I shan't

Hello folks! I am pretty stoked about Xmas and Babs is stoked about the tree.

Speaking of Xmas (does that annoy you that I spell it that way?) do you know about the Xmas Comp show? It's on Sunday at 4:30. Cody masterminded a Christmas song comp and now everybody who's anybody has contributed a song and some will be performing theirs at the show. How cool that he had this idea and made it a reality. Cody, I bestow on you the Heckasac Git-R-Done Award of 2014 (TM).

 

Last night Scott had an enchiladas hankering so we tried to go to Lalo's. He had the enchiladas there recently and said they are the bomb. I have never thought to order those there but I was also stoked to try them. Why the fuck was Lalo's closed a bit after 6 pm? Then we tried to go to Tacos and Beer on Franklin (otherwise known as Tacos Apatzingan), for their enchiladas Apatzingan and it was also closed!! I wrote about these enchiladas a couple of years ago in the SNR. Ha! I gave the dreaded 3 1/2 star review. 3 1/2 stars are the default for everyone as you'll see if you pay attention.

 

Sooo....we ended up at Tacos Maya on Broadway. I have never been in that building and I wanted to go. It wasn't very good. My beans were mealy and dry and the rice was tasteless. The chicken in my taco on first contact tasted good but then there was something off on the flavor back end. The shredded beef had a good mix of fat and meat but nothing about it stood out. I'm glad I went but that was a pretty heartbreaking enchilada quest and I'm still confused as to why they were both closed. Scott took it like a champ and didn't even get in a bad mood. I have even been driven to tears by a food disappointment before. I've relaxed my food standards since those days. They hit an all-time high back when I was writing a lot and then in the last year or so I am happy to eat at the same places all the time. I am finally hitting the wall with eating at the same places and getting ready to branch out, though. I think that came from eating at Pho Saigon every week for like two months. I have at least three places I am excited to try right now but I shan't disclose in case I do want to write something. I shan't and you can't make me!

Z indeed

TLDR am I right guys?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spend some time with this feature. This is the most entertaining food feature I have read in a long. So many things. Cookie salad. A Mormon dish made with pasta and coolwhip. The fact that in Oregon the #11 search is vegan gravy. Dishes with Snickers in them. So good.

is that a pigdog?

 Saturday Satan Wriders played at Café Colonial. I freaking love Satan Wriders. They are playing Sunday in Stockton and who knows maybe I will go? Manny's keeps coming up in conversation and I wanna eat there hella bad, so I could kill those two wonderful, wonderful birds with one stone.

 I am so picky about bagels that I hardly ever eat bagels. I had bagels a couple of weeks ago, just because I got some to go from Canter's, but I don't even think Canter's bagels are that great. They are just better than any of the bagels in Sac. Yesterday I finally got to to go to Beauty's in Oakland for their Montreal style bagels. That fucking Beauty above was STILL WARM when I ate it. Montreal-style bagels are wood-fired and usually sesame. Me and smiller had them at St. Vieateur in Montreal which is open 24 hours a day! You sit there and watch the bagel come out of an oven on a little conveyer belt which drops it right into your mouth. Or at least that's how I remember it. Doing that late at night is the best idea in the world. That's it - I'm making it my goal to go back to Montreal this next summer. It's been too long for how much I loved it. That and Schwartz's are reason enough.

 In addition to scarfing down the hot bagel I had a smoked trout salad sandwich that was delish, and a bite of lox that melted like butter.

 This dog was in the UCB art museum in a rather lame folk art exhibit. Clearly the work of an untrained artist.

How long has Corti Bros display case full of 17th century pasta tools been up? Has it been there and I just didn't notice it? Corti Bros never stops blowing my mind or draining my wallet. I highly recommend the Basque Cake. It is "almost too good" as the ad says below. It tastes like a really good poundcake with walnuts.

Heckarap!

I was really bummed on Heckarap and didn't get any new songs together and then very pleasantly surprised that it turned out fun. These dudes Machona and Amir are big supporters and they have been encouraging us to stick with it. They dj'ed a set and Machona did a few songs. They had mics and basically toasted, giving shoutouts to the Kings, me and Mike, whatever. Crowd def. arrived late and ebbed and flowed, but not too bad and looked like people were drinking. We got a ten dollar tip from a beautiful lady. She fell off her giant shoes a little later but was obviously having a lot of fun. Hope she feels ok today. This other women came up to me towards the end (she had come in late with a crew of 4) "can you play some hipster music? something that's not gangster? I don't mean to be rude". I was busy and didn't know what to say exactly but I wished I would have asked her for an example of hipster music.

A lot of people arrived about 15-20 minutes to close and I'm guessing they came from something else but I'm not sure what. I know there was something at the Golden Bear. It was really nice to have other DJs cuz then me and MC Ham could dance and hang out in a relaxed, not having to pick a song every second way. We are supposed to team up with those dudes to step up the promotion. We should probably be flyering at Ignorant and Bubble Butt, which is a new night on Monday. I was joking that I don't know what you have to do at the Press to get your night canceled, but now I really hope that doesn't happen. We are already scheduled til January.

There were some very lovely young ladies at our night dressed in a 90s, Sky Ferreira way (I don't know how else to describe it), who were sort of rave or goth dancing while Machona rapped and Mike C. laughed that we have the weirdest night in Sac and we sat there and basked in it. I killed with Aaliyah at the end (to the 5 people still dancing) and this (below) is obviously the song of the moment. I love this song!! I feel like it's giving Big Sean more cred. He has been popular for a while but he is usually a leading candidate for Softest Rapper In The Gamer (the top honor goes to Drake, obviously), but this is a step up. I like him but up until this he hadn't really earned my respect. Which I know is super important to him.

calling out Mark Trail

 You know you are married to the right person when he points out to you how awesome the Corti Bros ads are in the newspaper. Sometimes he cuts them out. Or rather that's how I know I'm married to the right person. By the way, do you read the Corti newsletter? Priceless.

 He also pointed out that the point of Mark Trial in the last week has been to show his gf in a bikini. Her name is CHERRY?!?

 and he finds this just as funny as I do. I agree WuMo is terrible (it replaced Doonesbury) but there are many other comic strips that are worse than Mark Trail. Nevertheless, bravo Ron O'Conner for penning this sure-to-be-controversial letter.

 This is by my house and I marvel at it every time I pass. Tiny baby hands.

This is one of my favorite cocktails - from Lowbrau. It has gin and a yogurt liqueur sounds gross but it's not! Brunch was pleasantly un-crowded at 11 am on Sunday.

 

Oh yeah, and I realized today that I have not looked at the best summer ever blog in like two years. I think maybe since it moved? So there went an hour there. bestsummereverblog.com

 

 

this sounds like an andy rooney segment

Where did the practice of a cashier saying "that will be five dollars" start? Why isn't it "it's five dollars"? It's like it's softening the act of asking you for money by casting it into the future. I also hate "I'll help whoever is next". Boy, do I hate that one, especially because it is often uttered while the person is looking right at me. Just say "I can help you"! Or, if you aren't looking at me "I can help the next person"!

The Bling Ring total garbage. It's not a movie, it's the Pretty Woman shopping montage with cooler music. Really slight. It makes Spring Breakers look deep.

