, “Resentment File” the bad behavior of men remembered by their spouses, and “Root of All Evil” the conventional wisdom about money.

“That’s just a lie they try to sell you to pick your pocket,” Estrin says.

In the ’60s, Estrin knew poverty well. In Chicago, he remembers scoring drug and rent money by looting dilapidated mansions of their architectural fragments.

The Chicago blues scene, home to

Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, was his escape.

Estrin believes he almost got hired into Muddy Waters' band, but thinks his reputation may have followed him.

“I floundered around being a general f--- up for about nine years ... until I began to get it together,” Estrin says. “I knew I had to change. I wanted to survive.”

At 26, he moved to Sacramento and joined guitarist Charlie Baty to form a new band, The Nightcats.

“We had this common love for this music that was just completely unpopular at the time, but we were on a mission,” he says.

“Sacramento was a sleepy river town. ... Just coming from the fast environments, it was just what I needed, coming up here and slowing down a little bit. Just focusing on the music.”

Now, he’s living a dream. The band is tighter than ever, and he adores the red-eye flights to blues festivals and trips overseas. He has collected plenty of tales: hanging out with Mick Jagger at an annual island benefit for billionaires in the Caribbean, witnessing the modernization of Russia while sightseeing in Moscow and escaping a creepy hotel gig in Australia.

And there’s Contemporary, which Estrin says excites him even after the longwinded production process.

“I’m just enjoying this stuff more than ever,” he says, “and happy that I’m still able to do it.” Ω

Rick estrin & the nightcats’ new album, Contemporary, releases sept. 20. For more info, visit Rickestrin.com.

24

25

sac burgers face off see off menu

Falling together Two crowds packed the arden way dimple records Sunday afternoon: hobo Johnson fans and the store’s loyal customers. Guess who was louder?

Around 200 to 300 people filled the aisles awaiting their favorite Sacramento everyman, the 24-year-old folk-rapper whose new record, the fall of hobo Johnson, was released friday, sept. 13. The customers, meanwhile, flipped through the shelves, taking advantage of an 80%-90% mark-down at the local retailer’s flagship store that is closing this month.

The day was a win-win. Johnson (real name Frank Lopes) could break the silence with fans about his new album through a stripped-down show and meet-and-greet. On launch day, the album peaked at No. 13 on iTunes.

Lopes, who signed to Warner Bros. Records last year after his music video “Peach Scone” went viral, said he felt proud of the fall’s dozen new songs, a mix of older poems and recent stories created in the whirlwind of his rising, global stardom.

“I feel weirdly confident that it’s a cool piece of music,” he told SN&R “backstage”—a 35,000 square-foot warehouse stacked with pallets of CDs and DVDs. Meanwhile, Dilyn Radakovitz, Dimple’s co-founder, worked the register in the warehouse’s temporary storefront. Dimple plans to close all of its locations by the end of September, Radakovitz told SN&R. “We closed our Broadway [Book store] location in two days,” she said, of the quick time line. The family-owned chain announced the closure after 45 years in June, citing retirement, the rising minimum wage and the shrinking demand for physical media. In October, Radakovitz’s son, Andrew Radakovitz, plans to open a nostalgia-based hobby shop called the cave at Dimple’s Bidwell Street location in Folsom.

The Arden location has held several shows since the announcement. On Sept. 6, local rappers Boney-Jay, Sparks Across Darkness, Kennedy Wrose and others held a farewell concert. The nostalgic shows also help spur business.

“The inventory’s blowing my f---ing mind,” Lopes said.

“It’s sick to be able to help Hobo Johnson performs inside Dimple Records on move some of this s---.”

Sept. 15.

At around 3 p.m., Lopes hit the stage to screaming fans. The band kicked off with an older banger, “romeo and Juliet,” and half the aisles were blocked by bobbing heads and lit cellphones. The lyrically driven music resulted in a 45-minute singalong that jumped between past material and some new singles, including “I Want A Dog,” “Happiness” and “Uglykid.” Lopes irreverently began the song “Subaru Crosstrek XV” slam-poetry style, eliciting supportive snaps.

The meet-and-greet started at 4 p.m., as fans waited to meet Johnson, whom they celebrated for being down-to-earth, not a pop star.

“It’s kind of like a guy talking about regular stuff that all of us think about,” said Chris West, a new fan. “It’s not flashy, it’s not showy. It’s just, ‘Hey, I want a dog.’ yeah, me too, i want a dog. (Laughs.)"

Two hours later, there was still a steady line encroaching onto Spudnuts Donuts next door.

Radakovitz said working the register allowed her to hear stories from parents who visited Dimple as children, and now bring their kids.

“We’re thankful that there’s no animosity,” said Radakovitz. “It’s, ‘Oh, we’re going to miss you.’”

Photo by Ashley hAyes-stone

his blues academy and shelter from the streets.

“It was school to me,” Estrin says. “I was where I really wanted to be.”

After almost 30 years as the frontman for Little Charlie & the Nightcats, and 10 as the band’s leader and manager, Contemporary could be Estrin’s master’s thesis on his music.

The 12-song album, which releases on Friday, Sept. 20, puts Estrin’s lyrical style at the forefront: ironic yet plainly poetic. The LP’s title track was inspired by his nomination for Best Contemporary Artist this year at the Blues Music Awards, the genre’s Grammys.

He didn't win, but last year, the band nabbed three BMA awards for his previous album, Groovin’ in Greaseland: Traditional Male Artist, Band and Song of the Year.

“Just goes to show that you’re never too old to evolve,” Estrin says.

“Contemporary” pokes fun at the changes he observes in the music industry. The song opens with Estrin’s classic steel harp howls and natural vocals. But the chorus takes the band into the 21st century, with autotune, funky wah, rap verses and a consciously bad interpretative harmonica solo.

“I got just the key to guarantee triple-platinum success,” Estrin sings. “You got to find a cause to champion and get lots of special guests.”

Its music video, which has about 5,000 views on YouTube, is rampant with pop-culture cliches—farewell tours, breaking news reels and a Rolling Stone cover. By the end, Estrin wears a man bun.

“I’m not opposed to contemporary music, it’s just funny when you see people who try to chase trends,” Estrin says. “I’ve never had a plan, I’ve never had a

23

war and race

—Mozes zarate mo ze sz@ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

21

60% 0FF

Photo courtesy of andres alvarez

Buy 1 adult Buffet and 2 drinks get 2nd adult Buffet 60% off original coupon only • no copies

1 coupon per table. Not for parties of 10 or more. Cannot be combined with any other offer. expires 10/03/19.

China Buffet

SACRAMENTO

1402 Broadway 916.930.0888 Sun-Thurs 11am -9:30pm • Fri & Sat 11am -10:00pm PARTY ROOMS AVAILABLE • NOW SERVING BEER & WINE

chinabuffetrestaurant.com

Thai Food & gluten free options

coconut

the

on t

Red Curry w it

& Veggies ofu T h

Best Thai

1110 T St. Sacramento, CA 95811 | 916-822-4665

for daily $2 Beer Specials

Check

drunken noodle •Midtown•

Powered by The Coconut

Thai Food & Gluten Free Options

$2 BEEr Daily 2502 J St. Sacramento, CA | 916-447-1855 |

Behind the mask A new exhibit explores selfidentity through Mexican masked wrestling

10 BEERS ON TAP HAPPY HOUR EVERYDAY: 4:30 - 6PM $4 BEERS, WINE & APPETIZERS

22

“Untitled,” by Andres Alvarez.

SN&R

|

09.19.19

by NormA HUertA

no rm a h @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

Concealed identity became a motif of Mexican pro wrestling through El Santo, a luchador who donned a silver mask in the ring and in televised interviews and movies. Throughout his career between 1934 and 1982, the legend became inseparable from the man, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta. When he died in 1984, Huerta was buried with his mask.

“As a kid, I loved it,” said Andres Alvarez, a photographer at the Latino Center of Art and Culture in Sacramento. “When I had my son, my brother-in-law told me a story about his dad, who told him that when he was born, the room was full of luchadores. That was such a beautiful story, and I thought: ‘When my son’s born, there’s going to be a luchador in there.’”

Staying true to his word, Alvarez wore a luchador mask in the delivery room.

“The way I raise my son is a mask that I gave him,” he said. “So there’s going to be times where we’re going to be wearing the same masks as tag team partners, and there’s going to be times where we’re going to be opponents.”

La Lucha: Convergence of Identity—a new interactive exhibit that opens at the Latino Center on Saturday, Sept. 21—is Alvarez’s labor of love.

Using photos, collage art, paintings and drawings, he recreates the family home he grew up in and

explores the metaphorical masks we are given or choose through the lens of lucha libre.

“Identity begins in the home,” Alvarez said. “I think of all of the ways identity is modeled at home, of all the masks I acquired, and I felt myself in my home, as a child, staring out the window like a luchador staring out [into] the ring.”

On opening day for the exhibit, you’re invited to enjoy music, traditional Mexican cuisine and murals hung around the center’s tree-shaded grounds. You can also become a luchador: Try on a mask and flex your best wrestling pose in an outdoor ring.

Step inside, and you’re transported to a space where the artist’s identity was born. Artwork and posters line the walls, while an old radio plays the songs of Alvarez’s childhood.

“I want to capture the process of ‘us vs them,’ of los tecnicos (good luchadores) and los rudos (bad luchadores), of how the size of our house and the style of our furniture dictated our class,” he said.

The open space is reminiscent of a humble upbringing. A bulky TV encourages you to sit on the sofa and watch a lucha libre match. Scuffed, mix-matched chairs surround a large wooden dining table.

In a corner, there’s a the makeshift bedroom with a single bed and dresser surrounded by the photographs of masked men, women and children. Among the portraits is a black-and-white photo of two members of the California-based activist group Brown Issues, in masks and shirts emblazoned with the word “VOTER.” Alvarez said he and five other featured artists— including Sonya Fe, Alejandra Osorio Olave and Aida Lizalde—hope to open up a dialogue on identity.

“It’s not really the lucho photos that are resting on the lawn. It’s how are you interpreting these images,” he said. “What’s going on in your head? What kind of matches are you having? And then exploring that a little deeper once you get out of here.” Ω check out la lucha: convergence of Identity: a visual & Interactive exploration of self beginning sept. 21 at the latino center of art the culture; runs through dec. 21; 2700 front st. for more info, visit thelatinocenter.com.

now playing

Reviews

4

Little Shop of Horrors

Who shot the sergeant?

by Patti RobeRts

Photo courtesy of Brooklynn solomon

5

Between Riverside and Crazy

When Seymour discovers an alien plant, he’s overjoyed that he’s gained the attention of his beautiful co-worker, but soon discovers that the plant has an unusual appetite for human flesh and blood. Folsom’s intimate theater has hatched a delightfully dark and creepy show full of laughter and musical toetapping numbers. Fri 8pm,

Sat 1pm, Sun 4pm; Through 9/29; $15-$24; Sutter

Street Theatre, 717 Sutter St., Folsom, (916) 353-1001; sutterstreettheatre.com.

TMO

Capital Stage launches its 15th anniversary season with one of its best productions ever. The 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama

by Stephen Adly Guirgis boasts perfect casting, an exquisite set and fierce dedication to a script that is as challenging as it is entertaining. Wed 7pm, Thu

7pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 2pm, Tue 7pm; Through 9/29; $25-$49; Capital Stage,

2215 J St., (916) 995-5464; capstage.org. J.C.

1 2 3 4 5 foul

Charles Fuller’s play explores racism within the confines of a military murder mystery.

A Soldier’s Play

4

thu 8pm, fri 8pm, sat 8pm, sun 2pm; through 9/29; $10-$20; celebration Arts, 2727 B st.; (916) 455-2787; celebrationarts.net.

War. Such a powerful word that encompasses so many emotions. So much of history is traced through stories of wars—not only the shifting of power, governments and borders, but also of people and cultures touched and altered by each war.

Celebration Arts’ current production of playwright Charles Fuller’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier’s Play is a fascinating and thought-provoking glimpse into the complexity of war, race, culture and personality.

The play is a military murder mystery that takes place in 1944 at Fort Neal, Louisiana, a segregated army base where African-American soldiers are training for World War II combat, but not as equal brethren to their white counterparts.

It starts off with the murder of a black sergeant, but delves into racism, Uncle Tom-ism, lines of duty and power. True to murder mystery plots, the investigation is a constantly shifting whodunit—was it a white officer or a local Klan member? Was it caused by internal animosities or just an angry brawl?

