check this crazy list

I just started with a big arena thing and then deleted it three times. Never mind.

The Anchor Brewing night was really fun! Kane from Anchor was cool and clearly could talk about Anchor forever.  We had a really engaged crowd.  A few Anchor superfans.

Natalie wanted me to remind people to go to the Halloween show blog (linked at right) and tell them which bands are actually happening. That will help with scheduling.

Dudes, the Shelton Bros event at Pangaea on Friday is going to be off the chain.  So many crazy good brews. Here's a list:

De Ranke Noir - cross btw abbey dubbel/Belgian stout - Belgium

Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek - Belgium

Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial - sour brown w/ cocoa, cinnamon, spices - USA

Mikkeller/BrewDog I Beat yoU IPA - Denmark/Scotland

Mikkeller/Three Floyds Boo Goop - hoppy buckwheat wine - Denmark/USA

Haandbryggeriet Hesjeol - multi grain, slightly smoked traditional Norwegian brew - Norway

De La Senne Taras Boulba - hoppy pale ale - Belgium

Oppigards Well Hopped Lager - Sweden

Mahr's Ungespundet Lager - unfiltered kellerbier- Germany

Dieu du Ciel Route des Epices Rye Pepper Ale (green & Black peppercorns) - Canada

leave it alone

Cool, torrential rain should really help the attendance at the Anchor event tonight.  Oh well.  I'm stoked about a sandwich and a Liberty Ale and watching the Beer Hunter.

I know a lot of important stuff went down in Sac yesterday.  The arena, the White Supremacists vs. Occupy, but let's talk about something that really important:

All the cars I've ever had have had over 100,000 miles, some way over.  At that point, things start to break, such as door handles, windows, etc.  One of the things that often breaks is the thing that pops the gas cap open.  My blue Geo had that problem, and now my 92 Honda has that problem.  So to open it, I need two people, one to press the thingy on the inside and one to press the thingy on the outside (like sex).  I hate asking people at the gas station to do it.  So you would think the solution would be to just leave the thing popped all the time (like sex), right?  Well, I try to do that and every time, within a day, some psychopath walking by shuts it.  Why? Why? Why? Do you think this is your good deed for the day?  Do you think someone is going to STEAL MY GAS if you don't do this?  Have you ever actually seen anyone siphoning gas out with a garden hose and mouth suction (like sex)?  This is not the depression, no one is doing that!!  Leave it alone, I beg you. Do another good deed, like picking a gum wrapper up off the sidewalk.

OK, I just have to comment on this arena headline: elation now - big votes next.  Elation? Isn't that a little strong?  Besides K.J., Breton, and a few developers who stand to make a bunch, is anyone really "elated"?

clownin' around

 I did a lot of clownin' around this weekend, as you can see.

 The only beer week event I've attended thus far is the Ruhstaller brunch at Bows which was AWESOME.  Really well attended, and the weather on the patio was perfect.

 This is a Black IPA (good) with a sandwich of braised greens, fried egg, bacon and really goaty goat cheese. Fuckkkk!!!!

Look how many bikes were outside Bows.  I hope they do more brunches.  They have Hummel's Hangover Brunch this upcoming Sunday.

The two best Beer Week events are still to come:  Beer Hunter episode screening and Anchor Brewing night at Bows on Tuesday.  We'll screen the episode around 8, and the Anchor Rep will have good prizes to give out!!! Also, you can get Anchor Steam, Liberty Ale, and Breckle's Brown on draught and get a pint glass if you want one.

And probably the most exciting event is:  Shelton Night at Pangaea on Friday.  Keg of Cantillon, anyone?  Marie D. will be in town for it, so come and say hi and drink the best beer on earth.

Did you guys catch this comment at the end of the thread about the arena?  Pretty funny.  Also, it coined a new phrase: "non-arena supporter"

I know it's expensive, but I think it's time Sacramento buys itself something nice.

Any of you non-arena supporters ever buy yourself something nice or are you only buying the bare bones basics all the time? 

