heckasac

tales of blarg

2012-02-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

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?

2012-02-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

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

sad news.

2012-02-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

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.

grumpy

2012-01-31T12:32:00.000-08:00

Just got around to reading the SNR, seriously Downtown Partnership, 7 DUDES running concerts in the park and not one woman? That's fucked up. Seriously fucked up. I guess women just don't know anything about music or the local music scene. I find it so refreshing to go see young bands and see how often they're half female, at least. Your roster is seriously behind the times, especially because it's made up of ex-radio people mostly. How long has it been since radio (besides KDVS) has been the least bit relevant? Quite a few years now, sadly. Also, if I were a business owner downtown and knew that my dues were going to hire 7 people to book one concert series that would piss me off. The whole thing just stinks, from the stupid name on down.

ugh, Buble

2012-01-30T15:44:00.000-08:00

A skit on SNL actually made me laugh this week! Fallon's shtick of laughing all the time actually worked in this
and there are some really good puns. Musical guest Buble was a nightmare, however.

lists

2012-01-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

Things I recently learned that I hate:
Stu and the Negro Problem (thanks NPR for making me listen to the worst song ever)
The Miranda July movie The Future (it stopped playing 45 minutes in and I didn't even care) these two things are very alike in my mind

Things I love: day drinking at Shady Lady

a good Ramos Fizz
posting our horrible couch for free on craigslist and having someone come pick it up!

What about you? Any loves/hates? That question is so lame that I'm kind of joking.

Friday video

2012-01-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

So rad!

listen to Insight

2012-01-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

At ten on Insight DWB is going to interview "local cheesemongers", which includes Ed Roehr from Magpie, and I'm presuming Felicia from Taylor's. And the Alkali Flats will be on!

Speaking of Ed, I spied him and Janelle and their adorable tot at OneSpeed last night. There was a chicken arborio rice soup with olive oil, egg, and parmesan on the menu that tasted like it was sprinkled with fairy dust. It was fucking delicious. I have never made a soup as delicious. And of course the frito misto is always superb. Even ignoring everything else he has done, that frito misto and the fact that he introduced Sac to sweetbreads puts Rick Mahan in the Sac Food Pantheon.

Christine Shields is playing at the Blue Lamp tomorrow night!! This lady is rad. Come see!

Yeah!

2012-01-26T16:51:00.001-08:00

Awesome. The definitive pop single reviewing sage has spoken.

remember when I had non-food posts?

2012-01-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

The Chinese New Year detritus was still in full effect outside of SF Market. Some year I'll remember to head to South Sac on the actual day to check out the festivities.

Have you ever made flour tortillas? EC clued me into it. I got out the ol' Diana Kennedy and checked out the recipe. First, you mix the lard into the flour by hand, kind of like a pie crust. Even just lard and flour together smells good. Don't get those yucky white blocks of lard, go to a Mexican market (like La Esperanza) and get the light brown stuff they render. I put in half wheat flour because why not?

This dough was really nice to work with. Moist but not sticky.

Charring pasilla chiles to make rajas.

I made up some tomatillo salsa and it was not that great.

I asked for some asada-type steak at the carniceria.

My only mistake (ever, in life) was not chopping up the asada smaller. Next time!

Opposite world review

2012-01-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

Oh sure, everyone else make a gueuze joke and it's funny, I make one and it kills the comment thread. I see how it is.

Ugh, Shame at the Crest. Two giant dongs down as far as I'm concerned. I have never seen a movie screech to a stop like Shame does when Carey Mulligan slowly sings New York New York in tight close up. I sat there trying to mentally teleport myself out of the theater. Funny quote from David Edelstein about it:
“Watching Carey Mulligan slowly torture 'New York, New York' to death,” wrote David Edelstein, ”I passed the time writing my Opposite World review: 'Mulligan strips away the song’s facile optimism and lays bare her heartbreaking need for affirmation. Devastating!'”

The Four Eyes also played a gid on Saturday while the Vergestravaganza was going on. They opened with a rage jam and played classics such as "back to school", while Charles and I fought over whether Back To School or Less Than Zero came out first. He was right, it was Back To School. He knew because he could precisely date the Slayer song on the Less Than Zero soundtrack.

Here's the bread I made from that Moore's flour.

Pretty dense and didn't rise that much, but that's understandable for an all wheat flour loaf. I missed the Lautner doc to make this, but doesn't it kind of look like a Lautner house? Coincidence?

Here's the fish sauce chicken. I guess it looks fugly in this picture. But it was delish!

Bacon-y post

2012-01-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

Hmm...so judging the baconfest: fun, kind of chaotic, bacon-y. I'm naturally very judgmental (I try to chill on it) so maybe judging things is my true calling? I shoulda been a judge. I think the rules of submission were not that clear to people so some people who just submitted bacon they had cured (e.g. Jaymes from Fat Face) got a little bit screwed. You see, other people submitted dishes they had made with the bacon they cured, so that gave them an advantage over just a slice o' bacon. Jaymes also submitted mini versions of her bacon and egg popsicle (it is very good and custardy, not gross like you might be thinking) which probably would have won if there was a bacon dessert category, which there probably should have been.

The judges couldn't come to a consensus so we had to give numerical scores and tally them. My favorite dish was Mulvaney's "tongue in cheek" which was bacon-wrapped tongue with a tomatillo salsa. The bacon was very succulent and the flavors melded coherently into a whole, delicious bite. The guy who won works for the Grange and he submitted a whole platter of dishes. Some of the dishes were so-so (undercooked beans) but he won on the strength of a bacon cheddar biscuit sandwich loaded up with bacon jam, Canadian bacon, regular bacon, and an herbed slaw. It was a dish I would definitely revisit at a restaurant. It was fun chatting with Chris Macias as we judged, and I did indeed call for a palate-cleanser of bourbon on the rocks, which tasted fucking great with all that smoky bacon. CM, if you're reading, what was the name of that type of pig?

Some pictures, including the Verge party, after the jump

Cantillon makes this special brew, Lou Pepe, sometimes with fruit (even raspberries once), sometimes without. This one is a gueuze. Tasty and approachable. This could be a beginner gueuze if you could get your hands on it.

Perhaps this will not shock you as much as it did me, but did you know Corti Bros does not carry King Arthur flour? This can't be an accident, I'm guessing it's not Darrell approved? They do carry a wide variety of Moore's Mill products, so I decided to go for it. This company intrigues me. It's based in Redding and has a store, but does not have a website? Mysterious.

I don't know why, but roasting a chicken that had been marinating in fish sauce just sounds really good to me. The thought just popped into my brain. I made a marinade of fish sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar and chili paste and marinated it for a day. The chicken was great. Salty and a little bit sweet. I also made some green beans with shrimp paste. It's gratifying to use shrimp paste that has been sitting in the cabinet for 6 months because I can be like, "suck it Miller, I told you I would use it!"

Segue into...the Verge Party. Everyone knew this would crack off, and it did. People were hanging out in the tents. I spent some quality time in MM's tent, watching 90210. God, Steve is such a dick!

Christine Shields! She was really good. She's playing January 28th at the Blue Lamp.

I took a million pictures of Fine Steps because they looked so cool with the projection behind them. That was a great idea to project short art films. It was so fun to watch.

These dudes were rocking out and having a great time. Can't wait for the record!

One of the shorts that played (well, a couple of minutes of it) was Cut Piece by Yoko Ono. She looks like such a badass in it. Turn down the music, which somebody added.

rad

2012-01-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

YEahhhhh! This is rad. Did you get your record yet? Copies at Phono Select.

Baconfest weekend?!?!? I don't think there will be any bacon at the Verge party, though. It's shaping up to be fun weekend, right guys? I am bringing my labcoat and a clipboard for the judging. but i might not wear them.

That Verge membership thing is a good deal. I'll have to sign up. Here are the deets:

2012 VCA MEMBERSHIP IS HERE!!!!

BECOME A MEMBER!!! Starting at tomorrow's night party, Verge will be launching it's year-long membership program. In addition to all the benefits listed below, we will be throwing in a FREE, LIMITED EDITION, TOTE or T-SHIRT, designed by Interval Press!

FEES:

Individual: $40

Student/Artist: $30 (please present valid student ID)

BENEFITS:

Pre-registration for classes and workshops
Members only discount for classes and workshops
Members only discount to Verge's annual events
VIP passes to exclusive preview parties
2 free passes for one Verge film program screening at the Crest Theatre (value: $30)
Free limited edition tote bag

Yes, YOU, are the best artist!

Look for our membership table at the party and sign up!!!!

gripe of the day is back

2012-01-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

So my dentist is really into gadgets and he has a high-tech photo setup, which leads to him forcing me to look at pictures of my teeth all drilled to shit, while they are currently like that. It sucks! I want to say no thanks but I don't know how. He's convincing me that I need the fillings, but I believe him! Gripe of the day!!!!

This is outrageous!

Thanks for the spaetzle maker Skipper!!!! Works like a champ. This is spaetzle (with a little wheat flour thrown in) Morant's weisswurst, and carrots and onions.

I finally made the bread that America was in love with a few years ago, that 24 hour no-knead bread. Now that I have a deep cast-iron pot with a lid, it was a snap. It sure is pretty. I confess I haven't tried a piece yet. However, like many things that are supposed to be "easier" (like pancake mix), making the no-knead bread is basically the same amount of hassle as knead bread, minus the 10 minutes of kneading that is a pretty Zen, pleasant activity. But maybe it tastes better because of the time involved. I'm sure you're waiting with bated breath to know what I think.

Did I mention I'm one of the judges of the bacon contest on Sunday? Would it be funny if I wear a lab coat?

Breton, you must be joking

2012-01-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but what more proof do you need that Republicans are the crappier, more evil party than that they consistently try to keep people from voting? E.G., opposing same-day voter registration and many other examples.

Breton, you have got to be kidding. "What matters is the will of a community" to build an arena? There is no will! Talk to the common man in Sac: there is no will. There is no desire. There is no money.

Did you guys read Cosmo's excellent piece on parking privatization? Hopefully this will be the next harebrained scheme to fall by the wayside.

Sunday at MOBS

2012-01-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

You guys are quiet today. Is everyone over on FB arguing about that panel discussion?

MOBS is showing this on Sunday at 7:30, donation only. Sponsored by SacTown.

This just in: I'm one of the judges of the bacon contest on Sunday! 1 pm. Mulvaney's. You can get tickets here, which include bacon snacks and 3 brews or ciders.

