get to know this good time guy

Nic is djing the Dive Bar tonight! Scroll down for details.  So cool! I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow so I could take advantage of the 5 buck Jameson shots.  I will try to drag my ass out there.

Midtown Village Cafe (formerly Butch N Nellies, formerly Mondo Bizarro) is doing some interesting stuff.  They are having Friday night month-long residencies of different artists.  This month it's Phil Franklin.  Do you know this guy?  You should get to know this good time guy.  Look at the line up for the month! The last Friday his partner, Christine Shields, is playing and I have mentioned before that she has put out a wonderful, wintry album.  A full-length LP that is cohesive and all good.  How rare is that in this day and age.  It's wintry as hell, so buy one in anticipation of cold weather, if it ever comes.  I'm sure she will have LPs for sale there.  Phil is putting together grab bags for attendees!

food and art

 food and art pictures today.  here is the chicken dish from Red Rabbit.  It was good, but don't you think it's time to move on from summer vegetables? I am sick of them.  But it is still as hot as summer.

 I cannot get enough of this egg burger with manchego.  Vega egg!  And a nice-sized green salad can be a free substitute instead of fries. With green goddess dressing.

 There is always some Chinese joint in the gas station directly across from my work.  The first one that I know of was Hometown Cafe, which has some Taiwanese specialties. They got props from Corti once in print and were successful enough to get a place on E st. in Davis.  Now it's Gold Something and it seems to be Shanghainese.  If that's how you say it. Nice dumplings.  Pictured above are the pork and cabbage. Those were some thick, homemade wrappers and were a tiny bit underdone, which is probably not typical.

 The guy told me to order the spicy wontons, which were garnished with chile oil and dried shrimp.  I got like 26 big dumplings for less than 12 bucks.  I ate so many!!

 I went to the Steve Hansen fundraiser at Hot Italian.  Their pizza is pretty good.  The bartender mixed me a refreshing Campari spritzer.  How can you not vote for a guy who would commission campaign signs from a bunch of local artists. Don't remember who this is.

 Nate, obviously

 not sure

 Ianna Frisby

 Gipoa Fonda

 um...Speaking of art, went to see the Cindy Sherman show at SFMOMA and I am still meh on her.  I saw the Film Stills at the MOMA a jillion years ago and was not impressed then, either.  A big gripe of mine is that they in no way resemble film stills to me.  That's not a small gripe since the usual copy on the series is how much they evoke film archetypes.  What archetypes? The housewife who has spilled her eggs archetype?  And film stills are often an action scene where something is happening, often with more than one character.  Would they really just be a woman sitting on a wall? Who would want to see a film because of that?  She has obviously been very, very influential but her work does nothing for me.  Her later stuff of society women is called either cruel or compassionate according to who is talking but I just see artifice and makeup.  It distracts.  And don't get me started on the clown series.  That's some juggalo shit.  It's not original to say that birthday clowns are sad or creepy.

New lamp from Scout Living! I love it.  I want to start buying this kind of hard 70s looking stuff (think slimy bachelor pad or Terence Conran) before it gets too expensive.  I was buzzed shopping which is dangerous. This lamp was 65 and it's very solid and well-constructed.

get to know me

I call this picture "the 70s". That's me and my mom in the upper left.  I don't know who the other couple is, but they are pretty badass.  I just emailed my mom to find out.  I predict her answer will be "I don't remember".  And no, she does not have Alzheimer's.  She just can't remember anything.  I once watched her cousin thank her for taking her to see The Doors in Hawaii and my mom said, "I've seen The Doors?"  Drugs aren't really the excuse, either.  I don't think she did that many drugs. This picture must have been taken in 1975.

Oh no! The Campbell's plant is closing! Terrible for those workers.  I read a business article about Campbell's experimenting with kicky ethnic flavors in single-serving bags.  I hear the death knell sounding.  All the old ladies who use the soup as a sauce are dying out.  Fun fact: my household was pretty snack-free growing up so sometimes, as a chubby tween, I would eat a can of mushroom soup right out of the can as a snack. No water, no heating, can marks still intact.

a first

This has got to be a first: even I'm not checking heckasac.

