arrivederci sacto

All right! I'm about to leave, and I won't be back until April 7th.

The Bananas are playing tomorrow with Scared of Chaka in Reno. Circus Circus here I come! All signs point to that show being off the chain.

The Rippers are playing again tomorrow at Old I, and it's also the Trouble Makers 15th anniversary show! And then both bands are playing on saturday in Reno.

dirty deals

Doesn't it seem like there should be some law against the city doing this? I guess the deal must have been scrutinized by lawyers, so I guess it's ok. It smells dirty. (oops, link added. thanks scott. my only reader)

I will be out of town on friday, so I can't go, but the weathersoul is having a bbq that will probably be off the chain. It's really cheap! They had better hope it doesn't get too popular or the city will shut it down. On second thought, I don't think they can sell beer and wine yet, so they are probably safe for now.

We are holding our "first of many" Friday Night BBQ's at Old Soul at the Weatherstone. Our patio is a great place to spend time--so, please join us for Baby Back Ribs (Bledsoe pork, of course), homemade corn bread, and "greens." Price is $7 per person. We will begin serving at 4 pm and go until 7 pm or so (or until we're sold out).

What: Friday Night BBQ
Where: OS at W, 812 21st (Between H and I)
When: Friday, March 28, 4 PM until 7 PM (or until sold out!)
Why: We like to serve you great food in a great atmosphere.

If you haven't visited us at Weatherstone yet, now would be a great time to check us out! If you have, you know how cool it is! Stop in Friday--you won't be sorry!!!!!!!

Tim and Jason
Old Soul

Can I please call a moratorium on calling anyone who cares about beer at all a "beer snob"? Sure, there are beer snobs and wine snobs in the world, but there's a difference between a beer snob and someone who cares to drink more than Bud and Pabst. In this article, MD reviews a place that I'm curious about in Folsom. Nothing about the article gave me any feeling it would be good, but the owner is posing with a Fantome, which is intriguing. Goddamn that Fantome looks delicious.

remember the 90s? part 2

OK, guys, sorry I haven't been posting. And I'm off tomorrow and all next week!

I am caught in the grip of a 90's madness. I am pretty obsessed with reading about Rollerderby and Lisa Carver right now. I just received the Rollerderby book from Amazon yesterday, and this morning I was quizzing smiller about Cindy Dall, and now I'm getting so 90's that I'm thisclose to ordering the other re/search book I would like but don't have (the incredibly strange films one). Then I remembered that Modern Primitives Re/Search and how much it creeped me out. I know, I don't expect anyone to care about this stuff, but I can't stop thinking about it. I was dreaming about Rollerderby last night. Right now I'm watching G.G. Allin on Springer on youtube and he's talking about having sex with animals onstage and how people get raped at his shows. I remember watching that and totally believing it! Do you realize how long ago he od'ed? 1993! Sorry this blog is becoming like "remember this?"

Shopping at Otos is such a breath of fresh air. The cute little carts. The pristine atms that don't make annoying loud beeps like at Safeway. Yesterday I spied something I had never seen at the fish counter. They had a couple of types of fish that were coated with this beige stuff. I asked the guy what it was, and it turns out it's this stuff called "kasazuke", which is also referred to as "sake lees". It's the solid stuff left over when sake is filtered. I guess it is quite nutritious and contains yeast and amino acids. They had both gindara fish and salmon that was coated with it. I got the gindara, which is also known as butterfish, which is the fatty fish that can give you the runs. Luckily the cut was really small. I panfried it and it was amazing! The taste of the kasazuke is so rich and slightly sweet that it tasted like fish custard! The marinade had really penetrated the fish. I guess you can put this stuff on your face, too. Maybe it makes your face as soft as face custard.

celebrity sighting

I had a Kevin Johson sighting at 33rd st bistro last night. Two suprises: one, dressed kind of dumpy, in jeans and sneaks (and not even cool ones). Two, not really that tall. He was having dinner with the woman who owns Underground books.

