There’s nothing cooler than ordering a beer at the bar, walking over to the jukebox, and plunking a quarter into it. Especially when there’s no music playing at all. When the song kicks on, an atmospere is being created. The old school jukebox in Sacramento is becoming an endangered species. Replaced by the internet jukebox, or the “Downloaders” as Irene Doner, owner of the Tallac Lounge calls them. Can you imagine Fonzie banging his fist on an internet jukebox? Not cool. Bad music can ruin a good time at a cool bar. You’re sipping a pint of Newcastle and some drunk chick in a yellow Juicy tracksuit dominates the room with five songs in a row from Pink. Lets get this party started, right?

Shady Lady Saloon will add a new white whiskey to its menu called Original Moonshine Clear Corn Whiskey, and to help introduce it, a cocktail competition will be held at 6 p.m. Monday. White whiskey is different from other whiskey in that it hasn’t been aged in the barrel, or if it has, it’s not for very long, Shady Lady co-owner Jason Boggs said. There are no guidelines for the competition – just that the bartenders use the Moonshine corn-based whiskey as the main spirit. Three judges will decide which cocktails win first, second and third prizes, with rewards of $500, $300 and $200, respectively. The three judges are Chris Dooley, head spirits director  bar manager at Ella  L Wine Lo

Tonight, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP) is adding a new twist to the Friday Night Concerts in the Park. Concertgoers can now compete for prizes in a series of challenges and receive special Concert Deals at local businesses on their mobile phones via the SCVNGR app. Participants start by downloading the free SCVNGR app for iPhone or Android. To play, look for the “Friday Night Concerts” trek and complete a series of quick concert-themed challenges to earn points. Challenges consist of snapping pictures, answering trivia questions, and social check-ins by bumping phones with friends. Challenges will rotate each week throughout the concert series giving players more chances to wi

A few more changes are in the works for the Second Saturday Art Walk in an effort to reduce problems and increase the focus on art, city and business leaders said Wednesday. The changes will take effect in April, when the event's crowds are expected to grow as warm weather returns to Sacramento. The city's Second Saturday safety team has come up with some modifications in the wake of a fatal shooting in September 2010. The biggest change is a requirement that vendors, musicians with amplified sound and other street performers who are set up on public property – primarily sidewalks or closed streets – operate from 4 - 8 p.m. Live music is part of a growing music scene that has emerged on

For some time now, K Street has been wavering between its past life as a Sacramento hot spot and its future as a wilting has-been. The busy street is clearly an institution from 9 to 5, but despite the Crest and the constant stream of events, city planners have been struggling to pull in a real evening crowd. The news is out that a team of fairytale Bay Area developers has joined forces and created Dive Bar, Pizza Rock and District 30. This nightclub-pizza-bar trio hopes to entice the masses for some good old K Street entertainment and after-hours. But is this Bay Area vibe a bit of a stretch in grabbing the attention of the average Midtown resident? Even worse is the grueling task of con

Using seasonal ingredients, robust liquors and festive garnishes, bars across Midtown are preparing to fight the bitter cold by adding some new innovative concoctions and classic holiday favorites to their menus. Designed to warm the belly and lift the spirits, here’s a look at some of Sacramento’s tastiest winter cocktails. Shady Lady Saloon 1409 R St. Hot Buttered Rum $8 1 pound softened butter ½ pound brown sugar ½ pound super fine white sugar 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons ground cardamom 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 teaspoons ground clove 1 ½ ounces dark rum Hot water (enough water to fill an Irish coffee glass or mug) Mix that by h

“Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.” ~W.C. Fields     The 18th Amendment, which banned the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol in the United States, was ratified on Jan. 16, 1919. As a result, drinking in the United States stopped almost completely. Drunk and disorderly behavior went the way of the dodo, crime rates sunk like a turd in a jug and America became an idyllic utopia full of stolid, sober, upright men and women who had finally been saved from that liquid Mephistopheles which had held them captive for so long. "Is this Heaven?" people were known to ask one another. "No, it's just government-mandated Prohibition" s

