S 2014 05 01

Page 1

Child-Custody

payment hell see news, page 11

Banning panhandling see news, page 13

The

new, worse

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She’S the boSS see 15 minutes, page 59

last week to

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see College essay Contest, page 39 see opinion, page 17

Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

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Volume 26, iSSue 02

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thurSday, may 1, 2014


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SN&R   |  05.01.14


building a

HealtHy S a c r a m e n t o

Poetry in Motion by M i k e b lo u n t

B

ecoming a published author in high school is no easy task. But a group of Oak Park boys are aiming to put together a book of original poems by the end of the year with a little help from local organizers and the nonprofit 916 Ink. At the Brick House Art Gallery in South Sacramento last month, a workshop called MIC’ed Up (Men Igniting Consciousness) brought together a group of young men of color to learn about the urban expression of poetry — from hip-hop lyrics to spoken word. The event was sponsored by 916 Ink, a nonprofit literacy advocate for teens funded by the Building Healthy Communities grant of The California Endowment. Organizer Marichal J. Brown says the idea was to expose young men of color in Oak Park to the creative process of expressing themselves. For aspiring young writers like 15-year-old Malcolm Anderson, the workshop was an opportunity to network with other writers his age and create something of his own. “I have been writing since I was 5 years old,” Malcom says. “I would always listen to hiphop songs that my older sisters would play, and when I was a child, I liked how it rhymed. But as I got older, I started realizing there was more than that. They’re talking about stuff that’s happening in the world around them or where they came from. They’re storytellers.”

Malcolm says he was attracted to the event because he wanted to learn more about the history of urban poetry and hip-hop.

so many times with just the stroke of a pen. Being literate is the key to being successful in today’s society.”

“When you take away the beat in a hip hop song, what you have is poetry,” Malcolm says. “I think it’s important for people to be able to express themselves, and in some cases, I think it may even save lives. It gives people a positive way to talk about how they feel and share that with others.”

Marichal says he’s planning another MIC’ed Up event soon and he hopes to open it up to even more youth. For more information on MIC’ed Up and future events, visit the Brick House Art Gallery Facebook page at www.facebook.com/brick.house.146.

BuIldIng HEalTHy COmmunITIES In 2010, The California Endowment launched a 10-year, $1 billion plan to improve the health of 14 challenged communities across the state. Over the 10 years, residents, community-based organizations and public institutions will work together to address the socioeconomic and environmental challenges contributing to the poor health of their communities.

left to right: Vincent Kobelt poses with malcolm anderson and marichal Brown at the Brick House art gallery. Photo by louise mitchell

“the world has been changed so many times with just the stroke of a pen” marichal J. Brown, mIC’ed up organizer Marichal agrees. With his own background in music and poetry, Marichal believes that creative expression is also important to being successful. He says MIC’ed Up is about giving young men of color the confidence to do whatever it is they want to do in life. He hopes that by becoming published authors, they will realize that anything is possible if they put their mind to it. “Whether it’s hip-hop or writing or poetry that brought them here, the one thing we wanted to get across is that words can be powerful,” Marichal says. “The world has been changed

your ZiP code shouldn’t predict how long you’ll live – but it does. Staying healthy requires much more than doctors and diets. Every day, our surroundings and activities affect how long – and how well – we’ll live. Health Happens in neighborhoods. Health Happens in Schools. Health Happens with Prevention.

www.SacBHC.org

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A game changer It would seem Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling are cut from the same horrible piece of cloth. But there’s a difference between the Nevada rancher and the billionaire Los Angeles Clippers owner—one that reminds why this country’s deep-seated racism and bigotry remain pervasive and problematic. Both Bundy and Sterling were recorded making hateful comments— the latter caught on tape making racist remarks about black people, including Magic Johnson—but Sterling’s have far greater reach and impact. It’s not the first time Sterling’s faced such accusations—or worse. In 2009, former Clippers manager Elgin Baylor sued Sterling, alleging wrongful termination based on age and race. That same year, the Department of Justice ordered Sterling to pay a $2.72 million settlement in a racebased housing-discrimination case. Despite this, Sterling’s had little difficulty remaining in power. That’s the difference between him and Bundy. Both men are ignorant and mulishly backward. But unlike Bundy—who is, ultimately, a nobody—Sterling long enjoyed a position of considerable influence. That’s no longer acceptable. Mayor Kevin Johnson, also chairman of the National Basketball Players Association’s executive committee, put it this way in an April 28 Facebook post: “[H]ow we choose to deal with … Sterling will absolutely be a defining moment in the NBA.” On Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced Sterling was “banned for life” from the league. In addition, he declared his intent to force the sale of the team. The NBA made the right move. The only possible move. This is bigger than sports. If we want to change the conversation, then we must change the game and shift the balance of power.

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NEWS

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STREETALK LETTERS NEWS OPINION + bites FEATuRE STORy ARTS&CuLTuRE NIgHT&DAy DISH ASK JOEy STAgE FILM MuSIC + sound Advice THE 420 15 MINuTES

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Kel Munger, Kate Paloy, Jessica Rine, Patti Roberts, Ann Martin Rolke, Steph Rodriguez Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Junior Art Director Brian Breneman Designers Serene Lusano, Kyle Shine, Skyler Smith Contributing Photographers Lisa Baetz, Steven Chea, Wes Davis, Ryan Donahue, Taras Garcia, Lovelle Harris, Shoka

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.

Director of Advertising and Sales Rick Brown Senior Advertising Consultants Rosemarie Messina, Joy Webber Advertising Consultants Joseph Barcelon, Meghan Bingen, Teri Gorman, Dusty Hamilton, Dave Nettles, Lee Roberts, Julie Sherry, Stephen Swanson, Kelsi White Senior Inside Sales Consultant Olla Ubay Ad Services Specialist Melissa Bernard Director of Et Cetera Will Niespodzinski Custom Publications Editor Michelle Carl Custom Publications Managing Editor Shannon Springmeyer

Co-editors Rachel Leibrock, Nick Miller Staff Writers Janelle Bitker, Raheem F. Hosseini Copy Editor Shoka Shafiee Entertainment Editor Jonathan Mendick Editorial Coordinator Becca Costello Contributing Editor Cosmo Garvin Editor-at-large Melinda Welsh Contributors Ngaio Bealum, Daniel Barnes, Rob Brezsny, Cody Drabble, Joey Garcia, Blake Gillespie, Becky Grunewald, Mark Halverson, Jeff Hudson, Jim Lane, Greg Lucas, Garrett McCord,

rac hell@ n ews r ev i ew . com

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07 09 11 14 18 24 27 29 33 34 36 40 49 59

COVER dEsign BY BRiAn BREnEMAn

—Rachel Leibrock

BEFORE

May 1, 2014 | vol. 26, issue 02

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Custom Publications Writer/Copy Editor Mike Blount Executive Coordinator Jessica Takehara Directors of First Impressions Alicia Brimhall, Matt Kjar Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Services Assistant Larry Schubert Distribution Drivers Mansour Aghdam, Daniel Bowen, Russell Brown, Nina Castro, Jack Clifford, Lydia Comer, John Cunningham, Lob Dunnica, Chris Fong, Ron Forsberg, Joanna Gonzalez-Brown, Aaron Harvey, Wayne Hopkins, Brenda Hundley, Greg Meyers, Kenneth Powell, Wendell Powell, Lloyd Rongley, Duane Secco, Lolu Sholotan, Jack Thorne President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resources Manager Tanja Poley Human Resources Intern Courtney DeShields Business Manager Grant Rosenquist Accounting Specialists Renee Briscoe, Tami Sandoval Accounts Receivable Specialist Nicole Jackson Business Intern Allison Hill Lead Technology Synthesist Jonathan Schultz Senior Support Tech Joe Kakacek

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Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95815 Phone (916) 498-1234 Sales Fax (916) 498-7910 Editorial Fax (916) 498-7920 Website www.newsreview.com SN&R is printed by The Paradise Post using recycled newsprint whenever available. 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. 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.

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I started reading Game of Thrones. I have read the first two, and so I am now starting the third one. I love the books. I also have been watching the shows on TV, and the timing is different. It can get a little bit confusing for what has and hasn’t happened. I am enjoying it very much.

I was looking for Elizabeth George. She is a mystery [writer]. I like fiction. I also work with the library literacy program. I was picking up some stuff I felt my student would enjoy. I am a volunteer with the library, and the program covers 250 locations.

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I am mostly reading my textbook for my real-estate and finance majors, Business Geography and New Real Estate [Market] Analysis. This is my last semester. Once I finish my semester at Sac State, I have a book called Thinking, Fast and Slow, which is my enjoyable reading.

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I read two books a week. This is the last book to the True Blood [series], and I went ahead and decided to read it, because it is different from the [TV] series. Just like Walking Dead, the comic book is different from the series.

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Re “Our hit parade� (SN&R Music, April 24): I thought there were some good choices here. Not that anyone asked, but here are my top three. No. 1: Tales of Terror. Without question, the most important Sacramento band ever. (And, yeah, I know they letter of are older than 25 years, but your writers didn’t seem the week to pay attention to the rules, either!) No. 2: the Trouble Makers. Single-handedly keeping garage music alive! No. 3: the Decibels. One of the greatest power-pop bands to ever grace the planet. Honorable mentions to Sex 66, Pretty Girls, ’58 Fury. Skid Jones

We s t S a c ra m e nt o

Re “It’s the big 25â€? (SN&R Feature Story, April 24): Year 2039: Mayor Sonny Mayugba dedicates a memorial to the victims of the flood of ’27. The devastated Natomas basin is rededicated to prime farmland and clean-energy facilities. Vehicles and bikes are communal and available freely. Former freeways are lined with organic gardens. The Sacramento River is developed with waterfront businesses. The American River Parkway is still wild. Ground is broken on the new Sacramento Kings arena project at the undeveloped McKinley Village site. The outdated Kings Palace Arena downtown is transformed into a public high school. Abandoned big-box shopping centers serve as entertainment zones. Women begin to have their stiletto-heel implants removed. A youth trend of “skinstersâ€? refuse to associate with or hire anyone who has tattoos. NestlĂŠ Dam is raised to hold more water. Another generation of self-styled “engaged, intelligent and selflessâ€? newcomers arrives, claiming they aren’t “jaded by decades of the nothingness,â€? while “Sacramento spent a generation in stagnation.â€? Marion Millin Sacramento

Downtown needs safer bike infrastructure Re “Letters for April 24, 2014� (SN&R Letters, April 24) and “Biketopia?� by Alastair Bland (SN&R Feature Story, April 17): I enjoyed the Letters that responded to the excellent April 17 bicycling cover story. To hear writers Paul Berger, Paul Henderson and Doug Morgan tell it, all you need to find bicycling downtown fun, easy and safe is to be a nonwussie cyclist with hundreds of thousands of miles in the saddle or years of experience biking downtown. My own credentials BEFORE

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are less, but I’m nonetheless comfortable kicking cabs and staring down Subarus to assert my right to a bike-sized space of roadway. I used to think as they do, but no longer. I’ve met too many people who find downtown’s streets too chaotic and frightening for them to build up that confidence. My mother is one—even after taking a six-hour bicycling course, the traffic around her apartment near the Amtrak station is too hectic for her to take her rightful legal place on the street when she wants to bike elsewhere. We’ll do every prospective rider (and traffic overall) a great service by building some useful and encouraging bike infrastructure downtown. We might even satisfy letter writer Tom McDowell as more legal options for bicyclists will curb the bad behavior seen from riders responding rationally to roads that don’t accommodate them. Ryan Sharpe Sacramento

Cleaner streets for bicyclists Re “Biketopia?� by Alastair Bland (SN&R Feature Story, April 17): Thank you for the informative cover story regarding two-wheeling in Sactown. While the article addressed many of the issues relating to needs for cyclists in our city, the subject of maintenance of existing bicycle infrastructure was overlooked. Commuting from downtown Sac to Roseville via Roseville Road five days a week results in at least one flat a week (on a good one). The Folsom Boulevard route to Rancho Cordova is not much better. Street sweeping is much needed to remove nails, broken glass, scrap lumber and other tire-shredding objects. If the funds could be found to correct this problem, long-distance commuting would be a more pleasant experience. Ride safe. Michael Kellogg via email |

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The new new arena deal See BITES

Child-support spiral Alarming government interest rates   make it less likely for Sacramento’s   low-income parents to receive payments Brian Scott Aduca and Aaron Glen Metcalf admit they weren’t the most responsible fathers, even before they got locked up for smallby time crimes. Both were ordered to pay Raheem F. Hosseini child support by Sacramento County, then watched their respective payment obligara h e emh@ tions balloon while behind bars. newsr evie w.c om The courts ordered Metcalf to pay down an $8,000 principal in 2008, the same year he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of battery on a spouse or cohabitant. A 10-percent interest rate shot that amount past $28,000 over the next few years. When Aduca last exited custody, after serving a 45-day jail bit for drug violation in August 2013, his debt had reached $189,000. “Man, I’m going to die with this bill,” he said. “So screw it.” Aduca and Metcalf are like many of the 53,563 people who owed some form of child support in Sacramento County as of February 28. Their own personal missteps, as well as a system that penalizes the poor, nearly convinced them to give up on their families.“I was like, ‘Who cares?’” Metcalf said. “I never thought that I’d have the resources at my hand.” It took the persistence of one local childsupport officer, and a casual conversation between two county-employee brothers, to turn this particular tale around, but not all stories end this well. When it comes to the poorest families, the state government keeps most childsupport money for itself, often disincentivizing parents from pursuing claims or paying them. It also charges the poor a larger portion of their incomes than the rich. According to the state’s child-support calculator, a noncustodial parent earning $200,000 a year with one child and an ex with no income would have to pay 12 percent of their salary into the system. Under the same circumstances, someone making minimum wage would have to pay 16.5 percent, even as that money is less likely to reach the child. When parents don’t pay, the government keeps tacking on interest, regardless of the circumstances. It also suspends any state-issued license, which can imperil employment and—in cases of driving on a suspended license—land someone in jail, where the interest keeps climbing. Fall far enough behind, and a parent could owe the state for the rest of his or her life. “It hits lower-income noncustodial parents harder than it hits higher-income noncustodial parents,” acknowledged BEFORE

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Sacramento County Department of Child Support Services director Terrie E. Hardy-Porter. Local agencies like hers patrol a murky territory between state mandates and the realities that lower-income parents face. “We’re not anybody’s advocate,” she added. “We’re the conduit.” Through the current fiscal year, which runs through June, internal county figures show that only 29 percent had fully complied with their monthly obligations, which average $378.50. Another 44 percent partially complied, meaning they paid at least once during the past fiscal year. That leaves about 7,132 individuals who didn’t pay any child support to the county. As for the 27,147 who owe arrears— the legal term for past-due amounts— 56 percent made at least one courtordered payment in the past fiscal year. Of the approximately $111 million that Sacramento County’s child-support agency collected during the previous fiscal year, in 2012-2013, a quarter of that money went into reimbursing the system. Parents receiving federal aid get only a maximum of $50 a month, and 80 percent of child-support recipients in the county are either on aid or used to be, DCSS figures show.

When it comes to the poorest families, the state government keeps most child-support money for itself. “There’s no incentive to work with us, but to receive aid, you have to work with us,” Hardy-Porter explained. The Western Center on Law and Poverty is trying to iron out that last wrinkle. It’s carrying Assembly Bill 1654, which would increase the pass-through amount to custodial parents on welfare, said legislative advocate Mike Herald. The federal child-support system did something similar in 2006, he added, but California has lagged behind. “We know that when noncustodial parents know the child support goes to the children that they are more likely to pay, and pay more,” he said. That’s just one of several legislative fixes the center is pursuing to relax the STORY

Photo courtesy of Brian scott aduca

12

Banning begging

Brian Scott Aduca (left) and Aaron Glen Metcalf almost gave up on their child-support obligations after accumulating thousands in interest, but are now paying off their debt with help from Sacramento County.

burden on poverty-stricken parents who soak up debt to the state when they’re unable to pay, added legislative advocate Jessica Bartholow. Short of a political deus ex machina, however, Sacramento County agencies are looking inside their ranks to swap sticks for carrots—and sometimes within their own families. For instance, it was during a conversation between DCSS assistant director Donald Semon and his brother, David, an assistant division probation chief, that the two learned they could help each other. DCSS was having trouble tracking down formerly incarcerated nonpayers, while probation wanted a way to incentivize positive choices among those re-entering society. An agreement between the two agencies was hatched: Probation now shares its offender data with DCSS, while the latter has agreed to lift its hold on driver’s licenses for probation clients who commit to paying down their debts. This allows offenders to take GED tests and job-training courses through probation, and accept jobs they wouldn’t otherwise be able to. Which is what Aduca and Metcalf did. But with nonstop interest rates, the two roommates were still destined to a lifetime of debt. Then, both men met DCSS officer Karin Bailey, who helped them qualify for

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what’s called the Compromise of Arrears Program. It winds back the interest-rate clock until payers owe a sensible amount with an end date in site. Sometimes that happens by making a lump-sum payment of a few thousand dollars. For cash-strapped dads Aduca and Metcalf, it meant paying $50 a month for an extended period of time to prove they were serious about meeting their paternal obligations. When Bailey finally called Aduca to tell him $100,000 had been knocked off his debt, tears welled up in the man’s eyes. “I couldn’t believe this,” he said. Aduca is now paying $147 a month, while Bailey works to get his total down to $5,500. Metcalf has a little more than $3,000 to pay off over three years. “That wasn’t attainable on our own,” Aduca said. He recently landed a well-paying job as a forklift operator and has contacted his daughter through Facebook. Metcalf is working, too, and enrolled through probation in the Northern California Construction Training program. Both say they’re happy they’re finally able to support their families. “We have something to fight for now,” Aduca said. “There’s that light,” nodded Metcalf. “It’s really kind of inspirational. … People got your back. All you got to do is fight for it.” Ω

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The district submitted a proposal in early March to discontinue the outflow from its facility into Deer Creek and, instead, send the treated water to residents and businesses in its service district for landscaping use. According to a February 26 story in the Mountain Democrat, much of the demand is coming from “Serrano Golf Course and subdivisions along Latrobe Road.” The stream currently flows at about 1.2 million gallons per day, with slightly less than half of that flow produced by natural sources. Historically, the stream ran dry in the summer. If the water district’s proposal is granted, the stream would revert to its former

ephemeral nature, and the wildlife habitat that now depends on its full flow would wither and die, opponents to the water district’s proposal warn. “Our wells will dry up, the wildlife that lives here will die or go away, and for what—to water a stupid golf course that only rich people can go to?” Motz said. Robert Mitchell, a neighbor of Motz, says wildlife, including otters and ducks and bobcats and mountain lions, currently reside in the riparian habitat along the stream. “Some will probably move away,” Mitchell said. “The rest will die.” A meeting between the water district and residents along Deer Creek to discuss the matter was scheduled for last Friday. However, it was abruptly called off by the district on short notice, according to Motz. She said she believes the meeting was canceled after a reporter learned about it, but the district’s deputy general council Brian Poulsen declined to comment. In an earlier interview, Poulsen told SN&R that residents and wildlife are as much a priority for the water district as is supplying the needs of urban landscapers in its service area. These, Poulsen says, include the Serrano Country Club golf course. “It’s a balancing act,” he said. The matter now lies in the hands of the State Water Resources Control Board, which is working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess how reducing the outflow might impact the environment and residents along the stream. The department has suggested temporarily reducing Deer Creek to less than half-amillion gallons per day for a period of as long as a year and study the impacts. “If we find that the reduced outflow doesn’t cause unreasonable harm to the riparian corridor along the stream, then hopefully we can consider making the reduction permanent,” Poulsen said. Which is what Motz and her neighbors downstream fear: “If we lose that water, we’re never getting it back.” Ω


Begging to get locked up

BEATS

Sacramento County politicians eye panhandling crackdown

PHOTO BY DEEEPBLUE/iSTOCK/THiNKSTOCK

Characterizing panhandlers as nuisances who cause traffic accidents and use kids to engender sympathy, Sacramento by County leaders moved to eradicate Raheem F. Hosseini their presence last Tuesday. A new ordinance due for a final ra heemh@ vote on May 13 aims to chase panhannewsre view.c om dlers from their chosen spots near traffic medians, bus stops, ATMs, grocery stores and other businesses. These new rules would also allow law enforcement to arrest panhandlers without a witness or victim statement. Officials say they’re merely trying to rid the county of aggressive solicitation, not eliminate it. But this is already illegal under public-nuisance laws. According to the California Penal Code, anyone who “accosts other persons in any public place … for the purpose of begging or soliciting” is guilty of disorderly conduct, which is a misdemeanor. Sacramento County Capt. Matt Morgan, who commands the sheriff’s department’s north-area division, acknowledged at Sacramento County’s an April 22 board of new panhandling regulations could land supervisors meeting more beggars in jail. that the policy’s intent was to curtail panhandling “even if it is not aggressive.” The ordinance does so, he added, by relieving law enforcement of the need of a credible victim or witness statement to cite or lock up a solicitor. The city of Citrus Heights realized an estimated 85-percent reduction in panhandling in the four years since it leveled a similar ordinance, a county staff report states. The first two violations under the proposed policy would be treated as infractions, requiring an appearance in traffic court, Morgan said. A third infraction within six months of the previous one would be treated as a misdemeanor, potentially subjecting someone to less than a year in jail if prosecuted.

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Prosecution would be at the discretion of the Sacramento County district attorney’s office, he added. If enacted, sheriff’s officers would spend the first 60 days informing both solicitors and the public of the new law. Deputies would hand out fliers similar to ones used in the city of Auburn, which claim that most panhandlers have homes and use the money for drugs and alcohol.

