Submerge Magazine: Issue 230 (January 2 - 16, 2017) by Submerge Magazine

Dive into Sacramento & its Surrounding Areas

january 2 – 16, 2017

#230

music + art + lifestYle

Larry Rodriguez Two Decades of Dance Party

Lee Bob and the Truth Gazebos Ricky Watts Show Us the Light Memento Mori Leaving His Mark The Kings’ DeMarcus

Cousins Gives Back with Boogie’s Comedy Slam

Help Pave ArtStreet with Beer!

free

36 Albums That Made 2016 Not So Bad

full

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Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

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Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

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SubmergeMag.com

10pm-2am • 21+• no cover

EvEry Sunday • 7:30pm

late night happy hour 9pm to close

saturday & sunday 10am - 1:30pm $12 bottomless mimosas $5 bloody marys

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

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Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

1630 J Street Sacramento (916) 476-5076

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Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

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Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

dive in

230 2017 Submerge: an independently owned entertainment/lifestyle publication available for free biweekly throughout the greater Sacramento area.

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

january 2 – 16

cofounder/ Editor in Chief/ Art Director

Melissa Welliver melissa@ submergemag.com cofounder/ Advertising Director

Jonathan Carabba jonathan@ submergemag.com

senior editor

James Barone Assistant Editor

Daniel Taylor

Contributing Writers

Ellen Baker, Robin Bacior, Robert A. Berry II, Bocephus Chigger, Ronnie Cline, Justin Cox, Alia Cruz, Josh Fernandez, Andy Garcia, Blake Gillespie, Lovelle Harris, Mollie Hawkins, Eddie Jorgensen, Niki Kangas, Nur Kausar, John Phillips, Ryan Prado, Andrew C. Russell, Estefany Salas, Andrew Scoggins, Amy Serna, Jacob Sprecher, Richard St.Ofle, Haley Teichert Contributing photographers

Wesley Davis, Evan E. Duran, Kevin Fiscus, Dillon Flowers, Phill Mamula, Jason Sinn

Submerge

1009 22nd Street, Suite 3 Sacramento, California 95816

916.441.3803 info@ submergemag.com

22 07

Dive in

The Stream

20 ricky watts

The Optimistic Pessimist

11 other people THE GRINDHOUSE

12 14

Submerge your senses lee bob & the truth

SubmergeMag.com

Gazebos

larry rodriguez

calendar

best albums of 2016

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 1009 22nd Street, Suite 3 Sacramento, California 95816. Or you can email us at info@submergemag.com.

Submergemag.com Follow us on Twitter & Instagram! @SubmergeMag printed on recycled paper

Front Cover photo of larry Rodriguez by wesley davis back Cover photo of lee bob & the truth by Rich Good

Melissa welliver melissa@submergemag.com By this point you’re probably sick of hearing about 2016, but too bad. With how fast news comes and goes these days we here at Submerge just had to let the year officially come to a close in order to truly reflect back on it. In this issue you can check out our column “The Stream,” where we list some of Sacramento’s 2016 arts, entertainment and nightlife highlights under three categories: the good, the bad and the ugly. Read it on page 8. Also, starting on page 27, we have 12 locals and a few Submerge contributors, in no particular order, sounding off on their favorite local and national albums of 2016. OK, with that out of the way, let’s dive in to 2017 with some rad new features in this issue. Larry Rodriguez— who graces our front cover—will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of DJing his infamous Dance Party this January at The Press Club! We thought it would be a great time to feature this Sacramento musical staple. In addition to his dance nights, he also DJs a radio show on KDVS and is known to be a badass wedding DJ as well. I can speak from experience, because he actually played at Jonathan and I’s wedding back in 2013! Anyway, you can read up on Rodriguez (aka DJ Larry, aka The Flower Vato), starting on page 22. Lee Bob & the Truth—who are on our back cover—came out with one of my favorite albums of 2016, The Light, and they just finished up recording an even newer album that will come out in 2017. After seeing them gig this past summer at Shady Lady, our writer Ronnie Cline sat down with them the day after to chop it up. While they have no local shows in the works as of press time, you can always stay up to date on their Facebook page to see when one does get added. Fingers crossed it will be soon. A must see band this January would be Seattle’s Gazebos. We thought it would be refreshing to feature a band you more than likely haven’t heard of, and I’m only saying that because they don’t tour much. Regardless if you’ve heard of them or not, check out our interview where we were able to chat over the phone with frontwoman Shannon Perry in anticipation of their upcoming West Coast tour. She discusses their latest album, her crazy outfits and how dying alone is a good thing. Check the feature out starting on page 18. Last but not least, we also have a feature on artist Ricky Watts. He’s from the Bay Area but will have art up all month, along with an opening reception on Jan. 6, at Leave Your Mark Sacramento, an art supply shop, clothing boutique and gallery located at 2627 J St. Please enjoy issue 230. Happy New Year! -Melissa

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

The stream

Sacramento’s Arts, Entertainment and Nightlife 2016 Wrap-Up: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Jonathan Carabba

Send regional news tips to info@submergemag.com

A new year is upon us. It’s time for a fresh start. But first, let’s take a fond look back at the year that was as it pertains to Sacramento’s arts, entertainment and nightlife scenes. Here’s a list of a few of our favorite (and not so favorite) things that went down in Sacramento this year. Think we missed something? Shoot us an email and let’s discuss. Happy New Year!

When Sir Paul McCartney played two sold-out nights in a row to open up Golden 1 Center, downtown Sacramento’s half-billion dollar new state-of-the-art sports and entertainment complex and home to the Sacramento Kings.

THE GOOD The way that Art Hotel 916 seemed to elevate Sacramento’s visual arts scene was truly amazing, and we get the feeling that it was just the beginning from M5 Arts, the local non-profit collective behind the massively popular immersive exhibit. The M5 team is already hard at work on their next project, ArtStreet, which will run from Feb. 3–25, 2017 in and around a huge warehouse in downtown Sacramento.

The inaugural Sacramento Mural Festival brightened up the city, bringing artists from around the globe who added new pieces of art for locals (and visitors) to enjoy for years to come. The folks at Radio 94.7 continue to step up their game when it comes to producing excellent concerts in Sacramento. Their City of Trees Music Festival at Bonney Field and Electric Christmas show at Golden 1 Center were two of our musical highlights of the year.

Station 1, a new jazz bar in West Sacramento, recently opened for business and has a great upcoming schedule in place for their upstairs space above Burgers and Brew in the recently renovated Washington Firehouse at 317 Third St. The more venues in the area, the better, especially for local and touring jazz players.

Shout-out to these recurring local events that continue to make Sacramento rad: Concerts in the Park, Crocker’s ArtMix, R Street Block Party, Sac Lady Fest, NorCal Noise Fest, THIS Midtown, Sac Stay Home Fest, First Fest, Makers Mart, HOFDAY, Sac Burger Battle, Torch Club’s Neck Fest, Sacramento Comedy Fest and others that I’m likely forgetting. Without events of this nature, Sacramento would be a culturestarved wasteland.

Our favorite new restaurant that opened in 2016 is in a small, nondescript, unpretentious space on 10th Street. Binchoyaki Izakaya Dining serves up small plates of immaculately grilled meats and veggies prepared over a 1,000-plus degree grill operated by cooks masterfully controlling the heat using paper fans.

THE UGLY

Parking rate hikes downtown are a shock to the system and the new metering systems are way too confusing. We can’t tell you how many complaints we’ve heard from residents and local business owners.

When mayor Kevin Johnson got a pie slammed in his face at a local charity event from a protester. What a weird, and yes, quite hilarious way to get a point across. Hey, it got everyone talking!

A mainstay for local vinyl collectors, Records, recently announced they’ll be closing due to rent hikes. The infamous record store has been located at their current spot at 1618 Broadway for nearly a decade. Owner Kevin Hartman recently told the Sacramento Bee’s Chris Macias that he might open in another location, but he doesn’t have any solid plans in place yet.

Homelessness continues to be a problem in the Sacramento region. It’s a complicated issue, to be sure, but we’re hopeful that the new mayor Darrell Steinberg will work toward humane and sustainable solutions to help get people off the streets and into situations to better their lives.

Speaking of rents going up, we’ve just got to say: WHAT. THE FUCK. Too many of our friends have had unreasonable increases in their rents recently. Before you know it, all of the artists, musicians and creative folks will be pushed out of the central city. There is a huge need for more affordable housing in and around downtown Sacramento.

Rocklin’s awesome new 1,000-seat amphitheater at Quarry Park opened this year, hosting such acts as James Bay, The Marshall Tucker Band, Molly Ringwald and many others.

Sacramento finally got a legit tiki bar when The Jungle Bird opened in Kru’s former space on J Street (the popular japanese restaurant has sinced moved to a new, beautiful location on Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento).

THE BAD

One of our favorite local hip-hop groups, Who Cares, decided to call it quits this year, which really sucks, but at least they went out in style with an epic final performance at Concerts in the Park.

The dude behind the Snarkramento Twitter account (@sac_snark) got jumped and beat up IRL, presumably by someone he pissed off (he has a knack for pissing people off). Pretty, pretty, pretty lame (said in a Larry David voice) for someone to get so upset with a Twitter account that they’d resort to physical violence. Hip-hop hates Sac. Kanye West showed up at Golden 1 Center, did a couple songs, ranted for a while and then bounced. Shit was weird, man. Also, Snoop Dogg cancelled a DJ gig at Ace of Spades and Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) flaked on a Crest Theatre show (which has since been rescheduled). ‘Sup with all that?

<< << <<

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

The Homecoming King retuns to Davis to film his first Netflix special.

Hasan Minhaj > JAN 27 • 8PM mondaviarts.org

1517 21st street sacramentO

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YellowCabSacramento.com Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

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Congratulations, You’re Not Dead Yet

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

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open to All levels oF models, photogs, stYlists, hobbYists, beginners, etc

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The Optimistic Pessimist

Alright, real talk for a second: 2016 sucked major ass in a lot of different ways. The last thing you need is yet another servile piece of shit like myself trying to break them down into an easily Facebook-shared list or rank them in order of how they affect me and my extremely privileged but otherwise unremarkable life. You’re reading this, so that means that you can read, or at least means that you’ve figured out how to make someone else read things to you, which is pretty badass. I talked to a blind lady the other day who said that there are programs that read the internet to blind people, which I guess means that there’s the chance that a robot is reading this to you, which is actually even more badass. Regardless of the manner by which the characters on this page are being translated into words and digested by your mind, I can also safely assume that since you’re reading this and not the new issue of Soldier of Fortune or Barely Legal that you’re someone whose proclivities lean toward giving a shit about things that “matter” or at least consuming the artistic output of those that do. So, I’m not going to bore you with my impeccably nuanced take on the current geopolitical climate, or lambast particular political personalities or groups. Instead, I’m going to provide you with an all-too-rare treat in these turbulent times: good news. Since you’re reading this and at least sort of understanding it, I can also safely assume that you’re alive (with the notable exception of the search engine spider bots who came here for the “barely legal” and are still scanning down the page trying to figure out what kind of porn this story is). And though that might not seem like such a big deal, I can promise you that it is. The fact that you’re alive means, despite long odds to the contrary, you made it all the way to 2017 without dying, even once. “What’s the big deal?” you ask. “Won’t I be dead eventually anyway?” Well, probably. But how do you really know? You haven’t died yet, have you? Maybe you’ll be the first person not to die. You, personally, will usher in the era of immortality with your special, hidden genetic mutation, baked to perfection over innumerable generations of dying-ass people.

