I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, coming of age in the late 70s. Although I was closer to San Jose than San Francisco, the musical energy many associate with the area and the time saturated both. It was a time of super groups, huge venues, big hair and… transition. But one never knew if our friends’ club band would become the next ‘overnight’ sensation. Alas, none of my friends enjoyed that sort of success, though many do enjoy making a living from their passion still to this day. Since moving to the Sacramento area eight years ago, I cannot count all the people I have met who knew or grew up with one or more members of Tesla, one band of more than a handful that did make it big. Bu

In the late 1800s, a guy by the name of Nikola Tesla was busy inventing a new kind of transformer, not realizing the level of energy his name would carry into the future. I’m not going to go into a lot of history since Tesla is a Sacramento band and most readers know who the hell these guys are. They started in the ’80s and, for the most part, were labeled a hair, metal, or glam band. As history has proven, those labels didn’t come close to describing their mix of soulful blues and metal. While many “hair” bands of the ’80s are balding, gray and pretty much forgotten, Tesla remains one of the few ’80s bands still producing great music, both collectively and as solo artists. Yes, they’ve

Sacramento's mid-town area has its very own winery, Revolution Wines. The winery is a unique place, offering a great courtyard and a wine tasting bar. Both the bar area and the courtyard have bistro tables where you can enjoy a bottle of wine or just a glass. On Friday, December 18, 2009, Revolution Wines is also hosting an incredible band, Counter Intelligence. Counter Intelligence is a local band, with members from around the Sacramento area. Although tecnically a jazz band, they play songs we all know and love.  Covered songs include: Hard Day's Night, Ease Back and Moondance.  Counter Intelligence plays a mix of danceable songs and those that you can sit back and relax to. Revolution