S-2012-06-28 by News & Review

Romney, obama

❤ California $$$ see Frontlines, page 10

Don’t hate

on DJs see Music, page 44

GETR

YOU

Fourth of July Fireworks see Night&Day, page 30 see 15 Minutes, page 63

Charter

reForM re DisCoNNeCt

see Frontlines, page 12 see Beats, page 11

bites! bites! see Bites, page 10

SaCramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

Volume 24, iSSue 11

thurSday, June 28, 2012

Victoria has learned some things in the past 147 years. The art of toasting malts to perfection. Adding just enough hops to be intriguing but never bitter. And mastering the ﬁne balance of rich taste and clean ﬁnish in a world-class Vienna-style lager. History awaits you in every pint of Victoria.

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4/25/12 5:29 PM

INSIDE

vo¬ume 24, Issue 11 | June 28, 2012

Our Mission To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages employees to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live. Editor Melinda Welsh Managing Editor Nick Miller Senior Staff Writer Cosmo Garvin Arts & Culture Editor Rachel Leibrock Copy Editor Kyle Buis Associate Copy Editor Shoka Shafiee Calendar Editor Jonathan Mendick Editorial Coordinator Kel Munger Special Sections Editor Becca Costello Editorial Interns Jonathan Nathan, Kate Paloy, Matthew W. Urner, Amy Wong Contributors Sasha Abramsky, Gustavo Arellano, Rob Brezsny, Larry Dalton, Joey Garcia, Jeff Hudson, Eddie Jorgensen, Jonathan Kiefer, Jim Lane, Greg Lucas, Ann Martin Rolke, Garrett McCord, John Phillips, Patti Roberts, Steph Rodriguez, Seth Sandronsky, Amy Yannello Design Manager Kate Murphy Art Director Priscilla Garcia Associate Art Director Hayley Doshay Editorial Designer India Curry Design Melissa Arendt, Brian Breneman, Brennan Collins, Marianne Mancina, Skyler Smith Art Directors-at-large Don Button, Andrea Diaz-Vaughn Director of Advertising and Sales Rick Brown Senior Advertising Consultants Rosemarie Messina, Joy Webber Advertising Consultants Rosemary Babich, Josh Burke, Vince Garcia, Dusty Hamilton, April Houser, Cathy Kleckner, Dave Nettles, Kelsi White Senior Inside Sales Consultant Olla Ubay Ad Services Coordinator Melissa Bernard Operations Manager Will Niespodzinski Client Publications Managing Editor Kendall Fields Sales Coordinators Shawn Barnum, Rachel Rosin Director of First Impressions Jeff Chinn Distribution Manager Greg Erwin Distribution Services Assistant Larry Schubert Distribution Drivers Mansour Aghdam, Nicholas Babcock, Walt Best, Daniel Bowen, Nina Castro, Jack Clifford, Robert Cvach, Chris Fong, Ron Forsberg, Wayne Hopkins, Brenda Hundley, Wendell Powell, Lloyd Rongley, Duane Secco, Lolu Sholotan, Jack Thorne

15 MINUTES

38 15 BEFORE

FEATURE STORY

prospects of a commission to change City Hall’s form and function. Also this week: Thanks to judicial decisions over the last two years that radically altered federal campaign-finance rules, the fate of the nation lies in the hands of about 100 wealthy Californians—or, to be more precise, in their checkbooks. Darwin BondGraham reports on the elite group of Golden State super PAC donors. Bites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Money = wins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Beats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Isn’t it ironic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

ARTS&CULTURE

Greenlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 No couch potato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 An Inconvenient Ruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Eco-Hit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Augean stables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 This Modern World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Guest Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

FEATURE STORY

After two years, continued budget woes and a concerted community effort, Southside Park’s community pool has finally reopened. Lory Gil chronicles one group’s endeavor to reopen the pool—and what it means for a neighborhood rich in Sacramento culture and history. Also, the Korean ramen restaurant Bowl & Ramen offers diners some pretty random—but tasty—choices; Josh Fernandez, writing about Skratchpad Sacramento, makes an argument for the deejay as artist; and a local fireworks seller gives advice on how to blow things up—safely and legally—this Fourth of July. Popsmart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Dive in, the water’s fine . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Scene&Heard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

GREEN DAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

FRONTLINES

DISH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

OK, sure, our writer admits to eating weird food from time to time, like chicken fetuses and ostrich burgers. And watching such cable programs such as Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern often makes him hungry. But SN&R writer Jonathan Mendick wondered about the strange Sacramento culinary territory that exists beyond what he’s already eaten. So began his strange and surprisingly tasty journey to find and eat some of Sacramento’s strangest foods.

City charter reform is now in the voters’ hands; Cosmo Garvin looks at the

SN&R is printed by The Paradise Post using recycled newsprint whenever available.

BEFORE

FRONTLINES

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Advertising Policies All advertising is subject to the newspaper’s Standards of Acceptance. The advertiser and not the newspaper assumes full responsibility for the truthful content of their advertising message.

ARTS&CULTURE

Streetalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Letter of the Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 First Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Poet’s Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resources Manager Tanja Poley Business Manager Cassy Vaioleti-Matu Credit and Collections Manager Renee Briscoe Business Shannon McKenna, Zahida Mehirdel Systems Manager Jonathan Schultz Systems Support Specialist Joe Kakacek Web Developer/Support Specialist John Bisignano

Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in SN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. SN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form and to edit them for libel.

EIGHT DAYS GIGS GREEN

Bowl & Ramen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 The V Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Dish Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Food Stuff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

COOLHUNTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 ASK JOEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 STAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Looks & Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 The Taming of the Shrew . . . . . . . . . . 40 Now Playing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

FILM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Your Sister’s Sister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Check out SN&R’s FREE searchable EVENTS calendar online at www.newsreview.com.

MUSIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 (Don’t) hang the deejay . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Sound Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Eight Gigs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Nightbeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

THE 420 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 High schooled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

AFTER

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Adult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Free Will Astrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 15 Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

COVER DESIGN BY PRISCILLA GARCIA

NIGHT&DAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Get your boom on: A Fourth of July event guide . . . . . . . 30

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AFTER

06.28.12

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STREETALK

“Steamed pig blood in dim sum.”

Asked at the Safeway at R Street Market:

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?

Celia Goldman I actually bought a plant that’s called Buddha’s golden hand. The fruit gets to be the size of a basketball player’s hand. It’s a citrus, but instead of the fruit being on the inside, it’s these fingerlike projections. … I don’t remember it tasting like a lemon, lime or orange.

Jude Garcia

David Wechsler

state worker

unemployed

Our first night in Jerusalem, when I was 17 years old, there was a buffet table set up for our group of 40. Ants were crawling all over the table, and that was the only food we were going to be eating. … We came back to the food [later] and actually ate it, brushing off as many ants as possible.

OK – HB

#1 - Sacramento News & Review - 6/21/12

Patti Lamb

student/artist

The weirdest would be when I lived in Venezuela. My dad brought home some iguana eggs, and he made the whole family eat them, and they were pretty disgusting. The color, the texture was just not good. The aftertaste was kind of like milk with tomato sauce; creamy and rubbery. It’s not a very good thing to eat, really.

Trudi Shiu

Mark Agosta

hospital administrator

It would have to be a chocolate-covered cricket. My nephew thought he was being really smart and said, “Here, try this chocolate-covered cricket.” And I never thought he would actually give it to me, and that’s actually what it was. I thought it was a chocolate-shaped cricket, and I actually ate it.

retired

physician

Frog legs. Watched them jump around in the pan as [I] cooked them. They kind of move around after they’re dead. It tasted like chicken.

Steamed pig blood in dim sum. ... It tastes like blood. It was shaped like a tofu block, but it tasted to me like when you cut your tongue—you bite it, and it tastes like the blood in your tongue.

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012

BEFORE

FRONTLINES

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FEATURE

STORY

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AFTER

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6/19/12 10:45 AM

BUILDING A

HEALTHY S A C R A M E N T O

Empowering Youth to Make a Difference BY K E N DA L L F I E L D S

jay paused to imagine what life would be like without community involvement like her seat on District 5 Youth Leaders, part of the City of Sacramento’s Way Up project. Just kicking back, relaxing and, in her words, “not really doing much,” like many 19-year-olds living at home in Sacramento. But Ajay could only think of one way to describe that kind of life: “Boring!” For Ajay, community involvement began with a leadership camp in sixth grade. Then in high school, she was president of the school’s GayIT’S THE Straight Alliance. FEEL-GOOD From there, she FEELING OF became involved IMPROVING MY with other lesbian COMMUNITY and gay advocacy groups and, this year, is invited to speak at a student leadership conference for LGBT youth. Since District 5 Youth Leaders recruited her, she advocates on behalf of youth in her community. Ajay is also president of California Endowment’s Youth Council. Ajay credits her activist spirit to her mother, who works as a community organizer. Her father is a mechanic and her two younger brothers — ages 7 and 15 — frequently remind her that it is OK to relax occasionally and play video games. “We are a fun group of people,” she said. Ajay attends Sacramento City Community College with hopes of turning her activism into a career. “Right now I am studying political science,” said Ajay, “Last semester I interned with Equality California doing a lot of lobbying and I just fell in love with it.”

She joined District 5 Youth Council so she could speak up about the transportation issues faced by Sacramento youth. Ajay thinks finding regular transportation to school is especially difficult. “I ride my bike a lot,” she said, “but when I don’t, I ask my mom for a ride or there is a bus. But sometimes the bus runs late or it’s overcrowded.” Being part of District 5 Youth Leaders empowers Ajay to do something about her concerns. When she and the council surveyed local high schools and colleges, they found other youth who had similar concerns, like reduced bus routes, increased fares, and bus stops without covers or benches. Along with her peers on the council, Ajay brought those concerns to policymakers in meetings with city councilmembers and regional transit board members. She knows she is making a difference in her community and that makes her feel good. “It’s that feel-good feeling of improving my community,” said Ajay, “And you meet so many great people while doing it, it’s so much fun!” Way Up is a project spearheaded by councilmember Jay Schenirer to create a healthy South Sacramento neighborhood that supports children and young adults by creating healthcare career jobs and increasing the employment of neighborhood

PAID WITH A GRANT FROM THE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT 6 | SN&R | 06.28.12

residents. The project was created out of a partnership between the City of Sacramento and Gifts to Share, a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1985. Building healthy neighborhoods starts by creating relationships within the community and encouraging youth to get involved. Way Up programs like District 5 Youth Leaders ensure policymakers are hearing the voices of youth. Only then can the barriers youth face be addressed so they can live healthy and productive lives.

LETTERS

Visit us at www.newsreview.com or email sactoletters @ newsreview.com

Puffing for Palau

FIRST SHOT SN&R reader photo of the week PHOTO BY HEATHER DOSHAY

Re “God , festivals and taxes” by Jeff vonKaenel (SN&R Frontlines, June 14): This is a textbook “puff piece” At least 50 percent of the questions by Jeff vonKaenel include his own opinions (“I’m very excited”; “We need to increase our taxes”). No hard questions about the homeless (Safe Ground); firm evidence of lasting service program successes; whether Muslims and Hindus are encouraged to participate in Season of Service; whether one can be “Good without God” and LETTER OF THE WEEK still participate; Palau’s personal income, as well as issues of morality surrounding income inequality and the redistribution of income; the question of the morality of present wars; military spending; gay rights; immigration; our moral responsibility in regards to global warming and world population growth; and the moral necessity of fighting greed. Evan Jones Sacramento

A pox on both choices Re “No pass for Romney” by Bob Mulholland (SN&R Guest Comment, June 21): Nice try, but attacking the messenger is a weak excuse of an argument. What Americans deserve is more of a choice than two less-than desirables. Sure, people are gullible. You can tell them a third party will never make it, and they’ll go on believing, but to expect a different result from the current parties is a sure sign of insanity. Personally, I’d rather stay true to my conscience and vote for someone I can believe in. I’m a Libertarian, by the way. Be sure to jump on that. Peter Schultz Carmichael

An alphabetical situation Re “Is it OK to pee in the shower?” (SN&R Streetalk, June 21): Q: Is it OK to P in the shower? A: Only if there’s a Q at the toilet. Curtis Fritz Davis

Protects workers, too Re “Notes from the underground” by Raheem F. Hosseini (SN&R Frontlines, June 14): Good lord! I thought The Sacramento Bee was the main publication for propaganda in the Sac area, but we may have a strong contender here. I don’t know how one can refer to that neighborhood as “pale-skinned,” when it has had such a noticeable population of black residents for decades. Still does, too. The ordinance doesn’t require proof that anyone is authorized to work in this country. That is required by state and federal laws. This ordinance only requires that they bring whatever documents that they would tender to an employer with them when soliciting for immediate hire. I might point out that the author of this article plainly ignored the main component of the effort, which was to inspire the BEFORE

FRONTLINES

employers to show that they have worker’s compensation insurance when hiring. This is as much for the worker’s protection as it is to encourage above-board hiring and business practices. Davi Rodrigues Sacramento

Stockholm syndrome? Re “No pass for Obama” by Phillip Fujiyoshi (SN&R Guest Comment, June 7) and “No pass for Romney” by Bob Mulholland (SN&R Guest Comment, June 14): Finally, in [Phillip] Fujiyoshi’s piece, we hear from someone who isn’t suffering from Stockholm syndrome. I felt like I was the only one paying attention. [Bob] Mulholland’s article seemed to make sense, but then I had a thought: Isn’t this the same logic that people who get abused in a relationship use to stay with their abuser? “They are nice to me most of the time.”

Hundreds of Sacramento revelers headed west last Sunday to join San Francisco Pride 2012, with its rainbow flags, celebratory floats and brainy signs, like this one, in support of gay marriage.

annual U.S. Gross Domestic Product and up to $11 billion in annual merchandise exports to Korea. The agreement will support tens of thousands of American jobs. No other president in U.S. history has had his every effort to move this country forward filibustered and obstructed by a do-nothing Republican congress which has as the No. 1 goal ensuring that the president serves only one term—as stated by Sen. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader. Not jobs, not improving the economy! It’s quite evident that they are seething with hate because a black man is the president! Yes, Mr. Fujiyoshi, your vote is your vote, but the comments you have made are totally baseless and devoid of actual facts. Unfortunately, I don’t have space to refute each of your claims.

T. Garcia Sacramento

Exports are a good thing Re “No pass for Obama” by Phillip Fujiyoshi (SN&R Guest Comment, June 7): We all are entitled to our own opinions, but sometimes opinions such as those presented by Phillip Fujiyoshi, are factually inaccurate. We need to understand the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement for what it is before criticizing. KORUS is an integral part of the president’s efforts to increase opportunities for U.S. businesses, farmers and workers through improved access for their products and services in foreign markets. The KORUS agreement supports the president’s National Export Initiative goal of doubling U.S. exports in five years. It would also promote the further integration of the U.S. and Korean economies and enhance the competitiveness of U.S. businesses in the world’s 12th largest economy. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates that the reduction of Korean tariffs and tariff-rate quotas on goods alone would add $10 billion to $12 billion to |

FEATURE

STORY

Correction In the review of Teatro Nagual’s production of Anna in the Tropics (“Light up and savor” by Patti Roberts, SN&R Stage, June 21), the photography credit was left out. The photo is by Barry Wisdom, and the credit has been added online.

Have a great photo? Email it to firstshot@ newsreview.com. Please include your full name and phone number. File size must not exceed 10 MB.

POET’S CORNER Kits

Michael D. Coleman Sacramento

Down to embarrassment Re “No pass for Obama” by Phillip Fujiyoshi (SN&R Guest Comment, June 7): I agree with many of Mr. Fujiyoshi’s points. I can’t believe we have willingly given up so many civil rights in the last decade since 9/11. The saddest part is, even with all of [President Barack Obama’s] faults, he is still a better choice than Mitt Romney. We as a nation should be embarrassed by the democracy we have become.

As the great klaxon sounds, Tower Bridge lifts steel bloomers For a Hornblower yacht. Nora’s fingerpoint to shoreline & bulked embankment where, look! Weaves one quick skunk family in dusk. Mama jets ahead in a direction; her four-kit brood sashays fast close to and close from, meshlike younglings drawn in and out by drawstrings of shove-for-milk or just-keep-up. Kits trickle on, like lactic effort. Little corvettes, they convoy her safely under-over sticks & things that dust her. Their vee-stripes: whiter comet’s hairs than hers in new-universe black, they’ve not yet had to stink hard to survive. —Thomas Goff

Carmichael

Kevin McKenna Rancho Cordova |

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AFTER

06.28.12

SN&R

July 6-8

DOWNTOWN RENO

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8 | SN&R | 06.28.12

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06.28.12 | SN&R | 9

It’s all good Bites just wants to take a quick nibble

here at the Sacramento Police Officers Association’s remarkably cynical move to torpedo budget talks because it didn’t get what it wanted on charter reform. (Lots of coverage elsewhere in this paper on the bigger charterby COSMO GARVIN commission issue.) Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty is pushing right back. He supports a ballot measure this fall asking voters to pay a bit more in sales taxes to pay for necessary services like parks and firefighters and, you know, cops. But he also suggests writing a clause into the sales-tax measure saying that, “only departments which have undergone pension reform could receive that money.” Ouch. Good luck with that, but point taken.

North Sacramento native Rob Kerth had to give up his current seat on the SMUD board of directors to run for the District 2 city council seat he once held. Long story. Anyway, a couple of candidates are already launching their campaigns to replace Kerth as director of SMUD’s Ward 5, which covers the grid, north Sacramento and north Natomas and other points north. First out of the gate is Benjamin Philips-Lesenana, who has worked with the California Asian Chamber of Commerce and the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce. Some regular readers might recognize Ben: He and his husband Lonnie were featured on an SN&R cover a couple of years back. They were one of those local couples who got married during those carefree days of June 2008. Before the bad men came with their ballot measures and magic underwear. Bites also hears that Michael SMUD gouges its Picker is going for the Ward 5 seat. Picker was chief of staff to late Mayor customers just like Joe Serna. These days he’s Gov. Jerry those mean old Brown’s adviser on solar energy. Two good candidates, and Bites has investor-owned an issue to suggest: When Bites first bought the utilities. Bitescave, SMUD’s oh-so-reasonable financing rates to install new energy-efficient windows and central air looked pretty appealing. But like a lot of houses, the value of the Bitescave got hammered in the downturn. HARP refinancing was promising, but SMUD decided its wouldn’t cooperate with the refi without doubling its interest rates. Moral of the story, the ratepayer-owned utility SMUD gouges its customers just like those mean old investor-owned utilities. You guys should look into that.

Believe it or not, Bites really is a bit shy about self-promotion (accompanying pretentious d-bag photo notwithstanding). Still a few readers may be interested in a secret podcast Bites has been working on with some friends. It’s called Sacramento Current, and it’s Sacramento’s oldest-living podcast on local politics and public affairs and art and punk rock and beer. Going about three months now. This week the guest was documentary filmmaker Laurence Campling, who’s done fascinating Sacto-centric films on topics like the making of the new Crocker Art Museum and the history of Sacramento’s great floods. Last week Tom Negrete, managing editor of The Sacramento Bee and Jared Goyette, editor in chief of the Sacramento Press, sat down for a discussion about the local media landscape, and the week before that former Mayor Heather Fargo offered her take on the local political scene. You can listen to all the shows at www.sacramentocurrent.com. You can also come down to Del Paso Boulevard this Sunday for the GOOD: Street Food + Design Market. Along with the usual good food, art, music and other festivities there will be a trivia contest at 3 p.m. over at the Sacramento Temporary Contemporary Gallery (1616 Del Paso Boulevard). Bites and fellow podcasters Isaac Gonzales (www.ransackedmedia.com), Phil Pluckebaum and Patrick Kennedy (Sac City school board) will be facing off against a bunch of smarty-pants artists. It’s going to be good. Ω

SN&R

06.28.12

Money = wins New federal campaign-finance rules allow California’s GOP super rich to expand influence via super PACs Thanks to judicial decisions over the last two years that radically altered federal campaign-finance rules, the fate of the nation lies in the hands of by Darwin about 100 wealthy Californians—or, to be BondGraham more precise, in their checkbooks. An analysis of super PAC (political action committee) fundraising data following the Republican presidential primary shows that a tiny slice of California’s elite turned out to have a major influence over the selection of Mitt Romney as the GOP candidate. Furthermore, the new rules have strengthened the role of California’s small but extremely affluent network of Republican Party financiers tilting the state’s overall balance of political influence on the national stage away from its reliable mass of blue voters and toward its concentrated few with red dollars. A close look at the money trail also reveals the importance of a certain stratum of California’s wealthy political donors—privateequity investors—who were instrumental in funding attacks against Romney’s rivals. Anthony Corrado, a senior scholar at the Brookings Institution, points to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision (2010), and the lesser known D.C. District Court’s SpeechNow.org ruling (2010), which together

allow virtually unlimited cash grants to committees making “independent expenditures.” Corrado says these decisions “have allowed wealthy donors to essentially have a disproportionate influence on the election process.” The now-familiar problem comes with a twist in California. While there are more than a few liberals among the state’s super rich, California’s wealthy are notably more conservative, especially regarding economic issues, than the majority of the population. So in California, what’s important about the rise of the super PAC isn’t just the unlimited spending and shadowy tactics they’ve become synonymous with: It’s that at a level of greater detail, a small network of wealthy conservatives seem to have increased their influence in the national political arena over that of the more liberal majority. “California is blue state,” explained Thad Kousser, professor of political science at UC San Diego. However, California’s blue politics is mostly tied to its votes. Kousser says California generates “lots of money for Republicans.” “When you look at the mass level, California voters are strongly Democratic. But

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Charting the charter reform See FRONTLINES

Tower Records and K.J.

See YOU ARE HERE

No more toxic furniture? See GREEN DAYS

Jerry Brown back to school See ESSAY

Capitalism destroys itself? See GUEST COMMENT

BEATS

A tale of three cities at the elite level there are still a lot of Republicans. Lots of the money in Hollywood, Silicon Valley—San Francisco is Democratic, but there are more than enough wealthy Republicans there to make this a really fertile soil for conservatives trying to raise funds.”

