The second Concerts in the Park show of this year was held amidst another record breaking attendance crowd at Cesar Chavez Plaza. Three bands performed on stage while DJ Whores was featured. Once Horseneck took the stage they gave a preview of what music would be like for the evening. Raw, energetic rock was delivered and the audience loved it. Their Facebook page states their influence as being “alcohol and other awesome sh*t” and if that was the case on Friday they showcased some amazing influence. One of my favorite Sacramento bands is Lite Brite and they were at Cesar Chavez Park once again to deliver some basic hard core rock Lite Brite are like transformers on stage. The def

Let's not lie: We Sacramentans have a fairly thick skin when it comes to upstart local bands hanging it up. Sometimes they just gradually fade out, or just seem to kind of stop playing without ever really formally disbanding, or move away and set up shop in another city. Rarely do we get the opportunity for a big farewell party like the one Prieta is treating us to on Saturday, December 17 at Beatnik Studios, which will at least soften the sting of seeing this Sammie-award winning humdinger of a band bounce. In what guitarist Mat Woods calls a "totally amicable decision," the five members of Prieta have decided to hang it up after nearly five years. If you want to follow their progressi

Happy Holidays, indeed! It's not even Turkey Day yet and the local calendar is locked and loaded with sonic happenings to keep you distracted from shopping for pumpkin pies. By the way, there's plenty in here for the No-Work Club next week...but even if you are strapped to the cubicle, it's only for three days, right? Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving, Sactown. Keller Williams - Jamgrassreggaefolk or Jazzfunkreggaetechnograss? You decide. Check out more on tonight's Keller Williams show (his first in Sactucky in a decade) in this killer Q&A with Williams and Sac Press' Lindol French. If you end up looking at real estate listings after searching him, your Google skills need as much work as yo

It looks like the costume party has started early this week - who are these offensive ruffians dressed up in orange and black, racking up runs against the Fighting Nolans like notches on the bedpost after Saturday night at the Zebra? 20 in two games? Are you kidding me? Viva los Gigantes! Priority one this weekend: Games three and four. Priority number two: Halloween bar crawls, house parties and general incognito shenaniganry. Oh yeah, there's also some tunes a-brewing. Happy Halloween, Sactown. Fishbone - "You know, we would have loved it if we had been a breakout band, but the bottom line is that I’m in a band where, for the most part, I got to make exactly the music I wanted to mak

Before we get into this week’s happenings, a quick observation from this weekend’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco: Jackie Greene just continues to get better and better. It really doesn’t seem like that long ago that the wiry young singer in his early twenties was our “next big thing” here in Sacramento, when he was playing regular gigs at Harlow’s and the Torch Club – but doesn’t every town have their own soon-to-fade “next big thing” going at pretty much all times. But now, here he is, playing a main-stage closing spot at a festival that drew an estimated 600,000 people. We tried to tag him as “the next Dylan” or stuff him into the bluesman category, but give Jack

News flash from the local music scene: Middle Class Rut is looking to make “New Low” the first single from their new record. Um, wait a second. Haven’t we been down this road before? “It’s kind of a funny situation, because no one outside of Sacramento got the same treatment with that song,” said Sean Stockham, the man who pumps the wailing lead vocals on “New Low” into his drive-thru headset of a microphone while mashing the drum kit. “For Sac, we feel it’s sort of weird to do the push with ‘New Low,’” he said. “It’s like, ‘weren’t we just ambushed and barraged with this every day?’ “But it tells us that the song has the potential to do something, so we’re doing it in hopes that what

One of my favorite Sacramento bands was on the line-up for Friday’s Concerts in the Park. Musical Charis, Prieta and Lite Brite were the headline acts for the evening. We got to Cesar Chavez Park  on time (almost) to catch Musical Charis on stage. The weather, as it has been true in the past few days, was still very warm. Musical Charis had 7 members on stage. Several instruments were being used; a bass, 2-3 guitars, 2 keyboards, drums, and several lead and backup vocals. A definition of charis indicates that it means “that which affords joy, pleasure, delight sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech”. I couldn’t think of anything in that definition that did not fit while Musical Cha

 Join The Sacramento Press for Friday Night Concert in the Park at Cesar Chavez Plaza. Located between Ninth and 10th and I and J streets, this free, all-ages outdoor concert series will run every Friday until Aug.13. This week’s show runs from 5-8 p.m. and will feature local headliners Lite Brite, and include sets by Prieta and Musical Chairs. In its 19th year, Friday Night Concerts in the Park still attracts huge crowds from all walks of life. Interesting vendors, delicious food stands, great live music and the ever-popular beer garden make for a fun and inexpensive summer evening for the whole family. Stop by the Sac Press booth and pick up a free balloon for the kids, enter a raffle

The crowd's ears were ringing, which only made them crave more. The cheers were so loud you'd never have guessed there were only about 40 people in the room. Don't let the number fool you; the rock was just as big as ever. The crowd at Old Ironsides was kicking off Sacramento's own rock/power pop/indie group Lite Brite's nine-day tour, its second. Their last tour, Lite Brite headed up north to Seattle. This time, the band will accompany Musical Charis, an experimental/pop/indie band, to San Diego on its "One Way Ticket to Texas" tour. Providing a sound that has been influenced by many groups, including Radiohead and Led Zeppelin, Lite Brite captivates the audience. The three members have

On April 17, 2010 Harlow's hosted a benefit concert for Shawn Eldredge who is running for City Council in Distrct 3(Midtown and East Sacramento)... Featured artists were Punk Rock Icon Kevin Seconds(with his wife Allyson), Greenhouse(featuring Gene Smith from Kai Kln), A special reunion performance by Sacramento Blues greats The Chrome Addict's, Shotblast and headling the show to a young entranced and very enthusiastic crowd was up and coming "indie" Rockers Lite Brite. To find out more more on Shawn Eldredge's positions on the issues go to www.shawneldredge.com or find him on facebook... All photos Copyright Jay Spooner Photography

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP) has released the 2010 schedule for the Friday Night Concerts in the Park. The free, outdoor concert series will rock Cesar Chavez Plaza (10th and J streets) every Friday night from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. starting May 7 though August 13. For the latest concert news, visit www.downtownsac.org/concerts. 2010 CONCERT SCHEDULE* May 7 - Kepi Ghoulie The Kelps, Dog Party, Simpl3jack May 14 - Rick Estrin & The Nightcats Low Down Dirty Dogs May 21 - Dance Gavin Dance Phallucy, Con of Man, Desario May 28 - Mike Farrell Aaron King & The Imperials, One Eyed Rhyno June 4 - Method Echo The Nibblers, Live Manikin June 11 - The Nickel Slots Los Blazing Hangovers

"Exhilarating, like running naked through a bee storm," said music magazine NME of Middle Class Rut, or MC Rut for short. The duo headlines Friday's Concert in the Park in which Lite Brite, Consider The Thief and Early States will also play (click links for MySpace pages). MC Rut's style has been compared to Jane's Addiction and Rage Against the Machine, but the duo evokes a simpler feel than the The White Stripes, a band with similar instrumentation. Even so, the two-piece packs a fury of sound that never lets up. They recently released an eight-song EP entitled 25 Years and completed a tour of the United Kingdom. Lite Brite is a rock and roll trio that exudes a punk attitude, but can