There are very few known details about the closing of the Hard Rock Café downtown. Manager Kim Templeton deferred answering questions to a public relations firm. That firm would not answer phone calls. According to a Sacramento Bee article, it will close March 27, but is that before or after the private event listed the same day on the Hard Rock website as "Morgan's Bat Mitzvah?"  One thing is for sure. With the Hard Rock closing, Sacramento is losing several important things: a restaurant, a music venue, a 36-foot guitar with neon highlights and a small museum chock full of Rock 'n' Roll memorabilia. Not to mention an employer. The following is a photo essay depicting some of Hard Rock

The first scheduled concert of Sacramento's 'Concerts in the Park' series may or may not occur tonight depending on the rain, according to concert organizer Jerry Perry.   The bands Sol Peligro, Retrograde Revolution and La Noche Oskura are scheduled tonight to play the first of 15 series lined up for this summer's concerts, held every Friday evening at Cesar Chavez Plaza. If it rains, Perry said the series will begin next Friday, and an extra concert will be scheduled Friday, August 14, to make up for tomorrow’s cancellation.   This is the 18th year that the Downtown Sacramento Partnership has hosted the concerts, which are free and open to all ages. The plaza is located at 10th and J

When Tesla the band launched nationally in 1987 on powerhouse label Geffen Records, few thought that Sacramento’s most successful rock export would still be rocking more than 20 years later. That was even more true when the band broke up in 1995, victims of their own rock star egos and chemical dependencies. Even after reuniting in 2000, some wags dismissed the band’s return as the mere desire to cash in on a well-known name from the classic rock era, which said naysayers considered completely played out. What a joke, they said. But Brian Wheat has had the last laugh. Bassist and manager of the band he co-founded with guitarist Frank Hannon in 1982, Wheat has worked for this decade to r

It was 9:00 am when I got the call. “Sonny, it’s Abe. Hey, you want to play guitar for a session with Brian Wheat and me? The session is around noon today. We’re doing a Lennon song and it would be great if you could do it. I’d really appreciate it.” Hmmm, let me think for a second. Play guitar at a fancy recording studio with multi-platinum Grammy-winning rock star Gods or sit in front of a computer at work. Hmmmmm, tough choice. “I’d be honored,” I told Abe. That was how I came to be a part of creating this rendition of John Lennon’s classic reaction to the Vietnam war, Happy Xmas (War Is Over). So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun O