Apple hiring again in Elk Grove

4-1-2013 9-25-13 PMMark Anderson of the Business Journal reports that Apple Inc has listed an additional 9 positions in its Elk Grove location, bring the total to 18 current positions listed.

The article was interesting to me because I didn’t realize there was an air of mystery surrounding what exactly Apple does at the Elk Grove location.

The Elk Grove location has the electrical capacity to support a major data center. It has its own 69 kilovolts substation from the Sacramento Metropolitan Utility District. That’s enough to power a city the size of Elk Grove.

So what is Apple doing in Elk Grove (besides the real answer, which I’m pretty sure is customer service)?

Supercuts to sponsor Sac Pro Soccer — but you get to name the team

Sac Pro Soccer, owners of the area’s newest pro sports franchise, announced this week that Supercuts will be a major sponsor.

But the actual team name, as well as its nickname, colors and shield, will be decided by a good old-fashioned contest. How about the Supercuts Fades or the Sacramento Buzzcuts, or maybe a name that is not terrible?

Agent Ribbons RIP

Agent Ribbons was Natalie and Lauren Ribbons
Agent Ribbons was Natalie and Lauren Ribbons
Sacramento’s Victorian quirk-pop duo Agent Ribbons has called it quits. While fans included the uber-cool trendmaking Demolisten crew at KXLU, their move to Austin in 2000 2010 did little to change their 7 year cycle of almost constant touring without much breakthrough to a larger audience.

Does this mean California gets Natalie and Lauren back? Unknown. Natalie has booked a West Coast tour with new band Tele Novella which also includes her boyfriend Jason Chronis (Voxtrot, Belaire, JC&Co), Matt Simon and Cari Palazollo. Tele Novella recently debuted at SXSW and appears to be keeping Austin as their home base. There is no news from Lauren on her plans.

Carmichael Dave launches Project Zero; multi-city “road show” to save Kings

After hyping it on Twitter Sunday night, Carmichael Dave announced “Project Zero” today, which he calls a “huge team effort” to help “save the Kings.”

At about 4:00 PM today, Dave formally announced the project after a meeting with Mayor Kevin Johnson.

“Radio Matthew” accused of conspiring to hack

Chicks dig guys with skills.
Chicks dig guys with skills.
One time friend of this here web log, Matthew Keys (“Radio Matthew”), was indicted on Thursday in Sacramento for allegedly conspiring with members of the hacker group “Anonymous” to hack into and alter a Tribune Co. website.

Oddly enough, Matthew wasn’t the first to report this story as he found out about the charges via Twitter.

If convicted, Keys could face up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for each of the two substantive counts, according to federal authorities. The conspiracy count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The case was investigated by the Sacramento and Los Angeles field offices of the FBI. It is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.

Yowza. Judging by his Twitter account, Matthew has a lot of support from his followers and appears to be doing just fine. Details are obviously sketchy, so who knows what the hell actually happened. I just think it is cool that an old school follower of the Sac Rag has gone big time.

Spring cleaning on the Garden Highway

Garden Highway Clean Up

In what has become my beat as of late, I’m here to report that my favorite makeshift homeless shelter has been evacuated once again.

Since I ride past this spot almost every day, I keep track of when it is empty, picking up a few stragglers, and when there is no room at the inn. This time the stragglers hadn’t even put out their first week’s trash before getting the boot.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Is someone trying to give away the McKinley Park geese?

Clearly McKinley pond

Mrs Cool spotted this Craigslist ad, through which it appears someone is trying to get the McKinley Park duck/goose hybrids adopted. The McKinley fowl, of course, were in the news recently, as the City is being pressured to have a better plan for ensuring they are fed balanced diets.

Did the City post this without attributing it? Did one of the concerned citizens from the Bee article post this, and is that chill? The ad claims the birds were abandoned, but how would one know this, and in either case if they are living at the park, aren’t they public fowl now, or something? Help me out, fowl devotees.

Electro Group, hearts+horses @ Bows & Arrows, 3/8

Electro Group. Getting the band back together!

Great electro pop show Friday night at Bows & Arrows, with Electro Group, hearts+horses, and Arts & Leisure for only $5! The Bows blog has a great writeup on all the bands.

This lineup really tugs at my heartstrings. In the late ’90s Electro Group and Park Avenue were two of my favorite local bands; saw them dozens of times in places like Capitol Garage and another venue–cannot recall the name, help me out, 90s kids!–that was in the spot currently occupied by Bows & Arrows, behind Profound Sound at the time. For a time my sonic world was permeated by Electro Group’s heavy fuzz and “Lifter/Green Machine” was on heavy rotation.

Continue reading “Electro Group, hearts+horses @ Bows & Arrows, 3/8”

Who will own Mastrov/Burkle downtown arena?

One detail that I am unclear on after this week’s announcement by Mayor Johnson: who will own the arena?

If Burkle’s involvement is centered on the downtown arena portion, does that mean he will operate the arena or own it? If the city is still planning to put up the $255m it had pledged as the lions share of the arena costs under the rejected 2012 deal, shouldn’t the city own the arena, as it would have under that plan?

Johnson seemed to indicate that he supports protecting taxpayers from subsidizing the arena and team. But mortgaging the city’s parking revenue for a limited stake in the resulting ESC would be a downgrade.

I suppose we’ll have to wait to find out when Preliminary Terms Sheet Part III: Return of The Returnening is released.

Release the Whales

Humphrey.

At his “State of the City” address tonight, Mayor Johnson is “expected” to grace us with the names of the investors with whom the City is already negotiating. However, as the Bee points out, this is only an assumption, albeit an assumption based on the fact that transparency in government is something that Americans expect.

So hopefully tonight’s event, with special appearance by Jackie Greene and Mark S. Allen, will give the Mayor the opportunity to come forward with some actual specifics. I wonder if there will be a surprise, though: If the “whales” do end up being Burkle and Mastrov as expected, and the Mayor was purposely secretive for no reason, that seems like a pretty bad situation.

As the City Manager has already begun negotiations on the terms of a new agreement, this secrecy should not go on one day more. Here We Name Names!