Month: September 2007

A Tale of Two News Shows

We’ve taken our shots over the years at the two ring circus that is “Good Day Sacramento,” but we’ve not told the other side of the story, the side that compares Good Day against the other morning shows in the area to see where each stands in this fence-sitter of a media market. (Are we a small big market or a big small market, who can tell?) This week, a dear friend relayed to me his experiences with a two morning shows, and I’d like to share those with you. Hopefully, this will give you a chance to judge for yourself as to who really rules the airwaves from dawn to coffee break.

First of all, let me set the scene for you. My friend had two appearances lined up last month to promote an event, one appearance on the KCRA morning news on channel 58, and one appearance on Good Day Sacramento. The KCRA news appearance was (as if you couldn’t already see this coming) a bad scene.  Rushed for time, fighting technical difficulties and trying to get out his message points despite the woodenness of the broadcast team, my friend did his best to fill the thirty seconds that they wound up giving him. According to him, the crew was a bit scattered, everything was thrown together last minute and the everyone seemed a little stressed. Continue reading “A Tale of Two News Shows”

Updates for the Hungry

Flush with success and proud of a job well done, we turn the page on another award winning year here at the ‘Rag, and what better way to start anew than to revisit some old mentions that never quite got their full due.  In the spirit of “everything old is new again” here are a few updates on restaurants, events, chefs, coffee shops, etc. that got brief mentions previously and really need some more ink.  Continue reading “Updates for the Hungry”

Simply the best!

David Brent…better than all the rest, as they say. Specifically this here web log, which once again won the News & Review’s Reader’s Choice award for Best Local Blog. MarkTalk.com and Heckasac round out the top three. For those of you playing along at home those are the top three finishers from last year’s voting.

We couldn’t have done it without you readers, of whom at least 7 or 8 must have voted for us. As we’ve said time and again we have a ton of fun doing this and most of that fun is caused by the reactions we get. We’re hoping you’ll stay with us in the coming year.

And we’ll try not to be offended by Heckasac’s obvious ploy to steal our thunder regarding the impending award by announcing again last week that she is quitting again. (We kid the beckler of course.)

Also congrats to my father who repeats as Best Local Doctor. DMZs FTW!!!

UPDATE @ 2:00PM: Because I didn’t think to look in the Luxuries & Necessities category, I failed to notice that we also were voted #3 in the Best local Web site category. Fabulous. Thanks to sac-eats for pointing it out.

The War on PBS

Ken Burns and his team swore that they would never do another war documentary, but were inspired to tackle WWII after learning that more than 1000 veterans of this war die every day. Faced with a disappearing history, he and co-director Lynn Novick set out to document these soldiers’ and their families’ stories and to learn more about the home front in The War.

Interviews were conducted in four US cities: Sacramento, Luverne, MN, Mobile, AL, and Waterbury, CT. Those who viewed the first night learned of the experiences of several Sacramentans.

Read more about Sacramento during the War and the featured locals at the following links:

Earl Burke
Barbara Covington
Jeroline Green
Robert Kashiwagi
Burnett Miller
William Perkins
Susumu Satow
Harry Schmid
Dolores Silva
Walter Thompson
Asako Tokuno
Tim Tokuno
Sascha Weinzheimer
Burt Wilson

The War continues tonight with Part 2 of 7 on PBS at 8 and 10pm, and will be shown a total of four nights this week and three nights next week.

Sacramento Dining: Would you like a side of harmony with your tolerance?

In Sunday’s Bee, Mike Dunne wrote a piece summing up some contentious items that food bloggers around the country had carped about recently.  However, Dunne also noted that, “On the local restaurant scene, no issues seem to be stirring up diners much these days.”  Au contraire, Mr. Dunne.  As Mrs. Eats can attest to, there is no manner of things that I won’t complain about given the slightest opening.  So, not being one to turn down as obvious an invitation as that of the Bee’s esteemed food maven, I’ll discuss one of them now: Music. Continue reading “Sacramento Dining: Would you like a side of harmony with your tolerance?”

