Sun & Soil Juice Company

1912 P Street • Sacramento

Brought together by a common love for blown glass, metal sculptures and film, friends turned business partners Molly Brown and Tatiana Kaiser discovered yet another area to bond over: health as a lifestyle, not a trend.

The two women opened the Sun and Soil Juice Company in early June with only six part-time employees and a colorful menu of raw and organic juice and smoothie choices to offer Midtown Sacramento. In just one month, the Sun and Soil staff doubled and the demand for healthy and creative liquid nourishment is apparent in the company’s daily glass bottle returns, hundreds of pounds in weekly pulp weight, and its growing number of regular customers.

“We had 75 bottles returned yesterday,” says Brown with a smile. “People are on board for recycling, reusing and cutting down on waste, which is good.”

Sun and Soil operates as a zero-waste business. For every glass bottle returned, customers receive either $2 cash or two bucks off their next visit. Brown, Kaiser and their staff also use a limited number of plastic products, recycle all cardboard and even built a relationship with ReSoil Sacramento, a company that distributes Sun and Soil pulp to community gardens.

Despite diet trends like the Paleo “caveman” challenge, the Atkins “no-to-low-carb” regimen, or even something called the “Beyoncé cleanse” with its strict conditions of cayenne, honey and water (seriously) recipe, Brown and Kaiser simply aim to provide customers with choices, rather than restrictions.

“Health is not a fad. It’s your health,” says Kaiser. “Everybody is dealing with different situations all the time. You should do your own diet, as in the food that you eat, and listen to your body.”

For Kaiser, organic juice is an essential part of her daily diet because it directly improved her overall health and quality of life. She lives with colitis, a digestive disease that makes it difficult to eat a variety of solid foods and absorb essential nutrients. Brown, with her longtime taste for raw and organic sustenance, met her new friend and future business partner in a glass-blowing class. It wasn’t long before she gifted Kaiser a juicer and the seed was planted.

“At first, I was just making green sludge,” jokes Kaiser. “It was just to get nutrients down. With colitis, it makes it almost impossible to eat anything or even digest it because it’s incredibly painful. Juicing really helped.”

In 2012, she found this liquid daily routine helped her condition tremendously. She not only started to feel better and heal, but at the time of the interview, was slowly weaning herself off of Prednisone.

For customers interested in giving their own digestive systems a little breather, Sun and Soil offers a juice cleanse. Still, Brown and Kaiser encourage each customer to decide what their body craves, whether it be juice, smoothie or a one-day cleanse.

“We didn’t want to start out with a cleanse because it did become a fad, but that’s not what it’s about for us,” explains Kaiser. “It gives your digestive system a break because we understand it’s not always convenient to eat healthy.”

Sun and Soil offers its customers organic, cold-pressed, raw fruits and veggies blended, spiced and sweetened naturally without processed sugars. The store is located a few doors down from the corner dive bar, Zebra Club (an almost satirical comparison), but once inside, it’s easy to forget. High ceilings, lively succulents and earthy colors decorate the space. A low volume of music paired with a steady rhythm of blenders gives the room its café-like vibe. Customers order at the counter, where a chunky, antique register painted gold conceals a much more modern system.

A glass case displays dozens of multicolored bottles that read, “pure, organic, love” in white. Each container holds a variety of juice recipes that naturally emit light shades of yellow, pink and green. Recommended from the menu by Brown, The Iron Giant is a $7 smoothie blended with spinach, almond milk, banana, mango, almond butter, honey, cinnamon and ice. Its green color, sweet taste and creamy texture, not to mention protein content from the almond milk, make this a great breakfast choice.

Beet Lemonade, a 16-ounce juice fusion priced at $8, includes apple, beet, filtered water and lemon. Deep purple in color with a bold beet flavor, this drink is immediately tempered by the tart lemon notes and provides a full-bodied mouthful.

Both the recipes and drink titles reflect Brown and Kaiser’s personalities and interests. For example, Kaiser’s background in film and animation inspired The Royal Turmeric Bomb and V for Vanilla.

“Molly loves spice, and I love tangy and tart,” says Kaiser. Brown agrees.

“We thrive in creating all the new flavors,” says Brown. “We’re trying to take ingredients that have health benefits so people don’t mind drinking a cinnamon, spinach and honey-flavored drink.”

It all begins with the ingredients. Brown and Kaiser buy seasonal, organic fruits and veggies from local companies like Full Belly, Watanabe and Riverdog farms. They then use the cold-press method to juice the produce and also hydraulically press its pulp to gain up to 30 percent more juice. Zero waste.

“The cold-press method is awesome because it uses a slower rpm blade. So, it doesn’t heat up the produce as much as a regular juicer would,” explains Kaiser. “It also reduces oxidation, which means you retain more of the nutrients in the process. That allows us to be able to bottle [the juice] for three to five days.”

Sun and Soil also provides its customers with access to the store’s “Ingredient Profile” that conveniently sits at the juice bar, which lists the reasons and health benefits behind each fruit, vegetable and spice blended into a juice or smoothie combination.

“We just want to help people feel good, and show that it’s not unattainable. It’s not a crazy, drastic process,” says Kaiser. “We’re not a program. We’re just a different option for your daily routine. Just know we’ll be here for you.”

Sun & Soil is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday—Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday and Monday. For more info, visit Sunandsoiljuice.com or call 916-341-0327.

Andy Allo
Concerts in the Park, Cesar Chavez Plaza, Sacramento
Friday, June 20, 2014

In this era of music when so many genres are constantly being mixed and mashed, and then remixed and re-mashed, it’s refreshing to hear a throwback artist every now and then who embodies a pure, timeless sound without all the distracting fluff and noise prevalent in today’s mainstream.

Sacramento fortunately has such an artist to call its own: the afro-rocking Prince protégé Andy Allo who is one-part funk, one-part acoustic, but all soul.

Raised in Citrus Heights and attending college-prep schools near the Arden-Arcade area through her teenage years, Allo got her start by forming a band in town called Andy Allo and the Traffic Jam and eventually played a solo gig at an open mic at Fox and Goose on R Street.

Since then her career has been spiraling upward after putting out two independent albums, making appearances on talk shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Good Day Sacramento, and touring with Prince’s band, The New Power Generation, as one of his singers and guitarists. Allo collaborated on a few songs with the pop icon as well, some of which appear on her second album Superconductor, released in 2012.