“People panhandle because they are impoverished and have no other alternatives.” Shahera Hyatt director, California Homeless Youth Project Not everyone shares that cynical take. “Homeless or not, people panhandle because they are impoverished and have no other alternatives, a right protected under the First Amendment,” said Shahera Hyatt, director of the California Homeless Youth Project. Hyatt cited a recent survey by the Union Square Business Improvement District in San Francisco, which determined that more than 80 percent of that city’s panhandlers were homeless. “Honestly, I give to homeless people on the street because it’s the only time I can be sure that a dollar I spend will go directly to the person in need,” she added. Hyatt and other homeless advocates plan to oppose the policy’s adoption on May 13, and press for alternative solutions that would stop short of criminalizing the poor, like having a social worker assess panhandlers’ needs and direct them to services. Morgan said deputies would give solicitors pocket guides listing nearby charities where they could seek aid. A “multidisciplinary team” consisting of county staff, law enforcement, DA’s office and legal counsel based its plan on discussions with business associations, as well as local property and business owners. Homeless advocates were not consulted, nor were they present at last week’s hearing. Both Erlenbusch and Hyatt were contacted later.

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Morgan said aggressive panhandling typically fell into the topthree concerns he hears from residents at community meetings. That message was reiterated Tuesday by representatives of three business associations. Fulton Avenue Association executive director Melinda M. Eppler said her area’s “fairly high-end customer base,” especially those patronizing local auto dealers, didn’t want to deal with the nuisance of people hitting them up for money. She also asked supervisors to term the offenders “panhandlers” rather than “solicitors,” lest those gathering signatures in front of Trader Joe’s be targeted. “So we don’t arrest Girl Scouts selling cookies,” quipped Supervisor Susan Peters. Watt Avenue Merchants Association executive director David Kuhnen asked whether prostitution would be considered a form of aggressive solicitation, while a Florin Road Partnership representative wanted the sheriff’s office to work more closely with private security firms already patrolling the area. Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, later pointed out another kind of “aggressive solicitation” that elected officials conveniently forgot. “What about lobbyists?” he said dryly. “Politicians have their hands out all the time.” Panhandling is a protected form of free speech, and laws to curtail it have been knocked down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the past. Morgan believed the county had crafted an ordinance that complied with the First Amendment. Sacramento County cities that have successfully limited panhandling with similar ordinances include Sacramento, Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova and Galt. Ω

Safe Ground shake-up The organization that’s pursuing a 75-cabin village for Sacramento’s most chronically homeless is in the midst of a sweeping leadership shuffle. Safe Ground Sacramento laid off executive director Steve Watters last month, SN&R has confirmed. Watters said he was notified verbally of the decision shortly after he updated his board of directors about his fundraising efforts. “The response was the layoff,” he said. “To be honest, no real reason was given, nor was it in writing.” His dismissal sparked the departures of nearly half of the seven-member executive board: Bob Erlenbusch, Anthony “Amani” Gallardo and Bill Kennedy. The semi-exodus arrives less than three months after Safe Ground realized its most tangible political breakthroughs yet in its six-year quest to create a permanent homeless community. In February, the Sacramento City Council carved out $1 million to put toward yet-to-be announced homeless-fighting strategies. Word came that Councilman Allen Warren was verbally supportive of Safe Ground’s desire to build the transitional camp in his district. It remains to be seen how Safe Ground’s lineup change affects the project or a fundraising goal of roughly $3 million. Watters said his main concern now was ensuring that it didn’t. “My interest remains in seeing the project … succeed,” he said. Noted homeless-rights attorney and Safe Ground board member Mark Merin said the board already reached out to Warren, and doesn’t believe the potential partnership is in danger. “I think he wants to get over this hump of uncertainty,” he said. Warren’s office didn’t return a request for comment before print deadline. Merin described the decision to part ways with Watters as noncontentious and said it came down to the board wanting to concentrate resources on securing land for a Safe Ground village, which didn’t leave much for an executive director’s salary. “We’re focused on getting a development partner,” he said. “Only if you get that is the dream realistic.” Merin didn’t rule out hiring a new executive director in the future, “someone with more development experience … someone to take us there, basically.” Merin intimated that Safe Ground was close to landing a development partner and that both Warren and Councilman Jay Schenirer had expressed tentative support for building the village in north Sacramento’s Redwood Park. Former board chairman Erlenbusch said Watters was making roughly $48,000 annually after taking no salary his first year in the position. He said Watters “was getting much better at fundraising” and called him a “hard, tireless worker.” Gallardo, who is homeless, said Watters was “the best thing to happen to Safe Ground.” Since his departure as board vice president, Gallardo said he’s working more directly with the homeless community through Safe Ground’s Pilgrimage program, which came out of the disbanded Tent City operation in 2009. “I personally left [the board] because it wasn’t the same Safe Ground I joined in 2010,” he said. “It wasn’t the same thing that I was willing to fight for anymore.” Erlenbusch went further, saying he didn’t want to be “part of the dysfunction of the current remaining board.” Erlenbusch runs the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, while Kennedy, who served as the board’s legal counsel, is a managing attorney at Legal Services of Northern California. Safe Ground is one of the organizations spearheading a three-day homeless-rights pilgrimage on city property known as Homeward Stake Down, which begins Thursday, May 1, at 12th and C streets. The “arts and action” campout will feature workshops for homeless youth and women, civil-rights tutorials, music, poetry and art. “It’s a major city event,” Merin said. (Raheem F. Hosseini)

PHOTO BY DEVONYU/iSTOCK/THiNKSTOCK

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A North Highlands advisory committee recommended letting an autobody repair shop erect a 10-foot electric fence along its 2.5-acre property  last month, which exceeds the county’s height standard by 12 inches. The  Sacramento County Planning Commission has final say, but, assuming it’s  allowed, the Roseville Road location will finally have a way to keep out all those  Bigfoots witnessed in the area.

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Getting clipped Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson added  yet another non-Sacramento-related  duty to his busy calendar when he  became the lead advocate for showing  racist Los Angeles Clippers owner  Donald Sterling the door. Working as the  point man for the National Basketball  Players Association, Johnson helped  advance the lifetime ban that NBA  Commissioner Adam Silver announced  Tuesday. Count that as yet another  assist from the former guard.

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Panning the new panhandler rules As Raheem F. Hosseini reports  in this issue (see “Begging to  get locked up,” SN&R News,  page 13) the county’s looking  to crack down even more on  the region’s most desperate  and worse-off residents: the  poor begging for money. We get  that people complain about  panhandling. But is this really  the best solution?

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The latest Kings arena deal might   actually be worse than the old one Last week, City Hall released some details on a revised financing plan for a new Sacramento Kings arena downtown. City Treasurer Russell Fehr called it a “safer, more flexible plan” than the one put together last year. The Sacramento Bee and other daily media reported—without too much analysis—that this is the best arena plan yet. Would you be surprised to learn the numbers viN ar G don’t actually show that? o Sm by Co As with the old plan, the city will kick cosmog@ newsrev iew.c om in $223 million in cash, $32 million-ish in public property that it owns, leases for six new monster digital billboards and all the parking spaces the city currently owns under Downtown Plaza. In order to raise the cash, the city will issue lease revenue bonds, and pay the bonds back with proceeds from the city’s lucrative parking operations. Basically, every time you feed a parking meter or get a parking ticket, you’ll be helping to pay for the arena. According to Fehr’s estimates, the debt service on the bonds will cost the city $21.9 million a year. That’s a lot more than the $9 million in parking “profit” that currently flows to the city’s general fund. However, parking revenue is expected to grow in the future, because the city plans to write more tickets, put in more meters, and raise meter prices and ticket fees. The growth in parking revenue will help pay the bond payments every year. Another portion of the annual debt service will come from the Kings, in the form of an annual lease. The lease payments will start off small, $6.5 million a year, but will grow by 3 percent annually (or by inflation, whichever is higher), starting in 2020. Another $2 million will come from property taxes paid by the Kings on the arena and the other properties that the city gives them. Arena boosters will flip out if you say it, but the difference between the Kings lease and the debt service—that $10 million or so every year—is a hit to the city’s general fund. Because that money would otherwise be available to pay for city services or to make other—possibly smarter—investments. The Kings lease is the main difference between this plan and the last plan. The old plan cobbled together ticket surcharges and a profit sharing (a minimum of $1 million a year) to help “backfill” the city’s parking revenue. We’re also told this deal is better because, under this plan, the city will own the arena and the land underneath it. But the fact is the Kings will operate the arena, keep all the profits, and have the option to buy the arena and land for $1 when their lease is up in 35 years.

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The annual debt service estimated in the new plan, $21.9 million, is also much larger than annual debt service of $17 million estimated in the old plan. That’s because Fehr is assuming a 6.75 percent interest rate—a rate he says is a very conservative estimate. Last year, he conservatively estimated a 5.75 interest rate. A small portion of the rate increase has to do with the difference between taxable and nontaxable bonds. The city had to switch to taxable bonds when the structure of the deal changed. But most of the increase, says Fehr, has to do with rising interest rates and the likely timing of issuing the bonds sometime in the fall. So, yes, the Kings’ contribution is going up. But the city’s yearly bond payments are going up more. Another troublesome point: The Kings lease payment is supposed to be a more stable source of revenue than the earlier profitsharing plan. But if the Kings decided to keep the profit-sharing money and give the city a guaranteed lease payment instead, which one do you think is more valuable?

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Every time you feed a parking meter or get a parking ticket, you’ll be helping pay for the arena. “The Kings paid us a premium to get out of their books,” Fehr explained. Fehr has seen the Kings’ books, and he says giving up profit sharing is a better deal. He notes the Kings have not been very profitable in Sacramento over the years. Bites would counter that the whole point of building the arena with public money is to make the Kings profitable in Sacramento. Otherwise, they’d go somewhere else. And since the Kings now don’t want to show us their books—even though public funds will be directly subsidizing their profits every year—we can’t really tell how much the city is losing by giving up the profit sharing. We’ll have to take their word for it. (Or not.) The good news is that, either way, the new plan appears to be only marginally worse or marginally better than the last plan. Or as The Sacramento Bee would put it: Best. Arena. Deal. Ever. Ω

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Marshall Tuck bucks the establishment Although I have never seen it, I have heard many descriptions of the California Education Code. Often these descriptions include terms usually associated with a case of poison oak, a bad head cold or a termite infestation. But I had the opportunity to change this situation last week, when I met with California state superintendent of public instruction candidate Marshall Tuck in his low-key campaign office on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles. I asked him why he is running. Like an attorney presenting the smoking-gun evidence in a trial, he reached over and handed me the code book. This l by Jeff VonkAene book has more than 2,000 pages. It gives detailed and sometimes contradictory instructions on everything j e ffv @n e wsr e v ie w.c o m including facilities management and working with the school’s labor force. The California Education Code is to education policy what the Winchester Mystery House is to architecture. Instead of adding rooms each year, we add more codes. And then we add The California codes to correct codes. I once Education Code is to asked a principal why she left California for Nevada, where she education policy what made less money. She handed the Winchester Mystery me the Nevada education code House is to architecture. book. It was small. Tuck is an unusual candidate. He has not served in the Legislature. He is not supported by the teachers union or the Democratic establishment. But an unusual candidate may be what we need to reform our troubled education system. Read Marshall As president of Green Dot Public Schools, he organized Tuck’s plan to 10 highly successful charters. The waiting list to get into improve California these schools is so long that they use a lottery system to pick schools at www.marshall students. The Green Dot schools outperformed comparable tuck.com/plan. schools in overall academic achievement. Learn more about After working with Green Dot, he became the CEO of Tom Torlakson at the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a group of 17 public www.tom torlakson.com. schools with 15,000 students. Over the last five years, these schools ranked first in academic improvement among school systems of equivalent size. Tuck believes that real reform is not possible with so much micromanaging from Sacramento. He opposes rules that require those with the least seniority to be fired first during layoffs. And he does not believe that teachers with only two years on the job should receive tenure. Obviously, these stands have not made him popular with the teachers union. Jeff vonkaenel The union has been a major supporter of the incumbent is the president, Tom Torlakson. Torlakson has resisted President Barack CEO and Obama’s eduction reform, turning away millions of dollars in majority owner of the News & Review increased aid. He has been unwilling to challenge the union. newspapers in Our schools need help. California fourth graders rank Sacramento, Chico 47th and 46th, respectively, among 50 states and the District and Reno. of Columbia in reading and math proficiency. Mack wants to get financial help for our schools, to improve the quality of education for our students and is willing to correct the education code in a meaningful way. He deserves your serious consideration. Ω


This Modern World

by tom tomorrow

Friendship is good Recent news reports that Sacramento Loaves & Fishes is planning to replace the currently well-loved, well-used and, admittedly, a bit rundown Friendship Park with a larger and upgraded facility on its property have caused more than a bit of discussion among neighbors. The city and businesses have been working diligently to turn the Township Nine area into the sort of mixed-use hot spot that Midtown and parts of downtown have become. We appreciate the hard work and dedication to revitalizing the near north side and Richards Boulevard areas, but we have a question to ask those who resist any expansion of services for homeless people in the area: Where do you think these people will go if the services aren’t available? Or, more to the point, if service providers in the area aren’t allowed to expand to meet the rising demand for services? We are now five years past the lights and cameras since Oprah Winfrey’s program focused on the homeless in Sacramento and since Safe Ground was formed to seek a way to provide temporary housing and get homeless people off the streets. We are, unfortunately, no closer to a solution. At the very least, Loaves & Fishes offers food, showers, access to services and a safe, clean place to be for people who risk arrest just for sitting down. We support their plans to upgrade Friendship Park. But the real solution? That’s going to be an effective long-term plan to address homelessness in Sacramento, one that local officials and business leaders put their backs into after the cameras have been turned off and the TV personalities have gone home. Ω

Challenge the law to save the environment

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Environmental law needs a democratic makeover. • After nearly 200 years of judicial fiction, Nationwide and locally, Move to Amend is corporations are virtual people with constiby mobilizing support for constitutional amendtutional rights, allowing them to demand Jan Ellen Rein ments to curb unregulated campaign spending compensation from communities that prohibit and and eliminate corporate personhood. These eco-devastating practices. Mark Dempsey amendments let communities curb polluters in • The law treats nature and ecosystems as ways they now cannot. exploitable private property that owners can Jan ellen rein Far from stopping eco-devastating practices, damage and destroy. is a retired law traditional regulatory management permits professor. A new strategy is available. At the grassthem. After more than four decades of enviMark dempsey roots level, use municipal ordinances and ronmental activism, the environment is in far is a technical writer. ballot initiatives to model a system that legalBoth are members of worse shape. sacramento’s Move to According to the Community Environmental izes sustainability. Aided by CELDF, many Amend organization. Legal Defense Fund, in the United States alone, communities are banning noxious practices Visit movetoamend.org/ and abolishing corporate constitutional rights ca-sacramento for industry produces 2 million tons of toxic chemwithin their borders. more information. icals annually, including Instead of defining the issue 36,000 tons of known The environment is as corporate bullies would carcinogens. Annually, frame it, brave communities in U.S. waterways and in far worse shape. Colorado, Utah, Pennsylvania farmland receive 1 billion and elsewhere redefined the tons of industrial farm issue as one of democratic self-governance, waste, laced with antibiotics, hormones and chemicals. And one-fifth of all plant and animal rather than how many toxic parts per million regulators will allow polluters to release. This species are on the verge of extinction. approach prevents corporations from hiding Our ineffective regulatory approach behind the fig leaf of self-serving environmental An online version of this forces environmentalists into a system that, essay can be found at by definition, permits devastation while regulation. If corporate polluters sue, they must www.newsreview.com/ assert that the constitution gives them the right to minimizing and trivializing citizen input. sacramento/ overrule communities and natural human beings. pageburner/blogs. Apart from regulations, often designed by and These effective strategies awaken citizens for industrial polluters, some pernicious legal to the need to change the legal system so it doctrines protect bad environmental behavior. responds to democracy, not plutocracy. Ω For example: BEFORE

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$13,105. That’s how much money for college SN&R and our partners have awarded to students in our circulation area since the inaugural SN&R College Essay Contest in 2010. And this year’s prize money—$2,014 for first place, $750 for second place and $250 for third place—is reason enough to enter. This enterprise started when publisher Jeff vonKaenel noticed how much work his daughter was putting into her essays for college admissions. Why not reward that effort by local students and give SN&R readers a chance to look inside the minds of the next generation at the same time? In the intervening years, we’ve published stories of life-changing experiences, world travel, altruism and personal discovery. Students get the money. But we get the optimism that comes from seeing just how bright, creative, resilient and committed to bettering our community and our world students are. High-school seniors graduating in 2014 who live in the Sacramento region are eligible. The essay should be no longer than 650 words and should be emailed as a Microsoft Word document or a PDF file to college essay@newsreview.com, with the subject line “College Essay Contest.” There’s no entry fee. All entries are due to the SN&R office by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 9. Winners and honorable mentions will be published in an upcoming issue of SN&R. The kids get the cash, we get the hope. Ω |

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email entries for the College essay Contest to collegeessay@ newsreview.com or mail them to sn&r, 1124 del Paso Boulevard, sacramento, CA 95815. The deadline is 5 p.m. on Friday, May 9.

SN&R

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I

t’s been a very busy stretch around the Sacramento restaurant scene. Very busy. Opened recently: Mother, Strings Urban Kitchen, Block Butcher Bar, Der Biergarten, Cafe Plan B, The Cultured & The Cured. A few more. Closed recently: Enotria Restaurant Wine Bar, Restaurant Thir13en, Tuli Bistro, Michelangelo’s, Lake Forest Cafe, The Eatery. A bunch more.

In the MARRS building where Lounge on 20 once struggled, LowBrau is killing it. At the corner of 28th and P streets that once had Una Mas and Pescado’s, Lou’s Sushi is ringing up big-time reviews.

Chef Adam Pechal rebounded from partnering in Restaurant Thir13en and Tuli and took over the kitchens at Crawdad’s River Cantina and Pour House. Oh, there’s more: 4th Street Grille closed and Foundation Restaurant & Bar opened in its place.

It Sacramensteoems eateries go under ev e r y day. Our wr examines ho w picky diners they fail—high iter co and other u rban mytshtss, .

RESTAURANT S

By Rick Kushman •Photos by Lovelle Harris 18   |   SN&R   |   05.01.14


The Broiler will become Brasserie Capitale, and Gallagher’s Irish Pub across the lobby will become Café À Côté. Spataro Restaurant & Bar became Hock Farm Craft & Provisions. Maranello Bar and Kitchen became Dad’s Kitchen. TreyBCakes became Wrap N’ Roll Sushi Burrito.

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Blackbird became, well, Blackbird (formerly Kitchen & Bar, now Kitchen & Beer Gallery). Enotria reopened—after announcing it was closed for good—now as a wine bar with a focus on comfort food and an event space. What is going on here? A lot, actually.

Restaurant failures and other urban myths

“In the last eight months or so,” said Michael Thiemann, executive chef and partner in Mother, “Sacramento’s food scene has been more interesting than I’ve ever seen it. There’s been openings, closings, chef changes. It’s entertaining to follow.” Thiemann has experience in entertaining food scenes. He’s a Sacramento native and former executive chef at Ella Dining Room & Bar, but he’s also worked in the Tyler Florence empire around the Bay Area, including at San Francisco’s hot Wayfare Tavern. He and the partners in the vegetarian Mother, which opened earlier this year, will soon be opening Empress Tavern, highlighting rotisserie meats. Both are connected to the Crest Theatre on K Street. “I’m not bugged at all about the changes, including the closures,” he said. “For creation, there also has to be some destruction, and there’s a lot of both going on.” Welcome to Sacramento’s suddenly quicksilver, clearly evolving, increasingly vibrant restaurant scene. That doesn’t mean it’s a buildit-and-they-will-come scene, or an anything-goes-if-you’re-good scene, and it surely doesn’t mean what’s happening here is what’s happening anywhere else exactly. Because of the city’s size, the semilow-key nature of the people here, the unusually congenial chef community, the pressures of recession and now growth, the wildfire embrace of the farm-to-fork concept, the idiosyncratic personality of the city’s core, and the understandable but still charmingly over-the-top love of pork and beer, what’s happening in Sacramento is uniquely Sacramentan. The turnover? That’s kinda normal. How it’s playing out, what’s filling in? That’s the Sacramento part. BEFORE

Purgatory Restaurant & Nightclub is becoming Burgers and Brew.

