And eat it too

Like most cities, Sacramento both loves and hates its local heroes. No doubt part of the love is in seeing someone that we used to be able to see perform at Old Ironsides now performing on David Letterman—it’s like watching the success of a dear friend. But in that success is our secret snake hatred: jealousy. We are, after all, just as good as they are. Right? Why, then, are they on TV while we are at home, adjusting our rabbit ears to get a clearer picture?

Regardless of the criticism, it is difficult to knock the staying power, or the smart-ass brilliance, of Cake. The slightly off-kilter melodies and John McCrea’s deadpan vocal delivery make the band’s sound unmistakable.

By most accounts the band has increasingly become McCrea’s baby—on Comfort Eagle, Cake’s latest release, McCrea is sole songwriter on all but two tracks—and he certainly plays the part of the rock star onstage. And it is playing this part that makes McCrea something of a local god. It is not particularly surprising that the band has a solid local following. What is surprising is the level to which the audience seems to worship at the altar of Cake. At the band’s Memorial Auditorium show last week, the audience enthusiastically sung along with each and every song, and hearing a couple of thousand voices chanting “Sheep go to heaven! Goats go to hell!” is not something easy to forget. Do they understand the irony? Does it matter?

The only major problem with the Unlimited Sunshine 2002 tour (a package, with Flaming Lips, De La Soul, Modest Mouse and others) was the overall sound quality as the acoustics of the Memorial Auditorium provided one of the worst sounding concerts in recent memory. The beauty of Cake lay in McCrea’s smart-ass delivery and ironic stance, but sadly the muddy acoustics of the venue rendered the vocals unintelligible, the drums distant and dull, and the bass a low rumble completely devoid of individual notes. It was disappointing to see an evening of great bands without getting to hear any of them. Sadly, until Sacramento builds another mid-sized indoor venue, we’ll all have to take what we can get, even if it means a run of great bands you’ll never really get to hear.

On Thursday, local bluegrass outfit the Freight Train Riders of America brings out its new self-titled double CD in style during the Palms’ last month at the Davis location. The lineup has shifted over the past year, but if the CD is any indication, the band is still in top form.

Also on Thursday, semi-locals the Mother Hips play Harlow’s, an event made more special by an incredible opening act, San Francisco’s the Court & Spark, which returns to Sacramento after a masterful set at Capitol Garage last month. The band plays out like a country version of Low—emotional, twangy dirges with wailing pedal steel and effectively lethargic vocals.

If you can be three places at once on Thursday you’ll also want to check out Baby Gramps at Constable Jack’s in Newcastle. The man is like a transplant from an entirely different era—a proponent of hokum ragtime guitar tunes sung in a voice that is a dead ringer for Popeye’s “I yam what I yam!” vocal stylings. The following evening features Luther Right and the Wrongs, a bluegrass act from Canada. Rumor has it they play Pink Floyd’s The Wall from cover-to-cover, bluegrass style. What’s going on in Newcastle continues to be both weird and wonderful.