The co-produced album by Prince, prompted a European tour with an extra stop in Japan—a trip Allo just got back from the day before her recent arrival to Sacramento.

Allo came home Friday, June 20, 2014, to headline a live show as part of Downtown Sacramento Partnership’s Concerts in the Park 2014 season—a series of free weekly concerts of local bands and musicians held annually from early May to late July at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

Three bands opened for Allo with DJ Sam I Jam spinning records in between performances.

The other bands included the Delta City Ramblers, the Harbor and Contra, who each brought eclectic elements to the table—and subsequently to the show as a whole—according to Play Big Sacramento booking committee member Danny Secretion.

Allo said she tries to come back to Sacramento as often as she can for her hometown fans, having just been in the area in November for an acoustic show at Assembly Music Hall on K Street.

“I’ve been traveling a lot,” she says. “But yeah when I have downtime, I try to get shows like this and come back and show some love. This is where it all started.”

After about five or six songs in, Contra’s set came to an end with a respectful applause from the audience who were dispersed throughout the plaza. Once Allo was announced to come on next, however, a modest wave of people migrated to the front, making the area a bit more congested than it had been for Contra.

While the three opening acts were comprised of four to six members at a time, Allo pieced a smaller band together—one drummer playing bongos and a bass drum, and one electric guitarist—for a much more scaled-down, intimate show.

She took center stage with her acoustic guitar in one hand and gripped the microphone with the other, receiving a warm welcome from the crowd as she introduced herself in a brief prologue to her set.

Then, she dove head-first right into the music.

Opening with the short but catchy interlude “Sometimes” from her first album UnFresh, Allo immediately had the crowd’s attention as she glided on the bouncy rhythm with her sweet, gentle voice.

She followed up with “When Stars Collide,” a song similar in tone and energy, but coming off her second album Superconductor. During the bridge, Allo weaved in the hook from Drakes’ “Hold on We’re Going Home” perfectly to fit her melody and then transitioned right back into her original lyrics without missing a beat.

The rest of the show pretty much followed that format the rest of the way, jumping from album to album with a couple of Bob Marley and Doobie Brothers covers in between. Her set consisted of tracks such as “I Want Love,” “If I Was King,”“Hooked,” “People Pleaser” and perhaps her biggest hit, “Yellow Gold.”

Allo consistently demonstrated her showmanship onstage with callbacks, clap-alongs, and even some prewritten/freestyle bars sprinkled into some of the more boom-bap songs, like “I Want Love” and “Hooked.”

Although Allo’s set was super up-close-and personal, which I loved, I couldn’t help but feel she didn’t do some of her bigger songs justice with such a small band.

The album versions of “Yellow Gold” and “People Pleaser” sound rich in production with a variety of instruments bringing these tracks completely to life. The live versions that night, while still good, were lacking the extra punch from the album—almost like they were stripped of their full musical power.

At the end of the day though, her performances made for a solid, all-around feel good show, and you could tell the audience was vibing with the ever-graceful Allo every step of the way.

Ms. Allo left the stage around a quarter to 9 p.m. to a very pleased crowd who sent her off with a long round of applause.

People began to disperse from Cesar Chavez Plaza shortly after and seemed glad to have caught a free glimpse of the soulful Sacramento native right before her career truly takes off to a whole new level.

After a lifetime in Sacramento, Matt Sertich is taking his solo act to L.A.

A healthy crowd gathers in Midtown for an early show in celebration of Matt Sertich’s first solo record, The Only Way Out is Through, a collection of stripped down, powerful pop songs that speak to love, pain, loss and all the other weird shit that creates the human experience. The vibe is mellow in Harlow’s, a room that can transform from an intimate singer-songwriter cave into a Latin dance extravaganza in the blink of an eye. The bartender is nowhere to be seen. Security guards stand leisurely, making jokes. Toward the back of the club, a table full of dedicated fans who have been following Sertich for decades, from his time in the pop-punk outfit Pocket Change to his 10-year stint in The Generals (with drummer/keyboardist/programmer Kirk Janowiak) to his present day solo career, let out a collective scream when the 37-year-old musician finally sits at the piano.

Sertich wastes no time. He breaks into “I Won’t Let You Down”—a strong, earnest ballad with an atmospheric background—and the room falls silent. His voice is loud and confident, with a thin string of pain that runs deep through his soaring melodies. Sertich is an interesting musician in that the songs he crafts are not exactly what count as popular today. In an era when singers either emulate rustic Americana or stare at the ground feigning disinterest in the world, Sertich chooses to face emotion head-on and write songs that celebrate life’s loftiest themes—pop-y ballads about love and hope. And what he creates comes from an almost childlike approach to music. “As a kid your dream is to write stuff like U2 or Whitney Houston … or what makes you feel so good inside,” he explains. “And as you get older you start getting into scenes and you start reverting backwards, kind of.”

After some soul searching, Sertich realized that he doesn’t have to cater to a scene or a trend. He’s going to make the kind of music that he wanted to make as a kid. And he does it well up there on that stage, singing like he’s trying to win back the girl of his dreams. The crowd, of course, is transfixed.

But Sertich hasn’t always had such good fortune with his music. In fact, much of what he’s faced is enough to make a weaker-willed musician smash his guitar, get a state job, crank out a litter of children and exit without so much as a whimper into the eternal bucket of KFC in the sky. But some of the stories he tells of his frustrating misfortunes are actually pretty funny. You know, once the heartbreak settles in.

For instance, there was a run-in with a Sacramento radio guy a few years back after he wrote “Keep the City Alive,” an ode to the the Sacramento Kings. Naturally, Sertich was excited about debuting his song on-air, but the radio guy played the song and immediately said it was horrible, that it sounded like Say Anything or Peter Gabriel. For Sertich, it was a confusing put down. After all, in his mind, a Peter Gabriel comparison isn’t quite the end of the world. But, still, it was a slight. And it was meant to be harsh.