To see it all, let’s break this into separate pieces. First, that turnover; then, what’s working and what seems to be the nature of eating out in Sacramento. In short, the restaurant business is tough. Restaurants fail at a faster rate than most other same-sized businesses—though nowhere near the urban-myth rate of 90 percent. There are no great national stats on restaurant closures, but studies have been done on individual markets, including Dallas, Los Angeles and the Ohio regions, and all come up with a similar number: About one-quarter of restaurants fail in their first year. The most detailed and oftenused study came from Ohio State University professor H.G. Parsa. It was published in 2005 in the Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly. Parsa put first-year restaurant deaths at 26 percent. Over three years, he said, nearly 60 percent—three restaurants in five—go kaput, but if they last five years, they become more or less like other small businesses, meaning maybe 5 percent close every year. Parsa’s study found that most of the causes of failure were business related, not the food or service, though, of course, those count. But the biggest reason was that owners did not expect the workload, the time demands, or the impact on their lives and their families. Oh, the romance of owning a restaurant. “It can shock people,” said Kathi Riley Smith, an industry veteran and Sacramento restaurant consultant. “It’s hard, hard work.” Smith started in the 1970s and worked at, among others, Chez Panisse and Zuni Café in the Bay

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Area. Her consulting clients have included David Berkley Fine Wines & Specialty Foods, the Oakville Grocery Co. cafe, Enotria and Maranello. She said besides the surprise of the hard work, she’s seen too many restaurants start off undercapitalized, because new owners misunderstand the river of costs— food, drink, labor, insurance, rent, utilities, equipment, fixtures, licenses, signs, advertising, breakage and more—and that they are volatile. The cost of opening a restaurant can, of course, vary massively. Restaurateurs around Sacramento said that, depending on the size, style and property, the cost of getting started can range from $500,000-ish to $2 million or $3 million. And there are the ongoing expenses. “You can never, ever let down your guard that the business side drives everything,” she said. As for Sacramento’s turnover rate, Smith said this region may be a bit high, though only a bit, and like Thiemann and many others, she sees it as what she calls fine-tuning. “We’ve been in a crucible the last couple of years, with the economy, with the competition, and with people just becoming more and more into food,” she said. “I think it’s tuning toward something more consistent.” Randy Paragary knows a thing or two about turnover and change. He’s run his Paragary Restaurant Group for four decades and, maybe more than any one person, helped shaped Sacramento’s nightlife. He talked about opening Lord Beaverbrook’s in 1975—with its then-hugely popular ferns and Tiffany lamps—at 28th and N streets where Paragary’s Bar & Oven now stands and is, itself, going through a serious makeover at the moment. “We thought we were set for life with that motif,” he said. “We learned tastes change. Our industry goes through design and concept cycles, maybe every three to five years. That   |    A R T S & C U L T U R E

In January, Michael Thiemann opened the vegetarian restaurant Mother. Later this year, he’ll check Sacramento’s appetite for fresh eats with another new joint, the Empress Tavern.

means I’ve witnessed at least eight of them, and more will come.” But Paragary and others say Sacramento, like Wall Street, was due for an adjustment. “There’s always been a certain turnover,” Paragary said. “Look at long-gone standards like D.O. Mills or Fish Emporium or Americo’s. But when times were really strong in 2006 and 2007, I believe Sacramento overbuilt itself. Not just in the core. Look at all the restaurants in strip malls in Elk Grove and Folsom and all the communities. The supply was just larger than the demand.” That’s a big part of the thinning that Smith and others talked about, and it made staying alive difficult for any restaurant with structural soft spots. Adam Pechal admits that applies to him. “Closing two restaurants and taking over two others in two months was not exactly what I had planned,” he said. The reasons Restaurant Thir13en and Tuli closed were both individual and not untypical. Pechal said some of it was the partnership, some of it was timing, but the two biggies were location and internal costs—not that |

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they were crazy bad, just tough to overcome, which shows how hard the restaurant business can be. Pechal is well-known in Sacramento and has a strong rep for putting out good food. He’s got a big, likeable personality on the floor. His stint on ABC’s reality chef competition The Taste raised his profile more, and both restaurants got good reviews. So? Still not enough. Told you, this is a tough business. With Thir13en, it was also the location at 13th and H streets. “Sacramento has defined patterns of where we go,” Pechal said. “People just don’t go north of J Street, especially later at night. Look at what Blue Prynt has to put up with.” Perfect case in point. That slightly odd-looking building two blocks over at 11th and H streets is near big offices, close to City Hall and next to a Best Western. You’d think it would be golden.

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“Every time I’d hear that sound of breaking glass, I’d cringe,” Pechal said.

‘ People want to feel like they belong’

spend $1,000 on a dinner date, if you have $1,000 to spend on a dinner date.” OK, fine. But certainly not here. Sacramento has its own twist on comfort. Josh Nelson is a principal in the Selland Group, which includes Ella Dining Room & Bar, The Kitchen and the Selland’s MarketCafes. He said despite their range of motifs, he sees the same general trait among Sacramento diners—they don’t want eating out to be a big commitment. “I think people don’t want to have to put mental power into it,” Nelson said. “They want to go out, have a great meal, be interested in the food, but they don’t want it to be work. There are plenty of occasions in life when we have to make a level of commitment, but not when we eat out.” Some of that noncommitment means Sacramento is not a town that makes reservations days or weeks in advance. Restaurateurs say they get a big chunk of their reservation calls that day or a day or two before—if people even make reservations. “I’m guilty,” Smith said. “We say, ‘We’re hungry, let’s go out.’ Then we park somewhere and start looking around. We have no chance of getting into The Waterboy on a Saturday night, but we try anyway.” That not wanting to work contributes to Sacramento’s general cold shoulder toward fine dining. When a team of servers moves in to change plates, straighten silverware and sweep crumbs, customers have to stop, sit up and act like, you know, grown-ups. “No one wants to have to be on their best behavior,” Nelson said. But what they do want, he says, is connection. “In San Francisco, lots of people go to the newest, coolest place,” he said. “We have some of that, but we’re still a small enough town that people want to stay connected to where they eat. They want to know the chef. They want to know where the food came from.” Thiemann agrees completely. “In New York, if you had a good lamb chop, people would ask about cooking technique,” he said. “Here, people ask where it came from.” Now we’re getting somewhere. This is Sacramento’s dining scene. Not every person, not every place. There are, of course, major exceptions to any generalization, but these qualities ring true intuitively: comfortable, so that we feel we belong. Casual, in the way of going to a party, not an event. We dress down as much as we

So, here is what we’ve got so far. The turnover rate has been high in Sacramento but not insanely out of whack from other cities. That turnover is moving in a direction, which is not toward a new round of high-end establishments. At least not now. What is that direction? Let’s start broadly. “You can be anything you want, just round the edges,” said Michael Passmore, the fresh-fish purveyor and owner of Passmore Ranch. He deals with restaurants throughout the region. “There are plenty of foodies here, but no place is going to survive being too far out there.” Among Passmore Ranch’s highly regarded specialties are sturgeon and catfish. He said it took three years for restaurants to get their customers to really accept them. “People wanted trout and salmon,” Passmore said. “That’s what they knew.” The next piece is comfort. “I think feeling at home is the biggest thing in Sacramento,” said Michael Chandler, a veteran sommelier and restaurant manager. “Most people aren’t looking for an adventure, they want to feel like going out is easy.” Chandler is a fifth-generation Sacramentan and is part of the team that just opened Strings Urban Kitchen in Capitol Towers at Seventh and O streets. Strings has a large, midscale Italian menu, with a Rat Pack-era drink list and a casual feel that comes from light wood fixtures Strings Urban Kitchen and tall glass walls. He said people are telling him String’s breeziness fits the city around it. “This isn’t just about us,” Chandler “We were on the bottom end of you want. That’s what you need in RESTAURANTS said. “Everywhere in town, people fine dining, and fine dining has Sacramento, a place where people want to feel like they belong.” hit a ceiling in Sacramento,” he come in once or twice a week, not That comfort thing is not unique said. Paragary and others said the once or twice a year.” to Sacramento. Across the nation, same thing. The thing is, fine dining runs on Blue Prynt, which calls itself restaurants are moving toward more Part of the reason is that thinner profit margins because the “upscale without the attitude” and informal settings. The Wall Street Sacramento is not a major expenseproduct costs more. The National mixes stylish comfort food and a Journal recently reported that many account city, and it doesn’t have Restaurant Association in a number slightly flashy bar, is making a go of major restaurant companies, including enough well-paid, overworked young of statements says in general the it, but Pechal and many others are San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels professionals who eat out five nights a average before-tax profit margin for keeping their fingers crossed. The & Restaurants are expanding their bar week and take cabs home, like in San restaurants is 3 to 5 percent, but a casualty list there goes back to the areas to create more seats for casual, Francisco and around Silicon Valley. 2010 report by the consulting firm ’80s when it was the Bull Market, less pricey eating. “We’re not a ‘big wallet’ town,” Deloitte for the association was even and has also housed, not necessarily Even at the top end, some of Paragary said. more grim. It said full-service eateries in order, Grapes Dining & Spirits, America’s most highfalutin restauAlso unlike San Francisco, with average checks per person under Scorpios Restaurant, The Nine Doors, rants are retreating—a bit—by Sacramento doesn’t have the huge $25 had an average profit of 3 to 3.5 Sofia and, briefly, a small church. removing or reducing expensive population base and waves of percent, and restaurants with an aver“I thought with my reputation tasting menus. Restaurateurs told tourists flowing along the streets age check of $25-plus per person had and the reviews, it would be enough, and into restaurants. Only so many Eater, a national food and drink only a 1.8 percent profit margin. but north of J is off the radar,” website, that tasting menus can restaurants here can survive as Often, the biggest money maker RESTAURANTS Pechal said. handcuff customers’ choices and special-occasion spots. is the alcohol, but Tuli didn’t have As for Tuli, Pechal ran into a wallets. For the record, a report “Look at LowBrau or Firestone a real bar, so it struggled there, too. different problem, and this gets us posted on the site also stated, only [Public House],” Pechal said, Plus, fine-dining dishes and glasses, toward what works in Sacramento’s partially ironically, “there’s never “they’re crushing it partly because especially wine glasses, cost much dining scene. been a better time in America to you can afford to go there whenever more and are more fragile. B E F O R E   |   N E W S   |   F E A T U R E S T O R Y   |    A R T S & C U L T U R E     |    A F T E R   |    05.01.14     |   SN&R

“Feeling at home is the biggest thing in Sacramento. Most people aren’ t looking for an adventure, they want to feel like going out is easy.” Michael Chandler

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In just the span of two months, chef Adam Pechal closed two restaurants (Tuli Bistro and Restaurant Thir13en) and took over the kitchens of another two (Pour House and Crawdad’s River Cantina).

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can get away with, not up. Connected, so we feel a bit like regulars. That connection piece runs very deep. “Sometimes you’ll walk into a place and wonder why it works,” said Paul Ringstrom, who owns Tapa the World on J Street in Midtown and has navigated the dining tides since 1994. “Then you realize the same people are there over and over. There’s one word for it: engagement.”

U n pr e te nti o u s , w i th a to u c h of cool “I think it’s uniquely Sacramento,” Chandler said. “In other cities, good food, good wine and bar, good service, that’s the draw. Here, people also want to know the owner and the chef. They want to feel like the places they go are their places. We’re still small enough where people want it to be intimate.” Chris and Monica Miller are a precise example of that. He’s a high-school teacher and football coach, she’s a lobbyist. They tend to make every place they go their place.

That includes Selland’s and Cafe Rolle, 33rd Street Bistro on Folsom Boulevard and the new Cabana Wines on Elvas Avenue. That’s their circuit. They come back over and over, get to know the staffs and the chefs. And they are now fixtures at Formoli’s Bistro on J and 38th streets. They’ve become bonded to it. “We like to feel like we belong there,” Chris Miller said. “It’s not just Aimal and Suzanne (the owners), it’s their entire staff. They’re our friends. It makes it feel like we’re at our home.” That kind of connection goes even deeper among many Sacramento diners. Ryan Donahue is a partner in Mother and Empress Tavern with Thiemann, and he’s been around the Sacramento restaurant scene for years. He said it’s not just knowing the owners and chef, people want to watch the chef back in the kitchen. Call it the rise of the foodie or the Food Network-ization of dining, but lots of folks want to be in on the action. “People want to see the whole process, every piece of it,” Donahue said. “The pomp and circumstance at the table doesn’t interest them. They want the window into the kitchen, and they want to be able to ask about it.” As for cuisines that connect, the nearly two-dozen people interviewed for this story had a consensus on generalizations. When diners

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“I believe Sacramento overbuilt itself. Not just in the core. Look at all the restaurants in strip malls in Elk Grove and Folsom and all the communities. The supply was just larger than the demand.” Randy Paragary

Paragary Restaurant Group

are spending a bit of money, it’s for California cuisine (which is the old name for “farm to fork”), Mediterranean styles with a bent toward Italian, regional Mexican, or any food that’s seasonal. Restaurateurs say what Passmore said, anything can work, as long as it’s not too far out. Or French. Old-school French is not hot. For more casual diners, Asian kills it. Vietnamese, Thai, sushi, noodle shops, Korean tacos, you name it. On the other hand, pizza has lost its buzz. There are still some first-class spots— Hot Italian, OneSpeed, Masullo Pizza come to mind—but they don’t get the press or chat they had a couple years back when everyone was debating crust styles. And beer places are rocking. Look into LowBrau on a weekend. It’s packed, energetic, filled with

a mix of people and ages. They all look comfortably at home. Plus, there’s beer. “Beer, even craft beer, is an everyperson beverage,” said Clay Nutting, one of the owners of LowBrau. “Sacramento is kind of that. This is pretty much a no-BS town, and people like things that aren’t pretentious.” Unpretentious, yes. But also, for lack of a better word, with just a touch of cool. “We tried to make the design casual, approachable, but also culturally relevant,” Nutting said. “We’ve got a generation of people who are really connected to brands, and it’s pretty hard to define what a brand is, except that they know it when they see it or when it feels right.” There is one other thing that seems to be pretty unique about Sacramento, though it’s behind the

scenes: The chef community really is a community. “Instead of a competitiveness, there’s a collaborativeness,” Thiemann said. “Everyone wants everyone to succeed. Everyone is a phone call away if you need something. And we all want to hang out with each other.” “When we did a soft opening,” said Donahue, “it seemed like every chef came. And Grange [Restaurant & Bar] let us use their kitchen. Ella and Josh Nelson totally helped us out. We’re the perfect size city for everyone to talk to each other.” And what are they saying about what’s coming? “We all see lots of people walking properties,” Donahue said. “Lots of people are looking to open. In a couple years, the city is going to look a lot different.” Ω


PA I D A DV E RT I SE M E N T

Doing More Together Local dispensaries and patients give back by Mike Blount

E

ach year in Sacramento County, there are 245,000 people who do not know where their next meal is coming from. It's a demand that local food banks are continually trying to meet. When Kelsi White began working with medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento to put their advertisements in Sacramento News & Review, she saw an opportunity to bring them together to help combat local hunger.

“It's important that dispensaries are doing this because they have a huge ability to give back by the sheer number of people they are serving,” Kelsi says. “Everyone has been so supportive so far. We're looking forward to working with more people in the community.”

The nonprofit Collective Giving was born in fall of 2013 when Kelsi organized a canned food drive with 15 local dispensaries to donate to the River City Food Bank. The effort was highly successful, collecting nearly 4,000 pounds of food from the dispensaries and their patients to feed the hungry in Sacramento. Collective Giving undertakes two projects each year to help local charities through donations. “I thought that it would be a great idea to have the dispensaries band together for a good cause — especially because they don't always have the best public perception,” Kelsi says. “I saw that I could change the perception of dispensaries by organizing them to work together for one common cause.” Eileen Thomas, executive director of River City Food Bank, says her organization was really appreciative of the donation from Collective Giving. River City Food Bank serves more than 73,000 people each year — many of them elderly, disabled, children and working families.

“It really does take everyone in the community to help take care of those who can’t take care of themselves.”

Eileen Thomas of River City Food Bank poses with Kelsi White of Collective Giving. Photo by Mike Blount

–Eileen Thomas, Executive Director of River City Food Bank

“When Kelsi first came to me with what they were doing, she asked me if I thought it would be appropriate,” Eileen says. “My reaction was, 'Of course, it is. It's people feeding people, and it really does take everyone in the community to help take care of those who can't take care of themselves.'” Corey Travis of Two Rivers Wellness Dispensary says Collective Giving is a great way to give the local dispensaries one united voice in the community. “Many dispensaries in Sacramento were already doing positive things in the community on their own, but Collective Giving is a way to do those things on a larger scale. Fundamentally, that's what dispensaries are about: Helping people. We're helping the sick and elderly and we're giving back to the community in other ways. That's the reason that we're all here.” Kelsi says the canned food drive was just the beginning. Collective Giving is taking on a new project in June to help raise money for the UC Davis Cancer Center. But for now, she's pleased with the outpouring of support from the dispensaries, their patients and the community.

COLLECTIVES CARING FOR THE COMMUNITY. For more info: www.Collective-Giving.com

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D

David Meeker holds a sketch of Ernest Hemingway drawn by an inmate.

A Hemingway bust gets the hipster hat treatment.

by SaSha abramSky

Sacramento resident David Meeker boasts one of the best private collections of Ernest Hemingway books and memorabilia

David Meeker pulls out a beautiful folio box from one of his piles of written materials—stacks that crowd tabletops and spill off crammed-tocapacity bookshelves. Inside is the first issue of Esquire magazine, printed in the autumn of 1933 and with a lead article by Ernest Hemingway. It’s titled “Marlin off the Morro: A Cuban Letter” and is illustrated with 19 photographs. Meeker, in his early 70s, a tall man, with thick, graying hair, doesn’t just have the magazine, however. Also inside the box are the 19 original photos, on the backs of which, in faded ink, can still be seen Hemingway’s handwritten captions. How did they end up in a collector’s home in Sacramento? Meeker laughs. Like most collecting, it’s all about a friend who knew a friend, about hearing on the grapevine who is selling what and where, about an eye for a good buy and the thrill of the chase.

A lawyer by training, though now long-retired, Meeker has been collecting modern fiction trophies—rare first editions, autographed books, letters, photographs, corrected book proofs, statuettes of his chosen authors—for decades, since a few years before he moved to the state capital from Southern California in the mid-1970s. He specializes in Hemingway—the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, the University of Texas and a handful of other academic institutions have larger collections, but he has what’s considered one of the finest Hemingway troves in private hands. He also has a pretty decent collection of John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy material. One can also, however, find works by the gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson on his shelves, as well as some Jack Kerouac and a handful of other writers. Meeker began collecting Hemingway back in the 1960s, when he was in the Peace Corps in Liberia. Looking for reading material, he went into the only English-language bookstore in the country and asked if they had any Hemingway. “Who’s Hemingway?” was the response. So the young traveler told the store owner about the great writer, and the owner said, “I’ll get some.” Meeker read one book, became fascinated, read some more and, ultimately, read every book the seller got his hands on.

“When I got back to the U.S., somebody gave me a first edition of Death in the Afternoon. I was hooked. I started hanging around rare books stores, and I was off.” Although Meeker is a dealer, eventually selling most of his finds to others, in many ways he has the monomania of a true collector. He is a member of the Hemingway Society and a book-fair participant (he sells books and develops relationships with clients at these shows). He also travels the world going to academic conferences on Hemingway and scours the arcane, and somewhat hidden, world of rare-books dealing, always on the lookout for the perfect find. On a scouting mission in Cuba once, he managed to find a Vincent Van Gogh art book in which Hemingway had written a birthday dedication to a friend, in which he had pretended to be Van Gogh. Only an expert in Hemingway’s handwriting, a person with the specialty knowledge that Meeker possesses, would have managed to authenticate that particular item. Another time, he managed to locate and buy X-rays, taken in a hospital in Italy during World War I, which showed teenage Hemingway’s bullet-damaged kneecap. In a closet he keeps a brown-suede hunting vest worn by the big-game hunting author, as well as one of “Papa’s” cigar cases. “It’s the hunt, really,” he says of his obsession with finding rare and

PhotoS by LiSa baetz 24   |   SN&R   |   05.01.14

Yes, that really is an X-ray of Hemingway’s knee.

Meeker’s collection includes this leather vest once worn by the late author.


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their father’s loyalties and their own house—the house Meeker lived in with his first wife, before they separated—with a literary icon. “I couldn’t understand the fascination with authors who became alcoholic and suicidal,” says his daughter Lisa Alexia, a physician assistant who now lives in Alaska. “He was enthusiastic, like a child. It was his obsession. ‘There he goes again.’ We’d roll our eyes. That was Dad, and that was his thing.”

“Possessing it isn’t that great a thing. it’s the looking for it, finding it.” David Meeker collector Lisa’s sister, Jenny Entezari, who still lives in Sacramento, recalls her father working for hours at a time to cover his valuable books in protective plastic sleeves. “That’s a lot of work right there,” she says. “He’d talk about books; I would kind of just tune it out. I don’t think I ever felt jealous. There was irritation a little bit—that’s not quite the right word. More like when you have a passion and no one else has it, how

do you relate to them? If I talked about Hemingway, he’d be very animated. If I talked about something else, he’d be less interested.” Meeker’s second wife, Stephanie, to whom he has been married a dozen years, is a voracious reader. She isn’t, however, by temperament, a collector. “I just don’t have that itch at all,” she says with a laugh. Once upon a time, it might have been a nervous laugh, a “what have I got myself into?” sound. Now, however, she’s come to accept and, in some ways, love the world of collecting, with all of its enthusiasms and the aficionado’s passion for the written word. “For a collector, there never is enough room,” she says. Meeker smiles, perhaps just a little sheepishly. For all of his seriousness about his collection, there’s also an undertone of humor to it all. In the corner of one of his rooms, there is a bust, almost Roman in style, of Hemingway, just on the cusp of an old age that he would not live to experience. He’s bearded, his eyes extremely focused. To add a dose of levity, someone—Meeker, presumably—has dumped a sloppy-joe baseball cap atop the revered writer’s curls. “I feel very fortunate,” Meeker says of his collection and his love of books. “Very lucky. There are books in every room in the house. I can’t imagine a house with no books. One occasionally goes into a house with no books, and it just seems, ‘What a shame.’ You know?” Ω

Meeker started collecting Hemingway books and memorabilia in the 1960s while working in Liberia.