 It's a combo of way busy at work (that's the number one factor), with more writing for SNR, and just general topic fatigue after all these years.  There are, sadly, no shows I've been interested in, so that's gone.  Local politics are not really pissing me off (except Breton's valiant crusade to convince us that all homeless people are scary criminals - what a great Catholic he is!)  WWJD, dude.  Jesus would straight up stop feeding those homeless people.  But I have heard the Northgate bike area has gotten gnarly, and that was really sad that guy got stabbed (but did not die). no, wait, that sounds like I'm sad he didn't die.  You know what I mean!

Tomorrow I'm going to see some live comedy and check out a restaurant to review.  It's at punchline.  I'm sorry to be a dick, but sell me on anything being good at Comedy Spot?  Be honest, not just  nice.  I have not seen anything, I just don't understand why so much of it is sketch and why they don't get touring comics.  Someone explain this to me?

Everyone has probably stopped checking. 

cool guy

I haven't had a lot to post this week, obvs.  JayBiz and Knock Knock have a show tomorrow at a place called Midtown Village Cafe at 18th and I?  What the heck?

Also, Verge rummage sale all day today and all weekend.  With ice cream!

The Master opens at Tower today! They better make it look good, and not super dark.  Maybe I'll watch it at the Varsity in Davis.  Killer Joe opens today at the Crest, which doesn't look that good, but I want to see it because I saw the crazy nasty play.  P.S.-go see the Enron play at Cap Stage!

I profiled the guy from Wonderbread 5 for 15 minutes because I saw them and their rabid fans at the State Fair.  Laugh if you want but this guy is cool and he's turned his cover band into his only job and he owns a house in Sausalito! And other members of the band own homes in Napa.

dude loves cats

 bsssh pleeze.  picture post after the jump!

angry?

Lest you think my boundless anger about the moving of the train platform is unfounded, here is where the train lets you off in the afternoon.  Can you even see the station?  Look really hard.  Sacramento, I have been to Grand Central Station, I have taken trains at Grand Central Station, and you are no Grand Central station.  So angry.

Ate at Bistro Michel for the first time last night, with mixed results.  That place is really weird.  My steak frites were quite good, served with a curry ketchup.  The steak was topped with fine herbe butter.  The mussels were ok, served with fennel and pernod, however, they kind of wrecked that with wayyyy too much cream.  Not necessary.  The server seemed hellbent on getting us really drunk, and I blame my current headache on the nasty free glasses of Ficklin chocolate "port" that they served us.  I get offended when people call something port when it's not from porto.  I guess I have a lot of anger inside.  He also gave us a free Duchess de Bourgogne beer.  This was in addition to a bottle of Gigondas for four and a glass of rose for me.  Then at the end of the meal our server completely abandoned us to drink beer with his friends on the curb (which is kind of awesome) but we had to go inside eventually after waiting for the check to be taken for like half and hour.  The dinner took three hours.  Which is fine.  That area is weird.  Magpie's new little place is open right there.

BTW, Ficklin "port" are opening a tasting room at 20th and I?  Good luck getting Sac into wine.  I'm convinced that will never happen.

realize it, dudes

You know whose bread is not good?  Village Bakery.  It's really light.  No seriousness to that bread.  I don't understand how people make bad bread.  How do they not know it's bad?  If you don't know what to do, just rip off the Tartine cookbook or something.  Or how about the Big Sur Bakery one?  God their bread is awesome.  That Zen bread or whatever is amazing. And why can't anyone make any goddamned spelt?  In Scandinavia, it almost goes without saying, all the bread is good. That said, cutting down your bread is sure an easy way to lose weight.  And beer intake.  Come to think of it, most brewers make bad beer and they don't realize it. 

time machine talk

My embarrassing drunk convo used to be about my love of yoga and my "practice" and now it's moved onto my love of the Grateful Dead and specifically Jerry.  But seriously, if I had a time machine I would
1) kill  Hitler
2) go to this one Grateful Dead show in the early 70s, Scott, if you're reading, remind me of the date?  It is sickkkkk. Phil bombs dropping everywhere during St. Stephen.

Fresh and Onlys are playing Tuesday night at the Blue Lamp with G. Green and Terry Malts.  I'm glad this got moved from the Ace of Spades, that would have been an echo-ey disaster.  Fresh and Onlys are HELLA GOOD, my friends.  That said, I may not go because it's in my contract that I don't have to go to the Blue Lamp more than once a week or I have to go on suicide watch.

