War, sex and gala benefits

Beyond the Proscenium, the local theatre group that has been presenting original and edgy theatre pieces in The Grid since 1994, is holding its Fourth Annual Fundraising Gala this Saturday, November 3, 2007, and we plan to be there.



The theatre just opened a production of Hecuba & Dido: Love Gone Wrong, a modern "mash-up" of the classic Greek story written and directed by Ann Tracy, and based on Charles Mee's The Trojan Women 2.0. You can support the theatre, eat, get a taster of the show and maybe even buy some art on Saturday.

On gala night, there's a lot going on: the troupe will perform a section of the play, there will be food from Jealousy Catering, performances by local bands the Frets and the theatro-musical Pink Toupee Collective, and a silent auction will feature fine art and spa services.

The fun begins at The Space at 25th and R Streets in the downtown/midtown Grid. The event starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 per person, including one drink. There is, however, a penalty for not planning ahead: tickets are $10 more at the door. For more information call (916) 456-1600 or email beyondpro@sbcglobal.net to reserve your tickets.

Sill takes Rodriguez' job at The Bee

The Bee's staff didn't have to wait long for new leader: Publisher Janis Heaphy today named Melanie Sill, until now the executive editor of McClatchy's News and Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, to replace former executive editor Rick Rodriguez, who quit Oct. 18 for undisclosed reasons.

Good luck to Sill and the Bee staff.

On The Troubles Inside the Beeheemoth

I have restrained myself from writing about Rick Rodriguez' "resignation" as Executive Editor from Sacramento's 19th Century Media Center because I didn't want to pile-on. From everything I have heard from people in the room - and I know a LOT of them - Rick was devastated. Unlike me, he wasn't eager to leave, and it was clear that his differences with Bee management went a lot deeper than mine. Though I think he had it coming, it's no fun to see another human being suffer.

Still, I feel the need to say something about that situation. People have asked me if I would go back now that Rick's gone, as if that was even an option for me (for the record: No! Sure do miss that paycheck, though). That's because the problem there is deeper than Rick, and deeper than a revenue drop. The problem is in the very style of the place.

Bee management needs to wake up and smell the millennium. The days of ordering people about like foot-soldiers, treating them like interchangeable widgets (the old, mechanical kind) and above all, of refusing to speak plainly to their own employees, are over. Or should be.

I say that because from everything I've heard and read in the paper - from Dale Kasler's press-release announcing Rick's departure, to the public editor's column hailing Rick's contributions to the paper (while avoiding any mention of mistakes) - say, basically...nothing. And as anyone except for Bee management can tell you, where there is an absence of information, there will be rumors and speculation. So it is at The Bee.

From what I hear, people over there are freaked-out, and I feel for them. If they aren't freaked out, it's because they've got retirement safely in their sights. They were counting the months and years till retirement when I was there. The news of Rick's departure hasn't changed that.

I've spoken to a lot of people there, and they relate all sorts of theories: Rick left because he didn't want to start firing people, and publisher Janis Heaphy is going to bring someone in from corporate to do just that (Joyce Terhaar, Rick's No. 2, having been passed over for the job). Another theory is that Rick and sacbee.com mastermind Ed Canale went head to head over who controls online content, and Rick lost.

But then, no one wins with sacbee.com!

There are other theories, all of them worth precisely squat. Janis is not saying a thing. No one else KNOWS a thing. Except that this is NOT good, and that contrary to management hype, nothing is going to change. At least, not in a good way.

And so the place continues to roil. The people who rose on Rick's patronage are most likely VERY uncomfortable, and that's reasonable (and, some would say, just). Some younger reporters, who still have the fire and passion for the work, have told me how upsetting this is. They wonder if there will BE journalism jobs 10 years from now. The '80s and '90s are starting to look to them, as well as to those of us who were there, like the Golden Age. Ahead lies darkness.

As a now-independent contractor of sorts, I feel their pain. The internet is amazing, and I'm partly casting my small lot on it. But as John McCrae of Cake once said (I paraphrase), "Information may want to be free, but the rent wants to be paid." No shit.

Most Bee people I know keep their heads down and hope someone is going to figure out how to lead them somewhere they want to go. They have ideas, but they're not heard. Mama and Papa know best at The Bee.

(I have, however, heard that The Bee will soon (December) be launching a website much like I've long suggested, focusing on the downtown/midtown Grid as an entertainment destination. I can't help feeling a bit wistful that that would have been interesting to try helping out on, and that I would have been happy to contribute to that. Rick had other ideas.)

On balance, I think that Rick is a good guy who was in a job that didn't suit him. I told Janis Heaphy that a year ago, which may have been my undoing (I have a big mouth). But the problems with the place go a lot deeper than Rick's (and Joyce's) rather awkward and harsh management style, or the happy-face treacheries of middle management.

The rub is this: Working for an information company that doesn't communicate with itself - especially with the people who make it work - is painful for the people who still have to do it. It's cognitive dissonance. That shit will make you crazy.

Bee employees are getting paid, and many are still doing good work that we as a community NEED - but they're working in the dark at a company that appears to be heading right down the drain. They're working at a company where individuals are not honored, or even seen. This may just be a bump in the road - newspapers make VERY good profits - but no one seems to really believe that. More common is the sense that the end of newspapering as we've known it is very, very near. And no one is happy about that.

But the least Bee management can do is be straight with its employees, and treat them well. LEAD them. Inspire them. Rick couldn't do that, for a variety of reasons. Whoever takes over next - even if he or she is being brought in to give the staff a major haircut - needs to lead, not just "manage."

The employees of The Sacramento Bee deserve better than that.

BloggingtheGrid in SNR...

Blogging the Grid got another nice plug in the current issue of SNR. Unfortunately, it came as the lead-in to sad news: Becca Costello, weekly writer of "Nothing Ever Happens," described an encounter with me as the prelude to her farewell column. Not sure why her lovely column, which gave a nice sense of place to the SNR every week, is being discontinued, and I don't think she knows, either. But she concluded with a nice bit of writing that will surely be missed by SNR readers.

Read it at:

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=592064

More to the point, is my departure thingee contagious? First me, then Becca...oh, and that Big Guy over at the Beeheemoth.

Is self-promotion is the new New Journalism?