I enjoyed Birdman quite a bit. Michael Keaton is a wonder in it. After watching Beetlejuice recently and tripping on how good he was and then this I'm wondering if I need to revisit his movies but what would I watch? I don't really like any Batman movies all that much. Mr. Mom? Looking at imdb I am remembering I liked Gung Ho as a kid. Wow, he wasn't in that many movies! Oh yeah, Night Shift! Going to the top of the ol' queue. I like the description in imdb uses the word "nebbish".

Looking at this I'm wondering why Michael Keaton is such a big star? I guess just Batman and Beetlejuice? Anyway, glad he's back! Ed Norton is awesome in Birdman, too. I see Oscar for Keaton.

....and I bought Gone Girl in the Long Beach airport because I had 6 hours to kill. There's a deal where you can buy a book new there and then return it for half off in a store in SMF sometime in the next six months. I'm sure there is little chance I will remember to bring it back but you never know. The writing is bad but it's a very fun book. Perfect for an airport. Speaking of the Long Beach Airport (which I am), if you hang out there for six hours you will hear many people remarking in surprise about what a nice airport it is. For some reason it is just such a cozy, pleasant airport. Have you been?

best best fest

Smiller and I went to the Shelton Beer Fest in San Pedro this last weekend and wow it was by a million miles the best beer event I've ever been to. Pretty much every single good brewery in the world was there. We're talkin' Prairie, Drie Fonteinin, (gasp) Cantillon, De Ranke, Mikkeller, Nogne O, Jester King, De Molen and more and more and more. Our hotel in Pedro was like a UN of brewers. In the morning you'd see all of them talking and hanging out (just like regular people!)

There were situations where lines would get really long for tastes of certain rare beers but then you could just wait until those were gone and stroll up with no line for a pour of Cantillon gueze. Good enough for me! I reminded myself that De Ranke Kriek is my favorite kriek in the world. I need to get some of it. No need to search far and wide for magical cherries - I like theirs the best. I tried a Mikkeller/Three Floyds collabo blueberry sour that blew my freaking mind! I don't think I can get it again so I will have to live with that. It tasted just like lambrusco. I also met a very nice brewer from Magic Rock in northern England and drank a pale made with mango that was surprisingly good.

The big celeb news at the beer fest was that one of the Hanson Brothers was there the whole weekend because they have a brewery and that Emilio Estevez came because he owns a wine/beer spot in SoCal.

I had lots of adventures at the fest and in LA, including trips to Roscoe's, Canter's and a place called Fantasy Castle packed with some very nice ladies, but I didn't take any pictures!

That fest was the best. I will go back next year.

classic

 

 

I rarely look back at things I've written, but someone was mentioning eating bugs to me and I remembered that I had eaten one for a story once. This one was fun to write. This guy is a real character, but was also shy and reluctant to talk about himself. I wish I could have drawn him out and interviewed him for longer. Wow, I've been writing for the SNR for over 6 years. My very first thing was a review of a Kingsley Amis book, then interviews with Dal, Larry R. and Karlos. There's that classic pic of him and MOM above. The next one was with Mario Solis, and then Hmong New Year. I forgot about all of this stuff.

 

Classic line from the Solis one:

 

Best seller? Worst seller?

Best seller: Angry Angles. Their Apparent-Transparent 7-inch EP went through two pressings and sold 1,200 copies. Worst seller: the Four Eyes. I blame the format (it’s the lone CD in the Plastic Idol catalog).

 

 

spooooooky tunes

I am attempting to raise the dismal morale at my work and showing Beetlejuice over lunch yesterday and today. Man, does it hold up! I forgot that Michael Keaton doesn't enter the picture except in glimpses until 45 minutes in and steals the goddamned show. Katherine O'Hara and the principle from Ferris Bueller are great too. It's cool that it's not dated because Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin wear the same generic outfits the whole way through. Then it's not like "dude, 90s fashion" or any other distraction like "ha giant cellphones!) I can't wait to see Birdman, which opened at Tower today


2014 played in Stockton and it was soooo fun! It's very cute how the kids hope their new venue will help revitalize some really grim blocks downtown and I hope that it's true. There was a very gothy and punk band made up of members of Satan Wriders that was entertaining and Halloween appropriate.

I am playing an early spoooooky set at the Verge party tonight. Yes, this song kind of sucks but if you think about it it also kind of rules

true story

I went to Hancock's Fabrics and the grandma buying fleece for a quilt said "what is that your tshirt says?" I reluctantly said "Satan Wriders". Then she asked me what my black fabric was for and I demurred because I didn't want to tell her I was making a Zodiac Killer hood.

Do you remember Madame?

I was looking at clips of the puppet Madame, as you do at work when you are not that busy, and I came across this. I guess there was a Red Foxx movie called "Norman, is that you?" and here is a clip with Madame and her puppeteer, Wayland Flowers, who sadly, died of AIDS at 48.

clown controversy

Wow, a coworker just did this: "hi, how are you?" me: Fine. He: you don't look fine. Me: Really? He: yeah you look really tired. OUCH. I think that is soooo rude. I only say that when people say they are tired or sick, then I might agree. And I thought I looked fine. I mean, I only got like 6 hours of sleep but I don't feel tired. Jeez, now I have to worry about how my resting face looks. Guess I better walk around with a fake smile. I didn't say it that enthusiastically, in his defense.

 

This article on the clown art at Pancake Circus is SO RAD! The stuff about the art that was too controversial is insane. Some band folks are in town tomorrow before the King Tuff show and I think I might take them there. Hope they aren't all vegans. No offense to vegans, but usually half of any given band is vegan and it is hard to find a place to take one. PS, the article notes that it MC Ham's grandpa opened it as Al and Bud's Platter in 1961. He and his wife also opened Trails. Which, by the way is staying open longer because the sale fell through. I only pray that someone is going to keep it a restaurant.

 

Speaking of restaurants, just a reminder that Masullo is open on Sundays now! And yesterday he had bread for sale too! It was pretty dead when I stopped by at 6 to get takeout but I think once people know that it's a natural Sunday night dinner spot.

Why, Allo

Wow, there's a really good and very intimate article on Arts and Leisure in the bee today. They are playing with Allo Darlin at WR on Saturday and I'm stoked.

 

I went to the corn maze in Dixon last night. It really is big. Like certified as the world's biggest. Some (me) would say too big. If I hadn't had people leading me through it I would still be there. I was no help navigating and instead played scary music on my phone. The best were the Psycho theme and some EDM Halloween music.

 

It's also a pumpkin patch and they have so many cool pumpkins and they are so cheap! Seems like a great place to go with kids. Instead of getting some 20 dollar heirloom warty green pumpkin at the coop just go to Dixon. It will be fun and even with the gas you will save $.

he is kind of the best

Have you ever gotten the Baker Seeds Catalog? They stopped sending it to me, I'm not sure why, but when I did get it it contained wonderful pictures like this of the owner and his family:

 

or this:

Imagine being in your garden and having them pop up like this

 Dude can rock some overalls

 

 

Formal overalls:

 

He is named Jer Gettle (of course he is) and he started this bomb-ass seed company when he was 17. Here's a NY Times profile. A seed prodigy, if you will. If you care about gardening at all you should send for the catalog or better yet, visit the store in Petaluma. Smiller saw somewhere that he opened the second one in Petaluma (first one was in Missouri) because the majority of his orders were from that area! That's how fancy these seeds are.