The key to successful and safe hip hop events in Sacramento is to focus on the music, an expert panel said Tuesday. Sacramento needs club owners and promoters to give hip hop artists doing good music a chance – working together rationally to overcome stereotypes or solve problems. What the city doesn't need is people who bring turf wars or personal drama into clubs, said hip hop artists, promoters and a historian gathered at the Crest Theatre. One panelist, rapper B-Smoove, acknowledged that problems can arise if gang enemies who normally don't cross paths suddenly wind up at the same club. He’s established a reputation for hosting problem-free hip hop nights by reminding his audiences t

Nightclub safety will be discussed at upcoming workshops offered by local business organizations. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Midtown Business Association and Old Sacramento Business Association are hosting two sessions this month.They are part of a series aimed at educating bar and restaurant owners and staff about their responsibilities, as well as state laws and city regulations. The free workshops are open to businesses, DJs and club promoters in Old Sacramento, downtown and Midtown. Rapper B-Smoove and other experts in Sacramento's hip hop scene recently agreed to lead a panel on managing hip hop nights so that they stay free from the violence that shut down clubs like Ele

Cancelation of the long running Exotic Erotic Ball in San Francisco? Are Sacramento's Exotic Ball ticket sales going to be down due to the economy? It seems as Halloween is upon us many Sacramentins are looking for more economical night time parties this year and I thought I would take the time to give out some information on some upcoming night time events in the Sacramento area that wont break your wallet. Saturday Night: The 5hundy.net / calpubcrawl.com group will be having there annual pub crawl starting in midtown, then snaking its way into Old Sacramento. The Crawl starts at 6.30 at Shady Lady and ending in Old Sacramento at River City Saloon  & Vega's.  Details at http://www.ca

If you aren’t one of the lucky fans who will actually be at the 2010 World Series, then you’ll probably be like the rest of us rooting for the Giants at local watering holes. Don’t worry though, there are more than enough flat-screens and drink specials to go around. So pull up a stool, grab a beer, and pick one of the places below to cheer on the Giants!   Basic, 112 Pacific St., Roseville 5 flat-screen TVs $1 shots every time the Giants score Brew it Up, 801 14th St. 4 HD flatscreen TVs, 2 additional CRT TVs in bar World Series specials: $4 3 Olives flavored vodka cocktails $3 Kraken dark rum and Cokes $10 64-oz pitchers of Brewery Fest beer Buffalo Wild Wings, 6301 Sunrise Blvd., C

Can there be anything better on a mid-October Friday night than some smooth, mellow jazz music conveniently placed in a stylishly intimate club? If you're underage – probably. But for those applicable, the show will be about the genius of jazz. Collaborating with orchestras including The Sacramento Philharmonic, selling out concerts and Jazz festivals across America and Europe, The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, featuring Daniel and Chris Brubeck, will be filling up the evening with plenty of reasons to ditch out on Netflix and that cheap bottle of wine. These versatile musicians, accompanied by guitarist Mike Demicco and pianist Chuck Lamb, have been received nationally for their contagious

Sacramento’s “hospitality zones” became classrooms Thursday night. Nearly two dozen people visiting Sacramento for the California Downtown Association’s 2010 annual conference took a walking “Nighttime Economy Tour” through parts of Old Sacramento, downtown and Midtown. Most in the group help manage downtown business districts. Stopping in bars from Vega’s at Old Sacramento’s historic waterfront to de Vere’s Irish Pub near 15th and L streets, people learned best practices, as well as what to avoid, to successfully set up and manage hospitality districts – concentrations of bars, restaurants, café-lounges and other entertainment businesses. Officials with cities and business improvement

