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31

Save the arts Sacramento saved the Kings. Now, we need to work harder to save some of our longstanding performing-arts institutions.

Here’s what’s going on: Last December, city council approved a lease arrangement for the Sacramento Ballet, plus the opera and philharmonic’s new organization, the Sacramento Region Performing Arts Alliance. The goal was to move these arts powerhouses into the old Fremont School building at N and 24th streets, then rename it the Studios for Performing Arts.

That never happened. So last month, Mayor Kevin Johnson asked council members Angelique Ashby and Jay Schenirer to look into things. They did—and this week are reporting back that the plan has “changed significantly,” according to a city report. The opera and philharmonic have bailed. The city also says it cannot help the ballet with the $2.5 million it needs.

I’m not saying the city should help the ballet with money. But the ballet’s current lease, at a building on K Street, expires this February. They’re working on a one-year extension, which I hope they get.

Because during the coming year, the community needs to figure out how to make the Studios project a reality.

The ballet has done a lot recently to connect with different audiences.

They hired a hip new executive director. They do non-traditional stuff like The Great Gatsby. I’ve even seen ballerinas dancing on top of Midtown parking garages. The ballet is no longer boring.

These arts groups deserve to thrive in this community for years to come. Who else can join them on N Street and turn that unused schoolhouse into an arts-andculture hub? Are there low-cost solutions to make this a reality?

If sports and entertainment are downtown’s future, then the arts should have a big place in Midtown’s.

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“The rutabagas are an acquired taste.”

Asked at Carmelita’s Mexican Restaurant in Roseville:

What is the one dish you crave on Thanksgiving?

Jesse Grabowski waiter

I really like yams, candied.

I just remember my mom always coming over with them. It is kind of a connection, because I really enjoyed her company. Thanksgiving is a good time with family and friends. We do a big spread, so there are turkey sandwiches the next day with leftovers.

Michael Perez

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Margaret Whiteley

restaurant manager

Stuffing. The stuffing has to be made with lots of butter and nuts. It is made from scratch with whole wheat bread, onions and celery.

I make it the way my mom used to do it. She had this old Betty Crocker cookbook which is falling apart now. ... I don’t make it any other time of year.

Adolfo Mercado

self-employed

Macaroni and cheese.

We make it almost from scratch. … There are a few secret ingredients in there, evaporated milk, and I like a combination of different kinds of cheeses. A sharp cheddar … and I like to top it off with Asiago or something salty like that.

It is always one of the first things to go.

Shirley Murray

delivery man

We do have some traditional ones in our family. Rutabagas boiled until they’re soft, and served with butter and salt and pepper. The other one is creamed onions. It is pearl onions in its own little dish. It goes back about four generations. The creamed onions are usually gone.

The rutabagas are an acquired taste.

Ham. I love ham. I bake it with brown sugar and pineapple. I serve it with cornbread. I have a big family and there aren’t any leftovers.

Etsy shop owner

The stuffing is special because I only do it once a year. I always use challah bread. It is a kind of Jewish bread. That is what makes it taste so good. Everything else I put in it is just the basics, like celery and onion.

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Cyclists unsafe, drunk?

Re “Where the sidewalk ends� by Nick Miller (SN&R Arts&Culture, November 6): I have read your articles about the bicycle issues in Sac, but there is no mention of the need to raise the bar on bicycle safety. The number of bikers in Midtown who use no helmets, no lights, and ride like they own the road is of real concern. In the dark, no lights, on their phones—it is a real problem, and often it is riders who have been out partying.

As a motorist, it is often a surprise to find a biker who is well-lit and often it is the case that you do not see the bike or the rider until you are too close for safety. I think SN&R should add this subject to their letter of stories about bicycling in Sac and hopefully there can be the week some enforcement to require riders to get their safety levels to a point that all of us on the road are able to see them.

Sobriety testing for bikers, too? This is a suggestion that dovetails with the other bicycle issues that are being discussed. Bikers need to pay attention and drive their vehicle with the same responsibility that motor vehicles have to consider and honor.

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Evan Jones via email

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Lee Williams Sacramento

Re “GamerGate’s violence stains all� by Anthony Siino (SN&R Essay, November 6): I’ve been a supporter of #GamerGate since it began in late August, and one of the things most frustrating about coverage of it is the all-too-common inaccuracies in  online buzz the origins and some events in the (admittedly confusing) movement.

On whether inStalling Sidewalk While Siino’s coverage is more water meterS iS waSting milliOnS: accurate and balanced than most We never needed water meters. mainstream coverage, there are That water meter State Law was some inaccuracies.

FORCED on us by legislators from For example, the “jilted exâ€? that OTHER STATE, Southern who is said to have triggered California. That being said, we #GamerGate with his blog post are doing what water wasting was not and is not a jilted ex. This SoCal refuses to do- Replacing term suggests he was dumped, old, deteriorating water mains and the blog post was a form of with new. revenge. The fact is, he ended the Matt Waterworth relationship and posted the blog as via Facebook a warning to the communities she was an influential voice in, and the Who’s buddy’s working this contract? industry she held similar influence in. He wanted them to know she Joel Henson was not living up to the socialvia Facebook justice standards she espoused. ‌ pretty incredible piece in In addition, the claim that the @SacNewsReview on the tooabuse suffered by #GamerGate high cost of water meter install. people by those against the moveAnd I’m pro-meter. ment is somehow less severe than @_mattread the reverse is also inaccurate.

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West Sac homeless clean-up See NEWS

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End tuition hikes See EDITORIAL

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‘R’ you ready?

Local artists, major new development projects converge on the R Street Corridor Jose Di Gregorio emerges from a doorway, black-paint splashes decorating his face and hands. story and photo He’s spent the entire day working on a by giant mural, a juxtaposition of colorful Nick Miller lines and splatterings against an interstellar black backdrop. He hopes to finish it this ni ck am@ newsr evie w.c om week, and when it’s complete it will be in the lobby of a new downtown housing complex, a proverbial gateway to a unique-to-Sacramento artist community: the Warehouse Artists Lofts on R Street.

You may have heard of what everyone calls “WAL,” a 116-unit affordablehousing-for-artists apartment building that takes up an entire city block on R between 12th and 11th streets. This old warehouse, built in 1914, made headlines in October when nearly 200 people camped out and waited to apply for one of its abodes. The rent starts at $340 a month for these apartments, if you are a low-income artist, which explains why they were a hot-ticket item.

“I was in line for 18 hours. I camped out. I wasn’t fucking around,” says Di Gregorio, who landed a three-bedroom on the top floor. He was fourth in line.

“It was actually really fun. It wasn’t like waiting in line for an iPhone.”

Tenants will hopefully start moving in next month, says developer Ali Youssefi.

Sacramento truly has never seen housing like this. The developer group, CFY Development, receives federal tax credits for offering affordable rent to qualified low-income artists. For instance, a painter with a family who makes 30 percent of Sacramento’s median income could pay as little as $530 for one of WAL’s threebedroom apartments.

But it’s not just housing, as Youssefi explains. There’s also a high-ceiling dance studio on the second floor, overlooking R and 12th streets, and a spacious music-rehearsal room in the basement. He’s commissioned local artists such as Sofia Lacin and Hennessy Christophel to do giant murals in the courtyard. Jake Castro and Demetris Washington painted exterior artworks.

William Ishmael will overtake a hallway.

And Di Gregorio, of course.

Artist Brian Schmitt created light installations for the community room.

“In a normal apartment building, this [room] would just have a pool table in and a TV,” Youssefi said. Instead, it will be used for artist presentations and performances.

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Artist Jose Di Gregorio shows off his paint-covered hands after working on a mural inside the new Warehouse Artists Lofts. He and others say this new affordable housing for artists is poised to transform the R Street corridor.

On the ground floor facing the street, locally owned businesses will open early next year: a bar and barbershop by the operators of Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co. and Anthony’s Barber Shop, a new sushi spot by Kru chef Billy Ngo, an Italian restaurant by the team behind Shady Lady Saloon, a fresh juice cafe, and even a seven-tenant artisan marketplace where shoppers can buy items like records and vintage clothing.

Developer Mike Heller argues that R Street is “the most immediate and significant change to the city landscape.”

“It’s all for artists. There’s nothing like this that’s been built in Sacramento,” Youssefi says.

And it’s authentic, the artists agree.

“I really feel like this will be the cultural district,” Di Gregorio says. “I would be priced out of any other place in Midtown, for sure.”

These artist lofts are just a part of some major new developments on downtown’s R Street corridor.

For years, the strip of R from 18th to 10th streets was dotted with industrial

warehouses and vacant buildings. The only signs of life on the strip were usually brunch-goers at Fox & Goose, or diners at Magpie Café or Burgers & Brew.

That soon will no longer be the case.

And while most people are focused on downtown’s Kings-sized revitalization, some might say forget the arena.

For instance, developer Mike Heller—responsible for the popular MARRS building on 20th Street, home to LowBrau and Peet’s Coffee—argues that R Street is “the most immediate and significant change to the city landscape.”

Heller’s a big new player on R. He’s ready to go on a project to renovate the old Crystal Ice plant, between 16th and 18th streets near Safeway, and transform it into a mixed-use destination of retail stores and nightlife spots, offices and housing. He’s calling this project “Ice” and hopes to begin construction next year.

Ice will be different for the grid.

Heller envisions “design-ish merchandise” types of tenants—he cites Sur La Table or Design Within Reach as hopefuls; rumors include Anthropologie— that have so far stayed away from Sacramento’s central city, because there hasn’t been real estate large enough to house them. Or, of course, not enough of the type of residents who shop at these Galleria at Roseville-type businesses.

Plans filed with the city also include 145 loft-style apartment units.

Right now, the stretch of R Street where Ice will be is fenced off, as the city is working on a multimillion-dollar

streetscape project: sidewalks, fresh landscaping and a new road surface. This new-look R Street will extend all the way to Fox & Goose on 10th.

Heller, who also recently purchased a giant industrial warehouse next to the WAL building, which he plans to change into retail and offices, sees R Street becoming a place people gather and hang out all day.

“This part of R Street is not a long walk at all,” he said. “And it’s going to be a fun and interesting walk.” Youssefi also wants to see multiblock art festivals and gatherings on the strip.

One more new stop on this R Street walk is near 15th, where a retail center is popping up that will include a Dos Coyotes restaurant, and possibly a sandwich cafe and a beer bar.

Artists like Di Gregorio are happy to be a part of it. “You have to have artists centralized in Midtown. My whole livelihood is around this culture. And for me to be able to be in the thick of where arts things are happening, it’s crucial,” he says.

So will R Street become its own little neighborhood, with its own little nickname like Midtown or downtown, something that grows organically from all the new life on the block?

“That’s a good question,” says Youssefi. “I wouldn’t be surprised.” Ω

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Pianist and composer Brad Mehldau is an intensely expressive improviser and ambitious and adventurous composer. For the past two decades, Mehldau has shined brightest when masterfully stretching, freeing and refining the collective creative possibilities of the trio format. His celebrated group features two responsive and equally brilliant sidemen—bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard.

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Dial $ for spy Law enforcement spends millions to snoop on citizens —with scant oversight

California cities and counties have spent more than $65 million on surveillance technologies in the past decade while conducting little public debate about the expenditures, according to by Ali Winston a new report published this week by three American Civil Liberties Union chapters in the state.

Public records reviewed by the ACLU also indicate that though cities and counties in California bought surveillance technologies in 180 instances, they only held public discussions about the proposals just 26 times.

The technologies examined in the report included automated license-plate readers, closed-circuit video cameras, facial-recognition software, drones, data-mining tools and cellphone-interception devices known as IMSI catchers or “StingRays.”

The report analyzed purchases by 59 cities and by 58 county governments in California. In many instances, city and county officials used federal grant money to make the purchases, and then asked local legislative bodies to rubberstamp their decisions.

Local media has criticized the Sacramento County Sheriff’s The technologies Department for using devices such included license- as StingRays. The department long denied their use, but then conceded to plate readers, their purchase.

“We long suspected California law closed-circuit enforcement was taking advantage of video cameras, federal grant money to skirt official facial-recognition oversight and keep communities in software, drones, the dark about surveillance systems,” said Nicole Ozer, the technology and data-mining tools civil liberties director for the ACLU of and cellphone- California.

The report also found that only interception devices. one-third of the cities and counties surveyed had privacy policies to prevent law enforcement abuse.

The ACLU report also includes a model ordinance that would require a public process and official legislative approval by local governments before law enforcement could purchase or use surveillance technologies that could impact the privacy of community members.

Last month, ProPublica revealed the role of police foundations in New York City and Los Angeles in purchasing surveillance technology that was outside the oversight of local elected officials.

The ACLU report noted that many surveillance tools are being purchased and deployed without consideration of long-term costs associated with maintaining and using such equipment. “The fiscal impact of surveillance can far exceed initial purchase prices for equipment,” the report stated. “Modifying current infrastructure, operating and maintaining systems, and training staff can consume limited time and money even if federal or state grants fund initial costs. Surveillance technologies may also fail or be misused, resulting in costly lawsuits. Looking beyond the sticker price is essential.”

Many communities have purchased costly systems that are intrusive and don’t address the issues that residents believe are important. “The federal funding streaming down from Washington has sidestepped thoughtful considerations of what makes sense for communities,” Ozer said. Ω

The river’s end

BEATS

Development forces West Sac to clear out longtime homeless camp—but with hope for a silver lining The riverbank near West Sacramento’s Broderick Boat Ramp is no stranger to drugs, vandalism and endless amounts Story and photo of garbage. But it’s also evolved by Brooke Purves into a fairly stable homeless community, with many residents establishing veritable homesteads.

Steve Kruse, who functions as “mayor” of the campsite gathering, has lived there for more than 17 years. “Being off the grid is nicer than people think,” he says.

Tabitha Cottrell comforts her pup, Izabella, during a health check last week.

West Sacramento’s transitional-housing plan allows pets to live with formerly homeless residents.

BEFORE

Last week, on November 12, his neighborhood came to an end.

Bright and early Wednesday, homeless individuals encamped along the Sacramento River’s North Levee area packed up tents, loaded belongings onto anything with wheels and rustled into line.

It was all part of the Bridge to Housing pilot project, a “housing first” solution to homelessness that focuses on getting people under roofs.

The goal: get homeless people indoors immediately—in this case, at a local motel—and then work to address their unique needs. After 120 days, officials will condemn the motel, and this qualifies the residents for housing vouchers.

“It’s very ambitious,” says Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. He calls the project a “humanistic response” compared to previous homeless sweeps, which |

NEWS

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amounted to a few days’ notice before forcible removal by law enforcement.

The project hatched when Ethan Conrad Properties purchased a parcel near the boat ramp in August.

Property manager Ryan McGinnis said it was his job to “get the people off the land, and try to do it as humanely as possible.”

First line of order was to call the police. West Sac Police Chief Tom McDonald enlisted Ryan Collins from

United Christian Centers to direct a coalition of advocates and service providers from West Sac and Yolo County. Collins communicated with and assessed the needs of the North Levee population.

Carina Mesa was working most of the time when Collins came by the homeless encampment. She’d found herself living on the riverbank when cutbacks at Round Table Pizza, where she has worked for more than a decade, meant she couldn’t afford an apartment. Now, she was wait-listed at the motel.

But she wasn’t deterred. She hustled to claim her place in the check-in line well before 7 a.m., hoping for a seat on the bus to the motel. “Whoever doesn’t take it serious enough,” she said, “I’ll take their spot.”

A slot in the program meant new underwear, clean clothes and something many consider a luxury: a

F E AT U R E

STORY

Midtown to do NYE

hot shower. Residents were also given mental and physical health assessments, flu shots and a meal.

Getting on that bus wasn’t easy for everyone. Serjuan Jimenez, a two-year resident of the camp, spent most of that morning looking for her missing cat, Papas, instead of standing in line. “I’m not afraid of being arrested. I’m not leaving without my cat,” she said.

Unlike most homeless housing options, animal companions are allowed to stay with their owners at the motel.

Not everyone was happy about the project. Jeff Lyon, a resident who lost his recent West Sac City Council bid, has been vocal about what he considers the city’s capitulating to a wealthy developer’s demands. Lyon insists “the public’s being fooled” by a plan to give the homeless a “vacation in a motel.”

And no one knows if the project will work. Collins said he’ll track participants through agencies providing the permanent supportive housing and other services, and a UC Davis student has been contracted to analyze project data.

At the end of the day, more than 100 staff and volunteers helped usher 63 residents, with their 28 dogs and 12 cats, under a new roof.

For the developer, success means keeping the North Levee area free of illegal campers. ECP signed a $50,000 contract to clear the property of low-hanging branches and excess brush—anything that can be used as shelter—to dissuade people from returning to the area.

At the end of the day, more than 100 staff and volunteers helped usher 63 residents, with their 28 dogs and 12 cats, under a new roof.

Collins said Jimenez did make it to the motel, though it’s not clear if she Ω ever found Papas.

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TBD Fest fans are in luck: This week, TBD announced a big block party on 20th Street for New Year’s Eve. The lineup?

A-Trak, Oliver and Gigamesh.

A big tent will loom over the popular strip of 20th Street, between J and K streets, and it will be fenced off for the big NYE celebration.

For ticket information, visit TBD Fest on Facebook. This will be the first NYE Midtown block party in recent memory.

(Janelle Bitker) Midtown go boom.

Bumpy road ahead Sacramento County’s roads are bad and getting worse.

And, in the years ahead, drivers and cyclists are likely to encounter increasingly more cracks and potholes as the budget gap for roadway maintenance widens, according to a new statewide study.

Kiana Buss, a legislative representative with the California State Association of Counties, which collaborated on the study, says deteriorating pavement, sidewalks, bike lanes and bridges around California will require about $7 billion per year to restore to safe conditions.

Currently, she says, 6 percent of the state’s asphalt is in condition so bad it’s officially termed “failed.” In a decade, a quarter of the state’s roads may deteriorate to this level.

“Failed is as bad as it gets,” Buss said. “The road has to be completely rebuilt.”

Sacramento County’s “pavement condition index,” which rates roads on a scale of zero to 100, is 62. The statewide average is 66—a rating projected to decline to 55 in the next decade.

A key finding of the study reveals that preventing road damage before it happens is extremely cost-effective, requiring 12 times less investment than overhauling a destroyed surface. (Alastair Bland)

Davis fights MRAP Davis police officials sought last week to appease residents’ fears that their department is too militarized.