Let's live a little here

accidental purchase

Here's a cool interview with Sacramento artist and musician Christine Shields.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: her record is really good.

I'm not feeling that inspired by beer week, maybe because I just spent a bunch on cocktail stuff, including a top-of-the-line cocktail shaker which I accidentally bought and then decided not to take back. That's a pretty exciting story, huh?

 The Ruhstaller brunch at Fat Face on Sunday sounds interesting, not so much because of the beer (I would say meh if I said meh) but because Jaymes is making special sandwiches for it.  Also, next Sunday is a Hummel Hangover Brunch. So maybe some brunch is in my future.  Here's a post on the Bows blog about all their beer week events, including some stuff about the event I'm hosting.

I'm watching the Beer Hunter episode right now and it's rad! I can't believe I've never been on the Anchor tour.

Some food trucks are going to be parked at Beatnik Studios (right off Broadway) tonight. The sandwiches sound delicious.

Rick come back!

Augh (is that what Charlie Brown says?) I am getting depressed looking at undietacos.  It's a wasteland, a desert of shows that is only enlivened by the occasional desert bloom (G. Green, Ganglians, English Singles/SLA show on ST PATRICKS DAY).  Why is this?  Because Rick isn't booking shows, right?  That's what I heard.  Please Rick, come back!! I know it's a thankless job but I send you a million thanks for all the great, fun, invigorating, inspiring shows you have booked over the years.  Fuck.

Here's my Scene and Heard in the SNR on the Locke Liver Feed.  I'm happy they had space for it.  Although a bit miffed that I was not asked to contribute to their beer week coverage, a cover story yet.  Will I go to my grave without a cover story? Perhaps. Wow, that story is really short, too.

Fedora Friday!

I gotta get a new banner photo. I hate the one I have.

First things first, are you coming to the Anchor Brewing night at Bows?  I will be there hosting a screening of the episode of the Beer Hunter where he visits Anchor.   Also, a rep from Anchor will be there giving out prizes and there will be Anchor brews.  I gotta ask Olivia which ones.  I'll let you know.  I just looked at the Beer Week calendar for the first time.  Beer Week starts Friday.  It's weird, but Hot City Pizza is going to have a bunch of sours and barrel aged stuff.  It says Friday night, but it will be available throughout the weekend.  It's in the strip mall where OpaOpa is.  Pangaea is having stout and oyster night.  I don't really agree that those two things go together.  Also, Swabbie's is jumping on the bandwagon.  Track 7 is releasing a beer, that's cool.  Iron Steaks is having.....fedora Friday? That's every Friday around my house.  Yep, no pants and a fedora for everyone, even the cat.

Breton wrote a column today about how urgent it is that we quickly sell the city's parking assets to finance an arena. Surprise. Here was a little nugget buried in there:

Some say, why not use city parking assets to fund city services?
It's simple: Cities get into trouble by using one-time assets to fund ongoing expenses. The price you get for the parking is the price you get, but the cost of services continues and goes up over time. What happens when the parking money runs out? It's bad budgeting.

Ok, am I wrong here or did he just pull a fast one? He just reframed the debate as between a) selling the once and future assets to finance an arena or b)selling the once and future assets to "fund city services"

He's completely cut the option of the city just keeping the status quo and collecting ten million (and more as time passes and parking rates are raised) dollars a year FOREVER.  Nice sleight of hand, Breton. Also, fuck you.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/22/4281219/marcos-breton-arena-plan-drives.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

pictures from the set

You may have sensed some extra excitement in the air on Saturday.  If you did, it was because a movie was filming.  It's great to have these productions pumping money into our local economy.  Why, Davey probably spent 15, if not 20 dollars at Target on hot dogs and beer.

Can you believe they scored Poseidon for a cameo? What a coup. He surfed in on the river and popped over.  Inside scoop: he's a total diva.  He demanded all his jewelry be made of gold.  More pictures from the shoot after the jump

Tiki Men!!