SUPER FUN PACKS

The tilt of super PACs has been reported elsewhere; more registered super PACs are conservative than liberal. Conservatives have also raised more money for super PAC spending, including the current campaign season, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. California has 750,000 households (roughly 6 percent of the state’s total) with more than $1 million in investable assets, according to Phoenix Marketing International, a firm that tracks trends in wealth distribution. The actual number of families holding wealth above $10 million is much smaller, less than 1 percent. California has exactly 100 billionaires according to the latest Forbes survey, most of them residing in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and San Francisco. As of the end of May, a select few of these super-rich Californians have donated approximately $11.4 million to the top five super PACs that were most active in shaping the Republican presidential-primary campaign. In other words, one in every $10 raised by these five super PACs came from just several hundred of the Golden State’s wealthiest residents. But the real impact of California’s wealthy political funders has been even more concentrated. The Romney-linked Restore Our Future super PAC has been a favorite of California’s conservative elite, receiving $5.4 million from 89 California residents, an average of $60,000 per donor. The majority of donations, however, came from a smaller group who contributed more than $100,000 each. The 17 individuals who gave more than $100,000 to Restore Our Future accounted for 70 percent of the PAC’s California-raised funds. Similar to how California money is key to helping fund super PACs, one in $10 raised by Restore Our Future, and spent to influence voters in key primaries such as Iowa, South Carolina and Florida came from a wealthy Californian. Mitt Romney’s ability to fend off the insurgent campaigns of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum was very much a result of the nominally independent television ads bought by Restore Our Future, financed very much by a small network of West Coast donors. Restore Our Future spent millions in Iowa blasting Gingrich and then millions more to take down Santorum in later stages of the campaign. BEFORE

FRONTLINES

“In December, 45 percent of the political ads in Iowa were Gingrich takedowns; the super PAC Restore Our Future, which supports Mitt Romney spent nearly $3 million on such ads,” reported Ariel Levy in The New Yorker. “In one month Gingrich went from top horse to underdog.” A primary battle of this nature, fought largely through “independent” super PACS, was a first in American politics, say experts who track campaign trends.

The predominance of private equity and hedge-fund managers in the GOP super PAC scene is the product of personal networks that stem back decades. Mitt Romney personifies these links like no other politician. Their inability to benefit from super PAC contributions made by California conservatives may partly explain Gingrich’s and Santorum’s defeat. The Gingrich-linked Winning Our Future —funded largely by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson—received virtually no support from Californians. The committee reported only $9,700 in donations through May this year from state residents. The Red White and Blue Fund, a super PAC supporting Rick Santorum, fared better in raising cash from California thanks to five wealthy businessmen, including Richard Barry, a Marin County hedge-fund manager; David Segel, another hedge-fund manager who resides in Pacific Palisades; and William Duhamel, a manager at San Francisco’s Farallon Capital Management hedge fund. In the end, however, these super PACs were simply starved of West Coast cash and therefore came up short of Restore Our Future.

LONGTIME COMPANIONS

Regardless of previous affiliations, all of the major conservative super PACs are now shifting their devastating abilities to raise cash and produce negative ads onto President Barack Obama, reported The New York Times last week. By shifting their focus, these PACs may soon see spikes in contributions from wealthy California conservatives. According to Kousser, there are several obvious reasons why Romney did better among California’s GOP. “He’s more of a California Republican than Gingrich or |

FEATURE

STORY

Santorum. Romney is more moderate than the national Republican Party. Second, he’s a Mormon, and California has more Mormons. It’s not surprising that a candidate who fits the ideological mold and is knit into a religious group with deep roots in the state fits better here.” However, there was another key reason for Romney’s success. California’s conservative political donors decided early on to pool their money behind the Restore Our Future super PAC. Numerous hedge-fund and privateequity executives with major California financial companies like TPG Capital, Altamont Capital Partners, Chaparal Investments, Canyon Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Trident Capital, and more widely known investment banks that have California offices, like Goldman Sachs, constitute the richest core of Romney’s California allies. Kousser isn’t surprised. “These are his friends. He has a long relationship working with them from Bain Capital. They feel like he understands their issues.” The predominance of private-equity and hedge-fund managers in the super PAC scene is very much the product of personal networks that stem back decades, and Romney personifies these links like no other politician. Romney’s ability to raise big money, especially from California, is thanks largely to his former business colleagues and employees at Bain & Company and Bain Capital. Dick Boyce, Romney’s go-to guy in Northern California, once worked in Bain Capital’s sister company, Bain & Company. Dick Boyce donated $300,000 to the Restore Our Future PAC to fund attacks against Romney’s rivals during the primaries. For Romney’s several fundraising forays into California in recent months, Boyce has been among the welcoming committee, hosting parties with $2,500 covers at the door and $50,000 per-plate dinner charges. Decades ago when Romney and colleagues in Bain Capital engineered takeovers of companies, Boyce would move his operations team into the executive offices to restructure the business and squeeze out bigger profits for investors, mainly Bain Capital partners. The seed money for their current fortunes, out of which they peel campaign contributions today, was created in the 1980s and ’90s orchestrating leveraged buyouts and restructurings—practices that have been widely criticized for leading to job cuts and bankruptcies. One of Dick Boyce’s earliest gigs for Bain Capital was taking over FTD Flowers, at the time a nonprofit organization. When Boyce

“MONEY = WINS”

Now what? Voters will decide in November on whether to form an elected charter commission. It’s too soon to say whether Mayor Kevin Johnson and his allies will work for a “no” vote, or try to stack the commission with pro-strongmayor candidates. “We’re currently evaluating all of our options,” said Johnson spokesperson Joaquin McPeek. Labor groups likewise may work to oppose the measure or may back their own candidate slates. Meanwhile, city officials anticipate a lot of interest from potential candidates for the commission’s 15 seats. The nomination period opens July 16 and closes August 9. To qualify, candidates have to submit between 20 and 30 valid signatures from registered Sacramento voters. The 200-word ballot statement will be a tougher obstacle, setting candidates back $2,100. (Candidates can raise money, up to $500 from individual donors and $1,500 from large campaign committees.) No amount of campaign cash will help if voters reject formation of the charter commission. And there’s a good chance they will reject it. Only two charter commissions have been approved by voters in California. In Los Angeles in 1999, dueling charter commissions made for a messy process, but one which ultimately created neighborhood councils, an executive mayor, the creation of an ethics commission. A San Francisco charter commission was approved by local voters and formed in 1978. That commission raised much of its own money and recommended a number of reforms, including a fix to San Francisco’s “split executive” system that gave a fair amount of power to an unelected chief administrative officer. Attorney Jim Haas, one of the members of the S.F. charter commission, says that given the diverse interests involved, it was at times difficult to rein the scope of the commission. “The ACLU came in and wanted a bill of rights,” that would include, for example, a right to housing. They were rebuffed. Likewise, efforts to tweak labor and pension provisions “proved to be pretty dicey.” The charter was finally able to come up with a set of “mostly procedural” recommendations, said Haas, but those were rejected by voters. He said it was opposition from then-mayor Dianne Feinstein that spelled doom for the commission report. But in 1996, S.F. county supervisors advanced a ballot measure largely based on the commission’s 1980 recommendations, and this time voters approved it. “The thing was, there was a big consensus that the charter didn’t work very well,” said Haas. And that may be the key difference between the three cities. The S.F. charter was widely recognized as dysfunctional. In Los Angeles, there was a governance crisis, too, including secession movements in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. Other than Johnson and his political allies, nobody has been clamoring for charter change in Sacramento. Rather than putting his agenda on the ballot, the charter commission measure asks the question, “Are you interested in charter change at all?” “If less than 50 percent of the people vote for it, that’s a strong message that people don’t feel like charter reform is a high priority right now,” said Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn. (Cosmo Garvin)

continued on page 13

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It was one of those forehead-slapping moments of irony. Mayor Kevin Johnson was trying to talk his Sacramento City Council peers out of a fall by ballot measure that, if approved by voters, Cosmo Garvin would create a charter commission to investicosmog@ gate and recommend reforms to city newsreview.com government. “We’re rushing something to the ballot with no real discussion,” the mayor complained. That’s the same exact criticism leveled at Johnson when he first tried to get his strongmayor proposal on the ballot more than three years ago. And then again when he tried strong mayor a second time. And again the time after that. Last week, the majority of the city council formalized an earlier decision not to advance Johnson’s strong-mayor plan. Instead, the city council opted to ask voters if they’re interested in charter reform at all—and, if so, whether they want to form an elected charter commission. If approved, the 15-member board could consider a suite of possible reforms, including some version of a strong-mayor form of government, an independent redistricting commission, an ethics commission, changes to elections rules, pension rules, or even general housekeeping of the charter and pruning of outdated language. Opponents of this more deliberative— supporters say more democratic—route to charter reform were not at all happy. The Sacramento Police Officers Association, long a backer of Johnson’s strong-mayor approach, used the charter-commission vote as a reason to stop negotiating pensions with the city—a key piece of the budget deal the city manager is trying to push through. The Sacramento Bee editorial page, which has also tended to side with Johnson on this issue, derided “the council’s 6-3 vote to spend $621,000 to place charter review on the ballot.” It backed up its argument with a quote from Dustin Smith, president of the SPOA: “The money they voted to spend on charter review could pay for six police officers.” But the quote and the Bee’s assertion that the city council voted to spend $621,000 are wrong. Before its decision last week, the city attorney provided the city council a two-year estimate totaling $621,000 in administrative and election costs—if voters say yes to a charter commission. That includes the costs of this November’s ballot question (maximum of $205,100), costs for existing city staff to help the commission with research and meetings over two years ($316,578), and the cost of putting any the commission’s recommendations on the ballot in 2014 (somewhere between $35,000 and $150,000; they went with the high number).

Keep in mind that first number, the $205,000 in election costs, assumes that the charter commission is the only local measure on the ballot in November. It won’t be; there’s also a sales-tax measure and a measure doing away with the claw headed to the same ballot, and they will share some of those costs. The charter-commission measure will likely cost closer to $100,000. And the rest of the costs don’t apply at all, unless voters approve the charter-commission measure. That’s no sure thing. Also, the staff time dedicated to helping run the charter commission is money that would be spent anyway, those employees in the cityclerk and city-attorney offices would just be working on other projects. Still, some city council members objected to the timing of the measure, saying that even asking the voters to weigh in is an expensive distraction in this time of budget crisis. “We should be focused on our economy and the restoration of city services,” said Councilwoman Angelique Ashby.

“We’re rushing something to the ballot with no real discussion.” Mayor Kevin Johnson That’s the same criticism made earlier this year when the city spent $680,000 to craft a financing plan for a new Kings arena, mostly in consultant contracts. The city also paid $189,000 in annual salary to Assistant City Manager John Dangberg, who spent a year working on the arena project. More ironic, many of those opposed this measure, such as the mayor and Ashby and Councilman Jay Schenirer, were all firmly in the “let the people vote” camp earlier this year, supporting placement of Johnson’s strongmayor plan on the ballot. “The irony is starting to get to me,” said Councilman Steve Cohn, who supported the charter-commission measure. “When it’s an initiative that someone wants, it’s ‘just let the people decide.’” Councilman Kevin McCarty, another charter-commission supporter, calls the cost issue “a red herring” and says that the strong-mayor proposal would be far more expensive than a charter commission. That measure likely would have created a ninth city council district, set off a whole new redistricting process, added a city council member and several political appointees to the city payroll. And during the city council debate last week, Johnson acknowledged that strong mayor was likely to come back next year. “Maybe sooner,” he said. Ω

FRONTLINES “MONEY = WINS” continued from page 11

exited FTD as Bain’s profit-engineering CEO, he brought in another Bain & Company employee, Margaret Whitman, to fill his shoes. Today Meg Whitman is better known as Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, and a former candidate for California governor (having the distinction of spending a record sum of personal wealth on her own bid to buy that office). Whitman also has the distinction of being ranked No. 331 on Forbes’ global billionaires list, with a personal fortune valued at $1.3 billion. Her Atherton mansion is not too far from Dick Boyce’s Portola Valley residence. Whitman is another friend and key supporter of Romney, having donated her limit of $2,300 to the candidate’s campaign, but more importantly having made a $100,000 contribution to the Restore Our Future super PAC. Two other major contributors to the Restore Our Future super PAC have Bain & Company backgrounds: Duhamel spent several years at Bain & Company after graduating from Stanford Business School. Co-founder of Altamont Capital Jesse Rogers is a Bain & Company alumnus. Rogers gave $125,000 to Restore Our Future. Excepting this handful of conservative California millionaires and billionaires who have already made their imprint in the GOP primaries, Kousser said, “I think Californians for the most part haven’t been engaged in this presidential race. That was reflected in the poor turnout for the recently passed primary elections.” Even if California’s majority of liberal voters remain irrelevant in the electoral strategies of Obama and Romney, Kousser believes wealthy

YOU ARE HERE

residents will engage further. “Californians will play an increasingly larger role in funding this race. California and New York City are ATMs for both parties.” In the general election now underway, the biggest super PACs are expected to expend many millions more on attack ads in key states. The Romneyfriendly Restore Our Future PAC has held a decided edge over liberal PACs expected to support Obama. According to the Federal Elections Commission, Restore Our Future has raised more than

New rules have strengthened the role of California’s small but extremely affluent network of Republican Party financiers, tilting the state’s overall balance of political power on the national stage. $61 million so far and has about $14 million in cash on hand. By contrast, Priorities USA Action, the Obama-linked super PAC, has only raised $14.5 million, and only has $5 million in cash on hand. While liberal funders are expected to become more engaged in the presidential campaign now, conservative funders are still outspending them. When asked once which competing teams of private-equity capitalists “win” in a competition to takeover a public company, Romney’s friend and former colleague Dick Boyce once said, “The one with the most money.” Having already helped to bankroll the GOP’s primary, and selected Romney through a battle of super PACs, wealthy California residents like Boyce seem to be intent on proving this dictum in politics, too. Ω

STILL “ STYLISH ” AFTER

Freeze frames of Sacramento-area life PHOTO BY WES DAVIS

135 YEARS MUST BE THAT NEW PACKAGING ENJOY SAPPORO THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE BEER

Russ Solomon (right), Mayor Kevin Johnson and others converged on Broadway and 16th Street last week to raise funds to preserve a piece of Sacto history. Solomon donated some 200 boxes of Tower Records history to the Center for Sacramento History in 2009; they hope to find enough money to archive the collection.

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Community meeting sheds light on sad statistics

Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna mentioned to me that his First 5 blue-ribbon commission was examining the disproportionate number of African-American child deaths in Sacramento County. I expressed some interest, and he suggested I come by a community meeting at the Oak Park Community Center on Monday, June 18. I said I would. So, on a very warm summer evening last week, about 50 of us met to discuss the high number of young people, especially African-American youth, who are dying each year in our community. At my table, there were six African-American professional women, county official Bruce Wagstaff, and former California Health and Human Services Agency secretary Grantland Johnson Sometimes sadness and his wife, Charlot Bolton. We learned that there can remind you of were 3,633 young people in County under the what is important Sacramento age of 17 who died during the and what is not last 20 years. Half of these were children died from mediimportant. cal conditions. While tragic, these deaths probably couldn’t have been prevented. But then we learned about the other half. The “third-party homicides, infant sleep-related deaths, child abuse and neglect, homicides and suicides.” It’s hard to understand how we can let this happen to our children. Of course, these deaths are much higher in the poor parts of Sacramento. And while African-American children represent 12 percent of our population, they make up 22 percent of all child deaths. The next First 5 public After hearing the presentation, we were asked for meeting has not been scheduled. To read the input. Our group was not surprised by the data, but we Sacramento County certainly weren’t happy about it. Words like “shock” and Child Death Review “outrage” were uttered; the most commonly heard word Team’s “Twenty Year Analysis of Child Death was “sad.” Sad was how I felt. Frankly, this was somewhat Data,” go to http://tinyurl.com/ unusual for me, because these types of statistics usually childdeathssac. make me mad instead. But I felt so sad for the families, and I couldn’t stop thinking how I would feel if one of my kids was included in the group of 3,633. Earlier that day, I’d read a Wall Street Journal story that Mitt Romney was endorsing the House Republican plan to slash social spending, especially health programs, so he could turn around and give more tax breaks to the rich. This story made me mad rather than sad. But at the Oak Park table, it was sorry I felt, that instead of saving Jeff vonKaenel some of these little ones, we might elect leaders willing is the president, CEO to let more children die. and majority owner There will be more public meetings held to get of the News & Review community input on these local child-death numbers. newspapers in Sacramento, I suggest that you attend. Sadness is not always a bad Chico and Reno. thing—sometimes it can remind you of what is important and what is not important. Ω

GREEN DAYS

AN INCONVENIENT

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY PRISCILLA GARCIA

RUTH

No couch potato

Benchmark the weirdness Aunt Ruth understands disagreement. Really, she

Governor takes swift action against toxic chemicals in furniture Gov. Jerry Brown announced last week that he directed a state agency to change a by decades-old legal provision that, in Christina Jewett essence, forces furniture makers to pump pounds of hazardous chemicals into couches and other furniture. Mounting research and news reports have shown that fire-retardant chemicals are linked to health risks, and that the industry that sells them has gone to great lengths to see that they are infused in furniture foam. Brown’s order is a nod to evolving furniture-safety science that shows that fire prevention can be achieved without the use of chemicals that are connected to cancer and reproductive harm. “Toxic flame retardants are found in everything from high chairs to couches, and a growing body of evidence suggests that these chemicals harm human health and the environChristina Jewett is a ment,” Brown said in a statement. writer for California Watch. Contact her at “We must find better ways to meet cjewett@california fire-safety standards by reducing and watch.org and read eliminating—wherever possible— more at www.california dangerous chemicals.” watch.org. Brown’s order calls on the state’s consumer-safety bureau to reduce chemicals used to ensure product safety. Fire-safety authorities say there are ways to regulate the weave of fabrics and construction of products to reduce fire risk while limiting chemical use. The new-found resolve to limit the chemicals will mark a reversal for Green Days is on the several state agencies. State conlookout for innovative sumer-product and environmental sustainable projects agencies have opposed several of state throughout the Sacramento region. Sen. Mark Leno’s efforts to limit Turn us on at flame-retardant chemicals in couches sactonewstips@ in 2007 through 2009. newsreview.com. Legislative review documents show that in 2007, both the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment opposed proposed bills that would have limited chemical use. In 2008 and 2009, the Department of Consumer Affairs opposed two bills that would have changed the BEFORE

FRONTLINES

by AUNTIE RUTH

Gov. Jerry Brown douses furniture makers who use toxic flame retardants.

state’s fire safety standard or called for removal of flame retardants from juvenile products, such as strollers and nursing pillows. News reports and lobbying records show that the chemical industry spent tens of millions of dollars fighting such proposed bills and have lobbied the Department of Consumer Affairs and environmental agencies.

“We’ve replaced one bad chemical with another, again and again and again.” Sarah Jansen senior scientist Natural Resources Defense Council The American Chemistry Council, which represents makers of flame retardants, has said that the chemicals are safe as used, and they play a key role in reducing fires in homes. Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the Department of Consumer Affairs, said officials are now committed to revising the provision of law that leads to the heavy use of chemicals in furniture. “We have been looking at [the provision] for a while, so now that we have direction from the governor, we’re in a position to execute that direction quickly,” he said. He added that the agency aims to draft a new regulation by late August. Sarah Janssen, senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, applauded the governor’s announcement. She said a mounting body of research has shown high levels of flame-fighting chemicals in Californians’ blood and linked them to reproductive and learning challenges. “Ultimately, the signal is that we’ll be able to have couches that meet

FEATURE

STORY

modern manufacturing and flammability standards without contaminating our homes and our bodies with toxic chemicals,” she said. Janssen said a couch she bought in 2007 was infused with chlorinated Tris, a chemical that last year was added to the state’s list of cancer-causing substances. Before Tris was outlawed, PBDEs, chemicals that have been linked to lower IQs in children, were banned from couches by 2003 state legislation. “We’ve replaced one bad chemical with another, again and again and again,” Janssen said. Andrew McGuire, policy director of Green Science Policy Institute, said the next phase of work needs to examine getting the chemicals, which have been found in the bodies of whales near Alaska, out of the environment. He said couches are dumped in landfills, and rain carries the flameretardant chemicals into groundwater and the ocean. “I think generations are going to deal with this,” he said. Lawmakers will discuss the chemicals during at a hearing this week. Ω

does. Her folks are Republicans, most of the rest of her immediate family are Republicans. She disagrees, of course. But she gets it. Disagreement, domestically speaking, can be an emotional door-slamming era in the life of a family (so it was for Ruthie in younger days); it can escalate into utter dysfunction or simmer in a repressed state of suspended animation. Whatever. Somewhere, under the murk of family life, there are things akin to observable facts that can be agreed upon. From there, peace—or something like it—might ensue. A long strange trip it can be, certainly. But worth the ride. And, yeah, huge errors can be made What tornado? comparing really big things (like countries) to really small things (like a family), but Ruthie thinks the same standard should be true in a democracy. Even in times as ugly as these, there has to be some acknowledged facts of the matter, if only as a starting place.

But not always. Witness what is happening far, far away, in the coastal state of North Carolina. Beachfront property is one of the things California has in common with North Carolina, but Ruthie doubts the developers here on the left coast would try anything this wack. Because climate change predicts a raise in ocean levels by taking into account, as Grist noted, “the warmer it gets, the more the water volume expands, and the more stuff melts, and the more it expands, etc.” This predictive model is tough, evidently, on developers on the North Carolina coast, because models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are anticipating an oceanic rise of 3 feet or more by century’s end. So the N.C. state Legislature cooked up a bill outlawing that kind of scientific prediction, preferring to use a “linear” historical record, which—based on records kept since 1900—only predicts an oceanic rise of 8 inches by 2100. A little less scary to the 1 percent who can fork out the dollars for windows on the water. While public ridicule was swift, the Legislature has modified the legislation only slightly. It’s like ignoring a tornado warning because the last two weeks of weather have been fair. Some days, all Ruthie can do is benchmark the weirdness. Ω (Come friend Aunt Ruth on Facebook and let’s hang out.)

ECO-HIT You see waste, they see fuel

On June 7, Sacramento company Clean World Partners opened an organic-waste recycling center. The following week, the California Energy Commission awarded it a $6 million grant, making it the largest such center in the nation. Located in south Sacramento, the recycling center converts 25 tons of food waste per day, according to the company, creating enough renewable natural gas to power 80 school buses for a year. When expansion is completed in 2013, the center will convert 100 tons of food waste per day, creating enough natural gas to power about 230 school buses per year.

