Free Tickets! Free Drinks!

Sugar Plum fairies dancing in my head

I don’t know about you, but this time of year I start to dream of sugar plum fairies dancing in my head. Lucky for you, rather than watching the version in my mind, you have a chance to win FREE tickets to opening night of the Nutcracker Ballet on December 17 and watch professional fairies dance on a stage. This is the real holiday tradition performed by the Pamela Hayes Classical Ballet.

The first person to email greenbeet AT sacrag DOT com will win a set of two tickets.

Double plum bonus! If you win before Sunday (or if you are already a Nutcracker ticket holder), you can use your ballet tickets to enjoy FREE sugar plum punch (yes, the spiked kind) at Lounge ON20 during brunch on December 5. (Punch is free. You pay for brunch.) And it won’t be the drinks making you see fairies this time. The Nutcracker characters will be frolicking about to add to the festivities.

Yes, indeed! The holidays are upon us. Cheers!

I’m a victim!

Where's my bike
Creative Commons License photo credit: Craig A Rodway

I had to leave my commuter bike locked but unattended at the 59th Street Light Rail Station on Tuesday during working hours. I did remember to remove my front wheel and lock it together with my back wheel, and I remembered to remove my headlamp and computer (odometer, speedometer, etc). However, when I returned to my trusty steed at 5:00 or so, my bike was still there but pretty much everything that was not locked down was gone.

Continue reading “I’m a victim!”

SacMag’s picks for local eats

Sacramento Magazine just published a great piece on local food artisans. This is perfect for the holiday season as sweaters, socks and random crap is fine for gifts, but everybody loves deliciousness. Buying locally keeps money in the Sacramento area economy and supports the businesses and people that I personally want around my town.

On a theoretical level, these are all sound arguments, but they are strongly supported by the outstanding quality of these products. Have you tried Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates? Or the bottled offerings from Two Rivers Cider or Odonata Beer Company? Or Pasta Dave’s creations? All incredible. All very giftable.

During your shopping season, remember the people that make Sacramento great and support them.

@SacramentoKings you’re not even fun to watch

The Sacramento Kings (yeah, they are still around, who knew?) are looking to reward “influencers” who tweet about them with the “royal” treatment during Saturday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.

“These influencers have tremendous online reach — they live to talk on Twitter,” Garth Holsinger, Klout vice president of global sales and business development, said in a news release. “The buzz comes in the form of a huge conversation on Twitter, Facebook and other major social networks.”

Will tweeting about the Kings make them play better? Can an influencer make them not cough up a 13 point halftime lead at home? Can the hash mark them enough to make the games exciting?

One person will be chosen to sit in on Coach Paul Westphal’s postgame news conference.

Oh, joy, that will be a scream. This person will get to listen to Westphal try and spin something positive out of another horrible performance. “Yeah, we’re doing some really positive things right now…we just need to execute down the stretch and not turn the ball over so much.”

Go professional sports!

Not creepy at all!

DSCF8635
Creative Commons License photo credit: Kingfox

An enterprising and holiday-spirited local person wants your childs (sic) name and address, for holiday purposes of course:

So here is how this will work send me two dollars per letter you want sent out (per kid) cash or money order (Just because of the stamps and paper).
Also include the childs name what letter you want sent out and the information you want in the letter. Childs name(s)

I think you might also want to send a recent photo of your child. For Santa.

It’s Okay to Laugh at the Disabled

Or it least it will be on Friday night at the Sacramento Comedy Spot. In fact if you don’t laugh at the disabled, the show will have failed to serve its purpose.

The “Comedians With Disabilities Act” goes up at 8:00pm at the Spot and features three incredible comedians, Michael O’Connell (has MD and is confined to a wheelchair), Steve Danner (little person), and Eric Mee (blind), who are not only disabled but who thoroughly mine their “otherness” for incredible, gut-wrenching laughs.