Or there was one time he went to Los Angeles to be on the popular Heidi and Frank Show (95.5 KLOS). He was super excited about the appearance. That is until he arrived at the studio and found out he was booked for a “love it or hate it” episode, where the hosts would play your song and critique it (along with random callers) live on the air. They played The Generals’ “Just Because,” a fast-paced pop ballad about hope in the midst of darkness. The calls came in. One-after-another. Heidi hated it. Mike said it sounded like a Cure cover band. The song played through and Sertich sat through scathing, seemingly endless criticism. “It was so painful,” he says. “They were just ripping it.”

Anyway, Sertich somehow ended up garnering six votes, enough to sit for the rest of the show. Still, he was discouraged. But that situation—the uncomfortable, nearly unbearable awkwardness—made him stronger, more determined than ever to succeed.

“But I never want to play ‘Just Because’ again,” he admits. “I hate that song.”

Finally, after a weird run-in with The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, where he was promised thousands of dollars to go on tour, which turned out to be a scam, The Generals decided to amicably call it quits, and Sertich decided to get his solo career off the ground. “I think with Kirk that was the last straw,” Sertich says. “It just depleted him.”

So, as The Generals winded down, Sertich worked as hard as he could on music in between his full-time job waiting tables at Tower Café. He practiced literally every day for a year—no matter how tired he was or how uninspired he felt—and came up with six tracks of piano-based ballads that became The Only Way Out is Through that he performs by himself with a synthesizer and drum machine. In the spirit of The Generals, Sertich’s solo songs are powerful, ’80s-tinged melodies that stand out, especially in 2014’s musical landscape of throwaway pop songs that rely more on tricky production than emotion.

“I grew up loving ballad singers,” Sertich says. “Like cheesy love songs that people make fun of.”

But oftentimes, people make fun of things that are memorable. And popular. Sertich’s obsession for ballads and his ear for powerful, larger-than-life arrangement results in a cinematic vibe, songs you might hear at the end of a movie where the protagonist screams triumphantly in the rain, even though all his friends are dead.

Since Sacramento might not be the best place for an artist like Sertich, he’s packing up his belongings, leaving Sacramento, the only home he’s known for the past 37 years, and taking his movie-ready songs down to Los Angeles, just to see what happens.

When I ask what he’s going to do down there, Sertich points to his CD. “There’s my business card,” he says. “There’s a lot of stuff going on out there. Just to reach out to as many avenues as I can when I’m out there, whether it’s playing as much as possible, networking, going to see a show.”

It’s not going to be an easy road. Sertich knows that. He’ll probably rent a room in Silver Lake, work as a parking valet and do his best to get his music into the hands of the right people. A scary prospect, but for someone who obsesses over melodies and arrangements, it makes perfect sense.

“I’m going to be full of fear because I’ve lived here all my life. There’s a lot of ups and downs. I get it, but it’s just going out there focused,” he says. “I’m not going out there because I’m trying to run away from anything, I’m going out there because I want to make it happen. It’s what I want to do. I don’t have a choice in the matter anymore.”

At Harlow’s, Sertich sits at the piano in the middle of the dark stage, red lights casting an eerie glow against his pale skin. He plays the song “In the End,” written as a letter from his father who passed away in 2005. It begins, “Son, I’m leaving now/ My time has come/ to say goodbye/ Son, I hope you know/ I’ve done the best/ that I could. I never meant to do you wrong/ Never meant to leave you there/ Leave you all alone.”

When Sertich sings, it’s not just the voice. It’s every atom in his body. In his muscles. His skin. Emotions stir in an aura that surrounds him, both joyful and dark. “And I only meant to be your friend,” he sings. “Hope you knew me better in … better in the end.”

Catch Matt Sertich on Thursday, July 10 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the Hot Lunch Concert Series at Fremont Park: 16th and Q Streets, across from Hot Italian. To buy The Only Way Out is Through, go to Mattsertich.bandcamp.com.

Wounded Lion

Witch Room, Sacramento • Saturday, June 7, 2014

Los Angeles-born band Wounded Lion is infamous for their energetic stage performances. The band has been dominating the L.A. garage-underground scene since their birth in 2005; their goofy, brilliantly minimalist garage-pop style was perfectly executed through their goofy, artistic dispositions. As the band matured, they began drifting more toward the punk side of the garage sound. This greatly appealed to lo-fi loving followers, as this transition naturally assimilated into their audacious performing style.

Wounded Lion is truly one of the best garage-performing bands to this day; they manifest an ability to turn any setting, no matter how obscure, into the perfect canvas for their music. Consider their June 7 performance at Witch Room (the reincarnation of the Bows and Arrows on 19th Street). Witch Room doesn’t aesthetically identify to any specific genre or musical style, yet, Wounded Lion transformed the venue into a garage-pop, lo-fi punk paradise.

The show began with a 4/4 drum stick count in as the guitars struck the initial heavy chord; shortly after, all hell broke lose…and I mean that in the most enjoyable, limitless, eclectic way possible. Wounded Lion, the apparent love child of Cake, Pixies and early Misfits, stood as the messiah leading their audience into a nirvana of psychedelic, garage rock. Wounded Lion harnesses a theme of crunchy distortion carried over repetitive, yet catchy, lyrics. The band’s style is distinct, almost too distinct; they hardly explored beats beyond a duple meter and opted to play in only three out of the 15 key signatures known to music. But hey, this band isn’t playing for the pleasure of music snobs. Instead, they’re playing for those looking to lose themselves and soft-core mosh against some strangers, and the Witch Room audience relished in it.

By the end of the second song, nearly 90 percent of the guests had migrated from the patio to the stage’s border to watch Wounded Lion transform the Witch Room environment. Brad Eberhard (vocals, guitar) would require a call-and-response from his band members, to which the audience joined in once the response pattern was clear. Raffi Kalenderian (vocals, percussion, bass) was perhaps the most captivating of the group; his electric mannerisms may have contributed at least 50 percent of the energy the band provided, which was quite impressive considering how dynamic each musician was.

Each member plays a variety of instruments; Lars Finberg (drums, guitar), Shant Kalenderian (guitar, bass, vocals) ad Jun Ohnuki (bass, drums, organ, percussion) would quickly swap their instruments between each song. Despite Wounded Lions’ obvious technical abilities, their tambourine skills were the most memorable of the performance. This is due to a variety of ways to which the tambourine was played; some members would slam it onto the ground, sometimes playfully onto other band members or even onto unused instruments to create different resonances. The band is remarkably innovative when it comes to instrumental manipulation; for instance, the audience absolutely lost its shit when the bass drum was brought to the front of the stage, tilted horizontally and beat with maracas.