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06.28.12

Augean stables Gov. Jerry Brown could take a lesson from a Greco-Roman fable

TRINITY EPISCOPAL CATHEDRAL

only

ESSAY

Gov. Jerry Brown holds a 1961 bachelor of arts degree in “classics” from the University of California at Berkeley. He’s the only California governor of the last 112 years whose collegiate by focus was the study of languages, literature and philosophy Greg Lucas a Sacramento-based from cultures that rose and fell a millennium or two ago. For better or worse, he therefore looks at politics much freelance writer differently than those lacking his unique background. Sadly, none of the modern metaphors, similes and comparisons routinely applied to politicians and the political process harken back to the golden age of Pericles and Cicero. The closest link with antiquity is the claim that politics is the world’s second oldest profession. Politicians are routinely: Crooks. Cads. Scallywags. Know-nothings. Boodlers. Mudslingers. Hacks. Carpetbaggers. Charlatans. Grandstanders. Parasites. Oft repeated is the origin of the word “politics”—poly meaning “many” and tics, “blood-sucking parasites.” Politics is a zoo, a jungle, a sausage factory, a threering circus, a psychiatric ward, a cesspool. It’s also numerous undesirable physical locales: Wasteland. Battleground. Pit. Quagmire. Quicksand. John Van de Kamp, when running for governor in 1989, famously pledged to “drain the swamp” of Sacramento. But none of those are truly grounded in the classical tradition as embraced by Brown. So, governor, this one’s Politics is a zoo, a jungle, for you. An image culled a sausage factory, a three- from the heart of GrecoRoman mythology that pretty ring circus, a psychiatric much says it all—except for ward, a cesspool. one small detail: Augean stables. Cleaning these stables was the fifth of the 12 labors of Hercules. These stables belonged to King Augeas of Elis, a province in southern Greece. They housed more than 1,000 cows, bulls, sheep, horses and goats, and hadn’t been NEWS & REVIEW BUSINES cleaned in 30 years. DESIGNER ISSUE DATE The job of spick-and-spanning the stables was supposed AL to be both humiliating for Hercules and impossible, since 06.18.09 FILEaNAME the king’s livestock were “divinely healthy,” byproduct of which is apparently copious amounts ofTRINITYCATHEDRAL061809R1 dung. Augeas, bitten by the hubris bug, tells Hercules he can haveUSP one-(BOLD SELECTI tenth of his cattle if the task can be completed in a/ single PRICE ATMOSPHERE / EXPE day. Hercules takes the bet. PLEASE Using brain and brawn, Hercules diverts two of theCAREFULLY REV rivers flowing nearby, consolidates themADVERTISEMENT into one surgingAND VERIFY T ADstables. SIZE (COLUMNS X INCHES) channel and uses the torrent to sluice out the As a SPELLING bonus, the acreage surrounding the stables is righteously NUMBERS & DATES fertilized. CONTACT INFOthe (PHONE, ADDR In 1894’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, cleansing ADan APPEARS AS REQUESTED Augean stables is defined as clearing “away accumulated mass of corruption, moral, religious, physical, or legal; APPROVED BY:to reform wrongs almost past the power of man to tackle.” If a subscriber to the notion that politicians are both full of it and venal, Augean stables is pert near the perfect metaphor for the state Capitol. Except for one teensy issue: Jerry Brown ain’t no Hercules. Brown’s central campaign pitch was, in paraphrase, that, while a bit grizzled, his decades of political experience gave him the smarts and the shrewdness to make the stables sparkle. Say, isn’t that the same nasty stench as 13 months ago coming from the center of Capitol Park? Ω

OPINION

EDITORIAL

THIS MODERN WORLD

BY TOM TOMORROW

Was Marx right? The current state of the U.S. economy raises the poverty and inequality not seen in a century. The question: Was Karl Marx right that capitalism top 1 percent held 10 percent of U.S. wealth in would destroy itself? 1980; today that number is 25 percent, the highMarx’s thesis—in The Communist Manifesto est inequality since 1928. CEO salaries have (1848), written with Frederich Engels—was that, increased fivefold over the past two decades despite its technological progress, capitalism while average wages have been flat. Government was basically unstable due to its dehumanizing programs try to correct this inequality: Most benand exploitative character. He predicted cycles efits (60 percent) accrue to middle- and of growth and collapse, during which capitalists low-income groups, while most taxes (70 perwould increasingly take cent) are paid by the advantage of labor surplus The vitality of the upper one-fifth of by income earners. Chuck McIntyre (the difference between Occupy movement— labor’s subsistence and But the inequality a Sacramento what it produces, also problem is due largely with its terminology of economist and thought by Marx to equate to a lack of privatefreelance writer the “1 percent” and to corporate profits). sector free-market The process enriches “99 percent”—shows us competition. Efficient the capitalists and impovmarket-resource allocadiscontent about erishes the workers. tion needs many buyers poverty and inequality Workers grow in number and sellers, near-perfect and discontent, finally information, and mobile not seen in a century. labor—conditions that Have a comment? realize that the system is Express your views unjust, and capitalism simply do not exist. in 350 words on “self-destructs,” giving way (in Marx’s view) to Finally, greed: Wall Street’s recent behavior a local topic socialism or communism. shows this human failing. A few banks are still of interest. Maoism and Stalinism cast a tyrannical pall “too big to fail”; in the absence of moderating Send an e-mail to regulations like the Glass-Steagall Act and the editorial@ over these alternative economic systems, and newsreview.com. Marx failed to correctly anticipate the role of Volker Rule, fail they will. While Marx hasn’t labor unions and governmental regulations in been proven right yet, bankers and tea party sustaining capitalism. Still, was Marx right? Republican ideologues are doing their best to do The vitality of the Occupy movement— so. This fall’s elections may finally answer the with its terminology of the “1 percent” and question. Ω “99 percent”—shows us discontent about BEFORE

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STORY

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WikiAsylum Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, seeking diplomatic sanctuary and political asylum. Why does this man deserve it? Because he exposed truths in a mass of leaked diplomatic cables and documents that revealed the dirty secrets of war—ones the United States and other governments would very much prefer to keep hidden from view. Like Daniel Ellsberg—who in Sometimes breaking 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers, a law in the name of which revealed a top-secret history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam— exposing the truth Assange’s actions served a can be crucial to significant public service. History demonstrates that sometimes breakkeeping democracy ing a law in the name of exposing alive, especially the truth can be crucial to keeping during wartime. democracy alive, especially during wartime. Interwoven here is Assange’s threatened extradition of the WikiLeaks leader to Sweden, where he faces accusations of rape and sexual misconduct. The WikiLeaks leader denies the charges To sign Tom Hayden’s and, indeed, it’s very difficult not to view them as politi- petition requesting asylum for Julian cally motivated. Assange, go to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is set to make a www.tomhayden.com. decision soon on Assange’s asylum application, and, if his answer is yes, the reverberations between the United States and Latin America will be substantial. But Tom Hayden, who has followed the Assange case as a journalist for The Nation, thinks the Ecuadoran leader is more than likely to grant it anyway. The longtime antiwar activist describes Correa as progressive populist who “already has expelled a US military base from his country, survived an attempted coup and capture by right-wing military plotters and expelled an American ambassador in 2011 based on WikiLeaks revelations.” We’d like to see the right thing happen here. We’re hoping Correa grants asylum to Assange and that President Barack Obama does not intervene. Ω

Loans and Lungren It was no surprise that Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) voted in lockstep with House Republicans last week to block a piece of legislation that would have stopped the doubling of student-loan rates for 7 million students across America. The bill would have done this by ending taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil companies. The Stop the Rate Hike Act of 2012 would have kept interest rates on certain “need-based” student loans at 3.4 percent for 2013, saving students an average of $1,000 in overall loan-repayment costs. (Two-thirds of all college students graduate with student-loan debt; the average money owed is about $25,000.) Why are we not surprised by Lungren’s choice? Because, sadly, he’s done it before—voted against student loans and Pell Grants while voting for measures that defend tax breaks for the rich. If the House doesn’t reconsider and act on this matter in the next few days, more than half a million Californians carrying student loans will soon experience the rate doubling. It’s not smart. It’s not fair. And Lungren, you must know it’s not working. Ω |

AFTER

06.28.12

SN&R

I think I just ate something extremely questionable. The realization comes during a dinner with close friends in Rancho Cordova on a recent warm spring evening when I tell my friends I’m writing a story about different so-called “weird foods.” Soon, the conversation turns to sharing stories of eating delicacies from our different cultures— foods that others might find inedible, gross even, but that are considered perfectly normal or a great specialty in other cultures. We’re the right group for such a topic. Ethnically, two in this group identify as Hmong-American, one as Cambodian-American, and I consider myself a ChineseAmerican Jew. Between the four of us, we’ve all sampled a wide range of unusual dishes and, eventually, it becomes clear that the whole concept of weird foods is, of course, highly subjective. Late into the night, one of my Hmong friends mentions a particular stir-fry dish featuring an ingredient that most people usually think of as throwaway material. OK, maybe not exactly throwaway. “Actually, technically, it’s more like diarrhea,” he clarifies, smiling ominously. He further explains that the dish, quav iab, uses post-digestion, pre-excremental waste material gathered from cow intestines—all mixed into a beef stir-fry dish. I’m already stunned that he’d admit to consuming such an unsanitary meal when my fiancée (the CambodianAmerican) breaks the news: She’s almost certain that I’ve eaten a similar dish during a recent family dinner. OK, sure, I’ll admit to eating weird foods from time to time. But on this night, at this dinner table, I wonder how my habit progressed this far. Eating diarrhea? Without even knowing it? And with no one actually telling me what the dish was beforehand? Is

SN&R

06.28.12

The ground pig brain, sitting in a small bowl in front of me, has the consistency of guacamole, and, like the green Mexican spread, it’s mixed into a goopy dip seasoned with garlic, chili peppers and salt.

LEFT: Pig brain in hand,

SN&R writer Jonathan Mendick goes in search of more weird food in a south Sacramento Asian supermarket.

BELOW: This pork brain,

from Shun Fat Supermarket, serves as the main ingredient for a Hmong dip that looks and tastes a little like guacamole.

that even safe? After all, there’s a real possibility such a dish could give me food poisoning. Looking back at my dietary history, however, this news shouldn’t be much of a shocker. Watching such cable programs as Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations—shows whose hosts never back down from any dish, however questionable—often makes me hungry. I’ve even written about it for this paper before in a story, “Feed Me Weird Things” (SN&R Arts&Culture, February 24, 2011), which involved exploring weird Sacramento delicacies such as chicken feet, chicken fetuses and ostrich burgers. But now, knowing that I’ve probably eaten poop, could any other Sacramento food be more bizarre? What strange culinary territory could possibly exist beyond what I’ve already eaten? So begins a bizarre and surprisingly tasty journey to find and eat some of Sacramento’s strangest foods.

Eventually, however, I grew used to hearing— and promptly ignoring—these types of internal moral questions. Pig brain certainly isn’t kosher, but moral dilemmas aside, I find myself facing another problem as I sit at the same Rancho Cordova dinner table some weeks following my “diarrhea” revelation—with the same group of friends, this time eating a Hmong dish made with pig brain.

Psychologically, just like the thought of eating animal waste or brain, prahok — fermented fish—seems weird if you get a whiff or glance of it uncooked, but it really doesn’t seem weird once it gets to your plate.

Bad brains Chinese Jews around the world must experience a fair share of cognitive dissonance at the dinner table. Pork is common in Chinese cooking, including my mom’s. But since she’s not even Jewish—which technically makes me not Jewish, if you’re a stickler to the Torah—I figured I could snack on swine flesh and God would let me get away with it. Besides, even my Jewish dad used to eat pepperoni pizza sometimes. Yet, when I ate any food that my peers deemed weird—or in the case of pork, banned for religious reasons—I still felt morally conflicted. My muscles and throat tightened, and I’d begin to ask myself questions such as, “Will this make me sick?” Or, “If I eat this, will people look at me like I’m crazy?” Or even, “Will I go to hell?”

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Our chef explains that this brain comes from Shun Fat Supermarket, a popular Asian supermarket chain with two stores in Sacramento. Sitting in a small bowl in front of me, the dish seems to have the consistency of guacamole, and, like the green Mexican spread, it’s mixed into a goopy dip seasoned with garlic, chili peppers and salt. Ground pig brains are usually eaten, explain my Hmong friends, because Hmong families tend to use every part of a pig. In fact, several families purchase and divvy up a freshly slaughtered pig, and the family that receives the head usually mashes up the fresh brain for this dip.

FEATURE

STORY

For this night’s meal, the brain serves to spruce up a lightly seasoned stir-fried pork dish. With copious amounts of garlic, pepper and seasoning mashed in, we almost forget what we’re actually eating. In fact, the dish resembles pureed headcheese, the same brown paste found on Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches. But then, after imagining the raw brain in its whole form and replaying that image in my head, my throat closes up, I experience that same sense of cognitive dissonance, and I wonder: Is this going to make me sick? Still, I continue to eat. “It’s really good,” I finally admit, after taking the first few bites. “It’d be great on a sandwich.” All the while, I’m still trying to suppress the involuntary gag reflex that comes from overthinking it. Yet, I manage to gulp down half my bowl of brains by applying it in small dabs onto the rice, pork and bok choy that accompany the dip—and then washing it down with wine. Actually, after finishing the meal, I realize that I would eat brain again, should the opportunity arise. Sure, the dish boasts a bizarre texture and powerful taste, but I already eat banh mi sandwiches on a regular basis, and I certainly don’t have a problem with eating the similar-tasting headcheese. Clearly, eating deliciously seasoned pig brain doesn’t surpass eating quav iab, that special but questionable stir-fry, on the weird scale.

A RT S & C U LT U R E

AFTER

Feel the fear and eat it anyway Some fear it, but many different cultures eat some form of it. And now—especially after having dated a Cambodian-American for more than seven years—I’ve come to love fermented fish. Cambodia’s take on fermented fish (and de facto national dish) is called prahok, but there’s also an Eskimo version (igunoc), a Nordic version (lutefisk), and a Laotian version (padaek)—among others. At first, the odor and taste are off-putting—rotting flesh is hardly appetizing to the uninitiated. But once you can get beyond the smell and taste of its fermented salty flesh—and with the help of a few other ingredients—prahok becomes palatable, delicious even. Such is the case with Mitapheap Restaurant’s prahok. Located in Stockton (where there’s a larger Cambodian-American population than in Sacramento), Mitapheap serves a spicy prahok ktis, a type of fried prahok mixed with minced pork. I discovered

“ARE YOU GOING TO EAT THAT?!” continued on page 22

06.28.12

SN&R

“ARE YOU GOING TO EAT THAT?!” continued from page 21

BELOW: No need to raid your garden for dinner. These snails, which come from the sea, come served in a coconut broth and are found in the frozen-food section in some area markets.

this recently, while eating at the small hole-inthe-wall with a large group of friends. It’s our first visit, and we order a variety of food to test the waters. The prahok is particularly exciting, because you can’t find it in any Sacramento restaurant. It’s brought out, served with a small layer of reddish oil on top and a plateful of veggies which we’re supposed to dip into the prahok. We submerge eggplant, cucumber and cabbage into the dip and decide that it’s no weirder than a mere anchovy paste. The fermented-fish taste and smell are all but indecipherable after the rest of the ingredients—spices, pork, chili oil—have been added. In fact, it’s delicious, and we polish it off, cherishing its intense but complex flavors. Psychologically—just like the thought of eating animal waste or brain—prahok seems weird if you get a whiff or glance of it uncooked, but it really doesn’t seem weird once it gets to your plate. I ate all types of prahok during a monthlong visit to Cambodia where I regularly took in the smell of raw prahok in a swelteringly hot and humid open-air market, with flies buzzing around, and the odor of stale and rotting flesh filling my nose. Back then, I remember thinking, “If I continue to eat this, will people look at me like I’m crazy?” The answer: Who cares? Besides, Mitapheap serves about as authentic (and delicious) a prahok dish as you’ll find anywhere in the region. And while eating it now gives me flashbacks to the unsanitary smell of Cambodia’s open-air markets, it’s still not as mind-boggling as the thought of eating postdigestion pre-excremental waste.

Ham and embryonic eggs Some of Sacramento’s strangest foods come in relatively small and unassuming packages. Sitting in unmarked cases in supermarket fridges and in cans adorned with Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai shipping labels, Sacramento’s egg selection is as 22

SN&R

06.28.12

RIGHT: More snails! These ones are really fresh—i.e., alive—not frozen.

diverse and elusive as the “secret menu” at In-N-Out Burger—only much weirder. In the past, I’ve eaten fermented soy-sauce-flavored eggs called pidan, fetal-chicken eggs called balut and quail eggs. Now it’s time to step up my game for this piece—and go with fetal-duck eggs. Chicken fetus is a delicacy in many Southeast Asian countries; “balut” is both a Filipino and Malaysian word that describes a nearly developed embryo inside an unhatched egg. And while eating chicken balut can be a bit hairy at times, a fetal-duck egg is even larger, more hairy and sometimes features

crack them open, and no fetuses emerge. Just regular duck-egg flesh—slightly richer than a chicken egg, and without feathers, bones or beak. I’ve purchased the wrong eggs—and a group of Vietnamese friends sitting around the dinner table promptly laughs at my error. I’m a bit relieved we won’t be eating duck fetus this time around, but then, an older Vietnamese man pulls out his homemade bag of nem chua. Here’s an unplanned opportunity to eat a weird food I’ve never even heard of until now: raw fermented pork, wrapped into a dumpling-size ball, and seasoned with raw garlic and Thai chili. I dig in, even though the fermented raw flesh is a bit off-putting—clear, spongy and sour smelling. Five older Vietnamese men glare at me for my response. I smile and nervously acknowledge that it’s good. The garlic and pepper essentially offset the sour, chewy

While eating chicken balut can be a bit hairy, a fetal-duck egg is even larger, more hairy and sometimes features developed bone. So began my hunt for these especially gross embryonic eggs. developed bone. So began the hunt for these especially gross embryonic eggs. But alas, as these are a revered pan-Asian delicacy, they’re sold out at their usual spots: Shun Fat Supermarket and Vinh Phat Supermarket. Not one left, even at the somewhat expensive sale price of 99 cents each. And the guy who usually sets up shop selling these fetal-duck eggs from the back of a white van that’s parked outside of Shun Fat is nowhere in sight. Eventually, I find and purchase two dozen of the eggs at a smaller grocery store called People Supermarket. At 40 cents per egg, these appear to be a steal for the time being. I drive them over to a friend’s house in south Sacramento. He’s an experienced Vietnamese chef who promises to boil them perfectly for dinner this night. But as he fires up the burner, something isn’t right. The eggs sink to the bottom of the pot. They don’t float on the surface of the water like they should. Once they boil, we

flesh taste, and one of the Vietnamese guys tells me that it’s an aphrodisiac. Not sure if he’s joking, but now I’ve got major garlic breath and the immense spice makes me sweaty—both don’t exactly scream aphrodisiac. Still, at least I didn’t have to eat a hairy duck embryo, nor does my mouth reek of questionable cow “meat.”

I first tried a kava drink on Hawaii’s Big Island last summer. Back then, it just seemed like an extremely strange and bitter cocktail that trendy nonlocals drank from coconut shells while listening to the Grateful Dead. But according to information from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, “Kava has been used as a ceremonial beverage in the South Pacific for centuries.” In addition to its pain-relieving qualities, it also reportedly curbs anxiety and relaxes muscles. Of course, I was on vacation and already relaxed—in fact, I’d probably already consumed a few mai tais—when I first drank it, but it never appeared to have any effect. So I decided to find it now and give it a second chance. My Fijian friend says he used to drink it back in Fiji, but stopped once he moved to Sacramento; now he tells me that kava powder is available at several local Indian markets. Thankfully, I don’t have to find one, because the owner of a soon-to-be-open kava bar in Rancho Cordova happens to bring samples into SN&R’s office. He prepares a mixture of ground kava-root powder with almond milk and stirs it around in a clear-plastic cup. I gulp down about 8 ounces and my throat goes numb—which, as my friend informs me, is the body’s first physiological response to the plant. It certainly takes the edge off of a hectic workday, keeping me mellow under the pressure of deadlines and allowing me a particularly anxiety-free day. But that’s where the fun stops. Later that day, I have to drink a second cup of coffee just to keep my eyes open. Driving home after drinking kava isn’t a great idea, either. I feel like I’ve pulled an allnighter driving up Interstate 5 from Tijuana, Mexico. According to a Tongan-American friend I consult after my kava experience, this particularly strong psychoactive property of the root is also why it’s abused by some youth in Sacramento’s Tongan-American community. And even though there aren’t any conclusive studies that prove it’s addicting, my friend tells me that some young men have started to mix it with alcohol and, as a result, often neglect their obligations—much to the dismay of their families. “They figure their fathers and grandfathers and uncles did it; now it is their turn,” she

JONATHAN

A craving for kava Tropical fruits and veggies don’t seem particularly weird, at first. But traditional medicine practitioners have used them for centuries to produce certain effects in the body. For example, the tropical fruit mangosteen has been used to fight infection and pineapple for its anti-inflammatory properties. And then there are the claims that kava root has calming properties—curing social anxiety and bringing about peace between people.

RECYCLE THIS PAPER.

says. “They also use the fact that its tradition [to] twist it into some kind of excuse that it is OK to be wasted on Kava Sunday.” Conclusion: Kava isn’t weirder than eating waste, but it has the potential to get you wasted.

spicy broth, they’re hot and tasty—especially once you realize that they’re not the large slimy snails that invade your garden. Rather, these are the kind found on the side of an aquarium wall. This isn’t my first time eating sea snails. I had them with fried lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime in Cambodia. And, at this point in my journey, in fact, it’s actually comforting to eat something I’m familiar with. Though we have to suck them out of their shells, they taste like stir-fried clams to me. Not bizarre by my standards. Not bizarre at all, really, because weirdness is purely subjective. People eat this dish all the time in local Chinese restaurants, too.

Put it in your mouth and ask questions later

Simmered in a spicy broth, the snails are hot and delicious—especially once you realize that they’re not the large slimy ones that invade your garden but, instead, the kind found on the side of an aquarium wall.

YOU’RE WELCOME, TREES.

