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SACRAMENTO’S NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

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KIMBERLY KEY

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 33

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2019

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CONTENTS

NOVEMBER 28, 2019 | VOL. 31, ISSUE 33

There’s a special task force that attempts to put animal abusers behind bars.

EDITOR’S NOTE LETTERS ESSAY + STREETALK GREENLIGHT 15 MINUTES NEWS FEATURE ARTS + CULTURE MUSIC STAGE

04 05 06 08 09 10 14 20 23 24

12 DISH PLACE CALENDAR CAPITAL CANNABIS GUIDE ASK JOEY

28 30 31 37 46

COVER DESIGN BY SARAH HANSEL

N&R Publications Editor Debbie Arrington Associate Publications Editors Derek McDow, Thea Rood

N&R Publications Staff Writers/Photographers

Our Mission: To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages employees to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live.

Editor Foon Rhee News Editor Raheem F. Hosseini Staff Reporter Scott Thomas Anderson Copy Editor Steph Rodriguez Calendar Editor Maxfield Morris Contributing Editor Rachel Leibrock Editorial Assistant Rachel Mayfield Contributors Ngaio Bealum, Amy Bee, Rob Brezsny, Aaron Carnes, Jim Carnes, Joey Garcia, Kate Gonzales, Howard Hardee, Ashley Hayes-Stone, Jim Lane, Chris Macias, Ken Magri, Illyanna Maisonet, Tessa Marguerite Outland, Lindsay Oxford, James Raia, Patti Roberts, Dylan Svoboda, Bev Sykes, Jeremy Winslow, Graham Womack Creative Services Manager Elisabeth Bayard-Arthur Art Directors Sarah Hansel, Maria Ratinova Art of Information Director Serene Lusano Publications Designer Katelynn Mitrano Publications and Advertising Designer Nikki Exerjian Ad Designers Naisi Thomas, Cathy Arnold

Advertising Manager Michael Gelbman Sales & Production Coordinator Skyler Morris Senior Advertising Consultants Rosemarie Messina, Kelsi White

Advertising Consultants Sam Almaguer, Michael Nero, Vincent Marchese, Amy Yang

Director of First Impressions/Sweetdeals Coordinator Laura Anthony Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Assistant Lob Dunnica Distribution Drivers Mansour Aghdam, Rosemarie Beseler, Kimberly Bordenkircher, Mike Cleary, Tom Downing, Marty Fetterley, Chris Fong, Ron Forsberg, Michael Jackson, Calvin Maxwell, Greg Meyers, Jeremy Meier, Jenny Plummer, Lloyd Rongley, Lolu Sholotan, Viv Tiqui,

Anne Stokes, Allen Pierleoni

N&R Publications Editorial Coordinator Nisa Smith Marketing & Publications Lead Consultant Elizabeth Morabito

Development Consultant Greta Beekhuis Marketing & Publications Consultants Julia Ballantyne, Chris Cohen, Joseph Engle, Laura Golino, Sherri Heller, Rod Malloy, Celeste Worden,

President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Director of Nuts & Bolts Deborah Redmond Director of People & Culture David Stogner Nuts & Bolts Ninja Norma Huerta Director of Dollars & Sense Debbie Mantoan Account Jedi Jessica Kislanka Payroll/AP Wizard Miranda Hansen Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins

1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95815 Phone (916) 498-1234 Fax (916) 498-7910 Website newsreview.com Got a News Tip? sactonewstips@newsreview.com Calendar Events newsreview.com/calendar Want to Advertise? Fax (916) 498-7910 or snradinfo@newsreview.com Classifieds (916) 498-1234, ext. 5 or classifieds@newsreview.com Job Opportunities jobs@newsreview.com Want to Subscribe to SN&R? sactosubs@newsreview.com Editorial Policies: Opinions expressed in SN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permissions to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. SN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or review materials. Email letters to snrletters@newsreview.com. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form and to edit them for libel.

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

SN&R is printed at PressWorks Ink on recycled newsprint.

Circulation of SN&R is verified by the Circulation Verification Council.

SN&R is a member of Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, CNPA, AAN and AWN.

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and develop a three-year plan and an evaluation strategy.

Councilmen Jay Schenirer, who made the The Sacramento City Council motion for the March date, has barely beaten key deadlines and Eric Guerra, who on a ballot measure to create a seconded the motion, said children’s fund. besides making sure there’s enough time for implementation, they wanted to recognize the activism by youths.

More than 39,000 Sacramento voters signed “That’s the city that we want,” said petitions to put a cash-for-kids measure on the Schenirer, who championed a marijuana tax ballot, and it qualified in mid-June. for children’s programs that voters narrowly But the City Council didn’t act until Nov. 12 rejected in June 2016. to put the Sacramento Children’s Fund Act on the Harris, however, said such an amendment to March 3 ballot, barely beating the Dec. 6 deadline the city charter should be decided by the biggest to ask the county registrar of voters.

And the council plans to just make it under the electorate, in November—the same argument made

by Councilman Steve Hansen, who also said that wire with its official ballot argument against the by waiting until November, voters would know measure. On Nov. 19, it picked council members more about the impact of new union contracts and Jeff Harris and Larry Carr as the authors, who other financial challenges. have until Dec. 2 to submit the argument to the In the end, Mayor Darrell Steinberg supported city clerk. the March date, saying that if the measure passes, No one on the council volunteered to write a it would give time for the council to adjust the “yes” argument, leaving the measure’s proponents 2020-21 budget and that the council should respect to author it. proponents’ wishes.

The measure would amend the city charter to If voters do approve the measure, the worst establish a children’s fund that, starting in July outcome would be for it to fail—to not change the 2021, would receive 2.5% of unrestricted city lives of youths. So the March vote is probably the revenues—projected at $10.1 million to $12.6 best choice. million a year, on top of existing city spending for But even supporters of the March date children and youth. cautioned that the measure’s backers have their Opponents say that would make it much more work cut out because there’s not as much time to difficult for the council to balance the budget in the convince voters and because voters in the primary next recession. tend to be more conservative.

Supporters, however, say a dedicated funding “If this passes in March, they would have source is needed because when the city’s budget earned it,” said Councilman Allen Warren. gets tight, these programs get cut while police and Through Sept. 30 of this year, the coalition fire—backed by powerful unions—are shielded. said in campaign finance reports that it had spent Sac Kids First, the coalition behind the measure, $213,000. Jim Keddy of Youth Forward, part of the badly wanted the March date, but it took a lot of coalition, said it plans to start putting up yard signs convincing and heartfelt testimonials over two in December and to go door-to-door in January. council meetings. They warned that delaying to With a supporter list of about 1,150, the coalition the November 2020 ballot would make the fund’s expects to have 150 campaign volunteers and also roll-out messy—maybe too messy to succeed. If has the money for mailers, he said. the measure passes, the grants to nonprofits would But with the City Council officially telling start in summer 2021, and it would take at least a Sacramento to vote “no,” Sac Kids First may have year to set up the system. That includes appointing an uphill fight. Ω an oversight commission, which would do research PHOTO BY FOON RHEE

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Re: “The problem with K.J.’s comeback” by Raheem F. Hosseini and Steph Rodriguez (Feature, Nov. 14): Haters of Kevin Johnson always gonna be heard. Speak out and say what you may. He is from my neighborhood, a native of Oak Park. He is bringing decent jobs to the community, and if you live in Oak Park, that is what we need. I’ve eaten at Fixins many times this summer; it’s a family restaurant with nice people. Love Fixins, love Oak Park.

Sacramento’S newS & entertainment weekly

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Second chances Re: “The problem with K.J.’s comeback” by Raheem F. Hosseini and Steph Rodriguez (Feature, Nov. 14): I believe sexual harassment in any form is terrible, but are people who have done this unable to have any type of job or business ever again? This is California, land of second and third chances, for real.

MARK TAYLOR via F acebook

Not convinced Re: “Not backing down” by Jodi Hicks (Essay, Nov. 14): Jodi Hicks begins her article talking about “an unprecedented number of extreme abortion bans.” Well, what does she mean by “extreme?”

Apparently she means extremely different from those policies she happens to favor. Which ultimately makes her arguments merely circular.

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Fond memories of North Sac Re: “Del Paso Boulevard’s History” (Advertisement, Nov. 7): I read the great story on old North Sac. It was its own wonderful city. I grew up there and graduated from Norte Del

Rio High School. It’s no longer the same.

In its heyday, Del Paso Boulevard in the ’50s and ’60s was heaven! There were two movie theaters, an ice skating rink, Coopers Donuts, A&W, a roller skating rink, bowling alley, Ben Franklin, several bars, a library at Woodlake Park, a Raley’s on El Camino and tons of fun. It was the greatest childhood. Students were from all over—Woodlake (rich kids), Arden Fair, Gardenland. Northgate.

Three schools—Del Norte, Las Palmas and Noralto—were all on a huge giant block area. We rode to Grant High School on our bikes to swim without a care. It was absolutely like “Back to the Future!”

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5

ESSAY

BY JEFF DOLL

STREETALK

BY PATRICK HYUN WILSON

ASKED AT THE DOCO MALL:

What are you thankful for?

BOB BURTNET T retired

Sacramento is no Portland The goal of becoming America’s most livable city is a pipe dream I recently learned in the 2035 General Plan that it is the city’s goal to make Sacramento the most livable city in America. I have to say I laughed.

It’s a worthy goal, but unfortunately, it’s a pipe dream.

By most meaningful metrics, Portland is one of the most livable cities and Sacramento is nowhere near Portland now and it would have to catch up and surpass Portland by 2035.

So why don’t I think Sacramento will be the most livable?

Public transit: Portland has five light rail lines, three streetcar lines and a commuter line. Sacramento has two light rail lines, no streetcars and no commuter rail to the suburbs. A third light rail line is planned to Sacramento International Airport, but only if funding sources can be identified.

Bicycle infrastructure: Portland is making protected bike lanes standard, while Sacramento has only built a few. Portland was named “platinum” by the League of American Bicyclists while Sacramento is aiming to be “silver.” While 31 of Portland’s intersections have bicycle-specific traffic signals, Sacramento has none. After 10 years, most of Sacramento’s master bicycle plan has yet to be implemented. I have nearly been run down several times this year, which makes cycling feel more dangerous to me.

Sprawl: Portland has instituted hard boundaries and greenbelts to force infill development while Sacramento has built a handful of ridiculously expensive condos. Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova are in sprawl overdrive and the Natomas area of Sacramento is no different. It almost seems as if Sacramento’s model is less Portland and more Los Angeles.

I’m most thankful for my family.

I’ve got eight grandkids, couple great-grandkids … We live in Tennessee with our granddaughter … We don’t get out here that often but that’s why we’re here, to see them.

RICARDO PACHECO-ANGELES student Jeff Doll is a state employee and mechanical engineer who lives in Elk Grove and works in East Sacramento.

Parks: With the exceptions of maybe McKinley and Reichmuth, good parks in Sacramento are few and far in between. Most have no sort of nature area, preserve, or water feature that can be enjoyed by all residents.

They’re just boring tracts of grass with a few trees and dated play structures.

This is all just the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t even mentioned homelessness, housing affordability, economic equity and a whole host of other problems Sacramento must address.

The reason why nothing will change is as old as the country itself—there’s just no money in it. If rich people can’t get richer, it just won’t happen. Every time residents ask the City Council why everything takes so long, it gives the same reply that funding is not available or needs to be identified.

It will take billions upon billions of dollars to catch up to Portland, let alone surpass it. But none of that will happen if the city refuses to fund the projects necessary—unless, of course, it’s a sports venue.

If the city can actually make something meaningful happen—such as protected bike lanes and bicycle traffic signals all over the city and all within the next few years—then I might be convinced.

Otherwise, I expect nothing more than the usual laundry list of meaningless accomplishments that change nothing. Talk is cheap. Only actions will convince me that the city is making Sacramento the most livable in America. I’m not holding my breath. Ω

It will take billions upon billions of dollars to catch up to Portland, let alone surpass it.

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I’m most thankful for my friends, my family and my girlfriend. They support me and they love me.

I’m probably meeting them up for Thanksgiving, and I’m pretty excited.

K ALYNNE VANASCHE baker

My job, honestly. I really like my job, it’s a great job and I have terrific coworkers and an amazing manager. I just kind of landed in this job and it’s really fun. I get to bake cookies all day.

AUROR A HARIJAN student

I’m the most thankful for my health. I’m thankful that I’m able to wake up every day and be able to ... do anything. In my family I have a lot of illnesses ... so I’m just happy that I’m here.

OSCAR VASQUE Z cook

I’m really thankful that we have clean air here; it’s healthy for our environment. I’ve been to a lot of places that have smog, that have smoke, so ... it’s kind of neat that we have clean air down here.

CORE Y PIGGEE construction assistant

I’m thankful for my family, my mom and my mom’s cooking.

I’m the cook this year. I watched her, but most of what I cook is the stuff I like—smoked turkey, candied yams, some ribs. I want my mom to say, “It’s good.”

Giving thanks for many people

Yvonne R. Walker speaks to SEIU Local 1000 members during a rally at Sacramento City Hall.

Photo courtesy seIu LocaL 1000

Being part of a union tops this list By yvOnnE R. WALkER P r e s i d e n t, s e i U L o c a L 1 0 0 0

W

hat am I thankful for this holiday?

I’m thankful for unions, and my union in particular. Up to 45% of all U.S. workers are legally excluded from the right to bargain collectively. I’m thankful to be part of the other fortunate 55%.

Last year alone in California, we won the right for 40,000 child care workers to bargain collectively and fight for better wages as well as more subsidized child care. We also fought to get legislation to clarify and expand who is an employee with rights to wages and benefits.

Overall, I am thankful that unions fight to improve the quality of life for working people. No matter how hard they work, millions of people are falling behind and drowning in debt and insecurity while juggling jobs and family responsibilities. I am thankful that my union is a vehicle for working people to organize and reverse this troubling trend toward greater insecurity and fear.

I’m thankful for leaders in our union who step up and fight for their peers and all Californians. That includes Rose Gudiel, who leads anti-poverty work in Southern California with our union in partnership with Rev. William

Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign. Rose has engaged hundreds of union workers and community members to fight for living wages and end racism as a tool to divide and weaken the power of working people.

And many thanks go to the scores of leaders in Local 1000 who are part of our bargaining team. They leave their families for weeks to negotiate with the state, encourage their co-workers to take action and build our power to win at the table.

I am thankful that my union is a vehicle for working people to organize and reverse this troubling trend toward greater insecurity and fear.

I’m thankful for the commitment of our members to step up and take leadership in the political process. We have a huge year ahead of us — a presidential year. And in California, we have a huge opportunity to reshape the funding for public education for decades to come through the Schools and Communities First initiative. Right now, our member political organizers are fanning out across the state to help get signatures to right a quarter century of wrongs in

SPONSORED by SERvicE EmPlOyEES iNtERNatiONal uNiON lOcal 1000

funding public education and essential services and getting some of the wealthiest corporations to pay their fair share of property taxes.

I’m thankful for artists who are changing our culture, pushing the boundaries, asking questions, and helping us stay connected to our histories. Artists such as Ava DuVernay; the woman who brought us “When They See Us” is the same person who created the equally engaging and enlightening “13th,” one of the best non-fiction stories of the 21st century, regardless of medium. More, please.

Also on this list are Angie Thomas, debut author of the novel, “The Hate U Give,” and George Tillman Jr., director of the movie based on that book. They provide a vivid, heart-wrenching description of life spent living in different worlds, the racism that we confront from a young age, and how these disparate experiences are not easily combined or circumvented.

And last but not least, I’m thankful to have this venue through which I get to speak with all of you. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Yvonne R. Walker President SEIU Local 1000

SEIU LOCAL 1000 1808 14th Street Sacramento, CA 95811 | (866) 471-7348

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greenlight

We must save independent journalism

by Jeff vonKaenel

Are The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, McClatchy, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, as Bloomberg News reported last week? Even if bankruptcy reduces McClatchy’s massive debt, will The Bee have to lay off even more staff and reduce publication?

While McClatchy’s decline began in 2006 with the ill-fated purchase of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, and was made worse by the ongoing loss of advertising dollars to Facebook and Google, the ton of bricks that prompted the bankruptcy speculation was the announcement that the IRS had turned down McClatchy’s request to delay a $124 million payment to its pension fund.

Wall Street responded by sending McClatchy stock, already depressed, into a tailspin. It opened Monday at less than 38 cents per share.

This means that McClatchy’s 30 newspapers have a market value of roughly $3 million, the cost of a large home in San Francisco.

Having sold off many of its buildings and barely making an operating profit, McClatchy’s ability to make the pension fund payment seems unlikely. Late last week, Bee reporter Dale Kasler wrote a story summing up the various options that McClatchy is facing, including the possibility of being taken over

by Chatham Asset Management, its biggest lender and shareholder and one of the hedge funds that now own the biggest newspaper chains in the country. These hedge funds have consistently shown more interest in their bottom line than in the news operations. It seems likely that McClatchy, after bankruptcy reorganization, will continue on a downward spiral.