 

 

Spoooooooooky

Scott pointed out the month mark yesterday, too. I think I'm gonna be able to do more blog, less facebook. I am trying to get back to being smarter, which for me personally means less social media and less TV. First big step: canceled Netflix streaming and went to one movie at-a-time. I figure not always having a movie will force me to read more so I can increase my attention span. Yesterday I managed to watch an arty French film and enjoy it very much. It's Summer Hours starring La Binoche. It's kind of a nothing-much-happens movie, but I like those. A running theme is the importance and power of beautiful objects and art, which was a running theme in The Goldfinch too (a book I am kind of meh on). At the risk of sounding shallow I stand behind this idea because I think what you surround yourself with greatly influences your state of mind and our objects can stand the test of time when we are dust. Getting deep I guess. This getting smart plan is just what works for me, I'm not saying others need to follow. I think if my job was super stressful I would definitely need that veg-out time and I know HBO has stuff I would probably love.

Halloween approacheth and I'm excited this year because Verge is having a party on the actual day. Finally something to do! Actually, I went to a super fun party last year so I am on a roll. I thought I'd post trailers to some creepy favorites. Parents I loved in the early '90s and watched many times but I just remembered it today for the first time in many years:

The Stepfather is a classic! A family and all that crap!Starring Locke! Here's a cult one that Netflix has. Demonic children! Changeling=scary The Haunting is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen and the book by Shirley Jackson is one of the scariest I've ever read. It ranks up there with Turn Of The Screw, Pet Cemetary,and the Shining Oh god Cujo is majorly traumatizing. Spoiler=in the book the kid dies!! This is going to the top of my queue right now. Stephen King is pretty awesome for teens. I'm pretty sure I've posted about Smooth Talk before. Underrated! Should be a cult classic and the Joyce Carol Oates story is scary too. Thanks for the impetus for this spooooooky post!

Tribes

This is an awesome rebuttal to that garbage Dan Walters wrote. I want the debate to move away from bikes v. cars and towards infrastructure and laws that can help both! As that guy points out, most cyclists own cars! Why does it have to be adversarial?

 

I definitely recommend Tribes at CapStage. It deals with issues of deaf culture and some of it is in sign language (translations are projected on the stage). Some really excellent performances (except for one I didn't like but I won't name names). Two of them, the two that sign in the play, were two of the best I've ever seen on stage. I cried at the end of the first act and at the end of the play.

Lil Wayne vs. Drake vs. play

Drake and Lil Wayne canceled their show tomorrow! Weak sauce! They didn't say it was cuz of lack of ticket sales but that has to be why. Why did they put it in the stupid Marysville arena? It must have more seats than Arco. Dicks, still. Way to disappoint your fans. I am glad to have 180 more dollars to kick around but there must be some teens that are crying their eyes out right now. The 180 was for two, and I was going to give MC a ticket for being our driver and because he would have been the best person to go with!I won't get the chance to vote via phone for which guy wins. I guess they are neck and neck at this point.

My Halloween show bumper sticker sparked a chat with one of the fire department guys on campus and it led to him telling me he was a roadie for Blue Oyster Cult for 21 years! I can't wait to get the full story on that at a department barbecue. The other mindblowing thing is if I had to guess I would have guessed he is 34-35. Roadie-ing keeps you young?

I found two good new podcasts for those of you who love This American Life. The better one is Everything is Stories. The one that is sometimes good is Love + Radio. They are both longform stories, with no narration at all. Some of them are amazing.

I bet I am the only person who is going to see a play tomorrow night instead of Drake and Lil Wayne ha ha.

food (get it?) for thought

I am trying to get a block of Kings tickets for my work and you might be surprised how jank this process is. Maybe you wouldn't. It's kind of just talking to a guy and waiting for him to call you to let you know which games you can get tickets to. I submitted a 200 dollar deposit and am still waiting for the call. I just called and the guy remembers me and is trying to figure out if my survey on what games I want to go to was even submitted. It seemed like it was, but again, it was jank so who knows. All I'm trying to do is give them like 1000 for some crappy seats to a not-very-desirable game.

Jesus Christ, I think I always say this and am surprised anew by how good Magpie is. We were going to go to Waterboy but opted for the "cheaper" spot. HOWEVER, Magpie prices are THE SAME as Waterboy! I am shocked, but our 180 dollar bill last night for 4, in which we only drank maybe 6-7 glasses of cheap/beer wine, clued me in to think wait a minute here!

Here's the breakdown:
apps:
Waterboy- $4-14
Magpie- 5-14

1st Course
Waterboy-9-16
Magpie (does not have a first course per se but I am including salads and a pasta dish - 6.5 (for cup of soup) -17

Main:
Waterboy- 21-29 or AQ for daily fish dish
Magpie-15-30 (15 is for a roasted vegetable plate, the next lowest is 25 - so kind of actually higher)
Smiller had scallops for 28 at Magpie - they are 29 at Waterboy

I think desserts are about the same - both of them have outstanding desserts. I love the avocado chocolate mousse at Magpie and the seasonal crostada at Waterboy is always good, and right now is Delta pear, goat cheese ice cream, red wine caramel, and hazelnut praline. I would say the crostada wins out! It's always warm and melts the ice cream. My mouth is watering.

That is kind of crazy for such a casual atmosphere and quicker pace than Waterboy. I love settling in at Waterboy with the white tablecloth and the whole deal. The servers at Magpie are excellent usually, but the ambiance is kind of cramped and noisy, and ubercasual. This bums me out!

Bday nymphomaniac

It's Scott's birthday today!!! We are going to the Waterboy with his family. Yay! I love Waterboy it fits like a velvet/iron glove or something like that. I bought him three highly/practical, boring presents. I wish I had something more fun, but as I was talking to him about that he pointed to his room that is piled with more books and records than he could read/listen to in ten years.

I watched Nymphomaniac 1 and 2. Garbage! Just one more piece of refuse in a huge pile that Von Trier has created. I don't know how they faked all the sex and whippings, etc., but WB said that he read that some of the genitals were greenscreened. If that is true I would like to see the unaltered footage. Christian Slater (yes, you read that right) gives an insanely crappy performance, and Shia LeBouf's (yes, you read that right) accent is atrocious. Skarsgaard and Gainsbourg do fine with what they are given. Four hours! I watched it over like a week though. Honestly, I would play solitaire on my phone during the non-dirty parts. Oh god, the music is so dorky too.

squeezing one out

It's been so long since my last post because as I lagged I got overwhelmed by the amount of photos I needed to upload, stuff I should write about, etc. Well, the word "overwhelmed" is a bit dramatic but I was just having a hard time getting around to it.

 

So you will just have to always wonder what I have been up to the last few weeks and here's what's up now. I got the cover of Feast in the SacBee! So cool! I love having Tim Swanson as editor and he was quite patient with my crappy first version. Too much exposition! Show, don't tell! Etc.!

 

Darrell Corti sent me a nice email telling me they sold out of cookies. The power of the Bee!