Do you guys ever dream of living in a town without a basketball team?  What if you could read the paper without the headline every day being about the increasing urgency of finding public financing for an arena for the Kings?  What else would they find to write about? Real city issues that affect citizens, perhaps?  Also, for how long can urgency keep increasing?  Doesn't it have to reach a peak at some point? A climax?

Speaking of climax, I highly recommend "In the next room (or the vibrator play)", which is currently running at Capital Stage.  It's a good play, very well staged, with a terrific comedic performance by Katie Rubin.  It ends with a male nude scene and one woman quite audibly gasped "oh my god" and laughed, and many other people tittered.  Grow up people! They kind wrecked the intimate spell that had been created.  I bet people in cities with new arenas don't laugh when an actor bares his butt.

I have a couple of pieces in the SNR this week, one about coffee, and one an interview with the owner of Candy Heaven in Old Sac.  Both of them are accompanied by great photos.

Knock Knock LP listening party at Phono Select tonight at 7 and then Four Eyes show at Javalounge!! Oh wait, are the Four Eyes still playing?

 Couple of photos I took on my day off.  I went to the Delta with a fun crew: Skipper, Archbishop "Dave" Smith and Ed H.  Free liver lunch!

 Cat in the sun in Locke

 Wow. Foster's Big Horn.  I had no idea the extent of the taxidermy. I literally walked around with my jaw agape. LITERALLY

 This is Yeti, a magazine, mostly about music.  It's a great mag, with in depth articles about obscure bands and performers, and good photography, too.  The current issue (it comes out a couple of times a year) features a super long article about Sacramento's own Tiki Men!  Here are a couple of pictures, pick one up for yourself!  Just walk over to Newsbeat...oh, yeah, you can't do that anymore.  I got my copy at the Davis Newsbeat and any readers who live in real cities (with real arenas) can probably find one.  Does Phono Select have copies? They sometimes carry it.

 Here's a taste of what's inside

Look at those handsome dudes. Yowza

Mmmm, food

Yay! I finally feel better! Food sounds good to me again.

BAR weighed in on the Fox and Goose brouhaha (brewhaha?) in MidMo. I'm glad it's not about my Megami review!  P.S., I think she did banish it, because she got rid of the rack, right?

tales of blarg

Guys, I've been sooooooooooo sick.  I am never sick and I am a big baby about it.  I was projectile everythinging and I slept on the bathroom floor.  I feel like I have PTSD about it.  I think I puked out a tiny bit of my joie de vivre and it's not back.  Perhaps that resides in the bile? Maybe the Romans were right.

I've done nothing, I have nothing to say and I have a ton of work to get to.  How were all the weekend festivities?

comedy and beer

Did you guys know Dave Chapelle did two sets at the Punchline last night? Crazy, huh? I guess he went till 2:30 in the morning on his second set.

Man, there is a lot of stuff going on in the next few weeks.  Friday the Ganglians are playing at Bows.  Saturday there are various Second Saturday happenings, including a reprise of Future Art Notables at the Verge, and probably other stuff I don't really know about.

Next week I'm super excited that Everthing Is Terrible is bringing a live show to Bows, with MOM opening the show.

And speaking of Bows, where apparently everything is happening, I am hosting a beer week event there on Tuesday, February 28th at 7:00 pm.  It's a screening of the Anchor Brewing episode of the cult TV show The Beer Hunter.  And there will be various Anchor beers on draught.  It will be fun, and you can easily be home by 9pm!!!! I know that's the part that will really excite some of you.

Thiemann

My heart was kinda pounding as I looked at the Bee this morning (and by the way, I became a weekend subscriber because the Times is too expensive - I'm mostly after the crossword), because I knew I might be quoted.  Yipes.  Chris Macias did a big piece on Mike Thiemann and he was nice enough to think of me.  I was afraid I would sound like an ass because I didn't expect him to ask me about the Loft.  I tried to describe it and I'm pretty sure I said it was "edgy" and I might have even said "dangerous".  Anyhoo, he didn't use that part so I'm ok with it.  This sounds like a humblebrag I guess.