Well, no. Probably not.
But hey, I've been promoting other people my whole life, how's about a bit of sugar for Daddy?
That's right, my sensitive (or not-so) singer-songwriter side is going to get more of a workout than he's had in some time when I start six weeks as an "Artist You Should Know" at Marilyn's. Also known as, the guy who plays and sings during happy hour. Hey, it pays better than blogging!
I'll be on the stage between 5 and 7 p.m. every Thursday starting Nov. 1, through December 6. I'm off on Thanksgiving Thursday - that's the day of the big bike ride (more about THAT later).
I hope to have a few friends up to sing and play, so that it's not just me on my lonesome up there - though that is appropriate to a lot of the songs. So come down (The K Street Mall is NOT that scary!), buy a beer (you'll need something to cry in), buy ME a beer (ditto), and listen to me pour my heart out. Good times!

K Street's "war zone," etc...

Kudos to the Bee's Bob Shallit for backing off the "K Street is a war zone" hype that the paper and others have promoted. It's a bit rough, true, but I was there last Saturday and there were a lot of people out and about, the sun was shining, and the panhandlers are a lot more polite than they are in San Francisco!
Elsewhere in the Bee, I was pleased to read Bill Lindelof's Friday piece in The Bee about the Indian names that UC Davis scholar Sheri Tatsch has found for our hometown. Turns out that we in the Grid live atop the ruins of two Nisenan/Maidu villages, Waymem (in the Sutter's Fort area) and Sama (where the old city cemetery now sits). Funny how those two ended up being built RIGHT where the original locals lived. Or not so funny...
And Mary Lynne Vellinga, who is doing a spectacular job covering development in The Grid, reports that architect Daniel Libeskind, whose picture was familiar to anyone who drives L Street from the giant poster by the Aura project, is now officially out of the deal. For nonpayment.
Which raises a thought for me: Enough already with the skyscrapers in downtown Sacramento! I suppose they will be necessary, eventually, but three strikes, and the concept should be out. First John Saca's Twin Towers at 3rd and Capitol Mall died (even WITH the backing of deep pockets CalPERS), then Aura on L collapsed (figuratively), and then another Libeskind-designed tower at 12th and I, which was to be the 50-story "Epic," lost its erection.
Leaving aside the obvious male-compensation nature of these mega-projects - that's too easy, but somehow seems apropos - they aren't WORKING. Along with the Kings arena soap opera - now ex-Gov. Pete Wilson is in, the new Warren Christopher? - and the brewing battle over the railyard's future, these big projects seem to consume more energy than they could create.
Look: I'm no developer, but it's obvious what is actually being BUILT in midtown and downtown Sacramento: Homes close to the ground (but closely-spaced), several-story lofts with ground-level retail, and...restaurants! (See below.) Oh, and parking garages, but that's another story.
More power to these guys who want to give people in West Sacramento a nice skyline to look at, but perhaps we're still a bit early in the game for Manhattanization?
And here's more of the cost of becoming a city of new buildings: We in the Grid may be losing our only hardware story, according to Bob Shallit in today's Bee. Capitol Ace Hardware may be closing, if owner Don London gets the $4.3 million - savor THAT figure for a minute - that he's asking. We're not going to feel too sorry for Don, and this could be good news for our friends over at Broadway Hardware, who keep on keeping on, and are still biking distance from The Grid. But Ace has been our ace in the hole during more than one home improvement fit.

Whiskey Wild to open in November

It used to be called the Alamo, for its shape, then it was an art gallery. Now, the cool old 1901 brick building next to the railroad tracks on Q Street at 19th is about to become the Whiskey Wild Saloon.

I parked the furry bike outside and walked among the ladders, Saws-Alls and stacks of chairs and met Jon Glover, who started building this place with his partner Larry Wycoff in August, and are about to open sometime soon - before mid-November.

Whiskey Wild is a "country rock concept bar," the first of several that Glover hopes to build. He has specially engineered a heavy-duty, 40-foot-long bar that is designed for drinking AND dancing: his bartenders and servers are also performers, and will break into song and dance throughout any given evening. This concept first saw light in Sacramento in the '70s, at the Great Northern on Fulton Avenue, and then failed at America Live in more recent years.

But Glover, who was a Sacramento Police officer from 1999-2005, inspires confidence. The guy seems to have done his homework, and his demeanor is cool, confident and friendly. A born host, with a bit of the understated bouncer thrown in, this guy knows midtown, and he's putting his money and a lot of creative energy into it.



I for one, am putting my figurative money on Whiskey Wild to be successful: He's bringing a concept bar to a small part of midtown Sacramento that is long on vacant lots, body shops and dive bars, but has little to recommend it unless you work for The Beeheemoth just up the street. The few people who work at The Bee and stick around downtown are going to find they have a favorite new place to drink. And eat.

And there's lots of parking for the cowboys and cowgirls who will be drawn downtown from their suburban rancheros. Yeah, midtown hipsters are going to have a problem with this - what, the Old Tavern isn't good enough? And some of those cowboys are probably...Republicans!

But this is a homegrown operation that will employ not just service people, but PLAYERS. Glover plans to entertain his guests completely, while keeping meals - basic food with "a southwest flair" - reasonably priced.

I like this guy, and I like his chances. And it's great to see that old building get a new life at 100 years old.

Yee haw, people!

Their website is www.whiskeywildsac.com - check it out.

Bruuuuuce in Oakland

So, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band didn't make it to Sacramento this time, but since I missed them at Arco on "The Rising" tour - their only tour I'd missed since I first saw them in 1975 - I impulsively grabbed a friend and headed down, ticketless, two hours before show time on Thursday. Rumors that this is Springsteen's last tour with the band - arguably the greatest rock 'n' soul band that has ever existed - were an added incentive.

After a brief negotiation in the parking lot of the Oracle Arena, we scored two $100 general admission floor tickets for $60 each. Had we wanted, we could have shaved another $20 off that, easy. There were a LOT of tickets for sale. For Springsteen!

Things have changed. It has long been easy to get tickets in parking lots for shows - as far as I can tell, a truly sold-out show is a thing of the past. So many tickets go to scalpers on the first day on sale that ordinary people feel instantly locked out, assuming that the prices will go up. But as anyone with a house in town knows, prices can go DOWN, too!