Also, Michele Hebert's wine tasting is at Bows tonight, starting at 7 pm

I love LA

2012-01-17T10:28:00.000-08:00

Just got back from L.A. It was so fun. That town sure has some good grub. I didn't take many pictures. Celebs spotted: Busy Phillips (from Freaks and Geeks! I was thrilled), Kirsten Dunst (with one of the Rodarte sisters), Frodo, Kelly Osbourne, David Arquette, and then a whole bunch of TV people (Topher Grace, Michelle Trachtenberg, Amber Heard? Don't know who that is). Sully tried to bum a cig off Frodo, but he ignored him. A few pictures after the jump

Have you ever heard that John Denver song with the line "poodles on my shoulder make me cry"?

This is a Ramos Fizz at Musso and Franks. I love fizzes!!!!!!

Ha. This is a "hearts of lettuce" salad at Musso and Franks. More like head of lettuce salad.

New York steak and fries. Musso and Franks rules! But it is NOT CHEAP. Go there for the history and the cute tiny waiters.

This is the sapporo miso ramen at Ton Chan Ramen in San Gabriel. Fucking phenomenal. It really made me realize that I have been eating some mediocre ramen lately (Hokkaido I am talking to you). Gotta go to Shoki soon.

This dish was a dream come true because I never get enough ikura when I order nigiri. Man, except for the driving and traffic I love L.A. so much. LACMA is great, and I got to see some Maloof furniture at the beautiful Huntington Gardens. And see good friends.

ugly, delicious grub

2012-01-12T09:43:00.000-08:00

Wow, spaetzle is so easy to make. Where can I get a spaetzle macher? Skipper? Oh yeah, you don't read heckasac, do you? I over nutmegged this because I didn't measure but I kinda likes it. The finished dish was too ugly to show here but it involved onions and sausage. More cooking crap after the jump. Finches tonight at the Javalounge!

I was lucky enough to be able to check out the revised Paula Wolfert Foods of Morocco at the UC Davis library. Basically if no one requests it I can keep it forever. I got some saffron as a Christmas present, so here is some saffron water I made. Nothing shows my terrible photography skills as much as this picture. This looked so beautiful but here it looks like stomach contents.

Here are some preserved Meyer lemons in oil that I made two years ago! I was a little worried I'd kill us if I used them but I'm still alive! I did not confide my fears to smiller. Close call.

So to make this dish, you sautee some chicken legs and thighs in some olive oil, skin down, for a few minutes. Then, you take them out and sautee onions and garlic for a few, then you add a little water, the preserved lemons, the saffron water, some ginger and some aniseseed. I used fennel seed. Then boil. Then add the chicken on top and put a lid on it and gently simmer for 25 minutes. Preheat oven to 325.

Then add a bunch of fennel and green olives and kinda mix it around in the sauce without disturbing the chicken too much. Keep covered and it goes into the oven for 30 minutes. If you use an extremely heavy cast iron you may burn yourself, like I did.

I got this wine at 58 degrees. I think it goes extremely well with Moroccan food.

Moroccan salads take a little getting used too. For one thing, it appears that not all of the dressings include oil. This one has orange juice, orange water, sugar, lemon and cinnamon. I was supposed to use Ceylon cinnamon but I don't have it. It was good but the orange water is somehow soapy without tasting like soap at all.

Maybe if you use more expensive orange water it helps?

Either way, it was interesting to dress a salad without oil. I may try it again.

Wolfert has a good tip to briefly broil the chicken at the end to crips up the skin.

This looks ugly, too but the chicken was very tender and flavorful. I served it over quinoa.

Don't fuck with Knock Knock

2012-01-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

As we can all tell, all the action is over at the Halloween blog, although it ate my last two comments. Maybe it is being taxed by the constant flood of comments.

Here's some video of the MidMo March cover shoot, featuring Knock Knock.
P.S. you guys know about the Finches show on Thursday, right? It's been moved to Javalounge.

Phranc?

2012-01-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

OK, so Drive, which is playing at the Crest again (so you know it's being properly projected and the sound is just right, which is really important with this movie). It is stylish, that's for sure. And it does not remind me of Natural Born Killers, like this director's last movie (Bronson) did, which is good. The music is sometimes perfect, sometimes cringingly terrible. Gosling is undeniably leading man material. I reject Cary Mulligan as the actress of her generation. She just doesn't have IT. She is cute. She is the poor mans Michele Williams. The car chases are undeniably exciting. Albert Brooks is a scary old Jew in this movie, not his usual role at all. That's awesome the director cast him. Hmm...I liked it.

Remember when this sculpture was on J st? The bull with udders.

The Round Table met at Round Table yesterday and after much debate, decided that the theme of the Halloween show is "soundtracks". I hear "gay" got pretty far but that it was pointed out that that wouldn't leave a lot for the ladies to do (K.D. Lang, Phranc and Joan Jett). I predict that Caddyshack or Ghostbusters will go last. There's a blog about it linked on the right. There's also a new beer blog that DB and his wife, Darcey are doing. It's charming. AND, a blog about the Future Art Notables, who are opening their first group show at the Verge Success party.

Friday video

2012-01-06T13:18:00.001-08:00

dudes, have you seen this? I want to see this band again so bad!
Grass Widow "Milo Minute" from what rabbit on Vimeo.

hubba hubba

2012-01-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

I saw Sunset Boulevard at the Crocker last night. So fucking good. It was really packed. Gloria Swanson was amazing. What a courageous role for her to take on. It's harsh. Now I want to see some of her earlier films.

What do you guys think of Philip K. Dick? Favorite books? I just read this one and I loved it. Doesn't the guy on the front look like Kevin Spacey? The plot is crap and so is most of the dialogue but the genius is in the little comical touches and character vignettes. There's one page that's so ~~geniu~~s some other adjective I thought about just typing it in here, but that seems like going too far. Was he a diagnosed schizophrenic? There's a scene where he's digging a tiny implanted camera out of his wrist that is so similar to schizophrenic thinking that it's creepy.

the most depressing

2012-01-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

Did the most depressing break room in the world just get more or less depressing with the addition of this ancient exercise bike that no one will ever use? Yep, these are the luxurious quarters that UC Davis employees can expect. P.S. the median age of these magazines is 4 years.

Hoo, boy, the roster of shows for the next couple of months is not looking too hot. And the show I'm most stoked about, Babies, lacks a venue currently. The Wounded Lion show was really raging but I don't like their new album at all. They're a better live band. G. Green sounded really good. It was nice to go to such a raging show on Dec 30th because my new years eve was pretty mellow (besides the appearance by celebrity spokesman Kokopelli)

Man, I forgot about this article. I wish this would have gotten into the mag.

picture post

2012-01-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

Picture post! After the jump

I made pimento cheese to take to a holiday party. You start with a shit-ton of sharp cheddar.

Mix it with a ton of mayo, pimentos, and worchestershire and cayenne. I kind of used Craig Clairborne's recipe (via undercovercaterer) but didn't add scallions.

It's real ugly but tastes real good.

Thanks Heather K.! How nice to have fruit trees.

The grilled cheese from Magpie. They make it with sage cheddar and the housemade pickles are fucking good, but I like how the grilled cheese at Fat Face has a sharper cheese. Without that tang, a grilled cheese can just be too damned unctuous. I used the word I hate.

The meanest present of all.

It closes soon, but if you haven't already, I recommend a trip to see the Clayton Bailey show at the Crocker, especially with kids. There's interactive stuff including a build-your-own-robot station.

The show is silly but really fun.

You know what's better than working? Making bread.

Know what else? Making Meyer lemon marmalade.

My best day working is worse than my worst day baking.

These are spotty from salt and olive oil on top. I made the white bread recipe from Joy Of Cooking, and also the wheat bread recipe from the Laurel's Kitchen cookbook. They were both good.

This was the New Year's eve feast. Thanks everyone! I did not make anything on this plate.

New Year's Eve shoes.

The next day we met an elf on the beach.

Then the elf and this deadhead guy spread some vibes.

Masullo last night, the Elisa was off the chain. Look at that PERFECT crust! The salami was like licking a pig and the tomatoes tasted so fresh.

Jammin' in the New Year

2012-01-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

I had fun jammin in the New Year in Petaluma. Kokopelli even made an appearance as we danced around the fire. It's exactly as cool as it sounds.

I love Animal Collective, but I popped in Feels on the way to work today and it's hard not to put it in the context of how it kind of fucked up a generation of bands (by young people, darn them) who just try to ape Animal Collective instead of making up their own thing. I guess that's my Gripe Of The Day.

Fuck, dudes, did you know that a nice man (Vince) in Stockton (so not THE Vince) put out the Bright Ideas LP? It looks rad and sounds even radder. I love it! You can stream it here today, if you like, and you can get a copy at Phono Select or straight from smiller.

gross post

2011-12-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

This post is really just for smiller, since everyone else is off work. Hi Scott!

Top 20 Crimes of 2011, SacBee? How tacky. Did any juicy rapes make the list?

Dave Attell last night at the Punchline was pretty good. He kind of bombed, though, but he just went with it. He was doing a lot of ad-libbing. He blamed it on having four opening acts, and I think that was kind of true. One of them was Sac High's own Kelly Price. Anybody go to school with her? She was good. Also, Big Jay Oakerson opened and was super good. He just did crowd work, it was impressive. I was surprised to see that people actually get wasted in the crowd and act like asses. During Dave Attell, one woman alternated between yelling "woo", flipping Attell off and yelling "air force". He gave her a tshirt. Doug Benson and Kevin Nealon are playing there soon. The problem is, with the two drink minimum (which they enforce) it's over 50 bucks! That's pretty crazy. Why doesn't the comedy spot book touring comedians?!?!?!?

Why didn't anyone tell me about yin yoga? I thought it was baby/old lady yoga (which I like sometimes) and it kind of is, but it's totally intense. My hips are so open right now. See you at lunch, Scott.

Eww!! Gross! I know. Sorry.

tweet dat rage

2011-12-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

It's the week the internet died. I am only on the net right now because I'm avoiding transcribing two interviews. Tomorrow is the ladies Xmas dayrage. We are releasing all our Christmas rage in a cleansing rite that will help us start 2012 on the right track. Now that I have a smart phone I am going to try to figure out how to tweet from my phone so that I can tweet dat rage, starting Tuesday, 10 am. Backdoor Lounge.

Merry Xmas

2011-12-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

So is it just me, or are Greg Lucas' restaurant reviews in the News and Review complete nonsense? I know there are words and phrases there, and some (not many) of them are about food, but I can't seem to make heads or tails of it. Let's hope this guy is not the restaurant reviewer for the News and Review for another year #GripeOfTheDay

I watched A Face In The Crowd last night. I highly recommend it. You will never look at Andy Griffith the same again. It's heavy-handed as fuck, and more successful as a showbiz movie than a political satire, but overall, amazing. That and Payday are my two favorite showbiz movies.