All this weird food, and yet, one question still remained: Did I really eat stir-fried cow dung? Searching for the answer, I find myself at a Vietnamese restaurant in south Sacramento’s Little Saigon area. According to my Hmong friend, this restaurant’s goat stir-fry tastes a lot like the bizarre stir-fry dish he used to eat in his parents’ kitchen. I arrive at the restaurant where I meet a Vietnamese friend who knows the owner and can order for us. We ask for the goat dish which, when served, features a subtle hint of curry, a nice spicy kick to it, and stir-fried onions. But it lacks any discernible poop taste, and I can’t remember ever eating something like this before. Throughout the meal, scantily clad servers stroll by the table to replenish our beers, which pair nicely with the goat. All in all, it’s a pretty good meal. “If there’s actually any diarrhea in here, it’s certainly delicious,” I think. I also feel safe eating it—certainly, if there was any danger for transmitting a bacteria such as E. coli, the restaurant would have already been flagged by the health inspector. In short: There’s no way this is the mystery stir-fry. I tell my friend that I’m here to write an article about weird food, and that I’m specifically looking for a stir-fry with intestinal waste. He’s never heard of the dish, but he does offer a suggestion. “Weird foods, huh?” he says. “How about snails? You’ll have to suck them out of their shells.” “Yeah! Of course!” I’m game, and in a few minutes, a plate of sea snails arrives at the table. Simmered in a

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I realized that it doesn’t take being multicultural, or having a particularly adventurous palate to learn that every person thinks someone else’s food is weird at some point. Over the years, my mind has opened to a greater range of possibilities while my idea of what is edible expanded. Finally, my journey taught me that certain foods will always seem intimidating—especially if you know what they are—and think too hard about it—before you eat them. The trick is to just put it in your mouth, and ask questions later. Ω

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ARTS&CULTURE POPSMART Radio confessions The other day I found myself in the interesting

position of defending a Katy Perry song. It’s not that I’m a particularly big Perry fan, mind you—I loathe “I Kissed a Girl” to no end—but have you heard “California Gurls”? It’s pretty sick, in a fun and by RACHEL LEIBROCK frothy summer anthem kind of way. Besides, it’s got Snoop Dogg on it—motherlovin’ Snoop Dogg! Oops, I did it again: I have this habit of making excuses when it comes to my love of pop music—you know: so-called guilty sonic pleasures. It’s a stupid habit and one I’m trying to break—you either like a song or you don’t—cultural shame be damned. My husband is the best example of someone I know who refuses to cow to the exacting demands of musical acceptability. This is a guy, after all, well-versed in obscure New Zealand pop bands and random bits of rock trivia. Who played piano on “Little by Little,” the Rolling Stones’ B-side to “Not Fade Away”? Five dollars says he knows the answer off the California “gurl,” top of his head. Yet he’s hardly a music snob. Take, for Katy Perry. example, his unabashed love for Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” “Hey, it’s a good dance song,” he said without apology. Simple enough—I long ago gave up any pretense of trying to be cool. That didn’t work out to well for me when I was in high school; it’s just tragic as an adult. And, so I give you, a short list of No Shame: Pop Music Things I Love. American Idol: So, why exactly do I waste time watching a singing competition on which the judges seem hell-bent on giving the blandest advice ever? Because sometimes I like to yell at the TV for reasons other than health-care reform, class warfare and the Kardashians. This brings us to: Ryan Seacrest: Sure, as a producer for the E! Entertainment Television network, Seacrest is responsible for unleashing the unholy terror that is Kim Kardashian on the rest of us—and yet I love him. Yes, he’s got that weird Muppet mouth thing going on and is, inarguably, a slave to the spraytanning and hair-gel gods. But watch him in action, and you’ll discover a genuine intelligence, smarts and kindness beneath that surface artificiality in his exchanges with American Idol wannabes. This brings us to: Top 40 music: Most of it is drivel. Hands-down. Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe”? Ugh. I tried listening to the hit song but couldn’t even get halfway through. It sounds as though every song ever sung by a Nickelodeon or Disney TV star got caught up in an unfortunate and bloody musical mash up. Of course, that’s just my opinion so feel free to convince me otherwise. But once you get past the rest of the junk on the radio, there are, actually, some damn good songs out there. No, they’re likely not as good as—insert name of your favorite critically acclaimed artist here—but sometimes one just needs to rock out to “My Life Would Suck Without You” cranked to 11 on the car stereo. This brings us to: Kelly Clarkson: Even my husband, nondefending defender of all things pop, doesn’t quite get why someone whose all-time favorite artists include Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams also owns one of her CDs. “Because she’s got a good voice, writes a good breakup song and totally rocks it live,” I said. “Fair enough,” he said with a shrug. Guilty pleasures? No apologies needed. Ω

I have this habit of making excuses when it comes to my love of pop music.

Smarted by Popsmart? Got something to say? Let Rachel know: popsmart@newsreview.com.

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06.28.12

t’s late in the afternoon of June 15, and screams of laughter fill the air as the sun starts to set over Southside Park. The temperature is still hovering near triple digits, but no one seems to mind.

The park’s pool, in fact— reopened two years after it was closed due to budget cuts—is a splashy oasis of excitement, filled with crisp, cold, sparkling blue water and a few dozen delighted children. This reopening is a benchmark— the triumphant endnote to a quest that took two years and a lot of hustling on the part of a group of dedicated neighborhood residents. Now, kids play in its icy waters while adults relax nearby. They barbecue burgers and hot dogs, snap photos and enjoy shady respite beneath towering trees. Clearly, the pool—and the park that surrounds it—is more than just a place to cool off, it’s this summer’s unofficial heart of a neighborhood.

“I only got to swim in the pool once before it closed,” she says. In 2011, upon discovering that the pool was slated to stay closed for the summer, O’Brien started looking for a solution. The result: the formation of the Southside Park Pool Association. One of the association’s first steps was to reach out to others for help. Jay Lowden, president of the YMCA of Superior California, remembers getting a call early this year. At the time, the status of neighborhood pools were already a much discussed topic in Sacramento—particularly the fundraising push initiated by Save Mart Supermarkets, which successfully pledged to match corporate and

“I come all the way [here] … past my own parks, to bring my kids to [Southside Park]. It’s a safe place.” Wayne Armour Natomas resident

Empty coffers,

DRAINED POOLS

The community pool at Southside Park, located at the edge of downtown near the Broadway corridor, closed in August 2010. This year, it was on the verge of remaining empty again for the summer until local residents Catherine O’Brien and Alice Levine stepped in and called the YMCA for help. O’Brien had only lived in the neighborhood for a couple of weeks when the pool shut down, much to her disappointment.

community dollars to keep six Sacramento-area pools open for the summer. As it turns out, Southside Park was not one of those pools. “Southside Park was not included in that campaign,” Lowden says. “[The SPPA called] and asked [if the YMCA] would be interested in possibly running [Southside Park] pool this year.” It was. But not without some serious number crunching, a task that led to a concerted fundraising campaign that included getting subsidies from the Sacramento Parks and

Recreation department, as well as the solicitation of generous donations from local residents and businesses. All of that hustling was worth the effort, Levine says. “It’s a perfect marriage,” says Levine. “The Y needed more room, and we needed the pool open.” Scheduled to remain open until it closes for the season on September 3, it also represents a first step in the YMCA’s efforts to keep similar facilities open. “If this works well, there might be the opportunity of not only continuing to operate Southside, but the opportunity to operate other city pools,” says Lowden. It also marks something of a victory, not just for the kids and avid swimmers who’ll dive in and splash around this summer but for the neighborhood at large—a tight-knit, diverse community of long-time residents and newcomers.

A long history OF GOOD NEIGHBORS

Southside Park, lushly green and shaded by towering leafy trees, fills an almost-perfect rectangle located downtown between R and X streets on the north and south borders, and 12th Street and Interstate 5 on the south and west borders. Until approximately 1900, the area was sparsely inhabited due to its regular flooding. Eventually, the city built a levee at the nearby Broadway corridor—a move that served to redirect floodwater and essentially dry out the Southside area. In the neighborhood’s early days, it was mainly populated by Italians, Portuguese, Japanese and AfricanAmericans—in short, an immigrant district. Remnants of that era are all

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DIVE IN, THE WATER’S FINE AFTER TWO YEARS—AND A CONCERTED NEIGHBORHOOD EFFORT—SOUTHSIDE PARK FINALLY GETS ITS POOL BACK by LORY GIL

Goodbye dry spell: Southside Park’s community pool has reopened after a two-year budget-related closure.

PHOTOS

The neighborhood’s most eye-catching landmark, perhaps, is the enormous Virgin of the Guadalupe mural that graces the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church at Eighth and T streets—notable as a stopping point for Cesar Chavez when he led members of the United Farm Workers of America on a march through Southside Park in 1966. Longtime Southside Park resident Tony Lopez remembers a time when the park was much different. The actual space he says was nearly twice the size it is now. In 1962, construction on the Highway 50 interchange plowed the freeway right through the park, demolishing everything past U Street. Back then, the park sported a small baseball diamond and a couple of bocce ball courts. Today, those have been replaced by an asphalt basketball court and tennis court. There was also no pool back then—just a small wading area. Still, there was plenty of opportunity for water play. Visitors to the Southside Park pond enjoyed rowboat and pedal-boat rides (5 cents for one trip or

Alice Levine (third from left) and Catherine O’Brien (fourth from right, in hat) formed the Southside Park Pool Association, gathering community support to reopen their neighborhood pool. BEFORE

WILLIAM LEUNG

but gone now, but there’s still a bit of history to be found if you know where to look. For example, the Parkview Presbyterian Church, which relocated to Eighth and T streets in 1940, was once a storage facility used during World War II. According to William Burg, a local historian and author of the book Sacramento’s Southside Park, the Parkview P.C. housed the possessions of Japanese residents forced to relocate to internment camps. “A lot of people lost everything they had during that time, but some people were able to store their personal property at that church,” says Burg. “The neighbors all kept an eye on their things and took care of them until they were able to return.” Historical churches still pepper the area—Southside Park boasts the first African-American congregation in California, for example: St. Andrew’s African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at Eighth and V streets, still features the church’s original stained-glass casement hanging in its front window.

FRONTLINES

FEATURE

STORY

10 cents for three trips), but swimming in the pond’s actual water was forbidden. Not that the rules were always observed. Lopez recalls sneaking in dips with friends. “You’d get 10 minutes per ride, so we’d hide behind the island to go swimming,” Lopez says of those impromptu, illicit dips.

Faraway, SO CLOSE

These days, the park may be significantly smaller and boat rides a thing of the past, but neighborhood residents now have the full-fledged pool as well as a new draw for parkgoers near and far-flung. On this day, for example, as kids play in the nearby pool, Sacramento photographer Wayne Armour is staking out a spot to snap a couple of shots. He comes here often, making the trip with his kids from his Natomas home. “I come all the way [here] … past my own parks, to bring my kids to this one,” Armour says. “It’s a safe place.” Amy Serna, who live across the street from the park, and on this particular Friday afternoon is stationed at one of the park’s barbecue grills with her husband, says she appreciates the park’s fun and diversity. “There is always something to do here,” says Serna. “You wake up on a Saturday morning and say, ‘What kind of event is happening today?’” In the end, Burg says, there’s that’s the one thing about Southside Park— amid its wake of changing playgrounds, activity courts and pools—that remains a constant: family. “There used to be this time when families were discouraged from staying in the central city, so they would get married, have kids and move to the suburbs,” says Burg. “Southside never lost that tradition, because there are still a lot of families there.” Ω

A RT S & C U LT U R E

No drama, mo’ love

AFTER

Turntable nerds See MUSIC

Not just for theater geeks There are more than a few local theater stalwarts who owe their start on the stage to Doc Larson—officially, Gerald A. Larson, Ph.D., a Sacramento State professor of theater from 1957 to 1994. Doc, who died in 1999, spent his time away from campus touring the world with his wife, Georgia, and together they amassed a collection of theater-related ephemera that’s unmatched—at least locally—and now on display at the Sac State Special Collections and University Archives. It’s easy to be distracted by the merely recent—a thank-you card from the 1976 cast and crew of Luigi Pirandello’s Enrico IV, which includes the following inscription from a young “T. Hanks”: “Doc, Thanks a bunch, you, peach you, for the chance.” But that’s just celebrity. There’s real theatrical history here, too, starting with a contemporary drawing of the plans for the rebuilding of the Royal Theatre, Drury Lane for the fourth time, after the fire that destroyed Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s huge rebuild in 1809. Doc’s collection includes engravings of Edmund Kean as Richard III (though his humpback doesn’t look particularly humpy) in the wee early years of the 19th century; if you miss the import of that, ask a theater nerd. Oh, I can’t wait for one to answer—Kean was considered not just the greatest actor of his generation, but the greatest actor of all time. Take that, Tom Cruise. In your dreams, dude. Of course, Doc didn’t stick to the so-called “legitimate” theater. He also amassed plenty of circus paraphernalia, including special backstage permits and some handwritten notes from Mr. Phineas Taylor (that’s P.T. to most of us) Barnum, as perhaps a gentle reminder that even the finest of actors is only a tiny historical remove from bearded ladies and the rest of the freak show. After all, the idea is to amaze, awe, gross out and entertain, which goes a long way toward explaining the popularity of fart jokes in Adam Sandler movies and the fascination with disemboweling on HBO’s Game of Thrones. So the fabulously detailed engraving of Mr. Carter (“The Lion King”) from 1840, featuring the star with his head in the mouth of the big cats shares billing with a copy of Émile Zola’s Le Naturalisme au Théâtre— signed by Zola himself. There’s an apologetic note to Doc from Sir Laurence Olivier, apologizing for being unable to open his rehearsal to observers; a letter from Irish playwright Sean O’Casey, the subject of Doc’s academic research; and a note from Russian director and filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. And if that’s not enough of a who’s who from the theatrical arts, check out a postcard from Irish playwright and political fireball George Bernard Shaw in which he provides very precise directions on how to play the character “F.D.” to British actor Harold Scott. And unless some theater nerd can tell me which character that is, I’ll be forced to go digging through all of Shaw’s plays—which doesn’t sound like a bad way for a theater nerd to spend the summer. —Kel Munger

kelm@newsreview.com

Portions of the Gerard A. and Georgia B. Larson Theatre Collection are on display at the Sacramento State University Library’s Department of Special Collections and University Archives through Friday, August 17. It’s open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and located on the first floor of the University Library. See http://library.csus.edu/scua for more info. |

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NIGHT&DAY

T E G

List your event! Post your free online listing (up to 15 months early), and our editors will consider your submission for the printed calendar as well. Print listings are also free, but subject to space limitations. Online, you can include a full description of your event, a photo and a link to your website. Go to www.newsreview. com/calendar and start posting events. Deadline for print listings is 10 days prior to the issue in which you wish the listing to appear.

R U O Y by JONATHAN MENDICK

Wait, there’s more! Looking for something to do? Use SN&R’s free calendar to browse hundreds of events online. Art galleries and musems, family events, education classes, film and literary events, church groups, music, sports, volunteer opportunies—all this and more on our free events calendar at www.newsreview.com. Start planning your week!

A FOURTH of JULY

EVENT GUIDE

HERE won’t be a Fourth of July fireworks display over the river (it’s been moved over to Cal Expo for the last few years), but there are still many other

places to get your fireworks fix. Additionally, Sacramento

celebrates the holiday with Independence Day-themed events such as concerts, parades and foot races—not to mention a handful of community celebrations. Note: Fourth of July falls on a Wednesday this year, so a number of events in the following guide happen on the preceding Tuesday. 30

SN&R

06. 28.12

Fair Oaks Boulevard) and ends with a community celebration and fireworks show (at La Sierra Community Center, 5325 Engle Road). Wednesday, July 4, from 7 to 11 a.m. (pancake breakfast); 10:30 a.m. (parade); and 7 p.m. (celebration and fireworks show). Free. For more information, visit www.carmichaelpark.com.

CAL EXPO JULY 4 PYROSPECTACULAR

FOLSOM PRO RODEO’S STARS & STRIPES COUNTRY CONCERT Folsom Pro Rodeo, held annually around the July 4 date, always brings a bit of country flair to its Independence Day celebrations, and this year is no exception. On Tuesday night, it hosts a Stars and Stripes Country Concert featuring Jason Michael Carroll, the Farm, and Zac and Jay. A fireworks exhibition caps off this event, presented by KNCI Radio and the Folsom Chamber of Commerce. Tuesday, July 3, at 6 p.m. $15 ($5 off with a rodeo ticket). Rodeo Park, 200 Stafford Street in Folsom. For more information, call (916) 985-5555, or visit www.folsom prorodeo.com/countryconcert.html.

RIVER CATS FIREWORKS CELEBRATION Purchase tickets to the Sacramento River Cats game on Tuesday, and you’ll get to witness far more than the Cats whupping the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. You’ll also be treated to an Independence Day celebration presented by the U.S. Army featuring a Fireworks Extravaganza, an American-flag giveaway (for the first 2,500 fans), and yes, even free mohawks. Those not attending the ballgame will still be able to see fireworks over Raley Field after the game is finished. Tuesday, July 3, at 6:35 p.m. (baseball game). Call for pricing. Raley Field, 400 Ballpark Drive in West Sacramento. Call (916) 376-4676 or visit www.rivercats.com for more information.

OLD SACRAMENTO’S RED, WHITE & BREWS Several businesses in Old Sacramento will team up this year to throw an old-fashioned block party. Many of the pubs and bars in Old Sac will have $3 beer specials, and some will host stand-up comedy, live music and guest deejays. Attendees will also have a good vantage point to view the River Cats’ fireworks celebration from across the river. Tuesday, July 3. Old Sacramento. Free. For more information, visit www.oldsacramentobars.com.

BEFORE

FRONTLINES

FEATURE

Cal Expo teams up with the city and county of Sacramento to produce this July 4 Pyrospectacular, the largest fireworks exhibition in the area. The event also features live music from Two Steps Down, Todd Morgan and the Emblems, and Kattywompus. Music begins at 6 p.m. and fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 4, at 6 p.m. Free ($10 reserved seating also available); $10 fee per car to park. Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Boulevard. For more information, call (916) 263-3000 or visit www.calexpo.com/events-by-cal-expo/ sacramento-independence-day-celebration.

DAVIS FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION Davis hosts a day full of fun at its community park. It begins with an annual Fourth of July softball tournament, recreational swimming and food booths, and ends with live music, skydiving, speeches and fireworks. Musical entertainment includes Canyon Crow, 12 Miles Blues, Davis Wakamatsu Taiko Dan, Dave Alvin and the Guilty Ones and Carla Penner Attallah. Wednesday, July 4, 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Free. Community Park, 1405 F Street in Davis. For more information, call (530) 757-5626 or visit http://cityofdavis.org/cs/events/july4.cfm.

FOLSOM FIRECRACKER FAMILY FUN RUN Make up for the inevitable calories you’ll consume at all those Fourth of July barbecues by running in the Folsom Firecracker Family Fun Run early in the morning. Choose from a 5K run or walk or a 10K run—all while raising funds for local and international non-profits. Wednesday, July 4, at 8 a.m. Registration costs $25. Lake Natoma Bike Trails, 145 Parkshore Drive in Folsom. For more information, call (916) 606-3299 or visit www.folsomfirecracker.com.

ROSEVILLE FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION Roseville celebrates Independence Day with a host of activities including a Fun Run (at Royer Park, 190 Park Drive), a parade (beginning at the intersection of Douglas Boulevard and Riverside Avenue), a concert (at Royer Park), and fireworks (at the Placer County Fairgrounds, 800 All American City Boulevard). Wednesday, July 4, at 7:45 a.m. (Fun Run); 10 a.m. (parade); 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (concert); and 6:30 p.m. (fireworks). $25-$30 for the Fun Run; all other events are free. For more information, call (916) 774-5200 or visit www.roseville.ca.us/communications/ 4th_of_july_celebration.asp.

OTHER COMMUNITY CELEBRATIONS: RANCHO CORDOVA FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION

ELK GROVE FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION

This two-day festival celebrates Independence Day with a parade, live music, food, beer gardens, carnival rides and fireworks shows. Bands include Hip Service, Superlicious, Kymmi and the Diamondback band and the Somebodys. Tuesday, July 3, from 4 to 11 p.m. and Wednesday, July 4, from noon to 11 p.m. $2 admission, $10 parking. Hagan Park, 2197 Chase Drive in Rancho Cordova. For more information, call (916) 851-8818 or visit www.ranchocordovajuly4th.com.

The City of Elk Grove will host an event called the 16th Annual Salute to the Red, White and Blue, which is a community-wide celebration featuring live music by Innersoul, food, and a fireworks show at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 4. Park gates open at 7 a.m.; event starts in the evening. Free. Elk Grove Regional Park, 9950 Elk Grove-Florin Road in Elk Grove. For more information, visit www.elkgrovecity.org/rwb.

CARMICHAEL FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION Carmichael’s Fourth of July celebration begins with a pancake breakfast (at Carmichael Park, 5750 Grant Avenue), continues with a parade (beginning at the corner of Marconi Avenue and

STORY

A RT S & C U LT U R E

AFTER

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v o t e d b e s t p l a s t i c s u r g e o n ~North Bay Bohemian 2012

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July 14th - Car Show and Bodypainting Contest Aug. 18th - Naked Man Sept. 13-16th - Nudestock Music Festival

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Random acts of ramen Bowl & Ramen 2560 Alta Arden Expressway, (916) 487-2694, www.bowlnramen.net by GREG LUCAS

Rating:

★ ★ ★ 1/2 Dinner for one:

$9 - $15

★

FLAWED

★★ HAS MOMENTS

★★★ APPEALING

★★★★ AUTHORITATIVE

★★★★★ EPIC

Still hungry?

Search SN&R’s “Dining Directory” to find local restaurants by name or by type of food. Sushi, Mexican, Indian, Italian— discover it all in the “Dining” section at www.newsreview.com.

