I finally strayed from my usual at Zelda's at got the spinocholli pizza. It was the bomb, but the extra cheese on the top made me worry that it is even fattier than the regular pizza. Zelda's has some new items on the menu if I'm not mistaken and one of them is a "special salad" that is kind of a knockoff of the Roma's one. It has salami, strips of swiss, pickled veggies like carrots and cauliflower, on top of iceberg lettuce with a tangy Italian dressing. At six bucks, it was great to split because we all know the pizza takes a while. And you can't beat that four bucks for a frosty half pitcher of bud. If you get frustrated with the wait at Zelda's I recommend you go on a monday night, we got seated instantly.
I have been stoked on Wakano Ura lately and went there twice in a week. If you haven't tried it yet for lunch or dinner I recommend that you guy. Get the niku tofu if you want something hearty, gingery, and warm (which might be better in the winter) or get the spicy tuna roll and salmon teriyaki if you want something lighter. Do it!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Same shit, different city
Ailene Voisin is sooooo versatile. Yesterday she had her reporter's hat on (probably some kind of fedora) and she reported in a completely unbiased manner on how great it is that the city officials are trying to slap together a last-minute arena financing proposal and get it on the ballot, and today she put her cheerleader uniform back on and reminded us for the eleventyith time that we had better build a motherfucking arena if we know what's good for us. And just in case you missed that on the front page of the sports section, there's another article on the front page of the metro section. Once again, no quote from anyone opposing public financing or a sales tax increase, and no mention of the CSUS poll that shows 56 percent opposed to any new arena at all. I love how both writers are so wowed by the fact that they get to hang out at the Palms that they try to make the meetings sound all bad-ass and glamorous. And that they pretend it had to be in Las Vegas so that George Maloof could come (what, does his private jet have a flat tire or something?) rather than the real reason, which is to somehow make this series of meetings look different than the other futile meetings that have been going on for years. Here's the thing, there's no difference, they don't have a plan (besides shutting out Mayor Fargo and sending Rob Fong in her place) and they know that they can't get it past the voters. So good luck with that.
Monday, July 10, 2006
still thinking about the chili peppers
If you have seen the new RHCP album, you may be asking yourself, could anything on earth look crappier than that album cover? The answer is yes, and it can be found at the chi pepps website. What a terrible, non-updated website (no tour news). However, I am praying
that Flea will mention chkchkchk in fleamail.
something to listen to
Sometimes I have to search my own archives for cool stuff I have posted. One thing I just remembered was the excellent radio show that chkchkchker John P does. Doo wop oldies and soul. Chkchkchk are currently on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a text quote is that they are "cool dudes". Of course they are!
razorcake article
I should have told you guys about this a while ago but because Razorcake mag is not online I kept forgetting. I found them on myspace, though, and I guess the Bananas cover story is still the current issue. I don't know where you can get this magazine in town, but the interview is funny, so check it out. Scott has a buncha copies, too. Speaking of the nanners, they are coming back from their northwest mini-tour today! Yeah!
Arena: Chapter 197
Not long ago I read with delight that the city had given up on getting the arena proposal on the next available ballot, but they decided to get tricky about it. And guess who is all up in that business, gallivanting about the country? Mayor McCheese himself, Rob Fong. This Bee article is weird and slapped together. Please help me decipher this paragraph:
Fong, Dangberg and Hahn flew to Memphis on Friday and toured the FedEx Forum, the Grizzlies' home court that is serving as the model for a Sacramento-area building. And this sticker shock provides the jolt: Completed in 2004, before the cost of materials and construction skyrocketed -- and disregarding the significantly higher prices in the western United States -- the 18,119-seat Memphis facility was financed for approximately $250 million, well below the Maloofs' projections for a similar Sacramento structure.
Are they saying that is good or bad? If it's good, then why the phrase "sticker shock"? Here's another head-scratcher:
Joe and Gavin Maloof, co-owners of the Kings and Monarchs, initiated Tuesday's session and suggested they be held in Las Vegas to ensure the presence of George Maloof, the younger brother and brainchild of the family's hotel-casino operation.
If George Maloof is running things, then is he really a brainchild? More like the impresario, right? Here's the dic def of brainchild:
An original idea or plan attributed to a person or group. So a person can't really be a brainchild.
Anyway, I quibble, the larger point is the city is trying to sneak a fast one through yet again and it ain't gonna work.
Fong, Dangberg and Hahn flew to Memphis on Friday and toured the FedEx Forum, the Grizzlies' home court that is serving as the model for a Sacramento-area building. And this sticker shock provides the jolt: Completed in 2004, before the cost of materials and construction skyrocketed -- and disregarding the significantly higher prices in the western United States -- the 18,119-seat Memphis facility was financed for approximately $250 million, well below the Maloofs' projections for a similar Sacramento structure.
Are they saying that is good or bad? If it's good, then why the phrase "sticker shock"? Here's another head-scratcher:
Joe and Gavin Maloof, co-owners of the Kings and Monarchs, initiated Tuesday's session and suggested they be held in Las Vegas to ensure the presence of George Maloof, the younger brother and brainchild of the family's hotel-casino operation.
If George Maloof is running things, then is he really a brainchild? More like the impresario, right? Here's the dic def of brainchild:
An original idea or plan attributed to a person or group. So a person can't really be a brainchild.
Anyway, I quibble, the larger point is the city is trying to sneak a fast one through yet again and it ain't gonna work.
Friday, July 07, 2006
a lot of things to do
J. Greenburg has changed the date for the Kabinet's screening of Celine and Julie go boating. Here's what he said:
Sorry for the late notice, but we've had to change this month's schedule a bit. We had planned on screening Jacques Rivette's New Wave classic CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING at the end of the month...but instead we'll be showing it this Sunday, July 9th, starting at 8pm. I know this is a film that many of you were interested in seeing, so I hope this last-minute change won't prevent anyone from catching it. And if you weren't planning on attending...please take my advice and reconsider; it's a really remarkable film!- - - - - - - - - - -
Sunday, July 9th @ 8pm
Jacques Rivette’s CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING(France, 1973)
Please don’t let the three-and-a-quarter hour running time scare you off: time flies when you’re having this much fun! And this madcap, everything-plus-the-kitchen sink fantasy is one of the most sprightly and delightfully goofy films ever made. A librarian with an interest in the occult and a nightclub magicienne strike up a friendship and discover a strange mansion where a tale of murder plays out over and over, day after day, until the duo can solve the mystery. Rivette evokes Henry James, Alice in Wonderland, To Catch a Thief, and dozens of other cinematic and literary touchpoints, but CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING is nothing if not original – and rarely screened to boot. So don’t miss this chance to see what critic David Thompson called “the most important film since CITIZEN KANE!”
Also, Baby Grand are playing at Luna's tonight. My yoga teacher's band (she's the best!), Freeport are also playing. Here's a blurb
Friday night: Baby Grand will be playing at Luna's (16th at P? Q?) with Erik Hansen (from the Cassidys) and Freeport. It should be a good time. That place sounds great and is always fun. And as large as the band is getting these days and with how small the room is we may need to put the audience on stage and we'll play in the room!! It's cheap and great! Five bucks, 9:00pm.
There's competition with that, though, because that excellent and enigmatic band the Lilys is playing at fools. It's cool that this cult band is stopping in sac.
On saturday The Dulangs (who?), the megacools and sword awards (which is a local all-star band but right now I can't remember who is in it) are playing at on the y.
Tim White is in a second saturday group show at the Elliot Fouts gallery
And then there's the ye olde antique fair under thee freewaye on sunday.
***and Alkali Flats playing tomorrow, see comment for details
The haps with SRD
OK, peoples there's an SRD meeting this upcoming tuesday (the 11th) and we need to rally the troops. I know everyone's busy (hell, I skipped a meeting myself to go to a yoga class), but we need to get this thing up and running. There has been a start on the website but people who can help with that need to come and maybe you guys can split off into a group and talk about it. Beardsley can't do it all on his own. Margaux made up a pamphlet and it looks good but she could use input also. We haven't gotten very far on the fundraiser but we are still committed to it, and once we decide on a venue it won't be that hard to get bands to play.