You will herald the dawn of the post-death era by just not dying, ever. Sounds unlikely, I know. But how unlikely is it to even be alive in the first place? Do you know how many infinitesimally slim odds had to shake out in your favor to allow the baby version of you to slide out of your mother’s insides? I’m not even talking about the birds and the bees, although sperm (ATTN: search engine bots) and eggs and all that mess is a pretty amazing process in and of itself. I’m talking about the compounding of unlikely events from the creation of the universe, to the formation of earth, to the odds of our planet being in just the right place in just the right solar system to create an atmosphere that was hospitable to carbonbased lifeforms that grew from idiot fish assholes to marginally less idiotic apemen to whatever phase of the humanoid alienprimate hybrid master plan we currently find ourselves in. I’m talking about looking down your family tree, way down, and realizing that every motherfucker on that shit had to live and die in order for there to even be the opportunity for you to have ever been born, let alone for you to live until now. Fortunately for me and you both, I’m not even going to guess on the “how” all of this works, let alone the “why.” But when it comes down to it, who really gives a shit why? I’m not your pastor, or your existentialism professor (which sucks for me because both of those things pay a lot better than this). What I am, is the guy telling you that being alive is pretty tight, even when there’s a bunch of bullshit going on. Life is full of pain and seemingly pointless suffering. But like sex and pizza, even when life’s bad, it’s still kind of good, or at least that’s what I tell myself at night. And now that’s what I’m telling you at whatever time it is right now where you are. Maybe the nuclear holocaust starts tomorrow, at which point, we’ll all get to find out what happens, if anything, after you’re done being alive. Maybe being dead whips ass, and we can all read this posthumously and laugh about how cool we thought life was while we were living it back in 2017. But either way, here we are. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life. Don’t fuck up.

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

The grindhouse VOTED BEST COMEDY CLUB BY THE SACRAMENTO NEWS & REVIEW!

THURSDAY 1/5 - SATURDAY 1/7

BRIAN POSEHN

FROM BIG BANG THEORY & BOB’S BURGERS!

THURSDAY 1/12 - SUNDAY 1/15

FINESSE MITCHELL FROM SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE!

THURSDAY 1/19 - SUNDAY 1/22

JORDAN ROCK

FROM NETFLIX’S LOVE & LAST COMIC STANDING!

THURSDAY 1/26 - SATURDAY 1/28

CHRIS KATTAN

Empathy, From a Distance Other People not Rated Words Andrew C. Russell At it’s best, Other People , the semiautobiographical directorial debut of SNL writer and Sacramento native Chris Kelly, is a subtly moving portrait of illness and loss as it most often happens in our society: amidst countless distractions and the bittersweet detours of everyday life. As a personal project, it is clear that the major themes on display—having a parent succumb to cancer, being gay, feeling trapped in your hometown—are wrought with an involved honesty. As a comedy, however, it is too often out-ofjoint, as if unsure of how restrained the laughs should be. It never commits to being a full-fledged black comedy/dramedy in the vein of Nebraska or a raunchy/ heartfelt Judd Apatow-style flick, but sails timidly somewhere in between. What we end up with is a serviceable light comedy with heavy subject matter and a handful of outstanding performances. The core of the film is the serendipitous pairing of Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights) as struggling latetwentysomething TV writer David, and SNL alum Molly Shannon as his optimistic, radiant and terminally ill mother, Joanne. We’re first introduced to them, David’s two sisters and his father (Bradley Whitford) in medias res, grieving on Joanne’s deathbed, before jumping back precisely one year to a holiday party set presumably not too long after her diagnosis. David’s SubmergeMag.com

easy and close relationship with her is set against his alienation from the rest of his family, and the entire milieu of his upbringing. This includes Sacramento, which unfortunately plays synecdoche for every urbane assumption about faceless, provincial American suburbia. Although it plays a larger role in the plot than that other New York-transplant-visits-hometown film, Frances Ha, one might ask for a better portrait of our city than as a bland, open-air gaol with one weirdo-festooned gay bar and radio stations that always seem to be playing that one song by Train. But I digress. The rest of the film plays out in a series of vignettes that take us on a month-by-month journey through David’s quarter-life crisis and Joanne’s slow decline. Tragedy is a background note that stirs during several genuinely heartbreaking moments: Joanne loses her voice and has difficulty communicating to her daughter at her wedding via Skype; the family tries to keep things lighthearted during a discussion about preferred burial methods; David agonizes over his father’s refusal to acknowledge his sexuality. In between, there are absurd moments that stifle the grief and an atmosphere of frustration that keeps David, and therefore the audience, tense. He is frustrated in his career (family and hometown acquaintances are constantly nudging him over his “big city” success). He is frustrated in his love life—having to contemplate the growing reality of a dying relationship with his long-term boyfriend while seeking out new potential relationships in a playing field (Sacramento, again) he considers threadbare. There is also a deeper frustration: how will

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David find a way to relate to his family without the benefit of his mother as skilful interlocutor? There are hopeful signs that David will attempt to grow, along with his father, to bridge the gap of warmth that Joanne is leaving behind. Although he is shown to be somewhat self-involved and quietly disdainful of his flippant and close-minded relatives, there are moments that show that David’s loss will prove to be a lesson in how to seek for empathetic connections in other, unlikely sources. In one scene, David recoils from his grandparents’ jokes about gruesome deaths, until he realizes that they, too, are coping with loss in their own way. There are a few standout comedic sequences that don’t always seem to jibe with the presiding mood, one featuring a scene-stealing teen drag queen performing a risqué dance number at a birthday party, another in which a few older characters eat too many weed edibles. It goes without saying that these are the most Apatowesque moments of the film. This isn’t necessarily a film for a yearend list, although it is a promising minorkey comedy with fleshed-out, relatable characters. I have a feeling that those it speaks to will find much to speak about, but there is a strain of narrow cynicism running through the core of the film that, when all was said and done, failed to pluck my heartstrings. That said, I will certainly be on the lookout for more dramatic roles featuring Shannon, more comedic roles featuring Plemons, and more directorial works from Sactown’s Kelly, hopefully featuring the city in another light, or perhaps not at all.

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with spECial guEsts Jallal, loovE MoorE and purE powErs friday,

jan 13

writEn & dirECtEd by MikE JudgE

(35 MM) iDiOCraCy starring lukE wilson, Maya rudolph and dax shEpard

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Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Your Senses

HEAR

Sacramento Kings Star DeMarcus Cousins is Throwing a Huge Comedy Show to Benefit Local Charities

Words submerge staff

Jan. 5

Arnez J

Tony Roberts

Gary Owen

Benji Brown

Lil' Duval

Kountry Wayne

TASTE

Drink Beer While Helping to Raise Funds for the ArtStreet Project at Oak Park Brewing Co. • Jan. 9

Oak Park Brewing Company and M5 Arts are teaming up to host an event that will allow you to contribute to the local arts scene (even if you have trouble drawing a stick figure) and drink unlimited beer. It may sound too good to be true, but we assure you, it’s not. It’s real! Help Pave ArtStreet will be a night of “beer, music, food and art,” according to M5 Arts, and 100 percent of the proceeds will go directly to supporting ArtStreet, a large-scale arts project that is slated to open Feb. 3. So far, Sacramento garage pop group Dog Rifle and Tussle are set to perform live with more music acts to be announced as of this writing. There will also be a silent auction featuring art from ArtStreet participants and this will be the debut of Ki-Co (Kitchen Collaboration), “where a number of chefs and cooks get together to collaboratively design a new menu each day,” according to M5’s website. Tickets will be $30 at the door, but you can order them in advance at M5arts. com for $25. Things will get underway at 7 p.m. on Jan. 9 at Oak Park Brewing Company located at 3514 Broadway, Sacramento. Cheers!

The holiday season may be coming to a close, but the Season of Giving should really last all year. Keep your charitable momentum going, and have a great time in the process, on Jan. 5 when the Sacramento Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins hosts Boogie’s Comedy Slam at the Memorial Auditorium (1515 J St., Sacramento). The show will feature Arnez J, Gary Owen, Li’l Duval, Benji Brown, Kountry Wayne and Sacramento native Tony Roberts, who has been featured previously on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam and BET’s Comic View (along with Owen and Brown). Cousins is no stranger to hosting charitable events, having hosted free basketball camps for Sacramento high school students in the past, and a full 100 percent of the proceeds from Boogie’s Comedy Slam will go to local charities. Ticket prices will range from $20–$60 and can be purchased through Demarcuscousins.com or in person at the Community Center Theatre box office (1301 L St.) Boogie’s Comedy Slam begins at 7 p.m. and, in addition to the aforementioned lineup, promises a Purple Carpet and special guests.

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Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

TOUCH

Learn the Ins and Outs of the Modeling, Photography, Makeup and Hair Biz From Pros Like Sabina Kelley, Danielle June and Others Jan. 15

Sabrina Kelley

Shannon Brooke

Danielle June

New Year, new you? Blue Lamp (1400 Alhambra Blvd., Sacramento) will be hosting a rare opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look into the world of modeling and photography on Jan. 15 at 3 p.m. Hair stylist Danielle June from Madame Pompadour House of Design will team up with pinup model Sabina Kelley and photographer Shannon Brooke to offer a “brain-picking” session for those who may have their sights set on getting into the business. Other models, stylists and photographers will also be on hand to answer questions and meet and greet with hobbyists, pros and beginners of all levels. The group will discuss model and photographer rights, contracts and copyrights and share their experiences from 10-plus years in the business. To reserve a spot at this event, email Brooke at shannon@shannonbrookeimagery.net.

SEE

Crest Theatre to Host Screening of Mike Judge’s Idiocracy on 35mm Film! Jan. 13

Is Mike Judge a filmmaker or some otherworldly seer who can read signs and portents and know what the future holds? Well, he’s most likely just the former, but once you see his 2006 film Idiocracy, you may be convinced he’s the latter. Starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph, Idiocracy depicts a dystopian future “has gotten progressively less intelligent as it moved so far away from natural selection, and relied upon machines to think,” according to Crestsacramento.com. Sound familiar? Though Idiocracy was a financial flop when it was released at the box office, it was still positively received by critics and, of course, has since become a cult favorite. You can see it on the big screen for just $10 ($8 for children and seniors) by ordering your tickets in advance at the Crest Theatre’s website. Idiocracy was co-written with Etan Cohen, who also co-wrote Tropic Thunder.

Please support the advertisers that support Submerge! This publication would not be possible without our wonderful advertisers.

