Fetch your earplugs, Sacramento, it is Noise Fest time again!

The only way to describe Noise Fest as a whole is to call it f-ing loud, although many acts are experimental, avant-garde, industrial, electronic, and/or hardcore. Hell, some of it can barely be called “music” in the literal sense and is more accurately tagged as “aural art”. My dog is PISSED that I have been listening to a sampling of this year’s artists. If you like music that pisses off dogs, this is your weekend to stay in town.

Forty acts from the West Coast and beyond will perform for three days at Luna’s Cafe and The Space Theater. A pass for the whole shebang is only $25, which is a deafening bargain for the amount of entertainment you’ll get. Check the web site for a complete schedule and links to most of the bands.

This Sunday, The Crest will feature the 9 winning films of the 2008 ‘A Place Called Sacramento’ Film Festival. For 9 years, local filmmakers have had their work featured by the Sacramento Festival of Cinema that points the camera on the people, places and events of our river city. Local music is featured in several of the films.

Tickets are $10 for the show and an extra $5 for the premiere party. Call 456-8600 extension 0 for more info.

My geek credentials are seriously lacking, but even I can tell that this weekend is pretty much a star-loving geek’s dream right here in River City. With a capital T, and that rhymes with W, and that stands for Wheaton.

Friday and Saturday it’s From the Land Beyond, Sacramento’s horror and sci-fi show. Meet Wil Wheaton and Doug Jones, and (for your Battlestar geeks out there) not only THE Richard Hatch, but also Chief (and Final Fiver) Galen Tyrol himself Aaron Douglas!

Continue reading “A geek’s dream weekend” »

That’s it, fight back, kids!

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus takes to the rings at Arco Arena Thursday. Tickets are actually pretty cheap, lower level tickets are going for $11.50 and kids under 2 are free.

Though the real circus did away with the freak show long ago, this weekend midtown will also be home to the “2nd Annual Circus Show & Other Atrocities,” an art show “juxtaposing the dark, painful lives of performing animals with the fun, amusing atmosphere of a carnival.” Here are some photos from last year’s event. (Is that Hellboy himself Ron Perlman? I know it’s not, but that would be a sweet get, bigger than Dan Piraro, creator of comic strip Bizarro, who’ll be headlining this year. Although that is a pretty neat get.)

Continue reading “The Circus is in town!” »

As promised, our collective picks for some of the categories in this year’s Readers Choice awards. Make sure to vote online today or tomorrow. I had the date wrong last week, voting ends tomorrow. In addition to the below, we would appreciate your votes for Best blog, Best blogger (pick your favorite), and Best Sacramento Web site.

Food & Drink
Best restaurant: Maritime Seafood & Grill
Best soups: la bonne soupe
Best Thai: Thai Cottage
Best Wine Bar: 58 degrees & Holding
Best small plates: Formoli’s Bistro
Best BBQ: Big Joe’s BBQ (if you dolts vote for Texas West I’m going to come over to your house and give you a spice rub where the sun don’t shine (if you know what I mean))

Continue reading “Our picks for 2008 News & Review Readers’ Choice” »

A quick reminder that the Sacramento Area Music Awards are tonight at the Crest Theater. Doors at 5, show begins at 6. More than a dozen local bands will perform. I will be sporting the sweet-ass Cinderella shirt that I chose from my roommate’s selection of 4 Cinderella shirts. Why? Not sure.

$10 at the door.

Last night, while waiting for Quiz Master Ken to grade the Streets of London Pub Quiz answer sheets, Stickie and I were chatting with Lisa and Todd.

I asked what final things they feel like they need to do before leaving town, and Lisa asked, “Oh, like our Sacramento Bucket List?” She referenced yet another breakfast at Tower Cafe and outing to The Trap, and they’d recently gone rafting on one of our region’s raging waterways. I suggested throwing out the first pitch at a Rivercats game or spending the night at Sutter’s Fort.

What would be on your Sacramento Bucket List? Beating The Bee at pub quiz? Hitting every single gallery on Second Saturday? Riding the log ride at the State Fair with Poppy? Breakfast at the Market Club?

Friday-
Celebrity Chef Challenge- This annual event and fundraiser for InAlliance, a non-profit organization that provides employment and living services for adults with disabilities, pits some of the area’s best chefs against one another in a contest of Olympian proportions. There’s bound to be great food and copious wine and talented chefs.
Where: The Old Sugar Mill, Clarksburg (10 min south of Sacramento)
When: Friday, 5-9pm
Continue reading “Watcha Doin’ This Weekend?” »

On Thursday, Save Our Sandhill Cranes (SOS Cranes) is presenting the Sacramento premiere of a fantastic looking documentary The Unforeseen, which received raves at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and won the “Truer Than Fiction” Independent Spirit Award for 2008.

The film includes a wine, cheese and strawberry reception at 5:30 with the film beginning at 6:30. Tickets are $25, only $10 for students!!

The Unforeseen
Sierra II Community Center Theater - 2791 24th Street
Thursday, May 29 - 5:30pm

I stumbled upon a wonderful roadside attraction in Auburn yesterday: Ken Fox’s Great Statues. Ken is the creator of the gold miner statue in downtown Auburn, but he also has several other massive concrete figures to his name. Specifically several (mostly) naked collossi just off 49 near In-n-Out.

The statues are unadvertised, which only adds to your initial shock when they loom into view. A few stand in a parking lot of an otherwise ordinary street. The parking lot belongs to the office of the dentist who built the statues, Ken Fox.

Continue reading “PHOTOS: Ken Fox’s Great Statues of Auburn” »