But especially with shows in the Bay area, who wants to drive two hours, and pay $20 to park, on the CHANCE that they'll get a ticket outside? Well, WE did! But I've had encouragement lately: A month ago, seven friends and I drove down to see The Arcade Fire - the art rock successors to the E Street sound - at Shoreline. We ALL got tickets. We all got FREE tickets.

Besides that, doesn't the audience have to make an effort to see an artist who is famous for making the ultimate effort?

But something is happening to the concert market - a lethargy and why-bother attitude among older fans in particular, who are used to, as Josh said, "Being treated well" when they spend $75, $100 to go out.

We can only hope that what's happening in the concert market is not a follow-on to what's happened to the recorded music market: music is STILL worth something, as Springsteen and the E Street proved all night with a set that focussed almost entirely on the new album, "Magic," and songs from their two great mid-'70s classics, "Born to Run" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town." But it's not worth as much to as many people as it used to.

Still: Bruce and the band delivered. He's 58 years old, and so's his band, so this wasn't one of his epic shows of legend: two sets have been trimmed to one long one, and the tear-the-roof-off encore marathons of the past have gradually been trimmed down to a couple big hits (he closed with "Dancing in the Dark").

But how many acts can almost entirely ignore two of his biggest-selling albums "The River" and "Born in the USA" and still do an epic show? They don't make rock stars like Bruce anymore, and my friend, who'd never seen him, was blown away. I was a bit more jaded on this, my 20th Springsteen show: Yes, the band is great - drummer Max Weinberg should be on a COIN or something - and Bruce is a master of pacing, mixing the mid-tempo "heartland" rockers that became his stock-in-trade in the early '80s with his explosive classics: after several pleasant tunes from "Magic," the band virtually exploded with the one-two punch of "Adam Raised a Cain" and "She's the One" before settling back into another mid-tempo groove for several songs. A rockabilly-styled remake of "Reason to Believe" was fantastic. And "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road" are so much a part of my Stuck-In -Sacramento-with-the-New-York-Blues-Again youth that I would have to have them surgically removed from my heart.

AND many of the new songs from the chart-topping "Magic" album of last month work well live. While "Radio Nowhere" and "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" sound generic to me, and "Devil's Arcade," while gorgeous on the album, sorta just stood there live. But some songs exploded on stage, especially the celebratory "Livin' in the Future." But even liberals like myself can cringe a bit at Bruce's using John Kerry's "last to die for a mistake" line as the hook of a rock song. Can't we?

"Magic" is solid, but the title overstates the case, and I would have to say that the concert was the same. "Solid" would be a better description. And the cheers were for a whole history, not just a single performance. We will not see a rock star like Springsteen again. Ever.

Just as the ample cheap tickets outside indicated, there is not the same fire for, or even perhaps IN Springsteen, or his audience. Though he caught them up by the end, it was more work than he's had to do in the past, and when the "c'mon, sing along" lights came up on the audience at several points, what I saw was a lot of people looking to be entertained, rather than connect. It is to his undying credit that The Boss was still able to rouse this crowd, but the effort it took seemed to wear on him a bit.

And I couldn't help coming away with a feeling that a whole age of rock music has passed, and is not coming back. Quick, who is the figure that inspires what Bruce inspired in his generation(s)? There is no one.

And frankly, that left me feeling a bit melancholy. Bruce is still the Boss - but he's the Boss of a fine little shop, not a factory.

If it's the weekend, it must be brunch!

For a man without a Monday to Friday job, the weekend means different things, mostly that my FRIENDS are now free to play. But for the employed and unemployed alike, the weekend means a lot of good things, not the least of which is brunch.
And these days, for me, the restaurant in the midtown Grid for brunch has changed: Crepeville's nice, and the Lucky Cafe and Fox and Goose, dependable. But for three weeks, since they revamped their menu, there has been an irresistible destination for special egg dishes in downtown Sacramento: Capitol Garage at the corner of 15th and K Street.
I don't know what got into these guys, but I know what's getting into me: the bar/restaurant's usual crispy home fries, sure, but also dishes that don't make it onto their weekday breakfast menu: a Monty Cristo sandwich made with thick "Texas" toast with apricot aioli and fresh berry sauce; a cream cheese-filled French toast with warm peach compote; and the most exotic egg dishes in town: My Favorite Omelette (their name, my feeling) which is filled with fresh (and ample) crab meat, melted brie cheese chunks, artichoke hearts and creme fraishe is one. Another is the Garage Omelet, with portabella mushrooms, sausage and melted dill harvarti cheese, which a friend found "spectacular."
But what makes this new dining option my current fave in downtown or midtown Sacramento is a half dozen dishes which, despite their name, won't let you down: the Capitol Garage line-up of Eggs Benedict. Sure, you can get a plain old eggs Benedict. Or you can spice it up with the Garrage Benedict, which ups the ante from ham to pastrami and adds a black pepper Hollandaise sauce. Or you can go for it: A Northwest Benedict with smoked salmon and grilled asparagus, topped with hosted hazelnuts and fresh raspberries; the Crab Cake Benedict, the name of which speaks for itself. Finally, there is my favorite, the Louisiana Benedict, with sauteed shrimp and spicy sausage, topped with a chipotle hollandaise sauce. It's SPICY. Fantastic.
And these are all ample dishes. Only a couple of us finished everything.
These isn't the cheapest brunch in town: Most of the above-mentioned dishes cleared $10 easily, most landed in the $12-14 range. But you also get the fantastic home fries and a good variety of fresh fruit that went well beyond garnish: the slices of fresh pineapple, kiwi, cantaloupe and strawberries all freshened the plates considerably.
As for bevvies: The coffee could use some work - at two different visits it tasted bitter and tired (and left us feeling the same). But they quickly refreshed our mugs, and we didn't care so much because we'd found something even better, the Capitol Garage's not-so-secret brunch weapon: the Bottomless Mimosa for $4 or $5, which kept us entertaining ourselves long after the food was gone. With a walk in Capitol Park a post-prandial option, we were feeling pretty good about missing the line at Crepeville.