That's all I got. Happy monday?

all ages show tonight

So, it's official. The Man has shut down Coolcat gallery. No Knock Knock show. Seems like Coolcat could at least have the courtesy to update their myspace page and tell people that if they're not gonna call the bands. However, there's a show tonight at Java Lounge that should be fun. It's th' losin' streaks, agent ribbons, and a band from Sardinia named the Rippers. Starts at nine?

amen?

First day of spring, y'all. Can I get an amen? Nevermind that I am locked in a windowless room most of the day. That can't bring me down today. Well, OK it can, and is.

I got to go to the Sammies nominating thing at Brew It Up last night. It was so fun! I love Sac, and that was a very Sac event. The attendees were mostly representing the djing/hip hop loving crew of Sac, and it was rad how they got super heated arguing about the categories, yet still stayed civil because we all recognized the fact that we are a bunch of live music fans, even if we can't agree on whether such and such crew should be known by whatever name. The band name Warm Streams got a laugh out of the whole crowd. The food at Brew It Up was ATROCIOUS though. They served me the mealiest, pinkest tomato I've ever seen in my life.

zine scene

Knock Knock show saturday at the Coolcat, but you probably already know that.

I thought for sure I had already talked about Rollerderby Zine at some point on heckasac (is that called blogger vu? terrible), but google informs me this is not so. It's on my mind because smiller scored me a copy of one of her books from Beers. I only got a few issues of Rollerderby but is freaked me out and fascinated me in a way things can do when you're young. The same kinda way I would feel when I would see G.G. Allin on some talk show. And indeed, Lisa Carver mentions running into G.G. Allin in a bus station when she was like 16 and how it changed her life. Luckily I was so scared by that stuff that I never became some poo eating performance artist or anything. She has a real six degrees of sacto connection, or more like one degree because didn't she live here or something? Or she dated Bill Callahan when he lived here? There's juicy stuff about Bill Callahan in the book I think, maybe she will mention Sac. Did anyone else read this zine? What zines did you read? I check out the zines that are for sale on ebay occasionally to see if they are ebay gold yet and they are not. I used to mostly read Morrissey zines and Maximum I guess. I had a few riot grrl zines. I did a zine that only one person has ever read and it's humiliating to think about.

the saucy maid and the lecherous footman, a farce

I did a dumb thing this morning. I chopped my bangs in desperation. Yikes. Not good.

Can I infringe on Barnesyard territory and post about movies some more? Smiles Of A Summer Night was really funny! It was sooo much better on big screen (even if it is just a projected DVD) because I realized ten minutes in I had already watched it less than a year ago but watching it at home by myself I fell asleep during it like 59 times and barely remembered it. Again, it had the tone of Shakespearian farce and reinforced my conclusion that Seventh Seal shouldn't be interpreted to be as serious as most people take it to be. Smiles is very silly. The weirdest thing is that is has the most terrible "night" shooting I've every seen. You know how in the old days, directors would shoot "night" scenes during the day and use those filters that made everything look weird? In this movie Bergman just shoots scenes on sunny days and pretends that they are at night. It's very strange. I could have done without a lot of the scenes of the saucy maid and the lecherous footman musing on the nature of love.

The guy who may be my favorite director who is currently at the top of his game (as opposed to guys that are still working, like Scorcese, but not at their peak) is the Austrian director Michael Haneke, and his new movie is currently playing at the Tower. Problem is, it's a remake of just about my least favorite movie of his from 11 years ago, made with Hollywood actors and in English. This is a really weird and disappointing thing for him to do. I'll still probably go see it, though.

Have you guys seen this? Maybe it will also be printed in the SN&R this week. Hopefully they'll print my emo-ey positive letter, too. Whether you love the article or hate it, someone told me that it got the most hits on their website ever? Did I hear that right? At least it's spotlighting an issue that we can all agree is a problem, even if some of us feel it wasn't reported on to the nth degree of inclusion.

friday show

It seems like kind of a bad sign that I can't find any information on the net about the English Singles/Rock the Light show tomorrow. It's at the Distillery, so it will start late-ish I guess. Anything else?

ebay gold

Dudes! I forgot to post before my day off and I forgot to remind you to remember to go to the Doug Biggert Hitchhiker book thingy and subsequently you (collectively) were not there. While he is not a polished, professional speaker, it was fucking fun and I feel very lucky I was able to purchase his amazing book. There's a 2000 print run of it, very few of which made it to the U.S., and it's almost sold out. Ebay gold.

