S 2014 01 09 by News & Review

SACTO HIP-HOP: CLASS OF 2014 see Music, page 30

BOWS & ARROWS’

FINAL DAYS see Second Saturday, page 19

POT FOR CASH (LEGALLY!) see The 420, page 37

UNEXPECTED PLAYERS IN KINGS’ EMINENT DOMAIN HARDBALL GAME see Bites, page 11

SACRAMENTO’S NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

VOLUME 25, ISSUE 39

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014

building a

HealtHy S a c r a m e n t o

Making Healthy Choices Convenient by m i k e b lo u n t

t’s not where you’d expect to find a fresh stalk of celery or a delicious, locally grown cucumber, but walk through the aisles at Sam’s Market in Oak Park and you’ll now find a cooler filled with fresh produce. In the past, finding healthy foods in South Sacramento required a visit to a grocery store, which could be more than a mile away. One nonprofit is working to change that through a new program funded by the Building Healthy Communities grant of The California Endowment. Alchemist Community Development Corp. was founded in 2004 with the goal of identifying the challenges and opportunities that arise from urban growth. Today, the nonprofit supports Sacramento-area residents through projects aimed at creating more healthy and diverse communities. One of those projects is converting neighborhood markets into healthy convenience stores. Executive Director Davida Douglas says the organization began approaching conveniencestore owners in South Sacramento last year to see if they would be open to carrying more healthy food options in their stores. “We mapped out all of the corner stores, conducted focus groups, did interviews with store owners and developed criteria for who we could work with,” Douglas says. “For the existing clientele, one of the things we discussed with the store owners was adding healthy options next to the sodas and junk food. But we also discussed the potential to bring in new customers that did not shop there before.”

BuIldIng HEalTHy COmmunITIES Currently, Alchemist CDC is partnering with two convenience stores in South Sacramento — Sam’s Market and Elder Creek Market. Alchemist CDC helped these stores transition by ordering and stocking all the produce, as well as helping the owners establish a relationship with local growers and suppliers. Eventually, these duties will fall on the store owners themselves. Alchemist CDC is also helping with marketing the healthier options in the stores by providing signage that includes nutritional information and preparation tips. They are also doing community outreach.

who depended on public transit were traveling much farther once a month to get better deals on their groceries. Working with convenience stores in their neighborhoods gives those residents more options when groceries run out or expire. Ultimately, Douglas says she would like to see the project expand to even more convenience stores in South Sacramento. “My hope is that in the next few years we’ll add more stores and continue to work with store owners,” Douglas says. “But so far, the reaction has been very positive.”

“my HOpE IS THaT In THE nExT fEw yEarS wE’ll add mOrE STOrES and COnTInuE TO wOrk wITH STOrE OwnErS.”

In 2010, The California Endowment launched a 10-year, $1 billion plan to improve the health of 14 challenged communities across the state. Over the 10 years, residents, community-based organizations and public institutions will work together to address the socioeconomic and environmental challenges contributing to the poor health of their communities. davida douglas is the executive director of alchemist Community development Corp. The organization works with local convenience-store owners to increase access to healthy foods in South Sacramento. photo by mike Blount

davida douglas, executive director of alchemist Community development Corp. “Before, there wasn’t very visible signage,” Douglas says. “We’ve created and brought in new signs, sent out mailings and gone door-todoor to do outreach.” Prior to the nonprofit working with these two convenience stores, the closest access to fresh produce was approximately a mile away. Douglas says one of the things they learned from their focus groups was that residents

your ZiP code shouldn’t predict how long you’ll live – but it does. Staying healthy requires much more than doctors and diets. Every day, our surroundings and activities affect how long – and how well – we’ll live. Health Happens in neighborhoods. Health Happens in Schools. Health Happens with prevention.

paid with a grant from the california endowment 2 | SN&R | 01.09.14

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January 9, 2014 | Vol. 25, Issue 39

On the juice I haven’t chewed all week. Meals consist of kale, celery, carrots, rainbow chard, ginger, cucumbers, apples and more, which go into a juicer, where they transform into an opaque, wastewater-looking potion. I swallow about 10 ounces of this magic mix about five times a day. Happy New Year. Not sure what inspired me to hop on the resolution bandwagon. Perhaps it was a feeling of being left out, what with all the David Blaine weight-loss sorcery and rigmarole embraced this time of year. Or maybe it’s because, just weeks after the holidays, I already can’t fit into that new pair of work pants. Whatever: The juice Reboot diet is a craze, and I got sucked in. Don’t blame me—or America. It began on the other side of the equator, with an Australian named Joe Cross. A few years ago, Cross was 300-plus pounds, sick, depressed, lethargic. So, he did what any confused, overweight Aussie might do: He came to the USA and filmed a reality TV series. Actually, he made a documentary: He quit chiliburgers and nacho fries and started juicing his own vegetables and fruits every day. For 60 days. The guy lost nearly 90 pounds during the making of his 2010 film, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, and now he runs his own website, www.rebootwithjoe.com, which advises others on how to undertake juice Reboots. During the first couple days of my reboot, the body exacted revenge for all the bacon mac ’n’ cheese and gravy sucked down during the holidays. Dizziness, fatigue, bad gas—it’s wonderful. But then, almost suddenly, you wake up earlier than usual one morning and feel refreshed, inspired. There’s a realization that maybe we shouldn’t be gorging on all that holiday cheer in the first place. This feels better.

25 Kate Paloy, Jessica Rine, Patti Roberts, Ann Martin Rolke, Steph Rodriguez Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Junior Art Director Brian Breneman Designers Vivian Liu, Serene Lusano, Marianne Mancina, Skyler Smith Contributing Photographers Lisa Baetz, Steven Chea, Wes Davis, Ryan Donahue, Taras Garcia, Lovelle Harris, Shoka

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Hot buttered rum. You buy hot buttered rum batter at the grocery store, and you mix it with hot rum and butter. It is something my family always made. I am from Seattle and have only been here six months, so [I don’t have any] favorite hangouts.

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I like Vince’s [Ristorante] in Elk Grove. My happy-hour drink is a watermelon martini. It gets you pretty smashed pretty quick! It has a nice watermelon aftertaste. It is very good.

retired

It is the morning after I like. It’s the mimosa I would like to have. I don’t drink all-night long anymore. I like to get up in the morning and have a little orange juice and champagne. I think fresh orange juice is best with the comforts of home.

CheersTO 2014! 1 2 4 Y E A R S O F C E L E B R AT I O N

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Matteo’s [Pizza & Bistro], which is down the street, [has] the most amazing wine selection, and everything is just wonderful. I love going to happy hour and just releasing it to the bar. I say, “I want to see your specials.” ... They do this wonderful thing of pairing food and drink. A good, red, bold cab is speaking to me right now!

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I like a Coconut Porter by Maui Brewing Co. available at Whole Foods [Market]. It comes in a four-pack of cans. I like to be home next to the fire pit.

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Email your letters to sactoletters@newsreview.com.

Low-income can still eat healthy Re “Stranded in the ‘food desert’” by Steph Rodriguez (SN&R News, January 2): I read this article with frustration, as it focused on the fact that many low-income residents in Sacramento do not have easy access to grocery LETTER OF stores with healthy THE WEEK food, which contributes to a high incidence of obesity (and other health problems, such as diabetes, which were not mentioned). While I feel compassion for those who are unaware of how to eat healthy on a tight budget, I know from experience that it’s possible and requires a will to be healthy much more than whether or not it’s convenient. I could be labeled “low income,” too, but I’ve never thought of myself as poor. And I’ve always made sure I eat a healthy diet. The real answer to the problem of lowincome families and poor diet is education. If you learn about the real story of nutrition and what you need to be healthy—a diet based on whole grains, beans and fresh vegetables—especially at a young age, you can be healthier than most people and still not spend that much on food. But then, you have to eliminate the most expensive foods

like meat, any processed foods with sugar and other additives and fats. When I was at the poorest time in my life, I figured out that I could only afford to eat what I cooked and still ate well with bean stews full of vegetables and rice, and oatmeal or eggs for breakfast, with some sunflower seeds and a little soy milk, and fruit in season. I read a story about the runners from Kenya training for the last summer Olympics. They train and build muscle on a diet of vegetables, beans, rice, cornmeal, oatmeal and less than 4 ounces of beef three or four times a week. If they run and win in the Olympics on a diet like that, we should pay attention to what’s possible and think in new ways about how we spend our food dollars. Ellen McMahill

Sa c ra m e nt o

Remember homeless Sacramentans Re “Death be not housed” by Raheem F. Hosseini and Dave Kempa (SN&R News, January 2): Thank you for running this article. It is so easy for many of us to forget that the homeless have faces, names and a story that made them homeless in the first place. Fr. Joshua Lickter Roseville

Don’t hate on ‘theists’

ONLINE BUZZ

Re “Do unto others” by Corbyn Hightower (SN&R Scene&Heard, January 2): An interesting, thought-provoking article. I really like the term “nontheist.” I don’t follow any belief system, but am finding myself growing uncomfortable aligning with most atheists because of the very reasons listed in this article. I have family and friends who are theists, and they are loving, intelligent, good people. I’m so very tired of the anonymous unkindness toward those who hold different opinions. I’m also weary of those who excel at things grammatically, sniping at those who are less skilled in this area. We all have areas where we shine and areas where we struggle. That doesn’t mean we are not entitled to an opinion. Physically, because of health issues, I can’t “do” much, but I can work at being a kind person. I can listen, and I can love. We can have stimulating and interesting discussions about our differences without being rude and unkind. Like the author of this article, I try to live in acceptance of our differences, and give what I can when I can. Tricia Bertram via email

SHOULD SACRAMENTO BAN SMOKING ON BAR AND RESTAURANT PATIOS? No, each individual location should decide to ban or not. If you don’t like it, don’t go there. Pretty simple actually. Steve M Rick

v ia Fa c e b o o k Absolutely!! #sorrynotsorry smokers, you’re polluting my air @Lindsay_Buckley

v ia Twitte r Who gave Sacramento the right to authoritate anything at all? Bunch of tyrants going around thinking they are God. Tiberius Jabal Barrett

Online Buzz contributions are not edited for grammar, spelling or clarity.

v ia Fa c e b o o k I’m a smoker that only smokes where there’s ashtrays and not a no smoking sign, it’s not too difficult to be thoughtful of other people. Sophia Flores

@SacNewsReview

v ia Fa c e b o o k If they adjoin or encroach on the sidewalk so I have to breathe the smoke in order to walk past, yes.

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Dying behind bars

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No Pulitzer for the Bee

Sicker inmates, lacking facilities may contribute to spike in Sacramento jail deaths When David Larone Starling arrived at Sacramento County’s main jail last March, the by suspected arsonist was already in poor Raheem shape. Housed in a private cell and F. Hosseini confined to a wheelchair—because of what county coroner Gregory Wyatt ra he emh@ newsreview.c om termed as “significant” nontrauma-related health issues—Starling was admitted to a hospital in early December 2013 after apparently falling out of his wheelchair and banging his head. The 51-year-old died on December 10—one of four local inmates to do so last year. That marks the most in-custody deaths since 2008, when four inmates took their own lives, forcing changes to how the county monitors its inmate population at both the downtown jail and Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove. While there’s no clear pattern to last year’s in-custody deaths, some officials fear that California’s two-year-old prisonrealignment experiment is delivering a more infirm population to county jails that were never intended to address their needs. “We don’t have the right facilities to keep these human beings for this long,” said Nick Warner, policy director of the California State Sheriffs’ Association. The warning signs were announced early. “There is no question that this population is both sicker and [more] fraught with mental-health issues,” Undersheriff Jaime Lewis told supervisors during a board meeting back in October 2012, one year after California shifted tens of thousands of offenders to the jurisdiction of individual counties. Of the offenders Sacramento County inherited from the state prison system that year, another seven died once released— four from spiking conditions like hepatitis C, caused in part by dirty needles used to administer tattoos while offenders were in prison. Most local jails aren’t built to accommodate offenders for more than a year, according to Warner. “We know we’re going to have inmates for five years, seven years, even longer,” he told SN&R. “It’s pretty significant, the new responsibility.” Before realignment, the average stay for a local jail inmate was around BEFORE

NEWS

F E AT U R E

Four Sacramento County inmates died in custody last year, the most since 2008.

56 days. In the first part of 2013, some 1,200 inmates were sentenced to five to 10 years in county penitentiaries. According to Sacramento Superior Court records, Starling had been in and out of a state hospital since September 2012, when he was arraigned on one felony count of arson. A separate court order brought Starling to the main jail on I Street in March 2013. The coroner’s office’s preliminary investigation ruled his death an accident. A similar story emerged last summer, when Danielle Shuata Daniels overdosed after swallowing dope wrapped in cellophane to conceal it from police. Inside the main jail’s holding tank, the 39-yearold south Sacramento woman, arrested hours earlier on multiple drug charges, complained of nausea to deputies working in the intake area. According to a sheriff’s department release, Daniels was transported to a nearby hospital, but soon lost consciousness and was pronounced dead at 3:18 a.m. on July 9, 2013, less than an hour after she asked for help and about seven hours after police first encountered her. It was March 20 of last year when 33-year-old Nathanuel Easlon was found dead in his cell at Rio Cosumnes. Easlon, booked into the facility nine days earlier and housed alone, showed no signs of trauma when custody staff discovered his body. Wyatt ruled the manner of his death as natural, a complication of a developmental abnormality in his intestine. Not all of last year’s deaths were due to medical issues. STORY

On January 28, the body of Israel Mendoza was discovered hanging in his cell by a deputy conducting routine visual inspections at the downtown jail, the sheriff’s department said. Efforts to revive the 34-year-old Chowchilla man, booked on public-intoxication charges, were unsuccessful.

“We don’t have the right facilities to keep these human beings for this long.” Nick Warner policy director California State Sheriffs’ Association At least 23 people have died while in custody dating back to 2007, sheriff’s records show. Twelve were due to medical issues like the ones suffered by Starling and Daniels. As Sacramento’s custodial facilities incarcerate more physically and mentally infirm individuals for longer periods of time, the system’s medical-screening process could become more crucial to heading off future harm. Such screenings take place at the downtown jail, which houses mostly pretrial suspects. Aron Brewer, chief of Correctional Health Services within the Sacramento County jail system, acknowledged it can be challenging for cops to get honest answers out of suspects looking to

A RT S & C U LT U R E

AFTER

mitigate their criminal exposure. “They’re usually pretty truthful, at least as much as they can be,” Brewer said. “They’re probably more truthful with [nursing staff] than they are with the officers.” Those offenders who have been convicted and sentenced to local time of a year or more are incarcerated at Rio Cosumnes, which lacks its own medical facilities. For Daniels, her trip to the hospital came too late. Inside her home, officers found more than .11 grams of cocaine, 9 grams of packaged methamphetamine and roughly $1,400 in cash. One source said the heavyset Daniels contorted herself in the backseat of the patrol cruiser on the way to jail, bringing her handcuffed arms to her left side and swallowing something. Assistant to the sheriff Sgt. Jason Ramos said Daniels didn’t specify to deputies what type of narcotic she ingested, but a toxicology report later determined it to be methamphetamine. “Why swallow it when they already found drugs?” the source wondered. “It’s like she died for nothing.” For thousands of other local offenders, the prospects may be better. The probation department is signing up eligible offenders for health care under the Affordable Care Act, while a state board recently approved a $45.6 million bid to construct medical and programming facilities at Rio Cosumnes. “It’s going to dramatically change what we’re trying to do,” Warner said. “We don’t want to end up in the same place as the state. … We don’t want to provide crappy health care.” Ω

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This year’s flu claimed its first official Sacramento County victim last week. This year, the virulent pH1N1 strain is targeting young, healthy adults— and winning: All of Scorekeepers friends on Facebook seem to be sick. Pro tip: Get a flu shot in November.

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There’s no denying that DeMarcus Cousins is a franchise player, a beast, a dominant force in the NBA. But should he be an All-Star? midseason game ends Voting for the midseason game ends this week, and while Cousins’ while Cousins’ 11 rebounds 23 points and 11 rebounds a game puts him in the him in the the big guy conversation, the big guy needs to do two things to two things to secure his all-star nod: all-star nod: shoot over 50 percent percent field—and win from the field—and win more games.

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At least a couple parolees-at-large and individuals with outstanding arrest warrants were busted on New Year’s Eve at or near the Old Sacramento Sacramento fireworks fireworks show. Police presence show. Police presence was was heavy on heavy on the heels of last the heels of last year’s year’s NYE NYE shooting, shooting, so it so it was was “Happy “Happy New Year—now New Year—now time to get time to get booked” booked” for a for a few few 916 bad guys.

