Author: CoolDMZ

"X-ray vision to see in between / Where's my kimono and my time machine?"

SF Outside Lands Festival lineup announced

Arcade Fire should play here

The 2011 lineup for the SF Outside Lands festival was announced today, headlined by 2 sets by the venerable Phish and seemingly required visits by Arcade Fire and the Black Keys. Mick Jones’s Big Audio Dynamite will also make an appearance, as will ex-Sacramentans !!!. This year’s lineup features a great mix of acts, from the standby hipster rock to old school R&B (the Meters), Sugar Hill records Americana (the Infamous Stringdusters), and loads of hip hop (Big Boy, the Roots). Heavy on the “know your popular music history” acts, which is cool — Mavis Staples, John Fogerty and several of the aforementioned. As Laura Mason of 7×7 points out, lots of cult favorites and local bands, so it should be a major turnout.
Continue reading “SF Outside Lands Festival lineup announced”

State Senate to block Kings Anaheim move? Is this necessary?

CBS13 is reporting that State Sen Steinberg is planning to introduce a measure in the legislature that would “effectively prohibit a California city from signing a contract with a professional sports team unless that team has paid off all its debts to the other city.”

Putting aside the Onion News Network aspect of this kind of legislation, I was under the impression that the loan would already be due in full based on the Maloofs’ existing contractual obligations, and therefore that existing law would probably be sufficient to force the Kings to pay what they owe.

In fact, the way I read the Kings April 1 letter in response to the City’s letter requesting loan pay-off confirmation, the Kings basically agree to abide by the terms of the agreement. I think the media are stirring the pot to make this part of the conversation more saucy than it really is. One is left with the impression that the Maloofs basically said FU to the City when asked to honor their contractual obligations.

But I’m not one to champion the Maloofs grasp of business ethics. What do you say, Kings fans–am I wrong?

River Cats, get excited yeah!!!

#1 FAN!!!
I can't believe I have used this photo twice.

As the soon-to-be only game in town, this is the perfect week for the River Cats to open their 2011 campaign. This week also has the advantage of being the week that every other team is starting their season.

The Bee’s Appetizers blog has a roundup of new food items at Raley Field, including a “baked potato dog.”

The roster will feature several players from last year’s division title winning team.

The home opener is Thursday against the hated Tacoma Rainiers, and will feature $2 Miller beers!

Let’s hear from you, River Cats fans: What are you most looking forward to about the River Cats season?

Voetbergs swing the crowd at Library Galleria

The rain finally broke Sunday and this was almost as welcome a sight as the Voetberg Family Band filling the stage in the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria. And when I say filling the stage, I mean it literally. As promised, the Voetbergs put on a high energy show full of traditional music to a standing room only audience on Sunday. The crowd seemed bigger to me than last year’s show in the same space, but my wife pointed out this was mostly due to it being a Sunday afternoon and not probably due to the overwhelming popularity of my music journalism. Also, having been to the Camellia Symphony concert the previous weekend I saw almost all of the same people. It’s a really diverse crowd that comes out to these library events, from young hippie couples to old hippie couples and everyone in between.

The next time you get an opportunity definitely come check out the awesome Voetberg Family Band!

(l to r) Annie, Elisha, Vance, Tucker (on drums), Deter, Liddy, Rudy, Lilja. All bass players should be required to be named Deter.

Voetberg Family Band concert on Sunday!

The wonderful Voetberg Family Band, from Centralia, WA, is making a return trip to the Central Library this weekend. Last year’s show was well attended and surely won scores of fans here in Sacramento, and I expect to see a massive crowd at the show on Sunday.

This outrageously cute octet is recommended for fans of all sub-genres of Americana music, from bluegrass to gospel. (“Both kinds: country AND western!”) Bring some cash, because you’ll want to bring home one of the family’s CDs, or the debut solo CD of eldest band member Liddy Voetberg, a beautiful collection of religious songs and other traditional tunes titled “He Leadeth Me.”

The Voetberg Family Band
Sunday, March 27 at 2:00PM
Tsakopoulos Library Galleria
Central Library, 828 I Street

Sactown is highly social

2009 Amgen Tour of California Prologue
Creative Commons License photo credit: richardmasoner

According to a survey by Men’s Health, Sacramento is the 18th most socially networked city in the States, beating such larger areas as San Jose and New York City (??). Since this blog is basically my only connection to the social network, as it were, I’m not sure what to make of it. But I guess we’re pretty savvy!

Twitter Towns (Men’s Health)

La Favorita name change?

Ahora es más machista.

The La Favorita near my home was recently re-christened, and today I noticed that the La Favorita near my workplace has undergone gender reassignment surgery to become El Favorito. They still have the same font on the signs but perhaps that’s just because that font just really says taco. (Can’t think of the font name. Who’s that one commenter who is a typog nerd?)

I haven’t been to either location in a while… does anybody know what is going on? Are they just trying some different names? Did they have to sell off some of those stores?

CoolDMZ admits having trouble with headline when he, 35, alone

I’m not sure a) why this is at all a news story, b) why it is highly featured on our local newspaper, nor c) why a headline has to be written like this: “Pa. dad denies playing ninja when son, 4, alone.” The only thing I understand about this story is that if somebody saw him doing it, then he obviously wasn’t a real ninja.

City Theater’s “Beanstalk” pleases


Jacob Vuksinich as Jack and Mikayla Lambeth as
Kobe the Cow

Over the weekend a friend and I took our families (or they took us) to the City Theater’s Storytime theater production of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” The performance offered exactly what you want in children’s theater — a cute little story, some jokes aimed at the parents (in this case, lots of perfectly wholesome SF Giants bits), brisk timing, and not too much overacting. Doug Lawson’s staging is fresh, and it is a tidy piece of theater, with some funny talking cow business (always a necessity in quality children’s theater) and good performances overall.
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Blog: Kings move a done deal?

Matthew McGuire, who blogs at From the Capitol, seems to have info that the Kings move to Anaheim is a done deal. Other than The Wall, on which this has been written for weeks, I don’t actually see that news anywhere else so I’m interested to see what develops.

Also don’t you love hearing that the Maloofs are willing to pay “whatever it takes” to the Lakers and Clips to get them to sign off on the relocation deal?