Visit them and tell ‘em Submerge is the reason. SubmergeMag.com

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

The Path Forward

Lee Bob and the Truth Reminisce and Look Ahead to Their New Album Words Ronnie Cline

hile sitting at a table inside the dimly lit Backdoor Lounge in Old Sacramento waiting for his bandmates to arrive, Josh Lippi and I reminisced over Sacramento’s late-‘90s music scene. Recalling bands like Luckie Strike and Lesdystics, and venues such as (the old) Capitol Garage and Bojangles brought back great memories; memories which of course included Jackpot, the alt-country band that introduced many to the rock ‘n’ roll stylings of Lee Bob Watson. After carving out a successful solo career, Watson joined forces with Steve Suzuki Wyreman (guitar) and Josh Lippi (bass)—two incredibly talented musicians—and created The Truth. A band with Sacramento and Bay Area roots, Lee Bob and the Truth’s sound meanders through Northern California, taking a long layover in San Francisco while being inspired by rock ‘n’ roll from past decades.

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

On their new album The Light, Lee Bob and the Truth sound more cohesive than ever; each member shining in his own way while never straying from sounding as one. And the same holds true when it comes to their live show. After catching Lee Bob and the Truth at The Shady Lady this summer, it was easy to see why their performances are garnering rave reviews. They’re one of those “leave it all on the floor” type of bands with an energy that is nothing short of contagious. Though The Light is out now, the band has been busy as 2016 closed out. Watson became involved with the demonstrators at Standing Rock, taking a trip to the camps and even helping to put together a compilation to raise donations. The band has also completed a new album that they plan to release in the New Year.

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

30 The three of you have been friends for over 15 years. How did everyone meet? Lee Bob Watson: I was playing in bands in Sacramento, saw Josh’s band one night and thought, “These guys are already better than half the people I know that have been doing it for 10 years.” I started giving him music, and we started getting together to jam. Then Steve would come through San Francisco, and he’s so obsessed that he would get off a six-week tour and come straight over and jam with us until 4 a.m. When did you guys decide to form The Truth? Josh Lippi: The Truth really only formed about two or three years ago, but we have been playing together in different projects for years. Like Lee said, he and I go way back, playing music together in Sacramento, and Steve and I have been playing a lot of music together in the Bay Area. LB: The band kind of formed out of us asking, “What do we want to do when there’s nobody around telling us what we are suppose to be doing?” So you have been playing together in one way or another for a while. Why did it take so long to officially become a band? LB: I’ve never had a steady band, partly because I don’t want to tell people what to do. But with these guys, they’re equally obsessed. They put in as much time or more than me figuring out how to play. Steve’s totally obsessed with music in a way that I can’t comprehend and so is Josh. We all take ownership of the music. Being veterans in the music industry, do you feel like kids just starting out since your band is only a couple years old? LB: In a weird way it has that feeling more than anything I’ve done in the past 10 years. I’ve played in a lot of bands with great musicians and we would piece it together gig to gig, but this is an actual band where it’s like, “If it’s not with these guys, it’s not going to happen.” So in that way, it’s the first time in my career where it feels like you’re 15 years old. When listening to your records or seeing you live I can feel San Francisco shining through, what would you attribute that to? JL: I think that comes from us being raised in the Bay Area and Northern California, and listening to Santana, playing in the Mission. I think that the areas of San Francisco that we love influence our sound. LB: Another thing is Steve came up playing in churches around the Bay Area which is a great education. Lee Bob, you lived in the Bay Area for a while but recently moved back to Sacramento right? LB: Yeah, I moved back this year. I like it here. I’m more of a small town/mid-city kind of guy. I have good friends here. Also, the great cultural things that happened in San Francisco happened because people moved there because it was cheap. There were a lot of people around that were figuring shit out. So if you take that out of it—not to diss on San Francisco—but it doesn’t have the same feeling. SubmergeMag.com

“I’ve never had a steady band, partly because I don’t want to tell people what to do. But with these guys, they’re equally obsessed. They put in as much time or more than me figuring out how to play.” – Lee Bob Watson on his bandmates in The Truth

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Two STep

Monday Friday

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The band’s first album, The Truth, dabbles in many styles of rock ‘n’ roll compared to a more honed sound the new album, The Light. What do you attribute that to? LB: Yeah, it’s very collaborative. The first album was about finding common ground. We all love a lot of different kinds of music so we tried to narrow [the new album] down to things we really love and that we might only do in the context of this band. Was the second album recorded on tape? Steve Suzuki Wyreman: Yeah, it never went on a computer, period. We recorded in one of the best studios in the world with all of the old recording gear that hardly gets used these days. This kind of band is best recorded that way. Hardly anyone records that way at all because it’s a pain in the ass. And it’s not so much to try to be retro; to my ears when you do it this way you get the best sound to ever be recorded. The songs on The Light flow with ease and breath a bit more than the tracks on your first album. Did how you record the album have an effect on the overall feel? LB: Yeah, for the first album we recorded for three days, then maybe four months passed before we did the rest of the record in another studio. This last one, we did it all in five days all in one place. JL: The whole project has been really DIY and independent. For the first album it was about trying to find money and time to record. We even tried different studios. But the second one was all in one spot, and we enjoyed giving ourselves the limitation of not allowing ourselves months to pick our brains over things. We let it exist in that moment in time. Whatever was going to happen in those five days was how it’s going to be. Do you guys see yourselves sticking around the West Coast or are you looking to tour nationally? LB: We’ve been up and down the West Coast and in the Northwest a lot. We’ve all been to Europe and Japan with different bands but not this one yet. In this instance our records and our live performance are a perfect marriage so getting out on the road is definitely a natural fit. But we aren’t going to do it just for the sake of doing it. We want to try to grow in a smart way.

Lee Bob and the Truth’s newest album, The Light, is out now. It’s available on CD, vinyl and, of course, digital download. You can order it now at Leebobandthetruth.com.

(A TribuTe To The DAve MATThews bAnD)

irishpAloozA w/

Thursday Saturday

SEPT JAN 17

Whiskey & stitches

8PM $40adv 5:30PM $8adv all ages

the Pikeys, One eyed Reilly

DAviD bowie 70Th birThDAy TribuTe show

Friday Sunday

SEPT 2 JAN 8

PeteR Petty, BellyGUnneR, MOndO decO, lAURen WAkeField, RAdiO ORAnGeVAle, sAUceR, sPAceWAlkeR ,steP JAyne, JUliAn elORdUy, PUnchOUt, JOsh & AMy, the POlyORchids, MOne’t

9PM 6PM $15adv $10adv all ages Saturday Monday

Midge Ure

SEPT 3 JAN 9

5:30PM 7PM $6adv $20adv

Sunday Tuesday

the cOlOR Wild

SEPT 4 JAN 10

7PM $8adv 7PM $8adv

tROPhii, nytVZn

Monday Wednesday

SEPT 5 JAN 11

Nef The pharaoh

6:30PM5:30PM $10adv $35adv all ages

dROP deAd Red

Tuesday Thursday

SEPT 6 JAN 12

the seARch (albUM releaSe), the GhOst tOWn ReBelliOn

9PM $20adv 7PM $6adv Thursday Friday

the PURPle Ones

SEPT 8 JAN 13

6:30PM $17adv 9PM all ages $17adv

(insATiAble TribuTe To prince)

Sunday Saturday

fleeTwood MaSk

SEPT 11 JAN 14

6:30PM $5adv 8PM all ages $15adv

(The ulTiMATe TribuTe To FleeTwooD MAc)

doroThy the GeORGiA FlOOd

Monday Sunday

SEPT JAN 12 15

7PM $15adv 7PM $12.50adv

a boogie wiT da hoodie

Wednesday Monday

SEPT JAN 14 16

7PM $20adv 6:30PM $20adv all ages Thursday Tuesday

STick MeN

SEPT JAN 15 17

5:30PM6:30PM $18adv all ages $20adv

(FeAT. MeMbers oF King criMson)

* all

times are door times*

COMING SOON 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29

Robb Banks Led Kaapana Lucid (Early ) Wonderbread 5 Sizzling Sirens Metalachi Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad Mac Sabbath Tainted Love Tainted Love Big Mike Hart B-day Bash

1.31 1.31 2.03 2.04 2.07 2.11 2.11 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.18

Felly (Early ) Henry Kapono Cody Jinks (Sold Out) Hip Service David Lindley & Peter Case Paul Barrere & Fred Tackett (Early ) The Brothers Comatose Khalid The Revivalists The Infamous Stringdusters The Greg Golden Band

2.19 2.20 2.22 2.24 2.25 3.01 3.02 3.12 3.12 3.19 3.22

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

ALO The Brains / The Delta Bombers Yonas Will Kimbrough & Brigitte Demeyer House of Floyd (Pink Floyd Tribute) Chicano Batman Don Carlos Isaiah Rashad (New Show Added) Isaiah Rashad (Sold Out) G Love and Special Sauce Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Sold Ou T h u R S dAy

January 19

F R i dAy

January 27

February 13

M O N dAy

Juicybelly J

1417 R ST SACRAMENTO

With Special GueSt

January 20 & 21

Motorize

control

F R i dAy

W E d N E S dAy

February 1

February 14 & 15

broken

January 6 S u N dAy

January 22

F R i dAy

February 3

F R i dAy

February 17

Jordan raGer

With Special GueSt

playinG “autuMn of the SeraphS” in itS entirety and More

SAT u R dAy

January 7 M O N dAy

January 23

Sold Ou SAT u R dAy

January 14

SAT u R dAy

February 4

With Special GueSt

T u E S dAy

January 24

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

SAT u R dAy

February 18

belly

February 11

S u N dAy

February 19

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

With Special GueSt

SAT u R dAy

February 25

SAT u R dAy

March 11

pSychic tWin

March 29

W E d N E S dAy

M O N dAy

April 10

Sold Ou S u N dAy

February 26

F R i dAy

March 17

With Special GueSt

T h u R S dAy

the fiGhterS

March 30

dance G av i n dance / chon T h u R S dAy

March 2

S u N dAy

March 19

W E d N E S dAy

April 12

Coming Soon! ThuRSdAy ApRil 20 F R i dAy

March 31

gRANgER SMiTh

TuESdAy ApRil 25

kEhlANi

Mr. WilliaMz federation Sound

ThuRSdAy MAy 4 W E d N E S dAy

March 8

Makua rothMan With tribal theory

T h u R S dAy

March 9

SubmergeMag.com

T u E S dAy

March 21

The Orwells T u E S dAy

March 28

SAT u R dAy

April 8

dRi

All Shows All Ages knuckle puck

S u N dAy

MileStoneS

April 9

TiCkETS AvAilAblE @ diMplE RECORdS & AceOfSpadesSac.com

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Living Out Loud Because We’re All Going to Die

Seattle’s Gazebos Make Existential Angst Sound Fun Words Niki Kangas • photo COCA ARAMAKI

R E U R YOAD HE Call Us (916) 441-3803 or email Us info@submergemag.com Today! 18

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

et ready for a big fucking treat: Gazebos, a rad, genre-bending band from Seattle, touting themselves as “whoa-pop” (prog-punk could also be used) are coming to Blue Lamp on Jan. 17 with fellow Seattleites Boyfriends. Visiting Sacramento on their tour to promote their highly-acclaimed album on Hardly Art Records, Die Alone, you’ll want to catch Gazebos before they really blow up and you can’t see them in small clubs anymore. Die Alone is not as depressing as the title would connote. In fact, it’s so much fun! Some songs are almost new wave-y, while others lean toward stony garage—but it’s all carefully woven together by seasoned musicians. All in their mid-30s, each Gazebos member has been in a number of notable bands. Shannon Perry, the band’s blonde Afro-puffed lead singer, was in Dalmatians, Katherine Hepburn’s Voice and Butts prior to Gazebos. She’s also a sought-after tattoo artist with her own shop in Seattle. TV Coahran was in Holy Ghost Revival and Spurm, has collaborated with R. Stevie Moore and pursued a number of solo projects. Kimberly Morrison plays bass in Gazebos, and has been in more bands than we have room to name, but the most notable were The Duchess and the Duke and Universe People. Tyler Swan, their drummer, was in Truckasaurus and The (fake) Rolling Stones. Coahran and Perry have known each other through the Seattle music scene forever. Coahran had written instrumental parts for Gazebos and was looking for a vocalist. Perry was excited to work with him because they didn’t have a lot of stylistic overlap. When the two got together, magic ensued. Perry took a break from grocery shopping with her sister a couple days before Christmas to talk with us about the band, the album, her crazy ass outfits and how dying alone is a good thing.

