Submerge Magazine: Issue 117 (August 13 - August 27, 2012)

Dive into Sacramento & its Surrounding Areas

AUGUST 13 – AUGUST 27, 2012

#117 d expande

Midtkotwan Coc ekil Weerage Cov

by sunlight Can’t Rain on Their Parade

erik griffin

Living the Dream!

Andrew Calisterio The Perfect Pour

local 7 Bartenders

talk shop

mxpx

Pop-Punk Legends Turn 20

+

The Imposter

Cinéma Vérité

Del Paso gets REEL + GOOD

22 Bands to Rock at ZuhGfest free

\

moTHer Hips rose’s pawn sHop

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 8:00pm

animal kinGdom aTlas Genius

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 8:00pm

brown bird

[opened for devil makes THree & Yonder mTn. sTring band] blue lamp • 1400 alHambra blvd. • saCto • 21 & over • 8:00pm

cHelsea wolfe screaTure • e s s

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 10:00pm

by sunliGhT

doombird • liTTle foxes (feaT. dusTY brown & Jacob golden)

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 9:00pm

scoTT H. biram resTavranT

blue lamp • 1400 alHambra blvd. • saCto • 21 & over • 8:00pm

THe growlers cosmonauTs

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 8:00pm

The Jealous sound daY Trader

blue lamp • 1400 alHambra blvd. • saCto • 21 & over • 9:00pm

aug 18 wednesday

aug 22 tuesday

sept 4 sept 5 saturday

sept 8 sept 13 sept 13 saturay

sept 15

Monday

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 7:00pm

maTT schofield (briTisH blues guiTar greaT) JoHnnY guiTar knox

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 8:00pm

monopHonics

Yo mama’s big faT booTY band

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 8:00pm

THe wombaTs blue lamp • 1400 alHambra blvd. • saCto • 21 & over • 9:00pm 2 sHow THe lumineers added Harlow’s • 2708 J st. • saCto • 21 & over • 8:00pm sold THe lumineers ouT Harlow’s • 2708 J st. • saCto • 21 & over • 8:00pm sainT viTus nd

weedeaTer • sourvein

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 8:00pm

sTarf*cker

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

onuinu

21 & over • 8:00pm

sunday

sept 16 friday

sept 21 sept 24 tuesday

sept 25 thursday

sept 27 thursday

oct 4 tuesday

oct 9 wednesday

oct 10 thursday

oct 11

• saCto •

21 & over • 9:00pm

oct 17

Tea leaf green

friday

red fang

friday

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

black Tusk • lord dYing

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

• saCto •

21 & over • 9:00pm

oTHer lives

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

abstract entertainment

indians

• saCto •

www.absTracTsacramenTo.com

oct 19 oct 26 Monday

21 & over • 7:00pm

9pm-1:30Am no Cover!

LasT Tuesday oF The monTh

sept 15

wednesday

• saCto •

28

th

thursday

THe feaTures (from nasHville)

21 & over • 8:00pm

aug

thursday

saturay

• saCto •

bAttLe of the mUsiCiAns

wednesday

new monsoon Harlow’s • 2708 J st. • saCto • 21 & over • 9:30pm mason JenninGs Harlow’s • 2708 J st. • saCto • 21 & over • 8:00pm orgone / rubblebuckeT

Harlow’s • 2708 J st.

2

saturday

oct 29

TickeTs available aT: TickeTfly.com and The beaT (17Th & J sT.), • TickeTs for Harlow’s sHows also available aT Harlows.com

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

Tuesday

Wednesday

OPeN9pm-1Am ULtimAte bAr ChALLenGe, Cover!

Mic no Cover! triviA & more! no8-10:30pm Thursday

beers stArtinG At 50¢ power hoUr And drinks 1.50 9-11pm

karaOke stArtinGth NFL Package sept. 9 Thursday, Friday and saTurday

9pm-1:30Am no Cover!

sunday and monday

ALL GAmes AvAiLAbLe

29th&E St sac (916) 446-3624 Facebook.com/PinecoveTavern • TwiTTer - @PinecoveTavern

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

SubmergeMag.com

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

3

14

16 12

24 cofounder/ Editor in Chief/Art Director

Melissa Welliver melissa@submergemag.com cofounder/ Advertising Director

Jonathan Carabba jonathan@submergemag.com senior editor

James Barone Contributing editor

Mandy Johnston

Contributing Writers

Zach Ahern, Joe Atkins, Robin Bacior, Corey Bloom, Emily Bonsignore, Bocephus Chigger, Anthony Giannotti, Blake Gillespie, Ashley Hassinger, Nur Kausar, Ryan J. Prado, Steph Rodriguez, Adam Saake, Amy Serna, Jenn Walker

04 06 09 10 11 12 14 16 20 24 27 32 33 34

Submerge

2308 J Street, Suite F Sacramento, Calif. 95816

916.441.3803 info@submergemag.com

Contributing photographers

Mike Ibe, Nicholas Wray

www.submergemag.com Follow us on Twitter! @SubmergeMag

4

117 2012

contents

Submerge: an independently owned entertainment/lifestyle publication available for free biweekly throughout the greater Sacramento area.

printed on recycled paper

Front Cover Photo of Andrew Callisterio

by Nicholas wray

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

august 13 - 27

Dive in The Stream Submerge your senses The Optimistic Pessimist capital capture

summer style by sunlight andrew calisterio erik griffin local bartenders talks shop mxpx CALENDAR live rewind

DLRN Listening Party the grindhouse

The Imposter the shallow end All content is property of Submerge and may not be reproduced without permission. Submerge is both owned and published by Submerge Media.

All opinions expressed throughout Submerge are those of the author and do not necessarily mean we all share those opinions. Feel free to take a copy or two for free, but please don’t remove our papers or throw them away. Submerge welcomes letters of all kinds, whether they are full of love or hate. We want to know what is on your mind, so feel free to contact us via snail mail at 2308 J Street, Suite F Sacramento, Calif. 95816. Or you can e-mail us at info@submergemag.com.

Back Cover Photo of mxpx

by Jered Scott

dive in Detox to re-tox Melissa welliver melissa@submergemag.com One of my favorite weeks of all time is approaching from Aug. 19 through 26, Midtown Cocktail Week. And luckily after a hellacious birthday month full of partying and an even more hellish hangover after the recent Launch Festival, I’ve graciously taken the past three weeks off of drinking. Now my liver has had what I consider plenty of time to detox for this big occasion. So many things to do, so many things to taste!

Anyways, on one of my last days of boozing, I finally was able to put a face with a name at Launch during DJ Shadow’s set.

I chatted with a local bartender who was recently interviewed by Submerge contributing writer Anthony Giannotti. This bartender, Andrew Calisterio, who is now currently on our front cover, was an absolute blast to be around. We chatted about drinks, his Ruhstaller gig and I think I even Instagramed a photo of him dancing on stage during Chromeo’s DJ set at Harlow’s. That was definitely the moment I knew we made the right decision to have him be on our next cover.

Giannotti had come to me back in the spring with a few key reasons why Submerge should feature him for our issue coinciding with Midtown Cocktail Week, mostly because he has an interesting story. Calisterio grew up in Elk Grove as a member of Future Farmers of America and has worked his way up to be one of the top bartenders at Grange, one of our region’s most celebrated bars. He also recently won a statewide cocktail competition put on by Hangar One Vodka and is a co-founding member of the Sacramento chapter of the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild.

Please turn to page 14 to read more about this humble character.

We also would like you to get more familiar with some of the area’s other top bartenders. Starting on page 20, we feature seven of the 13 bartenders that will be at Shady Lady Saloon on Tuesday, Aug. 21 for Midtown Cocktail Week’s “Super Tuesday” Bartenders Cocktail Competition. Find out which bars stand out in their minds as their favorite and learn what they drink after a long shift.

Now for some music coverage, we’ve got you covered in that department as well in this issue. On our back cover we have MxPx, a pop-punk band from Bremerton, Wash., who will be closing out their 20th Anniversary Tour by playing the main stage at JoshuaFest at the Amador County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Calif. They will be playing the second night of the fest on Friday, Aug. 31. I’ve seen this band several times and can’t get enough of the energy they put into their shows. Turn to page 24 to read about their ninth studio album as well as the fact that they have day jobs after all these years.

Another band that happens to also love the Pacific Northwest is By Sunlight. Just across the bay from Bremerton is Seattle, which is where these former Sacramento musicians create dramatic indie rock. With a new member (Evan Ferro, formerly of Bright Light Fever and Roman Funerals) moving up this past winter, the band has more creative energy than ever and have recently finished their first full length album. They’ll be playing new material at Harlow’s on Sept. 8, but until then read our feature on this talented band starting on page 12.

I mentioned at the beginning of this column that I cut back on my drinking the past few weeks. It gave me plenty of time to catch up on season three of one of my favorite shows right now, Workaholics. The laughs I got from the episodes were fulfilling enough for me. In a few of the most recent episodes Erik Griffin, aka Montez Walker, stole the show. Realizing he is coming to Sacramento State in September for a stand-up gig, I knew we had to feature him. On a recent early morning we were able to talk with him about how he went from working at a school to realizing his dream of becoming a comedian. Flip to page 16 and you can read more about this hilarious guy.

Thanks for picking up this issue of Submerge. Hope you’ll find something fun to do in the next few weeks!

Enjoy #117, Melissa-Dubs

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Plan Your Week!

Monday movie nighT

$5 You-Call-It’s 8pm-close • 10:30pm showtime

tuesday

TaTToo Tuesday

8pm-close $3 drafts, $5 wine if you flash your INK

wednesday Whiskey Bum Wednesday

8pm-close $3 well whiskey cocktails, $3 Jameson shots, $5 “What What in the Buck”

thursday & Fridays

douBle happy hours 3pm-7pm and 10pm-midnight

saturday Brunch 9am-2:30pm

NsoR d sPo aNt IN u o R P tIcIP & PaR

$1 PBR from 3pm-6pm

laTe nighT happy hour 10pm-midnight

sunday

Brunch 9am-2:30pm $1 PBR from 3pm-6pm

indusTry happy hour 8-close with $3 Jameson

, 2012 19-26 t s u Aug

midtown’s cultured American bistro

lunch, dinner, laTe nighT food, drinks,

Weekend Brunch & second Wednesday TasTings

2730 N Street • SacrameNto 916-456-2800 • Inkeats.com facebook.com/inkeats

SubmergeMag.com

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

5

The stream E s t a b l i s h E d

1 8 7 8

********************

Legendary

, venue restaurant and bar now open ******************** F r i d ay N i g h t Saturday Night

Ribs Fish Fry BBChQi cken &

no cover

Live Music ------------

tHe Fortunate Few

saturday

aug 18 7 p.m.

saturday

Bleedin’ Hearts

aug 25 7 p.m.

saturday

sept 1

tHe golden CadillaCs

7 p.m.

saturday

Merle Jagger

sept 8 7 p.m.

saturday

sept 15

dry County drinkers

7 p.m.

COMING

SOON

Sept 22 Whiskey and Stitches Sept 29 Keri Carr Band

REEL BIKE-IN THEATER // GOOD STREET FOOD + DESIGN MARKET // PUNCH & PIE FEST Jonathan Carabba

Send regional news tips to info@submergemag.com Submerge has never been so excited to hang out on Del Paso Boulevard. In the past two weeks we’ve experienced some of the best new recurring events our city has to offer on a street often shunned by Sacramentans. First was the REEL Bike-In Theater kick-off at The Greens Hotel (1700 Del Paso Boulevard) on Thursday, Aug. 2 where the classic film Raiders of the Lost Ark played on a giant outdoor screen to what Submerge estimates was 75 to 100 fun-loving attendees sprawled out on blankets and lawn chairs. There were pop-up shops from rad local vendors like Toro Quality Goods, food trucks like Wicked Wich and Heavenly Dog slangin’ grub, tunes played by 7evin, a beer garden serving Ruhstaller, cute dogs running around and the occasional “Woo!” or “Fuck yeah!” yelled after Indiana Jones cleverly defeated another enemy. This is, after all, a 21-andover event. No screaming children! Just drunk screaming adults! It was glorious. “I think I saw about 20 people actually ride their bikes too,” said Matt Chong, one of the organizers of REEL. Full disclosure, Submerge drove (hey, it was hot that day) but next time we’ll be pedaling our butts over there. There are five more installments of REEL planned through October: Aug. 16 is Dogtown & Z-Boys; Sept. 6 catch Best in Show; Sept. 20 watch Waste Land; Oct. 4 Snatch will be airing; and the final REEL is on Oct. 18 when Exit Through the Gift Shop will play. Chong said he likes Del Paso Boulevard as a location for events like this, stating he thinks they “can make a nice little ecosystem here and let things grow organically.” Learn more about REEL at Facebook. com/REELbikeintheater.

Major props to local punk-rock promoter and Bastards of Young bassist Sean Hills for putting together the upcoming Punch and Pie Fest. With zero sponsor dollars the dude booked a week straight of amazing punk-rock shows from Aug. 15 through 20 (with the pre-party happening on Aug. 14). Catch touring bands like the Hot Water Music-esque Red City Radio from Oklahoma City or Continental from Granite City, Mass., which features Rick Barton from Dropkick Murphys. Also of course there will be tons of local faves like the aforementioned Bastards of Young, Kill the Precedent, The Secretions, City of Vain and others. There are more than two-dozen bands in all, and the shows go down at either Press Club or Luigi’s. Get out and support your local punk scene! To view the entire schedule, visit Facebook.com/PunchAndPieProductions.

Enjoy the country!

15 minutes 20 minutes

from

downtown Sac.

from

downtown Davis

18398 Old RivER Rd WEst sacRamEntO, calif. 95691 (916) 371- 2277 Elkhornsaloon.com

Facebook.com/elkhorncountrySaloon

6

Just days after our REEL experience on Sunday, Aug. 5 we made it to our first GOOD: Street Food + Design Market after hearing everyone rave about it for weeks. GOOD has been going on every first Sunday for a couple months now, so they’ve really got things dialed in at their warehouse space located at 1409 Del Paso Boulevard. Put on by Unseen Heroes and Del Paso Boulevard Partnership, GOOD features innovative and artisan food and goods from local farms, vendors, jewelry makers, artists, etc. The guys from Phono Select were spinning some jams, Gypsy Mobile Boutique had pulled their truck into the warehouse, food trucks were out back in the lot, wine and beer was flowing everywhere; we instantly felt right at home. By the time we left we had in our hands fresh fettuccine made that morning from Pasta Dave, a basket of organic heirloom tomatoes and a grip of fresh basil from Feeding Crane Farms, a cute wooden buckle bracelet from JUST and a small container of pickled veggies from Edible Sacramento’s self-pickling station! It was seriously a blast and we cannot wait to have another GOOD Sunday on Sept. 2. GOOD is scheduled for every first Sunday through November, so mark your calendars and bring your family and friends along. It’s just $3 for adults, kids 17 and under are free.