Some may argue that the band’s disposition and musical character may have been a bit sloppy, but any long-time punk fan would report that their energy and personal sound nailed the essential essence of punk music. CesarIsAPuppy couldn’t have said it more perfectly on Last.fm, “This band. Last night in Sacramento. Bruises for days. So much fun.” Though the comment was made back in 2011, the meaning still survives. Wounded Lion’s music, just as most garage-punk groups are, is best appreciated when performed live. The band transformed Witch Room into a lo-fi utopia and delivered an incredibly unique experience to their audience. There was this synonymous feeling across the audience of somehow feeling like Hilly Kristal after essentially discovering the Talking Heads; Wounded Lion’s performance was so unique and addictive, it gave everyone a sense of discovery. We’ll see you next time, Wounded Lion. Long live punk.

The Magnifique World of the Sacramento French Film Festival

Romance between a philosophy professor and a hairdresser, or a 60-year-old dentist and a computer instructor half her age; a 60-year-old former beauty queen who hits the road for an epic road trip; and a judge who finds out not only is she pregnant, but that the father is a murder suspect—you can expect a lot of the unexpected at the 2014 French Film Festival, now in its 13th year and happening June 20 – 29 at the Crest Theatre. The films in this year’s celebration of French cinema explore subject matter ranging from adolescence and young pregnancy to mental illness, self-discovery, and, of course, love.

According to Cecile Mouette Downs, the festival’s executive and artistic director, this year’s selection is one of the strongest yet, and includes 12 of the most acclaimed and awarded premiere films, as well as three classics: the 1970 fairy tale film Donkey Skin (Peau D’Ane), the 1994 historical drama Queen Margot (La Reine Margot), and the 1942 comedy thriller The Murderer Lives At Number 21 (L’Assasin Habite Au 21).

There will also be a screening of short films (complete with petit déjeuner, aka a French breakfast), as well as two late-night films—an erotic thriller and a horror film, both of which have gained high-caliber reputations in their respective genres.

French cinema fans will recognize names like Audrey Tautou, Romain Duris, Juliette Binoche and Roman Polanski. To top it off, Laetitia Dosch, the star of the film Age of Panic, is rumored to be attending the festival and presenting the film on the first weekend (June 20-22).

We’ve highlighted a few films featured in this year’s festival.

Inside (À l’intérieur)

2007 | Horror
Saturday, June 28 • 11:45 p.m.

Considered one of the scariest, most gruesome French horror films out there right now, À l’intérieur features the rare female killer. The plot is a morbid one. While a pregnant widow is waiting for a ride to the hospital from her mother so doctors can induce labor, a mystery woman (a frightening Beatrice Dalle) shows up at the door with plans to perform the procedure herself and take the baby. Critics give À l’intérieur an 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, waxing poetic about what a “damn good” horror film it is, and even toying with the thought of labeling it a classic. “Leave it to the French to make Suspiria look like a ‘30s drawing-room comedy,” one critic commented, referencing the Italian cult classic that has made numerous Greatest Horror Films of All Time lists. If you fancy scissors and guts in your horror movies, this is a not-to-miss.

Chinese Puzzle (Casse Tete Chinois)

2013 | Romantic Comedy
Sunday, June 29 • 3:15 p.m.

Calling all Audrey Tautou fans! Here is yet another film to settle your fix, taking place this time in New York City’s Chinatown. This romantic comedy concerns Xavier (Romain Duris), a writer who may just need a little amour to clear up a bad case of writer’s block after the mother of his children moves from Paris to New York, taking their children with her. To be closer to his kids, Xavier follows suit and winds up living in Chinatown. Suddenly Xavier finds himself in the company of a former roommate and a former lover. “I came to New York to be near my kids, who I had with a Brit, who I lived with for 10 years. I had a baby with two lesbians. I married a Chinese woman to become an American. And life’s not complicated?” Xavier asks in a poignant scene. Casse Tete Chinois is, in fact, a follow-up to Cedric Klapisch’s films L’Auberge Espagnole and Russian Dolls, which follow the same characters. (No, you don’t need to see the previous films in order to follow this story line.)

Queen Margot (La Reine Margot) 

1994 | Historical Drama
Saturday, June 21 • 3:45 p.m.

Considered a timeless classic, La Reine Margot is a (very) ‘90s adaptation of the historical novel written in 1845 by Alexandre Dumas. It traces the life of Margaret of France, aka Marguerite de France or Marguerite de Valois, a Catholic who reigned as France’s queen during the 16th and 17th centuries. From poisonings to beheadings, this true story is anything but a happy one, recreating the bloodstained history of France during the battle between Catholics and Protestants for political power—notably the infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572. Entangled in the plot is Margaret’s personal life, starting with her arranged marriage to Henri de Bourbon, the king of Navarre and a Protestant, in order to make peace between the Protestants and Catholics, which is (of course) followed by a love affair with the soldier La Mole. This movie won the Jury Prize and Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as five César Awards. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, SFFF will present the digitally restored director’s cut of this film, honoring the film’s maker and stage director Patrice Chéreau, who passed away last year.

Attila Marcel

2013 | Musical Comedy
Saturday, June 21 • 7:05 p.m.
Sunday, June 22 • 3:40 p.m.

Some of the best movies are those that walk the line between reality and a dreamlike world sprinkled with oddities and hints of old Paris. Attila Marcel smacks of a magical realism that is found in French films like Amelie. “It’s not Lord of the Rings, it’s not a totally fantastic universe,” says leading actress Anne Le Ny. Attila Marcel is about a dreamy young pianist who became mute after his parents died in a mysterious accident when he was just two. Suspecting his father was violent with his mother, he suppresses his emotions and treats his parents’ deaths as a dark secret. This suppression makes him a bit childlike. Things take a sudden turn when he meets one of his neighbors, a strange woman (Ny) whose home is overrun with vegetable plants. She is rough, tough, outspoken, very eccentric and connected to nature, Ny says of her character. Directed by Sylvain Chomet, who also directed the 2010 animated drama The Illusionist (L’illusionniste), this film is about self-discovery.