Celebration Arts has pulled together a powerful cast of more than a dozen talented actors who work collectively to portray both the connection and division of black soldiers trying to navigate war within their own world as well as an impending war overseas. At times the plot is lost amid the chaos, but the issues remain intriguing.

The multi-tiered stage is wisely kept sparse, adorned with a couple of simple wooden tables and chairs, military chests and few props—nothing to distract from the emerging story and sundry characters.

What does add to the production is dramatic lighting, some sound effects, and period-perfect music. Ω

fAir

GooD

Well-Done

short reviews by tessa marguerite outland and Jim carnes.

suBlime Don’t miss

Photo courtesy of DAviD WonG

5 Late night dreams

Jack Gallagher is a nice guy, even though being a nice guy doesn’t always get you far in entertainment, or in life. He is an exception. In A Stand Up Guy, his eighth one-man show at B Street Theatre, the comedian explores a hitherto unexamined aspect of his life: his stand-up comedy career, from the beginning.

Written in concert with his son Declan (a New York writer and performer), Gallagher tells his personal story, from that of a 10-year-old boy dreaming of being on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, to—after plenty of ups and downs—where he is today, happily ensconced in Sacramento. (Declan appears in a hilarious brief video demonstrating the various uses of a certain four-letter word.)

Gallagher talks about his insecurities and disappointments but is consistently upbeat, crediting wife Jean Ellen for encouragement and the fortitude to continue.

This show largely is constructed from calendars and notes saved throughout his career.

You’d think he was preparing to be nominated to the Supreme Court or something. And that Brett Kavanaugh reference is as close to politics as Gallagher gets.

He doesn’t need to go there because his life observations are funny and touching enough without that added baggage.

—Jim Carnes

A stand up Guy: Wed 2pm & 6:30pm, thu 8pm, fri 8pm, sat 5pm & 9pm, sun 2pm, tue 6:30pm; through 10/20; $28-$47; B street theatre at the sofia, 2700 capitol Ave.; (916) 443-5300; bstreettheatre.org.

stage pick to achieve wokeness, one should live as if you are never wrong.

Turkey Day trouble Disillusioned with how a certain holiday celebrates oven-roasted fowl and garlic mashed potatoes, but downplays the devastating effects of colonialism? Throw out the turkey baster and check out The Thanksgiving Play, a satire in which four artists attempt to pull together a play that celebrates both Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month. Turns out, it’s trickier than it seems, especially when you only have white actors. Proceeds from Friday’s preview show will go to the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, which is dedicated to preserving Nisenan culture in Nevada County. Thu, 9/19, 7pm; Fri, 9/20, 8pm; Sat, 9/21, 8pm; Sun, 9/22, 2pm; Through 10/5; $15-$30; Sierra Stages at Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad St., Nevada City; (530) 346-3210; sierrastages.org.

—raChel mayfield

09.19.19

|

sn&R

|

23

IlluSTRaTION BY KaTe MITRaNO

Pepperoni perfection pepperoni SquAre, pizzA Supreme being Good pizza is easy to spot, but great pizza is hard to come by. Pizza Supreme Being’s Pepperoni Square ($5 a slice) is emblematic of how great pizza tastes. Twoinch thick sourdough focaccia is smothered in organic tomato sauce and a four-cheese blend, then topped with pepperoni cups. The result is a massive square about eight inches in length that’s peppery and slightly sweet, with crispy edges providing a satisfying crunch and a spicy finish that opens the sinuses. Pepperoni may be a basic pizza, but Pizza Supreme Being’s Pepperoni Square is basic to perfection. 1425 14 St., Suite C, pizzasupremebeing.com —Jeremy winSlow

American breakfast comforts are served at The Morning Fork, reminiscent of Lucky Cafe’s heyday.

Edible nostalgia The Morning Fork 1111 21st St.

Good for: Revisiting a favorite Midtown diner spot in its new form for breakfast comforts

Notable dishes: eggs Benedict, Brioche French Toast, Waldorf Burger

$$$

American, Midtown

Some of us are old enough to remember a Midtown of yore—a time when local craft brews flowed from Rubicon, when Capitol Garage was actually parked adjacent to the Capitol, before The Weatherstone became Old Soul and when The Beat! had yet to drop. It was an era when Midtown’s breakfast market was more or less cornered by Cornerstone and its lunch-countered counterpart, Lucky Cafe.

Husband-and-wife duo Keith and Jennifer Swiryn have dished out a tasty tribute to the latter with their new venture, The Morning Fork. Housed in Lucky Cafe’s old location on 21st Street, the Fork invokes the golden days of the diner and offers patrons a welcome reprieve from the toity trappings of the now-ubiquitous brunch spot. If nostalgia was edible, it’d be the blue-plate special at The Morning Fork.

A waitress at Lucky for the better part of a decade, Jennifer’s appreciation for the Fork’s predecessor is lovingly displayed in every quirky element of the restaurant’s interior. The trademark lunch counter is still the diner’s focal point, now DIY decorated with an epoxy top of leaves gathered from city parks. A map illustrating Sacramento establishments from 1988 hangs on the wall near the kitchen, the same place it did at Lucky.

The same brown- and orange-rimmed coffee pots pour into familiar brown ceramic mugs, serving up specialty java from local roasters Naked Coffee. And you’ll find the exact 24 | SN&R | 09.19.19

PHOTO BY KIM BROWN

Island vibes AlohA FridAy, big Stump brewing CompAny

by KiM Brown

same jumbo link sausage ($5) as Lucky, with the same light char and top notes of sage and white pepper.

Brunch loyalists will be happy with more innovative bubbly potables such as the It’s Green ($7/$18), which brings the sweet heat with a mix of kiwi puree, muddled sage, mint, jalapeño, club soda and lemongrass syrup, served in a sour apple sea salt and sugar rimmed glass.

It’s wonderfully busy and effervescent, though too heavyhanded on the sweet. A little less syrup and a bit more fizz, in brut or in soda form, would provide an easy answer to this very first-world problem.

All the American breakfast standards are available.

The Brioche French Toast ($10) is a reliable cinnamoned standby, but its housemade salted maple butter begs you to go easy on the syrup accompaniment for fear that its nectarous, salty, velvety flavor will be lost in a sea of a stickier, more pedestrian kind of sweet. The country potatoes ($5) keep things interesting with the colorful addition of purple spuds, grilled onions and poblano peppers. Bits of smoky bacon top a crunchy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside breakfast biscuit ($5), nearly invisible under its cloak of creamy sausage gravy.

The Eggs Benedict ($14), keeps it wholly traditional with its thick cuts of Canadian bacon, a meaty texture reminiscent of a holiday ham. The hollandaise, in all its buttery richness, manages to deliver a delicate but totally detectable lemon flavor. On one visit, the poached eggs had cooked through to medium by the time I availed myself, a minor disappointment I got over rather quickly.

I left The Morning Fork on a late Monday morning, full of good food and memories. I crossed the street and peeked in the window of Time Tested Books. In its reflection, Downtown James Brown passed behind me and, just for a moment, I forgot when I was. Ω

Big Stump Brewing Company often reinvents selections from its repertoire of small-batch beers. The Midtown establishment’s revamped version of sour brew Aloha Friday ($6.50 for 10.5 ounces), has a distinctly sweet yet restrained aroma. Take a sip and experience a vibrant flavor that matches the punch of the drink’s orange/ fuchsia hue. Passion fruit, apricot and tangerine—the latter two new to the Aloha Friday mix—coalesce for a decadent first impression. The sour element takes control later, hanging on the roof of the mouth, but it’s more subtle than overpowering. As the tartness gently dissipates, it clears your palate for the next taste.

1716 L St., bigstumpbrewco.com.

—Jed preSSgrove

PLANEt v

Good riddance to fur trapping Sept. 4 was a victory for California wildlife. Assembly Bill 273, also known as the Wildlife Protection Act of 2019, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. This bill makes California the first state to ban fur trapping and fur sales activities, which have seen a drastic decline in recent years and have been left to taxpayers to subsidize. Trapping has deep roots in California’s history, but luckily for the state’s native fur-bearing mammals, as a society we have finally evolved past this exploitative and especially cruel pastime. I think we can all agree with Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who wrote the legislation, when she tweeted, “Fur trapping is a cruel practice that has no place in 21st Century California.” Cheers to that! Let’s hope other states follow suit.

—breege tomkinSon

Photo courtesy of rick MinderMann

Did someone say

fried chicken?(and bahn mi, and ramen)

Join us everyday for our multi-Asian inspired menu, and reserve for our Chef’s Counter and Kaiseki dining experiences.

4801 Folsom Blvd | Sacramento | 916.400.3075 | origamiasiangrill.com

Our ramen is healthy and delicious and always made from scratch. Our broth, tare, and toppings are prepared fresh at Shoki using Chef Yasushi’s original recipe.

The Burger Battle winner is ...

by Steph RodRiguez

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

1201 R StReet • 916.441.0011 • ShokiRamenhouSe.com

Mon - Thu 11aM - 3pM / 5pM - 10pM • Fri - SaT 11aM - 3pM / 5pM - MiDniGhT! • Sun 11aM - 10pM

The savory aroma of grilled beef and puffs of white smoke from massive barbecue rigs took over Drake’s Barn in West Sacramento last Thursday. It was an all-out battle between 15 restaurants, all competing to see who would be crowned this year’s winner at the eighth annual Sacramento Burger Battle.

The battle’s founder, Rodney Blackwell, is a dedicated burger connoisseur and runs the Instagram account @burgerjunkies with nearly 50,000 followers. Each year, Blackwell partners with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation to help raise money toward a cure. This year, the battle raised more than $100,000, which Blackwell said was the highest grossing fundraiser ever for the charity.

Besides his love of burgers, Blackwell started this cook-off for more personal reasons. His oldest daughter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when she was just 5 years old and this is his way to help raise awareness and funds. It’s also a way to showcase Sacramento’s dining scene.

Some of the area’s best restaurants flipped burgers and toasted buns for a sea of hungry attendees and a panel of judges, which included: Rick Mindermann, store director of Corti Brothers; Mark Tarbell, an Iron Chef

America winner (He beat Cat Cora!) and restaurant owner in Phoenix; Eric Veldman Miller, owner of V. Miller Meats in East Sac; Greg Berger, a graphic designer and author of Burgers & Buns: Handcrafted Burgers from Top to Bottom; Joey Garcia, advice columnist for SN&R; and me, SN&R’s dining editor and lifelong fan of food between buns.

Together, and in eight-minute increments, we sampled all 15 burgers with a short (and much needed) digestion break after burger No. 8. Some restaurants took a classic American burger approach with mustard, cheddar and shredded lettuce, while others scaled up their techniques with caraway seed buns, succulent pork belly and creative meat blends such as brisket and ribs. There were a lot of delicious spreads that popped on the palate.

Competitors included The Waterboy, Empress Tavern, Grange, South and more. But at the end of the night, the judge’s vote went to Beast + Bounty (pictured), with its 8-ounce house-ground patty, housemade brioche bun sprinkled with ODB seed mix, butter lettuce, ash onions, sliced salt-and-pepper heirloom tomatoes, B&B pickles and dijon aioli.

“It’s just the same exact burger that we serve on the menu. That way,

it’s not some extravagant burger that people will never get to have again,” said Beast + Bounty executive chef Brock MacDonald.

The people’s choice award went to first-time competitors StreetZlan, a family-owned restaurant in Galt. Its tasty King Slider—which I will be driving to Galt for—is a grass-fed beef patty, pork belly kakuni (a Japanese braising technique), togarashi mayo, sunflower micro sprouts served on a sesame seed brioche bun and skewered with a bright-green pickled pepper. The nuttiness of the sunflower sprouts left a memorable impression even after the last burger of the night.

That’s what StreetZlan owners and husband-and-wife team Erick and Jessica Silva said they wanted to show attendees: Something different, yet simple.

“When you bite into it, it’s something that you won’t forget. We want you to take a bite and be like, ‘Damn.

I’ve never had a burger like this,’” Erick said. “You want to highlight the ingredients you’re using and just make sure those flavors dance.”

“It’s just simple and flavorful and you can actually taste the meat,” Jessica added. “Everything we worked for, everything that keeps us going, it felt so amazing to win. We’ve been wearing the belt.” Ω

is Proud to Announce a 2nd Location!

New Location Now Open!

$2.00 Off with this ad

6720 Madison Avenue Fair Oaks, CA 95628 www.CrepesAndBurgers.com 09.19.19 | SN&R | 25

grow your business

P

gaRdeN

place

Go native Native plants are good for animals and save water

Get your business noticed by real estate, desiGn and GardeninG-savvy readers!

by Debbie Arrington Vine Hill manzanita will be among the shrubs available at the Fall Plant Sale on Sept. 21.

