More Love for the Spot

SNR has a big music feature on Daisy Spot in the current issue. Local rock god Mike Farrell is very frank about drug use and its involvement in the creative process. Kudos for that.

But my favorite detail in the piece is that the record is produced by “longtime fan Dana Gumbiner” of Deathray and LGS and that he took to this role because “he realized it might be the only way he’d ever have the Daisy Spot album he’d long desired.” This seems like a classic Sacramento detail, and I don’t mean that in the usual self-deprecating sense that I usually intend. It’s kind of like starting a Web site to talk about Coffee Works (err, I mean, so that some anonymous person might write a comment about Coffee Works) mainly because you want to read a Web site with anonymous comments about Coffee Works.

Oh, and new drummer Alex Jenkins was in my extended group of friends when I was 8 and now he lives 1 block over from me. Small town indeed.

Starbucks® Nation

The story of Starbucks is no secret. I think we all understand that there literally IS a Starbucks at every corner. In fact, there are currently 4,666 Company-operated coffeehouses and 2,222 licensed locations in the United States alone. I also think we can agree that whether you like their coffee or not (I’m a Peet’s guy actually) they are here to stay. What got me to post today is best illustrated by the photo I’ve provided and the number 13. Why 13 you ask? Well 13 is the number of cars in line at the Starbucks on Eastern and Arden this morning. What’s worse? That 13 people decided that waiting in line for 20 minutes for a cup of joe rather than drive down the road a mile or two to another location OR that 13 people chose to use the drive through for a cup of joe rather than park their car and go into the store which is FAR less crowded than the drive through line (I’ve been paying close attention to this over the last few months and find it to be true).

Reader’s note: Should you find yourself near this location in the future, the coffee at Whole Foods Market is quite delicious and they rarely have more than 2 or 3 people in line. “But Whole Foods Market is so…” I know, I know. Just go for th coffee, dammit.

Best of Sacramento: Bring in the cows

Whew! Last night’s “Best of Sacramento” party wore me out. First, don’t expect a comprehensive recap. It would be impossible for one person – even me – to cover all the ground necessary to properly review the event. Which gets to my point: Sacramento’s “event of the year” has become more like the state fair than the swanky fundraiser it’s billed as.

OK, so there are no farm animals or carnival rides, but there’s enough people and lines and you’re going to be thirsty.
Continue reading “Best of Sacramento: Bring in the cows”

Tina’s Thoughts

If you’ve lived in Sacramento for a long time, Tina Macuha is one of those local media people, like Stan Atkinson or that Australian guy on KWOD, whose voice and/or image gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling, like Sacramento is a thick wool blanket, smothering the very life out of you. Tina’s current haunt is the traffic desk at Good Day, where every morning she posts an Oprah-esque quote, fresh from the HP Laserjet (today’s was “Feed Your Soul” or something). Her “Sign of the Day,” I see it’s called as I read her bio.

My gut reaction is annoyance, because so often the phrase makes no sense or gives helpful advice only for someone who had just recently said to themselves, “you know, what my life really needs right now is a pat answer to a question I wasn’t asking.” But then the Sacto homer in me kicks in, and I wonder why she has to resort to printing these things up herself and littering her little workspace with them. From the morning show on FM 102 back in the 80s to being an original “Good Day” host, Tina Macuha owns this town. Couldn’t they maybe spare a nice plaque or frame or something? Maybe a graphic?

Vlade Flopper, Not Fighter

As hinted at by sac-eats and as posted by the ever alert and still not creatively paralyzed DB at The Barnesyard, former Sacramento Kings beloved center Vlade Divac is wanted in his home country of Serbia-Montenegro for draft evasion (or “avoison,” one of my favorite neologisms). Yeah, being wanted in Serbia-Montenegro does not sound like something you would wish on a person.

UPDATE: Offensive foul!!

UPDATE II: a half a second after finding this out, Mr. Divac fell to the ground inexplicably.

Sacramento Authors Balance the Scales

Sacramento takes its fair share of abuse. But one of the great things about our city is that it always knows how to make a comeback. Case in point: two Sacramento authors were among the winners at the 2005 National Book Awards ceremony held in New York City on Wednesday.

Now that’s what I’m talkin’ bout. Books! Reading! Sacramento!

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Oh, greater Sacramento region, what are we going to do with you? Earlier this month we had to suffer through your offensive video introductions at the Kings game and now we learn that one of your local area high school football coaches is suing over an unfair coin flip?

Terhune is suing to have the “tiebreaker” overturned, arguing it violated the open-meeting requirements detailed in the state’s Brown Act. “It’s a technicality,” said Terhune. “Let’s say it like it is. It was decided only the ADs would toss, period.”

Seriously, is this an onion article?

Let’s put the football politics aside for a moment and talk about how three teams were going to be narrowed down to two by the flip of a coin? I can hear them at the Round Table now…

Ok, you three coaches call it in the air and whomever gets it right wins…oh wait, that won’t work…ok, we’ll flip the coin and one coach will call it in the air and before it lands the other two do a thumb war and the winner of that contest can move on to the elimination round…

Totally ridiculous…and besides, everyone knows that a situation like this called for Odd or Even.

UPDATE: The judgement is in. A superior judgement no less. Still no word on how a coin toss was going to make a decision between three parties.