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One nasty boss See 15 MINUTES

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SCENE& HEARD Happy hooligans Two 20-something guys wearing those trendy soccer scarves hoist IPA pints toward the sky. They chant and bounce in the back of a white pickup, singing something about how they will remain loyal to the city’s newest semipro soccer squad, the Sacramento Republic FC. The lyrics are unmemorable. Or, at least, I can’t recall them. But there’s a lot of “whoa, whoa, whoas,” so it’s easy to sing along. Which a couple hundred prideful fans do at the Track 7 Brewing Co. parking lot. A young guy in a bear suit jumps around. Women dance and spin. Babies sport face paint. Two men announce via a megaphone that only six tickets remain to join these fanatics and more than 22,000 others at Hughes Stadium for the team’s inaugural April 26 match later that night. Do I grab a ticket, or wait in the beer line, which Track 7’s co-owner Geoff Scott tells me is the longest he’s seen ever? I really enjoy cold brew. And I don’t know jack about soccer. I opt for a ticket. This is kind of a big deal: Sacto’s debut soccer game. Or football match. Or whatever it’s called. R.J. Cooper is under a Republic FC tent wearing dark shades. He’s a member of the Tower Bridge Battalion, which is the Sacramento version of those unruly hooligans you see at football matches in England. He and the guy to his right aren’t all that threatening. Thankfully. Cooper hands over one of the match’s final tickets. I’m in. Next, brewski. The line is Space Mountainesque. At least 40 minutes. Perhaps more—I’m not much for beer-line braggadocio. Let’s In Sacramento, this is the new football. just say it was painful. But worthwhile: Track’s Panic is truly one of the best IPAs in town (but who am I to judge?). If you’ve ever been to Track 7, you know that it’s tucked away in an unremarkable commercial warehouse zone a stone’s throw from Sacramento City College. After songs and suds, the Battalion raises its flags, pounds its drums and actually marches over the Sutterville Road overpass and into the stadium. Pretty awesome. More than four-dozen freeloaders observe the game from Sutterville Road. Inside the stadium, the atmosphere is a Kings playoff game—times 10. Parents hold little babies in the air, kids go blue blowing vuvuzelas (those annoying horns people blast at soccer matches) and thousands let out ill-timed roars, since most don’t know anything about soccer. Most people also don’t speak a lick of Spanish, apparently. The only downer about the night is a group of young guys to my right. During the match, they keep heckling the opposing team’s goalkeeper, yelling “puto!” each time he does a free kick. Emboldened by the fact that white people don’t understand what a majority of California’s population speaks, they grow louder as the game progressed. Not cool. But, finally, soccer is. —Nick Miller

nic k a m@ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

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photo by oleksii sagitov/istock/thinkstock

beautiful items related to the writers he collects. “For me, possessing it isn’t that great a thing. It’s the looking for it, finding it, that activity is fun. It gets us [collectors] going.” His eyes light up as he talks about his collection. When he shows a particularly fine letter or a unique inscription, he practically caresses the document. There’s an artistry to the building of a collection, says Meeker’s longtime friend and fellow rare-books dealer Barry Cassidy, who runs an antiquarian store out of a house in Midtown. “You’ve really got to work [on it]. There is major competition. You can’t just sit back.” Another local collector-cum-dealer, Jim Kay, puts it this way: “We go out and hunt for books, but most of the time we don’t find anything. It’s intermittent reinforcement. We keep going and going and going, because it’s treasure hunting, and you don’t know if you’re going to find treasure or not. We’ve all found books in obscure, outof-the-way places.” There are the books picked up for a song at estate sales that can be resold for thousands of dollars, the rare letters found in junk shops. Meeker takes off the shelf a first printing of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, turns to page 181, and points to the word “stoppped.” It’s a typo, with three p’s. “That,” he explains, “is the way you tell the true first printing of that book.” When his two daughters were growing up, they found it somewhat intimidating, almost as if they were sharing

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Cows, pigs and chickens, oh my!


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For the week of May 1

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earing a straw sombrero shouldn’t give bros the license to chug cheap tequila  and puke up guacamole on the sidewalk outside someone’s Midtown bachelor  pad. But on Cinco de Mayo this Monday night (and the weekend preceding  it), this scene will most likely play out in Sacramento. Different sources point to the holiday’s  origins in California circa 1862, but during the last 150 years or so, it’s turned into little more  than a Mexican-themed St. Patrick’s Day party: poor-quality drinks, fratlike atmospheres and  slapdash cultural appropriation. Fair enough, if that’s your cup of tea: Read on, there are a few  options for you. But if not, SN&R has also found another “holiday” you could celebrate in lieu of  Cinco de Drinko. It’s the first-ever California Bookstore Day on Saturday, May 3. Statewide, 93 independent  bookstores will participate in activities. In the Sacramento region, participating stores include:  Dimple Books (2499 Arden Way), Avid Reader (617 Second Street in Davis, appearance by author  Loriene Honda at 2:30 p.m.) and Face in a Book (4359 Town Center Boulevard, Suite 113 in El  Dorado Hills; it’ll have poetry readings, games, book giveaways and food). There’s a bunch of  events in the Bay Area too, if you’re looking for a day trip. Check out http://cabookstoreday. com for the full list. If this doesn’t float your boat as much as tequila and guacamole, check out Fiesta en la Calle’s Cinco de Mayo Festival (http://fiestaenlacalle.com) on Sunday, May 4. The free festival happens  from noon to 6 p.m. at Southside Park (2115 Sixth Street), and features food, dance, drinks and  music by Malo, Sacred Fire and Innersoul. If that’s not enough to satiate your margarita and  chips-and-salsa cravings, check out parties at Tequila Museo Mayahuel (1200 K Street,   www.tequilamuseo.com) and Vallejo’s Restaurant (1100 O Street, www.vallejosrestaurant.com).

—Jonathan Mendick

wEEkLY PICkS

Concerts in the Park

Inside the Directors Studio: Revealing the Music

Friday, May 2 Zuhg returns to town for the  first time in a couple of months to  MUSIC play the inaugural  Concerts in the Park  show this year. The funky reggae  rockers are also in the process of  recording their next full-length  album, Field Trip; working on a Zuhg  movie; and selling hacky sacks.  Expect possible cameos from  Downtown James Brown, Kenny the  Dancing Man, or at least some state  workers showing off dance moves.  No cover, 5 p.m. at Cesar Chavez  Plaza, 910 I Street; www.downtown  sac.org/concerts.

Friday, May 2 See what a choreographer sees  when she hears music. As the  youngest person ever to create  new works for the New York City  Ballet, Melissa Barak has made  the successful  DANCE transition from  dancer to acclaimed choreographer. She reveals her method of  combining music and dance at   the Sacramento Ballet Studios.  $20, 6 p.m. at the Sacramento  Ballet Studios, 1631 K Street;   (916) 552-5800; www.sacballet.org.

—Jonathan Mendick

—Jessica Rine BEFORE

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California Improv Festival Friday, May 2, through Sunday, May 4 The California Improv Festival  brings the “say yes” spirit to  Roseville with more than 20 comedy, acting and  COMEDY music troupes  to entertain all weekend long. Keep  your guard up at the Five Deadly  Improvisers’ show, featuring an  homage to kung fu films and action.  Roll with the fake punches and  laugh along. $10 per show, $30 for a  festival pass, various times at the  Tower Theater, 417 Vernon Street   in Roseville; (916) 749-3100;   www.californiaimprovfestival.com.

—Cody Drabble

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Civil War Days Saturday, May 3, through Sunday, May 4 Sacramento loves it some old-timey  re-enactments, and for those that  never could get enough of that  Oregon Trail lifestyle, opportunities  to relive the simpler days of dysentery and muskets abound. Civil War  Days offer hands-on insight into life  in the 1860s, complete with battles  between Union and Confederate  soldiers and  HISTORY photo ops with  Gen. Robert E. Lee. $7, 9 a.m. to   5 p.m. on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  on Sunday, at Gibson Ranch Park,  8556 Gibson Ranch Road in Elverta;  (916) 806-3868; www.gibsonranch  park.com. |

Concrete Thinking bike tour Sunday, May 4 To the untrained eye, the concrete  civic buildings that occupy downtown can come across as, well,  ugly. But the Sacramento Area  Bicycle Advocates, in conjunction  with the experts  BICYCLES of Sacramento  Modern, a.k.a. SacMod, are here to  tell you otherwise. A 5-mile bike ride  will show off buildings in expressionist, international and brutalist  styles and will end in the new tasting room of Ruhstaller. Free, 9 a.m.  at Fremont Park, 1515 Q Street;  (916) 444-6600; http://sacbike.org.

—Deena Drewis

—Deena Drewis

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M o t h e r ’ S

D a y

Champagne Buffet Brunch

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

SN&R

9:30am to 2:30pm Sunday, May 11 Call for reservations The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift: Your TiMe!

super duper secret menu item #2:

DOCKING ON StaNDS

mexican candy

400 L Street Downtown Sacramento (916) 321-9522 Ten22_TapIntoSpring_4-22-14 PRINT.pdf

1 4/24/14 12:29 PM www.FoundationSacramento.com

05.15 2014

6821 Stockton Blvd #110 Facebook.com/VampirePenguin916

shaved snow and desserts

best. damn. C

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spring. menu. 1801 l street suite 50

midtown sacr amento, ca • 916.443.1010 • capitaldime.com 28

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ATTENTION RESTAURATEURS!

Once more take flight Blackbird Kitchen & Beer Gallery 1015 Ninth Street, (916) 498-9224, www.blackbird-kitchen.com Blackbird Kitchen & Bar (the first version) closed with all the immediacy of a bird meeting its gruesome end against a window. It recently reopened, by Garrett however, with chef-owner Carina Lampkin McCord once again at the helm, along with the support of co-owners Demetri Gregorakis, Ron McGlumphy and Tony Priley. Located in its original space with a similar aesthetic, though with more focus on beer and bar food to better complement the seafoodinspired dinner menu, Blackbird Kitchen & Beer Gallery resonates with its previous rating: incarnation. HHH 1/2 The beer and cider menu is long enough to put John Milton to shame, and while some may bemoan a lack of local brews, Blackbird dinner for one: carries many that can’t be found anywhere else. $10 - $30 In addition, beers can be ordered in 8-, 12- or 16-ounce servings, making a visit of extensive tasting affordable for anyone. (A glass of Dawn of the Red ale for $2.75? Done.) A “Bar + Lunch” menu and a dinner menu are available, the former comprising more sharing-conducive plates, and the latter consistH flawed ing of proper dishes with meat and veg. A burger ordered medium-rare arrived HH haS momeNtS well-done, but for once, I didn’t care. House pickles, a seven-day house-cured HHH bacon, cheddar, a vegan bun from Estelle’s appealiNg Patisserie and sweet ’n’ chivey “awesome HHHH sauce” all make it one of my favorite burgers authoritative in the city. No question. HHHHH Chowder fries are nifty in theory—fries epic covered in bay shrimp, bacon and parsley, then doused with chowder—Blackbird’s play on poutine. A lack of acid and serious sogginess issues mar it from being a landmark dish, however. Steamboat oysters are served with caramelized leeks, Parmesan and plenty of bacon, and demand attention. Better yet? Fish tacos featuring fried pollock served with pickled cabbage and chipotle crema. These and a beer will remedy any bad Still hungry? day you’re having. Search SN&r’s A cooked Hawaiian butterfish is served “dining directory” with a hard lump of daikon and buttery bok to find local restaurants by name choy. While the butterfish was clean and meaty or by type of food. with a crispy skin, it was outdone by the same Sushi, mexican, indian, butterfish served raw with finger lime and neon italian—discover it pools of Cara Cara oranges. This particular dish all in the “dining” section at arrived looking like a cover photo for Donna www.news Hay and boasts a flavor that can stand up to any review.com. sushi in town. Wagyu beef tartare is a good measure of what’s going on in the kitchen, and Blackbird’s is certainly promising: Served with quail egg, paprika and artichoke confit, one cannot help but blush at the taste. A nettle fettuccine served with green-garlic sauce held promise of spring bounty, but arrived tired and so gummy it’s easy to imagine it being made by Haribo. Left mostly untouched by the table, so was the fate of the only vegan option on the menu: wild mushrooms and BEFORE

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toasted oats. While the grains were executed perfectly and the mushrooms expertly cooked, a lack of acidic or bitter components left the dish without a sense of drama or complexity. In this case, it’s a real shame, because Lampkin proves through most of the menu that she has a keen awareness of proper balance. Everyone from the hostess to the bartender is friendly. Servers are genial and knowledgeable about the menu, but could use a bit more brushing up with the beer.

Like a phoenix, with as much radiance and fanfare, Blackbird Kitchen & Beer Gallery has risen from the ashes and brought itself back to life. The drama surrounding Blackbird’s 2013 closure certainly left a bad taste in many mouths, yet like a phoenix, with as much radiance and fanfare, it’s now risen from the ashes and brought itself back to life. Some tinkering certainly needs to happen—a bit more thought and balance in the food, to be sure. However, the restaurant effuses a vibe that it’s striving to overcome obstacles, both past and present, which makes this eater excited to return again and again. Ω

THOUSANDS OF ITEMS

ON SALE

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Franchise-aholic

While River City citizens sink their teeth into the current trend of artisanal toast, foodie forecasters are left licking their lips for what’s next. And gourmet cinnamon rolls are a possibility. The baked good has got the nostalgia factor and its bewitching aroma going for it, and now, the all-vegan Berkeley-based cinnamon-roll shop Cinnaholic is looking for franchisees. There are more than two-dozen choices both of frosting and toppings on the bakery’s menu, so any compassionate entrepreneurs that open up one of these spots might encounter a customer who orders a roll with butterscotch frosting and a cookie-dough topping—weird, but plausible. Make a more palatable pairing at www.cinnaholic.com, or go to Berkeley (2132 Oxford Street) for a sugar-crashinducing roll for now, until some enterprising folks choose to bring the sweets closer to the capital.

STORY

RIDICULOUSLY LOW LIVE EQUIPMENT

PRICES DEMOS

Thurs – Sat Show hours: May 1 – 3 8 – 5:00 pm daily SACRAMENTO 415 Richards Blvd. (916) 447-6600 (800) 710-9530

More information @ www.TriMarkEconomy.com

—Shoka |

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Where to eat?

Here are a few recent reviews and regional recommendations by Becky Grunewald, Ann Martin Rolke, Garrett McCord, Jonathan Mendick and Shoka updated regularly. Check out www.newsreview.com for more dining advice.

serves an excellent baba ghanoush that, instead of being  blended into a smooth paste,  is served chunky and studded  with eggplant seeds. Its smoky,  deep flavor is balanced out by  a lemony brightness, and it’s  good on the somewhat flabby  pita bread with which it’s  served, but it’s even better on  the house-made za’atar bread.  Chicken-breast kebabs are  not particularly flavorful but  have some char from the grill,  while the falafel and chicken  shawarma are underwhelming.  Do order a side of tabbouleh  salad, however. It’s pretty to  look at—bright-green chopped  parsley studded with white  grains of bulgur—and tastes  refreshing. Palestinian.   925 K St., (916) 447-7500. Dinner  for one: $15-$25. HHH B.G.

Mother It’s no secret that Mother  is a vegetarian-vegan restaurant, but this is not just a  place that replaces the meat  in a meal. Instead, Mother  celebrates an endless array of  fresh vegetables and grains.  The chile verde here comprises  chunky potatoes, pinto beans  and hominy for a “meaty”  texture. Try it topped with a  soft-poached egg, and stir the  yolk into the zingy chile sauce.  Kale has been done almost  to death, but Mother’s version is a take on the Waldorf  salad that makes eating your  greens easy. Lots of golden  raisins, celery, walnuts and  balls of apple with a bit of skin  attached join dilled yogurt and

Midtown The Coconut Midtown The food  here travels a path between  standard and inventive.  Cream-cheese wontons, for  example, aren’t the epitome  of culinary Southeast Asian  traditions, but damn it if they  aren’t delightful. Soft cream  cheese and chives in a crispy  wrapper and served with a  sweet chili sauce? Nothing  wrong with that. The chicken  larb—a spicy minced-meat  salad—is fragrant and  intense. Mint, chilies, basil  and iceberg lettuce are  drenched in a spicy lime  dressing punctuated with  a heavy hand of fish sauce.  The Coconut has warnings in  its menu about which dishes  are spicy, but unless you’re  a newborn kitten, trembling  and mewling, you might not  even be aware of the chilies  in your food.  Thai. 2502 J St.,   (916) 447-1855. Dinner for one:  $10-$15. HHH1/2 G.M.

Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co. The restaurant, by the  same owners as Midtown’s  The Golden Bear, sports a  firefighting theme (a ladder  on the ceiling duct work,  shiny silver wallpaper with a  rat-and-hydrant motif) and  a bar setup that encourages

New Happy Hour at The Melting Pot Now Starting at 3pm

$5 select cocktails • $4 wines by the glass ($18 for the bottle) • $3 bottled beers

patrons to talk to each other.  An interesting wine list  includes entries from Spain  and Israel; there are also  draft cocktails and numerous  beers on tap. The brunch  menu is heavy on the eggs,  prepared in lots of ways. One  option is the Croque Madame,  a ham-and-Gruyere sandwich  usually battered with egg.  This one had a fried egg and  béchamel, with a generous  smear of mustard inside.  The mountain of potato hash  alongside tasted flavorful and  not too greasy. The menu also  features pizzas and housemade pastas, but one of its  highlights includes an excellent smoked-eggplant baba  ghanoush, which is smoky and  garlicky. The bananas foster  bread pudding is equally  transcendent.  American. 1630 S St., (916) 442-4885.  Dinner for one: $20-$40.  HHH1/2 AMR   Thai Basil SN&R readers   consistently vote this place  among the city’s top Thai  restaurants for this paper’s  annual Best of Sacramento  issue. And for good reason.  The restaurant’s tom yum  soup may be one of the best  foods served in the City of  Trees. It features an incredibly savory broth with layers  of flavor. Likewise, the tom  kha gai—a coconut-broth  soup—is a veritable panacea  against Delta winds. Salads  make up a large part of Thai  cuisine and should not be  overlooked. Larb gai consists  of simple shredded chicken  over mixed greens, cucumber

salads for $4 Monday thru Friday, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Happy hour is available in our bar area; seating is on a first come, first serve basis.

814 15th Street • 916.443.2347 • meltingpot.com 30   |   SN&R   |   05.01.14

Eric Lee has crafted an  eclectic, bargain-friendly  menu. Fried calamari are  lightly seasoned with a crispy  exterior and served with a  marinara-ish bland sauce.  A carrot-and-ginger soup  possesses a slow burn, and  a chicken-lettuce wrap is  sophisticated: a modest portion of food of moderate size  that’s highlighted with slivers  of cucumber and a shaking  of vinegar. The frozen bits,  however are the real winners.  Gelato and sorbet are both  available in astounding offthe-cuff flavors that mostly  draw inspiration from Asian  cuisines. A vanilla-and-adzuki-bean gelato tastes sweet  and earthy, with a flavor  reminiscent to Chinese moon  cakes. A nutty soy-based  black-sesame-seed gelato  is as rustic and charming as  your favorite Instagram filter.

(916) 442-7369. Dinner for one:  $5-$10. HHH1/2  G.M.

Land Park/ Curtis Park Spice Kitchen The menu here  has a few tangential dishes  like pad thai, but it’s mostly  focused on Japanese cuisine, with a side menu of  Chinese-American favorites.  Tasty options include the  vegetable tempura, lightly  fried with slices of Japanese  sweet potato and yams. If  you want ramen, the hot  soup dish these days, try  the red tonkotsu version:  It’s served with lots of nicely  chewy noodles, spinach and  the requisite soft-boiled egg.  Spice Kitchen also serves  bento boxes in lunch and dinner portions for a good price.  Here, diners get soup, rice,  salad and tempura, as well as  a meat of choice.  Japanese.  1724 Broadway, (916)   492-2250. Dinner for one:   $10-$15. HHH AMR

East Sac Cielito Lindo Mexican Gastronomy  Instead of cheese-blanketed  entrees, diners here can  order upscale dishes such  as enchiladas de mole:  tortillas wrapped around  amazingly moist, flavorful  chicken, bathed in a housemade mole poblano. The  sauce has a million wonderful  flavors. The portions here  are quite generous. A green

A I N R O F I L CA 1

Cheese or chocolate fondue for only $7.50 per person

Tidbit Catering & Gelateria Chef

American. 1907 Capitol Ave.,

CLASSIC

ST

Menu:

and tomatoes. Fresh mint and  a chili-laden dressing heavy  with fish sauce and vigorous  squeezes of lime juice pull it  all together for an addictive  and satisfying lunch. One of  Thai Basil’s true highlights is  its homemade curry pastes.  These balanced constructions  of basil, lemongrass, shallots, chilies, kaffir lime leaves  and other ingredients, when  roasted, have been known to  drive hungry Sacramentans  into a berserk craze. Service  here is impeccable. Thai Basil  has earned its reputation. Thai. 2431 J St., (916) 442-7690.  Dinner for one: $10-$20.  HHHH G.M.

WINNER OF THE 2012 BATTLE OF THE BURGERS

C R AV I N G

(LA TIMES)

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salad with fruits and nuts  was big enough for a meal,  even without the optional  meat or seafood topping. The  restaurant’s empanaditas  de salpicon con papas are  little turnovers standing up  amid a drizzle of ancho sauce.  The crust features a bit of  leavening that makes it both  crunchy and fluffy. The filling  of beef, potatoes and vegetables tastes well-flavored  and a bit spicy. Or try the  tacos de arrachera—three  soft tortillas enclose marinated strips of meltingly good  steak, topped with roasted  poblano chilies, lots of fresh  cilantro and crema. They’re  drippy, but worth every napkin. The menu is meatcentric,  but the kitchen is vegetarian  friendly as well. The crema  de rajas poblanas, fully vegan  and similar to a Mexican minestrone, is full of chickpeas,  poblanos and onions in a rich  broth uniquely flavored with  vanilla and epazote.  Mexican.  3672 J St., (916) 736-2506.  Dinner for one: $20-$25.  HHHH AMR

South Sac Bodhi Bowl This Vietnamese  eatery’s menu is all vegetarian  and mostly vegan, with plenty  of high notes. The Heavenly  Noodle is a can’t-go-wrong  salad comprising snow-white  vermicelli noodles with cooling  mint, cucumber slices, houseroasted peanuts and jagged  pieces of faux beef. The “beef”  actually is slightly sweet,  plenty umami and pleasantly

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baby kale. Dessert includes the  now-legendary brown-butter  and sea-salt cookies. Do  yourself a favor and get some.  Vegetarian. 1023 K St.,   (916) 594-9812. Dinner for one:   $10-$15. HHHH1/2 AMR

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Downtown


Kansai Ramen & Sushi House This place serves its own take on ramen and sushi, with varying degrees of success. The kakuni ramen, which features three thick slices of braised pork belly in lieu of the house ramen’s thin slices of chashu, boasts a nice, sweet marinade; tender consistency; and copious flavor. Be sure to order noodles al dente, and it’ll make for a good option, even with its run-of-the-mill broth. Or amp it up with the spicy tan tan men, which uses a beefy and seafood-tinted soup base that teems with flavor. The sushi rolls here are Western style—a.k.a. loaded with toppings. Try the Mufasa roll. With crab and avocado on the inside and salmon and sauce outside, it’s particularly tasty, seasoned in sesame oil and baked—a somewhat

and innovation. The paninis are standouts: The bread is sweet, thicker than one might expect, and pressed nicely on a grill, with char marks on both sides. Mediterranean. 1120 Fulton Ave., Ste. I; (916) 486-1140. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH1/2 J.M.

unusual technique for sushi. Japanese. 2992 65th St., Ste. 288; (916) 455-0288. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH J.M.