More than 50 residents attended a November 13 dialogue on law-enforcement trends, which particularly focused on the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle, or MRAP, that the police department acquired free in August—only to have the city council order it back two months later. News of its arrival broke shortly after the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., which sparked protests and an aggressive police response with a tank resembling a MRAP. During the three-hour meeting, police officials played down the connection between their military-grade equipment and what happened in Ferguson, even presenting a “show and tell” of the firearms they’re going up against, like AK-47s and AR-15 “ghost” rifles.

“This is not a tank,” assistant police Chief Darren Pytel said of the MRAP, which provides armored protection against weaponry that can puncture bulletproof vests.

Longtime Davis resident Ellen Pontac thinks there might have been a less negative reaction if the process had been more transparent. “Nobody wanted it here, and no one knew why the MRAP was necessary,” she said. “Davis has a real feeling of citizen community, and we just felt left out and disconnected.”

The MRAP is returning to the Department of Defense this week. (Erin E. Young)

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by SN&R staff

SCORE KEEPER Sacramento’s winners and losers—with arbitrary points

Kings still badass

Spark up While conducting traffic control outside of small house fire early Sunday morning in southeastern Sacramento, police discovered another reason to be there: an overcooked batch of drugs. According to the police department’s daily log, detectives arrested two adults associated with the residence for manufacturing a controlled substance at the home, which sparked the blaze that drew officers in the first place.

That’s called serendipity.

OK, so on Saturday night in front of a packed house in Natomas, the Kings beat the defending-champ San Antonio Spurs. Unbelievable game. And it makes up for a couple meltdowns earlier in the week—and that bogus clock-start in Memphis.

- 911

+6 Where the pasties at?

By default, Sacramento’s once-bustling burlesque scene is on hiatus. Three out of four local troupes had regular shows at now-shuttered Marilyn’s on K and potentially shuttered Assembly Music Hall, which means they’re now effectively homeless. If you know of a venue that doesn’t mind a little glitter ...

-2 Deport the Republicans Big-ups to President Barack Obama, who last week showed he’s refusing to go out as a lame duck by talking up a new policy to limit deportations of undocumented Californians. Obama says he’ll be implementing what he can do to end the deportation of millions. That’s great—now, if we could just get Sacramento County’s sheriff’s deputies to abide by the TRUST Act.

+ 2,014 It’s your fault, voters!

Beauj-toi!

Bee columnist Marcos Breton broke his post-election silence this past Sunday. In his column, he blamed voter apathy for Measure L’s spanking on Election Day. Never mind that voters in Land Park, East Sac, Tahoe Park and the central city—the Bee’s core city readers—overwhelmingly shot down the mayor’s strong move. Maybe it’s time for Breton to shut off the computer and listen to us on how to make Sacramento a better place?

You can finally get your hands on the young, fruity

- 12

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Rush to the store immediately, because this is definitely not a marketing ploy. Or is it?

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Team KJ wants do-overs

ONL9Y9* $19.

Sore losers make an unusual redistricting power grab Three years ago, Sacramento City Council member Jay Schenirer and Mayor Kevin Johnson were on the bitter losing end of a redistricting fight involving the UC Davis Medical Center. The majority of the city council voted to move the Med Center out of Schenirer’s District 5 and into Kevin McCarty’s District 6.

City council boundaries—just like arvin congressional districts, school board and

by COSmO G state legislative districts—have to be cosmog@ newsrev iew.c om redrawn every 10 years, following the decennial census. The last redistricting exercise in Sacramento was more controversial than usual—though a lot of that controversy was ginned up for political reasons.

People acted surprised that the city council didn’t adopt as is the maps drawn by a volunteer Redistricting Citizens Advisory Committee.

Well, that’s what happens with citizen advisory committees that have no real power. Lesson learned.

And the boundary change around UC Med Center was made out by Johnson and Schenirer to be nothing short of the rape and pillage of Oak Park.

Please. Anyway, Team KJ couldn’t get the votes, and they lost. Now in 2014, six years before the next census, they want to start redrawing district lines, because only now do they have the votes to get their way.

Whatever you think of the 2011 redistricting process, mid-decade do-overs is a terrible precedent. It opens the door for shifting council majorities to re-open the redistricting process whenever they see the chance to reverse past losses or settle old political scores.

And it’s another example of how Team KJ figures the regular rules just aren’t good enough for them.

And look, maybe the rules really aren’t good enough for Sacramento. The idea of an independent redistricting commission, with real power to draw political boundaries, has a lot going for it. It’s something we should consider as part of a serious discussion about ethics and governance reform. Bites is frankly a little skeptical that a citizen group will, in reality, draw electoral boundaries that make any more sense than those drawn by a bunch of self-interested politicians. But the idea of getting backroom politicking out of redistricting has obvious appeal.

Funny thing is Johnson and Schenirer pay lip service to the idea of an independent redistricting commission, for the same reasons. They complain the 2011 redistricting process was driven by politics and backroom deals. Johnson said at the time, “It’s the council putting selfinterest above all else.�

Well, whose interest is really served by changing the lines again now? Many observers remark on Schenirer’s desire to create some sort of “medical district� in the area. (And Bites wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a little action for Schenirer’s WayUp nonprofit organization in that deal.)

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So, Johnson and Schenirer are happy to put their interests above all else. It’s not really the process they object to, just the outcome.

And of course they waited until the guy who beat them on redistricting—McCarty, just elected to the California State Assembly—was halfway out the door.

McCarty will join the Assembly in early December, so the seat will be vacant until a special election is held to pick his replacement, likely sometime in April. That’s four months that Team KJ can use to move this scheme forward, with no representative on the council around to look out for the interests of District 6.

Bites caught up with two possible future District 6 representatives—Bruce Pomer and Eric Guerra—last week. Both have announced their intention to run for the seat, though it may be a crowded field.

STORY

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The timing of the UC Med Center grab ensures District 6 residents won’t have any representative on the council when the vote goes down.

Pomer is the recently retired executive director of Health Officers Association of California, and served for 21 years on the Los Rios Community College Board. Guerra is a 36-year-old Capitol staffer, former president of the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association and a member of the Sacramento County Planning Commission.

Pomer says “it is unnecessary� right now to start changing the boundaries of District 5 and District 6. “You don’t do this in the middle of the decade.�

Guerra, who was active with the Latino Redistricting Working Group at the time, agrees, and says the hospital belongs in District 6 because of the hospital’s traffic impacts on District 6 neighborhoods of Tahoe Park and Elmhurst.

It’s worth noting that residents around UC Davis Med Center voted overwhelmingly for McCarty in his council re-election after the redistricting changes. The timing of the UC Med Center grab ensures District 6 residents won’t have any representative on the council when the vote goes down. How is that legal?

If Johnson and Schenirer really cared about putting people above politics, they’d support creation of an independent redistricting commission and they’d make their case to the commission at the appropriate time.

What they’re doing now is just another power grab. Ί

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w w w. n e w s r e v i e w.c o m 14 | SN&R | 11.20.14

NO SERVICE FEES!

Thank you, Roger Assemblyman Dickinson was a hands-on, hardworking public servant Whenever I meet elected officials at a social function during election time, we both ask how the other one is doing.

Usually, we are both fine. But, then, I am not running for office. I definitely prefer being the newspaper publisher rather than the elected official. I particularly prefer it during the election season.

And then comes the day after the election.

My life doesn’t change much. There will be some new elected officials that I will see more.

And there will be some unelected that I will see less.

This column is to thank Roger Dickinson. l

by Jeff VonKaene First, I would like to say a few words about public officials in general. I find most very j e ffv @n e wsr e v ie w.c o m likable. They tend to be smart and hardworking.

They care deeply about their community. They do tend to have egos larger than the mean. But most importantly, they have a certain passion for life. After all, without this passion, they could never survive as public officials.

When I go to hearings or meetings, I am so thankful that I can walk out at any time. And that I do not have to pretend to be interested in some of the most boring and trivial discussions you can imagine. Generally speakOver the last ing, we have excellent and elected officials, 20 years, Roger dedicated who deserve our gratitude and has made a real appreciation.

Our community owes difference to thanks to Sacramento City our region. Council members Steve Cohn, who served 20 years, and Darrell Fong, who served four years, for their service. They worked very hard to make our region a better place. And, in my opinion, Darrell Steinberg, who has just recently termed out, is our best elected state official.

A list of legislation But this column is about Roger. We started SN&R in authored by the spring of 1989. And Roger started on the Sacramento Roger Dickinson Board of Supervisors in January of 1994. He was then can be found here: tinyurl.com/ elected to the State Assembly in 2010. And he just RDLegislation. lost his bid for the state Senate to fellow Democrat Assemblyman Richard Pan. What impressed me about Roger was his willingness to be so hands-on; he showed up at so many events, met with new groups all the time, and worked hard to Jeff vonKaenel learn as much as he could about what was happening is the president, in his district. He was involved in the nuts and bolts of CEO and so many different issues, including economic developmajority owner of the News & Review ment, the public safety net and the environment. It was newspapers in this combination of being involved in the district at the Sacramento, grassroots level, while at the same time understanding Chico and Reno. the political and economic forces impacting the region, that made him such an effective legislator.

And he also was interested in issues that do not gather much attention or political donations, such as reducing high school kids’ expulsion rate or building low-income housing.

Over the last 20 years, Roger has made a real difference to our region. We owe him our gratitude. Ω

Most of the time, nothing good comes from having the flu. Except now. If you get the flu, OR have the flu already, you can help evaluate an investigational medication that may help end flu symptoms more quickly.

Stop raising tuition The University of California system seeking tuition increases of 5 percent per year over the next several years is sad, but hardly surprising.

Continued and chronic underfunding of our state’s public universities has decimated a system of higher education that once set the standard for excellence.

Although some funding is being restored—very slowly—the ability to pay for college at California’s public universities is rapidly escaping the grasp of all but the state’s wealthiest.

Let’s do the math: with a 5 percent annual increase, within a matter of just four years—the length we hope a student takes for a bachelor’s degree—tuition at most of the UC system will have climbed from $13,300 per year to $16,166. We doubt that the amount earned from summer jobs, part-time employment (or, for that matter, by parents) will increase at the same pace. Plus, there remains It is way past time the cost of housing, books, fees and so on. to stop kicking More than half of all California college graduates leave school that can down with an average of more than the road. $20,000 in debt, which makes these suggested tuition increases a recipe for disaster. Where once Californians could expect an extremely high quality and inexpensive education, we now have at least two generations of college graduates who are weighed down—if not economically disabled—by educational debt.

To increase this burden is to continue the foolhardy practice of mortgaging the future. Young people cannot reasonably be expected to delay marriage, parenthood, home ownership, entrepreneurial risk and even saving for retirement because of indenturing themselves to attain an education.

What’s more, recent reports indicate that some of the difficulties that universities are having in meeting their costs are related to underfunded pension obligations. While we would never suggest abandoning pension obligations, it can no longer be denied that at least two generations of Californians have engaged in a game of budgetary “kick the can,”and that can is now the size of a zeppelin.

The bottom line is that failure to increase our contributions to the education of our youth will result in the sort of long-term economic crisis from which we will find it difficult to recover. If students can’t afford school, they won’t contribute enough to the economy to support a retired older generation. That also means they won’t be able to save enough for their own retirements, thus forcing yet another generation to face this same crisis.

Many Californians will struggle to succeed in an economy that demands advanced credentialing for most entry-level positions. Others will find themselves with degrees, but so overwhelmed by debt that they will never be fully integrated into the economic system.

And still others would default on those loans, which will result in additional costs for taxpayers.

One way or another, we will pay, whether it’s to support education, or because we haven’t done so. It is way past time to stop kicking that can down the road.

Those of us who are educated and working must be willing to shoulder the responsibility for supporting the generation ahead of us and for educating the generation behind us. That’s the only way that we can have a sustainable economy and a humane society.

But one way or another, we will pay. Ω BEFORE

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On why Amazon.com is way, way, way worse than Wal-Mart

By Jim Hightower

16 | SN&R | 11.20.14

In his classic 1936 comedy Modern Times, silent filmmaker Charlie Chaplin depicts the trials and tribulations of a harried factory worker trying to cope with the sprockets, cogs, conveyor belts and “efficiencies” of the new industrial culture. The poor fellow finds himself caught up (almost literally) in the grinding tyranny of the machine. The movie is hilarious, but it’s also a damning portrayal of the dehumanizing consequences of mass industrialization.

The ultimate indignity for Chaplin’s everyman character comes when he is put on an assembly line that includes a mechanized contraption that force-feeds workers as they work. Not only does this “innovation” eliminate the need for the factory owner to provide a lunch break, but it also transforms human workers into components of the machine itself.

Of course, worker-feeding machines were a comedic exaggeration by the filmmaker, not anything that actually existed, nothing that would even be considered in our modern times, right?

Well, if you work for Amazon.com, you’d swear that Chaplin’s masterpiece depicts Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ idea of a properly run workplace.

Why pick on Amazon? After all, isn’t it a model of tech wizardry, having totally reinvented retail marketing for our smartphone, globally linked age? Doesn’t it peddle a cornucopia of goods through a convenient “1-Click” ordering system, rapidly delivering them right to your doorstep? And doesn’t it offer steep discounts on nearly everything it sells (which is nearly everything)? Yes, yes and yes.

However, as an old saying puts it: The higher the monkey climbs, the more you see of its ugly side.

Amazon certainly has climbed high in a hurry. Not yet 20 years old, it is already a household name and America’s 10th largest retailer. Traditional media marvels at Bezos’ obsession with electronic streamlining and systems management that allow Amazon to sell everything from books to bicycles, barbecues to Barbies, at cheap-cheap-cheap prices, undercutting all competitors—even Wal-Mart.

But what is the source of those efficiencies and the low prices so greatly admired by Wall Street and so gratefully accepted by customers? Are they achieved strictly by being a virtual store, saving the costs of building, staffing and maintaining brick-and-mortar outlets? Or is Amazon achieving market dominance the oldfashioned way: by squeezing the life out of its workers and suppliers, by crushing its competitors with monopolistic muscle, and by manipulating our national and state tax laws?

Amazon and Bezos scream for more scrutiny because Amazon, more than any other single entity, has had the infinite hubris to envision a brave new computerdriven order for our society. Bezos isn’t merely remaking commerce with his algorithms, metrics and vast network: He’s rebooting America itself, including our concept of a job, the definition of community, and even basic values of fairness and justice. It amounts to a breathtaking aspiration to transform our culture’s democratic paradigm into a corporate imperium led by Amazon.

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Wal-Mart is now yesterday’s model of how far-reaching and destructive corporate power can be. Amazon is the new model, not just of tomorrow’s corporate beast, but also the day after tomorrow’s. Only it’s already here.

AmAzon’s dArk side Bezos has been crowned with numerous laurels, from “Person of the Year” to world’s best living CEO. This May, however, he was awarded a less-coveted prize by the International Trade Union Confederation: “World’s Worst Boss.”

Even high-rankers in the corporation’s hierarchy describe him as a cold, controlling, often vengeful man with little empathy for the people who work for him.

But to witness the full Bezonian disregard for workers, one must look beyond the relative comfort of Amazon’s expansive headquarters and visit any of its 40-some “fulfillment centers” spread across the country. These are gated, guarded and secretive warehouses where most of the corporation’s 100,000 employees work.

The warehouses are dehumanizing hives in which Bezos has produced his own sequel to Modern Times.

Consider the job of “picker.” In each warehouse, hundreds of them are simultaneously scrambling throughout a maze of shelves, grabbing products. Pickers must speed-walk on concrete an average of a dozen miles a day, for an Amazon warehouse is shockingly big—more than 16 football fields big, or eight city blocks—and pickers must constantly crisscross the expanse. There are miles of 7-foot-high shelves running along narrow aisles on each floor of three-story buildings, requiring pickers continuously to stoop down, crawl along and stretch up.

They are directed by handheld computers to each target. Then they must scan the pick and put it on the right track of the 7 miles of conveyor belts running through the facility. Immediately after, they’re

F E AT U R E

STORY

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos isn’t merely remaking commerce with his algorithms, metrics and vast network: He’s rebooting America itself. dispatched by computer to find the next product.

The computers don’t just dictate where to go next, they also relay how many seconds Amazon’s time-motion experts have calculated it should take to get there.

The scanners also record the time each worker actually takes—information that is fed directly into a central, all-knowing computer. Everything workers do is monitored, timed, scored and reviewed by managers, who have a mandate to fire those exceeding their allotted seconds.

This, and many other indignities, brings $10-$12 an hour, which is less than $25,000 a year gross for full-time work. But few get year-round work.

Rather, Amazon’s warehouse employees are “contingent” hires, meaning they are temporary, seasonal, part-time laborers entirely subject to the employer’s whim.

Worker advocates refer to these jobs as “precarious”: When sales slack off, you’re let go; when sales perk up and managers demand you do a 12-hour shift with no notice (which might let you find a babysitter), you do it or you’re fired.

Of course, technically, you don’t actually work for Amazon. You’re hired by temp agencies and warehouse operators with Orwellian names like Amalgamated Product Giant Shipping Worldwide Inc. This lets Amazon deny responsibility for your treatment—and it means you have no labor rights, for you are an “independent contractor.” No health care, no vacation time, no scheduled raises, no route to a

full-time or permanent job, no regular schedule, no job protection and—of course—no union. Bezos has gone all out with intimidation tactics and hired a notorious union-busting firm to crush any whisper of worker organization.

If you asked workers in Amazon’s swarming hives why they put up with the corporation’s demeaning treatment, most would look at you incredulously and say something like: “Rent, food, clothing—the basics.”

Like A cheetAh stALking A sickLy gAzeLLe Amazon is by far the largest online marketer in the world, with more sales than the next nine U.S. online retailers combined. That has given Bezos the monopoly power to stalk, weaken and even kill off retail competitors—threatening such giants as Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart and draining the lifeblood from hundreds of small Main Street shops.

Lest you think that “predator” is too harsh a term, consider the metaphor that Bezos himself chose when explaining how to get small book publishers to cough up deep discounts as the price of getting their titles listed on the Amazon website.

As related by Businessweek reporter Brad Stone, Bezos instructed his negotiators to stalk them “the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle.” Bezos’ PR machine tried to claim that this sneering comment was just a little “Jeff joke,” but

shopping heLL

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This article is being published via a partnership coordinated by the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation and The Media Consortium.

It is part of AAN and TMC’s joint mission to bring important stories often overlooked by traditional media to communities large and small.

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a third of all online sales with a website that’s a phantasmagoric mall of unimaginable size, containing what amounts to hundreds of virtual superstores.