Speaking of ebay gold, I didn't even know there was a show last night and then I found myself at it. The aforementioned ebay gold is the mayyors (am I spelling that right?) new single. I got it just for chipping in five bucks for the touring band. The mayyors were in fine form. That kind of house party is the best place to see them.

Also, maybe I should keep this to myself, but I have a headache right now that testifies to the fact that the Rubicon guest tap right now is Anchor Bock. Tasty, but maybe two was too many on top of and preceding a few other assorted beverages?

to be be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness

I was suprised at how stoked I was on the Seventh Seal. I didn't remember much about it besides the playing chess with death stuff. The wisecracking of the squire makes it seem very Shakespearian. It's quite touching at times and disturbing because Bergman and I feel the exact same way about death. Terrrified.Not like we're alone in that. Another whose thinking about death I totally grok (oh man terrible) is Woody Allen. I was searching online for the part of Love and Death where he is sending up the Seventh Seal, and I came upon this clip from it on youtube which reminds me of how funny this movie is. I'm gonna Netflix it pronto.

Speaking of netflix, the only crappy part about the films at the Mondavi, is that they just screened a DVD, and on a screen that wasn't even that big (and on which the movie was not properly framed). I guess that's the best I can hope for in the greater Sacramento area, but it's really, really a rip for them to charge non-students ten bucks. I got a big dollar off with my staff discount. Nevertheless, I'm stoked to go see Smiles On A Summer Night next week.

Seventh Seal tonight

It took a surprising amount of time for me to upload these crappy photos. Hope you appreciate the hard work.

I've been on a real Japanese cooking kick ever since I went to Oto's last week. I've been making delicous miso soup (so easy and cheap!), and the other day I concocted this salad.

The co-op had these beautiful little savoy cabbages, and surprisingly, they are also quite cheap. Two tiny heads were like 1.50. I chopped those, along with a fuji apple, and made a dressing of rice vinegar, a splash of mirin, sesame oil, and miso. I let it sit for a little bit with the dressing on. Delicious! Oto's has lots of lovely sashimi grade fish, and it's about five bucks for enough for a light meal for two.

It appears to be mushroom season and the sac co-op has tons of fresh mushrooms, including chanterelles, golden trumpet, black truffles, and maitake. Does anyone have any treasured recipes for using these? I don't want to let the season pass me by.

I wen't to Sam's hofbrau this weekend, which I'm sure many of you are aware is pretty badass. There was a huge line, including many with walkers, canes and larks.

A friend told me that her son excitedly cries out "meat on a chain" when they are going here to eat. Of course, I didn't capture that in a picture, but if you've been there you've seen it.

Corned beef on an onion roll with German potato salad.

The Seventh Seal plays at the Mondavi Center tonight. Tickets are ten bucks. I'm there.

ben knotts

Lost was sooo good, I love how that was like an old school episode, like way back from last season. Not watching it drunk and stoned this week allowed me to better appreciate the nuances. My love for Ben grows. I love to hate that guy. Those little pursed lips. The Don Knotts-ness. I can't wait to see lil Maxwell's interpretation of Faraday (is it up on youtube yet?, I hear the last video is a youtube sensation).

Happy birthday to Charles on saturday!!!!!!

The town is abuzz about that Nick Miller article. It's so well-written! Concise! Depressing!

sign this petition

Maybe it's pms or something (is there a post-ms?) but that article by NM on all-ages venues has got me all choked up and I'm thisclose to firing off a tear stained email to news and review to thank him for it. Expect some embarrassing autobiographical exposures.