BAR reviewed both Giovanni's this week.  I have eaten at both and it failed to make any impression.  What do you guys think?

I am not being paid by the Bee to say this

Wow, Bites is on fire!  And he's woken the sleeping Bee up, too.  How's this for a quote, from K.J.'s attorney,

"People are curious about all sorts of things, that doesn’t mean they have a right to know them,” said Hiestand. “There are a lot of nosy people, the K.J. haters, who have nothing better to do than to ask for more than the law requires. But we have no plans to deviate from what the law requires.”
Doesn’t the public deserve more disclosure than that? Bites asked. After all, this is the mayor of the city.
“What the public deserves is what the law requires. If the public wants more disclosure, the public should change the law,” Hiestand said.

Okayyy.  That really sounds like someone with nothing to hide!  We need to throw this fucking bum out.  And meanwhile, instead of being in Sac to deal with the heat he's getting, K.J. is at the DNC.  He's a fake Democrat, what the fuck is he there for?  Oh yeah, to schmooze and get donations, the things he's best at. 

I know this is a flip-flop for me, but can I urge you all the subscribe to the Bee?  Hear me out: it's imperfect, yes, but it's still the best place to get your day-to-day news about Sacramento.  Also, and this is highly subjective, but I really look forward to reading it every day over coffee.  Sure, sometimes that takes less than 5 minutes, but for the price, that's not bad.  And, New York Times crossword puzzle.  C'mon.  It's like 3 or 4 bucks a week.  Try it!

bad night for trying things

The lack of comments makes me feel like no one is reading this thing, so I feel weird, but then I just looked at my stats and I see people are looking, but I guess there is just nothing worth commenting on.  Oh well, I guess I'll just soldier on.

I had a pizza emergency yesterday and had to buy a slice at Luigis or risk starving.  Wow.  The crust seemed like it was molded from sand.  Or maybe from one of those bleached cow carcasses in the dessert that had been pulverized, shaped into a pizza-like wedge, and then further dehydrated on the face of the sun.  It was that dry.  I was in the mood for an oily, cheesy slice, and instead I got crust that sucked the moisture from my body, a layer of cheese that was perhaps 20 microns thick, and no discernible sauce.  What kind of pizza is this?  What style is it?  Who in their right mind would make or sell such a pizza?  Are we all just cogs in god's giant machine or do we have free will?  These are the questions this slice raised and I still feel unsettled.

It was a bad night for trying things, because I also tried the Ruhstaller HopSack beer.  Zuh? WTF? not LOL, at all.  Fresh hops were supposed to be involved with this beer somehow?  Perhaps the bottle was molded from them because the beer showed no signs of it.  Nastay.

get your island on!

 Nuff said.  Picture post after the jump!

secret good restaurant

Has anyone else noticed that Red Rabbit has secretly gotten better?  I can't review it cuz Greg Lucas did not that long ago.  So, number one, it's a local spot for me.  I am all for a neighborhood spot that's maybe not the best place in the world, but that is walkable, and, as with Red Rabbit, is open every day and pretty late, etc.  But at first when it opened I really wished that the food was better.  I got stuck ordering the veggie burger because nothing else appealed to me that much.

Recently I realized, hey, they have a super good bar and bartenders, so right under my nose I now have a place to go get an excellent cocktail.  That's something I've wished for for years.  I don't like dive bars really.  Their cocktail list is not too exciting, so I just go with a cocktail in mind.  Lately I've had a good Manhattan and last night a Last Word.  And all the cocktails are 7 bucks, not bad.

When I had my birthday on the back patio (they did a great job) I discovered that their "street" tacos, especially the tongue one, is DELICIOUS.  I wrote a little blurb about if for the SNR best of issue, and when I asked the chef about the prep I found that it's labor-intensive.  There's over a day of brining, and then a bunch of other stuff I detail.  Sure, it's 6 bucks for two, but 3 bucks each is not that crazy.  Next time I am going to see if I can order two tongue ones.

I've been wanting to try the burger with a Vega egg.  Vega is a great company, so that's pretty awesome.  The patty was a little too thick and the bun disintegrated but besides that it was excellent.  Heirloom tomato, housemade pickles, an array of cheese choices (I will always go with Manchego). 