Learn more at Facebook.com/GOODstreetfooddesignmarket.

Photo by Brittany Currie

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

614 Sutter Street • FolSom 916.355.8586 • PowerhouSePub.com every monday at 9Pm

every tueSday, 10:30Pm, no cover!

College Night

Country Karaoke wed, aug 15 8Pm /$5 PowerhouSe live with hoSt andy hawk!

thurS, aug 16 Fri, aug 17 10Pm

8Pm dead winter

carPenterS

wed, aug 22 8Pm /$5

left of centre

PowerhouSe live with hoSt andy hawk!

9:30Pm

Steel Breeze

the leFt hand the barFly eFFect killS evil maidenS Sorrow

Sun, aug 19 3Pm

massive delicious

Jason king

9:30Pm

whiskey Row

wed, aug 29 8Pm /$5

thurS, aug 30

PowerhouSe live with hoSt andy hawk!

Fri, aug 31

Sat, The aug 25 Department

Sat, SePt 1

10Pm

muSical chariS JameS cavern autumn Sky

9:30Pm

Fri, aug 24 10Pm

Sat, element of Soul aug 18 zuhg 10Pm

thurS, aug 23

w/ dJ rigatony & dJ alazzawi

Sun, aug 26 3Pm

Tom drinnon

10Pm

of Rock

dennis Jones

10Pm

miSamore zero client twitch angry

maxx cabello Jr.

Sun, SePt 2 3Pm

A truly Artful shAve At Anthony’s BArBershop

2408 21st st • Sac (916) 457-1120

Tues-Fri 9am-6pm • saT 10am-4pm sacramentobarbershop.com SubmergeMag.com

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Your Senses SEE HEAR TASTE Touch

TOUCH TASTE

Eat at Ten22 or The Firehouse and Raises Funds for the McKinley Park Playground Rebuild • Aug. 19–25

Ever since some low-life piece of arsonist trash scorched the beloved McKinley Park playground a couple weeks back local business owners, community leaders and everyday people from surrounding neighborhoods have been chipping in to help in the rebuild effort. The Harvego Family Restaurants, The Firehouse and Ten22, are doing their part by donating 15 percent of revenue from both locations from Aug. 19 through 25 to Gifts to Share Inc./Rebuild McKinley, an account established by City Councilman Steve Cohn to help restore the neighborhood playground. The restaurants hope to reach their goal of a $25,000 contribution, so why not get a delicious lunch or dinner at one of these two popular restaurants and know that a good chunk is going toward a great cause?

SEE

Fresh New Gear on the Cheap at Official’s Sample Sale • Aug. 18

Official Crown of Laurel is a premium skate/street headwear company with a warehouse, or “rarehouse” as they call it, in downtown Sacramento. They share the space with another rad locally based company Lurk Hard. On Saturday, Aug. 18 they are having a sample sale blowout party bonanza with smoking deals on snap backs (two for $15 or three for $20), campers, beanies (two for $5) and shirts (two for $10). First Edition, a stylish and hip men’s boutique on J Street in Midtown, will also have some gear for sale. There will be live music, food and drinks. It all goes down from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at 2408 X Street Alley. Check out Official online at Theofficialbrand.com.

HEAR

12th Annual Nevada City Film Festival • Aug. 16–19

22 Bands At ZuhGfest • Aug. 25

The 12th annual Nevada City Film Festival will feature nearly 100 films selected from over 400 submissions from Aug. 16 through 19! What started as a small shindig back in 2001 by young, local filmmakers has turned into an international film festival that showcases shorts and feature-length films in a variety of historic locations in downtown Nevada City. One of this year’s highlights has got to be Bones Brigade: An Autobiography. Directed by Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z Boys), this documentary chronicles the epic rise of the Bones Brigade skateboard team and features interviews, commentary and moving first-person accounts from Brigade members Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain and Rodney Mullen, among others. Bones Brigade will air on Aug. 18 at 8 p.m. at Nevada Theatre and again on Aug. 19 at 4 p.m. at Miners Foundry Osborn and Woods Hall. Submerge also suggests checking out It’s Such a Beautiful Day by cult animator and Academy Award nominee Don Hertzfeldt. The 23-minute film (which took nearly two years to produce) fuses traditional animation, experimental optical effects, trick photography and new digital hybrids printed out one frame at a time. Also notable: this year’s Director’s Spotlight is on Jonathan Krisel, co-creater, writer and director of IFC’s critically acclaimed series Portlandia. He’ll show past and present works, some never seen before, as well as preview upcoming projects. There is a ton of other cool stuff too, but we’re at our word count, so to learn more visit Nevadacityfilmfestival.com.

If a giant gathering of talented bands on the Sacramento River is your sort of thing, you’re going to want to head to ZuhGfest at Rio Ramaza Event Park (10,000 Garden Highway) on Saturday, Aug. 25. Organized by Bryan Nichols and Charleee of local band ZuhG, the all-day festival will feature 22 bands on three stages, an option to camp out, plenty of beer, tons of food options (Sandwich Spot, Yummy Yogurt, Jacks Urban Eats and more) as well as local vendors. “I’ve always wanted to throw a festival,” Nichols told Submerge. “We got invited to play another festival at the location, and I got talking to the lady who booked us and she is in charge of booking for the Rio Ramaza. Talked to her for about an hour on the phone and the end of the conversation i had reserved the location!” Nichols mentioned that he pretty much immediately knew which bands he was going to have on the bill. “All of my friends,” he exclaimed. “I also have a lot of bands like Out of Place, and Chris 2Me from Diva Kings and The Bennys who inspired me to be in a band years ago, so I’m excited to have bands like that.” Massive Delicious, Island of Black and White, The Bell Boys, Monkey Flower, The Old Screen Door and many others will also perform. For more information search “ZuhGfest” on Facebook or go to Zuhgmusic.com. Tickets are just $12 in advance ($15 at the door) and are available at the ZuhG Life Store, located upstairs at the Downtown Plaza.

SubmergeMag.com

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

9

The Optimistic Pessimist I told the doctor I’ve been feeling different for the past week or so. He checked my pulse, dilated my pupils, lit up my ears and began asking about my symptoms. “An increasing desire to work out, strong national pride, an eye for fashion and a sudden interest in sports,” I said. After asking where I’m from and checking my hormone levels for any irregularities, Doc came to the conclusion that I, in fact, had acquired Olympic fever.

It made total sense. The 2012 Summer Olympic Games hooked me from day one with its bizarro opening ceremony. The English are brilliant! The dancing sick children were a nice touch, but I was more enthralled with the overall message. Who knew the solution to our healthcare problems was to set loose a swarm of Harry Potters’ Mary Poppins’ own Valdemort and his minions? Thank you for showing us the way, Danny Boyle.

Once the games began, I started my search for the weird events. Fans and haters of Mitt Romney are probably aware that his wife’s horse is competing in dressage or “horse dancing.” I also saw a track event

called steeplechase, where runners jump a few hurdles and hop over a wall into a moat, leaving them to run the rest of the next lap with soggy feet. I didn’t know adults still played field hockey, but after seeing the beautiful Dutch women’s team in their sexy school girl uniforms, I’d encourage all adult women to pick up the game.

The uniforms are part of the reason people watch the Olympics. There are perfect bodies in tight and/or skimpy clothing. The gawking potential is equally divided amongst the sexes, so for every hot field hockey girl, ladies get one spandex wearing, canoeing gold medalist with a boner.

Looking past short skirts and spandex dicks, these athletes need to be recognized for what they are: inspiring. Many of these Olympians spend their entire youths training for just one event. The odds of success are infinitesimal, but they push on because they believe in that remote chance.

Oscar Pistorius of South Africa believed in that chance, despite being a double amputee.

Pistorius ran in the Men’s 400 Meter using

The Molympics

Bocephus Chigger bocephus@submergemag.com

prosthetic “blades” that were strapped to what remained of his legs. While he didn’t move past the semifinals, he did receive both a warm welcome and a fond farewell from the crowd and his fellow racers, one of whom even traded nametags with him at the end of the race. It was nice enough to warm even my jaded heart.

I noticed other changes in myself. I was proud of Team U.S.A.’s accomplishments, and I even began rooting for our country instead of just staring at the train wreck that we usually see when the Stars and Stripes are involved. I had almost forgotten what it was like to feel that way.

Of course, it’s easy to be proud when we are actually kicking ass. We beat ourselves in women’s beach volleyball to take silver and gold, killed it in women’s gymnastics and have managed to sweep up 20-plus track medals. Our greatest success thus far has been swimming, in which, at last count, we had won 30 medals.

Many of those swimming wins were sucked down the bowl of one Michael Phelps. Phelps plans to retire after these games as the world record-holder for the most Olympic Medals won.

When asked why he wouldn’t return in 2016,

Phelps told his NBC poolside interviewer that he had traveled the world, but had only seen black lines at the bottom of swimming pools. If that was my life, I would probably take bong loads in the off-season too.

Some people can’t wait until the off-season, though. Seventh place U.S. judo participant, Nicholas Delpopolo, just had to “accidentally” eat that bud brownie at his homey’s house before he left for the Olympics. He was expelled for testing positive for THC after he had already lost.

The Olympics can be a cold-hearted bitch like that, but there are things that can make it more fun. Serena Williams showed the world that gold medal winners should C Walk after they win. We could give out medals for that too!

If dancing ain’t your thing, maybe we could take the original Greek idea and throw in a little Roman Coliseum action. We could add snake pits for the gymnasts, sharks in the pools, lions on the track and humans vs. humans on the gun and archery ranges. Or if that’s too nuts, we could just have regular people doing the events next to the pros so people at home can see what being an Olympian truly means.

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10

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

or email Us info@submergemag.com Today!

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Capital Capture It’s all in the Details Emily Bonsignore

Keep summer simple. Especially with these hot Sacramento summers there is nothing worse than a fussy outfit. While comfort is key when running around town, that doesn’t mean your style should suffer. Often the details make the outfit and take your style from ordinary to extraordinary. Kasey MacRae is perfectly on point with her simple and stylish ensemble for one scorching summer afternoon.

Keeping her outfit youthful and casual, Kasey sports a pair of gray, highwaisted shorts and a cream-colored sweater. Upon closer inspection, the frayed edges on the shorts add a downtown vibe to her minimal look, while her pointelle sweater keeps her cool in the summer heat. These details alone give Kasey a whole new look.

Moving down, Kasey’s Birkenstock sandals are hippie chic. The bulky buckles add a nice contrast to the simplistic top and bottoms but don’t take away from the outfit as a whole.

As for the accessories, Kasey keeps it hip. From the silver and turquoise necklace, which adds a Southwest feel, to the Hamsa red bracelet, these unique pieces add eclectic flair. Finally keeping the hair effortless, adding a cool pair of aviators, and carrying an orange canvas tote, Kasey has the perfect everyday outfit.

SubmergeMag.com

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

11

Not So Doom and Gloom

Sacramento ex-patriates By Sunlight make a home in Seattle Words John Phillips ORIGINAL photoS David Wulzen

1815 19th st. sacramento

OPEN TUES-SAT 11-11 bowscollective.com wEd AUG 15 (8Pm) Comedy open miC Hosted by Ray Molina

SAT AUG 18

(1Pm)

disCussion panel & live musiC Girls Day Out / Women in the Music Industry

TUES AUG 21 (8Pm) live musiC HeIst events pResents

Ivan & Alyosha, Garret pierce & parlours

12

ThUr AUG 23 (8Pm) live musiC

SAT SEPT 1 (8Pm) live musiC

wEd AUG 29 (8Pm) live musiC

fri SEPT 7 (6Pm) art opening

ThUr AUG 30 (6Pm)

wEd SEPT 12 (7Pm) nerd night

pompsicle

SAT SEPT 15 (12Pm) $1 sale

Classical Revolution featuring cellist Jia-mo Chen

Carson McWhirter, vinnie Guidera & stupid Man suit

live figure drawing

Wife & son, Musical Charis, Island of Black and White

Signs of Growth

by Mitra Fabian

“W

hat is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight.” – Joseph Joubert, French moralist/ essayist Though starting with a quote is a bit cliché, especially by anyone like Joubert, who doesn’t exactly get remembered for much other than cute little quips. Still, there is much truth that can be found in an over-simplified message. For the members of the band By Sunlight, maybe the quote would be more along the lines of, “What is true in Sacramento is not always true anywhere else.”

The gentlemen that occupy the moniker By Sunlight (originally known as Bridges) decided a few years back that a new perspective would suit them nicely, and packed their bags and took off to the city synonymous with mediocre sports franchises (at least those remaining), Starbucks, its weather and its iconic music scenes. By Sunlight’s Mike Sparks laughs over the phone during a recent interview when asked if Seattle’s dismal meteorology caused any changes in his music.

“It’s funny that every time I do an interview I get asked that. I guess so?” Sparks remarks, in a sort-of vocal shrugging,

“I woke up this morning and it was overcast and I almost had a tear of joy. I mean, it’s beautiful now, but I really like that weather… It’s temperate for me, you know? Living in Sacramento was heinous. I couldn’t stand it at all.”

But, hey, not all of us living here love the heat. Still, moving to Seattle was behind a large part of how he both developed as a musician, and as a person. Sparks continues, “We were ready to get the fuck out of there. Hey man, sometimes when it’s 4:30 p.m., and the sun’s down, and I’ve got three beers in my body, yes, I might feel a bit of darkness in the spirit. There are tons of metal bands up here, tons of punk bands up here, and there is a lot of reflection of that environmental aesthetic in how people behave here, but I wouldn’t describe it as a sullen city either. Yeah, biometrics is a huge fucking change in my life, but going from everything I know to where I don’t know anything, that I would say was a more profound affect rather than the climate.”

After residing in the city for a handful of years and constantly touring, By Sunlight finally decided to settle down, and take a year off from the road. They took to inviting another Sacramento musician, Evan Ferro of Bright Light Fever/Roman Funerals, to make the journey up to the Pacific

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Northwest, and have Sparks, producer and band member Robert Cheek and Ferro move in together in order to record their latest album.

“We would go home after work or what-not, and we would go straight to working on the record,” Ferro recalls. “Whether it was writing or fine-tuning, it was non-stop. It was a lot of thought, a lot of annoying ourselves with how much we were thinking about it. But, ultimately it became what we wanted it to be.”