Photo courtesy of uc Davis arboretum

to advertise, call us at 916.498.1234

Work & Style For you & yourS

Featuring classic, rugged, and respected brand name clothing and accessories

And more!

923 K Street Sacramento 916.228.4036 FB•IG @theblueox 26

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

Ceramics, Coyote Brush Studios and Wild Jules seed balls.

Why go native?

“Native plants provide a unique caterpillar-host relationship to allow for abundant butterfly and moth populations,” explained Chris Lewis, Elderberry Farms nursery director. “(Natives) provide the best nectar, pollen and habitat for butterflies, bees and birds. They’re naturally low-water use solutions. They do not require chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and give a sense of place that no other plant palette can provide.”

Including California native plants in urban landscapes goes a long ways towards supporting our local ecosystem, providing food and homes to the animal life that also call Sacramento home.

“Our native wildlife is under siege,” Lewis said. “The stresses of habitat loss due to climate disruption, wildfires, drought, invasive species and more are decimating our native species by the thousands.

Naturally drought resistant plants have found a growing niche in California. But they do more than save water, Lewis noted.

“Our gardening practices are changing as we begin to understand that native plants are not only beautiful, they are also essential components of our ecosystems and natural processes,” she said.

“By gardening with native plants—no matter where you live or how small or large your space is—you can help sustain wildlife and do your part to help decrease the rate of climate change, and thus its impacts.” □

Do something for local wildlife. Plant a native.

If you want to help Sacramento birds, bees and butterflies, grow a garden that contains their favorite flowers and plants. Those often are the same plants that grow here naturally.

On Saturday, gardeners can shop an amazing selection of tough and beautiful California native plants proven to thrive in our area as the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society hosts its annual Fall Native Plant Sale and Art Market at Shepard Garden and Arts Center in McKinley Park.

How do you know these natives will like Sacramento? These plants have lived here all their lives, so they’re already accustomed to our climate. The nursery stock offered for sale was grown by Cornflower Farms in Elk Grove, Elderberry Farms in Rancho Cordova and Hedgerow Farms in Winters.

Elderberry, for example, will be bringing more than 110 native plant varieties including 10 different bulb species. Popular manzanitas, California lilacs, buckwheats and milkweed all will be in good supply.

September and October offer ideal planting weather, giving these plants a chance to put down strong roots and get a head start on becoming “established,” a key factor in surviving future droughts.

A lot more than plants will be available at this event. Among the other featured vendors will be ceramic artist Julie Clements of Clay Pigeon

event Details Fall native Plan and art Market 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21, Shepard Garden and arts center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Details: SacValleycNpS.org/ps

Debbie arrington, an award-winning garden writer and lifelong gardener, is co-creator of the sacramento Digs Gardening blog and website.

Real eState

The Foundry apartments in The Bridge District are opening soon.

Photo courtesy Fulcrum ProPerty

The Bridge District is going up West Sacramento development showcases modern urban living with river views The other side of the river can

offer a whole new perspective. That’s what’s happening with The Bridge District in West Sacramento.

Once a sleepy cluster of warehouses and empty lots, the area is fast becoming “a well planned, waterfront-orientated urban district,” as noted in the City of West Sacramento’s Specific Plan. “The transition from the industrial past to the vision of an urban mixed-use district is well under way.”

With 1 mile of riverfront and home to Raley Field, the triangular-shaped district is bordered by Highway 50, Tower Bridge Gateway and the Sacramento River. The district was once the site of massive rice silos, a cement company and a major paper recycler.

After more than 70 years of industrial use, The Bridge District is transforming into mostly homes and recreational use – all

with a spectacular view and easy access to Downtown Sacramento.

“A whole new community is being built and it’s really awesome,” said Sarah Barkawi of Fulcrum Property, which is developing about 60 acres in The Bridge District. “We have all sorts of housing – affordable townhomes, a new apartment complex with river views and boutique style homes. … It’s really different, modern, urban living.”

Minutes from downtown and the Capitol, this building boon is blossoming in the shadow of the Tower Bridge.

“Think about affordable housing options close to downtown,” Barkawi said. “You could buy a place 3 or 4 miles out and commute – or live in The Bridge District.

It’s so close, it’s like living in Downtown.”

Fulcrum Property president Mark Friedman, a part-owner of the Sacramento Kings, gets credit for the vision behind current development in The Bridge District, Barkawi said.

“He thought, ‘Nobody is living on the riverfront (in West Sacramento), but they should be,’ ” she said. “This is an opportunity to live by the river and be connected to Downtown. You’re close enough to walk to Golden 1 Center.”

By the end of 2019, Fulcrum will have 400 to 500 residential units completed in The Bridge District. Opening in October is The Foundry, an upscale apartment complex with such amenities as an outdoor kitchen, firepit, bocce ball court and bike shop. Ro, featuring 19 boutique homes in the $500,000 range, will be ready for occupancy in 2020.

By DeBBie Arrington

This column is produced by N&R Publications, a division of News & Review separate from SN&R Editorial.

For more information, visit www.nrpubs.com

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

27

Your perfect Fall Getaway is only a call away!

day tRipS

Live your travel dreams at I Live Travel.

We are a full-service travel adviser, providing you a stress-free vacation planning experience. Let us do all the work, while you do all the enjoying!

I Live Travel is your Travel Partner for Cruises | All-Inclusive Resorts | Airfare | Hotel Accommodations Romantic Getaways | Group Travel | LGBTQ Friendly

916.970.1730 | www.ilivetravel.com

Knight Foundry, the nation’s last cast-iron foundry, is among the historic sites in Sutter Creek.

Photo by Allen Pierleoni

Sutter Creek takes you back ‘Jewel of the Mother Lode’ still sparkles

Strolling Main Street in Sutter Creek, it’s easy to see why the Gold Rush-era town of Victorian architecture calls itself “the Jewel of the Mother Lode.” The Amador County hamlet – a 90-mile round trip from Sacramento – is an inviting respite that transports visitors to small-town America.

Make your first stop the Visitors Center (71 Main St.) for the gallery of vintage photos and a self-guided walking tour.

Eureka Street leads to the Knight Foundry and Shops (81 Eureka St., www.knightfoundry.com). Back in the day, the gargantuan cast-iron foundry (opened in 1873 and the last one in the U.S.) hand-crafted the machinery that drove the gold-mining and timber industries. Tours are offered on second Saturdays; special group tours are available. Call 209-560-6160.

The Monteverde General Store & Museum (3 Randolph St.) is a time capsule from 1898. The original ledgers show the first item sold was a gallon jug of red wine for 40 cents. The store closed in 1972, leaving thousands of original goods on the

shelves – castor oil, canned vanilla wafers, plaster-of-paris bandages. Tours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays; call 209-267-1344 to arrange other days and hours.

Ask owner Lisa Klosowski to play a tune on her hand-made Italian Porter Swan Elite II while you browse the Music Box Company’s vast collection of musical boxes, figurines and clocks (64 Main St., www.themusicboxcompany.com).

The emphasis is on “from scratch and homemade” at Sina’s Backroads Café (74 Main St., www.sinasbackroadscafe), as in soups, quiches and biscuits. The pork shoulder for the Cubano sandwich is smoked for 24 hours.

Can you really eat the super-tall and supergood Pub Burger at Cavana’s Pub & Grub with only two hands? Uh, no, you need four (36 Main St., www.cavanaspubandgrub.com); bring a friend.

Unleash your inner home cook at Sutter Creek Culinary (54 Main St., on Facebook), a feast of cookware and artisanal specialties, many locally sourced. Don’t overlook 100 exotic spices and seasonings.

Winemaker Gary Miller transformed the Sutter Creek Cheese Shoppe (33 Main St., www.suttercreekcheese.com) into a hybrid wine-tasting room and cheese emporium.

Five-taste flights are $10. Best match: 2014 Grenache with Capra Stanislaus goat cheese.

When do pastry and bread transcend the realm of baked goods? When they’re from Andrae’s Bakery in next-door Amador City (14141 Old Highway 49, www.andraesbakery.com). Visit www. suttercreek.org for details on upcoming special events.

by Allen Pierleoni

This column is produced by N&R Publications, a division of News & Review separate from SN&R Editorial.

For more information, visit www.nrpubs.com

28

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

29

for the week of september 19

by maxfield morris

POst eveNts ONliNe FOr Free at newsreview.com/sacramento

MUSIC THURSDAY, 9/19 tHe DaviD BrOMBerG QUiNtet: Catch the Americana artist and his quintet as they bring some much-needed music to the area along with some history playing with some of the biggest names in music. 6pm, $40. Sierra 2 Center, 3000 10th Ave.

MOMeNts BY JMseY: Spend a week with

Fri

Parks in parking spots

tiCKet WiNDOW

NiGHt HiKes W/ vasas: Join the pop iconoclasts Night Hikes as they play their duet of song on-stage and with Vasas, a local indie band. 6:30pm, $13-$15. The Starlet Room, 2708 J St.

POst MalONe-rUNaWaY tOUr: Post Malone is in town, and that means your officially sanctioned tickets are good for this show.

Catch the hip-hop hitmaker on his Runaway tour. 8pm, $59.50-$210. Golden 1 Center, 500 David J Stern Walk.

FRIDAY, 9/20 air sUPPlY & WilsON PHilliPs: Spend some

20th Street, 10am, no cover If you could make your own park, what would you put in it? Maybe some benches, a water feature? What if Festivals you only had the space of a single parking spot to work with? That’s the challenge that some 20 groups have taken on for PARK(ing) Day 2019, hosted by the California Sierra Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. On one

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASLA CALIFORNIA SIERRA

20

These parks take parking to a whole new level: level eight.

musician and artistic visualizer Jmsey. It’s part art show, part music show, featuring four rooms with art that correspond to songs from Jmsey’s EP release. Catch the free art show or spring for a ticket for some exclusive experiences. 5pm, $10. The Ice Blocks.

city block, for one day only, there will be tiny parks instead of parked cars. Amble through the parklets and see how the quasi-public spaces can be used when left to the minds and hands of interested parties. Celebrate sustainability and see the city of Sacramento through a new, roughly 8-foot-by-20-foot lens. 20th Street Between J and K Streets, asla-sierra.org/parking-day.

A ticket, a tasket, etc.

time with the 1980s soft-rock duo from England, Air Supply, as they spend some time with Wilson Phillips, the vocal group formed from the children of Brian Wilson and from the child of John and Michelle Philips from the Mamas & the Papas. 7pm, $34.95-$69.95. Thunder Valley Casino, 1200 Athens Ave., Lincoln.

BriaN lee BeNDer UNPlUGGeD: He’s here to party with you—are you going to party with Brian Lee Bender, Sacramento country musician and singer-songwriter? Find out Friday. 7pm, no cover. Strikes Unlimited, 5681 Lonetree Blvd., Rocklin.

titUs aNDrONiCUs W/ CONtrOl tOP: Titus Andronicus is coming back to town to put together their rock show. Control Top also joins the show with their post-punk sounds and songs. 7pm, $18-$20. Odd Fellows Lodge, 415 2nd St., Davis.

SATURDAY, 9/21 HUUN HUUR TU The Tuvan musical

group known for its members’ throatsinging is headed to town. Grab a ticket or two and take in the droning, hypnotic music. 10/3 & 10/4, 7:30pm, $12-$38, on sale now. Harris Center, Folsom, harriscenter.net.

CUPCAkkE The Chicago rapper with

lyrics of gold is coming to town on the $10K tour, so grab a ticket, get in line and attend the show. 10/8, 6pm, $25-$75, on sale now. Harlow’s, showclix.com.

BOB SAgET The former host of

America’s Funniest Home Videos is still going strong. Catch the actor, funnyman, host and owner of a host of other titles, Bob Saget, in person. 10/11, 7:30pm, $44.95$54.95, on sale now. Thunder Valley Casino, Lincoln, ticketmaster.com.

30

|

sN&r

|

09.19.19

BLACk LIPS The Atlantans who play garage punk rock music and who play the song “Bad Kids” as well as two more songs will be performing with Blue Rose Rounders.

10/12, 9pm, $20-$25, on sale now. Harlow’s, showclix.com.

HERMAN’S HERMITS

Peter Noone is into something good—Herman’s Hermits! Yes, the 1960s hitmaker is back. Maybe you remember them

for “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” or some other song, but here they are. 11/29, 7:30pm, $34.95-$47.95, on sale now. Thunder Valley Casino, Lincoln, ticketmaster.com.