Dancing in the Dark with Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell Ndegeocello (that's how she's spelling it now, no apostrophes) is an established musician and songwriter who is still very much a mystery to a lot of us. Best known for her bass work and vocals with John Mellencamp on "Wild Night," she is much more than that. She's neo-soul, post-rap, recorded with the Stones AND Basement Jaxx, and has had her songs in films like "How Stella Got Her Groove back." She's a little bit down home and a lot big city, so when she played Harlow's on Sunday night, it was safe to assume that she'd play a bit of everything, and that it would be, at the very least, funky.
But Sunday night, she was more low-key mysterioso than brash entertainer. Tucked into an orange hoodie that she wore like a monk, she said barely a word. Because of a problem with epilepsy, Ndegeocello requests audience members to refrain from flash photography, but she went even further: the ban on lights extended so far that she and her four-piece band performed almost entirely in the dark, with only four faint blue lights backlighting the drummer and one guitarist. Ndegeocello herself was nearly invisible as she played bass and guitar, and sang and rapped, and her music barely broke a sweat until the encore, which rocked a bit more than what had preceded it.
Not that the preceeding was bad. Far from it. Evoking everyone from Jill Scott to Frank Zappa, most often reminicent of the avant jazz funk of Bill Laswell's Material, the music matched Ndegeocello's spectral presence. Though having two bassists (one in addition to Ndegeocello herself) tended to muddy up the heavy-low-range Harlow's system (bass traps, please!), the drummer was spectacularly good, and the two guitar players battled for the bottom, seemingly vying for who could say the most with the least notes. It was a refreshing change from most band dynamics, and while some were bothered by the obscuring darkness, to me it matched the trip hop vibe of the music.
The audience was a wonderful blend of styles and races, with touches of hip hop coolios among the college rock geeks and grown-up R&B fans, some of whom came up from San Francisco to catch the show. And they showed up on a Sunday night to see an important, if unpredictable, performer. We're glad we did, too.

Body painting, swells and Ecstasy at the Crocker!

At points, it seemed like there were more ads and corporate logos than a Kings game, and the only "art cars" were Ferarris. But still, on Friday night, Oct. 19, Neo-Crocker, self-consciously dubbed "A Modern Culture Party," drew nearly 1,000 people to the Crocker Art Museum for the institution's last major on-site event until the New Crocker reopens in 2010. It was a very good try.
It was a fund-raiser, but more than that, Neo-Crocker was a chance for Sacramento's growing high-end audience to get a look at itself, dip its collective toe in the wonder that is Burning Man, and perhaps, uh, get DOWN. Best of all, it offered the opportunity for people who paid $50 a ticket - $75 at the museum's massive carved doors - to draw on the walls (and the carpets) of the museum's soon-to-be-destroyed (and rightly so) Herold Wing. (Go to http://www.gwathmey-siegel.com/portfolio/proj_detail.php?job_id=200044 to see what will be built in its place over the next two years.)
Neo-Crocker aimed high, with DJs from here and San Francisco, hair stylists doing hair, the Unmata belly dancers, people having their (beautiful) bodies painted, a Burning Man slide show by Andy Pischalnikoff, and lots of people dressing up and looking at each other. People painted on the elevator doors, because they could.

It reminded me a little of those classic bandwagon-jumping films of the late-'60s, with a handful of performers and party-goers who take their responsibilities seriously, and dress accordingly (hey, the invite said CREATIVE Chic Party Attire), and a mass of looky-loos who wanted to see what was up. You could tell that some folks wanted to dive in but weren't quite there yet, and others who didn't know QUITE what to make of it. There weren't enough gay people, there weren't enough actual Burners doing their dress-up thing (my crew got some props for our dress-up, but folks, we were dressed DOWN), and there were some irritating gaps in the atmospherics (one wag compared the lighting and security people in the hallways to airport checkpoints). But this was one hell of a good try by a group of people who want to get something GOING in downtown, who ARE getting things going, and we laud them for a very solid effort.
There were even a couple of people pushing the envelop enough that they felt comfortable rolling on Ecstasy. (People tell you interesting things when you're wearing a Utilikilt and four-inch platforms.)
We weren't so crazy about the corporate sponsorships - the Cloying Voisette (whatever, some champagne) display at the entry to one room was a bit trade-show for our tastes, and having a corporate logo of a local Mercedes dealership hovering over a table where temporary tattoos were being rubbed on attendees was just silly. Why not just brand visitors with a Mercedes tattoo and be done with it?
But we're realistic: The sponsors contributed the money to make this happen, and they WILL take their pound of flesh. Didn't hurt a bit. It's a long way from Burning Man's commerce-free aesthetic, but hell, this is Mammon, right? We watch their ads, they pour us some free bubbly! And we got to sit on a Vespa. Not a bad deal...

The DJs, including the Radiant crew brought into town by Michael Afshar of DV8 Clothing, played some great house, trance and break beats, and a couple of good dance parties erupted, thanks largely to the pro-am party-starting crew known as the Temple Whores. The DJs were spread strategically throughout the building, from the upper floors to the large courtyard, where fire dancers and stilt walkers brought some Playa to the proceedings and managed to counterbalance the decidedly not-cool Ferarris, which were parked for a time among the revellers (dude, you're going to make me stop my conversation at a party so you can move your CAR?).

The attendees were quite a mixed lot, from top-end sponsors like the always-gracious Bob Slobe and Kim Mueller and the big developers who are investing so heavily in the Grid, to a bevy of attractive Russian and Ukranian women and a crew of Italians who seemed to have lost their way from 1015 Folsom in The City - but didn't seem to mind. My most encouraging moment was running into a nice lady from the foothills who complimented my get-up and then declared her pleasure at being at the event. "We're from Cameron Park," she said, almost apologetically. "We came down to get some culture!"
I told her I was glad she'd made the trip, and that there is a lot more culture to be had in Sacramento's center.

Indeed, this was a culture party for a culture that is still struggling to be born, in a town that's still looking for critical mass, but is closer than ever to attaining it. The take-away for me was that there are a lot of people in this town who know what a cool town is like, who know what a great party can be, and who will invest in a first-rate museum. We still have a ways to go, and people need to learn to loosen up and throw themselves into it (Ecstasy not required), but we're well on our way. The next step, it seems to me, is to get the creative community - which tends not to think of the Crocker or big developers when it comes time to party - hooked up to the money crowd. It's been done everywhere, it can be done here.
There were details that should be attended to before the big reopening party in 2010: Whoever was responsible for the catering needed to hire some more buspeople, because there were glasses left everywhere, up against walls, even on sofas, and even halfway through, the place looked like the aftermath of a sports event. I've never been to an event where I heard so many glasses break, and I wasn't the only one to comment on it. One woman sliced her foot badly on broken shards. That's a high price to pay for dancing barefoot!