In the process, and with the same deeply discounted prices they used to conquer the book business, Amazon has poached millions of customers from neighborhood shops and suburban malls.

The chase for cheap has been great for Amazon, but it is proving intolerably expensive for everyone’s hometowns.

Our local businesses lose customers and have to close, local workers lose jobs, and local economies lose millions of consumer dollars that Amazon siphons into its faraway coffers. What makes that even more intolerable is that much of Amazon’s competitive advantage has been ill gotten, obtained by dirty deeds.

Is Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezo just giving consumers what they want, namely low prices? Or is he undercutting competitors by skirting U.S. tax laws and venomously going after rivals?

PHOTO BY WIKICOMMONS

shopping hell From pAge

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they couldn’t laugh it off, for a unit dubbed the “Gazelle Project” had actually been set up inside Amazon.

This top-level team focused on doing exactly what Bezos’ metaphor instructed: Pursue vulnerable small publishers and squeeze their wholesale prices to Amazon down to the point of no profit, thus allowing the online retailer to underprice every other book peddler. When Stone exposed Gazelle last year in his book, The Everything Store, the project was suddenly rebranded with a bloodless name—“Small Publisher Negotiation Program”—but its mission remains the same.

Today, Amazon sells a stunning 40 percent of all new books, up from 12 percent five years ago. It is even more dominant in the digital-book market, which is fast catching up to the sales level of physical books and is widely perceived as the future of publishing. Electronic book sales were nonexistent just seven years ago; today about a third of all books sold are e-books, and Amazon sells twothirds of those. Of course, Amazon also owns Kindle, the largest-selling device for reading digital books.

With his market clout, deep-pocket financing and ferocious price-cutting, Bezos has forced hundreds of America’s independent bookstores to close and has humbled the superstore book chains that once preyed on the independents and dominated the market. Borders, the second-largest chain, succumbed to bankruptcy in 2011. Now Barnes & Noble, the largest brick-and-mortar bookstore, is

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stumbling. It has lost millions of dollars, closed dozens of stores, shrunk most others, and suffered the embarrassment of its own board chairman frantically dumping big chunks of Barnes & Noble stock.

Bezos’ online empire not only stands alone as the paramount bookseller, but is also the dominant price setter, the arbiter of which titles get the best access (or none) to the biggest number of buyers, the most powerful reviewer of books, the publisher of its own line of books, the keeper of an in-house stable of writers—and even the sponsor of a major book prize.

He achieved this the old-fashioned way: brute force.

While it’s true that Amazon is innovative, efficient and focused on customer satisfaction, such factors alone did not elevate Amazon to its commanding level of market control. To reach that pinnacle, Bezos followed the path mapped

by Rockefeller and other 19th-century robber barons: One, ruthlessly exploit a vast and vulnerable low-wage workforce; two, extract billions of dollars in government subsidies; and three, wield every anti-competitive weapon you can find or invent to get what you want from other businesses.

Through doing all of the above, Bezos has applied his cheetah business model to nearly everything retail. Amazon’s massive book dominion is now dwarfed by its annexation of dozens of other markets—book sales now make up a mere 7 percent of Amazon’s total business.

Amazon has already captured more than

AmAzon’s tAx ploy Bezos would not have grabbed such market dominance if government had not been subsidizing his sales with special tax breaks for 20 years.

In all but a handful of states, merchants are obliged by law to collect city and state sales taxes from everyone who buys stuff from them. But Amazon, as an online merchant, has avoided adding these taxes to the price that its customers pay.

Bezos has emphatically insisted from the start that Amazon’s only facility is its headquarters in Washington state, claiming therefore that Amazon’s sales in the other 49 states are exempt from sales taxes—even though he racks up billions of dollars in sales in those states and even though Amazon has massive warehouses in about half of them. With legalistic hocus-pocus, Bezos asserts that the warehouses are independent contractors, not part of Amazon.

In Texas, the sales tax rate is 8.15 percent, so by claiming to be exempt, Amazon gets a price subsidy of more than 8 cents on every dollar of its sales— that’s more than the entire profit margin of most independent shops. The tax subsidy ranges from about 4 percent to more than 10 percent across the country, handing Bezos an advantage of several billion dollars a year that has underwritten his fast and vast expansion.

Amazon’s tax ploy has been key to its ability to undercut the prices of local retailers, forcing many of them out of business. And the tax dodge has also shortchanged our communities by eliminating billions in tax revenues that cities and states desperately need for schools, infrastructure, parks and other public services.

During the past couple of years, 21 states, including California, have stopped playing the fool, finally requiring Amazon to collect sales taxes like its competitors do. In a study released earlier this year, the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed retail data of five of these states and found that Amazon’s sales plummeted by nearly 10 percent after they started charging sales tax. It was saving the cost of sales tax—not any Bezos “magic”— that kept many customers buying from his online mall. Of course, that’s cold comfort to the retailers driven out of business during two decades of Amazon’s government-backed assault.

Amazon’s amazing slice-and-dice tax machine not only avoids paying state taxes, it also extracts tax money from states to expand its warehouse network.

This supremely rich company says that states wanting the (low-wage, no-benefit, temporary and dehumanizing) jobs that come with its warehouses must show Amazon the money, i.e., offer “incentive grants” or tax breaks.

In short, flimflammery and government favoritism help Amazon overwhelm honest competition and extend its monopoly reach.

such ruthlessness Having vast market power means never having to say you’re sorry—even to your owners.

Bezos can afford to be a voracious predator because his Wall Street investors have allowed him to keep operating without returning a profit. On paper, his revenue-generating machine has lost billions of dollars, yet his major investors, enamored with Amazon’s takeover of one consumer market after another, haven’t pulled the plug. Amazon uses their capital to buy its competitors or to market its own version of competitors’ products, which it then sells at a loss in order to squeeze hapless competitors out of business.

That’s the very definition of predatory pricing.

Stone’s book gives a chilling example of one such predation. Amazon has its own corporate-espionage team called Competitive Intelligence that tracks rivals.

In 2009, CIAmazon spotted a fast-rising online seller of one particular baby product: Diapers.com. A Bezos lieutenant was dispatched to inform the diaper honchos that the cheetah was going into that business, so they should just sell their firm to it. No thanks, replied the upstart.

Amazon promptly responded to the rebuff by marketing another line of diapers—with a price discount of 30

PHOTO BY WIKICOMMONS

A peek inside an Amazon.com warehouse. The company outsources its workforce, so many of its workers are contingent and temporary, sans health insurance, benefits or job security.

percent. It kept dropping the price even lower (plus free shipping) when the smaller firm tried to fight back. Diapers. com’s investors grew antsy, and in September 2010, the two founders of the company met with Bezos himself and surrendered.

The final blow was their discovery that Bezos, in his campaign to crush them and control the market of online diaper sales, was on track to lose $100 million in just three months.

Such ruthlessness is standard operating procedure at Amazon, which exerts it against any gazelle it chooses to eliminate. This likely includes some of your town’s Main Street stores. Small retailers everywhere are experiencing an ugly practice dubbed “showrooming.” For example, John Crandall, owner of Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Springs, has seen a surge of shoppers who come in, check out the bikes he sells, ask a lot of questions, try out some bikes—and leave without buying anything. Then, some days later, they’ll show up at the store with the parts for a new bike and ask Old Town to assemble it for them! These shoppers have used their smartphones in Crandall’s store to scan the barcode of a product they like and then gone online to buy it from Amazon at a discounted price—lower than Crandall’s wholesale price.

Amazon’s new smartphone, called Fire (apparently meant in the sense of “shoot to kill”), is specifically designed to make showrooming fast and easy. Amazon has even offered $5 rebates to shoppers BEFORE

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who scan items at stores, then buy them from the online brute. This is corporate murder.

After 38 years in business, Old Town is hanging on, but it’s endangered.

Crandall employs 11 people, pays rent and local taxes, supports all sorts of community events, and is fully involved in Colorado Springs—a place Bezos couldn’t care less about.

Producers need the marketplace, the marketplace needs products. You’d think this would be a felicitous, symbiotic relationship, but when the market grows into a virtual monopoly, the monopolist can turn on suppliers with a vengeance.

Amazon has done precisely that to book publishers. While Amazon’s fight with international publishing giant Hachette has been well-publicized, it’s medium-size and small publishers who are especially vulnerable. They don’t have splashy marketing budgets, so they’re largely dependent on access to the buyers coming to Amazon’s online market.

“I offered them a 30 percent discount,” the head of a small academic publishing house told The New York Times this year. “They demanded 40,” she said. After she acquiesced, the cheetah soon came back, demanding 45.

“Where do I find that 5 percent?” she asks. “Amazon may be able to operate at a loss, but I’m not in a position to do that.” She can’t leave, but staying could crush her company: “I wake up every single day knowing Amazon might make new, impossible demands.”

F E AT U R E

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Amazon is insidious, far more dangerous and destructive to our culture’s essential values than Wal-Mart ever dreamed of being.

The new raw deal Rather than examine the far-reaching social destructiveness in Amazon’s business model, the Powers That Be blithely hail Bezos as an exemplary corporate leader and point to his company as a model for the New Economy. They smile when he says that it’s not Amazon killing off local businesses and turning work into a low-wage, roboticized nightmare— rather it’s “the future” that is producing these changes.

Bezos has gotten away with this hornswoggle up to now by endlessly reciting his mantra that everything Amazon does is to benefit consumers by relentlessly lowering prices.

Stacy Mitchell, an intrepid researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (www.ilsr.org), has been studying

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Amazon’s impact and rightly says that to avoid a sterile Amazonian future, we must force “a public conversation about their power.” Unlike Wal-Mart, Amazon is largely invisible to most people. As Mitchell puts it: “All you really see is the website and then the FedEx guy is there.”

More people need to know what’s going on between that jazzy website and “the FedEx guy,” for Amazon is insidious, far more dangerous and destructive to our culture’s essential values than Wal-Mart ever dreamed of being.

Remember: Price is not value.

Exchanging value—and our society’s values—for Amazon’s low prices is a raw deal. Ω

AFTER

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Radio commentator, speaker, author and to-the-bone populist Jim Hightower has spent his career battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be. You can find Hightower on the radio, or subscribe to the Hightower Lowdown, by going to hightower lowdown.com.

If you tweet, he’s @HightowerNews.

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Joe Gillis’ new PBs series Beyond Geek sPotliGhts all thinGs nerdy

by

Jonathan Mendick

jonathanm@ newsreview.com Photos courtesy of beyond Geek

Joe Gillis

knows all about sacrificing dreams to tackle the realities of life: going to work, raising kids, paying bills.

Still, there came a point when Gillis’ “dream project”—the new PBS series Beyond Geek—had waited just about long enough.

“I actually shot the first episode four years ago,” says Gillis. “I wrote it, started putting it together back then, then years later reached a point when I finally was able to get a distributor lined up. It’s been a long process.”

The idea to create the show had long been filed away somewhere in the corner of Gillis’ mind, years before shooting that first episode.

But there was always a reason to put off doing it, including raising kids, work and a family tragedy.

The show, which combines the Sacramento director’s two lifelong passions of filming and geek culture, is essentially a documentary about some of the nerdy things he likes, but with a twist: The cast features three rotating hosts—two of whom (Nate Lake and Dan Reynoso, 20 | SN&R | 11.20.14

a.k.a. Danny Secretion) are from Sacramento—who completely immerse themselves in the worlds of the devoted enthusiasts they’re interviewing.

Now, it’s finally done. The series launched in October and airs weekly on PBS affiliates across the nation. But in order to complete it, Gillis had to force himself to commit wholeheartedly to the project—in the very same way some of the show’s subjects dedicate themselves to stuff like cosplay and video games.

Three episodes have aired so far, and three remain. The next installment, “Floating to Space” (6 p.m. Saturday, November 22 on KVIE2) focuses on the Rancho Cordova company JP Aerospace, a group attempting to launch balloons into space.

The local region is particularly rich in potential subject matter, Gillis says.

“Sacramento is extremely nerdy and I’ve been to things like Star Trek conventions and you get made fun of,” says Gillis. “The goal is to show something that you might not

Best cheese plate around?

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Ziggy Stardust on display See COOLHUNTING

realize is cool or you might make fun of, but by the end of the episode you’ll like what they’re doing.”

In fact, growing up in Sacramento helped him learn about many of the activities covered in the show, and most episodes have some sort of local tie-in.

As a kid and teen however, Gillis was most passionate about TV and film—even though it remained a hobby rather than a career for most of his life.

As an adult, he says, feeding his kids was more important than following his dream of being a director. Rather, Gillis worked various nine-to-five jobs for about a decade before really pursuing it.

Then, in 2004, he found a job as product marketing manager at a software company, and found himself getting paid to create videos for a living.

In 2008 Gillis got a job at the Idea Factory, a production company that was just starting to produce the DIY Network TV show Yard Crashers.

By the time he took that job, Gillis says he finally felt he had the production and editing skills needed to create a documentary about nerd and geek culture.

But work success got in the way.

About six months after he started, the Idea Factory “blew up” after the launch of Yard Crashers and changed its name to Big Table Media. For years, Gillis

was too busy working “mega hours” writing, producing and editing for Big Table Media to work on his own project.

Priorities, however, changed after tragedy struck: Four years ago, Gillis’ sister died in a car accident. Her death shook him greatly.

“It was one of those things where you realize you might not have all the time in the world, and so I realized I needed to get started going on my dream project,” he says. “As sad as it sounds, that was the pushing off point really.”

And so he started piecing together Beyond Geek. First, that meant partnering with his wife Rachel to executive produce the show. They searched for the right hosts, people with little or no television experience who’d be relatable to an “average viewer.”

This included a guy named Nate Lake (who was born in Sacramento but now works in advertising in Los Angeles) and Dan Reynoso (who Joe knew from shooting music videos for some of Reynoso’s bands such as the Knockoffs). Later, they hired Utah writer Sage Michael to tackle content for the show’s web site—and then decided he’d make a good host, too.

Reynoso said he was glad for the opportunity.

“I don’t have any formal training as far as television goes,” he says. “Joe just called me up and said, ‘would you be interested in doing this?’ and I have a habit of saying ‘yes’ to every project.”

In 2013, the couple looked at their bank account and realized they had enough saved up, and had enough credit, to complete the project. When they found a distributor and got an air date, Joe left his day job. Then, it was just a matter of firming up the details.

Things moved fast from there.

“The next thing I know I’m getting a phone call saying, ‘I need to know which weekends you can fly out to Pennsylvania and what weekend you can fly down to Southern California,’” says Reynoso, “and the next thing you know I’m in front of a camera set in front of a camera crew. I didn’t know that the wheels were already turning and that this was definitely going to happen no matter what.”

PHOTO BY SCOTT MILLER

Beyond Geek host Sage Michael (center) gets medieval in “Battle Games,” an episode focusing on live action role-playing battles.

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PHOTO BY ROBERT PYNE

Beyond Geek creator Joe Gillis (left) with World War II veteran Lloyd Klein.

Mother Hips returns

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In one episode, Reynoso profiles a band called 8-bit Weapon that makes music with old computers and video game sound chips. In another upcoming episode tentatively set to air in December, Reynoso uses a weapon to fire blanks in the reenactment of a World War II battle.

“I had to participate in a battle reenactment and basically climb around the mountains and forest, knowing that someone’s pointing a gun at me somewhere hiding up in a tree,” he says. “It was just kind of like being thrown into the deep end, and I had to learn how to swim.”

Reynoso says his favorite part of the shoot was interviewing a real World War II survivor, but the most intense moment happened when he encountered a certain “badass” reenactor who plays the part of a German soldier.

Gamers rejoice I walked in to Cafe Colonial on November 11 to see something rare and beautiful: a TV connected to a Dreamcast running Marvel vs. Capcom 2, with contestants actually willing to play.

Even among my fighting-game crazy friends, I can’t find people who will play me in MvC 2. Clearly, this place was some sort of heaven.

Such is the beauty of the RetroGen916 game night at Cafe Colonial, a recently launched weekly event dedicated to giving gamers a place to socialize, play and share their love of digital competition.

The event, well-attended and well-received on its first night, kept itself informal and welcoming, a place where players could bounce from a casual round of Mario Kart 64 to an intense match in Ultra Street Fighter 4. While there were the more talented players one would expect to see at an event like this, the competition was not so fierce that newcomers couldn’t play games and have fun as well.

The range of offerings was vast. People gathered around to take turns playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 while others frenzied in almost all varieties of Super Smash Bros.—even Project M, a fantastic mod that rebalances Brawl.

Meanwhile, a guy plugged his face into a Virtual Boy, an obscure console from Nintendo, and across the room from that was an Atari 2600.

What sold me on the authenticity of the event was walking into a second room of TVs to hear a forgotten favorite band of mine on the speakers: The Advantage, an influential (and local) band that covered songs from old Nintendo games.

As a special treat, the Brotherhood of Ellipsis, a video-game inspired metal band out of Woodland, performed a short set. The band’s got good spirit and high energy, playing songs inspired by the speed and complexity of old-school game scores and interjected with hardcore breakdowns.

The first night was inviting and mostly unstructured, clearly looking to start slow and see what attendees liked before complicating anything. The organizers want to add biweekly tournaments. They’re also interested in getting people to bring trading card games, such as Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!, and tabletop games, the good stuff like Settlers of Catan.

Of course, if any of this doesn’t sound appealing, this event isn’t likely to draw your attention. But even those who aren’t obsessive lovers of gaming will find that the tone is one of sharing and genuine fun. When people asked questions about how to play a certain game, other players taught them without condescension, and whenever organizers caught me between games, they readily reminded me of all the options available and asked me what I’d like to see at future events.

It’s a night for enthusiasts and casuals alike, and since there’s no cover charge, on-the-fencers can feel confident in checking it out.

The RetroGen916 game night takes place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Tuesday at Cafe Colonial. All ages are welcome, and there’s alcohol available for purchase to those 21 and up.

Even those who aren’t obsessive lovers of gaming will find that the tone is one of sharing and genuine fun.

Joe Gillis

creator-director, Beyond Geek

“One of the more notorious participants is a gentleman by the name of Yergen, and me being the newbie, I set the goal high: I told myself, ‘I’m going to get him,’” he said. “You have to watch the show to find out if the newbie takes out basically the best of the best out there.”

Now that the first season has been picked up by PBS stations across 36 states, Reynoso and Gillis hope to get together again to shoot another season.

Besides, both agree it’s pretty much “cool” to be a nerd now.