Over my 30 years in Sacramento, I have not had a good relationship with The Bee’s managers. They 8

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have very sharp elbows, and tried repeatedly to put us out of business, particularly in our first years here.

But I am saddened by recent developments. I feel like an athlete heartbroken to see a competitor go down with a serious injury.

Our differences with The Bee are minor compared to what we have in common.

I believe in journalism.

According to Penelope Muse Abernathy, a professor of journalism and digital media economics at the University of North Carolina, “Economists call public service journalism a ‘public good’ because the information conveyed through news stories helps guide decisionmaking in our society.

A 2011 report by the Federal Communications Commission found that local newspapers are the best medium to provide the sort of public service journalism that shines a light on the major issues confronting communities and gives residents the information they need to solve their problems. But, in many communities today, there is simply not enough digital or print revenue to pay for the public service journalism that local newspapers have historically provided.”

There are many professionals who disseminate information, such as attorneys, public information officers and public relations specialists. These professionals, however,

make the case for whoever happens to be their current client. Journalists, on the other hand, are trying to get the story right and uncover the facts, even when there may be powerful people trying to keep the truth hidden.

Because of an independent press, we learned about Wells Fargo creating fraudulent accounts, police officers shooting unarmed black men, Kevin Johnson’s misuse of city resources and about sexual harassment at the county jail. An independent press protects our democracy, exposing lies, scandals, corruption and misspending of public dollars.

And today there are numerous individuals, organizations and even governments putting out false statements.

Without an independent press, people, organizations and foreign governments could spread false or fabricated information without penalty.

Never has an independent press been so necessary. Yet never has it been so threatened.

Never has an independent press been so necessary. Yet never has it been so threatened.

More than one-fifth of all newspapers in the U.S. have closed down in the last 15 years.

Those that remain have downsized dramatically, cutting staff, print pages and publishing days. Digital advertising, while great for Google and Facebook, has not helped newspapers.

As opposed to The Bee, we have been able to maintain our

je ffv @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

circulation and readership, now nearly matching The Bee’s weekday print circulation on the day we publish. If The Bee continues to lose 20% of print subscribers each year, then we will soon be the dominant print news source in Sacramento.

But things are not rosy at SN&R, either. We, too, have been impacted by the decline in retail advertising, and recently we lost much of our marijuana advertising when the dispensaries consolidated after legalization. To keep our papers alive, we refinanced our Chico building, and my wife and I put more of our savings into the paper.

Yet our road to sustainability is only a few thousand dollars per week. A small portion of The Bee’s advertising revenue would make our paper sustainable.

Thirty one years ago, my wife and I moved down from Chico to launch SN&R. We did so with the belief that our paper could make a real difference in Sacramento by speaking truth to power, giving voice to the voiceless, putting a spotlight on the arts. I am very proud of SN&R’s 30-year history.

Our survival is only possible because of our readers, our advertisers and so many dedicated staff members who worked so hard for little pay.

Sacramento needs an independent press. And we need your support.

We are strongly committed to closing the gap and keeping SN&R publishing. Please support our advertisers. If you own a business, let us bring you customers. If you can, please contribute to our Independent Journalism Fund.

And thank you for reading. □ To support independent journalism, donate at independentjournalismfund.org

Jeff vonKaenel is the president, CEO and majority owner of the News & Review.

15 minutes

by Josh Cozine

Kurt Geiger and his son Carter started their own traveling fossil education company.

PHOTO BY JOSH COZINE

Rolling them bones Kurt Geiger was working as gallery supervisor and science educator at the Gateway Science Museum in Chico last year when it opened its doors free to the public for several months after the Camp Fire. Along with his son Carter, who was a volunteer at the museum, Geiger noticed the attention fossils were drawing from guests and started thinking about a career move. After some discussion, the father-son duo decided to go for it and start their own traveling fossil company.

Since February, they’ve been visiting schools—starting with those displaced by the Camp Fire—bringing fossil specimens that students wouldn’t normally see outside of a museum. Next month, Fossils on Wheels will hold its first presentation in Paradise at Paradise Ridge Elementary.

How many presentations have you done so far?

I think when we do [our presentation] at the new elementary school up in Paradise—the one built in Paradise to replace the others—that will be No. 40. That’s a really fun one for us. I did a lot of work with Camp Fire kids after the fire at the museum, and so getting to go up there and work with the kids up at that school will be really special. We just had one up in Redding; we did eight classrooms and four presentations. It was really cool to get to travel and do this.

may never have another opportunity to hold a T. rex tooth or check out a Triceratops fossil or any of the other dinosaurs we have.

What’s your business model? Where do you get your fossils?

It’s very low overhead. We don’t have a lot of expenses. Gas, buying displays and such, but that’s not very expensive.

The fossils come from a variety of places.

Some of them are purchased, a few are self-collected and a lot of them have actually been given to us by other collectors and paleontologists that we’ve met through an internet forum called The Fossil Forum.

Do you have a favorite fossil?

So this all started because [we’re] pretty much shark nuts. And we don’t live by the ocean, so you don’t often get to talk about sharks in Chico unless you go back in the fossil record. Everybody always wants to know about Megalodon, so we bring in some pretty good-sized Megalodon teeth—we have two that are both over five inches, and we use them to explain the different adaptations of sharks and how the specific shape of teeth were related to what they ate.

How often do you do presentations?

We’re starting to book a good number of programs for the spring. It’s pretty sporadic right now. It comes in bursts. We kind of figured with Thanksgiving break and then winter break right after that it would be kinda slow, but as it turns out we’re keeping pretty busy. It also depends on teachers’ lesson plans and what time they want us. □

What do you enjoy most about this work?

We see the kids drawing the dinosaurs as we’ve been talking about them, and that means a lot.

We know we are giving these kids something that means something. You know, these kids

Fossils on Wheels visits the newly built Paradise Ridge Elementary on Dec. 10. Find out more at facebook.com/ fossilsonwheels.

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Chinua Rhodes, running for SCUSD, is viewed by many as a tireless community volunteer.

Photo by Scott thomaS anderSon

Public sounds Grassroots school board candidate in South Sac faces hard feelings over pop-up music group

by Scott thomaS anderSon and mozeS zarate

For many, Chinua Rhodes is an exciting candidate for trustee of the Sacramento City Unified School District. He’s widely hailed as an engine of public service—serving as a city parks and recreation commissioner, a community organizer, youth advocate and housing strategist. His motto is “South Sacramento pride,” and more than a few people say they’re inspired by his vision for that reemerging neighborhood.

But drama surrounding a relatively new concert-throwing organization led 10 | SN&R | 11.28.19

s c o t t a @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

by Rhodes recently spilled online—and into the public sphere.

Rhodes is the head organizer of the Sacramento chapter of Sofar Sounds, a London-based music company that hosts surprise shows in unexpected places. Fans of Sofar say it connects aspiring artists with genuine music lovers in a way that clubs simply don’t.

But critics say that its low performance fees, set by the global headquarters, devalue the work of artists.

While Rhodes has drawn praise for the unique Sofar shows that he

and his team of volunteers have put on—including the ways those events bolster small, struggling businesses— there have also been some bumps in the road.

SN&R spoke with several musicians who claim it took months to get paid by Sofar, as well as former volunteers who describe a lack of basic organization.

Such issues have become political not only because of Rhodes’ school board run, but also because Sacramento Sofar Sounds administered one of the city’s highly sought $25,000 Creative Economy grants.

Rhodes says the concerns have recently been addressed, and that he and his team are growing and learning.

Some of his supporters told SN&R that they don’t see criticisms of Sofar Sounds as particularly relevant to the work Rhodes is trying to do to elevate South Sacramento. But as the old saying goes, “all politics is local.”

It’s a lesson Rhodes is learning as he continues to argue that Sofar can be a positive force for the arts and community in the capital city. “It’s that human connection,” he said. “It’s inclusive, and it’s bringing people together around something that breaks down walls.”

Public service may be in Rhodes’ blood.

In 1975, his grandfather, Herbert Rhodes Sr., became the first AfricanAmerican director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

As a city parks commissioner, Chinua Rhodes led the effort to rename Richfield Park for LeVar Burton, hoping a tribute to the Meadowviewgrown actor and literacy champion would inspire young people of color.

“It’s really about letting people in the south area understand what comes out of the south area,” Rhodes said.

“The south area is very much rich with culture and knowledge. … It’s not something to be ashamed of, it’s something to be celebrated.”

A former musical artist, Rhodes also sees concerts and spoken-word performances as a way to spread positive energy. He says that’s why he worked to bring a branch of Sofar to Sacramento two years ago.

When word spread about Sofar with Rhodes at the helm, Natasha Newman signed up to be a volunteer. “Helping

to cultivate that type of experience in the city that I love was what I was there for,” she said.

But during the more than five months that she volunteered for Sofar in 2018, Newman gradually soured on the organization. She says she was tasked with creating sets and decorations for shows, but generally given little to no resources, direction or support from Rhodes and Sofar’s leadership.

“You’d hear, ‘Oh yeah, we can make that happen—we can make that work,’” Newman said, “but there was never any follow through.” The lack of planning led to stress for volunteers, she said.

Ashley Berni, one of Sofar’s primary volunteer organizers between May 2017 and October 2018, had to deal with even more confusion.

She says she booked most of the performers, managed the sound engineers, found places to store equipment and got all necessary paperwork to the bands. That included submitting many invoices to Rhodes so performers could get paid.

What happened on the other end of that process would ultimately lead to a breaking point for Berni.

Singer Tatiana LaTour performed with her band for a Sofar concert in South Sacramento on Sept. 30, 2018.

Though her contract stipulated the group would be paid its $100 fee within two weeks of its invoice being submitted, LaTour said it took nearly seven weeks.

“We were going on tour,” she remembered. “We needed the money; and so, it was stressful. … I mean, it was like emails and emails and emails [to get paid].”

Aubrie Arnoux’s group, House of Mary, performed for Sofar Sacramento in March 2018. Arnoux says it took more than four months to get their money. She said she told Sofar’s leadership, “I have a lot of friends who are musicians, and this isn’t cool, and I’m going to be totally honest with people.”

Andrew Hansen says his band, Sunset Scenarios, is stilled owed its fee from a show in mid-October 2018. “If you’re not paying your artists, that’s pretty bad,” Hansen told SN&R. “It’s almost like a form of exploitation if you think about it.”

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Rhodes points out that more than 270 artists have performed for Sofar Sounds in Sacramento, and only a small group had payment delays. He also says that Sofar’s headquarters recently simplified its processes, which he believes resolved the issue.

No performer who spoke with SN&R had evidence that Rhodes was responsible for the delayed payments.

Generally, local chapters submit invoices to Sofar’s London headquarters, which issues the payments. Payment problems have been reported in other cities, too. But Berni said trying to get Rhodes to fix the problems in Sacramento burned her out.

“There was no sense of urgency,” Berni said. “Like when I was saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got this artist from L.A. who is five months behind on getting paid, and they might have missed a payment on one of their bills because they were banking on you paying them.” last week, the back courtyard of New Helvetia Brewery was filled to capacity for poetry and music. This is what fans of Sofar say makes it special: Great art wrapped in a last-minute surprise draws people who want to share an

experience. No one talked during the performances, or looked at their phones.

Total strangers hugged and exchanged numbers at the end of the evening.

For the artists and concertgoers that night, Sofar delivered on its promise.

And that’s good, because it was one of the few organizations to receive a Creative Economy grant in 2017. Only 57 projects, or 12% of the applications from artists and groups, received funding and just 13 received the largest version of the grant, $25,000.

Announcing the program in 2017, Mayor Darrell Steinberg called it a “renewed commitment” to supporting the value of local creatives.

But one local creative who doesn’t feel valued is photographer Michael Andrews. He said he stepped forward to photograph Sofar shows in Sacramento on the guarantee that, though he wouldn’t be paid, it would be good advertising for him and likely lead to paid jobs. Instead, Andrews says, Sofar repeatedly used his photographs without crediting him and later refused to help him contact the bands he’d been shooting. Andrews also says when he tried to correct photo crediting on Instagram, a Sofar leader—he doesn’t know who— blocked him.

“The difference between what was said would happen and what happened were polar opposites,” Andrews said.

The city has a private consulting firm tracking the success of its Creative Economy grants, though its mainly a self-reporting system. City officials said they have received no complaints against Sofar.

In New York, however, Sofar came under scrutiny in 2019 for possible labor law violations. It has also been criticized by artist advocates for charging $15 to $30 a ticket, but only paying bands $100 for their 20-minute sets. CEO Jim Lucchese told Billboard in September that the company is getting new investors and revamping to address these concerns.

Meanwhile, Rhodes says he’s staying focused on both a commitment to the arts and a promise to help rebuild South Sacramento. He describes similarities in those goals.

“Right now, we look at a [school] system or model that’s built on silos, and we have an opportunity to reimagine that model, to one that connects youth with great education,” Rhodes said. □

Photo by ashley hayes-stone

Lauren Cameron performs at Hoppy’s Railyard Kitchen and Hopgarden Oct. 8 for a Sofar Sounds show.

Just days before Max Benson’s family planned to hold a candlelight vigil demanding justice for the lost 13-year-old, the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office announced that a year-long investigation resulted in involuntary manslaughter charges for three employees of the special education school where Benson died.

Benson was an autistic student sent to Guiding Hands School in El Dorado Hills by the Elk Grove Unified School District, supposedly so he could get an education tailored to his special needs. On Nov. 28, 2018, staff at the school allegedly put Benson in a dangerous restraint hold, resulting in his death.

After of year of waiting, Benson’s mother, Stacie Langley, penned an open letter describing her son’s final moments, pinned down “on all fours” while one teacher sat on him.

Benson eventually stopped breathing and later died at a hospital. His family was planning a Nov. 17 vigil in front of the DA’s office; five days before it was to happen, criminal charges were announced for Guiding Hands teacher Kim Wohlwend, principal Staranne Meyers and executive director Cindy Keller.

(Scott Thomas Anderson)

poSter childreN A Sacramento elementary school entered its Thanksgiving break engulfed in a free speech controversy over a teacher’s alleged decision to trash student posters supporting black lives.

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California went public with the dispute on Nov. 21, releasing an open letter to San Juan Unified School District Superintendent Kent Kern that drew quick national attention.

The ACLU’s letter concerns what happened inside a classroom at Del Paso Manor Elementary School in September, during a parent-led art class about how “art can manifest in activism.” Black Lives Matter was just one of the examples Magali Kincaid, a volunteer art docent, offered the students as part of her lesson plan, according to the ACLU letter and an exhibit showing a poster board Kincaid used as part of her lecture.

After her lesson, Kincaid had the students make their own posters and told them to focus on a change they would like to see at their school. Four students created Black Lives Matter posters.

The ACLU says the class teacher, David Madden, made these students re-do their posters the following day on the grounds that they were “inappropriate and political.” Madden also allegedly threw away at least one student’s poster and banned Kincaid from the class.

In the ACLU letter, staff attorney Abre’ Conner wrote that the California Education Code protects speech unless it is “obscene, libelous, or slanderous,” and that there are “obvious problems with a teacher and principal … taking the positions that the acknowledgment of Black lives is controversial and political in nature.”

Aside from a public apology, the ACLU, which is representing Kincaid and one of the students, has asked for her to be reinstated as art docent and for the school to allow its students to display Black Lives Matter artwork and learn about the movement. The ACLU has also asked for cultural and sensitivity training for school staff, based on input from Kincaid.

An ACLU spokesman told SN&R on Monday that the civil liberties organization hadn’t yet heard directly from the district.

(Raheem F. Hosseini)

11.28.19 | SN&R | 11

ILLUSTRATION BY MARIA RATINOVA

The pet detectives Special task force attempts to put animal abusers behind bars— before they move onto people

BY KATE GONZALES

More than three months since six pit bull puppies were found dead in a South Sacramento trash bin, the grisly case remains unsolved.

The early August discovery was one of about 150 calls that the city receives on a given day; reports range from a neighbor’s dog that got loose to blatant abuse. Jace Huggins, the city’s chief animal control officer, said the volume and complexity of the calls means his team is always playing catch-up.

The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office is teaming up with animal control and law enforcement to take a bigger bite out of animal cruelty 12

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cases. In January 2018, it launched the Animal Cruelty Prosecution Unit and Sacramento Animal Cruelty Task Force.

The connection between animal abuse and violence against humans is behind this new approach. One study showed that 50% of school shooters had a history of animal cruelty. According to another study, 70% of people charged with animal cruelty were known by police for other kinds of violent behavior.

But getting justice for pets before their abusers move onto people is no easy task, even for the animal-loving prosecutor leading the mission.

Huggins said domestic abuse More than a dozen animal portraits victims often don’t leave their batterhang on Deputy District Attorney Hilary ers because they’re afraid that person Bagley-Franzoia’s wall. The photos and will hurt their pets. paintings mostly portray healthy, happy But many of the cases Huggins sees dogs. But the physical and digital files aren’t clear cut. He said the laws on stored in her office tell an uglier story. animal abuse are antiquated—written In one video, a couple is having an at a time when animals were seen argument outside their home. As the more as property than family members. woman tries to drive away with a child, Sometimes the issue is neglect, like leavthe man picks up her Toto-looking dog ing a dog out in the rain, and the owner and bounces it against the windshield. needs to be educated.