How many outfit changes went into the making of “I Don’t Want to Be Here?” I don’t even know … I’m a person who is really into clothes. I dress like a freak every day. Whether it’s Monday or we’re shooting a music video, it’s like, the same exact outfit, even as I’m wearing right now, sitting in a grocery store talking to you. It’s part of my thing, it’s another part of that existential feeling that if we’re really stuck here on earth doing this, why not just be as decorative and fun as possible? I can’t understand any reason to not be living out loud when we’re all going to die.

What are some of the ideas you explore in Die Alone? My general feeling all the time—and this has been in a lot of bands—is a sort of existential crisis. I feel like being on earth at all is very peculiar. And I talk about relationships and stuff, but the whole idea of Die Alone has been a year-long journey of me personally becoming OK with the idea of being completely self-sufficient. I think it can be disappointing to rely on other people and relationships to find happiness. You can be completely happy with yourself and without companionship. Not to say that relationships are bad—they’re wonderful—but if you can be completely content with dying alone, you will have more to offer yourself and to other people in human interaction. If you’re OK with being alone, no one can really fuck with you. You’re safe in a way. It’s not so bleak as it sounds.

Have you guys toured with Boyfriends before? No, but they’re really good friends of ours, and we’re also really big fans of them. They were the first people we thought to ask. We just knew it would be so fun, and their music is cool and weird.

What’s your band’s dynamic like in the studio or at practice, when you’re behind closed doors? TV and I are the primary creatives. He arranges the instruments and a lot of the drums and bass, and I’m in charge of all vocal arrangements. It’s mostly him and I negotiating with each other, and all of us trying to crack as many jokes as possible. A few of us are stoners, so we’re goofballs. Unlike a lot of the bands I’ve been in where there’s a lot of drinking at practice, and we don’t drink at practice much and oftentimes practice in the early part of the day, so it’s focused. There’s always a lot of complicated

parts and weird timing, it’s hard to play our songs. I think we all try to challenge ourselves to be the best that we can get away with and really push ourselves to be as good as we can, we like to be technically proficient. Although we goof off, we work hard. The videos are super trippy and really rad. Who came up with the concepts for them? There’s two we’ve done so far, one was by Carlos Lopez and one was by Colin Dawson. Carlos came up with the one that was for “Just Get High,” and I think he was trying to just make it as trippy as possible, and I wanted to address sexism and women getting the shorter end of the stick, so that was kind of a combination of Carlos and I sort of fleshing out that idea. As far as Colin’s video, which is more frame by frame, he built every frame, and we just said, we have nothing to do with this, go buckwild, and he just came up with it. We said do whatever you want, because we’ve seen his work before and it’s so peculiar on its own.

nicholsonsmusicafe

6:30 - 8pm

jAN 7 6 - 9pm

jAN 10 6 - 9pm

jAN 14

acouStic opEn mic

fRidAYS 6 - 9pm

jAN 17

jAN 19

beGiNNiNG blUeGRASS clUb

jAdoN mARkeS

5:30 - 7:30pm

AcoUSTic bAileY WeST coAST WildGUiTAR VAUGhAN SoNGWRiTeRS floWeR clUb PieRce comPeTiTioN cReek WedNeSdAYS 6 - 9pm

happy houR 5-7pm $1 oFF dRaFtS

opEn mic night

6:30 - 8pm

SATURdAYS 1 - 2 pm

7 - 9pm

What’s it like working with Hardly Art Records? They were the first record label that I thought of when we were talking about shopping our album around. I love their roster, and they seem to be female-centric—there’s a lot of bands with ladies

How do you juggle being a tattoo artist and playing in a band? I’m a single woman, and I’m 35, and I’ve been making art and music forever. I intend to be creative my entire life, but I’m probably going to have a kid in five years or something, so I work all the time. I like to have my day off or whatever, but I’m really passionate about working as hard as I can while I’ve got this. It makes me feel good. Why do you play music? I was raised playing music, I played piano, in the marching band and a number of different instruments. Music has always been a huge part of my life. I love art, but music makes you feel stuff. Music can make you cry. I can yell into the void. I’m an introverted person, and I know I don’t appear that way on stage, or to people who don’t know me on a very intimate level. But I suffer from a great deal of social anxiety, so it helps me to be on stage because I have tons of feelings and stuff I want to yell about, but you can’t just walk around in the streets doing that. So being on stage for me, is a chance to really get my inner self out in a performative way. It keeps me sane.

Catch Gazebos with special guests Boyfriends on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at Blue Lamp, located at 1400 Alhambra Blvd. in Sacramento. Doors for this 21-and-over show open at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Find out more about Gazebos and listen to a stream of Die Alone at Gazebos.bandcamp.com.

Last Cut wasn’t so super? Get it fixed at anthony’s barbershop

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Live Music. Beer On Tap. Organic Coffee. SubmergeMag.com

What are you looking forward to the most for the upcoming tour? We haven’t done a West Coast tour before, and West Coast tours are the easiest thing when you live on the coast. We have friends in all those cities. I can’t believe we haven’t done it yet! I’m excited to show our coast our songs. We generally have a good reaction and it’s so fun to play live. We play in Seattle so much, and we want to show some strangers. You really let it all hang out when people haven’t seen you before.

“I suffer from a great deal of social anxiety, so it helps me to be on stage because I have tons of feelings and stuff I want to yell about, but you can’t just walk around in the streets doing that. So being on stage for me, is a chance to really get my inner self out in a performative way. It keeps me sane.”– Gazebos singer Shannon Perry on why she plays music.

Nicholson’s MusiCafe 916.984.3020 6 3 2 E . B i d w E l l S t. F o l S o m jAN 3

What are you wearing right now? Sounds like a creepy question. Well, yeah, it does. [laughs] I guess I’m wearing leopard print boots and a long sort of a … not a mumu? Sort of a long, amorphous, pink, psychedelic, nasty dress that’s vintage and a big white fur coat. I did really crazy makeup this morning that I sort of regret, but I’m just going with it. Because I’m out of town, and no one knows me here anyway.

so I feel very at home there. And we’re buddies with all the bands on there. I don’t have a lot of experience with other labels, so I don’t have much basis for comparison. It’s definitely on the smaller side, but I feel like it’s so well-curated, and I feel very proud to be part of it. We hope to continue working with them on our next album. Since we got the new lineup, we’ve been so reinvigorated. We’ve got at least four new songs right now that we’re currently able to play and three more demos in the works, we’re hoping to get another album together as soon as possible. We had some interpersonal issues with a couple old bandmates, and we sort of had to break up and reform, and didn’t get to promote Die Alone the way we had wanted to, so now we’re trying to make up for lost time and kick ass as much as we can. It was also really a priority for me to get another female in the band. As much as I can handle the dudes, it’s also always nice to have another lady there, for that knowing look of understanding.

2408 21st st • Sac • sacramentobarbershop.com (916) 457-1120 • Tues-Fri 9am-6pm • saT 10am-4pm Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Withering Prisms, Acrylic Paint, 2016

Early Risers, Aerosol Paint, 2014

Fine Spray

Artist Ricky Watts Merges Elements of Graffiti, Fine Art Words Alia Cruz

R Metamorphic Decay, Mixed Media, 2016

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Nowhere in Particular, Mixed Media, 2012

icky Watts’ relationship with art can most accurately be described as a lifelong, full-fledged obsession. Watts’ mom claims that he was drawing before he was even able to walk, and by the time he was a teen, he was funding his weekly lunches by selling doodles to classmates. Fast-forward to the present: Watts has shown his pieces at a laundry list of galleries all over the country, and has expanded his clientele to include Google and MercedesBenz, among others. While he has gained prominence with his accomplishments in the graffiti world, Watts has a unique diversity in his body of work. He is an illustrator, a realist and a graffiti artist all in one. His spray painted pieces are bright with loud loops and textures that gracefully intertwine into a labyrinth and capture the forever-rebellious spirit of the graffiti artist, while other pieces include meticulous illustrations of Victorian architecture and landmarks that only the most disciplined penman could accomplish. Sometimes he combines these two styles and adds strong elements of fantasy, inspired by the world around him. His past series, Levitation, explored these two concepts by intertwining architecture with floating objects invented by Watts; it is an amazing culmination that exhibits his 20-plus years of experience as an artist. During the month of January, Watts will be exhibiting his work at graffiti/art/clothing mecca, Leave Your Mark Sacramento. All pieces will be in aerosol spray paint and will be up for display for the entirety of the month.

