Pizza N Pipes Plea

I need your help. I would like to write something sometime on Pizza N Pipes, either for MidMo or Slice. I only went there once. Does anyone have memories/pictures of it? I recall a banjo orchestra playing when I was there. I found a facebook thing about it including this amazing photo of a LIVE ACTION STAR WARS SHOW ACCOMPANIED BY "INTENSE" PIPE ORGAN MUSIC

sell outs

That show last night was fun, but I can't believe the Bananas sold out for that Snuggies sponsorship! At least Scott and I will finally be able to buy that SUV we've had our eye on.

Hey, it's kinda embarrassing, but that won't stop me from self-promoting by linking to this mini-pizza-based-interview of me on slice.

what's a steamrock?

Speaking of the Scorps, here's my favorite song of theirs.

The Hausu screening last night was pretty packed, and Mr. Lobo was an excellent host. It kind of gave me a headache on the big screen. It's so insane. And I'm going back to the Crocker tonight for the reception for the Helnwein show. I really should become a member. I think it's cute how many people I know are members. Crocker pride!

Don't forget the show on Sunday night. You know the Bananas hardly ever play anymore. And with Cassie Ramone and Nacho Business? What a lineup.

speaking of...

Did you guys know that the artist who did this work (a self portrait) has a big show opening up at The Crocker on Friday night? He now does large, nay huge scale photorealistic oil paintings of creepy young girls. But there's so much more to him than that, and you can read about it in the Feb issue of MidMo. I can't wait to read the interview, he sounds like an interesting guy. This issue is gonna be uh-mazing, starting with the cover.

Speaking of art, here's my article about Alek Bohnak, including a cool picture of him in his studio. This guy is one to watch.

Speaking of the Crocker, tonight is the screening of Hausu there. Stars at 7, hosted by Mr. Lobo and Movies on a Big Screen. Ten bucks, twelve if you want admission to the museum. Go see the Marsden Hartley painting. And some funky, funky, funk art.

rated D

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old school post

I gotta be quick. Busy day. I never do food posts like this anymore.

Last night I made Persian chicken. I started with a petite Rocky chicken. My problem with ethically sourced chickens is often they are also huge, and so they cost like 20 bucks. The Davis co-op has some small ones, which was exactly what I needed. I got the dude to quarter it, and browned it in two batches in olive oil, 4 minutes to a side.

Here's a Lilliputian portion of saffron, more precious than gold.
This doesn't look that pretty, but if this blog had smell-o-vision you'd be in heaven. It's onions, smashed garlic cloves, walnuts, and raisins being sauteed in olive oil and chicken fat.
Then you add pomegranate juice, chicken broth, cardamom, saffron, a cinnamon stick, a big piece of lime zest (or a dried lime if you have it), and the recipe called for allspice berries but I did not have any. Bring to a boil, then put the chicken back in. Then put into the oven at 350. Take out the breasts at 35 minutes, then the thighs after 15 more, then boil the sauce down thoroughly, add a little red wine vinegar to up the acidity and voila. It's fall off the bone at that point.
I have been so stoked on dates for a while. They are a miracle food. This is an escarole salad with bacon, dates, toasted walnuts, and a warm dressing made of bacon fat and red wine vinegar. Just a little fat! You have to eat it ASAP or it will start to congeal.
Here's the wine I drank it with. It's a pineau d'aunis. I got it at Terroir. 22 bucks and it's delicious.
Brown food doesn't photograph well. I served it with quinoa rather than couscous.

Hausu

I drove to the Bay to do some artsy-fartsy activities this weekend, and it was so energizing. Have you guys been to the Oakland Museum? I loved it, especially the huge outdoor sculpture area with a 70s vibe. And it's walkable to The Trappist. Perfect.

Speaking of artsy-there is a must-see film screening this Thursday. Movies on a Big Screen is showing Hausu at The Crocker. It's a kerazy Japanese movie from '78. It rules. The screening is hosted by Mr. Lobo. It starts at 7. I bet it will be crowded so don't be late.