The woman frantically gets out and grabs “If there was a law that said you have it before driving away. The scene was to love your animal, I’d be glad to enforce captured by a neighbor’s home security it,” Huggins said. “But there isn’t.” camera. The dog was seized, but the There is, however, a bill on President couple’s abusive relationship continued, Donald Trump’s desk to make animal Bagley-Franzoia said. abuse a federal crime. Congress unaniThe veteran prosecutor heads up both mously passed the Preventing Animal the animal cruelty task force and the Cruelty and Torture Act in late October. prosecution unit, meaning each case is Trump is expected to sign it into law. overseen by her and handled by the same “Slowly but surely, we’re moving investigators from start to finish. more toward where we view these “One of the main reasons is you want crimes for the heinousness that they consistency,” she said. really are,” said Huggins.

The task force is made up of investigaSince Sacramento County’s prosecutors from Folsom, Elk Grove and other tion unit and task force were formed, outlying areas, along with the Sacramento they’ve won 27 felony convictions.

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to One of those convictions came Animals and other nonprofits. This allows in early 2019, when Brandon Carter for better communication among police Goodnight pleaded no contest to felony agencies, whose task force members train together and share notes on cases that cross animal neglect, according to online Sacramento Superior Court records. jurisdictions.

When police searched his home in When she advocated for a unit to October 2018, they found a aggressively pursue animal dog that died of starvaabuse, Bagley-Franzoia said tion in his room that she highlighted to DA “Slowly was microchipped Anne Marie Schubert but surely, we’re under Goodnight’s the correlation moving more toward name, the DA’s between animal office stated in abuse and violent where we view these a press release. crimes against crimes for the heinousness Authorities also people. that they really are.” found an emaciThe National ated dog in the Link Coalition, a Jace Huggins backyard, which New Jersey-based chief animal control officer, was seized and has organization, educates Sacramento County since recovered. people about that connecGoodnight was tion using research from sentenced to three years in various sources. It links domestic prison, the maximum penalty under the violence and animal abuse, describing the law. If the federal bill is signed into latter as the “tip of the iceberg.” law, the max sentence would increase According to the National Coalition to seven years in prison. Ω Against Domestic Violence, 71% of pet owners who enter domestic violence shelters say their abuser had “threatened, injured or killed family pets.”

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Pacific Gas & Electric Co. turned off power to Ana Patricia Rios’ neighborhood in Sonoma County for eight days in October, three at the beginning of the month and five near the end.

The mother of three young boys watched twice as nearly all of the food in her refrigerator spoiled.

She threw out at least $500 worth of meat, fruit, vegetables, salsas and other food that would have supplied her family with months of meals.

“It’s a big impact because we need the food that we lost,” Rios said in Spanish, two days after the lights finally came back on. “Even if the electricity doesn’t arrive, the bills do.”

Similar losses occurred throughout Rios’ wooded, hilly neighborhood, which is mostly home to Hispanic families. Many are vineyard and hospitality workers, and sometimes several families share a house.

Across California, low-income households like the Rios family faced hunger and financial crisis as the food in their refrigerators spoiled during October’s unprecedented, deliberate blackouts. Utility companies shut down the power in certain fire-prone communities during windy, dry conditions to reduce the risk of an electric line sparking a fire.

An inconvenience for many, losing hundreds of dollars of food was an economic disaster for others.

While many of the areas that lost power, such as parts of Marin County and Napa Valley, tend to be wealthier than the rest of the state, tens of thousands of the affected households live on extremely tight budgets, according to a CalMatters analysis of census tracts touched by PG&E’s power outage that began on Oct. 26 and in some cases lasted through Oct. 31.

CalMatters’ analysis found that one in 10 residents and one in eight children in the affected census tracts live below the federal poverty level, which is $25,750 of annual income for a family of four. The estimates are based on PG&E’s maps of the approximate areas affected by the shutoffs and averaged data from the 2013 through 2017 annual American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau.

Several very poor communities lost power.

In some of the sections of Vallejo, San Pablo, Berkeley, San Rafael, Santa Cruz, Clearlake, Redding, Arcata and Sonora where the lights went out, more than a third of the people live in poverty.

In some cases, people who were unable to replace their spoiled food faced immediate hunger.

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lost their own power and had to throw out their food. Some schools had to shut down, so families like the Rios had to feed children who usually eat free and reduced-price school meals. And many scrambled to pull together the November rent while also refilling their fridges. The elderly, ill and disabled struggled the most.

“The shutoffs not only taxed our network but deepened hunger among those already food insecure,” Andrew Cheyne, director of government affairs at the California Association of Food Banks, said in a Senate committee hearing on Nov. 18.

“We cannot be there for everyone in need, and Californians are not refilling those refrigerators.”

As wildfire risk persists, how utility companies will protect low-income customers from hunger and financial crisis is an open question.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called the planned outages “unacceptable.”

“We cannot continue to incur the economic losses, the potential health and human costs associated with these power shutoffs,” Newsom told CalMatters.

Bowing to a demand from Newsom, PG&E agreed to provide a one-time rebate of $100 for households and $250 for businesses affected by the first wave of outages that begin Oct. 9, plunging roughly 738,000 customers into darkness with limited notice and bungled communications.

Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, has introduced a bill that would require utilities to reimburse customers for the costs they accrued during planned outages.

On Nov. 17, PG&E announced it would donate $2 million to nonprofits that provide food, water, shelter and other services to “low-income children and families, communities of color, seniors and Tribal members” during disasters and planned outages.

“For the most vulnerable among us, those who depend on life sustaining medical equipment or cannot afford to replace lost food, losing power for an extended period can come with considerable fear and safety risks,” said PG&E CEO and President Bill Johnson in prepared remarks at the Nov. 18 hearing. □ CalMatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. This article is part of The California Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequity and economic survival in California. An unabridged version of this story is available at newsreview. com/sacramento.

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IN DARK TIMES, LOCAL LEADERS LOOK FOR THE LIGHT

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THERE BUT FOR COUNTING BLESSINGS

BY FO ON RHEE

FO ONR@NEW SREVIEW.C OM

Thanksgiving— this very American holiday— reminds us to be grateful for our blessings, big and small.

That can be difficult in times like these, when we may feel overwhelmed with mass shootings, political divisions, etc.

But in dark times, it’s even more important to look for the light—reasons for hope and for thanks. SN&R asked six community leaders to write about what they’re most thankful for—to share some of their light.

Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby says that focusing on gratitude gets you through life’s challenges.

Lisa Bates, CEO of Sacramento Steps Forward, writes that she finds inspiration in the homeless people her nonprofit helps.

Rev. Alan Jones, pastor at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Sacramento, writes that just saying “thank you” can be powerful.

Kimberly Key, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento, is thankful that families share their kids to have their futures shaped.

Khaim Morton, the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s vice president of public policy and economic development, says he’s grateful for his time to learn and for the growing spirit of collaboration in the region.

And Blake Young, CEO of Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, says he is reminded how blessed he is by the people who come through his doors.

Seeing people in need is a continuous reminder of blessings

grace

BY BL AKE YOUNG

W

orking for Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, I am reminded continuously how blessed I am.

These are the folks I see every day. They are wonderful, kind and appreciative, but live in fear.

Thankfully, I do not suffer from hunger, poverty, employment struggles, violence or health calamities. I am not a single parent trying to raise three children. I am not a senior struggling to make choices between buying medication or putting food on the table.

I am not a wounded veteran suffering from PTSD trying to fit into society. I am not a pregnant teenager scared to death, not knowing what the future holds. I am not someone with a severe disability unsure how to navigate all of life’s challenges.

I am not a child going to school hungry every morning. I am not an adult who can’t work any longer due to chronic pain.

These are the folks I see every day. They are wonderful, kind and appreciative, but live in fear. I recognize that one major life event could place me in the same situation. This is why I wake up everyday feeling grateful for all the blessings that I have.

Blake Young is president and CEO of Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services.

TIME IS

P RECIOUS

BY KHAIM MORTON

Be thankful for the opportunity to learn and share with others

Chamber has brought forward the concerns and solutions to help achieve regional prosperity.

While some of the problems have changed, the need to care about the community as whole has not. I am hat am I thankful for? thankful to be part of a team and an For me, to be thankful is to organization that cares for and promotes be aware of what you have or where not only a strong business environment you can get to. It is not something to that encourages entrepreneurship and be smug about, but rather to be grateful existing companies, but also a for, and for me that gratefulness skilled, educated workforce should be worn as the reflecand a vibrant community. tion of who you are.

And I am really I am thankful for the I am thankful thankful for time. many people whom I for the spirit of I am thankful have had the opporfor the time that I collaboration tunity to meet and have been given to work with that have that exists and learn and recognize added to my educais growing patterns.

This tion, spirit and sense within our recognition has of self. I am thankful region. helped to shape my for my wife and sons positive outlook and (Mira, Sharif, and Jelani), desire to help those around my parents, my siblings, me. This recognition has Rocket (my dog), my health, my helped me to realize that anytime I home, my friends. thought God, the universe, was hurling I am thankful for my job and the me into some ditch, it was just that I opportunity in front of me. I am thankneeded more preparation for what was ful for the spirit of collaboration that to come. I needed that trial in order to exists and is growing within our region. be truly grateful, appreciative and totally For 125 years, the Sacramento Metro

W

prepared for the benefit that I was about to receive.

Where that brings me to now is that for me to be expressive of this thankfulness, this gratefulness, I must share with others. I must let others around me know—that as they struggle with a difficult situation, that as they try to act as the master of their fate and captain of their soul—that there is another on the other end, who can hopefully share lessons to give them the time they need to properly navigate their Khaim Morton is the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s vice president of public policy and economic development.

“Giving thanks”

continued on page 16

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“Giving thanks”

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FINDING A PATH TO

Being thankful generates positive energy, an energy that brings healing and hope to the world.

Focusing on gratitude gets you through life’s challenges

BY A NGELIQUE A SHBY

SAYING ‘THANK YOU’ IS

P OWERFUL Being thankful helps you and your community

BY AL A N H. JONE S

I

am deeply thankful for you.

The famous mystic Meister Eckhart is quoted as saying: If the only prayer you say in your life is Thank You, it will be enough.

The question remains, however, enough for what?

Saying “thank you” is powerful, perhaps much more powerful than is normally recognized. If I am regularly thanking the Creator for life, health, strength, love, family, community, etc., it helps me to keep a sense of perspective on the world and myself. It helps me to find a measure of humility, listening and responding to the world around me.

I think it is actually impossible to stop at saying, “Thank you.” Thankfulness inevitably leads to flourishing.

If I am in a state of flourishing, the only way in which growth can continue to happen is for me to enable the flourishing of other people. Being thankful generates positive energy, an energy that brings healing and hope to the world.

The absence of thankfulness is the presence of a sense of entitlement that inevitably become narcissistic and self-absorbed—and this becomes indifferent or dismissive of the struggles and needs of other people. You are unable to listen to other people, to see people as they are and certainly cannot give value to their experience.

We are living in times of moral relativism where absolutes such as compassion, justice,

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joy

nonviolence and peace are being questioned and diminished—and sometimes trashed. The American Dream has become toxic as it now insinuates that every human being must take full responsibility for themselves and helping others is no longer a virtue.

But I thank God for you and for all thankful people. They see other people and hear their needs.

Like a bird, effortlessly riding an updraft on an invisible thermal current, you—a thankful person—are lifted higher and higher to be more and more loving by the generous love springing up within you as you proclaim: Thank you for the gifts of life and love!

Thank you for the beauty of creation!

Thank you for the gift of seeing and hearing!

Thank you for this amazing human family!

Thank you!

I am deeply thankful for you!

Alan H. Jones is pastor at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Sacramento.

I

struggle occasionally with feeling anxious. It’s the worst feeling. I waste way too much energy on worry.

One thing I have found that helps is to center my focus on things I’m grateful for—to really think about all the good.

I keep a journal, not daily, but pretty close. In that journal I write about my worries and my hopes—but I also spend time reminding myself of all the blessings in my life. The top of that list is always people: my kids, my husband, my extended family (especially my dad), my friends, my community, my team at work.

I’m also fully aware of what a gift it is to serve Sacramento, to have an income, to have a home and reliable transportation. I haven’t always had those things and I’m grateful I do now.

I’m grateful to live in California and to have good health. I’m profoundly grateful for my education, and the doors that have opened for me, at least in part, because of those academic achievements at UC Davis and McGeorge School of Law. It may sound strange, but I’m also grateful for my scars, the ones that made me stronger and helped me find my way.

It’s the season of gratitude and like many others, I’m often nostalgic around this time about friends and family who have passed away, but I try to be grateful for the time I had with them at all. I’m grateful to have mementos of important figures in my life—like the wedding ring I wear that once belonged to my beloved grandmother. It makes me happy to see it shine on my hand just as it did on hers.

Life is full of challenges, big and small. My family is dealing with the

extraordinarily difficult challenge of having a loved one move through the stages of Alzheimer’s disease. And sometimes it’s all very overwhelming.

I find that fixing my attention on things for which I am grateful creates a pathway back to joy. It’s not always easy to do.

But it’s always worth trying. Hope is a powerful emotion and gratitude is her best friend.

I will leave you with this, though I’m not sure of its origin, it certainly rings true for me: “The secret to having it all is realizing that you already do.”

Angelique Ashby represents District 1 on the Sacramento City Council.

I find that fixing my attention on things for which I am grateful creates a pathway back to joy. It’s not always easy to do. But it’s always worth trying.

A

warm

PLACE TO SLEEP

Finding hope and inspiration to end homeles snes s

A

s the holidays approach, it is often a time for reflection on what we have to be thankful for.

This holiday season will be the first that I spend as the chief executive officer at Sacramento Steps Forward, a nonprofit committed to ending

homelessness in the Sacramento region through collaboration, innovation and connecting people to services.

Having now worked for this organization for almost a year, what I am most thankful for this year is basic in nature— things that many of us take for granted on a daily basis that every person should have. I am grateful that my family and loved ones have our most basic needs met, that we have food to eat, clothes to wear and a warm and safe place to sleep at night.

On any given night across the Sacramento region, more than 5,500 people are experiencing homelessness.

The majority are unsheltered; they don’t know where their next meal will come from, have only the clothes on their

ONE KID AT A TIME Putting children on the path to success

BY KIMBERLY KEY

E

very day, as club members walk through the blue doors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento, stress from school, home and challenging neighborhoods fall away. Kids are filled with a sense of purpose and belonging, and are exposed to new experiences and opportunities.

At eight Club locations across the Sacramento region, we provide a safe and supportive environment that gives 2,500 members the opportunity to learn and succeed—developing literacy skills, finding a new passion, landing a first job and more.

With community outreach programs, we serve an additional 5,000 youths. Over the year, we hear countless stories of what the Club’s programs mean to our kids.

Their experiences are what help us keep our programs relevant and meaningful, and we are always inspired by their insightful feedback.

When we asked members Noah, 12, and his brother Daniel, 9, what they are thankful for at the Club, their faces immediately lit up and they both responded, “basketball!” Noah and Daniel love playing in our free intramural basketball league. They also know it’s more than just having fun.

BY LIS A B ATE S

backs and are sleeping outside in the cold.

Every day I am reminded of the compassionate people who have made ending homelessness their life’s purpose, and I am grateful for their kindness, perseverance and hard work.

Similarly, I am humbled by what I have learned from people formerly and currently experiencing homelessness.

Their unwavering hope and determination in the face of traumatic life events and the hardships they endure from being on the street is an inspiration to never give up, to work harder and to be thankful for all I have.

As I look toward 2020, our steadfast commitment to address one of our region’s most pressing issues can only

We are thankful for our families for sharing their kids with us and allowing us to help shape their futures.

“I like playing basketball at the club because it brings people together,” Noah said.

We are thankful that kids have the opportunity to play organized sports at the Club, not just because it encourages fitness, but we love to see our kids’ self-confidence grow as they practice teamwork, leadership and empathy, both on and off the court.

Aria, our 2019 Youth of the Year, also sees the impact of coming together as a Club to lift everyone up.

“The Club has taught me how to work hard and play hard,” said Aria, 17. “I have grown as a student and I want more for myself and my future than ever before.

I am humbled by what I have learned from people formerly and currently experiencing homelessness.

Their unwavering hope and determination ... is an inspiration to never give up, to work harder and to be thankful for all I have.

be accomplished by working together as a community. I remain thankful for what I have, grateful for all the hard work and hopeful that by ensuring everyone who needs a safe place to call home has one, we will transform home-“less” to “home-“ful.”

Lisa Bates is CEO of Sacramento Steps Forward.

Through my club experience, I am proud and prepared to meet and overcome challenges. And along with my fellow Club members, I want to create a better future for all.”

Her experience stems from having a positive place to grow into who she is meant to be. Like so many of our kids, Aria says that she is thankful for club staff who believe in her.

As staff, we are thankful for our families for sharing their kids with us and allowing us to help shape their futures.