Yang’s Noodles This is perhaps the only place in town that serves niu rou jian bing (sliced beef rolls)—a specialty of northern China—and the ones at Yang’s hit the spot. This is basically the Chinese version of a burrito: meat (thinly sliced beef marinated in soy sauce) plus veggies (diced green onion, cucumber and cilantro) wrapped in a large, flat carbohydrate crepe. Elsewhere on the menu, Yang’s eponymous noodles are homemade, alkaline and chewy. Chinese. 5860 Stockton Blvd., (916) 392-9988. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHHH J.M.

Roma’s Pizza & Pasta This eatery claims to serve “authentic Italian-style” food, but that’s only partially true when it comes to its pizza. That’s because it actually serves two types: one with the kind of thick, doughy crust usually found on an American-styled pizza, and another with a thinner crust, resembling a pie one might actually have in Italy. The thicker crust is chewy, but ultimately lacking in flavor. However, the tomato sauce makes up for the dough with a nice, spicy kick, and Roma’s doesn’t skimp on the toppings. The thin-crust pizza impresses: It’s light and crispy like a cracker and clearly is the superior option. Italian. 6530 Fair Oaks Blvd. in Carmichael, (916) 488-9800. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH J.M.

Arden/ Carmichael FreshMed Mediterranean Cuisine This restaurant broadens the definition of “Mediterranean.” In addition to the usual options—gyros, hummus, falafel, etc.—it also serves dishes from a wide range of cultures. For example, FreshMed offers a $6 Indian and Pakistani lunch buffet. Selections include stir-fried eggplant; curried chickpeas, lentils; and a creamy, spicy and hearty chicken tikka masala. The Mediterranean Nacho and chicken panini are examples of what the restaurant does well: culinary mashups that aren’t derivative, but instead rely heavily on flavor

Stirling Bridges Restaurant and Pub This British- and Scottishthemed gastropub offers an adequate beer selection and an extensive menu that goes beyond standard deep-fried pub fare. Try the Irish onion soup, a French onion-styled soup kicked up with Irish whiskey and Guinness beer. Or order the house-made veggie burger—it’s one of the

tastiest black-bean patties around. The most unusual dish on the menu is the Scottish Mafia Pizza. Topped with turkey pastrami, potatoes, cabbage and Swiss cheese, it falls short with its too many flat flavors to actually benefit from their unusual pairing. Thankfully, there’s Tabasco sauce on the table. Pub. 5220 Manzanita Ave. in Carmichael, (916) 331-2337. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH1/2 J.M.

Tasty Thai It’s hard to find a better lunch deal than the one offered here: Each one includes rice and a salad with an entree—and costs $11 or less. There are 23 options, plus daily specials. (The dinner menu is similar—only bigger). Choose from four categories— wok, rice and noodles, soup, or curry—and add a protein. The Thai basil, served with green beans, onion, bell pepper and basil in a spicy garlic sauce, is cooked in a wok and has a nice smoky flavor with veggies cooked slightly al dente. In the rice and noodles category, the pad Thai and the pad see ew both impress, but the latter has just a bit more of that savoriness that make Asian noodle dishes uber-comforting. Service is friendly, even when it’s busy, and nearly every order is big enough for two meals. Expect leftovers. Thai. 2598 Alta Arden Expy., (916) 977-3534. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHHH J.M.

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inoffensive, as far as fake meat goes. Nearly everything here has a faux-meat product or tofu element. So, sorry diners with soy allergies—it can’t even be escaped in the papaya salad. Not an issue? Soldier on with the Hot & Sour soup, a not-too spicy sunset-orange broth that teems with a tomatoey and citrus flavor, chunks of pineapple, semicircles of trumpet mushrooms, cubes of fried tofu and slices of faux crab. Or, try the stir-fried Eight Fold Path. It features al dente celery, red bell pepper and triangles of the most savory, salty, dense tofu perhaps ever. Vietnamese. 6511 Savings Place, Ste. 100; (916) 428-4160. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHHH S.

Change is brewing

If you didn’t notice already from all the construction work, big changes are underway on 16th Street near Fremont Park. Two of the projects involve mixed-use buildings that feature restaurants. The Legado de Ravel (1520 16th Street) apartment building is already open to residents, but University of Beer is still under construction on its ground floor; this will be the Davis-based beer spot’s second location. The 16 Powerhouse building (1601 16th Street), located just down the street, will include Insight Coffee Roasters, Magpie Cafe and Orchid Thai Cuisine. Another smaller change is brewing right in between those projects, with Karma Brew taking over the spot that once housed Mochii Yogurt (1530 16th Street). Owner Anthony Sadeghi is the former owner of Folsom’s beloved Karma Cafe. He told SN&R that when he opens in a few weeks, he’d like to serve many types of brew: wine, beer, spiced coffee, tea, kava and kombucha. And for food, it’ll offer healthy items with an international flair, he said. —Jonathan Mendick

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Like a virgin Losing it Kate Monro, proprietor of The Virginity Project, has  chronicled people’s tales of first sexual experiences  online for quite some time. Losing It: How We Popped  Our Cherry Over the Last 80 Years (Icon Books, $15.95)  is the culmination of that work in book form. Here, she  interviews people with a variety of sexual  BOOK orientations and identities about how they  lost it. The stories contain all sorts of permutations,  some romantic, others, not so much. Monro also includes information from sexuality research and analysis, including a revealing discussion of what we actually  mean by “virginity”—a surprisingly imprecise term.  Monro’s carefree style and deep empathy for others’  emotional responses make this an engaging read.  —Kel Munger

Because animals CaLiFornia Country hoe DoWn The 2014 California Country Hoe Down doesn’t kick off  until Saturday, May 10, but the registration deadline is  Friday, May 2. Hosted by Farm Sanctuary, this two-day  event is a chance to hang out with some  FARM rescued critters. The event takes place  at the sanctuary shelter, and guests can tour the  grounds with staff and learn more about its permanent  residents (cows, pigs, chickens, et al.). And the cost of  admission buys visitors the chance to call the grounds  home for the night via the sanctuary’s camping digs.  Tickets are $40-$100; admission is free for children  under 3. The sanctuary is located in Orland, about 100  miles north of Sacramento. Visit www.farmsanctuary. org for directions and registration information. —Rachel Leibrock

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Hard to believe it’s been 14 years since deejays Shaun  Slaughter and Roger Carpio launched their Lipstick  dance party. Or maybe what’s more surprising is that  in the ever-fickle world of dance nights, this one’s not  just survived but thrived, earning a rep as the place  DANCE to hear the best in new indie, Brit pop,  dance and rock. The night’s evolved  over the years, of course—it used to be weekly; briefly  shut down a few years back and then re-emerged as a  monthly “weekender” shindig. Whatever the logistics,  be sure to check out its anniversary show at Old Ironsides. Admission is a throwbackworthy $5 before   11 p.m. and $8 after. Saturday, May 3; 9 p.m. at Old   Ironsides,1901 10th Street; www.theoldironsides.com. —Rachel Leibrock

May the Fourth Be With you May the Fourth Be With You is not a  Star Wars event. It’s a community  event by Stars Wars fans for Star  Wars fans. This exact language is legitimately important for the organizers to use to avoid getting in  trouble with Lucasfilm. Oh, Star  Wars fans will be happy, though.  After a successful inaugural  event last year, the familyfriendly miniconvention is  expanding to two  GEEKY days of activity this  year. On Saturday, May 3, at the  West Sacramento Community  Center (1075 W. Capitol Avenue),  a lightsaber combat show and  workshop will illuminate the  Black Box Theatre at noon, with  artwork showcased at a gallery  reception at 4 p.m. A couple  hours later, throw on a costume  and join a festive pub crawl  through Old Sacramento. The main event—yes, on  Sunday, May 4—begins at 10 a.m.  and features vendors, photo  ops, games, live entertainment, a  parade, exhibits, panels, lightsabers  and Jedi mind tricks.  Cosplayer? Stormtrooper  every Halloween? Either way,  there’s a costume contest. And  photos from last year reveal that  it’s intense.  At night, there’s a special,  potentially raunchy comedy show  with the Critical Hit geek-comedy  troupe. It’s being advertised   as PG-13. May the Fourth Be With You is  a collaboration between Sac Geeks  and the city of West Sacramento  Parks & Recreation. Tickets are $11-$22 depending  on various add-ons; children 12 and  under get in free. Half of ticket sales  benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation.  www.maythefourth.info.   —Janelle Bitker


ZERO

Vacation in your happy place My husband and I have three school-age kids and are pretty frugal. We don’t even have credit cards. My dad and sister plan expensive extendedfamily gatherings that require flights, hotels and rental cars. During these vacations, they buy tickets to concerts and excursions that my husband and I are not interested in and cannot afford. In the past, we buckled to their pressure. We stopped by Joey ga rcia because there was no quality conversation time during a skj oey @ ne wsreview.c om these vacations. So now I am the sibling that always says no. They pity us and feel like they should pay. Sometimes Joey we accepted these gifts but don’t ate too many salted want to anymore. I occasionally cashews. Again. convince them to do simple things like a hike, but it seems they need to spend a lot of money to feel they really did something. How do I get them to stop asking us on vacations so that I don’t need to reject them anymore?

It’s wonderful that you have a husband who stands with you. But a part of you is not at peace being the person who is unlike the others. Reboot your operating system. Like this: The universe loves you so much it bestows multiple scenarios in which you are invited to practice saying “No, thank you.� These opportunities will continue until you can speak that truth without a twinge of guilt and without a sliver of superiority. That’s important because your guilt, the fear that you are doing something wrong, hampers clean speech. You are employing guilt (unconsciously) to avoid facing reality. Here’s your reality check: The values embraced by you and your husband oppose the values beloved by your extended family. It’s not just dissimilar approaches to finances, it’s also conflicting concepts of emotional intimacy. You and your husband believe in building connection through intimate conversation. You both prefer activities that foster heart-to-heart communication. Your extended family prefers connecting through shared experiences that include little, if any, deep conversation. Yes, this means you are

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

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different from your family of origin. It’s wonderful that you have a husband who stands with you. But a part of you is not at peace being the person who is unlike the others. I want you to challenge yourself to be the odd one out, the black sheep, the duckling who is secretly a swan. Don’t opt to behave in such a way that your family never invites you on holiday again. Remember, these invitations are actually from the universe. They are encouragements toward regeneration. Evolve accordingly. The next time your dad or sister calls with a vacation invite, breathe in the love being offered to you. Savor the sweetness of being included. Then, find your inner happy place. With gratitude, answer the invitation honestly. In the process, you will strengthen your backbone and heal your mind. Plus, your children will learn what integrity means and how to live it. And that’s a foundation every child deserves. My sister has had so much plastic surgery she looks bizarre. The last time I saw her, my whole body recoiled. She is divorced with three sons who think such madness is normal. On a recent outing (without her), they criticized the appearance of every normal woman we saw. I intervened, saying I thought the woman looked beautiful and natural, but it was difficult to say much without criticizing my sister (their mother). Any advice? The solution is to plant seeds and hope that over time, consciousness will bloom. You can drop a thought into the conversation: “I wonder what impact extensive elective surgery might have on a person’s health? Or finances?â€? Stoke a question: “What mental state would a person be in to undergo that much elective surgery?â€? You can also talk to your nephews about the concept of growing into the years with grace. And be certain to share why you have chosen to enjoy your own body’s human nature. Ί

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In the Time of the Butterflies Adapted from Julia Alvarez’s novel of the same name, Caridad Svich’s play In the Time of the Butterflies is a fictionalized account of the by Kel Munger lives of the very real Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic. The four women—who called themselves las Mariposas (“the butterflies”)—were active in the opposition to the United States-supported dictator Rafael Trujillo, and three of them were eventually murdered on Trujillo’s orders. Under the direction of Teatro Nagual’s executive director, Richard Falcon, In the Time of the Butterflies takes on a dreamlike quality. Flashbacks, memories and ghostly visitations lead the elderly surviving sister, Dedé (Irene Velasquez) to tell a young DominicanAmerican writer (Lyra Dominguez, who also plays the younger version of Dedé) the story of her sisters and life under Trujillo’s regime.

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In the Time of the Butterflies, 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; $13-$15. Teatro Nagual in the Coloma Community Center, 4623 T Street; (916) 549-3341; www.teatro nagual.com. Through May 4.

34   |   SN&R   |   05.01.14

American seeking to understand her roots. She swings between the roles with grace and with a definite change in her manner that lets the audience see the difference between the two women. Ω

4 A Funny Thing Happened  on the Way to the Forum This early Stephen Sondheim show dates back to 1962. The Sacramento Theatre Company first staged it 30 years ago, and the Music Circus and community groups have done it, too. But as a musical farce set in ancient Rome, Forum’s aged better than many shows of its era. And, as this lively production proves, it’s still a very funny piece. Michael R.J. Campbell has a blast as the clever slave Pseudolus, improvising his way out of trouble repeatedly. Campbell expends vast amounts of energy, running this way and that, while shifting through a wide range of rubbery facial expressions. He’s the centerpiece in a well-picked cast. Veteran Joe Vincent (who first appeared at STC 50 years ago, and graduated to Shakespeare festivals and Broadway) plays old Senex, lusting after a nubile slave (while trying to keep this a secret from his bossy wife Domina, played by Lenore Sebastian). Statuesque Jacob L. Smith struts and preens (and sings well) as a Roman commander. Matt Surges (a lead in New Helvetia Theatre’s recent production of the dark 1994 Sondheim show about manipulative romance, Passion) hits the opposite extreme as Hero, a guileless, lovestruck son of wealthy parents. Scottie Woodard doubles as the slave Hysterium and the choreographer of several silly dance numbers. Costumer Jessica Minnihan puts suitably provocative outfits on the seven courtesans (this is a farce, and sexual slavery is fodder for laughs). Director Michael Laun piles up overlapping schemes and plot reverses with panache. A live band (rather than recorded instrumentals), would have been nice. But otherwise, this production clicks on most levels. PhoTo By Barry WISdoM

STATEMENT PIECES

Float like a butterfly

The male roles—including lovers, husbands, the women’s father, a contemporary deejay, the driver and Trujillo himself—are all played by Ruben Oriol-Rivera, who handles the multitude of voices well. As Patria, the eldest sister, Gladys Imperio-Acosta exudes the heartbreak of a religious woman forced to revolution by the violence she witnesses. The firebrand, Minerva, is played by Jasmine Nunez-Gonzalez, while the youngest sister, Maria Teresa, is played by Catalina Serrano. These two have the most physically demanding roles, as they age from schoolgirls to women approaching middle age, moving from childhood play through idealistic young adulthood, through the imprisonment, torture and final realism of political activists. The sisters have a palpable chemistry, and Velasquez shows us an older woman carrying the weight of the past on her shoulders. But the standout performance is certainly Lyra Dominguez, both as the heartbreakingly vulnerable young Dedé and as the curious

—Jeff Hudson

a Funny Thing happened on the Way to the Forum, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday; 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; $12-$35. Sacramento Theatre Company at the Wells Fargo Pavilion, 1419 h Street; (916) 443-6722; www.sactheatre.org. Through May 18.


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Go Day to Night Now Playing

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The Family of Mann

The central character (Belinda) has quit her job as an English professor to write TV scripts in Los Angeles. This staging by the Actor’s Theatre of Sacramento fits the company’s pattern. Director Mark Heckman’s clearly thought through the script, and some of the acting is pretty good. Jeff Machado, a former morning-radio host, does well sketching in the egotistical, manipulative producer Ed; acting by some supporting cast members is closer to “fair.” The multiple short scenes make for much furniture moving in the dark. Production values are basic and low-budget, fitting with the company’s priority. F, Sa 8pm; Su 2pm. Through 5/4. $15-$17. Wilkerson Theatre in the R25 Arts Complex, 1723 25th St.; (916) 501-6104; www.actinsac.org. J.H.

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Hamlet

Trimming Shakespeare’s massive tragedy to slightly less than two hours, 11 roles and four actors successfully brings a wild and immediate energy to it. This adaptation by P. Joshua Laskey, staged by Theater Galatea, features Laskey as Hamlet; Jessica Goldman Laskey, Blair Leatherwood and Kellie Yvonne Raines play everybody else. It’s intense, visceral and engulfing. F, Sa 8pm. Through 5/10. $18. Theater Galatea at the William J. Geery Theatre, 2130 L St.; www.theatergalatea.com. K.M.

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Inventing Van Gogh

By tracing Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpieces from poor painter to the modern-day

multimillion-dollar art-trade business, Inventing Van Gogh explores the fascinating world of art from the original creation to the eventual appreciation and the ultimate exploitation of the artwork. The three actors portraying the artists are cohesive and intriguing—Brennan Villados as a modern young artist, Brian Watson as Van Gogh and Ed Gyles Jr. as Paul Gauguin—with director Benjamin T. Ismail keeping the ever-changing play’s sentiments in check. Th, F, Sa 8pm. Through 5/17. $10-$16. Big Idea Theatre, 1616 Del Paso Blvd.; (916) 960-3036; www.bigideatheatre.com. P.R.

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Visiting Mr. Green

Gary S. Martinez depicts the title character, and the first time he hobbles across the stage to answer a knocking door, he appears so weak, you want to jump out of your chair and help him as he stumbles along. But help is on the other side of the door in the form of a young Ross Gardiner (nicely portrayed by Ryan Blanning). Ross is ordered by the court to make weekly visits to Mr. Green after a reckless driving conviction that involved the elderly man. Under the delicate thumb of director Marie Bain, the empathetic performances keep you rooting for this unusual friendship and ultimate resolution. W 12:30 &

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2014

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Short reviews by Jeff Hudson, Kel Munger and Patti Roberts. NEWS & REVIEW BUSINESS USE ONLY PHOTO cOURTESy OF HARRIS cENTER FOR THE ARTS

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After the smashing success of last year’s musical revue 100 Years of Broadway, Neil Berg decided an encore was necessary. A composer and lyricist, Berg comes to the Harris Center for the Arts with a new repertoire of songs from the past 101 years of Broadway greatness. He is joined by Dustin Brayley, Lawrence Clayton, Roger Cohen, Rob Evan, Rita Harvey and Natalie Toro—no strangers to the stages of the Great White Way—for a performance of a wide array of Broadway hits. Including the classic lyricism of Rodgers and Hart, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s haunting melodies and the psychological torment of Stephen Sondheim and Stephen Schwartz’s soaring songs, Berg brings music from the ever-evolving Broadway stage to one dynamic show. Neil Berg’s 101 Years of Broadway, $12-$45, 7 p.m. on Monday, May 5, at the Harris Center for the Arts, 10 College Parkway in Folsom; (916) 608-6888; www.harriscenter.net.

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sacramento’s best

Slinging it The Amazing Spider-Man 2 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has the air of a movie that knows it doesn’t have to be good. The fans will show up no matter what and do their best by Jim Lane to believe that their time and money were well-spent. They may succeed, but the movie doesn’t make it easy. Andrew Garfield is back as Peter Parker and Spider-Man, as miscast as he was in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. He slouches again through the role mumbling his lines from behind hunched shoulders, like a James Dean wannabe in some road-company production of Rebel Without a Cause. Only when Peter becomes Spidey does the slouch disappear, subsumed into computeranimated aerial acrobatics of our hero in action.

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And is there ever plenty of action. He floats through the air with the greatest of ease, and now those little thingamabobs on his wrists can shoot his web strands for several miles. Spidey flies up, down, back, forth and across at speeds that would yank an ordinary mortal’s arms right out of their shoulder sockets. Occasionally, his movements ramp down into extra-slow motion or even freezes, and the movie, as if to underscore its comic-book origin, gives us a suitable-for-framing moment, like a waiter proffering his restaurant’s dessert tray. As usual with such CGI antics, for all the crashing cars and blazing gunfire, the frantic movement has little weight or sense of real danger. It’s just so much visual noise, blasted at us with such velocity that the 3-D doesn’t have time to register on our optic nerves. There are four writers credited on the picture: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner for the screenplay, and those three plus James Vanderbilt for the story. Maybe it’s a case of too many cooks, but there’s really no story here beyond what’s left over from The Amazing Spider-Man. Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz return for thankless cameos as the parents of Peter Parker, who left him with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, then vanished into the night. They’re here again in flashback just long enough to tease us about the mystery

of their disappearance, then to be disposed of in a fiery death. That lingering mystery advances a step or two here, with a plot turn involving an abandoned subway station named Roosevelt that borders on the ridiculous. Otherwise, a half-hour’s worth of story is stretched thinly over 140 minutes. The script is generally composed of mumbo jumbo and double-talk about power grids, DNA, spider venom and the shady doings of the massive Oscorp Industries, founded by the sinister Norman Osborn. Chris Cooper appears in another thankless cameo as Osborn, dying from some mysterious disease (more double-talk here), which he passes on to his son Harry (a boyish Dane DeHaan) along with the corporation. At times it seems the movie is trying to see how many good actors it can waste the talents of. Garfield, whose ability as an actor remains open to debate, is surrounded by quite a few. Denis Leary returns in several quick, wordless shots as the ghost of police Capt. Stacy, haunting Peter for endangering his daughter Gwen. (As Gwen, Emma Stone is marginally less wasted than in the first film, but there’s still little chemistry with the closed-off Garfield). Sally Field returns to once again to wring her hands as Peter’s Aunt May. Jamie Foxx pops up as a nerdy engineer who dies gruesomely, then is reincarnated as Electro, going inexplicably from worship of Spider-Man to hatred and looking like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, retaining little more than Foxx’s voice.