Sparks considers the decision to bring Ferro into the picture to be just what the band needed. “It’s kind of what saved our band,” says Sparks. “After the aesthetic exhaustion, fatigue and demoralization that you can sometimes get from working so hard at a band, and not really getting anything. You sort of question your art all the time; it’s that sort of weird, entropic little head thing you can get, and it really pulled us out of all that.”

Robert Cheek, who even now is instrumental as a producer and sound engineer locally—working on albums for Doom Bird, Life in 24 Frames and others—despite not being on full-time duties for this By Sunlight album, is an extremely valuable asset as both a musician and technical mind, and the other members in the band are very aware of it. Particularly since By Sunlight is a very technically minded project, employing many elements that build on and flow through each other, with a sound that is both intricate and intensely mellow, it takes a lot of abstract thought to orchestrate and balance so many elements peacefully.

“I think I’m just so blessed to be in a band with people like [Cheek] —where music is really the only thing of interest to him.

For that ethos alone is enough to get a boner for a dude in your band,” Sparks says through a chuckle, “I mean, not literally. It’s like if you have someone you work with intimately all the time that share the same enthusiasm as you, and also you’ve got these huge technical talent.”

“Yeah, he’s valuable. He’s done all our records prior to this one, and even with this one he helped definitely, and did some work also. Yeah, it’s a huge one-up, and we all couldn’t be

more grateful for the opportunities that affords us.”

Ferro agrees, taking it a step further: “[Cheek] is a genius. There is not a better word for it, really. He puts so much work into what he is doing, whether it’s a band he is working with or a band he is in. Bob plays in Roman Funerals as well, so I have the experience of not one but two bands with Bob. To have him in a band is a musician’s dream come true. If you’re having second thoughts on a song you are writing, go to Bob and Bob will give you the answer. Actually, it’s somewhat ridiculous.”

With Cheek, Ferro, Sparks, bass player Jack Clemens, and drummer John O’Connell—the only member not from Sacramento (he’s from Virginia) —the band is chock-full of veteran talent. Finished with their latest album, titled Penumbra, they now face the arduous and sometimes daunting task of getting it out there. Starting off with a quick West Coast tour, the guys are looking forward to finally seeing the road again.

“With all the bands I’ve toured with, By Sunlight is the easiest,” says Sparks, “just because, we’ve all done it, you know, too much, and so the emotional thing that is so often an issue on tour, is sort of an old hat for us; it’s not hard at all.

“Not to sound over-confident about it, but we’re all best friends,” Sparks continues, “It’s not like we don’t get into fights sometimes, like when John wants to listen to baseball on the radio, and I just want to sit there and feel sorry for myself. It’s not like those things aren’t going to happen, but there is no fear that the bottom is going to drop out.”

By Sunlight will return to Sacramento on Sept. 8 when they play Harlow’s with Doom Bird. The 21-and-over show starts at 9 p.m., and tickets can be purchased through Harlows.com. For more on

By Sunlight, check out their website Bysunlight.com.

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Abbos Kosimov ~ Matthew Montfort Pandit Binay Pathak ~ Mariah Parker on Tabla: Siar Haseq ~ Joe Fajen

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For more info visit www.sohinisangeet.org or call 916.217.3259 5TH ANNUAL CONCERT OF SOHINI SANGEET ACADEMY , CSUS ~ SEPTEMBER 16

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

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14

Bartender Andrew Calisterio on why Sacramento should be proud to be a “cow town” Words Anthony Giannotti photos Nicholas Wray

S

acramento has been labeled by many in larger metropolitan areas in California as a “cow town.”

While this may or may not be true on many levels, the fact that we are surrounded by some of the best and richest farmland in the country is undeniable.

Andrew Calisterio, bartender at Grange Restaurant and Bar, thinks we should embrace this “cow town” label.

“I grew up in rural Elk Grove before the whole tract home thing,” he says. “We had cows in my back yard. My family always had a garden and fresh food. Farm to table has always been a part of my life.” Growing up with a garden has definitely helped him know exactly what to do with the amazing produce we have around here.

Calisterio continues, “We have tons of fresh ingredients.

Look at all the citrus here. Don’t just put it on the side of the glass to make it look pretty, put booze in it and shake it up!”

Not only has Calisterio devoted his life to Sacramento and the fine local produce, but he is a big advocate of knowing what to do with it. He is one of the founding members of the Sacramento chapter of the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild—a national organization “of beverage service professionals dedicated to the continued refinement of [their] craft,” according to a mission statement on the USBG website. Calisterio makes no illusions of how important he thinks keeping up and furthering industry people’s knowledge is, “The education is what helps create and expand our creativity.”

It’s not just cocktails and shakers for Calisterio. He is also one of the key members in the resurrection of the Sacramento brewery Ruhstaller. “Ruhstaller was a brewery in Sacramento 130 years ago, started by Captain Frank Ruhstaller. I get to sell a really good beer to people in the industry, my friends.”

I got to catch up with the local advocate over a glass of whiskey, which of course he blended, to talk more about Sacramento and cocktails.

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

How did you start bartending?

I started this whole thing with coffee. I really enjoyed making things. I was 16 working at Starbucks. I liked making the things they had set for us, but I always wanted to make something different, something special. The guests wanted the same thing every single day, and to me that was just insane. I would try to work something in that was around what they liked, but pulling them toward something new or different. Eventually I got picked up by Java City, worked my way up the ladder there and came to a point where I could do anything I wanted with coffee. I really wanted to get into spirits. I’ve always been a fan of nice food and cocktails and experiencing flavors. I pride myself on having a good palate.

How did you start at Grange?

I went in applying for a bartending position, and they looked at me like I was crazy because I had no experience. So I asked what was available and they let me be a bus boy. There was no bar-back program there, so I would go behind the bar every chance I could to help, polish glassware, anything I could do to get in. I’d ask way too many questions and bother Ryan Seng, interrupt his conversations with guests to find out what he was doing and how he made that drink. I basically declared myself a bar-back position. One day a bartender didn’t show up. Since I knew how to make all the drinks—I even had two of my own drinks on the menu, and I was familiar with our wine list—I finally got to start bartending.

Grange is known for its affiliation with the slow food movement. Do you try to incorporate any of those principles into your cocktails?

Absolutely. I grew up in rural Elk Grove on four acres. I was in FFA [Future Farmers of America] as a kid, which ended up being beneficial for me when applying at Grange because I had this agricultural background. I knew the farmers that the food at Grange was coming from. When it came to building my cocktails, I wanted to represent the local Sacramento area.

You recently won a couple of cocktail contests. Can you tell us about that?

The big one was put on by Hangar One Vodka. It was a Californiawide cocktail competition. I was already familiar with the brand because it is a farm to bottle spirit—right up my alley. A rep came in to ask me to join the competition but said they weren’t stopping in Sacramento. They were going to be in different major cities around California—Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose. I was a little offended that they weren’t going to be representing the capital city of California, where so much of California’s produce and agriculture comes from. So I came up with my cocktail and started networking, using social media to let my friends and peers know what I was working on and trying to represent Sacramento.

You are one of the co-founders of the Sacramento Bartenders’ Guild.

What is that and what do you guys do?

As bartenders, we go visit other bars or bartenders that we respect and like to see what they are doing and learn from them. It started as this kind of informal gathering and eventually some of us SubmergeMag.com

decided to get together and make it formal and official. We wanted the education of bartending to be brought forward. It’s $100 a year, and if you go to just a couple meetings, you’ve already gotten your money back in products and education. We have tastings and training with brands that share their products but also teach us about spirits and what the differences are and help us learn how to use them to our best ability. We are using our connections to gather and share brands and ideas with our coworkers in town. Bar owners and workers get a chance to meet, so whether someone is looking for a job or needs a bartender, it’s just a great way to communicate.

All of us are career bartenders, not just some guy who pours shots.

We are trying to raise the bar around Sacramento. We have a great cocktail scene here; we just want to always see more out of it and let it shine.

“We are trying to raise the bar around Sacramento. We have a great cocktail scene here; we just want to always see more out of it and let it shine.”

– Andrew Calisterio, bartender at Grange Restaurant and Bar and co-founder of the Sacramento chapter of the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild

So you think it’s important for bartenders to have extra education, to be able to do more than just give a shot or a beer?

Well even with that, there is a proper shot and a beer pairing, it has value. Sometimes you don’t want a cocktail. Sometimes you just want a shot or a beer. Dickel is a whiskey brand that has become really popular as a shot. Someone decided that that was a good shot to pair with a beer. And the beers aren’t Budweiser anymore.

North Coast Company Blue Star is the inexpensive beer on tap now.

So the bar is being raised even for just a shot and a beer. Having a vast knowledge of spirits and cocktail ingredients helps you to attract more guests and give them that experience they are looking for when they go out to eat or have a drink. I love when someone comes in and says “Make me something.” My next question is what do you usually like? And I will try to avoid that.

You’re not just a cocktail guy. You are also involved with Ruhstaller Beer…

I was brought on early with this company. I am honored to be able to help with the resurrection of the old Sacramento brand… They asked me to help build the brand because they know I am a social guy. I lug around kegs and talk to people and help with sales. I’m doing the same thing I do every day, but on the other side of the bar. I’m getting the bartenders to try this beer, telling them how good it is and then they buy it for their bars. The company has grown a lot and I help when I can, mostly with social networking or helping pour at events.

Do you ever try to combine your knowledge of beer and cocktails to make a beer cocktail?

For beer week, we had a beer pairing dinner at Grange with some big names from Sacramento. I put together a cocktail that was in the fashion of a shot and a beer, with a twist. I took [Ruhstaller] 1881 and made syrup out of it and made an Old Fashioned using Woodford Reserve. I even used local Sacramento oranges in it. I served it with a shot of beer on the side to help represent the beer.

Darell Corti [gourmand and co-owner of Corti Brothers] said it was the best aperitif he’d had in Sacramento. I was so happy, I couldn’t stop smiling. It was a great boost.

What’s involved in a great cocktail?

Balance, first and foremost. I try to balance where the flavors hit on your palate. I generally start with a great spirit or an end result flavor. Or I try to pick out flavors that will work well in the cocktail and pair with the food. Sometimes it’s hard when I really like a certain spirit that has so much great flavor on its own because I’d rather just drink it neat.

Midtown Cocktail Week is coming up. What sort of blowout is Grange doing this year ?

Blowout is a good word. Last year was such a success that it was too busy to accommodate everyone in the hall. So this year we will be using the dining room. Grange’s dinner service will come to a screeching halt and be replaced with amazing cocktails and appetizers. The band The Silent Comedy will play. The theme this year is Sacramento, so a little politically driven. At Grange, we are doing the anti-prohibition act. We want people to come out and vote for the cocktails. We are also going to have hometown hero Jayson Wilde come back and guest bartend the event.

Is there anything you’d like to see out of the Sacramento food and cocktail scene?

Sacramento has had a lot of successful people start here and make names for themselves, but they always end up leaving. It’s great when they come back around and visit, but Sacramento needs some talent to stick around. If Sacramento is going to grow or be more successful, we need these people to stay and be a part of this city. I would like to see some of the people from Sacramento that have been successful elsewhere be successful in Sacramento.

I enjoy other cities and traveling, but this is my home. I have a lot of friends and inspiration here.

We are the capital city in the Midtown Cocktail Week will largest state. take place at various venues from Aug. 19 through 26. See what Andrew Calisterio comes up with at the “Repeal Prohibition High Styled 1920’s Political Rally” event at Grange on Aug. 24. The event will run from 5 p.m. to midnight. To keep track of other Cocktail Week happenings, go to Midtowncocktailweek.org.

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

15

It’s All About the Journey

Comedian Erik Griffin takes the road less traveled and is rewarded Words James Barone

E

rik Griffin is a lot of things: actor, writer, comedian. You may be familiar with his stand-up act, or perhaps you’ve seen him in commercials (he’s done spots for Office Max and McDonald’s). Most likely, you’ve seen Griffin as Montez Walker on the hilarious Comedy Central show Workaholics, which is now in its third season. One thing he’s not, however, is a morning person. Submerge spoke with a groggy Griffin at 8 a.m., and once he woke up a little, opened up to give us a little insight into his nine-year career in comedy.

Griffin worked at a school in his old life.

He said he was a sort of “everyman” at his previous job, coaching a basketball team and even working in the school’s office. In 2003, he decided to pursue comedy full-time.

“I wasn’t happy,” Griffin admitted. “I didn’t want to wake up 50 and say I didn’t follow my dreams, and now here I am being interviewed by

16

you at this insanely early hour.”

“Aren’t you glad you did it then?” Submerge retorted.

“Oh yeah, been living the dream!” he shot back.

The toughest part in making his dream a reality was believing that a career in comedy was even possible.

“I wish I had that belief when I was 22, but I didn’t,” Griffin said.

Embarking upon an entertainment career at any age is a leap of faith at best, but to get going a little later in life, and be successful, might be near impossible. However, Griffin believes that any art form takes time to cultivate, especially comedy. It’s not enough to be young and good looking, you also have to be, well, funny.

“I was so happy when Anne Hathaway and that guy [James Franco] hosted the Oscars and it was a complete disaster. That’s what they

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

think comedy is,” Griffin said of the Hollywood establishment. “They think, ‘Let’s get these cute, young actors, and they’ll be able to pull this off,’ but it’s like, nope. They will not be able to pull this off. And I’m glad.”

He went on to say that it’s a tough business considering “Hollywood wants you to be young, cute and most of the time, white,” Griffin said.

During our interview, the comedian referred to himself as “racially ambiguous.” It’s something he’s used in his comedy. In one bit, which can be found posted on YouTube, Griffin riffs about how other people try to figure out his ethnicity— black, Hispanic, perhaps Arabic? In truth, Griffin comes from a typically American, multi-cultural background. His father is of European descent, while his mother is Caribbean. Griffin said he didn’t think his “racial ambiguity” had much of an effect on his career.

“I don’t know. I think if they have a quota,

they’re like, ‘This is perfect. He’s everything,’” he said.

Still, not fitting into the typical leading man mold hasn’t made things easy for Griffin. The obstacles seem to fuel his fire.

“It takes some time and some experience and some damage,” he said of the time it took to reach this point in his career. “Once you put all that together, that’s how you create an engaging stand-up comedian. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes contrary to what Hollywood is looking for. Well, they don’t know what they’re looking for. They think they know. As a comic, you just try to struggle and make it and hope there’s that one producer, that one person who believes in you that gives you a chance, and you can prove them all wrong. That’s what I feel like I’m doing every day of my career.”