We are grateful for the opportunity to inspire them to find their path that leads to a career they are passionate about, and where they can enjoy what they do while impacting the lives of others. We are thankful for our Club members who inspire us every day.

As an organization, we are thankful for so many caring community members across the Sacramento region who support the success of our kids. When we work together, we are able to meet the needs of every kid who walks through our doors.

Together, we are building great futures for our kids, families and communities. □ Kimberly Key is CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento. She’s pictured with Aria, the club’s 2019 Youth of the Year.

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Owner Khalid “Kal” Farhoud is a major reason customers keep coming back to Sammy’s Family Restaurant.

Anne StokeS

Sammy’s keeps diners happy Celebrating 75 years, restaurant reflects jovial owner

by Allen Pierleoni

K

halid “Kal” Farhoud was telling a joke.

“When you get old, three things happen to you,” he said. “You start forgetting things, and then … oh, I forget the other two.”

Farhoud is well-known for his unpredictable good humor and spontaneous camaraderie among the legion of regulars who call Sammy’s Family Restaurant a second home. A lot of them come in specifically to see him – especially throughout this past year, the restaurant’s 75th anniversary.

If you’re new to Sammy’s and haven’t met Farhoud, you soon will. Not only is he the owner, he’s the restaurant’s goodwill ambassador. Don’t be shocked if he suddenly sits down at your booth and

asks how you like his food. In a way, he’s the star of a stage show. “Hospitality is the name of the business,” he said.

“Everybody comes here,” said Farhoud. “Young, old, [all ethnicities].

Many from the neighborhood, some from Elk Grove, Colfax, Roseville, Rio Linda. A lot of customers met their future husbands and wives here. We know everybody and everybody knows us. It’s like ‘Cheers.’”

Sammy’s opened in 1944, and not much has changed since Farhoud bought it in 1996, including the breakfast-lunch-dinner menus. They’re a step back in time, with sides of cottage cheese and applesauce, and a popular main of liver and onions. Appropriately, there’s a meatloaf special. “One night a lady said to me, ‘I didn’t like the meatloaf.’ I asked her why. She said, ‘It was too meaty.’”

Farhoud improved the quality of the food and the service after taking over, and added some new dishes, he said, but “we kept the rest the same” – including the

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b o u l e va r d turquoise booths. “We haven’t raised the prices in 10 years,” he added.

Sammy’s is a well-kept, wellpopulated stalwart on Del Paso Boulevard, but it’s also a heaping serving of Americana from an era when diners with names like “Mom’s” crowded the post-World War II landscape, and where the waitresses called you “Hon.” At Sammy’s, they still do.

Farhoud, 58, is a Palestinian who was born and grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. He arrived in the U.S. as a student at age 19. After stints at universities in Louisiana and Texas, he earned a degree in business management from Sacramento State.

Wisely, he calls on his heritage to prepare Mideastern dinner specials two or three times a week – well-spiced marinated chicken thighs with basmatii rice, lamb shanks, beef kafta with potatoes and tomatoes. “We make the food we want to eat,” he said. “I tell my chef, ‘I don’t cook, but I make food taste good.’”

Sometimes, Farhoud will fill a bowl with a fragrant daily special – such as chicken-spiked navy bean soup – and sit near the front door. “People come in and say, ‘What are you eating? I’ll have that!’”

At one point, he was offered “a few million dollars” for Sammy’s, and turned it down. “People asked me why I didn’t sell. I said, ‘When people retire, they hang out in coffee shops. I’m hanging out here already.’ I don’t work for the money. I like this place because I have lots of friends and family here. I would pass away in two weeks if I retired.”

For a time, Farhoud made regular trips back to Lebanon each year. His friends there would ask him why.

“I’d say, ‘I come here to see how you guys live, then I go back home and appreciate what I have.’ America has been very good to me. This is home.”

He paused to cut into a piece of chicken. “Life is good,” he said with a laugh, taking a bite.

Sammy’S Family ReStauRant 2021 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento 916-925-6747 open 6 a.m.-8 p.m. daily

upcoming eventS FRIDAY 11/29 - SunDAY 12/1 The Clean House 8pm ; 2pm 12/1 Sarah Ruhl’s THE CLEAN HOUSE opens November 15th and closes December 14th at Big Idea Theatre.

A romantic comedy about loss, love, change and redemption, The Clean House is both whimsical and touching. A serious careeroriented doctor, Lane, has hired a quirky Brazilian maid. The only problem is that the maid, Matilde, hates to clean. Instead, she longs to be a comedienne.

THE CLEAN HOUSE performs every Thursday ($12 Thrifty tix), Friday, and Saturday at 8pm!

THE CLEAN HOUSE has one $15 SUNDAY MATINEE performance on December 1st at 2pm! Buy your ticket TODAY at: bigideatheatre.tix. com BIT DEALS! Weekly $12 Thrifty Thursday tickets. $15 Sunday Matinee (December 1st at 2pm). $12 tickets to groups of 6+. ADD US ON INSTAGRAM! @bigideatheatre Website: bigideatheatre.org Big Idea Theatre, 1616 Del Paso Blvd.

SunDAY, 12/1 Make your own pizza class: hands on sip & cook experience 1pm Want to learn how to make pizza from scratch in your home kitchen?

From the crust to the garnish, and everything in between, join The Cookery Sacramento for a Hands-on Cooking Class all about Pizza. Ticket includes supplies to make 2 pizzas with a traditional or gluten-free crust, plus unlimited sides, salads, and drinks. Guests are encouraged to bring their own alcohol. 2 ticket minimum purchase. www.burlybeverages.com Burly Beverages Gift Shop & Tasting Room, 2014 Del Paso Blvd.

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discrimination in the workplace, hate crimes and even deadly violence against the LGBTQ community, including a string of killings of black trans women, even as the Trump administration rolls back protections.

MORALITY

BY FOON RHEE

EXIT STAGE LEFT

fo o nr@ne w s re v i e w . c o m

BROADWAY SAC’S ILL-FATED NAMING RIGHTS DEAL SHOWS POWER OF LGBTQ ACTIVISTS

B

roadway Sacramento and Dignity Health declared last month that a five-year naming rights deal was the beginning of a beautiful partnership that would grow the arts and improve the community’s health.

It took only 11 days to annul the marriage.

In that short time, transgender activists spoke out and organized a threatened boycott over the health system’s treatment of LGBTQ

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patients. The curtain has closed on this drama, and the reviews are in: It’s another indication of the growing power of Sacramento’s LGBTQ community.

Ebony Harper, a transgender activist who helped lead the protest, certainly hopes so.

“Historically, we haven’t been as influential,” Harper said. “But we’re living in different times. We’re in constant fight mode so we can organize quickly.”

And Sacramento is more supportive of LGBTQ rights than some may believe. In fact, last week the Human Rights Campaign gave Sacramento a 100 score on its annual report card of inclusion in law, policy and services. It was one of 88 U.S. cities and 14 in California to get 100.

To cap off Trans Awareness Week, transgender pride flags flew over the state Capitol for the first time and over City Hall on Nov. 20.

“When the transgender community speaks, a lot of the community will listen,” said Harper, who recently started the National Alliance for Trans Liberation and Advancement. “It was clear that there was an injustice here.”

The LGBTQ community also flexed its muscle earlier this year.

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Goldfield Trading Post canceled shows by rappers Adam Calhoun and Demun Jones after backlash over their anti-LGBT lyrics and social media comments.

Initially, the bar’s management said it didn’t realize the shows were booked during Sacramento Pride week in June. Later, the bar said it had listened to the community and apologized for “the angst that booking these shows has caused many members of the community.”

David Heitstuman, executive director of the Sacramento LGBT Community Center, which produces the SacPride march and festival, said while he sees some progress, there’s still a huge gap between equality in the law books and the decisions

made by public officials, business owners and others.

“All of our institutions should be open and affirming of all LGBTQ community members,” he said.

“There’s a long way to go.”

Making that happen is going to take continued education and activism, he said. The arts are providing another forum to raise public awareness about

“WE’RE IN CONSTANT FIGHT MODE SO WE CAN ORGANIZE QUICKLY.” Ebony Harper transgender activist

Steve Hansen, Sacramento’s first openly gay city councilperson and a self-described arts lover, says it should have been obvious that Dignity Health was not a good fit with Broadway Sacramento, especially given that musical theater and the LGBTQ community have such a long, storied history together and so many community members are directly involved in theater.

“There’s nothing more quintessentially queer than Broadway musicals,” he said.

Hansen isn’t alone in believing that the entire predicament could have been avoided with a little more due diligence by Broadway Sac. “They failed to ask the right questions,” he said.

Broadway Sacramento president Richard Lewis declined to comment, or respond to written questions, beyond his earlier public statement nixing the naming rights deal.

The drama started on Oct. 28 with the press release from Broadway Sacramento that Wells Fargo Pavilion, home to its summer Music Circus performances, would henceforth be known as Dignity Health Theatre.

Wells Fargo paid $1.5 million for the naming rights over 10 years,

The arT of small Towns see arTs & CulTure

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‘DeaThTrap’ slays aT sTC see sTage

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CoquiTos for puerTo riCo see off menu

“All of our institutions should be open And Affirming of All lgbtQ community members.”

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see CalenDar

Sac singers snag spotlight Contemporary blues artist and SAMMIES award-winner Katie Knipp has made a lot of strides in the last two years,

hitting no. 10 on the blues albums billboard Charts last november

David heitstuman executive director, sacramento lGBt community center

but told Broadway Sac in June it would not renew the contract. The bank has had its name on the downtown theater since 2003, but has had some image problems of its own due to scandals since 2016 over home mortgage abuses, fake accounts and other wrongdoing that led to hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and lawsuit settlements.

Dignity Health, however, is well known in the LGBTQ community for not performing gender reassignment procedures. And in February, San Francisco-based Dignity completed a merger with Colorado-based Catholic Health Initiatives, forming a $29 billion company that is the nation’s largest nonprofit hospital network but also more complications over whether Dignity’s seven non-Catholic hospitals in California will continue to perform services that violate church doctrine.

Dignity is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Evan Minton, a Sacramentoarea transgender man who was denied a hysterectomy at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael in 2016.

The health system says its Catholic hospitals “do not perform sterilizing procedures such as hysterectomies for any patient regardless of their gender identity, unless there is a serious threat to the life or health of the patient.”

Harper is good friends with Minton, and got tagged in a Facebook post about

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whaT To Do abouT TexTiles?

the naming rights deal. “I was enraged,” said Harper, who promptly started organizing on Facebook to support Minton and to oppose the “ungodly deal.”

Not only did transgender Sacramentans respond, so did the entire LGBTQ community and its allies and Music Circus patrons, and the threatened boycott spread. Dignity Health and Broadway Sac backed out of the agreement even before a protest in front of the theater happened.

In their Nov. 8 joint statement, Laurie Harting, Dignity’s Sacramento region president, said the health system saw the partnership as “a great way to promote the intersection of health and the arts,” but didn’t want it to become a distraction so would find another way to support Broadway Sac. Harting also said Dignity officials were “surprised and disappointed by some of the concerns that were raised,” given its “legacy of providing care to people of all backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities,” including being among the first to offer services during the 1980s AIDS crisis.

Lewis said in the statement that Dignity Health is “a longtime pillar of this community,” but that concerns about the partnership had unfortunately “begun to distract” from elevating the arts.

Wells Fargo Pavilion was going to be renamed Dignity Health Theater, until Broadway Sacramento nixed a naming rights deal.

Photo courtesy of wiki commoNs

“Broadway Sacramento and Dignity Health have agreed that the best approach is to find a new sponsor for our theater,” he added.

That may take a while.

Hansen and Mayor Darrell Steinberg met with Broadway Sacramento officials on Nov. 19 to figure out who that naming rights sponsor might be. Broadway Sac has not disclosed how much it would have received from the Dignity deal.

But the money is important. It still owes $8.7 million in principal and interest on the theater. If it defaults—it hasn’t missed a payment yet—the city would be on the hook.

Heitstuman said he’s glad that Broadway Sac “did the right thing,” regardless of the cost.

Hansen said he was inspired that in opposing the naming rights deal, activists made clear they didn’t want to harm Broadway Sacramento or local arts.

“We didn’t like the partner, but we love the theater,” Harper said. “We claim that as our theater. We want to protect that space.” □

for her fifth album release, Take it With You, next to blues guitar legends Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Buddy Guy. She calls these these moments “wonderful nuggets of support.” In late September, Knipp was one of 75 artists up for consideration on the Traditional Blues Album ballot for a Grammy. Knipp did not make the cut as one of the five finalists, but she still plans to attend the 62nd grammy awards in January to support her fellow blues artists.

“It was really, really an honor to be on the ballot,” she says. “I’ve never come so close. It was pretty exciting, kind of a whirlwind of emotions. A lot of up and down feelings.”

Knipp is staying busy recording her sixth album in the former studio of Northern California rock band Papa Roach, recently signed with marin artists agency and hopes to hit the festival circuit next year. See Knipp live during her first gig of the new year at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley on Jan. 5.

Sacramento soul singer shane q is still a contender on NBC’s 17th season of The Voice, making it to the top 11 during the Nov. 19 live show.

The national singing competition kicked off in September, and since then, Q has received enough online votes from viewers to only get good news from show host Carson Daly. “standing on stage on Tuesday nights, the result show nights, is very intense. It’s pretty crazy when Carson calls my name. It’s a rush of emotions and excitement,” Q told SN&R. “It’s bittersweet also, because, yes, I made it through, but you build relationships with these contestants and it’s sad to see them go.”

Q says he gigged a lot around Sacramento on the weekends at shine Cafe and big sexy brewing Co. before taking his chances on The Voice.

The show’s judges—Gwen Stefani, John legend, Blake Shelton and former american idol winner Kelly Clarkson— each have their own team of singers who perform renditions of hit songs each week.

For his blind audition, where judges sit with their backs toward the singers, Q sang “Tennessee Whiskey”

by Chris Stapleton and ended up getting a fourchair turn. he chose Team Kelly, and says Clarkson has helped him choose songs that both challenge him Sacramentan Shane Q made it to the top 11 on NBC’s The Voice. and suit his range.

Photo courtesy of NBc uNiversal “I believe I can sing multiple genres really well.

But, I think it all comes down to soul and that’s the genre that people categorize me in,” Q says. “i’m soulful. That’s who i am. As long as people love it. I’m with it.”

Q competes on NBC’s The Voice on Monday and Tuesday nights at 8 p.m.

—Steph RodRiguez stephr@newsreview.com

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Middle of nowhere New exhibit at the Gallery at 48 Natoma explores different sides of small-town life

BY RACHEL MAYFIELD

ra c h e l m @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

There’s a sense of lived-in realness to Kelly Howell’s latest series of photographs. She captures scenes of small towns—dilapidated buildings, rusting vehicles and faded graffiti.

They’re part of the newest exhibit at the Gallery at 48 Natoma, aptly titled Small Town, which aims to stir up feelings associated with visiting or growing up in the kinds of towns that most people wouldn’t think twice about passing through.

Howell, a professional photographer for three years, says she was inspired to shoot her series of photos after she moved from Folsom to Placerville.

“I just kind of fell in love with the small-town feel,” she says. “It’s just a slower, more relaxed nature.”

In addition to Placerville, Howell traveled to Amador City and Sutter Creek to capture that feel in the form of weathered brick storefronts and charming houses with picket fences. It’s a different vibe from Folsom, where Howell grew up.

“Most small towns are pretty old,” Howell says. “When you live in a suburb most of your life, everything’s new, everything’s built up.”

Another participating artist is Kerri Warner, who uses pages from books and other paraphernalia to create colorful collages of human subjects.

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“I love the challenge of capturing an expression through facial or body gestures,” Warner says.

When making a collage, Warner typically starts by creating a black-and-white digital draft, then applies it to a wooden panel. From there, she sketches out her subjects and begins layering on page after page, from background to foreground until she’s satisfied with how it looks.

Sometimes, a piece calls for found objects to add a three-dimensional element. In one collage, titled “Van Gogh on the Farm,” a bright yellow Tonka truck pops out of an idyllic farm scene.

“I do a lot of thrift store shopping and antiquing and a lot of picking up bits and pieces of things,” Warner explains.“I did a piece for Teichert Construction, and that was a half of a tractor that was left, so I had to give it a home.”

For the theme, Warner drew from her experience hanging out on her uncle’s farm in Rocklin, as well as exposure to media based in small towns. She connects a few of her pieces—including those of well-dressed ladies dishing out the latest gossip—to the experience of living in a close-knit community.

“Growing up watching those kinds of shows on TV that were centered in small towns, a lot of the themes were kind of the gossipy neighbor or the older woman in town who knew everything and was watching everything you did,” Warner says.

Her work provides a stark contrast to Howell’s photographs, which are largely devoid of human subjects. Much of the life in Howell’s photographs emanates from particular textures—peeling paint or splintering wood, details that give each place a rich sense of history.