Outerspace Project, Atlanta, GA, 2015

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Shine On Mural Festival, St. Petersburg, FL, 2015

Tell me about your exhibition at Leave Your Mark Sacramento. I’ll be showing some of my studio work in January at Leave Your Mark in Midtown Sacramento. The exhibit will be paintings in aerosol spray paint, a favorite medium of mine. I’m a big supporter of Leave Your Mark so this is really exciting for me. This will be my first solo exhibit in Sacramento, although I’ve shown in group shows here a handful of times. I’ve never physically lived in Sacramento, but I have spent a lot of time here and shown work here in six exhibitions. My very first showing in Sacramento was with Cool Cat Gallery back in 2007. I’ve also had recent exhibits at Sacramento State University and Lux Quaubas Gallery. I am so intrigued by the way you go from painting brain-meltingly colorful pieces to detailed illustrations and transporting images like those in Levitation; It’s crazy how diverse your art is. Are you self-taught for the most part? How did you become someone who can create with such variety? My fine art is all self-taught. I did go to art school, but I focused on graphic design. Drawing is something I’ve always done. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been drawing something. I draw things that interest me and that’s how it’s always been. As a kid I drew army men and nuclear dinosaurs. As a teenager, I was drawing biotechnical, H.R. Giger-looking art. As an adult, I’m intrigued by architecture and urban decay. The illustration work that I produce today is very challenging and rewarding for me. Every piece is like a marathon: physically taxing on my back and mentally exhausting. When I finish a drawing, though, it’s a very special moment. Spray painting is something that I love to do, and I have fun doing it, but it’s a different feeling I get when finished than I do completing an illustration. What have some of your milestones as an artist been so far? That’s hard to answer as a working artist. I think it’s easier for people on the outside to say “He’s accomplished this,” or “She’s accomplished that.” It’s challenging for an artist to really value and appreciate

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their achievements while in the trenches. I’ve done a lot of projects and it’s gotten me to where I am today, but I feel like it’s still just the beginning and there’s so much more I want to do in my career. I see accomplishments more as stepping stones. For me, it’s always been, “OK, that’s done, on to the next.” If I had to go back and think about what’s really stood out, there are three moments that have been instrumental to my path. The first was my very first art show in 2004 because it was such an adrenaline rush of emotion. It was terrifying and exciting all at the same time. All I wanted to do was get back in the studio so I could make more work to show in galleries and get back to that adrenaline rush of an opening reception. The second was my first “really big” mural that required a swing-stage to reach the top (what window washers use on skyscrapers). It was approximately 3000 square feet about 5 five stories tall. It’s special for me because I raised most of the funding through Kickstarter and it was the first time I really felt the community embrace what I was doing. There’s such a high from that feeling. I never wanted the project to end. The third would have to be the stage banner designs I did for the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco. That exposure opened doors to commissions for Google, Mercedes-Benz and Anchor Brewing Company, among others. What is your state of mind when you are making these massive and colorful murals or creating in general? Do you have any artist rituals? I’m pretty clear headed when I’m working. I have a painting process and a bag of tricks, but there’s very little sketching that goes into it. My wife calls me a human typewriter because I’m very methodical while I work; left to right, back and forth like a typewriter. I like to listen to music, audiobooks or podcasts while I’m working; only when alone though. If I’m painting with friends or a group, I’ll never wear headphones. I enjoy interacting with other artists while painting. Artists have great stories. I’m not a very superstitious person, so there aren’t many rituals, although I do find myself stretching more before and after painting the older I get.

Tell me a little about artists who paint with spray. What sets them apart? Why is it a medium that you are drawn to? I started using spray paint as a medium in my early teenage years. Back then it was exciting and rebellious. It was something I did with my friends. Almost like a secret language that we spoke. But I really fell in love with the process of spray painting. The techniques to get certain effects, the challenge to paint straight lines with no drips and the ability to work really big in a short amount of time. When I started to focus more on gallery work, I wanted to incorporate spray paint into my work. For a long time it was painting on canvas what I would typically paint on a wall, but I wasn’t getting the response I was looking for. So in 2010, I started to transition away from letter shapes and break it down to simple forms and movements using a wide assortment of colors. Eventually this style of work that I paint today developed. It’s spontaneous and free flowing. Very little planning ever goes into these paintings. I have my color palette and a painting process. I start at one location of the surface and it builds as I go. While I’m working, I’m thinking a step or two ahead but there’s rarely a sketch of the final outcome that I’m following. What’s next for 2017? You know, there’s not a lot in the pipe for 2017 yet. I’ll have work in a couple of shows around the country but that’s about it. Subconsciously, I think this is intentional. The past few years have been filled with traveling but I’ve started to feel artistically stagnant and I’ve craved that quiet studio time to push the boundaries of new work. 2017 will be time to realign the ideas in my head with the work being produced.

Ricky Watts’ art will be on display throughout the month of January at Leave Your Mark Sacramento, located at 2627 J St. in Sacramento. The opening reception for the show goes down Friday, Jan. 6 from 6–9 p.m. Find out more about Ricky Watts at his website, Rickywatts.com.

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Larry Rodriguez’s Life’s Work is Making You Dance Words Richard St.Ofle • photo Wesley Davis

or someone with even a passive love for music, Larry Rodriguez (aka DJ Larry or The Flower Vato) can be a pretty intimidating figure. Not only has he been making Sacramentans sweat for 20 years with his wildly popular Dance Party at the Press Club on Sundays (affectionately called “Church” by people in the know), but he’s provided the soundtrack to what most of us have been doing for the past two decades with his insane record library and encyclopedic music vocabulary. Every time he’s in control of the decks, I go home with a list of music to look up. Maybe the most impressive part is that he’s been at it for most of his life, like the cool kid in John Hughes movies. “I was that dude in high school who was always concealing a boombox in his book bag in case there were any breakdance battles at lunch,” Rodriguez says. As a 16-year-old, he landed a show he called Soul Sauce on a community radio station, where he played records people twice his age didn’t know anything about—jazz, funk, latin grooves, reggae and international jams from Africa and Brazil. He gained notoriety and rose through the ranks, DJing at Jerry Perry’s legendary clubs Vortex and Cattle Club, but it wasn’t until he saved the night at a real dance party that Dance Party started to take form. “On New Year’s Eve of 1996, I was chilling in my attic, having a puff and listening to some sides when [my brother] Mike calls from a party that some kids from The Loft were having,” Rodriguez recalls. “He told me to bring my funk and soul records because they were dancing to Billy Idol and Duran Duran singles. So I show up, throw on In the Jungle Groove by James Brown, and the joint was jumping. The rest of the night was great even with just one turntable and a rickety stereo unit. Afterward, Marla Kanelos who booked Old Ironsides asked if I wanted to do a weekly dance starting the following Sunday. That’s when Dance Party was born.” He’s been stoking Sacramento’s flame ever since. DJing at KDVS, hosting dance nights and even doing wedding gigs. “I’ve done cowboy weddings where all they want to hear is country music and hip-hop,” he says. “I get a perverse kick knowing what we’ve always known as rednecks are actually opening up to black culture more than we know. I was playing ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’ back to back with ‘Whip the Nae Nae.’” Every time I run into Rodriguez, I walked away marveling at how deep his love for music runs. I caught up with him after a long day of making people move. His enthusiasm is so contagious that it’s hard not to catch on.

First things first: if everyone reading this was with us in your living room, what record would you put on? I have a stack cued up by the record player right now. Looks like the first few records we’d be listening to are Bent City by Phil Yost, Plastic Ono Band by Yoko Ono, America Eats Its Young by Funkadelic and Modern Journal of Popular Savagery by Porest.

to look through their records and to see how it was done. I was definitely interested in DJing but discouraged by how expensive it would be. Jerry Perry let me spin in between bands several times at the Cattle Club around 1989 or ‘90 but it wasn’t until the beginning of 1997 that I first started DJing regularly at a club. I can thank my brother Mike and Marla Kanelos for springing that into action.

With that out of the way, tell me a bit about who you are, how you started out and ended up here? Though I was involved in hip-hop culture as a teen, I would also listen to KDVS where I’ve irregularly been hosting shows for the last 13 years. KDVS opened my mind to many types of music. Not only were they the first local station to play Grandmaster Flash, The Jonzun Crew and Afrika Bambaataa but the DJs would mix it up with punk, new wave, reggae, etc. I was hooked. Around that time a great venue for teens interested in post-punk and new wave dancing was Jerry Perry’s Vortograph Center [The Vortex], near 15th and C streets. The whole room smelled like cloves, which I found rather exotic and it’s where I first met DJs Dave Mier and Danny O’Grady who were cool enough to let me in the DJ booth

What’s a typical day in the life of Larry Rodriguez like? A typical day for me is constantly pulling and filing from the sprawl of my own music collection. It’s a full-time librarian job that’s never finished. I also spend at least 30 hours a week researching and discovering new and old music, whether at record shops, flea markets, thrift shops or even on the web.

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YouTube is a great place to educate yourself and discover all sorts of music—it’s a deep well. So is the KDVS library … I can go in there with a list of 10 things I want to look up and end up spending six to seven hours finding other music in the process. There’s a lot of talk about the ebb and flow of the Sacramento music scene—you’ve been around for a lot of it, you wanna weigh in? I’ve enjoyed the Sacramento music scene over the years. It seems like every 10 years a whole new renaissance of bands emerge that make the music scene fun again. Speaking of, I have a killer lineup for the Dance Party’s 20th Anniversary show at the Press Club. We have Sacto Storytellers and The Scratch Outs, both hard-hitting rocksteady reggae bands featuring members of Filibuster and The Steady Ups. Then the Cuf is reuniting for the night. All the hip-hop heads in town are hella excited about that, and there’s The City of Trees Brass Band, who are not only badass and funky but several members are regular attendees at “Church.” Opening the show is Swank [Ike Burnett] who is the brother of MC Ride of Death Grips and closing the show is Roman Austin, a neo-soul R&B crooner who wrote a sexy jam [“Church (Rollin’)”] about the Dance Party. What about for you? Dance Party has been going for 20 years now. Has it changed much since you started? Though Dance Party started at Old Ironsides on the first Sunday of 1997, the first run at Press Club was from ‘98 to 2003. Dan Montoya was the manager then, and he persuaded me to bring my night over there after hearing that Ironsides let me go because of graffiti constantly marring their bathrooms. At the Press, it’s well known that the heavy volume of graffiti in their restrooms began to resemble a Jackson Pollock painting, so it was a better fit from the get-go. We had a great run, won some awards, had some good writeups and Sunday eventually branched out to an additional Friday and both nights were well attended. I eventually fell out of there while clashing with the new management so I kept the Party going weekly at The Distillery and Blue Lamp with occasional nights at Old Ironsides. In 2005 Dance Party picked up Wednesdays at the G Street Wunderbar in Davis, where it’s still going.

“YouTube is a great place to educate yourself and discover all sorts of music—it’s a deep well. So is the KDVS library … I can go in there with a list of 10 things I want to look up and end up spending six to seven hours finding other music in the process.” – Larry Rodriguez on his “full-time librarian job” as a DJ

The second run at the Press Club started in 2010 when Kirk Johnston asked me if I wanted to come back. I said “hell yes!” I’ve always loved the Press Club even after getting thrown out, to this day I’m happy as a clam to show up there and play music. Kirk died a few years ago but his brother Roger still owns the place and he’s always been a great guy and I love the manager Susan Durst, who’s been with the club after they ran out the asshole who ran me out. I have a friend who got pregnant after starting her night at Church. How do you feel knowing you’ve been an accessory to so many people getting down—in both senses. I love it, and I will gladly keep facilitating those activities as long as it keeps everyone happy. I’ve had couples pay for my dinner when they saw me at the same restaurant because they met on my night, some wedding gigs have come out of it too. Do you change your set around if you see couples need a certain mood? While DJing any dance, it’s always a good idea to read the room as a whole and not just cater to that one bratty bro or ‘ho that’ll constantly pester you with inappropriate requests. They usually claim to speak for “everyone” in the room while in the meantime the whole room is busy getting down on the floor. It’s a good idea to expediently cut these pests off because they tend to interfere with your work while you’re trying to focus on the set. If they keep bothering you just squirt cold water at them from between your teeth, they’ll leave you alone. You’ve been doing this a while. Where do you see yourself in 20 more years? If I’m still alive 20 years from now, I can see myself being the house DJ at an old people’s home. Maybe do something with experimental sound therapy or shamanism to help people prepare for crossing over to the other side or at least be at peace with it.