And really the point is that it's about Thiemann.  I'm going to Ella for happy hour today and I'm psyched.  I hope to afford a full meal there soon.

Smiller is going to get his Pliny the Younger on today, for the first time.  I hope there isn't a massive line.  Some people were waiting for like 5 hours, but that's because they went on like the first day. Some people just love to wait in line (e.g. San Franciscans).

Now let me go read the article!

Hoop of love? Is that dirty?

Fuck! this song is the biggest ear worm in the world. This band is rad! They are great live, too.

sad news.

I'm sad to say that Margaux's dad, Jerry McFetridge died suddenly this weekend.  She said it would be OK to talk about it here.  Look at these great photos she put online.  Beautiful.  Coincidentally, he was recently prominently featured in a SacBee article about some trees in the Delta.  I think the photo and quote capture his spirit really well.  I wish we could save those trees in his name?  There are actually some nice, helpful comments on the article (shocker) from people who would like to help.

NO FUCKING WAY

I can't believe this. This is awesome.

When I was still a teen (or maybe 20 and extremely immature) I had a Horny Mormons cassette that I got at Dimple Records. I didn't know nothin' about nothin' as far as Sacramento music yet, but I liked that tape. I remember there was a song about molesting chickens.

polenta n' eggs

Man, polenta is so versatile! It's worth the 40 minutes of stirring.  I made this polenta like a week ago, and I just keep slicing it up and frying it.

If you liked the movie Drive you should check out The Driver.  Refn lifted his opening sequence directly from this movie.  This movie has some of the most wooden acting you will ever see (between Isabelle Adjani and Ryan O'Neal I'm not sure which one is duller, and Bruce Dern just acts like a little bitch), but the car chases are AMAZING.  I don't know how the fuck he staged them.  And a bunch of the scenes are set in Union Station in LA.

criminy

Please, please check out the armeniac's comments on that thread with all the comments below.  I am still LOLing inside (I know that doesn't make any sense)

It is kinda harsh to come in with a hangover and read this.  However, it's nice to get people talking and it really all comes down to my subjective opinion, which is obviously all reviews are.  Yes, you can bring more or less knowledge to the table (I bring as much as I can and I care and I pay attention and I read) and a more or less sensitive palate, that's about it.  I'm no supertaster, which is probably why I'm drawn to cuisines with strong and spicy flavors.  I stand by my review.  The seafood soup that Liv had was like 18 dollars and she said it tasted freezer burned and I agreed.  I HATE writing negative reviews.  Who would enjoy it?  Maybe somebody, but I know BAR doesn't, either.

My hangover resulted from an evening that started at Bows.  I had a glass of the gamay with a shared roast beef sandwich and the squash "meatball" sandwich.  Then I had a glass of the sparkling vouvray.  They were both delicious, as were the sandwiches and the side salad.  Then, we went to Luna's because AR was hosting the comedy night.  Some of it was rough.  It was my first time (well, since Francois Fly) seeing Keith Lowell Jensen perform and he was funny.  Then, a nightcap at Simon's was really the culprit.  If you ever hear me saying "Maker's on the rocks" yell "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" and slap it out of my hand.  That's a sure sign that things have gone too far.  No, j.k., it was fun and it's not much of a hangover.

positivity within my negativity

All right.  Time for some positivity! Yeah! Wednesday! Uh, let's see...I continued my Nicholas Winding Refn jab by watching one of the most poignant gangster movies ever, Pusher 2: with blood on my hands.  This guy is seriously the most pathetic gangster with a really empty life.  It's the anti-glamour crime movie.  I liked it!!

I have a coffee article coming out in the news and review.  I'm stoked.  It's slated for the 16th, which is over a month lag since I wrote it and it feels like forever because I was so excited about it.  It was fun talking to coffee dudes (my bad that I didn't seek out a lady) about coffee.  I've been thinking about it differently since.

Any of you guys eaten at the Porch?  How about Capitol Garage?  You know it's the same people, right?  I know Cap. G. is packed for brunch but I've never had anyone recommend it.