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Sullied Scully Sure, SN&R recently named her one of its 10 grinches of 2013 (see “What’s up, grinches?!” by Cosmo Garvin and Raheem F. Hosseini; Feature Story; December 26, 2013), but departing District Attorney Jan Scully knows how to split a jury. At its annual awards banquet on January 23, the Carmichael Chamber of Commerce will celebrate the five-term DA, first elected in 1994, as its “person of the year.” Guess Jesuit High School’s mascot—a one-eyed, marauding pirate with a sabre in his teeth—wasn’t scary enough.

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Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver joins mayor, politicians to make school lunch healthier The morning before British chef and TV personality Jamie Oliver rode into downtown Sacramento on a 50-footby long tour bus, Mayor Kevin Johnson Nick Miller sat in bed reading about the culinary nic kam@ superstar on his phone. news re view.c om “This dude is cool,” he told his wife, Michelle Rhee. “I have a boy crush on this guy.” “Well, I have a crush on him, too,” Rhee shot back. “What do you mean?” Johnson asked. “He’s The Naked Chef,” Rhee said.

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artificial sweeteners in flavored milk at elementary schools, which have since mostly been phased out. Now, he wants to reform food deserts and bring good eats to poorer schools and underserved neighborhoods, including Sacramento’s Oak Park. “Something as simple as food and having access to food ... is a humanrights issue around the world,” he explained, adding that 3 million California children don’t even have access to clean water. PHOTO BY NICK MILLER

foundation for reform. “If you’re going to make change, this is where it starts,” he said. There are, of course, obstacles. Kitchen space and basic cooking equipment is needed at most schools, which are already underfunded. And even the farm bill—which House Republicans have held hostage since the previous incarnation, expired last year and still has yet to pass Congress—impacts access to nutrition in Sacto schools. “But we’ve come a long way,” explained Patrick Kennedy, a Sacramento City Unified School District board member who heads a task force that works to get more nutrition in cafeterias. SCUSD serves 50,000 meals a day, more than 70 percent of those are to low-income students.

Four years ago, there were no salad bars at Sacramento city schools; now, every cafeteria has one.

The mayor told this anecdote this past Tuesday morning before introducing Oliver at a food event in a parking lot on K and 15th streets. More than 100 food enthusiasts converged to see Oliver and listen to him discuss the need for better nutrition for kids and in American schools. The chef, known for his many cooking shows, including Food Revolution on ABC, will be in Sacramento for the next month teaching Sacramento Charter High School students how to prepare healthier meals. Oliver boasts a track record of exposing the dark, unhealthy side of young kids’ eats. He’s best known for shining the spotlight on “pink slime,” an additive to hamburger that, until recently, was included in billions of dollars of meat consumed each year. The chef also revealed other flagrant violations to human health in everyday eats, including the exponential amount of sugar and

Politicians and regional leaders listen as chef Jamie Oliver explains how badly California does when it comes to kids’ nutrition and access to clean water.

BEFORE

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The chef’s Big Rig Teaching Kitchen—a rock ’n’ roll-size tour bus emblazoned with his name and mission—will park at Sacramento High for the coming weeks, where kids will spend time cultivating and cooking healthy meals, instead of just microwaving Hot Pockets after class. He’s partnering with chef Alice Waters, of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse restaurant, and her Edible Schoolyard Project. Mayor Johnson, who oversaw the charterization of Sac High as founder of St. Hope, took the opportunity during the event to champion the city’s sustainable-farming résumé and “farm-to-fork”agenda, which includes a new vision of prioritizing local produce. He said 98 percent of what is farmed locally leaves the region. “Our goal by 2020 is to consume 20 percent [of local produce],” he pledged. Oliver said he likes the idea of Sacramento and California, as a major agriculture hub, being the

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These meals haven’t always been lean, mean and green. Four years ago, for instance, there were no salad bars at city schools; now, every cafeteria has one. The district now spends up to $1.1 million on produce—most of it grown within 110 miles of the city—as opposed to $343,000 a few years back. And funding from Measure R will allow for the district to build a centralized kitchen to cook healthier eats for kids. “Nutrition needs to be something [kids] are used to seeing, from kindergarten on up,” Kennedy told SN&R. A handful of local chefs, including Patrick Mulvaney and Jay C. Veregge of Ten22, made an appearance at Oliver’s event, which was made possible because of a TED prize and a grant from the California Endowment (touring big rigs aren’t cheap). “This truck has been in some of the most distressed, underserved neighborhoods in California,” explained Dr. Robert Ross, who heads the Endowment. And now it will be in Oak Park, “a food desert where we need it the most,” Kennedy added. Ω

| A R T S & C U L T U R E

AFTER

A Davis resident and housing-policy expert took the reins of the Sacramento Housing Alliance on January 6. Incoming executive director Darryl Rutherford fills the vacancy left by Bob Erlenbusch, who departed over the summer to form the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. Greg Sparks, who served as interim executive director during the selection process, touted Rutherford’s local

roots and deep knowledge of affordable-housing issues in the Central Valley. “The board did interview a couple of candidates from outside the area and quickly understood that, while somebody may have experience, knowledge of the Sacramento region is critical,” Sparks told SN&R. According to Sparks, the selection process began in August 2013, with a pool of about 60 applicants, which the board narrowed down to a final four. The position draws a salary in the $70,000-$80,000 range. Rutherford looked forward to immersing himself in the affordable-housing challenges ahead. “I like getting involved with the community and working with really great people who are dealing with issues of homelessness and poverty in general,” he said. “I get to be on the front lines, fighting the good fight.” Prior to joining SHA, Rutherford worked in community development for the California Coalition for Rural Housing and at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Those experiences bringing together stakeholders and organizing low-income communities to build a housing-policy consensus will be critical to future battles. Rutherford knows he will have to hit the ground running in 2014. “There are a lot of jurisdictions throughout the region that are really pulling back on their affordable housing policies, starting to water them down,” he said. “It’s important that we’re at the table with these discussions, making sure that lower-income communities are being represented.” Davis was one of those cities. (Cody Drabble)

Prison re-boom California’s unconstitutionally overcrowded prison system is making room for nearly 2,400 new tenants. After a year of shopping around construction bids and hearing from affected communities, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation last week named prisons in Ione and San Diego as the sites where it’ll erect three new housing facilities beginning later this spring. Mule Creek State Prison in Ione—a small town an hour outside of Sacramento—will see the lion’s share of construction, with two lower-security facilities totaling 1,584 beds eyed on land adjacent to the prison. The rural penitentiary, built across 866 acres in 1987, currently houses 2,865 inmates, most of them in “sensitive needs” units, according to its website. The Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego will add one 792-bed facility on adjacent land. In a January 2 release, department Secretary Jeffrey Beard said the new facilities would provide “flexible housing for inmates with disabilities.” Yet, while the additional housing units will be compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, they don’t have to be used for those inmates, said spokesperson Dana Simas. “Obviously, our nondisabled inmates can use that facility as well,” she added. Five other prisons—including California State Prison, Sacramento, and Folsom State Prison, both in Folsom—were in contention for the construction booms, which are anticipated to cost north of $513 million and scatter 555 new state jobs at the two prisons. Simas indicated the awarded bids emptied out the kitty of Senate Bill 1022, adopted in 2012 to add beds and programming space at existing institutions. (Raheem F. Hosseini)

| 01.09.14

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who took office 31 years ago on January 3, resisted press conferences and media events. “Can’t we just let the action speak for itself?” the Dukester often asked his press secretary. What could possibly be wrong with just saying no to press conferences on the steps of the Capitol; at elementary schools overrun with cloyingly cute, color-spectrum kiddos; and inside the clean room of an ever-so-green manufacturer of hemp undergarments?

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Just like real people, politicians often try to mask the starkness of failure with obfuscation—the verbal equivalent of putting a cocktail dress on a meth whore.

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Case in point: the press conference Assembly Speaker John Pérez held the other day to unveil (thanks in advance for also putting an end to unveilings) the Assembly Democrats’ “Blueprint for a Responsible Budget.” As opposed to their blueprint for an irresponsible budget, perhaps? And what a fine blueprint it is, laid out in its simplistic, sound-bite glory in a graphically pleasing PowerPoint with white draftsman lettering on a blue background. It’s a blueprint. Get it? Tomorrow, the governor of the great state of California headlines at an hour-and-change press conference, called ostensibly to lay out his proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. There’ll be charts, keen graphics and lots of loopy answers to ill-informed questions from the media. Compare this buffoonery to the judicial branch, which simply issues decisions. No pimping. No media confabs. Read it and weep. Or not. This year seems like a perfect time for

the legislative and executive branches to tear a page out of their brethren branch’s playbook. To wit: Just do it. In this Internet-entwined world, if some public-policy shift is truly important it’ll go viral. Like those

videos of precariously balanced cats peeing into toilets.

If elected officials are going to be flummery-free in 2014 and simply shut up and get the J-O-B done, then also easily jettisoned are all the euphemisms created for when politicians don’t get the J-O-B done. Just like real people, politicians often try to mask the starkness of failure with obfuscation—the verbal equivalent of putting a cocktail dress on a meth whore. Committee hearings don’t seem to pass without lawmaker, lobbyist or loon proclaiming that some piece of legislation is merely a “work in progress.” What that means is the bill hasn’t been modified to address concerns voiced by the various parties potentially affected by it. But “work in progress” sounds far more majestic than “I haven’t bothered to place anything of substance or potential controversy in this empty shell of a measure.” A “work in progress” seems more like what Michelangelo tells Pope Julius II when the old goat asks for the umpteenth time about the status of the goddamn ceiling. California would benefit if more works in progress were worked out before progressing further in the Legislature. Also worthy of extinction is the exhortation that “the perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good.” Politicians don’t attribute the line—in a 1772 poem, Voltaire writes that a wise Italian says “le mieux est l’ennemi du bien”—using the aphorism mainly to repulse attempts to stymie or modify their “work in progress.” Voltaire and the Italian wise guy would be convulsed in laughter at the arrogance of believing the remotest danger exists of perfection intruding itself in political affairs. That’s a modest list of a few things that can easily—and wisely—be left behind by California’s politicians in 2014. Too bad this is an election year, because reason and restraint inevitably will be swamped by the fevered desire for job retention. So maybe the list is sort of a work in progress. Ω

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Bee focuses on Nevada again and again Are California’s policies toward the mentally ill any better? The Pulitzer Prize is the most coveted award in journalism. Now, while I am not, nor ever have been, nor ever expect to be, a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, I thought the board should consider reporter Cynthia Hubert of The Sacramento Bee for her excellent investigative story on how a Las Vegas hospital had put 1,500 mentally ill patients on buses and shipped them out of the state. Hubert’s story, published on March 1, 2013, began: “James Flavy Coy Brown arrived at Loaves & Fishes carrying his walking papers from a Nevada L state mental hospital and a schedule detailing his by JEFF VONKAENE 15-hour bus ride from Las Vegas to Sacramento. j e ffv @n e wsr e v ie w.c o m ‘Discharge to Greyhound bus station by taxi with 3 day supply of medication,’ reads the paperwork from Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services that he handed to Loaves & Fishes staffers. ‘Follow up with medical doctor in California.’” It was a great piece of journalism. An important story that illuminated a major societal issue: how we treat the mentally ill, and how the people who most need help and compassion are so mistreated. And since March, the Bee has followed up on this story. And followed up on that story. I stopped counting at 19 additional stories and more than 20,000 printed words. That is a lot of follow-up. There is no doubt that what The Sacramento Bee’s Nevada’s underfunded and coverage has understaffed hospital officials did is wrong. It’s so wrong, ceased to be about the hospital deserves to lose mental-health issues. its accreditation. Of course, we would not think of busing our mentally To read Cynthia ill patients out of state to save money on treatment. No, sir. Hubert’s story Instead, we put them in jail, after they commit a minor crime about mentally ill patients being or make a nuisance of themselves. Jail or a bus? One does not need a medical degree to put on a bus and shipped out of know that neither option is the best place to be if you Nevada, go to happen to be prone to psychotic episodes. After they serve http://tinyurl.com/ SacBeeNevada their time, we in the Golden State release our neighbors, our Dumping. sons, our daughters, our classmates, without aid or assistance. They are left to fend for themselves on the streets. What Nevada did was wrong, but what we are doing is also wrong. By continuing to focus on Nevada’s misdeeds while essentially ignoring California’s misconduct, the Bee makes it appear that the primary problem with California’s mental-health services is Nevada. If only it were that simple. The Bee’s coverage has ceased to be about mentalhealth issues. Rather, it seems to be driven by the paper’s Jeff vonKaenel desire to win journalism awards. This is sad. At one is the president, time, just a few years ago, the Bee had 300 reporters who CEO and majority owner of were consistently doing good investigative reporting. the News & Review There was no need to continuously milk one good story newspapers in to death. I do not get a vote on the Pulitzer committee, Sacramento, Chico but if I did, I’d say that the Bee has written themselves and Reno. out of consideration for the prize. Ω

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Young, ambitious experts aim to change how local foodies experience wine

14 | SN&R | 01.09.14

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Every Monday, these nine Sacramento wine experts, pictured here at 58 Degrees & Holding Co., meet to talk (and taste) wine.

It’s

a sunny Monday MornIng In MIdtown, and InsIde 58 degrees & HoldIng Co., nIne people, spread along tHe l of a bar, sIt wItH four glasses of wIne In front of eaCH of tHeM.

Never too early for a party. Except these people are working. Hard. They’re focused, intense, completely absorbed. The atmosphere is the same as a math test. This kind of test might be harder, but it tastes better. They’re about to dissect nine wines, one by one, for smell, taste, quality and more. They’ll try to pick out the grape and the place each came from. They’ll estimate the amount of alcohol in them, the levels of acid and sweetness. They’ll use the meticulous evaluation grid from the Court of Master Sommeliers, which has 26 elements to assess—and then they’ll draw eight conclusions. There are eight elements to examine just for the wine’s appearance. Plus, they’re on a four-minute clock. “This has nothing to do with drinking wine,” said Matthew Lewis, who runs a wine-event and -education business called WineCentric. Because of his seemingly boundless enthusiasm, he’s something of a ringleader. “We’re here to study

and work and to try not to humiliate ourselves too much.” These nine people are, in many ways, Sacramento’s next generation of wine. There are others around the region, too, but everyone in this bunch is centrally located in Sacramento’s wine scene, ambitious about the region, and they care—enormously—about the sport of wine. They work at many of the major wine restaurants and bars, and their views, their approaches, their ideas and choices are increasingly defining Sacramento wine. They meet every Monday to do this. They’ve been at it for more than a year. The lineup, besides Lewis, includes Kara Sheffield of 58 Degrees; Sean Griswold from The Firehouse Restaurant; Tyler Stacy from Enotria Restaurant Wine Bar; Michael Bowers from Taste Restaurant; Jeremy Reed from The Kitchen; Keith Fergel from Taylor’s Kitchen; Clifford Burr from Young Market’s Company’s The

Estates Group; and Jienna Basaldu from Ella Dining Room & Bar, who just joined the group this morning. What they’re doing is really, really hard. Deducting wines from blind tastings is not a trick even seasoned pros pull off often, despite James Bond’s never-fail ability to tell a ’67 Bollinger from a ’68. To get to where they are at this point, this group has put in hours and hours of reading and even more practice. To get where they want to be takes a grad-school level of seriousness and concentration. It takes memorizing the characteristics of grapes and styles and regions around the planet. And it takes a willingness to be flat-out wrong. That’s what these resolute wine-masters-to-be have been doing. Welcome to the new age. It meets Monday mornings, and it’s not for the weak.