“You have multiple comic conventions in the United States that have surpassed 100,000 people in attendance,” says Gillis. “That tells you it’s pop culture at that point.

“I think everybody’s realizing that deep down, we all are geeks and nerds.”Ω

Learn more about Beyond Geek and visit www.kvie.org/ schedule for showtimes. Episodes are also available on demand at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/beyondgeek.

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—Anthony Siino

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SN&R | 11.20.14

For the week of November 20

WEEkLY PICkS

Sacramento Harvest Festival Friday, November 21 through SuNday, November 23 Pick up décor for the pending Turkey Day feast or get a head start on holiday shopping among hundreds of vendors peddling jewelry, pottery, art and toys.

Fargo Brothers Band and Sister Swing will play, and SHOPPING rumor has it that Mr. and Mrs. Claus will make an appearance. $4-$9; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday; at Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Boulevard; http://harvestfestival.com/sacramento.

—Deena Drewis

Guided Photo Walk Saturday, November 22 If you’re the outdoors type, you are hereby summoned to join one of the many groups that PHOTOGRAPHY walk the 1-mile loop at the Cosumnes River Preserve. It’s possible you will walk away with lasting images that trump any selfie or picture of a rare IPA. Free, 9 a.m. at the Cosumnes River Preserve, 13501 Franklin Boulevard in Galt; www.cosumnes.org.

—Eddie Jorgensen

State of the Music Industry Forum 3

T

drivers on the Capital City Freeway. This is the fourth year of the event, owned and produced by the Bay Area-based International Culture Exchange Group, Inc. Its first two years, it was held in Santa Clara, Calif., and in its third, Atlanta, Ga. Global Winter Wonderland’s lanterns are essentially a g i g a n t i c a r t i n s t a l l a t i o n .

Made up of millions of LEDs, 100 tons of steel and 200,000 feet of silk, the lanterns are placed in different galleries

here’s a chance that your freeway commute will be a little brighter this winter. Global Winter Wonderland opens at Cal Expo (1600 Exposition Boulevard) on Saturday, November 22, and runs through January 4, 2015.

According to its organizers, it’s the largest lantern festival outside of China. One thing’s for sure, it boasts 70 eco-friendly lantern installations—some up to 50 feet tall—which are sure to at least distract some

of sorts: a Global Village (with lanterns shaped like global landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Liberty), Holiday Fun (mostly Christmas-themed stuff), a Dinosaur Maze and an Enchanted Forest.

The event also features 30 carnival rides, parades, photos with Santa, Chinese acrobats, gift vendors, international food and local and Bay Area bands.

Some days—such as African American Day (November 30),

Asian Pacific Islander Day (December 14) and Slavic Day (December 21)—will be culturally themed. In short, it basically sounds like a cross between the State Fair, Disneyland and the Chinese Lantern Festival.

Hours vary, and single day tickets range from $12-$16. Head to www.globalwonderland.com for more information on season passes and family ticket options.

Saturday, November 22 This event featuring lectures on the future of the music industry should be helpful to young musicians and wannabe label execs. Guest speakers include Clay Nutting (co-producer of TBD Fest), Dyne FORUM Eifertsen (director of the Jazz Studies program at American River College), Weston Ray (Weston House Recording owner) and music journalist Myki Angeline. $5, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the West Sacramento Community Center, 1075 West Capitol Avenue; http://tinyurl.com/ musicindustryforum.

—Aaron Carnes

—Jonathan Mendick

Homemade Holiday Craft and Food Swap SuNday, November 23 Indie Sacramento’s Homemade Holiday Craft and Food Swap is a unique fair where your money isn’t welcome, but swapping is. What family SWAP members wouldn’t want homemade gifts? $5, 4 p.m. at Shine Cafe, 1400 E Street; http://indiesacramento.blogspot.com.

—Aaron Carnes

Singin’ With Mister Cooper WedNeSday, November 26 Ken Cooper got into the business after volunteering to play music for his son’s kindergarten class 20 years ago and the saga continues to this day. If you have little ones who are struggling with new words, have trouble meeting new kids, or simply want to CHILDREN sing, there is no better opportunity than this. Free, 4 p.m. at Belle Cooledge Library, 5600 South Land Park Drive; http://mistercooper.com.

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Lola’s hardly seems like a newcomer, however, thanks to the more than 20 years of experience behind it. Owners Annette Serrano and Tito Class recently relocated from Seattle, where they ran a restaurant until 2013.

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The servers still need to attend to details like flatware and adequate ingredient descriptions, although they are friendly and prompt. The food at Lola’s, though, is already top-notch and rarely misses the mark. Ω

A kinder manicure

Rubbing leaves on one’s fingernails in hopes of achieving a chlorophyll luster isn’t the

only vegan manicure in town anymore (not that it ever really was, but still).

Lacquered Nail Salon (921 Bear Flag Way) sensibly prioritizes using polishes that are “five free”—meaning they don’t contain the toxins camphor, dibutyl phthalate (or DBP), formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and toluene that are typically found in nail lacquers—for the health of its customers, workers and the environment, owner Jen Carr said. So the salon uses vegan-friendly Zoya brand polishes and has enough colors to choose from that it looks like an indecisive person’s Technicolor nightmare. Also importantly, Zoya products are not tested on animals—because there’s nothing beautiful about applying nail polish on the eyeball of a restrained bunny, friends.

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Midtown Block Butcher Bar This place serves the holy trinity of European cuisine: meat, cheese and alcoholic beverages. Most of its boards and plates are balanced using three basic tastes: salty (meats and cheeses), sweet (honey and jam) and sour (pickles and vinegar). The charcuterie boards impress visually and on the tongue.

Capital Dime Restaurant With a new chef and menu, this Midtown eatery has transformed into a farm-to-forkthemed place for smart bar bites and appealing sandwiches and salads. Try the bacon lollipops, perhaps the tastiest little creations ever put on a stick. Here, salty rib bacon is slathered with melted brown sugar and whispers of cayenne and cinnamon more hushed than the juiciest of rumors.

Sweet-potato pierogis are tasty, puffy packets of potato drizzled with sour cream and shredded-duck confit. A duck burger with fig jam and plenty of crispy onions makes for a gamy change of pace, but the rib bacon whiskey burger—with crunchy lumps of house-made pickle, cheddar and a landslide of crispy fried onions—just

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slightly quirky, low-key place with only nine food items on the menu: four appetizerstyle options, four sandwichtype offerings and a sausage platter, plus about 30 cold ones on tap. Patrons order from a building that was built from a couple of cargo containers and dine outdoors on communal benches, traditional German biergarten style. The Derfinater Dog is a gussied-up hot dog, and despite its seemingly excessive number of toppings, everything serves a tasteful purpose. The mayo and garlic sauce help moisten a somewhat dry roll, and the bacon adds saltiness, which balances the sweetness of cream cheese and barbecue sauce. The pretzel disappoints by being a bit on the flaky and brittle side. The sausage platter is the best item on the menu: a pork sausage, chicken sausage, and a veal-and-pork sausage— much more plump, juicy and flavorful than the frankfurters—served alongside piles of sauerkraut and German potato salad. German.

2332 K St., (916) 346-4572.

Dinner for one: $5-$10.

HHH J.M.

Goldfield Trading Post This new eatery rustles up much nicer chow than your usual cowboy fare with a menu that

Fahrenheit 250 BBQ This barbecue joint ups the ante with attentive table service and high-end ingredients.

Chef Jacob Carriker serves Southern staples such as pulled pork, brisket and ribs, plus the very California addition of smoked tri-tip.

There’s also chicken and trout—all smoked in a 7-foot hand-forged steel behemoth.

The pulled-pork sandwich is moist, smoky and falling apart with tenderness. The half-chicken is a bit dry, but benefits from a shot of sauce.

we can

Land Park/ Curtis Park Boba Cafe For starters, try the scallion pancake; it’s salty, crunchy on the outside and chewy inside. Or, order the pan-fried beef bun, which with its doughy, crunchy wrapping strangely resembled the texture of a Taco Bell Crunchwrap, only smaller, with a much richer flavor.

Also worth sampling: pork dumplings served as a firm dough wrapping filled with a rich pork broth and a small ball of meat. The “Taiwan Style Stewed Pork Over Rice,” a red-braised pork, is a tender, deep-red colored pork marinated in earthy aromatic spices and copious amounts of soy sauce. Paired with an egg and a heaping pile of rice, it’s one of the most comforting rice plates in Sacramento.

Chinese. 5131 Freeport Blvd., (916) 455-1687. Dinner for one: $5-$15. HHHH J.M

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The tri-tip is well-smoked, but not as good as the brisket, although it still makes for a very nice addition to the Market salad, with baby greens, grilled zucchini and onions, and cornbread croutons. Barbecue. 7042 Folsom Blvd., (916) 476-4508. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHHH AMR

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drinks often best quaffed alongside a well-crafted meal.

Pangaea Bier Cafe recently stepped up its food game to satisfy that need with a revamped menu that includes an ever-changing rotation of seasonal, slightly upscale pub food. Try the Buffalo wings: They’re deeply flavorful fried morsels with a thick glaze.

The mac ’n’ cheese is creamy, with a bit of beer in the sauce and a crunchy topping of herb-flecked breadcrumbs.

The sliders are gorgeous little mouthfuls with Tillamook cheddar and house-made pickles. The main-course cheeseburger, one of the best we’ve had in ages, is made from a custom blend of brisket and chuck. This is a juicy patty that holds together, yet bursts with flavor. The locally made brioche bun bears up well, and the house pickles and cheddar simply gild the lily. American. 2743 Franklin Blvd., (916) 454-4942. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHH1/2 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, house-roasted peanuts and jagged pieces of faux beef. The “beef” actually is slightly sweet, plenty umami and pleasantly inoffensive, as far as fake meat goes. Nearly everything here has a faux-meat

w w w. n e w s r e v i e w. c o m

Here are a few recent reviews and regional recommendations by Janelle Bitker, Ann Martin Rolke, Garrett McCord, Jonathan Mendick and Shoka updated regularly.

Check out www.newsreview.com for more dining advice.

Der Biergarten This spot is a

features dishes with names like Grandma’s Meat Loaf.

Grandma knows how to make some meat loaf, that’s for sure: slabs of beef ground with bacon are glazed with a sweet sauce, served atop the cheesiest mashed potatoes this side of Wisconsin. The Gold Panner’s Pork Chop was flat-out fantastic, oozing juicy flavor from its fire-kissed crust. Housemade cinnamon applesauce for dunking was a perfect accompaniment. Any good country bar worth its salt pork has chili on the menu, and Goldfield is no exception.

It’s made with chunks of tender chicken rather than ground beef, with plenty of nuggets of gold corn and black beans to boot. American.

1630 J St., (916) 476-5076.

Dinner for one: $5-$10.

HHH1/2 AMR

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Where to eat?

Blackbird is back with chefowner Carina Lampkin again at the helm. It’s located in its original space with a similar aesthetic, though with more focus on beer and bar food to better complement the seafood-inspired dinner menu.

A burger served with house pickles, seven-day housecured bacon, cheddar and sweet ’n’ chivey “awesome sauce” make for one of the city’s best burgers, no question. Chowder fries, however, are nifty in theory—fries covered in bay shrimp, bacon and parsley, then doused with chowder. It’s a play on poutine, but a lack of acid and serious sogginess issues mar it from being a landmark dish.

Better yet? Fish tacos featuring fried pollock served with pickled cabbage and chipotle crema. These and a beer will remedy any bad day you’re having. American. 1015 Ninth St., (916) 498-9224. Dinner for one: $10-$30. HHH1/2 G.M.

might be the best burger in town. American. 1801 L St., Suite 50; (916) 443-1010. Dinner for one: $15-$25. HHHH G.M.

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Blackbird Kitchen & Beer Gallery

A recent selection included shaved almonds, neat piles of meat, mustard, pickled cauliflower and beets, served with small slices of bread.

The ’nduja sandwich is startlingly spicy and salty, with rich melted cheese and ground meat spread between pressed slices of bread. Or try the pressed serrano ham, manchego cheese, arugula and salsa sandwich—it’s like a cross between a cubano, a breakfast panini and a torta. Elsewhere on the menu there are fine cocktails, an intimidating whiskey list, and a small but diverse selection of beer and wine, both regional and international.

European. 1050 20th St., (916) 476-6306. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHHH J.M.

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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. The sushi rolls here are Western style—aka 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 unusual technique for sushi. Japanese.

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

Natomas Chicago’s Pizza This pizzeria mashes up traditional

deep-dish pies with Indian food. Try ordering a custom pizza with toppings such as Tandoori chicken and tikka masala. The latter’s spicy tomato-and-yogurt-based sauce contrasts nicely with the thick, buttery crust.

There are also more conventional offerings including a vegetarian pizza and one with pepperoni. Or, skip the pizza altogether and order samosas. Here, crunchy pastry shells filled with potatoes, onions, peas, beans and spices are served with a side of delicious, bright green coriander chutney. Although this place misses a great opportunity to incorporate a tasty Indian bread such as roti or naan as a pizza crust, it’s still a good spot to try something new.

Pizza. 4391 Gateway Park Blvd., Suite 600; (916) 928-6300.

Dinner for one: $12-$20.

HHH J.M.

fontina, egg, arugula, and sundried tomato aioli sandwiched between fennel seed waffles.

It’s messy, but worth the extra napkins. “Cheeses Gone Wild” is a grilled cheese for grown-ups, with four kinds of cheese, bacon, kale, fennel confit and caramelized leek waffles. The rich cheeses are well balanced by the greens and slightly acidic confit.

American. 4391 Gateway Park Blvd., Suite 650 in Natomas; (916) 285-0562. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHH AMR

Arden/ Carmichael Dad’s Kitchen The cooking at this

The Waffle Experience A whole menu of waffles—sounds heavenly, no? But hold your forks—these aren’t your mom’s buttermilk beauties full of syrup. They’re traditional Belgian liège waffles, which are closer to bread than pastry. Open for breakfast and lunch, the menu offers choices that include breakfast creations and dishes labeled “Two Hands Required”—i.e., waffle sandwiches. All are packed with flavor. The “Eggcellent” consists of applewood bacon,

Guy Fieri-approved joint is consistent and at times technically terrific. Try the Dad’s Burger (lettuce, red onion, tomato, Aleppo chili aioli, and a beef patty encrusted with blue cheese and bacon). With a firm and chewy bun and a sauce with kick, it’s one of Sac’s best burgers. Or get the Hot Blonde. It’s like a subtle, healthier version of a club sandwich, with organic chicken, avocado, spinach, cucumber, roasted onion and Swiss cheese—all set between sourdough bread and grilled on a panini press. It boasts a crunchy texture from all the veggies, a light boost of piquant flavor from a “pepper plant sauce,” and won’t leave you feeling overly stuffed after eating it. American.

8928 Sunset Ave. in Fair Oaks, (916) 241-9365. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHHH J.M.

IllustratIon by Mark stIvers

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 sunsetorange 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.

Danielle’s Crêperie This eatery, which specializes in French and American, serves a ton of breakfast and lunch options (pancakes, waffles, omelets, quiches, crepes, sandwiches) and diners can order them at any time of day. A chocolate crepe is huge and could make for an entire (sugary) meal itself. A Nutella filling option would also be nice. Savory crepes are a good option; try the Crab and Spinach Crêpe.

With crab meat, spinach, garlic and a cheesy French Mornay sauce, this is rich haute cuisine at a bargain price. French and American.

3535 Fair Oaks Blvd., (916) 972-1911. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH1⁄2. J.M.

Field House American Sports Pub

Small-containers-to-fork

Launched by the same team that raised Shady Lady Saloon, this spot brings a bit more culinary hope to an often forgotten part of Sacramento.

The whiskey burger is a mighty sammich of perfection with smoked Gouda cheese and bacon that serve as excellent counterpoints to the achingly sweet maple-bourbon glazed red onions. Fries-slash-chips arrived pencil-thin and fiercely crispy. If you visit for brunch, don’t miss the signature bloody mary: a 32-ounce bloody mary that doesn’t skimp on the horseradish.

It’s served with skewers of beet-pickled egg, sausage and bacon, tiger prawn, pickled veggies, and the most amazing slider. American. 1310 Fulton Ave., (916) 487-1045. Dinner for one: $15-$25. HHHH G.M.

There was a time when keeping small houseplants alive scared me. So the thought of growing my own vegetables, fruits and herbs never seemed like even a remote possibility until I figured out how easy container gardening is (about as easy as keeping a houseplant alive, actually). And now, even though I’m fortunate enough to have recently purchased a house with a ton of space for gardening, most of the things I grow successfully at home are still in small containers (it’s cheaper, too). Don’t take it from me, though. The University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Sacramento County (http://ucanr.org/ sacmg) will host a container gardening class on Saturday, November 22 at the Southgate branch of the Sacramento Public Library (6132 66th Avenue). The free one-hour class (2 p.m. to 3 p.m.) will help people figure out the basics and how to get started. Visit www.saclibrary.org/home/ events/?eventId=115847 for more information.

—Jonathan Mendick

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Do it for Christ Saving Sex It might surprise non-evangelicals to know that books about good sex for Christians—“marriage manuals”— BOOk are extremely popular; in fact, Tim and Beverly LaHaye’s 1978 book The Act of Marriage remains a bestseller in Christian bookstores. In Saving Sex: Sexuality and Salvation in American Evangelicalism (Oxford University Press; $24.95), Amy DeRogatis, a professor of religion at Michigan State University, examines these “marriage manuals” and other evangelical Christian books on sexuality to establish that evangelicals are far from being prudes. The difficulty arises in the prescriptive nature of this discussion: Sex must be done in the “correct” way. Evangelicals also have complicated rules about how to have sex. This is a fascinating look at a surprisingly large subculture that’s as obsessed with sex as the rest of us.

—Kel Munger

Tastes like nerd Kandy Kale My husband likes to accuse me of eating “nerd food” —i.e., the kind of stuff moms try to force on kids (think dates, baby carrots, chia seeds, flax, etc.). My latest go-to snack only furthers his point. Kandy Kale, made by the Oakland-based Alive & Radiant, is a healthy alternative to candy or chips. Try the Sea Salt Caramel, which features a dried mix of cashews, kale, coconut sugar, sea salt and vanilla (and that’s it). Also available in White Chocolate Peppermint and Pumpkin Spice, they’re all gluten-free, vegan, crunchy, sweet and totally addictive. Each 1.7 ounce bag costs FOOd $3.99 and is available at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op. Or, buy it by the case for $65.89 via http://eataliveandradiant.com.