If you're like me and you attended a couple of meetings and then felt your enthusiasm wane, I understand. There is so much development going on that when you start looking into it it seems overwhelming and futile. However, I think we need to remember that there are many, many folks like us downtown and that if we could just get up a working website and email list that we could have a large group of people who could call city council members or developers or picket if needed or write letters. I think that if we get a few basic things going (mostly the website) that we can just focus on areas of urgent action.
There are eleven motherfucking billion dollars worth of projects planned downtown right now and of course we can only hope to have a small influence on that, but it's better than nothing. We can't just give up and let them do whatever they want. We can't!
If you're like me and you attended a couple of meetings and then felt your enthusiasm wane, I understand. There is so much development going on that when you start looking into it it seems overwhelming and futile. However, I think we need to remember that there are many, many folks like us downtown and that if we could just get up a working website and email list that we could have a large group of people who could call city council members or developers or picket if needed or write letters. I think that if we get a few basic things going (mostly the website) that we can just focus on areas of urgent action.
There are eleven motherfucking billion dollars worth of projects planned downtown right now and of course we can only hope to have a small influence on that, but it's better than nothing. We can't just give up and let them do whatever they want. We can't!
loathsome word
I have only one quibble with KWs review of Mr. Pickles (well, besides the fact that she gave it 2 and a half stars when her review makes it sound as if it's more like two stars), I fucking hate the word "unctuous"! Even writing it gives me the shivers. But I understand because it's hard to think of varied food adjectives to use. Here's a definition in case you need one
unctuous \UNGK-choo-us\, adjective:
1. Of the nature or quality of an unguent or ointment; fatty; oily; greasy.
2. Having a smooth, greasy feel, as certain minerals.
3. Insincerely or excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech; marked by a false or smug earnestness or agreeableness.
unctuous \UNGK-choo-us\, adjective:
1. Of the nature or quality of an unguent or ointment; fatty; oily; greasy.
2. Having a smooth, greasy feel, as certain minerals.
3. Insincerely or excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech; marked by a false or smug earnestness or agreeableness.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
sub shack tonight
another reminder, the sub shack wine feast thingy is tonight but once again I won't be going. Hopefully next week. Here's their number so you can call and find out the menu 457-5997
antique fair
This is to remind myself as much as you, cuz I always forget, but that antique fair that is under the freeway is this sunday. I've never found anything that good there, but it's still fun to go to and there's always hope. You can go to the farmers market and then there and spend most of your day under the freeway.
sausage style in 2006
Everybody knows that Sac mag sucks (yes I am on a magazine-bashing rampage), but did you know how bad it sucks? I was leafing through it waiting in line (that and doctors office subscriptions must account for 99% of the readership) and they had an article on shopping bargains. They started out with SF supermarker. So far, so good. Guess what the next two were? Target and Big Lots! I can't believe they didn't list my fave (although it's a bit obscure, I admit), Walmart. Also, I hear that AM/PM has too much good stuff.
I had lunch at Tuco's wine bar and cafe in Davis the other day. This is the second time I've eaten there (the last time was almost a year ago) and they have improved by leaps and bounds. The vibe of the place is still a bit odd, and is likely to stay so, because it is small and has a tiny selection of pricy wines with a few tables crammed in, none of them very desirable. The food is also (surprise) not cheap. However, it was all totally delicious. That day they had four oysters on the half shell available, three west coast ones and Wellfleets. We got two each (if you buy 6 you get one free) of the West Coast ones (westside!), kumamoto, Marin, and Sweetwater. They were all so good I could have eaten a million, but the kumamotos were the standouts. This place has a very interesting wine selection as you would expect from a wine shop, but the wines by the glass are not cheap. They REALLY need to offer a house red and white for five or six. It's dumb to have your cheapest wine be nine bucks. That is just too much. We all ordered sandwiches. I got an Italian sausage sandwich, which came with melted cheese (can't remember what kind) and dijon mustard. Jesus it was good, one of the best sausages I've ever had, pink and juicy. They said they got them from Fra'mani in Berkeley, and I bought a package to grill up camping. I just now called the cafe to get that name and turns out the sausage place was opened by the guy who used to be the chef for Chez Panisse. MH got a tuna nicoise sandwich and loved it, her mom got a niman ranch steak sandwich and she loved that. And all the sandwiches came with delicious little side salads. Too bad this place is in Davis, but I still want to go back soon. It was a delightful lunch.