BEFORE

Randomness can yield wonderful rewards. Some of the most memorable meals have come from chance, fluke or impulse. For example, lunching at Lalo’s Restaurant, located near Hollywood Park, and dining with someone who grew up in Mexico’s Distrito Federal and exploded with enthusiasm over the authenticity of the small eatery’s fare. Or, turning off Watt Avenue in North Highlands and discovering Las Islitas. Now comes Bowl & Ramen on Alta Arden Expressway, across the street from Target—a prime locale for undeservedly unsung restaurants. Bowl & Ramen shares a bathroom with Mana Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar, the venerable Japanese restaurant, and is within walking distance from Palenque Cocina Mexicana, with its lard-free Yucatan cuisine and citrusy habanero salsa. Like Las Islitas, Bowl & Ramen blips onto the radar screen while searching for another restaurant—that which is immediately forgotten by the novelty of catching sight of a Korean restaurant not located in the vicinity of Folsom Boulevard, Bradshaw Road and La Riviera Drive. The chief reason the eatery opened 10 months ago at this location is that it’s under the same ownership as Mana. This may explain the miso soup, not a common occurrence in other Korean joints, which is proffered here along with the eight banchan dishes. Here, prices are comparable, perhaps even slightly cheaper, than other Korean places in town. The staff is friendly and eager to initiate the uninitiated on the unique joys of Korean cuisine. For the less intrepid and the spice adverse, there’s the second half of Bowl & Ramen’s name. Not surprisingly, daughter Katie, who considers blandness to be the shiz, heads straight to the nine ramen options. Ramen with dumplings? Rice cake? Seafood? Cold buckwheat noodles? Potato noodles? Heavens, no—the weirdness potential is too high. Ramen with beef, however, gets the nod and comes served with a rich, evocative broth and noodles longer than the beards of those guys in ZZ Top. In this case, bland is beautiful. As to the banchan, which the menu refers to as “seasonal side dishes,” they vary, but center on the usual suspects: Kimchi, pickled daikon and carrot slivers, mounds of vinegary spinach, fish that looks like noodles and tastes like coleslaw, and broccoli in sesame oil that despite being the B-word is voraciously consumed. (Possibly a first.) On one visit, there’s a mayonnaisey tuna salad with red onion that, in the sometime-heat of Korean cooking, represents a FRONTLINES

FEATURE

fishy sorbet. The bulgogi and the galbi—stirfried beef and beef ribs—sizzle on an iron skillet and, despite their thinness, are neither charred nor underdone. If not a believer in the miracle of sundubu, Bowl & Ramen offers conversion. This unique tofu stew has mushrooms, veggies, onions and an egg on top, but simply reciting the ingredients doesn’t do the combination justice. Just try it. It’s part of the large jjigae family of stews, which is the communal dish served at the center of large group tables in Korean restaurants. Here, the bibimbap is presented in an artful way. This classic rice dish is usually served in an iron bowl with any number of additions to the rice

Ramen with beef comes with noodles longer than the beards of those guys in ZZ Top. and then topped with a fried egg. The haemul dolsot-bibimbap, with its bits of chewy squid and shrimp, comes in a large bowl. The waitress asks how much pepper sauce is desired, and then proceeds to glug a hefty swirl from a plastic ketchup squeegee around the rice mixture’s apex. Then she stirs—it’s like the Korean equivalent of some tuxedoed guy flaming the cherries jubilee tableside. Then the rice sizzles and crackles, and 15 minutes into eating the dish, an errant brush of the finger against the side of the bowl still burns. Also: Among the bibimbap’s vegetables are small cubes of zucchini that appear out of place but artfully augment the other flavors. Ah, the rewards of randomness. Ω

THE V WORD Is boxing vegan? There was an upset in the world of boxing earlier this month, thanks in part to a vegan diet. Underdog Timothy Bradley, whose winning training strategy is to stick to plant-based foods, was the first to take the welterweight title from Manny Pacquiao in seven years. In a YouTube video (www.tinyurl.com/ bradleyvegan), Bradley says the diet gives him tons of energy, and that it “feels like you’re in tune with the world. … You feel calmer and clearer. Man, I love it.” But he’s not the only one: Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis and elite ultramarathon runner Scott Jurek are just two other vegan athletes who have dominated in their sport. —Shoka STORY

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DISH Where to eat? Here are a few recent reviews and regional recommendations, updated regularly. Check out www.newsreview.com for more dining advice.

Downtown

Estelle’s Patisserie With its marble tables and light wooden chairs, there’s an airy atmosphere, casual and cozy. Estelle’s offers an espresso bar and a wide assortment of teas and muffins and rolls for the breakfast crowd as well as sweets, including DayGlo macarons. For the lunch-inclined there are soups, salads, sandwiches and meat or meatless quiche. One of the authentic touches is the spare use of condiments. The smoked salmon is enlivened by dill and the flavor of its croissant. Its tomato bisque is thick and richly flavored, and, in a nice touch, a puff pastry floats in the tureen as accompaniment. Everything is surprisingly reasonable. Half a sandwich and soup is $7.25. A caprese baguette is $5.25. Ham and cheese is $5.75. There’s a lot to like about Estelle’s—except dinner. Doors close at 6pm. French. 901 K St., (916) 551-1500. Meal for one: $5-$10. ★★★1⁄2

Midtown

Mati’s There’s a reason “Indian Express” was part of Mati’s previous title. A variety of dishes are offered daily in a buffet, but Mom serves instead of diners slopping

The Press Bistro There are flashes of Greece, such as the crisscross rows of bare light bulbs over the front patio. Or the summery small plate of stacked watermelon squares with feta and mint. Even Italian vegetarians get cut into the action with mushroom ravioli and its corn, leek and dill triumvirate. Another special is a colorful small plate of pepperonata—slightly-pickled-in-champagne-vinegar stripes of peppers awash in olive oil. Speaking of olive oil, it’s all that’s needed to accompany the fluffy, light focaccia, whose four rectangles come neatly stacked. Share The Press with someone you love. Mediterranean. 1809 Capitol Ave., (916) 444-2566. Dinner for one: $15-$30. ★★★1⁄2

stuff onto their own plates. Options are fairly straightforward: A small dish at $6.99 with rice and two items, and a large, which has up to four items, at $8.99. Subtract $1 if going vegetarian. There’s five dishes in the daily veg rotation, most of them vegan. Offerings run the gamut from mild to spicy, although the temperature of spicy is well within tolerance, except for the most heat adverse. This is straightup, nicely prepared Indian food without frills. Mom and daughter make it even more appealing. Indian. 1501 16th St.; (916) 341-0532. Dinner for one: $9-$12. ★★★

The Porch The Porch is light and white with a vibe that suggests the airy sweep of an antebellum Charleston eatery. One can only envy the extensive on-site research conducted by chef Jon Clemens and business partners John Lopez and Jerry Mitchell, creators of Capitol Garage. The most enjoyable menu selections are salads or seafood sandwiches or entrees. Slaw on the barbecue pork sandwich elevates its status, and its pickled vegetables are sweet and tart, adding an additional dimension. The shrimp and grits dish, while laden with cheddar and gravy, is a synergistic mélange— perhaps The Porch’s trademark dish. Also in the running is the purloo, the low country’s version of jambalaya, with andouille, crunchy crawfish appendages, and the same sautéed bell peppers and onions that also appear in the grits. Southern. 1815 K St., (916) 444-2423. Dinner for one: $20-$30. ★★★

The Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar Resistance is futile when it comes to Red Rabbit’s desserts. The berryinfused ice-cream sandwich is bright and refreshing with a chewy shell that dovetails neatly with the smooth fruity interior. But there’s less effusiveness for the entrees. The Bastard Banh Mi doesn’t improve on the original. A number of items from the “Farm to Plate,” “Tasty Snacks” and “Buns” sections of the menu land high in the plus column, however. Any place that offers chimichurri rocks hard. Here it enlivens the Farm Animal Lollipops snack—particularly the lamb—and the mayor-of-Munchkin-City-sized lamb bocadillas. American. 2718 J St., (916) 706-2275. Dinner for one: $20-$40. ★★1⁄2

Sampino’s Towne Foods Sampino’s Towne Foods turns out to be a bright jewel in a drab Alkali Flat strip mall of paycheck cashers and

laundromat. It’s everything an Italian deli should be and more, right down to the Louie Prima on the box and the timpano in the refrigerated display case. Several lobbyists, who elect to drive the six to seven blocks from their offices near the capitol, to pick up sandwiches or—in one instance—five meatballs, begin spewing superlatives when asked their views on Sampino’s. Italian Deli. 1607 F St., (916) 441-2372. Dinner for one: $7-$15. ★★★★1⁄2

Thir13en From the start—and, lo, these many weeks hence—the situp-take-notice plate remains the pork tonnato sandwich. It’s the Italian peasant spread or sauce made with tonno—tuna—tonnato that empowers this open-face masterwork. Spread on a toasted half baguette, the tonnato is the foundation upon which the pork rests. Above the pork is an awning of mixed greens, with a generous overhang, sprinkled with not enough crispy onions and paperthin slices of pickled fennel. There isn’t space to wax poetic about the cordon bleu sandwich, the burger, the designer cocktails or the fizzy water from Wales. See for yourself. Very authoritative. American. 1300 H St., (916) 594-7669. Dinner for one: $12-$20. ★★★★1⁄2

Natomas

Pork Belly Grub Shack Pork Belly Grub Shack encourages customers to pig out with menu items that include a catfish po’boy, steak options and several burgers. For vegetarians there’s the Porkless Bella Burger, a portobello mushroom and jack cheese sandwich

rTificaTes up To TreaT yourself To gifT ce

with tomato and mixed greens. But who the hell wants steak and chicken and big-headed mushrooms at a place that so proudly promotes pork belly? Go whole hog with the Big Piggin. The first bite is salty and sweet with a rich beef patty, barbecue sauce, cheddar, a strong splash of garlic aioli and sliced pork belly. The Hot Mess is similar, sans pork belly burger and served on sourdough with a fried egg. The Stinkin’ Pig features cheddar, pepper jack, barbecue sauce and cured, smoked pork belly with caramelized onions and a sweetish hot chili sauce. This kind of hog-wild legerdemain, mixing and matching items found elsewhere on the menu, is what elevates this grub shack to well beyond a simple sandwich place. American. 4261 Truxel Rd., (916) 285-6100. Dinner for one: $8-$12. ★★★★

East Sac

Formoli’s Bistro Formoli’s is the other half of the restaurant swap on J Street that sent Vanilla Bean Bistro (formerly known as Gonul’s J Street Cafe) to Formoli’s old warren and brought Formoli’s into its current high-ceilinged, spare, dark cranberry space of black tables and chairs just six blocks away. Flavor combinations are a big part of the Formoli playbook, and the blend of the tower’s components is the payoff just as it is in the salad of beets—wafer-thin enough to be used interchangeably in the carpaccio—with shaved fennel, frisée, a few orange segments and

pistachios laced with a stentorian balsamic vinaigrette. Mediterranean. 3839 J St., (916) 448-5699. Dinner for one: $20-$40. ★★★★

Juno’s Kitchen & Delicatessen To quote Gov. Jerry Brown from his first iteration as California’s chief executive more than 30 years ago: “Small is beautiful.” Juno’s proves this axiom in spades. The menu is fairly compact and slanted more toward lunch than dinner. Juno’s macaroni and cheese, which comes with rock shrimp on rigatoni, a Grana Padano, Gruyère and cheddar trio and a dusting of paprika, is a creative take on a comfort-food classic. In the traditional-sandwich realm, all start out with the advantage of Juno’s homemade sour— but not sourdough—bread with its crunchy crust and soft interior. In the soppressata salami sandwich, the bread amplifies the tartness of the pepperoncini while the turkey sandwich with provolone, tomato, arugula and pesto requires several napkins as the oil in the pesto seeps inexorably through the airy bread slices. American. 3675 J St., (916) 456-4522. Dinner for one: $5-$10. ★★★★

Mamma Susanna’s Ristorante Italiano There’s something endearing, almost Norman Rockwell-esque about a neighborhood restaurant that is most commonly referred to by its patrons as the neighborhood restaurant. There is no shortage of options on the menu with nearly a dozen or so pastas, even more types of pizzas, a smattering of salads and various entrees, including the piccata chicken or veal dish that Mamma Susanna’s counts as

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Vanilla Bean Bistro Gonul’s J Street Cafe has moved up the street and evolved into the Vanilla Bean Bistro. Its narrow, lowceilinged coziness is consonant with its understated, whateverthe-impulse-inspires alchemy that owner/chef Gonul Blum, has shown over the past eight years. Blum hails from Turkey. That country’s culinary tradition provides a sturdy foundation, but for her, it serves more as a launching pad. A recurring feature practiced here is the inclusion of fruit—preserved and fresh—in many dishes. And the tabbouleh delivers a roundhousepunch flavor combination. Turkish. 3260-B J St., (916) 457-1155. Dinner for one: $10-$20. ★★★★1⁄2 The Wienery The Wienery is wondrous, metaphysical, even. This 35year-old East Sacramento landmark sells old-fashioned steamed franks and sausages. The menu warns that the Fiesta Dog— refried beans, onions, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and taco sauce—is “surprisingly good.” Who can quarrel with truth in advertising? Even a simple, straightforward creation such as the Ranch Dog, starring—natch—ranch dressing, can engender a “Whoa, tasty!” The sausages—such as the Polish or Tofurky Kielbasa—are grilled as is the bacon-wrapped dog with its

Land Park/ Curtis Park

not-easily forgettable jalapeño relish. American. 715 56th St., (916) 455-0497. Dinner for one: $10-$20. ★★★★

Phaya Thai Thai places seem to define heat differently. At some, requesting “medium hot” still leaves lips tingling for many minutes afterward, while “hot” causes eyes to bleed and steam to gush from ears. Phaya is more circumspect in its application of heat. Medium is barely so and hot is closer to medium. Here, the tom kha gai coconut soup is a bit sugary but, in its vegetarian iteration, brimming with plenty of tofu, dried red peppers with seeds, mushrooms, tomato wedges, galanga and cilantro. Thai fried—as with Thai sweet and sour—is far less heavy than entrees of the same name offered by the region’s northern neighbor, China. Pleasantly provocative is the avocado curry—a panang curry featuring myriad slices of avocado. Portions are large here: The beef salad is enough for two and does have some heated heft. Another salad worth consideration is one featuring a sweet, chewy sausage with plenty of cucumbers, red onion and mint. Refreshing, particularly on a hot Sacramento day. Thai. 4310 Marconi Ave., (916) 482-5019. Dinner for one: $10-$15. ★★★1⁄2

NEED ATTENTION?

The cazuelitas is a cold seafood stew punctuated with tomato, cucumber, red onion, avocado slices and a lime sauce so intense that bits of tostada are needed to leaven its potentially overpowering impact. It’s a joyful discovery that appears to be complimented, as many of the meals are at other tables, with michelada in foot tall mugs with chili-peppered rims. Mexican. 3618 A St., North Highlands, (916) 331-4302. Dinner for one: $15-$25. ★★★★

Pangaea Two Brews Cafe

Arden/ Carmichael

ILLUSTRATION BY MARK STIVERS

one of her specialties. Of the pastas and pizzas, the norcina tastes like and looks like an orangey vodka sauce with roasted red-pepper slices and sausage rounds tossed in a bed of penne. While the menu claims spicy, some red chili flakes do the trick. Italian. 5487 Carlson Dr., (916) 452-7465. Dinner for one: $12-$20. ★★★

Tables, tall and short, are large and communal, fostering that casual camaraderie that should be the goal of any self-respecting brewpub. There’s a fairly extensive menu, including breakfast items. Not to put too fine a point on it: Pangaea’s offerings are not beers that will be found at a Save Mart Supermarket or even Nugget. They are nuanced. Brewed with artisanship. In some cases, for hundreds of years. There’s the usual panoply of French dip, hot pastrami, Reuben and so on. Among the signature offerings is The Gobbler. Turkey, natch. Cranberry sauce, natch. Then red onion, several roma tomato slices, a thicket of green leaf and pepper jack cheese, all shoehorned into a big baguette. Brewpub. 2743 Franklin Blvd., (916) 454-4942. Dinner for one: $10-$20. ★★★1⁄2

Rosemont

Ninja Sushi There’s nothing stealthy about Ninja Sushi. But like its namesake, Ninja delivers food with swiftness and skill. Naturally, there are other offerings besides fish bits. There are dozen lunches starting at $6.95 and 17 dinner entrees beginning at $11.95 with chicken, beef, tempura, gyoza, tonkatsu, donburi and curry all part of the mix. But they’re way at the back of the colorful sushi-centric, heavily illustrated menu. There are more than 85 rolls here: Old Auburn, deep-fried fake crabmeat with salmon on the outside; Brandi’s Special Roll, with spicy crabmeat, avocado, yellowtail and spicy tuna; and Folsom Blvd., with freshwater eel, avocado and cream cheese are just some notables. Overall, festive and crammed with options. Leave the nunchucks at home, sensei. Sushi. 8937 Folsom Blvd., (916) 369-1935. Dinner for one: $10-$25. ★★★1⁄2

North Highlands

Las Islitas Scrawled on the front window below Las Islitas is the phrase “de Nayarit.” Nayarit is a state on the western coast of Mexico of which Las Islitas is a coastal town that, one must infer from the menu, goes for seafood in a major way. The shrimp a la cora serves up plenty of grilled, reddusted, exoskeleton-still-attached shrimp sprinkled with chili that set off with tomato and cucumber slices and red onion half moon slivers. Spicy, messy and memorable.

HAPPY HOUR

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Brews clues Are you aware of the local craft-beer scene? If not, you’ve probably just been sleeping or perhaps even passed out in a drunken stupor. Anyway, get a clue and pick up the The Northern California Craft Beer Guide, and it will fully catch you up to speed in less than 300 pages. With text by beer expert Ken Weaver, photography by Anneliese Schmidt and a foreword by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.’s Ken Grossman, the book reads sort of like a Lonely Planet guide for beer lovers. Using maps, summaries and ratings, you’ll learn about many of Northern California’s best pubs, breweries and beer shops—including an entire section on some of Sacramento’s finest. There are also tips on where to find good pub grub, recipes that go well with beer, a beer glossary and an events calendar. For more information, visit www.northerncaliforniacraftbeer.com. —Jonathan Mendick

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COOLHUNTING Cute overload Dana Dooley Designs The Etsy aesthetic can certainly cross the line into “too cute” at times, and the Sacramento-based, all-knitted Dana Dooley Designs store is no exception. But in addition to kitty hats FASHION ($20-$23) and hats that come with beards attached ($27), Dooley also makes highly practical laptop sleeves ($25, in Gryffindor colors, if you so desire), attractive Möbius scarves ($25), and crocheted purses with a ’70s-era-grandma’safghan feel ($40). And if you think there’s no such thing as too cute, 100 percent of the profits from the kitty hats benefit the Cats About Town Society (or, uh, CATS), a Sac-area feline-rescue group. www.etsy.com/shop/danadooleydesigns. —Becky Grunewald

Twofer Tuesday Movie night and burrito Here’s a nice combo for a price that’s awfully hard to beat: On Tuesdays, make it a twofer, and check out the deals at Palladio 16 Cinemas as well as that of its neighbor, the hippieinspired Freebirds World Burrito. The cinema features 16 digital screens with selected features priced affordably at $5 (3-D and D-Box flicks are extra if you want to test your motion-sickness defenses). Before MOVIE & FOOD the film, stop by Freebirds and fork over $6.89 to scarf down the Hybird Steak Burrito with fresh ingredients and choice of tortilla sizes and flavors. If you’ve got the will to go all the way, size up with a Monster or Super Monster burrito (additional cost, of course). Palladio 16 Cinemas, 240 Palladio Parkway in Folsom; (916) 984-7469; www.cinemawest.com; Freebirds World Burrito, 310 Palladio Parkway in Folsom; (916) 984-6972; www.freebirds.com. —Mark Hanzlik

Press play and repeat I Like to Keep Myself in Pain Kelly Hogan’s awesome “country with attitude” style puts her in the same category with a handful of singer-songwriters, particularly Shelby Lynne and Neko Case. Hogan’s new CD, MUSIC I Like to Keep Myself in Pain has a few tracks that sound traditionally country in the best way—like the title track, for instance. That said, songs such as “Haunted” have also been injected with a big dose of rock, too—which is no surprise to those who’ve admired the singer’s work with the Drive-By Truckers. A personal favorite is the album’s first single, “We Can’t Have Nice Things,” an end-of-love ballad with a rough edge that sounds like the sort of sad, angry shuffle we’d all play over and over after a breakup. www.kellyhogan.com. —Kel Munger

The people’s way West of Eden In West of Eden: Communes and Utopia in Northern California (PM Press, $24.95), observers and participants alike offer striking takes on communal living in Northern California during the ’60s and ’70s via a series of essays and analytical pieces. Jeff Lustig, a one-time Sacramento State professor who died June 14, highlights the crucial roles of public spaces, namely Golden Gate Park and UC Berkeley. Janferie Stone, with help from students and faculty in the Native-American Program at UC Davis, recalls the Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island. Robyn C. Spencer’s eye-opening chapter sheds light on communal living among members of Oakland’s BOOK Black Panther Party, and the sexual politics that raged within the organization. One could read this splendid book as the stories of people living and struggling cooperatively to build a better world—a little like those in the Occupy Wall Street movement are doing now. I did. 38

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06.28.12

ASK JOEY No rules, no drama by JOEY GARCIA

Joey

is eating sun-warmed figs from her tree.

Got a problem?

Write, email or leave a message for Joey at the News & Review. Give your name, telephone number (for verification purposes only) and question— all correspondence will be kept strictly confidential. Write Joey, 1124 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815; call (916) 498-1234, ext. 3206; or email askjoey@ newsreview.com.

BEFORE

I had a four-hour dinner conversation with a guy but haven’t heard from him since. I have been worrying that I overshared. But seriously, I felt so comfortable with him that, at the time, it felt really normal to talk about personal stuff. I told one of my best friends the details of my date conversation. She thinks I definitely scared my date off. So how much is too much to share on a first date? It depends on your date’s capacity for emotional intimacy, and that varies according to his mood, his willingness to be in a relationship and his interest in you, among other factors. Oh, I know it would be easier if I gave you rules that guaranteed results. But that would make me a dating fundamentalist, and I’m not willing to swing that far to the right. I can offer general guidelines, if you promise to break them when your intuition inspires you to do so. Until then, consider the following: 1. Don’t dump your drama. When a first date becomes a therapy session, the romantic connection takes a backseat. You feel great unloading problems as your date listens, nods and mutters a few consoling words. You feel so much better, and you don’t notice how much he has pulled away emotionally. Well, of course he has. You just met, and now the connection is lopsided. Hey, save your troubles for a paid session with a counselor. Or pour them into a journal before the date. First-date conversation should flow back and forth with ease. If you’re preoccupied with problems, it’s difficult to determine if you have potential as a couple. 2. Wear your passion on your sleeve. Most of us spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to wear on a date to highlight our best features and downplay our least favorite. Don’t be attirecentric; rather, spotlight your enthusiasm, joy and can’t-livewithout-it interests. Passion is sexy, a magnet that fascinates and attracts others. Show your date what you are so into (French films, poetry by Hafiz, wakeboarding, being a 12-step sponsor or whatever!) through your enthusiasm, stories and lessons learned.

FRONTLINES

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3. Leave your ex on the porch at home. Yeah, that means don’t talk about your previous relationship and why it’s over, unless your date asks. If the topic pops up, keep your answer short, clear and direct. Don’t be secretive. If you have healed from the past, talking about it is easy. But if talking about your ex-partner moves you to anger, tears or getting stupid-drunk, stop dating. See a psychotherapist. Fast. 4. Don’t forget—it’s only date No. 1. Stop yourself from announcing how many children you want or that you wish you were already partnered like all of your friends. Instead, share those dreams with someone who knows you well enough to invest in your dreams. If you give your date a chance, you can discover whether he or she will become that person.