—Rachel Leibrock

Sound and vision david Bowie iS If you missed this last time it played locally, this Thursday, November 20, the Tower Theatre will screen a repeat showing of David Bowie Is, a documentary FIlm about the art exhibition by the same name.

The exhibition, currently on tour via London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, examines handwritten lyrics, album artwork, set designs, costumes and more. The documentary features commentary from the likes of Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto, as well as exhibition curators Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh. 7 p.m., $20, 2508 Land Park Drive, www.omniversevision.com/davidbowieis.html.

—Rachel Leibrock

Midtown Boutique Holiday Hunt When it comes to the holiday-shopping season, there are two kinds of people in this world: those that jump at the chance to score an insane deal on a Le Creuset fondue pot during a 5 a.m. doorbuster sale, SHOPPING and those that experience soul-numbing anxiety by coming within a half-mile radius of a Best Buy parking lot.

Whichever camp you find yourself in, there’s a cheery compromise waiting for you in Midtown: Twelve boutiques— Birkenstock Midtown, Cuffs, French Cuff Consignment, Heart Clothing Boutique, Identity Boutique, Ladybug Ladybug, Marcas Boutique, MARK Vintage, Renee’s Shoetique, RIRE, Sugar Shack Boutique and The Moppet Shoppe—are participating in a holiday hunt wherein shoppers who spend at least $15 at more than six of the stores will automatically be entered to win a $50 gift certificate for each store.

Not only are the crowds sure to be less massive and aggressive than at your neighborhood Target, but it’s also a great way to support local businesses that will be turning on the deals for the season of gifting.

Fittingly, the winner of the holiday hunt will be announced on Small Business Saturday, November 29, so plenty of time for the winner to spend that $600.

And lastly, a word of advice this holiday season: Your 19-yearold niece wants Birkenstocks. No, really. Through November, www.girlsonthegrid.com/ 1st-annual-midtown-boutiqueholiday-hunt.

—Deena Drewis

Once smitten, not shy I am completely smitten with someone who I am relatively certain is gay. I have known this man for some time, although he is very guarded when it comes to divulging details about his personal life. At the end of the day, I want to be his friend above all else. I want him to feel that I am a woman trustworthy enough to confide in. My most perplexing issue is: “Why do I

by Joey ga feel this way?” I don’t want a rcia relationship right now. I am a complete and utter mess, a skj oey @ ne wsreview.c om emotionally. Yet all I think about is a man who I know could never really care for me, the way I do about him. Scarier Joey is getting jiggy still: What if he isn’t gay? Then I am with the Muse. simply rejected on my own merits, instead of my gender. I need to let him go. How do I do that?

Choose peace instead of emotional chaos. You don’t need to let this man go. You need to release the flurry of thoughts and fears you have about him, and about the meaning of intimacy. If you want to embody good friendship, extinguish your curiosity about his sexuality.

Knowing his sexual orientation will not give you clarity or freedom.

That’s because our individual clarity or freedom is not based in other people’s lives.

The fact that he has not shared his sexual preference may mean that he has placed limits on the friendship.

You may desire a more emotionally intimate connection but he is not offering that to you at this time.

Respect his boundaries, but don’t imagine that his boundaries are signs that you are not valued or appreciated. He just hasn’t opted to include you in one part of his life. Maybe he will, eventually. Maybe he won’t, ever. Either way, knowing his sexual orientation will not give you clarity or freedom. That’s because our individual clarity or freedom is not based in other people’s lives. It comes from being honest, aware and responsive to reality.

Feeling emotionally messy is painful, but your suffering can be alleviated. Your first step is to become aware of thoughts arising

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.

in your mind about your friend’s sexuality or your hope of his interest in you. Then slay those thoughts.

Replace every thought about your friend with invitations to your personal growth and self-care.

Here’s how: When the thought “I wonder if he’s gay” pops into your head, kill it. Then ask yourself this question: “How can I become more emotionally honest?” Obsessing about your friend’s sexuality and his availability disrupts your investment in healing yourself. Right now, you’re in a spin as you try to convince yourself that the problem is your friend. Well, honey, if we strip away the obsession, we’re left with you. That means this situation isn’t really about sexual orientation or rejection. This is about you awakening to what you need to heal in yourself: self-acceptance. When you believe that you are loved and loveable, you will be free, clear and a good friend to yourself.

I am dating someone special and we hang out a lot, but she keeps things from me. If I ask a lot of questions about what she’s been doing and who she’s been with, she answers them. But I feel like if I don’t ask, I won’t know. It makes me nervous that I might forget to ask something and lose her to someone else before we really connect. Suggestions?

Stop worrying! Be grateful that she answers your questions honestly.

When she does, tell her how much you appreciate hearing about her life. In fact, consider it a privilege when she shares with you. But be careful not to believe that knowing her daily schedule will protect you against getting hurt. Relationships don’t work that way. Be certain that you are not interrogating her, either.

Allow your conversations to flow naturally and nurture the connection that already exists. Ω

RELAX, DINE, ENJOY 3 FIRES LOUNGE

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The immigrant odyssey 4

A Christmas Carol

Anon(ymous) Playwright Naomi Iizuka’s Anon(ymous), a mythical and mystical tracing of immigrants’ hardships and journeys, is the perfect vehicle for one of the by Patti Roberts region’s most creative, visionary design and technical teams.

The Falcon’s Eye Theatre’s production team, under the tutelage of director David Harris, elevates every theater offering at the small stage at Folsom Lake College’s Harris Center for the Arts with imaginative and technically innovative staging. Their newest offering is no exception.

We’re talking about realistic and fantastical ocean voyages, sandy beaches, train trips, street scenes, sweatshops and sewers—all enhanced by scene designs that incorporate film, photos, gauzy curtains, dramatic lighting and sound, and clever sets and costumes.

4

The Dickens classic tale of the awakening of Ebenezer Scrooge’s conscience remains the most thoughtful—and class-conscious—holiday tradition, and this excellent adaption

by Luther Hanson at City Theatre is a very good one. Mingling traditional Christmas music and an ensemble that functions as a Greek chorus, it’s carried—as it ought to be—by the outstanding performance of Lew Rooker as a towering Scrooge who scares the bejesus out of people until his heart is thawed. F, Sa 8pm; Su & 12/13 2pm. Through 12/14. $10-$18.

City Theatre in the Performing Arts Center at Sacramento City College, 3835 Freeport Blvd.; www.citytheatre.net. K.M.

imaginative and thought-provoking way, it also opens the door for the talented production team at Falcon’s Eye Theatre to shine once again. Ω

Women Wearing 4Five the Same Dress Alan Ball’s comic play about five bridesmaids wearing incredibly ugly dresses at a wedding for a woman they all dislike is a sort of Steel Magnolias—with younger women and a double heaping of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.

As Tracie’s wedding reception is about to begin, first one, then two, and finally, all five of her bridesmaids end up in the bedroom that belongs to her younger sister—and punkish bridesmaid—Meredith.

The usual wedding difficulties include the presence of ex-lovers, potential lovers, and the possibility of drunken, meaningless sex, plus the alcoholfueled revelations of secrets.

What unfolds is, for the most part, predictable, but in this production, directed

by Shawn B. O’Neal, who has a deft hand with comedy, the fun is in the chemistry the actresses bring to the stage. It’s all a matter of style, and these women—Stephanie Hodson, Amber Marsh, Kellie Yvonne Raines, Rebecca Scott and Katie Walton— have it like Vogue magazine, with enough booze and pot to make them tell it like it is.

Five Women is lighter fare; although it does touch on some heavier topics—slut shaming, abortion, sexual abuse and homophobia—for the most part, it ekes out the laughter in being female and struggling with expectations and conventions. Go with your best girlfriends. It might strike closer to home than you expect—and, at the very least, these dresses will make you feel better about every bridesmaid dress you’ve ever donned.

5

The Gambling Lady (The Bassett Table)

PHoTo by iAN WAllACe

What a hoot: This rarely-staged battle-of-thesexes (written in 1705 by an uppity female playwright) is really good! Vivid characters include Lady Reveller (an allnight gambler who smiles as she beats the men at cards), the scientifically-inclined Valeria (dissecting critters so she can study their anatomy), and saber-waving Captain Firebrand (who overheats when Lady Reveller wins a big bet). Scheming, seduction and manipulation are much in evidence. This UC Davis production is brisk, colorful and funny. Th, F, Sa 8pm; Su 2pm. Through 11/23. $16-$22. Main Theatre in Wright Hall at UC Davis, 1 Shields Ave.;

It helps when the play selection lends itself to such artistic endeavors. In Anon(ymous), Iizuka presents a modern version of Homer’s The Odyssey as she traces one teen’s voyage from an unidentified war-torn country to the United States, with all the hopes, dreams, dramas and traumas that immigrants haul around with them.

The main character Anon (a sympathetic and engaging Ethan Fox) represents all immigrants, as he encounters various characters and choruses on his quest of discovery and heartache—all portrayed by a talented and varied cast.

The re-imagined Odyssey journey works the majority of time, mixing realism with mysticism, moving the story along through the various challenges that Anon stumbles into along the way. There are a couple missteps in the play that feel forced by following the classic plot, most notably a strange and violent butcher shop scene that doesn’t match the spirit or tempo of the rest of the play.

But on the whole, Anon(ymous) not only presents the issues of immigrants in an

Anon(ymous), 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; $10-$15.

Harris Center for the Arts, 10 College Parkway in Folsom; (916) 608-6888; www.harriscenter.net.

Through November 23.

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5

Jersey Boys

This jukebox musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tells the true story of how a group of blue-collar hooligans from New Jersey wound up one of the greatest American pop groups of all time. F 8pm; Th, Sa 2pm & 8pm; Su 2pm. Through 11/22. $38-$153. Broadway Sacramento at the Community Center Theater, 1301 L St.; (916) 808-5181; www.broadway sacramento.com. J.C.

FoUl

2 FAiR

3 GooD

5

Kate: The Unexamined Life of Katharine Hepburn

4

Playwright Rick Foster and actress Janis Stevens team up for this remarkable character study of Katharine Hepburn, the woman the American Film Institute called “the greatest female star in Hollywood history.” There’s not an ounce of artifice in Stevens’ portrayal of the iconic actress.

Stevens’ expression lightens and darkens in rambling recollections according to Hepburn’s like, dislike or mistrust of the subject. She seems to truly be reveling in the remembrance. W, Th 6:30pm; F 8pm;

Well-DoNe

5 SUbliMe–DoN’T MiSS

Sa, 2pm & 8pm; Su 2pm. Through 12/14. $15-$38. Pollack Stage at

Sacramento Theatre Company, 1419 H St.; (916) 443-6722; www.sactheatre.org. J.C.

Short reviews by Jim Carnes, Jeff Hudson and Kel Munger.

PHoTo by bob CARey

Even the lighting in this press photo is epically dramatic.

(530) 754-2787; http://arts.uc davis.edu/theatre-dance. J.H.

Yes, the lasers outnumber the musicians.

Holiday rock opera ’Tis the season for holiday music yet again. Trans-Siberian Orchestra came about in 1996 through the hard efforts of producer and composer Paul O’Neill as well as Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli—both members of the popular heavy metal band Savatage. During the holidays, this annual event features a full touring band and a light and stage show that takes nearly a full day to set up. If you like your seasonal music with a little operatic rock and, of course, a heavy dose of fog, lasers and moving stage props, you are hereby summoned to attend this awesome spectacle. Because the group has become so wildly popular and has amassed a fan base that spreads across the globe, it has donated more than $10 million since its inception to different charities and continues that tradition to this day. Expect at least a dollar from each ticket to benefit a local charity. Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesday, November 26; $35.05-$74.95. Sleep Train Arena, 1 Sports Parkway; www.trans-siberian.com.

—Kel Munger

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; $15-$20. Resurrection Theatre at the California Stage, 1723 25th Street; (916) 223-9568; www.resurrection theatre.com. Through November 22.

—Eddie Jorgensen

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Everything YOU COULD WANT!

A brief, clichéd history of genius The Theory of Everything

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After Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, it has become almost too easy to mock and dismiss the conventions of the traditional biopic. Although uneven by Daniel Barnes as a comedy, Jake Kasdan’s 2007 parody so effectively spotlighted and skewered the hoary tropes of the genre that any film employing them with a straight face risks looking ridiculous.

When The Theory of Everything, director James Marsh’s straight-faced biopic about theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane, fades into gauzy flashback within the first few minutes, I half expected Tim Meadows to step in and say, “You’re going to have to give them a moment. Stephen and Jane Hawking need to think about their entire marriage before he accepts a prestigious award.”

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1 Poor

2 Fair

3 Good

4 Very Good

5 excellent

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Clichés are not mandatory for the genre— films as diverse as Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There and Mike Leigh’s upcoming Mr. Turner have tossed aside biopic crutches while still landing an emotional and intellectual impact. But The Theory of Everything is engineered for maximum awards season appeal, and so it crams in as many of those conventions as it possibly can.

Marsh and screenwriter Anthony McCarten are especially fond of “bundling,” a narrative shortcut that squeezes several life-altering events into an absurdly abbreviated time span. Almost every significant moment in Stephen Hawking’s life seems to occur over an afternoon or two, and then for years at a time nothing happens.

McCarten adapted the screenplay from Jane Hawking’s memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, so although the film is focused almost entirely on Stephen’s life and career, this is really Jane’s story. That makes for a strange twist on the way that many Oscar-grubbing biopics portray the hero’s wife, usually seeing her as a blandly supportive piece of furniture—here, Jane becomes an observer to her own life.

More than anything, this layperson’s entryway into Stephen’s life work seems like an excuse to dumb down his theories until they form an insipid and fairly one-sided conversation about the existence of God. According to Marsh and McCarten, Hawking’s greatest achievements as a scientist have been overcoming odds and inspiring people.

In addition to a handful of features, Marsh previously directed the excellent documentaries Man on Wire and Project Nim, so perhaps more was expected from him than this excessively tasteful “Just Do It” ad. It’s not an incompetent work—the cinematography by Benoît Delhomme (he also shot this year’s A Most Wanted Man), musical score by Jóhann Jóhannsson, costume design by Steven Noble and all of the other technical elements are eminently well-crafted and restrained and polite. The script has that same sort of numbing decency, whether dealing with the onset of Stephen’s physically debilitating motor neuron disease, his sex life with Jane or their mutual extramarital affairs.

The Theory of Everything would be close to unwatchable if not for the excellent performances of Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne as Jane and Stephen Hawking. Jones is given a thankless role—she has to carry all of the emotional and narrative baggage of the film while remaining on the margins of the story. It is uncannily similar to the role that she played earlier this year opposite Ralph Fiennes as Charles Dickens in The Invisible Woman, and just as she did in that film, Jones injects a complexity and inner life into the character that may not have existed on the page.

Eddie Redmayne is an actor that I have struggled with in previous films, but he is a revelation here, displaying an immense technical craft and precision—he becomes Stephen Hawking, body and soul. It’s a role that comes to Redmayne fully doused in Oscar musk, especially since he gets to play the character from his socially awkward but physically fit college days through the stages of motor neuron disease and into middle age.

The Theory of Everything is engineered for maximum awards season appeal.

Marsh ups the awards-chum ante in the final reel by rewinding the entire film, allowing us to fully appreciate the physical regression of Redmayne’s performance in reverse time-lapse. Redmayne does bravura work, but The Theory of Everything doesn’t have the imagination or ambition to be anything more than his showpiece. Ω

by daniel barnes & JiM lane

3

Beyond the Lights

•

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A rising young pop star (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), stressed out by the pressure from her driven mother (Minnie Driver), flirts with jumping from her hotel balcony and is coaxed back from the edge by a cop on security duty (Nate Parker). The incident is passed off as an accident and the cop wins his 15 minutes of fame—plus the heart of the grateful star. Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood stretches her tissuethin story to the very limits of its appealing young stars and the acting prowess of Minnie Driver and Danny Glover (as Parker’s solemn, dignified father). Is this a satire on the shallow glitz of showbiz, or are we supposed to believe that this moderately talented singer really is superstar material? It’s hard to tell in this glossy, flashy movie about the gloss and flash of the pop-music world. J.L.

3

Big Hero 6

A Marvel comic book reconfigured to look and sound like an animated McDonald’s commercial, Big Hero 6 is still the most tolerable film to be released under the Marvel banner in years, even if the superhero origin story stuff is the least interesting piece.

The film takes place in the futuristic, East-West hybrid city of San Fransokyo, and the story follows a 13 year-old computer prodigy named Hiro Hamada, who forms a bond with an inflatable robot after his brother’s death. Despite a chaotic narrative that bloats the running time to nearly two hours, Big Hero 6 is a colorful and fast-paced entertainment, easily watchable and easily forgotten, like a shiny new toy that isn’t much fun to play with. It is preceded by the six-minute Feast, an enchanting Disney short that offers all of the warmth and soul that Big Hero 6 lacks. D.B.

5

Dear White People

Writer-director Justin Simien’s impassioned but wishy washy Dear White People follows four black students at a fictional Ivy League college as they struggle to reconcile their personal and racial identities. Over the course of a semester, a simple housing dispute turns into a campuswide conflict that forces people to choose sides, even against their nature, and finally erupts into a racially charged riot. With its brash and topical take on black college life, interracial love, and race riots, Dear White People has drawn comparisons to Spike Lee’s 1980s-era output. That’s valid if simplistic, but the film’s self-righteous leanings and easy targets make it play more like the love child of Higher Learning and PCU. Simien shoots satirical buckshot, missing as often as he hits, and the clunky framing device is pure amateur hour, yet he also displays an attention to character complexity that shows genuine promise. D.B.

2

the THEORY of

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Rosewater

Comedian Jon Stewart of The Daily Show makes his directorial debut with the true-life drama Rosewater, starring Gael Garcia Bernal as Iranian Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari. While covering the 2009 elections in Tehran, Bahari was jailed and tortured for several weeks, and his appearance on The Daily Show was used by Iranian officials to prove that he was working as a spy. Jason Jones plays himself in the scene recreating the taped interview, and to his and Stewart’s credit, they don’t shy away from implicating their own sarcastic dismissiveness in Bahari’s fate. Rosewater reaches for those same levels of sensitivity and evenhandedness throughout, often to its own detriment and nearly to the point of flavorlessness. Stewart, who also adapted the Bahari memoir Then They Came for Me, overfills his plate with agenda items when he should have focused on the characters, and the result is strangely impersonal. D.B.