SM got the house salad and it was kerazy.  Almost too crazy but admirable.  They use Del Rio greens and it changes a lot, but I'm pretty sure that the predominant green was full-sized shiso leaves, like not baby tender ones, but big old strong intense ones.  With flower petals and it always has Green Goddess dressing and how cool is that?

So anyway, if you wrote it off, maybe check it out again.

tour de wha?

Sac has been in the nytimes 3 times lately.  well, kinda.

1) adam pechal on the foie gras thing
2) jay howell (ok, used to live in sac) in a piece on a smug young couple. jay is mentioned in the same breath as chris johansen, no less.
3) the davis tour de cluck got a major mention, with a mention of a fat face popsicle only without saying it was from fat face.  bummer.  in picture 5 on the slide show you can see the popsicle, the fat face logo, and jeff melendez in the background

liv is doing a "chat back" with elaine o'brien at the showing of "red" at the b st. theater tonight.  It's a play about Mark Rothko, two-person.  I'm excited to see it.

picture post

 tie dye tomatoes!

 garden tomatoes!

 ralph lauren sweaters!

 poo in a styrofoam container! j.k., delicious beef and chicken kabob from Mediterranean market

 I made sauce and froze it.  Too lazy to can.  First, boil the tomatoes quickly and then plunge into ice water

 easy to peel at that point.

 saute some onions in a little butter until soft, throw in your diced tomatoes and stand back and let nature take its course

 no caption needed. double cute

 I bought this stuff at Mediterranean market.  It's balls of tangy sheep milk in oil, with thyme and other spices.

 toast up a pita and shove this inside and you'll be stoked, maybe with some Persian eggplant pickle?

 My pies are looking better ever since I figured out to add more water, and freeze the dough for a little while right before rolling it out.

 This was peach.  I peeled them the same way I peeled the tomatoes.

 I bought rye, so that I would have the ingredients to make a sazerac.  I couldn't stand to just rinse the glass with absinthe, so it was really absinthe-y

Pie in a bike basket it a risky proposition

News and Review roundup

Hey, the cover story of the News and Review is super good! Entertaining as hell.  I have seen the date rape flotilla near Discovery Park, but not for years and I didn't know it has gotten so insane.  Stripper poles?

The editorial for this week was about K.J.s need for transparency, and last week's cover story is still worth a read if you haven't gotten to it.  The level of corruption, nepotism, and shady financial dealings he has brought to City Hall is insane, and I can only console myself with the fact that he is completely ineffective.  Greenwise was just so he could schmooze with celebs (who were paid handsomely), Think Big has gotten nowhere, and everyone knows For Art's Sake has been a debacle.  Shelly Willis was very diplomatic in her comments about how it stepped on SMAC's toes.  Can you imagine a mayor that just tries to usurp the territory of a successful arts organization, but thinks he can do it by bringing in someone from Austin who doesn't know anything about the Sac art scene, and then is just stymied by how many laws are in place to keep us from having an arts scene like Austin.  I'm sure she was smart and qualified, but she left without accomplishing much.  Unless I am getting some of this wrong, which is totally possible.  Anyway, rant over.

Guphy has a story about tea in there, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

Josh Fernandez got a couple of letters, which I think were well-deserved.  I'm not a member of the BDSM community (not that I would tell you), but I do listen to Dan Savage's podcast, so I know it's a real community in most cities, and that people take it seriously.  I think he didn't really explore that.  But it was insane that he was willing to get naked and get his butt paddled.  That was disturbing. 

On that sidebar on the front cover it says "Sac's busiest new restaurant" and I was like "ooh, what is it?" and then I realized it was my review of Firestone.  I stand by it.  I like Firestone.  Sure, I won't visit but if I liked sports I totally would.  They did a good job.

very jerry 2

Scott and I went to see an event called Very Jerry 2 last night.  It was kind of a mixed bag.  We went to see the movie screening called "Steve's flashback movie".  You can see on the flyer that they billed it as "a Grateful Dead documentary" and boy is that a stretch! There was some Dead footage, and it was rad.  My favorite stuff was the parking lot footage from the early 80s, talking to people about stuff like their favorite Dead lyrics and showing the crazy hippie vans and such.  But then it would be intercut with excruciating Ramblin' Jack Elliot footage or Bonnie Raitt from the 90s.  Oy.  With no rhyme or reason. 