More traffic problems for I-5 corridor in ’08

One of my favorite Bee columns, Back-Seat Driver, reports today on CalTrans’ new plan to shut down lanes and onramps on I-5 in downtown.

Beginning in February or March and lasting through October, Caltrans will close one or two freeway lanes in each direction from Richards Boulevard on the north to the I-5 junction with Highway 50 on the south.

That will leave three lanes open in each direction, Dinger said.

Key ramps, such as the commuter-heavy I and A street connections also will be closed at points during the year

Apparently there are drainage problems there and it leaks, and therefore flood danger in the long run. But holy smokes, that does not sound like a fun 2008 for commuters or people flying on airplanes. Bizjak says this is the busiest strectch of I-5 north of Los Angeles. (Yay Sacramento!) I’m sure RT and the city have some ideas to alleviate the problem though… Continue reading “More traffic problems for I-5 corridor in ’08”

Colin Quinn: A Geographically-Challenged Jerk

I spent today at the Metro Chamber’s annual Perspectives event, and this year’s theme was “Great Minds Don’t Always Think Alike,” so it was no surprise that someone as flagrantly conservative as Rush Limbaugh would be followed up by someone like Colin Quinn.

I’ve long been a Colin Quinn fan, going back to his Remote Control days; however, today cast him in an entirely different light.

While there were a reported 3,100 people at today’s event, like most happenings in Sacramento, lots of people know each other. Anyone who has lived here for any length of time know that the six degrees of separation is practically non-existent in the 916 (and parts of the 530.) So, these 3,100 people are more of a community, rather than a random grouping of strangers — and this made Colin’s comments especially cutting because they were pointed at one of our own.

What could he have said that was so bad?

Continue reading “Colin Quinn: A Geographically-Challenged Jerk”

Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que

When you think barbecue, you typically think, “Hey, how do you actually spell ‘barbecue’?”  Good question.   Traditionalists, including myself, (and really who would you listen to otherwise?  I mean c’mon, if a white kid from California doesn’t know BBQ, who does?) prefer to refer to the culinary art form as “barbecue”.  Why, you ask?  Because, it’s a real word, that’s why.  Not some abbreviation (BBQ), not some syntactical abbreviationary hybrid (Bar-B-Que), and not some cutesy shortening with punctiationary flair (‘cue).  (God, I hate people who shorten words and put apostrophes before them.  It’s so cliché.)  Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, a newish establishment in Rocklin, insists on spelling it “Bar-B-Que” on all of their literature and signage, so one strike against them already. Continue reading “Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que”

This is What Lame-Ass Editorials Look Like.

May I turn your attention to the latest anti-war protest coverage from SN&R. This is the kind of thing that makes me feel SN&R is often just a half-step up from a zine I got from some kid at the show my mom didn’t know I went to. Oh wait, it’s 2007 and I’m in my 30’s? Never mind. Anyway it’s kind of a non-story, but the only people who showed up at a recent anti-war protest were old hippies romanticizing the 60’s, and the effect was neither as far out nor as radical as hoped for. Some but not all obvious conclusions include a) lots of people who oppose the war recognize the issue is a lot more complex than a bumpersticker can address or b) lots of people support the U.S. action in Iraq or c) anti-war protest groups need some help in the organizational department.  I’d be interested in hearing a report about these or any other curious aspects of the paltry attendance at an anti-war rally held in state portrayed as being wildly opposed to the war.  Instead SN&R chose the approach of assuming that there exists a massive body of folks who believe violence has suddenly been popping up in the Middle East with no genesis but “U.S. Policy” but we don’t see them at protests because the great spirit of passionate outrage and protesting has been suppressed by evil oil companies and corporate-backed politicians or the Patriot Act or something like that. I’m bored of my own post just thinking about this type of cliched analysis of the political landscape.  The end.