Camille Claudel 1915 

2013 | Biopic Drama
Sunday, June 22 • 6 p.m.

Camille Claudel 1915 tells the true story of Camille Claudel, the renowned French sculptor and artist who became the protégé, mistress, and muse to Auguste Rodin (another renowned French sculptor). Around the age of 50, Camille (played by award-winning Juliette Binoche) is admitted into an insane asylum at the urging of her brother, the poet, playwright, and diplomat Paul Claudel. The film traces Camille’s despair, convinced that she is not insane and constantly awaiting visits from her brother with hopes he will take her away from the asylum. The story is based on the letters exchanged between Camille and her brother throughout her years spent there. Camille Claudel 1915 tells Camille’s story in a strikingly raw and emotional way. In fact, the film itself was directed in an asylum in France, using its doctors, nurses, and patients as supporting cast members.

Stranger By The Lake (L’Inconnu Du Lac)

2013 | Erotic Thriller
Saturday, June 21 • 11:35 p.m.

Sometimes, it seems we humans are blindly attracted to what’s in our worst interest. Exploring that concept, L’Inconnu Du Lac takes place on a lakeshore in southern France frequented by gay nudists. The beach also serves as a favorite hangout for the main character Franck, a thirty-something handsome gay male who is constantly scouting the shoreline during the summer. On one afternoon, he meets and is immediately attracted to Michel. The next day, from behind the trees, Franck sees Michel murdering a lover in the lake. Blinded by passion, despite what he secretly knows, Franck is even more infatuated with the killer and seeks a relationship with him, even after police begin an investigation into the death. The film received a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, four stars from Michal Oleszczyk on RogerEbert.com, eight César nominations this year (including Best Film and Best Director) and is praised by critics as a sexy and arresting erotic thriller.

Turning Tide (En Solitaire)

2013 | Adventure, Drama
Sunday, June 29 • 8:05 p.m.

This film tells the story of sailor Yann Kermadec (played by François Cluzet), who replaces his sailing cohort in the Vendée Globe. Yann’s prospects of winning the three-month round-the-world yacht race are looking good, until he discovers he’s not alone on the ride. Somehow a teenage stowaway managed to sneak onto the boat when Yann landed on the Canary Islands to repair a damaged rudder. Since the Vendée Globe is a solo race, having a passenger onboard immediately disqualifies Yann. Lacking options, Yann has no choice but to share his journey with his unexpected guest. In doing so, he also has a change of heart. A debut for French cinematographer Christophe Offenstein in a directorial role, this film recreates the harshness of international sailing competitions while revealing the spectacular views and extreme conditions of the untamed sea.

The Sacramento French Film Festival runs June 20 – 29, 2014 at the Crest Theatre. Opening night reception begins at 6 p.m., June 20. There are a variety of ticket prices and passes available; visit Sacramentofrenchfilmfestival.org for more info.

YG, DJ Mustard
Ace of Spades, Sacramento • Tuesday, May 20, 2014

If the name YG doesn’t perfectly ring a bell and summon the image of a tall, skinny completely-tatted-from-the-torso-up MC from Compton, California, I don’t really blame you.

Unless you’re a regular hip-hop head or a longtime fan, it probably just sounds like another rapper confusable with other big names in the game—Tyga, Ty Dolla Sign, Yo Gotti, etc.—who might have had a club song you heard at one time which somehow became your go-to banger on your iPod one summer.

In case you need a refresher, YG is the “Toot It and Boot It” guy, but boy has he come a long way since then.

Whether you’ve realized it or not, YG the Young Gangsta has been putting out hits ever since his fame skyrocketed back in 2010. Most recently, he’s been getting a lot of airplay from his two newer singles “My Nigga” and “Who Do You Love?” off of his first studio album My Krazy Life, released March 18 of this year.

Following the release of the album, the Compton native has been on the road for his nationwide My Krazy Life Tour, having stopped by the capital city this past Tuesday, May 20, to pay his Sacramento fans a visit. Ace of Spades hosted two shows for Mr. G, both of which sold out long before the day of. Fans showed up by the hundreds (or should I say hunnids?) to see the West Coast icon perform.

I attended the second show that night, and I’m happy to say the experience—or at least YG’s set—was about the most fun I’ve had at a concert in a while.

It all started as I turned onto R Street at around 6:30 p.m. and noticed an already long line forming across the street from Ace of Spades, slowly creeping its way over to 14th.

By 6:45 p.m., the crowd from the first show was escorted out and security steadily ushered in the newcomers in waves.

Soon enough, everyone had flocked inside and gotten themselves settled, with people starting to squirm left and right in the sardine-like packed room. It wasn’t until about 8 p.m.—an hour after the show was scheduled to start—that the first of five openers took the stage and officially kicked things off.

With none of the openers being formally announced ahead of time, it seemed like they were just some unknowns filling in slots until DJ Mustard—YG’s beat partner in crime—could make an entrance and really spark some excitement.

Mustard shuffled through his playlist that featured songs such as Tyga’s “Rack City,” French Montana’s “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’” and Kendrick Lamar’s “M.A.A.d City,” at which point his goons came out and unloaded on the audience with Super Soakers. The crowd absolutely loved the gesture, desperately needing a boost from having to wait through so many uninspired opening acts.

After the water gun hijinx, a set piece was unveiled onstage resembling the facade of a suburban-looking house straight out of a hood in Compton—tagged up and all.

As the lights came down, the music for YG’s opening track “BPT” started to play. Everybody’s camera was raised high in anticipation ready to record, until finally YG stormed the stage through the house’s front door barking the lines, “Nigga I’m from BPT!” as everyone chanted with him and cheered.

The tone for the show was pretty much set after that. YG rifled through his set with a medley of songs from the album including, “I Just Wanna Party,” “Bicken Back Being Bool,” “Bompton” and “Really Be (Smokin N Drinkin),” not once losing an ounce of energy along the way.

He even touched on some older material from his mixtapes with songs like “B I T C H,” “Bitches Ain’t Shit,” “You Broke” and, of course, his hits “Up” and “Toot It and Boot It,” getting the entire room to dance and sing along.