Sacramento isn't the only city grappling with violence and other problems at special events. Chicago has had similar problems with festivals such as the Taste of Chicago, the city's biggest special event. The Taste draws about 3 million people to lakefront Grant Park for the 10-day summer festival each year. The Camellia City can take some cues from the City of Big Shoulders. Chicago Police and the Mayor's Office of Special Events, which runs the event with help from other departments, constantly fine-tune operations for the Taste to handle problems as they emerge. Several shootings have occurred near the Taste in the last seven years. Three teens were stabbed in a gang fight near the e

 Dear "Cheaters", There is no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out:  I've been seeing someone else.  I want you to know that I'll always have love for you.  When I was new to town, you took me in, and I'll never forget that.  We'll always have Oregon basketball; who knows, maybe we can ring in the new arena together next fall. You need to understand that it's not you, it's me.  Please, don't cry.  Stop it.  You're a still wonderful bar, I've just found someone I'm more compatible with.   It's been going on a few weeks now. I wanted to watch the Giants game and grab a beer, but it was raining, and I didn't want to go all the way down Folsom to do it. I'd noticed this plac

You may have wanted to get a margarita at Brickside or Novo in Old Sacramento recently and found you couldn't. Here's what we found: Liquor licenses for both were suspended by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Novo's was suspended March 2 for not serving food, a condition of the license, said Lori Ajax, administrator of the Sacramento ABC office. Novo, 926 2nd St., had been rebranded from Tunel 21, which had been operated by Vlade Divac, his wife Ana and her sister, Jelica Orbovic. Orbovic took over operations when the Divacs left Sacramento. Novo's license suspension was lifted last week after Orbovic got the restaurant up and running, Ajax said. The establishmen

With its remodel nearly finished, The Golden Bear is expected to host a grand unveiling as early as St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday. Owners Jon Modrow and Kimio Bazett said they hope to have the work done by Monday. But the bar in the converted house at 2326 K St. must still undergo final inspections from the city and county, so the exact date for a reopening party has not been set. Crews were busy Thursday completing renovation of the kitchen, bathrooms and an enclosed, covered back patio. Aqua couches, white tables and modern light fixtures with dimmers have been installed in the back room to create a clean, light ambiance, free of artwork. The idea is to showcase people "at their best,

In the two and a half weeks that I've been a Sacramentan, I've discovered many things that I like.  Some of these things I have included in my series of "Discovering Sacramento" articles.  I really like taco trucks. I like sports bars in general, and Sneakers in particular.  I like the Garden Highway, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to like the Virgin Sturgeon.  But there are a lot more things that I like, which haven't made it into my articles.  With this fact in mind, I have decided to begin a new storyline.  I'm calling it "Stuff I Like".  I'm going to try and keep these posts brief and to the point.  This is what I like, heres why, badda bing, badda boom. Short attention span readin

        Hi, my name is Lindol, and I am a sportsaholic.  It's been 15 minutes since my last fix.  It was an Oregon Duck basketball game, possibly my favorite of them all.  We (I graduated from the U of O in 2001, kind of by accident, but that's a story for another time) beat UCLA at home.  If there is one thing I love more than a victory for one of my teams, its a victory for one of my teams over a team from Los Angeles. BEAT LA.   I am a die hard Oregon football fan, I almost cried when "we" got smoked in Boise the first game of the season this year.  I couldn't bear to watch the end, so I saved myself the misery of watching the Legarrette Blount meltdown live.  Of course, I couldn't avoi

  "You moved where?"    "Sacramento"  "Why?"         Sacramento is not thought of very highly by a lot of Bay Area-ites.  I'm not entirely sure why.  I suppose many cannot separate the town from the stink wafting up from the State Assembly and Capital.  Politics as a whole is repugnant to your average person, and California's is especially loathsome. It's an unfortunate metonymy, "Sacramento" for the sludge that leaks out of the State Assembly, but it is to be expected.  When one considers "Washington DC", its a rare soul who thinks of the Smithsonian first and the politics second.   I grew up in Menlo Park, decidedly Bay Area-centric.  In the circles I came of age in, Sacramento wasn't