The party ended at a respectably past-closing-hours 1 a.m. with a small knot of die-hard partiers (including the Temple Whores) dancing determinedly to a mobile DJ set up by local Ant Foley, who rocked the old central ballroom of the Crocker mansion. No matter what you thought of the party up to that point, it was great to see people in their freaky chic dancing to pounding house music amidst the Victorian wood and glass of the late 19th Century. If the money we spent helps bring the Crocker into the Neo, we were happy to contribute.
Now tear that monstrosity down! Onward to 2010 - and more kick-ass parties!

The Crocker? Neo? OK!!

OK, well, yes, I need better art. I'm working on it. But it got your attention, right?
As well it should. I am not one for cocktail parties at the Crocker, but the moment I heard about this one, I thought it might be different. So I popped for a $50 ticket, because, well, it said DJs and Fire Dancers on the promotional card (pictured), and it seems like MONTHS since Burning Man, and I missed Decompression, and well, hell: I want to encourage our cultural institutions taking chances, and while the promise of Ferraris has a slightly testosterone-heavy vibe, really: Where there's a chance of fire AND discs spinning, preferably together, I'm going to do my best to make it. You should, too.
Neo-Crocker: A Modern Dance Party happens this Friday, and it will be the last big event at the Museum until it reopens its new wing in...2010? God, doesn't that sound like a date out of science fiction? But I digress.
Nevermind that a friend recently quipped that "Fire dancing is the new hacky-sack." That's true in a glib sort of way, except with hacky sack, you didn't have as much danger of catching fire. But I digress. Again.
Even more appealing: They're encouraging CREATIVE Chic Party Attire, which sounds to me like they're encouraging people to DRESS UP and STAND OUT! This is to be encouraged even more than fire spinning. This town is still in the Paris Hilton and Charlie Sheen level of dress-up on the average night, and while I'm not a particularly snazzy dresser most of the time, when I'm asked, I will comply. And you should, too. K?
Of course, it could rain, and this thing is to be held in the courtyard (the better not to catch any art on fire - after all, this ISN'T Burning Man). But surely, they've thought about that. I couldn't get the organizer on the phone - I couldn't get ANYONE on the phone, even with three calls - but then, I've got my ticket, and you should, too, and pronto: They are $50 in advance, and $75 at the door (with an optimistic "If Available" amended.) If you want to do it online, that might be easier. Go to www.crockerartmuseum.org and click on the Neo-Crocker link. Or call the Community Center Box Office at (916) 264-5181.
Or call Joshua Michael, the guy who originally told me about it at Peet's Coffee, and ask him for a ticket or two or three: (415) 971-6440. And tell him Barton sent you.

Second Saturday is Sacramento's Future NOW!

A day after the season's first big, cleansing rainstorm, a glorious sunny, clear fall Saturday: bike rides and backyard parties and ducks and kids and the leaves just starting to turn. And then comes the capper: Second Saturday on the Grid.
It's the best time you can have in public in Sacramento, hands down. No concert, no basketball game, no night at the bar, can match it. This is Sacramento's night to see what the future can be. Will be. IS.
It's the "art walk," yes, but more than that, it's a chance to watch Sacramento BE the city it is becoming. It's the sidewalks swarming with people, friends making connections, introductions all around, DJs on the sidewalks, random bands of random quality, dinner and drinks late into the night, 17th Street backed up all the way from I to L Streets, wolf whistles and fancy pants. Fire spinners!

It's a hell of a good time.
I overheard one curmugeonly old guy grumble to friends who asked him outside Harlow's what it was like down on the art walk, "We got caught in the traffic." When I pointed out that it was fantastic, he said, grudgingly, "It's good if you like people."
Indeed it is. And oh, we do. People were out in force, admiring each other and the work of some of their fellow citizens. We weren't watching TV. We weren't in San Francisco. We were on the Grid.
There was a big party in the new MARRS building at 20th and K Streets for Legend magazine, which is relaunching as a 64-page, perfect-bound glossy magazine after a three-year hiatus, with plans for a website to come. We saw Rob Turner and his stunning wife and business partner Elyssa Lee, founders and co-editors of Sactown magazine, enjoying the top-notch sushi and passers-by at Kru on J Street. Don't you love all these magazines? Glossy ones sprouting right and left, but still room for Midtown Monthly, funkier and simpler, but smart and soulful.
What else? Michael Afshar, the charming owner of DV8 clothing in the new MARRS building on 20th, spinning beats at Level Up, the lounge over Thai Basil at 25th and J Streets. Dennis Newhall reporting that the visitors to his rock 'n' roll museum next to Lush at 20th and I Street (in the old Oasis Ballroom building) drew more than 800 people last Second Saturday. You could even get a FREE ride in a elegant pedicab by a handsome, charming businessman named Harmon.

There were more bands playing than I've ever seen out on the sidewalks, at Old Soul Baking Company, at Rubicon Brewery (playing Zappa's "Peaches in Regalia"!), in front of Body Tribe...there was even a random guy with an amp and a guitar playing on the dark porch of Cheap Thills. We heard-tell that Mike Wolfchuck's great percussion group the Lloyd Family Players had traveled down from Chico and were roaming the streets with their thrilling Afro-Carribean drumming, but we didn't find them. Next time, we hope.
We loved Reinhard Hohlwein and Anna Skacel's stunning photos from Turkey, hanging among the gorgeous confines of the Momo Lounge above Harlow's. I bought the one of sufi dancer, a wonderful composition full of light and spirit and energy. But the one that really got me was the triptych of the Flaming Lotus Girls' 2005 installation at Burning Man - great memories and a beautiful work even if you've never been there. Dear Torzas: Buy it and leave it there! It makes the Momo MO' betta!
Art is a great bargain on Second Saturdays. Buy some! $25 or $40 for an original painting, often with some wit and humor? Hell yeah!
On J Street, walking west on a "quiet" stretch, there were two poi spinners working their magic in front of a century-old Victorian while a DJ spun some electronica. Burning Man on the streets, as well as the bars, of Sacramento.
And more than any of this: The sense that there is so much going on all over the Grid and beyond (don't forget Phantom Galleries on Del Paso) that you can't see it all, that you are only going to be able to see a small piece of the action. We didn't get to the Art Foundry (more bands at 10th and R) or the anniversary party for R15, or drummer/producer Matt McCord's show at Cafe Bernardo or a bunch of things we didn't even hear about. But we'll see them next time. And we're just happy they were there, even if we weren't.
Really, though: Isn't this what we've been waiting for? The sense that there's too MUCH to do, not too little? It's happening, kids!
If you live in Sacramento or nearby, but you don't go to Second Saturday, and you complain that there's nothing to do, well...YOU may be the problem. Because this town is happening, and at no time is it more apparent than on Second Saturday. It makes me proud and happy and excited.
Now, here's a goal, a common vision: Why can't EVERY Thurday, Friday and Saturday night be like Second Saturday? It's GOING to happen, folks. Because it's ALREADY happening. It just needs to happen more often.
And the way THAT is going to happen is if we just keep DOING it.
So pass it on. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Tell strangers. Tell your friends in Tahoe and San Francisco and Napa that it's their turn to come HERE. On Second Saturday. And First Friday. And Third Thursday.
We are all creating this place, together. And we're doing it right.