As the old adage goes: “Slow and steady wins the race,” and Griffin is surely reaping Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

the benefits of his determination. As the confrontational Montez Walker on Workaholics, he has started to garner a cult following. On a recent episode, “Ders Comes in Handy,” originally aired July 24, Anders “Ders” Holmvik (played by Anders Holm), receives an over-the-pants hand job from a mysterious woman in the outdoors aisle of a department store. As it turns out, the woman is Walker’s wife.

Hilarity, as they say, ensues.

“One of the original auditions was that scene from episode one, where Montez is talking about having sex with his wife,” Griffin said of his character. “Just from the very beginning, it kind of hit me that he’s just a really inappropriate kind of guy. It was just tapping into that part of myself and letting it out. It’s really fun to do.”

Griffin as Montez takes his love for his wife viral in a music video that you can find posted to the comedian’s website, Erikgriffin.com. The song, “My Queen,” is a hilarious and somewhat messy ode to the object of Montez’s undying affection.

“That was really fun to do,” Griffin said.

“If I ever had a fantasy of being an R&B singer, I lived my fantasy, I’ll tell you that.”

When asked if he thought his R&B fantasy would involve so much baby oil, Griffin answered, “I don’t know if it involved that much baby oil. It was probably more like R. Kelly and I was peeing on somebody. But other than that, I think I did a pretty decent job on that.”

Watching Griffin in action as Montez Walker seems like the part was made just for him; however, he said getting the role was a surprise.

“I was surprised to get the role, just because of some of the people I was going up against,” he explained. “Not only because they had more experience, but also because of how they looked. I think they had really traditional Latino looking guys, and they were looking at really traditional black looking guys too. They ended up with me.”

As it turned out, his multi-cultural upbringing provided him with a touchstone for getting into Montez’s head.

“Just from the description…he was very much a dude that they weren’t sure what he was,” Griffin said of the character. “He thought that he was more hip than he was. He’s a little urban, and I know a lot of guys like that. I grew up in a black

“I didn’t want to wake up 50 and say I didn’t follow my dreams, and now here I am being interviewed by you at this insanely early hour.”

– Erik Griffin SubmergeMag.com

neighborhood, and you know, you talk like that whether you’re black or not.”

Apart from Workaholics, Griffin will also be featured in the upcoming Funny: The Documentary, which boasts a who’s-who of comedians from Natasha Leggero to Pauly Shore. Along with fellow comedian Ahmed Ahmed, Griffin also was involved with another documentary, Just Like Us (2010), which followed a group of comedians touring the Middle East—a very different experience from Funny….

“Just like Us was this amazing experience traveling to all of these Middle Eastern countries and exposing the Arab world to comedy,” he said. “It was a pretty amazing thing. We were in Syria a month before all the violence started. We went up into Egypt, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman… that was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget, just interacting with that culture and those people. It was amazing. This one [Funny: The Documentary] is just like talking about comedy and why comics are disturbed. It’s nothing really interesting like that.”

While it may not be as exotic as Just Like Us, Funny… features more of

an inward journey, according to Griffin, delving into the inner workings of the comic mind.

“I think that a comedian or any kind of artist like that, I believe their extremes are further apart,” he said. “I think people who are quote-unquote normal, their happiest happy and their darkest dark are closer together than, say, a comedian who has this vast valley of emotions that aren’t as close together. I think that allows us to be more in touch with how people feel, how to make them upset, how to make them extremely happy and to be thoughtful, but at the same time, it makes us a little crazy.”

As summer ends, Griffin will spend a lot time on the road, playing dates around the Los Angeles area and also venturing to points east such as Pittsburgh, Penn., and Tampa, Fla. His travels will take him to Sacramento State on Sept. 6 for a free show at University Union Serna Plaza. With a schedule so full, it’s clear why the man enjoys his rest.

“You bastard,” Griffin joked as our interview ended about being disturbed at an early hour. “You can quote me on that.”

wed, aug 15 • 8pm

flash function: share your tasteful short stories (500 words or less) thurs, aug 16 • 8pm

thursday night jive comedy night w/ carlos rodriguez, matt gubser hosted by daniel humbarger fri, aug 17 • 7:30pm benefit show for mckinley park playground feat.

hero’s last mission, lindsey pavao (from nbc’s the voice), marc del chiaro, joshua krage, jason weeks + more sat, aug 18 • 2pm the back to school event “fun”raiser! hosted by the atomic angels

music, face painting, games, special drinks + more sat, aug 18 • 8pm

circa:now, the hungry, parie wood sun, aug 19 • 4pm

book swap

wed, aug 22 • 7:30pm

poetry with legs hosted by bill gainer fri, aug 24 • 8pm

the hey nows! + jesi naomi, bradley relf

jazz jam w/ jason galbraith & guests every tuesday • 8pm

14th & e street • downtown sac • 916.551.1400 www. shinesacramento.com

Heist Events

All tickEts AvAilAblE

@ heIstevents. tIcketleaP.com HEistmAg.com

***tuesday, august 21***

Ivan & alyosha, garrett PIerce, Parlours Bows & Arrows / 8pm / $6 AdvAnce / $8 door / All Ages ***tuesday, sePtember 11***

moonface, foxygen

luigi’s FungArden / 8pm / $1o AdvAnce / $12 door / All Ages **wednesday, sePtember 19 **

Zee avI, sea of bees

Bows & Arrows / 8pm / $8 AdvAnce / $1o door / All Ages ***wednesday, october 3***

the helIo sequence, slowdance

The Townhouse lounge / 8pm / $8 AdvAnce / $1o door / 21+

Friday august 31st @ 8 PM

Catch Erik Griffin for the low, low cost of FREE when he performs live at Sacramento State on Sept. 6 at University Union Serna Plaza. The outdoor show starts at 7:30 p.m. This event is sponsored by University Union UNIQUE Programs. “Like” them on Facebook to learn about more upcoming events.

Chad MeisenheiMer CoMedy Presents

Carlos RodRiguez Chad MeisenheiMer Matt Raymond Hosted by d-Funk RobeRtson

Stand Up Comedy at the Cave

3512 stoCkton Blvd, saCraMento Ca

show tiCkets are $10 18+

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

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Tickets Available @ Dimple Records, The Beat, Armadillo (Davis) Online: AceOfSpadesSac.com By Phone: 1.877.GND.CTRL OR 916.443.9202

maTT w gage

SAT u R DAy K-ottic • BRodi nicholaS • J. SiRuS

August 21

T u E S DAy

Big Business S u N DAy

September 2

1417 R STREET SACRAMENTO All Shows All Ages

wiTh SpecialgueST

T h u R S DAy

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M O N DAy

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STReeT uRchinz el loma Prieta • Devin Wright

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SAT u R DAy F R i DAy

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

September 13

The BRowning Davey SuiciDe • chernobog

Kmac • lil bit • F.a.m.e.

S u N DAy

September 5 T h u R S DAy

TRack fighTeR oveRwaTch

September 12

White minoritieS • PryloSiS the original • Fair Struggle

August 17

Soul moToR zeRoclienT foR all i’ve done aRe we human

hi deaf

September 10

M O N DAy

horSenecK • avenue SaintS balliStic burnout • aStral cult

September 8

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cheRnoBog

F R i DAy

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Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

SAT u R DAy T u E S DAy

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SimPle creation

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F R i DAy iSlanD oF blacK & White

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October 16

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incRediBle me

September 22

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SWalloW the Sun • Solanum Black mackeRel • BleSSed cuRSe

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November 9

pluS Special gueST BeveRly mcclellan

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October 10 in Fear anD Faith • vamPireS everyWhere glamouR of The kill all human • i wiSh we weRe RoBoTS

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raD • chaoS in minD TwiTch angRy & aRT of chaoS

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

19

BUNGA BUNGA

PARTY

Sh o w a nd Tel l Sacramento’s Top Bartenders Talk Brews and Booze

W

e probably don’t have to tell you that Sacramento has many talented bartenders.

If you’ve ever sipped on a concoction from the masterminds at places like Shady Lady Saloon, The Red Rabbit, Grange or a number of other joints around town, you know what we’re talking about. Much like the musicians and artists we regularly feature in the pages of Submerge, Sacramento’s best bartenders have an extraordinary amount of passion for their craft and a ton of talent. With the fifth annual Midtown Cocktail Week happening from Aug. 19 through 26, Submerge decided to catch up with some of our region’s finest mixologists so that you, our valued readers, can learn a little bit about the folks that mix, muddle, shake, stir, garnish and serve your drinks.

MIDTOWN

Words Submerge Staff

Midtown Cocktail Week’s theme this year is “A Spirited Debate” (get it, it’s an election year!), so all of the host venues have come up with “political party” names like the Free Thinkers (Ink Eats and Drinks), Forza Italia (Hot Italian), the Kennedy Conspiracy (Blackbird Kitchen and Bar) and the American Bourbon Drinkers Union (Golden Bear). On Tuesday, Aug. 21 catch these bartenders, as well as a number of others not featured here, represent their respective political parties at the “Super Tuesday” Bartenders Cocktail Competition at Shady Lady. Or, just stop in and say hello to them on any given night and see them in their zone, we’re sure they’d be happy to make you a drink. And hey, at least now you’ll know what they prefer after a long shift so you can buy them a round!

Christopher Sinclair

representing The Red Rabbit to want to think about the flavor of anything I’m drinking. Of course I geek out and love complex and fascinating wine, beer or other.

All I’m saying is at that time I just want cold, refreshing booze.

HOT ITALIAN Thursday, August 23 6–10p $20 Italian cocktails 20

.NET

How long have you been tending bar?

In October, I will have been behind the stick for a decade.

Where can people currently find you serving up drinks?

I work behind the bar at The Red Rabbit Thursday through Monday nights and co-own Coley’s Flask and Co., a cocktail company specializing in private events and cocktail and bar consulting.

After a long shift…shot, beer, cocktail? All of the above?

I’ve got to be honest, I love a crappy beer and a shot of whiskey, or tequila. Honestly Oly [Olympia], PBR or preferably Miller Low-Life makes me feel so much better. I’ve read a ton of responses to bartenders all over the country who have admitted to liking crappy beer like I do that have been super negative and degrading—this sucks. Honestly at the end of a long shift, nine times out of 10, I’m too tired

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

Favorite bar you’ve ever been to?

It really depends. I have been to a great many bars I have loved and honestly never wanted to leave (despite the bartenders ushering movements). Ranstead Room in Philadelphia is unbelievably cool. It is so sexy and chill in there that just thinking about it now kind of makes me tingle. If you come to my bar on any given night and tell me to surprise you, you will most likely find me giving you the drink that they served up to me. Rickhouse in San Francisco has got to be the bar I’ve been to the most to celebrate anything, for any reason. I have such a great time there every time. Not to mention a ton of Sacramento bartenders have worked behind that bar. The thing that really makes a good bar, though, are the bartenders, not the bar itself. The bar is just a frame, the bartender and the service they provide are the painting. I have been to bars with peanuts on the floor and bars where a well drink costs

{AKA RR Party}

damn near as much as a car payment, but the only thing that really mattered was the fun time I had. It is because of this that my all time favorite bar has to be The Rabbit. I know, I know. Shameless self promotion and all, but really, the bar staff there not only is super knowledgeable and can whip up a drink made with anything from Sriracha to twinkies or gin.

But we all love what we do. We love coming to work and love making people smile.

What drink do you make that best describes your style?

The Daiquiri, classically speaking. It’s a super simple drink, really easy to make with only three ingredients (rum, lime, sugar. No, not whipped cream), and it’s so incredibly tasty.

There are so many ways it has been maligned over the years, but the original Cuban drink has to be one of my all time favorites. Its foundation is present in many other popular drinks like the Mojito, Caipirinha, Old Cuban and so many more. It’s such a versatile drink and is so solid at its core that it can play well with almost anything you throw at it. My hope is that my skills are fundamentally sound, while still playful with variables, like this drink.

“The thing that really makes a good bar, though, are the bartenders, not the bar itself.The bar is just a frame,the bartender and the service they provide are the painting.” – Christopher Sinclair,The Red Rabbit Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Patrick O’Neil

Jocelyn McGregor

{AKA The Kennedy Conspiracy Party}

{AKA Free Thinkers Party}

representing Blackbird

How long have you been tending bar?

I started tending bar full-time back in 2008. I’ve been in the restaurant business since I was 15 years old. I started off as a busser at a brewery In Southern California where I’m from. Then worked my way to the bar as a bar back by the time I was 18. Something about being behind the bar was exciting to me. I would always try and pour beers and make cocktails even though I was not of age, so I just had to be sly about it.

If you got a drink from me back then it was probably an eight count as opposed to the standard four.

Where can people currently find you serving up drinks?

I currently reside at Blackbird Kitchen and Bar. We opened at the beginning of April. I had met Carina Lampkin (chef/owner) a couple times in the months before. I knew that I wanted to come work for her. The name alone sucked me in. So I bugged her for a while and she finally gave me the job. The Blackbird flock is quite a mixed bag of talent. It’s awesome to be able to come to work every day and just get inspired by what Kevin [O’Connor, Chef de Cuisine] and Carina are doing in the kitchen with our food, and it fires me up to create cocktails that are up to the standards of our food, which is very fuckin’ high.

After a long shift…shot, beer, cocktail? All of the above?

I’ll usually walk down the street to Henry’s and order a Bud Light and a shot of Fernet. Which usually leads to more and more of that. The Fernet shots Matt pours over there are huge man. But it’s the perfect cure for busting your ass all night, and if you know you put everything you had into service that night, it’s damn rewarding. After that it’s home to play with the dog.

Favorite bar you’ve ever been to?

My favorite bar has to be The Continental Room in Fullerton, Calif., my hometown. It’s the oldest bar in that city. It’s dark as hell, smells like an old stogie that was lit up probably 40 years ago is still lingering. The booths have the old school button you push that lights up a bulb above your booth to let your server know you're ready for another. I know I’ve probably pissed a few of them off after a night with my good friend Jameson. Every Wednesday they have an Elvis impersonator who does like three sets a night. And of course the drinks are awesome. They don’t do much as far as modern cocktails, which is what makes it even that much more special. I love when people just do what they want and believe in and if you don’t like it, that’s your problem dude. That “we ain’t changin’ for no one” attitude is what it’s all about. It’s like when you write music. You write what you want to hear, or at least I do. You have to believe in what you do. It might not be for everyone but it will mean everything to some.

So many great bars here in Sac also. I’m grateful for all the spots I’ve tended and a huge shout to the guys over at Shady, Jason [Boggs], Alex [Origoni] and Garret [Van Vleck], those guys have been my boys for a long time and working there was what lit the fire for me to want to step up my game.

