Edible Crawl For A Cure: Cystic Fibrosis & MidtownGrid

Photo By Rebecca Knoblauch

Photo By Rebecca Knoblauch

Photo By Rebecca Knoblauch

Photo By Rebecca Knoblauch

Photo By James Morales






By Aaris A. Schroeder
October 25, 2007

Travel downtown on Saturday, October 20 and one would see over 700 people walking around in groups of five to thirty people, bag in one hand, drinking cup in another. The official Edible Crawl For a Cure is to benefit Cystic Fibrosis, a benefit to help people with a crippling disease. Midtown Grid was there to back the event.

The event was a success since only 500 people were expected to sign up and over 700 were on the crawl. The benefit brought in thousands of dollars for a cause. Crawlers walked Downtown Sacramento or what people now refer to as "The Grid," visiting several locations.

Each Team was headed by an "Ale Captain." UBO Magazine was one of the teams with roughly 13 people tagging along. Three of which added on 'mid-crawl' and one of which ran ahead to another group. Obviously the crawl was bringing in in people due to the publicity on the streets and everyone was definitely excited about the walk ahead.

Butch N Nellies, Tamaya's Sushi & Grill, Cervanets, Stone Grill & Bar, Rubicon Brewing Co., L Wine Lounge & Urban Kitchen, Old Soul Co., 58 Degrees & Holding, Zocalo, Bean Trees, 4th Street Grille, Three Monkeys Restaurant, Crepe Cafe, Temple Fine Coffee & Tea, Parlare Euro Lounge, Brew It Up! and Clarion Mansion Inn were all spots to stop at for a food sample, appetizers and a speciality drink, be it beer, wine, smoothie, tequila shots, mixed shooters or espresso shots. Capitol Cupcakes and Revolution Wines also took part in the event as they had their treats and drinks at Old Soul Co., the starting point for people who needed to purchase their $25 donation for Cystic Fibrosis to attend the walk-able adventure.

The event was a success and will now be a seasonal treat for Sacramentians. Different benefits will take part in this event and Sacramento now was a new way to network and get to know their local neighbors and independent businesses.



THANK YOU MIDTOWN GRID AND CYSTIC FIBROSIS!

THE MENU

Butch-N-Nellie’s: Lemoncello Poppyseed and S’mores gelato samplers

Tamaya’s Sushi & Grill: sake and cocktails with sesame chicken and gyoza

Cervantes: CLOSING DOWN (moving to another area: good luck Cervantes!), Will Not Be Part of the Crawl!

Stonegrill & Bar: berry infused martinis with hot stones and various meats

Rubicon Brewing Co.: Rubicon brewed beer with fries, chips and salsa

L Wine Lounge & Urban Kitchen: red and white wine with appetizers

Old Soul Co.: Old Soul brewed fresh coffee
Revolution Wines: 2005 Amador Zinfandel and 2005 Pinot Grigio with,
Capital Cupcakes: fresh baked organic mini cupcakes in a variety of flavors

58 Degrees & Holding Co.: Tres Ojos Old Vine Grenache and Domaine de Pagot “les quatre cepages” wines with Trio of Bruschetta: Spicy olive tapenade with fromage blanc, country artichoke pesto, white bean puree with truffle oil, and Artisanal Cheese plates with french baguette, roasted nuts, and apricot fig chutney, and mixed olives.

Zocalo: tequila with appetizers

Bean Trees: mango lasi with tandoori chicken and naan

4th Street Grille: cherry, melon and original lemon drops with marinated chicken breast skewers and dipping sauce and thick cut polenta fries with marinara sauce

Three Monkeys Restaurant: Million Dollar Martinis with sushi, pulled pork sliders

Crepe Cafe: crepes

Temple Fine Coffee & Tea: in-house espresso

Parlare Euro Lounge: “Unwind,” “Relax,” “Energize” martinis with appetizers

Brew It Up!: Brew it Up! brews with appetizers

Clarion Mansion Inn: featured spirits with appetizers

C.R.E.A.M. B-Boy and B-Girl Battles in Fair Oaks, Aug 2007

By Aaris A. Schroeder
Editor-In-Chief
August 23, 2007
(Picture Coming!!)

Arriving at five p.m., the room was already scattered variously with dancers and friends as people kicked down their skill level and warmed up for the B-Boy and B-Girl event, C.R.E.A.M. at the Fair Oaks, CA Community Center, located in the heart of Old Fair Oaks.

Old Fair Oaks is known for their small-town sense and chickens that roam the streets but there was anything but birds inside the center, over 60 roosters and hens were ready to battle without fear.

Hosted by Mahtie Bush of hip-hop group Alumni and judged by hip-hop veterans Tet, Matt Cash of Floor Raskals and NorthStar Zulu Nation [Northern CA Chapter], Anthony “A-Jax” Jackson [RockForce], Marcus “Marx” Ramos [Flexible Flave] and Footloose and because of the overwhelming sign-ups of b-boys and b-girls, there were five groups of dancers. Each brought what they had to offer to the judges. Once the first round was accomplished, the judges picked the best dancers in each group to battle each other for a $100 prize.
Icy J, Freedom, Emiko, Allen, Kool -Aid, B-St., George and Freak Roc were final dancers to battle it out. Icy J brought funk to the floor as Freedom won the round. Emiko kept it real as a B-Girl had had very good moves but was won over by Freak Roc who would make crazy moves such as air flares and head spinning. Allen was a little generic with his moves but still kept it real winning over Kool -Aid who had his own style. George who seemed very cocky with his moves was won over by BEAT STREET who seemed humble and definitely knows the fundamentals of breakin’.

The final battle came down to Allen Vs. Freak Roc. The DJ brought a Latin break beat for Allen and more of a funky beat for Freak Roc – the two battled it out till the end when Allen won the C.R.E.A.M. B-Boy and B-Girl Event.


Other B-Boy Cyphers

Looser vs. Winner
Rooe vs. B St
B-Boy 9 vs. FreakRock
Shasta vs. Emiko
J-Ro vs. Freedom
Bubbles vs. Allen
Random vs. Icy Jay
Charlie Bad Child vs. Kool-Aid
Doom vs. George

Spurring Emcees: Emac of Herchu and Mr. P Chill Without the Trunk of Funk

By Aaris A. Schroeder
Editor-In-Chief
August 3, 2007

Ever since hip-hop began, an emcee's lyrics and beats paird with money and power has been his or her mainstay in what keeps their artistry respected by other emcees and the hip-hop community as well as the fans.

When beef arises; as in emcee arguments and disagreements, emcees go about speaking and resolving their problems with one another in many different ways, just as anyone else would outside this community. One way is to lyrically punch each other until the problem is resolved or one backs down in the form of a single or ‘cut’ on their latest album – what worse way to disrespect someone than on a track.

Sacramento’s conscious hip-hop scene offers a great diversity of artists from studio junkies to live bands, garage and homemade outlets and spoken word enthusiasts. Sacramento’s hip-hop community prides itself on positivity, diversity and street smarts. The last thing Sacramento needs are emcee beefs, most of which are taken care of in-house since our hip-hop community desperately is in need of public support. Track beefing doesn’t help the state of hip-hop at this time.

Mr. P Chill, who was nominated for a [Funk and R&B] S.A.M.M.I.E., a longtime Sacramentian and emcee who rocks the stage all over Northern CA and has booked many unsigned and unknown hip-hop acts including Herchu, also nominated for a [Hip-Hop] S.A.M.M.I.E. award summer ’07.

Recently, some beef went down between P. Chill and Emaculit1 of Herchu. The story went something like, P. Chill invited Herchu to do a nine-day west-coast tour with him and The Trunk of Funk and communication issues between P. Chill and the venues didn’t go so well as Herchu’s sets were dropped in minutes and drink tickets weren’t properly distributed equally among band members.

It is common that timing, equipment issues, drink ticket offerings and payouts are normal circumstances that occur regularly when on tours and performing with different acts. Emac was nonetheless thrilled.

“I have never tried to fight him. It’s not that serious. It’s obvious we are going to cross paths but don’t do it intentionally,” says Emac about P. Chill showing up at the S.A.M.M.I.E. Showcase for hip-hop artists.

P. Chill flipped the bird to Emac and walked out when one of the lines in Herchu’s song was changed to, “Fuck P. Chill.” P. Chill thought of a way to get Emac back and settled on writing a song about how Emac treated him the last two-three years. He unleashed it on MySpace and texted several people that Emac knew; except for Emac, to listen to the new track. This was released shortly after the S.A.M.M.I.E.S., as in hours.

“I definitely don’t hate him. I feel very sad for him,” says P. Chill about Emac.

Within days, Emac was sending MySpace messages to several of P. Chill’s top friends, including UBO Magazine, concerning a rap song they should listen to, entitled, “Fuck Peach Hill,” apparently some nickname of sorts between emcees and friends.