I saw some good movies in the theater this year. My three favorites were: Certified Copy, Take Shelter, and Contagion.

Three of my favorite albums were: Eleanor Friedberger solo, Sonny and the Sunsets and Christine Shields.

Favorite cat: Babs

Gripe of yesterday and today

2011-12-21T10:17:00.000-08:00

Sauza Claus and his germ-y bottle of Sauza made me sick.#gripeofyesterday

Why do art films often include genital mutilations? #gripeoftheday

Can you tell I stayed home sick and watched Antichrist yesterday? Believe it or not, even with the garden shears to the clit, I liked it better than Melancholia. But jeez, Von Trier, Haneke (Piano Teacher), there is some other arty movie too where a lady mutilations her vagina. Notice I did not say vajajay, lady business, or lady parts. Speaking of pussy, the Louis CK downloadable special is good.

This is the aged nog I made from the sacyuleblog recipe. I'm taking it to a party tomorrow and it's been aging for about a week. I'm going to test it today to make sure I don't make everyone at the party sick. I'm also making pimento cheese.

I've been kind of down on the crockpot with some recent attempts to make beans in it. Beans don't seem to cook evenly. However, I got some stew meat at the meat lab, threw it in there with a bunch of wine and broth and soffrito, cooked it all day, got home, put some more wine in, sauteed some mushrooms in butter and wine, threw in carrot slices, mushrooms, and pearl barley for about a half hour and voila! Fucking good. The wine and barley is what really put it over the top.

Here's the aged nog the day I made it. I love nutmeg.

Cat in a basket

Grilled cheese at Bows last night. So good.

I hope they don't mind me posting this. This is the best Christmas card I have ever seen.

I got this tree at SPCA for a buck fifty. Grandma style!

They Did It Again

2011-12-19T14:54:00.000-08:00

You may have heard that the Beach Boys are touring (the real ones, no Stamos) and that they re-recorded ~~"Get Together~~" - (duh, "Do It Again" is the name. Says so right on the video) one of my faves - as a tour kick off. Seeing them standing in their respective booths singing will not exactly get anyone's pulse racing, and is it just my computer, or do you all see the phrase "getty images" floating over the beach scenes? Busted! I think I spotted a session guy from Letterman's band in there, too.

This rendition is more fun (skip 40 secs in). Note how cool Dennis looks. I want to paint this backdrop on my garage wall. Smiller, can we do that? It won't be that hard.

Thank You Four Eyes

2011-12-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

ha! I like that I get a Bruno Mars spambot comment below. The Bruno Mars cover (sung by Davey!) is actually my fuzziest memory of the evening. I remember yelling "that song sucks" which is rude, although true. The Four Eyes show was the best, as usual. I will post the set list when I remember to bring it to work. They opened with "Truckin", which was a sure sign that the set would be stellar. Then when they played Pee Pee 1990 I totally blew out my voice singing it. My throat hurt so bad. They closed with an ecstatic rendition of Wooly Bully. The night was marred by right vs. left violence, however. The middle took the Switzerland tack. Some would call them cowards. At least the so-called right (although I'd like to point out that my right is your left), evil as they are, had the courage to take a side.

Brew Awareness and Gripe of the Day

2011-12-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

The Davis Beer Shoppe has The Abyss from both 2010 and 2011 on draught, with sizeable pours. This shit gave me an STD (Straight To the Dome) and I'm having a hard time motivating. I can report that when tasted side by side the 2010 is more raisin-y and sweet.

Gripe of the day: Subscribing to the New Yorker and the Sunday Times does not give me any time to read books lately. What? I didn't say it would be a great gripe every day.

best of?

2011-12-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

How about if I make the gripe of the day a regular feature? Right now I am nursing a gripe, but I will post later in the day in case something better comes up.

Keeping in mind my bad memory, I can attempt some year-end lists. This was my favorite New Yorker cover, with an honorable mention for the Thiebaud food issue one and a request that they stop letting Hockney phone it in with his iPad sketches. Also, can anyone tell the Clowes and Tomine covers apart? I dare you to try. I know this is going to be a pretty controversial best-of. Let the arguing begin.

Nevermind, lists like that are boring. I don't think I'm going to write any.

Four Eyes show on Saturday. That's kind of unfortunate that the Trent Liddicoate art opening with Al Maxwell performing is going on at the exact same time. I'll have to try to get over there to see the show at some point, thought.

throw the bums out

2011-12-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

Our city council just sold us out again, people. Except for Sandy Sheedy and Darrell Fong. Exactly how are they going to replace this money in the general fund? This parking revenue is ours, as a city, in perpetuity. Why are we signing it away? Fuck these clowns. P.S.-that reminds me that I was listening to the New Yorker podcast last night and David Denby called Lars Von Trier a clown. That made me laugh out loud (LOL)

On a happier note, please get out your Joy of Cooking and look up marmalade cookies in the index and then make these. Actually, the recipe is so simple I think I remember it.
1/3 cup butter, whip it up
beat in an egg and 6 tablespoons tart marmalade (make your own, now's the time)
add a cup to 1 1/2 c of flour and 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
I wouldn't add the whole amount of flour that they say. Closer to a cup than a cup and half would be better. This was about a cup and a third and you can see they are a little doughy. But super tangy!

different aaron, still finches

2011-12-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

So much bummer restaurant news lately. Mulvaney is pulling out of the Crocker Cafe and the Ella executive chef, Kelly McCown, is going back to wine country. Chef Kelly will be hard to replace. That reminds me, Ella's 20 buck copper pot special is cioppino this month. I don't know how I will find the time, but I will eat that even if I have to kill someone, or myself, to do it. That doesn't make any sense, I know, but that's how committed I am.
Here's a video to get you excited about The Finches show on January 18th. She's not playing with this Aaron anymore, but she's back to being a duo with a different guy named Aaron. I know, January is too far away to get excited about anything.

thought provoking

2011-12-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

Wow. This is quite a review. I love the Waterboy yet I agree with almost every word. The only thing I would say I disagree with is that the prices don't make is special occasion. That depends on your budget, of course. I also don't think the servers are too serious. But everything else I think is spot-on. I love it there and it's a great place for family celebrations, but I get a little frustrated by the sameness of the menu. I also think their wine list needs work. And no one could argue that it's not like being inside a Cosby sweater, but I actually like that. BAR is getting reamed in the comments and does not deserve it.

epic photo post

2011-12-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for an epic picture post? Do you care? Do I? After the jump.

Christine Shields and Phillip Franklin at the Villanova house Thursday night. It was beautiful. I think she's got a show coming up. Phillip is her multi-instrumental secret weapon. You can get her album at Phono Select and it's really good.

Fuck, Sonny Smith was good. I think both times I saw him this year are making my top 10 of shows. I'll post that list after the Four Eyes show, which will probably be number 1 with a bullet. He only sang two songs and then told stories and it was wild and gender-bending and saucy. He fucking rulez please someone book Sonny and the Sunsets for a show in Sac?!?!?!?

Spent the weekend in Stinson Beach. Mt. Tam was crystal clear.

Nice hike at Slide Ranch

I'm likin' this picture

So we hiked to this dome at Slide Ranch. It's at a group campsite and has a stove and sink and I was like, "fuck yeah I am booking this and having a group trip in March" and picturing the late night hangouts inside around the tables. Not so fast. It's 2100 bucks a night? Fuck that. That's some anti-hippy shit. That's for the 1%.

If you hike down to the dome you pass a grove called the bone yard and there are tons of animal bones. Some scamp had arranged the bones this way.

This goat is kind of a metaphor for life, right? Deep.

Too many beach photos I know. The birds were perfectly reflected in the wet sand and we were trying to capture it.

We ate at Osteria Stellina in Point Reyes. I really recommend this place. Here's beans and greens.

This is baby octopus stewed in tomato with onion. It was fabulous.

This is a puntarella salad. It's a kind of chicory. Chicory must really be in season in the coastal area because it was on every menu. The puntarella had a wonderfully bitter flavor and heft to it. Dressed with a simple red wine vinaigrette.

They have good pizzas, too.

The mussels were a little anemic and the housemade sausage was just ok.

This is from Cowgirl Creamery. It's thin-sliced ham with soft Mt. Tam cheese, dijon mustard and bread and butter pickles.

On our way home we went the the Marshall Store. A spot (in Marshall, natch, on the northerly part of Tomales Bay) to sit by the bay and eat raw, smoked or bbqed oysters.

or a pulled pork sandwich.

The raw oysters were the best. The mignonette had cilantro in it. What a Cali touch.

BBQed oysters with grilled sourdough garlic bread. I will not lie, these 12 oysters set me back a painful amount.

Picked up some videos thrifting. I have high hopes that this one, on how to carve meat, from master carver Merle Ellis will be worthy to send to the Found Footage Festival guys.

Can't wait to watch this one.

Sonny Smith tonight!!

2011-12-08T10:00:00.001-08:00

A call for a Jonathan Richman review was made:

We got there at 9 pm and it had already started! He often tours without a backing band which is brilliant if you think about it. He doesn't have to share any money and everyone will just be there for him regardless of who opens. He didn't sing any songs I was familiar with from recordings (I have heard him play some of them live before) and they came in three languages (Spanish, Italian, French) with him translating as he went along, as usual. There was a good-sized crowd and he seemed stoked. He sang a really funny song about how your body does not want to be overloaded with wine or surrounded by electromagnetic radiation and buzzing devices. Awesome, as always.

This is the quad in Davis right now! What are they going to do about all these tents? They really fucked themselves with that pepper spray incident. There is indeed a 30 foot geodesic dome in the background there, just as the be-dreaded hippy woman promised.

Bows has neat calendars with work from local artists including Liv Moe, Olivia, and a really nice page by Troy Mighty. I was a little disappointed to find that it's not bound, but I guess I will pin the pages up as the year progresses.

I had heard a buzz about the mushroom Reuben at Bows (from OMF) and he was right! Delicious. It's supposed to be on rye but they were temporarily out. Jaymes makes her own sauerkraut (of course she does). I love that perfect pickled carrot on top of the salad.

This is the Italian roast pork with persimmon. Good, but the pork was too fatty for me and the bread was a little soft. Sorry, I'm a critic! I love Fat Face!!!! I also got a glass of cote du rhone and the pairing of a Victory Prima pilsner and a chocolate chip cookie was weirdly good. Bows is such a wonderful place to hang out. I tried to stay and see Dylan Barnes play his first (and only) solo show but it was just going too late.