As usual with such CGI antics, for all the crashing cars and blazing gunfire, the frantic movement has little weight or sense of real danger. Perhaps most wasted of all is Paul Giamatti, all but unrecognizable behind a shaved dome and a lobotomy-scarred forehead in two quick bits that bookend the movie (I hear there’s a postcredit scene, but only the most ardent fans will stay to see that). Giamatti plays someone named Aleksei Systevich. At the opening, he attempts a robbery of plutonium that’s thwarted by SpiderMan; at the end, he returns in a suit of robot armor cribbed from Sigourney Weaver in Aliens and the Jaegers of Pacific Rim. Any grimacing brute could have played the part—why did they need Giamatti? Something tells me the answer to that will come in The Amazing Spider-Man 3. I can’t wait. Ω


by daniel barnes & JiM lane

1

A Haunted House 2

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It’s a sure sign that you’re watching a Wayans joint when the first “joke” about molesting a comatose woman comes during the opening credits. Marlon Wayans co-writes and stars in A Haunted House 2, his second attempt at shadowing the Scary Movie franchise, here ostensibly satirizing both found-footage horror and newfangled creak shows like The Conjuring and Insidious. The humor mostly centers around rape, butchered house pets, rape, and that old chestnut, the differences between white people and black people (hot tip: black men have a great fondness for large butts, whereas white men do not like them as much). Wayans spends most of the movie screaming at inanimate objects (including Jaime Pressly, as his wife), and there is a scene of him sexually violating a wooden doll that is Oscar-worthy work in my hell. D.B.

2

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The Other Woman

In Nick Cassavetes’ imbalanced and unfunny The Other Woman, Cameron Diaz plays a successful lawyer and voracious man-eater who finds out that her “boyfriend” already has an unsuspecting wife (Leslie Mann). The two women form a weird bond, and after discovering the existence of a second mistress (Kate Upton, mostly acting in slow motion), they bring her into the fold and start to plot their revenge. Diaz and Mann rehash their respective personas at full volume throughout, but the comedic bar is set excessively low (revenge montage set to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” anyone?), and the long leash on Mann’s high-strung idiot shtick is especially unbearable. Although the script is by first-timer Melissa Stack, The Other Woman is virulently misogynistic (even our female “heroes” refer to Upton’s character as “the boobs”), and the mix of low comedy and trite sisterhood clichés becomes borderline schizophrenic. D.B.

Le Week-End

Although there are a number of visual references to the films of the French New Wave in Roger Michell’s rambunctious romance Le Week-End, they are only local color in this fetching but unmemorable piece of vacation porn. Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan play an aging couple who have hit a dead end and attempt to use a 30th anniversary Paris weekend to rekindle their spark. The trip quickly becomes an occasion to open old wounds and assess their troubled marriage, and irresponsible impulses take over, with much of the film dedicated to the vicarious thrill of raiding hotel minibars and skipping out on dinner checks. Broadbent specializes in this sort of loosened-tie fussbudget, and Duncan is a revelation as the more dissatisfied of the duo. If Michell had trusted their chemistry to carry the film, it could have been more than just a pleasing time filler. D.B.

NEWS

Noah

The great flood of Genesis gets a typically idiosyncratic retelling from director and co-writer (with Ari Handel) Darren Aronofsky, as Noah (Russell Crowe), his wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly) and eldest son Ham (Logan Lerman) prepare for rain, while Noah’s grandfather Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) kibitzes from a distance and some rocklike fallen angels called Watchers help build the Ark. Not everything works—those Watchers seem to have beamed in from one of Lerman’s Percy Jackson pictures—but the movie often has the raw energy of a primitive legend handed down from the prehistoric, torch-lit past. Crowe’s Noah is more tortured prophet than white-bearded patriarch; it’s a bold concept, and it works. Emma Watson plays an orphan adopted by Noah’s family, while Ray Winstone plays a savage, sinful king. J.L.

Dom Hemingway

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Bears

Following in the footsteps of Earth, Oceans, African Cats and Chimpanzee, Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey’s Bears is the latest Disneynature documentary released to coincide with Earth Day. The film follows a trying year in the life of Sky, a female brown bear in a protected portion of the Alaskan wilderness, as she tries to lead her two ridiculously adorable plush-doll bear cubs to the salmon run. John C. Reilly narrates with the child-skewing doofiness of a fun uncle, and while the story is a little tacky and forced at times, darn it if my heart didn’t race, sink, leap and break upon the filmmakers’ every cue. Bears has been scrubbed clean of any “discomforting” eco-political messages beyond a generalized celebration of nature’s power and beauty, but it does become a touching ode to the fierceness and determination of single mothers. D.B.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

BEFORE

FRI-TUES: 11:15AM, 3:35, 7:55, 9:55PM

WED: 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:30PM THUR: 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:30, 9:50PM FRI-TUES: 12:00, 2:20, 4:40, 7:00, 9:20PM NO MON 7:00PM • NO TUES 7:00, 9:20PM

Brick Mansions

Jude Law grew mutton-chop sideburns and added about 30 pounds of Englishale belly to play the title character in Dom Hemingway, and that slight deglamorization seems to have recharged his batteries. This is easily his best performance in a decade, and it is especially nice to see him resharpen the comic timing that had been blunted by hacks like Guy Ritchie and Nancy Meyers. For a while, this stylish mix of hard-man moxie and mannered British comedy works quite well, thanks to Law’s excellent lead performance and oddball supporting work by Richard E. Grant, Demian Bichir and Jumayn Hunter. Law’s braggadociofilled Dom is a criminal who “plays by the rules,” an enormous mistake in a world where all of the rules are unwritten and rarely followed. Unfortunately, for a film that begins by soliloquizing its protagonist’s penis, Dom Hemingway ends up surprisingly short on balls. D.B.

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SHIELD, the agency for which Captain America (Chris Evans) and the other Avengers work, has been subverted by the terrorist organization HYDRA. Col. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is dead, and only the Captain and Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) remain to fight for freedom, aided by Sam Wilson, a.k.a. the Falcon (Anthony Mackie). The movie is a letdown from 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, partly because much of the first supporting cast is gone, partly because director Joe Johnston has been replaced by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, a lackluster change. Still, it’s diverting enough, and the Russos’ when-in-doubt-start-a-CGI-fight approach will please the fans. Evans is, once again, the best reason to see the movie, and Johansson makes a fun partner-cum-sidekick. J.L.

3

- Peter Debruge, VARIETY

STARTS FRI., 5/2

Luc Besson has been such a one-man tidal wave of recycled ideas and sequelized schlock throughout this millennium, it’s amazing that it has taken him this long to remake the 2004 action film District B13. The premise is the same, although Brick Mansions moves the setting from near-future Paris to 2018 Detroit—the ghettos have been walled off from a city run by greedy developers, but a determined cop (Paul Walker, in his last completed role) and a parkour do-gooder (David Belle) team up to bring down a terrorist crime lord (RZA, quite bad). Belle is one of the real-life founders of parkour, and he plays the same role here as in District B13, but all of the stunts are a step slower this time around. Not that it matters, since the bodycentric action of the original has been largely replaced with boring car chases. D.B.

3

“LOMAX FOUND HEROISM IN COMPASSION.”

4

The Raid 2

Among the many pleasures of The Raid 2 is the way that it recreates the bonecrunching “karate horror” of the low-budget 2011 original, while simultaneously expanding its universe into a languorous crime epic. The showstopping fight sequences are amplified here, and mostly get announced with a slow-building, operatic fanfare worthy of a Sergio Leone gunfight. Writer-director Gareth Evans’ ballsy vision suggests that he also has the chops to direct romantic comedies, costume dramas and jukebox musicals where everyone beats the living shit out of each other. Evans and star Iko Uwais stage these hyperbolic hand-to-hand combat sequences with a ruthless, almost hallucinatory perfection—this is what a Busby Berkeley movie would have looked like had he been a sadist instead of a pervert—and the demonic glee that

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Need Assistance with Applying for or Appealing Veterans Disability Benefits & Compensation? Contact: (916) 480-9200 Law Office of Steven H. Berniker, APC Veteran Advisor – Sgt Major (Ret) Daniel J. Morales Location: 2424 Arden Way, Suite 360 Sacramento, CA 95825

Evans feels in unpacking his model train set of cinematic influences is palpable. D.B.

3

Veterans Assistance is our #1 Priority

“On the batterfield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a Nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no Veteran behind.” – Dan Lipinski

The Railway Man

Colin Firth plays Eric Lomax, a former prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, who learns that the soldier who tortured him is still alive and serving as a guide at the Burmese camp where Lomax was held. Lomax decides to confront the man in an attempt to come to terms with his terrible memories. Adapted from Lomax’s autobiography by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson and directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, the movie simplifies the story (eliminating Lomax’s first marriage completely), then jumps back and forth between the 1980s and the war (where Lomax is played by Jeremy Irvine). The movie is rather reticent and uninvolving, but well-acted all around, especially by Irvine. Nicole Kidman is also fine as Lomax’s loving wife, as is Stellan Skarsgård as a lifelong friend who shared Lomax’s captivity. J.L.

2

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Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway) and Blu (Jesse Eisenberg), those rare blue macaws who lived happily ever after at the end of 2011’s Rio, now have three kids, and the whole family takes off deep into the Amazon rain forest, where they find a large colony of other such birds (including Jewel’s long-lost family). They also run afoul of a rapacious developer (Miguel Ferrer). The first movie was so utterly forgettable I had to look up my review to refresh my memory. I called it a “noisy animated foofaraw” and a “pathetically total misfire.” Nothing has changed—there are still no characters, story or good scenes—except that director Carlos Saldanha and his co-writer Don Rhymer seem to think we’ve been breathless for three years wondering what comes next. Which is pretty insulting, when you think about it. J.L.

3

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Transcendence

A brilliant scientist (Johnny Depp) is given a fatal dose of radiation by a cabal of anti-technology Luddites. Before he dies, he, his wife (Rebecca Hall) and best friend (Paul Bettany) transfer his personality to an experimental artificial-intelligence computer— with unexpected (if predictable) consequences. Performances are good—also featured are Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy and Cole Hauser—and the movie is consistently interesting, but first-time writer Jack Paglen and first-time director Wally Pfister have bitten off more than they can chew. The story lumbers and becomes muddled, finally winding down into a bizarre variation on Romeo and Juliet. The ending, which leaves the door wide open for Transcendence 2, is annoying, and not as clever as Paglen and Pfister probably think it is. J.L.

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S ’ R N&

COLLEGE ESSAY

CONTEST! The prizes: First place will receive a

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

$2,014 award, plus $750 for second place and $250 for third place.

The rules: High-school seniors graduating in 2014 are eligible. Only one entry allowed per student, and you must live in the Sacramento region to apply. No SN&R employees or relatives may enter.

The deTails:

Essays must be 650 words or less. Email essays as a Word document or PDF attachment to collegeessay@newsreview.com, with the subject line “College Essay Contest.” Deadline is Friday, May 9, at 5 p.m.

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Thank you for being a friend The members of Be Calm Honcho imbue   their music with audience engagement,   ecological love and emotional empathy Shannon Harney isn’t one of those singers who stares at her toes and mumbles sad truths into an overeffected microphone. Rather, as the Be by Janelle Bitker Calm Honcho frontwoman, Harney brings theatrics, confidence and, most of all, j a ne l l e b @ engagement. For her, live music is all about ne w s re v i e w . c o m the audience-band connection. “That’s a real, energetic conduit,” she said. “It’s not a passive thing to come out to a show. You invest your time, and I want to use it with you.”

PHOTO BY MAX TARCHER

contract and planned to attend graduate school. Then she was laid off and forced to re-evaluate. “It was an awesome experience—dealing with a lot of anxiety about the future, the idea of inadequacy, and where I was going to find my balance and security again,” she said. So she made her musical projects the top priority and formed Be Calm Honcho last January. The band’s debut album, Honcho Dreams, is set for release on June 24 on the Davis-based Crossbill Records. It’s also available now on vinyl via the experimental Santa Cruz distribution project Feedbands. The collection showcases Harney’s velvety vocals, penchant for nouns and adoration for California. Seriously, there’s a track called “I <3 California.” The beach, the sun, the ocean— California’s ecological landscape is a major source of inspiration. Of course, Harney is also inspired by songwriting, like that of the Mountain Goats, Joanna Newsom and Regina Spektor. She used to describe her solo style as “forest folk.” But the rest of Be Calm Honcho approach music from different backgrounds. Bassist Alex Weston played trombone in the UC Davis California Aggie Marching Band-uh!, but also digs technical, complicated math rock. Drummer Mikey Carrera was trained in precision as a drum-line kid. And guitarist Jacob Landry brings a bluesy, countryrock edge from Lafayette, Louisiana.

Just have a seat, and let’s rap like old pals.

Catch Be Calm Honcho on Saturday, May 3, at 9 p.m., at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, located at 129 E Street, Suite E in Davis. Tickets are $6, and Brother Grand also plays; www.becalm honcho.com.

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It appears to be working. Her onstage antics—jogging in place, playfully groping her boyfriend bassist, making intense eye contact with seemingly everyone in the room—have garnered a loyal following in the band’s home base of San Francisco, as well as at Harney’s alma mater of UC Davis. She recognizes her regulars and interacts with them even more. “That’s what I want to cultivate: a group of people who just want to be in a room together and let expression flow freely,” she said. But folks probably wouldn’t keep returning if they weren’t struck by Be Calm Honcho’s sound. Songs move from upbeat indie rock to West Coast pop, all with superwordy, deliberate lyrics. Harney’s diction is thoughtful and important—in her everyday speech and into the mic—and sometimes she breaks down into image-heavy spoken-word poetry. It’s no surprise to anyone who knew Harney at UC Davis—she frequently emceed open-mic nights and, as a commencement speaker, performed spoken word at graduation. Though she’s been involved with music since high school, Harney’s life took a major turn last year as she was conducting clinical research at UC San Francisco, after graduating from UC Davis as a pre-med student. She had a two-year

“ That’s what I want to cultivate: a group of people who just want to be in a room together and let expression flow freely.” Shannon Harney Be Calm Honcho Still, there’s common ground. They’re mostly 20-somethings living in the San Francisco Bay Area, wondering how to find fulfillment, lead a balanced life and fight societal norms in the most productive way. It’s esoteric and maybe idealistic, but it’s relatable. And that’s what Harney wants to convey. “A lot of the things I’m talking about are ultimately empathetic themes,” Harney said. “Like, ‘I fucking know, dude. Love is really hard. Anxiety is superchallenging. Friendships can just rock you.’ There’s nothing like someone saying, ‘I get it. I get you.’” Ω


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—Becky Grunewald

05.15

Check yourselfies: Let’s get something out of the way first that is not the beautiful, wonderful, talented Julieta Venegas’ fault: the amount of selfies, video recording and picture-taking at this show was hands down the worst I have ever seen and almost ruined the experience for me. The April 27 Ace of Spades show sold out, which meant I found myself pretty far at the back of the venue. Which meant that whenever she played a hit off of her biggest selling album, Limón y Sal, the phones went up, and I couldn’t see. It got so I was praying for a song off of Venegas’ new, lesser known album just so I could catch a glimpse of her. OK, rant over. I first heard Venegas in Mexico, and the music leaped out at me. I was traveling in an area where banda music (the accordion-heavy genre with a polka beat) reigns supreme— something that is mostly like nails on a chalkboard to me. Her music didn’t elicit that reaction, however: What was this shimmering ’90s-style pop (reminiscent of the band the Sundays) sung by a woman with the glassy-toned, clear-as-a-bell voice? With total earworm hooks? And her videos show that Venegas is a winsome lass who is cute as a button. Soon after returning home, I bought a greatest-hits album, and it became a staple on the stereo for months. The crowd was antsy for her entrance, chanting “Julieta” and cheering when her accordion was brought out. She emerged with a hip-looking young band and launched into a killer set that included “Limón y Sal,” “Me Voy,” “Andar Conmigo” and “Lento.” Throughout, Venegas alternated between singing, playing the keyboard and—the crowd favorite—playing gentle, tasteful accordion (yes, there is such a thing). She spoke a bit in Spanish between songs, and I couldn’t catch more than a word here or there. I think she was dishing some bright-eyed advice on life, which I would love to heed, if only I understood it.

LANDS ON STANDS

NOLA dreamin’: Like nearly everyone else who has ever visited New Orleans, I am madly in love with the city. Colorful colonial homes mingle with post-Katrina urban decay to create a visually stunning landscape. The cuisine—gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, muffuletta, beignets—is some of the best this country has to offer. And the drive-thru daiquiris! But seriously, New Orleans is more about music than anything else. As the birthplace of jazz, the city is steeped in the stuff. There’s live music literally wafting through the air at just about every hour of every day. I felt pangs of longing during Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s midApril set at the Crest Theatre— a magical night for the few hundred who came out. Like so much of New Orleans, the band has a rich history. In 1961, the popularity of traditional New Orleans jazz was waning, so a couple opened up the Preservation Hall as an attempt to keep the style alive. In 1963, the eponymous band was formed to play the venue. But to spread the gospel of NOLA, the band started to tour as well. And the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been active ever since. Its members have obviously changed, though many have roots in the New Orleans jazz scene or the band itself. Drummer Joe Lastie Jr. comes from the family credited with bringing drums into New Orleans’ churches. Pianist Rickie Monie and trombone player Freddie Lonzo both used to play with the legendary Olympia Brass Band. Charlie Gabriel, on tenor sax and clarinet, is a fourth-generation New Orleans musician—though at age 81, there are now seven generations of musicians in his family. Trumpeter Mark Braud’s uncles used to lead the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and bassist Ben Jaffe’s father was the band’s very first tuba player. All of that history and influence could be felt at the Crest, along with the swingin’, foot-stompin’ partyvibe of New Orleans. Gabriel’s deep, vintage voice sounded like a record player. Ronell Johnson, encased in his sousaphone, never stopped grooving. Braud led the eight-piece band with effortless cool. And of course, I am still craving beignets.

BEST OF THE BURBS

Magical jazz and selfie loathing

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2708 J street sacramento, Ca 916.441.4693 www.harlows.com - May 8 -

- May 1 -

mike e winfield

asleep at the wheel The easy Leaves •

7pm • $45

rico the great 8:30pm • $20

- may 2 -

david wilcox 6pm • $25 adv

- May 9 -

tainted love 9pm • $15 adv

- May 10 -

tycho

8pm • sold out

- may 4 -

toad the wet sprocket Tommy & The high PiLoTs •

7pm • $40

- may 12 -

skid row black star riders 7pm • $30 adv

KaRaoKe nIGhTLy In ouR FRonT baR PLus aWesome Food sPeCIaLs

Coming Soon

Wednesday aPRIL 30

Parade of Lights / Ugly Bunny Dustbowl Revival Curtis Mayfield Tribute Tab Benoit The Cave Singers William Fitzsimmons / Ben Sollee The Revivalists J Ras & Soulfited Wayne “The Train” Hancock Jeremy Briggs Pimps of Joytime Nice Peter Old Man Markley The Tubes Hillstomp Prezident Brown Global Guitar Greats Average White Band Robin Zandr of Cheap Trick Southern Culture on the Skids The Brothers Comatose SambaDa / The Nibblers Midnight Players Robert Francis The Infamous Stringdusters Eric Bibb Rakim

KNCI 18 & over College WedNesdays $2, $3, $4 drINK speCIals

May 14 May 16 May 17 May 19 May 20 May 21 May 22 May 23 May 24 May 24 May 30 June 3 June 4 June 7 June 13 June 14 June 14 June 15 June 16 June 25 June 27 June 28 July 5 July 11 July 15 July 16 July 20

ThuRsday may 1 101.9 the Wolf preseNts chad bushnell band! free BullrIdes, $1 u-Call-It-Wells & pBr

FRIday may 2 8pm - 9pm $2 pBr & $3 loNg IslaNds

saTuRday may 3 9pm - 10pm $4 JaCK & $3 Coors lIght

sunday may 4 18 & over free daNCe lessoNs

1320 deL Paso bLvd

stoNeyINN.Com | 916.927.6023

1000 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

FOR TICKETS TO ALL SHOWS VISIT AssemblyMusicHall.com

For Rentals or Private Parties please contact AssemblyMusicHall@gmail.com

FORTUNATE YOUTH TRUE PRESS, STREET URCHINZ, LOS RAKAS FRI MAY 2 @ 7PM

SAT MAY 3 @ 8PM

SUN MAY 4 @ 9PM

GZA TEL CAIRO, AGUSTUS THELEFANT, THE GATLIN, DRE T MON MAY 5 @ 7PM

UPCOMING SHOWS

WED MAY 7 @ 9:30PM 42

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THURS MAY 8 @ 7PM

FRI MAY 9 @ 7PM

MAY 10 MAY 11 MAY 16 MAY 17 MAY 20 MAY 22 MAY 23 MAY 24 MAY 25 MAY 30 MAY 31 JUN 6 JUN 7 JUN 14 JUN 17 JUNE 20 JUNE 26 JULY 2

FINN STEPHEN RAGGA MARLEY UPON THIS DRAWING THE SIREN SHOW HELLOGOODBYE / VACATIONER ALOHA SUMMER THE GREEN THE UNLIKELY CANDIDATES METALACHI NICKI BLUHM & THE GRAMBLERS AWOKEN SHADOWS DANCE GAVIN DANCE AFTERPARTY SUPERSUCKERS KING BUZZO OF MELVINS DOG FASHION DISCO SLAVES CULTURA PROFETICA AXE MURDER BOYZ


and

Blues Brews

2 • 0 • 1 • 4

A day-long celebration of live music and craft beer!

on s e lu b ve li t a e r g f o rs u o h d n Featuring hours a ed by n li d a e h , e g ta s t r -a e th f-o te our sta

S I T R U C O D A G L SA

7:00PM

THE GROWLERS FEAT. JOHNNY V

2:45 PM

FEATHER FALLS’ OWN

4:30 PM

1:00 PM

A L S O F E AT U R I N G L I V E O N S TA G E T H R O U G H O U T T H E D AY:

JOHN NEMETH

JANIVA MAGNESS

Sunday, May 25th All-Day Tickets are just $30! Admission includes shows, souvenir glass, food & drink specials, free slot machine play* and 21 Pit match bet! 3 Alverda Drive Oroville, CA 95966 Info: 530-533-3885 featherfallscasino.com

10-person VIP suites available - call for details!