“EDDIE REDMAYNE AND FELICITY JONES REACH FOR THE STARS IN TWO OF THE YEAR’S BEST PERFORMANCES.” PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE

++++ .

INFINITELY AWESOME!” “

NEW YORK POST

Birdman

A washed-up movie star (Michael Keaton), hoping to scramble out from the shadow of the Birdman superhero blockbusters he made 20 years ago, tries to mount his own Broadway adaptation of a story by Raymond Carver, but everything seems to go wrong—starting with the fact that Birdman has infected his own unstable personality.

Director and co-writer Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu’s movie invites comparison with the ultimate has-been-nut-cast-movie-star picture, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd.—and amazingly, it holds up under the comparison, thanks to Iñárritu’s brilliantly surrealistic technique, the can’t-look-away messy state of the protagonist’s head, Keaton’s tautly pugnacious performance, and an equally strong supporting cast (Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Stone, Amy Ryan, etc.). J.L.

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“A GRIPPING DRAMA.” - Joe McGovern, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Dumb and Dumber To

Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) are back, 20 years older and as stupid as ever—though alas, not quite as funny. Yes, of course it’s crass and tasteless, even disgusting—but what do you expect from Bobby and Peter Farrelly, Masterpiece Theatre? Some of the jokes land—law of averages, you know—but it’s a bit depressing to think that the Brothers F. had to enlist the help of Sean Anders, Mike Cerrone, John Morris and Bennett Yellin to write the kind of crude, any-raunchy-thing-for-a-laugh script that they used to pump out all by themselves. It’s also just a tad dispiriting to see how … ahem … ungracefully some of the cast members have aged. Naming no names on that score,

BEFORE

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of course, but while we’re on the subject, the cast includes Rob Riggle, Laurie Holden, Rachel Melvin and Steve Tom. J.L.

4

The Good Lie

Fleeing the Sudanese Civil War in 1987, a group of children walk 700 miles to a Kenyan refugee camp; 13 years later, now grown into young adults (Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal, Kuoth Wiel), they are allowed to emigrate to the U.S., where a Kansas City employment agent (Reese Witherspoon) tries to find them work while they try to adjust to their new lives. Written by Margaret Nagle and directed by Philippe Falardeau, the movie suffers some narrative awkwardness in the early scenes, but rights itself in time and goes on to build quiet power through artful understatement. Witherspoon is top-billed (and probably helped get the picture green-lighted), but the real stars are Oceng, Duany and Jal, who portray with poignant clarity the hope, frustration and confusion of immigrants in a strange new land. J.L.

3

Interstellar

Christopher Nolan has earned enough trust and respect to make the dark, thematically ambitious and potentially difficult films that studios usually avoid like the plague, and on the scale of his choice. Based as much on the success of his rabbit-hole actioner Inception as his money-in-the-bank Batman movies, he even got Paramount to back his moony and assaultive three-hour space epic Interstellar. Rather than liberating Nolan, however, the ability to make big-budget movies that aim to do more than sell souvenir soda cups has weighed on him like a divine task, and each film has become more dreadfully self-important than the last. Interstellar is a nonstop barrage of teachable moments, simultaneously bloated and rushed, and crammed with more topical detritus than a Lee Daniels film. There is no shortage of visual spectacle here, but Interstellar flirts with big ideas and weighty themes only to avoid probing beneath their surfaces. D.B.

3

Nightcrawler

A former petty thief (Jake Gyllenhaal) launches himself on a career as a freelance video “journalist,” stalking street crimes and accidents and selling what he shoots to the desperate news director of a low-rated L.A. TV station (Rene Russo). Gyllenhaal and writer-director Dan Gilroy create a compelling portrait of a slick hustler straight out of What Makes Sammy Run?, prowling the garish

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neon mean streets instead of the studios of Hollywood, willing to stoop to anything, even murder. Fascinating to see how far journalism has fallen since the heyday of Watergate and All the President’s Men—or even 1987’s Broadcast News. This world is populated mainly by bottom-feeding sociopaths and the moral idiots who enable them, with only feeble protests of integrity from the sidelines, easily quashed and ignored. J.L.

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Whiplash

In the propulsive and persistent Whiplash, writer-director Damien Chazelle takes a trope familiar to sports movies and boot camp films—the imperious coach/drill sergeant who horsewhips a raw but promising athlete/soldier into shape— and drops it into an East Coast music conservatory. Miles Teller gives another strong performance as Andrew, a hyperdriven jazz drummer languishing in second chair. Andrew catches the eye of Fletcher, the martinet conductor of the school’s most prestigious band, a black-clad, fire-breathing demon played by J.K. Simmons. Fletcher torments his student musicians with a level of vile emasculation unseen since R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket (“weepy willow shitstack” is one of Fletcher’s least offensive invectives), and Andrew endures the abuse in order to pursue greatness. Teller and Simmons don’t cut corners, even when the script does, and while Chazelle frequently seems to be fetishizing sadism, the lightningfast tempo forgives a few off-key notes. D.B.

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St. Vincent

Sixteen years removed from Rushmore, Bill Murray could play the curmudgeonwith-a-heart-of-fool’s-gold role in his sleep.

It’s to his credit that Murray is wide awake and close to great in Theodore Melfi’s St. Vincent, especially since the script is loaded with enough tranquilizing indie-quirk tropes to take down Dan Aykroyd. Murray is Vincent McKenna, an acerbic, alcoholic slob who earns extra cash by babysitting the precocious, bullied child of his new next-door neighbor (Melissa McCarthy, somehow the only person not overacting here).

Very little rings true in St. Vincent—not the boy, not the pregnant Russian prostitute played by Naomi Watts, not Terrence Howard’s bookie, and not the ending that is almost literally removed from Rushmore. Yet for all of his clowning, Murray gets under this character’s skin like a deer tick, bringing a lot of soul to a film that can’t match him. D.B.

4

EDDIE REDMAYNE

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Portrait of the band as midlife artists Two decades in, the Mother Hips are older, wiser and still jamming

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While the Gramblers’ success has made scheduling Mother Hips shows difficult at times, Bluhm says he’s used to various outside projects causing such delays.

He’s also done extensive solo work, after all, something that prompted the Hip’s four-year hiatus between 2009’s Pacific Dust and 2013’s Behind Beyond.

It was a time for growing pains, Bluhm said.

“It’s kind of shameful as a songwriter. I think the band during that period was adjusting to me being a solo artist and having a lot of things going on with other projects as well,” he said.

“These were transitive years.”

These days, however, the band operates at its own speed and the other members also keep busy with other projects.

Still, all those packed schedules haven’t stopped them from making new music together. In fact, they just finished a record at John Baccigaluppi’s new studio in Stinson Beach. Working with the former Hangar producer, Bluhm says, made sense. “[The studio is in] a beautiful house overlooking the Bay. [Baccigaluppi’s] done so many bands including The Gramblers, My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses and more,” he said.

The upcoming album will feature a mix of songs, Bluhm added. In addition, the band still has some tunes in the vault that may be released at a future date.

PHoTo courTeSy oF ric D. ruDgerS

ricky perez

For the better part of 23 years, members of the San Francisco band Mother Hips have churned out some of the best jam band fare in the counby Eddie Jorgensen try. Although often mislabeled as an Americana or country act, make no mistake—this band likes to stretch out its songs and play for hours on end.

The four-piece currently features singerguitarist Tim Bluhm and guitarist Greg Loiacono—the only original members left.

The pair met attending college in Chico. It also includes drummer John Hofer, who lives in Southern California with his wife and daughter and has played with the band since 1997, and former Frank Zappa bassist Scott Thunes; the Marin-based musician joined in 2011.

The Mother Hips perform at 10 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, at PowerHouse Pub, 614 Sutter Street in Folsom.

Tickets are $15.

For more, visit www.motherhips.com.

All those different addresses can make for a difficult touring schedule, but they manage and, in fact, the band’s scheduled to play the PowerHouse Pub Saturday, November 22.

The Hips’ current record, Chronicle Man, was released on the group’s own eponymous label earlier this year and while the band members say they enjoyed putting out two records on Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label back in the day—1995’s Part-Timer Goes Full and 1996’s Shootout—they now prefer running their own business and are in no hurry to work with a bigger label again.

“After being signed to American, there’s definitely some caution from [signing to] major labels,” Bluhm explained in a recent phone interview. “Until something comes along that knocks me out, we are staying put.”

There other projects to keep him busy, too.

Bluhm is also a full-time member of his wife’s band, Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers. Over the last couple of years he’s put aside considerable time to concentrate on her music—and it’s paid off. The Gramblers became Internet celebrities of sorts after their “Van Session” videos went viral, something that pushed the band into filling large music halls.

“ In some ways, being young is less serious.

As you get older, you start to understand the significance of art in people’s lives.”

Tim Bluhm singer-guitarist, Mother Hips Whatever happens next, Bluhm says he’s more committed than ever when it comes to making music. There are benefits, it seems, to pushing past 20 years in the business.

“In some ways, being young is less serious,” he said. “As you get older, you start to understand the significance of art in people’s lives.

We were raging partiers during the American [Recordings] years but we now control everything we do and it is work.” Ω

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Bee-lightful: It was easily one of the best sound checks I’ve ever heard.

Per usual, it concluded with “Clint Eastwood” by the Gorillaz.

Over the course of that one song, the whole mood changed. A brawl broke out, bodies tumbled. We ran out to find a lobby floor dotted with blood.

Outside, police cars, fire trucks and ambulances quickly swarmed.

The venue released a statement the following day, which noted multiple stabbing victims. Police logs show one man was arrested at the scene for assault with a deadly weapon.

The Center’s press contact said that nothing like this has ever happened at the venue before.

And truly, it’s hard to imagine any violence in a classy arts space in peaceful, Stars Hollow-esque Grass Valley. Especially with a 16-piece orchestra.

Julie Baenziger and Amber Padgett engaged in charming, quirky banter—the stuff of eavesdropping dreams—and even, so sweetly, asked the sound guy if he needed to pee before getting started.

Except Baenziger used the word “potty.”

Baenziger is, of course, Jules of Sea of Bees. Her NPR-endorsed project has produced a mere two albums—Songs for the Ravens in 2010 and Orangefarben in 2012— to the dismay of her fans, who want more, more, more.

They demanded more at Sea of Bees’ first and last show of 2014, quietly held at Witch Room last Tuesday night, whenever Baenziger hinted at finishing her set. She put her guitar down and picked it back up three times.

I wanted more, too. Baenziger’s songs are folky, adorably twee, somewhat ambient rock-ish and experimental all at once—without sounding complicated. Her voice is almost childlike in its pure, porcelain quality. She couldn’t remember the words to some songs, but who cares?

That’s because Baenziger has been working on the next Sea of Bees album, due out early next year.

—Janelle Bitker

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NEWS

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Run to San Francisco: Last Friday, San Francisco’s Mezzanine (capacity: small, drinks: ungodly expensive, walls: sweaty) played host to rappers El-P and Killer Mike, known to their numerous and rowdy fans as Run The Jewels. In town to promote the release of Run The Jewels 2, the diabolical duo has been making its way across the U.S., leaving exhausted fans in its wake.

The explosion of energy that greeted the beginning of their set—the title track from Run The Jewels, a hat trick not often seen since the days of Bad Company— seemed to surprise the jewel runners themselves, who responded with a high-high-extremely-high-energy blitz through nearly every song they’ve ever released.

Killer Mike seemed to have trouble getting out of second gear, while El-P was a whirlwind of clear, strong wordplay, facial expression and humor. The camaraderie and friendship these two share was more than evident—their onstage hug is as critical to their appeal as their insistence that they “fuck in their church shoes.” Despite the apparent difference in their energy levels, their performance was one of the most exhilarating I’ve ever witnessed.

It was what Killer Mike might call “real bad-guy shit.” By the time they finished their encore with Run The Jewels 2’s closer “Angel Duster,” the audience was spent. Having ran the jewels, I was ready to run for bed.

w w w. n e w s r e v i e w. c o m

© SFNTC 4 2014

jan el l eb @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

Bloody madness: The sold-out Deltron 3030 show in Grass Valley was a chill dance party for most of last Saturday night. Strangers were friendly and joyous. They traveled from far away—the band’s last stop was Santa Cruz—and couldn’t believe they were about to see the alternative hip-hop supergroup in such an intimate space, the Center for the Arts. With a 16-piece orchestra.

Deejay Kid Koala started things off with a funky set—successful conga line included. Then the orchestra took the stage, some members looking very serious and others taking selfies. Then the band came on. The bassist was the most stoked dude I have ever seen in my life—rock star dreams achieved for one night only, I’m guessing. A stoned-looking Del the Funky Homosapien carried a green skateboard for some reason.

And Dan the Automator became Dan the Conductor.

Deltron 3030 mostly stuck to favorites off its debut album. In fact, it was an almost identical set to what we saw at TBD Fest, with political videos traded for violins.

BEFORE

Gift certificates to local merchants for up to 50% off

Bees, brawls and bad guys

CIGARETTES

—Brian Breneman

b r i an r b @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

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F E AT U R E

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AFTER

Sacramento News 11-20-14.indd 1

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10/29/14 10:20 AM

22SAT

22SAT

22SAT

22SAT

Arden Park Roots

Florencia Dunayevich and Stephan Holland

Electric Funeral

Bellygunner

Ace of Spades, 6:30 p.m., $10 Even though Arden Park Roots is listed as the headliner, this isn’t merely a typical APR show. It’s also being billed as “Andy Hawk’s REGGAE/ROCK B-Day Bash”— Hawk, of course, being the host of KRXQ 98.5 FM’s Local Licks show, playing local rock. Aside from APR, it features reggae rockers Element of Soul and Riotmaker, plus more straightforward rock from Hero’s Last Mission and A Mile Till Dawn.

Word on the street is that Oleander vocalist Brandon Flowers will be sitting in with Riotmaker for a song. Other good news: Arden Park Roots manager Josh Dickel is recovering from an accident he had last month that left him hospitalized with severe burns.

1417 R Street, www.ardenparkroots.com.

—Jonathan Mendick

Blue Line arts, 7 p.m., $22-$35 Buenos-Aires raised vocalist Florencia Dunayevich will join guitarist and vocalist Stephen Holland for an intimate concert featuring the music of South America. Tour Brazil through the baião, the samba and the bossa nova with its songs of love, nature and women.

Explore Argentina through its syncopated milongas and then explore Peru through its many dances. Holland, also a songwriter and collector of folklore and songs, will contribute WORLD original pieces influenced by his extensive travels through Latin America and by poetry, songs of Appalachia and West African drumming. Holland’s music crosses all borders. 405 Vernon Street, Suite 1 in Roseville; www.stephenholland.info.

Blue Lamp, 8 p.m., $8 With a critically acclaimed album and heavy touring last year, Black Sabbath is cool once again. (Anyone remember the ’90s when the band members were just seen as old farts?) The only problem with all this Black Sabbath resurgence is that the only place METAL to see the group play is in a gigantic amphitheater—unless, of course, you’re willing to go see Bay Area Sabbath tribute band Electric Funeral. Sure, it may not technically be Ozzy up there, but you won’t know the difference after a couple shots. Also playing the show is Motorhead tribute band Motorheader and all-female Van Halen group Ann Halen, which is a pretty amazing name. 1400 Alhambra Boulevard, www.facebook.com/ElectricFuneralSF.

—Trina L. Drotar

2708 J Street Sacramento, CA 916.441.4693 www.harlows.com - November 23 -

- November 20 -

THE SEALEGS, ADRIAN BELLUE

STURGILL SIMPSON LUCETTE 7PM • $15

8PM • $8

SOLD OUT - November 24 -

- November 21 -

ABNEY PARK 6PM • $22

COMING SOON 11/28 Lil Debbie 11/28 Purple Ones 11/29 Mary Youngblood 11/29 The Cheeseballs 11/30 Karen Lovely

AVI BUFFALO

12/1 Jackie Gage

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT 7PM • $10 ADV

12/2 Chris Robinson Brotherhood 12/5 Goapele 12/6 Andy McKee 12/7 California Honeydrops

- November 21 Songs and Stories:

- November 25 -

ART ALEXAKIS OF EVERCLEAR

BUSDRIVER 8PM • $13

12/8 SZA 12/11 Jim “Kimo” West 12/11 Black Uhuru 12/12 Hot Buttered Rum

9pm • $25

12/13 Dilated Peoples - November 22 -

FOREVERLAND

- November 26 -

Cosmic Family (MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE) • 9PM • $15 Productions Remembers

WOODSTOCK ‘69 8pm • $10

36 | SN&R |

11.20.14

12/16 Charlie Hunter/Mike Dillon Band 12/18 Close To You (Carpenters Tribute) 12/19 Haas Kowert Tice 12/28 Anuhea 12/31 Lovefool

Old Ironsides, 9 p.m., $7

—Aaron Carnes

A lot of people know Gabe Nelson as the bassist for Cake. While John McCrea is the group’s primary songwriter, Nelson’s lines contribute to the band’s groove.

For Nelson’s own band, Bellygunner, he keeps that groove going, but also shows he’s a gifted singer-songwriter. Similar to Cake, the band fuses pop, dance beats and an offbeat songwriting sensibility, but Nelson’s a much more dynamic singer than McCrea. And while the groove is similar, there’s a lot more R&B and folk influences in Bellygunner. It released the record Machinegun Built For Two earlier this year, ROCK a great, well-produced batch of tunes that deserves a lot more attention than it’s received. 1901 10th Street, https://soundcloud.com/bellygunner.

—Aaron Carnes

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FRIDAY 11/21 - SATURDAY 11/22 FROM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? AND CHELSEA LATELY!

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HANGING WITH CARLOS RODRIGUEZ WEDNESDAY 11/26

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BATTLE OF THE BANDS

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DJ ZROK • 9PM-12AM THURSDAY-SUNDAY

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FRI NOVEMBER 28 • 7-9PM

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24MON

24MON

25TUES

26WED

Avi Buffalo

Fleetwood Mac

Alice Cooper

Iconoclast Robot

Harlow’s Restaurant & Nightclub, 8 p.m., $10-$12 Four years after making waves with the cool kids thanks to its self-titled debut CD, low-fi indie popsters Avi Buffalo bring melodic, lyricdriven songs to its new sophomore effort, At Best Cuckold. That’s not to say that the Long Beach-based band with a Britpop-esque sound is all about the lyrics—the band does deliver fine, sometimes jangly, sometimes anthemic guitar work over a capable bottom end. The ensemble begins and ends with gifted guitarist and song crafting front man Avi Buffalo—real name Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg—who is ROCK expected to bare his soul with accessible, emotions-on-the-sleeve songs that reflect the now-23-year-old’s worldview.

