Photo by Keith Sutter

Sacramento Ballet’s Beer & Ballet just got tastier this year with its new sponsor Ruhstaller, “Sacramento’s beer since 1881,” being added to the mix. Sip some fresh and delicious brews (or there is wine and soda too) while you watch edgy new works that were created by the dancers themselves up close and personal! It all goes down at Sacramento Ballet’s studios at 1631 K Street, it’s an intimate setting where you feel like you’re sitting in on a rehearsal. It’s very informal, so if ballet is something that has typically scared you off in the past, Beer & Ballet is for you. Submerge recently attended a program similar to this where we got to see a few routines up close and it was amazing. You can see the sweat rolling off the dancers limber bodies, and it’s really easy to tell how much fun they’re having when you’re sitting 15 feet away from them. Tickets are $35 and that includes two drink tickets. Learn more at http://www.sacballet.org/.
-J.Carabba

Post from: Submerge Magazine

Throw away everything you think you know about politics, religion, superstition, astrology, ghosts and commonly held comforting beliefs, there’s an “intelligently designed” comedy tour full of “rationalist comedians” rolling through town to make your world flip upside down. The Evolution of Comedy Tour, which hits Sacramento Comedy Spot on Friday, May 18, 2012 was founded by Ian Harris, a lifelong skeptic who has more than 19 years of stand-up comedy under his belt. According to a press release for the tour, Harris created The Evolution of Comedy “to help advance free thought and fill a much needed hole in the entertainment field for free thinkers, skeptics and non-believers.” The tour also features Sacramento native Jason Resler (pictured), who has landed on Entertainment Journal’s “Top 100 Comedians” list twice, and Maurice Northup. Join these comedians in their quest to make you think twice about, well, the way you think about things. More information can be found at http://theevolutionofcomedy.com/ and at http://saccomedyspot.com/.
-J.Carabba

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Last year’s Launch music/art/design festival, which went down on July 23, 2011 at Greens Hotel, was hands-down one of the high points of summer. The fashion show, the pop-up shops, the killer tunes from great bands and the overall sense of community were just amazing. This year, Launch is reaching new heights. Over the last couple weeks, they have been dropping hints via their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/LaunchEvents) as to just how crazy this year’s events will be. At least nine events are scheduled over six days (July 23–28, 2012) at multiple venues. Expect to see everything from from digital design battles, to furniture exhibitions to a full-on music festival on the final night at Ceaser Chavez Park. The lineup for said music festival? Absolutely bananas. Peep it: Chromeo, DJ Shadow, Grouplove, !!!, Future Islands, Gardens & Villas, St. Lucia, White Arrows, Sea of Bees, Low Flying Owls (reunion show), Appetite, Resa and more. Hot damn! Between last weekend’s massive Sacramento Electronic Music Festival, the Friday Night Concerts in the Park lineup, Launch and other rad touring bands coming through this summer, Sacramento is looking real nice.

-J.Carabba

Post from: Submerge Magazine

Last week marked the opening of the 2012 Concerts in the Park series, and the newly renovated Cesar Chavez Park hosted over 6,300 people, a record breaking crowd for the Friday night series says Play Big Sacramento’s Andy Hawk. “Three years ago Mumbo Gumbo did around 6,100 and that was the biggest up till that point,” Hawk told Submerge. “If you give people a reason in this town to go out, they will.” It only gets better from here on out. On Friday, May 11 catch Middle Class Rut live for the first time in Sacramento in over a year! The hard rocking (and hard working) duo, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Zack Lopez and drummer/vocalist Sean Stockham, have been serious road dogs touring constantly for the last two-plus years. “We’ve been finding out the cities we do best in and building fans there,” Lopez recently told Submerge. “Things were easy back when ‘New Low’ was getting spun all day everyday and I could just hang out at Flame Club and drink. This touring shit is hard work!” They were touring so much, in fact, that at some point things started to feel stale, according to Lopez. There were songs on their record they couldn’t pull off live as just a two-piece, and playing along to a laptop was out of the question. So, naturally, they brought in a couple new members into their live setup, Eddie Underwood and Bob Lander of Sacramento band Lite Brite. “Since we’ve toured with them a few times before, it was easy to gel,” Lopez said. “There’s no other guys in Sacramento we’d rather have steal our booze than them.”

See Middle Class Rut live alongside Lite Brite, Horseneck and DJ Whores on Friday, May 11 at Cesar Chavez Park. Every show of MC Rut’s latest tour has been recorded for a live album release, this one included, so let’s all show up and be loud. Visit http://mcrut.com/ for more information about the band and visit http://downtownsac.org/events/concerts-in-the-park/ to see the series schedule.

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Once upon a time, a person would communicate with other people by stepping into their physical presence and speaking with them or by writing them a letter. This process was greatly simplified with the invention of the telephone, but the device didn’t cure the occasional need for physical contact. With all the effort involved in communicating, people tended to be a little more selective in the company they kept. That all changed with the dawn of the information age. Friendster, MySpace and ultimately Facebook help us choose our friends now.