The first time I saw O’Donnell, I laughed so hard I was in pain, then told everyone I knew about this awesome comedian in a wheelchair. I remember distinctly that there were one or two audience members who seemed uncomfortable at the show, not with O’Donnell’s disability, but rather with his frank discussion of it on stage. If you’re one of those folks, you might want to stay at home and eat leftovers, but if you want to see what’s probably going to be the best standup show you’ve seen in a while, check out the “Comedians With Disability Act,” 8PM, Friday, at the Sacramento Comedy Spot, $12.

Music and backscatter at SMF

I’ve been looking for an opportunity to insert this video clip into a post so I was pleased to read Screening methods leading some to drive, not fly in Sacramento on sacbee.com.

“We were thinking of flying to Oregon to see our family but instead we’re going to drive 11 hours,” said Sonja Wilson, 49, of Sacramento. Wilson said she flew two years ago and received a less invasive pat-down than those used in recent weeks. Still, she felt violated and doesn’t want a more thorough frisking. “I already felt totally sexually assaulted back then,” she said. “I can’t imagine what it must be like now.”

Ohh kay. I don’t get out much, so please share your experiences with airport security. Is it really this bad? I did learn that… “of the two secondary screening procedures – Backscatter scan and enhanced pat-down – Sacramento International only has the enhanced pat-down procedure available.” Man, that’s a relief.

Continue reading “Music and backscatter at SMF”

Plan B- now with improved bread

Plan B, still the most oddly named restaurant in Sacramento, continues to put out beautifully made French cuisine with elegantly casual service and, in my opinion, the best fall-weather atmosphere in town. And, as if that weren’t enough, the bread is now good.

 You see I had written a review of Plan B about a year ago singing its praises but deriding its mushy, off-putting bread. Maybe I made too big a deal out of it, maybe not. But look, if you’re going to serve some of the best mussels around, you need lovely crusty bread to sop up all the goodness left behind. It’s imperative. Continue reading “Plan B- now with improved bread”

Joel McHale at Mem. Auditorium Dec. 11

Joel McHale
Creative Commons License photo credit: Alan Light

Joel McHale, star of E!’s “The Soup” and NBC’s “Community” is coming to the Memorial Auditorium on December 11th. Unfortunately the ticket prices are heinous, or not, depending on your internal heinousness gauge.

I love Joel’s schtick on both shows and I’m glad he is a famous dude. There are very few performances I would pay a lot to see, but there are also very few things I would go out at night to do in the first place.

Dissin’ Dinner or “Ten 22 Gets Deep 6’d”

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of dining at two Old Sacramento establishments, The Firehouse and Ten 22 (both restaurants owned by the same family if you didn’t know). The Firehouse dinner was a treat for Papa Eats and me, celebrating the old man’s 74th birthday. As a lifelong Sacramento guy, I figured Pops would enjoy the legendary fancy spot for a celebration. Instead, he perfectly encapsulated everything you need to know about The Firehouse in one sentence: “The food at this place is incredible, but it sure ain’t much fun.”

So true pops, so true. The Firehouse puts out some of the finest, most beautifully articulated plates of food in town. They also charge some of the highest prices in town for that food. And they do so in an atmosphere that’s stuffy at best, funereal at worst (and not new agey memorial service in a meadow kind of funereal, but Catholic-high-mass-suit-and-tie funereal). I guess there’s just something oppressive about the gentlemen’s social club decorations, army of suited waiters, and biblically long wine list.  My one quick suggestion: instead of giving every diner a wine list longer than the last Harry Potter book, how about you throw together a “top 100” list chosen by the sommelier, and only tote out the full wine hymnal if requested. It might prove a bit less intimidating for the majority of your diners who can’t drop a few grand on a bottle of burgundy.

Anyway, on to destination number 2, Ten 22 that is. I’ve liked Ten 22 in the past, especially their casual fare and casual atmosphere. Lunch there has often proved to be pretty darned good. But on this particular evening, I brought along two friends who, without lifting a finger, tore the place to the ground. By mere words alone they soured every sip, spoiled every bite, and turned what was a bright and cheery little dining spot into a scrofulous pit of culinary decay. Continue reading “Dissin’ Dinner or “Ten 22 Gets Deep 6’d””