What drink do you make that best describes your style?

A cocktail I made recently called the “William Tell.” Maker's Mark, Antica Carpano, Cherry Heerings, Luxardo and orange juice. I was taking light rail to work on a Monday, we are closed on Mondays, so I like to come in and workshop some “I love when drinks and see what happens. But I you can take was listening to the Brand New song something “You Won’t Know,” and there are some so simple references to William Tell in that song. as a song Got to work and started playing around all of the sudden I had this cocktail. and use that and I was happy with everything in it. Then inspiration I threw a slice of green apple over a to make a rock cube and threw a cherry on top cocktail. of it and there it was in front of me.

There is And the name sealed it. I love when you can take something so simple nothing as a song and use that inspiration to better than make a cocktail. There is nothing better a drink that than a drink that has a story behind it. has a story Guests love to hear that stuff and I love behind it.” to tell it. Pun intended. William Tell has – Patrick O’Neill, his legend and I am glad I can pay it Blackbird my respect.

Kitchen & Bar

SubmergeMag.com

representing Ink Eats & Drinks

How long have you been tending bar?

I’ve been bartending a little over three years.

Where can people currently find you serving up drinks?

I’m pouring, shaking and stirring at Ink Eats and Drinks in Midtown, but if you adventurous, I also run the Lamplighter Bar out at Burning Man. After a long shift…shot, beer, cocktail? All of the above?

It’s usually a shot of Jameson and a PBR. But if it’s a particularly long and trying day, it just may require a double Jameson and ginger or quite possibly multiple shots of Fireball. Since Ink is open until 4 a.m., there’s always a chance that you may just catch me (and the sturdier members of my late night crew) for first call and Irish Coffee at Zebra Club!

Favorite bar you’ve ever been to?

Although I do enjoy a fancy cocktail, something infused and topped with an exotic foam, my favorite bar is a dive bar. If you ever have a chance, I suggest you stop in at Buckshot in San Francisco. Each wall is an eclectic mix of Bob Ross paintings, skateboards, Kiss dolls and various taxidermied critters. You can get beer in a can, play an assortment of bar games and don’t forget to try their “Chicken Fried Bacon” with maple syrup on the side. Once again, if you’re ever out at Burning Man, I do suggest finding the 7 Sins Bar or the Party Naked bar. No details, you’ll have to experience those first hand.

What drink do you make that best “At a base describes your style? level, I’m a At a base level, I’m a total nerd. I love science and I love to cook, bake total nerd. I and get creative with it. Any time love science I can combine that with cocktails and I love to I’m a happy camper. I’m constantly cook, bake trying to create new cocktails with homemade syrups, preserves, purees and get and anything else I can get my hands creative on. Bacon? Tea? Yep, I’ll put that with it. Any in a cocktail! I never know quite time I can how they’ll work out, but I never combine have a lack of people willing to try them. Cocktails are one big, involved that with cocktails science project for me. Sometimes they’re a first place winner, I’m a happy sometimes they totally suck. But I camper.” like to play "I win" so I’m always – Jocelyn McGregor, back at the drawing board.

INK Eats & Drinks

LaTe NighT happy 7 DayS a Week houR 10pMCLoSe

Brad Peters

representing Centro

{AKA Mezcalistas Party} How long have you been tending bar?

Six years.

Where can people currently find you serving up drinks?

Centro Cocina Mexicana, Shady Lady Saloon and Pour House.

After a long shift…shot, beer, cocktail?

All of the above?

Honestly, a pillow. If I am going to have a drink it’ll most likely be a beer.

Favorite bar you’ve ever been to?

Great question, I would have to give a top 5 in no particular order: Clyde Common (Portland, Ore.), Rob Roy (Seattle), Noble Experiment (San Diego), 15 Romolo (San Francisco), The Patterson House (Nashville, Tenn.).

What drink do you make that best describes your style?

Manhattan. Simple, classic, straightforward.

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

21

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22

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Ryan Seng

representing Grange Restaurant & Bar

{AKA Barrel Dandy Party}

How long have you been tending bar?

I started tending bar full-time about seven years ago. Before that I was serving, bussing, line cooking and dishwashing.

Where can people currently find you serving up drinks?

Just at Grange, on top of my art career. I did the painting at Shady Lady, and being a father of three, one job is enough. I opened Shady, but too many gigs is not fun.

After a long shift…shot, beer, cocktail? All of the above?

After work drink is what is in the cabinet above my refrigerator. I just finished off a Glenfiddich 18 that I was mixing with Galliano’s vintage recipe and Angostura. Those were good. Wine and gin and tonics are also grand!

Favorite bar you’ve ever been to?

Bourbon & Branch, Rickhouse, Comstock Saloon, Shady Lady, but the place that really started it for me was the Flatiron Lounge in New York, back in 2003 or so.

What drink do you make that best describes your style?

Currently I guess the “No Pimm’s Pimm’s Cup” or the “London Style California Gin Flight,” both on our Olympic happy hour. I like drinks that are color smart, playful, thoughtful.

“I like drinks that are color smart, playful,thoughtful.”

– Ryan Seng, Grange Restaurant & Bar

Ian Beightler

Amy Battaglia

representing Hot Italian

representing Golden Bear

{AKA Forza Italia Party}

{AKA American Bourbon Drinkers Union Party}

How long have you been tending bar?

I’ve been bartending for roughly five years and I love it! I’m always learning new things and meeting interesting people. I’ve spent some time in Tahoe as well as Sacramento learning the trade and always like the change of scenery to introduce you to new spirits, pun intended.

How long have you been tending bar?

Well, I’ve tended bar on and off for a few years, but never at a place that had embraced the classic cocktail until The Golden Bear.

I’ve learned so much in the last year from working with people like Chris Tucker and Tyler Williams that, in a way, I can say I’ve been bartending for years.

Where can people currently find you serving up drinks?

I currently make magic behind the bar at Hot Italian. We have an elite team of personalities and wonderful people.

They are definitely my second family.

Where can people currently find you serving up drinks?

The Golden Bear!

After a long shift…shot, beer, cocktail? All of the above?

A long shift definitely ends with a shot of Jameson. After that, it all depends on my mood.

Favorite bar you’ve ever been to?

That’s a tough question! I really like Heaven’s Dog in San Francisco.

They’ve got a great cocktail program and walls adorned with rad paintings of pit bulls.

What drink do you make that best describes your style?

The Bond Girl. Dewar’s White label, Campari, Peychaud’s bitters, vanilla bean simple syrup and grapefruit juice. While not everyone wants to get down with a peat monster served neat, I hate hearing the phrase, “I don’t like scotch.” Scotches can be so complex, and thus rewarding to mix with, and the vanilla/citrus combo in the Bond Girl mellows the smokiness into something everyone can dig.

“I’m really enjoying what Sacramento has to offer as far as creative cocktails, compelling atmosphere, and style.”

After a long shift…shot, beer, cocktail?

All of the above?

After a long shift I like to settle into a pint of my current obsession. However, depending on the company and atmosphere shots and cocktails are not far from my thoughts. If I’m taking shots it’s usually whiskey and if I’m drinking cocktails I’ll let the bar menu decide. I’m up for trying new things; however, when I’m out I also stick to what I know and drink the classics.

Favorite bar you’ve ever been to?

Asking me what my favorite bar is would be like asking me to choose my favorite movie, impossible to pick just one. I like to enjoy different – Ian Beightler, environments whether it be a classy Hot Italian joint or a run down dive bar, I’ve seen it all. I’m really enjoying what Sacramento has to offer as far as creative cocktails, compelling atmosphere and style. When I think favorite bars I’m immediately drawn to alluring cocktails. But scenery in and out play a big part, I like to feel relaxed and as though I’m on vacation at my “favorite bar.”

What drink do you make that best describes your style?

I created a custom cocktail that infuses cucumbers and jalapeños in a refreshing yet spicy cocktail. I call it “Between the Sheets,” because it’s hot. It’s an off menu cocktail. I bring classic ingredients together with wild card spirits to form a perfect combination and taste that you would otherwise disregard.

Submerge Facebook friends chime in on their favorite cocktails We have a ton of input on cocktails and booze from Sacramento bartenders in this issue, so we figured we should ask our friends on Facebook what their favorite cocktails in town were and where they get them.

You have a voice too, after all, and apparently a lot of you love Shady Lady. Here are some of your responses!

Adrienne Cheng says, “Hibiscus

margarita from Tres Hermanas, just be careful, Jared has heavy hands.”

Breanna Giannotti says her fave is

“the basil gimlet at Shady Lady.”

Jimmy Bell agrees with Giannotti on locale: “The

Missy Bell at the Shady. Our favorite breakfast drink.”

Noel Matthew DeWitt says, “Vodka soda and

Jameson shot, Press Club! I love that place.”

SubmergeMag.com

Phil McNeill says, “Ball

and a Bat at Clark’s Corner, it’s a 24oz Pabst and a shot of well whiskey for six bucks, can’t go wrong!”

He later chimed in again with,“For a frou-frou

drink, go get the Sex Kitten at Hideaway, I’m not into them kinda drinks, but that one sets the standard.”

Jennafer Phillips says she is all about the “Zombie Brains shooter from Powerhouse Pub on a Wednesday night!”

Anne Laccopucci and Chris and Marita Hambek all agree on “the Bloody Mary at 33rd Street Bistro.”

Joseph Davancens thinks

“If specialty is the real question, Horses Neck at Shady.The tenders know how to respectfully pour whiskey.”

Apparently Anthony Lee Pellerin is on the same page as Davencens because his response was simply,

“Old Fashioned at Shady Lady!”

And last but not least, Jarrod Affonso digs the

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

“Blackberry Crush from Dive Bar.”

23

Plans, Planes and Punk

Beyond Teenage Politics: MxPx at 20 Words Ryan J. Prado

B

eing a teenager in the ‘90s in California meant you listened to punk rock. If there were other choices in the matter, no one presented them as voraciously as labels like Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph, SideOneDummy, Nitro or Hopeless did. And while California’s skate-punk tsunami swelled during the early part of that decade with the rise of Green Day, Offspring and Rancid, miles away were groups hell-bent on riding the wave. Bremerton, Wash.’s MxPx probably weren’t trying to become a ubiquitous tandem of the ‘90s punk rock explosion, but they’ve definitely become one of its most ardent flag bearers.

MxPx is on a stop-and-go nationwide tour, packing venues old and new, big and small on what they’ve decided to embrace as their 20th Anniversary Tour. That’s right, it’s been 20 goddamn years since the fresh-faced, bleachhaired trio formed, eventually releasing seminal skate-pop-punk albums Teenage Politics and Life in General on Tooth and Nail Records.

Almost from the beginning, the band’s fast-paced, slick patina of pop and punk raised

24

eyebrows. Bassist Mike Herrera’s sleek, peppy songwriting and humor-pocked anthems (think “Punk Rawk Show” and “Chick Magnet”) were a huge hit with the Christian punk underworld, and—somewhat begrudgingly—punk purists.

With guitarist Tom Wisniewski and drummer Yuri Ruley rounding out the trio, MxPx at 20 is still whip-crack pop-y, maybe a little more mature, and definitely still relevant.

But why? From Wisniewski’s own admission, there were no enormous expectations for MxPx. “We never really had much of a plan,’” said Wisniewski, who joined the band in 1995 shortly after original guitarist Andy Husted departed.

“We just kind of went with it.”

Embracing the immediacy and uncertainty of their lives at the time (the band members were 15 years old when they got together), Wisniewski explained that for MxPx, everything sort of snowballed—quite literally for him at the beginning of his tenure. “[My first show with the band] was in Portland [Ore.] at this place called the Push that’s not there anymore,” Wisniewski

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

recollected. “There were tons of people going crazy, and it was just like, ‘This is amazing! This is the best show we’ve ever played!

“We sold a bunch of merch and ended up staying with some fans over across the river in Vancouver, Wash., that night because we didn’t wanna drive back. We woke up in the morning and someone said, ‘You’ll never guess what happened last night. It dumped like a foot of snow.’ So we ended up getting snowed-in with these people. We were just supposed to wake up in the morning and leave, but we ended up hanging out with them until around dinner time when the roads cleared up.”

Throughout the past 20 years, that kind of fan interaction (intentional or not) has helped MxPx somehow transcend genre pigeonholing they were weaned on. They routinely draw big crowds wherever they go, whether they’re headlining or opening. Case in point: during the band’s more recent appearances at ever-morphing mega-fests like Warped Tour, audience veterans would often forego the pull of top-billed vampire-core or saccharine-sweet

electro-punk acts to be whisked away by the energy that made that tour—that Empire—what it is today. There’s loyalty with this band like there is with few others.

Whether or not that loyalty is the result of MxPx’s underlying Christian roots—the band has never preached through its music, but openly admit to being Christians—is open for debate.

“It was always really busy so we never really had time to think, ‘Oh wow, this suddenly became a career. I paid my house off of this.’”

– Tom Wisniewski Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

What’s less abstract are the ways in which MxPx has persevered as a band through two decades of heavy touring, major label stints and growing older.

“There was always something right around the corner,” said Wisniewski. “It was always really busy so we never really had time to think, ‘Oh wow, this suddenly became a career. I paid my house off of this.’

“As far as us playing together, we all just love playing, we love the music, we get along really well. That’s that. As far as actually being able to stick it out and be a band and have people come to our shows that long, it takes work ethics. We worked really hard at making ourselves better, and being a better band live, and by being out there on tour all the time.”

Plans Within Plans, MxPx’s ninth studio album—and first release on their own Rock City Records label—was released in April, perpetuating the maturity of the band’s punk blueprint (“We wouldn’t write a song like ‘Bad Hair Day’ anymore,” joked Wisniewski), with catchy but aggressive rock and four-on-thefloor drumming. But the album was released five years after their last record, 2007’s Secret Weapon, which saw MxPx returning to the label that helped launch the band, Tooth and Nail.

Wisniewski said that with Herrera increasingly busy with his country-rock sideproject Tumbledown, and with himself and Yuri settling into (gasp!) “real” jobs, the lengthy resting time in between MxPx records was

anything but restful.

Despite that about-face toward reality, though, things remain business as usual in Bremerton. “[When] Yuri and I got real jobs, that was kind of that moment of, ‘Oh gosh, reality is shutting in,’” said Wisniewski. “But it’s fun. I like my job, and I like being able to still play with the band, get in the van and go out for weekends. It was definitely an, ‘Oh, crap!’ kind of moment, but it’s worked out so far.”