Los Angeles Police Department opens.

2708 J Street, www.avibuffalomusic.com.

Sleep Train Arena, 8 p.m., $55-$220

Bob Hope Theatre, 8 p.m., $37-$57

The history of Fleetwood Mac is about as soap opera-esque as it gets: In the ’70s, Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac on ROCK the condition that girlfriend Stevie Nicks could join, too. The band put out Rumours, one of the best-selling records of all time. But then Buckingham and Nicks broke up, and Buckingham left the band.

Then a reunion happened per the request of President Bill Clinton. And then Christine McVie left. But as of this year, McVie is back, and Fleetwood Mac is touring as the full-on five-piece for the first time since the ’90s.

The takeaway? See them now, because you just never know with these guys. 1 Sports Parkway, www.fleetwoodmac.com.

Assembly Music Hall, 7 p.m., $12

Alice Cooper has been churning out heavy doses of shock rock for the better part of 43 years. Cooper’s stage show is unrivaled by any other—a mix of horror, macabre, theater—and always entertains the listener.

Today he carries on sans his original band, but still pays tribute to his golden years. While he still releases records to this day (his last release was 2011’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare), fans can always expect to hear classics like ROCK “I’m Eighteen” and the wildly popular “School’s Out” anthem. Of course, for his diehard fans he always manages to throw in a special, lesser-known nugget from his past. 242 E. Main Street in Stockton, www.alicecooper.com.

—Deena Drewis

—Eddie Jorgensen

—Alan Sheckter

According to Merriam-Webster, an iconoclast “criticizes or opposes beliefs and practices that are widely accepted.” Indeed, Sacramento’s Iconoclast Robot likens itself to a living mechanical being that simply must HIP-HOP question the mainstream—and that applies to both its lyrics and its style. The four-piece utilizes saxophone, keys, drums and guitar to create live soundscapes, heavily rooted in soul and rock. Then emcee Charles Cash gets nice and introspective—the sort of globally-minded hip-hop that gets you booked for the Lightning in a Bottle transformative festival. Iconoclast Robot celebrates the release of its EP BrightLights/ DarkDepths with James Cavern & the Council, DLRN and the Good Samaritans. 1000 K Street, www.iconoclastrobot.com.

—Janelle Bitker

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT EVERY FRI & SAT 9PM

NOV 21

LEFT OF CENTRE ROCK/COUNTRY / $5

NOV 22

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BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY PARTY AT STONEY’S!

nov 21 HUMBLE WOLF

AMAZING FOOD. GREAT PRICES. FRIENDLY SERVICE.

Dec 5

FUNKY 16 CORNERS

Dec 6

FOURSOCKS

THE ULTIMATE PARTY BAND – 80’S AND MORE / $5

NOV 28

INNERSOUL

SOPHISTICATED R&B/SACRAMENTO OLD SCHOOL DANCE BAND / $5

THURSDAY, NOV 20

NOV 29

LIVE BAND: BUCK FORD

CLASSIC ROCK / $5

THURSDAY, NOV 27

EVERY THURSDAY

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STONEY’S REMODEL EXTRAVAGANZA 5:30 • SAVE THE DATE!

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BEFORE

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NEWS

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F E AT U R E

STORY

| A R T S & C U L T U R E

1320 DEL PASO BLVD

STONEYINN.COM | 916.927.6023 |

AFTER

LIVE MUSIC (VIDEO PREMIER SHOW)

NOV 29 ANDREW CASTRO & XOCHITL

(TRIBUTE TO THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS)

Dec 12 SIMPLE CREATION Dec 19 HEARTBREAK TIME MACHINE Dec 20 ISLAND OF BLACK & WHITE TRIVIA MONDAYS @ 6:30PM TACO TUESDAYS $1 TACOS, $2 CORONAS OPEN MIC WEDNESDAYS SIGN-UPS @ 7:30PM KARAOKE THURSDAYS @ 7:30PM 101 MAIN STREET, ROSEVILLE 916-774-0505 · LUNCH/DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK FRI & SAT 9:30PM - CLOSE 21+ FACEBOOK.COM/BAR101ROSEVILLE

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NIGHTBEAT

THURSDAY 11/20

FRIDAY 11/21

ASSEMBLY MUSIC HALL

FORTUNATE YOUTH, THE EXPANDERS, THRIVE, TWO PEACE; 6:30pm, $12

GARETH EMERY, 7pm, $17

BADLANDS

2003 K St., (916) 448-8790

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

Fabulous and Gay Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

BAR 101

Karaoke, 7:30pm, no cover

HUMBLE WOLF, 9:30pm, no cover

BLUE LAMP

1400 Alhambra, (916) 455-3400

TRU STEEZ & THE DUDES, MAHTIE BUSH, MIC JORDAN, DLRN; 8pm, $5

Free up Fridays: reggae w/ Wokstar and special guest deejays, 10pm, $3

ELECTRIC FUNERAL, MOTÖRHEADER, ANN HALEN; 8pm, $8

THE BOARDWALK

PSEUDOSILENCE, NATE DOUGLAS,

AG, RAPPIN E, BOBBY HOOPER, LOST GENERATION; 8pm, call for cover

WESLEY AVERY, ARTY FRESHA, J STYLES, MICOO, LUNG, SLICK RONSON; 8pm

CENTER FOR THE ARTS

BOX SET, 8pm, $25-$28

THE COZMIC CAFÉ

Open-mic, 7:30pm, no cover

UNION MINE HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND; 7pm, call for cover

1016 K St., (916) 737-5770

DJs Vincent Iz a G, Vincent Salas and Cue22; 9pm, call for cover

GARETH EMERY, 9:30pm, call for cover

DIVE BAR

Deuling Pianos, 9pm, no cover

FACES

Kamikaze Karaoke, 9pm-2am, no cover

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

’80s deejay mixes, 2pm; Hip-hop and Top Dragalicious, 9pm, $5 40 Deejay dancing, 9pm, $5-$10

Karaoke, 9pm-2am M; Latin night, 9pm Tu, $5; DJ Alazzawi, 9pm W, $3

FOX & GOOSE

THE MIKE JUSTIS BAND, 8pm, no cover

THEM TRAVELIN BIRDS, JACKSON GRIFFITH; 9pm, $5

THE STORYTELLERS, RAT STOMP; 9pm, $5

Open-mic, 7:30pm M; Pub Quiz, 7pm Tu; Northern Soul and Cornhole, 8pm W

1000 K St., (916) 341-0176

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.

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

9426 Greenback Ln., Orangevale; (916) 988-9247 COLOUR ZERO, SIMPL3JACK; 8pm 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley; (530) 274-8384 594 Main St., Placerville; (530) 642-8481

DISTRICT 30

1022 K St., (916) 737-5999 2000 K St., (916) 448-7798

Hey local bands!

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.

1001 R St., (916) 443-8825

SATURDAY 11/22

SUNDAY 11/23

Saturday Boom, 9pm, call for cover

Sin Sunday, 8pm, call for cover

Trivia night, 6:30pm M, no cover; Open-mic night, 7:30pm W, no cover

DJ Benji the Hunter, 10pm, call for cover

1603 J St., (916) 476-5076

THE CHERRY ROAD GANG, 9pm, no cover

HALFTIME BAR & GRILL

LEFT OF CENTRE, 9pm-midnight, $5

REBEL YELL, 9pm-midnight, $5

ADRIAN BELLUE, GUERO; 8pm, $8

ABNEY PARK, 7pm, $22; ART ALEXAKIS, 9pm, $25

FOREVERLAND, 10pm, $15

LUNA’S CAFÉ & JUICE BAR

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

21B, EMILY O’NEIL, KATE SPRAKA, DRY CREEK STATION; 8pm, $5

PENNY HARDING, JEFF SEARS, KATHY BARWICK, PETE SIEGFRIED; 8pm, $10

MIDTOWN BARFLY

Panik: deejay dancing w/ Angels of Kaos, 9pm-2am, $5

NAKED LOUNGE DOWNTOWN

DICK LARSON, ODAME SUCKS, PLOTS; 8:30pm, $5

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

1119 21st St., (916) 549-2779 1111 H St., (916) 443-1927

DJ Adrian Lux, 9pm W, call for cover THE PRESSURE LOUNGE, 9pm Tu, no cover; BRIAN ROGERS, 9pm W, no cover

ADHD, 9pm, no cover

GOLDFIELD TRADING POST

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

THE PIFF DAWGZ, BIGGABUDD, SHWIZZ, Open-mic, 8pm M; RED TAPE, PSYCHOMIKEDASHE, TASK1NE; 8pm, $5 SOMATIC, HORSENECK; 8pm W, $8

ADRIAN BELLUE, 9pm, no cover

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

2708 J St., (916) 441-4693

Mad Mondays, 9pm M, call for cover

BIRDS OF CHICAGO, T SISTERS; 8pm, $18-$22

G STREET WUNDERBAR

HARLOW’S

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 11/24-11/26 JAMES CAVERN & THE COUNCIL, ICONOCLAST ROBOT; 7pm W, $12

Trivia night, 7:30-9pm Tu, no cover

Gothic, industrial, EBM, ’80s, synthpop dancing, 9pm-2am, $3-$5 KARMEN BUTLER, FREDDY AND FRANCINE, JUSTIN FARREN; 8:30pm, $6

AVI BUFFALO, 8pm M, $12; BUSDRIVER, 9pm Tu, $15; COSMIC WANDERERS, W, $10

STURGILL SIMPSON, 8pm, $15-$18

Nebraska Mondays, M; Open-mic comedy, Tu; GLENS OF SMOW, 7pm W Goth, darkwave, industrial, electronic deejay dancing, 9pm-3am, call for cover

JOEL MERLO, ANALOG DIALOGUE, SOUL SHINE BAND; 8:30pm, $5

Swing dancing, 7:30pm Tu, $6; Salsa lessons w/ Nicole Lazo, 7:30pm W, $5 Jazz session, 8pm M; COREY STRANGE, BROKEN JUG BAND; 8:30pm W, $5

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

THU NOV 20 @ 6:30PM

FRI NOV 21 @ 7PM

THE EXPANDERS | THRIVE | TWO PEACE

JAMES CAVERN & THE COUNCIL ICONOCLAST ROBOT WED NOV 26 @ 7PM

SAT NOV 29 @ 7PM

DLRN, THE GOOD SAMARITANS

Kreayshawn

+

Kehlani

FRI NOV 28 @ 7PM DJ EDDIE Z

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THURSDAY 11/20

FRIDAY 11/21

SATURDAY 11/22

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

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

BLACK SADDLE HOOKERS, WHOOPIE QAT, ORANGE SCENE; 8pm, $6

HANS AND THE HOT MESS, TUOLUMNE, BELLYGUNNER, DAMON WYCKOFF; 9pm

ON THE Y

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

THE PALMS PLAYHOUSE

MAMAJOWALI, 7:30pm, $20

OLD IRONSIDES

670 Fulton Ave., (916) 487-3731 13 Main St., Winters; (530) 795-1825

THE PARK ULTRA LOUNGE 1116 15th St., (916) 442-7222

PARLARE EURO LOUNGE

Top 40, 9pm, no cover

1009 10th St., (916) 448-8960

PJ’S ROADHOUSE

5461 Mother Lode, Placerville; (530) 626-0336

POWERHOUSE PUB

GOGO EXTRAVAGANZA, SWEET REVENGE; 10pm, no cover

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

THE PRESS CLUB

2030 P St., (916) 444-7914

SHADY LADY SALOON

HOT CITY, 9pm, no cover

1409 R St., (916) 231-9121

SHENANIGANS

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover BOX SET, 8pm, $20

DJ Eddie Edul, 9pm, call for cover

DJ Peeti V, 9pm, call for cover

Top 40, Mashups, 9pm, no cover

DJ Club mixes, 10pm, no cover

OPTIMIZTIQ, MAGIK, SYREN, DISCREET; 8:30pm, $5

POINTDEXTER, GOOD SAMARITANS, FULL FUNKY GORILLA; 9pm, call for cover

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 11/24-11/26 HEATH WILLIAMSON, 5pm M; Karaoke, 9pm Tu; Open-mic, 9pm W, no cover

Open-mic comedy, 9pm, no cover

PATTY LARKIN, 8pm, $20

Karaoke, 9pm Tu, no cover

DJ Shift, DJ Eddie Edul, 9pm-2am W, $15

TRAGICALLY WHITE, 10pm, call for cover MOTHER HIPS, 10pm, call for cover

CAFE R&B, 3pm, call for cover

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

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

Sunday Night Soul Party, 9pm, $5

THE ENLOWS, MOS LIKELY, KISMET AURA; 9pm Tu, $6

CRESCENT KATZ, 9pm, no cover

GOLDEN CADILLACS, 9pm, no cover

PETER PETTY, 9pm, no cover

DJ Shaun Slaughter, 9pm Tu, no cover; ARLYN ANDERSON, 9pm W, no cover

Comedy Night and DJ Selekta Lou, 9pm, $5

705 J St., (916) 442-1268

SUNDAY 11/23

Murs with ¡Mayday!, M-Theory and K-Ottic 6:30pm Friday, $18.

Ace of Spades Hip-hop

DESTROYER, 9pm-1am, $5-$10

SOL COLLECTIVE

Spoken-word poetry, 6pm, no cover

2574 21st St., (916) 832-0916

STARLITE LOUNGE

INANIMATE EXISTENCE, THE LAST OF LUCY, FLUB, EXTIRPATE; 8pm

BLEEP BLOOP, RATCHET, TZOLKEEN; 8pm, call for cover

BLACK MAJIK ACID, COLD BLUE MOUNTAIN, INFINITE WASTE, BATTLE HAG; 8pm

STONEY INN/ROCKIN’ RODEO

BUCK FORD PURE COUNTRY BAND, 8:30pm, $5-$7

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

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

TORCH CLUB

X TRIO, 5pm, no cover; KERI CARR BAND, 9pm, $5

WITCH ROOM

HELD TO HEIGHTS, TRAVIS HAYES, AUBURN ROAD; 7pm-midnight, $10

1517 21st St., (916) 706-0052 1320 Del Paso Blvd., (916) 927-6023 904 15th St., (916) 443-2797 1815 19th St., www.witchroomsac.com

Open-mic, 8pm M, call for cover Country dance party, 8pm, no cover

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

PAILER AND FRATIS, 5:30pm; JOSH PETER PETTY & HIS DUBBLE P REVUE, HOYER & THE SHADOWBOXERS, 9pm, $8 JITTERBUG RIOT; 9pm-1am, $8

Blues jam, 4pm, no cover; POMEGRANATE, BRIAN JENNINGS; 8pm, $5

Acoustic open-mic, 5:30pm W; ISLAND OF BLACK & WHITE, 9pm W, $6

The Midtown Moxies burlesque, 8pm, $10-$15

TURBO FRUITS, 8pm, $7

Patty Larkin 8pm Friday, $20.

The Palms Playhouse Folk

All ages, all the time ACE OF SPADES

1417 R St., (916) 448-3300

THE LACS, DRY COUNTY DRINKERS; 6:30pm, $15

SHINE

1400 E St., (916) 551-1400

MURS, ¡MAYDAY!, M-THEORY, K-OTTIC; 6:30pm, $18

ARDEN PARK ROOTS, ELEMENT OF SOUL, RIOTMAKER; 6:30pm, $10

ISSUES, I KILLED THE PROM QUEEN, GHOSTTOWN, MARMOZETS; 6pm Tu, $18

HANS & THE HOT MESS, NOIRRE, PETER HOLDEN; 8pm, $5

IN THE NO, URBAN SHERPAS; 8pm, $5

Open jazz jam, 8pm Tu; Poetry with Bill Gainer, 7pm W, call for cover

ACE OF SPADES THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20

THE LACS DRY COUNTY DRINKERS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21

MURS/MAYDAY! M-THEORY - K-OTTIC

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22

ARDEN PARK ROOTS ELEMENT OF SOUL - RIOTMAKER - HERO’S LAST MISSION - A MILE TILL DAWN

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25

ISSUES

I KILLED THE PROM QUEEN - GHOST TOWN - MARMOZETS - NIGHTMARES

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28

ATILLA

CROWN THE EMPIRE - LIKE MOTHS TO FLAMES - SWORN IN

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

ALL AGES WELCOME!

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3

THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE

NEW YEARS DAY - THE RED PAINTINGS AWOKEN SHADOWS - SNOW WHITE SMILE

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4

JEEZY

CHRISTIAN RASHAWN - CALI BEAR GANG - BLACK SKY - GATLIN

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5

DANCE GAVIN DANCE SECRETS - ALIVE LIKE ME DEFEAT THE LOW - WOLF & BEAR

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7

DOWN

ORANGE GOBLIN - BL’AST

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11

ROYAL BLOOD LIFE IN 24 FRAMES - STAND OUT STATE

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Print ads start at $6/wk. www.newsreview.com or (916) 498-1234 ext. 5 Online Phone hours: M-F 9am-5pm.

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WHAT’S INSIDE: The 420 45 Capital Cannabis Map 51 Legalization Efforts 54

5 GRAMS

$

4 GRAM 1/8THS STARTING AT $20 8 GRAM 1/4S STARTING AT $40 WIDE VARIETY OF CLONES 5 JOINTS FOR $20 14 NEW KINDS OF WAX

HORIZON COLLECTIVE

3600 Power Inn Rd Ste 1A | Sac, CA 95826 | 916.455.1931 November 20, 2014

Open 10am - 7pm 7 days a week

Find dispensary listings online at newsreview.com/sacramento

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As pot picks up, Cali slows down

Bring in any competitor’s coupon* and we’ll beat it by $5 * That is CA Medical Board Standards Compliant.

Must present competitor’s ad. Some restrictions apply.

Hey, thanks for the national update last week. How did marijuana do in California?

—Willie Wonky Jr. Well Willie, weed wasn’t warmly welcomed, if that’s what you are asking. Pretty much all of the county initiatives that would have eased restrictions on medical cannabis failed. Measure S in Nevada County didn’t pass. Measure O in Lake County was BEALUM a no go. Shasta County’s Measure A, which bans all

by NGAIO outdoor growing in unincorporated areas, passed. In Butte County, Measure A passed, Measure B failed— Measure A allows medical marijuana cultivation, but a s k420@ ne wsreview.c om is way more prohibitive than Measure B would have been. The cities of Encinitas and La Mesa (down near San Diego) tried to pass measures that would allow for medical cannabis dispensaries. Couldn’t do it. Santa Cruz succeeded in passing a small sales tax on medical marijuana. Santa Ana had two initiatives for regulating medical cannabis on the ballot. The more restrictive one was the winner.

