Ian's I Love Sacramento Page

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Some of the people who have brought greater glory to Sacramento: Rob Cockerham and his cockeyed.com Web site Xeney lives here Beckler writes her wonderful Heckasac blog all about Sacramento Archbishop and Peep-Off guy Dave "Smith" is BACK! The people at www.drinkmorethinkless.com modeled their Sacto-area glossary after The Gus' "Big Fun" one, and they also know Dave "Smith." The Central Valley has a good literary tradition Tony Swofford, author of Jarhead, went to American River College and studied under the almighty Harold Raymond Carver worked the night shift as a janitor at Mercy Hospital, Sacramento, starting in 1964 and possibly to 1967. This was after, mind you, after he took Creative Writing at Chico State under John Gardner, and after he studied at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. One of his poems is titled "Our First House in Sacramento." William T. Vollmann lives somewhere in town "in a pristine brick colonial in a leafy neighborhood" (NYTimes), but hangs out in Oak Park because he's keepin' it real Columnist Herb Caen grew up at 26th and Q -- specifically, 1631 26th St. (thanks, Pieper and Kennedy!) Essayist Richard Rodriguez grew up here too, in comfy East Sac Essayist Joan Didion used to live here - some people love her, but some people hate her -- in the forties, she lived in "pre-Midtown" at 22nd and U; in the fifties, out at Hawthorne and Fair Oaks Blvd. (thanks, Pieper and Kennedy!) Kim Stanley Robinson lives in a little eco-suburb in Davis Also in Davis is Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club All those authors can only eat the dust of Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens, who occasionally lived in "various hotels" around Front and J (thanks, Pieper and Kennedy!) Kitsch art king Thomas Kinkade is only trying to capture his boyhood memories of Land Park and Fairytale Town on canvas. Transmogrified. TV host Bob Wilkins used to show bad horror and sci-fi movies on KCRA-TV. Who was watching? Little George Lucas, who wrote fan mail to Wilkins, and later made a sci-fi movie of his own. If it hadn't been for Sacramento, the world would never have seen THX-1138. Joe Carnahan has gone from working at local TV stations KPWB-31 and KREN-27 to directing "Mission: Impossible 3" (and then to getting thrown off the movie! Wha' Hoppen?) Victor Wong, beat poet, TV reporter, painter, movie star, and renaissance man, lived in Midtown. Another movie star, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, worked at Ariake Chop Suey, his family's restaurant, in Sacramento. Muckraker Lincoln Steffens grew up here, living in what became the Governor's Mansion Sharing Steffens' initials if not his politics, Leland Stanford made his fortune in Sacramento by stealing Theodore Judah's idea for where, if not how, to build a transcontinental railroad, and later became president of said railroad, as well as governor of California, undistinguished senator from California, and founder of Leland Stanford Junior University According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "the biggest celebrity in town is Timothy Busfield." I totally forgot about him. Eddie Murphy has a house in Granite Bay, I don't know why (UPDATE: now I know why! He married someone from the Pocket area!) -- and it's for sale, so don't look for him around town Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof apparently moved here, though where and why I know not. But hey, welcome! Though there may not be an actual Shari, Shari's Berries is based here. The Deftones' Chino Moreno grew up in Oak Park, so he was keepin' it real too. Like Joan Didion, he went to McClatchy High, but unlike Didion he was expelled. Like Moreno, little Cornel West was expelled too, from the third grade at Camellia Elementary School after hitting a pregnant teacher when she tried to make him recite the Pledge of Allegiance (this was the second time he'd hit a teacher for this reason). Cornel lived in the Pocket (thanks, Pieper and Kennedy!). The well-behaved Wayne Thiebaud moved to Sacramento for college, and still lives here, in Land Park. The SNR counts Robert Arneson as a local artist, since he taught at UC Davis. Whatever. They