Another exciting development is that The Bananas are going to playing this Sunday. Cassie from Vivian Girls is playing a solo show, and as she is just about the number one Bananas fan, she demanded that they be put on the bill. It's at The Hub, with one band TBA.

Beer Awareness

The Shack has a ton of good brew right now. Maybe not so much on draft, but draft and bottles combined. I am hoping that smiller will weigh in on the comments for brew tawk.
This is a beer brewed by Fantome called Pissenlit. Apparently that is some joke on peeing. Most Belgian and Dutch beer names are a joke on butts or boobs or peeing. It's very sophisticated. It is delish.
This is the Allagash interlude, a sour beer. I would give it a C as compared to other sour beers, and an A compared to the normal crap that most places have on tap. It did not knock my socks off. The Shack has it on draft right now.
I barely tasted this. Smiller liked it.
This is the Houblon Chouffe. I was trying to capture that the glassware has backwards writing that is meant to be read through the glass, over the gnome's head. I think it says "magic chouffe" Chouffe refers to a dwarf or gnome in the Walloonian dialect, so says the internet. This is a delicious hoppy brew. I love it.

thoughts?

woahwoahwoah, major blast from the past!! read the whole thing

cute Vader

I just posted about our next MidMoMoNi on the MidMo blog. Mark your calendars. I need to dig out my Badfinger. The one album I have (the good one) is so fucking scratched it kind of harshes my mellow.

Also recently on the website we posted our first edition of what will (hopefully) be a recurring feature called MidMo Peek (nice logo!). I love to see into people's cool houses so I really wanted us to do this, and JaNatalie were kind enough to open their house to us. That said, I wish there were more pictures and it didn't quite go far enough in capturing the overall bestness of their stuff and how cute they are. Tim is probably getting bugged by reading this right now. At least click on the pictures individually to get the detail. The picture of Jay and the bunny rules. Check out that hand painted Darth Vader cup above! It kills me.

report

I heard the Verge party was fun. Did you guys all go? I was in L.A. It was so warm and sunny! I saw some Magic. I ate at Umami Burger and Greenblatt's. And Luscious Dumplings, of course. I did not take any pictures whatsoever.

thank you thank you

Wow, we had like 60 or 70 people come to our screening last night! I am so touched that there are that many people out there interested in Christo, and art, and The Verge, and Doug, and whatever else brought everyone out. Doug was charming and the movies were soooo good and so inspiring. I have a whole new perspective on Christo and Jean-Claude. It brought me out of a weird, ingrained life-long skepticism that I had against them. Running Fence and Valley Curtain were so gorgeous, and how cool is it that of all the places in the world he could have put the fence, he chose Marin and Sonoma counties, which I agree are some of the most beautiful spots in the world. Wow wow wow is all I can say. Thanks Sacramento.

My wine piece is in the SNR. Thanks to all the wine pros who participated.

killing me

Let's see, I'm behind deadline on two articles so what could I be doing today....reading Neil Hamburger's twitter! I highly recommend it. I could explain to you why it's funny but that's never funny.

who listens to the radio?

As I previously posted many times, tonight at 730 is the latest MidMoMoNi at The Verge. We're showing Mayles-directed documentaries about Christo and Jean Claude. Halftime lecture by Doug Biggert. Three bucks.

A man and his cat. It was so nice to get some sun yesterday!
Record at Esoteric. Esoteric is such a good record store. Remember when it used to be downtown? I barely do.
I got a record by an Australian band called The Sports. Pretty good. Here's a video

the albatross and the whales, they are my brothers

Before I do a real post, here's a little morning inspiration for you. Did you know the Little River Band are Australian?

scrutinize if you will

Here's the info on the MidMoMoNi screening this Thursday at The Verge.

Here's the tour shirt for The Babies that Cassie made. Scrutinize the Sacramento drawing and you may see a familiar image.

Is it coming back?