 

Pitchfork reviewed the Cassie Ramone album (I was reading it because she loves Sac and the Bananas, which is why I know about Vivian Girls in the first place), and they had two Sac comparisons: The Softies and Jean Jean, Molly Schick's solo thing. Pretty random.

 

Glad I squeezed a post out. Maybe now I will be able to get it rolling again.

 

 

gee whillikers

Oh boy oh boy oh boy Satan Wriders and 2014 at Café Colonial on Wednesday. Come see the stars of this NPR story and peep what this hip Stockton scene is all about!

zines! and Doug!

Wow, this article on Doug B. and the history of zines is one of the best interviews I've ever read and it really brings a tear to the eye. Besides the cool fact that Scott gets mentioned as the guy who was instrumental in getting distro for a lot of music zines and a  picture of MikeRMike as a young buck, it makes me think about what zines meant to me in a pre-internet world and the fact that Doug could be said to have directly shaped who I am today.

 

Maximum Rock and Roll led me to the Cattle Club which led me to the Loft which led me to almost every single (god might even be every) close friend or even acquaintance (and husband!) I have today. Don't laugh but Morrissey zines led me to a way out of my desperately lost teen years and a way to leave Lincoln. My first kiss was with a wonderful guy I met while touring around California following Morrissey. It was a beautiful experience and I floated around on air for days. The crew of people I was hanging with were people that I met from writing to them because they wrote Morrissey zines. I never would have gone by myself and couldn't have afforded to because I crashed on their floors and carpooled.

 

Not to mention the mind-expanding, sometimes hilarious, sometimes scary zines Roller Derby, Dishwasher, Cometbus, Murder Can Be Fun, Grand Royal, Fat So?, Boiled Angel, Answer Me!, Ben Is Dead, Punk Planet, Rocktober (falls on the hilarious side if I remember correctly), ThriftScore! (before I had ever thrifted) and more I'm forgetting. I'm pretty sure I leafed through the one of girls smoking that Doug mentions! I'll throw in re/search, pranks was my favorite one, but I loved strange music and the modern primitives one was insane.

 

These zines introduced me to kinds of people that I never knew existed, people who did things I couldn't understand, and some people who were living a life that was free and exciting in a way I wanted to emulate. Weirdos, hipsters, freaks, perverts, punks, free speech boundary pushers, counterculture lifers, militant feminists, dumpster divers (oh yeah, wasn't there a mag about that?), backpack world travelers, people who lived for music, people who hung themselves up from fucking hooks for sexual pleasure!?!?!?, and I would say almost 100% people who didn't give a fuck about money or how it related to living their life - and I sure had none at the time or for a long time after. They were people who lived how they wanted and did what they wanted, and found a community, often through zines, of people who wanted those same things too, no matter how unusual. And I found my community too, although none of you have ever pounded nails through your genitals to my knowledge.

 

So thanks, Doug. Not only do you enrich my life now as a friend and one of my favorite artists, but you changed it then.

 

And YES, I once wrote a zine called Pinky that I never distributed and that I think might be in the basement and which I cannot bring myself to look at.

 

calypso cola guy

I woke up with the 2014 song "big weight" in my head, which then switched to an endless loop of knock knock "where the world won't end" that at this point I wish I could get out.

 

More stock photos!

 

Look how scary these three are! Are they going to train you or stab you with scissors in the eye?

 

stock photos

 

I've been taking some online professional development courses today (no wait, don't fall asleep yet!) There are some very funny stock photos in these things. Look at that poor passive person on the left!

 

 How would you like if your boss made sensei-type hand gestures like the ones on the left



 Which of these are stereotypes and which are totally true?

I don't know, passive guy looks kind of nice.

King of Jerry Day

It seems wrong that it costs more to stay in Portland than Tokyo. It's funny that other countries get reps for being expensive but I think the accommodations here are really high. Over a couple of week trip to a country with cheap lodgings you could save the same amount a plane ticket would cost to get there. A trip on the Cali coast vs. a trip to Mexico and you could easily save enough to fly to Mexico. And I'm talking airbnb! Forget a hotel! The semi-crappy Ace in Portland is almost 300 a night. Still, stoked as hell to be going there and at least fancy-ish food and beer is cheaper there.

Jerry Day was Jerry Day all the way, as usual. We got there at noon, which is the earliest I've ever been. I wish DP could have been there, or at least could have skyped in. There were a few intense acid burnouts, lots of amazing shirts, and a fascinating kingpin guy that was running a whole area, posing with everybody with a full-sized skeleton in a pirate hat that he had brought with him, pouring cranberry juice all around, and other gladhanding activities. We couldn't figure out who he was but he was fun to watch. He was the king of Jerry Day.

America's Favorite Funnyman

 

Tonight you should cancel everything.....Neil Hamburgerrrrrrr's in town! Tonight at 9 at the Comedy Spot, 12 bucks. It will probably sell out.

 

Tomorrow: Mantles and Knock Knock at Witch Room! What a bill!

grocery musings

Crazy. They announced a Whole Foods at 20th and L today in the Bee. We were discussing it last night and Smiller was saying it was going on the R street corridor, which I either didn't know or had forgotten. I wonder if that deal fell through?

I have mixed emotions, of course, since Whole Foods is a lame chain, but def leaning towards positive. A big Sacramento bucket list item for me has been a market I can walk to. It will hurt the Sac co-op but I don't want to say I hate that co-op but I haven't been there in over a year. Possibly leaning towards two years. I shop at the Davis one and I will shop there less, but it's very successful and it won't hurt that business. In contrast, when Trader Joe's first opened in Davis it cut business by 10%, but the co-op had smartly made a contingency plan for just such a drop.

Judging by the spokesman's comments in the Bee today, the Sac co-op is of course bummed, but they've made some dumbass decisions financially and that's their fault. They are probably still recovering financially from that Elk Grove store that closed. I'm not sure the reason for the SNC move, but it seems stupid. I guess if the store is bigger they could make more.

I will probably shop at Taylor's a bit less, but that family practically mints money with that place, and any time I want a bottle of wine for dinner I will hit up Taylor's. The Whole Food's selection is not to my taste at all.

Jerry Day is this Sunday! There is a lot of other stuff going on this weekend so I haven't been thinking about that but it's pretty monumental! Can't wait! Scott brought me a new Bertha tanker from Deadnet for my birthday.

thank jah

Thank god my pesky 30s are over. All that annoying youth and vitality! How did I stand it?  The Archbishop took some video of the Bright Ideas. Top notch! Look for a guest appearance of me at the end with a beer attached to me like an appendage. Oh wait, ha ha ha it's mineral water! I was wondering what the hell bottle of beer I could have been drinking.

 

 

retrospection

Last day of my 30s! Smiller was joking that I'd wake up to a moving van. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal, partially because I have been thinking of myself as 40. JBB said that didn't work for him but it seemed to for me. I am really lucky to be 40 and wake every day with no aches and pains whatsoever and healthy. I am really grateful for that, knock on wood.

It's funny, a couple of people who I told I'm turning 40 have said "congratulations!" Like, for not being dead?