Then, there was a concert.   At least Donna Godcheaux was there, that was kinda cool, and the guy who does Dave's picks was the m.c.  This probably won't mean  much to most of you, except OMF, who will be thrilled.

How's it going?

can't speak

Oh man, I got my favorite celebrity comparison today.  A bum in Davis said that I look like Carol King.  I attribute it to the dashiki and my not-yet-straightened bangs (they are straight now, phew!), but still, I like it a lot better than Janis Joplin.

If I wasn't numb to this Sacramento's governmental stupidity and corruption, perhaps this would make me mad.  This is a quote from an article in Tuesday's Bee:

Last week, they moved the train tracks. Tonight, Sacramento officials will seek the City Council's OK to convene a panel to brainstorm plans for a modern transit center and other development behind the downtown depot.

So, you move the tracks FIRST to an asinine location, and THEN you start to tak about what your plans our. Wow.  I'm speechless.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/21/4742959/sacramento-council-to-consider.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

stupid

oy vey. I didn't do a damn thing Friday or Saturday night, drinks-wise, but Sunday I decided that 8 or so drinks was a good idea.  Here's what I ALWAYS do.  Wait until I'm good and buzzed on beer and wine, go to a bar and then order the strongest drink I can think of.  Sometimes it's a gin martini, last night it was a Manhattan.  Good decision.  Also, you know what?  After all that drinking, water doesn't sound good at all.  I just drank so much, why would I be thirsty? Better to go to bed without drinking any water.

This is the matcha latte from Insight.  A little too sweet for me, but look how pretty!

Have you seen this sign in South Sac (intersection of 47th ave and Stockton, in the same parking lot as Long Sandwich).  That's some real grassroots hatred.

Manchego and membrillo.   A classic combo, right?

Edible Sac Mag had a lovely dinner for contributors yesterday out at the hot new farm in town: Feeding Crane Farms.  It's super cool.  This is their garlic room.  It smelled really good.

Look at all those garlic skins! The farmer said that she learned this year that garlic has a big problem with weeds.  I think this is the first year of the farm.

Fuck you Amtrak

First off, the screening of "Ai We We, Never Sorry" is tonight at the Crest at 7:30.  I have never been that intrigued by that guy but the preview looked like it will be really good.  Plus Ai Wei Wei is super fun to say.

Second off, Amtrak, I quit you.  First there is the boondoggle, nay quagmire of moving the tracks.  This is not just being resistant to change.  It made me laugh that the city is comparing the extra 10 minute walk (yes, not 5, not 8, because it is quite far, and when a train lets out you get trapped on the up ramp because they made it narrow as fuck) to Grand Central Station!! There is a reason GCS is that fucking big! It's because there are like 100 motherfucking trains there at any given time.

OK, so simultaneous with this bullshit, they change the capitol corridor train schedule, making the train to Davis arrive 10 minutes earlier.  They do not announce this on the trains, they do not post a sign at the beginning of the quagmire, they do not have an old guy volunteer to tell you.  So there I am, walking a normal pace and I miss my motherfucking train by TWO MINUTES. 

I go up to the window and ask them to post a sign. Strongly ask.  The woman says they haven't been provided a sign. I say "make one" she says "I can't do that".  I say "have an old guy there to tell people" she says "I can't do that".  She points to a tiny piece of paper taped to her window.  Frequent riders don't really go in the station very often.

I'm sorry if this is TLDR, but you would laugh if you saw the route I have to take to the train from Blvd Park.  It involved weaving through a couple of potholed parking lots and going the wrong way through entrances, going up the hill where the jogger warning was posted, and then I find out they have now cut off my last little shortcut to get closer to the platform.

So WHY would I pay 10 dollars a day to ride ten minutes on my bike, walk ten minutes to the platform, take a 15 minute train ride (20 on the way home), and then ride 5 minutes to my work when I could DRIVE 20 minutes.  I would have to be an idiot to continue doing it.  Unfortunately I just signed up for a 3 month tiny discount program from my work.

baby you're a firework

I got a melon at the Davis Co-op called a collective women's farm melon. How can it not be good? I had a salad in Pt. Reyes Station this weekend with delicious melon, arugula, and parmesan.  Lightly dressed.  I will duplicate it.