I call this picture "where the fuck did the Christmas tree go?" She's obviously suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Can I take a second to salute DJ Rick for all his tireless hard work in almost single-handedly being the bedrock that the Sac music scene rests on? He managed to pull off a night of two shows (although he didn't book the one at the DAM house I don't think) that resulted in a sell-out crowd for the Saturday late show at the Hub. And what a lineup! Man, the Mantles killed it. I liked White Fence but missed about half their set. And then The Babies were so good, too. Thanks Rick!

I guess the guy in White Fence (who is the brother of one of the guyzz in Nodzz-he's also in White Fence) has a side band that is popular, like on TV, in a Target comp., etc. Here's a video of his other band, Darker My Love. Isn't that a totally emo name? But they're not emo.

Maharishi Vedic Honey

So, this artist I was rappin' at last night turned me on to these videos. Do you need to relax? Are you tense? I recommend you take a hot bath, smoke a j-bone and watch a few of these.

This one's particularly good (but I can't embed it). This one will do the trick as well.

Spitz

Is it wrong that I want to spend 600 bucks for a six foot tall version of this poster? If it is then I don't wanna be right.

The new MidMo is out, and online as well. There's lots of good stuff, Anton Barbeau's Musical Chairs stands out because he's not one of our stable of writers (and a stable of thoroughbreds it is!) I love how OMF quietly turns out rock-solid art articles every month. No big deal, just the best art writing going on in the Sac area.

PLEASE email MidMo if you wanna do a Musical Chairs!! OMF has a hard time finding people to do it.

So that Mantles/Babys/White Fence late show is on Saturday at The Hub. Don't forget! Sac doesn't really represent for the Mantles the way they should, not that they've ever complained. They like playing Sac. I will complain for them.

photo link

Liv and Biggert and I had a little meeting over brews to talk about his slide show at our MidMoMoNi screening next Thursday. His photos of the Valley Curtain project, which he participated in in '72 are great. Women really did not wear bras back then.

Liv mentioned this street photographer whose work was recently discovered, Vivian Maier. Wow, her photos are heart-poundingly good. I really like the pictures of isolated body parts, like just chunky calves, or a butt oozing out of a bench. The guy who discovered all her negatives is raising money to film a documentary about her. Sadly, she died before he had a chance to talk to her.

Portlandia

Pretty funny. I forgot about the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow. I saw it at least once.

SNR roundup

I noticed that Au Lac Veggie had changed to Loving Hut but I had no idea there was a cult involved! Scandalous.' The book the "supreme master" wrote called The Birds in my Life looks pretty wacky. You can turn pages of it here. Warning: comic sans font is involved

Dan's column was really funny this week.

MidMoMoNi next week

Here's a couple of pictures Slice didn't want to use. I really like the spinnocoli one! Spinnocoli eye-view.
Me and Liv's movie night at The Verge approacheth. It's next Thursday, the 13th at 7:30. Those of you who came to the last, super fun screening know that it will actually be pretty warm inside. I was able to take my coat off. We'll have popcorn and some brews and beverages like last time. And, oh yeah, what are we showing?

Short films, some of them filmed by the famous Mayles Bros, about Christo and Jean Claude. Doug Biggert, who worked on one of their installations (running fence?) is going to give a little slide show about it, too.

Do you remember when Christo was such a big deal? He was probably one of the only current artists who penetrated my brain as a kid living in Lincoln. Mostly because his Surrounded Islands piece was so roundly mocked around my house. Now that project strikes me for how non-environmentally correct it is. Surrounding islands in plastic! The fact that it's hot pink makes it look hella 80s.

so cute!

DreamDate - Melody Walks (live) from cleanwhitelines on Vimeo.

Dreamdate have a new video

good one

Wow, I was catching up on Amanda's blog (linked at right under Best Summer Ever) and found this photo. So cool!

I'm back!

2011! Biz has declared that 2011 is going to be everything 2010 promised to be, but wasn't. Or something like that.

Did you know The Mantles are coming back to Sac this Saturday at The Hub? With The Babies (Vivian Girls/Woods)? P.S. The Babies aren't just an allstar band, they are actually really good. And of course The Mantles are tops.

Oops, I put Friday at first but it's Saturday and it's a late show so that people can go to the DAM haus show first.