BOYz II MEN Need

New Year’s Eve plans?

Look no further than Boyz II Men, lending their voices to ring in the New Year, which will be 2020.12/31,

8pm, $94.95-$109.95,

on sale now. Thunder Valley Casino, Lincoln, ticketmaster.com.

Stay demure, Bob. Stay demure.

CaMellia sYMPHONY OrCHestra GraNDeUr, lYriCisM aND virtUOsitY: Catch the 57th season of the Camellia Symphony Orchestra playing the sounds of soulfulness you’ve come to expect. 7:30pm, $10-$35. C.K. McClatchy High School Auditorium, 3066 Freeport Blvd.

saC UNPlUGGeD Feat. tHe BaD BarNaCles: Catch the Bad Barnacles live and in person without amplification at this show. It will be recorded on VHS. 6:30pm, $10. The Library of MusicLandria, 2181 6th Ave.

SUNDAY, 9/22 DUB triO (Feat. MeMBers OF PeePiNG tOM & MatisYaHU): Get yourself down to Blue Lamp to catch Dub Trio, featuring dub music and more from this rocking trio. 8pm, $15. Blue Lamp, 1400 Alhambra Blvd.

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

Online listings will be considered for print. Print listings are edited for space and accuracy. Deadline 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.

lOUD lUXUrY NiGHts liKe tHis tOUr: The Canadian duo of DJ music producers will be laying down beats. On top of those beats, they will add additional sounds at their own discretion. 7pm, $20. Ace of Spades, 1417 R St.

TUESDAY, 9/24 aDDaleMON alBUM release sHOW: Addalemon shares their new album, plus there will be performances from Sitting & Waiting, Frantic Antics and the Outside. 6:30pm, $5. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St.

sOCial DistOrtiON aND FlOGGiNG MOllY sUMMer tOUr 2019: Punk rock is happening, and it’s happening soon. Join Social Distortion and Flogging Molly at Papa Murphy’s park as they sell you on their musical prowess. 5:30pm, $45-$135. Papa Murphy’s Park, 1600 Exposition Blvd.

FESTIVALS THURSDAY, 9/19 2019 eMerGe sUMMit: Want to get together to celebrate 10 years of Metro EDGE with a group of young professionals? Show up to network, grow, learn and catch some speakers as they share helpful tips for business. 8am, $150. Crest Theatre, 1013 K St.

tHe CaNNaBis CONNeCtiON JOB Fair: Bring a resume, a business casual outfit attached to your body and a willingness to talk to potential employers at this cannabis job fair.

With more than 100 employers attending, you can’t miss this opportunity. No cannabis will be consumed at the job fair. 10am, no cover. Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 6151 H St.

talK liKe a Pirate DaY: You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a purse. You wouldn’t steal a tube of toothpaste. Why would you steal from unsuspecting boats? Piracy is a crime, but come celebrate the cleanedup version of the crime with Fairytale Town’s Talk Like a Pirate Day. There will be lots of themed games and activities. 9am, $5. Fairytale Town, 3901 Land Park Drive.

FRIDAY, 9/20 COMMUNitY POP UP sHOW: Join Sol Collective for an evening of communal fun, all free and featuring music from Münechild, Maya Songbird, William Corduroy and Proto Evangelism. Celebrate this pop-up and join Peach House Presents for a political prisoner letter writing activity. 5pm, no cover. Sol Collective, 2574 21st St.

saCraMeNtO UNiteD ParK(iNG) DaY 2019: Spend a day in Sacramento where the parking spots aren’t just for cars. They’re for humans to hang out in miniscule parks—large enough to step into, but not as big as traditional parks. Catch the highlight above. 10am, no cover. MARRS Building.

WiZarD WOrlD COMiC CON: Want to spend time with Aquaman? Well, you can’t. But you can spend time with Jason Momoa, who plays the aquatic superhero on the silver screen

CaleNDar listiNGs CONtiNUeD ON PaGe 32

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

31

CaleNDaR liStiNGS CONtiNUeD FROM paGe 30 at this festival. 4pm, $34.99-$149.99.

Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Blvd.

Saturday, 9/21 BURlY BaCKYaRD BaRBeCUe 6: The backyard is open, and that means it’s time to enjoy a barbecue in it. Lots of bands will play music for you, including Sparks Across Darkness, Salt Wizard and Band of Coyotes. Of course, there will be food and drinks. 2pm, no cover. Burly Beverages, 2014 Del Paso Blvd.

CitY OF tReeS: Join Incubus, Portugal the Man, Hot Chip, Neon Trees, the Strumbellas and many more for Alt 94.7’s City of Trees music festival. 3pm, $43.50. Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Blvd.

elK GROve HiStORY WeeK: Celebrate and learn about the history of Elk Grove in this week-long festival centered around the city.

With plenty of events, both informative and exciting, you’ll be sure to learn something new.

Sept. 21-28 at various locations in Elk Grove.

FaiR OaKS CHiCKeN FeStival: Get on down to the chicken-est festival in Fair Oaks— perhaps in the world, as well. Featured on page 32. 10am, no cover. Fair Oaks Village, Fair Oaks.

RiO liNDa/elveRta 7tH aNNUal COUNtRY FaiRe: Want to spend time with a relatively young faire? It’s year seven for the Rio Linda Eleverta “Country Faire,” so come get some of that country fun, with pirates, bounce houses, face painting, plenty of food— including a pancake breakfast—to eat, beer to drink, animals to gawk at or brusquely ignore and much more. 8am, no cover. Depot Park, 6730 Front St., Rio Linda.

SaCRaMeNtO BiCYCle FeStival 2019: Head over to Township 9 Bike Terrain Park for the Sacramento Bicycle Festival.

Celebrate all things bicycle-related, including wheels, handlebars, spokes and more. Plus, there will be food, drinks and entertainment. 11am, no cover. Township 9 Bike Terrain Park, 900 N. 7th St.

SaCRaMeNtO FilM aND MUSiC FeStival: Get yourself some appreciation for local cinema and hand-picked sounds at this yearly festival. Catch local films, shorts, music

Saturday, 9/21

Sacramento Horror Film Festival Colonial TheaTre, 4pm, $25

If you’ve got an unquenchable thirst for beer, go to a brewfest. If you’ve got a thirst for horror films, go here.

It’s another installment of the curated festival of short films in the genre of horror. Your pass gets you in to see more than 30 films, handpicked at the peak of their ripeness. There’s FeStivalS Murdercycle, concerning the circumstances of a free motorcycle that might have something wrong with it; The Desecrated, following the exploits of a morgue attendant; and many more— plus, there are live horror-inspired performances later in the evening. 3522 Stockton Blvd., sachorrorfilmfest.com.

32

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

videos and quickly crafted pieces in the 10X10 Challenge. Noon, $10. Crest Theatre, 1013 K St.

SaCRaMeNtO HORROR FilM FeStival: Get yourself down to the Colonial Theatre for a day of horror—horror films, that is.

Read the event highlight on page 32. 4pm, $27.99. Colonial Theatre, 3522 Stockton Blvd.

SuNday, 9/22 FeStival latiNO: Join in the fun at Festival Latino. There will be tons of entertainment, lots of community to immerse yourself in, plus dozens of booths, lots of food and more exciting activities. 11am, no cover. Nielsen Park, 7596 Center Pkwy.

NatUReFeSt: The theme of the festival? Nature.

Join Effie Yeaw Nature Center for this family-friendly festival featuring nature, food, activities, hikes and more—not necessarily in that order. 10am, $2-$5. Effie Yeaw Nature Center, 2850 San Lorenzo Way, Carmichael.

FOOd & drINK FrIday, 9/20 BiKe DOG BeeR DiNNeR: De Vere’s Irish Pub and Bike Dog Brewing are joining forces for an evening of food and beer mixed together, though not in a disgusting slurry of beer-food. Instead, taste different ales in conjunction with salmon, bratwurst, grilled cheese and more. 6pm, $50. de Vere’s Irish Pub, 1521 L St.

Saturday, 9/21 CaliFORNia BReWeRS FeStival: Want to have some beer? Your search is over, because there’s only one place to get it—from fermentation. Further down the production line, you can get beer at this festival of brewers from California, with brews from more than 85 brewers. Plus, it benefits WEAVE, Runnin’ for Rhett and more causes. Noon, $10-$75. Discovery Park, 1600 Garden Highway.

Saturday, 9/21

Fair Oaks Chicken Festival Fair Oaks Village, 10am, nO cOVer

Can you act like a chicken with pluck? / If you’re good, then you might be in luck. / This Fair Oaks Chick’ Fest / puts bawks to the test / and determines who’s most down to cluck. That’s Festivals right, the Fair Oaks Chicken Festival is back, including the Cluck ’n’ Crow chicken-impersonation contest. Check out the festival and join in the fun, featuring lots of live music, painting classes, beer tasting and much more, all in celebration of the wild fowl that live in Old Fair Oaks. 7003 Park Drive, Fair Oaks, forpd. org/263/Fair-Oaks-Chicken-Festival.

SuNday, 9/22 a taste OF laND PaRK 2019: Want to know what Land Park tastes like? Quit grazing on the soil and grab a ticket to this festival of food and drinks, Land Park staples all. There’s music, entertainment and much more, all for ages 21 and over. 4pm, $45. William Land Park, 10th Ave.

FILM tHurSday, 9/19 UtaNO PRiNCe-saMa-MaJi lOve KiNGDOM MOvie: The anime about music students based on the PlayStation Portable video game is now a feature-length movie and is having a screening in Sacramento. 11am, $10.50. The Tower Theatre, 2508 Land Park Drive.

Saturday, 9/21 DaN savaGe’s 14tH aNNUal HUMP! FilM Festival: Catch the film festival that features only short, dirty films. They feature non-porn stars, but people who are interested in expressing themselves via explicit film. 7:30pm, $20-$25. Crest Theatre, 1013 K St.

COMEdy PUNCH liNe: Michelle Buteau. The comedian, podcast host, actress from Always Be My Maybe and more is coming to town to share some of those funny jokes. through 9/21. $25-$32.50. 2100 Arden Way, Suite 225.

staB! COMeDY tHeateR: Letter Talk Live.

Letters get written, you are included in the process. Such is an apt description of Letter Talk with Alyssa Cowan. saturday 9/21, 7pm. $5. 1710 Broadway.

saCRaMeNtO COMeDY sPOt: Standup Comedy Open Mic. Want to see less-than-perfect comedy? Come to this open-mic and you may just get that—but no guarantees. You may receive incidental doses of perfect comedy. sunday 9/22, 7pm. $6. 1050 20th St., Suite 130.

ON StaGE CiRCUs vaRGas: The Greatest of Ease. Spend some time with Circus Vargas, back in town for yet another installment of performances of acrobatic talent and displays of

showpersonship like you wouldn’t believe.

The traveling big-top show is waiting for you. through 9/29. $30-$57. 1151 Galleria Blvd., Roseville.

HaRRis CeNteR: Cirque Mei. The circus is in town, straight from China’s Hebei Province.

This troupe features dozens of talented performers doing everything from dancing to bicycling and everything in between, plus other things not in between. 2pm through 9/22. $28-$48. 10 College Parkway, Folsom.

tHe WilKeRsON tHeateR: As Is by William M. Hoffman. Catch the William M. Hoffman work about a broken-up couple living and working in New York in the onset of the AIDS crisis. through 10/12. $18-$20. 2509 R St.

art tHe latiNO CeNteR OF aRt + CUltURe: La Lucha Convergence of Identity. Check out this exhibit of photography and art centered around Mexican wrestling and the masks that wrestlers wear. Andres Alvarez conceived the show, and artists from near and far are participating in the show. saturday 9/21, 6pm. No cover. 2700 Front St.

tiM COllOM GalleRY: 20/20 Vision. Catch the Tim Collom Gallery’s newest exhibition, a selection of new work from Tim Collom as well as Miles Hermann. It’s called 20/20, referencing the number of paintings each artist is sharing as well as referencing the visual acuity rating. through 10/3. No cover. 915 20th St.

MuSEuMS aRDeN-DiMiCK liBRaRY: Hear My Voice A Living History of the Fight for Women’s Right to Vote. Get an hour-long experience of history centered around the 19th amendment and women’s suffrage. There will be archival footage, sound and more in this Living Voices production. tuesday 9/24, 3:30pm. No cover. 891 Watt Ave.

CaliFORNia state CaPitOl MUseUM: Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day. Want to get all the fun of museums without supporting them financially? This Saturday is an opportunity to check out five museums, namely the California Automobile Museum, California Museum, California State Railroad Museum, Maidu Museum & Historic Site and the Sacramento History Museum, all for free.