This show is tonight. It is not to be missed, IMHO. Christine Shields' record is really good! She has an etsy store. I'm getting a cat ornament. I might have to save up for one of those pillows. Those are really good. I'm curious to see Sonny Smith without the Sunsets.

out of sight martini

2011-12-06T15:11:00.001-08:00

I actually had a meeting over martinis last night at Shady Lady. That's really the best way to conduct a meeting.

This is a gin martini made with Dolin vermouth and Right gin, a peppery Swedish gin. Man this hit the spot.

Bar snacks. That's house cured lox with capers and arugula in the back. Really did not need the creamy sauce. Note to restaurants: Americans do not need the creamy sauce.

This is a drink created by Garrett Van Vleck called the Drunken Butterfly. Not crazy about the name. It has Cocchi Americano, sparkling wine, peach bitters, and maybe something else.

This is the full charcuterie board. 25 bucks and includes housemade pork rinds.

little lamb

2011-12-06T10:02:00.001-08:00

This is literally (literally!) one of my favorite things I've ever seen. Jonathan Richman crying over a William Blake poem. Awwww!!! Not a dry seat in the house, as Ed C. would say. This LIVING LEGEND is playing at the Blue Lamp tonight. There is not an opening act listed. I would guess your best bet would be to show up at 830 (or 9 if you have a friend there who would text you what's going on, I'll do it if you want) and you can be home in bed by 10:30. You know where I would love to see him play? Bows and Arrows.

Here's the gorgeous original that Blake illustrated and below's the text

The Lamb

BY WILLIAM BLAKE
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Gave thee life, and bid thee feed

By the stream and o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing, woolly, bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice?

Little Lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb.

He is meek, and he is mild;

He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb.

We are called by his name.

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

insane

2011-12-05T09:42:00.001-08:00

Tonight there's a house show for Aaron Zeff's birthday. Sounds fun. It's on undietacos.

I stole these photos from this blog I like called slutever.org. It is NSFW!!!!! It is barely SFH. I think it's the modern Rollerderby, if anyone gives a fig about my opinion. Anyway, she's been hanging out with Danny Fields and these are some scanned photos of his. He should do a book, based on these.

Jonathan Richman. Insane. By the way, did you know he's playing the Blue Lamp tomorrow night? It's not very well publicized. I'm not psyched about a Tuesday show at the Blue Lamp, but he's a living legend and his shows are sometimes magical.

Bolan!

Thanks to Best Christmas Ever band for playing the MidMo party! Hopefully OMF will post some pictures somewhere? They looked great. We collected lots of toys for the kids at Sacramento Childrens Home and gave out good prizes.

delish

2011-12-02T15:29:00.001-08:00

Sometimes my job rules. Like when I get to eat a frittata sandwich from Zia at the Davis Beer Shoppe and drink a Bruery Humulus Lager for 4 bucks (!) with it, and then go back to work. The Beer Shoppe selection is absolutely off the chain. He's got so many Christmas beers, a big shelf just of Mikkeller beers. It's crazy. I wrote them up for the MidMo gift guide this month. The new MidMo has hit the streets. Tessa is on the cover and it's very cute.

so smug

2011-12-02T10:29:00.001-08:00

Ok, jerks, I get a ton of comments and now you leave me hanging. I see how it is. J.K.

Argh, so you all know about all the crap there is to do this weekend, right? A lot of crap, and some GOLD, namely the MidMo holiday partay. Tim Matranga (or is is MANtranga) is DJing. Who knew? Not me, I just found out, but that's great. Makes it a real party. Don't forget a toy. I am going to shop local and get a toy at Alphabet Moon. Look how smug I am. So smug.

This really weird place opened in downtown Davis, called Fish Is Wild. No wait, it's called Fish's Wild? That's awkward. For less than ten bucks, I got a whole, beautifully grilled trout dressed with my choice of seasoning (I picked house = ginger), and brown rice and steamed vegetables. Not bad at all. But not wild. Also, this trout is probably farmed, and the salmon certainly is. Fish's Farmed doesn't sound as good, I guess.

Christmas!

2011-12-01T09:28:00.001-08:00

Fuck yes! It found a venue. So stoked. Sonny and the Sunsets and King Tuff were my two favorite shows of the year so far. Hope he's good solo, too. Also stoked to see Christine Shields. That reminds me, Jonathan Richman is at the Blue Lamp on December 6th. It's not overtly Christmas-y, but both of these shows sound like great ways to get in the holiday spirit.

Speaking of the holidaze, those Yuba folks have started a Christmas blog. These jonny come latelies and their trendy seasonal blogs, I tell ya.

Late last night I remembered one more fact from that alpha focus-grouper: two years ago she lost 70% of her hair. She pretty much said that apropos of nothing. Also: 70%? Exactly?

In addition to the MidMo holiday party featuring the Best Christmas Ever Band and FREE (luigis) PIZZA, the Sacto MoFo 3 is happening that day under the freeway where the farmers market is. I think the organizers kinda got screwed because this was supposed to happen at Arco Arena and there was supposed to be beer, but thenn Arco (Power Balance) (bankrupt) found out that they can't have propane burners inside and cancelled. So now it's free, under the freeway, there's no beer, but lots of trucks. Who knows? It may be just as crowded and hard to get food as the first one, but maybe not. It's worth cruising by and checking out the scene.

nice shirt

2011-11-30T17:06:00.001-08:00

I'm stealing a couple of pictures from the Bows blog. I'm serious, you should be checking it out.

This one illustrates how each member of Wet Illustrated looked like he had been styled for an Urban Outfitters catalog. I don't mean that as a dis, they were stylish.

cool picture of Calvin.

could have talked all night

2011-11-30T13:55:00.001-08:00

I like how lively the comments have been lately. Here's a post on a vintage website featuring RC. It's charming

Masullo last night! Interviewing a local lady businesslady for MidMo who is super interesting! I only hope I can capture her flava (cringe) in the profile. I got an hour of tape from her and we really could have talked for a lot longer. Is this arugula salad the best or what? It is so huge for 5 bucks.

What this pizza called? I forget?

I got the pie with botarga. I had never tried botarga so I knew for sure it would be my choice. It was a little concentrated burst of fish and salt.

good discussion

2011-11-29T13:54:00.001-08:00

Anybody listen to Talk of the Nation today? It's not online yet, but it was a discussion of police tactics. A cop who was chief of police in Seattle during the WTO protests called the pepper spraying at UC Davis the most egregious misconduct during a protest that he had seen in his 34 years as a cop. He seems like a cool dude, for a pig, I mean. He said he thought teargassing the WTO protesters was a horrible mistake. It was refreshing to hear a public figure admit a mistake wholeheartedly. That never seems to happen anymore. Katehi, I'm looking at you. Anyway it was a good discussion and maybe worth listening to online.

This is awesome! I love this hippy aspect. The geodesic dome is a nice touch:

Outside on the UC Davis quad, about 80 tents were set up with Tibetan prayer flags strung between lampposts. Teach-ins were being held on the sidewalk and under a tarp-covered geodesic dome.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/29/4085704/protesters-disrupt-university.html#ixzz1f8NIZL50

so that's what it is: a liberty walk

2011-11-29T09:34:00.001-08:00

Huh, interesting. I'm glad Miley weighed in.

So do you guys know about the MidMo Christmas party? It's this Saturday, it starts at 6pm, it's at Luigi's. It is child friendly, there will be free pizza and really good raffle prizes (as usual). The Best Christmas Ever Band will be performing!!! Please bring a new, unwrapped toy for a kid.

hello "readers"

2011-11-28T10:25:00.001-08:00

Hello people who still check this blog (aka Scott Miller). How's it going? Are you "glad" to be back to work? Thanksgiving photo post after the jump

The Delta is very pretty this time of year. When was the last time you explored around there?

Sardine sandwich from the undisputed king - Huong Lan

Don't spray me bro. UCD rally last week. There's a boycott of classes today, but my union didn't send out any emails about striking, so they must have decided not to. It's kind of a dumb day for a boycott, right after the holiday. And I think mid-terms are going on.

That looks like ranch or something, but it's the bergamasco sandwich from Corti bros, so that's melted mozzarella with pesto. It was fucking good!!

Corti Bros turkey. Picking up that turkey and having the guy look up my name on the list and go get it in the back was probably the most Old School Sac thing I've ever done.

Friends.

My boss gave me hella foraged chanterelles! I would say woot except that I would never say woot.

This is a bamboo cocktail: sherry, vermouth, orange bitters.

Have you ever thrown celery root in with your potato mash? I highly recommend it.

This is a cocktail WB invented called pink smoke. One of my favorite things I've ever dranken. Yes, I know that is bad grammar: very smoky mezcal, spicy cranberry chutney, egg white, half and half and smiller's backwash. That's the secret ingredient.

Tarragon-infused turkey.

The whole shebang.

Finally tried Guistis! It is great.

Promotional material from Mudhoney, which was filmed nearby. At the time it was called "Rope of Flesh"

Goober stopped by!

Calamari steak.

I didn't take as many pictures at the Hmong New Year this year. This is the pork rib and sticky rice plate.

General Vang Pao died, so the new thing is this image of him on a pegasus. Please make one of these for me after I die.

Appetite Enhancement

2011-11-23T11:31:00.001-08:00

I finally got to experience what all the kids have been talking about: a hangover. J.K., though it's kind of true (that Flying Dog porter at Bows is strong, but good), no I'm talking about karaoke at Old I on Tuesdays. It was fun and I haven't been at Old I in forever. I didn't get to sing (Kokomo) which I'm actually kind of glad about. Who knows if I would have tried to bust some dance moves or something. The Touchez/Wet Illustrated/Nacho Biznass show was fun. Wet Illustrated were cute. They all looked like they had been individually styled for an Urban Outfitters catalog.

Tomorrow is the Appetite Enhancement Ride. It starts at the Towe Ford Museum at 9. Larry is DJing as usual. Will it rain this year?

Happy Thanksgiving! God bless us, every one.

Calvin pissing on Pike

2011-11-22T09:12:00.001-08:00

I stole these from VM's facebook. I thought the rally was a good thing. Of course the outrage against the pepper-spraying is warranted. I wish I saw more activism and outrage about fee hikes and tuition increases. And cops who make $114,000.

Tonight! Nacho Business, Wet Illustrated and Touchez at Bows! Bows is such a rad place to see a show. I love it. And they start pretty close to ontime, folks.

oh, shit, whoopi's pissed

2011-11-21T15:45:00.001-08:00

chants I can get behind, chants I can't get behind

2011-11-21T10:22:00.001-08:00

Yipes. Going to the UCD rally today on the urging of my union. I hope I don't get billy clubbed or pepper sprayed. We'll see what it's like. Sometimes I get embarrassed when I'm forced to chant. I mean, I'm a Sacramentan, so I love chants, such as: best summer ever, talk about charles, etc. But I don't like chants I can't get behind.