Oh yeah, and speaking of sausage, I FINALLY tried Morant's sausage while camping. I had smoked a giant doob (before the Armeniac dropped it in the river) so everything tasted good to me but the brats were a standout. I am now officially sick of sausage. In fact based on how things are going so far I'd call 2006 the Summer of Sausage.
Ha! I just got a hit for "hefeweizen makes you go to the restroom"
braggin'
My lab and boss got mentioned in the July 3rd New Yorker! I was reading it last night and I freaked when I read it. It's in an article on hemispherectomy, when they remove an entire hemisphere of the brain to help people with severe seizure disorder. We don't have anything to do with that, but we do investigate brain area plasticity and reorganization, which is why young people can recover from this surgery. Here's the quote, with my bosses name abbreviated so no one can google it, read the article for yourself here.
In another experiment, LK, a professor of psychology at the University of California, removed large pieces of the brains of newborn marsupials. Once the marsupials became adult, she examined the brains again and found that they had organized themselves in such a way that the visual, auditory, and other somatosensory areas were all in the same relative positions that they would occupy in a normal brain, but they were smaller, commensurate with the total space available.
In another experiment, LK, a professor of psychology at the University of California, removed large pieces of the brains of newborn marsupials. Once the marsupials became adult, she examined the brains again and found that they had organized themselves in such a way that the visual, auditory, and other somatosensory areas were all in the same relative positions that they would occupy in a normal brain, but they were smaller, commensurate with the total space available.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Nnnnneiiiiilllllll Hamburger!
Holy crap! I just noticed that the Lilys are playing this friday at fools! I would love to go to this because the lilys guy is fine and intriguing (and wore sperry topsiders with jeans in a masterful way last time I saw them) and oh yeah they are actually a good band. However, the Finches show will still win out for me. And I just saw the lineup for the Wasted Weekend! It's great, and I'm really glad it won't conflict with my birthday weekend plans. Neil Hamburger! The Four Eyes! And I've been wanting to see the Knights of the New Crusade for awhile. Despite the fact that I'm an atheist, I'm still curious to sample their brand of Christian rock.
come to your senses!
wow, this is the most boring day we've had on this old blog for a while. Probably because smiller isn't here stirring things up.
Sacramento has yet another local magazine (in addition to "Sactown" which is supposed to start up soon). It's called "Senses", have you heard of it? I saw an issue the other day. I hesitate to make fun of it, for fear that someone involved will get wind and make fun of me by saying I have, like, split ends or something (it's true, I do have unkempt semi-frizzy hippy hair, which puts me solidly outside the intended readership of Senses mag), but I simply must. It is totally ridic. It is written in this pretentious, breathlessly SENSUAL style that is completely un-Sac as you and I know it. Why did I put SENSUAL in all caps? Because this is the buzzword of the mag and they use it oh, 26 times or so. If you see it around you have to check it out, I can't fully capture it here. Maybe I should submit an article for the next one called "the sexiest things to do in sexy sexcramento". This is the magazine for people who are living in Sac but saving up money to move to NY when they can. There is an ad for Black Pearl Oyster bar with a nude woman in it. There is a pretentious piece that I'm sure very few have actually read that is ostensibly about beauty, terror, and postmodernism or something? I don't know, I tried to read it but it seemed to be pointless. In the intro local celeb hairstylist Marci, who is the editor or artistic director warns that the mag will "hold nothing back". They should have tried. I don't have all negative things to say about it, though. There's a big article on Daisy Spot, which is cool, and some of the pictures of the ballet dancers are kinda cool mostly because you can see their insane leg muscles clearly.
Here's more info about Taka's from Mike Dunne. I keep holding onto the faint hope that it will come back.