“saCraMento unCorKed”continued on page BEFORE

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Appetite for deconstruction Fergel launches on the first wine. He’s the only person working in Sacramento who’s reached the rank of Advanced Sommelier. (That’s one level below Master Sommelier. There are 214 of those on the planet.) Fergel is fast. There’s no hesitation when he starts firing away. “It’s a white wine. It’s clear. It’s star bright,” Fergel says quickly. (This refers about clarity and brightness.) “There’s a bit of matter, might be the cork. It’s green and yellow-gold. Tears are medium plus.” (“Tears” are the term for the legs that run down the glass. “Medium plus” is an evaluation of how thick they are.) “The wine is intensely aromatic. The wine is youthful.” (The latter means it’s one-to-three years old.) “Aromas of lychee, grapefruit, white flowers, like gardenia. There’s mango, apricot, papaya, lychee. It’s floral. “No sense of wood. High-intensity aromatics. “The wine is youthful. No flaws. “On the palate, I get a bit of R.S.” (That’s sugar.) “Not heavy. “Palate confirms the aromatics. Lychee, apricot. “Confirms mango, papaya. “Confirms floral. “Earth. I missed it on the nose. There’s a bit of chalkiness. “The acid is medium. “Alcohol is medium plus. “Low tannins. “Medium-plus quality. “It’s Old World. “Possible varieties: viognier, gewürztraminer. “Possible origins: France, Italy. “Final conclusion: It’s from France, Alsace. I’ll say 2011 gewürztraminer, village level.” (“Village level” means it’s pretty much an everyday wine.) It takes Fergel all of 2 minutes, 41 seconds to finish. That’s light speed. For many wine lovers, it takes more than 2 minutes, 41 seconds to decide if there’s maybe something they recognize. Odds are, not one wine snob in 10,000 finds lychee. And now, the gang joins in to deconstruct his deconstruction. “I would’ve thought higher on acidity,” Bowers says. “The alcohol might not be that high,” Lewis says. “I’m thinking the texture is from the fruit and the sugar instead of alcohol.” “I’d also say there was a little bitterness,” Sheffield says, “so maybe a little bit of tannin.” “What led you to Alsace?” Lewis asks. He asks that kind of question a lot. He’s trying to understand every thought process to help him see each wine. That’s what they’re all doing with Fergel’s analysis: making their own judgments, sharpening his technique and theirs, building on each other. It’s a big reason they have a tasting group, to learn from each other. (Having a group also pools their money to make tasting cheaper, plus, they like each other.) The wine, it turns out, is a Trimbach Gewurztraminer from Alsace. Vintage 2009. Fergel gets very high marks. “Good job, Keith,” Lewis says. “Really good,” says Griswold. “Next,” about three people say. 16 | SN&R | 01.09.14

So much for glory. Or the joy of wine. This is something else, and it is not a game anyone needs to play at home. Wine lives in American culture in different, almost disconnected dimensions. Those dimensions overlap, and they’re built on each other, but people in each are often unaware of the others. Supermarket buyers want wines they’ll like and that are consistent and reasonably priced, though there’s a range on what they’d consider reasonable. Another group is the wine lovers (who are often food lovers, too). They’ve fallen for wine country and wineries, and the fun of wine and food. Then, there are some serious wine people, who learn regions and grapes and love the details. And there are collectors who can afford to spend on big names or great wines, which, by the way, are not necessarily the same thing. And the pros have to serve them all. “Our job,” Griswold says, “is to learn a lot so not everyone has to.” What even the collectors and wine geeks don’t see is how truly, massively enormous the wine world is. Even these nine dialed-in pros are just beginning to understand. There are hundreds of thousands of labels, more than 200,000 in the United States alone, according to the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Every state in America has wineries and wine regions. So do most countries. And everything reboots with every new vintage. What was 2009 like in Napa Valley? What about 2010 and ’11 and ’12? How about in France? How about in Southern France? Are the wines richer or leaner year to year? Lighter or more intense? What cabernet sauvignons are earthy? Which have redder fruit or bigger flavors? What are the cabernet flavors? What are the differences in cabernets from the Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles regions, France, Chile, South Africa, Italy? Are there even cabernets from Italy? (Hint: yes.) Meanwhile, the couple at the restaurant table just wants something to go with the chipotle salmon special. “No one should feel they need to pass a test to order a glass of wine,” Griswold says. “That’s why we’re taking the tests.” Most in this tasting group have ambitions toward passing high-level tests to become sanctioned as top-grade sommeliers or wine educators. Just as much, they believe knowing more wines and styles helps them do their jobs—build wine lists, answer questions, understand pairings and making recommendations without forcing a customer to describe medium-plus tears. “You don’t ever want a guest to feel uncomfortable, as if they don’t know enough,” Stacy says. “That’s really changing from the old guard to the newer sommeliers.”

‘tAste, tAste, tAste’ At age 25, Stacy is the youngest of this group. Most are in their mid-30s to 40s and have been at this for years. Stacy, occasionally, has the odd balancing act of proving he’s accomplished enough to make wine recommendations without sounding like he’s showing off. “You have to have humility in this job,” Stacy says. “That’s what we all want to add to the wine world. That’s why people don’t want to talk to the wine person; they don’t want to be condescended to.”

“If you’re interested in wine, there’s such a wide world out there to discover. I love that about wine, it can take you on an adventure, and I’d love for other people to find that, too.” Kara Sheffield sommelier, 58 Degrees & Holding Co.

Matthew Lewis is founder of WineCentric, a wine-event and -education business. Each week he meets with a group of local experts whose purpose, he says, is to “study and work.”

That concept of not being condescending—a phrase many people consider a synonym for “sommelier”—comes up a lot with this group. But let’s define some terms. No one in this bunch says Sacramento is a warren of pompous sommeliers. In fact, the region’s biggest wine names, people like Darrell Corti, David Berkley and Mario Ortiz of The Firehouse—the “grand masters,” as Sheffield calls them—built enormously impressive careers by making wine about joy and deliciousness. But their sense of Sacramento, which is shared by many people in the wine and restaurant business, is that many area diners and wine drinkers aren’t thrilled with complex wine lists or unknown wines. They want high-caliber wine and wine service, but prefer it somewhat familiar—meaning lots of Napa, Sonoma and foothill wines—and more than a few diners view ordering a bottle with a meal as something to survive before they can get on with the dining experience. It’s different in cities like San Francisco, for instance, where some popular restaurants have wine lists that can be almost unrecognizable to customers, with offerings like feteasca from Romania (it’s a white) or orange wine (a winemaking technique leaves it orange). Is one wine approach better? It depends on the person ordering wine. Sacramento’s food scene has some similar forces at work. It is definitely a food lovers’ town, but for every adventurous eater, there’s another diner who wants reliable food at the neighborhood spot. Complex menus, like complex wine lists, can attract some people and put others off. “We’re in an interesting time and place here,” says Sheffield, who worked at Ella before BEFORE

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becoming the sommelier at 58 Degrees. “There’s so much wine all around us. But in a way, that constrains us, too. Some people don’t want to branch out. A lot of people look for something local and even criticize us for not having more local wines. “There’s nothing wrong with that. You get to like what you like. But if you’re interested in wine, there’s such a wide world out there to discover. I love that about wine, it can take you on an adventure, and I’d love for other people to find that, too.” That right there is the tussle for Sacramento’s wine soul. Will Sacramento’s wine scene stay largely familiar, or will wine drinkers and food lovers view wine lists as a chance to taste something new, the way many people have come to view food? It’s not an outright war yet and might never be, because Sheffield and company promise never to force orange wines from Romania on someone who wants a chardonnay from Napa. But as with the food scene, Sacramento is evolving and adopting a more worldly zeitgeist. And, as with food, there are some younger, passionate, very committed wine people who are hand-selling the idea of exploring new wines and new ideas. “You want to find people something they’ll like, not something you like,” Sheffield says. “But if people are curious, I have bridge wines they can try. They’re in the same spectrum as, say, that buttery chardonnay, but they’ll be fun for people, and [it] can show them how much is out there. I’d love it if people asked more questions.” Sheffield could be talking for anyone in the group. Of them all, Lewis is probably the biggest populist. He says that’s partly because of his “running battle” to open his parents’ eyes to the

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joys of wine. They still live where he grew up, in My advice to them is to slow down sometimes, Garland, Texas, the model for the good-ol’-boy and talk about the experience of the wine. You town of Arlen on King of the Hill. don’t have to know how big the vineyard is to And he’s the most recent arrival to the region, know if a wine is delicious.” which might be why he’s the most enthusiastic But he also understands the pressures about local wines. they’re under. “Some people in my profession kind of scoff “When I started in the wine business (in the at foothill wines or put them on the list only 1960s), it was much easier to taste wines, espegrudgingly,” Lewis says. “Maybe it’s because I cially old wines, because old wines weren’t very have no preconceived ideas, but I’m enthusiastic expensive,” Corti says. “But it’s important that about what’s there.” they taste old wines. It gives them a perspective.” For all their studying and tasting, everyone Corti’s advice rings louder with some in understands they have a lot to learn from those the group than with others, depending, partly, established grand masters. The group recruited whether they’re about to take one of the major Frederick L. Dame, a Master Sommelier from tests using the grid. Bowers, the sommelier at San Francisco and a director of the Court of Taste Restaurant in Plymouth, says he thinks the Master Sommeliers, to lead the Monday tasting core of Corti’s advice is exactly what makes this once a month. new generation different. “Fred makes it so much more intense,” Burr “Darrell wants us to learn about the beauty says. “You don’t want to mess up in front of of wine and the story of wine,” Bowers says. him. And just being around him is great. The “Some people may be focused on tests right stories he tells and the people he knows, it’s like now, but I think everyone understands the beauty a pro throwing a ball around with you.” of wine is what our customers want. Corti and Ortiz have tasted with them, too, “We’re not the only ones. There are people and a handful have worked for Ortiz, who thinks like Jeff Back [of Back Wine Bar & Bistro in this bunch, and a few others on the Sacramento Folsom] and Joe Vaccaro [from Ella] who are scene, have potential to both widen Sacramento’s also changing attitudes. We want wine to be wine scene and make it more comfortable. approachable to everyone, and we’re watching “When I go to restaurants in Napa, great the food scene change and the wine scene restaurants known for wine, I don’t make myself change. This is a great time for Sacramento.” known,” Ortiz says. “Honestly, I think we have In a lot of ways, this group, and the people better people in the Sacramento area. A lot of like Back and Vaccaro, are the right wine pros the wine people here are first concerned that you for the right time in this region. The food-andhave a good experience. wine scene is in an era of possibilities. The “It’s exciting to think where we’re going,” region has established a culinary identity—who he says. “And hopefully, this core group will hasn’t heard the battle cry “farm to fork”—in continue learning together. One thing I like about part because of the enthusiasm for food here, that group, it’s not about who works where, they but also because of the sheer ambition of local just love wine.” culinary leaders. Lewis, who worked for Ortiz at The Slowly, now, the young, driven wine Firehouse, calls him his wine Yoda, and says personalities have begun to rise. They have the he’s one of the most-respected and -liked people potential to make wine drinking in Sacramento in California wine. expansive, interesting and to help people see “I’ve learned so much from watching him Sheffield’s wide world of wine. They also with people,” Lewis says. “He really have the chops to make it fun, which may listens, he makes them comfortcount most. able. He satisfies their needs. There is one more key to And his customers become change: These people have friends over time. That’s to stay. the way to do service.” “We’ve watched so That idea of service many local chefs leave and of experience with for the Bay Area or other people and with wine places, but now, they’re is something that both coming back because Ortiz and Corti caution we have the food scene,” about. They both worry, Sheffield says. “We’ve Sean Griswold though just a little, that lost a lot of good wine sommelier, The Firehouse too much attention to people because it was frusRestaurant passing tests and decontrating for them; there wasn’t a structing a glass of wine might lot of room here.” make them miss, as Ortiz says, the And this group? Will they stay? beauty of what’s in that glass. Most say yes. A couple aren’t sure. Depends When Corti talked to the group, he also on who calls. Lewis said he’s all in on cautioned them that the demands of the Court of Sacramento. Sheffield said she wants to stay Master Sommeliers grid may be limiting. here to be “part of the movement.” Bowers, “To really learn wine, they have to taste, who’s born-and-raised in the area, says this is taste, taste,” Corti says. “Then, when they think the place to be. they’ve tasted enough, they’ve just begun to “I want to develop the food and wine culture taste. Good for them for getting started.” with Matthew [Lewis] and Kara [Sheffield] and “They spend time with color, smell, flavor, everyone,” he says. “This can be a great town for texture. But I wonder, are they asking, ‘Is it a wine. I sure hope they stay.” Ω good drink?’” he says. “They have to be careful not to just spend time on the outer edges. They Rick Kushman holds a Certified Wine Professional credential from the Culinary Institute of America, is the wine commentator for Capital also have to venture into the soul of the wine.

| A R T S & C U L T U R E

“Our job is to learn a lot so not everyone has to.”

Public Radio and the co-chief judge for the California State Fair.

AFTER

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Artist Lila Solarano and her colorful painting portraits. Also, Soul Servant Arts featuring the Abstract Phenom Live Band & Free Refreshments! Second Saturday, January 11 Open 4:30–8:30pm 3431 4th Ave, Sac, 95817 (Behind B&B Beauty Salon)

For info call 916.201.1404

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Five Decades of Abstract Expressionism from California Collections O N V I E W J A N UA RY 26 – A PR I L 20, 2014

216 O Street • Downtown Sacramento 916.808.7000 • crockerartmuseum.org

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Sam Francis, Untitled (detail), 1980. Acrylic on canvas, 54 x 142 in. The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection. Artwork © Sam Francis Foundation, California/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

18 | SN&R | 01.09.14

THINK FREE.

Sacramento Vedanta Reading Group Every Friday 7:00 - 8:30 pm · Free admission Sacramento Yoga Center @ Sierra 2 Community Center, Room 6 2791 24th Street, Sacramento Parking in back For more information please see www.SacVRG.org

The whole world is your own. — Sri Sarada Devi

January picks by Shoka PHOTO COURTESY OF BOWS & ARROWS

“Breakfast” by Alex Gartelmann and Jonas Sebura, video still, 2013.

Buddying up When Milk Gallery spilled that it would be closing back in June 2012, it was an unfortunate loss to the visual (and GROUP SHOW performing) arts community. Luckily, though, it hasn’t completely evaporated. Now operating as a pop-up gallery, it has paired up with E Street Gallery for the appropriately themed show Use the Buddy System. Exhibiting buddies include Chris Daubert and Doug Rice, Rik Keller and

Jenny Stark, and Roy Tatman and Chris Botta, among others. And, according to Milk’s director Melanie Bown, there will be “a reflective spectrum-like covered alligator head” in the show. Collaboration can be so intriguing. Where: Milk Gallery at E Street Gallery, 1115 E Street; (916) 873-5920; www.facebook.com/milkartgallery. Second Saturday reception: January 11, 6-9 p.m. Closing reception: Thursday, January 30, 6-9 p.m. Hours: Saturday through Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; or by appointment. Through January 30.

“Mobile Sound Lab” by Liz Barton and Skye Bergen.

As the art world turns If the quiver carrying the news of Midtown’s Bows & Arrows’ closure at the end of January hasn’t pierced your flesh yet, consider it done now. After the vintage-clothing and -furniture INSTALLATION shop—and sometimes event space—relocated from L and 17th streets to its current space on 19th Street in 2011, it added a bar, cafe, music venue and art gallery under its umbrella. Some Sacramentans were critical that the business had too much going on, with the retail, eatery and fine-art elements all in the same space. But it served as gathering spot for creative folks, DIYers, people who’d rather look at art and play (self-proclaimed) nerdy board games on a Thursday night instead of going to a lounge and listening to a deejay spin pop-radio tunes. Its closure will leave a gaping hole for these folks and artists who exhibited there. Some other arts space will eventually come along and fill the hole, but for now, the final exhibition at Bows is an installation is by Liz Barton and Skye Bergen, the interactive Mobile Sound Lab. It’s a ramshackle booth made up of vintage doors, tin cans, drum heads, and other odds and ends, plus a mic and iPad, so the viewer can play and record compositions and upload it to SoundCloud to share with the world over the Internet, which is kind of a perfect denouement for Bows. Its last day of business is on Friday, January 31. Where: Bows & Arrows, 1815 19th Street; (916) 822-5668; www.bowscollective.com. Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Through January 31.

“Open” by Tim White, oil on canvas, 2013.

Crystal anniversary In the coming and goings of local art spaces, another one has recently

GROUP SHOW gone to the great gallery in the sky: The Hanford St. Gallery in Sutter Creek has shut its doors. But in more celebratory news, Elliott Fouts Gallery marks its 15th anniversary this month with Fifteen, which falls shy of sticking to a numbers theme by featuring more than 20 artists in its group show. Not that there’s anything wrong with not being gimmicky.

Where: Elliott Fouts Gallery, 1831 P Street; (916) 736-1429; www.efgallery.com. Second Saturday reception: January 11, 6-9 p.m. Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday through Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; or by appointment. Through January 30.