The band’s been joined on stage during their 20th Anniversary Tour by a slew of special guests, including Mest’s Tony Lovato and Good Charlotte’s Benji Madden. It’s a safe bet that during their set at this year’s JoshuaFest—taking place Aug. 30 through Sept. 2 in Plymouth, Calif., at the Amador County Fairgrounds—the trio will beef up their ranks to accommodate their increasingly legendary status.

“The shows have been really good,” said Wisniewski. “We’ve been playing a mix of a little from here, there, everywhere throughout our career. Mike’s doing a little acoustic set in it, too. We’re just trying to make it better than our normal show.”

MxPx play JoshuaFest Friday, Aug. 31. JoshuaFest 2012 is held at the Amador County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, California. For more information on JoshuaFest, visit Joshuafest.com. For more information on MxPx, including fall tour dates, visit Mxpx.com.

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

HOURS Mon. - Sat. 9 AM - 7 PM Sunday Noon - 5 PM

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Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas Audio Express — Sacramento Submerge — 8/13/2012

8.15 Wednesday

m u sic , co m e d y & m isc . C a l e n d a r

aug 13 – 27

submergemag.com/calendar use a qr scanner on your smart phone to view calendar online

8.13 Monday

The Boardwalk We Are Defiance, Us From Outside, City Lights, To Each His Own, Before You Fall, Straight Up Grizzly, Without An Answer, 5:30 p.m.

The Boxing Donkey Open Mic Variety Night, 8 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Fox & Goose Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m.

Harlow’s Heartless Bastards, Little Hurricane, 8 p.m.

Luna’s Cafe Nebraska Mondays w/ Devin Hoff Platform, David Boyce and Phillip Greenlief Duo, 7:30 p.m.

Old Ironsides The Nuance, 7:30 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Press Club Work Your Soul, 9 p.m.

SubmergeMag.com

Marilyn’s Dirt Nap Band, 5:30 p.m.

Midtown Village Cafe Open Mic Night, 8 p.m.

MontBleu Resort Casino The AllAmerican Rejects, Shiny Toy Guns, Eve 6, Pete Wentz, 6 p.m.

Old Ironsides Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Sol Collective Microphone Mondays, 8 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub College Night w/ DJ Rigatony, DJ Alazzawi, 10:30 p.m.

8.14 Tuesday

The Boardwalk Polarization, Mouth of the Serpent, Malevolent, Awaiting the Apocalypse, Gentlemen, Behold!, As Dreamers, The Fourth Horseman, 6:30 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Dive Bar Le Twist Tuesdays w/ Sam I Jam, Adam J, Taylor Cho, Roger Carpio, 9 p.m.

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Blue Cue Karaoke Contest, 9 p.m.

Haven Underground Jesca Hoop, Yesway, Jesse Harris, 8:30 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Buddy Emmer, 7 p.m.

Townhouse Open Mic, 9 p.m.

Pine Cove Open Mic Night, 9 p.m.

Press Club Blackout! w/ DJ Dali Baba, Lord Siracha, 9 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Buddy Emmer, 7 p.m.

Shine Jazz Jam w/ Jason Galbraith & Guests, 8 p.m.

The Boardwalk Mureau, Kingdom Of Giants, Parley, I Wish We Were Robots, The Silver Lining, Behold the Device, Truly Terrifying, 5:30 p.m.

Club Car The Double Shots, 7:30 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Fox & Goose Traditional Irish Jam Session, 7 p.m.

Torch Club Bill Mylar, 5:30 p.m.; Lew Fratis, 9 p.m.

Townhouse GRIMEY w/ GothTrad, Twopercento, Infamous, DJ Whores, Crescendo, 9 p.m.

GentlemAn Surfer Realization Orchestra, Fibers Luigi's Fungarden 8 p.m.

Harlow’s The Quinn Hedges Band (CD Release), 7 p.m.

Laughs Unlimited Karaoke, 8 p.m.

Luigi’s Fungarden Gentleman Surfer, Realization Orchestra, Fibers, 8 p.m.

Marilyn’s Mike James, 9 p.m.

Mix DJs Gabe Xavier & Peeti-V, 9 p.m.

Old Ironsides Open Mic, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub The Left Hand, The Barfly Effect, Kills Evil, Maidens Sorrow, 8 p.m.

Press Club Punch and Pie Fest: The Phenomenauts, Prima Donna, The Community, The Moans, 8 p.m.

T2 Nightclub & Lounge Karaoke, 9 p.m.

8.15

Red Hawk Casino Buddy Emmer, 7 p.m.

Shenanigans Karaoke, 8 p.m.

ZuhG Life Store Open Mic, 6 p.m.

eat. drinK. liSten

midtown Sacramento

Photo by Dennis Scott

Torch Club Acoustic Open Mic, 5:30 p.m.; The Golden Cadillacs, 9 p.m.

Club Retro 4:12 Crew, Corroded Master, Crow, DJ Bob - O, 6:30 p.m.

8.16

The Coffee Garden Open Mic Night, 8 p.m.

District 30 Adrian Lux, 9 p.m.

thursday

Dive Bar Dueling Pianos, 9 p.m.

Ace of Spades Nashville Pussy, Horseneck, Avenue Saints, Ballistic Burnout, Astral Cult, 6:30 p.m.

Fox & Goose The Mike Justis band, 8 p.m.

Fremont Park Hot Lunch Concert Series w/ Musical Charis, 11:30 a.m.

The Blue Lamp Lil’ Ester & The Tinstar Trio, The Loveless, 8 p.m.

Harlow’s Sizzling Sirens Burlesque Show, 9 p.m.

The Boardwalk Human Filth, Serpentera, Fall of Man, Vital Perception, Without Conclusion, 7 p.m.

Haven Underground Lee Bob Watson & The Park, 9 p.m.

Club Car Songwriters Showcase, 8 p.m.

>>

continued on page 28

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

27

904 15 Street 443.2797 th

Between I & J • Downtown Sacramento

G Street WunderBar Major Powers & the Lo Fi Symphony, The Lurk, Coo Coo Birds, 9 p.m.

Capitol Garage Karaoke w/ Jeff Jenkins, 9 p.m.

Harlow’s Mother Hips, Rose’s Pawn Shop, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Jason King, 4 p.m.

Harveys Lake Tahoe Sugarland, 7 p.m.

Aug 14 - 26 TUES

Bill Mylar 5:30PM

14

lew Fratis 9PM

WED

acoustic oPen Mic 5:30PM

15

THURS

16

theGoldencadillacs

9PM X trio 5PM

deadwinter carPenters 9PM Pailer and Fratis 5:30PM

FRI

17

Beso neGro 9PM SaT

Johnny Guitar KnoX 5PM

18 the coalition 9PM SUn

19

TUES

21

WED

22

THURS

23

BluesJaM 4PM crossinG the river 8PM Quinn hedGes 5:30PM

diPPin sauce 9PM

FRI

25

Johnny Guitar KnoX 5PM

the niBBlers 9PM BluesJaM 4PM

SUn

26

Kyle rowland cd release Party 8PM

torchclub.net 28

Old Ironsides Malakite, Blossom Rock, 9 p.m.

Marilyn’s Rock On Live Band Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Mix DJ Billy Lane, 9 p.m.

Old Ironsides Bluegrass Acoustic Jam, 7:30 p.m.

Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Dead Winter Carpenter, 8 p.m.; Left of Centre, 9:30 p.m.

Press Club Punch and Pie Fest: Red City Radio, Bastards of Young, Civil War Rust, Urban Wolves, 8 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Buddy Emmer, 7 p.m.

Stoney’s Jason Buell, 8 p.m.

Torch Club X Trio, 5 p.m.; Dead Winter Carpenters, 9 p.m.

Townhouse Blitz w/ DJ Roderick, 9 p.m.

8.17 Friday

Ace of Spades Great White, Faster Pussycat, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bullet Boys, 6:30 p.m.

X trio 5PM

24 eddie turner 9PM SaT

Luigi’s Fungarden Tumbleweed Wanderers, 8 p.m.

Capitol Garage Get Down to the Champion Sound w/ DJ Esef and special guests, 10 p.m.

Pailer & Fratis 5:30PM

Marilyn’s Zepparella, Smirker, 8:30 p.m.

ZZ Top

The Boardwalk Dire Peril, Solanum, Legion’s Requiem, Zombie Death Stench, Shades of Devastation, 7 p.m.

9PM

Luigi's Fungarden Punch and Pie Fest: Tiltwheel, Kill Devil, Know Your Saints, Dead Dads, 3 p.m.; Cobra Skulls, Union Hearts, Hear the Sirens, Cold Hearts Re-Press, 7 p.m.

Thunder Valley Casino Resort 8 p.m.

acoustic oPen Mic 5:30PM douBle P review 9PM

decePtion Pastand whisKey Pills Fiasco

Press Club Punch and Pie Fest: Kill The Precedent, Walking Dead, RAD, Strange Party, 6 p.m.

Haven Underground Spindrift, The Soft Bombs, DJ Sugartroll, 9 p.m.

8.17

Elkhorn Saloon Stone Kold, 7 p.m.

Fox & Goose Wife & Son, Nick Cohen, Pomegranite, 9 p.m.

G Street WunderBar DJ Smilez, 9 p.m.

Golden Bear DJ Crook, 10 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Steel Breeze, 10 p.m.

Press Club DJ Rue, 9 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Duane Patton Trio, 5 p.m.; Farenhyte 5150, 10 p.m.

Shine Benefit for McKinley Park Playground w/ Hero’s Last Mission, Lindsey Pavao, Marc Del Chairo, Joshua Krage, Jason Weeks, 7:30 p.m.

Stoney’s Art & Lacy, 9 p.m.

Swabbies on the River The Itals, Urbanfire, DJ Wokstar, 6 p.m. Aug. 17, 6 p.m.

Thunder Valley Casino Resort ZZ Top, 8 p.m.

Torch Club Pailer and Fratis, 5:30 p.m.; Beso Negro, 9 p.m.

Townhouse G. Green (Record Release), 9 p.m.

ZuhG Life Store For Sayle, Gypsy Fish, 12 p.m.

8.20 Monday

Old Ironsides Musical Charis, Autumn Sky, Whiskey & Stiches, 7 p.m.

The Boxing Donkey Open Mic Variety Night, 8 p.m.

The Park Ultra Lounge DK Politik, 9 p.m.

Fox & Goose Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m.

Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Luna’s Cafe Nebraska Mondays w/ The Revival Trio (Hammond, Cruz, Hale), Bill Horvitz Trio, 7:30 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Element of Soul, ZuhG, Massive Delicious, 10 p.m.

Press Club DJ Larry Rodriguez, 9 p.m.

Old Ironsides The Nuance, 7:30 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Duane Patton Trio, 5 p.m.; Farenhyte 5150, 10 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Rio Ramaza Event Park Freedom Fest 4 w/ Devin The Dude, B Legit, Yukmouth, Berner, Ray Dogg, Columbyne, Noize, Bueno, PYRX and more, 12 p.m.

Shenanigans Addict Merchants, Pak-Ten, Tone Malone, 9 p.m.

Press Club Punch and Pie Fest: Continental, City of Vain, Setting Sons, Cold Feelings, 8 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Tom Drinnon, 7 p.m.

Sol Collective Microphone Mondays, 8 p.m.

Townhouse Open Mic, 9 p.m.

8.21

Shine Circa:Now, The Hungry, Parie Wood, 8 p.m.

Thunder Valley Casino Resort Diana Krall, 8 p.m.

Torch Club Johnny Guitar Knox, 5 p.m.; The Coalition, 9 p.m.

Tuesday

Townhouse Playboy School, Reggie Ginn, Dolorata, Spare Parts for Broken Hearts, 9 p.m.

Ace of Spades Chiddy Bang, K-Ottic, J. Sirus, Brodi Nicholas, 7 p.m.

ZuhG Life Store Gypsy Fish, Breach The Summit, 6 p.m.

ZuhG Life Store 2nd Planet Jazz, 1 p.m.

Bows and Arrows Ivan and Alyosha, Garrett Pierce, Parlours, 8 p.m.

8.18 8.19

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Luigi’s Fungarden Apache Dropout, Woolen Men, Lame Drivers, Charles Albright, 8 p.m.

Saturday

Ace of Spades Stepchild, Soul Motor, Zeroclient, For All I’ve Done, Are We Human, 6:30 p.m.

The Blue Lamp Times Of Desperation, Same Sex Dictator, Waning, 8 p.m.

The Boardwalk Riff/Raff (AC/DC tribute), Love Drive (Scorpions tribute), Rue the Night, Landboat, 7 p.m.

Cache Creek Casino BLACKstreet, 8 p.m.

Harveys Lake Tahoe Joe Cocker, Huey Lewis & The News, 7:30 p.m.

The Cave Letha Lungs, Higher Ground, Sainte Jeanne, DayO, Jewelz, 9 p.m.

Haven Underground The Chameleons, The Please(d), Physical Education, 9 p.m.

Center for the Arts Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, The Moore Brothers, 8 p.m.

Luigi’s Fungarden Punch and Pie Fest: Blag Dahlia, The Secretions, 9:00 News, Mad Judy, 7 p.m.

Club Retro Forever at Lexington, Roses For Lions, Opposition, 7 p.m.

Marilyn’s MonoMyth, Stuck, Applewhite, 8:30 p.m.

Elkhorn Saloon The Fortunate Few, 7 p.m.

MARRS Sandra Delores, 5 p.m.

Fairytale Town Jackie Greene, 8 p.m.

Midtown Village Cafe Harley White Jr. Youth Jazz Spotlight, 6 p.m.

Fox & Goose Anaura, Friendship, 9 p.m.

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

Torch Club Blues Jam, 4 p.m.; Crossing the River, 8 p.m.

Vega’s Uterus, Slip Into Coma, Art of Chaos, The Absolutes, 8:30 p.m.

Harlow’s Peter Murphy, 9 p.m.

Mix DJ Elliott Estes, 9 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 8 p.m.

Sunday

Marilyn’s MRQ Acoustic, 5:30 p.m.

Ace of Spades Strung Out, The Darlings, Handguns, Lonely Kings, 6:30 p.m.

The Blue Lamp Johnny Dilks & The Highway Kind, Shelby Cobra & The Mustangs, 7 p.m.

Midtown Village Cafe Open Mic Night, 8 p.m.

Old Ironsides Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Pine Cove Open Mic Night, 9 p.m. continued on page 30

>>

8.18

Freedom Fest 4 w/

Devin The Dude

B Legit, Yukmouth, Berner, Ray Dogg, Columbyne, Noize, Bueno, PYRX and more Rio Ramaza Event Park 12 p.m.

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

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No 6 MoNth BS • Good for 1 Year | Walk-iNS WelcoMe all daY everYdaY Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

29

Powerhouse Pub College Night w/ DJ Rigatony, DJ Alazzawi, 10:30 p.m.