CASINO & LODGE

DOORS OPEN AT 12 NOON. MUST BE 21+ WITH ID TO ATTEND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©2013 FEATHER FALLS CASINO. *FREE PLAY REQUIRES FREE BONUS MAGIC CLUB MEMBERSHIP

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02FRI

02FRI

03SAT

03SAT

Banjo-Rama 2014

TEEN

Boneyard Rattlers

Noothgrush

Clarion Inn & Conference Center, 7 p.m., $20-$55 Banjo-Rama 2014 is four fun-filled days of  music and workshops with special guests and  performers. Following a Friday-afternoon  BANJO workshop is a 7 p.m. show with  Sacramento Banjo Band, Simon  Anuszczyk, Bill Lowrey, Buddy Wachter, Steve  Peterson and the festival’s featured performer, Navihanke (pictured), from Slovenia.  These five women bring high energy, a variety  of instruments, Slovenian culture and a lot of  goodwill. The multitalented band blends traditional European music with contemporary pop  and polka. Navihanke also performs Saturday  and Sunday with talented and acclaimed banjo  soloists and groups including Charlie Tagawa,  Jack Convery, Bird Cage Quartet, 4/4 Fun, East  Bay Banjo Club and Girls! Girls! Girls! 1401 Arden  Way, www.sacramentobanjoband.com.

Witch Room, 8 p.m., $7

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

A few years ago, Kristina “Teeny” Lieberson  left her keyboard post with Brooklyn indie  outfit Here We Go Magic to start TEEN. The  band’s four ladies initially released songs that  veered toward garage-pop or experimental  alternative rock. But when their new record,  The Way and Color, dropped last week, TEEN  got a whole lot more interesting. The album is  ripe with R&B-tinged soundscapes and psychedelic pop tracks alike, layered with heavy  beats, lovely melodies and fuzzy hooks. The  production value is definitely up, but the music  ALTERNATIVE isn’t glossy. It’s  downright distressing. Lyrics tackle heavy subjects—unfaithful  partners, loveless sex, terminated pregnancies. Teen angst, perhaps, but on an epic scale.  1815 19th Street, www.teentheband.com.

—Trina L. Drotar

Starlite Lounge, 9 p.m., $10

Sacramento’s newest Americana-roots band,  Boneyard Rattlers, will make its debut to promote its recently released Fallen Angel EP. The  seasoned (but not ready for the actual “boneyard”) outfit consists of four musicians who  individually bring together a variety of songAMERICANA writing and performing  talents from a range  of musical genres. The local lineup includes  two multi-instrumentalists—Jerry “The Mad  Fiddler” Turberville and Stan Brown—plus  bassist Jeff Bruner and drummer (and full  disclosure, former SN&R contributor) Mark  Halverson. If their debut performances are  near the quality and variety of original tunes  included on the new EP, audiences will be in for  an enjoyable evening of music. 1001 R Street,  www.facebook.com/boneyardrattlers.

—Janelle Bitker

—Mark Hanzlik

ACE OF SPADES TY DOLLA $IGN JOE MOSES - MILA J - PLAYAH K - MARK SNIPES

SATURDAY, MAY 3

FALLRISE

TALLBOY - MADISON AVENUE DIMIDIUM -MISAMORE - GRAVE SHADOW

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES

YANKEE BRUTAL - SOLANUM

THURSDAY, MAY 8

CHIODOS

ALL AGES WELCOME!

TWENTY ONE PILOTS

NONONO - HUNTER HUNTED

MONDAY, MAY 12

RIFF RAFF GRANDTHEFT - DIAMOND DEZ

THURSDAY, MAY 15

BERNER / DEVIN THE DUDE

POT LUCK - COOL NUTZ - J.HORNAY

FRIDAY, MAY 16

ONE

METALLICA TRIBUTE BAND

SATURDAY, MAY 10

SATURDAY, MAY 17

DOPE - SMILE EMPTY SOUL ¨C THIRA - DEAD IN SECONDS

SOIL - SUNFLOWER DEAD ¨C CHERNOBOG KOREAN FIRE DRILL

WAYNE STATIC & OTEP

HED PE

—Eddie Jorgensen

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

SUNDAY, MAY 11

FRIDAY, MAY 2

Sometimes mere inertia can elevate a band  into a cultlike status. Take for instance, the  case of the East Bay doom and sludge-metal  outfit, Noothgrush. After years of relative  dormancy, the band was eventually courted  by Southern Lord records in 2011 and  played at the coveted Roadburn Festival  (in Tilburg, the Netherlands) last month. If  you’re unsettled by nauseating guitar tones,  stomach-rumbling bass or crushing drums,  this may not be your cup of tea. For those  who appreciate guttural screams coupled  with snail-paced rock, this is a must-see  show. Sacramento also has an abundance  of underground metal shows.  METAL Show up and take a flier on  your way out the door. 1517 21st Street,  www.facebook.com/noothgrushband.

COMING

SOON

05/20 YG 05/21 Christina Perri 05/23 Devildriver/ Whitechapel 05/24 El Gran Silencio 05/30 Black Flag 05/31 Tech N9ne 06/05 Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang 06/13 Mickey Avalon 06/21 Warren G 07/01 Future 07/12 NWA Resurrection 07/24 Moonshine Bandits 08/23 Y & T

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

44   |   SN&R   |    05.01.14


04SUN

04SUN

07WED

08THURS

Colossus West

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Suicidal Tendencies

In the Flow Festival

JB’s Lounge, 5 p.m., $5-$10

Harlow’s Restaurant & Nightclub, 8 p.m., $40

Sacramento native Levi Saelua (pictured)  brings the West Coast chapter of his 17-piece  jazz orchestra for its hometown debut. As a  jazz-composition student at the University  of Rochester Eastman School of Music in New  York, Saelua created Colossus with his fellow scribes Mike Conrad and Dave Chisolm.  The trio compose and arrange original jazz  tunes for Colossus, which has since split into  three chapters: Colossus East led by Chisolm,  Colossus Central headed by Conrad, and  Colossus West under the guidance of Saelua.  JAZZ The group is touring to support its  first self-titled album, released last  summer. Saelua will blow the house down with  his sax solos supported by the best young   talent in Sacramento. 1401 Arden Way,   www.colossusjazz.bandcamp.com. BRNV-SNR-042414.pdf

1

4/24/14

Ace of Spades, 6:30 p.m., $20

Who didn’t have Toad the Wet Sprocket’s  “All I Want� stuck in their head in 1991? The  song was huge. Those big stadium drums!  ROCK The driving acoustic-rock riff!  The rich harmony-laden chorus!  When singer Glen Phillips hit that high note  at the end of the chorus, everyone felt  their spine tingling (don’t try and deny  it). Though the group never matched the  single’s success, it did have a string of  coffee-shop alt-rock hits afterward—up  until 1998, when it broke up. Though TTWS  played the occasional show, it officially got  back together in 2009 and became a fulltime touring machine once again. And those  harmonies still sound great. 2708 J Street,  www.toadthewetsprocket.com.

—Aaron Carnes

10:31 AM

Shine, 7 p.m., $10-$15

Adding even more new material to its  longtime musical history, crossover thrash  (punk rock mixed with heavy metal) outfit  Suicidal Tendencies recorded its ninth studio album, 13, last year. The band formed in  1981 in Venice, Calif., with Mike Ball on guitar, Mike Dunnigan on bass, Carlos Egert on  drums and Mike Muir on vocals. Although  Muir—who is known as the leader in  Suicidal’s current lineup—remains the only  CROSSOVER THRASH original  member,  the song “Institutionalized� from its selftitled debut album back in the early ’80s  still remains a crowd favorite during live  performances. Yankee Brutal and Solanum  will open this show. 1417 R Street,   www.suicidaltendencies.com.

—Cody Drabble

The In the Flow Festival is five days of some  of the weirder live music Sacramento and the  surrounding area has to offer, including jazz,  electronic, blues, spoken word and rock—just  so long as it strays from popular mainstream  JAZZ/ELECTRONIC music. The  whole thing is  put together by Sacramento experimentaljazz guitarist Ross Hammond. This Thursday is  the kickoff event with art rockers Gentleman  Surfer (pictured) and anything-goes band  Instagon. Also playing will be Now! Miles and  Daniel Rosenboom. Subsequent days will be  at different locations: Luna’s CafĂŠâ€ƒ& Juice  Bar, the Berkeley Arts Festival Space, and the  Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento.  1400 E Street, www.intheflowsacramento.com.

—Aaron Carnes

—Steph Rodriguez

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NIGHTBEAT

THURSDAY 5/1

ASSEMBLY MUSIC HALL 1000 K St., (916) 832-4751

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.

BADLANDS

FRIDAY 5/2

SUNDAY 5/4

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 5/5-5/7

FORTUNATE YOUTH, TRUE PRESS, KING DEV, LITA XO, GOD GANG; STREET URCHINZ, LOS RAKAS; 7pm, $12 8pm, $20

Mayo Mayhem w/ DJ Amar, 9pm, $10

GZA, TEL CAIRO; 7pm M, $15; LATE NIGHT ALUMNI, 9:30pm W, $10-$12

2003 K St., (916) 448-8790

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, 9pm M

BAR 101

Karaoke, 7:30pm, no cover

THE PRESSURE LOUNGE, 9:30pm, call for cover

SIMPLE CREATION, 9:30pm, $5

VAGABOND BROTHERS, 2-5pm, no cover

BAD BEHAVIOR BLUES BAND, 6pm M, call for cover; Open-mic, 7:30pm W

BLUE LAMP

1400 Alhambra, (916) 455-3400

THE ALT/RECLUSE, THE CONSTELLATIONS, TRIBE OF LEVI; 8pm, $6

Circus variety show, 8pm, call for cover

THE SCRATCH OUTS, KEYSER SOZE, THE DEBONAIRES, NINA COLE; 8pm, $8

Get Down to the Champion Sound reggae night, 9pm-2am, $3

Acoustic open mic, 8pm M, no cover; Naughty Trivia, 8pm W, no cover

THE BOARDWALK

ARMINIUS, INDUCTION, FAILED

THE DISTRICT, JESS HACKETT, DMC, DAYONTAY, SINCERE, CHERISH; 8pm

GIRL ON FIRE, HIT AND RUN, PUSHING THE SUN, STATE LINE EMPIRE; 8pm, $13-$15

CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Colin Quinn, 8pm, $35-$40

JOHNNY CLEGG BAND, JESSE CLEGG; 8pm, $30-$35

MICHAEL NESMITH, 8pm, $40-$45

DAVID WILCOX, JUSTIN FARREN; 7:30pm, $22-$25

Community Music Jam, 6:30pm M; RICHARD THOMPSON, 7:30pm W

DIVE BAR

Deuling Pianos, 9pm, no cover

101 Main St., Roseville; (916) 774-0505

9426 Greenback Ln., Orangevale; (916) 988-9247 DIPLOMACY; 8pm, call for cover 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley; (530) 274-8384 1022 K St., (916) 737-5999

FACES

2000 K St., (916) 448-7798

FOX & GOOSE

1001 R St., (916) 443-8825

MARTY COHEN & THE SIDEKICKS, 8pm, no cover

THE THREE WAY, 9pm, no cover Hip-hop and Top 40 Deejay dancing, 9pm, $5-$10

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

THE NEIGHBORS, SCOTT JEPPESON; 9pm, $5

BONEYARD RATTLERS, TOO MUCH FICTION; 8pm, $5

G STREET WUNDERBAR Hey local bands!

HALFTIME BAR & GRILL 2708 J St., (916) 441-4693

Mike E Winfield, Rico The Great, 9pm, $20

DAVID WILCOX, 7pm, $25-$30

LEVEL UP FOOD & LOUNGE

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

DJ Rock Bottom and The Mookie DJ, 9pm, no cover

LUNA’S CAFÉ & JUICE BAR

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

KEN MEYERS & LARRY SIKORSKI, JULIE MEYERS; 5:30pm, $5

MARILYN’S ON K

FOR SAYLE, ROYAL JELLY, BLUE OAKS; 9pm, call for cover

You Front The Band Live Karaoke, 9pm, call for cover

MIDTOWN BARFLY

1119 21st St., (916) 549-2779

Dubstep, glitch-hop, house and electron- Dubstep, glitch-hop and deep bass ic deejay dancing, 9pm, call for cover deejay dancing, 9pm-2am, call for cover

NAKED LOUNGE DOWNTOWN

JIM RAINES, JIM EVANS; 8:30pm, $5

OLD IRONSIDES

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

2431 J St., (916) 448-8768

1414 16th St., (916) 441-3931 908 K St., (916) 446-4361

1111 H St., (916) 443-1927

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

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MCKENNA FAITH, 9pm-midnight, $5

5681 Lonetree Blvd., Rocklin; (916) 626-6366

HARLOW’S

05.01.14

Dragalicious, 9pm, $5

Queer Idol, 9pm M, no cover; Latin night, 9pm Tu, $5; DJ Alazzawi, 9pm W, $3 Open-mic, 7:30pm M; Pub Quiz, 7pm Tu; Northern Soul, 8pm W, no cover

CHRONIC VITALITY, 10pm, no cover

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

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.

SATURDAY 5/3

PLAYBACK, 9pm-midnight, $5

Trivia night, 7:30-9pm Tu, no cover TOAD THE WET SPROCKET, TOMMY AND THE HIGH PILOTS; 8pm, call for cover Hip-hop and R&B deejay dancing, 9:16pm Tu, no cover

SARALYN ADKINS, DANI UKULELE, CASEY GROAT; 8pm, $5

Nebraska Mondays, 7:30pm M, $5-$20; Comedy night, 8pm W, $6 Marilyn’s Talent Showcase, 6pm, no cover

Darling Clementines Burlesque Review, 8pm M, $10

Electronic, house, nu-disco, techno, dub- Goth, darkwave, industrial, electronic step deejay dancing, 9pm, call for cover deejay dancing, 9pm-3am, call for cover

Swing dance, 7:30pm Tu, $6; Salsa with Nicole Lazo, 7:30pm-midnight W, $5

ALICYN YAFFEE QUARTET, CAVE WOMEN; 8:30pm, $5

DR. VELOCITY, THE UNCOVERED, MONONYMOUS; 8.30pm, $5

Jazz session, 8pm M; LINO ALIBANI, JORDAN MCDOUGAL; 8:30pm W, $5

BLAME THE BISHOP, LUCKY LAKOWSKI & THE LIARS CHOIR, IMAGE; 9pm, $5

Lipstick Weekender w/ Shaun Slaughter and Roger Carpio, 9pm, $5

Karaoke w/ Sac City Entertainment, 9pm Tu, no cover; Open-mic, 9pm W, no cover


THURSDAY 5/1

FRIDAY 5/2

SATURDAY 5/3

SUNDAY 5/4

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 5/5-5/7

Open-mic comedy, 9pm, no cover

Karaoke, 9pm Tu, no cover; HEMLOCK, 8pm M, $5

ON THE Y

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

CHOP SHOPPE, 9pm, $5

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

THE PALMS PLAYHOUSE

THE BLACK LILLIES, 8pm, $15

SKIDMORE BLUFFS, 8pm, $15

JIMMY THACKERY & THE DRIVERS, 8:30pm, $20

PINS N STRIKES

DJ Supe, 10pm, $10

ESSEX, 9pm, $10

PJ’S ROADHOUSE

ESAMPLE, 9pm, $5

SIMMS BAND, 9pm, $5

RADAR LOVE, 10pm, call for cover

NUNCHUCK TAYLOR, 10pm, call for cover

LOOSE CHANGE, 3pm, call for cover

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

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

Sunday Night Soul Party, 9pm, $5

CRESCENT KATZ, 9pm, no cover

ZORELLI, 9pm, no cover

ALEX JENKINS, 9pm, no cover

670 Fulton Ave., (916) 487-3731 13 Main St., Winters; (530) 795-1825 3443 Laguna Blvd., Elk Grove; (916) 226-2625 5461 Mother Lode, Placerville; (530) 626-0336

POWERHOUSE PUB

SANDY NUYTS, 10pm, call for cover

614 Sutter St., Folsom; (916) 355-8586

THE PRESS CLUB

2030 P St., (916) 444-7914

SHADY LADY SALOON

TESSIE MARIE, 9pm, no cover

SOPHIA’S THAI KITCHEN

PILLAR POINT, SOFT SWELLS; 8:30pm, $5

1409 R St., (916) 231-9121

129 E St., Davis; (530) 758-4333

STARLITE LOUNGE

1517 21st St., (916) 706-0052

STONEY INN/ROCKIN’ RODEO 1320 Del Paso Blvd., (916) 927-6023

THE CHAD BUSHNELL BAND, 8pm, $5

SWABBIES

5871 Garden Hwy, (916) 920-8088

THE STATION

Salsa w/ Mike Del Campo and Mr. DJ Omar, 8:30pm, no cover; $5 after 9:30pm

TORCH CLUB

X TRIO, 5pm, no cover; JEREMY NORRIS, 9pm, $5

1100 Orlando Ave., Roseville; (916) 728-1166 904 15th St., (916) 443-2797

WITCH ROOM

1815 19th St., www.witchroomsac.com

Ballroom dancing with Jim Truesdale, 6:30pm W, no cover

Be Calm Honcho with Brother Grand 9pm Saturday, $6. Sophia’s Thai Kitchen Indie

Karaoke, Tu; MANOS HAND OF FATE, TWILIGHT STRAGGLERS; 8pm W, $5

HARLEY WHITE JR., 9pm W, no cover

BE CALM HONCHO, BROTHER GRAND; 9:30pm, $6 S.W.I.M., ZEN ARCADIA, RACE TO THE BOTTOM; 9pm, call for cover

NOOTHGRUSH, AMAROK, LYCUS; 9pm, $10

HAUNTED HORSES, HE WHOSE OX IS ULCERATE, PLAGUE WIDOW; 9pm Tu, GORED, GRILL CLOTH, SO STRESSED; 9pm call for cover

Country dancing, 7:30pm, no cover; $5 after 8pm

Country dancing, 7:30pm, no cover; $5 after 8pm

Country dance party, 8pm, no cover

MIND X, 6-10pm, call for cover

BUCK FORD, 5-9pm, call for cover

THE SPAZMATICS, 3-7pm, call for cover

Salsa with Mike Del Campo, 8:30pm, no cover; $5 after 9:30pm

Domingos Latinos with Mr. DJ Omar, 9pm, $5-$10

Blues jam session, 8:30pm Tu, no cover

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

DELTA CITY RAMBLERS, 9pm, no cover; KEVIN RUSSELL, 9pm, $8

Blues jam, 4pm, no cover; MIND CLUB, 8pm, $6

LEW FRATIS, 8pm Tu, $5; Open-mic, 5:30pm W; BRIAN ROGERS, 9pm W, $5

TEEN, YOUNG AUNDEE; 8pm, $7

PLAZA, LOOSE SHUS; 8pm, $5

Comedy open-mic, 8pm M; Bluebird Lounge open-mic, 5pm Tu, no cover

GZA with Tel Cairo, Augustus Thelefant, the Gatlin and Dre T 7pm Monday, $15. Assembly Music Hall Hip-hop

Blues In The Schools Showcase, 6pm Tu, $5

All ages, all the time ACE OF SPADES

TY DOLLA $IGN, JOE MOSES, MILA J, PLAYAH K, MARK SNIPES; 7pm, $17-$60

1417 R St., (916) 448-3300

LUIGI’S SLICE AND FUN GARDEN

PREGNANT, TECHNICOLOR HEARTS, ELIZA RICKMAN; 8pm, call for cover

SHINE

FUTUREWANG, CHIKADING!, LORDS OF OUTLAND, DELAYED SLEEP; 8pm, $5

1050 20th St., (916) 552-0317 1400 E St., (916) 551-1400

FALLRISE, TALLBOY, MADISON AVENUE, DIMIDIUM, MISAMORE; 6pm, $12

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, YANKEE BRUTAL, SOLANUM; 6:30pm W, $20

LITE BRITE, THE KELPS, HONYOCK, ADDIE & THE BADDIES; 8pm, $5 REDLIGHT RADICAL, 8pm, $5

Open-mic, 7:30pm W; Open jazz jam w/ Jason Galbraith, 8pm Tu, no cover

GROOVIN’ HIGH, 8pm, $5

EvErY fri ~ $10 aftEr 10pm!

club ELEvatE

LIVE MUSIC

may

dj supe in the mix playing top 40 hits and interactive videos

2nd THE PRESSURE LOUNGE

sat 5/3 ~ 9pm ~ $10

EssEX & v101 nigHt

3rd SIMPLE CREATION 4th VAGABOND BROTHERS UNPLUGGED 2-5PM

LigHtEr sHadE of Brown soLsa, midnigHt pLaYErs sat 5/10 ~ 9pm ~ $10

innEr souL nigHt

10th THE DREAD LULLABIES 101 MAIN STREET, ROSEVILLE 916-774-0505 · 9:30PM · 21+ FACEBOOK.COM/BAR101ROSEVILLE

|

NEWS

check out interactive digital wheel art by MonkeyLectric, and get tips and tricks from Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen. Satisfy your bike curiosity during 10-minute art talks about cycle-inspired works and interactive art making with this month’s featured artist. Free bike valet will be provided by the Sacramento

cinco de mayo Block party

9th GOLDEN CADILACS

Area Bicycle Advocates. Drink specials under $5 all night.