“I always say that I think small towns are forgotten by most people, especially if they travel or if they come out to California,” Howell says. “They want to go to San Francisco or L.A. or Sacramento even, and there’s all these just, really cool little towns.” Ω

Small Town runs through Jan. 16. The Gallery at 48 Natoma, 48 Natoma St., Folsom. Open Mon-Fri, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free. For more info, call (916) 461-6601 or visit folsom.ca.us.

Dead cowboy’s society The Dead South’s specialty bluegrass cocktail

BY MAXFIELD MORRIS

maxfieldm@newsreview.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIX SHOOTER RECORDS

Still, there’s a unique sound and energy the band brings that feels plucked from a different time. The band could have replaced ZZ Top’s cameo in Back to the Future Part III without even stopping by wardrobe—and yet there’s something timeless about their sound.

“Some of them are a different era-esque,” Hilts says of Meet The Dead South: from left to right, Danny Kenyon, the band’s songs. “Some of Scott Pringle, Nate Hilts and Colton “Crawdaddy” Crawford. the other ones are just written in a room, sitting by yourself and there’s no time frame to it. The music tells a story of its own around that.”

When you think bluegrass, you probably think But there’s also an element of acidity to the banjos, twang, soulful voices along with a tasteful band’s image—the song “Banjo Odyssey” details mix of rootin’ and some tootin.’ You might also the story of two star-crossed lovers who also expect it to come from the Appalachia, but the happen to be cousins, and the band’s new album, Saskatchewan-based bluegrass band The Dead Sugar & Joy, is anything but sweet and joyful.

South doesn’t abide by that part of the definition.

“There’s one song we wrote about someone The music just speaks to them. who we had bad experiences with,” Hilts says.

“It grabbed me probably from the part where it “There’s one song about a kid who was teased mattered in university,” says vocalist-guitarist Nate and bullied, so when he grows up he becomes a Hilts. “I was about 20, 21 years old and was being murderer.” introduced to a lot of different kinds of He says the album is not themed bands.” really, just a series of stories told That the band—which plays from the band. They’ve all at Ace of Spades in Sacramento got their own ways of telling “There’s one song on Dec. 2—landed on such tales through music; Hilts, about a kid who was high-energy bluegrass seems Kenyon and Pringle all strange. Considering the write songs that to some teased and bullied, so when musical backgrounds of the extent bring characters to he grows up he becomes a rest of its members, you’re life. As for Crawford, it’s murderer.” treated to a diverse swath of a little different. music. Colton “Crawdaddy” “I would say that Nate Hilts Crawford was a metalhead Colton [Crawford] actually vocalist-guitarist, The Dead South guitarist before he turned to a tells a lot of stories,” Hilts life of banjo—translating heavy says, “But more so in his banjo licks directly to a new instrument. playing. Like, leads and lines than Danny Kenyon is a classically trained go around it.” cellist with indie rock and pop roots. Scott Sugar & Joy is garden hose water that Pringle’s a singer-songwriter in the camp of Frank you drink deeply from. With an unplugged, highTurner, and Hilts names the Doors, Pearl Jam, energy sound, the album is stocked deeply with Meat Loaf and classical music as some of his awful stories well-told that send the listeners down influences. a timeless road of Americana. Ω As Hilts tells it, the band carries all of those sounds when crafting music and melodies.

“When we’re writing, we don’t really go for a certain sound or feel,” Hilts says. “We just Catch The Dead South 7 p.m., Monday, Dec. 2, at Ace of Spades, 1417 R St. play what’s inspired by in the moment, build off Tickets are $35. of it. We kind of get touches of everything.”

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NOW PLAYING

REVIEWS

PHOTO COURTESY OF IBM ORIGINALS

Touch of noir

BY PATTI ROBERTS

PHOTO COURTESY OF CINDY LAWTON

SCREEN PICK Last year’s wildfires left a devastating impact on people’s lives and homes.

Life hacks Based on all the evidence, it’s pretty clear that the culprit is … the typewriter!

Deathtrap

5

Wed 7pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 2pm; Through 12/15; $25-$40; Sacramento Theatre Company, 1419 H St., (916) 443-6722, sactheatre.org.

The theater darkens, ominous music begins and we’re off to murder, mystery and mayhem with Sacramento Theatre Company’s production of Deathtrap. And so begins a pins-and-needles, thoroughly entertaining show that draws in the audience while keeping the constant suspense.

So what’s the storyline of playwright Ira Levin’s Deathtrap? Ah, that’s the conundrum. How do you describe the topsy-turvy plot without giving away the multiple twists and turns of murder and motive?

Here’s a simplified description without spoilers: There’s a playwright. And a play. And writer’s block.

And a wife. And another playwright. Oh, and a murder. Or maybe two. And just when you get a little comfortable with the play’s direction, multiple jarring surprises.

STC tackles Deathtrap’s challenging script and story with wise choices in overall approach, a talented cast, careful direction and spot-on production elements. Director Michael Laun keeps the tone of his cast both light and dark at the same time with a bit of soap opera deliveries and sinister undertones.

And the cast is all-in with Casey McClellan as Sidney the struggling playwright, Natasha Hause as his loyal wife Myra, Dan Fagan as Sidney’s promising protégé, Gail Dartez as a professional psychic and Greg Parker as attorney Porter.

It’s a wise choice to present the play in STC’s more intimate Pollock Stage theater, which heightens the suspense by placing the drama in the laps of the audience. The set is simple: a cozy office with a sofa, a desk, a typewriter and a wall of sinister weapons that Sidney has collected over his theatrical career. Music, lighting and sound effects complete the menacing mood of this malevolent murder mystery. Ω 24

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4 Making a mess “I didn’t go to medical school to clean my own house,” says Lane (Laura Kaya) in The Clean House. “I want a stranger to clean my house!”

Enter Matilde (an outstanding Catalina Serrano Bucheli), who sells herself as a maid, even though she dislikes cleaning and really wants to be a comedian (in Portuguese!). Also enter Virginia (Sherri Heller, who shines as Lane’s meek sister who has never received the attention she deserves).

Exit Charles (Rick Eldredge), Lane’s surgeon husband, who has fallen for one of his breast cancer patients, Ana (Irene Velasquez, who makes her character pretty irresistible).

As these five characters make their way through life, playwright Sarah Ruhl tosses in such fantastical elements as the search for the perfect joke (it’s somewhere between an Angel and a fart), the search for a mythical tree with curative powers, a trek across Alaska in a snowstorm and a joke that is reputed to make a person die of laughter.

Ruhl incorporates these elements of magical realism uneasily into her play. Yes, they often are funny or touching, but they do not seem fully integrated into the plot.

Eldredge, the only male in the play, holds his own against the quartet of strong women. He glides through “cheating husband” and “unethical doctor” to weirdly understandable and surprisingly sympathetic.

Lori Russo-Ocampo directs on a highly utilitarian, pristine white set by John Ewing.

—JIM CARNES The Clean House: Fri 8pm, Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm; Through 12/14; $15-$18; Big Idea Theatre, 1616 Del Paso Blvd.; (916) 960-3036; bigideatheatre.org.

1 2 3 4 5 FOUL

FAIR

GOOD

WELL-DONE

SUBLIME DON’T MISS

In 2018, the worst year on record for natural disasters, first responders lacked access to digital technology that could improve their ability to save lives and property.

For starters, most still used paper maps. In the new documentary, Code & Response, a Bay Area fire battalion chief eyeballs the map pinned to the fire station wall, draws affected areas on his iPad and sends the drawing to the front lines.

First responders needed a better way to communicate, a collaborative platform not dependent on paper maps or the Internet, said Kenji Kato, a NASA engineer and app developer. Kato’s previous start-up was rooted in Sacramento’s farm-to-fork movement. He was here recently for a hackathon, a team-based contest to create agile, tech-based solutions for firefighters and other first responders.

A personal mission drives the development of Kato’s latest app, “The Wildfire Report.” In the summer of 2014, as the Carlton Complex Fire burned more than 250,000 acres in north-central Washington state, where Kato grew up and where his parents and brother still lived, he got on his computer. He grabbed publicly available geographic data from government sources, and applied them to fly-through videos so the average person could discern the fire’s path and speed.

“Most people don’t know how to get access to this data.

They don’t even know how to read the map, sometimes,” he said.

Kato posted the videos on YouTube and quickly amassed 100,000 views. He knew he was on to something big.

“Fast forward from 2014 to the [2019 Kincade] fire, the digital maps were at very high level. They didn’t go down to the individual street level or what I need to know about right here,” said Kato, patting the table in front of him.

“That’s what I’m trying to build, an app that would give you individualized information.”

Kato is among the coders featured in Code & Response, an around-the-world tour of disaster-relief technology developed at IBM’s “Call for Code” hackathons.

He says he hopes to hold a meeting soon with government officials who attended the Sacramento hackathon. He’s ready to address other natural disasters that may be on the horizon.

“The Central Valley is at risk for floods. How do we make sure systems work together to create resiliency so that no matter what the disaster is, we can survive through it.”

He hopes to develop an app for that, soon. The documentary Code & Response is now available to stream on Amazon, iTunes and Vimeo.

—JOEY GARCIA

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ILLUSTRATION BY MARIA RATINOVA

Peter knows best PETER’S PERFECT BENNY, EVAN’S KITCHEN AND CATERING Evan better step aside because Peter knows his Benedicts. Peter’s Perfect Benny ($14) is a savory mess of chicken apple sausage, sliced avocado and two poached eggs dripping with hollandaise sauce on an English muffin. This warm, gooey Benedict is topped with a delicate balsamic reduction drizzle.

The dish comes with a choice of seasonal fruit, or the obvious choice, home fries, which are really country potatoes in disguise. More and less traditional Bennies are available, but I’d side with Peter for any brunch.

Evan’s Kitchen is a classic diner with a modern feel complete with striped wallpaper, booth seats and slightly burnt coffee. 855 57th St., chefevan.com.

The red snapper in Louisiana Heaven’s Two-Way Combo is the best part of this meal with its crispy batter and tender, flaky meat.

(Abstain from the mac and cheese.)

Paradise lost Louisiana Heaven 6623 Valley Hi Drive; (916) 689-4800 Good for: Cajun and Creole comforts Notable dishes: Shrimp Dinner, Red Snapper

$$$

Cajun/Creole, South Sacramento

With the recent exit of Cora Lorraine’s in Oak Park, South Sacramento doesn’t have too many soul food spots. This is a sad acknowledgment. Are we to live in a world where we’re denied candied yams and collard greens?

We may not have to. Tucked into the corner of a parking lot containing a doughnut shop and a liquor store, Louisiana Heaven has stepped in to replenish the loss.

On both visits, we were the first customers to arrive.

When we placed our orders at the counter (standard practice), we were cautioned that the mac and cheese wouldn’t be ready for another 15 minutes. Considering the menu notifies customers that most orders take 15 to 20 minutes to prepare anyway, we figured we’d go for it.

What’s soul food without mac and cheese? The Shrimp Dinner ($12.99) comes with two sides. Mac and cheese, red beans and rice and potato salad were chosen. The shrimp was stunning. Perfectly supple with a craggily crust. The red beans and rice were hot, had good flavor and the beans were tender. But there’s hardly any rice.

The mac and cheese was texturally banal: The pasta was overcooked and mushy. The cheese sauce was one-note, gummy and the temperature was warm-ish.

On both visits the potato salad was warm, like it had 28 | SN&R | 11.28.19

PHOTO BY ILLYANNA MAISONET

—TESSA MARGUERITE OUTLAND

Childhood delights THE GRAHAM, 18 GRAMS COFFEE & TEA

BY ILLYANNA MAISONET

just been made and had no time to sit in the refrigerator where the flavors really unify. Warm potato salad that’s not German has no place in my heart. The Cajun-fried chicken only comes in wing form. In fact, chicken wings are all Louisiana Heaven offers in the fried chicken department although it’s not transparent on its menu.

When two wings and one red snapper fillet arrived in my Two-Way Combo ($15.99) I began to feel disenchanted with the idea of heaven. The red snapper was perfectly fried, with a crispy exterior and that moist flakiness. The chicken wings aren’t heavily breaded (if at all) and could have used a bit longer in the fryer to achieve that crackly crust. The texture is more like KFC’s original recipe.

Boudin is one of the darlings of Cajun country.

Louisiana Heaven offers Boudin Balls ($6), three hefty balls to an order. Most boudin balls are made of boudin blanc, a sausage consisting of pork offal and rice (sometimes dirty rice) without the pork blood. In this case, instead of stuffed into a casing, it’s rolled into balls and deep fried. The first impression of the chicken and sausage gumbo ($12.99) is not the generous amount of Dungeness crab clawing its way out of the murky chocolate-colored broth, but the unnecessary sprinkling of seasonings on the rim of the plate and the fact that it’s lukewarm. The gumbo could have been the breakout star, if only it wasn’t held back by its inexperienced manager and off-key backup singers.

For now, Louisiana Heaven’s too-small-for-the-cost portions and its inability to deliver most of the food piping hot will keep it in purgatory. But it has the potential to be something worthy of the pearly gates. Ω

Some flavors immediately take me back to childhood, and The Graham latte at 18 Grams Coffee & Tea in Elk Grove is no exception. One sip of the honey, cinnamon and vanilla blend and I’m a kid again. It’s as if I’m sitting in front of grandma’s roaring fireplace in my robe and bunny slippers eating a plate of crunchy graham crackers and licking off a frothy milk mustache from my upper lip. A tasty memory, but thank goodness The Graham latte has a vital ingredient missing from grandma’s plate of goodies: A double shot of espresso to shake off the nostalgia and get my butt back to work.

9677 E. Stockton Blvd.; 18gramscoffee.com.

—AMY BEE

PLANET V

New menu, who this?

Every few years, Taco Bell hits up vegetarians like an old boyfriend—just, y’know, saying hi. It’s great to see you.

We see you, Taco Bell. You’ve been our road trip go-to for years, our drunk end-of-the-night stop before Del Taco served Beyond Meat. Taco Bell is once again letting vegetarians know it’s still thinking of us.

Following American Vegetarian Association ingredient certifications, Taco Bell introduced a dedicated vegetarian menu in September.

But just like the ex eager to tell you he’s graduated from floor mattress to futon, there’s little change here: save two additions, its veg offerings are sameold-same-old. Though it would have been nice to save employees from suffering our menu hacks by offering some specifically vegan items, it’s cool that Taco Bell recognizes it has a loyal herbivore base and continues to cater to veg-types while Burger King faces lawsuits for slinging Impossible burgers in meat grease.

—LINDSAY OXFORD

DRINK

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Jimenez-Rivera’s family in Quebradillas and As a child visiting family in Puerto Rico, Rafael Ponce, Puerto Rico, were all impacted by the Jimenez-Rivera recalls closely watching his late devastating 2017 hurricane. grandfather, Monolo, take care in making a traditional “I have cousins that we didn’t hear from for like Puerto Rican cocktail every Christmas and throughout two months and it was super scary. They were out in Three Kings Day called coquito, which means “little the country and they had no way to get in touch with coconut.” us,” he says. “They had no electricity for months. It He says he soaked up the family recipe, which was rough.” includes a warm blend of grated spices with creamy Although he makes coquito every year for his coconut milk—and his grandfather’s homemade family and for customers at Hook & Ladder, this year moonshine.

Jimenez-Rivera says he looks forward to tasting what While Jimenez-Rivera (general manager at fellow bartenders create. Buddy Newby, co-owner and Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co.) doesn’t brew bartender of Jungle Bird, has made coquito before his own moonshine, he still carries on the at his bar and also tasted the cocktail during tradition of his grandfather by making his travels to Puerto Rico. his variation of coquito for the past “It’s more like a Christmas-y pina 15 years.

“Every year my colada,” Newby says. “The hardest “It’s kind of like eggnog, but recipe changes a part is being able to stay true to we use coconut cream, coconut the drink without changing it too milk; we’re using rum, allspice, little bit because I find a much, but also being able to put cinnamon, evaporated milk, new rum or a new spice to your own personal spin on it.” condensed milk. We make a huge add to it.”

Newby says a quality rum batch,” Jimenez-Rivera says. is always important, as well as On Dec. 15 in Hook & Rafael Jimenez-Rivera a good coconut cream that’s not Ladder’s upstairs private dining general manager, Hook & Ladder too sweet, but packs good flavor room, Jimenez-Rivera will host Manufacturing Co. and fresh spices that enhance each the first annual Coquito Wars, an sip. For Jimenez-Rivera, it’s all homage to his grandfather, with six about how much love and time you put bartenders from Lowbrau, Café Á Côté, into the recipe.

Jungle Bird and elsewhere battling it out with “Every year my recipe changes a little bit because their versions of the holiday cocktail. The competiI find a new rum or a new spice to add to it,” he says. tion will also raise money for a cause that is dear to “I have my base that I got from my grandpa and I took Jimenez-Rivera’s heart, helping those who are still in that base and made it my own. My recipe is a living need after Hurricane Maria. breathing recipe and I have my different vintages.” □ “A portion of the proceeds of the tickets that we’re selling are going toward people in Puerto Rico,” he says. “My mom just got back from Witness the first annual Coquito Wars at Hook & Ladder Manufacturing there and people are still experiencing rolling Co., 1630 S St., on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30, visit eventbrite. com/e/coquito-wars-battle-of-the-best-coquito-tickets-83493099107 blackouts.” for more information.