Press Club FFFreak w/ CrookOne, DJ Hailey, Dogtones, 9:30 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Tom Drinnon, 7 p.m.

Shine Jazz Jam w/ Jason Galbraith & Guests, 8 p.m.

T2 Nightclub & Lounge Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Torch Club Quinn Hedges, 5:30 p.m.; Dippin Sauce, 9 p.m.

ZuhG Life Store Open Mic, 6 p.m.

8.22 wednesday

The Boardwalk 12 Stones, Edisun, Fair Struggle, Two Nooses, Mercedes Ave, 7 p.m.

Blue Cue Karaoke Contest, 9 p.m.

Club Car The Double Shots, 7:30 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Fox & Goose Steve McLane, 8 p.m.

Harlow’s Animal Kingdom, Atlas Genius, 8 p.m.

Laughs Unlimited Karaoke, 8 p.m.

Luigi’s Fungarden A Lot Like Birds, The Speed of Sound in Seawater, Stolas, Habit, So Much Light, 7:30 p.m.

Old Ironsides Open Mic, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Musical Charis, James Cavern, Autumn Sky, 8 p.m.

Fa m i ly o w n e d s i n c e 1 9 3 4

Press Club Hans & The Hot Mess, The Bell Boys, The Repair, 8:30 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Tom Drinnon, 7 p.m.

Shenanigans Karaoke, 8 p.m.

916-443-9751

Torch Club Acoustic Open Mic, 5:30 p.m.; Double P Review, 9 p.m.

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FRiday aUGUsT 17, 9pm $5 saTURday aUGUsT 18, 7pm $7-$15 donaTion

FRiday aUGUsT 24, 8pm $12

Ace of Spades Travis Porter, 7 p.m.

The Blue Lamp Battalion of Saints, 13 Scars, Capital Bastard, The Flip Offs, 8 p.m.

The Boardwalk Pat Travers, Larisa Bryski, The Hunter and the Wolf, Island of Black & White, 7 p.m.

Mix DJ Billy Lane, 9 p.m.

Old Ironsides Concrete Jungle, 9 p.m.

Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Whiskey Row, 9:30 p.m.

Press Club Sans Sobriety, Brain Rash, Bum City Saints, The Judas Bunch, 8:30 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Tom Drinnon, 7 p.m.

Torch Club X Trio, 5 p.m.; Deception Past, Whiskey Pills Fiasco, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Tainted Love, 10 p.m.

Press Club DJ Rue, 9 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino ESP Trio, 5 p.m.; Audioboxx, 10 p.m.

The Refuge Black and White, Katie Martini, Adelynne Lackey, TBAS, 7:30 p.m.

Shine The Hey Nows, Jesi Naomi, Bradley Relf, 8 p.m.

Torch Club Pailer & Fratis, 5:30 p.m.; Eddie Turner, 9 p.m.

Townhouse Whip vs. Record Club w/ Shaun Slaughter, Adam J, Roger Carpio, 9 p.m.

ZuhG Life Store Wooster, 6 p.m.

8.24 8.25 FRIDAY

The Blue Lamp The Left Hand, Cold Heart Repress, The Community, Bad Ending, 8 p.m.

The Boardwalk Restrayned (CD Release), Overwatch, The Absolutes, Illusions Echo, Hit and Run, 7 p.m.

Capitol Garage Get Down to the Champion Sound w/ Cutty Ranks, DJ Shortkut, DJ Esef, 10 p.m.

The Cave Mondo Deco, The Trees, The Somebodys, 8 p.m.

Center for the Arts Brandi Carlile, The Barr Brothers, 8 p.m. (Sold Out) District 30 Louie Giovanni, 9 p.m.

Fox & Goose Be Brave Bold Robot, The Secret Lives of Squirrels, 9 p.m.

G Street WunderBar DJ Smilez, 9 p.m.

Golden Bear DJ Crook, 10 p.m.

Harlow’s Dan Curcio, 7 p.m.; Exquisite Corps, Fierce Creatures, James Cavern, 9 p.m.

Luigi’s Fungarden Grover, Flies in the Kitchen, 8 p.m.

Marilyn’s Sicfus, Drive-Thru Mystics, 9 p.m.

Midtown Village Cafe Harley White Jr. Youth Jazz Spotlight, 6 p.m.

Mix DJ Elliott Estes, 9 p.m.

Old Ironsides Some Fear None, Terra Ferno, Zen Arcadia, SoulVent, 8 p.m.

On The Y Raw Dawg, System Assault, Maiden’s Sorrow, Capital Bastard, 8 p.m.

Saturday

Ace of Spades Full Blown Stone, Street Urchinz, El Loma Prieta, Devin Wright, 6:30 p.m.

The Blue Lamp Turn Down The Stones, Red Leaf, 8 p.m.

The Boardwalk Lonely Avenue, Wearing It Out In Public, Wannabe Barnaby, Grounded, Above & Below, The Somebody’s, Broken, 7 p.m.

Cache Creek Casino George Benson, 8 p.m.

The Cave Navigator, Subtract, A Sight For Sore Eyes, Temptest, 8 p.m.

Elkhorn Saloon Bleedin’ Hearts, 7 p.m.

Fox & Goose Jay Shaner, Horse Bodies, 9 p.m.

G Street WunderBar DJ Alazzawi, 9 p.m.

Harlow’s Hapa, 7 p.m.

Haven Underground AfroMassive, Lafa Taylor, 9 p.m.

Luigi’s Fungarden Musical Charis, Der Spazm, The Kelps, The Trees, 8 p.m.

Marilyn’s Keep On Truckin, Julie and the Jukes, 9 p.m.

MontBleu Resort Casino Jimmy Cliff, The Storytellers, UpRising, Eph Bee Cee, Squarefield Massive, J*Ras, 5 p.m.

Old Ironsides The Cat Stevens Tribute Band, Marty Taters, Lare Crawley & Sal Valentino, Adrian Bellue, 7:30 p.m.

Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Bows and Arrows Classical Revolution feat. cellist Jia-mo Chen, 8 p.m.

Club Retro Blu Hart, Love Is, Stephanie and the Lizard, 6 p.m.

influences Benefit: musical charis, autumn sky, Whiskey & stitches and more! concrete Jungle

Thursday

Marilyn’s Rock On Live Band Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Club Car Songwriters Showcase, 8 p.m.

malakite, Blossom rock

THURsday aUGUsT 23, 9pm FRee BeFoRe 10Pm, $5 aFTeR 10Pm

8.23

Luigi’s Fungarden Kat Devlin, Parie Wood, 8 p.m.

The Coffee Garden Open Mic Night, 8 p.m.

District 30 Heartworm, Vincent Salas, Steele, Jurts, 9 p.m. tix available in adv @ old ironsides

tHreat con raDio

deeelicious old timey lunches served monday - friday 11:30am - 2pm Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012 30

Dive Bar Dueling Pianos, 9 p.m.

Fox & Goose Crunk Witch, The Mapletones, 8 p.m.

Fremont Park Hot Lunch Concert Series w/ Walking Spanish, Parie Wood, 11:30 a.m.

8.24

Get Down to the Champion Sound w/ Cutty Ranks

DJ Shortkut, DJ Esef Capitol Garage 10 p.m.

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Powerhouse Pub The Department of Rock, 10 p.m.

Power Balance Pavilion Neil Diamond, 8 p.m.

Cal Expo California’s Grape & Gourmet, Aug. 18, 3 p.m.

Press Club DJ Larry Rodriguez, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino ESP Trio, 5 p.m.; Audioboxx, 10 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Chris Gardner, 7 p.m.

Collings West Sacramento Teen Center Kings of The Scene B-Boy League Round 1, Aug. 25, 4 p.m.

Rio Ramaza Event Park ZuhGfest w/ ZuhG, Wooster, Massive Delicious, Island of Black and White, The Diva Kings, Fish Out of Water, Out of Place, The Benny’s, James Cavern, Autumn Sky, Ras Matthew & the Scratchouts, Monkey Flower, Full Melt and more, 11 a.m.

Shenanigans Lucky Witherspoon, Harley White Jr. Trio, Imhur Onlysun, 9 p.m.

Thunder Valley Casino Resort REO Speedwagon, 8 p.m.

Torch Club Johnny Guitar Knox, 5 p.m.; The Nibblers, 9 p.m.

Townhouse Who Cares, Young Aundee, DJ Centipede, White Canary, 9 p.m.

ZuhG Life Store The Wheels, 4 p.m.

8.26 Sunday

Ace of Spades Saving Abel, Track Fighter, Overwatch, 6:30 p.m.

The Blue Lamp Songwriters Showcase & BBQ w/ Olla Laurene, Kyle Tuttle, The Taylor Chicks, Jason Weeks, Alexander Nelson, John Green, James Cavern, Lance Richards, OPUS, Tim Malakie, hosted by Marty Taters, 3 p.m.

Press Club Work Your Soul, 9 p.m.

Sol Collective Microphone Mondays, 8 p.m.

Townhouse Open Mic, 9 p.m.

Comedy Bows and Arrows Open Mic Comedy Night hosted

by Ray Molina, Aug. 15, 8 p.m.

Laughs Unlimited Cory and Chad, Stephanie Garcia, Aug. 16 - 19, Thurs., 8 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. & 10:30 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.

Best of Open Mic Showcase, Aug. 21, 8 p.m.

Flips and Beaners Comedy Jam, Aug. Aug. 23, 8 p.m.

Key Lewis, Steph Sanders, Aug. 24 - 26, Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. & 10:30 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.

Luna’s Cafe Keith Lowell Jensen’s Comedy Night, every Wednesday, 8 p.m.

Po’Boyz Bar & Grill (Folsom) Comedy Open Mic, every Monday, 9 p.m.

Punchline Comedy Club Ruben Paul, Aug. 16 - 19, Thurs., 8 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. & 10 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.

The Evolution of Comedy Tour w/ Ian Harris, Jason Resler, Maurice Northup, Aug. 22, 8 p.m.

The Boardwalk Bobaflex, Long in the Tooth, Dogfood, Six Weeks Sober, 6 p.m.

Pablo Francisco, Aug. 23 - 26, Thurs., 8 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. & 10 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.

Capitol Garage Karaoke w/ Jeff Jenkins, 9 p.m.

Sacramento Comedy Spot Comedy Space w/ Tim and Ray, every Tuesday, 8 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 8 p.m.

The Park Ultra Lounge Fang Bangers Ball w/ DJ Bryan Hawk, 9 p.m.

Powerhouse Pub Dennis Jones, 3 p.m.

Press Club Sunday Night Soul Party w/ DJ Larry & DJ Hailey, 9 p.m.

Red Hawk Casino Jackson Michaelson, 7 p.m.

Thunder Valley Casino Resort Styx, 8 p.m.

Torch Club Blues Jam, 4 p.m.; Kyle Rowland (CD Release), 8 p.m.

ZuhG Life Store The Big Small, 2 p.m.

8.27

Top 10 List Podcast Live!, every Friday, 8 p.m.

Open Mic Scramble, every Sunday, 7 p.m.

The Cowboys and Cannabis Tour, Aug. 24, 9 p.m.

Shine Thursday Night Jive w/ Carlos Rodriguez, Matt Gubser, hosted by Daniel Humbarger, Aug. 16, 8 p.m.

The Stoney Inn Comedy Open Mic, every Monday, 8 p.m.

Tommy T’s Open Mic Night, every Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

Michael Mancini, Aug. 16 - 19, Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 7:30 p.m. & 10 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.

Rich Vos, Aug. 23 - 26, Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 7:30 p.m. & 10 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.

Monday

The Blue Lamp The Moans, The Akabane Vulgars, 8:30 p.m.

The Boardwalk Our Last Night, Casino Madrid, For All I Am, Adestria, Outsiders, The Will The Way, The Sun Sets Here, 6 p.m.

The Boxing Donkey Open Mic Variety Night, 8 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Fox & Goose Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m.

Luna’s Cafe Nebraska Mondays w/ Todd Clouser’s Love Electric, Jeff Denson Trio, 7:30 p.m.

SubmergeMag.com

Misc.

Crest Theatre Sacramento Film & Music Fest, Aug. 15 - 19 The Capitol Indie Collective Fashion Challenge, Aug. 15, 6:30 p.m.

Trash Film Orgy’s 12th Annual Film Festival, through Aug. 18 Davis Ranch Mud Run Sacramento, Aug. 25, 8 a.m.

Florin Business Arts Complex Love Jones Love Poem Slam Competition, Aug. 18, 7 p.m.

Fox & Goose Pub Quiz, every Tuesday, 7 p.m.

G Street WunderBar Davis Stache and Beard Throwdown, Aug. 25, 3 p.m.

The Greens Hotel REEL Bike-In Theater: Dogtown & Z Boys, Aug. 16, 6 p.m.

Luna’s Cafe Poetry Unplugged, every Thursday, 8 p.m.

Midtown Village Cafe Brunch With The Beatles!, Aug. 19, 10 a.m.

Paradse Beach (Glenn Hall Park) Sacramento Skimfest 2012, Aug. 25, 11 a.m.

The Rink Sac City Rollers Presents: Grandslam Jam, Aug. 18, 6:30 p.m.

Roller King Sacred City Derby Girls Present: Sacred Sacrificers vs. Houston All Stars, Aug. 25, 7 p.m.

Shine Flash Function: Short Stories, Aug. 15, 8 p.m.

Book Swap, Aug. 19, 4 p.m.

Poetry with Legs w/ host Bill Gainer, Aug. 22, 7:30 p.m.

Southside Park Water Fight Sacramento, Aug. 25, 2 p.m.

Space 07 Salon Art Reception for Trisha Rhomberg & Jon Bafus, Aug. 17, 6 p.m.

Spanglish Arte Tattoo Art Show, through Sept. 4 Time Tested Books Reading & Signing w/ Sacramento historian William Burg, author of Sacramento’s K Street: Where Our City Began, Aug. 15, 7 p.m.

Viewpoint Gallery (Main Gallery) Vaudeville by Dan Herrera and Glass Works by Gary Shallcross, through Sept. 1 Viewpoint Gallery (Step Up Gallery) The Price of Enlightenment: Photographs by Dawn Blanchfield, through Sept. 1

Blue Cue Trivia Night, every Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

Vox Sacramento Open ART Market, Aug. 26, 11 a.m.

Bows & Arrows Focusing takes on Many Faces and Forms: new work by Natalie Head and Emily Katz, through Sept. 5

William Curtis Park 6th Annual Curtis Fest Artisan Festival, Aug. 26, 10 a.m.