The song had several hooks downing P. Chill on a real personal level, offering up their beef on a silver platter for all their friends and fans to partake in.

“It must be very hard, painful [for him] to carry all that hate,” says P. Chill who seemed shaken up over the situation.

“He's a good person. I can’t really knock him as an individual,” says Emac, in a sense trying to smooth the beef, er pound it out.

If the local hip-hop community can’t have unity amongst hip-hop brethren how does hip-hop survive in Sacramento? This is one thorn that needs to be plucked and healed. Right now, Sacramento doesn’t allow musicians, DJs, producers, songwriters and poets much room to thrive artistically by means of performing their acts causing many of them to leave Sacramento whether over emcee beef or venue beef.

Cut the fat, trim the beef and get over it; we have shows to book.

Venues and Radio Hate Hip-Hop: Choppin' It Up With J. Gib and Smooth

By Aaris A. Schroeder
Editor-In-Chief
August 22, 2007

Pulling into B.J.’s in Natomas, I noticed a guy shaking his head at his car which had a small dent in the back end. With my windows rolled down, bumping The Literates an underground Latin hip-hop duo from San Diego, CA, Smooth immediately knew who I was. I dialed his number and he let me know I was parked beside him.

First time meeting TakeOva Entertainment’s producer and long-time emcee Smooth, I must say I was impressed. He lifted his trunk for me to examine the damage to his car which was filled with an array of pink little girl luggage, toys and clothes; obviously his daughter’s. Currently, Smooth is working with J Gib to get his newest album out the door.

We walked inside the establishment to meet up with J Gib and Smooth’s daughter. We met to go over a story idea for UBO Magazine and I learned the local commercialized street hip-hop, which is what J Gib represents is disenfranchised in media just as the underground, indie hip-hop artists are that you see wearing backpacks filled with $5 mixtapes.

According to Smooth, DJs on the radio are not to blame; Program Directors and Music Directors, claiming to be the “home of hip-hop and R&B” [KBMB 103.5] are to blame. So we can throw out the whole idea that DJ Supe was fired from the station due to his play lists and more so put the blame on the Directors for whatever reason they chose to give up his position.

Yes, local artists do get play – for about two weeks and even then that is a good run. If you do get play better bet that you were closely related or somehow involved with one of the two Directors. Doey Rock, Jay R and Senie of D.D.A. all received air play for this small allotted time. Is this enough time to market our local artists through the radio waves? You can roll up to anyone’s house in Sacramento who digs local hip-hop and hear them bumping Doey Rock’s album but it will not be courtesy of the radio rather an album that was released by Doey Rock.

Yet artists like Senie of the D.D.A. have an inside hook-up or shall we call it bias? With such unfairness in broadcast and indefinite difficulty in bringing independent radio to the public on a regular transmission, it is no wonder that our government is dumbing down the public with lies and stereotypes.

“The Bay [Area artists] get ‘rep’ because the local radio stations DJs are from the bay,” according to J Gib.

KBMB has a majority of Bay Area cats running the stations, proving they know little of Sacramento’s thriving hip-hop community.

“If you don’t want hip-hop, don’t play it at all,” says Smooth’s, concerning the difference between hip-hop and rap on the radio and in the clubs.

Another huge problem is lack of Sacramento venues open to booking hip-hop acts and an overwhelming market for Top-40 hip-hop/rap acts receiving paid booking jobs at places like Zokkus where inexperienced people run the shows, according to Smooth and still treat the artists and attendees as if they are foreign and stereotype them. Seems like a quick way to make a buck without caring about the community. If you drive down J St. or I St. any Friday or Saturday night, you will see police lurking in the corners or right in front of the clubs.

According to Smooth, once an artist breaks that “glass ceiling A.R. and music directors [are] coming.” These people begin to take notice of who is professional and about their music and game plan. Then they book their artists all over the U.S., including Sacramento, proving that Sacramento is a hear-all propaganda city.
J Gib is featured in Stash Magazine, http://www.knowallaboutit.com, IB Royalty and Boss Status most recently, paying high-end dollars to get his name out into the public with no acceptance from the radio as of yet.

Our hip-hop community needs to support artists on a higher level by attending events where local talents are featured, read media material that offer insight on artists and sharing the stories with friends, requesting the songs of local musicians on the radio for airplay and offering marketing support by joining a local street team and networking within your community. Artists choose their career because of the love and dedication to the art, period. Their fans and associates are their number one asset. Who are you supporting tonight?