Tag: Sacramento

Sacramento Museum Day is coming

Humpty Dumpty Sat On a Wall...
Creative Commons License photo credit: UhDuh
Fairytale Town is on the list!?

The 13th Annual Sacramento Museum Day will be on Saturday, February 5, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All participating museums close at 5 p.m. with the last guests admitted at 4 p.m.

From this latimes.com article:

Though it’s tempting to museum-hop until you drop, realistically you’ll be able to squeeze in only two or three museums on the free day. The museum association also offers the following advice…Expect a wait at the more popular sites such as the Crocker Art Museum, the Sacramento Zoo and the Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park. Park your car and use a free shuttle that services most of the museums on the list.

There are 26 museums participating in this year’s event so this is a good opportunity to visit a museum less traveled.

Lockdown television series features Sacramento

I was skipping through the channels last night when I came across an airing of National Geographic’s Lockdown series.

This episode featured Sacramento, and not in a fun, “hey, we have a lot of trees are close to San Francisco“, way.

Filled with nearly 2,500 inmates accused of everything from drugs to kidnapping to torture, Sacramento County Jail faces a huge problem: maintaining order and control in a highly overcrowded space with a dwindling number of officers.

It was powerful stuff. Using toilets to communicate with other inmates, applying martial arts moves to subdue unruly inmates, it was all there. Shows like this remind me that we are very fortunate to have people in this world who are willing to take on jobs so others don’t have to. For now, of course, as budget cuts continue to dominate the plot lines.

Local Chocolatier Ginger Elizabeth Earns Top Honors

Midtown just got a little more European. The deliciously talented twenty-something chocolatier Ginger Elizabeth, oft famed locally for her gourmet ice cream sandwich treasures and decadent mochas, now ranks among the nations top chocolate makers. The honor was bestowed upon her by Dessert Professional, a magazine for um, dessert professionals. They listed Ginger Elizabeth among the top ten chocolatiers in North America (take that, Canada!).

In her profile for the magazine, Ginger Elizabeth gives a shout out to Sacramento when asked about her personal favorite chocolate: the Meyer Lemon, which she says, “give this chocolate a great local touch.” Indeed!

2010 Holiday Services Schedule (City & County)

I had to look up my local garbage collection schedule recently and came across the holiday schedule for the City of Sacramento.

Be sure to put out your cans as usual and follow collection day parking guidelines. For loose-in-the-street collection for yard waste, please see Residential Garden Refuse & Street Sweeping.

This includes when parking meters take a holiday (Christmas Eve is on the 23rd and Christmas Day is on the 24th to the City). And read the fine print, “No” means “yes, they are enforced.” Here is a detailed PDF of the free, on-street parking locations (previously mentioned by CoolDMZ on November 17th).

I still wish the County offered the “Loose-in-the-Street” program. Or does it just seem more appealing?

For County folks, you’ll have to use the “e-Map-It” service which continues to be a great resource.

Kings assistant coach arrested on DUI charges

OK, what’s the deal? Kings assistant coach, Mario Elie, was arrested for driving under the influence early this morning. Granted, you’d celebrate, too, if your team won a game after sporting the league’s worst record.

“We are very concerned and disappointed in regard to Mario’s arrest for DUI. This is an ugly form of history repeating itself. We expect better, knowing at the same time there are limits to how far you can go to protect people from themselves. In spite of all of this, we still respect Mario’s right to due process,” said Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.

Man, Geoff must be simply swapping out the names each time with these statements. I did enjoy the line about protecting people from themselves. That’s good stuff.

The last few Kings players/coaches who have been arrested are no longer with the team. If the phone rings, Mario, don’t answer it!

Is it Sacramento? Is it professional sports? Is it professional sports in Sacramento?

CAKE to play show in Sacramento

CAKE
Creative Commons License photo credit: anthony_goto

From CAKE’s newsletter:

Blue Lamp show tomorrow (Tuesday, October 19th at 9pm) in Sacramento. First come, first served.

