Thank you, Joel Nathaniel Cummins, for hitting the nail on the head. “Thanks for making us feel like it’s South Bend back in about 2000,” Umphrey’s McGee’s keyboard player proclaimed when the band stepped back on stage for the evening’s encore, a funky take on “A Fifth of Beethoven.” In a room filled with predominantly devout followers of the road raging jam band, there was a palpable buzz throughout Harlow’s on Sunday evening not only about the band’s first ever visit to Sacramento, but about seeing them in such a small joint. Like this reporter, many folks had caught their show the night before at Oakland’s sprawling Fox Theatre. Both shows were stellar examples of this band’s unique

If you’re really bored (or a total setlist nerd who likes to look for cheeky cover songs), take a moment to peruse the meticulously curated archives of Umphrey’s McGee touring history. With a catalog of shows that numbers in the triple digits each year since 2000, you’ll find one California city that’s noticeably absent from any year in their history. Any guesses? Well, you’re not reading a news site called the Stockton Press right now, are you? They’ve tap danced around us before (San Francisco, Truckee, Tahoe, Chico, Santa Cruz), but Sunday’s show at Harlow’s will indeed be the increasingly popular jam jockeys’ first show in Sactown. Not only that, but if you look even closer at that t

Nothing says “welcome home” quite like a day spent haggling over registration late fees at the DMV, where excuses are rarely valid and seldom accepted. Tim Jones had a pretty good one. “I guess I could have given them our touring schedule,” Jones, one of Truth & Salvage Co.’s four frontmen/songwriters said with a laugh. “I was home for like four weeks in April but I didn’t get the notice – I haven’t been in town literally for six months.” For the record, they did indeed rescind Jones’ $75 fine. Welcome to L.A. (as the song goes). To say that Truth & Salvage Co.’s touring schedule for the last year as been “busy” is a bit like saying that a politician named “Weiner” texting out photos o

Are you sitting down? I've got some news. You should probably just grab a seat.     In July, I will be moving to Nashville, Tenn. Stop it. Please. Don't cry. It's not you. It's me. You're an angel, a snowflake. You're gonna make someone very happy one day. I'm going to miss you at least as much as you miss me. Probably more. Are we OK? You're composed? It's all good? Good. You know what I'm gonna miss more than you? Harlow's. Yeah, Harlow's. The nightclub.     ‘Cause it's awesome? To say that I like Harlow's would be a gross understatement. I used to get my mail sent to Harlow's. A little more than a year ago I went to my first show at the venerable J Street m

Five bucks. It sure doesn't go as far as it used to. What follows is a short list of things that you can purchase for $5: 1.25 gallons of gas 1.33 gallons of milk 3.875 songs on iTunes 2.86 tacos from Chando’s or 4 from Lalo's (Lalo's are better anyways) 1 foreign or microbrew at Streets of London, if it's happy hour A large white mocha or caramel macchiato or pumpkin latte or whatever the hell the kids are drinking these days .8333 $5 foot-longs from Subway ($5 foot-longs actually cost $6. It's tough all over.) A Sunday Chronicle and a bagel with butter (maybe) 3 pictures of this chick with the slogan of your choice written on her face 1 picture of that same slogan on a piece

The first time a band plays a gig in a new town can be a dicey proposition.  It often takes a show, or three, for a band to build up the fanbase that they deserve.  That first inroad into uncharted territory often results in half-filled venues without much intrinsic energy. Thursday night, Harlow's hosted not one but two bands making their first ever Sacramento appearances: Duluth, Minnesota's Trampled by Turtles and Nashville, Tennessee's The Apache Relay.  If you didn't know any better, you might have assumed that both bands had been playing here for years. The venue, owing in large part to recent triumphant appearances by TBT at High Sierra and Coachella, and in very small part to t

High Sierra Music Festival 2010 was one of the highlights of my young life, and one of the highlights of High Sierra Music Festival 2010 was Trampled by Turtles. So, by the transitive property, Trampled by Turtles effin rock, and you'd be a fool not to check out the Minnesota thrashgrass maestros when they visit Harlow's Thursday night.  "Yes, you in the back, in the "Beck" t-shirt?" "It's Billy. What, the Hell, is Minnesota thrashgrass?" "Well, Billy, I'm glad you asked. Minnesota thrashgrass is bluegrass, as played by the AK47-weilding future viking straddling the space unicorn on the side of this van." "Could you extrapolate on that a bit?" "Sure can Billy! TBT are a classic five

The Sacramento Press has close to 2,000 contributors signed up on our site to voluntarily write articles. Without them, our site would fail to exist. Among this group, there is a small core of writers and photographers whom we work closely with on a weekly basis. These contributors go above and beyond by taking assignments from us, having their articles copy edited and making us very proud as they represent us in the community. To just tell you how great they are isn’t enough. So we’ll show you a tiny snippet of why we love them in the six videos below. Without further ado, we present to you six of our fabulous top community contributors.   Bill Burgua Julia Marino David

After their Cinco de Mayo performance at Harlow’s, the members of Portugal. The Man were wandering just outside the club, signing posters, hugging people, hanging out. After reading through a lot of PR crap in researching the band, I was convinced they would be unapproachable. Or perhaps, more like, I was convinced I didn’t want to approach them. Luckily fellow Sac Press contributor Lindol French and I ran into Zach Carothers, Wasilla, Alaska, native and PTM bassist. With a Pabst Blue Ribbon shoved into his shirt’s front pocket, Carothers happily offered us cigarettes and some interesting info, especially concerning former Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin and her involvement/non-involvement in t

“Baseball is a slow, sluggish game, with frequent and trivial interruptions, offering the spectator many opportunities to reflect at leisure upon the situation on the field: This is what a fan loves most about the game.” –Edward Abbey First off, let me get this out of the way: Your Sacramento River Cats continued Sactown's ownage of all things Anaheim with Tuesday night's 2-0 victory over the Salt Lake Bees, the AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of that town in Orange County that tried to steal the Kings. Anthony "Home" Recker, who extended his hitting streak to seven games with a second inning double, had a hand in both River Cats runs. After Adrian Cardenas led off the home half