Though his set was mostly wired with up-tempo dance beats, YG also had some surprisingly slower moments with songs such as “1AM,” “Me and My Bitch,” and a very intimate performance of “Sorry Momma.” These songs were a nice change of pace in the rotation, and very much appreciated by the crowd while they clapped out some of the beats and listened closely as he went a cappella a few times.

But in true YG fashion, the Young Gangsta couldn’t stay quiet for too long. Some of the show’s most notable moments were when he was at his most hyped: calling girls on stage, heading down into the front row, getting two girls to flash him and perhaps best of all, taking an Instagram picture with us as a final send-off.

YG finished his set with his two hottest singles, starting with “My Nigga” and closing with his verse from “Who Do You Love?” The echo of the crowd reciting that final verse with him could still be heard ringing even after everyone made their way out of Ace of Spades’ doors.

Forget anything you have ever known to be blissful, Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates has raised the standards of dessert euphoria once more. May 1, 2014, was a glorious day, for it initiated the highly anticipated Frozen Treats season of Midtown. Yes, the macaron ice cream sandwiches are back, and they aren’t alone. The highly acclaimed treats are accompanied by Almond Rocher ice cream bars, frozen hot chocolate parfaits and a flavored variety of ice cream pints. The macarons menu has changed a little bit from last year (don’t worry, the Salty Carmel is still the same), the selection now includes the Caramelized Milk and Coffee (made from Temple Coffee) and the Lemon sandwich is now surrounded by a gingersnap cookie. Stop by the boutique at 1801 L Street, Suite 60 from Tuesday to Saturday (Tuesday to Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.) to pick up yours this summer. Stock up before they go out of season in October. There is no better way to relax this summer than with one of these frozen treats in your hand.

Hardcore punk band Trash Talk, who still rep Sacramento as their hometown despite currently being located in Los Angeles, are releasing a new full-length album called No Peace on May 27, 2014. Known for their circle-pit-inducing, high-energy, often bloody live shows, Trash Talk does shit their own way and they don’t pull their punches. They are the only non-hip-hop group on Odd Future Records and they’ve got a really rad “collective” mentality, utilizing the talents and skills of all of the creative friends they’ve surrounded themselves with over the years to make things happen. For visual and audio reference of this, we highly suggest hitting up YouTube and searching for “Trash Talk Tough As Leather,” it’s a well-done, documentary style short film (five minutes) that follows the band through a typical day at their downtown L.A. headquarters. “Trash Talk Collective is more than just the music,” frontman Lee Spielman says in the video. “It’s a squad of everybody who does different things. If we want to do something we just talk to each other and figure it out. We don’t have to like, go ask a boss, or like ask the label whether or not we can do this or do that. If we want to go on tour with a rapper, we go on tour with a rapper. We do whatever the fuck we want, because it’s our shit.” No Peace is 16 tracks total, is available now for pre-order, and according to a statement on the band’s website (Trashtalkhc.com), “It is hardcore punk, it is hardcore hip-hop, it’s a way of telling you to shut the fuck up if you try to pigeonhole it.” Well-known hip-hop producer Alchemist contributed two tracks to the album that Trash Talk “drag through the gutter, knuckles up. Drums like brass knuckles.” There is also a bonus track that features King Krule and Wiki from Rat King “spitting rain on soft skulls.” Umm, can you say sounds badass! If all of this isn’t enough to make you want to get your hands on No Peace, crank it loud and fuck some shit up, we don’t know what will.

A Lot Like Birds Vocalist Kurt Travis Uses His Brief Downtime to Record Solo Album

The life of a touring musician can be grueling. You write and write and write some more, then you record an album and get it mixed, mastered and pressed. After all that, if you have any money left, you release said album and if all goes well and all your ducks are in a row, the next logical step is to leave normal life behind and hop in the van (or if you’re lucky, a bus or motorhome) and tour the shit out of the album. It’s a process that’s not cheap and not easy.

Kurt Travis, co-vocalist of Sacramento-based post-hardcore outfit A Lot Like Birds (and former co-vocalist of fellow Sacramento-based band Dance Gavin Dance) knows the drill all too well. “A Lot Like Birds doesn’t give me a lot of downtime, but when they do, I’m kind of thankful for it because then I can go forward with some solo stuff,” Travis recently told Submerge during an interview in his new downtown Sacramento loft. “ALLB was going to do this European tour and it ended up falling through. Immediately I was like, OK, I have this amount of time, lets bang out a record and lets go out on tour and sell it.”

Travis enlisted the help of longtime friend and former bandmate Zachary Garren (they played in DGD together years ago). Garren, who now plays in the instrumental band Strawberry Girls and lives in Salinas, Calif., would come up to Sacramento for a few days at a time and the two would write songs and work on the album’s pre-production. They were also sending song ideas back and forth even when not in the same town. Before they knew it, they were sitting on a full-length’s worth of solid material, had a label ready to release it (Blue Swan Records, a new label that is run by Dance Gavin Dance’s Will Swan) and a full-on tour booked to support the record, which will be titled Everything Is Beautiful and will be released sometime later in May.

As of press time, Travis and Garren had only released one song off of Everything Is Beautiful, a pop-y, upbeat ditty called “Brain Lord.” At last check, it had 16,031 views on YouTube after only being uploaded a week prior. With no plans to release any other material from the album before its full release, Submerge was lucky enough to get a private listening party where Garren and Travis allowed us to hear rough, unmixed, unmastered versions of seven of the 12 songs that will appear on the album. What we heard was not some half-assed solo effort from a lead singer who just wants to put something out for the fuck of it. What we heard was a focused, mature, surprisingly pop-friendly album that touches on surf-rock with lo-fi garage vibes, glittering and noodly lead guitar lines, lush layers of vocal harmonies with sprinkles of synth-y goodness. It’s light and accessible (we only heard one part with aggressive vocals, and it was more of a shout than a scream) without being overly cheesy. It’s an artsy pop album, if you will, and it’ll more than likely have you moving and grooving.

Check out an excerpt of our conversation and mark your calendars for Kurt Travis’ tour kick-off show at Luigi’s on Wednesday, May 14, 2014.

EDITOR’S UPDATE: As of May 13, 2014, Kurt Travis’ Everything Is Beautiful was available for streaming here.

