This Thursday you'll have a chance to end 2010 on a good note by catching indie-rock fave Pinback at Harlow's. The heart of the San Diego band has always been Zach Smith and Rob Crow, and with an upcoming album on the horizon and to stay fresh creatively, the duo is taking a different approach to performing on their current outing. As Smith explains: "We've decided to have some fun and present our songs in a new light. Instead of playing our songs the traditional way by having a backup band play all of our extra parts we thought it would be entertaining and fresh for just the two of us to play live. The idea is to present our music at times in a more broken down manner very similar sound

When children are brought into this world, the universal hope for them is a loving, supportive, healthy life, with loving parents, a good education, and every need met with the utmost satisfaction. The sad truth is that even in our own Sacramento community, children are placed into the foster care system. Child abuse, neglect, drug addiction, and poverty are only a few of the nightmares faced by many young members of our city. These kids never asked to be in these situations nor do they have much of a say as to what happens to them including where they live or where they go to school. This is where Sacramento Child Advocates comes in! They have Given a voice and protected the rights of ove

Sacramento’s city auditor is exploring the idea of creating a whistle-blower hotline for City Hall. City Auditor Jorge Oseguera told the city’s audit committee on Tuesday that he was talking to City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office about the idea. The audit committee is composed of City Council members Lauren Hammond, Robbie Waters, Ray Tretheway and Steve Cohn. Whistle-blower hotlines are “a common topic right now in the auditing community,” Oseguera said on Wednesday. The plan is in its early stages, Oseguera said, and no details have been established yet on how the hotline would work or when it would start operating. In a Tuesday e-mail, Teichert said she could say only that the pl

   Last summer, I went on a road trip of epic proportions. I traveled 22,000 miles over the course of 139 days, hitting 36 states along the way.  During my trip, I went to a variety of music festivals, including some of the monsters, such as All Points West, Lollapalooza, Gathering of the Vibes and Phish 8.      My favorite of them all, though, was probably a smaller one called Camp Bisco, in Mariaville, N.Y.  Camp Bisco is put on by The Disco Biscuits, and though I really enjoyed the headliners, what set the festival apart was the smaller acts playing throughout the day and late into the night.    That weekend was my first exposure to many acts that I now love:  Dr. Dog, Brother's Pas

Mayor Kevin Johnson announced he would be travelling everywhere from Sacramento Elementary Schools to New York City in a press conference Tuesday. Johnson made it clear that education is on his long term agenda. Johnson visited Oak Ridge and Sequoia elementary schools for their first day of school Tuesday to participate in back-to-school rallies. He also announced his desire to take a more active role in schools, perhaps even creating an "education liaison" position. The position would help work on five issues of reform for city's schools announced in his recent White Paper Document: improving school accountability, increasing school choices, supporting educators, engaging and empowering