And now I'm about to cry about something else. CH just sent this around to the Poinsettia list. That reminds me, the Rite Aid in my 'hood is now open. I'm glad I hardly ever walk that way so I don't have to constantly be filled with rage.

Hello all-
The Walgreens corporation is planning to build a 12,000 square foot store on Alhambra between L and Capitol, where the Mayflower restaurant and the old Luis's restaurants are. This is directly across the street from the Rite Aid and one block away from the Safeway, both of which already have 24 hour pharmacies, and as most of you know Sacramento already has had an explosion of Rite Aids, Walgreens and Longs. Do we really need another pharmacy? Much less a 12,000 foot behemoth with zero lot lines right up to the sidewalk in a historic district? These large corporate pharmacies have a history of building near each other in locations all over the US in an attempt to put the other out of business. Don't let Alhambra become the newest battlegound in their little war. Please read and sign the online petition and forward it to as many people as you think might care about this issue.

Thanks!

Sacramento Alhambra Corridor Neighborhood
Association
Email: esacna@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.esacna.org
Online Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stopwalgreens/

exciting?

I'm excited to read that all-ages venue cover story in the SNR today. That's rad that this issue is getting such a high profile airing. At this point though, there are barely any venues at all, for any age.

Uh, yeah, show tonight at Old I. I'm gonna try to stay up late for it. Exciting.

fly or wrench?

MD has a pretty lengthy article on Darrell Corti in todays Bee. Not a whole lot new here. The other day he reported in his blog that Darrell is in Portugal right now buying port (lucky dude) and that the old lady who crashed into the store destroyed some valuable bottles. It could have been a lot worse, though. Maybe they should move that section into an uncrashintoable part of the store. That's scary. I'll never taste one of the ancient wines in that dusty locker, but I still want them to be there so I can pretend that I can one day.

Breton gives a double dose of sanctimony today. He gets to suck up to Ella restaurant AND firefighters. And he sneaks in more praise for the doomed Three Monkeys. I feel bad for Three Monkeys (and Ella) because the city sold them a false bill of goods and I'm sure much of what they promised for that area is on hold because of a certain local wrench-in-the-works. He adds Texas Mexican into his list of the only businesses bringing life to downtown. Is that the same Texas Mexican that was forced out of business due to the citys redevelopment schemes and only brought back because of that same fly in the ointment? Must be a different one.

Brazilian albumface

OK, sorry, but can you stand another albumface post? This one is to thank JC, for sending me such a crazy Vashti Bunyan bootleg shirt from Bangkok! What a great guy! It says some funny stuff at the bottom in English like "we dress what we want".
Then, after we shot this, Tom Ze stopped by, and he liked the t-shirt, too.

And then Steve wanted to get in on all the fun. You can tell from her rigid body posture that she's really enjoying this.

biggert!

Skip a minute in to this newsreport to see the deal. It will help if you know French. Local eccentric Doug Biggert has published an amazing book of photographs of hitchhikers. He will be at Time Tested signing the book on March 12th at 7:30. This is not to be missed!

OK, so I missed the Ganglians show. I was bummed not to go but I had my reasons. Did anyone go? There's a good show on thursday, too. It's at Old Ironsides. The Losin' Streaks, The Fall-Outs and The Unnatural Helpers. Does anyone want to talk up the Fall-outs?

show tonight

The new Midtown Monthly is out! I got a nice letter from the owners of Uptown Cafe! What a thrill!

Old Soul is now operating their second branch out of the Weatherstone. I checked it out on sunday. They are still getting it up and running and the tables are in an awkward configuration, and they don't have any baguettes or savories yet, however, the coffee I had was about 60 trillion times better than any cup that Java City has ever brewed, so yay! And I like the way they have their copies of Midtown Monthly positioned. They take their rightful place beside the News and Review, but without six or ten other free local papers cluttered around. Just those two. Mano a mano. In a bloodless fight to the death. The death of a thousand paper cuts.

Ganglians house show tonight! at 8? With three bands and one TBA. Why can't it just be three? Why? Why?