Tell me a little bit about the album title, Everything Is Beautiful. What’s the reasoning or motivation behind calling it that?
Kurt Travis: With every release I kind of have a theme, because it’s fun. It’s fun to have a certain message. My first [album theme] being this little girl I knew, she was just learning how to speak, and I related to her because it was kind of like my first solo effort and the songs were very primitive. So it just kind of had this theme, that’s why I called it Wha Happen. She kept asking me that. For this [album theme], I’ve been under this impression lately. I’m very happy. I’m very creative. I’m doing really, really good. I’m having an amazing time with A Lot Like Birds and I’m having an amazing time writing my own stuff with Zach. The theme is Everything Is Beautiful because, well, it is. Just appreciating things that aren’t necessarily beautiful, but you watch them, and they change and your perspective on them becomes different. Kind of that sort of thing like, what is beauty, or what is art? I could get really crazy on you. We could talk about what is beauty and what isn’t beauty, but it would be wrong. Everything is beauty.

Would you say this is the most pop friendly thing you’ve ever done?
Zachary Garren: It’s definitely the poppiest.
KT: It’s the poppiest freaking thing I’ve ever done in my whole life, and you know what’s really weird is I was really trying not to. With this record I was trying to go for that like new wave sound…and it came out super pop-y and funky and groovy.

How does your approach to writing lyrics for your solo material differ from when you’re writing with A Lot Like Birds?
KT: They’re very, very different. Nowadays I’ve been writing very conceptually, not as song-to-song-to-song. But kind of an atmosphere or a story within that song, and kind of vicariously really, which is weird, because that’s something that I really don’t do. I usually write from life and sorrow and just, you know, therapeutically healing myself. I don’t really do that anymore. I guess I don’t really have the need to. I don’t have to be extremely worried about what’s going to happen next. That’s totally kept me up at night in younger years when it comes to music.

Your work with your other bands no doubt keeps you guys busy: Constant touring, writing, recording, doing press, etc. Why not just use your down time to relax? What is it that drives you to want to create music even during your little bit of time off?
KT: I think Zach and I will totally say the same thing. It almost feels the opposite, you know what I mean? If you’re constantly creating and you’re doing different genres and such, I feel like sometimes the more opposite the genre, the more I’m just secretly influenced by it because it’s completely different.
ZG: I just like to create a lot. Some days I’ll do way more than other days…
KT: When I tell him to write a song, he’s got like six the next day. By the time I’m done listening to those, he’s got two more. And then when we get to the studio he’s like, oh man, I got to relearn these. It’s like that show Heroes where the guy blacks out and just does some amazing shit.
ZG: Being a musician is different than working a 9-to-5 sort of job. It’s not easy, but it’s different. It’s still fun to a degree.
KT: Even if I didn’t write a record this last month and immediately go back out on tour, I probably would have worked an odd job for a month and did it that way. But instead, I made a record, and I invested money in the T-shirts I’m going to sell on tour, stuff like that.

So in a way, it’s kind of like an “in between job” that just happened to be creating a record?
KT: Exactly. When Joe [Arrington, drummer for ALLB and who also plays on Everything Is Beautiful] is home, he plays with like four different cover bands and makes way more money… I guess there is this mentality of like, work your fucking ass off, because we are privileged enough to be able to play music.
ZG: Creating music in a way is also kind of downtime. If you’re a musician, what do you do in your downtime from your job? You’re probably doing music. We’re just kind of having extra fun. We do it because we like it and want to try to keep getting better and hopefully making better stuff than we have in the past.
KT: The more you make music and go out on tour, the more you’re going to gain fans. At this point, I’ve been doing it for almost 10 years, I might as well just keep on. Kids still appreciate it and still buy the previous stuff and the new stuff. They’re still buying it, so…
ZG: It’s cool to switch it up, too, because this new album isn’t like anything we’ve done in a long time. It’s the most accessible kind of thing. There’s no screaming so it’s a more mature version of some of our past stuff.

With this album being so much more pop friendly than most of your guys’ past stuff, is it crazy to think that this could very well become the most popular shit you’ve ever done?
KT: It very well could be, although you never know.
ZG: It has the potential, but there are so many little things.
KT: I mean, my manager is Eric Rushing and he’s pretty freaking connected. I did my best. A lot of the times I’ve shown him stuff, and he’s like, “Dude this is fucking incredible, what am I supposed to do with this? This is the best song I could never do anything about.” So this record will definitely be like, “Here you go man, this is probably the most accessible thing you can get out of me, what can we do with it now?” And I think Eric can do a lot.
ZG: And it’s still creative music too, which is cool. This is going to be like our parents’ favorite record.

On the same day that you dropped the first single off your album, Jonny Craig and Tilian Pearson, two other vocalists with past or present DGD ties, also dropped new songs from their new projects. Was that just a big coincidence, or was that meticulously planned out by your management or something like that?
ZG: Not planned at all.
KT: Swear to god. Not planned. We wanted to put it out a couple days earlier, but it didn’t work out. That’s what happens.

Don’t you think in a weird way it might have worked to everyone’s advantage?
KT: Oh we loved it! We milked the shit out of it. It was crazy awesome cross promotion. I talked to Tilian, too. He was totally super happy about it, just like, “Oh my gosh this is going to boost everything!”

One question that I feel a lot of people are curious about is what your relationship is like with all those guys? Jonny, Tilian, all the other DGD guys… I feel like people think there is all this drama. Is there?
KT: No, no. Jonny was at the recent DGD show at Assembly, and I was at that show with Zach. I see Jonny at Ace or Assembly or whatever. I talked to Tilian after the show, shit like that, we were all talking and hanging out after the show. Everybody is just doing their thing. There’s a lot of shit you can check out from all of us, there’s just a big resume from all of us, and that’s really cool.

See Kurt Travis, Zachary Garren and their newly formed backing band play songs off of Everything Is Beautiful at one of the few remaining shows at Luigi’s on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. Also performing will be Hotel Books and So Much Light. Show starts at 7 p.m. and all ages are welcome.

Bicycle Film Festival returns to Sacramento

Can you blame Napoleon Dynamite for being stoked on Pedro’s “sweet jumps?” Or help but revel in the inexplicable bike break-dancing scene in Quicksilver? Hell, even an alien got into the mix when E.T. escaped the clutches of a hoard of evil scientists and police officers while nestled in the basket of his fearless companion’s bicycle.