The 20th anniversary bash for Dance Party will take place at The Press Club (2030 P St., Sacramento) on Jan. 8. (You should be over your New Year’s hangover by then.) Cover charge is just $10, and the event will feature The Cuf, The Scratch Outs, City of Trees Brass Band, Sacto Storytellers, Roman Austin and Swank. Keep your dance card open, and get ready to throw down at 7 p.m.

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

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Ad SizeS for every Budget!

january 2 – 16 submergemag.com/calendar

1.02 Monday

1/8

Blue Lamp The Spotlight: Open Mic, 9 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Fox & Goose Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m. Louie’s Cocktail Lounge Karaoke, 9 p.m. LowBrau Motown on Monday’s w/ DJ Epik, 9 p.m. Luna’s Cafe Nebraska Mondays hosted by Ross Hammond, 7:30 p.m. Old Ironsides Heath Williamson & Friends, 5:30 p.m. Press Club Monday Vibes w/ MC Ham and Friends, 9 p.m.

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1.03

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Tuesday

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Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Dive Bar Erica Ambrin & The Eclectic Soul Project, 9:30 p.m. Kupros Craft House Open Mic, 8 p.m. Old Ironsides Karaoke, 9 p.m. Pine Cove Open Mic Night, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Live Band Karaoke, 8 p.m. Press Club Revolt w/ DJs Katharos & Bino Prassa, 8 p.m. Torch Club Jessica Malone, 5:30 p.m.; Michael Ray, 8 p.m.

916.441.3803

info@submergemag.com 24

m u s ic , c o m e d y & mi s c . C a l e n d a r

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Nicholson’s MusiCafe Acoustic Open Mic, 6 p.m. Old Ironsides Open Mic, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub 98 Rock’s Local Licks Live, 9 p.m. Press Club Sac Lady Fest Ghost Ship Benefit: Spacewalker, Temple K Kirk, DJs LLW and Nich, 8 p.m. Shine Speak Out! Sacramento, 8 p.m. Torch Club Singer-Songwriter Showcase In the Round, 5:30 p.m.; Jonny Mojo, 9 p.m.

1.05 thursday

Bar 101 Karaoke, 7:30 p.m. Capitol Garage Karaoke w/ Jeff Jenkins, 10 p.m. Club Car Songwriters Showcase, 8 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Dive Bar Dueling Pianos, 9 p.m. Fox & Goose Alex Walker, 8 p.m. Louie’s Cocktail Lounge Karaoke, 9 p.m. Midtown BarFly Mr. Bremson, Alex H’Dez, Mike Colossal, 9:30 p.m. Old Ironsides Karaoke, 9 p.m. Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Ashley Barron, 9:30 p.m. Press Club Wicked Bears, The O’Mulligans, Mike Hawk’s Dishonorable Discharge, 8 p.m. Shine Sac’s Coolest Jazz Jam, 8 p.m. Starlite Lounge Hannah Yeun, The Livelies, Plots, 8 p.m. Torch Club Mind X, 5:30 p.m.; Caitlin Jemma, Rainbow Girls, 9 p.m.

1.04 1.06 Wednesday

Bar 101 Open Mic, 7:30 p.m. Club Car The Double Shots, 7:30 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. El Dorado Saloon Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m. Fox & Goose All Vinyl Wednesdays w/ DJ AAKnuff, 8 p.m. Golden Bear DJ Nocturnal, 10 p.m. Laughs Unlimited Karaoke, 8 p.m.

friday

Ace of Spades Puddle of Mudd, Motorize, Control, Broken, 6:30 p.m. Bar 101 Denver J. Saunders, 9:30 p.m. Berryessa Brewing Co. Achilles Wheel Trio, 3 p.m. Blue Lamp Keak Da Sneak, Booda Babyy, DJ Kedde, 9 p.m. Cafe Colonial Razorblade Monalisa, Cell Block, 8 p.m.

Capitol Garage Fyah Fridays w/ DJ Jaytwo, 10 p.m. Center for the Arts The Cure Tribute Show: Chat Room, Little Zebra, The Moore Brothers, Thomas Spellman, Sasha Soukup, Taylor Jean and the Blackbird Vox, Jay Tausig, Adrienne Beatty, Pregnant and More, 8 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Fox & Goose Kevin Seconds and Guests, 9 p.m. Golden Bear DJ CrookOne, 10 p.m. Gold Country Lanes (Sutter Creek) C.T. Locke: DJ, Sing & Dance, 6:30 p.m. Harlow’s Two Step (Dave Matthews Band tribute), 8 p.m. Nicholson’s MusiCafe Open Mic Night, 6 p.m. Old Ironsides Danny Morris & The California All-Stars, Richard March, 50-Watt Heavy, 9 p.m. Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Arden Park Roots, 10 p.m. Press Club DJ Rue, 9 p.m. Red Hawk Casino Brodie Stewart, 9:30 p.m. Shine Third Stone Blue, Floral Caves, 8 p.m. Starlite Lounge Panic Talk, Michael and the Machines, The Love Dimension, DJ Roger Carpio, 8:30 p.m. Station 1 Jay Dewald and Jazz Artistry, 7:30 p.m. Torch Club Pailer & Fratis, 5:30 p.m.; Black Star Safari and More, 9 p.m. Yolo Brewing Company Julie & The Jukes, 6 p.m.

1.07 Saturday

Ace of Spades Kane Brown, Jordan Rager, 7 p.m. Bar 101 Aaron Snook, 9:30 p.m. Berryessa Brewing Co. Misner and Smith, 3 p.m. Cache Creek Casino David Pomeranz, Joey Albert, 8 p.m. The Center at Twenty-Three Hundred Muriel Anderson: Wonderlust, 7 p.m. Chaise Lounge Transition 2017 feat. Awesome Awesome Shxt, Chuuwee, City James, Tavis, Duckworth, Lake Stovall, Yae, DJ Druskee and More, 6 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Fox & Goose Working Man Blues Band, The Uncovered, 9 p.m.

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Golden Bear DJ Rock Bottom, 10 p.m. Harlow’s Irishpalooza: Whiskey and Stitches, The Pikeys, One Eyed Reilly, 5:30 p.m. KBAR Z Rokk, 9 p.m. Nicholson’s MusiCafe Free Ukulele Class, 1 p.m. Old Ironsides Lipstick!, 9 p.m. Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Cheeseballs, 10 p.m. Press Club DJ Larry Rodriguez, 9 p.m. The Purple Place (El Dorado Hills) Jackson Tharpe Band, 9 p.m. Red Hawk Casino Thunder Cover, 10 p.m. Sol Collective The Holy Republic, Blind Medusa, National Lines, Red Sky Sunrise and More, 6 p.m. Starlite Lounge Slow Caves, Ghoul School, Anime Aliens, 8 p.m. Station 1 Steve Homan, 7:30 p.m. Torch Club Bawb Pearce, 5:30 p.m.; Mich Rhodes & The Hard Eight, 9 p.m.

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Fox & Goose Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m. Goldfield Sac Beach Ball: Sacramento Service Industry Winter Ball w/ Shark in the Water, 8 p.m. Harlow’s Midge Ure, 7 p.m. Louie’s Cocktail Lounge Karaoke, 9 p.m. LowBrau Motown on Monday’s w/ DJ Epik, 9 p.m. Luna’s Cafe Nebraska Mondays hosted by Ross Hammond, 7:30 p.m. Press Club Monday Vibes w/ MC Ham and Friends, 9 p.m.

1.10 Tuesday

1.08 sunday

Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Dive Bar Brian Rogers, 9:30 p.m. Harlow’s The Color Wild, Trophii, NYTVZN, 7 p.m. Kupros Craft House Open Mic, 8 p.m. Old Ironsides Karaoke, 9 p.m. Pine Cove Open Mic Night, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Live Band Karaoke, 8 p.m. Torch Club Bill Mylar, 5:30 p.m.; Organ-Ize, 8 p.m.

Berryessa Brewing Co. Robert Armstrong, Casey McGill, Keith Cary, 3 p.m. Cafe Colonial Vox Vocis, Rebel Holograms, Televangelist, 8 p.m. Capitol Garage Karaoke w/ Jeff Jenkins, 9 p.m. Center for the Arts John McCutcheon, 7:30 p.m. Crocker Art Museum Classical Concert: Christina Mok and Miles Graber, 3 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 8 p.m. Harlow’s David Bowie 70th Birthday Tribute Show: Peter Petty, Bellygunner, Mondo Deco, Lauren Wakefield, Spacewalker, Radio Orangevale, Saucer, The Polyorchids and More, 6 p.m. Harris Center for the Arts Rhapsody & Rhythm: The Gershwin Concert Experience, 2 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Mick Martin, 3 p.m. Press Club DJ Larry’s 20 Year Anniversary Dance Party w/ The Scratch Outs, Sacto Storytellers, City of Trees Brass Band, SWANK, Roman Austin and More, 7 p.m. Torch Club Blues Jam, 4 p.m.; Front the Band, 8 p.m.

Arden-Dimick Library The Hoots, 4 p.m. Bar 101 Open Mic, 7:30 p.m. Club Car The Double Shots, 7:30 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. El Dorado Saloon Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m. Fox & Goose All Vinyl Wednesdays w/ DJ AAKnuff, 8 p.m. Golden Bear DJ Nocturnal, 10 p.m. Harlow’s Nef the Pharaoh, 6:30 p.m. Laughs Unlimited Karaoke, 8 p.m. Nicholson’s MusiCafe Acoustic Open Mic, 6 p.m. Old Ironsides Open Mic, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub 98 Rock’s Local Licks Live, 9 p.m. Torch Club Singer-Songwriter Showcase In the Round, 5:30 p.m.; Jeremy Norris and The Dangerous Mood, 9 p.m.

1.11 wednesday

1.09 1.12 monday

Blue Lamp The Spotlight: Open Mic, 9 p.m. Cafe Colonial Infernal Coil, Defecrator, Gloriam Draconis and More, 8 p.m. SubmergeMag.com

Thursday

Bar 101 Karaoke, 7:30 p.m. Capitol Garage Karaoke w/ Jeff Jenkins, 10 p.m. Club Car Songwriters Showcase, 8 p.m.

