Friday, January 30, 2009

Kirkwood is steep and deep


The origin of the South Fork American is the backside of Kirkwood Resort. We'll have some solid run-off and a nice season with news that there is a fresh 3 feet of snow! Rafting trips will be awesome. California River Trips are on for 2009.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Buff Castle 2nd. Saturday!






Last Saturday night in Sacramento, our local Hip-Shack: Buff Castle threw it down with two live bands, racks of vintage clothing, vinyl records, vintage electronics, and bric-a-brac! White Fang drove down from Portland/Hood River Oregon to make the show. They "filled the space" with cowbell, small drum kit, lead guitar, and lead vocals....super fun and high energy combined with soem genuine talent...you can't hide solid musicianship. White Fang finished their set in front of a wall-to-wall crowd inside Buff Castle with owners Lizz (in her vintage W.E.T. River Trips T! and Dan-Dan (as well as their capable assistant Christian) held it all together with PBR, Humus, fruit, juice, pretzels, cheese, crackers, and a pile of Oreos (Oreos are VEGAN...'ya know!). Out back in the Buff Castle courtyard the Religious Girls from Oakland set-up and played for a packed crowd that spilled over into the alley attracting a major crowd (luckily the local Po Po got busy with a robbery suspect at the corner liquor store and a smaller crowd had also gathered at 21st and L for another show).....No issues. No Foul. The Religious Girls tore it up with incredible percussion (their drummer is better than killer!) mixed with crafted electro keyboards, gizmos, and augmented vocals. The show ended with drum heads covered with paint and spraying the crowd though some psycho beats....Big fun @ the Buff Castle!

Friday, January 2, 2009

New York has the Ball....Sacramento now has The Cube!

On a foggy New Year's eve Sacramento entered the Big Time and the ranks of "World Class" cities (at-least by the estimation of our new mayor, Kevin Johnson. With two fireworks displays (one early at 9pm and the other at midnight) over Old Sacramento, the river, and the Tower Bridge (so prized that the city painted it gold!)...the foggy night was lit-up like a gauze curtain over a Christmas tree!...it was actually surreal and oddly cool. A crowd of over 15k people looked on while I was on hand for the early show.

I then hopped on the KLR and split the traffic for a close look at the "Cube" that would descend from a rooftop at 12th and K Streets dolled-up with colorful lights and an outdoor stage and sound-system for performances by the Broadway cast of "Stomp" and a U2 cover band (yes, it is Sacramento.) The Cube was a high-tech collection of LED's capable of being programmed with over seven million color and pattern combinations while it descended from the dizzying height of 40 feet...

The organizers had planned for a crowd of three thousand; however, twelve thousand actually showed up! All in all... a nice first attempt and definitely a new tradition for Sacramento. Long-live the Cube!...just take it to a "higher level"!

Here's a link to my photos...without a fast lens, I turned to "art" for my image preservation!
http://picasaweb.google.com/liles.stephen/SacramentoBlackAndWhite02#

Happy New Year!