At my request, the Four Eyes are now soliciting Xmas requests on their "weblog" or "blog".  I know it's early but I didn't want to forget mine.  Oh shit, gotta submit call me maybe. I can also picture Joel singing Fireworks.  I can pretty much picture joel singing anything, and do, frequently.

Did you guys know next week is cocktail week? I am definitely more excited about that than about bacon fest.  Especially after Chris Macias' article.  Shrubs at Golden Bear! Shrubs are good.  I think the punch night at the governor's mansion sounds like the coolest event.

back

I just got back from out of town. In case you're wondering, the California coast is still the most beautiful place on earth. That probably sounds smug, but my point is I never take it for granted. I marvel every time.

First things first: do you guys have a good recommendation for where to get houseplants?  NOT succulents or cacti.  Home Depot's selection is so boring and local nurseries have such a small selection (RIP Capital Nursery, but you were very expensive.  I know, I'm sure it was because of high quality)

Oh Sacramento, you will never change your janky ways.  First a place with whiskey on tap, then this?  The best is that this same location housed that piano bar, Twisted 88s that I wrote about like 6 years ago and that place was BIZARRE. Wasted people, dueling pianos, Elton John songs changed to be about gonorrhea? (if I remember my review correctly).  And then it opened as the all-you-can-eat sushi bar/night club with the Spanish name, Azukar.  Spelled incorrectly but it was still funny.   Weirdest building in Sac.

A coupla pics.  New funk art in Davis.  Davis cannot get enough.

I was taken by surprise by the new platform situation at the Sac train station.  I had heard but I forgot.  At first you emerge and it's all cool.  Feels like a big city.  And then you walk. And walk.  Part of it through ugly netting, because it's still under construction.  I don't really care EXCEPT that it adds to the already annoying bike commute (annoying because of the giant construction site on H) because I can't ride my bike through any of this.  Before I could zip up quite close to the platform, as long as the overbearing train volunteers didn't spot me.

This will be rad once the lightrail stops at different gates.

Last, I roasted this chicken with sausage that Skipper made me for my bday stuffed  under the skin.  He made a loose sausage that was one of the best I've ever had.  Pork shoulder, garlic, and sage.  Really fatty, which helped make this chicken juicy as hell.

Bananas! Tonight!

Bananas tonight! Press club! I heard a local celebrity chef might be making spicy jerk popcorn.

If you want to see a photo set that shows you how fun things were during the King Tuff show go here.  There is an awesome shot of Hailey onstage.

badass

Did you guys catch that the Russian synchronized swimming team won a gold medal swimming to the theme from Suspiria? That's badass!  Here's a link with amateur video. I guess the stupid olympics won't put stuff on the internet.

I definitely recommend the documentary The Queen of Versailles at the Crest.  Here's the trailer.

The Bananas are playing Leap in the Dark at the Press Club on Thursday!  C'mon out.  You know a Thursday night show is waaaaayyyy better than a Sunday or Monday night show.  It's only 20% worse than a Friday night show, according to recent studies.

picture post!

I saw this lady in McKinley park, heading to the pool. Isn't she rad?  P.S., I've been tweeting fairly regularly, so I'm linking it at right.

Back view.  More after the jump

launch festival

file this under: it's not my thing but I'm glad it exists.

http://vimeo.com/46846777

That music fest I went to in SF had free vitamin water and I was glad to be reminded that it's not good so I never buy it in the future

art show, gotta go

Is there any way I can get my hands on fresh hops, like now? I know hop harvest is around October, but I want to try to make some hop food for a piece I'm writing and the due date is September 1st.

 Natalie's art show opens at Bows tonight, 6-9.  Here it is when it is just starting to be hung

Here's Bows employee Dana Iske hanging it. She really didn't want me to take her picture so I felt like a dick forcing in but look how cute!!!

See ya there

art show

First things first: Natalie's art show opening is tomorrow! This is amazing that she has accomplished what she has in the last year or two.  She put together and arts collective, which has had two group shows (and a fun, super successful bike ride), has had numerous pieces shown in the Bay Area and now is in a two-person show at Bows! 6-9 tomorrow.  Should be fun.

Actually, guess that was the only thing I got.