Off the Grid: Genesis at Arco

When Genesis tours after a 15 year break, and with no new album to promote, you've gotta figure they're going to play the hits. The only question, really, is which ones. There were, you may recall, quite a few, most of them with Phil Collins on lead vocals, after he took over from Peter Gabriel in 1976. Yes, some of them are lame. Genesis was never the same after guitarist Steve Hackett left in '77. But there they were: "Invisible Touch," "Turn It On Again," "Mama," "Follow You, Follow Me," "I Can't Dance" and "Land of Confusion."

They managed to work in a reasonable dose of the Gabriel/Hackett-era prog rock stuff, from the instrumental passages from "The Cinema Show" and "Firth of Fifth" to "Los Endos." But the show was basically what they've done for decades. For this longtime Genesis fan - I saw them on their first San Francisco appearance, at Winterland in 1973, with about 600 other curious would-be fans - the main question was: What will it look like? Though David Bowie is often given the most credit, Genesis was the most ambitiously theatrical of the early progressive rock bands in the early '70s, and their tours have always sported some of the most over-the-top spectacular visuals. Their last tour, in 1992, was remarkable in its visual technology.

U2 has taken it even further artistically, and the Rolling Stones, rolling in cash to invest in their shows, always bank on spectacle, if nothing else. But it was Genesis that set the bar. So they had some expectations to meet when they played Arco Arena on Wednesday night. And they exceeded expectations, or at least met them very satisfactorily. (Don't slap me for not taking my camera, I already did it. Shooting photos is a habit I intend to adopt. Above is one from a Rome concert, from the web.)

The stage featured a ribcage of trusses holding lights that arched over the five-man band: Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Phil Collins, with 30-year-sidemen Daryl Steurmer on guitar and bass and Chester Thompson on drums. Behind them, an enormous wall of tiny video screens rose from left to right, sweeping around the band and allowing projections of graphics, washes of color and huge closed-circuit close-ups of band members. At times, such as on "Ripples," the enormous screen was static, a painting of tree trunks with Collins superimposed in the middle. At other times, it was a more typical Jumbotron of close-ups and ever-changing graphics.

Behind that screen, there was a vast curtain of silver material that rose all the way to the top of the arena, meaning that one entire end of the hall was visually alive. It was gorgeous. Sometimes, huge is its own reward.

Collins' stage act was very similar to what he's done since he made his area debut with the band at the Berkeley Community Theatre in 1976, with the clowning front man doing his little tambourine dance and dividing the audience into segments to lead some good-natured (but highly unimaginative) cheerleading. This sort of thing will always work well, apparently.

But what was missing was anything truly theatrical. For a contrast, rent or buy the 2003 DVDs of Gabriel's last tour, which were dazzlingly three-dimensional, and tended to have a more visceral impact than Genesis' more painterly effect. Both were gorgeous, matched by very few contemporary bands. Radiohead's shows, and the recent Shoreline Amphitheatre dazzler by The Arcade Fire are very welcome exceptions.

But the days when the performers actually adopted a character, or a costume, are long gone, and spectacle has replaced the more subtle, complex shadings of real (or even just wannabe) theatre. Those of us who got to see rock when it still had theatrical ambitions should give thanks that we got to witness what was to be a relatively short heyday of rock theatre.

See Chris Macias' review online at The Bee's website, http://www.sacbee.com/music/story/426703.html. That COULD get you there...

Barton gets "Bitten"

So, it's always a little ego-boosting to have your morning tea over your name in print - at least in another publication. Even when said publication has taken shots at you through the years.
EVEN when the it's the Bites column over at the Schadenfreude News and Review, which delights in the pain being suffered over at The Beeheemoth as its stock falls and good employees leave (I'm not the first, and I won't be the last - think Mark Kreidler, Fahizah Alim, Patricia Beach Smith, Pamela Martineau, et al). Hey, they may not really LIKE me, but they notice. It's sweet, and I appreciate it.
But though I was treated stupidly at The Bee in my last days there, I had a great, long run, and I feel compelled to defend the paper in general: Though management seems to have little sense of exactly WHO its employees are, and how they would be best used - and cares not a bit about what the employees themselves think - Bites has got it all wrong.
a) The Bee isn't a sinking ship, and we should all be very glad about that. It is undeniably still the best source of news in town, and we (including SNR) would be in a mess without it.
b) Lisa Heyamoto is a very good writer who has taken on a big job in a relatively new town, and she deserves some time to get her bearings and get the rhythm of a difficult new gig. Lay off!
c) I quit The Bee three weeks ago, told everyone I know (AND some friends at the SNR), and Bites reports it as a "rumor"? He coulda checked with Bee HR. Or me!
So WHO is in a position to tell Bee writers, past or present, how to do their jobs? Please!
All that said, I've got to post the following picture: Have you ever seen a corporate cri de coeur quite so plaintive? (Nevermind the snarky jobless guy messing with the message...)

But thanks for the attention, SNR...any press is good press, right? Even when it's a bit wrinkled...

More free jazz on the Grid!

Sacramento has never been particularly generous with its jazz musicians, to the point where it seems they've all moved to greener pastures. But it's not true.