As usual, no cameras or recording devices are permitted. Your presence is enough.

CAKE has also announced the release of their new album, “Showroom of Compassion.” We have an outstanding variety of pre-sale bundles to offer!

I wonder how the Facebook group is going to handle this. Ah, yeah. Ah, right.

Furlough Fridays Found Falsely Foisted!

An analysis was conducted by a non-partisan and neutral economic research firm that discovered the furloughs are actually harming the California economy. Hear that silence? That is the sound of local businesses dying.

The California Supreme Court ruled today that furloughs on state employees are not illegal, but that the Governor does not have the power to impose them. This creates a window of opportunity for Californians like you to stand up and call to an end of this ridiculous practice.

What? You support the furloughs? Well, read on, dear Sacraggians, maybe I can change your mind with some hard facts.
Continue reading “Furlough Fridays Found Falsely Foisted!”

Roz Savage to speak at CSUS

Roz Savage is the first woman to compete in the 3,000 mile Atlantic Rowing Race
Roz Savage is a true bad-ass. She is the first woman to row solo from California to Hawaii, is one of the only women to row across the Atlantic Ocean, and will soon be completing her attempt to be the first woman to row across the Pacific. With so many millionaires paying to get sherpa’ed to the top of Mount Everest and environmental tourism turning dangerous adventures into family fun, the oceans are one of Earth’s final frontiers. People who dare to challenge themselves and mother nature on the high seas risk their lives in ways we can’t imagine.

With so much time spent on the open water, Roz has a unique perspective on our oceans. She has been named a United Nations Climate Hero, among many other honors, for her campaign to promote sustainability and to fight rampant pollution of our oceans by plastic.
Continue reading “Roz Savage to speak at CSUS”

Food News and Rumors

A few items have come across my plate recently and I thought I’d share.

Dan Aykroyd in Sacramento selling vodka– Wednesday, Sep 29 at the BevMo on Adren Way, Dan Aykroyd, legendary star of screen and …screen, will be signing bottles of his new vodka called Crystal Head. Creepily bottled in skull-shaped vessels, this very drinkable vodka is a pet project of the man who once shilled for bass blenders and bags of glass as children’s playthings on SNL. Check out the strange and awkward and strangely awkward video below for more info on this product. Feel free to offer your ideas for signature cocktails you can make with Elwood’s daddy juice.

Bistro 33 to undergo popular makeover– Goodbye Bistro 33 Midtown. The Haines brothers’ hippest spot has temporarily shut its doors to become Spin Burger Bar. Taking a hint from Mason Wong, whose transformation of his signature eponymous restaurant to Cafeteria 15L has turned out to be a great business decision, and Rick Mahan, whose One Speed has brought in more business than his upscale Waterboy, the Haines boys will be transforming an underperforming asset into a more casual, more economical eatery with — taking a big cue from Mahan — a cycling theme. In my favorite quote of the decade, Fred Haines said, “the ultra lounge thing is dead and we’re rolling with the changes.” (Kudos to Chris Macias at the Bee for getting that wonderful phrase to be uttered) Continue reading “Food News and Rumors”

Second Saturday: Hot or Not?

Hi kids,

I was very flattered when I was asked to contribute to The Sac Rag a few months back. My “beat” was supposed to be the Midtown music/arts scene, but my only post of significance so far has been about getting fined for riding the light rail when I was 5 cents short.

[Taken care of, BTW. I can walk the streets without fear of arrest. Well, for that, anyway. There’s still that whole “shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” thing. But I have a good attorney who says the “Twinkie defense” definitely applies in my case. Really. I ate a Twinkie. When I was 12, but since they have no expiration date, it still applies. Really!]

But as someone who has chosen to make Midtown his home for the better part of the decade, I thought I might chime in regarding Second Saturday: what it has meant to Sacramento, and what it’s become.

Continue reading “Second Saturday: Hot or Not?”