Issue: December 06, 2012
The Downtown Plaza. Greening Sacramento, and the entire valley. The dysfunctional Sacramento City Council. Downtown parking. City schools controlled by the mayor. Donations and behests. What does “business-friendly” really mean in Sacramento? And can we really try and get a Lucky Strike bowling alley downtown? All this and more, as Nick Miller interviews K.J. in this week's feature story.
So what's the point of a racial profiling advisory body that isn't doing anything? Raheem F. Hosseini looks into why Sacramento's Community Racial Profiling Commission seems to be in limbo. And Dave Kempa writes about what it's like to spend a night out at Cal Expo's emergency winter shelter.
“I’m not the Pillsbury Doughboy, and I don’t appreciate being poked.” It wasn't really a poke, though. It was more of a nibble. If new City Councilmember Steve Hansen gets that testy when asked about campaign donations, what's he going to do when someone really starts chewing? That's what Cosmo Garvin wants to know. Read it in this week's Bites.
In Arts&Culture, sometimes, it helps to be an outsider. Poet Tim Kahl and fiction writer Valerie Fioravanti—both with recently published books—talk to Kel Munger about what it's like to make a literary life in Sacramento. In Music, Aaron Carnes writes about the Drive-Thru Mystics, and in Stage, Maxwell McKee raves about the really scary ghost of Marley in the Sacramento Theatre Company's final production of A Christmas Carol—well, it's final for about 10 years, anyway.
All this, and some money-saving deals—check it out at https://snrsweetdeals.newsreview.com/.
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SN&R's interview with Mayor Kevin Johnson
Four years didn’t change Sacramento’s opinion of Kevin Johnson, but is the city better off? SN&R sits down for a chat with the mayor on the eve of his second term.
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Low profile
Bedeviled by bureaucracy and political inaction, Sacramento's racial-profiling advisory body is stuck in limbo.
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Night at the homeless shelter
Sacramento's winter-sanctuary program is a less expensive answer to its predecessor at Cal Expo. But is it enough?
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Floody someday
Auntie Ruth on The New York Times' front-page flood story.
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Year of the green car
SN&R recommends visiting the U.S. Department of Energy's website, www.fueleconomy.gov, before purchasing a new car.
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Trading jabs
Will lawsuits plague or just be speed bumps for California's new cap-and-trade program?
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Do unto others
This SN&R editor tries to keep her faith in humanity.
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Letters for the week of December 6, 2012
SN&R readers have no love for Facebook but do heart The Sacramento Bee's Dan Walters' writing.
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Hello, midlife crisis
Joey advises a reader to stop the self-deception.
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Bicycle dreams
Why the climate crisis needs all of us to become dramatic, fantastic, heroic.
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Running to feed the hungry
To feed Sacramento's hungry, we need to enroll more people in food-stamp programs.
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The mind-body connection
Lemuel Adams’ Game-Fit Fitness Training Depot is a place to work out the body and the mind.
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Chinito-Mexi love
Can Mexicans date Asians without getting the evil eye, and is it kosher for Americans to haggle vendors in Mexico?
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Witch hunt!
Meet your District 4 councilman, another rich guy who doesn't like questions.
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Good council
SN&R prescribes a retreat for Sacramento City Council members to alleviate the “dysfunction” in City Hall.
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Top five reasons to shop local
Spending your holiday gift dollars in Sacramento means benefiting your community in many ways.
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A not-so-grand bargain
Want to save the economy and create jobs? Invest in people, according to this Sacramento writer.
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The outsiders
Sacramento writers Tim Kahl and Valerie Fioravanti jump into the fray with new books that take on class, culture and change.
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Scary Christmas fun
Sacramento Theatre Company’s retooled production of A Christmas Carol is one for all ages—past, present and future.
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God likes coffee
Buck Busfield’s latest holiday play at B Street Theatre has laughter and spiritual regeneration. And God outside of Starbucks.
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Stupid, weird and hilariously awkward film clips
The Found Footage Festival, happening this week at Hinde Auditorium at Sacramento State University, screens humorous VHS film clips.
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Sweet and grim
Red Dot Gallery presents the paintings of Tracy Lewis.
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Be a square
Viewpoint Photographic Art presents the juried exhibition Twelve: Square.
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New kid on the block
Shimo Center for the Arts presents artwork by Justin Wood.
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Grab a brew
When it comes to opening beer bottles, this creature of the sea is a handy helper.
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Encounters of the Craigslist kind
In Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found, Sophie Blackall creates quirky illustrations of Craigslist Missed Connections posts.
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Away we go
William T. Vollmann edits an eclectic collection of travel writing.
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Putting the ‘no’ in NaNoWriMo
A writer contemplates her National Novel Writing Month attempt.
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Less salt, more jazz
This Ethiopian restaurant serves up traditional fare for both the devout vegan and the avowed carnivore.
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Get in the spirit
Anchor Brewing Company does a nice holiday ale.
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Latke lovin’
An SN&R writer reveals his family’s latke recipe—so that everyone can eat potato pancakes for Hanukkah.
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The parrot’s tamales
Carmichael’s El Papagayo Restaurant has a vegetarian menu, and on December 8, hosts a vegan-tamale workshop.
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Cheap and deep
Drive-Thru Mystics play fun garage rock that resonates with surprising depth and smarts.
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The past is present
A new tribute album plays homage to the Mountain Goats' classic Tallahassee.
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Shake-up on ‘The Kay’
The Cosmopolitan Cabaret gets shut down, and Randy Paragary moves in to work some local promoter magic, while across the grid, King Tuff keeps 'em drinking, kind of dancing.
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Don’t use that knife on foie gras
Here's the story of how a misogynist, his accomplished and intelligent wife, and a series of blonde actresses managed to create legendary movies.
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Life of Pi
A boy, a tiger, a boat and one heck of a fantastic movie from Ang Lee.
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Killing Them Softly
Violence with an overlay of pseudo-political deep think makes this movie repellently fascinating.
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Anna Karenina
Tom Stoppard and Joe Wright make a theatrical set piece out of great Russian literature.
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Happy holidaze
Ngaio on what to give that stoner in your family (don't front, there is at least one).
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