One worry of mine, which is trivial in the grand scheme is that I have some young person interests and I know inevitably I will be too old for them, but then again, my interests have always just shaped over time naturally and it's dumb to worry about stuff like that. I will probably just go to more plays, less clubs. Nothing about DJing or going out or seeing bands and shows makes me feel unwelcome cuz I'm wayyyy older than the other people. At least with seeing bands there are a few people who will probably always go to shows that are older than me, but with rap I am definitely the oldest person at heckarap.

One of the more annoying things about getting old for me is kind of melding together different eras and thinking something is "recent" when it was like 12 years ago. I think that's an aging thing I will probably get used to. It didn't start happening until less than two years ago. It's like 2000 was such a big change that in my mind it will never be that long ago even though it's been 14 years.

As for writing, I'm about 85% over it, but I am excited about the Bee for now. I have a pretty big cocktail piece coming out in the SNR too.  But I'm over the grind and way more stoked on just repeat visits to places I love. Like Whitey's for  my birthday! The Whitey's special and peach shake were like the best I've ever had there. I went with my old lab and it was fun to see this young lady who had just arrived from Italy raving about how delicious  her burger was.

TBD

So TBD fest. What are your thoughts? Please be kind, brother, because Clay is a friend and I know he is taking an enormous risk. If you follow music in Sac you know he's been putting on concerts for charity for a zillion years and he is doing this because he wants to do something for Sac not to line his pockets.  My thoughts are that I definitely want to see Danny Brown and will likely buy a ticket for just that day and hope that Kurt Vile is that day as well. Besides him, the local peeps, The Pizza Underground (just because of the celebrity angle) and La Sera (who I think are really bland) I haven't heard of anyone. These all seem like young person bands to me, which is not bad and is probably the demographic, but I can't be expected to follow bands with names like ghost beach and beach house. As far as locals, stoked about tiaras and male gaze, and Century Got Bars was also added.

Also: not a festival person. I was tired of Burger Bugaloo by the time it was done and couldn't get drunk because the drinks were so expensive. All the food trucks ran out of food and there were no ins and outs so I was trapped. TBD will have ins and outs.  Local chefs will be preparing food, including Tuohy and Thiemann.

Long story short: will most likely buy one day but they are not offering those for a while. Excited to check it out. Rooting for Clay and his partners.

yay 40! or yay. 40.

In case you are not on social media, I am having a 40th birthday blowout at Witch Room on Friday. Entertainment by Ray Molina, The Beach Boys, Swiftumz, and The Bright Ideas! Some good brew and food. It's a BBQ potluck, and although hot dogs are great, there will already be a bunch so other meat or especially side dishes would be awesome. Chips are good but keep in mind there are usually like ten bags. I understand how it is as far as side dishes because they are more work and lately I have just been bringing hamburgers.

See you there!

memories light the corners of my mind

Big doings in these parts. For one thing, as DB usually will remind me annually, the anniversary of Heckasac is coming up. Not just any anniversary the TENTH anniversary. Please bring me an appropriate gift made of tin or aluminum. It's on July 20th.

 

I hate to look up old heckasacs but here are a few things of note:

 

MH was the first commenter. My second post was filled with arena h8ting and Graswich-baiting. My fourth was a description of my "dirty 30" party in which I djed dirty rap and drank faux-sizzurp (the more things change the more they stay the same I guess).

 

Ten years ago I predicted the rise of beards and tie dye (I am just paging through the first few posts still) .  Let's just say I have forgotten most of what I wrote and I cringe every few seconds while reading it. Here's an interview of Charles!

 

http://heckasac.blogspot.com/2004/08/charles-albright-reclusive-billionaire.html

 

omg this is kind of a goldmine! I rated olipom including a mention of Olivia:

 

The owner is very nice and was wearing a flamboyant orange dress that appeared to have had a previous life as a shower curtain. All this, and a pomeranian with a broken leg that gave me a half-hearted tail wag but no real love.
Ollipom-A
Handicapped Dog-C

 

oh man, there is some really racy stuff. I have to stop now!

 

My highest year of posting by far was 2005, in which I wrote 837 posts. I believe that's the year smiller and I started dating, pretty much the happiest year of my life. I posted 123 times in October of that year!!!

 

I know I have posted this picture before, but it remains one of the funniest things I have ever seen:

 

In this one you can see the tree better:

review of the 2005 Halloween show, including a note that I drank a diet Sparks

 

The Mac ripped it up, the girl who sang for Heart (Amber!!!) took everyone by surprise, Heckamax was definitely the MVP for the night and somehow managed to expertly channel both Robert Plant and Sting, I was quite attracted to Heather dressed as Phil Lynott especially because of the package (sorry Mike you know she looked hot), some members of Oasis got a little too in character and took the piss out of everyone (did I just use that slang right?). Favorite moments and acts, everyone? Let's get this thing started out right today, it's gonna be a loooooong week.

 

oh man, DB and I used to write dueling movie reviews (I forgot that!) and he has always been a super funny writer. This is when we were still roommates. hahaha "every scene looks like a Gatorade commercial"

 

NH-this answers the question of how I got two copies of R. Kelly's TP3 Reloaded- I got both for my 31st birthday!

 

I print a bunch of Roadhouse quotes and joke about having a baby and naming it Roadhouse 2 - a name I probably suggested at a recent baby shower.

 

Bought a cell phone in summer 2005.

 

Anyway, I could go on. The things that are surprising me is how little and how much I seem to have changed and that I have  known some of my friends longer than I thought.

 

RIP Doe B

Heckarap was really fun but we made about half as much money as last time which means it was probably half as busy. Go figure! I really don't know why it varies so much but now I have fun anyway. I try to just think more about playing a song that I think will sound good right at that moment. I mean, I read the crowd, too, but if I'm like "never be a g would sound sick right there but no one knows it" I will play it anyway. By the way, how fucking sick is this song AND it's a return from Project Pat. Unfortunately the video came posthumously to Doe B's death. Sucks. Why isn't this a huge hit?

 

The Verge grand opening party is Saturday at 7pm and you will get ANOTHER chance to catch the Heckarap team. More exciting Century Got Bars and Yarrow Slaps will be performing. There will be a bar and food trucks. The tickets are seven bucks.

burger boogaloo pictures!

Here are some awesome pictures of the Burger Boogalo! The one at the very top shows you why Steve McDonald (from Red Kross but pictured in Off!) is the best guy. It's funny that Red Kross stumbled upon a google-able name wayyyy before anyone had invented google. So funny.

don't get me started

Soo....Earl Sweatshirt cancels his career due to emotional and physical exhaustion? I always think that means drugs because how hard could working one hour a day be? I know, I know touring can totally suck, but it can also be completely fun and at his level people are taking care of a lot of shit. It's not like he's driving, crashing on floors, or loading in and out, waiting around to get paid, yadda yadda. Not that I really care, although I would go see him if he was in Sac. I just thought he was cooler than that. Don't even get me started on Death Grips!

Bugaloo!

Burger Bugaloo on Saturday was super fun. It's so amazing what those SoCal Burger guys have created just through a love of music. They've created an entire scene and for some a way of life. My quibble was that the beer and booze was too expensive but I guess it led to me being sober to drive us home and also there not being a lot of drunk obnoxious people stumbling around. The bathroom line looked to be at least 30 minutes so we just kept trading off the Bananas all access pass to use the performer bathrooms. Here are some pics after the jump!