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join our

P

GARDEN

PLACE

Holiday cheer Gardeners have many ways to grow seasonal spirit

BY DEBBIE ARRINGTON

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PLANT FOUNDRY

Tickets ($30) are available in advance at sacredhearthometour.com. On tour weekend, Dec. 6-8, drop by Sacred Heart Parish School (856 39th St.) for tickets and locally made gifts.

In El Dorado Hills, Homes for the Holidays celebrates its 10th year on Dec. 7 and 8. Hosted by the Assistance League of Sierra Foothills, this popular tour raises funds for disadvantaged and homeless children and families. Tickets ($25) are available at assistanceleague.org/sierra-foothills/.

Go to a garden party. Local nurseries are holding holiday affairs. The hard part?

Picking which one.

Locally grown poinsettias In Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborbring instant holiday cheer. hood, the Plant Foundry (3500 Broadway; plantfoundry.com) will host its fifth annual holiday open house 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday, There’s no snow on the ground in Sacramento, no Dec. 7. There will be music, adoptable pets, beer, frosty cues for hot chocolate and sleigh bells. vegan tacos and a visit by Santa. The nursery’s When the weather feels more like September than late November, the holiday season becomes a state Christmas tree lot will be packed with trees from nearby California farms. Find locally grown of mind, like Bing Crosby dreaming of a “White poinsettias, too.

Christmas.”

High-Hand Nursery (3750 Taylor Road, But how do you get to that warm and fuzzy Loomis; highhandnursery.com) will host its happy place?

Steampunk Victorian Holiday Faire (complete There’s no shortage of opportunities to embrace that holiday spirit. Here are a few ways to with a Steampunk Santa), 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, kick your cheer into high gear: Dec. 8. At High-Hand’s historic fruit-packing Visit a Christmas tree farm. Think of it as shed, the real magic happens when they flip the farm to floor. Forests of fresh firs, pines, spruces, switch on an astounding light display at 5:30 p.m. cedars and even redwoods await customers at Saturday, Dec. 7.

Sierra foothill tree farms (and a few farms in the Ride the Candy Cane Tram and sip some valley, too). An hour from Sacramento, Apple Hill cider—or wine—during the holiday celebration is dotted with several growers. You can cut your at the Amador Flower Farm (22001 Shenandoah own or take home a pre-cut tree. Find a map and School Road, Plymouth; amadorflowerfarm.com). suggestions at the El Dorado County Christmas From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dec. 7 and 8, the destinaTree Growers’ website, chooseandcut.com. tion farm—home to millions of daylilies—will Get a locally grown poinsettia. Eisley Nursery host Santa while offering hot cider and cookies.

(380 Nevada St., Auburn; eisleynursery.com) In the heart of Amador wine country, the farm produces thousands of poinsettias each year in a also will be a stop Dec. 8 during the Shenandoah wide range of varieties. (They aren’t all plain red.)

School Road Holiday Open House, featuring Because they’re locally grown, they tend to last several of its neighbor wineries. (And yes, you can longer and look brighter. Eisley’s poinsettias are uncork a bottle under the farm’s massive oaks.) sold at several other local nurseries, too.

That’s real locally grown holiday cheer. Ω Take a holiday home tour. Three days next

sn&r is Looking for • Marketing & Publications SaleS ConSultant • diStribution driver for more information, visit www.newsreview.com/sacramento/jobs

SN&R is an Equal Opportunity Employer that actively seeks diversity in the workplace.

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week, the 46th annual Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour will attract more than 5,000 patrons, who stroll through Sacramento’s Fabulous Forties to see five homes decked out in holiday splendor.

Debbie Arrington, an award-winning garden writer and lifelong gardener, is co-creator of the Sacramento Digs Gardening blog and website.

FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 28

BY MAXFIELD MORRIS

POST EVENTS ONLINE FOR FREE AT newsreview.com/sacramento

MUSIC THURSDAY, 11/28 LANGGALAMU: Give thanks with the Langgalamu Thanksgiving Chinese Concert at Thunder Valley Casino. 8pm, $48. Thunder Valley Casino, 1200 Athens Ave., Lincoln.

FRIDAY, 11/29 DAVIS JAZZ NIGHT: The monthly, local, free live jazz event is hosted by The New Harmony Jazz Band. 7pm, no cover. John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st St., Davis.

EMAROSA: The Kentucky alternative rock band comes to Sacramento to perform. 7pm, $17. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St.

FALL FEELS: City of Trees brings the fall “feeliage” amid all the foliage and leaves and whatnot. 9pm, $10. Torch Club, 904 15th St.

HOBO JOHNSON & THE LOVEMAKERS: Hobo

28

THU

Grab your shoes, your gloves and your sense of charity.

Johnson’s storied rise to stardom brings him and the band back to Sacramento, to their roots. Catch one of two shows Friday and Saturday 7pm, $29.50. Ace of Spades, 1417 R St.

HERMAN’S HERMITS STARRING PETER NOONE:

Running with the turkeys SACRAMENTO STATE, 8:15AM, $20-$50 Every year, I get let down by holiday shopping, bored by holiday markets and lullabied by SPORTS & OUTDOORS live theater— but one event never fails to brighten my spirits: the Run to Feed the Hungry. It has become the biggest Thanksgiving fun run in the country, drawing thousands of people and raising money for people living

TICKET WINDOW KINDRED THE FAMILY SOUL

This married couple doubles as a unit of neo soul music production. Catch Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon as they perform together. 12/20, 7pm, $37-$47, on sale now. Harlow’s, showclix.com.

FOG LAKE Catch the lo-fi landscape

music of Aaron Powell’s Fog Lake along with a minimalist performance from Foxes in Fiction. 1/20, 7pm, $10-$12, on sale now. Starlet Room, showclix.com.

STEVE WINTER That’s right, Winter

is coming! Steve Winter is a National Geographic photographer who will share the story of photographing big cats the world over while working on conservation efforts. 1/17, 7:30pm, $12-$42, on sale now. Harris Center, Folsom, tickets. harriscenter.net.

Mrs. Brown may have a lovely daughter, but Herman’s Hermits has a lovely Peter Noone.

Catch the pair of them in concert. 7:30pm, $34.95. Thunder Valley Casino, 1200 Athens Ave., Lincoln.

JOE MAZZAFERO: Joe Mazzafero brings the

with food insecurity in the process. You can run a 5K or a 10K and help support the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services for the 27th year running. The event is also a unique opportunity for people watching— families and friends running together, waterfalls of people cascading around you on a crisp morning. It’s nice. 6000 J St., runtofeedthehungry.com.

jazz music if you’ll only bring the jazz enthusiasm. 9pm, no cover. Shady Lady, 1409 R St.

OLD COTTON DREARY: OCD plays both kinds of music, rock and also roll. Wellsville is an eclectic mixture of blues and rock, with just enough honky-tonk to keep you grinning. 9pm, $5. Fox & Goose, 1001 R St.

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA: The TransSiberian Orchestra is here for a couple of shows with all the holiday ambiance they can muster. 7:30pm, $46-$76. Golden 1 Center, 500 David J. Stern Walk.

SATURDAY, 11/30 Your ticket awaits, m’lady.

MEAT LOAF PRESENTS Get

the greatest hits of Meat Loaf in one convenient show. The songs will be sung

by American Idol winner Caleb Johnson, and the music will be performed

by Meat Loaf’s tireless band, The Neverland Express. 1/24, 7:30pm, $39.50-$59.50, on sale now. Crest Theatre, crestsacramento.com.

THE GREEN The reggae,

dub band from Hawaii is stopping in Lincoln next year.

They’re celebrating their 10th anniversary. 1/31, 7:30pm,

$34.95, on sale now.

Thunder Valley Casino, Lincoln, ticketmaster. com.

Travel, Rick.

ROGUE: Rogue will be playing at Strikes

Unlimited in Rocklin. 9pm, $10. Strikes Unlimited, 5681 Lonetree Blvd., Rocklin.

SMOSH The YouTube comedy show brings one of its serious recurring episodes on the road: Try Not to Laugh. Here, comedians will attempt to make other comedians laugh while attempting to refrain from laughing, themselves. 2/5, 8pm, $37-$57, on sale now. Crest Theatre, crestsacramento.com.

RICK STEVES Spend a much-needed

weekend evening with Rick Steves, travel writer and storied TV host. His slide-show lecture will elucidate and illustrate the nuances of traveling in Europe.

3/4, 7pm, $30, on sale now. Crest Theatre, crestsacramento. com.

AN IRISH CHRISTMAS 2019: With an awardwinning cast of Irish dancers led by Caterina Coyne, Tyler Schwartz and Connor Reider, this is a journey through Christmas in Ireland, featuring superb dancing, beautiful singing and traditional music. 2pm, $18$48. Harris Center, 10 College Pkwy, Folsom.

LIVE SALSA WITH CARLOS XAVIER: It’s salsa time at Strikes with Carlos Xavier, a salsa artist out of San Francisco, and his salsa band. 9pm, $15. Pins N Strikes, 3443 Laguna Blvd., Elk Grove.

snr c a le nd a r @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

Online listings will be considered for print. Print listings are edited for space and accuracy. Deadline for print listings is 5 p.m. Wednesday. Deadline for NightLife listings is midnight Sunday.

Send photos and reference materials to Calendar Editor Maxfield Morris at snrcalendar@newsreview.com.

NATE SMITH: Nate Smith provides the sounds of this free show at Goldfield. 7:30pm, no cover. Goldfield Trading Post, 1630 J St.

THE NICKEL SLOTS: Drop Dead Red plays with the Nickel Slots at this show. 8:30pm, $10. Old Ironsides, 1901 10th St.

PETTY THEFT: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers get tributed at this show with Petty Theft. 9pm, $15-$18. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

THE SACTO STORYTELLERS: Empress Niko & The Lion’s Paw join the Storytellers for some reggae vibes and music. 9pm, $5. Fox & Goose, 1001 R St.

SUNDAY, 12/1 THE CHAINSMOKERS: Catch the electronic music band as they perform in the company of 5 Seconds of Summer and Lennon Stella. 7pm, $25.91. Golden 1 Center, 500 David J. Stern Walk.

JIM BRICKMAN A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION: Jim Brickman returns to Folsom this Christmas to wow the crowd with his uplifting, familyfriendly, holiday concert tradition. 8pm, $35$65. Harris Center, 10 College Pkwy, Folsom.

LAINE HARDY: The American Idol champion comes to sing songs of wonder and vocalize. 7pm, $29.50. Ace of Spades, 1417 R St.

OMB PEEZY: The hip-hop artist from Mobile, Alabama, will be in town on tour to perform. 7pm, $25-$50. Holy Diver, 1517 21st St.

SOUL THERAPY SUNDAYS: Catch Soul Therapy Sundays at Ambiance Lounge for sounds from DJs Epik and Racer. 8:30pm, no cover. Ambiance Lounge, 910 2nd St.

TEEBS: Mtendere Mandowa, also known as Teebs, is a musician and painter, a musician with relaxing music and fun sounds. 7pm, $15. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

TOM RIGNEY & FLAMBEAU: Enjoy jazz-bluesCajun sounds of violin master Tom Rigney and his hot band Flambeau. Benefits the American Cancer Society’s road to Recovery and Society for the Blind Senior Impact Project. 1pm, $20-$25. Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

MONDAY, 12/2 THE DEAD SOUTH: On their Served Cold tour, catch the Canadian band as they start off a tour in California. Full story on page 23. 7pm, $25. Ace of Spades, 1417 R St.

WEDNESDAY, 12/4 ALY & AJ: The sister-sister duo performs

together as they have done for years. 7pm, $25. Ace of Spades, 1417 R St.

ARC ORCHESTRA: The ARC Orchestra joins hiphop orchestra EMN in the world premiere of JooWan Kim’s “Concerto for Trombone and MC.” 7:30pm, $10-$15. American River College Theatre, 4700 College Oak Drive.

MARIACHI SOL DE MEXICO: How is Christmas celebrated in the Southwest? With traditional carols played by a mariachi of course! And Mariachi Sol de Mexico, with the blazing sounds of its 13-piece ensemble, brings to life a festive, joyous holiday celebration. 7pm, $25-$55. Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, 2700 Capitol Ave.

CALENDAR LISTINGS CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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SEE MORE EVENTS AND SUBMIT YOUR OWN AT NEWSREVIEW.COM/SACRAMENTO/CALENDAR

FRIDAY, 11/29

episode of The Tonight Show. 9pm Friday,

11/29. $7. 1710 Broadway.

Sacramento Climate Strike STATE CAPITOL NORTH STEPS, 11AM, NO COVER

SACRAMENTO COMEDY SPOT: Mystery Meat.

Mystery Meat is a fast-paced game show where blindfolded contestants must answer trivia questions while eating an undisclosed meat product. 8pm Saturday, 11/30. $8. 1050 20th St., Suite 130.

THE GUILD THEATER: Comedy Night. Catch

This Black Friday, stand up to the high price of climate change TAKE ACTION at this Climate Strike affiliated with Fridays for Future Sacramento. The strike’s goals are to influence the PHOTO BY ANDRE R, CC BY-SA 3.0 direction of California politics in the direction of sustainability, demanding that Gov. Gavin Newsom not authorize any more fossil fuel infrastructure and that the city of Sacramento uses only renewable energy by 2030. Show up for the protests, stay for the speeches by local climate leaders and more.

1100 L St., linktr.ee/fffsac.

CALENDAR LISTINGS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

SATURDAY, 11/30 SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY-GLOBAL LOCAL MERCADO: Support international and local

FESTIVALS

artisan collectives and vendors. Discover authentic handmade and unique gifts for yourself and your loved ones at this celebration of Small Business Day. 10pm, no cover. Sol Collective, 2574 21st St.

THURSDAY, 11/28 HMONG NEW YEAR: Celebrate the Hmong New Year at this three-day festival at Cal Expo.

There will be lots of performances, plus music and more. 8am, $5. Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Blvd.

THANKSGIVING FEAST FOR THE ANIMALS: Join Folsom City Zoo for its annual tradition: a special holiday celebration just for the zoo sanctuary animals. Watch as all the animals receive their festive Thanksgiving meals, including special pumpkin pie. 11am, $5$7. Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary, 403 Stafford St., Folsom.

FOOD & DRINK SUNDAY, 12/1 HOLIDAY HIGH TEA: Celebrate the comforting flavors of the holidays and the festive nature of the season at this high tea. 1pm, $15-$40. Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St.

FILM

FRIDAY, 11/29 CROCKER HOLIDAY ARTISAN MARKET: Step into a world of creative wonder as you shop for meaningful gifts and one-of-a-kind treasures by more than 100 regional artists.

Now a Northern California holiday tradition, this three-day bazaar at Sacramento’s Scottish Rite Center delights art lovers of all ages. Noon, $8. Scottish Rite Center, 6151 H St.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: See the story of a professor turned adventurer in the first chapter of Indiana Jones. 7pm, $10. Crest Theatre, 1013 K St.

COMEDY PUNCH LINE: Tommy Davidson. Catch Tommy Davidson, American comedian, film and television actor and member of In Living Color. Through 11/30. $25. Talking After Sets with Austin Carr. Spend some time with funny talker Austin Carr. 8pm Wednesday, 12/4. $17. 2100 Arden Way, Suite 225.

SHOP BLACK FRIDAY SACRAMENTO: Attend the third annual Black Friday Sacramento shopping and cultural event featuring vendors, art, music and food and unique items. 10am, no cover. African Marketplace, 2251 Florin Road.

STAB! COMEDY THEATER: Dr. Buddy Love. Dr.

WINTER ART FEST 2019: Rancho Cordova’s Premiere Gallery is hosting 17 local artists for Winter Art Fest 2019, ranging from oil painters to traditional basket weavers. Noon, no cover. Mills Station Arts & Culture Center, 10191 Mills Station Road, Rancho Cordova.

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TOMMY T’S COMEDY CLUB: Ian Edwards. The English-Jamaican comedian, writer and producer will share some stand-up. Through 12/1. $12-$15. 12401 Folsom Blvd., Rancho Cordova.

OLD SACRAMENTO WATERFRONT: Theatre of Lights. Discover the sounds of the fires, floods and revelry that befell the historic district in the 1850s as 150-year-old building facades light up with color. Through 12/24. No cover. 1002 Front St.

SACRAMENTO CITY COLLEGE: Alice in Wonderland A British Panto. This theatrical extravaganza brings the Dame and her assistant, White Rabbit, to Alice’s adventure down the rabbit hole to Pantoland. Through 12/15. $10$18. 3835 Freeport Blvd.

SACRAMENTO THEATRE: Deathtrap. Sidney

ON STAGE AMERICAN RIVER COLLEGE THEATRE: Picasso at the Lapine Agile. This long-running Off Broadway absurdist comedy places Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in a Parisian cafe in 1904, just before the renowned scientist transformed physics with his theory of relativity and the celebrated painter set the art world afire with cubism. Through 12/8. $12-$15. 4700 College Oak Drive.