When a first date becomes a therapy session, the romantic connection takes a backseat.

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5. If you’re a bag of nerves, say so. Being transparent about how nerve-wracking it can be to meet a new person is charming. Honesty about who you are is still the best way to navigate life. It’s helpful to remind yourself that dating is a path of selfknowledge. Observe yourself on outings. Notice your interior life, the thoughts and emotions that show up inside as you experience being with another person. The gift of living this way is that you get to know yourself better. Plus, awareness of your true self and of what you really need in a partner becomes crystal clear. In the meantime, enjoy the journey! Ω

Meditation of the week: “All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door,” writes John Kenneth Galbraith, economist. Are you ready to let your soul overthrow your fearful ego?

FEATURE

STORY

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A RT S & C U LT U R E

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Looks & Money

God bless Buck Busfield. To open the B Street Theatre’s 2012-13 season, he has chosen two one-act by plays that entertain viscerally and intellectuJim Carnes ally and that challenge convention (and to some extent, our expectations of a B Street show). They’re also extremely funny. Looks & Money is the title of the program that features The Ugly One by German playwright Marius von Mayenburg and The New Tenant by Eugene Ionesco. A cast of four B Street regulars stars under Busfield’s direction.

really, really funny. But Ionesco’s criticism of consumerism and isolation is blunted by the sheer comedic force of the production. Ω Looks & Money, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 2 and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; $23-$35. B Street Theatre, 2711 B Street; (916) 443-5300; www.bstreettheatre.org. Through August 5.

That’s amore— or is it?

The Taming of the Shrew

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In The Ugly One, Jason Kuykendall stars as Lette, a man so unspeakably ugly that his boss (Greg Alexander) chooses an assistant (Peter Story) to make the presentation on his latest engineering breakthrough because his looks would surely turn off any audience. Stephanie McVay plays Lette’s wife, who confirms the boss’ harsh assessment. A trip to a plastic surgeon (Alexander again) results in a face so desirable, that soon Lette is pursued by women and emulated by men everywhere. How do you handle seeing your own face—which isn’t even your face—everywhere you go? This relatively new play (2007) challenges our notions of identity and the importance of appearance in the context of outrageous comedy. The New Tenant, from 1955, meanwhile, is from the originator and master of theater of the absurd. Its fault may be that it doesn’t go much beyond other of the playwright’s works (The Chairs and Rhinoceros come immediately to mind) in skewering modern society. It does, however, effectively challenge the physical comedy chops of the cast. Alexander stars as the tenant of an apartment that gradually is filled with furniture to the point of isolating the man from the outside world—just as he wants it to. McVay has a comic turn as his would-be caretaker, and Story and Kuykendall play the beleaguered movers who fill the small B Street stage with more props than you’d think possible. It’s surreal and

Shakespeare set Shrew in Italy (circa 1500s). In this amiable, upbeat outdoor production, Main Street Theatre Works slides the play into a New Jersey Italian-American enclave. Petruchio wears a fedora and puffs a cigar. The tempestuous Kate gleefully confiscates her pretty sister Bianca’s shopping bags from Macy’s, then hogties Bianca and cuts up her credit cards. Geographic references hit on Hoboken and Princeton; the sound design features Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra; a motorcycle turns up in one climactic scene. The critical leads in this battleof-the-sexes over an arranged marriage—veterans Julie Anchor as Kate, Allen Pontes as Petruchio—resourcefully reprise roles they handled cleverly 11 years ago (with this very company). Their experience shows, and they’ve still got good chemistry—the verbal/physical jousting feels fresh. Dapper old Marty Brifman (now an Amador County chicken rancher, but a UC theater major decades ago) does patriarchal Baptista in a gravelly voice like a Mafia don, going on about “yooz guyz” and respect. Scott Adams (who’s worked professional shows) puts zing into Petruchio’s man Grumio, while jaunty, diminutive Brittany Grant gives us an outsized Biondello (as a girl) with a voice that’s bigger than her stature. The community cast also includes a few rookies, but they do reasonably well. Director Susan McCandless favors brisk activity onstage, sexy (but not particularly naughty) implications in the subplots, and doesn’t push for a major reinterpretation of the main conflict (or is it a romance, or both?) between Kate and Petruchio. It makes for a fun summer show in a lovely amphitheater in the Gold Country. —Jeff Hudson

The Taming of the Shrew, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; $12-$17.50 or a $49 “family package” (two adults, two students). Main Street Theatre Works at the Kennedy Mine Amphitheatre, accessible from North Main Street in Jackson; (209) 295-4499; www.mstw.org. Through July 21.

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FEELING A

Anna in the Tropics: “I love the part where she jumps in front of a train. It’s so romantic.”

ANNA IN THE TROPICS

HENRY V

TRIPLE ESPRESSO

Great literature and hand-rolled cigars are the catalysts for drama in this 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Nilo Cruz. Under Kristine David’s direction, Teatro Nagual presents a satisfying and sizzling story that swirls around a suave, well-educated new lector (Martin J. Rodriguez), who reads Anna Karenina to the impressionable women and resentful men who roll the cigars. F 8pm; Sa 2pm; Su 7pm. Through 7/1. $15-$20. Teatro Nagual at the Coloma Community Center, 4623 T St.; (916) 548-4435; www.teatronagual.com. P.R.

SQUEEZE

A very plucky five-person adaptation of Shakespeare’s sweeping epic of the transformation of wastrel Prince Hal into the fiery and firm King Henry V. Casey Worthington is vivid in the title role, and director Rob Salas makes good use of the small space in this gutsy little production that delivers the goods. Th, F, Sa 8pm; Su 6:30pm. Through 7/1. $10-$15. Davis Shakespeare Ensemble in the UC Davis Arboretum Gazebo, 1 Garrod Dr. in Davis; (530) 802-0998; www.shakespearedavis.com. J.H.

on your wheels?

Campy comedy with a metastructure, as the cheesy lounge act Maxwell, Butternut and Bean (Bill Arnold, Michael Pearce Donley and Bob Stromberg) performs for—and involves— the audience. It’s either family-friendly fun or a strange open-mic night, depending on your point of view. W 7pm; Th 2 & 7pm; F 8pm; Sa 2 & 8pm; Su 2pm. Through 7/22. $20-$38; student rush available. The Cosmopolitan Cabaret, 1000 K St.; (916) 557-1999; www.calmt.com. J.M.

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WILLIE WONKA

This musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s famous children story is all bright colors and snosberries; more music and less substance. The kids are cute, Willie’s a bit on the two-dimensional side, and the adaptation itself—well, we’ll take a gobstopper any day. The only plus is that it’s under the stars in Fair Oaks. F, Sa, Su 8:30pm. Singalong shows on 7/8 and 7/15. Through 7/22. $8-$15. Fair Oaks Theatre Fest at the Veterans Memorial Amphitheatre, 7991 California Ave., Fair Oaks; (916) 966-3683; www.fairoakstheatrefestival.com. M.M.

(800) SEE-SAFE safecu.org

Short reviews by Jeff Hudson, Maxwell McKee, Jonathan Mendick and Patti Roberts. SN&R’s review of the Music Circus production of Grease is available online at www.newsreview.com. BEFORE

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APR accurate as of June 1, 2012. Rates, terms, and conditions subject to change. 2See SAFE for details.

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FILM The family way Your Sister’s Sister Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister bears a telltale credit at the end: Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass, Rosemarie by DeWitt and Mike Birbiglia are all identified as Jim Lane “creative consultants.” Since these four actors are the only ones who speak in the movie’s entire 90 minutes, the implication is obvious, and cheerfully acknowledged by Shelton herself—the dialogue is almost entirely improvised. It just may be that I’m spending more time writing this review than Shelton spent “writing” Your Sister’s Sister. But Shelton’s process is different, and it has its rewards. Even apparent missteps can lead to revelations. In the opening scene, a group is gathered to commemorate the death, one year before, of their friend Tom. Al (Birbiglia) gets up and, proposing a toast, begins: “It’s so hard to eulogize someone who you look up to.” What could that mean? Is it really easier to eulogize someone you didn’t admire?

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Maybe Al means it’s hard without turning the deceased into a little plaster saint, because that’s exactly what he does. When Tom’s brother Jack (Duplass) takes drunken exception to Al’s idealized, vapid portrait, everybody squirms. Jack’s best friend Iris (Blunt), who happens to have been Tom’s ex-girlfriend, decides it’s time to act. “This,” she whispers to him, “is your intervention.” She orders him to retreat to her father’s island vacation cabin, unwind there alone and come to terms with his grief. I’d have thought Jack might better come to terms with the burbling ass Al, but then the movie couldn’t move on to Chapter Two: Jack Goes to the Cabin. As it turns out, Iris was wrong: the place isn’t empty. Already in residence is Iris’s lesbian sister Hannah (DeWitt), licking her wounds over an ended seven-year relationship. One thing leads to another, and a shared bottle of tequila leads to a boozy sexual encounter, a fumbling, grunting, sodden tumble that’s over in less than a minute.

Then, Chapter Three: Iris Shows Up. She’s overjoyed to see that her sister and her best friend have finally met, but Jack panics, his unresolved—or unrequited—feelings for Iris bubbling over. He pleads with Hannah not to let Iris know about their one-night stand. After a late-night girl-talk session with Iris, in which Iris confesses that she thinks she’s in love with Jack, Hannah agrees. But a secret like that can’t stay hidden, or we’d have no movie. When the truth finally comes out, it’s with a double scoop of betrayal that’s better experienced than spoiled in a review. Let’s just say Hannah comes off as less wholly admirable than Shelton and DeWitt may have intended her to look—a selfish conniver (even when drunk) who risks disrespecting her own sister and a virtual stranger; a self-righteous prig who guilt-trips her nonvegan sister over a teaspoon of butter in the mashed potatoes. Is this intended? I suspect not. I think the warm-fuzzy group hug that climaxes Your Sister’s Sister shows that Shelton intends to show that all three sides of this triangle are basically decent people. And they are—only maybe some of them are more decent than others. That’s the kind of thing that can surface, possibly unintended, in improvisation. And it’s what makes Your Sister’s Sister, despite the mechanical contrivances of Shelton’s basic framework, feel fresh and real as it hits the screen. Blunt, DeWitt and Duplass find their own rhythms in their characters, and their rhythms drive the movie. (Birbiglia, once he’s served his schematic purpose of ticking off Duplass’s Jack, is dismissed forever.)

The dialogue is almost entirely improvised. It just may be that I’m spending more time writing this review than Lynn Shelton spent “writing” Your Sister’s Sister. Other things surface that Shelton’s outline probably didn’t anticipate, like the semi-elaborate backstory we are told to explain why Iris has a British accent and Hannah doesn’t. As it happens, DeWitt was a last-minute replacement for Rachel Weisz, who had to drop out. But if that hadn’t happened, who knows, we might not have had the version of Iris and Hannah’s unseen father that we get now. And in turn, we might not have Jack’s observation of how Dad’s love’em-and-leave-’em pattern is repeated in Iris. Such are the pleasures of improv when the players are as sharp and canny as they are here. Lynn Shelton planted this garden patch and let it grow. That’s a kind of writing, too. Ω

Show timeS valid june 29 – july 5, 2012 opening fri, june 29

by JONATHAN KIEFER & JIM LANE

safety not guaranteed

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Our 16th president goes to war in 1861, not to preserve the Union or abolish slavery, but to conquer an army of vampires, one of whom murdered his mother; only a last-minute shipment of silver bullets to Gettysburg saves the war. Director Timur Bekmambetov and writer Seth Grahame-Smith (adapting his own novel) achieve the near impossible: They concoct a movie that’s even more stupid than it sounds. The movie trivializes and insults history—but it’s only entertainment, right? No, it’s not entertainment; it’s garbage. Performances don’t help: Benjamin Walker, cute as a button, is ludicrously miscast as Lincoln, and looks like he knows it. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, equally miscast as his wife, at least provides amusement with the one hilariously awful line: “Abraham! We’ll be late for the theater!” J.L.

Brave

In ancient times, a Celtic princess (voice by Kelly Macdonald) rebels when her parents (queen Emma Thompson and king Billy Connolly) decide to betroth her without asking her thoughts on the subject. In a snit, she makes an impulsive bargain with a witch to “change” her mother, and the witch does—she changes the queen into a bear. Written by directors Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell and Brenda Chapman, with an assist from Irene Mecchi (story by Chapman), this latest Pixar feature has the customary supple Pixar animation, and it’s never less than gorgeous to behold. But it may be a case of too many cooks; the story lacks punch and never even comes near the mythic resonance it tries for. Indeed, it seems patched together from remnants of The Little Mermaid, mixed with a heaping dollop of “I hate you, Mom!” J.L.

Lola Versus

A graduate student (Greta Gerwig) gets dumped by her fiancé three weeks before the wedding and is forced to cope with turning 30 without a steady squeeze. Written by director Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister Jones (who also plays Gerwig’s best friend—and gives herself all the best lines), the movie has the low-budget indie look of a wannabe Woody Allen, but at heart it’s just a trite and shallow Hollywood rom-com, closer to Failure to Launch or He’s Just Not That Into You than to Annie Hall. It’s the kind of movie a woman is usually expected to carry only after she becomes a star, and Gerwig isn’t a star—not yet, anyway. Still, she gives it her best shot and manages to wring some sympathy out of us, although we may feel more sympathy for the actress’s plight (trapped in clichés) than for the character’s. J.L.

Rated R Fri-Sun 12:50 3:20 5:45 8:30 Mon-Thu 5:45 8:30

now playing

bernie

Rated R Fri-Sun 12:30 3:00 5:25 8:10 Mon-Thu 5:25 8:10

Starring Jack Black Rated PG-13 Fri 7:45 only Sat-Sun 12:00 2:30 5:00 7:45 Mon-Thu 5:00 7:45

1013 K Street - 916.442.7378 join the list - www.thecrest.com

Bernie

A mortician in a small Texas town (Jack Black) befriends a rich, cantankerous old widow (Shirley MacLaine); soon they’re taking trips all over the world on her dime. Director Richard Linklater and co-writer Skip Hollandsworth (adapting Hollandsworth’s magazine article) recount the true story of Bernhardt Tiede, currently serving a life sentence for the murder of wealthy Marjorie Nugent. The movie adopts the style of a Dateline NBC true-crime feature, mixing dramatization and interviews with local townspeople (some of whom are the real McCoy). We’re probably not getting the whole story—we’re left with a clear impression that Tiede did the world a favor by blowing the old battle-ax away—but the movie is wry and stranger-than-fiction quirky, and Black gives the performance of his career (so far). J.L.

your sister’s sister

now playing

Men in Black III

An alien criminal (Jemaine Clement) escapes from prison, goes back in time, and kills the Man in Black who sent him up: Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones). This leaves K’s partner J (Will Smith) the only person in the present who remembers him (the reason is foggy but never mind—if he didn’t, there’d be no movie), so J travels back to 1969 to work with K’s younger self (Josh Brolin) to prevent the murder—and by the way, also to save the world. Written by Etan Cohen and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, this second sequel to the 1997 smash is a vast improvement over the first one, and may even be better than the original. The story is fast and funny (with a sweet and surprising twist at the end), the pacing sharp, and Brolin does a bangup impression of Jones. The only drawback is the dim (and superfluous) 3-D. J.L.

BEFORE

Headhunters : You messed with the wrong kind of headhunter.

Headhunters

Director Morten Tyldum’s brutal and clever nail-biter, adapted by Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg from the Jo Nesbø bestseller, twists and zips determinedly toward the pinnacle of contemporary Norwegian noir. To measure up to his taller trophy wife (Synnøve Macody Lund), a weaselly corporate recruiter (Aksel Hennie) moonlights as an art thief, consequently acquiring a relentless former-mercenary nemesis (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and some reflexive audience sympathy. This makes for a very entertaining comparison between living beyond one’s means and running for one’s life. As Tyldum piles on gruesome indignities and gamely preposterous plot turns, the actors play to satisfyingly familiar types, shrewdly and with great flair. And so we behold the weird paradox of the modern Scandinavian movie thriller: unmistakably indebted to American pulp, yet assuredly much fresher and more vital than its inevitable stateside remake will be. J.K.

Moonrise Kingdom

In Wes Anderson’s new movie, co-written with Roman Coppola, a 1960s New England town suffers mild upheaval when a sensitive Boy Scout (Jared Gilman) runs away with the girl he loves (Kara Hayward). Anderson still knows better than anybody how to survey the cusp of adolescence with all the existential angst of a midlife crisis, and, for relief’s sake, to salt his findings with droll irony. He revels in bric-a-brac production design, eloquent riffs on stagings from his earlier films, and a tendency to arrange his stars—Bob Balaban, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis—in handsome tableaux. But there’s also a welcome new allowance of naturalness, particularly in landscape and weather. The filmmaker’s typically tasteful musical affinities lean here toward English composers especially; sometimes it seems like he could’ve just done a video for the entirety of Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. Which, of course, would be fantastic. J.K.

Prometheus

With Alien, in 1979, director Ridley Scott, more or less invented the modern sci-fi horror genre; now he’s warmed it over with this prequel for no apparent reason other than the privilege of stealing back his own fire. Scott’s reclamation, expectedly engorged with pomposity and meticulous production values, also includes a few people or approximations thereof, most notably Noomi Rapace as a researcher investigating humanity’s otherworld origins, and Michael Fassbender as an inscrutable android. Gory freakouts ensue, and Scott manages a technically impressive equilibrium between the sleekly gadgety and the grotesquely suppurating, but so what? Before long, it’s hard to tell between specific familiar franchise bits and general genre clichés, or to want to. Screenwriters Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof somehow turn a surplus of exposition into a shortage of clarity. There’s a lot of spelling out of what still amounts to muddled nonsense. J.K.

Rock of Ages

An Oklahoma girl (Julianne Hough) in 1987 Hollywood hopes to make it as a singer but ends up working in a club on the Sunset Strip and falling for an aspiring rocker (Diego Boneta). The movie version of the hit Broadway jukebox musical surrounds these appealing youngsters with stars (Alec Baldwin, Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand, Catherine ZetaJones, Tom Cruise, Mary J. Blige) and flashy retro-rock musical numbers, staged with electric glitz by director Adam Shankman and choreographer Mia Michaels. The story is stretched too thin for too long, and an added subplot with Zeta-Jones as the mayor’s wife out to clean up the Strip does little more than

FRONTLINES

FEATURE

•

2 5 0 8 L A N D PA R K D R I V E L A N D PA R K & B R O A D WAY F R E E PA R K I N G A D J A C E N T T O T H E AT R E

“PLEASURE-FILLED JOURNEY.”

BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

THE

STARTS FRI., 6/29 FRI-TUES: 11:40AM, 2:20, 5:00, 7:40, 10:20PM

let her in on the fun. Cruise (as an Axl Rose-ish rock star) and Blige (as a strip-club owner) give the best performances, and the driving beat keeps toes tapping. J.L.

WED-TUES: 11:15AM, 1:30, 3:45, 6:00, 8:15, 10:25PM

“LIFE-AFFIRMING & FUNNY.”

“FUN SURPRISES ALONG THE WAY.”

WED-TUES: 11:30AM, 2:00, 4:30, 7:15, 9:50PM

ENDS THUR., 6/28 WED/THUR: 11:40AM, 1:45, 4:00, 6:15, 8:30, 10:35PM

- Karina Longworth, VILLAGE VOICE

F O R A D V A N C E T I C K E T S C A L L FA N D A N G O @ 1 - 8 0 0 - F A N D A N G O # 2 7 2 1

REEL

REVIEWS. EVERY THURSDAY.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

YOU’RE WELCOME, FILM GEEKS.

“

HILARIOUS AND HEARTFELT! A dream cast including Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray & Frances McDormand.” PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE

Where Do We Go Now?

In a remote Lebanese village, where Christians and Muslims have long lived in comparative peace, the introduction of a community TV set threatens to import the sectarian strife of other parts of the country, so the local women decide to do something about it. In this male-dominated culture, the women prove surprisingly resourceful, and that’s one of the chief pleasures of this movie from director Nadine Labaki, who also plays a major role and co-wrote the script with four others. Labaki deftly juggles comedy, drama and outright tragedy, always maintaining a strong sense of real life. Labaki even inserts some discreetly low-key musical numbers, both natural and symbolically surreal—especially an opening “dance” of women in black marching to the cemetery to visit the graves of men too soon dead. J.L.

STORY

- Joe Morgenstern, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The Intouchables LOLA VERSUS

As an asteroid approaches to destroy the world, a man named Dodge (Steve Carell) and Penny, a neighbor he barely knows (Keira Knightley) set off on a quest to find Dodge’s long-lost sweetheart—and other things they never expected. Writer-director Lorene Scafaria sets up and end-of-days romantic dramedy as Dodge and Penny trek cross-country meeting an odd lot of characters. But the movie runs into trouble because a crucial, intangible ingredient is missing: chemistry between Dodge and Penny—or more to the point, between Carell and Knightley. Nobody’s really to blame; it’s chemistry, and sometimes the magic just doesn’t work. J.L.

MoonriseKingdom

- Marshall Fine, HOLLYWOOD & FINE

Safety Not Guaranteed

A Seattle magazine writer (Jake M. Johnson) and his two interns (Aubrey Plaza, Karan Soni) investigate a mysterious loner (Mark Duplass) who has placed a want ad seeking a partner in a time-travel experiment (“Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed.”). In the process, one of the interns (Plaza) finds herself drawn to the man, and begins to think he may not be such a crackpot after all. Written by Derek Connolly and directed with deadpan wryness by Colin Trevorrow, the movie has a kind of standard Sundance Channel roughness in its look and style, but otherwise it’s hard to pin down: Rom-com? Sci-fi? Satire? Ultimately, it seems hardly to matter, because the movie fairly bulges with quirky hangdog charm—virtually a four-character movie, with Plaza and Duplass meshing particularly well. J.L.

“BEGUILING AND ENDEARING.”

- David Rooney, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Have You Seen

THIS SUMMER’S SLEEPER HIT!”?

“

ANN HORNADAY, THE WASHINGTON POST

Directed By Wes Anderson Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola

Written By

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#MoonriseKingdom

MoonriseKingdom.com

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A RT S & C U LT U R E

AFTER

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SN&R

SACRAMENTO NEWS AND REVIEW THURS 6/28

“

Thanks to the Stride Center I went from

UNEMPLOYMENT to a

GOOD JOB with the State. My family & I are very grateful for this excellent program.