CaleNDaR listiNGs CONtiNUeD ON PaGe 34

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

33

see more events and suBmit your own at newSreview.com/Sacramento/calendar

CaLendar ListinGs Continued From PaGe 33 with a downloaded ticket. saturday 9/21, 10am. no cover. Various locations.

CroCKer art museum: Artist Talk Nathan Youngblood. Join Nathan Youngblood for a discussion about his ceramic work and the tradition of ceramics in Southwestern Native American culture. saturday 9/21, 11am. $12$24. 216 O St.

food, drinks and fun. 9:30am, $25. Wellspring Women’s Center, 3414 4th Ave.

Sunday, 9/22 BaCK to your roots Fitness Presents BootCamP and Brew voL. 8: Participate in a 50-minute fitness workout, then have one pint of beer, included in the cost of admission. 10am, $20. Urban Roots Brewery & Smokehouse, 1322 V St.

lGBtQ

BooKS tHurSday, 9/19 BLaCK autHors GrouP-montHLy meet & Greet: Join this group to share your written work, hear from other people who have been in your authorly shoes and to get on track to publish your work. 6:30pm, no cover. Capsity Coworking, 2572 21st St.

Friday, 9/20

Saturday, 9/21 trans FamiLy day: Trans Family Day is a celebration for trans and non-binary people and their families to come together and hold space. Join the Sacramento LGBT Community Center and Sacramento Area Rainbow Families for this festival filled with food, entertainment and visibility. 11am, no cover. Southside Park, 2115 6th St.

rare eveninG witH siX Current Poets Laureate: Spend time with six poet laureates as they share their work with you. There’s Indigo Moor, Sacramento’s laureate, along with Amy Glynn, Cynthia Patton, Tom Stanton, Rafael Jesús González and Tama Brisbane, poet laureates of Orinda, Livermore, Benicia, Berkeley and Stockton, respectively, as they discuss social justice. 6pm, no cover. Capital Books, 1011 K St.

SPortS & outdoorS Saturday, 9/21 1869 Base BaLL! CinCinnati vs. saCramento: Come celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Cincinnati Red Stockings handily defeating the Sacramento Base Ball Club with recreators of the vintage sport at William Land Park. 11am, no cover. Sacramento History Museum, 101 I St.

FLourisH Farm end oF season u-PiCK FLower saLes: As the floral season comes to a close, there are still opportunities to get flowers to nose. Head down to Flourish Farm for half-price flowers that you get to pick yourself. 9am, no cover. Flourish Farm, 317

5th st., west sacramento.

sisn BunCo Party: Have you gotten your physician-suggested dosage of bunco? If not, come play the dice game while having

taKe action tHurSday, 9/19 LatinX BeHavioraL HeaLtH weeK Conversations witH Community Partners: Join La Familia Counseling Center for a conversation about how mental health needs within the Latinx community are being met.

Plus, there will be enchiladas and discussion with mental health care providers. 11:30am, no cover. Maple Neighborhood Center, 3301 37th Ave.

PCn Poverty simuLator 2019: Spend a day living in someone else’s shoes at this “Poverty Simulator” run by Placer Collaborative Network. You’ll be assigned a role as a person in a low-income community, participate in an activity of trying to make ends meet and ultimately discuss and debrief after the event. 9:15am, no cover. Maidu Community Center, Meeting Room 1, Roseville.

Friday, 9/20 youtH striKe For CLimate saCramento: Join other Sacramento youths as they declare their support for the National Climate Emergency Declaration as well as encouraging elected officials to support it. noon, no cover. California State Capitol West Steps, 1315 10th St.

Saturday, 9/21

Free Bike Clinic Davis Co-op, 1pm, no Cover

Is your bicycle not riding the way it used to? Perhaps that’s because it’s missing a wheel or two—but don’t take CLasses my amateur advice. Instead, get a free, professional inspection from The Bike Campaign and Bike Garage covering 50 inspect-able points on your bike. That’s not all—while you wait, you can take a ride on the Davis City Smoothie Bike, sample some Bike Dog Brewing beer and even have some barbecued food— truly a “slam dunk” of a bike clinic. 620 G St., Davis, facebook.com/thebikecampaign/events.

34

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

PHoto courteSy oF lance GrandaHl

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

35

THURSDAY 9/19

FRIDAY 9/20

SATURDAY 9/21

SUNDAY 9/22

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 9/23-25

Fierce Fridays, 7pm, call for cover

Spectacular Saturdays, 6pm, call for cover

B.P.M. & Sunday Funday Remixed, 4pm, call for cover

Trapicana, 10pm, W, no cover

Live Music, 9:30pm, no cover

Live Music, 9:30pm, no cover

The Mr. T Experience, Kepi Ghoulie and Motorcycle, 8pm, $18

Villainous Temple, Tithe and Occlith, 8pm, $10

Dub Trio, 8pm, $15

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

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

Boot Scootin Sundays, 8pm, $5

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

crest theAtre

Ethan Bortnick, 7pm, $20.30-$49

Sacramento Film and Music Festival, noon, $14.24

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 7pm, $7.50-$9.50

India.Arie, 7:30pm, T, $48-$179

FAces

Absolut Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

Sequin Saturdays, 9:30pm, call for cover

Funday Frolic, 3pm, no cover

Every Damn Monday, 8pm, M, no cover

Lucy’s Bones, 6pm, call for cover

The Pikeys, 8pm, call for cover

One Eyed Reilly, 8pm, call for cover

Steve McLane, 8pm, no cover

Western Spies & the Kosmonaut and Kal Madsen, call for time, $5

The Higher Mansions, Dive Bar Bombers and Coast Office, 9pm, $5

ArmAdillo music

Daryel Gheni Dillon, 7pm no cover

207 F ST., DAvIS, (530) 758-8058

BAdlAnds

2003 k ST., (916) 448-8790

Poprockz 90s Night, 9pm, no cover

BAr 101

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

Blue lAmp

1400 AlHAMbRA blvD., (916) 455-3400

Thief, Silence in the Snow, Venetian Veil and DJ Dada, 8pm, $8

cApitol GArAGe

1500 k ST., (916) 444-3633

PHOTO cOURTESY OF TORE SæTRE

Post Malone

1013 k ST., (916) 476-3356 2000 k ST., (916) 448-7798

FAther pAddY’s irish puBlic house

with Swae Lee and more 8pm Thursday, $59.50-$400 Golden 1 Center Hip-hop

435 MAIN ST., WOODlAND, (530) 668-1044

Fox & Goose

1001 R ST., (916) 443-8825

Golden 1 center

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

Post Malone, Swae Lee and Tyla Yaweh, 8pm, $59.50-$400

hAlFtime BAr & Grill 2708 J ST., (916) 441-4693

University of Phoenix 2019 Commencement, 1pm, no cover

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

Mighty Diamonds and Dubtonic Kru, 9pm, $20-$25

The Purple Ones, 10pm, $17-$20

School of Rock Elk Grove, noon, $10; Metalachi and more, 9pm, $20

hideAwAY BAr & Grill

2565 FRANklIN blvD., (916) 455-1331

hiGhwAter

Cuffin, 9pm, $5

1910 Q ST., (916) 706-2465

holY diVer

FatBoy SSE, RCG the Label, K Floh and more, 7pm, $20

Tannahill Weavers

Kupros

8pm Thursday, $12-$22 Palms Playhouse Scottish

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

Live music with Mike Musial, 7pm, no cover

lunA’s cAFe & Juice BAr

Poetry Unplugged, 8pm, $2

Sac Unified Poetry Slam, 8pm, no cover

the stArlet room

Night Hikes and Vasas, 7pm, $12-$15

Black Sabbitch, 9pm, $13-$18

PHOTO cOURTESY OF TANNAHIll WEAvERS

1517 21ST ST.

1414 16TH ST., (916) 441-3931 2708 J ST., (916) 441-4693

voted sacramento’s

best dance club 2017/2018

WeDnesDays

thursDays salsa or west coast swing lessons and dance

FriDays

free country dance lessons at 7pm • $3 Jack 8-9

saturDays

free dance lessons at 7pm $3 tullamore dew 8-9

sunDays trivia at 7:30, dance lessons at 9 18 & over (prizes)

Karaoke nightly Wed- sunday 9pm

$10 ribeye thursdays 6pm $10 prime rib dinner fridays 6pm $10 filet mignon dinner saturdays 6pm Until they rUn oUt…

1320 Del paso blvD in olD north sac

2 steps from downtown | 916.402.2407 stoneyinn.com for nightly drink specials & events

36

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

The Garcia Project, 8pm, $25-$30

BJ the Chicago Kid, Rayana Jay and Kamauu, 7:30pm, W, $20-$25

Hippie Hour, 5pm, no cover

Shitshow Karaoke, 8pm, M, no cover; Record Roundup, 8pm, T, no cover Trivia Factory, 7pm, M, call for cover; Geeks Who Drink, 7pm, T, call for cover

Night Swim with Joseph, 10pm, call for cover

The Color Wild, Verno, For the Kids, Zach Luicidal, IMPLANT, Twitch Angry and Van Dyke and the Honest, 7pm, $12 Control, 6:30pm, $12

Neighborhood Bar, But Better. college night dance party $3-$5 drink specials 18 & over

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

Brian Lee Bender, 6pm, no cover

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

hArlow’s

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

Local $5 Showcase, 6:30pm, $5

Pink Sweat$ and Nate Curry, 7pm, M, no cover

Triviology 101, 7:30pm, no cover

Live music with Scott McConaha, 5pm, T, no cover

The Musers, Jasmine Bailey and Hannah Jane Kile, 7:30pm, $8

Bear Call, LaTour and Pregnant, 7pm, T, $10-$12

LAUGHS UNLIMITED PRESENTS

KEy LEwIS

FeATURIng MIke DAPPeR AnD hoSTeD bY RegInA gIvenS

live MuSic

Jasmine bailey 9/21 working man blues band 9/27 eazy dub 9/28 part robot & cole thompson 10/5 unleashed 10/11 todd morgan 10/12 bongo furys 10/19 garage openers 9/20

101 Main Street, roSeville 916-774-0505 · lunch/dinner 7 days a week fri & sat 9:30pm - close 21+

/bar101roseville

lIve bAnD SATURDAY before the Show!

SEPTEMBER 20-21 Two-Story Patio Craft Beer • Full Bar Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner

1217 21st Street 916.440.0401 kuproscrafthouse.com

Nebraska Mondays, 7:30pm, M, $10; Jazz Jam w/ Byron Colburn, 8pm, W, $5

FRIDAY AnD SATURDAY 8:00PM AnD 10:30PM $20 per person Promo Code “New Laughs” available for 50% off on September shows 1207 Front St, Old Sacramento TIckeTS ARe AvAIlAble on oUR webSITe www.lAUghSUnlIMITeD.coM oR ReSeRvATIonS cAn be MADe bY cAllIng (916) 446-8128

submIt your cAlendAr lIstIngs for free At newsrevIew.com/sAcrAmento/cAlendAr Old IrOnsIdes

1901 10TH sT., (916) 442-3504

THursday 9/19

friday 9/20

saTurday 9/21

Music Night Open Acoustic Jam, 8pm, no cover

Mike Watt and the Missingmen, 9pm, $13-$15

Lipstick! Presents: We Are Your Friends Dance Club, 9pm, $5

On THe Y

13 Main sT., WinTers, (530) 795-1825

The Tannahill Weavers, 8pm, $12-$22

PlacervIlle PublIc HOuse

614 suTTer sT., fOlsOM, (916) 355-8586

Jessie Leigh, 9:30pm, call for cover

THe Press club

Sad Girlz Club, Hammerbombs, Danger Inc. and more, 8pm, call for cover

sHadY ladY

Harley White Jr. Orchestra, 9pm, no cover

2030 P sT., (916) 444-7914 1409 r sT., (916) 231-9121

sOcIal nIgHTclub

1000 K sT., (916) 947-0434

sTOneY’s rOckIn rOdeO

1320 del PasO Blvd., (916) 927-6023

West Coast Swing Dancing, 7pm, no cover

swabbIes On THe rIver

5871 Garden HiGHWay, (916) 920-8088

THe TOrcH club

904 15TH sT., (916) 443-2797

wIldwOOd kITcHen & bar 904 15TH sT., (916) 922-2858

Metal Monday featuring A//tar and Purgaterror, 8pm, M, no cover Chuchito Valdés Afro-Cuban Trio, 7pm, $12-$27

Hubby Jenkins, 8pm, $12-$20 El Dub, 8pm, call for cover

414 Main sT., Placerville, (530) 303-3792

POwerHOuse Pub

MOnday-Wednesday 9/23-25 Live Music with Heath Williamson, 5:30pm, M, no cover

Hollywood K King, 8pm, $12

670 fulTOn ave., (916) 487-3731

Palms PlaYHOuse

sunday 9/22

Matt Rainey & Dippin Sauce and Jenie Thai, 9pm, $7 Jayson Angove, 7pm, call for cover

YOlO brewIng cO.