01.09.14 | SN&R | 19

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8 BOWS & ARROWS 1815 19th St., (916) 822-5668, www.bowscollective.com

9 CAPITAL ARTWORKS 1215 21st St., Ste. B; (916) 207-3787; www.capital-artworks.com

10 CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, SACRAMENTO 1519 19th St., (916) 498-9811, www.ccasac.org

11 CUFFS 2523 J St., (916) 443-2881, www.shopcuffs.com

12 ELLIOTT FOUTS GALLERY 1831 P St., (916) 446-1786, www.efgallery.com

18 OLD SOUL CO. 1716 L St., (916) 443-7685, www.oldsoulco.com

19 RED DOT GALLERY 2231 J St., Ste. 101; www.reddotgalleryonj.com

20 SACRAMENTO ART COMPLEX 2110 K St., Ste. 4; (916) 476-5500; www.sacramentoartcomplex.com

21 SACRAMENTO GAY & LESBIAN CENTER 1927 L St., (916) 442-0185, http://saccenter.org

22 SHIMO CENTER FOR THE ARTS 2117 28th St., (916) 706-1162, www.shimogallery.com

23 TIM COLLOM GALLERY 915 20th St., (916) 247-8048, www.timcollomgallery.com

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26 THE URBAN HIVE 1931 H St., (916) 585-4483, www.theurbanhive.com

27 VIEWPOINT PHOTOGRAPHIC ART CENTER 2015 J St., (916) 441-2341, www.viewpointgallery.org

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31 ARTISTS’ COLLABORATIVE GALLERY 129 K St., (916) 444-7125, www.artcollab.com

32 CROCKER ART MUSEUM 216 O St., (916) 808-7000, www.crockerartmuseum.org

33 E STREET GALLERY AND STUDIOS 1115 E St., (916) 505-7264

34 ExHIBIT S 547 L St., (203) 500-8679, www.exhibitsstudios.com

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For the week of January 9

WEEKLY PICKS

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Dinner SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Dinner happens Saturday. The $100 ticket includes a meal and a talk by Clayborne Carson—Stanford University historian and the editor and pubDINNER lisher of the King Papers Project. $100, 5 p.m. at the Sacramento Convention Center, 1400 J Street; www.mlkcelebrationsacramento.com.

—Jonathan Mendick

With Conviction: Art and Letters From Behind Prison Walls SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, THROUGH SUNDAY, JANUARY 26 Anthony Rayson and Mike Ploski with Lilac Neuron Media Inc. have collected thousands of pieces of writing and artwork created by the nation’s ART incarcerated who still have the means and will to create. Free, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, at Exhibit S, 547 L Street; www.exhibitsstudios.com.

—Jessica Rine

icholas Kristof has pretty much done everything in the world of journalism. He’s traveled to 150 countries while writing about international issues, and he’s covered economics for, was associate managing editor of and is now a columnist for The New York Times. And with his wife Sheryl WuDunn, Kristof was one-half of the first married couple to win a Pulitzer Prize for journalism for their coverage on the Tiananmen Square movement in 1990 (WuDunn, notably, was the first AsianAmerican reporter to win a Pulitzer). The influential couple didn’t stop there: They collaborated again for the 2009 book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. It’s this year’s featured book for UC Davis’ annual Campus Community Book Project. And at 8 p.m. on Monday, January 13, Kristof will be part of a Q-and-A at the Mondavi Center’s Jackson Hall, moderated by Beth Ruyak, host of Capital Public Radio’s Insight. Kristof and WuDunn’s book wasn’t just an average New York Times best seller. It subsequently inspired the Half the Sky movement to raise awareness of women’s issues around the world and a PBS documentary with the same name as the book (streamable on Netflix and iTunes), which highlights women fighting against oppression in 10 countries. The movement (www.halftheskymovement.org) is particularly interesting in that it combines multiple platforms— websites, blogs, mobile-phone games, educational tools, fundraising and community activism—to fight various societal problems and empower women. Additionally, UC Davis will host a supporting lecture earlier that same day, “All Hands on Deck: Supporting Women in STEM,” at 4 p.m., also in Jackson Hall. Tickets for the Q-and-A cost $20-$45; the supporting lecture is free. The Mondavi Center is located at 9399 Old Davis Road in Davis. Visit www.mondaviarts.org to buy tickets.

—Jonathan Mendick

Dine Downtown Restaurant Week WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, THROUGH FRIDAY, JANUARY 17 Organized by the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, this event helps Sacramentans sample three-course meals by some of the finest restaurants on the grid— DINING Biba, Ella Dining Room & Bar, Restaurant Thir13en, among others—for just $31. Various locations, (916) 442-8575; http://downtown sac.org/events/dine-downtown.

—Jonathan Mendick

Devoted to the Union: Sacramento and the Civil War THURSDAY, JANUARY 16 The Center for Sacramento History presents a photo exhibition on Sacramento’s involvement in the Civil War. Historian Glenna Matthews HISTORY and teacher Karen Richey will lecture. $15, 7 p.m. at the Center for Sacramento History, 511 Sequoia Pacific Boulevard; (916) 808-7072; www.sacramentohistoryfoundation.org.

—Jonathan Mendick

Women on the Rise Dinner THURSDAY, JANUARY 16 The Crocker Art Museum starts the new year with an event for women by women. Attendees will participate in an art workshop, a guided gallery discussion DINNER and a dinner at Crocker Cafe. Tickets must be purchased by Monday, January 13. $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers; 5:30 p.m. at the Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street; (916) 808-1182; http://crockerartmuseum.org.

—Deena Drewis

22 | SN&R | 01.09.14

Fancy a Coffee? Your Neighborhood Coffeehouse & Roastery

Battleground Thai

Locally Owned

The Coconut Midtown 2502 J Street, (916) 447-1855, www.coconutmidtown.com Almost like a dare to the schoolyard bully, a new Thai restaurant has opened up across the street from Thai Basil in Midtown. It’s a rather by Garrett McCord audacious move. Some might even argue that it’s a stupid one. After all, who can challenge Thai Basil? If the number of packed weeknights are any indication, then apparently The Coconut Midtown can. Hell, on one recent Tuesday we found ourselves lucky to grab a table. The Coconut is a small, cramped venue with a staff that’s attentive, knowledgeable Rating: and eager to ensure visitors enjoy themselves. HHH 1/2 The food travels a path between standard and inventive. Dinner for one: Cream-cheese wontons aren’t the epitome $10 - $15 of culinary Southeast Asian traditions, but damn it if they aren’t delightful. Soft cream cheese and chives in a crispy wrapper and served with a sweet chili sauce? There is nothing wrong with that, and The Coconut recognizes this. The fresh spring roll is at least fresh in ingredients, if not in creativity. Mere H FLAWED cigarettes of lettuce and tofu—nothing like the overstuffed spring rolls you usually greet HH HAS MOMENTS with applause—are simply a means to getting the sugary peanut sauce into your mouth. HHH Fine enough, but if you have beer or white APPEALING wine in front of you, stick to the wontons. HHHH The chicken larb—a spicy minced-meat AUTHORITATIVE salad—is fragrant and intense. Mint, chilies, HHHHH basil and iceberg lettuce are drenched in a EPIC spicy lime dressing punctuated with a heavy hand of fish sauce. The red curry is like a beginning clarinetist—loud, and it only knows one note. Still, if you’re cold and red curry is your thing, you’ll be pleased enough. The yellow curry, punctuated by cardamom and cinnamon, prances around chunks of potato. The spicy Thai burger is a gimmick to be Still hungry? Search SN&R’s sure. It arrived well-done (not that they asked “Dining Directory” how we wanted it) and about three sizes to find local restaurants by name too small for its Wonder Bread-esque bun. or by type of food. The spicy sauce is sharp, and by any normal Sushi, Mexican, Indian, standards, I would declare this a failure. Italian—discover it Yet we all went back for another bite all in the “Dining” because the beef’s floral, lemongrasssection at www.news accentuated seasoning is immaculate. A bit review.com. of tinkering and The Coconut will have a destination menu item worth a trip out from Davis or Roseville. Drunken noodles are a bit of a misnomer, as traditionally there is no actual alcohol in the recipe. Instead, the dish relies on chilies, black pepper, and a generous helping of basil and garlic to bring it together. The resulting sauce is punchy and sticks to the wide, fat rice noodles with ease. Perhaps the name comes because this is the perfect food to eat when you drink. Regardless, The Coconut has pulled it off perfectly. BEFORE

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F E AT U R E

The eggplant dish, appropriately—albeit bluntly—called “Eggplant” on the menu, takes advantage of eggplant’s natural sweetness when cooked. It is served with a meat of choice and numerous vegetables in a small mountain flooded in a syrupy garlicchili sauce.

Cream-cheese wontons aren’t the epitome of culinary Southeast Asian traditions, but damn it if they aren’t delightful. The Coconut has warnings in its menu about which dishes are spicy, but unless you’re a newborn kitten, trembling and mewling, you might not even be aware of the chilies in your food. If you want even a matchstick of heat, you’ll need be upfront about it with the waitstaff, and tell ’em to lay it on heavy. The Coconut has made a place for itself in Midtown. Whereas Thai Basil is a practice in subtlety and expertly crafted seasonal specials, The Coconut is brash and unapologetic with flavor profiles. However, I would venture the kitchen is still fine-tuning its dishes. Plus, it delivers in Midtown. That alone should cement it in the hearts of hungry eaters. Ω

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Experimental loaf

When the bright, rusty-orange-hued persimmons on the kitchen counter are so soft they’re ripe enough to eat—if they’re the heart-shaped Hachiya—or too ripe to bite into—if they’re the squat, tomatoshaped Fuyu—then it’s the perfect time to make persimmon bread. Mash them up and use them in the quick and easy recipe at FatFree Vegan Kitchen’s website. It’s a basic one that’s perfect for experimenting. For instance, I scaled back on the nutmeg by about half, added 2 tablespoons of chia seeds and one tablespoon of mesquite flour for a richer-tasting, more textured and nutritionally boosted little loaf. The full recipe is at http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/11/ persimmon-bread.html. Have fun with it, baking fools!

STORY

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—Shoka

your purchase of $20.00 or more

SN&R

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Darna This Palestinian restaurant

Where to eat?

serves an excellent baba ghanoush that, instead of being blended into a smooth paste, is served chunky and studded with eggplant seeds. Its smoky, deep flavor is balanced out by a lemony brightness, and it’s good on the somewhat flabby pita bread with which it’s served, but it’s even better on the house-made za’atar bread. Chicken-breast kebabs are not particularly flavorful but have some char from the grill, while the falafel and chicken shawarma are underwhelming. Do order a side of tabbouleh salad, however. It’s pretty to look at—bright-green chopped parsley studded with white grains of bulgur—and tastes refreshing. Palestinian. 925 K St., (916) 447-7500. Dinner for one: $15-$25. HHH B.G.

Here are a few recent reviews and regional recommendations by Becky Grunewald, Ann Martin Rolke, Garrett McCord and Jonathan Mendick, Downtown & Vine This tasting room and wine bar spotlights the local updated regularly. farm-to-glass movement. Here, Check out diners can order 2-ounce tastwww.newsreview.com ing flights of wine. Choose three for more dining advice. from the same vintner to com-

pare styles, or mix and match to contrast similar wines from regional wineries. Wines are also available in larger pours and by the bottle. Wine is meant to be enjoyed with food, of course: The menu offers a wide selection of tidbits and hearty dishes. Worth sampling: the goatcheese stuffed peppers, chilled Spanish-spiced shrimp, and a cheddar-and-apple melt. Or try the ambrosial Wine Country sandwich, with salty prosciutto, sweet fig jam, oozy mozzarella and peppery arugula on grilled

bread. There are also a variety of flatbreads loaded with topping combos like capicola, three cheeses, piquillo peppers and green onions. The bread for these is nicely crunchy but not too chewy and comes across as more than a pizza trying to be fancy. American. 1200 K St., Ste. 8; (916) 228-4518. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHHH AMR

Zia’s Delicatessen Zia’s Delicatessen isn’t really about trying every sandwich: It’s about finding your sandwich. In addition to a large selection of salumi, there’s the worthy eponymous offering, served with a wedge of zucchini frittata, a slice of provolone, romaine lettuce, grainy tomato, and a simple dash of vinegar and oil that adds tang. Order it hot, so that the provolone melts into the bread. Also tasty: the hot meatball sub with small-grained, tender meatballs bathed in a thin, oregano-flecked tomato sauce that soaks into the bread. A tuna sandwich is sturdy, if not exciting. It is just mayonnaisey enough, with tiny, diced bits of celery. A rosemary panino cotto with mozzarella could benefit from a more flavorful cheese. For a meatier option, try the Milano: mortadella, salami, Muenster; all three flavors in balance. The turkey Viareggio has a thin spread of pesto mayo, and the smoked mozzarella accents rather than overpowers. American. 1401 O St., Ste. A; (916) 441-3354. Meal for one: $5-$10. HHHH B.G.

Midtown

You’ll leave perfumed in whiteoak and almond-wood smoke; a good thing if your date digs the smell of meat and wood, bad if you have a meeting after lunch. Recommendations include the ribs, which are astounding in texture. The meat falls off the bone with confidence that your mouth will catch it. A lack of salt or spice on the ribs, however, robs them of the chance of being truly astonishing. (An easy fix.) The brisket is also fantastic—as tender as the first time you held hands with a high-school crush, with a sweet, smoky flavor that’s just as memorable. Loaded onto the sandwich and served with white American cheese, it makes for an epic meal. Barbecue. 1925 J St., (916) 431-7199. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH G.M.

Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co. The restaurant, by the same owners as Midtown’s The Golden Bear, sports a firefighting theme (a ladder on the ceiling duct work, shiny silver wallpaper with a rat-and-hydrant motif, et al) and a bar setup that encourages patrons to talk to each other. An interesting wine list includes entries from Spain and Israel; there are also draft cocktails and numerous beers on tap. The brunch menu is heavy on the eggs, prepared in lots of ways. One option is the Croque Madame, a hamand-Gruyere sandwich usually battered with egg. This one had a fried egg and béchamel, with a generous smear of mustard inside. The mountain of potato hash alongside tasted flavorful and not too greasy. The menu also features pizzas and housemade pastas, but one of its highlights includes an excellent smoked-eggplant baba ganoush, which is smoky and garlicky and served with warm flatbread wedges and oil-cured olives. The bananas foster bread pudding is equally transcendent, accompanied by very salty caramel gelato, pecans and slivers of brûléed bananas. American. 1630 S St., (916) 442-4885. Dinner for one: $20-$40. HHH1/2 AMR

Tank House BBQ and Bar The décor here is “suspenders and suede oxfords”—both homey and eclectic with old wood, new wood and wallpaper that is to die for. A large patio is welcoming and allows diners to bathe in the haze from the drum smoker.

Thai Basil SN&R readers consistently vote this place among the city’s top Thai restaurants for this paper’s annual Best of Sacramento issue. And for good reason. The restaurant’s tom yum soup may be one of the best foods served in the City of Trees. It features an incredibly savory broth with layers of flavor. Likewise, the tom kha gai—a coconut-broth soup—is a veritable panacea against Delta winds and the morose rains that follow them. Salads make up a large part of Thai cuisine and should not be overlooked. Larb gai consists of simple shredded chicken over mixed greens, cucumber and tomatoes. Fresh mint and a chili-laden dressing heavy with fish sauce and vigorous squeezes of lime juice pull it all

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together for an addictive and satisfying lunch. One of Thai Basil’s true highlights is its homemade curry pastes. These carefully balanced constructions of basil, lemongrass, shallots, chilies, kaffir lime leaves and other ingredients come together to form truly authentic pastes that, when roasted, have been known to drive hungry Sacramentans into a berserk craze. Service here is impeccable. Thai Basil has earned its reputation and will likely continue to keep it for years to come. Thai. 2431 J St., (916) 442-7690. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHHH G.M.

East Sac Istanbul Bistro Turkish chef Murat Bozkurt and brother Ekrem co-own this paean to their homeland, with Ekrem usually at the front of the house, infusing the space with cheer. Turkish cuisine features aspects of Greek, Moroccan and Middle Eastern flavors. The appetizer combo plate offers an impressive sampling. Acili ezme is a chopped, slightly spicy mixture of tomatoes, cucumber and walnuts that’s delicious paired with accompanying flatbread wedges. For entrees, try the borani, a lamb stew with garbanzos, carrots, potatoes and currants. The meat is very tender, while the veggies arrived nicely al dente. Also good is the chicken shish plate (souvlaki), which features two skewers of marinated grilled chicken that’s moist and succulent. There are also quite a few choices for

vegetarians, including flatbread topped like pizza, with spinach and feta or mozzarella and egg. Turkish. 3260-B J St., (916) 449-8810. Dinner for one: $15-$20. HHH1/2 AMR

South Sac A&A Tasty Restaurant and Bar This Little Saigon eatery boasts such an extensive menu of Chinese and Vietnamese dishes that it’s hard to pinpoint its crown jewel. Notable options include a salty fish and chicken-fried rice entree with stir-fried vegetables. The fried rice offers copious pieces of the diced salty fish. This may seem a bit weird to the uninitiated, but the reward is a unique, jolting pungent flavor that spruces up an otherwise boring chicken-fried rice. Elsewhere on the menu, the Vietnamese pork-chop rice plate, served with a small bowl of fish sauce, surprisingly stacks up to similar dishes from other strictly Vietnamese restaurants in the area. The pork is thinly sliced and tender, easily cut with a simple butter knife. Chinese and Vietnamese. 6601 Florin Rd., (916) 379-0309. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH1/2 J.M.

Yang’s Noodles Chinese food is endlessly complex and diverse with “Eight Schools,” or regional styles, including Taiwanese cuisine, which is served at Yang’s Noodles. Except this isn’t really traditional Taiwanese food (you won’t find dishes such as glutinous pancakes served with oysters and egg, or mushrooms

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West Sacramento Wicked West Pizza & BBQ This popular destination for kids’ sports teams and birthday parties also caters to adult diners with good food and healthy options, such as organic whole-wheat crusts. Gluten-free and vegan choices are also available. With a texture closer to Chicago style than New York style, the pizzas are tasty but quite filling. Choose from house-made sauces and fresh toppings, or pick from one of the inventively named presets. The Old Lady is especially good, with pesto, potatoes, spinach, lots of veggies and a zingy balsamic drizzle. The biggest secret here, though, is the barbecue. Wicked West delivers with shredded, tender meat that’s lightly smoky

and tossed with a vinegar-based sauce. The pork ribs are dryrubbed and toothsome, while the tri-tip is well cooked but leans toward a dry texture. A bit of sauce on the side would fix that right up. The chicken is rubbed with olive oil and herbs and rotisserie-smoked to produce a moist and juicy result. Pizza/Barbecue. 3160 Jefferson Blvd. in West Sacramento, (916) 572-0572. Dinner for one: $5-$10. HHH AMR

likely belongs to the hangovercuring Super Breakfast burrito, with bacon, chorizo, ham, fries, eggs and cheese—all wrapped in a tortilla. It’s incredibly rich and hearty. Mexican. 5116 Fair Oaks Blvd. in Carmichael, (916) 488-1416. Dinner for one: $5-$10. HHH1/2 J.M.

Ramen & Rice At Ramen & Rice, a ramen restaurant that also makes Korean dishes, it’s best to stick to the latter. Order the bibimbap with the brown rice—it imparts a delightful nutty flavor. The sliced mushrooms add to the umami of this dish, and the shoyu, mustard and spicy sauces that come on the side should all be used liberally. Meat is very easily avoided here: The restaurant emphasizes the healthful aspect of its dishes, and tofu can be substituted for any meat, as can vegetarian broth in most of the soups. On the Japanese side of the menu, the ramen broth lacked a much-needed, salinated quality, the chashu lacked succulence and the hardboiled egg was served overcooked with an ugly green yolk. A steaming bowl of Japanese curry, however, boasted a comforting flavor, and, unusually, a bit of spice. Japanese and Korean. 807 Howe Ave., (916) 922-6227. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHH1/2 B.G.

Arden/ Carmichael El Forastero Mexican Food Despite being an eatery founded by three brothers from Mexico, the menu here resembles the type of Mexican food found in Southern California: a blend of American fast food, Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican dishes. There’s menudo on weekends, but also french fries hiding inside burritos and buried underneath steaming piles of carne asada. For a taco or torta filling, try the adobada, a pork marinated in a red chili sauce. Or, try two of the most famous San Diegostyle Mexican dishes, both delicious but full of calories: the California burrito and carne asada fries. The latter consists of a plate of fries topped with carne asada, cheese, sour cream and guacamole. A California burrito is basically an order of carne asada fries wrapped in a tortilla—which, surprisingly, isn’t even the fattiest-sounding dish on the menu. That distinction most

Stirling Bridges Restaurant and Pub This British- and Scottishthemed gastropub offers an adequate beer selection and an extensive menu that goes beyond standard deep-fried pub fare. Try the Irish onion soup, a French

IllustratIon by Mark stIvers

steamed in hollow bamboo stalks, for example). This is, however, perhaps the only place in town that serves niu rou jian bing (sliced beef rolls)—a specialty of northern China—and the ones at Yang’s hit the spot. This is basically the Chinese version of a burrito: meat (thinly sliced beef marinated in soy sauce) plus veggies (diced green onion, cucumber and cilantro) wrapped in a large, flat and circular carbohydrate crepe (a thin Chinese pancake made out of flour, water and green onion). Elsewhere on the menu, Yang’s eponymous noodles, featured in various dishes, are homemade, alkaline and chewy. Chinese. 5860 Stockton Blvd., (916) 392-9988. Dinner for one: $10-$15. HHHH J.M.

onion-styled soup kicked up with Irish whiskey and Guinness beer. Or order the house-made veggie burger—it’s one of the tastiest black-bean patties around. The most unusual dish on the menu is the Scottish Mafia Pizza. Topped with turkey pastrami, potatoes, cabbage and Swiss cheese, it falls short with its too many flat flavors to actually benefit from their unusual pairing. Thankfully, there’s Tabasco sauce on the table. Pub. 5220 Manzanita Ave. in Carmichael, (916) 331-2337. Dinner for one: $10-$20. HHH1/2 J.M.

Auburn Carpe Vino This quaint wine shop and restaurant boasts excellent service and food. Try the musque de Provence pumpkin soup—it’s lighter than your wallet will be when you leave, but one bite and wallet be damned. The flavor is exquisite with whispers of vanilla and pops of pumpkin seed. A cider-brined pork chop, bejeweled in bacon and prune and sitting atop a bed of savoy cabbage, defies expectations. A quartet of lamb meatballs corseted in harissa, mint sauce and yogurt is surely the dish to convert anyone who (confusedly) refuses lamb. The restaurant—being primarily a wine bar—does not serve anyone under the age of 21. Those of a legal drinking age, rejoice, for there will be no parent cooing to a child to settle down. American. 1568 Lincoln Way in Auburn, (530) 823-0320. Dinner for one: $50-$75. HHHHH G.M.

Frozen, fluffy and flavorful

There’s a new dessert spot in town called Vampire Penguin that specializes in “shaved snow.” I’m not really sure how to describe shaved snow, but it’s different than shaved ice because it “already has the flavor infused in the ice block,” according to a press release. Anyway, Vampire Penguin opened at 6821 Stockton Boulevard, Suite 110 on October 31, 2013; and its goods taste like fluffy, flavorful shaved ice cream. An order works sort of like an ice-cream shop’s: Pick a size, flavor (taro, green tea, mango, strawberry) and toppings (various fruits, beans, nuts, bobas, syrups), and then wait for the staff to make and serve it. Alternately, you can choose one of the signature creations, such as Strawberry Cheesecake or VP-style Halo-halo. Bonus: Vampire Penguin is vegan friendly, according to its Facebook page, and the staff wears all black and bow ties in an attempt to look like penguins. There’s nothing else like it in Sacramento. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ vampirepenguin916. —Jonathan Mendick

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Once you do, the next step toward healing is simple. You must realize that your regret is a symptom. The pain you feel arises from ignoring your power to change. It’s easy to wait to be rescued. It’s challenging to lift yourself out of a life or attitude that no longer fits you. Trust your capacity to liberate yourself. The things you want (money, stability, self-acceptance) are available. Consider this: Sometimes wealth arrives when we work a second job. At other times, it appears when we cut back on expenses. Then again, we can redefine wealth as good friends, or strong self-esteem, or confidence in talent and skills. You have the love and trust of a child. That is unparalleled

emotional, spiritual and social currency. Yes, that means you are wealthy. Don’t believe me? Ask someone who yearns for a child but struggles with infertility. To that person, you are rich. So, here’s your homework: Find all of the other ways that wealth and success companion you every day. Savor each experience. If you do, you will, eventually, rise up from your unhappiness and into the life you desire. I began dating my girlfriend after she left a relationship with a man she said was abusive. Everyone told me not to date her because she had only been with men before me, but I decided that love was worth the risk. Our relationship was everything I have ever wanted, until her ex-boyfriend invited her on vacation and gave her an airline ticket. She said she’s not interested in him, but it’s a place she always wanted to visit, and she was going. We argued, but she went, anyway. I am heartbroken and have no one to talk to because if I tell my friends, they will all say they never trusted her. I can’t sleep, eat or focus. What should I do? Block her phone number, delete her from social media, and if she shows up on your doorstep, don’t respond. She’s a user, honey. She used you to escape one relationship (or to make her ex-boyfriend jealous). And she’s using her ex-boyfriend to travel to her dream destination. She can’t be trusted and does not deserve your heart. Yes, that also means she is not worthy of another chance at happiness with you. If the relationship was, as you said, everything you ever wanted, that definition no longer fits. No one wants to be betrayed. So, carefully extricate what you enjoyed and appreciated about how you showed up in the relationship. That’s your takeaway. You have the capacity to carry those qualities into another relationship, because those qualities are in you. Ω

Meditation of the Week It takes a village to birth a book. My first book, When Your Heart Breaks, It’s Opening to Love, is on shelves at local bookstores and Amazon.com. What help do you need to birth your dreams into reality?

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Make the monster sing Young Frankenstein After Mel Brooks’ musical-theater adaptation of The Producers proved to be a big hit, the creators looked around for another movie to bring to by Patti Roberts stage, and looked no further than another one of Brooks’ beloved films: Young Frankenstein. “Make the monster sing,” they thought. And they did, with mixed results. When the touring company version of Young Frankenstein came through town via Sacramento’s Community Center Theater a couple of years ago, it was a pleasant diversion filled with the film’s famous lines. But frankly, it seemed devoid of any real magic with lyrics that were hard to decipher, sets that seemed dwarfed and characters who never came to life.

with lyrics that are layered with double entendres (as is most of the dialogue). While Young Frankenstein is still not up there with The Producers in musical-theater quality, Runaway Stage makes this one mad scientist’s lab worth visiting. Ω

Young Frankenstein, 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; $18-$25. Runaway Stage Productions at the 24th Street Theatre, 2791 24th Street; (916) 207-1226; www.runaway stage.com. Through January 26.

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But now along comes Sacramento’s Runaway Stage Productions, which presents the story in a more intimate setting with exciting leads, striking sets and a great live orchestra. This community theater manages to breathe life and soul into the story and the big ol’ loveable green lug. The result is this Young Frankenstein comes alive with funny lines, some clever song lyrics, talented musical actors, and creative costumes and sets. And Dr. “Frankensteen.” And Igor the hunchback. And Frau Blücher (neigh!). And Big Knockers. And, of course, the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” dance finale. The gifted cast really delivers the goods: David Holmes is a very enthusiastic Frankenstein; Amy J. Jones is an enticing Inga; Eduard Arakelyan is the funny sidekick, Igor; Ruth Phillips is the fierce Frau Blücher; Jennifer Zimny is a funny, frigid fiancée; and Michael Cross is a most endearing Monster. Outstanding musical numbers include “Please Don’t Touch Me,” “Roll In The Hay,” “He Vas My Boyfriend” and “Deep Love”—all

It’s alive!

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THIS FILM IS RATED R for pervasive language, some violence, graphic nudity and some drug use. No purchase necessary. While supplies last. All federal, state and local regulations apply. A recipient of prizes assumes any and all risks related to the use of a ticket and accepts any restrictions required by prize provider. Paramount Pictures, Sacramento News & Review, and their affiliates accept no responsibility or liability in connection with any loss or accident incurred in connection with use of a prize. Prizes cannot be exchanged, transferred or redeemed for cash, in whole or in part. Sponsors are not responsible if, for any reason, winner is unable to use his/her ticket in whole or in part. Participating sponsors, their employees, their family members and their agencies are not eligible. Tickets are first-come, first served and seating is not guaranteed. Theater is overbooked to ensure capacity. See ticket for full disclaimer information.

It would be easy to believe that The Alternative Arts Collective couldn’t top its first production of Tony Kushner’s masterwork, Angels in America, which it produced in a children’s art center at a Roseville park in 2010. You’d be wrong. With director and producer David Blue Garrison reprising the role of Prior Walter, this new production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches streamlines the show in a black-box production that puts the emphasis where it belongs: on Kushner’s poetry and the emotional intensity of loving in the plague years. But a more mature cast—including Sandra Phillips returning as Ethel Rosenberg— adds depth. Is this plague a literal disease, or is it mistaking nostalgia for hope, a disease of the Reagan years that remains virulent on the political right? Steve Gold makes an outstanding, reptilian Roy Cohn, while Sean Melby’s Louis makes guilt a multilayered act of self-destruction. Zack Myers (Joe Pitt) and Kim Brauer (Harper Pitt) project the fragility of people clinging to the thinnest of denials. In fact, the heightened vulnerability of Myers’ portrayal of Joe creates far more sympathy for the conflict between faith and reality as he struggles. Brauer’s Harper is, especially in the shared hallucination with Prior, a woman with a spine of steel, despite her fear that it’s tinfoil. And it would be remiss not to mention Corey Winfield’s portrayal of Belize, a no-nonsense drag queen turned nurse, who can, with one eyeroll, dismantle every bit of Louis’ fragile intellectual ramblings. The Blue Box Theatre is a small house that no doubt will sell out with this show, so plan ahead. It’s more than worth the effort to find this little gem of a theater, nestled in a converted garage between Arden Way and Del Paso Boulevard. And, if we’ve come to understand AIDS as a chronic disease rather than a death sentence these days, it pays to remember that death is not the only way to abandon life. Worth noting: TAAC will give us the second part as well with a production scheduled to open on January 30.

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Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday; $15. The Alternative Arts Collective in the Blue Box Theatre, 1700 Del Paso Boulevard; http://taacangels.bpt.me. Through January 18. |

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After a highly self-publicized “retirement” from the screen, Joaquin Phoenix has returned to film acting utterly transformed. Always an actor of remarkby Daniel Barnes able presence and raw promise, Phoenix wasted much of his early career giving better performances than hack directors like James Mangold (Walk the Line) and M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, The Village) usually allow, while never quite creating a transcendent role of his own. Phoenix returned to give the best performance of 2012 in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, and now with Her, Phoenix legitimately

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lays claim to the title of great American actor. The mopey romantic he plays in Her is the direct opposite of his Freddie Quell from The Master, brutally sensitive where Freddie acted on pure animal instinct and paint thinner, yet this is no less of a perfectly realized tour de force. The key to understanding Phoenix’s rebirth lies in a film that many would rather forget: the subversively brilliant Casey Affleck documentary I’m Still Here. Working as a savage vérité satire of unbridled celebrity narcissism, I’m Still Here follows Phoenix’s absurd quest to reinvent himself as a hip-hop superstar. This extended period of public fakery ultimately allowed Phoenix to forgo fraudulence. While ostensibly a study of a self-indulgent and repellent personality, I’m Still Here is where Phoenix truly merged performance and identity, embracing the danger of completely becoming a character. It should come as no surprise then that Phoenix’s recent work invites serious comparisons to a young and hungry Marlon Brando. In the first shot of writer-director Spike Jonze’s graceful and penetrating sci-fi rom-com Her, we see Phoenix in a disarming close-up, and we rarely leave that perspective for the rest of the film. In fact, the entire movie hinges on Phoenix, playing a prototypical Jonze-ian sad sack who lives in an unexpectedly pleasantlooking near-future Los Angeles, convincing us that he loves someone who doesn’t exist.

One of the great joys of Her is the way that Jonze (Being John Malkovich) and his team create a credible but unsplashy futuristic utopia, as opposed to the fascist-gray dystopias that movies constantly tell us to expect. Her offers a teeming metropolis in which humans have fully integrated with their personal technology, living lives that are seemingly ruled by creature comforts and devoid of poverty and pain. But amid this gleaming vision of singularity, human weakness persists. Much like our world of today, the people in Her are more connected than ever, yet also more distanced and dissatisfied the further they sink into the safety net of technological convenience. Phoenix’s Theodore works as a professional letter writer, creating and reciting sentiments for people he has never met into a computer, which transcribes them into “handwritten” form. It’s the complete depersonalization of the personal touch. For all of the sensitivity and ardor that Theodore displays in his letters for other people, he is painfully withdrawn from his own feelings. Still hurting from a recent separation, Theodore reaches out into cyberspace for companionship, only to discover the new perversities that have arisen in a world without want (hint: Dead cats and Kristen Wiig figure prominently). In an attempt to fill the void, Theodore purchases a brand-new OS1, the world’s first artificially intelligent operating system. Voiced by an unseen Scarlett Johansson, the OS1 promptly christens herself Samantha and sets about organizing Theodore’s life. However, his disorganization is largely emotional, and she adapts and evolves to meet his needs so efficiently that they begin to fall in love.

