❈Sac Thrift Chick❈

Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle! I want to ride my bicycle ... I want to ride my bike! I rode my bicycle past your window last night ...  Queen and The Dollyrots (covering Melanie) run through my head a lot lately. I recently started riding a bike again after a good 20 year absence. It all started with a 2016 family vacation in Lake Tahoe. We rented a home that came with bike use. Although all of the loaner bikes were big for me, and I had very possible just broken my toe, I joined my stepfather and husband for a ride around the private lake community. To my surprise, that old saying rang true. I never forgot how to ride. I peddled and balanced like a pro. I did have tingling and pain in my old lady hands, but otherwise, the ride was pretty easy. I thought I might like to do this bike thing again, but I wasn't going to rush out and buy a bike. The next summer while browsing Craigslist, I came across an ad for free bikes. One of the bikes was a Huffy Cranbrook beach cru...

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.

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 ...

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

It's always sad when an any local music venue closes in Sac, but especially when it's an all-ages one. I admit that, I, personally, was never that big of a Luigi's fan, but I appreciated it for hosting all-ages shows. Whereas 15 years ago, Capital Garage meant the world to me, and before that kids had the Cattle Club -- or The Loft, depending on your allegiance -- today's under 21-crowd had Luigi's. Luigi's was by no means an ideal room, but it did the job, with a real stage, a not totally terribly sound system, and a dance floor that was better than what the other small-sized venues offered. If I was 15, 16 or even 20 again, I probably would have loved the venue, and would have championed it, and then mourned its loss, in the same way I did for so many like it back in the day for the LoCal MuSac E-zine and website. But honestly, I'm not that high-energy punk princess anymore. I'm 30, and not in the best of health. Just thinking about ...