As I walked into Harlow's, I tried to push aside preconceived notions about the kind of band that does an all-ages show at a nightclub (strike one), has a Facebook page that insists they're not a band but rather "a movement” (strike two and three) and inserts a period into the middle of their name. Portugal. The Man was good, though. And so was their opening musician, Telekinesis. Telekinesis is the alter ego of singer, drummer, songwriter (etc.) Michael Benjamin Lerner, who is accompanied by Cody Votolato and Jason Narducy while on tour. Lerner has worked extensively with Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, and the influence was easy to recognize in Telekinesis’ song “Rust.” Tho

After their Cinco de Mayo performance at Harlow’s, the members of Portugal. The Man were wandering just outside the club, signing posters, hugging people, hanging out. After reading through a lot of PR crap in researching the band, I was convinced they would be unapproachable. Or perhaps, more like, I was convinced I didn’t want to approach them. Luckily fellow Sac Press contributor Lindol French and I ran into Zach Carothers, Wasilla, Alaska, native and PTM bassist. With a Pabst Blue Ribbon shoved into his shirt’s front pocket, Carothers happily offered us cigarettes and some interesting info, especially concerning former Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin and her involvement/non-involvement in t

Sudden darkness, strobe lights and a disco ball were probably the last things one would expect to find at a show as tightly driven as the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, who performed Tuesday night at Harlow's to a full house for the second time in two months. It took a while for the crowd to arrive, but the band was punctual and they opened their first set with a well-received hat trick: “Lizzie Mae,” "New Minglewood Blues” and “Tulsa Yesterday.” Front man and guitar wizard Chris Robinson is touring heavily throughout California on this next leg of the schedule with quite a colorful tumble of organ-grinders: bassman Mark "Muddy" Dutton (LA Guns), George Sluppick on skins (City Champs, Alber

Here are some of the many music events happening in the Sacramento area this week. For more detailed information on these events and many more go to www.eMusiConnect.com. Sacramento Area Concerts & Music Events A Grand Night For Singing at Cosmopolitan Cabaret on 1000 K Street in Sacramento. Continues WED-SUN. Show times are at 8PM or 7:30PM with some 2PM matinees. Tickets are $33.00 - $48.00. Friday Night Concerts In The Park at Cesar Chavez Plaza on 10th & J Street in Sacramento will feature Tatooed Love Dogs - Aaron King & The Imperials - Wahnderlust. 5:30PM - 9PM. Free/Beer Garden 21+ Saturday, May 7th: JAMMIES Evening of Classical Music at Mondavi Center Jackson Hall on UC Davis C

Well, can we say summer has officially teed off? Concert in the Park week one is on Friday – that’ll pretty much seal the deal. Tattooed Love Dogs kick off the fun this week, check out the rest of the full season schedule here. When you’re done with that… Portugal. The Man – This is a dizzying band – both in terms of the way streams of colorful instrumental hooks come kaleidescoping out of the amps like some sort of sonic Jackson Pollock, but also in terms of the sheer amount of music they keep cranking out. Most record companies will tell you that it’s tantamount to industry suicide by overload to release a new album every year – but what the hell do they know, anyway? 2007 was their c

Here are some of the many music events happening in the Sacramento area this week. For more detailed information on these events and many more go to www.eMusiConnect.com. Sacramento Area Concerts & Music Events Friday, April 29th: Sacramento Ballet presents Beer & Ballet "Black Out Swan" at Sacramento Ballet Studios on 1631 K Street in Sacramento. Event begins at 7PM. Tickets are $35.00. A Grand Night For Singing at Cosmopolitan Cabaret on 1000 K Street in Sacramento. Continues WED-SUN. Show times are at 8PM or 7:30PM with some 2PM matinees. Tickets are $33.00 - $48.00. Friday, April 29th: Pablo Zeigler: Beyond Tango at Mondavi Center Jackson Hall on UC Davis Campus. Concert at 8PM. Ti

So I hear there's some sort of a wedding going on early Friday morning? Yeah, well, we've got some music going on too, just as an FYI... The Builders & the Butchers - In a music scene bursting at the seams with raw, albeit often streamlined indie rock, folk and pop talent, Portland is a hard place to make yourself stand out - especially with the Dream of the '90s still alive. From their jovially twisted cover art to a sound that fits the same description, say hello to Neil Young's journey to Hell's big top. At their hear, Builders and the Butchers are a bluegrass band, but that core influence has been compressed in a vice and inserted into a pegboard of dark folk and inventive indie rock