Joaquin Phoenix’s recent work invites serious comparisons to a young and hungry Marlon Brando. Freed her from her physical self, Johansson gives an amazingly well-rounded performance using only her voice. If Phoenix and Johansson can’t sell the concept of emotional intimacy between a man and an operating system, then Her is nothing more than a visually spectacular novelty. Instead, their believability allows Her to develop into a kinky and affecting meditation on love’s limitless potential, and the human limitations which keep that potential forever out of reach. Ω

Orange Shandy is here.

by DANIEL BARNES & JIM LANE

12 Years a Slave

Director Steve McQueen and writer John Ridley tell the true story of Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man of color in 1841 New York who was kidnapped into slavery, finally freed in 1853, and wrote a book about his years of bondage. Ridley and McQueen take only minor dramatic license with Northrup’s extraordinary narrative—such abductions were all too common in pre-Civil War America; what’s extraordinary is that Northrup got free again— and the movie is searing and indelible. Even the most despicable characters are given their full dimension with no trace of 21st-century hindsight. The movie’s centerpiece is Ejiofor’s remarkable performance, giving it a core of unquenchable humanity. Newcomer Lupita Nyong’o shines as a tormented slave woman, as does Alfre Woodard in a striking cameo. J.L.

Idris Elba as the late anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.

American Hustle

David O. Russell’s ecstatically cinematic American Hustle tells a hypergroovy version of the late 1970s Abscam operation, in which the FBI enlisted con artists to help them catch corrupt politicians. Right from the opening shots of Christian Bale pasting and swirling an elaborate comb-over onto his bald forehead, this is a film all about false fronts and reinvention, the latter a subject Russell knows very well. Everyone in the overwigged ensemble is good, but Bradley Cooper is a revelation as a nakedly ambitious FBI agent. Buried under a dirtbag beard and a hideous nest of curls, Cooper is deprettied enough to let us fully see what an honest and forceful actor he has become. American Hustle might have even been great had Russell not tried to pull a hustle of his own, reaching a facile conclusion that hinges on emotional relationships we never knew existed. D.B.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Frozen

The career of Nelson Mandela (Idris Elba) gets a respectful treatment from writer William Nicholson (adapting Mandela’s autobiography) and director Justin Chadwick, hitting all the high points from Mandela’s early struggles in the 1940s through his embrace of militancy in the African National Congress, his long imprisonment, release and eventual triumph as the first black president of South Africa. If you’ve been in a coma for 25 years and have no idea who Nelson Mandela was, this will give you a general introduction; otherwise, it’s a standard Great Man biopic, less inspiring than the life it celebrates, albeit beautifully shot on African locations by Lol Crawley. The best reason to see it is Elba’s austere, masterful performance as Mandela, along with Naomie Harris’ fiery turn as his wife Winnie. J.L.

Two boxers from the 1980s (Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone), long retired, miles out of shape, and befuddled by the age of YouTube, are lured into a publicity-stunt rematch, hoping to settle once and for all the rivalry that’s been unresolved for 30 years. Despite its cursory script (Tim Kelleher, Rodney Rothman) and direction (Peter Segal), this latest geriatric-stars-on-the-loose comedy is more fun than it has any right to be. Much credit goes to the supporting cast: Kevin Hart as the promoter putting together the fight, Kim Basinger as a woman with a complicated history with both men, Jon Bernthal as her grown son by De Niro, Alan Arkin as Stallone’s cranky old trainer, LL Cool J as a gym proprietor. In that company (not to mention De Niro), even Stallone, so help me, rises to the occasion. J.L.

NEWS

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

When a booze-addled old man (Bruce Dern) gets the idea in his head that he’s won one of those million-dollar publisher’s sweepstakes, his estranged son (Will Forte) humors him, hoping they can reconnect on a road trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to claim the old boy’s prize. Bob Nelson’s script is a mine of mordant humor and wry insight, and director Alexander Payne carefully brings out the best in the script and his actors, including Bob Odenkirk as Forte’s brother, Stacy Keach as Dern’s lifelong frenemy, Angela McEwan as a long-ago sweetheart Dern barely remembers, and (most especially) June Squibb as Dern’s cantankerous wife (Oscar, are you watching?). The movie’s only drawback is Phedon Papamichael’s black-and-white cinematography, a pretentious artsy-fartsy touch that is flat, textureless and distracting. J.L.

Grudge Match

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Joel and Ethan Coen have made bleaker films than Inside Llewyn Davis, but never anything this melancholy. Set in a slightly fablelike version of the 1961 Greenwich Village folk scene, Inside Llewyn Davis is inspired by early Bob Dylan, yet exudes the Coens’ usual oddball comedic sensibility and stylistic verve. Llewyn is played by Oscar Isaac, who naturally inhabits the role in a way actors rarely do in the Coens’ films. More than anything, this gorgeous movie shows the Coens’ unique ability to visualize a particular time and place without resorting to cheap nostalgia. Given the abundance of T-Bone Burnett songs, many will compare this to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, but the real ancestor in the Coen catalog is their excellent 1991 film Barton Fink. That film showed us “the life of the mind”, while Inside Llewyn Davis presents us the lifelessness of a defeated heart. D.B.

After years of lucratively reimagining old properties like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast as live theatrical spectacles, Frozen is a blatant attempt by Disney to reverse engineer its own Broadway-bound cash cows. Everything in the film feels constructed with an eye toward the inevitable splashy stage adaptation, right down to the big opening number, a sweeping ode to the awesome power of large blocks of ice (no, seriously). Frozen empties a promising box of mismatched characters, tones and plot strings on to the screen, including a genetic “curse,” magical trolls, a plethora of scheming royals and a wisecracking snowman, but never quite figures out how to fit them together. Much like recent Disney princess adventures Tangled and Brave, the limber visuals and appealing heroines can’t hide the smear of on-the-fly rewrites, as the film frequently loses track of its own moving pieces. D.B.

BEFORE

Good news—there are more beheadings and fewer half-hour-long dinner parties in this second installment of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy. However, while it offers some technically impressive set pieces, the cartoonish visuals and watery characters don’t improve from last year’s An Unexpected Journey. Here Jackson pads the running time by tying this prequel’s storyline into his own Lord of the Rings films. He even gets Gandalf to play Middle Earth detective, the same tactic George Lucas used to occupy Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode II of the Star Wars prequels. Most of The Desolation of Smaug is unembarrassing entertainment, but unlike with The Lord of the Rings, we never fully identify with the magical critters skittering through the special effects. D.B.

Anchorman Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) strides into the 1980s, with the wind still rattling through his empty blow-dried head, his trusted (and equally dimwitted) news team at his side (Steve Carell, David Koechner, Paul Rudd), all intent on making their mark on a new 24-hour cable news channel. Fans of the 2004 hit won’t be disappointed—but then, if they liked the first movie, their bar wasn’t all that high in the first place. Truth is, Ferrell and co-writer and director Adam McKay squeezed all the laughs there were out of their tissue-thin premise the first time around; there’s nothing here but a handful of limp chuckles. Once again, there are multiple star cameos (Tina Fey, Jim Carrey, Vince Vaughn—oh, just about everybody), and once again the movie is about an hour and 45 minutes too long. J.L.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

F E AT U R E

STORY

Saving Mr. Banks

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Wolf of Wall Street

In 1961, author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) reluctantly agrees to let Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) film her Mary Poppins books, and the script conferences prompt memories of her childhood in Australia and her loving but feckless father (Colin Farrell). Written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith and directed by John Lee Hancock, the movie is as heartwarming in its way as Mary Poppins—and one senses, almost as much of a fantasy. Marcel and Smith include so many dubious touches in their script that it’s hard to take their word for anything. Travers’ lifelong loathing for Disney is entirely glossed over, and Hancock can’t quite mesh the grim tone of the flashbacks with the seriocomic scenes set in 1961. The movie works best as a showcase for Thompson’s tart performance as Travers and Hanks’ folksy turn as Disney. J.L.

James Thurber’s 1939 tale of the daydreaming milquetoast (Ben Stiller, also directing) comes again to the screen, with even less regard for its source than the 1947 Danny Kaye version. Steve Conrad’s script gives short shrift to Mitty’s fantasies before dispatching him on real adventures—and you needn’t wait for those to turn out to be simply more fantasy: Conrad hasn’t the wit for that. The movie hits mostly false notes, beginning with making Mitty an employee of the defunct Life magazine. Worse, his real adventures are no more credible or interesting than his daydreams, and the character himself remains a dim cipher. Director Stiller leans heavily on stale CGI, and wastes a talented supporting cast: Shirley MacLaine, Kathryn Hahn, Sean Penn and (most wasted of all) Kristen Wiig as Mitty’s office crush. J.L.

Director Martin Scorsese and writer Terence Winter go careening through the life of stock-market huckster Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), from his small-time beginning through his drug-addled reign as an amoral master of the universe to his downfall at the hands of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI. The obvious model is Scorsese’s masterpiece Goodfellas (1990), but it lacks the narrative drive—besides, stockbrokers don’t have the same vicarious charge as gangsters, no matter how crooked they are. It’s a movie of great bits and pieces—Jonah Hill as Belfort’s slimy partner, DiCaprio’s surprising flair for physical comedy—but the whole is less than the sum of its parts: The early energy dissipates almost completely over a seemingly endless three hours. This wolf huffs and puffs, but he doesn’t blow the house down. J.L.

A RT S & C U LT U R E

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There’s a new energy in Sacramento’s hip-hop scene with emerging voices that echo the genre’s changing tone as a whole over the last few years. Indeed, by Andrew Bell there is a rebellious vibrancy and creativity that unifies the city’s up-and-coming emcees. The current generation’s simultaneous ability to pay homage to hip-hop’s golden era as well as a willingness to step outside the boom-bap box offers a fresh perspective. Here are six new voices to check out in the coming year.

J.Sirus: The party rock and the personal Reminiscent of a young Eyedea, J.Sirus combines the party rock and the personal with a passion that transcends both his recordings and performances. There is a vulnerable, almost journal-entry honesty to his verses—and yet they don’t come across as overly emo or Drake-esque. Rather, this is an emcee listeners can feel like they are actually getting to know—whether he’s onstage or on record. J.Sirus’ latest project Smallville, is a soulful effort that shows the leaps and bounds he’s made over the past year sharing stages with the likes of Ab-Soul, Chance the Rapper and Schoolboy Q. With the trajectory he’s currently on, J.Sirus’ upcoming project may quickly become one of local hip-hop’s most-anticipated projects. Sacramento rap veteran Soosh-E, who says he became an instant fan after meeting the artist, calls J.Sirus one to watch for the way he approaches his art. “He continues to grow because he uses everything as a learning experience, even when he’s already made himself the star of the show through his performance.” http://officialjsirus.bandcamp.com.

Jasmine Nichol: Putting the ‘hippie’ in hip-hop Jasmine Nichol’s music is part hip-hop, part sultry rhythm and blues, and part tie-dyed hippie. With influences as varied as Aretha Franklin and Tupac Shakur, Nichol is both a talented singer and lyricist. If Sacramento has a Lauryn Hill, she is it. In 2013, Nichol released #NoE, a smooth yet raw look at the world today’s youth face—all laced with a positive, peace-loving message. The whole vibe even has even coined its own movement, “hippie turn up,” taken from Nichol’s song by the same name. This year, the 22-year-old artist is set to release additional singles from #NoE, as well as a series of accompanying videos. There are also plans for a follow-up album. “My goal is to show the masses that I am an artist they need to be acquainted with because of how different my music is,” Nichol says. www.jasminenichol.com.

JustKristofer: A call to arms When it come to conscious rap, JustKristofer’s Love Over Judgment mixtape is one of the best projects to come out of Sacramento in the past few years. JustKristofer, completely unknown on the local scene until a few months ago, got his start singing in church and performing spoken word before making the leap into rap. Love Over Judgment plays more like a generation’s call to arms than a mixtape and showcases the artist’s lyrical prowess as well as an incredible singing voice. There is an uncompromising urgency that imbues Love Over Judgment even as the music remains

contagiously danceable—and even worthy of pop radio at points. “My main focus is to enlighten my generation with lyrics that will penetrate their hearts without judgment or being corny,” the 21-year-old emcee says. “One thing hip-hop lacks is fun without ignorance, or fun that doesn’t devalue an individual. That’s part of my goal for my next mixtape: to bring that creativity and that hype without nonsense.” http://soundcloud.com/ justkristofer.

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academics and college, street life and real hood problems.” Tailor has already shared stages with Curren$y’s Jet Life crew and Casey Veggies, and the tracks off Textbook Money chronicle a raw, introspective and thought-provoking journey that will rattle your trunk the whole way. http://soundcloud.com/luke-tailor.

Takticz: Raised by hip-hop PHOTO BY BOBBY MULL

If Takticz, 20, looks familiar, it is because he is the son of Sacramento hip-hop veteran N8 the Gr8 from the Cuf. Takticz’s rhymes (with the help of some of Dad’s beats) have already gained him recognition in the hip-hop blogosphere. Though lyricism runs in his blood, this isn’t a Russell and Diggy Simmons situation. Takticz is actually nice on a microphone, and his fearless experimentation with style and flow is a breath of fresh air. It’s obvious he was raised by hip-hop in a very literal sense. “Since before I could even speak, I was running around trying to freestyle battle all my dad’s homies, messing with all his production equipment like they were toys, and rocking the stage,” he says. Takticz’s music and stage performance still reflect that positive and playful side. Never too serious but talented in a serious way, he’s got the potential to not only follow in his father’s footsteps, but perhaps show the old man a few tricks of his own. http://soundcloud.com/n8thegr8cuf.

Takticz inherited mad skills from his dad, the Cuf rapper N8 the Gr8.

“Since before I could even speak, I was running around trying to freestyle battle all my dad’s homies, Swain Turay: New Age disco messing with all his high-energy lyricism and a work ethic production equipment With to match, Swain Turay is the one of the newest (and youngest) members of the Usual like they were toys, Suspects rap crew. Following the lead of his and rocking the stage.” TUS mentors Chuuwee, Abstract Ninjaa and Takticz on learning from his father, the Cuf rapper N8 the Gr8

Luke Tailor: An honest rapper

You know how when Yeezus was released, and all you heard was how people wanted The College Dropout Kanye back? That’s not happening anytime soon, but in the meantime, there’s Luke Tailor and Textbook Money, which will drop later this month. “Lyrically innovative,” “satirical,” “militant” and “fun” aren’t terms often used to describe the same emcee, but there’s no better way to describe the 20-year-old spoken-word poet-turned-rapper. “I consider myself an honest rapper. I’m not conscious or gangster,” Tailor explains. “Being a college kid, I feel that balance between BEFORE

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J.Good, Turay has already released several projects. His latest, Magnum Opus, has an experimental, ’70s soul feel to it that he’s dubbed “New Age disco.” “I took it back to its roots with this project and created a popular soul-influenced sound that gets you on your feet,” says Turay, 19. Despite his relative youth, Turay’s live set has already earned him fans for his ability to reach across genres and unify audiences. Sacramento rapper Chuuwee says he recognized that quality early on. “His strength as a performer is the ability to rock any and every crowd,” Chuuwee says. “I’ve seen Swain do shows with different crowd demographics or vibes, and he kills it every time. He is forever on-point at every single show, and his stage presence is the best I’ve seen from a young emcee.”www.swainturay.bandcamp.com. Ω

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10FRI

Fair Struggle

Sicfus

A Single Second

Assembly Music Hall, 7 p.m., $10 Climbing quickly to the top of Sacramento’s alternative-rock scene, Fair Struggle brings hard-rock noise to the area’s music ROCK venues with aplomb. Recently winning the Hard Rock award at the 2013 Sammies and riding the success of its first single, “Tear You Apart,” the female-fronted band takes to the stage to rock out once more. The group was formed in 2011 by friends and guitarists Wayne Burkett and Ivan Parra. They brought on bassist Miles Daniels and drummer Scott Garrett, and at the helm, they placed Meg Morrison, who brings a powerful, soulful touch to the group’s songs. 1000 K Street, www.facebook.com/ fairstruggle.

