❈Sac Thrift Chick❈

Labor Day weekend means Chalk It Up in Sacramento . In anticipation of the three-day chalk art and live music festival returning to Fremont Park September 2 - 4, I did a quick search of my blog to find past posts. To my surprise, nothing popped up for Chalk It Up 2016. I remembered taking pictures, which a quick look into my computer folders confirmed. And then I remembered why I never shared them.  Last year I arrived home from Chalk It Up to a post on Facebook breaking the awful news that beloved Sacramento photographer , writer and all-around great guy, Barry Wisdom, had passed away. Barry was an avid reader of my blog and even suggested the name, so in his honor, here are some pictures from last year. These Chalk It Up 2016 pictures are just quick snaps from a dated cell phone, but I feel like Barry being supportive Barry would have "liked" them anyway.  The Brodys Like this? You might also like: Sacramento Bands and Art Chalk It Up 201...

Twenty years ago when Save Ferris hit the mainstream with the ska release It Means Everything , I hit play over and over on my portable boom box. Monique 'Mo' Powell was everything to me. Here was a frontwoman who had the pipes to really belt it, singing lyrics I related to (or thought I did at 13 to 14 years of age) backed by a horn and rhythm section that put me in the groove to dance. Mo was the epitome of hip in my heavily mascaraed blue eyes. I was so enamored with the band that when I had an assignment to give an oral presentation of a poem or song that represented a certain literary style, I cracked up my teacher with a dramatic reading of "SPAM."  (It's pink and it's oval. SPAM! I buy it at the mobile. SPAM! It's made in Chernobyl.)  I can only guess I used the song as an example of rhyme. (I do remember I read Green Day's,"Hitchin' A Ride" for its alliteration, one of my favorite stylistic devices.) Not long after bringing...

Chalk It Up is one of my favorite Sacramento festivals. The Labor Day weekend festival brings together local artists and musicians for a free three-day event that raises money for arts education grants in the Sacramento area. This year, Chalk It Up celebrated its 25th anniversary. It's been really cool to watch it grow bigger and better every year. This year I caught the last two bands performing on Labor Day, Honyock and Drop Dead Red . Check out the 2015 Chalk It Up pics below.  For more chalk pics, see my favorite selections from Chalk It Up 2014 . Honyock Drop Dead Red (Click to enlarge and flip through the Chalk It Up 2015 gallery.) ... Powered by Cincopa Video Hosting for Business solution.

Problem: White deodorant marks on clothes.  Solution: Foam from a clothes hanger. This is such a simple trick I wish I would have known years ago. Even though I saw this clothing hack demonstrated on TV, I still had my doubts about its effectiveness. But when I got "invisible solid" deodorant (does such a thing really exist??) on my Mr. T Experience tee, I remembered the hack and put it to the test. I used the foam from inside a dry cleaner's hanger. You can cut the foam off the hanger, but I really like this hanger, so I kept it on. To remove the deodorant marks, rub the hanger foam directly onto the deodorant marks. The foam acts as a magic eraser, and the deodorant marks really do just disappear. Problem: Pull tab of the zipper fly won't stay up. Solution: Ring from a keychain. Since most of my wardrobe is thrifted or from Ross, I occasionally run into problems with difficult zippers that refuse to stay up. Or maybe it's not the clothes...

So let me tell you a little story that may or may not be entirely factually accurate, depending on how well my memory has held up. I was 17 (I think) and in love with a band called The Ataris. The band's pop-punk tunes of crushes, heartache and life's complications just like so totally resonated with my teenage soul. The band was coming to Sacramento and my then boyfriend, or possibly "ex-boyfriend, but still friends," John and I were so stoked. I had saved up my money and then I got grounded, per usual. John went without me. Cue crushing of my teenage soul. I don't remember how I dealt, but I probably blasted The Ataris in my room and ranted to my friends on AOL Instant Messenger, in typical teenage protest. Whether from lack of funds, lack of ride or permission, missing any show sent in me a ranting Livejournal rage at that age, but this one especially stung. Fast forward in time and I kept missing opportunities to see The Ataris. I was devastated again ...