Since this spring, Capitol Garage, headquarters for Sactown's alternative rock scene during much of the '90s, inaugurated a "jazz jam" on Tuesday nights. Show up with your horn, your bass, your drum sticks, and bop to your heart's content. But you'd better be good - these guys are serious.
On the recommendation of guitarist Ross Hammond, Green Josh Daniels and I rode our bikes down to 15th and K Streets on a wonderfully damp evening and found about 20 people, many of them players, acting as a very cool but appreciative audience, and awaiting their turns, horns on laps, to take the stage. All told, it was quite an impressive group of jazzmen.
Players like Paul Klempau on standup bass, the dazzling Jesus Vega on drums, Arlin Anderson on guitar - these guys are GOOD, and they're YOUNG. As Gerry Pineda, a downtown bass player with great chops, said, "The level of playing here is great - and these guys are playing pro bono!"
But these guys are so good - blasting through some Thelonious Monk here, a little somethin' else there - they don't always play for free. Vega and Anderson will be joining Pineda in backing up Sacramento's human beat box sensation, Antoinette "Butterscotch" Clinton, who made her name nationally on NBC's "America's Got Talent", when she plays the Mondavi Center at UC Davis on Oct. 29. That'd be worth seeing. But if you're lucky, you can see these guys for FREE on Tuesday nights at the Capitol Garage, 15th and K Streets in the Grid.

Filling holes...

So, this is one reason I just love the Grid...

I'm riding from my house to my home-away-from-home, Peet's Coffee on 19th (FYI: another Peet's will soon open at the corner of 20th and J, at the north end of the MARRS building) and I pass this big empty lot that was, until a couple of months ago, an old auto repair shop. It abuts Alta Plating, which will, apparently, also soon be history. So, I decide to call the number of Heintz General Contractors, which has a big sign up in the middle of the barren dirt. I ask what's going to be built there. The lady says, "Condominiums." OK, I say, and hang up to focus on my pedalling.

I walk into Peet's and, while waiting for my latte, I see two youngish, well-dressed guys with blueprints spread out in front of them. Me being me, I walk over and say, "Whatcha buildin'?" (I may have actually used a "g" on building, but whatever...). They stop and say, "Condominiums."

Turns out these guys are developer Mark Cordano and a contractor named Roger (Hume?), whose employee I'd just spoken to (this guy obviously does not do the heavy lifting - he is expensively coiffed and wearing an out-of-place-sharp pinstripe suit). They show me the plans, briefly (they have no idea who I am) and note that there will be retail along the lower level, including a bakery, along S Street. The Grid needs more bakeries, for sure - what greater sign of real civilization can there be?

Blogging the Grid has been blogged!

Our good pal Dan Adams at KXTV blogged about bloggingthegrid on the station's website. I'll be linking to it as soon as I figure out how to do it, but in the meantime, here's the link!

http://www.news10.net/blog/adams/adams-blog.aspx

Grid to Bee's Breton: It ain't that bad!

OK, I promise I won't blog too much about The Bee, but I have to note that Sunday's column by Marcos Breton really struck a nerve. And since it came out virtually the same day that my optimistic-about-the Grid introductory post did, I feel compelled to respond.
Just as I was blogging about how wonderful the Grid is, Marcos had finished writing a column that came out with the headline "City's core a caldron of neglect". It detailed all the horrible things he saw during a brief foray into one of the downtown's creepier districts - the area around the Greyhound station. (If you want ugly, go to the ugliest place you can think of: For comparison's sake, I'd say he should check out the same area in beautiful, affluent San Francisco, where he would get very much the same view of life.)
Now, I understand that the central city has problems - I live in the Grid, I ride my bike to the gym past the same Greyhound station, and in the last couple of months I've: a) heard gunshots while in bed; b) had my car mirror smashed; and c) had someone poop in my driveway. I watch drunks, homeless and gangsters from my front porch. I was once propositioned by a prostitute at my front door - on Saturday afternoon!
Admittedly, Marcos, who is now the main editorial voice of the Bee's newsroom (the editorial board itself is separate), is operating in the grand tradition of liberal activist journalism, trying to do good by drawing attention to problems. And the problems are real.
But Marcos' "two hours watching Sacramento police officers work" almost wallowed in the negatives, and this is one problem with The Bee these days: When you live in a gated community, make big bucks, and only come downtown to work, the city center can look pretty scary. Certainly, this is a not-uncommon view of the city core from the suburbs. It is this view that we are battling at Blogging the Grid.
Marcos went on to describe public inebriates, truants and "bumbling city officials." He excorated property owner Moe Mohanna (a routine target) for not improving his properties. Can't disagree with him there. There is much work to do.
But I can only say to those who might be frightened by Breton's glass-nearly-empty view of The Grid, come on down! If Sacramento's core is a "cauldron" of anything - isn't a cauldron a "melting pot"? - it is of diversity, excitement, development, creativity, and a load of other good things. There are problems, there is crime, there are bad people about, and there are some people here who simply can't get their shit together - but I could show you similar areas in Oak Park, in Arden Arcade, in Rancho Cordova, Meadowview, and perhaps even, behind closed doors, in gated communities like Breton's.
So, please, dude: Lighten up! This is a great town, with great people, and the bad shit doesn't change that. You get what you focus on.

Sunday evening going down...Moore cancelled!

The Mercantile Saloon has cancelled the three bands that were scheduled to play the bar's 30th anniversary party this afternoon and evening, which we blogged about just hours ago.

According to a member of Liani Moore's band, the Merc cancelled the performances because the bands didn't bring their own PA systems. So the Merc has decided to stick with what they usually have: a DJ.

Now, the Merc knows its audience, and no doubt many will be happy with just a DJ. But to anyone who doesn't hire bands regularly, please note: Bands don't provide their own PA systems, especially when there are multiple bands. Unless it's a wedding or some other "casual" gig, it's enough to haul drums, amps, instruments, for minimal money, without having to haul and set up a PA on top of it. Venues provide PAs. It's that simple. Lesson learned?

A call to the Merc by BLOGGINGTHEGRID produced bartender Michael - he declined to give his last name - who said that the bar's owner was too busy to talk, and that the person who booked the bands wasn't around. He gave Moore props, saying it is a "huge disappointment" for the Merc that Moore won't be playing. However, he didn't know if the Merc still planned to pay the bands. They say they have signed contracts; Michael wasn't sure that said contracts existed.