—Jessica Rine

Starlite Lounge, 8 p.m., $5

Shine, 8 p.m., $5 Funk-rock fusion bands were all the rage in the early ’90s, particularly in the Sacramento area. Sicfus came up in this scene, forming in ’91 while still in high school, working its way through the club circuit until it broke up in 1996. It reformed in 2011, and its incredible chemistry suggests the group only took a week off, not 15 years. This lively trio fuses power pop, progressive metal and heavy grooves into a nice, cohesive package. It recorded an album called Compost in 2012, which brings back the funk-rock FUNK-ROCK fusion sound from the ’90s without sounding dated. This show is the official grand reopening party of Shine. 1400 E Street, www.facebook.com/sicfus.

—Aaron Carnes

Longtime Sacramento alternative-rock band A Single Second returns to the stage for one night only after a six-month hiatus from local performances. Jazz, punk and metal all influence the band’s sound. A little trumpet within a heavy guitar breakdown—courtesy of vocalROCK ist and guitarist Shawn Peter—is not unusual for the group, either. According to its Facebook page, since forming in 2002, A Single Second has performed 1,000 shows—including gigs with punk pioneers GBH and Grammy Award-winning rockers Soul Asylum. But Peter says this Friday-night show with Fudi, Save and Continue, and Race to the Bottom may likely be A Single Second’s only performance of 2014, so it shouldn’t be missed. 1517 21st Street, www.facebook.com/asinglesecondsacca.

—Steph Rodriguez

10FRI

The Wailin’ Jennys Crest Theatre, 8 p.m., $28-$45 Unless you are a hockey fan, it is quite possible that the Wailin’ Jennys are the best thing to ever come out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Armed with a beguiling brand of Canadiana and folk music—to say nothing of the mesmerizing, show-stopping three-part harmonies—this multiple-Juno Award-winning (Canada’s version of the Grammy Awards) trio of women has set the music world ablaze for the last decade. Its most recent album, 2011’s Bright Morning Stars, features stripped-down tracks like “All the Stars”—which feels like it should be performed around a campfire beneath the FOLK/ROOTS night sky in the middle of nowhere—and the earthy bluegrass tones of “Bird Song.” 1013 K Street, www.thewailinjennys.com.

—Brian Palmer

1000 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

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11SAT

12SUN

15WED

Chris Webster & Nina Gerber

Keyser Soze

Shawn Colvin

Tribal Seeds

The Palms Playhouse, 8 p.m., $20

Fox & Goose, 9:30 p.m., $7

Twenty-five years is a long time in the music business, but that’s how long Chris Webster and Nina Gerber’s chemistry has been growing. In 2013, the duo produced Apple Blossom Lane, an album that features original and cover songs. In the skilled hands of Webster and Gerber, the classic “Over the Rainbow”—made famous by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz—transforms into a new song, while retaining the classic’s essence. As a guitarist, arranger and producer, Gerber has been widely praised, FOLK having honed her skills alongside Kate Wolf. Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Webster draws from R&B, gospel and rockabilly. The music always comes first for these women. 13 Main Street in Winters, www.chriswebstermusic.com.

Crest Theatre, 7:30 p.m., $35-$55

Keyser Soze sounds like it might be an obscure heavy-metal band from Central Europe, but it’s a reggae-rock group from ROCK/REGGAE Reno, Nev., with jazz, ska and soul influences. And, like the villain from The Usual Suspects—after which the band is named—Keyser Soze’s sound catches you off guard. The group formed in 1998, and Jammal Tarkington brings both a soulful timbre to his vocals and a bright tone to his saxophone solos. Keyser Soze released its latest record, The Remedy, in 2013, and its sounds like a band hitting its stride. The production quality shimmers, and the upbeat song “Do” proves that this group is having a lot of fun, too. 1001 R Street, www.keysersozeska.com.

—Jonathan Mendick

—Trina L. Drotar

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Tea leaf green

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moon Taxi

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- January 12 -

Jazz nighT wiTh The

island of black & white

jras & soullifted musical charis bell boys

SIERRA COLLEGE EXIT OFF 80 4007 TAYLOR RD www.COUNTRYCLUBSALOON.net COUNTRYCLUBSALOON.net

facebook.com/bar101roseville 101 main street, roseville • 916-774-0505 |

$10 • 7pm

you musT Believe

live music

NEWS

Coming Soon

-January 16 -

The DeaDlies The infamous swanks

open mic

—Jonathan Mendick

2708 J Street Sacramento, CA 916.441.4693 www.harlows.com

tuesday

BEFORE

For a six-piece band from San Diego, Tribal Seeds sounds a whole lot like a Jamaican-roots reggae band. The group’s been around since 2005, and has released several full-length albums and an EP—all independently. Lead REGGAE singer Steven Jacobo sings in a heavy Jamaican patois, and the rhythm section—bassist Victor Navarro, drummer Carlos Verdugo, guitarist Ryan Gonzalez and dual keyboardists Tony-Ray Jacobo and E.N. Young—brings full-bodied rhythmic pulses that sound much bigger than five guys. The group’s latest effort, the 2011 EP Soundwaves, reached No. 2 on the Billboard reggae charts. Its title track is surprisingly lulling, blending copious reverb with peaceful lyrics. 1417 R Street, www.tribalseeds.net.

—Chris Parker

BEER AFICIONADOS

monday

jan 10 jan 11 jan 17 jan 18 jan 24 jan 31

Ace of Spades, 6:30 p.m., $16

Shawn Colvin’s vocals are crisp and serene, like mountain blue skies, the perfect vehicle for earnest portraits of troubled hearts, bitter resolve and the misbegotten plans that leave pain, guilt and shame in their wake. Colvin’s made music for four decades, first catching the late-’80 new-folk wave (adding backing vocals to Suzanne Vega’s “Luka”), then joining the successful Lilith Fair concert tour after 1996’s A Few Small Repairs went FOLK/POP platinum, highlighted by chart-topper “Sunny Came Home.” In 2012, Colvin reunited with guitarist and producer Buddy Miller (she played in his band 30 years ago) for All Fall Down, a supple atmospheric folk disc that might be her most powerful, nuanced work. 1013 K Street, www.shawncolvin.com.

Jan 22 Jan 23 Jan 24 Jan 25 Jan 25 Jan 29 Jan 30 Jan 31 Feb 01 Feb 02 Feb 07 Feb 08 Feb 09 Feb 10 Feb 12 Feb 14 Feb 16 Feb 21 Feb 22 Feb 23 Feb 28 Mar 01 Mar 02 Mar 04 Mar 10 Mar 16 Mar 18 Mar 19 Mar 21 Mar 23

- January 18 -

reggie graham Trio

miDnighT players

AFTER

9pm $12adv

$10adv

F E AT U R E

STORY

| A R T S & C U L T U R E

Nappy Roots Dustbowl Revival / Merrygold Stick Men Wild Cub (early) The Nibblers (late) Royal Southern Brotherhood Parade Of Lights Moonshiner Collective Tempest Cheeseballs James Garner’s tribute to Johnny Cash Steelin’ Dan Duncan Sheik Secret Chiefs 3 (members of Mr. Bungie) Bettye LaVette ALO The Duhks Tainted Love Tainted Love Man Man Diego’s Umbrella Zepparella The Wild Feathers Typhoon Larry & His Flask/Scott H. Biram Majickat Galactic The Sword/Big Business Tommy Castro and the Painkillers Weekend

| 01.09.14

HARLOWSNiTeCLUB HARLOWSNiGHTCLUB HARLOWSNiGHTCLUB

SN&R

NIGHTBEAT

THURSDAY 1/9

Post your free online listing (up to 15 months early), and our editors will consider your submission for the printed calendar as well. Print listings are also free, but subject to space limitations. Online, you can include a full description of your event, a photo, and a link to your website. Go to www.newsreview.com/calendar and start posting events. Deadline for print listings is 10 days prior to the issue in which you wish the listing to appear.

BADLANDS

2003 K St., (916) 448-8790

Tipsy Thursdays, Top 40 deejay dancing, 9pm, call for cover

Fabulous and Gay Fridays, 9pm, call for cover

Saturday Boom, 9pm, call for cover

BAR 101

Karaoke, 7:30pm, no cover

OLD SCREEN DOOR, 9:30pm, $5

TOTAL RECALL, 9:30pm, $5

BLUE LAMP

1400 Alhambra, (916) 455-3400

BLACK WITCH PUDDING, VALLEY OF THORNS, ASTRAL CULT; 8pm

DJ Vision, 8pm, call for cover

ONE EYED REILLY, KENNY REGO, 5pm; ’80s deejay dancing, 9pm, call for cover

THE BOARDWALK

DALION & CHICO, K$MK, BOSS BIZ,

BOWS & ARROWS

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me screening, 7:30pm, no cover

101 Main St., Roseville; (916) 774-0505

1815 19th St., (916) 822-5668

DISTRICT 30

1016 K St., (916) 737-5770 2000 K St., (916) 448-7798

DELTA CITY RAMBLERS, 8pm, call for cover

DJ Elements, 9pm, call for cover

DJ Solarz, 9pm, call for cover

Hip-hop and Top 40 Deejay dancing, 9pm, $5-$10

STEVE MCLANE, 8pm, no cover

INFINITE VASTNESS, SUPERMUFF; 9pm, $5

KEYSER SOZE, SACTO SOUL REBELS; 9pm, $7

THE GOLDEN BEAR

DJ Shaun Slaughter, 10pm, call for cover

DJ Crook One, 10pm, call for cover

DJ Whores, 10pm, no cover

2326 K St., (916) 441-2252

Hey local bands!

MEMORY MOTEL, COVE, SUN MONKS; 8pm, $5

FOX & GOOSE

1001 R St., (916) 443-8825

HALFTIME BAR & GRILL 2708 J St., (916) 441-4693

THE CHOP TOPS, THE DEADLIES, THE INFAMOUS SWANKS; 8pm, $10-$12

LEVEL UP FOOD & LOUNGE

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

2431 J St., (916) 448-8768

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 1/13-1/15

Sin Sunday, 8pm, call for cover

Mad Mondays, 9pm M; Latin video flair and Wii bowling, 7pm Tu Trivia, 6:30pm M, no cover; Open-mic, 7:30pm W, no cover

Get Down to the Champion Sound reggae night, 9pm-2am, $3

Open-mic, 8pm Tu, no cover; Stand-up comedy open mic, 8pm W, no cover

Queer Idol, 9pm M, no cover; Latin night, 9pm Tu, $5; DJ Alazzawi, 9pm W, $3

Dragalicious,9pm, $5

Open-mic, 7:30pm M, no cover; Pub Quiz, 7pm Tu; Northern Soul, 8pm W Industry Night, 9pm, call for cover

Trivia night, W, call for cover Trivia night, 7:30-9pm Tu, no cover; Karaoke, 8pm-midnight W, no cover

REMIX, 9pm-midnight, no cover

5681 Lonetree Blvd., Rocklin; (916) 626-6366

HARLOW’S

SUNDAY 1/12

RIFF RAFF, SAVANNAH BLUE; 5pm, call for cover

9426 Greenback Ln., Orangevale; (916) 988-9247 WYLIE; 8pm, call for cover

FACES

Want to be a hot show? Mail photos to Calendar Editor, SN&R, 1124 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815 or email it to sactocalendar@ newsreview.com. Be sure to include date, time, location and cost of upcoming shows.

SATURDAY 1/11

NIPSEY HUSSLE, RICK MO, R DOT, N8TIV, FAIR STRUGGLE, VANISHING AFFAIR, ANTHONY B., 8pm, $20 SWAY LYRIC; 7pm, $18 OVERWATCH, ONCE AN EMPIRE; 7pm, $10

1000 K St., (916) 832-4751

List your event!

FRIDAY 1/10

ASSEMBLY MUSIC HALL

CARRIE HENNESSEY, 6:45pm, $25-$30

THE REGGIE GRAHAM TRIO, 7pm, $10-$15 Hip-hop and R&B deejay dancing, 9:16pm Tu, no cover

LOWBRAU

Wunderbar w/ Adam J., Shaun Slaughter, 10pm, no cover

1050 20th St., (916) 706-2636

LUNA’S CAFÉ & JUICE BAR

Joe Montoya’s Poetry Unplugged, 8pm, $2

MAC RUSS & PALOMA NEGRA, MICHAEL MARTY COHEN & THE SIDEKICKS, TOBIAS, DANE UKELELE; 8pm, $5 ELISABETH BUSCH; 7pm, $6

MARILYN’S ON K

TAO JIRIKI, INSTAGON, TRIKOME; 8pm, $5

HANS AND THE HOT MESS, THE OTHER BRITTANY, DJ Highball; 9pm, $7

JUKEBOX JOHNNY, 9pm, $5

Get Down to the Champion Sound, reggae and dancehall deejays, 10pm, $5

House music and ’90s hip-hop w/ DJ Jonathan, Funktion, Phreed; 9pm, $3-$5

DAD?, PLOTS, TRIKOME; 8:30pm, $5

GRANT CHESIN, TAYLOR CULLEN, COLIN CURTIN; 8:30pm, $5

1414 16th St., (916) 441-3931 908 K St., (916) 446-4361

MIDTOWN BARFLY

1119 21st St., (916) 549-2779

NAKED LOUNGE DOWNTOWN 1111 H St., (916) 443-1927

LUCKY LASKOWSKI, TOM RHODES, LADY CROONERS; 8:30pm, $5

D R I N K .

Kava Serving

Roger Carpio spinning vinyl, 5pm W, no cover Nebraska Mondays, 7:30pm M, $5-$20; Comedy night, 8pm W, $6 WHITEY MORGAN, JON EMERY, DRY COUNTY DRINKERS; 8pm W, $10

Open-mic, 7pm, no cover

Jazz, 8pm M; CHOPSTICK, VENETIAN VEIL, INFERNO OF JOY; 8:30pm W, $5

D I N E .

T R Y

R E L A X .

O U R

FRUITOPIA

and Kombucha

MULTIPLE FRUIT INFUSED DRINK $5

luau Don’t miss our nuary 18! on saturday, ja

Zi n

RI S SUN

d el

Saturday Nights LIVE music or dj Happy Hour mon-fri 4pm-7pm

Kombucha on Tap! an

Monday Nights k shells $20 All you can drin nesday Ladies Night every Wed r ladies $1 Shots and Shells fo

1949 Zinfandel Dr Rancho Cordova, CA 916.468.8189 | 4pm-1am every day 34

SN&R

01.09.14

1501 L S T R E E T SACRAMENTO, CA ( 916) 267-6823

THURSDAY 1/9

FRIDAY 1/10

SATURDAY 1/11

OLD IRONSIDES

1901 10th St., (916) 442-3504

JOHN CONLEY, RICH DRIVE; 8pm, no cover

BLAME THE BISHOP, KALLY O’MALLEY BAND, SEA LEGS; 9pm, $5

RACE TO THE BOTTOM, IN THE SILENCE, HUMBLE WOLF, AMOUR; 8pm, $10

ON THE Y

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

MOON MANTIS, 9:30pm, no cover

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

THE PALMS PLAYHOUSE

DAN HICKS & THE HOT LICKS, 8pm, $25

CHRIS WEBSTER AND NINA GERBER, 8pm, $20

THE PARK ULTRA LOUNGE

DJ Eddie Edul, 9pm, call for cover

DJ Homicide, 9pm, call for cover

Top 40, Mashups, 9pm, no cover

DJ Club mixes, 10pm, no cover

PINS N STRIKES

Deejay dancing, 9pm, no cover

CLEAN SLATE, 9pm, $10

PJ’S ROADHOUSE

SLICK RICK, 9pm, $5

ISLAND OF BLACK AND WHITE, 9pm, $5

670 Fulton Ave., (916) 487-3731 13 Main St., Winters; (530) 795-1825 1116 15th St., (916) 442-7222

PARLARE EURO LOUNGE

Top 40, 9pm, no cover

1009 10th St., (916) 448-8960

3443 Laguna Blvd., Elk Grove; (916) 226-2625 5461 Mother Lode, Placerville; (530) 626-0336

SUNDAY 1/12

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 1/13-1/15 Karaoke w/ Sac City Entertainment, 9pm Tu, no cover; Open-mic, 9pm W, no cover

Open-mic comedy, 9pm, no cover

Karaoke, 9pm Tu, no cover

Asylum Downtown: Gothic, industrial, EBM dancing, 9pm, call for cover

Nipsey Hussle with Rick Mo, R Dot, N8tiv and Sway Lyric 7pm Thursday, $18. Assembly Music Hall Hip-hop