Crest Theatre Yasiin Bey, Jallal, Loove Moore, Pure Powers, 7:30 p.m. Crocker Art Museum ArtMix: Light w/ Zyah Belle, Vixens of Vinyl and More, 5 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Dive Bar Dueling Pianos, 9 p.m. Fox & Goose Michael B. Justis, 8 p.m. Harlow’s Drop Dead Red, The Search, The Ghost Town Rebellion, 7 p.m. Harris Center for the Arts Echosmith, Parachute, 6 p.m. Louie’s Cocktail Lounge Karaoke, 9 p.m. Old Ironsides Dynamite Dance Club, 9 p.m. Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Liberty Junction, 9:30 p.m. Shine Sac’s Coolest Jazz Jam, 8 p.m. Starlite Lounge Mark Chrisler, 8 p.m. Torch Club Mind X, 5:30 p.m.; Pine S treet Ramblers, 9 p.m.

1.13 FRIDAY

Bar 101 Mino Yanci, 9:30 p.m. Berryessa Brewing Co. What’s Left, 5 p.m. Blue Lamp Mahtie Bush, Tribe of Levi, Pharaoh, The Tender Cinders, 9 p.m. Cache Creek Casino MAZE feat. Frankie Beverly, 9 p.m. Cafe Colonial Red Pills, Rebel Radio, Black Crosses, Riot Radio, Frack, 7 p.m. Capitol Garage Fyah Fridays w/ DJ Jaytwo, 10 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Fox & Goose Warren Bishop & Todd Weber, Que Bossa!, 9 p.m. Golden Bear DJ CrookOne, 10 p.m. Gold Country Lanes (Sutter Creek) C.T. Locke: DJ, Sing & Dance, 6:30 p.m. Harlow’s The Purple Ones (Prince tribute), 9 p.m. Harris Center for the Arts FAME The Musical, 7 p.m. MontBleu Resort Casino Pop Rock and Soul, 7 p.m. Nicholson’s MusiCafe Open Mic Night, 6 p.m. Old Ironsides Mad Queen, Nova Sutro, Cassette Idols, 9 p.m. The Park Ultra Lounge DJ Shift, 9 p.m. Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Tragically White, 10 p.m. Press Club DJ Rue, 9 p.m. Red Hawk Casino Fresh, 9:30 p.m. Ruhstaller Beer Beers For Bars: Caliscope, The Philharmonik, That Kid Raja, 9 p.m.

Station 1 Beyond Uranium, 7:30 p.m. Torch Club Loose Engines, 5:30 p.m.; Aki Kumar feat. Rockin’ Johnny Burgin, 9 p.m. Yolo Brewing Company According to Bazooka, 6 p.m.

1.14 Saturday

Ace of Spades Chevelle, Black Map, Dinosaur Pile-Up, 6 p.m. (Sold Out) Bar 101 Andrew Castro, 9:30 p.m. Blue Lamp Show Banga, 8 p.m. Cache Creek Casino MAZE feat. Frankie Beverly, 8 p.m. Cafe Colonial Thrashzilla, Alcoholic Sex Detonation, Killer Couture, 20 Lbs Roadkill, 8 p.m. Community Center Theater Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera Presents: The Music of David Bowie: A Rock Symphony, 8 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Golden Bear DJ Satapana, 10 p.m. Harlow’s Fleetwood Mask (Fleetwood Mac tribute), 8 p.m. Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Tainted Love, 7:30 p.m. Harris Center for the Arts FAME The Musical, 2 & 7 p.m. KBAR Z Rokk, 9 p.m. MontBleu Resort Casino Pop Rock and Soul, 7 p.m. Nicholson’s MusiCafe Free Ukulele Class, 1 p.m. Old Ironsides Jem & Scout, Cities That You Wish You Were From, Zen Again, 9 p.m. Pine Cove Karaoke, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Black Zepplin, 10 p.m. Press Club DJ Larry Rodriguez, 9 p.m. The Purple Place (El Dorado Hills) Dippin’ Sauce, 9 p.m. Red Hawk Casino Fresh, 9:30 p.m. Shine Travis Larson Band, Magic Elf feat. Dave Larue, 8 p.m. Starlite Lounge Last of Us, Glug, West Coast Fury, Ghost Next Door, Worn Thin, 8 p.m. Station 1 Super Blu, 7:30 p.m. Torch Club Ray Copeland Band, 5:30 p.m.; Dennis Jones, 9 p.m. UC Davis: Jackson Hall Itzhak Perlman, Rohan De Silva, 8 p.m. West Sacramento Community Center West Cap Music Fest: Joy and Madness, Lew Fratis and Friends, City of Trees Brass Band, River City Big Band w/ Cindy Tuttle, The Bathtub Gins, Harley White Jr. Orchestra, 5 p.m. Yolo Brewing Company Hair of the Dawg, 6 p.m. continued on page 26

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

1.15 Sunday

Capitol Garage Karaoke w/ Jeff Jenkins, 9 p.m. Community Center Theater Miranda Sings, 8 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 8 p.m. Goldfield High on Fire, Horseneck, 7:30 p.m. Harlow’s Dorothy, The Georgia Flood, 7 p.m. Harris Center for the Arts FAME The Musical, 2 p.m. MontBleu Resort Casino Nahko & Medicine for the People, The Late One’s, 7 p.m. The Park Ultra Lounge Craig Anthony, 9 p.m. Powerhouse Pub Reds Blues, 3 p.m. Press Club Sunday Night Soul Party w/ DJ Larry Rodriguez, 9 p.m. Thunder Valley Casino Resort Legends of Motown, 7 p.m. Torch Club Blues Jam, 4 p.m.; Front the Band, 8 p.m.

1.16 monday

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Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Blue Lamp The Spotlight: Open Mic, 9 p.m. Distillery Karaoke, 9 p.m. Fox & Goose Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m. Harlow’s A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, 6:30 p.m. Louie’s Cocktail Lounge Karaoke, 9 p.m. LowBrau Motown on Monday’s w/ DJ Epik, 9 p.m. Luna’s Cafe Nebraska Mondays hosted by Ross Hammond, 7:30 p.m.

Comedy Double Nickel (Elk Grove) Sacramento Kings of Comedy w/ Esau McGraw, Dru Burks, Ricco the Great and More, Jan. 4, 8 p.m. Fox & Goose Fem Dom Com w/ Jaime Fernandez and Guests, Jan. 14, 9 p.m. Laughs Unlimited Comedy Open Mic Showcase, Jan. 3, 8 p.m. Ward Anderson feat. Erik Knowles, Jan. 6 - 8, Fri., 8 & 10:30 p.m.; Sat., 7 p.m. “Chicago Steve” Barkley feat. Hanna Dickinson, Jan. 13 - 15, Fri., 8 & 10:30 p.m.; Sat., 7 p.m. Luna’s Cafe Open Mic Comedy Hosted by Jaime Fernandez, every Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Memorial Auditorium Demarcus Cousins Presents: Boogie’s Comedy Slam feat. Arnez J, Gary Owen, Lil’ Duval, Tony Roberts, Benji Brown, Kountry Wayne and More, Jan. 5, 7 p.m.

Punch Line Frankie Quinones, Jan. 4, 8 p.m. Brian Posehn, Ngaio Bealum, Michael Cella, Jan. 5 - 7, Thurs., 8 p.m.; Fri., 8 & 10 p.m.; Sat., 8 & 10 p.m. The Future of Comedy Showcase 2017 w/ DJ Sandhu, Kabir Singh, Wendy Lewis, Allie Yada, Drea Meyers and More, Jan. 8, 7 p.m. Finesse Mitchell, Jan. 12 - 15, Thurs., 8 p.m.; Fri., 8 & 10 p.m.; Sat., 8 & 10 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m. Sacramento Comedy Spot Open Mic, Sunday’s and Monday’s, 8 p.m. Improv Taste Test and Harold Night, Wednesday’s, 7 - 10 p.m. Cage Match and Improv Jam, Thursday’s, 8 - 10 p.m. Anti-Cooperation League, Saturday’s, 9 p.m. Tommy T’s Joey Medina, Jan. 6 - 8, Willie Barcena, Jan. 13 - 15

Misc. 20th Street (Between J and K) Midtown Farmers Market, every Saturday, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. B Street Theatre Mainstage Series: Becoming Dr. Ruth, Jan. 14 - Feb. 26 B3 Series: The Christians, Jan. 11 - Feb. 11 Blue Cue Bar Bingo, Wednesday’s, 9 p.m. The Boxing Donkey Trivia Night, every Tuesday, 8 p.m. Cal Expo The Total Health and Fitness Expo, Jan. 14 - 15, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Capitol Beer and Tap Room Art of Beer and Cap Tap’s 2nd Annual Coloring Competition, Jan. 11, 5 p.m. Capitol Garage Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night, Wednesday’s, 9 p.m. CLARA (E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts) Sacramento Ballet Presents: The Creative Process, Jan. 14, 4 p.m. Community Center Theater Shen Yun, Jan. 10 - 11 Crest Theatre Cowboy Bepop: The Movie, Jan. 6, 7:30 p.m. The Coming Convergence, Jan. 7, 7 p.m. Some Like It Hot, Jan. 8, 7 p.m. Idiocracy, Jan. 13, 7:30 p.m. Xposed Dance Company Presents: Public Display, Jan. 14, 6 p.m. The Third Man, Jan. 15, 7 p.m. Crocker Art Museum Art on Film: The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Jan. 5, 6 p.m. ArtMix: Light feat. Music, Art, Performance, Drinks, Food and More, Jan. 12, 5 p.m.

Highest Heaven: Spanish and Portuguese Colonial Art from the Roberta and Richard Huber Collection, Through Jan 22 Reuniting the Masters: European Drawings from West Coast Collections, Through Feb. 5 A Show of Force: Sculpture by Allan Houser (Haozous) feat. Recent Gifts from Loren G. Lipson, Through Feb. 26 Exotic Plants Free Terrarium Workshop, Jan. 7, 12 - 1:30 p.m. Fox & Goose Pub Quiz, Tuesday’s, 7 p.m. Golden 1 Center The Harlem Globetrotters, Jan. 16, 1 p.m. & 6 p.m. Historic Old Folsom Farmers’ Market, Saturdays, 8 a.m. Identity Coffees The Midtown Bizarre feat. Brown Pigeon, Burly Beverages, Conscious Creamery, Chulatribe, Green Giraffe Ceramics, Sudz By Studz, Sugar Mountain Apothecary and More, Jan. 14, 12 - 6 p.m. Kupros Craft House Trivia with Triviology 101, Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Laughs Unlimited Sac Girls Rock: The Next Level feat. Live Music, Comedy, Motivational Speakers and More, Jan. 5, 8 p.m. Luna’s Cafe Poetry Unplugged, every Thursday, 8 p.m. Midtown BarFly Salsa Lessons, every Wednesday, 8 p.m. The Midtown Moxies Burlesque: On Broadway, Jan. 7, 9 p.m. Oak Park Brewing Co. Trivia Night, every Sunday, 8 p.m. Pine Cove Trivia Night, Wednesday’s, 9 p.m. Press Club Flex Your Head Trivia, every Tuesday, 8 p.m. Sacramento Convention Center SacAnime 2017 Convention, Jan. 6 - 8 Easyriders 2017 Bike Show, Jan. 14, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Scottish Rite Center CASA Sacramento’s 24th Annual Crab Feed, Jan. 7, 5:30 p.m. Uptown Studios Second Saturday Women’s Wisdom Art Benefit feat. Rhony Bhopla, Nan Brow, Patty Rivard, Karen Alba, Jan. 14, 6 p.m. Various Downtown Sacramento Restaurants Dine Downtown Restaurant Week: Special Three-Course Dining Experiences for $35, Jan. 12 - 22 WAL Public Market First Friday Art Reception: (WAL)Flowers by Tyson Anthony Roberts, Jan. 6, 6 p.m.