Speaking of chanting, on Friday, one of the bands that played at Bows and Arrows (Lichen) wanted us to chant both "smash the patriarchy" and "fuck the pigs". I said "fuck the pigs" really quietly. I depend on cops to protect me from serial killers, etc., so I didn't want that on record. MOM was great that night, and so was Calvin Johnson. It really warmed my cockles to see a nice-sized crowd, sitting attentively, NOT texting, not on their fucking iphones, just sitting and listening to Calvin talk and play. I didn't know that was possible anymore. I remember a few years back, when texting and camera phones and everything were just starting to become really prevalent, going to a Bananas show (at Kimos) and I could not fucking believe how many of the kids were spending all their time taking shitty pictures and video that they were probably not going to do anything with rather than just watching the band. It was insane. People seem to have chilled with that a bit, probably when they realized that the sound and picture is so crappy from a loud rock show.

did you

2011-11-18T13:53:00.001-08:00

Did you know both of the stars of the new Whit Stillman movie are from Sac and went to St. Francis? Did you? Did you? Greta Gerwig and Analeigh Tipton. She's the woman on the right.

so jealous

2011-11-18T08:53:00.001-08:00

Man, I must admit that I'm a bit jealous of the Bows and Arrows blog these days. It's really turning out some great content. There's this post, which contains interviews with Calvin Johnson and MOM and serves to advertise their show tonight featuring both performers. I'm so there. Calvin gives a nice shoutout to the Bananas, among other local bands.

Then there's this post, which has an interview with Touchez. Their show, with Wet Illustrated and Nacho Business is on Tuesday the 22nd. So fun! Bows Blog has been updating a lot, so check out the link at right.

Soo.....Michele Hebert's Living Library Q and A is this Sunday at Time Tested, 7 pm. I'll be her interlocutor. I just love using that word, although I don't know how to pronounce it. You'll get to hear about Michele's perspective on wine, and you'll get to taste some wine at the end and we'll all talk about it. You can ask her questions after.

DC report (with Ganglians)

2011-11-17T09:30:00.001-08:00

Back from DC! What a cool town. I love a city that's sensibly laid out on a grid and has a good metro. I always knew my cardinal directions and how to get places. That alone will make me love a place. Add to that that it's a very social town and people love to go out and looovvve to drink (is this making me sound like an alkie? too bad) and I'm sold.

The metro stations have nice design. Kinda brutalist. I don't know what I'm talking about when I say that. That's never stopped me before. More pictures after the jump.

This is the tweed ride DC. In DC it rides right by the white house, which is probably pretty fun.

I ate at Shake Shack. I'm not usually into fast food, but I trust Danny Meyer. The patty was quite good, if a wee bit salty. I don't like crinkle cut fries. Period.

OK, I know this looks menstrual, but it was frozen vanilla custard with wine-soaked figs (also from Shake Shack) and it ruled!

There's a big Sol Lewitt piece in the DC convention center. A ray of sunshine, if a bit phoned in.

I ate at at WONDERFUL tapas bar called Esadio in DC. I HIGHLY recommend it. Quite reasonably priced as well. The cocktail above is made with fino sherry, vermouth, and bitters.

Here's what it looks like inside. Cozy. It was popular and packed, as was just about every restaurant in the NW area every night. That could be a little stressful if you were hungry.

This grilled squid was so charr-y and tender.

Fava bean dip.

Lightly pickled garlic (odorless somehow) with olives, onions and cornichons.

cute

patatas bravas. just ok.

grilled shrimp

I know it's not nice to post pictures of people when they're eating. sorry.

The spread was worthy of a Roman emperor. Table crammed with food. Including yummy pea shoots and kale. And mahon. One of the best things was a teeny bocadillo with sauteed morcilla (blood sausage) and cabrales (a Spanish blue). Fuck. Yes.

I got this at Churchkey. A very tart Berliner Weisse.

Rasta house. DC has beautiful neighborhoods.

I've eaten in Chinatown in DC twice and both times gotten crappy meals. I'm not going to do it again until I get a recommendation. This place (Chinatown Express) was really popular and tons of reviews in the window. These are hand-pulled noodles but the soup was bland.

These alleged soup dumplings were awful. Look how sad and desiccated they are. And no broth inside.

Another thing I like about the east coast is that eating oysters is not such a precious thing. It's a more common appetizer. A bit cheaper and not so exotic. This is at a place called Pearl Dive Oyster Palace. There are a couple of Wellfleets in there. I washed it down with a glass of vouvray. Delish.

The decor is a bit cheesy, theme-park-ish. But it's an all right place.

That same night I had second dinner, again at Estadio. Just a snack of fino sherry, jamon serrano, and La Serena sheep cheese. So stoked.

The best thing at the Smithsonian American history museum is Julia Child's kitchen. It's very humble and chock-full of cat art.

Enlargement of a Kliban cat.

Look at that cutting block.

I'm glad that Johnny Hart made it into the Smithsonian.

I gotta stop giving the thumbs up in photos.

More oysters (and littleneck clams) at Old Ebbitt Grill. It's a labyrinthine restaurant opened in 1856.

Then I went to see the Ganglians. I missed Friends, who they all said were good. They are doing like 20 dates with them. They sounded great. Blood On The Sand is such a classic.

I taught Kyle the term Stiping because it's very useful on tour. Adrian had just been to a whiskey tasting and was in a mellow mood. That was one of the most fun things I did the whole time I was there.

When I went to leave yesterday I went to the wrong damn airport. What an idiot. I flew into Dulles, so I thought I flew out of Dulles. Nope. Ronald Reagan. One hour, a lot of stress and a 75 dollar cab ride later, I made my flight!

Back to Sac! Pho Saigon.

remote post

2011-11-13T10:09:00.001-08:00

Remote posting from DC! Courtesy of a coworkers laptop.

How bummed was I to arrive at the Sac airport at 6 am anticipating some Old Soul coffee only to wind up at the jank Terminal A and have to drink Starbucks? So bummed.

Last night I spent hours and wayyyy too much money at this bar, Churchkey (I accidentally ordered a 25 dollar calvados but then I got it taken off my bill. It's a long story and I feel guilty, big surprise). It's a craft beer bar with a cool selection. They seem to specialize in gruit and gose, which are primitive beer styles that don't use hops (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). They had a Bahnhof gose on draft! Above is a gruit from Finland. Churchkey also seems to specialize in Scandinavian brews, which is intriguing, but they are very expensive.

This morning I hit up a farmer's market in Dupont Circle. The eastern part of the U.S. really has us beat on apples, but that's about it. Well, maybe culture. Apples and culture. fffff

Crab cake for breakfast? Yes.

Filter brews coffee by the cup, it's also right off Dupont circle. I got a Peruvian cup. And the little alternative weekly has a listing for...what's this? Ganglians! I'm stoked to go on Tuesday night.

crazy metro station

Nerds as far as the eye can see at the neuroscience meeting, which is the real reason I'm here.

best things

2011-11-10T14:15:00.001-08:00

Best things in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls so far:

-Les Blank was a cameraman on Easy Rider
-Peter Fonda may have banged Karen Black and Toni Basil (who was in Easy Rider) at the same time (probably a lie)
-Warren Beatty in general, just existing
-Dennis Hopper tries to pull a knife on Rip Torn (who was cast to play the Nicholson character) and this exchange (after Rip Torn has already disarmed Hopper once):
Hopper: I've got a buck knife, you wanna have a knife fight?
Torn: I'll wait for you in the street. Bring your guns. Bring your knives. Bring your pals, and we'll find out in about three seconds who the punk is.
-the number of joints Nicholson is constantly smoking

Boom da da da. Let the boys be boys.

2011-11-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

Boom! New header! That's all I got. Except love in my heart. For Chris Rock. Was that WTF podcast with him good or what? Best part: Chris Rock, his wife, Woody Allen and Soon Yi having dinner together in Rome.

Ruhstaller event

2011-11-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

I can't go, but there's a Ruhstaller event next Tuesday at Mulvaney's. You can try this revived historical brewery's beers and eat snack prepared by Mulvaney. It's only 22 bucks! Here's the event page. Here's a description of the beers:
Ruhstaller "1881" California Red Ale: made with a rare 100% California Select Two-Row Barley
Ruhstaller Hop Sac '11: a Small Batch, Fresh-Hopped Ale using Marty and Claudia Kuchinski's Clear Lake, CA estate grown Centennial and Ivanhoe hops

close harmonies

2011-11-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

Are you coming to the Verge holiday party? It's on Thursday. You can play mini golf with the holes created by local artists including Nathan Cordero, Amanda Cook, and Liv Moe, drink Ruhstaller beer from the new local brewery, and hit up some food trucks. It goes 6-10pm. And the next day is a holiday! Should be a rager. If you still want to party after, you could go to Leap In The Dark with DJs Mike C., Hailey Bop and Tim Mantranga. I wish I had that kind of partying stamina.

Verge also has a new Kickstarter campaign. Check out the video here.

On Friday, there's a Dreamdate show at Luigis. They played here recently, but the kind of big news for that show is that the Moore Brothers are playing. They never play Sac.
I know some of you like close harmonies. You will like the Moore Brothers.

I'm not sure this link will work, but I'll try. It's the facebook event page for the Living Library with MidMo wine writer Michele Hebert. Please RSVP?

get it together, Grange

2011-11-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

Nacho Business! The King Tuff show was the best show of the year. Well, for me it ties for best so far with Sonny and the Sunsets in LA. I really wish Sonny and the Sunsets would play here.

Fuuuuuuuccckkk! Have you ever gotten the French Dip at Sam's Hof Brau? I thought I loved the Hof Brau but the French Dip brought it to a new level. My early new year's resolution is to eat there once a month.

This picture is a representation of what it feels like to stay in a penthouse at the Citizen. Rich people really do have more fun, it's just like I suspected. The penthouse lounge was a sea of champagne on ice and self-satisfied laughter.

A family member of a friend generously offered to take me and a group out to dinner at the Grange and I had one of the weirdest dinners ever. The food was fine, but the service was insanely disorganized. Our server would abandon us for long periods, including to the point where we were stacking dirty dishes onto our menus, which had never been taken away. Then, when it came time to bring dishes out, 5 people would bring them over at once. So our table would either be swarmed or abandoned. I had a dish of Anson Mills grits fritters (they had me at Anson Mills) covered in barbecue sauce (which was not a good touch) and my silverware never got swapped out so I just had to use my sauce-covered silverware for my other dishes. We managed to order cocktails initially, but then after we drank them our cups sat empty and no one asked if we wanted to order wine or any other drinks. I know this all sounds like spoiled complaining but those prices are HIGH! Grange needs to GET IT TOGETHER.