And that’s how it is. While everyone is excited because 2016 should be California’s turn to finally legalize weed, recent elections have shown that many people in the state want less pot, or at least a very tightly regulated marijuana market. This is going to present a big challenge for legalizers in 2016. Once you get outside of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, the state becomes very conservative in its leanings.

Hopefully the people behind 2016 should be whatever gets on the ballot California’s turn to in 2016 (I’m looking at you, Drug Policy Alliance) will be finally legalize weed. able to write an initiative that is not only fair to the people already involved in the cannabis industry, but able to get past the fears and prejudices of the conservative folk in this state. Good luck.

How is your harvest season going?

—Tommy Trimmer It’s going very well, thank you. I just got back from a quick trip to Washington and Oregon. I bought some legal weed in Olympia ($22 a gram. A little steep, but top shelf in Cali will set you back $20 a gram before tax). It was really good, but I didn’t like that state law won’t let you smell the cannabis before purchase. Even novice cannabis users know that the smell is the No. 1 tool for marijuana purchasing decisions. Hopefully, they will change that law.

It’s silly. While I was down in Southern Oregon, I sampled many a delicious nugget from the locals. Someone had a Pineapple Kush that smelled delicious, but wasn’t very strong, and I tried about three different OG Kushes that were stellar. Which brings me to Sacramento. I have spent the past few days rolling around and visiting all the clubs in the area just to see what’s what, and I must say that I have been incredibly impressed by all of the great outdoor varieties in town. And the prices are great this time of year. Many clubs have high quality strains for $10 a gram.

I went to one club and they had a nice Bubblegum strain for $5 a gram. I had to buy one for old times’ sake. When was the last time you got a nickel bag? Ω

Ngaio Bealum

is a Sacramento comedian, activist and marijuana expert.

Email him questions at ask420@ newsreview.com.

B BE EF FO OR RE E

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N NE EW WS S

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VOTED 3RD BEST 420 PHYSICIAN IN SAC! ’14

420 MD

MEDICAL MARIJUANA EVALUATIONS

FALL COMPASSION SPECIAL

39 49

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$

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Must bring ad. Limit one per patient.

Some restrictions apply.

Must bring ad. Limit one per patient.

Some restrictions apply.

916.480.9000 2 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU

2100 Watt Ave, Unit 190 | Sacramento, CA 95825 | Mon–Sat: 10am - 6pm 2633 Telegraph Ave. 109 | Oakland, CA 94612 | 510-832-5000 Mon–Sat: 10am - 6pm | Sun: 12am - 6pm

RECOMMENDATIONS ARE VALID FOR 1 YEAR FOR QUALIFYING PATIENTS WALK-INS WELCOME ALL DAY EVERYDAY 420 MD OPERATING IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE MEDICAL BOARD OF CALIFORNIA

YOUR INFORMATION IS 100% PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT ONLINE 24/7 AT

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F FE EA AT TU UR RE E S ST TO OR RY Y | | A AR RT TS S& &C CU UL LT TU UR RE E | | A AF FT TE ER R | | 11.20.14 11.20.14

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FREE HALF 1/8 WHEN YOU BRING A FRIEND*

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SN&R | 11.20.14

20% off

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free gram with donation of $35 or more

*free gram is house choice.

offer not valid with any other offers or discounts exp 11.26.14

loneblse c now availa

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

grams @ $5 - $10 1/8 th @ $25

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

35

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

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•EDIBLES•TINCTURES• •CONCENTRATES•PREROLLS• Scan to join our club & get a free gift coupon & future savings

GOLDEN HEALTH & WELLNESS 1030 Joellis Way, Sac

Arden Way r

Arden Mall

ld D

“I could not be any happier with this dispensary. Having been to countless dispensaries up and down the coast, I had accepted the general “feel” that these businesses have. After one visit here, it is clear that the bar has been raised. A Therapeutic Alternative is by far the nicest dispensary in terms of service, quality, and care for the patient. I would expect to have to pay quite a premium for this type of service, however, pricing is competitive with even the cheapest dispensaries in the area. Do yourself a favor and visit this dispensary, this is the type of place needed to make progress in changing the social stigma of cannabis and its culture. I would actually take my parents here to show them what cannabis was all about, and I have never been able to say that about any other dispensary I have visited. A+++”

Blu me nfe

The New Standard

SELECT GIFTS FOR NEW PATIENTS

Joellis Way 160

80

916.646.6340

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

Ask how to join our Mobile VIP Group. Join & get REWARDED!

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CLOSE TO FOLSOM, FAIR OAKS & ROSEVILLE

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4020 DUROCK RD, STE 1 • SHINGLE SPRINGS, CA (916) 757–0980 • OPEN MONDAY – FRIDAY 10AM TO 8PM SATURDAY 10AM TO 8PM • SUNDAY 10AM TO 6PM

CAPITAL CANNABIS MAP DISPENSARIES

1 515 Broadway 2 A Therapeutic Alternative 3 Abatin Wellness Center 4 Alpine Alternative 5 Alternative Medical Center 6 CC 101 7 Cloud 9 8 Collective Efforts 9 Delta Health & Wellness 10 Doctors Orders 11 Florin Wellness Center 12 Golden Health and Wellness 13 Green Solutions 14 Highlands Health and Wellness BEFORE

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15 Horizon NonProfit Collective 16 House of Organics 17 Northstar Holistic Collective 18 River City Phoenix 19 Safe Capitol Compassion 20 SAS 21 THC 22 Two Rivers Dispensary

DOCTORS

1 420 Med Evaluations 2 CannMedical 3 420 MD

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Voted Patients’ Choice

AMC

Alternative • Medical • Center

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Sacramento’s #1 source of

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annabis proponents will long remember Nov. 4, 2014. That’s when voters made Alaska and Oregon the third and fourth states to legalize marijuana for any adult.

In two Novembers hence, California will likely become the next major front for legalization. The Marijuana Policy Project, which calls itself the largest U.S. organization with the sole focus of ending marijuana prohibition, recently formed a committee to raise funds for a 2016 ballot measure. MPP is joining forces with other advocacy groups to succeed where earlier efforts failed.

“We don’t have a specific initiative drafted yet,” MPP Communications Director Mason Tvert says, “but the goal is to essentially regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, make it legal for adults 21 and older to possess.”

In California, under the terms of Proposition 215, marijuana is legal for medical use only (not recreational use as in Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon). Patients must receive prescriptions from physicians and either grow their own medicine or procure it from a collective/dispensary.

Municipalities — cities and counties — set individual regulations, so rules and approvals vary. The federal government also has an impact on legal marijuana operations (with, for instance, banking laws that determine eligibility for accounts and loans).

As such, expect limits if California does legalize cannabis.

“Everybody thinks that as soon as legalization happens, overnight we’ll be seeing all these businesses related to marijuana popping up all over the place,” says Kimberly Cargile, managing board member of A Therapeutic Alternative, a collective in Sacramento. “But we won’t really. We still will see a patchwork relating to business and land use throughout the state. Personal use will be legal, but you won’t necessarily be able to buy it [just] anywhere or use it [just] anywhere.”

Locally, Cargile adds, “we have a fairly liberal City Council and fairly conservative Board of Supervisors, so I think it will follow suit just like medical [marijuana], where it’s taking a really long time to implement any kind of standards of operation so these businesses can open and be permitted.”

Initiative backers hope to stitch together at least some of the patchwork: “Currently there are no state regulations in place in California,” Tvert says, “so this would ensure the cultivation and distribution of marijuana is regulated.”

For exactly how, the devil really is in the details. Every state is different, Tvert explains, so California cannot simply adopt Colorado’s law as-is. (For one thing, Colorado regulated medical dispensaries before blanket legalization — a major distinction from California.)

“ The goal is to essentially regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol.”

Mason Tvert, communications director, The Marijuana Policy Project

Looking at an initiative from a medical dispensary perspective, Cargile says she hopes the measure would include patient protections and tax exemptions for medical (versus recreational) marijuana. Legalization might mean collectives and medical dispensaries lose some of their patients to other distributors; otherwise, she says, “I don’t think much would change for us at all. We would still continue testing all of our medicines and providing additional therapeutic services.

“We would operate exactly as we do today if legalization comes down in 2016.”

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Capital Cannabis Guide coverage is sponsored by its advertisers. This content was produced by the Custom Publications division of News & Review.

by Tiffani DangelicO

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Someone

on Reddit.com posed the question, “What have you always been curious to try?”

In reply, many people said they wanted to experiment with exotic varieties of sex and drugs they had never treated themselves to before. Other favorites: eating chocolate-covered bacon, piloting a plane, shoplifting, doing a stand-up comedy routine, hang-gliding and deepsea diving, exploring the Darknet and the Deep Web, spontaneously taking a trip to a foreign country, turning away from modern society and joining a Buddhist monastery. What would your answer be, Aries? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to explore what you have always been curious to try. The risks will be lower than usual, and the results more likely to be interesting.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Contrary

to popular opinion, crime fiction author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never once had his character Sherlock Holmes utter the statement “Elementary, my dear Watson.” For that matter, Humphrey Bogart never actually said “Play it again, Sam” in the film Casablanca. Star Trek’s Captain Kirk never used the exact phrase “Beam me up, Scotty.” Furthermore I, Rob Brezsny, have never before issued the following prophecy: “Deep sexy darkness and deep sexy brilliance are conspiring to bring you Tauruses intriguing pleasures that will educate the naive part of your soul”—until now, that is. At this juncture in the ever-twisting plot of your life story, I am most definitely saying just that.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Here

are some thoughts from Gemini author Fernando Pessoa: “The feelings that hurt most, the emotions that sting most, are those that are absurd—the longing for impossible things ... nostalgia for what never was; the desire for what could have been; regret over not being someone else.” Can you relate, Gemini? Have you felt those feelings? Here’s the good news: In the coming weeks, you will be more free of them than you have been in a long time.

What will instead predominate for you are yearnings for very possible things and contentment with what’s actually available to you. (Pessoa’s words are from The Book of Disquiet, translated by Alfred Mac Adam.)

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The most

important thing you can do in the coming weeks is learn how to take care of yourself better. What? You say you’re too busy for that? You have too many appointments and obligations? I disagree.

In my astrological opinion, there’s one task that must trump all others, and that is get smarter about how you eat, sleep, exercise, relax, heal yourself and connect with people. I can assure you that there’s a lot you don’t know about what you really need and the best ways to get what you really need. But you are ripe to become wiser in this subtle, demanding and glorious art.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Naturalist Greg

Munson says that many dragonflies are great acrobats. They are the Cirque du Soleil performers of the animal kingdom.

Not only do they eat in mid-air, they also have sex. While flying, two dragonflies will hook up and bend into a roughly circular formation to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of their reproductive organs, thereby forming a “mating pinwheel.” I don’t expect you to achieve quite that level of virtuosity in your own amorous escapades, Leo. But if you’re adventurous, you could very well enjoy experiences that resemble having sex while flying.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Born under

the sign of Virgo, Yuriy Norshteyn is a Russian animator who has won numerous awards. His Tale of Tales was once voted the greatest animated film of all time.

But he hasn’t finished any new films for quite a while. In fact, he has been working on the same project since 1981, indulging his perfectionism to the max. In 33 years, he has only finished 25 minutes’ worth of The Overcoat, which is based on a story

by Nikolai Gogol. But I predict that he will complete this labor of love in the next eight months—just as many of you other Virgos will finally wrap up tasks you have been working on for a long time.

BEFORE

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pHoTo BY sHokA

by ROb

For the week of November 20, 2014

bRezsny

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Every saint

has a bee in his halo,” said philosopher Elbert Hubbard. Similarly, some Libras have a passive-aggressive streak hidden beneath their harmony-seeking, peaceloving persona. Are you one of them? If so, I invite you to express your darker feelings more forthrightly. You don’t have to be mean and insensitive. In fact, it’s best if you use tact and diplomacy. Just make sure you reveal the fact that there is indeed a bee in your halo. I bet you will ultimately be pleased with the consequences you stir up through your acts of courageous honesty.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Many

people use the terms “cement” and “concrete” interchangeably, but they are not the same. Cement is powdery stuff that’s composed of limestone, gypsum, clay with aluminosilicate and other ingredients. It’s just one of the raw materials that is used to make concrete—usually no more than 15 percent of the total mass. The rest consists of sand, crushed stone and water.

Let’s regard this as a good metaphor for you to keep in mind, Scorpio. If you want to create a durable thing that can last as long as concrete, make sure you don’t get overly preoccupied with the “cement” at the expense of the other 85 percent of the stuff you will need.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

“Whatever returns from oblivion returns to find a voice,” writes Louise Glück in her poem “The Wild Iris.” I think that will be a key theme for you in the coming weeks.

There’s a part of you that is returning from oblivion—making its way home from the abyss—and it will be hungry to express itself when it arrives back here in your regularly scheduled life. This dazed part of you may not yet know what exactly it wants to say. But it is fertile with the unruly wisdom it has gathered while wandering. Sooner rather than later, it will discover a way to articulate its raw truths.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

“There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness,” said American humorist Josh Billings. I propose that we make that your motto in the coming weeks. It’s an excellent time to liberate yourself from memories that still cause you pain—to garner major healing from past anguish and upheaval. And one of the best ways to do that will be to let go of as much blame and rage and hatred as you possibly can.

Forgiveness can be your magic spell.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Denmark has been a pioneer in developing the technology to supply its energy needs with wind power. By 2020, it expects to generate half of its electricity from wind turbines. Recently the Danish climate minister also announced his nation’s intention to phase out the use of coal as an energy source within 10 years. I would love to see you apply this kind of enlightened long-term thinking to your own personal destiny, Aquarius. Now would be an excellent time to brainstorm about the life you want to be living in 2020 and 2025. It’s also a perfect moment to outline a master plan for the next 10 years, and commit to it.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean

actor Sir Michael Caine has had an illustrious career. He has won two Oscars and been nominated for the award six times in five different decades. But for his appearance in Jaws: The Revenge, he was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor. He confessed that his work in that film was not his best, and yet he was happy with how much money he made doing it. “I have never seen the film,” he said, “but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.” In accordance with the astrological omens, Pisces, you have permission to engage in a comparable trade-off during the coming months.

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

STORY

All the right moves The last stoplight on the road to The Dance Gallery 2 stands between a cow pasture and some ranch land.

If that doesn’t seem like the typical studio location, that’s because owner Lucy McLemore—known to most as Miss Lucy—isn’t a typical dance teacher. “Once a passion, always a passion,” said McLemore. The view from McLemore’s new studio, which sits on her sprawling rural property in Roseville, includes her home and garage—the latter which originally housed her school. McLemore first started teaching neighborhood kids out of her parents’ garage when she was 14 and eventually discoed her way onto a cruise ship in the early ’80s after winning an episode of Dance Fever. After marrying and having two children, the dancer decided to stay put and open a studio. McLemore, who also produces shows for Dance the Magic, a Disney-owned company, chatted with SN&R about dance moms, chewing gum and why her son is her biggest inspiration.

Is it tough working with parents?

Mmm hmm, I’ll just say yes [laughs]. We’re lucky though, because I do believe that when someone’s meeting us for the first time and getting a feel for it, they either fit in to our family or they don’t. It’s nice because we sort of attract the same. Good community people, and if that’s the kind of person coming through our doors, they do just fine.

Any crazy “dance mom” stories?

[No], since we don’t, at this school, do competition—even though self-competition is encouraged—we want our students to push themselves, of course. We are pretty much all for one and one for all. We are for big productions, and including everyone equally. So we can have some dancers that |

A RT S & C U LT U R E

aren’t perfect or don’t have the perfect dance figure, but we want everyone to have a chance to be in the front.

you’re a dancer at heart you want a place to perform, so we provide that opportunity.

Focus of your studio?

I cannot stand if they are chewing gum. I don’t want it in the studio, even the parents.

I’ll come to the front [viewing area] and say if anyone’s chewing gum, and I’ll see them [parents] start swallowing their gum.

Two of our most popular classes are our adult jazz fusion and adult tap classes. But we have children here from starting at 3 years old to high school age. We [also] have a student teacher program, where they can start at 13 as an assistant. We’ve incorporated it with the local high school’s community service program. ... I like that our kids can appreciate what they have and also give back to the community. I think that’s really important to keep that ball rolling and it’s just a really good healthy environment.

That’s what we are creating—more than just dance—and that’s the advice we give to our adults, too. ... We’re not a competition studio but we give our students great opportunities.

Such as?

[We have] a nonprofit organization, called the Dance Gallery 2 Parent Association. [Its members] couple with our student teachers and fundraise, so our student teachers can have wonderful experiences. For example we took a handful of student teachers to Florida to dance with the Newsies [cast] from Broadway, in [Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade on ABC]. I work for … Dance the Magic, a company Disney hires to come in and make programs for students of dance to get a taste of what a professional venue is like [by being] a cast member for a day.

Who’s your typical student?

It’s mostly kids from the community and their parents. The [parents] love doing it. A group of adults from our jazz fusion class danced in the summer parade at Disneyland, along with some of our student teachers. You know there isn’t really anywhere for them to go, if you’ve had dance training and you don’t want to just got to the gym and do an aerobics class, you want something different. And if |

AFTER

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Student pet peeve?

Are you a fan of any of those TV dancing competition shows?

I would love to be able to watch them but … I don’t get the chance. But they are all entertaining and they are all good … for our business because they are showing dance in a way that everyone can do it, not just the highly professional and that’s what we believe. Anyone can have the dance experience no matter if you are good or not.

My son, [who] is autistic, he wasn’t the best dancer, but had so much passion for it and his mindset was, “OK, I’m going to the left, and 12 people are going to the right, how can 12 people get it wrong.” What he saw in the mirror was a professional, wonderful dancer and I think I learned it from him, more than from any class I’ve taken. … I learned more from my son’s attitude about dance than anywhere else.

How did that influence you?

That’s when I stopped doing competition.

When I saw a young man with such a passion.

He was the first one in the class, first one ready to go, the last one to leave, always helping out, helping the little ones tie their shoes to get ready for tap. I said, “This is what dance is doing for him. This is what I need to be doing for other people.” Not just share dance, but share this experience. My son inspires me, [he’s] really how we became what we have become.

Learn more about The Dance Gallery 2 at http://dancegallery2.com.

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