I don't really have a bucket list. I guess I'm not a bucket list person. But I do have a concert list. I've been lucky enough to see most of the musicians from that list, but one band at the top of the list seemed out of reach. Until, in insomniac daze, in a quest to find an inexpensive adventure for our eighth wedding anniversary, I Googled "county fairs Northern California" and discovered THE BEACH BOYS were scheduled to play two Bay Area county fairs, and the Sonoma-Marin Fair included the concert and all rides for the price of $15 admission. I was so excited I nearly cried. I nearly woke up my sleeping husband.

In our camping chairs at CIP. Aaron and I are celebrating our 8/11 anniversary. That's 8 years married and 11 years together. Since the two anniversaries are just days apart, it makes for an extended celebration. And don't we deserve it! This year, our relationship anniversary fell on a Friday, and not just any Friday. It was the Friday that the Mr. T Experience played the free Concert in the Park. The Mr. T Experience is originally a Bay Area pop-punk band from the 90s that through line-up changes is now three-fourths a Sacramento band. If you heard the band, they might "kind of remind you of Green Day." But poppier, nerdier and more laser focused on songs about a girl. I love seeing MTX in concert, and I definitely have hometown pride that they are now a Sacramento-ish band. And that my friend Bobby Jordan is in the band.

"Free" just makes everything more enticing, doesn't it? As part of its Audience Appreciation Month, The Sacramento Bee hosted a free event at the California Automobile Museum on Thursday night. I predicted the event would be primarily attended by an older crowd, and I was not wrong. I don't know why more "young people" don't attend these things, but I don't mind trailing behind a group of white hairs. By comparison, I must have looked positively youthful. I found out about the event on the BeeBuzzPoints website , which is a great resource for local events and contests. The Bee's business writer and car expert , Mark Glover, gave a short talk about his background, which coincidentally, I related to. Glover said he's originally from Dayton, Ohio, and when he meets people from Dayton living in Sacramento, they often came here via transfer to McClellan Air Force Base. Both my grandfathers worked at McClellan, and my dad's family is fro...

If I'm being perfectly honest, I really only wanted to go to TBD Fest for Blondie. The majority of the music at the fest is just not my thing. I get how important and cool this music, art, food and technology fest is for Sacramento. But for me, waving a glow stick around to techno music is the stuff of nightmares. Still, I entered a Capital Public Radio contest online and lo and behold, I won two three-day passes. Then I kinda sorta felt like a jerk because like I said, I only cared about Blondie, and I know so many people who really wanted to attend this thing. Held in the dirt at River Park in West Sacramento, TBD Fest was scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on Friday with local band Autumn Sky taking the stage at 3:30. Since I actually like Autumn Sky (though I'm partial to her earlier solo stuff) my husband and I arrived by 3:30. And then we stood in line, in the hot sun, for the next 30 minutes. For some reason, no one was getting in. Nothing was happening...

Sometimes you just instantly fall in love with a song or musician, and that's how it was for me with Shannon Curtis. I can't recall exactly the year I first saw her, but I know it was roughly 12 years ago. I remember entering Heritage Festival on the grounds of Gibson Ranch and hearing a pop rock band with a female singer who could actually really sing. That band was Paradigm. I was immediately hooked. And because I co-ran a local music website and zine that did CD reviews, Paradigm sent us their press kit, so then my broke self had Paradigm music to listen to all the time . Eventually Paradigm parted ways and Shannon embarked on a solo career in the vein of Norah Jones and Sarah McLachlan. The first time I saw her perform with just a keyboard, I was blown away. I continued to catch shows here and there and do some press when I had a new music column.  I turned my husband onto Shannon's music, and despite his protests when we first met that he didn't really like...

My face melted and I was generally blinded by the bright sun, but I still enjoyed seeing the sidewalk chalk drawings and listening to live music at Chalk It Up on Saturday afternoon. Chalk It Up is an annual Labor Day weekend festival at Fremont Park that benefits youth art programs in Sacramento. This year we only caught two bands, The Old Screen Door and Musical Charis. I snapped some quick cell phone pics of the bands and of my favorite sidewalk art. The Old Screen Door Musical Charis