Discussion Panel and Live Music: Girls Day Out/Women In the Music Industry, Aug. 18, 1 p.m.

The Boxing Donkey Trivia Night, every Tuesday, 8 p.m.

William Land Park 3rd Annual Sacramento Banana Festival, Aug. 18 - 19, 10 a.m.

14th Annual Race for the Arts, Aug. 25, 8:30 a.m.

Various Bars, Restaurants & Venues Midtown Cocktail Week, Aug. 19 - 26

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

31

Live<< rewind

Bring in the New DLRN, Awakenings Listening Party Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012

Words Blake Gillespie • Photos Leonard Row “Play a throwback,” someone yelled from the balcony, to which DLRN rapper 5th Ave coyly responded that tonight wasn’t about that. The loft space behind Naked Lounge on 15th and Q streets was well-beyond fire department approved capacity. Attendees squeezing in on kitchen countertops, staircases, overflowing onto the back patio and leaning over balconies to sought space to see DLRN perform its new record. My thought: Shush, it’s a listening party.

Saturday Aug. 4 marked a dual celebration for Sacramento hip-hop group DLRN. At midnight 5th Ave, born Sean LaMarr, turned 28 and played his new album, Awakenings, in front of friends and industry acquaintances for the first time alongside producer Jon Reyes and vocalist Iman Malika. Now a trio, Malika joined DLRN officially this year after making guest appearances on the group’s 2010 record, The Bridge.

The final record in the DLRN trilogy, Awakenings delivers on the promises made at the end of the previous EP The Bridge. Observe the titles in succession (No More Heroes, The Bridge, Awakenings) to understand DLRN’s intentions over three years. 5th Ave mentioned a clue to be

discovered in “The Promise,” during our 2010 interview in Submerge, but it was not until I listened to the track tonight that I unlocked the message in, “Somebody pinch me / Because I ain’t never been so close to my dreams,” as a hint to Awakenings.

To commemorate The Bridge, DLRN threw a party at Beatnik Studios with tequila tasting, free sushi and kegs of Miller High Life. The Awakenings listening party was an intimate, invite-only affair, but those in attendance—dressed to the nines and a gorgeous crowd—were left to their own vices and devices to mix drinks in the kitchen, plunge hands into snack bowls and pilfer beers and sodas from the coolers, all on the house.

A toast is appropriate. DLRN are skilled in the art of party, putting their creative noggins together to give us a good time beyond the release show formula of door charges, security pat-downs and over-priced libations. Three Cheers.

While, it’s faux pas to request a hit at a listening party, it’s excusable since Sacramento rarely throws such events. Among friends though, 5th Ave entertained the request in the name of good vibes, performing “Trill Cosby” and “Dear

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Langston,” which he apologized for forgetting the words to. It spoke of where DLRN is at these days, looking ahead rather than letting the past carry them. “Dear Langston” has aged well, but Awakenings is ripe.

Post-set I was pulled aside to be interviewed by 5th Ave’s wife Glenda LaMarr’s son on camera.

The little man who was in charge of donations (and did a fine job), asked me to sum up the DLRN album in three words, to which I replied, “Moody yet uplifting,” or something to that effect. WhiIe I mingled and tossed back complimentary booze, in the back of my head, I questioned if my quick assessment had merit. The listening party triggered a few reminders from my home sessions, and I hoped I’d spoken with justice to DLRN’s body of work.

On “Fear and Loathing” (featuring Stevie Nadir), Reyes’ production places noir-electronic-pop synths atop thundering drum breaks, a binding thread heard throughout Awakenings. Malika sings, “We’re living that night life, watch it all fall down,” until Nadir chimes in with, “Everything was beautiful / nothing ever hurt at all,” a reference to either Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughthouse-Five or Christian rock band Breakfast With Amy’s debut album.

Without slipping into goth chambers or inching too close to a reimagining of the Drive Motion Picture Soundtrack, Awakenings is an evening’s quest to greet the soft break of day. The daybreak comes in the album's closer “Open Letter.” Over an ethereal beat, the vocals are at first chopped and screwed into a boozy grumble, but Iman comes in to lend the clarity, as Reyes’ production begins to rise from

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

a clutter of red cups, blunt ash and streamers.

The album explores universal hang-ups among 20-somethings, the dedication made on “Homecoming,” but at the crux of the record rests a deeply personal song called “Good Company.”

While performing “Good Company,” 5th Ave took a moment to make his wife, Glenda, blush front and center while she hugged her son. He got close, making eye contact and smiled at her through his verse. The track, clearly dedicated to her, bears a minor sonic kinship to Outkast’s “SpottieOttieDopealcious” as 5th Ave vibes out on the mic with refrains of, “Let the beat ride,” while Iman croons “baby baby”s to a space age funk track that could extend past the 10-minute mark and not seem indulgent. On “House of Matches,” 5th Ave hands over the keys to Iman and rides shotgun, a humble display for an MC. It speaks to DLRN being truly a group and not just rap bros who let a lady hang out and sing when needed.

Awakenings as an album in a Saturday night listening party environment with free liquor is a difficult sell. Awakenings is apropos for a Saturday night alone, drinking at first out of spite, and then falling deep into the music until you get a 4 a.m. urge to transfer it to your iPod and go for a walk to a vista to greet the sun to the build of “Open Letter.” 5th Ave might have found happiness, might feel closer to bringing his dreams to his waking life than ever before, but he’s not deserting the lost boys and girls. As the group explores label interest and management in Los Angeles, giving the record to Sacramento is DLRN’s first and foremost interest, as it always has been.

Effective.

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

The grindhouse

The Truth is Hard to Come By The Imposter

Rated R

Words James Barone In the mid-‘90s, a 13-year-old boy from San Antonio, Texas, disappeared on his way home from a game of basketball. Miraculously, just over three years later, the boy was found halfway around the world in Linares, Spain.

It’s an improbable story, even on face value, but the tale woven in director Bart Layton’s documentary/thriller The Imposter pushes possibility to its breaking point. The film packs the punch of a classic suspense story, bolstered by the fact that it’s a true story; however, like a prizefight that ends in a decision, The Imposter feels unfinished.

The film begins with an unfortunately true family story. Nicholas Barclay, a by all accounts loved but rambunctious, street-smart youth, disappears. Though the boy’s family exhausts great effort to find Nicholas, they have little support from the authorities or the media. It wasn’t a story to them, one family member intones as the film opens, “but it was a story to us.”

Barclay’s family comes to the begrudging realization that Nicholas is most likely dead.

Then one day, out of nowhere, the boy’s mother receives a phone call that her long lost child has been found thousands of miles away. The U.S. Embassy and FBI are notified, people are deployed to a children’s home in the south of Spain, and eventually Nicholas’ oldest sister Carey Gibson makes her first trip to Europe to bring the now 16-year-old estranged teenager back home.

The problem is, it’s all a lie. The person posing as Nicholas is actually a 23-year-old Frenchman, who concocts an elaborate ruse that not only fools the authorities, but even Barclay’s own mother. The conman is brought back to the United States, where he and his surrogate family conduct a normal life until it all comes crashing down.

There are great characters in place: the SubmergeMag.com

crafty French conman who, telling his side of the story, seems to be a man who fell through the cracks—a man who yearned for acceptance at all costs; a sister (Gibson) who seems to be the rock of her troubled family; an affable and wellmeaning, but somewhat daft, FBI special agent (Nancy Fisher); and a flashy southern private investigator (Charlie Parker) who becomes obsessed with the case.

Layton tells this story using beautifully shot, intimate interviews with all parties involved.

The film is not just a gallery of talking heads, though; archival footage, home movies, clever editing and brooding reenactments create a film that teeters between documentary and scripted drama. Layton deftly merges these two styles of storytelling, creating a seamless, compelling and sometimes even comical narrative.

Layton’s in-depth reporting gives The Imposter a detached, journalistic quality. All sides and viewpoints are given a voice and ample time to plead their cases. For much of the film, it feels like judgments aren’t made as facts and accounts of these remarkable events are presented quite plainly.

The Imposter flows like a typical documentary until Parker’s arrival when the already extraordinary story takes a spectacular and unexpected turn. Fisher and Parker begin putting the puzzle pieces together and the picture that reveals itself turns out to be rather shocking.

The suspense really ramps up as the film closes. Unfortunately, this rising crescendo hits a wall as The Imposter abruptly ends. This is a documentary, after all, and as is often the case in real life, solid resolutions can be hard to come by. Still, the film’s cool, journalistic stance leaves plenty to conjecture and the imagination, but does little in making an actual point.

Then again, that could just lead to lively discussion. Fantastic stories like this could only happen in real life, so there is truth in the old phrase, “You can’t make The Imposter opens this stuff up.” at the Crest Theater in Sacramento on Aug. 24. Check Thecrest.com for more info.

Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

33

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Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

the shallow end Red Rover, Red Rover James Barone jb@submergemag.com Recently I wrote a column about Pluto, and about how I’m still bummed that it’s not considered a real planet. In my haste to defend my favorite intergalactic snowball, I may have said some harsh things about our neighbor planet, Mars. I wrote that Mars was “cool for a minute” because scientists thought that the planet may have been able to support life at some point, but then I went on to say that it was “probably just dumb life like amoebas.”

I also stated that Mars is “just a bunch of dust.” Much like a member of the Penn State football coaching staff, I’d like to backtrack on my previous comments. I’m all about Mars again thanks to the Curiosity rover. I still think amoebas are dumb, though. Sorry guys.

Watching the video of scientists freak out over the rover’s successful landing in Mars’ Gale Crater was quite a moment. It was the only thing over the past couple of weeks that was able to pull me way from all the sexy, practically pants-less female Olympians (see the Optimistic Pessimist for more). Amazing images of Curiosity parachuting to the surface of Mars were released after the rover made its landing on Aug. 5 at 10:32 p.m. PDT, completing a journey that began on Nov. 26, 2011.

It’s been slow going since the landing.

Curiosity has basically just been getting its bearings on the alien landscape so far; however, in one great leap for anthropomorphism, it has been tweeting (you can follow it on Twitter @ MarsCuriosity). On Aug. 9, it chirped, “I <3 my whole #MSL team, but this pic from @NASAJPL is good for some lolz,” followed by a picture of a sign featuring the likeness of Bobak Ferdowski, the stars and stripes mohawk-sporting NASA scientist who became an instant viral celebrity.

The sign reads: “Bobak is my copilot.” Earlier that same day, it posted a “self-portrait,” which I think is awesome because it’s the exact same kind of goofy, inane bullshit I’d do if I was the only thing on Mars.

On Aug. 11, however, things started to get on track. Curiosity released its first highresolution color images of its surroundings.

The mosaic panorama—featuring some gaps because not all the pictures had been sent yet—shows a barren but breathtaking landscape.

The rust-colored dirt of the planet’s floor is peppered with bits of rock. Off in the distance are layers of buttes and mountains, punctuated by the 3.4 mile-high Mount Sharp (a peak taller than California’s Mount Whitney), which is Curiosity’s ultimate destination.

What’s neat about the images is how familiar they are. They could very well be pictures from southern Utah. Don’t worry, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. Anyway, I’d rather believe we have a rover on the surface of another planet than it’s all just a shadow government plot to take our guns away. I like the sameness of it. I like that it looks like you could just walk around out there or set up a picnic (providing you were in a full space suit, I suppose). It makes me think it would be nice to have a picnic on Mars. In fact, I’m going to add that to my bucket list.

Curiosity will be chugging around the Gale Crater up to 200 meters per day as it makes its ponderous journey toward Mount Sharp.

Along the way, it will be sifting through dirt and scooping up rocks and beam info back to an international team of scientists who will be trying to determine whether or not Mars had an environment favorable to fostering microbial life.

I still think giant green alien dudes would have been cooler, but I suppose I can cut Curiosity some slack. Its tweets are just so charming.

Whatever Curiosity finds, I think just the fact that its there searching for stuff is pretty awesome. The rover, powered by a plutonium-238 battery, will be able to operate for an entire Martian year, which is 687 Earth days. In that time, we’ll surely gain more info about our neighbor, but probably also learn more about how the universe works.

It’s pretty exciting stuff, and I suppose it’s a lot more than Pluto has done for us recently.

So, I guess this is me apologizing to Mars for being such a dick. I’m sorry, boo. I hope you can forgive me. You know I love you, right?

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

SuNDAy

TuESDAy

August 19

August 21

uPCOMiNG ShOwS 8/16 Nasvhille Pussy 8/17 Great White 8/18 stePchild

K-Ottic • BrOdi NichOlas • J. sirus

SuNDAy

September 2

MONDAy

September 3

9/26 GZa 9/27 hateBreed

8/19 struNG Out

9/29 dead raBBits

8/21 chiddy BaNG

10/5 J BOOG

8/23 travis POrter

10/6 ZiON i + MiNNesOta

8/25 Full BlOWN stONe

10/7 iWrestled aBearONce

8/26 saviNG aBel

10/10 steve vai

8/30 turquOise JeeP

10/11 dri 10/13 MOrBid aNGel

9/2 the MelviNs 9/3 aGaiNst Me!

10/14 aBaNdON all shiPs

9/5 POWerMaN 5000

10/16 Matisyahu

9/6 Buckethead 9/7 static X

Big Business

9/24 kreatOr

10/17 the WOrd alive + BOrN OF Osirus

9/8 rehaB

10/23 MOtiON city sOuNdtrack

9/10 Blaqk audiO

10/24 alesaNa

9/12 iratiON + eXPeNdaBles

10/27 GrOuNdatiON

9/13 aesOP rOck

11/3 cOlt FOrd

9/14 aNthraX + testaMeNt

11/5 GWar

9/15 quiet riOt 9/18 FlOBOts 9/20 tOMOrrOWs Bad seeds 9/22 the used

11/8 the aP tOur 11/9 Blue OctOBer 11/14 MiNus the Bear 11/18 Pierce the veil

1417 R STREET • SACRAMENTO • ACEOFSPADESSAC.COM

All Shows All Ages SubmergeMag.com

Tickets Available @ Dimple Records, The Beat, Armadillo (Davis) Online: AceOfSpadesSac.com By Phone: 1.877.GND.CTRL OR 916.443.9202 Issue 117 • August 13 – August 27, 2012

35

Dive into Sacramento & its Surrounding Areas

AUGUST 13 – AUGUST 27, 2012

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Midtown Cocktail Weeerakge Cov

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Pop-Punk Legends Turn 20

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erik griffin Living the Dream!

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andrew calisterio the perfect pour

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The Imposter: Cinéma Vérité • Del Paso gets REEL + GOOD • 22 Bands to Rock at ZuhGfest