King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff!

2011-11-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff! King Tuff!

See you at the pre-party (Davis Beer Shoppe)

hear ye

2011-11-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Listen up! NM wrote an important story about the retaaahhhded single bottle law on the grid. I salute him for navigating the morass. I tried to do it years ago and my reportial skills were decidedly not up to the task.

I thought my 15 Minutes would make it in this week but not yet, I guess.

Also important: Michele Hebert is going to do the Living Library talk at Time Tested Books on November 20th, I think at 7pm? I will be her interlocutor. She will talk about her views on wine, and some interesting history. I think we're gonna have a small tasting at the end. Spoiler alert!

profanity

2011-11-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

Don't forget King Tuff at the Davis Bike Collective on Friday night. Fuck, this song is good.

To follow up their highly reasonable prix fixe dinner, Ella Restaurant is now offering copper pot dinners for two, twenty bucks a person. Their first week, which is right now is this fucking chicken pot pie above. Holy crap, look at that thing.

apeshit

2011-11-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Guys, do you ever just wake up and feel like you're a loser? Wait, that's not a cue to tell me I'm not a loser. But it's not not a cue to tell me I'm not a loser.

Did you see the movie Love and Other Drugs? It has the most embarrassing first scene ever and probably gave me the worst second-hand embarrassment throughout of any movie ever. But what about Anne Hathaway's tits? Two nips up! (JK)

King Tuff Friday in Davis!!! Do you think he'll make it this time? He better or I will go apeshit.

oh yeah

2011-10-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! I forgot. Here's the best Halloween music ever. It's not too late to hit up this haunted house in Boulevard Park tonight

2011-10-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting. Here's a long picture post. Enjoy?

I never buy new books but buying these made me stoked. Started the Russell Banks, not crazy about it.

The other day this old-timey ship was crusiing by Old Sac. It looked cool.

Scott and I decided to blow off Halloween and go to the Biggest Little City in the World, otherwise known as the Nevada Riviera aka Reno. Bunch of pictures after the jump

After a semi-harrowing drive due to lots of construction, we went straight to the Pneumatic Diner. This is an old-school, hippy-ish vegetarian diner. I like it. It's a little bit like, oh I don't know, maybe Marshall Grounds? Or Sunflower I guess. Sac doesn't currently have any places like this, but I wish it did. It's not gourmet or trendy.

Tofu tacos

ratatouille baguette with pesto. kind of like a Stouffer's french bread pizza.

Man, once again I wish I had taken way more pictures. There's a bar called Chapel Tavern in Reno that I fucking love! Next-level cocktails and an amazing craft beer selection. We went there both nights. I won twenty bucks one night.

Here's the interior. It's small and comfortable. One of the nights I tried a cocktail with a shrub, which is a trendy cocktail mixer made with vinegar, fruit, and sugar. The cocktail I had had gin, blackberry shrub, oloroso sherry, and honey. I can't say enough. One night in lieu of a dessert I had a cocktail with bourbon, pumpkin butter, cream, and nutmeg. The bartenders also made me a "Chapel negroni" with aperol and a sazerac. Always end the night with a sazerac (jk). Unbelievable draft beer selection, too.

They also have a really good (albeit tiny) coffee shop called The Hub. We met one of the owners and he's super familiar with the Sac coffee scene and up on the Temple/Broadacre situation/gossip.

Here's the outside view. They're really into bikes. I don't really get the bike/coffee connection, but it's strong.

Breakfast at Peg's Glorified Ham N' Eggs. This is a lox scramble that had so much salmon in it. Really fishy.

Here's the juevos skillet. Huge.

Reno also boasts a wonderful new wine and beer shop, with a few taps. It's called Craft Beer & Wine. It's run by a dude, Ty, that used to be a partner in Cepage distributors. Small, very interesting selection, heavy on the French and Basque wines (because of Reno's large population of Basque immigrants). Big cooler full of craft beer.

You can open a bottle of wine inside and drink it, no corkage! The prices at the store in general are soooo low.

A Drie Fonteinen stout brewed with brettanomyces. Six dollars!

Best graffiti ever?

This picture is for Matt, who probably won't see it. We stayed at Circus Circus, of course.

Time for more yuppie food? Foodie food? Good food? This is from a restaurant called Old Granite Street Eatery. Snacks of fried shishito peppers (I love these, and the occasional fiery hot one makes it a very exciting snack) and housemade pickled veggies, including turnips.

This is a salad with a giant crabcake, sweetcorn succotash, and a pea shoot salad. This was a creative use of peashoots and was delicious. I am planning on adding some to a salad soon.

This is a new-ish place right down the street from Craft, called Midtown Eats. You know the drill by now, good draft beer selection, nice cocktail list, good food. Reno ain't just buffets and hookers. Or hooker buffets.

Bloody Mary, too sweet for my tastes.

Kulmbacher pilsner, in the correct glass.

Brunch club sandwich. Really good bread.

Murals on Virginia Street. Pre stoned and post stoned.

Lady on a XXX theater. Is she the best or what? Her body is so misshapen! She looked kind of like a worm. It's really sexy to eat grapes that way while nude.

Here's the wine I bought at Craft. I wish I was drinking it right now.

how did Babs get up there?

2011-10-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

I know you're supposed to talk about the earthquake on FB but I was just falling asleep when it happened and I yelled "Babs is on the roof!".

Did you guys know that you can eat in the Mulvaney's cafe inside the Crocker without paying admission to the Crocker and that it's reasonably priced and you get to eat Mulvaney's food in a sunlit courtyard? The special of the day yesterday was lamb hash with root vegetables and an egg on top. And they have beer and wine, too.

I recommend the prix fixe dinner at Ella. They're offering it for the next few days and 30 bucks is a steal. I tried both entrees and they're both really good. Ella is so elegant and comfortable. They really know their shit.

George Kuchar doc at the Crest tonight! 7:30! There's also a Charles Albright/Buk Buk show at Luigis tonight. You could go to both things if you really want to rage.

Man, is the fall beautiful or what? Besides the dry air, I'm stoked.

clearing things up

2011-10-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'm going to assume you're either on the Verge mailing list or its friend on Facebook, so you probably know about the screening at the Crest on Thursday, which is part of the Verge's quarterly partnership with the Crest. But be honest, are you a little confused about what it is? A little on the fence? I had never heard of George Kuchar until he died recently, and then people in SF were tweeting about it and I was like who is this dude? So maybe some of you haven't heard of him either? If so, take a look at his recent obituary in the Times. Sounds interesting, and like it will be up your alley if you are into John Waters, camp, or underground films. So far, so good. The showing at the Crest is a documentary about the filmmaker, rather than one of his films. So this will be an intro to his films, most of which aren't available on Netflix (just Sins of the Fleshapoids).

OK, so we've established that. There will also be an intro by artist Christine Shields, who studied with Kuchar. Check out this portrait, that's gotta be Devendra Banhart, right? I'm sure I spelled that wrong. Look at those doe eyes. Remember freak folk? I kinda miss it. It's still kind of going on at my house. Here are the nuts and bolt details about the showing:

Thursday, October 27 · 7:30pm

Location	Crest Theater 1013 K St Sacramento, California

Created By	Verge Center for the Arts

More Info	The Crest Theatre will be teaming up once more with Verge Center for the Arts on October 27 at 7:30 for the next installment of our quarterly film screening.This time around we'll be featuring It Came From Kuchar, introduced by past student of George Kuchar, Christine Shields. The film is a hilarious and touching story of artistic obsession, compulsion and inspiration.

Totally Sac (finally)

2011-10-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is going to make Babs a viral video star. Turn it up loud to hear the hisses.

I forgot to post this picture from when I was in Big Sur. Went to Esalen again. It's always so hard to stay up but it's so beautiful and relaxing when you're there.

No big whoop. I've been on a salad kick lately, and had this nicoise-ish salad with a Lagrein from Taylor's.

I made pretzel-coated chocolate caramel (or Carmel as I like to call them) apples and they were ok. I actually had one for breakfast this morning.

I think you need to use special caramels for it to really be good . Werther's originals get weird and waxy.

I also made some cocktails with bourbon. Lately I've been craving bourbon. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's my rampaging alcoholism, it just sounds good, ya know?

Bourbon and ginger beer in a Truman glass.

I had lunch at Bows on Saturday. This is the salmon sandwich with the wine special of the month.

Then, because I read Submerge that they have Temple Coffee at Devine Gelateria, I went there to get a cappucino. That place seems pretty cool. I don't eat a lot of gelato, but ricotta fig would be a flavor I would eat if I did eat it.

Saturday night was Dreamdate. So good! They're going to be back in 3 short weeks. Now that Sonia's their drummer they're totally Sac.

entertaining yelps

2011-10-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

entertaining yelps of the day:

Arbys

Sacramento, CA

10/20/2011

This location refuses to honor specials by imposing limits on the special that are NOT printed anywhere on the coupon or their signage. This has happened to me twice at this location.

1) I attempted to purchase the 5 for $5.95 deal. When I asked for 2 orders of the mozzerella sticks, I was told I can only have 1. I told her that their sign states in plain English "any 5 for $5.95". She said "Well we don't do that." They refused to allow me to include 2 orders of mozzerella sticks.

2) I had an Entertainment Book Coupon that states: "Enjoy one complimentary BEEF N' CHEDDAR SANDWICH when a second BEEF N' CHEDDAR SANDWICH of equal or greater value is purchased." There are three sizes of this sandwich, classic(small), medium and max. When I told the woman at the drive through I had the coupon, she insisted that it only applied to the classic (smallest) sandwich. I informed her that it does not say that on the coupon at all. It says "of equal or greater value". She refused to honor the coupon for anything other than the smallest sandwich.

There's nothing worse than a business that lures you to their locations with good deals that they sleazily worm their way out of honoring.

AVOID

Debra's Doghouse

Sacramento, CA

F--- you, pay me, reads the welcome sign at Debra's. The sign says it all. This lady is as mean as she is ugly. Smokes joints in the bathroom

I am purposefully not looking up what Debra's Doghouse is. I'm pretending it's some kind of roadhouse.

not a sando

2011-10-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Phono Select is having a fun contest and giving away gift certificates to the winners! Check it.

Have you chipped in to RTL's Kickstarter yet? They're about half way to their goal with 15 days to go. BTW, I hear that the upcoming Knock Knock record is crazy good and packed with hits that will rattle around your brain.

Dreamdate and Nacho Business are playing on Saturday at Luigis. Is Sonia the drummer of Dreamdate now? I think she is.