BIG IDEA THEATRE: The Clean House. A romantic comedy about loss, love, change and redemption. Read the review on page 24.

Through 12/14. $12-$18. 1616 Del Paso Blvd.

CAPITAL STAGE: The Wickhams Christmas at Pemberley. It’s Christmas at Pemberley again. This new companion piece to the holiday hit takes you downstairs where servants are bustling with the arrival of holiday guests. Through 12/29. $25-$49. 2215 J St.

CELEBRATION ARTS: Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity. A musical retelling of the nativity story featuring African-American spiritual and gospel music, dance and narration. Through 12/22. $13.60-$20.80. 4469 D St.

Bruhl, a previously successful Broadway thriller writer, is trying to overcome a dry spell and a series of box office flops. Read the review on page 24. Through 12/14. $40. 1419 H St.

ART KENNEDY GALLERY: Autumn Leaves Exhibit.

Experience the vibrant palette of the changing seasons as local artists play tribute to autumn and the magic it brings. Through 12/8. No cover. 1931 L St.

SACRAMENTO FINE ARTS CENTER: Ars Gratia Artis. This will be a show and reception to for SFAC’s 25th annual reception and raffle for art. 2pm Sunday, 12/1. $100. 5330 Gibbons Drive, Suite B, Carmichael.

TIM COLLOM GALLERY: Margarita Chaplinska Aloft. Painter Margarita Chaplinska’s solo exhibition “Aloft” will feature aerial views of landscapes as well as figures in motion. Through 12/5. No cover. 915 20th St.

SACRAMENTO ZOO: ThankZoo. Sacramento Zoo residents will also have a smashing good time when they receive seasonal pumpkins to eat, play with, bounce, tear apart, and smash. 10am Friday, 11/29. $9.95. 3930 W. Land Park Drive.

STATE INDIAN MUSEUM: Native Arts and Crafts Market. Artisans from all over California offer unique, Native-made items just in time for the holidays. 10am Friday, 11/29. $5. 2618 K St.

BOOKS SATURDAY, 11/30 SOUTH SACRAMENTO NANOWRIMO WRITE-IN: Come write with the NaNoWriMo crew at the Valley Hi-Laguna North Library on Saturdays. 2pm, no cover. Valley Hi-Laguna North Library, 7400 Imagination Pkwy.

SPORTS & OUTDOORS THURSDAY, 11/28 RUN TO FEED THE HUNGRY: Join in the fun for Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services’ Run to Feed the Hungry, raising funds and awareness about food insecurity in our community. 8:15am, $35. Sacramento State, 6000 J St.

MONDAY, 12/2 3RD ANNUAL MUSTACHES AND MULLIGANS GOLF TOURNAMENT: Bring awareness to men’s health issues with this golf tournament benefiting the Movemeber Foundation. 10am, $125. Serrano Country Club, 5005 Serrano Pkwy, El Dorado Hills.

MUSEUMS

HARRIS CENTER: STOMP. The eight-member troupe returns to the Harris Center, using everything but conventional percussion instruments—matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps—to fill the stage with magnificent rhythms. Through 11/29.

and choral singing. Through 12/23. No cover. 1315 10th St.

CALIFORNIA STATE CAPITOL MUSEUM: Holiday Music Program. California State Capitol Museum hosts its annual music program, featuring a wide variety of cultural influences in stringed instruments, soft brass

FRIDAY, 11/29

QUEER + POC MARKET BLACK FRIDAY EDITION: Join Sol Collective for two days of shopping for POC & Queer Friday and Small Business Saturday. 10am, no cover. Sol Collective, 2574 21st St.

some comedy at the Guild Theater’s night of comedy. 7pm Friday, 11/29. $5-$15. 2828 35th St.

$43.20-$82. Mannheim Steamroller Christmas. Christmas classics along with a selection of compositions from Chip’s Fresh Aire series which introduced the Mannheim sound to all of America. Through 12/3. $48.60$94. 10 College Pkwy, Folsom.

11.28.19

Buddy Love is a sex positive comedy show, featuring talent from all ends of the sexual spectrum. LGBTQ+ and ally comedians come together to discuss topics about relationships, sexual orientation, kinks and sex they are or aren’t having. 8pm Friday, 11/29. $7. The Tonight Play. Stephen Ferris presents this full reenactment of the Nov. 29, 1977

TUESDAY, 12/3

The Truth About Textiles CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, 10AM, NO COVER

There’s a lot to say about the textile business, so CalRecyle has prepared a workshop to discuss the industry and its CLASSES future. Show up to hear about textile consumption, potential solutions to the boundless waste production, how to spread awareness and more. The all-day event features panel discussions about waste and fashion, textile collection methods and efforts in reducing, reusing and recycling. Show up to hear from people in the industry and to get informed. 1001 I St., calrecycle.ca.gov.

PHOTO BY HANNAH MORGAN

Friday, 11/29

STOMP Harris Center, 2pm & 7pm, $43.20-$82

If you prefer to hear percussion music only through expensive, professional instruments, you should skip this event—but if you like tapping on On STage a coffee mug at work, finding a beat where no others dare, this event may inspire you. The eight-member PHOTO COUrTESy OF HarriS CENTEr team of sonic imagineers will guide you through the visceral, visual performance of STOMP. Disclaimer: Trash cans may be used in ways you never thought possible. 10 College Pkwy, harriscenter.net.

LGBTQ

CLaSSES

THUrSday, 11/28

MONday, 12/2

FRIenDSgIVIng 2019: Join the LGBT center for a

STanD-UP 101 CLaSS: Want to get started in

free dinner as they come together for good times and positive community. It’s the 4th annual Friendsgiving, so come join in the fun. noon, no cover. The Sacramento LGBT Community Center, 1927 L St.

SUNday, 12/1 WORLD aIDS DaY 2019: Honor the activism in queer nightlife and POC warriors with this interactive experience that commemorates underground activism in the HIV/AIDS movement. noon, no cover. The Sacramento LGBT Community Center, 1927 L St.

TaKE aCTiON THUrSday, 11/28 9TH annUaL WaLK TO STOCK THe aUBURn FOOD CLOSeT 2019: Help stock the Auburn Food Closet with food at this fun walk. 9am, no cover. Central Square, High St. at Lincoln Way, Auburn.

FRee FLU VaCCIneS: Sierra College’s Health Center is providing free flu vaccines to students, staff, faculty and community members—anyone older than 8 through December 13. 8:30am, no cover. Sierra College, 5100 Sierra College Blvd., Rocklin.

WISH UPOn a STaR annUaL gIFT DRIVe: Sacramento State’s University Union is pleased to announce the annual gift donation drive, Wish Upon a Star. 6:30am, no cover. The University Union at Sac State, 6000 J St.

Friday, 11/29

your career of comedy? Get started with Sacramento Comedy Spot and you’ll be well on your way to succeeding in the world of comedy. 7pm, $170. Sacramento Comedy Spot, 1050 20th St., Suite 130.

WIg MaKIng CLaSS: Learn proper functions of the sewing machine to create full custom lace wig, great for beginners who want to learn how to make lace front wigs on a sewing machine. 10am, $200-$600. 7826 Alta Valley Drive.

TUESday, 12/3 CaLReCYCLe WORKSHOP THe TRUTH aBOUT TeXTILeS: Learn about textiles from the folks at the California Environmental Protection Agency, featured on the previous page. 10am, no cover. California Environmental Protection Agency, 1001 I St.

STRUM FOR FUn: The Sacramento Guitar Society, a nonprofit educational and arts organization, is offering a free community service to get you on your way to playing the guitar. Join them weekly for a fun “strum-inar” where you decide what song you want to learn to play. 3:30pm, no cover. North Natomas Library, 4660 Via Ingoglia.

WEdNESday, 12/4 PaInT & SIP aT THe KIngS gOLDen 1 CenTeR: Join the Painted Cork for a special Sacramento Kings Paint and Sip night.

Guests will enjoy a two-hour painting experience with The Painted Cork Art Studio while sampling various Bogle Vineyards wines. 5:30pm, $65. Golden 1 Center, 500 David J. Stern Walk.

SaCRaMenTO CLIMaTe STRIKe: Sacramento youth and their adult allies will go on strike for climate justice, joining youth around the world in striking. 11am, no cover. California State Capitol, North Steps, 1100 L St.

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THURSDAY 11/28

FRIDAY 11/29

ARMADILLO MUSIC

Poprockz 90s Night, 10pm, no cover

2003 K ST., (916) 448-8790

SUNDAY 12/1

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 12/2-4

Industry Sundays, 9pm, no cover

After Hours with Apple, 9pm, M, no cover; Trapicana, 11pm, W, no cover

Jerome Deppe, 8pm, no cover

207 F ST., DAVIS, (530) 758-8058

BADLANDS

SATURDAY 11/30

Fierce Fridays, 7pm, call for cover

Spectacular Saturdays, 6pm, call for cover

BAR 101

Open-Mic Night, 7:30pm, W, call for cover

101 MAIN ST., ROSEVILLE, (916) 774-0505

BLUE LAMP

1400 ALHAMBRA BLVD., (916) 455-3400

The Gatlin & Yukmouth: Double Dragon Release Party, 9pm, call for cover

THE BOARDWALK

Bad Mother Nature, 8:30pm, $10

9426 GREENBACK LN., ORANGEVALE, (916) 358-9116

Andrés, 7pm, $13

THE BOXING DONKEY PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN BIEHLER

The Chainsmokers 7pm Sunday, $23-$325 Golden 1 Center EDM

Trivia Tuesday, 7pm, T, no cover

300 LINCOLN ST., ROSEVILLE, (916) 797-3665

CAPITOL GARAGE

1500 K ST., (916) 444-3633

Capitol Fridays, 10pm, no cover before 10:30pm

Dinner and a Drag Show, 7:30pm, $5$25; Karaoke, 9:30pm, call for cover

Geeks Who Drink, 8:30pm, W, no cover

CREST THEATRE

Raiders of the Lost Ark, 7pm, $10

Mariachi Sol de Mexico, 7:30pm, $25-$55

Asleep at the Wheel, 7:30pm, W, $35-$65

DRAKE’S: THE BARN

Black Friday Blitz, 12pm, call for cover

FACES

Absolut Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

Sequin Saturdays, 9:30pm, call for cover

FOX & GOOSE

Old Cotton Dreary and Wellsville, 9pm, $5

The Sacto Storytellers and Empress Niko & the Lion’s Paw, 9pm, $5

GOLDEN 1 CENTER

500 DAVID J STERN WALK, (888) 915-4647

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 3pm & 7:30pm, $36-$76

Nuggets vs. Kings, 2pm, $26-$475

GOLDFIELD TRADING POST

Nate Smith, 7:30pm, no cover

1013 K ST., (916) 476-3356 985 RIVERFRONT ST., WEST SAC, (510) 423-0971 2000 K ST., (916) 448-7798 1001 R ST., (916) 443-8825

1630 J ST., (916) 476-5076

HALFTIME BAR & GRILL

Paint Nite, 6:30pm, call for cover

HARLOW’S

ZuhG, 9pm, $10-$12

5681 LONETREE BLVD., ROCKLIN, (916) 626-3600 PHOTO COURTESY OF JASON KNIGHT

2708 J ST., (916) 441-4693

The Nickel Slots

HIDEAWAY BAR & GRILL

8:30pm Saturday, $ 10 Old Ironsides Rock

HIGHWATER

2565 FRANKLIN BLVD., (916) 455-1331

Food Truck Tuesdays, 5pm, T, call for cover

Sunday Funday, 3pm, no cover

Every Damn Monday, 8pm, M, no cover Open-Mic Night, 7:30pm, M, no cover; Pub Quiz, 7pm, T, no cover

The Chainsmokers, 7pm, $23-$325

Bulls vs. Kings, 7pm, M, $16-$295

Let’s Get Quizzical, 7pm, T, no cover; Cornhole, 6pm, W, $10 Petty Theft: San Francisco tribute to Tom Tom Rigney and Flambeau, 1:30pm, Petty, 9pm, $15-$18 $20-$25

Gatekeeper, Exhumed, Nekrot and more, 8pm, T, $20-$24

Shitshow Karaoke, 8pm, M, no cover; Twisted Trivia, 8pm, W, no cover

Bill Mylar & Friends Live, 5pm, call for cover

Trivia Factory, 4pm, T, call for cover; Geeks Who Drink, 4pm, W, call for cover

1910 Q ST., (916) 706-2465

HOLY DIVER

Emarosa and Too Close To Touch, 7pm, sold out

1517 21ST ST.

The Hu, 7pm, sold out

OMB Peezy, Beama, D Bola and more, 7pm, $20-$50

Local $5 Showcase, 6:30pm, T, $5

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12/6 nate grimmy 101 Main Street, roSeville 916-774-0505 · lunch/dinner 7 days a week fri & sat 9:30pm - close 21+

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stoneYs rocKin nYe bash country dancing in back with dJ patrick karaoke up front $10 Before 9pm $15 after 9pm

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Log onto www.newsreview.com and visit the calendar section to add your next event, show, fundraiser or exhibit. You’ll have access to nearly 200,000 viewers!

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Submit your calenDar liStingS for free at neWSrevieW.com/Sacramento/calenDar thursday 11/28

FrIday 11/29

saturday 11/30

sunday 12/1

Jackrabbit brewing co.

Monday-Wednesday 12/2-4 Trivia, 6:30pm, W, call for cover

1323 terMInal st., West sac (916) 873-8659

kupros

Triviology 101, 7:30pm, no cover

MeMoriaL auDitoriuM

Holiday Pops, 8pm, $32-$52

1217 21st st., (916) 440-0401 1515 J st., (916) 594-7333

oLD ironsiDes

Spirit Disco, Sara & the Devil and Cugino, 8:30pm, $7

The Nickel Slots and Drop Dead Red, 8:30pm, $10

opera House saLoon

Dance to the Music (Sly and the Family Stone Tribute), 9:30pm, $12-$17

Cherrybomb (John Melenchamp Tribute), 9:30pm, $7-$12

1901 10th st., (916) 442-3504 411 lIncoln st., roseVIlle (916) 970-9777

paLMs pLayHouse

Live Music with Heath Williamson, 5:30pm, M, no cover

Baby Gramps and Robert Armstrong, 7:30pm, $12-$24

13 MaIn st., WInters, (530) 795-1825

Photo courtesy oF Jørund Føreland Pedersen

pLacerviLLe pubLic House

Seth Kaminsky, 8pm, call for cover

The Ghost Town Rebellion, 8pm, call for cover

3rd Annual Mustache and Beard Competition, 4pm, call for cover

powerHouse pub

Gwen in Doubt, 10pm, call for cover

Grooveline, 10pm, call for cover

Rick Estrin, 3pm, call for cover

Karaoke, 8:30pm, T, call for cover; 98 Rock Local Licks, 9pm, W, call for cover

Pop 40 Dance with DJ Larry, 9pm, $5

DJ Larry’s Sunday Night Dance Party, 9pm, no cover

Hi Fidelity, 9pm, M, call for cover; Night School, 9pm, T, no cover;

414 MaIn st., PlacerVIlle, (530) 303-3792 614 sutter st., FolsoM, (916) 355-8586

tHe press cLub

2030 P st., (916) 444-7914

Turkey Night with DJ Dada, 9pm, call for cover

Snoop Dogg

sociaL nigHtcLub

Black Friday with DJ Prince Larry, 10pm, call for cover

Gnarly Marsh and DJ Roshelle, 10pm, call for cover

tHe starLet rooM

2708 J st., (916) 441-4693

All Things Indie Artist Showcase, 9pm, $15-$20

Spendtime Palace, Brazen Youth and Anxious Admirals, 6:30pm, $12-$15

Teebs, 8pm, $15-$18

Souly Had, 7pm, T, $12-$15; Red’s Blues, 6:30pm, W, $10

stoney’s rockin roDeo

Hot Country Fridays, 7pm, $5-$10

Stoney’s Saturday, 7pm, $5

Sunday Funday, 9pm, no cover 21+

College Night Wednesdays, 9pm, W, $5-$10

tHe torcH cLub

City of Trees Brass Band, 9pm, $10

Lindsay Beaver, 9pm, $10

You Front the Band, 8pm, call for cover

Sour Diesel Jams, 8:30pm, T, call for cover; The Big Poppies, 8:30pm, W, $5

1000 K st., (916) 947-0434

1320 del Paso BlVd., (916) 927-6023 904 15th st., (916) 443-2797

yoLo brewing co.

TTodd Trivia, 7pm, T, no cover;

1520 terMInal st., (916) 379-7585

all ages, all the time ace of spaDes

1417 r st., (916) 930-0220

Hobo Johnson & the Lovemakers and Mom Jeans, 8pm, $46-$49

cafe coLoniaL

Beats4Kicks Toy Drive, 2pm, $0-$55

3520 stocKton BlVd., (916) 475-1600

sHine

1400 e st., (916) 551-1400

8pm Tuesday, $125.01 Ace of Spades Hip-Hop

Photo courtesy oF la escalera records

Laine Hardy, 8pm, $29.50

The Dead South, 8pm, M, sold out; Snoop Dogg, 8pm, T, $125.01

Western Settings, Hey Chels, Sad Girlz Club and more, 8pm, call for cover Open-Mic Night, 8pm, W, call for cover

Western Settings with Hey Chels 8pm Saturday, call for cover Cafe Colonial Punk

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For more cannabis news, deals & updates visit capitalcannabisguide.com.