”

- Qays Ahmed, IT Professional 2011 A+ Graduate

(Don’t) hang the deejay Skratchpad Sacramento clear ups misconceptions about the art of deejaying Writing about music for the past 10 years, one thing has become very clear: People hate deejays for an abundance of reasons: they hate that deejays by Josh Fernandez simply play records; they hate that deejays often attract bigger crowds than traditional musicians, and sometimes they hate that deejays consider themselves musicians at all.

PHOTO By SOuLSkAT

Jaime says. “But it’s really about educating yourself and … getting familiar with what the deejay is doing.” And Skratchpad, a showcase of turntable talent, will be a good opportunity to get familiar with the true art of deejaying or turntablism—the creation of music by manipulating records. Deejays Cellski and Deeandroid launched Skratchpad almost 10 years ago in response to the demise of San Francisco’s infamous Beat Lounge. What began as a simple platform for deejays to come together ended up a complete success with Skratchpad events popping up in different locations across the map. But even as turntablism gains acceptance, new technology makes deejaying more accessible to casual hobbyists— hence the negative stereotypes. “It’s almost like a doubleedged sword,” Jaime says. “It takes skill, but there are so many outlets to be a deejay. You can even deejay off an iPad.” But, believe me, there won’t be any iPad deejays on Thursday. Hopefully not, at least. In fact, one of the featured turntablists, Vallejo’s Dan Magsin, a.k.a. Snayk Eyez, is a traditionalist with lightning-quick hands and an impeccable sense of timing and rhythm. He was briefly featured in the documentary Scratch.

22 week training to A+ Certification in computer repair New class starts July 16, class size limited

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44 | SN&R | 06.28.12

Check your head: Skratchpad Sacramento curator DJ Nocturnal’s got mad skills.

Catch Skratchpad Sacramento on Thursday, June 28, at 9 p.m. The show features resident deejays Sleeprockers, 7evin, Luke ScratchRocker as well as Snayk Eyez, Chuck Flava, Ajax, A.R.G., Mike Colossal & DJ Drew; no cover; 21 and over. Blue Lamp, 1400 Alhambra Boulevard; http://skratchpad. tumblr.com.

Of course, these ideas are mostly misconceptions, ones that on Thursday, June 28, can be cleared up easily at Skratchpad Sacramento, an event during which different types of deejays will break a sweat creating futuristic sounds that might make even the most stern rock ’n’ roll purists tap their feet with joy. But first, for fun, back to the misconceptions. I remember this one letter to the editor a few years back, sent from a local musician: “Do you really think a person who stands there and plays records is deserving of any kind of recognition? For what? Playing other people’s music?” he wrote. “Deejays are the musical equivalent of a retarded monkey.” You could almost feel the hot beams of bitter anger shooting through his fingertips as he wrote this damning letter; yet despite the veiled racism, hatred and unintentional hilarity, there’s a bit of truth to the author’s words. Many deejays, after all, are simply hobbyists who replace skill and rhythm with a MacBook that virtually sequences all the songs for them. Christopher Jaime, a.k.a. DJ Nocturnal, agrees—at least in part. Jaime is the curator of Skratchpad Sacramento, as well as a member of the Sleeprockers crew (a team of Sacramento deejays who treat their turntables and MPC drum machine as instruments). And, he says, many deejays don’t have skills. “Anybody can do that controller shit,”

“ A bunch of guitar players can get together and hang out; why can’t a bunch of deejays?” Snayk Eyez deejay “It’s basically one big jam session as any musician would do, but the instruments are different,” he says. “A bunch of guitar players can get together and hang out; why can’t a bunch of deejays?” Well, they can. And they will. So set aside your image of a typical deejay (the extreme dude with a soul patch who wears silk vests and pushes play on his laptop long enough so he can do a gram of blow in the bathroom), because there won’t be much of that at Skratchpad Sacramento—just a bunch of turntable nerds rubbing records back-and-forth and getting anything but retarded. Ω

SOUND ADVICE Go fourth with funky hangovers stop at PowerHouse Pub in Folsom (614 Sutter Street) this Thursday, and then hit up the grid on Friday, June 29, at the Blue Lamp (1400 Alhambra Boulevard, 9 p.m., $8) with 50 Watt Heavy, Bright Faces and Kate Gaffney. There’s also a Reno show, if you wanna trek Interstate 80 and crash at Circus Circus. How much do you love Daft Punk?: I have this friend who flew to Australia to see Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 tour. This after seeing the group at least a dozen times in the states. This is possibly a bigger commitment than he’s made in any relationship. (I keed, I keed.) Anyway, DJ Shaun Slaughter and DJ Adam J are devoting this Friday, June 29, at TownHouse Lounge

Nonallegory of The Cave: No metaphors here: There’s literally a new(ish) music venue at 3512 Stockton Boulevard called The Cave, where you will find a gig this Friday night and every final Friday of the month. Witness June 29, at 8 p.m. for only $5: Jilt vs. Jonah, La Noche Oskura, the Vicious Kenits, and So Many Ways. As with most all-ages venues, SN&R is excited to see this joint pop off and succeed. Make it happen. —Nick Miller

nickam@newsreview.com

EYE-FI Sacramento live-music scene grabs

New-look Nibblers take on Friday Night Concerts in the Park: Much respect for the party band that can get the mainstream masses up off their suburban couches and onto the dance floor. Nibblers are Sacto’s funky cure to couch-potato disease. And, this Friday, they’ll debut their new lead singer on Friday Night Concerts in the Park’s big stage. Said fresh frontman is Brian Rogers, who formerly headed Izabella and kicked some jazzy ass in Four Guys From Reno, too. As always, CITP is free. Added bonus: The walls of the beer cage have been torn down, and now people can roam free, suds in hand. Coalition, Diva Kings and DJ Medi round out this week’s CITP (Friday, June 29, 10th and J streets; 5 to 9 p.m.). Nevada Backwards back: Another spelling lesson: Here in Journalism Land, words such as “forward” or “backward” are spelled without an ending “S.” So to the SN&R copy desk’s chagrin, Nevada Backwards returns to Sacto this week. The band once ruled the local scene with its party-friendly rockcountry styling. But then Brian Ballentine formed Blvd Park, then left town with his new band. Anyway, things come full circle: Backwards kicks off a three-show mini-tour this week. They’ll make a BEFORE

FREE.

(1517 21st Street, 10 p.m., $3) to all things Daft Punk. The party’s called, uh, I Heart Daft Punk. The videos, visuals and even libations will be D.P. themed. I guess it’s up to us to bring da funk, indeed.

PHOTO BY AMY SCOTT

Dance-party sandwich: It’s strange how very little goes down on July 4 when it comes to gigs. But there are two dance options at one local spot, so why not a Press Club Independence sandwich this holiday break? The night before the fireworks— that’s July 3, skills—electro-funk dance night Fffreak! collides with Oakland’s party troupe Hottub for a pre-Fourth throwdown. Frontload that hangover with DJ CrookOne, DJ Dogtones and DJ Hailey. The fete is free before 10 p.m., $4 afterward— so show up early and put that scrilla toward a mixed drink. And then, the big day: Wednesday, Red White and Blue Day. Which also happens to be the debut of My Cousin Vinny’s new dance night, Viva 1973, “a party of feel-good disco house and new dance tracks” with special guest deejays. This week’s include: Mike Diamond and Daims. Buff Slut will be in the house snapping the party pics, and Vinny and DAIMS will launch their new EP, Family Function. Party is free before 10:30 p.m., $5 afterward. Good luck at work Thursday.

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Is Fox & Goose the only place in town where you can singer-songwriter by dusk and tofu scramble by dawn? Local Erik Hanson shared songs last week; Musical Charis and Hot Tar Roofers gig this Saturday night.

FRONTLINES

FEATURE

STORY

A RT S & C U LT U R E

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AFTER

06. 28.12

SN&R

EIGHT GIGS

29FRI 30SAT 30SAT 30SAT Nevada Backwards

Local rock act Nevada Backwards doesn’t stick to the standard guitars-and-drums rock ’n’ roll formula. It’ll bust out a banjo, mandolin or a fiddle if the mood strikes. The style of the songs varies quite a bit, but one thing connects them: They all have a rootsy edge. Nevada Backwards plays a bit of old-timey country, southern-fried rock ’n’ roll, bluegrass and even some traditional R&B. It can be a little jarring from song to song, but it’s a good kind of jarring. These guys have been at it for ROCK more than 10 years; they keep it interesting for themselves, not just the audience. 1400 Alhambra Boulevard, www.myspace.com/nevadabackwards.

—Aaron Carnes

Tristen

Richard Thompson

Hot Tar Roofers

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, 9:30 p.m., $5

24th Street Theatre, 7:30 p.m., $40

Fox & Goose, 9 p.m., $5

Blue Lamp, 9 p.m., $8

They harmonize like a barbershop quartet, but Hot Tar Roofers also introduce banjo, mandolin and upright bass, giving its sound that good ol’ bluegrass feel. The song “Elevate,” ROCK/BLUEGRASS recorded by vocalist and banjo player Billy Sanders, not only captures the group’s vocal capabilities, but also blends in some rock ’n’ roll near the end. Not a surprising release from a couple of guys who reference the Beatles and the Infamous Stringdusters as influences. Visit their website to listen to some tracks. Plus, in the “Schwag” section, in addition to T-shirts for sale, you’ll find Hot Tar Roofers’ ear-hole ointment. Swag. 1001 R Street., www.hottarroofers.com.

Tristen Gaspadarek, or simply Tristen, is a suburban Chicago-raised singer-songwriter who moved to Nashville, Tenn., to make a living playing music. Unlike most who move to Nashville for its country, rock, Christian and blues INDIE POP scenes, she came packing hooky pop. Her debut album for American Myth Recording, Charlatans at the Garden Gate, was lauded by NPR and Spin magazine for its catchy and easy-to-love nature. Tristen made a stop in town last November, where she did a lovely performance with Davis act the Souterrain opening. Sean Flinn & the Royal We and Lauren Cole Norton open this one. 129 E Street, http://tristen.com.

After 45 years and two-dozen releases with Fairport Convention and ex-wife Linda, Richard Thompson has grown into a cult cottage industry. A gifted storyteller and brilliant guitarist, his playing makes his six-string peers want to quit (as Bob Mould once remarked). He’s as capable of rolling thunder as gentle beauty—though the latter predominates. ROCK Thompson’s known for his folk songs, which echo his Scottish roots. “People’s roots are very important,” he says. “There’s an eroding of national and regional characteristics. I think people miss that sense of ‘this is where I come from.’” 2791 24th Street, www.richardthompson-music.com.

—John Phillips

—Chris Parker

—Steph Rodriguez

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01SUN 03TUES 03TUES 05THURS James Hunter

Ghost Bikini

Aiming to revive what they call the “golden era” of street-punk music of the late ’70s— performed by bands such as Charged GBH and the Exploited—the Casualties have continued to stay true to their punk-rock roots after many lineup changes PUNK and a career spanning more than 20 years. At this show, part of the Tonight We Unite tour, the New York Citybased band is performing with friends Lower Class Brats, Nekromantix and more. And although the Casualties haven’t released a full-length album since We Are All We Have in 2009, plans for a new album are set for sometime this summer. 1417 R Street, www.facebook.com/thecasualties.

Mara Davi, vocalist for Mara and the Bitter Suite, is a Broadway star and former Sacramento resident. Her Broadway credits include Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Drowsy Chaperone and A Chorus Line, but at this show, she’ll be performing works from her band’s debut Unspoken. Music videos for the songs “When I” and “Unspoken” reveal INDIE FOLK Davi’s soaring vocal range, balancing atop sparse but intense piano work by composer and conductor Adam Waite, the group’s other member. Graham-A-Rama presents this CD-release show, which also features opening act the Graham Sobelman Trio. 1000 K Street, www.facebook.com/maraandthebittersuite.

—Mark Halverson

—Steph Rodriguez

Ace of Spades, 5:30 p.m., $17

Cosmopolitan Cabaret, 7 p.m., $20-$25

After 20 years of performing and recording in his homeland, and being championed by former boss Van Morrison, British soul and R&B artist James Hunter became an American “overnight senSOUL/R&B sation” in 2006 with the release of People Gonna Talk. Channeling the influences and marrow of such sonic pathfinders as Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and the lesser-known Little Willie John and Roy Hamilton, Hunter’s triple threat as songwriter, vocalist and guitarist exudes organic coolness, buttery sensuality and shout-out grit. His live shows with a crisp, sax-punctuated band are known for their passion and emotional ache. 2708 J Street, http://jameshuntermusic.com.

Capturing the essence of an early 1950s garage band is Ghost Bikini, all the way from Atlanta. Vocals are distorted, delivered with attitude and then highlighted with reverb. But the overall sound this quartet creates includes harmonica solos paired with surf-rock vibes and hypnotic organs reminiscent of the Doors. Ghost Bikini plucks the better qualities from classic sounds of the past, inviting listeners to let loose during the newGARAGE wave beach dance party that is its music. Rhythm-and-blues band the Scouse Gits is also performing, which features Tim Foster, former editor of Midtown Monthly. Wear sunscreen. 2030 P Street, www.ghostbikini.bandcamp.com.

The Casualties

Mara and the Bitter Suite

Harlow’s, 7 p.m., $35

The Press Club, 6 p.m., $5

—Steph Rodriguez

—Jonathan Mendick

ACE OF SPADES

1417 R Street, Sacramento, 95814 www.aceofspadessac.com

ALL AGES WELCOME!

FRIDAY, JULY 6

THURSDAY, JUNE 28 WHO’S BAD: THE ULTIMATE MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE BAND

COMING

LITE BRITE MUSICAL CHARIS - STUCK - THE HUNGRY - SIMPL3JACK THE TREES

PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS

FRIDAY, JUNE 29

SATURDAY, JULY 7

JONNY CRAIG

FALLRISE

THE SEEKING - TYLER RICH - INCREDIBLE ME TAKING’S NOT STEALING - IT STARTS WITH ALASKA

TALLBOY - CHERNOBOG - MALCOM BLISS GEARS TURN - REPRESA

SATURDAY, JUNE 30

OUTSIDERS

FRIDAY, JULY 13

WHITE MINORITIES

PICTURE ME BROKEN - DEADLINES & DIAMONDS CALLING ALL SURVIVORS - THE SUN SETS HERE - THE SILVER LINING

SOME FEAR NONE - ICONOCLAST ROBOT - HEADLINES ANIMISM

TUESDAY, JULY 3

SATURDAY, JULY 14

DJ MUSTARD - PUSHAZ INK - BABNIT CHEX - QUIST - ROSCOE

THE JACKA & HUSALAH

THURSDAY, JULY 5

THE

GAUDY BOYZ & A-MAD-G

CASUALTIES &

TUESDAY, JULY 17

NEKROMANTIX

REVEREND HORTON HEAT

DOWN BY LAW - LOWER CLASS BRATS THE SHEDS - AVENUE SAINTS

SUPERSUCKERS - GODDAMN GALLOWS

SOON

7/19 7/20 7/21 7/23 7/24 7/25 7/26 7/27 7/29 8/3 8/4 8/6 8/7 8/17 8/18 8/21 8/24 8/25 9/4 9/5 9/6 9/8 9/11 9/14 9/24 9/27 10/10 10/11 10/13

Talib Kweli Too $hort Moonshine Bandits Pepper Relient K Pacific Dub Launch X Cut & Paste Demon Hunter Attack Attack! Y&T Super Diamond The Word Alive Lostprophets Great White Stepchild Chiddy Bang Gift of Gab Full Blown Stone David Allen Coe Powerman 5000 Buckethead Rehab The Fresh & Onlys Anthrax/Testament Kreator Hatebreed Steve Vai D.R.I Morbid Angel

Tickets available at all Dimple Records Locations, The Beat Records, and Armadillo Records, or purchase by phone @ 916.443.9202 BEFORE

FRONTLINES

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06.28.12 | SN&R | 49

NIGHTBEAT

THURSDAY 6/28

FRIDAY 6/29

SATURDAY 6/30

SUNDAY 7/1

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 7/2-7/4

BADLANDS

Tipsy Thursdays, Top 40 deejay dancing, 9pm, call for cover

Fabulous and Gay Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

Saturday Boom, 9pm, call for cover

Sin Sunday, 8pm, call for cover

Mad Mondays, M; Latin video flair and Wii bowling, 7pm Tu

BLUE LAMP

1400 Alhambra, (916) 455-3400

Sacramento Scratch Pad w/ DJ Nocturnal, 9pm, no cover

NEVADA BACKWARDS, 50 WATT HEAVY, BRIGHT FACES, KATE GAFFNEY; 9pm

CHRIS SPRAGUE & HIS 18 WHEELERS, B MIKE COLOSSAL, MR. P CHILL, DJ STARS, KIT & BRANDED MEN; 9pm, $10 Double Ace; 8pm, no cover

THE BOARDWALK

9426 Greenback Ln., Orangevale; (916) 988-9247 WITHOUT AN ANSWER; 8pm, $10-$12

SALYTHIA, STANDING IN SILENCE,

WESLEY AVERY, METHOD ECHO, SENSU- DEADLANDS, RESTRAYNED, SUCKER AL SAINT, THE REEL, WRINGS; 8pm, $12 PUNCH, FORCE OF HABIT; 8pm, $12-$15

BOWS AND ARROWS

Pompsicle: a live figure-drawing event, 6pm, call for cover

GOLDEN CADILLACS, FLANNEL; 8pm, $5

2003 K St., (916) 448-8790

List your event!

Post your free online listing (up to 15 months early), and our editors will consider your submission for the printed calendar as well. Print listings are also free, but subject to space limitations. Online, you can include a full description of your event, a photo, and a link to your website. Go to www.newsreview.com/calendar and start posting events. Deadline for print listings is 10 days prior to the issue in which you wish the listing to appear.

1815 19 St., (916) 822-5668

THE CAVE

3512 Stockton Blvd., (916) 317-9999

JILT VS JONAH, LA NOCHE OSKURA, VICIOUS KENITS, SO MANY WAYS; 8pm

CENTER FOR THE ARTS

MIKE & DEB, Will Durst; 8pm, $20-$25

CLUB 21

Salsa Fridays, 9pm, $5

314 W. Main St., Grass Valley; (530) 274-8384 1119 21st St., (916) 443-1537

Postcards from Hawai’i: A Hula Journey, 7pm, $15-$18

Open-mic, 7:30pm, no cover

PRIME D, 8pm, $5-$7

DISTRICT 30

1016 K St., (916) 737-5770

DJ Ron Reeser, DJ Amy Robbins, 9pm, call for cover

DJ TonyTone, 9pm, call for cover

FACES

Deejay dancing and karaoke, 9pm, $3

Hip-hop and Top 40 Deejay dancing, 9pm, $5-$10

FOX & GOOSE

MIKE COLOSSAL, JEFFREY VALENTINE, KAREN CHU; 8-11pm, no cover

TESSIE MARIE AND THE POOR MAN BAND, THE HUCKLEBUCKS; 9pm, $5

MAMMOTH LIFE, HOT TAR ROOFERS, MUSICAL CHARIS; 9pm-midnight, $5

Visual Turns Crew, 10pm-1:15am, no cover

ANCIENT ASTRONAUT, THE ORIGINAL, DOGFOOD; 10pm-1:15am, no cover

DJ Crook One, 10pm, call for cover

DJ Whores, 10pm, no cover

TAINTED LOVE, 10pm, call for cover

Sacramento Children’s Museum Birthday Bash, 5pm; TAINTED LOVE, 10pm

2000 K St., (916) 448-7798

Want to be a hot show? Mail photos to Calendar Editor, SN&R, 1124 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815 or email it to sactocalendar@ newsreview.com. Be sure to include date, time, location and cost of upcoming shows.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR, ERYN WOODS, CHALLENGER; 8pm, call for cover

THE COZMIC CAFÉ

594 Main St., Placerville; (530) 642-8481

Hey local bands!

