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The instrumental rock trio Strawberry Girls is back with a new full-length album called Tasmanian Glow. As is typical for the Salinas, California-born group, it’s hard to pin the album down to any specific genre. Leaping from prog, to funk, to R&B—sometimes in the span of a single song—Tasmanian Glow…

Mmm, toffee. The sweet and crunchy treat is a favorite in many homes around the holidays, but that doesn’t stop El Dorado Hills-based Crack’d Toffee Company from cranking out the good stuff all year round. The husband and wife owned company specializes in artisanal micro-batch English toffee, often offering mouthwatering…

Trailblazer. Groundbreaker. Pathfinder. By definition alone, those words each hold powerful meaning. They describe someone who attempted to follow a path well-worn by those that came before, and when they found that particular path didn’t fit their own dreams, they decided to make their own way. Comedian Aida Rodriguez—the only…

When you find yourself in a mood where you can’t decide on what type of music you want to listen to, Red Dirt Ruckus might be your all-in-one solution of the jam-band persuasion. There’s a chance you might’ve already even run into one of their performances by now. The six-piece…

Melissa Arendt refers to her work as “a fragmented record of life on earth.” At first glance, her pieces give the appearance of collage—dense, busy, eclectic—though in fact they’re completely hand-painted and drawn. Time and space are limited, and she’s trying to fit it all in. Art has been Arendt’s…

Picture yourself driving down the Pacific Coast Highway from Malibu to Santa Monica on a lazy Sunday afternoon. You’re driving in a classic convertible. You have the top down. There’s no traffic (hey, it’s a fantasy). For this idyllic scenario, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better soundtrack than Local…

With luscious layered synths, a rock-solid rhythm section and a captivating vocalist and frontwoman, Placerville-based five-piece band Mookatite is kicking out a lovely blend of neo-soul, jazz and indie rock that, in our humble opinions, puts them a step above a lot of your average local bar bands. Their new…

I’m convinced Jennifer Swiryn bleeds maple syrup. The 34-year-old former waitress, now co-owner of retro-inspired diner The Morning Fork, cannot stop showing her excitement about her restaurant dream coming true, even three months after opening. “I know, I’m creepy!” Jennifer laughs loudly in between happy tears as she stops a…

I don’t know what I was expecting when the theater lights went down before Ford vs Ferrari, but it wasn’t this. The trailer hinted at a highly stylized Mad Men take on the Tom Cruise movie Days of Thunder, where some bonehead jock (ahem, Tom Cruise) proves himself to, well,…

It’s been nearly two years to the day since I wrote “Wine-Ding Down From Summer,” a guide to Sacramento’s best wine happy hours, and I’m back to encourage any autumn-induced wine cravings that may arise this season. We’re aware of Napa, Sonoma and Amador wine countries, as they are located…