The disappointment is mutual: The musicians weren't getting paid much - musicians in this town rarely do - but they'd posted the gig, told friends, rehearsed and gotten geared-up. Perhaps they'd even turned down other gigs where the promoters of the show had a PA system. The Merc, which rarely has live music, apparently wasn't about to rent their own. Even for their 30th anniversary.

Hey, I've got an idea for how Sacramento can get a little classier: Pay the artists better! Most musicians, (including, in full disclosure, yours truly), get what they were making decades ago. Actually less, considering inflation. Or, they aren't paid at all. Or, in the case of today, they are dropped when they become inconvenient. It's a drag. It's just wrong.

All of which makes the Frank Black show tonight at 9 at Harlow's even more appealing. This is Blacks' first show here in a year - he played Harlow's a year ago, but that time was solo acoustic. This time he's got a band, which will, most likely, roar. (And, presumably, get paid.) Tickets are reasonable: $18 at the door. The opening act, Eastern Conference Champions, starts a bit after 9. Black's band should hit the stage by 10:30.

For her part, Liani Moore will be playing Wednesday night at Old Ironsides. Show her some love. And tip the musicians.

Sunday evening coming up...

It's Sunday morning, and the temptation to head for San Francisco is strong - today is Burning Man Decompression '07, a huge street fair, and friends are coming in from as far away as New York and L.A. - but I'm staying in The Grid. Why?


No, not Octoberfest, as appealing as beer drunks and oom-pah bands might be. Instead, I'm going to enjoy the day and hit the 30th anniversary party at the Mercantile Saloon at the corner of 20th and L, just down the block from 20th and Gay (er, K). I don't know how old Faces is, but the Merc is older, for sure. In every way. But there'll be some young, fresh music blasting out at 6 p.m., when Liani Moore and her band, featuring local guitar hero Mike Farrell and bassist Mike Palmer of Mumbo Gumbo, will rock the rafters. If you haven't checked out Moore, you should. For one, she's sexy as hell, and funny to boot, and her songs, when they do rock, rock hard - and interestingly. Especially with this band, anchored by drummer Alexa Golden. And Liani even plays a little violin. What moore could you want?

Check her myspace page, which has some good recordings of her stuff (but Liani: Why start with a cover of The Pretenders "Tatooed Love Boys," no matter how much you like it? Put your own stuff out there!)

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=12948814

For me, Liani and band are the opening act for the main attraction, just a bit east on The Grid: Frank Black's show at Harlow's. Black is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the Pixies, who sold out three nights at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley (that's nearly 30,000 people), but this is a chance to see him in a club, doing material from his own solo albums, much of which sounds very much like...The Pixies! He's got a new compiliation of solo stuff out, called "93-03" - this could be good, or even very good. I'll let you know. Or come find out yourself.

...so begin

I've waited long enough, the time is now: having handed in my resignation at the corporate Beeheemoth - Roseville? Were they serious? - I am on my own. And while I've been through some break-ups, this was a doozy. Let's just say that I now understand why people loathe Corporate America. 'Nuff said. Onward...

The internet gives me new options that didn't exist 25 years ago, when I started at The Sacramento Bee as its first pop music critic. This is unmediated, for better or worse. I already miss the copy desk, my saviors on more than one occasion. But I figure that people will be willing to trade a typo or two for information that doesn't have to be cleared through a half dozen people, too many of whom are afraid of anything they don't already know. Or which isn't on TV. Or which they just don't "get."

Just as importantly, my hometown of Sacramento has changed enormously. I ride my bike around midtown and downtown - The Grid - and around nearly every corner I see new creations shooting up faster than I can absorb them, from wine bars to public art to gorgeous modern buildings. (The jury's still out on the new parking meters.) There are missteps, of course, but on balance, it's thrilling - and people are excited. It's fun to hear three guys at a local coffee house arguing passionately about urban design. Let a thousand arguments bloom! Suddenly, we care!

Those of us who have been around forever can hardly believe it's happening. For years we have tended to believe that Sactown had its chances, and faltered every time. We seemed jinxed. Club Can't Tell came and went, the chance to make the Memorial Auditorium sound good was blown, K Street got mauled. Del Paso Boulevard's "Uptown" was boosted, then went down again. Failure, it seemed, was all-but-inevitable.

That has changed, startlingly so. I took a year off last year and spent much of it away, in New York City and other fascinating places. Places like...Chico (which, by the way, has a better farmer's market than we do). And what I saw in those places, and what I saw when I returned, has convinced me that this town is happening NOW. WHEREVER they put the goddamned arena!

This entrepreneurial energy - from risk-takers big and small, not bureaucrats dictating what goes where - is palpable. It makes me optimistic and excited. And it has made me feel comfortable taking my OWN risks, knowing that this is my town, and I will succeed as it does. As much as I love other cities, this will always be my home. And I'm proud of it.

So I am staying in the city I love, in my hometown, where the energy is, where the risk-takers and other freaks are, where life still has an edge, and where the very best stories are: The Grid.

What will follow this initial entry will be different from what I've done for years at The Bee, first as pop music critic, then as religion writer, feature writer and outdoors recreation writer. I won't be told what to write, where to go, who not to offend, what's important, who matters and who doesn't. I will rise on my own efforts, like the town that is coming into its own right in front of my eyes.

I'm not trying to build the blogging equivalent of John Saca's aborted Twin Towers - just a modest little townhouse in the middle of things, where interesting people can come and go, chasing their dreams, or money, or love, or just their tails. It will be what it will be, and I am excited to see what it becomes. Nearly excited as I am to see what will become of this underappreciated city that is "so close to everywhere." Now Sacramento is its own place; who cares what it's close to?

Finally, I plan to limit myself to the Grid. Not that there aren't interesting things happening all over the region - even in Roseville - but I'm just one guy, and this is where I live, where I make my stand. The Grid.

I'm not the only person doing this. There are some great blogs on Sacramento - LivingInUrbanSac.blogspot.com comes immediately to mind, check the link - and I hope to add to the conversation. But this new medium allows me to step outside Big Media and say my share. I hope that you enjoy it.

Enough throat-clearing. You get the picture. Now I begin taking snapshots, figurative and literal, with the hope that showing us who we are and where we're going will convey the incredible excitement percolating in the Grid, and support the people who are making it happen.

I welcome your comments, of course. Just don't give me any business about that Neil Diamond review. That was then; this is NOW.