Tarot lecture by Dr. David Shoemaker, 7pm Tu, no cover

1001 R St., (916) 443-8825

G STREET WUNDERBAR 228 G St., Davis; (530) 756-9227

THE GOLDEN BEAR

DJ Shaun Slaughter, 10pm, call for cover

2326 K St., (916) 441-2252

HARLOW’S

2708 J St., (916) 441-4693

DEFYANT CIRCLE, SKIN OF SAINTS; 4pm; WANING, SATYA SENA; 8:30pm

LUNA’S CAFÉ & JUICE BAR

Joe Montoya’s Poetry Unplugged, 8pm, $2

SLY PARK, THE SIGNIFIERS, JULIE THE BRUCE; 9pm, $6

DAVID HOUSTON & THE STRINGS, 9pm, $6

MARILYN’S ON K

“Rock On” Live Band Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

SEAN LEHE, SEAN BARFLY; 9:30pm, no cover

PINE AND BATTERY, 9:30pm, $10

NAKED LOUNGE DOWNTOWN

SANDRA DOLORES, NATHAN DALE, TREVOR MENESES; 8:30pm, $5

MOOT, MODERN KICKS, DR. VELOCITY; 8:30pm, $5

WIFE & SON, JOHN MALCOLM CUTHBERTSON, ANNA GAMMELGARD; $5

OLD IRONSIDES

MALAKITE, JUDAH HEFFINGTON & JACK- WANNABE BARNABY, THE DIRTY STOMP, WHOOPIE QAT, 9pm, $5 ALS OF MIDDLE DISTINCTION; 9pm, $5 JEM & SCOUT; 9pm, $5

908 K St., (916) 446-4361 1111 H St., (916) 443-1927

1901 10th St., (916) 442-3504

Dragalicious, 9pm, $5

Queer Idol, 9pm M, no cover; Latin night, 9pm Tu, $5; DJ Alazzawi, 9pm W, $3 Open-mic, 7:30pm M, no cover; Pub Quiz, 7pm Tu, no cover

Industry Night, 9pm, call for cover

CASEY GROAT, CASSANDRA HENWOOD; ALARMS, CATCH HELL; 8pm, $5 8pm, $5

1414 16th St., (916) 441-3931

Big Band Swing DJ, 8-11pm Tu, $6; Top 40, R&B, House, 10pm W, $7

FLANNEL, SARAH DONNER, GOLDEN CADILLACS; 8pm, $7

JAVALOUNGE

2416 16th St., (916) 441-3945

Latin music and Top 40, 9pm, $7

JAMES HUNTER, 7pm Tu, $35 HUG OF WAR, RUN-ON SUNSHINE, CLOUDS OVER EDEN; 8pm, $5

wesley avery

ClaSSiC ChRiS joneS

sat july 7 7pm $12

joel

tHe banD

r&b & soul

fri & sat june 29 & 30 10pm $15 adv

tainted love tue july 3 7pm $35 james hunter fri july 6 7pm $12

sat july 7 10pm

first dirt

albuM release sHoW

wed july 11 10pm

“life”

dean-0- in tHe MoMo lounGe sat july 14 10pm $12 holics fri july 6 10pm $10

ReminiSCe

r&b & Cult ClassiCs

MIDNIGHT PLAYERS

Coming Soon July 16 July 16 July 18 July 19 July 19 July 20 July 21 July 25 July 27&28 July 29 aug 2 aug 1 aug 8 aug 10 aug 13 aug 15 aug 16 aug 18 aug 22 aug 24 aug 24 aug 25 sept 1 sept 5 sept 13 oct 17

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Nebraska Mondays, 7:30pm M, $5-$20; Comedy night, 8pm W, $6

Jazz session, M; THE FAMILY BANDITS; Tu, $5; THE O’MULLIGANS, 8:30pm W, $5 THE NUANCE, 7:30pm M; Karaoke, 9pm Tu; Open-mic, 8:30pm W, no cover

friday, june 29

thu june 28 10pm $10

DER SPAZM, CIGARETTE BUMS, BABS JOHNSON GANG; 8pm Tu, $5

method echo - wrings - the reel sensual saint - the andromeda project

saturday, june 30

deadlands

restrayned - force of habit sucker punch - terra ferno

wednesday, july 11

dizzy wright

boss biz - pref1x - mark snipes j. sirus - k-ottic

thursday, july 12

potluck

dgaf - the drp - kung fu vampire americaz mozt haunted

wednesday, july 18

red line chemistry otherwise - stars of boulevard

sunday, july 22

conducting from the grave

ellipsis - the grove - a holy ghost revival the moth anatomy - beyond all ends ask for embla - no quarter

tuesday, july 24

mars

mastermind - wicked wayz klouded jugmit - 420 darkside boyz foothill fam

ThUrSdayS

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FRIDAY 6/29

SATURDAY 6/30

SUNDAY 7/1

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 7/2-7/4

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Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

MINENWERFER, PALE CHALICE, PANDISCORDIAN NECROGENESIS; 8:30pm, $6

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Open-mic comedy, 10pm, no cover

Karaoke, 9pm Tu, no cover

THE PALMS PLAYHOUSE

MARCIA BALL, 8pm, $25

BOTTOM DWELLERS, KERI CARR BAND; 8:30pm, $15

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III, MISNER & SMITH; 8:30pm, $25

THE SPEAKERS, DJ Eddie Edul; 9pm2am, $15

DJ Peeti V, 9pm, call for cover

Asylum Downtown: Gothic, industrial, EBM dancing, 9pm, call for cover

DJ Scene, 9pm-2am Tu, $15

DJ Club mixes, 10pm, no cover

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Top 40, 9pm, no cover

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ROLLIN’ & TUMBLIN’, 9pm, call for cover BONEDRIVERS, 9pm, $5

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WHISKEY ROW, 9pm, call for cover

DIEGO’S UMBRELLA, STEEL BREEZE; 10pm, $10

DRAMARAMA, 10pm, $10

GRADY CHAMPION, 3pm, $10

Karaoke, 9pm M; DJ Alazzawi, DJ Rigatony, 10pm Tu, $3; ABBEY SKY, 9pm W

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WIFE & SON, THE TAMBO RAYS, SICFUS; 8:30pm, $5

Top 40 w/ DJ Rue, 9pm, $5

Top 40 Night w/ DJ Larry Rodriguez, 9pm, $5

THE SCOUSE GITS, GHOST BIKINI; 6pm, $5

WORK YOUR SOUL, 9pm M, no cover; VIVA 1973, 9pm W, no cover

SOL COLLECTIVE

CHUUWEE, ABSTRACT NINJAA, KONKWEST, DCEASED, TASK1NE; 8pm, $5

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Microphone Mondays, 6pm M, $1-$2; Liberation Permaculture, 6pm Tu

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Comedy open-mic, 8pm M; Barbecue, blues jam, karaoke; Tu, call for cover

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THE DRIFTWOOD SINGERS, MERRY GOLD; 9:30pm, $5

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Tessie Marie & the Poor Man Band with the Hucklebucks 9pm Friday, $5. Fox & Goose Blues

TRISTEN, SEAN FLINN AND THE ROYAL WE, LAUREN COLE NORTON; 9:30pm, $5

AARON WATSON, CROSSMAN CONNECTION; 7pm, $10

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Top 40 dance mixes, 9pm W, no cover

APPLE Z, 6-10pm, $5

SKID ROSES, ROGUE, 3-10pm, $8

THE NIBBLERS, 3-7pm, $5

RIFF RAFF, 3pm Tu, $5; THE SANDBAGGERS, 6pm Tu, no cover

PAILER AND FRATIS, 5:30-7:30pm, no cover; THE NIBBLERS, 9pm, $12

JOHNNY KNOX, 5pm, no cover; THE STRANGE, 9pm, call for cover

Blues jam, 4pm, no cover

GORY BATESON, 5:30-7:30pm Tu; Acoustic open-mic, 5:30pm W, no cover Open-mic, 9pm M, no cover; DJ Rigatony, 9pm W, no cover

Pop Freq w/ DJ XGVNR, 9pm, $5

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JONNY CRAIG, THE SEEKING, TYLER RICH, INCREDIBLE ME; 6:30pm, $13

WHO’S BAD, 6:30pm, call for cover

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BEATNIK STUDIOS

THE OUTSIDERS, PICTURE ME BROKEN, DEADLINES & DIAMONDS; 6:30pm, $10

Chuuwee with Abstract Ninjaa, Konkwest, Dceased and Task1ne 8pm Thursday, $5. Sol Collective Hip-hop

MASON REX, HANS EBERBACH, CAVE WOMEN; 6pm, no cover

2421 17th St., (916) 443-5808

LUIGI’S SLICE AND FUN GARDEN

WALES, STREETLIGHT FIRE, RARE LEATHER, HEY ZEUS; 7pm, $7

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SO STRESSED, PITY SEX, BAD LIARS; 8pm, $5

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Open jazz jam w/ Jason Galbraith & Friends, 8pm Tu, no cover

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MANTRA, MAC RUSS, ADRIAN BOURGEOIS; 1pm, no cover

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A new study has found that medical-marijuana laws do not cause a rise in teen marijuana use—and, in fact, teen use drops when new pot laws hit the books. by David Downs Researchers D. Mark Anderson, Benjamin Hansen and Daniel I. Rees, working with funds from the Institute for the Study of Labor in Europe, published their findings as a discussion paper in May. The team looked at national and state surveys of teen drug use from 1993 onward, and estimated the relationship between medical-marijuana laws and teen-marijuana use. They found that the results were not consistent with allegations made by the U.S. government and others that medical-marijuana legislation—also called MML, laws regulating or legalizing medical cannabis—was leading to more kids using pot. First of all, kids used pot well before there was medical marijuana: Though it’s been around for thousands of years and use peaked in the ’70s, for decades about 71 percent of teens have consistently said that weed was easy or somewhat easy to get. Two studies, from 2011 and 2012, tried to directly correlate medical-pot laws with teen use. The 2011 study found teen marijuana use higher in states that had medical-pot laws, but the study noted that “in the years prior to MML passage, there was already a higher prevalence of use and lower perceptions of risk.” Conversely, the 2012 study found “that legalization was associated with a small reduction in rate of mari“Several of our estimates the juana use among suggest that marijuana 12- through 17-year-olds.” use actually declined with In this study, researchers looked the passage of [medical- at youth behavior marijuana legislation].” surveys from 1993 to 2009 in new study on teens and marijuana 13 states that had legal medical pot, finding that “the legalization of medical marijuana was not accompanied by increases in the use of marijuana or other substances such as alcohol and cocaine among high-school students. “Interestingly, several of our estimates suggest that marijuana use actually declined with the passage of MMLs.” The researchers then double-checked their findings using other survey sources, adding: “Legalization of medical marijuana is associated with a 7.4 percentage point decrease in the probability of marijuana use within the past 30 days, and a 4.4 percentage point decrease in the probability of frequent use.” Researchers note their findings directly contradict the demonization of medical marijuana by U.S. attorneys in California and other hardened drug warriors. The study states: “Our results are not consistent with the hypothesis that the legalization of medical marijuana caused an increase in the use of marijuana and other substances among high-school students. In fact, estimates from our preferred specifications are consistently negative and are never statistically distinguishable from zero.” Ω

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Facing Lavender Heights Q&A with Terry Sidie With only 38 percent of potential voters showing up to vote in the primary election, what do you think makes so many people disengaged? The low turnout is really sad. I don’t understand why people think their vote doesn’t matter. Your vote can make a difference! The person I backed for city council won by a margin of only several hundred votes! I believe Steven Hansen will be a great representative for the LGBT community and residents of this district. People need to understand that one vote can change things in a positive way! Do you think the low turnout stems from a lack of interest from our youth? You know, in the era I come from, we were so poor it gave us the desire to strive to do better. The people from my generation wanted to give their children anything and everything they wanted so their lives were easier than ours. Do we eventually reach a point where people lose that “edge” because they already have everything they want and need? People are so consumed by technology, their social life and the accumulation of stuff. They seem to have lost that “something”. [What do you think that something is and how do we get it back?] First of all, the “something” is a drive. Growing up in post-Depression America, we ate mush and didn’t have many of the things we have today. We’ve reached the point with today’s youth where one has to ask “Why work for something if someone is just going to give it to you anyway?” Thank you politicians for feeding the entitlement mentality! How do we reinvigorate the younger generation to make them care? I think we have to take away some entitlements so people can learn to help themselves. Governor Brown’s new budget may address some of this, but it only scratches the surface. Unfortunately, unions are tasked with trying to get their members everything they can. This is the entitlement mentality that I am talking about. Even police, firefighters, CHP and other first responders seem to feel they are entitled to money we don’t really have. In business, we are required to make profit and pay for everything we consume. Public sector employees are necessary and work hard — no question about that — but they simply cannot continue to take and take when we have nothing to give. My 91-year-old friend loves to argue with me about this. She says unions have made life better for so many people and she is right. But, at some point, the scare tactics used by the Sheriff’s department and others to keep jobs and benefits we can’t pay for are excessive. Eventually, the piper gets paid. If politicians change their approach to campaigning and collecting voters’ opinions to incorporate more modern technology they could draw more youth interest? Are politicians really trying to reach out to people or are they just “being politicians”? Technology can be a great mechanism for politicians to reach out, but they often spend so much money that they find themselves deeply in debt once they reach office. This does not help! An online voting system, properly tested and secured, would definitely be an improvement. I don’t know how we will get to this, but Mohammed must go to the mountain, not the other way around. People live and work online. Whatever it takes to get people to vote is what matters here. What do you hope will change in the government with new people flowing into it and what specific issues are you hoping to see addressed in Midtown? I am very excited with all the new people coming into government and the new ideas and energy they bring. Mayor Johnson, for example wants good things for this city. I do disagree with the concept of a “strong mayor”. We have an excellent and strong city manager and I don’t understand the dynamic or need to create another strong position. In the meantime, Midtown and Lavender Heights seem to be doing fairly well, but I hate seeing businesses in our area continue to close. In the past few months alone, five restaurants have closed. We need to make it easier for people to keep their businesses going! Should small businesses have to compete with the city, county and state to stay alive? The city, county and state have employees and other cots, therefore they do need money to operate. When they spend that money, I wish they spent more here. It seems like every time these agencies get into a financial pickle they tax small businesses first and pile user fees and other “permits” on us to the point where we have difficulty paying our own employees. Higher fire and police permits, increased parking fines, city and state sales tax increases...where does it end? Small business needs to be able to breathe if these agencies expect us to survive and continue supporting their budgets. It needs to be reasonable not burdensome. What would be a better use of the city and county’s money and resources? It would be nice if they did more to help us. For example, in raising the sales tax to cover programs like the city’s “e-team,” which checks on local bars, restaurants and entertainment venues, we are forced to pay for a program that seems to play more restrictions on operating a business while the gang unit remains woefully underfunded. Put the police where they help us. I’ve always worked to keep relations good between Midtown business, residents and others. People like me can make positive contributions to this. But police are needed when gang activity and crime become the issue. They need to focus here. 20th & K St • (916)448-7798 • www.Faces.net • facebook.com/facespage 56 | SN&R | 06.28.12

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FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 28, 2012

ARIES (March 21-April 19): If you play

solitaire, your luck will be crazy strong in the coming weeks. If you have candid, wideranging talks with yourself in the mirror, the revelations are likely to be as interesting as if you had spoken directly with the river god or the angel of the sunrise. Taking long walks alone could lead to useful surprises, and so would crafting a new declaration of independence for yourself. It’ll also be an excellent time to expand your skills at giving yourself pleasure. Please understand that I’m not advising you to be isolated and lonely. I merely want to emphasize the point that you’re due for some breakthroughs in your relationship with yourself.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Are you in

possession of a talent or interest or inclination or desire that no one else has? Is there some unique way you express what it means to be human? According to my understanding of the long-term astrological omens, the coming months will be your time to cultivate this specialty with unprecedented intensity; it’ll be a window of opportunity to be more practical than ever before in making your signature mark on the world. Between now and your next birthday, I urge you to be persistent in celebrating the one-of-a-kind truth that is your individuality.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Message in

a bottle” is not just a pirate-movie cliché. It’s a form of communication that has been used throughout history for serious purposes. England’s Queen Elizabeth I even appointed an official “Uncorker of Ocean Bottles.” And as recently as 2005, a message in a bottle saved the lives of 88 refugees adrift in the Caribbean Sea on a damaged boat. Glass, it turns out, is an excellent container for carrying sea-born dispatches. It lasts a long time and can even survive hurricanes. In accordance with the astrological omens, I nominate “message in a bottle” to be your metaphor for the rest of 2012. Here’s one way to apply this theme: Create a message you’d like to send to the person you will be in five years, perhaps a declaration of what your highest aspirations will be between now and then. Write it on paper and stash it in a bottle. Store this time capsule in a place you won’t forget, and open it in 2017.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Every 10,000

years or so, reports the Weekly World News, hell actually does freeze over. A rare storm brings a massive amount of snow and ice to the infernal regions, and even the Lake of Fire looks like a glacier. “Satan himself was seen wearing earmuffs and making a snowman,” the story says about the last time it happened. I foresee a hell-freezesover type of event happening for you in the coming months, Cancerian—and I mean that in a good way. The seemingly impossible will become possible; what’s lost will be found and what’s bent will be made straight; the lion will lie down not only with the lamb but also with the sasquatch. For best results, be ready to shed your expectations at a moment’s notice.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “In purely spiritual

matters, God grants all desires,” said philosopher and activist Simone Weil. “Those who have less have asked for less.” I think this is a worthy hypothesis for you to try out in the next nine months, Leo. To be clear: It doesn’t necessarily mean you will get a dream job and perfect lover and $10 million. (Although I’m not ruling that out.) What it does suggest is this: You can have any relationship with the Divine Wow that you dare to imagine; you can get all the grace you need to understand why your life is the way it is; you can make tremendous progress as you do the lifelong work of liberating yourself from your suffering.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): A plain old

ordinary leap of faith might not be ambitious enough for you in the coming months, Virgo. I suspect your potential is more robust than that, more primed for audacity. How would you feel about attempting a quantum leap of faith? Here’s what I mean by that: a soaring pirouette that sends you flying over the nagging obstacle and up onto higher ground, where the views are breathtakingly vast instead of gruntingly half-vast.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “The dream

which is not fed with dream disappears,” said writer Antonio Porchia. Ain’t that the truth! Especially for you right now. These last few months, you’ve been pretty good at attending to the details of your big dreams. You’ve taken the practical approach and done the hard work. But beginning any moment, it will be time for you to refresh your big dreams with an infusion of fantasies and brainstorms. You need to return to the source of your excitement and feed it and feed it and feed it.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A Chinese

businessman named Hu Xilin is the champion fly killer of the world. Ever since one of the buzzing pests offended him at the dinner table back in 1997, he has made it his mission to fight back. He says he has exterminated more than 10 million of the enemy with his patented “Fly Slayer” machine. And oh by the way, his obsession has made him a millionaire. It’s possible, Scorpio, that your story during the second half of 2012 will have elements in common with Hu Xilin’s. Is there any bad influence you could work to minimize or undo in such a way that it might ultimately earn you perks and prizes—or at least deep satisfaction?

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

From the 14th through the 18th centuries, many towns in England observed a curious custom. If a couple could prove that they had gone a year and a day without ever once being sorry they got married, the two of them would receive an award: a side of cured pork, known as a flitch of bacon. Alas, the prize was rarely claimed. If this practice were still in effect, you Sagittarians would have an elevated chance of bringing home the bacon in the coming months. Your ability to create harmony and mutual respect in an intimate relationship will be much higher than usual.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “If I

had my life to live over,” said Nadine Stair at age 85, “I would perhaps have more actual problems, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.” I suggest you write out that quote, Capricorn, and keep it close to you for the next six months. Your task, as I see it, will be to train yourself so you can expertly distinguish actual problems from imaginary ones. Part of your work, of course, will be to get in the habit of immediately ejecting any of the imaginary kind the moment you notice them creeping up on you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Astronomer Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was instrumental in laying the groundwork that led to the discovery of Pluto. He was a visionary pioneer who helped change our conception of the solar system. But he also put forth a wacky notion or two. Among the most notable: He declared, against a great deal of contrary evidence, that the planet Mars was laced with canals. You have the potential be a bit like him in the coming months, Aquarius: mostly a wellspring of innovation but sometimes a source of errant theories. What can you do to ensure that the errant theories have minimal effect? Be humble and ask for feedback.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Throughout

the 16th century and even beyond, European explorers trekked through the New World hunting for the mythical land of El Dorado: the Lost City of Gold. The precious metal was supposedly so abundant there that it was even used to make children’s toys. The quest was ultimately futile, although it led the explorers to stumble upon lesser treasures of practical value— the potato, for example. After being brought over to Europe from South America, it became a staple food. I’m foreseeing a comparable progression in your own world during the coming months: You may not locate the gold, but you’ll find the equivalent of the potato.

You can call Rob Brezsny for your Expanded Weekly Horoscope: (900) 950-7700. $1.99 per minute. Must be 18 or older. Touchtone phone required. Customer service (612) 373-9785. And don’t forget to check out Rob’s website at www.realastrology.com.

15 MINUTES

FRONTLINES

FEATURE

BUIS

Fire sales Thursday, June 28, is circled on many nonprofit groups’ calendars as the beginning of a major fundraising push in fireworks sales. It’s also the beginning of a busy week for TNT Fireworks area manager Aaron Crawford. The third-generation salesman is TNT’s liaison to groups from northern Sacramento County all the way to Oroville. The season is not all whistles and crackles for Crawford, however. He spends his Fourth of July holidays on the road, making sure everything is running smoothly through a large swath of the Sacramento Valley.

How did you get here? I’m third-generation at this. My grandfather started as a nonprofit stand manager in 1958. Four years later he started as a sales rep in the Bay Area. My father followed after him working during the summers in high school and became a sales associate. I started as a little kid working a little bit, but I started working more summers, went to college, stayed on when I graduated and moved up.

What are some of the big changes in fireworks you’ve seen? There are different chemicals now and different colors. [They’re] a lot more vibrant than they were 10 to 15 years ago when everything was a lot of silver, gold and white light. Now you’ve got reds and yellows. We’re starting to see more blues and some pinks. … There’s been a shift away from whistles and toward crackles, but I’m sure that will come back around in a couple of years.

Mostly you’re working with nonprofits? We work 51 weeks a year working with our groups, working with local and state agencies. … With a high-school booster group, the kids graduate and the parents move on, and you train a new set of volunteers … and ensure that it will be a smooth and easy transition for them.

What do you do on the Fourth of July?

probably 3,000 to 5,000 pieces of fireworks each year, and every once in a while you’ll get an item … you wait and make sure it’s out, and you walk up to it, and you go, “Whoop, I gotta step back.”

I’ve heard people suggesting ways to modify fireworks. My favorite is pinching off a Piccolo Petes to make it explode.

On a normal Fourth of July, I’ll be at work at 6 a.m., travel to six or seven counties making sure my nonprofit organizations are finishing up well and head home at about 1 or 2 in the morning. On those normal years I don’t usually get to light off fireworks because my neighbors really don’t appreciate me lighting fireworks when I get home. Last year, for the first time in about 15 years, I actually shot off fireworks on the Fourth of July. I got off work at about 6 p.m. and had my little stash and went with a bunch of neighborhood families and friends and celebrated for about three hours. It was absolutely fantastic.

You know that doesn’t work anymore? We hear the stories like everyone else, and we do background to mitigate anybody modifying our product. I’d suggest if you try to do it, you’ll split the sides of the fountain, making it improbable to get them to go off incorrectly. There’s another thing where they’ve tried to pour out composition to make a bigger item, but there is composition in there besides the pyrotechnics—basically a silica—to make sure it doesn’t do that.

What is the most dangerous fireworks situation you can recall?

Yeah, crimping doesn’t work, and modifying by pouring out the composition doesn’t work anymore. … You never really want to modify anything. It’s a felony. You’re breaking the law the moment you take it out of its intended packaging. The state fire marshal really doesn’t like that, and they’re very

This is going to sound really boring, because there hasn’t been much of anything. I shoot BEFORE

by KYLE

PHOTO BY TARAS GARCIA

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

STORY

A RT S & C U LT U R E

There’s something in there to keep you from doubling your pleasure?

AFTER

good at prosecuting those folks. A lot of times though, it just doesn’t work.

Have you noticed an impact from the recession? We’re noticing a lot of the government organizations we work with—state and local— have been stripped to the absolute bone. They have no way to help the nonprofit groups like they had in the past. The nonprofit groups have had funding from communities dwindle, so they’ve had to be very creative with how they fundraise and how they use their money. They are definitely in need. It’s across the board. These nonprofits are the ones that are out there at the frontlines helping our communities get back on their feet, and they are struggling themselves. Any dollar we can help them raise, we’d love to do it.

Tell me about Senate Bill 1468. It’s a fantastic Senate bill. It passed the Senate 37-0, and it’s sitting in the Assembly the last time I heard about it. We’re hoping they see their way through to passing it, and in 2014, we’ll be able to sell fireworks in the New Year’s season and give the community the ability to celebrate legally with fireworks. It’s exciting. Ω

06.28.12

SN&R