Archive for April, 2011

May MidMo cover shoot

MidMo May cover shoot video
Yesterday OMF, Liv Moe, Scott Duncan, manly cover model Jose, and I convened in Old Sac for our cover shoot. I have a newfound love of Old Sac which I’ll be sharing with you in the May issue of MidMo. I’m eating old timey candy as I write this!

Sacramento Living Library: Remembering KZAP

For Sacramentans of a certain age range, there was only ONE radio station that mattered: 98.5 KZAP.
From its freeform beginnings to its hard rock heyday, KZAP was Sacramento’s soundtrack for nearly 25 years. Join well known radio personalities Bob Hughson, Bob Keller, Dennis Newhall and Robert Williams for a look back at the valley’s much beloved rock station.  And a bit of advice: show up early if you want a seat, I think this one is gonna be big.
Sunday, April 17, 7PM
Time Tested Books
1114 21st Street

Don’t Forget Record Store Day! April 16

Dal and Nich over at Phono Select are BIG fans of Record Store Day (well, duh, they opened a Record Store) so it’s no surprise that they’ll be going all out for this year’s event. They’ve got plenty of stuff in the works for Saturday, including an in store set from Sea Of Bees at noon. If you’re a music junkie, stop by!

Record Store Day, April 16
Phono Select, 2312 K Street

Incoming! Bottle Shock at the California State Library with Darrell Corti

On 4/20 (DUDE!) the California State Library will present Bottle Shock, a movie about how the upstart California wine industry started to became a contender to that of France in 1976. It also features Alan Rickman cruising around NorCal in a Gremlin if you don’t care about wine.

The California State Library’s Food For Thought series is really cool, there are snacks and an expert gives a presentation before the movie and answers questions after. In this instance, the presentation will be given by local hero Darrell Corti. It’s all free, but there is a donation bucket in the library, please be generous. You must have reservations, so email rfontaine@library.ca.gov soon if you plan on attending.

Incoming! Deke Dickerson & The Modern Sounds, 4/16

Imagine the poor rockabilly slob or 1961 Ventures purist who lives in East Barnacle, Idaho or Ohio’s Lower Catbutt Valley. There they sit, glued to their Youtube (piped in on dial-up, no doubt) watching video after video of Deke Dickerson doing his thing all over the fretboard at various venues not located in god-forsaken out of the way hellholes. Well, we may not be a World Class City, but at least we’re big enough that Deke comes through a half-dozen times a year, always with a superb backing band in tow. This time out he’s bringing The Modern Sounds, a country jazz combo that matches him lick for lick. –TF

Old Ironsides, 9:30, $10.00, 21+

 

Celebrate Yuri’s Night!

Wow.

Tomorrow, April 12, 2011, will mark fifty years to the day that a human being entered space.  At 6:07 AM, April 12, 1961, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off from Tyuratam, deep in the Soviet Union, for a 108 minute trip into outer space.  In that time, his Vostok 1 spacecraft made one complete trip around the earth.  Gagarin and craft came down (separately) at about 8AM.

Yuri Gagarin became a worldwide celebrity, but continued his work in Soviet aeronautics.  Tragically he was killed while testing a jet in 1968, just the year before Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon.

Beginning in 2001 space enthusiasts around the world have been honoring Gagarin by celebrating April 12 as Yuri’s Night.  Yuri’s Night parties draw thousands each year, and this year will be the biggest yet.

So far we haven’t got word of any local Yuri’s Night parties, so that means there’s only one thing to do- have your own!   Keep us posted if you hear of any good ones!

 

Coming home to Samson


A year or so ago, the SNR a man on the street question was something like, “What do you think is the best public art in Sac?” and 4 out of 5 answered the ceramic man on a can in the Downtown Plaza. Given the question was asked in the mall so the outcome was skewed, but that is WRONG! So wrong. Sac has so many pieces of great public art, amongst my favorites are the HEARTHEARTHEART benchs near the Convention Center because of the wordplay, the weird not-a-skateboard ramp thing in the West End project near 15th & Capitol and the classic painted poles on 16th & Q. In semi-public art news, have you seen the Chilhuly in the CAL-EPA building? And don’t get me started on murals. Really. Don’t.