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

Turns Out It Wasn’t All That Bad 12 Locals (Plus a Few Submerge Contributors) Weigh in on Their Favorite Albums of 2016

ccording to pretty much the entire internet, 2016 was a bad, bad year. Terrible. The worst ever. But we’re here to remind you that despite what all of your friends on Facebook are saying, there was still in insane amount of amazing music released in 2016. Really, there was! For just a snippet, read on to see which albums a bunch of key players in Sacramento’s music scene named as their top releases of the year. We asked them for their number one local release, and their number one national release, and their answers are all over the map. We also tossed in a few of our Submerge contributors’ choices as well, for good measure. In no particular order, here’s what everyone had to say about their favorite tunes from 2016, the shittiest year of all time.

Drug Apts Drug Apts EP LOCAL

Melvins Basses Loaded Brian McKenna Owner/Booker at Abstract Presents

Swimming in Bengal Garden of Idle Hands LOCAL

Heron Oblivion Heron Oblivion

Tim & Laura Matranga Kicksville Vinyl & Vintage

Allyson Seconds Little World LOCAL

Lob Instagon Talent Booker at Shine Cafe

Dog Party 'Til You're Mine LOCAL

national

Jerry Perry Local Concert Promoter

national

Metallica Hardwired... to Self-Destruct national

The Mr. T Experience King Dork Approximately:

Pacific Skyway Brightside EP

The Album

national

Lumineers Cleopatra

2016 2016 LOCAL

Andy Hawk Concerts in the Park and Radio 94.7

Doombird Past Lives LOCAL

sherman baker Local Musician

national

Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool national

>> Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017 continued on page 28

SubmergeMag.com

<<continued from page 27

12 Locals (Plus a Few Submerge Contributors) Weigh in on Their Favorite Albums of 2016

Death Grips Bottomless Pit LOCAL

David Bowie Blackstar Chris Macias Critic-at-Large at The Sacramento Bee

Rituals of Mine Devoted LOCAL

Chance the Rapper Coloring Book

Janelle Bitker Former Arts & Culture Editor at SN&R

Gentleman Surfer Reanimate Ore LOCAL

Ross Hammond Guitarist & Owner of Gold Lion Arts

VRTRA My Bones Hold a Stillness LOCAL

national

Sarah Louise VDSQ Acoustic Series Vol 12 national

SubRosa For This We Fought the Battle of Ages

Chris Somel Talent Booker at Starlite Lounge

Current Personae Say Baby Say EP

national

Childish Gambino Awaken, My Love!

2016 2016 LOCAL

Hobo Johnson The Rise Of Hobo Johnson LOCAL

national

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

James Cavern Local Musician

Andru Defeye ZFG Promotions & Sol Collective

national

Kid Cudi Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' national

Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

2016 2016 Tavis Over the Hill LOCAL

Bastards of Young White Knuckles LOCAL

Chrome Ghost Choir of the Low Spirits LOCAL

Jacob Golden The Invisible Record LOCAL

Pisscat Convenience and Chaos LOCAL

Boy Romeo / The Rippers Split Tape LOCAL

SubmergeMag.com

Anderson .Paak Malibu

Melissa Welliver Co-Founder of Submerge

national

Tycho Epoch Jonathan Carabba Co-Founder of Submerge

national

Beyoncé Lemonade James Barone Submerge Senior Editor

Andrew Russell Submerge Contributer

national

Blood Orange Freetown Sound national

Pinegrove Cardinal Justin Cox Submerge Contributer

Alia Cruz Submerge Contributer

national

Solange A Seat at the Table' national

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

saturday

feB 4

thursday

PlayinG “autuMn oF the seraPhs” in its entirety + More

feB 16

the laws oF Gravity tour

the shallow end The United States

with sPecial Guests

johnny taylor (coMeDy) anD MoDern Man

ace of SpadeS • 1417 r Street Sacto • all aGeS • 8:00pm

with sPecial Guests

horseshoes anD hanD GrenaDes

harlow’S • 2708 j Street Sacto • 21 & over • 7:00pm

Dorothy

Harlow’s

•

2708

the GeorGia FlooD

street

•

sacramento

•

sunday

jan 15 21

over

•

8:00pm

Gazebos

tuesday

jan 17

boyFrienDs

Blue l amp • 14 0 0 alH amBr a Blvd • sacr amento • 21 & over • 7:0 0pm

stick Men

Feat. tony levin, Markus reuter, Pat Mastelotto (MeMbers oF kinG criMson anD Peter Gabriel)

Harlow’s

•

2708

street

•

sacramento

•

over

•

old IronsIdes • 1901 10

Harlow’s

•

2708

street

•

sacramento

•

street

•

sacramento

•

over

street

•

sacramento

•

saturday 9:30pm

over

•

8:00pm

Harlow’s

•

2708

street

•

sacramento

•

feB 15 sunday

•

8:00pm

chicano batMan Sad • Girl 79.5

feB 11 Wednesday

alo + rabbit wilDe 2708

jan 27

street • sacramento • 21 & over • 9:00pm

the revivalists

2708

friday

holiDay Flyer

the brothers coMatose

Harlow’s

jan 17

7:30pm

Mark eitzel (aMerican Music club) howe Gelb (Giant sanD) tH

tuesday

feB 19 Wednesday

Mar 1 over

•

8:00pm

Mike watt + the MissinGMen toys that kill

friday

Mar 3

o l d I r o n s I d e s • 19 0 1 1 0 tH s t r e e t • s a c r a m e n t o • 2 1 & o v e r • 8 : 0 0 p m

G. love & sPecial sauce Harlow’s

•

2708

city oF the sun

street

•

sacramento

•

over

•

sunday

Mar 19 8:00pm

claP your hanDs say yeah

Harlow’s

•

2708

street

•

sacramento

•

over

•

8:00pm

yonDer Mountain strinG banD Harlow’s

•

2708

lil’ sMokies

street

•

sacramento

•

over

•

Wednesday

Mar 22 Wednesday

apr 5

8:00pm

all tickets available at: abstractPresents.coM & eventbrite.coM tickets For harlow’s shows also available at harlows.coM tickets For blue laMP shows also bluelaMPsacraMento.coM ticketS for ace of SpadeS alSo available at aceofSpadeSSac.com & 916.443.9202

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

The old adage goes: There are two types of people in the world: People who enjoy pornography, and people who lie about it. For most of my life post-puberty, I have found this to be true. For a short time, I helped out a friend who owned an independent video store. I would work there as a cashier on the weekends. He carried a lot of foreign, independent and cult movies—lots of really good stuff—but of course, the engine that drove the store’s economy was the adult section. All kinds of people would come by to rent DVDs. I knew some of them, but most of them were strangers. They came from all walks of life. A lot of them did, in fact, have great taste in movies and were excited to find a place that actually had a copy of the new Chan-wook Park film. The majority, though, would retire behind the curtain and leave, discreetly, with more erotic fare, as did a lot of the hardcore cinephiles from time to time. I wasn’t a stranger to adult films before pitching in at the video store, but what I was shocked to discover was the sheer volume and variety of pornography that existed. It’s as if you could close your eyes and think of the most bonkers thing you could dream up, and there was a video for that. Pterodactyl porn is a thing—at least enough of a thing for there to be a video of it. I don’t think it contained actual pterodactyls, but holy shit, how awesome would it be if it did? Paleontologists would be jizzing themselves on so many levels. There was a time when I too enjoyed porn, though I never did get to see the pterodactyl kind. Maybe I would still be all about it if I had. It’s kind of like marshmallow Peeps. When I was younger, I was super into them. Like, I couldn’t wait until Easter and get a buttload of Peeps. I even had methods on how I’d eat them, like devouring some while they were fresh and gooey, but also slashing the plastic on a few packages and letting them age and get kind of crusty. That’s when they were the best. Now they’re just too sweet. I can’t stomach them. I’ll still have one every now and again. My mom always gets me some for Easter, I guess partly for the nostalgia and partly because I’ll always be her little boy. But instead of stockpiling stale ones, I’ll just have one or two and toss the rest. Porn, similarly, doesn’t hold the same sway over me as it did when I was in my twenties

James Barone jb@submergemag.com

and basically just a giant hormone. Now when I watch it, there’s the initial ooo la la reaction, but then I just end up feeling bad, for myself and the people involved. I’m like, these women are, what, 22? Maybe? I’m old enough to be their creepy uncle, and here I am passive-aggressively participating in their exploitation. Then I turn it off and try to cleanse myself by listening to NPR or something. But maybe I’ve been thinking about it all wrong. Maybe I’m the one who’s the victim here. Not the young men and women who perform sexual acts on camera, but me who sits here in my flannel pajama pants and tries to find it online for free, doing the double duty of exploiting and taking money out of their wallets. A couple of Republican lawmakers (one in Virginia and one in—big surprise— Utah) are striving to make pornographers liable for the psychological and emotional damages their products cause. Todd Weiler, state senator from Utah, and Robert Marshall, of the Virginia legislature, are mounting a proposal that wouldn’t outright outlaw pornography in their respective states, but would allow those adversely affected to sue pornographers for damages. “Right now porn is available without any warnings and labeling, without any protections online,” Weiler said in an article published on the Salt Lake Tribune’s website. “This would just open the valve for a cause of action.” Marshall likened the porn industry to the tobacco industry, telling the Washington Post, “Before smoking was identified as a problem, at least the recognition that it led to certain pathologies was a starting point to put restrictions on it.” Marshall’s measure states that pornography promotes the treatment of women as objects and “teaches boys to be users.” It also states that it “normalizes violence and abuse of women and children,” which are all things we should find abhorrent. In so doing, Marshall seems to be making a pretty compelling and universal argument. So much so that even a senator from across the aisle, Barbara Favola, may be on board, according to Newsobserver.com. This is great news! At least lawmakers in one state are coming together to take bipartisan action on something. And if it goes through, maybe one day I can realize my dream of getting rich off of some lawsuit. Hope springs eternal. Dive Into Sacramento & Its Surrounding Areas

SubmergeMag.com

Issue 230 • January 2 – January 16, 2017

Dive into Sacramento & its Surrounding Areas january 2 – 16, 2017

#230

Lee Bob and the Truth

Show Us the Light

larry rodriguez Gazebos Ricky Watts two decades of dance party Memento Mori Leaving His Mark The Kings’ DeMarcus

Cousins Gives Back with Boogie’s Comedy Slam

Help Pave ArtStreet with Beer!

free

36 Albums That Made 2016 Not So Bad