 

cripes

I found out that the Davis show I thought was Wednesday is tonight (Sneeze Attack, Memories), and I thought that because I got it mixed up with a Wednesday show at WR (Trashies, Life Stinks, Rad). I will probably go to both of those and then I'm going to see Future at Ace of Spades tomorrow. Oy vey. I know it's my choice, but I really wish they weren't all within three days.

perfect ballet flats

Ladies! I have finally find the perfect ballet flats! (that I can afford) I have been suffering in J. Crew ones trimmed with ribbons that are rough on the feet and cut too wide on the sides in a way that looks stupid. I found some Sam Edelman ones at Nordstrom and they are soft inside and out and basically feel like a comfort shoe. They wore in in one day. They have a little logo tag on top with a bow that looks cute. the only annoying thing is the embroidery on the side and it is barely noticeable. I have a black pair and am going to buy a navy pair. This is not a paid advertisement.

cockeyed!!

I didn't even know that Cockeyed, one of the internet's early great websites (which still holds up), is a going concern until CM posted a link on facebook to a recent post about measuring decibel levels at local restaurants. So I checked it out for the first time in years and found that this interview with Rob Cockerham was just published a few days ago. It really brought me back to all the glory days. I happen to have a photo of him from back in the day when he put up a golden banana in the downtown plaza that stayed up there forever! Peruse the website. There is so much hilarious content. Check out the photos on this classic - you just might see yourself!

bugaloo!

Lil Debbie was fun. She is just ok. She rapped along with herself on the tracks so that was kind of dumb. The vaporizing going on in the room was insane. It's all anyone uses no, you don't smell any weed. I actually like that.

The bananas are playing the Burger Bugaloo in Oakland on July 5th. I do feel that the Bananas get slighted a bit when they play in Sac, so I would like to let you read the description on the Burger site and note that they are playing on a festival bill with No Bunny, La Sera, Personal and the Pizzas, Ronnie Spector, the Oh Sees among others. Here's what the website says:

Sometimes operating under the moniker DIY TIL EYE DIE, The Bananas are Sacramento, California's best and worst kept secret. This power trio consisting of Mike, Marie, and Scott Banana will always be the best band to rock any party on the face of the planet.

Tickets are on sale but they are not cheap.

bumpin bumpin

I was hating on Sac a bit for poor attendance of the WR show last night and then we got turnt up Sac-style and I was in love all over again. The Susans are the Sac-est band from LA. The drummer said "I'm from Austin and we love to chant and do random countdowns so I feel at home". I know, it was a Tuesday night show, so I shouldn't have been hating anyway.

 

LL can you send me that video of 2014 to post?

Lil Debbie is tonight. I am pretty whatever on her but I heard she was fun last time and it's 5 bucks. My first time in the grown n' sexy nightclub District 30! Out of the White Girl Mob of Vnasty, Kreayshawn and her she is my least favorite, with Kreayshawn being first of course. The first time I heard this (before she blew up, somehow saw it randomly) I was like wha??!?!?

riff raff

I noticed that Riff Raff's new album "Neon Icon" did not rate a pitchfork review. He also did an over/under on P-fork and was lackluster, ignorant, and not funny. In contrast to Danny Brown's which was awesome. The album pretty much sucks, besides the version of "how to be the man" with Slim Thug and Paul Wall. It even has a terrible rage rock song on it. His show pretty much sucked too.


He has proved himself to be the new Vanilla Ice. I found him entertaining at first, and his awesome Nardwuar interview made me think he had the chops and cred of a real rapper but nah.

I know this post is sure to start a firestorm of controversy among the readers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbg67ShDohQ

Arts and Culture

Wow, I've seen 6 movies in the last couple of weeks. I'm stoked. This weekend I saw 22 Jump Street with my mom, which is a good mom movie in the case of my mom. She was like "what's that guys name" and I honestly couldn't remember if it was Channing Tatum or Tatum Channing.

Then on Saturday I saw the midnight screening of "naked dudes by a lake" (can't remember the real name) at the French Film Festival. It was pretty good. The big deal with it was that there are male-on-male pornographic sex scenes interspersed with a psychological thriller. The movie is slight, but the boners are mighty.

I also saw the new play "The Submission" at Big Idea Theater in Del Paso. It's a great theater company. Honestly, this was a terrible play with mostly good performances, and in the case of Eason Donner, really good. He is funny! This guy is an up-and-comer in the local theater scene. Really good in Orlando recently and now this.


Sonny and the Sunsets were brilliant last night. I love him so much. He played a lot of new stuff, with older stuff bookending the set. I requested Teenage Thugs and he joked that the song he was playing was Teenage Thugs 2, but really it was a Richman-esque song about a health food store.

Tuesday Charles Albright Band and 2014 are playing the Witch Room.

Vivian Maier

So I see the ladeez don't have any thoughts they'd like to share on cutoffs. Scott thinks I just need to look through vintage jeans more but not only do I like thrifting but I have always hated looking through jeans the most. Usually I rely on Scott to find them for me.

 

I saw Locke last night and loved it! Any movie with a tight focus on Tom Hardy's face for 90 minutes as his voice soothingly speaks is enough for me. But seriously it had the feel of a play and I really liked it. It should be staged as a play.  DO NOT see that horrible Tom Cruise movie tho.

 

I'm really happy that I've seen three movies this week and am going to see the Vivian Maier (see above) documentary tomorrow at the Varsity.

Rad

I never, ever, ever thought I'd say this but....I might go to Forever 21 and buy some cheap-o cutoffs. When cutoffs at stores started happening I always thought: what kind of idiot would buy cutoffs at a store? Young people, that's who.

I mean, the thrift stores were full of jeans that were too short for me and could be cut off! I never would have believed I would stop thrifting, but I have almost entirely. Spent a couple of hours doing it this weekend and emerged with an expensive, vintage, handmade wool blazer with a fur collar and soft lining - it fits perfectly. Obviously that is a good thing but it's rarely hot enough here for me to wear that and it cost 40 bucks. I could have gotten something more practical new for that amount of money.

Back to the point: the cutoffs I have from vintage shorts are all mom jeans with uncomfortable high waists. The only ones I like are a pair from h and m from like 12 years ago that I cut off from my favorite jeans and they are literally falling apart. We are getting into pockets hanging out territory and I am no Britney Spears. Ladies: what are your thoughts about this?

A couple of spectacular Witch Room shows are coming up: Sonny and the Sunsets and the Memories this Sunday, and Life Stinks, Trashies, and Rad on July 2nd. Can't wait to see Rad!!!!!!!

run don't walk

First: RUN, don't walk to see Jodorowsky's Dune at the Tower. What an inspiring movie! He is the most positive guy in the world. Makes me feel sad I hated his new movie enough to walk out, but mostly it was because of the horribly cheap way the hi-def video (or whatever the hell he shot it on) looked.

Specifically, it inspired me to watch an actual movie on Netflix streaming, instead of horribly crap TV and I picked Assault on Precinct 13. That idea was planted by the fact that Jodorowsky was going to have one of Carpenter's special effects guys work on Dune. I realized once it started that I had seen it before, but it is awesome. It has such a slow build up to a quick, exciting resolution, and a lot of Douglas Sirk, noir-y lighting. I realized there is a pattern to some of my favorite directors (and musicians, if you count R. Kelly), in that the kitsch of the art can fool people about the fact that the artist is in on at least some of it. Does that make sense? It's true for De Palma, too.