also point out that Gregory Kondos has lived and taught in Sacramento since 1927. Conservative talk radio as we know it was born in Sacramento, invented by now-forgotten and deceased Morton Downey Jr. on KFBK-AM, and taken to dizzying heights by his replacement Rush Limbaugh Before that, the now-common format of Annoying Prank DJ was also born in Sacramento, by Don Imus, who started his on-air pranking at KXOA Who else is from Sacramento -- would you believe Lisa Ling and Joan Lunden (nee "Blunden"), who was an anchor on KCRA? U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy lived in Land Park Ronald Reagan lived in the Fab Forties Serious actress Molly Ringwald is from Roseville Barbi Benton (nee Barbara Klein) is from here Everyone knows that Cake is from Sacramento, but what about Poison Ivy of the Cramps, or Suzi Gardner of L7? Adrienne Barbeau is okay, Anton Barbeau is better! Scott Miller of Game Theory and The Loud Family grew up in Carmichael The rappers in Blackalicious met at Sacramento's John F. Kennedy High School in 1987 Hot band of the moment !!! (Chik Chik Chik) is, incredibly enough, from Sacramento. To that I say, "!!!" Tommy Dunbar of the Rubinoos lives in Midtown Bob Wills (and his Texas Playboys) lived and played here Rose Melberg & Angela Loy of Tiger Trap Though they are not my faves, in fairness I must mention that the most successful band to ever come out of Sacramento is Tesla. As a fun fact, Tesla bassist Brian Wheat still lives in a Midtown Victorian house. Look for him at Nationwide! (That's a slap in the face to Mr. Fussy of Cake who decamped to Oakland after one too many locals yelled "He's going the distance!" at him. I always just walked past him in the Safeway aisles.) bands from here are as different as The Groovie Ghoulies and Papa Roach (if Vacaville counts) Kevin Seconds and his band 7Seconds not only live and play here, Kevin and Alyson run/ran one of the best clubs in town Oleander is from here too... who are they again? One of the Four Lads ("Istanbul (not Constantinople)"), James Arnold, spent the last twenty years of his life in Sacramento, giving music lessons on Howe Avenue Western Swing guitarist Jimmy Rivers Larry Tagg of Bourgeois Tagg Jackie Greene keeps getting closer and closer to fame Lee Greenwood, composer and singer of "God Bless the USA," grew up on "a farm near Sacramento" Craig_Chaquico, guitarist for Jefferson Starship (ask your parents), is from here Bands that one day might be famous, like Deathray, Las Pesadillas (posthumously), Jackpot, Low Flying Owls, and Jonah Matranga's various bands (OneLineDrawing, Furthur, &c.) Heinrich Schliemann, "father of archaelogy" and the discoverer of Troy, made his fortune as a banker in Sacramento, moving here in 1851 -- no Sacto, no Troy! Tom Hanks lived here for a while, and transferred into Sac State, but he moved a lot Comedian Brian Posehn is from here Sam Elliott, "The Stranger" in The Big Lebowski, was born here Mark Goodson, creator of many game shows including Family Feud, is from here Jennie the librarian lived here through 2005 and moderated a still-extant Sacramento Bloggers group Famous James, eighties hair-metal fan and Borders employee, who will probably get fired any day now over his anti-customer page, lives hereabouts. Mar lives/lived in the burbs but moves her journal a lot, and herself quite a bit Eric and his Midtown Web Calming Project -- it's only funny if you live there, ha ha! And then it's still not funny Local trivia: In 2003, an Austrian bodybuilder named Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger began serving as replacement Governor of California, and occasionally stays in a hotel in Sacramento Journaler Bunny lives in town: "I'm Bunny, sometimes known as HerBunnyness or Maria, and I'll probably hardly ever post. Former Sac State student, I love midtown ... I am called Maria, Bunny (it's my parent's fault), Ria, Riabear, Bunnygirl, Elvis, Miss Fidget Wiggles, short stuff, HoneyBunnySugarBear, The Great One, The Princess of Everything, and lots of other nicknames." Turn-offs include "grumpy grumpy grump grumps" and "people who take themselves way to seriously." Did I miss anyone famous? Send it here But mostly I love Sacto because my (former) love was here* *now my love is Mo Pie!