Last years fourth of july "sea of drunken humanity" (a quote from the Bee) did return, albeit briefly. These people really embody the spirit of America and we should thank them, not arrest them. Naked girl mud wrestling and hitting people with oars are the freedoms that our country was founded on.
Sacramento has yet another local magazine (in addition to "Sactown" which is supposed to start up soon). It's called "Senses", have you heard of it? I saw an issue the other day. I hesitate to make fun of it, for fear that someone involved will get wind and make fun of me by saying I have, like, split ends or something (it's true, I do have unkempt semi-frizzy hippy hair, which puts me solidly outside the intended readership of Senses mag), but I simply must. It is totally ridic. It is written in this pretentious, breathlessly SENSUAL style that is completely un-Sac as you and I know it. Why did I put SENSUAL in all caps? Because this is the buzzword of the mag and they use it oh, 26 times or so. If you see it around you have to check it out, I can't fully capture it here. Maybe I should submit an article for the next one called "the sexiest things to do in sexy sexcramento". This is the magazine for people who are living in Sac but saving up money to move to NY when they can. There is an ad for Black Pearl Oyster bar with a nude woman in it. There is a pretentious piece that I'm sure very few have actually read that is ostensibly about beauty, terror, and postmodernism or something? I don't know, I tried to read it but it seemed to be pointless. In the intro local celeb hairstylist Marci, who is the editor or artistic director warns that the mag will "hold nothing back". They should have tried. I don't have all negative things to say about it, though. There's a big article on Daisy Spot, which is cool, and some of the pictures of the ballet dancers are kinda cool mostly because you can see their insane leg muscles clearly.
Here's more info about Taka's from Mike Dunne. I keep holding onto the faint hope that it will come back.
Last years fourth of july "sea of drunken humanity" (a quote from the Bee) did return, albeit briefly. These people really embody the spirit of America and we should thank them, not arrest them. Naked girl mud wrestling and hitting people with oars are the freedoms that our country was founded on.
lohan boob watch
DP, the boobs are back! As are the arguments in the comments about whether they are fake. Even I had to admit they were real in the dark days when they went away. I still think Xtina's are fake, though.
hearing about other peoples dreams is boring
Due to a traumatic late night event involving my mother (I'll leave that to your imagination) I had a series of terrible nightmares this morning. It was pretty much the typical Ultimate College Nightmare called "I forgot to go to my class all semester". How long do I have to be out of school before I stop having this dream? And why does it fill me so with dread? The new twist on it this time was that the professors of the classes I remembered to attend (one of which was a "brazilian" language class, in my dream I'm not smart enough to call it portuguese) were reading my blog. Then the dream ended up with the most terrible "I forgot" scenario of all. I forgot to blog! That's right, I had a blog anxiety dream. So I'm trying to alleviate that right now by posting this.
Speaking of being filled with dread, the new Midtown/Downtown monthly is out (with local hottie councilman Ray Trethaway on the cover) and my articles are in it. The pictures of Gary from the Sub Shack are rad! My Bogle article kinda sucks IMHO (now that I know what that acronym means finally) and contains a Heyamoto-esque sentence that I begged the ed. to take out but he was really busy and forgot. Now Heyamoto can read it and take potshots at me! I used my real name this one and I also wrote a little blurb about the Dinky Diner in Clarksburg.
I really really gotta go do some work but first I'll mention that the wine tasting is at 58 degrees tonight. It's the Grateful Palate portfolio. I think that's an Australian wine importing company but I'm not clear what their wines are. Now my roomate works there so I can use her discount to buy wine! Stoked!
Another cause for excitement is a show this friday in Frisco put on by none other than the illustrious Matt Roberts, who is releasing the Finches six song EP on vinyl. Not as exciting as a new record, but not bad. This show has a fantastic lineup of Whysp, The Mantles and the Finches and is at Hotel Utah. Wild horses couldn't keep me away, which is a good setup for my next post, which will partially about Gram Parsons. Holy crap that man was fine! That's a picture of him with Nudie, obvs. I'm allowed to look at other men right now cuz Smiller is out of town on tour with the Bananas. Who's gonna go see the Thunder Down Under with me? Girls night out!! Woo!
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