But hands down, seriously abso-friggen-lutely the best public art in Sac, in my opinion, is Samson at the Sacramento International Airport. It was made by Brian Goggin, who I didn’t realize also did the awesome “Defenestration” in SF until just now. Samson is just so joyful and clever, it makes me smile every time I see it. I also love it because I am a vintage crank and while I never want to use an old suitcase again, but I do love looking at them. In conclusion- well done SMF!

 

 

And because my editor hasn’t taken away my blog password yet and through the magic of Facebook I can finally spell his name correctly, I now give you the greatest piece of art in my house. Yep, not midtown related at all. Give me a teeny bit of power and I will abuse it within an inch of its life. Anyway, Hands by Sac artist, hand model and awesome guy Patrick Slesicki.

 



 

P.S. My house is way cuter than that ugly ceiling fan conveys.

Incoming! Mirah live on “Phoning It In” 4/11 w/Girls in Trouble, TBA 4/14

If there was a modern-day Queen of Indie, Mirah would surely be wearing the crown. Since the late ‘90s, she’s been releasing consistently well-received albums on Olympia’s K Records, beginning her career there with loads of touring and collaboration with Phil Elvrum (then of the Microphones, now of Mt. Eerie). Many awesome ladies have hit the scene with similar sounds over the years (Jolie Holland, the Blow, et al), but none have built the fan-base that follows Mirah, wherever she goes. She teases her entry into our parts with a session on “Phoning It In,” the east-coast-moved-to-Davis broadcast where a band or musician calls in, chats with the host and plays some songs, live and over the phone! Hot damn! A few days later, she’s back for a concert at Sophia’s, bringing with her an equally powerful lady-fronted outfit called Girls In Trouble. These Brooklyn-ites pack a sweet little punch with their similarly delivered “this is this and that is that and I am me and thank you very much” attitude of folk-pop love for the ears. Aaron Hartman, long-time upright bassist for Old Time Relijun, is now found slapping his strings with Girls in Trouble, giving you yet one more reason to come see what all the hub-bub is about! –TM

Phoning it In: 7:30 – 8, KDVS 90.3 fm, or stream live at www.kdvs.org

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, Davis, 9pm, $5

 

Incoming! !!! + Who Cares 4/12

I’m not even sure why we’re listing this show since it was probably sold out before the promoter even had the idea of setting up the show. That said, due diligence requires that we, the media elite, inform readership (heretofore referred to as “you”) that the dudes from !!! will be playing a hometown show at the Townhouse. And tix are $7 (that alone is worth the three exclamation points!!!). Check here for tickets: http://sacramento.ticketleap.com/chkchkchk/ but we’re not promising anything. -TF

Townhouse, 9PM, 21+

Incoming! Jewish Voices: Songs from the Old World, Tunes from the New -Rebecca Plack 4/10

Local soprano Rebecca Plack, accompanied by Greg Mason on piano, will be performing classical, opera, traditional folk songs, and Broadway show tunes in this special performance of original songs by Jewish performers and composers. The first half of the show highlights songs from Jewish musicians in Austria and Germany before WWII, including Gustav Mahler and Lotte Schöne, who was the reigning diva of the Berlin State Opera, until she was forced by the Nazis to flee. The concert’s second half features the works of Jewish lyricists and composers who emigrated to America and Israel, such as George Gershwin and Dorothy Fields, and concludes with Hebrew and Yiddish songs that have become well-known in the American Jewish community today. Tickets can be purchased by visiting http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1286414701, and more information can be found by calling (916) 641-0306. -TM

The Center at 2300, 3PM, $20