Today, “friends” can be anyone we vaguely recognize. Oh, we went to the same summer camp when we were 6? Friend! You know my sister, but have maybe spoke to me one time for five minutes? Friend! We went to the same high school at approximately the same time but never actually had a conversation with one another? Friend! We have a friend in common but we don’t know each other? Friend! Friend! Friend! Friend!

When you look at all your friends, you will see behavioral patterns emerge. For example, we all have a Farmer Ted in our lives. He’s the guy who plays way too many Zynga games for anyone’s own good. You made the mistake of downloading whatever lame ass Facebook app Teddy sent and now your news feed looks like his 4H trophy room.

Farmer Ted is a joy compared to our next buddy, Grumpy Gus. Gus has some complaints and he plans to air them out on Facebook day after day. On a great day, his status might read, “Meh.” He hates his job, his house, his car, his girlfriend, his dog, his life, etc., etc., etc., and apparently, you need to know about it.

Of course, you also have Grumpy Gus’ polar opposite, Cheery McHappy. Everything is always roses, puppy dogs and chocolate cake for her. She likes to remind you that God does everything for a reason right after you suffer a particularly painful loss. This eternal optimist is quite possibly the most annoying person you know.

Cheery is a lunatic, and one day she will crack, unless she finds something to focus her energy on. To save herself, she may want to take a lesson from our next cherished pal, Workout Jane. Janey’s running a marathon every other week. Her status updates include daily caloric intake and a BMI count. Every day she seems to reach a new personal best while you sit on the couch in your sweat pants checking out Facebook.

When you are feeling lazy, your boy, Reggie Reddit, has everything you need. He reads the news and breaks you off with the highlight reel. This cat knows things…news, religion, music, popular uprisings, macroeconomics, long division, you name it. His Spotify playlist is unrecognizable, but somehow you know it’s all dope.

Reggie is full of great info, but sometimes you just need a distraction. When life is dull, our next compadre, Jamie Jet, can help. Jamie never stops traveling. One day she is in Anchorage, Alaska, eating salmon steaks and shooting grizzly bears, and the next day she is riding on the back of an elephant in the Congo. Who knows how she pays for all of this, but who cares? Jamie brings you the things that you don’t have the time/money/energy to see yourself.

If the pictures in your feed aren’t Jamie’s vacation highlights, they probably belong to our next homey, Sherry Baby. Sherry can’t stops taking pictures of her kids. Sherry is very determined to show you what perfect little angels her babies are. You, of course, are obligated to occasionally comment favorably on her precious, precious cherubs. She never seems to run out of pictures and/or kids.

Somebody has got to be paying for all of these kids. We all have that friend that is always on his grind trying to make ends meet. I call him Hustle Man. Hustle Man featuring DJ Wacky-Dee and the J Cat All-Stars have been sending you event invites every week for the past two years. Maybe your Hustle Man has a house to sell you. Hustle Man definitely has a business investment opportunity for you, friend.

Hustle Man wants you to read Submerge and become our friends/fans on Facebook. I’ve even decided to make the leap from 1992 to the present and get into this social inter-webbing that you crazy kids do these days. Become a fan and make bets on how long it takes Zuckerberg and Co. to kick me off. Who knows, maybe one day we will even be hearted, super BFFs!

Word by Bocephus Chigger
bocephus@submergemag.com
Lets be friends! Actually just “like” me: http://www.facebook.com/BocephusChigger

Post from: Submerge Magazine

Post from: Submerge Magazine

Sacramento indie-pop sensations Baby Grand recently released their fourth album entitled Arts & Leisure on local label Test Pattern Records and after 10 years as a group, it will be their last. Not to worry though, three of the members of Baby Grand (Cory Vick, Gerri White and Tim White) have gone on to form a new group and they are appropriately enough calling themselves Arts & Leisure. “We figured that calling the new band as well as the last Baby Grand record ‘Arts & Leisure’ would be a good way to bridge the two bands together,” Vick recently told Submerge via email. “While the two bands have a similar sound, Arts & Leisure (the band) is something completely new,” he said. Arts & Leisure’s Reverb Nation page (http://www.reverbnation.com/artsleisureca), where you can hear songs from the new group, has a bio that explains their sound further by stating, “While retaining a similar style, Arts & Leisure strips things down to the basics (two guitars, bass and drums), but ups the ante with two singer/songwriters, Gerri White and Becky Cale.” They combine elements of ‘60s pop, ‘70s power pop, ‘80s new wave and ‘90s shoegaze which culminates into “a Buzzcocks meets The Go-Go’s kind of thing.” Catch Arts & Leisure live on Saturday, May 5, 2012 at Bows and Arrows alongside Allen Clapp and His Orchestra and Knock Knock. Show kicks off at 8 p.m., there’s a $5 cover charge and all ages are welcome.

