End of an Era

By now I suppose most of you have heard that Kevin “The Rat” Radich is leaving the Rise Guys after today to move to the Bay Area, where his wife has been living (she’s a radio weatherperson). I’m not a frequent Rise Guys listener, so this is news to me. In researching this morning I found a gem of a Web page about Sac radio history.

A great detail in the Sac Bee story is that the other Rise Guys gave the Rat crap about choosing the girl (his wife) over sports. Oh really? I wonder if they came up with some hilarious comedy schtick to go along with it, like making a cat sound and then a whipping sound. Bros before ho’s!!

Seeking the Sikhs in the River City

sikhscalifornia.JPG

Last weekend, the Sikhs of Yuba City held their annual festival and parade, commemorating the installation of their holy book (the Guru Granth Sahib) as their spiritual guide. This was a record setting event, as the celebration drew a crowd of 60,000 people from several countries.

As unfamiliar as Sikhs are to the average American, the presence of such a large Sikh community in Sacramento and the Central Valley is actually a unique characteristic of this area. Northern California is no stranger to Sikhs by any means. The area is known to Sikhs around the world for being a hub for the community in North America. Almost every Sikh has a relative or close friend living in this area, which has one of the largest Sikh populations in the United States – comparable to and quite likely exceeding New York or Los Angeles. So, who are the Sikhs? Since you didn’t ask, I’m going to tell you…
Continue reading “Seeking the Sikhs in the River City”

Life imitating art in the 916

There is a scene in “Airplane” when Kramer is trying to make his way through the airport and is being hounded by various religious zealots to the point that he starts punching and kicking them one by one…I’m sure you know the one. Well one of the zealots comes at him with the line “Jews for Jesus?” which results in a swift beat down.

As I was making my morning commute I couldn’t help but think of this scene when I noticed a huge bus in the parking lot of Safeway on Arden near Watt Avenue. I had to pull over and grab a photo. “Jews for Jesus” written on the side and back. Whiskey tango foxtrot is going on here? Details are sketchy, but I did find mention of it here (reader’s note: this link goes to the Athiest Alliance Web Center, you know, not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

If anyone has any information on this bus and its business in Sacramento, please let us know!

UPDATE: SinghCity went to work and delivered the goods with the link to the Web site and their business in the River CIty. Well done, brother. Cause you know, “Jesus spoke with a Jewish accent and so do we. After you hear the Liberated Wailing Wall, you may not like gefilte fish, but you will know more about the Jewish roots of our faith and have a deeper understanding of God’s Word.” I couldn’t get that at the atheist site, I’ll tell you that.

Kings 05-06 Home Opener

DB at The Barnesyard found a great moment on the video screen in last night’s Kings home opener. Anybody else see this or is DB out of his gourd.

I watched the whole opening with my daughters (2 years, 7 months) and my 2 year old loved it, though for a few moments it was deemed scary. The whole thing did have a very occult human sactifice ritual vibe to it which is probably supposed to seem cool. And now she is nuts for Bonzi Wells, or at least for his name.

UPDATE: DB was right. It turns out Sacramento does have its own newspaper (who knew?) and it did, in fact, cover this story today.

SacBee(n) Loves Them Some Mason’s

Though commentary at Heckasac lately (at least that small percentage of it that concerns itself with The Sac Rag) has been coming down strongly against the Snark, I hope the Sacblogging community can read between the lines and see that this interesting discussion developing there about Mason’s and Sacbee restaurant review suckiness is tangentially related to my comments about Sac being all about getting the newest trendiest thing and turning its back on the old and cherishable.

Barbary Coast Savannah BBQ

Quick bite here: Barbary Coast gets a JPG rating for “Just Plain Good.” The Carolina bbq plate is scrumtious with a spicy vinegar sauce that clears the sinuses and tempts the tummy. My only disappointment was that they were not offering potato salad at lunchtime. What’s bbq without potato salad? And why did the owner feel he had to give me a Forrest Gump-esque rundown on why they didn’t have the potato salad ready? It went like this: “Oh, we ain’t got no potato salad yet. We make it fresh here ya know, but it takes a while. First we got to boil em, then cool em, then peel em, then slice em, then dice em, then julienne em, then run em though a mandolin slicer, then pasteurize em, then cauterize em, then wring em out, then flambe em, then hoist em up a flag pole, then dry em, then use them to make a 3-D portrait of William Henry Harrison, then we add some mayo, then it’s ready.” Good food means never having to say you’re sorry.

Barbary Coast Savannah BBQ
21st and Capitol
Sacramento
Food*** Ambience** Service**

Belching

I took the number 30 bus from East Sac to downtown yesterday. The bus driver was calling out each stop on his microphone. Cool. No problem. I was absorbed in my book pretty much ignoring it. Until he called out the Alhambra stop, and then belched before turning off the microphone. Ouch. Everyone looked slightly uncomfortable and there were a few snickers. Part of me thinks maybe he did on purpose, and part of that part of me thinks in that case, AWESOME! The other part of me feels confused and slightly violated. Plus the bus was late. Still better than driving and parking. That is all. Over and out.

Partisan Rhetoric

I never really waste much time worrying about the divisiveness of American politics. Supposedly the people are too polarized, neighbors don’t see eye to eye, cats can’t get along with dogs, nerds and jocks fight constantly. A couple of quotes today in reference to yesterday’s election caught my eye, however. Here’s Governer Schwarzenegger on the apparently failed Proposition 73:

I wouldn’t want to have someone take my daughter to a hospital for an abortion or something and not tell me. I would kill him if they do that.

He talk funny. Well, Arnold could perhaps be forgiven for taking such a tone; he’s a parent, he’s talking about serious issues. But then there’s Democratic political consultant Garry South, who is confused by right-leaning reforms because, in his words, the state “just got raped by corporations in the energy crisis.” Whoa there, egghead. Save the men’s room talk for the men’s room. Grody!