The atmosphere was good. Harlow’s was dim, but not dark, and the stage lighting cast a tint of green throughout the club. The Harley White Jr. Orchestra was on the floor, playing an upbeat jazz number to signal the beginning of the show (and though there ended up being a 15-minute delay, no one seemed to notice). Sizzling Sirens were running around everywhere, attractive women dotting the crowd in rhinestone and fringe, lingerie-inspired getups. “I Love You Mary Jane! Cannabis Cabaret” was performed by the Sizzling Sirens Burlesque Experience late last Friday night. The show was described on the Sirens’ website as “a one-of-a-kind tribute themed to expose a variety of Mary Jane’s manifest

Big thanks to Rik Keller for the photos from the show. To see more photos, check out Rik Keller photography here.   Are the Devil Makes Three the most local non-local band in history? It’s hard to know how to refer to this wily trio “from” the Dirty Five-Thirty (that’s area code speak for Davis), as they currently call Davis their home, but originally identified themselves as a Santa Cruz band – and that’s not to mention the rumors I hear of a “Vermontster” tattoo cascading the chest of Cooper McBean. But if you judge a band’s locality by the devout rowdiness that follows them into a hometown show, Thursday night’s sold out hootenanny at Harlow’s (their second in six months here in the

It is a rare treat to see a band play at a venue that they have long since outgrown. On a tour filled with dates at places like the Fillmore (capacity: 1,250) and Montbleu Resort (1,400), bluegrass behemoth Yonder Mountain String Band stopped in Sacramento for the first time ever and played a nearly packed house at our very own Harlow's. Capacity? 300 and change. It was amazing. "We're gonna have some fun tonight!" frontman and mandolinist Jeff Austin proclaimed a few songs into the first of two rollicking sets. "This is the most intimate show we've played in a long, long time." As you might expect, this proclamation was met with an enormous, prideful roar from the gathered throng. I

 This Sunday Harlow's nightclub continues it's spring-long blitzkrieg of High Sierra Music Festival performers, once-and-future, with Colorado's pied-pipers of bluegrass rock, Yonder Mountain String Band. "Yonder Mountain String Band has always played music by its own set of rules.  Bending bluegrass, rock and countless other influences that the band cites, Yonder has pioneered a sound of their own."  Yonder has been a stalwart on the festival circuit for more than a decade, playing their unique brand of feel-good jamgrass for massive crowds at Bonnaroo, Rothbury, Austin City Limits, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and their own Northwest String Summit. I, and about 200,000 of my closest f

YouTube's Digitour rolled into Sacramento Thursday night, planting its two gigantic tour buses on J Street for an early show at Harlow's. The Digitour features a menagerie of the ubiquitous site's biggest musical celebrities (over 1 billion views between ‘em!). Now, I consider myself fairly Internet-savvy for a 32-year-old. I mean, I surf the interwebs ... a lot. My myriad of Facebook friends, many of whom I've never met, would probably say too much. I have a blog that I haven't updated in eight months. I know about both "Charlie the Unicorn" and "Charlie bit my finger." I've created numerous memes of varying quality. I've even had a taste of Internet celebrity. I'm plugged in. Or so I

Here are some of the many music events happening in the Sacramento area this week. For more detailed information on these events and many more go to www.eMusiConnect.com. Sacramento Area Concerts & Music Events April 15th - April 24th: Broadway Sacramento presents Frankenstein from April 13th - 24th. The Sacramento Community Center Theatre on 1301 L Street in Sacramento. Show Times Vary. Tickets are $15.00 - $52.00. A Grand Night For Singing at Cosmopolitan Cabaret on 1000 K Street in Sacramento. Continues WED-SUN. Show times are at 8PM or 7:30PM with some 2PM matinees. Tickets are $33.00 - $48.00. Friday, April 15th: Rose Royce & Evelyn Champagne King at Thunder Valley Resort Pano Hal