POWERHOUSE PUB

ACES UP, 10pm, call for cover

ZUHG, 10pm, call for cover

IN THE KNOW, 3pm, call for cover; JOY & MADNESS, 10pm, call for cover

TOMMY CASTRO, 3pm, call for cover

THE PRESS CLUB

BLACK TO THE FUTURE, CHARLES ALBRIGHT, NACHO BUSINESS; 8pm, $5

Top 40 w/ DJ Rue, 9pm, $5

Top 40 Night w/ DJ Larry Rodriguez, 9pm, $5

M. LOCKWOOD PORTER, RICHARD J RUSSELL, WALTER BERE; 5:30pm, $5

SHENANIGANS

Comedy Night and DJ Selekta Lou, 9pm, $5

614 Sutter St., Folsom; (916) 355-8586 2030 P St., (916) 444-7914 705 J St., (916) 442-1268

SOL COLLECTIVE

The Sol Mercado and Kid’s Day, 1pm, no cover

Microphone Mondays, 6pm M, $1-$2

Country dancing, 7:30pm, no cover; $5 after 8pm

Country dance party, 8pm, no cover

Comedy open-mic, 8pm M; Bluebird Lounge open-mic, 5pm Tu, no cover

Salsa with Mike Del Campo, 8:30pm, no cover; $5 after 9:30pm

Domingos Latinos with Mr. DJ Omar, 9pm, $5-$10

Blues jam session, 8:30pm Tu, no cover

JOHNNY KNOX, 5pm, no cover; ELECTRIC GREASE, 9pm, $7

Blues jam, 4pm, no cover; MUNCIE, 8pm, $5

Acoustic open-mic, 5:30pm W, no cover; KERI CARR BAND, 9pm W, $5

2574 21st St., (916) 832-0916

STONEY INN/ROCKIN’ RODEO

JACKSON MICHELSON, 9pm, $5

THE STATION

Salsa w/ Mike Del Campo and Mr. DJ Omar, 8:30pm, no cover; $5 after 9:30pm

TORCH CLUB

X TRIO, 5pm, no cover; STEVEN ROTH, 9pm, $5

1320 Del Paso Blvd., (916) 927-6023

1100 Orlando Ave., Roseville; (916) 728-1166 904 15th St., (916) 443-2797

Country dancing, 7:30pm, no cover; $5 after 8pm

PAILER AND FRATIS, 5:30-7:30pm, no cover; SOLSA, 9pm, $12

Country Karaoke, 9pm M, call for cover; DJ Alazzawi, DJ Rigatony, 10pm Tu, $3

Carrie Hennessey 6:45pm Saturday, $25-$30. Harlow’s Restaurant & Nightclub Classical

All ages, all the time ACE OF SPADES

TRIBAL SEEDS, THROUGH THE ROOTS, KAYASUN; 6:30pm W, $16

1417 R St., (916) 448-3300

LUIGI’S SLICE AND FUN GARDEN 1050 20th St., (916) 552-0317

A LOT LIKE BIRDS, SIANVAR, STOLAS, THE VENETIA FAIR; 7pm, call for cover

SHINE

AS YET UNTITLED, SICFUS, P.O.G.; 8pm, $5

1400 E St., (916) 551-1400

THE SOFT OFFS, WAIT...DAD?, MALIAH SEAVEY; 8pm, $5

Open jazz jam w/ Jason Galbraith & Friends, 8pm Tu, no cover

DID YOU KNOW that

SN&R

readers spend

1.2 BILLION DOLLAR$ A YEAR

on dining out ?

Do n ’ t mi ss yo ur o p p o r t u ni t y t o b e s e e n i n SN & R’ s a n n ua l d i ni ng g u i d e : Indulge. SPACE RESERVATION DEADLINE: JAN. 22

ISSUE ON STANDS: JAN. 30

Call 916.498.1234 to reserve your space and ask us about how you could be a part of our feature article! BEFORE

NEWS

FEATURE STORY

A RT S & C U LT U R E

AFTER

01.09.14

SN&R

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I live in Nevada County and was wondering if you could help. I started my own outdoor-grow operation last year with my father’s prescription. It was late in the sea season, and I had very little experience, so needless to say, the yield was quite small. It was enough, however, to manufacture the edibles that my father uses as medication. This year, with my increased knowledge and preparation, as well as the addition of my own prescription, our crop gave us quite a bounty. In BEALUM fact, just the trim is enough to keep us medicatby NGAIO ed for a couple of years. We have about 3 pounds of organic, high-quality bud that we don’t really need. I was hoping you might have some advice ’13 a sk420 @ ne wsreview.c om on how to go about selling it in a safe, legal manner. I’m new to this whole process, and I’m not sure how to approach dispensaries, or if they’ll even be interested in 3 pounds, which is a lot for my family, but probably not for a dispensary. —Nick Oh no! I grew too much weed! Whatever shall I do? I think this is what people like to call a good problem to have. Fret not, I have some ideas. Proposition 215 allows medical-cannabis patients to give their excess medicine to clubs and dispensaries in exchange for financial reimbursement. It’s really quite simple. You just call a club and ask if it is seeing vendors. It will say yes or no and give you an appointment or not. If you get an appointment, you go in, meet with the buyers, and show them your wares. Outdoor cannabis is going for $800-$1,600 per pound. Proposition 215 Some clubs pay cash right and some clubs like allows medical- away, to sell on consignment. cannabis patients Most clubs won’t take more than a pound unless you to give their excess have a really great or hardstrain, so you may medicine to clubs to-find have to call a few clubs to and dispensaries in get rid of your whole stash. You could also look exchange for financial for low-income or indigent reimbursement. cannabis patients and give them some of your extra meds. Many clubs have “compassion” programs, where they provide free or low-cost cannabis to folks with no money and serious illness. Maybe you can sell some, and donate the rest. Good luck.

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A RT S & C U LT U R E

AFTER

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by LOVELLE HARRIS

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You can

blame it on the coming full moon. You can blame it on the gorgeous storm or the epic dream or the haunting song or the suffering you’re struggling to vanquish. All I ask is that you don’t blame it on the alcohol. OK? If you’re going to do wild and brave and unexpected things, make sure they are rooted in your vigorous response to primal rhythms, not in a drunken surrender to weakness or ignorance. I’m all for you losing your oppressive self-control, but not the healthy kind of self-control.

BREZSNY

from other people’s opinions about who you’re supposed to be, and explore the themes that will be crucial for the person you are becoming.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In 1609,

sea explorer Henry Hudson sailed to America and came upon what we now call Coney Island. Back then, it was a barren spit of sand whose main inhabitants were rabbits. But it was eventually turned into a dazzling resort—an “extravagant playground,” according to the documentary film Coney Island. By the early 20th century, there were three sprawling amusement parks packed into its 2 square miles of land, plus “a forest of glittering electric towers, historical displays, freak shows, a simulated trip to the moon, the largest herd of elephants in the world, and panoramas showing the Creation, the End of the World, and Hell.” I mention this, Scorpio, because 2014 could feature your very own Henry Hudson moment: a time when you will discover virgin territory that will ultimately become an extravagant playground.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): When

is the last time you did an experiment? I’m not talking about scientific tests and trials that take place in a laboratory. I’m referring to real-life experiments, like when you try out an unfamiliar experience to see if it appeals to you, or when you instigate a change in your routine to attract unpredictable blessings into your sphere. Now would be an excellent time to expose yourself to a few what-ifs like that. You’re overdue to have your eyes opened, your limits stretched and your mind blown.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): To help take

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Hu-

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Can

“If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows,” said 19th-century social reformer Henry Ward Beecher. That might be an accurate assessment for most people, but I don’t think it will be true for you Sagittarians in the foreseeable future. Your animal intelligence will be working even better than usual. Your instinctual inclinations are likely to serve as reliable guides to wise action. Trust what your body tells you! You will definitely be clever enough to be a crow.

the edge off the darkness you have been wrestling with, I offer you these lines from a poem by Kay Ryan: “The day misspent, / the love misplaced, / has inside it / the seed of redemption. / Nothing is exempt from resurrection.” In other words, Gemini, whatever has disappeared from your life will probably return later in a new form. The wrong turns you made may lead you to a fresh possibility. Is that what you want? Or would you prefer that the lost things stay lost, the dead things stay dead? Make a decision soon.

you guess what combination of colors makes the most vivid visual impact? Psychologists say it’s black on yellow. Together they arrest the eye. They command attention. They activate a readiness to respond. According to my reading of the astrological omens, this is the effect you can and should have in the coming weeks. It’s time for you to draw the best kind of attention to yourself. You have a right and a duty to galvanize people with the power of your presence. Whether you actually wear yellow clothes with black highlights is optional as long as you cultivate a similar potency.

man beings are often unable to receive because we do not know what to ask for,” says the writer Malidoma Patrice Somé in his book Of Water and the Spirit. “We are sometimes unable to get what we need because we do not know what we want.” With that in mind, Cancerian, hear my two pleas: First, that in the next six weeks, you will work diligently to identify the goodies you want most; and second, that you will cultivate your capacity to receive the goodies you want most by refining your skill at asking for them.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Julia Morgan (1872-

1957) was the first woman licensed as an architect in California. She designed more than 700 buildings over the course of her brilliant career, and thrived both financially and artistically. One key to her success was her humility. “Don’t ever turn down a job because it’s beneath you,” she advised. That’s a helpful message for you to hear, Leo. It applies to the work-related opportunities you may be invited to take on, as well as the tasks that your friends, associates and loved ones ask you to consider. You can’t possibly know ahead of time how important it might ultimately be to apply yourself conscientiously to a seemingly small assignment.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I’m

guessing that in a metaphorical sense, you’ve been swallowed by a whale. Now you’re biding your time in the beast’s belly. Here’s my prediction: You will be like the biblical Jonah, who underwent a more literal version of your experience. The whale eventually expelled him, allowing him to return to his life safe and sound—and your story will have the same outcome. What should you do in the meantime? Here’s the advice that Dan Albergotti gives in his poem “Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale.” “Count the ribs,” he says. “Look up for blue sky through the spout. Make small fires with the broken hulls of fishing boats. Practice smoke signals. Call old friends. … Organize your calendar. Dream of the beach. … Review each of your life’s ten million choices. … Find the evidence of those before you. … Listen for the sound of your heart. Be thankful that you are here, swallowed with all hope, where you can rest and wait.”

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): One of

Beethoven’s music teachers said, “As a composer, he is hopeless.” When Thomas Edison was a kid, a teacher told him he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Walt Disney worked at a newspaper when he was young, but his editor fired him because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” I’m sure there was a person like that in your past—someone who disparaged and discouraged you. But I’m happy to report that 2014 will be the best year ever for neutralizing and overcoming that naysayer’s curse. If you have not yet launched your holy crusade, begin now.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): How do

you like your tests? Short, intense and dramatic? Or leisurely, drawn-out and low-pressure? Here’s another question: Do you prefer to pick out the tests you take, making sure they’re good fits for the precise lessons you want to master? Or do you find it more exciting and adventurous to let fate determine what unpredictable tests get sent your way? Ruminate about these matters, Pisces. You’re due for a nice big test sometime soon, and it’s in your interest to help shape and define how everything unfolds.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): As a child,

French philosopher and writer Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) loved math. But his father, who homeschooled him, forced him to forgo math and concentrate on studying the humanities. Blaise rebelled. When he was 12 years old, he locked himself in his room for days and immersed himself in mathematical investigations. When he emerged, he had figured out on his own some of Euclid’s fundamental theorems about geometry. Eventually, he became a noted mathematician. I see the coming weeks as prime time to do something like the young Pascal did: Seal yourself away

BEFORE

NEWS

You can call Rob Brezsny for your Expanded Weekly Horoscope: (900) 950-7700. $1.99 per minute. Must be 18+. Touchtone phone required. Customer service (612) 373-9785. And don’t forget to check out Rob’s website at www.realastrology.com. |

F E AT U R E

STORY

PHOTO BY LOVELLE HARRIS

by ROB

For the week of January 9, 2014

Jenny Stark (left) and Rik Keller use their custommade camper to take their Teeny-Cine mobile film theater on the road.

The traveling pictures show Sacramento may not be known as an experimental-film hub, but two local creatives are looking to challenge this notion by rolling out a new vehicle for moviegoers to experience independent and experimental films. Jenny Stark, a filmmaker and film program coordinator at Sacramento State University, recently paired with commercial photographer Rik Keller to launch Teeny-Cine, a mobile film festival fashioned out of a custom-made camper, to encourage cinephiles to trade in the high-ticket prices and crowds usually found at area multiplexes, and instead explore the avant-garde film world. Featuring art-house cinema, short films and video-art pieces, the venue offers an intimate experience. SN&R sat down with Stark, who is responsible for curating the programming, to talk film, Bundt cakes and David Lynch.

How did the idea for roving, pop-up cinema come about? The original term, “microcinema,” came from the idea of an independently run, smaller audience, smaller-film type of space. There’s this place in Shreveport, Louisiana, called Minicine that I kind of got the idea from. I’m a filmmaker, and I was also involved in another microcinema in Houston, called Aurora Picture Show, and so I showed some of my little experimental films in places like that. I had been curating at Center for Contemporary Arts, Sacramento, and had just given that up, which freed up a little bit of time. Right around the same time, Rik brought his camper over to his house, and I looked inside and said, “If we put a flat screen against there, we could turn this into a video-art gallery,” and he said, “Yeah, that will work.”

Where did you find the trailer? [Rik] built this from scratch; it’s not even a refurbished vintage [camper]. He just has a real love for that midcentury-modern [aesthetic], and he just took all of this care into every detail.

How many people can you fit in a single screening, and how long are the films? Three, but I’ve seen four. I think I’ve even seen five crunched in there. I think that’s the other aspect of it, the length of time, how long each screening will be. If we take this camper to an opening, and our idea is to cycle people through, the screening has to be short, so we’re looking at 15 minutes tops, but we try to keep it at about 10 minutes. |

A RT S & C U LT U R E

So a 10-minute screening is a very different experience than going and seeing an hour, an hour-and-a-half screening of shorts or a screening of a feature-length experimental film. The thing is, they don’t have to commit for an hour of watching this.

How do you find films to screen? At [my friend, filmmaker] Doug Rice’s [Faraway, So Close exhibition in November 2013 at Fusion international Arts Center], he actually got a hold of a Ryan Coogler [director of Fruitvale Station] short [called Locks] that has a lot of scenes of Oakland, and [Coogler] allowed me to show that, which I thought was really nice. I think one of the ways I’m going to go about this is contacting friends who are filmmakers. I do have a call for entries out. I think for now, I’m probably going to be asking friends, so I’m going to be seeking people out. I’ll read all of the art publications, and if it looks like really interesting video-art pieces are out there, I might ask [the filmmakers] to send it to me.

What kind of films do you want to show? I’m trying to pinpoint where I send the call for entries so I get work that is relevant to what I’m trying to do, so I don’t get every single short film in the world. Part of it is enriching my own viewpoint in experimental film, and being engaged in that conversation is really important. And, of course, I want to bring that conversation to Sacramento, because I think that is a really important aspect of the art world today. Video art, experimental film, electronic art—we really don’t have enough venues that focus on that. The other aspect

AFTER

that I think is really important is to create an engaging environment to see these types of films; how can I take this really beautiful camper and make something different?

The back of the trailer pops open to reveal a miniature kitchen. What’s up with that? That’s my little kitchen. That’s where I serve the Bundt cakes—I always make Bundt cakes because they kind of go with the ’50s style of the camper, but that’s also where I do the projection because my computer fits up there, so I project from there, too.

David Lynch or Luis Buñuel? It’s weird: I like love and hate David Lynch, but the amount that I love him is so strong. When I love him, I really love him. So, I would have to go with him. If I show something to my class, like Mulholland Drive, which doesn’t follow a narrative that makes sense to them—it’s a nonlinear viewing situation—that’s very, very close to experimental filmmaking, and so it’s something that I’m very familiar with. But when you show it to a student, they want cause and effect, they want to know what the conflict is and how that conflict was dealt with, so that’s difficult for me to teach sometimes. But for me, I feel that was a film that I really, really just loved. It was just beyond reason why I loved that film when I saw it. Ω

Check out a Teeny-Cine showing on Saturday, January 11, 6 to 9 p.m. at the E Street Gallery, located at 1115 E Street. Admission is free. For more information on Teeny-Cine and how to submit a film, visit www.facebook.com/teenycine.

01.09.14

SN&R

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