Something in the water: For those who rarely catch local bands unless they happen to be opening for a national act, make Nevada City’s Pinnacles an exception.
Regular concertgoers know there’s already something special in this region and its surrounding areas: Dan Elkan from Broken Bells once played in the now-defunct Them Hills; Zach Hill from Death Grips started Legs On Earth; Joanna Newsom got her start playing tiny cafes and local venues; and let’s not forget about power trio E V Kain and Jonathan Hischke.
And while there are countless other lesser-known examples we could cite without referencing Wikipedia, the best way to find out about them is to get out more often.
Pinnacles are a professional-sounding yet unsigned quartet who have practiced and perfected their craft well before ever stepping onto a stage. Now with multiple albums under their collective belt, they’re a huge draw in Nevada City and its immediate area.
Still, they’re assigned the early slots in Sacramento. Led by vocalist-guitarist Justin Hunt and guitarist-vocalist Robbie Landsburg, the band played a short but sweet opening set on Sunday at Starlite Lounge, ending with a track called “Better than the Enemy.”
Aided by the rhythm section of bassist Jesse Kinseth and drummer Zach Peach, Pinnacles’ post-rock and progressive sound works wonders in a live setting. They displayed a keen sense of dynamics and musical fortitude without sounding dated—like an early Police before that band became a stadium-sized phenomenon.
Although the duo of Harrison Mills (a.k.a. Catacomb Kid) and fellow electronic musician Clayton Knight (a.k.a. BeachesBeaches) has garnered the kind of fervent following other like-minded artists would kill for, don’t hold that against them. Since forming after college, this Seattle-based duo has released a steady stream of catchy electropop fare and with great effect. One listen to “Say My Name” or any of the other tracks on In Return, released in September 2015, should be more than ample reason to boogie on over to what will may be one of the oddest Sacramento venues of 2016. 5225 Luce Avenue, http://odesza.com.
As luck would have it, Portland-based Americana/rockgrass act Scratchdog Stringband are releasing their first full-length album and are doing a two-week tour that includes a stop in Roseville’s Bar 101 on May 13. Submerge caught up with James Rossi (fiddle, vocals) to learn more about the show and Three Times Fast, the band’s new album. “We’ve played in Sacramento only once, back in January during a weekend tour through Lake Tahoe, which was massively successful,” said Rossi. “We played Shine cafe to a full and enthusiastic house. So yes, we are fairly new in the area and looking forward to coming back. It took us the first five days of February to record the album at The Hallowed Halls, Portland’s newest top of the line recording studio. We lucked out and recorded with a freelance engineer named Hawkins Wright, who we all quickly came to regard as our very own George Martin. We’ve been together for a little more than a year and recorded all the instruments live and overdubbed all the vocals live, with no additional overdubs, to keep the album true to our developed stage sound, which is what we feel we ended up with on Three Times Fast.” Sound cool enough? This show gets started at 9:30 p.m. and is free as well. Take a listen at Scratchdogstringband.com.
Photo by Richard Just | 2015 Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. ‘Operation’ act!
The lovely ladies of Sizzling Sirens will celebrate their eighth anniversary with a show that will more than likely be remembered for years. Without getting too effusive (yeah, right), this soiree to end all soirees will have many brand new acts on their tantalizing menu. Included on the night’s ticket are such notable names as Georgia Fire, Alijah Dresden, Sass Herass, Salacious Kay, Meowie Wowie, Katy Karma, Vala Marv’elle, Ginger Snatch, Shauni Fatale, Ophelia Coeur de Noir, Laika Fox and Jessica Will. For those who’ve never attended a show, expect a lively event replete with outrageous outfits, scantily clad women and more eye candy than should be allowed in the J Street district. The party kicks off at 8 p.m. and is hosted by both Jay Siren and Kingfish (from San Francisco’s Hubba Hubba Revue). Advance tickets are $15 for general admission, $25 for cabaret seating (buy at the club to avoid service charge before the day of the show). Even if you’re not hungry for Harlow’s food fare, chances are you’ll need to cool off with some drinks. Maker’s Mark and ginger beer for me, please. More info at Houseofsizzle.com/anniversary.
Sat., May 7, 2:45 p.m., El Dorado Hills Town Center Amphitheater, no cover
While there are a number of good reasons you should attend the 13th annual El Dorado Hills Art, Beer & Wine Festival, the inclusion of Blind Pig artist Albert Cummings should top the list. For the uninitiated, this Massachusetts guitar slinger has released a handful of records since 1999 under the Swamp Yankee moniker and, of course, his own name. On his 2015 release Someone Like You, Cummings shows a mastery of the blues without sounding exactly like his influences. 4364 Town Center Boulevard in El Dorado Hills, http://albertcummings.com.
Courtyard sounds: If you haven’t felt ready to commit the funds to a concert at Mondavi Center’s Jackson Hall, note that there are other ways to enjoy the performing arts center’s programming.
One of those is the Mondavi Center’sCorin Courtyard. The early, 6:30 p.m. concerts are not only free, but they are located in a prime outdoor event space, replete with a wine and beer bar, food truck, ample shade and a marvelous sound system.
Sacramento’s own jazz songstress Vivian Lee recently held court on the stage with her able quartet and played a set of her own tunes as well as songs from Antônio Carlos Jobim, Dave Brubeck, Rodgers & Hammerstein and more.
Lee’s quartet delighted fans and newcomers alike with a set that didn’t leave anybody feeling left out. Major props for the inclusion of older fare like “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” and “Take Five.”
Lee looked aglow this particular evening, often starting songs with her lone finger snaps. Her band of seasoned musicians also added their own special swing and jazz elements. Of worthy mention was drummer Jeff Minnieweather, who played with such dynamics and finesse, one couldn’t help but stare in awe—or, as others demonstrated, film a video.
