Via the sac for tourists blog we learn that the City of Sacramento pulled the September Second Saturday permit for United State, a “DJ/Clothing Boutique” in Midtown. According to the United State blog, Sac PD cited “Attract(ing) a younger audience” as the reason for the notice. Sac For Tourists’ Nick Miller (also of SN&R) followed up on the gossip with a roundup of mostly nonevents between Sac PD and hip-hop folks at last weekend’s Second Saturday.
Category: Arts
Second Saturday: Sneak Peek inside the Artists’ Studios
Looking for the best of Second Saturday? This weekend offers a unique glance at more than 90 Sacramento artists’ studiosâ€â€all within a 4-mile, bike-friendly radius of downtown. The Center for Contemporary Art is hosting its fourth annual Capitol Artists’ Studio Tour. Participating artists will open their private studios to the public today and Sunday from noon till 5pm. Check out their latest works, purchase art directly from the artist, and see first-hand where their creative genius takes shape. Maps and a list of participating artists can be found here. This handy guide breaks down studio locations by artist and by region.
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Start the Presses! Local Publication Celebrates One Year Anniversary
One year ago, as newspapers across the country were stopping the presses, one brave couple dove in head-first. That’s when Heidi Komlofske and Ross Rojek started a little publication called Sacramento Book Review. Just as the LA Times was closing their book review, this Sacramento couple was starting theirs.
Crazy? Perhaps. As Rojek reached out to publishing companies in search of books to review, one publicist bellowed, “What idiot starts a book review in this economy?” The idiot savants went on to publish 115 reviews in that first September 2008 issue. Today, the company boasts 100 book reviewers, and this month they started their second publication, San Francisco Book Review.
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Big week for music at The Fair
A preview of the mainstage musical acts during the last week of the California State Fair.
This is it, folks, the week that the California State Fair brings out the big guns on the Golden 1 Stage. Well, more like medium range artillery. I can’t say that I am thrilled about any of these acts, but am curious to see what kind of show they will deliver and they should each please their target audience. Hey, I was pleasantly surprised last week by the Hullabaloo Music Festival and I didn’t hate Salvador, so I am going in with an open mind.
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There’s Only One Book for Sacramento
Oprah sent Lisa Ling to investigate it. Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. star in a film about it. Kevin Johnson camped out to highlight it. Now the Sacramento Public Library is asking you to read about it with its One Book Sacramento campaign.
I’m talking about homelessness. Just because Tent City has folded doesn’t mean the problem has. And reading about the crisis was never this… well, fun.
In the moving book, The Soloist, by Los Angeles Times columnist and best-selling author Steve Lopez, you’ll read the true account of Lopez’s unusual friendship with a homeless man, Nathaniel Ayers. You’ll find a Sacramento familiar, Darrell Steinberg, whom Lopez reaches out to for support as he experiences mental illness first-hand through Nathaniel. This homeless musician’s talent and his hard life on the street rocks Lopez to the core. Join their incredible journey through this grabbing, real-life page turner.
Freilachmakers klezmerize the crowd at Fairy Tale Town
The family had missed the other Twilight Concert Series shows at Fairy Tale Town, but we were in attendance last night for the final outing in the series, when local klezmer band The Freilachmakers made with the freilach. Although I love to rock and/or roll as much as the next guy (unless the next guy is Gene Simmons), I always come back to the sounds of traditional music, and the Freilachmakers are experts at their craft. I don’t speak Yiddish, but I do believe the band’s claim that it has “defined what may be called ‘the Sacramento sound’ in klezmer and Sephardic Jewish music.” Who is going to dispute that claim? I hear the klezmer kids in Europe go nuts for that swingin’ Sacramento sound.
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“Supernanny” has great idea
So, we’ve all heard by now that the casting team of ABC’s popular parenting show “Supernanny” will be interviewing families from 12 to 5 p.m. on August 23rd in Roseville, CA. Cool, right? Parents with rambunctious little ones can audition to have their lives improved by their “behavioral expert.”
The show is looking for families of all types who need help from Supernanny Frost, who is a “behavioral expert,” said Tiffany Dejillo, a Supernanny casting producer.
The casting call is being held at Pump It Up, an indoor inflatable party destination located at 10556 Industrial Ave., Suite 100, Roseville.
Hmm, really? Anyone that has been to one of these inflatable Thunderdomes will tell you that even the most “normal” kids can quickly get out of hand as they bounce around haphazardly, high on birthday cake, leveling anyone in their path.
Am I alone in thinking that opening up this facility to kids that may or may not have behavioral issues while their parents talk to casting producers is a dicey idea at best and should be video taped to air as its own reality show?
“Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!”
Jus’sayin.
I’m finally an Art Beast
I finally got a chance to take the whole family to Art Beast yesterday, and I submit for your consideration that Art Beast is the coolest family outing that has ever existed in Sacramento.
Imagine you live in a charming, drafty old Victorian in Midtown. Now imagine you have a second charming, drafty old Victorian in Midtown that you can use exclusively for your kids to play. (I’m not sure how you came to own 2 homes in Midtown. Maybe you had a lot of money invested in gold, or you own the agency that makes “There’s an app for that” ads for Apple. Work with me here.) If you were to dedicate the entire basement to dress up, the whole living area to every kind of art and/or craft known to man, the entire upstairs to dance and other creative movement like tumbling and arm-wrestling, and your backyard to water and sandboxes, you would have something like Art Beast.
2009 Nor Cal Blues Fest Canceled
In an email today from organizer Matson Breakey, (yes that is his real name) it appears that the 2009 Nor Cal Blues Festival has been canceled. The event was to be held on Sep 12 at Southside Park. Refunds, of course, will be given to those that have already bought tickets.
The real question is how sustainable are America’s original musical styles. Jazz and blues are slowly draining out of middle market towns like Sacramento. While the clubs and shows and performers in towns like Chicago and New York and San Francisco are still thriving, smaller market towns are losing any vestige of their former prominence.
The Jubilee is on life support, NCBF has been canceled, and fewer and fewer national acts come anywhere near our reasonably sized city. For example, when’s the last time Keith Jarrett swung through town? You see my point exactly, I’m sure.
I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know some progress has been made in keeping a few venues in town going 3-5 nights a week on nothing but jazz and blues: clubs like Torch Club, and JB’s lounge. But more work needs to be done, especially in thinning the ranks of blues bands around here. If I see another “authentic” blues group fronted by a couple of bearded 50ish white guys wearing shirts with flames on them, I might never listen to the blues again. Clean up your house, blues musicians, and kick these guys to the curb. They’re giving you a bad name.
Jerry Perry to sponsor five more free downtown concerts
Every Friday August 21 through September 18, free concerts will continue in Cesar Chavez Plaza with a special series presented by Jerry Perry. The line-up will include Sacramento favorites including Kai Kln, Prieta, Shannon Curtis, Jackpot and The Golden Cadillacs. This is an all ages event.
(Via Sac Music Blog)
Readers of this blog — who have some sort of steel trap mind for my preferences as expressed over time — will know that Jackpot is my favorite local band. They play September 18 with multiple SAMMIES winning pop band Agent Ribbons and guitar god Mike Farrell.
The current run of concerts in Cesar Chavez concludes Friday with Sol Peligro, Retrograde Revolution, and La Noche Oskura.
The Sac Rag 