Finding the elusive ‘flow state’

no mystery as to why: It’s fun to lose yourself in a task, particularly one you find both challenging and enjoyable.

Most people find it fulfilling to Cannabis consumers say they achieve a sense of deep consciousness perform at peak without worrying about the past or future—operating or ‘flow’ that propels creativity and performance from a place sometimes called the “deep now.”

BY DANIELLE SIMONE BRAND So what turns on flow? Intense focus, clear goals and a balance between skills and challenge are go far out of their way to cultivate frequencies. Certain parts of the brain If you’ve ever been so immersed in a three among many of the conditions it. It’s described as a spectrum: activate in flow, and others—like the task that hours have slipped by unnoticed, commonly identified to help ease the “microflow” is easier to achieve but self-conscious and judgmentyou’ve experienced flow. Some people brain into the right mode. less engrossing, while “macroflow” can oriented prefrontal reach the “flow state” when focusing Cannabis can also help. be transcendent and life-changing. It’s cortex—quiet down. intently on making art or music, or while According to also trainable—meaning that you can A 10-year study engaged in vigorous sports, competition journalist and “There’s a get into flow more often, and stay there by McKinsey & or performance. Others may access it at researcher Steven revolution in human longer, by learning the behaviors and Company found a slower pace while on the yoga mat or Kotler, author of performance tucked triggers that go along with it. that executives meandering on a hiking trail. People call numerous books While flow may sound operating in flow “flow” by different names: in the zone, including The inside the cannabis subjective—or even New Age-y—it are 500% more runner’s high, the forever box.

Rise of Superman: industry.” is in fact a technical term. Mihaly productive, while But whatever you call it—and Decoding the Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarianthe Department of however you get there—being in flow Science of Ultimate Steven Kotler American psychologist, began studying Defense has found means you’re performing at or close to Human Performance journalist and researcher the flow state in the 1970s. Since that soldiers learn physical and mental peak, creativity is and self-described then, neuroimaging has made it easier 230% faster when in off the charts, time passes differently “flow junky,” consuming to identify by showing the release flow. and decision-making is optimal. And cannabis can prime the of five neurochemicals: dopamine, What’s more, research some consumers say that cannabis is brain and body to access flow. serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphins indicates that people who spend more key to getting there. and anandamide. In flow, brain waves time in flow score higher on life Sometimes flow arises “... FLOW STATE” CONTINUED ON PAGE 39 hover between the alpha and theta satisfaction questionnaires, and there’s spontaneously, and other times people 11.28.19 | SN&R | 37

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“... Flow sTaTe” ConTinueD From page 37

He says he discovered this about 20 years ago. As a journalist, he followed elite skiers about to take tremendous physical risks. In a September 2019 talk called “Cannabis, Flow and Peak Performance” in Redwood Valley, Kotler related how— instead of pacing nervously or giving themselves pep talks before their runs— the elite skiers were huddled around a pipe, toking up on the windy slopes.

Kotler had no context to understand why they would do this, and it sent him on a decades-long journey to answer the question of how people access flow states and whether cannabis might help.

creative connections. Kotler says that it’s those perky and uplifting sativa-like strains that help bring the brain closer to the flow state.

Because of the vast and as-yet untapped potential to be found in consciously using cannabis for cultivating flow states, Kotler remarks “there’s a revolution in human performance tucked inside the cannabis industry.”

CBD and flow

Chris Denico0la, founder and CEO of Santeer, a CBD company, told SN&R that part of the motivation behind the company is to provide natural products to people who might otherwise use beta blockers or painkillers to enhance their performance. A former semi-pro golfer, The THC route to flow Denicola says that when he’s in flow out Sarah Ratliff, a writer living on a busy on the course, “it feels like everything farm with goats, ducks and chickens in works. I don’t have to think about the Puerto Rico, told SN&R about the routine swing or the shot. There is the shot and I that serves her best when she requires just execute it.” uninterrupted focus for work. In the early His company crafts CBD tablets mornings, she walks her dogs and drinks that he says absorb into the body much Earl Grey or green tea with cannabis more thoroughly than oils and tinctures. honey.

One product, Focus, includes After that, she said, “I can a blend of five terpenes, tune out the animals and including terpinolene, beta focus. Once I’m in the caryophyllene and CBD zone, I can write for “That’s exactly meant to help users hours—only stopping perform their best— what I think everyone for a bio break or whether physically food. I’ve found is looking for. To be in that or cognitively. nothing to put me zone, to be productive and “That’s exactly in the zone better what I think have the right amount of than cannabis.” everyone is looking And there are repair happen.” for,” he says. “To good reasons for be in that zone, Chris Denicoola this. According to be productive CEO of Santeer, a CBD company to Kotler, cannabis and have the right affects the mind and amount of repair body in essential ways happen. I don’t think beta that bring users closer to flow. blockers and acetaminophen First of all, the prefrontal cortex and pseudoephedrine and all those other quiets down both in flow states and under opiates—those aren’t the products to help the influence of cannabis. Secondly, most people sleep better, work better, feel cannabis use pushes the brain toward better.” alpha waves, which—along with theta— are present in flow. Third, a part of the brain called the striatum is more active Flow on in people experiencing flow as well as Kotler describes a route to what he calls in—you guessed it—people consuming the “cheapest flow state in the world,” cannabis. also known as the “hippie speedball:” Another way that cannabis use can First, exercise for 25 minutes; this could prime the brain for flow has to do with include running or any other vigorous neurochemicals. Dopamine, associated activity that quiets down the mind. with both pleasurable feelings and the Next, drink a cup of coffee. Then smoke ability to creatively connect ideas, is an uplifting strain of cannabis such as released both in flow states and under the Jillybean or Harlequin. All that’s left to influence of cannabis. And anandamide helps people feel open to new experiences do is immerse yourself in a challenging but enjoyable pursuit. Enjoy the flow. Ω and further enhances cognitive and

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Legalize it already Your guess is as good as mine. A lot of people are super excited because the MORE (Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement) Act has made it through the House Judiciary Committee and is most likely headed to the House floor for a vote. If passed, the MORE Act would decriminalize and reschedule cannabis, which is listed as a “Schedule 1” drug, meaning it has no medicinal properties and is easy to abuse.

The bill would also free people doing federal time for weed and a few other cool things. It’s a good bill, and it may make it through the House, but I would bet all the weed in my pockets right now that if this bill gets to the Senate, Moscow Mitch McConnell and his gang of willfully ignorant miscreants will keep the MORE Act (along with more than 200 other bills passed by the House) from ever coming up for a vote. One might think that the party of small government would like to strike a blow for freedom, especially since the latest polls from Pew show that 67% of the American people (and 55% of Republicans) say weed should be legal, but betting on a Republican senator to do the right thing is an easy way to lose money. So go ahead and be excited about the MORE Act if you like. Hell, you should definitely call your elected representatives and tell them to support this bill. Just don’t expect anything to change until we get a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.

Are cannabis prices really going up?

Yep. The state Bureau of Cannabis Control, in its infinite wisdom, has

announced increases on two cannabis taxes. The cultivation tax will go from $9.65 per ounce of cannabis to $9.87, and the “markup rate,” which is used for determining excise taxes, will go from 60% to 80%. The changes take effect Jan. 1, and the regulated cannabis industry is livid.

The BCC claims it is adjusting the taxes to keep up with inflation, but it seems to me as if the BCC is the only one inflating the price of pot.

The price of an eighth (3.5 grams) of weed has been between $40 to $60 since 1995. The only thing that makes the cannabis at regulated dispensaries more expensive than the “black,” or rather “traditional,” market is that the traditional market isn’t gonna add a 30% tax to your purchase.

One would think that if the BCC really wanted to compete with the black market, it would be searching for a way to expand access (75% of California cities and counties still prohibit cannabis businesses) and find a way to keep prices low. Also, maybe the state should let clubs stay open later. I can buy a beer until 2 a.m., so why do dispensaries have to close at 10 p.m.? A small increase in the cultivation tax may not seem like a big deal, but a bunch of little things will soon add up to big trouble for the regulated market. Ω

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

ASK JOEY

OR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 28, 2019

No apologies

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Humans invented the

BY JOEY GARCIA

@AskJoeyGarcia

I’m always posting pictures of my My girlfriend won’t apologize, not about boyfriend and me because I love him. This anything, ever. She grew up in foster is the best relationship I’ve ever had. care and had it hard. She came out while The problem is he never posts pics of us living with a Christian foster family that or of me. I’ve asked him about it and he verbally abused her for being a lesbian. never gives a legit reason. It’s starting They eventually kicked her out and she to make me feel insecure. Now I’m always was homeless for a while. I mention this checking his phone and his Instagram. because I get that she’s been abused but Why doesn’t my boyfriend post about me? her unwillingness to apologize for hurtful things she does feels like abuse, too.

Because you matter to him? On social Advice? media, people post pics of their bruised Your girlfriend is suffering the toes, misspelled names on coffee cups, rants consequences of trauma—distressing about their bosses and other random stuff. experiences that felt beyond her control. Do you really want to be in that mix?

Trauma left a lasting imprint that Believe that you deserve better. Love triggers her at times. So for lived fully offline belongs to you her, an apology isn’t a alone. There’s no post about loving act that resolves you immediately before a interpersonal conflict. savage meme about nasty One way you can It’s an admission of neighbors. Your relationinitiate your healing full responsibility for ship is retro. Enjoy it. an argument or unkind is to notice what Of course, if you behavior. Her wariness think your man doesn’t role you have in the signals a struggle post about you because relationship. with shame, the belief he’s waiting to see how that she is a bad person. things go, don’t take it Embarrassment is the personally. Maybe he’s had a response most of us have after series of short-term relationships realizing we haven’t been our best. and doesn’t want to look as though It’s the emotion that acknowledges we he’s flying through girlfriends. Maybe he have done or said a bad thing. Do you ended a serious relationship and needs to see the difference? trust you’ll stay. Give him space around this Your girlfriend hasn’t learned that issue. Don’t make social media the reason in most disagreements both partners you lose a guy you love. Ω play a part in creating the problem. She might also be far more comfortable with her anger than with emotional closeMEDITATION OF THE WEEK ness. Resolving conflict is intimate. It requires personal insight, vulnerability “When we give cheerfully and and transparency. It’s also essential accept gratefully, everyone to possess a desire to grow closer to is blessed,” said poet Maya oneself and the others involved in the Angelou. Do you know what a conflict. blessing you are to the people One way you can initiate your healin your life? ing is to notice what role you have in the relationship. What are you trying to suss out about yourself by being committed to someone who refuses to say: I’m sorry. As you ponder the Write, email or leave a message for answer, talk to your girlfriend about Joey at the News & Review. Give seeing a psychologist. She will need your name, telephone number help unpacking her trauma. It’s not a (for verification purposes only) and question—all job you can do no matter how much correspondence will be kept strictly confidential. you love her. But she can’t do it alone, Write Joey, 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, CA either.

95815; call (916) 498-1234, ext. 1360; or email askjoey@newsreview.com.

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BY ROB BREZSNY

plow in 4,500 B.C., the wheel in 4,000 B.C. and writing in 3,400 B.C. But long before that, by 6,000 B.C., they had learned how to brew beer and make psychoactive drugs from plants.

Psychopharmacologist Ronald Siegel points to this evidence to support his hypothesis that the yearning to transform our normal waking consciousness is a basic drive akin to our need to eat and drink. Of course, there are many ways to accomplish this shift besides alcohol and drugs. They include dancing, singing, praying, drumming, meditating and having sex.

What are your favorite modes? According to my astrological analysis, it’ll be extra important for you to alter your habitual perceptions and thinking patterns during the coming weeks.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): What’s something you’re afraid of, but pretty confident you could become unafraid of? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to dismantle or dissolve that fear. Your levels of courage will be higher than usual, and your imagination will be unusually ingenious in devising methods and actions to free you of the unnecessary burden. Step one: Formulate an image or scene that symbolizes the dread, and visualize yourself blowing it up with a “bomb” made of a hundred roses.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The word “enantiodromia” refers to a phenomenon that occurs when a vivid form of expression turns into its opposite, often in dramatic fashion.

Yang becomes yin; resistance transforms into welcome; loss morphs into gain. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you are the sign of the zodiac that’s most likely to experience enantiodromia in the coming weeks.

Will it be a good thing or a bad thing? You can have a lot of influence over how that question resolves. For best results, don’t fear or demonize contradictions and paradoxes. Love and embrace them.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): There are Americans who speak only one language, English, and yet imagine they are smarter than bilingual immigrants. That fact amazes me, and inspires me to advise me and all my fellow Cancerians to engage in humble reflection about how we judge our fellow humans. Now is a favorable time for us to take inventory of any inclinations we might have to regard ourselves as superior to others; to question why we might imagine others aren’t as worthy of love and respect as we are; or to be skeptical of any tendency we might have to dismiss and devalue those who don’t act and think as we do. I’m not saying we Cancerians are more guilty of these sins than everyone else; I’m merely letting you know that the coming weeks are our special time to make corrections.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Erotic love is one of the highest forms of contemplation,” wrote the sensually wise poet Kenneth Rexroth. That’s a provocative and profitable inspiration for you to tap into. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’re in the Season of Lucky Plucky Delight, when brave love can save you from wrong turns and irrelevant ideas and when the grandeur of amour can be your teacher and catalyst. If you have a partner with whom you can conduct these educational experiments, wonderful. If you don’t, be extra sweet and intimate with yourself.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In the follow-up story to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, our heroine uses a magic mirror as a portal into a fantastical land. There she encounters the Red Queen, and soon the two of them are holding hands as they run as fast as they can. Alice notices that despite their great effort, they don’t seem to be moving forward. What’s happening? The Queen clears up the mystery: In her realm, you must run as hard as possible just to remain in the same spot. Sound familiar? I’m wondering whether you’ve had a similar experience lately. If so, here’s my advice: Stop running.

Sit back, relax and allow the world to zoom by you. Yes, you might temporarily fall behind. But

in the meantime, you’ll get fully recharged. No more than three weeks from now, you’ll be so energized that you’ll make up for all the lost time—and more.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Most sane people wish there could be less animosity between groups that have different beliefs and interests. How much better the world would be if everyone felt a generous acceptance toward those who are unlike them. But the problem goes even deeper: Most of us are at odds with ourselves. Here’s how author Rebecca West described it: Even the different parts of the same person do not often converse among themselves, do not succeed in learning from each other. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to promote unity and harmony among all the various parts of yourself. I urge you to entice them to enter into earnest conversations with each other!

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Poet Cecilia Woloch asks, “How to un-want what the body has wanted, explain how the flesh in its wisdom was wrong?” Did the apparent error occur because of some “some ghost in the mind?” she adds.

Was it due to “some blue chemical rushing the blood” or “some demon or god?” I’m sure that you, like most of us, have experienced this mystery. But the good news is that in the coming weeks you will have the power to un-want inappropriate or unhealthy experiences that your body has wanted. Step one: Have a talk with yourself about why the thing your body has wanted isn’t in alignment with your highest good.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian composer Ludwig van Beethoven was inclined to get deeply absorbed in his work. Even when he took time to attend to the details of daily necessity, he allowed himself to be spontaneously responsive to compelling musical inspirations that suddenly welled up in him. On more than a few occasions, he lathered his face with the 19th century equivalent of shaving cream, then got waylaid by a burst of brilliance and forgot to actually shave. His servants found that amusing. I suspect that the coming weeks may be Beethoven-like for you. I bet you’ll be surprised by worthy fascinations and subject to impromptu illuminations.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): During the next 11 months, you could initiate fundamental improvements in the way you live from day to day. It’s conceivable you’ll discover or generate innovations that permanently raise your life’s possibilities to a higher octave. At the risk of sounding grandiose, I’m tempted to predict that you’ll celebrate at least one improvement that is your personal equivalent of the invention of the wheel or the compass or the calendar.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The only thing we learn from history is that we never learn anything from history. Philosopher Georg Hegel said that.

But I think you will have an excellent chance to disprove this theory in the coming months. I suspect you will be inclined and motivated to study your own past in detail; you’ll be skilled at drawing useful lessons from it; and you will apply those lessons with wise panache as you re-route your destiny.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In his own time, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was acclaimed and beloved. At the height of his fame, he earned $3,000 per poem. But modern literary critics think that most of what he created is derivative, sentimental and unworthy of serious appreciation. In dramatic contrast is poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Her writing was virtually unknown in her lifetime, but is now regarded as among the best ever. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to sort through your own past so as to determine which of your work, like Longfellow’s, should be archived as unimportant or irrelevant, and which, like Dickinson’s, deserves to be a continuing inspiration as you glide into the future.

Entire civilizations crumbled during this period of imbalance. All was hopeless, until hot aliens appeared.

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