I mean, obviously the part of Assault where the convicts play "one potato, two potato" to choose which has to make a dangerous escape is tongue-in-cheek. I think in his movies, sometimes you are laughing at Carpenter, and sometimes with him.

The extended sequence of the thugs shooting out the windows of the building also reaches enjoyable absurdity.

I also saw a show that was the first non-rap show to make me so stoked in a while. It was Mt. Eerie at WR. I had never seen him perform but what a guy. The part that got me so in the zone besides how the music sounds was the rapt crowd who seemed to want his low-key performance to go on forever and who kept their phones in their pockets. SM didn't want to hear about it because he thought it was a Pregnant show (as did I) and didn't go. I just went to hang with friends so Mt. Eerie was a wonderful treat.

Wow, right after I wrote this I saw this thing on Pitchfork with a teen Phil Elverum (Mr. Eerie guy) on MTV talking about Nirvana. What a cool coincidence because I had no idea who he was before Saturday. This clip illustrates what a disorienting experience it was to be "alternative" or "progressive" (terms that were used with a straight face at my high school) and then have this shit go mainstream at the speed of light. Let me clarify, I was by no means cool - I was a chubby dork who wore a Morrissey or Cure tshirt EVERY SINGLE DAY and was rejected by the goths - but I had built my identity around something that got appropriated for Calvin Klein ads. It's disturbing to me that cultural figures like Courtney Love get venerated because kids these days are getting it all wrong.

Which is a good segue into the new show "Champagne" at Verge, curated by a 23 year old skater/rapper dude (who is a great guy) and the strong feelings it provoked in me. Strong negative feelings until I got a new perspective by realizing that the strong feelings themselves are interesting, to me at least. You may not be interested in my navel gazing.

These kids are appropriating 90s icons through the filter of growing up on the internet. I don't share the humor or willful naivete. But it's at least interesting that they feel a connection to this time and are getting it wrong probably in the same way we got the 70s wrong when we were kids. But then again, even though I liked some classic rock because of my dad I was generally only interested in current culture at that age. And the endless churning/blendering of culture that goes on now is mind-numbing and exhausting. Instant nostalgia sucks.

long time no see

As you can tell if you've been checking, I've been super busy. I doubt if I've ever gone so long without blogging without being on vacation, not even during one of my many dramatic declarations that I was ending heckasac.

 

I got a story published in the Bee! I almost feel like I can retire from writing, especially since I have been too busy to do jack shit for foodways. I am kind of kidding but not really. Besides the difficulty of hooking up the interview with the professor, this article was a pleasure to write.

 

I have been working at UCSF and Bodega Bay which has been fun but like 13+ a day. I got to roll in a white Chevy with "UC Davis Safety Services" printed on the side so you know I've been feeling cool as hell.  Also ate at Bar Agricole which I recommend. Cool place and I've been loving rum agricole since VA tipped me off to it.

Dinner And A Show

The new Jodorowsky movie is at the Crest tonight at 7:30. I just got invited to a fun event at Witch Room so I am going to that instead but luckily they are showing it tomorrow, too. This is a good deal because it includes drinks1 Not sure about the band but who knows?

Saw Chef yesterday. It's fine. Here are a couple of taglines I made up. Chef: finally a movie about people fucking with their phones! Chef: no conflict, just hot lady asses and loving shots of food. Chef: a movie that your mom will love!

It did make me hungry and I was like "I should eat more good food and stop eating sardines and crackers for dinner". Then I had to return something at the mall and got a veggie corndog at Hot Dog On A Stick. LOL. Those things are so low calorie! Like 220 and meanwhile a pretzel across the way is around 500. I have officially shopped at Ann Taylor Loft for work clothes and bought navy slacks. Finally a real adult at 40. That part of being 40 is fun. The I Feel Bad About My Neck part not so much. But it beats being dead amiright?

The After Party's At The Marriot

We got quite a good crowd last night despite that it was Wednesday at that it was conflicting with Trapacana. It was really fun. MC Ham dipped heavily into the YG catalog which is as it should be. I played After Party which really should have been a bigger hit, especially with the sick DJ Mustard track


I don't know Dorrough's story but one time I was looking through the KMEL top tracks and he had like 3 songs on there. I think he's from Atlanta.

I just found out the next heckarap is June 12th! I totally thought it was the 19th. So soon!

Friday they are playing the new  Jodorowsky movie at the Crest!! Yay! I am so psyched that it's coming to Sac and that it's there. Now if we can just get Dune and the documentary about Dune, but I do n't know if that's happening.

this chicken's on fire

Jeez, I ate sooo much this weekend. But that's what acknowledging the sacrifice of the troops is all about, amiright? I ate cioppino on Saturday and then ate at 2 barbecues yesterday. I caught 7 pounds of chicken on fire and threw them away, which is pretty much becoming an annual tradition for me. It's how I support the troops.

Tomorrow is heckarap. That's all I got.

Who Do You Love?

Big night tonight! Pop show at witchroom with Rose Melberg's band Imaginary Pants, the Zebras, Arts and Leisure, Monnone Alone and the Mechanical Brides. It's like a roadshow of the SF popfest set up by Roger.

Jeez YG was hands down the best rap show I've ever seen. Ace was sold out, probably a bit more than that. The energy was crazy (some of the ladies were scaring me a bit. I took great pains to not bump into anyone). It was the first show of his tour and he is a great performer. Big contrast to Riff Raff's lackluster performance (summed up perfectly by Blake in the SNR). He was wearing that classic LA Compton style of long cutoffs w white socks pulled up to the bottom of the shorts. He has a definite T.I.-ness about him so he made that style cute. Cute dancer too. Played probably his whole new album (album of the year) and then some other stuff like Toot And Boot It. The crowd sang along with every word. LOVED IT.

Luckily he only let everyone on stage (including some kids) for the last song "Who Do You Love" which is a siiiiiiccckkkk song.

chop bustin'

 I was surprised more people weren't at the Tyvek show. They were so awesome.

G. Green were super rippin'. That's my favorite set of theirs I've ever seen. I've really come around to G. Green over the years. The line up has changed a ton and this is my favorite one.

Man, KJ getting his chops busted on Deadspin. This is big. I hope it continues.

new Vanilla Ice?

Riff Raff kinda sucked. I was with some people who were really excited, so that was cute. He went from promising to the new Vanilla Ice. Totes buffoon style. Giant cutouts of Katy Perry's face and a husky paraded around stage for instance. A horrible Kid Rock-ish rock song called KoKayne that I will just pretend I never had to hear. A dude whose musical taste I trust said the Neon Panda mixtape is the one I should check out.

On that note, I am kinda over Heckarap. For one, we couldn't get a Thursday this month and ours falls on the one year anniversary of this night at Sidetraxx called Trapacana, which is really popular, mostly due to the crazy cheap drink specials IMHO. So Heckarap will be dead. It will likely be banging in June but I don't know, I just feel like we accomplished what we set out to do and we will just be chasing to duplicate that experience from now on. I'm kind of bummed how much the crowd prefers current stuff. The only good rap albums I have heard lately are YG and Future. I'm tired of sifting through mixtapes for the possible one good song. Chicago drill turned out to be a total bust as far as quality output.

