Via the Causeway Film & Television Forum, I’m sure many of you will enjoy this list of local films and film people. Who knew Carlos Alazraqui, Garcia on TV’s “Reno 911!” was a Sacramentan? I do, now. And I can’t believe I forgot that LeVar Burton, my daughter’s favorite person right now, is one too.
(At this time I would like to grant full leeway for thread creep about “Reading Rainbow” nostalgia.)
Sac-Eats turns 30 today.
Even the Bee is in on the action since they finally put his beloved A’s above the fold of today’s Sports section, including a color photo!
So, let’s all raise a jar of mayonnaise to honor our favorite foodie!
Here’s a good reason to visit Old Sac this weekend:
A visitor from the bay has decided the River City is a tasty place to visit. A sea lion has taken up residence on a Sacramento dock.
The sea lion arrived Wednesday night, deciding this spot on a dock under the Tower Bridge was his.
No word on whether this lion of the sea was the same hungover one that tried to visit Arden Mall last year.  In any case, come on by this weekend. Have a few beers, buy some antiques, eat some candy, and say hello to Mr. Sea Lion.Â
You’ll be glad you did.
Speaking of current and former Good Day Sacramento talent, a helpful reader emailed me just now and reminded me to point out an item Graswich included in his column today, which I will copy and paste in its entirety in case you didn’t see it:
Fly away: Rough weekend for Channel 31 Good Day Sacramento star Mark S. Allen. The TV personality was stopped by Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies while driving through Sacramento Intergalactic Airport. Deputies called the Highway Patrol to test Allen’s sobriety, and he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Allen can be wild and crazy on TV, but he behaved himself in custody, CHP Officer Lizz Dutton said. No comment from Mark. …
All emphasis R.E.’s except Highway Patrol, which I have bolded because I thought it would be funny in a Jackie Harvey way.
(Completely beside the point: Even Graswich makes fun of SMF’s International status? I don’t know why people don’t understand this: You can fly to Mexico, which is another nation, meaning you can travel between 2 nations, which is the definition of the word international. I looked it up. I don’t want to hear anybody making fun of it anymore.)
If you’re a local musician then you probably knew Erik Kleven, who died Saturday morning in a car accident. He was sort of a family friend–he taught my brother to play the bass–and I’m sure even some of my fellow Sac Raggers might have known the guy. A generous fellow, a real one of a kind.
In a very odd coincidence, while my wife and I were out on Friday night celebrating our aforementioned anniversary, we saw Erik playing with a little jazz combo at the Sheraton Grand. He died the following afternoon. I think it’s a testament to him that when we noticed musicians I instinctively looked at who was on bass, figuring it was 80% likely to be Erik Kleven. RIP
Just leafing through my most recent issue of “Pensions & Investments” magazine and came across a very interesting profile on the new Chief Investment Officer over at CalPERS, Russell Read. (If you’re not already a subscriber to “Pensions & Investments” you’re really missing out.) Seems like Mr. Read is very interested in environmental issues and investment, owning his own tree sactuary/habitat in Maine and sitting on a board that “is dedicated to attracting technologies that will convert wood to energy and to materials now made from oil.”
Wait a second, hit the rewind button on that. Did he just say, “convert wood into energy?” Isn’t that called fire? I know how to convert wood into energy, just hold it close to a match, or rub two pieces together really fast. Do you need a whole board for that? And using wood for material? Isn’t that called…wood?
All snark aside, Mr. Read seems like a very neat guy and it looks like he’ll find it an easy transition from New England to Northern California. The article says that he and the wife plan to move to Davis, which seems a good fit for the environmentally aware couple. So if you see Russell or Mrs. Read at the co-op or Whole Foods or the farmer’s market, give ’em a wave and a hearty handshake and welcome them to the neighborhood.
We, or at least I, talk a lot here at the Sac Rag about the frontier spirit being alive and kicking here in Sactown. Most of the time it’s being used in a funny sarcastic way, to describe the “paranoid grasping at humanity” embodied historically by the Forty-Niners (the gold-panning kind). But the frontier spirit has its good side as well: take SNR’s cover boy of the week, local horror auteur filmmaker Bob Moricz. I’m not much of a horror film guy, but I’m a big fan of the do-it-yourself, anti-Postmodern artistic mindset Moricz represents. My favorite quote is when one of Bob’s super fans tries to call his newest film “Palace of Stains” (screening at The Crest tonight at 11:00 pm) an “amazing feat” and Moricz replies “What’s amazing is that it doesn’t suck shit.” Bob Moricz, humble genius.
UPDATE: Great review of “Palace of Stains” on FILM FOR TOURISTS. FFT is putting together a really well-written blog, unless your definition of “well-written” includes “employs capitalization.”
In other SNR news, kudos to SNR president Jeff vonKaenel for launching SacYouth.com, a new Website listing of faith-based activities for Sacramento’s young people. Yay togetherness!
CSUS nursing major Nicole Honaker was recently crowned Miss Sacramento County (I say recently because there is no mention of the date in the article. Somebody won’t be winning Miss Junior Reporter!) Lest you think an academic-minded woman should be shamed by participating in such an event, you’ll be happy to know that during the swimsuit competition contestants are merely to walk past the judges, not to pose or even stop on the stage. At a certain point can we just get rid of that category? What’s next, you just show them a swimsuit you bought? Anyway, congrats Miss Honaker. Maybe next year we’ll do a Miss Sac Rag…
Mark S. Allen just gave a very creepy promo for tomorrow’s (Thursday’s ) Good Morning Sacramento. Multiple babies! Born live! On camera!!!!! Rumor has it that a highly unusual contract between UPN 31 and the very expectant mother obligates her to name the children Tina, Courtney, Maryanne and Abbot, and Doug.
As DMZ mentioned here earlier this week, the News & Review published Robert Berry’s Top 10 list of annoying things about Sacramento. Topping the list was Mark S. Allen. Now who doesn’t love them some MSA bashing? Count me in, that’s for sure, but my frame of reference for my insults are still based on the Scratch days. So to get up to speed I checked in on the Good Morning Sacramento Today show on UPN 31 for the first time in months and, man alive, what has happened to that guy?
So they toss it to MSA and Nick chimes in with a great flat ironing joke which MSA uncomfortably accepts (see photo, come on, man, take your age like a man). He proceeds to interview each of the hourly producers on the show who were discussing what each segment was going to be about. He then makes a crack about his run in with Peter Jackson oh so long ago and how one of them made the right career choice, or something. If you check out his bio you’ll notice he loves the self deprecation. But he does it in that way that makes you a little uneasy, you know? He does hold the record for the most jalapenos eaten in one minute, however. So he’s got that going for him. And, to his credit, he has a listing on IMDB, which I clearly do not have.
Bottom line is (for when I undoubtedly run into him at Trader Joe’s…people in San Francisco don’t have to worry about this stuff, huh?) that he has made a living in this business we call show for a long time now so, unless he’s holding pictures of high powered people in uncompromising positions, he must be doing something right.
The Sac Rag 