Who ordered the Fixin’ to Die sandwich with the side of public romance and a Greene salad? Order up! Wednesday night’s G. Love & Special Sauce show at Harlow’s was filled with several intrigues and surprise moments, not the least of which was to watch how traveled front man Garrett “G. Love” Dutton attacked his new country-blues repertoire in concert for the first time on tour. But first, what could be considered the sweetest and possibly the slickest marriage proposal of all time has to be addressed. It was just that cool of a moment, even though it’s contrary to this reporter’s standard policy of addressing the music first and leaving the human circus for later. Dammit, I’ve been spe

or·gone n. A universal life force, a cosmic unit of energy, the creative force in nature. Orgone n. A banging nine piece soul/funk ensemble from Los Angeles. A staple on the festival circuit (High Sierra Music Fest, Moe.down, South by Southwest, Jazzfest, to name a few) Orgone has opened for the likes of Al Green and Sharon Jones, and toured with the Roots and Greyboy Allstars. "With a rooted sense of funk, soul, afrobeat, deep rhythms and an intimate understanding of dj culture as well as each others' individual talents, Orgone seamlessly slides through multiple styles and dynamic performances. The group continuously injects whatever they play with a heavy brand of raw funk power." (or

It's Wednesday (as I prepare your weekly Rundown), and all I can think about is some G. Love! "I cherish the moment when I get the lucky chance/ To sing my song and let the funky people dance/ make it last. Sonic blasts move past fast fly/ Outta speaker's sneakers stomp to the rhythm that will romp/ Let the wild rumpus start cause it just can't stop." I'll have you covered with a recap of the show, but for now, let's look ahead to a fine week of shows. Sactown's got sauce! Interpol - Loyal Rundown readers may remember a few weeks back when Lindol French and I were musing about the overrated hipster spectacle that is Coachella - but we agreed that the one benefit of having such a festiva

Friday night your Sacramento River Cats hosted the Tacoma Rainiers in the second game of their season-opening four-game series. Though the air was warmer than it had been during Thursday night's opener, the home team's bats were much, much colder. Blake Beavan and four Tacoma relievers combined to hold the River Cats to just four hits while striking out 13 in a 3-1 Rainiers victory. Cesar Jimenez (1-0, 1.2 IP, 3Ks) picked up the win. The Rainiers wasted no time getting to Sacramento starter Guillermo Moscoso. Dustin Ackley led off the game with a single to right, Greg Halman reached base on a fielder’s choice, and then Matt Tuiasosopo crushed a ball that center fielder Matt Carson couldn

When Garrett “G. Love” Dutton and I were on the phone back in early March, ruminating about life, music, career, and the album that has appeared to rejuvenate a steady albeit increasingly stagnant career, G. brought up a recent concert in Japan, and the reactions of the people there to his new album. At this point, the horrific tragedy of the earthquake and resulting tsunami hadn’t happened yet. Here’s hoping that music can provide a tiny bit of reprieve from the harsh realities left in the wake of the tragedy - as long as the title of G’s new record isn’t taken too seriously. “They’re real literal over there,” G. said with a chuckle. “They were all asking me ‘what is Fixin’ to Die?’” “

Here are some of the many music events happening in the Sacramento area this week. For more detailed information on these events and many more go to www.eMusiConnect.com. Sacramento Area Concerts & Music Events A Grand Night For Singing at Cosmopolitan Cabaret on 1000 K Street in Sacramento. Continues WED-SUN. Show times are at 8PM or 7:30PM with some 2PM matinees. Tickets are $33.00 - $48.00. Friday, April 8th: YoYo Ma with The Silk Road Ensemble at Mondavi Center Jackson Hall on UC Davis Campus. Concert at 8PM. Tickets are $53.00 - $93.00. Friday, April 8th: Bo Bice at Thunder Valley Resort - Pano Hall 1200 Athens Avenue in Lincoln. Concert at 8PM. Tickets are $25.00 - $35.00. Satur

Chris Robinson Brotherhood played a show at Harlow's on Tuesday night in front of an exuberant and packed house. CRB consists of the eponymous once and future Black Crowes frontman, Neal Casal (Ryan Adams) on guitar, Adam MacDougall (Black Crowes) on keys, George Sluppick (Robert Walter's 20th Congress, JJ Grey and Mofro) on drums and Mark "Muddy" Dutton (Burning Tree) on bass. This was the eighth show on their spring-long pilgrimage throughout the Golden State, and I went into it not really knowing what to expect (other than a great show).  As of this writing, youtube only has two videos of CRB, and one of them is a Black Crowes song.  I arrived at Harlow's ten minutes before 9pm, and