Many might assume playing an outdoor show is risky with this region’s frequent weather changes. Instead, it proved to be the perfect precursor to the later Jackson Hall show with jazz diva Cécile McLorin Salvant. It drew quite a large crowd. Not only was every table and seat taken, but many others improvised to find a good view, even taking over a staircase.
There’s just one more Corin Courtyard show until the 2016-17 season. It’s Sacramento’s indie-pop violinist Joe Kye, who will perform on Wednesday, May 11, leading into an evening with classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
My only critique of the outdoor series? Book more. Book lots more.
When it comes to the music industry, Sacramento’s Eric Rushing has done it all: a record label, recording studio, management company, publicity company and a handful of live music venues.
What began with his own obsession for attending concerts grew into 720 Records, a record label and booking venture he started in 1996. Rushing modeled 720 Records off of Rusty Nail, a small Sacramento label circa the early ’90s. It released music by seminal local acts such as Far, Funky Blue Velvet and Prayer Wheel.
In 2004, 720 blossomed into the Artery Foundation. As a full-fledged national company, Artery is now practically a household name, with showcases at major annual industry gatherings like South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
Rushing’s management roster totals more than 25 acts, including Conquer Divide, a scenecore metal outfit; Anvil, a legendary Canadian thrash band; and Alesana, a metalcore act from North Carolina. And he’s got a great team behind him, with Will Stevenson leading the management side and Shan Dan Horan, a transplant from Century Media Records, running the label, Artery Recordings.
Most Sacramento bands probably think of Rushing as the Ace of Spades guy. Though he still books the venue, he and partner Bret Bair are now employees of Live Nation, which bought Ace of Spades earlier this year. Rushing also sold his stake in local establishments like LowBrau and Tank House in order to purchase a public relations company, High Road Publicity, and a local studio dubbed Gold Standard Sounds. He and Bair maintain their two smaller venues, Goldfield Trading Post and the Boardwalk in Orangevale.
Still, there were some hiccups. For example, Rushing and Bair left their management roles at downtown’s Assembly Music Hall in the fall of 2014 due to high overhead costs, and the Randy Paragary-owned building has remained vacant ever since.
“People should know when you start a business and have a decade-long legacy, it’s not all peaches and cream,” he said.
Rushing also gets a lot of flack for his practice of having local bands sell advance tickets to play his shows. If they don’t sell, they don’t get paid.
“The scene is not what it used to be,” he says, defending his method. “I offer local bands the chance to play with national acts they would never have the chance to. If anything, selling tickets helps local bands be relevant for the show and they’ll get paid if they sell ’em.”
Regardless, Rushing’s main priority right now is his label, which is steadier than Artery Foundation. For example, some very successful acts, like The Devil Wears Prada and A Day To Remember, left his management company for bigger opportunities.
“A lot of bands have the ’grass is always greener’ mentality and end up forgetting who did the real work to get them there,” Rushing said.
What will be Rushing’s biggest legacy? It’s too early to say, but it might be his pioneering of the screamo and metalcore genres on a national level. The impact is in the numbers: Artery Recordings has sold more than 600,000 records in six years, at a time when people seemingly no longer buy music.
The cooler-than-dry-ice Cats in Space Tour is coming through Sacramento for one night. Starting at 8 p.m. (when the sun is down), people of all ages are encouraged to come fight it out to benefit the Make-A-Wish chapters of Northeastern California and Northern Nevada. This pop-up event is brought by the folks at Newmindspace, who have been doing cool stuff likes this for over 11 years. Last December, the group’s flash mob-style tactic worked and they drew over 2,000 people in San Francisco. Many good men and women lost their lives as well as little children (not really, but it sure sounds cool) after having a light sabre tear their worthless spine in half (again, not true). For the price of only $10, a catblade is yours to inflict pain upon the unsuspecting masses. A catblade is a cool weapon that lights up and says MEOW on its surface. These three-foot instruments of death (er, light) can change up to six colors. If you don’t find that the least bit cool, the staff at Submerge will take you out in the first three seconds of battle. Find out more at Catsinspacetour.com.
One listen to this 23-year-old should be more than enough reason to break down for a ticket to this Friday night’s soiree. The Florida-born singer can hang with the best of the jazz divas like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. With a voice that sounds as if it belonged to another time and place, Salvant excels at interpretations of Hammerstein, Bacharach, Bernstein and Sondheim as though the original pieces were written specifically for her. And while her 2015 album For One Love won her a Grammy in 2016 for Best Vocal Jazz Album, it’s wholly apparent she’s just getting started. 1 Shields Avenue in Davis, www.cecilemclorinsalvant.com.
Old Sac Chocolate Week (May 2–8, 2016 … does every week have a theme in Sacramento these days?) is one multi-day event that everyone with a sweet tooth should partake in. Relegated to the city streets of our most famous and frequented region of Sacramento, this event has many special nights that are equally tantalizing and, if attended, wholly fulfilling. Of worthy mention is the gathering happening at both Ten22 and Rio City Cafe deliciously dubbed “Chocolate Pairing Nights.” Sure, chocolate is one of those foods that stands on its own but, more importantly, also serves as a great companion piece for beer, wine and more. Ten22 have two beer tastings that are served alongside a marshmallow chocolate bar for only $10 while the Rio City Cafe gets crafty and delivers several, different mini tarts adjoined by your choice of port, sauvignon blanc or zinfandel for only $15. The two-hour event starts at 5 p.m. leaving just enough time to slam your beers at the former establishment and later relax and simmer with some specialty wines. You’ve been good this week and actually worked your salaried hours rather than leaving your desk to take 10 breaks a day. This one’s for you. More info and ticket link at Oldsacramento.com/special-events/chocolate.
Eddie