- Words by Jonathan Carabba | Photo by Sasha Prawalsky

Post from: Submerge Magazine

Post from: Submerge Magazine

I’m starting to wonder what goes on at my house when I’m out. Often I will come home to find random objects moved from their traditional places. A T-shirt might be found in the kitchen. Sometimes there are strange odors to greet me. As if all that weren’t weird enough, today I came home from work to find my cat, Axel, laying in bed watching the Science Channel.

Normally, Axel greets me at the door with a look on his face like he just slept for 8 hours. I’m convinced this subterfuge was created just to hide the truth about what really goes down at my house when I am not around. When I see weird things, I ask Axel what’s been going on, but he never has a believable answer (I’m sorry, meow is not going to cut it!). Who exactly is this cat? Should I trust him to be in my house alone? Why does he keep putting his toys in his water dish?

I guess after what I saw today, I should give him the benefit of the doubt. He likes the Science Channel, so maybe he is an astrophysicist. He is good at catching things, so clearly he has a physics background. I’ve seen him stare into the sky for hours as well. I thought he was just looking for birds, but maybe there was more to it. His real name could be Neil deCat Tyson! Then again, I haven’t seen any errant math equations written on the walls of his litter box, nor does he seem too impressed with my Google Sky Map app.

Maybe he is an acrobat. I’ve seen him do back flips. He can jump 5.5 feet into the air from a dead stop. I’ve seen Axel jump into a corner, bounce off the wall, bounce off the other wall and run back the way he came. He can squeeze his body into the tiniest of places. If his claws are long enough, he will hang off the window screens. On the other hand, he hates wearing ribbons and sashes, and I think that’s a requirement for an acrobat.

Maybe he’s more blue-collar than that. Maybe Axel is a coal miner. He is the color of ash and, considering the way he likes to scratch his post, he must be a good digger. I could see him rocking a little hard hat and heading into a tunnel to mine some of that sweet, sweet coal. I had him checked out for the black lung, but he seems to be clear. I looked at his driver’s license and it’s only a Class C, so he can’t be hauling coal either. I’ve never seen him work with explosives other than to kick a lighter around. In fact, he seems to be rather afraid of loud noises.

There is one thing Axel is not afraid of. Unfortunately, that one thing seems to be me. I am attacked without provocation several times a day. Sometimes Axel gets wild-eyed, puffs up all his hair and comes at me on his tiptoes. We actually had to institute a ban on any acts of aggression for a period of 10 minutes upon my arrival home. It’s called the “10 Minute Rule,” and I invoke it regularly. With so much roid rage, I’m starting to wonder if he might be a professional wrestler.

Clearly, with his daring acrobatics and maniacal scratching skills, Axel would make a formidable opponent in the squared circle. While I wish he were the return of The Ultimate Warrior, something just doesn’t add up. I’ve never seen any spandex tights lying around the house. I’ve found no empty syringes nor the remnants of any performance-enhancing drugs. His piss test came out clean six months straight. He doesn’t have a catch phrase or a gimmick. He isn’t tan, and I doubt he can lift more than 5 or 6 pounds. The most damning evidence of all is the fact that I’ve never seen him pin anyone. He’s no wrestler.

Maybe I’m just overthinking it. Axel is a wonderfully mysterious cat, but he is, at the end of the day, only a cat. Judging from how often I have to clean his litter box and refill his food bowl, maybe Axel just eats, sleeps and shits all day. And apparently, every once in a while he takes a break from the monotony and catches up on a little Science Channel.

By Bocephus Chigger
bocephus@submergemag.com

Post from: Submerge Magazine

Pandit Binay Pathak is the son of a legendary sitar player, the late Pandit Balram Pathak, and from a very young age Binay studied under his father, deeply rooting him in Indian classical music. His musical lineage goes back over 500 years! “Pandit” is an honorific term denoting a level of expertise and respect, and the English word “pundit,” or expert, is derived from it. Binay Pathak hails from Mumbai, India, and has performed all over the world with India’s top ranking artists. Now he divides his time between Mumbai and California, coming here to perform across the United States and to teach sitar, tabla, voice and harmonium at a school he established in Sacramento five years ago called Sohini Sangeet Academy (http://sohinisangeet.org/). On April 29, 2012 at 24th Street Theatre from 3–5 p.m. you can see a rare performance that combines Binay Pathak’s masterful vocal and harmonium skills with the varying sounds of his band, called “the Beats.” The members of the Beats, including Roberto Corrias (composer, flamenco guitar), Ahmad Siar Haseq (tabla) and Jose Manuel Blanco (flamenco guitar, producer, arranger, composer and “Cantaor,” or flamenco vocalist) will join with Binay Pathak, to blend on one stage classical Indian music with Cante Flamenco and Sardinian melodies grounded in the ancient old world traditions. Dancers Gauree and Daksha Shah will also be on hand performing semi classical Indian dances. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $50 for VIP and are available by calling Sohini Sangeet Academy at (916) 217-3259. Expand your musical horizons, go see some world-class musicians playing a style of music you’ve likely never experienced. You’ll be glad you did.
-J.Carabba

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