8Track Massacre, 10pm, call for cover

Dennis Jones, 3pm, call for cover

Karaoke, 8:30pm, T, call for cover; 98 Rock Local Licks, 9pm, W, call for cover

Pop 40 Dance with DJ Larry, 9pm, $5

DJ Larry’s Sunday Night Dance Party, 9pm, no cover

Emo Night Sacramento, 8pm, W, $8

A Tribe Quartet, 9pm, no cover

The Gold Souls, 9pm, no cover

Elizabeth Lupingo, 9pm, no cover

Kyle Rowland & Hot Plate, 9pm, W, no cover

DJ Mez, 10pm, no cover before 11pm

DJ Elements, 10pm, no cover before 10:30pm

Hot Country Fridays, 7:30pm, $5-$10

Stoney’s Saturdays with Free Line Dance Lessons, 7pm, $5

Sunday Funday, 9pm, no cover 21+

3rd Friday Reggae with Zion Roots and Sister I-Live, 6pm, $6-$9

When Doves Cry, 7pm, $13-$18

Riff Raff, 1pm, $9-$10.50

Dirty Revival, 9pm, $10

Dennis Jones Bday Celebration, 9pm, $10 You Front the Band, 8pm, call for cover

Halfway Noble, 8pm, T, no cover

Unlicensed Therapy, 7pm, call for cover

Symposium Jazz Band Trio, 6pm, W, call for cover

Freshmakers, 10pm, call for cover

Skyler Michael, 7pm, call for cover The Vertefée Cabaret - On The Run!, 8pm, $20

1520 TerMinal sT., (916) 379-7585

College Night Wednesdays, 9pm, W, $5-$10

Free Yoga at Yolo, 11am, no cover

Ttodd Trivia, 7pm, T, no cover

Loud Luxury, 7pm, $20

Amon Amarth, 7pm, T, $30-$199

PHOTO cOurTesy Of circle 3 Media

India.Arie 7:30pm Tuesday, $48-$179 Crest Theatre R&B

All ages, all the time ace Of sPades

V101 Old School House Party, 8pm, $18

Lose Your Illusion, 6pm, $16

cafe cOlOnIal

Violent Party, Grody, Burial Order and Moon Sailor, 8pm, $10

Bat Guano Fest 9, 6pm, call for cover

THe cOlOnY

Marcos Mena, Keylime and Mookatite, 7pm, $10

1417 r sT., (916) 930-0220 3520 sTOcKTOn Blvd.

3512 sTOcKTOn Blvd.

sHIne

1400 e sT., (916) 551-1400

Shine Free Jazz Jam, 8pm, no cover

Stereo RV and Lindsey Wall, 8pm, $10

MATI, Heavy Stench, Burial Order and DuranxDuran, 8pm, T, $10 HighLö, PullingItOff, OverMotion, TabloidTea and more, 7pm, W, $5-$10

Hard Luck Daddies and the Hey Nows, 8pm, $8

PHOTO cOurTesy Of aMOn aMarTH

Amon Amarth 7pm Tuesday, $30-$199 Ace of Spades Melodic death metal

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

37

Believe everything you read, except this: It’s time to get a haircut.

s m a r 25 g y t e i r ide va tes

$

W

ra t n e c n on Co

20 s h t h g i E $

of bud

s t n i o j 5

$

1008849-24-TEMP

medical & recreational welcome

916.254.3287 Veteran

Senior Discounts

135 Main Avenue • Sacramento, CA 95838 • Open Mon-Sat 10AM–7PM • Now Open Sun 12-5 38

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

For more cannabis news, deals & updates, visit capitalcannabisguide.com.

embrace boredom See goatkidd

42

it’S time for harveSt! See aSk 420

43

Untested cannabis vape cartridges can contain pesticides, solvents, molds and heavy metals. Each contaminant comes with its own health issues including respiratory problems and cancer.

Counterfeits also undercut legal dispensaries that have to spend more for properly tested products. Likewise, legal manufacturers must educate users about their brand’s quality.

“Much like the way licensed retailers are hurt by the presence of illegal shops,” Traverso said, “manufactured products from licensed companies are impacted by cheap knock-offs that cut into their business These Heavy Hitters’ “Jack Herer” vape cartridges were purchased at a and damage their credibility.” local unregulated venue. Would you be For licensed retailers, who jumped able to spot the difference between through all the bureaucratic hoops counterfeit vapes and the real deal? to comply with state regulations, the situation is frustrating.

Photo by Ken Magri “We have all worked hard to combat stereotypes and negative stigmas around cannabis,” said John Oram, CEO of Oakland-based NUG Cannabis, “and now the issue of counterfeit and contaminated products Bootleg cannabis vape cartridges are sold in gray instills a new fear in the public eye.”

Counterfeiting has been reported, markets across the country, including Sacramento although not yet proven, for licensed California brand names including

by Ken Magri Alpine, Brass Knuckles, Cookies, Heavy-Hitters, Kingpen, Loudpack, Rove, Stiiizy and TKO. “Yes, Alpine is aware that executive order to help curb the prices of $50 to 60, plus taxes, it has been a bad summer for vaping. there are counterfeit vape growing number of youth who vape. for an authentic cartridge.

Across the country, young adults cartridges being sold California is now the third state to take “The issue of have been getting sick from vaping on DHGate.com,” such action. counterfeit products e-cigarette products, and the federal The 2 River’s said Sachin Gulaya, Further, the CDC reported 193 is seemingly becomCenters for Disease Control and CEO of Alpine potential cases of vape-related test results also ing more and Prevention reported that an Illinois man Vapor. “We have more of an issue died in August. Now, the Trump adminis- illnesses in 22 states between June 28 reported our samples’ contacted DHGate and Aug. 22 and said that “in many every day,” said tration is even considering an all-out ban THC potency at 39.4%, several times with cases patients have reported use of Alex Traverso, on flavored e-cigarettes. cease-and-desist THC-containing products.” less than half of the 87% communications But it’s not just e-cigarettes. Last letters to no avail.

What’s going on? chief for the month, residents of Hanford were hospitallisted on the Heavy The packaging they SN&R determined that part of the California Bureau ized with respiratory issues after vaping Hitters’ package. are selling has been answer is linked to counterfeit cannabis of Cannabis Control. unlicensed THC cartridges. Rolling Stone updated twice since vape cartridges, which are showing up “These products are magazine reported on an 18-year old who then, with one being in in increasing numbers in California found in the illegal shops was hospitalized on Long Island, N.Y. response to counterfeiters.” and beyond. Full-gram cartridges of that we’ve shut down over the with an acute lung injury after vaping with But counterfeiters catch on popular brands can be purchased on course of the last year.

They look like California brand, TKO Extracts, that turned the internet, at unlicensed dispensaries, the genuine article, but much like other quickly, reproducing new packaging out to be a fake. through delivery services and also at products in illegal shops, have not What’s more, on Monday Gov. pop-up “sesh” events for as little as gone through testing and pose risks to Gavin Newsom announced an “counterfeit vapeS” continued on page 41 $10, compared to licensed dispensary the health of the consumer.”

09.19.19 | SN&R | 39

counterfeit vapes

The Dodgers will win the Super Bowl in the next five years. I’ll give you good odds.

420 med

916-346-4233 ADULT USE 21+

e valuations

$ 45

$ 35

new pati e nts o n l y v a l i d a t 1 8 00 21 st.

pati e nt Re n e wal s on ly v a lid a t 18 00 2 1 s t .

valid thRough 09.25.19 must pResent coupon.

valid thRough 09.25.19 must pResent coupon.

st

21 s t s t .

SERVING SACRAMENTO SatiSFaCtiOn Guarantee!

1 H r Delivery Guarantee! $1 Gram Pre-roll for new Customers We pay taxes for Seniors & Veterans!

aLL PrODuCtS teSteD!

st

By appointment only. same day appointments availaBle. R st.

DELIVERY DISPENSARY

@OrganicCareSac

@OrganicCareSac

@OrganicCareofCaliforniaSac

@Organic Care of California Sacramento

$.01 Gram Blueberry Muffin “Live Resin” with Arcturus gram bought!

1800 21 st st • (916) 476-6142 420medeval.com

FREE BATTERy & CHARGER

with every UKU cartridge 1/2g starting @ $25•1g for $45!

Limit 1 per person

Ounces $115-$150 (12-22%THC)

MON–FRI 10AM–10pm•Sat–SUN NOON–10PM

open monday thRough satuRday 11am to 3pm

C9-18-0000007-TEMP

Full Menu and Order Online at www.OrganicCareofCalifornia.com

Cannabis Delivery 916.741.7339

www.silverstreaksolution.com silverstreakdispatch@gmail.com Wide Selection

40

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

“CounTerfeiT vapes” ConTinued froM page 39

almost as fast as the changes appear. is mildly toxic if ingested, but smoking it To mitigate that, Guyala said that is another matter.

Alpine Vapor relies on “a single “When myclobutanil is heated up, domestic packaging supplier” and it turns into toxic fumes like carbon high-quality “propriety designs” that monoxide and hydrogen cyanide,” said are hard to reproduce.

Julia Innocenzi, manager at 2 River Frequent reports about counterfeit Labs. “When we have had previous vape carts appear on Instagram fails for myclobutanil, it was usually accounts such as @dankbustersofficial just above the limits. This particular and @theblacklistxyz, which are sample tested at a fail rate of 16 times dedicated to educating cannabis users. the amount.”

Followers report suspicious counterfeit The cartridges tested for bifenazate cartridges throughout California and at almost three times the allowed as far away as Oklahoma, Texas, New amount. The active ingredient in Jersey and Florida.

Floramite brand pesticide, it is used for There are other vape cartridge killing spider mites, mostly for indoor brands of concern, but they fit into a grow operations, and recommended second category. These faux brands only for ornamental plants and nonof dubious origin falsely represent bearing fruit trees. The European Food themselves as licensed Safety Authority stated that it companies—but they’re concluded farm workers not. They include applying bifenazate Cali Carts, Dank, using hand sprayers “When we have Exotic Extracts, were considered at had previous fails Mario Carts, risk.

Smart Carts The test for myclobutanil, it was and West Coast results also usually just above the limits.

Carts. Often reported the This particular sample tested packaged with cartridges’ cartoon-like THC potency at a fail rate of 16 times the graphics, they at 39.4%, less amount.” are untested and than half of the widely available 87% listed on the Julia Innocenzi, through individual package. According manager, 2 River Labs sellers. to Innocenzi, the label claim for potency on any package compared Testing suspicious to lab data should only vary by 10 percentage points. cartridges “It’s evidence of a cut,” said the Many of these brands were spotted at operator of @theblacklistxyz, referring local unlicensed venues, such as “sesh” to cutting agents used to stretch out marketplaces. SN&R bought 10 fullbatch sizes. gram cartridges of what was labeled Based on the lab results, the as Southern California brand Heavy packaging, the $10 purchase price Hitters’ “Jack Herer” for $10 each. and the unlicensed point of purchase, Standing at a table stacked 2 feet these specific cartridges were almost high with brand-name carts, SN&R certainly counterfeits. asked, “Are these authentic?” The “If these carts were actual complivendor stared for a moment and then ance tests from a licensed distributor, answered, “Yup.” they would have to be destroyed and But were they? not allowed to be released for sale to SN&R sent the Heavy Hitters the public,” Innocenzi said. cartridges to Sacramento’s 2 River Labs, Neither Heavy Hitters nor its a state-licensed cannabis testing company, distributor Mammoth Distribution to test them for potency, pesticides, responded to requests for comment. solvents and metals. Although the test SN&R also bought a $10 Kingpen results showed no solvents or metals, the “Cali-O” cartridge at the sesh market, then samples failed for two banned pesticides: visited Sacramento’s NUG dispensary, myclobutanil and bifenazate. which allowed us to photograph it next Myclobutanil, known by the brand to an authentic version sold in stores. The names “Eagle 20” and “F-Stop,” is a two packages looked identical, but the popular fungicide for treating powdery Kingpen box listed a batch number that mildew because it works in one applicawas inconsistent with Kingpen’s normal tion. Commonly used on table grapes, it numbering sequence.