#artmix crockerartmuseum.org

3443 Laguna BLvd • ELk grovE facEBook.com/pinsnstrikEs pinsnstrikEs.com • 916.226.2695

|

FEATURE STORY

5 — 9 PM

Gear up for Bike Month at Art Mix. Listen to the cranked up sounds of local DJs plus live bands presented by the Davis Live Music Collective. Learn how to ride in style at a bicycle fashion show curated by Juniper James. Cruise through an exhibition of incredible art bikes built by bicycle artist Kevin Greenberg,

sun 5/4 ~ 12-5pm ~ opEn to aLL agEs $15 aduLts ~ $5 kids 12 & undEr

5th BAD BEHAVIOR BLUES BAND (CINCO DE MAYO)

BEFORE

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what’s on your

horizon?

NOw OFFERINg PLaNTs! Join Horizon Non-Profit today for safe access to a wide variety of high quality medical cannabis. Whether you prefer flowers, extracts, edibles or topicals, indica or sativa, we have the right medicine for you. Whatever your medical condition or employment situation, you can come to Horizon knowing that we respect and hold your

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HORIZON NON-PROFIT COLLECTIVE 3600 Power inn rd suite 1a sacramento, Ca 95826 916.455.1931


Don’t grow your own?

Bring in any competitor’s coupon and we’ll beat it by $5 Must present competitor’s ad. Some restrictions apply.

Sacramento County just banned outdoor marijuana cultivation. I have a garden; what’s going to happen next? —The Rev. Greenthumb Last week, Sacramento County Supervisor (and marijuana hater) Roberta MacGlashan introduced two ordinances to ban marijuana growing in the unincorporated area of the county. The outdoor measure passed unanimously, and the indoor ban was tabled so that supervisors could discuss regulations. BEALUM This is a shame. Here is a little message for the by NGAIO prohibitionists: Prohibition does not work. People have been growing marijuana in California for decades. According to the representative’13 from the a s k420 @ ne wsreview.c om Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department at the board meeting, it is virtually impossible to even take someone to trial for a medical-marijuana garden, let alone to get a conviction. Proposition 215 allows for medicalmarijuana patients to grow their own medicine (Prop. 215 doesn’t actually legalize marijuana, it allows a patient to make an “affirmative defense” so that there are no criminal penalties). They could try to send the case to the feds, but unless the garden is way more than 100 plants, the feds aren’t interested. So now, you have an ordinance that has no teeth. There could be civil but really this law You have an penalties, is mostly unenforceable. I am incredibly upset with ordinance that has the supervisors, especially no teeth. There could MacGlashan, who seems to the impetus behind every be civil penalties, be anti-marijuana bill in the but really this law is county. And Supervisor Phil Serna, who always seems mostly unenforceable. to ask good questions along the lines of, “Can we maybe regulate outdoor growing to, say, six plants or so?” and then votes to ban outdoor grows anyway. Would it kill him to make a token “no” vote every once in a while? I am also upset with the cannabis growers of unincorporated Sacramento County, because sloppiness and pissing off your neighbors (this ban is a “nuisance” ordinance, not a criminal one) is the best way to get everyone in trouble. Can you maybe take a few steps to minimize odor during the harvest season? Must you and your buddies sleep on the porch next to your guns for the whole month of October? Do you really need 100 plants in your backyard? It seems to me like more than a few folks are disregarding the first rule of living next to other people: Don’t be an ass. Ngaio Bealum So what now? Can’t fight it in court: California has is a Sacramento already ruled that cities and counties can ban marijuana comedian, activist pretty much all they want. The activists up in Shasta and marijuana expert. County have managed to get together and gather enough Email him questions signatures to put their ban up to a vote. This was wellat ask420@ newsreview.com. played, since not only did these stalwart activists manage to get the ban stopped until after the November election, giving themselves at least one more growing season, they also managed to register more than 3,000 new voters. That’s a big deal. Until California can come up with comprehensive statewide regulations (ha!), local politics will determine the future. More pro-marijuana votes can only help the movement. Can the growers and activists in Sacramento County gather enough signatures to put a ban up to a vote? I suppose we are about to find out. Ω BEFORE

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NEWS

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F E AT U R E

STORY

VOted 3rd best ’13 420 physician in sac! ’13

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Sacramento

420 Doc MEDiCAL MArijuAnA EvALuAtiOns

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Must bring ad. Limit one per patient. Some restrictions apply.

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2100 Watt Ave, Unit 190 | Sacramento, CA 95825 | Mon–Sat 11am–7pm 2633 Telegraph Ave. 109 | Oakland, CA 94612 | 510-832-5000 | Mon–Sat 10am–5pm recommendations are valid for 1 year for qualifying patients Walk-ins Welcome all day everyday

Your information is 100% private and confidential Visit our website to book your appointment online 24/7 at

www.sac420Doc.com   |    A R T S & C U L T U R E     |    A F T E R

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FREE 1/8 s a t u R d a y

s p E c i a l

th

with any $40 min donation

Cannot be combined with other offers. Strain determined by HHWC.

closE to Folsom, FaiR oaks & RosEvillE

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Great selection of quality concentrates buy any 2 edibles get 1 (free of equal or lesser value) all $50 1/8ths capped at $40 buy 3 top-shelf full melt for only $90 all bubble hash is only $15 per gram get a free joint with any $10 minimum donation 4 gram 1/8ths all day

hwy 50

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improve e o t s i n o i s s i Our m ent’s quality of lif our pati Will mAtCh ANy lOCAl CliNiC pRiCe With COpy Of theiR Ad thAt iS CA mediCAl BOARd StANdARdS COmpliANt Get AppROved OR NO ChARGe! 24/7 verifications! hipAA Compliant 100% doctor/patient Confidentiality

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50

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5711 florin perkins rd | sacramento | 916.387.8605 | 10am–8pm 7 daYs a Week


BEFORE

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free gram with purchase of $35 or more

*free gram is house choice. offer expires 5-7-14.

top-shelf outdoor: $ 35 per 1/8th

35

2416 17th street 916.231.9934 | deltahealthwellness@gmail.com sacramento, ca 95818 | 9am-9pm daily

$

TOp SHELf 1/8THS 10 TOp SHELf GrAMS

$

SuNDAy SpEciAL: 4G 1/8THS (one per patient) 25 1/8THS SELEcT STrAiNS | $5 off any of our wax concentrates

$

TiNcTurES, HASH, cApSuLES, kiEf, EDibLES

NEW pATiENT GifTS

GOLDEN HEALTH & WELLNESS

1030 Joellis Way, Sac Arden Way

160

52

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Blu

me

Joellis Way

nfe ld

Dr

Arden Mall 80

916.646.6340

Monday–Saturday 10am–8pm Sunday 10am–6pm

OUR PATIENTS ARE SAYING: “I’ve been SUPER sick for the past year, and I drove around town looking for the most welcoming dispensary to try the high CBD tincture. This place is so much more than a dispensary...not only did the knowledgeable and caring staff direct me to the right stuff, I discovered that they offer a number of alternative healing classes that contribute to overall wellness. What a find! My doctors had pretty much written me off as having a chronic condition that seriously interfered with my quality of life...and here I am, all healed,using a NATURAL cure:) I couldn’t be happier”

FOR MORE REVIEWS AND OUR MENU, VISIT WWW.WEEDMAPS.COM

3015 H Street

916.822.4717

Sacramento, CA

NEW HOURS: 9am–9pm everyday

*Doctor’s recommendation & CA I.D. required


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Buy aN 1/8th, gEt a fr EE 1/2 graM cONcENtrat * E!

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ExP irE S 05/0 7/14 . *SE lEc t chO icE, ONE PEr Pat iEN t, whi lE SuP PliE S laSt.

cannabis experts when you bring a friend ($50 min donation)*

for neW patientS

we proudly oFFer:

4g 1/8thS ON all highEr tiErS

St

A.M.C.

ard Harv Blum

enfe

ld D

r

Arden

I-80

Way

W

Fee D

r

N S

E

1220 Blumenfeld Dr, Sacramento I 916.564.1100

OPEN Mon-Sat 10am to 9pm, Sun 10am to 6pm BEFORE

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NEWS

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F E AT U R E

STORY

|

VaporIZers TINCTures salVes

HoNey, BuTTer, soda

THC

6666 Fruitridge Road, Unit C • Sacramento, CA 95820 916.476.4431 • www.916THC.com * Can’t be combined with other open 9:00am to 8:00pm 7 days a week

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offers. One coupon per person, per day. Expires 05/07/14.

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Get Your Recommendation! North Of Hwy 50 @ Bradshaw & Folsom Blvd ReNewalS

40 $50

$

Photo ID Available for $15

w/ couPoN exP. 05/07/14 SNR

New PatieNt

- Physician Evaluations ’13

Routier

Bradshaw

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- 24/7 Online Verification - Walk-Ins / Appts

WEdnEsday

thursday

Buy a top shelf 1/8th, get 50% off our 1/8th of the day

E

lEssEr valu

friday

frEE pre-roll with a $35 donation friday facebook trivia day for free meds, too Buy 3 grams of Cannabis, get one frEE (of equal or lesser value)

sunday

Buy three 1/8ths get the fourth frEE

scan the qr Code to score a freebie from two rivers

tWo rivErs WEllnEss

315 north 10th strEEt saCramEnto 916.804.8975 tWorivErssaC.Com

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new patient specials & gifts! welcome back!

1404 28th Street

Corner of 28th & N, Midtown Sac Open 10am-9pm 7 days a week

/greensolutions420 SN&R   |  05.01.14

/tWo_rivErs

9719A Folsom Blvd. Sacramento, CA 916-822-5690 • www.cannmedical.org

now open!

|

*of Equal or

tuEsday

Choose any special

10% off all concentrates (max: 3 grams)

Sun 11am-5pm

caNN-Medical

54

nE frEE*

hs, gEt o Buy 3 Eight

- Mon-Sat 10am-6pm

Blvd om s l o F

50

*

monday

Buy any 2 edibles, get the 3rd 50% off

saturday

w/ couPoN exP. 05/07/14 ’13 SNR

’13

! e e Fr

t1 Buy 3, G e

daily spECials

/tWorivErssaC opEn 7 days a WEEk 9am – 9pm

S

A

c

r

A

m

e

n

t

o

S

o

n

l y

all-Organic dispensary

10 OFF any purchase $40 minimum donation. Free gram with any dOnatiOn While supplies last. New patients only. $

At the corner of S. WAtt & fruitridge roAd

hOuse OF Organics 8848 Fruitridge Rd. Sacramento | Open 7 days, 9am-7p | 916.381.3769


10 p a S M C A r lg l A N

10 C a ON h p ASh $

$ O

35 C a p ON A ll 1/ 8

35 p a CON AllAteS

$

$

tr N e C ON

thS

C

SAfe ACCeSS 916-254-3287 safe capitol compassion

BEFORE

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NEWS

Norwood

Northgate

Kelton

Main Ave

|

135 Main Avenue • Sacramento CA, 95838 Open Mon thru Sat 10AM–7PM // Closed Sun

F E AT U R E

STORY

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IN ADVERTISING ACT CLASSIFIEDS AT 8.

Your Downtown Service Shop

SMOG CHECK

OIL

$60

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We offer complete automotive service & repairs

EMISSIONS DIAGNOSTIC d to provide valid 99 business license or somatic establishment $ News & Review $ 75 a current w/repairs at time of service. (reg 120) most cars. ounty in which they are operating in in order to run a printed advertisement.

31

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All massage advertisers are required to provide News & Review a current valid business license or somatic establishment permit issued by either the city or county in which they are operating in in order to run a printed advertisement.

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BESgTe! massa

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News & Review a current valid business license or somatic issued by either 56  |  establishment SN&R  permit |  05.01.14 the city or county in which they are operating in in order to run a printed advertisement.

This is a model These are models

Violet Massage 3260 J St #A Sacramento 95816 (916) 442-1888

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FEATURE

STORY

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by Rachel leibROck

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Dear

Astrologer: We Aries people have an intense fire burning inside us. It’s an honor and a privilege. We’re lucky to be animated with such a generous share of the big energy that gives life to all of nature. But sometimes the fire gets too wild and strong for us. We can’t manage it. It gets out of our control. That’s how I’m feeling lately. These beloved flames that normally move me and excite me are now the very thing that’s making me crazy. What to do? —Aries.” Dear Aries: Learn from what firefighters do to fight forest fires. They use digging tools to create wide strips of dirt around the fire, removing all the flammable brush and wood debris. When the fire reaches this path, it’s deprived of fuel. Close your eyes and visualize that scene.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “My

personal philosophy is not to undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.” So said Taurusborn Edwin Land, the man who invented Polaroid photography. I have a feeling these might be useful words for you to live by between your birthday in 2014 and your birthday in 2015. In the coming 12 months, you will have the potential of homing in on a dream that will fuel your passions for years. It may seem to be nearly impossible, but that’s exactly what will excite you about it so much—and keep you going for as long as it takes to actually accomplish.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I wish there was a way you could play around with construction equipment for a few hours. I’d love it if you could get behind the wheel of a bulldozer and flatten a small hill. It would be good for you to use an excavator to destroy a decrepit old shed or clear some land of stumps and dead trees. Metaphorically speaking, that’s the kind of work you need to do in your inner landscape: Move around big, heavy stuff; demolish outworn structures; reshape the real estate to make way for new building projects.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the

Transformers movies, Optimus Prime is a giant extraterrestrial warrior robot. His body contains an array of weapons that he uses for righteous causes, like protecting Earth’s creatures. His character is voiced by actor Peter Cullen. Cullen has also worked extensively for another entertainment franchise, Winnie the Pooh. He does the vocals for Eeyore, a gloomy donkey who writes poetry and has a pink ribbon tied in a bow on his tail. Let’s make Cullen your role model for now. I’m hoping this will inspire you to get the Eeyore side of your personality to work together with the Optimus Prime part of you. What’s that you say? You don’t have an Optimus Prime part of you? Well, that’s what Eeyore might say, but I say different.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Do you finally

understand that you don’t have to imitate the stress-addled workaholics and selfwounding overachievers in order to be as proficient as they are? Are you coming to see that if you want to fix, heal and change the world around you, you have to fix, heal and change yourself? Is it becoming clear that if you hope to gain more power to shape the institutions you’re part of, you’ve got to strengthen your power over yourself? Are you ready to see that if you’d like to reach the next level of success, you must dissolve some of your fears of success?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Beauty

is the purgation of superfluities,” said Michelangelo. Do you agree? Could you make your life more marvelous by giving up some of your trivial pursuits? Would you become more attractive if you got rid of one of your unimportant desires? Is it possible you’d experience more lyrical grace if you sloughed off your irrelevant worries? I suggest you meditate on questions like these, Virgo. According to my interpretation of the astrological omens, experiencing beauty is not a luxury right now, but rather a necessity. For the sake of your mental, physical and spiritual health, you need to be in its presence as much as possible.

BEFORE

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NEWS

bRezsny

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I’m pretty

sure God wants you to be rich. Or at least richer. And I know for a fact that I want you to be richer. What about you? Do you want to be wealthier? Or at least a bit more flush? Or would you rather dodge the spiritual tests you’d have to face if you became a money magnet? Would you prefer to go about your daily affairs without having to deal with the increased responsibilities and obligations that would come with a bigger income? I suspect you will soon receive fresh evidence about these matters. How you respond will determine whether or not you’ll be able to take advantage of new financial opportunities that are becoming available.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The U.S.

military budget this year is $633 billion. In comparison, the United Nations’ peacekeeping budget is $7.8 billion. So my country will spend 81 times more to wage war than the U.N. will spend to make peace. I would prefer it if the ratio were reversed, but my opinion carries no weight. It’s possible, though, that I might be able to convince you Scorpios, at least in the short run, to place a greater emphasis on cultivating cooperation and harmony than on being swept up in aggression and conflict. You might be tempted to get riled up over and over again in the coming weeks, but I think that would lead you astray from living the good life.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Actor Matthew McConaughey prides himself on his willingness to learn from his mistakes and failures. A few years ago, he collected and read all the negative reviews that critics had ever written about his work in films. It was a “really interesting kind of experiment,” he told Yahoo News. “There was some really good constructive criticism.” According to my reading of the astrological omens, Sagittarius, now would be an excellent time for you to try an experiment comparable to McConaughey’s. Be brave!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

“Dear Oracle: I might be hallucinating, but recently I swear my pet iguana has been getting turned on whenever I disrobe in front of it. My naked body seems to incite it to strut around and make guttural hissing sounds and basically act like it’s doing a mating dance. Is it me, or is it the planets? I think my iguana is a Capricorn like me. —Captivating Capricorn.” Dear Capricorn: Only on rare occasions have I seen you Capricorns exude such high levels of animal magnetism as you are now. Be careful where you point that stuff! I won’t be shocked if a wide variety of creatures find you extra alluring.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Eat

like you love yourself,” advises author Tara Stiles. “Move like you love yourself. Speak like you love yourself. Act like you love yourself.” Those four prescriptions should be top priorities for you, Aquarius. Right now, you can’t afford to treat your beautiful organism with even a hint of carelessness. You need to upgrade the respect and compassion and reverence you give yourself. So please breathe like you love yourself. Sleep and dream like you love yourself. Think like you love yourself. Make love like you love yourself.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If

blindfolded, most people can’t tell the difference between Pepsi and Coca-Cola. But I bet you could, at least this week. Odds are good that you will also be adept at distinguishing between genuine promises and fakes ones. And you will always know when people are fooling themselves. No one will be able to trick you into believing in hype, lies or nonsense. Why? Because these days you are unusually perceptive and sensitive and discerning. This might on occasion be a problem, of course, since you won’t be able to enjoy the comfort and consolation that illusions can offer. But mostly it will be an asset, providing you with a huge tactical advantage and lots of good material for jokes.

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

F E AT U R E

PHOTO BY AUTUMN DE WILDE

by ROb

For the week of May 1, 2014

STORY

That’s ‘Miss Boss,’ if you’re nasty Sophia Amoruso launched her Nasty Gal vintage clothing eBay store out of an East Bay apartment, but the former Folsom resident’s love for all things fashion started in downtown Sac, where she scoured thrift stores as a teen. These days, the online shop, now based in Los Angeles, is a multimillion dollar retailer of both vintage and new clothes. Amoruso tells all in #GirlBoss (Portfolio Hardcover, $26.50), a breezy blend of memoir and entrepreneurial how-to that hits bookstores on May 6. Amoruso saved a few business tips for SN&R. Because most schools probably don’t want to teach exactly how a five-finger discount just might forge a path to industry domination.

What’s a ‘girl boss’? It’s someone who takes charge of her life and is going to take risks and who wants to do great things.

Where did the term come from? In the same way that ‘Nasty Gal’ is a musical reference, it’s kind of a movie reference. There’s a film called Girl Boss Guerilla from the ’70s that’s part of this genre—Japanese pinky violence—[that depicts] female revenge and women being generally badass. … It’s a nod to a genre that I think is awesome.

Speaking of Nasty Gal— what kind of reactions does that name get? Some people react in a negative way, but usually it’s from people who are too conservative to get into what we do anyway. It’s like one of Betty Davis’ famous lyrics: If you don’t like me, I don’t care. As a business, that’s not completely true—we do want customers to love us, but we’re certainly not for everyone.

Where in Sacramento did you live? I was born in San Diego, and we then moved to Gold River and then to Folsom.

What do you remember about growing up here? Be honest. As a child, there were a lot of random bus rides to the baby sitter; a lot of afterschool programs; hot summers and time by the river and Folsom Lake, splashing around.

Fashion memories? It’s funny, there was this thing—it was really before the word “hipster” came about. I was hanging out in downtown Sac ... I hung out at Capitol Garage before it |

A RT S & C U LT U R E

[moved], and I remember a lot of guys wearing really tight pants. There was a lot of good music, and where there’s good music, there’s often good style. The music scene was my influence.

my boxed leftovers. I felt like an awful person. I don’t relate to that person anymore, but at the same time, I’m glad she’s somewhere in my past, that she’s part of who I am.

Where did you shop?

I got anxious reading about when you hitchhiked from the 16th Street freeway on-ramp. How old were you?

Almost all my shopping was done at thrift stores. We had to leave Folsom to shop. Now there are a bunch in Folsom—now you can find everything from a Whole Foods to a thrift store.

You write candidly about shoplifting— what made you stop?

I was 17. I hitchhiked from Sac to Olympia [Wash.] and then San Francisco and the East Bay where I started Nasty Gal.

I learned the hard way, through trial and error, that hard work and honesty pays off. I was never an inherently dishonest person, but I didn’t [want to] work for anyone else. It was boring. I thought I could get by in other ways … and I did a lot of stupid stuff. It was shortly after I left Sac that I found that being legit and working hard and finding something you enjoy doing is [better].

How did that come about?

Not to get you in trouble, but where did you shoplift?

Advice for others?

Well, the [Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op] always had all this vegan ice cream that they put out back [behind the store], and my friends and I would scavenge it. There was a little shoplifting at REI. There wasn’t a ton I needed, though, beyond food—I think I stole a little wine. I dined and dashed at a Red Robin once, and the [server] came chasing after me—I thought he’d busted me, but it was just because I’d left behind |

AFTER

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I started tooling around [with Nasty Gal] in San Francisco. ... I then moved to the East Bay and started selling. Going into business for myself—I had never before seen the rewards that earning your keep can have. I didn’t know it would be so important for me. I was so rudderless working for other people; I wasn’t making good choices.

Know your strengths: You can always develop strengths—no one is good at everything. It’s important that people surround themselves with people who augment their talents. It’s OK not to be good everything, and if everyone can talk about it, we can accomplish things faster. That’s where humility comes in. Know yourself, know your limits. Ω

Channel your inner girl boss at www.nastygal.com.

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RT_FemCom-GoldLine_4-2-14 PRINT.pdf

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RT is my direct line to the office. With light rail, my workday starts as soon as I board the train. I can catch up on email, edit my presentation or finish up a memo all before getting to the office. It feels good to be productive. Find your line. Visit sacrt.com today for routes and schedules.

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