I'm a little bummed that my Big Sur pictures are not quite as good as I thought they were when I was taking them. That may be due to the vast amount of Charlie Sheen that I smoked. As a well known lover of yuppie enclaves and yuppie cuisine, I am always PSYCHED to visit the Big Sur Bakery. That above is a ham and gruyere sandwich (NOT sando) with steak fries. Yeah! And they always have good wine and beer there. They have a savory pumpkin bread right now that is the bomb.

Then, dinner at Nepenthe, one of my very favorite places in the world. All four of us there were in agreement on that. This was a beet salad with pea shoots, citrus, and Pt. Reyes blue.

This is the ambrosia burger, always good. Paired with a glass of garnaxta, I think? Is that just Basque for grenache?

That night was intensely foggy, which warmed it up a bit. The patio looked unearthly and beautiful.

brief post

2011-10-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Big Sur and gotta go do work. Smiller, help me out with this brew awareness, please?

This is from Anchorage Brewing. I got it at the Davis Beer Shoppe.

The Eleanor Friedberger solo album is really good! Is albumface still cool?

I suck

2011-10-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am SO MAD AT MYSELF that I didn't go see Screature last night. I have no excuse because I even could have come in work late if I wanted to. Instead, I fell asleep at TEN and came in at the normal time. Smiller said Screature were really good. I suck. I hope they play again soon, although if it's on a weeknight I will probably just watch Matlock and fall asleep early.

Verge announced their October screening at the Crest. Here's the deets:

It Came From Kuchar at the Crest!!
Thursday, October 27, @7:30
With an Introduction by artist Christine Shields
The Crest Theatre
1013 K Street, Sac
Students $12, Adults $15

The Crest Theatre will be teaming up once more with Verge Center for the Arts on October 27 at 7:30 for the next installment of our quarterly film screening.This time around we'll be featuring It Came From Kuchar, introduced by past student of George Kuchar, Christine Shields. The film is a hilarious and touching story of artistic obsession, compulsion and inspiration.

Long before YouTube, there were the outrageous, no-budget movies of underground, filmmaking twins George and Mike Kuchar. George and Mike grew up in the Bronx in the 1950's. At the age of twelve, they became obsessed with Hollywood melodramas and began making their own homespun melodramas with their aunt's 8mm camera. They used their friends and family as actors and their Bronx neighborhood as their set. Early Kuchar titles featured in this film include "I Was A Teenage Rumpot" and "Born of the Wind".

In the early 1960's, alongside Andy Warhol, the Kuchar brothers shaped the New York underground film scene. Known as the "8mm Mozarts", their films were noticeably different than other underground films of the time. They were wildly funny, but also human and vulnerable.

Their films have inspired many filmmakers, including John Waters, Buck Henry, Atom Egoyan, Guy Maddin and Wayne Wang (all are interviewed in this film). Despite having high profile fans, the Kuchars remain largely unknown because they are only ambitious to make movies, not to be famous.

"It Came From Kuchar" interweaves the brothers' lives, their admirers, a history of underground film and a "greatest hits" of Kuchar clips into a mesmerizing stream of consciousness tale.

Affectionately directed by one of George's former students, Jennifer M. Kroot, "It Came From Kuchar" will introduce you to the amazing Kuchar brothers - two brothers who love to make movies and continue to inspire others.

June's Cafe is back

2011-10-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

June's is back and as good as ever! Did you know June's full name is Junko O'Sullivan? The good news is that the two months that June took off while she was healing from her broken ankle has erased her desire to retire from running June's! Both June and Dennis were talking about how bored they were doing their time off. June would often threaten to retire in the past few years.

She was doing a good, steady business yesterday. There's Sarah S.

June's rocking a new, short haircut. I should have asked her to pose but I hate doing that.

Weenie royal!

Chicken teri! Welcome back.

wine tasting

2011-10-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

The wine tasting at FatFace was fun. This wine, from the Savoie region of France, is indeed a delicious match to the new salmon pate sandwich at FatFace. The wine's on special all month, for 7 bucks a glass. I will be eating this combo again soon. I kept thinking about that sandwich after I was done. The salmon is super smoky.

Michele's going to start doing these events to introduce the specials once a month. I'll let you know when.

rad

2011-10-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

this is rad! like kreayshawn, I too love this 112 song, although I did not lose my virginity to it. I was 25 when it came out

the bottom of the barrel

2011-10-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

It's come to this, I'm reposting things from facebook. Steve M. posted some good Sac-related stuff.
Looks like a ton of people are going to be at Michele's wine event tonight at Bows, including me. Perhaps I will see you there?

You know what, I don't think I like Fassbinder anymore. Shocking, I know. I tried to watch "in a year of 13 moons" yesterday and it was kind of garbage. And before I decided to give up I had to watch GRAPHIC slaughterhouse footage in service of some pretentious bullshit. It really made me feel like I'm a total hypocrite for not being a vegetarian. However, if you are looking for some Halloween movies, I can recommend "who can kill a child". It's silly but has its moments. Here's a post about it on I Love Hot Dogs, which is where I get a lot of my movie recommendations.

I love a parade

2011-10-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

I saw K.J. twice this weekend! Once at Jose di Gregorio's art opening at Bows, and once at the Hispanic/Latino parade on Franklin.

Speaking of Bows, MidMo wine writer Michele Hebert will be doing a wine tasting and short lecture there tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7pm sharp. Be there! You'll get to taste a little wine, hear about it, and then if you like, you can purchase a glass. You will probably like.

This is a great review. I totally agree.

Parade pictures after the jump

Here's a sideways asada taco I got at the St. Rose Church, which was having its annual festival on Sunday. It was really greasy!

Here's a sope

Here are a lot of crappy parade photos. Enjoy!

K.J.

Beauty queen

Ronald McDonald, who seemed like a chilled-out dude. With some Trump hair.

These pictures can't capture how grotesque the contorting "dancing" horses really were. The poor things looked like they were about to drop dead, and were foaming and dripping sweat all over the street. It was very upsetting.

stuff and things to do

2011-10-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

For you people not on facebook (and what else is this blog for, really?), OMF and Liv and Lil Becky will be selling at the antique faire under the mall on Sunday! Also, there's this parade on Franklin Blvd that day. I wrote about it for MidMo. The parade starts at noon, and it ends at St. Rose church (across from St. Patrick's thrift), and the church will be hosting hella food booths with ethnic grub. Dancing horses! I wonder what Campbell's Soup Kids are. Children raised exclusively on Campbell's Soup? Those would be some severely dehydrated children.

6th Annual Hispanic-Latino Parade
Sunday, October 9 at 12 Noon
Starting at 12th Avenue traveling south to St. Rose’s Catholic Church. Classic cars, horses, dancers, music and lots more including Campbell’s Soup Kids, Ronald McDonald, Wells Fargo Stagecoach, etc.

Goddamnit

2011-10-06T16:07:00.001-07:00

Nooooo!!! But I just got my card! And I was about to write my first thing for the 420 section of the SNR!

Bee roundup

2011-10-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

Bravo to the Bee for putting a restaurant story on the front page. I bought a print copy today because it caught my eye. I guess there's not that much to say when it comes right down to it. Of all the places that closed, I only mourn Red Lotus, but I think that was a tough concept and maybe too large of a space. It's so much easier to make a small intimate space feel lively and bustling. I'm trying to think of other very large restaurants that have done really well in Sac and I can't think of any right now.

BAR also has a feature on Doughbots. I think he has me talked into reconsidering them for my doughnut dollar. Does Marie's really just use pre-mixed, artificial stuff?

This article is annoying. Does it have to be either of these things? How about it's just a new airport terminal that happens to have more art than average. He probably has never flown out of the international terminal if he's questioning the need for nicer digs, although will people be flying out of that terminal internationally or just arriving in?

Oy vey, I think I'm going to have to miss this Jewish food fest but it sounds awesome. Maybe we will one day have a Jewish deli or good bagel shop here. Sigh.

Ebert endorsed

2011-10-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you guys all know about Jose di Gregorio's art show opening at Bows Gallery on Friday, right? I'm stoked! It was fun interviewing Jose. Here's the interview if you haven't seen it. I was up late worrying the other night that I used peripatetic incorrectly. I know what it means, but I don't know if Jose has moved around quite enough to use it. This is what I worry about at three in the morning.

Have you ever seen the original Last House on the Left? Wow, what a mind fuck. The original video box used to scare me as a kid, and I seem to remember (accurately, it turns out) that Roger Ebert endorsed it. It's a pretty good Halloween movie, but I won't really recommend it. It's too rape-y. Looks like in Ebert's review he points out that Last House has the same plot as The Virgin Spring, which Wes Craven does not mention in the extra footage.

Verge movie night got a super sweet yelp review! I guess I did keep repeating that those were garden tomatoes. I tend to start repeating things when I've been drinking.

OMF did a new Crosleykook post.

2011-10-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

Nich from Phono Select asked me to post about some fun stuff they've got coming up. First off, this Saturday there is a Four Eyes-themed art show (?) that opens this Saturday (Second Saturday, you may have heard of it) and the Four Eyes are playing it. The Four Eyes haven't played in Sac all year, and now they've played in Sac three times in the last four weeks. It's Four Eyes feast or famine. There's something about the Four Eyes that just inspires people. Remember when Dave Hart's class choreagraphed a dance to Hat Nerd? Super cute. How old are these kids now?
Also, they are having a free in-store appearance by the Bare Wires on October 15th. Remember how Patrone is in their video?

Here's the rather convoluted story of how the Four Eyes art show came about, after the jump:

FOUR FLUORESCENT BROWN EYES
The Four Eyes are a punk rock group that has been around since 1993. They
are from Sacramento, California. They are awesome and have songs like Hat
Nerd and R&R Martian.

Flourescent Brown is a loose collective of artists from Pennsylvania that
paints,
draws & sculpts. They use text, kooky geometric designs, and intentionally
awkward observational drawing to get things done.

Mark Mahosky ( AKA Professor Drillpress) is the missing link. He is the
sometimes bass player for Captain 9’s and the Knickerbocker Trio, a
Sacramento based Pennsylvania punk rock outfit, a painter, and the
mastermind behind the Fluorescent Brown group. He is putting together a
show at Phono Select in Sacramento of art based on songs by the Four Eyes
–the band that toured with Captain 9’s in March.