Without testing, there is not proof that the Kingpen cartridge was also a counterfeit, but it appears so. “I wouldn’t let a friend smoke that,” said NUG manager Shaina Pritchard.

Making fake cartridges Empty counterfeit cartridges are manufactured in China, a country that regularly ignores international copyright laws. Two of the largest e-commerce sites in China, DHGate.com and Alibaba. com, openly sell bulk counterfeit kits, including empty cartridges, boxes and backside labels.

These name-brand empties can also be purchased in Los Angeles retail stores, along with cutting agents, bottled terpenes and equipment used to make cannabis distillate, which is the THC oil that goes into a cartridge. Some new commercial distillate-making machines are the size of a walk-in closet, and cost more than $190,000, but they can produce distillate on an impressive scale.

Ryan is a 33-year old Sacramento resident who once manufactured counterfeit cartridges, and for legal purposes did not want SN&R to use his last name.

He said there are manufacturing facilities in the Central Valley where 10 to 15 workers can fill as many as 15,000 fake cartridges per day.

The empty carts are filled with distillate, usually made from cannabis trimmings, and then manufactured terpenes are added. These liquid extracts mimic the taste and smell of famous strains such as OG Kush or Super Lemon Haze. A cutting agent is usually added to increase volume. Propylene glycol is sometimes added, to produce more vape smoke on the exhale.

Ryan said that his crew was delivering 50,000 pounds per week of excess trim to other illegal operations as well.

“They were operating just like us, so who knows what they are putting into those carts in the end,” he said.

After a few months, realizing his boss wasn’t working toward complying with state regulations, Ryan said he went to work for a legal cannabis cultivator.

Ryan said he believes that some vape manufacturers sell their own product to unregulated vendors when a particular batch fails a lab test. “The chain of custody is not what it should be,” he said. “It’s bait-and-switch when you have extra [batches]. That’s one of the things they do.”

While Ryan presented no evidence to prove his claim, Peter Scheir, president of HoloShield Security Holograms,

which makes tamper-evident security stickers, agreed that manipulation is possible through the supply chain. He compared it to selling real Levis pants via the gray market.

“Anything can be counterfeited,” Scheir said. He examined the security stickers on the Heavy Hitters’ cartridge boxes and found several tiny distinctions in type spacing, shadowing and quality, “although consumers would have a very difficult time discerning the difference.”

“They can use their own holograms and even QRs on gray-market goods, and the supply stream will know they are, in fact, real [not fakes], but just off-brand products sold at a lower cost,” Scheir said.

What’s the solution?

Do not buy vape cartridges from unregulated vendors. Consumers are much safer buying from a licensed dispensary, and can always ask to speak with the person who does the ordering.

“We screen all products—everything from licensing, child-resistant packaging, proper labeling, test results and quality,” said Kaydee Perreira, inventory manager at NUG dispensary.

“If a single product is missing proper labeling, wrong batch IDs, broken seals, or missing compliant paperwork, it is a rejection on site.”

Also, legal vape brands post important information on their websites. “We maintain a list of authorized resellers on our website,” said Alpine Vapor’s Guyala, “and verify licensed products through a verification tool.”

Heavy Hitters has a similar list of sellers, and a page asking consumers to email information about counterfeits to: counterfeit@heavyhitters.co.

The state cannabis bureau suggests consumers go to the state’s new verification site, capotcheck.com, “to make sure they’re shopping at a licensed business.”

Finally, trust your instincts. If the product and the price seem too good to be true, they probably are.

“We realize that, while the price of purchasing cannabis at a licensed retailer might feel excessive in the moment,” said NUG’s John Oram, “in the long run it’s worth it to have highquality, pure and safe products.” Ω

09.19.19 | SN&R | 41

Finally, the scientists I hired invented something useful: a bowl specifically for triangular chips.

Get reAdy For the ShowS! tAx exempt 420 Community ReNewalS

New PatieNt

35 $45

$

w/ couPoN exP. 09/25/19 SNR

w/ couPoN exP. 09/25/19 SNR

caNN-Medical

• MeNtioN SN&R foR fRee Photo id • Mon-Sat 10aM-5pM, Sun 11aM-4pM • CultivatorS welCoMe NOTICE TO CONSUMERS: The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 ensures that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use cannabis for medical purposes where medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person’s health would benefit from the use of medical cannabis. Recommendations must come from an attending physician as defined in Section 11362.7 of the Health and Safety Code. Cannabis is a Schedule I drug according to the federal Controlled Substances Act. Activity related to cannabis use is subject to federal prosecution, regardless of the protections provided by state law.

9719A Folsom Blvd. Sacramento, CA 916-822-5690 • www.cannmedical.org

Building a grow room?

AC & COOLING SOLUTIONS

OPEN TO RETAIL PUBLIC/WHOLESALE PRICING PARTS & INSTALLATION • CANNABIS INDUSTRY EXPERT CONTRACTORS AIR FILTRATION • AIR MOVEMENT/FANS • DEHUMIDIFICATION

916.444.6650 | www.StandardAppliance.com

6492 Florin Perkins Rd

9

1508 el Camino Ave

8112 Alpine Ave

10

311 F st Marysville, CA

11

3015 H st

CAPiTAL

5

Cann-Medical 9719A Folsom Blvd 916.822.5690

Safe Capitol Compassion 135 Main Ave

12

RALEY BLVD.

C ST.

2

7

80 FRUITRIDGE RD.

organic Care 10am-10pm Mon-sat

FAIR OAKS BLVD.

1

99 FLORIN RD.

What are you looking for?

StorefroNt 42

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

DelIvery

MeDICAl referrAlS

HAZEL AVE.

WATT AVE.

5

50

4

J ST.

(916) 346-4233

SO FOL

.

LVD

MB

ARDEN WY.

160

FOLSOM BLVD.

3

8 FLORIN PERKINS

8

A therapeutic Alternative

EL CAMINO AVE.

POWER INN RD.

4

9

2035 stockton Blvd

Alpine Alternative

GREENBACK LN.

21ST ST.

3

Perfect Union

24TH ST

1900 19th st

7

5 12TH ST.

All About Wellness

80

NORTHGATE BLVD.

10am-9pm 7 days a week

916. 476.6142

LE

(916) 430-8500

1800 21st st #100 2

fire farms

VIL

420 Med evaluations

11 RYS

1

6

MA

C A N N A B I S Businesses

2416 X ST., SACRAMENTO, CA 95818 | OPEN M-F: 8A-5P, SAT: 9A-1P, CLOSED SUN.

for ADvertISINg, contact our cannabis expert at 916.498.1234

By Ngaio Bealum

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

GettinG reacquainted with cannabis?

Harvest season It’s harvest time!

What should I do?

people have died, presumably from vaping unregulated vape cartridges.

However, prohibition is never the answer. Use licensing and tested and regulated products, and you should be OK.

Wow. Is it harvest time already? This year has gone by so fast. Most outdoor cannabis plants won’t be fully ready until October, but some of these newer breeds are ready right now, and it’s never too early to plan ahead.

The first thing you should do is No, but if you are predisposed to get your drying room together. You psychotic episodes, cannabis is probneed a clean, dark spot with good ably not your friend. According to a air circulation, such as a tool shed 2004 paper published in the British or a closet. Fans can help to create Journal of Psychiatry, “Cannabis good airflow. Temperatures between use appears to be neither a sufficient 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit nor a necessary cause for are ideal. Once you cut psychosis. It is a compodown your buds, hang nent cause, part of a them in your drying complex constellation shed for a few days.

If you want to take of factors leading The goal is to get to psychosis.” the chlorophyll your weed to the It goes on to in the plant to next level, you should state: “Cases of decompose. After psychotic disorder three or four days, definitely let it “cure” could be prevented your weed will by discouraging for a while. be ready to smoke. cannabis use among However, if you want vulnerable youths.” to take it to the next So, there it is. level, you should definitely Folks with a history of let it “cure” for a while. There schizophrenia or maybe even family are plenty of different ways to cure members who have been diagnosed cannabis. Each grower has their own with schizophrenia should not smoke method, but they all aim at the same weed. Young people shouldn’t do goal: to slowly dry their buds, creatdrugs until college at least. Weed is ing a smooth smoke that is still fullstill relatively safe. If weed caused flavored and effective. O.G. ganja psychosis, there would be millions of guru Ed Rosenthal has some good crazy stoners in the streets right now. techniques at edrosenthal.com.

Don’t forget: Booze definitely causes Good luck with your harvest, and short-term psychosis and even hallulet me know if you need any help cinations. Everything has a yin and a trimming. yang. Moderation and enjoyment are the keys. Have fun. Be safe. Ω

Does weed cause psychosis?

How do I know if my wax cart is good or bad?

If you bought it from a licensed dispensary, you should be good. If you bought it on the gray or black market, who knows? With all the hoopla about tainted vape carts, it would probably be good for us to all take a step back. The president recently made remarks about banning vape pens and whatnot, and people are freaking out because six

Like more money with your weed? See online-only discounts at: capitalcannabisguide.com.

r e c r e at i o n a

i d l a c i d l & me

spensary

Your ca nn a bis cons ultants sinc e 2009 • All products are lab tested for potency and purity.

• Herbs, Topicals, Tinctures, Oils, Edibles, and Concentrates.

• Educated, Experienced and Compassionate Staff.

Now accepting new “Adult Use” members with valid government issued photo I.D. over the age of 21.

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

premier cannabis dispensary

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

@Ngaio420

3015 H Street | Sacramento, CA 916.822.4717 | 9am–9pm Everyday www.ATherapeuticAlternative.com Lic. C10-0000019-LIC

09.19.19 | SN&R | 43

pure gold

www.goldclubcenterfolds.com

totally nude showgirls

$5 before 7pm store open 11am club open 5pm ’18

all nude 18 & over

Darcie Dolce • Sept 18–21 WeD–Sat Sacramento born & raiSed. PenthouSe Pet of the month, feb. 2016. aVn all girl Performer of the year. darcie iS a ProfeSSional dJ filming with twiStyS, girlfriendS, wicked, brazzerS, elegant, PenthouSe, and many more. young, hot, beautiful Porn Star with oVer 170 XXX moVieS! stage times:

wednesdays & thursdays 10:30pm & 12:30am fridays noon, 10pm, 12pm & 2am saturdays 10pm, 12pm & 2am

store signing fri & sat 6-8Pm

amateur contest every monday 10:30 pM - $450.00 CaSh prize

friendly attractive dancers contracted daily Call 858-0444 For Sign up inFo

free $5 off with ad valid anytime with drink Purchase

Free couples sex toy with this ad/one/Person/year

bachelor / divorce parties • 916.858.0444 full service restaurant • oPen wed - thru - sat sPorts action on our giant screen tv

11363 folsom blvd, rancho cordova • (between sunrise & hazel) 916-858-0444 M-Th 11:30-3 • Fri 11:30-4 • Sat 12-4 • Sun 3-3 gold club centerfolds is a non-alcohol nightclub featuring all-nude entertainment. adults over 18 only.

44

|

SN&R

|

09.19.19

$5 off aDmIssIon

w/ad $5 o oFF aFteR 7pm 1 dRink minimum

snrsweetdeals.newsreview.com

great food

best prices for toys & club fun!

mags

young & ready 2 pak $8.99 swank 2 pak $8.99 cheri 2 pak $8.99

Dancer auDItIons

5 pack dvds

$9.69

DaIly 3000 sunrIse blVD. #2 w/coupon reg. $12.69 AD EXps 10/31/19. 1 pEr customEr

rancHo corDoVa, ca

916.631.3520 open til 5am FRi & Sat

Call for a quote.

(916) 498-1234 ext. 1339 Phone hours: M-F 9am-5pm.

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

All advertising is subject to the newspaper’s Standards of Acceptance. Further, the News & Review specifically reserves the right to edit, decline or properly classify any ad. Errors will be rectified by re-publication upon notification. The N&R is not responsible for error after the first publication. The N&R assumes no financial liability for errors or omission of copy. In any event, liability shall not exceed the cost of the space occupied by such an error or omission. The advertiser and not the newspaper assumes full responsibility for the truthful content of their advertising message. *Nominal fee for some upgrades.

Excitingly Different 100% NAIL Polish. It goes on DRY with Beautiful Designs On them. These are NOT Brush on, Stick on, or GLUE on.

