Just found out about “Boil ‘N Fry Day” this Saturday, sponsored by Sac Rag favorite Dad’s Sandwich Shop and Lite Brite Productions.
This event is a blast with bands, crawfish, hotwings, beer gardens and Hill Billy Games! Last year’s net proceeds benefited a terminally ill child through the local chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
You had me at crawfish. Here are the details on MidtownGrid.com.
for beer festivals! I will be keeping you up to date on all the beer happenings in the area this summer.
Beer festivals are always a good excuse to drink in the name of charity. Also, did you ever notice that almost all of the charities that these fests support are children’s charities? Do you know why we need so many children’s charities? They are too young to drink beer, so people feel sorry for them.
Raley Field Beerfest is being put on for the first time this year as the annual beer fest for the Northern California Brewer’s Guild, which is headed up by Rubicon owner Glynn Phillips. The event is tomorrow, Saturday the 12th. I have no idea what time this event starts as the organizers have done a “less-than-stellar” job at promoting it. Admission includes 10 complementary tastings, more can be purchased. One small suggestion to the NorCal Brewers… You have a web site. Maybe you would, oh, I don’t know, promote your event on your web site?!?!!?!? Promote it somewhere? One more note – No one in their right mind is going to pay almost $9 in Ticketmaster fees for a $25 ticket when we can buy one onsite for $30. Beer patrons, arrive early and anticipate a long line. Expect between 30 and 40 breweries from across Northern California.
The 8th Annual West Coast Brew Fest is the following Saturday, May 19th, from 1-5pm at Miller Park. Notice the handy link to a web site where you can get maps, information, and purchase a ticket with no service charge that is actually $5 cheaper than onsite the day of the event. No tokens, admission gives you unlimited tastes. Expect almost 50 breweries from across the West Coast and beyond.
Drink safely, my friends, and drink only the best.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BREWERIES
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BREW-FESTS
And, for the love of all that is holy, drink beer to save a child.
Looks like the Friday Night Concert series at Cesar Chavez park started last week with Bright Light Fever, Still Life Projector, The Radio Life, and The Dead Celebrities (that lineup has some top-notch wordplay, kudos to the planners).
Highlights include a June 1 CD release show by An Angle and Spider Silk Dress, and of course the Kai Kln reunion show July 13 (backed by Hot Pistol, one of my new favorite local bands) and an August 3 show by Jackpot (which apparently lost its ownership of the best band URL ever, jackpotswebsite.com, and which also has its own CD release for “Moonbreath” coming up on June 2 and Marilyns). See you in the heat!
Thursday night brought long time comic Will Durst to Sacramento. Now I’m not as up on stand-up comedy as I used to be (anyone else remember Stand-Up Stand-Up on Comedy Central in the early 90’s), so I wasn’t too sure if Mr. Durst, a purely political comedian who was still telling Reagan jokes the last time I saw him, was still funny. Turns out he is.
Thursday night’s event at Marilyn’s was a celebration for the “Comic Press News,” a local rag that focuses on nationall political cartoonage (DMZ, remember having to read those things for Carmazzi’s civics class?) which has now changed its name to “The Humor Times.” The evening was opened up by the local Free Hooch Comedy Troupe, who did some edgy and very salient sketch comedy for the sparse crowd.  Then Mr. Durst came on the stage and did a good hour of solid, current political humor that really killed. (My favorite local joke of the evening was, “I love Sacramento, I really do. And I would live here in a second except for one small thing-August…which here happens to last from April to September.”)
Please join me in wishing Runnergirl a happy birthday. It’s a fantastic day to celebrate even if you’re not married to her.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
It’s on like donkey kong!
Jim Rome, the nationally syndicated sports radio host – and sports radio icon – of “The Jim Rome Show” (heard daily on KHTK 1140AM from 9 AM to 12 PM) is holding his “Smack Off” on Friday, May 4, 2007.
What is the Smack Off? According to Wikipedia:
The Smack-Off is an annual competition on The Jim Rome Show, held in mid-to-late spring and which takes up the entire program on a Friday. The contest is a way to recognize the best callers to the show, as well as a means of determining the best caller of the year. Show host Jim Rome has referred to the Smack-Off as the most important show of the entire year.
Beginning at 11am this morning, Tower Records will be auctioning off their equipment from the recently shut down stores.
Boxes of DVDs and CDs along with forklifts, desks and file cabinets are some of the items that will be up for grabs.
The proceedings will be webcast by Great American. Online bidders have to register at the Web site. A quick browse of the auction catalog finds lots of standard office equipment. You know, air compressors, banding machines, label makers, printers, pornography, etc.
“What!” you are saying to yourself. I know, I know. Who couldn’t use a banding machine, huh? Totally.
Oh, the porno you say? Yeah, well it appears that, for the right price, Lots 38 and 39 can be yours. With such hits as “Spanish Fly” and “Deep Inside” topping the list.
Man, it’s worth going just to be there to hear the auctioneer play those up…
You might not know of this particular claim to fame, but it makes sense that Sacramento is officially Camellia City of the World. You also might not know that today is Camellia Day. One thing is for sure. You can’t miss the fact that there are probably a million of these brightly hued flowers blooming across the city, as they always do in the waning days of winter.
Camellias are native to Southeast Asia and first came here, like many other things, during the Gold Rush. Colonel James Lloyd Lafayette Franklin Warren came out West from Boston in 1851 to open, among other retail establishments, a seed shop. A year later, he imported the first batch of camellia seeds into Sacramento and they quickly took root as one of the favorite local blooms.
For the cycling enthusiasts among(st) you: make sure you’re prepped for the AMGEN Tour of California which is happening February 20th.
The world’s top professional teams will compete over an eight-day, 700-mile race on a route that includes the California redwoods, wine country and the Pacific Coast.
And yes, that includes the Discovery Team. Stage 2 is from Santa Rosa to Sac (that’s 116 miles, and if you could stretch that out over like 3 days I think it would be really fun). They’ve got a nice page about Sacramento, highlighting popular attractions and such:
Since its founding in 1849, Sacramento has grown into a cosmpolitan (sic) state capital while retaining its Gold Rush flavor.
That ’bout sums it up, I’d say…
The family and I took in the sights at the Capitol this afternoon, which is one of our favorite spots. I happened to notice that the Sacramento County exhibit on the ground floor (near The Ahnold’s office) has not one, but two photos of Jonah Matranga. There is a large photo of Jonah performing at Cesar Chavez and then a smaller photo in a collage from what appears to be the same performance.
I’m not sure what to make of it but I thought it was funny. The Nevada County exhibit, for reference, has not one but two photos of their most famous one-time resident, Samuel Clemens. (Hmm, I notice that he resided at the Holbrooke Hotel, and as we all know is most famously impersonated by Hal Holbrook. Hmm, I wonder if Mark Twain had a dog named Michael Chabon or a secretary named Dave Eggers or something…)
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