About to eat Masullo leftovers for lunch even though it's not even 11. Pizza never lasts long when I bring it for lunch.

commute

Tyvek and G. Green are at Witch Room on Thursday folks

I really wish that the walk to the tracks for Amtrak and the bike racks on the train didn't anger me every time. I won't say rage because that is too strong. I have yet to successfully put up and take down my bike without hurting myself in some small way. And it takes so long for 3 people to get theirs down or up that there is always a backup of people waiting and being annoyed that you are running into them, etc.

I wish it were possible to have a whole car for bikes with seating on the top, but then more people would have to ride Amtrak, but more people would ride if it was more convenient or cheaper so it's a catch-22.

Time: Even the 5 minute walk rather than the none there used to be means an extra 50 minutes a week which is  3.3 hours a month which again pushes my commute to quite a bit more time than driving, even with occasional traffic. I estimate I spend 22-24 hours a month commuting by car, and about 30 if I took the train. So the time would only about three hours apart if not for that walk. But I may be underestimating the traffic. I'm so used to it.

Cost: If I enroll in the program UC Davis offers, my train ticket would cost 7 dollars a day. So 140 month. I would save 55 in parking (going up soon, I think), and it's nice that the UCD train thing offers one free parking pass a month for when I have to drive. I would save about 40 in gas a week (I think, I'm not good at calculating these things). Hmmm...I would save at least 75 bucks by taking the train and that is not factoring in wear and tear, and much more wear and tear on my car will mean I have to buy a new car within the next couple years because mine has like 180,000 miles. So that could mean the difference between a car payment every month in like a year or maybe like 4 years. I'm glad I rambled and figured this out.

Right now they are offering discounted tickets for 6 bucks a day, I wish they could do that all the time. That would save 240 bucks in the course of the year. This is all based on me not taking vacation, sick days, not factoring in holidays etc.

I was also thinking about sometimes biking to the UCD Med Center Shuttle, which would add about a half hour of biking today and put me in the same traffic, but is wayyyy cheap.

Most interesting post ever! What are your commutes like?

fullness bursting at the seams...at Il Fornaio

I was combing through listings of food events in Sac so I could beef up that section on Foodways, when I came across this. Here's the text:

Note: this is an intimate, seated gathering for only five women who love and crave the honesty and intimacy that Naima brings and the ambiance that IL Fornaio restuarant provides.
The opportunity to be mentored by Naima will be offered to those where the fit seems right.

A note from Naima:
I'm a full Woman.
I love hot sex.
I love enjoying pleasure in all the ways men love to please me.
I find delight in gathering with other hungry women who are claiming what they desire, what they're no longer tolerating,… Show more and what they're creating in their lives.
I love seeing a woman be all of herself; her ugly, her inappropropriate, her glory, and her grace.
We'e so f~~king amazing we don't know what to do with ourselves.
And neither does this world.
That's part of why I exist; to be the beacon of Womanhood.
To be a respite for women who feel their sex, their soul, their fullness bursting at the seams and are going crazy trying to make themselves fit or thinking they're wrong or crazy for feeling what they naturally feel or craving what they naturally crave.
So when we gather in our intimate group of no more than six at IL Fornaio on May 29th, it'll probably be unlike anyting you've ever expeirenced. Your entire life could change by a thought or an admission or an experience or just one moment that happens while we're together that evening.
Nothing is off limits. When I talk about the fullness of a Woman, I mean it. :-)
And if it feels right, we'll discuss deeper ways to work together.
I look forward to connecting with you.

Love,
Naima
Hot Sex Mentor
To learn more about Naima, click here . (there is no link!)

To review IL Fornaio's menu, click here . You're responsible for your food and beverages.

That last part doesn't sound very friendly! I may go here on May 29th just to see if I can spot this group. Although I will be probably just be Naima.

Oh, also this is happening at the Colonial on June 7th. Also, something called the World Famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theater will be there in December. The flyer said he is "The Baryshnikov of juggling". I like to think that I'm the Barishyshnikov of blogging:

Saturday June 7, 2014

RP"Princeology"

 

This event will feature the showing of the movie "Purple Rain" and a

live band playing all of Prince's hit songs. 

Countless Prince memorabilia will be on display. 

 

Doors open at 7:00 pm

 



Read more here: http://events.sacbee.com/sacramento_ca/events/show/370508738-an-intimate-gathering-with-sacramentos-hot-sex-mentor#storylink=cpy

Hey Nineteen

The Riot Grrl on her first trip to the Met w/Bikini Kill tshirt. Meeting a different penpal from New Jersey, also super awkward even though he was an awesome guy.  He wrote an earnest feminist zine called Hey Nineteen until he found out the Steely Dan song was about a 19 year old girl and then changed the name to Quiet Nights for Quiet Stars. I believe his penpal ad may have been something about masturbation, but in a way that's hard to convey it was not a creepy ad. It was something where he was conflicted about fantasizing about  women cuz it was sexist and akin to rape. Jeez can  you believe this was only about 20 years ago. It's like a whole different world

Very 90s Feelings

I'm having so many 90s feelings right now. I started down some internet hole that led me to a Bikini Kill tumblr and this video. Some random thoughts:

1) Kathleen Hanna's voice and Kiedis' are similar at times
2) Wow, things really were intensely anti-fashion. A baggy tshirt for The Jam and a skirt she had cut off and probably some sneakers. I dressed exactly like that. I remember how when Lipstick (the dance night) became a thing that I couldn't believe all these girls that were wearing, well, lipstick and high heels. We even called them "Lipstick girls". I for one was very threatened. I mean, a few years before that I felt some pressure to not even shave my legs (and didn't for a while) and I felt like these younger girls were from another planet.
3) Hanna when she strips down to a bra tells people to stop taking pictures and says "I thought punk was about living in the moment" and urges them to just enjoy it and stop making her feel self-conscious. And meanwhile I recently watched a show through a bunch of giant phones because everyone in front of me was filming. Sigh.
4) Why did I get rid of everything? All my Sassies, all my tshirts, all my zines, why??? I guess because I didn't enjoy the 90s while I was living through them, at least the early and mid-90s
5)I've probably told the story of how I missed Bikini Kill at the Loft because I couldn't find it. (If you've talked to me in person I'm sure I have). I saw them at Gilman the night before (she was wearing a baggy tshirt with a bikini body on it) and they said they were playing at the Loft the next day. I had some idea that it was behind a bookstore (maybe they said that) and I went to Levinson's books (where the first Temple started) and looked around behind there. Oh well, at least I got to see them thanks to reading MRR. I also remember going into Hindenberg and feeling very intimidated and uncool. SS was behind the counter and didn't exactly chat me up.
6) I will never stop being impressed that Scott went to the International Pop Underground in Olympia. I heard about it but didn't know anyone who was going.
7) Tobi Vail rules. Seeing her band Spider and The Webs maybe 8 years ago was a favorite show of mine.
8)I haven't watched the new Punk Singer movie. Really I have such mixed feelings towards that time that I'm avoiding it. It's dumb and I should watch it.

I have to tear myself away from the internet!