So Easy... Just “PRESS” On. Stays On. Won’t Chip or Peel off. Cannot Be Purchased in Stores* YOU Can be a “Stylist” for YOUR Own Home Based Business. If You would like a Free sample to try, send me or call me with your mailing address. My Phone Number & E-mail can be found on my Website: https://www.colorstreet.com/ for-besworld From Your Stylist Ardie Forbes

COMPUTER ISSUES? FREE DIAGNOSIS by GEEKS ON SITE! Virus Removal, Data Recovery! 24/7 EMERGENCY $20 OFF ANY SERVICE with coupon 42522! Restrictions apply. 1-866-966-1581 (AAN CAN)

Cuddling Service Take time to treat yourself to a great cuddling session that’s even more relaxing than a massage. South Sac. Call to inquire 916-995-9202 Tantalizing Touches come enjoy a relaxing full body sensual massage by a Beautiful woman. South Sac. Call 916-995-9202 Oriental Magic Hands Jason Shimomura CMT (916) 601-1292

CASH FOR CARS! We buy all cars! Junk, high-end, totaled - it doesn’t matter!

Get free towing and same day cash! NEWER MODELS too! Call 866-535-9689 (AAN CAN)

RELAX.

Independent electrical service company for sale in Butte County. Includes furniture, fixtures, and equipment; Priced at $99,999. Owner wants to be a seller now. Call Linda Almlie, Real Estate DRE#00635297, (530) 518-9967 Duplex for sale in Chico; $435,000; Close to North Valley Mall. Leases, pricing; income available. Call Linda Almlie, Real Estate DRE#00635297, (530) 518-9967

Connect instantly with Sexy Local Singles FREE Now! 916-480-6227 or 800-926-6000 www.livelinks.com 18+ Your Sexual Fantasy is Calling come Play! Call FREE! 916-480-6200 or 800-700-6666 redhotdateline.com 18+

more services online www.newsreview.com

massa

SenSeS MaSSage

7328 Winding Way • fair oaks• 9am-9pm daily the BeSt MaSSaGe you can Get

new Staff!

5 OFF

$

• distribution driver • advertising consultant

SPA

G r a n d O p e n i nG S p e c i a l $35 for 30 mins $40 for 45 mins $65 for 60 mins Swedish deep tissue Shower available Walk-ins Welcome

• 7 Days a Week 10am–10pm • Sauna & Shower Available • Free Chinese therapies • Reflexology • Deep Tissue • Swedish *this is a model

916.395.7712 7271 55th St. #D

Sacramento 95823

TT

All Credit Cards Accepted

call or text 916.913.6888 for appt.

1722 X St. Sacramento,ca. 95818

Open 10aM-9pM 7 days

w ! no g n i hir

• receptionist

Actual CmT Not a model

BESgeT!

Good day Spa

PENIS ENLARGEMENT PUMP. Get Stronger & Harder Erections Immediately. Gain

916.216.8886

the

Livelinks - Chat Lines. Flirt, chat, and date! Talk to sexy real singles in your area.

Call now! 1-1-844-359-5773 (AAN CAN) ALL MALE HOT flirty GAY HOOKUPS! Call FREE! 916-480-6210 or 800-777-8000 www.guyspyvoice.com 18+

Certified Massage Practitioner Maggie

If you are interested in advertising with us, please contact CLASSIFIEDS at 916-498-1234 ext. 1338.

chat

A Delightful massage from a Latin expert Special rates for seniors. By appt only in Fair Oaks 916961-3830 **Vibrational Massage** Oil - Shower - Antelope 916-722-7777 by Appt.

1-3 Inches Permanently & Safely. Guaranteed Results. FDA Licensed. Free Brochure: 1-800-354-3944 www.DrJoelKaplan.com (AAN CAN)

• marketing & publications sales consultant For more inFormation and to apply, go to www.newsreview.com/jobs.

SN&R is an Equal Opportunity Employer that actively seeks diversity in the workplace.

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

45

Free will astrology

ask joey

Let’s be honest

For the week oF September 19, 2019 ARIES (March 21-April 19): We’re in the equinoctial

by JOey GARCIA

I’m close to a coworker who is about to be fired. management has warned her that her work is not up to par.

Instead of leveling up, she criticizes our boss. I’ve hinted that she doesn’t have what it takes to do the work but she’s in complete denial. It’s weird because on Instagram she posts like she’s a fierce feminist but at work during staff meetings and in the field, she behaves like a little girl. She even talks in a little girl voice! I’m writing because I think she’s going to be fired this week and will want to vent. I don’t have the bandwidth.

Should I tell her what I really think or let her vent?

@AskJoeyGarcia

mature into the fierce feminist self she admires. The same is true for you. You portray yourself as a close friend. We rely on our good friends to help us see what we cannot see about ourselves and to guide us into our best lives. If you are afraid to speak the truth because doing so may spark a reaction or confrontation, level up. Your co-worker might speak with a child’s voice, but you’re not using your voice at all. A therapist or coach only knows what a client chooses to share. If your co-worker is unaware that she regresses and if she doesn’t speak that way in the presence of the therapist or coach, she might not receive Both, please. When what she needs from her your friend calls, let sessions. That would be her vent for two or such a waste.

We rely on our good three minutes. Then It’s also essential bring the conversafor you to speak up friends to help us see tion into balance because your perspecwhat we cannot see about (and honor that tive shifts workplace ourselves and guide us limited bandwidth) power dynamics. You by saying: “I’d like understand intuitively into our best lives. to add something that for women to be now.” If she protests heard, they must speak up because she wants to as adults in the workplace. finish her rant, tell her Start by raising your own voice that you have listened often and invite others to rise with you. Ω to her complaints. Explain that you can’t handle listening to her speak in that way anymore. Admit that venting offers an medItatIon oF the week emotional release for her, but creates “It takes no compromise to stress for you and doesn’t ignite necessary give people their rights ... It change. Explain that in previous convertakes no money to respect the sations you have tried to hint she must individual. It takes no political take more responsibility for difficulties at deal to give people freedom. work. Apologize for not being direct and It takes no survey to remove honest with her in the past. Tell her you repression,” said Harvey Milk, want her talent and skills to be honored the gay rights activist and San and valued in her next job. Be clear that Francisco supervisor who was you believe she can create a better work assassinated in 1978. How do experience for herself. Add that she may you live your values? need therapy or life coaching for support in her career.

Let’s put you in the hot seat. You’re sharp enough to notice that your friend doesn’t know who she is. On social Write, email or leave a message for media, she appears to be a warrior for Joey at the News & Review. Give women. In person, she whines, deflects your name, telephone number and blames. She even manipulates her (for verification purposes only) and question—all voice so she sounds like a wounded child. correspondence will be kept strictly confidential.

Write Joey, 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA She is probably unaware of the split. As 95815; call (916) 498-1234, ext. 1360; or email long as it remains unconscious, she can’t askjoey@newsreview.com.

46

|

sN&r

|

09.19.19

by ROb bRezsny

season. During this pregnant pause, the sun seems to hover directly over the equator; the lengths of night and day are equal. For all of us, but especially for you, it’s a favorable phase to conjure and cultivate more sweet symmetry, calming balance and healing harmony. In that spirit, I encourage you to temporarily suspend any rough, tough approaches you might have in regard to those themes. Resist the temptation to slam two opposites together simply to see what happens. Avoid engaging in the pseudo-fun of purging by day and binging by night. And don’t you dare get swept up in hating what you love or loving what you hate.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.” So said singer and activist Nina Simone. But it’s doubtful there ever came a time when she reached the perfect embodiment of that idyllic state. How can any of us empty out our anxiety so completely as to be utterly emancipated? It’s not possible. That’s the bad news, Taurus. The good news is that in the coming weeks you will have the potential to be as unafraid as you have ever been. For best results, try to ensure that love is your primary motivation in everything you do and say and think GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Some things don’t change much. The beautiful marine animal species known as the pearly nautilus, which lives in the South Pacific, is mostly the same as it was 150 million years ago. Then there’s Fuggerei, a walled enclave within the German city of Augsburg. The rent is cheap, about $1 per year, and that fee hasn’t increased in almost 500 years.

While I am in awe of these bastions of stability, and wish we had more such symbolic anchors, I advise you to head in a different direction.

During the coming weeks, you’ll be wise to be a maestro of mutability, a connoisseur of transformation, an adept of novelty.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Granny Smith apples are widely available. But before 1868, the tart, crispy, juicy fruit never existed on planet Earth.

Around that time, an Australian mother of eight named Maria Ann Smith threw the cores of French crab apples out her window while she was cooking. The seeds were fertilized by the pollen from a different, unknown variety of apple, and a new type was born: Granny Smith. I foresee the possibility of a metaphorically comparable event in your future: a lucky accident that enables you to weave together two interesting threads into a fascinating third thread.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Every masterpiece is just dirt and ash put together in some perfect way,” writes storyteller Chuck Palahniuk, who has completed several novelistic masterpieces.

According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you have assembled much of the dirt and ash necessary to create your next masterpiece, and are now ready to move on to the next phase. And what is that phase? Identifying the help and support you’ll need for the rest of the process.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 1959, scandal erupted among Americans who loved to eat peanut butter. Studies revealed that manufacturers had added so much hydrogenated vegetable oil and glycerin to their product that only 75% of it could truly be called peanut butter. So began a long legal process to restore high standards. Finally there was a new law specifying that no company could sell a product called “peanut butter” unless it contained at least 90% peanuts. I hope this fight for purity inspires you to conduct a metaphorically comparable campaign. It’s time to ensure that all the important resources and influences in your life are at peak intensity and efficiency. Say “no” to dilution and adulteration.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In 1936, the city of Cleveland staged the Great Lakes Exposition, a 135-acre fair with thrill rides, art galleries, gardens and sideshows. One of its fun features was The Golden Book of Cleveland, a 2.5-ton,

6,000-page text the size of a mattress. After the expo closed down, the “biggest book in the world” went missing. If it still exists today, no one knows where it is. I’m going to speculate that there’s a metaphorical version of The Golden Book of Cleveland in your life. You, too, have lost track of a major Something that would seem hard to misplace. Here’s the good news: If you intensify your search now, I bet you’ll find it before the end of 2019.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In 1990, the New Zealand government appointed educator, magician and comedian Ian Brackenbury Channell to be the official Wizard of New Zealand. His jobs include protecting the government, blessing new enterprises, casting out evil spirits, upsetting fanatics and cheering people up. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to find your personal equivalents of an inspirational force like that. There’s really no need to scrimp.

According to my reading of the cosmic energies, you have license to be extravagant in getting what you need to thrive.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Do silly things,” advised playwright Anton Chekhov. “Foolishness is a great deal more vital and healthy than our straining and striving after a meaningful life.” I think that’s a perspective worth adopting now and then. Most of us go through phases when we take things too seriously and too personally and too literally. Bouts of fun absurdity can be healing agents for that affliction. But now is not one of those times for you, in my opinion.

Just the reverse is true, in fact. I encourage you to cultivate majestic moods and seek out awe-inspiring experiences and induce sublime perspectives. Your serious and noble quest for a meaningful life can be especially rewarding in the coming weeks.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Before comedian Jack Benny died in 1974, he arranged to have a florist deliver a single red rose to his wife every day for the rest of her life. She lived another nine years, and received more than 3,000 of these gifts. Even though you’ll be around on this earth for a long time, I think the coming weeks would be an excellent time to establish a comparable custom: a commitment to providing regular blessings to a person or persons for whom you care deeply. This bold decision would be in alignment with astrological omens, which suggest that you can generate substantial benefits for yourself by being creative with your generosity.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Actress and author Ruby Dee formulated an unusual prayer. “God,” she wrote, “make me so uncomfortable that I will do the very thing I fear.” As you might imagine, she was a brave activist who risked her reputation and career working for the civil rights movement and other idealistic causes. I think her exceptional request to a higher power makes good sense for you right now. You’re in a phase when you can generate practical blessings by doing the very things that intimidate you or make you nervous. And maybe the best way to motivate and mobilize yourself is by getting at least a bit flustered or unsettled.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Syndicated cartoon strip Calvin and Hobbes appeared for 10 years in 2,400 newspapers in 50 countries. It wielded a sizable cultural influence. For example, in 1992, 6-year-old Calvin decided “The Big Bang” was a boring term for how the universe began, and instead proposed we call it the “Horrendous Space Kablooie.” A number of real scientists subsequently adopted Calvin’s innovation, and it has been invoked playfully but seriously in university courses and textbooks. In that spirit, I encourage you to give fun new names to anything and everything you feel like spicing up. You now have substantial power to reshape and revamp the components of your world. It’s Identify-Shifting Time.

I need ideas for my band’s first hit single—and nothing with the word “biscuits” in the title.

09.19.19

|

SN&R

|

47