The show, appropriately named FOUR FLUORESCENT BROWN EYES, is set to open
in October of 2011. “Professor Drillpress” Mahosky will be curating and
designing the show which will be sent to Sacramento by September 15. It
will be a salon style show. If you want to be in the show, listen to the
cd of Four Eyes Songs, and check out the lyric sheets. Then make a piece
based on one of the tunes-(or whatever- it could be a fucked up shape that
reminds you of one of their songs). The pieces should be small-like no
bigger than 12” in any direction (don’t be an asshole and make a piece 3
mm x 2 mm). They should be priced no more than $150 and if you sell
something your cut is 60%. Professor Drillpress will assemble all the
pieces the first week of September in Kutztown. Drillpress will pay for
all the shipping to and from and will accept any donations towards it if
you are feeling particularly magnanimous.

If you have any questions about this particular endeavor, please give Mark
Mahosky a call at 570 412 2044 and leave a message. He might get back to
you.

Mori Seiki hurts our community?

2011-10-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

I see none of my friends won Sammies. It's probably better that way, though. The sudden rush of fame can be quite heady and some people can't handle it. I was particularly worried about Charles.

Have you guys seen that big sign over the freeway on the way to Davis that says "Mori Seiki hurts our community", complete with a guy dressed like the grim reaper? It was so creepy that I thought Mori Seiki was a cult, but I forgot to look it up online when I got to work every single time I saw it. I finally looked and it's way less creepy than I thought. The grim reaper is a touch overdramatic!

Ella Restaurant has started up their prix fixe menu again, and you really should take advantage of it. This is an amazing opportunity to sample this high-level restaurant at a paltry price. It's 30 bucks, starts tomorrow and goes until the end of October. Here's the menu.

appetizer

SALAD LYONNAISE

WARM PANCETTA VINAIGRETTE, GRILLED RUSTIC BREAD, FRISÉE, AND POACHED EGG

~OR~

RICOTTA GNOCCHI

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH,

WILD AND TAME MUSHROOMS, SAGE,AND WINE STEWED ONIONS

entrée

ROASTED PASSMORE RANCH STURGEON

RAGOUT OF BUTTER BEANS, OLIVE OIL CURED TOMATOES, AND FRESH GREMOLATA

~OR~

BUTTER BASTED PORK TENDERLOIN

CHOUCROUTE OF CABBAGE, SAUTEED EARLY FALL APPLES, AND CIDER JUS

dessert

LEMON PUDDING CAKE

ELDERBERRY COMPOTE AND SWEET CRÈME FRAICHE

~OR~

TIRAMISU

ESPRESSO DIPPED LADYFINGERS, CHOCOLATE GANACHE, AND RUM MASCARPONE

for the weekend

2011-09-30T16:56:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday!

important PSA

2011-09-29T13:56:00.001-07:00

I call this one

2011-09-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

I call this one "nature's bounty"

I call this one "God is everywhere, even in the lowliest flower"

I call this one "Jesus loves you and wants you to be happy"

I call this one "setting up the Verge for the Southern Foodways dinner which is TONIGHT"

I call this one "cat in a bag"

does this make sense?

2011-09-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Why do you think everyone has to stress how busy they are all the time? I do it for sure. I feel like people are often trying to out-busy each other. It's not like there's any award for how busy you are, or like people are going to admire you for being busy. It's like the small consolation for feeling like you don't have control over your time. Very small indeed, in fact, not really satisfying at all. I am on a big self-help kick (which is almost always a sign of unhappiness, right?), so maybe I will try to substitute the word "happy" for "busy". And maybe it will be like when you try to force yourself to smile and you start to actually feel happy.

That reminds me of a thought I always have, about how often people are trying to blast music out of their cars to seem cool, and how rare it is that any person who hears the music blasting will in fact think that that music is cool. Kind of a sad disconnect, and one that is occurring millions of times a day all over the country.

I have tomorrow off to do setup for the Verge dinner during the day. So, yeah, I'm really, really happy this week. It's working!

awkward!

2011-09-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! What a country!

Here's a fact that won't surprise you: if you want to profile a weed store owner, he/she is very likely to "forget" to call you back and/or lose your information. Too much medicating, I guess.

Oh shit! I am so excited I just found out Dave Foley is going to be doing stand up at the Punchline in October. I know I talk about the WTF podcast way too much (obsessed), but when Dave Foley was on it was truly crazy. I am totally going to that.

The Southern Foodways/ FatFace dinner at Verge is this Thursday. It's about to sell out, so better get your tickets if you haven't yet.

Awkward story after the jump

There's a restaurant that's occupying the former 3 Monkeys spot, that shall remain nameless (I don't want them reading this), and they had a press event with free food on Friday. I will go to almost anything like that, because there's the chance that it might be interesting, entertaining, awkward (usually all of those at the same time). It's not really because I need the free food. So NH and I went to this one. We were cool and showed up after it had already started because we didn't want to get there first. Nope, we were still the only people there. We sat and had micheladas. And sat. And sat. And no one else showed. At some point the manager ushered us over to 8 or so huge steam trays laden with enough food to feed at least 25 people, maybe more.

The steam trays were set up in a darkened area that also serves as a dance floor. There was music pumping and disco ball action. The only tables were very low tables in front of banquettes. The manager, PR person, chef, and another dude all awkwardly explained what the dishes were while we stood there with stiff smiles plastered on our faces and nodded a lot. I tried to think of good questions and awkwardly blurted out that I had recently been in Michoacan to try to connect with the chef. It didn't work. They had hired a photographer, I'm not sure why, and he took pictures of us as we stood there. I hope I never see those pictures, but maybe they would be funny.

Then, we were handed tiny plates and told to eat as much as we wanted. We went and sat at the too low tables in the darkened room with the music going and tried to pretend that we were relaxed and enjoying the food (which was fine), all the while praying that the full-size mariachi band would not come serenade us. We reasoned that was the only way things could possibly get more awkward. Then the PR lady came and made awkward small talk about how she had googled me and urged us to eat more.

At one point NH, to make conversation, asked the PR woman how the lunch crowd was and said that perhaps she would eat lunch there sometime. The woman then left us as we continued to try to eat off the tiny plates without staining the white banquettes and another woman crossed the deserted dance floor to talk to us. She said to NH, "I heard you might join us for lunch. You should ask for me, Malena, as your server." There really wasn't much to say in reply to that, and NH was just being polite. It was incredibly awkward.

It kind of just continued on like that for a while. No one else ever came. We slunk out as soon as we comfortably could. I gotta think twice when I get invited to stuff.

comedy/reggae

2011-09-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

Meckfessel on Democracy Now!

Some of us checked out comedy/reggae night at Shenanigans last night, which I have wanted to do since I drove by that shitty place and saw a sign that said "Thurs Comedy/Reggae". We did not hear any reggae but we did see some "comedy". Alec Roberts did an impromptu set and he was quite good. Nice delivery. I look forward to seeing him again. I think he gigs at the Lunas comedy night regularly.

Here's the aforementioned "puto" scratched on the door of my car.

I got doughbots donuts for my work today, a dozen, mixed of "premium" and regular, which is 18 bucks.

I hate to say, but they were just ok. The P B and J had peanut butter smeared on top and unremarkable-tasting strawberry jam in the middle. The donut itself was really bready, so it did kind of taste just like a PB and J, not any better than that. I split the chai and lemon cake donuts and the consistency was not that good. A little too dry and floury in the middle and the chai didn't really taste like chai. I feel like a dick, and they're probably going to google themselves and see this. My coworkers who tried "the dude" both said it was good!

nostalgia

2011-09-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

The "Best Of" SNR is out, but, annoyingly, I could not get it at the Davis Co-op today. Sometimes I like to bust out the lazy Davis distributor by emailing NM about it. The winners of best blog (who cares about anything else?) were...a fully-funded website (SacPress), something called P Weekly that seems....irreverent. And Poor Girl Eats Well. I've met her and she's nice so congrats to PGEW!

Speaking of SacPress I read in the Bee today that David Watts Barton got laid off there?!?!? That is awful. He wrote a pretty raw thing about it. Does anyone get the Josh Fernandez comment? Good luck, DWB. You have millions of connections in Sac and I'm sure you'll bounce back.

Soo......yesterday I came out of the Davis Beer Shoppe and my car was on fire. It was a small fire, there were flames licking out of some electrical wires. Freaky. A wrecking yard came and got it and gave me 300 bucks. The Blue Devil is no more. I never called it that until just this second. My mom bought this car new in 1993. I don't even know when she gave it to me. 8 years ago? I never put the title in my name until a few weeks ago: typical. There's a Mazatlan sticker on it because that's where my mom and dad used to vacation every year. But then they got divorced (violins) and now she lives there. I've always hated the "exploring alternate realities" sticker that my mom put on it but I left it because it was funny. I remember a friend pointed out that it should be "alternative realities", not "alternate" MD clandestinely put the Bananas stickers on, including Calvin pissing on the Bananas (well, maybe I put that one on), there was one of the limited edition "keep midtown janky" stickers that YOU STILL CAN'T BUY on the MidMo website, for reasons unknown. And a Montauk Lighthouse sticker that Smiller and I got when we rode bikes to it. I somehow got lost in the woods on my bike that day and we were looking for each other for a half hour in a way that seemed scary at the time. There was a Poinsettia "a sunny place for shady people" sticker that came off. What else? Oh yeah, the Big Foot Museum in Felton, that was a great weekend. And a Finches sticker, and a Grateful Dead steal your face, or course. All meaningful.

Bye bye car!!

Here's the new one: Black Beauty. A 96 Geo Prizm.

questions

2011-09-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

I felt a little weird about disclosing about the card. I'm probably being dumb. Oh well, wouldn't be the first time. I just wanted the experience of going in a store and buying weed. And it was amazing. The doctor's office was unbelievably seedy, but All About Wellness was cool. Fuck, I'm all about wellness, too. Aren't we all? I wish they would just legalize it and cut out the rigamarole.

So...who's going to the Zak Nelson show at Bows tonight?

Charles is playing tomorrow at Luigis with the Cute Lepers, a band with a lot of....equipment. They sucked when I saw them with No Bunny and The Bananas, but I guess even Beethoven would suck it if he had to follow those dudes. Even Beethoven.

Man, not a lot on the calendar as far as good shows. We gotta get another underground venue going in Sac amiright? Easier said than done, I know. Anyone working on it?

But you can breathe a sigh of relief, entertainment-starved Sacramentans, because there are a couple of good plays around or coming up. B St. Theater is doing God of Carnage, which made a big splash on Broadway last year when it opened with Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini. I hear it's really shouty. Most plays are, unfortunately. Also, Cap Stage will be opening their new season soon at the converted Armory on J st. It's another recently-written play, by the Tony and Pulitzer-winning playwright of August: Oskage County, Tracy Letts. I'm stoked.

Anybody excited about any downtown/midtown restaurants right now? They don't have to be brand new or anything. I need some ideas for a column that isn't based super far away from downtown.