Bikes have often been cast as the quintessential “character actor” in film, but every year these two-wheeled vehicles assume the lead role in the Bicycle Film Festival, which rolls into Sacramento May 9 and 10 at Fremont Park. BFF was born out of the wreckage of avid bike rider Brendt Barbur’s horrific collision with a truck in New York in 2001. After a year hiatus, the former Sacramento resident and founding director of BFF decided to bring the festival back to the City of Trees because of the rousing support he received from its residents.

“I think that the Sacramento crowd is great,” Barbur said in a recent phone interview as the bike savant prepared for a flight to Italy. “Doing the screenings out in the park is amazing. I think [last time] we had a couple thousand people show up. So, it’s a good crowd—a very good crowd.”

So grab your popcorn to-go, and gear up for onscreen explorations of all things BMX-, fixie- and cruiser-centric. Here’s a look at a few of the films that will be a part of this year’s screening as well as a taste of the non-cinematic offerings at this pop-up movie theater in the park.

“Boy”

(2012)
A favorite of Barbur’s and screening on day one of the festival is a heartfelt story about a father coming to terms with the death of his son—an avid cyclist who died in a road accident while competing in a race. Justin Chadwick’s “Boy,” a 10-minute short bereft of dialogue, is an emotional powerhouse of a film that follows the grieving father, a carpenter by trade, as he hones a branch into a perfect plank of wood, which he lovingly installs into the velodrome track his son was to race on before his untimely death. The film weaves in and out of the present and the past as the man, through the process of transforming the branch—which he saws off of a tree near the spot where his son was fatally struck—is able to bury the ghost of his beloved son. Venerable British actor Timothy Spall, of Harry Potter fame, delivers an emotionally charged performance that is both haunting and beautiful.

“El Diablo”

(2012)
Contrary to what you may have heard on the street, the devil wears pink, not Prada. The 7-minute film from Paolo Casalis—a cinematic extension of his full-length film, The Last Kilometer, is a glimpse into the personality of Dieter “Didi” Senft, or as he is better known in European cycling circles, “El Diablo.” The Italian-language short follows Senft, who is the exemplification of a cycling fanatic, clad in pink racing gear, sporting a crown of devil horns atop his head while yielding a trident in his hand, who cheers on the cyclists during the Giro d’Italia race—one of the premier cycling events in Europe that include the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. Cheering is a bit of an understatement, however, as Senft hollers at the cyclists while chasing after them, wildly waving his trident in the air. The film is a strange, yet entertaining, romp through the mind of a true cycling aficionado.

“The Cyclist”

(2012)
Spall isn’t the only recognizable actor to bless the Sacramento incarnation of BFF with his cinematic contribution. Billed as the “love story that will send you spinning,” Morgan Krantz’s “The Cyclist,” based on a short story by Jessica Garrison. Shannyn Sossamon—yes, that Sossamon who left the band Warpaint to pursue a career as an actress—portrays Hannah, someone with whom most people who prefer to roll on two wheels in this town can identify: the victim of bike theft. However, this isn’t a story of intrigue, but rather a romantic comedy. The story is about Harry (played by Luke Baybak) and Hannah, who embark on the worst first date ever—trolling around for a bike thief.
So, the rom-com isn’t the most palatable of genres, granted, but what sets this film apart from the archetype, i.e. When Harry Met Sally, is that the hero is set up for an intriguing twist by the time the credits run down the screen.

“Three-Legged Horses”

(2011)
Based on a true story, this award-winning, 20-minute exploration of the rickshaw business in Edinburgh, Scotland, depicts a driver who is driven by the need to make as much cash as he can before his ailing body gives out to the demands of his unrelenting profession. The beautifully shot short shows the protagonist hustling throughout the night, navigating drunks and other hazards of the road, culminating in his last fare of the evening, a gig that forces him to ascend the most grueling destination on three wheels—Edinburgh Castle. This filmic endeavor, written, produced and directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra, is not only an exploration of the hard life of the rickshaw driver but of the power of chance meetings.

Sprint Races

Friday, May 9
@ Hot Italian
Ready. Set. Go! This year marks the return of sprint races—an event that provides an outlet for cyclists to compete against one another to see who is the fastest bicyclist in the West. Ross Del Duca, owner of the VeloReviews, an online community that embraces cycling, health and fitness, was thrilled to bring this event back to the BFF lineup after the former organizer hung up his laces. “The Bicycle Film Festival is fantastic; it’s like the Sundance for bicycle films,” Del Duca raves. “I guess you could say I’m a sympathetic audience because cycling is a passion of mine. Anytime I have a chance to go and hang out with a bunch of other folks who enjoy cycling, well, that’s just a great day.”

Tap Take Over

Saturday, May 10
@ Hot Italian
The crew over at Bike Dog Brewing Company is primed to take over the taps at Hot Italian during BFF—a real treat since the brew dogs typically only sell their sudsy offerings in their taproom. The co-founders of West Sacramento’s first brewery will be bringing a couple of their hop-heavy suds in celebration of some of their favorite things: beer, dogs and bikes. “For us, they really kind of speak to similar passions as ours, so we really want to be involved in supporting whatever they’re doing,” says AJ Tendick, one of the co-founders. “I’ve been a long-time supporter [of BFF]. To me, it [shows] some of the best of what Sacramento has to offer.”

Ride & Seek Treasure Hunt

As the summer begins to descend upon Sacramento, so too do the myriad scavenger hunts. Sacramentans love their scavenger hunts. Now, bike lovers can join in on the fun when Nikolai Lokteff’s Ride and Seek Treasure Hunt rolls into town. While Lotkeff indicates that this is more of a cerebral side of the scavenger hunt model, the premise remains the same: teams of friends solve puzzles, riddles, word searches and crossword puzzles that lead the groups on an exploration of the various locales that make Sacramento great. “It’s not a typical scavenger hunt—you’re not hunting for soda bottles or other objects,” Lotkeff explains. “It’s not object-based but an info-based exercise. You’re solving a puzzle; a mystery.”

BFF rolls through Sacramento May 9 and 10 at Fremont Park. Check out Bicyclefilmfestival.com for a full list of films to be shown.